may 28–june 3, 2020 I volume 39 I number 17 I Nashvillescene.com I free
Prepared for the Worst In light of a global pandemic, so-called preppers don’t look so extreme after all By Bailey Basham
City Limits: Jim Cooper assesses the congressional response to COVID-19 Page 6 music: Jaime Wyatt finds a new kind of peace on Neon Cross Page 23 cover_5-28-20.indd 1
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MUSIC IS JOY
Watch and Listen This week, we’re placing a spotlight on artists, songs, and moments that exude joy. Visit our Watch & Listen page to explore videos and podcast episodes overflowing with joyful expression.
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NASHVILLE SCENE | MAY 28 – JUNE 3, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
above:
Jerry Lee Lewis
Contents
may 28, 2020
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20
Jim Cooper Assesses the Congressional Response to COVID-19 ..............................6
Shine Theory
City Limits
Nashville representative looks back at CARES Act, forward to HEROES Act By Stephen elliott
Communication Breakdowns Continue to Hinder Police Oversight Board ..................7 Recent incidents have highlighted flaws in the functioning relationship between the Community Oversight Board and MNPD By Steven hale
vodka yoniC What lip gloss has taught me about my family, my career and myself By hannah herner
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Books
The AIDS Years The Prettiest Star is a painfully realistic depiction of the AIDS epidemic
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By Sean KinCh and Chapter 16
Prepared for the Worst
musiC
22
Cover story
In light of a global pandemic, so-called preppers don’t look so extreme after all By Bailey BaSham
How Refreshing ....................................... 22 Nicole Atkins taps into Jersey Shore heritage via Muscle Shoals on Italian Ice
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By lorie lieBig
Go to the Cheekwood gardens, check out the Studio Museum’s collection, listen to TCM’s The Plot Thickens podcast, get dinner and a movie at Phat Bites, read Studs Terkel’s Hard Times, fall for Federico Fellini and Giulietta Masina and more
By aBBy lee hood
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The Scene’s live-review column checks out livestreams by Lauren McClinton, Jamiah and Scale Model
Tough to the Roots .................................. 22
this week on the web: Live Music to Return in Nashville, but Not in Clubs — Yet Protesters Outside Governor’s Mansion Call for Release of Prisoners As Restrictions Loosen, Local Breweries Get Back in the Food Game Longtime Nashville Camera Store Dury’s Is Closing on the Cover:
Illustration by Molly Brooks
Nashville’s bluegrass community adapts to a digital world during COVID-19
CritiCs’ piCks
food and drink
To Believe In ............................................ 23 Jaime Wyatt finds a new kind of peace on Neon Cross By olivia ladd
The Spin ................................................... 24
By Brittney mcKenna and Stephen trageSer
Out of the Blue
Belle Meade’s Anzie Blue says no to the down market with explosive growth By ChriS ChamBerlain
25 fiLm
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Jason X: Primal Stream 10 .................... 25
Holding Space
For Pete’s Sake ....................................... 26
How a performance piece by artist Jana Harper was reimagined in response to COVID-19
The Ghost of Peter Sellers airs some decadesold dirty laundry
By laura hutSon hunter
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Escapist camp, retro glitz and more, now available to stream
art
By JaSon Shawhan
19
By Craig d. lindSey
NEW YORK TIMES CrossWord
CuLture
Open Wide Open Culture is a smart clearinghouse of free quarantine content
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NOTICE
FROM BILL FREEMAN MAYOR COOPER IS RIGHT TO CUT NASHVILLE CHAMBER FUNDING BY 50 PERCENT In recent years, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce has received $350,000 each year from the Metro Nashville fiscal budget for economic development purposes. In Mayor John Cooper’s newly proposed budget, however, that amount will be cut by 50 percent — down to $175,000. The cut is telling. In a recent Tennessean article giving account of the mayor’s reductions, chamber CEO Ralph Schulz states that the chamber is “part of the city’s ‘revenue production engine.’ ” The article reports that 46 companies moved to our “region” last year, while 59 firms “expanded here” (i.e., Davidson County). This raises the question, if the chamber’s primary responsibility is to field inquiries from companies looking to relocate here, why did none of those 46 companies set up operations in Nashville? Why did they land in the counties surrounding our city and not in it? Commercial property owners pay taxes based on 40 percent of the assessed value of their property (the number is 25 percent for residential property owners). Every time we lose a business to another county, we’re losing those tax dollars. While we appreciate our neighbors, that’s a lot of income going to surrounding counties. It’s a cycle that recurs each year as our neighboring counties — which have their own chambers of commerce — use Nashville’s brand to attract businesses to their own areas. It seems wrong that the Nashville chamber, which of course doesn’t get funding from the other counties, is as much focused on regional development as attracting a tax base to Nashville. Schulz and the chamber should be working to recruit businesses to our own city or county, not attempting to lure them into the next county by using our city’s appeal. Schulz’s last reported salary with notable benefits is $523,517. If Nashville were garnering the businesses and tax dollars at the same rate as our neighbors, then such financial compensation would be bearable, even expected. But losing 46 companies this year to our neighbors is not laudable.
Potential Applicants of
RADNOR TOWERS APARTMENTS
Losing or failing to acquire fundamental business tax dollars has no doubt added to the reason our city and our mayor are in its current, very distressing position, with little option but to raise property taxes. This is not the decision the mayor wanted to make, and this in an environment in which many of our beloved Nashville businesses have had to make the hard decisions to close or cut employees — adding to the 477,282 Tennesseans who, as of May 7, have filed for unemployment since the week ending March 14, according to state data and as reported by The Tennessean. As a primary support system for our corporate and individual residents, the chamber hasn’t prioritized well. It hasn’t offered enough support to our small businesses. Its costs far override any resulting economic successes. It has been flogged publicly for not supporting our African American community. It has tried to strong-arm our Metro public school board and our state legislature, and the list goes on. But giving away tax dollars that could have gone a long way to prevent the mess we’re in now could put the nail in the coffin. The fact that Mayor Cooper finds it necessary to make cutbacks to the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce grant may be a reflection of his own disappointment. At the least, it’s indicative that additional economic development dollars are not necessary for a chamber that continues to promote the economy and welfare of counties other than our own. If the annual $350,000 being provided to our chamber is not being used to recruit businesses to Nashville, then why not cut the amount in half? Don’t get me wrong: We certainly want to see our neighboring counties grow successfully. But let’s not advocate for sharing with them so extensively that their success comes at our expense.
Bill Freeman Bill Freeman is the owner of FW Publishing, the publishing company that produces the Nashville Scene, Nfocus, the Nashville Post and Home Page Media Group in Williamson County.
Editor-in-Chief D. Patrick Rodgers Senior Editor Dana Kopp Franklin Associate Editor Alejandro Ramirez Arts Editor Laura Hutson Hunter Culture Editor Erica Ciccarone Music and Listings Editor Stephen Trageser Contributing Editors Jack Silverman, Abby White Staff Writers Stephen Elliott, Nancy Floyd, Steven Hale, Kara Hartnett, J.R. Lind, William Williams Contributing Writers Sadaf Ahsan, Radley Balko, Ashley Brantley, Maria Browning, Steve Cavendish, Chris Chamberlain, Lance Conzett, Steve Erickson, Randy Fox, Adam Gold, Seth Graves, Kim Green, Steve Haruch, Geoffrey Himes, Edd Hurt, Jennifer Justus, Christine Kreyling, Katy Lindenmuth, Craig D. Lindsey, Brittney McKenna, Marissa R. Moss, Noel Murray, Joe Nolan, Chris Parton, Betsy Phillips, John Pitcher, Margaret Renkl, Megan Seling, Jason Shawhan, Michael Sicinski, Ashley Spurgeon, Amy Stumpfl, Kay West, Cy Winstanley, Ron Wynn, Charlie Zaillian Editorial Intern Bronte Lebo Art Director Elizabeth Jones Photographers Eric England, Daniel Meigs Graphic Designers Mary Louise Meadors, Tracey Starck Production Coordinator Christie Passarello Circulation Manager Casey Sanders Events and Marketing Director Olivia Moye Events Manager Ali Foley Publisher Mike Smith Advertising Director Daniel Williams Senior Account Executives Maggie Bond, Debbie Deboer, Sue Falls, Michael Jezewski, Carla Mathis, Heather Cantrell Mullins, Stevan Steinhart, Jennifer Trsinar, Keith Wright Account Executive William Shutes Sales Operations Manager Chelon Hill Hasty Account Managers Emma Benjamin, Gary Minnis Special Projects Coordinator Susan Torregrossa President Frank Daniels III Chief Financial Officer Todd Patton Creative Director Heather Pierce IT Director John Schaeffer For advertising info please contact: Daniel Williams at 615-744-3397 FW PUBLISHING LLC Owner Bill Freeman VOICE MEDIA GROUP National Advertising 1-888-278-9866 vmgadvertising.com
Copyright©2020, Nashville Scene. 210 12th Ave. S., Ste. 100, Nashville, TN 37203. Phone: 615-244-7989. Classified: 816-218-6732. The Nashville Scene is published weekly by FW Publishing LLC. The publication is free, one per reader. Removal of more than one paper from any distribution point constitutes theft, and violators are subject to prosecution. Back issues are available at our office. Email: All email addresses consist of the employee’s first initial and last name (no space between) followed by @nashvillescene.com; to reach contributing writers, email editor@nashvillescene.com. Editorial Policy: The Nashville Scene covers news, art and entertainment. In our pages appear divergent views from across the community. Those views do not necessarily represent those of the publishers. Subscriptions: Subscriptions are available at $99 per year for 52 issues. Subscriptions will be posted every Thursday and delivered by third-class mail in usually five to seven days. Please note: Due to the nature of third-class mail and postal regulations, any issue(s) could be delayed by as much as two or three weeks. There will be no refunds issued. Please allow four to six weeks for processing new subscriptions and address changes. Send your check or Visa/MC/AmEx number with expiration date to the above address.
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NASHVILLE SCENE | MAY 28 – JUNE 3, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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Jim Cooper Assesses the Congressional Response to COVID-19 Nashville representative looks back at CARES Act, forward to HEROES Act
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.S. Rep. Jim Cooper has been in Washington, D.C., for a long time. Since he was first elected in 1982, the Nashville Democrat has seen the end of the Cold War, the 9/11 terrorist attacks (though he was out of office at the time) and the Great Recession. But the federal government’s response to the spread of COVID-19 and the subsequent economic shutdown have been more forceful than any other economic intervention in recent memory, Cooper says. We spoke with Cooper about the success of earlier relief efforts and the prospects for more.
How do you rate the relief efforts to date? From the top down, [the CARES Act is] the largest bill in American history. It’s the most forceful government intervention in the economy since at least the New Deal and Great Society, and maybe greater than those interventions. But from the bottom up — that’s the only thing that matters, is how our individuals who are unemployed or individuals who are worried about being laid off or businesses that are struggling, everyone who’s been devastated by this virus … how is the bill responding to their needs? In terms of money, nothing has been larger. But in terms of actually reaching the needed recipients, there are many, many shortcomings in the legislation. And that’s why last Friday I voted for the HEROES Act, which is even bigger and more generous. For the first time, we altered the architecture of some of these programs, like the [Paycheck Protection Program], because the Republican Senate had refused to admit their mistakes and say these programs need to be redesigned. Last Friday, the House had fixed basically all of those [problems] only to hear Sen. McConnell say states should go bankrupt, he won’t take up the bill for a month. He’ll start from scratch. Senseless obstructionism except when it comes to him trying to fill the bench with Republican friends of McConnell and Trump. What is wrong with the CARES Act? When the bill was passed, people thought it was going to be a two-month crisis, and it’s much longer than that. The bill was designed for two months, and it also has very strict requirements on what the money can be spent on. It was designed to help employees — that’s why it’s called “paycheck protection” — but 75 percent of the money spent has to be spent on helping employees, and that works for some firms but doesn’t work for others. For restaurants, when they’re only allowed to come back at 25 percent capacity, or at most 50 percent capacity, they can’t
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rehire 100 percent of their people, so that often means the ratio of payroll to overhead is lower than 75 percent. The restaurant still has to pay their rent, still has to pay their utilities and still has to pay their other fixed costs. Meanwhile, they can only serve 25 percent of their old patrons. The HEROES Act that we passed [on May 15] with almost all Democrats and only one Republican solved those problems. It allows that eightweek period to be extended to the end of the year, and it makes the ratios more flexible so that businesses are encouraged to hire back as many people as they can. Another fundamental problem with the CARES Act was the federal unemployment benefit — historic and unprecedented. An extra $600 per week per person, but that has to be administered through the state unemployment system, and many states have not upgraded their systems for many, many years. In many cases, they were swamped. That’s actually been the main job of our office the last few weeks. Trying to help the state process these requests, and to give them the full benefit. [The CARES Act] also updates state unemployment by allowing independent contractors to be beneficiaries. Under the old state rules, you had to be an employee, and that word excludes most every songwriter in Nashville. We have more independent contractors in Nashville than probably any city. Tons of folks in the music business are independent, so they were ineligible for state unemployment benefits, even though they’ve been put out of work. The entertainment industry was about the first industry to be hammered, and they may be the last to be able to come back to full health.
