Nashville Scene 11-9-23

NEWS:

NOVEMBER 9–15, 2023 I VOLUME 42 I NUMBER 40 I NASHVILLESCENE.COM I FREE

CITY PLANNERS TO MODERNIZE NASHVILLE STREETS

FOOD & DRINK:

DINING OUT WITH KIDS … OR NOT >> PAGE 25

>> PAGE 7

NEWS:

VFW NEEDS YOUNGER VETERANS TO STAY AFLOAT >> PAGE 8

CHARTER TERRITORY How state overreach is shaping the education landscape

BY KELSEY BEYELER

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Derek Fordjour. Airborne Double, 2022. Acrylic, charcoal, cardboard, oil pastel, and foil on newspaper mounted on canvas; 60 x 100 in.

Frances Fine Art Collection, courtesy of the artist, David Kordansky Gallery, and Petzel Gallery. Photo: Daniel Greer. © Derek Fordjour

Featuring approximately 80 collage and collage-informed works, Multiplicity explores the breadth and complexity of Blackness in the United States today. With an intergenerational group of 52 living artists, the exhibition examines how concepts such as cultural hybridity, notions of beauty, gender fluidity, and historical memory are expressed in the practice of collage.

THROUGH DECEMBER 31

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NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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CONTENTS NEWS 7 City Planners Set on Modernizing Nashville Streets Nashville’s team of planners pieces together bike and pedestrian infrastructure in a city built for cars

BY ELI MOTYCKA

8 VFW Needs Younger Veterans to Stay Afloat With Post 1970 up for sale, the Charlotte Pike VFW looks to the future

BY HANNAH HERNER AND HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

9 Transgender Youth Care Ban Appealed to U.S. Supreme Court Law went into effect after appeals court decision

BY HANNAH HERNER

9 Pith in the Wind This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog

COVER STORY 11 Charter Territory How state overreach is shaping the education landscape

BY KELSEY BEYELER

17 CRITICS’ PICKS

Rennie Harris’ Rome & Jewels, Taylor Tomlinson, Taking Back Sunday, The Improvised Shakespeare Company and more

FOOD AND DRINK 25 Dining Out With Kids … or Not Whether you want the family to eat together or you want a date night, here are 12 ideas for dining out

BY MARGARET LITTMAN

8 Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1970 • PHOTO BY HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

MUSIC 31 Golden Age

34 Best of the Fest

Hiss Golden Messenger’s Jump for Joy is a thing of beauty that knows how ugly the world can be

Our critic on the best of the New York Film Festival, from Poor Things to Priscilla

BY SEAN L. MALONEY

BY JASON SHAWHAN

31 Harp Focus Mary Lattimore’s Goodbye, Hotel Arkada highlights the harpist at her best

BY BRITTNEY MCKENNA

32 Omnidirectional Sound

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NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD AND THIS MODERN WORLD

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MARKETPLACE

Meshell Ndegeocello creates lead sheets for 21stcentury life on The Omnichord Real Book

BY SEAN L. MALONEY

32 The Spin The Scene’s live-review column checks out Screaming Females at Drkmttr and The Wooten Brothers at Riverside Revival

BOOKS

FILM

BY ADDIE MOORE AND RON WYNN

28 Bearing Witness David Dark on resisting ‘deferential fear’

BY MARIA BROWNING; CHAPTER16.ORG

ON THE COVER:

Photo by Eric England. Model: Bon England.

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FROM BILL FREEMAN

WHO WE ARE

PRESIDENT BIDEN’S LEADERSHIP SPARKS PROSPERITY, UNPRECEDENTED ECONOMIC SURGE

I WAS PLEASED to read a recent report from The New York Times noting that consumer spending is soaring, and that the U.S. economy witnessed incredible growth in the third quarter of 2023. The piece referenced the Commerce Department’s October report, which revealed that the gross domestic product grew at a 4.9 percent annualized rate from July through September, significantly exceeding expectations and making it the most robust growth spurt since late 2021. This developing situation with the GDP was fueled by increased consumer spending.

Consumer spending is the driving force behind a thriving economy, and the surge we are currently experiencing is evidence of our nation’s resilience. Though COVID-19 is currently not as scary or out-of-control as it was two years ago, repercussions of the pandemic still have an impact on how people spend their money.

Confident consumers are more likely to spend, thereby stimulating local businesses, creating jobs and fueling economic growth. The fact that we are seeing this surge is a good sign.

Nashville, a city heavily reliant on tourism, is particularly benefiting from the surge, with hotels fully booked, the music scene buzzing and restaurants thriving. As reported last month

by Nate Rau of Axios, in October 2022, Nashville reached a milestone when it eclipsed 900,000 hotel room bookings for the first time in a single month. There were 938,962 hotel rooms sold. However, as Rau wrote, “The record may not stand for long, as the forecast is for 967,736 bookings this month,” according to data from the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. This shows that consumers are feeling comfortable once again, spending on trips, vacations, dining out and more.

President Biden and his administration deserve recognition for their pivotal role in facilitating this remarkable economic growth.

Their focus on supporting working families, increasing investments in infrastructure and promoting sustainability has created the foundation for this impressive economic turnaround.

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The administration’s tax policies have put more money in the pockets of hardworking Americans, encouraging consumer spending.

What’s truly extraordinary: This economic resurgence defied expectations.

Many were predicting a recession, but it turns out Americans had built up substantial savings during the pandemic, allowing them to spend more even as the Federal Reserve increased interest rates. And believe it or not, more people are gaining more wealth since the pandemic.

As the Times notes, recent Fed data shows that American families’ median net worth climbed 37 percent from 2019 to 2022. People are not taking only one vacation; they’re taking multiple trips each year. Americans are beginning to feel secure once again within our economic system.

While the statistics paint a rosy picture, we still need to remain cautiously optimistic about the future. But it feels good to know that for now, the United States is outperforming other large economies due to its aggressive fiscal response to the pandemic and its insulation from the war in Ukraine’s impact on energy prices.

For that, President Biden and his administration should be shown a little appreciation.

The surge in consumer spending and the resultant economic growth are reasons to celebrate, and Biden’s leadership and economic policies have played a pivotal role in this achievement. If these positive trends continue, it would not be surprising to see President Biden continue to lead our nation beyond 2024.

He’s undoubtedly earned a second term, and these signs point to a competent, skilled, capable leader. United, we can build a prosperous America that benefits all its citizens, and this economic resurgence is a remarkable step in that direction.

Bill Freeman Bill Freeman is the owner of FW Publishing, the publishing company that produces the Nashville Scene, Nfocus, the Nashville Post and The News.

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NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

NEWS

CITY PLANNERS SET ON MODERNIZING NASHVILLE STREETS Nashville’s team of planners pieces together bike and pedestrian infrastructure in a city built for cars THE CITY’S BIKEWAYS MAP is lit up in at least six colors. Routes range from future, planned, scheduled, in progress and on hold, to complete — a patchwork of edges on top of the city’s expansive street grid.

Metro planners see the city as a riddle. This month, the city’s Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure (NDOT) will roll out its Connect Downtown plan, an attempt to map out smoother ways to move people through the urban core. Planners talk about downtown as a black box: People go in and people come out. In between, it’s a mess of Ubers, scooters, one-way streets and jaywalking, without clear arteries connecting east to west or north to south. Downtown’s rapid shift in use from a business center for suburban commuters to today’s pedestrian playground has tasked NDOT with a clunky game of catchup.

Modern urbanism draws emphasis away from cars — the pollution-making, space-wasting vestiges of the 20th century — and toward walking, biking and communal transit like buses and subways. Hardcore New Urbanists say phasing out cars is a matter of life and death, considering the risk high-speed vehicles pose to pedestrians, cyclists and other drivers, especially in the age of distracted driving. Last year was the deadliest on record for Nashville, which saw 47 pedestrians and two cyclists killed by cars.

A damning report from Forbes last month put even more heat on city leaders to figure out the city’s transportation growing pains. The national business magazine ranked Nashville as the country’s hardest commute, estimating that residents lost 41 hours over 2022 to traffic and congestion obstacles. Mayor Freddie O’Connell addressed the report at a press briefing in late October.

“Not only was Nashville ranked among the worst cities for commute times, but buried within that, some factors were independently assessed,” O’Connell explained. “We fared poorly on our walk score, bike score and transit score. It is certainly this administration’s intent to get reports back on those before Thanksgiving. We want safer infrastructure.”

Big headline projects — like a pedestrian-only zone on Lower Broadway or the city’s aspirational bus rapid transit line from the airport — move slowly. In the meantime, bike lanes have become visible deliverables slowly piecing together a network for Nashville cyclists.

Planners hosted an open house last month on 31st Avenue North, where NDOT converted a car lane into a bikeway between Park Plaza and West End. That section of road is part of a key crosstown connector gradually changing from Rosa Parks to Ed Temple to 31st to Blakemore

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

BY ELI MOTYCKA

to Wedgewood as it loops around the city — a “necklace,” in planner shorthand. Each new segment expands territory for Nashville cyclists.

“The biggest concerns for a cyclist like me, who relies on my bike, is safety and having to constantly reorient yourself to maximize safety between protected lanes,” says Patrick Reilly, a Vanderbilt University graduate student. “There are unreachable places for me, and there are many straightforward routes that are just not available.”

Reilly doesn’t own a car and relies on his bike

as a primary means of transportation. Major routes like Hillsboro Road are a no-go because they’re crowded with fast-moving cars. Each new bike lane allows him to tweak his routes across the city, reorienting them to maximize safety.

“Gallatin [Pike] is the most efficient way to shoot up into East Nashville, but the safest route is taking Davidson through Shelby Park to Riverside,” says Reilly. “A bike commuter will take a more circuitous route to remain in a protected bike lane as much as possible. If I can’t do that, I need to take safety risks to make it somewhere.”

Bike lane construction on a massive section of Lebanon Pike is underway right now. Sections of Douglas Avenue, South 14th Street, South Street, Gale Lane and Clifton Avenue are getting lanes too. Downtown is crisscrossed with current and future bike projects that will also help divert scooter traffic away from cars.

If it seems like bike lanes are suddenly popping up everywhere, it’s because they’re riding a combination of modern urban design principles and a planning department trying desperately to help Nashville catch up. ▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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VFW NEEDS YOUNGER VETERANS TO STAY AFLOAT With Post 1970 up for sale, the Charlotte Pike VFW looks to the future

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TONY JENNETTE, a 72-year-old Vietnam Veteran and Nashville native, has been coming to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1970 for 52 years.

“I was in Vietnam out in the jungle, and they sent me a care package,” Jennette tells the Scene.

“They were trying to get members. They sent me a care package with two cans of mustard sardines, some Wyler’s lemonade mix and a VFW card.”

The VFW is a nonprofit organization originally founded in 1899 to arrange services for veterans of the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War. Today it continues to help connect veterans to social services, including health care, disability assistance and education, and it advocates for legislation like the PACT Act and the GI Bill. The first three words of the VFW’s mission statement are “To foster camaraderie” — it’s a mission that often played out in post cantinas, though that’s seemingly becoming harder to accomplish.

The Charlotte Pike VFW location, founded in 1968, is one of two in Nashville, and one of 6,000 internationally, according to the VFW website.

The 4.24-acre property was listed for $9.5 million in June. It has been rezoned to allow the buyer to redevelop the site with a mixed-use building with up to 216 residential units.

Benny Marshall, quartermaster of VFW Post 1970, tells the Scene the post plans to relocate in the West Nashville area. He hopes to have a more modern bar area, more seating, a larger kitchen and a new stage. A new location will be free of plumbing and electrical issues, but will also lack the hand-painted patriotic murals, the stage where John Rich filmed a forthcoming music video and the residual cigarette smoke and ambience that the current location offers. The newness could leave behind a few regulars too.

A veteran of the first Gulf War, Marshall started coming to the VFW while renting

kitchen space for his company, Cobbler Creations. Marshall wants to diversify the income of the VFW by offering space for food trucks to cook and store food outside of the vehicle (as required by law) and camping space for traveling veterans.

“The Vietnam vets are getting old,” Marshall says. “They’re in their 70s and 80s. There’s fewer and fewer of them coming in. We’re trying to attract a younger crowd.”

Jason Quigg currently serves as commander of VFW Post 1970, where he oversees operations.

He has held several elected leadership roles in the organization since he joined in 2018. Quigg retired from the U.S. Army in 2021 with the rank of a sergeant first class after 26 years of service.

“It’s hard to get both younger veterans in their 30s and younger, or even in their 40s, [to join] because of the environmental and economical change in our society,” says Quigg.

“It’s just been challenging trying to communicate to that younger generation that we’re here for you as well, and the more you’re involved,

the more benefit your generation is going to have in the future.”

During the pandemic, members redecorated the cantina, and in the past few months they’ve started serving food again. Post 1970 does service work, from toy and food drives to collecting items for veterans in need. They’ve also fulfilled other community needs such as helping with cleanup efforts following the deadly March 2020 tornado that devastated parts of Nashville and beyond. They have ice cream socials, chili cookoffs, steak nights, karaoke nights and football watch parties — but they don’t have an advertising or outreach budget to speak of.

Jennette says when he first started coming to the VFW he benefited from hanging out with the older veterans, but the cycle seems to have ended now that he’s the older guy.

“The young ones, they don’t care,” he says.

“They don’t ask me much. This place ain’t got no windows, and it seems like there’s not enough stuff to do in here to keep a young person occupied. They’d rather go uptown and pay $9 for a beer than pay $3 here. We’d love for young people to come. … We got a pool table, but it just ain’t enough to keep ’em going. I guess there’s not enough people their own age.”

Quigg says he hopes a younger generation of servicemembers and veterans can help keep the VFW alive by embracing the internet and social media platforms to help grow membership.

Guests are welcome, and civilians with direct familial relationships to veterans who served in overseas combat zones can also support the VFW and their members through the VFW Auxiliary.

“Everybody thinks when they were growing up, the VFW was just this smoky bar my grandfather went to, not fully understanding the full purpose of our national charter,” Quigg says.

