Nashville Scene 5-9-24

O’CONNELL APPROACHES FIRST BIG TESTS IN MAYOR’S OFFICE

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FOOD & DRINK: THAI AND JAPANESE CLASSICS MEET REFINED SEAFOOD AT A-ROI

>> PAGE 26 ART: CHRISTINE ROGERS SPANS CENTURIES AND CONTINENTS IN THE DREAM POOL

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CAPITOL OFFENSES

Metropolitik: O’Connell Approaches First Big Tests in Mayor’s Office

Transit launch, budget season and State of Metro kick off Freddie O’Connell’s busy first summer

BY ELI MOTYCKA

Partners in Care Expands Citywide

Thousands of calls and three years later, MNPD and the Mental Health Coop reflect BY HANNAH HERNER

Pith in the Wind

This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog

COVER PACKAGE: CAPITOL OFFENSES

Culture-War Bills

From ‘Meet Baby Olivia’ to an attempt to ban Pride flags, here’s (some of) what passed and what failed among the GOP’s attention-grabbing pet projects

BY HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

Education

While Lee’s universal voucher program failed, many other bills that will help — and hurt — Tennessee students passed BY KELSEY BEYELER

East Bank Development Drama

Nashville Democrats barely get across the river BY ELI MOTYCKA

Health Care

Abortion exceptions stall while ‘trafficking’ and vaccination bills flourish

BY HANNAH HERNER

Budget

Legislators give businesses nearly $2 billion in tax cuts while saving for a rainy day BY NICOLLE S. PRAINO

CRITICS’ PICKS

Maggie Rose, Adeem the Artist, Afrokokoroot, Stevie Nicks, The Beat Fundraiser and more

FOOD AND DRINK

All Thai’d Up

Thai and Japanese classics meet refined seafood options at A-Roi in McKissack Park BY ALIJAH POINDEXTER

VODKA YONIC

The Oscars of Motherhood

An evening of tributes leads one mother to wonder, what would my son say about me?

BY DANNY BONVISSUTO

ART

Lost Memory of Ice

Christine Rogers spans centuries and continents in her profound The Dream Pool BY CAT ACREE

BOOKS

Damaged Goods

Celebrated Irish novelist Colm Tóibín’s new book begins with a bombshell BY SEAN KINCH; CHAPTER16.ORG

MUSIC

¿Quién Sabe?

After many iterations, Bad Bunny returns to Nashville amid a return to form BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

Duty Now

Devo’s tour celebrates 50 years of inventive, acerbic cultural criticism that’s still vital today BY P.J. KINZER

The Spin

The Scene’s live-review column checks out Aaron Lee Tasjan at The Blue Room BY STEPHEN TRAGESER

FILM

A Stroke of Bad Fortune

Ethan and Maya Hawke’s Flannery O’Connor biopic Wildcat doesn’t quite cut it BY SADAF AHSAN

NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD AND THIS MODERN WORLD MARKETPLACE ON THE COVER: Photo by Hamilton Matthew Masters

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CHRISTINE ROGERS

WHO WE ARE

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF D. Patrick Rodgers

MANAGING EDITOR Alejandro Ramirez

SENIOR EDITOR Dana Kopp Franklin

ARTS EDITOR Laura Hutson Hunter

MUSIC AND LISTINGS EDITOR Stephen Trageser

DIGITAL EDITOR Kim Baldwin

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Cole Villena

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Jack Silverman

STAFF WRITERS Kelsey Beyeler, Logan Butts, John Glennon, Hannah Herner, Hamilton Matthew Masters, Eli Motycka, Nicolle Praino, William Williams

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O’CONNELL APPROACHES FIRST BIG TESTS IN MAYOR’S OFFICE

Transit launch, budget season and State of Metro kick off Freddie O’Connell’s busy first summer

BY ELI MOTYCKA

Tuesday, May 14, at The Fairgrounds Nashville

Metropolitik is a recurring column featuring the Scene’s analysis of Metro dealings.

UNLIKE YOU, READING news in the Scene, most Nashvillians have relatively few touch points with local government. They might know Freddie O’Connell for the billionaires-and-bachelorettes campaign ad that launched him into last summer’s runoff — then into the mayor’s office. They will also know him, and judge him, by this year’s transit referendum and a possible property tax increase next year.

O’Connell introduced his 2025 budget at a special Metro Council meeting on May 1. Councilmember At-Large Delishia Porterfield, chair of the council’s Budget and Finance Committee, now sponsors the budget as legislation. The body has four regularly called meetings to debate, supplement, amend or contest the mayor’s budget, and until June 30 to pass something that will authorize another fiscal year. Otherwise, O’Connell’s budget goes into effect by default. The preeminence of the executive’s proposed budget is the key feature of Nashville’s “strong mayor” system of government. It’s O’Connell’s goal to pass this paperwork, already being framed by his office as business-as-usual, with as little controversy as possible.

“The first time I was here was in 2019,” said Metro finance director Kevin Crumbo on May 1 after brief introductory remarks from O’Connell. “At that time, our financial position was in a

much different place than we find it today. It was quite troubled. The city was running low on cash because we’d been through a few cycles where we’d invested heavily in the city. We had not really adjusted our tax base or revenues to match up to that.”

Crumbo gestured around the chamber with a creeping smile as he prepared to deliver (again) the blockbuster line favored by nerdy city managers for the past five years. He looked the part behind wire-framed glasses and a mop of unkempt hair.

“Many of you here at the time, or watching on a camera, can remember that the state was here threatening to take over the city if we couldn’t get our act together — we got our act together,” Crumbo continued. “In the four years that followed that, the city is in the best financial condition that it has been in in a very long time.”

Speaking for the bond market, the claim is true. Crumbo — exiled from Cooper’s finance department in the midst of interpersonal friction with the former mayor before returning in the fall under O’Connell — is the familiar Metro face who can project stability while the mayor tends to transit. Next year, Crumbo’s sober fiscal analysis may take the fall for a predicted property tax increase.

Flat city revenue, deflated in part by an $8.25 million decrease in local sales tax revenue from 2023 to 2024, remains the budget’s most notable headline since Stephen Elliott reported out

projections

The city plans to supplement with $25.2 million from the fund balance, Metro’s bank account.

“The fund balance usage of those funds above the reserve policy amount is for one-time use,” budget officer Aaron Pratt reminded the room last week after a question from Councilmember At-Large Burkley Allen.

New Metro policy requires that the city keep two months’ operating expenses (about $490 million) on hand as a reserve balance.

Without many exciting positive numbers to highlight, O’Connell’s office touts this year’s 3.5 percent salary bump for Metro employees. Across the school system and city departments, Metro is a principal city employer, with varying compensation schedules and different criteria governing wage and salary pay. Budgeted increases result from an initial recommendation by Metro Human Resources (3.5 percent this year) and a response from the Metro Civil Service Commission, which recommended 4 percent after an independent analysis weighing metrics like inflation and the employment cost index.

O’Connell stuck to his department’s recommendation at 3.5 percent. Not doing so would likely be seen as an insult to city employees and a hit to the city’s efforts to recruit and retain its ranks.

Monthly budget reports show chronic understaffing, with departments like the Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure and city libraries below 90 per-

cent employment. Nashvillians have likely encountered the citywide recruiting effort, which includes job fairs and bathroom ads. Police and fire departments are both between 90 and 95 percent staffed, according to Metro’s February report.

O’Connell steps behind the podium for his first State of Metro address at 10 a.m. on May 14. His chosen location — the expo center at The Fairgrounds Nashville — nods to the old and new. Racetrack operator Bristol Motor Speedway recently reignited renovation debates over city funding to make the site NASCAR-ready, an effort that appeared to die with the Bristol-friendly Cooper administration before re-entering the political rumor mill a few months ago. Bus access to nearby Nashville SC games has become a fundamental part of Geodis Park culture, while pleasant improvements to Benton Avenue and Walsh Road give the site a whiff of successful city projects.

Expect O’Connell to spend any free media attention from now until November on the merits of his transit plan. Discussion in council this summer will help clarify the far-reaching effort, headlined by an expansion of bus lanes and bus service. Winning the driver vote will require explaining its wonkier elements, like a muchneeded countywide update to NDOT traffic signals, putting O’Connell back into campaign mode for the next six months. ▼

for the Nashville Banner in April.

MAYOR FREDDIE O’CONNELL

PHOTO:

HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

Mayor Freddie O’Connell will deliver the 61st State of Metro address

PARTNERS IN CARE EXPANDS CITYWIDE

Thousands of calls and three years later, MNPD and the Mental Health Coop reflect BY HANNAH

HERNER

THE METRO NASHVILLE Police Department debuted its Partners in Care program in 2021, bringing along mental health clinicians on calls involving mental health crises.

On May 1, Nashville’s West Police Precinct announced it would begin offering the coresponse model, making it ubiquitous across the city. Partners in Care started in two precincts — Hermitage and North — and has gradually grown. Dispatched through 911, pairs (each made up of an officer and a clinician) respond to calls Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to midnight.

For Michael Randolph, director of coresponse services at Mental Health Coop, the announcement was a touching moment. He’s seen the program through two mayoral administrations, hired and trained dozens of clinicians to work with MNPD and added another co-response model, REACH, with the Nashville Fire Department in February 2023.

“This has been a goal since we started the pilot,” says Randolph. “And to know that we are able to help people and we have the data to show that we are being effective in this program, it just touches my heart, and I really

hope we can continue to strive to do the best we can to help people.”

As of December, Partners in Care had seen a total of 5,248 people with approximately 75 percent connected to care. In 2023 alone, the program saw 2,745 people.

“We learned that we were busier than we thought we would be,” says Capt. Anthony Brooks, head of alternative policing strategies for MNPD. “We did a lot of research before and made some assumptions on how many calls we thought we would go to, and then we got out of the gate and we were a lot busier.”

Brooks says this was because 911 dispatchers have gotten more keen in deciding which calls they’ll send Partners in Care to respond to, and officers have become more likely to invite a mental health clinician to join from the scene.

The co-response programming is, in practice, meant to help those experiencing homelessness, who are disproportionately affected by mental health diagnoses and also more likely to have the police called on them. Randolph believes the program has been able to benefit that population. For example, about

75 percent of Partners in Care calls in the Central Police Precinct are for unhoused individuals, while that number drops to an estimated 25 percent in surrounding precincts.

“It is very hard right now to get into substance abuse treatment, long-term mental health treatment,” Randolph says. “That’s one of the program goals — to streamline care and communication. I think we’ve been able to do that, specifically with the unhoused. It takes a lot of coordination, a lot of different resources to do it. Having a counselor, you can walk them through to hopefully hand off to all of these great agencies in Nashville that do a really great job helping people. I think we’ve been able to do that.”

Brooks says he’s noticed that officers also benefit from having a clinician around — for their own benefit following mentally taxing calls. The clinicians pick up on that, and encourage officers to seek self-care.

Partners in Care started with officers who volunteered to take part, and now Brooks says his goal is to have every officer receive 40 hours of crisis intervention training.

“The word-of-mouth from the officers has been great,” he says. “If an officer was at a precinct that had [Partners in Care] before and they transferred here, and they’re telling people, ‘It was so great when he had this.’ To be here and have the program at every single precinct is a huge shot in the arm for the way we’re able to service the community whenever they’re experiencing a behavioral health crisis.” ▼

State Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is putting Tennessee at the forefront of a pair of culturewar legal battles. Tennessee is now co-leading an alliance of six states challenging the U.S. Department of Education’s new changes to Title IX, the federal civil rights law prohibiting sex-based discrimination. The Biden administration’s new rules overhaul Trumpera changes and provide stronger protections for transgender students. Skrmetti called the changes a “radical new vision of how men and women interrelate,” speculating that cisgender men could take advantage of the new rules by entering women’s restrooms and locker rooms. The AG is also suing the federal government over a rule change restricting gun sales between private parties. Tennessee joins 20 other states

in the suit, which is aimed at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Gov. Bill Lee has given Skrmetti’s legal team — which recently built out a “strategic litigation unit” to support conservative activist suits — a $10 million budget bump this year.

