Nashville Scene 6-29-23

THE RACE

With five weeks until Election Day, we explore four key issues that will face Nashville’s next mayor

MUSIC: OUR CRITICS ON THE LATEST FROM LUCINDA WILLIAMS, KARINA DAZA AND MORE PAGE 35

CMA THEATER • August 29 & 30 TWO EXCLUSIVE EVENINGS

TICKETS ON SALE NOW LIMITED AVAILABILITY

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CITY LIMITS

The Faith of Kevin Burns 7

With his legal options exhausted, Burns builds a church on death row

BY MATT MASTERS AND ELI MOTYCKA

BY DULCE TORRES

FOOD AND DRINK

Honey, Honey

The Honey Collective works to create an inclusive community

BY JANET KURTZ

Cheap Eats: M.L. Rose

HANNAH HERNER

With Porterfield running for an at-large seat, the Percy Priest Lake-adjacent district is in need of new representation

BY KELSEY BEYELER

COVER STORY

The Race

With five weeks until Election Day, we explore four key issues that will face Nashville’s next mayor

If candidates want to be the ‘Education Mayor,’ they’ll have to pick their spots

BY STEVE CAVENDISH, NASHVILLE BANNER

Transit ...................................................... 14

Nashville’s transit system drastically lags behind peer cities. The next mayor will have their work cut out for them if they’re going to catch up.

BY CONNOR DARYANI, NASHVILLE BANNER

Crime ....................................................... 16

It’s one of the easiest issues to invoke, but one of the hardest to address. Here’s what the next mayor faces.

BY STEVE CAVENDISH,

NASHVILLE BANNER

Homelessness

18

John Cooper brought homelessness to the forefront with a $50 million ‘housing first’ plan, then dropped out of the race

BY ADDISON WRIGHT, NASHVILLE

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CRITICS’ PICKS

BANNER

Annie DiRusso, Souls of Mischief, Independence Day fireworks celebrations, Jaws and more

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The local burger chain with multiple locations has an unbeatable deal

BY KELSEY BEYELER

ART

Crawl Space: July 2023

July’s First Saturday happenings include a Passover at David Lusk, entropy at Coop and soul windows at Random Sample

BY JOE NOLAN

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BOOKS

Bringing Up the Dead Lorrie Moore discusses death, humor and her sensational new novel

BY ERICA CICCARONE;

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MUSIC

Another Look

Justin Collins Brings Fran’s Home in ‘Are All My Friends Gonna Be Strangers’

Condo Drama, Financial Woes Dog D19 Candidate Jonathan Turner

Barista Parlor Sees Further Employee Upheaval at Hillsboro, Marathon Village Locations

Physicians Gather, Share Patient Stories on Anniversary of Roe’s Fall

ON THE COVER:

CHAPTER16.ORG

35

The Scene’s music writers recommend recent releases from Lucinda Williams, Karina Daza, Negro Justice and more

BY

HANNAH CRON, EDD HURT, P.J. KINZER, ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ, JASON SHAWHAN AND STEPHEN TRAGESER

The Spin 36

The Scene’s live-review column checks out Re:SET festival’s stop at Centennial Park’s Great Lawn

BY D. PATRICK RODGERS, LORIE LIEBIG AND STEVEN HALE

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FILM

The Last Last Crusade

Anti-Nazi Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is consistently enjoyable BY JASON SHAWHAN

MARKETPLACE

Photos by Eric England

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FROM BILL FREEMAN

NASHVILLE AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE CEO’S LACKLUSTER LEADERSHIP FAILS THE CITY, CHAMBER LOSES FUNDING

Mayor John Cooper’s budget has completely excluded the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. With this news, more concerns regarding the leadership of Ralph Schulz, the president and CEO of the chamber, continue to surface. It is disconcerting that Schulz receives an exorbitant annual salary of $530,704, despite declining membership numbers and downsizing of the chamber’s office space. It certainly raises questions regarding the proportionality of his pay in relation to the chamber’s performance and the value he delivers to Nashville.

The Metro Council recently voted to approve the budget, which notably omits any funding for the Nashville Area Chamber and highlights the strained relationship between Schulz and Mayor Cooper. Just six years ago, the city’s budget for the chamber was $375,000. In May 2020, the mayor cut the chamber’s budget roughly in half to $175,000. As reported by Tennessee Lookout in March: “The council has cut a yearly grant it gives chambers by nearly 75%. In 2022 the council gave the Nashville chamber $76,300.” If we delve a little deeper into the news of the past few years, we see why the funds have been withheld.

Last year, both the Nashville Business Journal and The Tennessean reported that the chamber’s support for legislation that could have granted the mayor control over the Metro Nashville Public Schools board led to significant backlash — from the school board, the Metro Council and Mayor Cooper himself. The council even voted to approve a resolution that the chamber made efforts to “subvert democracy.”

Then, as reported by the Nashville Scene in May: “During the three-month session, the Tennessee General Assembly passed bills cutting the Metro Council in half, abolishing Nashville’s police oversight board, restricting funds related to the Music City Center, taking over seats on Nashville’s airport and sports board.” The Nashville Post noted that “some local officials have chafed at the chamber’s absence from some of the debates.” The criticism was rounded out when an anonymous source in the mayor’s office told the NBJ, “The feeling was there would not be the political appetite to give any money to the chamber, given the chamber’s open advocacy for some of the antiNashville legislation.”

As if that isn’t enough, it now seems Schulz is snubbing the mayor’s office, saying the chamber will be handling economic development efforts for Davidson County voluntarily, mirroring “the way we operate in the region.” Despite Nashville’s consistent funding, the chamber has for years been voluntarily extending economic development support to seemingly every county in the area except our own, free of charge. Is it any wonder the mayor decided to eliminate the chamber’s budget? Why shouldn’t Nashville be getting the same “free” treatment and results as contiguous counties? I remember writing not long ago that 46 companies had been recruited to our region by the chamber, but not one of them landed in Davidson County.

Sadly, there’s more.

A recent survey conducted by Nashville’s Power Poll revealed a divided perspective on the chamber’s performance. Approximately 50 percent of respondents expressed concern, describing the chamber’s performance as “fair” or “poor.” Regarding the decision by Mayor Cooper and the Metro Council to defund the chamber, 40 percent of those polled support the decision, while slightly more disagree. However, a poll that I conducted back in 2022, which was reported on by the NBJ, showed that 71 percent agreed with cutting the chamber’s budget. The poll further showed that 59 percent were not satisfied with the overall representation of Nashville businesses. In other words, the chamber is not considered an ally. The Power Poll gave the chamber a grade of C+.

The exclusion of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce from the city’s budget is not surprising given the circumstances. Schulz has faced criticism for everything from his strained relationship with the mayor and declining membership numbers to the appearance of quietly working in accordance with those who are going after Nashville’s leaders. And according to the aforementioned polls, his leadership has been far less than adequate.

Nashville deserves a chamber leader who is experienced, committed and collaborative, prioritizing the chamber’s mission and working effectively with city officials. In my book, the ideal candidate would have a strong track record in economic development, partnership building and advocacy, while demonstrating transparent leadership and aligning the chamber’s goals with Nashville’s best interests. Someone who would focus on reestablishing credibility for the chamber and making a positive impact for Nashville businesses would certainly be a plus. It is time for change, accountability and a renewed focus on Nashville’s future. Wouldn’t you agree?

Bill Freeman

Bill Freeman is the owner of FW Publishing, the publishing company that produces the Nashville Scene, Nfocus, the Nashville Post, and The News.

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RALPH SCHULZ

Music that meets the eye.

Featuring the work of ten Nashville-based photographers, Guitar Town: Picturing Performance Today captures the energy and essence of Nashville’s diverse music scene. Images of guitar players performing in venues across the city show how facial expressions, bodily movement, and dramatic lighting and cropping can convey the emotional intensity of the music being played. Highlighting a variety of musical styles, photographers emphasize decisive moments in each performance.

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Angelina Castillo. Adia Victoria at Mercy Lounge, December 2017. Courtesy of the artist. © Angelina Castillo

CITY LIMITS

THE FAITH OF KEVIN BURNS

With his legal options exhausted, Burns builds a church on death row

BY MATT MASTERS AND ELI MOTYCKA

Kevin Burns had bad luck twice. Thirty-one years ago, he got caught in a gunfight in Shelby County that killed two people — Damon Dawson and Tracey Johnson — and put three others, including Burns, in prison for murder.

Derrick Garrin, identified by a surviving witness as the “big man in glasses” who shot Dawson, was convicted for Dawson’s murder. At 6-foot-4, Garrin is a full nine inches taller than Burns. Garrin wears glasses. Burns doesn’t. Burns had short hair that night, not the shooter’s Jheri curl, as remembered by another witness.

Those arguments, which could have saved Burns from a death sentence, weren’t made at his 1995 trial. He was convicted for Dawson’s murder — after Garrin was convicted for the same murder. Garrin got life in prison and made parole in 2023. Carlito Adams, the third man convicted in the killings, got a life sentence and made parole in 2017.

You shouldn’t be able to receive the death penalty if you didn’t actually kill someone, argues Supreme Court Justice

in her dissent (joined by Justices Jackson and Kagan) after her colleagues denied Burns’ appeal. Burns hoped higher courts would acknowledge the negligence and ineptitude of his trial attorneys, William Johnson and Glenn Wright, courtappointed lawyers who lost six clients to death row.

“The focus of the appeal was that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to show that Kevin Burns didn’t kill anyone,” says Richard Tennent, an assistant federal defender and Burns’ current counsel. “They’re the reason he got convicted. Real lawyers should’ve won this trial. We shouldn’t have been arguing over whether he deserved a death sentence — we’d be arguing over whether he deserved any punishment at all.”

Today, Burns remains behind bars. In its June 20 order — a bimonthly update that lays out its docket — the United States Supreme Court declined to rehear Burns’ appeal, which it denied in April. One path remains: direct intervention from Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, who has struggled to square his avowed Christianity with support for the death penalty. Through his first and second terms, Lee has criticized the

inequalities of the state’s legal system but failed to deliver any substantive changes. Instead, he presides over mismanaged state facilities and constitutional challenges to Tennessee’s execution practices

Six months after the state botched the execution of Oscar Smith in May 2022, Lee brought on Frank Strada, a former prisons chief in Arizona, to bring Tennessee executions back online.

While he waits, Burns has built a church on death row.

From the offices of Franklin Community Church Pastor Kevin Riggs, the Scene spoke with Burns via phone. Riggs and Franklin Community Church are among Burns’ advocates on the outside. The Scene is joined on the call by Riggs as well as Tennent and a friend, Brad Davis, who is a Franklin church member.

“The stated purpose of that church is a church for the men of Unit 2, led by the men of Unit 2,” says Riggs, referencing the area in Nashville’s Riverbend Maximum Security Institution where all the state’s male death row inmates are housed. “As far as I know, that’s the only church on death row anywhere in the United States that’s set up that way.”

The Scene was not permitted to visit Burns in prison. The phone call to the prison disconnects at 30 minutes, and begins with an automated voice message notifying the callers that the line is being recorded. At times the call would distort and break up, seconds of silence interrupting Burns’ testimony about how his faith has kept him focused and hopeful, even as he runs out of options to avoid being put to death.

Davis has known Burns — also known to friends as KB, Pastor KB or just Kevin — since about 2014. Davis used to support capital punishment, but his personal relationship with Burns has changed that. Davis and his wife sent a wedding invitation to Burns knowing that he wouldn’t be able to attend, but they hope to introduce Burns to their 2-year-old and one day help him post-prison.

“I believe that God is able to touch the hearts of the governor or whoever he needs at that time when he sees fit,” says Burns. “I have patience in waiting on the Lord.”

Riggs ordained Burns in 2018, and Riggs now considers Burns his pastor. Burns serves at both Riverbend’s The Church of Life and at Franklin Community Church, where he preaches through recorded phone calls.

Riggs has written multiple letters to Lee asking the governor to step in and grant clemency for Burns and other death row inmates.

“My prayer is that he will take an honest look at the entire situation and see the injustice that’s been done in this particular situation,” Riggs says.

Burns says that in 1993, a little more than a year after his arrest, God spoke to him and called him to the faith. It’s an experience he says he initially doubted. But now he counsels other inmates, praying with them or for them and their families.

“I want people to know that people are not the same people as they were when they got arrested,” Burns says. “God has the ability to change people. There is that opportunity for salvation, for reconciliation, for God to restore lives.”

He describes a “gentle spirit” in Unit 2, calling it a “building of peace” where men of changed mind, heart and spirit live. He’s called on Lee to visit the prison and pray with inmates, “to fellowship as brothers and as Christians.”

“God is a god of justice … but he rejoices in mercy,” Burns says, just before an automated voice cuts into the line — “You have one minute remaining.”

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

UNCLAIMED LOTTERY WINNINGS HELP AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAMS IN TENNESSEE

Millions of dollars help support K-12 programs

BY DULCE TORRES

Every year, millions of dollars are spent on lottery tickets in Tennessee by wishful thinkers looking to strike it big. But last year, $18 million in lottery prizes went unclaimed.

For most, buying lottery tickets is a losing investment. Most estimates place your odds of being struck by lightning significantly higher than winning the jackpot. But despite the odds, Tennessee’s gross ticket sales rose from $492.9 million in 2020 to $501.8 million in 2021.

More than $100 million in lottery ticket prizes was awarded in 2021, yet an average of $19 million to $20 million in lottery ticket prizes go unclaimed every year. There’s a variety of reasons for this, says Tennessee Education Lottery spokesperson Kym Gerlock. Once a winning ticket is declared, winners have only a certain amount of time to claim their prize. For drawing-style games, prizes must be claimed within 180 days of the date of the drawing. For instant-ticket prizes, or

Sonia Sotomayor

BURNS’ LAWYER RICHARD TENNENT

scratch-off lotteries, prizes must be claimed within 90 days after the announced game’s end date.

And while some high-dollar prizes do go unclaimed, the majority of that roughly $19 million comes from smaller winnings — sometimes as small as a single dollar.

“It’s likely that these winners forgot they won, misplaced the ticket or perhaps didn’t realize they had won,” says Gerlock.

For instance, winners may be unaware that the popular Powerball, a drawing-style game, has nine different prize levels.

“The lottery encourages players to always check their tickets, even if the jackpot hasn’t been won, since there are other ways to win,” Gerlock adds.

