Nashville Scene 1-27-22

JANUARY 27–FEBRUARY 2, 2022 I VOLUME 40 I NUMBER 51 I NASHVILLESCENE.COM I FREE

CITY LIMITS: NASHVILLIANS, MEET YOUR PROBABLE NEW REPUBLICAN U.S. REPRESENTATIVES

FOOD & DRINK: A FAMILY TRADITION CONTINUES AT THE NEWLY RELAUNCHED INTERNATIONAL MARKET

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PAGE 27

ON E H T L L I H With the legislative session underway, we look at where state lawmakers are taking redistricting, education, criminal justice reform and more

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B E A T E A R D R O P. BE INSPIRED.

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CONTENTS

JANUARY 27, 2022

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Nashville, Get to Know Your (Probable) New U.S. Representatives .........................7

Myint Condition

CITY LIMITS

With redistricting likely to split Nashville into three U.S. congressional districts, here are the Republicans who’d be representing our leftleaning city

BY STEVE CAVENDISH

Metro HR Releases Report on Metro Arts, but New Allegations Surface.....................7 Workers have alleged racial bias, tokenization and retaliation by agency leadership

BY ERICA CICCARONE

Rising High Water Blues ............................8 With severe weather events increasingly frequent in Middle Tennessee, immediate recovery efforts are just the beginning

BY LENA MAZEL

Pith in the Wind .........................................9

This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog

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FOOD AND DRINK Siblings Arnold and Anna Myint continue their parents’ legacy with the relaunched International Market

The Rundown .......................................... 11 What to expect as state lawmakers settle in for the next few months

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VODKA YONIC

The last time I compassionately killed a plant, it was in conjunction with a breakup

BY HAILEY HIGDON

30 ART

This Woman’s Work

A six-person show at Red Arrow Gallery includes multiple perspectives on motherhood, childbirth, trauma and repression

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BY EMILY CHOATE AND CHAPTER 16

State lawmakers aim to overhaul how Tennessee funds education, push for COVIDrelated vouchers and meddle with local school districts

ON THE COVER:

The Tennessee State Capitol Photo by Eric England

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MUSIC

Coronation Day........................................ 33 Memphis blues champion Eric Gales is ready for his Crown

BY RON WYNN

BY KELSEY BEYELER

Full Measure ............................................ 34

Legislators and advocates are seeking significant changes to Tennessee’s sentencing laws

BY DARYL SANDERS

Criminal Justice....................................... 14

Diving Back Into Nashville’s Historical Database of Enslaved and Free People of Color

Called to the Water

With Republican lawmakers carving up Nashville’s congressional district, state Democrats can only find recourse in the courts

Education................................................. 12

Fun Dining Opportunities Abound for Lunar New Year

BOOKS

Trouble the Waters is a global fleet of stories about the deep

BY J.R. LIND

Metro Health Report Shows 2021 in Drug Deaths

It’s OK to Let Your Houseplants Die

BY STEPHEN ELLIOTT

Redistricting ............................................ 12

Bob Dylan Headed to the Mother Church

BY JENNIFER JUSTUS

BY LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

COVER STORY On the Hill

THIS WEEK ON THE WEB:

Tommy Womack’s anthology 30 Years Shot to Hell documents a rich musical legacy

The Spin ................................................... 35 The Scene’s live-review column checks out Rock for Row at Third Man Records

BY STEVEN HALE

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BY CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

CRITICS’ PICKS

Movies We Missed: Quo Vadis, Aida?, The Velvet Queen, Monster Jam, ZTV Live Video Party, Conversation: LeXander Bryant and His Family, Sam Hoffman w/Trevor Nikrant & Ben Parks, Salon@615 Special Edition With Ruta Sepetys, Silvana Estrada, Thelma and the Sleaze and more

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Dark Blue

Dennis Hopper’s teen punk cult classic Out of the Blue to ignite the screen at the Belcourt

BY JOE NOLAN

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1/24/22 6:25 PM

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Labor shortages are making headlines across the country, and Middle Tennessee is no exception. There are not enough skilled laborers to meet the job demands in every kind of business, but construction trades are particularly in demand. Construction companies are especially struggling to find people for jobs that require specialized certifications. One construction group owner recently told The Tennessean that the worst part is that many “subcontractors just can’t find all of the help that they need” to complete their projects. Though there are skilled workers out there, everyone is looking for — and no doubt fighting for — the same unique laborer.

We may hear this and think, Well, we’ll recover soon. But how far off is recovery, and what do we do in the meantime?

Clay Crownover, who is the president of the Tennessee Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors, told The Tennessean that across all construction trades, Tennessee is short about 200,000 workers. And though according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics there were 347,000 people hired into construction jobs in November, the industry had 417,000 people quit, retire or otherwise leave their job. That’s an astonishing number. The job shortage is compounded by a spike in demand for more building, particularly housing.

In part due to the high demand for housing and the shortage of workers, the cost of building a home is increasing. The National Association of Home Builders has reported that lumber prices have nearly tripled in the past four months, increasing the average price of new single-family homes by more than $18,600. The NAHB says it is working with the White House to find ways to lower material prices.

The construction industry problem is a window into a larger challenge we face in finding people to fill jobs and keep our economic recovery and growth going.

The pandemic caused many people to reevaluate their retirement plans and leave the workforce early. Still others decided not to return to work right away if their financial situation allowed them to hold off.

And other people, watching this pandemic go on and on, decided to find employment that allows them to work from home, or used the pandemic as an opportunity to develop new skills and career paths. Of course, very low unemployment in Tennessee and jobs available for almost anyone who needs one means there are opportunities to improve your economic future.

That said, when it comes to construction, Crownover notes, “There is sort of a pushback against manual labor.” It’s been my experience that many young people who have seen the benefits of technology and the possibilities of successfully building a business online have decided to go that route rather than pursuing manual labor.

UT research professor Larry Kessler says the labor market should return to normal by the middle of 2022. I hope he’s right. Another reported reason the second quarter of 2022 may show improvement: Many Americans have apparently overspent during the holidays and will have to return to the workforce.

Some kind of return to normal is on the horizon. But in the meantime, if we are waiting for our homes to be built, or for other construction work to be done, it seems our patience and understanding will be tested as completion dates get pushed back. The labor shortage is real, and those working within it — oftentimes in small numbers — are working hard to complete whatever the task. For the business owners among us with team members working overtime, a word of appreciation can also go a long way.

Editor-in-Chief D. Patrick Rodgers Senior Editor Dana Kopp Franklin Associate Editor Alejandro Ramirez Arts Editor Laura Hutson Hunter Culture Editor Erica Ciccarone Music and Listings Editor Stephen Trageser Contributing Editor Jack Silverman Staff Writers Kelsey Beyeler, Stephen Elliott, Nancy Floyd, Steven Hale, Kara Hartnett, J.R. Lind, Kathryn Rickmeyer, William Williams Contributing Writers Sadaf Ahsan, Radley Balko, Ashley Brantley, Maria Browning, Steve Cavendish, Chris Chamberlain, Lance Conzett, Steve Erickson, Randy Fox, Adam Gold, Seth Graves, Kim Green, Steve Haruch, Edd Hurt, Jennifer Justus, Christine Kreyling, Katy Lindenmuth, Craig D. Lindsey, Brittney McKenna, Marissa R. Moss, Noel Murray, Joe Nolan, Betsy Phillips, John Pitcher, Margaret Renkl, Daryl Sanders, Megan Seling, Jason Shawhan, Michael Sicinski, Nadine Smith, Ashley Spurgeon, Amy Stumpfl, Kay West, Abby White, Andrea Williams, Ron Wynn, Charlie Zaillian Art Director Elizabeth Jones Photographers Eric England, Matt Masters, Daniel Meigs Graphic Designers Mary Louise Meadors, Tracey Starck Production Coordinator Christie Passarello Events and Marketing Director Olivia Britton Marketing and Promotions Manager Robin Fomusa Publisher Mike Smith Senior Advertising Solutions Managers Maggie Bond, Sue Falls, Michael Jezewski, Carla Mathis, Heather Cantrell Mullins, Jennifer Trsinar, Keith Wright Advertising Solutions Managers William Shutes, Niki Tyree Sales Operations Manager Chelon Hill Hasty Advertising Solutions Associates Jada Goggins, Caroline Poole, Alissa Wetzel Special Projects Coordinator Susan Torregrossa President Frank Daniels III Chief Financial Officer Todd Patton Corporate Production Director Elizabeth Jones Vice President of Marketing Mike Smith IT Director John Schaeffer Circulation and Distribution Director Gary Minnis For advertising information please contact: Mike Smith, msmith@nashvillescene.com or 615-844-9238 FW PUBLISHING LLC Owner Bill Freeman VOICE MEDIA GROUP National Advertising 1-888-278-9866 vmgadvertising.com

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In memory of Jim Ridley, editor 2009-2016

Bill Freeman Bill Freeman is the owner of FW Publishing, the publishing company that produces the Nashville Scene, Nfocus, the Nashville Post and Home Page Media Group in Williamson County.

NASHVILLE SCENE | JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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NASHVILLE SCENE | JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

CITY LIMITS

NASHVILLE, GET TO KNOW YOUR (PROBABLE) NEW U.S. REPRESENTATIVES With redistricting likely to split Nashville into three U.S. congressional districts, here are the Republicans who’d be representing our left-leaning city

BY STEVE CAVENDISH

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s Tennessee Republicans looked at ways to press their advantage and turn a 7-2 majority of U.S. congressional seats into an 8-1 one, the only remaining targets were Democratic strongholds in Memphis and Nashville. In the end, it appears the legislature will carve up the 5th Congressional District and send Rep. Jim Cooper into retirement — though the Democrats will likely take the matter to the state Supreme Court. (More on that in our cover story on p. 12.)

So who will be representing Nashville when the city is carved into three parts, as it likely will be? Here are the city’s probable new representatives.

7TH DISTRICT: MARK GREEN

The new 7th will pull a substantial portion of North Nashville into a district with Clarksville and Franklin that is currently represented by conservative GOP member Mark Green.

First elected to the state Senate in 2012, the Clarksville-based Green led the fight to repeal the Hall Income Tax, a levy on interest and dividend income from investments.

A former Army doctor, Green was nominated by Donald Trump’s administration for the Secretary of the Army job after the initial choice withdrew. Green was dogged by negative comments he made about transgender and Muslim communities and withdrew his nomination a month later.

After initially filing to run for governor, Green turned his attention to Congress when Marsha Blackburn announced her Senate candidacy in 2017. In the general election, he beat Tennessee Holler proprietor and Democrat Justin Kanew in spite of criticism over comments about welfare.

“Government has stepped in, at least in this country, and done all the work for the church,” Green told a Brentwood men’s group in 2015. “So the person who’s in need

METRO HR RELEASES REPORT ON METRO ARTS, BUT NEW ALLEGATIONS SURFACE

Workers have alleged racial bias, tokenization and retaliation by agency leadership

BY ERICA CICCARONE

goes — they look to the government for the answer, not God. And I think, in that way, government has done an injustice that’s even bigger than just the entitlement — creation of an entitlement welfare state.”

What kind of congressman has Green been? A FiveThirtyEight analysis showed that he voted with President Trump 90.9 percent of the time. Significant votes he took in the past three years include voting against background checks for firearm sales, against net neutrality, against raising the minimum wage, against requiring campaigns to report offers of foreign assistance, against restoring parts of the Voting Rights Act, against the $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill in 2020, against the pandemic aid bill and against raising coronavirus stimulus payments from $600 to $2,000. On Jan. 6, 2021, Green objected to Arizona’s presidential electors hours after the U.S. Capitol was the subject of an insurrection by Trump loyalists. The next day, he objected to Pennsylvania’s electors, and a week later he voted against an impeachment charge of inciting the insurrection for Trump.

Green missed congressional votes more than most — 5.5 percent of the time, ranking 23rd-worst among 435 House members.

During three years in office, he and his staff took 21 trips funded by outside sources, including visits to Mexico, Germany, Israel and England.

6TH DISTRICT: JOHN ROSE

East Nashville and part of South Nashville will join Sumner County, Lebanon and Cookeville in the redrawn 6th, currently represented by Rep. John Rose (R-Cookeville).

Nashvillians may be familiar with Rose, who in his capacity as head of the State Fair Association opposed Mayor Karl Dean’s redevelopment plan for The Fairgrounds Nashville.

Rose holds a law degree from Vanderbilt in addition to a master’s degree in agriculture from Purdue. He has owned a couple of

M

etro Human Resources has completed an investigation of complaints lodged against leadership in Metro Arts Commission’s department, specifically naming executive director Caroline Vincent.

Complainants Cecilia Olusola Tribble, who was on staff from 2016 to mid-2019, and Lauren Fitzgerald, who was on staff from 2016 to mid-2020, allege that Vincent and other supervisors created a toxic work environment that relied heavily on intimidation, fear and punishment while tokenizing people of color and holding them up to disproportionate scrutiny.

In August, the Scene reported that public records and interviews with former and current staff members indicate that despite the agency’s dedication of public funding to anti-racism and equity training for staff,

REP. MARK GREEN

REP. JOHN ROSE

technology-related companies, but Rose is best known as a longtime farmer and former agriculture commissioner in Gov. Don Sundquist’s administration.

First elected in 2018, Rose ran as a Trump conservative and stayed true over his three-plus years in office. Rose voted with Trump’s position 94.3 percent of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight. Like Green, he voted against background checks and voting rights. He attempted to block the first Trump impeachment by tabling the articles when they were introduced. He voted against a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, against transgender people serving in the military, against disaster aid for Puerto Rico and against a ban on flavored tobacco products. Like Green, he voted to object to Arizona and Pennsylvania electors and also voted against the second Trump impeachment. Rose was one of 21 Republicans who voted against honoring the Capitol Police and D.C. police officers in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot.

“There are findings that we don’t yet know whether they’ll be supported by the investigations that happened, and secondly, an award of this stature has historically been given years after the fact with understanding of the context,” Rose told reporters of voting against the awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal to the officers. One of his fellow no votes, QAnon favorite Marjorie Taylor Greene, headlined a fundraiser with Rose in Wilson County last year.

Rose missed 4.3 percent of his votes,

ranking him 46th-worst in the House. He and his staff have taken only eight trips funded by outside groups, almost all of them to Israel.

the commission of volunteers and the community, Metro Arts’ commitment to equity is not reflected in its internal dynamics.

