Nashville Scene 2-15-24

NEWS:

STATE BUDGET RETURNS FOCUS TO VOUCHERS AND TAX-SLASHING >> PAGE 9

FEBRUARY 15–21, 2024 I VOLUME 43 I NUMBER 3 I NASHVILLESCENE.COM I FREE

FOOD & DRINK:

SLOW NOODLES DETAILS RESILIENCE, RECIPES, NASHVILLE-TO-CAMBODIA CONNECTION >> PAGE 33

CAMP GUIDE INSIDE

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NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

CONTENTS NEWS

7 Street View: Addressing the Need for Public Emergency Shelters Next month, NewsChannel 5 will release an interactive list of real-time severe-weather shelters

BY LENA MAZEL

8 Republicans Advance Effort to Vacate TSU Board Board members ask lawmakers for more time to address issues and find a new president

BY KELSEY BEYELER

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

9 State Budget Returns Focus to Vouchers and Tax-Slashing

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Lee chooses corporations and private schools in this year’s pared-down budget book

Melaina Kol • PHOTO BY KRISTEN DRUM

BY ELI MOTYCKA

MUSIC

COVER STORY

39 In the Heart

11 Gatekeeping the Neighborhood

Jaime Wyatt follows her gut on Feel Good

How neighborhood associations shape Nashville’s development

BY NICOLE WILLIAMS

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MARKETPLACE

Banjo ace Kyle Tuttle taps in on Labor of Lust

BY CHRIS PARTON

Juvenile with The Tiny Desk Band, Eve Maret, Moon Taxi, Conversations at OZ and more

40 The Spin The Scene’s live-review column checks out Squirrel Flower with Greg Mendez and Melaina Kol at The Blue Room

24 CAMP GUIDE

BY BEN ARTHUR

33 FOOD AND DRINK Slow, Steady Survival A new book details female resilience, the power of family recipes and a Nashville-to-Cambodia connection

36 BOOKS Fryin’ Up an Identity

NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD AND THIS MODERN WORLD

40 The Great Atomic Power

17 CRITICS’ PICKS

BY MARGARET LITTMAN

BY BRITTNEY McKENNA

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FILM

42 She’s Gump The Sweet East is a hazy, picaresque trip through modern America

ON THE COVER:

Photo illustration by Eric England and Elizabeth Jones

BY LOGAN BUTTS

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43 A Matter of Taste The Taste of Things is a beautifully rendered romance

BY CRAIG D. LINDSEY

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Mary Liza Hartong’s debut queer romance novel captures Tennessee living

BY ABBY N. LEWIS; CHAPTER16.ORG

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NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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2/12/24 6:16 PM

FROM BILL FREEMAN

WHO WE ARE

I RECENTLY STUMBLED upon a column

by USA Today’s Rex Huppke that left me both chuckling and nodding in agreement. Huppke’s tongue-in-cheek exploration of the MAGA faithful’s dilemma in a booming Biden economy is simultaneously amusing and surprisingly accurate — and perhaps a bit gratifying.

Huppke titled his article, “True MAGA patriots must remove themselves from Biden’s booming economy, cash out 401(k)s.” They must do this despite the income they’re seeing, Huppke writes, going on to discuss numbers that detail an improved economy. He humorously states that “no matter how much we say the economy is terrible, it keeps unpatriotically refusing to be terrible.” Huppke adds mockingly that “it’s clear Democrats are manipulating the economy and making it the strongest economy in the world in order to fool voters into thinking Biden is a competent president.”

Well now, that’s quite the conspiracy theory.

If any group had the power to manipulate the economy in that way, it seems logical that such influence would have been wielded ages ago, sparing America from economic downturns altogether.

Let’s dive into the definitive facts about the current state of our economy.

Despite some Republicans’ fervent attempts to downplay it, according to recent reporting from CNN, the U.S. economy remained robust in the fourth quarter of 2023, closing out a remarkable year. Gross domestic product “rose at a seasonally and inflation-adjusted annualized rate of 3.3% from October through December,” which “trounced the 1.5% that economists were expecting.” “Consumer spending, business investment, government outlays, exports and improvements in housing conditions” all contributed to this unexpected economic strength. “Consumer spending, which accounts for about two-thirds of the U.S. economy, grew at a healthy 2.8% rate in the fourth quarter … [while] business spending accelerated to a 1.9% rate.”

Also according to CNN, reporting on information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: “The U.S. economy added 353,000 jobs last month. … January’s gains blew economists’ expectations out of the water: Consensus forecasts had called for a net gain of 176,500 jobs last month, according to FactSet.” The article further notes that with the unemployment rate remaining at 3.7%, “it’s the 24th consecutive month that the nation’s jobless rate has been under 4%.”

These numbers showcase the strength of the U.S. economy in the face of a presidential election, despite the gloom and doom coming from the Trump camp.

As the United States gears up for this election, these economic indicators provide evidence that the economy is far from recession territory.

Despite Trump supporters’ attempts to sow fear, as noted by CNN, “Americans are still opening

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PHOTO: PROVIDED BY DINNER HOST COMMITTEE

A COMEDIC TALE OF MAGA ECONOMICS

their wallets and U.S. consumer sentiment is soaring, mostly thanks to slowing inflation.” The U.S. stock market’s record high, alongside steady wage growth, further contributes to this positive economic outlook.

As we head toward a presidential election, President Joe Biden’s administration is expected to emphasize the nation’s strong economic performance, acknowledging existing inequalities that still need addressing.

Let’s return to Huppke’s entertaining take on the situation. In a mock-serious tone, Huppke outlines the apparent fear among MAGA faithful as positive economic news threatens to shift the GOP narrative. The call to “remove themselves from the CORRUPTLY BOOMING BIDEN ECONOMY” is accompanied by humorous suggestions like cashing out 401(k)s, quitting jobs and refusing pay raises.

While these suggestions are presented in jest, they do serve as satirical commentary on the reluctance of some to acknowledge these positive economic trends.

In all seriousness, Huppke makes a compelling case for the stark contrast between the reality of a thriving economy and the attempts to negate its positive aspects. The numbers speak for themselves, so why not enjoy our improving economy — and contribute to its continued success? When the numbers speak so emphatically, it’s only right that we feel gratified and want to relish the fruits of our economic achievements.

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

Photo: William H. “Bill” Freeman with President Joseph Biden Jr. at a Miami fundraiser on Jan. 30. Mr. Freeman is a longtime contributor and former finance chair for the Tennessee Democratic Party. Among the hosts of the Miami fundraiser was Coral Gables attorney Chris Korge, a longtime Democratic donor and the national finance chair of the Biden Victory Fund, the joint fundraising apparatus shared by the Biden campaign, the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic parties. Korge is also finance chair for the DNC.

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

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NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

NEWS: STREET VIEW

ADDRESSING THE NEED FOR PUBLIC EMERGENCY SHELTERS Next month, NewsChannel 5 will release an interactive list of real-time severe-weather shelters

PHOTO COURTESY OF NEWSCHANNEL 5

BY LENA MAZEL

HEATHER MATHIS COVERING THE 2023 TORNADO Street View is a monthly column taking a close look at development-related issues affecting different neighborhoods throughout the city.

HEATHER MATHIS MOVED to Nashville in 2017 to become a meteorologist for NewsChannel 5. Since then, she’s covered tornadoes, floods, heat waves and cold fronts.

During severe weather, viewers have often contacted her to ask about safe places to shelter.

Initially, there weren’t many options. “That led me to do years of stories about it, everything from building codes to the lack of storm shelters because of liability laws.”

Nashville has historically faced two main problems in terms of storm shelter availability.

First, organizations worried about liability when they opened their doors to the public — building insurance often wouldn’t cover sheltering people during severe weather.

Second, there wasn’t a good source of public information about available shelters when severe weather occurred.

To solve the liability issue, Mathis worked with state Rep. Jason Powell (D-Nashville) to pass HB1080. Passed in April of last year, the new law dictates that any organization that provides shelter during severe weather will no longer be liable for loss, damages, injury or death.

Now that HB1080 has passed, Mathis is working on making an easy-to-access list of available shelters. On March 3, NC5 will

release an interactive list of Safe Places on its website, which will show which buildings are open in real time. The Metro Council is also participating in the process, with a goal to add one shelter per district when the list goes live. During severe-weather events, NC5 will broadcast open shelters live on air.

Mathis says organizations like Hands On Nashville, Nashville VOAD (a coalition of organizations helping people respond to disasters), the Metro government and emergency management offices across Tennessee have reached out to take part in the program.

Nashville has a significant need for shelters during tornadoes, floods and extreme coldweather events. As recently reported by the Scene’s Eli Motycka, this year’s severe winter weather tested the city’s shelter network.

Motycka spoke with organizations providing shelter to people living outside, in cars or other temporary spots — a group of people who Metro’s Point-in-Time Count estimates increased 11 percent from 2022 to 2023. Amid freezing temperatures, Metro opened two overflow shelters in January, offering refuge to hundreds of Nashvillians.

Nashville’s rapid development has made the city vulnerable to flooding; global climate change is making severe-weather events more frequent than ever; and the city has an affordable housing crisis, pushing many people into substandard housing or housing insecurity.

These factors mean many people need easily accessible public emergency shelters.

Craig Croskery, a meteorologist whose doctoral research project findyourtornadoshelter.com maps public tornado shelters across the U.S., says programs like Safe Places are crucial for getting the word out about available shelters.

“Many people live in substandard housing or in mobile homes, and those cannot withstand any tornado safely, as we saw in December in Nashville,” Croskery says. “Private storm shelters have become popular, but many people can’t afford them — especially those already vulnerable. Ensuring people have a safe place and those are publicized can greatly help save lives during severe weather and especially during tornadoes.”

People experiencing homelessness are particularly at risk during severe weather. Lower-income people are also vulnerable, says Croskery, since “they often live in mobile homes or weaker structures that cannot withstand a significant tornado (or, in many cases, any tornado).”

“There are far more of [these structures] in more rural areas as well as in lower-income parts of cities like Nashville, and those likely have higher proportion of residents who are Black or Hispanic,” he says. Nationwide, the long-term effects of racist housing policy mean Black people have higher risks of experiencing negative effects from tornadoes and hurricanes.

For District 22 Councilmember Sheri Weiner,

the Safe Places program is an important step to save lives.

“When I think back to the floods in 2010 I remember our scrambling for locations for neighbors in affected areas to seek shelter as well as making sure their pets were able to go along or be cared for,” Weiner says. “I am reminded of this every time we have weather events that wreak havoc on homes and people’s lives.”

“What Heather has created will offer folks an opportunity to seek safe shelter closer than what is currently available,” she says. “The more spaces that become available, the more lives we will save.”

In December, the Metro Council honored Mathis for her work on the program. She tells the Scene that having shelters available will also make her job easier. “As meteorologists, our highest calling is to save lives and walk people through those scary moments,” Mathis says. “It’s really hard when people are in that vulnerable place to say, ‘We just don’t have those kind of shelters around.’ It really drove me to continue to focus on the shelters that we need here.”

Going forward, Mathis aims to get Safe Places lists to more counties across Tennessee. Eleven counties, including Davidson, have added shelters to the list so far, and Mathis hopes Safe Places could become a statewide program. “I just want this program to continue to grow and for us to have a very, very long list for people to be able to seek shelter if needed.” ▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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NEWS PITH IN THE WIND

REPUBLICANS ADVANCE EFFORT TO VACATE TSU BOARD

NASHVILLESCENE.COM/NEWS/PITHINTHEWIND

Board members ask lawmakers for more time to address issues and find a new president

PHOTO: HAMTILON MATTHEW MASTERS

BY KELSEY BEYELER

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

SEN. CHARLANE OLIVER

“IF I SOUND a little shaky this morning, it’s because this is heartfelt.”

Tennessee State University board of trustees vice chair Pam Martin was addressing a state Senate committee on Feb. 7. She asked the committee members to keep TSU’s board alive another year or two rather than vacating it, as a recently filed bill aims to do.

Last year, the historically Black university’s board of trustees was threatened with similar actions after a report from the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury highlighted communication, finance and student-housing issues at TSU. The report also suggested potential policy actions such as reconfiguring the board or handing it to the Tennessee Board of Regents, but the TSU board had a year to address those findings.

Now Republicans don’t seem interested in giving its members any more time. “[I] think we need a new board in place as soon as possible,” Sen. Jon Lundberg (R-Bristol) told the Scene ahead of the committee meeting.

Because the board is slated to sunset this year, its structure would cease to exist unless the General Assembly takes legislative action. Two bills seek to allow Gov. Bill Lee to appoint a new board this year, or if that doesn’t happen by June 30, allow the Tennessee Higher Education Commission to take it over if a board ceases to exist.

The governor already has the power to appoint members to state university boards. State Rep. Harold Love (D-Nashville) is a TSU alumnus and represents the district in which the university

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is located. Though Love wants to see the board continue in its current iteration, he tells the Scene he has faith in the governor if Lee were to appoint new board members, noting that a certain number of board members must be alumni.

During the Feb. 7 committee meeting, Martin acknowledged that “some things are not right, and we have been working very hard.” As she argued her case to extend the current board, she told lawmakers that its members’ institutional knowledge is important to maintain. Responding to accountability-related requests from the state, Martin said the board has worked with a consulting firm and requested reports on housing, scholarship, staffing and enrollment data from TSU management — all of which, she says, has resulted in “a change in personnel, policies and procedures.” According to Martin, TSU has also hired a facility management firm and established a customer service center. Martin says reconstituting the board would disrupt students, academics, faculty and donors — as well as the board’s search for a new president. TSU’s current president, Glenda Glover, will retire at the end of the school year.

Student trustee Shaun Wimberly Jr. testified alongside Martin. He reiterated that reconfiguring the board would negatively affect students. He told the Scene he’s experienced some of the issues described at TSU, but added that it hasn’t affected his academics, and that students in other colleges experience similar issues. He says the proposed changes add an air of uncertainty to student life.

“This is very hurtful,” Wimberly said during the committee meeting. “This is very destructive to not only the university but to the students.”

State Sen. Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville) represents the district home to TSU. She points to a long history of the school being underfunded by the state. Recently, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack sent a letter to Gov. Lee noting that school has been shorted more than $2.1 billion over the past 30 years alone, more than any other historically Black college or university across the country. A 2021 study led by Tennessee lawmakers found that the state has shorted TSU at least $544 million between 1956 and 2006. The state’s other land-grant school, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, hasn’t experienced underfunding like TSU — but the state did reduce UT’s board in 2018. In 2022, the state gave TSU $250 million to partially address the historic underfunding.

Last week, Oliver urged her colleagues to wait and see the results of a forensic audit requested by lawmakers last year before moving forward with the legislation.

“I won’t sit here and only see one side of the coin like my colleagues have done and ignore the effects that the chronic historical underfunding by the state has had on TSU,” Oliver said during the committee meeting. “I also won’t deny that there are legitimate reasons why members are frustrated with university leadership. Two facts can be true.” ▼

This year’s legislative session continues at the state Capitol. At a subcommittee meeting last week, members killed a bill that would allow abortion in cases of rape and incest, and in cases of a mental or physical medical emergency. Facing resistance from Republicans, Rep. Yusuf Hakeem (D-Chattanooga) said rape is a traumatic experience, and noted that it happens to minors too.

“The humane thing for us to do is not to force the person to carry that child,” he said. Meanwhile, Sen. Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville) is leading a charge to make child care more accessible and affordable for Tennessee families with a slate of bills she says work in tandem to mitigate what she calls a “hidden crisis.”

According to Metro Council watcher Nicole “@startleseasily” Williams, last week’s council meeting was a mess. From bickering over a proposed zoning reform bill to a freshman councilmember pushing back against a grant application for $85,000 to end road deaths, it was, in a word, a “shitshow.” Also in Metro news: Registered Metro lobbyists put $200,000 into local politics during 2023 according to disclosures filed with the city earlier this month. Donation patterns show major spending from a few prominent lobbyists, who scattered thousands of dollars across races for mayor, vice mayor and Metro Council, often backing multiple candidates vying for the same position.

Gov. Bill Lee recently traveled to the Texas border to rail against the feds. The day after his press conference, a Montgomery County man was arrested for plotting to travel to the Texas border and kill feds. He was the second Tennessee man to be arrested in conjunction with this plot. Writes contributor Betsy Phillips, Gov. Lee does not appear to be on the exact same road as white supremacist terrorists, but even if he’s traveling the scenic route and they’re speeding out on the interstate, aren’t they headed to the same place? “This situation with the Montgomery County man is a drop in the bucket of our extremist problem,” she writes, “and maybe we need to find ways to make things more uncomfortable for the people with power who have those same views.”

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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2/12/24 5:51 PM

STATE BUDGET RETURNS FOCUS TO VOUCHERS AND TAX-SLASHING Lee chooses corporations and private schools in this year’s pared-down budget book

BY ELI MOTYCKA TENNESSEE’S BUDGET IS $10 billion leaner this year, a consequence of flat growth and the end of big one-time spending projects. Hours before Gov. Bill Lee’s Feb. 5 State of the State address, Finance and Administration Commissioner Jim Bryson pitched the 545-page budget book to reporters in an underground carpeted conference room at the state Capitol.