“Once they’re out [of their military service], they think, ‘I’m just out, there’s nothing else for me,’ and it’s just not that way.” ▼

PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

BY HANNAH HERNER AND HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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TRANSGENDER YOUTH CARE BAN APPEALED TO U.S. SUPREME COURT

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Law went into effect after appeals court decision

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The Nashville Public Library board is still searching for a director after passing on four finalists last week. Terri Luke was elevated as interim director 15 months ago, following the retirement of former director Kent Oliver. Luke, who didn’t initially apply for the position because of plans to retire soon, is now considered a favorite of many board members to lead the city’s library system.

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A three-judge panel ruled in favor of Nashville, again, in its latest lawsuit contesting the state’s attempted takeover of the city’s airport board.

Metro Legal Director Wally Dietz successfully built the city’s defense on legal Home Rule protections enshrined in the Tennessee Constitution, which prohibit the state legislature from targeting a specific local municipality. This is the city’s third successful suit against state law since the end of the legislative session in the spring. Arguments protecting the city’s airport authority closely mirror Nashville’s fourth lawsuit against Tennessee, which also claims Home Rule protections against an attempted state takeover of the Metro Sports Authority.

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TENNESSEE’S BAN ON gender-affirming care for minors is on its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Local transgender youth and their families, including one Nashville family, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Tennessee, Lambda Legal and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP have appealed the case, L.W. v. Skrmetti, to the high court, requesting that the court block the law banning gender-affirming care for those under 18 in Tennessee. A number of states have sought to institute such bans, and Tennessee advocates are the first to take their case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

After months of legal battles, the gender-affirming ban is currently in effect. It prohibits medical providers from treating transgender youth and requires minors currently receiving such care to end it by March 31.

The state’s ban on gender-affirming care was passed in February as HB1/SB1, the first bill filed in the legislative session. Banning gender-affirming care for minors was a priority for Republican leaders, who promised such legislation at an anti-trans rally led by conservative media figure Matt Walsh in October 2022. Vanderbilt University Medical Center shut down its pediatric transgender clinic preemptively in June.

Challenges to the ban began in April, when the ACLU of Tennessee, a local family and others filed a lawsuit and the U.S. Department of Justice also stepped in to attempt to block the law.

In June, Nashville federal Judge Eli Richardson temporarily blocked part of the ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapies but allowed the ban on surgical procedures to go into effect. In July, the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals lifted the partial block at the request of Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, allowing the ban to go into effect. In September, the appeals court affirmed the earlier decision.

Alabama faces a similar situation to that of Tennessee, as the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in August that a ban on gender-affirming care for minors should take effect. In Arkansas, a federal district court judge struck down the state’s ban.

“I’m fighting this law because I know how important this care is for tens of thousands of transgender youth like me,” says 15-year-old L.W., a transgender patient who is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. “It scares me to think about losing the medication that I need.

And if this law continues, my family may have to leave Tennessee — the place I have lived and loved my entire life. And with so many new laws like Tennessee’s, it is hard to imagine where we can even go. I want the justices to know transgender people are not going away and that we deserve the same rights as everyone else.”

Skrmetti is also investigating VUMC’s adult transgender clinic, with the hospital’s decision to turn over health records to the state alarming some patients.

This article was first published via our sister publication, the Nashville Post.▼

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Far-right media personality Steven Crowder published three pages of writings attributed to the deceased perpetrator of the Covenant School mass shooting. The Metro Nashville Police Department previously announced that journals and maps had been found in the shooter’s home and car, though parents at the Covenant School had successfully petitioned Judge I’Ashea Myles to keep them sealed. Soon after the publication by Crowder, Mayor Freddie O’Connell announced a city investigation into the leak.

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NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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CHARTER TERRITORY How state overreach is shaping the education landscape

BY KELSEY BEYELER

WALK INTO JUST about any school in Nashville and you’ll see classrooms and hallways filled with shuffling students and energetic teachers. Inspirational messages and art projects will line the walls. Some students will be happy to be there, others won’t. School staff will be there to manage the day.

Some of these schools are traditional public schools, some are public charter schools, and some are private. Regardless, each is tasked with the huge responsibility of educating young Nashvillians, and each has its own ecosystem of relationships, needs and history. There is a wide range of school options in Nashville, from public neighborhood and magnet schools to charter schools and private institutions. On its surface, “school choice” describes the simple act of enrolling in the best possible school for a specific student — though financial or logistical barriers prevent many families from accessing all of them.

Ansley Erickson is an associate professor of history and education policy at Columbia University’s Teachers College. Her book Making the Unequal Metropolis examines how desegregation-era policies shaped inequities in Nashville’s school system — a topic she also

dove into with a 2015 cover story for the Scene.

“In lots of places, school choice has opened up avenues for further segregation,” Erickson tells the Scene.

She explains that the concept of school choice is fraught with a history of white parents resisting desegregation by avoiding certain public schools or exiting the public system altogether. Erickson notes that it also became a mechanism for Black families to take agency in their children’s education and seek better options when the public system was failing them. She points out that school choice isn’t a one-sided phenomenon, and schools can exercise choice in which students they accept.

“It’s always been a little bit of a misnomer, because it sounds like the choice is all on the parents’ side,” she says. “But usually, there’s selectivity happening in other places too.”

Local and state leaders on both sides of the aisle have facilitated a proliferation of school choice. Recently, the matter has been aggressively pushed by Gov. Bill Lee and state Republicans, who have fostered distrust in the public school system while also creating mechanisms for more charter schools to open in more districts, and for public dollars to go

to private schools. Tennessee’s new education commissioner, Lizzette Gonzalez Reynolds, will likely help with the governor’s goals in that regard. (The Tennessee Department of Education would not fulfill the Scene’s request to interview Reynolds for this story.)

The issue of school choice has added to the already crippling tension between the state and Nashville, and it’s affecting students and their families — whom everyone involved purports to act in the best interest of. Below, we dive into the issue of school choice: the basics, the politics and the impact.

THE BASICS Nashville students have more school options than ever. A parent’s decision to enroll or not enroll can rely on myriad factors, from an institution’s academic rigor to its atmosphere.

The state just released a controversial new grading system that rates schools on an A-to-F scale. Proponents say it will provide straightforward information about how schools are performing; critics worry it will cast an oversimplified metric onto schools that could motivate students and teachers to search for

other options.

Many will tell you that visiting a school is the best way to determine whether it’s the best fit.

Test scores are just one indicator of a school’s performance, but in fact, they often correlate with socioeconomic factors: Economically disadvantaged students often underperform due to a lack of access to basic needs such as food and consistent housing. Do schools deserve to be faulted or stigmatized for factors outside of their control?

Tait Danhausen, who is the head of middle schools for Nashville’s LEAD charter network, has his own framework for considering schools.

“I don’t think it matters if your school is really successful or not successful,” says Danhausen.

Instead, he says, he bases his perception on three questions: Are students loved? Are they safe? Are schools being honest about their students’ academic performance?

Within the public school umbrella, families can attend their zoned neighborhood schools (the default option) or apply to other openenrollment schools across the district via a lottery process. Transportation isn’t provided to non-zoned schools, however, and Nashville’s lacking public transit system could do better to

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augment that.

Among the district’s enrollment options are a plethora of programs and focuses. Within Nashville’s high schools are the Academies of Nashville — 35 different “academies” within 12 of the city’s largest neighborhood high schools — which teach students skills surrounding specific career tracks. Magnet schools are public schools that offer specific programs in fields such as STEM or the arts. Magnets were initially created to help desegregate the school system by attracting more families to different schools, and they’re still being used for that purpose in Nashville.

The district’s academic magnet schools, such as Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School and Hume-Fogg Academic High School, are among the state’s best-performing public schools, but their student bodies’ demographics do not reflect the district’s immense diversity.

White students account for the majority of these schools’ enrollment, even though they don’t make up the bulk of the district. The Metro Nashville Public Schools board is considering ways to diversify academic magnet schools by eliminating a preference for students who come from specific middle schools.

“Parents shouldn’t have to try to figure out high school when their child is in fifth grade,” MNPS parent Amy Powell tells the Scene via email. “Not putting them on a specific pathway allows them to explore the best options for where they are in eighth grade. … MNPS has so many wonderful options! Let our families explore them at the right time and have equal opportunities to pursue them.”

For children to attend a charter school, families must first fill out an application.

Charter schools receive public funds and must comply with state and federal requirements, but they have their own boards and operate independently of the district with more autonomy. Critics complain that charters divert funding from traditional public schools and “cherry-pick” their students. Legally they’re not allowed to turn students away, but according to The Washington Post’s Valerie Strauss, charters sometimes use other mechanisms like targeted recruiting or discouragement of students to try to curate student bodies. MNPS schools have been accused of engaging in these practices.

“There are MNPS schools that push kids out,” Gini Pupo-Walker, former MNPS board member and executive director of the Education Trust in Tennessee, recently told the Scene. “It’s not just charters that do it.”

But as with all schools, charters are not a monolith — conversations about any schools within a certain classification usually require more nuanced, ground-level considerations.

Some of them perform well and offer the innovative models they were brought in to create. Others don’t. Since charters started appearing in Nashville, six of them have been closed down. Dwayne Tucker is the CEO of charter network LEAD Public Schools and admits that both charters and traditional public schools are guilty of picking “the metric that fits us at that time” to demonstrate certain points.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. MAGNET HIGH SCHOOL

The district’s academic magnet schools, such as Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School and Hume-Fogg Academic High School, are among the state’s best-performing public schools, but their student bodies’ demographics do not reflect the district’s immense diversity.

All these factors make the school choice conversation more complicated than simply “public or private?” But even that seemingly binary choice is less straightforward than it used to be. The state’s Education Savings Account program — commonly referred to as school vouchers — provides qualifying students roughly $8,000 a year to put toward private school education. Families who meet a certain income threshold can apply. The money can be put toward private education, but it’s not necessarily enough to cover tuition, as private school tuition often exceeds that figure.

THE POLITICS Education policy — from the local school board level to legislation passed by the Tennessee General Assembly — affects the school choice conversation in ways that parents don’t always track. It takes a lot of time and energy to keep up with constantly changing policies, and changes aren’t always communicated effectively. Some issues, however, garner a lot of attention and spark loud, emotional discourse among community members.

Consider the state’s controversial Education Savings Account legislation. It barely passed in 2019 and was quickly litigated in Davidson and Shelby counties for targeting those two districts. It’s a common trend we’re seeing in

Nashville, particularly over the past year: the state attempting to impose its agenda on Metro.

Nashville has successfully used the Tennessee Constitution’s Home Rule Amendment, which preempts the state from targeting specific counties, to stop state overreach. Multiple judges agreed that the ESA legislation violated the Home Rule Amendment by singling out Nashville and Memphis, but after three years of legal battles, the ESA program was ultimately declared legal.

Just months later, the TDOE was distributing ESAs, even though it wasn’t allowed to work on the program while it was being litigated. Since it began in 2022, the program has more than quadrupled its statewide enrollment and has already been expanded to include students from the Hamilton County School District. Chalkbeat Tennessee reported in August that the state had to settle for a contract with a young company with no experience in statewide voucher distribution to run the program.

Critics have many concerns regarding ESAs. Apart from the fact that the state effectively forced them onto school districts, they’re another mechanism to divert funds from public schools. Vouchers also allow tax dollars to subsidize education in religious institutions, which the Supreme Court ruled valid in Carson v. Makin. Private schools don’t have to follow federal requirements, such as providing students with disabilities an individualized

education plan. “In the name of choice, parents and children with disabilities are really asked to give up a big chunk of their rights,” says Erickson.

Unlike public schools, private schools can turn students away outright. In Florida, one private school that accepted more than $1.6 million in tax dollars via vouchers has openly stated that it will refuse admission to LGBTQ students.

Even still, Senate Education Committee Chair Jon Lundberg (R-Bristol), who co-sponsored a bill to expand ESAs earlier this year, tells the Scene he wouldn’t be surprised by further expansion.

If ESAs follow the same path as charter schools, they will initially be reserved for certain students and then made more widely available.

Mary Batiwalla, who used to work for the TDOE, including as the department’s executive director of accountability, tells the Scene she thinks the aforementioned A-to-F accountability system is driven by a desire to “to expand policy around school privatization.”

“A lot of times [ESA advocates] don’t like to use the term ‘privatization,’” she says. “They like to use the term ‘school choice.’”

Alongside the possibility of ESA expansion, you can bet on more charter schools opening across the state, and contention around who gets to decide that. Traditionally, that’s the role of school boards. Public school boards are composed of elected officials who — among other tasks like setting the budget and hiring superintendents — decide whether charters can operate in districts.

We’ve seen several instances in which school boards don’t approve charters that other politicians want, and that can get messy. See the Great Hearts debate of 2012, when the MNPS board — citing diversity concerns — denied the charter school four times despite a state order to approve it and support from then-Mayor Karl Dean. That decision cost MNPS more than $3 million in funding withheld by the state and further stoked the flames of the charter school debate.

We’re starting to see charters pop up in suburban counties. Among those leading that charge is the controversial American Classical Education. ACE is a charter operator affiliated with Michigan’s conservative Hillsdale College.

In 2021, Gov. Lee announced a partnership with Hillsdale to establish a statewide presence of charters. The announcement raised eyebrows, as charters have traditionally been relegated to urban school districts, and concerns about ACE’s conservative 1776 curriculum quickly arose. Opposition grew stronger when Hillsdale President Larry Arnn was recorded insulting public school teachers. (Lee, who was with Arnn when he made the statement, provided no pushback then or thereafter.) ACE applied to open in three suburban districts — all three applications were denied by local school boards.

A major difference between the Great Hearts controversy and the ACE story? The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission. A ninemember appellate body appointed by Gov. Lee, the charter commission began hearing

NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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©Disney

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NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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appeals of charters that were denied by school boards in 2021. Its members get the final say over the locally elected officials representing the school district and are tasked with authorizing the schools they approve — meaning the commission serves as its own school district.

