10-15-20 Nashville Scene by FW Publishing

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10/8/20 2:09 PM

Because You Only Live Once 2

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The Acceptance Pledge I pledge acceptance of myself. I pledge to celebrate my perfect imperfection, To listen so that I may understand, To speak out for what is right, To follow with curiosity and lead with integrity. I pledge acceptance of others. I pledge to celebrate our shared humanity, To respect the dignity of every individual, To be generous, compassionate, and kind, To be accountable to each other. Everyone has something to learn, Everyone has something to teach, Everyone is someone.

We are celebrating Kindness and Compassion When we take a pledge we are holding ourselves accountable. When we make it public, we let others keep us accountable and we inspire them to join us. In pledging acceptance, we are declaring that we want to live in a kinder, more just world, and that we will take an active role in creating it. Take the pledge at acceptancepledge.com and help us grow the movement by sharing on your social media with #EveryoneIsSomeone #IPledgeAcceptance. nashvillescene.com | OCTOBER 15 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

Chihuly at Cheekwood

NOW THROUGH JANUARY 10, 2021 Artworks throughout the gardens and museum galleries Chihuly Nights 5 - 10 PM | Thursday - Sunday excluding select dates

Advance reservations required at cheekwood.org © CHIHULY STUDIO

Chihuly at Cheekwood is made possible by

Chihuly in the Mansion is made possible by

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

Leadership Support is provided by

Major Support is provided by

Barbara & Jack Bovender Mrs. James C. (Tooty) Bradford, Jr.

Lisa & David Manning

Chihuly at Cheekwood Education Sponsor is

Cheekwood is funded in part by

Chihuly Nights are made possible by

GULCH GREEN HILLS MIDTOWN DOWNTOWN FRANKLIN

Making The Business of Real Estate Personal For Over 15 Years

The Gulch or Green Hills, Midtown or Downtown— each home captures the neighborhood’s unique flair and embodies a distinctive glimpse of Nashville. Regardless of how quickly we grow, the community keeps the collaborative, supportive spirit that is my favorite part of our city. Whether Buying or Selling—let our passion and experience for Nashville’s neighborhoods work for you.

@michellemaldonadoteam m. 615.260.4423 | o. 615.475.5616 MMTeam@compass.com | MMinTown.com nashvillescene.com | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

Michelle Maldonado is a real estate licensee affiliated with Compass RE, a licensed real estate broker and abides by equal housing opportunity laws. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only. Information is compiled from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, condition, sale, or withdrawal without notice. No statement is made as to the accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footages are approximate. This is not intended to solicit properties already listed. Nothing herein shall be construed as legal, accounting or other professional advice outside of the realm of real estate brokerage. To reach the Compass RE office, call 615.475.5616.

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

P H OTO CO U RT ESY O F T H E S CO U T G U ID E N A S H V IL L E & FR AN K L IN AN D M ARY CR AV E N PH OTOGR A PH Y

IVY VICK 615.485.0963 | IVY@NASHVILLEDIGS.COM

B E S T R E A L E S TAT E A G E N T V O T E D B E S T R E A LT O R F O R O V E R 1 0 nashvillescene.com YEARS!

| OCTOBER 15 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

Statement of Conscience “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” George Santayana We, the undersigned clergy, and people of faith and moral concern, call upon Tennesseans and all Americans to recognize hard-earned lessons from the past to protect freedom and liberty now. Unchecked power gives rise to authoritarianism, resulting in disastrous effects on human and planet life. The United States is still reeling from two hundred and fifty years of slavery made possible by faith traditions who were complicit then and today in continued bondage to racist systems. The church and religious community in Germany failed to rebuke the growing concentration of power of the Third Reich as various groups were targeted for discrimination and death, including all persons of Jewish heritage and practice; minorities; those of different sexual orientation; those with mental illness or disability. World history tells us that had the church in Germany and its religious institutions been more intentional and organized in rebuking the beginnings of Nazism, at least six million Jewish lives and 70-85 million lives globally might have been spared. Destruction and institutionalized bias does not happen in an instant. It creeps in under charismatic leaders who exploit fears to their own advantage by denigrating others. Today, we witness the unlawful deployment of United States troops into our cities against the request of state and/or local officials; scapegoating against people of color and religion; attacks against the free press, the scientific community and the judicial system. Suppression of the vote is now at hand. History is repeating itself in many forms. We must speak, as we know "There is no liberty without morality, no freedom without responsibility, [and] no viable 'I' without a sustaining 'we.'" Jonathan Sacks We will not be silent. We will

* exercise the sacred right to vote our conscience and encourage others to do the same; * advocate for racial and economic policies that promote the common good through respectful and civil discourse within religious communities and circles of influence; * call out all labels that desecrate the inherent worth of each person, and lead others to engage in conversation, speeches, sermons and study that deconstruct labels used to divide the human family, and * stand against the oppression of those whose human rights are trampled upon until “all are created equal” resounds not only in word, but in practice.

Democracy calls us to this challenge. Our Creator demands that we rise to it. The following clergy members support this Statement of Conscience Mark Schiftan Neelley Hicks Davie Tucker Ossama Bahloul

Eileen Campbell-Reed Alaina Cobb Myriam Cortes Ann Cover Margaret Ann Crain Jennifer Crane Crenshaw Judy Cummings Jerome KIng Del Pino Jeannie Alexander Victoria DellaSperanza Ali Aqeel Tricia Dillon Thomas Emily Bagwell Taylor Dinsmore Clifford Bahlinger Catherine Dixon April Baker Rachel Eva Dixon Jo Ann Barker Vernon Dixon Jr. Mona Barz Stephanie Dunn Martha Beamer Warner Durnell Laura Becker Robert Early Frank Bergen Ken Edwards Jane Boram Jerrolyn Eulinberg Troy Brand John Feldhacker Joseph Breen Tracy Fishbein Richard Britton Allison Flash Joan Brown Mark Forrester Claire Brown Enoch Fuzz Roger Brown Timothy Gaines Susan Butler Joseph Geary Cynthia Cain Richard Gentzler Keith Caldwell Lyonel Gilmer Steve Caldwell Brandon Gilvin William Campbell Valeire Goins NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

William Green Rebecca Griffin Sandra Griggs Suzanne Hall Stout Lisa Hammonds Jed Hanes Stacey Harwell-Dye John Hill Judi Hoffman Susan Hudson-McBride Jim Hughes Sally Hughes Jeannie Hunter Alice Isom Debbie Israel Nancy Palmer Jones JaMichael Jordan, Sr. Michael Joyner Liz Kearny Dexter Kearny James Kearny Matthew Kelley David Kidd Leyla King Thomas Kleinert Joshua Kullock David Lay Omaràn D Lee Michael Lippard Harold Love, Jr.

Shana Mackler Viki Matson Mary Louise McCyllough Sam McGlothlin Ingrid McIntyre Amy Mears Gina Mendello Brian Milford Patricia Mitchell Minnie Mitchell Tom Murdock Edward Murrey Jim Norton Carl Oaks Chris O’Rear HiRho Park Katrina Payne Erin Racine Victoria Rebeck Jo Reece Laurie Rice Phil Ross Allison Ruari Gregory Rumburg Jim Sessions Jenny Seylar Rami Shapiro Michael Shulman Paul Slentz Shelby Slowey

Teresa Smallwood Debra Smith Andrew Smith Anne Stevenson Cynthai Stewart Charles Strobel Laura Trent Debra Tyree Dharmacharini Upayadhi Amy Valdez Barker K.C. Van Atta-Casebier Jan Peter van Eys William Vaughan James Waldrop Mary Warren Perry Wiggins III Charlotte S.N.N. Williams Betsy Williams Mike Wilson Merrilee Wineinger Janet Wolf Cheryl Wood Joe Woodfin Susan Worrell Candace A Worth Melvin Wright Becky Yates Mike Young Andrew Zipperer Nan Zoller

The following members of our community support this Statement of Conscience Martin Sir Larry Averbuch Joel Abramson Donovan Ackley III Steven Adair Eric Adamcik Katherine Adams Hannah Adams Susan Adams Ronald Addlestone Heidi Addlestone John Agee Mary Agee Frank Alarcon Ann Alford Jennifer Alldredge Sharon Allen Denise Alper Felicia Anchor Joan Anderson Felice Apolinsky Richard Appelbaum Maureen Appelbaum Janet Atha Pamela Auble Owen Averbuch Arlene Averbuch Lisa Avrit Rosanne Awbrey Bettie Baer Barbara Baer Jeanne Ballinger Carole Barnett Kay Barry Megan Barry David Barton Lynn Barton Teresita Bautista John Bearden Jan Bell Shannon Bennett Marianne Bentley Mark Bergman Roberta Bergman Sarah Berkman April Berman Steve Berneman Eileen Bernstein Ellison Berryhill Stacy Beyer Bruce Beyer Natasha Blackshear Roger Blankstein Larry & Sandra Blanz Tara Bloom Dru Bloom Alex Blue Patricia Blumenthal Frank Boehm Bonnie Bonnie Claudia Bonnyman Amy Bono Gabriel Borman Catherine Borman Kay Bowers CR Bowers Margaret Bowers Stephanie Boyd Jane Braddock Debra Brevard Rob Briley Fran Brumlik Roxanne Brunetti Evelyn Bryant Cory Bryant Michelle Buchanan Mark Caldwell Kathryn Calhoon Susan Callaghan Amy Campbell Jason Carney Jerry Carton

Greg Cashion Susan Castle Michael Caver Susan Chappell Rob Cheek Anne Chenoweth Deutsch Betsy Chernau Maureen Cleveland-Ryan Stewart Clifton Kent & Karen Cochran Lynda Cock Richard Cohen Teena Cohen Tara Cohen Kathy Cohen Robin Cohen Mark Cohen Amy Cohen Katz Gilbert Cohen Victoria Cohen-Crumpton Esther Cohn Delilah Cohn Esther & Roger Cohn Erin Coleman Nancy Collins Nancy Colowick Scott Conder Sue Conder Thomas Conner Jacklyn Cooney Alan Cooper Regina Cooper Lauren Cooper Cole Covington Charles Cross Tom Daily John Damron Aurora Daniels Kamel Daouk Dean Davenport Anne Davenport Rebecca Davidson Sherrie Davidson Jimmy Davis Emily Davis Natasha Deane John Deane Susan DeRiemer Sherrie Dickson Angela Dittmar Bryce Dixon Gabe Dixon Don Dixon Amanda Dixon Hannah Dobie Beth Ducklo Peggy Duke Julia Durnan Frances Duvall Laurel Eason Daniel Easterly Sarah Edwards Dee Eichler Jill Eisenstein Daniel Eisenstein Lee Elledge Jef Ellis Mike Engle Ann Ercelawn Julie & Johnny Erwin Laurie Eskind Saeed Fakhruddin Ashley Fender Mary Kathleen Figaro Deborah Finco Lori Fishel Scott Fishel Doris Fleischer Nancy Flexer Ellie Flier Michele Flynn Monica Flynn Urness Dianne Forry Frenchie Fortenberry

Gilbert Fox Joyce Fox Carol Fradkin Sekou Franklin Karen Lynette Franklin Catherine Furbish Brenda Gadd Madeline Garr Peter Gathje Jan Gatlin Jennie Gemignani Deb George Sam Gerstle Gary Gerstle Tom Gibney Merrily Gibney Laura Gimpelson Susan Gish Barbara Glazer Blair Glenn Melisa Gobble Bruce Gold Paula Goldberg David Goldberg Sammy & Bill Goldstein-Yahner José González Sue Goodwin Joel Gordon Shari Green Elinor Gregor Steven Greil Marsha Groce Eric Gunderson Cheryl Guyer Jennifer Hackett Thomas Haehn Roland Hairston Fred Halfpap Martha Early Hall Pat Halper Linda Halperin Rebecca Halperin Claire Hampton Ellen Hansen Perry Happell Chesney Hardin Doug Hardin Phyllis Hardin Sophia Hardin Penny Harrington Forrest Harris Diana Hays Carolyn Head Lisa Headley Birgit Hein Judith Helfer Alex Heller Elizabeth Hengen Jane Herron Drew Herzog Risa Herzog Catherine Heyward Barbara Higgins Charles High Cheri Hill Brent Hill John Hill Reggie Hill Deb Hobbs Mike Hodge Michael Hodges Betsy Hoffman Gracie Hoffman Willi Honegger Janice Horn Alisa Horn MaryAnne Howland Lyn Hoyt Elizabeth Lee Huang Jim Hughes Carlo Hyde Judith Inman Bassam Issa Sheila Jacobs Peako Jenkins Donna Johnson

Mary L Jones Kimberly Joyce Michael and Brenda Joyner Cathy Jrade Benita Kaimowitz Eryn Karmiller Jackie Karr Renee Kasman Alan Katz Terry Katzman-Rosenblum Brendan Kearny Cristie Kearny Anne Kearny Hardin Jo Kee Kristin Keiper-Berneman Pam Kelner Shaul Kelner Yousaf Khaliq Ather Khan David King Howard Kirshner Trenda Klinsky Stan Knick Jennifer Knight Gillian Knoll Meryl Kraft Kenneth Kraft Julie Kramer Lisa Kranc Stewart Kresge Ilsa Krivcher Charles Krivcher Marvin Kronenberg Diane Kuhn Jeffrey Kuhn Margie Labarre Kathleen B. Lalor Laura LaPrad Colleen LaRose Linda Latter Cynthia Lawrence Luke Lea Christine Lejeune Herbert Lester AJ Levine Sally Levine Nancy Levine Carolyn Levine Ellen Levitt Frank Levy Randi Levy Barbara Levy-Zander Bettye Lewis Jan Liff Andrea Lindsey Annie Ling Theresa Lisella Lana Lockhart Laura Lonow Carol Looney Mary Ellen Lothamer Urbano Jennifer Louis J.W. Luna Rose Lundberg Madelyn Lundin Sharon Lyons Nancy Maclean Beth Maczka Allan & Judith Mandell Andrea Maneschi Helga Maneschi Patty Marks Jim Marks Elizabeth Marlowe Henry Martin Sharan Martin Kathleen Masters Kathleen Masulis Sue Mather Ronald Mattthews Sonje Mayo Jackiel Mayo Alan Mazer Jacque McBride Robb McCluskey

Vonda McDaniel Terrell McDaniel Lynne McFarland Carrie McGee Dave McIntyre Lyle McLevain Susan McMillan Kent McNish Brittany McRay Glenn McReynolds Susan Meador Blair Meeks Bill Mefford Jana Melpolder Gina Mendello Phillip Miller Robert Miller Sheri Millman Carol Mode Robert Mode Sabina Mohyuddin Stephen Moltz Gwendolyn Moore Kathleen Morley Judy Morris Jan Morrison Mark Mosietadzki J. William Myers Carole Nadler Robert Nadler Elizabeth Nadler Ayesha Nasmyth Randy Neal Quinn Needham Perry Neel Donna Neel Wendy Neinken Leslie Newman Barbara Nicholson Leeanne Obrien Peggy Okuneff Deborah Oleshansky Amy O’Neal Melissa Ottem Barbara Owens NIna Pacent Fred Page Lisa Palet Ruth Palet Susan Pankowsky Jerry Park Charles Parker Leslie Parker Emily Passino Michael Passino Connally Penley Stewart Perlman Suzy Perlman Mariah Phillips Richard Phillips Gary Pinsly Melissa Pinsly Paul Plant James Polk Michael Poole Patricia Post Gavin Post Avi Poster K. C. Potter Mary Powell Susan Prichard Gabby Queenan Robert Quinn Margie Quinn Elizabeth Ramage Mario Ramos Sylvia Rapoport Joan Raskin Susan Ratcliffe Sally Rausch Gayle Ray L. Regen Roger Register Randall Rice Nancy Richardson Michael Richardson Katherine Richardson

This ad was funded by private donations.

Peggy Richardson Susie Ries Stephen Riven Allan Rmsaur Leigh Ann Roberts Anne Robertson Mark Robin Steve Robins Adrienne Robins Rachael Robinson Janice Rodriguez Jon Roebuck Sandra Roeder Linda Rollins Elissa Ropp Jean Roseman Albert Rosen Ellen Rosen Jessica Rosen Barrett Rosen Carolyn Rosen Terry Rosenblum Howard Rosenblum Cathy Rosenblum William Rosser Michael Roth Abby Rubenfeld Jacob Ruden Sarah Ruden Phil Russ Benjamin Sachs Jacob Sachs Ceci Sachs Freya Sachs Eugene Sacks Judith Saks Sherry Salomon Kim Sanders Ann Sanders-Means Susan Sandlin Rudy Saperstein Alex Satinsky Sarah Saturday Susan Savage Annie Schatz Roger Schecter Diane Scher Janet Schneider Sheila Schwartz Mark & Cindy Schwartz Michelle Scopel Margaret Scott Kathleen Seibel Sheri Sellmeyer Phyllis Sells Ray Sells Patricia Seyb Joan Shayne Mark Shepard Lenda Sherrell Danielle Shields Preston Shipp Nancy Shivers Lisa Shmerling Lucy Short Amy Sibulkin Kay Simmons Catherine Simmons Anna Sir Erin Sir Aliza Sir Greg Sir Molly Sir Annette Sisson Lisa Sivley Anne Slosky Elise Small Amy Smith Carol Smith Robert Smith Howard Snyder Pat Snyder Jacob Snyder Bonnie Spear Nancy Speas Nan Speller Stuart & Shirley Speyer

Tina Spielberg Neal Spielberg Alyse Sprintz Dave Sprouse Richard Spry Suzanne Stalls Merrilee Stanley Jill Steigelfest Robert Stein Roland Stein Julie Steinberg Ronnie Steine Patty Stelmaszak Jerry Stelmaszak MaryBeth Stone Jeremy Stone Cynthia Stone Steve Stone Sr Teresa Suarez Charles Sumner Denise Sundstrom Dan Surface Steven Swartz Jessica Talley Helen Tarleton Charlie Taylor Courtney Teasley Eleanor Templeton Patricia Terrell Kaleigh Thacker E. Jonathan Thomas Ruth Thomas Tara Tocco Goldberg Alyssa Trachtman Leslie Trail Martha Trammell Dorothy Tucker Robert Tuke Lisa Turk Melora Turner Reed Turner Kelli Turner Judy Tyree Amanda Udis-Kessler Lesa Ukman kelly unger Anna Van Sice Irwin Venick Ken Venick Melissa Vickroy Gaby Viner Jessica Viner Karen Vingelen Nancy Walker Angie Wallace Grady Warren Kate Watts Diane Wehr Louisa Weinrib Peter Weiss Rhonda Wernick Carol Westlake Sheila White Donna Whitney Rachel Whitney Joseph Widner CIndy Wilcox Joyce Wilding Wayne Wilkerson Courtenay Willcox Anne Williams Alaire Willits Sarah Woodward Michael Worden Audrey Wrenn Lonnie Yandell Josh Zeitlin Shirley Zeitlin Bruce Zeitlin Beth Zeitlin William Zimmern Crys Zinkiewicz Stephen Zralek James Zralek

as of 10/6/2020

nashvillescene.com | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

— Yola From Songwriter Session, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, 2020

Explore the exhibit American Currents: State of the Music, open now, and find out more about Yola, and the evolving story of country music.

DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE Visit CountryMusicHallofFame.org to buy tickets.

Photo credit: Emma Delevante / Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

NASHVILLE | REAL ESTATE | CHAD WOHLERS

Chad Wohlers chadwohlers.com

28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE 11 nashvillescene.com | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBERchad@chadwohlers.com

@chadwohlers

Photo by Sam Phen

Nashville’s Top Voted Real Estate Agent 5X

As a practice, we have an orthopaedic-specialized team of healthcare professionals and some of the best and well known board-certified, fellowship-trained surgeons in the country. We provide innovative surgical and nonsurgical treatments of musculoskeletal disorders and injuries. From the rapidly growing areas of orthobiologics—including stem cell therapies and platelet rich plasma treatments—to being on the cutting-edge of robotic joint replacement, we are constantly striving to provide the best-possible options for our patients. We have specialists in hand, elbow, shoulder, spine, orthopaedic trauma, hip, knee, foot and ankle, joint replacement, and sports medicine, who provide the most up-to-date treatments used today. Our goal is to provide the quickest return to sport and to life that our patients want. We partner daily with our patients to work toward their goals and the best possible outcomes for the life they want to live. Jon Cornelius, MD, President

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HERMITAGE,TN

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Jonathan P. Cornelius, MD

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Hughston Clinic Orthopaedics at White House 491 Sage Road, Suite 400 (615) 826-7171

Gregg A. Motz, MD

Arthroscopy, General Orthopaedics, Knee, Orthobiologics, Shoulder, and Sports Medicine

Shawn P. Mountain, DO

Arthroscopy, Foot & Ankle, and Sports Medicine

R. James Renfro, Jr., MD

Arthroscopy, General Orthopaedics, Hip, Knee, Shoulder, and Sports Medicine

Lucas B. Richie, MD

Robert P. Fogolin, MD

Arthroscopy, Foot & Ankle, General Orthopaedics, Hand,Wrist, & Elbow, Knee, Orthobiologics, Shoulder, Sports Medicine, and Truma

Aneesh Garg, DO, CAQ

Hand,Wrist, & Elbow, and Trauma

Christopher M. Jones, MD

Arthroscopy, Foot & Ankle, General Orthopaedics, Hand,Wrist, & Elbow, Hip, Knee, Shoulder, and Sports Medicine

Christopher P. Kauffman, MD

Arthroscopy, General Orthopaedics, Hip, Sports Medicine, and Trauma

William C. Mayfield III, MD

Foot & Ankle, Hip, Orthobiologics, Shoulder, and Trauma

Tiffany Feltman Meals, DO

Arthroscopy, Foot & Ankle, General Orthopaedics, Hip, Knee, Shoulder, Sports Medicine, and Trauma

Arthroscopy, General Orthopaedics, Knee,Trauma, and Orthobiologics Sports Medicine and Non-sugical Orthopaedics Arthroscopy, Foot & Ankle, General Orthopaedics, Hip, Knee, Orthobiologics, Shoulder, Sports Medicine, and Trauma Orthopaedic Spine Specialist

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Hughston Clinic Orthopaedics at Murfreesboro 2933 Medical Center Parkway, Suite D (615) 342-6300

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

Todd A. Rubin, MD

Matthew Sarb, DO, MPH

Joseph C. Schaffer, MD Marc A.Tressler, DO

Joseph A. Wieck, MD

Learn more or book your appointment online at tn.hughston.com.

hat matter most.”

LIVE THE LIFE YOU ENVISION #lipmanlifestory

Passionately helping all live the life they envision. Live your lifestory with Lipman. A family owned real estate firm aligned with the #1 brand in real estate, RE/MAX Homes and Estates, Lipman Group

Discover our agents at: lipmanhomesandestates.com 2002 Richard Jones Road Suite C-104 | Nashville, TN 615.463.3333 Each RE/MAX office is independently owned and operated.

nashvillescene.com | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

Thank you, Nashville for voting

WWW.ROCKYLAWFIRM.COM

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WE FIGHT FOR YOU

Each RE/MAX office is independently owned and operated.

chrismannino@comcast.net cell: 615.299.7995 • office: 615.463.3333 Orly Cohen

Mortgage Loan Originator NMLS: 1679086 cell: 615.243.3303 orly.cohen@myfmbank.com www.orlycohenmortgage.com

Smart lending with care

Offices in Brentwood and Franklin Serving all communities of Middle Tennessee Contact F&M Mortgage to learn more about your eligibility for its mortgage products. F & M MORTGAGE, A DIVISION of F & M BANK, NMLS #518158. Loans are subject to buyer/property qualification.

nashvillescene.com | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

CONTENTS

OCTOBER 15, 2020

132

138

Walk a Mile: Whites Creek ..................... 23

Celebrate National Black Poetry Day, check

About His Business ............................... 138

In the 10th installment of his column,

out the Nashville Jewish Film Festival, tune

A.B. Eastwood lays a foundation for music with

J.R. Lind explores the semi-pastoral former

in to Country Music Hall of Fame’s Big Night

lots to say, in Nashville and beyond

stomping grounds of Frank and Jesse James

at the Museum, build your own scary short-

BY BRITTNEY McKENNA

BY J.R. LIND

story reading list, get into Boo Dudes, listen to

Swing of Things ..................................... 138

Progress Report ...................................... 26

Suspicious Activity: Inside the FinCEN Files,

Inventive Nashville headbangers Oginalii level

Mayor John Cooper looks back on a year of

buy a Halloween costume at Live True Vintage

up with Pendulum

disease, destruction and economic uncertainty

and more

BY CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

CITY LIMITS

CRITICS’ PICKS

144

NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

145

MARKETPLACE

Yep Rock ................................................ 139

BY STEPHEN ELLIOTT

136

MUSIC

Okey Dokey gets by with a little help from their friends on Once Upon One Time BY CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

CULTURE

Self-Reliance ......................................... 140

COVER STORY: BEST OF NASHVILLE

Free Skate

Lera Lynn finds a new version of herself in On

Skate Nashville brings a popular pandemic

My Own

Food & Drink Readers’ Poll .................... 33 Food & Drink Writers’ Choice ................ 38 Retail & Services Readers’ Poll ............. 55 Retail & Services Writers’ Choice.......... 70 Media & Politics Readers’ Poll .............. 85 Media & Politics Writers’ Choice ........... 87 Kids & Pets Readers’ Poll ...................... 91 Kids & Pets Writers’ Choice ................... 93 People & Places Readers’ Poll .............. 99 People & Places Writers’ Choice ......... 101 Arts, Music & Culture Readers’ Poll .... 109 Arts, Music & Culture Writers’ Choice ...................................... 111

trend to our backyard

BY OLIVIA LADD

BY ABBY LEE HOOD

137

142 FILM

BOOKS

Primal Stream 27: The Horror! ............ 142

Dig What I Say

Hindi horror, killer klowns, Elvira and more,

Guitar legend Peter Frampton tells his own

now available to stream

story in Do You Feel Like I Do?

BY JASON SHAWHAN

BY KASHIF ANDREW GRAHAM AND CHAPTER 16

Say You Want a Revolution .................. 143 Aaron Sorkin’s impressive The Trial of the Chicago 7 pulses with urgency BY CORY WOODROOF

Avert Your Eyes ..................................... 143 Don’t Look Back grasps for deeper meaning and doesn’t find it BY STEVE ERICKSON

THIS WEEK ON THE WEB: Maren Morris Addresses Her Community in Crisis in ‘Better Than We Found It’ A Record Number of Tennesseans Are Registered to Vote in November’s Elections

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR:

Alicia W. Binkley is an illustrator and graphic designer whose work is inspired by her love of nature and the magic that surrounds us. You can view her work at aliciawb.com.

Bill’s Sandwich Palace Opens in Inglewood Chaffin’s Barn Dinner Theatre Shutters After More Than 50 Years in Business

contents_10-15-20.indd 17

10/8/20 5:42 PM

NO RENT UNTIL JANUARY 2021

O NL Y T H E B EST FOR N ASHVILLE . PUR EL Y RESI DEN TI AL | S U P ER I OR AM EN I T I ES | U NB E ATA B LE LO CAT I O N A P A R T M E N T S F R O M $ 1, 4 9 5 / M O. | C O N D O S F ROM $ 4 9 5 , 000

505Nashville.com | 505Condos.com 18

615.653.4761 | 505 Church Street | Nashville, TN 37219

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

presents

Benefitting Music Venue Alliance Nashville MusicVenueAllianceNashville.com

Please Donate to help save our local independent music venues by purchasing this $30 t-shirt

DriveTheMusicNashville.com

100% of proﬁts go to Music Venue Alliance Nashville Music venues 3rd & Lindsley

Rudy’s Jazz Room

The Bluebird Cafe

Cannery Ballroom

Springwater Supper Club & lounge

The End

DRKMTTR

Station Inn

The East Room

EXIT/IN

The 5 Spot

The High Watt

Mercy Lounge

The Basement

The Listening Room Cafe nashvillescene.com | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

PET OF THE WEEK!

FROM BILL FREEMAN

MEET FOLKLORE

Call 615.352.1010 or visit nashvillehumane.org Located at 213 Oceola Ave., Nashville, TN 37209

Adopt. Bark. Meow. Microchip. Neuter. Spay.

Shop + Donate To Help Our Veterans 615-248-2447 1125 12th Ave. S.

(615) 255-2527 mortonplumbing.net Voted Best in Nashville 6x!

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

aka the 3 year old girl would make the perfect work-fromhome co-worker... She does her own thing and is happy just to be near you She is the definition of a true companion! She absolutely LOVES being outside and sometimes, on walks, she will just plop down in the grass to bask in the sun! Folklore would love a yard to relax in, and a person to teach her all of the things! She is quick to learn and eager to please! She is going to make a wonderful addition to someone’s family. BUSINESSES CLOSED DOWNTOWN, MARCH 2020

TRUMP HALTS STIMULUS NEGOTIATIONS WHILE MANY STILL NEED HELP President Donald Trump tweeted Oct. 6 that he was halting negotiations on a much-delayed stimulus package, saying, “immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill.” As noted by The Wall Street Journal, “The president’s call to halt negotiations surprised lawmakers of both parties and marked another development in the home stretch of the 2020 campaign, on top of a contentious Supreme Court nomination and Mr. Trump’s recent hospitalization with COVID-19.” We should be concerned about the president’s abrupt tweets, which were contradictory to his comments just days before, because our economy, though showing some signs of recovery, is still fragile. The New York Times reports that U.S. growth is stalling and layoffs are mounting, with many furloughs turning into permanent job loss. Roughly one in every seven small businesses in the United States, the Times notes, had shut down permanently by the end of August — a total of 850,000. According to CNBC, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the U.S. economic outlook could deteriorate again if Congress doesn’t reach a deal on providing additional economic relief. “The recovery will be stronger and move faster if monetary policy and fiscal policy continue to work side by side to provide support to the economy until it is clearly out of the woods,” said Powell. The Washington Post also quotes Powell: “Too little support would lead to a weak recovery, creating unnecessary hardship. Even if policy actions ultimately prove to be greater than needed, they will not go to waste.” Immediately following the president’s Oct. 6 tweets, the Dow fell 376 points and the S&P fell by 1.4 percent. This, along with Powell’s comments, may have prompted President Trump to soften his stance on stimulus via additional tweets the following day. Amid what CNBC called an “uproar” over his “halt negotiations” announcement, the president waffled and said he was ready to sign a $1,200 stimulus check for each American again, and also willing to consider a stand-alone bill for roughly $25 billion in relief for airlines. While the market rebounded on that news, Democrats throughout this process have been less

enthusiastic about wanting a piecemeal approach, advocating a plan that includes more Americans and helps state and local governments address mounting fiscal problems. Though our economy has made significant strides since COVID-19 lockdowns cost more than 22 million American jobs, nearly half of those displaced workers remain sidelined. Many Americans still need federal assistance. Congress acted quickly in the spring to provide aid and stimulus to their constituents and our economy, but almost all of those programs have expired. Those funds may have aided us in getting our economy back on its feet so far, but COVID-19 is far from over. Just last week, the Nashville Post reported that COVID-related hospitalizations had jumped by 21 percent in two weeks. As of Oct. 7, the Tennessee Department of Health had reported a total of roughly 207,000 cases of COVID-19 across the state. These numbers do not show us heading in the right direction. The New York Times described the stimulus negotiation halt as a “dangerous delay,” and that failure to provide assistance will ripple through the economy. Harvard economist Karen Dynan told the Times, “The risk to waiting is that we may find ourselves in a place where we’re unable to turn back, we’ll hit a tipping point.” The Times concluded: “Economists across the ideological spectrum agree that the loss of momentum is likely to get worse if more aid doesn’t arrive soon.” These recent days have left us feeling like we are watching a tennis match — looking one way, then another, never knowing what is going to happen. As for the delay on stimulus packages and the seemingly ongoing battle between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Trump, no one knows what might happen. We do know, however, that the American people need action, because so many can’t afford to wait.

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 Editors Jack Silverman, Abby White Staff Writers Stephen Elliott, Nancy Floyd, Steven Hale, Kara Hartnett, J.R. Lind, 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, Geoffrey Himes, Edd Hurt, Jennifer Justus, Christine Kreyling, Katy Lindenmuth, Craig D. Lindsey, Brittney McKenna, Marissa R. Moss, Noel Murray, Joe Nolan, Chris Parton, Betsy Phillips, John Pitcher, Margaret Renkl, Megan Seling, Jason Shawhan, Michael Sicinski, Ashley Spurgeon, Amy Stumpfl, Kay West, Cy Winstanley, Ron Wynn, Charlie Zaillian Art Director Elizabeth Jones Photographers Eric England, Daniel Meigs Graphic Designers Mary Louise Meadors, Tracey Starck Production Coordinator Christie Passarello Events and Marketing Director Olivia Moye Promotions Coordinator Caroline Poole Publisher Mike Smith Senior Advertising Solutions Managers Maggie Bond, Debbie Deboer, Sue Falls, Michael Jezewski, Carla Mathis, Heather Cantrell Mullins, Stevan Steinhart, Jennifer Trsinar, Keith Wright Advertising Solutions Manager William Shutes Sales Operations Manager Chelon Hill Hasty Advertising Solutions Associates Emma Benjamin, Price Waltman 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

Copyright©2020, Nashville Scene. 210 12th Ave. S., Ste. 100, Nashville, TN 37203. Phone: 615-244-7989. The Nashville Scene is published weekly by FW Publishing LLC. The publication is free, one per reader. Removal of more than one paper from any distribution point constitutes theft, and violators are subject to prosecution. Back issues are available at our office. Email: All email addresses consist of the employee’s first initial and last name (no space between) followed by @nashvillescene.com; to reach contributing writers, email editor@nashvillescene.com. Editorial Policy: The Nashville Scene covers news, art and entertainment. In our pages appear divergent views from across the community. Those views do not necessarily represent those of the publishers. Subscriptions: Subscriptions are available at $150 per year for 52 issues. Subscriptions will be posted every Thursday and delivered by third-class mail in usually five to seven days. Please note: Due to the nature of third-class mail and postal regulations, any issue(s) could be delayed by as much as two or three weeks. There will be no refunds issued. Please allow four to six weeks for processing new subscriptions and address changes. Send your check or Visa/MC/AmEx number with expiration date to the above address.

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, Nashville Post and Home Page Media Group in Williamson County.

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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Walk a

WHITES CREEK In the 10th installment of his column, J.R. Lind explores the semi-pastoral former stomping grounds of Frank and Jesse James BY J.R. LIND | PHOTOS BY DANIEL MEIGS

Mile White’s Creek Pike

with J.R. Lind

THE ROUTE: North on Whites Creek Pike from the split with Buena Vista Pike to the intersection with Old Hickory Boulevard. CRANES: 0 ABANDONED SCOOTERS: 0

Once a month, reporter and resident historian J.R. Lind will pick an area in the city to examine while accompanied by a photographer. With his column Walk a Mile, he’ll walk a one-mile stretch of that area, exploring the neighborhood’s history and character, its developments, its current homes and businesses, and what makes it a unique part of Nashville. If you have a suggestion for a future Walk a Mile, email editor@nashvillescene.com.

s the crow flies, the community of Whites Creek is six or seven miles from downtown Nashville. On a crisp October morning, the chill hints that — despite the coming afternoon heat — fall is here. There are no crows heading south to downtown, but a flock of Canada geese in their familiar V point to the city, no doubt restless to stay ahead of the cooler air and overwinter wherever it is that geese overwinter. Whites Creek, the community, stretches through a surprisingly flat valley carved by Whites Creek, the creek. This plain carves its way south, following Whites Creek itself as it winds through northwest Nashville and into Bordeaux before it meets the Cumberland River south of County Hospital Road, just across the river from the longclosed Tennessee State Prison. But on three sides, hills and ridges on the edge of the Highland Rim sprout up from the horizon, and at their summits too are the signs of coming autumn, as the pawpaw and the ash — among the earliest species to change colors with the season — are showing their golden fall fashion. Looking north from where Buena Vista

Pike and Whites Creek Pike angle together, forming a rather confounding intersection along with Lloyd Road, it’s obvious why many of Davidson County’s earliest settlers put down roots in Whites Creek. For the agriculturally inclined, there are few places better in the area: It’s flat and well-drained, and lush meadows that haven’t been turned by a plow show how fecund the soil is. North Carolina handed out several 640-acre land grants along Whites Creek to Revolutionary War veterans, and so successful were those patriots at turning wilderness to commerce that many farms, though since divided, are still in the hands of their descendents. The posterity of the Knights and the Marshalls, who laid down their roots in the early 19th century, are still in the area. The Frederick Stump House, south on Buena Vista Pike, still stands and is likely the oldest extant structure in the county. The architecture of what is now a Shell station looking at the curious Y of the two pikes indicates that Whites Creekers have been trading at a store there for a long, long time. Just north of the signs welcoming you to Historic Whites Creek is the current home of the Centre Star Masonic Lodge, which the Masons bought from St. Andrew’s Methodist Church in 1965 for the princely sum of $17,000. The building itself dates from 1935, but the Methodists, in one form or another, were worshipping on the land since the 1870s. The Centre Star Lodge’s annual barbecue, by the way, is still on for Oct. 24. Across the pike from this plat chockablock with local history is a row of large modern brick homes, each looking more or less like the next, the houses with their front-facing garages crammed far forward on their lots. The local elementary school, named for the Rev. Alexander Little Page Green — the minister of McKendree Methodist and a fishing expert, and instrumental in the foundation of Vanderbilt University in the 1870s — is empty this day, of course, and not just because Metro students are on fall break. Coincidentally, Green’s granddaughter Julia also lent her name to an elementary school in Green Hills. The Greens are one of just two families with more than one school in Nashville named for them. (The DuPont family has three in the Old Hickory area.) Next door is the headquarters of the Minerva Foundation, a nonprofit that engages “in public service programs that promote and encourage high intellectual, cultural, and moral standards among people, groups and residents in the metropolitan Nashville community.” The 501c(3) group bought its property from the Churches of Christ Disaster Relief Effort in 2016. Prior to that it was briefly owned by the Whites Creek Church of Christ, which itself bought

the property from Buford Chapel Church of Christ, which had owned the property since the 1930s — apparently a big churchbuilding time in the Creek. Just beyond a canyonesque ditch that requires some rudimentary boulderscrambling to cross is yet another newish subdivision, jarring in its modernity

and utter suburbanness given its rural surroundings. Cherry Grove, though, at least nods to the sensibilities of its location. The homes are spaced on relatively wide lots and wind up a single road to the lower angles of a ridgeline, making it largely unobtrusive. Whites Creek’s big tourist draw, such

nashvillescene.com | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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CITY LIMITS

as it is, is across the pike here: Fontanel, formerly the home of Barbara Mandrell and now an entertainment complex featuring an amphitheater, restaurant, inn, B&B, a connection to the greenway system and Lord knows what else. Fontanel is (sadly, probably) not named for the soft spot on a baby’s skull, but rather for the word’s original use, meaning a small fountain. There are fountains on the property (they seem mostly normal-size, honestly) and Whites Creek the creek flows straight through the middle of it. This is the creek’s nearest approach to the road that shares its name on this particular mile — the creek and the road are cheek-to-cheek farther south. Now the shoulder of the road narrows precipitously, sticking perambulists between the devil of speeding traffic and the deep-green sea of Whites Creek’s consistently capacious ditch system. Sidewalks are at a premium in rural Davidson County, though Metro’s sidewalk regulations mean there are some near the new subdivisions — they often simply stub into nothingness. The traffic whizzes by to the right and to the left, and the browning corn stalks lean easily with the wind. Unseen critters, their actual size inflated by the loud crunching on the dry undergrowth, flit and hop and crawl in the fields. One, a nearly neon-green snake, met its maker on the shoulder of the road, coincidentally right next to a cheap plastic lighter with the same coloration. It’s not a comforting omen. But between the repeated clinchings of teeth that reflexively occur whenever another southbound truck passes, there is wild beauty here. Coneflowers, chokeberries and the like grow undaunted between corn and pavement. The moon in its earliest wane after fullness is still visible in the otherwise unmarked sky. An untended barbed-wire fence is occasionally visible in the untended brambles. G.K. Chesterton’s old white post — once, of course, a new white post — is flopped across the ditch, no doubt a convenient fixed link for the unseeables still making their noise in the flora. The gate to this sometimes-fence is still standing, though its functionality long

ago fell victim to nature. The rare duskypurple “NO TRESPASSING” sign is nailed to a nearby tree. The corn finally ends against a row of old-growth trees. After the corn gives way, the land opens up again and two stately white Colonials face Whites Creek Pike, with stables and a silo behind. The older — behind an aging rail fence with green shutters providing splashes of color — was built in 1910. Onehundred-and-six years later, its neighbor went up, its most eye-catching feature a large circular porch on the front-right corner. The land was, for decades, the home of the Thompson family, owners of the Country Maid Dairy. Just beyond, tucked under the wellmanicured shade trees of yet another subdivision, is a short wrought-iron fence, a sign in front saying that what’s enclosed is cared for by a group of local gardeners. But the patch isn’t a community garden. (The expansive Whites Creek Community Garden is just south of the Shell station.) It’s the Casey family cemetery, with graves dating to the mid-19th century. Mildred Casey, who died in 1854, is described eternally as the “Consort of William Richards.” Given that she didn’t take his surname, the mind boggles at the implication. Was she a live-in of this Richards? Who can know? What passes as downtown Whites Creek is nestled into the crossroads of Whites Creek Pike and Old Hickory Boulevard. First is a post office, charming in its minusculity,

the numerous P.O. boxes lining most of the available wall space, the exterior of the building semi-covered in that odd beige brick that the federal government was enamored with for much of the mid-20th century. Next door is a branch of First Horizon Bank (née First Tennessee), which is only notable in its irony — across the street perhaps America’s most famous bank robbers finally met the law. The historical marker tells the story of what once went down at what is now a store selling various vintage and collectible items. Jesse and Frank James settled in Nashville in 1875, and according to what you hear, they lived or hid out in every house in the city. Ask any homeowner in East or North Nashville with so much as a brick dating from Reconstruction and they’ll insist Jesse holed up in their basement for six months. The brothers were actually fairly chill for a while. Frank seemed to take to farming (which he did in Whites Creek), but Jesse was cantankerous. He’d write letters to the editor of the local newspaper insisting he oughta be treated as a hero for all the trouble he’d caused the Yankees. Well, Jesse went back to train holdups and bank robberies, and authorities both here and in Missouri figured that the gang would make their way back to Middle Tennessee at some point. On March 25, 1881, James-Younger Gang member Bill Ryan (using the name Tim

Hill) went into W.L. Earthman’s grocery store and saloon. Like many folks, Ryan got mouthy when he drank and started bragging about all his exploits — so Earthman (a retired constable) and other saloon patrons wrestled Bill/Tim and hauled him down to Nashville. Earthman got a handsome reward (with which he built a home), and Frank and Jesse decided they’d skedaddle out of the city. With the notorious thieves now elsewhere, locals felt comfortable enough to open the Whites Creek Bank and Trust across the street from Earthman’s in 1911. (Coincidentally, the current First Horizon property is still owned by Whites Creek Bank and Trust, though it long ago merged into First Horizon’s predecessors.) It also served as a post office. In the 1920s, a general store went up where, most recently, the much-missed Cajun joint Ri’chard’s Cafe operated. The Centre Star Masons, which were founded in 1870, met here as well. But for the generic subdivisions that are sprouting like goldenrod, a walk through Whites Creek is a calm reminder that Davidson County — for all its bluster and bigheadedness and busyness and business — is home to pockets of pastoral peace, rural enclaves seemingly out of place and out of time. And often they’re just a few miles as the goose flies. EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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PROGRESS REPORT Mayor John Cooper looks back on a year of disease, destruction and economic uncertainty BY STEPHEN ELLIOTT

PHOTO: NASHVILLE.GOV

hen John Cooper was sworn in as mayor a little more than a year ago, he and voters thought it was the end of an unusual period in Nashville history. He was the third mayor in less than two years, and he was promising to set the city straight. But neither he nor Nashville residents could have predicted the chaos that would define his first year in office. A tornado destroyed large swaths of the city in early March. Just a few days later, Nashville would record its first known case of COVID-19, the disease that continues months later to color nearly every decision made by city government and the daily lives of Nashville residents. Over the summer, social justice protests erupted here, as they did across the country, with people demanding more police accountability. The Metro Courthouse where Cooper has his office was set on fire. Now Cooper is facing calls for his head from conservatives — many of whom supported his 2019 campaign — in part because of a property tax increase he said was necessary to keep the city functioning at full force. A proposed Metro Charter revision could be on the ballot in December, with its goal of limiting the city’s power to levy taxes potentially disastrous for Nashville government, according to the mayor. Still, asked how he has lived up to campaign promises of “a Nashville for everyone” and better fiscal management, Cooper says “super good.” “We came up with a balanced budget and solved those financial problems entirely by repurposing tourism revenues and cuts, which were painful,” Cooper tells the Scene. “We have a transportation plan. We’re taking politics out of procurement. We are getting better deals. Every place we’re able to manage for a better outcome, we have been managing for a better outcome.” That transportation plan is scaled back from an earlier effort under former Mayors Megan Barry and David Briley that Cooper opposed. The new plan details $1.6 billion in spending on buses and other transportation projects, but some have questioned its practicality, as it includes no dedicated funding streams. Can the city fund $1.6 billion in transportation projects simply by asking the federal and state government for grants? “This is an interesting chicken-and-egg problem,” Cooper says. “As it turns out, you have to have a plan before you can get grant funding, either from the federal or state government. If you don’t have a plan, you don’t know how much money you can get. … In the question of chicken or egg, the an-

swer is it’s an egg. You have to have a plan.” And with the pall of the tax referendum looming over the city’s finances, Cooper says it would be difficult to promise much more. Cooper and his finance department are already making cuts — including a hiring freeze — in anticipation that the charter revision could be placed on the ballot. But the mayor acknowledges that it may not be possible to cut your way out of the hole that the vote could leave the city in. “The answer is no if you have any resemblance of appropriate city services for a city,” he says. “You can’t do it with the same number of trash pickups, the same number of police officers, the same number of firemen, all these basic city services. Until this is resolved, there’s a huge question mark on everything.” Neither Cooper nor his lawyers nor a number of outside lawyers think the proposed charter amendment is a legal proposition — in part because state law gives local governments sole control over local taxes, and in part because the proposal is backdated to the start of the year. The Davidson County Election Commission is asking a local court whether they have to put it on the ballot, but a court might wait until after a vote to decide on its legality. “From my standpoint, a lot of the damage is already done,” Cooper says. The city is also in court fighting the state government, and specifically Gov. Bill Lee, over a school voucher bill the Republican spearheaded that only applies to Nashville and Memphis schools. After the two jurisdictions sued the state, two courts have found the law unconstitutional, and it’s one of a few points of contention between Cooper and his counterpart down the street at the Capitol.

“WE KNOW THERE’S SMALL MUSIC VENUES THAT ARE GOING TO CLOSE UNLESS THEY CAN MAKE RENT IN NOVEMBER. IT IS MY JOB TO GO ASK FOR THAT.” —Mayor John Cooper

Another dispute has arisen between the two regarding COVID-19, and Cooper’s handling of it. Lee has urged cities around the state — including Nashville, Tennessee’s economic driver — to “open up.” He also balked when Cooper asked for more of the state’s federal coronavirus relief money. “In terms of blue-city mayors and redstate governors, we are at the upper end of good relationships,” Cooper says. “This 100 percent does not mean we agree on all kinds of things. We clearly have a different public health view about how to solve COVID. I’m told that the governor’s $2.3 billion discretionary CARES money, that there’s quite an outstanding balance there. If that’s the case, it is my due duty to go advocate for Nashville, to say we have a ton of needs here. We are not only allowed to do that, it is our responsibility to do that. Any funding entity such as the state or a foundation, is always not necessarily gonna be super happy about that.