How has your office pivoted to helping with unemployment claims? Generally, we’ve had a caseload of 150 to 200 people who call us in desperate need of help. They know it’s a state issue, but many state reps and state senators are facing the same issue, and it is a state issue. We have asked for and received special access to the state government program so that we can get a response back. Federal agencies have a liaison to Congress so that when you call them you get a response back. Now finally that has been extended by the Lee administration. That is helping a little bit.
Why has each subsequent relief effort been more partisan than the last? I would describe it as a cliff, not a slip. The first four bills were not only largely bipartisan, but almost unanimous, and that’s extraordinary. That has rarely ever happened in American history, even during war. But that consensus seems to have diminished, perhaps not ended. We will see.
Photo: Eric England
By Stephen Elliott
What could bring back a bipartisan response? It will partly depend on the popularity of the HEROES Act. If senators start getting a lot of calls saying, “Why can’t you do what the House did?” That builds pressure, and when pressure reaches the boiling point, then even the slowpoke Senate has to react. We don’t know how quickly the pressure will build, but it’s possible they’ll come around. If you had asked before the CARES Act whether Republican senators would vote for $2.2 trillion in spending, you would’ve gotten a resounding no. Guess what: They voted for it almost unanimously.
What do you say to Republican critics who believe the HEROES Act is too expansive? The largest part of the HEROES Act, fully one-third of the $3 trillion, is aid to state and local government. I care deeply whether Nashville gets help during this crisis. The architectural problem with the CARES Act is it was only spending for direct COVID-19 problems. It did not allow any revenue replacement, and when state and local governments were unable to collect taxes this spring, that has crippled a lot of policemen, firemen, teachers who work for the government. The HEROES Act allows much of this $1 trillion to be spent for revenue replacement, which can allow teachers to be paid and firemen and policemen and other public workers who are absolutely essential during this crisis. That’s the major part of the bill. There are many other features of the bill.
The human toll of this is still devastating, and we need to show that we’re a health capital by having better health care results. —Jim Cooper It’s like 1,800 pages long. I didn’t get to write it, but it did a lot more good than harm, and it’s a great way to jump-start the debate.
What else do you want to communicate to constituents? I hope that Nashville as a health care capital will be able to continue to rise to the challenge and help lead the way toward safe reopening and lower casualty rate. The human toll of this is still devastating, and we need to show that we’re a health capital by having better health care results. The health care disparities in our community have always been shocking, but the COVID outbreak has highlighted those. We shouldn’t have needed any reminders that health outcomes, life expectancy, infant mortality vary drastically across our community. Email editor@nashvillescene.com
Nashville Scene | May 28 – june 3, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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Find Your Father’s Day Gift Here!
CommuniCation Breakdowns Continue to Hinder PoliCe oversigHt Board Recent incidents have highlighted flaws in the functioning relationship between the Community Oversight Board and MNPD By STEvEN HAlE
T
he Metro Nashville Police Department never wanted the Community Oversight Board to exist. When renewed calls for an independent board empowered to investigate alleged police misconduct began in early 2017, the idea faced resistance from police leadership. When activists succeeded in forcing a citywide referendum on the matter, the MNPD opposed them in the ensuing campaign. Most visibly, the Fraternal Order of Police, the union that represents many Nashville officers, launched a blatantly misleading campaign against it. When voters approved the creation of the COB, the union tried unsuccessfully to have it overturned by the election commission and several courts. Since then, the lines of communication between the MNPD and the COB have rarely been without static. Once the board was in place, the process of working out a memorandum of understanding between the two entities was fraught. COB leaders called out Metro Police Chief Steve Anderson publicly for being less than fully cooperative. The MNPD expressed shock and outrage at the claims. Eventually, an agreement was reached. But that is the backdrop for several recent incidents exposing various flaws in the functioning relationship between the oversight board and the department it is meant to oversee. Earlier this month, the Scene reported that a 42-year-old white man named Gabriel Hines died in Davidson County Sheriff’s Office custody five days after he was arrested in West Nashville. He was allegedly caught stealing lumber from a construction site with two other men. His co-defendants have alleged that officers used excessive force with Hines during the arrest. A medical examiner’s report is still pending, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating the case. But the first time the COB heard about Hines’ case was three months after the fact, when the Scene reached out for comment. Executive director Jill Fitcheard said she was “shocked” to hear about Hines’ death and disappointed that none of the Metro agencies who had been involved in the case had notified the COB. The MNPD confirmed it had had no contact with the COB. Fitcheard did highlight a potentially problematic gray area in the COB’s agreement with the MNPD. The relevant section of the MOU states: “The Department agrees to cooperate with the Board and the Department of Emergency Communications (DEC) to facilitate the Board’s receiving notification of critical incidents involving Police Officers, including but not limited to uses of force involving serious injury or death or to death in custody.” But Hines was no longer in MNPD custody when he died, and MNPD says it learned of the allegations about excessive use of force after his death. MNPD officials did not take it upon themselves to notify the COB at that point, and soon after, Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk asked the TBI to launch an inquiry of its own. On May 14, one day after Fitcheard made her comments to the Scene about the Hines case, the
COB found itself out of the loop again. On the night of May 13, according to an MNPD press release, Officers Melissa Flores and Chase Harriman responded to a North Nashville house where a child had reported that his father had assaulted his mother. The man — Sekou Allen, who is black — had driven away from the house, but officers spotted him driving in the neighborhood. He drove back to the family house, and police say he got out of his vehicle and “advanced aggressively” toward the officers. Here’s what the MNPD says happened next: “A Taser was deployed which appeared to have no impact. Officer Harriman slipped on gravel and fell onto his back. When Allen appeared prepared to jump on Harriman, Flores fired, striking Allen in the leg.” A statement from the COB the following morning said the agency was “only notified of the domestic related incident and not that it was a critical incident involving a police officer shooting.” “Insufficient notification to COB staff seeks to erode progress while undermining the still healing trust between the Nashville community and law enforcement,” said COB Chair Ashlee Davis in a written statement. Fitcheard added: “Our staff has prepared itself to respond to all critical incidents that we are properly notified of and if a proper notification was sent from DEC of this incident we would have responded to the scene. The community expects the [Community Oversight Board] to be an engaged and active partner in all critical incidents involving MNPD — especially officer involved shootings — and the [Community Oversight Board] takes this responsibility seriously.” Stephen Martini, director of the Department of Emergency Communications, tells the Scene that a notification was sent to the Community Oversight Board immediately following the incident, at the request of an MNPD field captain. But he acknowledged that it did not mention the shooting. “Discussions with the Metro Nashville Community Oversight Board on May 15th revealed this and future notifications could be more clear in specifically identifying an officer-involved shooting occurred within this response,” says Martini in an emailed statement. “Metro Nashville Department of Emergency Communications is now engaged with our industry partners to leverage our existing public safety technology solutions to implement automatic notifications for certain incident types or response actions as they occur, as identified by the Community Oversight Board in agreement with the Metro Nashville Police Department.” Fitcheard tells the Scene that efforts to resolve the issue have been productive. On May 21, Nashville officers shot and killed a man who, according to an MNPD release, had fled after shooting an off-duty officer near his home. Police say a spike strip was used to stop the man’s car and that officers fired on him after they heard shots being fired as he exited the vehicle. The case has been taken over by the TBI. Soon after, Fitcheard was on the scene, and the COB will launch its own investigation.
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nashvillescene.com | MAY 28 – JUNE 3, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE
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illustration: Molly Brooks
In light of a global pandemic, so-called preppers don’t look so extreme after all By Bailey Basham
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ranklin Horton’s grandfather had a lot of stories. Some were funny, he says, and there were lots about the good old days — not uncommon among stories from grandparents. But one story in particular has stuck with Horton like none of the others. Back in 1918, when the H1N1 influenza strain commonly known as the Spanish flu was ravaging communities around the world, Horton’s grandfather was 8 years old and living in West Virginia. When the flu hit, his family missed the initial wave — they thought they’d made it out OK. But over the next few weeks, his dad and six of his siblings fell ill, and there was nothing that could be done for them — all seven ultimately died. That was in February 1919, when the ground was still frozen from winter. There was no way they’d be getting a proper burial anytime soon. At 8 years old, now the man of the house, the boy watched as his father and siblings were carried into town, one by one, on the back of a mule. They sat, stacked together in boxcars, until the ground thawed out enough to dig graves. When Horton was 15, his grandfather
passed away — but not before he told a few more stories. Horton says one of the most important things he learned from his grandfather was to be prepared. For what? He wasn’t sure exactly. Perhaps another pandemic. Or it could be a massive natural disaster, a cyber attack or a nuclear war, according to modern-day preppers, as they’re known. But whatever this global event might be, Horton would be ready. His family wouldn’t be among those running out of supplies, or standing in long lines for groceries, or waiting for their mule ride into town. Horton, who lives less than a half-hour outside Bristol, Tenn., is one of many people across the country who classify themselves as preppers, ready at any moment for disaster. Popularized by television shows like Doomsday Preppers that often depict their subjects as a particular brand of paranoid, these folks have emergency preparedness down to a science. “My family, at least up until my grandparents’ generation, were fairly self-sufficient people,” says Horton. “They would have been completely appalled at the government saving them from anything. They were not anti-government, but they
felt their safety and security was their own responsibility. People had to take care of themselves and have food put back for lean years. I think there are a lot of people who still hold that belief to be valuable.”
Over the past three months, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has continued to climb nationwide and grocery stores have struggled to keep up with demand. As shoppers hope to find the proverbial pot of gold that is a 24-pack of Angel Soft, many preppers have been kicking back on their stock of supplies. “A generation back, our elders all had full larders, pantries, cellars and basements,” says Lisa Akers, who has been prepping for the past 10 years. “They put food up in jars, or dried it or cured it to get through the winter. We all need to be ready for situations like this. You can live without a lot of things, but food and medication — and toilet paper, it seems — are not something we can do without.” My dad, Darryl Basham, has been prepping in one form or another for most of his life. I asked him for a little input for this story. He told me that a co-worker, who is not into prepping, asked him in the middle of
the grocery-buying panic, “Well, what does a prepper rush out to buy in times like this?” My dad’s response was simple: “Not a damn thing.” For my dad, prepping isn’t a new fad made popular by the partially staged reality shows on Discovery Channel. It’s what he’s always done, and what his parents and grandparents did before him. “We didn’t just decide one day that we are going to start doing this and become preppers,” he says. “These are things we’ve done for our entire lives. As a kid, my dad would buy a truckload of corn every summer, and my brothers and I were forced to help. We sat all day in the yard under shade trees shucking corn to put up for when we’d need it.” My mom says the same. Her grandmother’s house — they called her Mamaw — became headquarters in the summer for canning and preserving food. Aunts, uncles and cousins would sit in the garage shucking corn while Mamaw and a few others would be inside, stirring the pots on the stove and listening for the jars to pop. My mom always said when she got older, she would never touch a pressure cooker again. She’d buy her veggies from
“People had to take care of themselves and have food put back for lean years. I think there are a lot of people who still hold that belief to be valuable.”
