Nashville Scene 2-9-23

CITY LIMITS: COOPER BOWS OUT OF REELECTION, OPENING UP MAYOR’S RACE PAGE 7

CULTURE: CHECKING IN WITH FLOWER SHOPS, MATCHMAKERS AND AN LGBTQ WEDDING PROVIDER AHEAD OF VALENTINE’S DAY

PAGE 28

SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

The Tennessee General Assembly is back in session, with the Republican supermajority planning to focus on infrastructure, punishing Metro Nashville and culture-war issues

Health and Well-Being ............................

More than 350,000 Tennesseans are expected to lose TennCare coverage, and attempts at abortion protections are arising

BY HANNAH HERNER

19

CRITICS’ PICKS

Ashley McBryde, Margaret Verble, Gabriel Iglesias, Love & Basketball and more 26

FOOD AND DRINK

Check, Please

Raising money to open a restaurant is a challenge. We talked to three restaurateurs about how they’re making it happen.

BY MARGARET LITTMAN

28

CULTURE

16

Where the Flowers Grow 28

Checking in with Nashville florists ahead of their busiest day of the year

BY HANNAH HERNER

Pride (in the Name of Love)

Maria Michonski celebrates queer love through Pride of Place Weddings

BY KELSEY BEYELER

Playing With Matches

28

30

What Nashville professional matchmakers say about dating success

BY HANNAH HERNER

33

BOOKS

Strategies for Survival

Margaret Verble’s Stealing weaves a tapestry of pain and resilience

BY

HAMILTON CAIN, CHAPTER16.ORG

35

MUSIC

Don’t Let the Light Fade 35 Death Cab for Cutie takes stock of their journey — and the road ahead — on Asphalt Meadows

BY BRITTNEY MCKENNA

The Art of Conversation .......................... 35 In Place Quartet cultivates a balletic brand of instrumental improvisation

BY SEAN L. MALONEY

Got

Photo by Hamilton Matthew

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FROM BILL FREEMAN

STATE REPUBLICANS AND GOV. LEE ARE PUSHING BILLS TO PUNISH NASHVILLE

In all my years as a businessman, and with all my involvement in politics, never have I seen such outright, vehement tossing of political grenades at an entire city as what the Republican-led state legislature has been up to. In August, Nashville’s Metro Council voted against inviting the Republican National Convention to the city, citing security and cost issues. “Locking down ‘nearly all of downtown’ could cost more than $100 million,” reported The Tennessean at the time, “and three previously scheduled conventions would need to be canceled to accommodate RNC crowds.” This of course would have cost Nashville even more. Logically, security was also a matter of serious concern and consideration.

Though we’ve passed those concerns, the entire city — and not just the Metro Council — is now facing the wrath of the GOP lawmakers who are angry over the RNC rejection. They are so angered, in fact, that they are working to either defund or take over everything in Metro Nashville they can get their hands on, starting with the Metro Council. And from all indications, they do not care whose rights they have to trample to make their point.

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To start, they’ve introduced HB48, legislation to cut down the size of the Metro Council from 40 to 20 members. Such a move “poses an existential threat not just to Nashville’s self-governance but to the constitutional rights of all local governments across the state,” reports The Tennessean “The larger council size ‘protects minority representation in government by creating more opportunities for diverse voices and perspectives to serve.’ Nashville voters [already] rejected a local referendum attempting to shrink the council to 27 members … by nearly a two-thirds margin in 2015.” The Tennessean’s David Plazas adds that the larger point “is one of respect for the selfdetermination and self-governance of ordinary citizens, who are stuck in the middle of a clash between state and city elected leaders over politics.” And according to Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville), any debate about the size of the Metro Council should be among local voters.

Next, Republican lawmakers targeted the Music City Center. SB648 would end “previously authorized privilege taxes … around the convention center,” which are used to fund the center. How is this in the best interest of Nashville or the state, when — as Mayor John Cooper has noted — “Nashville is the engine of the state’s economy”?

Republican Lt. Gov. Randy McNally has said, “Over the last year, Metro has made it clear they are no longer interested in aggressively recruiting top-tier conventions to Nashville.” But Axios reports that “conventions account for about 40 percent of the city’s tourism business.” Last year, the convention center even hosted convention planners the American Society of Association Executives to recruit more conventions. Hosting the ASAE in 2014 “led to 41 association conventions, 201,205 hotel room bookings and $120.5 million in direct visitor spending.” Furthermore, 84.5 percent of our state’s gross domestic product comes from metro areas, with the Nashville-FranklinMurfreesboro area accounting for 36.1 per-

cent of the total. The convention center’s contribution to that figure is nothing to dismiss.

Despite being the bull’s-eye of GOP legislators, the Music City Center has offered a $25.5 million downtown-improvement grant to Metro Nashville and the Nashville Downtown Partnership. The funds would go to improve streets, sidewalks, traffic safety and more. Says president and CEO Charles Starks, “The grant will be paid unless state leaders pursue a bill … to revoke six primary tax-revenue streams that maintain and operate the convention center.”

What’s more, Gov. Lee and Republican lawmakers have set their sights on the Airport Authority — of which I’m a member — the Sports Authority and venues like Bridgestone Arena. They have introduced two new bills that would undo the makeup of the boards and give the power to appoint most of their members to state legislators and the governor. Though Gov. Lee has been silent as usual on this issue, the governor must be supporting these bills — it’s unlikely they’re pushing his potential ability to appoint board members without his permission. Writes Sandy Mazza, “Both bills are written to apply only to areas with metropolitan governments and only those with populations of more than 500,000 people. Only Nashville-Davidson County meets the criteria.” Ridiculous! Nashville officials plan to fight the state in court if the bill passes. “There is no rational basis to create different rules that apply solely to Metro Nashville,” says Metro law director Wallace Dietz. “Any legislation that does so can create grounds for litigation.”

It’s no secret that politicians are often welded to their belief systems — but at the cost of potentially devastating an entire city and its reputation? That’s what could and likely will happen if the Republican lawmakers and Gov. Lee decide their desire for revenge is greater than their desire to serve and do the right thing. If they go this route, one word comes to mind — disappointing.

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TENNESSEE STATE SENATE IN SESSION

HONORING BLACK HISTORY

SHARING OUR STORIES

AIRS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2023

THE LEGACY OF ROSS FITNESS & RECREATION CENTER

RIBBON CUTTING AND DEDICATION

OCTOBER 16, 2007

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH RUTH ROSS EDMONDS, DDS, MDS

For the Love of Science: Plasma

Plasma is one of the most common states of matter in the universe. It’s considered the fourth state of matter apart from solid, liquid and gas.

Opposites Attract Seeing Sparks

Plasma is unique because it is a gas that consists of an equal quantity of positive ions and negative electrons.

Nikola Tesla invented the plasma ball in February1894 when he realized applying a high voltage electric field to ionized gas in a glass ball would cause sparks to create an electric glow throughout the glass.

An Electric Touch

The light in a plasma ball can be redirected towards your fingers when you touch it because you’re creating an electrical current strong enough to cause the gas particles to move.

COOPER BOWS OUT OF REELECTION, OPENING UP MAYOR’S RACE

BY ELI MOTYCKA

Typically mayors run for reelection and win. Nashville had just six over a span of 50 years, an era of stability that ended when Karl Dean left office in 2015 amid the city’s ascendant national profile. Since then, a rotating cast of leaders has tried to steer the city through a historic population boom, skyrocketing home prices, standstill traffic, shuttered meat-and-threes, vindictive state lawmakers and the hot-tub-toting tractors for which the city is now known, all failing to unite civic leaders and disgruntled residents who agree only that Nashville is on the wrong track.

With the surprise announcement last week that he would not seek a second term, Mayor John Cooper guaranteed that yet another candidate will have a shot as the city’s chief executive. Elections this summer will be the city’s third changing of the guard since Megan Barry resigned in March 2018 amid scandal surrounding an affair with her bodyguard. Cooper cruised to victory over David Briley in 2019 promising sound financial management and a focus on breadand-butter issues like schools, sidewalks and government efficiency. As its most visible leader, he became its most popular punching bag as Nashville’s structural problems — traffic, potholes, insufficient transportation infrastructure, understaffed and underfunded Metro departments, an inadequate and prohibitively expensive housing supply — got worse. Amplifying effects of the COVID pandemic and various other term-defining obstacles, like the downtown Christmas Day bombing in 2020 and the Titans’ billion-dollar bill coming due after

three decades, did not help.

While he avoided any real scandals and kept the city functional — an overdue tax increase in 2021 made him few friends but sidestepped crisis — many onetime supporters soured on him personally, eroding a once-reliable base of support from across Metro and in downtown business circles. A revolving door inside his administration (and the gossip that escaped) earned him a reputation as a micromanager, quick to anger and quick to infantilize. Dealmaking with Cooper often upended projected timetables even as his office harried councilmembers for their stamps of approval.

While sources close to Cooper assure us he would have won reelection easily, they also admit that he didn’t want to win — at least not enough to write the checks necessary to float a million-dollar campaign or to defy the wishes of his wife Laura, whose reticence apparently weighed heavily on his decision to hang up his loafers and return to Woodlawn Drive.

He leaves the field wide open. Metro has been buzzing with gossip since Cooper bowed out, and a long list of potentials now appends three original challengers: District 19 Councilmember Freddie O’Connell, Councilmember At-Large Sharon Hurt and former Metro executive Matt Wiltshire. Big money has lined up behind Wiltshire, whose year-end financial disclosures show $1 million on hand for the campaign. Wiltshire’s boosters include Old Nashville powerbroker Aubrey Harwell, development titan Bert Mathews, Max and Ben Goldberg of Strategic Hospitality, a handful of Frists, and a cast of Metro veterans like Rich Riebeling and Kevin Crumbo. Cooper drew support from

a similar West Side crowd, leaving Wiltshire to grow his moneyed and influential base.

Bruce Dobie’s Power Poll sampled the same demographic in the hours following Cooper’s press conference; it returned overwhelming support for Wiltshire along with a slight nod toward potential candidate Bob Freeman, a state representative with the wealth and name recognition to jump in quickly, who has expressed interest. (Disclosure: Freeman’s father Bill Freeman owns FW Publishing, the Scene’s parent company.)

O’Connell reported $263,000 on hand, enough to sustain a formidable campaign through August. A tireless campaigner who keeps his schedule full, O’Connell has built a reputation as a pragmatic lawmaker with a sophisticated understanding of Metro’s sprawling bureaucracy in his eight years as a Salemtown councilmember. Hurt began fundraising in December and has reported raising $5,200, but she can count on strong support from North Nashville, her political home. (Her literal home is currently in Bellevue.) Sources close to the mayor say Hurt’s candidacy, more than Wiltshire’s or O’Connell’s, made Cooper pause and recalculate his path to reelection. Retired AllianceBernstein executive Jim Gingrich stands on the sidelines, along with the staff he has reportedly hired.

Metro property assessor and former two-term Councilmember Vivian Wilhoite announced she was exploring candidacy in the hours (if not minutes) after Cooper’s announcement. Councilmember At-Large Bob Mendes has shown interest, and former Mayor Megan Barry has been making calls — her 2018 charges have been expunged and don’t bar her from a political comeback. Short lists over the past week also include Charles Robert Bone and state Sens. Heidi Campbell and Jeff Yarbro — really anyone who’s had their name on a yard sign in the past decade. With a few phone calls, longtime U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, newly unemployed, could quickly become a favorite and potentially keep the mayor’s office in the family.

The city’s next mayor has the unenviable task of stemming the crises of transportation, housing, state relations and affordability that continue to crash down on the city without an effective coordinated response. Candidates have six months to convince voters they can get Nashville back on any kind of track. EMAIL

THIS WEEK ON OUR NEWS AND POLITICS BLOG:

Mayor John Cooper announced that he will not seek a second term, opening up the 2023 mayor’s race and taking the pressure off Cooper’s last nine months in office. Councilmembers Sharon Hurt and Freddie O’Connell are already campaigning for the city’s top post, as is former investment banker and Metro economic development officer Matt Wiltshire, who leads the field in fundraising. … State lawmakers are advancing legislation that would ban gender-affirming care for minors. Tennessee leaders ramped up efforts targeting transgender people early last fall, joining GOP lawmakers in Texas and Alabama in pursuing increasingly aggressive gender politics. … Homeowners are exploring legal avenues to block a proposed 417-unit development in Bellevue by Houstonbased real estate company Cypressbrook Councilmember Dave Rosenberg supports the complex, which he says would come with improvements to the area’s greenway system and relieve pressure caused by Nashville’s housing shortage. Residents worry about traffic and construction. The Harpeth Crest Homeowners’ Association plans to fight developers’ access to two key easements. … A few miles away, residents in West Nashville are fighting AJ Capital’s plans to redevelop Belle Meade Plaza, a decades-old strip mall at Harding and White Bridge Pike. … The Nashville Predators are struggling to break into playoff position while the Memphis Grizzlies scrap for the top spot in the Western Conference. … The TSU Aristocrat of Bands took home a Grammy for Best Gospel Roots Album, the first Grammy win by a college marching band. The North Nashville ensemble was the focus of last week’s Scene cover story. … Nashville-based artist Molly Tuttle took home a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album, and Bonnie Raitt took home Song of the Year for “Just Like That.” Raitt ended the night with three new trophies, bringing her all-time total to 15. … New legislation sponsored by Republican state Rep. Paul Sherrell and Republican state Sen. Frank Niceley aims to rename Rep. John Lewis Way in Nashville after former President Donald Trump. The stunt’s pettiness and racism have a weak legal foundation, writes contributor Betsy Phillips, and it could easily be reversed once lawmakers go home this summer. … Metro this week announced the launch of REACH, a non-police emergency response program partnering paramedics and mental health clinicians. … Gov. Bill Lee delivered his fifth State of the State address on Monday.

