NEWS: ADULT DACA RECIPIENTS REFLECT ON LIFE IN NASHVILLE
>> PAGE 7
NEWS: GOV. LEE IS FLIPPING KEY VOTES IN VOUCHER PUSH
>> PAGE 9
A look inside Nashville Rep’s upcoming production of The Mountaintop, along with previews of coming art, theater, dance, film and book events
MUSIC:
‘WE ARE HERE’ BRINGS SONGS OF THE HOLOCAUST TO BLAIR SCHOOL OF MUSIC >> PAGE 32
Kelsey Waldon calls this Cybelle Elena–designed western suit with embroidered moons, stars, musical notes, and flowers her “Blue Moon suit”—a reference to “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” her home state’s song, penned by fellow Kentuckian and Country Music Hall of Fame member Bill Monroe.
From the exhibit American Currents: State of the Music
artifact: Courtesy of Kelsey Waldon artifact photo: Bob Delevante
RESERVE TODAY
Adult DACA Recipients Reflect on Life in Nashville
Longtime residents share how the immigration policy affected their lives — and how Trump could destabilize the homes they’ve built here BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ
The Ensworth School and the Intentional Neighborhood
What an archway tells us about the links between neighborhood development and school segregation BY ALEX PEMBERTON
Key East Tennessee Republicans Soften on Voucher Opposition
Ahead of a special session on education, Lee is moving several swing votes while their districts wait on flood relief money BY
ELI MOTYCKA
COVER STORY
Theater
Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop, based on the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and presented by Nashville Rep, leads our picks for this season’s top theater events BY AMY
STUMPFL
Visual Arts
Nashville’s winter art highlights include a new art crawl event and a David Driskell pairing at the Frist BY JOE
NOLAN
Film
As it nears its 100th anniversary, the Belcourt plans to screen Oscar nominees, international treasures and repertory classics BY
D. PATRICK RODGERS
Book Events
This season’s literary highlights — from book clubs and author talks to a professional headshot workshop BY KIM BALDWIN
Chicago, MJ Lenderman, Nashville Craft Club, Cecilia Castleman and more
Date Night: Parlour Bar in Dream Nashville and Sinatra Bar & Lounge
Need a good reason to venture out into the cold? Let’s be Frank, this is it.
BY DANNY BONVISSUTO
YONIC
Favorite Parent
How teaching my twin girls about voting helps me express my love for politics BY SHEENA STEWARD
MUSIC
New Roots
With Bloom, Larkin Poe moves to the head of the Southern rock class BY DARYL SANDERS
In Memory
We Are Here brings songs of the Holocaust to Blair School of Music on International Holocaust Remembrance Day BY MARGARET LITTMAN
The Spin
The Scene’s live-review column checks out Ringo Starr at the Ryman BY MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER
FILM
Beauty Is Truth
Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths is a bitter pill featuring an outstanding performance from Marianne Jean-Baptiste BY CRAIG D. LINDSEY
Striking a Chord
The Colors Within puts the ‘mellow’ in ‘melodrama’ BY KEN ARNOLD
NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD MARKETPLACE
ON THE COVER:
Tamiko Robinson Steele and Rashad Rayford in The Mountaintop
Photo: Chad Driver
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JANUARY 25 – MARCH 16
An exhibition of 10 new paintings by Becky Suss was inspired by author Ann Patchett’s 2019 novel, The Dutch House, underscoring the complex interplay between contemporary art and storytelling. The Dutch House is
Longtime residents share how the immigration policy affected their lives — and how Trump could destabilize the homes they’ve built here
BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ
WITH DONALD TRUMP returning to the presidency, many immigrants and immigration advocates are bracing for his promised mass deportations and border crackdowns. One uncertainty is how Trump will handle a policy he once attempted to end: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. Barack Obama established DACA in 2012 by executive order, granting young undocumented immigrants the chance to apply for driver’s licenses, pursue jobs, seek higher education and more without fear of deportation. The policy endures today despite various legal challenges.
While DACA is not the pathway to citizenship Dreamers (a term for undocumented young people inspired by legislative proposal the DREAM Act) have long hoped for, it has established stability for them. Trump’s plans for DACA are unclear — and at times he has sounded open to figuring out some kind of plan to help Dreamers — but many experts and advocates are bracing for another fight, given the actions of his first term and continued anti-immigrant rhetoric.
As DACA recipients have aged, and since U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services stopped granting first time requests in 2021, the average age for a recipient increased from 24 in 2017 to 30 in 2023. A DACA recipient named Sofia, who requested the Scene not use her last name out of concern for her family, says ending DACA would disrupt careers, homeownership and the pursuit of higher education for older recipients. Sofia adds that a lot of recipients don’t know what it’s like to be “undocumented adults” — they’ve had some form of status since their late teens or early 20s. “Many of us have now found our footing in Nashville, and for that to be taken away is very scary,” she says.
Sofia and two other longtime Nashville residents shared with the Scene their experiences navigating Middle Tennessee as DACA recipients and their concerns about the next four years. Testimonies have been edited for length and clarity.
BRENDA PÉREZ
I’ve been in Nashville for the majority of my adult life. I have seen this place expand from a sleepy town where you could drive across the city at 4 p.m. to a bustling city with new neighborhoods and exciting places to explore.
In the mid-2010s, I discovered the joy of biking in Nashville. I would bike to work from my house on Shelby and 15th Street (back when you could find a two-bedroom, one-bath for $750) to Rosario’s (since closed) in the newly redeveloped Edgehill area. During those work commutes, I would hear Spanish conversations echoing through the construction sites of the Schermerhorn, Music City Center and Gulch area. I would say “buenos dias” to the surprise of the construction workers, and they would respond. I knew that as a woman, biking in a city with anti-immigrant policies — such as the now-defunct 287(g) program, which allowed the sheriff’s office to initiate deportations — saying “buenos dias” was claiming space in a city that wanted our labor but not our existence.
As a DACA recipient, my relationship with Nashville is complex. I hold a deep, caring love and accountability toward this city (and its elected officials). I have been here for a long time, and most people’s response when they learn I’ve been here for 23 years is, “Oh, so you’re basically from here.” Nashville is my home, but I am not from here. I am Mexican — a full Mexican citizen — even though I have lived the majority of my life in the U.S.
Every four years, through my status as a DACA recipient, I become a pawn in the political landscape. DACA holders are often treated as a different type of immigrant because our tongues are fast and we can “clap back,” because we sound like we belong here, and some of us have Southern drawls. But as DACA holders, whether we’re in school or working day jobs, we are not different from the construction workers who may have just arrived here. We are not pawns. We are not here to be disposed of or pushed
“
“I KNEW THAT AS A WOMAN, BIKING IN A CITY WITH ANTIIMMIGRANT POLICIES — SUCH AS THE NOWDEFUNCT 287(G) PROGRAM, WHICH ALLOWED THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE TO INITIATE DEPORTATIONS — SAYING ‘BUENOS DIAS’ WAS CLAIMING SPACE IN A CITY THAT WANTED OUR LABOR BUT NOT OUR EXISTENCE.” —BRENDA PÉREZ
aside as the political landscape shifts. We are not tokens to be traded in at the mayor’s office, governor’s mansion or in D.C. Our labor, our culture, our hands, our years and our very existence have built, shaped and nurtured this city and its continued growth.
So perhaps I should revisit how I answer the question, “Oh, so you are from here?” Yes, I am from here and there. I can claim both.
[Receiving DACA] was a night-and-day difference. It’s one of the most immediate changes I’ve ever seen. I went from working jobs where I wasn’t paid the legal minimum wage just to get by … to being fully like my peers. Once I received DACA, I was able to just get a normal job at the mall or get my driver’s license and really put myself out there. All of a sudden, college was an opportunity that was open to me. I never even thought about it — not because I wasn’t smart or anything, but it just didn’t feel like something that was in my future. Just getting DACA and my work permit, it made everything more of a
possibility. … To put it succinctly, I wasn’t living in fear anymore.
One thing that I think most DACA recipients share is that it’s not just about us. We really have this mindset of moving our family forward, moving ourselves forward, [as well as] everybody around us. It’d be great if we could have some sort of reform for DACA [and] have some protection assured for loved ones. …
People have become resigned a little bit, just because it’s been a lot of years, and things seem like they haven’t moved much since then. But I’m not gonna just give up on that. … It’s a $500 application; it’s not cheap. People have to spend money on it, but it’s well worth it if it means two more years and being protected and being able to work and provide and do whatever you have to do. As told to Alejandro Ramirez
My advice to anyone who is … feeling some sort of anxiety or fear [is to] continue to be in community, to reach out to folks who can help you, to inform yourself, to train yourself on knowing your rights — on knowing what to do when an ICE agent comes to your house or your place of work or your place of worship. … That’s something that I’ve done myself, and that I’m continuing to do because I was that person who woke up [after Election Day] and was scared and felt like my whole world was crumbling. It felt very overwhelming, and I felt like I was drowning in this sense [that] people are against us. But to also then be in a community and seek out folks and groups in Nashville who in fact are fighting for the immigrant community, who in fact are standing for and speaking out for our rights — finding that community in Nashville has also been very heartwarming and affirming. I’ve been in Nashville for so long. I went to MNPS schools, and graduated from them. I went to get my bachelor’s in education, and I’m now working in the field. … I feel as much a Nashvillian as anyone else. So regardless of what happens next year, I know that home is here. Home is in Nashville, and that’s something that we’re going to continue to fight for. As told to Alejandro Ramirez ▼
What an archway tells us about the links between neighborhood development and school segregation
BY ALEX PEMBERTON
STUDENTS AND FACULTY traversing the Red Gables Campus of the Ensworth School pass through a sandstone segmental archway that hints at a piece of Nashville’s past — and present — that isn’t in their textbooks.
The campus is surrounded by mansions on large lots cut out from the 40-acre Green Hills spread where Claude Waller — a judge and general counsel for the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway — built Red Gables, a historic Tudor Revival house that has grown into today’s sprawling campus. The old house is no longer easily distinguishable from the many similarly styled wings and stand-alone buildings that have been added to accommodate the growth of the private school over the past 70 years.
The new stone archway hints at the old house hidden behind it. Pass through the portico — but study the arch — and a history of Nashville’s neighborhoods, schools and social ties will be unlocked.
THE ANCIENT ARCH, REVIVED
Ancient Egyptians first discovered the simple, powerful beauty of the segmental arch — a structural element that, by using friction and gravity instead of a binding mortar, can support enormous weights with small stones cut at just the right angle.
Romans mastered the segmental arch. Their techniques for structural engineering followed imperial expansion into Gallia and were taken across the English Channel by the third century. By the Middle Ages, influences from Islamic architecture found expression in Gothic designs for churches and cathedrals, which support window and door openings with a sharply pointed apex that deflects downward pressure.
Strong archways are useful for supporting cathedrals and massive aqueducts, but are not necessary for houses. As the arch trickled down to vernacular architecture, the English economized by flattening the point into a weaker, four-centered span — sometimes with brick, sometimes with wedge-shaped stone voussoirs, but often with just a few longer, sweeping stones — that came to define the Tudor style. But with centuries of distance from the Tudor Period and an ocean away from adherence to English tradition, revivalists of the Tudor style in early 20th century America rediscovered the simple, powerful beauty of the segmental arch. Small, otherwise independent elements, when cut at just the right angle and set in a mutually reinforced arrangement, can support enormous weights.
Plans for the Ensworth School were “in the formative stage” in March 1958. Nashville’s stairstep integration plan to satisfy the Kelley v. Board of Education decision had gotten off to a troubled start the year before, and revision of the Parents’ Preference plan — which allowed Black students to attend white schools — was imminent. By June a headmaster had been selected, and the private school opened that fall.
The Ensworth School’s swift standup was organized by some of Nashville’s most prominent citizens. The chairman of its board of trustees was John S. Bransford, heir to the prolific Bransford Realty Co., which had a hand in the births of several of the surrounding neighborhoods. The company had helped refine the concept of the streetcar suburb by centering subdivisions on a singular community institution. At the Richland addition, where Bransford Realty handled lot sales, Nashville’s first private golf club became the centerpiece in the neighborhood’s “special claim as a new enclave of the city’s upper class.”
Richland’s social enclave of samely citizens was reinforced by restrictive covenants, which set out a homogenous physical aesthetic and barred Black occupancy. Richland Realty Co. executives later became leading advocates for a zoning plan that quietly promised to arrest the expansion of Black neighborhoods.
The club, the covenants, the containment plan — each individual piece and countless more, like the voussoirs of Red Gables’ segmental arch, reinforced the other. Richland and the neighborhoods that followed were structured to support the broad spans of segregation. Schools — private and public — would become the keystone.