As for the millions in unclaimed lottery prizes, players may not know they’re inadvertently funding public education through scholarships and after-school programs. Under the Lottery Implementation Act, unclaimed prize proceeds from the Tennessee Lottery are used to fund the Lottery for Education Afterschool Programs, or LEAPs. During the 2021-22 academic year, $13.8 million in unclaimed prize money was used to support K-12 after-school programs for 67 grantees at 227 individual sites. Overall, these programs served 17,680 students.

Each school district applies for the grant, and Metro Nashville Public Schools are nearing the end of a three-year grant that fully funded programs for 11 schools.

“To think of how many students we’ve positively impacted through those funds is amazing,” says MNPS extended learning coordinator Makeda Watson.

William Henry Oliver Middle School is one such recipient. With a $60,000 budget, the school hosts a variety of before- and after-school programs at no extra cost to students’ families. With input from teachers, parents and students, school programs were crafted to fit students’ variety of interests. This school year, students in the drama club put on two plays — High School Musical and Bye Bye Birdie. And while band and drama clubs were the most popular, students can also participate in groups with more niche interests. In the computer club, students re-created a digital version of their school for the MNPS Minecraft Build Challenge and won first place.

Lottery-funded programs have improved the lives of students and their families in other ways as well. For working parents, buses allow in-zone students to stay after school without needing a ride home. For teachers needing to make extra income, after-school programs keep them from needing a second job.

And for troubled students, after-school programs allow an escape. Adam Kaneski, who teaches and oversees school programs, is often on the lookout for troubled students. One particular kid, he says, was frequently absent from school and had a troubled home life. Kaneski then suggested he join the after-school art club.

“You can tell art class is very therapeutic for him,” says Kaneski. “I can tell the weeks that he’s not in school, he comes in, he’s kind of moping, kind of looking down, and the weeks he’s here, he’s going to clubs, he’s more positive and things are going well. I have a soft spot in my heart for him.”

Out of more than 600 students at Oliver Middle, nearly half participate in school clubs. And while the chances of winning the lottery are extremely low, the chances of improving public education are substantially better.

“A lot of these students wouldn’t have these opportunities at all if it wasn’t for people not claiming their lotto tickets,” says Kaneski.

REACH RELEASES FIRST-QUARTER RESULTS

Non-police 911 response pilot successfully diverts some calls from emergency rooms

BY HANNAH HERNER

Nashville’s newest alternative to police response, Responders Engaged and Committed to Help (REACH), has completed its first quarter on the streets.

REACH pairs paramedics from the Nashville Fire Department and mental health professionals with Mental Health Cooperative to respond to low-acuity crisis calls received by 911. EMS staff told the Scene in a November cover story that behavioral health calls had the city’s ambulances taking 120 people to the emergency room each week, or roughly 1,500 per quarter. REACH was able to serve a small portion of these calls — 150 — in its first quarter.

In REACH’s first three months (Feb. 13 to May 13, 2023) around 45 percent of the responses still resulted in a trip to the emergency room. However, EMS staff said more than 90 percent of similar calls would have resulted in an emergency room visit outside of the program.

The program’s two SUVs are in operation at the same time, unless staffing is limited, and operating hours are Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Around 10 calls made in REACH’s first quarter required a police presence, and around nine were ultimately transferred to Partners in Care, a program that pairs a police officer and a mental health professional

“Especially these first few months of REACH operating, we are figuring out what calls are REACH-appropriate, along with our police partners, our office of emergency communication, the dispatch staff,” says Michael Randolph, REACH program director for Mental Health Coop. “I think the data has to do with that. Anytime staff feel that they’re not safe, they are instructed to radio into dispatch and ask for backup to help.”

Out of the calls REACH responded to, 75 percent of patients had suicidal ideation, 23 percent were experiencing psychosis, and 3 percent had homicidal ideation. The most commonly served ZIP code was 37203, near downtown. The next-highest was 37013, in Antioch.

This pilot program is smaller than Partners in Care’s pilot was, and calls take longer than other 911 responses, Randolph says. Currently, the REACH team is made up of four staff members: two EMS paramedics trained in crisis intervention and two master’s-level counselors from Mental Health Coop trained in public safety.

“There’s no rush,” Randolph says. “These aren’t acute situations. We’re able to go out there and make those

relationships, talk to somebody, de-escalate them, evaluate their needs and get them help.”

In addition, in 25 percent of REACH calls, respondents offered resources that did not result in transportation. Twenty-one percent of calls resulted in transportation to the Mental Health Coop Crisis Treatment Center. Four percent of patients that REACH responded to were transported to a hospital inpatient psychiatric facility, and 5 percent were classified as “other.”

A patient can stay at the crisis treatment center for 24 hours before being transferred to a stabilization unit or respite program within the organization, which can mean up to seven total days in the center. Psychiatrists, nursing staff and case workers can help patients connect to alcohol and substance abuse treatment if needed, as well as housing, Randolph says. Of note, 38 percent of patients REACH responded to were unhoused or in temporary emergency housing. Calls for such a program were elevated after a Metro Nashville Police Department officer shot and killed an unhoused man in November

“It’s been great to have people not have to go to the emergency room,” says Randolph, “not get a bill for an ambulance trip or an emergency room trip, and go straight to the place where they can get quality mental health care immediately, without having to be delayed and without having to tell their story multiple times.”

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

Two dozen employees recently left or were fired from Barista Parlor, a chain of popular locally owned coffee shops around Nashville. Locations in Germantown, Marathon Village and Hillsboro Village have experienced closures and understaffing since a wave of 10 firings in mid-June. … At a campaign event last week, mayoral candidate Alice Rolli announced plans to take over the Metro Nashville Public Schools board after questioning from the Nashville Banner’s Steve Cavendish. If charter schools aren’t renewed, said Rolli, she would move to get rid of the elected board as an “accountability” measure. The next day, MNPS board members pushed back on Rolli, saying they are “rightfully held accountable every four years by the citizens of Nashville,” a reference to school board elections. … Physicians gathered downtown at the Justice A.A. Burch Building to share stories about reproductive rights on the one-year anniversary of the fall of Roe v. Wade “We practice with targets on our back, wondering what aggressive prosecutor will disagree with our decision using reasonable medical judgment,” physician Amy Gordon Bono told the crowd. … Neighbors, court filings and board documents reveal a disastrous past few years for Jonathan Turner, one of three candidates for the Metro Council’s District 19, a central business and residential district that covers downtown. Fellow residents won a court order to remove Turner from his position as condo association president in 2021 following years of alleged financial mismanagement, including expensive failed legal proceedings against tenants of his building, the Bennie Dillon. … Progressive activist and organizer Aftyn Behn squares off against former Metro Councilmember Anthony Davis in a special election for state House District 51 after incumbent Rep. Bill Beck, a Democrat, died suddenly in early June. Dozens of current councilmembers and much of the state’s Democratic caucus have lined up to support Davis, while Behn has earned a dedicated base of support following years of state-level issues campaigns, specifically focused on expanding health care access. The district covers much of East Nashville and parts of downtown. … Current Metro Councilmember Delishia Porterfield and first-time candidate Jonathan Williamson both recently spoke with the Scene about their campaigns for at-large council seats. Porterfield has long advocated for city priorities like transit and affordable housing, and was a chief opponent of Mayor John Cooper’s push for a new $2.1 billion Titans stadium. Meanwhile, Williamson defended recent antisemitic and anti-immigrant tweets and spoke about the need for more sidewalks and neighborhood investment. … The Nashville Banner spoke with type designer Jon Valk about the many mayoral candidates’ yard signs choices. Valk gives the design edge to Matt Wiltshire and Jeff Yarbro. … Columnist Betsy Phillips goes down the history rabbit hole exploring the legacy of Thompson Anderson, a 19th-century Nashvillian who founded Mt. Olivet Cemetery, was a Union loyalist, and loved being pedantic.

OUT OF THE CALLS REACH RESPONDED TO, 75 PERCENT OF PATIENTS HAD SUICIDAL IDEATION, 23 PERCENT WERE EXPERIENCING PSYCHOSIS, AND 3 PERCENT HAD HOMICIDAL IDEATION

FOUR CANDIDATES VIE TO FILL DELISHIA PORTERFIELD’S DISTRICT 29 SEAT

With Porter eld running for an at-large seat, the Percy Priest Lake-adjacent district is in need of new representation

BY KELSEY BEYELER

After Delishia Porterfield announced she would be leaving her District 29 Metro Council seat after one term to run for an at-large seat, four candidates rushed to fill her spot.

Tasha Ellis, John Reed, Jama Mohamed and Michele Vetter are all vying for the open seat in a district in the southeastern part of the county. Running from Murfreesboro Pike to Percy Priest Lake, District 29 includes the Nashboro Village Golf Course and the Anderson Road Public Use area.

Porterfield tells the Scene she is “excited about future collaborations” with the next candidate, though she hasn’t endorsed anyone. She says so far, three of the four candidates — Ellis, Mohamed and Reed — have reached out to her.

Two of the candidates, Reed and Ellis, already work in politics. Ellis worked for the Tennessee Democratic Party as well as for former U.S. Attorney George Barrett’s law firm, among other roles, before starting her own consulting firm. Reed also runs his own firm and says he’s worked on campaigns for Councilmembers Zach Young, Gloria Hausser and Thom Druffel, as well as Howard Gentry’s 2015 mayoral run. Both mention street racing as an issue the district faces, and both have been officially recognized as supporters of Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood.

Ellis says she supports firefighters and a stronger police presence in the area to combat street racing, robbery and other crime. She also intends to focus on infrastructural issues like fixing potholes, traffic lights and sewage lines, and encouraging better maintenance of the local community center.

Reed is a member of the LGBTQ community and wants the council to “reprioritize” city attention from downtown to outlying areas. He is concerned with traffic issues in the district, and notes the broader need for transit and walkable neighborhoods throughout Nashville and surrounding counties. His website also notes his interest in

defending LGBTQ and reproductive rights as well as protecting green spaces and supporting affordable housing initiatives.

Mohamed is also focused on transit. A Somali American artist and technical resident at HCA, Mohamed participated in the 2020 People’s Plaza protests in support of police reform (during which he was arrested). He says he’d like to see regional transit, the return of specific bus stops that were taken down during COVID-19, and more friendly conditions for pedestrians. He’s worked closely with the Tennessee Disability Coalition, both as an employee of Family Voices of Tennessee and through a partnership for a Metro Arts grant. He wants to see “more accessible playgrounds and amenities for people with disabilities,” along with more public art. He also mentions the need for affordable housing and suggests the city examine streamlining its technical infrastructure — a task he says he could help with.

Michele Vetter says she works as a third-party business investigator and co-owns a subcontracting company that involves “working with codes and codes enforcement,” though she declines to disclose the name of the company. Though Vetter says Porterfield “did a really good job,” she also says she would address a “lack of strong representational leadership” if elected. This includes supporting the Metro Nashville Police Department and addressing issues that arise when folks visit the lake, such as parking problems, trespassing and littering. She suggests forming a coalition with other districts that surround Percy Priest Lake.

For whoever ends up winning the seat, Porterfield has some advice: “It’s just really important that you’re someone that is willing to work with everyone, willing to work with the community, as well as our various Metro departments.”

Jazz Under the Stars

AUGUST 25, 26, 27 7 PM

Songwriters Under the Stars

Bluegrass Under the Stars

FROM LEFT: TASHA ELLIS, JOHN REED, JAMA MOHAMED AND MICHELE VETTER

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio with the Nashville Jazz Orchestra Big Band

Chris DeStefano, Jon Nite & Josh Osborne with the Music City Symphony

Bruce Munro (British), Whizz Pops. On loan from Bruce Munro Studio. Photography by Mark Pickthall.

THE RACE

IN A MATTER OF WEEKS, Nashville will elect its fourth mayor in five years.

Following the 2018 resignation of Mayor Megan Barry in the wake of political scandal, the mayor’s office has been besieged with instability. After being elected to serve for the remainder of Barry’s term, David Briley was defeated by fellow former At-Large Councilmember John Cooper in 2019. And after a term plagued by everything from natural disasters and a Christmas Day bombing to a global pandemic, Cooper announced in January that he would not seek reelection.

Then came something of a land rush, with a dozen candidates ultimately qualifying to run for mayor by the May 18 deadline. Since then, the established candidates have participated in an inordinate number of forums, pleading their case to a city that — according to a poll conducted by Public Policy Polling less than one month ago — is roughly 45 percent undecided. In terms of what we’ll call plausible, or viable, candidates — that is, folks who have significant campaign funding — we’re looking at eight contenders.

State Sen. Heidi Campbell has the support of three fellow Nashville Democratic legislators — Reps. Bob Freeman, John Ray Clemmons and Bo Mitchell — and name ID thanks to her recent race against Andy Ogles

for the state’s gerrymandered 5th Congressional District. With experience as mayor of Nashville satellite city Oak Hill, Campbell prioritizes investment in public education, transportation infrastructure and equity and inclusion.

Kansas City-area native Jim Gingrich is the former COO of Wall Street firm AllianceBernstein and, having moved to Nashville a half-decade ago, is pitching himself as an outsider. Gingrich loaned his campaign $2 million early on, and has gone on record as opposing the city’s deal to partially fund a new multibillion-dollar Titans stadium.

At-Large Metro Councilmember Sharon Hurt has served as the executive director of nonprofit Jefferson Street United Merchants Partnership as well as HIV/AIDS outreach organization Street Works. Having been elected to countywide office twice, Hurt has name recognition and a track record of public service.

District 19 Metro Councilmember Freddie O’Connell entered the race early — in April 2022 — and has a record as one of the most progressive members of the council.

O’Connell voted against the city’s Titans stadium deal, and though he’s not as well-funded as fellow candidates Gingrich and Matt Wiltshire, that early-June poll shows him doing as

well as anyone. He also has the endorsements of five of his fellow councilmembers.

Of the eight candidates profiled here, Alice Rolli is the sole Republican. She has said she’d like to increase the number of Metro Nashville Police Department officers, and that she’d consider a takeover of the Metro Nashville Public Schools system if charters are not renewed. Her campaign treasurer is David Fox, who narrowly lost to Megan Barry in the 2015 mayoral runoff.

Vivian Wilhoite served two terms as a Metro councilmember before being elected as the Davidson County Property Assessor in 2016. She was the last to officially enter the race, but has the endorsement of District Attorney Glenn Funk and name recognition as a longtime holder of countywide office.

Longtime economic development and housing executive Matt Wiltshire touts his experience working under four Nashville mayors, and has the endorsements of Metro Councilmembers Robert Nash, John Rutherford and Nancy VanReece. He’s also got a lot of money to spend, having raised more than $1 million, in addition to the $350,000 he loaned his campaign early on.

