Nashville Scene 5-5-22 by FW Publishing

CITY LIMITS: THE DISMANTLING OF WEST MEADE’S DRY STACK WALLS

MAY 5–11, 2022 I VOLUME 41 I NUMBER 14 I NASHVILLESCENE.COM I FREE

CITY LIMITS: MAYOR’S BUDGET AIMS TO SCALE UP METRO

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CULTURE: NASHVILLE BLACK MARKET BOOSTS BLACK-OWNED BUSINESSES PAGE 35

by lance C onzett

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NASHVILLE SCENE | MAY 5 – MAY 11, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

CONTENTS

MAY 5, 2022

Former Homeless Impact Division Staff Say Agency Has Shifted to Reactionary Closures ......................................................7

Buy Black

CITY LIMITS

Three ex-staffers say new leadership isn’t listening to experts, point to the controversial Jefferson Street Bridge camp closure BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

Walls Come Tumbling Down .....................7 The dismantling of West Meade’s centuries-old dry stack walls BY J.R. LIND

Mayor’s Budget Aims to Scale Up Metro .....8 Cooper sets up hiring spree, increases debt service BY ELI MOTYCKA

Pith in the Wind ...................................... 11 This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog

CULTURE The Nashville Black Market aims to ‘be Nashville’s front door to Black-owned businesses’

Gov. Lee Puts Executions on Hold

BOOKS

ON THE COVER:

In Another Country In Her Country, Marissa R. Moss reckons with country music’s problematic identity BY BRITTNEY McKENNA

MUSIC

A Near Miss or a Close Call .................... 39

Hip-Hop City

Gold Standard ......................................... 39

Taking a deep dive into Nashville’s rap renaissance

Nashville Opera inaugurates Belmont’s new Fisher Center with a production of Wagner’s Das Rheingold

BY MEGAN SELING

BY LANCE CONZETT

Cannery Row Lands General Manager

BY KATELYNN WHITE

Fans once turned their backs on Jawbreaker, but the good guys are coming out on top

COVER STORY

THIS WEEK ON THE WEB:

BY JOHN PITCHER

Melissa Etheridge w/Jeff LeBlanc, Spring Tennessee Craft Festival, Willie Nelson and Family w/Charlie Crockett, Midlake, Primus Plays A Farewell to Kings, Olivia Rodrigo, Painting in the Smokies and more

BY CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

BY P.J. KINZER

Parlor Trick

FILM

TailGate Brewery Announces Expansion to Chattanooga Turn and Embrace the Strange of We’re All Going to the World’s Fair

From top left, by row: Justin Causey, Gee Slab, Corduroy Clemons, The Blackson Aaron Dethrage, Reaux Marquez, JustVibez, HB Mandella 5thletta, Chuck Indigo, Angel Adams, $hrames, Riø Tokyo Joseph Fiend, Weston, Namir Blade Brian Brown, BLVCKWIZZLE, Negro Justice Photo by Eric England

To the Nines ............................................. 40 Ho99o9 takes its cathartic, post-genre cacophony on the road

CRITICS’ PICKS

The Spin ................................................... 41 The Scene’s live-review column checks out Jack White with Be Your Own Pet at Ascend Amphitheater

FOOD AND DRINK Barista Parlor has been providing a different perspective on coffee for a decade BY MARGARET LITTMAN

It’s Alright, Ma Petite Maman is a tender exploration of mother-daughter relationships BY ERICA CICCARONE

Duking It Out Middle-of-the-road The Duke is darling

ART

BY CRAIG D. LINDSEY

Crawl Space: May 2022 May’s First Saturday happenings sustain a strong spring art season BY JOE NOLAN

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NASHVILLE AREA CHAMBER FLOUNDERING AGAIN UNDER PRESIDENT AND CEO RALPH SCHULZ We have been seeing some uniquely negative headlines when it comes to our own Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. A recent headline from the Nashville Business Journal: “The chamber’s recruiting contract with Metro once seemed automatic. This year, it’s ‘weird.’ ” Another from The Tennessean: “Metro officials rebuke Nashville Chamber effort to give mayors control of struggling school districts.” And from WPLN: “Metro Council tells the chamber to knock off its efforts to give the mayor more power over schools.” Are these the kind of headlines we ought to be seeing when it comes to our chamber of commerce? The NBJ notes that, according to Councilmember Bob Mendes, the relationship between the chamber and the mayor’s office has sunk to “an all-time low … in the history of Metro” — and according to economic expert Angelos Angelou, when “the city and the chamber are not on the same page … economic development suffers.” Another NBJ story digging into Mayor John Cooper’s new budget — which is 12 percent larger than the last budget — notes that it provides only a one-year development contract with the chamber for $175,000. That’s lower than the value of the chamber’s first contract with Metro in the early 1990s. The lowest it’s been in 31 years. The Tennessean notes that the Metro Council “rebuked” the chamber, validating the languishing relationship between chamber and city. Under the leadership of president and CEO Ralph Schulz, the chamber was pushing legislation to give county mayors the power to take over school boards with too many underperforming schools on their priority list. Metro Nashville Public Schools have 21 schools on the state’s 2019 priority school list. The Metro Council in their displeasure presented and passed a resolution by a 23-1 vote, asking the chamber for “immediate withdrawal of this legislation.” Eight of the councilmembers abstained from voting. Even if they support Mr. Schulz, the best they could offer was abstention. This vote has ignited talk of concern about Ralph Schulz. Some of the chamber’s board members whom I’ve spoken with are not just embarrassed about the council vote, but also the fact that the mayor was not given a proper heads-up. You have to

wonder about Schulz’s judgment. What would any of us expect to happen if we blindsided Mayor Cooper and his office? This is an embarrassment for the chamber, its leadership, the city and, of course, Ralph Schulz. Things have been on a downhill slide for a while now at the chamber. The chamber’s website simply says the organization serves “more than 2,000” members. I remember in years past seeing specific numbers published, when the chamber had around 3,300 members. The organization has also downsized its office space and cut staff since Schulz has been at the helm. For 20 years, the chamber resided at 211 Commerce St. in the heart of downtown. In 2019, it moved to the Capitol View development along Charlotte Avenue. With a city that is bursting at the seams, our chamber shouldn’t have to cut staff and downsize. In recent years, multiple outlets and polls have ranked Nashville among the top U.S. cities to move to. Our population is growing at a rate of 0.56 percent annually with more than 13 percent growth since the 2010 census. In March of last year, WKRN reported that Nashville was seeing record high construction permits, totaling $4.6 billion, and a few months later The Tennessean reported that Nashville “is first on the list of growing markets where investors want to park their cash.” But despite the boom in both business and residential growth, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce is not keeping up. Instead, membership is falling. And this latest public faux pas could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back when it comes to a change of leadership. We need the relationship between the city and the chamber to be one of trust and solidarity. John F. Kennedy has been quoted as saying, “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” A person needs to continually learn and apply what they learn in order to be a strong leader. If one never applies what they’ve learned, they can hardly expect success — nor can they expect the respect of others. It would serve Mr. Schulz well to remember that fact.

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.

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SATURDAY, MAY 14

IN STORE SIGNING with ALANA WHITE

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Editor-in-Chief D. Patrick Rodgers Managing Editor Alejandro Ramirez Senior Editor Dana Kopp Franklin Arts Editor Laura Hutson Hunter Culture Editor Erica Ciccarone Music and Listings Editor Stephen Trageser Contributing Editor Jack Silverman Staff Writers Kelsey Beyeler, Stephen Elliott, Hannah Herner, J.R. Lind, Eli Motycka, William Williams, KateLynn White Contributing Writers Sadaf Ahsan, Radley Balko, Ashley Brantley, Maria Browning, Steve Cavendish, Chris Chamberlain, Lance Conzett, Steve Erickson, Nancy Floyd, Randy Fox, Adam Gold, Kashif Andrew Graham, Seth Graves, Kim Green, Steven Hale, Steve Haruch, Edd Hurt, Jennifer Justus, Christine Kreyling, Katy Lindenmuth, Craig D. Lindsey, Brittney McKenna, Marissa R. Moss, Noel Murray, Joe Nolan, Betsy Phillips, John Pitcher, Margaret Renkl, Daryl Sanders, Megan Seling, Jason Shawhan, Michael Sicinski, Nadine Smith, Ashley Spurgeon, Amy Stumpfl, Kay West, Abby White, Andrea Williams, Ron Wynn, Charlie Zaillian Art Director Elizabeth Jones Photographers Eric England, Matt Masters, Daniel Meigs Graphic Designers Mary Louise Meadors, Tracey Starck Production Coordinator Christie Passarello Festival Director Olivia Britton Marketing and Promotions Manager Robin Fomusa Publisher Mike Smith Senior Advertising Solutions Managers Sue Falls, Michael Jezewski, Carla Mathis, Heather Cantrell Mullins, Jennifer Trsinar, Keith Wright Advertising Solutions Managers Richard Jacques, Deborah Laufer, Niki Tyree Sales Operations Manager Chelon Hill Hasty Advertising Solutions Associates Jada Goggins, Audry Houle, Alissa Wetzel Special Projects Coordinator Susan Torregrossa

NASHVILLE SCENE | MAY 5 – MAY 11, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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nashvillescene.com | MAY 5 – MAY 11, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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CITY LIMITS

FORMER HOMELESS IMPACT DIVISION STAFF SAY AGENCY HAS SHIFTED TO REACTIONARY CLOSURES Three ex-staffers say new leadership isn’t listening to experts, point to the controversial Jefferson Street Bridge camp closure

achel Cook, Shanley Deignan and Lizzie Goddard all had experience working directly with Nashville’s homeless population, but they wanted to get more involved in a systemic approach to housing. They felt the best place for that work was the Metro Homeless Impact Division. Cook joined the MHID in 2019 to work on the Homelessness Management Information System, a collaborative database that helped coordinate the efforts of about 40 organizations providing services and housing. She soon became the HMIS manager, and in 2020, Deignan joined as HMIS data quality coordinator — the two can be credited with building up the HMIS. In 2021, Goddard joined MHID as a landlord engagement coordinator and created the Low Barrier Housing Collective to incentivize housing voucher acceptance. Deignan says local nonprofits could look to the MHID for guidance and support, gathering “people with different goals and visions and missions together around one coordinated approach.” But Deignan, Cook, Goddard and others have resigned following the division’s change of directors, sparking concerns with service providers and local politicians. Cook says that with the new leadership, “There has been a very obvious shift in mission of the department.” MHID’s longtime director Judith Tackett resigned in October, stunning local service providers. The Office of Emergency Management’s Jay Servais was soon named the interim director. Servais was a key figure in establishing emergency shelters during winter months and the pandemic, but he lacked Tackett’s outreach coordination experience. A Dec. 8 email shared with the Scene shows that assistant director April Calvin sent a draft of a homeless camp strategy to staff, inviting their feedback. In the email, Calvin notes that Servais had been developing the plan — modeled on Houston’s work — with Metro Social Services and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development technical assistance. No specific camp was named. Some MHID employees — including Cook, Deignan and Goddard — replied that Metro lacked the resources for the plan. In another email obtained by the Scene, Deignan highlights the gap: In 2020, Houston had an estimated $42 million in Continuum of Care grants compared to Nashville’s $6 million, and 4,000 more permanent supportive housing units.