All three ACE charters applied to the commission after being rejected, but withdrew their applications in 2022 before a final decision was made. They came back with fresh applications this year in Rutherford, Maury and Madison counties. The Rutherford County Schools board approved its ACE application. The other two applications went back to the charter commission, which approved the school for the Jackson-Madison County School District but not for the Maury County Public Schools district.

After three years, the charter commission has agreed to authorize nine charter schools in Nashville alone. The current makeup of the MNPS board isn’t particularly friendly to charters, and openly bemoans the charter commission. District 6 representative Cheryl Mayes went as far as to call them “those yahoos” during a September board meeting.

Among the school board’s major concerns with charters: funding. MNPS has to foot the bill when charters set up in Nashville — around $212 million was allocated to charters in this year’s budget. Lawmakers passed a new education funding formula in 2022 to replace its 30-yearold predecessor. It’s not friendly to Nashville, and the state’s push to consider forgoing federal education funds could also decrease district funding. State money is attached to students in the formula, and it goes where they go. Public schools can’t easily cut their operational costs when students — and the funding attached to them — leave.

“We’re getting to a place where our per-pupil cost is like a housing bubble,” says current MNPS board chair Rachael Anne Elrod. “It continues to go up because we’re having to fill in the holes for all those fixed costs, but again, the charter schools get that increased per-pupil [funding] every year.”

In August, Tennessee hired Bren Elliott as the new state turnaround superintendent. Elliott is responsible for overseeing the Achievement School District, which was created as a mechanism for the state to take over the lowestperforming schools by giving them to charter operators to turn around. Those efforts have been largely unsuccessful. (The Scene attempted to interview Elliott to discuss the future of the ASD, but the TDOE would not fulfill that request.)

Ask local education stakeholders what’s going on with the ASD, and no one is entirely sure.

LEAD Brick Church is the only ASD school left in Nashville, and its CEO Dwayne Tucker says that, from his understanding, the state might “look more to taking out clusters of schools.”

As state leaders push school choice and force schools to compete for students and funding, the battle for local control rages on. Elrod anticipates continued efforts toward a state takeover of the MNPS board.

“Because charters don’t affect the majority of those legislators, they’re not interested in

LEAD NEELY’S BEND hearing how it affects us either,” says Elrod. “In some cases, the cruelty is the point.”

“I would say, like most things where we have enjoyed local control and have local authorizing bodies, we want to retain that as much as possible,” Mayor Freddie O’Connell recently told the Scene.

Can a local school system create an environment that provides a rich array of choice for families while also creating an environment for neighborhood public schools to thrive?

“I think we could imagine a system that gives parents a lot of choice and also really pays attention to equity,” says Erickson. “Very few school choice systems, if any, have actually achieved that. And so if it’s the goal, then you’d have to build a system with that goal in mind.”

THE IMPACT Amid the political battles, students and families are caught in the crossfire.

Earlier this year, MNPS sounded the alarm when LEAD Neely’s Bend applied to exit the ASD because it had improved enough to move off of the priority list — that is, the list of schools that perform in the bottom 5 percent in the state. LEAD didn’t fill out an application to go through MNPS — it didn’t have to. ASD charter operators can circumvent school boards entirely and apply directly to the charter commission. The application was accepted, and in January LEAD Neely’s Bend became a chartercommission-run school rather than as ASD school. The major difference for students is that it moved from being a zoned to a choice-only option, so families now have to apply to send their kids there. With no other zoned middle schools in that area, MNPS had to change the configuration of nearby schools so that middle school students in the Hunters Lane cluster

would have a guaranteed seat.

Moniqueca — who asked the Scene not to use her last name — is the parent of two students in LEAD Neely’s Bend. She has kids in elementary through high school who have attended several different kinds of schools. She wasn’t fully aware of the changes as they were happening at LEAD Neely’s Bend, and when an MNPS enrollment center employee told her it was no longer the zoned school, and to attend it would mean leaving the MNPS district, she didn’t believe it. It wasn’t until a LEAD employee started explaining the situation later that it clicked for Moniqueca. She says she received an email from the district telling her that her child’s zoned school was now Madison Middle, even though it traditionally had been Neely’s Bend. She says that when she called LEAD about this, she was told to disregard the letter.

LEAD also asked Moniqueca to write a letter of support to help Neely’s Bend exit the priority list. She didn’t realize it would also be part of an application to separate the school from MNPS. She says if she had realized that, she wouldn’t have written it.

“Admittedly, a challenge was explaining how within the same conversation you’re celebrating coming off the list, and then essentially you don’t have a home,” LEAD’s director of engagement and family enrollment Corey Burton tells the Scene. Burton says they made sure families knew that LEAD would still be operating the school. A January Facebook post from LEAD Neely’s Bend does indicate that the school is now a charter commission school.

Moniqueca describes the situation as “confusing,” “frustrating” and “convoluted.” She says she felt “a lot of underhandedness,” and a lack of proper communication from both sides.

This kind of complication is a symptom of multiple education authorities operating

within the same county. Students can switch school districts without even knowing it, which can create lags in student record transfers or confusion regarding who to turn to when problems arise.

“If a situation happens at a charter school — and it often does — [parents will] come to us,” says Elrod. “We will have to say, ‘Please talk to your board.’”

IN 2012, the Scene named a charter school teacher and a traditional public school teacher as our Nashvillians of the Year. In his writeup, then-Scene reporter Steven Hale made a point that still stands: Regardless of whether they’re working in a traditional public school or a charter school, good teachers are the key to a good education — and we need more of them.

Tucker thinks the “extreme politicization of education,” including conversations around school safety and which books students can access, is presenting challenges for those considering the teaching profession.

“If you’re thinking about entering the education field as a career … it’s a different set of attention being focused for, in some cases, just political points — for both parties,” says Tucker. “At some point it begins to take a toll [on] people who want to enter education to have a career.”

“I really just want better communication and the understanding that parents need to have information to be able to make these decisions,” says parent Moniqueca. “We’re making uninformed choices, and it’s very frustrating. … I feel like there just should be a lot of support from the top down, and more focus on the students and more focus on the families. That needs to be the priority.”

Regardless of who is operating the school, or what kind of school it is, every student deserves a quality education. ▼

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WITNESS HISTORY Eric Church wore this outfit in a nod to his heroes Hank Williams Jr. and Bruce Springsteen in the 2012 music video for “Springsteen.” The multiplatinum song references several of its namesake’s hits, including “I’m on Fire,” “Born to Run,” and “Glory Days.”

From the exhibit Eric Church: Country Heart, Restless Soul, presented by Gibson artifact: Courtesy of Eric Church artifact photo: Bob Delevante

RESERVE TODAY

NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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JOHN DENVER: A ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH CONCERT CELEBRATION with the Nashville Symphony

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“MERRY CHRISTMAS, LOVE” FEATURING JOSS STONE with the Nashville Symphony

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SAMARA JOY: A JOYFUL HOLIDAY! Feat. the McLendon Family

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CRITICS’ PICKS: WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF THINGS TO DO

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Visit calendar.nashvillescene.com for more event listings

RENNIE HARRIS’ ROME & JEWELS

If you somehow missed Rennie Harris and his internationally acclaimed street dance company Puremovement when they last performed at OZ Arts in 2021, you’re in luck — this remarkable company is back this weekend with its Bessie Award-winning production Rome & Jewels. Billed as a “radical reinvention” of Shakespeare’s beloved Romeo & Juliet, the piece resets the story to Harris’ hometown of Philadelphia, offering an insightful and decidedly fresh approach to familiar themes. Audiences can look forward to innovative design elements and a dynamic hip-hop soundtrack provided by a pair of dueling DJs, plus more than a dozen dancers showcasing choreography that is “deeply rooted in the traditions of hip-hop, popping, break dance and more.” Harris first premiered Rome & Jewels back in 2000 to rave reviews and revived the piece last year to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his groundbreaking company. AMY STUMPFL NOV. 9-11 AT OZ ARTS 6172 COCKRILL BEND CIRCLE

TAKING BACK SUNDAY PAGE 18

THE BUG CLUB PAGE 20

NEEDTOBREATHE PAGE 22

[YES MA’AM!]

MERCURY STARDUST

If you’ve ever rented a house or an apartment, you know how frustrating it is when something breaks and you have to wait on your landlord to send someone out to fix it. Enter Mercury Stardust, aka The Trans Handy Ma’am. Mercury is a maintenance technician with more than a decade of experience. She makes videos on how to fix things like clogged sinks or loose outlets and blasts them out to her 2.4 million TikTok followers. Her videos are easy to follow and filled with her boisterous, honking Wisconsin laugh. Am I ever going to fix my own sink? No. But am I going to watch every video she makes about how to do it? Absolutely I am. Mercury has written a book called Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair. Novelette

Bookstore has partnered with the Nashville Public Library to host Mercury for a meet-andgreet and book signing. The event is sold out, but Novelette has a wait list. To be added, email your full name and the number of people in your party to hi@novelettebooksellers.com.

KIM BALDWIN

10 A.M. AT THE NASHVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY 615 CHURCH ST.

MUSIC

DANCE

[TIMELESS TALE WITH A HIP-HOP TWIST]

BOOKS

THURSDAY / 11.9

NOV. 9-11

[THE MAN IN BLACKMOBILE]

JC UNIT ONE

It’s that time of year: The snowbirds are moving south. And this year, that migration includes JC Unit One, Johnny Cash’s former touring bus, which will spend the winter in the Ryman Auditorium parking lot. Cash called the bus, which was used between 1980 and 2003, his cocoon. It is regularly parked at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, but winter weather in that part of the country makes it hard to keep the bus open year-round to fans of the Man in Black — so the Rock Hall and the Ryman developed a partnership. “The big reason that we partner with the Ryman is that they do the same work we do,” says Shelby Morrison, vice president of curatorial operations at the Rock Hall. “It’s all

NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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MUSIC

Vanderbilt University’s International Lens film series wraps up its fall schedule this week with Free Chol Soo Lee, a 2022 documentary about a wronged death row inmate. In the early ’70s, Korean immigrant Chol Soo Lee was sent to prison for murdering a gang leader in San Francisco’s Chinatown — a crime he did not commit. As Lee was holed up in a penitentiary that was nicknamed “gladiator school,” the pan-Asian community (led by diligent Korean American reporter K.W. Lee) and some radical white attorneys banded together to get him out. Directors Julie Ha and Eugene Yi present a harrowing, heartbreaking story of a man who struggled with being an emblem of Asian American hope and strength, especially during rock-bottom, self-destructive times when even his most ardent supporters wanted nothing to do with him. Ha and Yi will be in attendance for a post-screening discussion.

Haerin Shin, associate professor of media and communication studies at Korea University, will introduce the film. CRAIG D. LINDSEY 7:30 P.M. AT VANDERBILT’S SARRATT CINEMA 2301 VANDERBILT PLACE [WE’RE STILL UNDER THE INFLUENCE]

TAKING BACK SUNDAY

It’s 2023, and Taking Back Sunday still delivers the goods. Two-plus decades after howling into the limelight with desert-island emo album Tell All Your Friends, the New Jerseyborn group has transformed from a Warped Tour heavyweight into one of the most trusted acts in modern rock music. In the less-celebrated back half of the band’s tenure, frontman Adam Lazzara and company have delivered rock-solid (pun … intended?) albums that hit the spot for fans of big-riff guitar hooks and in-your-feels lyricism (guilty!). 152, the band’s excellent new LP and Fantasy Records debut, adds to this growing list of I’ll-shout-every-word songs with tracks like standout single “S’old,” chaotic-good entry “Quit Trying” and pensive album closer “The Stranger.” Nashville gets to celebrate the new album with an intimate album release gig at Eastside Bowl. The band selected Music City

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[TWICE THE LAUGHS]

TAYLOR TOMLINSON

Among Nashville’s lineup of upcoming comedy shows, Saturday Night Live alum and super-famous dating dude Pete Davidson probably grabs the most headlines. But don’t overlook Taylor Tomlinson, a wildly funny jokeslinger who dishes real-talk on experiences as a young woman navigating life in America.

(Mental health? Relationships? … Cats? Yes, she goes there.) Tomlinson will headline three shows at the Ryman Auditorium in two nights on her expansive Have It All tour, thanks to her growing popularity in the aftermath of two Netflix specials — 2020’s Quarter-Life Crisis and 2022’s Look At You — and a chuckle-worthy collection of stand-up snippets and timely observations posted to TikTok. She was also recently selected to fill the late-night-host slot after Colbert on CBS. Want a preview of Tomlinson material before the show? Look up her riff on dating losers, in which she tells the audience that after someone quits dating losers, there’s no rehab — only sponsors. Or in her words: “Losers are a lot like cigarettes. You have one in your mouth? You feel pretty cool. But everyone around you is like, ‘Ew, we’re sad for you.’” MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER NOV. 9-10 AT THE RYMAN 116 REP. JOHN LEWIS WAY N.

FRIDAY / 11.10 [THE MUSIC OF THE MIND]

THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT

A neurological case history might seem like an unlikely subject for the opera world. But Michael Nyman’s The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat — onstage at Nashville Opera’s Noah Liff Opera Center this weekend — draws us in with intriguing rhythmic and melodic patterns, while putting a human face on a baffling disorder. Based on the 1985 bestselling book

by British neurologist Oliver Sacks, the piece centers on Dr. P. — a professional singer and music educator suffering from visual agnosia, a condition that leaves him unable to recognize ordinary objects. Nashville Opera first presented the unusual work in 2013, recording and releasing the opera on Naxos in September 2016.

It’s a fascinating work that not only explores the mysteries of the human mind, but also looks at the healing power of music. And it’s wonderful to see the acclaimed bass Matthew Treviño returning to Nashville Opera to revisit the role of Dr. P., joined by soprano Caroline Worra and tenor Tyler Nelson. AMY STUMPFL NOV. 10-12 AT THE NOAH LIFF OPERA CENTER 3622 REDMON ST.

