Nashville Scene 3-23-23

CITY LIMITS:

RESIDENTS CHOOSE GOVERNMENT

BUYOUTS TO ESCAPE FUTURE FLOODING

STYLE ISSUE

Remembering the past. Reinventing the future.

Featuring the work of one of today’s most dynamic artists, Jeffrey Gibson: The Body Electric combines aspects of traditional Indigenous arts and cultures with modern visuals. Featuring vibrant paintings, sculpture, video, and installations, Gibson’s work is a call for empowerment, environmental sustainability, and visibility for all.

THROUGH APRIL 23

FristArtMuseum.org @FristArtMuseum #TheFrist #FristJeffreyGibson

Organized by SITE Santa Fe and curated by Brandee Caoba

Jeffrey Gibson. Large Figure 1, 2022. Fringe, glass beads, artificial sinew, tin cones, sea glass, acrylic felt, steel armature, and powder coat varnish; 71 x 31 x 24 in. Courtesy of the artist and SITE Santa Fe. Image courtesy of Jeffrey Gibson Studio. Photo: Brain Barlow

The Frist Art Museum is supported in part by

Jeffrey Gibson: The Body Electric is made possible through the generous support of the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation

This exhibition is part of the Tennessee Triennial for Contemporary Art, a program of Tri-Star Arts.

Platinum Sponsor Hospitality Sponsors Education and Community Engagement Supporter Spanish Translation Sponsor

Secondhand

Like a great neighborhood lunch spot, secondhand stores attract all kinds of Nashvillians

BY COLE VILLENA

CRITICS’

Larissa Maestro, Paisley Fields, Teenage Halloween, Tayls, Purple Rain, Rick Wakeman and more

FOOD

Feel the Burn Pelican & Pig fires up East Nashville BY KAY WEST

PET OF THE WEEK!

HI, MY NAME IS ERNEST! I’m a shy but very sweet 2-yearold Orange Tabby and weigh 10 pounds. I absolutely love treats and will do anything for a Churu and if you really want to see me get wild, give me some catnip! (I can’t resist showing my playful side when catnip is involved!) I’m looking for someone who will be patient with me and understand that I may take some time to warm up but once I do, there’s no stopping me! I truly am a terrific tabby - Meet me today at NHA!!

TRUMP CLAIMS JAN. 6 VIOLENCE WAS PENCE’S FAULT WHILE GOV. LEE AND SEN. BLACKBURN REMAIN SILENT

As recently reported by The Washington Post, former President Trump has suggested that the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol “could have been avoided if his vice president had cooperated in overturning the results” of the 2020 election. Trump goes so far as to say: “Had he sent them back to Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, the states, I believe, number one, you would have had a different outcome. But I also believe you wouldn’t have had ‘Jan. 6’ as we call it.”

As Trump tries to minimize the events of that day, let’s not forget that “Jan. 6,” as he so nonchalantly refers to it, left five people dead and dozens of others injured, including 140 police officers. Let’s also not forget that, as the Post notes, “a pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol on that day following months of false claims by Trump that the election was stolen from him.”

The former president is still claiming election fraud — but now making the claim that former Vice President Mike Pence should shoulder the responsibility for the Capitol riots. Trump made these statements in response to Pence’s recent remark that “history will hold Donald Trump accountable.” The attempt to blame Pence is likely just another form of misdirection — an attempt to keep Americans from looking too closely at the many charges, some criminal, for which Trump is currently under investigation.

The Washington Post reported in April of last year — with updates to its report earlier this month — that “the Justice Department is investigating the handling of classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago and efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, with a special counsel appointed in November to oversee both investigations.” The same article mentions the investigation into Georgia’s election results and the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation into the $130,000 payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

But while Trump is working to steer any responsibility away from himself by placing blame on Pence, our own state leaders remain silent. Both Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and senior U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn remain quiet despite the disconcerting rheto-

ric coming from Trump.

I suppose we should not be surprised.

Gov. Lee has been silent on many issues affecting Tennesseans — from Tennessee health care workers facing physical threats during COVID to state Sen. Joey Hensley’s opioid nonsense, the Hillsdale controversy and more.

As for Sen. Blackburn, the day after the attack on the Capitol, The Tennessean’s David Plazas wrote that “readers across Middle Tennessee expressed their disappointment” in Blackburn and her fellow Sen. Bill Hagerty. Originally, Blackburn planned to object to the vote count, but changed her mind after the insurrection. Plazas noted in his column that one reader called Blackburn “Trump’s parrot,” saying she “should be held accountable” for sedition. Another stated: “I am appalled at our elected officials participating in Trump’s last stand. Sedition, plain and simple, they should all hang their heads in shame for taking part in and supporting this disgusting display in our nation’s capital. They should probably be charged. A very sad day for Tennessee and Tennesseans indeed.” Another: “I’ve never had any doubt that Marsha Blackburn would be an embarrassment to the people of Tennessee.”

If Gov. Lee or Sen. Blackburn had any real feeling for the people of Tennessee, or for people in general, would they be quietly standing by, effectively supporting Trump and his claim that Pence is to blame for the violence that took place in our Capitol?

It is astounding to me after witnessing the violence on Jan. 6 and knowing why it came about — after seeing Trump’s lack of remorse and after the evidence substantiating that no election fraud ever existed — how any politician who cares about their constituents could keep quiet. Why not admit that the guy they supported and who they originally thought was a good fit for America has not turned out to be the kind of person we want to run our country? Look at Trump’s track record: He’s leaving bodies in his wake, and pointing the finger at someone else to divert blame.

Why not say, “Enough!”

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DONALD TRUMP

PHOTO: WHITEHOUSE.GOV

ANTI-UNION LEGISLATION ADVANCES THROUGH STATE HOUSE

The bill would require companies to conduct all union elections through secret ballots

BY CONNOR DARYANI

The Tennessee General Assembly’s Republican supermajority is continuing its war on organized labor with legislation that critics say is a hypocritical abuse of power.

Senate Bill 650/House Bill 1342 would restrict access to benefits from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development for businesses that allow what are known as card-check union elections. It would instead require companies to conduct all elections through secret ballots, which organizers and Democrats say are not only anti-union, but anti-business.

Under the National Labor Relations Act, there are currently two common pathways to unionization. The first and easier path is by card check. Under this process, once more than 50 percent of a workforce has signed authorization cards, the employer can voluntarily recognize the union and enter into collective bargaining. If the employer chooses not to recognize the union, employees can go down the second path, which is the secret ballot process. This is a long and expensive process, conducted by the National Labor Relations Board. This new legislation would punish employers who engage in the card-check process, effectively forcing all organization efforts straight to a secret ballot.

Advocates for the legislation argue that secret ballots allow workers to vote without feeling any pressure from their fellow employees. But organizers say the extension of the unionization process allows employers more time to intimidate and pressure the workforce to vote against unionizing. In some instances, this can even take the form

of politicians visiting businesses to discourage workers from unionizing, such as Gov. Bill Lee’s visit to Volkswagen in 2019, which ended in a failed unionization effort.

“All we’re saying is that if you’re moving to Tennessee, we support fair and free elections, conducted in private,” said Rep. Kevin Vaughan (R-Collierville), who presented the legislation to the House floor. “We’re not trying to say yes organize, no organize. All we’re saying is that if you do choose to organize, this is the methodology we want you to use, because we believe that most people believe in fair and free elections.”

Tennessee’s staunch anti-labor policies have long made it one of the states least friendly to organized labor. Tennessee has been what’s known as a right-to-work state since 1947, and an amendment to enshrine right-to-work language in the state constitution passed on Election Day in November. Unions in right-to-work states have far less organizing and bargaining power, which studies show leads to lower wages and fewer benefits for workers.

During this legislation’s progression through the General Assembly, members of the Democratic superminority have pointed to Ford’s BlueOval City automotive production complex in Stanton, Tenn. At a cost of $5.6 billion, the project, which is currently being built, is estimated to create 5,800 union jobs. As a union shop, Ford would be unaffected by this bill because their contract with the state has already been signed, but some opponents say it is unlikely the company would have chosen Tennessee for its complex had this legislation gone into effect before they chose to do so.

“The bottom line is discussions about

worker representation should be left up to the employers and employees, without outside influence from the government telling them what they can and can’t do,” says state Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville).

“We’re trying to use ECD grants as a hammer to dissuade unionization.”

Tennessee hands out millions of dollars in Economic and Community Development grants every year as a way of incentivizing companies to bring jobs into the state. Clemmons speculates that Ford moving here could lead to other companies, such as parts manufacturers, also bringing jobs to Tennessee. But since many of these manufacturing jobs are typically union jobs, Clemmons thinks this legislation will have a cooling effect. By passing this legislation, the General Assembly would effectively force union shops — which could provide higher-paying jobs to Tennesseans — to instead develop in nearby states like Mississippi or Arkansas.

Critics also say the legislation is hypocritical, given the GOP’s usual stance on government interference in business.

“The state had a lot of freedom and autonomy to design the incentive package in order to bring [Ford] in,” says Feroza Freeland, a policy manager for pro-worker lobbying nonprofit A Better Balance. “And my understanding is those are going to be good union jobs, which is great. But they’re kind of denying local governments the same freedom to be able to have a say in how these taxpayer-funded contracts, what kind of jobs they’re going toward.”

Tennessee has laws in place that prohibit local governments from setting labor standards for businesses that they want to incentivize with their tax dollars. Higher wages, better benefits and paid sick leave — all things available to Ford workers — are prohibited from being a part of what city governments consider when incentivizing businesses under state preemption laws.

“Tennessee’s had some of the highest unionization numbers in the country just within the past couple of years,” says Alyssa Hansen of the Tennessee AFL-CIO Labor Council. “I think lawmakers are scared of that. Working people are joining together and speaking up like never before, and I think those growing numbers also give them some pause.”

Unions allow people from all different backgrounds to unify under the same cause: making enough money. Step into a union shop and you are likely to find Republican and Democratic voters alike, organizing together and pushing for the same things. With that organization comes political power. Studies show that states with more union members also have increased voter turnout.

“The end goal is to break the unions,” says Adren Crawford of AFL-CIO. “This state openly says that they’re 100 percent unequivocally pro-business. And they do not want workers having a voice because that would actually drive up wages and benefits. No one ever stands up from the majorityparty side and says that ‘I’m pro-worker, and I want to do this to help the worker.’”

The bill to force secret ballot votes passed through the House last week, with all but one Democratic representative voting no. The bill will most likely reach the Senate floor this week. EMAIL

NASHVILLE PROPERTY OWNERS LOOK FOR

HIGHER GROUND

to escape future flooding

BY ELI MOTYCKA

Before Susan Steckel bought her South Nashville home, she asked about the 2010 flood. Water got into the crawlspace, she was told. A finished garage took some damage too, but the house fared well, despite its location. Charmed by the spacious yard near a quiet dead end, she took a chance on a modest ranch house that had just survived the rain of a century.

“I had limited options with a limited budget, and I tried to go in with my eyes wide-open,” says Steckel. “It was an extraordinarily beautiful property — river otters, huge birds, a sweet little oasis. I knew it was a calculated risk.”

Today, Elysian Fields Road is a lush riverbank staked with “no dumping” signs. Steckel’s property backed up to Sevenmile Creek, which surged during heavy rains in March 2021. Water flooded her entire house. Outside, the rising creek moved her SUV from the carport into her backyard. When the floods receded, she had someone else’s shed in her front yard.

While the historic 2010 flood seems like a logical high-water mark, flood calculus has changed rapidly in recent years. The federal government enacted new flood maps in February 2022, bringing more homes into 100- and 500year floodplains. Altered weather patterns follow a changing climate, threatening Nashville with more frequent heavy rains. Historically, these come in March, April and May. The city’s building boom has altered the built environment such that stormwater moves differently than it did 10 years ago, shifting flood risk across the city. Steckel

Rather than insure unlivable homes, the government is buying out residents who want

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

PHOTO COURTESY OF FORD MOTOR CO. CONSTRUCTION AT FORD’S BLUEOVAL CITY

SEVEN MILE CREEK

attributes her surge two years ago to irresponsible building in South Nashville.

“You cannot leave development out of the equation,” says Steckel. “With new infill and concrete and parking lots, you don’t have a plan for how to divert all that runoff. When water comes down, it has to go somewhere.”

She heard about buyouts during post-flood recovery efforts in May 2021. Nine months later, she agreed to a market-rate price based on her home’s pre-flood condition, determined by an independent appraiser. She bought a new home in Donelson, where she lives now.

In January of this year, Metro Water closed on a 14th parcel on Steckel’s old block, part of a relief program for property owners backed by local, state and federal governments meant to get people out of homes that have become too risky to insure. As of September, Metro had purchased 438 properties,

most of which have since been demolished. The process is long and finicky, but after months of waiting, paperwork and emails, it’s a lifeline for homeowners.

Jeremy Shupe lives near Steckel’s new home in Donelson. He bought his house in November 2020, a deep lot that backs up to McCrory Creek. The same rain that took out Elysian Fields in March 2021 badly damaged his home on Lakeland Drive. He’s been trying to get out ever since.

“At that point I just stopped moving in, because I didn’t want to be there, living in a house that should never have been built in the first place,” Shupe tells the Scene. “Every time it rains, I get anxiety. Panic attacks start rumbling through my guts.”

For weeks after the 2021 rain, Shupe had eight industrial fans running at all hours trying to dry his home. He found the buyout program and was told the entire process would take 18 months at most. Almost two years later, he hasn’t heard back about his ap-

HARM REDUCTION ORGANIZATIONS USE DIFFERENT METHODS

BY HANNAH HERNER

If people want to use drugs, they’re going to. And if they’re going to use drugs, they should have access to clean supplies to prevent the spread of hepatitis C and HIV, and naloxone to prevent overdose.

That is the ethos of harm reduction. Local organizations Street Works and Mainline Harm Reduction operate under the harmreduction umbrella, and want to see drug users have clean supplies, preventing deaths and infection. But they have different methods of making that happen.

The concept of harm reduction got a local boost in 2018 when the state established its Syringe Service Programs, and Nashville’s Street Works — an HIV-outreach organization established in 1997 — was one of the first organizations to join in. But the uptake has been slow. The Tennessee Department of Health currently lists 19 Syringe Services Programs in the state.