Deignan says there was a “consensus” in the team that Nashville wasn’t ready to close a camp and that it “went against the core mission of the team,” adding that the decision also went against her own ethics. The three say new leadership seemed less interested in hearing from experts on staff, taking direction from Metro Social Services and the mayor’s office, and became more “reactive” to public pressure about encampments. They say they were shocked when MHID leaders announced they were implementing a plan to house every member of the Jefferson Street Bridge camp and close it down. Tensions over that plan spanned January and February meetings of the Continuum of Care Homelessness Planning Council. Members of the HPC repeatedly said they didn’t get to vet the program and expressed concerns that the plan circumvented the coordinated entry process. Servais and Calvin argued that they gave the HPC plenty of time for feedback on the effort — which they dubbed a “draft plan” and “pilot program” — and that the proper entry process was followed. Cook, Deignan and Goddard note that the coordinated entry system is dynamic and can be adjusted as the Continuum of Care deems necessary, but they take issue with what they see as the sudden focus on a single camp. Deignan says the system is meant to serve the most vulnerable people citywide, and statistically, that wouldn’t be all the people living beneath the same bridge. “The day I decided that I could not work at the Homeless Impact Division anymore was the day that MHID was going to be responsible for closing Jefferson Street camp,” says Deignan. Her last day was March 2. Cook and Goddard soon followed her in resigning from the department. Cook says it was a difficult decision, but she felt her work on the HMIS was no longer understood or supported by leadership “in a way that could make it help Nashville be successful.” Goddard says she felt “overworked and underappreciated.” She says she voiced ethical concerns about MHID’s camp plan, and adds that she learned about the Jefferson Street Bridge plan at the same time as the HPC. The ex-staffers also cite issues with MHID’s leadership structure and say they support a bill filed by District 19 Councilmember Freddie O’Connell to create an independent office of housing that would oversee MHID, relocating it from Metro Social Services. An email shared with the Scene shows that on her last day, Goddard

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

recommended the Low Barrier Housing Collective be transferred to a “non-Metro entity” to ensure its continued success. While some, including O’Connell, estimate that as many as 11 people have left MHID since October, the Scene received via a public records request copies of eight resignation letters filed between October 2021 and April 2022, including Tackett’s. Five of those ex-employees had their last days in March and April. The team is estimated to have employed around 20 people in October. The three ex-employees who spoke to the Scene say that contrary to rumors, the resignations aren’t about loyalty to previous leadership. One local service provider asked not to be identified due to concerns it could impact the organization’s funding. They say the loss of data experts is especially concerning since inaccurate or incomplete data hindered the city’s ability to acquire vital funding in the past. Calvin tells the Scene that the city had enough resources for the Jefferson Street Bridge pilot program, including federal funds that would be returned to the government if unused. “At that time, ethically and morally, it felt like the right decision,” says Calvin, adding that people living outdoors face significant health risks. Asked whether all MHID staff would have known about the Jefferson Street Bridge effort, Calvin says, “The outreach team was made aware of a lot of this extremely early on.” She also says that, at least at her level, there is no pressure from the mayor’s office to close camps. Calvin says there were early mistakes regarding communication, but MHID is committed to a data-focused approach to housing. She adds that she’s excited for the future: Mayor John Cooper announced in his State of Metro address last week that he would commit $50 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds to efforts to end homelessness, as well as funding for nine additional staffers to MHID. But the funding boost doesn’t erase the issues for Cook, Deignan and Goddard. The three say in a follow-up email to the Scene that with the influx of money, it’s more im-

portant than ever to ensure “the right leadership and the right leadership structure are in place, with guidance and accountability from the Homelessness Planning Council.” EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

WALLS COME TUMBLING DOWN The dismantling of West Meade’s centuries-old dry stack walls BY J.R. LIND

or 21 years, Trent Rosenbloom has scurried up the ridges that gird West Meade. The hills rise sharply from the hollows and bottomlands between Belle Meade and Bellevue, Highway 70 cresting dramatically up Ninemile Hill before swooping down in the Harpeth River’s watershed. For decades, the ridges were a natural property line for the Harding family’s Belle Meade Plantation. Even when what we now call West Meade was subdivided in the 1950s and ’60s, homebuilders largely kept off the top of the ridges. It’s too hard, too expensive to haul construction equipment up the hills, too narrow and treacherous to try and lay a foundation. It’s hard enough to walk up them carrying nothing more than a reporter’s notebook. Well, it’s not all that hard for Rosenbloom, who’s been at it for two decades and organizes the Flying Monkey Marathon, the annual 26.2-ish-mile course up and down the hills at Percy Warner Park. So Rosenbloom likes his ridges. He likes climbing up and sliding down on his jacket when it snows. And he likes poking around in the woods for morels, the fungal delicacy so coveted by foragers. And so it was April 21. Rosenbloom trekked up a Metro Water access road and scrambled up the ridge to where he knew a stone wall marked the crest. “My heart sank when I got up here,” he tells the

nashvillescene.com | MAY 5 – MAY 11, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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CITY LIMITS

MAYOR’S BUDGET AIMS TO SCALE UP METRO Cooper sets up hiring spree, increases debt service BY ELI MOTYCKA

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

Scene a few days after that climb. While a long stretch of the wall remains in good shape even 200 or so years after its construction, the portion heading east down the ridge was gone, its stones piled up with field rock and other rubble in a clearing. Academics call the walls “dry stack walls,” and they are common throughout Middle Tennessee and Kentucky. Built without mortar, they are held together by their own weight, each stone a puzzle piece in an enduring structure. Colloquially, they are often called “slave walls,” because their ubiquity on antebellum farms naturally leads people to believe they were built by enslaved people. Historians say that’s not the whole story. The technique came from Scotland, thus why the walls occur so frequently in these parts where Scottish and Scotch-Irish settlers were common. Many of the earliest walls were likely built by the Scottish masons and paid labor, but later maintenance and some later construction probably was performed by enslaved people under the supervision of masons. There are records of several formerly enslaved people becoming masons and wall-builders after manumission. The construction of this particular wall was surely an exhausting undertaking. The limestone was quarried down in the bottomlands and then hauled up the ridges to be carefully placed. “They may be the only remaining monument to the hard and forced labor that led to their creation, the names of the craftsman who built them long lost to history if they were ever recorded at all,” Rosenbloom wrote on Facebook after his discovery. What led to this particular wall’s destruction is the ongoing construction of an 11,000-square-foot mansion perched on the ridgetop. The driveway winds up the ridge from Jocelyn Hills Road and curves behind the footprint of the future home, breaching the wall in two places. Now the stones from the wall, their tool marks still visible, are discarded at the back of the lot. Unfortunately, little can be done. Governments

can — and increasingly are — urging property owners to preserve the walls. Tennessee passed a law two decades ago urging the Tennessee Department of Transportation to preserve the walls where possible on public rights-of-way. But on private property, the owners can do with the wall what they will. And if a 200-year-old wall so meticulously crafted that it still stands needs to go for a driveway turnaround for a mega-mansion, the power of the state is impotent to stop it. What’s more, a number of old-growth trees have been clear-cut, including a sassafras that won the Nashville Tree Foundation’s Big Old Tree Contest in 2020. A number of prominent oaks and chestnuts were also leveled. Replacing the trees and their ground-gripping roots, which hold up the soil and soak up precipitation runoff: thousands of square feet of impervious surface. And that has major implications down the hill. During the Midstate’s historic May 2010 flooding, the hill face behind Rosenbloom’s home collapsed, crashing through a minivan, the garage and the first floor of the house. The rushing water carried a multiple-ton rock down Carnavon Parkway. The stone was so stout, Rosenbloom says, that a contractor nearly had to dynamite it. For decades, the ridges have been a de facto commons for the residents of the valley below. Yes, there are property lines, but up the hill, they have been largely irrelevant. The people below all tacitly agreed to leave the space wild and the walls erect, a collective patrimony willed to posterity. But the commons are fragile and their famous tragedy is that unspoken agreements and traditions and unanimous benignness can all come crashing down like a hillside in a flood, or a wall under a bulldozer. EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

ashville has entered the two-month stretch when councilmembers consider, debate and (hopefully) pass next year’s budget. The State of Metro address, delivered last week by the mayor at the Southeast Community Center, kicked off financial festivities that will (hopefully) wrap up by July 1, the beginning of the next fiscal year. The mayor’s office typically dictates spending priorities with the mayor’s budget, outlined at the State of Metro and presented two days later to the Metro Council’s Budget and Finance Committee. At his address on April 27, Mayor John Cooper laid out a plan to expand the city’s workforce, targeting understaffed departments and city services that have struggled to scale up with the city’s explosive population growth. Metro finance director Kelly Flannery presented Nashville’s newest spending plan as a corrective after two years of chaotic financial conditions. Revenues and expenditures come in just shy of $3 billion, the city’s biggest budget ever, supported by $320 million in revenue growth. Most of the city’s revenue comes from property taxes, followed by local sales taxes. Most of its spending goes toward operating its many departments, like fire, codes and police. Public schools account for $1.1 billion (about 35 percent of spending), followed by debt service. The mayor is asking for $411 million to cover borrowing, a number that has crept up in recent years. Public transportation hovers around 2 percent of total spending. City services have struggled to scale with Nashville’s population boom. Metro 911 dispatchers handle more than double the recommended call load, according to this year’s requests by department. Codes asked for 29 new employees to keep up with new construction, and the Nashville Fire Department put in a ticket for more inspectors, basic equipment upgrades and five more ambulances, each requiring personnel. Cooper focused his State of Metro on “core services,” a catch-all for departments that keep the city running. He pinned his response on proposed funding for hundreds of new employees across departments, an attempt to address endemic Metro understaffing. A hiring-spree strategy puts the hardest challenges downstream of the budget, which can make space for new positions but doesn’t automatically fill them. Scaling Metro this quickly will rely on hiring, training and retention within departments. Turnover has been the bottleneck keeping Metro understaffed. Churn has devastated the school system and police department, the latter of which currently has 174 fully funded vacant officer repositions — Cooper’s budget adds about 50 more. The Metro Homeless Impact Division has been clamoring for more staff for years, but has struggled to keep employees recently, headlined by the departure of Judy Tackett on

not-so-great terms. During his speech, Cooper also took the opportunity to address two recent Metro public relations headaches. He vowed to restore normality to curbside trash and recycling pickup with more crews, and to patch more potholes faster with new technology and hires. The budget includes a 4 percent increase in salaries for public school staff, including bus drivers and cafeteria workers — an overdue bump that falls a percentage point short of this year’s recommended cost-of-living adjustment for Metro employees. American Rescue Plan money also got a mention. The one-time federal dollars have helped boost numbers behind the city’s housing and homelessness response, an allocation process that takes place outside the operating budget. Cooper’s speech didn’t mention Metro’s recent acquisition of the Global Mall, the physical site where the State of Metro took place. The purchase faced scrutiny from the Metro Council and hasn’t been finalized yet. A redeveloped East Bank also went unmentioned, as did tech giant Oracle’s new headquarters and the Titans’ proposed stadium rebuild — all major (and costly) Cooper projects. The mayor has signaled hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure investment in the East Bank, securing $20 million for its main street, the East Bank Spine Connector, in the fall’s capital spending plan. Nashville may not be in the stadium business, per Cooper’s most recent remarks, but stadium discussions are a hot iron, and the state of Tennessee moved funding through the legislature last week. The timeline has reached a crescendo and may take hundreds of millions of dollars in additional Metro commitments. A $50 million boost in debt service gives Metro flexibility in the next year, potentially making room for bigger projects and increased capital spending. The mayor used previous State of Metro addresses — to an empty chamber in 2020, at a vaccination hub at Music City Center in 2021 — to emphasize how the city has moved through unexpected challenges. He has framed this budget as a chance to get back to business on kitchen-table issues like education, neighborhoods and public services. Many of these investments are overdue and track with year-to-year increases. Special projects like the East Bank and Global Mall boost spending, hinged on a Cooper promise that they are good taxpayer investments that will eventually return. The mayor hasn’t announced whether he will seek reelection, but he’s returning to messaging that won him the office in 2019 as more challengers emerge. Downtown Councilmember Freddie O’Connell announced his mayoral bid last week shortly after MDHA executive Matt Wiltshire indicated he, too, was eyeing Cooper’s seat. Hal Cato, former Thistle Farms CEO, has been exploring a campaign for months and is rumored to be sitting on solid poll results. EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

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CITY LIMITS THIS WEEK ON OUR NEWS AND POLITICS BLOG:

Gov. Bill Lee has announced a moratorium on the death penalty in Tennessee through at least the end of 2022. This comes after his surprise lastminute reprieve of Oscar Smith, who was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection April 21. The governor issued a cryptic statement then referring to “an oversight in preparation,” but largely remained mum about what went wrong. Lee says the state is retaining former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton to review the “circumstances that led to testing the lethal injection chemicals for only potency and sterility but not endotoxins” ahead of the planned Smith execution. Additionally, Stanton will review the state’s lethal injection process manual that, Lee says, was last updated in 2018. The former federal prosecutor will also review Tennessee Department of Correction staffing levels. Lee’s announcement followed a public call for a moratorium by federal public defenders and faith leaders. At a press conference, speakers argued Tennessee’s lethal injection process is opaque and key details are inaccessible to the public, including the sources of the three drugs used. Attorney Amy Harwell criticized the lack of controls surrounding lethal injection, which is dependent on highly unstable chemicals. … Councilmember Freddie O’Connell, whose District 19 includes the downtown core, announced he is running for mayor. O’Connell tells Pith the city needs to be better at the fundamentals of governing and that there is a disconnect between what Mayor John Cooper has laid out as his priorities, what he actually does and what Nashvillians

want and need. Says O’Connell: “There’s almost a cognitive dissonance from the themes of [the mayor’s recent State of Metro address] and life on the ground in Nashville right now. I come back to when we couldn’t pick up recycling — I rented a truck and went out and did it myself. These are solvable problems, but first you have to care about the problems and be aware of the problems, then have the resolve to go deal with them.” … Dr. Lisa Piercey is leaving as the state’s health commissioner after presiding over Tennessee’s COVID-19 response, such as it was. In an interview with WPLN, Piercey says it’s too soon to adequately assess her tenure during a pandemic that killed more than 26,000 Tennesseans. “Let’s talk in a few years when we know how the mental health impact bears out, how the interruption in jobs and education, how that pans out,” she told WPLN’s Blake Farmer. Our own Betsy Phillips says the mental health impact should be monumental, but Piercey may not get the answer she wants in retrospect. “If we do as Dr. Piercey asks and hold off on judging her until we see what the long-term mental health implications are,” writes Phillips, “I think it’s fair to ask what Dr. Piercey will use to measure our mental health. … Because if we make it through all this happy and fine, it’s not going to be the vindication Dr. Piercey wants. It’s going to be a grave indictment of us and our delusional callousness toward each other.”