“It’s a little bit tighter this year from a budget perspective,” Bryson told the room. “But we’re still in good shape, and we’re going to come through just fine. Because of the conservative and fiscally sound principles we’ve had over the last few years.”

One-time spending — like Lee’s headline Transportation Modernization Act, which passed last year — inflated the 2023 budget. This year includes two such frills: Lee’s Education Freedom Scholarship Act, which will cost an estimated $144 million, and the repeal of the state franchise tax, which will cost the state an estimated $410 million in annual revenue. The corporate gift comes at the expense of sales tax and grocery tax holidays, popular breaks on everyday spending that the state has cut in 2024.

Base spending, backed mostly by sales taxes, remains stable for Tennessee — this year’s cuts come from programs and operational costs.

With a few marginal exceptions, most departments retain last year’s staffing levels, while a few get small bumps.

The state budgeted for an expanded highway patrol, for example, and expanded ranks for Tennessee’s pugnacious Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti. A 10-position bump for Skrmetti this year reflects a new Strategic Litigation Unit, the AG’s small task force new in 2023 focused on impact litigation, specifically conservative challenges to the reach and power of the federal government. So far, the Scene has tracked down exactly one hire: attorney Whitney Hermandorfer, a darling of the Federalist Society whose résumé includes clerkships with Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh. The office as a whole got a $10 million payroll bump this year, Lee’s stamp of approval for Skrmetti’s work. Salaries in the AG’s office have skyrocketed 30 to 40 percent across the board since 2021.

Education and TennCare make up the biggest slices of state spending, followed by the state prison system, social programs, state environment and conservation efforts, transportation, capital spending and debt service. Budget season is also a cool reminder that Tennessee is a financial dependent of the White House. Federal dollars splash across nearly every page, vastly outweighing state contributions to popular and critical government services like health care,

EDUCATION AND TENNCARE MAKE UP THE BIGGEST SLICES OF STATE SPENDING, FOLLOWED BY THE STATE PRISON SYSTEM, SOCIAL PROGRAMS, STATE ENVIRONMENT AND CONSERVATION EFFORTS, TRANSPORTATION, CAPITAL SPENDING AND DEBT SERVICE. clean water and interstate highways. Federal money covered $19.7 billion of the state’s $52.6 billion bottom line this year.

Lee and Bryson made a specific point to highlight a $20 million appropriation to the state’s officially titled Rainy Day Fund. In theory, the cash stash hedges against “revenue fluctuations.” It’s risen from $1.2 billion in 2020 to just over $2 billion today thanks to yearly deposits of $250 million, $100 million, $250 million and $250 million — serious money from past years that make this year’s $20 million look like a pittance. That pittance, however insignificant, still got headline mentions from Bryson and Lee, casting the Rainy Day Fund more like a political instrument for performatively saving money.

Meanwhile, Lee spent down the state’s primary fund balance; $5 billion available to Lee on June 30 last year will be just $187 million when the fiscal year ends this summer.

The lean budget also means curtailing grantmaking and continued funding for programs supporting job training, agriculture, business development, broadband accessibility and rural economic development. Those programs featured heavily in Lee’s 2022 jobs-and-bridges reelection speech, but under a little bit of financial pressure, they lose out to vouchers and corporate tax cuts. Lee’s $410 million franchise tax carve-out allows businesses to claim refunds for taxes already paid, a cost that could shake down Tennessee for another $1.2 billion. As Lee’s voucher program evolves toward Education Freedom Scholarships — essentially publicly funded coupons for private school tuition — such handouts could become an increasing portion of budgets in years to come. Six months after losing his voucher point person Penny Schwinn to Florida, Lee has a new headache in replacement Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds and a still-rocky rollout for education savings accounts.

A new and expensive effort to revamp vouchers shows that, with two years left in office, Lee won’t let them go. ▼ NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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How neighborhood associations shape Nashville’s development

By Nicole Williams

One by one, a group of people in matching shirts emblazoned with “Save Neelys Bend” lined up to speak at an unusually lively meeting of the Metro Nashville Planning Commission.

These sluggish meetings are often more procedural than entertaining, but this mid-June day in 2022 was an exception.

Staff at Nashville’s planning department recommended approval of a new subdivision in Neely’s Bend. Despite hyperlocal opposition, the project passed all zoning requirements and would add 29 more homes in a city facing a housing affordability crisis.

But to the Planning Commission, the calls from the Neely’s Bend Neighborhood Association to save the “rural heritage and character” of the neighborhood won out, and the new subdivision was denied.

Opposition to development is woven into the fabric of neighborhood associations, many of which form as a way to combat development proposals that neighbors find objectionable. Using words like “protect,” “preserve” and “save,” neighborhood associations often create a sense of urgency in their pleas to policymakers, evoking a feeling of being under attack by nefarious forces.

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

PART I: HISTORY REPEATING

INSPIRITUS SITE IN SALEMTOWN As Nashville becomes increasingly unaffordable, building housing — especially affordable housing — increases in priority. Development proposals that attempt to ease the strain on Nashville’s housing supply still frequently face staunch opposition from neighborhood advocates.

Two years ago, the Salemtown Neighbors Neighborhood Association lodged objections to a proposed 95-unit affordable housing development for seniors and those with disabilities who earn less than 60 percent of the area median income. For a single individual in the Nashville area, that translates to a maximum allowed income of around $42,000 per year.

To help offset the costs of development, In-

spiritus — the nonprofit organization that owns the land — secured a $2.5 million grant from the Barnes Housing Trust Fund, a city-funded initiative that provides competitive funding for nonprofit affordable housing developers.

Despite several community meetings with Inspiritus and support from the district’s then-Councilmember Freddie O’Connell — now Nashville’s mayor — the Salemtown Neighbors still felt uncomfortable with the proposal. In a letter to O’Connell, they stated that Inspiritus was unable to address their primary concerns: density and height.

They argued that the development would dwarf other nearby buildings and exacerbate traffic concerns. In a separate letter sent to

Inspiritus, Salemtown Neighbors asked, “How does a Barnes project impact the nearby homeowners / business owners property value?”

O’Connell deferred the legislation on the council floor twice as he attempted to work out a compromise between the neighborhood association and Inspiritus. When the dust settled, the proposal had been limited to five stories in height — down from the original six — and would be required to “complement the look and feel of the surrounding neighborhood.”

The amended proposal also required specific notice to the neighborhood association and a community meeting prior to final plan approval.

The reduction in allowed height took the

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

HISTORIC EDGEFIELD proposal down from 95 units to 80. Nashville needs to produce more than 40,000 new rental units for people earning less than 60 percent of the AMI by 2030 to meet current demand and account for future growth, according to a 2021 Affordable Housing Task Force report.

NO-GO ZONES Opposition from neighborhood associations has turned some areas of Nashville into “no-go zones,” effectively quashing development in those neighborhoods before proposals ever materialize.

Neighborhood leaders can become “gatekeepers,” says former East Nashville Councilmember Brett Withers. One neighborhood association in particular, Historic Edgefield Neighbors, was among the biggest offenders during Withers’ two terms in office.

“They got really bogged down by that desire to not just be a gatekeeper for stuff in their neighborhood, but for everything generally,” Withers says.

Over time, Withers recalls, Historic Edgefield’s opposition to development proposals crept beyond the boundaries of their own neighborhood.

“If you sort of come to this bargain that their neighborhood boundaries are a no-go zone, that may be one thing,” Withers says. “But when they also simultaneously want to stop everything else, everywhere else? That becomes untenable.”

Former district Councilmember Russ Pulley had a no-go zone of his own: Green Hills, where a neighborhood association formed in 2013 to fight the Vertis Green Hills luxury apartment development and oppose future high-density residential proposals.

“Vertis eventually won,” recalls Pulley, “but it cost them a bunch of time and money in a lawsuit.”

When Pulley embarked on the process of updating the Green Hills Urban Design Overlay,

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he brought the neighborhood association to the table. The current Green Hills UDO is optional — developers can choose to abide by the design standards outlined in the document, but they’re not required to. Pulley hoped to establish mandatory standards in response to complaints from neighbors who were frustrated with developers opting out of the voluntary standards.

After about a year-and-a-half of meetings, negotiations stalled.

“It ended up breaking down because the neighborhood association opposed it,” Pulley says. “I needed their support, and I couldn’t get it.”

REPRESENTATION FOR WHOM? A recent study by researchers at the University of Winnipeg in Canada found that members of neighborhood associations in Toronto and Vancouver are not representative of the broader population. Neighborhood association members “are more likely to be white, older and have higher education than the average voter.” An investigation by the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center identified a similar trend in New Orleans, where neighborhood association boards skew whiter and more affluent than the neighborhoods they purport to represent.

Jason Holleman, a former district councilmember, has made a name for himself as the “neighborhood lawyer” since leaving the Metro Council. He represented the Neely’s Bend Neighborhood Association in their fight against that 29-home development.

I mention barriers to participation in neighborhood associations — like weeknight meetings that might interfere with people’s work schedules or require them to shell out money for child care. Holleman brushes that off.

“I think you have a responsibility to add your voice,” he says. “And that’s not to say your voice doesn’t matter,” Holleman clarifies, “but a reality in any government decision is that the people who come are the people who are heard

the most.”

Withers warns, however, that the process of engaging with a neighborhood association can be so taxing that residents who don’t agree with neighborhood leaders end up opting out of the process entirely.

“Sometimes folks that have a particular viewpoint advocate it so strongly, and with such exclusion, and use such personal attacks against anyone who disagrees with them, and they will not ever let it go,” says Withers.

“How likely are you to ever come back to a community meeting if you were yelled at by your neighbors?” Withers asks. This can create a sort of self-selection bias, where the only people left in the room have the same opinion. “And then they look around the room, and they’re like, ‘Well, no one supports this.’”

On the night Salemtown Neighbors voted to oppose the Inspiritus affordable housing project, only 25 people showed up on behalf of a neighborhood of 1,500.

Inspiritus’ team had collected letters of support from 40 residents of nearby Cheatham Place, Nashville’s oldest public housing project.

Most of the residents there are Black. Several Cheatham Place residents, many of whom have lived in the neighborhood for decades, also spoke at public hearings in favor of the proposal.

The Salemtown Neighbors board, meanwhile, is white. On average, they’ve lived in Salemtown for fewer than four years. The board member with the longest residency in Salemtown moved there in 2016.

PART II: GOING ROGUE Earnest Morgan had an eyesore in his front yard: a defunct light pole.

After multiple failed attempts to convince the city to remove the obstruction, Morgan decided to engage in a bit of civil disobedience, turning the pole into an art installation.

Morgan and his husband purchased directional signage. Families brought their children

to write their favorite cities on the signs, and Morgan installed it.

“I have a husband that’s very particular,” Morgan says with a wry smile. “We had put the signs on the pole, but they had to be directionally correct.”

Within a matter of weeks, Morgan says, the city had removed the pole. He convinced them to let him keep the signs.

He might not have succeeded in keeping his art up, but he did gain the attention of South Nashville Action People, the neighborhood association he’d been trying to contact since moving to the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood.

Shortly after receiving a call asking if he’d have any interest in joining SNAP’s board, Morgan was voted in. He wasn’t present for the vote.

“I got a phone call,” Morgan says, “inviting me to the next meeting and saying that I had been voted in as a board member. I never did get a clear understanding of who actually voted.”

Soon Morgan began to develop concerns about the way SNAP operates, particularly as it relates to the organization’s status as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization — the designation most neighborhood associations use to maintain tax exemption.

Legal requirements for nonprofit organizations include recordkeeping and up-to-date financial statements. “I was on the board for a year,” says Morgan. “I never saw a financial record, at all, in a year. And the more I asked for it, I got pushback. I have no idea if they have a dollar in the bank or a million dollars in the bank. No clue.”

Morgan was also troubled by the way he says the board moves the goalposts for developers.

SNAP has a detailed development rubric that allows the board to score developers’ proposals based on how well they meet neighborhood priorities like housing diversity, sustainability and support for artists and creatives. The SNAP website says members will use the score “to determine if neighborhood support is present.”

Morgan recalls one instance in which a developer met every requirement in the rubric, but the board opted not to support the proposal.

“It’s just like, Oh my gosh, not only did you set the bar, you moved the bar. And then you still said no!”

SNAP board president Shay Sapp says the rubric isn’t intended to be determinative.

“It’s a great framework,” he says, “but it’s not exactly as rigid as it might look.” Sapp says SNAP takes the score into account, but also reaches out to neighbors who live near the proposed development. “And then we take that, along with specific neighbor input that we received through meetings and individual outreach … and present that as a resource to the elected official.”

Morgan kept quiet publicly while he worked behind the scenes to professionalize the organization. He says he reached his breaking point in January 2023, when Sapp penned a letter opposing the proposed redevelopment of The Fairgrounds Nashville Speedway. The proposal would have brought NASCAR back to Nashville.

The existing speedway would have been almost

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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WITNESS HISTORY This double-neck Mosrite electric guitar became Joe Maphis’s trademark on the popular country music TV show Town Hall Party. The “King of the Strings” was also an in-demand studio picker for West Coast sessions, and his twangy guitar sound influenced the surf music of the 1960s.

From the exhibit Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock, presented by City National Bank artifact photo: Bob Delevante

RESERVE TODAY

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

EARNEST MORGAN entirely demolished and rebuilt.

Without prior notice, Sapp presented the letter to the board and asked for their sign-off.

“This letter and our opposition to the proposed agreement,” the letter begins, “is endorsed by the boards of neighborhood associations for three neighborhoods in immediate proximity to the Nashville Fairgrounds.”

Morgan says the board never actually voted to approve the letter.

Sapp says concerns around the letter are a misunderstanding of history. The opposition to the speedway proposal was a matter of consistency, he says. “We were actually cleaning up the community center for our renovation, and we had board members finding speedway opposition signs from, like, the 1970s,” he recalls. “I mean, this is not a new thing to this board or the one before us.”

“Love SNAP or hate SNAP, we just try to be as consistent as possible,” Sapp says. “We understand the impact that this has and has had for decades on our community.” Sapp, who moved to Wedgewood-Houston in 2019, says new people in the community might not understand “the full picture” of the speedway’s impact on the neighborhood.

Once Sapp published the letter, Morgan took to social media to inject facts into a heated, emotional debate. When he saw posts from SNAP board members decrying the proposal, he would comment on the possible benefits in an effort to keep the conversation balanced.

Morgan believes his refusal to toe the party line is what led to his ouster from the board.

The day before a scheduled board meeting — the first one Morgan would have to miss since joining the board, due to work-related travel — Sapp called him. He gave Morgan the option to resign or face a vote to remove him from the board. Morgan didn’t resign. The next day, he was removed.

CHECKS AND BALANCES The function of neighborhood associations has changed over the years. Before the days of Facebook groups and Twitter beefs, neighborhood associations served a critical information-dissemination role.

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“I think a district councilperson’s ability to directly communicate with a wider spectrum of their districts has improved due to the evolution of social media,” Holleman notes.

When development proposals came before Holleman during his time on the council, he often enlisted the help of the neighborhood associations in his district to spread the word.

“In Richland, truly, Perry Williams — he was like 80 years old — he’d get on his bicycle and hand out a flyer to everybody.” That kind of personal touch isn’t needed as much now.

Councilmembers still use neighborhood associations as a way to gauge general public sentiment for development proposals in their district.

Earning only a part-time salary for their work on the council, most councilmembers work fulltime jobs to make ends meet. With no dedicated staff, members are stretched thin, particularly in areas where development is nearly constant.

“I can’t have 10 meetings with 100 people,” says Holleman, “but if you guys will self-select a committee of four or five, then we can sit down with the developer.” Holleman trusted that the neighborhood associations in his district reflected the views of a larger constituency.

Asked about the possibility that neighborhood leaders might go rogue, Holleman says the district councilmember should have enough of a finger on the pulse of their neighborhoods to be able to suss out the credible from the fringe.

“There are going to be flaws and criticisms with any organization out there,” Holleman concedes. “But I think that, on the whole, neighborhood organizations help to organize that perspective in a way that otherwise wouldn’t exist.” Developers can afford to hire fancy lawyers and build a sophisticated PR apparatus. Neighborhood associations offer a way for neighbors to present a united front. If developers are organized, neighbors should be too.

Whatever power neighborhood associations might exert, Holleman says, is outweighed by the influence of developers. Developers don’t buy votes, Holleman clarifies, but they have the resources to participate in a more detailed and sophisticated way than neighborhood organizations do.

“We’re not that far removed from a time

Asked about the possibility that neighborhood leaders might go rogue, Jason Holleman says the district councilmember should have enough of a finger on the pulse of their neighborhoods to be able to suss out the credible from the fringe. when neighbors were disregarded,” Holleman points out. “And a lot of when they were disregarded was when the government was set up.”

Holleman says that disregard for neighborhood sentiment built in a “systemic pro-development” bias, which carries through to this day in a system that, for the most part, “is still oriented toward developers.”