Still, operating on a model in which clients are meant to turn in dirty syringes to receive clean ones, SSPs statewide distributed 2,591,076 syringes and saw 2,076,728 returned in 2021, and distributed 53,000 naloxone kits. According to the 2021 annual statewide report, the nine SSPs functioning in the state at the time had 54,008 total client visits, with 5,677 new enrollees.

Street Works, operating through a combination of state and private grants, distributes 9,000 to 10,000 syringes and roughly 200 doses of naloxone per week. The organization also plans to bring its mobile unit out of hiatus as soon as the state approves location stops.

Mainline Harm Reduction bucks against the SSP guidelines, operating as an unregis-

tered mobile service to reach those who are unhoused and using drugs. Founder Miriam Field says the SSP program is more about optics than reaching those most in need.

“We’re upholding stigmas with SSPs, because clean and safe injection supplies should be available at any pharmacy,” Field says. “I feel that on a governmental level, the government has closed a door and opened a small window — and the SSP is the small window.”

The people Mainline serves often don’t have transportation. According to Field, that causes them to carry around dirty needles all day. She says the one-for-one method of receiving a clean needle for each dirty one turned in leads to a black-market exchange — people stealing one another’s dirty syringes to turn in. Like Street Works, her program provides needles, but it doesn’t aim for a one-to-one exchange ratio and instead instructs people how to safely dispose of them. In addition, she offers lower-risk methods for drug use — something the state has pushed back on. Mainline also provides wound care and distributed 3,000 doses of naloxone in 2022, its first year.

Field is driven by losing a number of people close to her to overdoses. She says part of harm reduction is reducing stigma so that drug users will feel more comfortable asking someone to oversee their use, thus preventing deaths.

“We want people to get high and not die,” she says.“We believe in people’s right to not die just because they’re using a psychoactive substance.”

Shamar Gunn and Kyle Oliver, heads of the SSP program at Street Works, say they’ve seen people decide to enter the orga-

plication. At this point, says Shupe, he wishes he had taken his chances on the housing market rather than get buried under a mountain of red tape with no clear path forward.

Buyouts run on two tracks. Both require coordination between local, state and federal agencies. The Federal Emergency Management Agency offers a Hazard Mitigation Grant program that requires a local agency to apply to the state on a property owner’s behalf, then the state agency to apply to FEMA. Six properties in Davidson County are pending approval for this grant, according to a FEMA spokesperson. Seven are pending acquisition, and 299 have been acquired since the 2010 floods. According to FEMA, the Metro Council approves lists of eligible houses to secure the local portion of buyout funding. Shupe is somewhere in this process, he hopes.

Steckel’s buyout was coordinated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency responsi-

ble for managing major waterways. She praises Metro Water’s Antonette Plummer, who helped guide her through the process. Plummer declined an interview request from the Scene but came up repeatedly in interviews as Metro’s point person for buyouts. She’s tried to help Shupe, sharing his frustration with a process that can be opaque even for insiders.

“I have no influence over the powers that be (State/FEMA),” Plummer wrote to Shupe in February. “If you would like to sell the property, please do so. FEMA has changed their policies, more times than I care to count. Unfortunately, all FEMA would do is send you to the State and the State would refer you back to me.”

Months after the 2021 flood, real estate speculators bought a few houses at the end of Steckel’s old block. One, a nice brick ranch at 241 Elysian Fields, was just listed online for $399,000.

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

nization’s treatment navigation after coming to exchange syringes for months on end.

“I think [harm reduction is] always going to be a hard sell, because people already have a stigma against it,” Gunn says. “It’s already going to be hard to change the narrative, but I’m here to fight for it. I will use all of my breath preaching on why we need this in all communities, instead of just ours.”

“It’s a sensitive subject,” Oliver adds. “You just have to understand that these people are also good people, they just do what

they do. We see past all that.”

In 2022, Nashville saw 735 suspected fatal drug overdoses — more than double 2016’s number. HIV rates remain relatively steady, with 651 people newly diagnosed with HIV in 2020, compared to numbers in the 700s from 2016 through 2019. Confirmed and probable chronic HCV (also known as hepatitis C) rates also remain steady, around the 200s in cases per year. Harm reduction could be a way to chip away at those numbers. EMAIL

Working to prevent overdose and disease transmission, local organizations want drug users to have clean supplies

KYLE OLIVER (LEFT) AND SHAMAR GUNN HEAD UP THE SYRINGE SERVICE PROVIDER PROGRAM AT STREET WORKS.

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

STATE LEADERS CONSIDER SCHOOL SAFETY MEASURES, BUT NOT GUN CONTROL

Tennessee’s leaders are continuing to address school safety in ways that do not consider access to guns

BY KELSEY BEYELER

As the first anniversary of the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting approaches — and with the nation continuing to see school and other mass shootings since — enhancing security measures remains critical. Gov. Bill Lee and state legislators are taking aggressive action to address school security through new legislation that puts the responsibility on schools, even while the state’s lax gun laws remain in place.

One substantial bill currently being considered would financially penalize schools that don’t pass checks for locked exterior doors. An amendment to the legislation states that if local or state law enforcement finds unlocked exterior doors at a school on more than two occasions, and if the school does not have an armed school resource officer or school security officer, it would need to hire one within 30 days. Failure to hire an SRO in this timeframe and undergo a corrective action plan could result in 2 percent of state funds being withheld from the school until these actions are taken. If a school continues to fail checks for locked exterior doors, the state could withhold additional funds, increasing up to 10 percent by the seventh violation. Schools that already employ SROs or SSOs would be held to the same standards and face similar repercussions. The bill also requires increased safety plans, drills and security systems.

“It’s the simple things,” House bill cosponsor Rep. Mark White (R-Memphis) tells the Scene. “We can spend multiple millions of dollars making sure we have SROs and armed SSOs. But it all falls apart if things such as a secure exterior door is not secured where anybody can walk in anytime.”

A Metro Nashville Police Department spokesperson tells the Scene that there are currently 22 SRO vacancies — the same number of vacancies as in August. Metro Nashville Public Schools Director Adrienne Battle and MNPD Chief John Drake recently started a “safety ambassador” program, which leans on retired police officers, among others, to serve as an unarmed security presence in elementary schools. According to a district representative, MNPS has hired a program supervisor and six safety ambassadors and is in the process of hiring more. Because MNPS doesn’t comment on pending legislation, it’s unclear how the bill might affect the safety ambassador program if passed.

The proposed legislation comes from the office of Gov. Bill Lee, who signed a school-

safety-related executive order following the Uvalde shooting. Lee has touted the state’s safety measures, including resources for schools and parents and an SRO grant program. He and other Republicans, however, have not publicly acknowledged the role that gun access plays in the conversation.

“I think you’re trying to put two issues into one, and I don’t think those are the same, and most responsible gun owners, they understand that,” Senate bill cosponsor Sen. Jon Lundberg (R-Bristol) tells the Scene

The state’s Republican supermajority has not considered restricting gun access this session — in fact, lawmakers have filed several bills aiming to expand it. One bill would allow certain school staff to carry firearms on campuses. Other legislation considered but ultimately not passed this session would have allowed 18-year-olds to carry guns without a permit and allowed students to carry firearms on college campuses.

While some parents and community members are in favor of increasing armed security at schools, others are wary of the negative impact it could have on certain students — particularly students of color and those with disabilities, who tend to be arrested at higher rates than their peers. One bill filed this session would allow SSOs who have received behavior intervention training to use mechanical restraints on students receiving special education services in grades 5-12 during emergency situations.

A recent statewide poll from the Vanderbilt Center for Child Health Policy shows that 83 percent of survey respondents feel schools are safer when they have school resource officers.

“Generally, a majority of Tennessee parents agree on several firearm-related school safety measures,” reads a release from the Vanderbilt Center for Child Health Policy. “Most parents agree schools are safer if background checks are expanded to all gun sales (71%); if active shooter drills are conducted routinely (71%); if students, staff and visitors go through a metal detector prior to entering a school (70%); and if firearm access ‘can be temporarily restricted through civil court order for persons who pose a risk to themselves or others’ (64%). However, less than half of parents, 35%, agree that schools are safer if teachers are armed.”

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

THE STYLE ISSUE:

STREET STYLE

Our man on the street Ray di Pietro checks out some Nashville looks

PHOTOS BY RAY DI PIETRO

Checking out Nashville’s best street style, plus a look at our vintage scene and some of the city’s most stylish residents

“I just do my own thing. I’m my own little creation.”

Legal assistant Deborah McFall, 65, on Fourth Avenue North and Church Street. Feb. 16, 9:29 a.m. @deborah.mcfall

“I dress how I feel. It’s how I express myself.”

TSU freshman Asata K, 19, at Capitol View Publix. March 1, 5:23 p.m. @its.asata

“I’m from NYC, the Bronx, but I’m visiting Nashville to see Nashville Ballet’s Anthology. A friend contributed to the music. My style inspiration? Right now I’m inspired by Schiaparelli and pretty much anything Daniel Roseberry does.”

Florist and artist Tate Jorgensen, 38, at TPAC on Deaderick Street. Feb. 12, 1:45 p.m.

@tatejo

“I just want to reinvent myself every day. I feel like I never stick to one aesthetic. I always like to play around with color, shapes and how a garment makes me feel. One thing that’s been really important to me is connecting to my inner child when I get dressed. My style inspirations? I really love Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. They were important to my childhood. Also, Diane Keaton. A style icon!”

Photographer Hannah Lyvers, 28, at UAL on West End Avenue. Feb. 8, 12:12 p.m. @_spicemedia_

“I feel what I wear is mood-based. It’s an art expression every day. It’s the most freedom we have to express ourselves.”

Sound healer/holistic aesthetician Sarah Huffman, 36, viewing Jeffrey Gibson: The Body Electric at the Frist Art Museum. Feb. 26, 2:33 p.m. @sarah.huffman.sound

“My style inspiration is comfort, with the varying seasons that you may get in Nashville in one week.”

Stratford High School principal and pastor Howard Jones, 60, at the Save John Lewis Way Youth Rally at the Davidson County Courthouse and City Hall. Feb. 18, 3:55 p.m. @hejonesjr

“There are just pieces of things I like from all over. Minimal, loud, dressed-down but mixing low and high is my style philosophy.”

Digital strategist Matt Colella, 32, on Third Avenue North. Feb. 13, 10:07 a.m. @new__jeru

“I just have a lot of clothes and wear what I’m feeling that day.”

Nashville Public Library family literacy assistant Caroline Cronin, 26, on Seventh Avenue North. Feb. 27, 9:08 a.m.

@car0linecr0nin

“I’m on my way to an event. My style inspiration? Shai Gilgeous-Alexander from the Oklahoma City Thunder. I think his style is different.”

TSU sophomore Jacob Walker, 20, at the Nashville Public Library downtown. Feb. 15, 1:28 p.m.

@1jwalker_

“It’s Nudie’s jacket that I ordered six or seven years ago. It was made by his granddaughter, who started the company back up again. It has the original Nudie’s topless cowgirl label, which they said was new old stock.”

Musician Rob McNurlin, 59.

“We’re all about vintage. We have a ’50s-rockabilly meets-’70s-hippie flair. Our country music duo name is The Heatherlys. Right now, we are filming for our first reality TV show. We don’t have a name for the show yet — we’re making an episode to pitch.”

Musician Lindsey Heatherly, 37, and musician Eric Heatherly, 53, with Rob McNurlin on 49th Avenue North and Charlotte Avenue. Feb. 21, 10:41 a.m.

@theheatherlys

“We met 23 years ago in middle school and started the WanderLust Girls blog in 2011. Our style philosophy? Make a statement — otherwise what’s the point?”

Wardrobe stylists/bloggers Emily Bache, 34, and Abigail Breslin, 34, at the Noelle Hotel “Independence Party” celebrating the hotel’s recent move to private ownership. March 9, 7:43 p.m.

@wanderlustgirls

My style philosophy? Keep it comfy! Keep it loud!”

Artist Ellie Caudill, 32, at The Green Ray Books in East Nashville. March 5, 11:35 a.m.

@pinkpizzza

“I thrifted this dress! These shoes are my dad’s. My style philosophy? I want to be the old crazy professor.”

Nashville Public Library circulation assistant Jewel Thompson, 25, at the Nashville Public Library downtown. March 10, 3:38 p.m.

@_jewelmorgan

KINA MONET

Talking to the personal stylist about budget, style and her favorite shops

BY KIM BALDWIN

Kina Monet is here to help you embrace your style — yes, even those of us who sit in front of a computer all day wearing soft pants.

Monet’s love of shopping started early, specifically at a Wisconsin thrift store. “I got into vintage shopping initially with my grandmother,” she says. “Of course, everybody has that story where they are like, ‘My grandma took me to the thrift store,’ and that was real life.”

Anyone with an eye for color and standout vintage pieces will appreciate Monet’s personal style, even though that isn’t necessarily how she styles her clients. “People see my style and think that I want to dress them like me — that’s not what’s gonna happen. My work is based off of what you want your style to be. I prepare items for you.”

“This is my own personal style — hence the name Her Personal Style. This is me. This is what I like to do. I just like to help you embrace your style.”

Even if you think you can’t afford a stylist, Monet says she can work with you too. “I can work with anybody’s budget,” she says. “But if you don’t have the budget, just think of it as how much do you normally go out and spend on an outfit and then take that money and then add a fee onto it. And that’s basically what it is. … And on a budget I’m not shopping Shein, but I do shop on a budget. I go to the thrift stores first, but I’ll find it there and then I’ll add in pieces where I need to from regular stores.”

Monet’s favorite places to shop right now? “I always do vintage,” she says. “I don’t even need to go to a thrift store. Shoot me in the direction of Live True Vintage. Tammy is amazing. Her prices are amazing. She has everything for anybody. If I’m gonna shop trendy, I’m going to Zara. And then my third is going to be a department store. My favorite department store is Dillard’s. I love Dillard’s.” ■

PHOTOS BY ERIC ENGLAND AT WICKED MARKET

CALLING ALL FOODIES- THE BATTLE IS BACK!

