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HOW TEACHER SHORTAGES AFFECT STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES >> PAGE 7

FEBRUARY 1–7, 2024 I VOLUME 43 I NUMBER 1 I NASHVILLESCENE.COM I FREE

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State leaders return to Nashville to consider laws related to abortion, education and the ongoing culture wars

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CONTENTS NEWS

7 How Teacher Shortages Affect Students With Disabilities MNPS currently has roughly 170 open teacher positions

BY KELSEY BEYELER

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

11 COVER PACKAGE: STATE OF PLAY 12 Republican Supermajority Returns to Frontlines of Culture War Bills already filed by the GOP this session target Pride flags, transgender health care and books

BY MATT MASTERS

14 How Long Can the City-State Détente Last?

Leaders at Metro, state legislature signal smoother sailing ahead

BY STEPHEN ELLIOTT

14 Abortion Ban Exceptions, Opioid-Related Bills Up for Consideration Democrats file symbolic legislation, while Republicans seek to punish adults who help minors get abortions

BY HANNAH HERNER

16 Expect a Continued Push for Lee’s Universal School Voucher Program

27 Pasta at The Bottega at Frankies • PHOTO BY ANGELINA CASTILLO

ART

31 Crawl Space: Textiles and Flower-Inspired Art at February’s First Saturday

FILM

38 Adaptation Ava DuVernay’s Origin is a vital and compelling tapestry

In education, Republicans are likely to focus on vouchers, retention policies and enhanced school security

Highlights include Transforming Antidotes at Coop and Emily Weiner at Red Arrow

BY KELSEY BEYELER

BY JOE NOLAN

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NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD AND THIS MODERN WORLD

BOOKS

42

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16 Outgoing Lawmakers Signal a Shifting Political Era Swann, Whitson, Johnson and Jernigan are all in their final terms as state lawmakers

32 Muscadine Vines

BY SAM SMITH

Monic Ductan gathers stories of tangled smalltown legacies in Daughters of Muscadine

BY ELI MOTYCKA

19 CRITICS’ PICKS

Messer Chups, Black Hole: Trilogy and Triathlon, Heartbreak Happy Hour, Indecent and more

FOOD AND DRINK

27 Market Leaders

Three new superettes join a growing number of small, upscale grocery markets

BY MARGARET LITTMAN

29 Equal Measure

BY EMILY CHOATE; CHAPTER16.ORG

MUSIC

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Photo by Hamilton Matthew Masters

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36 Squid Row

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36 The Spin

All People Coffee fosters community and creativity in Cleveland Park

The Scene’s live-review column checks out Six One Trïbe at The Basement

BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

BY P.J. KINZER

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FROM BILL FREEMAN

WHO WE ARE

PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

THE TITANS’ STRATEGIC PLAY: ANTICIPATING CHANGE WITH BRIAN CALLAHAN AT THE HELM

BRIAN CALLAHAN HERE IN OUR vibrant city, where the rhythm of music meets the thrill of sports, a defining moment has unfolded — the Tennessee Titans’ successful pursuit of Brian Callahan as their new head coach. As a native Nashvillian who was thrilled to see the NFL finally come to Nashville when the Titans (then the Oilers) arrived in 1997, I’ve enjoyed watching the excitement and anticipation as these events progress. I believe the Titans’ efforts to bring in Callahan, an accomplished offensive strategist with a stellar track record, reflect their dedication to ushering in a new era of football in Music City.

This latest Titans coaching news has become a major topic of interest for both dedicated fans and casual observers. The mention of prominent names like Peyton Manning, Matthew Stafford and Joe Burrow — all beneficiaries of Callahan’s quarterback coaching prowess — resonates with our community. It’s not just a coaching change; it’s football strategy, player development and community engagement that promises to bring great things to our Titans.

Further, the decision to hire Callahan is a strategic move that aligns with the Titans’ vision for the future. The franchise, with a promising young quarterback in Will Levis, seeks to evolve from a run-centric offense into a dynamic, pass-oriented powerhouse. Callahan’s experience in molding quarterbacks, from Manning’s MVP seasons to Burrow’s breakthrough success, positions him as a key figure in this transition. And as Callahan himself said: “I thought Will was a really good player coming out of college. When you watched him play this year, you saw … growth. You saw him learn. The NFL is hard. It’s hard on quarterbacks. It’s particularly hard on young ones. … I’m excited to dive more into that, and how he can get better from year one to year two, and keep putting him in position to have success so we can score some points on offense.”

The Titans, a team that once thrived on Derrick Henry’s ground dominance, are now set to explore a new offensive landscape under Callahan’s guidance.

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The revelation of the close friendship between Callahan and Vanderbilt head football coach Clark Lea adds a heartwarming touch to the narrative. According to Gentry Estes of The Tennessean, the two became friends during their time as graduate assistants at UCLA. Callahan was even part of Lea’s wedding. “I look forward to welcoming Brian and his family to Nashville,” said Lea, “as well as to future opportunities for us to engage our community together.”

The most direct path to a football-loving Tennessean’s heart is through college football.

Hearing that Callahan and Clark have ties going way back to their starts in coaching warms the heart of every Vandy fan in town. And for Volunteer fans like myself, here’s another great tidbit: Peyton Manning, arguably UT’s most beloved football player ever, also has connections to Callahan — from Peyton’s years with the Denver Broncos, where Callahan first began his NFL coaching career. What was Peyton’s take on Brian Callahan? “Extremely hard-working, extremely intelligent and just overall a great person,” NFL Hall of Famer, two-time Super Bowl champion and Super Bowl MVP Manning told TennesseeTitans.com’s Jim Wyatt. “Not only did I benefit from his coaching and all the help that he gave me as a quarterback for the Broncos, but also just thoroughly enjoyed being around him and coming to work every day.”

There is no higher praise for a Tennessee Vols fan to hear than that — as proud as we are of Peyton’s professional success, he will always be a Volunteer in our hearts. If Peyton gives him a thumbs-up, and if Clark Lea gives him a thumbs-up, Callahan is already two steps ahead of rallying support for his vision for the Titans.

Welcome to Nashville, Coach Callahan. We know you will love this town as much as we do!

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 JUST WATCHED: MUSIC AND LISTINGS EDITOR Stephen Trageser All of Us Strangers at the Belcourt Theatre DIGITAL EDITOR Kim Baldwin ASSOCIATE EDITOR Cole Villena CONTRIBUTING EDITOR 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, 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 EDITORIAL INTERN Sol Ayala ART DIRECTOR Elizabeth Jones PHOTOGRAPHERS Angelina Castillo, Eric England, Matt Masters GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Sandi Harrison, Mary Louise Meadors, Tracey Starck GRAPHIC DESIGN INTERN Haley Durham PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Christie Passarello 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, STARTS HER DAY: Kailey Idziak, Allie Muirhead, Niki Tyree, Alissa Wetzel With Yeast Nashville kolaches and coffee 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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NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

NEWS

HOW TEACHER SHORTAGES AFFECT STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES MNPS currently has roughly 170 open teacher positions

BY KELSEY BEYELER

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mother Yadira Calderon says she’s had to be in classes led by substitute teachers for prolonged periods.

“We’re promised we’re gonna learn something, but then we don’t,” Thomais tells the Scene. “I want to be exposed to things that’ll help me grow up and thrive in a world where I can be understood and respected and given support, and that they can accept who I am and learn to better help me without putting pressure on me.”

Thomais is on the autism spectrum, which means she has what’s known as an individualized education plan. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires students with disabilities receive mechanisms like IEPs to receive a free appropriate public education. Even with these guidelines in place, it can be hard for students with IEPs to receive proper education, especially when schools lack special education teachers and rely on substitutes.

Emily Whitson is the mother of a student with Down syndrome in Williamson County.

“You have to stay on top of what is happening at school, because otherwise it will fall through the cracks,” says Whitson.

Students and their families can file complaints, use mediation to address concerns with schools or follow a legal process to address IDEA violations. These options can be time-consuming, intimidating and costly, requiring resources that many families don’t have. Whitson has been through programs to learn how to advocate for her daughter, like the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center’s Volunteer Advocacy Project. As an exceptional education mentor with The Arc Tennessee, Whitson now helps other families advocate for themselves. Other resources like the Tennessee Technical Assistance Network help schools and families better support students with disabilities.

Whitson tells the Scene that two of her daughter’s special education teachers quit within the same school year. “She didn’t enjoy school — she didn’t want to go at all,” Whitson says. “I don’t feel like we made a lot of progress … toward her IEP goals.”

Eleese Meschery is the parent of a neurodivergent student, and she tells the Scene why substitute teachers present difficulties. “Transitions are hard for him,” Meschery says of her son.

“Changes in schedule — any changes — can disrupt his emotional regulation.”

So what’s the solution to address these shortages and provide students with the education they deserve? There isn’t a quick and easy approach, but most experts agree that raising teacher pay would help. Though MNPS touts having the highest-paid educators in the state,

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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BENEFITING

“

PHOTO: JEREMY COWART

TEACHER SHORTAGES HAVE been affecting school districts across the country for years.

While some schools struggle more than others, the overall effect of prolonged vacancies touches everyone in the public school system — and often the hardest positions to fill serve the students who need help the most.

The Metro Nashville Public Schools system currently has around 170 open teacher positions.

Positions teaching English learners, pre-K and science are among those with the most vacancies, but vacancies in what’s known as exceptional education far exceed other categories, with 47 open positions. Per state law, maximum class sizes range from 20 to 30 students, depending on grade level — this means thousands of students are left without a full-time teacher.

Vanderbilt University professor Douglas Fuchs researches special education. He was a co-lead author on a 2018 study finding that students with disabilities are, on average, more than three years behind their peers.

“There are too few special educators with appropriate licensure or certification,” Fuchs tells the Scene. “So schools have no recourse but to hire others who are not nearly adequately trained.”

The educator shortage is the result of myriad accumulating factors. School-staff labor union the National Education Association dates the start of this national phenomenon to around 2009. The NEA found that inadequate compensation, underfunded school systems and a general lack of respect toward teachers are among the contributing factors.

Alongside difficulties finding and retaining qualified full-time teachers, districts also struggle to find enough substitute teachers.

MNPS teacher Hallie Trauger says she’s asked to fill in for other teachers on average once a week. She prefers not to, but fills in when the need is “desperate.” Trauger and other teachers are paid extra when they fill in, but they lose time to get other work done, resulting in hours spent outside of school doing unpaid makeup work.

“Our school consistently has vacancies,” says Trauger. “From the start of the year, I have students who have classes where they don’t have a teacher, which has, of course, implications for their education.”

Laura Leonard, another MNPS teacher, says she feels “horribly guilty” when she has to take time off to go to doctors’ appointments or care for her family. When she leaves, she says, students aren’t learning or doing the work they need to.

This was the case for Nashville School of the Arts student Thomais Moshopoulos, whose

“I WANT TO BE EXPOSED TO THINGS THAT’LL HELP ME GROW UP AND THRIVE IN A WORLD WHERE I CAN BE UNDERSTOOD AND RESPECTED AND GIVEN SUPPORT, AND THAT THEY CAN ACCEPT WHO I AM AND LEARN TO BETTER HELP ME WITHOUT PUTTING PRESSURE ON ME.” — NASHVILLE SCHOOL OF THE ARTS STUDENT THOMAIS MOSHOPOULOS

the city’s higher cost of living means many Nashville educators still can’t afford to live here.

Leonard says she sees raises “in tiny, insulting increments.” Likewise, the Tennessee General Assembly passed a law last year raising teacher salaries to a minimum of $50,000 by the 202627 school year. Baked into the law, however, is an anti-union stipulation. The state also has a “Grow Your Own” program that allows people to train to become teachers at no cost.

Trauger suggests raising teacher salaries and rates for subs. Though she says “it’s a decent place to work if you have a Ph.D. … we’re not necessarily especially well-paid toward the beginning parts of that spectrum.” She also thinks making teachers feel more respected and creating more sustainable working conditions — like less paperwork and more autonomy — would help.

“A challenge of being a teacher is that we feel we’re the last ones for the students,” says Trauger.

“So we feel the need to try to absorb all of the limitations of the school system in ourselves. … But we’re human. And so: One, we shouldn’t be asked to do that, and two, we can’t prevent it from having an impact on students.” ▼

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PITH IN THE WIND

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Writes Scene contributor (and former staffer) J.R. Lind, state Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) is a filterless idea factory. The “small-government lip-servicer” recently filed House Bill 1828 — probably just a way to complete the quest to get Tennessee to adopt the Bible as the state book.

The bill includes a list of 10 proposed state books, and Lind — a voracious reader — took a deep dive on it. A couple of highlights: “Farewell Address to the American People” by George Washington isn’t even a book (or an address, for that matter … it was basically a newspaper column), and Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville doesn’t say anything particular about Tennessee.

In the latest installment of her Metro Council column On First Reading, Nicole Williams (aka @startleseasily) reports on a divisive appointment to the controversy-plagued Metro Arts Commission. With the commission hemorrhaging members as of late, Mayor Freddie O’Connell acted quickly to fill a slew of vacancies. Among the nominees was Beverly Watts, who formerly served as the executive director of the Tennessee Human Rights Commission. She resigned in 2022, after the release of a human resources report that substantiated a variety of allegations against her. Also on the agenda recently for O’Connell: the mayor’s first Capital Spending Proposal, a $514 million wish list that includes line items for East Bank development, school construction and the Nashville Department of Transportation.

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Popular Five Points bar and restaurant Rosemary & Beauty Queen sustained serious fire damage over the weekend. According to management, a blaze erupted at the East Nashville outpost in the early morning hours of Jan. 27. Photos show severe damage particularly to the building’s back corner and adjacent patio area. Owners confirm that no one was injured and note that the cause of the blaze is still unknown. Co-owner Andrew Mischke has established a GoFundMe campaign for staff support. In December, Mischke and his business partner Jim O’Shea announced plans to open a supper-club-style establishment by the end of 2024, nearby at the corner of Russell and South 11th Street.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt recently said Tennessee and other Southern states should send their National Guard forces to Texas to “help secure the border” in defiance of the federal government. Writes contributor Betsy Phillips, that doesn’t make a bit of sense. “This, I think, also kind of explains the Lost Cause narrative,” she writes. “White Southerners tell a story in which the Civil War was some beautiful tragedy for white people, marking the passing of a genteel, peaceful time. They do this because that’s just a lot easier to live with than the truth.”