The style of spatial segregation set out by streetcar suburbanism did not require individual animus. Some of its promoters were simple adherents to the religion of American capitalism — the Bransford Realty Co. built for both white and Black, separately — and its faithful belief that racial mixing created “moral problems” that brought on blight and destroyed property values.
As the streetcar suburbs sprouted, so grew a sweeping pseudoscience to plan for their permanence. Prophets of “scientific planning” pioneered methods to map the racial makeup of urban residents and engineer solutions for their separation. Sociological scriptures were translated into diagrams of orderly “neighborhood units” with “only neighborhood institutions at [the] community center” and federal policies to show preference to “only those neighborhoods
which have qualities making for continuity and stability of use over a period of years.” Underpinning the neighborhood unit was a “market imperative” doctrine of segregation that elided the foundations of the market — intentional choices and actions by government, industry and individuals.
Irving Hand was Nashville’s disciple of the neighborhood unit planning model and set it into public policy as the director of the Advance Planning and Research Division of the planning department. As documented by Ansley Erickson in Making the Unequal Metropolis, Hand’s bureaucratic tenacity had led Nashville planners to divide the city into 81 planning units defined by “similar ethnic groups” and “a centrally located elementary school within easy walking distance of every home” by the late 1950s.
According to Erickson, Hand’s evangelism of the neighborhood unit waved away its “casual and unconscionable acceptance of segregation” as the inevitable result of market forces. The model was sound, Hand thought, if it enabled “more effective planning.” By clustering groups of people along lines of class and race, planners could more effectively — and selectively — target public policies, from urban renewal and highway construction to new schools and sewers.
As Erickson details, postwar subdivision developers were eager to benefit from segregated school zones and selective siting. Builders lobbied superintendents to redraw school zones to direct their new neighborhoods into schools deemed desirable by parents. Some even donated land at the heart of communities like Hillwood to entice the school district to center the zone of a shiny new school on their subdivision. The school districts rarely gave a second glance to such enticing gift horses and set out school site standards that favored white suburbia.
Irving Hand soon expanded his scope from the neighborhood to the metropolitan. Hand was a key architect of consolidation, and his profile in the planning world grew, earning him an offer to direct the Pennsylvania State Planning Board, where his work on regionalism garnered national acclaim. Hand left Nashville for Pennsylvania in 1964 — well before the 1971 federal busing order broke the model of homogenous
neighborhood units he helped design. He was not around to watch white parents jam the phone lines of Ensworth and other private schools with enrollment inquiries, or see new segregation academies sprout up, or witness Metro schools shrink, shutter and struggle for the rewards of integration. He played no part in the plans to combat white flight and inner city blight — plans that remade the modern Nashville.
If Irving Hand had not moved before post-integration demand pushed the Ensworth School to expand, with addition after addition of new classrooms and amenities at Red Gables, it might have moved him.
His last Nashville address was 203 Ridgefield Court — one-half of a duplex that was torn down in 2007 for an overflow parking lot at Red Gables, consumed by the campus his planning concepts helped create.
As Irving Hand’s last Nashville home was being demolished, one aspect of his local legacy was being rebuilt. In 1998, federal oversight of school desegregation ended in Nashville, and the district eschewed busing for neighborhood schools. Critics decried a 2008 school rezoning plan as a “resegregation plan” driven by business interests’ desires to accelerate gentrification of near-downtown neighborhoods.
New Urbanists revived and rehabilitated the neighborhood unit. The Westhaven “traditional neighborhood development” broke ground in 2002 on farmland outside Franklin. Townsend Boulevard is the central artery of a carefully choreographed site plan that connects a private residents’ club with Pearre Creek Elementary School — a school site donated by the developer to the school district.
In Lockeland Springs, a public elementary school reopened and “built a community” around a common bond. Residents boasted that the school “made everybody’s house values double” — a powerful selling point for white parents, who have flooded into the geographic priority zone and turned the school nearly all-white.
Lockeland parents walk their students through a neighborhood of million-dollar listings advertising “LOCKELAND GPZ” to a portico framed by a pair of stone arches of elegant Gothic proportions, capable of supporting enormous weights. ▼
Ahead of a special session on education, Lee is moving several swing votes while their districts wait on flood relief money
BY ELI MOTYCKA
EXPANDING THE STATE’S Education Savings Account system continues to divide otherwise obedient Republican rank-and-file members in the Tennessee legislature. But several key representatives who formerly opposed the so-called school voucher program, which pays families for enrolling children in private school, have softened their stances ahead of a special session called by Gov. Bill Lee to focus on passing ESA legislation. The special session will also focus on immigration and disaster relief money critical to several East Tennessee counties that suffered severe flooding after Hurricane Helene.
Lee faced an embarrassing loss in the spring when disagreement within his own party sank his push to expand ESA reimbursement. Lee has made school voucher expansion a primary political goal in his second term as governor, and this week called a special session starting Jan. 27 to focus the legislature on tweaked voucher legislation. Lawmakers from both parties tell the Scene that Lee wouldn’t risk public humiliation unless he was confident he had the votes.
Within hours of the announcement, seven mayors in East Tennessee released a letter expressing support for Lee’s voucher plan, in many cases going against their own school boards. Several are waiting on disaster relief money for flood damage and represent counties with swing-vote legislators.
“Am I totally in favor of vouchers? No, I don’t think they accomplish the intended purpose,” says Unicoi County Mayor Garland “Bubba” Evely, a signatory on the letter and former school board member. “But there are overall considerations, and I take into account the overall picture to do what’s best for my district.”
Evely still signed on, citing a close-knit community of mayors in northeast Tennessee and the new ESA provision that guarantees that local public schools’ funding levels will not decrease year over year. Evely says he did not receive any “direct communication” from the governor’s office or House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland), who’s sponsoring the new ESA legislation. As to the Scene’s question about indirect communication, Evely demurred.
Lamberth flatly denies that any coercion is taking place.
“There’s no connection whatsoever between any education issue or northeast Tennessee relief or hurricane relief or disaster relief or the immigration issues,” Lamberth says. “There’s zero truth to that. There have been no conversations of that type.”
Former voucher opponents in East Tennessee have continued to soften their opposition.
First-term Rep. Renea Jones (R-Unicoi), a former
school board member who represents parts of Carter and Unicoi County, was a vocal voucher critic on the campaign trail last year. She says she’s open to the governor’s new plan. Speaker Cameron Sexton appointed Jones to the House education committee on Thursday morning.
“I’m listening,” Jones tells the Scene. “I will say, I have had very few letters in support of vouchers. I do think there was an impression given to mayors that vouchers would be tied to flood money. But I think it was an assumption on their part.”
Rep. John Crawford (R-Kingsport) represents Bristol, Kingsport and Sullivan County and was among the House Republicans who opposed various aspects of voucher expansion efforts last year. Crawford tells the Scene he likes the new legislation introduced this year to expand ESAs and can’t make a final decision until he sees whatever bill is filed during the special session. He specifically cites the same element as Evely — funding guarantees for local school districts — as a tweak that has helped win him over.
“I did have a concern because I was hearing rumors that there was a possibility that the disaster relief funding was going to be tied to the voucher bill,” says Crawford. “Our leadership told me ‘No, that’s not true.’ I have no clue what the county mayors, including those in my district in northeast Tennessee, have been threatened with or not been threatened with. I have always been against vouchers, and I told the governor that in a meeting. But this particular bill, with the ‘hold harmless’ clause in there, gives me protection for my public schools — that they can’t lose any money. So now I’m right there in the middle. We’ve been pumping money into public education for a long time, and in my opinion, what we’re doing is not working.”
School boards continue to raise the alarm on voucher expansion. Kingsport City Schools Board of Education president Melissa Woods directly addressed the “hold harmless” provision as weak protection.
“It doesn’t say for how long,” Woods told the Kingsport Times News this week. “That could be for one year, that could be for 10 years, it is not stated in the legislation.”
Democrats and local education agencies, including school boards beyond East Tennessee, have vocally opposed the expensive reimbursement plan that incentivizes students out of the traditional public school system. Lee’s latest proposal would cost about $150 million for vouchers, $172 million for one-time public school teacher bonuses and $77 million for school building maintenance allocated from taxes on sports betting.
Pairing disaster response with Lee’s controversial voucher push makes perfect sense to Democrats, who readily accuse the governor of turning much-needed flood relief into political leverage.
“To put people in this position, who lost their homes, tells you what kind of person the governor truly is,” says Rep. Bo Mitchell (D-Nashville).
Republican Reps. David Hawk, Rebecca Alexander and Timothy Hill, all potential voucher holdouts who represent flood-damaged areas in East Tennessee, did not respond to the Scene’s request for comment or could not be reached before publication.
Nicolle S. Praino contributed reporting. ▼
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A look inside Nashville Rep’s upcoming production of The Mountaintop, along with previews of coming art, theater, dance, film and book events
TRUDGING THROUGH WINTER 2025 doesn’t have to be a total drag — you just have to take a breather between checking social media, reading the news and keeping an eye on incoming storms. To help you get through these next several weeks, we at the Scene have compiled the best theater, dance, visual art, film and book events in our annual Winter Arts Guide.
First, we’re taking a look inside the making of Nashville Rep’s upcoming production of The Mountaintop, a play about the life of Martin Luther King Jr. that was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and native Tennessean Katori Hall. It stars two longtime Scene favorites — Tamika Robinson Steele and Rashad Rayford — and director Alicia Haymer says its message is especially important right now, “when we need forward-thinking people to step up and help unify this country.”
Also in the issue, you’ll learn about the newly established Downtown Arts District Alliance, which is spearheading a new art crawl that has all the makings of a local cultural powerhouse. Plus all the best upcoming museum and gallery exhibitions, dance and theater performances, film screenings, book readings and even more.
So read on, mark up your calendars, and remember that warmer days are just ahead.
—LAURA HUTSON HUNTER, ARTS EDITOR
Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop, based on the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and presented by Nashville Rep, leads our picks for this season’s top theater events
BY AMY STUMPFL
WE AMERICANS DO love our heroes. The problem is that in building them up to such mythical proportions, we often lose sight of what makes them so special.
In the case of The Mountaintop, however, Pulitzer Prize-winning Tennessee playwright Katori Hall gives us a full-blooded and decidedly human hero in Martin Luther King Jr. Nashville Rep’s production of the play — which opens at TPAC’s Andrew Johnson Theater on Feb. 14 — reimagines the final hours of King’s life, just before he was assassinated on April 4, 1968.
As the story opens, we meet a weary King at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. He has just delivered his prophetic “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech and is clearly exhausted. But there is work to be done, and he decides to order up some coffee. In doing so, he meets Camae — a beautiful but mysterious housekeeper on her first day on the job.
“What I love about this play is that we get to see a very human Martin Luther King Jr.,” says director Alicia Haymer, an accomplished actor, director and writer who has frequently collaborated with the Rep. “It makes him so much more real — more tangible, somehow. And it reminds us that you don’t have to be perfect in order to make a difference in this world. You may smoke cigarettes, you may flirt or curse every now and then. You may work too hard, and maybe not see your kids as much as you’d like. You can be a regular, ordinary person and still do great, important things. I think that’s such an important message — especially now, when we need forward-thinking people to step up and help unify this country.”
Hall’s play is marked by poetic language and elements of magical realism, something that Haymer particularly enjoys.
“Katori Hall is such a brilliant writer,” Haymer says. “I love that she’s instantly able to put the audience at ease and draw them into the world that we’re creating. She lays everything out in such a way that it’s easy to jump in and go for the ride.”
Haymer is also quick to credit her cast, which includes Rashad Rayford as Dr. King and Tamiko Robinson Steele as the enigmatic Camae.
“Tamiko and Rashad are both so incredibly versatile — there’s really nothing they can’t do,” Haymer says. “This is not an easy show — they hit the stage and never leave. But they’re both such professionals, and so willing to let go and take chances. That’s something I always tell my actors: You have to free yourself. You have to get over yourself, and let the character speak to you. I’ve had the pleasure of watching Tamiko and Rashad do that time and time again over the years. So I’m really excited to see what they can do here. I can’t wait for people to experience this show and these characters.”
Haymer says she is especially eager to share the play’s final moments with the audience.
“The ending of this show is very powerful, because it’s an opportunity for Martin to peek into the future — to see the world that’s yet to come. I’m really excited to share that with folks.
“You know, this show is running during Black History Month, and it absolutely does deal with Black history,” she adds. “But it’s also American history. And I hope that audiences will think about that. It’s a beautiful play, and it could run any time of year and be just as relevant.” ▼
JAN. 24-25: Faustin Linyekula’s My Body, My Archive (with Heru Shabaka-Ra) at OZ Arts (For more information, see our Critics’ Picks on p. 21.)