—Franklin Horton nashvillescene.com | May 28 – june 3, 2020 | Nashville Scene
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photo: Bailey Basham
Darryl Basham the store. Dad agreed. But for a young couple just starting out with two growing kids to feed, time-honored alternatives like canning just make sense. Mom knows best, so that must mean Mamaw knows even better, right? “I swore that I would never do a garden when I got out on my own, but when we got married, our first purchase was a freezer to put up food,” says my dad. “One of the first things we did when we bought our house was put out a big garden. We didn’t become preppers. We’ve always lived this way. Now there’s just a word for it.” Unlike survivalists, who typically learn to live off the land, preppers prepare to live off of what they’ve put up — but that goes beyond canned veggies and Spam. Preppers are conscious of what it would take to ensure the financial, physical and emotional well-being of their families during a time of struggle. For my dad, it means thinking far beyond stocking up on rice, beans and canned goods. It means putting up things to keep him busy, like playing cards and his collection of Louis L’Amour westerns. It also means putting back a little bit of liquor, which in “hard times” can be used for sanitizing and bartering — and, of course, drinking. My dad’s pick? Tequila. “If a major world event happens, I’d be able to trade a small bottle of whiskey for items well above the value of the booze itself,” he says. “Then, I’ve got my garden, which I love. That’s always an easy way to pass the time.” At the house I grew up in, my dad has apple, peach and plum trees, as well as blueberry, raspberry and blackberry plants, planted throughout the 1-acre
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backyard. He says all of these plants will produce for years to come, and things like the garlic and celery plants will come back every year. “There’s a rosemary bush down at the end of the house that’s probably 4 feet tall and 5 feet wide,” he says. “If it came right down to it, I’ve got all the seeds put up to do a huge garden. The whole backyard could become a garden, and there is plenty of propane for the grill so we could put a pot on the burner to can our veggies. Consider a grid-down situation: At first, it’d be about harvesting deer, turkey and other small game, but once everybody starts
doing that, it won’t be long until we’re on a diet of just veggies and whatever meats we have preserved, much like our grandparents did.” Lijun Song is an associate professor with Vanderbilt University’s Department of Sociology. She says such lessons from grandparents have a significant impact on how someone might respond to potential threats. Song says it’s those lessons that often inform who we are, how we think and what we do. Song was living in China in 2002 when the severe acute respiratory syndrome (better known as SARS) broke out in
the Guangdong province. She says that experience — as well as warnings from her parents, who lived through three years of famine in China — has made her extra cautious as of late. “These people’s attitudes and behaviors are significantly influenced by their parents’ and grandparents’ living experience and attitudes,” says Song. “Parents and grandparents tend to be strong social contacts for them, meaning that these people know their parents and grandparents well and have closer relationships with them. They have been actively interacting with their parents and grandparents since they were born, and because of that, they are more likely to trust them and listen to the experience, stories and warnings about risks and hard times.” Contrary to popular belief, not all preppers have bunkers, and not all of them hope for or expect the government to collapse, Horton says. The lifestyle of a prepper is ultimately about self-reliance and personal responsibility. For most, readiness has nothing to do with extremes and everything to do with common sense and looking to the future. “People will pay into a 401K for years and years so they can pay for all their needs 20 years from now, but maybe they have one squirt of shampoo left in the shower,” says Steven Bird, an author and prepper in East Tennessee. “They’ll be prepared when they’re retired, but they’re not even prepared to wash their hair tomorrow.” But it doesn’t stop there. “Liberty was the founding principle of this nation — it’s something everybody wants, but it comes with responsibility,” says Chris Weatherman, a prepper and author based in Florida. “The prepper community promotes the idea that in the time of crisis, we are an asset to our community. A lot of times, we’re the first people to rise to assist others. If everybody is doing the little things, that becomes a big thing.” Paul Petersen is director of the Tennessee Department of Health’s Emergency Preparedness Program. He says emergency preparedness is always crucial, but particularly so over the past couple of months as Nashville continues to
“At first, it’d be about harvesting deer, turkey and other small game, but once everybody starts doing that, it won’t be long until we’re on a diet of just veggies and whatever meats we have preserved, much like our grandparents did.”
—darryl Basham
Nashville Scene | May 28 – june 3, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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try to rebuild after the tornado while also grappling with COVID-19. Both the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Centers for Disease Control recommend having at least 1 gallon of water per person per day and a three-day supply of food that requires little or no cooking or refrigeration. Petersen recommends having at least two weeks’ worth of supplies put back. (More information about emergency preparedness is available at ready.gov.) “There’s always groups that will go to the extreme,” says Petersen. “For those with chronic medical conditions, I think having a 30-day supply of medication is important, and of course, for everyone, having food is appropriate. The other things may be a little excessive, but people are doing that as a personal choice, as an insurance policy of sorts. What do you feel like your needs are? If it’s appropriate for you, then it makes sense.” Horton agrees that there is no need to take drastic measures when preparing for an emergency. But in the event that you have to live off of what you’ve already got, what may once have seemed excessive could become vital. He says just a few things can make a difference. “You don’t have to devote your whole life to this, or fill your whole house up with canned foods and supplies,” says Horton. “It doesn’t have to be a huge project. Say you go to the grocery store and you need
two cans of corn for something. Buy three or four instead. It’s the difference of an extra dollar a lot of the time, and putting up that extra bit of food allows you to have a buffer for emergencies, but also for times when money might be tight.”
Akers And BAshAm say the precautions they’ve taken over the past several years have brought them peace of mind in the midst of the dumpster fire that is 2020. But as far as looking ahead goes, they hope the rest of the world has been taking notes. “Personally, this whole thing has shown me some of the weak spots in terms of the things I’ve put back,” my dad says. “[Operations security] is a big thing with preppers — we work hard to be ready for whatever comes our way, and we want to protect that. I’ve got enough to share, and I’m all about helping out — I’ve been telling certain family and friends that if something ever does happen, they’ve got a place to go as long as they’re willing to work. But I’m also ready to protect what we’ve worked hard for.” This pandemic isn’t the end, Horton says. It’s just another flash in the pan, another reminder of why it’s so important to be prepared. “But even if it had been that serious, I’d already invested in peace of mind for me and my family. That’s what this is about.” emAil editor@nAshvillescene.com
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Critics’ Picks outdoors
S O C I A L
D IST A N C I N G
E D ITI O N
[EARTHLY DELIGHTS]
Go to the Cheekwood Gardens
As local businesses begin to reopen, I’m still finding it difficult to muster the courage and energy (and willingness to put on shoes and a bra) to venture out for anything other than food. But as I write this, it is Day 70 of self-quarantining and I! Need! To! Get! Out! Of! This! House! Thankfully, Cheekwood is now open, and that gives us all the opportunity to take in its stunning 55 acres of gardens while staying away from other people’s respiratory droplets in an open-air environment. To ensure everyone is as safe as possible, all Cheekwood staffers will be wearing face masks — they ask that visitors do the same — and all tickets must be purchased in advance online. Tickets will be sold for specific time slots throughout the day, which will help prevent the walking paths from getting as crowded as, say, a Florida beach. For now, some of the buildings will be closed — including the historic mansion and museum — and fountains and vending machines will be unavailable, so bring your own snacks and drinks. Visit cheekwood.org for details.
[I AM DANGEROUS]
cheekwood on Thursday at 7 p.m. — check Nashville Shakes’ YouTube channel for details. And while it’s available for free, there’s a suggested donation of $20 to help support Nashville Shakes’ programs while theaters are closed. 7 p.m. Thursday, May 28, on the Nashville Shakespeare Festival’s YouTube channel AMY STUMPFL ART
Sheltering in place got you down because you feel the need for speed? Do not despair. The Nashville Shakespeare Festival has you covered with the Zoom premiere of Jesters Dead: A Top Gun Shakesparody. Penned by Rhett Henckel and Nat McIntyre, this mighty mash-up follows the story of the 1986 Tom Cruise classic, borrowing lines from the film as well as every one of Shakespeare’s plays. McIntyre directs a fabulous cast of female leads, including Morgan Davis (Maverick), Cori Anne Laemmel (Goose), Delaney Keith (Iceman) and more. Eddie George even makes a special cameo appearance as Air Boss. The livestreamed event takes place
Photo: Daniel Meigs
Jesters Dead: A Top Gun Shakesparody
[STU-STU-STUDIO]
Check Out the Studio Museum’s Collection
My standard for having a good time is markedly lower than usual these days, but I’m still having a lot of fun setting a timer for an hour and deep-diving into a museum’s virtual offerings. A longtime favorite is the Studio Museum in Harlem, and I was pleased to see that its online collection was as expansive as I’d hoped — there are more than 2,500 works available to peruse and learn about, as well as exhibition archives and articles from the fantastic Studio Magazine. For the uninitiated, the Studio Museum is the epicenter of art created by African Americans and artists from the African continent, and it’s been the heart of Harlem’s art scene since it opened in the
1960s. I loved looking through the museum’s — which is available for free via Amazon collection of collage work by the legendary Prime — is a nearly perfect entry point for a Romare Bearden, and was surprised by how build-your-own Altman fest, thanks in large many of the works I’d never seen before part to Elliott Gould’s impossibly insouciant — it was like getting a fresh introduction portrayal of private investigator Philip to a favorite artist. You can sort the Marlowe. From there, dip back to 1970’s artworks by medium, but the fun part is groundbreaking dark comedy M*A*S*H, also just scrolling through and being surprised featuring Gould, which changed the face of by what you uncover. There’s also a section American filmmaking and is available for of lesson plans that are free to download, $4 on Amazon, iTunes and YouTube. Seeing and printable coloring-book pages that as how Altman directed somewhere in the you can give to your kid or mess around neighborhood of 40 films — nearly every one with yourself. You might even want to of them special and genius in its own way — set your timer for longer than an no list of highlights would be without hour. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER its egregious omissions, but we’d Editor’s Note: As be remiss to leave out 1975’s a response to Metro’s [THAT’S OK WITH ME] Nashville. Though that ensemble stay-at-home order to help comedy received mixed Build Your Own slow the spread of COVID-19, we’ve changed the focus of our reviews (to put it mildly) here Streaming Critics’ Picks section. Rather than in its titular city at the time, Robert Altman pointing you in the direction of it’s a brilliantly conceived, Film Festival events happening this week in masterfully constructed and In the May 14 issue of Nashville, here are some activities you can partake in while you’re deeply entertaining film, and the Scene, contributor at home practicing social it features a pretty remarkable Jason Shawhan included distancing. sequence set in Exit/In (read Robert Altman’s flawless last week’s Scene cover story for 1973 neo-noir film The Long more on that). And though it’s far from Goodbye among his recommended Altman’s finest work, 1980’s Popeye (free streaming titles for the week. That one FILM
THEATER
MEGAN SELING
nashvillescene.com | May 28 – june 3, 2020 | Nashville Scene
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critics’ picks
[PEEL OUT]
Take a Deep Dive Into Old Peel Sessions
From 1967 until his passing in 2004, British DJ John Peel hosted a staggering 4,000-plus in-studio performances on the BBC’s radio airwaves. Peel Sessions gave listeners a front-row seat for the real-time birth and gestation of punk, post-punk and indie rock as we know it, and they gave bands from AC/DC to Zeni Geva (a Japanese noise-rock outfit) lovingly produced, readily releasable recordings capturing them in their element. Peel Sessions are not hard to find online (huge shoutout to YouTube user Vibracobra23, whose uploads number in the thousands). Remarkably though, until music blogger and Peel-ophile Dave Strickson recently put it upon himself to do so, no one had ever built a catch-all catalog, alphabetized by artist, of links to every full Peel Session out there. Strickson’s
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CHARLIE ZAILLIAN [HE’S FUNNY THAT WAY]
Listen to TCM’s The Plot Thickens Podcast
The Plot Thickens, the new podcast by Turner Classic Movies, is fairly freeform, with each season centered around an individual or incident from the days of cinema gone by. Season 1 is all about Peter Bogdanovich, the man behind New Hollywood classics like The Last Picture Show and What’s Up, Doc? With some light prodding from host Ben Mankiewicz, Bogdanovich takes us through years of fascinating Hollywood lore, from his days studying with Stella Adler and interviewing Hitchcock, to his controversial and tragic relationships with Cybill Shepherd and Dorothy Stratten. Whether you’re a hardcore cinephile or a more casual movie lover, The Plot Thickens makes for dynamic listening — Bogdanovich is a born storyteller, with almost every anecdote about his life peppered with uncanny impressions of close friends and icons, from Orson Welles to Jerry Lewis. And if you’re looking for another side of the story, Hollywood history podcast You Must Remember This is about to release a companion series focused on Polly Platt — Bogdanovich’s ex-wife and one of his closest creative collaborators. The Plot Thickens is currently available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else podcasts can be streamed. NATHAN SMITH [STILL WANT MY MTV]
Visit the 120 Minutes Archive
If an intragenerational gap exists between people currently in their 30s, it’s whether you are TRL or 120 Minutes years old. Us flannel-flyers in the latter camp — Gen-X in spirit, millennial by birth year only — spent our weekends staying up late with Matt Pinfield and the hits (and
THEATER
[DELIVER A PLAIN MESSAGE, BLUNTLY]
Stream Terminator the Second on YouTube
One of the biggest challenges in learning to love Shakespeare is getting context for the language — the words are pretty impenetrable without talented actors to perform the lines. That didn’t stop a local theater crew (which, full disclosure, included me as an audio technician) from using Shakespeare’s words in a highly creative way a few years ago. Terminator the Second pours a vat of molten metal over traditional distinctions between highbrow and lowbrow culture, reimagining the James Cameron blockbuster Terminator 2: Judgment Day as a five-act play, with every line in the script (excepting proper nouns, pronouns and verb tenses) taken from works of Shakespeare. The production included seasoned actors from several area companies, as well as some talented amateurs and local musicians, and featured mind-blowing lighting, fantastic sound effects and detailed props sculpted from thick cardboard. The players’ skill, dedication and charm made it easy to suspend disbelief — even during a thrilling motorcycle chase sequence — and look at the depth of the story, about the struggle to save humanity from unchecked technology. The play was performed only four times in 2011, but those shows were professionally recorded and painstakingly edited into a single film. Due to music-licensing restrictions, it’s no longer available for sale (though you can buy the soundtrack album, featuring original music by The Protomen and 84001), but YouTube user Ronnie South has uploaded the entire thing to his channel for your viewing pleasure. STEPHEN TRAGESER [DRIVE-IN DONELSON-STYLE]
Get Dinner and a Movie at Phat Bites
With all this time at home on our hands, everyone’s gotten really creative about stuff we had just lying around. Take the triangle-
shaped parking lot at Lebanon Pike and Old Lebanon Road in Donelson, for example. Phat Bites, the quirky deli/coffeehouse/ bar that shares that parking lot with neighboring businesses, has transformed it into Phat Bites Drive-In, a socially distanced night on the town. Each Friday and Saturday night, as many as 40 cars can line up for a double feature of retro scary flicks, handpicked weekly by one of Phat Bites’ regular customers. Past picks have included Night of the Living Dead and Teenagers From Outer Space. Speakers are loud (this is a joint that, in normal days, has live music), and there’s closed captioning so you don’t miss anything. There’s no cost to watch — just order dinner (and drinks) from Phat Bites, and it’ll be delivered to your car while you watch the big screen. Options include the Happy Phamily Combo Box, which is loaded with two cheeseburgers (sub blackbean burgers if that’s your jam), three hotdogs, a pound of loaded potato salad, coleslaw and gourmet popcorn for $30. The first movie starts at 8 p.m. each Friday and Saturday night. MARGARET LITTMAN BOOKS
archival work essentially puts nearly 40 years of alternative music history a click away. From legends like The Smiths, Sonic Youth and Nirvana to bands lost to time who never made it across the pond, it’s an embarrassment of riches. I recommend starting with Peel’s favorites The Fall, The Undertones or The Wedding Present. Find it at davestrickson.blogspot.com.