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NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

RESERVE TODAY

State leaders return to Nashville to consider laws related to abortion, education and the ongoing culture wars

PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

STATE OF PLAY “THE SPECIAL SESSION produced a lot of bills that I suspect we’re going to see again in the regular session to look at ways to provide a safer environment in Tennessee,” Gov. Bill Lee said in November. “The General Assembly is very interested in that. We should never stop talking about public safety, and I suspect we won’t.”

Talking to reporters at a Thanksgiving event, the governor was confirming that he would not, in fact, be pushing for extreme risk protection legislation — also known as red-flag laws — in 2024. Following last year’s deadly Covenant School shooting in Nashville, Lee offered proposed language for just such legislation — laws that would allow guns to be confiscated from people deemed a risk to public safety. No such legislation was passed before the Tennessee General Assembly wrapped its business in April, nor did it pass during an August special session ostensibly called to address gun reform.

Despite outcry from protesters and pushback from Tennessee’s outnumbered Democratic lawmakers, the Republican supermajority passed virtually no legislation related to public safety or gun violence during the special session. Now the General Assembly has returned to Nashville for the second half of its 113th session, and despite continued calls for reform from advocates on both sides of the aisle, little action is expected on guns.

So what is on the agenda for Tennessee’s overwhelmingly GOP-controlled state House and Senate? For starters, more salvos in the ongoing culture wars, with bills targeting Pride flags and transgender health care already filed. Also, we can count on Lee continuing his push for a statewide school voucher program. Meanwhile, Democrats will continue attempts to carve out medical exceptions to the state’s draconian anti-abortion laws. Will the state cool it with the attacks on Nashville governance, an issue that arose frequently during last year’s session? And what will the legislature look like now that several longtime lawmakers — both Republican and Democrat — have announced their upcoming retirement?

We dive into all that and more in this week’s issue. Read on.

—D. PATRICK RODGERS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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1/29/24 3:48 PM

REPUBLICAN SUPERMAJORITY RETURNS TO FRONTLINES OF CULTURE WAR

Bills already filed by the GOP this session target Pride flags, transgender health care and books THE RETURN OF the 113th Tennessee General Assembly to Capitol Hill has brought with it the return of culture-war bills, this time targeting Pride flags and transgender health care, as well as bills that would make it easier to challenge the books offered in public school libraries.

State Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) introduced several bills early in this year’s session that have made the Tennessee Equality Project’s 2024 “Slate of Hate.” The list notes discriminatory legislation including House Bill 1605, which aims to ban the display of any flags other than those of the United States and the state of Tennessee from public schools and public charter schools. The legislation was specifically introduced to remove Pride flags from schools.

In December, Bulso told Scene sister publication The News that Pride flags are among “flags that are there to present a political viewpoint, that are really not for any educational purpose, but really simply to indoctrinate students with regards to a particular political point of view.”

He says the legislation follows complaints from parents and community members in Williamson County.

On Jan. 22, dozens of protesters — including members of TNEP and Nashville Pride — gathered in the Capitol rotunda to speak out against the Pride flag bill and other legislation.

State Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis) tells Scene education reporter Kelsey Beyeler that she’s been hearing from constituents who are concerned about the bill.

“Folks will try and say, ‘Well, schools don’t need to be politicized,’ but when you constantly put these restrictions, you’re politicizing it, right?” Akbari says. “Kids are supposed to go in an environment where they are comfortable, and they feel accepted in their learning, and they’re safe. And that’s what we need to focus on, not this concept that, ‘Oh, school is indoctrinating kids,’ or, ‘We need to keep them from all these things that are occurring in the real world,’ when all you’re doing is alienating certain parts of the population and making them feel unwelcome.”

Another bill sponsored by Bulso, HB1634, “revises language prohibiting educators from discriminating against students on certain, specified bases to generally prohibiting educators from discriminating against students who are members of a protected class under federal or state law; removes the definition of ‘gender identity’ for purposes of the family life curriculum.” He’s also sponsoring HB1632, with

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PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

BY MATT MASTERS

its Senate counterpart sponsored by Sen. Ferrell Haile (R-Gallatin). That one would allow the parent of a child “who attends, or who is eligible to attend, a school operated by a local education agency or a public charter school” to sue the agency to enforce the Age-Appropriate Materials Act of 2022, an effort to remove certain books from school libraries.

Bulso isn’t opposed to all books, however, as one of his filed bills seeks to name 10 “official state books of Tennessee.” Among the materials on the list are George Washington’s “Farewell Address to the American People” (not a book),

the Aitken Bible, Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America and a children’s book by Dolly Parton.

SB1810, sponsored by Sen. Paul Rose (R-Tipton), would prohibit public schools and public charter schools from “knowingly providing false or misleading information to a student’s parent regarding the student’s gender identity or intention to transition to a gender that differs from the student’s sex at the time of birth.” It would also require school employees to tell both a student’s parents and school administration if a student asks “for an accommodation to affirm

the student’s gender identity.” The bill goes even further, allowing civil legal actions to be taken against schools by a student’s parents or the attorney general.

Several bills introduced in 2023 in both the general session and August’s special session have returned for debate. Those include SB 1339/ HB 1215, sponsored by Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and state House Speaker Cameron Sexton, respectively, which would prevent medical providers who contract with TennCare from covering some transgender health care, specifically gender-affirming surgeries.

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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1/29/24 3:48 PM

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100% graduation rate • 98.5% college acceptance in 2023 • 42 Honors courses • 29 Advanced Placement courses • 16 College Board Recognition students in 2023 - 2024 • 5 world languages (through AP level): French, German, Latin, Mandarin Chinese, & Spanish • Dual Credit & Dual Enrollment courses • College Counselor, Social Worker, and Dean of Students

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

13

HOW LONG CAN THE CITY-STATE DÉTENTE LAST?

Leaders at Metro, state legislature signal smoother sailing ahead

BY STEPHEN ELLIOTT THEY’RE TALKING the talk, at least.

Leaders at both the Metro Courthouse and the state Capitol just down the street are saying nice things about one another, promising to put their tense past in the past.

“Right now I’m encouraged by at least the spirit and tone of conversations,” says Mayor Freddie O’Connell, who last year inherited a Metro government embroiled in legal and political battles with the state government.

Adds House Speaker Cameron Sexton: “We’re working with Mayor O’Connell. I think he’s doing a wonderful job. We’re probably not going to agree on a lot of different policies, but as long as we can continue to have a conversation, we’ll be happy, and that’s what we’re doing right now.”

Sexton, a Crossville Republican, presided over a 2023 session characterized in part by attacks on Metro governance — from cutting the size of the Metro Council in half to taking over the board that oversees the Nashville International Airport to easing the path for NASCAR’s return to The Fairgrounds Nashville.

O’Connell and Sexton have met to discuss shared priorities, and both mention — unprompted — the East Bank as a possible area of positive collaboration.

The tension, of course, did not begin in 2023.

In 2022, the Metro Council (with O’Connell then a member) opted not to support a bid to host the 2024 Republican National Convention in Nashville. That move infuriated key Republican leaders in state government and seems to have poured gasoline on the fire. But fights between the city and state long predate the RNC vote, with the state legislature cracking Nashville’s congressional district into three pieces months before the vote, plus a string of earlier preemption moves.

Maybe Republicans at the state got all their anger out last year. Maybe they saw mounting losses in court as a sign. Or maybe they’re simply ready to turn a new page when it comes to the capital city. But at least so far, there doesn’t seem to be much appetite among returning lawmakers to legislate directly at Nashville’s city hall.

There still could be a push to take over all airport boards in the state, rather than just Nashville’s, and Metro leaders understand there will be plenty of legislation with statewide applicability they do not agree with, but at least they’re not squarely in the crosshairs.

Another change that gives some insiders hope for improved relations is O’Connell’s hiring of state Rep. Darren Jernigan (D-Nashville) as director of legislative affairs. Jernigan, who remains a member of the state House but will not run for reelection, is the rare Democrat with a decent relationship with his colleagues in the GOP supermajority. The Old Hickory lawmaker has chaired and vice-chaired committees under Republican leadership, and he’s a former member of the Metro Council.

“We hate to lose Jernigan because he was in leadership in a subcommittee,” says Rep. Harold Love (D-Nashville). “He was able to work with our colleagues in the other party to, as best he could, prevent some bad things legislatively from happening. That also signals Mayor

O’Connell’s commitment to make sure that inside of his administration there’s someone who has a relationship with the legislature who can have those conversations if those bills end up coming down, to keep the conversations at a low temperature.”

The shampoo effect is strong, though, and a single drink after last year’s bender could rapidly reopen still-healing wounds. And there’s no telling what that drink could be.

With 40 members, each with a microphone, the Metro Council presents an endless opportunity for causing offense, even if fabricated, to the Republicans in the legislature. Now the Metro Council is hiring a lobbyist of its own, separate from the lobbyists employed by the mayor’s office on behalf of the city.

“The way I am thinking about this in year one is that we are in a more relationship-building and tracking [phase], but we can in time move to more proactive efforts on the legislative side,” new Vice Mayor Angie Henderson said at a December meeting of the Metro Council’s executive committee.

Specifically, Henderson lamented the previous administration’s apparent unwillingness to lobby against the bill cutting the Metro Council in half. She also said the council’s lobbyist should keep tabs on which members are showing up at the Capitol to talk to lawmakers (which they are “free to do,” she adds).

“We need somebody to speak officially on our behalf,” Henderson says.

ABORTION BAN EXCEPTIONS, OPIOID-RELATED BILLS UP FOR CONSIDERATION

BY HANNAH HERNER DURING LAST YEAR’S session, the legislature’s slight change to the state’s abortion ban left physicians unsatisfied and unclear about what medical circumstances would allow them to legally perform an abortion. The topic of abortion is likely to be the center of attention once again this year.

As of press time, Republicans have yet to file a planned bill focusing on exceptions for fatal fetal anomalies, teased earlier this year by Sen. Richard Briggs (R-Knoxville). The “Freedom to Have Children and a Family Act” makes a selling point that complications during pregnancy could prevent future pregnancies. Official sponsors for the bill are yet to be determined, but it’s something the Tennessee Medical Association and Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s government relations team have confirmed they are a part of.

14

PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

Democrats file symbolic legislation, while Republicans seek to punish adults who help minors get abortions

THE HOUSE FLOOR DURING SESSION Rep. Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville) and Sen. Paul Rose (R-Tipton) introduced a very controversial piece of legislation — House Bill 1895/Senate Bill 1971 — that would make it a class C felony for an adult to assist a minor who is not their child in seeking an abortion. Supporters of such laws refer to the practice as “abortion trafficking.” A similar law passed in Idaho last year, but it was blocked by a federal judge in November. Zachary told news outlets the bill is inspired by the case of a minor who was obtaining an abortion in West Tennessee and whose guardians called him to try to intervene.

“We’re certainly, in this case, not going to allow the minor to make the decision of whether to kill the baby that’s inside of them or not,” he told NewsChannel 5.

On the other end of the spectrum, Sen. London Lamar (D-Memphis) and Rep. Aftyn Behn (D-Nashville) introduced the “Fundamental Right to Reproductive Health Care Act,” which would legalize abortion and repeal 19 laws. It’s a virtual impossibility for passage via the state’s Republican supermajority, but the Democratic lawmakers see it as symbolic commentary on the state’s stringent abortion ban.

Another bill offered by Democrats could have a better chance at staying alive this session: HB1729/SB1728, co-sponsored by Lamar and Rep. Yusuf Hakeem (D-Chattanooga), would allow exceptions for the physical and mental health of the pregnant person, as well as for rape and incest, requiring that the patient report the rape or incest to law enforcement. The pair intro-

duced a similar bill (HB1884/SB1826) that offers the same exceptions, but without the reporting requirement.

The “Tennessee Contraceptive Freedom Act.” (HB1943/SB1804) was introduced by Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) and Sen. Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville) in an effort to ward off potential limits to contraception that could be extrapolated from the state’s existing abortion ban or added on in new legislation.

Opioid abatement funding filtering into the state is something to watch for this year, and some lawmakers have followed suit by filing several bills related to the opioid crisis. Legislation has been introduced to increase penalties of traveling with or exposing someone to fentanyl (HB1947/SB1754), as well as to punish those who knowingly fail to seek medical attention for someone overdosing (HB1624/SB1719). Another bill would require insurance companies to follow through on accident and sickness benefits when someone dies due to fentanyl (HB1810/ SB1753). On the preventative side, HB2060 would allow doctors to prescribe more patients buprenorphine — an FDA-approved drug used to curb opioid withdrawal and cravings.

Another health care-related bill to note is HB1628/HB1735, which would create new criminal offenses of assault within a health care facility and aggravated assault within a health care facility — such cases saw an increase during the pandemic. In addition, HB1737/SB1683 seeks to cap insulin costs at no more than $35 for a 30day supply.

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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15

In education, Republicans are likely to focus on vouchers, retention policies and enhanced school security

BY KELSEY BEYELER

THE 2024 LEGISLATIVE session will see more of the controversial education legislation that has helped define Bill Lee’s tenure as governor.

Under Lee, Republicans have passed legislation that censors what can be taught in schools, sets strict academic standards, allows certain students to receive private school vouchers and overhauls the state’s education funding formula. While many of these monumental changes are behind us, we may see some backtracking this year, and certainly more substantial bills that will affect students from Memphis to Mountain City.

OUTGOING LAWMAKERS SIGNAL A SHIFTING POLITICAL ERA

Swann, Whitson, Johnson and Jernigan are all in their final terms as state lawmakers

BY ELI MOTYCKA

ELECTION CYCLES COME like waves. New names and personalities come into old seats, often with promises to improve on the status quo. Old names disappear by defeat or by choice, and eras shift. East Tennessee Sen. Art Swann (R-Maryville) slipped in his retirement announcement during this year’s opening state Senate session.