“In that important and difficult work, we know we’ve not served everybody,” the mayor continues. “We know there’s small music venues that are going to close unless they can make rent in November. It is my job to go ask for that. We shouldn’t be defensive about it, nor should the state. It’s very easy for the state to have a slightly defensive response of, ‘Oh you’ve got all this money, I don’t know how you’re spending it.’ Part of our original correspondence was, ‘Look how well we’ve spent it.’ ” One thing Cooper and Lee seem to share: opposition to the concept of defunding the police. During the budget debate this summer, activists and some Metro Council members urged the city to reallocate $100 million in Metro Nashville Police Department funding to other priorities, but the effort failed. So too did a compromise that would have reallocated $3 million in police funding to social and emotional learning initiatives. Instead, the council followed Cooper’s lead and gave police a modest budget increase, despite limited increases across the board, because police leaders said they needed it to pay an already-trained class of new recruits. “When you open that up, you may want additional services, but you don’t want to underfund current services to do that,” Cooper says of efforts to reallocate police spending. He points to a New York Times story about the collapse of a promise to dismantle the Minneapolis police department. After a year of destruction, illness and economic disaster, Cooper is largely pleased with the job he’s done and the response he’s gotten. “I was hired to fix problems,” he says. “It’s not that I’m perfect. Mostly, people are deeply sympathetic.” EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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Let’s face it: 2020 has, by and large, sucked. We don’t need to tell you that. The fallout from this infernal ongoing pandemic has impacted Americans — and indeed, Nashvillians — from all walks of life. Businesses have closed, many of them permanently. People have lost friends, family members and neighbors. The world lost John Prine. It’s been an incredibly difficult year. But through all the hardship and loss, we’ve seen Nashvillians rise to the occasion and meet our challenges head-on. In the wake of the March 3 tornado, our citizens pulled together to help one another out. Restaurants adapted to meet the needs of diners while observing new safety protocols. Businesses pivoted to create PPE and hand sanitizer for those who needed it. Our health care workers and frontline employees bravely took on risks to make sure life could continue under these strange new circumstances. As it turns out, in 2020 there’s a lot to be grateful for. In our annual Best of Nashville issue, we celebrate the many accomplishments of Nashville’s artists, businesses, restaurants and more with our writers’ choices. We’re also sharing the results of our yearly readers’ poll. Want to know who you, our fellow Nashvillians, selected as the city’s Best Restaurant? Best Photographer? Best Streaming Event, Band or Doughnut? It’s all here. Want to know who our writers think is Nashville’s Best Chef? Best Comedy Up-and-Comers? Best Rock Album, Virtual Bookstore or Librarian? That’s here too. Nashville has seen its share of thunderstorms in 2020. But we’ve also seen plenty of silver

ILLUSTRATION: ALICIA W. BINKLEY

linings. Read on for this year’s Best of Nashville.

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Food & Drink Readers’ Poll

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

BEST BAR, READERS’ POLL: THE FOX BAR & COCKTAIL CLUB

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

BEST CHINESE, READERS’ POLL: LUCKY BAMBOO CHINA BISTRO

BEST BAGEL

BEST BEER SELECTION

BEST BAKERY

BEST BREAKFAST

BEST BAR

BEST BREWERY (LOCAL)

BEST BARBECUE

BEST BRUNCH

BEST BARTENDER

BEST BURGER

1. 2. 3.

Proper Bagel Star Bagel Bruegger’s Bagels

1. 2. 3.

Baked on 8th Dozen Bakery Five Daughters Bakery 12South

1. 2. 3.

The Fox Bar & Cocktail Club Pearl Diver Duke’s

1. 2. 3.

Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint Edley’s Bar-B-Que Peg Leg Porker

1. 2. 3.

J.A. Harrison Mike Dolfini and Albree Sexton Sarah Smedley-Watkins

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

Flying Saucer Draught Emporium Craft Brewed TailGate Brewery The Loveless Cafe First Watch Big Bad Breakfast Yazoo Brewing Company Jackalope Brewing Company Southern Grist Brewing Co. Adele’s Tavern Margot Cafe & Bar Jack Brown’s Beer and Burger Joint Burger Up The Pharmacy Burger Parlor & Beer Garden

BEST BURGER, READERS’ POLL: JACK BROWN’S BEER AND BURGER JOINT

BEST BURRITO

BEST CRAFT BEER RETAILER

BEST CAKE BAKER (LOCAL)

BEST CUPCAKES

BEST CANDY STORE

BEST DELI

BEST CATERER

BEST DESSERT

BEST CATFISH

BEST DISTILLERY

BEST CHEAP EATS

BEST DIVE BAR

BEST CHEF

BEST DOUGHNUT

BEST CHINESE

BEST FARMERS MARKET

BEST COCKTAILS

BEST FARMERS MARKET VENDOR

BEST COFFEEHOUSE

BEST FOOD DELIVERY SERVICE

BEST CSA/LOCAL PRODUCE

BEST FOOD TRUCK

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

Baja Burrito Oscar’s Taco Shop 5 Points Tacos Baked on 8th Dessert Designs by Leland Sweet 16th Goo Goo Cluster The Bang Candy Company Olive & Sinclair Chef’s Market Clean Plate Club Flavor Catering Uncle Bud’s Catfish, Chicken & Such Edley’s Bar-B-Que Bolton’s Spicy Chicken & Fish Dino’s Bar Mas Tacos Por Favor 5 Points Tacos Margot McCormack Sean Brock Chris Calder Lucky Bamboo China Bistro Steam Boys Best Wok The Fox Bar & Cocktail Club Pearl Diver The Patterson House Frothy Monkey Crema, Coffee Roasters Dose Farmhouse Nashville Green Door Gourmet Bloomsbury Farm

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

Craft Brewed The Filling Station Midtown Corkdorks Wine Spirits Beer The Cupcake Collection Gigi’s Cupcakes The Painted Cupcake Mitchell Delicatessen 51st Deli Tower Market and Deli Sunflower Bakehouse Baked on 8th Portland Brew Ole Smoky Distillery Corsair Distillery Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery Dino’s Bar Mickey’s Tavern Santa’s Pub Five Daughters Bakery 12South Fox’s Donut Den East Park Donuts & Coffee Nashville Farmers’ Market Richland Park Farmers Market 12 South Farmers Market The Peach Truck Galena Garlic Company Smiley’s Postmates Uber Eats DoorDash

The Grilled Cheeserie Two Peruvian Chefs in a Truck Cousins Maine Lobster

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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BEST HOT DOG AND BEST LATE-NIGHT EATS, READERS’ POLL: DADDY’S DOGS

BEST FRIES 1. 2. 3.

Burger Up Grillshack Fries and Burgers — East Nashville Dino’s Bar

BEST HAPPY HOUR 1. 2. 3.

Lockeland Table Eastland Cafe Jonathan’s Grille

BEST HOT CHICKEN 1. 2. 3.

Hattie B’s Hot Chicken Prince’s Hot Chicken Bolton’s Spicy Chicken & Fish

BEST HOT DOG 1. 2. 3.

Daddy’s Dogs I Dream of Weenie Cori’s DogHouse

BEST ITALIAN RESTAURANT 1. 2. 3.

BEST MEAT-AND-THREE

1. 2. 3.

Chauhan Ale & Masala House Taj Indian Restaurant Woodlands Indian Vegetarian Cuisine

1. 2. 3.

Daddy’s Dogs Dino’s Bar Five Points Pizza East

BEST INDIAN RESTAURANT

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

1. 2. 3.

Las Palmas Mexican Restaurante El Fuego Restaurante Rosepepper Cantina

BEST NEIGHBORHOOD BAR

Korea House Babo Korean Bar Umami Asian Fusion

BEST LIQUOR STORE

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams Bobbie’s Dairy Dip Pied Piper Creamery

1. 2. 3.

Neighbors of Sylvan Park Germantown Pub Village Pub & Beer Garden

BEST LATE-NIGHT EATS 1. 2. 3.

BEST NEW BAR (OPENED SINCE OCTOBER 2019)

Greko Greek Street Food Epice Kalamatas

BEST MEXICAN

The Urban Juicer I Love Juice Bar The Fountain of Juice

BEST ICE CREAM 1. 2. 3.

1. 2. 3.

BEST KOREAN RESTAURANT 1. 2. 3.

BEST NEW BAR, READERS’ POLL: MOTHER’S RUIN

BEST MEDITERRANEAN

Coco’s Italian Market Nicoletto’s Italian Kitchen Pastaria

BEST JUICE BAR 1. 2. 3.

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

Food & Drink Readers’ Poll

Mother’s Ruin White Limozeen Red Phone Booth

BEST NEW RESTAURANT (OPENED SINCE OCTOBER 2019) 1. 2. 3.

The Optimist Joyland TennFold Brewing

BEST PATIO 1. 2. 3.

Pearl Diver Duke’s Diskin Cider

BEST NEW RESTAURANT, READERS’ POLL: THE OPTIMIST

Frugal MacDoogal Midtown Corkdorks Wine, Spirits, Beer Sinkers Beverages Arnold’s Country Kitchen Wendell Smith’s Restaurant Monell’s

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

BEST INDIAN RESTAURANT, READERS’ POLL: CHAUHAN ALE & MASALA HOUSE

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PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

Food & Drink Readers’ Poll

BEST RESTAURANT, READERS’ POLL: LOCKELAND TABLE

1. 2. 3.

Five Points Pizza Pizza Perfect DeSano Pizza Bakery

BEST PLACE FOR A BUSINESS LUNCH/POWER LUNCH 1. 2. 3.

BrickTop’s Midtown Cafe J. Alexander’s

BEST PLACE FOR A ROMANTIC DINNER 1. 2. 3.

Margot Cafe & Bar Bourbon Steak Kayne Prime Steakhouse

BEST POKE 1. 2. 3.

Kawai Poké Co. Poke Bros. Zushi-Poke

BEST RESTAURANT 1. 2. 3.

Lockeland Table City House Rolf and Daughters

BEST RESTAURANT IN RUTHERFORD CO. 1. 2. 3.

Demos’ Restaurant Primrose Table Five Senses Restaurant, Bar, Catering

BEST RESTAURANT IN SUMNER CO. 1. 2. 3.

Cafe Rakka Rosie Food & Wine Moby Dicky’s

BEST WINE STORE, READERS’ POLL: WOODLAND WINE MERCHANT

BEST RESTAURANT IN WILLIAMSON CO. 1. 2. 3.

Red Pony Cork & Cow 55 South

BEST RESTAURANT IN WILSON CO. 1. 2. 3.

Los Compadres Catch 22 Gastropub Big Bad Wolf Smokehouse Grill

BEST RESTAURANT WITH A VIEW 1. 2. 3.

Bourbon Steak Blue Moon Waterfront Grille Acme Feed & Seed

BEST RIBS 1. 2. 3.

Peg Leg Porker Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint Edley’s Bar-B-Que

BEST ROOFTOP BAR 1. 2. 3.

L.A. Jackson Acme Feed & Seed Bobby Hotel

BEST SANDWICH SHOP

BEST THAI

BEST SEAFOOD

BEST TO-GO COCKTAILS

BEST SERVICE

BEST VEGAN

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

1. 1. 3. 4.

Mitchell Delicatessen Clawson’s Pub & Deli 51st Deli Henrietta Red The Optimist Juicy Seafood

Diskin Cider (tie) Margot Cafe & Bar (tie) The Fox Bar & Cocktail Club Lockeland Table

BEST SMALL PLATES 1. 2. 3.

Barcelona Wine Bar Butcher & Bee Lyra

BEST SPORTS BAR 1. 2. 3.

Double Dogs Sam’s Place Jonathan’s Grille

BEST STEAKHOUSE 1. 2. 3.

Kayne Prime Steakhouse Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse, Nashville Sperry’s Belle Meade

BEST SUSHI/JAPANESE 1. 2. 3.

O-Ku Sushi Nashville Virago Nomzilla! sushi et cetera

BEST TACO 1. 2. 3.

Mas Tacos Por Favor bartaco Redheaded Stranger

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

BEST TAKEOUT BEST PLACE FOR A ROMANTIC DINNER, READERS’ POLL: MARGOT CAFE & BAR

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

BEST PIZZA

1. 2. 3. 3.

Lucky Bamboo China Bistro The Wild Cow Germantown Pub (tie) Nicoletto’s Italian Kitchen (tie)

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

The Smiling Elephant Thai Esane Ginger The Fox Bar & Cocktail Club Rosepepper Cantina Chopper The Wild Cow AVO Graze Nashville

BEST VEGETARIAN 1. 2. 3.

The Wild Cow Sunflower Cafe Woodlands Indian Vegetarian Cuisine

BEST VIETNAMESE 1. 2. 3.

Vui’s Kitchen Miss Saigon VN Pho & Deli

BEST WINE LIST (RESTAURANT OR BAR) 1. 2. 3.

Barcelona Wine Bar 360 Bistro Folk

BEST WINE STORE 1. 2. 3.

Woodland Wine Merchant Midtown Corkdorks Wine, Spirits, Beer Red Spirits & Wine

BEST WINERY/VINEYARD 1. 2. 3.

Arrington Vineyards City Winery Nashville Grinder’s Switch Winery at Marathon Village

BEST WINGS 1. 2. 3.

Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint Germantown Pub Ghot Wingz

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Food & Drink Writers’ Choice

Ties are for quitters. It’s a fact that, like all time-honored facts, is upheld by NFL playoff protocol. And yet ... 2020. This heinous beast broke 1,000 rules, and she’s forcing us to break another by awarding a tie for Best Restaurant. How did it happen? To quote fellow selection-committee member Megan Seling, “These restaurants are very different, we can’t choose one, and they’re both super good at what they do.” Also, we got tired of arguing. The good news: This is the only contest in 2020 where both candidates are a win for the people.

butter); or mouthwatering Bear Creek Farm pork loin served with turmericand-coconut veggies and a fragrant pot of black-eyed peas, spinach and basmati rice. It’s South Asia by way of the American South, and it’s like nothing else. The Tailor experience feels deeply personal because it is. The surroundings are chic, the food fine-dining and the pairings modern, but the vibe is cool and comfortable, just like Surti himself. “Part of the fun of this restaurant is we’re not trying to make a huge statement,” he says. “We just want every person who comes in to understand there’s so much more to learn and to taste.”

TAILOR

CAFE ROZE

TAILOR AND CAFE ROZE (TIE)

If there’s one thing a meal at Tailor will teach you, it’s that you might not know Indian food as well as you thought you did. Or South Asian food. And definitely not South Asian American food, which is what Vivek Surti cooks there. At Tailor, you’ll try things like dal vada — deepfried lentil fritters smothered in a sweet yogurt sauce perfumed by tamarind and pomegranate. It’s kind of like a fruitier, earthier cornbread and buttermilk — except not all all, and that’s the point. Most Indian restaurants don’t serve things that Indian people would eat at home. Tailor is the ultimate remedy. Give Surti 10 minutes and he’ll teach you why India is the most diverse region in the world, yet their food is the most misunderstood; or why the word “curry” isn’t even Indian. Better yet: Give him two hours and he’ll teach you those things in seven courses. In every dish, there will be ingredients you know and ingredients you’ve never heard of. Think Bells Bend sweet potatoes studded with cashews, scallion and garlic; melt-in-your-mouth salmon sauced with garam masala and ghee (Indian clarified

Finesse is underrated. Every year, we talk about novel fine-dining concepts as the best restaurants in town (and some are; see above). But what keeps actual Nashvillians coming back is often much simpler: delicious food, a pleasant space and good people. Cafe Roze hits those marks, and makes it look easy. First, the food is flawless — fresh, precise and seasoned to perfection. Roze can turn out a sloppy, satisfying smashburger (Dijoncrusted patties, baby!) and then turn on a dime to give you a shaved celery salad with ricotta salata and preserved-lemon dressing that wouldn’t be out of place on a tasting menu. The pork schnitzel with sauce gribiche, the grilled halloumi, the savory oats — all of it is sophisticated yet familiar enough you could eat there every day. None of this is surprising if you’ve met chef Julia Jaksic. Her low-key confidence makes every diner who pulls up a stool feel like a neighbor. Whether she’s drawing inspiration from her time in Singapore or her father’s Croatian heritage, she makes it all feel effortless, which is the vibe you need to make metropolitan comfort food work.

Another crucial 2020 development: the bodega. Having spent years in New York City where bodegas do exist, Jaksic was always ready, on some level, to bodega-ize Cafe Roze. It showed. Days into the pandemic, she made her menu portable, got it online and launched limited delivery using staff members. The takeout was immaculate. Brownbutter chocolate-chip cookies; strong cocktails; miso-ranch dressing; the umami-est smoked trout salad on the planet! We finally got to take it all home. In a time that was dark for restaurants, East Nashville and the world, Roze was a bright spot. I believe 2020 was Cafe Roze’s year, if no one else’s. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BEST CHEF

BRYAN LEE WEAVER

It’s rare to find a chef who helms the kitchen at two different restaurants that each could be considered the best of their kind in Nashville, but that’s the case with Bryan Lee Weaver. The selfeffacing chef arrived in town to open up the second outpost of the Charlestonian Middle Eastern favorite, Butcher & Bee. Even though Weaver already had the basis of a menu in place from the original Bee, he didn’t have much experience at the time cooking the cuisine. He set about discovering how to build the Mediterranean flavors using locally sourced ingredients, and the results include the addictive whipped feta appetizer, which has achieved cult status, and his avocado crispy rice dish, which ought to satisfy your entire palate. It wasn’t until Weaver actually took a trip to Israel with Butcher & Bee’s culinary team a year after opening that he realized how well he’d been faking it. With his second venture, Redheaded Stranger, Weaver put in the research first, traveling around the Southwest to discover

what elements of the cuisine he wanted to include in his dream breakfast taco joint. His facility with the more familiar flavors of his youth shines through in a menu accented with authentic regional ingredients like chorizo, Hatch green chiles, smoked beef brisket and his own house hot sauces. There’s even a taco that includes both the whipped feta and the crispy rice. Be still my heart! Weaver’s quiet leadership of two hardworking kitchen teams is integral to the success of both restaurants, which depend on precise rapid assemblage of many ingredients into small plates. He also demonstrated his compassion and leadership in a late-night text to a couple dozen industry friends at the very beginning of the pandemic asking what they could all do together to save their businesses. Inspired by Weaver’s heartfelt query, the recipients of his text chain quickly coalesced into the Tennessee Action for Hospitality coalition, a group that has been integral in working to protect the industry across the state. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

BEST CHEF, WRITERS’ CHOICE: BRYAN LEE WEAVER

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

BEST RESTAURANT

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

BEST RESTAURANT, WRITERS’ CHOICE: TAILOR (LEFT) AND CAFE ROZE (TIE)

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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BEST PANDEMIC PIVOT, WRITERS’ CHOICE: HENRIETTA RED (PICTURED) AND NICKY’S COAL FIRED (TIE)

BEST PRODIGAL CHEF

BRIAN BAXTER

When rumors began to fly about who the next top toque would be at The Catbird Seat, local foodies (er … dining enthusiasts) began excitedly whispering to each other, “I heard it’s going to be Baxter!” By Baxter, of course, they meant Brian Baxter, the Florida-born chef who has been a spectacular and dependable right hand in the kitchen to Sean Brock, first at McCrady’s Restaurant in Charleston, S.C., and then on the opening team at Husk here in Nashville, before being elevated to the chef de cuisine position. Baxter moved on to work with Josh Habiger, another Catbird alumnus, at Bastion before leaving for Atlanta to run the kitchen at Kevin Gillespie’s latest venture, Cold Beer. The Catbird Seat has always intentionally been a kitchen with a revolving door of talented chefs, who serve a stint preparing their own brand of innovative cuisine arranged around multicourse tasting menus. But Baxter is the first chef with extensive Nashville experience to run the show, and we couldn’t be happier. Baxter brings with him elements of each of the former establishments where he’s worked, and he’s combined them to take Catbird in an exciting new direction. From Brock, he learned the sort of gastronomical tricks featured at McCrady’s and the puritanical dedication to seasonality and local ingredients whenever possible. Habiger contributed an astounding work ethic and focus, but still with a sense that food is supposed to be fun and delicious. Gillespie is known for his small-plate offerings of inventive dishes, which helped hone Baxter’s sense of pacing and urgency in the kitchen. All these factors combine to create the perfect robochef for The Catbird Seat experience. For the first time, the tasting menu exhibits an overtly Southern focus, but not exclusively. Showing his roots in the form of flavors and preparations, Baxter lets you know where he’s coming from while still surprising you with bold flavors and ingenious cooking techniques. He intends for his menus to change frequently based on the seasonality of ingredients, and we’re looking forward to eating through the entire calendar with him. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

Food & Drink Writers’ Choice

BEST PANDEMIC PIVOT

NICKY’S COAL FIRED AND HENRIETTA RED (TIE)

The coronavirus caused major upheaval in Nashville’s restaurant industry in 2020, costing jobs, closing businesses and forcing major changes. Two of the city’s best even changed their entire business model. Nicky’s Coal Fired has been one of the West Side’s best restaurants since opening doors in 2016. But for a few months, chef Tony Galzin had to shut down Enrico, the massive coal oven named for Galzin’s uncle. When it came time to fire him back up, it took the better part of five days, and by that time Tony and Caroline Galzin had changed the restaurant’s style of service entirely, removing bar seating to make way for a takeout operation and changing the order style to a fast-casual mode. Even though it limited the restaurant’s menu a little, nothing has hampered Tony’s creativity. The crawfish pasta entrée he rolled out upon reopening might be one of the restaurant’s best-ever dishes. Toss in a morning coalfired bagel operation and Nicky’s has made major adaptations to the times. Over in Germantown, chef Julia Sullivan has been making similar changes at Henrietta Red, transforming the space from one of Nashville’s best fine-dining experiences into Henrietta’s Fish Camp, a fast-casual restaurant with a party store stocked full of Sullivan’s signature foods. Instead of whole fish, you’ll find blackened fish tacos and shrimp boils. In the party store, her luscious anchovy butter is now available alongside chicken-liver mousse, jars of jam and even green goddess dressing. It’s an impressive pivot from someone who was supposed to be attending the James Beard Awards as a finalist for Best Chef: Southeast this year. STEVE CAVENDISH

BEST BARBECUE

SHOTGUN WILLIE’S BBQ

Let’s state the obvious first: Cooking brisket is hard. When Pat Martin opened his first restaurant in Nolensville a decade ago, he had years of smoking pigs under his belt. But in the week before Martin’s opened, he concluded that a barbecue place probably ought to offer brisket, so he threw it on the menu with little experience cooking the cut. The results were … not great.

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Food & Drink Writers’ Choice

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

BEST SOUP, WRITERS’ CHOICE: AVGOLEMONO AT ATHENS BEST NEW BISTRO, WRITERS’ CHOICE: ONCE UPON A TIME IN FRANCE Eventually he figured out how to wrangle the signature beef cut into something good, but it took a lot of time and practice. The tricky part about brisket is that it’s a significantly leaner cut of meat than your average pork shoulder and therefore a lot less forgiving. A lot of places that serve brisket serve the barbecue equivalent of shoe leather, only drier. Why? Because the Tennessee tradition is pig. So it only makes sense that if you want truly transcendent beef, Nashville needed a Texas transplant. Enter Bill Laviolette and Shotgun Willie’s on Gallatin Pike. When Laviolette plops his briskets onto the cutting surface, there’s a jiggle to them. When he slices first through that peppery crust and pink smoke ring and into the heart of the brisket, he has to steady the entire piece of meat to make even slices because it’s so tender. Try to pick up a slice with your fingers and it may fall apart. This is not Tennessee brisket. The taste is pure heaven, a sublime combination of beef and smoke. And if all he sold was that brisket, Laviolette would have a great business. But his sides are legit: creamy mac-and-cheese, smoked green beans, crunchy coleslaw with a little bit of vinegar and baked beans so good they will make you rethink your lifelong allegiance to the ketchupy version you grew up with. Make the trek to Inglewood. It won’t be your last. STEVE CAVENDISH

will transport Francophiles right to the streets of the iconic European city. As it did with so many restaurants, the pandemic shut OUATIF down for a stretch. But the bistro reopened this summer with social distancing protocol in place, and even if you’re not comfortable tucking into the intimate, train-car-like digs, you can call in a to-go order for pickup — the steak tartare, pâté, foie gras and trout are all worth trying, and the staff is pleasant and delightful. D. PATRICK RODGERS

BEST PARKING LOT PARTY

MARGOT

A week after Nashville’s March 3 tornado, chef Margot McCormack was able to temporarily reopen Margot Café & Bar. Even though her restaurant was one of the first spots to regain power, police shut her down again so that relief workers could access the neighborhood. So she did what she does best — make people happy by feeding them. She planned a BEST FAST FOOD, WRITERS’ CHOICE: BOKBOX

BEST NEW BISTRO

ONCE UPON A TIME IN FRANCE

BEST FAST FOOD

BOKBOX

Here’s the truth about fast food, even if it’s local: Lots of it is awesome; most of it is bad for you. Hugh Baby’s chocolate shake and Joyland’s chicken on a stick will absolutely take the edge off — but they may also take 10 years off your life if eaten often. Enter East Nashville’s BokBox. The crispy, coalroasted chicken and fresh sides (smoky heirloom beans, smashed cucumbers) are perfectly executed by a supremely pedigreed team. Tom Bayless worked at The Catbird Seat and Bastion, and Dauer Ellis took turns at Rolf and Daughters and

Folk, proving that special folks plus simple food equals success. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BEST VEGAN FOOD

THE SOUTHERN V

When you close your eyes and picture a table full of Southern comfort food, what do you see? Piles of steaming fried chicken? Creamy mac-and-cheese? Tangy baked beans and coleslaw? Indeed, family-owned The Southern V has all that and more, with one little catch: everything is plant-based. Yup, you wouldn’t guess it by the looks of their biscuits and gravy and barbecue jackfruit, but the entire menu at The Southern V on North Nashville’s Buchanan Street is vegan and, more importantly, every bit as delicious and soul-soothing as traditional recipes loaded with meat, dairy and eggs. And if you happen to catch ’em frying up doughnuts, be sure to grab one of those, too. MEGAN SELING

BEST COVID COLLABORATION

ATTABOY & LAKESIDE LOUNGE

After a truly disastrous March, East Nashville had to scramble, and that meant pairing up. Attaboy needed a space to serve cocktails; Lakeside needed a to-go cocktail program; brilliance ensued. Not only could you get Lakeside’s gluttonous Smash Burger and waffle fries to go — add queso! — but you could also tack on a Negroni, a gimlet or a Spicy Canary tequila slushy, all of which came fully tricked out with peels, straw, cylindrical ice or paper umbrellas to fully take you there, wherever there was. The collaboration was just another example of East Nashville turning tragedy into triumph in the tastiest way possible. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BEST SOUP

AVGOLEMONO AT ATHENS PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

Something that many Nashvillians likely didn’t realize we were seriously lacking until late last year? An authentic, dedicated French bistro. Opened in late 2019 by French owner-manager Melvil Arnt and his chef father Laurent Champonnois, East Nashville’s Once Upon a Time in France offers delectable Parisian fare and ambiance, with charming decor that

little block party to cook through the remaining food in her walk-in, and other restaurants and purveyors began to pitch in products, as if preparing a batch of stone soup. In the end, hundreds of shell-shocked neighborhood residents gathered in the Margot parking lot to grieve together and feast on an endless buffet of whatever food Margot could find to cook. Doubtlessly, the hugs between neighbors were the last they would experience for many months. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

If you’ve ever heard anyone describe avgolemono soup as “lemony chicken-andrice soup,” drag that person to Athens. While it does, in fact, contain those ingredients, avgolemono is actually named for a Greek sauce, so thickness is the name of the game. It should be all about the broth

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Food & Drink Writers’ Choice — and that broth should be creamy, tangy and packed with eggy-lemon flavor. If your chilled leftovers don’t make a nice “Thwap!” noise when they go from fridge to saucepan, you don’t have the real deal. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BEST NEW FOOD EVENT

THE NASHVILLE BREW PROJECT AT THE NASHVILLE FOOD PROJECT

When it comes to food events, 10 may be the magic number. On a sunny November Saturday, five breweries paired smallbatch beers with bites from five local restaurants. You could try Tropical Train Trip gose from Southern Grist, or Tennessee Jeppe and the Thoroughbred Hillbilly imperial stout from Blackberry Farms. Then you could grab pâté from Cafe Roze, a Frito pie from Redheaded Stranger or a mini Daddy’s Dog, all without standing in line. Because it topped out at 10 sips and snacks, it was just the right size to taste everything without feeling like a beached whale. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BEST FRIED RICE

SUMMER VEGETABLE FRIED RICE AT TKO

When it comes to fried rice, veggie versions are better than meat. I don’t know when this conclusion started percolating in my mind, but I know when it finished, and that was at TKO. Theirs is a study in simplicity because they wring umami out of ev-uh-ry-thing. Meaty mushrooms, biting scallion, delicately seasoned but still soy-forward rice — it’s all in perfect proportion, including a generous, crucial dose of fluffy scrambled egg. Feel free to tell P.F. Chang’s to shove their pork where the sun don’t shine. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BEST NOODLE DISH

HAKKA NOODLES FROM WOODLANDS

If you’re part of an unholy union marked by both a vegetarian and a carnivore,

Woodlands Indian Vegetarian Cuisine is your silver bullet. Thanks to dishes like the rich coconut-tomato soup to deepfried samosas, I defy a fellow meat eater to take down a full Woodlands meal and come up hungry. The gateway drug: Hakka noodles, in which capellini-thin strands are stir-fried with crunchy vegetables, zingy ginger, toasty garlic and salty soy sauce. The result: an umami-laced dish that’s easily as satisfying as any pig-topped, cream-laced variety in town — and far more unique. We’re awarding this one Best Noodle Dish, but we could’ve just as easily named it Nashville’s Best Vegetarian Thing to Serve Meat Eaters. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BEST FOOD HALL

HUNTERS STATION

Where else but East Nashville’s Hunters Station can you grab a Vietnamese noodle bowl, spinach-artichoke grilled-cheese, bologna sandwich, beer or tacos all under one roof? Nowhere is the answer; or rather, nowhere good. But with Vui’s Kitchen, The Grilled Cheeserie, Hugh Baby’s, Picnic Tap, Citizen Market and Tacos Aurora in one place, Hunters Station works miracles — especially with culinary incubator Citizen Kitchens selling stunners like Caity Pies’ Cereal Killer Icebox Pie via Citizen Market. Of all the ’90s things we revived this year — neon, acid-wash, Spandex! — the food court is easily the best. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

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BEST FOOD TRUCK TURNED BRICK-AND-MORTAR

RIDDIM N SPICE

I don’t do much food-trucking these days. I like the flexibility and creativity they offer, but I am old and lazy, which means AC and chairs are critical. So I was thrilled when Riddim N Spice opened their brickand-mortar in Fisk/Meharry. As the sons of Jamaicaway owner Ouida Bradshaw, Kamal Kalokoh and Rashean Conaway come by cheerful Caribbean food honestly. Start with the succulent half-bird and the cucumber-

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

Far from the Far from

MADDING CROWD. MADDING CROWD.

BEST NOODLE DISH, WRITERS’ CHOICE: HAKKA NOODLES FROM WOODLANDS

Yazoo Brewing Company - A Nashville Original 900 River Bluff Drive · Madison, TN 37115 YazooBrew.com nashvillescene.com | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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Food & Drink Writers’ Choice

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

mango slaw, and pair it with Jamaican red rice ’n’ peas and zingy Bajan macaroni pie. If you can eat that meal without smiling, you need to up your dosage. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BEST PRE-PANDEMIC POP-UP/CHEF BFFS

TURKEY AND THE WOLF AT REDHEADED STRANGER

If your taste skews more “junk food” and less “tasting menu,” Mason Hereford and Bryan Lee Weaver might be your culinary soulmates. When NOLA’s famous Turkey and the Wolf popped up at Redheaded Stranger, we got joyous combinations such as Flamin’ Hot Cheeto Pie and a “Trashy Tostada” flavored with French onion dip, as well as frozen drinks served to those waiting in line. Another delightful turn: Weaver printed Hereford’s self-submitted bio directly on the menu, which included the line: “Mason generally wears shorts. Fuck pants.” As we all know, the latter line would go on to become our 2020 motto. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BEST BAR OPENING DURING A PANDEMIC

MIDNIGHT OIL

Centennial fans were downright despondent when even food pickup ceased a week into quarantine — but we needn’t fret. Around the corner, its owners were busy opening Midnight Oil. Overnight, The Nations had a walk-up drink window, the city’s most lethal frosé, enormous pizzas, bomb-ass cheese bread — all of which appeared when we needed it most. So did tequila, which Oil stocks 50 kinds of, including rare pours like Siete Leguas, Cincoro and Tears of Llorona. Always friendly and socially distanced, Midnight Oil let us know Cheers didn’t close — it just moved around the corner. (Both Centennial and Oil are open now. “Norm!”) ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BEST SWEET COLLABORATION

GOO GOO’S SUMMER SERIES Since 2015, the Goo Goo Shop has collaborated with local chefs to offer the annual Summer Chef Series, a line of limited-edition Premium Goo Goo Clusters designed by some of the city’s best bakers and cooks. And this year was possibly the tastiest and most innovative yet. Chef Nina

Singto of Thai Esane filled her confection with (very hot) Thai chili caramel, Rice Krispies and basil milk chocolate ganache; Vivek Surti of Tailor combined rose and strawberry marshmallow, pistachio crunch, and cardamom and orange blossom caramel in his treat. There were also Goo Goos featuring ruby chocolate, banana cream ganache, black sesame halva nougat and more. How nice it was to have something to look forward to in the otherwise horrifying summer of 2020. MEGAN SELING

BEST FAST-FOOD REVAMP

FILET-O-FISH FROM RED PERCH

McDonald’s is the undisputed champion of unnatural food shapes. The ribless McRib, the swimming-pool-shaped nuggets, the square Filet-O-Fish — if these things foul you out, I understand. But the latter has a weirdly satisfying flavor profile that I’ve always pitied people for skipping — until now. Australian chef Cameron Payne has brought all his fine-dining skills to this take on the fast-food sandwich: crunchy, square fried-fish patty; a healthy dollop of creamy tartar; a toasted, squishy bun; and most crucially, melted American cheese, on the bottom bun only. The whole thing is fast-food perfection. Chef’s kiss, Cam — or rather fry-cook’s kiss. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BEST BISCUITS FOR ’90S HARDCORE KIDS

GUERILLA BIZKITS

It was inspiring to see so many of Nashville’s creative thinkers and food makers get to work when the rest of the world came to a halt — folks started up their own food and coffee delivery services and hosted pop-ups around the city. One pandemic-bred business that stands out is Guerilla Bizkits, the vegan biscuit delivery service. Initially, it was the clever branding that caught my eye. The name (a reference to New York City punk band Gorilla Biscuits), the logo, even the biscuits themselves were an ode to the ’90s hardcore bands I listened to as a kid. But once I tried their wares, it became clear Guerilla Bizkits were more than a goofy experiment — these biscuit bakers have managed to achieve a golden crust and soft, tender

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

BEST REASON TO HAVE VENMO, WRITERS’ CHOICE: MAS TACOS POR FAVOR

BEST FOOD TRUCK TURNED BRICK-AND-MORTAR, WRITERS’ CHOICE: RIDDIM N SPICE

inside without butter or lard (as long as you reheat before you eat, as they suggest). The Blackout, with dried cherries and jalapeño, is especially delicious. MEGAN SELING

backyard, decision-destroying slushies — all of these things come together to give Germantown the bar vibe it lacked. Best Yankee export in years. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BEST FRIED THING

BEST PANDEMIC PANTRY

Here’s the secret about fried things: The same dish can go by many names. Schnitzel, Milanese, tonkatsu — all of these will get you some salty, deep-fried, pounded-out meat (as well as a nice setup for a dirty joke). This is particularly crucial at Folk, where the crispy-meat quotient is high. Think pizza-sized chicken Milanese served with flaky sea salt and zippy citrus; an Asian sandwich topped with red slaw, green-garlic mayo and habanada peppers; or a chicken parm sammy that’s deftly seasoned, expertly fried and big enough to feed four. Takeaway: If you see “fried” at Folk, do it. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

I don’t know what caffeine level Philip Krajeck — the chef and owner of Rolf and Daughters and Folk — was working with the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic, but he must’ve been downright vibrating. In addition to turning two restaurants into well-oiled takeout machines, Krajeck partnered with local farms to create the city’s preeminent multisource CSA. For $45, you could literally taste the seasons changing as Rocky Glade Farm’s red kale gave way to Conry Farm’s sweet corn and Sugar Camp Farm’s zephyr squash. Being able to add a bouquet of Harpeth Moon Farm’s wildflowers or a ball of Folk’s fresh mozzarella was the cherry (tomato) on top. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

ANY CHICKEN THING AT FOLK

BEST PLACE TO ORDER THE SPECIAL

ARNOLD’S COUNTRY KITCHEN Arnold’s is the undisputed king of Nashville meat-and-threes. But If you’re only sticking to what you know there, you’re missing out. Kahlil Arnold is not-so-secretly one of Nashville’s most talented chefs, so when he turns his eyes to tamales or chorizo tacos or kielbasa and kraut, don’t sidestep them to get the fried chicken. (Real talk: Order both.) And if he ever — I mean ever — succumbs to peer pressure and puts his signature 7 Up pancakes on special (fluffy, buttery, sauced to perfection), step over anyone you have to to get some. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BEST NEW ADDITION TO GERMANTOWN

MOTHER’S RUIN

For a neighborhood stacked with good restaurants, Germantown can feel sleepy. Mother’s Ruin, which opened late last year, helps remedy that. The Nashville outpost of the New York-based restaurant has one of the best — and weirdest — bloody marys in town (Worcestershire, pickle juice, red wine!), excellent waffle fries (Old Bay included) and a burger I’d go back for (topped with crunchy, sprout-laced mayo). Loud music, all-day hours, open

ROLF AND DAUGHTERS/FOLK

BEST REASON TO HAVE VENMO

MAS TACOS POR FAVOR

East Nashville’s Mas Tacos has been a city favorite for a decade-plus, but the formerly cash-only business often has caught diners by surprise when they pulled out a card to pay for a meal. When the pandemic hit and Mas Tacos set up a robust takeout operation, they added a new option: Venmo. Now, just call in your order — for tacos, for pozole, for elotes and yes, YES, THOSE SWEET CREAM PLANTAINS — and then just send your payment via Venmo. When you arrive, hold up your phone and show the folks behind the counter your receipt. It’s contact-free and easy. STEVE CAVENDISH

BEST USE OF ZOOM

ALEX BURCH’S VIRTUAL WINE TASTINGS

When the shutdown came, a lot of restaurants searched for ways to stay in touch with their regular customers. For a sommelier, whose job is to help you pick out something to drink while you’re eating, this became really tough. That’s when Alex Burch, the talented brain behind the wine programs at Bastion and Henrietta Red,

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Food & Drink Writers’ Choice BEST NEW PIZZA

BEST CURBSIDE CHARCUTERIE BOARD

When you think about it, pizza crust is really just bread, and so is a biscuit. It’s no surprise then, that the pizza crust at Biscuit Love proprietors Karl and Sarah Worley’s latest venture ’za is so remarkable. After months of experimentation, Karl created a dough that benefits from four days of fermentation to develop a fantastic sourdough complexity. His use of quality ingredients sets him apart, like on the Thoroughbred Hillbilly, a white-sauce pie with mozz, slightly funky prosciutto from Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Hams and a pile of dressed fresh arugula to add the perfect peppery punch. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

Getting tired of your snack spread of sharp cheddar, salad olives and Aldi-bought salami? Barcelona’s à la carte menu of Spanish meats, cheeses and olives is the perfect upgrade to throwing whatever’s rolling around in your fridge on a cutting board and calling it charcuterie. Let the chef pick from their rotating menu of Manchegos, jamóns and chorizos or literally go ham and pick up the Parrillada Barcelona, a serving of exquisitely cooked chicken, pork loin, sausage and strip steak — all easily ordered online for curbside pickup. LANCE CONZETT

BEST WAY TO SEE THE WORLD FROM YOUR DINING ROOM

GIGAMUNCH

BEST NEW NOODLES, WRITERS’ CHOICE: MR. AARON’S GOODS started hosting tastings via Zoom. Patrons bought flights of wine picked out by Burch and then tuned in to talk at an appointed time. Not only did it give participants a communal experience in the middle of months of isolation — Burch also got to share some of his voluminous knowledge of interesting wines. STEVE CAVENDISH

BEST BAKE SALE

UNITED FOR FAMILIES AT DOZEN BAKERY

In September 2019 — after we’d already tallied up all the votes for last year’s Best of Nashville issue — Dozen Bakery hosted a big ol’ bake sale to benefit Immigrant Families Together, an organization that works to support and reunite families that have been separated at the U.S.-Mexico border. It may well have been the biggest (and arguably best) bake sale Nashville has ever seen. The Wedgewood-Houston bakery was packed with stacks and stacks of goodies from City House, Bang Candy, East Park Donuts and Coffee, Rolf and Daughters, Henrietta Red and more, and the selection of treats was so tempting that it resulted in a line of hungry supporters long enough to wrap around much of the building. (I waited for nearly an hour for my chance to shop, I regret nothing.) It was a delicious call to action, and Nashville didn’t disappoint. It’s hard to resist resisting when dessert is involved. MEGAN SELING

BEST BAKE SALE, PANDEMIC EDITION

BAKE SALE TO BENEFIT ACLU OF TENNESSEE AT LOU A countless number of charity events had to be canceled this year, leaving so many vital organizations in the lurch, financially speaking. But June’s bake sale to benefit the ACLU at the East Nashville wine bar lou managed to raise money for a good cause while maintaining a safe socially distant atmosphere. And it was no easy task. The menu featured a tempting array of desserts, breads and even savory items from 20 of Nashville’s best bakers and pastry chefs — Lisa Donovan, Rebekah Turshen, HiFi Cookies, Conny and Jonny and more — and it was all made available online ahead of time, with a curbside

pickup option. They also allowed guests to shop the selection on lou’s back patio, six or so at a time, to avoid crowding. The lines were long, but folks were patient, and lou’s staff hustled to help everyone as quickly as possible. In the end, a boatload of money was raised for the Tennessee chapter of the ACLU, and everyone got delicious treats. All the hard work (and organization!) required to make it happen deserves heaps of praise. MEGAN SELING

BEST NEW NOODLES

MR. AARON’S GOODS

You may not know you love Aaron Distler’s pasta, but if you’ve gotten noodles from one of a number of great restaurants around town — Margot, 404 Kitchen, Cafe Roze — you’re already a fan. And the great part is you can cook them in your home. Whether you’re craving lucious bucatini, buckwheat soba noodles or chili noodles (found on the menu at TKO), you can have them delivered to your house on an ad hoc basis or even as part of a regular subscription. Tired of trying to make that homemade pasta maker with the tiny crank work just to get fresh pasta? Mr. Aaron’s Goods is the infinitely better solution. STEVE CAVENDISH

BEST PIZZA FOR DELIVERY

FIVE POINTS PIZZA

Five Points Pizza has won our Best of Nashville Readers’ Poll multiple years running, and while the Scene’s BON Writers’ Choices are a distinctly different entity, well, there are just some things we can all absolutely agree on. With both the newer West Nashville location and the original East Side location — the latter right in the heart of Five Points, a neighborhood that was devastated by March’s deadly tornado — Five Points Pizza has long put out the biggest, tastiest, most consistently satisfying slices of any pizza vendor in Nashville. The best part? It holds up great for delivery. That means even with the dining rooms closed during the pandemic, you pizza lovers can grab a slice from the carryout window or order it for delivery knowing it’s going to be just as tasty in your kitchen. Or on your couch. Or in bed. Hell, we’re not here to judge. D. PATRICK RODGERS

The premise for Gigamunch is simple: Every week, a thermal bag shows up on your doorstep containing a full meal designed by a different member of Nashville’s immigrant community. Pop the containers into your microwave, throw on the weekly themed Spotify playlist, and enjoy an exotic dinner from the comfort of your own home. Since subscribing in May, I’ve enjoyed delicious dinners by host cooks from Senegal, Uzbekistan, Bolivia, Laos and more. Not only does Gigamunch celebrate world cuisine, it also gives Nashville’s diverse cooks an opportunity to share their stories and culture on a larger scale. LANCE CONZETT

BEST VALUE FOR CARRYOUT

GOJO

Don’t get us wrong: Gojo Ethiopian Cafe and Restaurant on Thompson Lane doesn’t necessarily have the absolute cheapest dishes in the city. Popular entrées like Yebeg Alicha and Shiro W’et tend to hover around the $10-$14 range. But the portion sizes — not to mention the shocking amount of spongy, delicious injera bread served with each order — just can’t be beat. Gojo has a wide array of hearty, filling, beautifully seasoned dishes to choose from, and whenever I order one of their foam to-go clamshells overstuffed with goodness, I always have leftovers. We’re so glad they’re around. D. PATRICK RODGERS

BEST CHICKEN ON A STICK, WRITERS’ CHOICE: JOYLAND

BARCELONA WINE BAR

BEST CHICKEN ON A STICK

JOYLAND

Losing Stay Golden’s East Nashville outpost was a bummer for fans of Instagram-ready brunch joints. But that disappointment quickly vanished when Sean Brock announced that his ode to retro burger fare would take over the space. While the burgers at Joyland are decent, it’s their Joysticks — immaculately fried chicken on a stick — that really stand out. Brock’s Joysticks are like a Southern variant on tempura fried chicken, a perfectly crispy nosh at a reasonable price. LANCE CONZETT

BEST MENU COLLABORATION

THE 404 KITCHEN’S STAYCATION

Part of the fun of having a night out at a chef-driven restaurant like Matt Bolus’ 404 Kitchen is getting to experience the collaborative creativity of the chefs and cooks putting their heads together. The pandemic has made it more difficult to capture that same joy, but 404’s Staycation series comes awfully close. Chef Bolus called in favors from acclaimed chefs like Marcus Samuelsson, Grace Hu and Andrew Zimmern to create exclusive tasting menus borne out of the cultures of the guest chefs. Hu’s take on Hunan and Szechuan dining set a high bar throughout June that has only been matched by following chefs. LANCE CONZETT

BEST COFFEE ROASTER

STAY GOLDEN

Over the past several months, I’ve been making all my coffee at home. Trying out

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

’ZA

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EAST NASHVILLE

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THE GULCH

The James

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Food & Drink Writers’ Choice

BEST COLD-BREW DELIVERY SERVICE

CRISIS COLD BREW

When the pandemic hit and coffee shops all over town shut down, Skye Kaericher got industrious. She founded the appropriately named Crisis Cold Brew, and started making and delivering tasty cold brew to folks who contacted her through her Instagram account (@crisiscoldbrew). Even as coffee-peddling shops and restaurants began to reopen, Kaericher continued to grow her business, upgrading to a fancy website (crisiscoldbrew.com), subscription offers and a concentrated-brew option in addition to the ready-to-drink stuff — and doing it all with safe, contact-free delivery. Lately Crisis has been offering a Guatemala Hunapu brew made with beans from Osa Coffee Roasters, a local company based out of Edgehill Village. Tasty rocket fuel delivered straight to your door. What could be better? D. PATRICK RODGERS

BEST LOCAL SPARKLING WATER

MAYPOP

If you’re like me, you’ve got a sparklingwater addiction — your recycling bin perpetually brimming with spent La

