Nashville Scene 2-10-22

CITY LIMITS: OUTGOING CONGRESSMAN JIM COOPER ON WORKING TO DEATH

FEBRUARY 10–16, 2022 I VOLUME 41 I NUMBER 2 I NASHVILLESCENE.COM I FREE

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FOOD & DRINK: LOCAL DESSERT MAKERS ON NASHVILLE’S BEST VALENTINE’S SWEETS PAGE 28

A Day at the

Through a pandemic and ownership change, shopkeepers in the iconic shopping mall hang on

BY ERICA CICCARONE

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CONTENTS

FEBRUARY 10, 2022

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Spinner Hubcaps and Working to Death: Lessons From Jim Cooper’s Career...........7

Off-Site: Morgan Ogilvie in Mexico City

CITY LIMITS

ART

False Flags opens Feb. 10 at PRPGMX

An interview with the retiring Nashville congressman

BY LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

BY STEPHEN ELLIOTT

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Black and Right and Read All Over ..........8 The Black Book Project champions representation through literature

BY KELSEY BEYELER

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

BOOKS

A Factory of Dreams Mesha Maren’s Perpetual West is a fearless exploration of borders

BY ED TARKINGTON AND CHAPTER 16

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COVER STORY

MUSIC

A Day at the Arcade Through a pandemic and a change in ownership, shopkeepers in the iconic downtown shopping mall continue to hang on

BY ERICA CICCARONE

Another Look ........................................... 36 The Scene’s music writers recommend recent releases from Brian Brown, R.A.P. Ferreira, Erin Enderlin and more

Where the Music Don’t Stop for Life ..... 37

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Living in the era of Dua Lipa, a forwardthinking pop genius

Kacey Musgraves, Nightmare Alley: Vision in Darkness and Light, The Factory: Resurrection, Blue Velvet, Reptaliens, Way Late Play Date: True Crime, The Shindellas Valentine’s Show Feat. Curt Chambers, K. Flay, Ghosts on HBO Max and more

The Scene’s live-review column checks out Brian Brown, Reaux Marquez and more at NMAAM

THIS WEEK ON THE WEB: Brian Brown: The Cream Q&A

Gov. Bill Lee’s Partnership Plan With Hillsdale College Is Silly and Bad Clear Your Calendar for Bourbon Night, Champa Origins, Our Kids Soup Sunday and More Jackass Forever: Expectations — and Limits — Surpassed ON THE COVER:

The Arcade Photo by Eric England

BY JASON SHAWHAN

CRITICS’ PICKS

The Spin ................................................... 38

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BY CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

39 FILM

Spend a While on the Nile

FOOD AND DRINK

Sugar Shock: A Little Sweet and Simple ................................... 28 We asked local bakers and dessert makers which sweet treats they’re hoping to get this Valentine’s Day

BY MEGAN SELING

Veg Out: Deep Sea Vegan ....................... 30 A biweekly pop-up at Hunters Station offers vegans a tasty seafood alternative

BY SARAH STEWART

Branagh’s latest Christie adaptation is a pretty solid whodunit

BY JASON SHAWHAN

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NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

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MARKETPLACE

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VODKA YONIC Be in the Picture

On seeing myself for the first time in a long time

BY KIM BALDWIN

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FROM BILL FREEMAN TENNESSEE’S OUTSTANDING HBCUS ARE HISTORICALLY UNDERFUNDED. IS 2022 THE YEAR TO RECTIFY THAT? We should not need a designated Black History Month to celebrate the deeds and contributions of African Americans to the development of our nation. That said, I am glad that we have the chance to all celebrate those who have stood up and stood out for their communities and for the betterment of all of us. It’s a time to celebrate achievements and the people and organizations creating change!

But sadly, the first two days of February were peppered with bomb threats at historically Black universities throughout the nation. More than 20 HBCUs were targeted with threats, though none of the schools were in Tennessee. Thankfully, no bombs were found, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation has identified suspects, but the cost to these schools was still great. Some were on lockdown, forced to reschedule classes or move classes online. Students had to take shelter until the police could ensure all was safe. All major disruptions come with a cost, both financial and emotional.

These bomb threats only add to the burdens these schools carry — burdens that they have carried for many years.

Historically black colleges and universities have been underfunded for a long time. This means they have a great deal more to do to raise money than many other institutions.

A recent Forbes article on HBCU financial health reports: “Compared to their predominantly white counterparts, the nation’s Black land-grant universities have been underfunded by at least $12.8 billion over the last three decades.” That includes, according to Forbes, about $1.9 billion that Tennessee State University should have received. “Land-grant” schools were designated initially under the Morrill Act in 1862, which provided money from the federal government, often with states matching requirements, to post-secondary schools to execute a three-fold mission of agricultural teaching, research and extension.

Last year, The Tennessean reported on a Tennessee General Assembly investigation of state spending on land-grant institutions: “The legislative report found no records suggesting the state allocated any landgrant funds to TSU from fiscal 1957 through 2007. For each of those years when data was available, however, UT received its full state match, and in some years received more than federally required.”

There are many other HBCUs suffering the same way. States aren’t matching federal funds, and the schools are left to figure out how to stay afloat. Rutgers professor Marybeth Gasman, who has published more than a dozen books about HBCUs, told Forbes: “Public HBCUs are in a situation where they have to fight the very source of their funding for justice. Imagine that tightrope walk.” It is sad that these schools have been so poorly treated.

However, TSU at least could be seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. In November, state Rep. Harold Love chaired a joint landgrant committee charged with investigating and assessing how the state could help with the new needs of TSU. His committee found

GLENDA GLOVER the state owes TSU approximately $544 million in back land-grant funds alone.

Acknowledging this, Gov. Bill Lee proposed a plan to provide TSU with $318 million, with $250 million designated to improve the school’s infrastructure, $60 million for a new engineering building and the remaining $8 million for maintenance.

The funding would come from the governor’s overall $53 billion budget for this fiscal year, but still has to be approved by the General Assembly. TSU President Glenda Glover and others are working with legislators to get the budget passed.

Love recently told WPLN the funds could go toward academic and administrative buildings and dorms.

Glover told Forbes magazine: “For years there has been a lack of funding. There has been neglect. Two-thirds of our buildings are in substantial need of repair.” A contracting firm recently estimated TSU’s deferred maintenance costs to be at $427 million. Even with the $318 million provided this year, there will still be a large gap to fill.

But if the governor’s budget is passed, it’s a good start — these funds will no doubt bring great relief to TSU, its students, its staff and its president.

True, TSU is just one school in one state that may gain some ground. Much more is needed if HBCUs are to be protected financially and from the threats of violence.

I’m hopeful that more states will begin thoroughly funding their HBCUs. I am excited for TSU and for the improvements the school could make. The funding they need has been a long time coming — and I’m glad Lee has seen fit to add TSU to the state’s budget for the year.

Because as Dr. Glover has said, “It’s never too late to do what’s right.”

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

PET OF THE WEEK!

Editor-in-Chief D. Patrick Rodgers Senior Editor Dana Kopp Franklin Associate Editor Alejandro Ramirez Arts Editor Laura Hutson Hunter Culture Editor Erica Ciccarone Music and Listings Editor Stephen Trageser Contributing Editor Jack Silverman Staff Writers Kelsey Beyeler, Stephen Elliott, Nancy Floyd, Steven Hale, Kara Hartnett, J.R. Lind, Kathryn Rickmeyer, William Williams Contributing Writers Sadaf Ahsan, Radley Balko, Ashley Brantley, Maria Browning, Steve Cavendish, Chris Chamberlain, Lance Conzett, Steve Erickson, Randy Fox, Adam Gold, Seth Graves, Kim Green, Steve Haruch, Edd Hurt, Jennifer Justus, Christine Kreyling, Katy Lindenmuth, Craig D. Lindsey, Brittney McKenna, Marissa R. Moss, Noel Murray, Joe Nolan, Betsy Phillips, John Pitcher, Margaret Renkl, Daryl Sanders, Megan Seling, Jason Shawhan, Michael Sicinski, Nadine Smith, Ashley Spurgeon, Amy Stumpfl, Kay West, Abby White, Andrea Williams, Ron Wynn, Charlie Zaillian Art Director Elizabeth Jones Photographers Eric England, Matt Masters, Daniel Meigs Graphic Designers Mary Louise Meadors, Tracey Starck Production Coordinator Christie Passarello Events and Marketing Director Olivia Britton Marketing and Promotions Manager Robin Fomusa Publisher Mike Smith Senior Advertising Solutions Managers Maggie Bond, Sue Falls, Michael Jezewski, Carla Mathis, Heather Cantrell Mullins, Jennifer Trsinar, Keith Wright Advertising Solutions Managers Richard Jacques, William Shutes, Niki Tyree Sales Operations Manager Chelon Hill Hasty Advertising Solutions Associates Jada Goggins, Caroline Poole, Alissa Wetzel Special Projects Coordinator Susan Torregrossa President Frank Daniels III Chief Financial Officer Todd Patton Corporate Production Director Elizabeth Jones Vice President of Marketing Mike Smith IT Director John Schaeffer Circulation and Distribution Director Gary Minnis For advertising information please contact: Mike Smith, msmith@nashvillescene.com or 615-844-9238 FW PUBLISHING LLC Owner Bill Freeman VOICE MEDIA GROUP National Advertising 1-888-278-9866 vmgadvertising.com

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NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 10 – FEBRUARY 16, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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CITY LIMITS

SPINNER HUBCAPS AND WORKING TO DEATH: LESSONS FROM JIM COOPER’S CAREER An interview with the retiring Nashville congressman

BY STEPHEN ELLIOTT

Do you still feel good about the decision?

Do you feel differently than when you announced?

Your question assumes that it’s about me.

It’s not about me. It’s about Nashville and the future of Nashville, one of the most special cities in America, maybe the world. We’ve been crippled politically. I’m fine. I was alert to the danger. I tried to warn everyone I could. Very few people wanted to listen, and now the worst has happened. I feel terrible for the city, and I hope I’m wrong.

The simplest rule in life and medicine and politics is first, to do no harm, and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. We are witnessing the grossest legislative overreach in terms of redistricting probably in Tennessee history.

While Davidson County had minor, minor splits in the past, that was mainly for numerical accuracy.

All the hallmarks of dastardly conduct are in front of us, and they’ve been in front of us for months and months and months. It’s painful to think about the future of Nashville when people’s choices could be crippled.

Democrats seem to have done a solid job in New York and other states of holding the line in terms of advantages out of redistricting. Do you think that’s smart, or are you opposed to that gerrymandering as well?

Are you asking me to be proud of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”?

Just curious how you’ve reacted to those reports from other states.

As usual, Democrats are not alert to future dangers. The biggest danger we face in an off-year election after we won the White House is the 100-year trend toward the other party. Redistricting is small potatoes compared to that historical trend.

Our party needs to improve its management capabilities. We do not anticipate and organize and plan.

I’ve heard some Democrats take solace in the possibility that five years down the road, toward the end of this 10-year cycle, there’s a chance that you’ll be competitive in all three of those seats. Do you see that

happening?

I certainly hope so, but hope is not a strategy. Remind me what the strategy is to change the minds of rural voters.

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

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ate last month, longtime U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (DNashville) announced that he would retire rather than run again in a district dramatically altered by Republicans in charge of redistricting. He didn’t see a path to victory, he said, so the 67-year-old plans to return to the private sector after representing the 5th Congressional District for two decades, plus an earlier stint of 12 years representing the 4th Congressional District.

He spoke with the Scene about the decision, his career and his future.

What would you suggest?

You said you’d heard from others. What’s their strategy? Their strategy is blind hope.

Many of the folks you’re probably listening to have probably never visited these counties. They’re not kin to these folks. Their best friends don’t live out there. I had the advantage of being born in Nashville but raised in Shelbyville.

Sometimes the more successful Nashville is, the more Nashville is envied and sometimes hated. Sometimes the better the shopping in Nashville, the more anger from local, rural merchants. Sometimes when the only affordable housing you can find is out two counties from Nashville, the commute drives you crazy. There are legitimate tension points that people need to understand.

And by the way, who in Nashville is really good at agriculture?

TSU? From the academic side. But basically it’s just a different skill set. We need to appreciate the different skill sets that Tennessee has to offer. Oftentimes, it’s easy to lose sight of that when you only live in an urban area.

Agriculture is not a farmers market.

That’s the end result of marvelous agriculture, but those vegetables and fruits don’t just miraculously materialize. It takes farmers to make a farmers market.

Do you think there’s any possibility that forcing Democrats in Nashville to think about these other parts of the state in these congressional elections might help them in statewide races?

Listen to the verb you just used. Forcing them. That implies it’s against their will.

What they have to do is genuinely love their brothers and sisters who live outside of Nashville.

People in Nashville don’t realize how many kindred spirits there are in these rural counties who feel trapped by the Republican representation. We saw last election a 10-point swing against Trump because the more educated folks in rural counties do not find Trump appealing. What steps have we taken to capitalize on that? What outreach do we have to Republicans and independents? Most of the rhetoric you hear is, “Let’s double down, let’s force it down their throats.” That’s not the way to win votes.

You have to have mutual respect and trust.

First, that takes familiarity.

Tip O’Neill said that all politics is local.

He didn’t say all politics is long-distance.

I’ve struggled with that quote for a while. Look at 2018, with Bredesen and Blackburn. It felt like all politics was

JIM COOPER

national at that point. Do you still feel that all politics is local?

No single phrase captures an entire truth.

And to be sure, there are national headwinds. Sometimes candidates are perceived in different ways. It’s a variety of factors. I think the most frequent mistake that many politicians make is ignoring local.

Was there any consideration given to using your campaign money for whoever was the nominee in the 5th or the party or anything like that?