The Davidson County Election Commission last week rejected a challenge to Nashville Democratic Rep. Justin Jones’ qualification for the ballot in his bid for reelection. Jones’ Republican opponent, Laura Nelson, alleged that several of Jones’ petition signatures were not valid. The GOP-controlled commission, after a hearing of more than two hours, decided to accept the signatures. As reported by the Nashville Banner, the

board ultimately voted 3-1, with Republican Dan Davis abstaining. Jones and his supporters left the room singing.

Speaking of Jones, this week contributor Betsy Phillips focuses her column on Jones, Phil Williams, William Lamberth and recognizing that the state’s Republican leaders are in league with hate groups. “I had thought we were all in agreement with the standard that, if you speak to white supremacists and they come away thinking you’re on the same side, you’re racist,” writes Phillips, referencing a 2022 anti-trans rally attended by Proud Boys and featuring several GOP speakers, including Lamberth. “But I guess the standard

for being racist is somehow even higher than that.”

The nonprofit organizations behind the renovation of Shelby Park’s ship-shaped building are moving forward with their plan to make it an arts-focused campus. Friends of Shelby Park and Bottoms and the Arts and Business Council of Greater Nashville which are teaming up on the project, have received their first $1 million gift from the Nashville-based Dettwiller Foundation They have about $14 million more to raise in their efforts to convert the former U.S. Naval Reserve Training Center at 1515 Davidson Ave. to Shelby Commons.

CAPT. ANTHONY BROOKS

WITNESS HISTORY

Marty Robbins entertained in a variety of outfits from Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors, including this flamboyant ensemble with embroidered hummingbirds and desert flowers—a nod to Robbins’s home state, Arizona.

From the online exhibit Suiting the Sound: The Rodeo Tailors Who Made Country Stars Shine Brighter

RESERVE TODAY

artifact: Courtesy of Marty Robbins Enterprises artifact photo: Bob Delevante

CAPITOL OFFENSES

From the governor’s failed voucher plan to culture-war legislation and a whole lot more, here’s what went down during the 2024 legislative session

SINE DIE.

That phrase — from the Latin for “without a day” — is used to mark the close of the state legislature’s business each year. The 113th Tennessee General Assembly adjourned sine die shortly after 5 p.m. on April 25. So what did Tennessee’s 33 senators and 99 representatives accomplish in the three-and-a-half months they spent this year on Capitol Hill?

Well, despite the fact that both chambers are controlled by Republican supermajorities, Republican Gov. Bill Lee didn’t manage to pass his plan for universal school vouchers. And despite calls from advocates and protesters to take up serious gun reform just one year after Nashville’s deadly Covenant School shooting, very little was considered on that front. (Though one bill allowing teachers to carry guns in Tennessee’s public schools did pass.)

At the beginning of the session, state House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) implemented a new policy limiting the public’s access to the legislative chambers’ upstairs galleries, requiring attendees to acquire “tickets” from lawmakers to access certain areas. At various points throughout the session, spectators were ordered to leave the chambers due to conduct deemed unruly by GOP leadership. And as the session wore on, the Republican supermajority also used its overwhelming procedural power to shoot down Democrat-backed legislation and gavel down objections to Republican-backed bills.

Many of those bills focused on culture-war issues, gobbling up headlines and mainstream attention — from Brentwood Republican Rep. Gino Bulso’s attempt to ban Pride flags from public schools (it didn’t pass) to a bill requiring law enforcement agencies to report individuals’ immigration status to federal authorities (it did pass). After much back-and-forth between the House and Senate over the details of Lee’s proposed franchise tax cut, the two bodies reached an agreement that will ultimately cost the state $1.95 billion. Also passed this session were a resolution

amending the Tennessee Constitution to remove the right to bail for some offenders and a piece of legislation known as the “Back the Blue Act” that increases the penalty for assault against a law enforcement officer.

All of that is just a drop in the bucket — a sliver of what went down during this year’s proceedings. In this issue, we dip into much of the above and more, exploring how Tennessee’s elected lawmakers spent their time on Capitol Hill. Read on.

—D. PATRICK RODGERS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

HB1605/SB1722

CULTUREWAR BILLS

From ‘Meet Baby Olivia’ to an attempt to ban Pride flags, here’s (some of) what passed and what failed among the GOP’s attention-grabbing pet projects

BY HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

THE 113TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY concluded its time on Capitol Hill with fresh scars from the front lines of America’s ongoing culture war. Tennessee’s Republican supermajority passed both impactful and symbolic legislation targeting LGBTQ rights, education, immigrants, vaccines and more. While many of the GOP’s efforts on these fronts are covered elsewhere in this issue, here’s a quick rundown of just some of the culture-war legislation that consumed the most attention during this year’s session.

WHAT PASSED

HB2165/SB1810 prohibits public schools and public charter schools from “knowingly providing false or misleading information to a student’s parent regarding the student’s gender identity or intention to transition to

a gender that differs from the student’s sex at the time of birth.” It is awaiting the governor’s signature. The legislation also requires school employees to tell a student’s parents and school administration if a student asks “for an accommodation to affirm the student’s gender identity,” meaning employees will be directed in some cases to out trans students to their families. Sen. Paul Rose (R-Covington) characterized the bill as “simply about parental rights.” A Human Rights Campaign representative testified on the bill in a March committee meeting, warning that the bill will “weaponize adults who are supposed to be safe resources” for students, adding that its passage will lead to a lawsuit against the state.

HB2435/SB2767 requires students to view a fetal development video — like the medically inaccurate “Meet Baby Olivia” video, produced by an anti-abortion group and presented as an example within the legislation — as part of the state’s “family life” curriculum. It was signed into law on April 23. House sponsor Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) said that the bill could be “one of the most important pieces of legislation” this year.

HB1634/SB2766, another Bulso-sponsored bill, was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma). It “revises language prohibiting educators from discriminating against students on certain, specified bases to generally prohibiting educators from discriminating

against students who are members of a protected class under federal or state law; removes the definition of ‘gender identity’ for purposes of the family life curriculum.”

HB1828/SB1822, also co-sponsored by Bulso, successfully adds 10 works to the list of “official state books,” including the earliest Bible printed in the United States.

HB0878/SB0596 was signed by Gov. Bill Lee in February. The so-called “wedding officiant discrimination bill” allows officiants to refuse to “solemnize” marriages based on their “conscience or religious beliefs.”

HB2063/SB2691 bans the placement of “chemicals, chemical compounds, substances, or apparatus within the borders of this state into the atmosphere with the express purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of the sunlight.” Gov. Lee signed the bill on April 11. The law takes aim at claims of weather and climate engineering as well as conspiracies surrounding “chemtrails.” (The alleged use of “chemtrails” to introduce toxic chemicals into the atmosphere is a thoroughly debunked conspiracy theory.)

HB2124/SB2576 was signed by Lee on the same day, requiring law enforcement agencies to report the immigration status of individuals and “otherwise cooperate with the appropriate federal official in the identification, apprehension,

detention, or removal of aliens not lawfully present in the United States.”

HB2169/SB1738 — the Tennessee Foster and Adoptive Parent Protection Act — was also signed on April 11. It prevents the Department of Children’s Services from requiring foster parents to support LGBTQ rights. Critics of the law say it could force trans youth to be placed in homes where their identity is not affirmed or is even suppressed by an adoptive parent.

HB1894/SB1903, signed on April 22, “defines food that contains a vaccine or vaccine material as a drug,” specifically targeting foods that could potentially contain a vaccine. Edible vaccines are hypothetical and do not exist in Tennessee or elsewhere. (Jimmy Kimmel mocked debates over the bill in early April.)

WHAT FAILED

HB1605/SB1722, a bill that aimed to ban Pride flags in schools, died in the Senate. But its prime sponsor — yes, once again, Brentwood Republican Gino Bulso — vowed to revive the legislation in 2025.

HB1730/SB1717 would have required written driver’s license tests to be administered only in English. The bill was met with protests, and Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) called it “blatantly discriminatory.” ▼

EDUCATION

While Lee’s universal voucher program failed, many other bills that will help — and hurt — Tennessee students passed BY

KELSEY BEYELER

THOUGH GOV. BILL LEE’S universal voucher program was met with resistance and ultimately failed to make it through the legislature this year, plenty of other bills that will both help and harm Tennessee’s students passed — some of which garnered significant controversy.

As the session began, public education advocates, school leaders and parents were coordinating efforts to oppose Lee’s universal voucher plan. The governor announced his plan, known as the Education Freedom Scholarship Act, in November, well before the start of the session. It would have allowed any student in the state to receive public money to put toward a private education. (A similar program is already available for certain students in Davidson, Shelby and Hamilton counties.) Lee touted the initiative as a mechanism for school choice, but opponents worried it would drain funding from public schools and that there wouldn’t be sufficient accountability on schools, or on academic improvement for students in the program.

Democrats and some Republicans opposed the legislation — and even those who supported it had different ideas of how it should look.

EAST BANK DEVELOPMENT DRAMA

Nashville Democrats barely get across the river

BY ELI MOTYCKA

A RIVETING DRAMA of student protests, gallery arrests, floor insults and party infighting played out alongside the Tennessee General Assembly’s march toward conservative authoritarianism this year. The session’s highest-profile issues — guns, schools, guns in schools, the criminalization of abortion — dominated daily headlines, the nearly unilateral work of Tennessee’s Republican supermajority.

Talk to legislators on either side of the aisle for long enough and they’ll fixate on something as mundane as it is sinister: the descent into anti-democracy as communication and basic respect disintegrate in both chambers, the toxic byproduct of one-party rule.

“In case anyone hasn’t noticed, the controlling party can do whatever they want without Democratic votes,” Sen. Heidi Cambpell (D-Nashville) tells the Scene. “It’s part of living in a totalitarian state.”

House Bill 2968 arrived as a private act — Tennessee’s classification for narrow laws applicable to a single town, city or county that, with support from all local lawmakers, typically pass without discussion. The draft came to Rep. Bob Freeman (D-Nashville) in the House

Three vastly different versions of the bill were introduced, and the House and Senate were ultimately unable to compromise. Gov. Lee said he was “extremely disappointed” that the legislation didn’t pass, but indicated we’ll see renewed efforts next year.

“We do not need to turn our back on our public school system,” outspoken voucher critic Rep. Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill) told the Scene in early April. “We need to make sure that our public schools are the best.”

Warner says he experienced “pushback from colleagues” and “political threats from a couple different organizations” because of his stance. Lobbying organizations supporting vouchers have a strong presence in Tennessee, and

and Sen. Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville) in the Senate from Rep. Darren Jernigan (D-Nashville), a Davidson County official also serving as the city’s legislative liaison. Mayor Freddie O’Connell and Bob Mendes, the city’s East Bank deputy, sought state approval to establish a formal East Bank Development Authority. The administrative creation could assume certain quasi-governmental powers, like the ability to borrow money and issue bonds. The reorganization would make everyone’s life easier, O’Connell and Mendes told reporters in March. Freeman and Oliver, whose districts include the 550acre swath, would carry it to their colleagues.

The bill hit barbed wire quickly. State Republicans passed a bill outlawing certain police reforms, including those passed locally in Memphis following the police killing of Tyre Nichols. Oliver, a first-term Black legislator, spoke up.

“You might as well stomp on the grave of Tyre Nichols,” Oliver said at a press conference on March 15. “Dr. King said riots are the language of the unheard. You ain’t seen nothing yet — if you keep silencing us, what do you think our districts are going to do?”

The MLK quote was enough to get her blacklisted. Nothing attached to Oliver would pass the House, Republicans told their Democratic colleagues. No matter how procedural.