Croix or Spindrift cans, your daily intake of the stuff up around a gallon or two. Local seltzer-heads have a true blessing with Matt and Clara Herrick’s Maypop, Nashville’s best producer of sparkling water. (Established last year, Maypop is also the only local producer of alcohol-free sparkling water we’re aware of, but it is nevertheless extremely good.) Made in small batches with real fruit juice, Maypop Sparkling Water comes in lemon, lime and grapefruit-orange, all of which are delectable both on their own and as mixers. The good stuff can be found at locations all over Nashville, including multiple farmers markets — visit maypopwater.com for a list of locations. D. PATRICK RODGERS

BEST TO-GO COCKTAILS

THE FOX

When it comes to carryout cocktails, margaritas are amateur-hour (only because you can make them at home). Weeks into COVID, it became clear that the pro move was to order something you’re too dumb or lazy to make, and The Fox delivered. Their to-go menu is replete with drinks like the Amber Wave, which takes tequila and ups the ante with sparkling wine, Aperol, prickly-pear liqueur, lemon stock, blackpepper tincture and cucumber bitters. If you have all that in your bar, you need a life or a liquor license. As for us plebes, we’ll stick with the experts. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BEST PANDEMIC MERCH

THE FOX’S ‘SMALL BAR UPSET ABOUT BEING CLOSED’ T-SHIRTS

When it seemed that some downtown establishments were taking advantage

BEST LOCAL SPARKLING WATER, WRITERS’ CHOICE: MAYPOP of loopholes in COVID-19 protocol, East Nashville bar The Fox spoke publicly about the need to recognize (and not penalize) smaller establishments that were playing by the rules. Their effort initially inspired NewsChannel 5 to run the headline “Small Bar Upset About Being Closed,” which the bar playfully repurposed into branded T-shirts. On top of that, the bar has been slinging incredible cocktails and small bites (don’t sleep on the frozen cookie dough!) curbside for the majority of the pandemic, offering muchneeded normality and hospitality during an unprecedented time. BRITTNEY McKENNA

BEST WHISKEY BAR DEAL

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

WHISKEY WEDNESDAYS AT GERTIE’S BAR

BEST COLD-BREW DELIVERY SERVICE, WRITERS’ CHOICE: CRISIS COLD BREW

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

locally roasted beans on my own has been a blast, but time and again I find myself coming back to Stay Golden. Roasting in the design district of Berry Hill, Stay Golden has set itself apart from other local roasters by curating a menu of coffees that are both diverse and delicious. Whether drinkers simply need an everyday easy-drinking blend or want to know the exact elevation of the farm where their single origin varietal is grown, these guys can find a tasty match. P.J. KINZER

There’s no doubt that chef Matt Bolus is extremely talented when it comes to leading the crew at The 404 Kitchen, but he will sheepishly admit he’s got a bit of a problem — a whiskey-collecting addiction. Fortunately, his vice is your opportunity. At Gertie’s, the ground-floor bar at 404, the entire back wall is covered with hundreds of rare bottles of whiskey, including some of the chef’s personal single-barrel picks that can’t be found literally anywhere else on earth, and every single one of them is half-price on Wednesdays, so order a pour or four! CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

BEST BAR TURNED AID CENTER

DINO’S

Within hours of the March 3 tornado’s devastation, the crew at Dino’s sprang into action, serving food and necessities to first responders into the wee hours of the night and throughout the first weeks of cleanup. As the extent of the damage to the city grew clearer, the beloved East Nashville bar dedicated its staff and its resources to serving the city by collecting much-needed food and supply donations, raising money for relief funds and posting up-to-date information for those looking to help out on their social media pages. Dino’s is a Nashville institution for far more than its delicious burgers and brews. BRITTNEY McKENNA

BEST SMALL BUSINESS GLOW-UP

HIFI COOKIES’ NEW SHOP

Until this summer, finding HiFi Cookies at a spot like Duke’s or Mitchell Delicatessen felt like winning the lottery, as the locally baked, musically themed cookies seemed to fly off shelves as quickly as businesses could stock them. Now, HiFi has its own brick-and-mortar shop in East Nashville, making it easy for sugar addicts to get a Wilco-inspired “Tweedy” or a Wu-Tang Clan-themed “Cookies & C.R.E.A.M.” when the craving strikes. The husbandand-wife-run shop also offers ice cream sandwiches, brownies, stuffed cookies and a seasonal menu of experimental treats,

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EXPERIENCE

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WINE TASTINGS

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COUNTRY

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PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

Food & Drink Writers’ Choice

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

BEST FOOD WE DIDN’T KNOW WE NEEDED, WRITERS’ CHOICE: CHICKEN IN A WAFFLE CONE AT CONEHEADS BEST NEW PHILLY CHEESESTEAK, WRITERS’ CHOICE: IT’Z A PHILLY THING served up in front of a mural that reads, “What would Dolly do?” BRITTNEY McKENNA

BEST SPACE SWAP

BASTION

When chef Josh Habiger’s wife Lauren Kessinger joined Bastion’s front-of-house team, everyone knew she’d be a great addition, but no one knew how clutch she’d be in 2020. An artist and designer by trade, Kessinger took the reins when Bastion decided to reopen dinner service mid-COVID in the much-larger front bar space, and Bastion 2.0 is upscale tiki-bar heaven. The beachy colors, the string lights, the pops of greenery, the exact right amount of candlelight — the space has that dinner-party-right-before-youturn-up vibe, which was so missed and so needed this year. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BEST NEW PHILLY CHEESESTEAK

IT’Z A PHILLY THING

We’ll be honest with you: It’s not hard to find a Philly cheesesteak in Nashville, but it’s not easy to get one that transports you right to the City of Brotherly Love. IT’Z A Philly Thing in Bellevue, stationed over by the Staples off Highway 70, does just that. Once you taste the Cheez Whiz added on top of the provolone, you’ll know it’s authentic. Make sure you try the IT’Z A Philly Sauce, particularly when you need something to dip your Philly Egg Rolls in. The Philly Water Ice makes for a refreshing dessert, too. CORY WOODROOF

BEST SOLUTION TO PANDEMIC WINE NEEDS BEST NEW HOT CHICKEN FOOD TRUCK

HURT’S HOT CHICKEN

During the pandemic, food trucks have become an oasis for safe, distanced dining. Hurt’s Hot Chicken, often stationed in Mt. Juliet and occasionally roving to other spots like Bellevue, is your best bet right now for the classic Nashville dish on wheels. The rich breading and careful spicing give you a crunch and a pop without too much hoopla, and owner Lamont Hurt understands how to make the batter sweet without it being too overwhelming to the flavor. The lemon pepper fries pair so nicely with the dish, and recently, Hurt has added a delicious-looking hot chicken pizza to his menu. CORY WOODROOF

BEST CLASSIC STAPLE, REBORN

UNCLE BUD’S CATFISH, CHICKEN & SUCH

If you grew up in Nashville in the ’80s or ’90s, you’ll remember “Uncle Bud” and his vaunted original catfish joint. The “Uncle Bud’s” brand has taken its lumps over the years, but the location in Donelson honors the restaurant’s past by bringing the concept back to its roots and serving one of the most reliable catfish dishes in the area. Now, everyone rightfully harps on the fish, biscuits, hush puppies and those incredible white beans, but they don’t put “chicken” in the name for nothing. Here’s its bestkept secret: Uncle Bud’s fried chicken is even better than the fish. CORY WOODROOF

WOODLAND WINE MERCHANTS’ 6 FOR $60

With bars closed and the discomfort of shopping in enclosed spaces with an airborne pathogen out there, social distancers of East Nashville turned to the curbside wine pickups of Woodland Wine Merchants. The simplicity of letting the experts pick out a half-dozen highquality bottles and throw them in your trunk for 60 bucks is a perfect solution. The ever-rotating arsenal of labels and varietals is not only convenient, but also a great value. You can count on the quality always outweighing the price. P.J. KINZER

BEST QUARANTINE-FRIENDLY GROCERY OPTION

NASHVILLE FARMERS’ MARKET

After the early days of the pandemic closed their building, the Nashville Farmers’ Market bounced back and set up a drivethrough shopping center in the parking lot. You could pick up the best produce, pasta, meat and even tamales without leaving your car, offering one of the safest and easiest shopping experiences I had all lockdown. The vendors also earned a regular customer now that operations are back to something resembling normal. ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

BEST SOCIALLY DISTANCED DAY TRIP AND PICNIC SPOT

ARRINGTON VINEYARDS

It’s easy to forget the natural beauty of Tennessee’s landscape when living in the city. Luckily, it doesn’t take much to go

rediscover it. While parks and forests are solid options, you can’t (legally) drink alcohol in all of them, which is what makes Arrington Vineyards so wonderful. Not only can you explore the countryside while sipping on some locally made wine, but you can also bring a picnic, order food and attend concerts. Masks are required indoors, and there are more than five acres of vineyards to wander through — meaning social distancing isn’t a problem. Just make sure someone stays sober enough to drive the 30ish minutes back to Nashville. KELSEY BEYELER

BEST FOOD WE DIDN’T KNOW WE NEEDED

CHICKEN IN A WAFFLE CONE AT CONEHEADS

Before Marcus Buggs opened Coneheads, few of us sat around saying, “You know what Nashville’s food scene really needs? Fried chicken in a waffle cone with sauces as ‘toppings!’ ” But Buggs knew. The former Vanderbilt University linebacker has folks lined up on Dickerson Pike for his easy-to-carry comfort food, which comes with “sides” as a “cap” on the cone. (Think mac-and-cheese or coleslaw as the cherry on your savory sundae.) Fried cauliflower is an option — because vegetarians like fun, portable food, too. MARGARET LITTMAN

BEST PLACE TO INDULGE YOUR CHEESE CRAVINGS

YOLAN’S SEE-THROUGH CHEESE CAVE

In between the dining room and the kitchen of Yolan — the fine-dining Italian restaurant in the swanky Joseph Nashville hotel — sits a see-through piece of my heart. This cheese cave is a transparent,

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Food & Drink Writers’ Choice temperature-controlled home to 80-pound wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano and other specialty cheeses that James Beard Awardwinning chef Tony Mantuano is using in his lauded Italian dishes. A ceremonial cheese-cutting shows off a different dairy delicacy each week. MARGARET LITTMAN

BEST WAY TO FEED OTHERS

24/7 COMMUNITY FRIDGES

Need exists ’round the clock, but most social services agencies are not open at all hours. Enter Nashville Community Fridge, a collection of free refrigerators: one at Drkmttr on Dickerson Pike, one at Elephant Gallery on Buchanan Street and hopes for a third soon in South Nashville. They are exactly as they sound: refrigerators where members of the community can drop off fresh produce, dairy, bread and nonperishable foods, and others in need can swing by to pick up what they need, even in the middle of the night, for free. No paperwork, no questions, all dignity. MARGARET LITTMAN

BEST FOOD TRUCK

CARACASVILLE

I used to go to the Nashville Farmers’ Market to get produce, but now all I’m really interested in is the Caracasville food truck that’s parked there most weekends. The whole menu is delicious, with a variety of empanadas, cachapas stuffed with homemade cheese and other Venezuelan foods, but the star of the show is undoubtedly the stuffed arepa. A lightly grilled corn-flour pocket is loaded with marinated meat, cheese, black beans and a plantain, made even better by a variety of homemade sauces. I always leave feeling stuffed yet wanting more. KELSEY BEYELER

BEST BREAKFAST

BIG BAD BREAKFAST

With iconic local breakfast options like The Loveless Cafe, The Pancake Pantry, Biscuit Love and others, one would think that there’s no room for another morning meal spot in Nashville to rise to the top. One would be wrong. Oxford, Miss.-based breakfast chainlet Big Bad Breakfast brought noted chef John Currence’s bold brand to town last year, and the world changed a little bit. In addition to signature dishes like Tabasco brown-sugar bacon, a huevos rancheros grit bowl and the Screamin’ Demon chicken sandwich, BBB also offers a full bar starting at 7 a.m. Thanks for that! CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

BEST NEW DINNER WITH A VIEW

E3 CHOPHOUSE

There’s a fine line between being elevated enough to be above the fray — where you can enjoy the view of the madding crowds below from a proper social distance — and being so far up that a passing pedal tavern looks like ants on a log. The top level of Hillsboro Village’s modern new steak destination, E3 Chophouse, has found the “Goldilocks Zone” with its al fresco third-story patio and open-air bar that offers a vista up and down 21st Avenue South. Thanks to comfy seating areas arranged around fire pits, it’s a threeseason destination. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

BEST NEWS FOR POP-UPS

NEW BRICK-AND-MORTAR LOCATIONS FOR SETSUN AND BLACK DYNASTY RAMEN SECRET RAMEN HOUSE

While there’s definitely a certain charm to discovering a secret location of a restaurant pop-up — where diners feel like guests at a culinary speakeasy — it can also be a bit of a pain in the ass. Obsessively following social media or waiting for a day-of text message revealing the location of tonight’s meal eats up valuable time that could be spent ... well, eating. That’s why we’re so happy to see that Asian-inspired microrestaurants Setsun and Black Dynasty have put down roots at Vandyke Bed & Beverage and Bar Sovereign, respectively. Less waiting and searching, more eating and slurping. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

BEST BREWERY EVENTS

RHIZ(H)OME VIRTUAL BEER FESTIVALS

Rhizome Productions earns most of its income hosting some of Nashville’s very best beer and food festivals, including Winter Warmer, East Nashville Beer Fest and Nuit Belge. Unfortunately, gathering elbow-to-elbow to enjoy and learn about new beers from the talented producers who brewed them is pretty much off the table for the time being. Instead, Rhizome now offers really enjoyable online festivals with pickups of beer, cheese, snacks and swag available a few days in advance to enjoy during a festive video stream. It’s the next-best thing to being there. (Pretzel necklaces optional.) CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

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BEST INSIDER RESTAURANT PODCAST

NASHVILLE RESTAURANT RADIO

Ever since Anthony Bourdain first published his raw memoir Kitchen Confidential in 2000, people want to know more about the inside-baseball details of the restaurant industry. Foodbiz veteran Brandon Styll’s Nashville Restaurant Radio podcast is the perfect outlet to whet your appetite for some insider dish. The hardworking host releases almost-daily episodes featuring fascinating conversations with local chefs, restaurateurs, purveyors and other food and beverage professionals, and his engaging interview style encourages guests to go beyond PR-speak to get to the heart of the matter. His weekly Restaurant Roundup episodes with co-host Delia Jo Ramsey of Eater Nashville are particularly entertaining and informative. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

BEST ANNUAL CHARITY DINNER THAT LOCAL CHEFS REALLY GET BEHIND

THE NASHVILLE FARMERS’ MARKET FARMHAND DINNER

In a city filled with charity dinners that feature gracious chefs who agree to contribute their time and money to cook for attendees and help raise money for worthy causes, one event stands above the others. The annual Nashville Farmers’ Market Farmhand Dinner doesn’t have to work too hard to convince local chefs to participate; they practically line up to take part. The

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Food & Drink Writers’ Choice Charlotte before he served his first platter of fajitas al carbon at the Nashville outpost of his Tex-Mex concept, Superica, in 2019. In June, Fry opened a Music City branch of his high-end fish camp, The Optimist. Once he opens his next two establishments here — the elegant cocktail bar Le Loup and Star Rover Sound, his take on a honky-tonk/ taqueria — Fry will preside over quite the stable of restaurants. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

dinner celebrates the end of a successful harvest season and showcases the fantastic produce and other products sold at the NFM, and the chefs really bring their best to show their respect and appreciation for these purveyors. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

BEST PLACE TO DISCOVER SOME TRULY BIZARRE BUT FASCINATING WINES

LOU

Thanks to the efforts of some talented and curious young sommeliers, Nashville restaurant wine lists have become a whole lot more interesting over the past few years. Once, seeing a Chilean Carménère on the menu was a novelty, but now people like Mailea Weger of East Nashville’s lou are really stretching our palates. Californiaborn and France-obsessed, Weger’s bar vin is the spot to discover obscure natural wines from unexpected sources, like Mexican wines redolent of smoke made from grapes grown in volcanic soil, or a funky and floral Greek moschofilero that Weger describes as “a breakfast wine.” We can get behind that idea! CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

BEST DESSERT AT A BARBECUE JOINT

HONEYFIRE BARBEQUE CO.’S PEANUT BUTTER BANANA PUDDING

BEST EXAMPLE OF ‘TWO GREAT TASTES THAT TASTE GREAT TOGETHER’

support for fledgling food entrepreneurs by fundraising to offer microgrants to applicants looking to contribute new things to the Nashville food scene. Les Dames d’Escoffier Nashville and Slow Food Middle Tennessee do more than just recognize who is currently excelling in Nashville’s culinary community — they work to ensure its future success as well. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

The virtually assembled group of chefs, restaurant owners and industry associates decided they wouldn’t take their fate sitting down. Within a week, the newly formed alliance was lobbying local, state and federal legislators for assistance and setting up funds to help out affected hospitality workers. Their good work continues today, and tomorrow. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

BEST DINING THAT YOU SHOULDN’T LEAVE FOR JUST THE TOURISTS

BEST NEXT NASHVILLE RESTAURANT EMPIRE

AMERIGO

UPSCALE HOTEL RESTAURANTS

BEST ORGANIZATIONS FOR ASPIRING FOOD ENTREPRENEURS

BEST GRASSROOTS ORGANIZATION WORKING TO SAVE LOCAL RESTAURANTS

It’s important to keep stocking the pantry with new culinary projects, if for no other reason than to proactively replace the ventures that ultimately fail. Two local groups continue to show

Tennessee Action for Hospitality was born out of a text chain in the first few days of pandemic lockdown in which chef Bryan Lee Weaver asked restaurant industry compatriots where the hell the industry was headed (hint: an infernal bucket ride).

BEST PLACE YOU FORGOT ALL ABOUT Quietly celebrating their 30th anniversary in Nashville this year, Amerigo remains a stalwart and steady dining choice for casual Italian in Midtown. The menu is remarkably consistent because frequent diners won’t let them change anything — but don’t miss out on seasonal specials made using local farm-fresh ingredients. The attentive servers dress like they work in an even more upscale restaurant — without a scrap of denim or flannel in sight — but the atmosphere is still casual enough that you can keep your kids occupied by letting them draw with crayons on the butcher-paper table coverings. It’s the best of both worlds. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

LES DAMES D’ESCOFFIER NASHVILLE AND SLOW FOOD MIDDLE TENNESSEE

If you haven’t stayed at a nice hotel in a while and miss the luxury, maybe dining at a hotel restaurant will perk up your spirits. Nashville is blessed with a plethora of fantastic dining spots that happen to be located inside of hotels, including the newly opened Yolan in The Joseph Nashville. The future will bring Sean Brock’s newest restaurant, The Continental, to the Grand Hyatt, and you could plan a month of dining at old favorites like Bourbon Steak, Oak Steakhouse, Gray & Dudley, Capitol Grille, Henley and others. Don’t worry about running into too many tourists while dining at these hotel restaurants; they’re all at Margaritaville anyway. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

FORD FRY

Atlanta-based chef/restaurateur Ford Fry’s restaurants run the gamut from upscale Southern to seafood-centric to several price points of Latin-inspired cuisine. Fry opened a dozen restaurants in Atlanta, Houston and

BEST DINNER AND DESSERT ON THE SOUTH SIDE

PRINCE’S HOT CHICKEN AND THE PEACH COBBLER FACTORY

Pulling into the Nolensville Pike shopping strip, you might be wondering if there’s a block party happening between Prince’s and The Peach Cobbler Factory. There are often large speakers outside blaring tunes, and a crowd hovering around both restaurants’ doors — and with good reason. Prince’s remains the original King of Nashville Hot Chicken, and if you pair their heat with the sweetness of The Peach Cobbler Factory’s cobbler and ice cream, you’ve got yourself a certified decadent Southern dinner and dessert for $15. Too full to add cobbler at the end of your meal? Don’t worry — The Peach Cobbler Factory has cinnamon rolls stuffed with cobbler (!) that you can take home for the morning. ELIZABETH JONES

TENNESSEE ACTION FOR HOSPITALITY

BEST DINNER AND DESSERT ON THE SOUTH SIDE, WRITERS’ CHOICE: PRINCE’S HOT CHICKEN AND THE PEACH COBBLER FACTORY (PICTURED)

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

If you’re a fan of Golden Flake potato chips, you know their Sweet Heat Barbecue flavor is quite simply the perfect flavor combination. So it was a stroke of brilliance when HoneyFire Barbeque Co. pitmaster Shane Nasby invited the Hattie B’s gang to collaborate on a special menu for one night only. The showcase course of barbecue hot chicken benefited from Nasby’s sweet and spicy honey rub and a pass through his hickory-fired smoker before Hattie B’s John Lasater took the baton, battered and fried it and then dipped it in Hattie B’s signature spice. It was sublime and still haunts my dreams. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

BEST DESSERT AT A BARBECUE JOINT, WRITERS’ CHOICE: HONEYFIRE BARBEQUE CO.’S PEANUT BUTTER BANANA PUDDING

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

HATTIE B’S HOT CHICKEN AND HONEYFIRE BARBEQUE CO.’S POP-UP DINNER

At many barbecue joints, dessert is really more of an afterthought. I remember when the nice lady working the register at my Memphis favorite Interstate Barbecue, after noticing that I ordered a slice of the Sock-lt-to-Me Cake on every visit, leaned over and whispered to me conspiratorially, “Baby, it ain’t but Duncan Hines!” But at HoneyFire Barbeque Co. in Bellevue, they pretty much won’t let you leave without trying an order of the family jewel, their Peanut Butter Banana Pudding. This peerless parfait is both lush like a banana cream pie and dense with peanut butter flavor. Topped with a Nutter Butter cookie, it’s delightful! CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

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Food & Drink Writers’ Choice BEST COFFEE ON THE SOUTH SIDE, WRITERS’ CHOICE: ETHIO COFFEE HOUSE

THANK

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

YOU

BEST FAJITAS

LA TERRAZA MEXICAN RESTAURANT

The meat and vegetables for the fajitas come out sizzling at La Terraza, like they do at most Mexican restaurants. But there are two standouts at the Nolensville Pike spot. First, the meat and vegetables are caramelized longer than at your typical place, sticking just slightly to the pan with a little char. And second, La Terraza’s homemade flour and corn tortillas are the most flavorful you’ll get just about anywhere. You’ll find an abundance of meat options when ordering the fajitas at La Terraza (steak, chicken, shrimp, chorizo and more), and the rest of the menu is full of gems as well. But you can never go wrong with this classic. ELIZABETH JONES

BEST SHAWARMA

KING TUT’S

The smell of King Tut’s shawarma is enough to make you salivate. Loaded with rich Mediterranean spices and marinated overnight, the chicken-and-lamb gyro (get them both on the Royal Plate) are tender and flavorful. The meat is laid on a bed of yellow rice and topped with tzatziki sauce and feta cheese. The Royal Plate also comes with freshly made falafel and a salad, making it enough for two meals — if you can stop eating. King Tut’s food truck recently settled in at a permanent location along Nolensville Pike this year, complete with a large shaded patio. ELIZABETH JONES

BEST MEADERY

HONEYTREE MEADERY

Considering the fact that mead is humanity’s oldest alcoholic beverage, it’s a wonder the drink’s modern renaissance didn’t come sooner. Fortunately, Nashville’s first meadery to the scene has already set the bar higher than you can stack supers (first and last beekeeper joke, I swear). Honeytree Meadery is a low-key operation in East

Nashville with a cozy taproom akin to your favorite neighborhood microbrewery. What you won’t see are the 30 beehives that owner and apiarist Ross Welbon meticulously manages in locations all over town to generate the local honey that drives Honeytree’s drinks. Enjoy a glass of the honey-forward Basic Batch, or explore unique combinations such as the pineappleinfused P.S. I Love You and subtly spicy Sweet Baby Ginger. From pollen to pint glass, Honeytree is involved in every step of the process, and we salute them for keeping more than one buzz alive and well. MATT FOX

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BEST COFFEE ON THE SOUTH SIDE

ETHIO COFFEE HOUSE

I feel like the south side of town rarely gets enough love when it comes to food, even though there are so many delicious, locally owned places to eat. Ethio Coffee House on Murfreesboro Pike serves a variety of coffees, teas and treats. The prices are excellent, and the owner always encourages me to try something new — like a sambusa with lentil, jalapeño and cilantro to go with my regular iced coffee with milk. Plus, they have Blue Bell ice cream by the scoop. AMANDA HAGGARD

BEST ONLINE HERB AND TEA SHOP

HIGH GARDEN TEA

A trip to High Garden Tea was an otherworldly escape we took for granted. The warm and welcoming staff, meticulously curated earthy decor and floorto-ceiling jars of herbs and teas provided the gateway into a Tolkienesque apothecary. After the beloved brick-and-mortar was destroyed during the March tornado — which High Garden generously described as “a tornado’s kiss” — our resident alchemists have rebounded and are now open as an online store at highgardentea.com. More than 100 herbal infusions and loose-leaf teas are at the ready, as well as herbal guidance sessions to help narrow your choices. While

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Food & Drink Writers’ Choice

BEST BROWNIE, WRITERS’ CHOICE: BAKED ON 8TH’S GALAXY BROWNIE we eagerly await their next physical shop, High Garden’s post-tornado online presence is a much-welcomed return. MATT FOX

BEST BROWNIE

BAKED ON 8TH’S GALAXY BROWNIE

Baked on 8th deserves love for so many sweet reasons, but at the top of the heap is the bakery’s Galaxy Brownie. If you haven’t had one (go, go, go NOW), the Galaxy Brownie is a thicker, more adult version of the Little Debbie Cosmic Brownie snack cakes my grandma always had at her house. Just seeing the neon candy pieces on top gives me a quick shot of nostalgia — but the rich, chocolaty flavor reminds me that these are so much better than the plastic-wrapped treats of my childhood. AMANDA HAGGARD

BEST FOOD-RELATED SOCIAL MEDIA

CHARLES HUNTER III, THE SALTED TABLE

When personal chef Charles Hunter III started to lose work during the pandemic, he took to his Twitter and Instagram accounts — @thesaltedtable on both platforms — to connect with food-loving folks. He live-tweeted step-by-step photos of what was cooking in his own kitchen — pecancrusted lamb chops, cornbread croutons and grilled sweet potatoes — and whipped followers into a frenzy with friendly but heated debates about which brand of mayo is best (the correct answer is Duke’s). The best part, though, is his willingness to play

virtual personal chef to the masses — if you Venmo him a buck, he’d give you delicious tips for what to do with the random or unfamiliar ingredients you have hanging around the house, from spaghetti squash to fermented honey. Follow him today, become a better home cook tomorrow. MEGAN SELING

BEST HILLSBORO VILLAGE TEMPLE OF CARBS

NICOLETTO’S ITALIAN KITCHEN

Eating in Hillsboro Village can be a surprisingly complex series of if/then decisions. Depending on the vibe sought, who you’re going with and what else is on deck for the evening, the choice can be daunting. But after having worked in the Hillsboro Village area for nearly 20 years, I’m here to tell you that not only is Nicoletto’s the option that scratches the itch for comforting carbs, but it’s the first time since we lost Taste of Tokyo (a beloved reference I do not casually make) that I have a “usual” (radiatori, pink sauce, Italian sausage and peppers). Much like Nicoletto’s East Nashville outpost, the Hillsboro Village spot has quality ingredients, prepared swiftly and with care, with maximum comfort. Swoon. JASON SHAWHAN

BEST HOT CHICKEN FRANCHISE

BIG SHAKES

Music City has plenty of outstanding hot chicken places, but there are very few that can boast of culinary excellence

in anything besides their primary dish. Big Shakes offers the hot chicken lover some optimal choices, available in five different temperatures. There are also multiple ways customers can order it, from wings and individual pieces to complete plates. Plus there are other specialties, including chicken and waffles, chicken salad, even chicken tacos. But for those who aren’t big hot chicken fans, the fish is just as exceptional, and the menu ranges from whiting to catfish and shrimp, available as both sandwiches and platters. Big Shakes offers curbside service and delivery, but you can dine in as well, with masks of course required. Big Shakes has quickly established itself as a primary Nashville source for equally delectable chicken and fish. RON WYNN

BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO CBD

SATURATED DAIRYFREE ICE CREAM

As the executive pastry chef at Hattie Jane’s Creamery, Lokelani Alabanza developed ice cream recipes that were both familiar and beyond anything you’ve ever imagined — Strawberry Fennel and Butterscotch Oreo, even a savory Nashville Hot Chicken flavor. Whoa. This year she branched out on her own with Saturated, a line of dairy-free CBD-laced ice cream that tastes as good as it makes you feel. She’s created custom flavors for a variety of pop-up dinners and bake sales — her Juneteenth sorbet, flavored with raspberry, hibiscus and lime, was the perfect pairing for Rebekah Turshen’s crispy cookies at lou’s ACLU bake sale in April — but there are also plans for delivery and even subscription options in the future. Follow her on Instagram at @saturatedicecream for the latest. MEGAN SELING

BEST CREAM CHEESE

PROPER BAGEL

For three of the past four years, Proper Bagel has won Best Bagel in the Scene’s Best of Nashville Readers’ Poll. (Strangely, there wasn’t a Best Bagel category in 2017, or they probably would’ve won then, too.) And they’re great bagels! But one mustn’t overlook the other treasure in Proper Bagel’s kitchen: their house-

made cream cheese. I’m a sucker for the seasonal flavors — Peach Pie, Strawberry Shortcake, Roasted Garlic and Rosemary, Jalapeño Bacon and more — but if you’re a purist, Proper Bagel’s plain cream cheese is worth the trip too. It’s tangy and creamy without any of that gluiness that plagues so many grocery store brands. MEGAN SELING

BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO AT-HOME BAKING

CHRISTIE COOKIES BAKING MIX

For many people, a summer of socialdistancing meant more time for baking — sourdough, banana bread and other fancy things that took hours, even days, to prepare — but sometimes you want a warm, freshly baked cookie and you want it now. Enter Christie Cookies’ newest offering: bags of dry cookie mix sold at their 12South shop for $10 a pop. Right now there is only one flavor, snickerdoodle, but it’s the heightened quality you’d expect from the classic cookie maker. They supply the mix and cinnamon sugar, you bring the butter and egg, and in less than 20 minutes — including baking time! — your home smells like the Christie Cookie bakery, and you barely had to get your hands dirty. MEGAN SELING

BEST MILKSHAKE

GRILLED CHEESERIE’S MILKSHAKE OF THE MOMENT There’s no shortage of shakes in this city — grab a well-done classic at Bobbie’s Dairy Dip or get one of those monster shakes that come with a whole piece of cake at Legendairy or Gracie’s Milkshake Bar. But the best shake in town is whatever happens to be the Milkshake of the Moment at The Grilled Cheeserie. Every month, the Grilled Cheeserie partners with another local food maker to create an icecold collab that benefits a different vital organization — past beneficiaries include Southern Restaurants for Racial Justice and Teens for Equality. The “Rose Colored Glasses” shake was topped with LemonRosewater Crumble from HiFi Cookies, and September’s Rollin’ With It was topped with a whole Slim & Husky’s cinnamon roll. Eat well while doing good. MEGAN SELING

BEST HILLSBORO VILLAGE TEMPLE OF CARBS, WRITERS’ CHOICE: NICOLETTO’S ITALIAN KITCHEN

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO AT-HOME BAKING, WRITERS’ CHOICE: CHRISTIE COOKIES BAKING MIX

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BEST ANTIQUE STORE 1. 2. 3.

GasLamp Antiques & Decorating Mall Dead People’s Things Eighth Avenue Antique Mall

BEST APARTMENT COMMUNITY 1. 2. 3.

Pine Street Flats Gazebo Apartments 1200 Broadway

BEST ATTORNEY 1. 2. 3.

Rocky McElhaney Law Firm Marshall & Associates The Law Office of Donald D. Zuccarello

BEST ATTORNEY, READERS’ POLL: ROCKY McELHANEY LAW FIRM

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

Beaman Toyota Two Rivers Ford Andrews Cadillac

The Car People Brown’s Automotive Kwik Kar Lube & Tune

BEST BARBERSHOP 1. 2. 3.

Scout’s Barbershop Hawkins Barbershop Collins & Co. Barber Shop

BEST BICYCLE SHOP 1. 2. 3.

Cumberland Transit Halcyon Bike Shop Shelby Ave. Bicycle Co.

BEST BOOK STORE (LOCAL) 1. 2. 3.

Parnassus Books McKay’s The Bookshop

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

1. 2. 3.

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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Injured? Get the Best!

ROCKY

Nashville’s Best Attorney 5 Years Running!

WWW.ROCKYLAWFIRM.COM

615.425.2500

WE FIGHT FOR YOU

nashvillescene.com | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

Retail & Services Readers’ Poll

RESERVE YOUR COPY NOW (AT 30% OFF!) A Promised Land, by Barack Obama (to be released November 17)

To reserve your copy or for more information, please call

615 343-4369

New Store Hours Monday to Saturday 10 am to 7 pm Sundays 12 to 6

2501 WEST END AVENUE (Across from Centennial Park)

BEST BOUTIQUE HOTEL, READERS’ POLL: BOBBY HOTEL

BEST BOUTIQUE HOTEL

BEST CLOTHING CONSIGNMENT

BEST BUILDER/DEVELOPER

BEST DENTIST

BEST BRIDAL BOUTIQUE

BEST DRY CLEANER

BEST CAR WASH

BEST ELECTRICIAN

BEST CBD RETAILER

BEST EVENT PLANNER

BEST CHIROPRACTOR

BEST FASHION DESIGNER

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

Bobby Hotel The Graduate Nashville Noelle Castle Homes Design Build Partners Van Mol Restoration LUXE Bridal Studio Glitz Nashville Adorn Nashville

White Bridge Auto Wash Champion Car Wash Mister Car Wash LabCanna Clara Jane Hemp Dispensary Anzie Blue Sweeney Chiropractic Action Spine & Joint Stronghold Health

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

FLIP Red Rose Hype Shop Buffalo Exchange

Nashville Dentistry Co. Definition Dental Studio 12 South Dental Studio Village Cleaners Oakwood Cleaners Belle Meade Cleaners Hiller Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electrical West Side Electric Service Anchor Electric Amos Gott Bruce Pittman Wedding 101

Amber Ford, Native in Nashville Tylor Gentry Rudy Lou

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

BEST CLOTHING CONSIGNMENT, READERS’ POLL: FLIP

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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Nashville’s Favorite Barbershop, As Voted By The People!

Scan for $5 off your next haircut!

Elan Skin

Elan Hair

WE BRING OUT THE BEST IN YOU. Thank you for supporting our local business and voting Elan Best of Nashville throughout the years. We are proud to have served Nashville since 2004.

elannashville.com

3750 Hillsboro Pike

Nashville, TN 37215

Hair: 615-269-0222

Skin: 615-814-4999

VOT ED BEST D ENT IST !

EASILY BOOK YOUR APPOINTMENT ONLINE

NASHVILLEDENTISTRYCO.COM BREN TWOOD H I L L C E N TE R 2 11 FRA N K L I N R D. , STE . 18 0 BRE N TWOOD, TN 37027 615 -649-770 5 DENTAL EXAMS & CLEANINGS · COSMETIC DENTISTRY RESTORATIVE DENTISTRY · INVISALIGN ® SAME-DAY CROWNS WITH CEREC ® · BOTOX

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

YOUR LOCAL HOME EXPERT Broker, Broker, CRB CRB CLHMS, CLHMS, Vice Vice President, President, Circle Of Of Excellence, Excellence, MMDC MMDC Circle eddie@eddieferrell.com eddie@eddieferrell.com

NOO STR

Over 90% of my business is based on referrals and repeat clients. THANK YOU for your continued trust and allowing me to guide you through one of life’s most important decisions. 1018 11th Ave South

2984 Elmhurst Ct

3 Bed Bed | | 3.5 3.5 Baths Baths | |2 2 Car Car Garage Garage 3

SHARED BY RECENT 4 Bed Bed | | 3.5 3.5 Baths |3 3 Car Car CLIENTS: Garage 4 Baths | Garage

Walk Walk to to everything everything in in the the Gulch or 12South Gulch or 12South

Private Private cul cul de de sac sac living living with with amazing amazing yard, great great floor floor plan plan Clarksville Clarksville 37043. 37043. yard,

“The short story is that Eddie is awesome! He does an exceptional job of listening to the client, with the goal of pinpointing the most important aspects of the home youʼre after. Iʼm one of those buyers that typically needs to look at several homes before making a purchasing decision; Eddie figured me out in such a specific way that I bought the first place he sent me to! Itʼs a first for me and I couldnʼt be happier with the choice. Go with Eddie 2113 Early Ave - your best interests are his priority.” 3 3 Bed Bed | |2 2 Baths Baths

- NICK OSCHIP Super Cottage Super Cottage -- Super Super

Walkable Walkable -- East East Nashville Nashville

Lot 13 Summer Meadows 4 Bed Bed | |3 3 Baths Baths | | Large Large Lot Lot 4 2 2 beds beds on on each each floor floor -- Awesome Awesome floor plan plan -Spring -Spring Hill Hill floor

“Eddie Ferrell is experienced, knowledgeable and reliable in the industry. He provided trustworthy advice throughout the listing and sale process.“ - RHONDA HALCOMB

“Eddie Ferrell is the best in the business. There really isnʼt much more to say, except he 1517 isJones Ave 2168 our realtor for life.” 4 4 Bed Bed | |3 3 Baths Baths

MICHAEL HULL Legacy -- Designer Legacy- South South Designer Selections Selections -- East East Nashville Nashville

“Eddie went above and beyond his call of duty and kept G ING CO MIN OM C N O O !! S N things as simple SOOand as real as possible! Eddie is a true friend of the Earwoodʼs and we will forever be grateful for what heʼs done for us!”

- STEVEN AND JEANIE A&B Rock City

A&B Rock City

3 3 Bed Bed | |3 3 Baths Baths

Screened Screened back back porch porch -- Flex Flex Space Space

FIND MORE INFO AT EDDIEFERRELL.COM nashvillescene.com

| OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

Retail & Services Readers’ Poll BEST FINANCIAL INSTITUTION

BEST GIFT SHOP

BEST HAIR SALON

BEST FLORIST

BEST GYM/FITNESS CLUB

BEST HAIR STYLIST

BEST GENERAL CONTRACTOR

BEST HAIR REMOVAL

BEST HANDYMAN

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

Pinnacle Financial Partners Ascend Federal Credit Union Regions Bank OSHi Floral Design FLWR Shop Rebel Hill Florist Van Mol Restoration Build Nashville, LLC Tenant Building Group

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

Living With Landyn Katy’s Gifts Gift Horse YMCA F45 Training Midtown Orangetheory Fitness

The Wax Suite Nashville JAM Skin Company Elan Skin

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

Green Pea Salon Cognito Hair Design Oxana Salon Mark Hartman, Cognito Hair Design Adam Barnes, Green Pea Salon Meena Mogul, Salon Mogulz Nashville Pro Handyman & Remodeling The Nashville Handyman Andy Whipkey

BEST HOSPITAL, READERS’ POLL: VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

1. 2. 3.

BEST HOSPITAL 1. 2. 3.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital Midtown Centennial Hospital

BEST HOTEL 1. 2. 3.

Opryland Hotel The Hermitage Hotel The Graduate Nashville

BEST HOTEL, READERS’ POLL: OPRYLAND HOTEL

BEST HOUSE CLEANING SERVICE 1. 2. 3.

My Customized Cleaning, LLC Team Clean Nashville Ex-Amish Cleaning

BEST HOUSE PAINTER 1. 2. 3.

Nashville Pro Handyman and Remodeling John’s Painting Sharpton Painting

BEST INN/BED & BREAKFAST 1. 2. 3.

Urban Cowboy Nashville 1501 Linden Manor Bed & Breakfast Germantown Inn

BEST INTERIOR DESIGNER 1. 2. 3.

April Tomlin Interiors Julie Couch Interiors Amy McKinney

BEST JEWLERY STORE 1. 2. 3.

Genesis Diamonds King Jewelers Shane Co.

BEST LASIK SURGERY CENTER 1. 2. 3.

Jeffrey D. Horn, Vision for Life Loden Vision Wang Vision Institute

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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WWW.12SOUTHDENTALSTUDIO.COM WWW.12SOUTHDENTALSTUDIO.COM

BEST BICYCLE SHOP AND BEST OUTDOOR ADVENTURE STORE, READERS’ POLL: CUMBERLAND TRANSIT

ARTISTRY MEETS DENTISTRY IN THE HEART OF 12 SOUTH BEST LASH SALON

BEST OB/GYN

BEST LAWN SERVICE

BEST OPTOMETRIST

BEST NAIL SALON

BEST ORTHOPEDIC DOCTOR

BEST MASSAGE

BEST OUTDOOR ADVENTURE STORE

BEST MEDISPA

BEST PERSONAL TRAINER

BEST MEN’S CLOTHING STORE

BEST PHARMACY

BEST MICROBLADING COMPANY

BEST PLACE TO BUY AN ENGAGEMENT RING

1. 2. 3.

W W W. 1 2S O U THD E NT AL ST UD I O.COM WWW.12SOUTHDENTALSTUDIO.COM

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

Lash City Lash & Beauty Remedy Lash Co. Community Tree Preservation Gardens of Babylon A Cut Above Landscape Poppy & Monroe CURED Nail Salon Allure Spa & Nails The Woodhouse Day Spa Escape Day Spa and Salon The Lotus Room Ayurveda Elan Skin Sieveking Plastic Surgery Complexion Levy’s Alexis + Bolt Men’s Wearhouse

Jeanette Wirz Permanent Cosmetics Anastacia Skin Studio Nash Brows

BEST MOVING COMPANY 1. 2. 3.

Two Men and a Truck 6th Man Movers Black Tie Moving

BEST NONPROFIT 1. 2. 3.

Nashville Humane Association The Gentle Barn United Methodist Foundation for the Memphis and Tennessee Conferences

BEST NURSERY/GARDEN CENTER

#wegotyourbacknashville 64

1. 2. 3.

Bates Nursery & Garden Center Gardens of Babylon JVI Secret Gardens

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

1. 2. 3.

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

Retail & Services Readers’ Poll

Dr. Grayson Woods Dr. Anne Rossell Dr. Donna Crowe Dr. Michele Sonsino, Optique Dr. Dahlia Haddad, Loden Vision Dr. Tommy Ducklo, Ducklo Eye Care Hughston Clinic Orthopedics Bone and Joint Institute Tennessee Orthopaedic Alliance Cumberland Transit REI Bass Pro Shops Nikko Glasper Jefferey Shelton Anita Slaughter

Nashville Pharmacy Services Walgreens CVS

Genesis Diamonds King Jewelers Shane Co.

BEST PLACE TO BUY EYEWEAR 1. 2. 3.

Optique Warby Parker Look East

BEST PLACE TO BUY FURNITURE 1. 2. 3.

Head Springs Depot Sprintz Furniture Showroom Ashley HomeStore

BEST PLACE TO BUY NEW MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 1. 2. 3.

Carter Vintage Guitars Fanny’s House of Music Guitar Center

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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nashvillescene.com | OCTOBER 15 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

Retail & Services Readers’ Poll

THANK YOU

BEST PLACE TO BUY USED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 1. 2. 3.

Carter Vintage Guitars Fanny’s House of Music Nashville Used and New Music

BEST PLACE TO BUY VINYL 1. 2. 3.

Grimey’s New & Preloved Music Vinyl Tap McKay’s

BEST PLACE TO BUY/SELL MUSIC 1. 2. 3.

Grimey’s New & Preloved Music McKay’s The Great Escape

BEST PLACE TO GET A BLOWOUT

PAIN FREE DRUG FREE SURGERY FREE

1. 2. 3.

The Blowout Co. Drybar The Dry House

BEST PLASTIC SURGEON 1. 2. 3.

Robbins Plastic Surgery Sieveking Plastic Surgery Plastic Surgery Center of Nashville

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

for voting for us since 2006.

BEST PLACE TO BUY NEW MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND BEST PLACE TO BUY USED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, READERS’ POLL: CARTER VINTAGE GUITARS

BEST PLUMBER 1. 2. 3.

BEST PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN 1. 2. 3.

Dr. Kylynn Daniels Dr. Julia Gomez Dr. Jeffrey Scott Jordan

BEST PRINTING COMPANY 1. 2. 3.

Jive! A Printworks Studio Big Visual Group Friendly Arctic Printing & Design

BEST REAL ESTATE AGENT 1. 2. 3.

Chad Wohlers Ivy Arnold Richard Courtney

BEST REAL ESTATE BROKERAGE 1. 2. 3.

Parks Realty Village Real Estate Scout Realty

BEST SHOPPING MALL 1. 2. 3.

Keeping you out of Doctor’s offices and actively in the “Game of Life”

Hiller Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electrical Morton Plumbing, Heating & Cooling Lee Company

The Mall at Green Hills CoolSprings Galleria Opry Mills

ACTION SPINE AND JOINT

WWW.NASHVILLESPINEDR.COM 615.356.4656 66

BEST PLACE TO BUY VINYL AND BEST PLACE TO BUY/SELL MUSIC, READERS’ POLL: GRIMEY’S NEW & PRELOVED MUSIC

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

NashvilleSpineDr.com 615-356-4656 6410 Charlotte Pike Nashville TN 37209

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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Head for the Mountain SOLD

SOLD

Sewanee | Monteagle SOLD

515 Church St. #4504 $4,500,000

515 Church St. #3412 $2,200,000

MLS# 2164131 - Luxury living, exquisite design. 3 BR, 3 ½ BA, 2-level penthouse. Co-listed with Chad Wohlers, Village.

Modern elegance. Beautifully appointed 2-BR. Breathtaking views. Co-listed with Chad Wohlers, Village.

SOLD

705 Myers Point Road $1,395,000

Spectacular, custom-designed Sewanee mountain home. 4 BR, 4½ BA, 4,734 SF on 6.67 Acres.

ING PEND 305 Clara’s Point $985,000

301 Claredon Ave. $2,300,000

Beautifully renovated 1920’s Belle Meade manse on large corner lot. 4 BR, 4 ½ BA.

1611 18th Ave. S. $1,295,000

Retreat from the city. 5 BR, 5 ½ BA, 6,057 SF. Listing agent: Ward & Shelly Cammack, Zeitlin

MLS 2185618 - Spectacular renovation preserves the original charm and character of this stately 3,075 SF home.

SOLD

506 Ingman Cliff Rd. $599,000

Custom built home with breathtaking bluff views. 3 BR, 3½ BA, 3,072 SF on 3.05 Acres.

3611 Central Ave. $1,240,000 MLS# 2153506 - Renovated & expanded stone cottage. 4 BR 4 BA, 3,572 SF. 2-car detached garage.

1807 Stokes Lane $1,198,500

MLS# 2151004 - Renovated Green Hills home. Over 4,000 SF with 4BD 3½ BA. Park-like lot.

If you’re considering buying or selling a house, condominium or investment property, call me.

SOLD

1730 Clifftops Ave. $599,900

Charming 3 BR 3 BA cabin with spectacular bluff view. Richard Courtney, buyers agent.

Richard

Courtney

SOLD

License # 00205406

Broker, ABR, CRS, CRB richard@richardcourtney.com

YSR

YSR (615) 300-8189

www.RichardCourtney.com

License # 2820

3825 Bedford Avenue - Suite 102 Nashville, TN 37215

(615) 327-4800

1031 Winterberry Drive $466,000

Beautiful log home on 5+ acres with porches and decks to enjoy the mountain view.

BEST SHOPPING CENTER, READERS’ POLL: HILL CENTER GREEN HILLS

BEST SHOPPING CENTER 1. 2. 3.

Hill Center Green Hills One Bellevue Place Nashville West Shopping Center

BEST SKIN CARE CENTER 1. 2. 3.

Prism Face Lab Sieveking Plastic Surgery Elan Skin

BEST SMOKE SHOP 1. 2. 3.

Vape USA Smoke Token Smoke Shop Marleys Smoke Shop

BEST SPA 1. 2. 3.