MUSIC

RETT MADISON

West Virginia’s Rett Madison has inherited her state’s musical legacy in spades. With a raspy voice that’s big enough to fill stadiums, she’s bringing it to the somewhat smaller Basement here in Nashville. This Friday will mark the release of her startling album One for Jackie. The album is a tribute to Madison’s late mother, who struggled with PTSD and alcoholism before dying by suicide in 2019. The album finds Madison moving through her grief and learning how to understand her mother.

The title song, a sleek and menacing murder ballad, explores Madison’s revenge fantasy. One for Jackie was recorded in Tornillo, Texas, at the famed Sonic Ranch and was produced by Tyler Chester (Madison Cunningham, Sara Bareilles, Watkins Family Hour). Madison is joined on the album by Iron & Wine. When she brings her raw emotion and her L.A. indie-pop-inspired country to Nashville, it should be a night to remember.

RACHEL CHOLST

7 P.M. AT THE BASEMENT 1604 EIGHTH AVE. S. [A FRESH TAKE ON THE OLD BARD]

THE IMPROVISED SHAKESPEARE COMPANY

I know improv has gotten a bad rap, and many of you may be even less interested when I add rhyming poetry to the mix, but hear me out: Don’t you need more silliness in your life? More giddy camaraderie? Some communal hilarity in a dark theater? Improvised Shakespeare begins with the troupe asking the audience for the title of a play they’d like to see, and within moments they begin unspooling a fresh, funny take on our best-known playwright. They braid flowery, metrical language with modern jokes and references, creating an experience I like to imagine imitates the feeling of seeing Twelfth Night for the first time. With guest performances from Jason Alexander and Patrick Stewart,

glowing national reviews and regularly packed houses, the actors of Improvised Shakespeare have more than proven their comedic chops.

But if you want a taste of what you’re getting into, I highly recommend checking out three members competing on Game Changer with Sam Reich. RYNE WALKER NOV. 10-11 AT TPAC’S JACKSON THEATER 505 DEADERICK ST.

FILM

MUSIC

9 P.M. AT EASTSIDE BOWL 508A GALLATIN PIKE S., MADISON

[WILD, WONDERFUL]

[LONG LIVE THE CONCUBINE]

FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE

The Palme d’Or winner from 1993’s Cannes returns to us in 4K (and now free from the meddling of Harvey Weinstein). One of the most essential entries in China’s underrated library and a pioneer in the Hong Kong queer wave, Farewell My Concubine stars Leslie Cheung as Cheng Dieyi and Zhang Fengyi as Duan Xiaolou, two actors trained at the Beijing Opera House from childhood. Xiaolou trained to play the king, while Dieyi trained to play opposite him as his loyal concubine. The two live out their career through the changing political climate of China and a love triangle with Xiaolou’s wife Juxian, played by the legendary Gong Li. The film was banned in China originally due to depictions of homosexuality and negative aspects of the Cultural Revolution, but public outcry that threatened to undermine the country’s 2000 Olympic bid led the Chinese government to release a censored version in Chinese cinemas.

The film heads to the Belcourt, with the restoration bringing Chen Kaige’s masterpiece to the world untouched by producers or governments in its full auteur-intended vision.

KEN ARNOLD

NOV. 10-16 AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.

FILM

INTERNATIONAL LENS: FREE CHOL SOO LEE

MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER

THEATER

[AN AMERICAN PRISONER]

as one stop in a three-show run celebrating 152, joining shows in Los Angeles and New York City.

OPERA

FILM

about preserving and showcasing the impact and influence of music on our everyday lives and celebrating that.” Cash commissioned the bus — which was the pinnacle of luxury at the time — from the shell of a Greyhound bus. It features a Tennessee hickory wood table and a “royal box” sign Cash allegedly swiped during a tour of England because his nickname for June was “Queenie.” “If you think about where [Cash] was in that time in his life, it was all about family,” Morrison says. “So he had this bus customized so that June Carter Cash and the kids could all be together and travel together.” Nashvillians can tour the bus as part of the Ryman’s self-guided tours, generally available daily between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. MARGARET LITTMAN ONGOING AT THE RYMAN 116 REP. JOHN LEWIS WAY N.

[STILL BURNING]

MIDNIGHT MOVIE: MANDY

Basically, Mandy is an old-school revenge flick. This bloody-but-righteous 2018 tale of a

THE IMPROVISED SHAKESPEARE COMPANY

NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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HOTEL

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NOV

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Nashville-based singer-songwriter brings a captivating sound that seamlessly fuses elements of folk, Americana, and rock with heartfelt lyrics and soulful vocals creating an authentic and resonant connection with her audience.

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TN

MUSIC

HUTTON

[JAM-GRASS ROYALTY]

VINCE HERMAN BAND

The Vince Herman Band brings its fall tour to The Vinyl Lounge Saturday night, and jamgrass legend Herman says some special guests — a few of his Nashville songwriting partners and musical friends — will join the band onstage. In addition to material from his debut solo album Enjoy the Ride, Herman and his band will be playing songs that have never been heard on any record, although that could soon change. Since moving to Nashville during the pandemic, Herman estimates he has stockpiled 30 or more new songs, some of which will be pitched to other recording artists, some that are slated for his other bands (Leftover Salmon, The High Hawks) and others that are part of the Vince Herman Band repertoire.

“I’ve got a bunch of tunes that may be making their way towards the next record,” Herman tells the Scene. “I like to keep all the repertoires separate, so people know they’re going to get something different [with each group].” Fourpiece Nashville-based jam band Airshow opens the 18-and-over show. DARYL SANDERS 7 P.M. AT THE VINYL LOUNGE 1414 THIRD AVE. S.

MONDAY / 11.13 MUSIC

AT

[I’M ON AN ISLAND]

THE BUG CLUB

In case you’re sitting around with your pristine copies of The Kinks’ Kinkdom and The Kink Kontroversy and wondering, you know, what happened to rock ’n’ roll, here’s a band you might like. The Bug Club hails from Caldicot,

Wales, and they’ve told interviewers they really like Jonathan Richman and Peter, Paul and Mary. Bassist Tilly Harris and drummer Dan Matthew keep things lively for guitarist and singer Sam Willmett on the band’s 2023 release Rare Birds: Hour of Song, which is one of three studio full-lengths they’ve released this year. The Bug Club mixes up The Kinks, Lou Reed and, I guess, the more raucous side of Peter, Paul and Mary on tunes like 2021’s “Checkmate,” itself a good example of the dumbass-but-effective British blues genre as it was practiced in 1965.

Dig into their albums, which are composed mostly of short songs that tend to run toward a certain type of whimsy I find appealing. For this fan of Kinks arcana like Kontroversy’s “I’m on an Island,” The Bug Club’s music works, but it’s their words I relish. I had a hard time picking just one example from their oeuvre, and I hope these lyrics, from the Rare Birds track “Blues Magicians,” will suffice: “You only sing along at private parties / You only sing along to blues magicians / You only sing along to bad decisions / You only sing along to Tubular Bells / You only sing along with somebody else.” The song gains resonance when you know they’ve also told journalists they’re really into the work of legendary blues wizard Mike Bloomfield, who would likely be amused by the compliment.

EDD HURT

7 P.M. AT DRKMTTR 1111 DICKERSON PIKE

TUESDAY / 11.14 FILM

A N A L O G

quiet lumberjack (Nicolas Cage) who goes on a murderous rampage after his artist girlfriend (Andrea Riseborough, frighteningly pale) gets kidnapped and killed by a deranged cult sounds like the sort of down-and-dirty hicksploitation thriller that kept Middle America drive-ins in business all through the ’70s. But since it’s directed by Panos Cosmatos, the weird Italian Canuck who gave us that sci-fi whatever-thefuck Beyond the Black Rainbow, this nightmare of a film is just as batshit-crazy visually as it is thematically. (This does seem like the work of someone who saw The Last House on the Left high on LSD and thought they could do something even freakier.) While Cosmatos shoots this thing like a heavily hallucinogenic fever dream David Lynch and Peter Hyams came up with while reading Heavy Metal comics during an angel-dust bender, Cage predictably goes full gonzo as a guy who’s all too willing to take the killer hippies and demonic bikers who stole his sweetheart straight to hell with him.

Oh, and by the way — CHEDDAR GOBLIN! And for the Cage fanatics looking to double up, Saturday’s Midnight Movie is Con Air. CRAIG D. LINDSEY MIDNIGHT AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.

[WALK IT OUT]

BATTLEGROUND STATE: A DOCUMENTARY SCREENING EVENT

In the fall of last year, Francie Hunt — executive director of Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood — walked more than 500 miles from one end of the state to the other. Her mission, which she dubbed Walk for Our Lives, was to bring awareness and support to TAPP, the advocacy and political arm that protects Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade. Hunt was joined on her journey through 24 counties by her dog Bodhi and her colleague Laura Button, who later told members of the state legislature’s Population Health Committee, “Frankly, we were surprised that so many people were outraged at the overturn of Roe.” A new 45-minute film documenting Hunt & Co.’s long journey, “Walking the Line: A Tennessee Pilgrimage for Our Lives,” is screening this fall at a number of locations throughout the state, including AB Hillsboro Village here in Nashville.

Also screening at Tuesday’s event will be “A New Tennessee in 2023,” a short doc on TAPP’s efforts to support the progressive legislators known as the Tennessee Three. Attendees will be able to find out more information about donating to and working with Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood. D. PATRICK RODGERS 5:30 P.M. AT AB HILLSBORO VILLAGE 2111 BELCOURT AVE.

NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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11.26

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22

TEDDY THOMPSON

WEDNESDAY / 11.15 [TAKE ME]

TEDDY THOMPSON

The son of English folk rockers Richard and Linda Thompson, Teddy Thompson does a nice job of covering a bunch of mostly familiar country tunes on two albums he’s released in 2023. Once More: Jenni Muldaur & Teddy Thompson Sing the Great Country Duets features the daughter of American R&B-pop singer (and ace Bob Dylan interpreter) Maria Muldaur on a set of tunes that includes “Golden Ring,” a 1976 George Jones and Tammy Wynette hit written

by Bobby Braddock and Rafe Van Hoy, and “Take Me,” which Jones co-wrote. Meanwhile, My Love of Country pairs Thompson with duet partners on the order of Aoife O’Donovan, Vince Gill and Rodney Crowell. The album sports a fine version of Norro Wilson and George Richey’s “A Picture of Me (Without You),” a song that inspired one of Jones’ most sublime pop-country performances with producer Billy Sherrill. They’re good albums, and Thompson achieves a polished, post-countrypolitan vocal style that’s as impressive as David Mansfield’s production. (Mansfield produced and played many of the instruments on both of Thompson’s 2023 albums.) But here’s the thing, Teddy: As a connoisseur of country music myself, I gotta say something. I can think of a dozen underrecorded classics penned by Wayne Carson, Harlan Howard and Earl “Peanutt” Montgomery — not to mention Jones, whose incredible “No Money in This Deal” remains relatively obscure today — that might expand the canon if someone as sharp as you ventured to cut ’em.

Thompson appears Wednesday along with

Emmylou Harris, Lola Kirke and Logan Ledger.

EDD HURT

7:30 P.M. AT 3RD AND LINDSLEY 818 THIRD AVE. S.

MUSIC

11.21

PHOTO: ETHAN COVEY

POETRY HONORS

MUSIC

MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO

11.18

[GIRL NAMED TENNESSEE]

NEEDTOBREATHE

There was a time when Christian artists snuck into the Top 40 by writing catchy tunes with lyrics that made listeners think, “Wait a minute, was that song about their girlfriend or about their lord and savior Jesus Christ?” That time has passed, which may be why Forbes in 2017 declared South Carolina’s Needtobreathe “America’s Most Popular Band You’ve Never Heard Of.” The band flies somewhat under the mainstream radar but still tours some of the country’s biggest venues thanks to frontperson Bear Rinehart’s perfect Southern rock voice, a solid catalog of songs — which, yes, include faith-based lyrics that range from the opaque to the obvious — and, especially, a live show that’s much stronger and less preachy than what you’ll find from other “Christian” acts. For a taste of what you might hear when they’re live from Bridgestone Arena, look no further than 2022’s Live From Bridgestone Arena, which has a guest appearance from one of the band’s spiritual predecessors, Switchfoot. This time around, the band will play tracks from September release Caves alongside Music City folksters Judah & the Lion. Stop by — while you may run into some teens at their youth group’s coolest outing of the year, you’ll also be treated to a solid night of twangy, rocky goodness that’s sick as heck.

COLE VILLENA

7 P.M. AT BRIDGESTONE ARENA 501 BROADWAY

NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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FRI 11.10 JOHN VINCENT III ‘SONGS FOR THE CANYON’ ALBUM RELEASE SHOW FEAT: KYLIE SPENCE • SOLD OUT! SAT 11.11 FASCINATION STREET MON 11.13 SLUT MAGIC • KARMA VULTURE VILLAGE ELDER • SHAKIRA CHINCHILLA TUE 11.14 ULTIMATE COMEDY WED 11.15 MANWOLVES • TED TYRO • TBA THU 11.16 SAM DEROSA • TAYLOR BICKETT FRASER CHURCHILL FRI 11.17 TAYLOR ACORN PEOPLE R UGLY • SOLD OUT! SAT 11.18 BLUPHORIA • NOAH VONNE • YEARB4 SUN 11.19 LEG! • KAEL JACKSON • CAMPANULA

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NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

FOOD & DRINK

DINING OUT WITH KIDS … OR NOT Whether you want the family to eat together or you want a date night, here are 12 ideas for dining out

THE CANON OF RESEARCH that says dining together is good for families is longer than the line of folks waiting to get into Pancake Pantry.

One survey from the American Heart Association found that 91 percent of parents noticed their family was less stressed when they all ate together.

But finding a place to have that family meal out of the house can be stressful. You can rule out places on both ends of the spectrum, from Chuck E. Cheese (too kid-centric) to Lower Broadway (too adult-focused). But finding places where you can have good food, practice dining-out etiquette, try new foods and not bother other patrons who might not be out with kids can feel tricky.