In response to the Scene’s reporting, Councilmember-at-Large Sharon Hurt announced that the Metro Council’s Minority Caucus requested a full investigation of the allegations made. The lengthy fact-finding reports led by Metro HR staffers Keven Palmissano and Monica Anderson find “no violation by leadership of any rules, policies, or laws.” The reports find that at times leadership was not clear with employees about policies and procedures. The HR department recommended that leadership commit to providing clear feedback to staffers when documenting unsatisfactory performance, evaluate its process of onboarding new employees and seek out opportunities for formal

management development.

Fitzgerald and Tribble both submitted public comments to the Metro Arts Commission in response to the reports. Fitzgerald writes that Metro HR’s findings “incorrectly inferred that I was a belligerent and untrustworthy [Metro Arts Commission] staff member” and that the report “lacks significant context.” She addresses six areas in which context was lacking or where she says claims by Vincent were distorted, including claims that she escalated situations, impersonated an artist to an insurance company and intentionally hid a conflict of interest.

Tribble’s comment encourages the commission to “look into the practices and policies around time, worker compensation, comp time, [performance improvement plan] processes and hiring with an

5TH DISTRICT: ???

While Jim Cooper has not made it official, it is widely assumed that he will retire instead of running in a redrawn 5th that would have gone for Trump in the last election.

No Democrat has announced yet, but there are several Republicans who appear to be interested: Beth Harwell. The former state speaker of the House told Axios that she is “leaning toward running.” Although she tacked to the right in a failed bid for governor in 2018, Harwell’s reputation has long been as an establishment Republican, and she might have an advantage in the Belle Meade, Forest Hills and Brentwood portions of the district.

Andy Ogles. The mayor of Maury County had been widely seen as a possible challenger to Bill Lee in a Republican primary for governor. Ogles formerly ran the Tennessee outpost of Americans for Prosperity, the Koch-backed lobbying outfit.

Kurt Winstead. A lawyer and former brigadier general in the Tennessee National Guard, Winstead is actively exploring the race.

Robby Starbuck. Media gadfly Starbuck might be the dog who caught the car in redistricting. He had announced a plan to run against Cooper under the old map, but now might have actual, real Republican competition in a redrawn 5th.

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

nashvillescene.com | JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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experienced anti-racist analysis and lens.” She adds that while fact finders were thorough in their investigation, “it should disturb us all that the practices that create such a toxic and psychologically violent environment that forces faithful employees out who love their work are within the bounds of” Metro government policy.

The commission met Jan. 20 to discuss the findings. “It’s clear from the fact-finder report and the public comment that we’ve harmed people,” said commissioner Ellen Angelico. “And we may not have violated any rules, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t do something wrong. The rules are there to tell us what’s permissible and not permissible — not to tell us what’s right and wrong.”

Several members, including chair Jim Schmidt and vice chair Matia Powell, said the commission should bring in a third-party diversity, equity and inclusion professional to support the staff and, as Powell said, “build better processes so folks feel like they have voice and choice and can really thrive in this environment.”

A third public comment was submitted by current strategic funding and initiatives manager Janine Christiano, who has documented her concerns with Vincent’s leadership for the commission in the past.

The letter alerts commissioners to a complaint she has filed with Metro HR. Christiano, who is Asian American, says she has been subjected to coercion by senior management to harm other people of color, retaliation for acting as an ally to other people of color on staff, tokenism, exclusion, microaggressions and false accusations. She further alleges that she has witnessed the “​​ridiculing of people of color and white allies through group banter and gossip; cultural insensitivity toward marginalized groups; undue skepticism and scrutiny of people of color community members and staff.”

In a timeline attached to the complaint to HR, Christiano itemizes multiple clashes she has had with Vincent. In one — which Christiano records as occurring on Oct. 1, 2020 — Vincent allegedly discussed an application from District 32 Councilmember Joy Styles for a funding opportunity that included an apparent conflict of interest on the part of the lead artist. According to Christiano, Vincent said: “Is it part of Black culture not to follow rules?” The Scene asked Vincent to confirm this exchange. She replied in an email, “I did not say that” and referred the Scene to spokesperson Emily Waltenbaugh for further questions.

Tribble tells the Scene that she submitted her complaint in August because she knew Metro Arts leadership was continuing to harm people of color on staff.

“I would not have brought any of this up if I didn’t know that harm to current employees and community members was still happening,” says Tribble, noting that she told commissioners at the time of her resignation that she feared harm to workers “would continue and the people of color I was leaving behind would experience the same kind of toxic environment I was.

“This environment is a part of the culture that is baked in [to Metro Arts],” Tribble adds. “It’s really about the leadership and how the leadership has continued to operate in this way. [Vincent] has had a choice to do something different, but she didn’t. … As a [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion] consultant, I try to make abundantly clear to my own clients that institutional racism is not just an abstract thing. It is about how people make conscious decisions to either create barriers or eliminate them. The leadership of Metro Arts has consciously made decisions to uphold white supremacist values.

“Reconciliation cannot happen until accountability happens,” says Tribble.

When asked what accountability would look like for Metro Arts, Tribble says: “Accountability can look like a whole lot of things. But allowing people to continue in positions of power that have caused harm — that doesn’t need to be on the table.”

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

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PHOTOS: ERIC ENGLAND

CITY LIMITS

SEVEN MILE CREEK

RISING HIGH WATER BLUES With severe weather events increasingly frequent in Middle Tennessee, immediate recovery efforts are just the beginning

BY LENA MAZEL

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istoric flooding on March 27 and 28 of last year had a profound impact on Middle Tennessee, and specifically South Nashville. Six people lost their lives in Davidson, Maury and Cheatham counties, and more than 100 needed to be rescued from dangerous currents and rising waters. Flooding also had a significant impact on the local homeless community, with two residents of a homeless encampment at Seven Mile Creek losing their lives and many others displaced.

For most of those affected by the flooding, immediate recovery efforts were just the beginning. In October, seven months after the flood, volunteer organization Hands On Nashville had already logged roughly 5,000 volunteer hours rebuilding homes and giving assistance to flood survivors. By January, they had helped 579 households, with individual household needs varying significantly. According to HON’s statistics, 429 households required connections to community resources as well as support filling out applications for FEMA assistance and flood insurance compensation.

One-hundred-fifty additional households required more significant case management — in addition to volunteer construction, Hands On Nashville also connected flood survivors to supplies and furniture, employment assistance, transportation and psychological counseling.

While the initial volunteer effort after a disaster is often significant, the road to recovery for flood victims is long. And with increasingly frequent severe weather events likely in Nashville’s future, Hands On Nashville is looking to shift the city’s perspective.

To Matthew Anderson, HON’s disaster relief construction manager, the rebuilding effort is just one part of a larger process — a way to train a city that is poised for increasingly frequent disasters.

“The culture is changing from sitting

around thinking, ‘Oh, I hope we don’t get hit,’ to ‘I need to be ready for when I get hit,’ ” says Anderson. “That, I think, is a really positive step forward.”

Anderson credits Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster — a coalition of community groups that work together to provide aid after disasters — with the speedy response in 2021. Disaster response is “a really long process,” he says, “but in Nashville, the fact that we were able to get the process up and underway so quickly has helped.” VOAD was formed after Nashville’s historic 2010 flood and was meant to reconvene in March 2020. No one could’ve anticipated reorganizing during a tornado response — or a pandemic.

“They had to launch in a way that they weren’t really expecting, which was while

HOMES ALONG SEVEN MILE CREEK BEING RAISED TO PREVENT FURTHER FLOOD DAMAGE

NASHVILLE SCENE | JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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CITY LIMITS responding to a disaster,” Anderson says.

VOAD proved instrumental to the city because it connected many types of community aid in a centralized way, creating a more efficient response as Nashville navigated other disasters, like the Christmas Day bombing and the 2021 flood.

Unfortunately, severe flooding is expected to continue. In 2017, Bloomberg reported that Tennessee’s major cities have experienced “more intense” extreme rainfall events, and warmed by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit since 1950. The Pew Charitable Trusts found that flooding occurs every 10.2 days in Tennessee on average. Instead of mitigating the effects of flooding, infrastructure in parts of Nashville has made the effects more severe. Loss of natural floodplains, erosion and new construction have removed natural flood barriers around the city. “So many places that used to absorb the water … are now being built on,” says Anderson. “And there’s just concrete now, so there’s nowhere for the water to go.”

That said, Nashville does have significant structural mitigation systems in place. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimated that during the March flood, existing dams prevented $1.8 million in damage by controlling the water level in the Cumberland River. There are local solutions too, like the Home Buyout Program, through which homes affected by the same type of disaster multiple times are purchased and the lots converted to green space. In April, the Scene’s Stephen Elliott reported that the Metro government, alongside federal partners, had bought and converted about 400 houses. The converted green space now works to absorb flood waters.

Still, areas of Nashville like Seven Mile Creek flood consistently with heavy rain.

Anderson says flooding disproportionately affects low-income citizens, who sometimes don’t know they’re moving into a floodplain.

“The first time they realize it, often, is when water is coming up,” he says. This, combined with “outrageously expensive” flood insurance, creates devastating effects for families — and entire neighborhoods.

“Floods aren’t really ‘attractive’ disasters,” he says. “There’s not huge swaths of destruction you can see everywhere.” But in places like Paragon Mills, he says “it kind of looks like a mouth with broken teeth, where all of a sudden there are a bunch of houses that no longer have people in them.”

There are large-scale solutions to mitigate flood risks — for instance, construction that allows for the absorption of water, increasing green spaces and authorizing new dams for flood control. Anderson says there have been discussions about reinforcing riverbanks, which has proved successful in parts of New England.

In the meantime, adapting to increasingly frequent disasters is a piece of the puzzle we can control. To Anderson, that means a shift in how we understand our relationship to the recovery process — and our own preparation.

“I’d love to see people understanding that we’re going to be living in a state of nearalways disaster recovery,” he says. “That’s a really important part of the process — getting people back home, getting people back on their feet.”

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

THIS WEEK ON OUR NEWS AND POLITICS BLOG: A new report from the Metro Public Health Department confirmed that 2021 was the deadliest year on record when it comes to drug deaths in the city. The department reports 712 suspected drug deaths in Nashville last year, a 15 percent increase compared to the previously recordsetting 2020. The overwhelming majority of those deaths involved the potent synthetic opioid fentanyl. The report shows that the majority of people who have died are males, and that 28 percent of them — the largest group among them — were 35 to 44 years old. … Metro announced curbside recycling will return Feb. 1 following a six-week hiatus. Metro Water Services suspended the program Dec. 21 in order to divert resources to standard trash collection after contractor Red River fell several weeks behind schedule. Nashville Mayor John Cooper said recycling was coming back online because Metro employees had found “innovative” solutions. … As the Omicron variant spreads rapidly around the country, COVID-19 cases are continuing to surge in Nashville’s jails. The sheriff’s office announced that as of Jan. 18, there were 372 incarcerated people with COVID-19 and 752 on restriction of some kind. The number of infected people in the city’s jails more than tripled in just eight days; on Jan. 10, 110 incarcerated people had tested positive.

After pandemic-inspired efforts to reduce the city’s jail population saw some success in 2020, the number of jailed people in Nashville now sits at 1,629 according to the sheriff’s office. That number had gotten down below 1,000. One jailed person, a 64-yearold woman, has died of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. … The Metro Council approved new councilmanic and school board district maps. Bizarrely, the East Bank is now part of downtown’s District 19 instead of one of the East Nashville districts. … The council rarely gets to chime in on charter schools, but occasionally, it gets a chance, as it did at its Jan. 18 meeting.

Charters using Metro-owned facilities have to have their leases approved by the council. Liberty Collegiate (just barely) got its lease. Nashville Prep — described

by Councilmember Dave Rosenberg as “basically a prison for kids” — wasn’t so lucky. … A discussion about license plate readers at the council meeting got a little dicey when Councilmember Bob Nash used the racially charged term “thugs.” He later took to Twitter to defend himself, saying his wife looked it up on Urban Dictionary and there was no reference to race. … Contributor Betsy Phillips has been diving into Nashville’s database of people who were enslaved and free people of color, finding all kinds of fascinating anecdotes (impossible to summarize here). … We aren’t ready to talk about the Titans.

NASHVILLESCENE.COM/PITHINTHEWIND EMAIL: PITH@NASHVILLESCENE.COM TWEET: @PITHINTHEWIND

nashvillescene.com | JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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With the legislative session underway, we look at where state lawmakers are taking redistricting, education, criminal justice reform and more

NASHVILLE SCENE | JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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ON THE HILL

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

THE RUNDOWN What to expect as state lawmakers settle in for the next few months

BY STEPHEN ELLIOTT

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

E

vidence of the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed thousands of Tennesseans is scant at the state Capitol. The plastic barriers and rules limiting public access have gone. So too has most of the toxic debate over the disease and its effects on society that consumed the legislature for nearly two years.

Zombie hand sanitizer stations forgotten in stairwells, a few rogue mask wearers and Rep. David Byrd’s electric scooter — a remnant of the embattled Waynesboro Republican’s monthslong battle with the illness — are left to remind visitors. But with a new year comes new battles, and this year, the Tennessee General Assembly seems poised to pivot.

The biggest debate of the next few months will almost certainly center on Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s effort to rewrite the formula by which the state funds public education. (Read more on that on p. 13.) It’s an enormous undertaking, and one with a relatively short turnaround time, as lawmakers hurry to finish the legislative session and turn to their reelection campaigns. Given the challenges Lee and Republican leaders faced whipping even Republican votes on their Education Savings Account bill in 2019 — representing a tiny fraction of the money being considered as part of the wider formula rewrite — the governor and his allies could be setting out in choppy waters. But so far, all

that’s been released is a high-level draft light on specifics, and even legislative leaders profess to have seen no more of the plan than that. Lee is scheduled to deliver his State of the State address, traditionally an opportunity for the executive to lay out his legislative plans in more detail, on Jan. 31.

“This is going to be a difficult journey, but it’s one where if everyone will pull together and genuinely grab a seat at the table, I think we can have a better way to do it than we have now,” says House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland). “There’s going to be differing opinions, and I’m not going to say that everybody’s going to be happy at the end of the day, because there’s very few bills that pass the legislature that everybody says, ‘Yes that’s perfect.’ But we hope to have a better solution to how we fund schools.”

Also on the agenda is, as always, criminal justice reform, however one chooses to define it. (More on that on p. 14.) Lamberth wants to establish “truth in sentencing” — a policy under which criminal sentences are standardized and not so subject to variability in the court and parole system. Tori Venable, state director for Americans for Prosperity, wants to end civil asset forfeiture in Tennessee.

It’s “highway robbery,” she says. Her group is planning to launch a “fund the police” campaign to counteract law enforcement complaints that ending civil asset forfeiture would hurt their bottom lines.