Around the same time, Freeman’s bill was re-referred to the House Local Government Committee two days after easily clearing the review body. It stayed in limbo for more than a month. It became an open secret that House members, hoping to bring O’Connell to the negotiating table over last year’s doomed Fairgrounds Nashville NASCAR

they’ve been known to attack candidates who don’t support vouchers in primary elections. Controversial legislation that did pass includes a law allowing teachers to carry handguns in schools if they receive the proper certification and permission from district leaders and law enforcement. (Metro Nashville Public Schools and other districts across the state have since announced they will not allow teachers to carry firearms.) Another law requires schools to teach firearm safety training. Lawmakers also passed legislation that was first introduced during August’s special session, which was called to address the Covenant School shooting, such as a new law that requires schools to create a process to determine the cause of a fire alarm. A bill with

bipartisan support now upgrades threats of mass violence at a school from a class-A misdemeanor to a class-E felony.

Among the most publicized proposals was one that would have banned Pride flags in public schools — it didn’t pass. But legislation that requires schools to report trans students’ gender identity to their parents did pass. So did legislation that will further censor materials in school libraries — the bill adds to the Age-Appropriate Materials Act of 2022 by drilling down on what is considered appropriate and how book challenges can play out.

After more than a year of related conversations, the legislature voted to vacate the Tennessee State University board of trustees. The move spurred widespread criticism from TSU advocates including Sen. Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville), who admitted that the state school has its issues but also pointed to decades of underfunding surpassing $2 billion.

The General Assembly also revised a reading law passed in 2021 — again. The legislation requires third-graders who don’t pass the reading sections of a state test to receive academic interventions or face retention. Last year, the legislature tweaked the law so that benchmark testing could be factored into that decision for third-graders. Fourth-graders also had to show sufficient growth on the state test to move onto fifth grade. New updates, however, allow those fourth-graders to move forward if the majority decision between their parent, teacher and principal advises that. If promoted, those students would receive tutoring in fifth grade. ▼

deal, saw the bill as leverage over O’Connell. Oliver passed it off to Campbell in early April. Her public statement reads, in part: “Whether it’s political exclusion or hurt feelings or both, I don’t know what the truth is, but I know my integrity is not worth these political theatrics and power plays — especially for legislation that lacks input from the residents I represent in the Senate.”

Campbell carried it forward with tweaks from Republicans.

“The House made it pretty clear they would be punitive if Charlane was on it,” Campbell remembers. “It was ridiculous. I went to her and said I’d do what she wanted. I would’ve dropped it if she asked me to — it’s her district.”

Republicans secured two seats on the authority’s governing board and explicitly prevented the new body from exercising eminent domain, sufficient concessions

to get the bill passed in the Senate with three senators voting no. Oliver abstained.

“I talked to almost every single member of the House,” says Freeman. (Freeman’s father Bill Freeman owns FW Publishing, the Scene’s parent company.)

“That’s not the most common thing to do. Some of the ‘no’ votes were heartburn over [Nashville leaders refusing to host the Republican National Convention] and general dislike of the Metro Council, which is like their bogeyman. Half of what they say the council is doing or has done, it just hasn’t done. They call the council ‘socialist’ all the time to kill bills. I’ve explained that it’s playing a dangerous game; it layers on another level of hatred to the city, council and mayor. Suddenly you have a good percentage of the legislature voting against a private act.”

It passed the House 59-18 as the chamber’s last bill of 2024. ▼

GOV. BILL LEE ON THE LAST DAY OF THE 2024 LEGISLATIVE SESSION

EAST BANK

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

HEALTH CARE

Abortion exceptions stall while ‘trafficking’ and vaccination bills flourish

BY HANNAH HERNER

IN TENNESSEE, a pregnant person cannot get an abortion except in cases of an ectopic pregnancy or a molar pregnancy, or if the mother’s life is in danger. This year, several legislators sought to broaden those exceptions — to no avail.

Perhaps most notable among those attempts (or planned attempts, anyway) were public declarations from physician Sen. Richard Briggs (R-Knoxville) about his intention to bring a bill allowing abortions in cases of fatal fetal anomalies — pregnancies in which the fetus would not be able to live outside of the womb. (Her own experience with a fatal fetal anomaly prompted Allie Phillips to declare her candidacy as a Democrat for House District 75.) Briggs never filed the legislation. Democratic lawmakers sought to allow for exceptions in cases of rape and incest, and for those under age 13 (Tennessee’s age of consent is 18), but those were shot down. The abortion-related bill that did make it to the finish line was an “abortion trafficking” bill from Rep. Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville) and Sen. Paul Rose (R-Tipton). Under the new law, any

BUDGET

Legislators give businesses nearly $2 billion in tax cuts while saving for a rainy day

BY NICOLLE S. PRAINO

THE TENNESSEE GENERAL ASSEMBLY’s $52.8 billion budget included at least one thing Republicans and Democrats could agree was positive: a $100 million addition to the state’s Rainy Day Fund, bringing the total to $2.15 billion.

“There was only about $580 million in the Rainy Day Fund [in 2010],” says Rep. Ryan Williams (R-Cookeville), chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee. “We try to have a percentage, usually 10 to 15 percent of the total budget, in the Rainy Day Fund in case there is an emergency.”

Williams says the cash the state has on hand because of the Rainy Day Fund contributes to Tennessee’s good bond rating, which is also important for local governments to get lower interest rates when borrowing money.

“Certainly putting money in a Rainy Day Fund is a better use than just sending it out for corporate tax refunds,” says Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville).

While this year’s Rainy Day Fund deposit brings the total to the highest it’s been in state history, legislation adjusting Tennessee’s franchise tax will cost the state nearly the same amount — $1.95 billion. Gov. Bill Lee says the state will avoid lawsuits by removing the

adult who takes a minor out of state to receive an abortion without parental permission could be faced with a felony charge. The vague terminology criminalizing anyone who “recruits, harbors or transports” a minor is something lawmakers tried but failed to straighten out. A similar law in Idaho is under a federal block after advocacy groups argued that it violates the First Amendment (a doctor’s right to discuss abortion with minors) and the Fourth Amendment (a person’s right to travel freely between states).

Sen. London Lamar (D-Memphis) sought to offer TennCare coverage continuously for those

under 18 (meaning the child would not have to sign up for it), but that was shot down, along with Nashville Democrat Sen. Charlane Oliver’s attempts at child care assistance.

The session brought some good news for international medical graduates, however, who will now be able to moonlight — that is, work while in school — while completing their education in the U.S.

A few opioid-related pieces of legislation never gained traction, including a bill that would have increased penalties for traveling with or exposing someone to fentanyl, and

franchise tax property provision and giving $1.56 billion back to businesses who paid on that metric previously.

Removing that provision also decreases recurring revenue by $393 million. Because revenue for FY24 is falling short of estimated projections, there is $150 million in the FY25 budget for that undercollection.

“We are heading for increasingly difficult budget years due to the governor and legislature’s own decisions,” says Yarbro. “The economy is not slowing

another regarding punishment for those who knowingly fail to seek medical attention for someone overdosing. On the preventative side, a bill that allows doctors to prescribe more patients buprenorphine — an FDA-approved drug used to curb opioid withdrawal and cravings — passed.

Other bills that stalled involved strict penalties for assault and aggravated assault within a health care facility. A bill offering the “right to die” (in which an adult suffering from a terminal disease could request life-ending medication) … well, died. Another piece of legislation that sought to cap the price of insulin at $35 for a 30-day supply also died. Lamar was successful in passing legislation that will create a maternal health equity advisory committee within the Tennessee Department of Health. Meanwhile, Gov. Bill Lee allotted $3 million for crisis pregnancy centers in this year’s budget.

When SB1903/HB1894 was heard in a House subcommittee, it sounded like a comedy bit, but it did indeed become law: It is now illegal to put vaccines in produce (vegetables, fruits) without labeling them … even though scientists have not yet discovered how to put vaccines in produce. Lee also signed a bill that prohibits the Department of Children’s Services from requiring an immunization for foster parents. Before this change, families had to be vaccinated against the flu and whooping cough in an effort to protect medically fragile children and infants. ▼

down, but revenue growth is flattening, and that is a direct response to the governor’s decisions.”

While that revenue growth has been slower than expected, Gov. Lee said after the end of the session he wasn’t concerned because over the past three years revenue has grown. Williams agrees, saying the growth has moved to the state because of the tax benefits to businesses.

“My expectation is that revenues will continue to

grow, not at the rate that we’ve seen in the last five years, but a more normal rate between 2.5 and 4 percent just based upon population growth,” Williams says. “I don’t think that this tax cut is going to be an impediment. I think it’s going to be an opportunity.” Williams says it could be time for the legislature to cut food or sales tax, noting the initial rise of the sales tax to 7 percent in 2002 was originally intended to have only lasted for a few years.

While $150 million goes back into last year’s budget, $144 million for Gov. Lee’s Education Freedom Scholarships — school vouchers — will not be spent this year since no supporting legislation passed. It will roll back into the General Fund for use in FY26.

“Parking $140 million that should be going to schools in the budget for next year’s attempt at vouchers is ridiculous,” Yarbro says. “It’s really interesting to me that we pass the budget before making decisions on these gigantic financial issues. That’s what’s really unusual here.”

While discussion about the franchise tax was ongoing when the budget passed, the plan for vouchers seemed dead to everyone in the Capitol except the governor.

“Quite frankly, it was out of respect for the governor’s plan,” Williams says. “We felt like it was best not to spend that money and give him ample opportunity to do it because it was in the 11th hour when the budget was already set by the time he decided to punt until next year.”

REP. RYAN WILLIAMS

FRIDAY, MAY 10

MUSIC

[GET OUT ALIVE]

MAGGIE ROSE

Tenured and trusted Nashville singer-songwriter Maggie Rose will headline Germantown’s Brooklyn Bowl this weekend in celebration of No One Gets Out Alive, a new album that marks her debut on heavy-hitting label Big Loud. A collection of soulful and intimate music, No One Gets Out Alive channels retro pop (like in the piano-backed title track), funk grooves (album cut “Underestimate Me”) and mystical world-building (on “Mad Love,” which includes harmonies from John Paul White and guitar from Sadler Vaden). In her words: “I swung for the fences.” The show comes as part of an expansive tour that kicked off last month in St Louis. Main support on the bill comes from ace songwriter Fancy (Hagood). Crystal Rose, deemed an artist to watch in the Scene’s 2024 Country Music Almanac, opens the show. MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER

8 P.M. AT BROOKLYN BOWL 925 THIRD AVE. N.

THE BEAT FUNDRAISER FEAT. DARRIN

BRADBURY, BECCA

MANCARI, REP. AFTYN

BEHN & MORE PAGE 20

TOUGH AS A MOTHER PAGE 22

STEVIE NICKS PAGE 24

THURSDAY

/ 5.9

MUSIC

[LET THE PEOPLE SPEAK] ADEEM THE ARTIST

The concept of populism in country music is one of the genre’s most confusing aspects. This hasn’t changed much since, say, James Talley released his 1975 album Got No Bread, No Milk, No Money, but We Sure Got a Lot of Love. Whereas Talley’s music referenced Western swing and lined out how a working person can’t thrive in this underpaid world, North Carolina-born singer Adeem the Artist sings about how a nonbinary artist might find it hard to get by in a society that values art about as much as it values democratic ideologies. Since it’s well into the 21st century, the musical template that artists like Talley, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings used to illustrate their populism has given way to the usages of ’90s country, which dominate Adeem the Artist’s new album Anniversary Adeem the Artist spent time as a pastor before moving back to Tennessee to pursue a music career, and Anniversary is both religious and secular in tone. With help from producer Butch Walker, Anniversary contains a lot of beautiful

music in that wide-screen ’90s country style. I don’t think Talley or Cash would’ve written this couplet from “Nancy,” one of the best songs on Anniversary: “You got your straight job / And I got my predilection for climaxing at the same time with Nancy, Nancy, Nancy.” Anniversary proves that country populism doesn’t have to be tied to old-school musical practices — though you might note that the ’90s were in fact a long time ago. Opening will be Flamy Grant and Brandi Augustus. EDD HURT