31-FEB.
FEB. 7-22: Street Theatre Company’s Alice by Heart at The
FEB. 11-16: & Juliet at TPAC’s Jackson Hall
FEB. 22-23:
MARCH 5-6: Soon-ho Park & Bereishit Dance’s Balance and Imbalance Judo at OZ Arts
MARCH 27-APRIL 5:
Nashville’s winter art highlights include a new art crawl event and a David Driskell pairing at the Frist
BY JOE NOLAN
THE BIGGEST NEWS in local art this winter is the formation of the Downtown Arts District Alliance and its new Second Saturday Art Crawl. I love the alliance’s DADA acronym, and its reboot of downtown gallerygoing is dressed to impress: The Arcade is back and packing an impressive artists-in-residence program, Tinney Contemporary remains the undisputed champion of Fifth Avenue, and the Browsing Room at Downtown Presbyterian Church is a gem of a creative lab, where a thoughtful slate of regional artists is encouraged to bring its most experimental displays. Add Chauvet Arts, Bobby Hotel, Bankers
Alley Hotel and Swipe Right to the roster, and DADA has the makings of a new chapter for Nashville’s downtown contemporary art scene. When Arcade Arts hosted its various art events in the lead-up to its artist residencies in the summer, you could sense the old ghosts on Saturday nights downtown. Those events proved that the downtown art magic is still there — it was just full of holes for a while. Don’t call it a comeback. Find out more at dadanashville.org.
The big winter news at Coop is actually big news for the entire year at the curatorial collective’s gallery at The Packing Plant in Wedgewood-Houston. Coop’s Ten in Tenn program squeezes in a decade of homegrown artists from the Volunteer State over the course of 2025. Coop has earned a reputation for introducing Nashville’s art scene to out-of-town artists and curators since its very first exhibitions in the original gallery space in the Arcade, during the heyday of the original Downtown Art Crawl. Packing 2025 with a whole year of
artists based exclusively in Tennessee brings a cool twist to Coop’s curating. It’s going to be enlightening to see this broad survey and get a snapshot of the state of contemporary art from Memphis to Knoxville. Ten in Tenn got off to a strong start with Nashville artist Fjolla Hoxha’s irreverent and conceptual January installation and interactive performance, Building a Passport. The upcoming Ten in Tenn winter program includes a multimedia exhibition by Sepideh Dashti in February. Check out the full lineup at coopgallery.org
The Margaret Stonewall Wooldridge Hamblet Award is an annual prize given to a graduating senior by the Vanderbilt University Department of Art. The prize funds a year of travel abroad, culminating in a solo exhibition back in Nashville at Vandy’s contemporary art gallery, Space 204. Hamblet Award recipient Adam Alwan’s Real/Heal is inspired by the death of his grandmother in 2023, 10 years after the death of his father. Alwan’s recent travels in Europe wove themes of distance and the passage of time into this exhibition about grief and memories, families and homelands. The show is up through Feb. 6 at Vanderbilt University’s Space 204.
In 2025, we’ll continue to see forms and materials taking precedence over figures and messages in contemporary art. We’ll also see ceramics continue to trend in Nashville and pretty much everywhere else. For example, check out Paloma Wall’s New Relics exhibition at Elephant Gallery, which will be up from Feb. 7 through 28. The artist coils, pinches, extrudes and rolls slabs of clay to construct her hand-built urn forms, which speak to memories and mourning. I love this exhibition title, and Wall’s work offers a great example of how abstract art can still allude to figurative forms, and contain content without resorting to overt narratives.
The don’t-miss pairing at the Frist Art Museum this winter begins with David C. Driskell &
Friends: Creativity, Collaboration, and Friendship. In 1976, artist and scholar David Driskell curated the groundbreaking exhibition Two Centuries of Black American Art: 1750-1950. The show became a cornerstone of art history, and announced Driskell as the foremost authority on Black art in America. The Frist show explores the art of Driskell and his contemporaries, offering a survey of 35 prominent Black American artists. The exhibition runs alongside Kindred Spirits: Intergenerational Forms of Expression, 1966-1999, which was co-organized and co-curated by the Frist and Fisk University. Kindred Spirits examines the legacy and influence of Fisk University’s Art Department, which Driskell led from 1966 to 1976. Both exhibitions run from March 14 through June 1 at the Frist.
Julia Martin Gallery will end the winter art season on a high note with a solo turn from longtime local Emily Holt. Holt was born in Memphis and moved to Nashville in 2003. She’s a multimedia artist and a high school art teacher at University School of Nashville. Recently, Holt’s been making small architectural assemblages from bits of detritus she gathers from the demolition sites of actual buildings in Nashville. Back in 2022, Holt teamed with Peggy Snow for the What Happened Here exhibition at Julia Martin Gallery. I gave the show a Best of Nashville notice, and I’m intrigued by what Holt has planned this time around: Instead of small sculptures, Holt is displaying big paintings. Her new works are unstretched collections of painted canvases that hang like tapestries, one layer in front of the next. The colorful abstract surfaces are cut away so that the successive layers create an illusion of a single painting with an exaggerated sense of depth. The paintings are strong to begin with, and the cutaways and layering upend the flat severity of midcentury picture planes. The show opens Saturday, March 1, at Julia Martin Gallery. ▼
As it nears its 100th anniversary, the Belcourt plans to screen Oscar nominees, international treasures and repertory classics
BY D. PATRICK RODGERS
IT’S A BIG YEAR for the Belcourt Theatre. Nashville’s nonprofit film center turns 100 in May, and the cinema plans to mark the occasion by celebrating “the Belcourt’s history, the people and groups that marked its many chapters, the communities that shaped it, and the theatre’s place in Nashville’s past, present and future.” That includes sharing the results of the Hillsboro Village arthouse’s oral history project, which launched two years ago with the stated goal of compiling a comprehensive history of the local cultural landmark.
But before all that, we’ve got awards season to get through. As always, the Belcourt will host its Red Carpet Evening fundraising gala on Oscar night — Sunday, March 2. The 21-and-older event will feature the Academy Awards ceremony being broadcast on both of the Belcourt’s big screens, along with a silent auction, a cocktail buffet and loads of perks for VIP ticketholders. In the run-up to Hollywood’s Biggest Night, the Belcourt will screen the year’s Oscar-nominated short films (in animation, live-action and documentary programs) beginning on Feb. 14, with its annual Best Picture Marathon to follow Feb. 21 through March 1. (The Academy nomination announcements, originally scheduled for Jan. 17, were postponed to Jan. 23 due to the Southern California wildfires.)
Still currently screening at the Belcourt are Robert Eggers’ spellbinding Nosferatu, mul-
tiple Golden Globe winner The Brutalist and historical drama Nickel Boys, with Mike Leigh’s family drama Hard Truths opening this weekend. (See our review of that one in this week’s film section.) Opening soon at the arthouse are: Italian World War II drama Vermiglio (Jan. 31); award-winning political thriller The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Feb. 7); Brazilian biographical drama I’m Still Here (Feb. 7); African-art-repatriation documentary Dahomey (Feb. 12); rock doc Becoming Led Zeppelin (Feb. 14); documentary No Other Land (Feb. 21), which was made by a quartet of Palestinian and Israeli activists; and absurdist Canadian comedy-drama Universal Language
Though the Belcourt’s 2024 In Tribute is winding down, a handful of films in that repertory series have still yet to screen — including Robert Altman’s Popeye (Jan. 27) and Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President (Feb. 10). Perennial series like Midnight Movies, Music City Mondays and Weekend Classics will continue as always, and the folks at the Belcourt promise a little something special in the coming weeks: Following the news of legendary auteur David Lynch’s Jan. 16 death, programming director Toby Leonard is planning a Lynch retrospective for the week of March 7. Blue Velvet on the big screen? Lost Highway? Wild at Heart?? Sign us up. Also coming in March, says
Leonard, is a series by the name of SNL Cinematic Universe!
Though the top of the year is a notoriously slow season for wide releases, some promising titles are soon hitting the megaplexes as well. Steven Soderbergh’s anticipated supernatural horror film Presence (featuring Lucy Liu!) opens wide this weekend, with Japanese animated feature The Colors Within opening at select Regal locations. (More on the latter in this week’s film section.) If you’ve been craving more from Everything Everywhere All at Once co-star (and Oscar winner) Ke Huy Quan, catch him Feb. 7 in action-comedy Love Hurts. Harrison Ford will make his debut as President of the United States Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross/Red Hulk in Marvel’s latest, Captain America: Brave New World, on Feb. 14. Longlegs director Osgood Perkins’ comedy-horror The Monkey will land Feb. 21, and popular indie distributor A24 is expected to release fantasy-adventure The Legend of Ochi on Feb. 28. After having its release moved numerous times, Parasite director Bong Joon-ho’s Robert Pattinson-starring sci-fi outing Mickey 17 will finally — allegedly — arrive in theaters everywhere on March 7. Soderbergh will double up this season with the release of spy thriller Black Bag, featuring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender, set for March 14. Also planned for March releases are international black comedy On Becoming a Guinea Fowl and action-comedy Novocaine (no relation to the 2001 Steve Martin vehicle of the same name). All of this is of course subject to change, so keep an eye on local listings. If you’re looking to shake things up and catch some repertory screenings in more intimate confines, Hermitage’s Full Moon Cineplex has a host of upcoming classics — including Blade Runner: The Final Cut this weekend, Purple Rain on Feb. 7, 1981’s My Bloody Valentine on Valentine’s Day, and Interview With the Vampire on Feb. 21. ▼
PROVOCATIVE DANCE-THEATER from the Democratic Republic of the Congo
TWO PERFORMANCES: JANUARY 24 & 25
WITH HERU SHABAKA-RA OF THE SUN RA ARKESTRA MY BODY, MY ARCHIVE
“Quite possibly the most important artist working on the African continent today.”
FRIDAY & SATURDAY ONLY
— Frieze Magazine
This season’s literary highlights — from book clubs and author talks to a professional headshot workshop
BY KIM BALDWIN
NASHVILLE IS A literary city. We have award-winning authors, popular self-published authors, poets, book clubs, banned-book meetups, writing classes, independent bookstores, independent publishers and a robust roster of author events.
FRIDAY, JAN. 31: Neko Case, author of The Harder I Fight, the More I Love You, in conversation with Ann Powers, 8 p.m. at OZ Arts, 6172 Cockrill Bend Circle
FRIDAY, JAN. 31: An evening with Sheree L. Greer and friends, featuring a pop-up from Bard’s Towne Books & Bourbon, 6:30 p.m. at Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee, 805 12th Ave. S.
SUNDAY, FEB. 2: The Porch’s Annual Heartbreak Happy Hour with Cortney Warner, Nina Adel and more, 7 p.m. at Jackalope Ranch Taproom, 429B Houston St.
TUESDAY, FEB. 4: Charlie Peacock, author of Roots and Rhythm, featuring special guests, 6:30 p.m. at Parnassus Books, 3900 Hillsboro Pike
Whether you’re looking to join a niche book club, read more banned books, merge your bourbon and poetry interests, or just use that new day planner you optimistically — if a bit delusionally — bought in the fall, you’re going to want to add these events to your calendar.
We’ve rounded up a sampling of events happening this season. For a complete list of events, check the websites of Parnassus Books, The Bookshop, Novelette Booksellers, The Green Ray, Bard’s Towne Books & Bourbon, the Nashville Public Library, Third Man Books and The Porch.
SATURDAY, JAN. 25: Novelette Book Club: I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, 9 a.m. at Novelette Booksellers, 1101 Chapel Ave.
SUNDAY, JAN. 26: Novelette Book Club: Straw Dogs of the Universe by Ye Chun, 6 p.m. at Novelette Booksellers, 1101 Chapel Ave.
MONDAY, JAN. 27: Andy Corren, author of Dirtbag Queen, in conversation with Stephanie Silverman, 6:30 p.m. at Parnassus Books, 3900 Hillsboro Pike
TUESDAY, JAN. 28: Lauren Kung Jessen, author of Yin Yang Love Song, in conversation with Clare Gilmore, 6:30 p.m. at Parnassus Books, 3900 Hillsboro Pike
THURSDAY, JAN. 30: Lola Kirke, author of Wild West Village, in conversation with Alice Carrière, 7 p.m. at Urban Cowboy Nashville, 1603 Woodland St.