I don’t think I ever ran as a kingmaker.

What right would I have to do that? That sort of thing would have to be kind of dark money anyway, and I’ve never been fond of dark money. In an “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” world, you can say, “Oh, they do it.”

But that doesn’t mean it’s all right to do it.

One of the curious things about this is, Tipton County rebelled at the last minute because they didn’t want to be so much turned over to the Memphis district. They had the clout in one day to get the math changed.

Tipton County. Most people in Nashville don’t even know where that is.

There was so little outcry in Nashville, and so little effective communication with the legislature, that Nashville — the state’s largest city, the state’s capital city — could not get the map changed.

Do you think there’s any level of outreach or communication that could have achieved that? It seemed like they were pretty sure of what they wanted to do from the start.

Oh yeah. You’re sounding pretty naive.

So you think there’s something Nashvillians could have done to change the minds of the Republicans in the legislature?

I think there are people in Nashville who could have easily changed the minds of enough legislators to change the map.

How involved do you think you’ll be in local, state politics moving forward?

I always want to be available and helpful, but I plan on getting a job and being a productive citizen. It can’t be handed to you. You’ve got to study it and work at it and be good at it. And then we can put on some finishing touches. There are many people today who want this stuff handed to them, and life doesn’t work like that.

Somebody called me yesterday, wanting

I PLAN ON WORKING UNTIL THE DAY I DIE, BECAUSE WORK IS FUN, WORK IS INTERESTING, WORK IS IMPORTANT. me to help them learn how to be the next congressman. I said, “Well, great, what books have you ever read about being in Congress or running for office?” Nothing. I gave him a reading list. You can’t come at this blind.

For people who say, “Well, I can’t get a job at the 7-Eleven, I think I might want to be a congressman.” That doesn’t work.

You’ve said you want to get a job. You’ve had a long career. I think no one would think twice if you retired and moved on and spent time with your kids and grandkids.

Do you feel the need to stay busy?

It’s important to make money. It’s important to be productive. It’s important to pay taxes. Work organizes life. I plan on working until the day I die, because work is fun, work is interesting, work is important.

I’ve been a lawyer, I’ve been a professor, I’ve been an investment banker and had the third-longest political career probably in Tennessee history. And I’m 67, and I’ve never been healthier. You only have a limited time, and I believe in making the most of it.

What type of work are you looking for?

It’s too early to say. My first love was journalism. I applied for jobs at several major newspapers, and I thought I had a perfect résumé for it.

Well we’ve got a couple openings.

I’d been editor of my college newspaper, editor of my high school newspaper, nearly perfect grades, I was a Rhodes Scholar. I remember interviewing at The Tennessean, and he looked at my long résumé and the only thing he pointed out was, “Oh, looks like you founded a fiction magazine. We don’t write fiction here.” And by the way, that year, The Tennessean only hired relatives of

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CITY LIMITS the Kennedy family as interns. I think one Kennedy and one of John J. Sirica, who was the Watergate judge.

MEREDITH McKINNEY

So that was the end of your journalism career?

THIS WEEK ON OUR NEWS AND POLITICS BLOG:

I should have continued it. There’s a huge lost opportunity here. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Roll Call, Politico or The Hill.

Do you know what they sold Politico for a few months ago?

I think it was in the billions.

It was $1 billion. Now, to a German company, and they might not know what they’re doing. But oh my God. These insider rags have a lot of value. When I came [to Washington] it was only Roll Call. Politico and The Hill didn’t exist. I should have continued my trend of founding publications. That was a big missed opportunity. I also didn’t invent spinner hubcaps, which is one of my eternal regrets. That would have been cool and easy to do.

I’ve been one of the luckiest people in all of Tennessee history, to get elected to Congress repeatedly from two different congressional districts. One entirely rural, the other mostly urban, and to never have anyone come within almost 20 points of me.

That’s pretty rare. As I used to tell people when Martha was still alive, we were married 36 years and often she didn’t agree with me, but we were still married for 36 years.

What Tennessee Democrats need is a strategy to win. We’re addicted to telling other people what to think. You can’t really win many elections if you’re that selfrighteous.

It’s important to be in communication with your constituents, not to be their boss.

You’re their representative. We’ve got to get this formula right. The Democratic Party in Tennessee is basically facing extinction.

We’ve been on a long downhill slide for a long time. Tennessee has fewer statewide elected offices than I think any other state, and now the only path upward will be through Memphis, which is not nearly as successful as Nashville. That fits Republican strategy very well. Their intent is to ghettoize the state Democratic Party.

Did the possibility that you were the only person who could win the new 5th for Democrats affect your thinking at all?

I considered all the options, and I chose the only sensible one. It’s much easier for someone without a 32-year voting record and someone who’s not so tied to Nashville in the public’s eyes. You have, what, five or six rural counties out there. And someone who’s not the brother of the mayor of Nashville.

That offers a clean slate, a new look, a very exciting new possibility.

I survived redistricting twice before only because the state legislature didn’t know I existed. There are many great candidates out there that the state legislature doesn’t know exist. One or more of those needs to step forward. They can’t be stupid about it. They’ve got to know how to raise money, and big money, and fast. They’ve got to know how to campaign. They’ve got to know how to talk.

There are plenty of people who, with a little bit of fine-tuning, could do a great job.

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

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PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

In the past four years or so, you’ve faced more pressure from the left. Now that the campaign aspect is behind you, how have you felt about that, and has it changed your thinking at all?

BLACK AND RIGHT AND READ ALL OVER The Black Book Project champions representation through literature

BY KELSEY BEYELER

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iterary controversy has been making headlines in Tennessee lately. In recent weeks, various books have been burned in Mt. Juliet by pro-Trump pastor Greg Locke and removed from the curriculum in McMinn County, with both stories unfortunately bringing national attention to the state. But here in Davidson County, there’s a book-related project we can be proud of — a project that aims to put more books with Black characters in the hands of young readers.

Meredith McKinney started the Black Book Project last year, noting that children of color often don’t see themselves represented in the books they read. According to the University of WisconsinMadison School of Education’s Cooperative Children’s Book Center, around 12 percent of children’s books are about Black characters, and that number drops further when it comes to other people of color.

McKinney works for Metro Nashville Public Schools as a program specialist with Community Achieves. She also serves as a board member and volunteer with Book’em, a local nonprofit that distributes books to kids in Nashville. She noticed that, in the thousands of books Book’em has distributed over the years, many of the characters didn’t represent the children the nonprofit serves — who, says McKinney, are mostly Black, economically disadvantaged students whose families are often unable to afford many books.

“We really have some work to do around making sure that children are able to see themselves in literature,” says McKinney.

When she started the Black Book Project last year, McKinney set a goal to collect 500 books in

honor of Black History Month. She received 1,386.

For this year’s Black History Month, she is hoping to collect and distribute 2,000 books in partnership with Book’em.

“I recognize that there is a [deficit] when it comes to African American students, particularly in the area of literacy, so really trying to make reading enjoyable and relatable to them is something that I’m really passionate about,” she says. “Because just looking at pictures of little girls with hair that looks like mine, looking at little girls with skin that looks like mine, it’s very, very, rewarding. … I want children to be able to experience that.”

McKinney says that when she was a child, finding books with characters who looked like her “wasn’t a thing.” Now there are many more options, though there is still a long way to go when it comes to equitable representation in children’s literature. McKinney shares some of her favorites with the Scene, including Derrick Barnes’ I Am Every Good Thing, Useni Eugene Perkins’ Hey Black Child and Natasha Anastasia Tarpley’s I Love My Hair. She’s even writing a children’s book of her own about historically Black colleges and universities.

The recent push to remove books from curricula and even burn them in Tennessee — not to mention recent laws limiting race-related conversations in classrooms — isn’t lost on McKinney either. “It’s fueled my fire to the fullest,” she says.

“I want children to feel free and feel good about what they read,” she says. “I feel like children should have free rein and free autonomy over literature, and it’s very discouraging to hear and see those things happening, but I think at the same time … it puts us in a position where we have to step in and fill that gap for our children.”

It should be noted that here in Nashville, no books have been removed from the district’s curriculum.

Those looking to donate new or gently used books to the Black Book Project can send or drop them off to Book’em at 161 Rains Ave., 37203, care of Meredith McKinney. The project also has an Amazon Wish List that sends books right to Book’em. While the project’s main drive takes place in February, McKinney accepts books for the project year round, and its Facebook page hosts Black author spotlights.

“I think all children should be able to receive something that represents a piece of them,” says McKinney.

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

Trump-loving conspiracy theorist and anti-vax pastor Greg Locke led an old-fashioned book burning at his Mt. Juliet church, setting ablaze volumes of the Harry Potter and Twilight series. Locke made the same claims that were made by similarly minded faith leaders when the books debuted more than two decades ago — that they lead children into witchcraft (presumably because of the very bad Latin in the Potter books) and possibly vampirism and lycanthropy (presumably because of the broody teens in the Twilight stories). Locke, for what it’s worth, also mentioned “Freemason devils” with whom he apparently has some sort of dispute. … Gov. Bill Lee delivered his State of the State address and used Tennessee’s oftforgotten state slogan “America at its best” as his rhetorical frame. Among the proposals the Republican has to keep us living up to that lofty ideal? Holding libraries accountable!

Finally, are we right? … Lee also announced the state was entering into a charter school partnership with Hillsdale College, a Michigan school famous for its conservative views and for refusing all federal funds so that it may teach as it wishes — and also famous for churning out 20-somethings who can intern at The Federalist Society and also, at an oddly frequent clip, The Tennessean. Contributor Betsy Phillips points out the absurdity of this new partnership in that Hillsdale brags about not taking government money but will obviously be taking government money for these charter schools.

She then ends it with a very good metaphor you may not get unless you are well-informed about the sex lives of Brigham Young University students. … The state Senate took time out from all that to expel Memphis Democrat Katrina Robinson, who was recently convicted but not yet sentenced on federal fraud charges connected to her business. The incidents occurred before she was elected, making her expulsion most unusual. She compared the proceedings to a lynching. … It’s not all libraries and charter schools and expulsions up there, though. The General Assembly is considering a record number of cannabis-adjacent bills, ranging from authorizing medical use all the way up to allowing a grow-your-own scheme more permissive than Colorado’s. Don’t hold your breath. …

The Metro Council, frequently touted as the most progressive in history, approved the use of license plate readers despite widespread opposition from, among others, the Community Oversight Board and the NAACP. As Pith’s council correspondent @startleseasily put it: “We’ve seen this Council repeatedly fail to live up to their progressive mantle when it comes to policing. Sure, they ask questions. They do a cursory check under the hood. But in the end, they always say ‘yes’ to the police.” … Remember Gigi Gaskins, the pro-Trump anti-vax owner of HatWRKS? She’s suing a Stetson supplier for cutting her off after she posted a picture on Instagram of a yellow Star of David with “Not Vaccinated” written on it.

NASHVILLESCENE.COM/PITHINTHEWIND EMAIL: PITH@NASHVILLESCENE.COM TWEET: @PITHINTHEWIND

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A Day at t he

Through a pandemic and a change in ownership, shopkeepers in the iconic downtown shopping mall continue to hang on

BY ERICA CICCARONE PHOTOS BY ERIC ENGLAND

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W

hen I open the door of Percy’s Shine Service, Robert “Percy” Person glances over at my feet.

He’s bent over the shoes of a customer, his shoulders back. His customer, a regular, sits in the worn red chair closest to the door — one of four stations in Percy’s place. The walls of the shop are crowded with Titans memorabilia, framed certificates and photos of his customers — statesmen and judges, athletes and actors. So many, he says, that he could never remember them all.

That’s because he’s been in business for more than 70 years. Percy — that’s what everyone calls him, so we will too — started shining shoes in the street as a young man, charging a quarter a shine.

After a couple months, he rented a space on Jefferson Street and set up his business. “Been going at it ever since. … I’ve had some hard times with it, and I’ve had some good times with it.”

Percy has a medium build, strong and sinewy.

He wears a ball cap, tinted glasses and a neat mustache. Watching him deftly slap polish onto his customer’s boots, you can tell he’s good with his hands. A couple dozen horsehair brushes line the shelf, each labeled with the name of a different color. He holds his rag taut and works it quickly back and forth across the surface of a shoe.

He’s been a fixture — some say an institution — in the Arcade for 31 years. The 119-year-old shopping mall currently hosts a handful of longtime

ROBERT “PERCY” PERSON, PERCY’S SHINE SERVICE

business owners like Percy who have been eking out a living for decades.

When I ask how business has been during the pandemic, Percy says: “The only way I know how to answer that question is, ‘What business?’ Ain’t no business. I’ve been in the strain ever since the COVID-19 stuff been here. Men are not dressing.

They’re working at home. Men are not having their shoes shined. They’re wearing tennis shoes.

I get tired of seeing a man walking down there in a suit and tie and he got on tennis shoes.”

Casual wear took over dress wear even among some of his best customers, he says. And the dress shoes have changed. In the past 10 years, he’s had to learn how to shine shoes all over again. In the past, all four of his chairs were full. His wife and son were shining shoes, plus a couple employees.

“That was when shoe shines were shoe shines and men were dressing,” he says.

On his 80th birthday, Percy was honored by the city and state in a surprise celebration. When he walked into his surprise party, the most powerful people in the city held placards of his likeness over their own faces. “He’s blessed all our lives, and it’s only fitting that we honor him this way,” attorney Hal Hardin told The Tennessean that day.

On the wall, he’s hung certificates from the Scene citing his Best of Nashville readers’ poll wins. He’s disappointed we don’t include Best Shoe Shine anymore. “Shoe shine gotta make a living just like everyone else,” he says.