8 P.M. AT THE BASEMENT EAST 917 WOODLAND ST.

MUSIC [MELLO GIALLO] CURTIS GODINO PRESENTS DISCORPORATION

If you’re a frequent local showgoer, in recent months you may have seen New York transplant Curtis Godino’s Crystal Egg, a fun, vibrant art-punk trio centering on Godino’s synth work. You’ve had fewer opportunities, however, to see his project Discorporation — an ensemble through which Godino presents the score to an apocryphal, lost-to-the-ages Italian art film of the same name while accompanied by a stunning, psychedelic light

show. Scene contributor P.J. Kinzer described a Discorporation performance last summer as recalling “the early U.K. art-school music of Soft Machine or Van der Graaf Generator,” supported by a “haunting” and “truly captivating” visual experience. For a performance Thursday night at the Frist, Godino has expanded his ensemble — you’ll hear vibraphone, flute and strings in addition to the bass, guitar and drum mastery of local-rock-scene heavyweights “Little” Jack Lawrence, Dillon Watson and Walker Mimms (respectively), with Godino at the center of it all on keys. Find Curtis Godino Presents Discorporation on Bandcamp for a preview sampling of Godino and company’s rich, ominous, cinematic, nigh vampiric sounds — or just show up and be surprised. Either way, you won’t regret it. The show is free — and “first come, first seated.” D. PATRICK RODGERS

6:30-7:30 P.M. AT THE FRIST

919 BROADWAY

FRIDAY

/ 5.10

THEATER

[A FIERCE FEMME FARCE]

POTUS: OR, BEHIND EVERY GREAT DUMBASS ARE SEVEN WOMEN TRYING TO KEEP HIM ALIVE

Nashville Repertory Theatre has been on quite a roll this season, delivering a great blend of smart, socially relevant work. The company appears to be continuing that trend with its season closer POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive. Billed as a “fiercely feminist farce,” this sharp political comedy follows a group of women struggling to keep the commander-inchief out of trouble, while struggling to contain a PR nightmare of his own making. Playwright Selina Fillinger was just 28 years old when POTUS first premiered on Broadway in 2022, and it garnered Tony nominations for SNL alum Rachel Dratch and seasoned stage and screen veteran Julie White. Nashville Rep favorite Lauren Shouse (The Cake, Avenue Q) directs a terrific cast here, including Lauren Berst, Tamara Todres, Tamiko Robinson Steele, Darci Nalepa Elam, Kris Sidberry, Quincey Lou Huerter and Rachel Agee. As you might expect, POTUS does contain adult language and situations, but I have a feeling it will also provide plenty of laughs. AMY STUMPFL

MAY 10-19 AT TPAC’S JOHNSON THEATER 505 DEADERICK ST

[THE BEAT GOES ON]

MUSIC

THE BEAT FUNDRAISER FEAT. DARRIN BRADBURY, BECCA MANCARI, REP.

AFTYN BEHN & MORE

Homeless outreach organization The Beat — a central piece of last week’s Scene cover story — will host a fundraiser on Friday at Madison’s Amqui Station. Proceeds will directly benefit the small nonprofit’s efforts to help unhoused people get back on their feet. There will be live music, with performances from acclaimed songsmith Becca Mancari as well as David Dondero, Beat founder Darrin Bradbury and

more. The event will also feature speeches from state Rep. Aftyn Behn (D-Nashville) and the Rev. Jay Voorhees, lead pastor at City Road Chapel and a longtime advocate for Nashville’s unhoused population. Claire Annette Possum, a Beat team member, will display her artwork, which will be for sale. There is a suggested $10 donation at the door. BRITTNEY MCKENNA

6 P.M. AT AMQUI STATION

303B MADISON ST.

MUSIC

[WHY ARE THINGS SO HEAVY IN THE FUTURE?] ERIC SLICK ALBUM RELEASE

If we found ourselves on an alternate timeline, any song from Nashville songsmith and multi-instrumentalist Eric Slick’s New Age Rage would stand a decent chance of being the radio hit of summer 1984 in Philadelphia, where he grew up. His latest solo LP dives headlong into the ’80s pop landscape as it was reshaped in the funky image of legends like Nile Rodgers, Prince, Maurice White and P-Funk’s Bernie Worrell. But New Age Rage is all about living through the strange times we find ourselves in right now, when new technologies are messing with the ways we interact with strangers, our loved ones and even ourselves — and moving so fast it can be difficult to figure out how to react. Slick has been hard at work developing an immersive stage show to bring the audience into the world of grooving, thoughtful tunes like “Freakin’ Out” and “Ratboy Two.” Friday night, you’ve got your chance to experience the whole production for yourself, complete with video elements, inflatables and maybe even some karaoke. STEPHEN TRAGESER

8 P.M. AT THE BLUE ROOM AT THIRD MAN RECORDS

623 SEVENTH AVE. S.

[SPY SEAGULL]

BOOKS

BOROUGH FEATURES LAUNCH PARTY

Erica Ciccarone, former Scene culture editor and current Bookpage nonfiction editor, is a gifted writer whose friend-ofScene status shouldn’t diminish the heaps of praise we’re likely to throw her way at her novel’s launch party. Ciccarone, who has a master’s degree in creative writing from The New School in New York, has combed through her experience as a journalist, city dweller and keen observer of idiosyncratic behaviors to create Borough Features, a jaunt through outer-borough mysteries and shenanigans that features a crime-fighting seagull. From the press release: “Borough Features is about fighting to bring the truth to light in a world that’s been dimmed by grief.” Ciccarone will chat about her novel with poet and DJ Maggie Wells. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

6 P.M. AT THE PORCH HOUSE

2811 DOGWOOD PLACE

MUSIC

[GIANT STEPS] AFROKOKOROOT

Afrobeat is one of the most fascinating musical styles to emerge in the past halfcentury, combining a variety of West African traditions with American and European pop and funk styles into a sociopolitically engaged and physically engaging thing of beauty. Fela Kuti brought Afrobeat to life and made it a cultural force for protesting oppression in Nigeria in the 1970s. Much more recently, Sunny Dada and Afrokokoroot helped it find a home in Nashville, playing regularly at The 5 Spot, Acme Feed and Seed and other venues around the city. The group includes as many as 10 musicians, weaving a tapestry of syncopated rhythms and interlocking melodies as the charismatic Dada sings — and shouts, and dances, and plays a host of percussion instruments — about connections between people and the struggle to find peace in our turbulent present. This is music that’s difficult not to dance to. If that concerns you because you don’t know the steps, don’t worry — Dada & Co. will teach you, as I found out when they played Vinyl Tap on Record Store Day. STEPHEN TRAGESER

9 P.M. AT THE 5 SPOT 1006 FOREST AVE.

SATURDAY / 5.11

MUSIC

[SUPER FUZZ BIG MUFF] HEAVY TEMPLE W/WAXED AND MAANTA RAAY

Philadelphia’s Heavy Temple lives by its own modified version of Timothy Leary’s motto: Turn on, turn up, drop tune. For 12 years, the high-power acid-rock trio has been cranking out some of the murkiest metal on the East Coast. With trippy grooves centered on the blasted-out bass lines and unearthly wails of frontwoman High Priestess Nighthawk, HT’s drudging riffs are heavy enough to have their gravitational pull while still having distinct melodies and lush textures. Theatrical and emotive, Nighthawk’s songcraft and sonic mayhem make the band one of contemporary metal’s most interesting acts. Openers Maanta Raay, a recent addition to

Nashville’s community of blazed-out hessians, feature members of Kings of the Fucking Sea and My Wall. Maanta Raay’s phenomenal debut single “The Night Rider” is an ultra-crunchy boogie-fueled anthem that promises a lot to look forward to. Local thrashers Waxed, armed to the teeth with a few new ragers in their arsenal, will inject a little velocity into the night for the kids who need a circle pit. P.J. KINZER 7 P.M. AT THE BLUE ROOM AT THIRD MAN RECORDS 623 SEVENTH AVE S.

MUSIC

[DOWNTEMPO ELECTRONIC MUSIC PIONEERS] THIEVERY CORPORATION

Saturday evening at Cannery Hall, Washington, D.C.-based electronic music pioneers Thievery Corporation will make a rare appearance in Nashville, their first since a 2017 date at Marathon Music Works. The show will be the fourth stop on the ensemble’s 42-date tour of the U.S., the U.K. and Europe. Thievery Corporation is the vehicle for the music of co-writers/co-producers Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, who specialize in an uber-groovy style of downtempo electronic music that draws heavily on world music, reggae, trip-hop, jazz and soul, and features socially conscious lyrics. Since they founded the group in 1995, the duo has released 10 studio albums and a bunch of compilations featuring an often-changing lineup of musicians, vocalists and rappers. Hilton no longer performs live with the group, so multi-instrumentalist Garza is joined on the current tour by a lineup that will be familiar to fans of the band: music director Jeff Franca on drums, Rob Myers on guitars and sitar, Frank Orrall on percussion and vocals, Dan Africano on bass, and vocalists Racquel Jones, Laura Vall, Puma Ptah and Mr. Lif. Producer-DJ Matthew Dear opens the show. DARYL SANDERS

9 P.M. AT CANNERY HALL

1 CANNERY ROW

FILM [PICTURE IN PICTURE]

MIDNIGHT MOVIES: ANGUISH

It’s kinda surprising how Anguish isn’t a better-known entry in the ultra-limited horror subgenre that is batshit-crazy, self-reflexive mindfucks from another country. (To be honest,

AFROKOKOROOT

I’d never heard of the flick until Picks editor Cole Villena assigned it to me.) Made in Spain by filmmaker Bigas Luna (who directed Penélope Cruz’s debut film Jamón Jamón), this 1987 slasher satire follows a hospital orderly (Michael Lerner) who is literally under the homicidal spell of his telepathic, snail-obsessed mother (Poltergeist ghostbuster Zelda Rubinstein), who hypnotizes him into going on a very gruesome killing spree. Nearly 30 minutes in, you discover that you’re not the only one viewing this feature presentation. Luna also throws in an audience full of white-knucklers, watching all this mayhem unfold at a run-down theater. “This is gonna be too much,” one anxiety-ridden audience member says when the on-screen killer starts offing people in a similar-looking auditorium. You could say this hair-raising, hella-meta hall of mirrors wants it both ways — basically wagging its finger at audiences who crave gory, gratuitously violent films while giving them two at the same time.

CRAIG D. LINDSEY

MIDNIGHT AT THE BELCOURT

2102 BELCOURT AVE.

SUNDAY / 5.12

THEATER

[DON’T TELL MAMA!] TOUGH AS A MOTHER

This Sunday is Mother’s Day, and if you’re looking for a unique way to honor the special moms (or other supportive ladies) in your life, Street Theatre Company has got you covered with Tough as a Mother. Presented as part of the company’s popular cabaret series, this weekend’s edition promises a sassy celebration of “the grit, resilience and sheer power of motherhood.” Audiences can look forward to a nice mix of genres, with songs from artists such as Pink, Sara Bareilles, Grace Potter and The Highwomen, along with selections from musical theater favorites like Dear Evan Hansen and Waitress. Plus, it’s just a great lineup of badass mamas, including Ang MadalineJohnson, Annabelle Fox, Carrie Brewer, Erica Lee Haines, LaDarra Jackel, Mallory Mundy, Melissa Steadman, Sarah Zanotti Jackson and Taryn Pray. You might even say that, when it comes to talent, Street Theatre has hit the “mother lode.”