MONDAY, FEB. 10: Adriana Herrera, author of A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke, in conversation with Katie Garaby, 6:30 p.m. at Parnassus Books, 3900 Hillsboro Pike
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 19: Kimberly Lemming, author of I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com, in a special double event with Jo Segura, author of Temple of Swoon, 6:30 p.m. at Parnassus Books, 3900 Hillsboro Pike
SATURDAY, FEB. 22: Jojo Moyes, author of We All Live Here, in conversation with Ann Patchett, 6:30 p.m. at Montgomery Bell Academy, Dead Poets Society Room, 4001 Harding Pike
THURSDAY, MARCH 6: Elaine Weiss, author of Spell Freedom: The Underground Schools That Built the Civil Rights Movement, in conversation with Joyce Searcy, 6:30 p.m. at Nashville Public Library Auditorium, 151 Sixth Ave. N.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19: Niall Williams, author of Time of the Child, in conversation with Ann Patchett, 6:30 p.m. at Parnassus Books, 3900 Hillsboro Pike
SATURDAY, MARCH 29: Professional headshots for writers with photographer Emily April Allen, 12 15-minute sessions available at porchtn.org, at The Porch House, 2811 Dogwood Place
MONDAY, MARCH 31: Jeff Chu, author of Good Soil, in conversation with Margaret Renkl, 6:30 p.m. at Parnassus Books, 3900 Hillsboro Pike ▼
51 NORTH TAPROOM
Taproom Hot Chicken Sandwich
Crispy thigh dipped in a 6 chili oil with slaw and pickles served on Charpiers bun with griddled cheddar. Served with fries.
ALBA’S EMPANADAS
Nashville Hot Chicken Empanada
Two golden empanadas with Nashville Hot Chicken filling accompanied by spiced Ranch and house-made pickles.
ALMOST FRIDAY SPORTING CLUB
Nash Hot Chicken Sandwich
Perfectly crispy, buttermilk-fried chicken tenders drenched in Almost Friday’s signature spicy sauce made from a blend of house spices that pack the perfect heat. Served on an Italian bun, topped with tangy giardiniera mayo, lettuce, tomato and fresh onion. Served with a side of French fries.
AMERIGO ITALIAN
RESTAURANT
Hot Chicken Pasta Alfredo
Fiery chicken tenders and scallions atop fettuccine alfredo. Available 11am-4pm only.
BABO KOREAN RESTAURANT
Fire Chicken
BLACK TAP CRAFT BURGERS & BEER
Hot Chicken Sandwich
Crispy chicken, hot chili oil, spicy dry rub, kosher pickles, house buttermilk-dill and parsley.
HATTIE B’S HOT CHICKEN
Leg Quarter with Drinking Buddy Beer Cheese Fries
BOOMBOZZ CRAFT PIZZA & TAPHOUSE
Dragon’s Breath Challenge
Think you can conquer the Dragon’s Breath Challenge? Prove it! 6 Wings, 7 Minutes, 8 Dollars! Be one of the first to get your picture on the Wall of Fame!
BROWN’S DINER
Brown’s Spicy Wedge
Brown’s house-made Calabrian Hot Chicken Tenders atop iceberg lettuce, blue cheese crumbles, bacon, tomato, slivered red onion, egg, croutons and Ranch dressing.
FAMILY TACOS
Hot Chicken Tacos
Three spicy breaded chicken breast tacos with a Mexican pepper topping, grilled onions, cilantro and chipotle sauce.
Hattie B’s Hot Chicken leg quarter with a side of crinkle-cut fries and Drinking Buddy Beer Cheese.
INTERNATIONAL TEA & COFFEE CO.
Tea Time Hot Chicken
Crispy fried hot chicken topped with spring mix and spicy aioli slaw on a Charpier’s Bakery bun.
JASPER’S
Hot Crispy Chicken Sandwich
Hot fried chicken, dill pickle and coleslaw on a brioche bun.
JWB GRILL
JWB Margaritaville’s Hot Chicken
Special
Brined, double-fried boneless thighs tossed in Babo’s Gochujang Chili Blend. Served with house-made cucumber kimchi and white rice. Intensely spicy, delightfully savory!
BARREL PROOF
Gochujang Hot Honey Chicken Slider
Buttermilk brine fried chicken breast on a toasted slider bun with house-made tarragon pickles and tossed in gochujang hot honey.
BAVARIAN BIERHAUS
Hot Chicken Schnitzel
Traditional Chicken Schnitzel tossed in Bavarian Bierhaus’ Nashville Hot Sauce, laid on a slice of fluffy white bread and topped with pickles.
BISHOP’S MEAT & 3
Leg Quarter with Side
Leg quarter spiced your way and one savory, Southern side of your choice (mac & cheese, carrot souffle, squash casserole, fried okra and more) with roll, cornbread or jalapeno cornbread.
GATHRE
Hot Chix Sandwich
Chipotle buttermilk brined and fried chicken breast, Sweet-Heat Chili spice blend, dill pickle and Napa cabbage Ranch slaw on a brioche bun.
GERMANTOWN CAFE
Southern Style Slay
Crispy, golden fried Nashville Hot Chicken perfectly balanced with creamy, tangy coleslaw and the crunch of thinly sliced kosher dill pickles. Stacked high on a freshly baked Charpier brioche bun, lightly toasted for the ultimate flavor.
GUS’S WORLD FAMOUS FRIED CHICKEN
Visit hotchickenweek.com for details!
HARTH RESTAURANT & BAR
Hot Chicken & Waffle Bites
Boneless chicken thigh bites marinated in a spiced buttermilk, waffle batter, house-made Nashville chili crisp, powder sugar, served with a side of maple syrup.
Crispy, hand-breaded fried chicken topped with vibrant Caribbean slaw, zesty spicy pickles and a drizzle of sweet-hot honey. Served on a toasted bun for the ultimate flavor-packed bite!
KARRINGTON ROWE
Hot Chicken Fried
Indulge in our crispy, golden-fried chicken topped with tangy home made breadand-butter pickles and drizzled with a fiery Nashville Hot Comeback Sauce. Nestled on a toasted, buttery Charpier brioche bun, this bold and flavorful sandwich is served alongside a generous portion of perfectly seasoned French fries. A spicy, savory, and satisfying feast!
LIBRARY RESTAURANT & LOUNGE
Nashville Hot Chicken & Waffle
Crispy fried chicken breast tossed in their house blend of Nashville Hot Chicken spice. Served over a sugar waffle with Thai bacon maple syrup on the side.
LIMO PERUVIAN EATERY
Peruvian Hot Chicken Sandwich
Brasa spiced chicken, Rocoto sauce, potato sticks, Criolla (Peruvian-style pickled onions) and Aji amarillo aioli on Peruvian French bread.
MAKESHIFT
Hot Chicken Sandwich
Crispy fried chicken breast filled with spicy garlic butter, coated in Nashville hot sauce, topped with pickles, lettuce, cheese and Ranch dressing.
NASHVILLE PALACE
Hot Hen Revival
Perfectly seasoned whole Cornish Hen fried to golden, spicy perfection. Served with a side of crispy, golden fries.
OTTO’S BAR
Spicy Chicken Tinga Taco
Served on Roti bread and topped with a vinegar coleslaw, this taco brings the heat thanks to a blend of Nashville Hot and Tinga spices!
PARK CAFE
The Fire Bird
Grilled hot chicken tenders, house-made b&b pickles and green apple coleslaw. Served with French fries.
PEPPERFIRE HOT CHICKEN
Hot Chicken Sandwich & Fries
Hot Chicken Sandwich made with freshly fried chicken tenders, topped with Poppyseed Slaw and house-made Sabi sauce!
PLANE JANE
Mile High Heat
PUNK WOK
Hot Chicken Bahn Mi
Classic Vietnamese sandwich with Nashville hot chicken, Vietnamese pickled veg, cuke, cilantro and spicy mayo.
RED ONION
Nashville Hot Chicken Wrap
Fried chicken tenders with homemade pickles, pickled jalapeños and slaw in a cheesy jalapeño wrap, served with a side of loaded potato salad. (Vegan option available upon request)
RED’S HOT CHICKEN
Hot Chicken Tater Cake
Fried tater cake made with pimento cheese, scallions and Red’s peppers, topped with hot chicken, bacon and Comeback Sauce. Served on a bed of arugula.
RODNEY SCOTT’S BBQ AT CHIEF’S ON BROADWAY
Rodney’s Hot Chicken Sandwich
Juicy fried chicken, perfectly crispy and golden, tossed in the signature RS Hot Sauce for a fiery kick. Topped with creamy, tangy coleslaw for the perfect balance, served on Martin’s Bun.
Hot Chicken Nachos
TACO BAMBA
Caleb’s Poyo Caliente
Chile spiced hot chicken, Chipotle Ranch, cheese, pickles, slaw and dill chips wrapped in a flour tortilla.
TEE LINE
Nashville Hot Honey Chicken
Pillows
Two spicy cheesy chicken pillows drizzled in Tee Line’s Hot Honey sauce .
TENN
The Fiery Fowl
Tender, juicy chicken slathered in a rich, sweet-and-spicy Carolina Reaper bourbon glaze that packs just the right kick. The sandwich is piled high with their house-made pickles for that perfect tangy crunch and finish it off with a smoky mayo that’s smoother than a front porch breeze.
TOP NOTE ROOFTOP BAR & RESTAURANT
Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich
Nashville Hot Chicken sandwich served open-faced on white bread with southern slaw, pickles, and fries.
Take flight with our BOLD hot chicken sandwich. 3 different peppers make for a fiery kick! Crispy, juicy, and packed with flavor, it’s a high-altitude heat experience you won’t forget.
PRINCE’S HOT CHICKEN
Corn tortilla chips, house made charro bean and queso mixture, mexi cheese, diced hot chicken, Saint Añejo’s house-made Hot Chicken Glaze, pico de gallo, guacamole and scallions. Additional special available. See website for details.
Thornton’s Colossal Fries
Thornton’s crispy fries topped with cotija cheese, chunks of crispy tenders with your choice of heat, homemade pico de gallo, jalapeños and drizzled with queso blanco. Garnished with cilantro and green onions. Special varies by location.
SCOREBOARD BAR & GRILL
Toadally Chicken
Deep-fried frog legs, spiced up with their signature Nashville Hot seasoning. These crispy “legs” are toadally not chicken, but they’ll still make your taste buds do a happy dance. Served with a side of hot, seasoned fries.
STREETCAR TAPS & BEER GARDEN
Nashville Hot Snack Wrap
Two crispy tenders bathed in Nashville Hot Oil and Rub with shredded lettuce, spicy mayo and pickled jalapeño in a flour tortilla. Sweet, Spicy, and delicious!
TRUE MUSIC ROOM & BAR
Southern Spice Thigh
Juicy, tender chicken thigh crafted in the signature Cambria Nashville hot style, delivering a bold kick of heat balanced by a refreshing, tangy fennel slaw. Paired with a warm, artisanal bread on a bed of spiced puffed rice for an irresistible crunch.
WALDO’S CHICKEN & BEER
Southern Fried Quarter Chicken
Waldo’s Chicken & Beer’s bone-in chicken brined overnight in a house-made Sidekick Brine, hand breaded and friend to crispy perfection. Served with Texas Toast and coleslaw.
THURSDAY
[THE NEXT GENERATION]
JAN. 28-FEB. 2
The temperatures may have been freezing this month, but things are heating up as Chicago returns to the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. With iconic songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and the one and only Bob Fosse, Chicago offers an enticing tale of corruption, murder and musical mayhem. The original production actually premiered on Broadway in 1975, receiving mixed reviews. But it’s the ongoing 1996 revival that’s proven to be the real hit, earning six Tony Awards, wowing audiences around the globe and securing its place as the longest-running American musical in Broadway history. Packed with Fosse’s signature style and unforgettable songs like “All That Jazz,” “Cell Block Tango,” “Roxie” and “Razzle Dazzle,” Chicago is still going strong. Fans can look forward to revisiting the classic musical beginning Jan. 28. And as is so often the case here in Music City, there’s even a Nashville connection — Jason Whitmore, who grew up in the area and graduated from MTSU, is in the orchestra. AMY STUMPFL
THROUGH FEB. 2 AT TPAC’S JACKSON HALL
505 DEADERICK ST
FILM
[BY CULTURE AND BY MERIT] TO CAPTURE A VISION FAIR
Nashville has a rich history of HBCU contributions to the city’s, state’s and nation’s social, political and cultural history. A big part of that legacy has been through the activities of various Black fraternities and sororities. For 50 years the Kappa Lambda Omega chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority has been involved in numerous activities throughout Music City and across Tennessee. These contributions are highlighted in the new documentary To Capture a Vision Fair. Produced in association with Nashville’s 353 Media Group, it’s the first film of its kind made by any Alpha Kappa chapter. The film celebrates the chapter’s history and features memories and reflections from past chapter presidents, as well as perspective on the constantly evolving role of Black sororities in the 21st century. The Belcourt will host a Pink Carpet premiere event Thursday to celebrate both the film and the Nashville chapter’s proud legacy. It’s a chance to learn more about an important and often unfairly overlooked component in both educational and cultural circles. RON WYNN
6:30 P.M. AT THE BELCOURT
2102 BELCOURT AVE.
It’s fun to live in a city with chart-topping musicians, bestselling authors and renowned visual artists. It’s important to have people grinding it out in the mid levels of those fields too, and we all celebrate when a beloved local finally gets their big break. But the hallmark of a great creative city is whether there are young beginning artists willing to pour hours into their craft — if they’re chasing a dream or just having some fun. Nashville’s got talented young visual artists in spades, and you can catch some of the very best at this year’s Middle Tennessee Regional Student Art Exhibition. The exhibition showcases 188 drawings, computer graphics, sculptures, photos and other works, all created by sixth- to 12th-grade artists in Middle Tennessee schools and deemed prize-worthy by a panel of judges. This year, the Watkins School of Art at Belmont University will offer scholarships to the high school “Best Of” winners in several categories, meaning they’ll get a jump-start on the next step in their education — whether that’s in the arts or otherwise. Arts aficionados can celebrate the winners at a Jan. 23 awards reception and ceremony, and the exhibit runs through the winter. COLE VILLENA THROUGH MARCH 1 AT THE PARTHENON 2300 WEST END AVE.