MUSIC
MUSIC
on Netflix and Crackle) is a must if only for its elaborately constructed set (which still exists in Malta), as well as Harry Nilsson’s soundtrack and Robin Williams’ fever-dream depiction of the iconic cartoon character. From there, fast-forward to 1993’s Short Cuts, which unfortunately isn’t available on any streaming services, though it is available for purchase on DVD and Bluray via The Criterion Collection’s website. That one features an absurdly stacked cast (Lily Tomlin! Jennifer Jason Leigh! Julianne Moore! Bruce Davison! Tim Robbins! Tom Waits! Huey Lewis?) and, as Roger Ebert once put it, depicts Los Angeles’ “uneasiness perfectly in its interlocking stories about people who seem trapped in the present, always juggling.” Step into the 21st century (and the 1930s, simultaneously) with 2001’s Gosford Park, a period whodunit that is among Altman’s most complex and beautifully shot films and is available for $4 on Prime, YouTube and iTunes. Of course, those halfdozen films only scratch the surface of the late auteur’s filmography, so here’s a quick list of other essential Altman viewing: 1970’s Brewster McCloud ($3 on Prime), 1971’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller ($3 on Prime/iTunes/ YouTube), 1977’s 3 Women ($4 on Prime/ iTunes/YouTube) and 1992’s The Player ($3 on Prime/iTunes/YouTube). You can’t really go wrong with any of it. D. PATRICK RODGERS
FILM
gosford park
misses) of the day. I’d do anything to get back to the days of dial-up internet and $17.99 CDs — or even the mid-2000s, when the art of nerding out online had leveled up with the advent of Wikipedia, YouTube and MP3 blogs. Much of that has been lost in the never-ending race for content and clicks — not to mention major label copyright claims — but to some extent quarantine has brought a slight return to deep-dive projects like The 120 Minutes Archive. The brainchild of Tyler Marie of Lexington, Ky., the user-friendly, volunteer-run site has collected complete playlists from 120 Minutes’ 27-year run, with YouTube links to videos, interviews and any other gleanable info. If you too pine for the mid-’90s salad days, a look through these song lists is a nostalgia trip worth taking — not just for the Bushes and STPs of the world, but also for the no-hit wonders whose hooks managed to stick despite having maybe only been played on MTV that one time. (I see you Orbit, Ammonia and Lustre.) If nothing else, it would’ve blown our minds back then to know that someday we’d be able to watch every video ever aired on 120 Minutes on demand. Millennial/Gen-X cusp for life! Visit 120minutes.tylerc.com and dive in. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN
[BUDDY CAN YOU PARADIGM]
Read Studs Terkel’s Hard Times
The late author and historian Studs Terkel is known for his oral histories of America — in each one he interviewed a wide range of people who had lived through some aspect of the American story. Terkel received a Pulitzer Prize in 1985 for A Good War, his history of World War II. Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do is probably his most famous work. But I am most compelled by his 1970 book Hard Times: an Oral History of the Great Depression, and it’s pretty appropriate reading for our deeply recessionary times. I first read it as a recent college graduate, daunted by the bad job market during a previous recession. I was particularly
struck by the recollections of the great film critic Pauline Kael, who attended college at UC-Berkeley in 1936, during the Depression’s depths. She had a scholarship but little money for food, and on some days a meal was a candy bar. Many of her fellow students were sleeping under bridges.
Nashville Scene | May 28 – june 3, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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critics’ picks “We lived communally and I remember feeding other kids by cooking up more spaghetti than I can ever consider again,” she recalls. It was comforting to me that she had survived such hard times and gone on to be a great writer. I recommend reading Hard Times now, but with a warning: There’s a lot in the book that’s chilling. Kael remembers that many of the students had lost their fathers to suicide, triggered by the family’s financial ruin. “Each father took it as a personal failing. These middle-class men apparently had no social sense of what was going on, so they killed themselves.” Knowledge of the big picture can save a person from isolation and shame. Our time is probably a good time to read Hard Times.
[che BellO!]
Fall For Federico Fellini and Giulietta Masina
Last week, I hit rock bottom in my pandemic bingeing as I lurched toward the baffling final episode of The Sopranos in record time (86 episodes in eight weeks), all while playing a ridiculous game on my phone called Animal Restaurant. It all resulted in a sense of physical atrophy, as if my arms and shoulders might permanently curl toward my middle like those of a beetle lying on its back. Reader, I’m healing, thanks to two very different Italians and The Criterion Channel (a subscription to which is well worth 11 bucks a month). Federico Fellini is considered one of the most influential directors of all time, a man who was heaped with awards for decades. He owes much of his success to his wife, the extraordinary actor Giulietta Masina, who starred in some of his best films. In 1954, La Strada introduced Masina to the world as Gelsomina, a teenage girl from a family so impoverished that her mother sold her to a traveling carny, a strongman played by an intractably macho Anthony Quinn. Gelsomina, childlike and trusting, adapts to her roadside life easily, but her journey shows us the whole of human frailty. Fellini’s 1957 feature Nights of Cabiria sees Masina as the titular streetwalker, an irrepressible beauty with a prideful swagger. Cabiria’s adventures show the actor’s tremendous emotional range, as well as her singular style. Critics have long compared Masina’s movements to those of Charlie Chaplin, and it’s here that her physical dynamism is most apparent. 1965’s Juliet of the Spirits shows Masina a bit older and wiser, but still trusting that beauty will bring her enlightenment. Juliet
MUSIC
FILM
DANA KOPP FRANKLIN
isn’t as strong as the previously mentioned films, but it shows Fellini cutting loose from neorealism and, like Agnès Varda, indulging in the fantasies that amuse him. As Gelsomina, Cabiria and Juliet, Masina plays women who can’t help but love the world — even when it appears cruel or indifferent. Cinephiles tend to favor Fellini’s La Dolce Vita and 8 ½ over La Strada and Cabiria. When put alongside one another, the first two seem sterile, emotionless — mere exercises in tone and form. I am not a religious person, but with La Strada and Cabiria, Fellini and Masina summon a crushing emotional urgency that annihilates and re-creates me in some ancient godly image. The two invented beauty, as far as I can tell, and nothing before them even came close. ERICA CICCARONE [KeeP a-KNOcKiN’]
Watch Brandy clark’s you can’t coMe over (But you can coMe in)
Over the past several years, there’s been more common ground to be found between those who love mainstream country music and those who can’t stand it. One musician whose work has been an important part of slowly steering the Music Row ship back toward substantial storytelling is Brandy Clark. She’s been known as a writers’ writer for the better part of a decade, with phenomenal songs cut by Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves and many more, and her own records have helped her build a loyal and sizable fan base. In March, just before everything began to shut down in response to COVID-19, Clark released her third LP, Your Life Is a Record. Since the pandemic has prevented her from undertaking the tour she planned, she’s been hosting a weekly streaming session each Wednesday called You Can’t Come Over (But You Can Come In). The sessions, which range in length from 30 to about 50 minutes, each feature a different country luminary appearing by remote: Previous guests include stellar singer and songwriter Ashley McBryde, rising ace Tenille Townes and hit songsmith Shane McAnally. The core of each session is a conversation about songwriting, playing and touring. Swapping songs, of course — whether they’re ones the participants have written or ones that have inspired them — is always a natural part of the conversation. You’ll want to follow Clark on social media for the latest updates, but head on over to her YouTube page to see past streams and set an alarm for 6 p.m. Central each Wednesday to catch the next one. STEPHEN TRAGESER
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Visit nashvillescene.com for our daily takeout picks. | MAY 28 JUNE 3,2,2020 1 ––Month 2015|| NASHVILLE nashvillescene.com| Month nashvillescene.com NashvilleSCENE sceNe
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food and drink
Out of the Blue
Belle Meade’s Anzie Blue says no to the down market with explosive growth By Chris Chamberlain
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Marcie Allen and Derek Van Mol
Photo: Daniel Meigs
W
ith a current market crisis and cratering restaurant revenues, things are looking bleak for many establishments. But one local operation has actually seen a 700 percent increase in its sales since the world stopped spinning in early March. Anzie Blue is a modern mercantile, health and wellness shop and coffeehouse in Belle Meade’s Stanford Square, and owners Marcie Allen and Derek Van Mol have achieved some astonishing results through good oldfashioned customer service. Oh, and CBD. The husband-and-wife team opened their store late last winter with plans to ride the wave of interest in CBD products, but with a personal touch. “From the very beginning we wanted to focus on health, wellness and coffee,” says Marcie. “We knew we needed to differentiate ourselves from the crowded Anzie Blue 4239 Harding Pike, marketplace of CBD Suite 4 products and that anzieblue.com we’d need to create an entire experience. There’s a real lack of education out there about CBD and its benefits, and we wanted people to be able to ‘taste test’ the best products that we could offer. Seventy-five percent of our customers say they’ve never tried CBD before coming to Anzie Blue, so they’re trusting us to guide and educate them. We always tell them, ‘We’re not doctors, but we are avid users,’ and we can share what has worked for us.” Anzie Blue is a side hustle for both the Van Mols. Derek runs a home-restoration business, and Marcie is the president and founder of music industry sponsorship company MAC Presents, as well as an adjunct professor at NYU. The couple has spent years commuting between Nashville and an apartment in Manhattan, an experience that informed the concept for their fledgling business. “It’s modeled after the fact that I’ve lived and worked in New York,” says Marcie. “I got used to being able to head down to the neighborhood bodega or coffee shop where you can buy jewelry, you can buy wine and a panini, and you can get CBD. That’s what we thought was missing in Nashville.” The Van Mols decided to double down instead of retrenching in the face of the pandemic. With little prior retail experience, they turned to a tried-and-true source of information to plan their next moves. “We’ve been listening to our customers!” Marcie says with a laugh. “They told us that they wanted food, liquor and patio seating, so we expanded our food offering, got our liquor license and added outdoor seats.” This is in addition to their core offering of coffee and CBD products ranging from tinctures and mint strips to creams, sports balm
Nashville Scene | May 28 – june 3, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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food and drink
