FOOD & DRINK: BAGELSHOP’S ‘NEW YEAR, ALL YEAR’ BRINGS CULTURAL CELEBRATIONS TO ALL >> PAGE 25 FILM: THE INTERNATIONAL BLACK FILM FESTIVAL TELLS OTHERWISE NEGLECTED STORIES
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New additions and lots of experience characterize this season’s Nashville Predators lineup BY JOHN GLENNON
NEWS
Cheekwood Arms Itself for the Swan Ball Battle Court sets Oct. 17 hearing date as boosters aim to take the headline fundraiser to Warner Parks BY ELI MOTYCKA
Nashville Early Education Coalition to Address Child Care Crisis
The newly formed group hopes to make pre-K care more accessible to families across Nashville BY KELSEY BEYELER
Pith in the Wind
This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog
Tennessee Valley Authority Releases 20-Year Power Grid Plan
Scenarios show natural gas buildout as an increasing environmental, economic and political liability BY ELI MOTYCKA
COVER
STORY
Back on the Ice
New additions and lots of experience characterize this season’s Nashville Predators lineup BY JOHN GLENNON
CRITICS’ PICKS
Twista, Dracula & Serenade, Joseph Allred, D. Watusi album release, Flamy Grant, Mariela, benefit for AFM 257, Kenny Vaughan and more
FOOD AND DRINK
Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot
Bagelshop’s new chef collaborations open a year’s worth of cultural and religious celebrations to all BY MARGARET LITTMAN
Crawl Space: October Brings a Harvest of Playful Displays to Fall’s First First Saturday A multimedia exhibition at Tinney and a moviethemed group show at Coop top our list BY JOE NOLAN
BOOKS
The Flood of History
In The Mighty Red, Louise Erdrich’s North Dakota characters survive natural and man-made disasters BY SEAN KINCH AND CHAPTER16.ORG
MUSIC
Another Look
The Scene’s music writers recommend recent releases from Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Blvck Wizzle and more
Pre-Flight Check
Jett Holden makes the country music of his life with The Phoenix BY RACHEL CHOLST
The Spin
The Scene’s live-review column checks out Pilgrimage Music Festival BY JAYME FOLTZ AND NICOLLE S. PRAINO
FILM
Who Are You?
A Different Man blends sci-fi, horror, romance and comedy into one of the year’s best films BY JOE NOLAN
Breaking Barriers
The International Black Film Festival tells otherwise neglected stories BY KEN ARNOLD
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CHEEKWOOD ARMS ITSELF FOR THE SWAN BALL BATTLE
Court sets Oct. 17 hearing date as boosters aim to take the headline fundraiser to Warner Parks
BY ELI MOTYCKA
BREAKAWAY FUNDRAISERS CAN temporarily use the Swan Ball trademark, according to a ruling from Judge Eli Richardson last month. For at least another month, the former FBI agent and assistant U.S. attorney will continue to referee Belle Meade’s high-society drama over a key fundraiser worth around $1 million for Cheekwood Estate & Gardens. At an Oct. 17 hearing, Richardson will invite additional evidence supporting each party’s claim to the Swan Ball mantle.
An ongoing sequence of interpersonal and institutional conflicts pushed the event’s organizing clique — formerly a committee under the Cheekwood umbrella — to incorporate as its own nonprofit, “SB Initiative Inc.,” in May. The official moves set off a summer-long legal battle between the beloved cultural institution and spurned elite with plenty of time, money and pride.
This group sued Cheekwood in July to establish ownership of the “Swan Ball” trademark, Swan Ball intellectual property and related assets like “swanball.com” and a donor database. Plaintiff lawyers argued that the committee operated within (but independently of) Cheekwood for 60 years, choosing each year to do-
nate the “fruits of its labor” to the historic estate. After growing friction between Cheekwood leadership and Swan Ball die-hards, the party planners want to take their talents a few hundred yards down the road to Warner Parks.
Cheekwood, the original 501(c)(3), has the upper hand with regard to legal receipts, having been the fundraiser’s sole host and beneficiary for the Swan Ball’s entire 60-year history. Cheekwood, with the help of PR firm Finn Partners, has also waged a public relations campaign against the committee since the fight became public in June.
“The Swan Ball, in its current form, is not sustainable,” Cheekwood lawyer Maia Woodhouse wrote in July — a month after SB Initiative’s first salvo, a strongly worded letter sent June 11. “Lavish spending, resulting in such low fundraising efficiency ratios, is contrary to Cheekwood’s charitable objectives and guiding values, and likely shocking to Cheekwood’s donors. Resistant to reform and modernization, and determined to continue the trend of lavish spending and charitable underperformance, your clients pretended to engage with Cheekwood while secretly conspiring to seize ownership and control of the Swan Ball.”
Woodhouse points out that, over the past three years, the event has converted an average of just 32 percent of fundraising into actual donations. According to charity-assessment nonprofit Charity Navigator, the industry standard for prestigious events is around 60 to 70 percent. While the implication that the Swan Ball is more a party for rich people than a purely charitable endeavor may scandalize country-club dining rooms, it likely isn’t a surprise for most of Nashville — which likely interprets the event as a parade of bow ties and Botox.
A quick perusal of 2024 auction items — which include a personalized South African safari and a private plane (sold separately) — indicates the considerable blessings enjoyed by its clientele. The event offers six tiers of individual and corporate underwriting, in order of affordability: cornerstone, premier, distinguished, principal, master and sponsor.
Cheekwood’s own financials paint an up-anddown picture inside the nonprofit, which relies on the yearly funding bump to supplement earnings from admissions, memberships, space rentals and individual fundraising. On highlevel operating budgets from 2020 and 2021, Cheekwood lists Swan Ball net cash at $900,000
and $830,000, respectively. A more detailed audit reports revenues of $838,681 in 2022 and $1,168,640 in 2023.
To SB Initiative’s point, documentation by Cheekwood alternatively refers to the Swan Ball as a “special fundraiser” and an “outside fundraiser.” The organization’s 2021 audit separates Swan Ball financials from Cheekwood financials, further muddying their dependency relationship.
By airing out the Swan Ball’s awkward donation ratio, Cheekwood may end up winning the war even if it loses a few legal battles. In a city of disappearing institutions, the strife and lawyers initiated by SB have already impacted the Swan Ball brand, stoking conflict within a wealthy slice of Nashville that trades on reputation. Beyond whatever facts come out at the Oct. 17 hearing, a changing city increasingly made up of new residents is already primed to accept Cheekwood’s core allegation — a white-tie gala at a Belle Meade mansion is more self-indulgent than altruistic, and out of step with conversations about what matters to the average Nashvillian.
Unfortunately for both parties, controversy of any kind may speed up the process by which the Swan Ball becomes a relic of the past. ▼
CHEEKWOOD
NASHVILLE EARLY EDUCATION COALITION TO ADDRESS CHILD CARE CRISIS
The newly formed group hopes to make pre-K care more accessible to families across Nashville
BY KELSEY BEYELER
including advocating for systemic change, bolstering the early childhood workforce through better wages, increasing accessibility through affordability and promoting awareness about the importance of early childhood education. This includes advocating for state and local policy changes, engaging the community in related conversations and creating a “director’s catalyst cohort” to support leaders in the sector.
Price spoke about her experience dealing with the challenges of the local early education system as both a parent and a professional. She told attendees that she nearly missed the opportunity to relocate to and work in Nashville because she couldn’t find an open pre-K child care spot — though she was ultimately able to secure one.
LEADERS representing the early childhood education sector, state and local government, and business and philanthropic communities are uniting to form The Nashville Early Education Coalition. The goal: to alleviate Nashville’s child care crisis.
Though the issue is not unique to Nashville, insufficient access to child care has reverberating effects on early childhood development, graduation rates, the local workforce and the economy. According to the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth’s annual “The State of the Child in Tennessee” report, there are eight child care centers per 1,000 children in Davidson County. Not only do many families have trouble securing pre-K child care amid limited seats and sometimes years-long wait lists, but a 2022 report from Tennesseans for Quality Early Education states that 60 percent of working parents in Davidson County have experienced “employment disruptions due to inadequate child care, citing affordability, quality and access as major challenges.” The report also notes that the child care issue led to $275.4 million in economic losses in Davidson County in 2022.
“The [Nashville Early Education Coalition] will be that entity dedicated to aligning resources, information and actions that help us move from a really fragmented marketplace to a healthy, integrated child care ecosystem,” said Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee CEO Hal Cato during the coalition’s Sept. 26 announcement.
Seated alongside Cato were other coalition members including United Way of Greater Nashville executive vice president and chief community impact officer Erica Mitchell, executive director of Youth Encouragement Services Viva Price and NEEC executive director Melanie Shinbaum. A complete list of the coalition’s 29 members can be found on its website, nasheec.org.
Shinbaum outlined the NEEC’s primary goals,
Price has also been working with Monique Hodison — executive director of Schrader Lane Childcare and Learning Academy — to establish Little Builders, a preschool that will host 12 children with an emphasis on serving families of color, New Americans and low- to moderate-income families. Though Hodison has decades of experience in the early education space and already has a location secured at one of the Youth Encouragement Services buildings, she says going through the regulatory steps needed to open the preschool has been a difficult twoyear process with lots of “red tape.”
Though the 70-year-old host building is already used to facilitate afterschool and summer programming, regulations change based on the number of hours adolescents would be in the building each week. As such, they’ve had to retrofit the space to meet code standards, which includes sorting through complicated city manuals, rezoning the building, applying for building permits and more.
“There’s not a streamlined checklist that says, ‘Do these things and then come to us and then we’ll come inspect you,’” says Price. “And you can’t even get to the point where an inspection takes place until after you’ve gone through Planning, Zoning and Metro Fire.”
While keeping little ones safe is extremely important, the difficult regulatory processes set up to protect them serve as a barrier for some who would be willing to open early education centers. The barriers also lead others to start unlicensed centers, which — with less oversight — present other dangers for young children. Multiple infants have died in unlicensed centers in Nashville over the past few years, for example. Hodison says she would like to create a guide to help others go through the process of opening an early childhood education center. The new coalition will be able to provide additional resources for them as well.
“It’s all connected,” says Price. “Early childhood education is going to be connected to graduation rates, which is connected to the health of our city as a whole. So whether or not you’re a parent right now, it’s going to impact your entire community.” ▼
Tennessee’s “abortion trafficking” legislation will not be enforced for now. Under Public Chapter No. 1032, passed earlier this year, an adult who “intentionally recruits, harbors, or transports a pregnant unemancipated minor” for the purpose of receiving an abortion or obtaining abortion pills would face a class-A misdemeanor for “wrongful death of an unborn child,” which could result in one year of jail time. Rep. Aftyn Behn (D-Nashville) and abortion fund member and attorney Rachel Welty brought a lawsuit against the district attorneys general for Middle Tennessee in June, asserting that the law could interfere with sharing information about abortion access in other states. Tennessee has a nearly total ban on abortion. United States District Judge Aleta A. Trauger wrote in her ruling late last month that the defendants’ motion to dismiss was denied and Public Chapter No. 1032 should not be enforced.
The East Bank site of PSC Metals will be offered for sale via auction. Icahn Enterprises LP, led by billionaire businessman and investor Carl Icahn, owns the 45-acre property. Icahn sold PSC Metals LLC to SA Recycling in 2021, retaining ownership of the property on which the scrapyard operates and leasing the space to SA Recycling. The Nashville Business Journal reports that Icahn Enterprises has received offers from prospective development companies during the past six months.
The Metro Nashville Public Schools board passed a resolution calling for “increased and sustained federal funding of public schools” as federal COVID-19 funding expires. Specifically, the resolution calls on Congress to pass the Keep Our PACT Act and the IDEA Full Funding Act. The resolution passed unanimously at last week’s board meeting. Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (or ESSER) funds have helped MNPS address long-standing issues that were highlighted by the pandemic. The funding — which had to be spent or accounted for by Sept. 30 — allowed the district to hire more nurses, mental health counselors and social workers.
TWENTY-NINE
THE NASHVILLE EARLY EDUCATION COALITION ADVISORY COUNCIL
REP. AFTYN BEHN ON LOWER BROAD, APRIL 10, 2024
TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY RELEASES 20-YEAR POWER GRID PLAN
Scenarios show natural gas buildout as an increasing environmental, economic and political liability
BY ELI MOTYCKA
THE TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY last week released its draft 2025 Integrated Resources Plan, executives’ tentative direction for how the utility will expand over the coming decades. The last IRP came out in 2019 and previewed the TVA’s pivot from coal to natural gas. The company provides power to more than 10 million people within an 80,000-square-mile region.
Multiple scenarios in the IRP show the TVA’s new carbon-heavy gas plants as a liability even as the utility expands natural gas across the region. Every strategy projected by the 2025 Integrated Resources Plan proposes new natural gas. Some scenarios in 2035 and 2050, if federal environmental regulations force the TVA to address its gas emissions, include a larger backbone of nuclear and renewable energy.
“After a decade of flat electricity demand, the TVA region is now experiencing increasing demand for electricity driven by population, employment, and industrial growth, weather trends, and increasing electric vehicle use,” reads a summary paragraph in the 262-page report. “The region is also seeing more volatility in winter temperatures and natural gas prices that affect resource planning. Finally, the TVA continues to experience increasing demand for carbon reductions and renewable energy options from residents and businesses in the region and those considering locating here.”
Appalachian Voices, a regional environmental nonprofit, skewered the TVA for pursuing more gas despite the environmental and political urgency of carbon reduction. The group has joined other advocacy groups across the TVA service area to push the TVA toward clean energy.
“The CleanUpTVA Coalition is disappointed to see that TVA’s draft Integrated Resource Plan charts several possible courses to even more gas expansion in the Tennessee Valley, while communities are still fighting seven TVA gas plants and new pipelines that have been proposed in recent years,” says Appalachian Voices’ Leah McCord in a statement. “This is a critical juncture in TVA’s history, and our public utility should commit to a long-term energy plan that lowers electric bills, reduces pollution and provides reliable power by building more clean and renewable resources instead of fossil fuels. The TVA Board of Directors should strengthen the final plan by hosting a public hearing that allows for modeling input from outside experts, as is industry standard for most utility IRPs.”
Since President Joe Biden set out a goal for a
net-zero power grid by 2035 — the TVA instead set its own net-zero goal for 2050 — an increasingly public rift has grown between the federal utility and its regulators in Washington. President Franklin Roosevelt chartered the TVA to electrify the South during the Great Depression, and with board members appointed by the president, it still exists under D.C.’s broad oversight umbrella. The IRP released last week shows a conservative utility reacting to market conditions and policy.