Four of Nashville’s best chefs will throw down in a head-to-head cooking competition featuring one secret ingredient to win the coveted Iron Fork trophy! Watch the competition go down while you enjoy samples from 20± ofthe best restaurants in town and sip on cocktails, beer and wine.

DAVIDPAINEREALTOR.COM

DAVID PAINE

A real estate agent incorporates style in all he does

BY KELSEY BEYELER

Being stylish means more than flaunting an attractive wardrobe. Style permeates our lives — it’s reflected in how we dress, decorate, carry ourselves, communicate and more. David Paine — a real estate agent, writer, cocktail connoisseur and midcentury-modern enthusiast — illustrates this kind of all-encompassing mindset in everything from his ever-evolving wardrobe to the gorgeous home he inhabits.

“Where does [my inspiration and creativity] come from?” says Paine. “It’s just always been here. I just do what looks right.”

What looks right to Paine translates into an eclectic mix of art, furniture and decor that has been intentionally curated for his home. His midcenturymodern ranch house is impressive, with colorful bathrooms, stunning fireplaces and vintage appliances. Each piece that Paine has added successfully complements and honors the beauty of the abode. While some furniture was found at garage sales, other pieces are original. Most of the art that adorns the walls was made by people he knows. As for his wardrobe?

“I have a thing about socks,” says Paine. “I’ve got 45 or 50 pairs. It’s a cheap way to liven things up.”

Paine moved to Nashville more than 40 years ago to work as an architectural historian at the Metro Historical Commission. He’s also worked as a marketer, graphic designer and real estate agent. Throughout these career changes, his sense of style has evolved — from bell-bottom jeans in his college days to dressing out of the Brooks Brothers catalog during his career, leaning into statement ties later on and now embracing a more comfortable wardrobe while he maintains a hybrid work model. “Comfortable, but not sloppy,” says Paine.

“I have left instructions with my good ex-wife and my children,” says Paine. “Tell me if I’m dressing like I look stupid, please.

“So far, nobody said anything.” ■

PHOTOS BY ANGELINA CASTILLO AT DAVID PAINE’S HOME

BE THE SKY. BE THE EARTH .

American Currents: State of the Music

EXHIBIT NOW OPEN

VISIT TODAY

@DEATHBYTHRIFTING COLIN BRADLEY

The @deathbythrifting TikToker on secondhand shopping and rejecting gender norms

BY CONNOR DARYANI

“I’ve been thrifting since I was like 12,” says Colin Bradley. “In middle school I was pulling up to Goodwill and, like, back-to-school eighth-grade shopping.”

He’s wearing an oversized gray blazer over a white button-down. A blood-red necktie perfectly matches his hair, which is in pigtails. While his closet is overflowing with pants of various fabrics, patterns and fits, his most recent obsession is pleated skirts. The one he has on now is made of gray wool, and looks like it might have been someone’s school uniform prior to its time lying hidden among the racks of Music City Thrift.

“Growing up queer, I thought that my queerness was something that detracted from who I was,” he says. “But once I fully accepted that, I realized it was my greatest strength. In terms of fashion, it allowed me to explore fashion, regardless of gender norms and conventions. And I guess it just helped me establish a new attitude and approach to fashion where I didn’t really care about others’ opinions, and their outdated views.”

“Some of y’all aren’t ready for this conversation, but the men’s section is always trash,” Bradley says in a TikTok post chronicling a recent trip to Goodwill. The mantra is often repeated on his increasingly popular @deathbythrifting account, which has north of 232,000 followers. His content centers on his thrift-store trips, edits he makes to clothing using a Brother sewing machine and updates on his unending mission to outfit every corner of his home in secondhand finds.

His page was inspired by the fashion YouTube videos he watched as a kid, which he cites as part of the reason he can’t help visiting thrift stores two to three times a week. And with the growing popularity of secondhand shopping, he hopes his page can help guide people through their journeys crafting their own unique styles.

“Anyone who’s my age or younger seems to be all about mismatching things from different places,” he says. “It’s uniquely theirs because they are mixing all these different things.” ■

PHOTOS BY ANGELINA CASTILLO AT COLIN BRADLEY'S HOME

ANNIKA BENITZ CHALOFF

Inclusivity is key at Nashville lingerie shop Hey Mavens!

BY LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

Annika Benitz Chaloff started her path to making lingerie in an unexpected way — baby clothes.

“I had a line of maternity clothing that I was making custom for clients, and I was also making baby clothing,” Chaloff tells the Scene. “But I had never had children, had never been pregnant — so I really didn’t relate to the product at all.”

She eventually closed that business. But she still had a bunch of material left over, including the elastic she’d been making baby headbands out of.

“It’s basically the same material lingerie is made out of,” she says. “I took the baby headband elastic, and I stitched up a bra. I can’t even tell you what possessed me to make a bra in the first place! But I just put it on my bed, took a photo, and put it on Instagram.”

Immediately friends and acquaintances began asking her to make more, and Hey Mavens! was born. Located in the Shops at Porter East, Hey Mavens! is known for its bright colors and unconventional patterns, but it’s also celebrated for size-inclusivity. That’s always been an important part of the business to Chaloff, but it developed organically.

“It came out of conversations I was having with my customers and my audience,” Chaloff says, “and just seeing that other brands weren’t serving the needs of the majority of American customers. There’s a statistic that something like 67 percent of American women are above a size 12 — that’s the majority of the market. So from a purely business standpoint, it makes sense to sell stuff to the most people. As I was talking with my customers, I was spending a lot of time talking about body image and self-confidence, self-esteem and self-worth, and how those things intersect. Including more sizes just seemed like the natural next step to keep myself from unintentionally making commentary about what size people should be by only carrying certain sizes.”

That same line of thinking brought about her interest in developing sizes specifically geared toward trans women.

“I was doing a lot of custom sizing, and I would find that I was making the same custom size over and over. Especially for people who are assigned male at birth, trans women — a lot of those folks had a common size. So we call that mini XL, where it’s sort of a broader band and a shallower cup.”

“I have a natural penchant for rainbows,” jokes Chaloff, who is herself bisexual. “I just love the aesthetic of rainbows, and also what it represents. That’s brought a lot of queer people into my sphere. I try to make it as inclusive as possible to those folks, as well.” ■

PHOTOS BY ANGELINA CASTILLO AT HEY MAVENS!

The Nashville Symphony Presents the World Premiere of an Epic Operatic Experience by Hannibal Lokumbe

STYLISH NASHVILLIANS

@SAMGRAMSAM SAM GRAHAM

Co-owner of upcoming Golden Pony Cocktail Bar talks ’60s style, conversation pieces

BY HANNAH HERNER

For Sam Graham, style is about conversation pieces. On the day of our photo shoot, he opts for a monochromatic look and lets the accessories do the talking: a pearl necklace, Ray-Ban glasses, a pair of geometric-print socks and a bracelet of tiny gold beads — a symbol of his latest venture.

The real estate agent and home stager is returning to his first love — restaurants. Golden Pony Cocktail Bar opens this month at 757 Douglas Ave. for dinner and brunch.

“It’s fun, it’s a rush, but it’s also creating these moments and experiences for everyone.” Graham tells the Scene. “It often reminds me of the duck that’s floating across the pond. It’s very cool, calm, collected, but underneath — those legs — I’m just going a million miles a minute. I love that.”

Graham thinks of himself as a perfectionist, and that detail-oriented mindset is apparent in his space. It hosts an impressive wooden bar top and an array of painstakingly chosen light fixtures. Bookshelves full of books and verdant plants invite conversation, as does a fuzzy replica of the “Mona Lisa” and, of course, a few golden ponies. Breeze blocks and rounded furniture ground the space in the 1960s, a nod to the era following when the building was built — 1959.

“Sometimes when we say ’60s, you may think of the peace sign, flowers — which isn’t it,” he says. “We’re more of a sexy-secretary, Mad Men kind of vibe. That’s our inspiration.”

Graham wishes there were more boutiques focused on men’s clothing in Nashville, though he’ll take a challenge and pluck a few preppy pieces from local stores to incorporate them into his look. He was a big fan of longtime vintage store Smack on Elliston, and treasures the vintage pieces he owns. Graham’s style mirrors his personality; someone who’s on the quiet side but happy to answer questions.

“I’m not one to walk in the room and, ‘Hey, look at me,’ verbally or physically,” he says. “But especially if it’s more of a one-on-one kind of thing, I’ll divulge more information.” ■

PHOTOS BY ERIC ENGLAND AT GOLDEN PONY COCKTAIL BAR

JAMIE GERMAIN AND ASHANTI SMOOT

In fashion, Jamie and Ashanti strive to hype other women up

BY HANNAH HERNER

Jamie Germain and Ashanti Smoot needed a creative outlet outside of their jobs in the corporate world, so they started their own style blog, Sashé, six years ago.

The pair met at Middle Tennessee State University, where Germain got the nickname “Crayola Box” for her loud style, while Smoot leans more toward classic looks. The two intersect on a love of color and print. They shop at high-end stores at the mall as well as Goodwill and vintage stores with equal fervor — and always try to limit their fast-fashion pieces.

“I like trends, but I also look for quality,” Smoot says. “You want things that will stand the test of time. I have things in my closet — I’m ashamed to admit — that are probably 20 years old. But they’re classic pieces, and you can add some of the trend pieces to mix it up.”

Working in the uniform industry by day, Smoot knows the cost of manufacturing, and therefore knows store markups. She’s good about waiting for sales, and reminds Germain of the importance of cost per wear. On the other hand, Smoot credits Germain for upping her confidence in her style choices.

“I think my confidence in style has grown even more,” Smoot says. “Jamie has helped me, like, ‘Girl, you can rock that.’ She has influenced me to be even more creative.”

Smoot says while the fashion world has a ways to go in terms of size inclusivity, she’s seen the industry grow. “I think in the past, sometimes being more on the plus side, there weren’t a lot of cool options or designers or things that I wanted to wear,” she says. “That was limiting, but I think nowadays there’s a push to be more size-inclusive and have different options.”

Germain and Smoot’s only regret is not starting the blog sooner.

“Now that things are opening up and I’m going out a little bit more, I see we’re good at this as women,” Germain says. “We just want people to feel like they’re part of our community and that they just have a girlfriend on their side, hyping them up.” ■

PHOTOS BY ANGELINA CASTILLO AT W NASHVILLE

ASHANTI SMOOT (LEFT) AND JAMIE GERMAIN

SECONDHAND SHOPPING IS FOR EVERYONE

Like a great neighborhood lunch spot, secondhand stores attract all kinds of Nashvillians

BY COLE VILLENA

Anyone could fall in love with shopping at a place like This ’n That Thrift. The Richland Park thrift store offers everything from new and used clothes to books and home goods to “bric-a-brac” — miscellaneous decorative goods otherwise called “knickknacks,” “knickknacks in your backpack” or just “tchotchkes” by store president Greer Broemel. The shop offers a perfect mixture of kitschy, unexpected goods and forgotten treasures looking for a new home.

Take a look around, though. You really could run into anyone shopping here.

A trendy high school student looking for a throwback Dale Earnhardt jacket bumps elbows with an older woman thumbing through a stack of cookbooks she hasn’t seen in ages. Over in the clothing section, a man building a professional wardrobe for his first office job stands a few feet away from a vintage clothing reseller carefully curating an armful of specific brands and styles. It’s Nashville, so of course there’s a group of chipper out-of-towners trying to choose an Opryland-branded souvenir — right next to an aggressively cool local who wouldn’t normally be caught dead in the same place as a group of tourists.

“We have so many different personalities that come in,” says Dorothy Rogers, a longtime volunteer and former president of This ’n That. “We have people who come in who just want to shop, but this is their emotional day. Just the fact that they’re here is an emotional support system.”

It’s easy to revisit the same kinds of places and see the same kinds of faces in Nashville, a city full of specialty shops and attractions that allow folks to carve out tightly knit communities for themselves. But like a neighborhood restaurant with a delicious $10 lunch special, a great secondhand store is a place for everybody. Where else in town can you see so many different people under the same roof?

“We want all sizes,” says Tristen Gaspadarek, pop singer-songwriter and co-owner of Anaconda Vintage in East Nashville. “We don’t discriminate against one style or one era. We want everything there for everybody. We want everyone to be able to come into our shop and feel not only welcome but also like they can find something.”

Anaconda Vintage offers a more curated — and yes, usually more expensive — inventory of vintage goods when compared to a bargain-oriented thrift store like This ’n That. Despite the difference in price points, stores attract customers with a similar logic: If you can’t find anything you like, come back next week. You’ll probably find something that’s your style.

“We are constantly turning [inventory], so you can come there every week and find something that wasn’t there,” Gaspadarek says. “If you didn’t find it at our store, you could probably go down the street and find it.”

That’s a good proposition for everyone from local musicians to bachelorettes popping around for a weekend. Gaspadarek sees both kinds of people at Anaconda, and she’s proud to be part of a growing antique and vintage scene attracting shoppers to East Nashville. (For more on Nashville’s vintage scene, check out Kelsey Beyeler’s story in last year’s Style Issue.)

“Whenever I would go on tour, I would try to find the record store, the vintage shop and the used bookstore,” Gaspadarek says. “There’s a tourist culture of people that like to thrift, and they like to go to vintage stores. They like the old stuff.”

For some shoppers, especially those on low or fixed incomes, secondhand stores are a lifeline. One of This ’n That’s beloved return customers is a woman who buys sheet sets — just $2 for sheets and $1 for a pillowcase — and ships them to families in Haiti. Other shoppers buy clothes for job interviews, dresses for nights out or fun decor they might not be able to afford otherwise. There’s dignity in being able to afford something purely fun, like a Nashville Predators license plate frame or a board game, without having a large amount of discretionary income.

“The bottom line is the money — the bargain,” Broemel says. “You can get so much for your money

here. I think that’s a big thing. They love us.”

Refreshingly, none of the store owners interviewed seemed to have a “preferred” customer. The fact that TikTok teens buy bright Y2K-style items (that are, in some cases, older than they are) right alongside retirees shopping for brands they’ve loved for decades is a strength. And it’s not an accident.

“We’re rising to the occasion of saying you don’t ever have to go to a big box and buy clothes anymore,” Gaspadarek says. “I always say I’m in the recycling business, as fun as it is for me to pick things out and curate things.”