With the potential for the Metro Council to be cut in half — going from 40 members to 20, thanks to legislation passed by state lawmakers last year, which Metro continues to fight in court — Withers thinks the impact of neighborhood associations will likely be diminished. More constituents means more neighborhood groups. “There are only so many days,” Withers says, “and if the number of councilmembers is reduced, I don’t think it will be feasible for a councilmember to meet with them on a regular basis.”

THE ROAD AHEAD While neighborhood associations across the county turn their focus toward a series of countywide zoning reforms, first-term Councilmember Rollin Horton is quietly proposing a major change in his own West Nashville neighborhood, the Nations.

At a Nations Neighborhood Association Planning and Zoning Committee meeting last week, Horton addressed a small group of residents. In a stuffy back room of neighborhood bar The Centennial, he laid out his proposal: a mass upzoning that would encompass nearly the entire neighborhood, paving the way for additional residential density and mixed-use developments.

The majority of residential lots in the neighborhood are currently zoned to allow single- or two-family dwellings. Under Horton’s proposal, those lots would allow multifamily structures; depending on the size of the lot, this might mean a triplex or quadplex.

What would normally be a friendly crowd — the Nations Neighborhood Association has generally welcomed development to the upand-coming neighborhood — was taken aback by the breadth of Horton’s proposal.

NashvilleNext, Nashville’s land use plan, charts a course for future development

throughout Davidson County. It recognizes that certain areas of the county should be preserved, and it suggests concentrating denser development near the urban core of the city. Nearly a decade after its passage, many neighborhoods still haven’t upzoned to align with those plans.

Developing NashvilleNext was an intensive, yearslong process with significant community input. Even so, some neighborhoods continue to reject rezoning requests that allow for additional density, even if they meet NashvilleNext’s guidelines. Upon hearing Horton’s proposal, some residents bristled. It’s too much all at once, they argued. What if things get “out of hand”?

The land use plan for the Nations supports Horton’s proposal. He’s just the first councilmember to try to implement it. There’s precedent for mass downzonings of various neighborhoods — areas of the county that, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, were restricted to single-family zoning after decades of allowing duplexes. There’s no precedent for Horton’s plan to do the opposite.

There are about 1,000 underdeveloped lots in the Nations. Most are single-family structures on land zoned for two-family dwellings, holdouts from a time before tall-and-skinnies infiltrated the neighborhood. If Horton is successful, those lots will eventually be redeveloped to allow for the type of gentle density he hopes will help lower housing prices. Over time, this could make the neighborhood more accessible for people who currently don’t earn enough to put down roots in the Nations, where a typical home sells for upward of $600,000.

Later this month, Horton will ask the full neighborhood association for a vote to support his proposal. He’ll spend the next few weeks strengthening his pitch. If the Planning Commission rejects the proposal, he’ll go back to the drawing board.

But it won’t be an easy sell to some of his constituents. Horton, typically mild-mannered and steady, was clearly shaken by the opposition.

One skeptical resident asked if Horton had run his idea past “the powers that be.”

“I am the powers that be,” Horton replied tersely. “I’m the district councilmember, and I’m doing this.” ▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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MARCH 1 & 2

RANDY ROGERS BAND

WITH WADE BOWEN (3/1), STONEY LARUE AND

CODY CANADA & THE DEPARTED (3/2) APRIL 29

JOHNNYSWIM

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM MAY 5

GIRL IN RED

WITH MOMMA ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM MAY 13

CITY AND COLOUR ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM AUGUST 11

CELEBRATING THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THAT SOUNDS FUN WITH ANNIE F. DOWNS ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM AUGUST 18

JOE BONAMASSA ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM AUGUST 22

HAPPY TOGETHER WITH THE TURTLES, JAY & THE AMERICANS, THE ASSOCIATION,

BADFINGER, THE VOGUES AND THE COWSILLS

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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2023/24 SEASON

NASHVILLE SYMPHONY COME HEAR EXTRAORDINARY FEB 22 TO 24 | 7:30 PM

FEB 25 | 7:30 PM

MAR 1 | 7:30 PM

Nashville Symphony Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor Jennifer Koh, violin

Presented without the Nashville Symphony.

THE DUKE ELLINGTON ELGAR’S ENIGMA LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO ORCHESTRA Presented without the Nashville Symphony.

COMING SOON TO THE SCHERMERHORN MAR 7 TO 9 | 7:30 PM Classical Series

MAR 14 | 7:30 PM Special Event

WEST SIDE STORY AND HARLEM with the Nashville Symphony

THE IRISH TENORS with the Nashville Symphony

MAR 10 | 7:30 PM Presentation

MAR 16 | 2 PM & 7:30 PM MAR 17 | 7:30 PM Amazon Movie Series

AIR SUPPLY

Presented without the Nashville Symphony.

THANK YOU TO OUR CONCERT PARTNERS

MAR 21 TO 23 | 7:30 PM FirstBank Pops Series

APR 12 & 13 | 7:30 PM APR 14 | 2 PM Classical Series

MUSIC OF ELVIS WITH FRANKIE MORENO and the Nashville Symphony

DAWSON, PRICE, AND GERSHWIN’S AMERICA with the Nashville Symphony

APR 5 & 6 | 7:30 PM Classical Series

ENCANTO IN CONCERT with the Nashville Symphony

APR 26 & 27 | 7:30 PM APR 28 | 2 PM Amazon Movie Series

BEETHOVEN AND SHOSTAKOVICH with the Nashville Symphony

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS™: PART 2 IN CONCERT with the Nashville Symphony

The Ann & Monroe Carell Family Trust MOVIE SERIES PARTNER

FAMILY SERIES PARTNER

POPS SERIES PARTNER

BUY TICKETS: 615.687.6400

music director 16 Giancarlo NASHVILLEGuerrero, SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

NashvilleSymphony.org/Tickets

MUSIC LEGENDS PARTNER

WITH SUPPORT FROM

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

LEGOS

THURSDAY / 2.15 [CHARACTER BUILDING]

NASHVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY LEGO CONTEST

BOOKS

“UNTITLED,” TOMIOKA TESSAI (JAPANESE, 1836-1924); 19TH-20TH CENTURY; CALLIGRAPHY IN PRINTED POCKET FOLDER ON JAPANESE PAPER; GIFT OF DR. THOMAS B. BRUMBAUGH. VANDERBILT ART GALLERY; 1988.030

When I was a fourth-grader in North Carolina, I had to build a model of one of the state’s famous lighthouses for an art project. My classmates pondered over what to use, but for me, there was an obvious choice: Lego bricks.

I imagined the perfect finished product in my mind. I meticulously sorted out the bricks I’d use, deciding a shield from a Bionicle action figure would be a perfect topper. When I ran out of the bricks I’d planned on using, or realized my original plan just wouldn’t work, I improvised, making tiny changes that ended up giving the final product its own character.

That last bit is my favorite thing about Legos: When you’re forced to build within restraints, you end up being more creative than ever. The Nashville Public Library is helping people build that skill with their annual Lego Contest. For the past month, entrants across various age groups have submitted models, and the best of the best will be on display at the library’s main branch this weekend. You can stop by and see them for yourself, vote for your favorites online, then check out the awards ceremony on Feb. 18. My partner and I spent enough time at last year’s display to know that my boxy old lighthouse wouldn’t have won against our city’s slate of talented young builders, but you can bet I’ll be there this weekend for a fresh burst of inspiration. (Also: NPL, how can I become a judge for next year’s contest?) COLE VILLENA FEB. 15-18 AT THE NASHVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY 615 CHURCH ST.

ART

THURSDAY, FEB. 15 [DO THE WRITE THING]

CALLIGRAPHY IN EAST ASIA SYMPOSIUM

Lettering is an art form. From typeface design to painted signs to hand-style vandalism in the bathroom of your favorite bar, there is an aesthetic to the words and characters we use to communicate. But the fluid visual beauty of words is sometimes lost on us, and becomes seemingly mundane because we see them constantly. The Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery will offer participants the opportunity to learn more about one of the most beautiful forms of writing, the calligraphy of East Asia, with a three-part event celebrating the fluid craft. The afternoon begins at 1 p.m. with keynote speaker Yusuke Kusatsu guiding visitors through the craft of calligraphy at the Vanderbilt Central Library. There will be a demonstration by Kusatsu afterward at the Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery, followed by a late-afternoon reception at Cohen Memorial Hall. The event is free to the public; due to limited space, it is highly recommended that interested parties pre-register online with Vanderbilt Arts. P.J. KINZER 1 P.M. AT THE VANDERBILT CENTRAL LIBRARY 419 21ST AVE. S.

INEBRIATED SHAKESPEARE: CLOSER PAGE 18

EVE MARET W/FULL MOOD & PRESSURE HEAVEN PAGE 20

CONVERSATIONS AT OZ PAGE 22

[GETTING THE BANNED BACK TOGETHER]

BANNED BOOK HAPPY HOUR

I admire people who have the ability to take something bad, recontextualize it and make something beautiful out of it. You know who’s good at that? Poets. And you know who one of Nashville’s greatest poets is? Ciona Rouse. Ciona and her friend Aria Cavaliere decided to read more banned books, and being the communityminded people they are, they thought it might be more fun to do it with other people, at a bar.

Voila, Banned Book Happy Hour was born. If, like Ciona, you are on a mission to read more banned books, this is the club for you. They meet once a month to drink, talk about the book, read excerpts and decide which banned book to read next. The January date was canceled due to weather, so this month they are discussing both The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and Melissa by Alex Gino. To RSVP, please DM Ciona

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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MUSIC

FRIDAY / 2.16 [GOING OUT OF NASHVILLE]

FINALLY FRIDAY FEAT. ERIC BRACE & THOMM JUTZ

Nashville singer-songwriter Eric Brace has released 11 albums since 2008, and his collaborations with artists like composer Karl Straub and journalist and songwriter Peter Cooper, who died in 2022, help define the appeal of post-Tom T. Hall folk-pop-country as it’s practiced in Music City. Like, say, fellow Nashville singer-songwriter Jon Byrd, whose 2017 co-write with Cooper, “If Texas Is So Great,” rewires the venerable novelty-tune aesthetic, Brace favors a narrative approach that harks back to the wistful pop country of the 1970s.

Brace’s new album Simple Motion pairs him with another longtime collaborator, Germanborn songwriter and guitarist Thomm Jutz. The title track rolls along in classic progressive-folk fashion, while Cooper and Jutz’s “Can’t Change the Weather” sounds like it might be about missing a gig because your plane can’t take off out of Nashville. Meanwhile, Jutz and Trey Hensley’s “Nashville in the Morning” finds Brace and Jutz singing about how there’s “so much

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AMELIA BRIGGS, SCHEIBE DESIGN, JENNIFER CRESCUILLO, CHRIS RUCKER - RUCKERCORP, SKILSET, WENTRCEK ZEBULON, JOSH ELROD FOR WILDER

[TO NEW BEGINNINGS]

INEBRIATED SHAKESPEARE: CLOSER

[DESIGN WITHIN REACH, REALLY]

MATERIAL

Here’s something you don’t see every day — a groundbreaking exhibition of artwork made from materials you’ve never heard of.

Bananatex, for example, is a textile completely derived from banana plants grown in the Philippines. Closer to home but still just as undiscovered is HempWood, a composite material made from Kentucky-grown hemp that looks like particle board from the future.

Material is a thoughtful curation and raises questions about how such design elements may be grown instead of fabricated. Plus, it looks cool as hell. The exhibition, which is on view at the new Wilder space in East Nashville, includes work from 23 artists, including local favorites like Kit Reuther, Electra Eggleston and Benjy Russell. Other highlights include retro-futuristic cassette players cast in glass from Jennifer Crescuillo and a quilt-like panel from Morgan Blair that’s made from shredded paper pulp — the shredded bits are her health insurance bills.

LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

OPENING RECEPTION 6-9 P.M. AT WILDER 937 WOODLAND ST.

MATERIAL [IT TAKES TWO]

MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3D AT FULL MOON CINEPLEX & MY BLOODY VALENTINE AT THE BELCOURT For all you slasher-loving lovebirds who are looking for a date-night movie during this “time of the Valen,” as Big Mouth’s Connie the Hormone Monstress would say, an old horror favorite and its remake will have rep-theater showings this weekend. On Friday, Full Moon Cineplex will screen 2009’s initially-shownin-3D retelling of My Bloody Valentine, while the Belcourt will have a Midnight Movie showing of the 1981 original on Saturday night. (The latter is also part of the Belcourt’s Swoon: A Love Series.) Dracula director Patrick Lussier’s raunchy redo follows the Canadian-made chiller’s plot — a mining town gets terrorized by a masked, vengeful, pickax-wielding miner on Valentine’s Day — but truly amps up the horniness. Yeah, the first one has young lovers getting snuffed out, but they get offed way before coitus commences. Considering that the remake’s most memorable scene features a butt-baldnekkid girl running away from the miner after a rowdy motel rendezvous with another dude, the original seems puritanical in comparison.

CRAIG D. LINDSEY

7 P.M. FRIDAY AT FULL MOON CINEPLEX (3455 LEBANON PIKE) MIDNIGHT SATURDAY AT THE BELCOURT (2102 BELCOURT AVE.) [YOU’RE A BIRD]

SWOON: A LOVE SERIES: THE NOTEBOOK

On a recent visit to my friend’s childhood home, I realized I was standing in the room where I first watched The Notebook at 10 years old. It’s all vibrant in my mind: the skinny-dipping scene, the playing-the-piano-and-losing-thevirginity scene, the lying-on-the-pavementand-watching-the-stoplight-change scene, the kissing-in-the-rain scene, the final scene that I will not spoil for those lucky enough to experience it for the first time. It’s “I wrote you 365 letters. I wrote you every day for a year. … It wasn’t over, it still isn’t over!” and “Yes, Daddy.

I love him!” The 2004 treasure is playing on the

big screen as part of the Belcourt’s absolutely stacked Swoon series, and it is perfectly swoonworthy. Rachel McAdams is just radiant, and this is my Ryan Gosling. It’s a gorgeous film with flashbacks and killer costuming, and it’s cheesy but so effective. I can’t wait to watch it with a crowd of peers the way I did at that sleepover so many years ago. HANNAH HERNER MIDNIGHT AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.

SATURDAY / 2.17 BENEFIT

For nearly a decade, Inebriated Shakespeare has kept audiences in Nashville (and more recently, San Antonio) rolling, with its unbridled style of “soliloquy under the influence.” Now this lively crew has expanded its mission, launching IS Productions to offer more traditional plays — without the aid of all those adult beverages. For its inaugural production, the company has selected Patrick Marber’s edgy drama Closer. Exploring dark themes of love, desire and betrayal, Closer follows four strangers who exchange partners and all manner of cruelty. After first premiering in London in 1997, Closer was later adapted by Marber for the 2004 film version starring Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen. IS Productions has recruited Kurt Jarvis to direct this staging, and he has assembled a terrific cast including Britt Byrd, Ross Canales, Jeremy James Carmichael and Angela Gimlin. AMY STUMPFL FEB. 16-17 AND 23-24 AT THIRD COAST COMEDY CLUB 1310 CLINTON ST.

FILM

At the end of the ’90s, the New Orleans sound of Cash Money and No Limit Records ruled the rap charts, with hits from Master P, B.G., Mystikal and Hot Boys. The Delta hip-hop sound was just the next link of the city’s musical culture chain that included early jazz, brassband funeral marches, the R&B of The Neville Brothers and the funk of The Meters. Nobody had more star power on the Cash Money roster than Juvenile, who went multiplatinum with his 400 Degreez on the sheer power of inescapable summer smash “Back That Azz Up,” featuring Juve’s fellow Hot Boy Lil Wayne and in-house producer Mannie Fresh. The trio quickly became superstars who continued to make celebrated music for decades. But eventually the spotlight moved on to the next trend in rap. In the summer of 2023, Juve made an internet splash on — of all places — NPR’s Tiny Desk series, appearing with a live band that featured Trombone Shorty and Jon Batiste. The viral 30-minute set was a fresh take on the hits Mannie and Juve had made together over the years, highlighting their hometown’s musical heritage as a part of their sound and reminding fans just what made that Cash Money sound so special. Now Juvenile is capitalizing on the project’s success by taking it to the stage for two nights in front of an audience with his Tiny Desk Band. P.J. KINZER FEB. 15-16, 8 P.M. AT BROOKLYN BOWL 925 THIRD AVE. N.

FILM

JUVENILE WITH THE TINY DESK BAND

THEATER

[FIRE ON THE BAYOU]

lost in the town that twang was born in,” and the song ends up being another Nashville tune about how writing a song can make you happy in a town that’s under constant reconstruction.

The textures and the playing — Justin Moses shines on dobro — make Simple Motion a 48-minute folkie apotheosis, including a Kinksesque excursion into music-hall whimsy titled “When London Was the World.” Brace and Jutz will headline Finally Friday — WMOT’s weekly live radio show at 3rd and Lindsley. Americana duo The FBR and neo-R&B band HeavyDrunk open. EDD HURT NOON AT 3RD AND LINDSLEY 818 THIRD AVE. S.

