Nashville Scene 12-7-23

DECEMBER 7–DECEMBER 13, 2023 I VOLUME 42 I NUMBER 44 I NASHVILLESCENE.COM I FREE

NEWS:

STANDOUTS EMERGE AMONG METRO’S NEWEST COUNCILMEMBERS >> PAGE 6

FILM:

OUR REVIEWS OF THE BOY AND THE HERON AND MAESTRO >> PAGE 50

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Adrianne Lenker • Charles Lloyd The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow

Thursday March 21

Unwound • Mary Halvorson Amaryllis • Kurt Vile & the Violators • Fred Frith Drawing Sound

Secret Chiefs 3 • Tord Gustavsen Trio • Nik Bärtsch Ronin • Jlin • Angelic Brothers (John Medeski & Kirk Knuffke) Francesco Turrisi • Zsela • Anssi Karttunen • Henry Threadgill Very Very Circus • Third Coast Percussion • Tennessee Sheiks Blacktronika Presents: The Signal Paths • Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe • Tyondai Braxton • Colloboh • Yvette Janine Jackson

Laurie Anderson & Sexmob Let x=x • Rhiannon Giddens • John Paul Jones Friday March 22

Jason Moran & the Harlem Hellfighters • Brad Mehldau • Christian McBride • Henry Threadgill Zooid

Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway • Hermanos Gutiérrez • Mavi • Christian McBride & Edgar Meyer • Mighty Poplar • Trio Mediæval Trevor Dunn Trio Convulsant • Fred Frith & Ikue Mori • Kristin Hersh • Sam Amidon • Chocolate Genius, Inc. • Darcy James Argue Secret Society Resavoir • Wayne Horvitz Gravitas Quartet • Hurray for the Riff Raff • Eyvind Kang & Jessika Kenney • Molly Lewis • Slauson Malone 1 • Titan to Tachyons Yasmin Williams • Brandon Ross Phantom Station • Tomeka Reid Quartet • Joanna Sternberg • Mr. Sun• claire rousay • Ringdown (Caroline Shaw & Danni Lee) Helen Gillet • Anna Webber & Matt Mitchell • Faun Fables • Tredici Bacci • dragonchild x Sunken Cages • Joan Shelley • Jana Horn • Myriam Gendron Blacktronika Presents: Dance Floor as Resistance • Carl Craig • DJ Heather • King Britt • Suzi Analogue

Herbie Hancock • Kronos Quartet 5 Decades • Digable Planets

Saturday March 23

Christian McBride with Rhiannon Giddens & Francesco Turrisi • Beth Orton • Shabaka

Sons of Chipotle (John Paul Jones & Anssi Karttunen) • Marc Ribot Ceramic Dog • Brad Mehldau & Christian McBride • Roc Marciano

Dave Holland Quartet • Sleepytime Gorilla Museum • Myra Melford Fire & Water • The Messthetics with James Brandon Lewis • Bonnie “Prince” Billy Colin Stetson • Armand Hammer • Robin Holcomb/Peggy Lee • Paul Lazar Cage Shuffle • Roger Eno • Cedric Burnside • Horse Lords • Colleen • Sexmob aja monet • Joe Russo Selcouth Quartet • Hatis Noit • Elliott Sharp & Eric Mingus • Ash Fure Animal • David Virelles • Fred Frith (Solo) • Kassa Overall • JJJJJerome Ellis JG Thirlwell + Ensemble • Kokoroko • Ka Baird • Henry Threadgill Make a Move • Son Rompe Pera • Leyla McCalla • Bitchin Bajas • Tomas Fujiwara 7 Poets Trio Blacktronika Presents: Future Funk • Brandon Coleman • Charlie Dark MBE • Dibia$e • Computer Jay

Jon Batiste • Silk Road Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens Sunday March 24

Henry Threadgill with Vijay Iyer & Dafnis Prieto • Julian Lage & the Speak to Me Band

John Medeski / Joe Russo / Marc Ribot • Edgar Meyer • Aoife O’Donovan • Harvest Time A Tribute to Pharoah Sanders

Fatoumata Diawara • billy woods • Samora Pinderhughes • Cyro Baptista Chama • flysiifu • Davóne Tines • Ches Smith Laugh Ash Evan Lurie Quintet with Bandoneon • Nadah El Shazly • Void Patrol • Finom • Min Xiao-Fen with River Guerguerian • Jake Blount Sofia Rei & Jorge Roeder • Ahleuchatistas • Knoxville Symphony Chamber Orchestra • Henry Threadgill Air Blacktronika Presents: Soul of Experimental • Laraaji & Suphala • KMRU • Elsa M’Bala • Low Leaf

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

CONTENTS NEWS 6 New Kids on the Block Several standouts are emerging among the freshman class of Metro councilmembers

BY NICOLE WILLIAMS

6 Court Strikes RepublicanDrawn Senate Maps Conservatives violate state constitution while trying to maintain supermajority

BY ELI MOTYCKA

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

COVER STORY

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9 The Boner Awards From widespread failure in the state legislature to Franklin’s unhinged mayoral race, here’s our 34th annual list of blunders and bloopers

BY SCENE STAFF

Nashville Rep’s A Christmas Carol

BOOKS

50 Orchestral Maneuvers Maestro proves Bradley Cooper is here to stay as a major director

44 Descent Into Freedom

17 GIFT GUIDE

BY LOGAN BUTTS

Jesmyn Ward’s Let Us Descend is a chronicle of survival and liberation

BY KASHIF ANDREW GRAHAM; CHAPTER16.ORG

31 CRITICS’ PICKS

Kelsey Waldon, Nashville’s Nutcracker, Punk Rock Flea Market, Shaft, Amy Grant and Vince Gill and more

FOOD AND DRINK 39 Ray of Hope Austin Ray celebrates 15 years of M.L.Rose with a big announcement

BY CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

MUSIC 47 Need a Little Music, Need a Little Laughter

Nashville Rep welcomes the holidays with fresh and festive A Christmas Carol

BY AMY STUMPFL

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MARKETPLACE

BY BRITTNEY MCKENNA

48 Lost and Found After decades on the shelf, Todd Snider’s Crank It, We’re Doomed finally gets its turn in the spotlight

ON THE COVER:

Illustration by Holly Carden

49 The Spin

42 Christmas Present

NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD AND THIS MODERN WORLD

The McCrary Sisters gear up for A McCrary Kind of Christmas

BY DARYL SANDERS

THEATER

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The Scene’s live-review column checks out Evan P. Donohue and friends at The East Room

BY ADDIE MOORE

SUBSCRIBE NEWSLETTER: nashvillescene.com/site/forms/subscription_services PRINT: nashvillesceneshop.com

CONTACT

FILM

TO ADVERTISE: msmith@nashvillescene.com EDITOR: prodgers@nashvillescene.com

50 How Do You Live?

With The Boy and the Heron, Miyazaki reflects on his own legacy

FOLLOW US @NASHVILLESCENE

BY KEN ARNOLD

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Nashville’s Better Side of Best

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12/9 Intro to MIG Welding 12/12 Create Your End-Grain Cutting Board, Part 2 12/13 Intro to Adobe Illustrator 12/13 Build Your Own Canvas Stretcher Frame 12/14 CNC 101 12/14 Intro to MIG Welding 12/20 Laser 101 12/28 Intro to MIG Welding 1/9 Create Your Own End-Grain Cutting Board Part 1 1/10 Intro to Adobe Illustrator 1/10 Intro to the Table Saw 1/11 CNC 101 Cutting Board, Part 2 CLASSES

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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12/4/23 5:48 PM

FROM BILL FREEMAN

WHO WE ARE

THE PASSING OF former first lady Rosalynn Carter — a steadfast advocate for mental health, caregiving and women’s rights — is a significant loss for our nation. After 77 years of marriage to Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, Mrs. Carter peacefully departed on Sunday, Nov. 19, at age 96 in her home in Plains, Ga., while surrounded by family. President Carter, now 99, expressed: “Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished. She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.”

Married in 1946, the Carters built a union that endured for more than seven decades — a testament to their commitment and compatibility.

Rosalynn’s gracious support and “wise guidance” were instrumental in President Carter’s achievements. His tribute and his description of her as his “equal partner” capture the essence of their partnership and the profound impact she had on his life and presidency.

Rosalynn Carter’s legacy is marked by her roles as a loving mother, an extraordinary first lady and a great humanitarian. Her family adored her — and deservedly so. As her grandson Jason Carter said at her memorial service, “Her life was a sermon.” Her advocacy for mental health and caregiving has left a lasting mark on countless lives. Her son James Earl Carter III, who goes by Chip, said Mrs. Carter got him the help he needed to fight addiction. “She saved my life,” he said, adding that her work both in the White House and afterward saved many more. “Besides being a loving mother and extraordinary first lady, my mother was a great humanitarian in her own right,” he said. “Her life of service and compassion was an example for all Americans.”

I especially appreciated the remarks of President Biden, who described the Carters as an “incredible family” who “brought so much grace to the office” and had “great integrity.” I wholeheartedly agree.

One of the things I personally admire about Rosalynn was her loyalty. The Guardian’s Richard Luscombe put it well: “She was a fiercely loyal ally throughout [her husband’s] political career, both in the White House and during his years as a respected international diplomat after his single term in office ended in 1981. But she also forged her own identity for her mental health advocacy and as a social justice activist.”

The Carters embarked on their journey in Plains, where they were both born and raised.

Rosalynn not only supported her husband but also played a crucial role in his political campaigns. Politico fittingly noted that she was “Jimmy Carter’s closest political adviser and a political force in her own right [who] advocated for better mental health care and underappreciated caregivers in millions of U.S. households.”

As noted by Tennessee Lookout: “In 1982, the

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JIMMY AND ROSALYNN CARTER, 1979

PHOTO: NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION; GIFT OF MR. AND MRS. JAMES EARL CARTER JR.

A LIFE WELL LIVED: REMEMBERING ROSALYNN CARTER’S ENDURING IMPACT

couple founded the Carter Center in Atlanta, with a mission to ‘wage peace, fight disease and build hope.’ She later founded the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving at the school now known as Georgia Southwestern State University, her alma mater. The institute was renamed the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers in 2020. … She was also an active partner in her husband’s philanthropic support for Habitat for Humanity, often joining him in framing houses for charity.” Together the two were a force for creating change.

Rosalynn Carter’s resilience in the face of political setbacks, such as President Carter’s defeat in 1980, only served to further her commitment to public service. In her son Josh Carter’s words, “When they lost reelection, she thought the best part of her life was over.” Yet the creation of the Carter Center and the couple’s subsequent impactful work proved otherwise.

In reflecting on Rosalynn Carter’s life, it becomes clear that her impact reached far beyond the White House. Her work with the Carter Center and the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers defines her commitment to addressing pressing societal issues. President Carter’s Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for their work through the Carter Center further reminds us of the global significance of their joint efforts.

Rosalynn Carter’s life exemplifies the positive impact of compassion and commitment amid challenges. As we mourn her passing, let’s reflect on the Carters’ legacy — a reminder of positive change through a lifelong commitment to family, community and humanity.

Rest in Peace, Mrs. Carter. You will be sorely missed.

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.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF D. Patrick Rodgers MANAGING EDITOR Alejandro Ramirez SENIOR EDITOR Dana Kopp Franklin ARTS EDITOR Laura Hutson Hunter MUSIC AND LISTINGS EDITOR Stephen Trageser DIGITAL EDITOR Kim Baldwin ASSOCIATE EDITOR Cole Villena CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Erica Ciccarone, Jack Silverman STAFF WRITERS Kelsey Beyeler, Logan Butts, Stephen Elliott, Hannah Herner, Hamilton Matthew Masters, Eli Motycka, Nicolle Praino, William Williams CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Sadaf Ahsan, Ken Arnold, Radley Balko, Ashley Brantley, Maria Browning, Logan Butts, Steve Cavendish, Chris Chamberlain, Rachel Cholst, Lance Conzett, Hannah Cron, Connor Daryani, Steve Erickson, Adam Gold, Kashif Andrew Graham, Seth Graves, Kim Green, Amanda Haggard, Steven Hale, Edd Hurt, Jennifer Justus, P.J. Kinzer, Janet Kurtz, Christine Kreyling, J.R. Lind, Craig D. Lindsey, Sean L. Maloney, Margaret Littman, Brittney McKenna, Marissa R. Moss, Noel Murray, Joe Nolan, Betsy Phillips, John Pitcher, Margaret Renkl, Daryl Sanders, Jason Shawhan, Nadine Smith, Ashley Spurgeon, Amy Stumpfl, Kay West, Andrea Williams, Nicole Williams, Ron Wynn, Charlie Zaillian ART DIRECTOR Elizabeth Jones EATING: PHOTOGRAPHERS Angelina Castillo, Eric England, Matt Masters DRINKING: at Mystic Sundrenched Iced Picnic Wine GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Sandi Harrison, Tea at Headquarters Mary Louise Meadors, Tracey Starck PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Christie Passarello GRAPHIC DESIGN INTERN Kylie Taylor FESTIVAL DIRECTOR Olivia Britton MARKETING AND PROMOTIONS MANAGER Robin Fomusa PUBLISHER Mike Smith ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Michael Jezewski SENIOR ADVERTISING SOLUTIONS MANAGERS Carla Mathis, Heather Cantrell Mullins, Jennifer Trsinar, Keith Wright ADVERTISING SOLUTIONS MANAGERS Teresa Birdsong, Maddy Fraiche, Kailey Idziak, Allie Muirhead, Niki Tyree, Alissa Wetzel SALES OPERATIONS MANAGER Chelon Hill Hasty ADVERTISING SOLUTIONS ASSOCIATES Audry Houle, Jack Stejskal SPECIAL PROJECTS COORDINATOR Susan Torregrossa PRESIDENT Mike Smith CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Todd Patton CORPORATE CREATIVE DIRECTOR Elizabeth Jones IT DIRECTOR John Schaeffer CIRCULATION AND DISTRIBUTION DIRECTOR Gary Minnis FW PUBLISHING LLC Owner Bill Freeman

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In memory of Jim Ridley, editor 2009-2016

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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NEWS

most important thing is opening clear lines of communication.”

Preptit is among the most communicative councilmembers in and out of the council chambers. He has developed a reputation early on as a frequent questioner in committees.

“Luck favors the prepared,” Preptit says, grinning.

On the West Side, Councilmember AtLarge Quin Evans Segall and District 20 Councilmember Rollin Horton intend to take on a massive project with long-ranging implications: reforming the zoning code.

Horton sees this effort as integral to lowering housing costs. “It’s gotten to the point where a lot of the people who live here couldn’t afford to buy a house today,” he says. “So it’s inaccessible, even to our own residents.” Reforming the “outdated” zoning code, Horton says, must be treated as “an emergency requiring urgent action.”

Where Preptit excels at oratory, Horton is more of a quiet technocrat. Evans Segall is similarly wonkish and equally eager to dig into the minutiae of the zoning code. All three are lawyers, part of a freshman class unusually saturated with legal expertise.

Evans Segall has been labeled by many observers as the heir apparent to former Councilmember At-Large Bob Mendes, who now serves as Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s chief development officer. She’s quick to note that “nobody can be Bob Mendes,” but says she assumes the comparisons stem from her background as an attorney who’s practiced transactional law.

While Horton and Evans Segall hope their first four years in office can lay the groundwork for transformational changes in the way Nashville grows, District 4 Councilmember Mike Cortese has a more intangible goal: building trust.

“I would hope somebody would look at my time on the council and say, ‘He really built up trust within the community,’” says Cortese.

“I’m a big believer in the democratic system,” he adds, before heading off on a tangent about how the internal waterways and manufacturing

capability of the United States make us uniquely positioned to bring back jobs from overseas, if we could just stop focusing on what divides us.

Like Preptit, Cortese is charismatic, exuberant and optimistic about the future of Nashville.

But while Preptit unabashedly identifies as a progressive, Cortese avoids being referred to as a Democrat. His district is among the more conservative in the county, breaking for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election and only slightly favoring Joe Biden in 2020. “I ran as an independent,” Cortese says, “and I plan on governing as an independent.”

Cortese views himself as a bridge builder, someone who can bring together residents with diverse viewpoints and encourage productive dialogue about moving the city forward.

Where his predecessor, outspoken conservative Robert Swope, worked against the 2018 transit referendum — even going so far as to propose his own plan — Pittsburgh native Cortese looks to work alongside O’Connell in his effort to reimagine the city’s transportation system. “Growing up in a city that had a really robust public transportation system and seeing how that helped residents and small businesses all over the county,” Cortese says, “I feel I can help relay that story and get people to understand the benefit of transit here.”

This Metro Council will face an immense amount of pressure over the next four years, as they manage the reverberations of the Titans stadium deal and development of the surrounding East Bank, navigate the process of holding a transit referendum, work to reform the zoning code, and grapple with decisions regarding policing and public safety.

While progressives may wield more power this term than in years past, they do not make up a majority of the body. Movement on countywide issues will still require working across ideological lines.

Councilmembers across the political spectrum agree that Nashville is at a crossroads.

Residents are unhappy with the ever-increasing number of big-city problems they have to face.

The next four years, under the leadership of this Metro Council, will be pivotal in determining whether the city can avoid crumbling under the weight of its own success.

Nicole Williams writes the Scene column “On First Reading,” an online recap of the Metro Council’s bimonthly meetings. ▼

GOV. BILL LEE, Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett and Tennessee Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins took another court loss when a three-judge panel struck down Tennessee’s Senate map just before Thanksgiving. The same panel ruled the state House map constitutional as drawn, despite a challenge from plaintiff Gary Wygant, who disputed seemingly unwarranted county splits within districts.

The state legislature got to work redrawing maps after the 2020 Census. Republicans shepherded the process via overwhelming majorities in both chambers,

and Lee signed the new maps into law in February 2022, alongside redrawn congressional districts that notably split Democratic-voting Nashville into three solid Republican seats. The maps turned out to be remarkably favorable to conservatives, particularly in battleground areas that could erode a 75-24 GOP majority in the House and 27-6 majority in the Senate — both of which, according to recent statewide voting totals, overrepresent Republicans in the state by 10 to 15 percent.

Democrats enjoy very little protections from

freshman class of Metro councilmembers

BY NICOLE WILLIAMS

COUNCILMEMBER JEFF PREPTIT sits in Noshville Delicatessen, a Nashville staple situated in his council district. It’s one of his favorite restaurants in town. While he bemoans the 3 p.m. closing time, he raves about the weekend brunch options. “It’s a sleeper brunch spot,” he says.

A native of Bristol, Tenn., Preptit made his way to Nashville after law school to work in the public defender’s office. After three years there, he was hired as a staff lawyer for the ACLU. He doesn’t look old enough to have a résumé.

Preptit is just 30 years old, one of the youngest members of the Metro Council. He won his seat in August, garnering 57 percent of the vote in a three-way race and avoiding a runoff. When asked to name the biggest standout among first-term councilmembers, nearly all secondtermers identify Preptit without hesitation.

In a council filled with firsts, Preptit’s win is among the most notable. He’s the first Black person to represent District 25 in the Metro Council. He doesn’t shy away from his identity as a progressive lawmaker — a stark departure from Councilmember Russ Pulley, a fairly conservative former FBI agent who preceded Preptit as the district councilmember here.

District 25 encompasses much of Green Hills and Oak Hill. Only 4 percent of the residents are Black or African American, and the median household income is over $120,000 — nearly double the median income of Davidson County.

The majority of residents in the district own their homes; Preptit is a renter.