Escape Day Spa & Salon The Woodhouse Day Spa Pure Sweat + Float Studio Belle Meade

BEST TATTOO STUDIO 1. 2. 3.

Black 13 Tattoo Parlor Lone Wolf Titan Tattoo

BEST TOURIST TOUR 1. 2. 3.

1. 2. 3.

Elevated Smoke and Vape Shop | CBD Hemp Dispensary Smoke Token Smoke Shop Vape N’ CBDream

BEST VINTAGE CLOTHING STORE 1. 2. 3.

Goodwill Anaconda Vintage The Hip Zipper

BEST WEDDING VENUE 1. 2. 3.

Cheekwood Botanical Gardens Belle Meade Plantation The Cordelle

BEST WOMEN’S CLOTHING STORE 1. 2. 3.

Vinnie Louise e.Allen Boutique Alexis + Bolt

BEST YOGA STUDIO 1. 2. 3.

Hot Yoga of East Nashville Shakti Power Yoga Bend and Zen Hot Yoga Nashville

Mint Julep Experiences NashTrash Tours Smashed Tours

BEST TATTOO STUDIO, READERS’ POLL: BLACK 13 TATTOO PARLOR

BEST VAPE SHOP

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

Your hometown pharmacy no matter where your home is.

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

Retail & Services Readers’ Poll

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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A Local Touch

O n e o f N a s hv i l l e’s To p P ro d u c i n g A g e n t s L i fe t i m e Awa rd o f E xc e l l e n c e Re c i p i e n t

LISA GASTON

BROKER C : 6 1 5. 3 1 0. 8 6 32 | O : 6 1 5. 5 2 2 . 5 1 0 0 L i s a G a s t o n H o m e s @ g m a i l .c o m | L i s a @ Pa r k s At H o m e.c o m

P U T M Y 3 3 Y E A R S O F R E A L E STAT E E X P E R I E N C E TO WO R K FO R YO U nashvillescene.com | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

Retail & Services Writers’ Choice

The ROOT Brand CLEAN SLATE

Clean Slate is a unique approach to systemically clean out toxins from the body at a cellular level and assist in the reduction of negative inflammation support the absorption of nutrients and enhance life ,

BEST NEW COMMUNITY RESOURCE, WRITERS’ CHOICE: NASHVILLE FREE STORE (LEFT) AND GIDCITY (TIE)

BEST NEW COMMUNITY RESOURCE

NASHVILLE FREE STORE AND GIDSCITY (TIE)

I am noticing some of my autoimmune symptoms are subsiding my skin is amazing and those pesky sugar cravings are gone "

The use of Clean Slate as a detoxifier of heavy metals and toxins is the easiest most effective way I have experienced "

With concerts on hold, Drkmttr volunteers Molly McCarthy and Bassam Habib decided to put the DIY music venue’s unused showroom to good use. They founded the Nashville Free Store and filled the East Side space with donated produce, pantry necessities, school supplies, cleaning products, toiletries and more, all made available to the community for the low price of free. They’ve used social media and flyering to get the word out, and now scores of shoppers come grab what they need every Saturday, with no questions asked. After the tornado in March, the leaders of North Nashville-based community activist organization Gideon’s Army put out a call for donations — clothes, food, cash, anything folks would need after the disaster. And, wow, did Nashville come through. Gideon’s Army received so many donations that they had to pause intake to catch up. Out of that kindness, GidsCity was created. GidsCity is a free, by-appointment shopping experience where individuals and families living in North Nashville can browse the racks, with the help of a personal shopper, to pick out new clothes, shoes and accessories.

PHOTOS: ERIC ENGLAND

detox. simply. Our city is better and stronger thanks to the good work Gideon’s Army puts into it. Neither the Nashville Free Store nor GidsCity could stay stocked without the community coming together, so this BON award is for you too, Nashville. MEGAN SELING

BEST NEW BOOKSTORE

HALF PRICE BOOKS

It may be new in town, but Half Price Books is already proving to be an essential addition to Nashville’s literary and musical marketplace. The White Bridge Pike shop carries a good selection of CDs and vinyl in various genres, but its main priority is books. There’s a decent section of new books that are literally priced at half their suggested sale price, as well as numerous recent and older volumes. A big draw for music fans is the selection of reasonably priced multi-disc sets that highlight either particular artists or idioms, many of them imports. The amount of jazz and blues, as well as country, folk and R&B/soul, varies — it’s more of a rockand-pop kind of place. The same holds true with Half Price’s musically themed book and DVD selections. But here’s an added bonus, especially for those without cars: It’s on the bus line. RON WYNN

Brenda B

Patty G

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BEST NEW BOOKSTORE, WRITERS’ CHOICE: HALF PRICE BOOKS

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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Retail & Services Writers’ Choice

RO OT The ROOT Brand

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

ZERO-IN

BEST LANDSCAPING COMPANY, WRITERS’ CHOICE: NASHVILLE FOODSCAPES

BEST VIRTUAL BOOKSTORE

THE BOOKSHOP

Variety is overrated. There may have been a time when a Sears model of shopping for multiple items in a single spot was preferable, but we’ve got the internet now — it’s not hard to find anything. That’s why I like to count on the taste of individual store runners to inform my shopping, and I trust Joelle Herr. She’s been in the business of books for more than 20 years, and her tightly curated selection at East Nashville boutique The Bookshop usually includes exactly what I’m looking for, as well as a bunch of new ideas that I hadn’t considered. On the shop’s website, there are options to purchase book bundles like the Old School Creepy Bundle (which includes titles from H.P. Lovecraft and Richard Matheson) — and they’ll even make a custom bundle for you if you email a specific request. New titles are listed weekly, and themed monthly reading challenges give you lots of great ideas — September’s prompt was to read a collection of essays, and recommended options included dozens of titles from writers like Joan Didion, Zadie Smith and Mary Oliver. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

BEST VINTAGE MAGAZINE SELECTION

THE GREAT ESCAPE

At The Great Escape, plastic-protected collectible issues of Playboy and Rolling Stone live right next to old tabloid publications — each lending important historic context to the other. But the real treasure hunt happens in the boxes under the records at the front of the store. Tattered copies of Look magazine make excellent fodder for collaging. Niche music publications also live there, from local to European. Early-years shots of musicians we still love today are preserved on the covers. We can measure how far they’ve come, and how far we’ve come with them. HANNAH HERNER

BEST LOCALLY OWNED RECORD STORE

GRIMEY’S NEW & PRELOVED MUSIC

When an indie record store gets high-profile support from one of the planet’s biggest pop stars, that’s proof it’s something special.

That’s what happened when Taylor Swift donated money to help Grimey’s out when the East Trinity Lane shop was forced to close due to the pandemic. As a longtime fan who remembers when Grimey’s New and Preloved Music was located in a house near 100 Oaks Mall, I’ve taken joy in watching the store’s growth over the years. After a couple of moves, it’s evolved into not only a site for all types of great recordings, but also a source for books and hard-to-find music magazines. Grimey’s is among the last of its kind anywhere in the nation — a full-service record store staffed by people who not only know but love music and can answer questions about what’s new or coming. There are a few protocols that Grimey’s has enacted to keep everything safe, but they don’t really dampen the experience. If music is what you crave, there’s no better place to find it locally than Grimey’s. RON WYNN

optimize FOCUS FUNCTION Be limitless

BEST LANDSCAPING COMPANY

NASHVILLE FOODSCAPES

There are plenty of landscaping companies that can design a gorgeous garden and lay a beautiful patio, but when it comes to environmental sustainability, Nashville Foodscapes stands out. Foodscapes uses permaculture principles to give residents hands-on education about water conservation, planting for pollinators and using earth-friendly methods — with delicious results. By specializing in trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals that produce edible fruits and vegetables, Foodscapes takes a holistic approach to landscaping, reminding us that our relationship with the earth is reciprocal, and when we nourish our environment, we nourish ourselves and our communities — and that’s fresh. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST WAY TO GET YOUR GARDEN IN GEAR

BATES NURSERY BOTANICAL BOOT CAMP

After banana bread and sourdough, it was our gardens that got us away from the news and the weird pace of pandemic life. Swapping seeds and growing a few tomatoes made us feel like we had

www.therootbrands.com/nashville nashvillescene.com | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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Thank you Nashville for trusting us to help you Find Your Place since 1996. GREEN HILLS

COMING SOON

TWELVE TWELVE

BRANDON PARK DOWNS

COMING SOON

3504 GENERAL BATE DRIVE

1212 LAUREL STREET #1901

7125 BRANDON PARK COURT

3 BD | 2 BA | 1872 SF | $599,900

2 BD | 2 BA | 1865 SF | PRICE UPON REQUEST

4 BD | 4.5 BA | 4019 SF | $1,675,000

Jake Griffin 615.545.9087

Kindy Hensler & Sydney McCann 615.828.4064

Sam Logan 615.243.2495

FRANKLIN

RICHLAND | WEST END

LOGAN

12 SOUTH

3115 BRAINTREE DRIVE

3519 CENTRAL AVENUE

911 SOUTH DOUGLAS AVENUE

5 BD | 3.5 BA | 3400 SF | $730,000

4 BD | 3 BA | 3000 SF | $829,000

3 BD | 2.5 BA | 2600 SF | $739,000

Anna Hatch 615.594.8612

Mary Brooke Bonadies 615.496.1960

BELLE MEADE

TEAM

TWELVE TWELVE

4202 HARDING RD | THE BROOKFIELD #102

1212 LAUREL STREET #906

1212 LAUREL STREET #1401

1 BD | 1 BA | 1114 SF | $279,900

1 BD | 1 BA | 841 SF | $560,000

2 BD | 2.5 BA | 1863 SF | $1,849,000

Maggie Bond 615.481.9203

Sydney McCann 615.509.4707

VANDERBILT | MIDTOWN

ICON IN THE GULCH

GOLF CLUB | WOODMONT

1912 ADELICIA STREET

600 12TH AVENUE SOUTH UNIT 1814

2301 GOLF CLUB LANE

1+ BD | 2.5 BA | 1465 SF | $675,000

1 BD | 1 BA | 856 SF | $459,000

7 BD | 5 BA | 7168 SF | $5,125,000

Kindy Hensler 615.828.4064

Barbara Moutenot 615.812.6526

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

12 SOUTH

UNDER CONTRACT

GULCH VIEW

WEST NASHVILLE

UNDER CONTRACT

1009 CLAYTON AVENUE

929 SOUTH STREET

661 HUNTERS TRAIL

3 BD | 2 BA | 1925 SF | $715,000

4 BD | 4 BA | 3900 SF | $1,550,000

GORGEOUS 5 ACRE BUILD SITE | $260,000

Barbara Moutenot 615.812.6526

Jan Walters 615.967.6660

Maggie Bond 615.481.9203

RETREAT AT WATER’S EDGE

UNDER CONTRACT

DEBRA HEIGHTS

HILLSBORO VILLAGE

UNDER CONTRACT

JUST SOLD

14139 U.S. HIGHWAY 41

4773 BOWFIELD DRIVE

2613 WOODLAWN DRIVE

.56 ACRE BUILD SITE | $85,000

3 BD | 2.5 BA | 1755 SF | $230,000

2 BD | 2 BA | 1801 SF | $615,000

Maggie Bond 615.481.9203

Maggie Bond & Brittany Weiner 615.481.9203

Steve Rice 615.948.6007

OAK HILL

FOREST HILLS

JUST SOLD

TWELVE TWELVE

JUST SOLD

1009 GLENDALE LANE

1745 KINGSBURY DRIVE

1212 LAUREL STREET #1113

5 BD | 4 BA | 3200 SF | $1,890,000

4 BD | 3 BA | 3963 SF | $809,000

2 BD | 2 BA | 1170 SF | $855,000

Barbara Moutenot 615.812.6526

Sylvia Giannitrapani 615.424.6981

Kindy Hensler 615.828.4064

TWELVE TWELVE

FEATURED AGENTS

Mary Brooke Bonadies

Maggie Bond

Sylvia Giannitrapani

Jake Griffin

Anna Hatch

Kindy Hensler

Sam Logan

Sydney McCann

Barbara Moutenot

Steve Rice

Jan Walters

Brittany Weiner

JUST SOLD 1212 LAUREL STREET #801 2 BD | 2.5 BA | 1865 SF | $1,790,000

Kindy Hensler 615.828.4064

VILLAGE REAL ESTATE

21ST AVENUE 615.383.6964

FRANKLIN

EAST NASHVILLE

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nashvillescene.com | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

Retail & Services Writers’ Choice

BEST FLOWER SHOP, WRITERS’ CHOICE: FLWR SHOP

Hand-crafting high-quality, design driven and unique homes throughout Nashville www.buildnashvilletn.com

control over something. But if that whole situation gets out of control with weeds and whatnot, the experts at Whites Creek Pike’s Bates Nursery are making it manageable. The garden center’s free streamed Botanical Boot Camp, offered once or twice a week, covers everything from moving delicate tropical plants indoors come winter to planning your spring garden for next year. MARGARET LITTMAN

Side shop in Belle Meade, but FLWR also expanded its online shopping options (so many vases!) and introduced the FLWR Box, which is basically an at-home floral class. Every month a box of supplies is delivered to your doorstep, and with it comes access to an instructional video that shows you how to make a little magic of your own. Genius. MEGAN SELING

BEST FLOWER SHOP

HOT POPPY

FLWR SHOP

FLWR Shop’s floral arrangements are unlike any I’ve seen before — shop owner Alex Vaughan elevates a bouquet into a stunning work of art using nature’s colors and textures to contain a multitude of moods. And this year FLWR turned it up — not only did Vaughan open a new West

BEST GROCERY DELIVERY SERVICE Thanks to Hot Poppy, Nashvillians didn’t have to stop shopping at local farms and businesses when everything came to a halt earlier this year. The grocery service — founded by Stuart Landis, Storm Sheler and Vinny Maniscalco — worked with dozens of Middle Tennessee vendors to begin delivering everything from JD Country

NASHVILLE’S 1ST ALL-INCLUSIVE CHIROPRACTIC CLINIC

www.sweeneychiropractic.com 201 Thompson Ln #103, Nashville (615) 331-7040 74

BEST GROCERY DELIVERY SERVICE, WRITERS’ CHOICE: HOT POPPY

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

Providing Nashville top quality chiropractic care. If you suffer from back pain, neck pain, headache, sciatica or have been in an auto collision, Sweeney Chiropractic can get you back on the road to health.

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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615.309.8200 castlehomes.com

YOUR JOURNEY HOME BEGINS HERE.

Custom Homes with Guaranteed Pricing

CUSTOM HOMES ■ REMODELING ■ INTERIOR DESIGN

nashvillescene.com | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

best salon! VOTED BEST SALON | 8 YEARS | 2007-2019 #mygreenpeastyle #youarebeautiful

BEST MARKET YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT YET, WRITERS’ CHOICE: MI FAVORITA SUPERMERCADO Milk and Buckley Farm meat to produce from Bloomsbury Farm and Shiloh Farms, all for about the same price as corporate competitors like AmazonFresh and Instacart. They’ve got Steadfast Coffee, Firepot Nomadic Teas and Bobby John Henry bread. They even carry local bath products and cleaning supplies from Little Seed Farm, Paddywax, Roux Maison and more. If only they sold toilet paper, we’d never have to shop anywhere else. Visit them at hotpoppygo.com. MEGAN SELING

BEST PLACE FOR YOUR NEW BIRDING HOBBY

THE WOOD THRUSH SHOP

More time at home — and more time spent staring out the window wondering what it all means — resulted in a lot of new bird appreciators this year. And the best place to go when wanting to outfit your yard, or even just a window, with bird-friendly gear is The Wood Thrush Shop in West Meade. The shop is stocked with every kind of feeder you could ever need — hummingbird, seed and suet, with both squirrel-friendly and squirrel-proof options. They’ll even customize your bird seed mix to cater to your specific visitors! Plus, the shop carries a plethora of other accessories — bird baths and houses, nesting boxes, fountains and garden decorations — that’ll turn your outdoor space into a dreamy escape not just for local critters, but you too. MEGAN SELING

BEST MARKET YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT YET

MI FAVORITA SUPERMERCADO

12S OUTH 1113 12th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37203 | (615) 297-6878 WE ST NAS HV I LLE 4105 Charlotte Ave, Nashville, TN 37209 | (615) 292-8648

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

Retail & Services Writers’ Choice

Mi Favorita Supermercado on Charlotte Pike is about half the size of a Walgreens, so it’s ideal for exploring, which I did daily for a stretch during quarantine. (They had toilet paper!) It’s equal parts stuff that’s on your list (fresh produce, ground pork); stuff not on your list that you’ll still want (pizza-sized chicharrón); and stuff you never knew you needed (life-changing raw tortillas). Add hundreds of dried chiles, a fruit section that destroys the one at Publix (soursop, prickly pear), and more Squirt varieties than you knew existed, and you have your new go-to. Forget Guy Fieri — this is Flavortown. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BEST GIFT SHOP

TENNESSEE STATE MUSEUM

For me, heaven would be a city full of museum gift shops. But here on earth, I’ve found some good ones too. After touring the Tennessee State Museum’s expansive galleries, I recommend you poke around its excellent gift shop. The museum’s store stocks its shelves with apparel, decor, books and toys that relate to our state’s history and culture. It’s a great place to pick up gifts — books featuring diverse subjects and road bingo games are great for the little ones, and a Thistle Farms candle or a print by local artist Joanna Dee would delight most any mom. The museum team went all out for this year’s exhibition Ratified! Tennessee Women and the Right to Vote, with a collection of custom-made T-shirts, enamel pins, posters and more that celebrate the 19th Amendment. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST ONLINE FLEA MARKET

PORTER FLEA’S PORTER IN PLACE

When a summer’s worth of flea markets and craft fairs was canceled, organizers of the annual Porter Flea Summer Market didn’t want to leave their creators and crafters in the lurch. Artists from around the country counted on those popular events to pay the bills, after all. So Porter Flea quickly pivoted and put together the next-best thing: Porter in Place, a virtual, weekend-long market during which Porter Flea vendors offered exclusive merchandise and sale prices to eager, stuck-at-home shoppers. The result was a fun frenzy of online shopping without having to deal with parking or crowds — this introvert’s dream come true. MEGAN SELING

BEST VINTAGE CLOTHING FOR PLUS-SIZE PEOPLE

VINTAGE FOR ALL

Over the past few years, cool clothes for fat folks have gotten a little easier to come by. But something that’s still seriously lacking is quality second-hand duds for people bigger than a size 10. Vintage For All is a shop in Rare Bird Antiques in Goodlettsville that specializes in size-largeand-up clothing, and it’s helping out with that problem. The shop’s Instagram account

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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THANKS FOR YOUR VOTES, SCENE READERS!

V IN N IE LOUIS E

A 21st Century Full Tilt Boogie Record Store New & Preloved Vinyl, CDs, Cassettes, Books, Holy Grails & more

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Retail & Services Writers’ Choice

BEST OF NASHVILLE 2019

NASHVILLE, WE THANK YOU for your votes and trusting us with your Microblading and Pe r m a n e n t C o s m e t i c n e e d s Licensed Tattoo Artist | Permanent Cosmetics Paramedical Tattooing | Microbladed Eyebrows 8327 Sawyer Brown Rd, Nashville, TN 37221 (615) 400-2780

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BEST LOCALLY MADE MASKS, WRITERS’ CHOICE: RANGERSTITCH

features the best of its picks: vintage ’70s jumpsuits, tie-dye T-shirts, ’90s tees-turnedcrop-tops. It’s nice to have a shopping option to add to my feed that shows clothes I could actually wear. AMANDA HAGGARD

BEST PLACE TO SHOP DURING LOCKDOWN

WELCOME HOME

Despite all the challenges of this pandemic, one silver lining is that our favorite restaurants and retailers have made it easier than ever to support them from home. Welcome Home — a one-stop shop for all your gifting needs — quickly transitioned to an online store earlier this year, even offering free delivery to East Nashville zip codes. And although the store is back open for in-store browsing, you can still do your shopping online, with options for curbside pickup or delivery. Even if you can’t see your friends, you can still celebrate their milestones with a thoughtful gift. Or better yet, buy yourself something nice — you deserve it! NANCY FLOYD

BEST LOCALLY MADE MASKS

RANGERSTITCH

Thank you Nashville

for your support

COME HUG A COW AT THE GENTLE BARN JOIN US SUNDAY 11AM TO 1PM LEARN MORE AT GENTLEBARN.ORG/TENNESSEE 9295 CHRISTIANA FOSTERVILLE ROAD, CHRISTIANA, TN 37037 | (615) 203-5777 78

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

VOTED

Using vintage sewing machines, East Nashville’s Rangerstitch team draws delightful words and pictures using thread. Pre-pandemic, their custom-embroidered denim jackets and patches were turning heads. But when face masks also became fashion accessories, it was Rangerstitch’s chain-stitching that let us express ourselves, one custom mask at a time. The handdesigned masks start at $25, though masks with rhinestones and fringe cost a little more, and Rangerstitch charges less for customers suffering from corona-induced underemployment. MARGARET LITTMAN

BEST ONLINE SHOP

ROOTED

One takeaway from 2020 that will hopefully endure is that buying from local and small businesses can be an act

of love. Thankfully, Nashville has local shops that carry everything you’d want to get anyway. The Hermitage Avenue boutique Rooted has become one of my recent favorites. The store’s website (stay-rooted.com) has frequent drops of limited-release sneakers — like the Adidas ZX 8000 purple tint low-tops that made me drool — and fragrances from Comme des Garcons. There’s also plenty of apparel from niche designers that run the gamut from hypebeast (Brain Dead, Heron Preston) to elegante (Maison Margelia, Junya Watanabe). LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

BEST POP-CULTURE TREASURE TROVE

XPAYNE’S SOCIETY6 PAGE

Certain bits of pop culture get lodged inside your brain and stay there. Nashville-based artist XPayne has an almost preternatural ability to discern exactly those moments that are beloved but slightly obscure — it’s a balance that makes you feel like you’re in the same club as anybody else who gets the reference: The stature of Aunt Viv as she shows up the snotty dancers in an episode of Fresh Prince, Chris Tucker’s cadence when Smokey tells Red he got knocked the fuck out in Friday, Rosie Perez’s ferocious dance moves at the opening of Do the Right Thing. XPayne has taken these moments and turned them into graphically simple but vibrant works, and they’re all available to purchase — at extremely reasonable prices — on his Society6 page. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

BEST TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

TOTALLY RAD TOYHOUSE & COLLECTIBLES

Your childhood awaits you at Totally Rad Toyhouse & Collectibles, a little shop on Nolensville Pike that sells Jem and the Holograms toys, M.U.S.C.L.E. figures, Teddy Ruxpins and much more. The shop attracts serious collectors in search of that one item to complete their collection, as well as folks just looking to scratch a nostalgic

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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We are honored to be awarded Best Apartment Community from 2015-2019. Without the support of the Gulch neighborhood and our loyal residents, we would not be here! Thank you for letting us be a part of Nashville Scene’s Best of Nashville year after year!

Congratulations to all the Best of Nashville 2020 Winners!

1055 Pine Street I Nashville I Tennessee 37203 I (615) 209-9348 I PineStreetFlats.com

nashvillescene.com | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

Retail & Services Writers’ Choice itch. Plus, some toys that seemed normal back in the day now register as super weird — like those Pound Puppies with a tummy pocket for holding more Pound Puppies! Totally Rad Toyhouse is a most excellent adventure in nostalgia. ERICA CICCARONE

Zumba, but with strengthening exercises like push-ups and squats — and twerking! — and are peppered with calls to respect yourself, love each other and hold your head up. I’m not sure I can think of a more suitable message this year. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST PLACE TO BUY YOURSELF A GIFT

BEST FITNESS PROFESSIONAL WHO DOESN’T GIVE AF WHAT YOU WEIGH

We’ve all got household things that we’ve been hanging onto for decades because they’re “good enough.” A pair of stained oven mitts, the silicone melted into smudges. A tea towel that’s been shredded by a cat. We also all have the everyday things that spark absolutely no joy, like plain yellow legal pads. Embrace the Parks & Rec ethos of “treat yo’ self” at Harlan Ruby, the best place to buy yourself a gift. It has everything you don’t need — boob earrings, notepads featuring illustrations of Dolly Parton, a jump-rope kit in a can — but that is sure to brighten your day again and again. Stop by the East Nashville shop and buy yourself a card that says “YOU’RE THE TITS.” Tape it to your bathroom mirror, because you are, in fact, the tits. ERICA CICCARONE

Kate Moore’s in-class motivations and outof-class emails have always been heartfelt and outspoken. But in 2020, Moore got loud too. Loud about the diet industry, which she feels undermines people’s efforts to improve their physical and mental health. Loud about her gym-owning peers, whom she feels focus on fitness as physique through a fatphobic lens. Moore describes Music Row’s getFIT615 as “actively anti-diet-culture, anti-fatphobic, anti-homophobic, anti-transphobic and anti-racist.” She believes that bodies and communities are intertwined, and it is time to speak up about supporting both. Beats counting calories. MARGARET LITTMAN

BEST ONLINE EXERCISE CLASS

TISHA WILSON

Tisha Wilson has a loyal — some might say fanatical — local following thanks to her energizing, hyper-positive workouts, which sometimes draw 60 people when conducted in person. When the pandemic hit, Wilson kept the energy flowing online via Zoom. The workouts she leads are like

BEST NEW SPA EXPERIENCE, WRITERS’ CHOICE: HOLIDAY SALON & BATHHOUSE

KATE MOORE OF GETFIT615

BEST NEW SPA EXPERIENCE

HOLIDAY SALON & BATHHOUSE

Stylist and entrepreneur Melody Greer’s construction of a “comfortable, affordable urban bath” in East Nashville was well underway by the time the pandemic struck this year. Rather than indefinitely postponing plans for the Finnish-inspired Holiday Salon & Bathhouse, Greer & Co. decided to open the Douglas Avenue location with strict CDC-recommended

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

HARLAN RUBY

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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Dry Cleaning | Alterations

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Come by and say Hey! Nashville's ONLY vinyl record store with full bar, deli and appetizer menu, 24 seasonal craft beers on tap THANK YOU NASHVILLE for your votes. And thank you for all the support through the COVID-19 closure this summer! You kept us going through some dark days. Per current guidelines, we’re open on a shorter schedule, come by and say hey! www.vinyltapnashville.com | Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram for current DJ and music events

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Retail & Services Writers’ Choice

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BEST NATURAL WAY TO CHILL, WRITERS’ CHOICE: YUYO BOTANICS’ 100MG TURMERIC SALVE

distancing and sterilization guidelines in place, and the result is remarkable — a Zen-like retreat complete with Himalayan sea salt sauna, antimicrobial steam room, soaking pool, locker rooms and more. Book an appointment with one of Holiday’s hair, skin or massage experts, or rent out the bathhouse area with an intimate group for $200 for two hours. Pro tip: It makes for a great couple’s getaway. D. PATRICK RODGERS

AN UNABASHED, The Gulch 700 12th Ave South, Suite 104 Nashville, TN 37203 615.244.8243

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Blowouts | Cut | Color

BEST NEW MEDICAL RESOURCE

MUSIC CITY PREP CLINIC

Part of being in a state with such an oppressively right-wing legislature is that Nashville has often had to innovate and forge its own path when it comes to public health matters. The ongoing battle against the global HIV epidemic has seen the legendary Nashville CARES and several other groups leading the way when it comes to HIV awareness and maintenance for all of Nashville’s communities. To that list we must add the brand-new Music City PrEP Clinic, which works to limit and, in some cases, head off the transmission of HIV/AIDS through the use of the pre-exposure prophylaxis medications (you may have seen them advertised on TV) Truvada and Descovy. The clinic’s team of medical professionals and community liaisons is doing the work and fighting the good fight. JASON SHAWHAN

BEST USE OF BOOZE IN A CRISIS

MAKING HAND SANITIZER

When the pandemic shut down access to local tasting rooms, distilleries didn’t have the option to sell their products at grocery stores, and much of their revenue came from sales at bars, which were closed. Several of them pivoted to a genuine lifesaver in the form of making hand sanitizer from ethanol. In addition to offering sanitizer to first responders and local aid organizations, local distilleries were able to stay open and operating. Ole Smoky packaged its

products in adorable little Mason jars. Corsair cheekily named its sanitizer “Gintervention,” and Pennington Distilling Co. actually hired new employees to fulfill huge contracts for Amazon and local government entities. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

BEST NATURAL WAY TO CHILL

YUYO BOTANICS’ 100MG TURMERIC SALVE

Local women-owned company Yuyo Botanics recommends this CBD balm — made with turmeric, cayenne, menthol and aloe — to soothe sore muscles and joints. It is great for that, but I find myself reaching for it most to relax tense jaw muscles and ease headaches. The magic ingredient: terpene beta-caryophyllene, which is a dietary cannabinoid. What does all that mean? Beats me. Ask a botanist. All I know is it smells delicious (think allspice, pepper and hops); it calms my fragile nerves; and it’s a hell of a lot easier to get your hands on than Xanax. Tiger Balm, you are on notice. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BEST PLACE TO FALL AND GET BACK UP AGAIN

ASPHALT BEACH

My fear of falling was eased when I saw the owner of skate shop Asphalt Beach take a tumble as he was delivering skates to a customer. I learned techniques for stopping right there on the sales floor, as well as recommendations for the best places for beginners to skate outdoors. When I came back to switch to indoor wheels, the Asphalt Beach employees encouraged me to watch them do it so I could change them back when I worked up the guts to skate outside again. The tornado destroyed Asphalt Beach’s East Nashville location, but they got back up again at a new spot in Southeast Nashville. They’ll show you how to do the same. HANNAH HERNER

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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INTRODUCING

Nashville’s Newest Event Space

Photo Credit: Eden Ingle Photo

From the Owners & Creators of

www.thecordelle.com | www.thesaintelle.com

nashvillescene.com | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

Photo Credit: Jeromy Reaux

WWW.GAZEBOAPTS.COM

A P A R T M E N T S

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615.823.4864

141 NEESE DR, NASHVILLE, TN 37211

ILLUSTRATION: ALICIA W. BINKLEY MEdiaand politics.indd 85

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PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

Media & Politics Readers’ Poll

BEST REPORTER AND BEST TV NEWS PERSONALITY, READERS’ POLL: NIKKI BURDINE

BEST BLOG AND BEST INSTAGRAM, READERS’ POLL: LIVING WITH LANDYN

BEST BLOG (LOCAL)

BEST FACEBOOK PAGE

BEST PODCAST

BEST SPORTS RADIO SHOW OR PODCAST

BEST COLUMNIST (LOCAL)

BEST FOOD INSTAGRAM

BEST POLITICIAN (LOCAL)

BEST SPORTS WRITER

BEST INSTAGRAM (LOCAL)

BEST RADIO PERSONALITY OR DJ

BEST TV NEWS PERSONALITY (LOCAL)

BEST LIBERAL (LOCAL)

BEST RADIO STATION

BEST TV NEWS STATION (LOCAL)

BEST REPORTER (LOCAL)

BEST TWITTER ACCOUNT (LOCAL)

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 3.

Living With Landyn In the Garden With Bates Nursery SoBros Network

J.R. Lind Stoney Keeley Brad Schmitt (tie) Ms. Cheap (tie)

BEST CONSERVATIVE (LOCAL) 1. 2. 3.

No one Phil Valentine Bill Lee

BEST CURRENT METRO COUNCIL MEMBER 1. 2. 3.

Freddie O’Connell Zulfat Suara Bob Mendes

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

East Nashville Nashville Musical History Tour Nashville Humane Association NashvilleFoodFan we_eat_nash Baker and the Beerd Living With Landyn musicshitty thenashgals

Keeda Haynes Jim Cooper John Ray Clemmons

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

The Champagne Way My Views Are My Own 615 Sessions With Buck Reising

Jim Cooper John Cooper Keeda Haynes

Bobby Bones Zac Woodward Buck Reising Lightning 100 WXNA WPLN Nikki Burdine Buck Reising Phil Williams

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

615 Sessions With Buck Reising Fastbreak Breakfast Preds Official Podcast

Buck Reising Brooks Bratten Jim Wyatt Nikki Burdine Vicki Yates Lelan Statom

WTVF - NewsChannel5 WKRN - Channel 2 WSMV - Channel 4 NashSevereWx Buck Reising Fastbreak Breakfast

BEST SCANDAL OF THE YEAR

BEST FOOD INSTAGRAM, READERS’ POLL: @NASHVILLEFOODFAN

The Fashion House party COVID-19 34 percent property tax hike

BEST TWITTER ACCOUNT, READERS’ POLL: NASHSEVEREWX

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

1. 2. 3.

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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Media & Politics Writers’ Choice BEST EMERGING COUNCILMEMBERS

BEST COVID-19 COVERAGE

It can sometimes take a few years for a new member of the Metro Council to settle in. But that wasn’t the case for Kyonztè Toombs and Sandra Sepulveda, who hit the ground running, in part out of necessity. Sepulveda, the youngest member of the council, took over for outgoing Councilmember Fabian Bedne as a sort of informal liaison to Nashville’s immigrant and Spanishspeaking communities. That role took on enhanced urgency this year, as essential immigrant workers contracted COVID-19 at a disproportionate rate and the city sought the best ways to battle the outbreak in underserved communities. Toombs spent her first year on the council as the vice chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, helping city leaders navigate one of the hardest budget situations in recent memory, and she chairs the committee in her second year. But she also represents one of the districts hardest hit by the March tornado, and quickly went to work in its wake coordinating relief efforts in her North Nashville neighborhood. STEPHEN ELLIOTT

The year 2020 was always going to be a lot, if only because of the presidential election. But when the coronavirus pandemic came, it was the story that consumed all stories. The COVID-19 beat has creeped into all others now. But it crash-landed right on the desks of local health care reporters, who have been tasked with covering a historic story that is at once breaking news and a long-term crisis requiring data mining, in-depth reporting and stamina. The Scene’s own Kara Hartnett, The Tennessean’s Brett Kelman and WPLN’s Blake Farmer have proven up to the task. And we’re all better for it. STEVEN HALE

SANDRA SEPULVEDA AND KYONZTÈ TOOMBS

BEST UPSET

MARQUITA BRADSHAW

Marquita Bradshaw faced a lot of institutional disadvantages as she sought the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander. Perhaps most importantly, she barely had any money. And one of her opponents in the primary race, Nashville attorney James Mackler,

KARA HARTNETT, BRETT KELMAN AND BLAKE FARMER

BEST NEW VOICE IN MEDIA

WPLN’S DAMON MITCHELL

A member of Nashville Public Radio’s Emerging Voices Fellowship, Damon Mitchell hit the ground running in late December, and he’s covered a variety of stories and brought important community voices on the air. He’s covered education from a community perspective, connecting the city’s budget woes to what happens in classrooms, and documented the tumultuous shift from classroom to remote learning. Significantly, Mitchell has reported crucial stories from Nashville’s Black community, like how artists use their work as a form of protest. In April, he spotlighted a grassroots program to train Black women to become doulas and thus ameliorate racial disparities in pregnancy care. Mitchell was on the ground the morning after the tornado hit in March, interviewing business owners in North Nashville. He is also responsible for my favorite moment in Nashville media this year — he interviewed the typically pressshy civil rights icon Diane Nash. Damon, we’re glad to have you. ERICA CICCARONE

NashSevereWx has long been an area (and Scene) favorite due to their quality coverage of the weather goings-on in Davidson and Williamson counties. But we heard from a number of people who said the Tweeterologists’ warnings about the tornado may have indeed saved their lives. The three guys behind the account — Dave Drobny, Will Minkoff and Andrew Leeper — typically hate it when you tell them stuff like this. They’re pretty humble and are just trying to share their love of weather and help people out, not seek attention. That only makes us love them more. STEVE CAVENDISH

BEST PODCAST

VERSIFY

Nashville artists and writers are great at collaboration, and nowhere is this more evident than in the podcast Versify, in which people sit down with writers to talk about their lives, with the writers subsequently transforming the people’s stories into poetry. A collaboration between Nashville Public Radio and The Porch Writers’ Collective hosted by Joshua Moore, the podcast showcases some of the best poets Nashville has to offer, among them Ciona Rouse, Destiny Birdsong, Susannah Felts and Lagnajita Mukhopadhyay. The fourth season of Versify features some of the Nashville Freedom Riders — Rip Patton

and Etta Marie Simpson Ray among them — and renders their spellbinding history as verse. Versify shows the versatility of poetry, and the art form’s ability to imbue both ordinary and extraordinary stories with meaning. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST HARD-NEWS PODCAST

WPLN’S DEADLY FORCE

In just a few short episodes of the podcast Deadly Force, WPLN lays out the conflict following the killing of Daniel Hambrick, a Black Nashvillian, by Metro Nashville police Officer Andrew Delke. The local NPR affiliate started gathering tape for the podcast when the shooting death happened in 2018, and its makers plan to continue as the case progresses through Delke’s trial. Many folks at the station had a hand in the podcast — and as with everything WPLN does, the podcast is meticulously fact-checked and stylistically impressive. Give it a listen. AMANDA HAGGARD

BEST STUDENT JOURNALISM

BELMONT VISION

Writing for a college newspaper can be a tricky business. If you stray beyond happy coverage of student groups and sports teams, administrators who hold the paper’s purse strings can get jittery — especially at Belmont University, where the paper

BEST PODCAST, WRITERS’ CHOICE: VERSIFY

BEST NEW MEDIA ORG

BEST UPSET, WRITERS’ CHOICE: MARQUITA BRADSHAW

had the political and financial backing of many establishment Democrats, including those in Washington. But outspent many times over, Bradshaw nevertheless turned a boatload of votes in her hometown of Memphis into an upset primary victory that made her the first Tennessee woman of color on a statewide ticket for a major party. It will take an even bigger upset than her August victory to take down the Republican nominee in the November election, former Ambassador Bill Hagerty. STEPHEN ELLIOTT

More media is almost always better than less, which is why it was great to see Tennessee Lookout launch this spring. The online news organization is partially paid for by the States Newsroom, a national nonprofit supported by a combination of grants, donors and readers. Holly McCall leads the small crew, which includes local heavy hitters Anita Wadhwani, a former Tennessean investigative reporter, as well as Nate Rau, former reporter for The City Paper and The Tennessean. The team is rounded out by up-andcomer Ducle Torres, who was previously published by the Nashville Scene and El Crucero de Tennessee. In just a few short months, they’ve gotten some solid stories — including one about the state health department giving names of COVID-19 patients to law enforcement, among many others. AMANDA HAGGARD

BEST USE OF TWITTER

@NASHSEVEREWX

Walking through the wrecked neighborhoods of Nashville in the wake of the Super Tuesday tornado, something interesting came up again and again — thanks for a Twitter account. @

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

PHOTO: MATT MASTERS

TENNESSEE LOOKOUT

nashvillescene.com | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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Media & Politics Writers’ Choice

PANDEMIC. PROTESTS. MURDER HORNETS. THIS IS NOT THE YEAR TO LEAVE THINGS TO CHANCE.

of white Southern pride and an exorcism of its demons. Williams forced Americans to reckon with one of the most devastating — but infrequently discussed — horrors of slavery: plantation rape. In doing so, she positioned herself at the heart of the Confederate monument debate. “I defy any sentimental Southerner to defend our ancestors to me,” she writes. “I am quite literally made of the reasons to strip them of their laurels.” I can’t wait to see what she does next. ERICA CICCARONE

the Dallas Stars, Carolina Hurricanes?) and post plenty of pics of dogs in hockey jerseys. When passing time during a hockeyless summer, Lueck wasn’t afraid to get a little weird when she compared every NHL team to a Bachelor or Bachelorette contestant. Declaring the Pittsburgh Penguins the Victoria Fuller of the league was savage AF. And absolutely the right call. MEGAN SELING

TENNESSEE HOLLER

BEST FACEBOOK GROUP

BEST BREAKOUT ESSAY

Mealtime became a real challenge when restaurants temporarily closed and grocery stores ended up with shortages. But thanks to the Cooking Through COVID-19 Facebook group, professional chefs and home cooks alike have a place to turn when faced with making meals at home. Sometimes, a few of Nashville’s most respected chefs share what they’re making in their home kitchen — which is typically more relatable than you’d think — but the real value is in the community of people who genuinely want to help one another through the weird days, whether by helping a neighbor figure out what to do with an unfamiliar ingredient or reminding one another it’s OK to have a slice or two of pie for dinner and call it a day. MEGAN SELING

About a week into the coronavirus pandemic, we at the Scene started receiving emails from sources inside Financial Peace Plaza — that is, the headquarters of Dave Ramsey’s Christian financial planning and media operation Ramsey Solutions. Despite a staffer testing positive, Ramsey declared that the offices would remain open, with employees coming into work. We reported it, and from what we heard, it sounded like Ramsey was none too pleased. So you can imagine how upset he was in July, when sources on his staff leaked to us again, this time to raise concerns about the in-person conference Ramsey was planning to host in Franklin, eschewing public health guidance and ignoring rising COVID-19 case counts. What made this whole experience particularly special, though, was when someone on the inside passed along Ramsey’s staff-wide email about our forthcoming story, in which he encouraged staff to “not give them clicks” and described our reporting as an “attack” on Christians. To that we say, God bless our sources. STEVEN HALE

has a history of breaking high-profile news. But the students at the Belmont Vision were undeterred as they reported the stories of several women who accused the school’s law college of discriminatory attendance policies for pregnant women. The story broke out beyond the student paper to the Scene and The Tennessean, and the school eventually apologized to the students and said they would work on updating their policies. STEPHEN ELLIOTT

BEST ONLINE RABBLE-ROUSERS Since 2019, digital media group Tennessee Holler has lived by its motto — “ALWAYS YELL THE TRUTH” — by holding local politicians accountable for their actions. They’ve called out Gov. Bill Lee’s hypocrisy and fact-checked Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s lies while also making room to elevate the voices of the Black Lives Matter movement. Basically, if anyone in a position of power — elected officials, cops, an asshole millionaire — is caught misleading or mistreating the people, the Tennessee Holler makes sure folks know about it while also encouraging and empowering their tens of thousands of followers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to get involved. After all, actions speak louder than words. MEGAN SELING

‘YOU WANT A CONFEDERATE MONUMENT? MY BODY IS A CONFEDERATE MONUMENT’ BY CAROLINE RANDALL WILLIAMS

It’s no secret that Caroline Randall Williams is one of Nashville’s most talented poets. But in June, the world found out just how powerful her voice is when she published an essay in The New York Times. “You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument” is an indictment

BEST LEAK

DAVE RAMSEY’S COVID-19 RESPONSE

COOKING THROUGH COVID-19

BEST SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

NASHVILLE PREDATORS

One of the best moves the Nashville Predators made this year happened off the ice when the franchise hired Gretchen Lueck to run the team’s social media accounts. Lueck has brought a fun and smart energy to the team’s online presence, using the Preds’ handle (@PredsNHL on Instagram and Twitter) to interact with fans, tease other teams (why are you so nice to

BEST BRIEF MEDIA TREND

COVID-19 AND LOCAL TV NEWS

For at least a few months, local TV news in Nashville transformed itself from the low-hanging fruit of crime stories into something useful. As the pandemic shut down local businesses and people were shut in, stations devoted entire broadcasts to how the coronavirus was affecting our lives, and it was … refreshing. NewsChannel 5, the market leader in both ratings and quality, did particularly stellar work explaining the virus and the state and local responses to it. Sure, it didn’t last, and by the summer we were back to the usual blend of car chases and cold cases, but we got a glimpse of what local broadcast news could be. STEVE CAVENDISH

EARLY VOTING STARTS ON OCT 14

BOBBY JOSLIN’S STOLEN AIRPLANE

BEST BREAKOUT ESSAY, WRITERS’ CHOICE: ‘YOU WANT A CONFEDERATE MONUMENT? MY BODY IS A CONFEDERATE MONUMENT’ BY CAROLINE RANDALL WILLIAMS

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

FIND VOTING INFO AT NASHVILLE.GOV/ ELECTIONCOMMISSION

BEST NEWS STORY THAT WASN’T Who doesn’t love a good media mix-up where no one really gets hurt and everyone gets a laugh? That’s what we got in early December, when Nashville businessman Bobby Joslin’s Cessna 172 was apparently stolen from John C. Tune airport. Except that’s not what happened. The story seized the attention of local media and was even being investigated by the actual Federal Bureau of Investigation. But then it turned out that the airplane had actually just been parked in the wrong hangar and was not, in fact, taken in a Bondesque operation. Classic. STEVEN HALE

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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Kids & Pets Readers’ Poll BEST BABYSITTING SERVICE

BEST PLACE TO HAVE A BIRTHDAY PARTY

BEST SWIM LESSONS

BEST OUTDOOR FUN

BEST PLACE TO TAKE KIDS WHEN IT’S RAINING

BEST TEACHER (PUBLIC OR PRIVATE)

BEST PEDIATRICIAN

BEST PLAYGROUND

BEST PET BOARDING/DAY CARE

BEST PRESCHOOL

BEST PET GROOMING

BEST PRIVATE SCHOOL

BEST FAMILY-FRIENDLY RESTAURANT

BEST PET STORE

BEST SUMMER CAMP

BEST HIGH SCHOOL (PUBLIC OR PRIVATE)

BEST PLACE TO ADOPT A PET

1. 2. 3.

ChildCare Solution Sitting Made Simple Wyndy

BEST DAY CARE 1. 2. 3.

Creative Care Center Holly Street Daycare Belle Meade Children’s Center

BEST DOG-FRIENDLY RESTAURANT 1. 2. 3.

Von Elrod’s Beer Hall & Kitchen Waldo’s Chicken & Beer Double Dogs

BEST DOG PARK 1. 2. 3.

Two Rivers Dog Park Centennial Dog Park Shelby Dog Park

BEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (PUBLIC OR PRIVATE) 1. 2. 3.

Ruby Major Elementary School Christ the King School Ezell-Harding Christian School

1. 2. 3.

The Loveless Cafe BoomBozz Craft Pizza & Taphouse Cracker Barrel Old Country Store

1. 2. 3.

Father Ryan High School Ezell-Harding Christian School Hume-Fogg Academic High School

BEST KIDS CLOTHING 1. 2. 3.

Magpies Plaid Rabbit The Getalong

BEST MIDDLE SCHOOL (PUBLIC OR PRIVATE) 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

Christ the King School Ezell-Harding Christian School J.T. Moore Middle School Cheekwood The Gentle Barn Nashville Zoo at Grassmere Green Hills Pediatric Associates Old Harding Pediatric Associates Dr. Robert Mallard Miss Kitty’s Dog Resort The Dog Spot Music City Pet Sitting

Miss Kitty’s Dog Resort The Dog Spot The Pampered Pooch Pet Resort & Spa Nashville Pet Products The Dog Spot Wags & Whiskers Nashville Humane Association Critter Cavalry Metro Animal Care and Control

BEST PLACE TO HAVE A BABY 1. 2. 3.

Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital Midtown TriStar Centennial Women’s Hospital Vanderbilt University Medical Center

1. 2. 3.

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

Nashville Zoo at Grassmere Ford Ice Center Adventure Science Center

Adventure Science Center Ford Ice Center Nashville Public Library Charlie Daniels Park Fannie Mae Dees Park Red Caboose Park

Christ the King School St. John Vianney Catholic School Creative Care Center Christ the King School University School of Nashville Ezell-Harding Christian School Camp Widjiwagan Adventure Science Center Whippoorwill Farm Day Camp

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

Worden Aquatics Ensworth Aquatics Green Hills Family YMCA Mandy Mann, Ruby Major Elementary Stephanie Wyatt, Christ the King School Sarah Osborne, Christ the King School

BEST TOY STORE (LOCAL) 1. 2. 3.

Phillips Toy Mart Brilliant Sky Toys & Books Nashville Toys & Books

BEST VETERINARIAN 1. 2. 3.