ART

MUSIC

on Instagram at @cionar. And when the book club is over, stick around for Music Trivia Night, hosted by WNXP. KIM BALDWIN 6 P.M. AT THE BLUE ROOM AT THIRD MAN RECORDS 623 SEVENTH AVE. S.

[WHO LET THE DOGS … IN?]

UNLEASHED: DINNER WITH YOUR DOG

In January, longtime local nonprofit Nashville Humane Association took in an unprecedented number of homeless puppies — well over 100. “This doesn’t include the other hundreds of dogs and cats that have come into our care older than that,” NHA staff shared on social media. “Or the hundreds of animals that owners and partner shelters are asking us to help.” Nashville Humane does important, difficult work in caring for the city’s unfortunate furry pals, and they could always use support in that mission. That’s where Unleashed: Dinner With Your Dog comes in. The 15th annual gala, taking place this weekend at Loews Vanderbilt Hotel, will feature a cocktail hour, dinner, a runway show and a silent auction. Making the event particularly special: Attendees are encouraged to bring their pets along. Treats will be available for your four-legged friends, and attendants will be on hand to escort pups out for potty breaks when necessary. What’s more, the dogs joining local celebrities in this year’s runway show are all available for adoption. This year’s co-hosts are Jars of Clay guitarist Stephen “Soccer Moses” Mason and his wife, radio producer Jude Mason. Visit nashvillehumane.org to find more details, purchase tickets or make a donation. D. PATRICK RODGERS 6 P.M. AT LOEWS VANDERBILT HOTEL 2100 WEST END AVE.

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

criticspicks_2-15-24.indd 18

2/12/24 2:53 PM

A N A L O G AT

HUTTON

HOTEL

PRESENTS

JAMES OTTO’S

COUNTRY SOUL SESSIONS

JOHN MAILANDER’S FORECAST WITH LIV GREEN

20

TINSLEY ELLIS

15 EVERETTE 18 ANALOG SOUL 19 SOUL VIBES 25 ANALOG SOUL 27 JASON CARTER BAND 03 ANALOG SOUL FEB

WHAT IT IS

DIANA ROSS: THE SOLO HITS

COMING SOON 2/21 WMOT Wired In:

Corb Lund w/Emily Nenni

3/21 Ladycouch

3/29 Sam Grisman 4/16 The Way Down Wanderers

FEB

FEB

A TRIBUTE TO ARETHA FRANKLIN

MAR

MARCH 23

BREAD & BUTTER JAM

FEB

FEB

WITH SHANNON McNALLY

DOORS: 6 PM SHOW: 7 PM GA: $20

A CELEBRATION OF MAKING NOISE

06 10 12 13 17 19 24

UPCOMING SHOWS AT THE MUSEUM’S CMA THEATER FEBRUARY 25

MARCH 5

CAT POWER

GEOFF TATE & ADRIAN VANDENBERG

CAT POWER SINGS DYLAN: THE 1966 ROYAL ALBERT HALL CONCERT

APRIL 18

MAR MAR MAR MAR MAR MAR MAR

MARCH 6

FEB

He will be performing songs from his highly-anticipated upcoming album Self Made Fool along with his hits and songs he’s written for other artists. Get ready to experience Otto’s signature brand of country soul like never before.

You won’t want to miss this unforgettable night with James Otto and his band.

MARCH 2

THE RUMBLE ANALOG SOUL YAYENNINGS & SUPER FELON

SOUTHERN ROUNDS

ANALOG SOUL JAMES OTTO COUNTRY SOUL SESSIONS

ANALOG SOUL

UPCOMING

MAY 2

DIXIE DREGS

MATTEO BOCELLI

WITH SPECIAL GUEST STEVE MORSE BAND

A NIGHT WITH MATTEO

MAY 3

ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO

MAR

09

DOORS: 6 PM SHOW: 7 PM GA: $20

09

MAY

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

DOORS: 6 PM SHOW: 7 PM GA: $15

BOOKED BY @NATIONALSHOWS2 • NATIONALSHOWS2.COM

The CMA Theater is a property of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

224 REP. JOHN LEWIS WAY S • NASHVILLE, TN CMATHEATER.COM • @CMATHEATER

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

TN

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

19

MUSIC

Word of advice, Nashville newcomers (and come on, you know exactly who you are): Cancel your weekend plans and go see Moon Taxi.

Catching this indie-rock staple on the band’s home turf feels like a rite of passage for local concertgoers. The long-running Music City group — founded by singer-guitarist Trevor Terndrup and friends while attending Belmont in the mid-Aughts — writes the latest chapter in its hometown story Saturday with a one-night headlining gig at Germantown’s Brooklyn Bowl.

The show comes in support of the summer 2023 release Set Yourself Free, the band’s sixth studio album. As the title suggests, Terndrup & Co. push the sonic scope of Moon Taxi on Set Yourself Free, tapping into inspiration that ranges from synth-and-guitar indie grooves (on the album’s title track) to ’80s-inspired pop hooks (on “Heart of Gold”) and dashes of bluegrass (on must-hear Molly Tuttle collaboration “Evergreen”). The Hip Abduction opens the show. MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER 8 P.M. AT BROOKLYN BOWL 925 THIRD AVE. N. [MY OWN KIND OF NOISE]

EVE MARET W/FULL MOOD & PRESSURE HEAVEN

“Electronic music” incorporates a huge spectrum of sounds and traditions, and we’re fortunate to have a wealth of musicians in Nashville who have fascinating ideas about how to use them. Saturday, you’ve got a chance to see three of these artists, all of whom take different approaches, and all of whom are either women who perform solo or bands fronted by women. Last year, Eve Maret released her latest solo LP New Noise and the self-titled album from Eardrummer, her collaboration

ART [HANDLE WITH CARE]

LILLY HIATT W/EVAN P. DONOHUE

If the current era of Nashville rock someday yields a Traveling Wilburys-style supergroup, this bill would be a fine place to start assembling the roster. Last year, Lilly Hiatt teamed up with husband and fellow ace musician Coley Hinson on a musical project called Domestic Bliss, whose blend of psych, old-school pop and roots-schooled rock is about as perfect a marriage of two musicians’ sensibilities as you could ask for. Saturday, Hiatt will be warming up her own band for an extensive spring tour, and they’ll be joined by Evan P. Donohue, who shares Hiatt’s knack for thoughtful songwriting, exceptional hooks and rock-solid rock ’n’ roll.

(Hinson sometimes plays with Hiatt on nonDomestic Bliss shows; coincidentally, he almost always plays bass when Donohue has a show.)

At a show in December, Donohue debuted a handful of songs slated for a forthcoming record, and the likelihood is strong you’ll hear more on Saturday. All these reasons are enough to head to this show no matter where it is, but the gig also serves as a sort of bookend to a long transitional period for this suite of venues.

Hiatt and Hinson and their bands (which

included Donohue on bass in Hinson’s band) closed out the Mercy Lounge era in May 2022, and they’ll be the first Nashville act to play one of the venues since they were remodeled and reopened under new management as Cannery Hall in January. STEPHEN TRAGESER 7 P.M. AT ROW ONE STAGE 1 CANNERY ROW

MONDAY / 2.19 [LOVEFOOL]

SWOON: A LOVE SERIES: ROMEO + JULIET

The 1996 release of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet was an Event. I was in seventh grade, the perfect age to pine over Leonardo DiCaprio and practice ugly-crying in the mirror like Claire Danes. I handed over my hard-earned babysitting money, thanks to the aggressive marketing campaign directed at teenage girls, starting with the perforated postcards from Seventeen magazine that slid neatly into the clear plastic cover of my math binder.

Then came a trip to the mall to buy the movie poster from Suncoast, the soundtrack CD from Sam Goody and, finally, a fresh tube of kiwistrawberry lip gloss from The Body Shop. With my shopping done, my friends and I had my dad drop us off at the edge of the acre-long parking lot of the Bellevue movie theater that’s since been converted to an indoor gun range.

We were immediately swept into the hype of the movie with its carnal aesthetic, frenetic editing and banger score. With all the creative flair Luhrmann added to the story, I really, truly, honestly did think he’d let Romeo and Juliet live. Or if not her (I could have done without her), at least him. But no, instead the movie spit me back into the cold parking lot — oh, cruel world — where I trekked to my dad’s car, tears streaming down my face, washing off all the kiwi-strawberry lip gloss. Stunned. The Belcourt will screen the film as part of its own Event: the romantic Swoon film series. TOBY ROSE 8 P.M. AT BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.

[USE YOUR NOODLE]

SLOW NOODLES: 21 WOMEN CELEBRATE ONE WOMAN’S WORK

One of the best things that Nashville’s creative community has going is its spirit of collaboration, especially when it comes to celebrating one of its own. That’s why this group exhibition at Julia Martin Gallery is so exciting — the fact that the artwork on display is top-notch is simply icing on the cake. Slow Noodles: 21 Women Celebrate One Woman’s Work is the companion art show for Slow Noodles: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Recipes. (Read more about the book in this week’s food section.) The art show revolves around the community’s support for Slow Noodles author Chantha Nguon, but also the book itself, which is a kind of collaboration between co-writer Kim Green and Nguon’s daughter Clara, who reads the book’s audio version. The Slow Noodles artists are: Elizabeth Williams, Merrilee Challiss, Pam Marlene Taylor, Beizar Aradini, Louisa Glenn, Amelia Briggs, Brooke Gillon, Delia Seigenthaler, Ash Atterberry, Becca Jane Koehler, Megan Curtin, Brooke Bernard, Jennifer Ward, Alex Blau, Anna McKeown, Virginia Griswold, Lindsy Davis, Blythe Colvin, Rachel Briggs and Joan Curry, as well as Julia Martin herself. Thirty percent of all proceeds from the show will go to the Stung Treng Women’s Development Center in Cambodia. There will be copies of the book available on site, as well as refreshments inspired by the book from Juniper Green’s Molly Martin. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER OPENING RECEPTION 6-9 P.M. AT JULIA MARTIN GALLERY 444 HUMPHREYS ST.

WEDNESDAY / 2.2

1

FILM

MOON TAXI

with fellow Nashville electronic experimenter Adrienne Franke; though they’re quite different, a common thread is that groove (whether gentle or kinetic) plays a strong role in the foundation of each song. Full Mood has developed a finely tuned sensibility for soaring, dramatic narratives about interpersonal relationships in compact and dynamic pop songs. They tweaked their production style a bit for their 2023 single “Ask Me to Dance,” with multi-instrumentalist Nick Morelly giving the rhythm section and samples a bigger role along with singer Miranda McLaughlin’s exquisite voice. Meanwhile, Grace Hall and Collin Thompson’s group Pressure Heaven is newer on the scene but already releasing some enticing work that takes cues from dream pop and industrial music, as in the fall’s “Spiral” single, which was backed with “Knowing.” STEPHEN TRAGESER 8 P.M. AT THE EAST ROOM 2412 GALLATIN PIKE

FILM

MUSIC

[GOT ME ON A MISSION]

MOON TAXI

MUSIC

CONVERSATION

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE W/HILLARY SCOTT

Parnassus Books, Nashville’s go-to independent literary hub, hosts one of its first blockbuster events of 2024 with NBC Today show co-anchor and occasional author Savannah Guthrie coming to town. This tenured television storyteller returns to the world of the written word with Mostly What God Does: Reflections on Seeking and Finding His Love Everywhere, a new book that finds her turning “her journalistic eye toward the power of faith in everyday life,” according to the Parnassus website. In the book, Guthrie delivers stories of motherhood, an award-winning career, grief and other faith-shaping moments in her life, per the website. Mostly What God Does marks the first non-children’s book release from Guthrie, who previously authored the picture book Princesses Wear Pants and sequel Princesses Save the World. Hillary Scott — a Middle Tennessee native and singer in popular country trio Lady A — moderates the conversation with Guthrie, which takes place inside Belmont University’s Gabhart Chapel. MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER 3 P.M. AT BELMONT’S GABHART CHAPEL 1501 WEDGEWOOD AVE.

20

TUESDAY / 2.20

[SEEKING AND FINDING]

[IMAGINE ME AND YOU]

SWOON/QUEER QLASSICS: HAPPY TOGETHER

Happy Together will always be my introduction to the world of Wong Kar-wai. The film was released in 1997, a year after Quentin Tarantino got Wong’s Chungking Express released around these parts and a few years before Wong’s masterpiece In the Mood for Love, and allowed the Hong Kong filmmaker to hit world-cinema audiences with another searing story about a doomed romance. This time, the lovers are played by two men — WKW regular Tony Leung and the late Farewell My Concubine star Leslie Cheung. Their on-again, off-again relationship has them going from the mean streets of Hong Kong to the meaner (but visually stunning — shout-out to iconic cinematographer Christopher Doyle!) streets of Argentina, where they struggle with finances, flirtations and each other. Yes, it’s an LGBTQ love story; the movie quickly establishes that with an intense love scene between the leads in the opening minutes. But once you get over that hump (no pun intended), prepare to be riveted by Wong’s

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

criticspicks_2-15-24.indd 20

2/12/24 2:53 PM

“beautiful gem of an album” ~Tune Oasis

thur 2/15

4PM Open Mic Night w/ Miss Lonely 9PM Sarah & Shannon Residency w/Kyshona Trio

fri 2/16

7PM The Resonant Rogues 9PM Slice “At First Sight” Single Release Show w/ Emily Myers • Jason Erie

sat 2/17

7PM “Playmate Playdate” • A Night of Music w/ Rosemary Fossee 9PM Meg Gehman CD Release Show & Afterparty w/ special guest Maureen Murphy

“rock in the heart, delicious” ~Indie Oclock

mon 2/19

7PM Karaoke Monday w/ Britt Ronstadt

tue 2/20

7PM Brand New Heartache • The HawtThorns Jo Schornikow 9PM Rude Tuesday hosted by Studio Rats w/ Layna • Matthew Orgel Elizabeth Davis

“gravity-heavy folk-rock” ~Indie Music Flix

Vinyl available exclusively at The Great Escape Nashville Published by Lucky Well Records

Find out what’s going on

Streaming at popular music services

wishpenny.com

NashvilleScene.com

February in...

mike floss & rod mcgaha

2/24 SATURDAY

2/23

2/22 THURSDAY

with BRENNAN WEDL & LO NOOM

AND THEN CAME HUMANS

EP RELEASE SHOW

FRIDAY

live jazz

2/29 THURSDAY

HANA EID with BABYWAVE

with ALLISON YOUNG & THE ACCORDS

with AFROKOKOROOTS

REGENERATION LIVE

FRIDAY

ava swan

weird jazz

2/16

BANNED BOOK HAPPY HOUR

sean thompson’s weird ears:

2/17 SATURDAY

with WNXP NASHVILLE

2/15 THURSDAY

MUSIC TRIVIA

ent online & More info for each ev e you soon! on our instagram! Se

Rent out

The Blue Room for your upcoming event!

BLUEROOMBAR@THIRDMANRECORDS.COM

THEBLUEROOMBAR.COM

@THEBLUEROOMNASHVILLE

623 7TH AVE S NASHVILLE, TENN. NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

21

THU 2.15 • DEMILLION • NATHAN. • ELENI

6PM WHITE ANIMALS FREE FRI ERICA FRI CASE, THEO KING, LOVE IN BAND $10 2.2 2.16

SAT

4PM KEVINWOLF FREE

SUN

4PM JAY PATTEN BAND FREE

SAT 2.3 5-7 ATTABOY 9PMSCARLET CROCTOPUSS , PUMP ATAKEN, CTION 2.17 9-12 MAGNUM, POINT & POPLAR CREEK NOVA SONS SUN 2.4 4-7 SANTA FE ROSE 2.18 8-12 SPRING WATER REVIVAL: PASTOR PABLO, KEY, OTISMIC WEDPOLLYS 5PMREVENGE, WRITERS OWL @ THE WPSYCHO ATER OPEN 2.7 AND THE ROAD KILLERS WED WRITERS AT THE WATER 2.21 115 27TH AVE N. OPEN WED - SUN 11AM - LATE NIGHT

SAT 2.17

• FULL MOOD • EVE MARET • PRESSURE HEAVEN

SUN 2.18 • RUDY LOVE & THE ENCORE • MORBID ORCHID • ZIA BLUE MON 2.19 • DAISY SELLAS • ABBIE CALLAHAN • MCKNA TUE 2.20

• ULTIMATE COMEDY FREE LOCAL STAND UP!

WED 2.21 • RICO DEL ORO • REGGIE PEARL • ANNIE COLLETTE

CRO-MAGS

THU 2.22 • ANASTASIA ELLIOT • RIGOMETRICS • THE AFTERNOONERS

oh-so-relatable portrait of a toxic coupling where one grows and the other doesn’t.