Rolling blackouts in December 2022 revealed a power system failing during Winter Storm Elliott. The public failure prompted investigations into the TVA’s grid resilience, referenced throughout the IRP. The utility shares that its own related investigation, a look into reserve power, is not yet complete. A planned System Operations Center will come online in 2026 to help better control grid reliability, improve efficiency across the complex power system and protect the TVA’s power grid from manipulation or cyberthreats.
The IRP projects six scenarios for power generation in 2035 and 2050. These scenarios respond to two major variables: electricity demand and carbon regulation.
The TVA’s base-case scenario combined with its baseline strategy — the clearest summary of current plans — builds the power grid on natural gas and nuclear power through 2050. These plans do not include carbon capture. Renewable energy remains a marginal contributor to power generation.
While the TVA has no plans to abandon gas, new environmental regulation from the federal government could force the company into expensive, emerging carbon capture technology. This includes carbon capture and sequestration processes and co-firing hydrogen. In this scenario, the TVA would combine roughly equal parts of carbon-captured natural gas, nuclear power and renewable energy by 2050.
In every case, the TVA has a carbon problem. Continued investments in natural gas are making future scenarios expensive, environmentally destructive and potentially noncompliant with federal rules. Rather than the TVA proactively curbing its own emissions, the IRP indicates that it will adapt to public policy and market pressure.
Members of the public can submit comments on the plan. Staff will take feedback at 12 open houses across the TVA’s seven-state service area in October and November — including one in Antioch on Oct. 28. ▼
GAS TURBINE AT TVA’S GALLATIN PLANT
PHOTO: ELI MOTYCKA
WITNESS HISTORY
Patty Loveless used this 1987 Gibson J-200 acoustic guitar extensively for stage work. 1987 was a big year for Loveless— it marked the release of her debut album, prompting the Tennessean to proclaim her the “foremost female new traditionalist.”
From the exhibit Patty Loveless: No Trouble with the Truth
artifact: Courtesy of Patty Loveless artifact photo: Bob Delevante
RESERVE TODAY
BACK ON THE ICE
New additions and lots of experience characterize this season’s Nashville Predators lineup
BY JOHN GLENNON
ON THE MORNING of July 1, several of the Nashville Predators’ veteran players texted excitedly with one another, wondering what the day might hold.
The date is a special one in National Hockey League circles. It traditionally begins the league’s annual free-agency period, when teams are allowed to sign new players whose former contracts have expired.
It didn’t take long for the first bomb to drop, as word leaked out that the Predators would sign future Hall of Famer Steven Stamkos — a two-time Stanley Cup winner who’d served as Tampa Bay’s captain for the past 10 years — to a four-year, $32 million deal.
“The group chat was exciting,” says Predators forward Filip Forsberg. “We found out he was coming and thought that was probably going to be it for us. It was a pretty big splash.”
But Predators general manager Barry Trotz had just started making waves.
In a matter of hours, Nashville also signed high-scoring forward Jonathan Marchessault to a five-year, $27.5 million deal; top-quality defenseman Brady Skjei to a seven-year, $49 million contract; and goalie Scott Wedgewood to a twoyear, $3 million deal. In so doing, the Predators became the first team to commit more than $100 million to new players in free agency since the Florida Panthers did so half a decade ago, per The Canadian Press.
“It was awesome,” says Preds captain Roman Josi, another member of the veteran text chain. “We were all just really happy, the commitment [that was] made, the vote of confidence in us.”
Adds Predators forward Ryan O’Reilly: “July 1 was like Christmas [for us], adding pieces and some of the top free agents out there.”
Just to cap an already huge day, Trotz announced that Nashville had reached new deals with two of the team’s key players, giving goalie Juuse Saros a new eight-year, $61.9 million contract and defenseman Alex Carrier a new threeyear, $11.25 million deal.
“It’s huge because it’s a statement, I think, for the rest of the league,” a smiling Trotz said at the close of business. “These players see what we’re doing with our franchise. We have lots to offer, and we’re very determined to win. We’re com-
mitted to that.”
But along with the high-profile signatures and triumphant announcements that day came a couple of realizations.
First, the Predators were no longer the under-the-radar underdogs they were during the 2023-24 season, when Nashville surprised many observers by returning to the playoffs after a one-year absence. It’s fair to say that team overachieved, aided by several players who produced career-best years and the impact of new coach Andrew Brunette, who finished second in the NHL’s Coach of the Year voting.
There are now expectations for the Predators, thanks to the influx of high-priced marquee talent. This team will be expected to not just return to the playoffs, but to give a noise-making run during the postseason. Nashville hasn’t won a playoff series since 2018, which was the
year after the Preds made a surprising run to the Stanley Cup Final.
“You bring in guys like [Stamkos, Marchessault and Skjei], guys who’ve been in the league for a long time and had amazing success, it’s huge additions,” Josi says. “So yeah, the expectations are definitely higher. But … it’s just on paper now. Now we’ve got to put in the work and build a team.”
The second realization was that an invisible window to capture Nashville’s first Stanley Cup had been cracked open, as soon as the Predators had completed their big cash-spending spree.
chance possible to have a great shot at [a championship] is pretty cool.”
STICKING TO THE PLAN
The Predators’ headline-grabbing July 1 moves were actually just an extension of the work Trotz started during the previous summer — the start of his first year succeeding former general manager David Poile.
Preseason finale 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, in Nashville against the Carolina Hurricanes
Already a team with a veteran core, Nashville added even more experience in Stamkos (34 years old), Marchessault (33) and Skjei (30). Even though all three still appear to be in the prime of their careers, their talents have expiration dates, as is the case with all players. Nashville’s opening-night lineup this season might feature a roster with 11 of 19 players 30 or older — a group that includes forward Gustav Nyquist (35 years old), Josi (34), O’Reilly (33) and Forsberg (30) among others.
Season kickoff 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, in Nashville against the Dallas Stars
Many in the hockey world had expected Trotz to institute a full-scale youth movement for a Predators team that had become stagnant, missing the playoffs in 2023 after eight straight years of qualifying for the postseason. Instead Trotz went in the opposite direction, collecting a trio of veteran players he deemed “serial winners” in O’Reilly, Nyquist and defenseman Luke Schenn. O’Reilly had been voted the most valuable player of the playoffs when he led St. Louis to the Stanley Cup in 2019. Schenn had won two Stanley Cups in Tampa Bay. Nyquist had reached the postseason eight times, piling up 71 games of playoff experience.
In simple terms, if this group doesn’t win it all in the next two or three seasons, the Predators will start transitioning to their next generation.
“I’m not the youngest anymore,” says Josi, who finished second in the voting for the NHL’s best defenseman last season. “I’m getting up there. You don’t know how many chances you have and how many cracks at it you have, so for Barry to [sign those players] and give us the best
In fact, it was that commitment to a win-now strategy — as opposed to a lengthy rebuild — that helped attract the likes of Stamkos, Marchessault and Skjei in July.
Why would Stamkos, for instance, have been interested in a team that was starting over after playing 16 years in the NHL and reaching the Stanley Cup Final three times in the past five years?
The same could be said for Marchessault, who was voted the most valuable player of the
COACH ANDREW BRUNETTE
STEVEN STAMKOS PHOTO: JOHN RUSSELL
PHOTO: JOHN RUSSELL
Behold bears witness to the nearly four-decade career of Cuban-born artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons, as she examines her own layered identity in search of meaning and connectivity. Through her evocative works, Campos-Pons reflects on how her heritage as a Black Cuban woman with ancestral roots in Spain, China, and the Yoruba culture of West Africa informs her artistry. With over 50 examples of multimedia work, including photography, painting, sculpture, and more, Behold explores a history of diaspora, displacement, and migration, as well as labor, motherhood, and spirituality.
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Cup Final in 2023 when he guided Vegas to the championship. Ditto for Skjei, who’s in search of his first Cup after playing 76 playoff games during his nine-year career.
“Anytime you get in a [free-agency] position like I was in, at this stage of my career as well, that’s one of the things that’s on the top of the list — to give yourself another chance to win,” Stamkos says. “For me personally and a lot of guys in the league, that’s what you strive for every single season, so that was very important.”
Even if Trotz’s plan to add even more experienced talent to the roster made sense, it was still impressive to see him carry it out so successfully.
Stamkos, Skjei and Marchessault were ranked three of the top seven free agents available on the market, per The Athletic, while Canadian-based website Sportsnet rated Stamkos first, Marchessault second and Skjei 10th among available free agents.
In signing Stamkos and Marchessault, the Predators became the first team in NHL history to add two 40-goal scorers in a single offseason. Stamkos has totaled 40 goals in a season — a plateau few players ever reach — seven times, while Marchessault hit the mark for the first time last season.
“When you start getting texts from your players going, ‘I am excited,’ that says a lot,” Trotz said in July. “Players know players, and they know [we’re] trying to win. … You start looking at the number of guys on our team that have done it now. They pull you along.”
ANALYZING THE ROSTER
The Predators’ fortunes this season won’t be completely dependent on the three new additions, of course, as Nashville returns almost its entire team after finishing with a 47-30-5 record
last season. That was good enough for 99 points, tied for the sixth-best total in the 15-team Western Conference. The Preds lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Vancouver Canucks.
The best forward line on that team — and a combination that is almost certain to begin this season intact — consisted of Forsberg on the left wing, O’Reilly at center and Nyquist on the right wing. Forsberg produced career highs of 48 goals, 46 assists and 94 points; O’Reilly had his most productive season (69 points) since 201819; and Nyquist notched a career-best 75 points.
There’s no guarantee that threesome will be able to repeat last season’s totals, but the team’s addition of Stamkos and Marchessault — who will likely be linemates themselves — should relieve the Forsberg-O’Reilly-Nyquist trio of the heavy scoring burden it carried last season.
“It certainly gives us options [as a team],” Forsberg says. “Obviously we had a good year as a line last year. We want to keep the momentum, take another step, keep playing the way we played — really good two-way hockey with that edge offensively. Now we’ve got [another] line that can do the exact same thing, if not more.”
Tommy Novak, a creative centerman who recorded career highs of 18 goals and 27 assists last season, may get the first opportunity to center Stamkos and Marchessault. Other upand-coming Predators forwards to keep an eye on include Luke Evangelista (16 goals last season), Philip Tomasino, Juuso Parssinen and Zach L’Heureux, among others. Players like Colton Sissons, Cole Smith, Michael McCarron and Mark Jankowski will be among the team’s toughminded, physical forwards.
On defense, Skjei will take the place of the Predators’ most significant departure from last season, Ryan McDonagh, who was traded back
to his former team, Tampa Bay. Skjei will likely be paired with Josi, giving Nashville a steady presence on the blue line that will allow the highly skilled Josi to roam the offensive zone.
“I always thought [Skjei] was a great player, playing against him,” Josi says of Skjei, who totaled a career-high 47 points last season. “He had an amazing year last year. He’s a [good ] skater, one of those D-men that’s really hard to play against. ... I think he fits perfectly into our system. It would be awesome for me. “
The team’s second defensive pairing will likely consist of two feisty French-Canadians: Jeremy Lauzon and Carrier, who complement each other’s game well.
Schenn and Dante Fabbro are candidates for the final defensive pairing. Spencer Stastney was expected to be in that mix as well, but he was absent at the start of training camp for what the team said were personal reasons.
In goal, Saros is recognized as one of the game’s best netminders after recording his third straight season with more than 30 wins. Some of Saros’ important numbers were off last season, as his 2.86 goals-against average was higher than his career mark and his .906 save percentage was lower than his career mark. But by committing to Saros for the long term with his new contract, the Preds made it clear they believe last season was an outlier — not the beginning of a trend for the Finnish goalie.
“Any team that’s ever won, goaltending is such a huge piece of that,” O’Reilly says. “I think all of us were a little scared he wasn’t going to be here, weren’t sure what was going to happen [with his contract]. He’s just such a huge piece for us, and we can’t do it without him. To get that done is a huge relief for us.”
NO GUARANTEES
On paper, the Predators may well put the most talented roster in franchise history on the ice starting Oct. 10, when the regular season begins with a home game against Dallas.
The additions of Stamkos, Marchessault and Skjei should add a significant offensive boost to a team that has struggled at times to score goals. Nashville, for instance, managed only 12 goals in the team’s six-game playoff series against Vancouver last season. Those same three players should also help turn the Predators’ power play into a force next season, as Stamkos is recognized as one of the best in the league in the man-advantage department.
In short, there’s little doubt the Preds are decidedly more equipped to take a run at the Cup this season than they have been for years.
“I definitely think those moves we made will help us be a better team and take us closer to our goal, for sure,” Josi says.
But if the Predators need a reminder that big offseason signings don’t always equate to immediate winning, they need only look across the banks of the Cumberland River. The Tennessee Titans spent more than $300 million in free agency last spring, but began the 2024 season with a string of painful losses.
“With what we did in the summer and then last year leading into the playoffs, we look like a better hockey team,” Trotz says. “I believe we are a better hockey team. ... But it’s fantasy hockey until we drop the puck and play for real.”
What will turn fantasy into reality this season?
“When it comes down to it, it’s still a workman’s league,” Trotz says. “You play the game on the ice. There’s got to be a lot of sweat, a lot of work, a lot of determination.” ▼
GENERAL MANAGER BARRY TROTZ (CENTER)
PHOTO: JOHN RUSSELL
Find
Experience
Meet
Chat
Hear
Learn
with the Nashville Symphony
OCT 9 | 7:30 PM
Jason Seber, conductor
with
with the Nashville Symphony & Chorus
OCT 12 | 7:30 PM
Tucker Biddlecombe, conductor Peter Otto, conductor and leader
Set by Crosscurrents: Pedrito Martinez and Ahmed Alom
OCT 13 | 7:30 PM
Presented without the Nashville Symphony.
THURSDAY / 10.3
THEATER
[NO MATTER YOUR SIN, YOU’RE WELCOME HERE] MOULIN ROUGE!