“Conventional wisdom would say that someone of my pedigree couldn’t win in District 25,” Preptit says, “but I think what we’re seeing is a shift in what we want out of our city.” He’s keenly aware that he may be to the left of his district on some issues, particularly those involving law enforcement.

Instead of seeing those potential disagreements as contentious, he views them as opportunities to engage in a dialogue with his district. “I think that where there is that tension, where there is that conflict,” Preptit muses, “the

COURT STRIKES REPUBLICANDRAWN SENATE MAPS Conservatives violate state constitution while trying to maintain supermajority

BY ELI MOTYCKA

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QUIN EVANS SEGALL

ROLLIN HORTON

PHOTOS: ERIC ENGLAND

NEW Several KIDS ON THE BLOCK standouts are emerging among the

JEFF PREPTIT

gerrymandering, with the exception of a civil rights claim if a majority-minority district gets drawn out of viability.

In this case, plaintiff Francie Hunt — executive director of Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood — won a technical victory with a 2-1 ruling striking down the post2020 Census maps. (The dissenting judge, Chancellor Steven Maroney, disputed Hunt’s standing in court rather than the constitutional argument against the new districts.) Republicans, the court ruled, violated the clear constitutional provision that districts in the same county be numbered sequentially. The provision aims to stagger

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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12/4/23 5:23 PM

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PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

four-year terms in the Senate between two election cycles, avoiding putting big geographic chunks up for a vote the same year.

The House doesn’t have this protection, because every member is up for election every two years.

While the court ruled that the new House map is technically constitutional, its own numbering system defies logic: In Knoxville, Republican Justin Lafferty and Democrat Gloria Johnson are seats 89 and 90, respectively, in a sea of teens and 20s. Nashville’s seats, a key Democratic base of power, are a kaleidoscope, with particularly random appendages for Reps. John Ray Clemmons and Harold Love Jr. In a system that ostensibly respects natural boundaries, major roads, contiguous neighborhoods and county lines, House seats don’t make sense, even if they are still legal.

Republicans’ missteps in drawing Senate lines show clear concern for losing their supermajority in a few specific areas. Splits in Clarksville and Chattanooga eliminate districts that could be competitive for Democrats. Instead, pockets of blue votes are mopped up by neighboring rural districts for hard-line conservative Sens. Kerry Roberts and Todd Gardenhire.

Rutherford County had to be carefully redrawn between Republican Sens. Shane Reeves and Dawn White to account for rapidly growing Murfreesboro and Nashville suburbs. Republican Sens. Richard Briggs, Becky Massey and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (who leads the Senate) split duty in Knoxville, where Senate representation is solid red.

It’s in Davidson County, though, where GOP plans to dilute votes became untenable in court. Republicans brought District 17’s Sen. Mark Pody, a conservative from Lebanon, into Hermitage and Donelson. He abuts District 19’s Sen. Charlane Oliver, who neighbors District 21’s Sen. Jeff Yarbro — all odd seats that ensure more than half of Davidson County would be up for election in the same November.

“The legislature decided, without any discernible substantive justification, not to number the Davidson County senatorial districts consecutively,” reads the ruling. “This was contrary to the plain language of [the Tennessee Constitution], the county-intactness value imbedded in the Constitution of Tennessee, and Ms. Hunt’s constitutional right to vote in a senatorial district consecutively numbered with Davidson County’s other three senatorial districts.”

Much of the defendants’ arguments focused on attacking the standing of Hunt, who resides in one of the odd-numbered districts stacked together between Nashville and Mt. Juliet. Rather than defend the maps on any constitutional ground, state lawyers may continue to attack Hunt’s standing as a plaintiff — a reminder that, in politics, you can be wrong and still win. ▼

Metro Arts has failed to deliver promised grant money to recipients that range from independent artists to the Nashville Symphony. The Nashville Banner reports on the latest turbulence for the city’s arts and culture bureau, which underwent a leadership change last year after allegations of racial bias and a toxic work environment. The organization has struggled to chart its strategic direction since Daniel Singh took over, leading to Metro canceling several long-standing funding agreements this fall. The situation has taken its toll on the Metro Arts Commission. Multiple members have resigned, including the recent chair, who lasted just one meeting.

Underwhelming vote totals mark a mixed legacy for Nashville’s $10 million round of participatory budgeting, a process in which Nashvillians can propose and vote on city funding for neighborhood projects. The citywide project, which originated in the mayor’s office but has since been moved to the Metro Finance Department, has undergone two leadership departures since its inception last winter. Two smaller rounds focused on North Nashville under former Mayor John Cooper, who billed the process as an experiment in direct democracy. After nearly a year of prep work, several committees and a $600,000 marketing budget, just 13,365 people voted on 35 projects, which range from $50,000 speed cushions to a $1.75 million turf dog park.

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PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

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Writes Scene contributor Betsy Phillips, without a civil rights museum, Nashville is missing out on tourism dollars and an important chance to tell its own history as a cradle of the movement for racial justice. A perfect candidate site, the historic downtown Morris Memorial Building, is awaiting an apparent conversion into a boutique hotel. Even without the Morris Building, writes Phillips, a wellfunded civil rights museum could be the savior of many other historic landmarks around the city that currently face threats of neglect or development.

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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12/4/23 5:24 PM

WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800: Highlights from LACMA’s Collection is an exhibition featuring paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, and more created in Mexico and Central and South America during the early modern era. The works explore the intricate social, economic, and artistic dynamics of these societies that led to the creation of astounding new artworks.

THROUGH JANUARY 28

Downtown Nashville 919 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203 FristArtMuseum.org @FristArtMuseum #FristArtandImagination

All exhibition information is available in English and Spanish, and the audio guide highlights voices from our own community.

Unidentifi ed sculptor and polychromer (Guatemala). Saint Michael Vanquishing the Devil (San Miguel triunfante sobre el demonio), second half of the 18th century. Polychromed and gilded wood, silver gilt, bone, and glass; 20 × 14 1/2 × 8 1/2 in. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund. Photo © Museum Associates/ LACMA.

Organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Suppor ted in par t by

Program and Spanish Translation Sponsor

The Frist Ar t Museum is suppor ted in par t by

Sandra Schatten Foundation

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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11/27/23 9:36 AM

THE BONER AWARDS

2023

From widespread failure in the state legislature to Franklin’s unhinged mayoral race, here’s our 34th annual list of blunders and bloopers

BY SCENE STAFF More than three decades ago, staff of the then-fledgling alternativeweekly newspaper the Nashville Scene cooked up a bright idea: an annual issue designed to recap the year’s biggest goofs, gaffes, blunders and boneheadedness. These annual anti-awards would be named for scandalplagued former Nashville Mayor Bill Boner, the one-term wonder known for — among other things — a peculiar 1990 appearance on The Phil Donahue Show.

In light of all that has transpired over the past 34 years, Mayor Boner’s transgressions seem downright quaint compared to what lands in the Boner

PRIDE BEFORE THE FALL The 2023 Franklin Pride Festival was narrowly approved and successfully took place in June — but not before several Franklin aldermen made fools of themselves on the national stage.

Former Alderman (and failed mayoral candidate) Gabrielle Hanson and reelected Alderman Beverly Burger both expressed concern that

“outside agitators” could “sabotage” Franklin Pride in an “inside job” operation from “national Pride organizations.” (This of course never happened.) Burger and Hanson also claimed to have received “threats” because of their stance on Franklin Pride, but only Hanson ever reported anything to police. Franklin Police later said Hanson’s reported threats were “unfounded.”

That’s kind of a theme with her.

BULL SESSION Second-term Gov. Bill Lee took about two weeks to grow a spine following the March 27 Covenant School shooting: On April 11 he called for action on guns from the legislature (while avoiding public memorials for slain children and educators — one of whom was his wife’s friend).

In August, Lee called a special legislative session on “public safety,” but the Republican majority in the legislature failed to do much of anything.

They actively opposed Lee’s call for red-flag laws — legislation designed to keep guns out of the hands of people deemed an immediate threat. The governor quickly gave up the fight, announcing last month that he’ll no longer support a push for red-flag laws going forward.

Valiant effort, sir.

SON OF A GUN “If there is a firearm out there that you’re comfortable being shot with, please show me which one it is.” That was House Majority Leader William Lamberth’s response to a hallway full of students gathered at the Cordell Hull Building to demand gun reform after the Covenant School shooting. It’s hard to understand how Lamberth thought that would be a helpful statement to the young Tennesseans, but it illustrates just how hardheaded and resistant Tennessee Republicans are to any kind of meaningful gun reform. John Oliver highlighted the situation in an April episode of Last Week Tonight, and described Lamberth’s words as “a hall-of-fame shitty response.” We couldn’t agree more, John.

ILLUSTRATION: HOLLY CARDEN

THE GIFT OF GAB Former Franklin Alderman (and failed mayoral candidate) Gabrielle Hanson made national news following a slew of incidents throughout 2023. Those included defending her association with white supremacists (including Lewis Country Store owner and Proud Boy face-tattoo-haver Brad Lewis), who acted as a show of force at a candidate forum; appearing with a white supremacist as her campaign platformed white nationalist talking points; falsely claiming to have had advance knowledge of the Covenant School shooting; alleging “unfounded” threats against her surrounding her opposition to the 2023 Franklin Pride Festival; threatening to have a reporter arrested; evading questions about her criminal past; and attempting to pressure the Nashville International Airport to pull sponsorship support of a Juneteenth event, leading to a city ethics violation and her failed attempt at suing the Franklin Ethics Commission. And that was all before she claimed, without evidence, election fraud after being drubbed by incumbent Mayor Ken Moore in the municipal election. Hanson’s campaign was also under the microscope of NewsChannel 5’s investigative reporter Phil Williams, who published several stories about the embattled candidate’s deceptive campaign posts featuring relative strangers as well as questions about Hanson and her husband’s residency and her husband’s participation in a Chicago Pride parade. (Hanson has been a very vocal opponent of Pride celebrations.) Hanson evaded censure by resigning one day before her term expired.

Awards nowadays. But the name nevertheless stuck. This year’s issue has it all: state leaders infighting, acting weird on Instagram and harassing interns; country stars proudly defending racist music videos; Franklin’s mayoral and alderman candidates seemingly coming from some far-off, racist planet.

Read on for a list of this year’s biggest screw-ups, compiled by the Scene’s editorial staff. See also: our petty-crime roundup, in which we highlight some of the dopes and ding-a-lings arrested for Boner-worthy behavior in 2023.

EGG ON YOUR FACE There was plenty of tension at this year’s special legislative session called in response to the Covenant School shooting, and it wasn’t all between those supporting gun restrictions and the Republican lawmakers opposing them. With the House and Senate — both controlled by Republicans — disagreeing over how many bills to pass, House Republicans grew frustrated with their friends down the hall. House GOP Caucus Chair Jeremy Faison delivered an ostrich egg, symbolizing the Senate having their head in the sand, to the Senate floor. Senators were not amused, as fellow Republican Sen. Paul Bailey told Faison in response to an apology that he “should be apologizing to the moms that were unjustly removed” from House hearings.

HOT WATER In the tense days after the Covenant School shooting, moms and other concerned residents descended on the state Capitol to demand action. Adam Lowe, a freshman Republican senator from McMinn County, thought it was great.

Caught on a hot mic during a dead period, Lowe quipped to Lt. Gov. Randy McNally that they got

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES Cameron Sexton’s shortsighted crew of vindictive Republicans handed their opposition a once-in-a-generation gift when they went after outspoken Democratic colleagues Justin Pearson, Justin Jones and Gloria Johnson. Expelled by their GOP colleagues and then promptly reinstated by their local governments, Jones and Pearson became martyrs for gun control and darlings of the national media while raking in precious fundraising dollars. Though she wasn’t formally expelled, Johnson’s role in the “Tennessee Three’’ helped her launch a U.S. Senate bid. The petty maneuver by conservatives backfired predictably, a reminder that state Republicans’ hubris and spite could threaten their own comfortable majority.

“all the attractive moms in Nashville” to come up to the Capitol. The moms were not amused, and in the days after, Lowe sort of apologized and sort of attacked the media for making it up.

(We did not make it up.)

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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HOME AWAY FROM HOME Cameron Sexton, the Republican speaker of the House, is supposed to live in Crossville. In recent years, though, he bought a home in Nashville and sends his kid to school here. No one seems to care much, though, but we figured it was worth calling attention to once more.

PAYBACK A few short years ago, state health official Michelle Fiscus became Republicans’ punching bag in anti-vaccine propaganda. Now Fiscus is collecting $150,000 from fiscally responsible Tennessee for a defamation case she filed in response to an extended campaign from lawmakers to discredit her for doing her job. Fiscus left Tennessee after being fired from the state health department during the public onslaught of un-science from Republican armchair experts, but she vowed to clear her name. Sometimes the best revenge is a fat check.

CAN’T SAY THAT Tennessee lawmakers routinely use their platforms and policy for the blatantly racist work of cutting government programs, defunding traditional public school systems, locking up immigrants and trying to gerrymander minority lawmakers out of their seats. Sparta Republican Paul Sherrell went even further in February when he suggested the state bring back lynching. Even today, almost everybody agrees that the state-sanctioned terrorism campaign that claimed 233 lives over 75 years in Tennessee isn’t appropriate fodder for the Tennessee House.

Black lawmakers immediately called for his resignation, and Sherrell later apologized for his “exaggerated” comments.

STRUCK DOWN Making law is the most basic task of the hundred-odd elected officials who collect taxpayer-funded per diems in Nashville from January to May. This year, conservatives spent hours trying to dunk on Nashville with legislation to take over the airport, slash the Metro Council, criminalize trans people, force a city deal with NASCAR and control the Metro Sports Authority.

After a flurry of challenges from city attorneys, the courts spent a few months blocking or undoing many of these constitutionally ignorant efforts. The more Gov. Bill Lee, Rep. Cameron

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Sexton and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally find themselves on the losing end of lawsuits, the more their esteemed chambers look like weak political theater.

RANDY INDEED In March, the Tennessee Holler uncovered several comments left by Lt. Gov. Randy McNally on Instagram posts from a young gay man and aspiring superstar named Franklin McClure. The posts — thirst traps featuring McClure showcasing his nearly nude physique — were peppered with, ahem, words of encouragement from the presiding officer of the Tennessee Senate.

“You can turn a rainy day into rainbows and sunshine!” reads one. “Super look Finn,” says McNally in another. Other comments featured simply fire and heart emojis. McNally issued a statement admitting that he left the comments but denying any funny business, later giving an interview to NewsChannel 5’s Phil Williams.

He apologized and admitted it was “probably not” a good idea to like one of McClure’s posts about, uh, performing sex acts for weed. But by that point it was too late. Randy’s randy deeds had already made it all the way to Studio 8H in Manhattan, where Saturday Night Live’s Molly Kearney appeared as McNally in a delightful “Weekend Update” segment. Whoops!

SCOTTY CAN’T TAKE A NO Despite his title of caucus vice chair, Scotty Campbell, a Republican representative from Mountain City, was mostly a nobody at the state legislature. That didn’t stop him from making headlines. Earlier this year, a House ethics subcommittee determined that Campbell had sexually harassed at least one legislative intern, whose move out of a shared apartment building was then funded by Tennessee taxpayers.

House leaders forgot to tell the public about it, though, and it wasn’t until Phil Williams went poking around that Scotty was forced out, in the meantime proactively admitting to harassing yet another intern.

section of a state test. Those who don’t pass that particular section must receive specified academic interventions and demonstrate adequate growth in order to advance to the next grade. Ultimately, the legislation didn’t hold back that many more third-graders than usual — just over 1 percent of Tennessee students (898 total), as reported by The Tennessean. But thousands of students might still be retained in fourth grade if they don’t show enough improvement after receiving tutoring. Students, parents and educators advocated against the law and asked legislators to roll it back, saying the test is more complex than necessary and isn’t a fair way to assess students’ reading abilities. Families and educators were left to contend with the new requirements and the complications they presented, describing the situation as “chaos,” “confusion,” “unfair,” “defeating” and “really bad.” Educators said it caused panic and anxiety among students.

Was that the legislative intent?

DUMBER THAN DIRT The business wing of Nashville’s Republican circles is not sending its best and brightest.

During this year’s mayoral election, an attack ad aimed at candidate Freddie O’Connell and looking like it was crafted with a 2009 copy of Windows Movie Maker claimed to be funded by “Friends of Enoch Fuzz.” Fuzz, a prominent Black minister, said he had no idea what the group was. Sign magnate Bobby Joslin, one of the local conservative businessmen behind the ad, said he had never talked to Fuzz, but “it’s all good.” In the end, the ad (along with similar

ones from fellow conservative businessman Steve Smith) might have done more to help O’Connell stand out from the general election pack than anything.

BIG TENT Is it too much to ask for a conservative campaign staff that doesn’t have ties to misogynist

DRAG FOR LEE BUT NOT FOR THEE Tennessee once again made national headlines this year when the General Assembly passed legislation banning “adult cabaret performances” on public property outside of age-restricted venues. Multiple Tennessee judges have since deemed the so-called anti-drag legislation unconstitutional and blocked its enforcement, but shortly before Gov. Bill Lee signed the bill into law, a photo emerged of the governor during his years at Franklin High School. In the photo, Lee is dressed in women’s clothing — in drag, in other words, on public property, in front of minors. The photo went wildly viral. At a press scrum not long after, Lee called a question about the photograph “ridiculous,” saying, “Sexualized entertainment in front of children is a very serious subject.” Of course sexual entertainment in front of kids is very serious and very unacceptable — that’s why obscenity laws exist.

And with obscenity laws already in place, critical thinkers might find themselves asking, “Why then do we need additional laws targeting drag performers specifically?”

ABOVE THE LAW You’d think Brian Kelsey, a constitutional lawyer by day and the onetime chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, would know his laws and court procedures and things of that nature. When he was first charged with federal campaign finance crimes, he claimed he was innocent. Then he pleaded guilty and admitted to the crimes. Then he tried to take the guilty plea back, claiming he hadn’t understood what he was agreeing to, which did not amuse the federal judge in charge of his case. Now Kelsey, the lawmaker-turned-lawbreaker, is appealing the 21-month prison sentence for the crimes to which he previously admitted guilt.

EDUCATION CONSTERNATION Tennessee Republicans seem dead set on creating as many problems for Tennessee’s public school system as possible. One of the myriad ways they’ve done that is through a controversial law that retains certain third-graders who don’t score high enough on the reading

ILLUSTRATION: HOLLY CARDEN

LOUD AND CLEAR Inadvertently turning a trio of Democratic lawmakers into heroes wasn’t the only misstep made by Republican leaders during the expulsion hearings of state Reps. Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson. In April, an unknown source leaked an audio recording from a closed-door House Republican Caucus meeting to the Tennessee Holler, revealing infighting and pettiness among the state’s GOP supermajority.

The recording is rife with defensiveness and accusations of “bull crap” from conservatives including Reps. Jody Barrett and Jason Zachary, proving that the Tennessee General Assembly is just as much of a shitshow behind closed doors as it is in the public eye.

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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WITNESS HISTORY This cacti-embroidered, rhinestone-embellished shirt designed by Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors was worn by Michael Nesmith in 1970 when he performed at the Troubadour—the West Hollywood club where bands like the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Byrds created music that reverberates to this day.