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nashvillescene.com | MAY 5 – MAY 11, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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C p H o i p H by t nzet o C e nc

CHUCK INDIGO NAMIR BLADE

NASHVILLE SCENE | MAY 5 – MAY 11, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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. m . p 0 3 : 8 ’s t I at The Dive Motel, and Brian Brown just got off the stage. Brown cuts a slight figure, swallowed up by a denim Planet Hollywood jacket that might be about as old as he is. We’re at Vibes, a monthly hip-hop and R&B showcase running throughout the summer at The Dive’s poolside stage. Tonight, a half-dozen singers and rappers will perform, including Raemi, an R&B singer and recent Nashville transplant who just brought Brown up to help close out her set. As we move from the cabanas to a quieter place near the bar on the opposite side of the motel, Brown is stopped no fewer than seven times by friends and fans. He moves like a politician, gladhanding every step of the way through the narrow passage between the pool and the hip motel rooms nearby. “I’m playing a punk rock show in May,” Brown says cooly to one person when they ask if he’s going up for a full set. (He’s opening for Soul Glo, a hardcore band from Philly playing May 10 at East Nashville’s Drkmttr.) Inside the Dive, at this party, Brown is a rock star. Outside, he’s one of dozens of young rappers fighting for recognition in a city that largely doesn’t know they’re there. But Nashville hip-hop doesn’t merely exist. It’s having a renaissance.

THE BLACKSON

PHOTOS: ERIC ENGLAND

BRIAN BROWN

LET’S BACK UP FOR A MINUTE. The first thing to know is that it didn’t take long for hip-hop to find its way south from its birthplace in The Bronx. Decades ago, cassette dubs of parkside parties deejayed by pioneers like DJ Kool Herc spread through a network of cool kids — transplants from New York to Southern cities, vacationing cousins hip to the scene slinging tapes at family reunions, and record stores with secret stashes of bootlegs and mixtapes. In Nashville, it was a Spoonie Gee record that fell into the hands of South Nashville teenager Walter D and led to the formation of The Blow Pop Crew — a trio of teenage rappers emulating the sounds and rhymes they heard on tape. Listening to The Blow Pop Crew’s 1987 single “Drop the Bass” is an exercise in rap paleontology, a look into how Southern rap would evolve into the crunchy, slow boil of chopped-andscrewed 808 drawl. Even in ’87, local rappers were fighting their way out of the long shadow of Nashville’s country music image. On “I Devastate,” the B-side to Desire & The Ville Posse’s Music City shout-out “The Ville,” MC Desire raps: “You hear I’m from Nashville and that’s country music / Well it’s not homeboy, that’s just the beginning / There’s more to it than pickin’ and grinnin’.” The Blow Pop Crew nearly made it big. The strength of “Drop the Bass” got them on bills with NWA and 2 Live Crew. Record deals were floated by Jive and early hip-hop label Sleeping Bag. Then things fell apart. A member of BPC ended up incarcerated after a manslaughter charge, and the scene went quiet. In the ’90s, Pistol — a kid from the Preston-Taylor Homes with a rumbling G-funk vibe — caught the attention of EazyE and found himself on E’s Ruthless Records. Pistol’s debut Hittin’ Like a Bullet dropped in June 1994. Nine months later, E died, and Pistol went back to the underground. Starlito, who came up in East Nashville and started rapping during his junior year at Hume-Fogg High School, was snapped up by Cash Money Records in 2005 while still rapping under the name All-Star. He found little support from the label, but has thrived as a local legend since going independent with his Grind Hard label. Time and time again, local hip-hop has come tantalizingly close to breaking into the mainstream. Young Buck did it in 2004 with his record Straight Outta Cashville, but even a year later, locals were bemoaning the dismal state of the scene in this very paper, pointing to the lack of community as a key reason why local rap was stuck in the mud.

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But that was nearly two decades ago. Now, in 2022, a new rap renaissance is unfolding in Music City. Dozens of rappers, constellated into groups and collectives sprawled across the Midstate, are all vying for spots on your heavy-rotation playlists and crossing over into Nashville’s pop and indie-rock scenes. Not only are they building a community, they’re expanding that community into a big tent. Three of the groups in this ever-expanding hip-hop world — BlackCity, Six One Tribe, and ThirdEye & Co. — represent a small but strong fraction of the blazing-hot talent in Nashville.

PHOTO: LANCE CONZETT

and a rapper, No Roads would be good. But it’s the collaboration and featured artists that make it great. Rappers like Namir Blade and Tim Gent get to shine just as much as Marquez. There’s no ego here, just art. No Roads, Brian Brown’s 2020 album Journey and BlackSon’s aforementioned The BlackSon Rising all focus on thinking hard about what Nashville is and what it means to be a Black artist in a city that’s rapidly gentrifying. But it’s less about the constant bummer of the city you know turning into

the city you don’t know — these are albums about seeking your place in a rapidly changing world, and trying to get on top of it instead of being rolled over.

WALKING INTO THE STUDIO control room at EastSide Manor is a little like walking into the stockroom at The Great Escape. Science-fiction paperbacks tower to the ceiling, with an oversized Darth Vader sitting atop a hanging sound-dampening panel. A scram-

ble of mismatched chairs surrounds a coffee table, where a handful of dudes are shooting the shit about music and video games. The Inglewood studio, housed in an ivycovered, bamboo-grove-obscured mansion near Riverside Village, has played host to a who’s who of Americana talent since 2011 — everyone from Caitlin Rose to Todd Snider to the late, great Justin Townes Earle. It was conceived as a musical playground for East Nashville’s music scene, a sprawling 8,700-square-foot studio and live-perfor-

SIX ONE TRIBE SESSION

PHOTO: LANCE CONZETT

YOU COULD MAKE a reasonable argument that a free music festival in 2015 held the first glimmer of the new hip-hop renaissance in Nashville. Freedom Fest was born out of a friendship between Justin Causey and Mychael Carney. Causey, who came to Nashville from Columbus, Ohio, to march in the drumline at TSU and study health sciences, had a blog called Freedom, Love And Bullshit (or FLAB) and was a fixture in the North Nashville scene, hosting open mics and spokenword nights at venues on Jefferson Street. Carney, meanwhile, was watching his younger brother Sean Smith start to get serious about rapping. Under the name The BlackSon, Smith had already dropped The BlackSon Rising, a ferocious debut that shows a surprising amount of range and depth for a 17-year-old. He and Carney worked out of the back of their aunt’s house in Antioch, cooking up BlackCity and treating it like a business — not just another music project. “I had an after-party at my apartment,” Causey says of a hang following the festival. “Black came and was just like, ‘Causey, just say yes.’ And I was like, ‘To what?’ And he said, ‘Just say yes.’ And I was like, ‘OK, yes.’ And he said, ‘Be my manager.’ And that’s how that started.” At that point, in 2015, BlackCity solidified into something that couldn’t help but move forward. “I moved all my stuff out to Antioch to Black’s crib, where it was just his mom and Myke,” Causey continues. “And I just started it, every day, learning [the business]. Every day, sitting at the kitchen table on the internet, watching YouTube, endless Rap Radar, podcasts, listening to anything, just to figure out artist management and music.” That entrepreneurial spirit and autodidacticism are key to what makes BlackCity tick — from the way they work to the way they live. These days, Causey, Black and the crew live in a house in Bellshire they’ve dubbed The Compound. Part frat house, part creative oasis, BlackCity is constantly grinding away at new music, new projects, new opportunities. “It was just an interesting time,” The BlackSon tells the Scene. “When I think back, a lot of it goes back to 2015, us deciding, ‘We’re gonna do this for real.’ All the way up to the level of a festival, and understanding from there, what we were gonna do.” All of that is starting to make an impact. Last year, Reaux Marquez’s No Roads blew away everyone in local media with an ear to the ground. Marquez’s album is a triumph of place and space. If it were just a showcase of Marquez’s considerable talents as a writer

BRIAN BROWN AND REAUX MARQUEZ

nashvillescene.com | MAY 5 – MAY 11, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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THIRDEYE & CO. AT THE DIVE

PHOTO: LANCE CONZETT

mance space that encourages creativity and figuring out songs in the room. But right now, it’s Six One Tribe headquarters. If BlackCity most closely resembles the tightly knit collective cool of Southern California rap supergroup Black Hippy, Six One Tribe is like the Wu-Tang Clan with a Southern accent. Nearly 30 rappers, singers and producers claim some affiliation with the Tribe, but the core group is more like six: Gee Slab, Corduroy Clemens, Negro Justice, Riø Tokyo, Weston and Namir Blade. “You asked me what Nashville hip-hop sounds like,” says Aaron Dethrage, the studio manager at EastSide Manor. “For me, Six One Tribe came about from me creating a record trying to answer that question, encapsulating as much of the diversity in the scene in one place as possible.” Dethrage runs the boards for Tribe sessions, along with doing the legwork for gathering and distributing beats for the crew to write to. One of those sessions is happening on the day the Scene visits. From 3 p.m. to 3 a.m., the studio will be a revolving door of rappers, singers, artists, dancers and producers. The thing about hip-hop is that it’s a culture — not just MCs and DJs, but many creative minds, all engaged in creating art inspired by and layering onto each others’ works. That culture is in full effect in the studio. While Slab rips a clean 16 bars in the booth, Norf Wall Fest founder Woke3 is sketching on the couch, and Justice is writing a new verse to stand up against what Slab’s laying down. “It was definitely like a Justice League situation,” Clemens says of Six One Tribe’s formation. The goal of the Tribe is to combine those diverse talents in interesting ways without sacrificing each artist’s individual personality. And there’s a whole hell of a lot of personality in the Tribe. Take Namir Blade. A producer and rapper, Blade has an off-kilter vibe that can catch you off guard. Like his Mello Music labelmates Open Mike Eagle and Quelle Chris, Blade’s music doesn’t shy away from diving deep into surrealist self-reflection. His breathtakingly weird and fun 2021 record Imaginary Everything, a collaboration with producer L’Orange, keeps you on the defensive, even as you’re nodding your head to the freak-funk beats. There’s no universe where Blade doesn’t stand out. Tribe is most successful as a collaborative effort when these personalities collide to create something that never would have existed otherwise. You can hear that clearly on “Load,” a song produced by Blade for Gee Slab’s The First Afterthought EP, where Blade’s production floats effortlessly underneath Slab’s Dirty South verses. And it’s all over Negro Justice’s Chosen Family, a record that is literally about the friendships Justice has made, with the Tribe sprawled across the entire record. “If you’re in it, it’s like being in a forest,” Slab says. “A lot of people are deep in the forest and can’t peep back to see what we’re doing. If you’re in it, you know the culture. It’s about getting people who aren’t from here, that are just going to move here, or the national media, to get the full spectrum. We’re an actual hip-hop city. Stop calling us a country music city.” “I think we realized there’s power in numbers,” Slab continues. “We can’t do it alone.”

LIKE THE OTHER CREWS, ThirdEye & Co. started organically, with like-minded rappers forming up to build something bigger. “I just kind of felt like a collective effort to grow together was what we needed to get ourselves going,” says Chuck Indigo from a seat at The Dive. “So I hit up $hrames and we got it going.” Among others, the crew counts Indigo, $hrames, Demo, Intro, Jordan Xx, Ron Obasi and Jody Joe among its ranks — all rappers with unique perspectives and identities, working toward the same goal. “We’re determined to be established here, known as artists,” says Jordan Xx. “Rappers that do it, that are really pros. No small-time shit. The whole squad is capable of being songwriters, producers, A&R, engineers. We’re just kicking doors.” That’s the thing that immediately stands out about ThirdEye. They’re not waiting to be discovered; they’re demanding your attention. In November, the crew threw its own showcase at The Dive Motel, going hard for whoever showed up — friends, family, journalists, photographers, people trying to get to their motel rooms. Even before that, one of the biggest highwater marks for the scene was Indigo packing out Exit/In for a multimedia experience born out of his 2019 album iNDigo Café. That show brought together elements of theater, dance and stagecraft that hadn’t been seen in a local hip-hop show prior. Indigo knows his way around a stage and as a performer. His secret weapon comes to life when the beat drops out and he freestyles with expert precision — a trick that never gets old, no matter how many times you see him. Performance is really what sets ThirdEye apart. These artists aren’t afraid of being onstage — they thrive there. And that hasn’t always been the case for rappers — hip-hop as a genre isn’t necessarily one that requires

“We gotta takedo nd those risks ait o different sh tt ion, get that atten e otherwise we’r e just going tombe doing the sa thing those 7 8 rappers from 19 was doing.” — $hrames

performance to be successful. Rappers like Rochester, N.Y.’s RXK Nephew can drop hundreds of tracks in a year and find an audience without being a live act. But it’s harder to build an audience if you aren’t actively getting in front of people. “We’re gaining a new audience,” says Intro, whose moniker is short for “introvert.” “We don’t want to be performing in front of all of the same people all the time. That’s not going to show us anything. So yeah, if someone puts us on a bill where it’s like, ‘Who are these people?’ I’m probably gonna do it.” “If you take risks, you’re gonna prosper,” $hrames chimes in. “We gotta take those risks and do different shit to get that attention, otherwise we’re just going to be doing the same thing those rappers from 1987 was doing.”