THE STORIES WE CARRY]
DANCE
The renowned Congolese dancer, choreographer and storyteller Faustin Linyekula has been called “possibly the most important artist working on the African continent today.” It’s easy to see why. His riveting work has been presented at some of the world’s most prestigious theaters, festivals and museums, from the Tate Modern in London to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Linyekula brings his deeply personal My Body, My Archive to OZ Arts this weekend, following major engagements in Los Angeles and New York. Blending vibrant movement and poetic text with live music from the acclaimed trumpeter Heru Shabaka-Ra, My Body, My Archive considers the ways in which the human body can carry and reveal the stories of past generations, while addressing the continued legacy of war and trauma in his native Democratic Republic of the Congo. In honoring and connecting with his own ancestors, however, Linyekula reminds us all of “what it means to seek beauty, to write or sing or dance, when surrounded by violence and loss.”
AMY STUMPFL
JAN. 24-25 AT OZ ARTS
6172 COCKRILL BEND CIRCLE
MUSIC
[STILL HAVE SOME LOVE TO GIVE]
EAST NASHVILLE TRIBUTE TO THE TRAVELING WILBURYS
While much of the world spends this winter consuming Bob Dylan’s origin story in new silver-screen biopic A Complete Unknown, a handful of Nashville noisemakers set sights on a different era of the folk singer’s lore by celebrating rock supergroup The Traveling Wilburys. In the short-lived but wildly influential ensemble, Dylan joined Tom Petty, George Harrison, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne for this Avengers-level collaboration in the late 1980s and early ’90s. The band produced a collection of rootsy rock songs — like the timetested “End of the Line” — that many still spin today, and their popularity is evident at events like the upcoming East Nashville Tribute to The Traveling Wilburys gig at The Basement East. This one-night nod to the Wilburys features Nashville players like Butch Walker, Nicole Atkins, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Kevin Griffin of Better Than Ezra, Sadler Vaden, Alanna Royale, members of Moon Taxi and more. Proceeds for the show benefit East C.A.N., a nonprofit addressing responsible pet ownership in the neighborhood. MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER
8 P.M. AT THE BASEMENT EAST 917 WOODLAND ST.
MUSIC
[IN THE HEARTS OF MEN]
GEORDIE GREEP
U.K. avant-rock outfit black midi, one of the most interesting bands of recent years, has already come and gone on indefinite hiatus.
The word came right around the time frontman Geordie Greep announced his solo debut The New Sound, which landed in October, and it’s just as intriguing as you’d hope as well as very different, as the title suggests. The songs are loaded with sounds from progressive rock and Brazilian dance music (with some of the recording actually done with session players in Brazil). Using a kind of aggressive, theatrical presentation that makes me think of a frontman like Tom Waits — though with an accent and vocal style all his own — Greep introduces us to a parade of reprehensible, unsympathetic men. Some are actual warlords, some desperately wish they could be; all are possessive, generally disgusting and ultimately pathetic. The performance and the storytelling are fascinating, and it’s an intense listen that’s sometimes unnerving. It makes me think of films like The Irishman, in the way Greep implicitly eviscerates the characters he’s illustrating; perhaps Dante’s Inferno imagined as a floor show. While these aren’t characters you’ll relish spending time with, it’ll be fascinating to see how the work translates to the stage.
STEPHEN TRAGESER
8 P.M. AT THE BLUE ROOM AT THIRD MAN RECORDS 623 SEVENTH AVE. S.
[SEND IN THE CLOWNS]
CIRCUS
RINGLING BROS. AND BARNUM & BAILEY: THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH
Most of us need a major reason to leave the house in January. Some razzle-dazzle, if you will. An event that zags. You get it … we’re talking about the circus here! And not just any circus — The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s The Greatest Show on Earth. The show has operated in one form or another since 1871, and the current iteration features a merry-go-round stage spinning with thrills: triangular high-wires, the world’s tallest rideable unicycle, criss-cross flying trapezes, extreme stunt bikes, a human rocket, Ukrainian jugglers, a teeterboard act from Mongolia, a slew of acrobats and aerials, and an Argentinian dance troupe. Keeping with the times, a robotic quadruped named Bailey has also been thrown into the mix. Going with your family (displaying the ultimate parenting metaphor) or a date (wholesomely revealing your inner freak) is the ideal reason to leave your house. At least for a little while. TOBY ROSE JAN 24-25 AT BRIDGESTONE ARENA
501 BROADWAY
SATURDAY
ART [GOING DUTCH]
BECKY SUSS: THE DUTCH HOUSE
Ann Patchett is up there with Dolly Parton in terms of being one of Nashville’s unofficial arts ambassadors. It’s great to see her influence spread throughout the local literary community, but she throws her weight behind folks in the visual arts world, as well. Nashville-based painter Noah Saterstrom, who is represented
by Julia Martin Gallery, made the painting that Patchett used for the cover of her awardwinning novel The Dutch House. Now an entire series of paintings inspired by the book is on display at Cheekwood Estate & Gardens. The artist, Becky Suss, is based in Philadelphia, where the fictional Dutch House mansion was located. Suss has made 10 new paintings for this show in her signature style, which evokes greats like Christina Ramberg and even Alison Elizabeth Taylor. For a deeper dive into the show, mark your calendar for Saturday, Feb. 22, when Suss will be joined by Patchett and Saterstrom for a conversation about the exhibition as well as the book that inspired it. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER THROUGH MARCH 16 AT CHEEKWOOD 1200 FORREST PARK DRIVE
Somehow MJ Lenderman still feels like a poorly kept secret. The North Carolinian returns to Nashville after a busy year that included new album Manning Fireworks, a breakout feature with Katie Crutchfield (Waxahatchee, a fellow ANTI- Records signee) and a breakup with Wednesday bandmate and collaborator Karly Hartzman. Gushing profiles in major publications have made him into an avatar — for young men, for today’s music industry, for the modern South … do yourself a favor and don’t read any of that. Just go see the show. Hearing his songs for the first time is the single best moment given to any soonto-be fan. The rest of us are left searching the slow-rocking “Wristwatch,” heady “Hangover Game” or melancholic “She’s Leaving You” for more and more meaning because we think it’s there; in the case of “Hangover Game,” maybe it’s simply about basketball. Rescheduled from October, when Hurricane Helene’s rain flooded Lenderman’s hometown of Asheville, Lenderman’s Basement East booking — which has since moved to the more spacious Brooklyn Bowl — now benefits from three months’ worth of anticipation. ELI MOTYCKA
8 P.M. AT BROOKLYN BOWL
925 THIRD AVE. N.
Paul Cauthen has been raising his profile over the past couple of years. The Texas neocountry singer and songwriter signed a new publishing deal in 2023 and released an album, 2024’s Black on Black, via the Atlantic Records imprint Anemoia Records. The Atlantic connection makes sense for Cauthen: I wonder what legendary Atlantic executive Jerry Wexler — who helped Willie Nelson record some pioneering music in the 1970s for a label that was known for rock and R&B — would make of Black on Black. I hear the album as a producers’ record, and Cauthen gets help from Jason Burt and Beau Bedford, who craft a big, postWaylon sound on tunes like “Everybody Get in Line” and “Angels & Heathens.” I can’t accuse Cauthen of overproducing Black on Black, since the point of this music is to forcibly combine modern rock with modern country in ways that might give some purists pause. When it works — check out the electro-boogie shuffle of “Everybody Get in Line” and the unclassifiable “Lavender Jones” — Black on Black is pretty farout and quite compelling. I think Wexler would approve.
EDD HURT
8 P.M. AT THE RYMAN
116 REP. JOHN LEWIS WAY N.
As winter deepens around Middle Tennessee, I’m reminded of the great American folk hero Pete Seeger when he sang “To everything / Turn, turn, turn / There is a season / Turn, turn, turn / A time to be born / A time to die.” If these gray days put you in a contemplative mood, Music City’s rich and complex history can be traced back through its many historic cemeteries. Avid gravegoers often visit the famous country stars of yesteryear buried in Spring Hill Cemetery or the prominent settlers and Civil War-era figures who inhabit the Nashville City Cemetery, but they tend to overlook the countless interesting sites found among 10 cemeteries located just off the beaten trails of Warner Parks. Before the area’s expansive acreage was designated
Saturday, January 25
HATCH SHOW PRINT
9:30
Saturday, January 25
SONGWRITER
Sunday, January 26
MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT Jason Coleman
1:00 pm · FORD THEATER
Sunday, January 26
INTERVIEW AND PERFORMANCE
Rosanne Cash
3:30 pm · FORD THEATER
LIMITED AVAILABILITY
WITNESS HISTORY
Saturday, February 1
HATCH SHOW PRINT
Block Party
9:30 am, NOON, and 2:30 pm
HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP
LIMITED AVAILABILITY
Saturday, February 1 FAMILY PROGRAM
10:00 am · FORD THEATER FREE
Saturday, February 1
SONGWRITER SESSION Ryan Beaver 1:00 pm · FORD THEATER
Sunday, February 2
MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT Fats Kaplin
1:00 pm · FORD THEATER
Saturday, February 8
SONGWRITER SESSION
Abbey Cone NOON · FORD THEATER
for recreation, generations of families lived, worked and were buried on the land that would eventually become Percy and Edwin Warner Parks. This first half of the two-part hiking tour series features three cemetery stops led by Warner Park Nature Center’s Rachel Carter. It’s an invitation to step back into the past — keep an eye out for the follow-up tour in February.
JASON VERSTEGEN
1 P.M. AT WARNER PARK NATURE CENTER 7311 HIGHWAY 100
[THE WITTIEST DITZ IN THE ROOM] 2024 IN TRIBUTE: YOUNG
From her Oscar-nominated turn as a neurotic actress in Tootsie to her frequent, comic goldspinning appearances on Late Night With David Letterman back in the day, Teri Garr (who died in October at age 79 due to complications from multiple sclerosis) built a nice career out of being the wittiest ditz in the room. Mel Brooks took full advantage of her goofy, fetching charm when he cast her as Inga, the glamorous assistant/lover to star/co-writer Gene Wilder’s mad scientist Frederick Frankenstein in Young Frankenstein — the other classic spoof he dropped in 1974. (You can look up my feelings on the first one, Blazing Saddles.) Garr practically served as the straight man in this madhouse salute to old-school creature features, as the rest of the stacked cast (which also includes Madeline Kahn, Marty Feldman and Cloris Leachman, with Peter Boyle as the big guy) got most of the laughs. But I’m quite certain many who’ve seen this film still wished they had the chance to “roll in ze hay” with a brilliant, beautiful talent. Visit belcourt.org for showtimes. CRAIG D. LINDSEY
JAN. 25 & 28 AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.