“We all have a shelf life here,” Swann told his colleagues. “And I’ve had two.”

Swann served one stint in the House in the mid-1980s, rejoined in 2010 and crossed over to the Senate in 2017 by appointment when his predecessor was tapped to be a U.S. attorney by then-President Trump. His brief remarks drew tremendous applause from fellow senators of both parties and prompted floor speeches from Sens. Ken Yager (R-Kingston), Paul Bailey (R-Sparta), Becky Duncan Massey (R-Knoxville), Rusty Crowe (R-Johnson City) and Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville), all of whom painted Swann as a mentor and confidant. He wants to spend time with his wife and friends. Deputy Speaker Curtis Johnson (R-Clarksville), a top-ranking House

16

Leading the Tennessee Department of Education in facilitating these policies is the state’s new education commissioner Lizzette Reynolds, who has already received bipartisan criticism.

Reps. Sam McKenzie (D-Knoxville) and John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) called on Reynolds to resign after stating she isn’t qualified for her position under Tennessee state law. Sen. Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) called out Reynolds and the TDOE for poor communication amid the rollout of a law that threatens to retain third- and fourth-graders who don’t score high enough on the reading portion of a state test and fail to demonstrate enough growth after receiving specific learning interventions.

The reading law went into effect last year.

When lawmakers convened last year, education advocates asked them to roll the law back — they didn’t. Instead, they added benchmark testing so a student’s academic advancement wouldn’t be determined by a single test (though that provision won’t kick in until this year).

While just over 1 percent of third-graders were retained last year, many more students could be retained in fourth grade if they don’t show enough growth, as defined by a complicated formula that won’t be officially adopted by the state’s board of education until later this month.

Lawmakers may add some additional interventions for fourth-grade students facing retention

this year.

“We don’t want to back off on what we’re doing, but we may need to have additional interventions for that fourth-grader — and even that fifth-grader — as they’re moving through the school year.” says Rep. Mark White (R-Memphis), who chairs the House Education Administration Committee.

Perhaps the biggest education topic of this session will concern Gov. Lee’s push for a universal school voucher system. Since Lee announced his desire for such a program in November, several school boards — including those in Jackson, Collierville and Roane counties — have passed resolutions opposing the program. It’s worth watching how Republicans react to the intense scrutiny on this divisive matter and balance the desires of their constituents with those of school-privatization lobbyists.

Familiar bills that fell by the wayside after the Covenant School shooting or that didn’t pass during August’s related special session are likely to resurface this year. One from House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland) would require schools to develop policies related to how they respond to alarms in the event of active shooters or other emergencies. Another, which has already advanced through one subcommittee as of this writing, would allow teachers to carry guns in private schools that have pre-K

Republican, wants to golf as much as possible.

They are two of a handful of longtime lawmakers who have announced they won’t seek reelection this year.

“Everyone has their own reasons,” says Darren Jernigan (D-Old Hickory). In October, Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell recruited Jernigan as a bridge-builder between Metro and the state legislature. “And maybe the environment pushes them to go ahead and do it.”

Jernigan and Rep. Sam Whitson (R-Franklin), a conservative representing a big chunk of Williamson County, bonded as back-benchers in Whitson’s first term. Both have bowed out of reelection. They reflected on a combined 20 years in the legislature one Thursday during an impromptu meeting of the “peanut-butter-andjelly caucus,” Whitson’s name for their frequent lunch dates. Jernigan worked on a loaded baked potato from the cafeteria in the Cordell Hull Building.

In the fall, Whitson publicly opposed Gabrielle Hanson’s upstart campaign for Franklin mayor. Hanson, a former alderman, had publicly courted local Nazi groups and embraced extreme right-wing politics. Whitson and Jernigan compliment each other as “statesmen” rather than politicians preparing to leave parties that, both say, are moving toward extremes.

A few outgoing lawmakers will not change the political balance in Tennessee, says Jernigan.

But it could take away swing votes that determine what gets out of subcommittees or the informal social bonds that mitigate interpersonal ill will after otherwise contentious floor debates.

In other words, who you’ll ride the elevator with, says Whitson.

Executive secretary Linda Bowers plans to

beat her boss, Deputy Speaker Johnson, into retirement by a few months. Bowers has 45 years working for lawmakers in the legislature to Johnson’s 20 years. It’s easy to see how both have survived for so long. Neither dints their party, however much it’s changed since Johnson’s first election in 2004. Every few minutes, Johnson’s eyes check in with the tape recorder on his desk.

Bowers’ memory is an encyclopedia of scandals and missteps; her desk has the physical newspaper clippings to match.

“Shoot straight with your colleagues and with your constituents and whoever’s working bills,” Johnson says. “Your word is your bond here. If you lie once, it’ll stick with you.”

Neither Johnson nor Swann mentions thorny culture-war issues like trans health care or abortion in two hours’ worth of conversation. Unlike in today’s stump speeches by newer colleagues, both talk about money. Anti-tax populism swept Johnson into office, and fiscal conservatism is Swann’s ideological bedrock. Tennessee’s full coffers were evidence they did right by their constituents.

Tax-slashing and austere social spending helped Republicans gain control of Tennessee through the mid-2000s. Party talking points have drifted since then, favoring cultural, religious and social battles framed as an existential fight against a Democratic menace. On his way out, Swann warns that missteps can follow stretches of unchecked political decadence.

“When things get too easy or too hard for you, that’s when changes occur,” says Swann.

“We all have a sense of what’s proper and what’s improper. I believe we’re in one of those times of change. We’ll just have to see what the adjustment is.”

programs — a move that some Covenant School parents have opposed. These bills come alongside others aimed at enhancing school safety.

At the end of last year’s session, the future of Tennessee State University was unclear as a comptroller report addressed critical findings from the university, and lawmakers considered reducing the size of TSU’s board of trustees.

Since then, TSU president Glenda Glover announced her retirement, and federal leaders indicated that the school has been shorted more than $2 billion in the past 30 years. Whether these developments change lawmakers’ plans regarding TSU remains unclear.

Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis) is vicechair of the Senate Education Committee. She anticipates more legislation targeting diversity, equity and inclusion practices in education, echoing national trends following a Supreme Court ruling that bans affirmative action in higher education.

“We’ll see,” says Akbari. “I’m hoping that some of my colleagues will really get back to the basics of, ‘Can they read? Can they write? Can they count? Can they compete on a national and international level? Are they safe?’ That’s what I want to see, and I think to a certain degree we want [the same] things — but we just have different ideas about how to achieve them.”

PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

EXPECT A CONTINUED PUSH FOR LEE’S UNIVERSAL SCHOOL VOUCHER PROGRAM

REP. SAM WHITSON

Swann has taken the party line on many contentious topics — notably co-signing a letter backing former President Trump’s unfounded challenge of 2020 election results. But he won’t follow Republicans’ unequivocal contempt for gun control.

“I grew up a hunter,” Swann tells the Scene in his seventh-floor office. “My grandaddy was a hunter. And the one place I was most torn is the gun issue. It challenged my belief system about right and wrong. I recognized that we had a problem and further recognized that I’ve been a part of that problem all these years. When we’re making guns for military purposes and giving them out to the general public, there’s serious concern we’re going to see more and more of these shootings everywhere. I think we have a social responsibility to protect each other, not just ourselves.” ▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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CRITICS’ PICKS: WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF THINGS TO DO Visit calendar.nashvillescene.com for more event listings

Be still, beating heart — this lineup is a rare treat for surf-punk junkies in the South. Muddy Roots presents Messer Chups (“messer” meaning knife in German, Chups in reference to Chupa Chups, the popular lollipop from Spain) all the way from musical Moscow. The spooky combo is set to dive into its deep catalog of slinky surf-noir and post-Soviet goth-a-billy hits.

Seductive duo Oleg “Guitaracula” Gitarkin and Svetlana “Zombierella” Nagaeva, along with current drummer Signor Mattia, went on an absolute tear last year and produced two EPs and a full-length album while touring extensively. The Russian rockers show no sign of slowing down with the release of their latest single. “Dark Side of Paradise” was released last month as the title-track teaser for an upcoming album, which is due out in May on the Jersey Shorebased label Hi-Tide Records. Genki Genki Panic, a “dungeon surf” outfit from Atlanta, also joins the raucous bill. Their high-energy live show can be best described as the soundtrack to a sci-fi slasher flick starring Dick Dale and the Deltones. Local psychobilly unit Hellfire Revival and fellow Nashville garage punks The Beat Creeps kick off the rock ’n’ roll rave-up.

JASON VERSTEGEN

6 P.M. AT THE COBRA 2511 GALLATIN PIKE

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FRIDAY / 2.2

[HOUSING FOR ALL]

AGING MATTERS: ‘UNHOUSED’

There’s a housing crisis in Nashville, and a new episode of the Nashville Public Television show Aging Matters explores the plights of older folks experiencing homelessness in the city. “Unhoused” includes interviews with many of the unhoused Nashvillians who are over age 50 as well as the service providers who are helping them. It’s a pressing topic given that homelessness in Nashville increased by 11 percent in 2023, and it’s a great subject for a series like Aging Matters, given the fact that homelessness can prematurely age people by 10 or 20 years. NPT will present the documentary alongside stalwart street paper The Contributor, the nonprofit publication that employs unhoused Nashvillians as newspaper vendors.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion about providing affordable housing to elderly Nashvillians. ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ 5:30 P.M. AT NASHVILLE PUBLIC TELEVISION STUDIO A 161 RAINS AVE.

THEATER

MUSIC

[ROCK ’N’ ROLL CZARS]

MESSER CHUPS W/GENKI GENKI PANIC, HELLFIRE REVIVAL & THE BEAT CREEPS

COMMUNITY

THURSDAY / 2.1

THURSDAY, FEB. 1

[A TIMELY TALE]

INDECENT

At a time when antisemitism, anti-LGBTQ legislation and book banning seem to dominate our headlines, Paula Vogel’s Tony-nominated play Indecent — opening this weekend at Nashville Repertory Theatre — feels more timely than ever. This moving drama follows the real-life controversy surrounding Sholem Asch’s 1923 play God of Vengeance, taking us behind the scenes with the artists who risked everything to perform a work deemed “indecent” because it featured (among other things) a love story between two women. Director Micah-Shane Brewer has gathered a stellar cast for this production, including Thomas DeMarcus, Delaney Amatrudo, Dustin Davis, Sarah Aili, Galen Fott, Rona Carter and Garris Wimmer. There’s also a terrific trio of klezmer musicians, including Trevor Targowski on clarinet, Laurie Canaan on violin and Eric Sorrels on accordion. As it honors the power of theater and the resilience of theater makers, Indecent tells an important but little-known story — and represents a marvelous choice for Nashville Rep. AMY STUMPFL FEB. 2-11 AT TPAC’S JOHNSON THEATER 505 DEADERICK ST.

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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1/29/24 12:26 PM

[FOR PETE’S SAKE]

THE FRIGHTENERS

Kiwi filmmaker Peter Jackson is often celebrated for bringing the works of Tolkien to the big screen in not one but two trilogies — and winning a slew of awards in the process.

And he should be! The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films were remarkable feats. But you know what Jackson film doesn’t get as much love as it should? No, not 1989’s Meet the Feebles, 1994’s Heavenly Creatures or 2021’s The Beatles: Get Back (all great). No, not 2005’s King Kong or 2009’s The Lovely Bones (not as great).

I’m talking, of course, about The Frighteners.

Penned by Jackson and his partner (and frequent collaborator) Fran Walsh, the 1996 horror-comedy bridged the gap between the filmmakers’ early-days “splatter” phase and their decade-and-a-half run of LOTR adaptations.

Though it features loads of wild visual effects and a characteristically charming performance

by Michael J. Fox as a wisecracking, traumatized ghost hunter, The Frighteners was largely panned upon its release, and — up against both

20

[HEY THERE]

PLAIN WHITE T’S

Well guys, “Hey There Delilah” came out 18 years ago now. Perhaps you also remember “Rhythm of Love,” a soundtrack of the Tumblr era, or a very special performance of “Our Time Now” from an iCarly episode. However, when the 1997-formed mellow pop-rock group Plain White T’s stops by Nashville, you can expect to hear songs from their newest release, a 2023 selftitled album. Cursory fans don’t worry — you’ll get to hear the top four Spotify hits. I kinda miss the version of myself who thought “1, 2, 3, 4” is one of the more romantic songs I’ve heard. “L-OV-E” and “You Plus Me” from the newest album are in competition to be the spiritual sequel.

They are so sugary-sweet — I love it. New song “Feeling (More Like) Myself” is super catchy, and “Would You Even” elicits some true early-2000s pop-rock nostalgia. It’s also special to see a band whose four members have been at it for 20 years together. I always envisioned being on the other end of “What’s it like in New York City?” but seeing the Plain White T’s seems like a good way to spend a Friday in Nashville. HANNAH HERNER 8 P.M. AT EXIT/IN 2208 ELLISTON PLACE [COMMUNE AND COOK WITH YOUR GHOSTS]

CRYSTAL WILKINSON: PRAISESONG FOR THE KITCHEN GHOSTS

It was years ago when Kentucky Poet Laureate Crystal Wilkinson felt a presence in her kitchen as she baked a jam cake. Though she physically stood alone, she realized it was her late grandmother with her and that cooking had, somehow, brought them together. This was the genesis of Wilkinson’s next book, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes From Five Generations of Black Country Cooks. Part cookbook, part memoir, Wilkinson’s book braids

[GOTTA BE ME]

CODY JOHNSON

After years of burning down highways as a do-it-himself Texas country artist, Cody Johnson — now a prime-time radio hitmaker and major label force in Nashville — will play his biggest gig in Music City to date when he headlines Bridgestone Arena. Through his time on the road and in the studio, Johnson built a die-hard following with a back-to-the-basics country know-how (like on CMA Award-winning megahit “’Til You Can’t” or 2023 power ballad “Dirt Cheap”) and a Garth Brooks-like penchant for rowdy live shows. He returns to Nashville in support of Leather, an album released in late 2023 that, remarkably, marks the ninth studio effort of his career and third since inking a deal with Warner Music Nashville roughly a half-decade ago. He shares the bill with “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away” singer Justin Moore, who plays main support; “Son of A” upand-comer Dillon Carmichael opens the show.

MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER

7:30 P.M. AT BRIDGESTONE ARENA 501 BROADWAY

SATURDAY / 2.3 [BLACK POWER]

BLACK HISTORY IN MUSIC: WORK, WORSHIP AND CELEBRATION

When it comes to art based on local cultural history, it doesn’t get much better than the

MUSIC

7 P.M. AT FULL MOON CINEPLEX 3445 LEBANON PIKE, HERMITAGE

MUSIC

D. PATRICK RODGERS

the stories of the Black Appalachian women who came before her with 40 comforting recipes already lauded by many, including local culinary celebrity Sean Brock. And yes, it includes Granny’s jam cake. Wilkinson is praised as a captivating and engaging speaker, someone who has students on the edge of their seats (and sometimes in tears), and we have the chance to hear her in the warmth of East Nashville’s The Bookshop — a cozy, expertly curated space with a wide range of books and bookish gifts. The reading will be facilitated

by The Porch, and RSVPs are encouraged at PorchTN.org. RYNE WALKER 6 P.M. AT THE BOOKSHOP 1043 W. EASTLAND AVE.

[COVER ME]

THREE DOG NIGHT

After working under the name Redwood with head Beach Boy Brian Wilson in 1967, Three Dog Night brought theatricality to the cover versions they turned into hits a few years later.

With three singers and a crack band supporting them, Three Dog Night recorded songs by upand-coming songwriters like Laura Nyro, Randy Newman, Elton John and Hoyt Axton. It’s likely you know the group’s gloriously excessive 1970 version of Newman’s “Mama Told Me Not to Come” better than you do the droll rendering Newman recorded for his album 12 Songs.

Their hits include Axton’s “Joy to the World” and Nyro’s “Eli’s Coming,” but the band also had the good taste to cover obscure but great tunes by the likes of Moby Grape and guitarist Don Preston. I hear their late-’60s and early-’70s albums as compendiums of rock as it existed in the late Beatles era — when they hit it just right, as on their eerie 1970 cover of Paul Williams and Roger Nichols’ “Out in the Country,” they sounded great. These days singer Danny Hutton, who formed the band in 1967, is the only original member who tours with the current version of Three Dog Night. I recommend starting with their 1971 album Harmony, which is arguably their best full-length — if you want to supplement your listening by watching the 2000 rock film Almost Famous for atmosphere, I won’t say a word about the vexed notion of rock authenticity. Nashville R&B guitarist and singer McKinley James opens. EDD HURT 8 P.M. AT THE RYMAN 116 REP. JOHN LEWIS WAY N.

STORIES

FILM

The internationally acclaimed performance artist, dancer and choreographer Shamel Pitts has performed with Mikhail Baryshnikov’s Hell’s Kitchen Dance, BJM Danse Montréal and Batsheva Dance Company in Israel. This weekend, you can experience this singular talent as OZ Arts welcomes Pitts and his Brooklyn-based art collective TRIBE to present Black Hole: Trilogy and Triathlon. Billed as “a visionary production that transports audiences across space and time into an Afrofuturist dimension,” Black Hole follows three Black performers on a fascinating hourlong journey that balances striking visuals with mesmerizing sound, music, spoken word and movement. The piece actually marks the third installment in Pitts’ acclaimed “Black Series,” which includes the previous works Black Box: Little Black Book of Red and Black Velvet: Architectures and Archetypes. It’s hard to imagine a more exciting way to kick off OZ Arts’ spring season. AMY STUMPFL FEB. 2-3 AT OZ ARTS 6172 COCKRILL BEND CIRCLE

Independence Day and the ’96 Olympic Games — failed to make a dent at the box office. But it’s a fun, strange spectacle. The folks at Full Moon Cineplex are aware of this, and are thus screening it this weekend as the first film in a double feature with 1984 slasher Fatal Games.

ART

SHAMEL PITTS/TRIBE: BLACK HOLE: TRILOGY AND TRIATHLON

MUSIC

[BEYOND THE BLACK HOLE]

BOOKS

PHOTO: THE ADEBOYE BROTHERS

DANCE

BLACK HOLE: TRILOGY AND TRIATHLON

upcoming exhibition at the lauded Jefferson Street Sound Museum. Black History in Music: Work, Worship and Celebration is a group show of art by Nashville-based artists that is inspired

by Nashville’s rich history as a hub for Black music. That history is often overshadowed by Nashville’s country music legacy, but according to local lore, Nashville’s “Music City” moniker originated with the Fisk Jubilee Singers, well before the Grand Ole Opry popularized it.

Legendary Black musicians like Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding and Little Richard all cut their teeth in Nashville clubs, and our National Museum of African American Music is the only museum of its kind. Suffice to say, there’s plenty of amazing material to work with, and the Black History in Music artists — including local favorites Elisheba Israel Mrozik, James Threalkill and Michael McBride — have some of the most impressive portfolios in town. The show is on view every Saturday in February, but the artists will be part of an opening reception at noon Saturday. It’s likely to be as celebratory of an art opening as you’ll see. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER SATURDAYS IN FEBRUARY 2004 JEFFERSON ST.

[THE END OF LONELY STREET]

HEARTBREAK HAPPY HOUR

Years ago, when Jackalope was still on Eighth Avenue, I ventured out on a cold and rainy February night to see my friend Mary

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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MARCH 2

JOHN MAILANDER’S FORECAST

MARCH 6

APRIL 16

TINSLEY ELLIS

THE WAY DOWN WANDERERS ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

21

SHOPPING

7 P.M. AT THE BLUE ROOM AT THIRD MAN RECORDS 623 SEVENTH AVE. S.

for independent people

UPCOMING EVENTS PARNASSUSBOOKS.NET/EVENT FOR TICKETS & UPDATES

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3

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SATURDAY STORYTIME

with PARNASSUS STAFF at PARNASSUS

6:30PM

KILEY REID with ZZ PACKER at PARNASSUS Come and Get It THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8 6:30PM

KAREN OUTEN at PARNASSUS Dixon, Descending 6:30PM

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14

GWENDA BOND with LAUREN KUNG JESSEN at PARNASSUS The Frame-Up THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15 6:30PM

KATHERINE ARDEN

with HANNAH WHITTEN at PARNASSUS The Warm Hands of Ghosts SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17 10:30AM

SATURDAY STORYTIME

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REUNION ROOFTOP MARKET

There’s nothing like a rooftop bar to give you main-character energy — the view, the glamour, the fancy drinks. East Nashville’s Five Points neighborhood has one of the best in the biz with Reunion, right next door to Bongo East, and they’re hosting a rooftop market on Saturday. Come hang, grab some brunch nachos and a Garden Party cocktail, and shop for vintage and designer clothes, home goods and lots more. Vendors include Moons and Junes vintage, HEW+Co home goods, high-end designer scores from the likes of Rick Owens and Maison Margiela, and lots more. Check out Reunion’s Instagram account (@reunion.bar) for details. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER 11 A.M. TO 5 P.M. AT REUNION 105 S. 11TH ST.

MUSIC

an independent bookstore

[ROOF! THERE IT IS]

[MAXIMUM R&B]

SHAKE AND VIBRATE

Music City Soul Club DJs Mr. Fancy and The Face have been bringing the U.K. dance-floor hits of 1968 to Nashville bars for the past few years. The duo is known to be deep-headed R&B collectors who spin original 45s in the spirit of the mod clubs that kept London’s workingclass nightlife alive all through the late ’60s.

Italian import Marco “The Face” Colombo showcases his primo taste in Northern soul and rare R&B singles, occasionally tossing in a dash of freakbeat or skinhead reggae for a little spice. Mr. Fancy (aka Wes Robinson) took his DJ name from his high school punk band — with members who went on to be in Hans Condor and Ass Chapel — but now focuses on spinning the best in funky snare drums and slick horn sections. It’s always a fun way to spend a Saturday night, as the turntable twosome have a loyal troupe of suedeheads and fish-tailed quadropheniacs that always show newbies a good time. P.J. KINZER 8 P.M. AT VINYL TAP 2038 GREENWOOD AVE.

SUPERHERO SUNDAY!: IRON MAN AND IRON MAN 2

It’ll never not be amazing to me that one of the most successful movie franchises of all time started when the guy from Swingers cast Robert Downey Jr. as a superhero. If you remember the ’90s like I do, you know the former Brat Packer was in a bad place pre-MCU, typically either doing too much drugs or going to jail for doing too much drugs. Thankfully, in the Aughts he got his shit together by laying off That Stuff and turning out great performances in movies.

(Any Kiss Kiss Bang Bang fans out there?) This eventually led to Jon Favreau casting him as head Avenger Tony Stark in 2008’s Iron Man. The Franklin Theatre will show the original and its 2010 follow-up Iron Man 2, also directed by Favreau. I wish they’d also show Iron Man 3 (aka my favorite of the trilogy) from 2013, for which Downey reteamed with Kiss director Shane Black to make a divisive, smartass superhero flick that’s more about subverting tropes than supplying fan service. CRAIG D. LINDSEY IRON MAN AT 4:30 P.M., IRON MAN 2 AT 8 P.M. AT THE FRANKLIN THEATRE 419 MAIN ST., FRANKLIN [FIRST DESIRE]

SUNDAY SUPPER: I AM LOVE

The final repertory film in the Belcourt’s succulent Sunday Supper series is I Am Love (or Io Sono l’Amore in Italian), an opulent-as-hell 2010 team-up between Italian director Luca Guadagnino and actress/frequent collaborator Tilda Swinton. The first installment in Guadagnino’s Desire Trilogy (A Bigger Splash in 2015, which also starred Swinton, and the 2017 Oscar winner Call Me by Your Name are the other films) has Swinton as the married matriarch of an extremely rich Italian family. She begins a torrid affair with her son’s good friend, a chef whose exquisite (and exquisitely filmed) dishes make ol’ girl ready to risk it all. Basically, this is a mash-up of Unfaithful and Damage set in and around the gorgeous city of Milan, as Swinton’s sexual awakening causes some intense, tragic shockwaves in her family. It also reminds guys that if you know how to cook really well, wealthy wives might want to get naked and roll around in the grass with you. Catch all this

CRAIG D. LINDSEY

7 P.M. AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.

MONDAY / 2.5 CARS

FILM

[FOR THE FUTURE OF MANKIND]

food, frolicking and infidelity in glorious 35 mm!

[VAPORIZE SOME PERFECTLY GOOD HOURS]

36TH ANNUAL STONES RIVER REGION AACA SWAP MEET

Transportation is in constant evolution, which is a very necessary thing. But in the 100-ish years that personal cars have been widespread, they’ve become such a huge part of our culture, and preserving the best parts of that takes some effort. Events like the Stones River Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America’s annual swap meet are important for several reasons.

Among your best resources for finding the parts you need to maintain a car old enough to be “antique” — that’s 25 years or older according to the AACA as well as most states, which means almost every vehicle made during the 20th century — are your fellow enthusiasts. And while YouTube videos and online forums are very helpful for the next generation of folks interested in old cars, it’s still hard to beat the combined knowledge of longtime collectors when you need to know what to do with those parts when you get them home. (And if you’re passionate about cars but don’t want any more parts, many vendors will offer auto-related collectibles.) Admission is $10; proceeds from tickets and vendor fees support an array of good causes — including the club’s student group, which among other things participates in running Bonnie, the club’s 1953 Pontiac Chieftain, in the annual classic-car rally The Great Race. Gates open very early for Sunday’s event, so don’t forget to set the timer on the coffee maker Saturday night.

STEPHEN TRAGESER

6:30 A.M. AT THE FAIRGROUNDS NASHVILLE 625 SMITH AVE.

TUESDAY / 2.6 MUSIC

KIM BALDWIN

SUNDAY / 2.4

FILM

Laura Philpott perform at a live storytelling event called Heartbreak Happy Hour. Despite the rain and freezing temps, it was standing room only. This is when I learned that Nashville has an appetite for live storytelling. Luckily for us, The Porch has been putting on this event since 2014, and this year they’re making it bigger than ever in celebration of their 10-year anniversary. This special anniversary show, hosted by comedian Cortney Warner at The Blue Room, features one of my favorite writers, Megan Stielstra. It also includes writer and musician Dessa, with music from Eva Cassel and WXNA DJ Paul Burch. If you’ve never been to Heartbreak Happy Hour, you’re missing out on a great night of community, laughter and uproarious storytelling. The Porch puts on this event for free every year, but if you can swing it, a $10 donation (or more!) is appreciated.

[THE SHAPE OF PUNK TO COME]

MILITARIE GUN WITH POOL KIDS, SPIRITUAL CRAMP AND DEATH LENS

With every generation of hardcore, there comes a backlash questioning the guideline

MILITARIE GUN

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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February in...

2/16 FRIDAY 2/23 FRIDAY

EP RELEASE SHOW with BABY WAVE

FRIDAY

WEIRD JAZZ HANA EID

2/9

with DJ r.a.k

2/3 SATURDAY

with ALLISON YOUNG & THE ACCORDS

SEAN THOMPSON’S WEIRD EARS

2/29 THURSDAY

with AFROKOKOROOTS

NO ANG3L

2/22 THURSDAY

REGENERATION LIVE

LIVE JAZZ

BANNED BOOK HAPPY HOUR

with DESSA AND MORE

2/15 THURSDAY

MIKE FLOSS & ROD MCGAHA:

with WNXP NASHVILLE

THE PORCH PRESENTS: HEARTBREAK HAPPY HOUR

2/8 THURSDAY

with BRENNAN WEDL & LO NOOM

BOSSA NOVA BAND

FRIDAY

ava swan

and then came humans

EXPLORATIONS IN GROOVE

2/2

with GREG MENDEZ & MELAINA KOL

MUSIC TRIVIA

2/24 SATURDAY

SQUIRREL FLOWER

JOSH HALPER’S

2/17 SATURDAY

with ALLEGRA KRIEGER & MALI VELASQUEZ

2/10 SATURDAY

KATY KIRBY

CROOKED RHYTHM BAND NO. 1

2/7 WEDNESDAY

“WRITING ON THE STALL”

2/1 THURSDAY

CAITLIN COOK’S

More info for each event online & on our instagram!