WAY BACK IN 2005, the Scene’s then-arts editor Jack Silverman wrote a story called “Cashville Underground” about the promising young talent coming out of Nashville’s hip-hop community. In that story, Silverman noted that the members of this scene — All Star, Quanie Cash, Haystak and Paper, among others — couldn’t be found in local record stores, weren’t booked at local clubs, and weren’t played on local radio. All that raised a question: “Where ... is Nashville’s hip-hop underground?” Seventeen years later, Nashville’s hip-hop underground is everywhere. Nashville Public Radio’s music-discovery station WNXP has made an effort to put local rappers on the air since it launched in 2020. Various shows on community radio

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station WXNA have also made it a point to feature local hip-hop, and MC and show promoter AL-D’s Fringe Radio Show still airs on WRFN. Record Store Day has long been the provenance of white indie-rockers and folkies, but this year, the two free RSD concerts happening in town both featured local rap, with Tim Gent and Reaux Marquez at The Groove, and Ron Obasi and Namir Blade at Vinyl Tap. Artists like Petty and Daisha McBride are headlining rooms like Mercy Lounge and Acme Feed and Seed, while Mike Floss has played Exit/In multiple times. In the summer, Nashville MCs appeared on the main stage at the Deep Tropics music festival, and in the winter, the National Museum of African American Music hosted a dynamite series with local MCs and other Black artists. At this point, the question isn’t “Where is Nashville’s hip-hop underground?” but rather “When will Nashville’s hip-hop underground break out of Tennessee?” “Living in L.A., I showed everyone at this table’s music to everyone [I met],” says Intro. “They didn’t know it was from Nashville. They were like, ‘Damn, where they from?’ I was like, ‘Bro, this is Nashville.’ And they were like ‘nawwwww.’ ” Everyone in local hip-hop is fighting against the image that Nashville presents of itself. The Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp-approved visage of glossy, rhinestonestudded country music superstars doesn’t exactly square with rap music. For some, it means leaving for greener pastures. Kemosabi and Kent Osborne both left for the West Coast in the past couple of years, looking to separate themselves from a city without an easy rap shorthand. “There hasn’t been a lot of opportunity, historically, in Nashville for hip-hop and rap, so you’d have to leave,” says Gee Slab. When I ask Intro why he came back to Nashville after trying to find his way in Los Angeles, he gestures broadly at everything around us. “I felt that connection from thousands of miles away,” he says. “Coming back and writing my name in the concrete before it dries, because that’s what’s happening. A sidewalk is being built every day. So we really gotta stick your hand in it to show we were here before all it happened.”

There’s a lot of truth to that. For a city that doesn’t have its own distinct hip-hop sound — unlike nearby Southern rap meccas like Memphis and Atlanta — Nashville’s scene is developing faster than ever. Much of the city’s groundwork was laid down by decades of standout rappers and institutions like hiphop dance party The Boom Bap, which celebrates its 14th birthday later this month with support from Tim Gent and A.B. Eastwood. D’Llisha Davis’ pioneering hip-hop blog 2 L’s on a Cloud and Eric Holt and partners’ Lovenoise booking enterprise have played key roles in making Nashville a destination for touring rappers over the past decade-and-a-half. You could make a strong argument that without them, hip-hop in Nashville would still be fighting to infiltrate local clubs and venues. The exciting thing about Nashville hiphop is that it doesn’t have a predefined sound. When asked “what does Nashville hip-hop sound like,” every artist responded with words like “authenticity,” “songwriting” and “musicianship.” The sound isn’t the important part — it’s the quality and thoughtfulness of the artists making that sound happen. But beyond the quality of the music coming out of the scene, Nashville hip-hop is defined by its sense of place. Nobody we talked to is happy settling for being a “Nashville rapper,” but fingerprints of the city and its community are all over everyone’s work. Whether it’s AyyWillé playing sax across an entire spectrum of locally grown hip-hop or the fact that an incredible density of native Nashvillians can be found at rap shows, local hip-hop is arguably the most uniquely Nashville form of music happening right now. No one should be surprised that Nashville has a hip-hop scene. The only thing to wonder is why this scene hasn’t broken wide yet. But it isn’t for lack of trying — there’s only so much the scene can do itself. “We can’t be the ones that free us,” says Intro. “Other people have to see it. Even the showcases that are happening, the hip-hop scene is doing it. We’re putting on our own exposure shows. That is a tool, but … the big stage at Deep Tropics, we need that. Live on the Green, we need that.” EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

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THE DRIFTERS, THE CORNELL GUNTER COASTERS, AND THE PLATTERS June 27*

BEN FOLDS

June 30 to July 2

LESLIE ODOM,JR.

GUSTER

WITH THE NASHVILLE SYMPHONY Enrico Lopez-Yañez, Conductor

SERIES PARTNER

July 6

Presented without the Nashville Symphony.

May 26 to 28

SERIES PARTNER

May 29

*Presented without the Nashville Symphony.

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R O U N D U P

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T O

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[AS COOL AS YOU TRY]

MELISSA ETHERIDGE W/JEFF LEBLANC

THEATER

STEPHEN TRAGESER [THE LUSTY MONTH OF MAY]

STUDIO TENN PRESENTS CAMELOT

MUSIC

Studio Tenn is ready to usher in the “lusty month of May” with Lerner and Loewe’s classic musical Camelot. The Tony Award winner features familiar songs such as “If Ever I Would Leave You,” “C’est Moi,” “The Simple Joys of Maidenhood” and, of course, “Camelot.” But in David Lee’s new adaptation — which features a cast of nine — audiences can expect a more streamlined production that keeps the focus squarely on the music and the love story involving an idealistic King Arthur, his Queen Guenevere and the gallant Lancelot. Broadway’s Philip Wm. McKinley (SpiderMan: Turn Off the Dark; The Boy From Oz) directs a solid cast, anchored by Steffanie Leigh (whose Broadway credits include Gigi and Mary Poppins) as Guenevere, and Brian Gligor (who boasts a long list of television, film and stage credits, including the national and Japanese tours of Rent) as Arthur. May 5-15 at the Jamison Theater, The Factory at Franklin, 230 Franklin Road AMY STUMPFL [CATCHING UP WITH JONESTOWN]

BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE

Brian Jonestown Massacre was immortalized in Dig!, the 2003 rock doc ostensibly about the NorCal psych rockers’ increasingly unfriendly rivalry

C A M E L OT MAY 5-15

The Factory at Franklin

with its less talented but more accessible Portland counterparts The Dandy Warhols. The madness of BJM visionary Anton Newcombe ended up being the film’s focal point. As a viewer, I was both amazed by Newcombe’s creativity — in 1996 alone, BJM put out three albums, any one of which would easily rank as most bands’ best — and concerned by his inability to get out of his own way. There’s a simplicity, but also a profundity, to Newcombe’s songcraft, during that era in particular. As with Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, rookie guitarists could probably pick up most of the chord progressions — but even so, when heard on a good set of speakers, in the right headspace, the tunes took you places. With an if-it-ain’tbroke-don’t-fix-it ethos, Newcombe, now 54 — living more cleanly, yet as ornery as ever — continues to generate new albums on a nearly annual basis. Those looking to catch up ahead of the show would do well to check out 2014’s Revelation, which puts added emphasis on piano parts and Eastern influences, and 2019’s back-to-the-source self-titled outing, which slots in nicely next to anything from the band’s watershed early years. Twin Cities psych ensemble Magic Castles will open the Cinco de Mayo show. 8 p.m. at Brooklyn Bowl, 925 Third Ave. N. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

FRIDAY / 5.06 SHOPPING

Nearly 35 years after her debut, Melissa Etheridge is rightfully seen as a stellar singer-songwriter and a formidable bluesrock guitarist, as well as an outspoken champion of LGBTQ rights. When she came out to the public in 1993, it was a bold move for a rising star; thanks to many people taking that risk, the environment is at least somewhat less hostile to the LGBTQ community today. Etheridge’s landmark album Yes I Am was an important declaration of her identity, but its songs were far from the first she had written about queer love. About 10 years ago, she got her original band together to record nine songs written in the ’80s and early ’90s that had been shelved because they were deemed too likely to upset audiences at the time. Those new recordings were again shelved along with a bigger retrospective project, but finally saw the light of day in September when Etheridge released them as the stand-alone LP One Way Out, which she’s celebrating with her current tour. Smooth-voiced songsmith Jeff LeBlanc will warm up the crowd. And though it’s extremely unlikely, one can always hope for a reprise of Etheridge’s surprise matchup with beloved Nashville rockers Diarrhea Planet from SXSW 2014. 7:30 p.m. at the Ryman, 116 Rep. John Lewis Way

[SPRING FORWARD]

SPRING TENNESSEE CRAFT FESTIVAL

For more than 50 years, Tennessee Craft has been helping build the state’s fine craft community by supporting artist growth and creative expression. One of the ways the nonprofit does this is through the annual Spring Tennessee Craft Festival at Centennial Park. At this year’s event, you’ll be able to buy artwork from some of the best craft artists in the state, and because the festival requires artists to be on site, you’ll be able to meet and learn more about the craftspeople and their creations made of clay, wood, metal, glass and more. The free festival will also offer food as well as hands-on, family-friendly activities. On Saturday or Sunday, the Nashville Public Library’s Wishing Chair Productions Puppet Truck will be staging performances of The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. The puppet shows are a treat for folks of all ages, and a perfect excuse to sit in the shade and relax for a moment in between checking out the artists’ booths. May 6-8 at Centennial Park, 2500 West End Ave. AMANDA HAGGARD MUSIC

MUSIC

THURSDAY / 5.05

— moving online in fall 2020 after the spring season was canceled outright, and coming back in person for fall 2021 — outstanding free concert series Musicians Corner is back in full force. Blues queen Adia Victoria, superlative rockers Soccer Mommy, masterful singer Fancy Hagood, top-notch singer-songwriters Jeremy Ivey and Kyshona, the Grammy-winning Nashville Symphony and the king-size DEVON GILFILLIAN

[GRAB A NICKEL, STAMP YOUR FEET]

MUSICIANS CORNER FEAT. DEVON GILFILLIAN, ILLITERATE LIGHT & MORE

After two years of COVID interruptions

nashvillescene.com | MAY 5 – MAY 11, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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NASHVILLE SCENE | MAY 5 – MAY 11, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

CRITICS’ PICKS

BILLY STRINGS

[STONE FREE]

BILLY STRINGS

Bluegrass has always been progressive, which means I hear modern bluegrass as part of a continuum that began with Bill Monroe. Still, it’s safe to say that the Michigan-born guitarist, singer and songwriter Billy Strings represents what’s interesting about modern bluegrass and — perhaps even more importantly — what plays into the expectations of the bluegrassAmericana audience. Strings is a virtuosic player whose conception on the guitar does suggest he’s listened hard to Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, Doc Watson and Pink Floyd, and he’s a stone-cold bluegrass singer. On his 2021 album Renewal, Strings engages in post-Grateful Dead newgrass with touches of prog and ’70s singersongwriter tricks. His tunes often employ the timeless modalism of ’60s and ’70s folk, and he sounds a little like David Crosby in “Nothing’s Working.” He’s not afraid to tackle the big subjects, which include death, old John Hartford records and — on a tune titled “This Old World” — songwriting itself. “I string some words together / And just try to speak the truth,” he declares in that song, and I believe he’s being sincerely self-deprecating. Renewal has moments that make the case for Strings as an artist who might use bluegrass to expand the

WILLIE NELSON AND FAMILY W/ CHARLIE CROCKETT

Willie Nelson has shown an uncanny knack for processing different kinds of sorrow since the early days of his career. Before he became a revered country singer, he was writing sad songs that have become part of the foundation of the genre — “Funny How Time Slips Away,” “Hello Walls,” “Crazy.” In addition to the maddening and horrific mess our world can be, he’s had profound personal losses over the past couple of decades — that includes the loss of friends like Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Ray Price and Norro Wilson (memorialized in Nelson’s 2018 song “Last Man Standing”) as well as his older sister Bobbie Nelson. Known to fans as his stalwart touring pianist Sister Bobbie, she died in March at age 91. But as much as he has contemplated how much loss hurts, Nelson has also consistently and eloquently written about the quiet beauty and raucous fun to be found in this strange life of ours. His latest single “Dusty Old Bottles” looks at the wisdom you get along with the scars. He’ll be bringing a lifetime of lessons to Franklin’s FirstBank Amphitheater on Friday, along with superb and prolific young Texas songsmith Charlie Crockett. 7:30 p.m. at FirstBank Amphitheater, 4525 Graystone Quarry Lane, Franklin STEPHEN TRAGESER