“I’m all for tools in the toolkit, except when it violates someone’s constitutional rights,” Venable says. “If the property they would take is evidence of a crime, they can still seize it as evidence. Where people really have heartburn about it is when someone has their property taken and they’re not

charged with a crime.”

Democrats in the superminority will be on board for many of the reform efforts that make their way to the floor, according to Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Raumesh Akbari of Memphis.

“We’re trying to see if there’s low-hanging fruit that we can get some consensus with our Republican colleagues, and usually that has to do with fines and fees,” she says. “[Criminal justice reform] was a bipartisan issue, and the last couple of years it’s seemed to narrow a bit and become less of a bipartisan issue. Donald Trump leaned into criminal justice reform; that was the one thing he did that I agreed with him on. It’s very evident: Incarcerating people more does not produce less of a crime rate.”

Outside of education funding and criminal justice reform, lawmakers will continue working on Ford Motor Co.’s new campus in West Tennessee, where the state has promised hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure spending, among other incentives. They will also, as they have for several years running, take up a number of medical marijuana and other cannabis bills, including a likely doomed effort at full legalization.

Conservative group Beacon Impact is pushing an end to a so-called innovation tax, which came about as part of Trump’s tax bill, that forces companies to write off research and development costs over a five-year period instead of in the year the costs were incurred. Venable and AFP are pushing an end to the professional privilege tax and the enactment of a new requirement that local governments send postcards to constituents before they raise taxes — an effort triggered by Metro Nashville’s 2020 property tax increase that AFP unsuccess-

fully sought to overturn.

She isn’t confident that her Republican allies will take up the postcard legislation, though, because they may consider it an unfunded mandate on local governments.

“We don’t have high hopes for that one this year,” she says.

Lamberth says the bulk of lawmakers’ work will be focused on the budget, the education funding debate, criminal justice reform and lingering COVID-19 questions.

(One proposal would codify rules allowing family members to visit patients in hospitals; another would penalize schools that close down due to COVID.) Akbari is one of the leaders of the tiny Democratic caucus at the Capitol, and repeatedly losing is taking its toll, she says.

The Memphis Democrat has a warmer outward relationship with Republican colleagues than many Democrats, but the drastic politicization of COVID-19 has hurt that relationship.

“I have always been able to find something that we can compromise on,” she says.

“The pandemic is something that pushed me to think, ‘What am I really doing here?’ because it was so scary. I knew people — relatives, very close family friends — that passed away from it, and then you see this rhetoric that has politicized it, and that to me was really discouraging.

“Even though it’s hard, even though you lace up your shoes for fights you’re going to lose almost every day,” she continues, “sometimes you win, sometimes you lean into the third branch of government, the judicial branch, which kind of saves the day a lot of times. … They don’t need our votes, but at least we’ve been given some sort of seat at the table, and I’m hoping it will actually translate into policy that passes.” ■

nashvillescene.com | JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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REDISTRICTING With Republican lawmakers carving up Nashville’s congressional district, state Democrats can only find recourse in the courts

BY J.R. LIND

I

t may seem like it’s over, but it’s probably not.

On Jan. 20, the Tennessee state Senate approved — on a strictly party-line vote — new congressional districts and state Senate districts. (It is expected to vote on the state House map Jan. 26, after press time.) The House voted on the maps Jan. 24, mimicking its brethren in the Capitol and similarly approving the maps on a partisan vote.

None of this is particularly surprising.

With their walkout-proof super-duper-majority, legislative Republicans had no need to bring in Democrats when drawing the lines.

Indeed, when Rep. Bob Freeman (D-Nashville) presented his party’s plan to the committee charged with crafting new districts, the GOP members thanked him, praised his salesmanship and then tabled the proposal before easily passing their own plan.

With Republicans controlling both chambers of the General Assembly and conservative Bill Lee in the governor’s office, Democrats warned that the new maps would heavily favor Republicans. To a degree, any map would, in a state where wildly popular Democratic former Gov. Phil Bredesen lost by 11 points in the 2018 race for the United States Senate against Marsha Blackburn — and where Donald Trump took 60 percent of the vote twice.

Democrats were content to concede the existing 7-2 split in the U.S. House districts and even the party’s state-level plans had significant GOP majorities. There are only

EDUCATION

State lawmakers aim to overhaul how Tennessee funds education, push for COVIDrelated vouchers and meddle with local school districts

BY KELSEY BEYELER

W

ith critical race theory dominating national headlines, COVID-19 causing tension between the state and local school districts, and a plan underway to overhaul how Tennessee funds education, it’s a particularly important year to pay attention to education-related bills and conversations in the legislature.

Education funding is going to be a significant focus in the current session. The Scene has published a lot about education funding since Gov. Bill Lee announced his plan to overhaul the state’s Basic Education Program formula in October — this could be

12

DAVIDSON COUNTY

so many ways to split a deep-red pie.

What was instead delivered was a sort of doomsday scenario: a map that sliced Nashville into three districts. The proposed 5th U.S. Congressional District winds from southern Davidson County through Williamson County and into the deep-red rural areas of southern Middle Tennessee. The new 6th goes from East Nashville all the way to the northern reaches of the Cumberland Plateau. The 7th stretches from western Davidson County to the Tennessee River. In short, Davidson County Democrats are lumped with the wealthier suburban counties — reliably Republican for 30 years or so — and, perhaps in an effort to guard against the trend of those types of voters moving back to the Democrats, with the former yellow-dog counties that have so dramatically turned red in the past two decades.

As it stands, Tennessee would move from seven safe Republican districts to eight, with the Memphis-based 9th the only Democratic stalwart.

Viewed at a distance, the congressional districts — with the exception of the snaking 5th — at least look normal, whereas the state legislative maps have the bizarre shapes more associated with gerrymandering. The new 13th state House district in Rutherford County, for example, looks vaguely like the digestive system, with an esophagus — in some places mere miles wide — connecting parts of La Vergne with farming communities farther south. La Vergne — which has a significant minority population and tends to vote for Democrats in heavier numbers than other places in Rutherford County — is split by the new map, with neither district connecting to Murfreesboro, where another good-size clutch of liberal voters reside.

What can be done? Legislatively, not much. So Democrats are likely to seek recourse judicially.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2019’s Rucho v. Common Cause that partisan gerrymandering is a nonjusticiable ques-

tion for federal courts, as it is impossible to quantify how much partisanship is too much. Arguing that Republicans drew districts to favor Republicans is a dead-end street for Democrats.

Any legal attack would instead likely focus on the newly drawn districts’ dilution of minority voters. Non-Hispanic whites make up 56 percent of Davidson County’s population, meaning voters of color would have — and under the traditional system of maintaining a Nashville-centered district do have — a significant influence on the outcome of elections. Under the Voting Rights Act and court decisions related to it, a compact and politically cohesive minority must have the opportunity to elect its “candidate of choice.” The Supreme Court ruled in 2017 that even if districts

are drawn for the purpose of partisan gain, if the result is dilution of influence of minority voters, it is still racial gerrymandering and thus illegal.

Communities of color in North Nashville are now drawn with the white and Republican counties of western Middle Tennessee. Those south of downtown will have to make common political cause with southern Middle Tennessee.

The Tennessee Democratic Party didn’t waste any time, tweeting “we’ll see you in court” (and including a fundraising link, naturally) moments after the redistricting plan became public. Meanwhile, of course, Republicans maintain the maps will stand up to scrutiny.

Somebody will be right, and it’s all but certain a judge will decide who. ■

a once-in-a-generation opportunity to give Tennessee’s students access to the education they deserve. The current funding formula was adopted 30 years ago and has seen little change since. Eighty-nine school districts sued the state over the current formula, arguing that Tennessee does not adequately fund education. Though the trial was set to take place this month, it has been moved to later in the year to allow the state time to create and implement changes that the lawsuit calls for.

For months the state has been soliciting public feedback and siphoning it to various committees, and Tennessee legislators now have the chance to show how much they value that feedback and public education in general. The state has already released a new funding formula draft, which would allocate resources based on students’ individual learning needs. That’s something many folks have requested, but the draft still leaves some questions, like how much more money specific groups of students would get — such as those living in poverty or those with unique learning needs — or how the state would gauge and reward learning outcomes.

“I think that we are going down the right

path,” says state Rep. Harold Love Jr. (DNashville), a member of both the House Education Administration Committee and the English learner funding review committee. “I really was encouraged by this notion of, if we see an area where a child needs more support, we can put more funding in for that support.”

“You’re talking about a portion of [money] that is probably almost a third of our state budget,” says state Sen. Jon Lundberg (RBristol), first vice chair of the Senate Education Committee. “So it’s a huge, huge part of what we do as a state, so we’ve got to be incredibly careful. And candidly, we can’t afford to get this wrong.”

Tennessee ranks among the bottom 10 states in the nation when it comes to perpupil funding, and one of the major public requests received during the feedback campaign is that we provide more funding for education rather than simply changing how and where the money is going.

Despite the magnitude of educationfunding-related legislation, it won’t dominate the session’s education conversations entirely. A bill sponsored by Sen. Mike Bell (R-Riceville) and Rep. Michael Curcio (R-Dickson) has already drawn a lot of

attention — it would give families school vouchers if their district doesn’t offer 180 days of in-person learning due to COVID-19, starting with the 2022-23 school year and leading up to 2025. Families with students zoned for an Achievement School District — that is, one of the lowest-performing districts in the state — could also receive a voucher. An earlier version of the bill also provided vouchers to families in districts with a mask mandate, but that part was dropped. (The state’s attempts to limit school districts’ mask mandates have repeatedly failed in court.)

“We’re doing this to make sure that the schools out there, our public school system, which is tasked to educate the vast majority of students in our state, take that job seriously,” said Bell of his proposed voucher bill at a Senate Education Committee meeting last week. “And we can look back at what’s happened in the last couple years here in the state of Tennessee, and we know that there were a couple of districts, may have been three, that for whatever reason just decided not to fulfill the purpose for which they were created to do — and that’s to educate our children.”

When asked by Sen. Raumesh Akbari

HOW PROPOSED CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS WOULD SPLIT DAVIDSON COUNTY

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(D-Memphis) about the intention of the bill and how it relates to a voucher law that’s currently under litigation, Bell responded, “I guess it’s anybody’s guess what impact this bill would have on what’s currently going on in the court.” In 2019, Gov. Lee’s education savings account plan passed in the legislature, but Davidson and Shelby counties later sued the state for targeting the two counties.

Akbari noted that the vouchers bill would drain money from Tennessee’s public schools and siphon it to private schools.

Regardless, the Senate bill was recommended for passage.

Another bill aims to add more school nurses and counselors, while others address higher education and workforce training, and one seeks to push back school start times — Nashville has one of the earliest school start times in the country, and some advocates have raised concerns about its effect on student mental health and academic progress. Another bill worth watching is House Bill 1717/Senate Bill 1835, which requires the Tennessee General Assembly to confirm a governorappointed education commissioner, and that the commissioner submit a strategic plan for approval by the state board of education. The Education Trust in Tennessee has a bill tracker to help folks stay on top of incoming bills and their status.

Last year, the concept of critical race theory led to legislation censoring curricula regarding race and sex. No related bills have been introduced so far, though Rep. Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) has introduced a xenophobic bill that would cut funding for undocumented students, and Rep. Glen Casada (R-Franklin) introduced a bill that would allow parents to check out instructional materials to review student curriculum. What’s more, a pair of transphobic bills introduced last week by Rep. John Ragan (R-Oak Ridge) would prohibit transgender women and girls from participating in women and girls’ athletics and punish non-complying districts. These bills arrive after a law passed last year requiring student athletes to prove that their gender matches the sex listed on their birth certificate.

Rep. Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka) tells the Scene he isn’t expecting any CRT-related conversations in this year’s session, and Rep. Love says, “I don’t think, but you don’t ever know.” Reginald Nash, external relations manager for the Education Trust in Tennessee, is “anticipating some additional movement in the classroom-censorship space, really seeking to dilute history or or present a form of history that isn’t aligned with truth.” He noted that Kentucky lawmakers proposed a bill that extends censorship to higher education.

“We’re hoping that such a bill doesn’t come forward in our legislature,” says Nash.

“But if it does … we will be closely watching that and likely advocating against anything that comes forth that seeks to muzzle the truth or … the very real experiences of so many communities in the United States and in our state’s history as well.”

With COVID-19 still running rampant and making education-related needs and inequities all the more clear, Tennessee lawmakers have a unique opportunity to address these needs and change the trajectory of the state’s education for decades to come.

Let’s hope they don’t screw it up. ■

HOUSE REPUBLICAN CAUCUS CHAIR JEREMY FAISON (LEFT) AND HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER WILLIAM LAMBERTH

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Legislators and advocates are seeking significant changes to Tennessee’s sentencing laws

“WE SAY WE BELIEVE IN REDEMPTION, WE SAY WE BELIEVE IN SECOND CHANCES, AND YET WE HAVE THREE DEATH SENTENCES. ONE, A 51-YEAR LIFE SENTENCE; ANOTHER, A NATURAL LIFE SENTENCE; ANOTHER, A DEATH PENALTY.”

—RAHIM BUFORD

BY STEVEN HALE

T

his year’s legislative session is set to have major implications for how long people convicted of serious crimes spend in prison. Two bills in particular involve longdiscussed issues in Tennessee’s criminal justice system.

The first is the forthcoming Truth in Sentencing Act of 2022. In a Tennessean op-ed earlier this month, House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland) announced the legislation as a way to “make Tennessee’s sentencing codes more transparent” and create more certainty when it comes to how long a convicted person will be incarcerated. At present, the sentence handed down at trial often doesn’t accurately reflect how much time a person will serve in prison. Many incarcerated people are released sooner because of good behavior and the opportunity for parole.

But advocates of so-called truth in sentencing argue this is unfair to victims and their families, who are rarely given a true picture of how long the person who harmed them will be in prison. Criminal justice reform advocates have often been skeptical of such laws, which became popular decades ago along with other tough-on-crime policies like mandatory minimums.

But Lamberth says in his op-ed that the bill he’s pushing would “preserve the judge’s discretion” while narrowing “sentencing ranges to reflect current state averages for most felony offenses.” He says his bill would also phase out parole, replacing it with a system through which the Tennessee Department of Correction has “the discretion to evaluate an inmate’s

risk factors to best determine how they will be supervised upon release after their full sentence has been served.”

“Having a predictable, transparent sentence is just being honest about what our sentencing structure really is,” Lamberth tells the Scene. “We’re going to work on rightsizing our sentences so that our elected judges have the discretion when they feel like someone should be sentenced to prison, that everybody knows how long that’s going to be, and we can plan for that person’s release.”