Another member of Nashville’s legislative delegation, Democratic state Sen. Jeff Yarbro says he has the skills and experience neces-

sary to “reorient our relationship” with the state’s Republican supermajority. He was able to transfer $141,000 from his state Senate campaign account to his mayoral campaign and says he’d like to focus on building more affordable housing and strengthening infrastructure.

In the four stories that follow — part of a partnership between the Scene and our colleagues at the Nashville Banner, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization — we explore four key issues that will face the city’s next mayor: homelessness, education, transit and crime. The Banner also asked all eight of the above candidates for their on-the-record responses to multiple questions for each topic. While there aren’t enough pages in this issue to include all of the candidates’ answers, you can read those in full and unedited at nashvillescene.com, where you can also find individual Q&As with each candidate.

The voter registration deadline is July 5, with early voting taking place July 14-29 and Election Day on Aug. 3. With so many candidates in the race, a runoff is exceedingly likely — meaning Aug. 3’s two top vote-getters will face off again on Sept. 14. Get registered, get reading, and get to the polls.

—D. PATRICK RODGERS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

With five weeks until Election Day, we explore four key issues that will face Nashville’s next mayor

HEIDI CAMPBELL

VIVIAN WILHOITE

JEFF YARBRO

ALICE ROLLI

FREDDIE O’CONNELL

JIM GINGRICH

MATT WILTSHIRE

SHARON HURT

EDUCATION

BY STEVE CAVENDISH, NASHVILLE BANNER

JUST AS THE MAYORAL FIELD finished taking shape in April, Vanderbilt’s annual poll of Nashvillians came out and made one thing perfectly clear: Whether or not the mayor has control over the Metro Nashville Public Schools system, education should be a top — if not the top — priority of the next administration.

“How much of a priority do you think [respondents were given a list of issues] should be for Nashville’s next mayor?” the poll question read — and 74 percent responded to education as “a top priority.” It was the highest-scoring issue in the poll, ahead of crime, affordable housing and homelessness.

MNPS is a big urban school system — the district’s 81,000 students put it in the top 40 in the country — and there are multiple challenges to Nashville public schools: Thirtyseven percent of students are economically disadvantaged; 28 percent have limited English proficiency; 14 percent have some form of disability. There are 135 languages spoken by MNPS students in total, and the district is one of the most diverse in the state: Thirtynine percent of the students are Black, 32 percent Latino and 4 percent Asian. And enrollment is trending down from a high of almost 88,000 six years ago, a result of declining birthrates and migration from the county among school-age populations.

Of MNPS’ 162 schools, 19 (almost 12 percent) are on the state’s “priority” list of underperforming schools — a number that actually has improved in recent years. This year, 34 percent of third-graders face summer school or being held back for a year due to a new state law mandating retention for low test scores in reading. It’s not all bad news, though. MNPS placed 48 schools on the state’s “reward” list and was named an “advancing” district by the state.

This is the landscape the next mayor will inherit, all without the ability to hire or fire a single person or select their own leader to run the school district. That’s all reserved for the school board. The mayor’s only lever is the budget, which past mayors have used in a variety of fashions. For example, Mayor Phil Bredesen traded capital improvements — his administration built 32 schools — for promises from the district on standards.

But even the budget has come under strain. Whether or not you support charters, an increasing percentage of the MNPS budget is devoted to them. The net fiscal impact of charter schools has risen from $60 million in 2013 to more than $250 million in the 202324 school year. And as a 2023 report from the Nashville Public Education Foundation notes, more are coming, whether or not the school board authorizes them — despite 2-to-1 public opposition

“As a result of the 2019 law that created the Tennessee Charter School Commission, which can authorize charter schools at the state level, the MNPS School Board no longer has complete control over when or

where a public school may open in Nashville, making it difficult for the district to forecast enrollment in its schools and drawing funding away from the district,” reads the NPEF’s report. “Today, the number of stateapproved charter schools in Nashville is five, with four additional schools approved to begin operating in the coming years.”

And the impact of vouchers will be felt by the district soon. Gov. Bill Lee’s pilot program, which initially targets Memphis and Nashville, awarded more than 600 vouchers between the two systems, meaning that up to $40 million will go to private schools instead of MNPS.

WHAT HAS JOHN COOPER’S ADMINISTRATION DONE ON EDUCATION?

In short, Cooper has thrown a lot of money at MNPS.

This year’s budget includes an extra $100 million in new operational funds for the district, the largest such increase in the city’s history. The bulk of that will go to teacher salaries, raised the year before to be the highest in the state. In 2022, for the first time, family leave was made available for all MNPS employees.

“I remember being at McGavock High School during my campaign and learning that teachers did not have this basic benefit,” said Cooper when announcing his budget. “Teachers were trying to time their family planning around summer vacation. I left that day determined to change that — and we did.”

The new money also raises pay for support staff like bus drivers and cafeteria workers, as well as administrators, including principals and associate principals. Both Cooper and the district have emphasized the need to push pay higher in response to the city’s sky-

rocketing cost of living, all without much help from the state. Lee put an extra $1 billion for schools in the state budget, but Tennessee’s new funding formula means Nashville will see only 2 percent of those dollars, despite having 8 percent of the state’s students. The rise in teacher pay has come almost entirely from investments at the local level.

Cooper also added more than $10 million for a pilot program to address problems with substitutes and $8 million for free lunches.

Some of the most visible signs of Cooper’s influx of cash are on the capital side, where 75 schools got improvements to air quality last year and three new schools have been built: a middle school in Cane Ridge, an elementary school in Goodlettsville and a new high school in Bellevue to replace Hillwood, which will open this year. Metro also will make a one-time allocation of $66 million to allow for pre-K space to be carved out of existing school buildings.

WHAT COULD THE NEXT MAYOR DO?

Taking a long view, investing in early childhood education and child care could show substantial benefits down the road.

In his 2012 analysis, Nobel economist James Heckman argued that money spent in the first five years of life has a huge return on investment.

“The highest rate of return in early childhood development comes from investing as early as possible, from birth through age five, in disadvantaged families,” Heckman writes. “Starting at age three or four is too little too late, as it fails to recognize that skills beget skills in a complementary and dynamic way. Efforts should focus on the first years for the greatest efficiency and effectiveness. The best investment is in quality early child-

hood development from birth to five for disadvantaged children and their families.”

Currently, pre-K programs in MNPS are limited, with fees assessed on a sliding scale based on need. Nationally, 11 states have implemented universal pre-K, but Tennessee does not appear prepared to join them, so the issue would require local leadership.

Similarly, MNPS provides some beforeand after-school programs in partnership with nonprofits like the YMCA, Backfield in Motion and the Girl Scouts, but the expansion of those programs and days of the week served would require funding.

In the shorter run, a mayor could continue Cooper’s path of capital investments, though without the benefit of some federal funds the current administration utilized because of COVID-19. Cooper knocked off $397 million from the MNPS Capital Improvement Budget, a list of capital priorities for the district, but that’s less than 10 percent of the $4 billion in needs throughout the district as of the 2020-21 CIB.

Another path might be to focus on intensive programs in areas such as reading or English proficiency. As mentioned, the significant number of English learners in MNPS — largely Spanish speakers, but also Arabic, Swahili, Kurdish and Somali — presents the opportunity to make gains in other areas once the language gap is bridged.

Every mayor says they want to be known as the “Education Mayor,” and there are implications across the board for Nashville if MNPS becomes significantly better. But achieving that title is something few actually have done. ■

Visit nashvillescene.com to read the candidates’ responses to our questions about education.

If candidates want to be the ‘Education Mayor,’ they’ll have to pick their spots

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

NAPIER ELEMENTARY

BY CONNOR DARYANI,

BANNER

AT A RECENT MAYORAL FORUM, when candidates were asked how often they use public transit, all but one of them admitted to it being a rare occasion, if ever.

Nashvillians who have tried to use the bus system in their day-to-day lives are unlikely to hold it against the candidates. Getting around in Nashville is hard. Not only is the city missing a reliable form of public transit, the roads are a mess, bike lanes are few and far between, and pedestrian death rates continue to increase every year. A top 25 American city, Nashville remains the only one of those 25 cities without dedicated funding for transit — and it shows.

Nashville has a rocky history when it comes to trying to solve the problem.

The past decade has seen two major attempts at large transit overhauls fail, both of which were marred by controversy and powerful lobbying groups. The first came in 2011 when Mayor Karl Dean announced plans for The Amp, a bus rapid transit line. Following a fraught political battle between local powers and the state — along with lobbying from the Koch brothersbacked Americans for Prosperity and the notorious local car dealer and Republican donor Lee Beaman — the plan died in 2015

Two years later, Mayor Megan Barry proposed a plan for light rail and bus rapid transit with a $5.4 billion price tag. By this time, the funding structure for projects like this had been changed by the Improve Act, which was signed into law by Gov. Bill Haslam in 2017. The legislation allowed local governments to take transit projects straight to the voters, rather than having to go through the state legislature. But following a successful counter-campaign by Americans for Prosperity, along with Barry’s term being scandalously cut short, the referendum crashed and burned, with over 65 percent of Davidson County voters rejecting the plan

That leaves Nashville in 2023 almost completely dependent on cars

“It’s an inequitable economic system when we are assuming that anyone who wants to participate in this economic system has to buy a car up front,” says Jessica Dauphin, president and CEO of the Transit Alliance, a nonprofit that focuses on building support for transit funding. Not only does better public transit make it easier to get around — it also ties in with a number of other benefits. Those include a healthier population due to people walking more and an increase in spaces that are important for community connection. Transit also frees up money that people would typically need to spend on a car. In the case of candidate and Councilmember Freddie O’Connell’s oft-told story, riding the bus even allowed him to save up enough money to afford a home.

The Transit Alliance has been running community engagement meetings to gather information on what Nashvillians need, and Dauphin says the consensus is clear.

“It’s not easy to ride transit in Nashville,” she says. Inconsistencies in the bus schedule require users to plan out their entire trip before setting foot outside their homes, and gaps in service make it either unusable or wildly inconvenient for those who need it most. Even the bus service between the city and the airport, which gets more than 400,000 ride shares in and out every month, only comes around every 45 minutes.

Despite the shortcomings of Nashville’s WeGo Public Transit, ridership has largely returned to its pre-pandemic numbers or surpassed them in spots. People are using public transit, and the support for a larger network seems to be there. But while citywide transit may be on the rise, Regional Transit Authority ridership is at just 40 percent of what it was pre-pandemic. Changing lifestyles and work schedules have led to many people opting for the drive between Nashville and neighboring cities when commuting, leading to nearly constant congestion on the main interstates. Dauphin says the city needs to find a way to put a greater emphasis on mass regional transit.

“How are people utilizing regional bus transit services like the WeGo Star, and how can we help support and facilitate that into greater numbers?” asks Dauphin.

WHAT HAS JOHN COOPER’S ADMINISTRATION DONE ON TRANSIT?

The Cooper administration has largely maintained the status quo.

On the heels of Barry’s failed transit referendum, a large part of Cooper’s campaign was a $1.5 billion transit plan — less ambitious and exciting, but he argued more

attainable and what the city needed. Rather than require a referendum to get dedicated funding, his plan would use funding from grants to improve the bus system, fix sidewalks and bike lanes, and make various other infrastructure improvements.

Of course, a plan is good and all, but when it came time to execute, things got difficult.

Cooper’s first full year in office was marred by tragedy. The city was struck by a nationwide pandemic, a fatal tornado and the Christmas Day bombing. On top of this, the federal and state grants the Cooper administration planned to put toward transit projects are typically very competitive, requiring local governments to spend money to get money. And without a dedicated funding source, Nashville’s ability to compete with peer cities is hindered.

That’s left Nashville the past four years with a handful of transit-related plans — the Nashville Next Plan, Connect Downtown and Vision Zero to name a few — but not enough funding to go around.

WeGo’s Better Bus plan has been able to secure some funding over Cooper’s term. This year’s budget not only fully funds WeGo’s baseline operational needs, but also supplies a little less than half of what they asked for in capital improvement funds. But the Better Bus plan is really just a starting point, getting the city’s bus services up to date and more in line with other peer cities. To really make a difference in the city’s transit challenges, the next term will require more ambition.

WHAT COULD THE NEXT MAYOR DO?

All signs point to a transit referendum.

Haslam’s Improve Act allows cities to choose from a few different taxes — sales tax, hotel tax and rental car tax among them — to fund transit projects. But in order to do

so, the city must first present voters with a specific plan, showing what Nashville’s leaders want to fund and how much it will cost. When it comes down to it, the voters get the final say, and as we saw in 2018, while people may be excited about transit, it’s going to take a well-thought-out, carefully orchestrated plan to pass. That means people may need to be patient when it comes to light rail.

“I know it sounds fun and sexy out front to be able to hop on a light rail train, and it is fun, and it is quick,” says Dauphin. “But we have to keep in mind what our communities are willing to pay for this. This is not going to come free, and it’s not going to be cheap.”

There are a lot of options for what a transit referendum could look like, ranging from light rail to something as simple as a dependable and fast bus service to the airport. It will be up to the next mayor to determine what the city is ready for, and what the voters are willing to fund.

What’s more, while Gov. Bill Lee’s recently passed Transportation Modernization Act aims to relieve traffic congestion on the interstates, it does little to address any form of mass transit. It will be on the next mayor’s shoulders to find a way to revitalize the Regional Transit Authority, get ridership numbers up and relieve the highways.

If transit isn’t touched on in the first question of the many mayoral forums taking place this season, it’s usually touched on in the second. All candidates have brought up some sort of plan, some more concrete than others, and most of the candidates have acknowledged the need for an eventual transit referendum. Choosing the next mayor comes down to what voters want that referendum to look like. ■

Visit nashvillescene.com to read the candidates’ responses to our questions about transit.

Nashville’s transit system drastically lags behind peer cities. The next mayor will have their work cut out for them if they’re going to catch up.

NASHVILLE

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

WITNESS HISTORY

artifact photo: Bob Delevante

This Buck Owens American guitar was modeled after Buck Owens’s trademark red, white, and blue Mosrite and marketed by Sears, Roebuck and Co. in the late 1960s. One of the first made, this particular guitar was owned and played by its namesake.

From the exhibit Sing Me Back Home: Folk Roots to the Present

BY STEVE CAVENDISH, NASHVILLE BANNER

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL, there are few issues as reliable as crime.