2412 GALLATIN AVE

CRAIG D. LINDSEY

@THEEASTROOM

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

BENEFIT

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

• LANDON CONRATH • WHY BOTHER • MOONY

Friday, February 16

Sunday, February 25

BOOK TALK

MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

Steve Fishell

Luis Espaillat

Discusses Buddy Emmons

1:00 pm · FORD THEATER

11:00 am

Saturday, February 17 SONGWRITER SESSION

Pryor Baird NOON · FORD THEATER Sunday, February 18 MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

Terry Crisp 1:00 pm · FORD THEATER Saturday, February 24 HATCH SHOW PRINT

Block Party 9:30 am, NOON, and 2:30 pm HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP Saturday, February 24 SONGWRITER SESSION

Gabe Lee

Saturday, March 2 SONGWRITER SESSION

Kelsey Waldon NOON · FORD THEATER Sunday, March 3 MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

C. J. Lewandowski 1:00 pm · FORD THEATER Saturday, March 9 SONGWRITER SESSION

Mark Miller and Mac McAnally NOON · FORD THEATER Saturday, March 9 NASHVILLE CATS

Dan Dugmore 2:30 pm · FORD THEATER

NOON · FORD THEATER

WITNESS HISTORY

Museum Membership Receive free admission, access to weekly programming, concert ticket presale opportunities, and more.

1/3 Page_PrintAd_02.15.24.indd 1 22MKTG_Scene NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

criticspicks_2-15-24.indd 22

CONVERSATIONS AT OZ

Truman Capote once said good conversation is “a dialogue, not a monologue.” You can expect plenty of spirited dialogue Feb. 21, as OZ Arts hosts its annual fundraiser Conversations at OZ. It’s always a fascinating gathering, as the event invites guests to enjoy a Champagne reception and seated dinner with some of the city’s most notable figures — from artists and academics to restaurateurs and business and civic leaders. This year’s lineup includes three mayors — sitting Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell, former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and newly elected Memphis Mayor Paul Young — along with bestselling author Mary Laura Philpott, Metro Nashville Public Schools director Adrienne Battle, legendary music producer T Bone Burnett, Fisk University president Agenia Clark, ACLU-TN executive director Kathy Sinback, Nfocus editor-in-chief Janet Kurtz and many more. It’s sure to be an exhilarating evening. Best of all, funds go to support OZ Arts’ artistic and educational programs. And while you’re at OZ, be sure to check out Shabazz Larkin’s thought-provoking art exhibit, May I Be Brave Enough to Speak My Truth, which continues through March 21. AMY STUMPFL 6:30 P.M. AT OZ ARTS 6172 COCKRILL BEND CIRCLE

FULL CALENDAR

[BLOOD MERIDIAN]

CRO-MAGS W/SNAFU, BAZOOKATOOTH, WAXED & TOXIC CULTURE MUSIC

TAYLOR SWIFT EDUCATION CENTER

[THE ART OF CONVERSATION]

While grassroots DIY hardcore spread like a pandemic in places like Southern California, the Bay Area and the Rust Belt in the ’80s, the home of country music never gave the world any crucial thrashers. Nashville was, however, the origin of so many physical artifacts from the early days of USHC. The list of essential hardcore records originally pressed in Middle Tennessee includes the Minor Threat 7-inch, The

FUs’ My America, Negative Approach’s debut, and Dischord’s Flex Your Head D.C. hardcore compilation. One of the most interesting pieces of Thrashville hardcore history is the 1985 Age of Quarrel demo cassette (not to be confused with the ’86 album with the same title) by New York’s Cro-Mags, which any skinhead worth his salt can tell you is the most influential tape on the second wave of NYHC. Guitarist Parris Mayhew, son of country music exec Aubrey Mayhew, had the band’s first release manufactured through his dad’s industry connections right here in Nashville. There’s even a mailing address on the J-card listed on Meridian Street between the current locations of Xiao Bao and Redheaded Stranger. Mayhew had spent the previous summer staying with his dad in Cleveland Park, where he has claimed he worked out a lot of the most violent riffs on AOQ. Though Mayhew won’t be out with the band on this run, you can still hear the East Nashville-born songs at the Cobra. P.J. KINZER 8 P.M. AT THE COBRA 2511 GALLATIN PIKE

MUSIC

THURCASSETTE 6PM WHITE ANIMALS FREE STRESS, VILLAGE, ELDER, THU 2.1 THE DEAD SPEAK $10 2.15

FRI 2.16

[OLD DOMINION]

OLIVER ANTHONY

Oliver Anthony (born Christopher Anthony Lunsford) has been on the ride of a lifetime all in the span of less than a year. He catapulted to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in August with his surprise breakout hit “Rich Men North of Richmond,” taking aim at the current political climate in D.C., and touching upon the struggles of the working class in modern America. The single quickly became a talking point among the general public, garnering both critical acclaim and controversy from both sides of the political arena, and its success thrust him into the national spotlight all within the span of a few weeks. In fact, he is the only artist in history to debut at the top of the Hot 100 with no prior chart entries. Known for his powerful vocal delivery and stark, passionate sound, the Virginia-based singer is set to bring his unique brand of home-grown Americana to the stage at the Ryman with two consecutive nights.

ROB HINKAL

FEB. 21-22 AT THE RYMAN 116 REP. JOHN LEWIS WAY N.

2/12/24 10:06 AM

2/12/24 2:53 PM

The Ultimate Chef Throwdown!

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

INTRODUCING OUR 2024 CHEF COMPETITORS!

tickets on sale now!

IRONFORKNASHVILLE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

23

dee i d i u u g g p p m m a C a C

4 24 02 20 2

What kind of adventure would you like to go on this summer?

Use the codes below to find a camp based on your interests.

A = ADVENTURE DAY CAMPS AR = Arts Day Camps E = EQUESTRIAN CAMPS F = FAITH-BASED CAMPS G = GENERAL DAY

A New Leaf Summer Camp G

Barfield School of Dance AR

Pip & Pickles Farm 4341 Pecan Valley Road Nashville, TN, 37218

Battleground Academy Summer Camps M

7520 Charlotte Pike Nashville TN 37209 560-1533 • http://www. anewleafnashville.org/summer-camp

Adventure Science Center A SI ST

800 Fort Negley Blvd.

Nashville TN 37203 862-5160 • https://www.adventuresci. org/events-programs/camps/ summer-camps/

Act Too Players Boiler Room Theatre AR

1113 Murfreesboro Road, Ste 119 Franklin TN 37064 294-0667 • https://www.acttooplayers. com/summer-camps

Ann Carroll School of Dance AR

93 Seaboard Lane Suite 201a Franklin TN 37067 790-6468 • https:// anncarrollschoolofdance.com/onlineregistration/

Annie Moses Summer Music Festival - The Factory at Franklin AR F 1110 Harpeth Industrial Ct, Franklin, TN 37064 (615) 905-6251 • https:// anniemosessummermusicfestival.com/

Art Camps with Little Art House AR 2106B Acklen Ave. Nashville TN 37215 933-9644 • https://www. littlearthousenashville.com/kidscamps-1

Arts Center of Cannon County— Summer Youth Conservatory AR

1424 John Bragg Highway Woodbury TN 37190 563-2787 • https://www.artscenterofcc. com/summeryouthconservatory

Barefoot Republic Camp F Office Address: 1226 Lakeview Dr. Suite C Franklin TN 37067 599-9683 • https://www. barefootrepublic.org Camp Address: 8824 Brownsford Rd Fountain Run, KY 42133

24

2298 Barfield Road Murfreesboro TN 37128 896-3118 • https:// barfieldschoolofdance.com/classes.html

336 Ernest Rice Lane Franklin TN 37069 567-8327 • https://www. battlegroundacademy.org/student-life/ summer-camps

Baylor Summer Program S

171 Baylor School Road Chattanooga TN 37405 423-267-8505 • https://www. baylorschool.org/camps-clubs-clinics

Belle Meade Historic Site Camps M 110 Leake Avenue Nashville TN 37205 356-0501 ext. 148 • https:// visitbellemeade.com/familyprograms/camps/

Belmont’s Summer Studios AR

1919 Belmont Blvd.

Nashville TN 37212 460-8625 • https://www.belmont.edu/ watkins/community-education/studioseries.html

Black Dragon Martial Arts SP

242 Warrior Drive Murfreesboro TN 37128 890-7879 • https://www. blackdragonma.com/summercamp

Bloomsbury Farm School A ST

9398 Del Thomas Road Smyrna TN 37167 https://www.bloomsburyfarmschool. com/summer2024

BOOST Gymnastics SP

11 Vaughns Gap Road Nashville TN 37205 352-8533 • https://www. boostgymnastics.com/camps

Boxwell Reservation Scout Camp S 1260 Creighton Lane Lebanon TN 37087 383-9724 ext. 8234 • https://www. mtcbsa.org/campfacilities

Boys & Girls Club Summer Programs M

1704 Charlotte Ave., Ste. 200 Nashville TN 37203 983-6836 • https://bgcmt.org/

NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024

nashvillescene.com/campguide

M = MULTIPLE CAMPS/locations SI = Special Interest Day Camps S = SLEEP AWAY CAMPS SP = Sports day camps ST = STEM Camps Brentwood Academy AR SP

219 Granny White Pike Brentwood TN 37027 373-0611 • https://summeratba.com/

Bridges for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing SI 935 Edgehill Ave Nashville TN 37203 248-8828 • https://www. bridgesfordeafandhh.org/

Camp Bear Track F S

295 Prim Road Drasco AR 72530 501-825-8222 • https://www. campbeartrack.com/

Camp Belle Meade F G ST

121 Davidson Rd. Nashville TN 37205 356-5974 • https://www. bellemeadeumc.org/campbellemeade

Camp Broadstone/Appalachian State University S

ASU Box 32042 Boone NC 38608 828- 262-3045 • https://conferencescamps.appstate.edu/youth-camps

Camp Carolina S

PO Box 919 Brevard, NC 28712 828- 884-2414 • https://www. campcarolina.com/

Camp Carson YMCA S

2034 Outer Lake Road Princeton, IN 47670 812- 385-3597 • https://www. campcarson.org/

Camp Caverns A S

555 Charlie Roberts Road Pelham TN 37366 423- 228-0506 • https://www. thecaverns.com/camp-caverns

Camp Country Lad S

204 Union B Road Monterey TN 38574 931-839-2354 (Summer) 931-526-1849 (Winter) • https:// www.campcountrylad.com/ sessions-nl

Camp Davis at Gordon Jewish Community Center G 801 Percy Warner Blvd.

Nashville TN 37205 356-7170 • https://www. campdavisnashville.com

Camps highlighted in a blue bar are advertisers

Camp DeSoto for Girls F S

264 Highway Above the Clouds (264 County Rd. 631) Mentone AL 35984 256-634-4394 • https://www. campdesoto.com/

Camp Forget Me Not through Alive Hospice SI Camp Site: Camp Widjiwagan 3088 Smith Springs Rd Antioch, TN 37013 963-4732 • https://www.alivehospice. org/news-events/camps/

Camp Green Cove for Girls S 617 Green Cove Rd Zirconia NC 28790 828-692-6355 • https://www. greencove.com/

Camp Invention M

(800) 968-4332 https://www.invent.org/programs/ camp-invention

Camp Juliette Low S

321 Camp Juliette Low Rd. Cloudland, GA 30731 770-428-1062 • https://cjl.org/

Camp Laney F S

916 West River Road Mentone AL 35984 256-634-4066 • https://camplaney.com/

Camp Marymount F S 1318 Fairview Blvd.

Fairview TN 37062 799-0410 • http://www. campmarymount.com/

Camp Merri-Mac for Girls F S

1123 Montreat Road Black Mountain NC 28711 828-669-8766 • https://www.merrimac.com/

SPOTS FILLING UP FAST! SPRING BREAK CAMP, MARCH 1115 + SUMMER CAMPS, WEEKLY MAYAUGUST

At our camps, kids explore science, technology, and art while enjoying interactive demonstrations, experiments, and the science center’s award-winning exhibits.

Camps range in topics from wilderness exploration to superheroes, outer space to wizardry, and so much more. Before and After Care are also available.

K-6TH GRADE

REGISTER NOW

Camp Mondamin for Boys S 413 Mondamin Rd. Zirconia NC 28790 828-693-7446 • https://www. mondamin.com/

Camp NaCoMe F

3232 Sulphur Creek Road Centerville, TN 37033 931-729-9723 • https://www.nacome. org/find-a-camp-at-nacome-camp

Camp Seafarer (girls) S

2744 Seafarer Road Arapahoe NC 28510 252-249-1212 • https://www.seagullseafarer.org/

Camp Sea Gull (boys) S

218 Sea Gull Landing Arapahoe NC 28510 252-249-1111 • https://www.seagullseafarer.org/

Camp Skyline Ranch for Girls F S 4888 Alabama Highway 117 Mentone AL 35984 800-448-9279 • https://www. campskyline.com/

Camp Twigs Rau-Wood A G

8687 Old Harding Pike Nashville, TN 37221 833-244-3288 • https:// leadershipacademytn.org/camps-list/ camp-twigs/rau-wood/

Camp Vesper Point F S

3216 Lee Pike Soddy-Daisy TN 37379 423-648-7936 • https://www. vesperpoint.org/summer-registration

Camp Woodmont for Boys & Girls

FS

381 Moonlight Road Cloudland GA 30731 423-472-6070 • https://www. campwoodmont.com/

Carol’s Homestead Outdoor Education Summer Camp A

7731 Ridgewood Road Goodlettsville TN 37072 615-485-4548 • https:// carolshomestead.wordpress.com/

Centennial Youth Ballet Summer Intensive 2024 AR

528 Vance Lane Lebanon TN 37087 444-4254• https://campsmiley.com/

Centennial Performing Arts Studios 211 27th Ave N Nashville TN 37203 880-8439 • https://www. friendsofmetrodance.org/summer.html

Camp St. Cecilia G

Center for STEM Education for Girls

Camp STEM ST

Harpeth Hall School 3801 Hobbs Rd Nashville TN 37215 297-9543 • https://stem.harpethhall.org/ summer-institute

Camp Smiley Christian Camp F

4210 Harding Pike Nashville TN 37205 293-1625 • https://www.stcecilia.edu/ campus-life/camp-st-cecilia PO Box 330916 Murfreesboro, TN 37133 415-7963 • https://www.campstem.us/

Camp Timberlake for Boys F S Winter: 1123 Montreat Road, Suite B Black Mountain NC 28711

Summer: 707 Dink Cannon Road Marion, NC 28752 828-669-8766 • https://www. camptimberlake.com/

Camp Twigs at Sanders Ferry A G

513 Sanders Ferry Rd, Hendersonville, TN 37075 833-244-3288 • https:// leadershipacademytn.org/blog/camptwigs-at-sanders-ferry/

ST

Cheekwood AR

1200 Forrest Park Drive Nashville TN 37205 353-2151 • https://cheekwood.org/learn/ camps-and-classes-2/

Chippewa Ranch Camp for Girls S

8258 Country O Road Eagle River WI 54521 866-209-9322 • https:// chippewaranchcamp.com/dates-rates

Circle Players Summer Musical Theatre Day Camp AR

Circle Players Rehearsal Space 832 Madison Square Madison TN 37115 (back of Madison Square Shopping Center) 332-7529 • http://www.circleplayers.net/

Code Ninjas-Franklin ST

1113 Murfreesboro Rd Franklin TN 37064 640-2633 • https://www.codeninjas. com/tn-franklin/camps

Concordia Arts Academy AR

2095 Branford Place #100 Thompson’s Station TN 37179 877-8309 • https:// concordiaartsacademy.com/summer/

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NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024

nashvillescene.com/campguide

Country Music Hall of Fame Songwriting Camp AR SI

222 Rep. John Lewis Way S Nashville TN 37203 camp@countrymusichalloffame.org • https://www.countrymusichalloffame. org/learn/songwriting-camp

Creekside Riding Academy & Stables Summer Day Camp E 2359 Lewisburg Pike Franklin TN 37064 595-7547 • https:// creeksideridingstables.com/summercamps

Cub Creek Science Camp S 16795 Hwy E Rolla MO 65401 573-458-2125 • https:// cubcreeksciencecamp.com/

Cub Scout Day Camps G

3414 Hillsboro Pike P.O. Box 150409 Nashville TN 37215 383-9724 • https://www.mtcbsa.org/ camping

Currey Ingram Academy Summer Programs M 6544 Murray Lane Brentwood TN 37027 camps@curreyingram.org • https:// www.curreyingram.org/community/ summer-programs

Dance in Bloom AR

8133 Sawyer Brown Road Suite 601 Nashville, TN 37221 662-4819 • https://www.danceinbloom. com/summer

Deer Run Camps A F G M S

3845 Perkins Road Thompson’s Station TN 37179 235-5688 • https://deerrun.camp/ camps/

Discovery Center at Murfree Spring

A

502 S.E. Broad St. Murfreesboro TN 37130 890-2300 • https://www.explorethedc. org/camps

Doe River Gorge F

220 Doe River Gorge Rd. Hampton, TN 37658 423-725-4010 • https://www. doerivergorge.com/camps/

Easter Seals Summer Camp Programs M

Various Locations in Tennessee 500 Wilson Circle Pike, Suite 228 Brentwood TN 37027 292-6640 ex 134 • https://www. easterseals.com/tennessee/ourprograms/camping-recreation/youthcamps.html

Elevate Dance Studio AR SP 3525 Kedron Rd Ste #7 Spring Hill TN 37174 931-255-7314 • https://www. elevatedancetn.com/summer

Emagination Computer Camps S Massachusetts, Illinois, Virginia, Connecticut, Georgia, and Pennsylvania 877-248-0206 • https://www. emaginationstemcamps.com/

Ensworth Summer Camp M

High School: 7401 Highway 100 Nashville TN 37221 301-5400 • https://www.ensworth.com/ programs/summer-offerings Elementary and Middle Schools: 211 Ensworth Ave. Nashville TN 37205 383-0661

ETC Gymnastics F SI

1137 Haley Road Murfreesboro TN 37129 867-6900 • https://etcgymnastics. com/%20camps/

Father Ryan Summer Camps SP

700 Norwood Drive Nashville TN 37204 383-4200 • https://www.fatherryan.org/ athletics/summer-camps

Firstlight Art Academy AR

1710 General George Patton Dr. Ste. 108 Brentwood TN 37027 678-6745 • https://firstlightaa.org/blog/ summer-23/

Flour Power Cooking Studio Camps

SI

330 Franklin Rd Suite 110A Brentwood TN 37027 961-3466 • https://www. flourpowerstudios.com/register/ nashville/Camps

Forge, The, Nashville AR SI

217 Willow Street Nashville TN 37210 hello@theforgenashville.org • https:// www.theforgenashville.org/

Franklin Road Academy Summer Camps F M 4700 Franklin Road Nashville TN 37220 833-8845 • https://www. franklinroadacademy.com/summercamp/summer-camps-info

Franklin School of Performing Arts

AR

415 Duke Drive, Suite 370 Franklin TN 37067 628-8444 • https:// franklinschoolofperformingarts.com/ camps

Frenchwoods Festival of the Performing Arts S

Winter Location 1879 University Dr Coral Springs FL 33071 954-346-7455 • https://frenchwoods.com/ Summer Location 199 Bouchoux Brook Rd Hancock NY 13783 800-634-1703 • https://frenchwoods.com/

BELMONT

Youth Art and Design Programs

Belmont University offers an array of summer programming in visual art and design disciplines for ages 6-18.