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Suddenly everyone is a candidate as Nashville’s search for political stability continues in 2023

FREDDIE O’CONNELL SHARON HURT MATT WILTSHIRE

RAPE KIT AVAILABILITY HAS GROWN IMMENSELY, THOUGH A PROCESSING BACKLOG REMAINS

BY HANNAH HERNER

Before 2018, there was only one place a victim of sexual assault could get a sexual assault forensic exam, also known as a rape kit, completed in Nashville.

Katrina Brown, lead of the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner team at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, remembers turning patients away in those years. She had the choice of discharging the patient and directing them to Nashville General, or the police would give them a ride in the back of their car — a potentially traumatic experience in its own right.

“If we had a patient come in saying, ‘I have been sexually assaulted, I’d like a rape kit,’ we would have to look at that patient and say, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t help you here,’ ” says Brown. “It was heartbreaking. I can only imagine being a woman or having it be my daughter in that scenario,

TBI STILL WORKING TO FILL POSITIONS, REDUCE SEXUAL ASSAULT TESTING BACKLOG

The bureau aims to fill 25 positions and play catchup on sexual assault kits that still await testing

BY MATT MASTERS

The September killing of Memphis teacher Eliza Fletcher was met with public outrage and memorials, as well an announcement that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation forensic lab would fill 25 new positions. But more than four months later, those positions are still unfilled.

Among those prospective positions are 20 scientists and five administrative support positions, including eight positions in the bureau’s Jackson lab, 11 in the Nashville lab and six in the Knoxville lab. As of Feb. 1, the TBI says the hiring process for those positions is “active and ongoing,” though it’s unclear when the agency expects to have them all filled.

“Labs across the country face hiring challenges for qualified forensic talent,” TBI communications director Josh DeVine tells the Scene in an email, noting that “current TBI compensation makes this difficult.”

“Overall, we’re pleased [with] the pool of candidates we have seen for our positions, but certainly believe increased salaries could help us better recruit and retain scientists.”

In addition to passing the initial interview process

and how disheartening and frustrating that is, especially when you’ve already been victimized.”

In 2018, the Sexual Assault Center opened its SAFE — or Sexual Assault Forensic Exam — Clinic, prompted by a citywide task force led by then-Mayor Megan Barry. Today, sexual assault forensic exams are available at VUMC, St. Thomas Midtown and Skyline Medical Center, as well as Nashville General Hospital and the Sexual Assault Center. However, nurses like Brown advise patients to expect to wait at least a year before any action will be taken on their case.

In July 2021, the state legislature passed the Jim Coley Protection for Rape Survivors Act, and one year later implemented a sexual assault kit tracking website. A bill introduced in December would require that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation test the evidence within 30 days. The state’s labs are understaffed, and it’s unclear whether

and meeting other job requirements, those new hires must also undergo 18 months of training prior to taking on a role that includes working cases, testifying in court and responding to crime scenes.

According to the TBI’s 2021 statewide crime data, the latest available, there were 2,367 reported incidents of forcible rape, while the Metro Nashville Police Department reported 521 rapes in 2022. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 63 percent of rapes go unreported to law enforcement, making it the most underreported crime in the United States. National nonprofit Joyful Heart Foundation’s End the Backlog program reports that “Tennessee has achieved four of six pillars of rape kit reform,” with the group citing backlogged testing and reform funding as issues that need to be addressed by the state.

The TBI provided the Scene with data on sexual assault kits (SAKs) that have been submitted and are awaiting testing as of Jan. 30, revealing a total of 717 kits in the statewide system — 422 of those have been in the system more than 90 days. DeVine says the TBI doesn’t regularly keep records of the number of outstanding SAKs submitted from each specific agency across the state, adding that more clear data is complicated by the nature of how crimes are reported and categorized. TBI data from December did reveal turnaround testing times from forensic biology units from each of the three labs, with Nashville at 26 weeks, Knoxville at 39.7 weeks and Jackson at 43.8 weeks for sex-offense crime testing.

The agency also reported that since 2019, Nashville’s forensic biology unit has averaged 78.9 case submissions per month, or 6.1 case submissions per scientist. The numbers show an average of 59.6 case submissions per month, or 6.7 case submissions per scientist in Knoxville; and an average of 54.2 case submissions per month, or 5.4 case submissions per scientist in Jackson.

DeVine says the TBI has “the highest number of submitted requests analyzed per scientist,” and cites

the state has hired the 25 new lab positions announced last fall.

“They are sitting on a shelf until someone has time to pick it up and process it, which is unfortunate,” says Kelly Peters, director of advocacy and director of the SAFE Clinic at the Sexual Assault Center. “I think that’s a societal thing in how we don’t prioritize victims and crimes against women.”

Nurses who administer rape kits, like Julie Davis and her team of 10 nurse practitioners, hold themselves to a “traumainformed” standard. These nurses are contracted through Nashville General Hospital to respond to calls at area hospitals and the Sexual Assault Center. (VUMC has its own team.) Timing is important, as victims must complete the sexual assault forensic exam within 120 hours of the assault. Davis says when she gets an inquiry from out of the county, she sends them to the Sexual Assault Center.

“We try to send as many people as we can to the Sexual Assault Center, just because of the atmosphere,” Davis says. “It’s not like the emergency department. It’s more personable.”

Brown says it is considered best practice for nurses to complete Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner training before administering rape kits. A rape kit can be administered by a bedside nurse or physician in a pinch, though calling in a SANE nurse team is considered ideal because they’re on call specifi-

cally for this task. Additionally, at hospitals, patients there to receive a sexual assault forensic exam are considered “high priority” for being taken to an exam room, Brown says. Also as part of trauma-informed care, an advocate from the Sexual Assault Center accompanies the SANE nurse and follows up with the victim if they wish.

“One of the best and most wonderful and unique things about our role is that we have the ability to sit down with a patient and talk to them, because our only priority is that particular patient in that moment of time,” Brown says. “We’re not being pulled out of the room to go see another patient immediately.”

Since it opened, the Sexual Assault Center’s SAFE Clinic has seen a growing number of victims come forward and complete rape kits. Access has improved, though for now, victims will still wait years for the criminal justice system to catch up.

“I think the availability and the sole focus and it not being at a hospital allowed more people to come forward than they probably would have in the years prior,” Peters says. “Just having a place where they know that that’s the only thing that we do, and that it’s going to be probably a faster experience than going to the hospital, and they can be as comfortable here as possible — that they come forward more, which is what the intention was.”

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a West Virginia University Department of Business forensic laboratory staffing calculator determining that the TBI crime laboratories required an additional 71 positions based on 2019-20 data. In order to boost efficiency, the agency reports that in July it restructured its Forensic Services Divison and recently implemented Y-screening, a “presumptive test to quickly determine the presence of the male Y-chromosome, as males are most often offenders in sexual assault cases.”

The pressure to speed up testing may continue to build. A bill has been introduced in the current state legislative session that would require the TBI to test evidence within 30 days.

“The governor and General Assembly provided critical support to the TBI in this most recent budget to begin addressing those challenges,” DeVine says. “While it would be premature to discuss specific legislation at this time, the discussions we’ve had about long-term solutions have us optimistic for a fix that better positions the bureau for its future.”

In 2018, the Sexual Assault Center opened its Sexual Assault Forensic Exam (SAFE) Clinic in North Nashville, which administers sexual assault forensic

exams and provides other resources.

“The detectives that we work with are fantastic,” says Kelly Peters, director of advocacy and director of the SAFE Clinic at the Sexual Assault Center. “They know how to respond in a trauma-informed way, they are educated on sexual violence, they know how to approach a victim to keep them comfortable and engaged.”

Peters says survivors who utilize the center’s services are not required to report the crime to police, but that the center’s positive working relationships with MNPD detectives who specialize in sex crimes mean they can help connect a survivor with trusted law enforcement officials.

“Of course, we want them to [report to law enforcement] so offenders can be held accountable, but it’s their choice, and we will support whatever decision they make,” Peters says.

“Having that relationship and wrapping those services around [a] victim just helps the process from reporting and coming in for an exam, to getting the healing services that you need, to holding offenders accountable and moving forward with a prosecution.”

Trauma-informed care is at the forefront at five locations in Nashville

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SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

The Tennessee General Assembly is back in session, with the Republican supermajority planning to focus on infrastructure, punishing Metro Nashville and culture-war issues

Tennessee’s 113th General Assembly gaveled in last month, and will continue on until lawmakers finalize the budget this spring. Technically, that’s the only requirement of the two legislative chambers laid out in the state constitution — that the assembly approve all public spending for the year. But as per usual, there will be plenty of other squabbling and legislation along the way.

Here in the early days of the session, Tennessee’s Republican supermajority has already made national headlines for advancing legislation to ban gender-affirming care for minors. They’ve also proposed renaming a portion of Rep. John Lewis Way here in Nashville “President Donald Trump Boulevard,” and pitched cutting the number of Metro councilmembers from 40 down to 20. (The latter is seen by many as a punishment for the body’s rejection of a proposed Republican National Convention here in 2024.) Tennesseans can expect plenty more of that sort of thing as various legislators seek to gain ground on national culture-war issues.

In his State of the State address on Monday night, Gov. Bill Lee touted his Tennessee Works Act and pledged to suspend grocery taxes for a three-month stretch. He also warned about the “influence of the Chinese Communist Party” and “the dangers of a drug crisis stemming from an open border.”

Meanwhile in the background, legislation pertaining to education, infrastructure, health care, criminal justice and the state’s Department of Children’s Services is up for consideration.

In this week’s issue, we dive into all of the above. Read on for details on what to expect in this year’s ongoing legislative session. —D. PATRICK

RODGERS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

STATEWIDE INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADES

With his proposed Transportation Modernization Act, the governor wants to add lanes to existing highways through public-private partnerships

BY CONNOR DARYANI

MEMBERS OF THE TENNESSEE GENERAL ASSEMBLY on both sides of the aisle are in rare agreement on an issue: The state’s infrastructure is in dire need of an overhaul. The sentiment may be bipartisan, but with Tennessee’s estimated needs list tallying roughly $63 billion, solutions and funding strategies are rocky terrain.

Transportation infrastructure makes up the biggest chunk of this number, with estimates ranging from $26 billion to upwards of $30 billion, and going into his second term, Gov. Bill Lee made it clear that this would be a priority. While we haven’t yet seen any related legislation, Lee’s proposed Transportation Modernization Act is already creating a stir. Based on press releases and a presentation in early January, the biggest focus of Lee’s plan is adding lanes to existing highways through public-private partnerships. In Nashville, this would mean “choice lanes” where drivers could pay a fee in order to theoretically avoid congestion.

In recent years, multimodal options such as bike lanes and bus lines have become increasingly popular in Nashville. But not only does this plan seem not to acknowledge multimodal options, state Sen. Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville) says it could prove to be a setback in the city’s movement away from cars.

“Chronically, we have made decisions that have not benefited Nashville’s environments and our health and our well-being, and this is an opportunity for us to change that,” says Campbell. “And once again, we find that we’re being influenced by the state to have to miss opportunities in Nashville for healthier multimodal options.”

Campbell also has mixed feelings about going the public-private partnership route, a funding structure that can speed up delivery times but brings an element of murkiness when it comes to where the financial burdens fall. Lee is pursuing that strategy in an effort to avoid increasing the gas tax or taking on new state debt.

“Our state — very recently, especially — has a history of being irresponsible when it comes to privatized public works in general,” Campbell tells the Scene. “What I don’t want to see is the state profiting from Nashville workers who are paying to use those lanes. I want that money to get back to Nashville.”

Despite the focus on roads, Tennessee legislators on both sides of the aisle are also in the early stages of trying to increase Amtrak’s presence in the state, with TDOT last year showing interest in using passenger rail to link Tennessee’s major cities. Federal funding applications for the project are due March 20. ■

CULTURE WARRIORS

State Republicans are using this legislative session to target the LGBTQ community

BY STEPHEN ELLIOTT

IT’S COMMON for the Tennessee General Assembly to spend hours and hours debating meaningless legislation designed to trigger or troll. Some of the geniuses down there threw a fit a decade ago when they thought a new sink for rinsing mops was instead a foot bath for Muslim people heading to prayer. They frequently spend time and taxpayer money arguing over whether the Bible should be the official state book or whether to honor random people like Elon Musk.

But a new front in this never-ending culture war could have more immediate effects on people’s lives than a resolution celebrating The Daily Wire.

LGBTQ community members and advocates are raising alarms about multiple pieces of legislation aimed both at trans health care and drag performances. On the drag front: A bill would criminalize public drag performances that appeal “to a prurient interest.” Despite the sponsor’s protestations, some critics argue the language is vague enough that a zealous police officer or prosecutor could interpret the law to apply to the mere existence of a trans person in public spaces. Depending on interpretation of “prurient interest,” the ban could also affect Pride parades featuring drag performers or drag buses and brunches, or someone in a Halloween costume.

Legislation is also moving forward that would ban gender-affirming care for minors in the state, a response to last year’s conservative uproar upon discovering that Vanderbilt University Medical Center has performed a handful of gender reassignment surgeries on older teenagers (though the ban would cover hormone therapy, too). ■

THE METRO PUNISHERS

Republicans are making good on the threats to get their pound of flesh from Nashville

BY STEPHEN ELLIOTT

WHEN NASHVILLE’S METRO COUNCIL voted last year not to support a bid for the city to host the 2024 Republican National Convention, citing security concerns, the Republicans who control the state were aghast.

“The people of Tennessee will remember this vote for a long time, and so will I,” said House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland).

Republicans are making good on the threats to get their pound of flesh.

First, legislative leaders unveiled a proposal to cap Nashville’s 40-member Metro Council at 20 members. A little frustrating, some Metro leaders thought, but not the end of the world: There are some benefits to a smaller council, after all.

But the hits kept coming.