If the crime rate rises in a city, it’s often used as an indictment of a sitting administration and provides easy talking points for opponents. If the crime rate falls, politicians of all shapes and sizes take some measure of credit, no matter the factors involved in the drop.

But at the heart of it, the enduring success of crime as a political issue is because it is primarily a matter of individual perception, particularly of personal safety. If the homicide rate for the city inches up, but you’ve never been touched by it, Nashville seems like a safe place. But for the victim of an assault, every broken streetlight can feel like a potential danger.

With that in mind, let’s set aside things a mayor can’t control — like much of the local news coverage of crime that often favors the dramatic, sensational or the specific but rarely digs into systemic issues — and look at the landscape of crime and what levers a mayor can pull.

Political strategies for reducing crime usually fall into three buckets: policing, prosecution and addressing underlying causes. The police department reports directly to the mayor — John Cooper chose Chief John Drake to replace a retiring Steve Anderson in 2020 — and that line of accountability results in the most direct policies on crime reduction. The district attorney who prosecutes crimes is a state official, and voters gave Glenn Funk a second eight-year term in 2022. He and the mayor talk, but the DA is an independent actor.

By almost every measurable statistic, national violent and property crime rates have plunged since the early 1990s. This is true in Nashville, where the record for homicides was set in 1997 at 112. In 2020, Nashville broke that record with 113, but the city had added roughly 170,000 people in the interim, meaning the rate itself was actually lower. There were 105 last year. Will that bring solace to the families of homicide victims?

Absolutely not, but it is a helpful perspective on the city for policymakers.

Crime doesn’t affect the city uniformly, either. When you look at the most serious incidents tracked by law enforcement for the FBI’s uniform crime report — murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny/theft, motor vehicle theft and arson — there are more significant areas of concentration. In Metro, the breakdown of incidents by council district shows that District 19 (which includes downtown, Germantown and Salemtown) had the highest percentage of both violent and property offenses in 2022. Since it’s the most visited district in the city — by both tourists and locals — this is understandable, but so is the push by downtown residents for a more signifi-

cant police presence. District 17 (12South, Wedgewood-Houston, Murfreesboro Pike and Edgehill) and District 2 (North Nashville, MetroCenter and Bordeaux) were the second-highest in a virtual tie. Districts 4 (Nipper’s Corner and points south) and 35 (Bellevue and points west) were the lowest.

Those statistics are also a measure of calls to the police, an imperfect metric as well. Multiple councilmembers say distrust of the police department means a certain portion of their constituents don’t call when they see crime. Suspicion can come from different sources: Police misconduct, immigration status or disbelief that police will be effective were all reasons given.

Because police response can be a blunt tool, some cities, including Nashville, have begun to explore alternative methods, such as introducing mental health professionals when appropriate or using nonprofits as violence interrupters or to help alleviate addiction or poverty.

“People talk about crime as if it is consistently going up,” says Sekou Franklin, a political science professor at MTSU. Franklin cautions about seeking a single solution, like increasing the size of the police force, to a complex problem. “There is no one empirically verifiable solution to solve the issue of crime. Most solutions are actually detached from addressing structural issues that fuel involvement in criminal activities — like poverty, the need for affordable housing, and chronic unemployment.”

WHAT HAS JOHN COOPER’S ADMINISTRATION DONE ABOUT CRIME?

“Mayor Cooper has made fully staffing MNPD a priority — a goal that did not seem achievable just four years ago,” says Cooper spokesperson T.J. Ducklo. “In his term, Mayor Cooper will have added nearly 500

new police officers while increasing police pay 32 percent over four years.”

First-year pay for police officers has risen from $49,000 four years ago to $65,000 in the current budget, and salaries for paramedics and firefighters have been raised 28 percent and 33 percent, respectively, during Cooper’s term.

Still, MNPD has suffered from some of the same problems as other Nashville institutions and businesses regarding staffing. Retirements, issues with retention and higher cost of living in the area mean that MNPD is about 200 officers short of being fully staffed. Any future mayor who wants to increase the number of sworn officers first has to fill that gap.

Other spending on first responders includes:

• $11 million for a new Nashville Fire Department headquarters

• 81 new fire trucks

• Two new helicopters

• 677 new vehicles and the addition of an overnight shift for servicing them

• Body cameras and stun guns for all officers

• Investments in crime analysis and evidence management

Cooper also introduced Partners in Care in 2021, a program that pairs mental health and police resources when responding to calls where people suffer a behavioral health crisis. The diversion process has meant that fewer than 4 percent of 1,800 calls resulted in an arrest.

Controversially, the administration pushed a license plate reader program through the Metro Council, despite concerns over data management and how it would be shared. A Cooper aide says that in four months of usage, the program has already assisted in solving more than 60 carjack-

ings. Police officials said during the debate over the devices that LPRs would not be used for expired tags or other minor offenses.

WHAT CAN THE NEXT MAYOR DO?

A high priority is going to be fully staffing the police department. It’s a part of the commercials, websites and rhetoric of virtually every candidate in the race. But what happens after that?

Partners in Care is a startup program that has been steadily rolling out, adding Midtown Hills as the fifth precinct with trained personnel in May. While the results have been promising, it will likely need further expansion to become a countywide operation on all shifts. A similar pilot plan, called REACH, points mental health professionals toward low-risk situations where a person is in crisis in an effort to free up ambulance services. But its scope is limited in days and personnel.

While several candidates have addressed school programming from the pre-K side, multiple councilmembers say more programming is needed for middle- and highschoolers after the school day ends as a way to combat juvenile crime. MNPS currently partners with nonprofits for some of these, but there is room for expansion.

And on the trust side of the equation, the state effectively gutted community oversight boards of law enforcement in the most recent session. Nashville’s COB was added by public referendum in the wake of the police killing of Daniel Hambrick and is popular, so there will be some pressure for a mayor — who has direct oversight — to fill in those gaps. ■

Visit nashvillescene.com to read the candidates’ responses to our questions about crime.

It’s one of the easiest issues to invoke, but one of the hardest to address. Here’s what the next mayor faces.

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

MNPD CHIEF JOHN DRAKE

John Cooper brought homelessness to the forefront with a $50 million ‘housing first’ plan, then dropped out

of the race

BY ADDISON WRIGHT, NASHVILLE BANNER

A WOMAN REMOVES HER SHOES before entering her tent, placing them next to a home-decor vase arrangement and a seashell windchime. The encampment consists of items like a welcome sign, a hanging chandelier, two solar panels, a battery and a security camera jutting out from a tree.

This woman, who asked to remain anonymous for safety reasons, has lived unhoused for 10 years. Her encampment is one of many being assessed for potential closure under Mayor John Cooper’s homelessness strategy, now entering phase two just in time for Nashville’s next mayor.

“I was in the hospital for four-and-a-half months in ICU, and I got out and everything was gone, everything I worked for,” says the woman. “People, they judge you out here. They automatically assume that you’re on drugs or you’re an alcoholic or you’re a prostitute, and that’s not true. … No matter where you go, for me, I just keep getting thrown out like trash.”

She’s one of Nashville’s 1,320 individuals who are chronically homeless. Those individuals make up 62 percent of Nashville’s total 2,129 unhoused individuals, according to the city’s January 2023 point-in-time count

This means 62 percent of Nashville’s unhoused population are “unaccompanied … with a disabling condition … continuously … for a year or more” or have “had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years,” according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“Because of Nashville’s high proportion of chronically homeless people, more people live on the streets for longer periods of time and are more likely to perish on the streets of our city,” reads the 2022 Nashville Performance Study of Homeless and Affordable Housing. The mortality rate for those living unhoused doubled from 2016 to 2022, with 176 estimated deaths in 2022, according to Open Table Nashville’s 2022 Homeless Memorial. And the number of individuals living unhoused is on the rise.

Tennessee ranks third among states with the largest increase of unhoused individuals from 2020 to 2022, an increase of 45.6 percent in that time period. Furthermore, Nashville’s number of unhoused individuals has increased 11 percent from 2022. In the United States, the number of individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness has increased by 3 percent

It is becoming increasingly harder to provide affordable housing, as 45 percent of renters and 24 percent of homeowners are cost-burdened, or “spend more than 30 percent of their annual income on housing,” according to the 2022 Nashville Performance Study of Homeless and Affordable Housing.

Tension has risen on how to solve this issue. Groups like Reclaim Brookmeade Park and Greenway have sounded the alarm

about the unhoused population’s effect on Nashville’s safety. In August, Tennessee became the first state to make camping on public property a felony

WHAT HAS JOHN COOPER’S ADMINISTRATION DONE TO ADDRESS HOMELESSNESS?

In October, the Metro Council approved Mayor John Cooper’s $50 million “housing first” legislation to address homelessness in Nashville.

“The concept is simple: Offer a person housing first, then connect the housed person with supportive treatment services,” reads the Metro Homeless Impact Division (MHID) glossary definition of “housing first.”

This housing-first model is also known as “permanent supportive housing,” and Metro is choosing to prioritize housing for those living in encampments.

Cooper’s $50 million is divided into four areas: $25 million to build affordable housing, $9 million to construct temporary interim gap housing, $7 million to incentivize lower landlord rent restrictions and to provide support services grants, and $9 million to provide wraparound services like physical and mental care. These funds are drawn from American Rescue Plan COVID-19 pandemic relief funds.

“Is there more money that could be used or needed? Absolutely,” says MHID director April Calvin. “We’re working with our Office of Homeless Services budget going forward, and Mayor Cooper was instrumental in saying, ‘How do we put more money in your budget to help accommodate the people that are suffering outside?’”

Metro’s strategy includes two components: outreach in which teams “connect encampment residents with services,” and a “housing surge” in which encampment resi-

dents are given a choice of either “interim housing placement and a pathway to permanent housing, or immediate permanent housing placement,” according to a 2022 strategy document.

Calvin refers to this plan as “life-saving.” The housing-surge process chooses encampments to close based on a prioritization team’s rank of “vulnerability of population,” “location characteristics,” “physically dangerous conditions of the space” and “environmental health,” according to a sample MHID encampment assessment form.

“When you have limited resources, then you have to do a prioritization path,” says Calvin. “Following best practices will allow us to house those that are most vulnerable, to focus on the people, the environment and then the location.”

This “prioritization path” is a point of contention. Vanderbilt professor Beth Shinn and Vanderbilt doctoral candidate Molly K. Richard report for the American Journal of Public Health that prioritization can leave behind groups of people.

“Because African Americans are more likely to use shelters than their white counterparts, a rule that prioritizes unsheltered people also favors white people,” Shinn and Richard write.

This is not the first time Cooper has been involved in closing encampments.

Before his 2022 “housing first” plan, Cooper’s administration prioritized closing the Jefferson Street bridge encampment — one of Nashville’s oldest encampments — and received criticism from advocates, including Open Table Nashville, which said there was not enough available affordable housing to be removing encampment residents.

In phase one of Cooper’s 2022 plan, the encampments at Brookmeade Park, on Edmondson Pike in Wentworth-Caldwell Park,

and at the downtown TA truck stop have been closed, with 135 people housed. Metro officials say housing for residents at the truck stop will continue in phase two.

When an encampment is chosen to be cleared for a housing surge, case managers then prepare residents for the surge and its 30-day notice, assessing the residents’ needs and desires. Transportation, tubs for belongings, moving resources and education services are provided. The case manager stays in contact while wraparound resources are provided.

Many encampment residents move to interim housing in converted motels or faith-based communities, where the average stay is about 96 days. Calvin’s goal is an average of 90 days. Once in permanent housing, 87 percent of encampment residents have stayed, compared to the national average of 75 percent remaining in housing, reports Calvin.

Now Calvin, MHID and Nashville’s team of community providers are conducting encampment assessments for phase two of the housing surge. In addition, Nashville’s first Office of Homeless Services is opening on July 1, and Mayor Cooper’s 2024 fiscal year proposed operating budget would divert funds to 29 employee positions, giving them $1.25 million in a community partnership and support services fund.

In short, Cooper has just begun several programs about to be handed off to the next mayor.

WHAT COULD THE NEXT MAYOR DO?

The next mayor will take office when Nashville’s first Office of Homeless Services is a few months old. It will need mayoral support.

Nashville has an array of helpful resources that do not always work efficiently and effectively together toward a common goal, according to the 2022 Nashville Performance Study of Homeless and Affordable Housing.

One resource, the Continuum of Care program, was combined with the Metro Homeless Commission to form the Metro Homeless Impact Division in 2018. The CoC program gives grant funding to state and local governments, along with nonprofit providers, to collaborate on programs and data acquisition. It was established by the 2009 HEARTH Act through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Additionally, homelessness’s intersection with public health, housing affordability, domestic violence, mental illness, substance misuse and more brings together a wide range of community providers in the city to address the issue. There are also more than 30 Nashville housing options, including emergency shelters, transitional housing, rapid rehousing, permanent housing and more.

Coordination around homelessness is possible, though. Houston, for example, reduced its unhoused population by 63 percent from 2011 to 2022 through a datadriven housing-first model that brought all service providers around the same goal — to make homelessness “rare and brief” by addressing the chronically unhoused population. ■

Visit nashvillescene.com to read the candidates’ responses to our questions about homelessness.

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

JOIN US FOR OUR NEW NIGHT MARKET AT ONEC1TY!

JULY 8, 2023 4-9PM

Shop from 50+ curated artisan vendors showing off their homemade goods including home decor, clothing, pet products, jewelry, visual art and so much more! Take in some live music and indulge in food truck fare while enjoying a beautiful summer night of shopping! Crafty Bastards is FREE to attend and welcomes kids, pets, friends and families of all ages.

June

JOHNNY MATHIS THE VOICE OF ROMANCE TOUR

July 9

UB40

July 11*

1964 THE TRIBUTE

July 14*

NATIONAL YOUTH ORCHESTRA OF THE USA WITH HILARY HAHN

July 20*

CYPRESS HILL PERFORMS

“BLACK SUNDAY"

September 5 at Ascend Amphitheater

WANT SYMPHONIC: RUFUS WAINWRIGHT with the Nashville Symphony, An Americanafest Special Event

September 19

RUBEN STUDDARD & CLAY AIKEN: TWENTY YEARS | ONE NIGHT

October 8*

THE BLACK VIOLIN EXPERIENCE

October 10

with the Nashville Symphony Edwin Outwater, conductor

CRITICS’ PICKS

WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF

THINGS TO DO

THURSDAY / 6.29

[GOD, I LOVE THIS TOUR]

MUSIC

ANNIE DIRUSSO

Indie rocker Annie DiRusso had to cancel her much-anticipated show at The Basement East last month due to sickness, but she’ll make a rescheduled appearance at the venue Thursday night. According to her publicist, DiRusso “is so excited to get to play her adopted hometown.” The Belmont University grad is touring in support of her new EP God, I Hate This Place, a five-song, distortion-drenched journey into self-discovery that finds the artist confronting a misogynistic world with defiance and humor.