[DOING IT ALL RIGHT]
MUSIC
CECILIA CASTLEMAN
When a hometown alternative artist manages to rise through the ranks of the Nashville music scene, it’s something to celebrate — and unabashed singer-songwriter and indie rocker Cecilia Castleman is doing just that. The Nashville native began writing songs as personal mementos at age 11, and her self-taught guitar skills have earned praise from musicians like John Mayer. Electric guitar riff-based tracks like “It’s Alright” and “Lonely Nights,” produced by the legendary Don Was, contrast with lightweight, ethereal indie tracks like the recently released “Looking for June” to create a perfect balance in her discography. With only a stream of singles and an EP under
her belt since her 2022 debut, she’s secured a spot opening for artists like Hozier, Inhaler and Sheryl Crow. Castleman will celebrate her birthday at The Blue Room on Saturday, and gifts aren’t required. In fact, Castleman will provide the gift herself: Along with an exclusive signing, she’ll be performing her new debut album in full, with special guest Hank Compton opening. BAILEY BRANTINGHAM
7 P.M. AT THE BLUE ROOM AT THIRD MAN RECORDS
623 SEVENTH AVE. S.
[DOUBLE FEATURED]
FILM
2024 IN TRIBUTE: IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT
With the Belcourt screening In the Heat of the Night during its 2024 In Tribute series, they get that rare opportunity to salute two dearly departed Hollywood legends — director Norman Jewison died in January 2024, and composer Quincy Jones died in November — who collaborated on the same picture. Both men certainly aided in giving Sidney Poitier his soul-glow swagger as cool, smart, ready-toslap-a-muhfucka Virgil Tibbs. He’s a big-city detective who gets wrongfully detained by a small Mississippi town’s police force (led by Rod Steiger’s gum-smacking chief) and somehow ends up helping them solve a murder. Jewison worked with revered cinematographer Haskell Wexler in properly lighting Poitier’s movie-star features and making this the first Hollywood film to actually give a damn about Black skin. As for Jones, he rounded up some eclectic session players (including Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Glen Campbell, Wrecking Crew member Carol Kaye, “human instrument” Don Elliott) and created a Grammy-nominated score full of Southern-fried, Mississippi Delta-style bluesiness, complete with a theme sung by Ray Charles. Visit belcourt.org for showtimes.
CRAIG D. LINDSEY
JAN. 26 & 29 AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.
MONDAY / 1.27
FILM [I LOVE YOU MAN] WAYNE’S WORLD
My personal Mount Rushmore of rock ’n’ roll comedy flicks includes This Is Spinal Tap (duh), Airheads (fight me), A Hard Day’s Night (of course) and the most excellent of them all, Wayne’s World. Maybe it’s the Midwesterner in me, but the adventures of Aurora, Ill.’s favorite headbanging geeksters turned public access television stars just hits home on a wholesome level. Wayne Campbell and his uber-awkward sidekick Garth Algar must thwart the corporate takeover of their ragtag show by slimy, slickhaired bad guys who want to ruin it through greed and manipulation. (Sound familiar?) The 1992 film finds a young Mike Myers and Dana Carvey at the height of their Saturday Night Live popularity, but 33 years later, I’m pretty sure
we could all use another reminder to value friendship, community and love over status, power and money. Are we worthy? JASON VERSTEGEN
8 P.M. AT THE FRANKLIN THEATRE
419 MAIN ST., FRANKLIN
[PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER]
For all the crafty folks in Nashville: There’s a new club, just for you! Nashville Craft Club, hosted by Rachel R. Durham, features a variety of different activities — think vision boards, printmaking tote bags, memory boxes and more. On Jan. 28, the club will make collage matchboxes, giving folks a chance to create a personalized, refillable matchbox (with matches to fill it with, of course). After poring over magazines, prints and design books, you’ll be cutting out and collaging the matchbox, all while meeting new folks in the process. Forevermore Coffee will offer up beverages — I highly recommend their chai — as well as a photobooth token and 10 percent off any purchase from the shop. Space is limited, and purchasing tickets in advance is highly recommended. The craft being featured changes weekly, and there are multiple events throughout the month, so be sure to follow @nashvillecraftclub on Instagram for the latest.
TINA DOMINGUEZ
6 P.M. AT FOREVERMORE COFFEE
400 CLEVELAND ST.
Summertime in Tennessee means long drives with the windows down and the radio turned up just about as high as it’ll go — likely with a playlist titled “Vibes.” An essential part of this playlist is, of course, a few songs from indie rockers Hippo Campus. Hearing “Smokeswell haze on the hill over Tennessee” from Hippo Campus’ song “Warm Glow” has been an essential part of curating the aesthetic for me, and the song has become a classic, on repeat since its release eight years ago. Now we’re
of course faced with the crushing reality that it’s January and not July, but the feeling can be your reality: Hippo Campus will take the stage at the Ryman on Tuesday with support from Mei Semones, an alternative indie J-pop artist. Semones just released her newest EP, Kabutomushi, which includes a mix of English and Japanese lyrics documenting some of her closest relationships and the vulnerability that can be found in saying goodbye. That vulnerability is also found on the recently released Flood, arguably one of Hippo Campus’ best albums. KATIE BETH CANNON
8 P.M. AT THE RYMAN
116 REP. JOHN LEWIS WAY N.
MUSIC
[PHANTOM OF THE OPRY] PHANTOGRAM
You could say New York duo Phantogram operates under an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” ethos. Arriving amid a flurry of electronic-pop duos and trios in the late Aughts and early 2010s, Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter stood on the shoulders of trip-hop, shoegaze and electronica outfits like Cocteau Twins and Portishead with their 2010 debut LP Eyelid Movies. Songs like that album’s “Mouthful of Diamonds,” and “Black Out Days” from 2014’s Voices earned the band a modest amount of chart success thanks to Carter’s crunchy beats and Barthel’s catchy, powerfully delivered vocals. With the exception of Big Grams, their 2015 collaboration with OutKast’s Big Boi, it’s a formula they’ve mostly stuck to. And a formula that remains catchy, succinct and fun. Perhaps that’s why they’re still issuing consistent new music, like October’s characteristically catchy and fun Memory of a Day, while similar Aughts-bred synth-pop acts — your Chairlifts, your Passion Pits and your The xx’s — are largely MIA so far this decade. Expect consistency when Phantogram hits the Ryman on Wednesday. GLU appears in support.
D. PATRICK RODGERS
8 P.M. AT THE RYMAN
115 116 REP. JOHN LEWIS WAY N.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 26
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Need a good reason to venture out into the cold? Let’s be Frank, this is it.
BY DANNY BONVISSUTO
Date Night is a multipart road map for everyone who wants a nice evening out, but has no time to plan it. It’s for people who want to do more than just go to one restaurant and call it a night. It’s for overwhelmed parents who don’t get out often; for friends who visit the same three restaurants because they’re too afraid to try someplace new; and for busy folks who keep forgetting all the places they’ve driven past, heard about, seen on social and said, “Let’s remember that place next time we go out.”
DECEMBER KICKED my ass. The entire month put on its pointiest boots, taped a bull’s-eye to my butt and went to town. My teen kicked things off with bronchitis, then I went down hard with a virus, only to recover in time to nurse the teen through the flu. In the final stretch of present buying and marathon wrapping, husband Dom got COVID for Christmas. This is why, when it came time to leave the house for my January Date Night, I just didn’t wanna. It’s too cold out there. Too windy. Too people-y. I wanted to be quiet. Needed to be alone. Can’t everyone pretend I’m a bear and let me hibernate?
No, they cannot. No one had time for my excuses, including the teen — who needed to be picked up two hours away and dropped off at an
airsoft facility in the bowels of downtown Nashville, where everyone looks like they’re either preparing for end times or causing it. Once I got back in the world, I felt a little more like myself. So I decided to keep going.
Parlour Bar in the Dream Nashville hotel is a lovely place to ease into humanity, and has become my go-to downtown drink spot for many reasons: 1. Near Fourth Avenue and Church, it puts a two-block buffer between me and Broadway; 2. With eight tables plus bar seats, it’s small but not so small I have to stalk people for their chair; 3. It has Goldilocks lighting, not too dark and not too bright; 4. There’s often a wellthought-out and executed seasonal drink menu; 5. It’s a snug, humble space in a district that’s become a little too big for its britches.
In the fall, Dom and I stopped in for a Campfire Old Fashioned with a toasted marshmallow garnish and loved the pumpkin pillows along the banquette so much I found them online and bought a pair. When we visited earlier this month, Parlour Bar was at the tail end of its Holiday Cheers theme, and we warmed ourselves with a Spiced Winter Wonderland (spiced rum, spiced pear liqueur, lemon, orange juice
and honey) and a Cozy Up (Makers Mark, hot apple cider) underneath giant red ornaments and snowflakes hanging from the ceiling. Now they’re offering two Valentine’s Day-themed drinks for those who celebrate: the Pink 75 and Thornless Rose.
Parlour Bar is a one-drink wonder. Somewhere to shed the skin of the flight, drive, day (or in my case, the month of December) and charge up your social battery before the main event.
I’ll admit it: I snubbed Sinatra Bar & Lounge at first. I saw the billboards, couldn’t connect the dots between the Country Music Capital of the World and a Rat Pack crooner, and wrote it off as another music-adjacent locale looking to cash in on the deep pockets of the downtown crowd. It wasn’t until two unrelated friends who dine out often mentioned they’d been and loved it that I started to wonder if I’d become a little too big for my own britches.
Sinatra is just a few doors down from Parlour Bar. Dom and I moved quickly from one to the other to avoid the cold, and we were at the door, with “Luck Be a Lady” blasting through the nearby speakers, in minutes. From the host stand, I could see it wasn’t a cavernous space: A
green banquette snakes along the left side, curving in and out so each couple has privacy while feeling connected to the rest of the restaurant. The bar stretches down the right, and there’s an elevated dining area at the far end. That’s where a guy who wasn’t a Sinatra impersonator but wasn’t really not a Sinatra impersonator sang within view of everyone in the restaurant.
Now this is a reason to leave the house. I knew they’d play music; I didn’t know it’d be live, from a performer walking around the restaurant with a retro wireless mic. Shortly after we were seated, Not Frank absolutely crushed “My Way,” singing to guests somehow not awkwardly, moving on at the exact right time. Dude was a pro.
Meanwhile, our server put a golf pencil and a “My Way” martini checklist on the table, and Dom immediately started customizing his drink with glee. (“Look babe, there are goatcheese-stuffed pepperoncini!”). Meanwhile I read through the spirits menu, which included a $500 2-ounce pour of Jack Daniel’s exclusive Sinatra Century that was created in honor of Old Blue Eyes’ 100th birthday. Shortly after the martini arrived, so did Not Frank. “Drinking alone, my friend?” he asked Dom, gesturing to his martini and my water glass. “Any requests?” Without missing a beat, Dom asked for “Fly Me
to the Moon,” our wedding song, and Not Frank was off with a wink.
Sinatra isn’t a theme restaurant; it’s a special-occasion spot with a slightly more-thansubtle Frank Sinatra theme. And as I’m sure you know, the Chairman of the Board didn’t F around. There’s a dress code and two bouncer-ish guys by the door who look ready to politely enforce it. Service is professional, practiced and perfected (and maybe all-male — at least it was the night of our visit). The menu is extensive, blending high-end Italian with high-end steakhouse. It is not cheap. There’s not a chicken finger or side of mac-and-cheese to be seen.
They make a mighty fine ragu pappardelle, though — braised short rib strands cling to wide noodles in a rich dish I would happily eat nightly until the weather warms. Sinatra offers eight sauce and butter add-ons to their steaks, but not the blue cheese crust Dom craved. They
created one for him, and it came out beautifully — a side of lemony creamed spinach balanced each bite with brightness.
Regrets? I had a few. But then again, too few to mention. Actually I will mention one: Next time we’ll skip the underwhelming tiramisu in favor of a snifter of sambuca with the traditional three coffee beans in the bottom.
Toward the end of our meal, Not Frank sang our song as Dom returned from the restroom.
“You can sit here,” I said. “But my husband will be back soon.”
“OK then, I’ll make it quick,” he replied. “I don’t have a lot of money, and my bed is covered in dog hair. Want to spend the rest of your life with me?”
After a month of Lipton noodle soup and grilled cheese, it felt foreign to flirt and laugh. That’s the power of food: Some meals just keep you alive — others bring you back to life. ▼
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How teaching my twin girls about voting helps me express my love for politics
BY SHEENA STEWARD
Vodka Yonic features a rotating cast of women, nonbinary and gender-diverse writers from around the world sharing stories that are alternately humorous, sobering, intellectual, erotic, religious or painfully personal. You never know what you’ll find in this column, but we hope this potent mix of stories encourages conversation.
challenges due to heightened scrutiny and voter apathy.
I hired someone to film and edit my campaign video. I ran on “The Greatest Love of All” platform because, as Whitney Houston taught us, “Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all.”
Once my video hit social media, Anthony vowed to have the marketing department at his job assist him in creating a campaign video that would rival anything produced in Obama’s “Yes We Can” era. I threatened to expose him for using corporate America, and he decided to go another route.
I WAS A precocious 6-year-old in the fall of 1988 with a momentous task ahead of me: voting for the 41st president of the United States. One doesn’t complete a task of this magnitude without dedicated preparation, so between September and October, I was glued to the television as part of my extensive research. There I was, a little girl from rural Tennessee, having limited access to the “Big City” yet enthralled with the presidential election of 1988.