Enjoy a spring Saturday at Sevier Park Fest — it’s a daylong gathering of vendors, artists, food trucks and musicians at one of Nashville’s most beloved green spaces. A who’s-who of local (and semi-local) favorites will perform on the festival’s two stages, with the Sunnyside main stage boasting psych-folk favorite Rayland Baxter, grungy punks Thelma and the Sleaze, Memphis “sad-boy indie-rock band” Blvck Hippie and much more. The accompanying Shadeside stage’s lineup includes Joshua Quimby, Julia Austin and Eleni Iglesias. It’s a familyfriendly gathering too — there’s a dedicated area for youngsters, a kids-only bike race and an Edley’s wing-eating contest included on the day’s packed schedule. Admission is $10 for adults and free for children. 9 a.m.-9 p.m. at Sevier Park, 3021 Lealand Lane BRITTNEY MCKENNA

MUSIC

[A FINER GLASS OF WINE]

SEVIER PARK FEST FEAT. RAYLAND BAXTER, THELMA AND THE SLEAZE & MORE

[WHEN I GO DEF]

DEFTONES

After Deftones postponed several Nashville shows since 2020 — at least two, maybe three, with a Bonnaroo

SUNDAY / 5.08 [SUCKER FOR THE PAIN]

SNAIL MAIL

Lindsey Jordan, who performs as Snail Mail, might be competing for an audience on Sunday night — she plays Brooklyn Bowl at the same time as Cloakroom plays Drkmttr and Rex Orange County plays Ascend. But the 22-year-old singer-songwriter, touring on her sophomore album Valentine, has few peers in music right now. Jordan’s music combines existential angst, aching heartbreak and the underwhelming monotony of becoming an adult. It sounds fresh and familiar at the same time, a little like a Gen-Z update to your favorite indierock band from whenever you were in high

SNAIL MAIL

SATURDAY / 5.07 [FAMILY MATTERS]

WEEKEND CLASSICS: IMITATION OF LIFE

The Belcourt kicks off its monthlong Douglas Sirk retrospective with a tearjerking bang. The first film up is the last film he ever did, and he certainly went out on a rafter-shaking note. The 1959 heartbreaker Imitation of Life is another cinematic version of Fannie Hurst’s racially charged 1933 novel (an adaptation starring Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers came out in 1934), this time with Lana Turner as

PHOTO: TINA TYRELL

MUSIC

STEPHEN TRAGESER

vocabulary of Americana music in general. On Friday, Strings settles into a threeengagement run at the Ryman. 8:30 p.m. May 6-8 at the Ryman, 116 Rep. John Lewis Way N. EDD HURT

FILM

brass-band party that is Brassville are just a few of the standouts on the lineup for the spring 2022 season, which runs through June 25 in Centennial Park. It all begins Friday, with ’70s-schooled indie popsters Illiterate Light headlining and supported by blooze blasters DeeOhGee, mellifluous duo The Harmaleighs and others, and continues Saturday with ultra-charismatic soul man and singer-songwriter Devon Gilfillian topping a bill that includes groovitudinous rockers Them Vibes, nimble R&B songsmith Ysa and Tavior Mowry, who deftly obscures the line between hip-hop and R&B as he dances around it. Friday shows in the series kick off at 5 p.m. with the final act going on just before 8, and Saturday shows start at noon with the final act taking the stage at 4:45. The shows are family-friendly but offer something for just about everyone, and the deal is pretty much unbeatable. May 6-7 in Centennial Park, 2500 West End Ave.

[SEVERE CONDITIONS]

booking in there — fans of Sacramento’s cerebral nu-metal survivors finally get the big gig they’ve been waiting for. From changing trends and the death of CDs to the tragic loss of founding bassist Chi Cheng in 2013, Deftones have bounced back from everything that the biz — and life in general — has thrown at them. What’s more, they’ve done it without sacrificing one iota of the intensity that got them on the map in the late ’90s as a more intelligent, artistic alternative to the Limp Bizkits of the world — even as they became international superstars with their third LP White Pony, which turned 20 last year. If you loved the band back then but haven’t heard newer records like 2016’s dreamy Gore and 2020’s crushing Ohms, prepare to be floored by how inspired frontman Chino Moreno, guitarist Steph Carpenter, drummer Abe Cunningham, turntablist Frank Delgado and new bassist Fred Sabian — all pushing 50 — still sound. French prog headbangers Gojira and Australian dark-wavers Vowws support. 7 p.m. at Municipal Auditorium, 417 Fourth Ave. N. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

MUSIC

the struggling actress and single mother who becomes a Broadway star and Juanita Moore (whose performance got her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress) as her Black housekeeper. Juanita is also a single mom, and she has a self-loathing daughter (Susan Kohner, another Oscar nominee for Best Supporting Actress) who often passes for white. Sirk certainly cranked up the visual lushness and melodramatic storytelling for his farewell flick, giving audiences a four-hankie soap opera that dropped some harsh truths about race, class and gender in this country. May 7-8 at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. CRAIG D. LINDSEY

nashvillescene.com | MAY 5 – MAY 11, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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CRITICS’ PICKS

MUSIC

school. Blue-chip indie label Matador signed Jordan in 2017, and for at least that long, Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield has been a friend, mentor and collaborator. If you’re new to Snail Mail, “Pristine” and “Thinning” are good places to start, but nothing approaches “Valentine,” the title track off her latest. Her set in Nashville will cap off a North American mini-tour before Snail Mail heads to Europe in June. 8 p.m. at Brooklyn Bowl, 925 Third Ave. N. ELI MOTYCKA [DUDES ROCK]

MIDLAKE

Before issuing For the Sake of Bethel Woods in March, Denton, Texas’ experimental folk rockers Midlake hadn’t released a full-length album since 2013. The reason for their return after such a long hiatus and the departure of founding member and frontman Tim Smith? As current frontman Eric Pulido recently told The Guardian, “A big part of it, at least for me, was just missing my friends.” Lovely a sentiment as that is, Bethel Woods proved to be more than just an excuse for some dudes who love each other to get back together — it’s a really good record. Full of proggy arrangements, tunes like “Exile” and the titular “Bethel Woods” marry busy, buzzing, complex instrumentation with smooth, gentle vocal melodies. Much of the record occupies the same terrain as “Roscoe,” the undeniable leadoff track from 2006’s breakthrough Midlake release The Trials of Van Occupanther, even with then-primary songwriter Smith now off pursuing other projects. On Sunday, Midlake will bring their current tour to 3rd and Lindsley, where they’ll be joined by opener Jillette Johnson. 8 p.m. at 3rd and Lindsley, 818 Third Ave. S.

JUNE 24-26 Music City is preparing for a symphony of speed when the world’s best drivers return to Nashville Superspeedway, June 24-26. Experience the action, the music and the live entertainment that is #NASHCAR! Get your tickets today for a downshifting, uplifting good time for the whole family!

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MUSIC

D. PATRICK RODGERS [KING COUNTY]

REX ORANGE COUNTY

Despite albums like 2017’s Apricot Princess establishing a cult following and 2019’s Pony garnering both commercial success and TikTok virality, I think Rex Orange County’s most enjoyable work is 2020’s Live at Radio Music City Hall. It’s only nine tracks long, but the album is packed with the English native and aspiring heartthrob’s charisma and bubbliness. Merging pop, jazz and rock, Rex was launched into the spotlight in 2017 when he appeared on Tyler, the Creator’s “Boredom.” But it wasn’t until early 2020 that Rex toured this side of the pond, squeezing in a month-and-a-half-long tour just before the pandemic. Now he’s returning to tour his most recent album Who Cares? on a 34-date trip, which is bound to be jam-packed with all of his most nostalgia-inducing hits — and maybe even a few covers of his proclaimed heroes, Justin Bieber and Billy Joel. 8 p.m. at Ascend, 310 First Ave. S. CONNOR DARYANI

MUSIC

MONDAY / 5.09 [PRIMUS SUCKS]

PRIMUS PLAYS A FAREWELL TO KINGS

If you hear chants of “Primus sucks” Monday in the downtown area, don’t challenge them — join them. It’s a term of endearment for the longtime outfit of alt-rock weirdos led by bass legend Les

NASHVILLE SCENE | MAY 5 – MAY 11, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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CRITICS’ PICKS

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OLIVIA RODRIGO

MUSIC

KELSEY BEYELER [NOMADIC ROCK]

THE HU

Metal musicians who use traditional Mongolian instruments like lute and two-stringed fiddle, The Hu might be a band whose message gets scrambled in translation. The band, which hails from the Mongolian capital city of Ulaanbaatar, writes about the current political situation in Mongolia by evoking the country’s storied past as a seat of nomadic culture. They also use throat-singing techniques that sound similar to the vocal tricks favored by heavy metal singers. To my ears, the melodies on their 2019 debut album The Gereg sound suitably folkloric, and the band certainly has their metal basics down on tunes like “The Legend of Mother Swan” and “Shoog Shoog.” The Gereg is a fairly restrained metal album — the melodies ride over patterns that often work off one chord, and the tension sits just below the music’s surface. The Hu’s seven-minute epic “Song of Women” might be the best example of the folk-derived style of The Gereg, since it has the most evocative — and spookiest — melody on the album. These guys really do split the difference between the past and the future, and they’re reportedly readying their second album for release later this year. The Haunt opens. 8 p.m. at Cannery Ballroom, 1 Cannery Row EDD HURT

avatar of pure pop for now people, and she is also definitively post-rock ’n’ roll. Her 2021 album Sour garnered Grammy wins and a lot of ink from observers who noted her ability to be, well, genreless in a world where those old divisions between styles doesn’t mean what they used to. As someone who still likes rock ’n’ roll and a lot of those supposedly outdated genres that constitute pop, I admire Rodrigo’s smarts on Sour — the combination of emo, power ballads and Taylor Swift-meets-Phoebe Bridgers pop is consistently surprising. Rodrigo’s commentary about the glare of media attention on a humble artist who’s just trying to make her music gains resonance through her mastery of pop structure. Because she is so heavily influenced by emo, Rodrigo comes across as a descendent of the original punks of the 1970s. Pere Ubu lived in a crumbling cityscape of squashed liberal ambitions; Rodrigo’s music documents a mediated world of celebrity where all values have run amok. If that doesn’t sound like a great subject for a gifted pop musician, I don’t know what does. English pop singer Holly Humberstone opens. 8 p.m. at the Grand Ole Opry House, 2804 Opryland Drive EDD HURT MUSIC

Claypool. Though Primus has an extensive repertoire of songs going back for decades, the band is choosing to dip into iconic prog band Rush’s catalog for the A Tribute to Kings Tour. The band will play Rush’s 1977 record in its entirety, plus maybe some new songs from Primus’ April Conspiranoid EP. Claypool told Rolling Stone that Rush was his first concert experience back in 1978, and the Canadian rockers have influenced his musical stylings ever since. It should be interesting to see how Primus honors songs like “Xanadu” and “Cinderella Man” while adding their own twisted flair. 7:30 p.m. at the Ryman, 116 Rep. John Lewis Way N.

[BEAUTIFUL REPETITION]

TOTAL WIFE, SKIN TENSION & ABSTRACT BLACK

Here’s a bill featuring three acts that incorporate elements of maximalist pop, improvised music and jazz fusion into their work. There’s a certain wobbliness you perceive in the music of Nashville’s Total Wife, an ensemble that uses ’60s pop as a starting point for their abstract

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May in... Thursday 5/05

Erase; Rewind: with DJ NOMI

Friday 21 +

Genre Hopping

5/12

comedy Night

TICKET

hosts BRAD SATIVA & COREY PERRY

5/19

21 +

dj night: French Connection

5/06

DJ MAMA SAID

Saturday 21 +

5/26

Music Trivia Night

hosted by BEN BLACKWELL

21 +

with DOUBLE VISION

5/13

5/14

show

Crooked Rhythm Band No.1: Explorations in Groove 5/20

baby: an intimate r&b throwback party

TICKET

5/27

jazz night

with FATS KAPLIN GANG

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Night: Indie Jamz

GIRL GROUPS, GARAGE JUKES, SYNTH LOOPS

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TOTAL WIFE

5/07

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5/21

show

Lockeland Strings featuring SPECIAL GUESTS

5/28

Daniel Romano

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with CARSON MCHONE

MUSIC

TUESDAY / 5.10 [NEW VALUES]

OLIVIA RODRIGO

In her interviews, 19-year-old pop star Olivia Rodrigo talks about an era of genreless music that, presumably, her recent efforts represent. Without a doubt, Rodrigo — a California native who began her acting career when she was 12 — is an

nashvillescene.com | MAY 5 – MAY 11, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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CRITICS’ PICKS

TURNSTILE

Baltimore’s Turnstile is a moving target. The group’s 2021 LP Glow On draws on rap, screamo, metal, pop-punk and electronic music in more skate-videoworthy fashion than anyone since Sum 41 hybridized Beastie Boys and Blink-182 at the turn of the millennium. If you’re picking up what Turnstile is putting down — and this show is sold out, so many clearly are — Glow is eclectic. For those who’d like to hear something along the lines of what Minor Threat as covered by 311 in the year 2022 might sound like, Brooklyn Bowl is the place to be Tuesday night. NorCal combo Ceremony pulled an about-face genre-wise a decade ago on its Matador Records-issued Zoo LP, switching out confrontational hardcore for Wire-inspired post-punk. Completing the bill: Toledo, Ohio, emo trio Citizen; NYC metalers EKULU; and another Charm City five-piece, Truth Cult, whose eponymous 2018 mini album was tracked by Jawbox’s J. Robbins and mastered by Western Massachusetts hardcore-punk mensch Will Killingsworth of Ampere, Bucket Full of Teeth and others.