PHOTOS BY ERIC ENGLAND EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

ANACONDA VINTAGE

THIS ’N THAT THRIFT

CALLING ALL FOODIES- THE BATTLE IS BACK!

Four of Nashville’s best chefs will throw down in a head-to-head cooking competition featuring one secret ingredient to win the coveted Iron Fork trophy! Watch the competition go down while you enjoy samples from 20± ofthe best restaurants in town and sip on cocktails, beer and wine.

CRITICS’ PICKS

WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF THINGS TO DO

WHITE REAPER

FRIDAY, MARCH 24

THURSDAY / 3.23

FILM [SAVIORS,

SABOTEURS]

INDEPENDENT LENS: HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE

Before How to Blow Up a Pipeline officially comes out next month, you have the opportunity to catch a free screening of this suspense-ratcheting eco-thriller, based on Andreas Malm’s 2021 nonfiction manifesto. This feature film has a bunch of fed-up young folk (including co-writer Ariela Barer and former Black-ish costar Marcus Scribner) getting together to become eco-terrorists and blow up an oil pipeline in Texas. You remember that high school movie The Perfect Score, wherein Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson are part of a ragtag team of teens who conspire to steal SAT answers? It’s like that, but with homemade explosives (and some preachy moments here and there).

Eric Gurevitch

— National Endowment for the Humanities

Postdoctoral Fellow, Asian Studies, Climate and Environmental Studies — will present the film, and director Daniel Goldhaber will be around for a virtual post-screening discussion. 7:30 p.m. at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Cinema, 2301 Vanderbilt Place

CRAIG D. LINDSEY

[EDGE OF DREAMS]

MUSIC

QUASI

The combination of Sam Coomes’ dissonant keyboard flourishes and

pseudo-classical chord progressions and the altogether fluid drumming of Janet Weiss makes Quasi’s new album Breaking the Balls of History a landmark in the history of progressive rock. Weiss’ résumé includes turns with Sleater-Kinney, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks and The Go-Betweens, and she anchors Breaking the Balls with as much flair as, say, Bill Bruford

or Phil Collins showed back in the heyday of King Crimson and Genesis. Because Coomes essentially plays the same licks throughout the album — the lush harmonies of “Gravity” put me in mind of Procol Harum — the songs come across as unfiltered meditations on climate change, the pandemic and the wreckage of the current media landscape. In other words, the album doesn’t say

much about cultural malaise, but it works anyway. Coomes and Weiss mention “all the puffed-up patriot pigs” in “Doomscroller,” while “Inbetweenness” sounds like vintage Pink Floyd or Robert Wyatt performances powered by a great drummer. Meanwhile, “Rotten Wrock” sports this couplet: “So what exactly is a human being / A little button on a touch screen.” Breaking the Balls proves once again that rock ’n’ roll can thrive as a compromise between the complexity of what you might call classical music and the offhand nature of various approaches to rhythm. I guess you really do have to call it prog. 8 p.m. at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, 623 Seventh Ave. S. EDD HURT

[HERE’S

LOOKING AT YOU, KID] KID KOALA PRESENTS THE STORYVILLE MOSQUITO

Kid Koala may have started out as a scratch DJ, but this Canadian multimedia artist has long found inspiration in a variety of art forms. And this weekend, he’s back at OZ Arts with his latest live project, The Storyville Mosquito — a “theatrical cinema experience” that features 14 performers, 20 miniature sets and 70 puppets. The story follows a young bug who embarks on a big adventure with dreams of playing in one of the hottest bands in the city. Much as in Nufonia Must Fall (which Kid Koala brought to OZ Arts back in 2016), the action unfolds simultaneously on both the stage and screen, with a team of artists manipulating the puppets, filming and projecting the action on screen while Kid Koala and a string trio provide live accompaniment. It’s a uniquely engaging experience that is sure to please all ages.

March 23-25 at OZ Arts, 6172 Cockrill Bend Circle AMY STUMPFL

MUSIC [ALL-AGES ALL-TIMER]

PAISLEY FIELDS, TEENAGE HALLOWEEN & TAYLS

Soft Junk hosts a stacked night of music on Thursday, bringing together Paisley Fields, Teenage Halloween and Tayls for an all-ages show for, well, the ages. Fields is a country singersongwriter — and a sometimes-Nashvillian, sometimes-Brooklynite — whose music and performances find intersection points between the country genre and the queer experience. Teenage Halloween is an Asbury, N.J.-based power-pop band with an expansive sound, pulling in elements of DIY and punk and grounding its music in a commitment to lyrical vulnerability. Local favorite Tayls will round out the bill, bringing along their buoyant, infectious take on poppy psych rock. Get there early and dress to impress: As Tayls wrote in an Instagram post promoting the show, “With the current political state of TN right now maybe it’ll be a dress up in drag party.” 8 p.m. at Soft Junk, 919 Gallatin Ave.

BRITTNEY McKENNA

The Basement East

KID KOALA PRESENTS THE STORYVILLE MOSQUITO

PHOTO: BRIAN NEUMAN

FRIDAY / 3.24

[ARE YOU GONNA GO MY WAY?]

MUSIC

WHITE REAPER

With this year’s Asking for a Ride, Louisville’s White Reaper further hones its masterful blend of influences. The record — Reaper’s fourth overall and second for major label Elektra — kicks off with the hardcore-punk blast beat of the album’s titular track before buzzing through the Halen-esque shredding of glam-metal ripper “Fog Machine,” the four-on-the-floor power pop of “Getting Into Trouble w/ the Boss” and the thrash-metal madness of “Funny Farm.” Frontman Tony Esposito & Co. have no issue swirling the slicker tendencies of mainstream rock acts in with the approach of beloved garage-rock outfits. Megadeth, Thin Lizzy, The Replacements, Black Lips, The Reigning Sound — all of the above has found its way into the DNA of White Reaper, and a decade on the road has sharpened their skills as a unit. Good stuff, coming in hot. Catch them Friday night, when Militarie Gun and Mamalarky will appear in support. 8 p.m. at The Basement East, 917 Woodland St. D. PATRICK RODGERS

[SORROW, PAIN, LAUGHING?]

PURPLE RAIN

It’s quite peculiar seeing Full Moon Cineplex — a haven for those who love watching horror, terror and other scary shit on the big screen — pause their usual macabre antics to screen the 1984 musical drama in which the Purple One himself makes his matinee-idol debut. Apart from

the gaudy clothes Prince and his Revolution bandmates wear, there’s nothing overtly horrifying in Purple Rain. But I’m sure if you ask women who’ve seen this, they might say the movie’s rampant misogyny — Prince does play an egotistical rocker who, when he’s not locked in a dick-swinging rivalry with Morris Day, dismisses female bandmates Wendy and Lisa (aka fellow Scene critic Jason Shawhan’s personal sheroes) and manipulates (and later slaps) love interest Apollonia — makes it an unsettling time capsule. (To be fair, Prince’s character did grow up watching his dad, played by The Mod Squad Afro wearer Clarence Williams III, abuse his mom.) Well, at least the soundtrack is still timeless. 7 p.m. at Full Moon Cineplex, 3455 Lebanon Pike

CRAIG D. LINDSEY ART

[BLUES STAY AWAY FROM ME] BLUE BUBBLING SPRING

There’s never really a bad time for refreshing your perspective, but the beginning of spring feels especially appropriate. In the wake of January’s Warm Blue Flame event, curator and visual artist Olivia Blanchard has coordinated another art-and-music weekend at Third Man’s Blue Room for the weekend after the vernal equinox. Friday and Saturday, you can check out a selection of artwork from a group of Nashvillians — Alex Kimball, Emily Miller, Jodi Hays, Marlos E’van and Rae Yo Young — who paint, illustrate, design and more. Friday, you can also enjoy a sound bath from Nashville’s own Belly Full of Stars, with a guest appearance

BLUE BUBBLING SPRING

from North Carolina’s Meg Mulhearn. Saturday’s musical guest is the Weird Ears Quintet, featuring badass guitarist and singer-songwriter Sean Thompson aided and abetted by Rich Ruth, Alec O’Connell, Ben Parks and Jo Schornikow; they’ll also be accompanied by improvisational dance ensemble Garage Collective. March 24-25 at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, 623 Seventh Ave. S. STEPHEN TRAGESER

MUSIC

[UNDER STARKVILLE] JOYBOMB

Seasoned listeners should know better than to question power pop’s resilience. Still, Memphis-via-Starkville, Miss. combo Joybomb’s late-2022 debut American Cult Candy is full of pleasant surprises. Are you a Foo Fighters fan? Do you like The Goo Goo Dolls? Or are hardcore-schooled alterna-heads like Texas Is the Reason more your speed? No matter one’s aim, or age, Cult Candy’s 11 tuneful paeans to youthful indiscretion — from the soaring, full-tilt opener “New Light” to moodier pieces like the guitarmony-heavy “High Crimes & New Lows” and acoustic-electric hybrid “The Charade” — are cogent and heartfelt without ever verging on sentimental or twee. It’s a bold wholesale rejection of the notion that reaching your mid- to late 30s automatically means mellowing out.

Founder-frontman Grant Beatty and his crew — bassist Conner Booth, drummer Clanton Blaylock and excellently named new addition Lyric Brock on second guitar — will have copies for sale Friday, so keep some cash on hand and ask a punk to shoot

you the address. DM for address and details.

At Gunk House CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

SATURDAY / 3.25

COMEDY

[FLY GUY] JO KOY

You might know stand-up comedian Jo Koy from his multiple Netflix specials

— most recently, Live From the L.A. Forum — or the feature film Easter Sunday, his ode to Filipino families. Or you might know him from Chelsea Handler’s recent stand-up special, when she sang his praise for complimenting her cellulite while they

were dating. You can catch him on tour now, when — not wanting to repeat punchlines — he’s freestyling some crowd work on his audience and otherwise improvising. This is Jo Koy unplugged, if you will. His fans come out in droves, filling arenas, so the laughs will feel extra intimate at the Ryman. 8 p.m. at the Ryman, 116 John Lewis Way N. TOBY

LOWENFELS

MUSIC [PSYCHEDELIC SHACK]

ANNE M c CUE AND THE CUBISTS

The rhythm guitar parts Australianborn ax master Anne McCue plays on Robyn Hitchcock’s self-titled 2017 album help make it a landmark of Nashville-meetsBritish Invasion rock. McCue moved to town in 2006 after stints in the Australian bands Girl Monstar and Eden A.K.A. led to her solo career, which got its start with 1999’s Amazing Ordinary Things. Along the way, McCue has toured with Americana singer Lucinda Williams, and you can hear the influence of North American music — and of Americana itself — on her 2002 Live: Ballad of an Outlaw Woman, which sports a nice take on Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile.” I also like something titled “Don’t Go to Texas (Without Me),” a track from 2010’s Broken Promise Land that ZZ Top should cover. McCue has a feel for Fairport Convention-style folk-rock, and the acoustic-guitar stylings she favors on Amazing Ordinary Things sound great today. Still, I relish her electric playing — McCue brings both subtlety and bite to her explorations of blues, rock and power pop. Saturday at Dee’s, McCue marks the release

of a new single, “The Loneliest Saturday Night,” which hits ahead of her full-length Wholly Roller Coaster. Set for release in October, the album promises to be a take on circa-1967 rock as practiced by The Kinks, Fairport Convention and Pink Floyd. McCue remains a musician’s musician, which means she’s underrated. That’s an injustice — check out yet another world-class Nashville picker and singer. 7 p.m. at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge, 102 E. Palestine Ave., Madison EDD HURT

MUSIC [NATURAL THING]

RONNIE MILSAP TRIBUTE

Although Ronnie Milsap was already an accomplished singer and pianist by 1970, he remained a first-rate live performer whose records didn’t represent his true talents. Born on Jan. 16, 1943, in North Carolina, Milsap hit the lower ranges of the pop chart with 1970’s “Loving You Is a Natural Thing,” an excellent single he recorded with Memphis producer Chips Moman. Milsap’s self-titled 1971 album found him again working in Memphis, this time with former Box Tops producer Dan Penn, but the album went nowhere. Milsap’s Nashville work nicely illustrates how so-called country music became pop in the ’70s and ’80s, with the haunted — but very commercial — 1983 single “Stranger in My House” a great example of Music City-style yacht rock. Because he has deep roots in R&B and soul, Milsap has been as much of a pop savant as any singer in Nashville history, and the arc of his career might remind you just how much country

Caroline Bowman (Elsa). Frozen North American Tour. Photo by Matthew Murphy. ©Disney

JO KOY PHOTO: ROD MAR

Live Piano Karaoke

6 NIGHTS A WEEK!

*Closed Tuesdays

THU 3.23 RATPACKSINGALONG w/Paul Loren 8-9

PIANOKARAOKE 9-12 w/Paul Loren

DRINKSPECIALSALLNIGHT for period dress!