Republican leaders recently filed a bill that would strip the state-allowed tax funding for the $623 million Music City Center, which could result in legal and financial chaos for the city. Then Republicans filed legislation that would hand control of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority and the Metropolitan Sports Authority over to the state.

It remains to be seen whether all of the proposals will pass (they easily could, as they are supported by Republican leaders in the GOP-dominated legislature), whether they are simply a show of force to remind Nashville who’s boss, or whether the House and Senate are using these competing proposals as bargaining chits among themselves.

What does not remain to be seen: Any such bill will result in lawsuits.

“There is no rational basis to create different rules that apply solely to Metro Nashville,” says Metro legal director Wally Dietz. “Any legislation that does so can create grounds for litigation.” ■

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

American Currents: State of the Music

EXHIBIT NOW OPEN

DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN’S SERVICES IN SHAMBLES

The department commissioner wants supplemental funding in part to increase bed capacity for kids without homes

BY KELSEY BEYELER

THE TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN’S SERVICES has been in shambles, and this year’s legislative session will determine how much support DCS receives to improve its situation moving forward.

There have been multiple reports regarding the extreme, crisis-level conditions at DCS, including one published by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury in December. The report highlights how the department is failing the children in its care due to overcapacity and understaffing, with children having to sleep in state offices and hospital beds. Meanwhile, some instances of abuse, neglect and harassment are going under-addressed.

Margie Quin has served as DCS commissioner since September and told the state House Finance, Ways and Means Committee on Jan. 30 that between three and 30 children are sleeping in offices and transitional homes each night. During the meeting, she requested $26.6 million in supplemental funding to increase bed capacity, incentivize people to foster hard-to-place populations like teens and sibling groups and improve employee retention. This funding request comes alongside a state budget request for more than $156 million. Though funding will be an important mechanism to address the DCS situation, lawmakers have also proposed bills that would increase reporting requirements, address staff caseload levels and add mental health supports for adolescents under the department’s care.

“It really boils down to additional funding for some of our employees at DCS,” says Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis). “I do think it’s a bipartisan issue that we all understand. We’re at a crisis level, and something’s going to have to be done, and I think primarily additional funding to DCS we can agree on. I’m sure there will be other areas where we will not agree on.” ■

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Proposed legislation focuses on increased punishment and tweaks to the state’s execution protocol

BY ELI MOTYCKA

GOV. BILL LEE and state lawmakers have made uneven progress on criminal justice reform over the past two years, ratcheting up sentencing and penalties in some areas while easing some aspects of the state parole process and expanding alternatives to incarceration. Passed during last year’s session, the so-called Truth in Sentencing legislation requires those convicted of specific violent crimes to serve 100 percent of a sentence with no opportunity for reduced time. The law, which runs counter to the goals of most criminal-justice advocates, passed without a signature from the governor. Meanwhile, dispatches continue to shed light on horrific conditions in state prisons, specifically delayed and insufficient inmate health care — state contractor CoreCivic was sued again in January for negligence, this time for its role in the 2022 death of Joshua Cody Lloyd at a Wayne County facility. Vaunted criminal justice reform rhetoric from Lee has fallen by the wayside since reelection. In its place, Lee has shown a renewed interest in getting more state executions on the books after an internal investigation into its lethal injection process forced a hiatus through much of last year.

This session, legislation is passing up systemic reforms in favor of targeted tweaks and stronger punishment. House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland) has already made progress with a pair of bills that would formalize bio-surveillance for DUI offenders, legalizing GPS tracking for ignition breathalyzers and ankle monitors for repeat offenders that test sweat for alcohol. Two West Tennessee lawmakers want a report on the state’s vast inventory of untested sexual assault collection kits — advocates say there are very many. Legislators plan to set up a state witness protection program; others, led by state Sen. Mark Pody (R-Lebanon), aim to dismantle community oversight boards operating in local municipalities like Nashville.

While the state awaits a revised lethal injection protocol from Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada, a few proposed interventions could further complicate the state’s ability to carry out executions. Pody also sponsors a bill to make public the entities that supply TDOC’s three-drug cocktail of midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride. Doxxing the deadly supply chain would be a win for transparency and likely make a difficult procurement process nearly impossible for the state, which already struggles to get lethal injection supplies according to internal documents. Another bill would smooth the process for paying an expert hired to determine whether a death row defendant qualifies as intellectually disabled. In the case that the state can’t continue to rely on lethal injection for executions, legislation sponsored by Sen. Frank Niceley (R-Strawberry Plains) and Rep. Dennis Powers (RJacksboro) would confirm electrocution as the state’s alternative method of capital punishment. ■

IN THE CLASSROOM

Education-related legislation this session will include thirdgrade retention, ESAs and more culture-war issues

BY KELSEY BEYELER

THE PAST FEW YEARS have seen significant developments in education at the state level, resulting in a new funding formula, myriad culturewar-inspired legislation and much more. Though this year’s legislative session likely won’t be as monumental as previous ones, it will still see plenty of bills affecting students and educators across Tennessee, for better and for worse.

Among the most discussed issues going into this session is 2021 legislation that would hold back certain third-grade students who don’t pass the English Language Arts section of the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program tests and who don’t receive specified interventions. The legislation, which is set to go into effect this year, has seen widespread criticism from parents, educators and school leaders. Legislators on both sides of the aisle have expressed interest in revisiting the law,

and a slew of bills seeks to address it through various approaches, from starting retention requirements earlier to rolling them back altogether. Though it may feel like the Tennessee General Assembly’s Republican supermajority has exhausted every possible wedge issue, several more culture-war skirmishes have popped up this year. One bill seeks to remove implicit bias training requirements and another targets trans athletes in private schools by authorizing institutions to “create a policy to regulate a student’s participation in the school’s athletic activities or events based upon a student’s biological sex.”

Elsewhere, several bills seeking to expand eligibility for the Education Savings Account program — which allows certain students to use taxpayer money to attend private schools — have been filed despite the fact that the initial pilot program is still in its infancy after years of being held up in court. Additionally, several bills attempt to address school safety; while some offer vague guidelines regarding school safety plans or allocate funding to enhance security measures, others seek to allow school staff members to carry firearms.

Bills that could actually help students and educators include many seeking to increase the teacher pipeline by widening access and removing barriers to the profession, along with bills aiming to widen postsecondary opportunities for students. ■

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HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

BY HANNAH HERNER

TENNCARE, the state’s Medicaid insurance, will start its 12-month unwinding process on April 1 after yearly renewals went on pause for three years due to COVID-19. More than 350,000 Tennesseeans are expected to lose coverage either because they don’t qualify anymore or because of a clerical error — such as not receiving, completing or returning the paperwork for renewal properly.

TennCare presented its redetermination plan to the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee on Jan. 31.

“This renewal process will be a substantial undertaking for Tennessee,” says Stephen Smith, director of TennCare. “I can say with every confidence that Tennessee is well-positioned to go through this process.” He adds that “the federal government could throw a wrinkle into things with unreasonable or confusing rules or guidance.”

New to this particular renewal process is “auto-renewal,” wherein TennCare will use data from places like SNAP and TANF to precomplete some of the renewal packet without further documentation of income. TennCare officials hope to see 50 percent preapproved this way. The organization is also introducing “nudging” to text, email or call members during their renewal month.

TennCare officials also promised to transfer data to the federal Health Insurance Marketplace for those deemed ineligible for TennCare. Tennessee is now one of just 10 states that haven’t expanded Medicaid, so many Tennesseans in need go without health coverage anyway.

Gov. Bill Lee appointed a new health commissioner in November — Ralph Alvarado, who is for abortion bans. His first controversy in office is the refusal to accept Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding for HIV prevention centers, because “it is in the best interest of Tennesseans for the state to assume direct financial and managerial response for these services.” He’ll be back to discuss the budget in March.

As it stands in Tennessee, abortion is completely banned due to a trigger law that went into effect last year after Roe v. Wade was overturned. The law provides only an “affirmative defense” against a class-C felony for doctors who perform an abortion to save the life of the mother. However, a November poll showed that 75 percent of Tennesseans believe abortion should be legal in cases of rape and incest.

The Fundamental Right to Reproductive Health Care Act (SB762/HB829), introduced by Tennessee Democrats, would rewrite the current law to prohibit state and local officials from interfering with reproductive decisions, eliminate criminal penalties, protect doctors from criminal charges around abortion and improve access to medication abortion. There’s also a bill (HB1084/SB885) designed to clarify that abortion does not include contraceptives.

Perhaps the sneakiest bill to watch is SB857/HB1440, which would allow abortions in the case of rape or incest, but there’s a huge caveat. The physician cannot do it legally unless the patient reported the offense to a law enforcement agency — and the pregnant person is at risk of three years of jail time for a false report of rape or incest. The bill was brought forth by state Rep. Iris Rudder (R-Winchester) and Sen.

More than 350,000 Tennesseans are expected to lose TennCare coverage, and attempts at abortion protections are arising

March

CRITICS’ PICKS

WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF THINGS TO DO

THURSDAY / 2.9

BOOKS

[NATIVE

TONGUE] MARGARET VERBLE

In recent years, media outlets have begun to better explore the dark history of so-called Indian boarding schools — institutions created often by Christian churches that forcibly enrolled Indigenous children and stripped them of their heritage, culture and language, assimilating them to European American life. In addition to the trauma of being torn away from their families, many of these children were abused, and some were killed. When the U.S. government launched a first-of-its-kind study of the schools, it found evidence of hundreds of mass graves at the sites. The trauma is unimaginable, but we should still seek to understand. And sometimes, fictional accounts via books, film and other media can provide access that is more personal than news stories — that is, if they are told responsibly by Native people. Margaret Verble, who was raised in Nashville, is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation. The New York Times called her 2019 novel Cherokee America “an essential corrective to the racially tinged myths created to justify the annihilation of indigenous cultures and the theft of native lands.” Her new novel, Stealing, is about a Cherokee child removed from her family and sent to a Christian boarding school in the 1950s. (Read more about Stealing in this week’s books coverage.) Verble will discuss her book with author Jennie Fields. 6:30 p.m. at Parnassus Books, 3900 Hillsboro Pike

ERICA CICCARONE

MUSIC

album, The Miracles’ crazed 1975 tribute to the allure of Los Angeles, City of Angels, but what the hell — after all, this is pop. Feb. 9-11 at the Schermerhorn, 1 Symphony Place

EDD HURT

FRIDAY / 2.10

HISTORY

[LIVING HISTORY]

NASHVILLE CONFERENCE ON

AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE

For over 40 years, the Nashville Conference on African American History and Culture has gathered historians, educators, students and anyone with an interest in understanding local Black culture and history. A program of the Metro Historical Commission and Tennessee State University, the conference is a vital part of our living history. This year’s online event will explore several topics, among them Tennessee’s rural Black communities, our state’s Black lodges and cemeteries, women’s participation in communal experiences, and Black Civil War veterans of the Bass Street neighborhood. The Fisk University Stagecrafters and Tennessee State University Meistersingers will provide culturally rich entertainment. Guests include our official Davidson County historian Dr. Carole Bucy, founder and publisher of The Nashville Historical Cassandra Easley, author Leigh Ann Gardner, Southeastern historical and mortuary archaeologist Clélie Cottle Peacock and many more. Visit ncaahc.org to register. 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. online

ERICA CICCARONE

[BARK

AT THE MOON] LEROY POWELL

The East Side hideout The Underdog showcases some of Music City’s most exciting six-string slingers, with Leroy Powell set to feature at the guitarists’ hideaway each Thursday in February.

Powell’s extensive résumé features collaborations with country music icons such as Reba McEntire, Billy Ray Cyrus, Travis Tritt and Sturgill Simpson, though his work with Shooter Jennings (son of outlaw legend Waylon Jennings) ranks as Powell’s most powerful contribution as a hired gun. “Gone to Carolina” from Live at Irving Plaza 4.18.06 especially highlights Powell’s Southern rock prowess. His recent collaboration with celebrated singersongwriter Tim Jones, dubbed Whiskey Wolves of the West, pushes cosmic country to ever groovier heights, most notably on 2022’s “I Found the Light.” Not one to rest on his laurels, Powell in January released the soulful single “Kindness Peace and Grace” backed with the B-side “You Need Only to Be Still,” and expanded an already prolific palette as an artist. 7 p.m. at The Underdog, 3208 Gallatin Pike JASON VERSTEGEN

MUSIC

[I

HEAR A SYMPHONY] DANCING IN THE STREET: MUSIC OF MOTOWN

The recent death of Motown Records singer, songwriter and producer Barrett Strong — whose 1960 version of Berry Gordy Jr. and Janice Bradford’s “Money (That’s What I Want)” became the label’s first hit — might remind you how essential the Motown sound was to ’60s pop. In the firmament of R&B rhythm sections, the playing of Motown stalwarts like bassist James Jamerson and drummer Benny Benjamin ranks with the similar efforts of, say, Donald “Duck” Dunn and Al Jackson Jr. at Memphis’ Stax Records and David Hood and Roger Hawkins in Muscle Shoals, Ala. While Stax and the Alabama label FAME made singles that aimed at pop even as they

drew upon soul and blues, Motown created a style that stands as one of the great signifiers of ’60s music — a record like Marvin Gaye’s 1968 “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” is both anguished and easy to like. Like a lot of late-’60s and early-’70s R&B, Motown records by The Temptations, Edwin Starr and The Four Tops drew from the innovations of The Beatles, themselves influenced by Motown artists. The music of Motown gets its due this week at the Schermerhorn, which hosts a three-night run of shows that will feature classics by Gaye, Martha Reeves, The Supremes and many more. Along with the Nashville Symphony itself, the ensemble includes vocalists Shayna Steele, Michael Lynche and Chester Gregory. The program likely won’t include any songs from my favorite Motown