On Thursday night at The Beast, DiRusso and her band — drummer Josef Kuhn, bassist Zach Lockwood and lead guitarist Eden Joel — will be performing the songs from God, I Hate This Place, as well as material from her earlier releases. “I had released eight or nine singles prior to the [EP], so I’m playing my entire release discography, which I’m excited about,” DiRusso told the Scene prior to her canceled show. Although nothing was definite at press time, word is DiRusso and her band will probably be joined at The Beast by some special guests. Hannah Cole opens. 8 p.m. at The Basement East, 917 Woodland St. DARYL SANDERS

[GO AROUND]

MUSIC

JOSH GILLIGAN

Scene contributor P.J. Kinzer nailed Josh Gilligan’s sound when he recapped the performer’s appearance at WNXP’s first birthday party back in 2021: His “neo-yachtrock-ish style” and “jazzy take on pop” are “smoother than freshly polished marble.” Gilligan is a familiar face in the rhythm section of artists like Liza Anne and Zac Farro’s Halfnoise project, but when left to his own

devices, Gilligan produces tunes that are perfect for late-afternoon hangs in the dog days of summer. Songs like “Hazy” evoke an atmosphere of chillness, relaxation and,

ANNIE DIRUSSO

well, haziness, and it’s incredibly easy to get lost in the slippery bass parts on songs like “Slowly” or “Go Around.” It’s a surprise, then, to hear a country-leaning acoustic riff on his most recent single, March’s “Last Time.” It works, though, especially since his laid-back vocal delivery still features. Laney Esper and Disappearing Teeth Trick will open. 7 p.m. at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, 623 Seventh Ave. S. COLE VILLENA

[GOOD

MUSIC

IN ANY LANGUAGE]

JERRY DOUGLAS BAND W/PETER ROWAN

Resonator guitar hero Jerry Douglas has long made waves in the bluegrass and country scenes, masterfully blending old and new ideas about the way his instrument could be used practically from the time he started playing professionally as a teenager. In the ensuing five decades, he’s appeared on more than 1,500 records and has been honored with just about every accolade you can name, including 14 Grammys. Both the past and the future stay on his mind: He plays with The Earls of Leicester, a group that honors the legacy of Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt, and he joined young star Molly Tuttle in co-producing both last year’s Crooked Tree (following which she won the Grammy for Best New Artist) and its

forthcoming follow-up City of Gold. Without seeming to break a sweat, Douglas can make his dobro fit into just about any arrangement or make it sound as full and rich as an entire orchestra. Thursday, you’ve got a chance to see and hear him work his magic in one of the best possible settings for it when he stops at the Ryman. Joining Douglas and his band will be eminent multi-instrumentalist Peter Rowan, whose tenure as a bluegrass legend is longer than Douglas’ by roughly a decade. A minuscule sampling of his CV includes a run with Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys, writing songs for New Riders of the Purple Sage including their signature “Panama Red,” and joining David Grisman, Jerry Garcia and friends in the short-lived Old and in the Way. Come for the music, stay for the stories. 7:30 p.m. at the Ryman, 116 Rep. John Lewis Way N. STEPHEN TRAGESER

MUSIC [BURN THE WITCH]

THE LAST WITCH W/DEAD RUNES & THE DRUIDS

Just as the Midwestern summer descends on the state they call home, Akron, Ohio’s The Last Witch descends upon Music City on the heels of the group’s self-titled album, released in May. With crushing intensity, the record veers sonically from cor-

THURSDAY, JUNE 29

The Basement East

JOSH GILLIGAN

PHOTO: NEIL SHUKLA

ner to corner in brutal ferocity. Dissonant production meets progressive guitar riffage and a melodic immediacy reminiscent of Thrice frontman Dustin Kensrue’s gruff vocal attack, especially on standout tracks such as “King of the Mountain” and “In the Night.” Local post-grunge heavyweights Dead Runes join the bill, along with stonermetal overlords The Druids. A night of heaviness will reign supreme — bring your earplugs. 8 p.m. at The Cobra, 2511 Gallatin Ave. JASON VERSTEGEN

[COME IN ALONE]

MUSIC

JULIA GOMEZ W/SYMBASYD, PAIGE ENGLAND & KAGERUKI

Do I — an elder millennial who saw his first rock shows at a coffee shop with friends who smoked clove cigarettes — appreciate Julia Gomez’s nod to My Bloody Valentine on her recent single “Destiny’s a Sweetheart”? You bet! But I’d love the song even without that little nugget of nostalgic context. It’s exceedingly easy to get overwhelmed with all the things I think I ought to do and to be; here, Gomez sings wisely about giving yourself some grace when it feels like one (or more) of those plates you’re spinning is almost certain to fall and break. It’s a natural progression from last year’s excellent full-length Aren’t We All So Incomplete. Hear Gomez bring her full sound to life Thursday at The East Room with lots of help. Hip-hop- and neo-soulinflected newcomer Symbasyd will join in, as well as multifaceted pop songsmith Paige England. Meanwhile, Kageruki will hold it down in the DJ booth. 8 p.m. at The East Room, 2412 Gallatin Ave. STEPHEN TRAGESER

FRIDAY / 6.30

MUSIC [GET

HAPPY] A JUDY GARLAND CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

Call me a bore, but I think “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” is the most beautiful song ever performed, and anyone who’s ever tried to sing it, professionally or otherwise, knows the vocal acrobatics Judy Garland pulled off to hit those notes. I’ve been obsessed with Garland since I was a kid, when I wore out her Judy at Carnegie Hall

CD box set and sang “A Couple of Swells” in the second-grade talent show. So I’m slightly biased when I say: Judy deserves to be celebrated every day. Thankfully, I’m not in the minority, and her legacy lives on in full glory. Friday, Broadway stars Morgan James and Nicholas Rodriguez will join the Nashville Symphony and conductor Edwin Outwater to bring the icon Garland’s unforgettable songbook back to life — accompanied by rare interviews, photos and footage of The Judy Garland Show. This show will surely chase all your cares away. 7:30 p.m. at the Schermerhorn, 1 Symphony Place

TOBY ROSE

SPORTS

[IT’S A WAY OF LIFE]

SUMMER EXTREME LUCHA LIBRE

American pro wrestling can be plenty absurd and melodramatic, but it’s got nothing on lucha libre, Mexico’s uniquely high-octane variant of wrestling. More than just an athletic discipline, lucha libre is a vibrant folk culture and art form, synonymous with the captivating and eye-catching masks frequently worn by its performers. Though lucha libre has been big business in Mexico for decades, its American presence has exploded in recent years thanks to larger-thanlife icons like Rey Mysterio, Bandido and the Lucha Brothers. This year’s Summer Extreme showcase at Plaza Mariachi brings together a colorful collection of luchadores, including some of the most gifted athletes in the squared circle today, like current All Elite Wrestling star Gran Metalik and the dominating Black Taurus, a veritable monster of a man who wrestlers under a minotaur mask. Even for the uninitiated, lucha libre is a dazzling spectacle that immediately draws you in, filled with surreal characters and high-flying acrobats who push past the limits of what you thought the human body could do. 8 p.m. at Plaza Mariachi, 3955 Nolensville Pike NADINE SMITH

[RINSE & REPEAT]

MUSIC

FAMILY REUNION: DNB EDITION

Good news, everybody! This is not the last Family Reunion party, as internet rumors had led us to believe. This outdoor dance party is just the last party in the picnic shelter at Centennial Park before it gets torn down. (Will Metro replace it with

two tall, skinny picnic shelters? We’ll see!)

Family Reunion started at the turn of the century as an online meetup during the Nashville dance community’s lull years between the outlaw days of ’90s raves and the commercial explosion and mainstreaming of EDM that fostered the contemporary scene. In the intervening two decades, it has become a touchstone of local DJs and dancers — the sort of low-key, big-fun event that goes back to the very roots of culture. This week’s party features a stacked lineup of drum-n-bass, led by Family Reunion pater familias and junglist champ Dread Savage.

Noon-9 p.m. at Centennial Park, 2500 West End Ave. SEAN L. MALONEY

SATURDAY / 7.1

[ORANGE YOU GLAD?]

MUSIC

LARRY JUNE

On a hot summer day, when you can’t make the trip from your house to the car

without breaking a sweat, and the leather on your steering wheel hurts to touch, there’s nothing quite like allowing the cool sounds of Larry June’s The Great Escape to wash over you. For anyone new to the Bay Area rapper’s music, his newest album is a great place to start. It’s fully produced by The Alchemist. June drawls over The Alchemist’s lush, jazzy instrumentals with a carefree confidence that’ll make even the most unbearable Tennessee afternoons feel endurable. But don’t let June’s laid-back demeanor fool you. While opening track “Turkish Cotton” eases listeners into the album with the smooth finesse of a “James Bond coupe with the ceramic plates,” the following track, “89 Earthquake,” finds June weaving through an array of booming drums and horn stabs with hard-hitting bars that are sure to have even the most critical hip-hop heads nodding in approval. Monroe Flow and DVME open. 8 p.m. at Marathon Music Works, 1402 Clinton St. CONNOR DARYANI

JULIA GOMEZ

THE LAST WITCH

Ryan Beaver NOON · FORD THEATER

Sunday, July 9 MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

Dave Cohen

1:00 pm · FORD THEATER

Saturday, July 15

SONGWRITER SESSION

Nathan Chapman

NOON · FORD THEATER

Saturday, July 15

WRITERS’ ROUND

The Songs of Eric Church

Featuring Luke Laird and Jeremy Spillman

2:30 pm · FORD THEATER

MONDAY / 7.3

MUSIC [WELL IT’S A HOT ONE] MATCHBOX TWENTY

The truth is, I was chosen to write this item because I have made so many jokes about the Grammy Award-winning 1999 hit “Smooth” by Santana featuring Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty that it’s not clear to anyone, including me, whether it really is a joke after all. Another truth? I think “3AM” and “Real World,” two of the singles off of the band’s 12-times-platinum 1996 album Yourself or Someone Like You are Actually Good. But then, I’ve always had a soft spot for that crop of late-’90s bands that all kind of sounded the same — Matchbox Twenty, Counting Crows, The Wallflowers, Hootie and the Blowfish, etc. — and played constantly in my father’s car CD player. Your mileage may vary. To MB20’s credit, they do actually have new music out. The just-released Where the Light Goes is their first album in more than a decade. So this isn’t purely a nostalgia play, although I’d say that’s most of the draw of this twice-rescheduled show. A night of songs that make you feel distressingly old and, yet, young again at the same time. Nashville’s own Ben Rector opens. 7:30 p.m. at Bridgestone Arena, 501 Broadway STEVEN HALE

[AN

AFTERNOON AT THE OPERA] OPERA ON WHEELS

Nashville Opera’s delightful Opera on Wheels program has had a busy season, with pop-up performances happening at a wide range of festivals, community gatherings and even the Nashville Zoo. If you haven’t yet had the chance to check out one of these free family-friendly shows, you’ll want to mark your calendar for Saturday afternoon, as the company brings its mobile stage to Centennial Park. Audiences can expect a blend of opera, spirituals and musical theater hits — including “Quando M’en Vo’” from Puccini’s La Bohème, “Summertime” from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and “Some Enchanted Evening” from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. From the Great Lawn in front of the Parthenon, the concert will feature performances by Sangeetha Ekambaram, Alysha Nesbitt and Ryan Bede, accompanied by Nashville Opera’s director of engagement and Opera on Wheels director Stephen Carey. 3 p.m.

at Centennial Park, 2500 West End Ave. AMY STUMPFL

SUNDAY / 7.2

MUSIC [TO INFINITY AND BEYOND]

SOULS OF MISCHIEF: 30 YEARS OF 93

’TIL INFINITY

1993 was a special year for rap music. At a time when hip-hop was finally being embraced by the mainstream, fresh new sounds were being pumped into boomboxes all over the country from youngbloods with innovative new styles. Rookie releases from Wu-Tang Clan, Black Moon, Tha Alkaholiks, Mobb Deep and Us3 were throwing curveballs to unsuspecting listeners. Oakland was especially hot for first-timers like E-40, Boots Riley’s The Coup and a foursome of misfits called Souls of Mischief. Working closely with their Hieroglyphics crew on 93 ’til Infinity, SoM had supporting appearances from Bay Area superproducer Domino and trippy

Oaktown emcee Del the Funky Homosapien. The quartet found an enthusiastic critical reception for the LP’s imaginative production and gifted lyrical complexities, breaking from the West Coast’s funky gangstas, who were dominating the airwaves. Thirty years later, the foursome is back to give fans a live celebration of their 1993 masterpiece. The strength of Souls of Mischief’s debut masterpiece can be felt in the legacy of samples and references from rappers like J. Cole, Freddie Gibbs, Big K.R.I.T. and Joey Bada$$. 7:30 p.m. at City Winery, 609 Lafayette St. P.J. KINZER

[DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN]

FILM

JAWS

There’s a plethora of classic movies you can boot up on Christmas and Halloween each year to celebrate. (I watch Christmas Vacation and Scream, respectively.) Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day and New Year’s don’t have quite as deep of a lineup, but there are still plenty of options. But when it comes to the Fourth of July, in my book, there’s only one choice: Jaws. With all due respect to Independence Day, Steven Spielberg’s summer blockbuster prototype is the perfect choice for that midsummer vibe. Even though it came out nearly 50 years ago, the movie never feels old thanks to its perfect pacing, engaging performances, enduring themes (how many tweets have there been comparing someone in the news to the film’s inept Mayor Larry Vaughn?) and killer set pieces. Luckily, a couple of Nashville’s favorite indie theaters are sticking to tradition, giving us a chance to set sail with Brody, Hooper and Quint and rewatch one of cinema’s most important and flat-out entertaining adventures. June 30July 1 at Full Moon Cineplex, 3445 Lebanon Pike, Hermitage; July 2-4 at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. LOGAN BUTTS