PAINTING IN THE SMOKIES: ART, COMMUNITY, AND THE MAKING OF A NATIONAL PARK

WEDNESDAY / 5.11 [MOUNTAIN SONG]

I expected this new (and free!) exhibit — which opened April 22 and runs through Jan. 15 — to have pretty landscapes of the Smoky Mountains. The Smokies are catnip for painters, with all that moody mist and layered colors. And this Tennessee State Museum exhibit, which features the work of five painters, does include that. But it also features a more nuanced look at this part of the southern Appalachian Mountain range and its period of change from 1900 until 1940, the year when it was dedicated as a national park. The exhibit examines how these communities of Cherokee, free and enslaved Black people, and white settlers captured national interest. The tradeoff for getting a free national park that we all can share is that people were forced from their homes through eminent domain — during the Great Depression — to start again. These towns and people are depicted in some of the paintings. As you walk through the rooms in this exhibit you’ll see baskets, weavings and other artifacts from the museum’s permanent collection that draw on the history of arts and crafts of these mountains. The pieces were created in the same time periods as the paintings, giving you a fuller picture of life in the Smokies. Some of the creative hubs mentioned remain active today, including Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and Cliff Dwellers Gallery. Grab a color-your-own postcard as you leave to create your own Smokies art. The museum will offer events tied to this exhibit all year. Mark your calendars for May 26, a lunch-and-learn session with the Cumberland River Compact about biodiversity in the Smokies and Middle Tennessee. Through Jan. 15 at the Tennessee State Museum, 1000 Rosa L. Parks Blvd.

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MARGARET LITTMAN

UNTITLED, WILL HENRY STEVENS

MUSIC

[WILD STILE]

7 p.m. at Brooklyn Bowl, 925 Third Ave. N. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

compositions. If you’ve heard Stereolab, Neu! and Can, you’ve absorbed some of the basic elements of Total Wife’s sound. On their self-titled 2021 album, the band gets into a nicely judged out-of-tuneness — and that wobbliness I mentioned earlier — that doesn’t obscure their songs. On the other hand, the point of tunes like “Reveal Sky,” a track from Total Wife, is the repetition and the jumpiness of it all. Meanwhile, Skin Tension is a Nashville band that takes the building blocks of jazz-rock fusion and creates instrumental music that bounces around like molecules in a rainstorm. Once you settle into Skin Tension’s world, you begin to appreciate the music’s kinetic qualities. Their 2022 release Omni lasts for something like 27 hours and finds the band laying down a lot of weird — and sometimes beautiful — soundscapes. Rounding out the bill is Abstract Black, one of the many projects of Nashville multiinstrumentalist and post-jazz performer JayVe Montgomery. 8 p.m. at Springwater, 115 27th Ave. N. EDD HURT

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ALL THAT REMAINS // MAY 10 W/ MISS MAY I, VARIALS, & TALLAH

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WILLIAM CLARK GREEN // MAY 13

STRYPER // MAY 16

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5/6 SAT

5/7 just announced

THE AFGHAN WHIGS // MAY 17

STARS // SEP 22

Upcoming shows may 5 may 6 may 7 may 8 may 10 may 12 may 13

the menzingers w/ oso oso & sincere engineer teddy swims w/ fly by midnight sold out! taylor swift night: The taylor party! the band of heathens w/ chicago farmer all that remains w/ miss may I, varials, & tallah north mississippi allstars william clark green w/ shaker hymns

may 14 may 15 May 16 may 17 may 19 may 20 may 21 may 22 may 23 may 24 may 26 may 28 may 30 jun 2

joy oladokun w/ bre kennedy sold out! joy oladokun w/ bre kennedy stryper w/ true villains the afghan whigs role model w/ the blssm qdp kikagaku moyo w/ hr lexy sold out! allison russell andy hull w/ creeks sold out! broods w/ ella vos john r. miller & vincent neil emerson jackyl w/ tuk smith and the restless hearts rare hare della mae

& gable bradley

jun 4 jun 5 jun 6 jun 9 jun10 jun11 jun12 jun 13 jun 14 jun 15 jun 17 jun 20 jun 21 jun 22 jun 23 jun 24 jun 25 jun 28 jun 29 jun 30 jul 5 jul 9

SUN

TWRP w/ rich aucoin emmit fenn w/ ayokay shaman's harvest & crobot emo night tour the shadowboxers w/ shockley them vibes & jive talk goth babe w/ miloe sold out! ann wilson of heart ann wilson of heart wet w/ hannah jadagu qdp mariah the scientist hinder w/ no resolve penelope scott w/ fanclubwallet & yot club erin rae w/ logan ledger & dj poboy ocean alley w/ le shiv emo band karaoke sara kays w/ hayd strand of oaks sam johnston w/ a. g. sully & arts fishing club foxing sundy best

5/8

WALKING MAN: A NIGHT OF THE MUSIC OF JAMES TAYLOR FEATURING GENE MILLER & FRIENDS

THE CLEVERLYS

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THE TIME JUMPERS

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LEVON

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SARAH REEVES WITH CLARK BECKHAM AND SPECIAL GUEST OLIVIA GRASSO JON WOLFE WITH JUSTIN ADAMS

MARK NESLER, BOBBY TOMBERLIN, RAY STEPHENSON & DAN SMALLEY 8:00 8:00 RUBIKS GROOVE 7:30 1971 THE GREATEST YEAR 8:00 MIDLAKE WITH IN MUSIC JILLETTE JOHNSON FEATURED

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9/10 PABLO CRUISE

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get happier friday: beau burnette, jeverson, molly martin, & kirk fletcher (5pm) safari room w/ blood root (9:30pm) the onlies & allison de groot and tatiana hargreaves (7pm) bastardane (9pm) brandon ellis, rachel horter & kate cosentino sarah and the sundays w/ juniper hot milk ariel posen (7pm)

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FOOD AND DRINK

ANDY MUMMA (LEFT) AND BRYCE McCLOUD

PARLOR TRICK

Barista Parlor has been providing a different perspective on coffee for a decade BY MARGARET LITTMAN

hen Andy Mumma opened the first Barista Parlor location in an old East Nashville transmission shop a decade ago, it was hard to imagine it would become an essential neighborhood destination. It didn’t even have a street-facing storefront. He wasn’t sure if people would show up to buy coffee from the old garage he overhauled (with help from his friends and his dad). But it didn’t take long before BP became a hangout, a place where people would write business plans or go after the East Nasty Running Club. People even got married in the parking lot, with the lightbulbs spelling out “Barista Parlor” glowing above their heads. (Side note: 2012 was a big year for food in Nashville — both Biscuit Love and The Peach Truck are celebrating their 10th anniversaries this year too.) Barista Parlor officially turns 10 on May 12 — watch its social media accounts over

the next week for announcements of promotions and specials to honor the anniversary. As the small empire of coffee shops hits that milestone, things look different than they did in the early days. There are seven BP locations now in some pretty high-profile spots, including at the Nashville International Airport and inside the W Hotel. An eighth will open later this month in Sylvan Supply, and more expansion is on the way. Later this year Barista Parlor will open its first locations outside of Nashville in Louisville and Indianapolis. The Golden Sound outpost is moving to what’s shaping up to be the spot for the cool kids in the locally owned business set, joining The Patterson House and The Catbird Seat in the Bill Voorhees Building. The company’s roasting operations, currently at Golden Sound in the Gulch, will move from a 600-square-foot spot to a 6,000-square-foot space in Wedgewood-Houston. That project, dubbed BP HQ, will house training facilities, a full bakery, roasting facility tours, an art-forward retail

space and Mumma’s first real office and conference room. “It is the opportunity to do something wild and different,” says Mumma, a man who also owns a robot-themed tiki bar (Chopper, a separate business around the corner from the East Nashville BP). “I’m driven by the idea and the excitement of being able to create a whole new space every time.” “Coffee shops are kind of like the town square of daily life,” says Bryce McCloud — artist, owner of Isle of Printing and frequent collaborator with Mumma. “That is where we go to meet one another and do things that in another era might have been in a more public common space. That to me is what Barista Parlor is at its best and what I really wanted to create. This is a space where people’s minds could soar.” Mumma’s partnership and friendship with McCloud allowed BP to create an aesthetic that is specific to the brand, but different for each location. In East Nashville, there’s a 24-foot mural of a ship made from individual letter-press images. Even after a decade, it feels of the times, asking us to contemplate the journey and the object. You can see how McCloud’s approach to art has evolved. In the W Hotel location, he built wooden lamp structures and then stretched screen-printed designs over the frames.

Most of the Barista Parlor locations have had adaptive reuse elements in what Mumma calls “a tasty way.” Many have links to transportation, a passion of Mumma’s since childhood, when he worked on a dairy farm and cleaned vintage delivery trucks. The Germantown location was formerly a sign shop. Golden Sound was a recording studio and automobile repair space. “Whether it’s automobiles or rocket ships, transportation has always been the underlying or overarching theme,” he says. “We’ve taken it even more to the extreme with exploring the idea of exploring other worlds.” What does that have to do with coffee? Well, Mumma’s glad you asked. “With that, what we’re saying is exploring the possibility of other flavors in coffee. We hope you get out of your comfort zone and taste something from the natural process of coffee for the first time, or something that you didn’t know existed. Coffee is an agricultural product, and it’s the seed of a fruit. Coffee doesn’t have to taste just one way. That’s the idea.” BP uses a Slayer machine to extract espresso, which Mumma says has more control over more variables — temperature, pressure and the like — which allows them to control sweetness, mute acidity and control the mouthfeel. On the brewing side,

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MUSIC

GOLD STANDARD

Nashville Opera inaugurates Belmont’s new Fisher Center with a production of Wagner’s Das Rheingold BY JOHN PITCHER

PLAYING FRIDAY, MAY 6, AT BROOKLYN BOWL

A NEAR MISS OR A CLOSE CALL

Fans once turned their backs on Jawbreaker, but the good guys are coming out on top BY MEGAN SELING

discovered Jawbreaker at the same time so many other people discovered the band: right as they were breaking up. I was 15 when the Bay Area punk trio released Dear You in 1995. It was the band’s first and only record for a major label, DGC. The snarky, relatable breakup single “Fireman,” backed with those big label bucks, made its way onto mainstream altrock radio playlists across the nation. At the time, I was addicted to strident, snotty punk rock — Green Day, Rancid, Screeching Weasel. Jawbreaker came from the same 924 Gilman Street scene, but their songs were more pensive and mature than pop punk’s predictable two-minute blasts of restless frustration. Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong sang about being bored and stoned and jacking off; Jawbreaker’s Blake Schwarzenbach nonchalantly challenged the cult of coolness. Jawbreaker’s songs weren’t just about me — the girl, the heartbreaker, the enemy — and the male experience. Jawbreaker was for me. Sure, “Fireman” was a bitter message to an ex, but Schwarzenbach’s sharp lyrics managed to validate universal heartbreak rather than pander to only the young men experiencing it. Tracks like “Save Your Generation” and the mostly acoustic finisher “Untitled Track” dared me and my peers to worry less about fitting in and instead focus on what we have to offer the world. In her book The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic, Jessica