Tennessee, welcome to the Moulin Rouge! Baz Luhrmann’s hit movie turned stage musical is coming to TPAC after a successful Broadway run that earned 10 Tony Awards. Bohemians and aristocrats alike are sure to enjoy this jukebox musical’s celebration of truth, beauty, freedom and, above all else, love. Set in Paris during the Belle Époque at the turn of the 20th century, the story centers on a young composer who falls in love with a cabaret performer at the famous Moulin Rouge cabaret. With a band of bohemians, they put on their own musical to sway a wealthy duke in an attempt to save the club from financial ruin. The stage interpretation takes songs from its original movie soundtrack and adds songs that have dominated the pop charts since the film’s release, including selections by artists like Katy Perry, Elton John, Lady Gaga and Adele. This electrifying musical is sure to glamorize your senses with “glitz, grandeur and glory,” so gitchi gitchi ya-self there to experience “the state of mind” that is Moulin Rouge! KELSEY YOUNG THROUGH OCT. 20 AT TPAC’S JACKSON HALL
505 DEADERICK ST.
THE CONTRIBUTOR’S MASQUERADE BALL
PAGE 18 BANANA PUDDING FESTIVAL PAGE 20 YOU GOT GOLD: A JOHN PRINE CELEBRATION PAGE 22
MUSIC
[THE GAME THAT TIES YOU UP IN KNOTS] TWISTA
Since emerging from the same Chicago scene as hip-hop trio Do or Die in the ’90s, the 50-year-old Twista has had a long career in rap music. Then known as Mr. Tung Twista, the rapper was verified in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1992 as the world’s fastest rapper, clocking 598 syllables in 55 seconds. He caught attention for Runnin’ Off at the Mouth, a motormouthed dose of acrobatic lyricism that was one of the first releases on the storied Steve Rifkind/Rich Isaacson label Loud Records. But Twista’s uniquely rapid rapping has kept him around for decades as much more than just a novelty. His name is on tracks with huge hitmakers like Pharrell, Missy/Timba and Lady Gaga, while remaining close to the street-level emcees like Tech N9ne and Chief Keef. By now, if you know Nashville hip-hop at all, Gee Slab is no stranger to your earbuds. The rapper/ entrepreneur/thinking man has been one of the strongest tent pegs in Music City for years, mentoring new artists along the way. Opening
up the night at The Beast will be “Nashville Hot Chicken” artist Emory Jaymz and It’s Really [Just Us]. P.J. KINZER
8 P.M AT BASEMENT EAST 917 WOODLAND ST.
[OPERA TAKES FLIGHT]
OPERA
STAGGERWING
I’m a huge Amelia Earhart fan, so an opera about female aviators definitely made my ears perk up. Staggerwing follows the true story of Louise Thaden and Blanche Noyes, two young and spunky pilots in 1936. Historical spoiler alert: They were the first all-female team to win the transcontinental Bendix Trophy Air Race, following in the footsteps of Earhart, who became the first woman to complete the event in 1933. (Learn more about this in the preshow lecture.) It’s the regional premiere of the opera, which was workshopped and expanded in Nashville’s own Vanderbilt Opera Lab before this Vanderbilt Opera Theatre presentation. Composed by Lisa DeSpain with librettist Rachel J. Peters, the opera is quick and approachable at around 90 minutes with no intermission. For first-timers: Did you know they’re going to do all of this with live instruments and
no microphones? Opera is cool. Get tickets online ahead of time, but pay what you wish!
HANNAH HERNER
8 P.M. AT VANDERBILT’S INGRAM HALL
2400 BLAKEMORE AVE.
DANCE
[A DARING DOUBLE BILL] DRACULA & SERENADE
Nashville Ballet opens its season this weekend with a rather daring double bill: Paul Vasterling’s darkly compelling Dracula and George Balanchine’s dreamy Serenade Set “against the backdrop of Gothic mystery,” Vasterling’s Dracula explores timeless themes of good and evil and is set to the haunting neoclassical sounds of Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů. First presented in 1999, it’s a fascinating piece that really digs into the tortured soul of the iconic character.
Complementing this highly theatrical work is Balanchine’s exquisite Serenade, danced to Tchaikovsky’s sweeping “Serenade for Strings in C.” Created soon after Balanchine’s arrival in the United States in 1934, Serenade remains one of the choreographic master’s most beloved and evocative works. It’s a unique pairing that promises a gorgeous evening of dance, and a perfect way to welcome the Halloween season. But do keep in mind that this spellbinding production is intended for adult audiences and features nudity and depictions of violence.
AMY STUMPFL
OCT. 3-6 AT TPAC’S POLK THEATER
505 DEADERICK ST.
MUSIC
[EVERYBODY’S COOL]
TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB
Two Door Cinema Club has released exactly one single since they last came to town in February, but this 2010s staple of a band puts on a show that will never get old. I count them as part of my personal golden era of music (2015 and thereabouts), with bouncy synth-pop songs including “What You Know,” “Undercover Martyn” and my personal favorite, “Something Good Can Work.” I’ve seen them live several times, and can tell you they’re not too serious to play their older hits. That aforementioned new single, “Happy Customers,” is more sparse than my favorites but keeps the upbeat tendency of the band in play. It builds on 2023’s “Sure Enough,” which only gets my hopes up for another album coming soon. When this Northern Irish trio makes the trip across the pond, no matter how often, I have to be there. The group will be joined by up-and-coming New York City alt-rockers Quarters of Change.
HANNAH HERNER
6:30
[GRAVE & BUSTER’S]
NASHVILLE NIGHTMARE
Madison’s Nashville Nightmare is more than a simple haunted house. It is a full-fledged fear factory — a multi-attraction operation, creatively designed and staffed with a cast of extremely committed performers. On a recent media-preview night, my crew and I decided
to run the full gamut of primary attractions
(Midnight Mortuary: The Summoning, Vector Research Alien Autopsy, Horror High School for Ghouls and Castle Inferno), in addition to the smaller experiences (the Clown Alley Haunted Maze, the Mummy’s Curse Laser Maze, Zombie Rampage: A Tactical Shooting Experience and a mini escape room). While there’s a little bit of fun to be had with those smaller experiences — a freaky little jester in Clown Alley gave me a tiny figurine that coincidentally looked startlingly similar to my dog — the longform attractions are where it’s at: winding, darkened indoor haunted houses peppered with genuinely impressive design elements and costumed performers who do not phone it in.
(Shoutout to the Ghoul School’s library ghost, who swung back and forth from the ceiling while shrieking that we were not allowed to touch her books. I found myself earnestly muttering, “Yes ma’am, OK, I’m sorry.”) There’s a tiered ticket system, and folks who purchase platinum passes get skip-the-line access to all the attractions, along with entry to the grounds’ secret bars and other perks. But even without the VIP lanyards, attendees can grab an adult beverage from Bar Nightmare in the main strip. Nashville Nightmare kicks into high gear this month, open most nights in October and a few in November. Visit nashvillenightmare.com for tickets, hours and details. Word to the wise: Buy your tickets and fill out your waivers in advance.
D. PATRICK RODGERS
THROUGH NOV. 9 AT NASHVILLE NIGHTMARE
1016 MADISON SQUARE, MADISON
FRIDAY / 10.4
[MASK ON]
BENEFIT
THE CONTRIBUTOR’S MASQUERADE BALL
The folks at Nashville street newspaper The Contributor love a theme, and the organization’s second masquerade ball fundraiser is guaranteed to be full of people who commit to the bit. The event will also offer small bites and a live auction that will definitely include some covetable items, and the nonprofit’s leaders
will certainly explain how they help people get off the street each year. The Contributor is an organization that, as a contributor, I’ve watched firsthand make an impact in the lives of individuals experiencing homelessness by providing a low-barrier work opportunity to sell the newspaper (which is also a great read). This fundraiser will help cover operating and printing costs, but it’s important to support the individual vendors too. When you buy an issue of The Contributor, you’re helping set someone who is climbing out of homelessness on the path to stability while looking them in the eye and letting them know that someone cares.
HANNAH HERNER
6 P.M. AT THE STANDARD AT SMITH HOUSE
167 ROSA PARKS BLVD.
MUSIC
[MASK OFF] DAENA ALBUM RELEASE
If you follow rising singer-songwriter folk at all, you’ll likely recognize daena’s name — she’s been honing her chops around town for several years now. Her 2020 EP Electric! has an electronic-pop feel, but her new album Alter Ego leans more toward alt-rock. The songs are all about reaching the stage of adulthood when you have enough perspective to learn a lot from your relationships with yourself and others in your life, as well as those who aren’t anymore. The titular tune lays out daena’s biggest takeaway from her introspection in its hook: “I don’t need an alter ego / ’Cause there’s nothing
she could give me / Started saying, ‘Fuck imposter syndrome’ / You’re looking at the real me.” The record shares more of the journey — “Karaoke Bar” sounds like it’s describing a night at beloved LGBTQ gathering spot The Lipstick Lounge, where the release party will be — as well as what’s on the other side, as in “Lucky Number,” a ballad for daena’s fiancée. Paige Keiner supports. STEPHEN TRAGESER 7 P.M. AT THE LIPSTICK LOUNGE 1400 WOODLAND ST.
[EASY LISTENING]
MUSIC
JOSEPH
ALLRED W/SEBASTIAN BISCHOFF & THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS
Friday’s bill at the Springwater includes a couple of artists who have released music on the California-via-Nashville label Centripetal Force, which also boasts Nashville practitioners of post-New Age ambient music like Luke Schneider and Pat Sansone. The best way to hear the music of Zurich, Switzerland, guitarist Sebastian Bischoff is to check out the records he’s released under the name Son of Buzzi. His 2022 album Die Hand der Riesin (German for The Hand of the Giants) applies European gloss to North American primitive guitar. Meanwhile, guitarist Joseph Allred has released a dizzying array of albums that are by turns meditative, exuberant and dislocated. Allred, who lives in Crawford, Tenn., has a mystical bent and a way with soundscapes that fold in all sorts of found sounds — and some very advanced guitar playing. He’s a skilled exponent of straightahead solo guitar in a post-Piedmont blues style. I saw him perform a piece in that manner, “Groundhogs,” at a 2023 Nashville show. It was flawless and perfectly judged — easy listening with sharp edges. Rounding out the bill is longtime Nashville avant-garde folk band The Cherry Blossoms. EDD HURT
9 P.M. AT SPRINGWATER
115 27TH AVE. N.
THEATER
[A POTENT NEW DRAMA] LITHIUM & XANAX & ALL OF MY
FRIENDS
Nashville playwright Robert M. Coles has had a busy summer, just recently premiering his Southern comedy Aunt Sally’s Wild Ride at Playhouse 615 in Mt. Juliet. But beginning this weekend, audiences can see a very different side to Coles as his Brand Spankin’ New Theatre company presents the world premiere of Lithium & Xanax & All of My Friends. Touching on tough themes of mental health and issues facing the LGBTQ community, this provocative new drama follows Adam, “a young gay man trapped in a cycle of self-sabotage and mental turmoil,” as he confronts his past traumas. Adding interest to the piece, each performance will feature one of three possible endings, with the actor portraying Adam deciding the fate of the other characters in real time. Nashville theater lovers will be happy to see that Bradley Moore (formerly of Music City Theatre Company, Chaffin’s Barn and more) is back in town to direct, and the cast includes Payton Justice as Adam, along with Brianca Renfro, Sky Roberts,
DAENA
NASHVILLE NIGHTMARE
OCTOBER 5
WARREN
FEBRUARY 1, 2025
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
LEE
MARCH 7, 2025
MARCH
MARCH 27, 2025 JOY
NOVEMBER 19, 2025
SARAH
Ezra High, Joshua Andrew Hosale and Taryn Pray. This show is recommended for ages 16 and up due to strong language and mature themes.
AMY STUMPFL
OCT. 4-12 AT THE DARKHORSE THEATER 4610 CHARLOTTE AVE.
[FOR YOU PAGE ONSTAGE]
COMEDY
LUCAS ZELNICK
TikTok-viral stand-up comedian Lucas Zelnick thrives in conflict and navigating the in-between spaces of whether something is “wrong” or “right” to joke about. He’s dedicated to the idea of “punching across instead of down” (as GQ put it in a September feature), finding a way to joke about difficult topics in a way that makes people laugh without feeling completely disrespected. Zelnick makes crowd work a big part of his show, taking what people share and turning it into part of the bit. Drawing both laughter and gasps from his viewers, he’s sure to leave you feeling like the future of comedy is in good hands. Zelnick is a New York City native, self-described “trust fund kid” and media industry nepo baby — his father is the former chairman of CBS. He’ll play two nights at Zanies as part of a national tour. KATIE BETH CANNON
OCT. 4-5 AT ZANIES
2025 EIGHTH AVE. S.
[TWISTIN’]
MUSIC
D. WATUSI
ALBUM RELEASE
As the 2010s dawned, a new cadre of creative and industrious rockers cranked the energy stirred up by local bands over the previous decade to another level. In no small part, that was thanks to the contagious enthusiasm of Nashville’s Dead, a crew of bloggers, bookers and musicians who were constantly seeking ways to make young people part of the scene. That wave broke in a heartbreaking way in early 2013 when Ben Todd, a Nashville’s Dead co-founder and bassist for rock band D. Watusi, took his own life at age 24, devastating an army of friends, colleagues and admirers. The story of D. Watusi is naturally intertwined with Todd’s: He and singer-guitarist Dillon Watson (the band’s nickname-sake and a fellow Nashville’s Deadhead), keyboardist Christina Norwood and drummer Cam Sarrett were all creative forces in the group, as heard on their raucous 2012 debut LP Dark Party. The remaining members have gone on to have significant creative output, playing with heaps of bands (Savoy Motel and Snooper, to name just a couple) — and in Watson’s case, releasing solo material. What wasn’t widely known was that D. Watusi briefly regrouped, drafting in musician-about-town Ryan Donoho to make a second album called Watusioosie in 2014, which was then shelved. A decade later, the band has dusted it off for a proper release: It hit vinyl and streaming on Sept. 27, and they’ll celebrate it with a blowout show at Soft Junk on Friday night. The one track available ahead of our press deadline was “Bluest Hour,” a tender song with resonant John Lennon-esque piano and George Harrison-ish slide-guitar harmonies, all about adjusting to new phases of life. Is this the start of a new
chapter, or simply a way to honor one long past?