THE ARCADE EXTENDS between Fourth and Fifth avenues downtown — a city block filled with shops on the ground floor and offices and galleries accessible via a balcony above. It opened on May 20, 1903, and by all accounts, the day was auspicious.

The railroads reduced their rates, and shoppers and sightseers came from all over to welcome the state’s first shopping mall. The Nashville Tennessean reported that “an immense throng of men and women were in attendance all day long, the latter predominating,” and estimated attendance of 40,000 to 50,000. A band played day and night, and as the Nashville Banner reported, “Hundreds of pretty women in spring dresses and flowery hats [added] to the gaiety of the scene.”

“Palms and flowers, wreaths of roses, boughs of cedar, the pleasing green blending harmoniously with the brighter decorative colors, makes the entire scene a charming one,” wrote the Banner.

The shopping center was the brainchild of a “hustling young real estate agent” named Daniel C. Buntin, who was inspired by the architecture of Milan. He brought home visions of the Italian city’s open-air bazaars, Palladian facades and Art Deco style. Buntin created the Arcade Co. and secured the necessary stock subscription of a quarter-million dollars. Work began in January 1902.

“Too much credit cannot be given to Daniel C. Buntin,” reported the Banner, “the originator and promoter of the scheme, who never faltered from the steadfast purpose of accomplishing what he nashvillescene.com | FEBRUARY 10 – FEBUARY 16, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

ARCADE IN 2022

PHOTO COURTESY OF METRO NASHVILLE ARCHIVES

ARCADE IN 1962

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had undertaken, although there was much opposition at times.”

The opposition was similar to the kind we see today in Nashville. Tenants of property on Cherry and Sumner streets — now Fourth and Fifth avenues — brought Buntin to court. Property owners feared their value would decrease. Infrastructure issues had to be considered, and members of the city council debated the use of public space for private enterprise. Outside one council meeting, the debate grew so intense that one member — a certain Councilmember Craighead — “attempted to strike Mr. Merritt but was prevented by his friends,” reported the Tennessean in 1902. Inside the chamber, the council indulged in a “long and somewhat acrimonious discussion,” but the ordinance passed on its final reading. As for those tenants who opposed the new building, the Tennessean proclaimed: “Some Folks ‘Knock’ Every Enterprise Which Other Public-Spirited Citizens Project.”

Buntin told the Tennessean on opening day: “My plan all along has been to give the small shopkeeper a chance, and I think they have it now and I am sure they appreciate it.” Indeed, myriad businesses opened that day, and many more followed. Visitors could obtain anything from a shave to a piano.

The Tennessean advertised pony rigs from Sweeny Carriage Co.; silverware, toys, guns, jewelry and playing cards from Gray & Dudley; “Egyptian curios”; “tasteful hats,” umbrella repair and dressed dolls, to name a few. Upstairs, offices hosted real estate agents, mining companies and much more.

“The smiling faces of the shopkeepers substantiated their statement that their business was already more than they can handle,” the Tennessean reported.

Years later, the Arcade became an important site during the civil rights movement. Among the many lunch counter sit-ins of 1960 were demonstrations at nearby luncheonettes at Cain-Sloan and Woolworth’s. The Tennessean reported that during one such sit-in, white youths were harassing 16-year-old Ralph Jamison, who worked in a barbershop in the Arcade. After enduring taunts and spitballs, the young man dropped a soda bottle down from the balcony — injuring no one — and the mob rushed up the stairs to beat him. When the police arrived, the whites scattered, and Jamison was arrested.

The shops desegregated later that year, and the center continued to thrive. In 1973, the Arcade was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Prepared by Mrs. Donald Drummond of the Junior League of Nashville, the application reads: “It has been said that the Arcade was a small town within a town, complete with its own mayor, where you could buy anything from a twelve cent hamburger to a $5,000 diamond.”

“The Arcade is still flourishing,” Drummond continues, “bringing old world charm to a modern, forward moving city.”

In the Aughts, the Arcade officially became an arts destination, hosting the First Saturday Art Crawl to draw patrons to its galleries one evening per month. Art crawls in other parts of town developed later, but the Arcade’s was the first.

Last year, New York City-based firm Linfield Capital and a local group of investors paid $28 million for the building. The group includes another hustling real estate agent, Rob Lowe, who acts as managing director

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2/7/22 10:56 AM

SAMUEL YI, TONY’S SHOE SERVICE

ANNA YI, TONY’S SHOE SERVICE of the local office of commercial real estate company Stream. In December, the Metro Development and Housing Agency Design Review Committee approved exterior upgrades to the building.

The fate of the shopkeepers is uncertain.

“I don’t have the slightest idea of what it’s gonna be,” Percy tells the Scene. “I just hope I still be here.”

TODAY, MANY SHOPS and offices sit empty.

A maze of scaffolding is set up on the Fourth Avenue side, and few pedestrians can be found on a recent cold Wednesday morning.

A young woman wearing big headphones bounces out of the post office smiling, and a few folks walk through or linger. It’s dreary, and the glass roof does not provide the abundant sunlight described in the newspapers of the Arcade’s opening day more than a century ago. But shopkeepers have nevertheless already begun their routine. The beloved Peanut Shop is closed temporarily.

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SEMRA TRIPLETT, ALTERATIONS BY SEMRA A sign reads, “ON MY HONEYMOON.” Tony’s Shoe Service displays the business’s former name: Tony’s Orthopedic Shoes & Service. But owner Samuel Yi does not limit his business to medically beneficial footwear. When the Scene visits, he is resoling a cowboy boot. The shop is cluttered with shoes — a wall of used footwear that’s for sale, bags of shoes and shiny, resoled boots ready for pickup on the counter. By the window is a large Singer sewing machine — an old but reliable workhorse with no plastic parts, threaded for use.

Born in South Korea, Yi immigrated in 1990. He trained in the same shop with a man named Tony. His last name? “Just Tony,” Yi says. After six years, Yi bought the shop from Tony, and he now runs it with his wife Anna. He handles a recently repaired cowboy boot with care, flipping it over to show me its flawless leather sole.

Business has suffered since the pandemic started — he estimates it’s down by 60 to 80

percent. Like other shop owners in the Arcade, he relies on people who work downtown. COVID-19 sent them home.

You can find Semra Triplett in the window of Alterations by Semra, leaning over her sewing machine, a television playing The Price Is Right behind her. She learned to sew from her mother in Istanbul, and after she immigrated to the U.S., she made neckties for her husband. The very first necktie she made for him is framed in her shop. About 28 years ago, Triplett was bartending at the Hermitage Hotel and brought some of her ties in. She put her briefcase on the cigarette machine and sold five a night at $25 apiece. “Everybody went crazy,” she says. Soon she rented out a shop, Semra’s Originals, in the Arcade.

Triplett left the necktie business to care for her twin grandchildren, but two years later returned to a new stall. Rent was $400 a month. The owner, Livingfield More, raised it once to $425. She’s been in business in the

same shop for 18 years.

Today, Triplett says she has only about 33 percent of her normal business. She’s more eager to talk about her grandchildren, who are now adults. Just as we’re wrapping up, a young woman comes in holding a pair of jeans in need of a hem.

“Hi sweetie,” Triplett says. “What you got there?” She sends the customer back to the changing area, calling after her, “Are you gonna wear those shoes?” She turns to me.

“Most of my girls know to bring their shoes with them. She’s new.”

Of the change in ownership and Livingfield More, who died about a year ago, Triplett says: “Mr. More’s the one who picked these people to sell it to, and I’m hoping he said, ‘Leave Semra alone.’ ” Down the way, Manny Macca prepares for the day, setting up his workspace — full of pizza dough and peppers, mozzarella and mushrooms. He’s framed by the big glass window that’s got the restaurant’s number

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scripted in yellow and red paint. No area code needed. He tells me to come back after 3 p.m., when the pizzeria closes.

Manny’s House of Pizza has been a fixture in the Arcade since the mid-’80s. On Jan. 20, 1961, a 9-year-old Macca arrived in the U.S. “The day of Kennedy’s inauguration,” he says. He came of age in Bensonhurst, an Italian neighborhood in South Brooklyn, working in a pizzeria.

He moved to Nashville in 1984, aspiring to enter the music business. To make a living, he got a job in the Arcade, and much like Yi trained in the trade of shoe repair, Macca perfected the art of pizza making. After a couple of years, discouraged by the music industry and maybe a bit homesick, he went back to Brooklyn. But it wasn’t long before the pizzeria’s owner called him up. He was selling the business. Would Macca like to buy? He was in.

These days, Macca struggles to find help, so two of his adult kids — John and Alessandra — are working at Manny’s, as is his wife Adele. When I sit down with Adele for a slice, she eagerly awaits a verdict. For a homesick New York transplant like me, the first bite is bracing. The crust is thin and foldable, if that’s your preferred method of eating. This New Yorker prefers to dig in cheese side up. Manny’s tomato sauce tingles on the tongue. The mozzarella is perfectly proportioned. It tastes like home.

The previous day, Adele says, an out-oftowner stopped in for a slice. “He got an anchovy slice,” says Adele. “He went crazy, he comes back, ‘I need another one. I haven’t had this pizza in 20 years.’ And then he leaves and he gets another slice of anchovy.

It was funny ’cause I says, ‘Are you from New York?’ Not that many people like anchovies. I know that was a New York thing. … Customers, I tease them, they says, ‘Do

you bring the water down?’ I says, ‘Oh yeah, we ship it every day!’ ” But Manny’s is not just dear to New Yorkers. Nashvillians have been lining up for pizza, pepperoni rolls, meatball subs and more for 34 years. Manny serves judges and legislators, students and tourists. Everyone downtown knows Manny’s. “Customers love my husband,” Adele says.

Soon, Manny brings his lunch over and has a seat. When asked what the Arcade means to the city, he says: “Half of Nashville doesn’t even know it exists —” Adele interrupts: “All the old-timers do.”

“This was the center of Nashville at one point,” continues Manny. “This was the first idea of the mall.”

“A lot of our friends,” says Adele, “when they were teenagers, this was the hangout place.”

At one point years ago, kids weren’t allowed in the building. “I would tell ’em, just come through the side door,” says Manny. “Don’t worry ’bout it.” These days, high school students from Hume-Fogg come by for lunch.

A couple from Georgia is finishing lunch at the table beside us. “Unbelievable,” the woman raves, “we don’t get this kind of food where we’re from.” Adele and her daughter joke with them about pregnancy. “He kept me pregnant for five years,” Adele says.

Then she gestures toward Alessandra. “I was only planning on two, but she was a surprise baby.”

“I wasn’t about to miss out on all this!”

Alessandra says, and everyone laughs.

Right when we’re wrapping up, Rob Lowe — the real estate vet at the center of the building’s purchase — comes in to talk to Manny. He tells the Scene that the Arcade will retain its retail and restaurant element, and the ownership group is working out lease renewals on a case-by-case basis. He’s

thinking that Manny’s will stay.

Some businesses haven’t been so lucky to hold on through tough times and changes.

A sign outside Maggie’s Cafe reads: “Thank you Nashville for 26 great years. We will miss you.” Manny Cordova, the owner of Latin American Cuisine and Vic’s Brown Butter Hot Dogs, put his savings into his restaurants a month before the sale. He’s heard from the ownership group that his leases won’t be renewed in April.

A pedestrian named Odie, laden with bags, asks me for bus fare. I don’t have any cash on me, so I offer to buy him a meal at Latin American Cuisine. He orders chicken flautas with rice and beans. He says it’s delicious.

IT HAPPENS SEEMINGLY every time there’s a big change to one of Nashville’s historic sites: Residents bemoan the loss of the city’s character. And why would the Arcade be spared? The city rises and contorts around it. Scaffolding set up for Arcade repairs looks no different from the scaffolding anchored around hotels and apartment complexes that tower over our streets.

Standing in the Fifth Avenue archway, a newcomer could easily overlook the building. This stretch of sidewalk looks unassuming. You wouldn’t think that inside this building is a town within a town that’s survived world wars, economic depression, social movements and everything else that’s occurred over the past 119 years.

But if you close your eyes, you can hear the flags flapping gaily in the breeze, see the wreaths of flowers and the Japanese lanterns, sense the throngs of shoppers. You can imagine the Arcade as it once was — a paragon of art and industry that held not only the convenience of a central shopping experience, but the dreams of a city.

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 10 – FEBRUARY 16, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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coming soon JOYCE YANG PLAYS GRIEG

February 24 to 26

KOOL & THE GANG March 13*

Live Recording

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AN EVENING OF FIRSTS Feat. World Premiere of Winger’s Symphony No. 1 March 17 to 19

JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA WITH WYNTON MARSALIS March 22*

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FILM

[NIGHT VISION]

NIGHTMARE ALLEY: VISION IN DARKNESS AND LIGHT

Although Nightmare Alley, Guillermo del Toro’s latest, has been in theaters for a couple months, the filmmaker has now pulled a Logan and dropped a black-andwhite version of his nasty noir. Considering how there is a surprising amount of blackand-white movies these days — whaddup, The Tragedy of Macbeth — del Toro must have figured this is as good a time as any to do this. Even though the acclaimed Oscar-winning filmmaker fully went in with crafting the rise and fall of Bradley Cooper’s con man in all of Nightmare Alley’s vivid, colorful splendor, it will be interesting

D O

DUE TO INCREASED CONCERNS ABOUT COVID-19 TRANSMISSION, PLEASE CHECK WITH VENUES ABOUT POTENTIAL CANCELLATIONS BEFORE MAKING PLANS.