From the companion book to the exhibit Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock, presented by City National Bank

RESERVE TODAY

artifact: Courtesy of Michael Nesmith artifact photo: Bob Delevante

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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DIMINISHING RETURNS A few years after retiring at the top of financial powerhouse AllianceBernstein, Jim Gingrich made the short-lived and shortsighted decision to trade $2 million for a failed bid for the mayor’s office. Four years after John Cooper successfully self-loaned his way to a runoff victory, Gingrich proved that the seat can’t be bought outright — a somewhat comforting consolation for a city subjected to nonstop Gingrich ads in the spring and early summer. He dropped out after polling around 2 percent, demonstrating a financial idiom well known among traders in the money business: Buy high, sell low.

THE SAME OLD SONG Remember Stephanie Johnson? The mayoral candidate’s campaign didn’t go anywhere, as it was basically a website and some forum appearances. But on that website was a series of tortured metaphors about Music City and how “Music City is out of tune.” Well, at least one person loved that idea — fellow candidate Heidi Campbell! The only ad to hit the airwaves from Campbell’s fifth-place effort was a 30-second spot about how — wait for it — Music City is “out of tune.” A Boner Award to the ad gurus who didn’t even look at the slogans of other candidates in the race before using them.

NOT READY FOR PRIMETIME Jonathan Williamson seemed like a promising candidate for an at-large seat on the Metro Council: young, engaged, with leadership stints at the local NAACP. But then you take a tour of his social media posts. He wrote that Black non-immigrants get “zero” benefit from supporting immigrants. He dished out antisemitic conspiracies like candy. When asked about the posts, he deflected or pretended they did not exist. And then he got second-to-last place out of 21 candidates.

LOST IN THE MAIL Nashville General Hospital administration seems to think of itself as a kid who wasn’t invited to the birthday party — but what they’re trying to do needs no invitation. The city’s safety-net hospital has long been preparing for a new location, and for at least a year-and-a-half has been publicly stating that it wants the city to donate land. In one meeting, Nashville General Hospital had its sights set on Metro Center, a site managed by the Metro Parks and Recreation Department. Parks confirmed twice, in March and November, that the hospital never reached out. The reason for lurking around without any action is unclear, especially as the hospital runs out the clock before its lease is set to end at the

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brought them up again, and it was revealed that they were at the center of a years-long debate between the Metro Department of Codes and Building Safety and the state Fire Marshal’s Office. Turns out Metro had a dumbass attack and bought the pods seemingly without consulting the fire marshal’s office, which handles Tennessee’s manufactured homes regulation. Negotiations remain at a stalemate, because apparently the pods are pretty flammable.

ILLUSTRATION: HOLLY CARDEN

militias or neo-Nazi fascism? Mayoral runoff contender Alice Rolli told reporters that, yes, maybe she should have called more references after news broke that a consultant on her doomed campaign also suggested sending Proud Boys to rallies disputing the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election. The unsavory ties helped sink Rolli’s longshot campaign midway through September.

Meharry Medical College campus in 2027. Time to invite yourself, NGH. POOR PLANNING Throughout his four years atop Metro, former Mayor John Cooper barely hid his sympathies for real estate. Nashville’s lucrative market of buying, selling and developing property has helped his family hold onto generations of accumulated wealth in Middle Tennessee; it’s also helped create a city of single-family homes out of reach for most Nashvillians. In one of his final moves as mayor, Cooper proposed a few names to fill vacant seats across Metro’s vast landscape of boards and commissions — including local builder Matthew Smith, whose firm has helped turbocharge Green Hills with faux farmhouse McMansions. Cooper pulled Smith’s appointment to Metro’s powerful Planning Commission after a Scene article pointed out Smith’s conflict of interest.

GAY FRIENDS ON BOATS The race for Metro Council District 11 was one of this year’s most closely watched local elections.

The runoff came down to conservative Jeff Eslick — an associate of loudmouthed Lower Broad bar owner Steve Smith — and Eric Patton, an openly gay progressive. A political action committee’s mailer in support of Eslick during the runoff was loaded with weird, aggressive, anti-LGBTQ messaging. Eslick distanced himself from the mailer, but when asked about it, the PAC’s treasurer Robert Farrar said: “Eric’s labeled me as a homophobic or whatever. I’ve got — it doesn’t matter — I’ve got several gay friends, and we go out on boats, well, I mean — but anyway.” Oh, well in that case, never mind. Totally normal!

SITTING DUCK In the less than two years he worked in Nashville, T.J. Ducklo — the now-former communications professional for then-Mayor John Cooper — earned a Boner Award twice. After stepping down from his position as White House deputy press secretary in 2021 for harassing a reporter,

IS ANTIFA IN THE ROOM WITH US NOW, JEFF? During his campaign, failed Franklin alderman candidate Jeff Feldman said he is about “freedom and Jesus.” But as revealed by NewsChannel 5 investigative reporter Phil Williams, Feldman is also about lying and being weird. Williams’ reporting revealed that Feldman had not only padded his résumé, but also made dubious claims about being a “partner” in an “aerospace company” and a trained mental health professional. If that wasn’t bad enough, Feldman also defended social media posts in which he seemingly threatened to shoot teenagers, who he told Williams could be part of “Antifa.” Freedom and Jesus, you say?

he began working for the Cooper administration in April 2022. Later that year, Ducklo ruffled feathers after a heated discussion related to public funding for a new Titans stadium, tweeting that it had been a “tough night for the loudest voices in the room.” (The tweet has since been deleted.) Mocking good-faith criticism of a $2.1 billion partially taxpayer-funded project was silly and dismissive. Even with his frequently atrocious vibes, Ducklo must be really good at job interviews. He recently moved away to take a job as senior adviser for communications at Biden for President.

POD HELP US Metro spent (wasted?) $1.2 million in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding on 108 Pallet Shelter-brand tiny homes — homes that never housed a single person. The Nashville Office of Emergency Management and the Metro Health Department announced in October 2021 that 25 pods were installed in the parking lot of Nashville Rescue Mission to serve as COVID isolation structures — a victory for COVID efforts to help a population hit badly, one might hope. Instead, they sat empty for seven months. Eighty-three more have been in storage from the get-go. Councilmember Erin Evans

BONER DEATH SPIRAL Historically speaking, most Boner Award recipients don’t acknowledge their awards. But not America’s Worst Gambling Expert Clay Travis, who also moonlights as a right-wing hot-take artist and professional sports bro. When we gave Travis a Boner last year (that phrase will haunt our dreams) for railing against a Little League umpire, the professional outrage machine at his Outkick media operation wrote a post about it, proving that even bad attention is good attention if you’re a media whore. We hesitated to even acknowledge this with a Boner Award of its own this year, for fear that Outkick will write about this year’s award and we’ll fall into some Boner death spiral. But that’s a risk we’re willing to take.

WHAT ABOUT BOB? We’re fans of longtime WKRN anchor Bob Mueller around these parts. Hell, we’ve even put him on our cover. But Nashville’s mustachioed newsman made a misstep in September, when — just days after the conclusion of a special legislative session on gun reform called in the wake of the Covenant School shooting — he tweeted a photo of himself and some pals with a high-power rifle, boasting that he’d just played some “assault weapon golf at Montgomery Bell State Park.” Mueller later deleted the tweet and apologized, noting that the activity (involving shooting a golf ball down a fairway, apparently) was part of a charity fundraiser. “All of it was a mistake,” he said. We love you Bob, but this Boner’s for you.

SLIM CHANCE Nearly every writer has thanked their lucky stars (and the editor who saved their ass) that a name they conflated with another got corrected before the story was published. In these times of slash-and-burn newsroom management from Gannett, Tennessean staffers aren’t so lucky. In the paper of record’s coverage of You Got Gold, a charitable event series honoring the life of beloved songsmith John Prine, there was a minor miracle. A photo identified someone onstage next to singer-keyboardist Gabe Lee as Fats Waller, a charismatic, virtuosic jazz legend — who died in 1943. The man at the pedal steel was actually phenomenal Nashville polymath (and onetime Prine bandmember) Fats Kaplin. Fans know that Kaplin’s many talents include magic, but it’d be a real surprise to learn he’s taken up necromancy.

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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best and most celebrated new restaurants, but Tennessean columnist Brad Schmitt wanted readers to know it’s very Japanese — to the extent that it left him “mystified” and “intimidated.” An example of the menu’s obscure and arcane offerings included onigiri — a rice ball dish available at just about any other Japanese or Japanese-inspired restaurant in town.

Schmitt’s odd reaction to the menu featuring non-English words was another frustrating entry in his underwhelming tenure as a food writer. We had choice words for Schmitt’s continued incompetence as a restaurant critic, especially this borderline-xenophobic entry, though we failed to note another blunder: Schmitt revealed that his dining companion Keith Sharon had somehow never eaten Japanese cuisine despite years working as a reporter in California.

Talk about mystifying.

BONER OWNERS Sure, we at the Scene love to dole out Boner Awards — but sometimes the Boner points right back at us. In October, veteran real estate official Bill Freeman announced that he was stepping down as president and CEO of Freeman Webb Co., the real estate firm Freeman founded decades ago with his late business partner Jimmy Webb. The Tennessean was the first to report the news. Sure, fine, no big deal, right? Well, Mr. Freeman also happens to own FW Publishing, of which the Nashville Scene is the flagship publication. The Scene reported the news a couple hours later. We probably should have had the drop on this one, huh? Boner where Boner is due.

PARLOR GAMES While organized labor may be having its moment across the country, it would seem one local coffee shop chain missed the memo. Nashvillians hoping to grab a coffee at Barista Parlor locations in Germantown, Hillsboro Village and Marathon Village in June might have been disappointed to find all three shops closed, with

PETTY CRIME ROUNDUP

From a Tupperware-related brawl to a toe-sucking hotel manager, here’s our roundup of 2023’s most Boner Award-worthy small-time crime

BY J.R. LIND IT IS HOARY and boring to point out that on any given night, Lower Broadway’s neon canyon turns into the graveyard of personal responsibility, tears rolling down mascara-strewn cheeks, vomitus speckling the pleated fronts of overpriced khakis.

Many Minnesotans and Connecticuters and (we must be honest here) Nashvillians who are not imaginative enough to consider any other nightlife options beyond the most trite and garish one manufactured by the worst people at your aunt’s megachurch find themselves on the wrong end of

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signs posted stating the closures were for “cafe maintenance.” Sure, maintenance could very well have been the reason for the closures — or it could have been the 24 employees who either quit or were fired in the span of a week alleging a “toxic” and “belittling” work environment. But who’s to say.

VIGILANTE JUSTICE Ronald Hobson found himself on the other end of an arrest for aggravated assault at a Nashville concert this summer. So moved by the music of Kid Rock, the 56-year-old police captain put a fellow concertgoer in the hospital after performing an alleged “choke slam,” resulting in a suspension from the Dickson Police Department and a pending felony. Hobson reminds us that cops are just like us — except they have specialized use-of-force training that might make them more inclined to use physical force to settle disagreements.

CROOKED SMILE SmileDirectClub was once a darling of Nashville’s business world. A billion-dollar valuation, the governor showing up at your office to celebrate taxpayer-incentivized growth, and investor-fueled expansion around the world will do that to a company. Signs of trouble were always present, though, as the famously litigious business sued anyone who dared suggest their at-home teeth-straightening kits were anything but perfect. Then the company went public and quickly took a nosedive. After months of struggling to get its share price back over a buck to ensure it could continue trading on the Nasdaq, the once-high-flying SDC filed for bankruptcy in October.

died, often from agonizing illnesses? And what if your big idea as the CEO of that organization was to sell the whole thing off to a giant faceless health care company that would strip it for parts and sell off the valuable Midtown real estate?

Congratulations, you’re Kimberly Goessele, the now-deposed leader of Alive Hospice! Goessele conspired with some board members to orchestrate a sale of Alive and likely would have gotten away with it had it not been for an impressive bit of public campaigning by a group called Keep Alive Alive, led by two of the hospice’s founders. A Boner to Goessele for trying to sell off the beds of dying people. May your name be a cautionary tale for anyone who tries to do something this cruel again.

BAD FORTUNE Private prisons were pitched to then-Gov. Lamar Alexander as a fiscally prudent solution to the bloat and dysfunction of big government in the 1980s. Doc Crants, who steered Corrections Corporation of America (now CoreCivic) through its heyday, built Nashville’s billion-dollar juggernaut on the gospel of free market solutions as the company’s CEO. After his decades locking people up while amassing a fortune on stock options and executive pay, perhaps it’s fitting that Crants lost his big house in Belle Meade this year during a messy personal bankruptcy.

majority in the House, Green briefly thought he was the man for the job. Hours later, it turned out he was not.

PINOCCHI-OGLES Everyone embellishes a little bit when it’s time to apply for a new job. “Cashier” might become “revenue collection”; “mowing lawns” turns into “running a small landscaping business.”

Andy Ogles, now one of Tennessee’s nine representatives in Congress, took things to a new level, according to a series of revelations from NewsChannel 5’s Phil Williams last winter. Not long after Ogles held up his own party’s speaker vote in D.C., news broke that the congressman was apparently stretching the truth about everything from his college transcript to previous work experience. One community college class in economics apparently qualified Ogles as an “economist.” A failed run as a volunteer reserve deputy in Williamson County became a background in “law enforcement,” and a brief stint with a short-lived nonprofit became a career battling “international sex crimes.” Don’t believe everything you hear from politicians or read on LinkedIn.

DEAD WRONG What if there was a nonprofit institution in Nashville that was almost universally beloved?

And what if that institution was one where people for almost 50 years had gotten some small measure of comfort as their loved ones

SPEAKER? I HARDLY KNOW HER. U.S. Rep. Mark Green has always thought highly of himself. So highly, in fact, that his Republican colleagues in the state Senate were thrilled when he got a promotion to Washington, D.C. — far away from them. In Washington, Green has sought to walk a tightrope, cozying up to power centers while maintaining friendly relations with his far-right origins. That led Green (along with fellow Tennessee Republican Rep. Chuck Fleischmann) to launch one of the shortest bids for speaker of the House in American history. In October, as Republicans desperately scrambled to find someone, anyone, who could secure a

… AND THAT’S AMERICANA? The Americana Music Association developed the genre to promote roots-leaning musicians who might get sidelined in the genres you’d typically associate them with because they don’t neatly fit into rigid marketing parameters.

Americana’s track record on building equity and platforms for marginalized people is not perfect, but Black, brown and queer people have routinely received the association’s awards, been elected to its boards and performed on stages throughout AmericanaFest. That made a series of transphobic events during this year’s festival a bit of a shock — though not as much as the association’s middling response. In multiple cases, artists were left to advocate for themselves when faced with verbal assaults and microaggressions (and in one case, admonished for

the police blotter after a night of being “overserved.”

(That’s the polite, blameless euphemism for “drinking too much.”) If Metro had a drunk-idiot fee, no one would have to ask local taxpayers to foot the bill for their football stadium or transit plan. Alas. Our annual petty crime roundup does its best to avoid heaping more shame on these people. Haven’t they suffered enough, drinking bad beer for the benefit of bad people?

That said, there have been some particularly eyebrow-raising pieces of small-time Broadway crime.

Like the 45-year-old in July who was, given his level of intoxication, asked to leave Jason Aldean’s bar.

The gentleman, presumably wanting to expense this particular binge, refused until he was given his receipt and told bar staff their choices were to deliver proof of purchase or send him to the pokey. Guess which they selected.

Really, it’s best not to test the mettle of the kind of people who work on Broadway. They’ve seen things, and they’ve little patience and dwindling senses of humor — as a 26-year-old learned when Metro police arrived to check on her as she screamed at the trees

outside of the Schermerhorn (scaring the martins?).

She insisted she was not going to be arrested. Well …

Jason Aldean and trees. Sure, they can inspire strong emotional reactions. But Ed Sheeran? A 40-something married couple began arguing at the ginger plucker’s Ryman show in July. Asked to cool it or leave by staff at the august venue, the husband didn’t, insisting — one supposes — that he must hear whatever Ed Sheeran’s big song is. Such stubbornness earned him a free trip to hoosegow.

Was his rage caught on camera? If so, he should have considered the foolproof solution a 62-yearold Nashville woman concocted. Trying to cover up evidence of God knows what, she stole the security camera at her niece’s home. Of course, all video is now in the cloud, whatever the hell that is, so she was caught anyway, and as ever, the cover-up is worse than blah blah blah.

Maybe her niece stole her Tupperware, which — if boomer moms are on her jury — is a fast track to an acquittal. A couple of brothers in West Nashville caught the attention of the local gendarmerie for a lengthy

fight that began due to the fate of some Tupperware and the ground beef within. That fight expanded into a secondary dispute that’s the latter-day equivalent of purloined-Tupperware debate: the stealing of the phone charger. The elder brother ended up taking a ride with Nashville’s finest.

But the rowdiness inspired by Ed Sheeran or Tupperware or a phone charger is nothing compared to that brought on by middle school sports, as four Clarksville, uh, middle school administrators showed us. They all got booted from their positions for showing up drunk to a place where no one could possibly recognize them as the pillars of the community they purport to be: a basketball game at the middle school they (used to) administrate.

But this year’s crime cake is taken by the (former) manager of a downtown hotel who faces burglary and assault charges for the unusual (forgive me) feat of using a key card to enter a guest’s room to suck his toes. The guest, naturally, awoke and, naturally, was mortified and, naturally, also filed civil charges. We hope he got his receipt.

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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JANUARY 27

3 PM SHOW ADDED!

JOHN CRIST

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM MARCH 21

2ND SHOW ADDED!

SIERRA FERRELL WITH VADEN LANDERS ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM APRIL 9

CASTING CROWNS ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM APRIL 26

LEFTOVER SALMON AND THE INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM MAY 19

SAY ANYTHING

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM MAY 28 & 29

BLEACHERS

WITH SAMIA ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM JULY 12 & 13

THE DEAD SOUTH ON SALE FRIDAY AT 9 AM

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

15

ILLUSTRATION: HOLLY CARDEN

Spend the Holidays at The Hermitage MUSEUM • WINERY • TOURS • EVENTS • SHOPPING THEHERMITAGE.COM

publicly drawing attention to the issues). Others told the Scene that the organization also seemed indifferent to queer people’s concerns in other interactions, prompting musician Mya Byrne to note: “I just want to feel at home in that community the same way that Brandi Carlile does when she gets onstage at the Ryman during the awards and talks about family.”

MIRANDA WRONGS It’s disappointing that the mainstream country universe has been obsessed with rehabilitating Morgan Wallen’s image after he was caught casually using the N-word in 2021. It’s worse that the effort to detoxify him without enacting any substantive change pretty much worked — ol’ Morg has yet to so much as gently discourage his fans from being openly racist, and he’s had another banner year of album sales and touring.

And it’s exceedingly lame that some big names — who heretofore appeared able to dominate in the mainstream while being smart and creative and generally using their clout for good — helped Wallen get back on top. Eric Church is one such star who contributed to Wallen’s latest LP One Thing at a Time; another is Miranda Lambert. When Lambert proudly tweeted about her Wallen co-write, musician, poet, activist and champion poster Adia Victoria came back with a dry, scathing thread that belongs in a reboot of Blazing Saddles.

DEAL OR NO DEAL The United Auto Workers’ nationwide Stand Up Strike hit the Spring Hill General Motors plant on a Saturday evening — a non-production day — so only about 80 employees actually physically walked out of work. Because the Spring Hill plant is the largest GM facility in North America, it was somewhat expected that the location would be one of the last to strike as a kind of knockout punch to GM — no Boner Award for that. Instead, the Boner is due for, presumably, a lack of communication. When news started circulating early Monday morning about a deal, workers waited to hear when they would

16

THE RETURN OF JASON Jason Aldean lands himself yet another Boner Award, but this time it’s not just him, or his wife — his whole team is worthy.