Animal Ark Animal Hospital Hillsboro Animal Hospital Belmont Animal Hospital

BEST YOUTH SPORTS COACH 1. 2. 3.

Mr. Forrest, St. John Vianney John Galloway Andy Franklin

BEST YOUTH SPORTS ORGANIZATION 1. 2. 3.

West Nashville Sports League Ford Ice Center Youth Hockey League YMCA

BEST PLACE TO HAVE A BIRTHDAY PARTY, READERS’ POLL: NASHVILLE ZOO AT GRASSMERE

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

BEST PLACE TO ADOPT A PET, READERS’ POLL: NASHVILLE HUMANE ASSOCIATION

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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Kids & Pets Writers’ Choice BEST COVID REVAMP

NASHVILLE ZOO

Just about everything about the pandemic sucks, but the Nashville Zoo made a change in light of the public health crisis that makes me love that place even more: All of the pathways at the zoo are now oneway. The change seems to have helped with foot traffic quite a bit — and while I’m sure some of that is due to the fact that there are smaller crowds, I find myself bumping into fewer folks when I take my toddler there. Along the new path, zoo personnel have also added some beautiful landscaping features and flowers. Another bonus? They’ve added a coffee kiosk at the front of the park. AMANDA HAGGARD

BEST WAY TO FEEL LIKE A COUNTRY KID IN THE SUBURBS

ELLINGTON AGRICULTURAL CENTER

BEST GREENWAY FOR SMALL KIDS

MILL CREEK GREENWAY (BLUE HOLE ROAD SEGMENT)

It’s always nice when you pull into a parking lot at a public space in Nashville and find several available spots to park your minivan. The Mill Creek Greenway in South Nashville is never too crowded. The path is paved and doesn’t have huge hills — making it perfect for bringing your little one’s bike or trike out for a cruise. The whole trail takes around two hours to complete, and there’s a small playground with a rad swirly slide you can use as a bargaining chip for good behavior. AMANDA HAGGARD

BEST PLACE FOR A TODDLER HIKE

RADNOR LAKE STATE PARK

I’m always looking for a few things when hiking with my toddler: It needs to be flat, it needs to be shady, and it needs to have a lot of benches. Radnor Lake State Park delivers. The beautiful lake is flanked by mature trees, and you’re guaranteed wildlife sightings. (Deer! Turkeys! Eagles! Ducks! So many turtles!) It’s an ideal hike for a meandering toddler who wants to run, skip or climb their way around the lake. The trails are fairly wide and very well marked, and the loops around the lake PHOTO: ELIZABETH JONES

Deep in South Nashville, the Ellington Agricultural Center offers more than you might expect. After picnicking in the center’s Iris Garden, visitors can gaze at (and sometimes pet!) the Metro Nashville Police Department’s equestrian force. Then hike a trail that goes by Cul2vate’s farm, ending at Seven Mile Creek, which is the perfect depth to splash around in and catch minnows. The grounds also include the Tennessee Agricultural Museum. The museum is closed on weekends, but not

to worry — there’s always plenty of old tractors and farm equipment on display outside to check out. ELIZABETH JONES

BEST PLACE FOR A TODDLER HIKE, WRITERS’ CHOICE: RADNOR LAKE STATE PARK are about three miles long. Add in a stop (or three) for breaks, and it’s a wonderful way to spend half a day feeling like you’re worlds away from home. ELIZABETH JONES

BEST FREE FAMILY FUN

TENNESSEE STATE MUSEUM

From its Carols, Crafts, and Cookies event near the holidays — where kids can come decorate cookies, listen to a choir and create various ornaments — to its everyday programming, the Tennessee State Museum is the perfect place for families. The various events the museum holds throughout the year are free, as is regular entry to the museum, which makes it an easy choice for all kinds of folks. It’s a peaceful place to spend an afternoon looking at historical items or finding state landmarks on a map on the floor in the children’s area. Several of the artifacts are placed at kids’ level, making it much easier for them to engage. Plus, it’s right next to the Nashville Farmers’ Market, where you can grab lunch or some ice cream on your way out. AMANDA HAGGARD

BEST (SPIKY) ZOO BABIES PHOTO: ELIZABETH JONES

TWO PORCUPETTES BEST WAY TO FEEL LIKE A COUNTRY KID IN THE SUBURBS, WRITERS’ CHOICE: ELLINGTON AGRICULTURAL CENTER

What’s cuter than the fact that baby porcupines are called porcupettes? Knowing that Nashville Zoo currently has two of them. Back in February, cape porcupines Mkali and Jake became proud parents to the zoo’s latest quilled cuties, and the ba-

bies immediately took to their new home. Nashville Zoo’s porcupine efforts are part of larger initiative, the Cape Porcupine Species Survival Plan, which works to protect animal populations through research, conservation and education. So while these fuzzy little mohawked friends stay occupied gnawing on greens, the zoo keeps busy ensuring their species’ longevity. Swing by the exhibit, support your local zoo, meet some porcupettes, and revel in the adorable win-win-win. MATT FOX

BEST (FEATHERED) ZOO BABY

NEO THE CASSOWARY

As cute as the Nashville Zoo’s porcupettes are, we couldn’t let mammals hog all the glory. Also adorable but a bit more exotic is the zoo’s 4-month-old baby Neo, a female cassowary chick who weighed a little less than a pound at birth (but could ultimately grow to be 5 feet tall and 130 pounds). Cassowaries are flightless birds native to Australia and New Guinea, and Neo — who you can see flopping, hopping and flitting around on the Nashville Zoo’s website and social media — is something of a little miracle. Male cassowaries sit on the eggs, and Neo’s dad braved multiple storms to make sure his egg survived the rough weather. Thanks to Dad’s protection followed by 50-plus days in an incubator, Neo was born on June 5, and now she looks like a feathered baby dinosaur. We love her. D. PATRICK RODGERS

nashvillescene.com | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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Kids & Pets Writers’ Choice BEST KIDS’ COLORING BOOK

NASHVILLE STRONG BY ELISHEBA ISRAEL MROZIK

Elisheba Israel Mrozik is well-known as a visual artist and proprietor of One Drop Ink Tattoo Parlor and Gallery. In May, Mrozik created a coloring and activity book called Nashville Strong that shows people of the city banding together despite this year’s setbacks. Among the many illustrations: a man standing on a ladder beside a house, hammer in hand; smiling health care workers; and the activist group (and this year’s Best Community Organization BON winners) Gideon’s Army. The book makes use of several of our official state symbols — irises, a mockingbird and a cat-

mother. Fun, interactive songs were met with squeals, and audible gasps were heard from a packed audience whenever the Big Bad Wolf showed up. It was an entertaining hour, and a great introduction to opera for little ones. ELIZABETH JONES

BEST VIRTUAL STORY TIME

GOOD NIGHT WITH DOLLY

Some sounds are inherently soothing, like the purring of a kitten, or a waterfall — or Dolly Parton’s voice. And we needed a lot of soothing this year. In April, the Tennessean who gave us “Jolene,” “I Will Always Love You” and hundreds of other classics, who is one of the stars of the glorious feminist comedy 9 to 5, who sends books to 850,000 children per month — the heroic angel Dolly Parton read bedtime stories to us when we needed them most. Clad in mint-green pajamas and her reading glasses, Dolly sat up in bed and read The Little Engine That Could, Llama Llama Red Pajama and more in 10 episodes of Good Night With Dolly, which were posted across her Imagination Library social media channels and on YouTube. They surely helped a lot of kiddos — and adults — rest a bit easier. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST DISTILLERY CATS

fish among them, plus a cutout of our state wild animal, the raccoon. Funded by a Metro Arts THRIVE award, the book is available as a free download, and copies were distributed to Metro students. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST OPERA FOR KIDS

LITTLE RED’S MOST UNUSUAL DAY

Nashville Opera brought a delightful retelling of Little Red Riding Hood to schools and libraries last winter. Using a minimal, portable set, Little Red’s Most Unusual Day focused on Forest Ranger Dudley and his crush on Little Red’s

Cats aren’t for everyone — the moody furballs always seem to live in dogs’ friendlier shadows. But love ’em or hate ’em, cats play a big role when it comes to the food and drink world, guarding bodegas, breweries and distilleries across the nation. So raise a glass to Corsair’s finest felines, Copper and Pizza, the cats-on-duty at the local distiller’s Wedgewood-Houston and downtown locations, respectively. Because these aren’t just (surprisingly friendly, very photogenic) cats: They are vanquishers of mice and protectors of spirits. ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

BEST DOGUMENTARY

SENIORS

I don’t watch dog movies. As the owner of a 13-year-old Pekingese, I’m too easy a mark. But I made an exception for Seniors, the “dogumentary” featuring Mt. Juliet’s Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary. Imagine a dog retirement paradise full of

BEST PET SITTER, WRITERS’ CHOICE: JAKE BELAIR friendly, fuzzy, gray faces — Leo, Buddy, Amy, Kirby! — along with a dose of pure devotion and hope from OFSDS founder Zina Goodin, who says: “These dogs, no matter where they came from, can leave their lives behind them ... and look to the future.” Did I cry the whole time? You bet. And I’d do it again. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BEST CAT WATCHING

NINTH ANNUAL ALLBREED, HOUSEHOLD PET, AND AGILITY CAT SHOW

Until cat people end their fruitless search for the dog park’s feline equivalent, a beloved local event continues to deliver our best cat-watching opportunity: the Allbreed, Household Pet, and Agility Cat Show, which can melt even the coldest of hearts. Cats of every variety await their grooming routines inside personalized booths while kittens successfully avoid every designated marker in the nearby agility course. Also, this cat contest isn’t just for purebreds — there’s an entire household division that gives even that lazy sunbather in your bay window a shot at glory. Whether you actually understand how cat judging works (I don’t) or you just love watching cats do anything (I definitely do), Nashville Cat Club’s annual show is the best ticket in tabby town. MATT FOX

BEST SOURCE OF ANIMAL CONTENT

BEST DOGUMENTARY, WRITERS’ CHOICE: SENIORS

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

CORSAIR’S COPPER AND PIZZA

NASHVILLE ZOO’S HCA HEALTHCARE VETERINARY CENTER TWITTER ACCOUNT Just before writing this, I saw a photo of Rowan the red panda lying peacefully on

an exam table as a cardiologist prepared to check his heart. A day earlier, a young kangaroo named Troody Roo was in for a checkup. The youngster, adorably, still has to grow into its ears. I know this because of the Nashville Zoo’s HCA Healthcare Veterinary Center Twitter account (@nashzoovet), which provides updates on animal care at the zoo and lets visitors know when they can stop by to see a visit up close. It’s a must-follow for anyone who likes to have their doom-scrolling interrupted by a cute animal once in a while. STEVEN HALE

BEST PET SITTER

JAKE BELAIR

If you’re in need of some A+ animal content to break up a day of doom-scrolling, follow Jake Belair, aka @zookeeperjake on Twitter. He helps care for many of the animals at the Nashville Zoo, and he’s always sharing photos and videos from his adorable adventures — from weighing Winsol the aardvark and feeding bananas to the binturongs to playing with Neo, a cassowary chick (and fellow BON winner!) on a splash pad. Plus, you’ll learn things! Did you know owls can rotate their heads 270 degrees in either direction? Come for close-ups of clouded leopard toe beans, stay for pictures of deliciouslooking cookies, cakes and galettes (which Jake sometimes bakes for humans and sometimes bakes for cows). MEGAN SELING

BEST INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT FOR KIDS’ ACTIVITIES

@NOTATHOMEMOM

Sometimes the worst part of taking your

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The Dog Spot would like to thank Alex Little & Emily Mack, the most incredible lawyers in town for all of your help.

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Kids & Pets Writers’ Choice ing the close, in-person interaction that has allowed the program to thrive for more than a decade-and-a-half. You wouldn’t know it by the final performance though. The virtual event played out beautifully, and the grrrls used inventive methods to courageously claim space. Afterward, Forrister invited viewers to an after-party on Zoom, where we heaped accolades on the performers — my face ached from smiling. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST YOUTH THEATER PROGRAM

THE THEATER BUG

BEST INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT FOR KIDS’ ACTIVITIES, WRITERS’ CHOICE: @NOTATHOMEMOM young kid somewhere is not really knowing the ins and outs of where you’re going. Like, “Oh crap, I parked five miles away from the actual playground.” Or like, “Damn, this place doesn’t have a spot where mom can pee.” Or even, “There’s zero shade here.” The Instagram account @notathomemom gives honest and informative reviews of creeks, pools, splash pads, parks and more. Maureen, the mom who runs the account, includes maps as well as notes about any little trip-ups she might’ve encountered while taking her toddler and infant out. Mercifully, it doesn’t feel like she’s trying to sell us anything — and believe me, the Momstagram world is full of that. AMANDA HAGGARD

BEST TEEN PROGRAMMING

ACT LIKE A GRRRL

For 16 years, Actors Bridge Ensemble has been on a mission to give teen girls the tools they need to amplify their voices with the summer program Act Like a GRRRL. In a political climate that often favors silencing dissent over speaking out for one’s rights, this mission is more important than ever. This summer, artistic director Vali Forrister once again spent three weeks with a group of 12- to 18-year-old girls, leading them in writing, singing, dancing and performing autobiographical narratives. The program looked different this year, with Zoom sessions and driveway visits replac-

BEST YOUTH THEATER PROGRAM, WRITERS’ CHOICE: THE THEATER BUG

Since opening in 2011, The Theater Bug has established itself as a top youth arts program that’s known for tackling tough social issues. Each year, this thriving nonprofit creates original plays and musicals about everything from bullying and adoption to mental health and grief. Even COVID-19 couldn’t stop the Bug in 2020 — its original virtual musical Quaranteened was accepted into the KIDS FIRST! Film Festival, and its new Instagram/web series Stories premiered Sept. 18. But beyond the stellar work presented onstage, artistic director Cori Anne Laemmel has created a warm, inclusive community that allows young people to truly connect — even during a pandemic. AMY STUMPFL

BEST PET STORE

NASHVILLE PET PRODUCTS

I’ve come to learn that if Nashville Pet Products doesn’t carry it, it’s probably not worth buying. Sure, pet superstores and specialized boutiques seem tempting with their dozens of different kinds of kibble, or fashionable dog accessories that’ll cost more than your own clothes. But Nashville Pet Products cuts through the crap to carry only the very best food, toys and supplies. New to pet ownership and unsure where to start? They’ll happily answer all your ques-

tions without any pressure to buy — just like you, they only want what’s best for your critter. And local shops like that are worth supporting now more than ever. MEGAN SELING

BEST DOG GROOMER

NATALIE LONGEWAY AT VCA MURPHY ROAD ANIMAL HOSPITAL

If you want to test your groomer’s mettle, see how fast they can fit your dog in with no warning, during a pandemic, while pregnant. Natalie Longeway at VCA Murphy Road Animal Hospital has long been able to do things to my angry, elderly Pekingese that I cannot: brush her teeth, trim the fur in between her paw pads, scratch under her chin. If anybody else tries any of those they’ll lose a finger. Not Natalie. Her calming skills know no bounds. Never leave us, Natalie! ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BEST VET

ANIMAL HOUSE

Animal House in South Nashville does a lot of work for rescues. In fact, our pup had a major surgery there before we even adopted her — she is always so comfortable when we walk in the door, which is a great sign. Animal House’s walk-in schedule makes for convenient visits — while firstcome, first-served seems like it might be a pain, I’ve never spent less time waiting than I do when I go to Animal House. And they have fair upfront pricing so you know everything you might pay for before any procedures get underway. AMANDA HAGGARD

BEST LOCAL TREATS

LITTLE BIG DOG TREATS

It’s weird that I know this, but Little Big Dog Treats are the best-tasting locally made dog treats. More importantly, and less strange: Dogs love them, too. The extracrunchy treats are made from scratch by Cailyn Wheaton — she uses an oat-flourand-egg base and flavors the cookies with other tasty (and human-grade) ingredients, including cheddar cheese and sweet potato. The apple biscuits are spiced up with a little molasses and cinnamon; the peanut butter flavor is sweetened with local honey. You can eat them, but your dog won’t want you to. MEGAN SELING

PHOTO: MA2LA

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

BEST LOCAL DOG TREATS, WRITERS’ CHOICE: LITTLE BIG DOG TREATS

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People & Places Readers’ Poll

Anywhere but Nashville/staying home Studio Goddess Nashville Pedal Tavern

BEST COLLEGE SPORTS TEAM 1. 2. 3.

Vanderbilt University baseball University of Tennessee football Belmont University basketball

BEST COMMUNITY ROLE MODEL 1. 2. 3.

Sheree Spoltore Dolly Parton Kristen Nicole Hall

BEST CULTURAL CENTER 1. 2. 3.

Frist Art Museum Casa Azafrán Cheekwood

BEST DAY TRIP 1. 2. 3.

Natchez Trace Stables Chattanooga Arrington Vineyards

BEST GOLF COURSE 1. 2. 3.

Hermitage Golf Course McCabe Golf Course Gaylord Springs Golf Links

1. 2. 3.

Walker Zimmerman Dax McCarty Taylor Washington

BEST PLACE TO TAKE OUT-OFTOWNERS, READERS’ POLL: THE GENTLE BARN

BEST NEIGHBORHOOD 1. 2. 3.

East Nashville Sylvan Park The Nations

BEST PLACE TO TAKE OUT-OF-TOWNERS 1. 2. 3.

BEST PARK 1. 2. 3.

Shelby Park Percy Warner Park Centennial Park

1. 2. 3.

Broadway Nashville International Airport Centennial Park

1. 2. 3.

Shelby Bottoms Nature Center & Greenway Nashville Greenways Warner Park

Pekka Rinne Roman Josi Filip Forsberg

BEST RELIGIOUS LEADER 1. 2. 3.

BEST PLACE TO SWIM 1. 2. 3.

Cross Point Church Christ the King Catholic Church The Belonging Co

BEST PREDATORS PLAYER

BEST PLACE TO RIDE A BIKE 1. 2. 3.

The Gentle Barn Cheekwood Broadway

BEST PLACE TO WORSHIP

BEST PLACE TO PEOPLE WATCH

Joe Davis YMCA Percy Priest Lake Seven Hills Swim & Tennis Club

BEST GOLF COURSE, READERS’ POLL: HERMITAGE GOLF COURSE

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PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

1. 2. 3.

BEST NASHVILLE SC PLAYER

Father Dexter Brewer Kevin Queen Becca Stevens

BEST SPORTS MASCOT 1. 2. 3.

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

BEST BACHELORETTE ATTRACTION/ACTIVITY

BEST TITANS PLAYER 1. 2. 3. 3.

Derrick Henry Ryan Tannehill Kevin Byard (tie) Taylor Lewan (tie)

BEST TRANSPOTAINMENT 1. 2. 3.

None of them Upstage Party Bus Nashville Pedal Tavern

BEST WATER ATTRACTION 1. 2. 3.

Nashville Shores SoundWaves at Gaylord Opryland Percy Priest Lake

BEST WEEKEND GETAWAY 1. 2. 3.

Chattanooga Gatlinburg Asheville

Gnash, Predators T-Rac, Titans Vanderbilt Commodore

BEST SPORTS MASCOT, READERS’ POLL: GNASH

PHOTO: JASON DAVIS

BEST CULTURAL CENTER, READERS’ POLL: FRIST ART MUSEUM

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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People & Places Writers’ Choice

KEEP A BREAST NASHVILLE COLLECTION

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

OCT 2 TO OCT 31, 2020 RIVERSIDE REVIVAL

BEST COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION, WRITERS’ CHOICE: GIDEON’S ARMY

BEST COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION

GIDEON’S ARMY

As soon as the sun came up on the parts of North Nashville devastated by an early-morning tornado on March 3, we learned how vital it is for a community organization to have deep roots in the neighborhoods it serves before a disaster strikes. After years spent working in North Nashville schools and dispatching its Violence Interrupters into neighborhood streets, Gideon’s Army had established credibility and connections in an area that was suddenly in desperate need. The group’s members quickly took charge of the recovery effort, collecting and distributing donated resources, coordinating volunteers and helping residents resist predatory developers looking to take advantage of the destruction. In the face of loss and confusion, North Nashvillians had an army on their side. STEVEN HALE

BEST TORNADO-RELIEF HOME BASE

McGRUDER FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER

On an average weekday before March 3, McGruder Family Resource Center was a productive but relatively quiet place where Nashvillians went for assistance with job applications, financial literacy

and other services. But when the tornado hit, McGruder became North Nashville’s relief hub. Computer labs became storage facilities, classrooms housed volunteer training efforts, and the parking lot and gymnasium accepted thousands of boxes and bags of diapers, canned goods and other donations. Scores of volunteers made their way to the center to pitch in. Working with Gideon’s Army, McGruder’s staff put everything on hold to get essential services and supplies to Nashvillians who needed them. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST ACTIVISTS

TEENS FOR EQUALITY

OUR MISSION IS TO EMPOWER YOUNG PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD WITH BREAST HEALTH EDUCATION AND SUPPORT.

On a Thursday evening in early June, thousands of protesters — some estimates put the number north of 10,000 — marched peacefully through the streets of downtown Nashville in support of Black lives. The demonstration, one of many organized across the country in response to the police killings of Black citizens including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, was a sight to behold. And the neatest part? The event was organized by Teens for Equality, an activist group led by several teenage girls. Since then, Teens for Equality has been involved in many other efforts, including another successful protest march

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BEST ACTIVISTS, WRITERS’ CHOICE: TEENS FOR EQUALITY

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People & Places Writers’ Choice

BEST VOTING RIGHTS ADVOCATES

THE EQUITY ALLIANCE

What a year to be a voter. As many Americans registered to vote by mail, the president schemed to defund the post office. Meanwhile, we celebrated the centennial of the 19th Amendment, but not without remembering that it failed to enfranchise people of color. Local grassroots advocacy group The Equity Alliance understands that voting rights intersect with human rights, and the group is committed to addressing systemic racism in our communities and institutions while keeping a close eye on legislation that affects voting rights. By focusing on education, expanding the electorate, promoting civic leadership among Black Nashvillians and more, The Equity Alliance is shaping our democratic process to be more inclusive. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST ACTIVIST ACTION

PEOPLE’S PLAZA

Nashville saw a summer full of Black Lives Matter activism, but the longest-running and most visible action was easily the 24/7 occupation of Legislative Plaza. Protesters maintained a site in the downtown plaza near the state Capitol — which they called both the Ida B. Wells Plaza and the People’s Plaza — for 62 nights, frequently facing arrests as they called for Gov. Bill Lee to meet with them to discuss racial injustice in Tennessee. Republican state lawmakers responded to the protest by passing a bill that increases penalties for camping on state property — a violation of free speech. Lee signed the embarrassing bill into law and never met with the protesters, who for two months braved inclement weather, ever-present state troopers and

a pandemic. The activists have since ceased the plaza occupation, but they’re still hosting events and demonstrations around town under the banner People’s Plaza, aiming to keep their movement and community going. ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

BEST BEST NAME WE LEARNED TO PRONOUNCE, SPELL AND APPRECIATE, WRITERS’ CHOICE: DR. ALEX JAHANGIR

BEST ART-SPACE CONVERSION

ELEPHANT GALLERY

A community’s response to a crisis can sometimes mitigate the devastation that preceded it. After the March 3 tornado tore through Nashville, Elephant Gallery turned into an essential hub for the North Nashville community, which was among the city’s most heavily impacted. The gallery, helmed by artist Alex Lockwood, acted quickly, offering everything from drop-off laundry services and electronic charging stations to supplies like flashlights and batteries and hot meals, all while amplifying the services of Gideon’s Army and other community members. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

BEST MAKER ALLIANCE

FORT HOUSTON, MAKE NASHVILLE AND THE WOND’RY

One of the more heartening aspects of the pandemic has been seeing people around the world step up to contribute what they can. Here in Nashville, Kevin Galloway — a Vanderbilt University professor of mechanical engineering and the director of making at Vanderbilt’s maker space The Wond’ry — worked with Vanderbilt University Medical Center doctors to design a ventilator that could be constructed with materials that are easy to obtain. Nonprofit Make Nashville worked with local businesses to fabricate the parts, and Vanderbilt grad students at The Wond’ry adapted windshield-wiper motors that would power the ventilators. Everything was assembled by members of Fort Houston, the Wedgewood-Houston maker space. The whole process was smart, creative and collaborative. Sounds like Nashville to me. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST STITCHERS

MEDTHREADS VOLUNTEERS NASHVILLE

When the performing arts went on hold due

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

on the Fourth of July and the sharing of anti-racist material via their Instagram account (@teens.4.equality). The teens’ actions earned them loads of media attention, and even a shoutout from former President Barack Obama on Twitter. It’s deeply heartening to see young people continuing the traditions of activism established by former Nashvillians like Diane Nash and the late Rep. John Lewis many years ago. D. PATRICK RODGERS

to the pandemic, local seamstresses and costumers got busy organizing legions of Nashville sewists in the effort to provide reusable masks to health care workers. June Houghton Kingsbury worked with her neighbor, a surgeon, to design a fabric mask cover that would extend the use of PPE. She was joined by Lea Coppoletta Maitlen, Lori Gann-Smith, Nora Catherine and others in starting a Facebook group that organized more than 800 volunteers to make and deliver masks to our region’s health care facilities. The group estimates that it delivered over 10,000 masks and mask covers. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATION

PHOTO: MATT MASTERS

HANDS ON NASHVILLE

BEST ACTIVIST ACTION, WRITERS’ CHOICE: PEOPLE’S PLAZA

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Hands On Nashville, a nonprofit that links volunteers to organizations and people who need help, worked to keep cleanup and relief efforts going after Nashville’s March 3 tornado. Using its Show of Hands blog (handsonnashville.wordpress.com), the organization let people know where — and where not — to go lend a hand. Hands On Nashville connected volunteers with food-relief efforts, neighborhood cleanup, tax preparation, medical help and more. And then they turned around and immediately started organizing COVID-19 relief efforts. AMANDA HAGGARD

BEST NAME WE LEARNED TO PRONOUNCE, SPELL AND APPRECIATE

DR. ALEX JAHANGIR

A year ago we would have mangled it, with misplaced E’s and G’s. But in seven months — months that have somehow felt both short and impossibly long — we’ve figured out how to smoothly pronounce the name of our reliable medical leader, Dr. Alex Jahangir. The M.D. and chair of Nashville’s Metro Coronavirus Task Force has brought his calming, dulcet tones, measured optimism, and necessary gravity to the city’s COVID-19 press conferences. He made sense of jumbles of percentages and reopening phases. Oh, and it’s pronounced “Ja-hun-GEER.” MARGARET LITTMAN

BEST LIBRARIAN

SELVA IBRAHIM

Some estimates put the number of Kurds in Nashville at nearly 20,000 — the largest Kurdish population of any city in the United States. As circulation manager at the Southeast Branch of the Nashville Public Library, Selva Ibrahim dreamed of a Nashville where a Kurdish grandfather could walk into the public library and check out a book to read to his grandchildren in his native language. But few U.S. publishers offer books in Kurdish, and publishers in other countries often don’t export books

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Gladly opening the door to 2021

Richard Bryan OFFICE: 615-327-4800 DIRECT: 615-321-9531 RICHARDFBRYAN@GMAIL.COM | RICHARDFBRYAN.COM

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People & Places Writers’ Choice

PHOTO: DONALD PAGE

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

BEST LIBRARIAN, WRITERS’ CHOICE: SELVA IBRAHIM

BEST PLAYOFF RUN, WRITERS’ CHOICE: TENNESSEE TITANS to the U.S. Not willing to give up, Ibrahim worked with the Kurdish Professionals, a local youth-empowerment organization, and together they launched a book drive. Ibrahim has received books from around the world to keep on the library’s shelves, and the selection is drawing more Kurds to the library, where they can access myriad services. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST NEW PUBLIC GREEN SPACE

FRANKIE PIERCE PARK AT CAPITOL VIEW

One of the geniuses of an effective public space is its ability to be successful despite challenges. Capitol View’s Frankie Pierce Park showcases such ingenuity. Named for the late and influential Black suffrage movement leader Juno Frankie Seay Pierce — many of her social-services endeavors directly benefited the residents who lived in what is now the North Gulch — Frankie Pierce Park is smallish (2.5 acres) and somewhat isolated (sandwiched between two railroad tracks that limit visibility). But the tiny and quirky green space packs a powerful punch. Pierce Park is open both to the general public and to tenants and residents of Capitol View, a result of a public-private partnership with Metro Nashville and developer Boyle Nashville. It offers sand volleyball courts, a playground, a dog park and a yoga lawn. Located at 120 LifeWay Plaza, the park is also a trailhead for the Gulch Greenway, completing a link in the system and connecting Capitol View to a system of more than 190 miles of biking and running trails throughout Davidson County. Pierce (1864-1954) served on committees for the Red Cross, YMCA and YWCA, founded the Nashville Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs and the Tennessee Vocational School for Colored Girls, and addressed the state suffrage convention at the state capitol in 1920. Her legacy is honored by this wonderful, diminutive park. WILLIAM WILLIAMS

BEST HOTEL FOR A PANDEMIC STAYCATION

HOLSTON HOUSE

The farther east you go down Broadway, the more likely you are to drown in a sea of Chads before you ever dip your toe into a hotel pool. But that’s not the case at

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Holston House. When the hotel opened its doors mid-pandemic, the place had it all: reduced rates, free parking, super-late checkout (4 p.m., anyone?) and a dogfriendly ethos that allowed my 13-pound Pekingese to luxuriate in a dog bed the size of a Jeep for 24 hours straight. Add to that a rooftop pool that’s effectively private, plus the hotel’s proximity to pizza spot Red Phone Booth, and you’ve got pandemic perfection. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BEST DOLLY PARTON TRIBUTE

OVER-THE-BED PORTRAITS AT THE GRADUATE NASHVILLE Dolly’s become our North Star this year, what with a rooftop bar named after her 1989 album White Limozeen, her widely reported comments in support of Black Lives Matter and that new mural over on Forrest Avenue. But climb into bed at the Graduate Nashville — a hotel not known for subtlety — and above it you’ll find a small portrait of Ms. Parton, nestled under floral fabric. The intimate portraits are sweet and smiling right over the headboard. Put your head on the pillow and dream of the light of a clear blue morning. MARGARET LITTMAN

BEST PLACE TO DECOMPRESS DOWNTOWN

21C MUSEUM HOTEL’S SPINNING CHAIRS

The strangers you meet on Broadway can be fun and lively — but even pre-COVID, they could also be total assholes. A night of spilled drinks and one too many streams of “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)” can be turned around by 21c Museum Hotel, just a short trek up Second Avenue, far from the chaos. The best part is the Magis Spun Chairs that live inside a dark room of calming projected video art. Spin around in a chair that — unlike strangers at bars — will always support you, and feel your brain come back to equilibrium. (Before planning your own visit, be sure to check with 21c about current COVID-19 protocol.) HANNAH HERNER

BEST BATHROOM

TAILOR

No one wants to miss a minute of a Tailor dinner party, but if you must, the restaurant’s bathroom is the place to do

it. It’s bigger than a Gulch apartment and appointed to a T: coppery desk, pink velvet chairs, gold vases, random hunk of driftwood, geometric patterns on the walls and more candles than a West Elm. It’s a bathroom, for Chrissakes! Yet it’s nicer than 90 percent of the rooms in my home. Ten out of 10. Would rent. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BEST SOCIALLY DISTANCED OFFICE SPACE

RED BICYCLE’S BACKYARD IN THE NATIONS

Outdoor spaces at Nashville coffee shops are few and far between, and the pickings only got slimmer when we added the old 6-feet-of-separation rule. Red Bicycle in The Nations cleared all the hurdles. They’ve got counter ordering, minimaltouch food delivery, an open atmosphere and the dog-friendliest vibe this side of Asheville. Add to that their fully shaded — by real trees, not awnings — outdoor space, and you’ve got the loveliest place in town, whether you’re working remotely or remotely working. ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BEST AMATEUR ASTROLOGER

MR. MYSTERIO

Mr. Mysterio writes horoscopes for Nashville’s street newspaper The Contributor, and his musings are among many reasons you should grab a copy of the paper when it’s out every other week. He’s quite possibly the only amateur astrologer in print in town, and he’s also the best. In late April, he told Scorpios to embrace the in-between moments: “Honestly, I kind of like the idea of purgatory. Most ideas about the afterlife are so absolute, but purgatory is refreshingly indefinite.” Even if you find astrology silly, Mr. Mysterio’s nuggets of wisdom are worthy of a read. AMANDA HAGGARD

BEST PLAYOFF RUN

TENNESSEE TITANS

With the Nashville Predators returning to their old tradition of perennial first-round exits, it may seem faint praise to laud the Titans for their shock run to the AFC Championship. After all, what competition did the Two-Toners really have? But the fact is, short of actually making it to the Super Bowl, we couldn’t have asked for a more

thrilling and downright fun postseason from Ryan Tannehill, Derrick Henry, et al. Tannethrill’s takeover of quarterbacking duties from Marcus Mariota sparked a complete turnaround for the thenwoebegone team, sneaking them into the playoffs, where they had to go on the road to face the New England Patriots — only the most successful team of the past 20 years. But timely defensive stops, precision passing and oh-so-much Derrick Henry (182 yards on the day ... 182!) stunned the Evil Empire. The Titans’ secret weapon — punter Brett Kern — was a secret no more. A critical late-game boomer went 58 yards and took an astounding 10 seconds off the clock, leading directly to the most delicious ending possible: Tom Brady, throwing his last pass at a Pat, was intercepted for a touchdown by Logan Ryan. The win sent the Tites back on the road, this time to face old foe Baltimore, who boasted the league’s best record and whose safety Earl Thomas intimated that Henry had such a big day because the Pats didn’t want to tackle him. Henry went for 195 yards (including a 27-yarder in which he stiff-armed Thomas himself and used him as a blocker) — and threw a touchdown pass to boot. (During a post-game interview, Henry shouted what sounded like “Eat shit, Earl!” at the passing Raven.) By this point, the city was awash in various cerulean shades and previously uninterested observers were wearing King Henry shirts and talking about Arthur Smith’s upbeat offense and A.J. Brown’s fiery skills. Sure, the team lost on the road to eventual Super Bowl champions the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC title game — but as they say, we weren’t sad it was over, we were happy it happened. J.R. LIND

BEST COACH

MIKE VRABEL

The so-called players’ coach is a favorite among NFL locker rooms, and in two seasons, the Titans’ Mike Vrabel has embodied that coaching style to a T. Vrabel has been Tennessee’s best head coach since the heyday of Jeff Fisher, and the camaraderie he’s built among the players since taking the main job has helped cement a healthy culture that could be built on for years to come. Last season’s playoff run was

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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THE COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME® AND MUSEUM PRESENTS

LIVE ON YouTube

OCTOBER 28 | 8:00 pm

Hosted by Marty Stuart. Audio Supervisor, Dave Cobb.

nashvillescene.com | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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People & Places Writers’ Choice should be building our own traditions over here — but tifos (i.e., massive banners celebrating a team) are another matter. For the best examples, spend a few minutes on YouTube gawking at the huge displays Borussia Dortmund fans erect in Germany. It was a wonderful surprise just before kickoff at Nashville SC’s first game when a giant banner went racing up the bleachers at the south end zone — it featured an illustration of the iconic photo of Johnny Cash flipping off the camera, but with the middle finger covered by the NSC logo. Well played, Roadies. STEVE CAVENDISH

special for the city, and taking down giants New England and longtime rivals Baltimore on the road was no small feat. Landing a free agent like defensive end Jadeveon Clowney wasn’t either. Vrabel deserves the lion’s share of the credit. CORY WOODROOF

BEST BREAKOUT SEASON

A.J. BROWN’S 2019 ROOKIE YEAR

KE’SHAWN VAUGHN

After transferring from Illinois, former Pearl-Cohn Entertainment Magnet High School running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn rushed for 1,000 yards in each of his seasons with the Vanderbilt Commodores and 21 touchdowns in total (12 in 2018, 9 in 2019). He was easily one of the best players to come through Vanderbilt in the past few years. His draft stock rocketed while playing over off West End, landing him a lucrative spot in Tampa Bay with Tom Brady and the rejuvenated Buccaneers as a 2020 third-round pick. In Tampa Bay, Vaughn will have the opportunity to be the latest Vandy star to make it at the next level. CORY WOODROOF

BEST PREDATOR

ROMAN JOSI

It was not a great year for the Nashville Predators. Head coach Peter Laviolette was fired in January, and for the first time in six seasons, the team didn’t qualify for the playoffs. But one player still managed to shine — captain Roman Josi racked up a whopping 49 assists and 16 goals, both career highs, and he led the team in power-play points with 23. The Professional Hockey Writers’ Association noticed his stellar efforts too — they gave Josi the James Norris Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the league’s best defenseman every year. MEGAN SELING

BEST SPORTS MOMENT

PEKKA RINNE’S GOALIE GOAL Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne has always said there are two things he wants to accomplish before he retires: win a Stanley Cup and score a goal. On Jan. 9,

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MOOKIE BETTS BEST PREDATOR, WRITERS’ CHOICE: ROMAN JOSI atmosphere that was “uniquely Nashville.” Mission accomplished. MICHAEL GALLAGHER

he crossed the latter off his list as he flung a loose puck the full length of the ice and raised his hands in victory as it found the back of the net, sealing the Predators’ 5-2 win over the rival Chicago Blackhawks. The 37-year-old said after the game it was “a dream come true” to be the 12th goalie in NHL history to score a goal. (Interestingly, he was the second Predators goalie to do so.) Nashville may have to wait a while to hoist that Stanley Cup, but at least fans will always have the memory of Rinne, arms raised, being swarmed by his teammates after his empty-netter. MICHAEL GALLAGHER

BEST CELEBRATION

RECORD CUTTING IN THE NASHVILLE SC END ZONE

I love a good goal celebration, on the field or off. For years, the Portland Timbers have had the best one in Major League Soccer, with mascot Timber Jim (and later, Timber Joey) firing up a chainsaw to cut the end off of a log, and players then holding up the slice of wood like a trophy. It was a pleasant surprise, therefore, to see someone pressing hot wax into an album on opening night. At the end of every game, a player of the week’s highlights (taken from the broadcast feed) are cut and quickly memorialized via a blue-and-gold vinyl record, right in front of the fans. Is it goofy? Sure. Is it very Nashville? Absolutely. STEVE CAVENDISH

BEST PREP TRANSPLANT

BRENTWOOD ACADEMY BASKETBALL PLAYER SKYY CLARK

Skyy Clark, a top prep basketball recruit, transferred to Brentwood Academy during the pandemic, but his impact on the community began long before he ever reached the court. Right after moving to town, Clark took it upon himself to organize a cleaning of the Metro Courthouse after vandalism was done to the building several months ago. He also organized a large prayer vigil at Otter Creek Church in Brentwood focused on racial reconciliation in the wake of the George Floyd killing. No matter where he plays in college or how far he takes the Eagles this winter, his mark on the community has already been made. CORY WOODROOF

BEST TIFO

JOHNNY CASH BANNER AT NASHVILLE SC’S INAUGURAL GAME

I’m not a huge fan of trying to import European traditions for the sake of building an instant culture at soccer games. We

The pride of Overton High School — and TSSAA bowling state champion — Mookie Betts has had quite an eventful offseason. Rather than rightly paying Betts his due for being one of the emerging superstars in professional baseball, the Boston Red Sox made the inexplicable decision to trade him to the World Series-ready Los Angeles Dodgers. That team signed him to a 12-year extension worth $365 million. Betts continues to be one of Nashville’s most accomplished homegrown athletes, and in L.A., he’ll be compensated for his otherworldly talents on the baseball diamond. CORY WOODROOF

BEST COLLEGE TEAM

BELMONT 2019-20 MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM

The Belmont men’s basketball team was robbed of an opportunity to flex its talents in the NCAA Tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a shame too, since returning hero and first-year head coach Casey Alexander did a spectacular job picking up the overwhelming legacy of Rick Byrd and running with it in his own way. The former Lipscomb coach has given Bruins fans hope that the legacy of winning established by Byrd — one of the best to ever do it in the sport — isn’t in the rearview. Even though a tournament run wasn’t possible this season, that’s still something to celebrate. CORY WOODROOF

BEST SPORTS RECORD, WRITERS’ CHOICE: NASHVILLE SC BREAKS STATE SOCCER ATTENDANCE RECORD

BEST SPORTS RECORD

NASHVILLE SC BREAKS STATE SOCCER ATTENDANCE RECORD

The city of Nashville has been known to break a record or two when hosting large-scale sporting events. And while the attendance numbers for 2019’s NFL Draft were without a doubt impressive, the 59,069 fans who jam-packed Nissan Stadium for Nashville SC’s Major League Soccer debut against Atlanta United back in late February made for an all-timer. The number broke the Tennessee state record for number of fans at a soccer match and showcased just how popular the sport is in the South. Club CEO Ian Ayre stated his goal was to create an

PHOTO: CASEY GOWER

BEST COMMODORE

BEST MIDDLE TENNESSEE PREPS ALUM PHOTO: CASEY GOWER

Since wide receiver Derrick Mason left in 2004, the Tennessee Titans have long been searching for that topflight offensive weapon who could not only help stretch the field, but also take a game over at any moment. There were a lot of great almosts, including Drew Bennett, Kenny Britt, Kendall Wright and Corey Davis. But the team appears to have finally hit pay dirt with 2019 second-round pick A.J. Brown. The 23-year-old led all rookies with 1,051 receiving yards (the only 1,000-yard rookie WR), eight receiving touchdowns and eight receptions of 40 yards or more. He ranked second overall in average yards per reception (20.2) and receptions of 20 or more yards (15) and was fourth among rookie receivers in catches (52). Brown was the first rookie since 1970 with 1,000 or more receiving yards and an average of 20-plus yards per reception, and he became just the fourth rookie since 1970 with at least four TD receptions of 50 yards or more. MICHAEL GALLAGHER

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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Arts, Music & Culture Readers’ Poll BEST CONCERT SERIES

BEST ART HAPPENING, READERS’ POLL: CHIHULY AT CHEEKWOOD

1. 2. 3.

Live on the Green Daddy’s Dogs Drive in Concert Series Musicians Corner

BEST COUNTRY MUSIC ARTIST 1. 2. 3.

Keith Urban Dolly Parton Margo Price

BEST DJ (PERFORMER) 1. 2. 3.

DJ Houndstooth DJ RIO DJ Grant Fisher

BEST DRAG PERFORMER PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

1. 2. 3. 3.

BEST ART GALLERY 1. 2. 3.

The Rymer Gallery Julia Martin Gallery Elephant Gallery

BEST ART HAPPENING 1. 2. 3.

Chihuly at Cheekwood First Saturday Art Crawl Tomato Art Fest

BEST BAND (LOCAL) 1. 2. 3.

Vinyl Radio The Blue Trees Phoenix Rising

BEST BEER EVENT/BEER FESTIVAL 1. 2. 3.

Nashville Oktoberfest East Nashville Beer Fest Brew at the Zoo

BEST BOWLING ALLEY 1. 2. 3.

BEST CHARITY EVENT 1. 2. 3.

Unleashed Boots & Bubbles St. Jude Marathon

BEST CHEAP DATE 1. 2. 3. 3.

Third Coast Comedy Club Dino’s Bar Centennial Park (tie) Live on the Green (tie)

BEST CHILDREN’S THEATER PROGRAM 1. 2. 3.

Nashville Children’s Theatre Collective Art School of Tennessee The Theater Bug

The Princess Britney Banks Nichole Ellington Dupree (tie) Tammy Whynot (tie)

BEST FOOD EVENT 1. 2. 2. 4.

Food Truck Feast Music City Hot Chicken Festival (tie) Nashville Scene Burger Week (tie) Taste of Nashville

BEST FREE FUN 1. 2. 3.

Live on the Green Centennial Park Warner Parks

BEST HONKY-TONK 1. 2. 3.

Robert’s Western World Tootsies Orchid Lounge The Stage on Broadway

BEST INSTRUMENTALIST 1. 2. 3.

Ryan Fine Bryard Huggins Molly Tuttle

BEST EVENT/FESTIVAL (LOCAL)

BEST KARAOKE BAR

BEST FILM/TV ACTOR OR ACTRESS (LOCAL)

BEST LGBTQ BAR

1. 2. 3.

Tomato Art Fest Live on the Green Cheekwood Holiday Lights

Nicole Kidman Sam Brooks Reese Witherspoon

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

Santa’s Pub The Lipstick Lounge Miss Kelli’s Karaoke Bar The Lipstick Lounge Play Tribe

BEST HONKY-TONK, READERS’ POLL: ROBERT’S WESTERN WORLD

BEST COMEDY VENUE 1. 2. 3.

Zanies Comedy Night Club Third Coast Comedy Club The East Room

Donelson Plaza Strike & Spare Pinewood Social Pins Mechanical Company

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

BEST CHARITY EVENT, READERS’ POLL: UNLEASHED

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Arts, Music & Culture Readers’ Poll BEST MOVIE THEATER

BEST PRINTMAKER/POSTER DESIGNER

BEST MURAL

BEST RAPPER/HIP-HOP ACT (LOCAL)

1. 2. 3.

Belcourt Theatre Regal Green Hills AMC Bellevue 12

I Believe in Smashville Mural Dolly Parton Mural Angel Wings Mural

BEST MUSEUM 1. 2. 3.

Frist Art Museum Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Tennessee State Museum

BEST PERFORMING ARTS GROUP 1. 2. 3.

Third Coast Comedy Club The Dancer Project Conservatory Nashville Symphony

BEST PHOTOGRAPHER 1. 2. 3.

Rachel Deeb Ashley Payne Angelina Oliva

BEST PLACE TO DANCE 1. 2. 3.

Play The 5 Spot Flamingo Cocktail Club

BEST PLACE TO HEAR LIVE MUSIC 1. 2. 3.

Ryman Auditorium 3rd and Lindsley The Basement East

BEST PLACE TO PLAY POOL 1. 2. 3.

Melrose Billiard Parlor H-Cue’s Upstairs Poolroom Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge

BEST PLACE TO SEE A PLAY 1. 2. 3.

TPAC The Theater Bug Darkhorse Theater

BEST PLACE TO THROW DARTS 1. 2. 3.

The Villager Tavern Mickey’s Tavern Melrose Billiard Parlor

1. 2. 3.

1. 2. 3. 3.

Hatch Show Print Friendly Arctic Printing & Design Isle of Printing

Daydrian Love Shatreese Daisha McBride (tie) Jelly Roll (tie)

BEST SINGER-SONGWRITER 1. 2. 3.

Kate Vogel Taylor Red Michael David Hall

BEST STAGE ACTOR/ACTRESS (LOCAL) 1. 2. 3.

Sam Brooks Megan Murphy Chambers Aleks Krutainis

BEST STAND-UP COMEDIAN 1. 2. 3.

Nate Bargatze Dusty Slay Brad Sativa

BEST STREAMING EVENT

1. 1. 3. 4.

Happy Hour With Beegie (tie) This Holding: Traces of Contact (tie) FOMO Entertainment Grand Ole Opry

BEST THEATER COMPANY (LOCAL) 1. 2. 3.

Nashville Repertory Theatre The Theater Bug Nashville Shakespeare Festival

BEST SOLO ART EXHIBITION, WRITERS’ CHOICE KAREN SEAPKER’S CIRCUITIES AT ZEITGEIST

BEST TRIVIA NIGHT 1. 2. 3.

The Centennial M.L.Rose Craft Beer & Burgers The Lipstick Lounge

BEST VISUAL ARTIST 1. 2. 3.