AMY STUMPFL

7 P.M. AT THE BARBERSHOP THEATER 4003 INDIANA AVE.

MONDAY / 5.13

[FIGURED IT OUT]

MUSIC

ROYAL BLOOD

grungy electric guitar and booming bass tones — frontman Mike Kerr uses effects to make his four-string sound like both instruments simultaneously — carrying the listener through each song. But the 2023 record also allows the group to indulge in their other sensibilities and expand their musical palette, such as on the standout track “Pull Me Through,” an emotional, engrossing tune anchored by a fantastic piano hook that emanates throughout the song. They’ve got a catalog of songs that stand toe to toe not only with their contemporaries, but also with the classic rock acts of the past — don’t miss them. Fellow English rockers Bad Nerves open. ROB HINKAL

8 P.M. AT BROOKLYN BOWL

925 THIRD AVE. N

TUESDAY / 5.14

MUSIC

[WELCOME TO THE BUNGLE] MR. BUNGLE

In the 10 years since their self-titled debut sent shockwaves through the British rock scene and gave us the super-cool music video for “Out of the Black,” Royal Blood has continued to hone their craft. They’ve released three more studio albums, performed at numerous festivals, toured across the world and opened for acts such as Muse and Queens of the Stone Age. Their latest release, Back to the Water Below, sees the duo staying true to their roots with

Do you listen to metal? Country? Jazz? Ska, even? This is the show for you! Though they’re thrashers at their core, the ever-eccentric members of Mr. Bungle have been subverting genres like ninjas on the radio dial since the late ’80s. The avant-meets-alternative-rock band continues to turn the typical pop song on its head with boots firmly planted in their heavy metal roots. Led by vocalist extraordinaire Mike Patton — whom fans remember from Faith No More, Tomahawk and numerous other side projects — Bungle re-recorded their initial 1986

cassette The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo in 2020 and followed up with a blistering live album a year later. Both records and the current spring tour lineup feature the heavy contributions of metal icons Scott Ian of Anthrax on rhythm guitar and Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo. JASON VERSTEGEN

8 P.M. AT BROOKLYN BOWL

925 THIRD AVE. N.

MUSIC

[LONDON CALLING] THE CHISEL W/HOME FRONT AND G.U.N.

Occasionally bands rise from the underworld of DIY filth to catch the ears of a broader circle. Though Londoners The Chisel and Edmonton’s Home Front are firmly grounded within the punk community that birthed them, I knew when I heard their records that they both would garner the attention of new audiences and finicky music critics. Home Front’s Canadian prairie reverberation is anchored by the bleak aggression of UK 82 buzzsaw-and-boot-stomp riffs, coupling the noise with New Order’s melancholy sensuousness. The Chisel, by comparison, harnesses the fury of proletariat anthems rife with fist-shaking chants and a chorus of sing-alongs. The captivating force of singer Callum Graham’s kerosene-gargling roar over punchy melodies often draws comparison to U.K. forefathers like The Partisans or Leatherface. The Chisel released their latest full-length, What a Fucking Nightmare, via Nashville indie imprint Pure Noise Records in February to rapturous reviews. The

ROYAL BLOOD PHOTO: TOM BEARD

of two underground heavyweights throws down a mighty glove to any local opener, but G.U.N. stands up to the challenge of getting folks warmed up. With a 12-inch on Sorry State already sold out, G.U.N. promises to drop a new four-song 7-inch this year, continuing their hardcore killing spree. If your punk palate prefers contempt for the Margaret ThatcherRonald Reagan alliance, this gig might be a good way to update your rage for 2024. P.J. KINZER

7 P.M. AT EXIT/IN

2208 ELLISTON PLACE

MUSIC

[ALL KILLER] SUM 41

Sum 41, middle-class heroes of pop-punk for more than two decades, is callin’ it quits … but not before a globetrotting final tour that brings the band to Nashville’s famed Ryman Auditorium. Known largely for a collection of snotty and cynical hits buoyed by the height of MTV’s video curation megapowers in the early 2000s, Sum 41 carved its name in the mainstream punk rock pantheon with staple skate-park tracks like “In Too Deep,” “The Hell Song,” “Still Waiting,” “We’re All to Blame” and, of course, “Fat Lip.” (C’mon guys, you know the opening riff of that song still hits.) Now the band turns the Mother Church into a house of power-chord worship this week in support of Heaven :x: Hell, a double LP that marks the planned final release in Sum 41’s career. Dust off a pair of checkered Vans and storm the pews like your name’s El Niño, because with no future Nashville dates planned for Sum 41, it may be your last chance. Ska-punk band The Interrupters plays main support; opening support comes from Joey Valence and Brae.

MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER

7:30 P.M. AT THE RYMAN

116 REP. JOHN LEWIS WAY N.

MUSIC

[STEVIE PICKS] STEVIE NICKS

It brings me joy to know that the clip of Stevie Nicks singing “Silver Springs” to her ex Lindsey Buckingham while burning a hole in him with her eyes is making the rounds on the internet again. As Gen Z says, there is so much lore to explore there — but there’s so much of Nicks’ solo career and individual talent to appreciate too. At Nicks’ upcoming Nashville show, audiences can expect to hear killer Fleetwood Mac songs as well as her solo tracks like “Edge of Seventeen” and “Stand Back.” It’s a short yet powerful set list with plenty of time for yapping. I saw Stevie Nicks in 2017, and she was everything I could have hoped for. As we age, we become more prone to telling long stories, but the difference with Nicks is that hers are so very interesting — she makes the audience feel like she’s letting them in on some tea. My cousin, who accompanied me to the show, walked away saying, “Maybe I should name my daughter Stevie if I ever have one.” She inspires that kind of devotion from people. HANNAH HERNER

7 P.M. AT BRIDGESTONE ARENA

501 BROADWAY

WEDNESDAY / 5.15

MUSIC [LENDING A HAND] FUNDRAISER FOR GLEN DUNCAN

Well-respected bluegrass and country fiddler Glen Duncan suffered a series of strokes in December that resulted in his hospitalization. Duncan was driving at the time of his illness, and he also was involved in an automobile accident that was a result of the strokes. He and his family are facing a battle that includes medical bills. Duncan is a founding member of legendary bluegrass group Lonesome Standard Time, which he started in 1990 with fellow bluegrass giant Larry Cordle. He’s also played sessions for a huge number of bluegrass and country greats. A group of superb instrumentalists and singers that includes Cordle will gather Wednesday for a fundraiser for Duncan, who continues his recovery. On hand will be fiddler Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, who grew up in Vermont and Virginia before moving to Nashville, where she’s made a name for herself as a solo artist and as a member of guitarist Molly Tuttle’s band, Golden Highway. Tuttle & Co. will appear, along with multiinstrumentalist Stuart Duncan, all-purpose country superstar Vince Gill, and Rhonda Vincent and the Rage. Also doing their part for the cause will be Hawktail, The Travelin’ McCourys and Sister Sadie. More artists are set to lend a hand — check back before you go. EDD HURT 7:30 P.M. AT 3RD AND LINDSLEY

818 THIRD AVE. S.

[CELEBRATING COMMUNITY]

SPORTS

NASHVILLE SC VS. TORONTO FC: API HERITAGE NIGHT

Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is celebrated in May to commemorate two dates: May 7, 1843, when the first Japanese immigrants arrived in the United States, and May 10, 1869, when the Transcontinental Railroad was completed thanks largely to the work of Chinese immigrant laborers. API Middle Tennessee has a lot planned to celebrate, ranging from songwriters’ nights to happy hours. (Check out apimidtn.org/apihm for a complete list.) One highlight will be API Heritage Night at Geodis Park, where fans can catch performances, art and more from our city before watching the Boys in Gold take on Toronto FC. (At press time, Nashville SC is coming off a match against another Canadian club, CF Montréal.) You already know there will be a commemorative T-shirt: One with a fearsome dragon designed by a local artist that will look good on the street or in the supporters’ section. COLE VILLENA

7:30 P.M. AT GEODIS PARK

501 BENTON AVE.

ALL THAI’D UP

Thai and Japanese classics meet refined seafood options at A-Roi in McKissack Park

BY ALIJAH POINDEXTER

FOR HUSBAND-AND-WIFE owners Amy

Yimnoi and Big-O, A-Roi feels like a natural progression. They’re no strangers to the local Thai scene, having run Mt. Juliet’s Smiley Thai and Goodlettsville’s Poy Thai for a few years now. But A-Roi, their first foray within Nashville proper, is noticeably different.

What hasn’t changed is the duo’s culinary ethos: Thai and Japanese fare are still on the menu along with drinks, shareables and a sizable list of sushi and sashimi. They also remain focused on consistent service and reasonable if not necessarily dirt-cheap prices. The real difference lies in the tastefully elevated experience and execution, which makes A-Roi a welcome addition to Nashville’s roster of trendy Thai spots.

For one, A-Roi is refreshingly modern. Nestled on a shady corner in McKissack Park a

few blocks north of Charlotte Avenue, A-Roi is sleek and elegant but nevertheless down to earth. Huge windows bring natural light into the dining room, while shady earth tones and intimate tables give a comfortable vibe for the dinner crowd. The bar, immaculate and eye-catching, sends out beer, wine and soju alongside specialty cocktails like the refreshing baijiu-centered Tiki Tiki or the Golden Dream, which features notes of yuzu. Those who want a view into the kitchen as the woks fire up can sit at the sushi station. Here you’re likely to find executive chef and sushi expert Koji hard at work, slicing sashimi and glancing up occasionally like a salmon-obsessed Captain Ahab surveying his crew. Pair this ambience with a delicious, high(ish)-concept menu and you get a seriously enjoyable experience, perfect for business dinners, date nights and casual get-togethers alike.

A-Roi by Smiley Thai 2700 Clifton Ave. aroinashville.com

PHOTOS: ANGELINA CASTILLO

CRAB FRIED RICE

MASSAMAN STEW BEEF

CRAB NOODLE CURRY

Amy and Big-O had this exact experience in mind when they set out to open. “We’re passionate about making delicious Thai and sushi accessible to everyone,” they tell the Scene as a team, noting that A-Roi focuses not just on the food, but on also creating a “welcoming space, where neighbors can gather, connect and enjoy memorable dining experiences together.” A-Roi, fortunately for Nashville, is doing a good job of that already.

But enough with the high-falutin’ talk about experience and decor. How’s the food?

Well, there’s plenty to go around. A-Roi’s menu is wide-ranging to say the least, but it’s imperative for first-timers and return customers alike to check out A-Roi’s starters. On first glance, you’ll be drawn to the standard choices: edamame (salt and garlic options), spring rolls, crab Rangoon and the like. While these are all perfectly fine if unadventurous choices, I’d be remiss to skip a mention of the fried dumplings. Filled with chicken and shrimp, they’re lightly fried and served with a surprisingly delicate soy sauce. The dumplings, along with the gyoza and tasty shrimp shumai, make A-Roi a prime destination within a Nashville dumpling tour. And it doesn’t stop there. Unpretentious izakaya mainstays like yakitori and ika maruyaki (grilled squid topped with teriyaki sauce) rub shoulders with bowls of tom kha and tom yum, while the hamachi carpaccio (yellowtail sashimi with yuzu miso and jalapeño) provides a tasty element of Japanese haute cuisine.

While A-Roi is a great option for an afternoon spent knocking back appetizers and drinks, we didn’t come for starters alone. Outside of starters and a few rice bowl options, diners have two main avenues to travel down at A-Roi: A-Roi ‘Special Dishes’ (Thai and Japanese-style entrees) or a broad range of fresh seafood options. On

the seafood front, sushi and sashimi are the safest bet, whether the mood demands deepfried sushi, tuna poke or fatty-tuna sashimi. Omakase and seafood towers are available as well, though be sure to check their availability. The kitchen works with a “reliable” distributor in Atlanta to guarantee a fresh supply of fish weekly.