In July, Aldean dropped the video for his song “Try That in a Small Town,” which received widespread backlash for having at best racist undertones. The lyrics of the song at best glorify violence and suggest vigilante justice is the right way to deal with ill-behaved city slickers. Aside from the song’s lyrics, Aldean’s video proves he’s at best tone-deaf and clueless. There are a lot of small towns with beautiful, historic courthouses, but Aldean decided to go with Maury County’s — where a young Black man named Henry Choate was lynched in 1927, and where white Columbians attempted to kidnap Black civil rights icon Thurgood Marshall in 1946. In a statement, Aldean claimed protest clips in the video were “news footage” — though much of it was quickly proven to be stock footage, or footage that was filmed outside the United States. Perhaps Aldean and his team are not as dumb as they seem: The video’s views skyrocketed, and the song reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. Even so, as Nashville musician and activist Adia Victoria pointed out in a tweet referring to Aldean as a “sentient can of Axe Body Spray,” the warranted backlash got the video banned from CMT.

be done. In the past, the UAW has continued to strike until ratification of a deal, but this time the other Big Three automaker strikes had their early deals, and UAW workers returned to their work. So why were the GM employees still outside the gates? Who knows why it took so long to officially announce, but by the end of the cold, rainy day, workers were back to their jobs at the plant with a new deal on the horizon. ▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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Shop local

Gift Guide scenegiftguide.com

Shop local

Gift Guide scenegiftguide.com

1

HANDMADE GIFTS BY LOCAL ARTISTS

THE CLAY LADY’S CAMPUS | 1416 Lebanon Pike, Nashville TN 37210 | theclcgallery.com | theclaylady.com @clayladycampus

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COMMITTED TO FEEDING SOULS

STUDIO MAMA | heartsinthemix.com studiomamasupperclub.com | @heartsinthemix @studiomamasupperclub | 404.202.0797 This cookbook is a collection of cherished southern recipes, real-life stories, and star-studded menus from the Music City.

Add "All The Swag" to make it a bundle!

ICON TATTOO & BODY PIERCING | 1925 Church St. Nashville, TN 37203 | icontattoo.com @Tattooicon | 615.329.4066

3

5

BOOKS BY LOCAL AUTHORS

PARNASSUS BOOKSELLERS | 3900 Hillsboro Pike parnassusbooks.net | @parnassusbooks 615.953.2243 Local authors were on a roll this year! Grab a signed copy for the reader in your life - can be personalized upon request!

EXQUISITE LINE OF CUTLERY AND PEELING PRODUCTS

KUHN RIKON | Tanger Outlet Mall; 4060 Cane Ridge Parkway, Antioch, TN 37013 | kuhnrikon/usa.com 615.639.1022

Solid 14kt Yellow Gold with White Cubic Zirconia from BVLA.

The CLC Gallery on The Clay Lady’s Campus is the perfect place to find a unique, handmade gift by local artists!

4

TESSERACT CLICKER

Elevate your culinary experience with Kuhn Rikon's exquisite line of cutlery and peeling products. Together, this collection from Kuhn Rikon is the epitome of Swiss innovation, bringing both color and function to your kitchen repertoire. Featured here are various sizes of Colori+ knives, Pull Chop, Knife Block, and Cutting Boards.

6

PRAYER CANDLES

SERENDIPITY | 2814 12th Ave. |serendipity12th.com @serendipity12th | 615.279.5570 These star studded prayer candles make the perfect gift for any pop culture fanatic, and we have over 40 different faces to choose from.

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BE SWEET! This cookbook is a collection of cherished southern recipes, real-life stories, and star-studded menus from the Music City.

Add “All The Swag” to make it a bundle!

Rebecca Wood, Studio Mama heartsinthemix.com studiomamasupperclub.com @heartsinthemix @studiomamasupperclub

~SHOP small WITH US THIS HOLIDAY SEASON~ GIFT IDEAS FOR EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST! nashvilleboards.com • 615.589.6224 109 S. 11th Street • FIVE POINTS WE SHIP!

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7

CONGO VASE

DAPHNE QUIRKY | PRETTY | HOME | L&L Market; 3820 Charlotte Ave. | daphnehome.com @daphne_quirkyprettyhome | 615.942.5583 Each hand made piece is perfect for fresh or dried flowers or as stand alone sculpture. Sales benefit the Elephant Conservation Center in northern Thailand.

16 CANDY CANE SOAP

TEN THOUSAND VILLAGES | 3900 Hillsboro Pike #32, Nashville, TN | tenthousandvillages.com/nashville 615.385.5814 Candy Cane Soap is fair-trade and plant-based with a hint of peppermint! Handcrafted in India. Cruelty, chemical, paraben and palm oil free. 3.2 oz.

8

SUBSCRIPTION BOXES

PARNASSUS BOOKSELLERS | 3900 Hillsboro Pike parnassusbooks.net | @parnassusbooks 615.953.2243 For the person who has read everything, we have four monthly subscription boxes! A brand new, first edition book each month for every age group.

11 KALIMBA SERENDIPITY | 2814 12th Ave. | serendipity12th.com @serendipity12th | 615.279.5570

This unique instrument known as the “finger piano” is only $32.95 and is a great gift for anyone wanting a taste of Music City.

9

JADE

ICON TATTOO & BODY PIERCING | 1925 Church St. Nashville, TN 37203 | icontattoo.com | @Tattooicon 615.329.4066 Solid 14kt White Gold with White Cubic Zirconia from Junipurr.

TOOLS 12 COOKWARE/STAINLESS KUHN RIKON | Tanger Outlet Mall; 4060 Cane Ridge Parkway, Antioch, TN 37013 | kuhnrikon/usa.com 615.639.1022

Kuhn Rikon’s Smart & Compact Fry Pan / Pot Sets, Epicurean Garlic Press / Ratchet Grinder, and Swiss-Made-Peeler is a sleek addition to any modern kitchen. This collection is a harmonious symphony of kitchen tools that will inspire both the aspiring home chef and the seasoned culinary artist alike.

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BAGS & CLUTCHES 13 PURSES, THIS IS THE FINALE | L&L Market; 3820 Charlotte Ave. thisisthefinale.com | @thisisthefinale | 629.702.6188

Stadium Studded Clear Bags, Mushroom Crossbodies, Lacquer Lip Clutches, and Rhinestone Fanny Packs – This is the Finale has all your unique PURSEonalities in one place!

ANTIQUES 16 GORGEOUS GASLAMP ANTIQUES & GASLAMP TOO |

GasLamp Antiques | 615.297.2224 GasLamp Too | 615.292.2250 | GasLampAntiques.com @gaslampantiques | @gaslamptoo

Make your holiday shopping fun with GasLamp Antiques & GasLamp Too! Discover exceptional merchandise from 250+ dealers including gorgeous antiques and budget-friendly finds. Open daily!

BOOK BUNDLES 14 CUSTOM PARNASSUS BOOKSELLERS | 3900 Hillsboro Pike

parnassusbooks.net | @parnassusbooks | 615.953.2243

Don't know what the reader in your life will like? Let the experts decide! We'll curate $50 or $100 bundles for any age and interest.

17 JELLYCATS

SERENDIPITY | 2814 12th Ave. | serendipity12th.com @serendipity12th | 615.279.5570 We have one of the largest selection of Jellycats in Nashville! These amusable stuffed animals are loved by customers of all ages.

KIDS COOKING TOOLS 15 KINDERKITCHEN | KUHN RIKON Tanger Outlet Mall; 4060 Cane Ridge Parkway, Antioch, TN 37013 | kuhnrikon/usa.com 615.639.1022

Delight in the joy of cooking with Kuhn Rikon's Kinderkitchen Kids Cooking Tools. This line of child-friendly kitchen gadgets makes cooking accessible and fun for aspiring young chefs, with each utensil designed with little hands in mind. Kinderkitchen and Cookie Press are your companions for memorable, delicious experiences shared across generations.

ATHENA 18 TINY ICON TATTOO & BODY PIERCING | 1925 Church St.

Nashville, TN 37203 | icontattoo.com | @Tattooicon 615.329.4066 Solid 14kt Yellow Gold with Tanzanite & Amethyst from BVLA.

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19 SIGNED BOOKS

PARNASSUS BOOKSELLERS | 3900 Hillsboro Pike parnassusbooks.net | @parnassusbooks 615.953.2243 Signed books make great gifts! Browse online or in-store.

Limited quantities available, so act fast!

22 PREMIUM CIGARS AND ACCESSORIES

BELLE MEADE PREMIUM CIGARS | Belle Meade Plaza 4518 Harding Rd, Nashville TN 37205 bellemeadecigars.com | 615.297.7963 Belle Meade Premium Cigars and Gifts is a locally owned store. For more than 18 years, Belle Meade Premium Cigars has supplied people with great smokes, both pipes and cigars, as well as a great lounge where you can relax and smoke and have some great conversations with the great clientele that comes into this fantastic shop. Join us here this holiday season.

20

TINY AFGHAN PEAR

ICON TATTOO & BODY PIERCING | 1925 Church St. Nashville, TN 37203 | icontattoo.com | @Tattooicon 615.329.4066 Solid 14kt Yellow Gold with Peridot from BVLA.

23 LOCALLY SOURCED KITCHEN PRODUCTS NASH BOARDS | nashvilleboards.com @nashvilleboards| 615.589.6224

Spice up the kitchen with our Vintage Darling Apron ($44), VOLS Charcuterie Board ($95), and Guitar Salad Server Set ($34)! Custom engraving available.

FONDUE SET 21 RIKON KUHN RIKON | Tanger Outlet Mall; 4060 Cane Ridge Parkway, Antioch, TN 37013 | kuhnrikon/usa.com 615.639.1022

Warm up your dining experience with the Kuhn Rikon Fondue Set, a centerpiece that promises to turn any gathering into a gourmet celebration. Swiss-made and elegantly designed, this fondue set brings the tradition of a communal feast right to your table, perfect for dipping and savoring with friends and family.

24 NEST CANDLES

GREEN PEA SALON | 4 City Blvd- One City and 1113 12th Ave South | Nashville TN | greenpeasalon.com These beloved and beautifully fragranced candles have a cult-like following. Shop our best-selling holiday collections or perennial faves such as wild mint & eucalyptus, Moroccan amber & more.

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25 FAIR-TRADE WAR AND PEACE EARRINGS TEN THOUSAND VILLAGES | 3900 Hillsboro Pike #32, Nashville, TN | tenthousandvillages.com/nashville 615.385.5814

The fair-trade War and Peace Earrings are handmade in Cambodia from recycled brass bomb casings. Each earring reads “Peace” in the native Khmer language.

26 HEARTBREAK

ICON TATTOO & BODY PIERCING | 1925 Church St. Nashville, TN 37203 | icontattoo.com | @Tattooicon 615.329.4066 Solid 14kt Yellow Gold with White Cubic Zirconia from Junipurr.

L&L Market 3 8 2 0 C h a r l o t t e Av e n u e 615-942-5583 daphnehome.com ADVERTORIAL | INTERESTED IN ADVERTISING IN THE SCENE SHOP LOCAL GIFT GUIDES? EMAIL MIKE AT MSMITH@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

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Memberships

Gift an experience & support local Find the perfect gifts for everyone on your list at the Frist Gift Shop.

Choose from handcrafted jewelry, ceramics, unique stocking stuffers, art books, children’s items, Frist memberships, and more!

919 Broadway, Downtown Nashville FristArtMuseum.org/Shop 615.744.3990

Good for the environment, good for the community!

Justice Industries is a local non-profit organization that creates social enterprises to put people to work.

We employ people with barriers to employment such as previous incarceration, homelessness, addiction recovery, mental health, generational poverty, and more.

Just.Glass, a curbside glass recycling service, is our largest social enterprise keeping over 250 tons of glass out of area landfills and providing almost 11,000 hours of work for our team last year.

Email jackie.cavnar@justiceindustries.org for details.

Give an annual glass recycling subscription for $234.

Shop local

Gift Guide scenegiftguide.com

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11/13/23 10:37 AM

Wow moments

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Cigars From

& Support Your Artist Community

A. FUENTE • ASHTON • CAO • COHIBA DAVIDOFF • MONTECRISTO • PADRON TATUAJE • ZINO & MANY MORE

SHOP AT THE CLAY LADY’S CAMPUS FOR THE PERFECT HANDMADE GIFT! OR TREAT YOURSELF TO THE GIFT OF ART! THE CLC GALLERY SHOWCASES THE WORK OF OUR 65 RESIDENT ARTISTS ON THE CLAY LADY’S CAMPUS, MIDSOUTH CERAMICS OFFERS CLAY@HOME KITS AND OTHER ART SUPPLIES, AND THE CLAY LADY HAS THE PERFECT WORKSHOP FOR YOU AND YOURS!

BELLE MEADE

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LOCALS PAY WHAT YOU WANT

Daily pay-what-you-want Museum admission for residents of Davidson and bordering counties— it's the upside of being downtown bound, now through January 31, 2024. above: Jerry Reed lakeside near Nashville, 1975. photo by raeanne rubenstein

LEARN MORE

26

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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11/30/23 4:04 PM

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

1

SPECIAL ACTIVITY AREAS

400s

VICTORIAN VILLAGE Presented by HG HILL REALTY

SNOW PHOTOS AT THE COURTHOUSE Get your 2023 family Christmas photos at the courthouse in a winter-wonderland scene!

THE FRANKLIN THEATRE HOLIDAY MOVIES

VICTORIAN VILLAGE

Sign-Up & Win Tickets!

Sign-up to our newsletter at FranklinDickensChristmas.com and be entered to win a Family Four Pack of Franklin Theatre movie tickets!

500s

Victorian Village is back with a full block of holiday fun on Main Street filled with holiday dancers, characters, and entertainers! Travel back in time as our streets are transformed into a Victorian Christmas scene, including strolling performances by The Yuletide Carolers.

Stop by The Franklin Theatre during the festival! All weekend long you can shop theatre-themed holiday gifts and take a behind the scenes tour. PLUS they’ll be showing a full slate of holiday classics beginning at 10AM each day.

THE FRANKLIN THEATRE HOLIDAY MOVIES

PLAY BALL! The 19th Century British Way (at Simmons Bank Parking Lot) Experience a bit of British culture by joining in short, informal, 19th century cricket games run by American cricket player and historian, Tom Melville. The activity will run continuously, and anyone can join! So come and discover what "play ball" meant to the British in Charles Dickens time!

NUTCRACKER CRAWL Enjoy Discounts & Win a Movie Ticket to The Franklin Theatre! Grab a passport and follow the Nutcracker Crawl to find the unique Nutcracker at each destination and write its code on your passport to claim your prize!

• • • • •

Franklin Vision Care Franklin Bakehouse Olivia Olive Oil CTGRACE McGavock’s Coffee Bar & Provisions

• • • • • •

Shuff’s Music Twine Graphics Hester & Cook The Registry Whitney’s Cookies Visit Franklin

• • • • • •

The Heirloom Shop Kilwins Franklin Walton’s Jewelry Southern Aesthetics Bink’s Outfitters Finnleys

Passports available at the DFA tent on the square or at each shuttle stop entrance.

FOOD VENDORS 507 520 PS 31 PS 32 PS 33 PS 34 PS 35 PS 36 PS 37 PS 38 FT 1 FT 2 FT 3 FT 4 FT 5

Loveless Cafe Mikey's Pizza Ace's Kettle Corn Bavarian Bierhaus Faith's Old Fashioned Ice Cream Buffalo Texas Sausage Larry Woolson Ellies Doughnuts Wild Bill's Olde Fashioned Soda Leiper's Fork Distillery Flour and Forge Smokey Dawgg's Cousins Maine Lobster Fabulous Food Services Jiving Turkey

FT 6 FT 7 FT 8 FT 9 FT 10 FT 11 FT 12 FT 13 FT 14 FT 15 FT 16 FT 17 FT 18

Koko's Grilled Chicken Salad Travelin Tom’s Coffee Truck Delicias Colombianas RR Smoke Boss Soul & BBQ Salsa Franklin Taco Cheesecake Society Corndog Inc. Ginas Eatery Robbie's Farm Market Unique Funnel Cake House Mama "D" Papa "Doo" Mama Yang & Daughter Whitney's Cookies Logan's Snack Shack

VICTORIAN VILLAGE PERFORMANCES SATURDAY

SUNDAY

12:00-12:15 Act Too Players

12:00-1:00

Act Too Players

1:30-2:45

Flat Creek Dancers & FCD Morris Dancers

3:00-3:30

Storytime

12:45-1:00 Act Too Players 1:00-2:15

Flat Creek Dancers & FCD Morris Dancers

2:30-3:00

The American Rogues

3:00-3:45

Flat Creek Dancers

4:00-5:00 Music City Strings

2

ALL WEEKEND Donal Hinely - Glass Harmonica Laura Semilian - Harmonium The Yuletide Carolers

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

4TH

Enjoy timeless holiday stories all festival long! Find these classic tales in Victorian Village.

5TH

STORYTIME Presented by ATMOS ENERGY

BEER GARDEN

MAP LEGEND

PLAY BALL!

Presented by

Food Vendors

CRICKET EXPERIENCE

300s

PS 1-30

200s

NUTCRACKER CRAWL

INFORMATION

SHUTTLE STOP

RESTROOMS

ATMs

100s

SHUTTLE STOP

500s

VILLAGE

FIRST AID

800s

WHISKEY LOUNGE Presented by

ACOUSTIC STAGE Presented by

SHUTTLE STOP

1ST

2ND

4TH

Presented by

3RD

MAIN STAGE

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9TH MAIN STAGE Presented by

10:00

ACOUSTIC STAGE Presented by

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10TH MAIN STAGE

ACOUSTIC STAGE

Caroling

Acoustic Stage Performances 10:00am - 5:00pm

Presented by

Presented by

Franklin First United Methodist HandBells 10:00-10:30

11:00

Franklin School of Performing Arts 10:40-11:10

Southern Irish Dance

Acoustic Stage Performances 10:00am - 6:00pm

Visit our website, williamsonheritage.org for a full schedule.

11:10-11:40

11:20-11:50

12:00

Franklin Suzuki Academy 12:00-12:30

Visit our website, williamsonheritage.org for a full schedule.

The Dancing Divas & Dudes 11:50-12:20

The Woodwork 12:10-12:40

1:00

Pull-Tight Players 12:40-1:10

Ella Jae McCaul

Nightingale Brass

Tanner Cherry

12:45-1:15

Franklin Brass Quintet 12:40-1:10

Birdie Nichols 12:55-1:25

1:20-1:50

2:00

Caroling 2:00-2:30

1:20-1:50

Source One Five 1:20-1:50

Braxten Allen 1:55-2:25

Franklin Light Opera 2:30-3:00

3:00 Jill Riley

Nicole Coley 3:00-3:30

3:10-3:40

Williamson County Community Chorus 3:10-3:40

Acoustic Stage Performances 10:00am - 5:00pm

Visit our website, williamsonheritage.org for a full schedule.

Jordana Bryant

4:00

Nashville Opera

Brianna Bollinger

5:00

3:35-4:05

3:50-4:20

4:30-5:00

Acoustic Stage Performances 10:00am - 6:00pm

Church Sing at Historic Franklin Presbyterian Church 4:15

Visit our website, williamsonheritage.org for a full schedule.