FILM

[I DON’T SIT ON CHAIRS AS WELL AS I USED TO] RESTORATION

ROUNDUP: ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13

Although I grew up on constant rewatches of the John Carpenter-Kurt Russell productions Escape From New York and Big Trouble in Little China, Carpenter’s 1976 urban actioner Assault on Precinct 13 has become my favorite film from the genre master. (It also came out the same year I was born — so there’s that.) Set on the mean streets of South Central L.A., this contemporary spin on Howard Hawks Westerns like Rio Bravo has cops and criminals (led by a lieutenant played by Austin Stoker, who passed away in October) trapped in a police station, banding together to battle the unstoppable street gang that’s attacking the premises. Basically, it’s one of those nasty, brutal exploitation thrillers that’s, of course, a favorite of Quentin Tarantino’s. It also unfortunately inspired a very shitty 2005 remake with Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne. Catch the downand-dirty original in a brand-spanking-new 4K DCP restoration, showing as part of the Belcourt’s ongoing Restoration Roundup series. Feb. 10 & 12 at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. CRAIG D. LINDSEY

FEB. 15-16

The Ryman

ASHLEY McBRYDE

PHOTO: KATIE KAUSS

FILM [TOXIC FANDOM] MISERY

Of the dozens of Stephen King adaptations that have hit movie screens over the past four-and-a-half decades, only a handful have been nominated for Academy Awards — and of those, just one has earned a trophy. Kathy Bates brought home the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Annie Wilkes in 1990’s Misery, adapted from King’s 1987 novel of the same name. And Bates earned it, turning in a magnificently disquieting performance that’s as unsettling as just about anything in the King cinematic pantheon. Adapted for the screen by William Goldman and directed by Rob Reiner, Misery features the late, great James Caan as a famed romance novelist who finds himself captive in the secluded Colorado home of Bates’ Wilkes, a sledgehammerwielding homicidal superfan. Following last week’s screening of the less prestigious but still fun-as-hell 1983 King adaptation Christine, Full Moon Cineplex in Hermitage is showing Misery this weekend in all its snowbound glory. 7 p.m. at Full Moon Cineplex, 3445 Lebanon Pike, Hermitage

THEATER

[WHAT’S IN A NAME?]

IRMA HERRERA’S WHY WOULD I MISPRONOUNCE MY OWN NAME?

For more than 30 years, Irma Herrera built a successful career advocating for others as a civil rights lawyer and social justice activist in San Francisco. But with her solo performance piece Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? — onstage this weekend as part of TPAC’s new Perspectives series — Herrera offers a closer look at her own journey and the issues that helped shape her life. Balancing personal narrative with great humor and warmth, she starts with the simple concept of “respecting people’s names, even when they don’t sound and look like ‘real’ American names.” From there, she digs into

our nation’s complicated history and longstanding power structures, connecting past with present and reminding audiences that simple assumptions and stereotypes can take a very real toll on both individuals and communities. Feb. 10-12 at TPAC’s Johnson Theater, 505 Deaderick St. AMY STUMPFL

[PURE FLUFF]

GABRIEL IGLESIAS

Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias is not trying to be a philosopher. For the most part, you can count on the comedian to deliver a solid PG-13 set. Fluffy’s been doing standup for more than 20 years now and mainly sticks to life anecdotes, bathroom humor and imitations. His jokes transfer easily to memes, like: “It’s OK if you fall apart sometimes. Tacos fall apart and we still love them.” And his ability to tell a good story has allowed him to sell out stadiums. You can find his hilarious impression of champion boxer Canelo Álvarez on his latest Netflix special or TikTok. Wearing his trademark Hawaiian shirts, Fluffy often lets his audience egg him on to go over the allotted time, leading to two-hour sets. But as with any comedy act, proceed with caution if you’re easily offended. He does a killer car-honk imitation that could ruffle some pedestrian feathers. He’ll do two shows per night on Friday and Saturday. Feb. 10 & 11 at Zanies, 2025 Eighth Ave S. TOBY LOWENFELS

[INLAND & UPWARD]

MUSIC

DISCOVERY NITE W/$AVVY, IMPEDIMENT, BUDGE

On arriving in Nashville from California’s blue-collar Inland Empire in 2019, $avvy hit the ground running, COVID be damned. Last year’s Poor LP, his first fulllength, served as a showcase for the 22-yearold’s laid-back cadence, lyrical agility and attention to melody, with screwball humor and noisy randomness to boot. Of special note: the gritty closer “Close the Curtains,” with its trap beats and mournful melodica. I’ve yet to hear local indie-rock combo Impediments, but the punk-flyer-style artwork and flannel garb sported by the members in promo photos are promising signs. The even-less-Google-able Budge completes the three-band bill. 8 p.m. at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, 623 Seventh Ave. S. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

SATURDAY / 2.11

ART [STEP INTO THE STORY] TPAC FAMILY DAY

Art is meant to be shared, and that’s exactly what Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s Family Day is all about. Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, this year’s event invites young people and their families to step right into the story with a wide range of sensoryfriendly games and activities, interactive performances and more. Get into the spirit of things with a bit of face-painting fun and balloon-animal madness before heading to the photo booth. Guests can also grab a sweet treat at the cotton candy stand or take a trip down the rabbit hole for a very merry tea party. It’s sure to be an entertaining afternoon for kids of all ages. Best of all, proceeds from Family Day will go toward

D. PATRICK RODGERS

GABRIEL IGLESIAS

MISERY

TPAC’s award-winning arts education programs. 1:30-4:30 p.m. at TPAC’s Jackson Hall and lobby, 505 Deaderick St. AMY STUMPFL

MUSIC [ONCE BITTEN, TWICE SHY] TEETHE

I discovered Dallas band Teethe quite by accident on Bandcamp, thinking their name sounded ferocious and expecting music to match the name. I was surprised to find a total lack of barbarism in their band. I did, however paradoxically, discover something else that impressed me. Teethe are Gen Z’s spiritual heirs to the glacialtempo rock legacy of fellow Dallas indie troupe Bedhead. The intricate, moody guitar hooks come slowly, and their guitar tones are clean enough to pass a white-glove test. Teethe’s 2020 self-titled album, available on an ultra-limited 180-gram LP and digitally, is a blissfully charming and imaginative curiosity that deserves more attention.

8 p.m. at Drkmttr, 1111 Dickerson Pike

ART [STATE OF THE ART]

SIERRA LUNA: WELL WHERE ARE WE ANYWAY

STATE Gallery at The Forge isn’t usually open on the weekend. But on Saturday, the gallery is bending the rules to host an opening reception for Sierra Luna’s new exhibition, Well Where Are We Anyway. Luna is one of The Forge’s studio artists in residence, and this display of medium- and large-scale works reflects her interdisciplinary interests and finds her working with photography, charcoal, ink, etching and collage. I’m generally a formalist first, but Luna’s exhibition caught me by surprise with concepts and content that act as smart and sophisticated complements to her sure-handed mix-andmatch aesthetics. Luna embellishes her photos with drawing and text to explore binary themes like life and death, flora and fauna, connection and separation, and the conscious and subconscious mind. The resulting eye-catching display asks big questions about the human experience. 6-10 p.m. at STATE Gallery at The Forge, 217 Willow St.

JOE NOLAN

SUNDAY / 2.12

[HERE COMES THE JUDGE]

FILM

RESTORATION ROUNDUP: THE TRIAL

If you’re already feeling alienated by the fact that you don’t want to watch the Super Bowl, I suggest leaning into that existentialism by watching a 4K restoration of Orson Welles’ 1962 film The Trial. Based on the Franz Kafka novel, The Trial stars Anthony Perkins as Josef K. and follows a disjointed timeline adapted from the sourcework. But Welles leaves his own mark on the flawless tale, opening with an innovative animated prologue and closing with a different conclusion than the book. The movie owes a lot to German expressionism, reviving a lot of tropes Fritz Lang had created on screen in his own existential crime film M 30 years before. The Trial is a weighty piece of art that feels increasingly important with every viewing. This 4K restoration will show as part of the

Belcourt’s Restoration Roundup series. Feb. 12 & 16 at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. P.J. KINZER

MUSIC

[UNITED WE STAN] P1HARMONY

Tennessee is usually slim pickings for K-pop fans, who either have to trek to Atlanta to get a fix or stay tethered to their phones. But now P1Harmony is playing the Opry, and, well, this is pretty major. The sextet formed in 2020, making them fourth-generation K-pop stars. (The allconquering BTS, formed in 2013, is part of the third generation.) What they lack in experience, though, they make up for in energy. The group — Keeho, Theo, Jiung, Intak, Soul and Jongseob — is known for leaving it all on the stage, with a boundless set of fast-paced singing and impressive dance moves. Their fans are hoping they’ll hear top hits including the club anthem “Doom Du Doom,” rap sing-along “End It” and the dramatic banger “Look at Me Now.” Plus, the fact that the group can dazzle an audience without the high drama of an arena production speaks volumes. 7:30 p.m. at the Grand Ole Opry House, 600 Opry Mills Drive

TOBY LOWENFELS

MONDAY / 2.13

[GO TO THE MIRROR, BOY]

FILM

MUSIC CITY MONDAYS: TOMMY

For a while there as a kid, I believed Ken Russell’s all-star, super-surreal 1975 film adaptation of The Who’s rock opera masterwork came first. I thought the Altered States director surely conceived this story of a deaf, dumb and blind kid (played here by Who frontman Roger Daltrey) who goes from pinball wizard to cult leader, rounding up Eric Clapton, Elton

John, Tina Turner and, of course, The Who to provide all the musical moments. (Even as a little one, I picked up on Russell’s knack for churning out dreamlike, demented, deviant cinema.) Little did I know this all came out of Pete Townshend’s head years earlier, as he rounded up his bandmates to create a double album that rock critics have deemed both a work of art and pretentious twaddle. If you wanna see one of the two insane-ass musicals Russell directed in 1975 with Daltrey in the lead (Lisztomania is the other one), a new 4K DCP restoration will be playing at the Belcourt this Monday as part of both the Restoration Roundup and Music City Mondays series. 3 and 8 p.m. at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. CRAIG D. LINDSEY

MUSIC [LONG LIVE THE KING]

A CELEBRATION OF JEFF BECK

On Monday, The Beast will host A Celebration of Jeff Beck in honor of the recently departed king of rock guitar. The evening will feature performances of a wide selection of songs from Beck’s discography by an all-star lineup of guitarists including organizer Stanton Edward (The Wallflowers, Jewel), Audley Freed (The Black Crowes, Sheryl Crow), Ryan Wariner (Jewel), Jedd Hughes (Vince Gill), Jonathan Trebing (Rascal Flatts), Toddzilla (JonesWorld), Tony Obrohta (Chicago) and session ace Kenny Greenberg. The guitarists will be

joined by vocalists Nicole Atkins and Emily West and backed by a rhythm section of keyboardist Jimmy Wallace, bassist Tim Marks and drummer Nick Buda.

“Everybody is going to get their favorite era of Jeff Beck represented,” Edward says. “There’s going to be everything from The Yardbirds to Guitar Shop. The crazy whammy-bar stuff is going to get represented. The Rod Stewart stuff. The killer blues jams are going to be represented. Blow by Blow and Wired. Then some of the less rowdy, more clean stuff is going to be represented, as well.” 8 p.m. at The Basement East, 917 Woodland St. DARYL SANDERS

[INGREDIENTS

FOOD & DRINK

OF

CHANGE]

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION SYMPOSIUM SERIES

Les Dames d’Escoffier Nashville, the local chapter of the international organization, has made a concerted effort in recent years to foster conversations about inclusion in the hospitality industry. This week kicks off Les Dames’ second Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Symposium Series. The public is welcome to attend one, two or all three parts of the Desegregating Nashville’s Food Scene series. First up is a conversation with Brigette Janea Jones, director of equitable partnerships at the Belle Meade Historic Site & Winery. Jones will examine historic racism and discrimination and how it manifests in the hospitality industry. She’ll also cover how to replace fear with curiosity. All three events, which aim to provide tools to make the hospitality industry more diverse, equitable and inclusive, take place at Yay Yay’s. Upcoming events include Kellie Martin on Monday, March 6, and Nina Singto and Jeran Williams on Monday, March 27. Tickets are

P.J. KINZER

P1HARMONY

TOMMY

NOON · FORD THEATER

Sunday, February 12

MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

Mark O’Connor

1:00 pm · FORD THEATER

Saturday, February 18

CONVERSATION AND PERFORMANCE

The Life and Music of Dick Curless

2:30 pm · FORD THEATER

Sunday, February 19

MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

Rachel Loy

1:00 pm · FORD THEATER

Saturday, February 25

SONGWRITER SESSION

Jerry Salley

NOON · FORD THEATER

Sunday, February 26

MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

Lisa Horngren

1:00 pm · FORD THEATER

Saturday, March 4 SONGWRITER SESSION

Kelly Archer

NOON · FORD THEATER

Sunday, March 5

MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley

1:00 pm · FORD THEATER

FEBRUARY 19 LIVE AT THE OPRY HOUSE

REPORTIN’ FOR DUTY: A TRIBUTE TO LESLIE JORDAN

WITH EDDIE VEDDER, MAREN MORRIS, BILLY STRINGS & MORE

FEBRUARY 22

GREGORY PORTER

MARCH 30 3RD SHOW ADDED!