Similarly, if you have a sitter and want to have a date night or a girls’ night, you might want to branch out from your old favorites. A few new 21-and-older spots have opened recently, offering options for getting out of the house for a grown-up meal. Here’s a list of six places to consider when you want the family to eat together — and six others for when you have a sitter.

FOR FAMILIES DICEY’S PIZZA AND TAVERN 425 Chestnut St. OK, fine. Pizza doesn’t exactly pop off as a radical idea for a menu item for dinner with the kids. But the Wedgewood-Houston restaurant offers more than just a thin-crust slice. The large backyard area has plenty of room to run around.

(And the sound of the nearby train is definitely louder than your kids.) There are ample tables with striped umbrellas for dining outside. The

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

ELLISTON PLACE SODA SHOP

BRINGLE’S SMOKING OASIS menu includes pizza that Dicey’s calls “party cut” (that’s a Chicago-style thin-crust cut in squares instead of triangles), plus salads, sandwiches, wings and plenty of adult beverage choices.

THE PFUNKY GRIDDLE

BRINGLE’S SMOKING OASIS 4901 Centennial Blvd.

Our own Ashley Brantley summed it up well in this year’s Best of Nashville issue: “The outdoor area is effectively a giant playpen where you can watch sports, pet dogs, eat brisket, smear mac-and-cheese on tables, meet new parent friends and, of course, do it all with a cocktail in hand.” The menu at the barbecue hot spot in The Nations offers smoked turkey, pulled pork, beef brisket and other dishes that rotate weekly.

ELLISTON PLACE SODA SHOP 2105 Elliston Place Elliston Place Soda Shop began serving Nashville families back in 1939. The most recent iteration offers counter seating, booths and tables where you can appreciate vintage decor, modern upgrades and a time-honored menu. While the restaurant might be best-known for its milkshakes (there’s one on the neon sign, after all), in fact it is a classic meat-and-three, with breakfast, burgers, sandwiches, salads and, of course, pie.

The options on the kids’ menu are just $5.49.

SUPPER CLUB ON BELCOURT 2000 Belcourt Ave. This classic American steakhouse with bright, colorful, whimsical decor and a neighborhood feel opened in Hillsboro Village in September.

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

BY MARGARET LITTMAN

It’s the second outpost of the concept (the first is in Memphis), and the idea is to offer a more casual approach to what would normally be a high-end steakhouse experience. As such, families with kids are welcome until 8 p.m. You’re probably not going to order the kids a tomahawk steak wrapped in 24-carat gold (yes, that’s a thing), but there are plenty of more reasonable dishes on the menu — including salads, vegan

pasta and the Soul Roll (which is an egg roll with mac-and-cheese, yams and collard greens).

Want to come back without the fam? Check out the Tuesday Date Night specials.

THE PFUNKY GRIDDLE 2800 Bransford Ave. Since 2007, families have headed to Berry Hill to flip their own flapjacks on the skillets in their

NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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11/6/23 1:13 PM

tables at The Pfunky Griddle. The DIY spot sells all-you-can-eat pancakes with the topping of your choice, plus eggs, some of the best potatoes in the city and French toast, all of which you fry up yourself at your table. Gluten-free batter is available. Don’t want to do the cooking yourself? Go for the omelets or biscuits-and-gravy.

Est. 1896

11.10 11.11 11.12 11.14 11.15

NOKO

6PM VINTAGE SOUL NIGHT

701 Porter Road

5PM ATABOY FREE 9PM THE LUCID FURS, SIDNEY MAYS,

Noko is one of the hottest reservations in town, and the menu is not inexpensive. But with lots of high chairs and an Asian-inspired menu with plenty of wood-fired options, it’s a good choice for a celebratory family night out (book a table on the early side) or Sunday brunch. The chefs report that the crab fried rice, tuna crispy rice and Hurricane Fries (with furikake and truffle aioli) are popular with kids. But you can’t go wrong with broccolini on a wood-fired grill — or dumplings either.

CASSETTE STRESS & AMERICAN SNAP 4PM SIDE SHAKERS, MA RODDICK FREE 9PM DRUMMER EXCHANGE PROGRAM, THE UNDEAD BEATS, CODY BROOKS 4PM SPRINGWATER SIT-IN JAM FREE 7PM LAUREN WATKINS SHOWCASE FREE 5PM WRITERS @ THE WATER OPEN MIC FREE

115 27TH AVE N. OPEN WED - SUN 11AM - LATE NIGHT

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

11.9

SABELL’S

FOR GROWN-UPS SABELL’S Recently opened Riverside Village spot Sabell’s engendered lots of online debate when it announced it would be 21-and-up. The small bar-slash-restaurant is designed to be a datenight-friendly place where you can grab dinner, have a conversation with your partner and drink a beer. Carly Rabasca, the chef from Riverside Village’s now-closed-but-still-missed Rudie’s Seafood and Sausage, is cooking up Mediterranean eats like an herby falafel, a mezze platter and other dishes, all sold at affordable prices with decent portion sizes. Happy Hour runs from 4 to 6 p.m. in case you have some time to decompress while the kids are at an after-school activity. And if you don’t have a sitter, the full menu is available for takeout.

ERROR 404 nothing to do

SCHULMAN’S NEIGHBORHOOD BAR 1201 Porter Road Another newcomer to East Nashville that has been the subject of discussion among parents, Schulman’s is a 21-and-up bar with a good vinyl selection, a vintage cigarette machine and a tiny but mighty food menu. Check out the vegan chicken sandwich, the pastrami dip and the fried pickles, and wash it all down with a fall margarita, a negroni or one of many, many beers, including nonalcoholic options. Plus, Schulman’s is open seven days a week, from 3 p.m. to 2 a.m., increasing your odds of having a window in there to find a sitter.

HOUSE OF CARDS

HOUSE OF CARDS

MIEL

119 Third Ave. S.

343 53rd Ave. N.

If your idea of a night out means dinner and a show and a break from scrolling on your phone, the magic-themed House of Cards is an all-adult winner. Dine on classic steakhouse-style fare (including a terrific vegan surf-and-turf), then catch the acts of several magicians, mentalists and illusionists. You can have your phone with you in case of emergencies, but photo-taking is not allowed (wouldn’t want to spoil the tricks) — so it helps you focus on the company at your table. If your kids are jealous of your tales of sleight-of-hand, there is a family-friendly Sunday brunch.

For 15 years, Seema Prasad’s Miel has been serving thoughtful, sustainable seasonal meals in West Nashville. Just as the restaurant is tucked away off Charlotte Avenue, sometimes it’s hidden from lists of must-eat restaurants. If it’s been a while since you dined at Miel, it’s time to find a sitter and make a reservation. The menu changes daily, but recent dishes have included short ribs, cassoulet and tuna poke. If you want to do something more interactive when the kids are otherwise engaged, sign up for Miel’s wine classes; the next session starts in January.

THE AUTHENTIQUE WINE BAR AND CREPERIE

26

PHOTO: CODY JORDAN

925 Gallatin Ave.

calendar.nashvillescene.com

SCHULMAN’S NEIGHBORHOOD BAR

PHOTO: HOUSE OF CARDS

1301 McGavock Pike

This cozy East Nashville spot isn’t technically 21-and-up. Kids are welcome, but the space is tiny (you’ll be close to another table), and there’s no room to run around. The menu has recently expanded to include more wines and a food menu of small plates, boards and crepes (hence the change in the name of the place). Go for savory crepes and a glass of wine for dinner, or a sweet Nutella crepe and a nightcap after a night on the town.

CULTURE + CO. 3820 Charlotte Ave. Yes, kids are welcome and often seen in L&L Market, the home of Culture + Co., the city’s cheese-conveyor-belt restaurant. And yes, kids can belly up to the bar and snag a covered dish as it makes its way ’round the corner. But its menu of artisan American cheeses paired with natural wines is perfect for catching up with a friend, celebrating a work victory or a date where you want to sit side by side. Dishes are paired with treats like freshly baked rosemary focaccia, apple butter and candied pumpkin seeds. ▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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OFFICE PARTY PLATTERS AND COMPLETE PARTY CATERING ALSO AVAILABLE! Call Mike at 615-766-8025 or email mike@lagniappebayoukitchen.com

NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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BOOKS

BEARING WITNESS David Dark on resisting ‘deferential fear’

BY MARIA BROWNING

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Our evasions and the evasions of others yield, with humiliating exactness, the cultures, the systems, we’re in. We become what we normalize. And we create, sometimes haplessly, sometimes purposefully, cultures that normalize more than a little dysfunction, more than a little toxicity and terror and trauma.

Dark, a lifelong Nashvillian, teaches at Belmont University and the Tennessee Prison for Women. He answered questions by email.

The more I think about what it means to “normalize” something, the more slippery the idea becomes. Don’t we all go on living our daily lives knowing the world is filled with horrors? Are we normalizing that reality or simply surviving it?

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THE INTERSECTION OF our spiritual, communal and political lives has always been David Dark’s intellectual territory. In books like The Possibility of America and the recently revised Life’s Too Short to Pretend You’re Not Religious, Dark encourages us to be willing to mix it up, so to speak — to see the sacred in the profane (and vice versa), to stay awake to the voices that influence and inspire us, no matter their source, and to question everything.

He’s working the same ground in his latest book, We Become What We Normalize, but the emphasis here is on freeing our questioning selves to engage the world’s ills. Most of us, he argues, operate with some degree of “deferential fear” — a habit of selfprotective silence and conflict avoidance that ultimately makes us complicit in a multitude of things we know to be wrong. As he sees it, the cumulative effect of all this silence is immense:

Let me first say that the saying “We become what we normalize” arose in my mind as a personal admonition, a stay against confusion in trying times. I think it a trustworthy saying and a challenging and provocative book title, but I don’t offer it as a universal dictum even as I believe it to be true. Yes, it’s a horror-filled world, but I don’t have the capacity or the bandwidth to address every horror of which I hear tell. That said, I do have the power to say what I see and to refuse to sit still in the presence of abuse. In the limited scope of my own personal context, I can do more than just survive. I can know my own power and exercise it. Normalizing something (disinformation, misogyny, bigotry) is letting it be voiced or enacted in my presence without letting my dissent be known. This

NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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is where I’ve felt compelled by my own conscience to overcome my own proneness to conflict avoidance.

abusive people. Which isn’t to say there’s no hope for them. A person is a process. But not every part of their process is something I have to sit still for.

We’re not all equally wired for or accustomed to the kind of engagement you’re recommending.

What do you say to the person who’s not complacent but who instinctively recoils from the act of speaking up? I say there’s more than one

It seems to me that your vision of moral seriousness rests on a powerful belief in the unlimited potential of love and community. Is that true? It is true. I navigate encounters

way to give voice to what bothers you. Mother Ann Lee, founder of the Shakers, is said to have said, “Every force evolves a form.” Sit with the feelings, feel their force, give them a form. During Nashville’s lunch counter sitins, there were those who found themselves constitutionally incapable of nonviolent actions that would involve being arrested and physically assaulted. They engaged in other ways: making phone calls, offering support, writing letters, scheduling meetings. There are so many ways to bear witness, so many ways to access and even enjoy our own moral power, so many ways to not give in to fear.

with those who don’t share that belief by remembering there’ve been times aplenty when I myself didn’t share that belief. At those times, there have been those who held a door open for me by not mistaking my deepest self for my most toxic and reactionary positions.

They found that there was a little something to affirm in me. I try to extend that intellectual hospitality unto others as it was lavished, here and there, on me.

To read an uncut version of this interview — and more local book coverage — please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. ▼

Does refusing to normalize sometimes include closing a door to certain people in our lives? Is there ever a justification for ending communication? I’m afraid so. The older I get, the more comfortable I am infuriating people for the right reasons. I love uncurated conversation and open-ended dialogue. I love asking and answering questions and explaining myself concerning something I’ve said or set down. But I can’t help anyone with their accusations or their unexamined characterization of my positions. There comes a time to draw boundaries with publicly

We Become What We Normalize: What We Owe Each Other in Worlds That Demand Our Silence

By David Dark Broadleaf Books 224 pages, $26.99 Dark will discuss We Become What We Normalize 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10, at Parnassus Books

NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

29

818 3RD AVE SOUTH • SOBRO DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE SHOWS NIGHTLY • FULL RESTAURANT FREE PARKING • SMOKE FREE VENUE AND SHOW INFORMATION

917 Woodland Street Nashville, TN 37206 | thebasementnashville.com basementeast thebasementeast thebasementeast

3RDANDLINDSLEY.COM GREAT MUSIC • GREAT FOOD • GOOD FRIENDS • SINCE 1991

THIS WEEK THU

7:00

7:00

SUN

JAYGRACIAS, KAYLEE ROSE, THERESA GORELLA, JOHNNY GATES & MOLLY PAYNE

LIAM ST. JOHN with VOLK + JOSHUA QUIMBY

8:00

THE TIME JUMPERS

MON

7:30

JONATHAN PEYTON with ADAM RUSSELL

TUE

Nashville Industry Fest Presents

11/9 STRIKING MATCHES with ANDY MEAD,

backed by The Aquaducks & Emceed by Josh Black

WMOT Roots Radio Finally Fridays 12:00 11/10 featuring SAMUEL GREY HORSE, EE SHOW STOLL VAUGHAN & AFTON WOLFE FR FRI

BOOMBOX with TEP NO SAT

8:00

Backstage Nashville!