It’s significant either way. Hardcore thrashers Waxed, pop experimentalist Caroline Cronin and DJ Babewave provide support. STEPHEN TRAGESER
8 P.M. AT SOFT JUNK
919 GALLATIN AVE.
MUSIC
[LARGA VIDA AL AMOR] CUCO
It’s a terrifying time to be a Latin American immigrant in this country — a nation that somehow still considers itself the most “free” and “liberated” of all despite its perpetually racist rhetoric. However, Latino communities continue to show resilience in the face of America’s obsession with politically fueled hatred through two of humanity’s universal love languages: art and music. Take for example 26-year-old pop artist Omar Banos — better known as Cuco to his legions of fans. Born to Mexican immigrant parents in Southern California, Cuco makes vibrant music that reflects his Mexican heritage as much as it does his American upbringing. Popular hits such as “Lo Que Siento” and “Bossa No Sé” showcase the young singer-songwriter’s appeal as he effortlessly weaves Spanish and English lyrics over lo-fi bossa nova beats. His feature on Niko Rubio’s recent single “Sirena” brings together a lovestruck duet soaked in a ’60s beach ballad complete with soulful strings and Spanish horns. Cuco will perform at Brooklyn Bowl as a part of his 24-stop 4U North American Tour. Are you looking for a simple way to peacefully protest racism? Support artists and musicians of color. JASON VERSTEGEN
8 P.M. AT BROOKLYN BOWL
925 THIRD AVE. N.
SATURDAY
/ 10.5
[PUDDING YOUR FOOT DOWN]
FOOD & DRINK
BANANA PUDDING FESTIVAL
Looking for a fun day trip this weekend? Look no further than the Banana Pudding Festival in Centerville. This annual event celebrates good ol’ Southern culture with live music, multiple craft vendors and — obviously
— banana pudding. Explore the “Puddin’ Path,” a walkable path where you and your family get the chance to sample 10 kinds of banana pudding from local nonprofit organizations. Also check out the National Banana Pudding Cook-Off, where chefs and amateurs alike compete for their banana pudding to be crowned best in the nation. Last year, first place went to a recipe called “UnBEElievably Good Banana Pudding” from Chef Jenn Morris of Gordon, Ga. But if you enjoy eating banana pudding more than making it — like me — make sure to sign up for the Pudding Eating Contest. For the littles in your group, pay a visit to the Little ’Nanners Kid’s area for lots of fun crafts and rides. KELSEY YOUNG
OCT. 5-6 AT HICKMAN COUNTY AG PAVILION 979 GRINDERS SWITCH ROAD, CENTERVILLE
MUSIC
[THE
FLAME THAT SLAYS SHAME]
FLAMY GRANT W/I.V. KING, MARIELA
Flamy Grant brings her No More Trauma tour to Nashville this Saturday. Given Nashville’s penchant for country music and contemporary Christian music, there’s no better place to see Flamy Grant share her radically queer, traumainformed take on both genres. Grant is a drag
queen who takes her name from ’90s sensation Christian/pop singer Amy Grant. Flamy’s 2022 debut album Bible Belt Baby was a stunner, peeling back the hypocrisy of evangelical churches, working to build unapologetic self-love, and demanding to build a faith that lives up to Christianity’s professed values. But nonbelievers will find plenty to love at Grant’s show as she celebrates the release of her follow-up album, CHURCH. The show promises to be as thrilling as it is healing — and a party to boot. RACHEL CHOLST
8 P.M. AT THE EAST ROOM 2412 GALLATIN AVE.
MUSIC
[MUSIC FOR MUTTS] MIRANDA LAMBERT
Arf, arf! Country singer Miranda Lambert howls into downtown Nashville this weekend to raise funds for her four-legged friends. Lambert headlines Ascend Amphitheater with a one-night Music for Mutts show celebrating 15 years of MuttNation, the singer’s pet adoption and education nonprofit. The show comes less than a month after Lambert released Postcards From Texas, a new solo album and Big Loud Records debut that finds the singer-songwriter still penning some of the sharpest songs on Music Row. And as a one-of-a-kind gig, Music for Mutts boasts a packed lineup of guests, including country-rock fan favorite HARDY, roots troubadour Lukas Nelson and red dirt upand-comer Jake Worthington. From 4 to 6 p.m. on show day, nonprofit organizers plan to host a public pet adoption event at nearby Ascend Park. Participating shelters include Nashville Pittie, Metro Animal Care & Control, Nashville Humane Association and more. MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER 7:30 P.M. AT ASCEND AMPHITHEATER 310 FIRST AVE. S.
MUSIC
[ME AND MY BLACK METAL FRIENDS] PANOPTICON, EXULANSIS, PRIMEVAL WELL & MORE
From the moment that the Second Wave Black Circle scene first crept into ’90s punk, I was adamantly anti-black-metal. I wanted nothing
PHOTO: JEFF JOHNSON
PHOTO: EMILY TINGLEY
MIRANDA LAMBERT
FLAMY GRANT
OCTOBER
OCTOBER 10
THUNDER AND RAIN
to do with the annoying vocals or dudes who traded black Sharpie X’s on their hands for corpse paint and tremolo picking, but most of all I hated the scene’s association with fascism. While my contempt for howling Norwegians has softened in the past 30 years, my contempt for fascism has grown tenfold. Enter: The Autumnal Oration 2024 tour, showcasing ideas from USBM that resonate with me more than their church-scorching counterparts ever did. Kentucky’s Panopticon, Oregon’s Exulansis and Nashville’s Primeval Well are examples of how black metal has grown from its Second Wave form into something much less tangible. All three bands compose imaginative music that embraces the roots of anarchism and environmentalism, eschewing the nihilist and fascist themes of some of their embarrassing predecessors. Panopticon incorporates ideas from far-out folk music, labor rights and a deeply Thoreauian respect for the planet as the basis for a long and highly praised discography. Self-proclaimed antifascist black metal band Exulansis take on a deeply atmospheric idea of what the genre can offer. Locals Primeval Well create atmosphere with ideas lifted from Appalachian music and folklore. Nashville hardcore/death metal act Moru and Tennessee funeral-grind masterminds Knoll offer local support for the touring acts. P.J. KINZER
7 P.M. AT DRKMTTR
1111 DICKERSON PIKE
SUNDAY / 10.6
MUSIC
[THE PRIDE OF MUSIC CITY] JUBILEE
DAY
On Oct. 6, 1871, the first Fisk Jubilee Singers left Fisk University on a worldwide tour with the aim of raising funds to keep the historically Black university solvent. The story goes that when the singers performed for Queen Victoria, she said, “You must come from some kind of music city,” and the name stuck. That story is likely apocryphal, but there’s no doubt that the Fisk Jubilee Singers cemented both the city’s reputation and the school’s future. Each Oct. 6, Fisk honors that first expedition with a convocation, a concert by the current Fisk Jubilee Singers, a walk to the cemetery to lay wreaths made from campus magnolia trees on the graves of some of the original singers and, often, a keynote speaker. The 2024 Jubilee Day celebration starts, as always, in Fisk Memorial Chapel with Georgia politician and social justice advocate Stacey Abrams as the featured speaker. The day is one of the city’s most powerful and melodic. MARGARET LITTMAN
10 A.M. AT FISK UNIVERSITY
1000 17TH AVE. N
[ARTISTIC PASSION]
FILM
“LOOK BACK”
After finishing part one of his mega hit manga series Chainsaw Man, Tatsuki Fujimoto took a break to make three one-shots of individual stories reflecting his mental headspace at the time of being rocketed into
the spotlight. One of those one-shots has been adapted into an animated film short that’s screening in Regal Cinemas this week. “Look Back” tells the story of a young girl named Fujino (Yuumi Kawai) who writes manga in the school newspaper until Kyomoto (Mizuki Yoshida), a student who never leaves the house, submits highly detailed drawings. Together they collaborate to submit a manga to a local competition, but start to develop a bond beyond the project. First-time director Kiyotaka Oshiyama takes what makes the source material great and gives a very honest adaptation. He captures Fujimoto’s style, turning the author’s excellent paneling into stunning cinematography, and the story’s rich pacing has more content in its 58-minute runtime than many stories can manage in two hours. The story of artistic collaboration and growth features feelings of guilt and regret, blending together to create a complicated depiction of human bond and artistic inspiration. It’s in cinemas for only two days, so don’t miss your chance to see one of the best animated movies of the year on the big screen. KEN ARNOLD OCT. 6-7 AT REGAL CINEMAS
WEDNESDAY
/ 10.9
[GOOD WORKS]
MUSIC
BENEFIT FOR AFM 257 FEAT. RICHARD BENNETT, KENNY VAUGHAN & THE STEELDRIVERS
Here’s a benefit for a lynchpin of the Nashville music community, the American Federation of Musicians 257. Founded in 1902, AFM Local 257 is one of two local musicians’ unions in the United States that continue to pay the beneficiaries of union members who have died. Oct. 9’s show benefits Local 257’s funeral fund and features a crew of legendary players and singers who will raise money and awareness of the good work that Local 257 has done for years. The show celebrates the music of guitar giant Duane Eddy, whose instrumentals helped shape rock ’n’ roll in the ’50s and ’60s. The man who crafted classics of twang like “Rebel-’Rouser” and “Shazam!” died in 2024. Meanwhile, Nashville
guitarist Mike Henderson, who died in 2023, took blues in new directions on albums like 1996’s First Blood, which he cut with his band The Bluebloods. An accomplished songwriter, Henderson was also a founding member of bluegrass band The SteelDrivers. One of bluegrass music’s great innovators on banjo, South Carolina-born Buck Trent was a multiinstrumentalist whose credits include the mindboggling 1976 album Bionic Banjo, an album I love. Trent played with Bill Monroe, appeared on the television show Hee Haw and toured the Soviet Union in 1976 with fellow super-picker Roy Clark. He died in 2023. Paying tribute to these members of Local 257 — and many more who passed in the past year — will be Richard Bennett, Steve Wariner, The SteelDrivers and Kenny Vaughan, among others. EDD HURT 7:30 AT 3RD AND LINDSLEY
818 THIRD AVE. S.
[HAPPY ENCHILADAS]
MUSIC
YOU GOT GOLD: A JOHN PRINE CELEBRATION
Nashville concert halls overflow this week with the sounds and stories of John Prine for You Got Gold, an annual multi-day celebration of some of the most beloved songs in Nashville and the man who wrote them. This year’s run of You Got Gold shows begins Oct. 9 at the Ryman. Festivities continue Oct. 10 at The Basement East and Oct. 11 at the CMA Theater before wrapping Oct. 12 with a party at local shop Imogene + Willie. Lineups for the ticketed tributes remain under lock and key — it’s more fun that way, right? — but those who attend can expect a stellar showing of singer-songwriters. In past years, the lineup included Brandi Carlile, Keb’ Mo’, Steve Earle, Lukas Nelson, Tanya Tucker, Lucinda Williams, Grace Bowers … and the list goes on. Off-stage activities this year include trolley tours of Prine’s favorite Nashville spots, the showing of previously unreleased concert footage at the Belcourt and a Prine-themed karaoke party. Find more information at yougotgold.johnprine.com. MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER VENUES AND TIMES VARY
FISK JUBILEE SINGERS
Live
& Pizza w/ Aaron Raitiere, Wynn Varble
From platinum-selling chart-toppers to underground icons, household names to undiscovered gems, Chief’s Neon Steeple is committed to bringing the very best national and regional talent back to Broadway. From pla
OCTOBER LINE UP
10.3 The Malpass Brothers 10.5 Karen Waldrup
10.6 Pick Pick Pass w/ Kevin Mac, Chris Canterbury, Faren Rachels 10.8 Billy Montana, CJ Solar, Heath Warren, Ethan Anderson 10.9 Eric Paslay’s Song In a Hat w/ Kristian Bush, Emily Landis
10.10 Natalie Hemby - The Truth About A Song
10.12 Ty Herndon & Jamie O’Neal - Songs and Stories
10.13 Living The Write Life Presents - The Heart Behind The Hits Writers Round
10.14 Songwriting with: Soldiers Presents Nashville Hit Writers Round w/ Mary Gauthier, James House, Danny Myrick, Trent Willmon
10.24 Josh Weathers w/ Special Guest Jordan Rainer
10.25 McBride & The Ride
10.28 Buddy’s Place Writer’s Round w/ Trannie Anderson,Jacob Rice, Paul Sikes GET TICKETS
and
Cigarettes & Pizza
SHOULD OLD ACQUAINTANCE BE FORGOT
Bagelshop’s new chef collaborations open a year’s worth of cultural and religious celebrations to all
BY MARGARET LITTMAN
WALKING INTO BAGELSHOP is going to make you want to say “Happy New Year” — and not just on Jan. 1. This week, the Donelson restaurant is launching “New Year, All Year,” its initiative to celebrate the various New Year traditions that different religions and cultures observe, introducing customers to those different customs. Given the state of political and cultural division in the city, the country and the world over, the series offers Nashvillians an opportunity to come together over food. And as we’ve come to expect from owners Max and Kayla Palmer, Bagelshop is doing this with delicious sandwiches.
The Palmers are reaching out to chefs across the city, asking them to create sandwiches that reflect their New Year celebrations — part traditional foods and part customs. The sandwiches will be served at Bagelshop over the various holidays, sometimes with the guest chefs helping make the sandwiches in house. Ten percent of all New Year sandwich sales will be donated to longtime local nonprofit The Nashville Food Project.
“We knew for some time that we wanted to collab with Nashville chefs,” Max says. “We wanted it to be more than one-off.”
New Year, All Year starts this week with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. (“After all, this is a bagel shop,” Kayla quips.) Bagelshop is partnering with Wes Scoggins, aka Jewish Cowboy — who’s known for pop-ups around town — while Scoggins launches his food truck. Scoggins is known for combining his Jewish heritage and his Texas roots in his food. His New Year, All Year sandwich is the Manzana Melaza, which features a sweet-and-sour braised brisket (a staple of many American Rosh Hashanah din-
ners) made with what he refers to as his secret weapon: apple molasses (aka melaza). “That is the star of the show,” he says.
Sweet foods are commonplace at a Rosh Hashanah table. They set the intention of having a sweet new year. Most people dip apples in honey as a symbolic sweet gesture before eating. Using olive and apple wood, Scoggins finishes his brisket in his signature smoker. “I am really proud of my brisket,” he says. He’ll layer the brisket with fennel, slaw, horseradish and apple butter and place it on a bagel. When Scoggins speaks to the Scene, he’s leaning toward an everything bagel, but the rosemary bagel is a possibility too.
Scoggins is looking forward to not just making the brisket sandwiches with the Palmers, but to talking about brisket and Rosh Hashanah with customers. “This is important — this is why I am continuing Jewish Cowboy,” he says of his project, which he originally intended as just an excuse to serve brisket to his co-workers. “I did not think deeply about it in the beginning, but the responses in the last few years have told me this is of special importance.”