Our programs help kids and teens develop creatively as they cultivate skills in problem solving, communication and innovative thinking. All programs are held in college studios and use high quality materials, and all programs are led by outstanding artists, designers or professional art educators. Each program ends with an exhibition to celebrate student achievements with friends and family! belmont.edu/ youth-art-programs

hortonhaven.org

Hyden Beach Academy SP

5191 Joe Peay Rd. Spring Hill TN 37174 987-0792 • https://hydenbeach.com/ clinics-camps/

iD Tech Camps SI

Fuge Life-Changing Camps F

Summer@MBA ALL-SPORTS CAMP • BASEBALL • BASKETBALL BLOXELS • CARDBOARD LAND • CHEER • DEBATE • DODGEBALL FOOTBALL • GOLF • LACROSSE • LATIN • LEGO LITTLE EXPLORERS • MINECRAFT • READING COMPREHENSION RIFLE • ROBOTICS • SCIENCE • SOCCER • SPEED STUDY SKILLS • TENNIS • WRESTLING • AND MORE...

For more information and to register, log on to www.montgomerybell.edu/camps

Multiple Locations 1 Lifeway Plaza Nashville, TN 37234 1-877-CAMP-123 • https://fugecamps. lifeway.com

Gabby’s Gymnastics Summer Camps SP

1186 Antioch Pike Nashville TN 37211 331-8111 • https://gabysgym.net/ gymnasticssummercamp/

Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee Summer Camps M 4522 Granny White Pike Nashville TN 37204 383-0490 • https://gsmidtn.org/ summer-camp/

Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont S 9275 Tremont Road Townsend TN 37882 865-448-6709 • https://gsmit.org/ summer-youth/

Harding Academy Summer Programs M

170 Windsor Drive Nashville TN 37205 356-0441 • https://www. hardingacademy.org/community/ summer-programs

Harpeth Hall Summer Programs M 3801 Hobbs Road Nashville TN 37215 301-9286• https://www.harpethhall. org/community/summer-camps

Hermitage Dance Academy AR

3441 Lebanon Pike, Suite 130 Hermitage TN 37076 231-7100 • https://hermitagedance. com/

Historic Travellers Rest Summer Camp A AR M SI

Ivybrook Academy Franklin G M 1268 Lewisburg Pike Franklin TN 37064 667-8810 • https://www. ivybrookacademy.com/franklin/

Ivybrook Hendersonville 1006 Glenbrook Way Suite 140 Hendersonville, TN 37075 682-9068 • https://www. ivybrookacademy.com/hendersonville/

John Knox Center F M

591 West Rockwood Ferry Road Ten Mile TN 37880 865-376-2236 • https://www. johnknoxcenter.org/

Leadership Academy M

PO Box 59074 Nashville TN 37205 856-4772 • https:// leadershipacademyllc.com/

Let it Shine Gymnastics F SP

1892 General George Patton Drive Franklin TN 37067 369-3547 • https://www.lisgym.com/ summercamp

Lifetime Fitness Family Camps SP 5020 Carothers Pkwy Franklin TN 37067 685-7000 • https://www.lifetime.life/ locations/tn/franklin/kids-and-family/ camps.html

Lipscomb Academy Summer Experience F M

HIYC Sail Camp SP

LPG Sports Academy M SP

3711 Reed Harris Road Lewisburg TN 37091 931-364-7656 • https://www.

nashvillescene.com/campguide

150 Cabin Circle Drive Liberty, TN 37095 548-4411 • https://www. indiancreekcamp.com

636 Farrell Pkwy Nashville TN 37220 832-8197 • https://historictravellersrest. org/summer-camp/

Horton Haven Christian Camp F

NASHVILLE SCENE | MARCH 2 – MARCH 8, 2023

Indian Creek Camps F

4517 Granny White Pike Nashville TN 37204 lasummerexperience@ lipscombacademy.org • https://www. lipscombacademy.org/mustang-life/ summer-experience

Harbor Island Yacht Club at Harbor Drive & Saundersville Road Old Hickory TN 37138 859-433-9623 • https://hiyc.org/ summer-sail-camp

28

Located at Vanderbilt University and 60 prestigious universities nationwide 2201 West End Ave. Nashville TN 37212 408- 871-2227 • https://www.idtech. com/locations/tennessee-summercamps/vanderbilt-university

109-2 Rand Place Franklin TN 37064 891-7028 • https://www. lpgsportsnashville.com/camps-clinics Locations in Franklin, Brentwood and Spring Hill

A C A D E M I C S | A R T S | AT H L E T I C S

IT’S A GREAT

SUMMER AT BRENTWOOD ACADEMY

REGISTER ONLINE AT CAMPSATBA.COM

Half-Day Summer Camps AG E S 4 –1 0 Explore movement, creativity, and musicality through adventures and classic ballet stories!

9 A.M.–12 P.M. OR 1–4 P.M.

Animal Adventures May 20–24 and June 10–14

Fairytale Fun Tues. May 28–Sat. June 1

A Chorus Line June 3–7 and July 22–26

NashvilleBallet.com/summer-programs nashvillescene.com/campguide

FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 | NASHVILLE SCENE

29

Nashville Dance Center AR

4004 Hillsboro Pike Nashville TN 37215 385-7997 • https:// nashvilledancecenter.com/schedules/

Nashville Gymnastics Training Center Camps SP

Magnitude Gymnastics SP

3351 Stoners Bend Drive Hermitage, TN 37076 883-5166 • https://magnitudegymnastics. com/summer-camps

McNeilly Center for Children M 100 Meridian St. Nashville TN 37207 255-2549 • https://www. mcneillycenter.org/

visit our 2024 Camp guide online!

Montgomery Bell Academy Summer Camp Programs M

4001 Harding Road Nashville TN 37205 298-5541 • https://www. montgomerybell.edu/camps/camps-special-programs

Mountain Bike Camp SP

Deep Well Trailhead, Percy Warner Park Nashville TN 37221 856-4772 • https:// leadershipacademyllc.com/camps-list/ mountain-bike-camp/

Mpact Martial Arts Summer Camps

SI

121 Seaboard Lane, Suite 1 Franklin TN 37067 377-3444 • https://www.mpactsports. com/camp

Mr. Bond Science Guy M

1011 Gillock St. Suite 160136 Nashville TN 37216 573-2702 • https://www. mrbondscienceguy.com/science-camps

Murfreesboro Parks Summer Camps

AM

697 Veterans Parkway Murfreesboro TN 37128 890-5333 • https://murfreesborotn. gov/1550/Summer-Camps

Mundito Spanish Camps M SI

3710 Franklin Pk Nashville TN 37204 info@munditospanish.com • https:// www.munditospanish.com/camp.php

Musical Bridges Musical Therapy Inclusive Camps AR SI

5120 Virginia Way #B11 Brentwood TN 37027 888-687-2734 • https://musicalbridges. com/camp

Get the latest updates and new camp additions by visiting our online camp guide!

30

NASHVILLE SCENE | MARCH 2 – MARCH 8, 2023

nashvillescene.com/campguide

Nashville Children’s Theatre Summer Camp AR

25 Middleton St. Nashville TN 37210 252-4675 • https:// nashvillechildrenstheatre.org/dramaschool/

104 Centennial Circle Nashville TN 37209 298-2264 • https://www.nashvillegtc. com/summer-camp.html

Nashville Shakespeare Festival Apprentice Company AR

161 Rains Ave. Nashville TN 37203 255-2273 ext. 2 • https://www. nashvilleshakes.org/summer-camps

Nashville Zoo Summer Camp SI

3777 Nolensville Pike Nashville TN 37211 833-1534 • https://www.nashvillezoo. org/camp

National Flight Academy S SI ST 1 Fetterman Way NAS Pensacola FL 32508 877-552-3632 • https://www. nationalflightacademy.com/

Otter Creek OCYG Camp A F

462 Hy-Lake Ln Quebeck TN 38579 373-1782 • https://ottercreek.org/ ministries/youth/ocygcamp/

Out of the Box Theater Summer Camp AR

2001 Campbell Station Parkway, Suite 4 Spring Hill TN 37174 260-0699 • http://www.outoftheboxtn. com/summer-camps.html

Owl’s Hill Nature Sanctuary SI

Summer Camp 545 Beech Creek Road South Brentwood TN 37027 370-4672 • https://www.owlshill.org/ camps

Riverview Camp for Girls F S 757 County Road 614 Mentone AL 35984 (800) 882-0722 • https:// www.riverviewcamp.net/

RobotiX Institute ST

1722 General George Patton Dr Suite 500A Brentwood TN 37027 721-2650 • https://rxiedu.com/camps/

ROOTS Academy Music & Dance Summer Day Camps AR

320 Southgate Court, Brentwood, TN 37027 804-1177 • https://www.rootsacademy. com/camps/

School of Nashville Ballet AR

3630 Redmon St. Nashville TN 37209 297-2966 ext. 203 • https://www. nashvilleballet.com/summer-programs

Short Mountain Bible Camp F

Sugar Drop – Camp Sugar Drop SI

Skyland Camp for Girls S

Summit Sports Center SP

Smyrna SOAC Summer Programs A

Sylvan Learning Center - EDGE Camp ST

650 Bible Camp Road Woodbury TN 37190 563-4168 • https://www. shortmountainbiblecamp.com/

317 Spencer St. Clyde NC 28721 828-627-2470 • https://skylandcamp. com/

M SP

315 South Lowry St Smyrna TN 37167 459-9710 • https://www.townofsmyrna. org/departments/parks-andrecreation-/outdoor-adventure-center/ summer-camps

574 Franklin Road, Suite #110 Franklin TN 37069 629-202-6949 • https://www.sugardrop. com/summer-camp 2015 B Johnson Industrial Blvd Nolensville TN 37135 776-2550 • https://www. summitsportscenter.com/summer-camp

810 Medical Center Pkwy Ste C Murfreesboro TN 37129 900-2509 • https://locations. sylvanlearning.com/us/murfreesboro-tn

Teen Leadership Adventure G M

2800 Opryland Drive Nashville TN 37214 889-1000 • https://www.soundwavesgo. com

Leadership Academy LLC PO Box 59074 Nashville, TN 37205 856-4772 • https:// leadershipacademyllc.com/camps-list/ teen-leaders/

Southern Prep Academy S

Tennessee Martial Arts Academy SP

Soundwaves at Gaylord Opryland

174 Ward Cir Camp Hill AL 36850 256-675-6260 • https:// southernprepacademy.org/admissions/ summer-programs/

Space Camp S

1 Tranquility Base Huntsville AL 35805 800-637-7223 • https://spacecamp. com/

Spark – An Art Studio Summer Camp

AR

213 Franklin Road, Suite 110 Brentwood, TN 37027 483-9847 • https://sparkartbrentwood. com/events/

St. Bernard Academy Summer Camp

G

2304 Bernard Avenue Nashville TN 37212 385-0440 • https://www. stbernardacademy.org/academics/ summer-program

St. Paul Christian Academy — Summer Days G

8010 Safari Way Smyrna TN 37167 220-4211 • https://www.tnmaa.com/ read-me

Thrust Math & Science Summer Camp at FISK SI

Corner of 17th Ave N and Jackson St, Nashville TN 37208 329-8605 • https://www.fisk.edu/ campus-life/get-involved/summerprograms/

Tiger Camp at Percy Priest Elementary School G

1700 Otter Creek Road Nashville TN 37215 390-3167 • https://www.percypriest.org/ resources/tiger-club/

TN Art Yard AR

5337 Main Street Spring Hill TN 37174 423-785-6276 • https://www.tnartyard. com/bookonline?category=a905636c89f5-46cb-8cde-e1ee10fd6716

TPGA Junior Golf Academy SI

5033 Hillsboro Pike Nashville TN 37215 269-4751 • https://www. stpaulchristianacademy.org/studentlife/summer

400 Franklin Road Franklin TN 37069 465-6322 • https://www.tngolf.org/ learning-center/tpga-jr-academy/2022academy-day-camp-schedule-5729. html

Stage Right School of Performing Arts AR

Traumatic Brain Injury Program w/ Easter Seals Nashville SI

2001 Campbell Station Parkway, Bldg C Suite 4 Spring Hill TN 37174 302-2881 • https://www.stageright615. com/events-and-calendar

Steve & Kate’s Camp A

Linden Waldorf School 3201 Hillsboro Pike Nashville TN 37215 652-1137 • https://steveandkatescamp. com/nashville/

Valley View Ranch Equestrian Camp

ES

606 Valley View Ranch Road Cloudland, GA 30731 706-862-2231 • https://valleyviewranch. com/

1 Thunderbird Lane Lake Wylie SC 29710-8811 704-716-4100 • https://www. ymcacharlotte.org/camps/campthunderbird

Victory Ranch F S

YMCA Camp Widjiwagan G S

4330 Mecklinburg Dr. Bolivar TN 38008 731-659-2880 • http://www. victoryranch.org/summer-camp/

Williamson County Soccer Association — Indoor Soccer League

SP

3088 Smith Springs Road Antioch TN 37013 360-CAMP (360-2267) • https://www. campwidji.org/

YMCA Day Camp, Sports Camps and Camp Little Y M

3157 Boyd Mill Avenue Franklin TN 37064 791-0590 • https://www. williamsoncountysoccer.com/Default. aspx?tabid=319386

Located at 10 YMCA membership centers in Middle Tennessee 1000 Chruch Street, Nashville, TN 37203 256-4753 • https://www.ymcamidtn. org/programs/children-and-teens/daycamp

Willow Springs Day Camp A

YMCA Sports Camp (Ages 6-12) SP

508 Franklin Rd Franklin TN 37069 931-797-3660 • https:// willowspringsdaycamp.com/

YEAH - Ready2Rock and Summer Jam AR

Templeton Academy 631 2nd Ave S Nashville TN 37210 917-922-2894 • https://www.yeahrocks. org/programs

500 Wilson Pike Circle, Suite 228 Brentwood, TN 37027 292-6640 • https://www.easterseals. com/tennessee/our-programs/ camping-recreation/

YMCA Camp Ocoee S

University School of Nashville Summer Programs G

YMCA Camp Piomingo S

2000 Edgehill Ave. Nashville TN 37212 424-8823 • https://www.usn.org/newsand-school-life/summer-camps

YMCA Camp Thunderbird S

111 YMCA Drive Ocoee TN 37361 423-338-5588 • https://www. ymcacampocoee.org/

1000 Church St. Nashville, TN 37203 259-9622 • https://www.ymcamidtn. org/programs/youth-sports

YMCA Summer Adventure M

Located at select schools in Davidson, Rutherford and Sumner Counties 259-3418 • https://www.ymcafunco.org/ summer-adventure

Young Performers Summer “Acting” Camp AR

3201 Dickerson Pike #111 Nashville, TN 37207 831-0039 • https://moorecasting.com/ workshops/

1950 Otter Creek Park Road Brandenburg KY 40108 502-942-2616 • https://www. ymcalouisville.org/programs/camps/ camp-piomingo

nashvillescene.com/campguide

FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 | NASHVILLE SCENE

31

LIVE MUSIC | URBAN WINERY RESTAURANT | BAR | PRIVATE EVENTS

2.22 AN EVENING WITH

2.24

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Available at The Produce Place 4000 Murphy Rd, Nashville, TN 37209

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EVENING WITH ASHLEY VIRGINIA 2.15 AN & NIKKI MORGAN

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32

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

BOOK NOW!