BEST SOLO ART EXHIBITION

KAREN SEAPKER’S CIRCUITIES AT ZEITGEIST

Claire White, White Ink Calligraphy Rob Hendon Cidal Vision

Not only was Karen Seapker’s collection of large-scale jewel-toned paintings of earth goddesses and abstract orbs a breathtaking display of talent and warmth — it also functioned as a centering force in the middle of unexpected chaos. The artist’s studio was directly in the path of the March 3 tornado, which destroyed the building days before Circuities was scheduled to open. By the time the Zeitgeist exhibit closed in late April, the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic had set in, changing everything. If there were ever a stage to experience the chaotic episodes of life, it should be filled with the paintings Seapker made for this show. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

BEST WRITERS’ OPEN MIC NIGHT 1. 2. 3.

“NIGHTS IN THE SWALE,” KAREN SEAPKER

1. 2. 3.

Arts, Music & Culture Writers’ Choice

The Bluebird Cafe The Listening Room Cafe Debi Champion, Commodore Grille

BEST PRINTMAKER/POSTER DESIGNER, READERS’ POLL: HATCH SHOW PRINT

BEST PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

BENJY RUSSELL’S YOU’RE ON NEW BRIDGES MADE OF HOME (YOU FOUND THE LIGHT IN A DARK POEM) AT WILDER It feels like a lifetime ago that Tennessee artist Benjy Russell led me through his mid-career retrospective, You’re on new bridges made of home (you found the light in a dark poem) at the then-Germantownbased gallery Wilder. It was the last place I went before Metro Nashville’s shelterin-place order closed down the city. By using Hollywood lighting techniques and magician’s tricks, Russell creates

surrealistic effects in his photography. Sculptures appear to be floating in the air above lakes and valleys like monuments to beauty. Portraits of his friends are both tasteful and porny, rendering the subjects as beings elemental to the earth and transcending space and time. The exhibition imagined a radical queer utopia — seductive and healing, sensual and pulsing with life. Whenever we get back to interacting normally with the world again, I want it to be the one that Russell envisioned here. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST DEBUT SOLO EXHIBITION

DAVID ONRI ANDERSON’S FRAGILE AS FRUIT AT DAVID LUSK GALLERY

Opening a solo show at an art gallery is like releasing a new album or a new novel. It’s the public presentation of a completed body of work backed by all the resources — curating, installation, marketing, sales — that a gallery can offer. And just like debut albums and novels, debut solo exhibitions can have a big impact on scenes and markets when it comes to establishing a sustainable creative career. David Onri Anderson’s Fresh as Fruit gave gallerygoers a cornucopia of deceptively complex metaphors to digest last fall. And he also planted the seeds of what looks like a bountiful creative practice that’s just beginning to blossom. JOE NOLAN

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tin pan south IS COMING TO YOU virtual virtually, FEATURING songwriters across the nation and beyond! n

OCTOBER 20-24, 2020 WATCH ONLINE FOR FREE!

thank you to all of our partners! th

28TH ANNUAL FESTIVAL PRODUCED BY

WWW.NASHVILLESONGWRITERS.COM

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tinpansouth.com | @tinpansouth | official app available for IOS & ANDROID NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

The Nashville Songwriters Association International is thrilled to bring the beloved Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival to homes virtually to celebrate our 28th year as the world’s largest songwriter-only festival. Each night will honor songwriters in different regions as they share inside stories and perform your past and future favorite songs! Every show is a truly unique experience you won’t forget. Thank you for your support of NSAI’s advocacy and educational efforts as you experience why “It All Begins With A Song.” Steve Bogard, NSAI Board President

WELCOME KRIS AHREND, CEO OF THE NEW MECHANICAL LICENSING COLLECTIVE NSAI worked for years to change the U.S. Copyright Act so American songwriters could be fairly compensated. In 2018 the MUSIC MODERNIZATION ACT became law. On January 1, 2021 a new mechanical royalty rights agency, one of the centerpieces of that bill, will begin operating — the MECHANICAL LICENSING COLLECTIVE. The MLC will collect and administer mechanical royalties from streaming companies, and historically, the services will pay for it! Expect much more news as the MLC approaches its launch date of New Year’s day 2021. In the meantime, we welcome the MLC’s ﬁrst Chief Executive Ofﬁcer Kris Ahrend.

95.5FM NASH ICON & NASH FM 103.3 Marie Bradshaw

Reservoir John Ozier

Aloompa Jessie Banks Brian Westerman

Sony/ATV Publishing Alex Albanese Rusty Gaston Mya Hansen Joshua Van Valkenburg

ASCAP Evyn Mustoe Mike Sistad

Texas Heritage Songwriters Association Michelle Johnson

BMI Mitch Ballard Mason Hunter Leslie Roberts

Warner Chappell Jessi Vaughn

SESAC Edie Emery Samantha Saturn Lydia Schultz Jenna Smith Altadena Julia Keefe Analog at Hutton Hotel Jill Moody Adam Taylor The Bluebird Cafe David Jeffries Erika Wollam-Nichols JACK–fm, Mix 92.9FM and i106.7 Joe Britton Ty Miller Lightning 100 Gary Kraen Tom Hansen Tich McWilliams Kobalt Music Morgan Brown Liz Rose Music Dave Pacula Nashville Scene Maggie Bond Chelon Hasty Price Waltman

J.D. Minadeo is a Nashville-based illustrator from Ohio. He is studying at Watkins College of Art and enjoys character design, cartooning, and fantasizing about making comics. He loves pajama pants and has a 15-pound cat named Nostradamus (Nosy for short).

@TINPANSOUTH | #TINPANSOUTH | TINPANSOUTH.COM

News Channel 5 Tracy McDonald Lyn Plantinga

Special Thanks Ty Bentli Chris Blair Lisa Boullt Anastacia Bowers Justin Branam Ron Brice Lindsay Gum Brenna Joslin Mervin Louque Al Moss Melissa Perez Gelt Jenn Schott Jaime Scorby Mike Simon Jeff Skaggs Bobby Smith Mary Lauren Teague Jordan Walker NSAI Staff

The Recording Academy Mark Schultz Alicia Warwick Regions Bank Jessica Austin Kari Barnhart Lee Blank Melanie Blank Jada Culver Lisa Harless Katie Newell McNulty Brian O’Meara Brad Peterson

Watkins College of Art Kaelin Baudier Mitchell Coleman Hannah Hagans Elana Hites Travon Lacy Rod McGaha Finley McKee J.D. Minadeo Huy Nguyen Robin Paris Danielle Pinckert Katelyn Rogers Dawn Taylor Madison Thomson Rafer White Jordan Zinn

NSAI Board Members Last but not least...A big shout out to all the amazing songwriters involved in this year’s festival. We appreciate your invaluable contribution and your support of NSAI’s mission, “to educate, elevate and celebrate the songwriter.”

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VIRTUAL FESTIVAL SCHEDULE Brought to you by:

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8:00 p.m. Brought to you by:

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21 - SOUth

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ERIC BAZILIAN JIM PETERIK KRISTAL TYTEWRITER

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DESMOND CHILD ERIKA ENDER VICTORIA SHAW

AARON BARKER JIM COLLINS MIGNON LEE ROY PARNELL thank you TEXAS HERITAGE SONGWRITERS ASSOCIATION!

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WADE BOWEN DAVID LEE MURPHY GUEST THANK YOU BMI AUSTIN!

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22 - EAST dr. danny gem and eye coyle girelli thank you KOBALT music!

Chris Barron jeff cohen guest

kris delmhorst mark erelli lori mckenna

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23 - WEST facebook live happy hour featuring a special guest! jenna andrews nat dunn harloe meghan kabir

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facebook live happy hour featuring a special guest! SESAC PRESENTS:

7:00 p.m.

JIMMIE ALLEN ALLISON VELTZ CRUZ ROB HATCH JOSH LONDON

phil barton seth ennis liz rose

robyn collins summer overstreet caroline watkins

THANK YOU LIZ ROSE MUSIC! thank you warner chappell MUSIC!

josh mirenda jake mitchell southerland thank you reservoir!

bmi presents:

8:00 p.m.

ashland craft rob snyder channing wilson

SHANE MCANALLY JOSH OSBORNE MATTHEW RAMSEY TREVOR RoSEn

Chris destefano emily weisband

ryan griffin carly pearce riley roth emily shackelton

thank you sony/atv publishing!

Thank you altadena!

TUNE IN AT TINPANSOUTH.COM

ALL SHOWS WILL REMAIN VIEWABLE UNTIL THE DAY AFTER THEY PREMIERE!

Here for the music and the people who make it. Discover Lainey Wilson laineywilson.com

When faced with a challenge, music reminds us to keep moving. It’s because of the sacrifices and work ethic of those in the music industry that we can connect with each other in this way, even during difficult times. Regions is here for clients like Lainey Wilson by providing personalized financial solutions so you can stay focused on your music. So if you’re ready to start planning for the ebbs and flows of today’s economy, with cash flow solutions, financial advising and even publishing financing, let’s talk.

Call the Regions Music and Entertainment Team at 615.365.5000.

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Arts, Music & Culture Writers’ Choice

“Zeitgeist” means spirit of the times, and Zeitgeist Gallery demonstrated its commitment to relevance with Artists for Tornado Relief. Launched the weekend after the devastating March 3 tornado struck Nashville, it featured more than 60 local artists who donated work to the fundraiser. The art was priced to move at $100 with 100 percent of profits going to the grassroots, community-focused organization Gideon’s Army. When the tornado that struck North Nashville damaged homes and businesses and affected families already struggling under the financial weight of gentrification, Gideon’s Army stepped up to lead recovery efforts. The sold-out show harnessed Nashville’s generous spirit, and it was essential for the times. SARA LEE BURD

BEST ONLINE EXHIBITIONS

UNREQUITED LEISURE

There’s a certain combination of irreverence and technology that sets Unrequited Leisure apart from other galleries — and makes its online contributions a lot more fun. The gallery’s directors — Chalet Comellas Baker and Clinton Sleeper — obviously take the exhibitions seriously, polishing curatorial essays and streamlining the virtual interface. But they keep a light touch throughout, frequently handing over curatorial reins and giving artists room to experiment. In a year without a lot of space for traditional exhibitions, Unrequited’s insistence on making art both innovative and accessible feels like an act of love. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

BEST TRAVELING EXHIBITION

HEARTS OF OUR PEOPLE: NATIVE WOMEN ARTISTS AT THE FRIST ART MUSEUM

Opportunities to see large-scale exhibitions of contemporary and historical art by Native American women don’t come along often. With last fall’s Hearts of Our People, the Frist Art Museum brought that experience to Nashville in a spectacular way. It showed Native American women as imaginative, worldclass artists. The displays encouraged visitors to consider the artists, tribes and nations represented in multifaceted

ways. Through media such as sculpture, textile, photography and installation, themes of legacy, relationships and power emerged. The traveling exhibition started at the Minneapolis Museum of Art, is now at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and will head to the Philbrook Museum of Art next. SARA LEE BURD

BEST EXHIBITION ADDRESSING SOCIAL ISSUES

OMARI BOOKER’S RED LINE AT CHANNEL TO CHANNEL

Omari Booker’s Red Line opened at Channel to Channel in November. It was a small display in an intimate gallery space, but it illuminated big-picture revelations about how 20th-century federal policies and mortgage lending practices combined to undercut generational wealth in communities of color across the country. Most importantly, Red Line demonstrated how artists can address social ills and educate their audiences while still creating striking, even iconic, works that transcend the limits of pedantic topical messaging. JOE NOLAN

BEST CURATORIAL CONCEPT, WRITERS’ CHOICE FABLE AT DAVID LUSK GALLERY

BEST NEW MURAL

‘THREE KINGS AND A QUEEN’

make Jean-Michel Basquiat’s paintings so memorable. He’s the man behind the colorful “Take Flight” mural on Charlotte Avenue and the vibrant walls outside The Loading Dock and Helping Our Music Evolve. But his talents have begun to reach beyond Nashville, too. He’s spread his joy to the streets of Atlanta; Memphis; Savannah, Ga.; Cincinnati; Gainesville, Fla., and more. No wall? No problem. Bongang also customizes shoes, hats and bags, so you can brighten every step you take. MEGAN SELING

Nashville murals are like TED Talks. There are too damn many of them, and you have to trudge through a lot of mediocrity to find the gold. But one local mural stands out this year as important. Near Lafayette Street and Murfreesboro Pike, Charles Key painted portraits of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Jocques Clemmons and Daniel Hambrick — the latter two were shot and killed by Metro Nashville police officers in the past three years. With months-long protests against systemic racism and police violence roiling the nation, Floyd and Taylor have become symbols for social change. We’re grateful that Key has paid tribute to those two, but also that he remembered Clemmons and Hambrick. It reminds us that national conversations should always lead us back home. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST CURATORIAL CONCEPT

FABLE AT DAVID LUSK GALLERY

As an artist, Amelia Briggs finds playful ways to evoke childhood curiosity in her sculptural works. It’s no wonder that when she found the book Famous Fables at a thrift shop, she decided to use it as creative

BEST MURALIST

BONGANG

You can’t help but smile when you first spot a Bongang mural. Painter Kevin Bongang pairs bold colors and shapes that recall Keith Haring’s supersized artwork with the kind of dynamic lines and details that

BEST NEW MURAL, WRITERS’ CHOICE “THREE KINGS AND A QUEEN,” CHARLES KEY

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“HER HARA III,” ANNE SIEMS

ARTISTS FOR TORNADO RELIEF AT ZEITGEIST

fodder. Taking the text as inspiration, she curated Fable at David Lusk Gallery, where she acts as gallery director. Briggs invited Ashley Doggett, Rob Matthews, Huger Foote, New Hat Projects, Mellow Mountain Coalition, Anne Siems, Leslie Holt, Emily Weiner and Terry Lynn to interpret the moralizing tales. True to the stories, animals dominated the imagery, and the art had a serious, lasting impact. SARA LEE BURD

BEST ART INSTALLATION

NUVEEN BARWARI’S NO FLY ZONE AT COOP GALLERY

Coop Gallery invited local artist Nuveen Barwari to use the gallery as a residency in the month of August, and her show No Fly Zone was tactile, educational and straight gorgeous. The installation could be called a textile collage, although that doesn’t seem to do it justice. Tapestries

BEST ART INSTALLATION, WRITERS’ CHOICE NUVEEN BARWARI’S NO FLY ZONE AT COOP GALLERY

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

BEST FUNDRAISER THROUGH ART

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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Arts, Music & Culture Writers’ Choice

streamed down from the ceiling. An altered Persian rug on the floor resembled a portal. A large wall piece called “OPERATION THINK PINK quilt” was juxtaposed with traditional Kurdish garments and American pop-culture images. Part of Barwari’s work is uncovering the lives of Kurdish activists and artists whose voices have been suppressed. She paid tribute to them here, framing their photos with brightly colored fabrics and silk flowers. Throughout the month, she used the space to facilitate conversations about peace, protection, history and heritage. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST TINY ART

DEVIN DRAKE’S A COLLECTION OF PLACES AT THE RYMER GALLERY

When Ann Markusen and Anne Gadwa Nicodemus coined the term “creative placemaking” in 2010, they pointed to a process in which “partners from public, private, nonprofit and community sectors strategically shape the physical and social character of a neighborhood, town, city or region around arts and cultural activities.” Devin Drake isn’t doing all of that, but his intricately detailed miniature models of Nashville’s actual defunct public telephones and bus stop benches use the power of art to elevate our experience with quotidian spaces. Drake makes mini monuments to the mundane, allowing us to see the workaday sights of our city through new eyes. JOE NOLAN

BEST ART-WORLD MVP

BRYCE McCLOUD

Bryce McCloud has long been a champion for Nashvillians, whether through his Our Town public art projects or the series of portraits he organized for Noelle. It’s no surprise, then, that when COVID-19 took over our city, McCloud was quick to action. His Communication Station, an oversized marquee in the back of a pickup, was emblazoned with friendly but direct messages that functioned almost like haiku: “Normal never / really / worked / let’s try / something kinder.” Then came a series of public-service-style graphics, like the one with a dog and cat tapping

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their hind paws together, encouraging others to “put the PAWS on handshakes.” Not every artist has the visual command of unironic kindness that McCloud does, and it’s a quality we appreciate this year especially. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

BEST POLITICAL ART EXHIBITION

SISAVANH PHOUTHAVONG’S THE INFINITE MONSOON AT TINNEY CONTEMPORARY

Tinney Contemporary kicked off 2020 with a bang, hosting Sisavanh Phouthavong’s sprawling display of art and sculpture that responded to America’s devastating Vietnam-era bombing campaigns in Laos and Cambodia. The Infinite Monsoon spoke to the turbulence of war and refugee life, as well as to the lasting legacies found in the third-culture experiences of Laotian Americans like Phouthavong. The fact that this was one of the last shows many of us saw in person before COVID-19 arrived in Nashville only makes it more powerful. JOE NOLAN

BEST ECO-FOCUSED ARTIST SERIES

A HISTORY OF SNOW BY CAROLINE ALLISON

While Nashville may not get much snow, most of us know the excitement of a snow day. In the era of global warming, Caroline Allison wondered if snow will even exist in her children’s future. In A History of Snow, she documents frozen splendor in photographic images. A cyanotype in the series captures the thrill of a snowball fight, and for good reason: She actually threw one at cyanotype paper, capturing the appearance of the exploded snowball itself. We can only hope that in the future, kids will have the opportunity to make memories of chilly battles of their own. SARA LEE BURD

BEST GALLERY WE’LL MISS

GROUND FLOOR GALLERY + STUDIOS

Artist-run spaces are the lifeblood of an arts ecosystem. Prior to the recent renovation of the old May Hosiery Mill in Wedgewood-Houston, the building housed a bevy of artists and artisans. Among the collectives were Fort Houston, Seed Space

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

BEST ART-WORLD MVP, WRITERS’ CHOICE BRYCE McCLOUD

BEST HISTORICAL EXHIBITION, WRITERS’ CHOICE RATIFIED! TENNESSEE WOMEN AND THE RIGHT TO VOTE AT THE TENNESSEE STATE MUSEUM and Ground Floor Gallery + Studios, the latter of which closed shop this summer after eight great years. Artist and founder Janet Decker Yanez created a haven for artists of many visual mediums. When space opened up down the road on Fourth Avenue, Yanez expanded her roster of residents, among them Amanda Joy Brown, Matt Christy, Carri Jobe, Morgan HigbyFlowers and many more. The gallery hosted several shows each year, exhibiting work by both resident and visiting artists, as well as an annual juried show. Ground Floor was a place where artists could experiment and play, and Yanez always offered a welcoming smile and a bowl of M&Ms to visitors. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST ILLUSTRATOR

EMILY MILLER

Since I first spotted Emily Miller’s drawing of a fragile fawn wheat-pasted on a wall in Hillsboro Village five years ago, the artist has been among my favorite illustrators. She has moved beyond pretty woodland creatures, using her talents for direct social commentary and community fundraising. She designed a T-shirt emblazoned with a tipsy armadillo to raise money for Dino’s staff during COVID-19 and gathered funds for the ACLU with sales of a bumper sticker featuring a hungry alligator and the advice “Eat Racists.” A personal favorite is the pro-voting button that reads “Give a shit, VOTE!” along with a grinning dog taking a dump. Ha! Poop. Always funny. MEGAN SELING

BEST ART T-SHIRTS

MARLOS E’VAN’S YEAH ROCKS! T-SHIRTS

You may have seen artist Marlos E’van’s street-art-inspired paintings on buildings and fences around Nashville, or on the walls of The Red Arrow Gallery, Channel to Channel and the Frist Art Museum. But if you’ve ever seen E’van’s gold rings, colorful dreadlocks and black berets, you know he’s almost as concerned with fashion as he is with his paintings and sculptures. E’van married his two passions with a display of painted T-shirts at Julia Martin Gallery back in June. E’van and Martin created a

socially distanced display in the gallery’s front porch window, and E’van’s music video segment was the highlight of that month’s Virtual Art Crawl. The shirts sold out almost immediately, and half of the earnings were donated to Youth Empowerment through Arts & Humanities. JOE NOLAN

BEST HISTORICAL EXHIBITION

RATIFIED! TENNESSEE WOMEN AND THE RIGHT TO VOTE AT THE TENNESSEE STATE MUSEUM

There is no single suffrage story. The history is made up of thousands of stories — personal, public and political — that are scattered across the country. The Tennessee State Museum celebrated the ratification of the 19th Amendment with a topflight exhibition that filled two expansive galleries and around 100 years of activism. Just about everyone knows that Tennessee cast the deciding vote for federal ratification, but the museum goes to great lengths to document the women — Black and white, rich and poor — of Tennessee who made that vote possible. Ratified! is a stunning achievement that should make every Tennessean proud. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST UNIVERSITY EXHIBITION

VISIONARY APONTE: ART AND BLACK FREEDOM AT VANDERBILT FINE ARTS GALLERY

The Afro-Cuban artist and activist José Antonio Aponte was tried and executed in Havana after being linked to an antislavery conspiracy in 1812. Aponte’s Book of Paintings was lost after his beheading, but his descriptions of it remain. It portrayed Black kings and warriors, biblical stories and even librarians. Some claim it was a roadmap to revolution, others a vision for a future Black kingdom, and others a promotion of Ethiopian history. In Visionary Aponte, 20 top international artists — previously rarely if ever seen in Nashville — supplied work based on Aponte’s testimony. Combining Caribbean history, revolution and art, the exhibition provided an insightful multimedia encounter. SARA LEE BURD

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Arts, Music & Culture Writers’ Choice NERVE: THE FEMALE BODY IN WOMEN’S ART AT WILDER

Women are so often defined by their bodies, and plenty of male artists have framed the female form on their canvases and through their lenses. But women artists have made bodies the sites of political and subversive acts. They’ve embraced fetishization. They’ve enacted rituals and cast spells. The Scene’s arts editor and longtime critic Laura Hutson Hunter has spent nearly a decade training her eye on the city’s visual art scene. When she proposed curating an exhibition series, we knew it would be good. Adult Contemporary kicked off in February with Nerve: The Female Body in Women’s Art, hosted by the then-Germantownbased company Wilder. Nerve included work by Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Elizabeth Glaessner, Shannon Cartier Lucy, Karen Seapker, WIFE and others in a bold, refreshing array of paintings, photographs and videos. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST POETRY COLLECTION

MEG WADE’S SLICK LIKE DARK

This year, Meg Wade’s poetry collection Slick Like Dark established her as one of Nashville’s most talented poets. The collection is about violence and sex, grief and desire, deep woods and dark cellars. “If something is beautiful,” Wade writes, “it’s frightening.” Slick Like Dark implores us not to look away from darkness, but to explore what we find there and use it for

survival. It’s rare that I read a collection of poetry in one sitting, but Slick Like Dark is so intensely readable, the speaker’s journey through trauma so dramatic, that I was finished before I knew it. This book will mark you. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST NEWSLETTER

MARY LAURA PHILPOTT’S ‘A BOOK, A LINK, A SONG, AND A PICTURE’

When I look in my inbox, I often see subject lines like, “Zoom meeting with seven people in 15 minutes,” or, “The World Is the Hottest It’s Ever Been,” or, “The Pandemic Might Never End.” So when one pops up that says something like, “Hilarious memoir, bird faces, feelings, and a flying whale,” my body relaxes, I smile, and I know I can handle this one. Author Mary Laura Philpott’s “A book, a link, a song, and a picture” email newsletter offers just that. Her book recs, cute pet videos and musings are a light, fun and unpretentious treat in a world full of doom and gloom. AMANDA HAGGARD

BEST BOOK ABOUT THE BEST RESTAURANT

JORDAN RITTER CONN’S THE ROAD FROM RAQQA

Maybe the only thing better than a delicious meal from Hendersonville staple Café Rakka is learning the story of its chef, Riyad Alkasem, and his family. Chef Riyad’s path from Syria to Sumner County is a bumpy triumph of faith, luck and good old-fashioned immigrant hustle, and his tale unspools irresistibly BEST NSFW EXHIBITION, WRITERS’ CHOICE NERVE: THE FEMALE BODY IN WOMEN’S ART AT WILDER

BEST MEMOIR, WRITERS’ CHOICE LISA DONOVAN’S OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HUNGER

from Jordan Ritter Conn’s capable hands. Among the many things Ritter Conn’s The Road From Raqqa does well: It makes an ancient city half a world away, which many of us have only seen as a bombed-out shell, come alive as a place of lazy river swims, courtyard stargazing and unbreakable love. STEVE HARUCH

BEST MEMOIR

LISA DONOVAN’S OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HUNGER

“MORNING PRAYER,” SHANNON CARTIER LUCY

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

BEST NSFW EXHIBITION

A good memoir is well-written and tells a compelling story. A great memoir goes even further — it pulls back the curtain on a hidden world, staying with you long after you’ve finished. James Beard Award winner Lisa Donovan’s Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger is that kind of memoir. It’s full of beautiful cadence and astute observations, not to mention a much-needed examination of the restaurant industry, something Donovan says has become “something that chewed you up but never spit you out — a thing that just kept you in its mouth like tobacco, sucking the juices out of you.” LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

BEST NOVEL

ALICE RANDALL’S BLACK BOTTOM SAINTS

Black Bottom Saints is more than a novel. It’s a summoning of Black luminaries.

Swirling fact with fiction, author Alice Randall anchors the novel with Joseph “Ziggy” Johnson — the real-life MC, theater director and general doyen of Detroit’s Black Bottom neighborhood in the mid-20th century. From his hospital bed, Johnson pays tribute to the melanated artists, athletes and entertainers who made a mark on the Motor City. Randall employs the literary rhythms of a skilled orator, elevating Dinah Washington, Joe Lewis, Robert Hayden and 49 others to sainthood in memorable vignettes. Each ends with a proposed libation in the form of a cocktail recipe. Black Bottom Saints is a love letter to Detroit — and to Black culture. A must-read. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST WAY TO DREAM

DREAM DELIVERY SERVICE

Recalling the pre-pandemic month of February feels like having a dream — especially thanks to a visit from a man named Mathias Svalina. The nomadic poet travels the country, delivering prose poems to people who subscribe to his service. His stop in Nashville, arranged by The Free Nashville Poetry Library, lasted for about a month earlier this year. During his stay, he delivered a pink envelope to my door every day by bicycle. Each included a surreal prose poem. In these “dreams,” as he calls them, I showed Buddy Holly how to use

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Arts, Music & Culture Writers’ Choice

PHOTO: TIFFANY BESSIRE

BEST CONTEMPORARY DRAMA, WRITERS’ CHOICE PIPELINE AT NASHVILLE REPERTORY THEATRE

BEST MOVE FROM LIVE PERFORMANCE TO VIDEO, WRITERS’ CHOICE JANA HARPER’S THIS HOLDING: TRACES OF CONTACT VIA OZ ARTS his hotel room key, befriended an elderly woman at a Rage Against the Machine concert, designed a role-playing game based on my autobiography and more. By turns whimsical, funny and moving, the Dream Delivery Service managed to transport me to a state of being that would satisfy fans of Kafka and Lynch alike. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST CONTEMPORARY DRAMA

PIPELINE AT NASHVILLE REPERTORY THEATRE

In a season packed with strong performances, the Nashville Rep managed to raise the bar with its powerful production of Dominique Morisseau’s engrossing drama Pipeline. As always, director Jon Royal demonstrated a crystal-clear vision, pulling together a fabulous team of actors and designers to present this scorching tale of race, class and the American education system. Alicia Haymer and Gerold Oliver turned in game-changing performances and were backed by outstanding supporting players. And local artist Omari Booker’s vibrant paintings — projected onto the stage during scene transitions — gave the piece an added layer of polish and emotional authenticity. AMY STUMPFL

has taken on iconic roles in comedies, dramas, musicals and even a couple of operas. This season found M.M.C. in great demand — leading Nashville Rep’s marvelous cast of Urinetown: The Musical as Penelope Pennywise, taking on the title role in Nashville Children’s Theatre’s delightful Auntie Claus, delivering the perfect Princess Leia in Pipeline-Collective’s A Very Special Live Staged Reading of The Star Wars Holiday Special, and playing the hairdresser with a heart of gold in Studio Tenn’s Steel Magnolias. She even managed to conquer the digital format, infusing the Rep’s virtual Broadway Brunch at Night with her signature style and sass. AMY STUMPFL

BEST STAY-HOME THEATER EXPERIENCE

VERGE THEATER COMPANY’S VIRTUAL CABARET Theater happens live and in person. That’s the whole point. The pandemic has forced theater companies to either go dark or adapt, and the small-but-mighty Verge Theater Company nimbly adapted to the virtual space with a cabaret. The company accepted submissions from all over the country, requiring that each one include the word “Idaho.” Directed by all-stars Nettie Kraft, Jaclynn Jutting and Tessa Bryant, the cabaret featured a variety of innovative acts — some funny, some sad and some just straight-up weird. Standouts included Amanda Card’s chopped-liver-

BEST COMEDIC ACTOR, WRITERS’ CHOICE MEGAN MURPHY CHAMBERS

puppet show and Taylor Simon’s hilarious “Fry the Spud” music video. Idaho never sounded so fun. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST MOVE FROM LIVE PERFORMANCE TO VIDEO

JANA HARPER’S THIS HOLDING: TRACES OF CONTACT VIA OZ ARTS

When sheltering in place began, many people began watching the daylight change, spending more time in nature and avoiding contact with other people. Artist and Vanderbilt professor Jana Harper incorporated these realities into a revised vision of This Holding: Traces of Contact, which was scheduled to premiere live at OZ Arts. Rather than cancel the visual art and dance performance, she and her collaborators — choreographer Rebecca Steinberg, musician Moksha Sommer and filmmaker Sam Boyette — created a video adaptation that brilliantly captured the moment. The original idea of the work — to portray internal struggles through movement and interaction with sculptural objects — remained, and resonated even more with an audience besieged by the global pandemic. SARA LEE BURD

BEST STAGE PERFORMANCE

BEST SMALL-STAGE PLAY

Few roles bear the weight of audience expectations more than that of Blanche DuBois, the Southern belle at the center of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire. She is as fragile as one of her paper lanterns — yet at the same time, she seems unstoppable for most of the play. Vivian Lee’s performance in the 1951 cinematic adaptation looms large in the public’s imagination, and I don’t envy an actor looking to make Blanche her own. The Nashville Rep took on Streetcar in February, and Karen Sternberg’s portrayal of the leading lady was captivating. She brought cunning, grace and vulnerability to the well-known role, plus an unexpected dose of humor that played just fine. ERICA CICCARONE

Small professional theater companies are the lifeblood of Nashville’s scene. They champion new works, cultivate talent and take risks. Woven Theatre Company is among Nashville’s best, and the group’s production of Initiative — performed in September 2019 at The Barbershop Theater — has stuck with me. Written by Jacob York and directed by Sam Lowery, the play showed a close-knit group of adult friends who use Dungeons & Dragons to come to terms with some of life’s greatest challenges: illness, death and acceptance. The cast members — Jonah Jackson, Sarah Zanotti, J.R. Robles, Alyssa Borg and Diego Gomez — easily endeared themselves to the audience in this celebration of nerddom and friendship. ERICA CICCARONE

KAREN STERNBERG IN A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

BEST COMEDIC ACTOR

INITIATIVE BY WOVEN THEATRE COMPANY

MEGAN MURPHY CHAMBERS Is there anything Megan Murphy Chambers can’t do? Over the years, she

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Arts, Music & Culture Writers’ Choice on my mind ever since I saw it. Belmont University’s Crumbs From the Table of Joy by acclaimed playwright Lynn Nottage tells the story of a Black 1950s-era family grieving the loss of its matriarch. Director jeff obafemi carr inspired excellent performances by Phaedra McDowell, Tea Sherrill, Ryan Browning, Janey Elliott and — especially — Althea Baldwin. Produced by Belmont professor Paul Gatrell, Crumbs showed us that the future of theater looks bright. ERICA CICCARONE

BEST NEW COLLABORATION

BEST WAY TO SEE A DRAG SHOW DURING A PANDEMIC, WRITERS’ CHOICE DRAG DRIVE-IN

BEST FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY

MACBETH AT THE NASHVILLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL

In the dark, dreary days of winter, the Nashville Shakespeare Festival stepped up with a particularly robust staging of Macbeth. Director David Wilkerson set the Bard’s classic tragedy in a brutal postapocalyptic world, balancing the play’s supernatural elements with a palpable sense of earthly decay and desperation. But along with the striking design and excellent performances, Wilkerson and co-fight-director Carrie Brewer created some truly memorable battle scenes. With a clash of swords and intricate fight choreography that shifted back and forth between slow motion and real time, this production of the Scottish play proved both savage and satisfying. AMY STUMPFL

BEST WAY TO SEE A DRAG SHOW DURING A PANDEMIC

DRAG DRIVE-IN

PHOTO: MMA2LA

Have you ever heard a car horn beep along to Lizzo’s “Juice,” or “Toxic” by Britney Spears? No? Well, I can tell you that it’s a total delight. Add to that a lineup of stellar drag queens putting on one helluva show in the parking lot of Studio 615 and you have Drag Drive-In. The Scene co-hosted the event with Hatch and The Good Neighbor Festival, but we can hardly take credit for the talent. I loved being able to safely watch

a show — and being able to tip the queens via Venmo while their regular gigs were canceled was a nice bonus. And the free swag (Huge fold-out fan! Candy! Poster! Mask!) was also incredible. AMANDA HAGGARD

BEST LIT-TO-DANCE ADAPTATION

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE AT NASHVILLE BALLET

Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play A Streetcar Named Desire has long fascinated audiences, inspiring countless adaptations to stage and screen. But Nashville Ballet’s superb staging provided an especially dynamic evening of dance and storytelling. The award-winning production was created by acclaimed international choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and London-based director Nancy Meckler, and this staging was the first time it had ever been performed by a U.S. ballet company — and the first time a Southern woman had danced the part of Blanche DuBois. Company artist Julia Eisen was sensational in the role, turning in a performance that was by turns dazzling and devastating. AMY STUMPFL

BEST STUDENT PLAY

BEST WAY TO CELEBRATE FREEDOM

FROM THE BACK OF THE BUS

In February at Fisk Chapel, a confluence of Nashville artists celebrated the vision and courage of seven local Freedom Riders — Rip Patton, Allen Cason, Etta Rae Simpson, Frederick Leonard, Mary Jean Smith, Joy Leonard and Patricia Armstrong — with song. Youth program Choral Arts Link partnered with contemporary music ensemble Intersection on the music, creating a program that honored composers Florence Price and Nkeiru Okoye. Teree Campbelle McCormick and director Jon Royal created the connective tissue of the event, tying together the performances with a loose narrative about Price, Harriet Tubman and Diane Nash. The production

THE BELCOURT DRIVE-IN

In late August, the folks at independent local arthouse the Belcourt Theatre announced they’d soon begin screening films in their parking lot, drive-in style. The series was an immediate hit — the Belcourt Drive-In has been so popular with cinema-starved local film buffs, in fact, that screenings often sell out in seconds. Well, that’s just more incentive to become a Belcourt member, if you aren’t one already: Members get first dibs on purchasing tickets — and with excellent new releases on the docket in recent weeks (Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President, First Cow, Kajillionaire) alongside great repertory titles (The Birds, Raising Arizona, Stop Making Sense), making sure you’re at the front of the line is a great idea. The best part? Your membership will help support Nashville’s beloved nonprofit film center at a time when it, like many independent arts centers, could really use it. D. PATRICK RODGERS

BEST RECURRING MOVIE NIGHT

MUSIC CITY MONDAYS AT THE BELCOURT

The Belcourt has long been Nashville’s primary place for cinematic alternatives, and its Music City Mondays series has been a haven for choice documentaries and feature films spotlighting or devoted to music. They’ve also been very idiomatically diverse in the offerings, from a film about the outstanding but hardly well-known drummer Milford Graves to more popular fare about country, pop, rock and even African music. Sadly the pandemic has temporarily put a halt to the Belcourt’s regular programming and thus the series, but the theater filled in the gap by making many wonderful music films available to stream, among them Jazz on a Summer’s Day and Mr. Soul! Let’s hope that soon the series resumes, because it makes Monday a very special day for lovers of great films and music. RON WYNN

CRUMBS FROM THE TABLE OF JOY AT BELMONT UNIVERSITY A late-September 2019 production was a tad too late for inclusion in last year’s Best of Nashville issue, but this one has stayed

BEST LIT-TO-DANCE ADAPTATION, WRITERS’ CHOICE A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE AT NASHVILLE BALLET

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Collaboration is vital to the success of any arts community. So expectations were high when Nashville Opera and the Nashville Film Festival teamed up for the first Opera Noir Filmfest. The project invited some of Tennessee’s most daring filmmakers to create two-minute blackand-white films inspired by Nashville Opera artistic director John Hoomes’ new noir staging of Verdi’s Rigoletto. Winners were announced and screened at the ohso-posh Black & White Bash on March 1. And while COVID-19 forced Nashville Opera to push Rigoletto to its 2021 season, the new partnership proved to be a creative — and stylish — hit. AMY STUMPFL

BEST EXCUSE TO BECOME A BELCOURT MEMBER

BEST EXCUSE TO BECOME A BELCOURT MEMBER, WRITERS’ CHOICE THE BELCOURT DRIVE-IN

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

PHOTO: CHRISTY BRYAN

NASHVILLE OPERA AND NASHVILLE FILM FESTIVAL’S OPERA NOIR FILMFEST

was moving and pure, and it built a bridge across generations. ERICA CICCARONE

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Arts, Music & Culture Writers’ Choice BEST ‘MIDNIGHT’ MOVIE EXPERIENCE

THE BELCOURT’S TWITCH STREAMS

Not even a pandemic could keep the Belcourt Midnight Movies down. Rather than spike the after-hours screening series after the theater closed, the arthouse decided to pivot to Twitch and have its staff host a chat room with all your favorite Belcourt regulars in attendance. The always-loony pre-shows continued to entertain viewers before we pressed the play button, and staffers provided hilarious live commentary on screen throughout. Close your eyes and imagine that Technicolor Belcourt Midnights logo and techno jingle, followed by some gonzo commercial or ’90s music video. It’s nearly as satisfying from the couch. CORY WOODROOF

BEST WAY TO RESPONSIBLY PUT THE PANDEMIC ON THE BACK BURNER

THE MIDDLE TENNESSEE DRIVE-IN THEATER COMMUNITY

I’m someone whose religious affiliation is moviegoer, and thus the COVID-19 pandemic has been hitting me, and the community, hard. There are heaps of streaming options and physical media for those wisely opting to avoid regular theaters. But there’s something about the call to experience new art in some form of social setting that has left me deeply grateful for the drive-ins operating around the Nashville area. The Stardust in Watertown, The Montana in Estill Springs, The Pink Cadillac in Centerville, The Franklin (just across the border in Franklin, Kentucky), The Moonlite in Woodbury, and now the Belcourt as well. Thanks for keeping the magic alive in as safe a way as possible for the public. JASON SHAWHAN

BEST DINNER AND A MOVIE

PLAZA MARIACHI

My car has a decent sound system (better than my house, I admit), so I was pretty stoked about all the pop-up drive-in movie “theaters” this year. Plaza Mariachi’s occasional Friday night picks include movies in English with subtitles, food vendors in the ample parking lot and access to the regular food stalls inside. Because the only thing that makes a good movie under a starry night sky (albeit it through the moonroof) better is one that includes fresh tacos and guac. Yes, that is why my car smells like cilantro and onion. MARGARET LITTMAN

BEST WAY TO CELEBRATE THE OSCARS

THE BELCOURT’S OSCARS SERIES AND RED CARPET EVENING

The fact that we got a full-fledged Oscars ceremony is a miracle in a year like this. And the fact that we got to again ring in awards season at the Belcourt is even better. Thanks to the theater’s bookings of Best Picture nominees, Nashville saw its first theatrical run of Netflix’s Marriage Story as well as another chance to see Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman on the big screen. The series also gave us a good excuse to go rewatch Parasite, the eventual winner of the Academy’s top prize. The theater’s

Red Carpet Evening gives Belcourt fans an opportunity to join a glitzy gala at the arthouse and take in the ceremony on the big screen. CORY WOODROOF

BEST SOLO ARTIST, WRITERS’ CHOICE BECCA MANCARI

BEST FILM SCORE

WILLIAM TYLER, MUSIC FROM FIRST COW

Director Kelly Reichardt’s tender period drama First Cow was initially slated to open in the spring at the Belcourt, but was ultimately released via video on demand this summer. It’s a beautiful, heartwrenching film made all the more affecting by noted guitarist William Tyler’s score. Though Tyler moved to Los Angeles several years ago, we still like to claim the native Nashvillian as one of our own, particularly when his work tugs at the heartstrings as well as Music From First Cow does. Using meditative fingerpicked guitars — and a little bit of dulcimer — the musician crafted a placid, evocative background for Reichardt’s tale of friendship and struggle in the 19th-century Pacific Northwest. Now available for purchase both digitally and on vinyl, Music From First Cow is also a lovely listen all on its own. D. PATRICK RODGERS

BEST ALT-COMEDY PROMOTER

SETH POMEROY

When it comes to local stand-up, Seth Pomeroy isn’t in the loop, he is the loop. The 38-year-old’s monthly regional showcases at East Nashville’s Anaconda Vintage and pop-up shows for bigger-name comics at Soft Junk strategically built rapport between Southern stand-ups and their L.A. brethren. Pomeroy is pathologically dedicated to the craft and to his community, and you won’t find a bigger believer in comedy’s ability to move mountains in a broken society. Pomeroy has also spent the past half-decade on a documentary about comedian-musician, Scene contributor and all-around eccentric Chris Crofton that hopefully the forced quarantine has brought closer to fruition. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

BEST COMEDY UP-AND-COMERS

K.C. SHORNIMA AND CHANCE WILLIE (TIE)

Explore Nashville’s fertile stand-up scene and you’ll see these 25-year-old comicsabout-town consistently bringing it. K.C. Shornima was born in Nepal (“if you don’t know where it is, ask any guy with dreadlocks”) and keenly plays her youthful, ambiguously ethnic appearance for laughs. In her day job as a middle school teacher she’s often mistaken for a student, and it has given her an unwitting window into the lurid minds of teenage boys — and a wealth of blue jokes. Chattanooga native Chance Willie’s college-bro look is a clever ruse for witty, intelligent comedy delivered with mile-a-minute energy and a mischievous flair. His take on his hometown guarantees you’ll never see River City any other way: “The nature’s so pretty that you don’t notice everybody’s hooked on pain pills. Welcome to Chattanooga, where every sunset is a Percocet. Enjoy your stay!” CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

BEST REPURPOSING OF A VENUE

DRKMTTR

If you’ve seen a group of people gathered in front of East Side all-ages space Drkmttr recently, it’s not for a punk, metal, hip-hop, dance music or indie-rock show. Since its launch in 2015, Drkmttr has been a creative force in the community — hosting music, movies, art and even game nights. But the COVID-19 shutdown caused coowners Kathryn Edwards, Chappy Hull and Olivia Scibelli to rethink their role in the community. In a bid to make the world a better place beyond their usual sphere of influence, they’ve hosted meetings for political activist groups like Teens for Equality and an event for progressive congressional candidate Keeda Haynes. Edwards launched a Drkmttr podcast through Michael Eades’ We Own This Town network. And the venue’s team is currently planning a virtual music fest in partnership with Queen Ave Collective. They will soon be renovating the former kitchen into a community classroom and meeting area, providing space for new outreach efforts. Also, Drkmttr is now home of The Nashville Free Store, an organization that provides food, school supplies, toiletries and more to anyone in need, no questions asked. While these seem like enormous undertakings — and they certainly are — the broader family that surrounds the arts space has supported these efforts via Patreon, GoFundMe, food donations and volunteer work. Even when the needs of Nashvillians change dramatically, as in a pandemic, the do-ittogether spirit that powers spaces like Drkmttr rises to the occasion. P.J. KINZER

as queer to her evangelical Christian family. But the songs — rendered in an effortlessly fluid style that draws on ’70s rock, pop and a bit of disco with help from producer and co-writer Zac Farro — communicate tremendous strength and address different ways to heal, or at least to make progress. In the standout “First Time,” Mancari revisits the line “I remember the first time my dad didn’t hug me back” several times. Over the course of the song, she turns it from an expression of devastating grief to one of empowered resolve. In light of the work that Mancari and her family have done to rebuild their relationship, she was reluctant at first to be as open as she is in her songs, but she knew what good they could do. “I felt like it was important for people who I know have similar experiences,” Mancari said. “And even for parents to listen to these songs — ‘First Time’ in particular — and to think, ‘I have the choice to hug my child back.’ ” STEPHEN TRAGESER

BEST ALBUM

BULLY, SUGAREGG

To write and record Bully’s third fulllength, Sugaregg, all frontwoman Alicia Bognanno had to do was ... well, abandon every creative comfort she’s ever known. After prioritizing her mental health and treating the debilitating symptoms of recently diagnosed bipolar disorder, Bognanno made the conscious decision to trust her gut — a practice that, surprisingly, wasn’t a priority in the past. Not only did she give up her usual role as producer,

BEST SOLO ARTIST

BECCA MANCARI

Becca Mancari has one of the gentlest singing voices of any Nashville musician, and most of her songs could work as a lullaby. But Mancari is living proof that you don’t have to be able to rattle the rafters to carry extraordinary power in your music. Her second LP The Greatest Part, released in June, traces the contours of the impacts that painful experiences have left on her life, centered around her coming out

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Arts, Music & Culture Writers’ Choice inviting John Congleton to take the helm, she also made good use of instruments she never dared use before, like sleigh bells, an EBow and an acoustic guitar. The result is a record that’s loaded not just with Bully’s trademark melody-driven grunge gems, but some ethereal, contemplative jams too, all of which encompass a lightness you couldn’t hear in past efforts. Sugaregg is Bully’s best album yet. And if we’re lucky, it’s just the beginning of Bognanno’s newly found creative confidence. MEGAN SELING

BEST POP ALBUM, WRITERS’ CHOICE HAYLEY WILLIAMS, PETALS FOR ARMOR

born singer, songwriter and producer helped invent soul music in the 1960s, when he produced and co-wrote classic hits for Memphis posters The Box Tops. His new album Living on Mercy — his first fully produced effort in 26 years — sums up the career of a major figure in American music. The LP registers as intricate, pop-friendly R&B. Oh yeah — it’s also plenty soulful. EDD HURT

BEST HIP-HOP EP

LACKHONEY, SWEETS

BEST HIP-HOP ALBUM

BRIAN BROWN, JOURNEY

The reality of hip-hop in Nashville is that, like with barbecue, the city isn’t exactly known for a specific style. What makes Tim Gent or Starlito or Daisha McBride

pressings of the 12-inch. The LP is still available from distros like Goner Records and Total Punk, and you can get the record digitally via Bandcamp, where 100 percent of profits go to North Nashville community organization Gideon’s Army. P.J. KINZER

BEST COUNTRY ALBUM

WAYLON PAYNE, BLUE EYES, THE HARLOT, THE QUEER, THE PUSHER & ME

“Nashville rappers” is more about a sense of place than a genre. On Journey, Brian Brown embraces that notion with a debut album that reflects contemporary Nashville in a deep way. Journey is about watching your home change and how that changes you. Brown reflects on gentrification and how that growth doesn’t make its way down to the people who give the city its character and drive its economy. Packed with timely insights and featuring only Tennessee natives, Brown’s debut isn’t just a great record — it says something valuable and vital about the city he grew up in. LANCE CONZETT

BEST AMERICANA ALBUM

LILLY HIATT, WALKING PROOF Even if they weren’t catchy, songs like the poignant “Some Kind of Drug” and the rollicking “Never Play Guitar” from Lilly Hiatt’s standout fourth LP Walking Proof deserve to be remembered. Amid a nimble balance of country and folk influences and various flavors of rock whipped up with her bandmates, Hiatt finds harmony between the power of self-reliance and the importance of recognizing the connections you have with other people, even if you don’t know them. STEPHEN TRAGESER