CRAIG D. LINDSEY [GET SCHOOLED]

NASHVILLE REP PRESENTS SCHOOL GIRLS; OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY

This week, Nashville Repertory Theatre is taking on Jocelyn Bioh’s award-winning off-Broadway work School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play. Not to be confused with the hit comedy Mean Girls, itself also a stage play currently showing at TPAC, Bioh’s play follows a group of young women at a boarding school in Ghana as they prepare for the 1986 Miss Ghana pageant.

While much of the story’s humor builds on familiar teen archetypes, the script also digs into some serious issues — from classism and colorism to the never-ending pressure to meet Western standards of beauty. Alicia Haymer (in her Nashville Rep directorial debut) has gathered a terrific cast, including Joy Pointe, Tosha Marie, Carli Hardon, Kortney Ballenger, Tamiko Robinson Steele, Valicia Browne, Ashley D. Brooks and Cynthia C. Harris. It’s exciting to note that this is the first Rep production featuring a cast and design team that is exclusively made up of people who are Black, Indigenous or people of color. Feb. 10-20 at TPAC’s Johnson Theater, 505 Deaderick St. AMY STUMPFL

FRIDAY / 2.11 [AN EVENING OF ATTITUDE]

NASHVILLE BALLET ATTITUDE

There’s a reason Nashville Ballet’s annual contemporary series Attitude

NASHVILLE BALLET ATTITUDE FEB. 11-20

Martin Center for Nashville Ballet

has earned its loyal following. The acclaimed program not only shows off the company’s innovation and versatility, but also highlights some truly unique collaborations between inspiring choreographers and musicians. This season’s production promises a particularly intriguing lineup. Returning to the Martin Center for Nashville Ballet this weekend, the performance features internationally celebrated choreographer Val Caniparoli’s Tutto Eccetto il Lavandino (everything but the kitchen sink), which is set to the music of Antonio Vivaldi. Also on the bill is modern master Twyla Tharp’s romantic Nine Sinatra Songs — a gorgeous piece featuring some of Frank Sinatra’s most memorable hits. And finally, company dancer and choreographer Mollie Sansone will premiere her latest work, Fortitudine, which will be set to music composed by Larissa Maestro and performed live by Nashville’s own Lockeland Strings. Feb. 1120, at the Martin Center for Nashville Ballet, 3630 Redmon St. AMY STUMPFL

[KEEP LOOKIN’ UP]

KACEY MUSGRAVES

If the essence of country is musical simplicity that’s put into service along with words that are direct — if not always simple — then Kacey Musgraves’ 2021 album Star-Crossed is just shy of being a country record. As you may know, the country music industry is being scrutinized by various forces who’d like to see it become more inclusive and less conservative. One of the prime examples of what critics of the genre regard as its inability to recognize talent via radio exposure is Musgraves, whose stuff doesn’t get much play on the country airwaves. Without a doubt, Musgraves deserves to be heard, because the aurally arresting Star-Crossed is a divorce album whose keyboard sound alone allows Musgraves to explore inner space while writing lyrics that are as direct as you might want them to be. Musgraves’ impeccably written lyrics tie her to the country tradition of narrative songs, but her music is harmonically advanced —

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PHOTO: LYDIA MCRAE PHOTOGRAPHY

The visionary choreographer Ronald K. Brown and his dance company EVIDENCE are known for telling “stories of human struggles, tragedies and triumphs,” blending the form and traditions of African dance with contemporary music, movement and spoken word. And beginning Thursday, Nashville audiences can experience three original works from this influential artist.

The program includes Grace (originally choreographed for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1999) and Mercy (a remarkable collaboration between Brown and the prolific vocalist, composer and bassist Meshell Ndegeocello). And following its recent world premiere at the Kennedy Center, Brown’s latest work, The Equality of Night and Day: First Glimpse, features an original score by jazz pioneer Jason Moran, set to spoken word by educator and activist Angela Davis. Friday night ticket holders should plan to stay after the performance for a special talkback with EVIDENCE company dancers. Feb. 10-12 at OZ Arts, 6172 Cockrill Bend Circle AMY STUMPFL

T O

MUSIC

RONALD K. BROWN/EVIDENCE

THEATER

[ART AND EMOTION]

T H I N G S

to see how this film plays now that it’s all monochromed up. Will it be just as shadowy and sinister as the 1947 version, a definite piece of black-and-white postwar pulp starring Tyrone Power and Joan Blondell?

Head over to the Belcourt and find out. 7:50 p.m. at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave.

DANCE

DANCE

THURSDAY / 2.10

O F

PHOTO: HANNAH LONG

W E E K L Y

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2/7/22 3:35 PM

CRITICS’ PICKS

FEBRUARY 18

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VAN MORRISON ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM JUNE 17

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[BIT OF BURLESQUE]

THE FACTORY: RESURRECTION

Nashville is home to a sizable burlesque community that features a diverse mix of talent — including both classic and alternative burlesque artists. This weekend you can check out some of the area’s best as Razorglam Productions presents its first live show in two years — The Factory: Resurrection. Each evening promises a totally different cast and experience, with plenty of fun, improvisation and “absolute artistry in motion.” Friday night’s lineup features performances from Raven, Sidney Sparkle, Kim Bustible and Ginger Oh Snap. On Saturday night, you can catch Champagne Holiday, Betty Vou Plait, Brooke Brunello and Risky Sour.

Hosted by the multitalented performance artist Patsy Climax, the event will also feature a selection of local makers. Tickets and more information are available at thefactoryresurrection.bpt.me. Feb. 11-12 at The Barbershop Theater, 4003 Indiana Ave. AMY STUMPFL

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FILM

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

and as brilliant as her lyrics. Star-Crossed contains R&B-influenced pop, as you can hear on “Good Wife,” and downright proggy pop, which defines the amazing track “Breadwinner.” With co-writers Ian Fitchuk and Daniel Tashian also sharing production credits with Musgraves, Star-Crossed is exemplary pop music — and you might even call it country. King Princess and Muna open. 7 p.m. at Bridgestone Arena, 501 Broadway EDD HURT

[OH, BABY]

BLUE VELVET

Before Valentine’s Day pops off, why don’t you and your loved one take in a screening of David Lynch’s romantic classic? Now, I know what you’re thinking right now: Are you out of your goddamn mind? But the folks at the Belcourt, being the twisted sons-a-bitches that they are, will have a couple screenings for those adventurous lovebirds out there. When you think about it, the 1986 film is kinda structured like a complicated rom-com: Kyle MacLachlan’s severed-ear-finding young man falls for Laura Dern’s robindreaming teen beauty. But he also has eyes for Isabella Rossellini’s pain-loving torch singer, who is unfortunately the sex slave of Dennis Hopper’s nitrous-oxide-huffing psycho, and who may also have a thing for Dean Stockwell’s dolled-up pimp, who memorably serenades him with a lip-synced rendition of Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams.” OK, so this may not be the most conventional love story ever made — but it’s a love story nonetheless. Feb. 11 & 14 at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. CRAIG D. LINDSEY MUSIC

CELEBRATED BY MICKY DOLENZ

THEATER

THE MONKEES

KACEY MUSGRAVES

[DOTS AND LOOPS]

REPTALIENS

It’s fun to think about how the notion of post-rock took hold in the 1990s.

Paradoxically, post-rock was also around in the ’60s — just listen to Ramsey Lewis’ cover versions of Beatles songs, Frank Zappa’s jazz-lite excursions, and any number of instrumental records by Paul Mauriat, Artie Schroeck and >> P. 24

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DOWNTOWN

Saturday, February 12

Saturday, March 5

SONGWRITER SESSION

SONGWRITER SESSION

Josh Jenkins NOON – 12:45 pm

· FORD THEATER

Waylon Payne NOON – 12:45 pm

· FORD THEATER

Saturday, February 12

Thursday and Friday, March 10 and 11

PERFORMANCE AND CONVERSATION

LIVE IN CONCERT

Songs of Kacey Musgraves with Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk

2:00 – 3:00 pm

· FORD THEATER

SONGWRITER SESSION

Jenn Schott

· FORD THEATER

LIVE IN CONCERT

Colbie Caillat · CMA THEATER

Stephanie Quayle and Anna Vaus NOON – 12:45 pm

· FORD THEATER

SONGWRITER SESSION

Ryan Larkins NOON – 12:45 pm

· FORD THEATER

Sunday, March 20

Saturday, February 26 SONGWRITER SESSION

Jimmy Fortune NOON – 12:45 pm

Saturday, March 12

Saturday, March 19

Friday, February 25

8:00 pm

8:00 pm · CMA THEATER LIMITED AVAILABILITY

SONGWRITER SESSION

Saturday, February 19

NOON – 12:45 pm

Willie Nelson & Family

· FORD THEATER

LIVE IN CONCERT

Graham Nash 7:30 pm

· CMA THEATER

Check our calendar for a full schedule of upcoming programs and events.

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Museum Membership Museum members receive unlimited Museum admission, concert ticket pre-sale opportunities, and much more.

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CRITICS’ PICKS

d e g g u l p n U presents

February 23 • 6pm at standard proof tasting room 219 5th ave n. • nashville tn 37219 standardproofwhiskey.com 24

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[DATELINE]

WAY LATE PLAY DATE: TRUE CRIME

If you’re not a fan of clichéd, romantic Valentine’s activities, then perhaps an evening full of murder mysteries and forensic science will be more up your alley.

The next installment of the Adventure Science Center’s recurring adult-oriented Way Late Play Dates is true-crime-themed, full of activities for twisted minds and lovers of Serial, My Favorite Murder and Last Podcast on the Left. The night will feature a mystery, forensic investigation stations to help you solve it, an interactive exhibit from the folks at Escape Game, presentations from a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation representative and a Valentine’s-themed planetarium show that sounds like it may get a little dark.

There will also be food trucks, drinks and a plethora of vendors from the Wicked Market. Leave the kids at home for this 21-and-older event. Just ahead of press time, we got word that the event has sold out.

But keep an eye on the Adventure Science Center’s calendar for future Way Late Play

Date events — they’re always planning something. 7 p.m. at the Adventure Science Center, 800 Fort Negley Blvd. KELSEY BEYELER

SATURDAY / 2.12 MUSIC

Antonio Carlos Jobim. Even Miles Davis created a kind of ultimate Muzak on 1969’s In a Silent Way. The idea of spaceage bachelor-pad music — influenced by ’50s and ’60s records by the likes of Juan García Esquivel and Enoch Light — fed into post-rock as it matured in the ’90s.

It all seems quaint now, but the Portland, Ore., band Reptaliens replicate the style on their new full-length Multiverse. Led

by Bambi and Cole Browning, the band glides through tunes with a minimum of friction. Multiverse sports Bambi Browning’s breathy vocals, which are often clouded by studio processing. The group’s melodies are straight out of the pop canon, while the rhythm section lays into uninflected patterns that recall the flat beats of prime Stereolab. As the name suggests, the group claims to be obsessed with things like alien visitations and cult psychology, but I don’t get that from their music — these pop dystopias are unfailingly blithe. It ain’t rock ’n’ roll, but I like it. Opening will be Yot Club and Renata Zeiguer. 9 p.m. at The Basement, 1604 Eighth Ave. S. EDD HURT SCIENCE

a night of music with Moxie WilloW and Wood abby Walters Chelsea WilCk

REPTALIENS

[BABY I GOT IT]

THE SHINDELLAS VALENTINE’S SHOW FEAT. CURT CHAMBERS

On their debut album Hits That Stick Like Grits, released in September, The Shindellas explore all kinds of love — the

THE SHINDELLAS kind you need from your partner, the kind you need from your friends and others around you, the kind you need from yourself. Who could be more appropriate, then, to see on Valentine’s weekend? The phenomenal girl-group-inspired trio and their glove-tight band are posting up at Analog at the Hutton Hotel on Saturday; VIP reserved-seat ticket holders get special T-shirts, signed cards and other goodies, though you can snap up a GA ticket as well if you prefer. Don’t mess around and miss their special guest Curt Chambers. The Philadelphia-born singer-songwriter has had a wild career that has included working with Dr. Dre and touring in Eminem’s band.

He’s currently a topflight session guitarist in Nashville who sings his own countryleaning tunes (as well as a pretty badass and grooving cover of “Don’t Rock the Jukebox”).

See the Eventbrite page for ticketing options.

7 p.m. at Analog at the Hutton Hotel, 1808 West End Ave. STEPHEN TRAGESER

NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 10 – FEBRUARY 16, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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w/ Rommel Noquera, The Revenant (venue)

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w/ The Bandit Queen, Joe Wunderle (venue)

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w/ Shin-Kira, Toxic Culture, Anemoia (venue)

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ASHLEY HERRING BLAKE

with MERYL WILSNER on FB LIVE & YOUTUBE Delilah Green Doesn’t Care 3900 Hillsboro Pike Suite 14 | Nashville, TN 37215 (615) 953-2243 Shop online at parnassusbooks.net

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

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@parnassusbooks1 @parnassusbooks1

[HERE TO SLAY]

K. FLAY

If you haven’t already heard K. Flay’s superhero manifesto on the 2020 Birds of Prey original movie soundtrack, you’re missing out. The 36-year-old’s vocals are closer to rap or slam poetry on the hardrock verses of “Bad Memory,” but quickly fade to a dangerously soft falsetto on the chorus — perfect for a movie about asskicking women. In late 2021, Flay joined the TikTok pantheon when her 2017 track “High Enough” went viral because of the #screamingchallenge. Users posted videos with Flay’s music and screamed over it in a cathartic release of emotion and stress.