Town Sing led by Yuletide Carolers

6:00

5:30-6:00

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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AREA SPONSORS

MAJOR SPONSORS

Characters & Carolers Presented by

Moyer & Co.

MEDIA PARTNERS

Christmas Trees Provided by

FR ANKLINDICKENSCHRISTMAS.COM

W I L L I A M S O N H E R I TA G E . O R G

Where a show is only the beginning!

Dec. 14 -

Songwriters Series feat.

Adam Sanders, Adam Craig, & Jordan Walker

Dec. 15 -

The Isaacs

Dec. 16 & 17 - Christmas With The King

FT Live and Great Performances Sponsored by

Holiday Performances & Movies Sponsored by

Dec. 18 -

PLUS multiple showings OF YOUR FAVORITe HOLIDAY MOVIES!

Glenn Miller Orchestra

Dec. 22 & 23 - The Gatlin Brothers Jan. 19 -

Taylor Hicks

Jan. 26 -

Jesse Cook

Feb 28 -

Paul Thorn & Steve Poltz

GIVE THE GIFT OF LIVE MUSIC GIVE A FRANKLIN THEATRE GIFT CARD!

INCLUDING: Miracle on 34th Street

It’s a Wonderful Life

Jingle All The Way

The Polar Express

White Christmas

The Muppet Christmas Carol

Home Alone

Elf

It’s Christmas Again

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation Die Hard Nightmare Before Christmas The Santa Clause

615.538.2076 | FranklinTheatre.com | 419 Main St., Franklin, TN 37064

FranklinTheatre.com/giftcards

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

1

CRITICS’ PICKS: WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF THINGS TO DO

PHOTO: ALYSSE GAFKJEN

Visit calendar.nashvillescene.com for more event listings

KELSEY WALDON

Ever since she arrived in this town in the Aughts, country artist Kelsey Waldon has stayed true to her sound and Kentucky roots without a hiccup. This might have been what drew the attention of John Prine in 2019, when the late, great folk icon signed Waldon to his label Oh Boy Records. At the time, Oh Boy hadn’t signed a new artist in 15 years, but Prine saw what made Waldon’s music special, saying, “Her music continues an important arc of traditional folk and country music.” Waldon isn’t afraid to put a lot of fiddle on the track, and her influences range from ’70s outlaw to the bluegrass of her home state. The sensitive, crafty songwriting on her 2022 LP No Regular Dog reminds us that country music is at its best when evoking both the lightness and darkness of our world. With tenacity, Waldon has evolved into a revered force in non-mainstream country, subsequently becoming one of my favorite artists to cheer for in Nashville — something Prine and I had in common. Catch her at The Blue Room with opener William Matheny before she hops over the pond to open for Margo Price in the U.K. and Ireland in January. JACQUELINE ZEISLOFT 8 P.M. AT THE BLUE ROOM AT THIRD MAN RECORDS 623 SEVENTH AVE. N.

PURE CONFIDENCE PAGE 32

GET BEHIND THE MULE 18 PAGE 34

AMY GRANT AND VINCE GILL PAGE 36

[TRUE STORIES]

KASHENA SAMPSON W/LILLY HIATT

Because the concept of country music — narrative songs delivered in a style that attempts to ensure you don’t miss a word — is even more vexed in Nashville than it is elsewhere, I review a lot of Nashville music that flirts with the concept without embracing it. That’s the case with singer and songwriter Kashena Sampson, who moved to town in 2015 after pursuing an acting career in Los Angeles and singing standards and Beatles tunes on cruise ships. Sampson’s big voice sometimes registers as post-folkie, as you can hear on her excellent 2021 album Time Machine, but the record combines elements of soul, rock and country. Sampson addresses the dual nature of performance itself on the record’s “From the Outside,” while “Whole Lot Better” simulates Linda Ronstadt-style country-rock. Meanwhile, Lilly Hiatt tweaks the timeless singer-songwriter mode on her 2021 full-length Lately, which contains some of the simplest — and most affecting — songs she’s written. There’s nothing

particularly country about Hiatt’s delivery or her music, since she favors a quasi-rock approach.

Hiatt writes about the basics of love gained and lost on Lately, and she alludes to country on “Face” without using the backdrop of country’s narrative structures. EDD HURT 7 P.M. AT THE BASEMENT 1604 EIGHTH AVE. S.

THEATER

MUSIC

[IN THE TRADITION]

MUSIC

THURSDAY / 12.7

THURSDAY, DEC. 7

[EVERY TIME A BELL RINGS …]

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY

It’s no wonder that, with its memorable characters and heartfelt message, Frank Capra’s beloved film It’s a Wonderful Life has become such an enduring holiday classic. Beginning this weekend, you can experience the familiar story in a whole new way, as Studio Tenn Theatre Company revives its popular production of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. Adapted by Joe Landry, this clever staging reimagines the story of George Bailey as a live 1940s radio broadcast, with just five actors bringing all the iconic characters to life. It’s a unique setup, and by setting the action in Franklin’s own WAKM radio station, director Patrick Cassidy amps up the fun with plenty of local references. The cast features

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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lighting. The Nashville Symphony will be on hand to perform Tchaikovsky’s stunning score, under the baton of music director and principal conductor Ming Luke. Families will want to arrive early to enjoy all the pre-performance activities, including everything from a commemorative photo booth and meet-andgreets with familiar Nutcracker characters to story times hosted by Nashville Ballet teaching artists. AMY STUMPFL DEC. 8-24 AT TPAC’S ANDREW JACKSON HALL 505 DEADERICK ST.

[HARP & SOUL]

ANNUAL TIMBRE CHRISTMAS SHOW

PURE CONFIDENCE

Pure Confidence, the story of enslaved jockey Simon Cato’s quest to race his way to freedom on the eve of the Civil War, is on a 10-day run at North Nashville’s Z. Alexander Looby Theater that concludes Dec. 10. Race and power take center stage for more than two hours in this gem from director Kenny Dozier and awardwinning playwright Carlyle Brown, who blends history and sport for a fast-paced show that memorializes an era when Black jockeys dominated horse racing. It’s also a reminder that institutions the Looby Theater and Kenny Dozier, who runs Kennie Playhouse in Donelson, keep community theater alive in Nashville. Both evening and matinee showings are available — visit kennieplayhousetheatre.com for more information. ELI MOTYCKA THROUGH DEC. 10 AT Z. ALEXANDER LOOBY THEATER 2301 ROSA L. PARKS BLVD.

THE KOFFIN KATS W/THE STEPHENS AND REPPERTONS

They say speed kills, but after 20 years of full-throttle psychobilly madness, The Koffin Kats show no sign of slowing down anytime soon. Birthed from the rock ’n’ roll bowels of Motor City, the trio’s sound welds thundering rockabilly slap bass with ferocious punk energy.

Their 10 studio albums and countless singles are ripe with ghoulish themes of necromancy in the vein of seminal psychobilly bands such as The Cramps, The Meteors and Demented Are Go. “In the back of a hearse / is where I met her first / with the sexy scent / in a coroner bed,” founding member and upright bassist Vic Victor croons ominously in 2004’s “Graveyard Tree.” Local pop-punk outfit The Stephens join the bill, while fellow Nashville rockers Reppertons kick things off ahead of their upcoming release Entertaining Ghosts, due out soon. JASON VERSTEGEN 8 P.M. AT THE COBRA 2511 GALLATIN PIKE

32

[MAKING CONNECTIONS]

FRIENDSHIP COMMANDERS W/ HOWLING GIANT & THE SWELL FELLAS MUSIC

MUSIC

[FASTER, KOFFIN KATS! BILLY! BILLY!]

FRIDAY / 12.8

You might want to read along with the lyrics that singer and guitarist Buick Audra came up with for Friendship Commanders’ new album Mass. Audra and drummer Jerry Roe favor 1990s-style hard-rock settings throughout Mass, and Audra doesn’t project the words in order to dramatize them. I don’t think it matters if you fail to notice that the album — Audra’s first since her 2022 solo work Conversations With My Other Voice — carries a rough theme based on her experiences in Massachusetts, but Audra and Roe create a hybrid of grunge and heavy metal that sounds just fine. When the songs hook in, as you hear on the Mass track “Vampire,” the lyrics gain resonance, and the album comes across as a pained examination of the many ways human beings fail to connect. Also on the bill is Nashville rock band Howling Giant, whose latest album is this year’s Glass Future. The band’s mix of prog and rock sounds a bit like, say, Jefferson

Starship impersonating a hair-metal band in love with Pink Floyd, and something titled “Sunken City” manages to be both mysterious and charmingly goofy. Rounding out the bill at Drkmttr are The Swell Fellas, a rock trio that also hails from Nashville. Their 2022 EP Novaturia features “… Another Realm,” which strolls through various psych-rock tropes for 11 minutes. EDD HURT 7 P.M. AT DRKMTTR 1111 DICKERSON PIKE [NUTS TO YOU!]

NASHVILLE’S NUTCRACKER

One of Music City’s favorite holiday traditions returns to TPAC’s Jackson Hall this weekend, as Nashville Ballet presents its delightful Nashville’s Nutcracker. First unveiled by the company in 2008, this charming production provides a welcome twist on the classic story. Artistic Director Emeritus Paul Vasterling actually drew inspiration from the Tennessee Centennial Exposition of 1897 in creating the piece, weaving a number of local landmarks and historical figures into the timeless story. As always, audience members can look forward to Shigeru Yaji’s gorgeous scenery, along with Campbell Baird’s exquisitely detailed costumes and Scott Leathers’ magical

NASHVILLE’S NUTCRACKER

FASCINATION STREET

[BIGGER AND BADDER THAN EVER]

PUNK ROCK FLEA MARKET

The Punk Rock Flea Market launched three years ago, and while you’ll spot them

PHOTO: KARYN KIPLEY

[AND THEY’RE OFF!]

[ON SATURDAYS WE WEAR BLACK]

In true Nashville fashion, DJs Ichabod and Baron von Birk aren’t satisfied with your typical goth-night playlist. While most focus on the electronic, vampire-vibey, oontz-oontz-oontz kind of dance music, Fascination Street is all about the legacy of goth, from ’70s proto-goth to the ’80s golden age and the goth-punk revival of the Aughts. But don’t get me wrong — this isn’t a retro night either. Sure, you’ll hear lots of artists from just about every recent decade, but the goal of Fascination Street is not just to celebrate the ever-evolving scene, but to expand it, and showcase our own era’s interpretations. If this sounds like your cup of tea (or whatever dark substance you creeps like to consume), then don your inkiest outfit, black your eyes and get ready to have a moody groove in the intimate, fog-filled, low-lit East Room.

Fascination Street is an 18-and-up event that takes place on every second Saturday, with this month’s gathering happening on Dec. 9 and celebrating DJ Ichabod’s birthday. Doors open at 9, but as expected of this crowd, the party really gets rolling around 10 or later. RYNE WALKER 9 P.M. AT THE EAST ROOM 2412 GALLATIN PIKE

SHOPPING

TIMBRE

D. PATRICK RODGERS

6:30 P.M. AT FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH 113 EIGHTH AVE. S.

MUSIC

SATURDAY / 12.9

BALLET

Music City is blessed with an array of special holiday traditions, from Cheekwood’s Holiday Lights display and the city’s annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony to the Nashville Symphony performing Handel’s Messiah (as well as John Williams’ Home Alone score) at the world-class Schermerhorn Symphony Center. Another anticipated annual event that should get more attention than it does? Timbre Cierpke’s annual Christmas show, which centers on the talents of the longtime local harpist.

Over the course of her career, Cierpke — who, with her band, typically performs under just her appropriately musical first name — has collaborated with performers including Jack White, mewithoutYou and Ricky Skaggs.

Her own music is a baroque blend of folk and neoclassical, but for her Annual Timbre Christmas Show, she and her band will focus on — you guessed it — Christmas music.

Timbre will be backed by strings, brass and Nashville’s own SONUS choir, of which Timbre is co-founder and music director, and attendees will be treated to free hot cocoa. Local artisans Fluffed Up will also be present, taking orders for cotton candy, marshmallows and other holiday-appropriate morsels, with a portion of sales benefiting the evening’s performers. It’s set to take place this year at Nashville’s beautiful and historic First Lutheran Church, and if this one doesn’t get you in the holiday spirit, then buddy, I’m not sure there’s any hope for you.

THEATER

MUSIC

a great mix of talent, including Caleb Shore, Mariah Parris, Gerold Oliver, Charlotte Myhre Shealy and Geoff Davin. AMY STUMPFL DEC. 7-24 AT THE FACTORY AT FRANKLIN’S TURNER THEATER 230 FRANKLIN ROAD, FRANKLIN

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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2023/24 SEASON

WE THIS EKE ND

T I C LO KET W ALE RT

NASHVILLE SYMPHONY COME HEAR EXTRAORDINARY DEC 8 | 7:30 PM

DEC 15 & 16 | 7:30 PM DEC 17 | 2 PM

A VERY DAVE BARNES CHRISTMAS

DEC 18 | 7:30 PM HCA Healthcare and Tristar Health Legends of Music

HANDEL’S MESSIAH THE JACKSONS Nashville Symphony & Chorus | Tucker Biddlecombe, conductor Raven McMillon, soprano | Katherine Beck, mezzo-soprano Tyler Nelson, tenor | Rod Gilfry, baritone

Presented without the Nashville Symphony.

Presented without the Nashville Symphony.

COMING SOON TO THE SCHERMERHORN DEC 19 | 7:30 PM Presentation

JIM BRICKMAN: A JOYFUL CHRISTMAS

JAN 11 TO 13 | 7:30 PM FirstBank Pops Series

GREAT GERSHWIN! with the Nashville Symphony

Presented without the Nashville Symphony.

JAN 5 & 6 | 7:30 PM JAN 7 | 2 PM Classical Series

PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION with the Nashville Symphony

THANK YOU TO OUR CONCERT PARTNERS

JAN 18 & 19 | 7:30 PM Special Event

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST IN CONCERT with the Nashville Symphony

JAN 20 | 7:30 PM JAN 21 | 2 PM HCA Healthcare and Tristar Health Legends of Music

KRISTIN CHENOWETH with the Nashville Symphony JAN 26 | 7:30 PM Special Event

VIDEO GAMES LIVE with the Nashville Symphony

CLYNE, MOZART, AND PROKOFIEV with the Nashville Symphony The Lawrence S. Levine Memorial Concert

FEB 7 | 7:30 PM Special Event

LUNAR NEW YEAR with the Nashville Symphony

The Ann & Monroe Carell Family Trust MOVIE SERIES PARTNER

FAMILY SERIES PARTNER

POPS SERIES PARTNER

BUY TICKETS: 615.687.6400

Giancarlo Guerrero, music director

FEB 2 & 3 | 7:30 PM Classical Series

MUSIC LEGENDS PARTNER

WITH SUPPORT FROM

NashvilleSymphony.org/Tickets NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com 33

Adopt. Bark. Meow.

Microchip. Neuter. Spay.

[ADAIRING PERFORMANCE]

MONICA RAMEY AND THE LORI MECHEM QUARTET: A BIRTHDAY TOAST TO BEEGIE!

MUSIC

Pianist and bandleader Beegie Adair was a Nashville musical institution for decades. After an exceptional career, Adair passed last year at 84, but her impact remains across Nashville’s jazz and pop music communities. In honor of her upcoming birthday, some of her longtime friends and musical mates are gathering to perform some of her finest songs. Vocalist Monica Ramey has been a Music City favorite and Nashville Jazz Workshop mainstay since arriving here in 2000. She and Adair were frequent collaborators in the studio — Adair featured on all three of Ramey’s first three LPs — and performed together frequently, including appearances at top New York City spot Birdland.

In addition, Ramey managed and booked Adair and continues overseeing the company Adair Music Group. She is currently working on several music and business projects/partnerships. The birthday celebration at the Workshop’s Jazz Cave features Ramey with the Lori Mechem Quartet. The quartet’s roster includes pianist Mechem, bassist Roger Spencer, guitarist Andy Reiss and drummer Larry Aberman. It’s an opportunity to honor a giant and hear lots of great music as well. RON WYNN 7:30 P.M. AT THE NASHVILLE JAZZ WORKSHOP 1012 BUCHANAN ST.

SHAFT

49 WINCHESTER

Prepare for a night of in-your-feels and down-your-drink country-rock, Nashville — it’s time for another round with 49 Winchester. This rowdy and heartfelt band — one of the buzziest in today’s country, roots and Americana scene — rolls into Music City for a one-night gig with singer-songwriter Carter Faith playing main support. Hailing from small-town Virginia, the six-piece 49 Winchester butters its proverbial bread with blue-collar ballads like the fan favorite “Russell County Line” or “Damn Darlin’,” a heartbreaking Christmastime song set at Exit/In, no less; harmonized showmanship, such as richly voiced “Annabel”; and thick guitar licks, like on groovy new release “Chemistry.”

Those wanting to dig deeper should press play on Fortune Favors the Bold, the 2022 album that set this once-under-the-radar band on its trajectory of sold-out concert halls and premier festival slots. (And really, don’t sleep on “Damn Darlin’.” It’s a can’t-skip sad-guy song, especially during the holidays.) MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER 8 P.M. AT BROOKLYN BOWL NASHVILLE 925 THIRD AVE. N.

MONDAY / 12.11 [THEY GOT THE SHAFT]

MUSIC CITY MONDAYS: SHAFT

Once again, the Belcourt is paying tribute to a screen legend by showing his most iconic work. This time, it’s Shaft, starring Richard Roundtree, who passed away in October. The model-turned-actor became a full-fledged, for-the-people leading man when he played the titular detective in Gordon Parks’ 1971 Blaxploitation jump-starter (complete with an Oscar-winning soundtrack from Isaac Hayes!).

Although I have my issues with the film, it can’t be denied that Roundtree broke down doors — both figuratively and literally — giving Black America a movie hero who wasn’t gonna take shit from anyone (especially The Man!), as well as proving that strong Black characters can be a big draw at movie houses. Roundtree played Shaft in two sequels, a TV show and two legacyquels, wherein star Samuel L. Jackson continued kicking ass in the family name.

Throughout his career, Roundtree remained the smoothest of sex symbols, both on screen and off. Earlier this year, I found out he was once

[MAKE MANKIND YOUR BUSINESS]

GET BEHIND THE MULE 18

Even if Tom Waits’ work — aptly described

by Scene contributor Charlie Zaillian as “a collision of blues, jazz and vaudeville that challenges conventional notions of ‘nice’ music” — isn’t really your cup of tea, it’s hard not to respect his exceptionally broad scope, sheer inventiveness and determined individuality.

For nearly two decades, Nashvillians have been gathering to celebrate Waits’ birthday (Dec. 7, 1949) with a tribute show booked as close to the day as possible. It’s a challenging artistic exercise. Performing songs as mellow as “(Looking for) The Heart of Saturday Night,”

34

[DAMN, DARLIN’]

49 WINCHESTER

PHOTO: THOMAS CRABTREE

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

FILM

buff-colored kitty that is pining for his furrever home! He loves to take naps in warm spots and enjoys receiving affection. He is a very affectionate 1 year old shorthair and he is extra special! Piney is FeLV Positive and requires some extra special love and care. He is looking for an owner that will take care of him and love him unconditionally! Swing by to meet Piney this week here at Nashville Humane Association.

as tender as “Innocent When You Dream” or as creepy as “God’s Away on Business” (the one famously set to a video of Cookie Monster playing piano and sent bouncing around the web) demands commitment to carry it off; singing these songs brings the characters to life in a way that almost takes over the performers.