FEBRUARY 9

GRACE POTTER

WITH BRITTNEY SPENCER FEBRUARY 24

KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD BAND WITH SAMANTHA FISH AND JESSE DAYTON FEBRUARY 27

GODSMACK

Rent out

The Blue Room for your upcoming event!

WITH BASTIAN DA CRUZ

BLUEROOMBAR@THIRDMANRECORDS.COM

THEBLUEROOMBAR.COM

@THEBLUEROOMNASHVILLE

623 7TH AVE S NASHVILLE, TENN.

MARCH 19

REVOLUTIONARY LOVE

THISTLE FARMS BENEFIT WITH THE FISK JUBILEE SINGERS ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM MAY 31

JIM GAFFIGAN

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM JULY 5

SILVERADA (FORMERLY MIKE & THE MOONPIES) WITH UNCLE LUCIUS

DECEMBER 30 & 31

OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

23

• MORGXN • TAYLOR JANZEN • CRYSTAL ROSE

SAT 2.3

• WALTER SLIDE • LEGIT SMITTY • AVA MCCOY

SUN 2.4

• MINA ROTH • KEN MEYER • LIAM WALL

MON 2.5

• MASON MARCUS TURNER • NOAH G. FOWLER • YELLA STONE

TUE 2.6

• ULTIMATE COMEDY • FREE LOCAL STAND UP!

WED 2.7

• NASH HAMILTON • MAX LANGLINAIS • QUICKDRAW KID

THU 2.8

• DUSTIN SELLERS BDAY SHOW FEAT: QUINN O’DONNELL & CAMELOT

2412 GALLATIN AVE

@THEEASTROOM

thur 2/1

4PM Open Mic Night w/ Lori Kelley 9PM Sarah & Shannon • The Accidentals Maia Sharp

fri 2/2

9PM Micah Subar • Shimona

sat 2/3

7PM Nathan Evans Fox •Buck the Taxidermist Emily Hines 9PM Under High Street • Sidney Mays

mon 2/5

7PM Jesse Noah Wilson • Texino Golden Everything 9PM Johnny Cattini • Local Motion

tues 2/6

7PM TexPats- Songwriters Bringing Texas to Nashville w/ Grace Pettis & Rachel Laven ft. Helene Cronin 9PM Melissa Farrior • John Higgins Sarah Gibson

wed 2/7

7PM Karaoke Wednesday w/ Meg Gehman

Live Piano Karaoke 6 NIGHTS A WEEK! *Closed Tuesdays

EAST NASH V I LLE

BUY TICKETS

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FT Live and Great Performances Sponsored by

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THU 2.1

DRUNKEN DISNEY Singalong 7-9 PIANO KARAOKE 9-12 w/Katie Pederson

FRI 2.2

PIANO KARAOKE 6-9 w/Dani Ivory PIANO KARAOKE 9-1 w/Kira Small

SAT 2.3

ANNA LEE PALMER 7-9 PIANO KARAOKE 9-1 w//Benan

SUN 2.4

BRADY BEARD album release 7-8 PIANO KARAOKE 8-12 w/Kira Small

MON 2.5

SHOW TUNES @ SID’S 7-9 PIANO KARAOKE 9-12 w/Krazy Kyle

WED 2.7

HAGS REEL TO REEL HAPPY HOUR 6-8 BURLESK 8-9 ($7) PIANO KARAOKE 9-12 w/Paul Loren

*available for private parties!* 3245 Gallatin Pike • Nashville TN 37216 sidgolds.com/nashville • 629.800.5847

WEDNESDAY / 2.7 [BESTIES]

STAFF PICKS: ROMY AND MICHELE’S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION

As a 2013 high school grad, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how Facebook killed the high school reunion. So consider this a formal “thank you so much” to the Belcourt employee who chose the 1997 classic Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion for the latest Staff Pick. I love the costuming — which has really found its way back around in the latest trends — and the choreography, of course. But the film is deeper than that, according to T. Minton, the Belcourt public historian whom you’ll hear from ahead of the screening. The cult classic is a “masterfully written, ultramodern satire on the pangs of the quarter-life crisis, and the transformative power of friendship and self acceptance.” If you have a friendship that reminds you of the dynamic between Romy (Mira Sorvino) and Michele (Lisa Kudrow), you’re lucky — probably one of the luckiest kids in your class. High school is a time lots of people would not like to revisit, but Romy and Michele sure make it look fun. HANNAH HERNER 8 P.M. AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.

recovering from January’s snow-pocalypse, but rejoice: Spring celebrations are beginning.

Lunar New Year is one of the most widely observed holidays in the world, a vibrant, decorative and hopeful spring festival celebrated in a variety of ways across Asian cultures and communities. The Nashville Symphony’s first Lunar New Year program is determined to showcase that variety. The concert will feature both traditional and original music, choreography from Jen-Jen Lin, artistic director of the Chinese Arts Alliance of Nashville and music from master erhu soloist Ma Xiaohui, who is best known for her duet with Yo-Yo Ma on the award-winning soundtrack for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Beyond the symphony, the public spaces in the Schermerhorn will be bustling with festivity: Music, displays, craft tables (including a lantern-making station), and an Asian market (curated by Asian and Pacific Islanders of Middle Tennessee) will all be available.

RYNE WALKER

7:30 P.M. AT THE SCHERMERHORN 1 SYMPHONY PLACE

MUSIC

FRI 2.2

FILM

• LINES IN THE SKY • OURO • SOMETIME IN FEBRUARY • MAIDEN MOTHER CRONE

[TRUE BLUE]

KATY KIRBY W/ALLEGRA KRIEGER

During her time in Nashville, in the run-up to her 2021 debut Cool Dry Place, Katy Kirby explored and fine-tuned her sensibility as a songwriter. That’s not to say she cranks out one neat, polished narrative after another.

Rather, as the best songwriters do, she turns the chaos of a real life — whether it’s her life, one she’s observing, one she’s imagining or some combination of the three — into songs whose tart lyrics zing amid sweet melodies in an organic rock ’n’ pop setting. On Wednesday, her tour stops in at The Blue Room following the Jan. 26 release of her second album Blue Raspberry. At press time, only a few prerelease tracks were out, but I was immediately hooked by “Cubic Zirconia,” a lively song that describes the multiple layers and dynamics of a relationship while exploring the value — real and perceived — it offers both participants. Let me know if you can hear Kirby casually sing this and not want to know more: “Fresh off the market, but you’re nobody’s prize / Magazine quiz called you apple-shape / You look to me like dollar signs / Why wouldn’t that be enough? / For what more could I want?” Fellow stellar songsmith Allegra Krieger, whose latest LP I Keep My Feet on the Fragile Plane came out in the summer, will support.

STEPHEN TRAGESER

8 P.M. AT THE BLUE ROOM AT THIRD MAN RECORDS 623 SEVENTH AVE. S.

[SPRING IS COMING]

LUNAR NEW YEAR: YEAR OF THE DRAGON WITH THE NASHVILLE SYMPHONY MUSIC

THU 2.1

hardcore itself means. Washington, D.C., gave us the bleakly melodic, emotionally charged Revolution Summer bands Rites of Spring, Embrace and Soulside — a backlash to the macho aggression of their combat-booted contemporaries. The ABC No Rio scene of Quicksand, 1.6 Band and Rorschach offered an alternative sound to the hardcore orthodoxy of CBGB Sunday Matinees, just a few New York City blocks away. And most recently we’ve seen the TURNing of a more melodic, hooky STILE within the hardcore scene. And if you want to know what it’s all about, a Tuesday night at The Beast could teach you a thing or two. When Seattle mosh masters Regional Justice Center dissolved, frontman Ian Shelton took a new direction. Still just as furious as his previous endeavor, L.A.’s Militarie Gun takes ambitious swings at pop production and influences from 120 Minutes hitmakers, creating something of a raw-nerve sound that you can still hum along to. Fellow Californians Spiritual Cramp, named for a Christian Death song, keep the bleaker side of punk injected into their ever-expanding icy sound. Their self-titled LP from last year pokes around with dub reggae, cultural criticism and Y2K-era post-punk revivalist guitar chops. Rounding out the bill is neo-emo touring machine Pool Kids and the amplifierscreaming punk of Death Lens. P.J. KINZER 7 P.M. AT THE BASEMENT EAST 917 WOODLAND ST.

Nashville at large may still be mentally

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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A N A L O G

1808

WEST

END

AVENUE,

FEB

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DOORS: 7 PM SHOW: 8 PM GA: $20

JASON CARTER BAND

JASON SINGER OF MICHIGANDER

FEB

03

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01 02 04 06 14 15

ANALOG SOUL

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PRESENTS

MISSY RAINES & ALLEGHENY

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HOTEL

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FEB

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NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

FOOD & DRINK

MARKET LEADERS

Three new superettes join a growing number of small, upscale grocery markets

BY MARGARET LITTMAN

LOCAL MARKETS WORTH CHECKING OUT Looking for some Rancho Gordo beans, fresh-made pierogi, Frescobaldi Laudemio olive oil or other specialty item to make dining in special? Here’s a list of a few small markets across town, with a quick peek at what you might find on their shelves.

KINDA COLLECTED

PHOTOS: ANGELINA CASTILLO

THERE ARE OCCASIONAL weekdays when Rachel Clark is rushing around, and she could use some help. She and her husband Andrew, a design professional, manage a household of kids’ soccer games, dogs that need exercise, two careers with after-work demands and various community and volunteer commitments. Occasionally, Clark imagined that help as the ability to quickly grab some tinned fish and fancy olive oil off the shelf in a store in her neighborhood so she could pull together a quick dinner that wasn’t takeout, but didn’t require navigating a crowded supermarket. And, she imagined, it would all happen so it looked seamless, like she had her act together.

Last month, the couple opened Kinda Collected in East Nashville to offer the kind of experience Clark dreamed of. The name is a play on the phrase “calm, cool and collected,” and the small shop has shelves filled with housewares, olive oil, chocolate-covered dates and shelf-stable condiments. A small cooler houses beverages and perishable grab-and-go meals from Secret Bodega. There are also books and magazines and Patooties (cute needle-felted objects with shapely butts crafted by Tabitha Ong Tune) and a membership program for curated monthly market packs with a cross section of the shop’s goods.

Kinda Collected is one of three new upscale markets that opened in Nashville in January.

This trio joins a collection of other purveyors and superettes (see our list to the right) stocking selections of specialty groceries and fresh-made baked goods, pastas, cured meats and other staples. These spaces may be small in square footage (perhaps just a few shelves in a restaurant entranceway or several aisles in a storefront), but they give Nashvillians big choices for grocery shopping.

Bodega-style retail offerings thrived during the pandemic lockdown, when many restaurants temporarily converted to markets to serve customers who had difficulty finding goods due to supply-chain issues. Many shoppers want to buy locally and support mom-and-pops, and they’re willing to pay a bit more for specialty items. They also like the little extras they don’t find at a supermarket. While it might seem counterintuitive to think folks will spend $8 for crackers while worrying about a recession, research shows people do tend to buy little treats when big ones are out of reach. And those crackers could elevate last night’s leftovers.

“The whole concept for iggy’s started with the market,” explains Ryan Poli of the Wedgewood-Houston restaurant he and his brother Matthew opened in 2023. Poli sold pasta kits during the pandemic after he was frustrated when his to-go pasta orders arrived as glutenous globs after long Grubhub rides. Their business plan evolved to include a restaurant, with a

ANDREW AND RACHEL CLARK, KINDA COLLECTED menu heavy on those housemade pastas and sauces. The restaurant’s success — it’s often challenging to nab a reservation — is now allowing the brothers to open that market portion. They’ll sell things they make and ingredients they love — rigatoni, spaghetti and other pasta, Bolognese and other sauces, their beloved garlic bread and hard-to-find cheese from Murray’s Cheese. Iggy’s restaurant is open only for dinner right now (weekend brunch may be in the future), but the market opens at noon for dinner prep. Market items will come with directions on how to prepare at home.

“When I was growing up, there was a butcher shop and a produce store,” Poli says. “Jewel-Osco [the large Chicago supermarket] was more of the pharmacy. My mom went to four or five different places to get things.”

While that might not sound effective when it comes to the one-stop-shopping mindset, Poli thinks these markets help build community, particularly in a dense neighborhood like Wedgewood-Houston. People get to know each other when they pop up at markets

with frequency and offer each other tips (and maybe even dinner invites) for topping off a weeknight meal.

Kinda Collected is looking at ways to further build community, including hosting a craft night and other events. The shop is located just below the new Switchyards co-working space.

The space does not allow members to eat full meals at their desks, so Clark is considering adding a few seats for co-workers to have lunch.

Coincidentally, another Switchyards location will soon open near The Bottega at Frankies (opening this month), so there’s another audience that will appreciate to-go meals — particularly in the summer when outdoor seating will be plentiful.

John Burns Paterson, owner-operator of The Bottega at Frankies, wants locals to feel comfortable picking up the phone (yes, in an age when many restaurants don’t even publish their phone numbers) and say, “I’m having 15 people over for dinner tonight — what can you do to help me look good?”

Many of the Nashville superettes are Italian

Aleksey’s Market: Eastern European teas, chocolates, cheeses and meats, 718 Thompson Lane Bagelshop: Chrome Yellow coffee, bagels, sea salt and tinned fish, 2708 Old Lebanon Road, Donelson Bare Bones Butcher: Bone broth, lard, pickled vegetables and butter, 906 51st Ave. N. The Bottega at Frankies (coming soon): Pasta, soups and olive oil, 925 Cherokee Ave. Coco’s Fresh Italian Market & Restaurant: Wine, olive oil and pasta, 411 51st Ave. N. Cocorico: Nuts, cheese spreads and French delicacies, 1600 Division St. on the Music Row roundabout Hippo Bodega & Cafe: A New York City bodega and a Tokyo convenience store walk into a wine shop, complete with a soft-serve machine, 307 Hart St. Iggy’s: Sauce, pasta and garlic bread, 609 Merritt Ave. In Good Company Local Pantry: Granola, spices and butter, 1006 Fatherland St. (in the Shoppes at Fatherland) Kinda Collected: Tinned fish, condiments and cured meats, 1101 Chapel Ave. Little Gourmand: French delicacies, oils, vinegars and jams, 2209 Bandywood Drive and 717 Craighead St. Little Hats Market: Canned tomatoes, olives, cheese and cured meats, 1120 Fourth Ave. N. Little Rad Market: Produce and other takeaway goods coming soon, 6045 Highway 100 Mr. Aaron’s Goods: Pastas, flour, fresh yeast, bagels, seasonings and Grippos BBQ chips, 4204 Gallatin Pike (inside TKO) Oh My Chives Natural Market: Hot sauce, broth and organic groceries, 7332 Nolensville Road, Nolensville Spread Market & Larder: Condiments, wines and bread, 1330 Fifth Ave. N.