FRI 3.24

HAPPYHOURKARAOKE 6-9 w/Katie Pederson

Pianokaraoke 9-1 w/Kira Small

SAT 3.25 PRIVATEEVENT 6-9

Pianokaraoke 9-1 w/Alan Pelno

SUN 3.26 *INDUSTRYNIGHT* 6-1

Pianokaraoke 8-12 w/Kira Small

MON 3.27 SHOWTUNES@SID’S 7-9

Pianokaraoke 9-12 w/Krazy Kyle

WED 3.29 HAGSREELTOREELHAPPYHOUR 6-8

BURLESK 8-9 ($7)

Pianokaraoke 9-12 w/Paul Loren

*AVAILABLEFORPRIVATEPARTIES!*

3245 Gallatin Pike Nashville TN 37216 sidgolds.com/nashville 629.800.5847

an independent bookstore for independent people

UPCOMING EVENTS

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THURSDAY, MARCH 23

music depends upon the kind of songwriting that isn’t indebted to the much-lauded three-chord, truthful mode. Saturday at the Opry House, the great pop-country singer marks his 80th birthday with a show that will feature Little Big Town, Trace Adkins, Mandy Barnett and others playing the songs he’s made famous — and Milsap is also set to perform. 7 p.m. at the Grand Ole Opry House, 600 Opry Mills Drive EDD HURT

SUNDAY / 3.26

[HIGHWAY STARS]

THEATER

6:30PM

LACIE WALDON with KIM BALDWIN at PARNASSUS

The Only Game in Town

6:30PM

SARAH PENNER at PARNASSUS

The London Séance Society

3:00PM - 5:00PM

CROSSROADS: A GIRLS’ TRIP PLAYLIST

Russell, jammed out with Nashville’s vaunted ’90s tribute My So-Called Band, co-hosted Star Trek podcast Into the Wormhole With Larissa and Lauren and premiered Fortitudine, her first work for dance, at Nashville Ballet. If Maestro has one standout skill, it’s her cello playing: She was named the Americana Music Association’s Instrumentalist of the Year in 2022, becoming both the first cellist and the first AAPI musician to win the award. Centennial Park’s ECHO Chamber Music Series will offer a peek into Maestro’s creative world, and she’ll lead an ensemble of Music City string players performing original compositions in the ambience of the Parthenon. 7 p.m. at the Parthenon, 2500 West End Ave. COLE VILLENA

to sit on a pedestal. So the best way to worship Emmylou is to catch her in concert. Monday’s show is a benefit for Bonaparte’s Retreat, Emmylou’s nonprofit dog rescue organization. She’ll be playing selections from her illustrious career alongside Irish singer Maura O’Connell and bluegrass hero Tammy Rogers. This show is sold out, but if you’re lucky enough to get your hands on a ticket, well then, long live the queen. And if not, you can still volunteer, adopt or donate via bonapartesretreat.org. 8 p.m. at City Winery, 609 Lafayette St. TOBY LOWENFELS

MUSIC [LEARN TO LIKE IT]

MADDIE ZAHM

Maddie Zahm’s journey to writing and releasing her debut project, You Might Not Like Her, is a long and winding one. The Boise, Idaho, native conceived the EP following a string of life-changing events, including walking away from a life centered on the church and coming to terms with her identity as a queer person. Accordingly, the

FRIDAY, MARCH 24

TUESDAY, MARCH 28

DOG MAN DAY CELEBRATION

STOP BY TO GET A BONUS MINI COMIC! at PARNASSUS

Dog Man: Twenty-Thousand Fleas Under the Sea

6:30PM

THURSDAY, APRIL 6

ALEXANDRA BRACKEN at PARNASSUS

Silver in the Bone

2:00PM

JAMIE SUMNER at PARNASSUS

Time to Roll

8:00PM

SATURDAY, APRIL 8

JOAN BAEZ with EMMYLOU HARRIS at OZ ARTS

Am I Pretty When I Fly?

3900 Hillsboro Pike Suite 14 | Nashville, TN 37215 (615) 953-2243

Shop online at parnassusbooks.net

@parnassusbooks1 @parnassusbooks @parnassusbooks1 Parnassus Books

Is there anything better than a road trip with one of your best pals? Or cranking up the radio and singing along to your favorite tunes? That’s definitely the vibe I’m getting from Crossroads: A Girls’ Trip Playlist, a new cabaret performance from Street Theatre favorites Morgan Riggs and LaDarra Jackel. Audiences can look forward to a wide range of songs and musical styles — everything from the Spice Girls’ “Wannabe” and Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” to Alanis Morissette’s “Uninvited,” also featured in the Morissette-inspired Broadway musical Jagged Little Pill. The pair also is planning a great “Princess Power Medley,” because who doesn’t love singing some Disney classics while on the road? Playing at the intimate Barbershop Theater, it’s sure to be a wild ride with plenty of big vocals and maybe even a few nods to the gals’ first cabaret performance back in 2018. 7 p.m. at The Barbershop Theater, 4003 Indiana Ave. AMY STUMPFL

MUSIC [MUSIC CITY MASTER] LARISSA MAESTRO

Nashville is home to hundreds of musicians who specialize in their own respective genres and styles, and it’s home to a few music makers who seem to specialize in everything. Larissa Maestro belongs in the latter category, with credits as a cellist, singer, producer, musical theater performer, chamber music composer, podcast host and much more. Last year alone she took the stage with Americana royalty like Brandi Carlile and Allison

| nashvillescene.com

MONDAY / 3.27

MUSIC [FISTFUL OF METAL]

MORGUL BLADE W/SONJA, WAXED & MY WALL

Hessians of all stripes will dig this gig at Drkmttr. Morgul Blade plays the sort of galloping fantasy metal that should be the soundtrack to a midnight raid on a castle by flaming skeletal warriors mounted on undead stallions. Where many of their like-minded peers fail, putting technical proficiency above style and taste, Morgul Blade proves to be brilliantly crafted. Their melodic guitars are accompanied by vocals reminiscent of Bauhaus’ Peter Murphy. Their tourmates Sonja have a lot in common with the leather-clad headbangers of L.A. and England in the early ’80s. Locals Waxed will bring their retro-thrash whiplash, while My Wall’s grizzled noise-sludge remains at the pinnacle of Nashville’s heavy music underground. 7 p.m. at Drkmttr, 1111 Dickerson Pike P.J. KINZER

MUSIC [MAKING BELIEVE] WOOFSTOCK AT THE WINERY

Emmylou Harris is Nashville royalty and should be treated as such. She should be paraded through town on a horsedrawn carriage, and her feet should never touch the ground as she’s carried around on a paisley-printed throne. Like Cleopatra, but in denim. Here’s the thing, though: Emmylou ain’t no diva, and she’s too human

songs on You Might Not Like Her are raw, honest and sometimes painful — the title track, in particular, should feel relatable to many — and Zahm delivers these stories with attention to melody and some truly powerful vocals. She’ll bring these tunes and more to a sold-out show at The Basement East on Monday, with support from Pittsburgh dance-pop multihyphenate Corook. 8 p.m. at The Basement East, 917 Woodland St. BRITTNEY McKENNA

FILM

[THE GENIUS OF MODERN MUSIC CITY MONDAY] REWIND & PLAY

The great boppers are so revered by the critics and musicians who followed them that it’s difficult to remember that many of the greats experienced racism in their own times — even from those who adored their music. Author Robin D.G. Kelley’s magnificent opus Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original weaves a tale of a troubled man who had to experience prejudice from music execs, police and even fans, all while just trying to play piano and make a pretty meager living for most of his career. This new documentary, Rewind & Play, centers on a 1969 French television interview with Monk, in which the jazz master faces off with a condescending white talk show host. Unless you have a VPN, there’s no way to stream this film in the U.S., so show up to the Music City Monday showing. You’d rather hear Monk play on the Belcourt’s speakers anyway. 8 p.m. at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave P.J. KINZER

LARISSA MAESTRO

PHOTO: GUS BLACK

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

Saturday, March 25

SONGWRITER SESSION

DOWNTOWN

Saturday, April 8

SONGWRITER SESSION

Janelle Arthur and Ryan Larkins

NOON · FORD THEATER

Sunday, March 26 CONCERT

Harry T. Burleigh

Spirituals Festival

5:00 pm · CMA THEATER FREE

Saturday, April 1

SONGWRITER SESSION

Terry McBride

NOON · FORD THEATER

Sunday, April 2

MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

Derek Wells

1:00 pm · FORD THEATER

Ben Johnson

NOON · FORD THEATER

Saturday, April 15

SONGWRITER SESSION

Acoustic

Guitar Project

NOON · FORD THEATER

Saturday, April 22

HATCH SHOW PRINT

pm

Saturday,

April 22

·

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in the Lounge at Eastside Bowl

24 Tania Elizabeth

25 Rico Nasty

26 Kevn Kinney

29 Sunny Sweeney

APR

APR

23 Sam

24 The Criminal Mind (songs

29 The Coal Men

5 Joe McMahan Quartet

7 Fosters First Friday

12 Anne McQue & The Cubists

13 Mark W. Winchester

14 The Lilliston Effect

18 Robbie’s Roulette

CRITICS’ PICKS TUESDAY / 3.28

BOOKS [ALL HEROES WELCOME]

DOG MAN DAY CELEBRATION

Book-fair heavyweight Dav Pilkey is back with another graphic novel in his beloved Dog Man series. Titled Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea, the newest entry sees Pilkey’s canine hero try once again to save his city from the evil Piggy. Parnassus Books will mark the release of the book on March 28 with a special Dog Man Day Celebration. Copies of Twenty Thousand Fleas will be for sale, and young readers can join in on a variety of Dog Manthemed activities. Participants will be able to color their own Dog Man book cover and even take a photo with one of Parnassus’ resident super dogs. Special miniature Dog Man comics will also be available at the celebration while supplies last. The Dog Man Day Celebration at Parnassus will kick off with no registration required — just show up ready for a “pawsitively” good time! 3-5 p.m. at Parnassus Books, 3900 Hillsboro Pike HANNAH

CRON

FILM [DANDELION] SCIENCE ON SCREEN: TAMPOPO AT THE BELCOURT

Anybody who’s seen Juzo Itami’s mouthwatering, absurdist, Japanese neo-Western from 1985 probably wouldn’t consider it science-centric enough for the Belcourt’s Science on Screen series. Tampopo is basically a rambling, seriocomic tale of two truck drivers (a cowboy-hat-wearing Tsutomu Yamazaki and a very young Ken Watanabe) who help a widowed mom (Nobuko Miyamoto) with her fledgling ramen eatery. While that happens, Itami reminds you how much food unites us by throwing in eccentric vignettes in which local oddballs take part in some sort of cuisine-consuming. (Wait until you see a white-suit-wearing dude use room service to satisfy his woman.) Well, not only will the Belcourt be screening the movie, there will also be a very delicious discussion to go along with it. Vanderbilt professor Mark T. Wallace will speak on the topic of “A Multisensory World: How Interactions

Between the Senses Shape Our Perceptions of Our World,” and Black Dynasty Ramen will serve up chicken (and vegetarian) yakisoba outside before the event. 8 p.m. at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave.

CRAIG D. LINDSEY

MUSIC

[ARE YOU THE KEYMASTER?] AN EVENING WITH RICK WAKEMAN: HIS MUSIC AND STORIES

One of my favorite things about prog groups of the ’70s is how they helped erase the boundaries around what keyboardists could do in popular music. During his several stints with Yes, Rick Wakeman exemplified the image of the prog keyboardist as a sorcerer of sorts, calling forth all manner of complex sounds from vast, imposing banks of synthesizers, pianos and the occasional pipe organ. (Not for nothing, he’s often worn a cape onstage — likely a primary inspiration for Spinal Tap’s Viv Savage.) Wakeman is no mere avatar, and his six-decade career includes work as a session player on such classics as David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” and “Life on

Mars?,” solo LPs like Journey to the Centre of the Earth, an array of projects with The English Rock Ensemble and the score to the cult-classic comedy Lisztomania, which he also appears in. In addition to some massive live celebrations of his solo works in London in February, Wakeman released A Gallery of the Imagination, a new concept album stemming from an idea instilled in him by his first piano teacher — that playing music is like painting for your audience. Expect to hear decades’ worth of music and the stories that went with it when Wakeman stops in at City Winery. 7:30 p.m. at City Winery, 609 Lafayette St. STEPHEN TRAGESER

WEDNESDAY / 3.29

[ATTACHED AT THE STRINGS]

MUSIC

PALLADINO AND BLAKE MILLS FEAT. SAM GENDEL AND ABE ROUNDS

PINO

World-renowned bassist Pino Palladino boasts a prolific résumé spanning more than four decades of prominence across the contemporary pop spectrum. His genrebending credentials include a who’s-who of legendary artists too long to list. However, a collaboration with Grammy-nominated guitarist and producer Blake Mills in 2021 yielded one the most stunning projects of either artist’s extensive catalogs. Notes With Attachments reflects the subtle genius of Palladino and Mills as instrumentalists while highlighting the duo’s intrinsic connection as composers and performers. Standout track “Ekuté” encapsulates the diverse range of organic rhythms and rich harmony that centers on the root of Palladino and Mills’ sonic relationship. The album also includes appearances by Andrew Bird, Chris “Daddy” Dave and Larry Goldings, among others. Palladino and Mills rarely have time between their schedules for tour dates together, making this short string of Southeastern dates a must-see. Saxophonist Sam Gendel, also featured on the record, accompanies the Palladino-Mills duo along with drummer and percussionist Abe Rounds. 8 p.m. at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, 623 Seventh Ave. S. JASON VERSTEGEN

[FOREVER IS A MIGHTY LONG TIME]

MUSIC

JID & SMINO

JID is one of the most exciting rappers to emerge from the South in the past decade, and the guy knows it: His flow is ever-shifting, oscillating on and off kilter, swapping flows and deliveries and swirling together a natural playfulness with dark sounds and themes. Plus, the guy just has bars: “Dance Now” is a flurry of charismatic lines over steady, pounding drums and a haunting chorus from Kenny Mason. He comes from the fierce stable of talent at J. Cole’s Dreamville label, so that’s saying something — and his overlooked 2022 effort The Forever Story should have gotten a Grammy nod, at the least. JID’s on tour with fellow Zoink Gang member Smino, a rapper and singer who infuses masterful Southern hip-hop stylings with smooth soul and a subtle futuristic flair, as seen on 2022’s Luv 4 Rent. The only bad news with all this is that the show’s been sold out for a minute — better luck the next time around. 8 p.m. at Marathon Music Works, 1402 Clinton St. ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

APRIL 6

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS WITH J MASCIS

MAY 13

JOSH RITTER AND THE ROYAL CITY BAND WITH ADEEM THE ARTIST

MAY 21

JOHN ANDERSON ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

JUNE 13

SAM MORRIL ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

JUNE 18 LIVE AT THE OPRY HOUSE

JACKSON BROWNE ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

OCTOBER 29

STEVE HACKETT ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

FEEL THE BURN

Pelican & Pig fires up East Nashville

BY KAY WEST

Prior to Feb. 25, I had never heard of sweet corn ribs. The day after, I couldn’t stop thinking of them — even now, I still whip out my phone and share the photos I took at East Nashville’s Pelican & Pig. One of my dining companions, who admitted with not one twitch of guilt to snagging more than her share from the table’s bowl, has added sweet corn ribs to her official last-meal menu.