Catch Flay and get a piece of the tomboyish, middle-fingers-up energy at The Basement East on Saturday. If you’re lucky she’ll play the TikTok-famous song, but if not you’ll still get to hear tracks from her latest EP, Outside Voices, which was released in November. She’ll be joined by Australian singer, songwriter, producer and drummer G Flip and self-proclaimed “huge fuckin’ dork” Corook. 8 p.m. at The Basement East, 917 Woodland St. ABBY LEE HOOD

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11

6:30PM

KATHY MATTEA & SUZY BOGGUSS Apr. 15 & 16

With his latest project, artist Alex Lockwood turns industrial materials into plants. If you think that sounds too weird to work, you must not be familiar with Lockwood’s history. He’s among Nashville’s most distinctive and original artists, and he’s used an offbeat approach to address grief, trauma, human evolution and, now, botany.

It’s appropriate that his latest collection of sculptures finds its home at Shelby Bottoms Nature Center — he uses PVC, cut-up trash cans, shotgun shells and more to re-create wild plants that are native to the area, including Gattinger’s clover, limestone fameflower, glade larkspur and the Tennessee purple coneflower.

For the birders among us, there will also be sculptures of cardinals, blue jays and goldfinches made from plastic six-pack tops. Opening reception 6-9 p.m.; remaining on view at Shelby Bottoms Nature Center, 1900 Davidson St. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

@parnassusbooks Parnassus Books

FILM

GIORDANO DANCE CHICAGO Feb. 11-13

w/ Borrowed Sparks, Riley Haynie (bar)

ART BY ALEX LOCKWOOD AT SHELBY BOTTOMS NATURE CENTER

[AS COOL AS THEIR TEACHER HAD TO BE]

WEEKEND CLASSICS: TO SIR, WITH LOVE

When it comes to cheesy but comforting movies about teachers coming into an inner-city school and turning a classroom full of disrespectful students into fine, upstanding men and women, this 1967 film from jolly ol’ England is the gold standard.

As a struggling engineer turned first-time teacher trying to get through to a bunch of wayward, working-class knuckleheads, Sidney Poitier (who appeared as an unruly student in Blackboard Jungle 12 years earlier) is all dapper and dignified — even when he’s lecturing the female students about their “slutty” behavior. (It’s true, some parts of this film have not aged well.)

Nevertheless, he instructs these teen miscreants on how to live as an adult. Of course, he wins the kids over, ultimately leading to one of them (redheaded pop starlet Lulu) singing the hit theme song straight to the man. Sure, it’s sappy as hell, but the film still gives us another proud

performance from Poitier. 7 p.m. at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. CRAIG D. LINDSEY

MONDAY / 2.14 MUSIC

2/11 Res Ipsa Loquitor

[NAUGHTY BY NATURE]

[CUPID, DRAW BACK YOUR BOW]

MONDAY NIGHT JAZZ: ONE LOVE

“Cordial” and “intimate” are terms you’d use on a regular week to describe Monday Night Jazz, the jazz jam and community hangout organized at Germantown store and restaurant The Local Distro by musicians Stefan Forbus and Fredrick Weathersby. In honor of Valentine’s Day, this week’s installment gets downright romantic. There’s reserved private seating for 16 couples; for a $100 ticket, the two of you will enjoy a surf ’n’ turf dinner prepared by chef “Guru” Michael Taylor as well as favors like roses, wine or bubbly and chocolate-covered strawberries. If you’re single or already have other dinner plans, this is still an ideal spot for a rendezvous: There are $10 tickets available for regular seats that don’t include the meal. Everyone will be treated to a musical set stocked with amorous selections specially curated by Weathersby, including Latin and reggae tunes. Dinner service starts at 7 p.m., and the show starts at 8.

See the Eventbrite page for all the details.

7 p.m. at The Local Distro, 614 Garfield St. STEPHEN TRAGESER

EVERGREEN: THINGS YOU CAN DO ANY TIME TV

ART

CRITICS’ PICKS

[DAMN YOUR EYES!]

WATCH GHOSTS ON HBO MAX

After a newlywed inherits an old English manor from a distant relative, a near-death experience leaves her with the ability to see and interact with the ghosts who’ve been haunting the grounds for decades, centuries and — in the case of one spirit — millennia.

If that sounds like a goofy premise … it is.

But like so many Britcoms, Ghosts — the 30-minute BBC One sitcom now streaming on HBO Max — spins a simple idea into gold thanks to excellent comedic performances and the correct ratio of heart-to-humor.

Standouts among the ensemble cast include Jim Howick as the ghost of Pat Butcher, a chipper scout leader shot through the neck by one of his scouts’ arrows, and Laurence Rickard as the spirit of Robin, a cringey but deeply entertaining caveman who died on the land long before its manor was built.

With three six-episode seasons (plus two Christmas specials) available to stream, Ghosts zips by with a light, fun tone, but nevertheless feels a lot more rewarding than much of the empty-calories TV we’ve all found ourselves bingeing at one point or another. An American adaptation of Ghosts is currently airing on CBS, though I can’t vouch for that one. That said, now that I’ve wrapped the available episodes of the original series and find myself missing its endearing characters, I just might have to dive in. D. PATRICK RODGERS

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FOOD AND DRINK

SUGAR SHOCK

A LITTLE SWEET AND SIMPLE

We asked local bakers and dessert makers which sweet treats they’re hoping to get this Valentine’s Day

BY MEGAN SELING

L

MUSIC CITY CHOCOLATES

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PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

ove is in the air. Oh, how sweet it is. Saccharine clichés ad nauseam. We’re coming up on Valentine’s Day, and while you may have complicated feelings about the holiday itself, Feb. 14 doesn’t have to be filled with dread or pressure to impress the people you love. Just look at Valentine’s Day as another day to celebrate love of all kinds! Love of cookies! Love of cake! Love of yourself! Love of the fact that some of Nashville’s best treat makers are creating some especially delicious seasonal specials that you can enjoy with or without a partner!

Below is a rundown of where to find some of this season’s especially sweet offerings, and proof of loving or being loved is not required for purchase. You can share them, or you can keep them all to yourself. Besides, Lizzo said it best in the song “Soulmate”: “Yeah, I’m my own soulmate / No, I’m never lonely / I know I’m a queen but I don’t need no crown.”

NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 10 – FEBUARY 16, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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GUERILLA BIZKITS’ BIZKIT BOUQUET To bury yourself in some absolute decadence, head to the recently remodeled Goo Goo Chocolate Co. on Third Avenue downtown for The Encore, the shop’s white chocolate Premium Goo Goo. It’s crammed full of red velvet fudge, cream cheese ganache, crushed Oreos and vanilla nougat.

“We also just launched our line of 12 small-batch, hand-painted bonbons, which I am truly excited for,” says Goo Goo Cluster culinary director Mike Colón. “It is a program I have been trying to launch for the past three years, and it is finally time!”

While you’re there, try out the shop’s new build-it-yourself Goo Goo station. They’ve installed an electronic ordering system where you can create the Premium Goo Goo of your dreams, filling it with your choice of more than 20 ingredients — including potato chips, breakfast cereals, various chopped nuts, two different kinds of caramel, Nutella and more. Your personalized dessert will be ready to take home faster than you can say “Valentine’s Day is a bullshit holiday invented by greedy capitalists looking to make a quick buck off people who are being forced into consumerism and are unnecessarily spending money to prove their love is real or soothe their own insecurities over not having a romantic partner.”

Sorry, I got off track there for a second.

As for other local options, Colón swears

by Pink Door Cookies’ Wedding Cake Cookie — an almond-and-vanilla cookie topped with a raspberry glaze, lemon frosting and sprinkles — and Music City Chocolates’ new

heart-shaped bonbons. They come in boxes of four, and flavors include strawberry with ruby chocolate, passionfruit, honey and salted caramel.

Music City Chocolates, owned by chocolatier Ariel Mayberry, doesn’t have a retail space. But you can order sweets online at musiccitychocolates.com for pickup, delivery or nationwide shipping.

“She does truly beautiful work, and I’ve loved watching her grow in this field since we worked together at the Thompson,” Colón says of Mayberry.

At Bubble Love in the Nashville Farmers’ Market, owner Anna Fields has whipped up a February special filled with love. In her White Chocolate Crush drink, Fields has replaced the usual boba with adorable strawberry heart jellies. Cute! She’ll also be serving up Love Potion, a “nectarine-like concoction of pomegranate and peach with gold dust and hearts.”

If you’re stopping by Bubble Love, Fields also recommends hitting up Music City Crepes for a strawberry-Nutella crepe, or you could stop by the East Nashville or Richland Park farmers markets for Cocorico’s gluten-free chocolate cake. “Amazing alone, even better warm with ice cream,” Fields says. “It’s everything I love — small, decadent, not too sweet, gooey.”

The folks at East Nashville’s vegan biscuit shop Guerilla Bizkits are participating in a Valentine’s Day pop-up at L&L Market on Saturday, Feb. 12, from noon until 4 p.m.

G.B. will be selling “bizkit bouquets” and

PHOTOS: ERIC ENGLAND

FOOD AND DRINK

PINK DOOR COOKIES’ WEDDING CAKE COOKIE vegan treat boxes — macarons, cakesicles, croissants and more — from their partner company Peace and Pastries. There will be several more vendors, food trucks and live music too.

What treat does Guerilla Bizkits culinary director Ali Humbrecht recommend for Valentine’s Day? “One-thousand percent The Grilled Cheeserie’s vegan milkshake,” she says. She notes that The Grilled Cheeserie is where she and her Guerilla Bizkit business partner and fiancé Zach Halfhill met.

“I was holding down the front of house solo, ringing up the customers and spinning the milkshakes, and Zach popped in,” she says. “Their basic vegan coconut shake is good as it comes, but you can also add strawberry preserves, peanut butter, banana or chocolate syrup to spice it up a bit.”

Aw, sweet! Maybe you’ll luck out and meet the love of your life too!

Crystal Flynn of Butterfly Bakehouse will be selling Valentine’s Day-themed sugar cookies at Crieve Hall Bagel Co. from Feb. 6 through 20. Flynn’s iced cookies are edible works of art — so much so that she was invited to appear on the Food Network’s Christmas Cookie Challenge last year. While you’re at CHBC, Flynn recommends grabbing a chocolate chip or cinnamon-sugar bagel, and she’s also a fan of licensed home bakery The Chambray Apron.

“I would love to grab a Valentine’s treat box from The Chambray Apron, which includes a variety of delicious treats such

as gluten-free/vegan tahini pistachio truffles,” she says.

Caity’s Pies won’t be doing any Valentine’s Day specials this year — co-owner Cait Guszkowski is on maternity leave!

— but there will still be some showstopping pies, including the bakery’s beloved Super Bowl Pie, a peanut-butter-pretzel pie topped with muddy buddies, and the Caramel Delight Pie, a pie inspired by the Samoa Girl Scout cookie. You can order pies — in two sizes — for delivery via Hot Poppy, the local grocery delivery service, or pick them up at the East Nashville and Richland Park farmers markets.

Guszkowski knows what’s good in this city. She wisely recommends “whatever Rebekah Turshen and Abigail NavisBlack are getting into over at City House.

They’re the real MVPs.” I couldn’t agree more, and this year’s City House offering proves it. The restaurant’s holiday-themed cookie box is filled with chocolate-caramel alfajores heart cookies, vanilla sugar sprinkle heart cookies, strawberry marshmallow glitter hearts, red hot cinnamon Aleppo chocolate shortbread heart cookies, chocolate espresso and candied orange cookies, and buttermilk cornmeal cookies. That’s 24 cookies total! You can order yours at cityhousenashville.com.

How can anyone hate Valentine’s Day? Look at all the treats we get to eat! Love really is all around.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

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egan dishes feature a special sort of culinary creativity, and especially tricky amid all the meat substitutes is the attempt to create a vegan version of seafood. In the lively bustle of Hunters Station in East Nashville, Deep DEEP SEA VEGAN 975 MAIN ST.; OPEN Sea Vegan brings loEVERY OTHER WEEKEND, cals and visitors flaNOON-6 P.M. vors from under the DEEPSEAVEGAN.COM sea, minus the meat.

The vegan pop-up is open for business every other weekend — on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 6 p.m. Get there early, because they sell out.

Front and center on the menu is the signature Deep Sea Fish Sandwich. With its fish substitute — made with delicious hearts of

palm — and its flavor combinations, it’s a customer favorite that’s unique and fresh.

The hearts of palm are coated in a Southern cornbread batter and deep-fried to perfection. Topped with pickles, candied jalapeños, lettuce, tomatoes and the signature Deep Sea Sauce, the sandwich is spicy, creamy and tangy, with a surprisingly fishy flavor.

The pop-up’s chantilly potatoes are served on the side — a plant-based-cheesy mashedpotato dish with its own kick.

After such a flavorful, spicy lunch, Deep Sea’s key lime pie — a dessert that’s typically hard to come by for vegans — is a delectable option to cool your palate. With a walnut crust, creamy base, whipped topping and fresh lime zest, the pie is bold and delicious. Luckily for all of us, Deep Sea Vegan is open this weekend. SARAH STEWART

NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 10 – FEBRUARY 16, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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VODKA YONIC

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On seeing myself for the first time in a long time

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WE HAVE IT

COVERED. CHECK OUT THE NASHVILLE SCENE FOR NEWS, REVIEWS AND FURTHER COVERAGE OF MUSIC CITY.

NASHVILLESCENE.COM

Vodka Yonic features a rotating cast of women and nonbinary writers from around the world sharing stories that are alternately humorous, sobering, intellectual, erotic, NASHVI LLE, TN THERE’S religious or painfully personal. You never NOT NOT know what you’ll find in this column, but we hope this potentBOOZE mix of stories encourages conversation. IN HERE

A

popular tweet made the rounds in December about being in the picture this Christmas. Regardless of what you look like, or how much weight you’ve gained, someone in the future will be glad to see you from this time.

I have two things in common with a lot of folks right now: I don’t like being in pictures, and I’ve gained weight during the pandemic.