Kayla, who was not raised Jewish, has been learning Jewish traditions and appreciating Jewish foods since marrying Max. “We don’t get to share our Jewishness in our space that often, and with the High Holidays, now is our chance,” Max says.
“It’s kind of crazy how there’s almost a New Year’s celebration per month for the next year,” he says. “We just looked over the calendar and started matching New Year’s celebrations with chefs and reaching out to them and seeing what
we can do.”
Up after Rosh Hashanah is Diwali, which this year starts at the end of October. Observed by many Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists in India, Pakistan, Malaysia and beyond, Diwali is a festival of new beginnings, celebrating the triumph of good over evil and including a day of honoring one’s ancestors. Tailor’s Vivek Surti, a Nashville native who describes his award-winning cooking as “first-generation American,” wanted to create a sandwich that would capture the joyful Diwali celebrations in his family. Because Diwali is celebrated at home, many folks welcome friends and family to their houses. And where there are guests, there is food.
Surti is working with the Palmers to develop the Dabeli, a sandwich inspired by traditional Gujarati street food. Dabeli translates to “pressed,” and that’s what this is — a steamed, potato-and-spiced-filled glory topped with crunchy chili peanuts, onions and a sweet-tangy tamarind chutney and toasted ghee. The team has not yet decided what flavors of bagels they’ll use. (Surti suspects this might be the first Dabeli on a bagel in history.) “It’s a carb-on-carb sandwich,” Surti says.
After that, the team will work with Mesut
Kelik, co-owner of Edessa Restaurant on Nolensville Pike, to create a sandwich for Newroz — the Kurdish version of Nowruz, celebrating spring and the arrival of a new year. Nashville has the largest Kurdish population in North America, and helping the city’s wider population appreciate Newroz traditions is part of the inclusivity the Palmers are fostering. After that, 2025 offers the opportunity for Chinese New Year, Songkran (Thai New Year) and many others.
The Palmers aren’t the only ones to see how acknowledging and honoring an inclusive calendar could be good for the city. “I introduced a resolution to recognize a multicultural calendar because the diversity of traditions and cultures is what makes Nashville and Tennessee truly special,” says Rep. Aftyn Behn (D-Nashville).
“While it was unfortunately blocked by the Republican supermajority, it’s initiatives like [Bagelshop’s] ‘New Year, All Year’ promotion that highlight the richness of our city.
“By celebrating holidays like Rosh Hashanah, Diwali, and Kurdish Newroz,” Behn continues, “they remind us that Nashville’s strength lies in its multiculturalism and the unique contributions each community brings to our shared experience.” ▼
THE MANZANA MELAZA SANDWICH BY JEWISH COWBOY
ART: CRAWL SPACE
OCTOBER BRINGS A HARVEST OF PLAYFUL DISPLAYS TO FALL’S FIRST FIRST SATURDAY
A multimedia exhibition at Tinney and a movie-themed group show at Coop top our list
BY JOE NOLAN
I’M ANXIOUS TO get on with the best gallery-browsing season of the year now that autumn has officially arrived. I want to look at paintings while wearing a turtleneck sweater. I want to walk to a gallery in the dark before 7 p.m. I want to spot the Great Pumpkin in the alley behind The Packing Plant. Can you get mulled wine in a box?
WEDGEWOOD-HOUSTON
Coop is hosting In short, I would like to say for the month of October. The display of original movie-poster art and experimental short films is curated by Evan Roosevelt Brown. The mini-cinema installation includes movies and art from Tiffani Alexander, $eck, Taylor Bee, Devon Deshaun, LeXander Bryant, Shabazz Larkin and Christopher Latouche. The first iteration of the show was a highlight of the pop-up programming at The Arcade this summer. I’m looking forward to seeing the show in a bigger space where Brown can spotlight his posters and throw large movie projections on the gallery’s back wall. The show highlights what a great resource Coop’s big central gallery at The Packing Plant is, and it offers yet another example of how Brown continues to grow and improve as one of the city’s foremost independent curators. Don’t call it a comeback.
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DETAILS: Opening reception 1-9 p.m. Saturday at Coop, 507 Hagan St.
Khara Woods’ painting “Champagne Supernova” is perfectly titled for this pop-culture moment, when all things vintage Oasis have been made new again with the announcement of the band’s reunion tour. The work is hanging at Red 225 in The Packing Plant through November. It’s part of Woods’ exhibition of geometric abstract paintings Square Biz, which finds the Memphis-based artist offering multiple interpretations and numerous iterations of squares, triangles and rectangles to create a surprisingly varied selection of multimedia works. She produces op-art effects, restrained palettes and clean, hard-edged surfaces that speak to graphic design aesthetics. Woods is a professional graphic designer, but these works are admirably painterly due to her embracing of street-art materials like wood and spray paint. In another life, Woods’ work might have looked like the kind of hip-hop- and graffiti-inspired paintings we see from a generation of emerging artists who discovered Jean-Michel Basquiat and never looked back. Refreshingly, she goes in a completely different direction, creating formalist abstracts elevated by modernist constraint. Woods paints on wooden panels, and the whole display feels a little bit like a set of children’s wooden play blocks, brightly painted in contrasting colors
and repetitive patterns. The work conveys a sense of serious fun — contemporary nonrepresentational painting, but unpretentious and accessible. Some of Woods’ most striking pieces — like “Champagne Supernova” — are painted on panels cut into shapes. It’s a natural choice to make in a show about shapes, and it brings a lot of variety to a display that might have otherwise looked too … square
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DETAILS: Opening reception 5-8 p.m. Saturday at Red 225, 507 Hagan St.
DOWNTOWN
Like Khara Woods’ stuff, Brandon Reese’s large tower-form sculptures also remind me of kids’ toys. The tall, cylindrical works are pieced together from geometrical sections made of ceramic clay. The stacked sections might put viewers in mind of artsy Legos or a giant, pretty, expensive Jenga construction. Listening With Our Eyes at Tinney Contemporary pairs Reese’s work with Jeanie Gooden’s textured abstract multimedia paintings. It’s a formalist art show about surfaces and textures, but through the lenses of two
different art forms that are separated by blurry boundaries.
Generally speaking, paintings are considered to be two-dimensional compared to the three- dimensional works created by sculptors. But when painters abandon figures in favor of increasingly abstract aesthetics, they embrace purely formal elements like color, texture and composition for their own sakes. Pictorial scenes are overturned for a strict exploration of the work’s surface as an end unto itself, and paintings are transformed from pictures of things into art objects. Kind of like sculptures.
Gooden’s paintings speak to sculpture most overtly in their ramshackle textures and the mixed landscapes of her multimedia surfaces. The artist uses paint, pigments, paper, textiles, metal, nails and hand-stitching on canvas. Materials vary across the works in Listening With Our Eyes, and different combinations of stuff on their surfaces produce both smooth and deeply textured paintings. Gooden’s works are also a celebration of enthusiastic mark-marking. Some of her rough surface textures look like
rubbings on sidewalk cement. They’re decorated with symbols rendered in heavy black outline, or painted lyrical loops or even swirls of calligraphic nonsense that remind me of Cy Twombly’s scribbling.
Reese’s sculptures are decidedly three-dimensional objects with substantial footprints or clusters of hanging works spanning feet of wall space. His painted and glazed surfaces are made to look worn and rustic — some works look like abandoned parts of antique farm machines, and combinations of earthy ceramics and raw wood keep the work rooted in the natural, even if the designs sometimes appear to be extraterrestrial. Reese uses color sparingly but effectively. He glazes his ceramics to look like wood and paints wooden pieces and components to look like stone. A gray glaze makes some of the ceramics look like metal, and group installations of Gooden’s smaller works read like tiny painting exhibitions within this larger two-artist display.
➡DETAILS: Opening reception 2-8 p.m. Saturday at Tinney Contemporary, 237 Rep. John Lewis Way N. ▼
SQUARE BIZ AT RED 225
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THE FLOOD OF HISTORY
In The Mighty Red, Louise Erdrich’s North Dakota characters survive natural and man-made disasters BY SEAN KINCH
LOUISE ERDRICH’S CHARACTERS learn to make peace with paradox. The people who make you feel safest are the ones most likely to cause you harm — deal with it. The land you love (in this case, the Red River Valley of North Dakota) is filled with the bones of your ancestors who died at the hands of rapacious white settlers. Family members will rob you; strangers will offer succor. Longing and sorrow, desire and hatred, duty and betrayal — Erdrich’s new The Mighty Red teems with contradictions that can never be resolved, only accepted and
At the center of The Mighty Red is the unlikely marriage of Kismet Poe and Gary Geist. On the surface, they appear to be nothing alike. She hangs with the small group of goths at their high school, wearing thrift-shop clothing and experimenting with dramatic eyeliner (“manifesting my difference,” in Kismet’s words). Gary is a popular jock, the star quarterback and heir to one of the region’s largest farms. Separated by class (Kismet’s mother Crystal works the night shift delivering Geist farm products), they are further divided by intellectual aspirations, with Kismet making plans for college while Gary struggles to finish high school. Still, they move toward their wedding day as if guided by spectral forces. Their match may not be heaven-made, but as young as they are, Kismet and Gary know that in this world you have to live with compromise.
Around the hub of their nuptials, Erdrich, the 2022 Nashville Public Library Award honoree, spins subplots that radiate in many directions. A rival for Kismet’s affections — the quirky-brilliant Hugo — takes online college courses to qualify as a field engineer for a fracking operation, hoping to earn enough money to steal Kismet from Gary. Kismet’s father Martin, a community theater director whose enthusiasm
outstrips his talents, has apparently embezzled a church’s construction funds and skipped town. Gary Geist’s parents, Winnie and Div, play the role of local grandees while hiding the scars of childhood trauma, much of it inflicted by Div’s father Sport. (Erdrich clearly has fun naming her characters.)
Erdrich leaves another key past event — a fatal car accident involving Gary — mysterious for most of the novel. Characters refer to the catastrophe obliquely, though its lingering effects are profound. Winnie has retreated into a shell, avoiding social occasions and ignoring her household, until Gary’s engagement to Kismet brings her back to the living. Gary, hiding from demons of his own, explains his love to Kismet in plaintive terms: “What can I say? I’m scared and you make me feel safe.”
In The Mighty Red, security is hard to come by. Even the Geists veer close to bankruptcy when drought strikes, and the local economy depends on the viability of the sugar beet, a crop that requires extensive fertilization and pesticides to be profitable. In this way, as Erdrich’s omniscient narrator puts it, “into every teaspoon” of sugar, “the sweetness that pricks people’s senses and sparkles in a birthday cake” is “mixed the pragmatic nihilism of industrial sugar farming and the death of our place on earth.”
The pleasure of reading Erdrich’s fiction includes her periodic reflections on history and her poetic meditations on emotional quandaries. The Poe family and Crystal’s Frechette ancestors are part of the Ojibwe nation, which has lived in the Red River Valley for countless generations. “Their people skirmished back and forth over this territory with the Dakota, and then truced just in time to have it stolen,” Erdrich writes. “Like the mighty red, history was a flood.”
When the flood recedes, though, Crystal
believes their people will survive. The story is set in 2008-09, when the failures of financial institutions trickled down to widespread unemployment. But the Frechettes and Poes keep springing back to life. Crystal likens them to “the Lord’s ivy, a weed ineradicable by human means. It grows low to the ground and … thrives under the leaves of other plants and goes wherever it is not wanted.”
The poor families persist because they have learned to make do with available materials. A DIY spirit infuses their endeavors — such as Hugo’s computer, assembled with castoff parts, and Martin’s Franken-bike, “cobbled … together from other bicycles.” Crystal’s house “was held together with paint, wallpaper, duct tape, wood putty, and Crystal’s will.” Even Kismet’s tattoos are the “stick and poke” variety, the word nevermore and a raven on her shoulder blade, though the bird “came out looking like a pigeon.”
Like Erdrich’s recent triumphs LaRose and The Night Watchman, her new novel evokes the humor and joy of characters facing financial precarity. The shelter they seek may turn out to be hazardous, but they won’t be wiped out. The skies will darken and the river rise, but these characters learn to improvise new paths.
For more local book coverage, please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. ▼
The Mighty Red By Louise Erdrich Harper 384 pages, $32
Erdrich will appear at Montgomery Bell Academy 6:30 p.m Friday, Oct. 18
SING 4 FING Annual Benefit & Tribute Show for Greg “Fingers” Taylor
SUPPORTING ALZHEIMER’S FOUNDATION OF AMERICA feat. BOB BARRICK, COWBOY BRAD FITCH, DEREK DAMES OHL, DOYLE GRISHAM, EMILY RANDLE, ERIC DARKEN, LLOYD “HURRICANE” MUNN, JOHN FRINZI, JOHNNY SANSONE, JOSH LEO, KEITH SYKES, MAC MCANALLY, MISHKA, PETER & BRENDAN MAYER, ROGER BARTLETT, STEVEN TAYLOR BAND & W.C. HUNTLEY
Honoring DUANE EDDY, MIKE HENDERSON & BUCK TRENT featuring STEVE WARINER, THE STEELDRIVERS, KENNY VAUGHAN, JOHN ENGLAND, RICHARD BENNETT, YATES MCKENDREE, KEVIN MCKENDREE, FRED NEWELL, RUSS PAHL, DAVE POMEROY & more!
twista w/ Gee Slab, Emory Jaymz, and It’s Really [Just Us] the brothers comatose w/ michaela anne mj lenderman & the wind w/ ryan davis & the roadhouse band Family Values Tribute Show ft. Guillotine, Karrot: A Tribute to Korn & Shake My Tomb: The Deftones Tribute
john moreland w/ Joelton Mayfield
Nilüfer Yanya w/ Angélica Garcia & Lutalo you got gold: John Prine tribute the wldlife w/ young culture kashus culpepper w/ coleman jennings protest the hero w/ '68 & Kaonashi snow strippers w/ damon r. & suzy sheer the sheepdogs w/ shane guerrette Fidlar w/ sugar pit & hans condor jet w/ super american eagle slenderbodies w/ tim atlas john early the young fables w/ young mister cursive w/ gladie
Kylie Spence W/ Angela Morano [7pm) imy2 ft. grenon (9PM)
Kim Logan & The Silhouettes w/ doom mutual (7pm)
Evan Coyote, Court Taylor, and john Haywood (9PM]
The Infamous Her, Friendstore, & Griffin Dean
Caleb Lathrop w/ morgan gruber & jordan fletcher the fbr (7PM)
exbats ft: Justin and The Cosmics and Hamsterdam (8:30PM) sean c kennedy w/ liz
ANOTHER LOOK
The Scene’s music writers recommend recent releases from Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Blvck Wizzle and more
FALL HAS ARRIVED, and while there’s an abundance of great live music to keep you busy, the flood of excellent records from Nashville musicians never stops. The Scene’s music writers have 12 new recommendations for you, so add ’em to your streaming queue or pick them up from your favorite record store. Some of our picks are also available to buy directly from the artists on Bandcamp. The Bandcamp Friday promotion — in which the platform waives its cut of sales for a 24-hour period — will return Oct. 4.