MUSIC CITY MONDAY: ZABRISKIE POINT

With Zabriskie Point — the follow-up to Blow-Up, a depiction of the swinging life of English mods — Michelangelo Antonioni aimed at the heart of American youth cults of the psychedelic era. Though the $7 million budget film was initially seen as a bomb for drawing $1 million at the box office, history has been kind to the Italian filmmaker’s Death Valley anti-capitalist counterculture adventure. Perhaps the aspect of the movie that has carried its legacy the longest (and got it a starting spot on the Belcourt’s Music City Mondays roster) is the soundtrack — an acid-inspired trip through the fringe of the rock ’n’ roll of 1970. The movie includes music by Pink Floyd, The Youngbloods, Kaleidoscope, Jerry Garcia, Patti Page, Grateful Dead, The Rolling Stones, John Fahey and Roy Orbison. But Antonioni had a lot more to offer than just a commercial flop with some good tunes. The desert backdrop, the intense protest scenes and the antiestablishment themes all serve the dream of the American West told through the eyes of revolutionary leftist rebels. 2:50 and 8 p.m. at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. P.J. KINZER

TUESDAY / 7.4

[CLUCKED UP BEYOND ALL RECOGNITION]

COMMUNITY

MUSIC CITY HOT CHICKEN FESTIVAL

Who needs alcohol when you can get a buzz from eating spicy food? Literally — spicy foods can cause your brain to release endorphins and dopamine. It’s a high I’m constantly chasing by way of peppers, hot sauces and, of course, hot chicken. There’s no better place for my fellow capsaicin-seekers and me to indulge our fiery urges than the annual Music City Hot Chicken Festival. The festival, a 17-year tradition established by former Mayor Bill

OPERA ON WHEELS PHOTO: WILL SHUTES

SOULS OF MISCHIEF

UPCOMING EVENTS

PARNASSUSBOOKS.NET/EVENT FOR TICKETS & UPDATES

THURSDAY, JULY 13

6:30PM

JUSTIN A. REYNOLDS at PARNASSUS Disunion Among Ourselves

4:00PM

WEDNESDAY, JULY 19

KIDLIT SUMMER CELEBRATION

with CHRISTINA SOONTORNVAT, JAMIE SUMNER, & KRISTIN O’DONNELL TUBB at PARNASSUS Into the Shadow Mist (Legends of Lotus Island #2)

SATURDAY, JULY 22

2:00PM

SHANNON STOCKER at PARNASSUS

Warrior: A Patient’s Courageous Quest

4:00PM

WALDO CELEBRATION at PARNASSUS

Join the hunt for Waldo! parnassusbooks.net/event 6:30PM

RICHARD RUSSO at PARNASSUS Somebody’s Fool

CRITICS’ PICKS

[EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY] INDEPENDENCE DAY FIREWORKS CELEBRATIONS

Purcell, is a delight — even for those who order on the lower side of the spiciness scale. Attendees can expect a parade, oldschool fire trucks, marching bands and more. Also check out offerings from our pantheon of local hot chicken restaurants — including Bolton’s, Prince’s, Hattie B’s, Party Fowl and more. There will be free water courtesy of Deer Park Spring Water, and other vendors serving cold drinks, sweet treats and ice cream. Entry is free, but proceeds from sales will benefit Friends of Shelby Park and Bottoms. It doesn’t get more Nashville than this. 11 a.m.- 3 p.m. at East Park, 700 Woodland St KELSEY BEYELER COMMUNITY

You’ve got several options if you’re looking to go “ooh!” and “aah!” while watching some big colorful things in the sky this Independence Day. Nashville’s bestknown fireworks celebration is the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp-backed Let Freedom Sing! display, which draws a reported 300,000 spectators downtown. The event continues its tradition of bringing top country stars to the stage with a lineup that includes Brad Paisley, Ben Rector, The War and Treaty, Langhorne Slim and Tiera Kennedy. Expect patriotic drink specials and thousands of violations of the United States Flag Code — which technically prohibits the old Stars and Stripes from being used in clothing — along Broadway. For something a bit more low-key (as much as that’s possible for a fireworks display), Brentwood at Crockett Park. Down in the tremendously patriotic city of Franklin on the Fourth street fair, which runs all day in the historic July 4 at various locations

WET HOT

The Belcourt closes out its Camp Belcourt series with a Fourth of July screening of a camp movie that gave us a lot of stars of tomorrow. When this out-of-nowhere spoof of summer-camp-set, ’80s teen sex romps alumni David Wain and Michael Showalter) dropped in the summer of 2001, David Hyde Pierce and Janeane Garofalo were the most recognizable names in the cast. Twenty-two years later, most of the

supporting players are now A-list comedy elite: Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon, Elizabeth Banks and a future Oscar nominee/Lady Gaga collaborator named Bradley Cooper. Plus, you got various State castmates lingering about, as well as Law & Order alpha cop Christopher Meloni as a badass yet depraved camp chef with a can of mixed vegetables (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin, the guy who voices Bob Belcher and Sterling Archer) as a best friend. So catch a screening of the cult comedy you most likely watched a bunch of times while high on something — and still laughed your ass off every time. 8 p.m. at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. CRAIG D. LINDSEY

WEDNESDAY / 7.5

[OUTLAW CRUISE]

MUSIC

CHRIS KNIGHT W/MANDO SAENZ

On the strength of his self-titled 1998 debut album, Kentucky-raised singer and songwriter Chris Knight got the kind of attention from the press that marked him as a potential savior of real country music. Knight’s debut stands tall today in the wake of the Americana movement that was just beginning in earnest in 1998, and there’s nothing overworked or fancy about it. Because Knight is a very writerly lyricist — the first couplet you hear on his first album finds him declaring, “There oughta be a town somewhere / Named for how I feel” — his tales of the disappearance of an aspect of Southern culture he presumably knows very well achieve a narrative density that’s unique. Of course, Knight anticipated aspects of Americana, which means he never exactly became a savior of country, but his post-John Prine songwriting puts me in mind of, say, Todd Snider or Jason Isbell. Knight strikes me as the kind of overlooked major artist who seems ripe for reassessment. As Knight’s career continued, he became a post-outlaw who wrote superbly about the rapacious aspect of corporate America on songs like “Dirt,” from his 2006 full-length Enough Rope, and took a hard look at the outlaw mythos itself on 2019’s Almost Daylight. Opening will be Nashville singer Mando Saenz, whose 2021 album All My Shame artfully combines Texas-style songwriting with hints of power pop. 7:30 p.m. at City Winery, 609 Lafayette St. EDD HURT

WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER

HONEY, HONEY

The Honey Collective works to create an inclusive community

BY JANET KURTZ

In the bucolic setting of Cornelia Fort Airpark at Shelby Bottoms, birds chirp in the morning air as cattle graze in neighboring fields. Each day, groups of superorganisms get to work. Colonies of bees industriously collect pollen from grasses and plants, bringing it all back to the hive to transform into honey. Hives like those at Cornelia Fort — which are made possible through a partnership with Metro Parks — are appearing more frequently in Nashville, in part due to the diligent work of the newly formed Honey Collective.

When Honey Collective co-founder Hanes Motsinger, now acting in a business development capacity, first envisioned The Honey Collective, she was still a relative novice at keeping bees. “I took my first beekeeping class about 12 years ago because I wanted to learn more about honeybees as superorganisms,” says Motsinger. “I was curious about the role they play in bringing food to our tables, and about the ways in which I might help steward healthy pollinator populations (and their habitats) in the future. It wasn’t until about 10 years later that I got bees for the first time.”

After jumping in feet first, Motsinger joined the Nashville Area Beekeepers Association. There she met co-founder Ian Dawe, who mentored her through the process of maintaining healthy hives. Together with Gretchen Trast, the pair founded The Honey Collective in 2022 to assist with apiary setup and hive management.

Dawe is a former London police officer turned professional butler. He always had a passion for gardening, and so beekeeping became an offshoot of that hobby. “I was always admiring beekeeping as part of [gardening], but also realized I wanted to have my own honey, knowing it was produced as pure honey with no artificial additives,” Dawe says, noting that most commercial honey is largely adulterated with ingredients like corn syrup and glucose.

It took time for Dawe to perfect the skill of beekeeping, but he now manages his own hives as well as hives for clients of The Honey Collective, acting as the group’s head beekeeper. On any given day, he may be found tending to a hive, planting pollinators that will help with nutrition diversity for the bees and checking on queens to ensure successful hive management. But “management,” he will tell you in a lilting British accent, is a loose term. “Bees refuse to read the manual on beekeeping and do whatever they fancy doing.”

Beekeeping has evolved in recent years. While once a hobby for gentlemen of leisure, it has now become a more inclusive space. Co-founder Trast explains the need for diversity in the field. “Beekeeping is very difficult to do in a silo, and having a commu-

nity to do this with makes it even more fun and fulfilling,” says Trast. “The community The Honey Collective has tried to curate is to involve people who typically haven’t been included in the beekeeping community — young people, women and queer folks.”

But beekeeping is not without its barriers. “Beekeeping is an expensive hobby,” says Motsinger. “Everything has to be bought in bulk, but you may only need a small amount. The Honey Collective is here to offer the ability to buy smaller amounts, which creates less waste.”

The work of The Honey Collective not only keeps the hobby alive through generations, but also helps support a crucial need. Since 2010, scientists have recorded significant declines in bee populations. According to a report by Utah State University, multiple factors are at work that add to the decline, including habitat loss, pesticides, poor nutrition and climate change. On average, scientists estimate, 30 to 40 percent of bee colonies in the U.S. are lost each winter to these and other factors.

The Honey Collective carefully harvests honey to ensure that each colony has at least 40 to 50 remaining pounds available for overwintering. That means the group may not harvest honey from a hive if it produced only 40 pounds in a given year. This ensures that the bees have enough honey to rely on as a food source through the winter and don’t have to depend on sugar water — a common but less healthy alternative.

Customers can purchase a regular supply of the harvested honey by signing up for the group’s “hive-to-home” Honey Share Program. While the Honey Share Program is sold out for 2023, Nashvillians can also purchase The Honey Collective’s products in locally owned shops like Well House Coffee and Bare Bones Butcher and at the East Nashville Farmers Market. The Honey Collective has also recently been accepted into Second Harvest Food Bank, where their honey goes to homes experiencing food insecurity or located within food deserts.

Pick up the July issue of our sister publication Nfocus to read a profile on a few of Nashville’s beekeepers.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

HANES MOTSINGER, CO-FOUNDER OF THE HONEY COLLECTIVE

PHOTOS: ANGELINA CASTILLO

THE HONEY COLLECTIVE WEARETHEHONEYCOLLECTIVE.COM

M.L. ROSE — GOOD NEIGHBOR COMBO— $10

The local burger chain with multiple locations has an unbeatable deal

BY KELSEY BEYELER

Burgers aren’t as cheap as they used to be, thanks to rising ingredient costs, labor shortages, supplychain issues and more. Unless you’re ordering at a fast-food restaurant, it’s rare to find a solid burger that costs 10 bucks or less, especially if you want to pair it with fries and a drink. It’s possible, though, if you know where to look. A great place to start is local staple M.L. Rose. The locally based chain’s Good Neighbor Combo, which includes a burger, fries and a beer for $10, is anomalous in its affordability.

You can’t choose just any burger and beer for this combo. The special comes with a Von Elrod’s Neighborhood Pilsner and a Lil’ Mel Cheeseburger, complete with a smashed patty, pickles, American cheese and a mildly spicy, mayo-based “awesome sauce.” You can also upgrade to sweet potato fries, with an upcharge. When I ordered the Good Neighbor Combo at the Charlotte Avenue location, the (regular potato) fries were crispy and well-seasoned. The burger was simple but great — good burgers don’t need to hide beneath a lot of toppings. It was loaded with enough pickles to balance out the creaminess of the awesome sauce and add a nice crunch to every bite. Even though the Lil’ Mel isn’t as big or as adorned as other burgers on the menu, it’s a respectable size. Between that, the fries and the beer, my hunger was sated.

The special is just one of several reasons to wander over to one of M.L. Rose’s four locations across town (plus one in Mt. Juliet). The chain also boasts a strong selection of craft beers and weekly specials, a plethora of food options and the kind of decor you want at a burger spot — casual with lots to look at. I’m particularly grateful that M.L. Rose is open later than most restaurants, closing at 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. Its hours vary throughout the week, so check the website before you go. And as always, tip your servers.

ART CRAWL SPACE: JULY

2023

July’s First Saturday happenings include a Passover at David Lusk, entropy at Coop and soul windows at Random Sample

BY JOE NOLAN

WEDGEWOOD-HOUSTON

With the closing of Karen Seapker’s striking solo exhibition Green’s Your Color, Zeitgeist is presenting No One World, a display of work from two very different artists whose work looks great together. Part of the fun of Zeitgeist’s common two-artist exhibitions is the conversation — or confusion, or icy silence — that can arise between disparate works. Sarah Boyts Yoder’s abstract paintings and Ellen Dempsey’s whimsical found-object sculptures don’t have much in common — but a mutual love for bright, bold color combinations gives these displays plenty to talk about. No One World includes Yoder’s buoyant acrylic-on-linen compositions. Her paintings shimmer with bristly brushstrokes, embracing soft geometries with playful curiosity. Dempsey’s found-object constructions combine chance samplings of everyday ephemera and domestic detritus with an artist’s eye for composition and chromatics.

➡ DETAILS: Zeitgeist’s opening reception is from 5 until 7 p.m. Saturday, July 1.

Painter John Roberts lives in his family’s 100-year-old farmhouse. Beginning with the birth of the artist’s first son, Roberts became more aware of the past and the present as spaces traced by generational bloodlines. The artist’s new show — The Long Passover at David Lusk Gallery — offers offbeat narratives about ancestors and progeny, days gone by and untold tomorrows. Roberts is a talented technical painter, but his works are highly stylized. Some look a lot like black-and-white engravings, while others are drenched in complementary colors that transform scenes of people, animals, cars and farm fields into stills from some lost Wes Anderson project. Roberts brings weirdness to his traditional subjects and reminds viewers that every family’s story is normally abnormal. The Long Passover opened on June 21.

➡ DETAILS: David Lusk Gallery hosts an open house from noon until 5 p.m. Saturday, July 1.

Shelby Rodeffer’s July exhibition at Coop wins this month’s award for best exhibition title. Entropy’s Stitch might also bring us the most outlandishly beautiful show of the month in the form of hand-sewn and painted banners inspired by Masonic regalia. The secret society’s trappings and symbology are objectively beautiful, but Rodeffer makes sophisticated additions, including allusions to the entropic state of late-stage capitalism served with a big splash of Southern idioms. Rodeffer’s keen conceptualizing is matched by her expert hand. The artist brings classic design expertise to her silk and satin substrates, making her contemporary messages nostalgic again.