As for conventional Thai and Japanese entrees, A-Roi covers the basics and more. Find tonkotsu and miso ramen alongside chicken yakisoba, panang duck, pad see ew and the multicolored array of curries characteristic of Thai places around town. Where A-Roi truly succeeds, though, is in doing the classics well without abandoning their authenticity. Case in point: the katsu curry. A lean cut of pork is fried golden-brown, then served in a bath of Japanese curry. Sounds easy enough, but plenty of times at other establishments I have opted for one and walked away disappointed — or worse, horrified. A-Roi dishes out both a juicy pork cutlet that maintains its crunch and a surprisingly complex sauce with warming spice and an apple-like sweetness.

I’ll also mention the khao soi gai. Until A-Roi, I was convinced that I would never find a bowl of Thai noodles in Nashville that can truly compete with Degthai’s tiew gang or tom yum goong. But A-Roi’s khao soi gai is a whirlwind romance. I’m not quite ready to commit and say I prefer the khao soi gai over Degthai’s options, but it’s a very close race. One spoonful takes you to a special place, where deep flavors of coconut milk, curry and fresh herbs mingle with al dente noodles and a crunchy fried noodle garnish.

For me, it’s fantastic. A new restaurant has me questioning everything I thought I knew about Thai noodle soup in Nashville. It’s worth your time and money. ▼

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ONE DAY IN 2016, Christine Rogers received a letter from her mother, sent by a lawyer, cutting off all contact. Rogers was instructed to never reach out to her mother again. “Wherever she is … she is somewhere far away,” Rogers writes. This letter is not included in The Dream Pool, and its absence is felt — a chasm of grief. All that is missing from The Dream Pool feels this way.

But first, we’ll consider all that is present. Showing at Belmont University’s Leu Art Gallery through May 24, The Dream Pool is an exhibition of photographs taken over 15 years, displayed alongside texts from archival newspapers and the artist’s personal narrative. The significant amount of text appears on translucent paper that overlaps with many of the photographs. One wall is so crowded that it looks like the surface of a desk, as if we’re inspecting organized evidence in a complicated investigation.

Rogers, an associate professor of photography at Belmont, centers her research and art on “the use and function of images in our personal and collective lives,” and continually grapples with the greater context of global warming. For The Dream Pool, she has provided us with a central plotline — her mother’s disappearance from her life — and then layered it within history, within dreams and within imagery that appears laden with symbols.

The distinct chronological arc of The Dream Pool gives us a clear sense of time, and thus its running out. Naturally, it all begins with a dream.

“When I was a child, I had a dream about a mountain,” the text begins, the paper overlapping an unframed photograph of four figures in a snowscape. We assume this must be a mountain’s summit. Nearby is a photo of an ice cave, with polar bears — a mother and her cub — carved into the wall of ice. There is a stroller in the center of the scene. A figure, more like a shadow, appears to be the photographer. There must be a reflection here, but we can’t quite tell where the glass is.

As the text begins in earnest, Rogers writes about how she went to Switzerland to reckon with her mother’s obsession with her family’s origins. Her mother always referred to Switzerland as “heaven on earth,” and when Rogers finds herself atop the mountain of her childhood dream, she encounters an Indian woman who describes the moment in exactly those words: “heaven on earth.” This serendipity, this improbable thread between two women, draws Rogers to India in 2012.

Rogers has returned to India many times since that first trip, and it has been a consistent source of inspiration for her work. She is a twotime Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Scholar for India, in 2012 to 2013 and 2018 to 2019. Her first solo show in India was in 2013 at 1 Shanthi Road Gallery in Bangalore, and she has had art-

LOST MEMORY OF ICE

Christine Rogers spans centuries and continents in her profound The Dream Pool

BY CAT ACREE

ist residencies in both Bangalore and Mumbai. In The Dream Pool, she focuses on her research into the Indo American Ice Trade, a brief period in the mid-1830s when ice was transported from Boston to Calcutta. For the first voyage, the ice was harvested from New England waters that included Walden Pond, loaded aboard a ship called the Tuscany, and hauled around the globe, losing half the ice in the process.

“I like to imagine the ice in the hull of the ship,” Rogers writes, “buried in hay and burlap, shrouded in darkness, like a fetus, like a zygote, like a memory. It’s there, lying dormant … a signal of both wonder and of doom.”

In the most dense section of The Dream Pool, we witness the response and aftermath of this trade. There’s a poem published in the papers (it’s so lavishing of praise that 47 stanzas must be cut), letters arguing for the ice’s merits and dangers, and then discussions about how to distribute the ice to “private families.” Alongside portraits of people she meets in India, Rogers writes about visiting the oldest ice factory in the country and the “snow theme parks that are seemingly in almost every mall.” The aforementioned poem is accompanied by a photograph of an Indian tugboat named the Time Skipper, if anyone was looking for a clear explanation of

what Rogers is doing here.

Along the way, we learn about Rogers’ relationship with her mother, their creative collaboration, and her mother’s grappling with the darkest parts of her life. When we finally get to her mother’s letter, we’re tucked into a corner of the gallery. The paper is practically falling off the installation wall. It’s the most devastating part of the story so far, and it’s crowded out. However, there is more pain to come — an utter loss of motherhood for the artist.

The remainder of the gallery is occupied by 11 large photographs. At this point, we are fully contextualized. We can see exactly what’s gone missing — maybe not the specifics, but we can feel the outline of it. In these large-scale portraits, the subjects’ faces are turned away, their curled bodies glowing in light or water. There is a triptych of craggy rocks that appear almost in sequence, as if the sea is eroding them over time. Another triptych captures the sun low over the horizon, obscured in a filmy flare or glare. There are two images of ice blocks resting in sand — water rushing around one, the other resting quietly. These ice photos are hung close to the ground; a child would have the best view of them.

When it becomes necessary to ask what

happened, there can be no end to the number of connections that can be made. With the towering perspective offered by The Dream Pool, Rogers suggests that great personal pain and tremendous familial loss are not so different from all these other losses — the forgetting of history, the using-up of our planet. We all desire for our pain to have context; here, Rogers says, is one context.

“No resolution to be found,” she writes of one memory of her mother. “A loss of loss.”

Grief is visitation and revisitation, with stories told and retold, and Rogers has so gently drawn us to her story. The word that comes to mind is correspondence, both in the sense of sending and receiving letters, and in the serendipity of two points in time sharing something in common. Rogers has composed an astonishing visual memoir, soaring in its scope yet seemingly at peace with all that has been withstood. ▼

The Dream Pool Through May 24 at Belmont’s Leu Art Gallery, 1907 Belmont Blvd.

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Celebrated

DAMAGED GOODS

Irish novelist Colm Tóibín’s new book begins with a bombshell

BY SEAN KINCH

Long Island By Colm Tóibín

Scribner

320 pages, $28

Tóibín will discuss Long Island 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 9, at Parnassus

an independent bookstore for independent people

UPCOMING EVENTS

PARNASSUSBOOKS.NET/EVENT FOR TICKETS & UPDATES

SATURDAY, MAY 11

10:30AM

SATURDAY STORYTIME at PARNASSUS

6:30PM THE CARNEGIE WRITERS' PROFESSIONAL READING EVENT at PARNASSUS

WEDNESDAY, MAY 15

6:30PM HELEN SIMONSON at PARNASSUS

The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club FRIDAY, MAY 17

12:00PM BOOK SIGNING WITH VALERIE BERTINELLI at PARNASSUS

Indulge: Delicious and Decadent Dishes to Enjoy and Share

SATURDAY, MAY 18

10:30AM

SATURDAY STORYTIME with JOY JORDAN-LAKE at PARNASSUS All The Little Animals

MONDAY, MAY 20

6:30PM JOHN COWAN & JIMMY SCHWARTZ with RON WYNN at PARNASSUS

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

Shop online at parnassusbooks.net

Hold to a Dream: A Newgrass Odyssey parnassusbooks parnassusbooksnashville

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COLM TÓIBÍN, a novelist known for his patient portrayals of quiet lives, begins his new novel with a bombshell. On the first page of Long Island, Eilis Fiorello, née Lacey, finds out that her husband Tony has impregnated another woman. Further ratcheting up the stakes is the fact that Eilis receives this news from the pregnant woman’s husband, who has no intention of keeping a child who isn’t his.

“So as soon as this little bastard is born, I am transporting it here,” the aggrieved husband tells Eilis. “And if you are not at home … I’ll leave it right here on your doorstep.”

In short order, Eilis (pronounced Eye-lish) confronts Tony, who confesses to being responsible. Eilis then delivers an edict: “There are no circumstances under which I am going to look after a baby. It is your business, not mine.” When Tony hedges about the child, Eilis announces that she is going to visit her mother in Ireland, where she hasn’t been in 20 years, and their children will follow soon after. They will be far away when the child is born, giving Tony the opportunity to handle the quagmire on his own. If their home is free of foundlings when Eilis returns, their marriage may continue; if she detects the mewling of a newborn anywhere on their suburban cul-desac, which is filled with Tony’s Italian family, she will leave him and take their (legitimate) children with her.

Long Island is a sequel to Tóibín’s Brooklyn (2009), in which Eilis immigrates to New York and settles down with Tony, a plumber who seems grounded and stable. The new novel takes her back to the Irish village, Enniscorthy, where long ago she fell in love with a local

man, before circumstances forced her to leave. Sleeping once again in her mother’s house, a place unchanged by the intervening decades, Eilis can’t help but wonder if she chose the wrong path then. Maybe now, with her marriage on the brink of collapse, she has a second opportunity at genuine happiness.

Once the story moves to Ireland, Tóibín rotates the narrative focus among Eilis and two other characters. Her old friends, themselves in the muddle of middle age, have complicated lives of their own. Nancy Sheridan, a widow for the past five years, runs a successful chip shop and is preparing for her daughter’s wedding. Eilis’ erstwhile boyfriend, Jim Farrell, who has inherited his father’s pub, remains single, in large part due to having his heart broken by Eilis. Tóibín offers glimpses into each of their private lives, laying competing claims to our sympathies, even when they make dubious choices.

Tóibín constructs the novel around a series of dichotomies, most prominently the divide between America and Ireland. Eilis’ hometown seems at first to be stuck in the past: Little distinguishes Enniscorthy of the mid-1970s from the last time Eilis saw it in the ’50s, whereas in New York new suburbs pop up regularly. Eilis’ mother Mrs. Lacey accentuates the divide by declaring “she didn’t want to hear another word about America.” “Every time I turn on the television, I hear Americans laughing at something that’s not even funny,” she says. But the proud Irish woman, nearing 80, allows American appliances into her home, and near the end she is excited about flying to New York to see her grandchildren in their native habitat.

Other contrasts similarly break down, notably the ethical dilemma about Eilis’ primary responsibility: Must she put her family first, or can she determine what is best for herself? The easiest path, she knows, is to do what is expected of her. “It occurred to Eilis that if she stopped thinking about herself and what she wanted, then everything would fall into place,” she thinks. Letting outside forces control her choices, though, has led to regrets in the past. Plus, the clock is ticking. As one of Jim’s patrons puts it, Eilis is already “damaged goods.” If she is going to start life anew, she must do it now.

Tóibín reveals his characters as multifaceted and unpredictable, even to themselves. In one scene, Eilis dismisses her husband as an afterthought, and in the next she rhapsodizes about Tony playing with their children and winking at her with his special glint. Nancy appears selfless and conscientious, but when another woman moves in on the man she loves, Nancy retaliates with the focused fury of a raptor.

What Eilis learns in Long Island, much as she discovers in Brooklyn, is that she can open herself to new possibilities only by foreclosing others. The demands of being a wife and mother, the pull of sexual desire, the appeal of home, the excitement of adventure, one’s duty toward tradition, one’s openness to change — every step Eilis takes alters the formula. Still, as Eilis learns, making hard choices is far preferable to allowing others to choose for you.