BLVCK WIZZLE, SKOOT
MUZIK (SELF-RELEASED)
Just like Dewey Cox, Blvck Wizzle has to think about his whole life before he gets onstage. It’s fitting because the singer, rapper and electric guitar wizard brings so much to the table, in his contributions to Six One Trïbe and his solo work. His new six-track EP proves the point from the jump, but my personal favorite is “Spaceships in Preston Taylor,” whose slinky groove, gnarly guitar work and Afrofuturist theme put me in mind of P-Funk as filtered through Outkast’s lens. STEPHEN TRAGESER
KEVIN GORDON, THE IN BETWEEN (SELFRELEASED)
On his masterful seventh studio album, roots-rock singer-songwriter Kevin Gordon reminds us why he is so admired by his songwriting peers. Produced by guitarist Joe V. McMahan, The In Between features 10 powerful songs that lyrically explore “all that old Southern shit.” In “Marion,” Gordon remembers a restaurant in Monroe, La., where he worked as a teen: “I washed dishes with a Black man full of rage / I was too white to see his cage.” Ranging from blues rock and country rock to Southern soul and early rock ’n’ roll, the music matches the lyrical mood in ways that will give you chills.
DARYL SANDERS
MAGGIE ROSE, NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE (BIG LOUD)
Maggie Rose continues the reinvention
gentle Rumours-esque groove, only to reveal a bittersweet sting at its core. “Too Young” and “Vanish” showcase her emotional range as she effortlessly shifts between delicate vulnerability and controlled intensity. Rose’s vocal strength is undeniable, but her confidence gives the album its real glow. JAYME FOLTZ
WOUNDFLOWER, MISERY (SELF-RELEASED)
There’s been a brilliantly executed resurgence in ultra-fast bands in Middle Tennessee. Woundflower, a new trio made up of local scene veterans, continues the tradition, perfecting their unique take on the “noise, not music” ethos. Isaiah Rodriguez, J. Weilburg and Ross Winchel have done time in underground metal militias like Bled to Submission, Option Anxiety and Gnarwhal. But Woundflower’s debut cassette has a much broader spectrum than most of their death-grinder brethren, evoking fully realized emotion and pulling variegated sonic textures from the knob-twisting industrial music scene. P.J. KINZER
GILLIAN WELCH AND DAVID RAWLINGS, WOODLAND (ACONY)
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings have been making magic together with their unbeatable voices, a handful of mostly acoustic instruments and understated literary gems of folk songs for nearly three decades. Their gear and their master tapes were in great danger when Woodland Sound Studios, the historic East Nashville recording facility they’ve owned for years, was damaged in the March 2020 tornado. In the wake of that harrowing experience, they’ve made another masterful collection of music that’s unstuck in time. It seems almost ethereal, yet it’s still grounded in love, loss and other very human, corporeal concerns, as the refrain of “Hashtag” (a salute to the late, great Guy Clark) neatly captures: “When will we become ourselves?” HANNAH CRON
QUINN HILLS, IGNORE ALL PREVIOUS INSTRUCTIONS (SELFRELEASED)
she started with 2021’s Have a Seat on No One Gets Out Alive, a stellar showcase for her blend of rock, soul and R&B. “Dead Weight” roars with grit, while “Under the Sun” lures you in with a
LOUIS YORK, SONGS WITH FRIENDS (WEIRDO WORKSHOP)
If anyone has a Rolodex of talented friends, it’s Louis York, the genre-defying duo of Claude Kelly and Chuck Harmony. While the band Louis York is relatively new, its two principals are pop and hip-hop heavy hitters, having worked with everyone from Miley Cyrus to Bruno Mars as producers and pens for hire. This sophomore outing, which follows 2019’s ambitious and electrifying American Griots, shows the duo’s impressive musical range, as the pair collaborates with a diverse roster of guest artists — yep, that’s Chris Daughtry, Anthony Hamilton and Jessie J on the same list of credits — without sounding disjointed. Other guests include The Shindellas, whose two LPs were produced by the duo. BRITTNEY McKENNA
STYROFOAM WINOS, REAL TIME (SOPHOMORE LOUNGE)
Lou Turner, Trevor Nikrant and Joe Kenkel each have a knack for penning quick-witted, humanistic, unpretentiously poignant gems. Sonically, the three songsmiths (who all have great solo LPs) settle into a contemplative folk-rock-ish amble for most of their second LP as a unit, though they have no problem picking up the pace when appropriate. The songs zoom in on small moments of observation and reflection, while the overarching theme is what these little things tell us about how to live in our perpetually weird, frequently incomprehensible world. STEPHEN TRAGESER
STEVE CROPPER AND THE MIDNIGHT HOUR, FRIENDLYTOWN (PROVOGUE)
“Women like me don’t often live past 35,” Quinn Hills sings on “No One Who I Can Call,” and she sings that because it’s true. Every trans person knows what death is. It lives in our bones; it feeds our nightmares. But when we’re not thinking about death — as Quinn Hills expertly documents throughout Ignore All Previous Instructions — we also desperately want to love, and be loved, and to be accepted for who we are, and to mostly be left alone. And we don’t know why it’s all so impossibly fucking difficult. CLAIRE STEELE
You’d anticipate ace musicianship and sonic firepower from any Steve Cropper LP, and both are in abundance on his latest. Friendlytown is a showcase for the eminent guitarist’s new ensemble, whose ranks also include co-producer, bassist and multi-instrumentalist Jon Tiven, top Music City drummer Nioshi Jackson and soulful lead vocalist Roger C. Reale. But Cropper and Tiven also lined up huge A-list guest stars including guitarist-vocalist Brian May (yes, that Brian May, from Queen) and ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons. May and Reale join forces on the lead single “Too Much Stress,” which features crackling lead guitar exchanges between May and Gibbons while Cropper displays his legendary expertise in the art of rhythm guitar.
RON WYNN
THE SHITDELS, WHERE’S YOUR HEAD? (BIG NECK)
Impressively, garage-punk trio The Shitdels’ latest collection of budget-rock stunners suits Big Neck Records — a long-running label that’s
issued crucial music by the likes of Lost Sounds, The Tyrades and Sonny Vincent. Highlights of the no-filler Where’s Your Head? include kooky psych-rock freakout “Bash Your Head In” and the trippy yet tenderhearted “All I Wanted Was You.” Jordan Wayne (guitar, vocals) formed The Shitdels almost a decade ago with his wife Katelyn after the couple moved here from Memphis. Nowadays, Jordan’s joined live and in the studio by two key figures in Nashville’s small but mighty garage-punk scene: bassist Kiley Wells (Part Time Filth) and drummer Ryan Sweeney (The Sleeveens). ADDIE MOORE
ANDREW COMBS, DREAM PICTURES (ANDREW COMBS/MISSING PIECE)
On his 2012 debut album Worried Man, Texas-born singer Andrew Combs channeled Townes Van Zandt-style songcraft on tunes like “Come Tomorrow.” Combs has expressed admiration for Van Zandt, Guy Clark and Mickey Newbury, but the songwriting on Combs’ latest LP Dream Pictures reminds me of Bread’s David Gates and sunshine pop in general. Cut with drummer and co-producer Dominic Billett and steel-guitar player Spencer Cullum, Dream Pictures is a variation on ’70s soft pop that drifts in minimalist singer-songwriter space. The title track might be the record’s most striking example of Combs’ deft approach to pop-folk songwriting. Dream Pictures never overstates its case, and Combs remains a subtle — and underrated — songwriter. EDD HURT
MEADOWNOISE, THE FOAM ALONE (YK)
Two hallmarks of multi-instrumentalist, composer and expert improviser Matt Glassmeyer’s project Meadownoise are his tendency for ingenious and thoughtful experimentation and his appreciation for grooves of all kinds. Those are in effect in a big way on his latest record. The album is also a playful experiment in disrupting the way that streaming isolates listeners. There’s an entry for the LP on Bandcamp, but it’s not the actual album: You won’t hear “The Magnolia” here, but rather a recording of Eve Maret playing her clarinet in reaction to the song, and so on. To get your hands on the real Foam, you must “follow the crumbs.” Start by asking someone who you can guess might have heard it — perhaps send a DM to someone who recorded one of those clips for Bandcamp, or check the Meadownoise Instagram (@meadownoise) to find out when Glassmeyer is playing and approach him after a show. Are there upsides to frictionless listening? Sure. But Foam is a reminder that music is artistic expression, not just content to be consumed. STEPHEN TRAGESER ▼
PRE-FLIGHT CHECK
Jett Holden makes the country music of his life with The Phoenix
BY RACHEL CHOLST
JETT HOLDEN STANDS to make country music history on Friday with the release of his debut album The Phoenix. Produced by seasoned songsmith Will Hoge, the full-length is a perfect setting for Holden’s big voice and epic storytelling. This album has been a long time coming for the Virginia-born singer-songwriter, who was ready to hang up his guitar just four years ago. But Holly G of BIPOC country collective Black Opry found him on Instagram and reached out, changing his trajectory. It is only fitting that the album will be the first release from Black Opry Records.
Holden developed his interest in music by singing in choirs, then finding his way around a guitar as a teenager. After a brief stint in community college, he moved to Long Beach, Calif., and was signed to a development deal for a major label. It felt like a shot at the American Dream, but it ended abruptly.
“I let it slip that I was gay,” Holden recalls during our video call. “All of a sudden, the marketing dried up, and the opportunities just stopped coming through.”
Holden returned to Virginia, busking in the streets while working at Toys “R” Us. He tried to make a go of it in Johnson City — a more affordable place to live than Nashville, but with fairly easy access to Music City by interstate despite being several hours away in East Tennessee. Then came COVID lockdown in 2020, which felt like a sign to Holden that it was time to give up on music. But then Holly G “pulled me right back in,” as he puts it. Not long after that, the Black Opry organization began its rapid growth from a modest online group into an extensive community that has been responsible for the outstanding road show The Black Opry Revue,
vital artist residencies and grant programs and much more.
“It’s some of my favorite music that I’ve heard,” said Holly G in a conversation I had back in January with her and co-director Tanner Davenport about Black Opry Records. She was referring to The Phoenix, but didn’t refer to Holden or the new album by name; the announcement came several months later. “It’s really fucking cool to not only be a part of country music, but to be a part of making it in the way that I wish that it existed in the mainstream.”
Holden’s sound comes from that hard work out on the West Coast, where he gravitated toward singer-songwriters and folk music. But he was always captivated by the storytelling potential of country music. That’s evident in his songwriting process, which begins with the seed of an idea and ripples outward. During our video call, he offers an example of what might inspire a song, gesturing toward a Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots game out of frame.
“One is blue and one is red,” he notes. “So that could be the warring political sides. And then I would figure out what they’re fighting over, then find a way to paint that picture. And then once I have the story, then I put the music in.”
The album’s climactic penultimate track “West Virginia Sky” captures this perfectly. The song’s imagery is a complex metaphor for a loved one dying of cancer and the beauty left behind even when they’re gone.
“I wasn’t sure people were gonna connect with it because I wrote that one just for me,”
Holden says. “It was really fun to write, but I wasn’t sure if I was doing too much.”
Hoge met Holden after inviting Black Opry
MUSIC: THE SPIN
SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN
BY JAYME FOLTZ AND NICOLLE S. PRAINO
STARTING FRIDAY AND continuing through the weekend, Hurricane Helene struck the Southeast, killing more than 100 people and devastating a broad swath of Appalachia. The outermost edge of the storm barely touched Middle Tennessee, but did bring heavy rain that drenched The Park at Harlinsdale Farm in Franklin. This raised concerns that organizers might have to cancel the 10th anniversary run of Pilgrimage Music and Cultural Festival — or else risk a repeat of the 2018 event, which was put on hold and ultimately canceled when the skies opened a few hours into its first day. Setting aside a delay on Saturday, this year’s fest went mostly as planned, while fans donned rain gear and dodged (or else jumped right into) mud puddles scattered around the site.
to curate a set to open one of his shows. He took an interest in recording Holden’s searing song “Taxidermy,” which has been a set list staple for years, and a new recording of which opens The Phoenix. The song quietly dresses down folks who are outraged at police murdering Black people but do little more than make impassioned social media posts; Holden likens them to hunters hanging trophies on their wall. Hoge brought in engineer David Axelrod, and the pair worked with Holden, who didn’t yet have a lot of experience recording in a studio. Some songs on The Phoenix previously appeared on Holden’s Necromancer EP, and he gave Hoge free rein to translate them for this album.
“It was cool to see the way he transformed some of them, and how some of them sounded exactly how I imagined that they would,”
Holden says. “I felt like I got to be really dramatic at certain points and I also got to be more reserved at others. This is my dream album, truly.”
Holden has just moved to Nashville. He knows that this LP could not have come together without the community that he, Black Opry and others have worked so hard to build — one in which artists can truly express themselves and still be supported.
“There’s always a little concern about blowback, but I’ve learned that my music will reach the people it’s supposed to. I can’t control how people will react to things, and fearing that reaction doesn’t serve anyone. For as many people who disdain the message I’m trying to share, there are so many people who have shared love and shared in the trauma. If I can share my hurt to help someone else, that’s great. That’s the best thing I can do.” ▼
Spitting rain kept some of the crowd away from the Gold Record Road stage Saturday afternoon, but those who braved the weather for Allison Russell’s set smiled brightly, sang along and clung to the barricades. Thanking the audience for sticking it out, the songsmith and activist opened with a clarinet solo. Backed by a threepiece version of her Rainbow Coalition band, Russell treated the audience to songs from her rich catalog like “Springtime” and “Hy-Brasil.” Hozier, who would later play a full set to close out the stage for the day, came out for a heartfelt duet on Russell’s final number, the Grammy-nominated “Nightflyer.”