Where my story may differ from yours is that I was always going to gain weight during this time.

In 2018, I started working with a registered dietitian to recover from chronic dieting and compulsive exercise. I unlearned food rules, quit restricting and started facing my fear of fatness. I also quit exercising like I was a professional athlete. For years, all of my social media posts were pictures of me working out. We live in a culture in which fitness is a sign of moral superiority — we’re so scared of disability and death that we have convinced ourselves that our bodies are completely within our control.

You’re allowed to be a little overweight as long as you’re “healthy.” You can put your fat body in the picture as long as there’s proof that you eat right and exercise.

A few months before the start of the pandemic, I hit pause on exercise. It had become compulsive. I was using exercise to control the size of my body. My recovery at this stage was accepting the possibility that my body composition would change once I quit exercising. What was not part of my recovery was a pandemic. When both of these things happened concurrently, I quit finding opportunities to post pictures of myself.

What would the context even be? Hi, here’s my fat body sitting on the couch watching Murder, She Wrote, eating a snack, and still being inherently worthy and deserving of love and respect. Prove me wrong, but that picture wouldn’t get as many likes as one of me doing a handstand in a Formation Tour tank top.

I do not enjoy taking advice, even my own. But this Christmas I found myself thinking about that tweet and wondering if I was going to do it — if I was going to be in the picture. My husband and I took a walk on Christmas Day through a scenic park covered in moss and bright-green ferns. He had on a royal-blue shirt. I thought it was a great contrast to the green, so I made him pose for a picture. Then I said, “Wait, take my picture, too.” I posted it to a private Instagram account that’s only for my close friends and

WE LIVE IN A CULTURE IN WHICH FITNESS IS A SIGN OF MORAL SUPERIORITY — WE’RE SO SCARED OF DISABILITY AND DEATH THAT WE HAVE CONVINCED OURSELVES THAT OUR BODIES ARE COMPLETELY WITHIN OUR CONTROL. let the compliments wash over me. I did it. I was in the picture.

I don’t really know what I look like to other people. The pictures I use online were taken years ago and show a body and hair color that I don’t have anymore. I have a secret worry that when people meet me, they’re shocked at the discrepancy between my online pictures and my 2022 body. Unfortunately for me, the therapeutic resolution is to have new pictures taken. So after Christmas, I hired a photographer to take pictures of me for my website and to advertise my workshops.

Minutes before the photographer arrived, I felt a tightening in my eyes, like I was going to cry. I texted a friend who had recently done a photo shoot and asked, “Why am I so nervous?” They replied: “I couldn’t feel my face right before she got there to shoot me.

What I do know is it’s all worth it and it will be over soon.” Then my doorbell rang.

The photographer had a calm, reassuring presence that made me comfortable having my picture taken for two hours. I started in my “safe outfit” of head-to-toe black, but slowly warmed up to change. In one outfit change, I wore a handmade caftan with a red collar and an animal-print body. I bought it years ago when you could still find such treasures at thrift stores. For the other outfit change, I wore a new plaid blazer that no one has seen over a yellow graphic tee. It’s an outfit “old Kim” would wear.

At the end of the shoot in my home office, the photographer asked if I’d like some pictures for my podcast. I got out my microphone as she grabbed a stuffed cheetah I have on the floor. I held up the microphone to the cheetah and looked at him with my head cocked, like I was really listening. It was hilarious, it was fun, and it was over.

Whatever I looked like in these pictures, I was putting them on the internet.

I made a decision a few years ago to take up space, with my body and with my words.

To quit “protecting” people from what I look like and what I think. Recovering peoplepleasers, rise up! Perceiving people as mad at me is scary. It makes me feel unsafe. Well, guess what? I got fat, and if it makes you mad, good luck unpacking that.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 10 – FEBRUARY 16, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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ART

FROM LEFT: 1. EPIGRAPH: CERTAINTY 2. THROUGH THE WINDOW, FROM A DISTANCE, I SAW HIM MURDER A MAN! 3. ARE YOU SURE YOU WEREN’T DRUNK OR TIRED? 4. SHE HAS ALWAYS HAD A VIVID IMAGINATION, EVEN WHEN SHE WAS A LITTLE GIRL. 5. YOU COULDN’T HAVE SEEN THIS MURDER, THE SUN WAS TOO BRIGHT AND WOULD HAVE BLOCKED YOUR VIEW. 6. I KNOW WHAT I SAW. 7. IS IT POSSIBLE YOUR MIND WAS PLAYING TRICKS ON YOU? 8. MAYBE

MORGAN OGILVIE IN MEXICO CITY False Flags opens Feb. 10 at PRPGMX

BY LAURA HUTSON HUNTER Off-Site is a new series about art created in Nashville being exhibited elsewhere.

I

n an early episode of Columbo, a woman has witnessed a murder. She spends scene after scene trying to convince the police of her veracity, and is played with perfect poise by Suzanne Pleshette. But the performance alone doesn’t explain why artist Morgan Ogilvie was so drawn to the setup — and to the face of the actor, who is the MORGAN OGILVIE subject of a series of Ogilvie’s monuFALSE FLAGS mental paintings now on exhibit in FEB. 10-MARCH 12 AT Mexico City.

PRPGMX IN MEXICO CITY PRPG.MX The exhibit’s very specific combination of self-doubt, paranoia and TV reruns should feel very familiar to anyone who remembers the isolation of 2020. It’s not surprising that that’s when Ogilvie began this project, secluded in her home studio in Franklin, Tenn. The

“EPIGRAPH: CERTAINTY”

CalArts grad used a few frames of the television episode to create a composite image of Pleshette, her brunette hair cut into an early-’70s shag, wearing a leisure suit jacket that’s the same deep shade of gray as her eye shadow. Ogilvie never nods to the era when the episode aired — if anything, her portraits are timeless and classically beautiful.

Pleshette’s ambiguous expression is both vulnerable and determined. Is she lying? Was she mistaken about something?

Can her story be trusted? The metatextual layers of copying an actor, who is herself playing a part, add even more nuance to the works.

Each painting — there are six in the Mexico City exhibit, but Ogilvie has painted eight total — is 4 by 4 feet. Each eye is as big as a handprint. They all include the same tightly

“IS IT POSSIBLE YOUR MIND WAS PLAYING TRICKS ON YOU?”

framed close-up of Pleshette’s face, as caught by the camera’s lens in 1971, but no two are exactly the same. With one painting, Ogilvie began with a bright-yellow underpainting. With another, she asked her husband to smear the paint while it was still wet as she waited in the other room, afraid that her own hand would be too precise and hold back.

The combination of the artist’s obsessive re-creation and the scene’s ordinariness is unexpected. You can almost imagine Ogilvie painting the phrase “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” onto her canvas — the effect is the same, and questioning her sanity is itself part of the stigma surrounding women as unreliable narrators.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

“MAYBE”

nashvillescene.com | FEBRUARY 10 – FEBUARY 16, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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MORGAN OGILVIE

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Mesha Maren’s Perpetual West is a fearless exploration of borders

BY ED TARKINGTON

M

esha Maren’s themes dwell along the margins, both of geography and identity. Her acclaimed debut Sugar Run tells the story of a doomed lesbian romance in Appalachian coal PERPETUAL WEST country between

BY MESHA MAREN ALGONQUIN an ex-convict and 384 PAGES, $26.95 a battered wife.

Her follow-up, Perpetual West, continues Maren’s genre-straddling exploration of the lives of restless, troubled characters drawn to downtrodden, disregarded settings where sordid violence and social injustice are common and accepted as normal.

The main characters, like their creator, are natives of Appalachia, but their story occurs along different borders, both literally and metaphorically. As the novel opens, recently married Alex and Elana have just moved to El Paso, Texas, where Alex plans to do graduate work in sociology, focusing on the culture of Mexican professional wrestling known as lucha libre. Adopted from Mexico by white American Pentecostal missionaries, Alex is also on a personal journey of self-discovery, which becomes deeply complicated by his infatuation with Mateo, a masked luchador known in the ring as El Vengador del Norte.

“What [Alex] wanted to write about,” writes Maren, “was the way a young man could slide a mask over his face, step into the wrestling ring, and blur out his class, his background, his name. In the trustpain struggle with another man, he could pantomime the death that dogged him daily and rise through it. See these boys, here in the ring they could be anything…

This is a factory of dreams.” The dream factory exists in Ciudad Juarez, just across the U.S.-Mexico border from El Paso and consistently ranked as among the most dangerous cities in the world.

Elana takes a job waiting tables in a diner and finds herself in the destabilizing position of facilitating her husband’s ambitions. When a family emergency calls Elana home to West Virginia, both husband and wife seem somewhat grateful for a break from each other, albeit for very different reasons. Elana’s situation back home is harrowing — a crisis involving meth addiction — but she is at least afforded solitude on her journey and the familiarity of home and her clearly prescribed role there.

Back in El Paso, Elana’s absence permits Alex to explore his physical attraction to Mateo, long repressed thanks to his homophobic upbringing. By the time Elana returns, Alex has disappeared with Mateo, who, as it turns out, is the favorite luchador of an ambitious and unusually erudite narcotraficante — a drug dealer. Alex leaves no explanation of his whereabouts, but he does leave his mobile phone, meaning Elana has no way of tracing his location.

Elana’s search for Alex gives the novel a narrative arc and elevates the tension, particularly given Elana’s fish-out-ofwater status — her Spanish is poor, and she knows relatively little about the culture of Juarez — but the heart and soul of Perpetual West dwell in the intersections and conflicts between the psychological struggles of the characters and the frequently staggering cruelty and absurdity of life along the border.

Maren is at her best in the minute observation of the culture and rituals of El Paso and Juarez. This territory has been amply explored by American writers in both fiction and nonfiction — in Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men, for instance, and in the voluminous New Journalistic reportage of Charles Bowden, most notably Murder City and Juarez: The Laboratory of Our Future. Maren honors those and other precursors and influences, but also effectively approaches the culture and landscape in a fresh and persuasive manner through the intelligent but essentially naive perspectives of Alex and Elana. The richness and depth of description lends the text authenticity and authority.

Mesha Maren is a gifted stylist and a morally serious observer of human frailty. Her intentions are bold, her mastery of language and narrative tension consistently remarkable and occasionally stunning. Simultaneously deep and thrilling, pleasurable and provocative, Perpetual West is a fine next step in the career of a promising talent, as well as a fearless record of a West the world can no longer afford to ignore.

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

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NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 10 – FEBRUARY 16, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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MUSIC

ANOTHER LOOK

The Scene’s music writers recommend recent releases from Brian Brown, R.A.P. Ferreira, Erin Enderlin and more

BY RACHEL CHOLST, EDD HURT, BRITTNEY McKENNA, STEPHEN TRAGESER, CHARLIE ZAILLIAN AND JACQUELINE ZEISLOFT

W

inter chill or no, a broad spectrum of Nashville musicians continues to release outstanding music in abundance. Our writers have nine new releases to FIND LINKS TO STREAM AND BUY THESE RECORDS AT recommend, so NASHVILLESCENE.COM/MUSIC add ’em to your streaming queue or get a physical copy from your favorite record store. Or put them on your wish list for #BandcampFriday, the promotion in which the platform waives its cut of artist fees on the first Friday of the month. After taking a break in January, the platform brought back Bandcamp Friday beginning Feb. 4, and it’s set to continue through May. The next installment is March 4.

money as far as bleak vibes are concerned.

Things still aren’t OK exactly, but the followup I Won’t Go — issued in January by San Diego native Trevisan’s label Nineteen98, a reference to the last year his hometown Padres won the National League pennant — takes a more optimistic tack. If the names The Album Leaf, Jesu or Pell Mell ring a bell, then run, don’t walk, to hear this. Here’s hoping Minneapolis-residing drummer Ronnie Lee makes it down for a gig sometime, because there’s a compelling set’s worth of songs between the two EPs. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

R.A.P. FERREIRA, THE LIGHT EMITTING DIAMOND CUTTER SCRIPTURES (RUBY YACHT)

BRIAN BROWN, ONE & DONE (SELF-RELEASED) Brian Brown is a prolific writer, so much so that project-worthy tracks often end up in the vault. A new collection of loosies from the celebrated local rapper shows just how much wealth that vault holds, with a sampling of 12 tracks that measure up to any of his releases. Opening track “jump shitty freestyle (rough)” is anything but shitty, showcasing Brown’s versatile flow, which transitions seamlessly from staccato bursts of lyricism to rapid-fire delivery. Other standouts include “bird talk (rough)” and “lovely day (rip bill withers) (rough),” which features fellow Nashvillian RyAnne on vocals and pays tribute to the titular late soul icon. BRITTNEY McKENNA

R.A.P. Ferreira has had a nomadic kind of life, making his home at different times in Biddeford, Maine; Kenosha, Wis.; Los Angeles; and perhaps most notably, Chicago. There, under the stage name milo, he pioneered a scene of especially brainy MCs who inject jazz into the crevices between rhythmically dissonant, vibey beats (see also: Noname and Saba). A couple years back, he joined the cadre of independent musicians who make Music City hum with creative activity. His latest release, 2021’s The Light Emitting Diamond Cutter Scriptures, is a slick, meditative listen. It serves as a credo for his “elastic” vision and commitment to making art; across the record, he raps, “I am R.A.P. Ferreira and I will rap forever.” Welcome to Nashville, R.A.P. Ferreira. We hope you’ll stick around. JACQUELINE ZEISLOFT

beautifully on the record’s finest tune, “Songs Enough to Sing.” Like Roxy Music on their great 1979 avant-disco album Manifesto, Nunes contemplates the meaning of desire while he dances away the heartaches.