Hopper notes the big difference between Jawbreaker and their emo and punk rock brethren. “In Jawbreaker songs, women had leverage, had life, had animus and agency to them,” she writes. “Sometimes they were friends, or a sister, not always a girl to be bedded or dumped by. They were unidealized, realistic characters.” Dear You was poetic and punk, beautiful and loud, stormy and melodic. It was simultaneously everything I thought could never coexist crashing together to create a perfect portrayal of a complicated human existence. As I fell in love with Dear You — and dug deeper into Jawbreaker’s discography, including Unfun, Bivouac and 24-Hour Revenge Therapy (the latter of which has, over time, become my favorite) — I had no idea that a thousand miles away in California, Dear You was upsetting the band’s tight-knit following. Schwarzenbach and his bandmates Chris Bauermeister and Adam Pfahler pissed people off when they signed to a major label. Dear You was criticized for the sleeker, fuller production from Rob Cavallo, who also produced Green Day’s major label debut Dookie. I didn’t know longtime fans were literally turning their backs on the band at shows. I didn’t know Dear You and all the turmoil that came with it were somewhat responsible for the band’s eventual demise in 1996. To me, Dear You was perfect. To established Jawbreaker fans, Dear You was the end. I’ve had to defend my love of Dear You countless times over the years. Jawbreaker’s fan base is rife with overly opinionated self-

appointed watchmen who believe it is their duty to protect the band’s legacy. But eventually, the majority of the band’s fans softened to the record too. Or maybe they were replaced by new fans. However it happened, Dear You is now beloved, and that became crystal clear when Jawbreaker reunited in 2017 to headline Riot Fest in Chicago. As I stood among thousands of other fans at that Riot Fest show, all of us singing along at the top of our lungs to “Kiss the Bottle,” “Boxcar,” “West Bay Invitational,” “Condition Oakland” — and yes, tracks like “Sluttering (May 4th)” and “Accident Prone” from Dear You — I couldn’t help but get a little weepy. The band, who shared their rise and fall in the 2017 documentary Don’t Break Down: A Film About Jawbreaker, was finally getting the wholehearted appreciation and recognition they always deserved. How the trio didn’t just burst into clouds of glitter and evaporate after being adored that intensely by that many people at once remains a mystery. Now Jawbreaker is playing sold-out shows across the country, belatedly celebrating the 25th anniversary of the very album that was thrown back in their faces over and over again by playing it in full night after night. It feels like nothing short of vindication on a level that you don’t usually witness outside of inspirational, based-on-a-true-story Disney films. A bit of that vindication is for me, to be sure — but more importantly it’s there for the band that fell apart, the friendships that fell apart with it, and for the revolutionary art and artists who were shunned for daring to evolve past the status quo. Will I cry again when I see Jawbreaker take the stage at Brooklyn Bowl? Maybe. Probably. OK, yes. I can’t help it that I always get a little misty-eyed when the good guys finally win in the end. EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILESCENE.COM

JOSHUA JEREMIAH AS DONNER

nashvillescene.com | MAY 5 – MAY 11, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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PHOTO: WILL SHUTES

PHOTO: JOHN DUNNE

hen the curtain rises at Belmont University’s Fisher Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, the audience will behold a shimmering, high-tech realm. Powerful gods, resourceful demigods PLAYING MAY 6 AND 8 AT and malevolent dwarfs BELMONT UNIVERSITY’S will inhabit this fantastical FISHER CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS world. Watch out for bonecrushing giants. The Fisher Center will also be awash in some of the most sumptuous, daring and loud symphonic music ever written, courtesy of the 19th-century German Romantic composer Richard Wagner. Nashville Opera will stage Wagner’s Das Rheingold as part of the celebratory opening of the new Fisher Center. Architects behind Belmont’s $180 million performing arts center modeled the new hall on some of Europe’s grandest opera houses. Naturally, John Hoomes, Nashville Opera’s longtime artistic director, wanted to mark the occasion with something big. “It doesn’t get any bigger than Das Rheingold,” Hoomes tells the Scene. “It’s certainly the most elaborate, challenging work we’ve ever staged.” First performed in 1869, Das Rheingold is the first of four operas that make up Wagner’s mighty Ring Cycle. The composer found inspiration for his sprawling libretto in Norse mythology. Das Rheingold’s plot, in a Wagnerian nutshell, goes something like this: Alberich, a member of a subterranean race of dwarfs called the Nibelung, happens upon a trio of river nymphs guarding a hoard of gold. The Rhine maidens reject the hideous little troll’s lustful advances. They also inadvertently tell him that anyone hateful enough to renounce love can fashion the gold into a ring and achieve absolute power. You can guess what happens next. Meanwhile on a mountaintop, Wotan, the king of the gods, has a problem. He’s agreed to hand over Freia, the goddess of youth, to a pair of giants as payment for a grand hall called Valhalla. How can he get out of this miserable contract? Loge, a demigod trickster, has a suggestion: Why not steal Alberich’s ill-gotten gold and use it to pay off the giants? The treachery and deceit that ensue over the course of Rheingold’s two-and-a-half hours lay the groundwork for the entire Ring, and it sets the stage for the eventual twilight of the gods. >> P. 40

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concert hall named in his family’s honor. “Bob told me he wanted Nashville Opera to perform at the new center, and he thought we should do something really big,” says Hoomes. “Then I remembered my conversation with Lester, and I started thinking about Wagner’s Ring.” When it comes to staging operas from Wagner’s Ring Cycle, directors have often let their imaginations run wild. Productions have ranged from traditional presentations with singers decked out in breast plates and Viking horns, to bizarre avant-garde designs. Germany’s Bayreuth Festival, for example, once had a production of the Ring set at a West Texas motel and rundown gas station. So much for Teutonic mountaintops. For Nashville’s first Rheingold, Hoomes decided to go with a production that is sleek, modern and high-tech. The main set will be a 28-foot-tall, high-definition video wall that will display original imagery by noted lighting and video designer Barry Steele. And forget the Viking horns. Designer Matt Logan has created a new collection of costumes for the opera’s cast. “We found inspiration for the opera’s look from graphic novels and Marvel Comics,” says Hoomes. The decision to stage the first opera from Wagner’s tetralogy raises the obvious question: Is there a complete Ring Cycle in Nashville’s future? No doubt, Hoomes has assembled an ideal cast for it. In addition to Lynch, the current production includes the dramatic soprano Othalie Graham as Freia. Graham is a veteran Wagnerian familiar to local opera fans for her performances in Nashville Opera’s Turandot and Girl of the Golden West. “I’d travel to Nashville to perform any opera for John Hoomes,” says Graham. “It would be wonderful to do a complete Ring Cycle.” But a great cast alone won’t bring a complete Ring Cycle to Nashville. Says Hoomes: “In the end, it will take financial support of Wagnerian proportions.” EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

PHOTO: IGOR KLEPÉV

There are controversial elements to any staging of Wagner’s work. In addition to his powerful operas, he wrote antisemitic texts. And it’s been noted that several of his characters, including Alberich, can be interpreted as Jewish stereotypes. In April, Nashville Opera hosted a discussion — whose panelists included Rabbi Michael Shulman, the education director at Nashville’s Temple Ohabei Shalom, and Dr. Kira Thurman, author of Singing Like Germans: Black Musicians in the Land of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms — to explore how to handle performing Wagner’s operas. The panel concluded that staging these benchmark pieces while educating the audience about the creator’s racist views is the right approach. This weekend’s staging of Rheingold won’t be Nashville Opera’s first foray into Wagner. The company staged the composer’s The Flying Dutchman during the 1999-2000 season. But Hoomes insists, jokingly, that Dutchman doesn’t count as real Wagner. “Dutchman was Wagner’s first opera, and his style had not matured,” says Hoomes. “You still hear influences of Bellini and early Verdi in that opera.” Hoomes says the decision to stage music from the Ring flowed from two unrelated conversations. The first was with baritone Lester Lynch following his appearance in Nashville Opera’s 2019 production of Madame Butterfly. Lynch mentioned that opera companies in Europe were showing interest in casting him as Wotan in various Ring Cycle productions. “I told John Hoomes that I didn’t feel ready to sing the role of Wotan,” Lynch recalls. “Wotan is the biggest, baddest, most epic role in all of opera. For a baritone, it’s a destination role. But I told John if I could try the role out in Nashville first, well, maybe then I’d be ready.” Later, Hoomes spoke with Bob Fisher, Belmont University’s recently retired president, about the new

TO THE NINES

Ho99o9 takes its cathartic, post-genre cacophony on the road BY CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

t the intersection of trap beats and blast beats resides Ho99o9. Raised in the concrete jungles of Newark and Elizabeth, N.J., aliases-only MCs and multi-instrumentalists Yeti Bones and theOGM grew up on a steady diet of their parents’ music and, later, gangsta rap — notably tri-state area

cult faves Onyx. Then, their discovery of D.C.’s Black punk icons Bad Brains set them on the path to forming Ho99o9 (“horror,” out loud) circa 2012, and eventually to the tour that brings them to Exit/In on Monday. Rap and hard rock had commingled before — Rage Against the Machine, anyone? — so it’s wild to think that as recently as 2012 a young DIY band zeroing in on a

PHOTO: WILL SHUTES

MUSIC

TYLER NELSON AS FROH

new, more extreme amalgam of hip-hop and hardcore was perceived as some sort of oddity. Yeti and theOGM jumped right in, playing gigs on both sides of the Hudson. They made a major, immediate impression at the 2014 iteration of NYC’s Afropunk Fest. They parlayed that buzz into their 2017 debut LP United States of Horror, an ecstatically ugly hybrid of industrial beats, mosh-worthy riffs, belligerent raps and a gleefully anarchic vibe. The standout track “Street Power” conjures a back-alley scuffle between Nine Inch Nails and the late DMX that ends in a draw. Still, skeptics pigeonholed Ho99o9 as the Muse to the revered experimental hip-hop trio Death Grips’ Radiohead, a comparison the duo has become pros at shaking off. “We fuck with Death Grips,” theOGM told Village Voice in 2015. “They’re tight, but our sound is totally different. They’re super electronic, bass.” Added Yeti: “[Critics] just compare us because we’re Black and have a drummer.” Similarly, skeptics often used “horrorcore” to describe (or dismiss) the band’s go-to combo of dissonant sounds and gnarly imagery in their early days, but that’s long gone, and Yeti and theOGM endure. Last month, they returned with their second proper album, SKIN, the most hi-fi, noholds-barred document of the group’s sonic exploits to date. At the helm: none other than Blink-182 drummer and walking tattoo canvas Travis Barker. Having skipped right over SoCal pop punk in their musical selfeducation, the dyed-in-the-wool East Coasters (who moved to Los Angeles in 2014) were skeptical when Barker first came calling and expressing his interest in producing.

“We were reluctant because we’re a hardcore band and couldn’t wrap our heads around making pop punk,” says theOGM when we get on the phone between tour dates. “But when we got to meet him, he felt like someone we’d been working with forever.” Yeti agrees: “It took some heavy convincing … but once we stepped into the studio, the vibe, work ethic and atmosphere were perfect.” On SKIN, a dizzying array of collaborators pop up in surprising places. Slipknot vocalist Corey Taylor appears on the gnarly “Bite My Face,” while iconic Gen-X poet Saul Williams breaks up the chaos of the thrashing “Skinhead” with tranquil verses. Williams fosters an eerie quiet that acts as a prelude to a sonic murder in the form of the thrashing, metallic, minute-and-a-half “Lower Than Scum.” Fragments of melody sneak in too. “Speak of the Devil” rides on the push-pull of melancholic riffs, soulful crooning and guttural growls. For those unfamiliar with Ho99o9, the 33-minute LP is a great introduction, and for longtime fans, it’s an exciting new chapter. It’s a whirlwind of an album, but its aggression has lots of subtleties embedded inside. “In the world of horror, you don’t have to viciously chainsaw someone — you can just stab them in the dark,” Yeti says, laughing. “The youth is always going to hold the torch,” he adds. “We actually made a song with our friends [L.A. industrial-metal band] 3TEETH on this subject. It’s called ‘Time’s Up,’ and, to sum it up … gatekeepers, naysayers and anyone else who opposes us can die, and we own the throne now. … Cheers.” EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | MAY 5 – MAY 11, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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MUSIC

THE SPIN

THAT’S THE TRICK BY P.J. KINZER

PHOTO: DAVID SWANSON

ock ’n’ roll does not need a savior. It never has. But in every generation, one or more rockers gets the messianic treatment from media figures. Such practices — which at times have edged close to blatant racism — tend to emerge when pop, hip-hop and R&B start to dominate the charts. Along comes a white man with a six-string and a few catchy riffs, who’s crowned the chosen one to liberate rock for a new era. In the summer of 2001, when mainstream rock was in such a slump, The Strokes released Is This It and The White Stripes dropped White Blood Cells, and the two bands were hailed by practically every entertainment rag as the return of rock. My experience with KIND OF BLUE: Jack White doesn’t go JACK WHITE very deep. Prior to the first of his two nights at Ascend Amphitheater on Saturday, the last time I saw him play live was as one-half of The White Stripes, when they made their Nashville debut at The End in 2001. Jack and Meg White were mostly unknown outside of the blues-punk underground, so I wasn’t expecting much of a crowd. But White Blood Cells had just begun to grab the ears of influential music journalists, which led to the room being so packed on that September night — the Sunday before 9/11 — that we were all drenched in our own sweat and unable to move. Most of what I could see of the band was the headstock of Jack White’s guitar, and I made my way out of the claustrophobic environs after about five songs. Saturday night’s amphitheater experience was vastly different from that night at The End. Beloved Nashville punks Be Your Own Pet reunited for their first shows since 2008 to open a few of White’s dates. They previewed their Saturday appearance with an impromptu Friday night set at East Side art space Soft Junk, playing under the code name Bring Your Own Poppers. Unfortunately, a ticket snafu resulted in me missing their entire set on Saturday. Luckily, Scene editor D. Patrick Rodgers was already inside the gates, and he reports that the 2008 lineup — that is, with John Eatherly on the drum throne in place of founding member Jamin Orrall — bounded onstage at 8 p.m. sharp, ripping through nervy punk-pop numbers that were mostly written when the foursome were still teenagers. But songs like “Adventure,” “Becky,” “Food Fight!” and set closer “Bicycle Bicycle, You Are My Bicycle” still hold their irreverent charm, even with frontwoman Jemina Pearl and her bandmates now in their 30s and with a lot more experience under their belts. During BYOP’s fast-moving