FEB 25 MAR 17 MAR 31 APR 14

STARTS AT 2:00 PM

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by March 1, 2024

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FOOD & DRINK

SLOW, STEADY SURVIVAL A new book details female resilience, the power of family recipes and a Nashville-to-Cambodia connection

PHOTO: RYAN CARTER

BY MARGARET LITTMAN

CHANTHA NGUON TWELVE YEARS AGO Chantha Nguon and Kim Green sat together in the Cambodian countryside, sharing a beer, discussing writing a book together. Nguon — a Cambodian refugee, a cook, a mother and a social entrepreneur — wasn’t sure anyone would want to hear her story of trauma and loss. But Green was sure.

People would want to hear about Nguon’s resilience and how daily acts like sewing and cooking helped her persevere.

A dozen years may seem like a long time to

work on a project, particularly without certainty that it would be published. But that was just a blip compared to the lifetime of experiences Nguon had lived, the many times she recalibrated and overcame adversity. Now Nguon, Green and Nguon’s daughter Clara Kim are readying the Feb. 20 publication of Slow Noodles: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Recipes.

There were cultural reasons for Nguon to be hesitant about writing a memoir that includes

tales of mass murder, land mines, malaria and piracy. Nguon was just 9 when she fled Cambodia for Vietnam, and life there was not easy.

In the two decades she spent as a refugee, she cooked in a brothel, worked as a suture nurse in a refugee camp, and suffered from hunger and grief. She lost loved ones to all manner of causes — some horrible and known, some horrible and unknown.

Telling her story, she says, “was like running around naked. It was like lifting my shirt to

Slow Noodles: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Recipes

By Chantha Nguon with Kim Green Available Feb. 20 via Algonquin Books 304 pages, $29

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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show my skin, and that’s not a good thing to do, especially for a woman. But I wanted to tell the world what happened in Cambodia, and I want my children to know what I have been through.”

Nguon was forced from Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge regime. Many Cambodians refer to this period from 1975 to 1979 as the “Pol Pot Time,” named for the brutal dictator who killed more than a million Cambodians during his reign of genocide. Part of what Nguon wanted from Slow Noodles is for people to read a more nuanced tale of Cambodia and appreciate that the country and its people are more than its worst time.

Green was introduced to Nguon by Nashville philanthropist and retired Episcopal priest Ann Walling. Green wrote an article about Nguon’s social enterprise work helping Cambodian women make Mekong Blue silk scarves on hand looms, selling them to build financial independence. Walling’s family foundation had provided seed money for the project, and she encouraged Green to work with Nguon.

Once the women decided to write a book together, Green helped Nguon organize the stories chronologically and sort the most important details.

The results contain poignant specifics, such as Nguon’s disappointment in her first taste of Cambodian food after being away for decades, because ingredients like coconut were unavailable to street vendors who survived Pol Pot Time. Nguon’s late mother’s philosophy was that the best dishes take time and patience to prepare — a sentiment that helped shape both Nguon’s life and the book. “[Green] suggested we should make recipes, because that’s what saved my life,” Nguon says.

“When I was hungry in the jungle, when I was hungry in Vietnam, all I could think of was the time when I was younger — before I was 9 and was hit with everything — and that saved my life. I would just think about the best food I ever had. And that’s how I survived, so reading the work with a recipe is to relive it in my mind.”

“When we were sitting and having formal interviews, both of us found that difficult and painful,” Green explains. “But when we were eating together, and especially when she was cooking, the stories flowed out much more smoothly and happily. … Maybe ‘happily’ is the wrong word. But they just came naturally.”

The book can be read as a memoir, with the recipes as part of the story; some recipes, like eggplant three ways, may feel more like a

narrative instrument. But the team worked on developing recipes — with many testers — to include ingredients widely available to American readers and to present replicable techniques.

Over the years, Kim says, Green has become masterful in Cambodian cooking (a compliment Green demurs to).

Green suggests the chicken-lime soup (like matzo ball soup, chicken noodle soup and similar soups the world over, Kim says this recipe cures what ails you) as a good starting recipe for those who are beginners to cooking the cuisine, but recipes are designed for cooks of any level.

Once the book was written, acquired by Algonquin Books and edited, Clara Kim took on the difficult task of narrating the audiobook, which meant perfecting the pronunciation of Vietnamese words, saying things the way her mom would say them, and recounting, aloud, the traumatic experiences her mother endured and retold. “I will usually say yes to anything related to Slow Noodles, but I did not realize what was required of me when I said yes to this,” Kim says. Now that the work is completed, she cherishes the marked-up and annotated copy of the book she used to record the audiobook.

Green, a Nashville radio producer and writer (and sometimes Scene contributor) is known around town as a supporter of creative projects and an all-around connector of likeminded people. So when she started working with Nguon and Kim to support Nguon’s Stung Treng Women’s Development Center, the social enterprise enabling women to make Mekong Blue silk scarves, people showed up. And when there were dinner parties with Cambodian menus? Folks were enthusiastic about being there too. After more than a decade of seeing the women working together on the book, selling silk scarves, cooking, revising and testing recipes, Nashville was ready to support and celebrate them and the book’s launch. As such, there are four launch-week events scheduled in Nashville (see box).

Green counts working on Slow Noodles as “one of the best experiences of [her] life. I was in awe of [Nguon] and her energy and resilience.

She has been through so much horror, and instead of giving up, she made a beautiful life.”

“At first I didn’t think people would be interested in my story,” Nguon says. “I am not the only refugee. It is me, and it is my country and every country in the world. Now I think the message is that losing everything is not the end of life. It is how you build your life after loss.” ▼

WHERE TO MEET THE AUTHORS Julia Martin first met Chantha Nguon 10 years ago — the same year she opened her eponymous Julia Martin Gallery. “I have fantasized about this for a decade, that I get to do this for [Nguon],” Martin says. “I am deeply honored that I get to be a part of getting this book out in the world.”

Martin organized an exhibition of work by 21 female artists (including Martin herself), exploring the role of resilience and perseverance of women, that will open the day the book is published. Some artists will be working with Mekong Blue silks, others in ceramics, shaping bowls that one might imagine holding noodles.

Martin is not the only person with a desire to help spread the story behind this book. Slow Noodles is an international story, but thanks to its Nashville connections, there are several local events around the book’s launch. Chantha Nguon, her daughter Clara Kim and Kim Green will all be in town for that first week. These events are designed to offer access to the many facets of the book, through women and art, through storytelling and, of course, through food.

•

6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20: Opening reception for the all-female-artists Slow Noodles show at Julia Martin Gallery. The exhibition will be on display until March 30. Books will be available for sale through Parnassus Books.

•

6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 21: Reading, conversation and book signings at The Bookshop and the adjacent Hannah Bee Coffee.

Books will be available for sale.

Attendance is free, but advance registration is requested.

•

5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 25: Walk-up pop-up at Bastion Big Bar. This is the chance to taste some of the recipes from the book. A limited number of books will be available for sale.

•

3 p.m. Monday, Feb. 26: Book club discussion and reading at Blakeford at Green Hills. A limited number of books and silk scarves will be available for sale.

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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@parnassusbooks Parnassus Books

MARY LIZA HARTONG makes her debut as a romance writer with Love and Hot Chicken, a queer Southern novel set in the small Tennessee town of Pennywhistle. Filled to the brim with quirky characters with even quirkier names, the novel offers much to love from the start, yet the opening is rather sorrowful — protagonist PJ Spoon is on her way home from Nashville to be with her mother after the unexpected death of her father.

PJ grew up like many kids in the South, with loving and encouraging parents who took her fishing, taught her to hunt and were overly invested in her softball team. Despite her small stature, PJ’s mother has made big strides in the community, baking pies, delivering newsletters and — lately — petitioning against the tampon tax. PJ’s father was more relaxed. A local firefighter, he spent as much time as possible being the best husband and father he could. When he dies, PJ and her mother find their worlds upended, and it is the generosity of their familiar Pennywhistle community that helps them find their way again.

Hartong’s writing fully embraces Southern dialect, and PJ often uses creative similes and metaphors. Her description of Tennessee is a perfect example: Tennessee’s long but she’s also skinny, so from here to Nashville don’t take but a few hours of cruising past XXX billboards and blown-out tires. Shoot, that’s a pretty drive.

Nothing but Jimmy Buffett and Jesus on

the radio. Growing up, we’d go every summer to see Lee Ray’s Auntie June, a psychic ventriloquist with half a dozen boyfriends and a pet snake.

Lee Ray is PJ’s childhood friend and most valued confidant. Seeing Lee Ray is one of the highlights of the trip home from the Ph.D. program at Vanderbilt she’s thinking of quitting. At first, she returns to Pennywhistle to be at her daddy’s funeral and comfort her mother, but she soon finds herself renting a small cottage and applying for a fry-cook job at the local Chickie Shak.

As the smell of grease seeps deeper and deeper into her pores, university life seems like a fever dream, unattainable and even silly in hindsight.

Ill-equipped to handle grief, PJ draws further and further into herself, and not even her mother or Lee Ray can snap her out of it. However, PJ finds herself enamored with her Chickie Shak co-worker Boof, a mysterious woman around PJ’s age who recently moved to Pennywhistle from Texas. As the two grow closer, PJ realizes she does not know as much about Pennywhistle and its townspeople as she initially thought. As PJ uncovers more about Boof, she also learns more about others in the town and even herself. One day, when the owner of the Chickie Shak chain, Mr. Puddin, waltzes in with an entire camera crew and announces a nationwide pageant competition for all female Chickie Shak employees, the smooth teamwork machine of Boof, PJ and older employee Linda is quickly transformed, becoming an every-wom-

an-for-herself scenario for Linda and a baffling situation for PJ, who only wanted to keep her head down and drown in her loss of identity without her father.

Over the course of the pageant competition, as PJ gets to know Boof as more than a coworker, discovers surprising truths about her mother, and helps Lee Ray reconnect with his ex-boyfriend, she is in awe of how much love still surrounds her, and she reinvigorates her efforts to be the best daughter, friend, girlfriend and — maybe — Ph.D. student she can be.

Hartong’s writing style — with colloquialisms like “jorts” and “hullabaloo,” and sentences like “Pennywhistle’s low and flat like Mamma’s rear” — is a joy to traverse. Her storytelling makes the Southerner in me homesick, and as a reader, I’m delighted to see more authentically Southern queer romance novels such as Hartong’s bless the shelves.

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

Love and Hot Chicken: A Delicious Southern Novel

By Mary Liza Hartong William Morrow 272 pages, $30 Hartong will discuss Love and Hot Chicken 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20, at at Parnassus Books

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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MUSIC

IN THE HEART

Jaime Wyatt follows her gut on Feel Good JAIME WYATT WAS LOOKING for the groove.

The singer-songwriter earned heaps of critical acclaim as well as a sizable and still-growing fan base for two LPs informed by trad country: her 2017 breakout Felony Blues and Neon Cross, the 2020 follow-up she released after moving to Nashville. Plotting her latest project, Wyatt wanted a more expansive sound. She wanted rhythm, soul — and most crucially, a heaping helping of hooks.

Wyatt found all that and then some on Feel Good. Released in November, the aptly named LP gives a greater sense of the breadth of her talents. Sonically influenced by soul, R&B, blues and classic rock, Feel Good also boasts some of Wyatt’s rawest lyrics, as she claims joy and pleasure for herself and, in turn, for anyone else who might feel they don’t deserve either.

Catching up with the Scene while out on the road, Wyatt says she’s enjoyed seeing fans react to the new music at her shows. Their embrace of the sound has also given her a sense that — despite a few loud-mouthed detractors saying otherwise — she was right to follow her gut and make the album she wanted to make.

“I’ve seen people digging it, singing along,” she says. “Which is nice. You know, I think I took a lot of risks with this album. And I generally love doing that. I got a little bit of flack for not making a country record. But those are just the typical dudes who always comment. No matter what you do, they hate.”

To aid her in taking those risks, Wyatt tapped Adrian Quesada — whom you’ll know from soul-kissed outfit Black Pumas and Latin funk ensemble Grupo Fantasma — to produce Feel Good. She says he brought both “quality control” and a fresh perspective to the ideas she’d compiled for the LP. He also brought the hooks.

“I just think that the music he made with Black Pumas was really beautiful,” she says.

“And it was arranged in a way that was just very careful and classic. I mean, all the guitar lines have hooks. There are hooks in the music. That’s, like, the main requirement.”

Accordingly, Feel Good is an infectious listen.

Opening track “World Worth Keeping” has shades of soul filtered through the rock lens of Janis Joplin and Jefferson Airplane, with a hopeful message about ecology to boot. The title track builds an atmospheric groove atop a prominent bass line — Wyatt says she wanted the bass player to “play their ass off” on the LP, and the result shows that Texas session and touring ace Scott Davis obliged — with a lyric that claims pleasure and contentment as “natural” and “right.”

“I always think about the grooves and the rhythms first when I think about an album, and then I write a shit-ton of songs,” she says. “Then the ones that stand out end up in the collection.”

Another highlight is her cover of the Grateful

PHOTO: JODY DOMINGUE

BY BRITTNEY McKENNA

Dead’s beloved “Althea,” a famously slinky and enigmatic tune that various incarnations of the band have played since 1979 and which was recorded for 1980’s studio album Go to Heaven.

On Feel Good, it’s made all the funkier with clipped, rhythmic guitar from Quesada and a sultry vocal from Wyatt. It’s also an homage to her childhood.

“I wanted to pay tribute to that, just growing up at Grateful Dead concerts as a kid,” she says.

“That’s a part of my life and that’s a part of, musically, where I come from. And I was like, ‘I just want to hear the Grateful Dead with a better bass player.’”

She laughs at that last bit, saying the Dead’s bassman Phil Lesh was “perfect for Jerry Garcia,” but she “wanted to hear ‘Althea’ with a soul groove.” And indeed, she and Quesada trans-

form the meandering song into a four-minute pop-soul tune, with one of the record’s best bass lines.

Amid the grooves and hooks one might forget to listen to Wyatt’s lyrics, which celebrate and affirm the radical act of reclaiming one’s own body to experience a full spectrum of love, loss, pleasure and longing. Wyatt, who identifies as queer, says the lyrics for “Feel Good” came from a realization she had about her own agency.

“I have these realizations almost daily,” she explains. “I’m like, ‘Wait, this is OK? This can be pleasurable? I’m allowed?’ I think most people need to hear that — or a certain type of people I should say, probably more so marginalized people. But people need to hear that.”

At the beginning of her winter tour dates behind Feel Good, Wyatt got sick with an illness

that injured her vocal cords. She worked around it for several weeks, but ultimately had to postpone the last two weeks of dates, including an adopted-hometown stop at The Basement East planned for Feb. 15. New dates haven’t been announced at press time, but if Feel Good gives any indication, there’ll be no shortage of grooves when she is able to continue.

“You know, it started as just a jam. Then we made it into something pretty.” ▼

Feel Good out now via New West

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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2/12/24 5:45 PM

THE GREAT ATOMIC POWER Banjo ace Kyle Tuttle taps in on Labor of Lust

SINGER, SONGWRITER AND BANJO adventurer extraordinaire Kyle Tuttle is on a hot streak.

He’s a member of Golden Highway, among the aces who back up guitar wizard Molly Tuttle (to whom he’s not related, by the way). The group won the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album last year for 2022’s Crooked Tree, and won again on Feb. 4 for the follow-up City of Gold. The band injects fresh energy into a hallowed American art form, but Kyle Tuttle cranks the raw energy even higher on his second solo album Labor of Lust, which he’ll self-release Friday. Not to be confused with British pop ’n’ rock polymath Nick Lowe’s similarly titled 1979 album, Tuttle’s LP has a beyond-bluegrass sound whose creative chaos approaches thermonuclear levels — a spirit he aims to channel during Saturday’s star-studded release party at Eastside Bowl.

There’s a method to Tuttle’s madness. The album has been in the works since 2018, and was inspired by the death of a dear friend. Despite the heavy theme, Tuttle’s characteristic optimism shines through. It’s an acoustic-roots set that reaches for ecstasy, landing in a world where tradition and imagination meet.

“People like to use the words ‘labor of love,’” Tuttle tells the Scene. “But when you look at what a life of professional music does to you, it doesn’t necessarily love you back. When you’re chasing after your dreams, you start to ask: ‘Do

you love them or do you lust for them?’ It’s a fine line, I think.”