7:30

12:30

11/11 DAYTIME HIT SONGWRITERS SHOW

featuring PAT MCLAUGHLIN, TIM JAMES, PAUL JENKINS with BRASSFIELD + CJ FIELD and CLAIRE KELLY JEFFREY STEELE + ANTHONY SMITH

7:30

8:00

11/12

11/10

babyjake w/ mills

WED

TROUBADOUR BLUE with EVAN BARTELS

THU

11/14

11/15

1/5

bre kennedy

THE MINKS WITH THE LOVE-IN & ALICIA GAIL

gayle w/ DYLAN

jonny craig

w/ Sunsleep, KEEPMYSECRETS, A Foreign Affair and Sierra Annie

Upcoming shows nov 9 yard act w/ pva nov 10 babyjake w/ mills nov 11 slaughter beach, dog w/ bonny doon & erin rae nov 13 Cochise w/ TisaKorean & BigNumbaNine nov 14 bre kennedy w/ timothy edward carpenter

dec 3 joe hertler & the rainbow seekers w/ Post Sex

dec 4 dec 5 dec 6 dec 7 & autumn nicholas dec 8 nov 15 gayle w/ dylan dec 9 nov 16 jonny craig w/ Sunsleep, KEEPMYSECRETS, A Foreign dec 14 Affair, & sierra annie dec 15 nov 18 the last waltz tribute dec 16 nov 24 gimme gimme disco nov 25 Guilty Pleasures 7th Annual Post Thanksgiving dec 17 dec 22 day bash nov 27 angel saint queen w/ Meg Elsier, Caroline Culver & Hana Eid dec 29 nov 28 Noise pollution (Ac/DC tribute) + music city dec 30 stones (rolling stones tribute) jan 5 nov 29 PUSSY RIOT: RIOT DAYS w/ pinkshift jan 6 nov 30 caitlin rose w/ The Kernal and Andrew Combs jan 7 dec 1 The Aquaducks w/ friday night funk band, juke of jan 11 june & girls night jan 12 dec 2 free throw w/ Prince Daddy & The Hyena, Charmer jan 14 & blvck hippie

11/16

MARCUS REZAK PRESENTS ZAPPA EXPERIENCE

2/8

1/14 THE BEAST STREET BAND

11/16

w/ Timothy Edward Carpenter and Autumn Nicholas

1/4

PAUL THORN

11/15

cochise

w/ TisaKorean & BigNumbaNine

11/14

TEDDY THOMPSON with SPECIAL GUESTS EMMYLOU HARRIS, LOLA KIRKE & LOGAN LEDGER

12/6 & 12/17 STAIRWAY TO ZEPPELIN: A SALUTE TO LED ZEPPELIN

11/13

11/13

FEATURED

12/1

11/11 slaughter beach, dog w/ bonny doon & erin rae

JACKOPIERCE

Nachos & BEAN

a tribute to pearl jam rare hare bea miller happy landing w/ CERTAINLY SO the emo band: live band pop/punk karaoke sicard hollow & tophouse nashville is dead: grateful dead tribute the lone bellow the lone bellow jd mcpherson w/ Joel Paterson alexandra kay w/ Haley Mae Campbell sold out! sparkle city disco w/ W. Andrew Raposo

(Midnight Magic)

sapphic factory: queer joy party be our guest: the disney dj night motion city soundtrack w/ gully boys welcome to the nu-year: Nu metal tribute allison russell sold out! allison russell put it on tape: nashville comedy show

COMING SOON 11/17 THE EAGLEMANIACS SOLD OUT! 11/18 VINYL RADIO 11/19 JOHN R. MILLER WITH WILLY TEA TAYLOR 11/21 FRANK RAY WITH HUNTERGIRL 11/22 THREE TIMES A LADY PRESENTS FRIENDSGIVING 11/24 FAB A BEATLES REVUE + THE CONSOULERS 11/25 GARY NICHOLSON & THE CHANGE 11/26 JD SIMO & FRIENDS

11/28 DILLON CARMICHAEL WITH KELLER COX 12/7 THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH CARLY BANNISTER 11/29 TAJ FARRANT WITH NATHAN BRYCE & 12/8 & 12/9 MIKE FARRIS SINGS LOADED DICE THE SOUL OF CHRISTMAS 11/30 PONY BRADSHAW WITH 12/10 WHY? BECAUSE IT’S CHRISTMAS RACHEL BAIMAN 12/10 JOHN PAUL WHITE WITH 12/2 WORLD TURNING BAND “THE LIVE ALEXA ROSE FLEETWOOD MAC EXPERIENCE” 12/3 A SONGWRITERS CHRISTMAS 12/12 A SLEIGH RIDE WITH GALE MAYES 12/3 EMILY KINNEY WITH ALICIA BLUE AS MS. PUDDIN’ 12/5 JONELL MOSSER AND MAURA O’CONNELL 12/13 COLE RITTER CHRISTMAS SPECIAL 12/14 SIXWIRE & FRIENDS 12/6 A VERY TIMMY BROWN CHRISTMAS

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NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

oct

1604 8th Ave S Nashville, TN 37203 | thebasementnashville.com thebasementnash thebasementnash thebasementnash

11/10

11/13 rett madison w/ lou roy

johnny cattini w/ Georgia Webster

Upcoming shows nov 9 Laney Esper, Leche Malo (7pm) nov 9 jesse daniel w/ Cristina Vane (9pm) nov 10 rett madison w/ lou roy (7pm) nov 10 Fortune Child, Jackson Wesley & the holy daggers, de3ra (9pm) nov 11 les honky more tonkies w/ ballhog nov 12 danny corbo, kid fears, emily hines nov 13 johnny cattini w/ Georgia Webster (7pm) nov 13 BJ Barbee and the Good Country Dark w/ Black Bra & Scott Collins (9PM)

nov 14 cohost nov 15 jack van cleaf w/ macho planet (7pm)

nov 15 bombargo (9pm) nov 16 judy blank (6pm) nov 16 david borne (7:30pm) nov 16 Meredith Rounsley w/ genna matthew (9pm) nov 17 lillie mae (7pm) nov 17 jake burman & co w/ the fbr & snowbird hollow (9pm) nov 18 justin & the cosmics, elijah jones and the ccs (7pm) nov 18 huron john w/ nickname jos & cosette (9pm) nov 19 falllift w/ baerd & liv greene (7pm) nov 20 sonia leigh & friends nov 25 nashville sings newman nov 27 the wonderlands

MUSIC

GOLDEN AGE

Hiss Golden Messenger’s Jump for Joy is a thing of beauty that knows how ugly the world can be

Playing 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, at Brooklyn Bowl

find their way to some taper’s mic.

“There was a lot of intention with this record to create a set of songs that could all be played live,” Taylor tells the Scene. “I understand now, having made many records, that there are songs that for one reason or another, just aren’t going to get played live. And so when I was writing the

HARP FOCUS

Mary Lattimore’s Goodbye, Hotel Arkada highlights the harpist at her best

BY BRITTNEY McKENNA A MARY LATTIMORE show is a singular experience.

The Los Angeles-based harpist plays the kind of music — intricate, subtle, rewarding patience — that can be at odds with today’s showgoers, who sometimes spend more time at the bar or on their phones than paying attention to what’s happening onstage. That’s not the case at Lattimore’s own gigs, though, as fans flock to her live performances to escape exactly that kind of atmosphere in favor of an hour or two immersed in the beauty of her playing.

“I have noticed that not a lot of people have their phones out [at my

material for Jump for Joy, I was trying to stack the deck a little bit and create music that actually could all be played live.”

But this isn’t just music for, say, people who have feelings about Brent Mydland — though its blend of folk roots, country charm and experimental excursions will keep your favorite

beardo glued to their stereo. Taylor’s relatability — his casual lyrical vulnerability — is easy on the ears. It’s a thread that connects various sonic fabrics — a little choogle here, a little concrete there. The hint of second-line shuffle on the drums of “Jesus Is Bored” and the way the melody percolates like a cup of Café du Monde just before sunrise tap into an energy that transcends subculture and genre alike.

“I definitely was spurred on by this realization that I think a lot of us are having, meaning this idea of creating work that wears some type of positivity or hope on its sleeve,” says Taylor. “I think that’s just kind of in the artistic zeitgeist right now for a lot of people anyway. Because the reality is that this devastating 24-hour-a-day news cycle that we are living with is not going to stop.

“So I think it’s incumbent on the people that care … to offer up different types of frames through which to look at the world,” he continues. “And I feel like I sort of count myself among the people that have the capacity to do that with my work.”

When the band digs in and the melodies take a darker turn, like on the grit-and-gearshifts guitar rev-up “Feeling Eternal” and the laconic grinder “Sunset of the Faders,” you can feel Hiss Golden Messenger keeping the despair at bay.

Likewise, when Taylor sings the lyric “jump for joy” on the title track, it’s not a toxic overdose of positivity but a world-weary laugh in the face of cataclysmic circumstances. Jump for Joy is grounded but gorgeous, a thing of beauty that knows how ugly the world can be.

“I’m also a father of two kids, and I need them to understand the potential of hope in the type of world that we seem to be living in, the world that we have created for ourselves,” says Taylor.

“It’s sort of like a holistic project for me. It’s in my music, but it’s also with my family. And it’s not something that I’m good at every single day, but it is certainly something that I’m working on.” ▼

shows], which is really cool,” Lattimore tells the Scene. “I think that the world is really hard, especially now, and people are looking for a moment to zone out or to dig into things that are not in their feed, you know? It’s so hard to be a human right now.”

On Sunday, Lattimore will play at The Blue Room at Third Man Records in support of her new album, Goodbye, Hotel Arkada. A six-song collection of mostly instrumental music, the record is Lattimore at her best: Gorgeous, complex arrangements highlight her mastery of the harp while also pushing the boundaries of what the instrument can do, as well as the feelings it can evoke. Some songs, like opener “And Then He Wrapped His Arms Around Me,” hum with a quiet hopefulness, while others, like the playfully titled “Blender in a Blender,” don’t shy away from discord.

As a whole, the record is a chronicle of the past five years of Lattimore’s life, mining personal experiences alongside the collective grief and upheaval wrought by major global events like the COVID-19 pandemic. Lattimore first began work on Goodbye, Hotel Arkada during a residency on a cattle ranch

PHOTO: RACHEL PONY CASSELLS

HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER leader MC Taylor has been at this for a minute. He first landed on the Scene’s radar playing a show in a Murfreesboro loft during the George W. Bush administration, when people were throwing around phrases like “New Weird America” and taking blogs seriously.

Taylor and Hiss Golden Messenger have now been making albums for Merge Records, the indomitable indie-rock label, for almost a decade. HGM’s latest, Jump for Joy, has a sort of autumnal motorik that rides on the rush of heat from a freshly stoked campfire, a propulsion that gives the record a laid-back, cozy intimacy. Hiss Golden Messenger will play Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl on Thursday in support of the August release.

“It’s just pushing the stone up the hill,” Taylor says of making records. “You push it up a little bit. It rolls backwards a little bit. You push it up some more. As long as you don’t completely despise the stone, I think it’s OK.” Jump for Joy’s production is imbued with the aesthetic wow and flutter of ferric oxide stretched by years of rewinds, pauses and plays.

It’s a sound that brings emotional resonance along with it — the emotional investment of analog-era obsessions. The decay and abstraction of “Alice” give way to the ’80s Glenn Frey-ism of “I Saw the New Day in the World” and “Shinbone,” the latter of which falls somewhere near the sound of a hand-spliced Dire Straits dub.

HGM is a band unafraid to throw in a Steely Dan-style kitchen-sink chord progression — a progression that feels almost wrong until it feels just right. While the production sounds like moments lost in time, Taylor’s lyrics are built from wisps of emotion and flashes of memory. Taylor has a Lowell George-like ability to set a scene, and his songs feel as though they’ve been unmoored from the timestream and could jam off into the ether at a moment’s notice. The songs on Jump for Joy are itching to be played live, to

PHOTO: GRAHAM TOLBERT

BY SEAN L. MALONEY

NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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11/6/23 4:13 PM

Playing 8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 12, at The Blue Room at Third Man Records

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OMNIDIRECTIONAL SOUND Meshell Ndegeocello creates lead sheets for 21stcentury life on The Omnichord Real Book

BY SEAN L. MALONEY

Playing 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 15, at City Winery

THE OMNICHORD REAL BOOK, the latest album from veteran bass player and composer Meshell Ndegeocello, follows no logic but its own, and conforms to no path but the one it clears for itself.

Ndegeocello has created an album that not only defies categories but defies the very nature of categorization. It is an electro-organic exploration of the analog made digital and vice versa, a recursive narrative that bends spiritual jazz into spiritual pop and back again like a loop of tape through the board at the Black Ark. The Omnichord Real Book takes the steadiness and openness of the titular electronic instrument and clandestine knowledge of the classic jazz hack compendium to create aural panoramas that serve as backdrops for intimate and often internal conflicts.

“Omnipuss” taps into the built-in groove of the Omnichord, a drum machine/autoharp chimera with a cult fandom, channeling the instrument’s history in global music undergrounds and DIY communities. “Clear Water’’ invites Deantoni Parks, Jeff Parker and Sanford Biggers in for a bit of group catharsis, a convocation of harmonists in the grand P-Funk style. “AMR” feels like an interstellar beacon from an alternate-universe S.O.S Band, and “Towers’’ could have come from the deep corners of Bandcamp where West Coast indie poppers are refashioning smooth sounds of the late 20th century into bleeding-edge tunes. Across the double LP, Ndegeocello creates space for fellow musicians to

probe and push and pull, while she herself acts as emotional mooring, keeping the project from drifting too far into the unknown.

When Ndegeocello sings, “They’re calling me / Back to the stars” on “Virgo,” she creates a sonic palette that connects the hypnotic electronic futurism of William Onyeabor with the interstellar ensemble communication of Sun Ra’s Arkestra. Ndegeocello lets her songs wander into weird and wonderful places, less tethered to the formal considerations of jazz traditions and more invigorated by the idea that music concepts can be played like chords, arpeggiating cultural signifiers until something new is created. The Omnichord Real Book is a 72-minute journey into stereophonic bliss, where organ and percussion, bass and guitar dart around synths and, of course, Omnichord. Its ambitions are grand, its execution brave and its intentions bold. Ndegeocello has made a career of pushing boundaries and challenging perceptions, and her experience seems aptly suited for our contemporary moment and our reckoning with cultural systems still defined by a less connected time.

By the time The Omnichord Real Book makes it to the final side of the double LP, the one-two punch of beatbox gospel “Hole in the Bucket” and the cosmic reprise of “Virgo 3,” Ndegeocello has covered more musical and personal space than most artists will cross in a lifetime.