As it turns out, I was woefully out of touch on a thing that had been trending forever on TikTok. I am not a TikTok user.

Nor is Pelican & Pig chef/fire master Nick Guidry, who owns P&P with wife and pastry chef Audra Guidry. “People in my kitchen knew about it, and I really just added them as a kind of lark,” he says. “Now, if I took them off the menu, we’d have people with pitchforks coming for us. Our kid loves them too.”

What’s not to love? Besides being fun-toeat finger food, they’re addictive — buttery, salty, spicy and smoky.

The big stack of cut wood just outside the front door at Pelican & Pig is a reliable clue of the type of cooking that Guidry adheres to — confirmed by the campfire scent wafting through the parking lot, and inside, the flames that draw the eye to the open kitchen where he and his crew work on fire, in ember, ash and brick oven. “Live fire has always been my favorite type of cooking,” he says. “To me, it’s more of a seasoning than a cooking element. Cooking 95 percent of our menu with fire and live embers is a big challenge. It’s uncontrollably controllable.”

In considering how to bring what he loved doing outdoors safely indoors, Guidry

studied restaurants around the world that were similarly devoted to it. Then he built the giant hearth himself, laying every brick and pouring every bit of concrete, designing everything with the exception of the brick oven to be modular so he could reconfigure as needed.

The live-fire protein station has a Santa Maria-style grill — a large wheel lifts and lowers the metal grill to regulate the heat and interludes with flame. Some vegetables are parcooked then finished over fire; some start on the grill and are then roasted over and under embers. The famous corn ribs get dunked 15 seconds into the fryer for a quick crisp before getting a char over fire and being tossed in herbed butter and two different house-created spice blends. The smallish whole Yukon potatoes are parboiled, roughly smashed with herb butter, fried for texture, showered with roasted garlic bits and laid atop a puddle of crème fraiche, evocative of a baked potato and sour cream.

Like the corn ribs, the fried cheese is a sly wink and a crowd-pleaser, a play on fried cheese sticks with a Nashville twist. The

house-made hot chicken spice has fired up different items in the snack section since the restaurant opened in 2019; the night we dined it was in the dredge for a solid block of mozzarella cheese, deep-fried and sprinkled with chopped green onion, centered on an unadorned plate. It had such authentic hot chicken flavor, with a heat level equivalent to a Prince’s medium, that I was wishing for a pile of pickles and a piece of white bread to wrap around a slice of melty cheese. It’s key to find that fleeting moment between tongue-scorching heat and when it cools to an odd state resembling rubber. I wouldn’t advise ordering this for any fewer than four people to share.

We almost breezed by the Brussels because my eyes tend to glaze over at the sight of the word, but I’m glad we didn’t — and you shouldn’t either. Of the roughly 87 versions of Brussels sprouts I’ve tried since they became ubiquitous on so many menus, Pelican & Pig’s smoke-kissed orbs, glazed with honey and miso and nestled under a snowdrift of shaved Parmesan, are among the best.

A full meal could easily be made of the

PHOTOS: ERIC ENGLAND

SWEET CORN RIBS

BRUSSELS SPROUTS

snacks and small plates, but why deny Guidry, his staff and the dozen diners who have staked claim on the stools at the kitchen bar the visceral thrill of seeing flames shoot into the air around a thick pork chop or ribeye on that Santa Maria grill? Or deny yourself the elemental pleasure of biting into a fire-kissed chop or steak?

Regularly, two steaks, a pork chop and a seafood selection are the entrée options. The 2-inch-thick Bear Creek heritage pork chop had just the right amount of fat, which I was professionally obligated to sample — I sliced it like a stick of room-temp butter to reveal a glistening pink interior. It lay atop a mound of whipped cotija cheese, blended with cream and cream cheese and beside a fan of embered cabbage so tender it seemed braised.

A fillet of corvina — a meaty white fish — was crisped on the edges, swaddled in brown butter, and perched on celery-root puree. The accompanying cluster of confit hen-of-the-woods mushrooms was a tease; I urge adding them as a small plate. It pains me to say this, and surely it was an aberration, but we were quite

disappointed in what is lauded as Pelican & Pig’s most popular dessert, the chocolate chip cookies, aka Separation Anxiety. For $2 per cookie, I expect something with more volume than a flattened silver-dollar pancake; as much as I love a warm, classic chocolate chip cookie, I left half on the plate, and was wishing we had ordered the cinnamon apple cheesecake with salted caramel, pecans and granola instead. I was envious of the couple next to us, clearly enjoying their better choice.

The decor of the dining rooms, beverage bar, kitchen bar and furnishings is minimal and rustic, but comfortable and cozy; refreshingly unpretentious and organically complementing the restaurant’s down-to-earth culinary character and honest hospitality.

Pelican & Pig is a valuable asset in East Nashville’s enviable and diverse portfolio of independent, authentic neighborhood restaurants — a genuine, home-grown, hearth- and heartfelt concept all of Nashville should invest in.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

BALANCING ACT

Nashville Rep’s new artistic director Micah-Shane Brewer looks ahead

BY AMY STUMPFL

In speaking with Nashville Repertory Theatre’s new artistic director, Micah-Shane Brewer, one word seems to flow most freely throughout the conversation: balance. Whether he’s casting a play or curating a new season, Brewer is constantly working to strike the right balance, both onstage and behind the scenes.

“I feel like my left brain and my right brain are always battling it out,” says the East Tennessee native, whose career as a director, actor, musician and educator spans more than 20 years. “As a director, I like to plan everything and be organized. But it’s still important to keep space open for those creative aha moments that you just can’t plan for. Finding the right balance also is crucial when it comes to programming. You want to offer a little something for everyone — musicals, classic plays, new works.

“Personally, I’m always looking for stories we can learn from — stories that challenge, inspire and, yes, entertain us,” Brewer continues. “It’s like a big complicated jigsaw puzzle, and sometimes the right pieces are in totally different boxes. It’s not easy to put it all together, but that’s what makes the process so rewarding.”

These past few months have been par-

ticularly rewarding for Brewer, who first arrived at the Rep in early 2020, gearing up for his company directorial debut with Mary Poppins. Just two weeks into rehearsal, COVID forced the company to postpone — and later cancel — its season. But as theaters began to slowly emerge from the shutdown, Brewer returned to the Rep, stepping into the role of producer. He made his long-awaited Rep debut in November 2021 directing the musical Ragtime, and would follow that up by directing three of the most successful shows in the company’s history — Mary Poppins, Rent and Elf the Musical “You know, it takes some time to get to know a new community and what audiences respond to, but I’ve been very lucky,” says Brewer, who was officially named artistic director in January of this year. “The Rep has offered such a warm and welcoming environment. And looking at the calendar year, 2022 was a record-breaking success, in terms of audience size and ticket sales. So now the question becomes, how do we build on that momentum and continue to grow?”

In addition to the standard box-office goals, however, Brewer has dedicated himself to building on existing relationships while also opening the door to new talent. In fact, of the 80 actors employed by the company this season, 35 are making their Rep main-stage debuts. (About 40 percent of Rep actors are people of color.) The company also has welcomed (or will welcome) eight new guest designers this season, along with three guest directors — one of whom is making her Rep directing debut with the upcoming musical Violet

“It’s so important to me that we create an environment that is open, inclusive and full of energy,” Brewer says. “I want people

to know that everyone has the same opportunity to work here at the Rep — whether they’re longtime Nashville stage veterans or new to town.”

For now, Brewer is focused on directing the Rep’s upcoming production of the 2015 Tony Award winner The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which opens March 24 in TPAC’s Johnson Theater.

“I’m really happy to have the chance to dig into such a meaty play,” he says. “Rep audiences know me for my work with big musicals, which is great — I do love them. But I actually love many different kinds of theater. This is such an interesting piece, with a lot of movement-based storytelling. So I’m eager to see what the actors will bring to the rehearsal process. Again, it’s all about balance — leaving that space to explore and play, and create something special together.”

While the Rep is still finalizing details, Brewer hopes the 2023-24 season also will offer something special for local audiences.

“We’re planning to open with a big musical in the Polk Theater that will have a unique Nashville connection,” he says. “We’re also looking at an exciting new work that recently played on Broadway. And we’re pulling out all the stops on a big holiday show that just might become a new tradition — who knows?”

“Nashville is such an inspiring city,” Brewer adds. “There’s an immense amount of talent here, but there’s also a wonderful creative energy. Artists are so open and willing to try things, plus they’re incredibly supportive and encouraging. I’m grateful to be here, and excited to see what the future brings.”

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME MARCH 24-APRIL 2 AT TPAC’S JOHNSON THEATER

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

SEASONS IN THE SUN

Buket Savci’s Red Arrow debut is sun-soaked, sensual and somber

BY JOE NOLAN

Brooklyn-based painter

Buket Savci’s first show at The Red Arrow Gallery was a highlight of this month’s First Saturday happenings. Beyond the Dreampond is a series of oil paintings on canvas, linen and panel — jam-packed compositions of entwined figures tangled with a menagerie of animal-shaped pool floats, foam noodles, life preservers and stuffed toys. These pieces are packed with people, but their combined poses, gestures and textures mean the crowded compositions can sometimes read like landscapes, or even abstractions. Savci’s precision brushwork rushes right toward photorealism, just before making a much smarter and more interesting turn into a pleasantly stylized look that’s perfectly complemented by the summer garden palette that makes these paintings so fragrant and juicy — they taste like strawberries and they smell like vinyl baking in the sun. Beyond the Dreampond splashes around all of art history’s depictions of relaxing humans, but also touches on Savci’s personal story as a Turkish immigrant.

Savci’s models in repose recall the reclining figures lazing throughout Western and Eastern art history. If reclining Buddhas look particularly relaxed, it’s because they represent the after-death state of a person who has reached enlightenment. The poses of reclining emperors and sultans demonstrate the ease of their stations, and even gods and goddesses go horizontal in Greek and Roman statuary, bringing their respective pantheons down to earth. The lay-back goes way back.

Savci’s painted people are silly, sexy, somber and sometimes uneasy. “No One Cares About Your Floatie” presents a pile of people who’ve splashed down into a cuddle puddle with legs draped over torsos, heads on hips, arms woven together. This is one of the works that really reads like a landscape described by the hills and valleys formed from all these linked-together limbs, clothing, skin and hair textures. This painting is emblematic of Savci’s penchant for creating treasure-box scenes brimming with tiny details when viewed up-close. But the composition has so much integrity that I like it just as much from across the gallery, when all those surprises merge into energized but balanced abstractions.

Some of the people populating “No One Cares About Your Floatie” have their eyes

closed. Some look like they’re sleeping peacefully, and some are smiling like they’re trying to stifle laughs. One woman has a dreamy, lidded expression, and another’s eyes are wide open, curiously peeping the scene. Savci’s “Wild Flowers” painting is detailed and colorful like “’Floatie,” but the mood is completely different. “Wild Flowers” depicts a collection of female figures lying down on a blanket in a meadow dotted with wildflowers. The women with their eyes closed looked like they’re sleeping but uneasy, and the central figure is covered in a striped blanket — her head is wreathed with a crown of fuchsia flowers, and she’s holding something that looks like a knife in her right hand, resting on her chest. This one feels like a funeral scene. A woman in the background stares blankly up at the sky. Another stares uneasily toward the horizon. It’s a da Vinci composition lit with a toy lantern shaped like an owl. An inflatable

pink unicorn side-eyes the scene. Savci’s pooltime aesthetics bring both literal and figurative buoyancy to these works, but a piece like “Wild Flowers” points to the life-preserving function of inflatable pool companions like floating creatures and pink and chartreuse inflatable plastic rings. Savci was born in Istanbul, and her scenes are joyous people-jumbles in the sun, but they also speak to her experiences as an immigrant, figuratively floating between continents and cultures. They also recall the harrowing cross-border journeys refugees have always made across rivers, lakes and seas, fleeing danger or rushing toward the promise of a better life.

Paintings like “Wild Horses” and “The Search Party” offer more examples of Savci’s knack for the bittersweet. These are both vibrant, colorful depictions of young, attractive people lying all over each other, but they’re all wearing face masks covering

their mouths and noses. Of course, these works were painted during the pandemic, when even the idyllic shores of Savci’s Dreampond works weren’t immune to the cultural upheaval, social wreckage and deadly health scares that accompanied the beginning of this new decade.

After years of face-covering and various levels of social distancing, the best thing about Savci’s series is how her posed scenes evoke the intimacy, reliance, loyalty, trust and love that connect families, friends and communities of every stripe and size. These paintings are about closeness — in the best of times and the worst of times. These scenes feel like both the return of the spring and the end of the summer, and they remind us that we’ll get through all tomorrow’s tragedies and triumphs better together.

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BUKET SAVCI: BEYOND THE DREAMPOND THROUGH MARCH 25 AT RED ARROW GALLERY

“NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR FLOATIE,” BUKET SAVCI

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A DIFFERENT KIND OF PROMISE

How Dolly Parton saved one woman’s life

BY JANE MARCELLUS

At first blush, Lynn Melnick might not seem like someone whose life story would have anything to do with Dolly Parton or her music. The author of I’ve Had to Think Up a Way to Survive: On Trauma, Persistence, and Dolly Parton grew up in Los Angeles listening to Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and other folk artists her blue-state Jewish parents loved. The author of three collections of poetry, she now lives in Brooklyn.

But in 1988, when Melnick was 14 and waiting to be admitted to a drug rehabilitation program in L.A., she happened to hear Parton and Kenny Rogers singing their 1983 hit “Islands in the Stream” over the radio. Raped at age 10, Melnick didn’t have much faith in the hopeful future that those around her promised was hers if she’d just get off drugs and clean up her act. “But Dolly’s voice from the hospital’s ceiling speakers held a different kind of promise,” she writes. “It was a release, a renewal, euphoric.” She knew she needed more of it. “I needed to believe in that bright precision, in an artistry as unstoppable as Dolly herself.”

Melnick kept listening to Dolly Parton’s music and learning everything she could about her, all the while writing poetry, much of it about her own trauma. Later, as the mother of two teen daughters, she, along with her husband, brought their family to visit Dollywood “to breathe in the backdrop that had formed the woman who in many ways formed me.”