Recorded over two sessions in Nashville, the 11 songs are grounded in classic bluegrass — often at breakneck speed, as on a cover of Flatt and Scruggs’ “Ground Speed.” Throughout the album, fuzz bass and fiddle played through a rotating speaker collide with pristine banjo, mandolin and guitar runs as a big-hearted bluegrass punk explores the thoughtful depths of the human condition. The record offers mood music for high-mountain hippies, fusing psychedelic rock with rootsy string-band soul, like you hear in standout song “Hard to Say,” a song about recovering from loss that strays from its trad underpinnings with a Jerry Garcia-esque auto-wah banjo solo. Tuttle says he’s always been inspired by traditional acoustic music, but not entirely satisfied by it. And he’s also not afraid to freak people out.

“I think I’ve always been pretty good at just making music sound exactly the way I want it to sound for my own purposes,” he says. “I love Earl Scruggs, and I also love Jimi Hendrix, the Dead Kennedys and Ozzy Osbourne. Bluegrass music and bluegrass instrumentation is what has drawn me the most, and where I’ve ended up doing the most work. But if there’s some wacky combination of sounds I’m hearing in my head, I’m going to try and put it on the record … and

MUSIC: THE SPIN

KIND OF BLUE

PHOTO: JAY STRAUSSER

BY CHRIS PARTON

the goofball weirdos like me tend to like what I [like] too, it seems.”

Tuttle has played a few of the new songs live already, but he says to expect a new band including some of his A-list Americana friends to join him on Saturday, along with some special guests (about whom he remains tight-lipped).

They plan to give the “goofball weirdos” their money’s worth. The set list is made up of new material, and judging by his band’s lineup — Phoebe Hunt on fiddle, Mike Robinson of Railroad Earth on guitar, Tuttle’s Golden Highway bandmate Dominic Leslie on mandolin and Geoff Saunders (whom you may have seen with Sierra Ferrell’s band) on bass — there’ll be an invigorating zing of energy in the party atmosphere. That’s sure to be enhanced by fellow

FADE INTO YOU: SQUIRREL FLOWER

RAIN ROLLED DOWN the multicolored walls outside The Blue Room Saturday, and I walked in soaked, hoping the bad weather would subside. It was a night for cardigans and beanies, as well as gloomy lyrics and grungy guitars courtesy of Squirrel Flower and friends.

Melaina Kol, a relatively recent arrival to Nashville from North Carolina, was first to take the stage. It’s the solo project of enigmatic 20-something Logan Hornyak, who sat cross-legged with his cream-colored guitar at stage left out of the spotlight, creating a percussive backbone for the glitchy, lo-fi soundscape his live band spread out around him. The lyrics — if you could hear his soft vocals over the reversed samples and fuzz — spoke to anxiety and confusion characteristic of adolescence, in a sort of Animal Collective-esque way that prioritizes emotional impact over a clear narrative.

“Nx,” a song from Melaina Kol’s 2022 record Roach Friends, is made up of seemingly unrelated words recited over a repeating musical figure, with the rundown bisected by a lengthy instrumental break.

A short set break ensued, during which college students braved the elements to smoke or chat before singer-songwriter Greg Mendez took the stage. The lanky Philadelphia resident sat down with only an acoustic guitar, wearing a “Nashville, Indiana” shirt layered over a black long-sleeve.

Thanking the audience, he twisted his way through his lengthy discography, singing with a gentle warble reminiscent of Phil Elverum or Elliott Smith. Like the work of those songwriters, Mendez’s lyrics are disquieting and intensely autobiographical. “Sweet 16,” which appears on 2020’s Cherry Hell, is true to Mendez’s life: Because of addiction and plain bad luck, he spent a couple of

40

PHOTO: KRISTEN DRUM

BY BEN ARTHUR

years couch surfing or sleeping in a public park or locked car. He got clean in 2015 and released his first full-length album a year later.

He sang a few songs solo before inviting his wife Veronica Mendez to the stage. Their harmonies rang particularly well together during “Morgan,” when his tremble and her lush high register intertwined to recount a subway fight. Quickly, the song morphed into a restless depiction of agony and fear.

“Motherfucker put his hands on you,” Mendez sang, strumming more and more aggressively with his right hand. It was hard not to notice the large rose tattooed on that hand, perhaps a reminder of the connections between pain and beauty.

After another little break, Squirrel Flower — a childhood nickname for Chicago-based singer-songwriter and bandleader Ella Williams — took over.

The tall, curly-haired frontwoman strapped on her Gibson SG and launched straight into “Full Time Job,” from October’s Tomorrow’s Fire, like a Gen-Z version of Liz Phair. The gritty riff contrasted with her rich vocals that reflected on losing yourself to a partner. Eventually, the band’s performance dissolved

roots-schooled ringer Lillie Mae’s opening set, and there’ll be limited-edition green-splatter vinyl pressings of Labor of Lust at the merch table.

“It’s a really cool feeling, and there’s a lot of trust involved. Looking to your side and seeing your buddy, your friend who you’ve got a connection with that’s beyond just music … the magic moments pretty much just start happening right out of the gate. I just hope everybody walks out feeling like they had a damn good time.” ▼

Labor of Lust Out Friday, Feb. 16 Playing 8 p.m. Saturday at Eastside Bowl

into a singular, shrill note of feedback as the group shifted into the motorik groove of “Intheskatepark.” Williams sang, “On the roof and I’m breathing you in / In the dead of the summertime,” taking the audience back to a time when breaking curfews, stealing booze and trying to learn to express your feelings reigned above all.

A little later, Williams told the crowd about the uncanny feeling of finding out via Twitter that Russian rapper FACE used her song “Conditions” as the beat for his 2017 track “Лиза.” After that came “I Don’t Use a Trash Can,” which first appeared on her 2015 debut Early Winter Songs From Middle America but was rerecorded for Tomorrow’s Fire. Following the arrangement of the new version, Williams used a looping pedal Saturday to layer her vocals over themselves, creating a haunting choral effect combined with her rhythmic fingerpicking. With these several versions of Williams singing along with herself, the song was a moving depiction of self-sabotage and melancholy. For this song about solitude, the band stood quietly and watched her perform solo.

“I’m gonna bring up a friend for this one,” said Williams, introducing Carolina Chauffe, the mind behind widely traveling indie-folk outfit hemlock. If you’ve visited the merch table on this run of Squirrel Flower shows, you’ve met Chauffe; she is also a visual artist who’s created a set of linocut prints, sales of which benefit Mirna El Helbawi’s campaign to support Palestinian citizens in wartime with mobile network access via donated eSIM cards. Williams and Chauffe rolled into “Iowa 146,” a song capturing the intimacy of an early morning with a partner. “If I play you guitar / Will everything fall away,” they sang in harmony.

Hearing it in the context of the ongoing war in Gaza, it was hard to think about much besides all that’s wrong in the world: genocide, mass shootings, homelessness. You can hope that music will just take away all the anxiety and grief. It can’t. But capturing your feelings in song remains a vital way to try and process them and make a connection to others. ▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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AS SOMEONE WHO reviews films and is pretty obsessed with movies in general, I rarely go into a screening without an idea of what’s about to happen. Lately, I’ve become one of those “I don’t want to see the trailer” people, but even still, I usually have at least a decent understanding of what the film is about.

The Sweet East was the rare exception. I was not prepared for where this Odyssean satire of modern life was going to take its viewers.

All I knew going in was that a pair of rising stars — two of my personal favorite up-andcoming actors, Ayo Edebiri and Jacob Elordi — were involved in some capacity. I assumed it was a charming coming-of-age indie movie in the vein of Mid90s or The Kings of Summer. I wasn’t familiar with the director, had not seen a trailer, and had not read a review. I hadn’t even skimmed a Rotten Tomatoes blurb.

Less than 10 minutes into the proceedings, 2000s sketch-comedy oddball Andy Milonakis arrived on screen as a QAnon-esque madman attempting (and failing) to shoot up a bowling alley. I knew I was in for something far different, and far weirder, than what I originally expected.

Sean Price Williams — known mostly for his work as a cinematographer for indie filmmakers like the Safdie brothers and Alex Ross Perry — made sure to throw all of his thoughts on modern life into his directorial debut, possibly for fear of never getting another go at it. It makes for a tonally jumbled, truly bizarre and strangely compelling experience.

Talia Ryder, magnificent in the 2020 teen abortion drama Never Rarely Sometimes Always, stars as Lillian, a listless high school senior on a class trip to Washington, D.C. During her

trip, she’s separated from her classmates and ning playwright Jeremy O. Harris and Gibby embarks on a series of misadventures through Haynes of Butthole Surfers — have to say about modern America. It plays as a sort of post-ironic life in America in the 2020s. The various nutForrest Gump — with simultaneously lower and cases feel, at times, like they are barely more more realistic stakes — as Lillian runs than a cipher for screenwriter Nick into white supremacists, religious Pinkerton’s thoughts, but when you cults and clueless film-business gather together such a fun group figures. Scenes hazily blend into of actors, that hardly matters.

Visit nashvillescene.com to read one another. Instead of Gump’s A violently comedic, overour review of Madame Web. appearances at the most importthe-top clash between white ant events of the 20th century, The supremacists and perplexed crew Sweet East ambles its way through a members on a film set is the “Am I Twitter-curated discourse checklist. on drugs?” tipping point — it feels like Through each of her episodic stops, Lillian anything can happen from that point on. absorbs bits and pieces of what the eccentric Price Williams sends his Gen-Z Alice down a characters — played with a manic zest for the conspiracy-fueled rabbit hole, and the results material by the likes of Edebiri, Elordi, Simon are often baffling. But for a patient viewer, the Rex, MCU newbie Rish Shah, Tony Award-winpayoff may be worth it. ▼

The Sweet East R, 104 minutes Opening Friday, Feb. 16, at the Belcourt

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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A MATTER OF TASTE

The Taste of Things is a beautifully rendered romance

BY CRAIG D. LINDSEY

The Taste of Things NR, 135 minutes; in French with English subtitles Now playing at the Belcourt and AMC Thoroughbred 20

IF YOU’RE THE type of foodie who gets all tingly inside when you watch people prepare a meal with the utmost precision and dexterity — with a fuckton of ingredients — then the first half-hour of The Taste of Things will have you amped up in the way action junkies get whenever a batshit-crazy set piece appears in a Mission: Impossible or Fast & Furious movie.

Set in a 19th-century France that’s sunny, bucolic and full of people looking to get fed, the movie opens with seasoned (pardon the pun) cook Eugénie (Juliette Binoche) and her boss, revered gourmet Dodin (Benoît Magimel), preparing a blowout of French cuisine that makes the dinner from Babette’s Feast look like a sloppy, alcohol-fueled late-night order at Waffle House. We’re talking veal loin with braised lettuce; a vol-au-vent (a hollow case of puff pastry) filled with savory goodness; a big-ass milk-soaked turbot; and even baked Alaska for dessert. Along with their loyal servant Violette (Galatéa Bellugi) and her aspiring-chef niece Pauline (Bonnie Chagneau-Ravoire, looking like Anya Taylor-Joy’s mini-me), the pair work in perfect unison to effortlessly create a sumptuous and scrumptious midday meal for Dodin and his appreciative crew of waistcoat-wearing gourmands.

Taste marks the welcome return of Vietnamese-born French filmmaker Trần Anh Hùng (The Scent of Green Papaya), who hasn’t made a film since 2016’s Eternity. Inspired by Marcel Rouff’s 1924 novel The Life and Passion of Dodin-Bouffant, Gourmet, Taste is Hùng’s quiet origin story about a different type of hero — one whose biggest superpower is breaking down not only all the ingredients in a meal, but how the whole damn thing was put together.

Basically a sophisticated hangout movie, Taste is two hours and change of viewers simply getting to know this gang of good-natured gluttons. Whether his characters are in the kitchen preparing or in the dining room chowing down, Hùng twirls his camera all around them, capturing the enthusiastic synergy that comes when

people band together to develop (and devour) mouth-watering works of art. Dodin and his boys treat food like it’s practically a religion, even convening in a cabin to put tablecloths over their heads and nosh on freshly cooked ortolan — endangered songbirds that are highly delicious yet illegal to consume. (The tablecloths are allegedly used to keep in the aroma and prevent God from watching you.)

But Taste is mostly about the relationship between Binoche and Magimel’s culinary artistes.

Living and cooking together for two decades, Eugénie and Dodin have built their relationship on respect for cooking and each other. Dodin is clearly in love with his longtime partner in both the kitchen and the bedroom. (Although they sleep in different rooms, Dodin often asks if he can knock on her door for a late-night visit.)

While Eugénie prides herself on being a free spirit, even she has trouble turning down Dodin and his myriad marriage proposals. It’s very clear that Binoche and Magimel, former lovers and proud parents of a grown daughter, still have a relaxed, comfortable chemistry. It’s like Hùng intentionally got them back together (on camera, that is — Magimel is married to someone else) in order to give us a moving, darling portrait of a couple who not only admire and adore each other, but generally like each other.

And considering that Hùng dedicated Taste to his wife, actress and art-and-costume designer Trần Nữ Yên Khê (who has either starred in or worked on many of his films), the director seems to have made this film to give the down-withlove crowd some hope. (Yes, you can actually have a long-term toxicity-free relationship with someone who doesn’t bug the shit outta you!)

You’ll have such a precious, pleasant time with these folks and their delicious delights that you might get a bit peeved when darkness predictably comes to the third act. Nevertheless, The Taste of Things is a beautifully rendered romance about two dedicated gastronomists who, when they join forces, know how to make poetry with poultry. ▼

R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y R E P YO U R C I T Y

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NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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2/12/24 2:54 PM

BACK OF THE BOOK EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ

THIS TIME AWAY FROM YOUR PHONE BROUGHT TO YOU BY KENNETH TROOPE AT COMMUNITY MORTGAGE ADVISORS ACROSS

69

Basic linear expression with a hint to answering the five starred clues in this puzzle

29

Alternative genre

33

Non-___ (label on some organic foods)

DOWN

34

“September 1, 1939” poet

1

Talk, talk, talk

4

___ Henie, 10-time world champion skater

9

Desk jarful

13

Kind of palm

1

Quick blow

36

Skin-care product

15

Engine sound

2

37

Battery part

16

“You sure about that?”

Subject of a landmark 2012 Supreme Court decision, for short

39

Eagerly takes advantage of

*Cause of irritated eyes

3

Crumpled mass

40

Lead-in to port or pad

Feeling the effects of a tough workout, say

4

Reindeer in “Frozen”

41

5

Italian time unit

20

One out of 100: Abbr.

6

Finnish tech giant

Instrument notably featured in George Michael’s 1984 hit “Careless Whisper”

21

Inits. of two schools in the Missouri Valley Conference

7

Medieval competition

47

On

8

Boost

48

“Hallelujah!” singers

22

Catch dead to rights

9

One of three for a grand

49

One joining a union?

23

Alleviated

10

50

Like 48-Down members, often

26

*Many lovers, e.g.

Good thing to map out before a risky endeavor

51

Full of cargo

28

How something can be torn

11

Nothing: Lat.

52

Hopping mad

30

Hoppy medium?

12

Editor’s concern

53

Mohammed’s third wife

31

Top 40 genre

14

“A Doll’s House” playwright

57

32

Ginormous

18

Former “S.N.L.” comic Chris

City sometimes called “The Buckle of the Bible Belt”

35

Company where workers may sleep on the job

23

Third in a group of eight

60

Tool set

24

Japanese beer

61

Mess (with)

38

*Mayim of entertainment

25

62

How peers should be treated

42

Office newbie

Like an accomplishment worthy of Guinness

63

Villainous Luthor

43

Pop

26

Groups of hands

44

Card game similar to Crazy Eights

27

Steinbeck title starter

45

Common name starter in 31-Across

17 19

46

Drew forcibly (from)

49

*Way down in the nether regions

54

Word said while pointing

55

From memory only

56

D-backs, on scoreboards

57

Try to see?

58

Part of a Florida flock

59

*Book of Mary

64

“Whip It” band

65

Guiding principles

66

Flower girl?

67

Steinbeck title ender

68

“Swell!”

NO. 0111

PUZZLE BY DAMON GULCZYNSKI

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE

Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 9,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/ crosswords ($39.95 a year).

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Rental Scene

YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD LOCAL ATTRACTIONS

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· Ascend Amphitheater

FAVORITE LOCAL NEIGHBORHOOD BAR

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500 BrooksBoro Terrace, Nashville, TN 37217

Call the Rental Scene property you’re interested in and mention this ad to find out about a special

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46

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

promotion for Scene Readers

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Brighton Valley

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5 floor plans

576 - 864 sq ft starting at $1096 2 floor plans

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To advertise your property available for lease,

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contact Keith Wright at 615-557-4788 or kwright@fwpublishing.com

Cottages at Drakes Creek

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Rental Scene

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starting at $1400 3 floor plans

NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 - FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

47

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NASHVILLE SCENE • FEBRUARY 15 - FEBRUARY 21, 2024 • nashvillescene.com