We hit the campaign trail hard by listening to our constituents and making promises to improve their lives. We made a voter registration form for the girls to fill out and gave them voter registration cards.
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 31
My self-imposed civic duty was to watch the presidential debates and assist my fellow Americans with the weighted decision of electing our 41st president. (For those who aren’t caught up on streaming America: The Series, this is your chance to binge a few more episodes and then return to the story.) Everyone else knows George H.W. Bush won the election, and I subsequently experienced my first political defeat.
More than 36 years later, my love for politics and the hunt for justice still ring as loudly as my ancestors’ cry for freedom. All citizens, regardless of age, should hold the right to make their voices heard in some form.
Holding firm to that belief, Election Day 2022 sparked an idea that once again felt like a sign to uphold my civic duty. At that time, my husband Anthony and I had 3-year-old twin girls. I, being a political enthusiast, voted during the early voting period. So when Anthony headed to the polls on Election Day, I asked him to snag two additional “I Voted” stickers. He returned home with the stickers, and I laid out the plan. The girls would vote for a position more important than POTUS: Favorite Parent. I used their walk-in closet as the polling location and created two voter registration cards.
Although our Favorite Parent election is the type of hijinks you’d expect from a 1990s TGIF sitcom, we’d be remiss not to use this time to teach the girls the importance of registering to vote and identifying the privilege we hold in casting our vote, especially since their ancestors were girls and boys of the rural South who never had the privilege bestowed upon them.
Just like many of you, our daughters cast their
THE GIRLS WOULD VOTE FOR A POSITION MORE IMPORTANT THAN POTUS: FAVORITE PARENT. I USED THEIR WALK-IN CLOSET AS THE POLLING LOCATION AND CREATED TWO VOTER REGISTRATION CARDS.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3
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with SPECIAL GUESTS at PARNASSUS Roots and Rhythm: A Life in Music
3900 Hillsboro Pike Suite 14 | Nashville, TN 37215 (615) 953-2243 Shop online at parnassusbooks.net
To get the girls more involved and create an experience as true to life as possible, we put two other items on the ballot: Doughnut Friday and Amendment 2022 (“Should Daddy buy a new car?”). Mommy won Favorite Parent, Doughnut Friday was approved, and the amendment passed. After Election Day, I continued to bask in the victory of winning Favorite Parent while ensuring the girls got doughnuts on Fridays and spearheading the charge for Daddy to buy a new car.
vote on Nov. 5, 2024. Before voting started, we had time to address our constituents and plead our case. After the speeches, it was time to vote. Each girl had to present her identification to a poll worker and then head to the booth to cast her vote. On the ballot were Favorite Parent, Pizza Friday and Amendment 2024 (Mommy and Daddy must take the girls on a trip at least once a quarter).
The girls filled out their ballots, placed them in the scanner and received their coveted “I Voted” stickers. Mommy won Favorite Parent, Pizza Friday was approved, and Amendment 2024 passed with flying colors.
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When the 2024 political season began, as the incumbent candidate, I wanted to connect with the voters on a deep emotional level quickly. I’ve studied enough political campaigns to know being an incumbent presents unique
In the fall of 1988, 6-year-old Sheena headed to the polls to cast her imaginary vote for Michael Dukakis. Thirty-six years later, I took my love for politics and the hunt for justice and turned it into an avenue for my 5-year-olds to ring their bells and raise their voices loudly and proudly. ▼
EAGLEMANIACS: The Music of Don Henley and The Eagles
Backstage Nashville! Daytime Hit Songwriters Show featuring BOB DIPIERO, CLINT DANIELS, THOM SHEPHERD & RAY STEPHENSON VINYL RADIO
“TURNING MUSIC INTO HOPE” A Benefit for Nashville’s Sexual Assault Center featuring WILL LEATHERS, JOEY RICHEY, KIM FLEMING, STEVE PATRICK, BARRY GREEN, JOVAN QUALLO, JIMMY BOWLAND & More!
SANG. IT. FIRST. Hosted by: BRIDGETTE TATUM & MARLA CANNON-GOODMAN featuring EMMA ZINCK & MARK NESLER
THE TENNESSEE WARBLERS with JUDY PASTER
(11:30AM) van halen tribute w/ Neil Zlozower, Jeremy Asbrock, Ryan Spencer Cook, Philip Shouse & Christopher Williams (8pM) rubblebucket w/ hannah mohan Mon Rovîa w/ oliver hazard bonnie stewart w/ Struggle Jennings, Noah Guthrie, Drake Freeman, Zoe Jean Fowler, Maddie Lenhart & MisterMoon nashville comedy show: will abeles ft. Brad Sativa, Jamie Shriner, Drew Harrison, Stephen Henry, Miriam Kirk, Evan Berke, and Tony Roni michigander w/ sydney sprague
jack kays w/ games we play
Lawndry, Trash Man (7pm) the cold stares w/ myron elkins (9PM) the deltaz w/ Noah Nash (7pm) forbidden highway (9PM)
baylee lindsey & casey noel (7pm)
Kid Pastel, The New LA, Sam Varga (9PM)
lb beistad w/ toy dinosaur (7pm)
Miranda And The Beat w/ Cowboy Killer, Night Talkers, & The Serpenteens (9PM)
koziol
clover county w/ angela autumn (7pm) tayls w/ bullshark & tony honk (9PM) luke
With Bloom, Larkin Poe moves to the head of the Southern rock class
BY DARYL SANDERS
AFTER WINNING A Grammy last year for Best Contemporary Blues Album with Blood Harmonies, Larkin Poe — the dynamic rock duo of sisters Megan and Rebecca Lovell — decided to shake things up a bit on their seventh album Bloom. The record hits stores and digital platforms on Friday.
“In years past, we definitely approached writing in more of a split fashion, where we would come up with ideas independently and then bring them together,” guitarist and lead vocalist Rebecca tells the Scene during a call with the duo on a recent snowy day in Nashville. “For Bloom, we wanted to reinvent our writing process and come together and collaborate from the beginning to the end on every single song on the record. I think folks can really hear the leap forward in our writing due to that shift. … Additionally, we had our third collaborator: Tyler Bryant, who is also a longtime Nashville resident — my husband, our co-producer.”
Bloom is a sophisticated record, and as the title implies, it represents a flowering of sorts for the duo. Whereas most of their studio releases have been squarely in the blues-rock vein, the new album, which is sonically broader, might be best described as Southern rock.
“Our dad was playing a lot of Southern rock for us growing up,” says vocalist and lead guitarist Megan. “So we came up on a lot of the greats, and so much great guitar work and so much great slide work. Slide guitar has always been, in my mind, the epitome of guitar excellence, because it’s got guitar work, but it’s also got this human-emotion-vulnerability-like vocal quality to it — with the vibrato and the way that you can slide in and the pitch of it.”
While Larkin Poe has broadened their sound somewhat, the album still features the elements that propelled the duo to national prominence and beyond: Rebecca’s lead vocals full of soul and swagger and the sisters’ memorable monster guitar riffs and soaring solos. Megan’s thrilling slide work on the album reminds us why she’s called “Slide Queen.” She plays her signature Electro-Liege lap steel, which she designed with Paul Beard of Beard Guitars and can be seen playing in the video for “Bluephoria,” the album’s first single. Megan counts Duane Allman, Joe Walsh and Lowell George among her slide influences, but on Bloom she draws on another important influence.
“We were really inspired by David Lindley’s tone and kind of delved into that, specifically the Running on Empty tone,” she says, referencing the 1977 album by Jackson Browne. Bloom was recorded in Nashville at The Lilypad, Rebecca and Bryant’s home studio. The sisters were accompanied by Tarka Layman on bass, Caleb Crosby on drums, Michael Webb on Hammond B3 organ and Eleonore Denig on
strings. In addition to engineering the record, Bryant contributed some bass and guitar.
The sisters began their career as professional musicians in The Lovell Sisters, a bluegrass trio with their older sister Jessica. Those roots are slightly more apparent on Bloom than on their previous albums, and that’s by design.
“We removed a lot of the parameters for ourselves and let that come back in,” Megan explains. “There’s a lot of beautiful melodies, and that’s part of us; that’s a part of our lifeblood. So it’s really nice to let some of the folkiness back into our playing. It doesn’t have to be so hard or bluesy all the time. We can let that part of ourselves show, too.”
Lyrically, the record covers territory wide and deep. Sentiments range from “I may not be a star / But I know I can shine like the moon” and “Cool whippin’ like it’s Saturday night” to “The sun still rises after sorrow” and “If God is a woman, then the devil is, too.”
The record begins with “Mockingbird.” On
the surface, the song may seem simple, but it showcases a deep respect for the many artists who preceded them.
“Every artist, we like to think that we’re special snowflakes, and we can have an original thought,” Rebecca observes. “But those humans who actually have an original thought are very few and very far between. The rest of us are standing on the shoulders of those that came before. We’re all derivative, and that shouldn’t cause shame. That’s just the nature of the human tradition of art. It’s passed from one hand to the next, down the generations, and there is something beautiful in that.”
The album concludes with “Bloom Again,” a song they wrote at the suggestion of The Dirty Knobs’ Mike Campbell, formerly the longtime lead guitarist for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
“He had suggested we write a song in the style of the Everly Brothers, and that’s actually the first song we wrote for the record,” Megan recalls. “When Rebecca and I sat down to begin, we were a little bit nervous. … ‘Bloom Again’ was like a gift. It came into being so easily, in just a matter of hours. It felt like a signpost for how the writing process was going to go for Bloom.” ▼
We Are Here brings songs of the Holocaust to Blair School of Music on International Holocaust Remembrance Day
BY MARGARET LITTMAN
THE IDEA FOR the dynamic, multi-artist concert being presented Jan. 27 at Ingram Hall on the Vanderbilt Blair School of Music campus started as a question.
For many Jews, Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel was the gold standard when it came to Holocaust awareness. At age 15, Wiesel was deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau and Buchenwald concentration camps, where his parents and his younger sister were killed. Wiesel wrote the Night trilogy about his experiences in the Nazi death camps and devoted his post-Holocaust life to bearing witness to what happened.
When Wiesel died in 2016 at age 87, Ira Antelis remembers asking himself, “Who takes over the mantle now, as people are aging, so that the Holocaust won’t be forgotten?”
Antelis, a composer and music producer, spent that weekend doing a deep dive on all things Wiesel and learned that the author had written the foreword to a book called We Are Here: Songs of the Holocaust, a collection of songs in Yiddish, written by Jews in ghettos and Nazi camps during World War II. That resonated with Antelis and his professional background. He decided to produce a concert of that sonic folklore. There were, in fact, 14 different songbooks written by Jews in concentration camps and ghettos. Most of the people who wrote the songs died in the camps and knew that was likely their fate. While some of the lyrics certainly are sad, Antelis says, “They never lost the thought that there will be a better tomorrow.” He selected and produced a selection of songs to highlight a range of styles, including some 1940s folk and even some satire. That meant he could produce a show that was poignant and meaningful, but not a funeral experience.
Antelis enlisted the help of his friends David Mendelson and Rabbi Charlie Savenor. Due to coronavirus pandemic delays, the initial concert took longer to organize than planned, but even-
tually met with success at a Chicago synagogue. They then produced We Are Here for a sold-out audience at The Salt Shed in Chicago and again at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
“I get choked up thinking about it, because this music deserves to be played on the most prestigious stage in the world,” Savenor says of the Carnegie Hall experience.
The trio continued to look for venues that are not synagogues to attract a broader audience to the messages of resilience and hope. A Vanderbilt University graduate, Mendelson wanted to bring We Are Here to his alma mater. Vanderbilt
has the oldest Holocaust lecture series of any U.S. university, and has several pieces by Holocaust survivors, including György Kádár, in its fine arts collection.
Mendelson met Darren Reisberg, vice chancellor for administration at Vanderbilt, who oversees Dialogue Vanderbilt, an initiative to help people talk about difficult topics. While We Are Here is more listening than talking, Reisberg thought bringing it to campus made sense.
At each concert, different presenters introduce each song in English, and then each song is performed by different musicians. In
Nashville, there will be 14 songs, one from each songbook. Presenters and performers include singer-songwriters Justin Jesso and Gary and Landon Pigg, as well as Linda Hooper of the Paper Clips Project. (Side note: If you have not been to Whitwell, Tenn., to experience the educational center and memorial that Hooper created at Whitwell Middle School, get in the car and go.).