GOOSE ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

APRIL 4 BENEFITING OASIS CENTER

BRELAND & FRIENDS

WITH INGRID ANDRESS, GARY LEVOX, K. MICHELLE, X AMBASSADORS & MORE ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

MAY 13

JOSH RITTER AND THE ROYAL CITY BAND

MAY 15

TOM JONES

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

AUGUST 9

HAPPY TOGETHER ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

FOR TICKETS & UPDATES

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11

Live Piano Karaoke

10:30AM

SPECIAL SATURDAY STORYTIME

with RACHEL KENYON at PARNASSUS Alphabet

6:30PM

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15

ROSHANI CHOKSHI

with HANNAH WHITTEN at PARNASSUS

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride

6:30PM

J.T. ELLISON

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20

with REA FREY at PARNASSUS

It’s One of Us

6:30PM

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22

VERONICA ROTH

with MARY ROBINETTE KOWAL at PARNASSUS

Arch-Conspirator

6:30PM

DR. YASMINE ALI

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27

with SAMAR S. ALI, ESQ at PARNASSUS Walk Through Fire

6:30PM

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28

AMY PORTERFIELD at PARNASSUS

Two Weeks Notice

6:30PM

KEM HINTON at PARNASSUS

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1

Tennessee’s Bicentennial Mall 3900 Hillsboro Pike Suite 14 | Nashville, TN 37215 (615) 953-2243

Shop online at parnassusbooks.net

$50 each and include food and beverage and can be purchased online. 5:30 p.m. at Yay Yay’s, 1821 Jefferson St. MARGARET LITTMAN

TUESDAY / 2.14

FILM

[I’LL HAVE WHAT SHE’S HAVING] LOVE & BASKETBALL

After the critical praise filmmaker Gina Prince-Bythewood has received for The Woman King, it seems like a good opportunity to take a look back at her first feature, 2000’s Love & Basketball. Starring Omar Epps and Sanaa Lathan, the film follows two high school basketball stars chasing their hoop dreams through college and pro ball, all the while falling for each other. Prince-Bythewood asserts that the film, which she calls “the Black When Harry Met Sally,” challenges the notion that women can’t achieve a successful career in sports and a healthy romantic relationship. Produced by Spike Lee, L&B boasts a cast featuring Lakers marksman Nick Van Exel, supermodel Tyra Banks and a young Gabrielle Union — a woman who knows a bit about balancing love and basketball herself. Slim & Husky’s will be on hand slinging Valentine’s Day pizzas as well. The film screens as part of this month’s Beloved: A Spotlight Series on Black Female Directors. Read more about the series in this week’s film section. 8 p.m. at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. P.J. KINZER

WEDNESDAY / 2.15

FILM

[EVERYONE HAS THEIR REASONS] RESTORATION ROUNDUP: THE RULES OF THE GAME

It’s 2023, and eat-the-rich entertainment is all the rage! HBO recently gave us another high-society-skewering season of The White Lotus. The Knives Out follow-up Glass Onion over on Netflix was the moststreamed movie — until The Menu, sporting a similar theme, dropped on HBO Max last month. Triangle of Sadness (which I thought was a letdown) is now an Oscar contender for Best Picture. And you can currently see Mia Goth and Alexander Skarsgård do some fucked-up, affluent shit in the new movie Infinity Pool. But if you wanna go old-school with the rich-people satire,

you can’t go wrong with Jean Renoir’s controversial shit-stirrer from 1939, The Rules of the Game. This comedy of manners/ bedroom farce, which had both upperclass folk and servants acting like horny toads before WWII hits, was a critical and commercial disaster, prompting Renoir to cut the length from 113 minutes to 85 and the wartime French government to ban it for “having an undesirable influence over the young.” Over the decades, the movie has been restored to its original, riot-starting glory and is now considered a subversive classic. Catch a brand-new-ass 4K DCP restoration of it at the Belcourt as part of the ongoing Restoration Roundup. 4:45 and 9:15 p.m. at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave.

CRAIG D. LINDSEY

MUSIC

[ONE NIGHT STANDARDS]

ASHLEY M c BRYDE

Ashley McBryde never played the pretty-princess mainstream-country game. Instead she’s kept it real, offering cracked-formica-countertop accounts of the people most folks refuse to see. White trash? Redneck? Trailer park? Sure. But not since Kacey Musgraves’ “Blowin’ Smoke” has country music seen someone slinging truth this Loretta Lynn-real with a droll wink ’n’ nudge. With Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville, produced by John Osborne, the Arkansas-raised singer dropped a sampler of small-town America featuring hillbilly instruments and a crew of guests including Aaron Raitiere, Brandy Clark, Benjy Clark, Caylee Hammack and Pillbox Patti. The September release features a fistful of awkward human moments: Highlights include “Gospel Night at the Strip Club,” “Jesus Jenny,” “Brenda Put Your Bra On” and “Bonfire at Tina’s.” McBryde is bringing her formidable electric guitar downstroke, lean five-piece band, all those guests and a heart that’s bold and willing to a two-night stand at the Ryman. The woman who keeps it loose with her “One Night Standards” is fearless when it comes to the truth and Southern-rock-stained country. 8 p.m. Feb. 15-16 at the Ryman, 116 Rep. John Lewis Way N. HOLLY GLEASON

an

FOOD AND DRINK

CHECK, PLEASE

BY MARGARET LITTMAN

Thanks to the buzz surrounding Alex Burch’s upcoming Bad Idea, lots of folks are getting ready to open their wallets when the wine bar opens for business in East Nashville this spring. But even before the Russell Street spot pours its first glass, some people already are shelling out $100.

That’s the minimum investment in Burch’s restaurant.

Like almost everything in hospitality, launching a new restaurant is not for the faint of heart. Opening a new restaurant can cost anywhere from $125,000 to $2 million, with an average of $375,000 — numbers of course vary depending on the physical space, the equipment needed and more. And there’s no guarantee of success; according to the National Restaurant Association, 30 percent of restaurants fail in their first year.

Like a number of chefs and restaurateurs looking to finance their dreams, Burch started by pounding the pavement. Burch’s

Strategic Hospitality mentor Ben Goldberg, who he knew from his days at Bastion, told him to start with a list of 100 people. Burch had a mailing list from a series of wine classes he intended to launch but never did. He asked people if they’d be interested in learning more about his plans for a new wine bar. And on Goldberg’s advice, he asked every person with whom he spoke if they knew anyone else he should approach. While the process was tough — nearly two years of tweaking his pitch and getting better at rejection — it was also “super exciting,” Burch says. Almost every investment and non-investment meeting came with offers to help in other ways.

In the end, Burch turned to crowdfunding. Working with a platform called Wefunder, he set a goal of $717,000 in investments starting at the entry-level price of $100 for a Class A unit. Bad Idea has a lead investor, Edward Lanquist, who ponied up about $300,000. Lanquist was a fan of Burch’s previous work and sees his wine bar

vision. Wefunder handles the communications with the smaller investors. “If you’re sitting there cutting checks to 100 different investors, that is not going to be worth it,” Burch says.

So far, Bad Idea has raised more than $488,000 on Wefunder. While the money is great, the small investments also characterize the kind of buy-in Burch wants for Bad Idea. “I want this to be a community-focused place,” he says. “I want people to feel like they are part of it.”

A small investment in a restaurant holds some cachet. Celebrities are drawn to restaurants (Gavin DeGraw, Dan Auerbach and Justin Timberlake in Nashville, to name just three of many), despite the fact that there are easier ways to make money. Restaurants don’t have high profit margins, often between 3 percent and 5 percent.

“It is like the scene from Goodfellas, that is the glamorous part,” says Ryan Poli, referencing the scene in which Ray Liotta’s Henry Hill and his date weave through the kitchen, shaking hands with staff and arriving in the dining room where a table awaits. Poli and his brother Matthew are opening iggy’s this spring. “We want investors to feel proud to be here. We want them to feel like that.”

But the Polis’ investors are silent ones — maybe they can get in through a back door,

but they can’t come in and tell the brothers what to put on the menu. Ryan says the best money they spent was on a team of attorneys who guided them along the way, specifically advising them to turn down money when it came with too many strings attached.

Saying no to cold, hard cash was tough, Ryan says, particularly in the beginning. One of the challenges early on was that some prospective investors wanted to see a signed lease; but some leases needed to have a commitment of investment before the Poli brothers could sign.

The Poli brothers, who have a national reputation in part due to their time at The Catbird Seat, briefly considered working with a restaurant group that would fund the enterprise. “They could not have offered me anything that I could not do on my own,” Ryan says. “I have Matthew. He’s a numbers guy. A lot of restaurant groups have all these partners, and you end up putting in a lot of hours for a small share in the restaurant.” Instead, he says, the brothers now own the majority of iggy’s.

Michael Hanna has wanted to open his own place since he was 16. “It was in my blood,” he says. “I never wanted to do anything else.” He has four uncles who were chefs, and his father owned a deli. So it wasn’t a surprise when he decided to open

Raising money to open a restaurant is a challenge. We talked to three restaurateurs about how they’re making it happen.

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

ALEX BURCH IN THE FUTURE BAD IDEA SPACE

St. Vito Focacceria. But that doesn’t mean he knew how to find the money to turn his popup into a bricks-and-mortar.

While Hanna has been working in acclaimed kitchens around town for years, and his pop-ups have been beloved, he doesn’t have the name recognition of folks like Ryan Poli, and he feels that was a challenge. Still, like the Polis, he turned down some of the first money he was offered.

“I got a lot of advice, and people told me, ‘Whoever your first investor is, won’t be an investor,’ and that happened multiple times,” Hanna says. As restaurant plans change, leases become available and investors’ situations change, the calculus shifts. Like the Polis, Hanna also rejected the idea of being backed by an investor group that would have shrunk his share in the business.

“My equity dwindled down to 10 percent,” Hanna says of one prospective deal. And it wasn’t just the potential of long hours with little payoff. “These recipes are from my family. There’s nostalgia, and then there’s someone who wants to take most of it from me.”

Hanna, who is a father of two and focused on providing a legacy for his kids, did the same as the Polis and Burch: He worked through a list of friends, friends of friends and people who loved his food. Eventually,

an out-of-town investor who was specifically looking for a Nashville restaurant project was given Hanna’s name multiple times over the course of several days. Hanna spoke to the prospect for more than 2.5 hours on the phone. Eventually, they came to terms with a 50-50 deal that Hanna feels accurately reflects each of their contributions.

Of course, having a say doesn’t mean a local chef gets everything they want. Hanna has been getting blowback from some locals about St. Vito’s upcoming location in the Gulch. “I don’t get to wake up and choose where we get to be,” he says. He needed to balance being in a location with enough foot traffic to pay the rent and being in a neighborhood where he and St. Vito have enough name recognition to bring in folks who loved the pop-ups.

Even with advice from chefs who had been there and done that, examples of business plans and pitch decks, and some good books on the topic, figuring out how to fund your first restaurant is hard.

“I would get so overwhelmed by all the things I had to do, get financials to investors, find a lease,” Ryan Poli says. “I can’t focus on the whole pie, or I’ll just decide not to do it. I need to focus on the one slice of pie I am working on right then.”

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

MICHAEL HANNA IN THE FUTURE ST. VITO FOCACCERIA SPACE

PRIDE (IN THE NAME OF LOVE)

Maria Michonski celebrates queer love through Pride of Place Weddings

BY KELSEY BEYELER

Despite the fact that queer love — not to mention the mere existence of some LGBTQ folks — is under attack in Tennessee and statehouses across the nation, there are still folks here in Nashville honoring love, joy and connection within the LGBTQ community. Maria Michonski has made that her work with Pride of Place Weddings, a company that offers a spectrum of wedding services from planning to officiating, with an emphasis on serving LGBTQ couples.

As a queer person with a background in Catholicism and extensive academic experience with religious and gender studies, Michonski is well-versed on the nuances of sexual orientation and spirituality. Neither exists as a binary, and her work lies in those in-between, nuanced spaces that society doesn’t fully recognize.

WHERE THE FLOWERS GROW

Checking in with Nashville florists ahead of their busiest day of the year

BY HANNAH HERNER

If you’re lucky, the roses in your Valentine’s Day vase came from Ecuador. That’s where all the best roses come from, says local florist Alex Vaughan, co-owner and creative director at Nashvillebased floral boutique FLWR.

Valentine’s Day presents a conundrum for Nashville’s florists and floral wholesalers — it’s the largest demand they get all year, but it’s during a time when flowers don’t typically grow in Middle Tennessee. Locally based flower wholesaler Dreisbach Wholesale Florist starts planning orders to stock shops for Valentine’s Day in December. This week, coolers will be filled with hundreds of thousands of blooms flown in from California, Canada, Holland, Chile, Italy — and of course, Ecuador.

“People want flowers in February, and we probably will never have flowers in February in Middle Tennessee, unless we spend just as much carbon heating greenhouses [as we’d spend having them shipped],” Vaughan says. “As an industry, I think that we do have a responsibility to try to minimize that and do what we can. We’re going to participate in Valentine’s Day as a flower shop, because as a business, you

have to. But those flowers are going to come from somewhere else.”

Shops like FLWR try to source their flowers locally as much as possible, but the farms here are much smaller than abroad. Most are “one-woman shows,” Vaughan says — with nowhere near enough manpower (so to speak) to supply a shop.

International flowers travel on passenger planes, often to Miami, from where they are subsequently trucked to Nashville. The flower industry saw two issues when it came to keeping their shops stocked during the height of the pandemic, though the issues have since eased up. First, there were fewer passenger flights, and therefore fewer flower routes. And then, planes became so packed with passengers that there was no room for the flowers in addition to all of their luggage. Southwest’s infamous recent cancellations affected the California flowers’ trip to Nashville too, Vaughan says.

Prices for flowers are higher than Crystal Edwards has seen in her 20 years in the industry. Edwards, who is currently the assistant general manager at Dreisbach, attributes this to higher shipping costs.

“All the pricing is way more than I’ve ever experienced,” Edwards says. “If it’s a sticker shock to me, it’s a sticker shock to our customers, and of course it’s another sticker shock to their customers.”

It’s a simple equation of supply and demand, says Vaughan. FLWR is prepared for 250 arrangements, compared to between 20 and 30 on a normal day.