I’ve Had to Think Up a Way to Survive belongs to the genre sometimes called “memoir plus,” a hybrid form that tells the narrator’s story in the context of a larger topic. Like Jenn Shapland’s My Autobiography of Carson McCullers, Melnick’s book is about the author’s vicarious, identityforming relationship with a cultural figure. Each of its 21 chapters is organized around a particular song, so we learn everything she was able to find out about how Dolly — as Melnick always refers to her — wrote or recorded that song, what the press said about it, and what the artist herself said about it in interviews and talk show appearances. Moreover, each chapter delves into what the title song means in Melnick’s life and what it says about related cultural issues. In that way, it’s a blend of memoir and cultural criticism, as well as a wealth of information.

For example, the chapter titled “Coat of Many Colors” focuses on the 1971 song of that name about the multicolored coat Dolly’s mother made for her from scraps when she was 9. She was proud of the patch-

work coat, but the other kids mocked it. Melnick compares Dolly’s experience to her own struggle for acceptance in sixth grade. Admittedly more privileged, Melnick used her grandparents’ Hanukkah cash gift to buy all-the-rage fluorescent-spattered overalls, only to discover other kids still rejected her. The chapter goes on to explore the bigger issues of bullying, poverty and the importance of reading in kids’ lives, with a nod to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which has distributed more than 195 million free books to children since it was founded in 1995.

A very different chapter is the one titled “Jolene.” The song is one of Dolly’s greatest hits, though Melnick shares that her husband Timothy can’t stand it. Melnick calls it a song of “desperation, pleading, and obsessiveness,” and she uses the chapter to explore the meanings of jealousy, sexual and otherwise. No, she says, she was not jealous that Timothy’s closest friend, Lucie, was beautiful; rather, she felt sadness for his loss when Lucie died of cancer. Citing recent Nobel Prize winner Annie Ernaux, Melnick contends that being threatened by other women assumes women can never be true to one another or themselves. “The speaker of ‘Jolene’ is putting her whole life in another woman’s hands, a woman we don’t even know has any interest in the speaker’s man, but I guess appealing to the man is not an option here.” On second thought, she notes that “Jolene” could be read as a conversation between two women, itself a “fiercely feminist” move.

Despite Melnick’s love of Dolly, the book is not hagiographic. She is annoyed that Dolly hesitated to publicly embrace feminism until her 70s, instead calling herself “feminine,” enunciating the last syllable. She thinks Dolly has always been feminist, arguing that much of her music and public persona can be read as a critique of rape culture and sexual violence. Maybe, Melnick concedes, avoiding the feminist label is what Dolly had to do to survive. Either way, her gratitude is clear: “Resilience. Longevity. Outlast those who would doubt you. In my darkest moments, that’s the light she shone on me.”

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

I’VE HAD TO THINK UP A WAY TO SURVIVE: ON TRAUMA, PERSISTENCE, AND DOLLY PARTON BY LYNN MELNICK UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS 264 PAGES, $26.95

Lucas Carpenter, Eva Cassel, Katie Pederson (7pm)

Stacey Kelleher, Lia Knapp, Discofox, Emma Rowley,

Brad Sample, Sarah Manzo, Shlomo Franklin (7pm)

Alex Lambert (7pm)

Michael Conley, Meredith Rounsley (7pm)

Eleganza, Titans Of Siren, Fuh Kos (9pm)

Tommy Prine (7pm)

Margo Cilker w/ Sophie Gault (9pm)

GET HAPPIER FRIDAYS: Lauren Morrow, Heavy Gus, The Dirty Delusions, This Pine

GLOOMSDAY

Is Gloom Girl MFG Nashville’s first great new rock band of the After Times?

BY CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

The End, The East Room, The 5 Spot — is growing exponentially. “We’re learning how to pack rooms,” Waggoner adds, “and make each show count.”

“W

e love it here,” says Gloom Girl MFG’s Paige MacKinnon, welcoming me to the foursome’s basement rehearsal space. “Big yard, practice room, 15 minutes to most places — it’s perfect.”

The house is home to MacKinnon, guitarist Ethan Waggoner and a third roommate, plus Charlie the rabbit and Cedar, Waggoner’s 5-foot-6-inch red-tailed boa. It sits in a peaceful, rural-feeling corner of East Nashville, not far from where Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack stood for years before damage caused by a car crash took it out in 2018.

Three-fourths of Gloom Girl MFG — the three-letter suffix, shorthand for “manufacturing,” avoids potential legal conflicts with any similarly named bands and makes a comment on the state of the world — got here too late to take a crack at the outrageously spicy hometown specialty before Prince’s operations moved elsewhere.

Bassist Stephen Sobolewski has lived in Nashville the longest, having moved from his native Charlotte, N.C., in 2015, while over the past two years, MacKinnon and drummer Connor McCourt arrived from the Northeast and Waggoner from the Pacific Northwest. Perhaps because of this, the foursome delivers its sometimes-caustic, always-catchy punk-pop with refreshing optimism about Music City itself and music in general. Witness it live at The Basement on Saturday, when Flight Attendant and Shedonist support.

In the wood-paneled jam-room-adjacent band lounge, T-Rex and The Jesus and Mary Chain records sit in a recently played pile, the imposing yet docile Cedar chills in his vivarium, and McCourt calls up Sobolewski

— headed home after running sound at the Daytona Beach Bike Rally for the past 10 days — to patch him in via phone. Involving everyone each step of the way is key in Gloom Girl. It’s been that way since a practice session in late 2020 when nascent songwriting partners MacKinnon and Waggoner drafted McCourt, who’d previously drummed for Nashville-via-Jersey punks TV Saints, and Sobolewski — alias Dirty Ginger, which is occasionally a band, but mostly a recording project. Within moments of plugging in, the chemistry was undeniable.

“It was fucking sick,” Sobolewski remembers. “Immediate, and uplifting.”

“We’d all played in bands before that had been dysfunctional,” adds McCourt, “so we wanted to set a precedent to be committed right out of the gate.”

For Gloom Girl, that meant nearly 30 local gigs in 2022 alone, plus three three-hour practices a week — a regimen the quartet continues to maintain. All four members were eager to pitch in songs and song ideas.

“We talked about how to share credits right away, which were nice discussions to get out of the way early,” says Waggoner.

WE GOT THE BEAT

Afrokokoroot brings the expansive, propulsive sound of Afrobeat to Music City

BY SEAN L. MALONEY

Seeing big bands in small rooms has got to be one of the best experiences for a fan. By “big,” I don’t necessarily mean famous — I mean bands with enough members to field a softball team, squeezed onto a small stage within sweatin’ distance of the audience. We’re talking bands with double-digit memberships, including brass, percussion and all the fixins, pushing air and filling the building with vibrations auditory and spiritual. There’s nothing quite like it, and that’s a primary motivator for checking out 12-piece ensemble Afrokokoroot’s Afrobeat Night at The 5 Spot on Friday.

Led by singer, composer and arranger Sunny Dada, Afrokokoroot brings classic Afrobeat sounds — driving horns, pulsing polyrhythms, socially conscious lyrics — to the heart of East Nashville on the last Friday of each month. It’s a reflection of Nashville’s increasing worldliness despite horrific state-level regressions, a sign of a healthy musical community that is progressing even while the mainstream poops out Morgan Wallens.

A pivotal performance at The Basement in November proved they were smart to have the foresight. Watching them perform their playfully malevolent debut single “Boujie Girl” at the Eighth Avenue South club’s long-running New Faces Night made an instant convert of Mike “Grimey” Grimes, co-owner of The Basement, The Basement East and beloved record shop Grimey’s. “I love New Faces Nite and have hosted almost every Tuesday for 20 years,” Grimes wrote in a post after the show. “[Talent buyer Gil Costello] booked a local band who are my new favorite. Gloom Girl. Nashville needs this band so much.”

“I didn’t honestly know who Grimey was at the time,” remembers MacKinnon with a laugh, “but he was speaking over the P.A. like the voice of God, saying all these nice things about us, to us.” To Waggoner, “It felt like beating level two of Guitar Hero — advancing to the next phase.”

Grimey Effect or no, Gloom Girl’s draw at the city’s stalwart rock ’n’ roll haunts —

Soon they’ll have more on the merch table to go along with their first shirt design, splashed across with the image of — who else — Cedar the snake. On the inaugural Gloom Girl EP Factory, set for release in late April, avowed John Bonham and Dave Grohl admirer McCourt’s song-serving drumming frees his bandmates to branch out sonically.

For Waggoner, that’s meant leaning into ’70s glam influences — the T-Rex records by the turntable are his — while Sobolewski has gone deep on the outrageous discography of modern garage-punk titans King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Sleater-Kinney’s “social commentary and jagged, jigsawpuzzle riffs,” meanwhile, were such game-changers for MacKinnon that she shouts out their ’97 breakthrough Dig Me Out in one Gloom Girl tune. From Factory’s ferocious kickoff track “Litterbug” up through its dreamy denouement “Side Stitch,“ the four-song set clocks in at just under 15 minutes, making for a formidable first release with significant replay value. It isn’t at all hard to grasp Grimes’ enthusiasm for what he saw and heard at New Faces Night.

Looking ahead, Gloom Girl already has designs on Factory’s follow-up EP, along with a pair of stand-alone singles slated to come out by the end of the year. They’re also planning to tour the Midwest and South with greater regularity; they’ll be hitting Birmingham, Chattanooga and Memphis in coming months. As far as long-term goals?

“Just to focus on writing good music, that we all have a hand in,” says McCourt. “We believe in this project, and each other.”

One glance at the practice-room whiteboard — with a list of songs for the next live performance, a list of more than a dozen others in the pipeline with notes on their progress and the form of the song they’re currently working on — and it’s clear that momentum is on their side.

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PLAYING SATURDAY, MARCH 25, AT THE BASEMENT

PLAYING FRIDAY, MARCH 24, AT THE 5 SPOT

PHOTO: HOMER RUIZ

MUSIC

“At first, I wasn’t expecting that people of Nashville — everybody knows that it’s a country music city — are going to accept Afrobeat,” Dada tells the Scene. “So to God be the glory, they accepted it — they love it. They want to hear more, they want to know more about the band, me in particular. So it was a surprise for me. It was really a surprise for me. But we did it.”

Originally founded when Dada lived in China, Afrokokoroot has been active in Nashville since 2016, when Dada released the album AU under the name Sunny Ebenezer Dada. The way Dada describes things, finding musicians to play this music — popularized by the legendary Fela Kuti and drawing on Yoruba traditions as much as jazz and funk — was easy. It’s a music that relies heavily on precision and flexibility, tension and release, and a commitment to communal listening.

“There [was] no Afrobeat in Nashville,” Dada explains. ”Everybody was excited, and they’ve been so productive, so helpful, to make this dream a reality.”

Part of Afrokokoroot’s mission is to operate as emissaries for this sound in the greater community. Education and bridge-building are at the heart of their performance, a more holistic way of building a fan base than is typical in the world of, say, indie rock or country. With Afrokokoroot, Dada has led workshops for the Nashville Musicians Association — aka the American Federation of Musicians Local 257, which represents session musicians — teaching the ins and outs of this dense and idea-rich form of music, most recently in December.

“So among the people who turn up at that Afrobeat workshop, a lot of them, they’re part of the Afrokokoroots fans now,” Dada says. “So they’ve been following us since then. And it’s really a great surprise for me. And I’m so excited about it — I’m so happy about it.”

Should excitement about this music be a surprise, though? The international exchange of musical ideas has long attracted the best and brightest. After Cream and Blind Faith, Ginger Baker didn’t go start an Americana band, you know? It would be more surprising if this city full of sound nerds didn’t fall for the pulsing polyrhythms and righteous vocals. But falling in love is one thing, and absorbing the music is another. How did folks handle learning to groove in a way that’s more complex than the “three chords and the truth” format that’s been the city’s calling card for decades?

“It’s a little bit easier for the wind instruments and string instruments, because it’s all about chords, notation and all that,” Dada says. “But at class, they were able to get my music and the Afrobeat music, but it wasn’t easy. It takes time, it takes hard work, it takes a lot of [rehearsal].”

The hard work comes through loud and clear in their live videos and recordings, including their 2019 single “World Peace.” This is a band on fire — focused, intense, letting the music flow through them, infused with the joy of playing together. Dada’s aspirations for the series are to spread that joy as far as possible.

“For the next upcoming Afrobeat Night, [I’m hoping for] people to not even have a space to sit, not even have a space to stand, not even have a space to dance — people outside trying to get in. … It might not happen this month, but in the future, I see it coming.”

EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

ANOTHER LOOK

The Scene ’s music writers recommend recent releases from Annie DiRusso, AndréWolfe, The Altered Statesman and more

FIND LINKS TO STREAM AND BUY THESE RECORDS AT NASHVILLESCENE.COM/MUSIC

The flow of outstanding releases from Nashville musicians never seems to cease. The Scene’s music writers have eight new recommendations for you, which you can add to your streaming queue, pick up from your favorite local record store or put on your wish list for Bandcamp Friday. The promotion in which Bandcamp waives its cut of sales for a 24hour period returns April 7, and many of our picks are available to buy directly from the artists there.

ANDRÉWOLFE, WOLVES DON’T HOWL THEY SING (TRÏBE OVER EVERYTHING)

By now, you’re hopefully well-acquainted with the Six One Trïbe crew, an expansive and elastic collective of Music City MCs. The collective released its first featurepacked album last year, as well as a documentary about their work, and individual members’ projects are coming out fast and furiously as well. AndréWolfe’s album features heavy, kinetic, disorienting-by-design production that complements lyrics about the struggle to balance all the needs in his life. The heartfelt closer “Pipebomb” counts up the cost of getting it wrong, while in “Emo,” he gets into the importance of artistic validation.