This time out, participants in the enterprise include Afton Wolfe, Brandy Zdan, Robin Eaton and many more. And as always, it’s for a great cause. Proceeds from the door and the silent auction — which will include artwork from painter Jeff Bertrand, photography from John Partipilo and a live painting done during the show by Billy Martinez — benefit venerable hunger-fighting institution Second Harvest Food Bank. STEPHEN TRAGESER 8 P.M. AT THE 5 SPOT 1006 FOREST AVE.

MUSIC

PINEY is a sweet

peddling hard-to-find LPs, patched-up clothes and handmade crafts all across Nashville throughout the year, their winter market is arguably their marquee event. This year’s event is a two-day blowout at Eastside Bowl that will feature 50 vendors, booths from several nonprofits and all-day music performances by a 24-band lineup. In short: You’re going to hear some loud music, and you’re going to find something weird for that hard-to-shop-for, headbanging person in your life. On Saturday, they’re keeping the good times rolling on the East Side with an afterparty at The Cobra featuring Austin outfit Riverboat Gamblers.

They’re also encouraging attendees to bring new, unwrapped toys as part of a toy drive for Marine Toys for Tots that helps provide gifts for families in need across the holidays. COLE VILLENA DEC. 9-10 AT EASTSIDE BOWL 1508 GALLATIN PIKE S.

MUSIC

PET OF THE WEEK!

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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A N A L O G AT

HUTTON

HOTEL

PRESENTS

MICHAEL MCDONALD & PAUL REISER LIVE TV TAPING

DEC

NEFESH MOUNTAIN

DEC

ANALOG SOUL

DEC

ELLA VOS

DEC

ANALOG SOUL

DEC

09 10 12 17 19 24

JOE HOROWITZ & FRIENDS

DEC

13

ANALOG SOUL

DEC

Analog is proud to present Michael McDonald and Paul Reiser for an exclusive live TV taping in our intimate listening room. Hear the music live and be part of a studio audience! Viewers will be treated to an intimate conversation between Michael McDonald and Paul Reiser, as they explore the themes and stories that have shaped their upcoming book “What a Fool Believes”.

DOORS: 7 PM SHOW: 8 PM GA: $65 VIP: $150

UPCOMING

DECEMBER 10

DRAG BRUNCH • 1-4 PM

AGES 21+ ONLY

31

DEC

SUNDAY SERVICE

DOORS: 8 PM SHOW: 9 PM GA ADV: $40 GA DOS: $45 RESERVED SEATING: $75

WITH SPECIAL GUESTS BO RINEHART, BETH NIELSEN CHAPMAN, BAKHITI KUMALO, JEFF TAYLOR, AND MORE TBA!

DECEMBER 14

THE SOULSHINE FAMILY BAND’S CHRISTMAS JAM TOYS FOR TOTS BENEFIT

DECEMBER 15

8 PM 31 DOORS: GA: $60 VIP: $150

DEC

KEVIN GARRETT

IN THE LYRIC BALLROOM

ALL SHOWS AT ANALOG ARE 21+ 1808 WEST END AVENUE, NASHVILLE,

TN

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

35

7PM Tabitha Meeks • Shane Weisman 9PM Jade Jackson 10PM Laney Jones

mon 12/11

7PM Cuidado- A Global Dance Night w/ Kageruki (DJ) • Still Satellite

tues 12/12

7PM Soul Vibes Writer’s Night w/ • Lonnie Leo Brittany Prince • Alacia LaRobin 9PM Studio Rats Present • Rude Tuesday w/ MisterMoon • Karlee Metzger • Chandler Brown

wed 12/13

7PM On The Mic Karaoke w/ Meg Gehman

THU 12.7

AMELIA DAY • KATIE LYNNE • SHARBAUGH • RILEY WHITTAKER

FRI 12.8

DOUBLECAMP • ALT BLOOM • KAYLA HALL

SAT 12.9

FASCINATION STREET

MON 12.11 PUMP ACTION • DAMIAN C • STRANGER BOY TUE 12.12 ULTIMATE COMEDY • FREE LOCAL STAND UP! WED 12.13 CASSADEE POPE • NATALIA TAYLAR • SIERRA ANNIE THU 12.14 ALLY RITCH • MR. TRAFTON • JACK LANDESS SAT 12.16 BEDON • ZOO CULTURE • EMME

2412 GALLATIN AVE

@THEEASTROOM

Est. 1896

BUY TICKETS

5-7PM DEBRA GRINER, ROB PRICE, 12.7 SCOTT NEUBERT & JIMBEAU WALSH FREE 5-7PM BUSTER’S BLUES THING FREE 12.8 9PM GROOVE INN, K.O.N. &

FAZE WAVE

12.9

Scan the QR for tickets and info.

FT Live and Great Performances Sponsored by

615.538.2076 | FranklinTheatre.com 419 Main St., Franklin, TN 37064

36

5-7PM BROWN’S GIFT SHOP REVIVAL FREE 9PM PAT & THE PISSERS, KILLJOY,

& SAFER DEAD

4PM SPRINGWATER SIT-IN JAM FREE 12.10 9PM OPIATE,OZMA & THE KING,

& INDIANS WITH CHAINSAWS

5PM WRITERS @ THE WATER OPEN MIC FREE 12.13 9PM JASON PUNKNECK, RUSS T NUTZ,

JAKEB REEL & WAYNE PENNINGTON

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

[YOUR FIRST CRUSH]

THE GRAND OLE OPRY FEAT. SHAUN CASSIDY

If you were born after 1974, feel free to scroll on by. This particular Critic’s Pick might not be for you. But if you are a woman of a certain age, you might want to join me in the Opry pews this week. Locals are lucky; we can catch the Grand Ole Opry live three nights a week. But only on Tuesday will heartthrob-for-middle-agerseverywhere Shaun Cassidy make his debut on the Opry stage. (Young folks, if you are still reading, Shaun Cassidy is now a TV producer known for American Gothic and New Amsterdam, but in 1977 he was your mother’s Justin Bieber, with a multiplatinum album and a starring role in The Hardy Boys Mysteries.) It was Mike Curb’s division of Warner Bros. that first signed Cassidy when he was in high school, and Cassidy has other Nashville connections, including family who live here. No word on whether he’ll play the Grammy-nominated hits from the good ol’ days or more country-centric fare. Tickets start at $55, and the show includes all manner of other performers, as the Opry always does, including The Isaacs and Niko Moon. MARGARET LITTMAN 7 P.M. AT THE GRAND OLE OPRY HOUSE 600 OPRY MILLS DRIVE

WEDNESDAY / 12.13 [BACK TO HER ROOTS]

CASSADEE POPE

Depending on when Cassadee Pope caught your attention, there are several ways you might know her. Over the past decade, she’s made inroads in the country world; her most recent full-length, 2021’s Thrive, features guest appearances from Lindsay Ell, Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild and Third Eye Blind’s Stephan Jenkins — because country loves a ’90s callback.

Before that, there was Pope’s 2012 run on The Voice, in which she became the first woman to win the competition, with a repertoire including songs by Avril Lavigne, Sheryl Crow and Faith Hill. And before that, there was her pop-punk band Hey Monday, which had a short but impressive run of national touring and collaborations with Fall Out Boy, among others. (In November, Pope announced that Hey Monday will reunite for next year’s emostravaganza When We Were Young.) Earlier this year, Pope announced she’ll take a step away from country and back toward the pop punk she grew up with. Based on her powerhouse delivery on her country records, you might argue that she’s never really left it behind. Her recent snarling, chugging “Cassadee’s Version” re-recording of her 2013 cut “Wasting All These

8 P.M. AT THE EAST ROOM 2412 GALLATIN AVE.

MUSIC

sat 12/9

TUESDAY / 12.12

[IT’S BEGINNING TO SOUND A LOT LIKE …]

AMY GRANT AND VINCE GILL

In Nashville, Christmas sounds like Amy Grant and Vince Gill singing songs and sharing stories with a full house at the Ryman Auditorium. This week, Grant and Gill — a married couple known for cutting timeless tunes in Christian and country music, respectively — return to the downtown tabernacle to kick off one of the best seasonal traditions in this town (or just about any town, really): a 12-show Christmastime residency full of ho-ho-holiday spirit. The residency is now entering its 13th year, and those lucky enough to score a seat to this sought-after show get treated to a night of classics — often including “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” “O Come All Ye Faithful” and, of course, Grant’s own “Tennessee Christmas” — sung by two of the finest voices to take part in Yuletide crooning. Ticketing information and schedules for the evening and matinee shows are available at ryman.com.

MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER

DEC. 13-23 AT THE RYMAN 116 REP. JOHN LEWIS WAY N.

FILM

fri 12/8

5PM Harmonizing for Healing- Kyshona Presents a Benefit for Your Song w/ ZG Smith • Kyshona • Wild Ponies • Nickie Conley • Shannon LaBrie • Kate Kelly

Tears” supports that theory, as do other new hard-charging singles like “People That I Love Leave” and “Almost There.” Get ahead of the curve and catch Pope on Wednesday with support from Natalia Taylar and Sierra Annie.

STEPHEN TRAGESER

MUSIC

4PM Open Mic Night w/ Lori Kelley 9PM Stacey Kelleher • Jefferson Rinck • Katie Pederson

MUSIC

thur 12/7

romantically linked with blond ’70s star Cathy Lee Crosby. Man, that cat Roundtree was a bad mutha — oh, you know! CRAIG D. LINDSEY 8 P.M. AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.

[PRINCE OF QUEENS]

HOLIDAY CLASSICS: COMING TO AMERICA

It’s almost hard to believe that Coming to America came out a whopping 35 years ago, back when star Eddie Murphy was such an A-list comedy god that Vanity Fair did a cover story on him and his “Black Pack” crew of comic pals (which included co-star Arsenio Hall). Since then, the movie, directed by fallen New Hollywood filmmaker John Landis (whose dickish behavior on set almost made Murphy put hands on him) has become a beloved classic, especially in the Black community. Ask any melanin-enhanced person how many times they’ve seen the story of Murphy’s Prince Akeem heading to Queens to find his future bride, and I’m quite certain it’ll be more than five. The Belcourt is here to remind audiences that it does take place during the holiday season (the movie is covered in snow once Akeem hits Queens), which officially makes it a Christmas movie.

Even if you don’t agree, it’s still a fun comedy to watch. BTW, this is another Pizza and a Movie presentation, co-presented by Slim & Husky’s Pizza Beeria. CRAIG D. LINDSEY 8 P.M. AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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UPCOMING SHOWS AT THE MUSEUM’S CMA THEATER

DECEMBER 15

RODNEY CROWELL

THE CHICAGO SESSIONS TOUR

DECEMBER 20

DARREN CRISS

A VERY DARREN CRISSMAS

DECEMBER 21

BIG BAD VOODOO DADDY

BIG BAD VOODOO DADDY’S WILD & SWINGIN’ HOLIDAY PARTY

FEBRUARY 25

CAT POWER

CAT POWER SINGS DYLAN: THE 1966 ROYAL ALBERT HALL CONCERT

December in...

GEOFF TATE & ADRIAN VANDENBERG

with REESE MCHENRY

12/28 THURSDAY

AFROMAN

12/30 SATURDAY

FRIDAY

with BABY WAVE

SEAN THOMPSON’S

12/29

MARISSA NADLER & SCOUT GILLET

12/16 SATURDAY

BABY:

R&B THROWBACK PARTY

with DORI VALENTINE

WEIRD EARS WEIRD JAZZ

TICKETS ON SALE NOW Museum members receive exclusive pre-sale opportunities for CMA Theater concerts.

Learn more at CountryMusicHallofFame.org/Membership.

12/14 THURSDAY

12/9 SATURDAY

ARIEL POSEN HOVVDY

FRIDAY

LYDIA LOVELESS

12/8

with WILLIAM MATHENY

12/7 THURSDAY

KELSEY WALDON

MARCH 5

More info for each event online & on our instagram! See you soon!

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FOOD & DRINK

RAY OF HOPE

Austin Ray celebrates 15 years of M.L.Rose with a big announcement

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

BY CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

M.L.Rose mlrose.com

IT’S HARD TO believe 15 years have passed since Nashville restaurateur Austin Ray opened his first M.L.Rose Craft Beer & Burgers location on Eighth Avenue South — but it also feels like the neighborhood fixture has been there forever.

In fact, it was named The Melrose Neighborhood Pub when the first pint was pulled in 2008.

Of course, it was immediately confused with the venerable Melrose Billiards across the street, leading to many missed connections between drinking buddies who were at the wrong bar.

Patrons quickly developed their own way of differentiating between the two, referring to the flood-prone subterranean billiards room as “Dirty Melrose” and the burger bar as “Clean Melrose.” Ray later rendered the issue moot by purchasing the pool hall in 2016 and changing the name of his pub to the more locationally generic M.L.Rose Craft Beer & Burgers.

Now, with multiple locations already open throughout the greater Nashville area, Ray is preparing to expand M.L.Rose even further, with locations in Inglewood, Franklin and — in a bit of breaking news — his newest spot at 2145 Nashville Pike in Gallatin.

Ray is a Nashville native, a Hillsboro High graduate and the son of Nashville’s first female sheriff, Gayle Ray. So his connections to the city run deep, as does his experience in hospitality.

“I’ve cooked or washed dishes from the very beginning,” says Ray. “From age 13, I worked catering parties, in the Corner Market production kitchen making sandwiches and at Mad Platter.”

He knew he wanted to attend a college with a strong hospitality program — “It was the only identifiable passion I had at the time” — so he selected Boston University and continued working in kitchens and bars throughout college.

“I had a helluva good time working in Boston, and at the end of the program they hook you up with one of the big companies in the industry,” Ray explains. “I just didn’t jibe with them, so I returned home because I knew I wanted to do something on my own.”

After a short time running a micro-catering operation out of his Oak Hill apartment, Ray was introduced to another young local entrepreneur who was looking to bring something new to Nashville — Benjamin Goldberg. “We had the same ideas and energy,” says Ray. “We both appreciate the luck of the timing to meet each other at that time.”

The result of Ray’s collaboration with the future Strategic Hospitality co-founder was a trendy nightclub named Bar Twenty3, which brought a modern, urbane vibe to the stillsleepy Gulch neighborhood. The duo followed up that success with City Hall, a midsize performance venue that filled the gap left by the closing of Ace of Clubs and 328 Performance Hall, victims of the revitalization and expansion of SoBro and its new bridges and skyscrapers.

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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12/4/23 1:47 PM

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

AUSTIN RAY City Hall had a good run, but unfortunately, Ray and Goldberg only had a three-year lease on the property, and the life span of Bar Twenty3 as a nightclub had run its course. Both venues closed in 2008. Bootmaker Lucchese now occupies the former Bar Twenty3 address; City Hall became an Urban Outfitters.

Undaunted, Ray plunged forward into his next project. “The Melrose Pub was the polar opposite of Bar Twenty3. I needed a good neighborhood pub where I lived. The concept was going to be more of a spot for drinking than eating, and I had only scratched out a 10-item food menu on a piece of paper. Immediately, I saw we were going to have to add more, so the food program grew and grew.”

During the renovation of the former home of legendary Nashville gay bar The Chute, Ray worried about what he was taking on. “The roof was leaking, and the place was dark and dingy,” he says. “I just stared out the window and wondered, ‘What the hell am I doing here?!’ At that moment I saw two young women jog by on the sidewalk, and I realized that residential was really taking shape in Melrose. Before that, a lot of people never even knew the neighborhood was already named Melrose; they thought it was named after the pool hall!”

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Ray hosted a wide cross section of the neighborhood at the bar and acquired regulars from day one. More importantly, he listened to them as he started to expand the M.L.Rose empire with his second location in Sylvan Park in 2012.

“I learned you don’t tell people how to use your restaurant,” he recalls. “We opened Sylvan Park, and it wasn’t long before we brought in high chairs and put the changing tables in the restrooms. You weren’t always able to get a salad at M.L.Rose, but we changed that quickly.”

Not everything Ray touched turned to gold, though. He attempted to revitalize another Melrose tradition by bringing back The Sutler eight years after original owner Johnny Potts lost his lease. He also converted the basement of The Sutler into a cocktail bar called Rambler. Unfortunately, after seven years of trying, Ray closed both spots.

“The Sutler — that was an easy way to learn a hard lesson about the cost of live music in Nashville,” says Ray. “We thought that adding a music program to a restaurant wouldn’t cost too much, and you can get free music. You just don’t want it! And Rambler, that was a really pretty room that just happened to flood sometimes.”

While all of this was going on, Ray opened

yet another concept, his sausage-and-beer hall Von Elrod’s, just steps from the Nashville Sounds’ First Horizon Park in Germantown. Initially working with a fellow Gulch culinary pioneer, chef Jason Brumm of Radius10, to develop sausage recipes, Ray put together another of his outstanding beer lists to complete the biergarten vibe. Even as Von Elrod’s was growing, Ray also opened new M.L.Rose locations in Capitol View in 2017 and Mt. Juliet in 2021.

With 15 years of growth behind him, Ray still looks forward, recently announcing upcoming M.L.Rose locations in Inglewood as well as in Franklin, where he will take over a former Chili’s building on Columbia Avenue. The latest scoop is that the seventh M.L.Rose will open sometime in the next year in Gallatin at 2145 Nashville Pike. This newest announcement is the first time Ray has found a way to involve outside investors in the real estate at one of his restaurants, and the first time he’s raised money for an M.L.Rose, but he says it might not be the last.

With so many irons in the fire, why does Ray want to keep expanding? His answer is more about people than profits.

“I have a really amazing team of people who are smarter than I am in their fields,” Ray says.

“It’s a superpower. Seeing people come up

through the company feels good, and as the father of two, it’s deeply satisfying to foster development in humans.”

Over his career, Ray has seen big changes in the Nashville hospitality landscape, lived through recessions, tornadoes, a pandemic and periods of intense restaurant expansion and competition, but he has weathered the storms.

He also appreciates how lucky he has been along the way.

“It would be 10 times harder to open a neighborhood pub today,” he notes. “I hope landlords continue to identify talent and foster it like the ones who took a chance on me. I’ve got some clarity on what it takes to have success and how our neighborhoods react to what we’re doing. We can see it in our [profit and loss], but it took every bit of 15 years to get all these factors in place.”

He has one last cautionary note to share.

“It’s not lost on me how great it is to live close to where I work. A great city needs great restaurants and great people working in them at every level. Unfortunately, it’s becoming much more difficult for folks to live near where they work, and we have to do better at making that possible for them or the whole system breaks down.” ▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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THEATER

CHRISTMAS PRESENT

Nashville Rep welcomes the holidays with fresh and festive A Christmas Carol

BY AMY STUMPFL

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AS MANY TIMES as I’ve seen Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, I never seem to tire of its heartwarming message. Still, a fresh interpretation is always welcome. Nashville Repertory Theatre’s current staging certainly delivers in that regard, with a festive new adaptation from the Rep’s artistic director Micah-Shane Brewer.

Leaning into the joy of the holidays, Brewer has concocted a grand, family-friendly production that is brimming with warmth and spirit.

He’s added some lovely musical elements, from traditional carols to his own original tunes, with arrangements by music director Gregg Perry.

Brewer sets the tone with big company numbers such as “Almost Christmas Day” and “It’s Christmastime Again,” while the tender “Blessing” captures the simple gratitude of the season.