For the first time in the We Are Here lineup, there will be a spoken-word piece and an instrumental by Howard Levy, who Antelis says is the world’s best harmonica player. The finale will be performed by a choir of 80 people, including Blair students. Tickets are available online for $10 and are free for Vanderbilt students. They are priced to make the experience available to whoever wants to attend. We Are Here is intentionally not political, and the idea started before Oct. 7, 2023.
“It being on International Holocaust Remembrance Day is really the timeliness part,” Reisberg says. “We’ve seen hate proliferate in the world all the time, and we’re certainly not immune from it now. The politics of what may be happening globally is not the focus of this event that is more focused on a time in history that we do not want to be seen repeating itself.” ▼
7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 27, at Blair School of Music’s Ingram Hall
BY MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER
RINGO STARR IS getting his moment in Nashville, and it’s about time.
Starr’s no stranger to country music, of course. After The Beatles disbanded, one of his first stops was Music Row, where he cut his second solo album Beaucoups of Blues with pedal-steel master Pete Drake producing. As a lifelong fan of Nashville’s three-chord export, Starr brought sprinkles of twang to his time in the Fab Four, once suggesting the group cover Buck Owens’ “Act Naturally.” He’s often linked to Beatles songs with a country twist, like the honky-tonkin’ “What Goes On,” fiddle-soaked “Don’t Pass Me By,” frollicking fan-favorite “Octopus’s Garden” — and the list goes on.
Now, at age 84, he’s still showing his love for a swing beat and pedal-steel lick — just ask anyone who caught one of the two Ringo Starr & Friends shows Jan. 14 and 15 at the Ryman Starr headlined the Mother Church to celebrate the release of Look Up, a country LP co-produced by T Bone Burnett that features Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Alison Krauss and other tastemaking players. CBS taped the performances for a forthcoming network special, and some proceeds from the shows will go to fire relief efforts in Los Angeles. And with collaborations from Jack White, Sheryl Crow, Emmylou Harris, Brenda Lee and others, it felt like an overdue homecoming for an artist who’s always been at least a little country at heart.
During Wednesday’s show, Starr doubled as performer and guest of honor — the proverbial glue to a set list of time-tested music that wouldn’t be out of place on an AM dial. He zipped onstage flashing double peace signs before opening the show with a rendition of Carl Perkins’ “Matchbox,” a tune covered by The Beatles in the band’s formative years. White played a rollicking guitar on “Matchbox,” a role he’d adopt for a handful of songs throughout the night, including a crowd-pleasing take on “Don’t Pass Me By” that he took the lead on later in the show.
Starr would occasionally exit the stage, leaving his songs in capable hands. Tuttle gave “Octopus’s Garden” an old-time twist, while Strings ripped through a rowdy take of “Honey Don’t,” another Perkins number cut by The Beatles. The two later teamed up on a rendition of “What Goes On” that featured Starr behind the drum kit, beaming and singing along. At another point in the 19-song show, Rodney Crowell and Sarah Jarosz were tasked with performing arguably Starr’s best-known link to country music: “Act Naturally.”
“I feel blessed tonight, with all these great players coming out,” Starr said toward the end of the gig.
The tribute didn’t stick to the path often traveled through Starr’s history, either. Mickey
Guyton transformed “You Don’t Know Me at All,” a Starr deep cut originally recorded in the mid1970s, into a room-shaking anthem. Husbandand-wife duo The War and Treaty Beaucoups of Blues song “Without Her” as a stirring piano ballad. Amid some tributes, the former Beatle popped onstage to croon new tunes, like the earnest “Thankful,” which featured Nashville sister duo Larkin Poe subtly psychedelic titular song “Look Up.”
Midway through the show, Sheryl Crow echoed a sentiment likely felt by many in the room: “I needed this,” she said, before singing the Beatles tune “I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party” with Tuttle. Crow continued: “I can’t think of
Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths is a bitter pill featuring an outstanding performance from Marianne Jean-Baptiste
BY CRAIG D. LINDSEY
IN MIKE LEIGH’S new film Hard Truths, Marianne Jean-Baptiste basically plays my grandmother.
Sure, Jean-Baptiste stars as Pansy, a wife, mother and homemaker based in London. But watching her go through life as a loud, incorrigible downer of a woman took me back to my days growing up with my “Momo” Florence, a woman who was never not in a foul mood. Much like Pansy, my grandmother always had to be the most miserable person in the room, constantly complaining about being “half-sick” and claiming that her issues were heavier than anyone else’s. “You think you got problems?” she would often tell me whenever I was going through something, instantly indicating that the next five minutes would be all about her. But at least during those moments I knew my grandmother was trying to console me. Pansy, on the other hand, does not care about what her family members are dealing with. Her husband (David Webber) and son (Tuwaine Barrett) are more like silent observers to her relentless diatribes than loved ones. She has a more empathetic relationship with her single-mom sister Chantelle (Michele Austin), who keeps pressing her bitter ass to visit their mother’s grave on Mother’s Day.
Since English filmmaker Leigh wrote and directed 2008’s wonderful Happy-Go-Lucky,
The Colors Within puts the ‘mellow’ in ‘melodrama’
BY KEN ARNOLD
WE’RE CURRENTLY IN The stretch of the cinematic schedule that we call awards season — several of the past year’s buzziest films are making their final push for all the shiny statues. Many of the most talked-about contenders are the ones reflecting on the state of the world with a rather bleak outlook. Thankfully, through the sea of doom and gloom, Naoko Yamada shines a hopeful ray of wholesome melodrama with her new animated feature The Colors Within, letting us take a deep breath, collect ourselves and focus on the positive in life. A student at an all-girls Catholic school in Japan, Totsuko (Sayu Suzukawa) has the special power of seeing people in the form of colors. She becomes enamored with the color emanating from her classmate Kimi (Akari Takaishi), and after a run-in at a bookstore, the two girls and college student Rui (Taisei Kido) — who overhears their conversation about music — decide to start an impromptu three-piece band featuring guitar, keyboard
which starred Sally Hawkins as the most positive woman in London, I should’ve known a movie about the most negative woman in London would arrive at some point. Here he reunites with his Secrets & Lies co-stars Austin and Jean-Baptiste, the latter of whom maintains a venomous scowl throughout.
Sometimes Leigh uses Pansy’s bilious attitude for comedic purposes, like when she plows her way through a day of antagonizing strangers. (It’s like Leigh is giving us some Larry David-level cringe comedy.) But as the film rolls on, we see how Pansy’s misanthropic behavior is a sickness — likely brought on by either mental illness or a traumatic childhood — that even she would like to get rid of. In these moments, Jean-Baptiste — who has won multiple critics’ awards for her performance — quietly shows us the pain and agony Pansy goes through just
trying to receive love and affection. One scene features her taking flowers from a bouquet and placing them in a vase like she’s dismantling a bomb.
In true Leigh fashion, Truths is another kitchen-sink drama that follows all the members of a dysfunctional clan, some of them silently taking on the sort of day-to-day indignities Pansy thinks she deals with especially. Pansy’s son goes on presumably head-clearing walks, looking for some kind of positive interaction — that is, when he isn’t being harassed by bullies. Even Chantelle’s adult daughters (Sophie Brown and Ani Nelson) must wade through bullshit at their jobs, having to answer to unsatisfied superiors. Leigh has always had a knack for creating stories in which one mentally troubled person affects the lives of others. (While some people may see this as an unofficial Secrets & Lies sequel, I
and theremin. Together they explore their lives and their passions, and Totsuko tries to find her own color.
The Colors Within is the type of film that revisits an age-old story for new audiences — a story about that period between childhood and adulthood, when we all need to discover ourselves. This rendition is filled with bright, colorful animation from Science Saru, the powerhouse studio behind recent mega-hit anime Dandadan Here Science Saru’s big-budget animation accompanies low-stakes melodrama and smooth audio from a tal-
Opening
ented voice cast and the music their characters play — it all amounts to calm and playful energy that feels like an embrace. It is a film more about vibes than a conventional narrative structure.
It’s also a film mostly about relationships. The three main characters deal with their relationships with their parents, their faith, themselves and most of all each other — most obviously in the homo-romantic-coded relationship between Totsuko and Kimi. Homosexuality is still not fully culturally or legally accepted in Japan,
can’t help but think of it as a sunnier version of his nasty, nocturnal 1993 film Naked.) In Truths, Leigh presents a loathsome (and self-loathing) protagonist who can’t break out of her cynical cocoon, even when a serious moment forces her to actually give a damn about someone else. I have a feeling some people may find Hard Truths too bitter a pill to swallow. But for those of us who grew up with misery machines like Pansy, this may bring back memories. Whether they’re good or bad is in the eye of the beholder. ▼
Hard Truths R, 97 minutes
Opening Friday, Jan. 24, at the Belcourt
as same-sex marriage is still not recognized and widespread homophobia is deeply embedded in the government — prominent Japanese politician Kazuo Yana said in 2021 that queer people are “resisting the preservation of the species that occurs naturally in biological terms.” All this is despite recent polling indicating that only 16 percent of the Japanese public opposes same-sex marriage, with 47 percent of those surveyed in favor of its legalization. But unfortunately, much like with Yamada’s 2018 film Liz and the Blue Bird, the themes of same-sex romance are limited to subtext and not explicitly depicted. In fact, most of the interesting themes here are mostly relegated to the subtext. Totsuko’s ability to see people as color doesn’t have an explicit explanation. It’s open to interpretation. One possible interpretation is that Totsuko is neurodivergent and sees the world differently.
The Colors Within is a charming, character- and vibe-driven melodrama that is best for high school- and college-age young adults who are still trying to find themselves. And if you don’t care about interpreting all that subtext, it’s still a very vibey movie bursting with charm and character — and a wonderful new addition to the consistent filmography of emerging filmmaker Naoko Yamada. ▼
Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet
Sweet Scene
Declare your love this Valentine’s Day with a FREE shoutout in our February 13 issue! Nominate your special someone, adorable pets, or even your favorite local spots. Valentines are free, but if you’d like to add a photo (printed 2-by-2 inches), you can do so for just $40.00.
Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet Scene Sweet
1 Some mustangs
6 Comedian Ken of “The Masked Singer”
11 Laser-focused mindset
12 They might be standing
14 Vegas nickname
15 Unfair judgments
17 Stopping point for a cruise … or Crusoe
18 Commoner
20 “Say no more”
21 Nowhere to be found, informally
22 Parenthetical on four #1 albums since 2021
25 Cellular data?
26 Disparate
28 Its home is on the range
30 Nasty look
31 Speed limit, of a sort
32 “That makes sense now”
34 Illicit info
35 Sticky treats, in more ways than one?
39 Fictional queen of Arendelle
43 Greek consonant
44 “That makes sense now”
45 With 45-Down, displays during an online presentation ... or a hint to three pairs of answers in this puzzle
47 Alternatives to ands or buts
48 Spelling Bee rank between Solid and Great
49 Had over
50 Hand (out)
52 Shake deeply
54 ___-Way, brand of plows and salt spreaders
55 Attention-grabbing appearance, maybe
57 “Still good to meet up?”
59 Beam of light
60 Baby bear?
61 Chums
62 Mount Vernon or Monticello
6 Websites with employment opportunities
7 Theodore Roosevelt ushered in a “Progressive” one
8 Quirky
9 Burning man?
10 Charlie brought his to the chocolate factory
11 See 11-Across
13 Kind of cord
14 Nantz’s longtime N.F.L. commentating partner
16 Devoted fan, informally
19 Coding catchall
22 See 22-Across
23 13th-century poet who wrote the “Masnavi”
24 Kerfuffle
27 Neckwear sometimes made with kukui nuts
29 Gets involved in
31 See 31-Across
33 Hedgehog lookalikes
35 Get one’s hair just right
36 Futile batting statlines, in baseball lingo
37 Hangs out for a while
38 Barely makes, with “out”
40 “Dinner is served!”
41 Cross-reference for additional information
42 Free throw after a basket
45 See 45-Across
46 Most evasive
51 Sicilian landmark
53 Sorcerer
56 Something connected to a QR code
58 Org. for Coco Gauff
1 Get stuck in traffic, say
2 Way back when
3 What selfish athletes spell “team” with, presumably
4 Take-home amount
5 With craft
NOTICE: Crystal M. Clark v. Dameon M. McKinley
Crystal M. Clark, the Plaintiff, has filed a Complaint for Child Custody, Access, and Child Support in which the Plaintiff is seeking sole custody of the parties' minor children, child support, and related relief in Case No. C-02-FM-24-003972. Notice is hereby issued by the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, Maryland that the relief sought in the aforementioned Complaint for Child Custody, Access, and Child Support may be granted unless cause can be shown to the contrary. Dameon M. McKinley is to file a response to the Complaint for Child Custody, Access, and Child Support on or before March 10, 2025
NSC: 1/9/25, 1/16/25, 1/23/25
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