BEST PUNK RECORD

SCHIZOS, SCHIZOS

For their banger of a debut LP, Schizos revive specters of formative punk, with hints of Stooges fuzz, some lo-fi Germs-esqe proto-hardcore and a nod to early Black Flag. But Schizos make it their own. Not just locals think this: Sweet Time Records has already sold through the first two

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Fans of Waylon Payne had to wait a long time for new solo material from the country singer-songwriter — his debut album, The Drifter, came out way back in 2004. His second full-length Blue Eyes, the Harlot, the Queer, the Pusher & Me was well worth the wait, and is a triumph for reasons far beyond its cicada-like gestation period. Much of the album chronicles Payne’s addiction to methamphetamine and subsequent recovery, telling his story in raw, gut-wrenching detail over gorgeous arrangements that place Payne’s virtuosic vocals front and center. With Blue Eyes, Payne reminds us that he is not only one of the genre’s most gifted songwriters — he’s one of our best singers, too. BRITTNEY McKENNA

BEST POP ALBUM

HAYLEY WILLIAMS, PETALS FOR ARMOR

It’s no secret to even the most casual Paramore listener that Hayley Williams is an immensely gifted vocalist. The band’s take on radio-ready pop punk was always made more compelling by Williams’ vocals, which draw more heavily from soul and gospel than the Warped Tour roster. On her debut solo album Petals for Armor, her voice is stronger and more versatile than ever, amid sounds inspired by Janet Jackson and Björk, and her songwriting takes a turn for the personal. “I’m not lonely, babe / I am free / Finally,” she sings on “Cinnamon,” at once vulnerable and defiant. We’re lucky to bear witness. BRITTNEY McKENNA

BEST ROCK ALBUM

BLACK BRA, BLACK BRA

Longtime-MVP Middle Tennessee singerguitarist Beth Cameron is best known for her band Forget Cassettes, but that might change in the wake of Black Bra. The

eponymous LP is the debut release from a new group of first-rate local players who Cameron hand-picked to call some demons into the light. The album is a full-throated assault on personal traumas and the broader social ills they intersect with. It’s made up of long, winding trips into the deep dark, recalling the ingenuity of Kate Bush and the ferocity of PJ Harvey. STEPHEN TRAGESER

BEST CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL ALBUM

CRISTINA SPINEI, EX VOTO

Not that classical music needed another cataclysm, but 2020 has been an especially tough year for an art form that thrives more in the concert hall than the recording studio. Fortunately for Nashville-based contemporary classical composer Cristina Spinei, the recording studio has always been a second home. So while many classical musicians languished, Spinei distinguished herself with the release of her outstanding 2020 album Ex Voto. The album’s nine pieces feature the composer at the piano, performing works that are remarkable for their soulful melodies, graceful rhythms and sensuous harmonies. This is some of the most deeply personal music to come from this prolific composer, and Spinei’s elegant, finely detailed performances reward careful listening. JOHN PITCHER

BEST SOUL ALBUM

DAN PENN, LIVING ON MERCY Although Dan Penn has lived in Nashville since 1975, he has never become a typical Music City songwriter. The Alabama-

In 2018, Tierra Whack dropped an exercise in economy: a “visual auditory” album of 15 one-minute songs called Whack World, which opened up a new realm of what’s possible with music. On Sweets, Music City rapper Lackhoney took the Whack World format and cut it in half, giving himself only 30 seconds to capture your attention with one song before moving on to the next. Detractors might say that 30-second songs can only say so much, and that they only contribute to the TikTokification of youth culture. But that rush is what makes Sweets successful — it’s a prism that breaks Lackhoney’s world into tiny facets, all with different feelings and stories behind them. Is it a six-minute-long song? Is it a 12-song EP? It doesn’t really matter. Sweets is a daring look into the mind of one of Nashville’s most gifted rappers. LANCE CONZETT

BEST HIP-HOP SINGLE

THE WATCHMAN AND THA POET, ‘THE BALLAD OF DICK GREGORY’

The searing wit and incisive insights of spoken-word artist, rapper and cultural activist Rashad tha Poet and the phenomenal production skill of jazz bassist, composer and radio host Greg Bryant combine on a powerful single that does everything a lot of critics wish more commercial hip-hop did: entertain and inspire. The lyrics of “The Ballad of Dick Gregory” are crisp, the musical foundation steadily on point, and it’s clear Rashad absorbed the Gregory formula into his approach. Before he devoted the bulk of his time to the battle for social justice, Gregory was a groundbreaking and massively successful comic who utilized humor as a weapon against racist ignorance and oppression. While hopefully Rashad tha Poet won’t leave the entertainment world anytime soon, he shows with “The Ballad of Dick Gregory” that you don’t have to be on a picket line to wield a mighty voice against injustice. This is both a poignant tribute and a demand that others continue the mission Gregory championed throughout his life. RON WYNN

BEST IN-PERSON FESTIVAL

SPEWFEST V

Even if COVID-19 hadn’t put music festivals into hibernation for the foreseeable future, it’s tough to argue with Spewfest’s rise as one of Nashville’s best, most eclectic music festivals. Spread between stages at The East Room and The Cobra, Spewfest celebrates the best and brightest of Nashville’s punk, indie-rock and hip-hop artists. This year, festival organizers Cold Lunch Recordings learned from the anemic turnout for hip-

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Arts, Music & Culture Writers’ Choice BEST STREAMING SERIES

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

AMANDA SHIRES, I SO LOUNGING

BEST IN-PERSON FESTIVAL, WRITERS’ CHOICE SPEWFEST V hop headliners at The East Room during Spewfest IV, and booked rappers like Chuck Indigo and Kent Osborne alongside indie darlings like Quichenight and Sun Seeker on Cobra’s main stage. Throw in some surprises — like Primary Sound’s surprise gig on Cobra’s patio and a comedy stage at the East Room-adjacent Hail Dark Aesthetics — and Spewfest V is tough to top in any year. LANCE CONZETT

BEST IN-PERSON BENEFIT SHOW

TO NASHVILLE WITH LOVE

If the 2010 flood taught Nashville anything, it was how to mobilize a DIY relief effort that puts FEMA to shame. After a tornado tore through North Nashville, East Nashville, Donelson and beyond in March, the entire city jumped into the fray, putting in so many volunteer hours in the first weekend of recovery that folks had to be turned away. A musical expression of that larger-than-life help effort was emblematic in the blowout To Nashville With Love benefit concert at Marathon Music Works. The show, which happened just days before the city shut down in response to COVID-19, raised half a million dollars for tornado relief efforts on the

backs of electrifying performances by Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile, Yola, Old Crow Medicine Show and nearly two dozen other artists. When people say Nashville Strong, this is what they mean. LANCE CONZETT

BEST VIRTUAL TOUR

BILLY STRINGS, STREAMING STRINGS TOUR

The COVID-19 pandemic has been brutal for the music industry, especially since touring has become the primary source of income for most artists in the streaming era. Enter virtual shows, an imperfect but welcome way to enjoy live music and support artists in need until venues can open their doors again. In July, innovative bluegrasser Billy Strings toured several of Nashville’s best-loved venues, including Exit/In and the Station Inn, for a series of full-band shows streamed across various digital platforms. Strings and his band tailored each night’s show to the personality of its venue, making for a run of dates that offered new surprises each night and made patently obvious what a talented performer Strings is. BRITTNEY McKENNA

BEST STREAMING FESTIVAL

FAR OUT FREE FEST

Beyond being one of very few local festivals to go on in any form in 2020, June’s Far Out Free Fest succeeded because it didn’t try to replicate the real-life experience. Kari Leigh Ames and Brianne O’Neill put on a solid four nights of live and pre-taped sets with poetry readings, yoga, meditation, documentaries and experimental films celebrating psychedelia in Nashville and beyond. The fest felt cohesive, ran on time and looked and sounded excellent, offering a valuable blueprint for how future DIY fest-throwers can realistically pivot to the online realm. If it were a channel, I’d subscribe. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

BEST ONGOING R&B STREAMING EVENT

JASON ESKRIDGE, SUNDAY NIGHT SOUL

Vocalist, composer and instrumentalist Jason Eskridge adapted his long-running, successful Sunday Night Soul showcase to the pandemic with a stripped-down presentation, usually featuring one other guest at his East Nashville home studio.

BEST ONGOING COUNTRY STREAMING EVENT

HONKY TONK TUESDAYS

The online edition of Honky Tonk Tuesdays features house band The Cowpokes in full Western costumes, streaming from the show’s home at American Legion Post 82 in Inglewood and offering occasional pre-show dance lessons. Of the dozens and dozens of streams available, this is the one most likely to get me up off the couch and make me feel like I was there, not a voyeur in someone’s living room. The virtual tip jar helps the musicians replace some lost income, and recent shows have included fundraising to repair the outbuilding at the Legion that was badly damaged in a July fire. MARGARET LITTMAN

BEST ONGOING JAZZ STREAMING SHOWS

RUDY’S JAZZ ROOM

Rudy’s Jazz Room has become widely recognized as a host for not only many of Music City’s finest improvisational musicians, but top touring and veteran jazz acts as well. The club is fighting to keep its doors open during the pandemic, but they’ve managed to get many outstanding artists to participate in their weekly run of streaming shows. Rudy’s has also been home to some special events, most notably a fundraiser hosted by Greg Pogue that spotlighted almost every top jazz performer in town. While the venue owners hope to get some government help and to reopen at partial capacity as conditions improve, jazz fans should most certainly support Rudy’s streaming service, and enable a valuable part of this city’s music scene to survive. RON WYNN

BEST ONGOING R&B STREAMING EVENT, WRITERS’ CHOICE JASON ESKRIDGE, SUNDAY NIGHT SOUL

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

PHOTO: LANCE CONZETT

BEST IN-PERSON BENEFIT SHOW, WRITERS’ CHOICE TO NASHVILLE WITH LOVE

For 30 straight days in March and April, fiddler-singer-songwriter Amanda Shires resisted the isolation imposed by the coronavirus pandemic by welcoming us into her barn for I So Lounging, a livestream that was equal parts concert and chat show. The aptly named series featured her husband, Jason Isbell (also a musician), and a rotating crew of quarantined family and friends. It raised some money for musicians missing out on tour gigs (including Shires’ band) and provided a way for viewers to be stuck at home alone together. After a couple months off, Shires brought the livestream back as a weekly event in late July. Over the months, it has been a place for relaxed banter as well as collective mourning, like the episode dedicated to John Prine a day after his death in April. The show goes on. Like Shires sings on “Take on the Dark” from her 2018 record To the Sunset: “I know I said, ‘Everything’s gonna be OK’ / But what I meant to say was, ‘You’ll make it through.’ ” STEVEN HALE

The shift in format allowed him to spotlight his excellent skills on guitar, as well as the stirring vocals that are always at the center of his work. Now that The 5 Spot has boosted its streaming capability, Eskridge is back to presenting full sets from guest artists like Mike Hicks and Kyshona. Though there’s no audience present, Eskridge continues his mission to share the wealth of Music City’s soul and R&B communities. RON WYNN

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BEST MUSIC NEWSLETTER, WRITERS’ CHOICE WU FEI’S MUSIC DAILY

BEST USE OF FREE WI-FI IN THE NAME OF ROCK

THELMA AND THE SLEAZE

What do you do when it’s unsafe to play shows in person and your home internet connection isn’t reliable enough to stream from your house? If you’re Lauren “L.G.” Gilbert, leader of Thelma and the Sleaze, you throw your guitar and laptop into your van, tap into the free Wi-Fi from the parking lot of your nearest McDonald’s, and put on one of the best damned shows anyone can play until there’s a vaccine for the coronavirus. Gilbert’s May performance for the Scene’s No-Contact Shows series was righteously raucous, genuinely tender and a fine display of the hustle that’s made Gilbert and her co-conspirators a Music City rock institution. STEPHEN TRAGESER

BEST MUSIC VIDEO DIRECTOR

SECK

Nashville’s hip-hop scene has been pushing hard in 2020 — and not just the writers, performers and producers. Mononymous filmmaker Seck has matched Music City rappers’ passion and ingenuity pound for pound. This year, he’s created visuals for folks like Brian Brown, $avvy, Jordan XX and Chuck Indigo, which expand on these MCs’ unique and thoughtful stories while solidifying a crisp visual style that stands out even when he’s responding in the moment. STEPHEN TRAGESER

BEST INDIE LABEL

TO-GO RECORDS

Founded in April 2019 by Megan Loveless and Jacob Corenflos, To-Go Records has been actively pumping out tracks from the cream of Nashville’s underground. In its brief existence the imprint has delivered releases from brilliant post-punkers Donors, prolific four-track legend R. Stevie Moore, rawcus chaos punx Engine IX and dream poppers Slush. The label even offered to drop their cassettes off at the homes of local fans to cope with the pandemic — what’s not to love? P.J. KINZER

BEST MUSIC NEWSLETTER

WU FEI’S MUSIC DAILY

Guzheng master Wu Fei is an artist who consistently defies categorization, so it’s no surprise that her email newsletter would follow suit. Wu Fei’s Music Daily routinely offers personal musings and old photographs, as well as an original recording in every email. Some of the music is composed, arranged and captured moments prior to its release, while other pieces come from her vast archives. Subscribers can immerse themselves in reimagined Chinese folk tunes, likely the only arrangement of French composer Erik Satie’s music for guzheng and looped vocals, or spontaneous pieces inspired by a range of Fei’s experiences — from what she ate for lunch to the time she saw two llamas riding in the jump seat of a South African pickup truck. Check out a free version on Mondays and Fridays via Wu

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

Arts, Music & Culture Writers’ Choice

BEST TURN TO ROCK ’N’ ROLL, WRITERS’ CHOICE MARGO PRICE, THAT’S HOW RUMORS GET STARTED Fei’s Facebook page, or better yet, become a paid subscriber and receive a piece of music every day of the week. MATT FOX

BEST JAZZ EDUCATOR/ADVOCATE

RYAN MIDDAGH

Composer and saxophonist Ryan Middagh has successfully combined multiple phases of jazz activity the past several years. He’s been a busy educator as the director of jazz studies at Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music while also serving as an assistant professor and a member of the affiliate faculty for the school’s Center for Latin American Studies. He recruited a host of top local jazz musicians as faculty at Blair, while installing the Nashville Jazz Composers Collective as Blair’s jazz ensemble in residence. Under Middagh’s direction, the Blair Big Band released its first studio LP Such Sweet Thunder in 2018, spotlighting faculty members and a wealth of guests like the legendary Beegie Adair. As a composer and bandleader, Middagh balances being a prolific arranger — who’s provided material for everyone from Victor Wooten and Wycliffe Gordon to the Nashville Jazz Orchestra — with heading small combos and his own Ryan Middagh Jazz Orchestra. No one better exemplifies being both a hardworking proponent of the music and a tireless advocate for it. RON WYNN

BEST TURN TO ROCK ’N’ ROLL

MARGO PRICE, THAT’S HOW RUMORS GET STARTED In the past few years, Margo Price has

changed a lot of things. Her two-album deal with Third Man Records concluded amicably, and her latest LP That’s How Rumors Get Started is her first release for Loma Vista Recordings. Though Price still performs with her longtime band of ringers The Pricetags, she and producer Sturgill Simpson brought in some studio legends to record Rumors. And the new songs are rooted in the anthemic snarl of Tom Petty and the big-canvas sound of Fleetwood Mac, not in country music as on Price’s two previous albums. What hasn’t changed, though, is the way Price consistently and constantly uses her platform to speak honestly about what there is to cherish in our world and what needs to change. This is ultimately why That’s How Rumors Get Started kicks major ass, and shows yet another way for rock to respond to our culture and move forward instead of dying a slow and ignominious death. STEPHEN TRAGESER

BEST NEW BAND

HEAVEN HONEY

You always know a band is good if it makes you mad that you can’t listen to their whole record yet. By that metric Heaven Honey makes me furious. “Total Abandon,” singer Jordan Gomes-Kuehner’s first single since uprooting from Bloomington, Ind., to Nashville, is an immediately arresting sneer toward male privilege. Gomes-Kuehner carries an effortless cool, bolstered by an undercurrent of mechanical riffs in a sound triangulated somewhere

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Arts, Music & Culture Writers’ Choice BEST AMERICANA BREAKOUT, WRITERS’ CHOICE KATIE PRUITT

BEST NEW BAND, WRITERS’ CHOICE HEAVEN HONEY

BEST AMERICANA BREAKOUT

KATIE PRUITT

At AmericanaFest 2018, an emerging artist named Katie Pruitt stunned audiences with her powerhouse, Brandi Carlile-esque pipes and compelling songwriting. In February, Pruitt released her debut album Expectations, an appropriately named release as fans and critics alike had long looked forward to music from the young talent. With its confessional songwriting, sweeping arrangements and masterful vocal performances, Expectations does not disappoint. In a full-circle moment, Pruitt is up for Emerging Artist of the Year at this year’s Americana Honors and Awards — whenever it’s safe for that to take place. BRITTNEY McKENNA

BEST COUNTRY BREAKOUT

HAILEY WHITTERS

In the opening line of her song “Ten Year Town,” country songsmith Hailey Whitters sings, “I’m 12 years into a 10-

year town,” lamenting the many trials and tribulations faced by artists trying to make it in Nashville. Her debut album The Dream is the product of those 12 years, which included plenty of frustration but also landed Whitters high-profile cuts with artists like Little Big Town. The album deserves all the fanfare and acclaim it’s received, and then some. With The Dream, Whitters proves she’s earned a spot among the highest echelons of country songwriters. BRITTNEY McKENNA

BEST COUNTRY TRANSPLANT

JAIME WYATT

Not long ago, Jaime Wyatt left the fastpaced lifestyle of Los Angeles for Nashville. While she hasn’t gotten to grace many local stages yet, her Shooter Jenningsproduced LP Neon Cross, released in May, speaks for itself. Wyatt’s full, husky voice and Waylon-esque grooves turn hardships into catchy and vulnerable contemporary country tunes. She embraces the blurring of gender roles, skirts the storytelling tradition to focus on raw emotion and is a real gem among the new generation of outlaw musicians. Wyatt knows what makes her different and embraces it all — even the messy parts — for a stellar sound and deeply honest songwriting that’s more complex than it seems. OLIVIA LADD

BEST HIP-HOP NEWCOMER

QUEZ CANTRELL

BEST COUNTRY BREAKOUT, WRITERS’ CHOICE HAILEY WHITTERS

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Nashville is blessed with a phenomenal hip-hop scene, one rich with talent and driven by creativity and collaboration. One of the city’s most exciting new artists is Quez Cantrell, a Nashville native who made good with his stellar debut EP 9 in January. Across six tracks, 9 grapples with difficult topics like police violence and gentrification, and Cantrell’s cinematic, often personal stories are delivered with plainspoken wisdom and a whole lot of style. The title track is a particular standout, mourning the death of Titans star Steve McNair while tracking the growth (and subsequent growing pains) of the Titans’ home city. BRITTNEY McKENNA

PHOTO: LANCE CONZETT

between Karen O, Mazzy Star and Nick Cave. “Tomorrow I’ll Try” goes in a totally different direction, opting for minimalist sounds and emotionally rich vocals over the electronic chug of its predecessor. Both present a fully formed vision of what Heaven Honey can do, and I can’t wait to hear what’s next. LANCE CONZETT

BEST PROTEST RECORD

KYSHONA, LISTEN

A wealth of essential protest music was released this year — Adia Victoria’s “South Gotta Change” and Jason Eskridge’s “Stand” should not be missed — and Kyshona’s Listen, released in February, is another one for the history books. From the soulful opening title track to the powerful, unwavering anthem “Marching On,” Kyshona holds nothing back as she calls out the country’s history of systemic racism and questions society’s lack of empathy over a mix of blues, roots and R&B. Both the music and the message get stronger the more you listen, and the fact that it’ll make you shake your ass a little bit doesn’t hurt either. MEGAN SELING

BEST NEW TAKE ON THE CLASSICS

EMMA SWIFT, BLONDE ON THE TRACKS

Giving an iconic songwriter — quite possibly the most iconic American songwriter — the tribute treatment is a tall order. But with this year’s Blonde on

the Tracks, Emma Swift proves she’s up to the task. The brilliantly titled collection of Bob Dylan covers from the flaxen-haired Nashville transplant isn’t an attempt at replicating the Bard’s tunes religiously, but rather a series of heartfelt interpretations from a performer who very clearly has a deep emotional attachment to the material. The eight-track collection includes tender and beautifully arranged takes on not only classics like “Queen Jane Approximately” and (my personal favorite) “One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later),” but also “I Contain Multitudes” from this year’s Dylan release Rough and Rowdy Ways. Best of all, Swift makes each song feel personal and revitalized in its own specific way. Indeed, Dylan isn’t the only one who contains multitudes. D. PATRICK RODGERS

BEST INDIE-ROCK THROWBACK

COUNTRY WESTERNS

In the late ’80s and ’90s, every town — especially the ones with colleges in them — had its resident band of Replacements worshippers. The self-titled debut from

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Arts, Music & Culture Writers’ Choice familiar to those of us slogging away in front of a computer screen. Wright and his band The Sneak-Ups create a sinister vibe for the ominous rocker, which also sarcastically posits that, “It’s a drag sometimes, making lots of money.” And while 2020 has forced many cubicle dwellers out of high rises and into their home offices, Wright’s indictment of capitalism is more potent than ever amid the economic peril brought forth by COVID-19. BRITTNEY McKENNA

BEST GLAM REVIVAL, WRITERS’ CHOICE THE BLAM BLAMS

BEST SPIRITUAL BUT NOT RELIGIOUS ALBUM

LOU TURNER, SONGS FOR JOHN VENN

Nashville punk-lifer trio Country Westerns is a welcome throwback to those seemingly simpler times, serving world-weary, threeor-four-beers-in realness. Country Westerns consists of 11 rugged summer jams with hooks, heart and jangly guitars for days. Big shout-out to the late David Berman, a loyal friend of the band who made a point of urging them to make something more of it than casual weekend jams. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

recorded one final song to say goodbye to legions of fans and cap an extraordinary career. “I Remember Everything” recounts hotel rooms, old guitars and falling in love, seeming somehow to capture Prine’s entire life in the span of three minutes. An accompanying video shows Prine performing the song in his home, giving us one last glimpse of a man whose memory will never be forgotten. BRITTNEY McKENNA

BEST GLAM REVIVAL

BEST STEP FORWARD

In the year we lost Little Richard, it’s comforting to hear a band that’s mastered the art of blending sophisticated theatrical storytelling and rambunctious rock ’n’ roll. The Blam Blams’ concept album Opening Night follows a character named Sydney Fabel, a bisexual actor and artist who’s struggling to find his place in London in the 1970s. The band carries the story with a can’t-lose combination of the heart of Elton John, the brain of David Bowie and the brawn of Queen. STEPHEN TRAGESER

BEST SONIC CURE FOR THE PANDEMIC BLUES

LUKE SCHNEIDER, ALTAR OF HARMONY

A singular force in Middle Tennessee independent music, pedal-steel master Luke Schneider boasts recent credits that include playing with Margo Price, Orville Peck and John Davis’ The Lees of Memory. Schneider stepped out on his own in a big way with his New Age-inspired Third Man debut Altar of Harmony, a reassuring ambient island of calm in an ocean of chaos. Pro tip: For maximum effect, buy some of Schneider’s homemade Forestdale incense to burn while you listen. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

BEST POSTHUMOUS RELEASE

JOHN PRINE, ‘I REMEMBER EVERYTHING’

When John Prine died of complications from COVID-19 in late April, many fans of the legendary artist felt they had been robbed of years more music from one of our very finest songwriters. Ever prescient, Prine anticipated this reaction, and wrote and

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BEST ’90S ENTHUSIASTS BORN IN THE ’90S

PAUL BURCH, LIGHT SENSITIVE

Good albums often function like good books. Rich with allusion, they send you on curiosity-filled quests and leave you thinking about their songs long after the music stops. Paul Burch’s latest release Light Sensitive is such an album, one that rewards listeners with each repeated play. Backed by his band The WPA Ballclub, Burch explores the American South through the stories of figures like the poet Jean Garrigue and Mobile, Ala., polymath and raconteur Eugene Walter, making for a singular listen that inspires many joyful trips to the Google search bar. BRITTNEY McKENNA

BEST SONGWRITING TAG TEAM

VANESSA CARLTON AND TRISTEN

BILLY PRINE, A PLACE I USED TO KNOW

On his first release in seven years, A Place I Used to Know, Billy Prine — the youngest of the late John Prine’s three brothers — perfects the art of the EP. His takes on John Prine’s “Paradise” and “If You Don’t Want My Love” are intelligently done. He also proves his mettle as a songwriter on the EP’s “Young Man Old Man Blues,” which he wrote in emulation of a ’70s hit by ELO. Michael Dinallo’s production Americana-izes the music just enough, and Prine sings soulfully. EDD HURT

BEST LITERARY ALBUM

indie-folk melodies and arrangements never rush the listener, allowing us to slide into life’s everyday sacred, reflective moments with her — perhaps recognizing ourselves somewhere in the pensive sounds and visions of Turner’s quest for a higher purpose. JACQUELINE ZEISLOFT

SHELL OF A SHELL

You only hear Tristen’s voice in the harmony vocals on Love Is an Art, the latest album by her friend and collaborator, pianist and songsmith Vanessa Carlton. But in working together to write the songs, the pair navigates emotional territory that Carlton didn’t feel comfortable traveling alone. The result is some of Carlton’s most striking work yet, probing deep into the heart of what makes all kinds of relationships tick. STEPHEN TRAGESER

BEST RECORD THAT’S ACCIDENTALLY PERFECT FOR A PANDEMIC

SOCCER MOMMY, COLOR THEORY

When Soccer Mommy (aka Sophia Allison)

Shell of a Shell’s Chappy Hull wears many hats in the local DIY scene — guitarist for Boston-bred, Nashville-residing cult faves Pile, one-half of erstwhile math-punk duo Gnarwhal, jack-of-all-trades at all-ages venue Drkmttr and point man for rising left-of-center rock acts looking to book a show in Nashville. Somewhere in there, Hull & Co. found time to make a giant creative leap with their first proper LP Away Team, an organic, hopeful new spin on indie, postrock and post-hardcore traditions that’s a perfect choice to be label Exploding in Sound’s 100th release. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

BEST ANTI-CAPITALIST ANTHEM

BRIAN WRIGHT AND THE SNEAK-UPS, ‘HIGH RISE’

“Workin’ in a high rise / Until I’m dead at 65,” sings Brian Wright in “High Rise,” a standout cut from his new LP Lapse of Luxury, expressing a sentiment all too

BEST SONGWRITING TAG TEAM, WRITERS’ CHOICE TRISTEN (LEFT) AND VANESSA CARLTON

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

THE BLAM BLAMS

On her exquisite concept record Songs for John Venn, Lou Turner muses over the “great big reason why, the love letter in the sky” — loose metaphors for life’s larger meaning. Although poetic, Turner’s selfaware lyrics don’t posit her as an expert in the mysteries of love, transformation and spirituality; nor does the music resign to an apathetic state of nihilism. Her work approaches the existential with grace and reverence, all rooted in an ideology of pure wonderment. Soft

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Arts, Music & Culture Writers’ Choice celebrates the music’s traditions without being restricted or hampered by them. He’ll sometimes intersperse more familiar classical material with chamber music, avant-garde compositions and more, as well as periodic interviews with movers and shakers in Nashville’s classical world — all the more important in light of Nashville Public Radio’s August announcement that classical programming will soon move to online and HD radio broadcasting only. Every two-hour show offers a journey into a world that’s far more diverse and compelling than is often depicted. RON WYNN

BEST BLUES AND AMERICANA RADIO HOST

wrote the songs for her full-length Color Theory, she drew from her own experiences with anxiety, depression and the resulting feelings of isolation. There was no way she would know at the time that the syrupy, dreamy pop songs would be released during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. But what a perfect coincidence it turned out to be, as Color Theory’s moody vulnerability was the relatable, comforting soundtrack so many of us needed during those strange and sad spring days. MEGAN SELING

WHIT HUBNER

Whit Hubner has been an active, vital part of Nashville’s blues and Americana scene dating back to when he was a host on WRVU. Following other stints at Hippie Radio, Radio Free Nashville and Lightning 100, he’s now the morning voice at WMOT Roots Radio 89.5-FM, a duty he combines with being president of the Nashville Blues and Roots Alliance. Thankfully, WMOT Mornings With Whit Hubner is more about showcasing selections from every idiomatic area covered by Americana than it is personalities, contests and everything else — something that instantly separates it from morning drive-time programs on various other stations. RON WYNN

BEST BLINK-182 SONG DISGUISED AS AMERICANA

RUSTON KELLY, ‘RADIO CLOUD’

BEST ROOTS RADIO STATION

WMOT ROOTS RADIO 89.5-FM

BEST BLUES AND AMERICANA RADIO HOST, WRITERS’ CHOICE WHIT HUBNER acoustic folk with electronic production and gets by on just being pleasant to listen to. Joy Oladokun’s latest album In Defense of My Own Happiness (Vol. 1) sets a very high bar for the rest of the field with songs of extraordinary vulnerability. “I felt like it can’t be an accident that I am a queer woman of color in this day and age,” Oladokun told Scene contributor Olivia Ladd earlier this year. “I can’t be silent and pretend like it doesn’t matter and ignore it. Making those decisions to empower yourself and to take care of yourself and then use that freedom that you’ve fought for to help liberate other people is everything.” STEPHEN TRAGESER

BEST DYSTOPIAN DISCO ALBUM

UNCLE KNUCKLE, HEART HITCHHIKER

Singer and songwriter Chris Plank, who records as Uncle Knuckle, skirts disco on his superb full-length Heart Hitchhiker. Plank sings in a comic baritone voice that recalls the similar stylings of Memphis singer Harlan T. Bobo. Like Bobo, Uncle Knuckle likes to conflate the personal and the political, and Hitchhiker combines twitchy post-disco beats with songs about his struggle to stay afloat in the aftermath of the collapse of ... well, virtually everything. The album peaks with the five-minute track “Smart Bad or Dumb,” which features pedal steel and defies description. EDD HURT

BEST MUSICAL THERAPY SESSION

LIZA ANNE, BAD VACATION

It’s common for musicians to find emotional catharsis in making music, and more common still for fans to find a similar release in listening. For Liza Anne, though, simply making the music isn’t enough. On her latest album Bad Vacation, she offers an honest portrayal of

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

After Ruston Kelly released his breakout album Dying Star in 2018, he resisted attempts to categorize his music as Americana. He coined a genre of his own, “dirt emo,” which he helped define with Dirt Emo Vol. 1, a 2019 EP of covers of artists like Wheatus, My Chemical Romance and the Carter Family. “Radio Cloud” from Kelly’s excellent new LP Shape & Destroy perfectly embodies the Dirt Emo ethos. Kelly’s gritty vocal and chiming acoustic guitar find catharsis in a pitch-perfect power-pop chorus, for a rare song that could appeal to fans of Tom DeLonge and Tom T. Hall alike. BRITTNEY McKENNA

a journey to better mental health, touching on topics like dealing with anxiety and navigating conflict. She paired the release with a series of virtual mental health conversations with artists and friends on Instagram, offering up some therapeutic discussions during a time that more than demands them. BRITTNEY McKENNA

BEST MUSICAL EXPRESSION OF SELF-CARE

JOY OLADOKUN, IN DEFENSE OF MY OWN HAPPINESS (VOL. 1)

There’s plenty of pop music that blends

BEST CLASSICAL MUSIC RADIO HOST

JOHN PITCHER

Some classical radio hosts display little concern on air for those who don’t share their knowledge, seeming to consider expanding the music’s reach and appeal to be a hopeless task. But thankfully there are exceptions to that rule. John Pitcher’s wonderful Sunday morning radio show Fearful Symmetries, airing 10 a.m.-noon on WXNA-FM, is certainly one, both in style and the scope of music offered. While the focus is on contemporary classical music, Pitcher (also a former Scene staffer and longtime contributor)

It’s been four years since Murfreesborobased WMOT switched to an Americana format, and more than 11 since the station abandoned the mainstream jazz format for which it developed a fan base over three decades. In its current incarnation, WMOT has evolved into something that’s both vital and needed: a place for contemporary and vintage acoustic music, much of it deemed a commercial liability by the corporate types who rule mainstream radio. The station has proven a home for a wide range of styles and artists who otherwise would get little to no airplay. A small sample of the diverse and expertly presented programming includes WMOT Mornings With Whit Hubner, World Cafe at night and the sublime Sunday show Somebody Say Amen. RON WYNN

BEST BROADCAST TRIBUTE

NASHVILLE PUBLIC RADIO’S A RADIO WAKE FOR JOHN PRINE

Early on in This Year of Losses, local songwriting legend John Prine died of complications from COVID-19. At the time, we were at just the beginning of learning what the coronavirus would take from us. Nashville Public Radio’s A Radio Wake for John Prine was a beautiful homage and an apt way to mourn when mourners could not come together in person. WPLN invited folks — from friends and family to fans — to submit audio stories and remembrances of Prine and then assembled them into an hourlong tribute. It brought some comfort in a year that’s taken so much. AMANDA HAGGARD EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

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CRITICS’ PICKS POETRY

W E E K L Y

R O U N D U P

O F

T H I N G S

T O

D O

[LINES OF SYMMETRY]

CELEBRATE NATIONAL BLACK POETRY DAY

NASHVIILLE JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL THROUGH NOV. 5 nashvillejff.net

[NJFF FYI]

CHECK OUT THE NASHVILLE JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL

MUSIC

WHEN HITLER STOLE Virtual festival season continues PINK RABBIT with the annual Nashville Jewish Film Festival, which runs from Oct. 13 until in Picture of His Life, and much more. Nov. 5. Now in its 20th year, NJFF is going Sponsorship levels start at $75, or you can virtual with 16 films that celebrate Jewish buy tickets for individual films for $5 each. faith, culture and history across the globe. See the full schedule and get your tickets at Mrs. G, directed by Dalit Kimor, profiles nashvillejff.net. ERICA CICCARONE Israeli fashion designer Lea Gottlieb. Born and raised in Hungary, Gottlieb and her daughters made a dramatic escape from [GO BIG, STAY HOME] the Nazis, and in Tel Aviv, she started TUNE IN TO COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF from scratch and built a fashion empire. FAME’S BIG NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM Don’t miss Shared Legacies: The AfricanLarge public spaces have had to remain American Jewish Civil Rights Alliance. mostly shuttered since March, and among This film by Shari Rogers chronicles the institutions that have suffered serious the often-overlooked contributions of financial losses is the Country Music Hall Jewish Americans in the 1960s civil rights of Fame and Museum. The hall reopened to movement, and it includes interviews with the public for limited-capacity crowds in icons John Lewis, Harry Belafonte September, but not before having to and C.T. Vivian. The narrative furlough or lay off a significant EDITOR’S NOTE: feature When Hitler Stole Pink number of staff. As part of its AS A RESPONSE TO Rabbit follows 9-year-old Anna, continuing effort to return, the THE ONGOING COVID-19 who flees Germany with her PANDEMIC, WE’VE CHANGED THE museum is launching what family in 1933. Based on the it calls its most ambitious FOCUS OF THE CRITICS’ PICKS SECTION TO INCLUDE ACTIVITIES online fundraising event yet. novel of the same name by YOU CAN PARTAKE IN WHILE Judith Kerr, the film is directed Big Night at the Museum is a YOU’RE AT HOME. by Caroline Link, whose 2001 filmed performance special that film Nowhere in Africa won the you’ll be able to watch for free Academy Award for Best Foreign via the CMHOF’s YouTube channel Language Film and is also available at on Wednesday, Oct. 28, but the hope is that the fest. Learn about American-Israel you’ll be encouraged to make a donation. basketball player Aulcie Perry with Dani The program simultaneously offers an Menkin’s Aulcie; get inspired by Tamar intriguing look at the long history of country Manasseh, an African American rabbinical music and the museum’s role in preserving student combating gun violence on it. During the two-hour program, an array Chicago’s South Side, with Brad Rothschild’s of stars from country and adjacent musical They Ain’t Ready for Me; go underwater fields will perform on historic instruments with wildlife photographer Amos Nachoum from the museum’s exhibits. At press time,

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the pair-ups of artists and instruments hadn’t been revealed, but you will get to see performers like Marty Stuart (who hosts the show), Ashley McBryde, Keb’ Mo’, Miranda Lambert, The War and Treaty, Rodney Crowell and Reba McEntire performing on and discussing instruments once used by country icons. 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, via Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s YouTube channel STEPHEN TRAGESER BOOKS

FILM

While Black poetry and all Black art should be celebrated every day, National Black Poetry Day creates a special, more intentional opportunity to honor the rich history and perseverance of Black voices. This year, Nashville’s open-mic kings Po’boys and Poets are getting together with The Free Nashville Poetry Library to host “a celebration of artistry” at WedgewoodHouston’s The Packing Plant. The free event will offer live performances as well as shopping from local vendors, artists and authors. It also marks the release of Make Noise Vol. 2, an anthology from Po’boys and Poets. In listening to contemporary voices while honoring the voices of those who have passed, people can champion a vibrant, spirited future that continues to lift up Black artists. In the words of Alice Walker, “If art doesn’t make us better, then what on earth is it for?” Everything will take place outside, and social distancing precautions will be implemented. Masks are highly encouraged. 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, at The Packing Plant, 507 Hagan St. KELSEY BEYELER

[IT CAME FROM THIRD MAN]

CHECK OUT THIRD MAN BOOKS NIGHT AT CITY LIGHTS

Third Man Books — the publishing imprint of Third Man Records — is celebrating the release of three new and exciting books with a virtual event hosted

by City Lights, the San Francisco indie bookstore founded by legendary poet and publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti (A Coney Island of the Mind). Native Memphian Robert Gordon will be there commemorating the 25th anniversary edition of It Came From Memphis, his debut book about how Bluff City rock ’n’ roll changed the world. The Kills and Dead Weather frontwoman Alison Mosshart is next on the bill with CAR MA, her first printed collection of paintings, photography, short stories and poetry. Rounding out the lineup is Memphis native, poet, editor and two-time World Fantasy Award winner Sheree Renée Thomas, who will discuss her debut short-story collection Nine Bar Blues. Register for the event at citylights.com and

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CRITICS’ PICKS

THEATER

[LEADING LADIES]

STREAM LIVE FROM THE WEST SIDE: WOMEN OF BROADWAY

What could be better than a virtual concert event featuring one of Broadway’s most celebrated leading ladies? How about three? The Tennessee Performing Arts Center has teamed up with a unique group of arts organizations from around the nation to present a three-part virtual concert series called Live From the West Side: Women of Broadway. The lineup is impressive, including two-time Tony Award winner Patti LuPone (Evita, Gypsy), Tony winner Laura Benanti (Gypsy, She Loves Me) and acclaimed actor and singer Vanessa Williams (Into the Woods). Each show features a mix of familiar show tunes and pop songs, along with plenty of behind-

[THE DIE IS CAST]

TUNE IN TO OUR RACIAL MOMENT OF TRUTH: A CONVERSATION WITH PULITZER PRIZE WINNER ISABEL WILKERSON

“What’s past is prologue,” Shakespeare wrote. That concept is easy enough to understand. But what if our concept of the past is bent along the arc of injustice? Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and historian Isabel Wilkerson was paying close attention to the events that unfolded around the country during the 2016 election and in its aftermath, and she decided to look to the past to understand what was in store for us. The result is Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, a harrowing book of history. The book, which was released in August, has a thesis that’s deceptively simple: that caste — a social stratification that is separate from class and interwoven with race — ranks the members of American society. It is “the wordless usher in a darkened theater,” she writes, “flashlight cast down in ISABEL WILKERSON

LIVE FROM THE WEST SIDE: WOMEN OF BROADWAY

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

You don’t have to look far these days to be horrified. But instead of doom-scrolling through Twitter for another hour, you should spend at least part of that time doing some spooky reading. There’s a lot of good horror writing out there, and the best of it lets your imagination do some of the work. So much of the good stuff is in short-story form, and so many of those short stories are available online. Take, for example, “The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson in 1948. Or even her later short story “Paranoia.” Spend some time with Jackson’s tiny tales and you’ll realize the blanks she leaves are often filled in by your own personal worst nightmares about who we are as people. (What would you do if society asked you to hurl a rock at your neighbor? What if that’s normalized? What if a community keeps doing the wrong thing just because it’s what they’ve always done?) If you want to stray from the classics but check in on another closer-to-home type of nightmare, read Tananarive Due’s “Patient Zero” (2010) or “Herd Immunity” (2014). Neither tale is much of a departure from the doom-scrolling, but you can at least read them knowing the horror will be over after a few pages. AMANDA HAGGARD

BOO DUDES the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance.” Wilkerson brilliantly lays American racism beside Nazism and the Indian caste system, and it’s impossible to look away. Her debut book, The Warmth of Other Suns, won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Novelistic and moving, it tells the story of three strivers who left the South during the Great Migration, hoping for better lives. Wilkerson’s steady, arresting, authoritative voice is among the most important in her generation. She’s participating in Cornell University’s virtual Keynotes series, and you can tune in to her talk, which is called Our Racial Moment of Truth, to learn more. I recommend picking up a copy of Caste in the meantime. You’ll want to start reading straightaway. 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21, via cornell.com/ keynotes ERICA CICCARONE [THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO BOOOOOO]

GET INTO BOO DUDES

Scaring up some genuine Halloween spirit during this infernal pandemic is a unique challenge. But with a little help from Boo Dudes, Nashville’s spoooOOOkiest tunesmiths, you can make it if you try. The core duo of bass mummy Jesse Boo and guitar wolf Ghastly Mike Hackenslash materialized on the scene like an ominous fog in 2014 with their debut album Ride the Frightening. It’s a genre-hopping collection of unnaturally fun songs offering a deadly serious look at the challenges of living in our world when you’re undead. Each October since, Music City’s kayfabe kings of Halloween have crept from their crypts with a spooktacular new release. In 2018, a new chapter opened in the Dudes’ saga: Not only did they lose a legal battle with skate-punk heels Graveyard Guys, but label head “Bloody Buddy” Pearlman also forced the Dudes to start the fourth wave of ska in a bid to impress Pearlman’s estranged teenage son Aiden. This year, Bloody Buddy and Aiden signed self-styled “Soundclown rapper” Terry the Horror Clown. Terry’s debut mixtape The Clownward Spiral is like a piece of candy corn: The tip is Lil Pump, the middle bit is Insane Clown Posse and the fat part is Nine Inch Nails. Also

like candy corn, it’s hard to stop indulging even if you think you should. That’s great, but will the Dudes’ long-shelved prog opus Spookydelica 2045: Echoes of the Resistance ever see the light of day? Follow Boo Dudes (@boodudes) and Bloody Buddy (@bloodybuddypearlman) on Instagram to keep up with the story, check out the whole Boo Dudes catalog on Bandcamp and watch for the Dudes during the Belcourt’s virtual 12 Hours of Terror celebration on Oct. 24. STEPHEN TRAGESER MUSIC

BUILD YOUR OWN SCARY SHORTSTORY READING LIST

MUSIC

[SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK]

the-scenes stories. Audience members can even submit questions to be answered during the livestream performances, which take place at the Shubert Virtual Studios on Manhattan’s West Side. Live From the West Side kicks off at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, with LuPone. You can catch Benanti on Nov. 14 and Williams on Dec. 5. Individual show tickets are $30, and you can snag tickets for the entire three-part series for $75. Proceeds support TPAC. Visit tpac.org for complete details. 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, via tpac.org AMY STUMPFL COMMUNITY

BOOKS

preorder the books at thirdmanbooks.com. 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21, via citylights.com ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

[LET THE RECORD SHOW]

TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT ON OCTOBER’S RECORD STORE DAY SATURDAY

Formerly an annual springtime event, Record Store Day has followed the example set by Bandcamp Fridays and created a more frequent series of events. It’s called Record Store Day Saturday, and the next one is Oct. 24. No music nerd is complaining about this development. Nashville’s robust record-retail scene offers crate-diggers numerous options, and most of the stores will release their own batches of RSD exclusives, host in-store shows or offer other socially distant in-person hangs. If you’re more of a casual music listener who has come to rely on streaming to keep you entertained through the pandemic, why not go to Grimey’s to buy hard copies of some of those favorite albums? But if you’re a vinyl hound who wakes up early every RSD and adds to your collection all the time, how about supporting a smaller shop on the less-visited fringes of the Midstate? I’m partial to Viv & Dickey’s in Joelton, Disk Go Joe’s in Goodlettsville and Alison’s Record Shop in deep West Nashville. But when’s the last time you went to Media Rerun in Murfreesboro? How about trying out newish record stores in Clarksville (AndVinyl) or Franklin (Luna Record Shop)? Check out a full list of RSD drops to hunt for this month at recordstoreday.com — and find an incredible crowdsourced map of record stores at recordstores.love. Saturday, Oct. 24, at various record stores CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

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CRITICS’ PICKS

FILM

theclimbgyms.com for more information. HANNAH HERNER [TERRORIZE Y’ALL’S NEIGHBORHOOD]

LIVESTREAM THE BELCOURT’S VIRTUAL 12 HOURS OF TERROR

Did you honestly think a gotdamn pandemic was gonna keep the depraved bastards at the Belcourt from unspooling those annual dozen hours of freaky, frightening film fuckery? Oh hell-to-the-no. For the first time ever, you can experience this scare-athon from the comfort of your own home. But same as always, we don’t know what the hell they’ll be playing. Apart from a YouTube teaser that includes a John Carpenter-esque score, the Belcourt ghouls haven’t really dropped any clues. All we know is that — if previous years’ selections by the likes of horror masters including Argento and the aforementioned Carpenter are any indication — it’ll be seven spooky selections that will hopefully mess us up real good. Occult contemporary fright-rock band Boo Dudes (see our pick on them above) will be around to keep things musically creepy, along with legendary Tennessee terror-TV host Dr. Gangrene. Tickets are $25 for members and $30 for nonmembers. 2 p.m.-2 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, via belcourt.org CRAIG D. LINDSEY

[IT’S THE CLIMB]

TRY INDOOR ROCK CLIMBING AT THE CLIMB GYMS It’s almost impossible to think about anything else while you’re scaling a

rock wall. It’s all just where to put your foot next, where to put your hand next, and an ongoing calculation of how much longer you can hang on. At the Climb Gyms — formerly known as Climb Nashville — you’ll find that’s probably longer than you think. The climbing gym with locations in both East and West Nashville — as well as Murfreesboro and Bentonville, Ark. — has opened back up for masked climbing by reservation. There’s even a tracker on the Climb website to let you know how many climbers are in the gym at any given time. Stick to the automatically rappelled ropes on your own, or bring an experienced friend to help ease you down after you’ve climbed to the top. It would be a lot more satisfying if there were a bell to ring once you get up there, but it’s really more about escaping what’s on the ground for a bit. Visit

[POD PEOPLE]

LISTEN TO SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY: INSIDE THE FINCEN FILES

The so-called FinCEN Files are the latest in a long line of mega-leaks shaping American and global politics. The Pentagon Papers, the Snowden leaks and the Panama Papers all preceded this new dump, which is full of never-before-seen documents from the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN. The documents were obtained by BuzzFeed News and published late last month in collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

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CLIMB GYM

[POP SOME TAGS]

BUY A HALLOWEEN COSTUME AT LIVE TRUE VINTAGE

Sure, carving jack-o’-lanterns and eating fun-size candy bars is pretty fun, but some would argue that the real joy of Halloween is finding the perfect costume. And with COVID-19 restrictions hovering over our heads, you might think it would be a challenge to shop for costume supplies while maintaining safety precautions. Luckily, the thrift-shop wizards at Live True Vintage have a plan. The Old Hickory shop is a fun hang under normal circumstances — the selection of silk robes and children’s clothes is second to none — but the proprietors have really stepped up during this year’s pandemic. The shop is open for old-fashioned appointment shopping on weekends and Mondays, and its Instagram account (@livetruevintage) has been posting ready-to-wear costumes since September. Want to be a Midsommar festivalgoer at your friends’ Zoom party? Diana Ross? Janis Joplin? Walter Sobchak? You can be safe and look great, and support a badass local business while you’re at it. Live True Vintage is open by appointment SaturdayMonday, 103 22nd St., Old Hickory LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

PODCAST

Nashville Jazz Workshop is celebrating its 20th anniversary in style with the much-anticipated Jazzmania 2020. The annual Jazzmania event moves online this year, with a huge listening party and fundraiser. Hosted by the award-winning Memphis saxophonist and recording artist Kirk Whalum, the evening will feature an incredible lineup of world-class artists such as Kandace Springs, Keb’ Mo’, Jeff Coffin, Victor Wooten, Rachael & Vilray (feat. Rachael Price of Lake Street Drive), Beegie Adair and more. Many of the artists appearing at Jazzmania 2020 have previously performed, taught or studied at the Nashville Jazz Workshop. And proceeds from the event will benefit NJW’s music education and community outreach initiatives. Jazzmania 2020 takes place on Saturday, Oct. 24 — and beginning Oct. 25, a recorded version of the 90-minute event will be available to stream on demand for 60 days. 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, via jazzmania.nashvillejazz.org  AMY STUMPFL

Helpfully, BuzzFeed and Pineapple Street Studios have produced a multipart podcast in which the reporters who have spent years digging into the complicated financial documents explain what they found: Essentially, the world’s biggest banks allow terrorist groups, human traffickers and drug cartels to launder money through them, and government regulators do little to stop it. The podcast series is so thrilling and so complex that Mark Ruffalo might just make a preachy movie out of it. Listen to it via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you stream podcasts. STEPHEN ELLIOTT

SHOPPING

STREAM NASHVILLE JAZZ WORKSHOP’S FIRST VIRTUAL JAZZMANIA

MUSIC

[ALL THIS JAZZ]

SPORTS

MUSIC

KANDACE SPRINGS

[GET USED TO IT]

GO TO OUTLOUD DRIVE-IN

Just as every other arts and media experience has had to evolve in the wake of the pandemic, the Outloud Music Festival has found a way to bring its high-energy collection of musicians and drag artists into the drive-in milieu. And y’all, the headliner of Outloud is the legendary Queen of Bounce Big Freedia herself. Big Freedia, beloved by Nashville audiences, delivers so much passion and booty-shaking energy that she actually had a deaf friend of mine twerking onstage, such was the Dionysian power being called down in that venue. So mark my words: There are going to be people shaking

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that ass in their cars. Check your shocks and twirl your frocks, because it’s going to be wild, especially when you bring in the Miss Fits Crew (local shero Jaidynn Diore Fierce, Sapphire Mylan, Venus Anne Serena) to bring the magic and maquillage. The lineup keeps growing — and with Obsinity hosting, you know the vibe is going to be hype. So why not find some liberating queer energy where you can? As the great philosopher Tom Jones said, “Tomorrow is promised to no one.” So drop it low, keep your hopes set high, and roll on down for this year’s Outloud Music Drive-In. The early-bird ticket tier is already sold out, so don’t sleep on this. 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, at Main Event Parking Lot, 14 James Robertson Parkway JASON SHAWHAN [DEF WISH]

LISTEN TO THE NEW DEFTONES ALBUM

To declare Deftones the best band of the nu metal generation is to damn the pride of Sacramento, Calif., with faint praise. An output of nine albums is impressive for any group, but to release those albums while continuing to find new, interesting spins on a signature sound — that’s world-class band status. Twenty-five years removed from the release of the moshpit-inducing debut Adrenaline — and 20 since the 2000 creative high watermark White Pony — Deftones’ introspective, cathartic, weirdly sensual drop-D bangers resonate loudly as ever on the band’s latest release, Ohms. The 10-song

set doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but when your sound is as easily identifiable as Chino Moreno & Co.’s, you don’t have to. Ohms is particularly impressive in the hooks department, pulling absolutely massive melodies from the weirdest, gnarliest places, as shown on the explosive “Radiant City,” “Headless” and the riff-tastic albumclosing title track. Deftones were supposed to play Municipal Auditorium in August, though that show has now been rescheduled to Sept. 3, 2021. That means you have a little extra time to sink your teeth into this kickass rock record. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

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CULTURE

FREE SKATE

Skate Nashville brings a popular pandemic trend to our backyard BY ABBY LEE HOOD

hen Jessica Cervantes wanted to roller-skate with her husband and young son at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, she couldn’t find a single pair of quad skates online or in stores. She switched gears and ordered inline skates instead. Even those took four months to arrive, but when they did, she was finally able to join her family in what’s been one of the hottest pandemic activities. Cervantes isn’t alone in struggling to find wheels. This year, TikTok has been chockfull of skating videos, with creators securing huge audiences and brand deals. But roller-skating’s surging popularity created worldwide shortages, with the trendiest skates on back-order for months. Nashville’s own skate shop Asphalt Beach is struggling to meet demand. It’s plain to see why: With the world on hold and people cooped up inside, roller-skating was the perfect activity to get families like the Cervanteses outdoors and active. Enter Skate Nashville, a fast-growing group that brings pro skaters and TikTokinfluenced newbies together every week. Jessica and her husband Saul, along with their 6-year-old son Kai, have become regulars at the weekly meetups. Jessica says Kai especially benefits from the social activity since school has gone online, and both parents have loved watching their shy son make new friends and welcome new members to the group. “Kai will approach any of the kids and say: ‘Hey, welcome to Skate Nashville!