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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JOHN BURNS PATERSON, THE BOTTEGA AT FRANKIES markets. In addition to iggy’s and The Bottega at Frankies, there’s Coco’s Fresh Italian Market and Little Hats, and in Inglewood, Mr. Aaron’s Goods was inspired by a now-shuttered and stillmissed Germantown market.

“The seed that planted Mr. Aaron’s Goods was visiting Tom Lazzaro at Lazzaroli,” says owner Aaron Distler, who recently expanded his business to selling some products on shelves inside Chinese restaurant TKO in Inglewood. “I loved his shop. I loved that you could go buy the flours he used to make the pasta he sold. I loved that he took the time to talk to me about pasta making, giving me recipes and recommendations.

So we definitely try and do that too. Hopefully, we can be the little neighborhood market that connects with folks and inspires them like he inspired me.”

Poli thinks there’s a good reason Italian markets are so popular: “Boiling pasta might be one of the first things you learn cooking. I learned to make pasta and mix it with garlic and olive oil, and I was able to feed myself after school. Everybody can cook pasta. No one is going home and making beef Wellington on the fly.”

With the opening of the hotly anticipated The Bottega at Frankies, Nashville’s early-2024 superette trifecta is complete. Burns Paterson and chefs Frank Castronovo and Frank Falcinelli

brought The Pizzeria at Frankies slice shop and Frankies 925 Spuntino restaurant to town last year, to the delight of folks who knew the duo’s pizza and pasta from Brooklyn. The Bottega, across the street from the restaurants, will offer their fresh and dried pasta, Frankies 457 brand olive oil and olives, coffee, housemade soup and other to-go items that you’re not going to find in Kroger or Whole Foods, Falcinelli says.

Located in the Laurel & Pine development in East Nashville, the Frankies businesses are winning over Nashville neighbors as they do in Brooklyn. Burns Paterson says the team saw many apartment-dwellers make their way over for pizza while wearing swimsuits and flip-flops back in the summer, and they’re hoping the market continues to serve the neighborhood in a similar way.

Burns Paterson grew up in Montgomery, Ala., and remembers going to the Maxwell Air Force Base Commissary with his grandmother. He hopes locals will think of The Bottega at Frankies as an extension of their pantries, as his grandmother did of that commissary, with staples available seven days a week. But, he says, there will be at least one item you can nab at Frankies in Nashville that you wouldn’t find at a Brooklyn bottega: country ham. ▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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1/29/24 12:25 PM

EQUAL MEASURE

All People Coffee fosters community and creativity in Cleveland Park

BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

COREY ALEXANDER (LEFT) AND BRADLEY BRUCE

PHOTOS: ANGELINA CASTILLO

ON ANY GIVEN DAY, the cafe at the corner of Douglas and Lischey is lively with conversations over coffee, the whir of an espresso machine and the smell of toasted bagels. The ever-present construction near the intersection doesn’t seem to deter customers from All People Coffee, which has been serving the Cleveland Park community for two years. Patrons have braved worse than blocked roads to get their caffeine fix — shortly after All People’s official opening in 2021 a snowstorm hit Nashville, and patrons still trudged through the wintry landscape for a warm drink from the new neighborhood spot.

“I think that was our jump-start,” says coowner Corey Alexander, noting that All People was one of the few places open that day.

Two years later and All People is still bringing in Cleveland Park residents (and others) for a matcha drink, Irish latte, nitro cold brew, a draft from their wall of beer taps or an Instagram-able seasonal drink.

Like many neighborhoods in Nashville, Cleveland Park is changing. Development at this particular intersection was the main angle for a 2018 Tennessean story about the wave of development and gentrification hitting the historically Black neighborhood in East Nashville.

All People, in terms of geography, is right in the middle of it all. On top of that, hip cafes are often seen as symptoms, if not causes, of gentrification. The coffee shop is located on the first floor of a modern apartment building full of Airbnb rentals. Construction is happening up Lischey and down Douglas. But stalwart institutions also remain: A barbershop once owned

by Vernon Winfrey — a former councilmember and father of Oprah — is just a few blocks away, as is Cleveland Street Baptist Church.

That confluence of new and old communities is what attracted Alexander and co-founder Bradley Bruce to the neighborhood.

“We’re two brothers who wanted to show that coffee’s for everybody,” says Alexander. “Not just for one group or one community or one type of person.”

The cafe is the duo’s first project together.

Bruce, a pharmacist by trade, originally had an idea for a combination cafe and bike shop. He pitched it to Alexander, who has business experience. When the concept for All People came together, they began building out the space on Douglas and Lischey, spending late nights transforming a very unfinished unit (Alexander says the place was just dirt and studs) into a welcoming storefront. The two also introduced themselves to neighbors and made efforts to connect with local Nashville-based vendors, including Morsel for vegan baked goods and Jersey Oven for fresh bagels.

They’ve also been hosting events that pack the coffee shop and its sidewalk, including a writers’ round series and block parties — Bruce says that development was organic thanks to

the efforts of creative and artistic baristas.

Two former baristas have become collaborators on several events hosted at the cafe. Soul’d Creative Collective founders Christian Sinclair and Jonathan Wynn were working as baristas at All People when they had the idea to launch a culture night, Sinclair tells the Scene. Alexander and Bruce were on board with the idea. Soul’d was launched soon after in May 2021, while the cafe was still only a few months old.

“As [Alexander and Bruce] were figuring things out with the coffee shop, we were figuring things out with Soul’d,” says Sinclair.

In addition to block parties, Soul’d has hosted poetry readings, concerts and fundraisers at the cafe. They even won the readers’ poll for Best Writers’ Open Mic Night in the Scene’s most recent Best of Nashville issue.

“It’s always been my dream to get people together and just commune,” says Bruce. “There was so much divisiveness and separation during the pandemic that we wanted to do something that was opposite [of that]. … And we use coffee as a vehicle just to bring people in.”

Alexander and Bruce tease that they have some plans for growth in the “development

phase” but decline to share details. For now they just want to reiterate All People’s message that everyone is “created equal.”

“Coffee is not relegated to a certain gender or race,” says Bruce. “If you put your mind to something you can create it — that’s not limited just to a certain class or group of people.” ▼

All People Coffee 347 Douglas Ave., Suite 101 allpeoplecoffee.com

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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1/29/24 12:25 PM

The Ultimate Chef Throwdown!

Thursday April 4 Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum Our 15th Annual Iron Fork returns with top chefs from Music City’s best restaurants battling it out to vie for the coveted Iron Fork Champions trophy. This year’s catch? All of our competitors have already won Iron Fork before... and now they’ll compete as the best of the best to be crowned the Ultimate Iron Fork Champion!

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NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

IRONFORKNASHVILLE.COM

ART: CRAWL SPACE

TEXTILES AND FLOWER-INSPIRED ART AT FEBRUARY’S FIRST SATURDAY Highlights include Transforming Antidotes at Coop and Emily Weiner at Red Arrow

“INHALER,” MILLICENT KENNEDY

BY JOE NOLAN

WEDGEWOOD-HOUSTON It’s always a big deal when Caroline Allison opens a new show at Zeitgeist, and her latest exhibition finds the artist looking back at familiar subjects and themes while leaping forward with striking and surprising new techniques. With Waiting Between the Trees, Allison continues her examinations of the natural world, creating portraits of stones and picturing clouds in serene blue skies. I love a gorgeous landscape photograph, but Allison is too technically restless or creatively ambitious for that here. The show includes both photographed images and cyanotype elements in prints with nontraditional shapes — some are rounded, and some are literally folded and bent, and they’ll have viewers questioning whether they’re looking at a sculpture or a painting or a photo. Some of the works look like sections of sky being pulled right out of the fabric of reality. Waiting Between the Trees asks questions about the way we perceive and represent the natural world. It also responds to the breakdown of traditional boundaries between various creative forms that’s one of the hallmarks of contemporary art. But for all of the show’s more heady content, the natural subjects in Waiting Between the Trees are universally appealing, and Allison’s

technical precision is always a highlight that even contemporary-art newbies will appreciate. ➡DETAILS: Opening reception noon-8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3, at Zeitgeist, 516 Hagan St.

Coop will host two multimedia textile-art displays at its space in The Packing Plant in February, and Transforming Antidotes is one of those great pairings where each artist’s work stands out because their displays play so nicely together. Millicent Kennedy uses print, natural dyes, textiles and found objects to explore and comment about the ways we preserve and archive objects and materials in the physical world.

But the most interesting part of Kennedy’s show is the unexpected combinations of materials and techniques on display. Kennedy’s objects fall uniquely between illustration and sculpture, and that’s one of the reasons this is the Saturday night stop I’m most curious about. The other reason is Lisa Alberts’ equally unique combination of photography, textiles and soft sculpture — her work is a cool complement to Caroline Allison’s show at Zeitgeist across the street. Alberts’ art is about physicality and motherhood, and I love the way her mediums match her messaging. Her knotted and tangled pillow sculptures resonate warm and cozy vibes, and their earthy colors and photogram designs feel homespun and grounding with just a splash of bohemian funk. ➡DETAILS: Opening reception 1-9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3, at Coop, 507 Hagan St. EAST NASHVILLE In February, Red Arrow welcomes Nashville-based artist Emily Weiner for her first solo exhibition at the gallery, Never Odd or Even. The display highlights Weiner’s distinctive paintings, thoughtfully ensconced within creatively crafted frames. Weiner’s oils on linen delve into

“TENDER GARDEN,” REED ANDERSON

SINCE 2024 IS a leap year, we’ve got an extra day in February’s art calendar. That said, it’s still the shortest month, so if you want to see all the best new art happening in Nashville, you should probably plan to catch their First Saturday openings — many of these shows will be closed sooner than usual. February’s best offerings include a broad array of exhibitions, from photography and painting to textile art and sculpture.

Many of this month’s top shows are by women artists, and two of them are about flowers. I’m feeling warmer already.

symbolic and figurative realms, and Never Odd or Even is brimming with allusions to classical theater, ancient religious practices, celestial bodies and other natural forms loaded with mythic resonance. The elemental subjects she explores make Weiner’s art universally compelling, but her painted wood and ceramic frames make her work unmistakable. Red Arrow and Weiner got lots of attention and rave reviews at Future Fair in New York last year, and gallerygoers are talking about East Nashville’s only contemporary art space as the best gallery in town. They definitely have the best opening receptions. See you there. ➡DETAILS: Opening reception 6-9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3, at Red Arrow, 919 Gallatin Ave. DOWNTOWN In my last column, I mentioned the colorful, sculptural paintings of Madiha Siraj when the artist’s latest exhibition opened at Tinney Contemporary back in January. That show continues through Feb. 17 alongside another chromatic display of paintings by Reed Anderson. Anderson’s abstract canvases and works on paper read like

floral still lifes — it’s a sly combination of traditional and contemporary aesthetics, but it’s hard to think very much about art concepts when faced with the rambunctious beauty of this bodacious bouquet of a show. With Tender Garden, Anderson cuts decorative holes in his substrates, but also applies his paints in generous layers. (The process results in another compelling conversation about surfaces — and subsurfaces — in abstract painting.) The title also features some fun word play about the fragile beauty of flowers and plants, and the need to “tend” to our gardens. It speaks to the relationship between gardens and gardeners to say something about the relationship between painters and their paintings. But it’s the look and feel of these works that’s most intriguing — the artist’s cut-away canvases are the visual equivalent of a musical composition you remember for the pauses between the notes.

Both of these flower-powered exhibitions are just what the doctor ordered as Nashville continues to thaw out after our January cold snap. ➡DETAILS: Opening reception 2-8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3, at Tinney Contemporary, 237 Rep. John Lewis Way N. ▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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Daughters of Muscadine: Stories

By Monic Ductan Fireside Industries/The University Press of Kentucky 144 pages, $24.95

Adopt. Bark. Meow.

Microchip. Neuter. Spay.

PHOTO: KORI HOBBS

Ductan will discuss Daughters of Muscadine 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 1, at The Bookshop

Because Nashville is so much more than honky-tonks and bachelorettes...

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RECURRING CHARACTERS and themes in Monic Ductan’s debut story collection Daughters of Muscadine recall the vines of their fictional setting’s namesake. These linked stories reveal the entangled historical and psychological legacies at work in several generations of Black families in Muscadine, a rural town in northeast Georgia.

Ductan, who was born and raised in Georgia, now lives in Cookeville, where she teaches literature and creative writing at Tennessee Tech University. In 2020, Oxford American published Ductan’s on-the-ground account of the deadly tornado that ravaged Cookeville at the same moment the COVID-19 pandemic first descended.

The piece is written with clear-eyed compassion, establishing a voice and perspective that serve Ductan well in Daughters of Muscadine, which presents a series of small-town narrators with whom we can easily connect and empathize.

Most of these narrators are young Black girls and women navigating their way through life in Muscadine, but the opening story, “Black Water,” offers a man’s reflections on his childhood’s haunted family history, which includes local legend Ida Pearl Crawley, a Black woman lynched in the 1920s. Accused of setting fire to the family home of the white man who employed her (and fathered her two children), Pearl becomes a ghostly presence who continues to wield influence decades later.

Remarking on the complicated legacy of his heritage, the narrator says it was “Pearl people still talked about; at least that was good for something.” Ductan establishes early that in the world of a small town, legends can become a valuable kind of currency.