It feels fitting that after three decades on the popular music frontiers, Ndegeocello’s vision

PHOTO: CHARLIE GROSS

in Wyoming in 2018, with “Blender in a Blender” revealing itself first. She wrote that song alongside Roy Montgomery, a New Zealand-based guitarist known for his avant-garde solo work as well as collaborations with acts like Grouper and Dissolve. Other songs began to trickle out from there.

“I feel like this one took me a little bit longer to make,” Lattimore says. “So it feels like it’s a little more vulnerable because of that. I’ve had more time to kind of ruminate on the music.”

When Lattimore felt she had amassed enough material for a full project, she tapped friend and producer Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Kurt Vile) to help fully realize the demos she’d written and recorded in her apartment. The pair spent time polishing the tracks, with Schnapf making occasional edits and adding upright bass from his engineer Matt Schuessler.

“That’s when I could really see that the record had cohesion and a potential to, you know, have a vibe that that it didn’t have before,” Lattimore says. “I think I attribute a lot of that to Rob, you know, kind of solidifying the feeling that the record has.”

Other collaborators on Goodbye, Hotel Arkada include Meg Baird of Heron Oblivion and multi-instrumentalist Walt McClements on slow-building opener “And Then He Wrapped His Wings Around Me” and The Cure’s Lol Tolhurst, who adds moody synths to the otherwise dreamy “Arrivederci.” Singer/multi-instrumentalist Samara Lubelski and Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell join Lattimore on album closer “Yesterday’s Party,” a gentle and drifting send-off with floating vocals from the pair.

Asked what makes a fitting collaborator for her own creative process, Lattimore says she looks for “kindred spirits” whose work could be in dialogue with her own rather than any specific skill or line on a résumé.

“It’s all social,” she says. “It’s all conversational. A lot of these people who are on the record are dear, dear friends of mine. Either that, or they’re people whose music I’ve admired, and I can kind of see them through their music. So having that conversation through creativity is really cool.”

The LP is named after a real hotel in Croatia.

Though Lattimore herself never stayed a night there, she visited and enjoyed the property, which was full of character. Upon hearing the hotel had undergone renovations, Lattimore began thinking about the nature of change, and the sadness that often comes with seeing something old and alive with history made new and shiny. The “Goodbye” in the record’s title is as much a farewell to the former incarnation of that hotel as it is an acknowledgement of the constant change inherent to everyday life.

“I just really thought it was a cool-looking place, and you could just tell it had seen a lot,” she says.

“The title isn’t really attributed to that hotel, necessarily, but it’s a note to appreciate things the way that they are because they will change, for better or for worse. Everything’s always changing. It’s a way to crystallize things before they eventually change.” ▼

is broader, more enveloping than ever. And her aesthetic eclecticism may have even outsmarted the algorithm, grouping Omnichord not with heritage artists of Ndegeocello’s vintage but with the vanguard of young funkateers like Yaya Bey and Yazmin Lacey, keeping soul cinematic in the new century. (Your recommended engine mileage may vary, algorithms being algorithms and all.)

The Omnichord Real Book comes from such an honest and explorative place that it demands intense, focused, attentive listening, and it rewards its listener with an intellectual and emotional experience of the highest order. ▼

MUSIC: THE SPIN

SCREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

BY ADDIE MOORE Brunswick, N.J.’s indie-punk power trio Screaming Females brought their 18 years of road experience to Drkmttr on Halloween. Despite a de-facto Saturday night drinking holiday that likely left even the most dedicated showgoers partied out and completely over costume prep, eyes and ears were glued to the Drkmttr stage as the Screamales headlined a three-band showcase that packed the East Side DIY venue.

Openers Rodeo Boys belong in the same discus-

NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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11/6/23 4:13 PM

GUITAR LESSONS

Live Piano Karaoke

with former Musicians Institute and Austin Guitar School instructor

MARK BISH.

6 NIGHTS A WEEK! *Closed Tuesdays

EAST NASH V I LLE

BUMMER NIGHT w/Kira 7-9 PIANO KARAOKE 9-12 w/Dani Ivory FRI 11.10 PIANO KARAOKE 6-9 w/Bella Dorian PIANO KARAOKE 9-1 w/Kira Small SAT 11.11 DANI IVORY 7-9 PIANO KARAOKE 9-1 w/Benan SUN 11.12 SECOND SUNDAY HYMN SING 7-8:30 PIANO KARAOKE 8:30-12 w/Kira Small MON 11.13 SHOW TUNES @ SID’S 7-9 PIANO KARAOKE 9-12 w/Krazy Kyle WED 11.15 HAGS REEL TO REEL 6-8 BURLESK 8-9 ($7) PIANO KARAOKE 9-12 w/Paul Loren

PHOTO: CLAIRE STEELE

THU 11.9

ACE OF BASS: THE WOOTEN BROTHERS

sion as Speedy Ortiz, Jobber and other acts lauded as the spiritual successors of Veruca Salt and their heavy-hitting, guitar-driven ’90s contemporaries.

Singer-guitarist Tiff Hannay led the Michigan-based four-piece through a barrage of lightning-fast and memorably melodic punk rock. If you like what you heard or regret what you missed, Rodeo Boys will ride back through Nashville on Nov. 15 to open for The Menzingers and Cloud Nothings at Marathon Music Works.

New York’s Lip Critic shunned typical bass-guitar-drums rock-band conventions: The four-piece’s stage setup consists of two samplers, two drum kits and a microphone. Their arrangement scruffs up the already-jagged edges of hardcore, noise rock and even egg punk. It’s easy enough to imagine Screamales fans who didn’t look up the openers being caught off guard

by Lip Critic, but the crowd stayed engaged after a mild bout of initial shock.

Screaming Females’ grand finale drove home two main points: One, a catalog spanning nearly 20 years of musical consistency allows for a set list that never lets up, with each straightforward yet well-crafted selection’s live presentation mirroring the plug-and-play charm of its studio equivalent. Two, though singer-guitarist Marissa Paternoster rightly gets a lot of press, the band shines due to the sum of its parts. Indeed, Paternoster’s shredding and dynamic vocal delivery stand out, but that’s in large part because of her musical chemistry with the tight rhythm section of bassist Mike Abbate and drummer Jarrett Dougherty. It’s a unit that only gets stronger through consistently touring the nation’s precious few all-ages spaces and recording music that sticks with what works without ever sounding like a retread.

The Halloween bill showed that the current state of DIY rock ‘n’ roll has a clean bill of health — though that’s a common enough takeaway on any given evening spent at a Drkmttr show or around Murfreesboro’s house-show scene. That’s thanks to both the quality of the bands and an impressive turnout on a night with no shortage of entertainment options.

BAND OF BROTHERS

BY RON WYNN The Wooten Brothers are a Nashville institution, virtuoso musicians and superb, charismatic entertainers.

Their marvelous Nov. 2 concert at Riverside Revival reaffirmed throughout the group’s two powerhouse sets and encore just how special they are as a family ensem-

ble whose idiomatic range encompasses almost every conceivable strain of American popular music.

The Wootens’ individual résumés are full of eclectic projects: Bassist Victor Wooten and drummer/electronic percussionist Roy “FutureMan” Wooten are longtime members of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones; keyboardist Joseph Wooten has been a member of the Steve Miller Band for three decades; and guitarist Regi Wooten, the eldest and nicknamed “The Teacher,” played with former Cream drummer Ginger Baker.

The stop was part of the Wootens’ first national tour in 13 years, and designed to honor their deceased brother, outstanding saxophonist Rudy, who died in 2013. There was a portion of the second set dedicated to him. A video display frequently featured footage of Rudy either playing two saxes at once (alto and C-melody) or performing with his brothers. Both Victor and Joseph also addressed the unifying nature of music, and their desire to disprove the notion that there’s so much division in contemporary American society it’s impossible to rally people around anything at any time.

The fact that each Wooten is a musical master was evident during each member’s showcase moments.

Whether it was Victor dazzling with fiery electric bass solos, Regi delivering dynamic, flashy guitar solos, Joseph dipping into jazz-based territory with harmonically rich, melodically striking keyboard solos and accompaniment, or FutureMan brilliantly anchoring things mostly on drums (aside from one late foray on one of his trademark inventions, the electronic percussion instrument the Synth-Axe Drumitar), every Wooten got prime solo space. Joseph also displayed his vocal skills with a medley that blended “My Cherie Amour,” “Someday We’ll All Be Free,” “Your Song” and spoken-word references to The Wizard of Oz. With the exuberant opener “W-Double-O-10,” the adventurous compositions “Consuela Smiles” and “John Coltrane,” and the trio of numbers they did from their early combo days in the ’70s during the second set commemoration of Rudy — “Let’s Dance,” “Get Down With Me,” “Singing and Dancing and Clapping and Playing (That’s What We Like to Do)” — the Wootens played with flamboyance and edge while clearly having a great time onstage.

The finale was an exuberant, energetic performance of their current single “Sweat,” punctuated by Regi’s crackling guitar, Victor’s splendid accompanying bass, Joseph’s crisp chords and refrains, and Roy’s mighty drum support. The Wootens returned to the stage and capped the night with a bombastic mash-up of James Brown’s “Sex Machine” and Sly and the Family Stone’s “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).” It was the ideal wrap to a memorable and delightful evening of superb music and fabulous performances. ▼

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11/3/23 11:43 AM

NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

11/6/23 4:13 PM

FILM

BEST OF THE FEST

Our critic on the best of the New York Film Festival, from Poor Things to Priscilla

BY JASON SHAWHAN UNDERTAKING THESE EXPANSIVE festival overviews comes from two very distinct instincts. One is curatorial, to let you know what’s coming, and what’s good, and how the dominant narratives in global cinema are shaping up. The other is proactive, so that as viewers, if something strikes your fancy, you can reach out to the venues, local festivals, and microcinemas to say, “Hey, I wanna see this.”

Especially given the situation that the SAG-AFTRA strike has revealed regarding the steep income inequality in the business, there’s a lot of space for weird and unconventional films to find a home in front of your eyes. The focus here is on this year’s 61st New York Film Festival (out of Lincoln Center), as well as the 35th annual NewFest (NYC’s premier LGBTQIA+ film festival) and the Seattle Queer Film Festival (part of Seattle’s Three Dollar Bill Cinema).

In just over three weeks, I watched 66 films. So get ready for some recap, along with whatever current release info is known at press time.

THE BEST The Beast (NYFF; opens in 2024): Real talk: Bertrand Bonello may be the best filmmaker working at the moment, and this is his Mulholland Drive, his 2046 and his Cloud Atlas all at the same time. I’ve never been more terrified by a movie that isn’t even a horror film, and Léa Seydoux has a scream that tears through reality. Also, Guslagie Malanda’s looks are top-notch.

All of us Strangers (NYFF/NF/$3; opens in January): It will take time to rationally explain why this film destroyed me utterly. Just know that it is the complementary speculative-fiction/queer “what if” exercise to The Five Devils, and there’s a needle-drop herein that made me turn to colleague, friend and occasional Scene contributor Steve Erickson and say “automatic five stars.”

Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World (NYFF; opens in 2024): La Dolce Vita for the influencer age. Rigorous and transformative, with an incredible central performance from Ilinca Manolache. Bobita forever.

Poor Things (NYFF; opens Dec. 15 at the Belcourt): Surreal, deeply political, incredibly funny.

If your kink is shoulders on outfits, meet your new fave. Emma Stone is in it to win it, Mark Ruffalo has been studying Matt Berry, and Yorgos Lanthimos has never made a bad film.

Fairyland ($3): A heartfelt and deeply sincere portrait of a single gay dad (Scoot McNairy) raising his daughter in ’70s/’80s San Francisco, riding the crest of gay liberation and colliding with the Plague Years and the Reagan era. Subtle and sweet, this one slips in under your skin.

May December (NYFF/NF; opens Nov. 17): Nobody can juggle tone like Todd Haynes. Deconstructing itself even as it tightens its narrative screws, May December is the kind of film you sit, slack-jawed, in awe of. It features three new additions to the pantheon of Julianne Moore line

34

able to trust anyone anymore.

Green Border (NYFF): You might worry that, at its worst, Green Border is going to be another Crash (sex-criminal Crash, not sexy car-crash Crash). But at its best, it punches through the narcotized haze of being alive right now and explores why some of the worst people always flock to border control positions. This movie is effective enough that the Polish government is currently persecuting director Agnieszka Holland.

The Taste of Things (NYFF; opens early 2024): We’ve all seen bunches of Juliette Binoche films, but none of them is this captivatingly focused on the act and love in food preparation — and through this, we learn to appreciate her as an actress all over again. Be sure to eat beforehand or your digestive system will never forgive you.

MAY DECEMBER readings, and Natalie Portman hasn’t been this good since Black Swan. Delicious both ways.

Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troisgros (NYFF): Frederick Wiseman is a global treasure. This movie is four hours long and it flies by. Even when something disgusting (like sweetbreads) is being prepared, it’s still captivating. And I would spend hours watching all of this.

RADICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL FORMS The Boy and The Heron (NYFF; opens Dec. 8): I would never have guessed that Hayao Miyazaki would make an absinthe film, but the universe still holds some pleasant surprises for us. All the birds say “trippy mane.”

Eureka (NYFF): The kind of art film that has your ass kicked before you even realize just what happened. It’s nimble of genre and ultimately devastating, and very much in unspoken discussion with Killers of the Flower Moon in its depiction of the way Indigenous stories are told and retold.

Maestro (NYFF; opens Dec. 8 at the Belcourt): Say what you will about Bradley Cooper, but he knows how to direct the hell out of a film. It’s very forte fortissimo, if you know what I mean, and it also features the best appearance by Snoopy in a film since Josie and the Pussycats. I dug its vision and yielded to its sound.

HISTORICAL TAKES Priscilla (NYFF; now playing wide): Bridges The Virgin Suicides’ Lisbon sisters and Pablo Larraín’s Jackie/Spencer duo, with impeccable outfits and an exceptional gift for piercing myths and hewing foundations for new ones.