“I feel like people have this perception that everyone is just jacking up the prices because they can,” Vaughan says. “If you just think about basic supply and demand, that’s not what’s happening. All of a sudden, on this one day, millions and millions of

people want flowers. Of course it’s going to be more expensive.”

Even in an evermore digital world — and even with higher prices — people are sticking with the classic Valentine’s gift. In fact, FLWR has seen demand grow a bit in each of its seven years, Vaughan says. A rose costs $2 to $3 each from the wholesaler, and shops will need to triple each stem price to be profitable. To get more bang for your buck, Edwards recommends hydrangeas, which are around the same price and take up more space than a rose.

“You’re gonna pay a premium price for roses, where there’s a lot more flowers that are a little more economical that you can mix in,” she says.

When Edwards started in the industry 20 years ago, the Valentine’s standard was roses and baby’s breath. But in the past few years, it’s diversified, with more requests for mixed arrangements. At FLWR, a dozen roses isn’t even an option. The most popular choice is a mixed arrangement, but in shades of red and pink.

“If you know a little bit about what your person likes in flowers and just give some basic information and allow the florist to make something beautiful based on that info — that’s how you’re going to get the best product,” Vaughan says.

The local flower shop is going to have higher quality flowers than the grocery store, and they’ll put more effort into arranging them, Vaughan notes.

“Florists are going to artfully arrange them into something that’s more than the sum of its parts,” Vaughan says. “That is the true gift that you’re giving. A small ethereal piece of art that won’t last, which makes it a luxurious and beautiful gift.”

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

“I finished my divinity degree at Vanderbilt and came out of that degree in this place of like, ‘OK, I’ve unpacked and unlearned everything I thought I believed in, and now I don’t know what I want to do,’ ” says Michonski. “But I knew that I wanted to find a way to create sacred and sacramental experiences for queer folks, however they wanted to define that.” Though finding officiants who will marry LGBTQ couples is relatively easy, Michonski noticed that finding truly queer-centered wedding officiants and services isn’t. And so she vets LGBTQ-friendly vendors, crafting affirming events for LGBTQ guests, working with straight-passing couples who want to

WHOLESALE FLOWERS AT DREISBACH

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

MARIA MICHONSKI

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

NASHVILLE TURNED UP THE HEAT!

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THANKS TO ALL OUR HOT RESTAURANTS

honor their queerness in their weddings, and more. She also works with mixed-faith couples to integrate their different backgrounds into wedding ceremonies. But traditional weddings are fair game as well.

“I work with a lot of couples who specifically come to me because they are looking for a non-religious officiant and they can’t find one outside of going to a courthouse,” Michonski says. “I help people ensure that they can put into their ceremony what feels most important to them, most sacred to them, showcases

PLAYING WITH MATCHES

What Nashville professional matchmakers say about dating success

BY HANNAH HERNER

Love is a many-splendored thing. It can also be quite elusive. That might be why

local matchmakers Lindsey Mulligan and Kim Grammas have such a high demand for their services. The pair’s company, Nashville Singles, has clients with ages ranging from late 20s to early 80s who pay a fee to be matched through a 72-point compatibility test with other local singles. (Nashville Singles declined to elaborate to the Scene on how much the service costs.) Still, it’s not entirely a numbers game.

“When we’re talking about love, it really only takes one match — one spark — and the willingness to fall in love,” Mulligan says.

Mulligan and Grammas have more than 25 years of matchmaking experience between them, and they shared some of what they’ve learned during a recent conversation with the Scene PEOPLE ARE WANTING TO MEET IN PERSON NOW MORE THAN EVER.

“I think with all of the disconnect the last few years, people have suffered from that,” Grammas says. “They’re wanting to reconnect in a more real way.”

That ethos is reflected in the service’s business model too. While other matchmaking services are completely online, Nashville Singles takes a different approach.

“We meet every single member face to face,” Mulligan says. “I get to know them extremely well, and they can always call me, text me if they need some support, guidance, anything of that nature. Matchmaking is definitely the core of what we do, but our process isn’t only to find people their perfect match — it’s to allow them to gain insights into themselves as well.”

IT’S TRUE, THE APPS REALLY AREN’T WHAT THEY USED TO BE.

Dating apps became ubiquitous when the pandemic shut down the entire country — and the old-fashioned meet-cute along with it. But in 2023, the apps have more people to sift through, and that means more fake

them, rather than some beliefs that don’t resonate with them.”

While Michonski is open to working with folks from various backgrounds, there is one aspect she’s not willing to compromise on: She won’t facilitate plantation weddings, a trend that has seen widespread criticism but is still prevalent in the South. This value is a part of her organizational anti-racism pledge, which also includes donating a portion of revenue to anti-racism-oriented organizations.

As state legislators target access to genderaffirming health care and public displays of queerness — and with national figures like Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas expressing interest in revisiting same-sex marriage laws — Michonski’s work feels particularly important. Though it’s unlikely samesex marriage rights will be reversed, in an October post via Pride of Place Weddings’ Instagram account, Michonski stated that she was willing to quickly marry anyone concerned about their ability to marry in the

future. Some clients took her up on that.

“So many of the community spaces that we have right now as queer people are centered around activism, organizing [and] coming together around something horrible that has happened,” she says. “There’s not a lot of spaces where we just get to come together and celebrate anymore, and so being able to help craft those spaces — that’s the definition of sanctuary for me. And it’s the best. It is the best. It’s so much fun.” ■

accounts, too.

“What I always tell my clients or prospective clients is that these apps and websites, they did serve a purpose at one time,” Mulligan says. “In the dating realm now, it’s kind of hard to gauge the authenticity of how someone portrays themselves.”

Clients come to the matchmakers frustrated with the amount of time it takes to be successful on the apps, Grammas says.

“I don’t want to say it doesn’t happen, because I certainly know people with success stories [on dating apps],” she says. “But it feels like now, in the current moment, it is like a needle-in-a-haystack type of situation.”

IT’S TIME TO LOOK PAST AESTHETICS AND INTO VALUE SYSTEMS.

“Bumble, Match — all of those dating apps and websites — the first thing is they look at people aesthetically,” Mulligan says. “I think that that leads people to neglect their own value system and how it may be in line with somebody that you don’t necessarily expect to fall for.”

“Make sure that their values and

morals and lifestyle align with yours,” adds Grammas. “Of course you can have different interests. You don’t have to be the same exact human, but if those core things don’t really match up — most of the time, those are the things that make it not work in the end. Sometimes people overlook that because maybe there’s a lot of chemistry.”

GO ON AT LEAST THREE DATES WITH THE SAME PERSON.

Nashville Singles has a three-date rule, and each date should be something different. For the first date, they suggest something casual — a coffee, lunch or drink. The second should be something more interactive — a museum visit, sporting event or concert. The third should incorporate two steps, like a show and dinner. There should be a slow buildup and a valiant effort to get to know the person, Grammas says.

“The problem is a lot of us are used to an emotional roller coaster,” Grammas says. “The instant we don’t feel this crazy spark, we think something’s wrong. But that’s actually not the case at all. It just means that your nervous system isn’t being jolted in any sense.”

YOU DON’T HAVE TO FAKE IT, BUT TRY TO KEEP A POSITIVE ATTITUDE.

This means don’t kick off the conversation by talking about how tough the dating scene has been thus far, Grammas and Mulligan advise.

“We always suggest, especially in the beginning, our main focus is for them to keep a positive optimistic attitude, because people can really pick up on negativity,” Grammas says. “So no matter what topic they’re talking about, speak about it in a light of positivity.”

SOMETIMES, YOU’RE JUST NOT READY.

At Nashville Singles, the matchmakers will not include someone in their membership who isn’t “authentic and open to meeting someone for a fulfilling and healthy relationship.”

“We do a really rigorous kind of process to ensure that every single member is sincere about meeting someone, and they aren’t portraying themselves as someone they aren’t,” Mulligan says. ■

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

MATCHMAKERS KIM GRAMMAS (LEFT) AND LINDSEY MULLIGAN

apr

apr 6

Crafty Bastards

Shop from 100+ curated artisan craft vendors from across the country while enjoying live music, craft cocktails, local food vendors and more.

May 19

Iron Fork

The annual chef competition and sampling event returns with four of Nashville’s best chefs battling it out in a live cooking competition.

June 2023

Margarita Festival

Kick off the start of summer with margaritas in hand as you sample margaritas from 15+ local restaurants competing to be crowned Best Margarita in Nashville.

JULY 8

Movies in the Park

Don’t miss Nashville’s longest running outdoor movie series! enjoy a free, family-friendly movie under the stars while enjoying treats and eats from local food trucks.

July 10-16

Crafty Bastards Summer

Enjoy 100+ curated artisan craft vendors, tastings from local breweries, a craft cocktail bar, live music and more!

Burger Week

Burgers for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Yes please! For one week only, Nashville’s best burger joints will serve up their tastiest burgers for just $7!

STRATEGIES FOR SURVIVAL

Margaret Verble’s Stealing weaves a tapestry of pain and resilience

BY HAMILTON CAIN

My high school choir in Chattanooga had a repertoire of a cappella spirituals that cleaved the baritones from the tenors, the gifted from the perpetually off-key (raises hand). Among them was “Steal Away,” popularized by Nat King Cole: Steal Away, steal away, steal away home / I hain’t got long to stay here. That archaic usage of the verb “steal” — moving surreptitiously, behind the scenes — informs Margaret Verble’s captivating, subtly crafted novel Stealing, which recounts one difficult girlhood in Oklahoma in the 1950s.

Nine-year-old Kit Crockett may have a conflicted inner self — her father’s a descendent of Davy Crockett, while her late mother was a Cherokee, or “Civilized Indian” — but we wouldn’t know it. With fishing pole balanced on her shoulder, “snake stick” in hand, she strides confidently through grassy fields and creek bottoms, catching and frying up catfish for her daddy. Both parent and daughter are close to their Native relatives, particularly the commanding Aunt Rosa. Each week Kit walks down her dusty lane to the highway, where Miss Francis’ bookmobile rolls up with a robust menu of Nancy Drew and Dr. Dolittle. There’s a touch of Scout Finch in this child’s forthrightness and love of the outdoors, her blazing curiosity.

The Crocketts live along the fringes of poverty, but it’s paradise to Kit until her Uncle Joe, a World War II veteran and alcoholic from the Native side of her family, is brutally murdered: her first clue that sorrow is the blight man is born for. (A couple of trials recall the courtroom episodes in To Kill a Mockingbird.) After Joe’s death, a beautiful, mysterious divorcée named Bella takes over his dilapidated cabin, gardening and raising chickens and guineas, bankrolled by two boyfriends whose cars Kit sees parked outside, but whom she never meets.

Bella may be a fancy woman, but she’s compassionate and discerning, blessing the motherless girl with sweet tea and affection. They spend languid afternoons poring over the Sears Roebuck catalog. The girl’s besotted:

I inspected her clothes on the line. There wasn’t a wind, so they weren’t flapping and blown out. … Mama’s underwear was sort of square, and had been handmade. But Bella’s drawers were skimpy, and the leg holes were like half moons in their cut. Her slips had lace on the tops, but Mama’s were scooped-necked and plain.

Not all Bella’s neighbors look on her as kindly. Gifted with foresight, the girl senses her new friend is in danger.

Kit narrates Stealing as a 12-year-old, in the wake of tragedy, confined to a religious school for troubled boys and girls. The students at Ashley Lordard are a mix of Indian and white, and Kit suffers beneath the stern rebukes of her teachers and the sexual sadism of the head, Mr. Hodges. She crouches in her closet, scribbling a memoir about that idyllic summer and the dark mystery that brought her to the school. Verble deftly metes out her story in intriguing bits, like a puzzle; Kit likens her dilemmas to jigsaw pieces that don’t lock together. Verble masters the conversational cadences of firstperson singular much as Elizabeth Strout does in her Lucy Barton novels.

Stealing is a stylistic departure from Verble’s previous When Two Feathers Fell From the Sky, pared down compared to that book’s rich carnival textures, but Stealing is the more resonant work, as Verble toggles between Kit’s present and recent past. The chapters are short yet tight, weaving delicate threads into a tapestry of pain and resilience. The grim routines at Ashley Lordard unexpectedly shift when a pair of sisters arrives: Are they Comanche, Cherokee, Chickasaw or Creek? Kit and her friends are keen to figure how they fit in. “The teachers and Mr. Hodges don’t know how different Indians feel about each other and don’t realize we have to learn about each other like we have to learn to multiply and divide,” she observes. “We’re not natural allies, but we’re getting to be that way.”

Beneath the deceptively casual surface of Stealing, Verble is probing a horrific tale: the institutionalization of Native children.

(David Treuer’s nonfiction opus, The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee, is essential reading on this topic.) Many never came out of the system. Others were forever wrested from their families. As Kit notes, “Really, there are hardly any thieves around here, unless you count Mr. Hodges and the other people who are stealing our lives.” Here Verble reverts to the more common usage of the verb, appealing to our collective moral responsibility. As Kit devises fresh strategies for survival, Verble keeps us guessing: How will this all end? Beautifully written and paced, Stealing is an invaluable contribution to a crucial — and too often repressed — history that haunts us still.

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

Supercult (9pm)

Dead Poet Society w/ Kid Pastel (7pm)

Ellis Melillo w/ Felicity (9pm)

Wyatt Flores (7pm)

Will Overman, Brad Sample (7pm)

Dark Side of The Moon - 50th Anniversary Tribute

My So-Called Band

Sarah Shook & The Disarmers w/ Sunny War an evening with yo la tengo an evening with yo la tengo

Nonpoint w/ Blacktop Mojo and Sumo Cyco

The Breeders w/ Bully King Tuff w/ Tchotchke

rubblebucket

Sam Gyllenhaal Band, Will Pellerin, Hadley Kennary (9pm)

Dalton & The Sheriffs (7pm)

Dalton & The Sheriffs (9pm)

Roberta Lea (7pm)

Happy Landing, Lo Noom (9pm)

James Leprettre, Why Bother, Miles Squires (7pm)

The Dead Deads, The Ivins (7pm)

Eliza Edens, Brennan Wedl (7pm)

PJ And The Bear, Eli Howard (7pm)

The Kinks Tribute (9pm)

Echo Pilot w/ Nehoda (7pm)

DON’T LET THE LIGHT FADE

Death Cab for Cutie takes stock of their journey — and the road ahead — on Asphalt Meadows

BY BRITTNEY M c KENNA

Death Cab for Cutie’s 10th studio album Asphalt Meadows opens with a song whose title will feel relatable to many.