And I really appreciated the use of the carolers — with some of the actors accompanying themselves on guitar or violin — to help smooth out the many set changes.

Scenic designer Gary C. Hoff has pulled out all the stops with this one, creating a beautifully layered Victorian set (exquisitely lit by Michael Barnett) that is packed with clever details. Melissa Durmon’s colorful costumes are also quite eye-catching, and D.J. Pike’s projections add interest — whether guiding us through the streets of London or bringing Scrooge’s spectral door knocker to life.

I must admit I was less impressed by the fly-

ing effects used to enhance Scrooge’s ghostly adventures, although some youngsters in the audience were clearly delighted by them. I was far more excited by Brewer’s thoughtful adjustments to the storytelling, which add depth, dimension and even a bit of humor. An expanded scene involving the dear Fezziwigs is particularly effective, reminding us of the harsh choices that helped shape Ebenezer Scrooge’s miserable life. My only concern is that by setting so much of the action upstage, Brewer risks losing the impact of the tale’s more subtle moments.

Still, he has gathered a sensational cast, featuring some of Nashville’s most trusted players.

Brian Webb Russell is gloriously ghoulish as Jacob Marley. Brian Charles Rooney is picture perfect as the Ghost of Christmas Present, with flowing robes and a booming voice. Galen Fott and Denice Hicks bring a great deal of substance to the fun-loving Fezziwigs, while Eric D. Pasto-Crosby and Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva embrace the quiet cheer and dignity of the Cratchits. There are several notable Rep debuts here as well, including Kris Sidberry (positively ethereal as the Ghost of Christmas Past), Evan Fenne (dashing as young Ebenezer) and Max Fleischhacker (sweet and earnest as Scrooge’s nephew, Fred).

But the evening belongs to Matthew Carlton and his marvelous performance as Scrooge.

According to the program notes, Carlton — who

played Scrooge’s nephew in the Rep’s 1990 production of A Christmas Carol — has always seen the old miser as a sort of “bucket-list” role.

And he tears into the part with relish — from his first caustic “Bah, humbug!” to his final merry jig. But watch closely as he journeys through past, present and future — it’s in these quiet moments that he reveals his character’s greatest sorrows and regrets. It’s here that Carlton’s Scrooge earns his redemption — and in turn allows us to envision a world where such change is actually possible.

Could this new adaptation have gone even further in exploring the dark realities of Victorian England that first inspired Dickens’ 1843 novella? I wonder if a bit more grit and gloom might have made Scrooge’s awakening even more potent. But if you’re looking for a feel-good show to get your family in the holiday spirit, the Rep’s charming take on A Christmas Carol is sure to fit the bill. ▼

Nashville Rep Presents A Christmas Carol Through Dec. 17 at TPAC’s Polk Theater

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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FOLLOWING HER National Book Award-winning 2017 novel Sing Unburied, Sing, Jesmyn Ward returns with Let Us Descend, the story of an enslaved young woman, Annis, who is sold south by the white enslaver who raped her mother.

Annis is not only a young woman — she is also a warrior. Or at the very least, she has been trained as such from childhood by her mother during clandestine practice fights in the antebellum night. It is this instilled warrior mentality that will carry Annis through her descent into darkness.

The novel’s title alludes to Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, the first part of his 14th-century epic poem The Divine Comedy. Inferno follows Dante on his necessary journey through the concentric circles of hell, toward a spiritual enlightenment.

Ward draws an important parallel early in the novel, when Annis overhears instruction on the plantation: The tutor is telling a story of a man, an ancient Italian, who is walking down into hell. The hell he travels has levels like my father’s house. The tutor says: “‘Let us descend,’ the poet now began, ‘and enter this blind world,’” and his words echo through me. I hear the sighs: the summer wind pushing slant at the house, the wood groaning, but instead of the Italian poet descending into hell, I see my mother toiling in the hell of this house.

Annis first identifies her mother as a type of Dante. But as the novel progresses, we find that Annis herself is also a version of Dante, following

various tutors (older, wiser enslaved people) into the deepening circles of hell. “I wonder if the Italian man felt like this on his downward walk, wonder if his mind snagged on all in the upper world that ever bought him ease and pleasure.”

She is forced to walk along with her intimate friend Safi and several other chained men and roped women to New Orleans. The road is redearthed. It is not merely hellish. It is hell.

The language throughout the book is otherworldly, which befits Ward’s genre-combining style. It is at once period piece and fantasy. “The world is thick with spirit, Mama said, and if you call it, you should gift it: trinkets of shells and cloth made only for their beauty, nose-pinching herbs and ripe fruit. I got nothing but my split feet, my skin growing to the rope, and my blood in the sand. I got nothing but myself.”

Words like “sere” and “nursemaid,” which Annis uses to describe her enslaved mother, bring the reader back to this dim period in American history. The narrator refers to her enslaver as her sire, which seems to subvert the usual indignities that go along with the word master. If he is her sire and not her master, she recognizes a relationship of power but is not defined by it.

It is interesting to note that the wind, the trees, the rivers are all characters in this novel, evoking a type of animism historically associated with African cultures. It adds a layer of richness to the tone of the work. Ward writes: “I would sweep you along to the ocean and islands yonder, the river murmurs. The wood rips from my hands, takes skin with it, draws blood. More offering. The river laughs.” These natural char-

acters experience a type of freedom that seems to reveal possibilities to Annis. The rivers, the trees can commit acts or serve as conduits to liberation.

The novel is flavored by a hunger for freedom — not merely the freedom from enslavement, but freedom toward the kind of self-determination that recognizes one’s own desires. Annis reflects, “I want. I want to grow my hair long, to find food and feed myself without hiding, to sit in the sunlight and scratch the worry out my scalp, to breathe without fear and terror choking me, to choose my seconds, to choose my minutes, to choose my days. I done suffered enough.”

Let Us Descend is about grief and belonging, but it is not merely about belonging to community and home; it is about belonging to oneself.

As the protagonist realizes at last, “They [the enslavers] will want what they believe is theirs.”

The most empowering course of action then, is to take oneself back, to believe, as Annis does, in the voices of the rivers, the trees, the wind and the ancestors — all guides through hell.

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

Let Us Descend

By Jesmyn Ward Scribner 320 pages, $28

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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A SLEIGH RIDE with GALE MAYES as MS. PUDDIN’ COLE RITTER CHRISTMAS SPECIAL with Special Guests SIXWIRE & FRIENDS

SOL

12/11 TUE

12/12 WED

12/13 THU

12/14

FEATURED

12/31

1/17

GUILTY PLEASURES NEW YEARS EVE!!

PAKT FEATURING PERCY JONES, ALEX SKOLNICK, KENNY GROHOWSKI, TIM MOTZER

1/21

2/14

VERA BLOOM WITH BADCULTURE

VALENTINES DAY WITH WENDY MOTEN

12/15 PAT MCLAUGHLIN BAND 12/16 PAUL THORN WITH ABE PARTRIDGE 12/17 PAUL THORN WITH CHIP GREENE 12/18 BLUEBIRD ON 3RD 12/18 ANNIE & THE BIG BAND CHRISTMAS 12/19 THE FRENCH CONNEXION 12/20 THE SOUNDS OF SINATRA 12/21 CHELEY TACKETT’S HOLIDAY BASH 12/22 12 AGAINST NATURE + MAKE ME SMILE 12/23 RUBIKS GROOVE CHRISTMAS SHOW 12/27 JIMMY HALL AND THE PRISONERS OF LOVE

12/28 EAST NASH GRASS 12/29 RESURRECTION: A JOURNEY TRIBUTE 12/30 THE LONG PLAYERS PERFORM THE BEATLES “RUBBER SOUL” 12/31 GUILTY PLEASURES NEW YEARS EVE 1/3 HIPPIES AND COWBOYS + PAUL MCDONALD & THE MOURNING DOVES 1/4 THE ZAPPA EXPERIENCE 1/5 THE BEAST STREET BAND 1/6 THE PETTY JUNKIES WITH SINCLAIR 1/8 ELVIS’ 89TH BIRTHDAY BASH 1/9 THE HERCULEONS

1/18 SAVANNAH BURROWS WITH MOLLY FORBES & MAURA STREPPA

3/7 TEDDY THOMPSON PRESENTS MY LOVE OF COUNTRY

COMING SOON oct

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ron artis II w/ Kapali Long Upcoming shows dec 7 kashena sampson & lilly hiatt (7pm) dec 7 Taxiway w/ shlomo franklin & lb beistad (9pm) dec 8 Zoe Walega, Kayla Woodson, Laura Sabadosh dec 9 ron artis ii w/ Kapali Long (7pm) dec 9 gloom girl mfg w/ girl tones & iguanahead (9pm) dec 10 jake kohn w/ zac townsend dec 11 Sally Hill, LINNEA, Willa Mae, and Hannah Flora dec 13 meryl rudy w/ vinje (7pm) dec 13 Bruce Ervin, Taylor Jensen, Robyn Robichaud, and Body Electric (9pm) dec 14 Jake Hoot and Jamie Floyd (7pm) dec 14 electric python w/ maanta raay (9pm)

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12/10

jake kohn w/ Zac Townsend dec 15 creature comfort w/ julia cannon & gil costello dec 16 Joel Guptill w/ adam Simons (7pm) dec 17 wild the coyote w/ Ragtop Reddy, Walt Flames, &

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dec 20 dallas ugly w/ angela autumn (7pm) dec 20 daisychain w/ the garden of eden & calico mantra (9pm) dec 21 Lawndry, Kyle Hamlett Cinco, Gold Light dec 22 Supper Club jan 4 there go i, john louis band jan 6 Blackwater Down jan 10 Of The Dell with The Bumbs (7pm) jan 10 Sammy Arriaga (9pm)

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

1/11 WILLIAM LEE GOLDEN & THE GOLDENS 1/12 SMOKING SECTION 1/13 GEORGE DUCAS WITH WHISKEY TRIPPERS 1/13 THE CLEVERLYS 1/14 THE MINKS WITH THE LOVE-IN & ALICIAL GAIL 1/19 THE EAGLEMANIACS 1/123 THE HERCULEONS 1/24 RED WANTING BLUE 1/26 OCIE ELLIOTT WITH JOSHUA HYSLOP SOLD OUT!

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MUSIC

NEED A LITTLE MUSIC, NEED A LITTLE LAUGHTER The McCrary Sisters gear up for A McCrary Kind of Christmas

A McCrary Kind of Christmas 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 8 at Riverside Revival, 1600 Riverside Drive

THE McCRARY SISTERS’ annual Christmas show, A McCrary Kind of Christmas, is one of Nashville’s best-loved holiday traditions. Each year, the widely acclaimed gospel group taps friends and fellow artists to join them for an evening of seasonal music, raising money for charity and local families in the process.

Now in its 14th year, the multi-artist celebration sets up shop at a new location on Friday: the relatively new Inglewood venue Riverside Revival. A beautiful space in a repurposed church, it’s a fitting locale for the McCrarys, who will be joined by a stacked guest roster that includes Emmylou Harris, Margo Price, Buddy Miller and more.

As always, A McCrary Kind of Christmas will raise money for causes close to the sisters’ hearts. This year’s ticket proceeds will go to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and to a small group of local families. The McCrarys will also collect additional donations via GoFundMe; at press time, the campaign set a goal of raising $14,000. If you can’t make it out to the show, you can watch a livestream of the performance through streaming platform Veeps, with proceeds from passes benefiting those in need too.

The Scene caught up with Alfreda “Freda” McCrary and Ann McCrary in advance of the show to chat about holiday traditions, growing up singing as a family and coming together to help others. Regina McCrary, who rounds out the group, was unavailable to join the call due to a prior commitment. Deborah McCrary, called “the singing nurse” by her sisters, passed away in June 2022.

“We decided to give back,” Freda says. “We had been blessed to be able to work and to do a lot of things. We’ve heard a lot of stories from a lot of people that will come up to us and tell us stories about having hard times. So we just decided to give back if we could. We had our first [Christmas] show in December 14 years ago, and we had four families [in need]. We decided to give whatever we raised to the four families.

And we decided to continue it to keep it going.

As the years went on, we were able to add some of our friends and different artists to come and help us and be a part of this.”

As the years went on, the McCrarys added raising money for St. Jude to their charitable efforts. They’ve also donated to MusiCares and Music Health Alliance through past shows.

Though they haven’t kept a running tally of the money they’ve donated since that first Christmas show, the number is surely in the tens of thousands, if not more. Guest artists lend their time and talents for free.

That financial impact is crucial to the McCrarys’ mission, but so too is spreading joy and love during a season that can be difficult for many people. Freda and Ann share that they first began singing Christmas music together as children, with their late brother, Donald Ray McCrary, providing accompaniment on the piano. It’s a treasured tradition for the family that they’re grateful to be able to share with the Nashville community.

And it’s one that’s drawn many regulars, as both sisters note seeing familiar faces in the audience each year. Having a livestreaming option also enables some regulars who might otherwise miss the show to enjoy a night of music too.

“I was talking to a lady earlier today, and she’s been faithful, and she used to come out all the time,” Ann says. “But she’s kind of sick in her body right now, and so now she’s trying to figure out how she can see the show. So I told

PHOTO: JEFF FASANO

BY BRITTNEY McKENNA

her about the Veeps stream, and she’s going to do it that way.”

At press time, in-person tickets are still available. The full roster of guests is extensive: In addition to Harris, Price and Miller, Kyla Jade, Etta and Bob Britt, Tammy and Steve Crawford, the Travis Logan Unity Choir, Bizz, Danny and Mabel Flowers, Gayle Mays, Dwight Ross, Will Barrow and Dave Pomeroy are all set to join in.

Both Freda and Ann hint that some surprise guests — folks who you’re likely to know — are a possibility as well.

Once they wrap up the holiday season, the McCrarys will kick off 2024 at full steam, hopping aboard the Delbert McClinton and Friends Sandy Beaches Cruise in early January. They’re also working on new music and hope to release a full-length album at some point during the year, though no firm plans are in place yet. Until then, though, Freda, Ann and Regina are firmly in Christmas mode, ready to share their talents and tidings with the Nashville community and beyond.

“It gets better and better every year,” Ann says. “We just appreciate everybody who comes out and helps.” ▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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12/4/23 4:34 PM

LOST AND FOUND

After decades on the shelf, Todd Snider’s Crank It, We’re Doomed finally gets its turn in the spotlight SIXTEEN YEARS AGO, Todd Snider made the decision to shelve an album that was mastered and about to be sent to the manufacturer.

Crank It, We’re Doomed was the culmination of a period of frenzied creativity for Snider, but he had doubts about it.

“At the time, it felt like I was singing about too many things, and there was no theme,” Snider tells the Scene during an interview at his home outside Nashville. “But I also remember feeling like it wasn’t done either, like it needed more songs. I think I wanted it to be a masterpiece, and I knew it wasn’t.”

Over the years, the stereo master of Crank It, We’re Doomed was misplaced, and no copies could be found — it was literally a lost album.

But that all changed in the spring when Snider learned that mastering engineer Jim DeMain still had the original master files. After hearing the record for the first time in more than a decade, Snider decided he had been mistaken about the album, which led to it finally being released Nov. 10 via Aimless Records.

In many ways, Crank It, We’re Doomed is the missing link between the two albums that represent Snider’s artistic breakout (East Nashville Skyline and The Devil You Know) and the acclaimed recordings that followed (Peace Queer, The Excitement Plan and Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables). It also foreshadowed his garageband side project and alter ego, Elmo Buzz and the Eastside Bulldogs.

Snider recorded Crank It with the same core of musicians and producers whom he worked with on Skyline and Devil, including co-producers Eric McConnell and Will Kimbrough, drummer Paul Griffith and violinist Molly Thomas. Like those albums, Crank It was cut at McConnell’s East Nashville studio. Snider envisioned the Stones’ Exile on Main Street, Dylan’s Desire and The Beatles’ The White Album as sonic touchstones for the record. He and his collaborators hit the mark.

“Listening to it now, I feel like it was me and Eric and Kimbrough’s best moment,” Snider says. “I wish I could have been more aware of that at the time, because the three of us had found what I thought was my sound, and it was our third time to go for it.”

Some of the album’s 15 tracks will be familiar to Snider’s fans. Four of the recordings surfaced on Peace Queer, and another was included on The Excitement Plan. That album also featured several more Crank It songs, newly arranged and recorded with producer Don Was in Los Angeles.

Agnostic Hymns includes a new arrangement of Jimmy Buffett’s “West Nashville Grand Ballroom Gown”; an earlier version is on Crank It. In many cases, Snider aficionados will prefer the original recordings of the songs that appear here.

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PHOTO: STACIE HUCKEBA

BY DARYL SANDERS

Crank It, We’re Doomed out now via Aimless Records

There also are a number of previously unreleased tracks. “Juice” is a funky, churning slice of garage rock full of East Nashville references and insider jokes. “But Seriously Folks” shows Snider’s Texas songwriting roots, while “What Made You Do It” is Snider’s reaction to Billy Joe Shaver shooting a man outside a bar in Lorena, Texas, in 2007.

The record’s most interesting track is

“Mercer’s Folly.” The title is a nod to one of Snider’s most important mentors, legendary British record man Bob Mercer, who gave Snider two of his record deals. By the time Snider recorded Agnostic Hymns in 2011, the song had morphed into two songs. He took the lyrics from “Mercer’s Folly” and paired them with a new melody for “Big Finish,” and used the original melody for “Brenda,” his homage to Mick Jagger

and Keith Richards.

Looking back on the Crank It sessions now, Snider is quick to credit McConnell for helping him and his longtime musical collaborator Kimbrough find the sound he was seeking in that moment.

“I was trying to come up with an original sound, and Eric deserves the most credit for that.

He was the visionary.” ▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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12/4/23 4:34 PM

MUSIC: THE SPIN

IN THE GOLDEN LIGHT OF THE MARQUEE

BY ADDIE MOORE THE FLYER FOR Saturday’s all-locals bill at

The East Room promised “a night of synthesizers + garage pop.” Eardrummer and Fetching Pails

PHOTOS: STEPHEN TRAGESER

helped us all ignore the rotten weather and the impending specter of Christmas for a couple of hours with differing flavors of synth-driven rock, while Evan P. Donohue transcended the garage-pop label with a sound and image that are equal parts retro and timeless.

Opening act Eardrummer paired two established local names — Adrienne Franke and Eve Maret — for one of their first live gigs as a duo.

respiratory illness that’s been going around. To paint a clearer picture of Townsend’s influences, she and her bandmates worked up a stunning live cover of “Goodbye Horses,” the enigmatic Q Lazzarus song that’s become synonymous with The Silence of the Lambs, to close the set.

In the main event, Donohue and bandmates Coley Hinson (bass) and Josh Minyard (drums) conjured up psychedelic pop vibes that gelled well with the venue’s miniature light show capability and its impeccable sound system. A few new songs got a test drive, and the trio stunned with a scorching, true-to-the-original cover of Shocking Blue’s “Send Me a Postcard” — the ’60s garage nugget that’s regularly misidentified as a Jefferson Airplane tune. Yet the highest of highs came when Donohue and friends dug into the 2020 album Page of Wands, specifically “Open the Curtain,” “Borrowed Moment in the Sun,” “High in the Country” and best of all, the powerpop-meets-AM-gold stunner “Hangin’ Up the Party Line.”