Meanwhile, Willi Carlisle dazzled the audience at the Americana Music Triangle with his antic stage presence and his heartfelt songs. He kicked off his solo set with “What the Rocks Don’t Know,” showcasing some footwork and accompanying himself on deer bones and harmonica. He switched to banjo for “Critterland,” the titular tune from his third and most recent album, and used his accordion for “Este Mundo,” inspired by a farmer’s testimony about Indigenous land rights. He dedicated “Penny Evans,” a ballad from the perspective of a widow from the Vietnam War, to Palestinians affected by the Israel-Hamas war. Carlisle wrapped with “Your Heart’s a Big Tent” — a fitting finale since this stage was under a tent and offered shelter from the elements.
Back at Gold Record Road, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real started their set a little late, but fans had a hoedown anyway as the rockers belted out favorites like “Find Yourself” and “Something Real.” A little later, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue brought high energy from the downbeat when they took the main Midnight Sun stage. The group hails from New Orleans, and their namesake frontman informed the crowd that he wasn’t going to let the rain stop him; sure enough, he and his trombone often appeared right at the front of the stage. Their variety of jazz- and hip-hop-informed NOLA funk is not for standing around, and the audience grooved till the set was over.
As the rain kept on in fits and starts, Saturday night headliner Dave Matthews Band kept the family-friendly festival crowd rocking well after dark. Matthews & Co. brought Trombone Shorty back out for a couple of tunes including “Louisiana Bayou” and loaded up the end of the show with catalog classics like “Crash Into Me,” “Warehouse,” “Rapunzel” and the indelible “Ants
The Phoenix out Friday, Oct. 4, via Black Opry Records
PHOTO: KAI LENDZION
Marching.” The video panels at stage left fizzled out for a brief period, but otherwise the set seemed little affected by the dampness — although Matthews announced that they’d forgo the typical custom of leaving the stage and coming back for the encore. This drew a big cheer from the crowd, who kept it up as the band tore into their intense version of “All Along the Watchtower.”
The weather was lighter on Sunday, but the rain lingered. At Gold Record Road, London folk-pop singer-songwriter Myles Smith was in high spirits in spite of technical issues with his in-ear monitors; the attentive crowd helped him out by clapping along. “Thank you for keeping me on time — I couldn’t hear a thing!” he quipped. He delivered a mix of originals and covers, including a soulful rendition of The Neighbourhood’s 2013 hit “Sweater Weather” and his own latest single “Wait for You.” Smith kicked things up a notch with fan fave “Stargazing,” performing it twice.
Nashville alt-rockers COIN embraced the unpredictability the dark clouds brought to their main-stage set, using it to feed their energy and keep the crowd amped up. The set featured songs from their hot-off-the-presses sixth LP I’m Not Afraid of Music Anymore starting with the post-punk-by-way-of-Phoenix album opener “It’s Hard to Care About Everything.” They continued with older faves like “Boyfriend” and the whistle-worthy “Talk Too Much” and ended with the rowdy “Crash My Car.” Before leaving the stage, they announced that the extensive tour they
were about to start would end March 6 with the inaugural show at forthcoming Nashville venue The Pinnacle. Then, country champion Charlie Worsham finished out the weekend’s lineup at Americana Music Triangle with a set featuring songs he recorded on his 2023 EP Compadres with stars like Lainey Wilson and Dierks Bentley. After performing “Things I Can’t Control,” he thanked the audience for braving the rain and acknowledged those in East Tennessee and North Carolina affected by flooding. The crowd thinned early, but those who stayed enjoyed a sneak peek of four songs slated for Worsham’s next album.
As the end of Pilgrimage drew near, so did a massive run for folk-pop singer-songwriter Noah Kahan, whose headlining set marked the conclusion of a two-year, 225-date tour since the release of his breakthrough album Stick Season “I don’t know if I’ll be back here on a headlining stage,” Kahan told the audience, “so if I’m not, let’s make this the best fucking last show ever.” He and his band launched into fan favorites like “New Perspective” and “Dial Drunk” — whose recording features Post Malone, one of Kahan’s many recent collaborations — while riffing with the crowd, reading some of the signs they brought and even trading a guitar pick for two Snickers bars. After a solo performance of “Maine,” a throwback to his debut EP Cape Elizabeth, Kahan brought out rising star Ashe for “Stick Season,” ending the wet weekend on a high note. ▼
Saturday, October 5
HATCH SHOW PRINT
Block Party
9:30 am, NOON, and 2:30 pm HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP
Saturday, October 5
SONGWRITER SESSION
Bobby Tomberlin NOON · FORD THEATER
Sunday, October 6
MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT
Gena Britt
1:00 pm · FORD THEATER
Saturday, October 12 CONCERT AND CONVERSATION
Night Train to Lovenoise
A Generational Journey of Black Music in Nashville 2:30 pm · FORD THEATER presented in partnership with lovenoise, nmaam, and wnxp
WITNESS HISTORY
Sunday, October 13
MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT Joe Fick
1:00 pm · FORD THEATER
Saturday, October 19 HATCH SHOW PRINT
Block Party
9:30 am, NOON, and 2:30 pm HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP
Saturday, October 19
SONGWRITER SESSION
Lauren Hungate NOON · FORD THEATER
Saturday, October 26
SONGWRITER ROUND
Tribute to Wayland Holyfield
11:30 am · FORD THEATER
Saturday, October 26 POETS AND PROPHETS
Hillary Lindsey
2:30 pm · FORD THEATER SOLD OUT
NOAH KAHAN
ALLISON RUSSELL
WHO ARE YOU?
A Different Man blends sci-fi, horror, romance and comedy into one of the year’s best films
BY JOE NOLAN
WRITER-DIRECTOR AARON SCHIMBERG puts viewers off balance in the opening scene of his new film, A Different Man. A small personal crisis plays out in an office suite before the movie cuts to a wide shot, revealing that the scene is taking place on the set of a corporate film production. The crisis in the office is scripted, and a seemingly private conversation is taking place in front of a camera.
Schimberg expertly deploys other surprising cuts, rushing zoom shots and wild handheld footage throughout his film, putting viewers in a kind of trance at the sequences of unique imagery they’re seeing on screen. A Different Man is a formal masterpiece that will excite cinephiles with its self-conscious commentary on film, theater and acting, and its mesmerizing blend of horror, science-fiction, romance and comedy. It will also satisfy arthouse fans who like bizarre black humor peppered with existentialism and glazed in pathos and rich aesthetics.
Edward (Sebastian Stan) is an aspiring actor living alone in a small apartment in New York City. He suffers from neurofibromatosis — a genetic condition that results in large tumors under the skin — which has distorted his lips and jaw so much that he’s unable to whistle. From the moment Edward’s face is revealed, Schimberg has audiences questioning whether they’re looking at an actor wearing makeup in a commercial being filmed in the movie, or if
BREAKING BARRIERS
The International Black Film Festival tells otherwise neglected stories
BY RON WYNN
the character has been made to look that way throughout this film, or — ultimately — if the actor playing this character in the movie actually has neurofibromatosis. A Different Man blurs these lines throughout its runtime as it offers fascinating examinations of acting, masks, performative friendships, relationships and jobs. It’s a picture that focuses on appearances to speak to deeper truths about self-acceptance and generosity, success and happiness. It’s a movie about casting people in roles. And it’s a movie about character, played by characters.
Edward undergoes a new experimental treatment that results in a gorefest of a transformation — the scene reminded me of Lou Reed’s 1986 video for “No Money Down,” in which an animatronic Lou tears its own face to pieces. Connoisseurs of gooey, squishy practical makeup effects will find plenty to love in A Different Man, and the film’s spooky-season release is a perfect fit for audiences who want to watch something like a werewolf metamorphosis in reverse, which leaves Edward looking like Sebastian Stan. Shimberg isn’t afraid to lean into the horror elements or the science-fiction vibes here, and genre film fans will pick up on this picture’s connections to movies like Charly (1968), which was based on the classic science-fiction short story “Flowers for Algernon.” That film is about a mentally challenged man who takes an experimental drug and becomes a genius, for a
THE THEME OF the 19th edition of the International Black Film Festival, taking place this week in Nashville, is particularly powerful and poignant: “Who’s Gonna Tell Them? Breaking Barriers Through Knowing Your Story.” The theme reinforces not only the ongoing urgency of various people and cultures being able to accurately document and chronicle their experiences, but also reaffirms what IBFF has always strived to achieve throughout its existence — offering a forum and exposure for voices, accomplishments, events and personalities that otherwise might be ignored or underexposed, both domestically and globally.
Following a kickoff event on Oct. 2, this year’s film screenings take place Oct. 3 through 6. The festival once more combines features, documentaries, shorts and seminars into a thorough series of presentations that cover current issues in cinema, television and broadcasting, while also examining ongoing developments across the entertainment spectrum.
“We are deeply humbled to have been a part of this journey for 19 years, fostering a platform that not only showcases exceptional filmmaking, but also engages our community in meaningful ways,” IBFF founder Hazel Joyner Smith says in a statement about the festival’s vision. “Through our festival, we have built a vibrant family of creatives, top industry professionals and film enthusiasts, all united by a passion for storytelling through film and TV and a commitment to amplifying marginalized voices.”
time. Stan’s dark hair and rugged face even remind me of Cliff Robertson, who played Charly’s title character. A Different Man evokes fairy tales like “The Ugly Duckling” and “The Frog Prince,” but it also pays homage to Taxi Driver, and the movie’s visuals are saturated, grungy and suffused with shadows. Director of photography Wyatt Garland shot the film on 16 mm — watch for his name among many award-season mentions I’m predicting for A Different Man
This smartly self-conscious film — which features a performance from Adam Pearson, a British actor with real-life neurofibromatosis — predictably asks questions about representation of disfigured actors on screens and stages. It asks where inclusion ends and exploitation begins, but these are ultimately small details in A Different Man. This film is at its best when it’s tackling big, deep, universal human questions, and it’s
Smith, chief operating officer Ingrid L. Brown and chief creative director Ivy J. Brown have assembled an impressive roster of diverse and compelling productions for audiences. These will be screened at the Scarritt Bennett Center and at Belmont University’s Johnson Center, with additional events happening elsewhere.
Recommended festival highlights include: Oden Few Roberts’ inspirational documentary short “Fuzz,” which spotlights the life and times of the longtime Nashville pastor and activist Enoch Fuzz and his battles against both personal and community obstacles (7 p.m. Friday at Belmont); Rod Blackhurst’s festival-opening documentary The Tennessee 11, which brings to the screen in vivid fashion the social and political divisions that still exist while raising the question of how to resolve them in today’s tense environment (11:30 a.m. Thursday at the Scarritt Bennett Center); Evergreen, Iman Shervington’s poignant tale of a search for
up to the task. It interrogates ideas about beauty and standards of beauty, and their implications on everything from interpersonal trust to social and economic success, class and basic personal happiness.
But for all of A Different Man’s brilliance and pathos, there’s a gonzo spirit informing this oddball film. It’s a picture with a brutally absurd sense of humor to match its wounded, winged heart. A Different Man nobly exults the importance of personhood over appearances, but in layers of meta-narrative, delivering timeless lessons in a singular contemporary fable. ▼
A Different Man R, 112 minutes Opening Thursday, Oct. 3, at the Belcourt
personal truth and identity (2:30 p.m. Friday at Scarritt Bennett Center); Alex Eskandarkhah’s documentary short “Coaching While Black, ” a Canadian entry that explores a basketball coach’s quest to keep his team together in the midst of controversial and damaging allegations (12:15 p.m. Sunday at Belmont); and Betye Saar: Ready to Be a Warrior, Angela Robinson Witherspoon’s comprehensive portrait of innovative Los Angeles artist Saar, a pioneer in the art world for more than six decades (5 p.m. Friday at the Scarritt Bennett Center).
There’s an equally attractive list of industry panels featuring such subjects as “Soundtrack Pioneers,” “The Inevitable Presence of AI in Your Future,” “Pitch to Profit” and “The Power of Women Storytellers,” plus a special Saturday “Get Greenlit” live pitch session. Festival parties will be held throughout the weekend at Analog at Hutton Hotel and elsewhere. Tickets and passes to all these events, as well as a complete screening and festival schedule, can be found online at ibffevents.com. This year’s roster shows that IBFF is expanding its reach and continuing to provide special cultural insights and viewpoints. ▼
International Black Film Festival Through Oct. 6 at Belmont University’s Johnson Center, the Scarritt Bennett Center and more ibffevents.com
THE TENNESSEE 11
REP YOUR CITY
REP YOUR CITY
REP YOUR CITY
REP YOUR CITY
REP YOUR CITY
REP YOUR CITY
REP YOUR CITY
REP YOUR CITY
REP YOUR CITY
REP YOUR CITY
REP YOUR CITY
REP YOUR CITY
REP YOUR CITY REP YOUR CITY REP YOUR CITY REP YOUR CITY REP YOUR CITY REP YOUR CITY REP YOUR CITY REP YOUR CITY REP YOUR CITY REP YOUR CITY REP YOUR CITY REP YOUR CITY