“I Don’t Know How I Survive” expresses a sentiment that’s in line with the influential indie band’s aesthetic. On the group’s 1998 studio debut and throughout their earlyAughts ascent, Death Cab’s melancholy and intellectual brand of introspection captured the hearts and ears of brooding young fans who have since grown older — and wearier — alongside the music. It also captures a prevailing mood in the postlockdown world, as we reckon with asking, “Now what?”

Asphalt Meadows poses more questions than it answers, eschewing the warmer optimism of 2015’s Kintsugi and 2018’s Thank You for Today in favor of honest snapshots of self-doubt, anxiety and cautious growth. Accordingly, Asphalt Meadows is one of the band’s most expansive and immersive works in years. It’s their best-received project in nearly a decade, crackling with an immediacy reminiscent of 2008’s Narrow Stairs and 2003’s landmark Transatlanticism

Death Cab will celebrate that longevity and evolution at the Ryman on Tuesday, a Valentine’s Day show certain to boast plenty to love. Chatting while setting up for a show in Louisville, Ky., bassist Nick Harmer tells the Scene he feels energized by where Asphalt Meadows has taken the band, particularly as the second leg of their

THE ART OF CONVERSATION

In Place Quartet cultivates a balletic brand of instrumental improvisation

BY SEAN L. MALONEY

If you’ve been following experiential and experimental music in Nashville as live shows have made a post-lockdown comeback, you’ve likely heard the name In Place Quartet often. Around the time that the first live performances were happening after months of quarantine isolation, drummer John Westberry, bassist Randy Hunt, reeds and winds player JayVe Montgomery and guitarist Scott Mattingly began to convene as In Place, bringing dive-bar populism to the world of spontaneous

tour kicks off in earnest.

“There is always a process of discovery [on the road],” says Harmer. “Especially as people digest the record and spend time with it and form deeper connections to it. That kind of feedback changes over the course of a tour cycle, as well. The first fall tour we did behind Asphalt Meadows last year was just sort of the excitement of new material. This year ahead — now is the time to play and really see people’s reactions after they’ve been sitting with it for a while.”

Death Cab wrote the bulk of Asphalt Meadows during the early months of lockdown, sending demos and parts to one another virtually. Harmer says that was a major departure for the group, as they typically rely on the “chemical level” instinct that can come with writing and performing live in one room. Once they finally were able to get together to record — alongside celebrated producer John Congleton — that pent-up energy, charged with a palpable undercurrent of anxiety, found its way into the music itself.

“There was a big catharsis for us in making the record,” Harmer says. “There were some dark times there, for a moment,

music creation that’s so often thought of as heady and academic. The free-jazz crew makes its debut at The Blue Room at Third Man Records on Saturday for a performance that will include group improvisation and solo performance highlights. I caught up with the whole ensemble via Zoom; our interview has been edited for length and clarity.

when [the pandemic] first started. … There was a lot of concern and trepidation and anxiety about whether or not we were ever going to be able to do this in the way that we had known it in the past. It was a weird thing to think about, something that you’d put 20-some-odd years into being completely taken away from you.”

That catharsis is best represented in the album’s centerpiece, the sprawling and ambitious “Foxglove Through the Clearcut.” Like some of Death Cab’s best-loved songs — think 2008’s Narrow Stairs opener “Bixby Canyon Bridge” or 2003’s epic Transatlanticism title track — “Foxglove” starts slow and grows to a crescendo. Notably, it’s the first time the band has incorporated spoken-word into a song. While “Death Cab” and “spokenword” might sound like fodder for your next game of Indie-Rock Mad Libs, “Foxglove” is easily one of the finest songs in the band’s vast catalog. It’s also been an early live favorite.

“We really love the mood of it, and how it created this atmosphere on the album,” Harmer says. “But in a live set, you just never know how that’s actually going to work. We always knew the ending was

emotional direction, the others are there to support those ideas.

SM: I feel like these guys are such great listen-

going to feel pretty cathartic, and it does on the album. But live, it’s really become a new set-closer, a bigger moment in the set, as far as catharsis goes.”

As heard on “Foxglove,” Asphalt Meadows boasts some of Gibbard’s best lyric writing, as he observes: “No one seems interested in fixing what they’ve broken / They just sweep the pieces into the bushes and slip away.” The next song “Pepper” is a little more subtle in its cutting, as Gibbard describes himself as “a city you were only passing through.” (“Pepper” is also the first single from an acoustic version of the album, set to be released in March.) “Rand McNally” is a rumination on how distant the band’s early years of DIY touring seem now, with vivid descriptions of how “we lived on whiskey and Twizzlers and youth’s discontent.”

Another standout is “I Miss Strangers,” with jagged guitars and an icy-slick rhythm section adding an uneasy urgency as Gibbard sings, “These days I miss strangers more than I miss my friends.” Sonically, the band finds intersection points between the pensive, emo-adjacent sound of its early years and the elastic pop-rock of recent LPs. That’s especially evident on closer “I’ll Never Give Up on You,” which builds to a trance-like wall of sound before fading out.

With pandemic restrictions in the rearview, Death Cab’s biggest touring problem is crafting set lists that best represent their 25-year career. Harmer sees it as a good problem to have, and one they don’t take for granted. He notes that Gibbard maintains a spreadsheet of every set the band has ever played, making sure to curate a mix of new material with fan favorites. Some of this year’s sets will pay homage to Transatlanticism, which first put the band on the map 20 years ago. Harmer looks back on that LP with a mix of fondness and wonder.

I’m really happy to be out on the road this year, celebrating that moment. It was something that took all of us by surprise when it happened. We were all looking around like, ‘Wow, this is fun. Maybe we can do this for real.’ ”

EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

ers. … Sometimes I’m not playing for a minute, two minutes. I’m just listening to what everyone else is doing, and then I realize, “Oh, here’s something I

TELL

ME A BIT ABOUT YOUR PROCESS AND HOW YOU GUYS APPROACH BRINGING MUSIC TO THE STAGE.

Scott Mattingly: Each of the four personalities has their own little planet. We hug and then we start to play. And it really reflects where each one of us is on a given day. Sometimes I feel like it’s joyous. Sometimes it’s sorrowful. It can be ecstatic. From one moment to the next, it can change, but it reflects where we are in our musicianship and where we are as people.

JayVe Montgomery: I like to think of this music as like an experiment in emergence theory. The same way birds fly and congregate, each of us takes an

PLAYING TUESDAY, FEB.14, AT THE RYMAN

PLAYING SATURDAY, FEB. 11, AT THE BLUE ROOM AT THIRD MAN RECORDS

MUSIC

have to say.” Just like good conversation.

DO YOU HAVE METHODOLOGIES OR GUARDRAILS THAT YOU USE TO START YOUR PERFORMANCE?

JM: I think the only rule I have is, like, that we hear each other — that we play in a way that we can hear each other.

Does that take a lot of practice on your part, to get where you can just show up and listen?

Randy Hunt: When you get together with a group of people, you don’t have to plan out what you’re gonna talk about. And the conversation, it just kind of comes and goes. So that’s an easy way for people who don’t understand this music, or are new to it, to understand what we’re doing.

SM: I feel like there’s a political element to it. So I feel like we’d be missing something if we didn’t talk about how it is [politically] charged. … I think we have similar values. I think we have similar desires, similar strains of interest in what we hope for.

JM: Yeah. I think Scott [is] speaking to the struggle of democracy. We’re talking and listening all at once. That’s what this experiment of democracy is. Like, you have to be able to listen, and you have to be able to give, and support your ideas — and back off of your ideas when they’re bad, when they get in the way of everybody else’s expression.

DID IT TAKE TIME TO LEARN HOW TO EASE OFF?

JM: I think it’s life experience. I remember being in Chicago early on when I was learning the music, and there’s this session on the beach every summer at 63rd Street by the lake. There’s dozens of drummers, percussion players, wind instruments. I was playing my saxophone one day, 15 years ago or so, and this elder came up and he was like, “You know, you don’t have to be louder than everybody.” [Laughs.]

RH: I don’t think we could be successful playing what kind of music we do without a lot of trust in each other. … Listen, and you trust that everybody is gonna commit to what they do and play as a group. In this kind of music, there’s a lot of people who think you can just kind of do whatever you want, whenever you want, and that’s not the way it works.

JM: Yeah. It’s nice to move as one sound, to me that seems like the highest attainment that we can [hope for], you know? ’Cause we’re obviously four different people, but I think the ask is to be a community onstage and present an idea.

WHAT HAS YOU EXCITED FOR THE NEXT SHOW AND BEYOND?

JM: I love our live recordings that John documents. I think they really capture the essence of the energy that we’re creating and working with. I’m excited to have a longer set at Third Man so we can start to incorporate longer solos. I play woodwinds through electronics, do my own solo electronics thing — electroacoustic performance. It is gonna be nice to start with that, then have Randy’s sound be highlighted, and be able to stretch out for several hours at Third Man.

SM: I got a guitar with a built-in Kaoss Pad that I’ve been using like a false bridge [for the guitar strings]. … It’s got a real cool droning, sustaining sound. Something I’m really looking forward to using during the solo-sets portion.

JW: I wanna find a way to use these big-ass toms — like, huge. A [20-inch] and 18, a 16 and a 14 that I’ve been practicing like timpani in the house. [Laughs.] I’d love to have those. That doesn’t all come in one cart though, you have to go back to the car to get more shit.

EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

GOT TO HAVE A CHANGE OF SCENE

Rock Hall of Famer Dave Mason brings his Endangered Species Tour to Nashville

BY DARYL SANDERS

Dave Mason, one of the icons of the British rock invasion of the 1960s, wants to make one thing clear about the musical wave he and his peers rode into the history books.

“The British Invasion is an American story, not a British story,” explains Mason. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is speaking with the Scene by phone before he brings his Endangered Species Tour to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s CMA Theater on Friday. “We just took what was being done and redid it. Led Zeppelin is every fucking cliché blues hook and lick, just redone. The music of America changed everything. The embers of rock ’n’ roll come out of the Black community.”

When asked about his own music, he points out the influence of styles developed by Black musicians that are at the foundation of rock. “There’s always some sort of blues or R&B in there somewhere,” he says. “And that’s why it was great when I got to do that little tour with Cropper.”

Mason is referring to a 2018 tour with old pal and Stax Records legend Steve Cropper that featured performances of classic R&B material. Featuring singer Gretchen Rhodes and billed as the Dave Mason & Steve Cropper Rock & Soul Revue, the tour yielded the live album 4Real, which includes a number of songs on which Cropper was co-writer and original guitarist, including “In the Midnight Hour,” “Knock on Wood,” “Green Onions” and “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.”

Though he’s a dynamic guitarist with one of the most recognizable voices in rock history, Mason downplays his own place in the annals of rock. But he had already made his mark before the age of 25.

“I just sort of drifted into it, you know,” he says. “I wanted to go in the Royal Air Force — that’s what my dream was when I was young. But my math skills were not up to par. I had about three jobs, and most of them lasted about five months. And I figured I wasn’t going to be working 9 to 5. One day I’m watching [a band], and I was like, ‘Well, shit, I can do that.’ So I just started playing and put a band together, and just went from there. I was right there at the beginning of it all anyway, pretty much.”

Pretty much indeed. Mason first rose to fame as a founding member of British psych rockers Traffic, and it was with that band that he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. While he has an extensive catalog of solo albums, he may be best known for Traffic’s 1968 single “Feelin’ Alright?” Although the single failed to chart in either the U.K. or the U.S., Joe Cocker’s swinging cover of the song would hit the

Billboard Top 40 a few years later.

During the pandemic, Mason re-recorded the song with a group performing as Dave Mason & The Quarantines, which included Michael McDonald, Mick Fleetwood, Sammy Hagar and members of the Doobie Brothers (Pat Simmons, Tom Johnston, John Cowan and John McFee). All the recording was done remotely, but each performance was filmed and later assembled by Nashville-based producer-guitaristkeyboardist Rob Arthur into a cool splitscreen music video.

“People were bugging me to do some performing on the internet and I was like, ‘Fuck that shit,’ ” Mason says. “And then I thought, ‘Well, maybe I can get these guys to participate in doing a cool version of “Feelin’ Alright?,” which would be kind of cool with everybody locked up like this.’ And that’s basically how it started.”

Arthur, who also plays B-3 organ on the track, had done a similar remote, splitscreen video for The Doobie Brothers, which Mason thought was “fucking awesome.” So he enlisted Arthur’s help.

“Rob is the one who did all the video, putting it all together,” Mason says. “Everybody sort of filmed themselves. Like, Sammy did his [contribution] on an iPhone. My shit’s

filmed on an iPhone. Mick, I think, is filmed on an iPhone. So most of it was all just filmed on iPhones.”

The new version uses Cocker’s arrangement of the song as the launching point for an even funkier rendition. Mason, Hagar and McDonald swap lead vocals.

“I did a basic drum track and an acoustic guitar and sent that to John [McFee] to have Michael [McDonald] put a piano on it, which was really the key to the whole song,” Mason recalls. “And once the piano was on there, it gave it the feel. Because what’s great about it is that it grooves like a motherfucker for something that was done remote.”