➡ DETAILS: Coop opens Entropy’s Stitch this Saturday, July 1, from 2 until 9 p.m.

Nashville Free Poetry Library’s Matt Johnstone has a special version of his popular Show & Sell: Maker’s Bazaar programmed for July’s First Saturday events. Bazaar artists will be getting the jump on the Fourth of July celebrations with displays of holidaythemed works focused on politics, civics and patriotism. At 7 p.m., mayoral, vice mayoral and District 17 Metro Council candidates will be on hand and reciting verse for the Mayoral Open Mic poetry reading. Jackalope Brewing and Dicey’s Pizza and Tavern will fuel the celebration.

➡ DETAILS: The Maker’s Bazaar will be outside The Packing Plant from 4 until 8 p.m. Saturday, July 1.

EAST NASHVILLE

Red Arrow’s group show Nashville Hot Summer was my favorite local exhibit in June. It’s an admirably broad, intimate group show featuring small works by 11 painters. If you haven’t seen the exhibition — or even if you have — Red Arrow’s closing reception is a must.

➡ DETAILS: Red Arrow hosts a closing reception on Saturday, July 1, from 6 until 9 p.m.

WEST NASHVILLE

Ventanas del Alma — which translates to Windows of the Soul — is a new exhibition at Random Sample that marks the gallery debuts of two artists with local connections. Kristen Carrara is a Nashville-based artist whose drawings and paper collages are informed by her dance practice. Sofia Candiani is from Nashville, but is now based in New York. Candiani releases music under the name Rosa Pajaro, and her studio practice includes clay-and-wood constructions and compositions featuring field recordings, guitar and synthesizer. Expect a multicourse offering of abstract works paired with thoughtful soundtracks.

➡ DETAILS: Random Sample is holding an opening reception for the show from 6 until 9 p.m. this Saturday, July 1. EMAIL

THE LONG PASSOVER AT DAVID LUSK GALLERY

VENTANAS DEL ALMA AT RANDOM SAMPLE

“SALLY’S SNAKERAMA STATION,” JOHN ROBERTS

BRINGING UP THE DEAD

Lorrie Moore discusses death, humor and her sensational new novel

BY ERICA CICCARONE

Lorrie Moore’s fourth novel, I Am Homeless if This Is Not My Home, begins six years after the Civil War’s end. Libby, a Union sympathizer and spinster who runs a boardinghouse in the South, writes letters to her sister about a boarder who has quite a bit in common with John Wilkes Booth. Libby is “personally unreconciled to just about everything” — with a crackerjack sense of humor about herself, the nation, her boarders and death.

Ten pages in, Moore introduces the second narrative. It’s 2016, and Finn is a history teacher on administrative leave. He has traveled from Middle America to New York to visit his brother, who is dying in hospice. Despite the circumstances, the tone remains jaunty. Then, Finn receives news about his long-suffering, suicidal ex-girlfriend Lily, and it’s like Moore has torn a hole through the book and pulled you into its moist, dark lair where the presence of death is close enough to taste.

Finn and Libby’s two stories don’t mirror one another, nor do they neatly explain the mysteries within the characters’ hearts. Rather, they refract the same light, bouncing it into corners and revealing the unearthly and sometimes freakish spaces where we meet our grief. You may try to resist the ride — Moore admits it can be a difficult book to read — but the characters are so charming, their complexes so relatable, that your only option is to get in Finn’s Subaru and surrender to Moore’s signature dry sense of humor, mastery of metaphor and singular voice.

She talked about I Am Homeless if This Is Not My Home. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

What kind of research did you do for this book? I looked up boardinghouses in the 19th century. [I did] research on the [John Wilkes] Booth family. I’m an expert on the Booth family if there’s anything you want to know — his siblings, parents, his bigamous dad. ... The boardinghouse story, written in letters and a diary form, comes out of the 2016 story. It’s a document within that story. They both have transporting the dead, and they both have the past coming alive again. They don’t fit perfectly. I think some people want ... these two narrative parts to sort of click in and explain each other perfectly. They have overlap, and they have themes in common.

Did you learn anything about grief and dying from these characters? I think when I was writing this, I wondered whether [Finn] would understand suicidality by the end or [if he would] still be angry at it, as a sort of brutal mystery that he couldn’t comprehend. And in the end, he’s not going to ever understand, because I think it actually

is very hard to understand. [Lily] wants him to understand. She says, “Maybe you should read a book about it.” ... She understands that he doesn’t get it. It’s an illness. It’s a very mysterious illness for those of us who don’t suffer from it. I did wonder whether he would somehow do a kind of mind merge and get it, but he doesn’t. Just like me. ... I think it’s hard for people who don’t suffer from it to understand it. What role do you think humor can play in death and dying? While it’s a very sad book, I think it’s also a funny book. I don’t really think of it as that funny. I think of it as sad. ... Humor does different things in different places. Sometimes it’s not even meant to be funny. It’s just how people talk. And sometimes it’s meant to relieve tension. And sometimes it’s kind of meant to be a token of generosity toward the person — let’s have a little laugh. Humor can do all kinds of things. Typically, humor is buried tension that comes to the surface. But it can also be a whole bunch of things that can reveal some odd things that are on a character’s mind.

I can’t escape the thought that you wrote this partially during the pandemic when it felt like death was looming all around. Yeah, it’s not explicitly about the pandemic at all. And yet it has a sort of isolated feeling. All the characters feel a little isolated. And of course, there’s illness, and of course, there’s death. And I did know people who died in the pandemic, and it was very sad. I’m getting older, so I know more and more people who are on the other side now. I did feel surrounded by death and I thought, “This book is going to be about that.”

To read an uncut version of this interview — and more local book coverage — please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee.

- Fleetwood Mac Tribute

w/ Nomenclature

Stryper w/ Jamie Rowe, the Voice of Guardian Yep rewind

MJ Lenderman w/ Styrofoam Winos

Metal for Nashville: a tribute to METALCORE!

Royal Bliss w/ Royal Thunder and New Monarch Altin Gün w/ Rogê

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Hippies & Cowboys, Calico Mantra, Garden Of Eden [9PM]

KILTRO [7pm]

Trashville Feat. Weston, Bella Moon, Clover Jamez [9pm]

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Jake Burman & Company, Jackson Bruck & The Dukes of Hume, Jacy Zay [9PM]

JONATHAN & ABIGAIL PEYTON W/ WADE SAPP [7pm]

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Teddy At Night w/ Lucy From The Internet & Eddie Ortiz

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SOOT, HALLOWEEN, FIB MELANIA KOL [9pm]

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JESSICA LEA MAYFIELD W/ TANYA MONTANA COE [7PM]

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SUPERSTAR DAMUS1DAY, THE ROOF DOGS,

MUSIC ANOTHER LOOK

The Scene ’s music writers recommend recent releases from Lucinda Williams, Karina

BY HANNAH CRON,

Festivals and tours abound this summer, but musicians across Music City haven’t slowed down on giving us excellent records, and the Scene’s music writers have 12 new recommendations for you. Add ’em to your streaming queue or pick them up from your favorite record store. Many of our picks are also available to buy directly from the artists on Bandcamp — whose employees successfully formed a union in May — as well. The Bandcamp Friday promotion, in which the platform waives its cut of sales for a 24-hour period, is taking a break but will be back Aug. 4.

JUSTVIBEZ AND NEGRO JUSTICE, ART OF THE CRAFT (TRÏBE OVER EVERYTHING)

Nashville hip-hop collective Six One Trïbe is having a massive year, with performances at SXSW, Bonnaroo and beyond as well as a wide variety of new releases. Don’t sleep on the follow-up to Negro Justice’s 2022 standout Chosen Family. Over lush, soul-kissed beats by JustVibez, Justice takes stock of where his membership in the collective and his own well-received work have taken him. The result lands right in a sweet spot: It rewards a close listen, but it’s also nice to have on while you take care of business (especially if that’s chilling under a fan on a hot day).

STEPHEN TRAGESER

MOONY, PODUNK (SELF-RELEASED)

With exhilarating classic-punk energy, Podunk tears through six songs in 15 minutes and change; after your first listen, you feel like this record has your back in a fight. Seth Findley’s Moony project crafts soundscapes that encompass so many different styles that a listener could trip out on trying to dissect and qualify what all they’re hearing and be thoroughly left behind. There’s nothing mercenary about what Findley is doing. He’s not chasing trends or cushioning impacts, but instead deploying a sound that is Now, without tossing out signifiers or emotional onramps.

JASON SHAWHAN

KARINA DAZA, VIAJERA (SELF-RELEASED)

Indie artist Karina Daza’s pursuit of music brought her from her native New York to Spain and eventually to Nashville. So her EP

title Viajera fits both her biography and her seven-track release’s Latin alternative style. The singer flexes her powerful vocals across soundscapes that mix folk and jazz with Latin American styles. Viajera carries through it a spirit of adventure from the opening title track with its rumbling percussion and crunchy guitar; the mood soars on “No Pasa Na,” featuring Gaby Moreno. ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

LUCINDA WILLIAMS, STORIES FROM A ROCK ’N’ ROLL HEART (HIGHWAY 20/THIRTY TIGERS)

The modified blues-rock Lucinda Williams favored on 2020’s Good Souls Better Angels put across the Americana singer-songwriter’s political musings with a minimum of fuss. After suffering a stroke in 2020 that left her unable to play guitar, Williams cut her new LP, out June 30, in a classic-rock mode that touches on, say, the style of Lou Reed in the ’80s and ’90s. For the most part, the songs are fairly simple ready-mades, but Williams applies her patented sweet-and-sour vocals to tunes that cast a retrospective light on the life of a Southern-bred outlaw musician who sounds a lot like Lucinda Williams. In “New York Comeback,” the album also contains a built-in critique of critics: “The writers have to hit their deadline / But maybe something will unfold.” Let’s hope that’s true.

EDD HURT

ROBIN EATON, MEMORIES OF A MISSPENT YOUTH (CLUB ROAR)

On Memories of a Misspent Youth, Robin Eaton steps out of his usual role as producer and songwriter and delivers what may well be Nashville’s surprise rock record of 2023. The album has an undeniable lyrical and musical hipness and sophistication that reflect a lifetime of record-making experience. Eaton shines as the primary writer, vocalist and guitarist on songs that recall past loves and past highs and lows with a deft mix of humor, sadness and 20-20 hindsight. But as he admits on the jazzy “Inner Child,” he has “no regrets for too many drugs and too much sex.” Musically, Eaton employs a number of rock styles to capture the record’s various moods, from ringing folk-rock to harderedged and more progressive arrangements.

DARYL SANDERS

COROOK, SERIOUS PERSON (PART 1) (ATLANTIC)

After going viral with her Olivia Barton collab “If I Were a Fish,” corook has probably been stuck in your head whether you know it or not. The sweet acoustic track that celebrates self-love and dismisses internet trolls is a perfect

sampler for corook’s serious person (part 1) EP. Each song is more earnest than the last, covering subjects from body image to the complexities of aging and exploring identity. If you missed their set at Nashville Pride Fest, catch their debut solo tour when it stops at Third Man Records’ Blue Room Sept. 23 HANNAH CRON

SHADOW 15, DAYS OF INNOCENCE 1983-85 (TAKE THE CITY/BEAT GENERATION)

In 2008, when local label Spat! Records released the 21-track Far Away CD collection of postpunkers Shadow 15, very few documents of the Reagan-era Nashville underground band could be found in record stores. Now Barcelona punk labels Take the City and Beat Generation have co-released Days of Innocence 198385, a stellar 12-inch with 10 of the standout tunes on the Spat! comp (though strangely, not the actual song “Days of Innocence”). While Shadow 15 are often compared to The Wipers or Hüsker Dü, there is a similarity to the bleak skate rock of Agent Orange and moody Scotsmen Josef

K. P.J. KINZER

MIKE MAIMONE, MOOKIE’S BIG GAY MIXTAPE (MILE TOO FAR)

If searching for a shortcut portmanteau to encompass Nashville treasure and impeccable thirst trapper Mike Maimone, you could do worse than “Dr. John Grant,” melding the latter’s erudite social X-rays and queer queries with the former’s boisterous barroom piano promenades. But even amid the joyful mood roulette of Mookie’s Big Gay Mixtape, you get a feel for the emotional undertow that lurks just beyond some of the pleasant party vibes (“Unfollow” may be the catchiest dancefloor rendezvous about untangling social media with an ex) and the evening of scales (a gloriously menacing take on “Before He Cheats”). After the unexpected death of Maimone’s husband just before Mookie’s release, the ballads’ impact is harder, the party jams and interludes feel like safety valves, and a wrenching take on Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best” hits like Closing Time-era Tom Waits. JASON

SHAWHAN

ROBYN HITCHCOCK, LIFE AFTER INFINITY (TINY GHOST)

Robyn Hitchcock follows 2022’s brilliant Shufflemania! with an inspired collection of original instrumentals mostly recorded in co-producer Charlie Francis’ attic in Cardiff, Wales. Hitchcock takes center stage on a variety of stringed instruments

with Francis providing accompaniment on bass and percussion. Hitchcock is an acclaimed lyricist, but he’s an accomplished guitarist and melodist too, as he reminds us with his outstanding work on Life’s 11 tracks, ranging from the traditional pop of “Mr. Ringerson’s Picnic” and rootsy rock of “Tubby Among the Nightingales” to more sonically experimental and atmospheric fare like “Veronica’s Chapel” and “Plesiosaurs in the Desert.”

DARYL SANDERS

RODNEY CROWELL, THE CHICAGO SESSIONS (NEW WEST)

Back in 1978, Rodney Crowell was touted as the new Gram Parsons, and Crowell’s great tune from that era, “I Ain’t Living Long Like This,” has become a much-covered outlaw-country classic. Crowell tried his hand at pop country in the ’80s, and he’s written hit songs for the likes of Lee Ann Womack and Wynonna Judd. The Chicago Sessions pairs the great Nashville songwriter and singer with Wilco leader Jeff Tweedy, who produced the album in a pleasingly recessive folk-rock mode. It’s an unclassifiable record by a true master — you’ll hear hints of blues throughout, but “You’re Supposed to Be Feeling Good” and “Everything at Once” are as ace as songwriting gets. EDD HURT

VENUS & THE FLYTRAPS, VENUS IN LOVE (TONE TREE)

Venus & the Flytraps have been exceptionally busy in 2023, including dates opening for Samia, two appearances at Bonnaroo and a blowout release party for their second EP Venus in Love. Singer-guitarist Brenna Kassis and singer Cece Tomé’s work practically begs to be made into the soundtrack of the next great coming-of-age movie. Songs like “Scaredy Pants” and “Red Hot” cover the full scale of the angst experienced by most every teen and 20-something with blistering grungeschooled fury.