Rustin (NF; streams Nov. 10 via Netflix): Colman Domingo is staggeringly good as one of the secret weapons of the civil rights movement in a delightfully liberating film that the state of Tennessee will gladly ban as a teaching tool. Thankfully, Netflix will put it in more homes than even the legislature can reach into. Also featuring Da’Vine Joy Randolph (currently on screen in

The Holdovers) as Mahalia Jackson.

Ferrari (NYFF; opens wide Christmas Day): This one doesn’t feature a whole lot of the formal and technological innovations we expect from Michael Mann, but it’s still utterly captivating. Penélope Cruz walks away with the whole film — she’s the Mann protagonist who’s good at their job to the exclusion of traditional modes of engagement, who lurks but who gets things done. The car wrecks are Cronenbergian and surreal and deeply upsetting, and doubly so because Adam Driver as Enzo Ferrari looks like David Cronenberg.

Occupied City (NYFF): Steve McQueen’s fourhour journey through the history of Nazi-occupied Amsterdam uses only contemporary visuals, demanding the viewer experience what is often compartmentalized as The Past in The Now, and it is never boring and it is never anything less than wrenching. Occupied City is probably too experimental for mainstream attention, but it’s a remarkable piece of work.

PROCEDURALISM The Delinquents (NYFF; playing Nov. 14 and 19 at the Belcourt): This one is in no way what I was expecting — aside from exemplifying the way that Argentine cinema seems to be serving up kicky genre pieces. Then the second half pivots and deconstructs everything you’ve seen, leaving you all kinds of contemplative. The least conventional heist film I’ve ever seen.

The Zone of Interest (NYFF): From the opening overture you know you’re on a whole other level, and this Martin Amis adaptation details the erosion of humanity that has to take place for genocide to occur. Unspeakably relevant, and pitiless in its vivisection of how people can lie to themselves when it serves their interests.

Evil Does Not Exist (NYFF; opens in 2024): You can’t go wrong with crown shyness tracking shots and demystifying deer, but this may be my favorite Hamaguchi. It details the recursive brick walls of modern land development as well as the frustration that comes from not being

THE ACT OF BEING ALIVE Big Boys (NF/$3): A kindhearted look at growing up plus-size and queer. Big Boys navigates the fraught pathways to adulthood with the care and concern one would hope for, with several great performances (including Dora Madison from the Joe Begos-verse as the supportive woman every gay man wishes he had in his corner) and a smart and practical sense of humor.

Last Summer (NYFF): Catherine Breillat might be pulling a few of her punches here, but even so, no one does provocation quite like she does.

It’s as if she took a look at global tastes in pornographies, saw this obsession with stepfamilies, and said, “Let’s parse this out.”

THE REST Aggro Dr1ft (NYFF): The images are colorful and alive, the score propulsive and visceral. But the dialogue of Aggro Dr1ft is garbage — it feels cut-and-pasted from a seventh-grade YouTuber’s attempted recollection of a samurai film or assassin movie already three rungs degraded down the Xerox ladder — and the film is often rather boring, which is not something I would say about anything Harmony Korine has previously made. I think this completes the Florida Trilogy.

Hit Man (NYFF; streaming on Netflix eventually): This feels a little like that 1996 wave of subPulp Fiction riffs all over again. Glen Powell is very charming about 65 percent of the time, but the film seems way too pleased with itself and isn’t nearly as funny as often as it thinks it is.

In Water (NYFF): Of this year’s two Hong Sangsoo films, In Our Time added a cat, which was a step in the right direction. But after 20 years of giving the benefit of the doubt to the prolific director, after watching In Water, I am done.

When you make a film that goes out of focus in the second shot and then stays that way for the rest of the film, without ever making that part of some kind of experiential pivot, I feel like I’m being mocked. ▼ VISIT NASHVILLESCENE.COM TO READ THE FULL RECAP.

NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

film_11-9-23.indd 34

11/6/23 1:10 PM

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NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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BACK OF THE BOOK ACROSS

65

Something that might be taken in

25

a museum

work-life balance?

1

Big success

4

High court figure, at times

66

Arabian folklore figure

26

Illegal deal in the music industry

8

Unnerve, with “out”

67

Reindeer in “Frozen”

27

Split

13

Without real scrutiny

68

What might elicit “Get a room!,” in

29

Vintner Claude

16

Where there is “too much

brief

31

Part of the mouth

33

Stuff in a bun

DOWN

singing,” per Debussy Open positions vis-à-vis potential

1

Pilgrimage to the Kaaba

35

Move like or with the wind

applicants

2

1988 Winter Olympian Midori

39

*Dummies

18

“Hamilton” collection

3

*Surfaces for some high rollers

42

*Mark of wisdom, some say

19

Oodles of

4

*Quick-access rows of icons

46

20

Lead-in to “by” or “Buy”

5

Canadian-born crooner Paul

22

Fresh start

6

Finish, as a cake

23

Emmy winner John

7

Resisted the urge to alter

24

Paranormal aptitude, in brief

8

*Cook-your-own dishes in some

52

Cousins of agoutis

27

Fillmore in “Cars,” for one

Asian restaurants

54

Flawless, to a collector

28

___ tomato

9

See

55

Bite-size

30

Eye piece

10

Pine (for)

56

___-de-camp

32

Move like a caterpillar

11

Shout

57

Savory additive, for short

34

Accident follow-up

12

“The Eagle ___ landed”

58

Speechless

36

It’s supposed to end at midnight,

14

They’re regulated by the F.D.A.

but then it doesn’t

15

Dawdler’s response

59

Half a sawbuck

37

Grammy winner Bareilles

21

F1 neighbor

61

Sweethearts candy word

38

One who takes, takes, takes

22

Not pay till the end, say

62

Family planning option, in brief

40

Capital founded at the end of the

23

*Bureaucratic hassle

63

See 64-Across

Viking age

24

Prevails eventually … or a hint to

17

NO. 1005

How a sailor achieves a good

41

Amazon domain

entering the answers to the six

43

“You have a point there”

starred clues in this puzzle

44

Peat or petrol

45

Clamdiggers

47

Cheese found in Notre Dame?

49

Senior ___ Championship

Part of 50-Across: Abbr.

48

Movement introduced by Tarana Burke in 2006

state

PUZZLE BY DANIEL BODILY

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE

(annual event) 50

Warner Bros. Discovery network

51

TV’s “___ Blue”

53

Brings down the house?

55

Costa ___, Calif.

56

Sean of “Stranger Things”

57

Cosa Nostra, popularly

60

Knot without a struggle

64

With 63-Down, period following the Jazz Age

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NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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Marketplace

Rocky McElhaney Law Firm INJURY AUTO ACCIDENTS WRONGFUL DEATH TRACTOR TRAILER ACCIDENTS

Joseph P. Day, Clerk L. Chappell, Deputy Clerk Date: October 19, 2023

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LEGALS Non-Resident Notice Third Circuit Docket No. 23D652 TANESSA LARAE MARSHALL vs.

ISRAEL MARTIN LUTHER MASON

Rental Scene

In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a nonresident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon ISRAEL MARTIN LUTHER MASON. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HIS appearance herein with thirty (30) days after November 16, 2023 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on December 18, 2023.

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

In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a nonresident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon ISRAEL MARTIN LUTHER MASON. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HIS appearance herein with thirty (30) days after November 16, 2023 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on December 18, 2023.

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

NSC 10/26, 11/2, 11/9, 11/16/23 NOTICE OF SALE UNDER MECHANIC’S AND ARTISAN’S LIEN Cumberland International Trucks, Inc. (“Secured Party”), pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 66-14-103, 66-19-101, and pursuant to a Notice of Claim of Mechanic’s/Artisan’s Lien dated September 8, 2023, as amended hereby, holds a lien for repairs against a certain 2019 International LT625 VIN: 3HSDZTZR2KN374377 owned by AWL Transport LLC, which Secured Party improved by providing various service, labor, and parts.

Pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-14-104, notice is hereby given that Secured Party, pursuant to applicable law, will sell the Vehicle described above

by Public Sale to be conducted as follows: Date of Sale: November 17, 2023 Time of Sale: 1:00 p.m. CST Place of Sale: Exo Legal PLLC 818 18th Avenue South, Tenth Floor Nashville, Tennessee 37203 (or other place designated in the Notice of Sale) Agent for Creditor: Exo Legal PLLC The Public Sale will be conducted by Exo Legal PLLC, pursuant to a separate notice provided to Invoice Debtor and the Secured Creditor: Compass Equipment Finance LLC, IS AOA. For information, contact David Anthony, Exo Legal PLLC, at (615) 869-0634.

As to all or any part of the Vehicle, the right is reserved to: (i) sell part or all of the Vehicle and/or delay, continue, adjourn, cancel or postpone the sale of any part of the Vehicle; and/or (ii) to sell to the next highest bidder in the event any high bidder does not comply with the terms of the sale.

Secured Party shall sell, grant, convey, transfer, and deliver unto any successful purchaser all of the right, title, and interest in and to the Vehicle which Secured Party has a right to sell as a Secured Party and no further or otherwise. The Vehicle will be sold “as is”, “where is”, and “with all faults”, without any representations or warranties, expressed or implied and subject to any prior liens or encumbrances, if any. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, Secured Party has not made and will not make any representations or warranties regarding the Vehicle, the condition of the Vehicle, warranty of title or marketability of title and the conveyance shall be with all defects and without any warranties, expressed or implied, including warranties of merchantability, condition, or of fitness for a general or particular purpose.

The Public Sale will be conducted by Exo Legal PLLC, pursuant to a separate notice provided to Invoice Debtor and the Secured Creditor: Compass Equipment Finance LLC, IS AOA. For information, contact David Anthony, Exo Legal PLLC, at (615) 869-0634.

As to all or any part of the Vehicle, the right is reserved to: (i) sell part or all of the Vehicle and/or delay, continue, adjourn, cancel or postpone the sale of any part of the Vehicle; and/or (ii) to sell to the next highest bidder in the event any high bidder does not comply with the terms of the sale.

Secured Party shall sell, grant, convey, transfer, and deliver unto any successful purchaser all of the right, title, and interest in and to the Vehicle which Secured Party has a right to sell as a Secured Party and no further or otherwise. The Vehicle will be sold “as is”, “where is”, and “with all faults”, without any representations or warranties, expressed or implied and subject to any prior liens or encumbrances, if any. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, Secured Party has not made and will not make any representations or warranties regarding the Vehicle, the condition of the Vehicle, warranty of title or marketability of title and the conveyance shall be with all defects and without any warranties, expressed or implied, including warranties of merchantability, condition, or of fitness for a general or particular purpose.

David M. Anthony, Exo Legal PLLC 818 18th Avenue South, Tenth Floor Nashville, TN 37203 Telephone: (615) 869-0634 NSC: 11/2, 11/9/23

EMPLOYMENT Notice of Public Auction to satisfy owner’s lien for unpaid storage rent. Fox Moving and Storage of Nashville, LLC on Thursday November 16th at 10 am.

The auction will be held at 5030 Harding Place Nashville, TN 37211. The following units will be sold to the highest bidder: Kelli Martin, Terrill McClain, Philip Connelly.

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Install, configure, and maintain infrastructure storage systems for data centers and hospitals of a major hospital corporation.

Employer: CHSPSC, LLC. Location: HQ in Franklin, TN. May telecommute from the metro Nashville, TN area. To apply, mail resume to Leanne Reeves, 4000 Meridian Blvd., Franklin, TN 37067.

Senior Engineer – Storage.

Install, configure, and maintain infrastructure storage systems for data centers and hospitals of a major hospital corporation.

Employer: CHSPSC, LLC. Location: HQ in Franklin, TN. May telecommute from the metro Nashville, TN area. To apply, mail resume to Leanne Reeves, 4000 Meridian Blvd., Franklin, TN 37067.

Project Manager (Legacy South Builders, LLC, Nashville, TN): Reqs Bach (US/frgn eqv) in Constr, Biz, Eng, or rel & 5 yrs constr proj mgmt exp. Also reqs: stg financial analysis, proj mgmt, & reading comp skills; proficiency in Excel, Word, Bluebeam; familiarity w/ proj mgmt sw, incl MS Project, Procore, & Smartsheet.

Email resume to jason.poenitske@legacysout h.com.

Director-IT Service Management (Multiple Positions, GEODIS Logistics, LLC, Brentwood, TN): Reqs Bach (US/frgn eqv) in CS or rel & 5 yrs progressive mgmt exp in IT ops envmt, managing IT sys support or IT services. Alt will accept Master’s (US/frgn eqv) in CS or rel & 3 yrs progressive mgmt exp in IT ops envrmt, managing IT sys support or IT services. Also reqs: knowledge of leading indus tech w/strong knowledge around IT governance, proj planning, & tech usage/alts in multiplatform envrmt; knowledge of hardware support for client workstations & peripheral devices; knowledge of 3PL, transportation sys, &/or WM. Mail CV to Sharon Barrow, 7101 Executive Center Dr, Ste 333, Brentwood, TN 37027 Ref# DIREC036353

David M. Anthony, Exo Legal PLLC 818 18th Avenue South, Tenth Floor Nashville, TN 37203 Telephone: (615) 869-0634 NSC: 11/2, 11/9/23

Joseph P. Day, Clerk L. Chappell, Deputy Clerk Date: October 19, 2023

Qualifacts Systems, LLC. Nashville, TN. IT Application Administrator, Jira. *Work from home option available – Hybrid position*. Resp. for operation, enhancement, maintenance, & championing of internal apps (Jira & other Atlassian products, etc.) across Qualifacts. Req. a bachelor’s in Comp.

Science, Comp. Info.

Systems or closely rltd field & min. 3 yrs. of exp. working w/supporting Jira & Confluence. Must have strong working knowledge of Agile (Scrum & Kanban) methodologies. Must be able to plan & develop solutions that incorporate both current & future needs.

Exp. working & communicating w/ cross functional teams & both tech. & non-tech.

Stakeholders. Must have strong JQL knowledge. Visit: https://jobs.jobvite.com/qualif acts/job/oBXlofw1 and apply through company website.

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NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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NASHVILLE SCENE • NOVEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 15, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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