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and dog treats. The Van Mols are very proud of their product line and the work that went into developing it. “We don’t just buy somebody else’s product and ‘white label’ it,” explains Derek. Sourcing the CBD from Nevada and working directly with a processing facility in California, Derek is the point man on product development. “I’ve spent weeks on the phone and months out at our manufacturer outside of L.A. developing the items for the Anzie Blue line of products. We try to keep our formulas as natural as possible. You can go online and buy CBD on Amazon, but Anzie Blue is a higher-end luxury product. We do third-party lab testing as well to make sure that what we’re saying is in the bottle is actually in the bottle.” This is still pretty unusual in an industry where many brands just slap a label on something they bought from a large manufacturer. Marcie describes the industry environment this way: “There’s no regulation right now, and people do whatever they want. We are following the rules, because if you read what’s in the press, 90 percent of the CBD companies are going to go away when they start monitoring and regulating everything, because they’re not doing third-party testing, and they don’t have certificates of analysis for their products. We’re already doing all that, and we welcome the regulation!” While 75 percent of Anzie Blue’s sales still come from CBD, the Van Mols have seen a marked increase in their food and drink business. Intentionally partnering with local suppliers like OSA Coffee, Firepot Teas and WithCo cocktail mixers, Anzie Blue also exhibits work from local artists on a rotating basis. Originally opening with just coffee, the cafe has since added items such as smoothies, lavender lemonade, milkshakes and cocktails, with the option to add a half-dropper of CBD tincture to any drink for $2 extra. “Probably 80 percent of our customers choose to add CBD to their drink orders,” says Marcie. On the food side, Anzie Blue prepares much of its menu in-house, but they’ve additionally partnered with Corner Market and D’Andrews Bakery & Cafe for an expanded offering of bowls, soups, sandwiches, pizzas and snacks to share. A big hit has been the selection of thematic cheese and charcuterie boards served on wood blocks. “Obviously, you know where we got this inspiration,” says Marcie. “Hello, New York! Every single little corner wine bar you go into has those, but we get 50 to 60 cheese and
charcuterie orders every weekend. We’re doing everything custom, because we figured out that’s what people want. We’re not trying to take on the restaurant community; we’re just trying to be Anzie Blue. We’re going to do a series of boards: biscuit boards, bagels, pancakes, crudites.” Anzie Blue’s CBD products and other ancillary offerings are available to peruse at anzieblue.com, but the Van Mols prefer a more personal connection with their customers when they accept orders, especially for food and drink. “We don’t have online ordering for our food and beverage,” says Marcie. “We chose to take a unique approach. I decided to take over the direct messages on Instagram because we wanted people to be able to get me. So I am on DM all the time! You can call the store; we’re open seven days a week. Or you can email us, or you can direct message. I’d say 60 percent of our sales come via direct message.” Customers can reach out to place their orders for curbside pickup, and Anzie Blue also offers contactless delivery for free throughout Davidson County using some of their friends’ children as couriers. “We’ve become a one-stop shop for gifts, delivering to Zoom baby showers and grad parties,” says Marcie. “We’ll make a delivery to six houses, and they can all go online and share the same drinks and food while they visit.” What patrons miss out through delivery, however, is the chance to experience the striking blue-and-white decor of the mod space that the Van Mols have created within Anzie Blue. “Our whole thing at Anzie Blue is about the experience, about coming and seeing people that you know in a clean place,” says Marcie. “Aesthetically, it’s unlike anything you’ll see in Nashville. … Obviously Stanford Square has a very ’70s feel. When you walk inside our store, people are taken aback. The Beer Board guy came in and said: ‘Whoa, this is not what I expected at all! This place is awesome. I gotta bring my wife!’ ” Marcie says she and Derek are surprised and pleased by the results of their efforts. “We’ve just created this sort of wonky system that seems to be working. If I could say anything to someone that was going to start a new business, it would be that there aren’t any rules right now of how to do something. You have to do what works for your customers. You have to listen! That’s what Derek and I have been doing, and that’s all we have right now.” Email arts@nashvillEscEnE.com
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arts/culture
Holding Space
How a performance piece by artist Jana Harper was reimagined in response to COVID-19 By Laura Hutson Hunter
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photo: ADrienne Burns
E
ven before Jana Harper’s performance piece, This Holding, transitioned from a staged presentation to a video, it featured prescient themes of social isolation. “The piece started with a question: What are the burdens we carry?” the artist and Vanderbilt professor tells the Scene. That question led to a series of follow-ups, she explains — like what those burdens might look like in a partnership, in a family, in a community. Harper is an artist who is always questioning, in her work and also in conversation — she drops several open-ended questions into our interview, and she enjoys nudging people to think deeply and reach their own conclusions. That fluidity of thought served her well Jana Harper, This Holding: when it came time Traces of Contact to reimagine This Premieres 8 p.m. Friday, Holding for a postMay 29, via OZ Arts pandemic audiozartsnashville.org ence. “The transition to video raised some new questions and interesting challenges,” Harper says. “Like where can you shoot in a city that’s shut down? Where can you gather if not on public property? How do you choreograph a dance for people who can’t touch?” This Holding was originally conceived for the stage — it was intended to be a live performance with dancers engaging with sculptural objects along with musicians playing an original score live. Harper had already performed a version of the piece at the Havana Biennial in 2019, and had received funding from multiple entities, including Metro Arts and the National Endowment of the Arts, to perform it onstage at OZ Arts this spring. So when the news about COVID-19 and the isolation it necessitated began to spread, Harper was concerned — and not only for herself. Eight full-time dancers were depending on weekly checks, she says, not to mention the choreographer and musicians she’d partnered with. But Harper decided the work could be just as effective, and maybe even more effective, if it were adapted for video and made available to stream online. She worked with her collaborators — choreographer Rebecca Steinberg, musician Moksha Sommer and filmmaker Sam Boyette — and created a brand-new work that built on her original concept but was shot, edited, mastered and mixed during the pandemic. The result is a uniquely current piece of art — debuting Friday night via OZ Arts’ YouTube and Facebook pages — that is at once timeless and completely of our time. There are five scenes in This Holding: Traces of Contact, and only one of them features people touching — those are dancers
who had been sheltering in place together. Seeing people touch, even on screen, has added weight now. It’s similar to the way seeing shots of the Twin Towers can take you out of a movie scene — it’s something that once felt commonplace, but now seems ominous
and strange. Creating a work during a global pandemic gives the artist insight into those kinds of small, sometimes temporary phenomena. Another detail Harper has watched in the wake of COVID-19 is our heightened sense of the passage of time during the day.
“The hours of the day have taken on new and different meanings,” she says. “And so when we were planning the shoot, we planned each of the five scenes for a different time of day, and were really thinking, ‘What’s the feeling right now in the
Nashville Scene | May 28 – june 3, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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Photo: tiffany BEssirE
arts/culture
morning?’ ‘What’s the feeling right now at night, when your thoughts are racing and you can’t sleep?’ ‘What’s the feeling of the middle of the day when you’re just trying to go through the motions and end the day?’ All those considerations have gone into the work now. “My biggest hope is that people see them-
selves in it, and recognize that they’re not alone,” Harper says. “This is a kind of lonely moment, and we’re spending so much time trying to be connected online. But I hope that this resonates in the body, so that people can feel less alone inside their bodies when they watch it.” Email arts@nashvillEscEnE.com
Open Wide
NiNja Death trilogy
Open Culture is a smart clearinghouse of free quarantine content By Joe NolaN
O
nline content can seem endless — but great, affordable content can be hard to come by. In this age, when everyone from your Pinterest-crazy significant other to your fantasy-sports-posting uncle claims to be a “curator,” it can be tough to see the thoughtful, informed forest for the know-nothing poseur trees. Thankfully, there’s open Culture — the free-for-all arts and culture education site dedicated to lifelong learning. open Culture aggregates the smartest, coolest and funkiest bits from across the web, and enhances that content with free courses from top universities; instant access to thousands of movies, audio and e-books; language-learning resources; kids’ stuff; and more. Nobody wants quarantine life to go on forever, but if I could only have one website while weathering the global pandemic, I might choose open Culture. Below is a short tasting menu to get you started.
GrEat coursEs Plus: GrEat utoPian and dystoPian Works of litEraturE
Maybe you believe there’s an opportunity to build a better world on the other side of social distancing, fighting with your landlord and scouring the web for the cheapest wine delivery options. open Culture has bundled up 94 free video lectures from the Great Courses Plus subscription video service. one of the most fascinating — and most relevant — talks is this breakdown on how H.G. Wells helped create both science-fiction and utopian philosophy as we know them today. It’s worth noting that the 1918 influenza pandemic hit right in the middle of Wells’ five-decade writing career, and even though his best-known works were published before World War I, his striving for a better world — as he saw it — never abated.
open Culture corrals links for almost 1,200 films, from oscar winners to silent classics to a dedicated section of andrei Tarkovsky films. If you’re a serious student of cinema, there’s a lot to love at open Culture. That said, these movie selections are as democratic as the rest of open Culture’s curating, and a little curiosity and a bit of browsing can uncover gems like the Ninja Death Trilogy. There’s almost no online information to be found about this delightfully bonkers kung fu epic, but it appears to be a single four-hour film chopped into thirds for release on bargain-bin compilations. Most listings date these works to the 1980s, which was a golden age of ninja-inspired cinema. There are no titles, no credits, and the voice actors supplying the english dialogue abruptly change for unintended comic effect. The Ninja Death Trilogy looks like a movie that ran out of funds before heading straight to the home-video market. But this story about a kung fu student/bouncer and his hermit master defending a brothel from a hoard of menacing ninjas makes up for its rough presentation with comic-book gore, quick-kicking martial arts action, femme fatale swordswomen, and loads of so-bad-it’s-good charm.
sun ra lEcturE and rEadinG list from thE Black man in thE cosmos
Nothing cushions the confines of quarantine life like perspective, and open Culture’s illuminating Great lectures section includes talks from big-picture thinkers like Buckminster Fuller, Carl Sagan, Michel Foucault and Margaret atwood. But the next time your cabin fever flares up, I recommend a dose of cosmic consciousness in the form of visionary musician/ composer Sun Ra’s The Black Man in the Cosmos. Ra (Herman Blount) was a college dropout, but he served as an artist-in-residence at UC-Berkeley in 1971 and offered this lecture during the spring semester. This talk is jammed with “intricate, bizarrely otherworldly theories, drawn from his personal philosophy, peculiar etymologies, and idiosyncratic readings of religious texts.” The accompanying reading list is bizarrely varied and full of strange and beautiful rabbit holes for the restless.
Wondering where to find the Nashville Scene while staying safe?
www.nashvillescene.com/pickup Visit our website for an updated list of outdoor pickup locations. Other locations are shown on our pickup map, but check with businesses first to make sure they’re open. You can also have the Scene delivered to your house!
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nashvillescene.com | MAY 28 – JUNE 3, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE
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vodka yonic
Shine Theory What lip gloss has taught me about my family, my career and myself
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By Hannah Herner
books
The AIDS Years
The Prettiest Star is a painfully realistic depiction of the AIDS epidemic By Sean Kinch
Vodka Yonic features a rotating cast of female writers from around the world sharing stories that are alternately humorous, sobering, intellectual, erotic, religious or painfully personal. You never know what you’ll find here each week, but we hope this potent mix of stories encourages conversation.