45-minute set, Pearl — energetic as ever and clad in appropriately roller-derby-inspired stage wear — dedicated a couple of songs to her kids Lula and Elvis. Those were lovely little sentimental moments tucked into a set that was particularly nostalgic for the Old Nashvillians in attendance. Now that BYOP’s reunion run has wrapped, will there be more dates and possibly even a new record? Plenty of folks would like to see it. With my phone locked away in the foam pouch provided, I had to rely on my memory to capture my impression of the gig. In front of me, a teenager had donned a fresh-fromthe-merch-table Jack White long-sleeve. A few rows behind was a couple who looked to be in their early 50s; one partner wore a White Stripes T-shirt, while the other had one from The Raconteurs. The frustrations of the preceding hour dwindled as I found myself surrounded by people thrilled to see their favorite performer. White and his uber-talented band — bassman Dominic Davis, drummer Daru Jones and keyboardist Quincy McCrary — opened up with the first three songs from White’s latest album Fear of the Dawn. The stage was cast in his signature blue hue, matching everything from his hair to his sequined jacket. Between “Fear of the Dawn” and “The White Raven,” White threw in a changeup with an abbreviated cover of The Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” The heretofore enthusiastic crowd seemed to calm down a bit, as if they were unfamiliar with the Detroit dirge classic, aka the “Wagon Wheel” of proto-punk. The rest of the set was peppered with tunes from just about every phase of White’s career — the four solo albums he’s released and the forthcoming Entering Heaven Alive, due in July; The Raconteurs; and of course The White Stripes. White & Co. kept the energy very high, feeding off the audience throughout the 23-song show. Every aspect of the performance, from lighting cues to White’s gestures, felt choreographed to each song, but the concert was no less compelling. White’s quarterback-like frame and animated facial expressions made me think of a life-size action figure, starring in his own live-action music video. Though I didn’t get the cameo appearance I’d hoped for — that’d be A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip, who lays down some verses on Fear of the Dawn’s “Hi-De-Ho” — it wasn’t a major disappointment. White and his band were so outrageously good together that I’d hate to spoil it by throwing another person into the mix. White has mastered the art of pulling off complex technical feats like this production while leaving you with memories of things like almost-unhinged guitar solos, or the way his commanding presence and the preacher-like cadence he occasionally takes on gets the audience hanging on his every word. Additional reporting by D. Patrick Rodgers. EMAIL THESPIN@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

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IT’S ALRIGHT, MA Petite Maman is a tender exploration of motherdaughter relationships BY ERICA CICCARONE

any film critics say it’s easier — or at least more fun — to write about a film they hate than one they love. The reasons are surely various. As for me, I often love a work of art for its mysteries, which reveal themselves over time as I age. In writing down my first take, I fear I am robbing the experience of magic that will come with time. This is the case with Petite Maman, Céline Sciamma’s tender fifth fea-

ture film. But there’s another factor too. It’s a film that should be experienced through the innocent eyes of its protagonist, without prior knowledge of its premise. I’ll do my best not to spoil it for either of us. Petite Maman is a story about a girl and her mother. The film opens in a nursing home. Nelly, whose grandmother has just died, is about 8 years old, and she goes from room to room saying goodbye to the residents. Nelly is played by Joséphine Sanz, an endearing young French actor who brings a sense of curiosity and watchfulness to the role — as well as budding talent in spades. Her relationship with her mother (Nina Meurisse) appears to be one of ease and intimacy. Nelly feeds her mother cheese puffs from the back seat of the car, and reaches forward to gently put the straw of a juice box in her mouth. But Nelly is also shown waiting for the inscrutable woman to reveal herself and be fully present in her life, for herself and for her family.

world for long makes each scene bittersweet. Sciamma is a master of tone. For a casual viewer, it may not be obvious that the same writer-director made 2014’s spirited Girlhood, 2020’s incredible Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Petite Maman. This film has the most in common with her sophomore effort, 2011’s PETITE MAMAN Tomboy, which follows a 10-year-old genderNR, 82 MINUTES; IN FRENCH WITH ENGLISH nonconforming child as they look for a place SUBTITLES of belonging. Tomboy is more concerned with OPENING FRIDAY, MAY 6, the interior than the exterior — Sciamma does AT THE BELCOURT not need grotesque acts of violence to show what is at stake for trans kids. Sciamma also uses a restrained hand in Petite Maman. The film is sincere but not sentimental. Nelly is precocious, but not excessively so. Sciamma trusts her audience to read between the lines, and summons exceptional performances from her cast, including her child actors. As the film unfolded, I wondered how the central relationship would play out as Nelly got older — whether she would be as forgiving, as devoted, or if she would become VISIT resentful. Nelly and her parents — her NASHVILLESCENE.COM/ ARTS_CULTURE It is perhaps inevitable that father played by a charming TO READ OUR REVIEW OF THE before we accept that life itself Stéphane Varupenne — go to LATEST MARVEL INSTALLMENT, isn’t fair, we cast blame where her grandmother’s house to DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE we can — often on our parents, pack up the remainder of her MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS, OPENING WIDE THIS and specifically our mothers. I belongings. The furniture is WEEK. think all mothers have moments already draped in sheets, and when they believe they are failing, the house holds little evidence of and there have been moments when I the lives of those who lived there. As thought my own mother did fail. But there Nelly’s mother tucks her in at night, Nelly have also been times I blamed myself for my comments that bedtime is usually the only mother’s suffering. Petite Maman does not chance she has to see her mom. We don’t side with either mothers or daughters, but know why, but can guess from mom’s melanrather asks a question I had never considcholy, faraway looks that her grief precedes ered: For what might we forgive our mothher mother’s passing. The following morners if we could meet them as children? How ing, the mother has gone home, leaving Nelly much more might we understand if we could and her father to complete the job. Nelly, live for a few days in their childhoods — always thoughtful, takes the news in stride, walk in their woods, drink from their cups? finds an old toy and heads out to play. Petite Maman is a story about a girl and her Through unexplained magic, Nelly has the mother, but it is also a story about me and my chance to learn about who her mother was mother. And you might find yourself in it too. as a child. The story unfolds buoyantly, but EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM the knowledge that Nelly cannot stay in this

DUKING IT OUT Middle-of-the-road The Duke is darling BY CRAIG D. LINDSEY

THE DUKE R, 96 MINUTES OPENING FRIDAY, MAY 6, AT REGAL GREEN HILLS AND AMC THOROUGHBRED 20

eople who thought Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast was too cute in its portrayal of back-in-the-day, working-class life in the British Isles will probably freak out when they watch The Duke — which makes blue-collar life in the U.K. look downright adorable. Front and center is Kempton Bunton (Jim Broadbent), a based-on-real-life character who spent the early ’60s sending plays to the BBC, fighting for causes that occasionally sent him to the big house (like watching TV without a license, which I still can’t believe is a thing in the U.K.), getting fired from jobs, and driving his long-suffering wife (Helen Mirren) batty. Mirren’s Dorothy is the breadwinner of the household, a housekeeper for an upper-class family. Things get crazier when Bunton gets his hands on Francisco de Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington, stolen from the National Gallery in London. The pipe-smoking socialist soon sends letters demanding a £140,000 ransom, which will be donated to charity, while keeping the painting hidden from the disapproving missus. There’s no better way to describe this movie —

which had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival two freakin’ years ago — than darling. Director Roger Michell is the filmmaker who gave us such edgy British films as The Mother (the one in which Daniel Craig sleeps with somebody’s mom, not the Bong Joon-ho Mother or the Darren Aronofsky Mother!) and Enduring Love (the one in which Daniel Craig gets stalked by Rhys Ifans). He practically gets his Mike Newell on here, turning out a comfortably saccharine movie that’ll win over your mama and your grandmama. He takes the story (provided by playwrights Richard Bean and Clive Coleman) and turns it into a kitchen-sink farce, a shallow-yet-fun-loving burlesque that, while it probably could’ve been done a whole lot better, is too fluffy and harmless to loathe. Broadbent and Mirren certainly aid in that, working their golden-years charm as aging Brits who are figuring out their issues — like coming to terms with the death of their teenage daughter — in their own ways. The story itself isn’t mapped out all that well, as time is also spent — or wasted, if you prefer — on the not-that-appealing subplots of the couple’s boys. One (Fionn Whitehead) is an idealist just like his dad, while the other is a fresh-out ex con (Jack Bandeira) fooling around with an obnoxious married woman. Thankfully, The Duke is a middle-of-the-road confection that stays nice and rosy thanks to durable Oscar winners Broadbent and Mirren. EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

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Film composer Morricone Tried something? At any time The blue part of blue cheese About .914 meters “Pow!”

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www.rockylawfirm.com LEGAL Non-Resident Notice Third Circuit Docket No. 22D241

Rental Scene

RITU AGRAWAL vs. RAKESH MENON In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a nonresident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon RAKESH MENON. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HIS appearance herein with thirty (30) days after May 26, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on June 27, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a nonresident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon RAKESH MENON. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HIS appearance herein with thirty (30) days after May 26, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on June 27, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville. Richard R. Rooker, Clerk L. Chappell, Deputy Clerk Date: April 28, 2022 Robert Todd Jackson Attorneys for Plaintiff NSC 5/5, 5/12, 5/19, 5/26//22

Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on June 13, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville. Richard R. Rooker, Clerk M. De Jesus, Deputy Clerk Date: April 14, 2022 Joseph Zanger Attorneys for Plaintiff NSC 4/21, 4/28, 5/5, 5/12/22 Non-Resident Notice Fourth Circuit Docket No. 21A10 MARY LISA HARPER, et al. vs. ANGELA LEE HARPER, et al. 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 UNKNOWN FATHER. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HIS appearance herein with thirty (30) days after May 12, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on June 13, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville. Richard R. Rooker, Clerk M. De Jesus, Deputy Clerk Date: April 14, 2022 Joseph Zanger Attorneys for Plaintiff NSC 4/21, 4/28, 5/5, 5/12/22

Welcome to River West Richard R. Rooker, Clerk M. De Jesus, Deputy Clerk Date: April 14, 2022 Joseph Zanger Attorneys for Plaintiff

NSC 4/21, 4/28, 5/5, 5/12/22

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk L. Chappell, Deputy Clerk Date: April 28, 2022 Robert Todd Jackson Attorneys for Plaintiff NSC 5/5, 5/12, 5/19, 5/26//22

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BRANDI LA'SHERRELLE HAWKINS vs. DESHAWN AUNRAY HAWKINS SR In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a nonresident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon DESHAWN AUNRAY HAWKINS SR. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HIS appearance herein with thirty (30) days after May 19, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on June 20, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Non-Resident Notice Fourth Circuit Docket No. 21A10 MARY LISA HARPER, et al. vs. ANGELA LEE HARPER, et al. 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 ANGELA LEE HARPER. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after May 12, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on June 13, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville. Richard R. Rooker, Clerk M. De Jesus, Deputy Clerk Date: April 14, 2022 Joseph Zanger Attorneys for Plaintiff NSC 4/21, 4/28, 5/5, 5/12/22 Non-Resident Notice Fourth Circuit Docket No. 20D1454 BRANDI LA'SHERRELLE HAWKINS vs. DESHAWN AUNRAY HAWKINS SR In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a nonresident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon DESHAWN AUNRAY HAWKINS SR. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HIS appearance herein with thirty (30) days after May 19, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on June 20, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk M. De Jesus, Deputy Clerk Date: April 22, 2022 David Kozlowski Attorneys for Plaintiff NSC 4/28, 5/5, 5/12, 5/19/22

Non-Resident Notice Third Circuit Docket No. 21D1153 CAROLYN BAKER JONES FULSON vs. ARTHUR FULSON, III In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a nonresident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon ARTHUR FULSON, III. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HIS appearance herein with thirty (30) days after May 19, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on June 20, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

nary process of law cannot be served upon ARTHUR FULSON, III. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HIS appearance herein with thirty (30) days after May 19, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on June 20, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk L. Chappell, Deputy Clerk Date: April 21, 2022 Sheryl Guinn Attorneys for Plaintiff NSC 4/28, 5/5, 5/12, 5/19/22

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Richard R. Rooker, Clerk L. Chappell, Deputy Clerk Date: April 21, 2022 Sheryl Guinn Attorneys for Plaintiff NSC 4/28, 5/5, 5/12, 5/19/22

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk M. De Jesus, Deputy Clerk Date: April 22, 2022 David Kozlowski Attorneys for Plaintiff

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