Alongside Pearl stands another local figure, Lucy Boudreaux — a well-liked member of Muscadine’s famed girls’ basketball team in the

late 1980s. Through a collective “we” narrator representing the other girls on the team, “GrisGris” recounts what happens when Lucy goes missing. Lucy’s disappearance merges the everyday world of teenage girls with myriad dangers lurking in the weeds around them.

Like Pearl, Lucy soon becomes more of a local emblem than an individual. “In hindsight, we wanted her home for purely selfish reasons,” the girls admit after their winning record begins to suffer. “We wanted her for us, our joy, the excitement we felt when she sank a three after popping the ball into the air, quick as lightning off the dribble.”

The fates of Pearl and Lucy reverberate within the narratives of all the stories that follow. Brief but resonant references give these legacies room to echo within the stories of other girls and women who are haunted in their own ways.

In “Kasha and Ansley,” for example, a young woman tries to expand her constricted emotional world and daily routine after her grandmother’s death brings her estranged sister, who’s freer but messier, home to stay. “June’s Menorah” gives a glimpse into one young girl’s way of coping with fraught changes happening in her family during the late 1950s. An avid reader, this narrator looks to Anne Frank’s diary to find a parallel model for the emotional isolation and danger she feels at home. “The Sense of Touch” offers a pandemic-era reflection on grief and the anxieties of contemporary dating. Her world upended, the story’s narrator — a young woman whose husband was recently killed in an accident — must decipher what intimacy means for her now.

In the collection’s most psychologically suspenseful story, “Daughter,” the narrator has a chance encounter with the daughter she gave

up for adoption at birth, now a grown woman who’s the spitting image of her birth mother.

We follow the narrator’s conflicted drive to shadow this long-lost daughter and pursue reconnection with her, for better or worse.

Each story highlights Ductan’s insightful grasp on the complexities of her setting. “You Can Have It” explores the conflicts that can arise within a rural community when some of its young people have been labeled “promising” while others have been written off from childhood as “all bad.” The collection’s closing story, “White Jesus,” turns on the uneasy friendship between a newcomer to Muscadine and the daughter of a racist white family with complicated roots in the community, whose church becomes a focal point for the narrator’s precarious relationship to her new life in this small Southern town.

Throughout Daughters of Muscadine, Ductan weaves a larger interconnected picture of Muscadine’s fictional world by name-checking certain characters in numerous stories, often bringing them back in peripheral roles.

Some references are no more than a surname, dropped at the right moment, suggesting deep wells of history that flow into the scenes at hand, heightening our awareness of the tensions at work in each individual narrative.

The links among these touching stories are subtle but effective, accumulating in our minds as we read. Thanks to Ductan’s detailed command of her setting and the compassionate clarity she brings to her narrators, we easily grow attached to a wide range of Muscadine’s Black daughters and sons.

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

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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Upcoming shows feb 1 southghost w/ natalie duffy (7pm) feb 1 Karlee Metzger w/ The Centennials (9pm) feb 2 Kat & Ned Sing Songs (7pm) feb 2 Between 4th and 5th, Canyon Dawn, Sheehaw (9pm) feb 3 VINJE, Henry Conlon (7pm) feb 3 Ready Revolution, Tommy Bomb, Jonny Gray (9pm) feb 5 Psybin and the Sunlight Band (7pm) feb 5 Rosetta w/ Miles Connor & Will Tipton feb 7 field guide (7pm) feb 7 elizabeth moen w/ bats (9pm) feb 8 Troy Cartwright (7pm) feb 8 judy blank w/ ethansroom (9pm)

feb 9 mutual benefit (7pm) feb 9 cliffs w/ Jack Shields & Maddie Ettrich (9pm) feb 10 Jeffrey Martin, Tommy Alexander (7pm) feb 10 Sugadaisy (9pm) feb 11 Benedict Cork (7pm) feb 12 Sophie Gault & The Broken Things (7pm) feb 12 Sunbaby, Bizzy, Emma Ogier, Hannah Flora (9pm) feb 14 field guide feb 15 Mon Rovîa (6pm) sold out! feb 15 judy blank (9pm) feb 16 Bridget Kearney (7pm) feb 16 Jacy Zay, Johnny Was Here, and Felicity (9pm)

MUSIC

WITH A SINGLE STEP Morgxn revels in the journey on Beacon

BY BRITTNEY McKENNA

Beacon Out Friday, Feb. 2, via Spaghetti & Meatballs/Nettwerk; playing 8 p.m. Friday at The East Room

ON A PHONE CALL during January’s snowstorm, quickly rising pop singer-songwriter Morgxn states plainly that Beacon, the record he’ll release on Friday, is the one he always wanted to make. The path to get here, though, was not one he expected to take.

“It took me moving back home,” Morgxn tells the Scene. “I’m from here — I’m a third-generation Nashvillian. But for me, I had to leave home in order to find out who I was.”

Circa 2011, Morgxn was looking for a place to hone his chops as a pop songsmith, and where he felt welcome as an out queer artist.

Ultimately, he made the call to move to Los Angeles instead of staying in Nashville to build his career.

“A manager at the time here in town basically looked me in the eye and was like, ‘You will never make it in music as an openly gay person in Nashville,’” he recalls. “And I didn’t want to hide who I was and never have.”

Throughout the 2010s, Morgxn called L.A. home and released a slew of electronically enhanced pop singles. He collaborated with other artists on remixes and contributed his rich and gentle tenor voice to others’ tracks, while

touring with musicians like dance-pop solo act Robert DeLong and R&B-inspired synth-centric duo Good Great Fine Ok. In 2018, he released his debut album Vital, and it began to feel like his star was reaching new heights. Then pandemic lockdown began in 2020, and just a few weeks later he unexpectedly lost his record contract.

Even without COVID, the timing would have felt especially ironic.

“I’m dropped from my label the same day that Billie Eilish tweets about my song ‘Home,’” he says. “I’ve got all this attention, and my phone is blowing up from friends and the internet and whatever — but at the same time, I’m like, ‘I don’t know how I’m gonna get music out anymore. I don’t know what to do.’”

That’s when Morgxn decided to come back to Nashville, bringing with him a vault of more than 100 unreleased songs and a deep need to hit reset. With help from his canine companion, he narrowed down the tracks. “My dog, who sings along to the songs — we have gone viral several times — if she wasn’t feeling the songs, they didn’t make the cut,” he says. Morgxn tapped producer Marshall Altman to help shape his collection of demos into an album. They re-

corded the LP with a full band. For Morgxn, one of the crucial details was including a full string section, which added a sonic fullness to match the deeply felt lyrics.

“The start of this album was sort of based around the idea of the hero’s journey,” says Morgxn. “And for me, it was like putting myself in my own story and in my own life, and then heading into the unknown.”

Along with making Beacon, Morgxn kept busy with activism in support of causes including trans rights, abortion rights and antiracism. He says it felt heartening to be surrounded by likeminded people in a place where he once felt rejected because of his identity. Mayor Freddie O’Connell even used “My Revival,” a single that will also be on Beacon, as his entrance music when he won last year’s mayoral runoff election.

“I wish I could go back and tell the hurt, bullied, othered kid who grew up in this town that one day the most progressive mayor in all of Nashville’s history is going to walk out to your song,” he says. “You’re going to sing at his inauguration because you are a part of what makes Nashville’s revival, the revival that it’s having.”

“My Revival,” an infectiously melodic and

moving anthem about standing in one’s power, is a standout on Beacon, though highlight stacks on highlight across the album. “Modern Man” interrogates traditional masculinity over a disco beat. “Backbone (It’s Not Over),” an intense piece with a gritty, driving groove, is another key piece of the album’s genesis. The word “backbone” came to Morgxn at a difficult time, seemingly at random, but eventually revealed its significance — a reminder that he possesses the strength he needs to persevere — through song. “‘Backbone’ is really the song that crosses the threshold and starts the chapter,” Morgxn says.

“It’s a word I wrote in my journal the day my dad passed eight years ago. And I wrote nothing else. I had no idea what it meant. I searched for years to figure out what it meant. And I think that the journey of this album begins the day it’s released.”

Morgxn kicks off that journey with a full-band release show at The East Room Friday night.

It’s fitting that he’ll be celebrating in his hometown; a few days later, he has solo acoustic gigs set for New York’s Rockwood Music Hall and L.A.’s Hotel Café. ▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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1/29/24 5:29 PM

Multifaceted English combo Squid stays slippery on O Monolith “SOMEONE ASKED us to sign their passport a couple days ago,” Squid guitarist Anton Pearson tells the Scene with a laugh. “We told them that was a bad idea, but they insisted. I hope they’ve had trouble-free border crossings.”

It was a curious thing to ask. Formed in 2016, Squid was on the verge of becoming a full-time touring and recording concern when COVID caught the members off-guard and trapped them at home indefinitely. This time four years ago, Squid — who hail from Brighton, U.K., and consist of guitarists Pearson and Louis Borlase, bassist Laurie Nankivell, synth player Arthur Leadbetter and singer-drummer Ollie Judge — had been readying their Warp Records debut Bright Green Field for a 2020 release.

Eventually issued in May 2021, the final product was stellar. One hour’s worth of anthemic, mercurial songs that build up and break down circuitously and unpredictably, it garnered praise from NME, NPR and beyond. Having cleared that first-album hurdle, and with momentum back on their side as bands returned to the road, Pearson and his cohorts got right to finishing their second LP, 2023’s O Monolith.

“We tried to use what had happened [in 2020 and ’21] to take advantage in any way we could … and were keen to think of O Monolith as one thing all together,” explains Pearson. He cites a

PHOTO: ALEX KURUNIS

BY CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

triad of exploratory rock greats — Neu!, Stereolab and Godspeed You, Black Emperor! — as influences on his and his bandmates’ heady sonic approach.

On Monolith, Squid gracefully threads the needle between dreamy and dissonant — its bookend tracks “Swing (In a Dream)” and “If You Had Seen the Bull’s Swimming Attempts You Would Have Stayed Away” in particular showcase this skill. Its centerpiece “The Blades” is a post-punk crusher that Pearson describes as both a catalyst for the way the group crafted the rest of the record and a lightning-in-a-bottle

MUSIC: THE SPIN

TRÏBE, WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM THEIR FRIENDS

BY P.J. KINZER THROUGHOUT ITS LENGTHY history, Nashville’s hip-hop community has frequently relied on DIY spirit — and elbow grease — to build the infrastructure that wasn’t readily available. In the late 1990s and early Aughts, there were a few ways to find out about local rap talent, including DJ nights at The Pub of Love near 12th and Porter, occasional spotlights on radio station 92Q and more frequent ones via Beats, Rhymes & Life on Vanderbilt’s WRVU. And there was Club Med, a Saturday night hip-hop showcase that packed crowds into Vandy-adjacent restaurant Mediterranean Cuisine, a second-floor spot on 21st Avenue now home to Sarabhas Creamery. After the kitchen closed for the night, a set of turntables would appear, along with some can lights and sheets of cardboard for the b-boys and b-girls to throw down upon. The P.A. seemed to sway along as the dancing crowd shook the floor — and sounded like it suffered a few falls in its time — and on a cool night the heat from many bodies fogged over the windows, hiding the fire marshal’s nightmare from the outside world.

Makeshift Club Med may have been, but the excitement coming from the rappers, the DJs and the audience was undeniable. As I approached The Basement Friday night, that same spirit seemed to be everywhere as fans queued up for hip-hop collective Six One Trïbe’s show; the second of two gigs at The Basement that night, it was a release celebration for the group’s new single “Paradise Lost.” I’ve been to plenty of record-release parties, but this one felt

36

moment: After writing the song, he and his bandmates surprised themselves by being able to play it. “Cracking that one was exciting,” the guitarist remembers. “It’s one of the most dynamic parts of the current set.”

In tandem, Field and Monolith function as a double album of sorts — an extended serenade of ear-tickling synth, string and brass tapestries, slick time-signature shifting and interlocking dual guitars. Squid never panders to the listener and scores high for grooviness and grandiosity; one could easily see their catalog serving as a stepping stone for prog or krautrock novices, or

more like an actual party than any I can recall.

While the early show wrapped up, an impromptu tailgate session filled the venue’s small parking lot with chatter and laughter; when the doors opened, members of the ever-evolving collective as well as fans and friends took over the back porch. Aaron Dethrage, a Trïbe co-founder who’s helmed production on the pristine-sounding records released by the Trïbe as a collective, took over front-of-house sound for the show, and several times during soundcheck you could hear someone yell “SIX! ONE!” over the P.A., followed by the response “Triiiiiiibe!” from the whole room in unison.

When the clock struck 10, Corduroy Clemens took the stage to greet the eager audience. After a few seconds, he said he had to take a phone call — which I assumed to be a bit, but it seemed he was literally waiting on this call to start the show. After a minute, he reappeared and the party got back on track. Over the next hour, different groupings of MCs from the Trïbe’s deep and varied lineup rotated on and off the small stage, passing around mics for their verses. Each member is strong on their own, but seems unstoppable in pursuit of making great music when they add their strength to the collective. While it felt like everyone in the shoulder-to-shoulder audience chanted and hollered during the show, nobody cheered louder or bounced harder during a given song than the Trïbe members who were out in the crowd. That genuine feeling of support is part of what I love about the group, and maybe that’s true for all their fans.

Namir Blade has been living in Los Angeles for a hot minute, but he was back in town and brought out his frequent collaborator Jordan Webb, as well as Cashmere Crool, who was decked out in a very D-beat vest covered in studs and leather paint. The trio broke out into “Aloof,” the closer from Webb’s 2023 EP 2 Piece & a Biscuit. The rotation continued with Ronni Raxx — who dropped her own single “Call You Latr” last year in addition to standout contributions to the Trïbe’s LP Reset for the Rejects — the wordy rhymes of Negro Justice, the towering presence of Stepson and the ever-enthusiastic HB Mandella.

a second chance for those who foolishly got off the Radiohead train post Kid A. Pearson & Co. belong to a loose cadre of avant-garde upstarts from across the pond who, pandemic be damned, have kept things organic and unconventional. Others in this discussion include inward-gazing post-rock ensemble Black Country, New Road (whose alto sax player Lewis Evans guests on Field), acerbic South London post-punks Shame and genre-smashing music-conservatory miscreants Black Midi — a collection of acts united less by shared sonic traits than a never-do-the-same-thing-twice mentality.