He says that should include looking at criminogenic factors that might’ve contributed to their actions.

“Do they have mental health issues?” he says. “Do they have drug addiction issues?

Do they come from an impoverished background or a broken home? What has really driven that person to break the law?”

Another bill awaiting action this session is one that would reform Tennessee’s life sentence. Currently, a person sentenced to life with the possibility of parole must serve 51 years before they are eligible for a parole hearing. But the bipartisan bill — Senate Bill 561/House Bill 1532, which passed the Senate with overwhelming support last year — would make it so a person sentenced to life with the possibility of parole is eligible for parole after 25 years. That would revert the law back to the way it was years ago, before President Bill Clinton’s 1994 Crime Bill harshened criminal sentences. The bill will apparently need a new House sponsor, as Rep. Dan Howell (R-Georgetown) has backed away from it, telling Chattanoogan.com, “I ​​ don’t think the victims of violent crimes will be best served by this legislation.”

At a press conference in front of the state

Capitol on the new session’s first day, clergy, activists, formerly incarcerated people and victims’ family members called on the House to pass the bill and give people facing the 51-year life sentence real hope of a second chance.

Former Metro public defender and current executive director of the Choosing Justice Initiative Dawn Deaner said at the event that there are currently 1,304 people serving these sentences. More than half, she says, were 25 or younger when they committed their offense, and 118 were juveniles.

“This is the Bible Belt,” said Rahim Buford, a formerly incarcerated man and activist who served 26 years in prison for a murder committed when he was 18. “We say we believe in redemption, we say we believe in second chances, and yet we have three death sentences. One, a 51-year life sentence; another, a natural life sentence; another, a death penalty.”

Rafiah McCormick was also there. Her son Rodney Armstrong was killed in July 2020.

“It may seem like an oxymoron that I’m a victim’s rights advocate who fights for restorative justice,” she said. “But I’m not a unicorn. There are others like me. For many of us, healing means trying to make sense out of the senseless and find some purpose through our pain. We are interested in justice and accountability, but we’re more focused on our healing and the healing of society.”

Later, she added: “Right now, Tennessee’s current life sentence with the possibility of parole does nothing to restore community or even healing. It may put a salve on our anger if that person that harmed just rots in jail, but when do we get growth from rotting?”

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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MOVIES WE MISSED: QUO VADIS, AIDA?

LOW CUT CONNIE W/ROBERT FINLEY THURS., JAN. 27 Brooklyn Bowl

LOW CUT CONNIE W/ROBERT FINLEY

It’s hard to imagine Philadelphia’s Low Cut Connie making it through the lockdown phases of COVID-19 without their infectious, soulful rock ’n’ roll energy causing the whole lot of them to spontaneously combust. Yet live-wire frontman Adam Weiner channeled his allround-entertainer chops into an ongoing livestream series called Tough Cookies, which earned high praise from no less highbrow an outlet than The New Yorker.

But don’t let that fool you: The group hasn’t tamped down a bit on its explosive nature, despite being seriously vocal in calling for and taking COVID precautions as they’ve ventured back onto the road over the past several months. They’re very much at home in clubs, and the national club tour celebrating their 2020 album Private Lives lands in Music City on Thursday with support from the equally colorful Robert Finley. The country-, blues- and soulschooled master musician makes a return visit to Music City following the release of his 2021 LP Sharecropper’s Son, which was produced right here by Dan Auerbach. 8 p.m. at Brooklyn Bowl, 925 Third Ave. N.

Queen. But this thoughtful film, which premiered at Cannes in 2021, also invites audiences to look inward. The ambitious project pairs award-winning French nature photographer Vincent Munier and travel writer/adventurer Sylvain Tesson (along with cinematographer Marie Amiguet in her directorial debut) as they attempt to track the vulnerable — and highly elusive — snow leopard through the Tibetan highlands. As with most worthwhile adventures, it’s often more about the journey than the destination.

But The Velvet Queen also explores timely themes of isolation, patience and our tendency as human beings to disregard or simply overlook our natural surroundings.

Presented in French with English subtitles,

STEPHEN TRAGESER

FRIDAY / 1.28 FILM

DUE TO INCREASED CONCERNS ABOUT COVID-19 TRANSMISSION, PLEASE CHECK WITH VENUES ABOUT POTENTIAL CANCELLATIONS BEFORE MAKING PLANS.

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THE VELVET QUEEN

With such vast landscapes and stunning scenery, it would be easy to get swept up in the pure spectacle of the new nature documentary The Velvet

COURTNEY BARNETT

the film also features original music from Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. Opens Jan. 28 at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. AMY STUMPFL

MUSIC

MUSIC

The final film on Barack Obama’s list of 2021’s best movies is also the final film of the Belcourt’s Movies We Missed series. Jasna Đuričić gives a harrowing performance as the title character in Quo Vadis, Aida?, writer-director Jasmila Žbanić’s fact-based, heart-wrenching film, which was nominated for a Best International Feature Film Oscar last year. (It has won several awards, including the Independent Spirit Award for Best International Film.) Đuričić plays a smalltown Bosnian U.N. translator scrambling to keep her family safe as Serbian troops run townspeople out of their homes and start rounding up men and boys for what would be later known as the Srebrenica massacre.

While most of the violence takes place off-screen, the movie is still an unsettling reminder of the horrific genocide that occurred in Bosnia during the ’90s, and how people quietly plotted to keep themselves and their loved ones alive. 6 p.m. at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. CRAIG D. LINDSEY

[I’LL MAKE SOME ORIGAMI, HONEY]

COURTNEY BARNETT

Australian indie rocker Courtney Barnett will play the Ryman Auditorium Friday night in support of 2021’s Things Take Time, Take Time, the acclaimed singersongwriter’s third solo studio album. The new album features the wry humor and pointedly observational lyrics for which Barnett has come to be known and loved, alongside a more experimental sonic palette and a lyrical turn inward. Barnett

broke out with 2015’s Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, which earned her widespread praise — not to mention a Best New Artist nomination at the 2016 Grammys — for its clever, imagery-rich lyrics and deadpan delivery. New Yorkbased singer-songwriter Cassandra Jenkins will open. 8 p.m. at the Ryman, 116 Rep. John Lewis Way N. BRITTNEY MCKENNA FILM

FILM

THURSDAY / 1.27

[REDNECK JAWS]

LAKE PLACID

“So this is, like, redneck Jaws.” That’s what YouTuber Ashleigh Burton said while doing a reaction video to 1999 creature feature Lake Placid. She’s not far off the mark. Set mainly around a Maine lake (even though the whole thing was shot in Canada), Lake Placid has a bunch of people, including two lawmen (Bill Pullman and Brendan Gleeson), a paleontologist (Bridget Fonda) and a mythology professor (Oliver Platt), going after a gigantic crocodile that’s been jumping out the water and taking out bodies. Written by, of all people, TV auteur David E. Kelley (Ally McBeal; The Practice; Doogie Howser, M.D.), this is one quirked-up monster movie. Most of the flick is just Pullman and Gleeson’s frustrated fuzz bickering with Fonda and Platt’s obnoxious out-of-towners. But if there’s one reason to see this, it’s the late, great Betty White — she plays a sweet old lady who also has a foul-ass mouth. Celebrate the icon’s legacy by watching her in a silly killer-reptile

nashvillescene.com | JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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1/24/22 2:21 PM

CRITICS’ PICKS

MONSTER JAM

FILM

The unsophisticated probably think monster truck events are mere entertainment, just a chance for spectators to get a visceral release from watching a huge truck crush some cars and maybe jump off some ramps. The fact is that some events — like Monster Jam, coming to Bridgestone Arena for three events Jan. 29 and 30 — are legitimate competitions. Heck, Monster Jam is sanctioned by the National Hot Rod Association, which also puts on those drag racing competitions with the isosceles-triangle-looking cars on the weird sports channels that you end up watching for three hours on a Saturday because your only other choices are an episode of Andy Griffith you’ve seen 198 times or a college basketball triple-header. Anyway, Monster Jam. There are eight trucks competing in three disciplines: racing, two-wheel skills and freestyle. Obviously, the first is pretty straightforward. The last two are more artistic, with fans in the stands getting a say in the result. Sometimes, as a treat, there are little lagniappes, like doughnut competitions that really are mere exhibition. But if you can’t appreciate the skill it takes to make a truck with 66-inch tires do doughnuts, you can stay home and watch the mundanity of Virginia holding Wake Forest to 36 points. Jan. 29-30 at Bridgestone Arena, 501 Broadway J.R. LIND

LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

SUNDAY / 1.30 [KARMA POLICE REFORM]

THE SMILE SCREENING: IN THE ROUND LIVE FROM SOMEWHERE IN LONDON

Earlier this month, British trio The Smile — featuring Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood along with Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner — released its debut single “You Will Never Work in Television Again.” The song is a frenetic two-and-ahalf-minute blast of punky art rock and a significant departure from recent work

The 2018 release Fairweather is headliner Sam Hoffman’s most recent album. Its tight harmonies and nostalgic feel — the single “Glencrest Lane” appears to be named for a street in Hoffman’s suburban Cincinnati hometown Loveland — recall Sir Paul McCartney, ’70s soft-rock like America, and indie titans Grizzly Bear in equal measure.

Wild-haired, baritone-voiced Trevor Nikrant capped a year in which his main band Styrofoam Winos made its full-length debut by sneaking in a lovely, Lou Reed-esque solo LP, Tall Ladders, just before the year’s end. A solo set from Ben Parks (Sun Seeker, Fox Fun) rounds out the triple bill. 7 p.m. at Drkmttr, 1111 Dickerson Pike CHARLIE ZAILLIAN MUSIC

[REV ME UP]

by Yorke and Greenwood — particularly the latter, who in the past year alone has composed music for probable Oscar contenders Spencer, The Power of the Dog and Licorice Pizza. Ahead of a forthcoming record, which was made in collaboration with regular Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, The Smile is planning a series of three shows broadcast live from Magazine London. The performances — which will “bring together a live show, a livestream and a cinematic film” — will be screened at a few dozen venues around the United States, including at City Winery here in Nashville.

It’s a fitting event for a high-profile band that began as a COVID lockdown project, and attendees can expect some stunning lighting accompaniment to go along with The Smile’s in-the-round performance.

City Winery requires proof of COVID vaccination or a recent negative test for entry. 1 p.m. at City Winery, 609 Lafayette St.

[GEORGIAN ARCHITECTURE]

THAYER SARRANO W/ CALVERTFOUNTAIN & NIGHT DRIVING IN SMALL TOWNS

Bands that work in and around rock in the South often excel at exploring the weird spaces between and behind the things we think we know well. Thayer Sarrano — who hails from Athens, Ga., but has been spending a lot of time in Nashville in the past couple of years — is particularly good at this. She’s got a wide-ranging catalog for you to dive into, but you don’t have to dig back any further than her 2021 single “Jump Into the Water” — the narrative in her lyrics about making a choice to do something risky becomes otherworldly and hypnotic in the grooving psych setting that she and her band make for it. She’s bringing along two other bands with Athens or Atlanta roots that make distinctive and compelling music with touches of psych and folk. Show up on time to catch CalvertFountain, whose Leah Calvert and Neal Fountain have been hard at work on an as-yet-unreleased album, and Night Driving in Small Towns, Andrea Rogers and Colby Wright’s long-running innovative indie-rock outfit. 9 p.m. at The 5 Spot, 1006 Forrest Ave. STEPHEN TRAGESER

D. PATRICK RODGERS

MUSIC

SPORTS

SATURDAY / 1.29

slab out of which blue forget-me-not flowers bloom. The installation references Tupac Shakur’s poem “The Rose That Grew From Concrete” and honors what the press materials call “survival despite seemingly impossible circumstances.” I can’t help but think about how Tupac brought his complex relationship with his family into his art, as well as the refrain “You are appreciated” in the song “Dear Mama.” This conversation with Bryant and his family is a great way to kick off the eagerly awaited show from the Nashville-based artist. 3-4 p.m. at the Frist, 919 Broadway; exhibition runs through May 1

MUSIC

thriller that spawned five straight-to-cable sequels. 7 p.m. at Full Moon Cineplex, 3455 Lebanon Pike CRAIG D. LINDSEY

[LOCAL COLOR]

SAM HOFFMAN W/TREVOR NIKRANT & BEN PARKS

Three young Nashville-residing tunesmiths will join forces for this gig at Drkmttr, the cozy East Side DIY stronghold that resumed live shows back in September.

[FREAKS COME OUT AT NIGHT]

ZTV LIVE VIDEO PARTY

More often than not, it’s the little arts festivals that push the boundaries of form and style, especially when it comes to film. We at the Scene are always game to check out the potentially weird and wonderful. The ZTV Film Festival offers short films that range from “uncensored music video and chaotic commercial work to abstract animated blurbs and underground documentaries,” and the fest’s first live video party will go down at The Barbershop Theater this weekend. Attendees will also be served performances from co-founder of Back to Black Burlesque Betty Vou Plaît and Ginger Oh Snap. Costumes are encouraged.

The theater’s COVID protocols require that everyone in the building be vaccinated, and that audience members wear masks throughout the performance. 8 p.m. at The Barbershop Theater, 4003 Indiana Ave.

BOOKS

TUESDAY / 2.01 [HIDDEN FIGURES]

SALON@615 SPECIAL EDITION WITH RUTA SEPETYS Ruta Sepetys is a local queen of

>> P. 22

[YOU ARE APPRECIATED]

CONVERSATION: LEXANDER BRYANT AND HIS FAMILY

It’s not uncommon for an artist to lead audiences through an exhibition of their work — but it’s a lot less common for an artist to include their family in that process. I love the confidence LeXander Bryant shows with this kind of unique programming and in his first solo museum show Forget Me Nots, which opens this weekend at the Frist. The centerpiece of the exhibition is a suspended cracked concrete

18

THAYER SARRANO

PHOTO: ALYSSE GAFKJEN

ART

ERICA CICCARONE

NASHVILLE SCENE | JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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1/24/22 2:20 PM

CRITICS’ PICKS

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CHARLES WESLEY GODWIN

8:00

FRI

VINYL RADIO

8:00

SAT

BACKSTAGE NASHVILLE!