EDD HURT

DOMINIC BILLETT, LOWER (SELF-RELEASED) Dominic Billett is highly regarded in his role as a sideman, often playing drums for thoughtful folk-leaning singer-songwriters like Erin Rae and Andrew Combs. Throughout the pandemic, Billett has released several records of his own, on which he’s written, sung and played all the instruments on all the songs himself. Lower is his second full-length, and he expands his melancholy post-Beatles pop sensibility with some soul grooves and some experimental studio methods that remind me of Brian Eno’s Another Green World. It’s a fitting sound for trying to process the complexities of a world that’s in flux, without a “normal” to bounce off of. STEPHEN TRAGESER

ERIN ENDERLIN, BARROOM MIRRORS (BLACK CROW PRODUCTIONS) Breaking up sucks, but it doesn’t have to when you have Erin Enderlin as your wingperson. Enderlin’s made something of a specialty of writing about down-and-out narrators who are unlucky in love. That doesn’t mean any of Enderlin’s albums, particularly her Barroom Mirrors EP, is what you want to put on when you’re ready to throw back and party. In fact, the EP lives in that initial stage where all you can do is, well, hit the bar and stare at yourself in the mirror. “If There Weren’t So Many Damn Jukeboxes” puts a brave face on things, but that’s countered by “If I’m Not in Hell,” which comes with as forlorn a steel guitar as you’ll hear in country music anywhere. RACHEL CHOLST

SUNDAES, BOYS WHO MADE ME CRY (SUNDAES SAFARI) I COULD LIVE IN HOPE, I WON’T GO (NINETEEN98) In fall 2020, a point in the pandemic when morale felt about as low as could be, Travis Trevisan of preeminent Nashville shoegazers Tape Deck Mountain debuted a new side project. In the process, he invented a subgenre: political slowcore. I Could Live in Hope is named for Low’s first album, and the project’s debut EP PSA, Not OK gives the early work of Duluth’s finest a run for its

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The music on Sundaes’ EP Boys Who Made Me Cry applies the streamlined approach of those ultimate romantics, Roxy Music, to a set of tunes about the vicissitudes of love. The songs bandleader Max Nunes has written for the band’s latest effort find him baring his heart, but the glossy surfaces of the arrangements allow him to keep a certain distance from their darker implications. What’s most impressive about Boys is the way Sundaes avoids genre tags — the band adopts a universal pop style that works

pop diamonds-in-the-rough The Attractor Beams, label head Jack Evan Johnson’s ears have proven trustworthy, whether the music is from across the globe or around the way. Buckeye State-raised, Music Cityresiding tunesmith Zach Wilson falls into the latter category. Aggressively strummed, passionately sung and clocking in at a concise 28 minutes, Priors has a vibe that falls somewhere between above-average busker and grunge-era frontman who, despite his band going AWOL on recording day, says, “Fuck it, let’s keep going.” Refreshingly unprocessed and sneakily anthemic, it’s a testament to the three-chords-and-the-truth, first-take-best-take mindset. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

ZACH WILSON, PRIORS (DEVIL’S TOWER RECORDS) Devil’s Tower Records is a relatively new kid on the Nashville indie-rock block. But between curating the epic, hyper-local double-LP John Prine tribute Kiss My Ass Goodbye and discovering Australian noise-

KYLE HAMLETT UNO, ON THE BLINK (SELF-RELEASED) Kyle Hamlett’s meditative voice is one that followers of local music know well, from his shapeshifting folk-electro band Lylas and work with other musicians. On the Blink was produced by and features some instrumental contributions from famed Yo La Tengo producer Roger Moutenot, who helps Hamlett lean into electric psychedelia and try some new vocal techniques. The three tracks provide a hypnotic setting for songs that touch on the challenges of relationships in which the boundaries aren’t always clear, as you hear in the refrain of “Another Year of 13 Moons”: “I came back around / To dig up some ground / And be done with you / Or dance with you.” STEPHEN TRAGESER

CONRAD Y SKORDALIA, THE MOMENT BEFORE WAKING (SELF-RELEASED) Conrad y Skordalia’s The Moment Before Waking fits into a category you might call Downbeat Americana, and that doesn’t mean the record isn’t kind of fun. Songwriter, guitarist and bassist David Conrad sings in a baritone voice that hints at Warren Zevon’s fatalism, while violinist Rebecca Weiner Tompkins helps give the album that special touch of Mekons-style austerity. There’s a wintry tone to The Moment Before Waking that might be off-putting in less skilled hands. Soon enough, though — around the time you hear the beautiful title track, which is an instrumental — the fatalism starts to sound less cutting. Conrad and Tompkins seem to understand what it takes to keep hope alive on cold mornings when the sun won’t rise, and that’s the kind of wisdom we all need right now. EDD HURT EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 10 – FEBUARY 16, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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WHERE THE MUSIC DON’T STOP FOR LIFE

Living in the era of Dua Lipa, a forward-thinking pop genius

BY JASON SHAWHAN

S

o much has happened in the past few years that very often significant milestones slip by us without any sort of acknowledgment in the media, print or online. We are in the midst of the era PLAYING BRIDGESTONE ARENA in which U.K.MONDAY, FEB. 14; CHECK born Dua Lipa OUT A VIDEO PLAYLIST AT NASHVILLESCENE.COM/MUSIC has supplanted U.S.-born John Belushi as the most famous and idolized child of Albanian immigrants in the Western world — despite a brief rally for the late comedian thanks to an acclaimed 2020 documentary.

The one-two punch of Lipa’s Future Nostalgia album from 2020 and its remixed complement, Club Future Nostalgia, have solidified her as one of the major voices in the pop game. Versatile in genre, global in outlook, and always focused on personal and social liberation in the face of a world that eschews pleasure for greed and the exertion of power, Lipa is one of the dominant forces in pop music the world over. Her Nashville show — on Valentine’s Day at Bridgestone Arena with Caroline Polachek and Lolo Zouaï — promises to be a beacon of cutting-edge sounds and killer choruses.

In 2017, even those who shun the world of pop couldn’t miss the dawning of the Dua Lipa era. “New Rules” was the kind of multiquadrant smash that left rockists, retirees and hermits all to succumb to the Proustian experience of programmed boom-boom beats telling them all about themselves.

Like her first album, a self-titled release from 2017, the single was a triumph. But then, remember when her song “Physical”

came out? It was right before COVID-19 began unraveling society as we know it, and the song soon began to shake all the world’s atrophying, pandemic-stricken booty into a disco frenzy that even the limitless space of the internet really couldn’t contain. The tempo of 147 BPM is simply not to be fucked with unless you’ve got your vibe perfected.

(See also: A Flock of Seagulls’ “I Ran,” Loverboy’s “Working for the Weekend” and Billy Idol’s “White Wedding.”) Damn if that record still doesn’t hit like a sparkly and effervescent collaboration between energy drinks and poppers.

Of all the sad, stupid tragedies associated with DaBaby shitting all over his pop-crossover appeal with some incredibly ill-timed homophobia, the collateral damage of losing his guest spot on Lipa’s “Levitating” to careful judgment is a big one. Seriously, there’s a hypnotic linguistic charm to the lines, “Left foot, right foot, levitating / Pop stars: Dua Lipa with DaBaby.” They linger in the back of the disco-sensitive brain in a manner difficult to qualify. During an intense move over the summer, when I was hauling boxes of stuff in a truck with only an FM radio, that couplet became a pop mantra. It could only be diminished by full-on retro-’80s homophobic ignorance.

That remix with DaBaby is filed away with other problematic dance-floor fillers. Thankfully, though, Lipa — ever the forward-thinking dance diva — stepped up with a tumbi-charged remix that opened the song’s arms even wider, with help from producer Amaal Mallik and twin-sister guest vocalists Prakriti and Sukriti Kakar.

There are speed bumps that could derail the careers of some; Lipa steps around them smartly in impeccable footwear.

Her appearance on Saturday Night Live in December 2020 proved her not just a dynamic entertainer, but also a gifted physical comedienne capable of not letting Bowen Yang absorb all the audience’s attention — which is no easy feat. And coming this year, she’s also part of the ensemble for Matthew Vaughn’s new action-adventure epic Argylle.

It’s Dua Lipa’s world. We’re just making sure nobody leaves scuffs on the dance floor.

EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

just announced

KODY WEST & AUSTIN MEADE // MAR 13

ANN WILSON OF HEART // JUN 13 &14

Upcoming shows Feb 10 Feb 11 Feb 12 Feb 16 feb 17 feb 18 feb 19 feb 20 feb 21 feb 22 feb 23 feb 24 Feb 25 feb 26 feb 27 mar 1 Mar 2 mar 3 mar 4 Mar 5

Muna w/lou roy sold out! rumours: fleetwood mac tribute w/nomenclature K.Flay w/g.flip & corook sold out!

Bendigo fletcher w/abby hamilton & cece coakley john moreland w/will johnson love you later w/abby holliday & girlhouse

emily king obscura w/ vale of pnath & interloper gracie abrams w/alix page sold out! valley w/catie turner sold out! paramore vs. avril lavigne tribute ft. kalie

shorr, sam varga, taylor acorn, thrill FR, & not a real band

samia w/annie dirusso neal francis w/emily wolfe brett dennen w/ the heavy hours zachary williams drama Iceage w/sloppy jane chapo trap house podcast sold out! half•alive w/daisy the great sold out!

Inhaler w/junior mesa sold out!

mar 6 mar 7 mar 8 mar 9 mar 10 mar 11 mar 13 mar 14 mar 16 Mar 19 Mar 20 Mar 22 Mar 23 mar 25 mar 26 mar 27 mar 29 Mar 30 mar 31 apr 1 apr 2 apr 3

RETT MADISON // FEB 15

soulfly w/200 stab wounds and more! gary numan w/i speak machine mipso w/bella white goth babe sold out! kat von d w/prayers emo night tour kody west & austin meade wet leg sold out! a schmidt show BristonMaroneyw/jackiehayes&mercury soldout!

BristonMaroneyw/jackiehayes&futurecrib soldout! maxo kream w/peso peso & lul bob 10 years w/black map & vrsty elderbrook liz cooper the birthday massacre w/julien-k&vanillasugar wednesday 13 The Airborne Toxic Event w/ mondo cozmo ian noe sierra ferrell sold out! sierra ferrell dorothy

JD CLAYTON // FEB 16

UPCOMING SHOWS

feb 10 feb 11 feb 11 feb 12 feb 12 feb 14 feb 14

ren richards w/camden west and john & joe bo tillman w/hunter taylor (7pm) yot club, reptaliens & renata zeiguer (9pm) laura nicholson w/harper o'neill (7pm) tina turner tribute (9pm) aaron raitiere & friends (7pm) erica case & tebbs karney w/ Austin

feb 15 feb 16 feb 16

rett madison jd clayton (7pm) flight attendant w/ Crumbsnatchers,

feb 17

dawson hollow & nite tides (7pm)

Stambaugh, Chris Emmert, & Nick Emmert (9pm)

and The Great American Canyon Band (9pm)

feb 17 feb 18 feb 18 feb 20 feb 21 feb 21 feb 23 feb 24 feb 25 feb 25 feb 26

kelly soule eberie, meg elsier, & olivia barton (9pm) my politic & adeem the artist justin wells w/jeff shepherd poutyface aaron raitiere & friends (7pm) kinn & suitcase souls (9pm) lonesome heroes, johno leeroy band, & dylan earl the pinx w/jthe bohannons lauren Eylise w/julie williams (7pm) dogs in a pile (9pm) skout & marielle kraft

1604 8th Ave S Nashville, TN 37203 thebasementnash

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MUSIC

THE SPIN

ON BROADWAY

THU 2.17  TEDDY AT NIGHT

W/ MOTHERLY JET & JULIA GOMEZ

CANNERY BALLROOM

THE HIGH WATT

FRI 2.11  LUNA HALO

FRI 2.18  BRIAN FALLON

W/ BONES OWENS

AND THE HOWLING WEATHER W/ WORRIERS & HURRY.

MERCY LOUNGE

CANNERY BALLROOM

FRI 2.11  JUKE OF JUNE

FRI 2.18  SQUIRREL FLOWER

W/ LOVING SONS, GOODIE BAG, & LEGIT SMITTY

W/ LIGHTNING BUG (SOLO)

THE HIGH WATT

THE HIGH WATT

SAT 2.12  ZAK KUHN’S BIRTHDAY SHOW

SAT 2.19  THE BETHS

ROLLING STONES THEMED - FREE ENTRY

MERCY LOUNGE

MERCY LOUNGE

SUN 2.20  RED: THE ACOUSTIC TOUR

MON 2.14  MICHIGANDER

W/ KEITH WALLEN OF BREAKING BENJAMIN

W/ WILBY

MERCY LOUNGE

MERCY LOUNGE M

TUE 2.22  CHARLIE BERRY

TUE 2.15  CIRCA SURVIVE

W/ MATT JORDAN & ASHTYN TALLEY

W/ TIGERS JAW & SOUL GLO

THE HIGH WATT

CANNERY BALLROOM

TUE 2.15  STAY OUTSIDE & LELAND BLUE W/ PALE LUNGS

WED 2.23  STOP LIGHT OBSERVATIONS W/ GATLIN & PALMERTREES

THE HIGH WATT

THE HIGH WATT

WED 2.16  IGLOOGHOST WE THE HIGH WATT

THU 2.24  PETTY, FU STAN, & NAMIR BLADE

W/ SEDDYMAC, VIBEOUT, & CAMFERG

THE HIGH WATT

MON. 2/14

FRI. 2/11

michigander

luna halo

w/ wilby · the high watt

mercy lounge · w/ bones owens

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brian fallon & the howling weather cannery ballroom · w/ worriers & hurry.

mercy lounge · w/ keith wallen of breaking benjamin

3.09  TY SEGALL (SOLO BAND) W/ CHARLES MOOTHART

MERCY LOUNGE

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red: the acoustic tour

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kendrick vsflower drake squirrel

thee rock n’ roll residency greatest hits! live · mercy lounge

4.16  BOSTON MANOR

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MERCY LOUNGE

3.09  SILVER SYNTHETIC

5/7  SUPERSONIC: TRIBUTE TO OASIS

3.11  LANGHORNE SLIM

5.11  BOULET BROTHERS DRAGULA

4.04  THAO

5.16  LAUREN SANDERSON

THE HIGH WATT MERCY LOUNGE M

THE HIGH WATT

SEASON 4 TOUR MERCY LOUNGE

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THU 2.24  MAGGIE MILES, ABIGAIL OSBORN, & GIRL TONES

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BY CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

T

he National Museum of African American Music opened its doors in downtown’s Fifth + Broadway development just more than one year ago. Though there was a ribbon-cutting ceremony prior to the museum welcoming the general public, the pandemic derailed plans for a grand opening gala that hasn’t been rescheduled.