STEPHEN TRAGESER

THE FOXIES, WHO ARE YOU NOW, WHO WERE YOU THEN? (SELF-RELEASED)

HAMMOCK, LOVE IN THE VOID (HAMMOCK MUSIC)

Nashville duo Hammock — aka Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson — has been refining its mostly instrumental, post-rock-inclined musical style for two decades. The two have mastered using their guitars, keyboards and lots of other studio gear to express emotional truths without relying on narratives — the Nashville music-biz stock-intrade. Released in January, Love in the Void represents the duo shaking off the idea that their kind of music has to be “sleepy.” The soundscapes are kinetic, with contributions from outside musicians including drummer Jake Finch; check out the band’s YouTube channel for a behind-the-scenes look at the recording process. STEPHEN TRAGESER

ANNIE DIRUSSO, GOD, I HATE THIS PLACE (ANNIE DIRUSSO/GOOD PARTNERS)

On her provocative debut studio EP God, I Hate This Place, Nashville-residing indie rocker Annie DiRusso delivers five tracks that are raw, rebellious and real. As the title suggests, the mood of the record is dark, but not defeated. No song exemplifies this more than “Body,” in which she sings, “He loves my face / But not my body” and wonders, “Should I lose weight / Just so he’ll want me.” Against a backdrop of distorted guitars, she defiantly answers her own question in the opening line of the chorus: “Not really one for trying to be who you want me to be.” DiRusso’s earlier singles built a strong foundation, and she takes the next step with this serious artistic statement of a release.

DARYL SANDERS

THE ALTERED STATESMAN, HEARTS AROUND THE MOON (FEISTY)

Songsmith Steve Poulton’s long-running project The Altered Statesman is one of Nashville’s hardest acts to pin down. Over the years the band has developed a distinctive sound while simultaneously expanding on and experimenting with what that sound could be, and their latest release is no exception. The aesthetic is deeply rooted in the traditions of R&B, but Poulton & Co. never water down the influences that they blend in. Released on Valentine’s Day, Hearts Around the Moon is moody, mellow, humanistic and soulful — not hard to get lost in, but definitely not “easy listening.”

P.J. KINZER

Led by singer Julia Bullock, The Foxies have been steadily releasing singles and EPs since 2015, but last year’s Who Are You Now, Who Were You Then? is their first fulllength album. The good news is it was well worth the wait. The new album maintains the group’s signature electro-pop sensibilities while delving into a decidedly punk sound. It’s Carly Rae Jepsen meets Talking Heads and Blondie, and it’s a whole lot of fun. I’ve had “Headsweat” on rotation for months after hearing it on the radio one day, so beware: If you listen, you’ll be hooked.

HANNAH CRON

GREAT MINDS, LIVIN’ N COLOR (SELF-RELEASED)

On Jan. 1, Great Minds dropped some of the hardest tracks I’ve heard in a long time. These slammers recall some of the baddest moments of Burn, Underdog or the New Breed! comp tape — the classic NYHC style that bridged the gap between faster ’80s bands and the thicker ’90s street grooves. But Great Minds has a fresh take on the sound, bringing a fully contemporary attitude. Hands down, Livin’ N Color is one of the best recent local hardcore EPs, bringing bulletproof mosh riffs and ferocious intensity to songs decrying the epidemic of police violence. Check YouTube to see the band hit the streets of downtown in their “Problems” video.

P.J. KINZER

DON ALIQUO, GROWTH (EAR UP) MTSU professor and ace Nashville bandleader Don Aliquo’s eighth LP neatly utilizes the classic Sonny Rollins pianolessquartet format on this disciplined session, giving Aliquo’s two different ensembles equal time through the eight selections. This approach provides an ideal setting for his warm, robust tenor sax solos. Aliquo has assembled some of Nashville’s prime improvisers for a collection that’s mainstream and bop-rooted, but versatile enough to offer something for fans of either standards or more contemporary fare. Whether the variation of the ensemble in play includes trumpeter Rod McGaha or guitarist Steve Kovalcheck as the second solo voice — and either bassists Jonathan Wires or Jacob Jezioro, plus either drummer Marcus Finnie or Danny Gottlieb — there’s never a lull.

RON WYNN

THE MINKS, CREATURES OF CULTURE (SELFRELEASED)

Blues-schooled rock has been around for a long time, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less potent — when used in service of thoughtful songs like these, anyway. The bulk of the grooving, muscular tracks were produced by multi-instrumental polymath Robbie Crowell. A significant theme of the record is cutting through the posturing that’s especially easy to fall into in our socialmedia-driven age. It emerges in particularly poignant fashion in the hook of “Motorcycle,” as singer-songwriter-guitarist Nikki Barber sings: “All I ever wanted was someone / Who made me feel that I didn’t have to be ‘someone.’” STEPHEN TRAGESER

EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

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WICKED GAME

John Wick is back to once again kill a bunch of guys

BY CRAIG D. LINDSEY

I’m sure even Keanu Reeves knew he had to stop doing this shit to himself. For three movies straight, Reeves (aka Ted “Theodore” Logan, aka Neo, aka the most youthful-looking 58-year-old who ever lived) has been shooting people in the head all over the place — that is, when he isn’t being hit with body blows during the relentless action sequences that come one after another — as always-on-therun assassin John Wick.

With John Wick: Chapter 4, I’m assuming this is the final chapter. (That said, the fourth Friday the 13th movie was called Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, but the serial-killer from that franchise eventually came back.)

As amazing as it is to watch Wick take out muhfuckas left and right in the most aweinspiring ways, Reeves and series director Chad Stahelski — the most stunt-crazy star/ director duo since Reynolds and Needham — are running out of reasons for this guy to keep killing. The man who once longed to escape the assassin’s life has gone around the world and back just to off more people.

Not to mention, the dude should’ve been dead by now. I mean, the last installment

TAHITIAN HEAT

Albert Serra’s Pacifiction is vibey and hypnotic

BY JASON SHAWHAN

In another universe, the story of Pacifiction could have been a John le Carré novel — a tale of turnabout betrayal in tropical climes where men must navigate tricky political situations and a false step means death. Similarly it could have been a Laura Gemser Emanuelle film about pleasure and power exerting themselves on the nonwhite population of the non-Western world. But thankfully, Pacifiction is, in the here and now, an Albert Serra film. It’s a heightened but narcotized reality; everything moving through the haze of heat and the scents of lush growth and many kinds of sweat.

Serra is the Catalan filmmaker responsible for some of the most exceptional films of the past two decades — pitiless real-time explorations of the human experience like Liberté and The Death of Louis XIV, theoretical exercises like the Dracula-versusCasanova whatsit Story of My Death, and the most beautiful dramatization of the story of the Magi ever put on film (2008’s Birdsong) — and his take on this material is as fresh and provocative as one might hope. Provided, that is, that what you want is something unusual. “Like Claire Denis’ tragically underrated Stars at Noon?” you ask. No. Much, much weirder.

ended with Wick being shot off a building and hitting a bunch of shit on his way down. And yet this one begins with him looking as healthy as he wanna be. Reeves and Stahelski picked up the unkillable-killer torch that Jason Statham and directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor carried with their equally wackadoo Crank movies. And considering how Reeves becomes more wooden and robotic with each new Wick film, it’s clear that Wick has become a killing machine who’s seriously malfunctioning and needs his plug pulled.

But before that, he’s gotta kill some more people.

The fourth flick has Wick inexplicably popping up in exotic locales (Osaka! Paris!

Given Serra’s history of masterpieces, each playing very stratified and kinky games with narrative formalism and emotional tone, you might find yourself thinking that the writer-director has accomplished his most prankish achievement yet by making global art cinema feel empathy for middle management set adrift. The film’s manager, or more specifically “High Commissioner of the Republic,” is De Roller (Benoît Magimel), a man defined by a life in suits and sunglasses, a colonial signifier for a history of plunder and assault — quite literally. It’s no fiction that France used Tahiti and its surrounding islands as the site of nuclear tests for 30 years, only stopping officially in 1996.

De Roller is an incarnation of decadent decency — devoted to pleasure and keeping things running as smoothly as possible, keeping the many factions of people intersecting in Tahiti occupied and satisfied. In an American film, he’d be an aspirational figure, someone climbing his way to power and fortune by staying a step ahead of everyone around him, playing all his enemies against one another, concerning themselves with tiny pieces of tiny pies. But this is not an American film, and Magimel’s César-winning performance is a marvel.

He’s a cipher who uses breakfast as a weapon, a juggler who is very good at his job but who has also been at it just a little too long. He’s both voyeur and participant, and a bon vivant whose taste for pleasure has somehow knitted itself into a concern for the land and its people. He’s no savior, but neither is he a pirate. Sliding through life on charm has treated him well, and this stirring of empathy has roiled his insides like the staggering waves we see during an exquisite jet ski sequence. Magimel saunters, lounges and floats through the film in a way that recalls both Rainer Werner Fassbinder in Beware of a Holy Whore

Berlin! The desert — although I’m pretty sure that one was green-screened!), working his way up to this movie’s Big Bad: fancyass, High Table Frenchman the Marquis Vincent de Gramont (the always-punchable Bill Skarsgård). With his old allies Winston (Ian McShane) and the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) aiding him in his journey, Wick plows through the endless supply of armed men the Marquis dispatches to take him out. This also includes an old blind friend of Wick’s (Donnie Yen) the Marquis extorts out of retirement.

Can I spend a few sentences telling you how much I enjoyed Yen in this? The Hong Kong legend plays his aging, tired warrior — whose name is Caine (he walks with

a cane and he’s Wick’s “brother” — get it?!) as a lenient but lethal Zatōichi. Unlike his ol’ boy Wick, he would much rather be doing something else than going on a killing spree.

Since the first five minutes include an obvious nod to Lawrence of Arabia, this chapter is not only an epic one, but also the most referential. The climactic battle alone evokes the tension-ratcheting finales that Ford, Leone and even Kubrick did in their time. The action sequences are once again intricate, extensive and insane AF, complete with not one but two long overhead shots in which Stahelski gets his Brian De Palma on and captures Wick going from room to room, just blasting guys.

With this installment, Stahelski appears to be really hammering the message that Wick is a video game character you can just sit back and watch bring the pain. Cinematographer Dan Laustsen and production designer Kevin Kavanaugh (who’ve worked on all the Wick sequels) do wonders in making this look like the sleekest, most visually stirring first-person shooter game you’ve never played.

We know this isn’t the last we’ll hear from the John Wick universe. (It is sadly the last time we’ll see the character Charon played by Lance Reddick, who died last week at age 60.) Yes, there is a post-credits sequence that suggests we’ll be seeing some of these characters again, and Ana de Armas will be continuing the carnage in the upcoming spinoff Ballerina. But if this is the film where Baba Yaga puts down his weapon — be it a gun, a sword or a fucking pencil! — and finally goes to rest, he definitely went out with a grand, gloriously violent bang.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

and the doomed Gerrys in Gus Van Sant’s Gerry Magimel is matched by Pahoa Mahagafanau as Shannah, De Roller’s major domo, assistant, source of information and occasional lover. Both Shannah and Mahagafanau are rae-rae (Polynesian trans women), and it is through their eyes that we begin to see things from a perspective distinct from the would-be power brokers, military tools and doddering signifiers who seem to be the prime movers around the island nation.

What Pacifiction does that is both admirable and astonishing is sustain a hypnotic — and just shy of hallucinatory — atmosphere for almost three hours. It can feel like those transcendent moments in a Michael Mann film when plot and form coalesce into a collective fugue state, and you start to process what you’re viewing more as actual experience than narrative dramatization. You feel this movie in the part of the brain that handles pleasure and unease. The soothing electronic drones of Marc Verdaguer’s score are exquisite, tapping into an uncanny space between

a spa day and the chillout drain room at Berghain, and it is matched by Artur Tort’s simply staggering digital cinematography. If you’re rightfully dazzled by Dan Laustsen’s lighting in John Wick 4 (and you should be, at times it looks like Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s Flowers of Shanghai), Pacifiction is going to overwhelm your eyes in the most glorious fashion.

As an old-school Flashdance head, I have a hard time not rooting for a bar or club that invests in intricate production numbers with costumes and dancers and a sense of artistic ritual, even if its central metaphor is cockfighting (thankfully simulated). But it’s this performance that crystallizes what’s happening here — Pacifiction is a film that delights in shifting perspectives, going from macro to micro and back again with a louche ease that conveys a significant percentage of its information through vibes rather than dialogue. Most films treat the viewer as a spectator or a victim, but this one holds the viewer as a not-quite-trustworthy lover.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4 R, 169 MINUTES OPENING WIDE FRIDAY, MARCH 24

PACIFICTION NR, 162 MINUTES; IN FRENCH, POLYNESIAN, PORTUGUESE AND ENGLISH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES SHOWING MARCH 24-26 & 29 AT THE BELCOURT

33 Certain woodwind requirement

34 Certain money transaction

37 Henry Ford or Nikola Tesla

40 Emphatic affirmative

41 Cannon loader

42 Blockbuster of 2009

43 Hot towel before a meal, say

45 Snap, crackle and pop

46 Alternative to wind or solar

48 Lights up

51 Brilliant fish

57 Sturgeon delicacy

58 [It’s f-f-freezing!]

60 Seek damages from

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE

Director Gerwig

9 Word that retains its meaning when its third letter is removed

10 “Levels” D.J., 2011

11 Scented pouch

12 Underground rock?

13 Bit of progress

21 Event first observed in 1970

23 A daredevil may hit the slopes with it

28 Band with the 1982 hit “I Want Candy”

31 Joint stockholders?

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

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BY KEVIN PATTERSON

Non-Resident Notice

Sixth Circuit

Docket No. 22C2675

ELLIOT J. SCHUCHARDT vs. DAVID DELL'AQUILA

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 DAVID DELL'AQUILA. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HIS appearance herein with thirty (30) days after MARCH 30, 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 o n May 1st, 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

B. Poole, Deputy Clerk

Date: March 1 2023

Elliot J. Schuchardt Attorney for Plaintiff

NSC 3/9, 3/16 3/ 23/ 3/30/23

Non-Resident Notice

Third Circuit

Docket No. 22D1838

JACOB JEROME REYNOLDS vs. JULIE NICOLE REYNOLDS

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 JULIE NICOLE REYNOLDS. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after MARCH 23, 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 24, 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 16, 2023

Trudy L Bloodworth Attorney for Plaintiff NSC

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 JULIE NICOLE REYNOLDS. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after MARCH 23, 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 24, 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 16, 2023

Trudy L Bloodworth Attorney for Plaintiff

NSC 3/2, 3/9, 3/16, 3/23/23

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