Watch me do this!’ ” Jessica says. “It’s been exciting watching him grow and gain confidence.” Kai rides a scooter, his parents skate, and his friend rides a bike. That’s part of the group’s appeal — “All wheels welcome” is founder Thomas Harbin’s motto. Harbin, 30, has lived in Nashville for nearly six years and was originally a skateboarder. On a trip to Asphalt Beach, he saw flyers for an inline-skate group and craved community and like-minded friends. He purchased his own pair and started Skate Nashville as a Facebook group in May. Initially, Harbin says almost no one came when he posted — but after Asphalt owner Steve Larios recommended a consistent weekly schedule, the group exploded. The Facebook group now has more than 700 members, and Skate Nashville’s Thursday night meetings often have upwards of 60 people ranging from age 6 to 50-something. They meet at 7 p.m. in the back parking lot of Nissan Stadium under the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge. Harbin says inclusion of all levels of skill, all ages and all types of wheels was always part of the plan. “From the outside looking in, [skate culture] can be a bit intimidating if you don’t feel comfortable or don’t feel like you have a place to fit in,” Harbin says. “Skate Nashville [is] a big umbrella under which to connect all the skaters.” That positivity attracted newbies like Nissi Lee, a 33-year-old Nashville native and makeup artist. She got lucky — she checked out Asphalt Beach on a day they received

a shipment of skates. She purchased a pair of Moxi skates and showed up to her first meetup that night. Nissi was influenced by online videos, mostly on Instagram, but has found skating to be a valuable, safe way to socialize during the pandemic. During skate night, skaters are spaced apart outdoors, which is safer than indoor events according to the CDC. Many also wear masks in closer quarters, and some wear masks at all times. Nissi says the weekly events have also allowed her to be more active, and support a healthier lifestyle than pre-COVID drinking and bar hopping did. “It just made me really think [about] what else would I really enjoy learning and doing,” Nissi says, adding that learning to skate gave her the confidence to pick up other hobbies like sewing and cooking bone broth. “I don’t feel super worried about getting sick out here. It’s good for my health.” With new skaters like Nissi joining every week, Skate Nashville’s need for space has become an issue. Harbin has asked members to advocate for a new skate park, and many petitioned District 6 Councilmember Brett Withers to develop the space they currently meet in each week under the bridge. The lot, technically part of Cumberland Park according to Withers, isn’t a great spot, because it’s a staging area for emergency vehicles. He does, however, support the effort to create new spaces for local skaters in another location. “We want them to have a place to skate that is safe,” Withers says, noting that Metro’s Board of Parks and Recreation is “willing to look at other locations.” Recently the group

raised $520 to purchase a large Bluetooth speaker for skate night and other events, and Harbin says he’s confident Skate Nashville could easily fundraise for park development. For now, Harbin says, there are other options. Many travel to skate parks in Louisville, Bowling Green and Hopkinsville. Members also meet at Two Rivers Skate Park, although according to the Cervantes family, it’s best to hit Two Rivers in the early morning when it isn’t so crowded. As for the pandemic trend? Larios, who has been skating since the ’80s, says crazes come and go. In the ’90s it was inline skating, then aggressive skating, then derby. Asphalt Beach was incredibly popular with roller-derby athletes before the pandemic; skaters from Europe and New Zealand came to get fitted, he says. Now Larios says business is different, and he hopes the newly minted outdoor roller skaters continue after COVID-19 is under control. “When everyone goes back to work, and offices, and there’s concerts and nightlife,” says Larios, “I hope all those people keep skating. That’s my fervent wish.” EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

PHOTOS: ERIC ENGLAND

THOMAS HARBIN

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BOOKS

DIG WHAT I SAY

Guitar legend Peter Frampton tells his own story in Do You Feel Like I Do? BY KASHIF ANDREW GRAHAM

o You Feel Like I Do? is a catalog of musician Peter Frampton’s life and career, told by Frampton himself for the first time. Frampton’s renowned gift for songwriting translates to storytelling, and his vivid, conversational style lends this memoir the intimacy of a coffee shop chat — just you, Peter Frampton and the pressing question: “Do you feel like I do?” We learn in short order the many things that Frampton feels. He experiences a sense of shared humanity: “We’re all the same; we just do different things for a living, you know?” But he also knows the angst of aging and illness. He recounts his 2015 diagnosis with inclusion body myositis, a progressive muscle disorder, and writes, “Will I be able to play as well tomorrow as I did yesterday?” — a question we have all asked ourselves, in one way or another. The book, which was co-written with Alan Light, opens with Frampton’s early years in England, offering brief histories of his parents’ lives just before his birth. The tastes (Spam), sights DO YOU FEEL LIKE I DO?: (broken glass) and A MEMOIR BY PETER FRAMPTON, WITH sounds (air raids) ALAN LIGHT of the Framptons’ HACHETTE BOOKS World War II expe352 PAGES, $28 rience orient us to PETER FRAMPTON WILL Peter’s beginning. DISCUSS DO YOU FEEL LIKE Straightaway, we I DO? AT 6 P.M. TUESDAY, see the makings of a OCT. 20, IN A TICKETED VIRTUAL EVENT HOSTED BY maestro, with scenes PARNASSUS BOOKS of young Frampton receiving his first stringed instrument — a vaudeville banjolele. He soon graduates to a “generic, no-name acoustic.” It is from this nameless guitar that he launches a musical career spanning five decades. As he puts it, “And from 3:30 in the morning on Christmas when I was eight years old, I haven’t stopped playing since.” Do You Feel Like I Do? continues in this fashion, juxtaposing the larger political and social backdrop with Frampton’s multisensory vignettes. The resulting effect is a memoir that is not divorced from time and place, reminding the reader that music is not created in a vacuum. Frampton and his lengthy cast of bandmates (in The Herd, Humble Pie, et al.) invent themselves by listening to other musicians and listening to the world. As Frampton describes, this broad listening is critical to his development as an artist. Frampton’s black 1954 Gibson Les Paul plays an important role in the memoir — essentially taking on its own story. The guitar’s presumed destruction and journey through Central America are captured in several departures from the main storyline. These scenes are bracketed, almost as though they are in a photo album. The language here is particularly vivid. “It had been a fireball crash,” Frampton writes of the 1980 plane crash that separates him from his beloved

One World, One Dream

instrument. “The plane’s tail had broken off.” The guitar is found, a generation later, on a small island. In these snapshots, the fate of the Les Paul (dubbed “The Phenix”) becomes symbolic of Frampton’s own journey. Frampton — now based in Nashville — is known everywhere in the world, and so is his guitar. Guitar enthusiasts, sound engineers and others who are interested in the technical side of music will appreciate the passages that contain specialized language: “Bits came flying and I caught a PAF humbucker pickup.” The book is dotted with phrases like “straight to two-track” and “straight to mono.” These are not so frequent, however, as to become a distraction to nonmusicians. The book is not without its share of tea-spilling. Having enjoyed intimate relationships with countless musical legends, Frampton offers piquant tales of untoward behavior, substance use and more about well-known figures. But he also confesses his own shortcomings. At 24, he had an affair with the wife of a colleague. A series of alcohol-related crises pushed him toward Alcoholics Anonymous. He confronted his own deficiencies as a parent. Do You Feel Like I Do? is a book for all artists — those who have followed Frampton since the success of his groundbreaking album Frampton Comes Alive! and those who are hearing his name for the first time. Frampton’s vignettes of work (for instance, the pressure to create an album in eight days) will be familiar in a world of endless deadlines. Others will simply appreciate the thoroughness, honesty and humor with which Frampton recounts his journey. For more local book coverage, please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

nashvillescene.com | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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MUSIC

ABOUT HIS BUSINESS

A.B. Eastwood lays a foundation for music with lots to say, in Nashville and beyond BY BRITTNEY McKENNA

SWING OF THINGS

Inventive Nashville headbangers Oginalii level up with Pendulum BY CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

ginalii’s Pendulum occupies a unique place inside 2020’s ever-expanding pantheon of quarantine releases. One-half pre-COVID recordings, one-half made remotely under lockdown, PENDULUM OUT FRIDAY, the EP is the heaviest, OCT. 23, VIA DEVIL IN THE grooviest, eeriest maniWOODS festation to date of the local hard-rock outfit led by Atlanta native Emma Hoeflinger since 2013. Hoeflinger “started out doing singer-songwriter stuff, like everyone coming to Belmont,” she tells the

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Bobby Gonz. Gonz was incarcerated at California’s Valley State Prison before meeting hiphop artist and activist Common, who visited the facility as part of his prison-reform work. “At 16, he was arrested and sentenced to life in prison,” Eastwood says of Gonz. “Then in 2018 and 2019, Common was doing a lot of work in prisons and he met Bobby. Bobby rapped for him and he thought it was dope. That night, Common performed for the inmates and brought Bobby onstage to perform with him. That next morning, Common called the governor of California and asked him to look at Bobby’s case. Four months later, Bobby was out of jail.” Eastwood worked on Gonz’s debut project alongside fellow Nashvillians Case Arnold and Ron Gilmore Jr. at Los Angeles’ Jim Henson Studios. Common is funding Gonz’s studio sessions with help from pop-rock juggernauts Coldplay, the latter of whom had Gonz open for them at a January benefit for the grassroots movement Reform L.A. Jails. Eastwood has also taken advantage of the extra time afforded by the pandemic to hone

Scene. She’s retracing Oginalii’s origins on a video call with the whole band ahead of Pendulum’s Oct. 23 release. Drawing on her personal touchstones Queens of the Stone Age, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the almighty Led Zeppelin, Hoeflinger spent the project’s early years honing her craft as a singer, writer and player. She majored in vocals at Belmont’s School of Music and later switched to guitar, graduating in 2015. Oginalii cycled through several lineups before Hoeflinger found an ideal six-string foil in Nashville local Ryan Quarles, freeing herself up to explore the art of the riff while he dove deep into the world of effects pedals. But the core duo still sought its other half. Enter Emma Lambiase, a bassist who’d come from Texas to study at Belmont, and her friend Simon Knudtson, a drummer originally from Wisconsin. The pair was drafted into the band as a package deal in late 2017. Initially, the arrangement was just for one show, but they ended up sticking. “Ryan asked Simon, and Emma asked me separately,” Lambiase remembers. “Then Simon and I were

his live performance skills and to find creative ways to make future live shows tighter, more musically varied experiences. One new element he’s played with during lockdown is an effects box that allows him to change the pitch of his voice, which he finds especially useful for COVID-era shows that may not allow many people onstage at one time. “I miss the stage,” he says. “I get better every time I’m onstage. So I miss that aspect of it all. But it’s given [the artists I work with] a lot of time to re-up the show and really rehearse it, really put together shows that we honestly should have been doing. We know we’re good, but it’s a next level we wouldn’t be able to take it up to if we didn’t have the time.” Eastwood sees his work as a producer and his work as a hype man as two sides of the same coin. Both roles find him using his musical chops and intuition to help artists deliver their best possible performances. His finesse behind the boards feeds his intuition onstage, and vice versa. “With live performing, it’s more about support,” he says. “I monitor my people’s

breath and their energy and see what they need as far as support. Sometimes they won’t need it, so I won’t force it, but other times they may need a little help keeping it going. It’s kind of similar to producing, where it’s like, ‘Hey, I hear you rapping over this part, but something needs to change because your voice changed.’ “ This has been a big year for Eastwood, but 2021 is already poised to be bigger. In the coming months, he has new projects on the way with Taylorr, Indigo, Gent, McClinton and more. He always has a lot on his plate, but his passion for his work and his love for his friends in Nashville and beyond keep him motivated. “I don’t work with everybody,” Eastwood says. “I only work with people I truly want to invest in, who I think are dope. For everybody I work with, I’m a legit fan. If I wasn’t behind them onstage, I’d be fangirling front row at the show. If I ever get too busy, I’m always too busy working with people I love to work with.” EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

PHOTO: GRANT IVIE

here aren’t many people who can say 2020 has been remotely OK, let alone one of the best years of their career. Much-loved hip-hop producer, DJ and hype man A.B. Eastwood, however, has had a banner year FOLLOW EASTWOOD ON INSTAGRAM for his work, and (@A.B.EASTWOOD) AND he tells the Scene TWITTER (@ABEASTWOOD_) via phone that he’s FOR NEWS ON HIS LATEST grateful to say so PROJECTS during a time that has been so difficult and frightening for so many other people. “I have more time than I’ve ever had,” Eastwood says. “I’m really getting to explore and to enjoy music again. It’s really fun now. I have time to do it or not do it, and I can do things at my own pace.” If you’ve listened to Nashville hip-hop or R&B in the past few years, there’s a good chance you’ve heard the work of Eastwood, who’s typically credited simply as A.B. He’s a frequent collaborator with artists like Tim Gent, Bryant Taylorr, Lauren McClinton and Petty, helming projects in the studio and joining them onstage (and these days, on screen) for live performances. Eastwood’s recently released projects as producer include the track “Dishonor” on Gent’s In Every Fall EP, Taylorr’s recent single “Pretty Women” and Chuck Indigo’s “Bad to the Bone.” Rather than offering a signature style or sound with his work like some producers do, Eastwood’s production varies in service of each project. “Pretty Women,” for example, is spacey and ethereal, while “Bad to the Bone” layers warped, icy keys with thick bass and swirling vocals. Two weeks before catching up with the Scene, Eastwood traveled to Los Angeles to work in the studio with up-and-coming rapper

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MUSIC hanging out, and realized we were both filling in with the same band. We never stopped filling in.” Says Hoeflinger, “It finally felt like what Oginalii was always supposed to be.” The band issued its first full-length Cause & Affection in April 2019 and spent much of the year on tour. All Them Witches axman Ben McLeod produced the album, an appealingly grungy mix of desert-rock riffs, psych atmospherics and clever vocal melodies. But the bulk of the arrangements on C&A had been locked in before Knudtson and Lambiase joined up. Hoeflinger and Quarles were eager to move forward and discover what the retooled foursome could pull off when writing together. So was Mexico City indie label Devil in the Woods, which inked Oginalii to a deal in early 2020. The group wrote and tracked a trio of new tunes — “Scapegoat,” “Pendulum” and “Pillars” — again with McLeod at the helm. But when the coronavirus reared its head and the calendar turned from March to April, they realized it might be a while before they could hit the studio again — and the label was still expecting another three songs. The time crunch “forced us to creatively approach writing music over the internet,” Quarles says. Foreign as composing in isolation felt at first, the band came to embrace the opportunity to push outside its comfort zone. “The parts we wrote separately gave everyone more space to do something a little more out-there,” says Lambiase. She describes the nervous excitement of firing off a song snippet and awaiting a response as “kind of like when you send a risky text message.” It also led to the acquisition of new skill sets. “Simon and I spent a lot of time learning more about home recording and experimenting with tape loops,” says Quarles. “The time we’d normally spend preparing for touring had been offset by energy we were now devoting to trying to get more creative, expand our knowledge.” As EPs should, the multifaceted Pendulum makes every moment count. Each “quarantune” showcases a different strength. On the menacingly catchy opening salvo “Veils,” the band flexes its pop muscle, while the minimalist “Black Hole” makes for a ghostly interlude. The finale “Stripped the Screw” navigates a compositional gauntlet with hummingbird-like precision. From the McLeod sessions, “Scapegoat” thrashes with abandon, while the title track is part funereal dirge, part heavymetal firestorm. The cleaner guitars and slick rhythmic interplay of “Pillars,” in contrast, highlight Lambiase and Knudtson’s contributions — and nod to an unexpected common influence. “Steely Dan is the reason I play guitar,” Quarles says, recalling the night he and his parents saw the famed jazz-popsters co-headline at Nashville’s long-closed Starwood Amphitheatre with yacht-rock king Michael McDonald in 2006. Hoeflinger’s dad, meanwhile, “had Steely Dan playing every morning.” The soundtrack to Lambiase’s family’s road trips: “Steely Dan, Chicago, Supertramp and Rush.” Knudtson’s folks’ go-tos: “The Clash, jazz CDs, electronic stuff, improvisational music — oh, and also Steely Dan.” You can take the kids out of music school, never vice versa. But putting in their work at Belmont did more for Oginalii’s members than just sharpen their musical acumen and instrumental proficiency. It also taught them what they don’t want out of music. “Music school locks you into thinking things have to be a certain way, that bands are always going to have one person arranging everything, telling everyone what to do, and that’s just how it is,” Lambiase says. “This band jailbroke that. It was sick.” EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

YEP ROCK

Okey Dokey gets by with a little help from their friends on Once Upon One Time BY CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

key Dokey is an apt name for a project defined more by a can-do spirit than any strict adherence to a single sound or practice. When singer-songwriter-bassist Aaron Martin and guitarist Johny Fisher founded the band in 2016, the main objective was to collaborate with as many other people as possible. “You see it a lot in hip-hop, or outlaw country — talking about friends in the lyrics, or handing a bridge over to someone else to write,” Martin tells the Scene. “But it’s something rock bands don’t do enough.” Fisher, a Texan, and Martin, a Putnam County native, have been friends for more than a decade. Martin came to Nashville to pursue visual art and still chiefly identifies as an illustrator and painter. But when Fisher’s previous group, the psychedelic-pop sextet Sol Cat, had an opening on bass, Fisher urged Martin to give it a shot, and he ended up doing a yearlong stint in the band. Sol Cat enjoyed a solid run from 2012 to 2015 but was ultimately done in by a case of too many cooks. There were the goals of the six members, which didn’t always overlap, and then there was advice from a wide variety of people who took an interest in what Sol Cat was up to. As Martin says, “When we were younger, we listened to a lot of things we were told.” Those giving the band pointers might consider the idea of enlisting six separate individuals to help produce an album to be outlandish — and based on how Sol Cat ended, you might ONCE UPON ONE TIME expect the same of OUT FRIDAY, OCT. 23, VIA Okey Dokey. But PARK THE VAN that’s exactly what they did for Once Upon One Time, their third LP, out Oct. 23. The album is the group’s first with a trio at its core, counting the recent addition of multi-instrumentalist and fellow Sol Cat alum Jeremy Clark, and first since signing with Park the Van, the label that brought Philly retro-pop greats Dr. Dog to the wider world. But not just anybody got behind the boards for Once Upon One Time. The record’s mixing and co-production credits are a who’s-who of indie heavyweights, with contributions from members of My Morning Jacket, Grizzly Bear and The Shins. The assembled brain trust runs Okey Dokey’s adventuresome psych-pop through an ar-

ray of filters, incorporating stacked multipart harmonies (“Feel Brand New”), bold symphonic instrumentation (“Throw Me a Bone”) and gospel with a twinge of folk melancholia (“To Be Real”). “Oh, What a World,” not to be confused with the Kacey Musgraves song of the same name, offers up neo-soul ear candy. There’s an unapologetic T-Rex homage called “Big City Magic,” and MMJ six-stringer Carl Broemel contributes a rapturous guitar solo to “It’s Just You.” Across the LP’s dozen songs, there’s an intuitive simplicity to the writing and a spaciousness to the arrangements that lets the melodies shine. It’s clear the makers of this music savor the process as much as the outcome. Early in 2019, Martin and Fisher issued the second Okey Dokey album Tell All Your Friend, which features cameos from fellow Nashvillians Rayland Baxter and Liz Cooper. Even before the release, though, the group began dropping collaborative singles, each of which features a different guest singer. At year’s end, the nine tracks were collected as Curio Cabinet I, an odds-and-sods spiritual cousin to The Beach Boys’ Party! or Yo La Tengo’s Fakebook, and the first in a series Martin and Fisher intend to continue between proper full-lengths. For the Curio tracks, they recruited from inside the local scene but also looked beyond it, spotlighting a motley mix of peers including veteran L.A.-via-Oxford, Miss., home recordist Dent May and Nari, a Californian living in Lexington, Ky., who also happens to be a Park the Van signee. Okey Dokey recorded her song

“I Really Want to Know” for the series. “We met Nari on tour last year,” Martin explains. “She was giving us stick-and-poke tattoos and she was just like, ‘I wish I could be a musician’ … which is something I used to say for years, ‘I’m not a musician.’ But that’s bullshit. She sent us a song we thought was really great — and never would’ve written. We wanted to pay it forward.” Martin points to a couple of sterling examples for Okey Dokey. There’s Parquet Courts (“a loud, wild punk group, but [whose] poignant statements on class and society you could put in a poetry book”) as well as Osees (formerly Thee Oh Sees, of whom Martin says, “I love how androgynous the fuzz they retch out of themselves is … it’s like cotton candy, but straight-up evil”). These groups have an insatiable drive to create — and commitment to never repeating themselves — that has proven sustainable over long, prolific careers. When Okey Dokey came home early from a tour of Western states and provinces back in mid-March, they certainly didn’t anticipate still being sequestered in Nashville seven months later. But for Martin, the time away from the stage has been fruitful, in “trying to correct any kind of ego” as the creation of new work continues. “In my mind, I feel like we, as a band, are going to accomplish a lot because we care about it. But [the pandemic] has also allowed a more humble appreciation of what we do. I don’t have time anymore to pat myself on the back when I write a song.” EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

nashvillescene.com | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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MUSIC

SELFRELIANCE

Lera Lynn finds a new version of herself in On My Own BY OLIVIA LADD

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PHOTO: ALYSSE GAFKJEN

era Lynn’s forthcoming fifth album began as an experiment. The expressive and versatile songsmith took a song from start to finish — from writing lyrics and music, to playing ON MY OWN OUT FRIDAY, and recording all the OCT. 23, VIA RUBY parts, to mixing the RANGE RECORDS AND track with a basic INGROOVES studio setup at home — without input from anyone else, just to see what would happen. Pleasantly surprised with the result, she continued. As the songs multiplied throughout 2019, the idea to turn her project into a full LP emerged. The result is On My Own, out Oct. 23, a record full of vivid and varied textures. Crafted in disciplined, self-imposed isolation, On My Own is the product of a creative breakthrough. It’s a striking departure from Lynn’s earlier work, whether her widely lauded role in Season 2 of True Detective (as a coolly evocative singer who regularly played a bar frequented by the main characters) or her most recent release, 2018’s Plays Well With Others. Plays Well skews toward ’70s-vintage pop, featuring nine duets with roots and Americana artists like Rodney Crowell and John Paul White. On My Own still carries an innate softness and is at times haunting, but resonant harmonies and electronic drum tracks place the new material closer to the work of Chelsea Wolfe or Sharon Van Etten. The intent and process behind making On My Own informed the content. “For most of the songs on the record, I did not write the way that I have in the past, which is with a guitar, a lot of times an acoustic guitar,” Lynn tells the Scene by phone. “[For On My Own,] I would make drum loops, then find a cool sound on the synthesizer that maybe didn’t even stay in the song, but was enough to take me in a different direction than I would’ve gone with acoustic guitar. I used my drum machine, an old Ace Tone; then wrote the bass line; then wrote the melody; then wrote lyrics to fit. It was kind of a backwards process for me. Usually it’s lyrics and melody first.” By maintaining a singular vision from conception to completion of On My Own, Lynn achieved a distinctive style, both sonically and thematically, that she wouldn’t have otherwise. In changing the methods by which she created, she felt free to challenge herself further. With only a modest amount of prior experience engineering recordings, she met a sharp learning curve and discovered what she was capable of on her own. “It was really challenging to do in isolation,” says Lynn. “I think most of us rely on feedback with art. I learned a lot about trusting my instincts. That’s really what this record is all about, for me. You don’t have anybody else, you’ve just got to follow the muse and trust yourself and trust your instinct.”

You can hear where that trust pays off right from the start of the album. A spare, steady, mechanical heartbeat emanating from the Ace Tone explodes into the shimmering “Are You Listening?” The song revels in the act of creation, exploring a fantasy landscape that Lynn’s imagination generates when she dreams, as she sings: “There’s a song that plays for you / Can’t you see? / You wrote the music / You sing the melody.” Later, over the sideways-sliding groove of “Let Me Tell You Something,” Lynn reflects on the downsides of life in a creative field as she offers some career advice to a young person, possibly a younger version of herself. She touches on the lack of financial stability in the music business, but focuses on deeper, longer-lasting harm, singing: “What you feel don’t matter

/ Everybody’s got something to say / But nobody’s got the time to listen to it anyway.” In many ways, making this album helped prepare Lynn for the changes this year would bring, from coping with the restrictions of the global pandemic to caring for her son, who she gave birth to in August. When recording, she kept a schedule to make sure she got work done; before, she’d write whenever the feeling struck. Now, she squeezes in songwriting time while her baby is sleeping. Life will never go back to the way it was before in many ways, but Lynn remains adaptable, and now has experience relying on creativity that works within a structure. The way On My Own came to be is critical, because it forced Lynn to develop new skills and a new way of looking at her music. But

the process also helped Lynn work toward a broader kind of self-acceptance that’s just as important. “I think the overarching theme was me trying to settle into myself. I think that we’re all looking for that on our life journeys — how to be comfortable in your own skin and accept yourself. Most of us spend a lot of time looking outside and comparing and pushing and wanting to be more, better, richer, more successful. And I think this record was really an illustration of me working through that process, going: ‘OK, this is who I am, this is how old I am, this is my living situation, this is my career situation and it’s OK. I’m OK with it. I’m proud of it, and just sort of settling into that.’ ” EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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FILM

PRIMAL STREAM 27: THE HORROR!

Hindi horror, killer klowns, Elvira and more, now available to stream BY JASON SHAWHAN

WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY

MARTIN EDEN

write about horror a lot. But we’re now smack-dab in the middle of October, so it’s to a certain extent expected. Horror isn’t limited by season, but it’s certainly the genre that has best embodied the 2020 experience. So let’s take this journey gingerly, because it seems like absolutely anything can happen these days. The previous 26 weeks of capsules are available, and I promise you’ve got a lot of spooky and shocking options with which to experience your candy binge of choice. Read on for this week’s creepy recommendations.

MARTIN EDEN VIA THE BELCOURT Based on a Jack London novel, Martin Eden is a grounded and literate tale of integrity and vision and how absolutes tend to unmake any certainties we may have thought we were operating under. It’s spiky and tactile in its visual sensibility, and director Pietro Marcello shifts things around from the original text while still tackling London’s exploration of individualism and class structure. Star Luca Marinelli (if you’ve

seen Netflix’s The Old Guard, he was Nicky, one of the supergays whose security-van dialogue you will hear repurposed into vows at so many future gay weddings if whatever the Supreme Court becomes doesn’t annihilate Obergefell) is exceptional in a role that covers a lot of time and a lot of perspectives. If the film’s deep dives into social theory don’t necessarily do it for you, Marinelli’s award-winning performance will. Martin Eden is a brainy seduction for philosophers and ground-down pragmatists alike. This one is available via the Belcourt Theatre’s Virtual Cinema beginning Oct. 16; in Italian with English subtitles.

TUMBBAD ON AMAZON PRIME If Clive Barker had made There Will Be Blood, it might have gone something like this Hindi-language horror epic. With Tumbbad, the team of Rahi Anil Barve, Adesh Prasad and Anand Gandhi have created something special that manages to be genuinely scary, politically resonant and profoundly imaginative. The Rao family is our focal point for several generations, and

they discover in the early 20th century a secret involving the shunned god Hastar that allows them to weather British colonization and uncertain economic times for decades — but at an unspeakable cost. This is one of those streaming gems that will sneak up on you — you’ll ponder your own financial situation as well as some unsettling baking choices. Not to be missed.

WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY ON NETFLIX It’s safe to call this film a modern classic by now, I think. It’s certainly impossible to make a biopic of the life of a musician without checking this movie to make sure one isn’t aping any of the clichés it valiantly wrestles to the ground. Director Jake Kasdan (Zero Effect) has done the work with Walk Hard, making sure to leave no stone unturned and no montage forsaken in bringing the story of legendary musician Dewey Cox (John C. Reilly) to life, tracing his story from family trauma (shout-out to the legendary Margo Martindale as Mama Cox) through hard-won success, chemical tribulation and the many peaks and valleys of the music business in the 20th century. Reilly is nothing less than stellar, and the show he performed (in character) at the Mercy Lounge was one of 2007’s truly great live experiences. “I’m cut in half real bad ...”

ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF THE DARK ON TUBI Campy, witty and always eager to push the bawdy limits of a PG-13 rating, this 1988 delight allows comedienne Cassandra Peterson to let her alter ego go wild in a classic horror narrative of ancient family secrets, occult ritual and suburban hypocrisy. Falwell, Mass., just isn’t ready for Elvira, who lives every moment for Vegas glitz and Paul Lynde-style one-liners. The fact that she is also solving a supernatural mystery and helping the repressed townspeople loosen up and let their freak flags fly is just icing on the cake. If you’ve been missing drag shows or haunted houses, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark really is your best bet at combining those two experiences. With Edie McClurg as hypocritical busybody Chastity Pariah and Ira (“I am the Wizard Master” from Elm Street 3) Heiden as one of the local teens healed by the power of B-movies and bosoms.

TUMBBAD

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KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE ON NETFLIX Nightmarishly effective and perfect in tonal balance, the Chiodo Brothers’ Killer Klowns From Outer Space is a love letter to drive-in creature features and every special effects discipline one could conceive of in the late ’80s. A rampaging band of extraterrestrial clowns has landed on earth to imprison humanity in cotton-candy pods and drain our juices with ornate swizzle sticks. They’ve got carnivorous popcorn, corrosive pies and a flair for the mordantly comic. Like their ideologcal siblings the Gremlins, the Ghoulies and the (Chiodo-designed) Critters, these creatures are the chaos and excess of unbridled consumption given life and license to fuck up all of our endeavors. Funny but also genuinely disturbing (there’s something immediately dangerous about these clowns), Killer Klowns has dozens of images and moments that will stick in your subconscious.

2.0 ON AMAZON PRIME If you are unfamiliar with Superstar Rajinikanth, know that he is one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, and in this 2018 scifi/fantasy epic (a sequel to 2010’s Enthiran), he is a brilliant scientist but also an android army who is the only defense humanity has left after people’s cell phones have vanished from their owners’ very hands only to take the form of a suicidal ornithologist (the exceptional Akshay Kumar). The latter has gathered his consciousness in the form of a giant bird bent on destroying CEOs (Freddy Krueger-style) and corporate headquarters all over the Indian subcontinent. I promise that at least five or six times 2.0 will have you delirious with the possibility of what director Shankar Shanmugam and Rajinikanth are doing here, because this movie wants to entertain you in every possible way you can imagine. Symbolic retribution for those who plunder the land and cull the skies goes hand in hand with robot boner jokes and soccerfield shenanigans. Though it’s tragically not available in 3D via any streaming service, with 2.0, Shankar made the last great native 3D film. Take two-and-a-half hours and give yourself over to this singular experience, available in (original language) Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. And if you feel the Rajinikanth magic, may I also recommend Petta (streaming on Netflix), wherein he kicks an entire frat party’s ass in a dance fight. EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | OCTOBER 15 – OCTOBER 28, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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FILM

SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION

Aaron Sorkin’s impressive The Trial of the Chicago 7 pulses with urgency BY CORY WOODROOF

n times like ours, describing a film as “timely” can feel a bit trite and obvious. Even so, sometimes it’s just the best adjective there is. Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 is, without a doubt, timely. The long-awaited historical courtroom drama feels ripped and pasted from this summer’s headlines. This year has seen widespread protest — some inspired by racial inequality and police brutality, some inspired by disgruntled folks who don’t want to wear a mask to Hardee’s during a THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 global pandemic. R, 129 MINUTES Sorkin, the AVAILABLE FRIDAY, OCT. 16, maestro of laserON NETFLIX precision banter and walk-and-talks, takes plenty of opportunities here to tell the tale of the Chicago Seven — seven late-’60s activists charged with conspiracy and inciting a riot related to anti-Vietnam War protests — with 2020 perspective. For a guy who’s known to be somewhat indulgent, the West Wing creator approaches this sordid moment in American history with a reverence we only see when he’s at his best. The protest scenes; the back-and-forths

AVERT YOUR EYES Don’t Look Back grasps for deeper meaning and doesn’t find it BY STEVE ERICKSON

he directorial debut from the screenwriter who came up with the idea for the Final Destination series, Jeffrey Reddick’s Don’t Look Back could have used a few more drafts to polish its awful script. The film puts a contemporary spin on the story of Kitty Genovese, a woman who was murdered in a New York City street in 1964. The tale of Genovese’s death taking place in front of desensitized, nonintervening urbanites turned out to be a media misrepresentation, but Reddick’s film restages the legend for the age of viral smartphone videos. And as it turns out, almost every line of dialogue in Don’t Look Back is designed to directly further its narrative. Heroine Caitlin (Kourtney Bell) is experiencing PTSD after witnessing two separate violent episodes — including the death of her father — and we’re given dialogue about karma and the ethics of vengeance that would come off a bit shallow for even 12-year-olds fresh out of Sunday school. Walking in the park one day, Caitlin sees a man beaten to death. Neither she nor any other bystander does anything to help him, but Nathan (Stephen Twardokus) pulls out his phone and films the murder. Called out in an on-air interview by a TV talk show host

between the luminaries of the late-’60s American left being unfairly tried by a Nixonian government rife with corruption; the lines of dialogue with modern-day contextualization — everything has meaning here. Sorkin is a flashy writer and a newcomer to directing, his first directorial effort being 2017’s Molly’s Game. You can’t deny his brilliance in examining powerful men and powerful moments in history, just like you can’t ignore his ego creeping onto the page. When Sorkin is doing his best work, he’s making film history with The Social Network or creating great characters like President Josiah Bartlett. When he’s too full of himself, we get sloppy 15-minute sermons from The Newsroom’s Will McAvoy. But at least Sorkin’s never not entertaining — the worst moments from that journalismfocused HBO vanity project veered into guilty-pleasure territory. Even if you largely

(Rainn Wilson), Nathan becomes the first of the witnesses to die, and Caitlin’s proximity to multiple deaths makes her a suspect in the eyes of Det. Boyd (Jeremy Holm). Meanwhile, she has to deal with the anger of the victim’s brother Lucas (Will Stout) and the fact that her boyfriend is a hunk with zero personality. Don’t Look Back aims for atmosphere but instead piles on cliché after cliché. The soundtrack is full of atonal piano and string-section swoops, as well as ghostly shrieks of “Help me!” A fantasy sequence suggesting that Caitlin’s father went straight to heaven is shot with a soft glow, and she hallucinates more than the entire lineup of the Grateful Dead circa 1967 combined, all the while haunted by images of gory corpses. These are usually introduced as jump scares, although the film’s sole good idea is haunting as a form of violation, with Caitlin experiencing ghosts, whether or not they’re real, grabbing her body from behind. But Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man went much further with that idea earlier this year, and did it in more interesting fashion. Don’t Look Back obviously doesn’t take place in a naturalistic world — every time a character sees a TV, it’s showing an image related to the murder. But the film doesn’t trust the audience to get any bit of symbolism. Constant references to the number 27 point to the Bible passage Luke 10:27. After seeing crows everywhere, Caitlin helpfully tells her boyfriend that they’re a symbol of death. Sitting in a church pew, she realizes she’s sitting near Lucas as the priest sermonizes about the parable of the good Samaritan, saying, “It’s right in front of you.” A nearby couple watches the video of the murder on their phone, with one of them saying, “That’s messed-up, and you’re messed-up for watching it” — just in case anyone thought the film’s message about voyeurism was too subtle.

agree with his long-winded political monologues, Sorkin is most effective when he’s dealing with abstractions rather than absolutes. His ruminations about America are best at the macro level. That’s why Sorkin was the perfect guy to bring this moment in history alive. Rooted at the heart of this Oscar-bait dramatization is a debate about protest itself, and how much can be accomplished by civil discourse versus civil disobedience. Can you change a system while wearing a suit, or do you have to don a revolutionary armband? Sorkin wisely pits two of the case’s notable defendants against each other in an overarching debate illustrating why this is such a lasting and vital conversation for our republic. Tom Hayden, played by a simmering Eddie Redmayne, chooses to knock on doors and drive voter turnout. A staunch opponent of the Vietnam War, Hayden feels it takes

respect for the system and focus on its elections to change it. As for fellow defendant Abbie Hoffman (a dangerous, almost spectral Sacha Baron Cohen), he feels social revolution is the vessel for permanent change. How can you change America without changing its soul? Redmayne captures Hayden’s internal conflict over how to fight for what he believes, and Cohen makes a perfect foil. Sorkin unleashes Cohen’s astounding talent in perfect dosage. Even amid such a powerful cast (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jeremy Strong, Frank Langella, Mark Rylance, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, John Carroll Lynch, Alex Sharp, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Michael Keaton fill out the fiery ensemble), Cohen steals every scene, floating in and out with all of Sorkin’s best dialogue. While both Hayden and Hoffman can learn from each other, it’s the latter who serves as The Trial of the Chicago 7’s ultimate moral compass. Langella’s irritable boulder of a judge makes life impossible for the men on trial and those representing them and shows particular bias toward Mateen’s unfairly tried Bobby Seale, the only Black man being charged. But they all stand firm, even when things look hopeless. Sorkin imbues them with a sense of collective power and coats his film with the patriotism of a Norman Rockwell painting. To those on trial, nothing in this world is easy, and lasting social change takes persistence, sacrifice and patience. Some might critique the final product here as being a bit too Hollywood, but it’s got that Frank Capra optimism that might do us all some good. It’s easy to be cynical, and it’s harder to believe change is possible. EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

DON’T LOOK BACK R, 85 MINUTES AVAILABLE FRIDAY, OCT. 16, VIA VIDEO ON DEMAND

At times, Don’t Look Back plays as though it would like to be a faith-based film but is too scared of pissing off a secular audience — the logo even uses a cross for the title’s letter T. On one hand, there’s something to be said for simply acknowledging the omnipresence of Christianity in American culture by making Caitlin a church-going Christian. Don’t Look Back frames its spiritual ideas by juggling Christian and Buddhist references, constantly depicting apathy and vengeance as violations of karma. It attempts to use religion to make the tropes of revenge movies seem deeper.

But ultimately, the film grasps for a deeper meaning that it never remotely earns. Boyd tells Caitlin that it’s OK that she didn’t react to the murder by calling 911, because she was still traumatized by her father’s death — and we wait for some acknowledgement that being paralyzed in the face of violence is a very common reaction that doesn’t need such justification. But rather than depicting any believable human response to violence, Don’t Look Back luxuriates in twists that are supposed to be profound but just play like a Hallmark production with soft-R gore. EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

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DOWN Supervisors: Abbr. Curved molding Randy look Released air from, as a balloon Quarterback, often Prince ___ Khan Kind of card Choose Pale-faced Historic Boston locale What every infinitive in Esperanto ends with Grumpy co-worker Class struggle? Not at home … or caught at home Part of the Greek spelling of “Aristotle” Paris hangouts Vocal opponent of 2001’s Patriot Act, for short Like violin strings The price you pay Lose Detroit pro player Disentangle, in a way David Lynch’s first feature-length film Last name in “Star Wars” Prefix with cortex Possibilities Brief moments It’s a laugh

Coastal feature Literary master of irony Skedaddle Stock at a saloon Trimmable part Get the goods It may precede a breakup Lowdown Loser to Wilson in 1912 Person carrying a briefcase, maybe Pricey seating area

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December 24, e.g. J O K E

N B A L N O C D A T E S

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www.rockylawfirm.com LEGALS Non-Resident Notice Third Circuit Docket No. 20D1191

GLORIA MARIA MARTIN Vs. AARON MARSHALL MARTIN 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 AARON MARSHALL MARTIN. It is ordered that said Defendant enter His appearance herein with thirty (30) days after October 15, 2020 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

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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 AARON MARSHALL MARTIN. It is ordered that said Defendant enter His appearance herein with thirty (30) days after October 15, 2020 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 November 16, 2020. 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.

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Richard R. Rooker, Clerk W. North, Deputy Clerk Date: September 16 2020

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GLORIA MARIA MARTIN, pro se Attorney for Plaintiff

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Men’s Soccer Assistant Coach – Goalkeepers. Assist the Head Coach in the organization, administration, promotion, and execution of the men’s soccer program while focusing on goalkeeper training and development. Employer: Lipscomb University. Location: Nashville, TN. Domestic travel with the team to away matches during the season is required. To apply, mail resume (no calls/e-mails) to C. Morrow, 1 University Park Drive, Nashville, TN 37204.

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EMPLOYMENT Change Healthcare seeks a Software Engineer III in Nashville, TN to build enterprise-class solutions using the latest cloud technologies and development best practices. Reqs MS + 3 yrs. Or BS +5 yrs; Add’l specific exp. req’d. To apply mail resume to Change Healthcare, Attn: Dale Lineberry, R15646, 5995 Windward Parkway, Alpharetta, GA 30005.

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Broadcast Music, Inc., dba BMI. Nashville, TN. Sr. Mainframe Programmer Analyst. Investigate & analyze complex problems &/or reqs from a bus. perspective & design solutions that align to business goals & remain w/in techn. guardrails. Req. a bachelor’s in CIS, comp. engine. or any other engine. field. Min. 5 yrs.' mainframe dev. exp. w/ legacy systems & 5 yrs.' strong hands-on exp. in following tech. areas: DB2 for ZOS; COBOL II; MVS JCL; CICS; TSO/ISPF; Microsoft Office including Visio. 4 yrs.' exp. w/ royalty distribution systems. 3 yrs.’ agile / scrum team & Microsoft SQL exp. Strong knowledge of data analysis using SQL, ER diagrams & other tools. Demonstrated exp. in learning new technologies quickly. Expertise mocking up user interface reqs using prototyping. To apply, please visit website at: http://bmi.applicantstack.com/x/det ail/a2wnzfb11rcc.

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Sr. Application Engineer needed for HCA/Management Services, Nashville, TN. Responsible for developing, maintaining, implementing, configuring, and supporting Oracle Essbase and related applications. Create and maintain DRM hierarchies. Prepare relational data sources, consolidate relational data and develop OLAP model and Meta Outlines to interface with existing Data Warehousing structures. Will also utilize Hyperion BI, Oracle Smart View, SQL Server, Hyperion System BI+ Analytic Administrations Services, Hyperion Shared Services and MAXL. The employee may work remotely from home within commuting distance of Nashville, TN up to 3 days per week. Must have a BS degree in computer science or engineering and 5 yrs. of overall progressive IT exp. working with Oracle Essbase which includes at least 2 yrs. of exp. in the skills listed above. Send resumes to: elaine.healy@hcahealthcare.com

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