12:30

RESURRECTION:

8:00

THE TIME JUMPERS

8:00

THU

1/27

7:00

1/29

2/3

THE EAGLEMANIACS

FRI

SAT

7:30

BACKSTAGE NASHVILLE! HIT SONGWRITER SHOW STAIRWAY TO ZEPPELIN

8:00

THE TIME JUMPERS

MON

7:00

RACHEL LOY’S SH*T LIST

TUE

BANNISTER & JESSIE CLEMENT

DAYTIME HIT SONGWRITER SHOW

8:00 12:30

A JOURNEY TRIBUTE

MON

1/31

TUE

2/1

THU

FEAT. ANNA HAMILTON, ANX, CARLY

WITH JD CLAYTON

1/28

TUNED INTO THIRD

DEREK ST. HOLMES BAND

8:00

2/4 2/5

A SALUTE TO LED ZEPPELIN

FEAT. CHARLIE WORSHAM, LUCIE SILVAS, DEREK BAHR, MATTHEW PERRYMAN JONES & MORE!

2/7

2/8

FEATURED

3/5

3/11 THE CLEVERLYS

3/17

3/19

4/2 ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL

WILLIAM LEE GOLDEN & THE GOLDENS

TRIGGER HIPPY

PAT MCLAUGHLIN BAND FEAT. KENNY GREENBERG, MICHAEL RHODES & GREG MORROW

COMING SOON 2-9 BRADY SEALS W/ PORTER HOWELL, SONNY LEMAIRE, & PAUL JEFFERSON 2-10 MCBRIDE & THE RIDE 2-11 ALYSSA BONAGURA 2-12 BACKSTAGE NASHVILLE! DAYTIME HIT SONGWRITER SHOW 2-12 RUBIKS GROOVE 2-14 THE TIME JUMPERS 2-17 HOGSLOP STRING BAND

2-18 12 AGAINST NATURE + MAKE ME SMILE 2-19 THE MIDNIGHT RIDERS ALLMAN BROTHERS REVUE 2-20 GOODBYE JUNE 2-22 MCKENZIES MILL 2-24 CLINT PARK 2-25 THE SMOKING SECTION 3-3 TINSLEY ELLIS 3-4 JIMMY HALL & THE PRISONERS OF

LOVE FEAT. KENNY GREENBERG + BONEPONY 3-12 GUILTY PLEASURES 3-18 THE PETTY JUNKIES W/ THE ALTERNATORS 4-3 THE CACTUS BLOSSOMS 4-8 & 4-9 RAY WYLIE HUBBARD 5-4 MIDDLEMAN BURR W/ TOLAN SHAW 5-8 MIDLAKE 5-15 OLIVER WOOD

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22

SILVANA ESTRADA crossover YA lit who has a broad, ageless appeal. Weaving historical settings with fictional narratives, she makes tough stories — like the genocide of Baltic people after the Soviet occupation in 1941 — accessible by creating young heroes to root for.

“Writing historical fiction is like being a detective,” she writes on her website. “I enjoy uncovering secrets, hidden facts, and hidden heroes.” Her latest novel I Must Betray You dives into 1989 Romania, where a 17-year-old who dreams of being a writer is blackmailed by dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu’s secret police into becoming a spy. “He’s left with only two choices: betray everyone and everything he loves — or use his position to creatively undermine the most notoriously evil dictator in Eastern Europe.” Sound intriguing? Sepetys will discuss her work with author Alan Gratz at a virtual Salon@615 event. 6:15 p.m. via parnassusbooks.net ERICA CICCARONE [CANTATE]

SILVANA ESTRADA

Twenty-four-year-old folk songwriter Silvana Estrada was raised in the Veracruz region of Mexico, and her new

album Marchita dropped last week via Glassnote Records. Marchita means “withered” in Spanish, and the album considers heartbreak and the healing that follows, all told in sparse arrangements through Estrada’s beautiful, emotive voice.

And don’t let her youth or the fact that she doesn’t have a lot of material under her belt fool you into thinking she’s a novice — Estrada grew up in a musical household, and has already toured with Rodrigo y Gabriela and collaborated with Natalia Lafourcade, Jorge Drexler and Mon Laferte. 7 p.m. at City Winery, 609 Lafayette St. KELSEY BEYELER MUSIC

MAGGIE BAUGH & FRIENDS

MUSIC

2/2

[DANCE HALL BABIES]

THELMA AND THE SLEAZE W/WANDA, BADCULTURE & MADDIE MEDLEY

Thankfully, I don’t have to ship off to a desert island with nothing but a solarpowered jukebox for company anytime soon. But if I did, I might request that said record machine be stocked with the complete works of Thelma and the Sleaze.

The Nashville-based outfit, led by Lauren “L.G.” Gilbert and featuring a rotating cast of truly badass players, has something for everyone who appreciates rock with the

NASHVILLE SCENE | JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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1/24/22 2:20 PM

LIVE MUSIC | URBAN WINERY | RESTAURANT | BAR | PRIVATE EVENTS

1.30

1.30 The Smile (Screening)

Eric Gales

‘Crown’ Album Release Show w/ Hurricane Ruth

Live Broadcast - In The Round Live From Somewhere in London

2.01

Silvana Estrada presented by WNXP

2.02 Liz Longley & Matthew Perryman Jones

DOWNTOWN

Saturday, January 29

Saturday, February 26

SONGWRITER SESSION

SONGWRITER SESSION

Jim Collins NOON – 12:45 pm

· FORD THEATER

Jimmy Fortune NOON – 12:45 pm

Saturday, February 5

Saturday, March 5

SONGWRITER SESSION

SONGWRITER SESSION

Marc Beeson NOON – 12:45 pm

· FORD THEATER

INTERVIEW AND PERFORMANCE

Florida Georgia Line

Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard

· CMA THEATER

Waylon Payne NOON – 12:45 pm

· FORD THEATER

LIVE IN CONCERT

Willie Nelson & Family 8:00 pm · CMA THEATER LIMITED AVAILABILITY

Saturday, February 12

Saturday, March 12

SONGWRITER SESSION

SONGWRITER SESSION

Josh Jenkins NOON – 12:45 pm

· FORD THEATER

Stephanie Quayle and Anna Vaus NOON – 12:45 pm

Friday, February 25 LIVE IN CONCERT

Colbie Caillat 8:00 pm

SUCH 2.4

MYKAL KILGORE IN THE LOUNGE

2.5

· CMA THEATER

· FORD THEATER

2.03

Henhouse Prowlers in the Lounge

2.10

PHOEBE KATIS AND JACKSON DREYER IN THE LOUNGE

STRONGER: A CHANGE OF HEART FEATURING NICKIE CONLEY & KRISTIAN DAMBRINO IN THE LOUNGE

2.10

ZO! & TALL BLACK GUY

2.11

ALEX BUGNON

2.6

NASHVILLE BEATLES BRUNCH FEATURING FOREVER ABBEY ROAD

2.12

INEBRIATED SHAKESPEARE PRESENTS: MACBETH IN THE LOUNGE

2.6

AN INTIMATE EVENING WITH BILLY GILMAN IN THE LOUNGE

2.12 2.13

PAPADOSIO (ACOUSTIC)

2.8

RIDERS IN THE SKY

2.17

THE ARCADIAN WILD WITH LYDIA LUCE

2.9

2.18 ACTORS BRIDGE ENSEMBLE PRESENTS: THE 2021 BENEFIT PRODUCTION OF THE 2.20 VAGINA MONOLOGUES BY EVE ENSLER

Thursday and Friday, March 10 and 11

Sunday, February 6

2:00 – 3:15 pm

2.03

· FORD THEATER

LOW TICKET ALERT

DAVID BROMBERG QUINTET WITH ROB ICKES & TREY HENSLEY BOB MOULD SOLO ELECTRIC: DISTORTION AND BLUE HEARTS! WITH H.C. MCENTIRE

Sunday, March 20 LIVE IN CONCERT

Graham Nash 7:30 pm

· CMA THEATER

Check our calendar for a full schedule of upcoming programs and events.

CountryMusicHallofFame.org/Calendar

Museum Membership

Museum members receive unlimited Museum admission, ticket pre-sale opportunities, and much more.

2.14

Valentine’s Day at City Winery

Live music, wine pairing class, and prix fixe dinner for two

609 LAFAYETTE ST. NASHVILLE, TN 37203, NASHVILLE, TN 37203 @CITYWINERYNSH / CITYWINERY.COM / 615.324.1033

JOIN TODAY: CountryMusicHallofFame.org/Membership

nashvillescene.com | JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

23

917 Woodland Street Nashville, TN 37206 thebasementnashville.com

FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY // JAN 30

NILE // FEB 3

W/ INCANTATION, SANGUISUGABOGG, AND I AM

soul of Little Richard and the snarl of Joan Jett — with some of the finest guitar work and best stage banter you could ask for.

TATS, as the band is known for short, is a collective of dyed-in-the-wool road dogs, and we’ve rarely had more than a couple of local shows from them in recent years. Cherish this one, which includes shape-shifting North Alabama rockers Wanda, as well as two more Nashvillians: see psych rockers BadCulture and wide-ranging songsmith Maddie Medley. 9 p.m. at Springwater, 115 27th Ave. N. STEPHEN TRAGESER MUSIC

W/ ENTERPRISE EARTH, INGESTED, SIGNS OF THE SWARM, & GREAT AMERICAN GHOST

CRITICS’ PICKS

POWERSLAVE: IRON MAIDEN TRIBUTE // FEB 5 RUMOURS: FLEETWOOD MAC TRIBUTE // FEB 11 W/ NOMENCLATURE

W/ SYMPTOM OF THE UNIVERSE: BLACK SABBATH TRIBUTE

w

sho

PEDRO THE LION // APR 19

ICEAGE // MAR 2

W/ OCEANATOR

W/ SLOPPY JANE

Upcoming shows jan 27 Jan 30

tenille townes w/alex hall Fit For an autopsy w/enterprise earth,

Feb 2 Feb 3 Feb 5

Current Joys w/dark tea nile w/incantation, sanguisugabogg, and I am powerslave: iron maiden tribute

Feb 10 Feb 11 Feb 12 Feb 16 feb 17 feb 18 feb 19 feb 20 feb 21 feb 22 feb 23

ingested, signs of the swarm, and great american ghost

w/symptom of the universe: black sabbath tribute Muna w/allison ponthier sold out!

rumours: fleetwood mac tribute

w/nomenclature K.Flay w/g.flip & corook sold out!

Bendigo fletcher w/abby hamilton john moreland w/will johnson

love you later, girlhouse, & abby holliday emily king obscura w/vale of pnath & interloper gracie abrams with special guest alix page sold out! valley w/catie turner sold out! paramore vs. avril lavigne tribute ft. kallie shorr, sam varga, taylor acorn, thrill FR, & not a real band

feb 24 Feb 25 feb 26 feb 27 mar 1 Mar 2 mar 3 mar 4 Mar 5 mar 6 mar 7 mar 8 mar 9 mar 10 mar 11 mar 12 mar 13

samia w/annie dirusso neal francis w/emily wolfe brett dennen w/the heavy hours zachary williams drama Iceage w/sloppy jane chapo trap house podcast sold out! half•alive sold out!

Inhaler w/junior mesa sold out! soulfly w/200 stab wounds and more! gary numan w/i speak machine mipso w/bella white goth babe kat von d w/prayers emo night tour cults the dear hunter w/the world is a beautiful place

mar 15 Mar 19 Mar 20 Mar 22

la luz BristonMaroneyw/jackiehayes&mercury soldout!

BristonMaroneyw/jackiehayes&futurecrib soldout! maxo kream

SAVANNAH RAE // JAN 28 jan 27 jan 28 jan 28 jan 29 jan 29 jan 31 feb 3 feb 4 feb 4

BRIT TAYLOR // FEB 3

(9pm)

father sunn, ethan samuel brown, & natalie duffy brit taylor bern kelly & jobi riccio (7pm) alex rahal w/brad sample (9pm)

feb 5 feb 6 feb 7 feb 7 feb 9 feb 10 feb 11 feb 11 feb 12 feb 12 feb 14 feb 14

EVERGREEN: THINGS YOU CAN DO ANY TIME

and I am no longer afraid to die & tanner merritt of o'brother

UPCOMING SHOWS

arkensauce, armchair boogie, & east nash grass savannah rae (7pm) dylan walshe, coleman williams, & josh okeefe (9pm) brandy zdan & ruby boots (7pm) beau brunette, boa boys, blonde bones

MAN ON MAN

“Music in the gay genre is such a specific pigeonhole — going out to the disco and dancing — but we are two gay guys who love rock music,” Roddy Bottum told Brooklyn Magazine in May, discussing his new two-piece project Man on Man. MoM is a meeting of the minds between Bottum — who played keys with seminal ’80s rockers Faith No More and later cofronted the Clinton-era alt-rock combo Imperial Teen — and his partner Joey Holman, an alum of 2000s Murfreesboro prog-popsters Cool Hand Luke, which was a rare band with Christian affiliations that managed to earn some cred in secular circles. Bottum and Holman conceived of MoM during the COVID summer of 2020, and brought it to life last year on a self-titled Polyvinyl debut — a formidable, catchy, cheeky yet unabashedly sincere affair that leans into its members’ love of the craft, and each other. Man on Man visits Nashville as part of an epic two-month tour behind the album. 7 p.m. at Drkmttr, 1111 Dickerson Pike CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

PODCAST

new

[STARTED FROM THE BOTTUM]

[READY, SET, NOODLE LOAF]

LISTEN TO NOODLE LOAF PODCAST

Having a kid is a weird challenge, made only weirder by the fact that it’s impossible to be an expert — you’re a newbie parent and then the kid’s grown up, and it feels like there’s no in-between. My daughter was almost 5 years old before I discovered Noodle Loaf, a sweet musiceducation podcast that we listen to together, and I feel like it’s my duty as a parent to tell other parents about it. It’s hosted by

Dan Saks, who is kind of like Steve from Blue’s Clues mixed with Chris Thile, and it’s sweet and weird in the best way. Saks and his Noodle Loaf choir (“Noodlinos”) lead you through original echo songs that are silly enough to delight your kid but won’t make you curse under your breath when they’re inevitably stuck in your head an hour later — think Wayne Coyne or Frank Zappa. Each episode is about 10 minutes long — perfect for the drive to school or day care, or to listen to while making lunch or coloring. It’s geared toward kiddos between ages 3 and 9, but won’t talk down to them.

LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

FILM

thebasementeast basementeast thebasementeast

[MY PRECIOUS]

REVISIT THE LORD OF THE RINGS

Something significant happened in December, and it didn’t get much attention — Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring turned 20. The Harry Potter series got a whole HBO special to celebrate its 20th anniversary, but all LOTR got was a rap from Stephen Colbert. Though I’m not mad at the song (which features LOTR cast members plus Jon Batiste, Killer Mike and Method Man), LOTR deserves more. To celebrate the anniversary on your own terms, there are endless ways to reenter Middle Earth, including rewatching Jackson’s film (available via HBO Max or for rental on virtually every streaming platform), rereading the books (including The Hobbit and The Silmarillion) and checking out the myriad analyses they inspired. Plus, there are many LOTR podcasts — lately I’ve been listening to The Friendship Onion, hosted by actors Dom Monaghan and Billy Boyd, who play Merry and Pippin respectively in the movies. A quick internet search can also turn up LOTR drinking games that, if followed correctly, might kill you. Cook a LOTR-inspired meal to absorb the alcohol — just grab some potatoes and, in the words of Samwise Gamgee, “boil ’em, mash ’em, stick ’em in a stew.” Amazon recently announced the name and release date of a new LOTR series — The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is set to drop in September — so now’s a great time to revisit the series from the top. KELSEY BEYELER

THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

brandy zdan & rose hotel husbands w/bckhnd aaron raitiere & friends (7pm) Sunny war & jordan tice (9pm) ben chapman ren richards w/bridget rian and john & joe bo tillman w/hunter taylor (7pm) yot club, reptaliens & renata zeiguer (9pm) laura nicholson (7pm) tina turner tribute (9pm) aaron raitiere & friends (7pm) erica case & tebbs karney w/ Austin

Stambaugh, Chris Emmert, & Nick Emmert (9pm)

1604 8th Ave S Nashville, TN 37203 thebasementnash 24

thebasementnash

thebasementnash

NASHVILLE SCENE | JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

criticspicks_1-27-22.indd 24

1/24/22 2:20 PM

1/27 THUMP

w/ DJ’s Nicholas Latiff, Edders, Sterbo (venue)

1/28 Smokin’ Peas

a night of 90’s covers & Inferno Kats (venue)

1/28 The Beat Creeps

w/ Tennessee Troubadour Rabblers (bar)

1/29 She’s Lost Control w/ DJ’s Dark Heart, Orlok (venue)

1/31 Douglas Francisco

w/ featured artist that rotate weekly (bar)

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nashvillescene.com | JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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NASHVILLE SCENE | JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

FOOD AND DRINK

MYINT CONDITION

Siblings Arnold and Anna Myint continue their parents’ legacy with the relaunched International Market

BY JENNIFER JUSTUS

E

HATYAI FRIED CHICKEN

Temple of Nashville.

“We can still see it to this day with the customers that come in — [my parents] really did build a community,” Arnold says.

“They really did build not only an Asian community but a cultural kind of melting pot of people. … They created this vibe and this sense of family for intellectuals and misfits and artists. Very much in how we were raised — all accepting.”

Arnold says his father’s involvement with religion and philosophy also helped in bringing immigrants to Nashville, offering a safe place and helping folks find work. “I think they did a lot outside of food,” he says, “but the International Market was like the hub, the meeting place, the community center for everybody.”

As Jackson reiterates (speaking partly through translation by Arnold), Patti had a place for everyone. Her willingness to offer work and influence helped spur on other Asian restaurants around town as her protégés started business of their own.

Patti grew up one of nine siblings in Thailand, where her parents ran a bodega. “They took groceries that were almost turned and made them into curries and stews for their storefront,” says Arnold. “That was their livelihood.” Anna and Arnold grew up in their mother’s restaurant and market. “I didn’t have any family dinners,” Anna says.

“After school my mom would pick me up, I’d go over to the International Market, sit in a booth, do my homework, take a nap, eat a snack, and wait for my dad to come back from work and take me home at 5 or 6. It was normal for me.”

Later Anna helped at the cash register. “[Arnold] was back in the kitchen, and I was always up front,” she says.

“I always loved food,” Arnold reiterates.

“I would eat and cook all day. I’m doing ex-

PHOTOS: DANIEL MEIGS

very now and then, someone who visits the new location of International Market across the street from the original site will have a bone to pick with chef Arnold Myint over whether dishes on the steam table have INTERNATIONAL MARKET, 2013 BELMONT BLVD. changed since his IM2NASHVILLE.COM mother ran the place.

It’s a natural reaction, considering that the beloved restaurant’s legacy stretches back to 1975 — and maybe especially so in a town where many street corners are unrecognizable due to whiplash change. We’re holding on to the familiar with all we’ve got.

But when it comes to change, Myint has a little bit of insurance. He can refer diners to Kong Bounkoung Srisongkham or Tongdee Jackson, two of the ladies in the kitchen who cooked with his late legendary mother Patti Myint for 30 and 40-plus years respectively.

If anyone knows how the chicken on a stick, the egg rolls, the curries have always been cooked, it’s them.

And yet Arnold and his sister Anna, who carry on the family legacy by running the restaurant together, will be the first to acknowledge that while some things stay the same, others are bound to change — to freshen and elevate with the times and through the lens of their experience. They walk a fine line keeping loyal diners satisfied while pushing and educating both regulars and newcomers, just as their mother once did. It’s a challenge that might be familiar at other multigenerational family-run establishments, such as one run by another Arnold — Arnold’s Country Kitchen, where the steam table honors a family legacy but with the younger proprietor, Kahlil Arnold, adding his own spin to tradition. Restaurants can’t be static, after all. They’re an evolution.

“We never said we’re doing the exact same thing,” Anna Myint says of what she calls International Market 2.

“It’s a tribute restaurant,” Arnold adds.

“But just like a tribute band, we’re going to put in our own twist. We’re gonna keep the words, but we gotta put our own funk in there too.”

The siblings have much to pay tribute to in their work. Their trailblazing mother Patti opened International Market on Belmont Boulevard with a small steam table next to a used appliance store that Arnold calls “very Sanford and Son” with its “refurbed washers and dryers and whatnot.”

When Patti couldn’t find Asian goods in Nashville at the time, she bought in bulk on road trips to New York and Chicago and shared the bounty as business. Arnold and Anna’s father Win Myint had arrived in Nashville to teach math at Tennessee State University. He also founded the Buddhist

BBQ TOFU RAMEN actly what I was doing when I was 5. Except now my name’s on the menu.”

The siblings’ paths took winding turns to bring them back home. For Arnold (44),

nashvillescene.com | JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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FOOD AND DRINK

EGGPLANT PLATE

that meant competition ice skating, culinary school, competing on Top Chef, and running restaurants like Suzy Wong’s House of Yum, PM and Blvd. Meanwhile, Anna (36) spent several years in New York City as a buyer for Macy’s. Back home she worked as alumni director for University School of Nashville while earning an MBA — as her mother once did too — from Vanderbilt.

Then discussion began with her mother about her pending retirement. Belmont University purchased the original International Market property, so they planned to move the business across the street to one of Arnold’s restaurant spaces. But then Patti died unexpectedly in 2018. Win died the following

28

year. Then COVID hit. And Arnold, who was building a life outside Nashville, needed a little convincing to come back.

“Construction, all of the design, negotiations, financials — it’s all her,” Arnold says of his sister. “Which is very much how our mom was. I’m here to pull this off back [in the kitchen] for you.”

The younger Myints have given thought to every detail.

“We had to have the steam table,” says Anna — even though it adds 30 items to the menu, it also adds a helluva lot of work and prep.

“We had to have a sense of a market,” Arnold adds, noting that the new space of-

fers a version that’s more curated. “All the stuff we have on the shelves is stuff I use in my pantry. It’s a functional shelf. You’re not getting the 1,000 things. … We have K&S for that, and Bangkok Market.”

A few of the original orange booths made it to the new space, and they play well with the more modern banquette in its sunset shades. Some of the old building’s original red bricks also found their way around the bar and the exterior. A customer offered to help take down the original sign from the old place, which now hangs indoors.

“It surrounds us,” Arnold says.

Anna recalls her mother’s ability to make folks feel special, and says she hears about it from customers and vendors often. The thing that sticks with Arnold about his mom’s impact is how visionary she was.

“I only experience that as I’m making the food and cooking through her,” he says. “I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, she really knew what she was doing. Her instincts. … What she did in the ’70s in terms of food and making it approachable and relatable to the consumer here in Tennessee.’

“My struggle here, that’s also the blessing, is listening to customers that were loyal from before and their expectations of what they want and also what I can deliver and how I want to deliver it,” he says. While

some of those familiar tastes might have come from canned items due to a need to work quickly, he says “I’m not doing that here.” He likes to work with local purveyors and farmers and make stocks and sauces from scratch. “There’s a lot of stuff on the steam table that I’m very proud of that we’ve kept … but I gotta do me too.”

In the five months since the Myints’ soft opening, they’ve been finding the balance and taking time to get things right. While they remember their mom saying “We don’t work banker’s hours — we’re open all the time for the people,” they’ve also been focusing on keeping quality high without overexerting their staff during the challenges of COVID. They plan to expand their hours next month.

“Opening with everything that Mom did for 40 years is quite overwhelming,” says Arnold. “Every sauce, every accommodation. She did something for everyone.

But we will officially open the week of our mom’s birthday, Feb. 15.”

“And our dad’s birthday is Feb. 21,” Anna adds.

The week will be a celebration of their parents, who surely would be proud.

“I kind of wanted to get to what our mom did,” Arnold says, “where she was always there for you.”

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NASHVILLE SCENE | JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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IT’S OK TO LET YOUR HOUSEPLANTS DIE The last time I compassionately killed a plant, it was in conjunction with a breakup

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I

’m the kind of person who tries to save everything. I pick up saturated worms on the street and move them to higher ground. But around the time I turned 40, leaving a long-term relationship with my ex-girlfriend, I had the experience of letting something die on my watch. That something? A generic houseplant.

I’ve done the desperate searches in the past, yielding results like “The Six Ways to Save a Dying Houseplant” and “Can You Bring a Dead Houseplant Back to Life?” I’ve clung to the idea of saving the browning heartleaf philodendron, neglected behind my laptop. I’ve moved a fern from bathroom to bedroom and back again. I’ve made tonics, repotted, pruned and inspected leaf by leaf. Every now and then, though, I choose to let a house plant die.

The last time I compassionately killed a plant, it was in conjunction with a breakup.

My ex and I decided to separate after nearly seven years together. I wanted to build a family, and she no longer wanted to try for one. We couldn’t move out of our shared apartment immediately, so we spent a month living together and slowly separating our things, our routines, our lives and our plants.

The umbrella tree belonged to me before we were together. A friend’s son found it growing out of a cat-litter box in a dank basement — without light or much soil. It was the kind of plant that tells you it wants to live, despite the odds. My ex and I cared for it together. It moved with us into our first place. It grew heartily through the first few years of our relationship, despite being riddled with scale. I delicately wiped each leaf with alcohol-soaked cotton balls.

It was a slow-growing beauty, its green waxy leaves shooting out in starbursts from each stem, always a perky darkgreen splash against our muted walls. It accepted bulb ornaments at Christmastime and long sabbaticals outside while we were on vacation. It accepted my puppy swatting at it and chewing on its leaves. The umbrella plant and I were connected in our commitment to survival. When my friend’s son — the one who found it — died in a tragic accident, the plant continued to grow, a bold foil to the devastating death of its finder.

During our last month in the apartment, the plant started to droop. Not leaves, but whole stems fell from the base stalk. I barely had time to sweep them from the floor before the next one fell. Stems fell

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THE UMBRELLA PLANT AND I WERE CONNECTED IN OUR COMMITMENT TO SURVIVAL. when I walked by the plant in the hallway.

Stems fell when the vacuum rumbled by.

As is probably the case with compassionate deaths in other species, I found advice about when to hold on and when to pull the plug contradictory. Some sources said I needed to repot, change locations, uncover my mistakes as a caregiver — or just give it more time. My ex supported these ideas, but ultimately left it up to me. A part of me wanted to do these things. The plant and I knew how to survive in adversity. We had been together through the years my partner and I discussed sperm donors and egg retrievals, and then when we ultimately decided to break up instead of moving forward with building a family. But I was also tired of surviving. I was leaving behind a partner of nearly seven years, moving into a tiny apartment by myself. So against the advice of the internet, I decided it was time I let the plant go.

As my ex and I cleaned out our home, slowly moving into our respective new places, I set the plant outside. It hung on through the dark days of winter rain. It lingered through the first snowfall. We passed it on the porch as we moved our furniture out of the apartment. We passed it as we moved the other plants and our dog to our new lives.

Perhaps it was cowardly, setting the plant outside. It had survived so much, maybe it could decide for itself if it wanted to live or die, but it never did. That was my job. I had to be the one to pull the plug.

When we cleaned the empty apartment, I pulled the plant from its pot and laid it in the compost bin. It looked content and settled in the bright-green bin, surrounded by the wet leaves and dead blackberry vines from our yard. Somehow it appeared more alive there — potless and soil-less and very much at home in that wild afterlife, ready to become the next best version of itself.

I couldn’t help but think I was doing what the plant wanted. The moving truck pulled away from the apartment with the contents of my former life. I followed close behind, leaving the umbrella plant tucked away — removed from the changes ahead.

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SCENERY Arts and Culture News From the Nashville Scene

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ne of the season’s most ambitious group gallery shows is Interior / Exterior, which opened Jan. 8 at Red Arrow Gallery in East Nashville. Some of the show’s most intriguing INTERIOR / EXTERIOR ART BY ANNIE BRITO works deal with HODGIN, ASHANTÉ KINDLE, miscarriage and DANA OLDFATHER, LAUREN stillbirth — heavy GREGORY, RENEESHA themes that are MCCOY AND TESS DAVIES THROUGH JAN. 29 AT RED granted some levity ARROW NASHVI LLE, TNGALLERY, here due to their THERE’S 919 GALLATIN AVE. NOT NOTmediums.

In “Ol’ Splashy,” Lauren Gregory — an BOOZE East Tennessee IN native HEREwho currently teaches at both Parsons in New York and TSU — speaks about her own recent miscarriage with unexpected cheerfulness.

It’s a playful stop-motion animated short soundtracked by sturdy organ music that always sounds on the verge of bursting into a hymn, and is attributed to Nashville Sounds organist and familiar longtime local sideman Matt “Jimmy” Rowland.

The film presents a glimpse into Gregory’s subconscious that is equal parts silly and miserable. “I am both proud of and humiliated by this work,” she says in her artist’s statement. A first-person perspective from inside a bathtub is countered with clay renditions of Simpsons memes (“Stupid Sexy Flanders”) and a particularly poignant pietà that recalls not only Michelangelo but also Allison Schulnik and Will Vinton. There’s something particularly sweet and childlike about stop-motion animation — it has a kind of Bob Ross-ian meditative quality. The effect of that sweetness is twofold, at least: The macabre edge of miscarriage is softened, while the scenes of sex and nudity seem somehow more taboo.