W
hen I was 15 years old, Seventeen magazine’s column “Hot Guy Panel” told me that guys do not like lip gloss. It’s sticky, and it gets in the way of kissing. That was enough to make me stop wearing it. Today, at age 25, I have three tubes of lip gloss in my purse, one more in my leather jacket, another in my jean jacket, one in my going-out bag and a few more in my lipproduct drawer. Wearing it helps me work up the confidence to face life. But over the years, my relationship with lip gloss has been fraught. My first was a grape-flavored roller ball in a pink-polka-dot tube. I was obsessed with it. I regularly monitored the size of the air bubble inside, never wanting the lip gloss to run out. It made me feel grown-up, confident. I carried it around with me everywhere and never let anyone at recess use it. I can credit my even possessing such a thing to my mom. Since I was a kid, I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, like my own mother — a religious wearer of magenta lipstick. Life is less stressful when one parent stays home, she would say. She felt lucky that she got to do so with me and my brother. Raising us was her favorite part of her life, and indeed, her life’s purpose. Instead of going to after-school care, which always looked so chaotic to me, I could come home and have a snack with mom instead. She was available to bring me my lunch or homework when I forgot it. I felt confident that I could do what my mom did, because I had watched her do it. As a teen, I pledged to myself that my family and home life would be allotted more time and energy than my career ever would. In trying to achieve my goal, I focused on finding the right guy to plug into my equation. I was hyperconscious of my appearance, thinking that tiny things could thwart my plan. Then I read what the “Hot Guy Panel” had to say. Exit lip gloss. Still, I was not attracting the guy I wanted. I had a specific vision of who I would end up with — a nice Christian boy — and I assumed this person would just drop into my life. But I was painfully shy. When my guy didn’t magically appear, I felt frustrated. I started wearing lip gloss again. If I was going to spend my time without someone who loved me, I might as well wear what I really wanted. But the problem persisted: I couldn’t do what I really wanted — be a
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mom — without a guy. I began college with my major undecided. Halfway through, an editor at the student publication told me I had potential, and I became more interested in journalism. I contributed lots of articles to that school paper, and was even brought on as an editor. But all throughout college, I saw reporting as a placeholder until I got to have a family. I didn’t get the “Mrs. degree” that I wanted, so after graduation I leaned on my academic one. I decided to make a real go at a career in journalism. I looked for female reporters to be my role models, to show me a new blueprint for how my life could go. I found a great one — she was helpful, kind and accomplished, but I struggled with being able to see myself in her. She was so dedicated to her career, and the idea of having one myself was only starting to crystallize for me. She was very different from my mom, and definitely wasn’t the type to wear lip gloss. I started to chide myself for pulling down my car mirror to apply some before walking into a meeting. I told myself that print reporters don’t wear lip gloss. It’s too extra. Lip gloss wasn’t going to get me taken seriously. If you want to be this new thing, you have to let go of who you thought you were going to be, I thought. I broke up with lip gloss again. Marching toward my new vision of myself as a reporter, I was chosen to be a part of a national media and journalism fellowship. I landed my first full-time reporting job at The Contributor and began freelancing for the Scene. In March, one of my stories even ended up on the cover. Earlier this year, I took a workshop in audio reporting. As the instructor demonstrated sound editing, I struggled — I felt incapable of executing this new skill, like I would never measure up to the veteran reporters or audio producers I so admired. (Hi, impostor syndrome!) I even felt some guilt for taking a spot in the class — it should go to someone who has wanted this career their whole life. And what’s more, in trying to take my career to the next level, I suddenly felt I was a traitor to my younger self and what she wanted. Fearful of not getting what I wanted now, I felt tempted to revert to a dream more comfortable and familiar to me. As I sat around the table of 12 students energetically discussing an audio clip, making reference upon reference to things I’d never heard of, I pulled out a squeezy tube of pink watermelon lip gloss and put some on. It reminded me who I was. I love lip gloss, and I also love reporting. Both suit me. I value how reporting gives me permission to talk to strangers and pick their brains about the things they love. In fact, my mom loves doing that too. I’m not as far off from who I thought I would be after all. Email arts@nashvillescene.com
C
arter Sickels’ novel The Prettiest Star begins in April 1986, when 24-year-old Brian Jackson, suffering from advanced-stage AIDS, leaves New York and returns to his hometown of Chester, Ohio. Six years earlier, New York gave him new life, but now the city has become haunted, as dozens of his friends, including his lover Shawn, have succumbed to the disease. Brian no longer feels like a young man — “not in AIDS years. In AIDS years, age doesn’t matter.” He knows that his family members, who never accepted him as gay, are unprepared for his current condition, but he has nowhere else to go. The Prettiest Star By Carter Sickels Hub City Press 308 pages, $27 Sickels captures the atmosphere of the times in scenes that are painfully realistic. Much of the novel concerns how Brian’s family and the rest of the town respond to his presence. In Chester, a toxic combination of ignorance, bigotry and superstition creates a consensus that Brian represents a threat to the town’s way of life. Residents believe the disease is just punishment from a righteous God. These upstanding Christians leave threatening messages on his parents’ answering machine, throw trash on him in the street, paint “faggot” on the family’s garage door. To readers under 40, such blatant hostility might read as exaggeration, but those of us who lived through the 1980s know it to be, sadly, perfectly accurate. As Brian discovers, homophobia does not stop at the Jacksons’ threshold. His father Travis, a Chester native who embodies the town’s macho ethos, cannot bring himself to make eye contact with Brian or acknowledge his son’s sexuality or illness. By contrast, Brian’s grandmother Lettie welcomes him with open arms and tacit acceptance. Brian reminds Lettie of her late brother Albert, another “artistic and sensitive” young man who “never had a girlfriend” but possessed Brian’s “special way of seeing the world.” These characters caution us that, while love can overcome prejudice, sometimes bigotry becomes too deeply entrenched to be rooted out. Sickels splits the narration among Brian,
his mother Sharon and his younger sister Jess. At first, Sharon is paralyzed by ambivalence, torn between her maternal instincts to embrace him and her ill-disguised repulsion at his illness. “I can’t take my eyes off him,” Sharon says in an early scene. “He’s still handsome — in a worrisome way, like he’s walked through dangerous land to get here, spent days without food, water, sunlight.” The character most deeply affected by Brian’s return is Jess, who was just 8 when Brian left for New York. As a child, she clung to his side. “He told me about the places in the world he wanted to go,” Jess says. “I would have followed him anywhere.” Without Brian to guide her, Jess has become tentative, amorphous; her only friends are her fellow “benchwarmers” on the softball team. “We aren’t popular but we don’t get picked on either — nobody notices us, thank God,” Jess says. With Brian attracting negative attention from all directions, Jess can no longer remain anonymous. She vacillates between denying him and standing up for him, but her hardest lesson is learning to do without him. David Bowie, whose 1970 song gives the novel its title, is Brian’s model and ideal. In his adolescent bedroom, Brian recalls listening to records and dreaming of New York, “David Bowie’s voice carrying me out of Chester into the starry sky.” Brian points to a poster of Bowie: “Look at his blushed cheeks, feathered hair like a halo. Cigarette in hand, silver bracelet sparkling like a disco light. Space oddity, alien, freak.” He remembers Bowie appearing on television with Cher, the two of them “long-legged, feral creatures in white pants. I was rapt, my body burning, and the edges of Chester exploding: there was a bigger world and I wanted to see it, to be in it.” If Bowie is a beam of light, the town of Chester is cloaked in primordial darkness. Brian’s uncle Wayne proclaims that “people with AIDS should be sent to a far-away island.” A Methodist minister tells his congregation, “Make no mistake, homosexuality is a sin. … These men, that’s why they’re getting sick.” The reverend’s son, a pervy guidance counselor who gets handsy with Jess, tells boys in the youth group to respect women and “stay away from the homos.” Amid the sanctimony and intolerance, Sickels offers moments of compassion and goodness. Brian’s New York roommate Annie arrives periodically, her vital presence a welcome antidote. Brian makes a new friend in Chester, a gay man who has managed to craft a happy life for himself in unpropitious surroundings. Brian’s narration takes the form of video recordings, a gesture of hope intended to memorialize the life of his friends, many of whom won’t last the decade. The Prettiest Star pays homage to the victims of that horrible time and offers a measure of solace to the survivors. For more local book coverage, please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. Email arts@nashvillescene.com
Nashville Scene | May 28 – june 3, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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nashvillescene.com | MAY 28 – JUNE 3, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE
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music
Nicole Atkins taps into Jersey Shore heritage via Muscle Shoals on Italian Ice By Lorie Liebig
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or Nicole Atkins, the upcoming summer months should have been filled with tour dates across the country in support of her energy-packed, genrebending new record Italian Ice. Although the ongoing pandemic shifted her plans, the innovative singer-songwriter has taken it all in stride. To keep her connection with fans strong during the time of social distancing, Atkins launched a weekly series called Alone We’re All Together, which streams live from her home on Saturday evenings. Since the series began in March, Atkins has teased new cuts from Italian Ice and revisited old favorites, including tracks from her critically acclaimed 2017 record Goodnight Rhonda Lee. The livestream project has allowed Atkins to experiment and take on a role she’s always found herself drawn to. “I remember when I was little, I had a boombox, and I would always record songs on the radio and pretend I was David Lee Roth and the rock DJ interviewing him — but it was just me interviewing myself,” Atkins tells the Scene. “With the livestream, it’s kind of like I get to go back to the way I was playing in childhood. It’s with fancier toys that break all the time, but you just figure it out.” Over the past few weeks, Atkins has brought in an array of special guests, including fellow Nashvillians Lilly Hiatt, Aaron Lee Tasjan and Ruby Boots. Collaboration also played a large part in the creation of Italian Ice, which she recorded in the Alabama soul music mecca of Muscle Shoals. It’s an unusual choice of venue for a record that draws so much inspiration from the Jersey Shore and Atkins’ hometown, the Asbury Park-adjacent Neptune City. But not using the history of the studio in the way you might expect was part of the appeal. “I didn’t want it to be like a Muscle Shoals tribute record, but I love sounds from the past,” she says. “I’m trying to keep those elements, like the melodies and that classic songwriting tone, but push them into the future.” To help cultivate a soundscape that fit her vision, Atkins recruited friends from a widely varied array of genres and styles. The record’s lead single, the nostalgic ballad “Captain,” features Britt Daniel, frontman of indie-rock heroes Spoon, on backing vocals. A more Americana-leaning group — including Erin Rae, John Paul White and Seth Avett — appears on Atkins’ ode to life on the road, “Never Going Home Again.” With producer Ben Tanner at the helm, Atkins brought in The Dap-Kings’ former guitarist and emcee Binky Griptite and St. Vincent drummer McKenzie Smith, as well as Jim Sclavunos and Dave Sherman from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Two of Muscle Shoals’ revered session players, bassist
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David Hood and keyboardist Spooner Oldham, also came aboard as part of Atkins’ backing band. “You’re not going to get provided a moment by just walking into a great studio,” Atkins says. “It’s really about the people — a combination of all the settings.” The result of those days at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio is a record that is heartfelt and hopeful, sometimes frantic with energy and subdued and sweet in other moments. Elements of disco, soul, retro pop and gritty rock all meld into something that feels fresh while still giving a slight nod to the past. “I wanted to make something that I wasn’t hearing in music, and something that made me feel better,” Atkins says. “The news has just been so crazy the last few years. It’s hard to not get caught up in things.” At its core, Italian Ice is Atkins’ version of sounds that have thrived among the bustling of the Asbury Park boardwalk, a place that’s played a role in the careers of artists as diverse as Patti Smith, Count Basie and Bruce Springsteen. That buzzy feeling of excitement and freedom that comes with a steamy summer night spent roaming the strip drips from every track on the new LP. The Jersey boardwalk is a fundamental influence on Atkins, and it’s where her roots are. The devastating damage the area suffered from Hurricane Sandy in 2012 was a shock to her. That made her shift her perspective, putting a stronger emphasis on finding comfort in the unknown. “It was like all the things that I grew up with, knew and thought would be around forever were just gone,” she says. “It taught me this big lesson that everything is going to change — you just roll with it, and it’s not going to kill you. And even if it does, you won’t have to worry about it because you’ll be dead, you know?” This resilient attitude radiates out from Atkins’ approach to living in the world we’re in today and infuses her art. Like much of her work, Italian Ice offers honesty, humor and humility. “If you’re going to write a love song, you gotta throw in a melancholy chord here and there,” she says with a laugh. “If you write a song you can dance to, it has to be about the end of the world. Lyrics make you cry, but the music makes you dance.” Email music@nashvillescene.com
Tough to the Roots
Nashville’s bluegrass community adapts to a digital world during COVID-19 By Abby Lee Hood
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s Nashville shut down back in March in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, musicians across the spectrum of genres were left wondering how they would make ends Visit ibma.org for meet until it’s safe the International to have live shows Bluegrass Music Association’s again. Folks who are community resource part of Nashville’s guide
Italian Ice out Friday, May 29, via Single Lock Records
photo: Tracy allison
How Refreshing
bluegrass community are part of a decidedly low-tech tradition, but they are finding creative, technologically savvy ways to stay afloat. Many bluegrass artists tour year-round, with a minimal social media presence compared to artists in the mainstream of pop, country or hip-hop. That changed significantly as entire tours were canceled in the span of a few hours as part of the response to the coronavirus. The members of Brooklyn’s Gangstagrass, who make a thrilling combination of rap and bluegrass, have been working on records from their separate homes and maintaining a busy streaming schedule on Twitch. Chicago trio Henhouse Prowlers, known for a wide-ranging set list that includes bluegrass covers of Nigerian hip-hop hits, launched Bluegrass Academy, a streaming program designed to employ bluegrass players to teach children around the globe. In Nashville, the response has been just as robust. Guitarist and singer-songwriter Molly Tuttle, who made history in 2017 as the first woman to win the Interna-
tional Bluegrass Music Association’s Guitar Player of the Year award, has started her own weekly livestream on Instagram. She says there’s been plenty to learn. “I had probably done one or two livestreams ever in my life,” Tuttle tells the Scene. “I didn’t know you could bring a guest on, which was cool to realize. There’s a learning curve.” Tuttle isn’t surprised that younger musicians, even in the bluegrass world, are using platforms like Twitch, which she streamed on for the first time recently. Her recent single, a cover of Neil Young’s “Helpless” featuring Old Crow Medicine Show, wasn’t finished before the lockdown began, and some of the band’s parts had to be recorded remotely. She says taking advantage of newer technologies is especially important. “Bluegrass bands might not have the [digital] infrastructure other genres would,” Tuttle says. “It’s a small part of the industry.” Other musicians in town share Tuttle’s concerns and are already thinking beyond the coronavirus to what comes next. Tristan Scroggins, an award-winning
Nashville Scene | May 28 – june 3, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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music
ountry songsmith Jaime Wyatt has overcome a litany of obstacles during her 34 years on earth. As documented on her 2017 record Felony Blues, she struggled with addiction for most of her 20s, and spent Neon Cross out Friday, nearly a year in the May 29, via New West Los Angeles County Jail for robbing her heroin dealer. In just the past few years, she relapsed, lost her father to ALS and a close friend to an overdose, came out as a gay woman and divorced her then-husband.