When you consider how many of his peers have passed in recent years, it’s easy to understand why Mason thinks of himself as an “endangered species” and why he anointed his tour with that name. When he closes out the Southern leg of his winter itinerary on Friday, it will be a rare opportunity for Nashvillians to see one of the architects of the British Invasion who is still very much on top of his game. For Mason, it will be another opportunity to do the thing he “sort of drifted into” six decades ago.

“There’s nothing quite like performing live. I love it.”

EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

PLAYING FRIDAY, FEB. 10, AT THE CMA THEATER

PHOTO: CHRIS JENSEN

MUSIC

THE SPIN

SKATING BY

BY P.J. KINZER

The cultures of skateboarding and underground music have been intertwined since the mid1970s, overlapping to the point that it’s hard to find the border between them. Half-pipe legend Steve Caballero played in hardcore unit The Faction. Punk bands like Big Boys, JFA and Minor Threat wore their love of skating on their sleeves, while punk and metal unknowns soundtracked skate videos that simultaneously exposed kids to new music and new tricks. Decades before Brian “Pushead” Schroeder was being celebrated in posh New York art galleries, he played a big role in setting the aesthetic for the cultures’ intersection with illustrations for Zorlac Skateboards, Metallica and many more; he also played in Septic Death. Jake Phelps, the late, heralded editor of skateboarding magazine Thrasher, was close enough to Boston hardcore outfit SS Decontrol that he appears on the cover of their genre-defining 12-inch The Kids Will Have Their Say. Friday night, the tradition continued at The Basement with a trio of bands celebrating the spirit of Thrasher’s Skate Rock! compilation series.

The room had to clear out a little after the 7 p.m. show, offering the visual juxtaposition of big amps being dragged in by mangy ragers while the singer-songwriter crowd made its exodus. By 9 p.m., the late-show crowd was in place and Hurts to Laugh was getting into gear. The long-running four-piece is anchored by frontman and concrete-park regular Erik Dail, who played the whole set in a pair of red platform stiletto heels that Jessica Rabbit might have coveted. Self-described as “Nashville’s gnarliest band” and known for stopping at skate parks whenever possible on the road, the openers played tunes from their 2021 LP What’s in Your Way, including a cover of Black Flag’s classic “Wasted.”

I was really interested to see Mexico City’s Cardiel, who was in the second slot on the bill. Named for superstar skater John Cardiel, the band was formed in 2010 by drummer-singer Samantha Ambrosio and guitarist-singer Miguel Fraino, two Venezuelan immigrants who set out to make the kind of music they wanted to hear in skate videos — a rowdy blend of fuzzed-out, ballistic thrash and psychedelic reggae. It sounds like a terrible idea until you actually hear what they do. The pair set up in close proximity, canted toward each other but mostly facing the crowd. Fraino’s Spanish lyrics, delivered in a hoarse scream, were sparse and let the furious riffs carry most of the songs, while Ambrosio’s beats transitioned seamlessly from

a thrash-y gallop into spacey dub.

While a guitar malfunction led to an impromptu intermission, I took the opportunity to check out the crowd. The ragers that night were a mixed bag of salt-and-pepper punks and young heshers, including a kid shooting on a VHS camcorder that was almost certainly older than him. Once the tech issue was resolved, Fraino gave a sincere salute to what he described as the most beautiful thing human beings had created: skateboarding. The band then dropped into their anthem “Destino Bowl Secreto,” an ode to half-pipes and street style whose video features the duo and their friends carving pools like they were in the Bones Brigade. Their passion was matched by enthusiastic fist-pumping from the maniacs in the crowd. By the time they were finished, the band looked absolutely spent, sweating out every drop of passion in their bodies in their triumphant Music City debut.

Taking the stage last was Waxed, now a full decade into their run on the Nashville DIY circuit. Though the band emerged as a run-of-the-mill melodic hardcore punk band, they eventually began taking on a prominent thrash metal influence. In July, they released their first full-length Give Up on the Another Riff Raff label. The album is a whiplash-inducing crossover cassette that recalls veteran Venice Beach hardcore and metal vets Excel and the feel of the peak NYC Combat Records scene — the kind of golden-age rippers featured on Headbanger’s Ball circa 1989. It was the first hometown gig for Waxed since before the holidays, and the heads were here for it. If the show wasn’t totally sold out, I don’t know how you’d squeeze another humanoid into The Basement.

From the first guitar lick, the circle pit was a cartoonish swirling melee. Within seconds, the toxic waltz proved too much for a dude who bolted for the door; before the song was over, someone else scampered toward the bathroom, bloody hand covering his nose. The Basement has hosted all kinds of music for nearly 20 years, but recently it’s felt like hushed singer-songwriters were at the fore. Not so Friday: Waxed ripped through their 45-minute set like tissue paper, with diabolical divebombs, warp-speed solos that seared and snarled, and frontman Luc Richards spraying PBR on everyone within a 5-foot radius.

Soon, the guy with the bloody nose emerged from the restroom, appearing not much worse for the wear, and waded right back into the pit — a testament to how much Waxed has to offer. The loosely defined genre has been around for a long time and has had plenty of issues to grapple with, running the gamut from strains of misogyny and homophobia to silly tests of purity. But when skate punk is at its best, there are few things that can top the catharsis, even if it comes with a bruise or two and a little ringing in the ears.

EMAIL THESPIN@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

PHOTO: H.N. JAMES MONSTER MOSH: WAXED

SOME KIND OF TOMORROW

The Belcourt’s Beloved series celebrates stories of Black womanhood and girlhood

BY ERICA CICCARONE

The results of the 2022 Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time critics’ poll were released on Dec. 1, marking the first time in the poll’s 70-year history that a film directed by a woman appeared in the top 10. Not just in the top 10, in fact — Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles took first place. It set off tiny tornadoes of conversation across the internet and in the lobbies of our movie theaters. Had the woke mob finally gotten to the British Film Institute? Who wants to watch a woman peel potatoes for 201 minutes? Screenwriter Paul Schrader took to Facebook to voice that the result was due to an act of “politically correct rejiggering.”

One Nashvillian was preoccupied by other questions. “While I love and celebrate so many of the movies that are on that list,” says Belcourt staffer Sheronica Hayes, “only two of them have a Black woman as the protagonist or the lead of the story. Literally 2 percent of the world’s top 100 movies center Black women.”

With Beloved: A Spotlight Series on Black Female Directors, Hayes hopes to invite moviegoers to engage with films that they may not have on their own top 100 lists. The series is the first of its kind at the almost 100-year-old theater. Hayes takes her title from the Toni Morrison novel; she chose the words of the subtitle just as carefully. “The reason that the ‘spotlight’ is important both metaphorically and literally is because it focuses the viewpoint,” says Hayes. “I don’t think that people have seen these movies

and dislike them. I think that a lot of people just don’t know that they exist, so there’s no real celebration for them. It’s important to shine a spotlight so that people can refocus their attention on these movies.”

Hayes cast a wide net in choosing the six films in the series. Recognizing that Black womanhood is not monolithic, she wanted to include a variety of experiences and identities. Her picks will appeal to a broad swath of moviegoers. The series starts with 2000’s Love & Basketball (Feb. 14), the first film by The Woman King director Gina Prince-Bythewood. Starring Sanaa Latha and Omar Epps, Love & Basketball is a tender drama about winning and losing on the court and in love. The film will double as an entry in the theater’s Pizza and a Movie series, in which the Belcourt partners with local pizzeria Slim & Husky’s. Beloved also features Julie Dash’s iconic Daughters of the Dust (Feb. 18-19), a lyrical film set in 1902 about a family who’s lived off the coast of Georgia for centuries and now considers leaving the island for the mainland. Dash explores the varying perspectives of the women in the family as they wrestle with the significance of leaving their home.

It’s a gorgeous, gauzy and essential entry in American cinema.

Melina Matsoukas’ 2019 Queen & Slim (Feb. 21) is the most topical entry. It stars Jodie Turner Smith and Daniel Kaluuya as a couple whose first date is stalled by a traffic stop, and then keeps on going while the characters run from the law. Kasi Lemmons’ 1997 Eve’s Bayou (March 4-5) is a Southern Gothic family drama with Samuel L. Jackson, Jurnee Smollett and a perfect Debbi Morgan. Both of these films hit satisfying cinematic tropes and are packed with powerful performances. Hayes also chose two lesser-known but brilliant films: Ayoka Chenzira’s 1994 Alma’s Rainbow (Feb. 25-26) and Cheryl Dunye’s 1996 The Watermelon Woman (Feb. 28). Alma’s Rainbow is a Brooklyn-set coming-of-age story about an artistic teenager, her free-spirited aunt and her straight-laced mother who runs a beauty salon out of their home.

“It’s just fun, but it also handles big ideas,” says Hayes, “in a way that’s incredibly digestible for both teenage girls and women.” Using a mishmash of documentary styles, The Watermelon Woman blurs the line between documentary and drama.

Cheryl Dunye stars as a queer video-store clerk (also named Cheryl Dunye) who is researching a 1930s actress credited only as “The Watermelon Woman” in films. “Cheryl is just so charming and sexy and flirty,” says Hayes, “and there’s this mysterious Watermelon Woman, and it’s such an invitation to think about the earliest appearances of Black women in film.”

Hayes says Beloved is for everybody. “I would love, love, love to just have more attendance and Black people at the Belcourt,” she says. “A part of our responsibility as an institution is to have programming that makes Black people want to come. … It’s also important to me that white audiences and non-Black audiences in general have an appreciation for Black films. A lot of the Belcourt’s funding is from the public, so the public has to have an appreciation for what we do. And that means that they have to see the value in showing Black stories.

“I want to simultaneously make a safe space for Black people to come view Black cinema, but also encourage non-Black audiences to engage with it in a way that’s meaningful. And to start to demand it.”

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

BELOVED: A SPOTLIGHT SERIES ON BLACK FEMALE DIRECTORS

FEB. 14-MARCH 5 AT THE BELCOURT

ALMA’S RAINBOW

DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST

THE WATERMELON WOMAN

ROBERTS’ RULES

Turn Every Page reveals the sacred relationship between editor and author

BY ERICA CICCARONE

Fifty years, five books, 4,488 pages and counting. Those are the cold numbers that speak volumes, forgive the pun, of one of the great relationships in publishing history. Author Robert Caro is 86 years old and still working on the final volume of his masterpiece. His longtime editor, Robert Gottlieb, is 91 and plans to read it. Both men are determined to get the tome to publication. Neither wants to rush the job.

the film from the start, but Caro needed some convincing. The relationship between publisher and editor, he says, is too intimate. The word that comes to mind for me is “sacred.” The director finally convinced him to take part on one condition: that he and Gottlieb not appear together in the film. The result is kind of miraculous. We come to understand each man through the other’s point of view; in doing so, we also understand the relationship between editor and writer.

TURN EVERY PAGE: THE ADVENTURES OF ROBERT CARO AND ROBERT GOTTLIEB PG, 112 MINUTES OPENING FRIDAY, FEB. 10, AT THE BELCOURT

In Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb, Lizzie Gottlieb (Robert’s daughter) presents a portrait of the relationship between the two men that is tender, funny and moving. In his long career, Robert Gottlieb has edited, he says, between 600 and 700 books by the likes of Toni Morrison, Joseph Heller and Doris Lessing. Caro is the eminent political biographer of our time. His first book, Pulitzer Prize winner The Power Broker, chronicles the life of the formidable city planner Robert Moses, who is responsible for New York City as we know it today, for good and bad. Caro’s five-volume series

The Years of Lyndon Johnson — the final volume of which he is still writing — covers not just LBJ’s time in politics, but all the years of the 36th president’s life.

When people think about how power is located and maintained, they think of Caro’s books. “If we understand power,” says publisher Lisa Lucas in the film, “then maybe we can imagine a better future.”

Lizzie Gottlieb’s father — witty and garrulous — was willing to appear in

Editing, Robert Gottlieb says, is “an intelligent and sympathetic reaction to a text,” an act of “making public your own enthusiasm.” Would Caro have written The Power Broker and the LBJ series without Gottlieb? It’s possible. But Gottlieb gave him the time and financial support that the books needed — and that the final book needs. His relationship with Caro is one of equals — he neither commands the writer nor acts subserviently. Reading a text sympathetically means uncovering what the writer is doing, not shaping what he’s doing. It’s certainly not the relationship between every duo, but for Gottlieb and Caro, it has worked for five decades.

That’s not to say the two don’t quarrel. Their main point of contention is so banal that it becomes comical — it’s the punctuation mark second only in its controversy to the Oxford comma. For Gottlieb, Caro deploys the semicolon too often; for Caro, the mark creates an indispensable connection between ideas. Their sessions sometimes lead to standoffs that require Caro to take a time-out in the restroom while the editor tends to the long line of colleagues standing outside his office. Despite these spats, the relationship endures productively, tenderly, respectably. The film reveals their quirks — Gottlieb collects plastic women’s handbags; Caro writes on a typewriter with a carbon sheet between pages. He stuffs the copied pages — all of them — in a deep cabinet in his New York home.

It might be assumed that Lizzie Gottlieb is “too close to her subjects” for a documentary. But that intimacy lends itself to an ease, naturalness and charm that make Turn Every Page a joy to watch.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

ROBERT CARO (LEFT) AND ROBERT GOTTLIEB

PHOTO: CLAUDIA RASCHKE

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BY EMILY CARROLL

LEGAL

Non-Resident Notice

Fourth Circuit

Docket No. 22A71

ADRIAN EUGENE LAVENDER, et al. vs. DESTINY RENEE WAKEFIELD

In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a nonresident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon DESTINY RENEE WAKEFIELD. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after MARCH 2, 2023 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on April 3, 2023. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Joseph P. Day, Clerk

M. De Jesus Deputy Clerk

Date: February 3, 2023

Wende Rutherford Attorney for Plaintiff

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