1 Tippy-top
5 Fashion designer Anna
8 Challenger, e.g.
13 Display self-satisfaction
15 Writer who quipped “The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast”
18 Call of duty?
19 Exhausting
20 Doctor’s order
22 Musical interval like C to E flat
23 Anatomical pouches
24 Eponymous physicist Georg
25 Military school newbie
27 Term for a swab
28 List
30 Constitutional change endorsed by NOW, for short
31 Suit type for Cab Calloway
33 Go off script
35 Competitive gamer’s forte
37 Aunt, in Italian
40 What one must do using the circled letters to solve this puzzle
43 Drive-___
44 Some vodka orders
45 Veggies that are often deep-fried
46 –
47 Start of many Scottish surnames
49 –
50 Celebrates in style
53 Keeps the faith
55 Exhibition contents
56 Conductor of electrical impulses
57 Flock member
59 Doze intermittently
61 Spouse to a trophy husband, perhaps
64 Part of an iris
66 Coalition of skilled workers
67 Not just any
68 Small stuff to sweat
69 Place where you might feel calm while sweating
70 Skye writing?
1 Wanted notice, for short
2 Had a thing for
3 Sprawling shopping centers
4 Hard to grasp, in a way
5 Question from an impatient negotiator
6 Take for a sucker
7 Meaning of “veni”
8 –
9 Go undefeated against
10 Makes critical comments about
11 Win like a loser?
12 Extract, as from data
14 Twice-monthly tide
16 Businessman Emanuel
17 Crafter’s marketplace
21 Stout, e.g.
24 First in a series of Norwegian kings
26 Leaves on a pizza
27 Words on a state license plate
29 Zip
31 Actress in the “Avatar” and “Avengers” franchises
32 Fictional creature born from mud
34 Cap’n’s subordinates
36 A-one
37 Founder of a Persian religion
38 Financially behind
39 Balance sheet listing
41 Sports org. founded by Billie Jean King
42 Furniture outlet with an average size of 300,000 square feet, or five football fields
46 Response to “Gracias”
48 Obsolescent data storage option, for short
50 Like some incorrect clocks
51 Edge of a metro area
52 Senators’ garments, once
53 Powerful auto engines
54 –
57 Kiwi cousins
58 Had the best time, say
60 “___ moved!” (sign in an empty shop’s window)
62 Warning not to go
63 Basic cleaner
65 Very basic cleaner
PUZZLE BY SIMEON SEIGEL
TRAILER ACCIDENTS
Voted Best Attorney in Nashville
LEGAL NOTICE
Howard C. Gentry, Jr., Criminal Court Clerk
It is my privilege as your elected Criminal Court Clerk to notify all citizens of Davidson County, that relative to grand jury proceedings, it is the duty of your grand jurors to investigate any public offense which they know or have reason to believe has been committed and which is triable or indictable in Davidson County. In addition to cases presented to the grand jury by your District Attorney, any citizen may petition the foreperson (foreman) of the grand jury for permission to testify concerning any offense in Davidson County This is subject to provi- sions set forth in Tennessee Code Annotated 40 -12 -105. Pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated 40 -12104 and 40 -12 -105, the application to testify by any citizen must be accompanied by a sworn affidavit stating the facts or summarizing the proof which forms the basis of allegations contained in that application Your grand jury foreperson is Leslie Bridges. Their address is 222 Second Avenue North, Washington Square Building, Suite 510, Nashville, Tennessee 37201. The grand jury will meet at 8:00 A.M. on Mon days, Tuesdays and Fridays for three (3) months. Submission of an affidavit which the applicant knows to be false in material regard shall be punishable as perjury. Any citizen testifying before the grand jury as to any material fact known to that citizen to be false shall be punisha - ble as perjury. For a request for accommodation please contact 862 -4260.
NSC 10 3 /24
FORECLOSURE SALE NOTICE
Deed of Trust dated April 17, 2018, of record at Instrument No.
20180425 -0038710, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee (the “Deed of Trust”) and conveyed to R. Rick Hart, Trustee, the h ereinafter described real property to secure the payment of certain indebtedness (“Indebtedness”) owed to Renasant Bank (the “Lender”); and WHEREAS, default in payment of the Indebtedness secured by the Deed of Trust has occurred; and WHEREAS, David M. Anthony (“Trustee”) has been appointed Substitute Trustee by Lender by that Appointment of Substitute Trustee of record at Instrument No. 20240625 -0047386, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, with authority to act alone or by a designated agent with the powers given the Trustee in the Deed of Trust and by applicable law; and WHEREAS, Lender, the owner and holder of said Indebtedness, has demanded that the real property be advertised and sold in satisfaction of said Indebtedness and the costs of the foreclosure, in accordance with the terms and provisions of the loan documents and Deed of Trust.
NOW, THEREFORE, notice is hereby given that the Trustee, pursuant to the power, duty and authority vested in and imposed upon the Trustee under the Deed of Trust and applicable law, will on Wednesday, November 6, 2024, at 1:45 o’clock p.m., prevailing time, on the steps of the historic Davidson County Courthouse, 1 Public Square, Nashville, Tennessee 37201, offer for sale to the highest and best bidder for cash and free from all rights and equity of redemption, statutory right of redemption or otherwise, ho mestead, dower, elective share and all other rights and exemptions of every kind as waived in said Deed of Trust, certain real property situated in Davidson County, Tennessee, described as follows:
Instrument
Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, as well as the subsequent modifications listed above.
Situated in the County of Davidson, State of Tennessee.
Land in the 10th Civil District of Davidson County, Tennessee, being Lot No. 13 on the Plan of Fox Chase Meadows, of record in Book 5200, Page 194, Register's Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, to which reference is hereby made for a more complete description thereof.
Being the same property conveyed to Doug Brown and Christy Brown by Deed recorded in Book 5666, Page 92, Register's Office for Davidson County, Tennessee.
Map/Parcel No: 007 -00 -0 -137.00
Street Address: The street address of the property is believed to be 1860 Fox Chase Drive, Goodlettsville, Tennessee 37072, but such address is not part of the legal description of the property. In the event of any discrepancy, the legal description here in shall control. Other interested parties: Internal Revenue Service; Sunbelt RentalsRegion 4 (an Ohio Corporation; Waste Management Inc. of Tennessee.
THIS PROPERTY IS SOLD AS IS, WHERE IS AND WITH ALL FAULTS AND WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER, WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, AND SUBJECT TO ANY PRIOR LIENS OR ENCUMBRANCES, IF ANY.
EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WAR-
RANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, CONDITION , QUALITY OR FITNESS FOR A GENERAL OR
PARTICULAR USE OR PURPOSE.
As to all or any part of the Property, the right is reserved to (i) delay, continue or adjourn the sale to another time certain or to another day and time certain, without further publication and in accordance with law, upon announcement of said delay, con tinuance or adjournment on the day and time and place of sale set forth above or any subsequent delayed, continued or adjourned day and time and place of sale; (ii) sell at the time fixed by this Notice or the date and time of the last delay, continuance or adjournment or to give new notice of sale; (iii) sell in such lots, parcels, segments, or separate estates as Trustee may choose; (iv) sell any part and delay, continue, adjourn, cancel, or postpone the sale of any part of the Property; (v) sell in whole and then sell in parts and consummate the sale in whiche ver manner produces the highest sale price; (vi) and/or to sell to the next highest bidder in the event any high bidder does not comply with the terms of the sale.
and Christy C. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 20231006-0078769, said Register’s Office; (6) that instrument dated October 6, 2023, against Douglas W. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 202310160080936, said Register’s Office; (7) that instrument dated February 9, 2024, against Douglas W. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 202402230012374, said Register’s Office; and (8) that instrument dated April 1, 2024, against Douglas W. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 20240415 -0026327, said Register’s Office.
Timely notice has been given by the Trustee to the Internal Revenue Service by certified mail, as required by 26 U.S.C. §7425(b). The sale of this property will be subject to the right of the United States to redeem said property pursuant to 26 U.S.C. §7 425(d).
Substitute Trustee will make no covenant of seisin, marketability of title or warranty of title, express or implied, and will sell and convey the subject real property by Trustee’s Quitclaim Deed as Substitute Trustee only.
P.O. Box 121616 Nashville, TN 37212
david@exolegal.com
615 -869 -0634
NSC: 10/3, 10/10, 10/17/24
Administrators, IT Middleware. Drive the installation and configuration of middleware components. Configure and administer middleware systems for a major retailer. Employer: Tractor Supply Company. Location: Headquarters in Brentwood, TN. May telecommute from any location in the U.S. Multiple openings. To apply, mail resume to J. Yokley, 5401 Virginia Way, Brentwood, TN 37027 and reference job code 23- 0297.
MISCELLANEOUS
Legal Description: The real property is described in the Deed of Trust at Instrument 20180425 -0038710, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, as well as the subsequent modifications listed above.
WHEREAS, Doug Brown and Christy Brown, married, executed a Deed of Trust dated April 17, 2018, of record at Instrument No. 20180425 -0038710, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee (the “Deed of Trust”) and conveyed to R. Rick Hart, Trustee, the h ereinafter described real property to secure the payment of certain indebtedness (“Indebtedness”) owed to Renasant Bank (the “Lender”); and WHEREAS, default in payment of the Indebtedness secured by the Deed of Trust has occurred; and WHEREAS, David M. Anthony (“Trustee”) has been appointed Substitute Trustee by Lender by that Appointment of Substitute Trustee of record at Instrument No. 20240625 -0047386, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, with authority to act alone or by a designated agent with the powers given the Trustee in the Deed of Trust and by applicable law; and WHEREAS, Lender, the owner and holder of said Indebtedness, has demanded that the real property be advertised and sold in satisfaction of said Indebtedness and the costs of the foreclosure, in accordance with the terms and provisions of the loan documents and Deed of Trust. NOW, THEREFORE, notice is hereby given that the Trustee, pursuant to the power, duty and authority vested in and imposed upon the Trustee under the Deed of Trust and applicable law, will on Wednesday, November 6, 2024, at 1:45 o’clock p.m., prevailing time, on the steps of the historic Davidson County Courthouse, 1 Public Square, Nashville, Tennessee 37201, offer for sale to the highest and best bidder for cash and free from all rights and equity of redemption, statutory right of redemption or otherwise, ho mestead, dower, elective share and all other rights and exemptions of every kind as waived in said Deed of Trust, certain real property situated in Davidson County, Tennessee, described as follows:
Situated in the County of Davidson, State of Tennessee.
Land in the 10th Civil District of Davidson County, Tennessee, being Lot No. 13 on the Plan of Fox Chase Meadows, of record in Book 5200, Page 194, Register's Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, to which reference is hereby made for a more complete description thereof.
Being the same property conveyed to Doug Brown and Christy Brown by Deed recorded in Book 5666, Page 92, Register's Office for Davidson County, Tennessee.
Map/Parcel No: 007 -00 -0 -137.00
Street Address: The street address of the property is believed to be 1860 Fox Chase Drive, Goodlettsville, Tennessee 37072, but such address is not part of the legal description of the property. In the event of any discrepancy, the legal description here in shall control.
Other interested parties: Internal Revenue Service; Sunbelt RentalsRegion 4 (an Ohio Corporation; Waste Management Inc. of Tennessee.
WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, THE PROPERTY IS SOLD WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, RELATING TO TITLE, MARKETABILITY OF TITLE, POSSESSION, QUIET ENJOINMENT OR THE LIKE AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, CONDITION , QUALITY OR FITNESS FOR A GENERAL OR PARTICULAR USE OR PURPOSE.
As to all or any part of the Property, the right is reserved to (i) delay, continue or adjourn the sale to another time certain or to another day and time certain, without further publication and in accordance with law, upon announcement of said delay, con tinuance or adjournment on the day and time and place of
Big
Several Notice of Federal Tax Liens have been filed by the Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, including: (1) that instrument dated March 9, 2021, against Douglas W. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 20210316 -0034301, Register’s Office f or Davidson County; (2) that instrument dated December 8, 2022, against Douglas W. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 20221219 -0130966, said Register’s Office; (3) that instrument dated June 19, 2023, against Douglas W. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 2 0230626 -0048177, said Register’s Office; (4) that instrument dated September 15, 2023, against Douglas W. Brown and Christy C. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 20230925 -0074958, said Register’s Office; (5) that instrument dated September 27, 2023, against Douglas W. Brown and Christy C. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 20231006-0078769, said Register’s Office; (6) that instrument dated October 6, 2023, against Douglas W. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 202310160080936, said Register’s Office; (7) that instrument dated February 9, 2024, against Douglas W. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 202402230012374, said Register’s Office; and (8) that instrument dated April 1, 2024, against Douglas W. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 20240415 -0026327, said Register’s Office.
Timely notice has been given by the Trustee to the Internal Revenue Service by certified mail, as required by 26 U.S.C. §7425(b). The sale of this property will be subject to the right of the United States to redeem said property pursuant to 26 U.S.C. §7 425(d). Substitute Trustee will make no covenant of seisin, marketability of title or warranty of title, express or implied, and will sell and convey the subject real property by Trustee’s Quitclaim Deed as Substitute Trustee only.
Legal Description: The real property is described in the Deed of Trust at Instrument 20180425 -0038710, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, as well as the subsequent modifications listed above.
Situated in the County of Davidson, State of Tennessee.
Land in the 10th Civil District of Davidson County, Tennessee, being Lot No. 13 on the Plan of Fox Chase Meadows, of record in Book 5200,
THIS PROPERTY IS SOLD AS IS, WHERE IS AND WITH ALL FAULTS AND WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER, WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, AND SUBJECT TO ANY PRIOR LIENS OR ENCUMBRANCES, IF ANY. WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, THE PROPERTY IS SOLD WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, RELATING TO TITLE, MARKETABILITY OF TITLE, POSSESSION, QUIET ENJOINMENT OR THE LIKE AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, CONDITION QUALITY OR FITNESS FOR A GENERAL OR PARTICULAR USE OR PURPOSE. As to all or any part of the Property, the right is reserved to (i) delay, continue or adjourn the sale to another time certain or to another day and time certain, without further publication and in accordance with law, upon announcement of said
delay, con tinuance or adjournment
This sale is subject to all matters shown on any applicable recorded Plat or Plan; any unpaid taxes and assessments (plus penalties, interest, and costs) which exist as a lien against said property; any restrictive covenants, easements or setback lines tha may be applicable; any rights of redemption, equity, statutory or otherwise, not otherwise waived in the Deed of Trust, including rights of redemption of any governmental agency, state or federal; and any and all prior deeds of trust, liens, dues, assessments, encumbrances, defects, adverse claims and other matters that may take priority over the Deed of Trust upon which this foreclosure sale is conducted or are not extinguished by this Foreclosure Sale. This sale is also subject to any matter that an in spection and accurate survey of the property might disclose.
THIS 1st day of October, 2024.
David M. Anthony, Substitute Trustee EXO LEGAL PLLC P.O. Box 121616 Nashville, TN 37212 david@exolegal.com 615 -869 -0634
NSC: 10/3, 10/10, 10/17/24
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This sale is subject to all matters shown on any applicable recorded Plat or Plan; any unpaid taxes and assessments (plus penalties, interest, and costs) which exist as a lien against said property; any restrictive covenants, easements or setback lines tha t may be applicable; any rights of redemption, equity, statutory or otherwise, not otherwise waived in the Deed of Trust, including rights of redemption of any governmental agency, state or federal; and any and all prior deeds of trust, liens, dues, assessments, encumbrances, defects, adverse claims and other matters that may take priority over the Deed of Trust upon which this foreclosure sale is conducted or are not extinguished by this Foreclosure Sale. This sale is also subject to any matter that an in spection and accurate survey of the property might disclose.
THIS 1st day of October, 2024. David M. Anthony, Substitute Trustee EXO LEGAL PLLC P.O. Box 121616 Nashville, TN 37212