Despite suffering enough hardship to make her life sound like the plot of a sad country song, Wyatt has emerged in a good place. With a newfound clarity, acceptance of her sexual orientation and more than two years of sobriety under her belt, she has made an album that funnels all that hurt into healing. Neon Cross, out Friday via New West Records, is Wyatt at her most unfiltered. Wyatt, who recently moved to Nashville, came by country music naturally. She grew up on an island in Washington state, immersed in cowboy culture during the ’90s, when Garth Brooks and Hal Ketchum dominated the airwaves. She began playing
music as a child, and folk and rock weaved their way into her personal sound when she made a move to California as a young adult. Lyrically, she incorporates approaches from pop music over the past three decades. “In some ways, I feel like a lot of my songs aren’t in the traditional storytelling way of country music,” Wyatt says. “I don’t even think that’s my thing. I think emotions are my thing.” The songs on Neon Cross hinge on raw emotion in a way that’s never so specific that someone can’t apply them to their own journey. She confronts her human need for mercy and fears of having to confront her inner demons. She also even poses a simple, universal question about heartbreak: “Why does it hurt so bad?” This selection of vulnerable songs comes to life partially thanks to Shooter Jennings, who produced Neon Cross. While he’s known for working with classic-country-leaning artists (he and Brandi Carlile co-produced Tanya Tucker’s stunning 2019 LP While I’m Livin’), he’s also deviated to groovier sonic soundscapes, like with his disco-country crossover Countach (for Giorgio) from 2016. Jennings’ multifarious musical sensibilities made him perfect for bringing Wyatt’s vision to fruition. The two have a longtime friendship from which a creative working relationship blossomed. “We were on the road a lot,” Wyatt says. “It was a lot of geeking out and listening to records. I could see that process go into the actual record-making process too. He has a very good ear for song selection and song sequencing. All around, he’s just a vibe curator.” Jennings listened to Wyatt’s vision for what her album should sound like, but he also gave sophisticated direction she was willing to accept. When composing one song, Wyatt felt that its style leaned toward David Allan Coe or Shooter’s dad Waylon. Then, Jennings played a Harry Nilsson track and pointed out the pattern being played on the kick drum, which led to the song going in an entirely new direction. His ideas — sometimes unorthodox, but not just for the sake of being unusual — and their open commu-
mandolin player, teaches frequently at music camps for kids, most of which he expects to remain closed for the rest of the year. He understands the financial pressure put on businesses and bands as a result of closures, and says the industry may never return to the way it was. “Not all the things that were there before will exist,” says Scroggins. “There’ll be some bands, performers, websites, pubs, that probably won’t make it through this. Business as usual will look different.” Luckily, Scroggins says he felt somewhat prepared to transition to digital income streams. He’s able to give more private lessons online, something he couldn’t do when touring constantly. He also transcribes popular bluegrass tunes into sheet music so others can learn (he’s also part of a team helping the late John Hartford’s family with archival work), and says he doesn’t completely mind staying at home more. Scroggins isn’t alone in having the social media following and know-how to adapt to our current situation. Venues and organizations around town have offered financial support, education and expertise to bluegrass musicians and bands. The Station Inn, a bluegrass institution in Nashville since 1974 and a mecca for fans and bands the world over, installed permanent cameras in 2018 and began stream-
ing shows on its Station Inn TV platform in 2019. In the first few days of venues shuttering, musicians streamed live from the empty venue, but once Metro’s stay-at-home order went into effect, the venue ceased live performances and began streaming previously recorded concerts to Station Inn TV subscribers. Jeff Brown, the club’s marketing director, says subscriptions have increased 30 percent, keeping the business in the black, and that a combined 600,000 people around the world have watched the streams. Venues in Chicago, Raleigh and other cities are now
asking the Station Inn for help in setting up their own streaming systems. The International Bluegrass Music Association, headquartered in Nashville, is offering resources to both local and national bluegrass artists. The organization maintains a Bluegrass Community Resource Page that includes information on financial aid, health and safety and more, as well as a streaming concert calendar and an instructor database. In early May, the IBMA also signed onto a letter to Congress along with 40 other music organizations to advocate
Jaime Wyatt finds a new kind of peace on Neon Cross
C
photo: alysse gafkjen
By Olivia Ladd
molly tuttle
nication led to a finished product that feels fresh and intentional. The album also features some legendary guests. In some of his final recordings before his suicide in August, Neal Casal played guitar on many of the tracks, giving them an extra kick into the ether. Wyatt duets with Jessi Colter — Jennings’ mother — on the Dolly Parton-like feminist anthem “Just a Woman.” “I got the recordings back and listened with my mother,” Wyatt says of the duet. “We were in Los Angeles, driving in her car, and we both cried.” Standout track “Rattlesnake Girl” may be the most personal. It’s a song about identity, chronicling Wyatt’s struggle with coming out and how acknowledging her orientation gave her a newfound confidence. That self-assurance has, in turn, changed her creative process. “I figured out why I felt different for my whole life,” Wyatt says. “I don’t think people looking at me would expect that I’ve lived a life that has been some rough places. That’s what it’s kind of celebrating too, that maybe I’m also a badass for being different. I felt shitty about myself for a long time. I’m not a pretty, graceful, feminine woman. I have some of those qualities, but really I grew up skateboarding. I play a lot of guitar. I tour around in a van with dirty young men. I’m a rattlesnake girl. I’m trying to celebrate my uniqueness in that song.” Wyatt doesn’t sugarcoat the truth, and she knows that can lead to a wide range of reactions. Some people will embrace her for speaking out about being a queer artist, while others will automatically reject what she has to offer. Nevertheless, her hope is that the strong statement of Neon Cross can reach suffering people. By using songwriting as an outlet for grief, Wyatt was able to find, above all else, humor in her past struggles. “Usually, the things that are hilarious are also tragic,” Wyatt says. “As much as there’s a lot of tragedy on this record, I really have just tried to point out the humor in it, too.” Email music @nashvillescene.com
financial relief for musicians. Nashville’s array of music communities has been affected in devastating ways by the pandemic, in no small part because the deadly March 3 tornado struck just days before public spaces had to be shut down to fight the virus. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and discouraged by the unpredictable nature of the pandemic. The determination and ingenuity — across the bluegrass community and in others — is at least one sign to be hopeful about. Email music @nashvillescene.com
tristan scroggins
nashvillescene.com | May 28 – june 3, 2020 | Nashville Scene
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series with half-hour sets from Lauren McClinton and Jamiah. The venue has been organizing its streams around loose themes, and this one — presented in conjunction with long-running local soul and R&B promotions group Lovenoise — was appropriately titled Locals Only: Queens Who Quarantine. Pop and R&B singer-songwriter Jamiah performed first, broadcasting from a home studio. “My mom’ll let me know if the sound’s good,” she joked after testing levels for vocals and keys. “Can you hear me, Mom?” Accompanied by Latavius Mulzac on keys, Jamiah performed several songs from her 2019 EP 22, starting with “Make Time.” Jamiah’s live vocals took on new intimacy on the vulnerable track, which implores a romantic partner to make time for her. Another highlight of her set was the 22 song “Up to You.” The tune, especially this live incarnation, recalls ’90s R&B with its percussive piano and poppy hooks. Jamiah also debuted some new music, including the affecting new self-empowerment ballad “They Say,” which she describes as “a letter to me from God” and really allowed her to show off her nimble vocals and impressive range. “It took a while to get in,” McClinton quipped at the beginning of her set. “Traffic was bad.” Joined by Brandon Salaway on guitar, she began with “Love Too Hard,” a standout from her 2019 EP Dawn. The duo traded the dreamy, trippy arrangement of the recorded track for stripped-down jazzy soul. Additional highlights of the performance included other Dawn tracks, like the lost-love ballad “Back In” and the A.B. Eastwood-produced “Crazy Things.” The latter especially underwent a transformation for the stream, with Salaway’s rhythmic, groovy playing highlighting the love song’s emotional lyric. You don’t tend to feel the pace of life until something knocks you out of your regular orbit. The pandemic has upset the flow of pretty much everything, and that makes the music of local New Wave-y danceable rock group Scale Model especially compelling.