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

PHOTO: REYNALDO RIVERA

THE LAST TROUBADOURS

SHOWCASE feat. DYLAN SMUCKER, BRENNA MACMILLAN & MOLLY RUTH

WMOT Roots Radio Presents Finally Friday featuring THOMAS CSORBA, MICHAEL LAWSON & WILLIE TEA TAYLOR

& CATIE OFFERMAN

POKEY LAFARGE with JONATHAN PLEVYAK

Bluebird on 3rd featuring BILLY MONTANA, RANDY MONTANA & DERIC RUTTAN with SAM BLASKO + CADEN GILLARD

CORDOVAS with SPECIAL GUESTS

NASHVILLE FIDDLE FEST: A Fundraiser for GLEN DUNCAN featuring VINCE GILL, RHONDA VINCENT AND THE RAGE, DAROL ANGER, SISTER SADIE, HAWKTAIL, JASON CARTER, LARRY CORDLE AND LONESOME STANDARD TIME, MICHAEL CLEVELAND, THE TRAVELIN MCCOURYS, BRONWYN KEITH-HYNES, STUART DUNCAN & more

real estate w/ water from your eyes g flip w/ Florrie yot club w/ boyscott project pat michael marcagi w/ lily fitts carson jeffrey & tyler halverson the emo night tour jeff bernat toni romiti shannon and the clams w/ tropa magica

me nd adam w/ thebrofresh (7PM) this pine box w/ mosant (9pm) will kimbrough (7PM) fuck yeah friday w/ grandville, zh.wav, gil costello (9pm)

chemtrail w/ shedonist & hollow head (9pm)

lawrence rothman w/ liam st. john (7pm) the smokeshows w/ tennessee muscle candy & sean carrol (9pm)

thomas csorba w/ grayson jenkins (7PM)

vukovi & calva louise w/ stellar circuits (7pm) odie leigh (6:30pm) plush (7pm)

dallas alexander w/ ellis melillo (9pm)

nicolette & the nobodies (7pm)

ric robertson w/ hawk alert (9pm)

bee taylor w/ boys club for girls (7pm)

chris kasper (7pm) joel adam russell, jack barksdale, austin plaine (7pm) imogen clark (7pm)

¿QUIÉN SABE?

After many iterations, Bad Bunny returns to Nashville amid a return to form

BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

BAD BUNNY’S RETURN to Nashville is long overdue. The Puerto Rican trap artist was already a bona fide hitmaker back in 2018 when he last came through town, riding a wave of buzz and hype about a “new Latin explosion.” Since then, he’s become not just the biggest name in reggaeton but perhaps the most famous artist in the world, crushing streaming numbers, winning Latin and Gringo Grammys, tagging into professional wrestling, popping up in movies and even hosting Saturday Night Live. He’s pushed boundaries of Latin trap and reggaeton along the way, participated in mass protests in Puerto Rico and challenged gender norms with fashion-forward performances, both onstage and in music videos.

Somehow he never booked so much as a Bonnaroo gig in all that time. Despite the different iterations he’s explored since his last romp through town, the version of Bad Bunny that returns to Tennessee this month may be closer to the one that visited six years ago.

San Benito’s 2022 LP Un Verano Sin Ti was a glorious experiment with genre, bouncing from indie pop to cumbia and even working in a little bossa nova. It pushed the bounds of so-called música urbana and dominated charts despite only one true standout single (“Tití

Me Preguntó”). The bittersweet energy of that summery breakup album didn’t carry over to fall 2023.

Bad Bunny, as all superstars do, was struggling with the twin burdens of global fame and increasing isolation. It’s an old story, but the rapper is talented and interesting enough to make the trope worth revisiting. And in a surprise move, he returns to his Latin trap roots — with craggy samples, triple-time hi-hats and dembow drums — to do so on Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana

El Conejo Malo cut his teeth on moody, lovesick emo-rap, but he brings a new world-weary bitterness to his old stomping grounds. Despite sonic similarities between Bad Bunny’s sound today and in his early years, the new album features a more petty and aggressive Benito than we’re used to. He goes after past collaborator J Balvin, seems to take a swipe at reigning queen of reggaeton Karol G and disses his ex-girlfriend (a move that earned fitting but unfavorable comparisons to Drake’s recent anti-Rihanna rhymes). He defends throwing a woman’s phone into water because she wasn’t a real fan — and indeed, there’s a degree to which Bunny seems to be daring Un Verano newcomers to cross a genre line they ignored till now.

The themes feel retrograde from a dude with a decent rep in progressive circles. Sure, he was never gonna be the next Residente — Calle 13’s volcanic MC — but it’s a bummer to see him so enveloped by his own fame. It doesn’t help that the album is too long for such a tiresome theme.

At the same time, it would be unfair to so closely link these unflattering qualities to Bad Bunny’s return to trap. At its best moments (and there are many highlights), Nadie Sabe feels more like a return to form than a stylistic retread, with deft flows, addictive hooks and signature raunchy humor. He flexes his continued ascendancy with lines like “No soy la cabra, soy el conejo” (“I’m not the GOAT, I’m the Bunny”).

Lead single “Monaco” is a modern-day mafioso rap classic — its gritty sample of strings from “Hier Encore” and references to Pablo Escobar could be from an early Raekwon album.

Benito is also a devoted student of reggaeton, and this album is not just returning to his comfort zone but the locus of a musical conversation between the genre’s past and future. He brings in fiery up-and-comer and open lesbian Young Miko to rap over a risque Tego Calderon sample — Bad Bunny knows the future of reggaeton looks more femme and queer than expected — while mainstays like Arcángel, Ñengo Flow and

De la Ghetto feature on stacked posse cut “ACHO PR.”

Despite all the bluster warning newbies and fake fans to stay away, I predict Nashville will show up in droves for this one. And Bad Bunny won’t be the only big Latin music act packing Bridgestone this year: Benito’s collaborator Feid performs there later this month, and veteran norteño group Los Tigres del Norte will likely sell out their September show. It’s a good reminder that Nashville boasts a small but vibrant community of Latin musicians and fans representing genres from grupo to rock en español. Rich as that scene is, I still find myself missing the trunk-rattling dembow that blared from just about every other car from my childhood hometown in the Northeast. I didn’t know I’d ever miss that particular expression of Latinidad, that I’d find solace in it. If Bad Bunny is looking back to the past, I guess he’s not alone. But hopefully we’re not all so bitter about the present. ▼

Playing 8 p.m. Saturday, May 11, at Bridgestone Arena

DEVO NEVER ACHIEVED the kind of music-biz-sanctioned glory enjoyed by many of their chart-topping, arena-packing contemporaries in the late ’70s and early ’80s. That’s not to say Devo suffered a lack of financial or critical accomplishment — in the bargain, they’ve been nominated three times so far for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. But the group defines success on its own terms, emphasizing artistic expression as the mark of achievement. While their most commercially fruitful single, 1980’s “Whip It,” was their only track to crack the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, it’s not exaggerating to call the Ohio-born art rockers both beloved among fans and highly influential on subsequent generations of musicians.

That’s saying something for a band that champions a seethingly sardonic Dadaist approach, stitching together elements of music, film and performance art you’re more likely to find on the fringes of popular culture than at its center. Devo helped usher in the music-video age with their early short films. The electronically enhanced, off-kilter punk-sci-fi sonics and budget theatrics of both their videos and stage shows are just as inspirational to the outsider youth of 2024 as they were to late-night MTV watchers in the Reagan years.

The group is on a victory lap of a 50th anniversary tour — which stops at the Ryman on Sunday — before retiring from the road. While that’s something to celebrate, it’s important to remember that the band’s genesis is rooted in one of America’s most horrific moments.

The Kent State massacre on May 4, 1970, is among the most infamous protests of the Vietnam War. Students for a Democratic Society and Black United Students — organizations on campus at Kent State University about half an hour from Akron — held a rally denouncing President Nixon’s recently announced expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia. The Ohio National

PUNK ROCK JOY

BY STEPHEN TRAGESER

WHEN YOU SORELY need to feel like you belong somewhere, an Aaron Lee Tasjan show is a very good place to be. As he and his band showed the packed crowd gathered to celebrate his latest LP Stellar Evolution Thursday at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, he’s adept at wielding the power of rock ’n’ roll as a force for good.

Nashville rocker Molly Martin opened the gig, singing and playing scorching guitar as part of a glove-tight power trio. Their sound is loud and intense but light

DUTY NOW

Devo’s tour celebrates 50 years of inventive, acerbic cultural criticism that’s still vital today

BY P.J. KINZER

Guard’s efforts to disperse the group of about 300 unarmed students escalated to firing live rounds. Some 67 shots in 13 seconds injured nine students and left four others dead: Allison Krause, William Knox Schroeder, Jeffrey Glenn Miller and Sandra Lee Scheuer.

One of the students choking on tear gas that afternoon was art major Gerald Casale. Known to his schoolmates as Jerry, Casale met Miller and Krause while guiding them through freshman orientation. Casale later said that when he saw holes left in the bodies of his friends by M1 rifles, he stopped being a hippie.

“For many others and myself, that moment changed the dynamic of civil disobedience forever,” Casale said in a speech delivered at KSU’s commons on the 40th anniversary of the tragedy. “It changed my worldview and, without question, set me on a path that I never would have traveled otherwise.”

Together with anthropology major Bob Lewis, Casale began to explore a satirical philosophy of “de-evolution” — the idea that, for all our pride in advancement, humans and our culture were regressing into something primitive and brutal. Along with other related art projects, they teamed up with Mark Mothersbaugh, another

on its feet — no doubt a delight to Martin’s high school music director, who happened to be in the audience. She thanked him for teaching her to play rock ’n’ roll, and later thanked Tasjan for making her and her band feel welcomed and valued on this leg of the tour. The set included songs from Martin’s 2023 debut Mary, plus a couple new ones. Introducing a fire-breathing rendition of The Cranberries’ “Zombie,” she told the crowd how the song moved to tears someone working at the venue during their recent stop in Asheville, N.C. The person approached the band after the show and thanked them, Martin said, because they hadn’t been able to cry about their friend, a trans person who was in the hospital and struggling to heal from an aggravated beating.

Tasjan let most of Booker T. & the M.G.’s effortlessly cool “Green Onions” play before he took the stage, along-

KSU student with a keyboard and a wacky sense of humor, and formed a band whose music reflected the downward spiral of the world around them; “de-evolution” became “Devo.” In 1973, what was then called “Sextet Devo” played its first show at a performance-art festival organized by professors at Kent State. Five years later, they released their debut LP Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! — produced by revered musician and producer Brian Eno and recorded with pioneering krautrock and electronic music producer-engineer Conny Plank.

Casale took on bass duties and wrote many of the lyrics; Mothersbaugh played synthesizers, wrote much of the music and moved into the role of frontman. While many musicians — including the pair’s brothers, both named Bob — have played roles large and small in the band over nine studio albums, they’re the two longest-running members. Other themes weave in and out of Devo’s work, and other influences have come to bear, but they still see the Kent State massacre as a catalyst. “I don’t think I would have started Devo had that not happened,” Casale told The Washington Post in 2018.

The parallels between the Kent State massacre and events making headlines now are unset-

tling. Throughout the spring, college students have been calling for their schools to cut financial ties to Israel as the death toll in Gaza climbs. Following in the footsteps of leaders from Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and MIT, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik testified before Congress about student protests on April 17; that day, Columbia students assembled roughly 50 tents on campus, calling it the Gaza Solidarity Encampment. Though it wasn’t the first of the sort — Scene staff reporter Eli Motycka was arrested in March while covering ongoing protests at Vanderbilt University — the Columbia demonstration got media attention that sparked a new wave of university protests across the country. The Guardian has called this “perhaps the most significant student movement since the anti-Vietnam campus protests.” But the ugly flipside is the return of violence and totalitarian methods from law enforcement, as once again universities have turned to tear gas and arrests instead of listening to the voices of protesters.