HANNAH CRON

DOMESTIC BLISS, DOMESTIC BLISS (SELFRELEASED)

Domestic Bliss, the self-titled debut from longtime musicians and recently married couple Lilly Hiatt and Coley Hinson is so much fun that I missed my exit on the way home and I didn’t care. It’s a joyful and thoughtful blend; the pair’s folk, soul and psych influences share equal territory. There are love songs like the sweet “Bail” and “Mercury,” as well as “Plan B,” about things not working out like you’d hoped.

In closer “When All of Your Heroes Are Dead,” the duo looks at the struggle to find your place in the world, which goes on long after you’ve found your partner for life.

STEPHEN TRAGESER EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

Daza, Negro Justice and more

EDD HURT, P.J. KINZER, ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ, JASON SHAWHAN AND STEPHEN TRAGESER

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

THE SPIN

SEVERAL DAYS IN THE PARK

BY D. PATRICK RODGERS, LORIE LIEBIG AND STEVEN HALE

We were met with something of a surreal sight while striding onto Centennial Park’s Great Lawn Friday afternoon for the first day of the traveling Re:SET festival’s visit to Nashville. The exact locale of the climactic scene in Robert Altman’s 1975 ensemble wonder Nashville — in which a stacked lineup of country performers rallies on behalf of an outsider presidential candidate on the steps of the Parthenon — was now the site of a breakneck set from Brit punks Idles. Clad in dresses and noting the absurdity of legislation designed to target people for what they wear, Idles churned out leftist post-punk anthems like the Tory-skewering “Mother” and the skullstomping “Never Fight a Man With a Perm” to a late-afternoon crowd that looked dressed for a warehouse party rather than a rock show. But frontman Joe Talbot’s messages of inclusion and positivity went over well as the grounds began to fill out — as did the band’s set-closing chant of “Fuck the king!”

Jamie xx of The xx bridged the gap to headliners LCD Soundsystem with a thumping set of drum-n-bass-informed EDM, bringing the Bonnaroo vibes to those who weren’t able to make it down to the Farm this year. Even with it still somewhat light out — and even with youngsters rolling around on the lawn near the VIP area — tunes like “Let’s Do It Again” got the fists pumping and rave vibes flowing.

The band of the hour kicked off about five minutes early, dusk light glinting off their famously enormous disco ball as they launched into “Get Innocuous!” Frontman James Murphy and his longtime crew of NYC dance punks are nothing if not consistent, and their set was full of all the trademark moves that have made LCD shows can’tmiss events for roughly two decades. Founding member and rock-solid timekeeper Pat Mahoney churned out the danceable four-on-

the-floor beats of tunes like “You Wanted a Hit” and “Dance Yrself Clean” while Murphy bopped around the stage, throwing in little bursts of auxiliary percussion. Bassist Tyler Pope was under the weather, and so a series of friends and techs filled in on bass throughout the set, including Adam Devonshire of Idles — a band who Murphy extolled frequently throughout the night — on a cover of the Joy Division banger “No Love Lost.” With a crescent moon gleaming above, LCD ended the night with 2007’s undeniable “All My Friends,” sending Day 1’s crowd off into the night just before 10 p.m.

The skies were clear and temperatures mild for Saturday’s lineup, which kicked off with a brief but captivating performance from rising R&B talent Fousheé, who’s previously collaborated with Re:SET tourmate James Blake and the night’s headliner, Steve Lacy Toro y Moi, up next, was light on banter but nonetheless kept the crowd moving for nearly an hour with tunes from last year’s Mahal, along with older crowd pleasers like “Girl Like You” and “Ordinary Pleasure.”

It’s been 12 years since the aforementioned Blake released his celebrated selftitled album; surprisingly, his afternoon Re:SET appearance was his first in Nashville. The award-winning British songsmith and producer’s intricate, synth-layered compositions burst off the stage, driven by

booming bass lines and his rich, silky vocals. Fan favorites included “Hummingbird,” his collaboration with Metro Boomin that’s in Across the Spider-Verse, 2019’s “Can’t Believe the Way We Flow” and a cover of Bill Withers’ “Hope She’ll Be Happier.” He closed with his trademark “Retrograde,” promising fans a speedy return to Music City.

The crowd was still buzzing as the stage’s screens lit up, creating a colorful backdrop for entrancing, genre-bending Steve Lacy. At just 25 years old, the talent once known primarily as guitarist for hip-hop outfit The Internet has quickly evolved into a musical force of nature, picking up a Grammy for his massive viral hit “Bad Habit” and collaborating with heavyweights from Vampire Weekend to Kendrick Lamar. Throughout his set, Lacy carried his massive talent with glamour and charm. Between masterful renditions of “N Side,” “When I” and “Ryd,” he maintained an easy and humorous intimacy with the crowd, making vibe checks and questioning the sudden appearance of a swarm of beetles onstage. He led a passionate sing-along to “Infrunami” and channeled the enthusiastic response into “Bad Habit,” which had fans raising their phones high to capture the moment.

Sunday’s brutal heat was made more bearable by the sound of Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back in Town” blaring from

the P.A., announcing the beginning of the headlining set from the indie-rock singersongwriter hydra that is boygenius. The Boys, as they have dubbed themselves, are Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, and their unofficial theme soon gave way to their harmonizing voices singing “Without You Without Them,” the a cappella opener from their acclaimed and absolute banger of a debut full-length album, the record. A large screen on the stage revealed the trio in drag, singing into a single microphone backstage before running out and kicking right into the Baker-led “$20.”

What followed was a perfect set from a supergroup that is more than the sum of its stellar parts. That included a song from each of their most recent solo records as well as one that didn’t make it onto the record. Among the many highlights were hit single “Not Strong Enough” and “Cool About It,” the second of which Nashville-residing Baker dedicated to American Legion Post 82 in Inglewood. The Boys were playing through some unusual circumstances, beyond the suffocating heat: Dacus revealed to the crowd that she would occasionally be sitting because she was performing with a concussion. But none of that obscured their values or tempered their exhilarating and defiant ethos.

As several recent shows have, their set was preceded by a land acknowledgment (in this case by Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican artist Shayna Hobbs) to name and honor the Indigenous people who originally inhabited what we now call Nashville. Most male members of the crew wore dresses in protest of Tennessee’s new anti-drag law (which, earlier this month, was deemed unconstitutional by a Tennessee judge, with its enforcement halted). What was most indicative of the group’s spirit — despite the ever-present melancholy in their songs — was Baker’s introduction to a midset song. She’d realized, she said in a quiet but sure voice, that she felt a lot of anger toward the people who had made her feel small and erased. But a powerful force to get them to fuck off, she said, was joy. With that, she urged the crowd to scream loud enough for Gov. Bill Lee to hear them. A Bridgers-led “Fuck Bill Lee” cheer followed before the show went on.

EMAIL THESPIN@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

HEAD AND SHOULDER PADS ABOVE THE REST: BOYGENIUS’ JULIEN BAKER

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COULD’A MADE A MOVE: STEVE LACY

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THE LAST LAST CRUSADE

BY JASON SHAWHAN

It stands to reason that, as a planet once again besieged by actual Nazis, we would somehow collectively summon Indiana Jones into some new adventure. And rest assured, among the many virtues of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is a gleeful willingness to fuck with Nazis every step of the way. It would almost seem gratuitous if it weren’t so very necessary.

For the generations who didn’t grow up watching The X-Files, here at last is another conduit for people to learn about Operation Paperclip and confront some very unpleasant realities. In 1969 (following a great prologue right at the end of World War II), the legacy of the world that America helped build after the war is yielding all manner of dividends. Tying together a Nazi physicist (Mads Mikkelsen, doing his thing), the memory of an old scientist buddy (Toby Jones, also doing his thing) and an amoral goddaughter (Phoebe Waller-Bridge, brisk and having a ball) is the Archimedean antikythera — a device used in astronomy to map spacetime that, in this instance, may unlock the possibility of time travel. Faster than you can say, “Well, that certainly belongs in a museum,” things get very complicated, but not before something happens that may indicate SpongeBob Squarepants is at least

Indiana Jones universe-adjacent.

The big shift this time around is twofold: Replacing Steven Spielberg in the director’s chair is James Mangold (Logan, Walk the Line and Girl, Interrupted), and the great big THING is not of divine or extraterrestrial provenance, but rather something man-made. And this man-made thing is true to the logic of its creation. It is not a means by which something completely exterior stirs the mobile spacedust and electrical fields that make up organic life — it is a testament to both the power and limitation of human vision (in the figurative sense). Some will call it corny. I found its transition from punch-drunk silly to deeply moving effective like a jab in the kidneys; you feel it before you even realize what happened. This big final set piece is fascinating, because it veers away from the traditional denouements of this series, instead focusing on something life-changing for a historian rather than a special effects artist. (No shade to effects artists, who do a captivating job re-creating young — in as much as any academic can be considered “young” — Indiana Jones.)

There are some fascinating choices made in the film’s first half — each action scene is built upon perpendicular intersections and how this approach to physical space

can evolve and transform when explored in different environs. It’s not quite a full-on formalist approach to the action blockbuster, but it feels different, and exciting in a way that doesn’t feel quite like the language of visual kinesis we usually get this time of year.

There’s been a great deal of online bleating from the Weaponized Nostalgia crowd about Waller-Bridge, who is giving full Amanda Pays vibes, except for a proto-SCUBA sequence wherein she somehow channels both Sigourney Weaver and Winona Ryder from Alien: Resurrection. Her character Helena has agency and good comic timing, her outfits are great, and she greets the world around her with a joyful leer.

But what lingers the most about Dial of Destiny is how great Harrison Ford really is. The weariness is there, the been-through-its and the sheer ravages of time, but you can tell how much his heart is in this one — he got buckets of money to do so, but there’s a real reckoning with the legacy of this character, and that kind of emotional response is not usually what these films wrangle out of the viewer. (Except, that is, the first time you watch divorcecore classic Temple of Doom after having seen Robert Siodmak’s Cobra Woman.) Douglas Sirk was right; emotional resonance can be spectacle. And despite the weirdly ambivalent headlines and mixed reviews dogging this film since its bow at Cannes, this is one of the most consistently enjoyable legacy sequels of recent years, and a great entrenchment of how necessary it is to teach the kids about how unrelentingly bad Nazis are for society. EMAIL

INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY

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ACROSS

1 Wows

5 Food ___

9 Exercise that incorporates ballet, yoga and Pilates

14 Not daring at all

15 “Our treat”

16 ___ gas law (pV = nRT)

17 *Dogs that can run up to 35 miles an hour

18 –

19 It’s fit for a queen

20 Gmail alternative

21 Secretly unseal, perhaps

23 Pronoun heard in “Hamlet” and “Richard II,” appropriately

27 Establishments for facials and waxing

28 *Electrical current converter

30 –

33 Option at many bike shops

36 French 101 word with three vowels

37 Freestyle, maybe

38 Piece in the game Othello

39 Fabric for some formal table linens

42 Commonly torn tissue, for short

43 American charges

45 *Country composed of over 7,000 islands

49 –

50 Religious scroll

52 “Since that’s over with …”

56 Staff

59 Geological span 60 Act as an usher for 61 *Lacking seriousness, as an attitude 63 –64 Chihuahua, for one 65 Nickname for Letitia 66 Nike competitor 67 Syrian strongman 68 Brand of coolers and insulated drinkware 69 Obsolescent film format

DOWN

1 Like much of Europe beginning in 1939

2 “Yippee!”

3 ___ Greene Balch, American humanitarian who won the 1946 Nobel Peace Prize

4 International Day of Peace mo.

5 “Good” or “bad” questioner

6 Bracketologists’ picks, often

7 Animal crossing?

8 Eye up and down

9 JPEG alternative

10 “Ciao!”

11 *Show up again

12 Not well at all?

13 Flair

22 Satyajit Ray’s “The ___ Trilogy”

24 Like the fact that Lance Bass sang bass for ’N Sync

25 Well-manored sort?

26 “Jojo Rabbit” setting: Abbr.

29 Rundown

30 –

31 Hit light-ly?

32 Chortles

33 Hip-hop subgenre

34 Allotment term

35 Certain soup ingredients … or a homophonic hint to the answers to the starred clues

39 Bond’s debut film

40 Not too many

41 Boom holder

44 “No, really!”

46 Banned book of 1955

47 Flattened, in a way

48 Tap one’s phone, perhaps

51 Glad rival

53 What chests and waves may do

54 Saxophone-playing Muppet

55 From birth

56 She, in Sicily

57 National League expansion team of 1962

58 Writer Wiesel

62 Golden ratio symbol

63 Course goal

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.

that said Defendant enter him appearance herein with thirty (30) days after June 29th 2023 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the

Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on July 31st 2023. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Joseph P. Day, Clerk

Bill Riggs, Deputy Clerk

Date: June 2, 2023

L.R.Demarco

Attorneys for Plaintiff

NSC 6/8, 6/15, 6/22, 6/29/23

Non-Resident Notice

Fourth Circuit

Docket No. 23D588

John Edward Patton vs. Mae Jean Bolden

In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a nonresident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon Mae Jean Bolden.

It is ordered that said Defendant enter her appearance herein with thirty (30) days after July 6th 2023, same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on August 7th 2023.

It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Joseph P. Day, Clerk

Bill Riggs, Deputy Clerk

Date: June 8, 2023

Brian O. Bowhan Attorney for Plaintiff NSC 6/15, 6/22, 6/29, 7/6/23

Non-Resident Notice

Fourth Circuit

Docket No. 23D590

Qingzhe Gao vs. Ziyan Gao

In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a nonresident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon Ziyan Gao It is ordered that said Defendant enter his appearance herein with thirty (30) days after July 13th 2023, same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on August 14th 2023. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Joseph P. Day, Clerk

Bill Riggs, Deputy Clerk

Date: June 15 2023

Randi Benton Attorney for Plaintiff

NSC 6/22, 6/29, 7/6, 7/13/23

vs. Ziyan Gao

In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a nonresident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon Ziyan Gao It is ordered that said Defendant enter his appearance herein with thirty (30) days after July 13th 2023, same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on August 14th 2023.

It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Joseph P. Day Clerk

Bill Riggs, Deputy Clerk

Date: June 15 2023

Randi Benton Attorney for Plaintiff

NSC 6/22, 6/29, 7/6, 7/13/23

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