Much of their sound is built on kinetic postdisco rhythms, while the lyrics focus on paying attention to your mind and body and what’s going on in the world around you. For their show on May 21 — part of the Scene’s No-Contact Shows livestream series — singer-keyboardist Megan Rox and her husband, guitarist and luthier Dave Johnson, played as a duo from home. Drummer Steve Cross (whose freelance photo work you’ve seen often in the Scene) took on A/V duties, and keyboardist-bassist Aaron Irons cheered them on from the comment panel, so they were at least able to be together in spirit. “It feels great to play, even if it’s in our practice space,” Rox said. “We’ve been dying, not being able to go out and play shows or see shows.” They weren’t able to have the lasers and fog they typically bring out for live performances, but they rigged up some of their lighting to set the mood. This wasn’t exactly Scale Model unplugged — Johnson played an acoustic guitar for most of the show, but he ran it through time-based effects that filled the soundscape with echoes and swirls as Rox sang. Without the rhythm section, the dreamy qualities of the songs came to the fore, emphasizing the underlying theme of slowing down and paying attention. Several of the tunes they played date back to Scale Model’s self-titled debut EP from 2012. Rox pointed out that some of these were easier to translate to a duo setup. Other songs were more recent, like their 2017 single “Other Voices,” and their cover of The Outfield’s synth-laced 1985 slowdance classic “Your Love.” To wrap up the show, Rox sang over a new track she produced herself. The as-yetuntitled song had a ’90s club-music feel, but addressed the very contemporary concern of trying to cope with the anxiety that is part of every day during the pandemic. Rox pointed out one of the most difficult things to do right now, which is sometimes also one of the most important, as she sang, “I just let it go / Because I have no control.” EMAIL THESPIN@NASHVILLESCENE.COM MODEL CITIZEN: SCALE MODEL
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NASHVILLE SCENE | MAY 28 – JUNE 3, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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film
Jason X: Primal Stream 10
Escapist camp, retro glitz and more, now available to stream By Jason Shawhan
(Sierra McCormick, just as great here as a focused-but-timid force for information as she is crushing heads and being a minister of death in VFW) and radio broadcaster Everett (Jake Horowitz, who has a gift for temporally specific dialogue that should immediately put him on the Coen Brothers’ radar) inadvertently discover an anomalous sonic frequency broadcasting throughout their sleepy New Mexico town and uncover a mystery. Twilight Zone, The X-Files, Xtro ... all of that, but in a way that contains itself within the parameters of the national imagination up until that point. There’s nothing else remotely like this out there, but if there is, it’s waiting for a determined viewer to find it in the fusillade of data streaming throughout the world right now. Also, in addition to Unfriended 3, the only COVID-19 pandemic movie that I’m super interested in seeing is a sequel to Pulse (aka Kairo) in which the internet ghosts return because all that wireless signal usage is just too delicious.
Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go to College on Tubi/ Vudu rockula
I
t’s getting crazier all around us. Not wearing masks in public is still not a substitute for a personality, folks who have been looking for spaces to vent their rage have been given precisely that by reckless reopening practices, and no one in charge seems all that concerned about what COVID-19 is doing to the incarcerated population and people experiencing homelessness right now. But instead of giving in to rage, despair and/or entropy, let’s enjoy some films that are very escapist in nature. As always, check out past issues of the Scene for more recommendations of what to stream.
Rockula on Vudu No film bridges the shift from the ’80s into the ’90s quite like Rockula, a little-seen, dearly beloved rock musical about the vampire Ralph (Dean Cameron, one of the enduring bright spots in ’80s classics like Bad Dreams and Summer School). Ralph is cursed through the centuries to relive the loss of his first love via a conspiracy involving reincarnation, pirates, a giant ham bone and a nefarious Thomas Dolby. Now, in late-’80s Southern California, Ralph again must confront the cruelties of fate as his love appears in the form of pop singer Mona (Tawny Fere). Does he break the recurrent chain of fate and retreat to the home he shares with his vampire mom Phoebe (the legendary Toni Basil, who
the vast of night
choreographed and has some killer dance numbers of her own), or does he put a band together (with Bo Diddley and Susan Tyrrell) to fight fate and win one for love? Rockula may not win you over the first time, but by the fifth time you see it, it will be one of your favorite films of all time. The songs (including “Rapula” and “He’s the DJ, I’m the Vampire”) are plausible but off-kilter enough that you never get tired of them, and the big love theme “By My Side” is a stone classic that could prove an absolute barnburner of a karaoke duet — as soon as we have medically safe public gatherings back (and if someone would do a karaoke arrangement for it). If you love weird things (or if you’re weird about things that are lovable), Rockula is going to change your world.
The Vast of Night on Amazon Prime A singular vision that low-key dazzles while refusing to give the viewer conventional ways into itself, the brand-new The Vast of Night is a sci-fi allegory that apes the form of low-budget TV and dives deep into the language of the American past. Set in the 1950s, it also gives us a story of UFOs and youthful crushes and small-town drama and structural racism that feels viscerally different from what the intervening six or so decades have constructed in our collective minds. Nighttime switchboard operator Fay
“It’s got pranks, pancakes and partying!” says my friend Cody. “The Ghoulies go to college!” Which is good to know, since it’s right there in the title. I asked Cody for a film to recommend that would be a good tribute to the late, great special-effects artist/director John Carl Buechler — whose effects résumé includes From Beyond, 1988’s To Die For, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Tammy and the T-Rex, and Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood. Ghoulies III, the first R-rated entry in the Ghoulies franchise, features ancient rituals, wyrd toilets, magick hidden within profane pages, library dominos and beeramids (which are exactly what you think they are). It’s got puppets and puke in equal measure, no frat party is left standing, and one of the lead Ghoulie voices is Richard Kind!
Scooby-Doo! and KISS: Rock and Roll Mystery on DirecTV There’s a lot of talk currently about the new animated film Scoob!, which was released direct to VOD on May 15. For younger viewers, or for parents looking for a way to get their kids into the adventures of Mystery Incorporated, it’s a valid option. But I found it a little disheartening
(Shaggy Rogers is either Matthew Lillard or the late Casey Kasem, no shade to Will Forte), and it’s more focused on HannaBarbera cinematic-universe-building (convicted hate criminal and occasional decent actor “Marky” Mark Wahlberg as Blue Falcon takes up way too much of the narrative) than providing good Scooby-Doo adventures. Which is how I find myself recommending the 2015 team-up of the Mystery Incorporated gang and KISS, which isn’t just a fun, spooky, rock-themed adventure — it’s the highest-quality thing that KISS has attached its name to since 1987’s “Crazy, Crazy Nights” single. Your mileage may very, but this is a nimble satire that actually addresses the way that KISS branding has attained a life of its own, it’s got a great cast (the late Garry and Penny Marshall both provide voices, as do Kevin Smith and Pauley Perrette), and the whole thing is a weirdly psychedelic romp into the rich histories of both the Scooby-Doo gang and KISS. The iconography of The Elder comes into play, y’all.
Valley Girl on VOD An exponentially more enjoyable Alicia Silverstone movie than January’s The Lodge, this kind-hearted jukebox musical is less a remake of the rightfully beloved Martha Coolidge/Deborah Foreman 1983 classic than a misty, water-colored recollection of that film’s story told by a contemporary mom to her daughter. Valley Girl deals with some drama of the heart. The clothes are stunning, and the makeup subdued. (As critic Dave White points out, movies about the ’80s never want to commit to the truly freakish tonal range of makeup of that actual time: Retrospect leans toward The Wedding Singer, when the more accurate choice is Liquid Sky.) The songs here become the diegetic hopes and dreams of Vals and Punks and, well, all of us. Director Rachel Lee Goldenberg (she did that Kristen Wiig/Will Ferrell Lifetime movie A Deadly Adoption) knows how to stage a dance number — my personal faves include “We Got the Beat” as a mall-size opener and “The Safety Dance” as a roller-disco birthday party conflict engine. Star Jessica Rothe is just as magnetic and vibrant here as she is in the Happy Death Day movies. This is the perfect mental margarita to decompress with, because sometimes the world is just too much. Email arts@nashvillescene.com
Valley girl
nashvillescene.com | May 28 – june 3, 2020 | Nashville Scene
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Film
For Pete’s sake
The Ghost of Peter Sellers airs some decades-old dirty laundry By Craig D. LinDsey
T Order Now! nashvillesceneshop.com
26
he Ghost of Peter Sellers is spectacularly petty. From the way this documentary tells it, Hungarian director Peter Medak basically blames his somewhat mediocre career — directing everything from episodes of Remington Steele and Faerie Tale Theatre to Species II — on one man and one man alone: Peter Sellers. It all started back in the early ’70s, when Medak was getting a buzzworthy rep as an on-the-rise filmThe GhosT of PeTer maker thanks to acsellers claimed movies like NR, 93 miNutes Negatives and The AvAilAble to stReAm Ruling Class. Medak viA belcouRt.oRg got the opportunity begiNNiNg FRidAy, mAy 29 to direct British comedy legend Peter Sellers in Ghost in the Noonday Sun, a 17th-century pirate comedy co-scripted by Spike Milligan, Sellers’ old Goon Show collaborator. Sure, the script didn’t make a lick of sense — but hey, Medak would get to work with comic royalty! Once production began on the Mediterrean island of Cyprus, Medak realized that the indecipherable script was the least of his problems. He had a gigantic ship that kept breaking down and making a lot of people seasick. And much like the bullshit Werner Herzog later had to deal with in getting a boat up a hill in Fitzcarraldo (famously captured by director Les Blank in Burden of Dreams), Medak had his own Klaus Kinski in Sellers. Sellers already had a rep for being difficult, but the young Medak had no idea how difficult the Pink Panther star would be while filming — pulling such stunts as leading a crew revolt against Medak and faking a heart attack so he could leave the area and have a night on the town with Princess Margaret. By the time the nightmare of a film shoot was over, Columbia Pictures — the studio footing the bill — deemed the film not worthy of a cinematic release and shelved
it, dropping it on cable and home video a decade later. (Good luck finding it on the interwebs now.) As you can tell by the existence of this doc, Medak wants people to know that even after all these years, it’s hard to let that shit with Sellers go. Medak made sure to round up people who could cosign on Sellers’ erratic, insufferable behavior — from his agents to directors he worked with (Joseph McGrath pops up to talk about how Sellers didn’t talk to him for three days while filming Casino Royale) to his own daughter Victoria and, for a brief moment, his Pink Panther costar Robert Wagner. With Medak directing the whole thing — even including footage in which he sets up shots that frame him at his most presentable — you get a sense that the 82-year-old director wants viewers to see him as the sympathetic survivor. After all, this is a man who survived World War II, multiple family deaths and the suicide of his first wife. You might as well throw in making a Sellers movie along with those traumatic moments. Medak doesn’t make Sellers out to be a complete monster. He does lay out how the man obviously had mental health issues that were not treated during his prime — and sadly, Sellers died of a heart attack in 1980. But even when Sellers briefly extended an olive branch to Medak while the former was making another Pink Panther movie, it appears Medak still had a lot of things he wanted to say to the dude. I’m starting to think that unless movie stars stop acting like dicks on sets, more and more documentaries will pop up about their dickishness. Just a few weeks ago, I caught the 2014 doc Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau, in which the titular eccentric, up-and-coming director’s daring vision of the H.G. Wells novel was no match for the prima-donna bullying of stars Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer. (Stanley was eventually replaced by veteran director John Frankenheimer, who mostly barked orders and reminded the crew how much they missed the other guy.) I’m sure we all know assholes we’d like to see get their comeuppance at some point. But most of us don’t have cameras and film crews. So let The Ghost of Peter Sellers serve as a cautionary tale for all the A-list stars out there: Treat the director right, or else he’ll drop a documentary calling your ass out after you’ve been dead for decades. Email arts@nashvillEscEnE.com
NASHVILLE SCENE | MAY 28 – JUNE 3, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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crossword EditEd by Will Shortz Across 1
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No. 0423
In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon CYNARRA M. BLAKE. It is ordered that said Defendant enter Her appearance herein with thirty (30) days after June 18, 2020 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 July 20, 2020. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville. Richard R. Rooker, Clerk Deputy Clerk By: W. North Date: May 19, 2020 Jessica R. Simpson Attorney for Plaintiff NSC 5/28/2020, 6/4/2020, 6/11/2020 & 6/18/2020
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ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE O R I G A M I
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nashvillescene.com | MAY 28 -JUNE 3, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE
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S A T BOY BREAKFAST U 1 BIG SANDWICH* $6.99 R a CHICKEN or BEEF D A m KEBAB* $6.99 Y *House-Cut Fries Included TAKE-OUT SPECIALS
Athens Family Restaurant 2526 Franklin Rd. Melrose 615-383-2848
Thetford Insurance Services, Inc.
615-297-2200
Open Since 2004
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OUR LARGE & SPACIOUS DINING ROOM IS NOW OPEN! WRITERS’ R: CH NE
AUTHENTIC ASIAN CUISINE
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SICHUAN & CANTONESE
OPEN DAILY FOR LUNCH & DINNER: SUN. THRU THURS. 11-9 | FRI./SAT. 11-10 28
NASHVILLE SCENE | MAY 28 -JUNE 3, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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facebook/Luckybamboonash | B.Y.O.B. No Corking Fee! | ORDER ONLINE: luckybamboochinabistro.com 5855 Charlotte Pike | 760-5930 | 1/2 Mile West of White Bridge Rd. (“Up The Ramp on Left”)
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