WELL-SUITED: EVAN P. DONOHUE

Guitar accompaniment by both flavored their electronic patchworks, with Maret also chipping in at times on bass. “Planet Orange” was introduced as “the funky one,” with no mention of its namesake being the galactic source of green milk. (OK, not everyone is conversant with Japanese progressive psychedelia — but if you’re not, Green Milk From the Planet Orange’s newly remastered City Calls Revolution is a great place to start.) “Planet Orange” and the entrancing “Space Freeway” sounded as vibrant live as they do on one of the year’s best debut albums by a local act.

A member of defunct experimental quintet Nightblonde, Jill Townsend primarily flew solo in 2019 when home-recording Telekinesis for Beginners, her stellar debut as Fetching Pails.

She brought “Shearer” and other goth-pop standouts to life after Eardrummer’s set, playing synths while joined by Dillon Smith (aka Faster Is Faster) on guitar and Andrew Core on drums.

Townsend’s voice proved to be the most compelling and commanding instrument onstage the entire night — though staggeringly, it might not have been at 100 percent. Per a preset disclaimer, she was just getting over an upper

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For the uninitiated, Donohue co-founded local garage-punk luminaries Diarrhea Planet in 2009. He went on to run live sound for years for Margo Price, and he and his bandmates have played and recorded with Price’s husband Jeremy Ivey as The Extraterrestrials. Dononue’s more than a reminder of the Infinity Cat Recordings heyday — a time when Nashville had no less of a place at the garage-punk table than Memphis or Atlanta. Instead, his music represents the deep creative well that persists in town and springs eternal at spots like The East Room. Overall, familiar faces from the vicinity of East Nashville proved that their music’s as vital as ever before. ▼

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11/30/23 1:14 PM

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

12/4/23 4:34 PM

FILM

HOW DO YOU LIVE?

With The Boy and the Heron, Miyazaki reflects on his own legacy

BY KEN ARNOLD HAYAO MIYAZAKI IS probably the single most renowned director of animated films. Two of his movies have even earned coveted spots on Sight and Sound’s most recent top 100 — Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro, the only animated movies on the list. The now-82-year-old filmmaker founded the prestigious Studio Ghibli with his friend Isao Takahata and not only established a large cultural footprint in Japan, but also brought the world of Japanese animation to the forefront of Western culture, winning the second Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2003 for Spirited Away. His work has inspired many to push the medium of animation into new territory. And so when the legendary director announced his return after a near-decade hiatus, there was a lot of anticipation. The wait is now over, as The Boy and the Heron lands in theaters everywhere this week.

In the Pacific Theater during World War II, 12-year-old Mahito (voiced in Japanese by Soma Santoki) loses his mom in a Tokyo hospital fire.

One year later, his father (Takuya Kimura) has remarried and moved to the countryside, while Mahito still struggles with the death of his mother. In his family’s new estate, Mahito is told by a gray heron (Masaki Suda) that his mother is still alive. Mahito then follows the heron to the ruins of an old tower, which leads to an alternate world beyond time and death, filled with fantastical creatures including fascist man-eating parakeets.

The Boy and the Heron PG-13, 124 minutes; in Japanese with English subtitles Now playing at the Belcourt and Regal and AMC locations

First and foremost: The visual style and animation of The Boy and the Heron are among the best Studio Ghibli has ever produced. While not as visually distinctive as Takahata’s The Tale of Princess Kaguya, it features a mastery of the style that most people associate with the studio. Complemented by subtle, masterful scoring from legendary composer Joe Hisaishi, the film builds an audiovisual experience that warrants the premium ticket price of IMAX. But beneath the film’s visual aesthetic you’ll find a very personal tale of grief. Miyazaki uses his 12th feature as a reflection on his life and career, with elements of the auteur’s previous

ORCHESTRAL MANEUVERS Maestro proves Bradley Cooper is here to stay as a major director

BY LOGAN BUTTS IN A POST-Dewey Cox world, it’s hard to make a sincere Great Musician biopic and come out unscathed. Maestro is the rare film that actually proves the subgenre still has some life left in it.

Here Bradley Cooper follows up 2018’s critically and commercially successful A Star Is Born remake with another musically focused star/director/ co-writer outing — and he pours everything into Maestro. Say what you want about Netflix’s auteur-driven efforts (they almost always feel about an edit away from making that crucial good-to-great leap), but the streaming giant usually gives its directors carte blanche. Maestro is no exception.

Recent attempts at Great Musician stories have debuted to varying degrees of success, but none has really moved the needle creatively. Interestingly, Cooper’s lived-in performance as Jackson Maine in A Star Is Born lost the Best Actor race to Rami Malek’s over-the-top theatrics in the shockingly successful Bohemian Rhapsody — a classic example of an old-school Great Musician biopic — at that year’s Academy Awards. Maestro is more experimental than other recent biopics. It aesthetically resembles works from Old Hollywood (in both its color and black-and-white segments), but the way scenes and time periods bleed into one another feels more indebted to ’60s European cinema.

Cooper once again gives it his all in front of and behind the camera. His performance as Leonard Bernstein is fully committed, capital-A Acting, but he is stretched a bit thin at times with everything this wide-ranging role re-

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11 works sprinkled throughout. It’s almost as if he made this one solely for himself. This being likely the most abstract work of Miyazaki’s filmography, it rides at its own pace and therefore might leave some audience members confused.

That said, those who are on its wavelength are in for a treat. Heron is at its best when the viewer has the mental building blocks of previous entries to serve as a foundation. Miyazaki seems to use this film as a means of exploring his emotions surrounding the loss of his own mother near the start of his career, and how his life’s work is inspired by her — his filmography serves as an immortalization of his memories of her

quires. I’d like to see what he could do while operating strictly behind the camera in his next outing. That’s not because he’s not a talented actor, but because it’d be interesting to see what a Bradley Cooper movie looks like when the director isn’t also in every scene.

About two-thirds of the way through Maestro, an extended scene featuring Bernstein conducting gives Cooper the chance to spread his wings as both a performer and a director. It’s a moving moment that signals a tonal shift toward the film’s more emotional final act. It also signals that the story belongs just as much to Carey Mulligan’s Felicia Montealegre — that’s a key shift from the usual focus of Great Musician biopics, in which a legendary performer’s partner is often flimsily written, ignored or outright forgotten.

Mulligan, shot to accentuate her Old Hollywood look and voice, is mesmerizing as the Broadway performer who became Bernstein’s wife and lodestar. Montealegre is not quite Bernstein’s muse — despite their shared interest in the arts, we don’t often see them collaborating in the film — but she keeps him level. The somehow Oscar-less Mulligan (also a riot in a small role in Emerald Fennell’s divisive recent thriller Saltburn) should be included in any Best Actress conversations during awards season. It’s one of her best performances yet.

Other notable performers show up throughout, including Maya Hawke and Sarah Silverman (the latter in a rare dramatic role!) as members of the

and his other loved ones.

After the long wait, Miyazaki has delivered a film that is an audiovisual masterpiece with an abstract narrative. It might not resonate with all audience members, and could indeed alienate first-time Ghibli viewers, but it’s open for interpretation to those who want to dig in deeper.

Is this the end of Miyzaki’s filmography? That remains to be seen. But whether The Boy and the Heron is a strong finish or a good sign of what’s to come, after 10 years of retirement, Miyazaki has shown he can still make high-quality cinema. ▼

Maestro R, 129 minutes Opening Friday, Dec. 8, at the Belcourt; streaming Dec. 20 via Netflix

Bernstein family, and Matt Bomer and Josh Hamilton as figures in Bernstein’s social circle. But the movie belongs to Mulligan and Cooper. Their performances, and Cooper’s clear affection for Bernstein and for filmmaking as a whole, raise the film above recent entries in the biopic genre. But it also shows what the genre is now capable of. Just look at last year’s Tár, the biopic of a (yes, fictional) musician that wasn’t boxed in by worries about historical accuracy and artist estates.

Even with the film’s flaws, there’s a reason Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg signed off as producers of Maestro. It’s a classic second movie — a little less conventionally entertaining matinee Hollywood, a little more cerebral and rough around the edges. It might not be as rewatchable as A Star Is Born, but it proves that Cooper is here to stay as a major director. ▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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Sign up for your daily dose via the Daily Scene Newsletter NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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BACK OF THE BOOK ACROSS 1

Jack, but not Jill

5

What a freezer can do,

68

Cozy places

31

Place for a swing set

69

Gathering, casually

32

Pulitzer-winning author Jennifer

33

Seized car, for short

DOWN

34

“Let’s see what you’ve got”

paradoxically 9

Pet safety org.

1

Some recyclables

38

More than a want

13

Non-Muppet owner of Hooper’s

2

___ shirt (colorful attire)

39

Actress Pinkett Smith

3

Rushed through the door

40

Word after blow or bowl

4

Valuable resource for the Human

43

Psychedelic journey

Genome Project

Store on “Sesame Street” 14

Common default font

16

“Do you mind?!”

45

To the extent that

17

“Beg your pardo_”

5

Steamed bun in Chinese cuisine

47

Investment goals

19

Like some wolves

6

Something underlined in many

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Member of a 1970s singing family

20

___ Inu (Japanese dog)

49

Resign, with “down”

21

Smear

7

Total hoot

52

Functional

22

Features of many “On my way”

8

Japanese Olympics city

texts

53

Kicks back

9

Bargain indicator

Not digital

54

To-do

23

10

Ruin a picture of, in a way

“Cool beans!”

55

“That clears it up”

26

11

John of wrestling fame

Badly

57

Thin woodwind

28

12

Hawkeye State college town

59

Meta field

15

U-shaped instruments

62

Many lifetimes

18

El ___ Alto, California redwood

63

Low-ranking U.S.M.C. officers

dilapida_ed 32

“Red” explorer

35

Measurement that can be short or long

bibliographies

that’s more than 1,000 years old 24

Palindromic man’s name

25

Classic Pontiacs

27

Literary character who cries “Talk

36

Ancient marketplace

37

Citrine, for one

38

_ _cretary

not to me of blasphemy, man; I’d

41

Former Russian orbiter

strike the sun if it insulted me”

42

Fruit eaten on the Jewish New

29

Standing upright

Year

30

Creamy cheese

44

___ system (GPS)

45

Not up

46

Pe_ _ _phone

50

Two early Icelandic literary works

51

Like a certain Dodger

54

Punch ingredient?

56

“As I see it,” to a texter

58

Really bother

60

Grp. that launched 41-Across

61

Championship

EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ

NO. 1102

PUZZLE BY CHASE DITTRICH AND CHRISTINA IVERSON

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE

_ _ _t 64

Quarter follower

65

Elitist sort

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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LEGALS NOTICE OF SUCCESSOR TRUSTEE’S SALE WHEREAS, Audrey Price acquired improved property located at 810 Bellevue Rd, Unit 120, Building # 6, Nashville, Tennessee 37221, by that Special Warranty Deed of record at Instrument No. 201008310069040, Register’s Office of Davidson County, Tennessee, as well as that Warranty Deed at Instrument No. 200706150071628, said Register’s Office, which conveyance was expressly subject to easements, restrictive covenants and conditions, and other matters of record; and

WHEREAS by that Master Deed Establishing a Horizontal Property Regime “Peppertree”, Creekside Meadows Condominiums dated July 15, 1974, of record in Book 4834, Page 257, Register’s Office of Davidson County, Tennessee, as subsequently amended, including at Book 6874, Page 354 (collectively referred to as the “Master Deed”) and those Bylaws for the Administration of Creekside Meadows Association, Inc., of record in Book 4834, Page 297, Register’s Office of Davidson County, Tennessee (collectively the “Declarations”), James H. Brewer, as Trustee for Developer, submitted and subjected all of the land described therein to all the provisions, covenants, conditions and restrictions set forth in said Master Deed and Declarations; and WHEREAS, Creekside Meadows Association, Inc. (“Creekside”) is the duly created governing body for the owners of all the units subjected to said Master Deed and amendments to the Master Deed; and WHEREAS, the Master Deed and Declarations create a lien in favor of Creekside for assessments for common charges and expenses, attorney’s fees and costs incurred for collection duly levied against the lots subject to said Master Deed and Declarations; and WHEREAS, there has been a default with respect to the obligation to pay assessments for common expenses with regard to a certain lot, subject to the Master Deed and Declarations, and described more specifically herein, and Creekside has asserted a lien on such lot by that Notice of Lien of record at Instrument No. 20190904-0088857, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, and by that Agreed Order Resolving Plaintiff’s Motion for Partial and Final Summary Judgment of record at Instrument No. 202307190055714, said Register’s Office, as well as a lien under the Master Deed and Declarations for other and later amounts due to Creekside; and WHEREAS, Creekside, the owner and holder of the lien created by the Master Deed and Declarations, has demanded payment of the delinquent assessments as to

the said lot, and payment has not been made (as well as subsequent amounts coming due), and Creekside has directed that said property be sold, with such sale to be conducted as ordered by the Davidson County Chancery Court in an Order Directing Judicial Sale of Real Property Pursuant to HOA Documents (the “Sale Order”), as well as pursuant to the provisions of the Master Deed and Declarations and applicable Tennessee law (including Tenn.

Code Ann. § 66-27-415); and WHEREAS, for the limited purpose of enforcement of said lien, all of the property subjected to the said Master Deed was transferred and conveyed unto James H. Brewer, Trustee, his successors and assigns, reserving an authorization and empowerment to name and appoint a successor in trust to execute this trust exercisable by the owner and holder of the above described lien, all as set forth in the Master Deed; and David M. Anthony was duly appointed Successor Trustee in an instrument of record in Instrument No. 2019109010103592 (as well as later instrument filings), Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee; and NOW, THEREFORE, Notice is hereby given that David M. Anthony, Successor Trustee, by virtue of the power, duty and authority vested in and imposed upon him, will on Wednesday, December 27, 2023, at 11:00 a.m on the steps of the historic Davidson County Courthouse, Public Square, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, offer for sale the property hereinafter described, to the highest bidder for cash, at public outcry, free from the statutory right of redemption, homestead, dower, and all other exemptions of every kind, all of which have been expressly waived in the Master Deed. Said property is more particularly described as follows: Building Number 6, Unit Number 120, and Garage Number(s) 3, on the Plan of “Peppertree”, Creekside Meadows Condominiums of record in Book 4675, Page 128

through 130, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee together with all fixtures, appliances, wallcoverings, carpets or other improvements therein and the undivided interest in the common elements appurtenant thereto, all being more particularly described in the Master Deed and By-Laws of record in Book 4834, Pages 257 through 312, as amended in Book 4984, Page 174, Book 5045, Page 800, Book 5086, Page 80, and Book 5259, Page 5, Register’s Office of Davidson County, Tennessee, and the Charter of Creekside Meadows Association, Inc., of record in Book 4836, Page 610, Register’s Office of Davidson County, Tennessee, to which plat reference is hereby made for a more particular description of said property.

Being the same property conveyed to Audrey Price a/k/a Aubrey Price by Special Warranty Deed of record at Instrument No. 201008310069040, Register’s Office of Davidson County, Tennessee, as well as that Warranty Deed at Instrument No. 200706150071628, said Register’s Office.

Map & Parcel No.: 142-06-OA-120.00 CO Street Address: The street address of the property is believed to be 810 Bellevue Road, Unit 120, Building # 6, Nashville, TN 37221, but such address is not part of the legal description of the property. In the event of any discrepancy, the legal description herein shall control.

CURRENT OWNER(S): Audrey Price OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES: Nashville Electric Service; FV-1, Inc. in Trust for Morgan Stanley Mortgage Capital Holdings LLC; Joshua J. Phillips, Esq.; Ray McClain THIS PROPERTY IS SOLD AS IS, WHERE IS AND WITH ALL FAULTS AND WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER, WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, AND SUBJECT TO ANY PRIOR LIENS

OR ENCUMBRANCES, IF ANY. WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, THE PROPERTY IS SOLD WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, RELATING TO TITLE, MARKETABILITY OF TITLE, POSSESSION, QUIET ENJOINMENT OR THE LIKE AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, CONDITION, QUALITY OR FITNESS FOR A GENERAL OR PARTICULAR USE OR PURPOSE. TERMS OF SALE (as stated in Sale Order): Cash, Certified Check, or Receipt on Judgment from Plaintiff. Pursuant to Sale Order: high bidder will be required to execute a written sale agreement at conclusion of bidding; Creekside is allowed to credit bid; redemption rights and equity of redemption are waived, pursuant to Master Deed and Declarations; the sale shall be approved and confirmed by the Davidson County Chancery Court, the Court which issued the Sale Order; and Substitute Trustee shall provide a deed after entry of the order of confirmation of the sale and after confirmation of payment to Substitute Trustee.

As to all or any part of the Property, the right is reserved to (i) delay, continue or adjourn the sale to another time certain or to another day and time certain, without further publication and in accordance with law, upon announcement of said delay, continuance or adjournment on the day and time and place of sale set forth above or any subsequent delayed, continued or adjourned day and time and place of sale; (ii) sell at the time fixed by this Notice or the date and time of the last delay, continuance or adjournment or to give new notice of sale; (iii) sell in such lots, parcels, segments, or separate estates as Substitute Trustee may choose; (iv) sell any part and delay, continue, adjourn, cancel, or postpone the sale of any part of the Property; (v) sell in whole and then sell in parts and consummate the sale in whichever manner produces the highest sale price; (vi) and/ or to sell to the next highest bidder in the event any high bidder does not comply with the terms

of the sale.

Subject to validity and enforceability, this sale may be subject to a Deed of Trust recorded in Instrument No. 200706150071629, Register’s Office of Davidson County, Tennessee, and that lien at 200711010128605, said Register’s Office.

The sale is further subject to all matters shown on any applicable recorded Plat or Plan; any unpaid taxes and assessments (plus penalties, interest, and costs) which exist as a lien against said property; any restrictive covenants, easements or setback lines that may be applicable; any rights of redemption, equity, statutory or otherwise, not otherwise waived in the relevant documents, including rights of redemption of any governmental agency, state or federal; and any and all prior deeds of trust, liens, dues, assessments, encumbrances, defects, adverse claims and other matters that may take priority over the instruments upon which this foreclosure sale is conducted or are not extinguished by this Sale. This sale is also subject to any matter that an inspection and accurate survey of the property might disclose.

The sale will be conducted subject (1) to confirmation that the sale is not prohibited under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and (2) to final confirmation and audit of the status of the debt pursuant to the said Master Deed.

THIS IS AN ATTEMPT TO COLLECT A DEBT, AND ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE. David M. Anthony, Substitute Trustee EXO LEGAL PLLC PO Box 121616 Nashville, Tennessee 37212 david@exolegal.com Telephone: (615) 869-0634 NSC: 11/23, 11/30, 12/7, 12/14, 12/21/23

EMPLOYMENT Manager, IT eCommerce Development. Manage the development and deployment of WebSphere Commerce and contribute to the overall architecture of the e-commerce landscape for a major retailer.

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Nashville, TN. Oversee data and modeling systems automation and integration.

Opportunity to telecommute from within the Nashville, TN area for up to 3 days per week, as feasible. Resume to gene.boerger@preverity.co m, Reference Job 1326.

Team Lead, IT WCS Development. Responsible for a team that implements, unit tests, deploys, maintains, and supports features for all consumer brand e-commerce sites for a major retailer. Employer: Tractor Supply Company.

Location: Headquarters in Brentwood, TN. May telecommute from any location in the U.S. Multiple openings. To apply, mail resume (no calls/e-mails) to S. Case, 5401 Virginia Way, Brentwood, TN 37027 and reference job code 23-0213.

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2023 • nashvillescene.com

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