Friday’s early-evening festivities in the museum’s rotunda may not have been a direct replacement, but with movers and shakers from the Nashville hip-hop scene on the bill, North Nashville pizzaiolos Slim & Husky’s covering provisions, and a well-dressed crowd filling the room, it felt pretty close.

The five-act lineup inaugurated a threepart concert series, called Slim & Husky’s Unplugged, in which NMAAM and S&H are partnering up to highlight contemporary local Black musicians on the first Fridays of February, March and April. As early arrivals filed in, a pair of crooners warmed the stage with familiar tunes. Acoustic guitarslinger William Davenport ended his short set with a cover of Blackstreet’s summer ’96 standard “No Diggity,” while Yours Truly Jai lent her graceful soprano to renditions of tunes by Jill Scott among others.

My introduction to Reaux Marquez, at a backyard set at Exit/In in June, spoke to the Bordeaux rapper’s perseverance. That night, a leg injury relegated Marquez to a stool but didn’t keep him from giving it his all. Now fully recovered, decked out in a custom pinstriped black-and-gold jersey with baseball pants to match, the 26-year-old looked ready to take the field as a ringer for the Vanderbilt Commodores. At the top of the set, Marquez directed the crowd’s attention to a stack of a dozen books he’d brought onstage in recognition of Black History Month, extending an open invitation to peruse and discuss post-show. Titles included Black Power: The Politics of Liberation by Charles V. Hamilton and Kwame Ture, Huey P. Newton’s autobiography Revolutionary Suicide and the more recent Black Fatigue

by Mary-Frances Winters.

Marquez’s LP No Roads (which the Scene recognized as Best Album in our 2021 Best of Nashville issue) goes from a spark to an inferno in just a couple tracks, and his set Friday echoed that. It started modestly enough before TheBlackSon — a charter member of the Black City crew, which Marquez has worked with — hopped onstage for a vocal sparring session. Brian Brown, the evening’s headliner, quickly followed suit, trading verses with Marquez. The two circled each other in a playfully menacing stare-down — only to smile and bear-hug as soon as the music stopped.

Penultimate act Bryant Taylorr didn’t just take the stage — he stormed it, bouncing around as if his shoes had built-in springs and not even breaking a sweat despite rocking a heavy, golden-brown Carhartt jacket and pants in a room with the heat cranked.

Each of the night’s performers earned high marks for charisma and technical proficiency, but the 27-year-old, Antioch-raised

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES: BRIAN BROWN

PHOTO: BRANDON DE LA CRUZ

THU 2.10  CORDAE

boy-band alum dominated the melody and confidence categories. The ecstatic audience reaction to the melancholic “Fan,” setclosing “Pretty Women” — which concluded with a passionate, a cappella call-andresponse — and other sultry, soulful material from Taylorr’s 2020 EP Rare made a convincing case that he won’t be a well-kept local secret much longer.

Taylorr was a tough act to follow, but Brown delivered when he returned to the mic, slight frame draped in a Creamsicleorange U.T. hoodie as if to erase any doubt about his Volunteer State bona fides.

Brown’s effortless-sounding flow and penchant for loose, jazzy backing tracks lure in the casual listener, who then gets treated to the intricacy of his quick-witted, tightly written bars. The pandemic deprived Brown’s 2020 full-length Journey of a proper album cycle, but half the room had the chorus to its weary yet hopeful highlight “Runnin’ ” committed to memory regardless.

The presence of saxophonist Austin Willé, meanwhile — clad in all black and sporting shades, he drifted on and off the stage throughout the night, but played on nearly every one of Brown’s songs — gave the affair one more touch of class.

Before Brown went on, fellow Scene freelancer Lance Conzett and I remarked how we’d only seen these acts either too many hours before the sun went down — Taylorr at The Groove on Record Store Day, or the aforementioned Marquez Exit/ In gig — or so late at night that the crowd was unlikely to remember specifics (as with Brown at Spewfest 2019). Though most have performed at least a few local gigs at more normal showtimes, it was a treat to catch everyone absolutely in their element at NMAAM. The gig was an outstanding showcase for some of Music City’s top-tier Black talent. And it put an exclamation point on the item in the Scene’s Feb. 3 cover story outlining things Nashville needs that points out how the city needs Black-owned ticketed venues to get diverse communities participating in that part of the music business, too.

EMAIL THESPIN@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 10 – FEBRUARY 16, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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FILM

SPEND A WHILE ON THE NILE Branagh’s latest Christie adaptation is a pretty solid whodunit

BY JASON SHAWHAN

T

he cinematic comeback of the Cozy Mystery is one of those events that nobody really saw coming, but it’s a development that has certainly yielded quite a few pleasures for anyone who enDEATH ON THE NILE joys strong narrative PG-13, 127 MINUTES foundations. The OPENING WIDE FRIDAY, Kenneth Branagh-diFEB. 11 rected (and Branaghstarring) 2017 film Murder on the Orient Express was an unexpected hit that brought in two, possibly three, new generations of moviegoers. And then when Knives Out happened in 2019 — bowling over audiences, critics and especially people convinced that residual Last Jedi hatred would somehow derail all future Rian Johnson endeavors — all bets were off. So now, after several delays (due both to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and scandals involving alleged sexual assault by Armie Hammer and the outspoken vaccine skepticism of Letitia Wright), we’re finally getting a chance to experience multiBranagh’s take on Death on the Nile.

The 1978 adaptation of the 1937 Agatha Christie novel is a perennial family favorite, as much a part of Thanksgiving traditions as baking cookies and sipping white Russians.

So it is with a great deal of relief that I can tell you that this new take on the material is pretty good — true to the structure of Christie’s plot, but also evolved in a way that one would hope for when working with a text written by a bestselling author with some deeply racist tendencies. To put it this way, Christie would probably be horrified by some of the shifts in character that screenwriter Michael Green has added, but these shifts make the 2022 Death on the Nile more interesting on an interpersonal level than the original novel or the ’78 film.

When things start off on the Belgian front during World War I with a digitally de-aged detective Hercule Poirot, we know a different tack is being taken. Before we (and the cast) make it to the titular cradle of civilization, we’ve slipped through several years and relationships, as well as a sultry musical performance — with sensual choreography and heaps of drama — from Salome Otterbourne (played here by Sophie Okonedo as an exceptional blues singer rather than previous incarnations’ libelous romance novelist). Things still ultimately get going when Poirot finds himself among a wedding party on the luxury steamship Karnak, celebrating the marriage between heiress Linnett (Gal Gadot) and gadabout Simon (Armie Hammer) — a rather sudden development considering Simon’s previous engagement to Linnett’s longtime friend Jackie (Emma Mackey). The thing is, no matter where they all go, Jackie is there, and she’s working through some serious emotions.

This being an Agatha Christie adaptation, murder most foul is lurking around every corner, and star power isn’t necessarily an insulation against the Grim Reaper, who is of course also along for the trek down the Nile. Granted, some might say this kind of mystery lends itself to the uncertainty of attending public events, but the key to this style of narrative is that even though death is never escapable, the vibe is nurturing and the audience still feels the seductive pull of exotic spaces, luxury living and the delirious joy of the rich suffering greatly. Of all the cast, Annette Bening is having the most fun; she’s also capturing the tone of the ’78 adaptation perfectly — you could slip her into that film, or even the vicious 1973 classic The Last of Sheila, and the mesh would be unnoticeable. Plus, the reunion of Dawn

French and Jennifer Saunders, while subtler than you might hope for, yields remarkable dividends.

As for Hammer’s presence in the film, you might not be able to quite get past all the allegations that are readily accessible on the internet. It’s sad and horrifying, and it reinforces a possibility glossed over with the 2017 Murder, which starred alleged abuser Johnny Depp. Perhaps the key to future Christie adaptations is to cast as many problematic actors as possible, intensifying audience responses accordingly.

The extensive CGI and green-screen shots diminish the film’s charms. Part of what makes the Cozy Mystery such an enduring genre are its tactile qualities — not just the locations, but the fabrics, furniture and outfits. That worn-in feeling, as well as a sense of history, evades this film’s grasp.

The Karnak set is impressive, both in several single-take sequences and in some strategic uses of refracted glass and window arrangements, and it allows for a bit more actual heft than Murder’s train. But as many decades as the film industry is into greenscreen photography, it’s staggering that they still never light to blend. Like the great philosopher Beyoncé once said, “Baby, I can see your halo.”

Though Branagh the star might disagree, this type of film is never about the cast.

That’s not to say that a good performance can’t flourish herein — they certainly can.

But the appeal is the structure of the story.

The whodunit is a continued fount of inspiration, and Death on the Nile — plucked, tucked and tweaked for what modern audiences want from a post-WWI/pre-WWII drama — delivers what good mysteries do, even 85 years after its first publication.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

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DATE NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 10 – FEBRUARY 16, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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Marketplace

Rocky McElhaney Law Firm InjuRy Auto ACCIdEnts

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk M. De Jesus, Deputy Clerk Date: January 14, 2022

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www.rockylawfirm.com LEGALS Non-Resident Notice ThirdCircuit Docket No. 21D1741

ANDREW JAMES DICKSON vs.

ROSELINE DICKSON

Rental Scene

In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon ROSELINE DICKSON. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after February 10, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on March 14, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon ROSELINE DICKSON. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after February 10, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on March 14, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

NSC 1/20, 1/27, 2/3, 2/10/2022

Non-Resident Notice Fourth Circuit Docket No. 21D1821 STEPHANIE EID vs.

JULIAN RANDI CHIN In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon JULIAN RANDI CHIN. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after February 10, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on March 14, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk M. De Jesus, Deputy Clerk Date: January 14, 2022 Robert H. Plummer, Ill Attorney for Plaintiff

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

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk M. De Jesus, Deputy Clerk Date: January 14, 2022 Robert H. Plummer, Ill Attorney for Plaintiff NSC 1/20, 1/27, 2/3, 2/10/2022

Non-Resident Notice Third Circuit Docket No. 21D35 GARY DEWAYNE HARRIS vs.

DEBRA ANN HARRIS In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon DEBRA ANN HARRIS. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after February 17, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on March 21, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk L. Chappell, Deputy Clerk Date: January 20, 2022 Mark Sharber Attorneys for Plaintiff NSC 1/27, 2/3, 2/10, 2/17/2022 Non-Resident Notice Fourth Circuit Docket No. 20D933 JERRY WAYNE CROSSLIN vs.

LEE ANN SMITH In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon LEE ANN SMITH. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after February 17, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on March 21, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Welcome to River West NSC 1/20, 1/27, 2/3, 2/10/2022

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk M. De Jesus, Deputy Clerk Date: January 14, 2022 Mike J. Urquhart Attorney for Plaintiff

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk L. Chappell, Deputy Clerk Date: January 20, 2022

NSC 1/20, 1/27, 2/3, 2/10/2022

JERRY WAYNE CROSSLIN vs.

LEE ANN SMITH In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon LEE ANN SMITH. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after February 17, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on March 21, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk L. Chappell, Deputy Clerk Date: January 20, 2022 Jennifer L. Honeycutt Attorneys for Plaintiff NSC 1/27, 2/3, 2/10, 2/17/2022

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When not telecommuting, must appear at Johnson Controls, Inc., 5211 Linbar Drive, Suite 508, Nashville, TN 37211. REQS: Bachelor’s degree, or foreign equivalent, in Comp Sci, Info Tech or a related field + 10 yrs of prof work exp as an Architect within the Solution, System and Technical industry. To apply, mail resume to: Global Mobility/JCI – Job Code: SS-CA, 5757 N Green Bay Ave, X62, Milwaukee, WI 53209.

Computer/IT: Johnson Controls, Inc. seeks Cloud Architect in Nashville, TN. Provide architectural leadership and guidance to technical teams to ensure the solution is robust, highly scalable, and cost-effective. Scope and document technical work based on business requirements Telecommuting may be permitted.

When not telecommuting, must appear at Johnson Controls, Inc., 5211 Linbar Drive, Suite 508, Nashville, TN 37211. REQS: Bachelor’s degree, or foreign equivalent, in Comp Sci, Info Tech or a related field + 10 yrs of prof work exp as an Architect within the Solution, System and Technical industry. To apply, mail resume to: Global Mobility/JCI – Job Code: SS-CA, 5757 N Green Bay Ave, X62, Milwaukee, WI 53209.

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Local attractions: · Nashville West Shopping Center · Hillwood Country Club · Cumberland River

Neighborhood dining and drinks: · Tequila’s Mexican Restaurant · Hillwood Pub · Buffalo Wild Wings Enjoy the outdoors: · Elmington Park · Centennial Park · Belle Meade Historic Site & Winery Best place near by to see a show: · Belcourt Theatre

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