Annie Brito Hodgin is a self-taught painter with an eye for surrealistic vignettes. Her painting “Empty/Full” could work as the show’s entire exhibition statement — a dazed woman props her naked body against a tree as two dogs

gnaw at the placenta they’ve just dragged away from her, tracking bloody paw prints all around. It’s not subtle, but it’s also autobiographical, so subtlety might not be the point.

Hodgin’s work pairs well with the equally idiosyncratic paintings of Tess Davies, whose folk-art-inspired interiors are as captivating as intricate dollhouses.

Davies uses acrylic-based house paint and a monochromatic palette that remind me a little of Wes Anderson. Both Hodgin and Davies share a solemn, dreamy aesthetic, but where Hodgin leans into the emotion of the stories she’s telling, Davies leaves her scenes intentionally, eerily vacant.

Reneesha McCoy is a self-taught artist based in North Carolina with the confidence to bend her figures into largerthan-life forms, finished off with squiggle marks for nipples and a tossed-off drip of halo. Ashanté Kindle’s paintings are conceptually compelling — her intention is to use painterly texture to mimic the waves of Black hair. Two new paintings

by Red Arrow alum Dana Oldfather show a movement toward figuration, but with an off-kilter composition and masterful use of color that keeps it exciting.

With a growing return to in-person viewings, expectations around a show’s installation have been heightened, and Interior / Exterior might have benefited from some organizational tweaks. A few examples: Oldfather’s works are the show’s strongest, and yet they’re given the cheapest seats — a corner of the gallery’s upstairs loft. A pair of great paintings — one from Hodgin and one from Davies — were packed into a side room filled with books and office supplies. And Gregory’s video piece was installed to face the gallery’s floor-toceiling window, so that there was no way to escape a glare on the monitor. Still, the excitement of seeing so much new work from so many new and evolving artists is worth trying to maneuver around the reflection.

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NASHVILLE SCENE | JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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BOOKS

CALLED TO THE WATER

Trouble the Waters is a global fleet of stories about the deep

BY EMILY CHOATE

T

rouble the Waters: Tales From the Deep Blue — a new anthology of speculative fiction co-edited by lauded Memphis writer Sheree Renée Thomas — celebrates the boundless wealth of creative sustenance offered by our world’s bodies of water.

Any anthology taking on a subject so vast and varied would require a nimble, thoughtful approach, clear about what mythologies and histories it evokes. This book communicates that rich, assured perspective from the start.

Thomas has received acclaim for her work in Afrofuturism, which includes sitting on the Curatorial Council of Carnegie Hall’s much-anticipated Afrofuturism festival in New York, TROUBLE THE WATERS: TALES which runs in FebFROM THE DEEP BLUE ruary and March.

EDITED BY SHEREE RENÉE THOMAS, PAN MORIGAN AND She is the author TROY L. WIGGINS of several books THIRD MAN BOOKS of fiction, most 440 PAGES, $17.95 recently 2020’s short-story collection Nine Bar Blues: Stories From an Ancient Future. Thomas shares editorial credit with fellow Memphian Troy L. Wiggins — whose own writing focuses on Afrofantasy, comics and other aspects of the speculative-fiction world — and CanadianAmerican Pan Morigan, who writes and performs as a singer, composer, musical dramatist and author of surrealist fiction.

Hybridity, multivalence and shapeshifting of all kinds permeate Trouble the Waters from start to finish. This emphasis not only helps bring cohesion to this wide-ranging collection, but also underscores a powerful argument for our fundamental interconnectivity — with one another, with our nonhuman neighbors and with the environments that surround us.

But Trouble the Waters also recognizes that currents of peril run through this storytelling lineage. The myths of changeable creatures that recur around our stories about our waterways can upend our sense of knowing who and where we are. “I was following the wrong legend,” says the narrator of Thomas’ compelling story “Love Hangover.” “Delilah was something else, something more ancient.” This anthology beckons us to follow its legends wherever they want to lead us, however disorienting or dangerous.

Each co-editor provides an introductory essay that’s as much an invocation as it is a preface. In his essay “We Are Called to the Water,” Wiggins links the fight against the world’s current slate of water crises to humanity’s ancient pull toward “water-based histories, myths, ideas and futures.” He describes these anthologized stories as “a clarion call to remember that human connection to water.”

Facing contemporary crises, he reminds us, “We must look out on our own times with eyes as clear as the Mother Waters.”

Trouble the Waters’ contributors extend

a truly global reach: Northern Ireland, Jamaica, Scotland, Nigeria, Iceland, Hawaii, Australia, Bolivia, Canada and far beyond.

Whether invoking the voices of their ancestors or drawing from their contemporary surroundings, these writers bring the mythological, historical and aesthetic undercurrents of their backgrounds into the book’s larger vision. Their stories run the gamut of speculative approaches, boasting water-borne creatures, visiting ghosts, techno hybrids and trips to future centuries, to name only a few.

Stateside, the diversity of perspectives continues. Detroit writer adrienne maree brown brings the details of a city neighborhood to life through an indelible voice.

Nashvillian (and Scene contributor) Betsy Phillips’ “Mother of Crawdads” crackles with inventive energy and wit. In “Spirits Don’t Cross Over Water ’Til They Do,” Memphis writer Jamey Hatley poignantly illuminates the memory-rich inner world of an American soldier in Vietnam.

Maryland-based writer Rion Amilcar Scott spins a riverside tale of water-women set in 1918. Jaquira Díaz offers a woman Marine’s riveting humanitarian mission amid a bombed-out tropical village. Poet Heather “Byrd” Roberts brings the collection to a powerful close with “Maafa to Mami Wata,” which engages the horrors that enslaved people experienced during the Middle Passage.

Thomas and her co-editors have imbued Trouble the Waters with an abundant, generous vision. That spirit yields a wealth of imaginative, entertaining storytelling that will please a wide variety of speculative-fiction readers. It may also provide a pleasing invitation to readers who are uninitiated in the genre but ready to get their feet wet.

For more local book coverage, please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee.

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MUSIC

CORONATION DAY Memphis blues champion Eric Gales is ready for his Crown

BY RON WYNN

PHOTO: KATRENA WIZE

G

reatness has not only been predicted but expected from Memphis guitarist-vocalist Eric Gales ever since his blistering, anthemic debut LP The Eric Gales Band was released by Elektra in 1991, when he was PLAYING CITY WINERY SUNDAY, JAN. 30 only 16 years old.

For the past three decades, he’s thrilled audiences and wowed fellow musicians. One thing is consistent across Gales’ 18 albums and his appearances on myriad other artists’ records: His remarkable combination of technical facility and distinctive touch makes him seem at ease in any musical situation, from Delta blues to hardedged funk. He’s built upon that distinctive guitar approach with a soulful and energetic voice, plus a charismatic stage presence that’s made him stand out in such high-profile situations as playing with Santana at Woodstock ’94 or being a featured guest on the Experience Hendrix tour.

But fame can also have a downside, and Gales has certainly experienced it — something he addresses in a direct manner on his outstanding new LP Crown, which is out Friday via Provogue/Mascot Label Group. He sings in a crisp, earnest fashion about the pain and struggles of drug addiction, and the toll that overcoming it took on him.

“It felt good to talk about my past problems,” says Gales, now five years sober, speaking with the Scene via Zoom. “I wanted to really address those past problems and also talk about what it took to beat them. The growth that I’ve experienced as a person and a musician is really what this album is all about.”

Gales, who’ll be playing a release celebration for Crown at City Winery on Sunday, was also deeply affected by the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. This LP includes reflections and assessments of life as a still-young Black man in 21st-century America. Such songs as “Survivor,” “Take Me Just as I Am” (which features strong support from his wife LaDonna Gales) and “Stand Up” make it clear that he’s seen his fair share of injustice and wants to see vital changes made.

The sessions were co-produced by fellow blues-rock star Joe Bonamassa along with Josh Smith, and largely recorded in Nashville at Sound Emporium Studios, with overdubs at Ocean Way Nashville and Greensboro, N.C.’s Earthtones Recording.

There’s a trio of instrumental vignettes that showcase Gales’ speed, imagination and flair as a guitarist. But it’s the 13 other cuts — which include contributions from Tom Hambridge, James House and Keb’ Mo’ — that provide a platform for Gales to shine as a vocalist and lyric storyteller. Those skills enhance the playful and joyous side to Crown, and you can hear that all come together on the lead single “I Want My Crown”

as Gales sings about getting the widespread renown that’s long overdue: “People tell me, ‘Let it be’ / Nobody bothered asking me / For as long as I’ve been around / It’s my turn / I want my crown.”

“We really wanted that one to set the album off, and I think it did,” says Gales of the single. Gales and Bonamassa met when they were both teenage blues wizards in the

early ’90s; they reunited some 25 years later during a cruise, when Bonamassa invited Gales onstage to jam. In the inventive video for the song, the pair stages a guitar duel in the boxing ring, with no less than Keb’ Mo’ serving as the referee.

While Gales dips into other idioms throughout the new album, he always seems to find a way back to the blues. It’s only natural.

“It’s really impossible for me not to have some blues feeling in anything I play. I love all music, whether it’s blues, rock, soul, jazz, funk — you name it. But in the end, I get back to the blues, as well as gospel. For me, those are the same music anyhow, just with different words. Everything I play and sing really reflects those two.”

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nashvillescene.com | JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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MUSIC

FULL MEASURE

Tommy Womack’s anthology 30 Years Shot to Hell documents a rich musical legacy

BY DARYL SANDERS

N

ashville rock veteran Tommy Womack acknowledges using a little poetic license when it came to naming his new 42-song career retrospective, 30 Years Shot to Hell: An Anthology. “It’s actually 37 years, but that doesn’t roll off the tongue as well,” he says with a sly grin.

The anthology was released in late 2021

by Schoolkids Records, the same label that released his most recent album of new material, I Thought I Was Fine. The two-disc collection is a testament not only to Womack’s staying power, but also to his brilliance as a songwriter and recording artist. It covers the entirety of his career, from his beginnings with the Bowling Green, Ky.based indie-rock outfit Government Cheese and his time in the short-lived band The Bis-Quits through his two-decade-plus solo career and his work in the group Daddy.

“I put the running order together really quick,” Womack says. “I didn’t spend a lot of time trying to decide. I just went through

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the records and put on the ones I like.”

While all of his solo albums are wellrepresented, it’s clear Womack really likes three of those records in particular — more than half the tracks come from Positively Na Na (accounting for nine of the 42), There, I Said It! (seven) and Circus Town (six). On his decision to include all but two of the cuts from his 1998 solo debut Positively Na Na, he says, “I guess I did lean to that record a little bit because it’s not anywhere. It’s not on iTunes, it’s not available [on CD] — I’ve got like two copies of it, that’s it.”

30 Years Shot to Hell features much of Womack’s most revered material, including the poignant “I’ll Give You Needles,” the foreboding “I Don’t Have a Gun,” the transcendent “Alpha Male & the Canine Mystery Blood” and the still-far-too-relevant “Betty Was Black (& Willie Was White).” The last of those tracks originally appeared on Washington D.C., a live album featuring a particularly inspired performance by the Tommy Womack Band — Womack (electric guitar, lead vocals), Ken McMahan (electric guitar), Paul Slivka (bass) and Fenner Castner (drums) — for XM Satellite Radio recorded at their studios in the nation’s capital.

The collection also includes “Skinny & Small,” a song Womack almost never performs anymore due to its content. “I wrote it in 1985, and I used to do it all the time with the Cheese,” he says of the tongue-in-cheek song about getting revenge against his high school bullies. “The fact that I came back to town and shot all my old fellow students

— that was funny in 1985 because nobody ever did that. Almost immediately after [my solo recording of the song came out in 1998], Columbine happened, and suddenly it wasn’t funny at all. If people yell for it and really want to hear it, I’ll do it. But as a matter of course, I just don’t play it anymore because it’s not funny.”

In addition to a wide selection of material from his solo records, 30 Years Shot to Hell features four cuts that Government Cheese — Womack (guitar, vocals), Scott Willis (guitar, vocals), Billy Mack Hill (bass, vocals) and Joe Elvis King (drums) — recorded in the late ’80s for Nashville-based indie-rock label Reptile Records. The anthology includes the title track from their 1987 EP C’mon Back to Bowling Green and Marry Me and three tracks from their 1989 album Live! Three Chords, No Waiting. The Cheese is set to perform at The Basement East on April 23, and according to Womack, they hope to release their new Brad Jonesproduced album Love prior to that show.

The Bis-Quits — which featured Womack (guitar, bass, vocals), Will Kimbrough (guitar, vocals), Mike Grimes (bass, guitar, vocals) and Tommy Meyer (drums) — recorded one eponymous album released by John Prine’s Oh Boy label in 1993. Womack included one song from that album, “Cold Wind,” on the new collection.

Daddy is another group Womack cofounded with Kimbrough. They sometimes perform as a duo, but the full band — which includes John Deaderick on keys, Dave

PHOTO: SCOTT WILLIS; DESIGN: PAUL NEEDHAM

PHOTO: SCOTT WILLIS

30 YEARS SHOT TO HELL OUT NOW VIA SCHOOLKIDS RECORDS

Jacques on bass and Paul Griffith on drums — is on the trio of tracks selected for the anthology. The swinging crowd favorite “Vicky Smith Blues” is among the three cuts included, all of which come from Daddy’s 2005 live debut At the Women’s Club.

In addition, the set includes one song never before released on CD, “Feel Beautiful.” “That’s the B-side of a single, ‘We’ll Get Through This Too,’ a Donald Trump song that I recorded with Doug Lancio,” Womack explains. “It’s never been on a CD, just a vinyl 45 7-inch.”

For Womack, there is a form of validation in Schoolkids Records’ decision to release the retrospective of his career. “As thrilled as I am with I Thought I Was Fine, and I’m really thrilled with how it’s done and how it’s been received, a bigger thrill is the anthology. I just sit there and look at the two discs, and I look at the list of songs — 42 friggin’ songs — and I go, ‘Well, maybe my life hasn’t been a waste; maybe it wasn’t 30 years shot to hell.’ ” EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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MUSIC

THE SPIN

STREAM OF A BETTER WORLD

BY CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

R

everting back to streaming concerts after getting to experience in-person shows when pandemic restrictions eased up in 2021 is an unappealing proposition to any lover of live music, to be sure. However, few continue to bring as much creativity and fun to the livestream format as the folks at Third Man Records, whose early-2020 TMR Public Access series highlighted Nashville artists like Luke Schneider, William Tyler and Adia

Bebe McQueen aptly described the Indianaborn singer-songwriter’s set as “the softest, prettiest punk rock I’ve ever heard.”

Then came a short-and-sweet set from Becca Mancari, who married mantra-like vocal hooks with electric guitar work equal parts atmospheric and driving. Afterward, local stand-up (and sometime Scene video contributor) Josh Black hit the stage for a set that was amusing, if a bit scattered.