“It really stays with you,” Casale said in an interview about the Kent State shootings. Citing the Holocaust, the genocide of Indigenous people by white settlers and the Bosnian genocide of the 1990s, he expressed sorrow at how history is full of merciless killing and killers. “And sometimes when they are part of empires, and they win, they seem like heroes in the history books. And people either learn from history or they repeat it.” ▼

Playing 7:30 p.m., Sunday, May 12, at the Ryman

MUSIC: THE SPIN

PHOTO: H.N. JAMES

SHRED MODE, ENGAGE: MOLLY MARTIN

side drummer Ramblin’ Rob Heath, bassist Jeff Ratner and fellow singer-songwriter-rocker Erica Blinn who also makes music as Ricki. Blinn, who’s among Tasjan’s collaborators on Stellar Evolution, hopped between electric and acoustic guitar and keys, and sang backup throughout the show. They led off with a rapid run of bangers from earlier albums — Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan! opener “Sunday Women,” plus the bittersweet “Little Movies” and the galloping “Dime” from Silver Tears — before sliding into the new LP with the poignant “Dylan Shades” and the defiant ripper “Horror of It All.”

Then Tasjan paused to introduce “Nightmare,” a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live as a queer person knowing you could be attacked violently at any time by people who are angry that you exist. He explained it was inspired by a moment when he was a high school senior in New Albany, Ohio. A classmate spotted the only out LGBTQ kid at their school putting on makeup in his car, and was so upset that he asked teachers to intervene. Tasjan, who was not out at the time, kept silent.

“I’m still ashamed that I didn’t speak up when I had the chance,” he said. “But lucky for me, I got to be an artist, and I’m speaking up now.”

Tasjan has consistently used his music to shine a light on things in our culture that need to be examined and perhaps poked at, often reflecting on himself. His two most recent albums have focused more on respecting queerness as its own distinct spectrum of identity while reminding everyone that “the LGBTQ community” is made up of our neighbors, co-workers, friends and family. This conversation is central to other songs he played Thursday, including “Ocean Drive,” inspired by reading interviews with Gianni Versace in which the late eminent designer talked about feeling truly at peace when he’s at home with his husband. Molly Martin returned to the stage, along with artist and producer

Butch Walker and groundbreaking producer Lafemmebear (whose 2021 remix of Reba’s “I’m a Survivor” marked the first time a Black trans woman’s work earned a spot in the Top 10 of Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart) for a heartfelt take on Lucinda Williams’ “Drunken Angel.”

“The Drugs Did Me,” an ode to getting sober, is one of Tasjan’s funnier songs, and it appeared in the set as well as his takedown of American exceptionalism, “I Love America Better Than You.” The backstory to that one — involving some internet trolling with Tasjan’s friend and co-writer Jon Latham — could be its own novel. “I thought I had finished this song, and then … every time Marsha Blackburn said anything, I was like, ‘Oh, this song isn’t done yet,’” Tasjan quipped, voicing his support for U.S. Senate candidate, state Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville).

Tasjan & Co. encored with “Heart Slows Down,” followed by a beautifully elegiac solo vocal-and-piano rendition of the late Nanci Griffith’s “Late Night Grande Hotel.” A little earlier, as the set wound down, they introduced two new songs. First was “The Real,” about honoring the people actually responsible for important developments — like singing out for Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a queer Black woman who laid groundwork for rock ’n’ roll, rather than leaning into long-standing myths that white guys invented the genre. The song also featured a blistering extended guitar solo; Tasjan left the impression he could’ve kept going much longer. The second was “Punk Rock Joy.” With one hand, it extends a middle finger to anyone who wants to dehumanize those who are different from them (see: our state legislature); with the other, it reaches out. Its chorus — “You take my rights but you can’t destroy / All my love and my punk rock joy” — is as close as you can get to a thesis statement for an argument about why music communities matter. ▼

Saturday, May 11

HATCH SHOW PRINT Block Party

9:30 am, NOON, and 2:30 pm HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP LIMITED AVAILABILITY

Saturday, May 11

SONGWRITER SESSION Bryan Simpson NOON · FORD THEATER

Saturday, May 18

SONGWRITER SESSION Faren Rachels NOON · FORD THEATER

Sunday, May 19

MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT John Cowan 1:00 pm · FORD THEATER

Thursday, May 23

EXHIBIT OPENING RECEPTION Lori Field

Saints, Tigers, Warriors, Lovers, Flowers 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm · HALEY GALLERY

WITNESS HISTORY

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

Saturday, May 25

HATCH SHOW PRINT Block Party

9:30 am, NOON, and 2:30 pm HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP

Saturday, May 25

SONGWRITER ROUND Songs of Eric Church Luke Dick, Jeff Hyde, and Driver Williams NOON · FORD THEATER

Saturday, May 25 CONVERSATION AND PERFORMANCE

Meet the Eric Church Band 2:30 pm · FORD THEATER

PHOTO: H.N. JAMES

COMMENT THREAD WAS THIS LONG: AARON LEE TASJAN

A STROKE OF BAD FORTUNE

Ethan and Maya Hawke’s Flannery O’Connor biopic Wildcat doesn’t quite cut it

BY SADAF AHSAN

WHILE IT’S PRETTY common to see parent-child team-ups in front of the lens (Laura and Bruce Dern, Donald and Kiefer Sutherland, Will and Jaden Smith — the list goes on), it’s far less common to see one directing the other. Bestcase scenario you get John Huston directing his daughter Anjelica’s Oscar-winning performance in Prizzi’s Honor. Worst-case scenario you get Francis Ford Coppola bringing in his daughter Sofia for The Godfather Part III and earning a litany of bad reviews. (Fortunately the experience steered the younger Coppola more toward directing, which worked out.)

Unfortunately, in the case of Wildcat — co-written and directed by Ethan Hawke with his daughter Maya Hawke in the lead role — things don’t go quite as well as they did for the Hustons.

The film is an abstract biopic of writer Flannery O’Connor that incorporates adaptations of several of her great works, including short stories “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” and “Good Country People.” That in itself is not an easy feat. If you add the fact that O’Connor was a notoriously difficult character — prickly, rude and often in poor health — that makes it all an

impossible task.

Maya stars as O’Connor as she struggles to get her first novel published and is eventually diagnosed with lupus. (The author became quite prolific but ultimately succumbed to the disease at the early age of 39.) Here we also witness her embittered relationship with her mother Regina (Laura Linney), whom O’Connor lived with and relied on for much of her life. Between scenes featuring O’Connor and her mother, we’re treated to vignettes based on the aforementioned stories, which showcase Hawke and Linney in multiple roles, along with a rousing ensemble that includes Vincent D’Onofrio, Steve Zahn, Rafael Casal, Cooper Hoffman, Liam Neeson (that one truly woke me up) and, naturally, Maya’s little brother Levon.

Though these vignettes are the more enthralling bits of the film, with O’Connor’s personal story paling in comparison, the truth is she was a brilliant, fascinating personality (with, yes, an indignant streak). It’s unfortunate, because while it seems Ethan is working to prove how O’Connor’s work represented parts of her inner life, and while they’re the more interesting parts of the film, they feel like inexplicable fragments. O’Connor’s publisher (played by the always

smooth Alessandro Nivola) tells her, “[You’re] trying to stick pins in your readers, trying to pick a fight.” It feels as though Ethan is doing the same, though not intentionally. Wildcat feels as though it was made exclusively for true O’Connor fans who are already deeply familiar with her lore and will need no timestamps, signifiers or clear transitions to follow the plot.

Still, Maya’s performance as O’Connor is hard to accept. She’s weighed down by giant hats, unfortunately styled hair, oversized glasses, horrifically clunky prosthetic teeth and — at times — makeup depicting an expansive rash. With her caricature of a Southern accent and wide-eyed glances, it feels as if she’s putting on a school play while viewers are watching, waiting, praying for the curtain call. Linney is uncharacteristically larger-than-life here too, throwing on one appalling wig after another, prancing, yelling and crying across each scene as if she, too, is in that school play.

Certain narratives are wedged in awkwardly, like O’Connor’s distaste for her community’s rampant racism. It makes you wonder how the material might have fared if given the limited-series treatment, with more time to flesh out each part of the writer. Then again, like

many filmmaking fathers before him, Ethan has clearly created a showcase for his daughter. And that pulls focus from the real subject — Flannery O’Connor, a legendary American novelist — even though it’s apparent just how much the two love her and her legacy.

Ultimately, it’s admirable how deep Ethan goes in his attempts to probe the great writer’s mind and the many fantasy worlds that lived there, alongside endless real-world concerns and frustrations. Always a tender actor, Ethan is usually able to bring that sensitive approach to his other directing efforts — including 2018’s Blaze, which shares a similar tone. Here, however, it’s all too much — to the point that it might not cut it for Flannery fangirls and fanboys. ▼

Wildcat NR, 108 minutes Now playing at the Belcourt

1 They’re good to know

4 Apt name for a Feb. 14 baby?

7 Pressure meas.

10 Coastal retreat?

13 What was written as “(annoyed grunt)” on early scripts of “The Simpsons”

14 Dolly, e.g.

15 ___ Specs (sports eyewear brand)

16 Baseball Hall-of-Famer Durocher

17 Landmark legislation of 1972, for short

18 What Scott Joplin might yell after a spill?

20 Org. authorized by the 16th Amendment

21 Hit up

22 Having muscle pain

23 Spot markers

24 Deal with

26 Letters associated with Joseph Smith

27 Kind of candle at a wedding ceremony

29 Like the German article “das”

31 Skier’s convenience

32 Nancy in the Grammy Hall of Fame

34 Certain soccer kick

37 “___ Back” (2004 Kenny Chesney hit)

38 Game show host John Michael

40 Bog

41 Sounds of disapproval

43 Garnish with an …

44 Gave a red card, informally

45 Social stratum

47 Coiner of the term “ambient music”

48 “Little Deuce ___” (Beach Boys hit)

49 Betting recklessly, in poker slang

51 More piddling

52 Things sometimes lined with bubble wrap

54 Derby participants in July

55 AMC competitor

56 “My gut says …”

57 Subject of this puzzle

59 Showmanship

62 Screening with a lot of characters?

63 Broke off

64 Second chances

65 Work with one’s hands DOWN

1 Possible solutions

2 Origin of the words “reindeer” and “husband”

3 Famous specification for a 57-Across

4 One part …

5 Out

6 Court hotshot

7 Self-righteous types

8 Vehicle with an underride guard

9 Chill with …

10 57-Across, per E.B. White

11 Accessory in many Rembrandt self-portraits

12 Giving orders

19 “For those wanting a summary,” in internet-speak

25 Leaves in hot water

28 Alternative to an energy drink, perhaps

30 Ben Folds Five, e.g., oddly enough

31 Soften, with “down”

32 “Abbott Elementary,” for one

33 Chuckwalla relative

34 Early DVR

35 Real gem

36 “___ Game” (sci-fi classic)

39 Five parts …

42 One is seen on the poster for “The Devil Wears Prada”

44 “You’d better not go there …”

46 Lamenting lines

48 Tighten the purse strings

50 Prefix with fix

51 Member of la familia

53 Vent feature

54 Racers’ wear

57 Mission involving Spirit and Opportunity, in brief

58 Homophone of a body part and a letter

60 Stephen of “V for Vendetta”

61 Do a simple calculation

Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 9,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/ crosswords ($39.95 a year). Read about and comment on each puzzle: nytimes.com/wordplay. Crosswords for young solvers: nytimes.com/studentcrosswords. ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE

PUZZLE BY KEVIN CURRY

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