Squid’s two full-lengths so far slot nicely into this canon. Pearson promises attendees of the newly road-tested group’s gig Monday at The Basement East — their first in Music City, with support from Water From Your Eyes, a Brooklyn duo recently signed to Matador Records whose dead-eyed, synth-fueled post-punk serves Gonerfest vibes — an immersive experience.

“We keep the live show interesting, and leave enough up to chance on the night so that every one is a little different and things can happen that surprise us. Your whole mindset changes when you’re up there — things we’ve practiced in rehearsals come out totally differently. It’s fun to take an audience along on that ride.” ▼

Playing Monday, Feb. 5, at The Basement East

PHOTO: STEVE CROSS

SQUID ROW

EXPECT THE WINS: SIX ONE TRÏBE The stage stayed full to overflowing, but the highlight of the night was the live celebration of the “Paradise Lost” single, with AndréWolfe, Blvck Wizzle, Riø Tokyo and the Trïbe’s wise elder statesman Gee Slab (who has Expect to Win, his first solo LP in years, on the way in March). “Paradise” is something of a departure for the Nashville collective, reminiscent of Aquemini-era Outkast.

It’s a big, echoing downtempo piece that showcases all four MCs’ individual talents, from Slab’s poetic molasses drawl to Wizzle’s André 3000-esque melodicism, from Tokyo’s elegant cadence to AndréWolfe’s expansive R&B sensibilities.

The only thing that could have made it better: It seemed a shame that there’s no way to actually buy a copy of the single, since a physical version doesn’t exist. Designer Quin created an incredible cover — akin to the best Hollywood poster designs of midcentury master Saul Bass — that would look killer on a 7-inch. (You can buy shirts and hoodies from their online shop, though.)

Regardless, Six One Trïbe consistently makes Music City hip-hop fans proud of their town and leaves us energized about the future of rap here. ▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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FILM

ADAPTATION

Ava DuVernay’s Origin is a vital and compelling tapestry

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DIRECTOR AVA DUVERNAY has turned her gaze to America’s racial injustices throughout her career — including with 2014’s Selma, a handsome and heartfelt period drama on the historic voting rights marches led by MLK and his followers, and again with her Oscar-nominated documentary on the prison-industrial complex, 13th. The source material for her new film Origin, Isabel Wilkerson’s 2020 nonfiction book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, could have easily and naturally been adapted as a documentary. With a vast and academic scope that goes beyond boundaries of country and even skin color, Wilkerson’s book attempts to uncover the underlying hierarchies of power and oppression that run through human civilization itself.

Instead, DuVernay takes a unique creative approach, making Wilkerson herself the film’s central character and setting her on an investigative odyssey that weaves the personal and the historic together. The result — a meditative travelogue through history and the soul, shot on multiple continents in just 37 days — is as patchy as it sounds, but the overall tapestry is compelling and vital.

We haven’t seen this clever a solution since Charlie Kaufman wrote himself into his Adaptation script, struggling to adapt Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief to the screen. That’s a somewhat silly comparison, sure, but it speaks to how intriguing this meta-narrative solution is on a fundamental level. DuVernay finds rich humanity in Wilkerson’s personal journey, where the loss of her closest loved ones and the difficult grief that follows set her on a newfound mission to create meaningful work. (See also: this year’s Best Picture nominee American Fiction.)

Her thesis comes to her in pieces as she follows its thread through research, conversation and encounters, eventually revealing the underlying mechanisms that link India’s societal hierarchies, the Third Reich and the American institution of slavery in the form of vivid historical flashbacks that are utterly watchable. There’s a Malick-esque lyricism to how these scenes bubble up into the present, like glimpses into the multiverse — important stories lost to time and pivotal characters who need to be seen again so we can know their names. Featuring warm, tactile production design and Matt Lloyd’s spacious cinematography, Origin would have made for a lush and satisfying miniseries.

It is as impossible to compress the scale of Wilkinson’s thesis into a feature film as it is to neatly sum up the mechanisms of human oppression in the first place. Or is it? DuVernay’s film, made from the hip and from the heart, does the important work of getting the conversation going. What could be written off by some audiences as “homework” turns out to be something of a scrumptious feast, and shouldn’t get lost in the awards-season shuffle. As we deal with great trauma as both individuals and as a species, Origin features an important form of curiosity, examination and honesty. ▼

Origin PG-13, 141 minutes Opening Friday, Feb. 2, at the Belcourt; now playing at select Regal and AMC locations

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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Fellow

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Where more pigs live than people

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Body, for hair

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The Loan Documents secure indebtedness owed by Debtor to Secured Party in a principal amount of not less than $2,500,000.00 (but no more than $5,000,000), plus unpaid interest, attorneys’ fees and other charges including the costs to sell the Collateral (the “Indebtedness”).

Events of default have occurred under the Loans and Loan Documents.

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LEGAL

NOTICE OF DISPOSITION OF COLLATERAL BY PUBLIC SALE Debtor: JCF Housements Manufacturing, LLC

Rental Scene

is the owner and holder of certain Loans (the “Loans”) evidenced by a Secured Promissory Note dated January 17, 2023, together with that Security Agreement dated January 17, 2023, a Note Purchase Agreement dated January 17, 2023, and that UCC Financing Statement recorded with the Delaware Department of State pursuant to Del. Code Ann. tit. 6, § 9-501(a)(2), on January 20, 2023, at Doc. No. 2023-0533041, and recorded with the Tennessee Secretary of State at Doc. No.439608950 (supplemental/notice filing), to evidence Secured Party’s security interest in its Collateral (described below). The loan documents referenced above and all documents executed and delivered by Debtor to Secured Party with respect to the Loans are collectively referred to as the “Loan Documents.”

Camdog, LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company (“Secured Party”) is the owner and holder of certain Loans (the “Loans”) evidenced by a Secured Promissory Note dated January 17, 2023, together with that Security Agreement dated January 17, 2023, a Note Purchase Agreement dated January 17, 2023, and that UCC Financing Statement recorded with the Delaware Department of State pursuant to Del. Code Ann. tit. 6, § 9-501(a)(2), on January 20, 2023, at Doc. No. 2023-0533041, and recorded with the Tennessee Secretary of State at Doc. No.439608950 (supplemental/notice filing), to evidence Secured Party’s security interest in its Collateral (described below). The loan documents referenced above and all documents executed and delivered by Debtor to Secured Party with respect to the Loans are collectively referred to as the “Loan Documents.”

The Loan Documents secure indebtedness owed by Debtor to Secured Party in a principal amount of not less than $2,500,000.00 (but no more than $5,000,000), plus unpaid interest, attorneys’ fees and other charges including the costs to sell the Collateral (the “Indebtedness”).

Events of default have occurred under the Loans and Loan Documents.

Secured Party, pursuant to the Uniform Commercial Code, the Loan Documents and applicable Delaware and Tennessee law, including Del. Code Ann. tit. 6, §§ 9-601(a), 610(a), 611(a), et. seq. and Tenn.

Code Ann. §§ 47-9-611, 612, 613, provides this notice that it will sell the Collateral described below (“Collateral”) by Public Sale to be conducted as follows: Date of Sale:

Monday, February 5, 2024, at 4:00 o’clock p.m. (CST) Method and Place of Sale: The Public Sale will be held by a hybrid bidding process, with virtual bidding via Zoom allowed and in-person bidding at the offices of Exo Legal PLLC, 818 18th Avenue South, Tenth Floor, Nashville, TN 37203. The URL address and password for the online video conference will be posted at www.exolegal.com/news on January 22, 2024.

Secured Party, pursuant to the Uniform Commercial Code, the Loan Documents and applicable Delaware and Tennessee law, including Del. Code Ann. tit. 6, §§ 9-601(a), 610(a), 611(a), et. seq. and Tenn.

Code Ann. §§ 47-9-611, 612, 613, provides this notice that it will sell the Collateral described below (“Collateral”) by Public Sale to be conducted as follows: Date of Sale:

Monday, February 5, 2024, at 4:00 o’clock p.m. (CST) Method and Place The Public Sale of Sale: will be held by a hybrid bidding process, with virtual bidding via Zoom allowed and in-person bidding at the offices of Exo Legal PLLC, 818 18th Avenue South, Tenth Floor, Nashville, TN 37203. The URL address and password for the online video conference will be posted at www.exolegal.com/news on January 22, 2024.

The Public Sale will be conducted

by David Anthony. For further information, contact David Anthony, Exo Legal PLLC, at (615) 869-0634.

Collateral: All assets and personal property of Debtor, whether presently existing or hereafter acquired or arising and wherever located, including, without limitation, all accounts, chattel paper, deposit accounts, documents, electronic chattel paper, equipment, fixtures, general intangibles, goods, healthcare-insurance receivables, instruments, inventory, investment property, letter-of-credit rights, payment intangibles, promissory notes, software, any commercial tort claims hereafter identified by Debtor in any authenticated record delivered to Secured Party, and all supporting obligations, products, and proceeds of any of the foregoing.

Other Parties Receiving Notice: Internal Revenue Service; Commissioner of Revenue, Tennessee Department of Revenue; Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development

allowed and in-person bidding at the offices of Exo Legal PLLC, 818 18th Avenue South, Tenth Floor, Nashville, TN 37203. The URL address and password for the online video conference will be posted at www.exolegal.com/news on January 22, 2024.

The Public Sale will be conducted

by David Anthony. For further information, contact David Anthony, Exo Legal PLLC, at (615) 869-0634.

Collateral: All assets and personal property of Debtor, whether presently existing or hereafter acquired or arising and wherever located, including, without limitation, all accounts, chattel paper, deposit accounts, documents, electronic chattel paper, equipment, fixtures, general intangibles, goods, healthcare-insurance receivables, instruments, inventory, investment property, letter-of-credit rights, payment intangibles, promissory notes, software, any commercial tort claims hereafter identified by Debtor in any authenticated record delivered to Secured Party, and all supporting obligations, products, and proceeds of any of the foregoing.

Other Parties Receiving Notice: Internal Revenue Service; Commissioner of Revenue, Tennessee Department of Revenue; Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development As to all or any part of the Collateral, the right is reserved to (i) sell in such lots, parcels, segments or groupings as Secured Party may choose; (ii) to sell part or all of the Collateral and/or delay, continue, adjourn, cancel or postpone the sale of any part of the Collateral; (iii) to sell in whole and then sell in parts and consummate the sale in whichever matter produces the highest sale price; and/or (iv) to sell to the next highest bidder in the event any high bidder does not comply with the terms of the sale.

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

David M. Anthony, Attorney for Secured Creditor Exo Legal PLLC 615-869-0634 david@exolegal.com NSC 1/25, 2/1/24

As to all or any part of the Collateral, the right is reserved to (i) sell in such lots, parcels, segments or groupings as Secured Party may choose; (ii) to sell part or all of the Collateral and/or delay, continue, adjourn, cancel or postpone the sale of any part of the Collateral; (iii) to sell in whole and then sell in parts and consummate the sale in whichever matter produces the highest sale price; and/or (iv) to sell to the next highest bidder in the event any high bidder does not comply with the terms of the sale.

Gazebo

Secured Party shall sell, grant, convey, transfer, and deliver unto any successful purchaser all of the right,

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42

The Public Sale will be conducted

by David Anthony. For further information, contact David Anthony, Exo Legal• FEBRUARY PLLC, at (615)1 –869-0634.

NASHVILLE SCENE FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com Collateral: All assets and personal property of Debtor, whether presently existing or hereafter acquired or arising and wherever located, including, without limitation, all accounts, chattel paper, deposit accounts, documents, electronic

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

David M. Anthony, Attorney for Secured Creditor Exo Legal PLLC 615-869-0634 david@exolegal.com NSC 1/25, 2/1/24

EMPLOYMENT Auction February 17, 2024 @11:00am Located at Elm Hill Marina 3361 Bell Road Nashville, TN 37214 The following list of boats will be set for auction: 1. 1974 Erickson Sailboat 1975 TN # TN 1511 CC Hull ID: 125 (unsure) 2. 1972 Erickson Sailboat 1973 TN #: TN 8576 KD Hull ID: 4. 1990 Sea Ray Cabin Cruiser 1991 TN #: TN 7607 BE Hull ID: SERM 6335 F990 5. 1982 Sea Ray Runabout 1983 TN #: TN 1955 DK Hull ID: BL4A 11CC F788 or BL4A 11CG F788 6.

2019SundancerCenterCons ole No TN # 5620RA Hull ID: SVTB 8726 E718 7. 1998 Tahoe Pontoon TN #: TN 2256 CF Hull ID: DVN 2798 1D848 8. TN2916DR Hull S001430778-S25 H52 1978 Santana 9. TN6406EK Hull RAY263840173 1973 Ranger 10. was last TN registered owner in 2017.

Unknown brand, “Scotian” TN# TN8836BU HIN# HUN54475M79H-27

SVTB 8726 E718 7. 1998 Tahoe Pontoon TN #: TN 2256 CF Hull ID: DVN 2798 1D848 8. TN2916DR Hull S001430778-S25 H52 1978 Santana 9. TN6406EK Hull RAY263840173 1973 Ranger 10. was last TN registered owner in 2017.

Unknown brand, “Scotian” TN# TN8836BU HIN# HUN54475M79H-27

Senior Developers, IT QA. Create, design, and support software used in testing various platforms for a major retailer. Employer: Tractor Supply Company. Location: Headquarters in Brentwood, TN. May telecommute from any location in the U.S. Multiple openings. To apply, mail resume to S. Case, 5401 Virginia Way, Brentwood, TN 37027 and reference job code 22-0376.

UBS Business Solutions US LLC has the following positions in Nashville, TN. Associate Director, Application Support Engineer to analyze data processing incidents to develop and implement solutions to complex applications problems. (ref. code(s) 001385).

Qualified Applicants apply through SHProfRecruitingcc@ubs.com.

Please reference 001385.

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NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 1 - FEBRUARY 7, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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