Later, Joy Oladokun’s soulful acoustic tunes, like the unflinching and anguished “I See America” and the yearning “Sunday,” felt as casual and familiar as her go-to earth-toned flannel shirt and bright-orange beanie. Being onstage is a very weird experience, but she’s really gotten at ease with it — even more than when I first saw her on a June 2020 benefit stream for Musicians Health Alliance. Aaron Lee Tasjan, another Nashvil-

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FRI. 1/28 ZIONA RILEY Victoria. Later that year, the label and venue’s Musicians for Marquita telethon raised more than $15,000 for Memphis activist-turned-candidate Marquita Bradshaw’s U.S. Senate bid.

That October 2020 event’s format and oldschool public access TV vibe was reprised for Saturday’s Rock for Roe virtual benefit. The show, held on the 49th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that guaranteed a woman’s right to an abortion in the U.S., was aimed at raising funds for

Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood and awareness of the very real threat of an abortion ban in Tennessee. Performances by five local musicians and one comedian — Nicole Atkins and Tristen were originally set to play, but were late scratches — were bookended by educational sound bites from Tennessee politicians and activists. There were also live Q&As with Francie Hunt, executive director of TAPP, and Odessa Kelly, a nonprofit leader who’s launched a campaign for Congress.

Ziona Riley, joined by father-and-son team Jim and Austin Hoke, took the stage at Third Man’s Blue Room first on Saturday. They kicked off the two-hour concert with delicate and precise acoustic folk with autoharp and mountain dulcimer accouterments. A song Riley identified as “Texas Bodhisattva” was particularly lyrically evocative. Host

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lian who’s done his best to not let the pandemic slow him down, rolled in with a full four-piece band, lending an orchestral flair to his spirited retro-pop songcraft.

The standout performance of the evening came from Lilly Hiatt. She rode into the night on the momentum from her excellent fifth album, her late 2021 release Lately.

She capped her rollicking, joyous mini set with a Lucinda Williams cover, “Passionate Kisses” — a song whose simple demands of respect, love and basic human rights both nicely complemented Hiatt’s originals and felt well-suited to the occasion.

The concert raised more than $20,000 for TAPP (you can still donate or volunteer via their website), and you can see it in full on Third Man’s YouTube channel. There’s still nothing quite like an in-person show.

But streams like this one, especially when they support a worthy cause, can still play a vital role.

EMAIL THESPIN@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

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nashvillescene.com | JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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FILM

DARK BLUE

Dennis Hopper’s teen punk cult classic Out of the Blue to ignite the screen at the Belcourt

BY JOE NOLAN

O

ut of the Blue was more troubled than most troubled productions. The production hired the notoriously unstable Dennis Hopper to play the father of a teen girl named Cebe — the OUT OF THE BLUE title character of R, 94 MINUTES a 1980 Canadian JAN. 28-31 AT THE BELCOURT production being filmed in Vancouver by first-time director Leonard Yakir. Producers abruptly shut down filming when Yakir’s early daily rushes proved to be unusable, but Hopper saw an opportunity. He rewrote the film’s script over a weekend and pitched his new angle as a way to save the production. Hopper was sitting in the director’s chair on Monday morning.

Hopper the director might be best categorized as a filmmaker of countercultures: Easy Rider (1969) immortalized the looks, lingo and philosophy of hippie culture, and Colors (1988) brought South Central Los Angeles’ street gang scene vividly to life at a time before most Americans had heard of the Crips and the Bloods. Even Hopper’s follow-up to Easy Rider — 1971’s aptly titled The Last Movie — immersed Western audiences in the lives of rural Peruvian villagers. Hopper showed us real gangbangers in Colors and actual hippies in Easy Rider, and in Out of the Blue we see Cebe sitting in on the drums with the reallife Vancouver punk band Pointed Sticks at a club show packed with actual local fans. The film follows Cebe (the electric Linda Manz), a disaffected teenager whose life is defined by trauma and abuse — her father Don (Hopper) is incarcerated after a drunk-driving tragedy, and her neglectful, drug-addicted mother (Sharon Farrell) disrupts their lives with a succession of creepy boyfriends. Cebe worships Elvis

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Presley and spouts punk rock ideology — “Disco sucks!” But she also still sucks her thumb and clings to a raggedy teddy bear in her sleep.

Out of the Blue gives us Hopper’s remarkable return to directing nearly a decade after The Last Movie’s disastrous reception, but it’s most notable as a showcase for the crackling presence of Manz, who died in 2020. Her nonchalant realist acting and improvising glow with a natural charisma — she’s also got a gift for physical performance, and biting comic timing. Manz came to the production after her also-exceptional turn as Linda in Terrence Malick’s 1978 masterpiece Days of Heaven. Malick struggled with his edit for more than two years before bringing Manz back in to improvise the film’s iconic narration in her endlessly

listenable Bronx accent, tying together the director’s impressionistic tale of love and death in early-20th-century Texas. Some Nashvillians might be most familiar with Manz via her role as Solomon’s mother in Harmony Korine’s 1997 surrealist portrait of life in the Nations, Gummo.

Out of the Blue will screen at the Belcourt through the weekend, and it will also serve as the Jan. 31 installment of the theater’s Music City Monday series. In addition to Hopper’s helming and Manz’s unforgettable performance, this film also boasts a killer soundtrack that features vintage Elvis rock ’n’ roll tracks like “Heartbreak Hotel” and “Teddy Bear” alongside Neil Young’s title song “My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue).”

The aforementioned Pointed Sticks unleash on tracks like “Out of Luck” and the irrever-

ently titled “Somebody’s Mom,” and Powder Blues Band provides Don and his dirtbag friends with R&B-inspired tunes played at the speed of cocaine. A real highlight here is “Sorry Just Won’t Do,” penned by Powder Blues Band’s Tom Lavin and performed by Canadian bluesman and actor Jim Byrnes, who sounds — in the best way — like Bob Seger’s long-lost twin.

Out of the Blue gives us bravura filmmaking and an energizing soundtrack, but it’s ultimately a very dark, disturbing story that cranks up the regular struggles and insecurities we expect in teen films until they explode. The film literally begins with a crash, and the rest of its 94 minutes are full of the chaotic aftermath that defines Cebe’s day-to-day life. Viewers might not want to follow Out of the Blue everywhere it takes them, and Hopper and his cast do a magnificent job of pacing this movie like a kettle on a slow boil that turns screaming-hot before the audience can realize they’re the ones on the burner. The filmmakers pull this off by not pointing directly at the movie’s darkest underlying themes until the characters and viewers alike can no longer look away. Out of the Blue ends in a bittersweet catharsis of feminist empowerment and teenage revenge accompanied by burning images that mirror the combustible conclusion of Easy Rider.

Out of the Blue premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1980, but its bleak story and production infighting meant it never received a proper run in theaters. The new release of this 4K restoration — arriving 12 years after Hopper’s death — looks to remedy that. When we think of 1980s teen heroines, we might picture Molly Ringwald dancing in the library or Jennifer Grey leaping into Patrick Swayze’s arms. But future generations might picture little Linda Manz greasing her hair back, muttering Elvis lyrics and lighting another cigarette.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | JANUARY 27 – FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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Marketplace

Rocky McElhaney Law Firm InjuRy Auto ACCIdEnts

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk M. De Jesus, Deputy Clerk Date: January 14, 2022

WRongFul dEAth

Mike J. Urquhart Attorney for Plaintiff

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www.rockylawfirm.com LEGALS Non-Resident Notice ThirdCircuit Docket No. 21D1741

ANDREW JAMES DICKSON vs.

ROSELINE DICKSON

Rental Scene

In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon ROSELINE DICKSON. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after February 10, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on March 14, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon ROSELINE DICKSON. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after February 10, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on March 14, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

NSC 1/20, 1/27, 2/3, 2/10/2022

Non-Resident Notice Fourth Circuit Docket No. 21D1821 STEPHANIE EID vs.

JULIAN RANDI CHIN In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon JULIAN RANDI CHIN. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after February 10, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on March 14, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk M. De Jesus, Deputy Clerk Date: January 14, 2022 Robert H. Plummer, Ill Attorney for Plaintiff

dered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk M. De Jesus, Deputy Clerk Date: January 14, 2022 Robert H. Plummer, Ill Attorney for Plaintiff NSC 1/20, 1/27, 2/3, 2/10/2022

Non-Resident Notice Third Circuit Docket No. 21D35 GARY DEWAYNE HARRIS vs.

DEBRA ANN HARRIS In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon DEBRA ANN HARRIS. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after February 17, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on March 21, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk L. Chappell, Deputy Clerk Date: January 20, 2022 Mark Sharber Attorneys for Plaintiff NSC 1/27, 2/3, 2/10, 2/17/2022 Non-Resident Notice Fourth Circuit Docket No. 20D933 JERRY WAYNE CROSSLIN vs.

LEE ANN SMITH In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon LEE ANN SMITH. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after February 17, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on March 21, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

JERRY WAYNE CROSSLIN vs.

LEE ANN SMITH In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon LEE ANN SMITH. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after February 17, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on March 21, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk L. Chappell, Deputy Clerk Date: January 20, 2022

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Jennifer L. Honeycutt Attorneys for Plaintiff NSC 1/27, 2/3, 2/10, 2/17/2022

EMPLOYMENT HealthStream Inc., in Nashville, TN seeks a Software Developer to code, debug, document, deploy, and maintain new software. Reqs.

MS + 4 yrs exp. 100% telecommuting: Reports to company HQ in Nashville, TN. Can work remotely or telecommute. To apply: mail resume to HealthStream, Inc., 500 11th Avenue North, Ste 1000, Nashville, TN 37203; ATTN: Whitney Drucker, Must reference job title: Job ID: 000067 Bookkeeper.

Manage accounts payable and accounts receivable for locally-owned Thai restaurant. Employer: Harris and Yu, Inc. DBA Ozeki Grill and Thai Cuisine. Location: Nolensville, TN. To apply, mail resume (no calls/emails) to Bud Harris, 7340 Nolensville Road, Ste. 105, Nolensville, TN 37135.

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk M. De Jesus, Deputy Clerk Date: January 14, 2022 Mike J. Urquhart Attorney for Plaintiff

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Richard R. Rooker, Clerk L. Chappell, Deputy Clerk Date: January 20, 2022

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Jennifer L. Honeycutt Attorneys for Plaintiff

Your Neighborhood

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Local attractions: · Broadway · The Nashville Zoo · The Escape Game

Best place near by to see a show: · Zanies Comedy

Neighborhood dining and drinks: · Big Machine Distillery · 12-South Tap Room · Tin Roof · Brother’s Burgers · Southside Kitchen & Pub · Eastern Peak

Best local family outing: · The Nashville Zoo

Enjoy the outdoors: · Centennial Park · Fair Park Dog Park · Radnor Lake State Park

Favorite local neighborhood bar: · Southside Kitchen and Pub

Your new home amenities: · Brand New Wellness Center & Outdoor Turf Space · 3 Sparkling Salt Water Swimming Pools · 35-Acres of Lush Green Space · Social Events & Instructor Led Fitness Classes · Off Leash Pet Park & Pet Spa · Tennis Courts · Gated Community

Call the Rental Scene property you’re interested in and mention this ad to find out about a special promotion for Scene Readers

141 Neese Drive Nashville TN 37211 | www.Gazeboapts.com | 615.551.3832 38

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Welcome to Gazebo Apartments NSC 1/20, 1/27, 2/3, 2/10/2022

DONATE YOUR

NASHVILLE SCENE | JANUARY 27, - FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

Southaven at Commonwealth 100 John Green Place, Spring Hill, TN 37174

The Harper 2 Beds / 2 bath 1265 sq ft $1700

The Hudson 3 Bed / 2 bath 1429 sq ft $1950

3 floor plans southavenatcommonwealth.com | 629.777.8333 Colony House 1510 Huntington Drive Nashville, TN 37215 The James 1 bed / 1 bath 708 sq. ft $1360-2026

The Washington 2 bed / 1.5 bath 1029 sq. ft. $1500 - 2202 4 floor

The Franklin 2 bed / 2 bath 908-1019 sq. ft. $1505 - 2258 plans

The Lincoln 3 bed / 2.5 bath 1408-1458 sq. ft. $1719 - 2557

Rental Scene

The Jackson 1 Bed / 1 bath 958 sq ft $1400

liveatcolonyhouse.com | 615.488.4720

Gazebo Apartments 141 Neese Drive Nashville TN 37211 1 Bed / 1 Bath 756 sq ft $1,119 +

2 Bed / 1.5 Bath - 2 Bath 1,047 – 1,098 sq ft $1,299 +

3 Bed / 2 Bath 1201 sq ft $1,399 +

5 floor plans

gazeboapts.com | 615.551.3832 Sunrise Apartments 189 Wallace Rd Nashville, TN 37211 1 Bed / 1 bath 600 sq feet $950 - $1150

1 Bed / 1 bath 630 sq feet $999 - $1200

3 floor plans

sunrisenashville.com | 615.333.7733 River West 411 Annex Ave Nashville, TN 37209 2 Bed /1 Bath 1008 sq ft from $1349

1 Bed / 1 Bath 675 sq ft from $1159 2 floor plans

riverwestnashville.com | 615.356.0257 Brighton Valley 500 BrooksBoro Terrace, Nashville, TN 37217 1 Bedroom/1 bath 800 sq feet $1360

2 Bedrooms/ 2 baths 1100 sq feet $1490

3 Bedrooms/ 2 baths 1350 sq feet $1900

To advertise your property available for lease, contact Keith Wright at 615-557-4788 or kwright@fwpublishing.com

Studio 330 sq feet $900 - $1000

3 floor plans

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S U H P I TC

Nashville is a diverse city, and we want a pool of freelance contributors who reflect that diversity. We’re looking for new freelancers, and we particularly want to encourage writers of color & LGBTQ writers to pitch us.

Read more at our new pitch guide: nashvillescene.com/pitchguide BOTH LOCATIONS OPEN DAILY 11-9 FOR TAKE-OUT YOUR FAVORITE MEXICAN FOOD & ‘RITA, TOO!

Happy Hour monday - Thursday 3-6 taco tuesday 3-6

2330 8th AVE. SOUTH 615-988-0404

EAST/Five Points: 972 Main St. (615) 434-6000

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Scene readers. Plugged-in, educated, active consumers who support local businesses.

Whatever you call it, find yours in the Rental Scene.

Email Mike at msmith@nashvillescene.com to get started planning for a BIG 2022!

Nashville Scene’s Marketplace on pages 38 - 39.

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