Kacey Musgraves created this mood board while drafting “Slow Burn,” the opening track on her Grammy-winning 2018 album, Golden Hour.
From the exhibit American Currents: State of the Music
RESERVE TODAY
artifact photo: Bob Delevante
Street View: Eviction Notices Raise Questions
About Metro Support for Affordable Housing
Hobson Flats received Barnes Fund support, but advocates say more than 100 tenants have received eviction notices since 2021 BY LENA MAZEL
COVER PACKAGE: PRIMARY COLORS
Davidson County Ballot Guide
Here’s what Nashville voters will find on the Aug. 1 ballot for federal and state primaries and local general elections
BY NASHVILLE BANNER STAFF
Conservatives Battle in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District
Metro Councilmember Courtney Johnston takes on incumbent U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles for the Republican vote BY ELI MOTYCKA
Gloria Johnson Looks Past August in Long Primary Run-Up
Legislature star has spent her Democratic primary campaign running against Marsha Blackburn BY ELI MOTYCKA
Three Republicans Vie for Whitson’s Open House Seat
With District 65’s Rep. Sam Whitson retiring, three conservatives are duking it out in Williamson County BY HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS
Campaigns Report Second-Quarter Funds as Early Voting Begins
House District 60 remains hottest race, as state and local financial disclosures become available
BY NICOLLE S. PRAINO
Haile Fights ‘Constitutional Republican’ Challenge in Sumner County
Chris Spencer has commanded an online army against state Sen. Ferrell Haile in a test by the party’s populist wing BY ELI MOTYCKA CRITICS’ PICKS
The Nashville Dance Festival, Swamp Dogg, Seven Samurai, Nashville Horror Con 2024 and more
Exactly What’s Needed
The Heimerdinger Foundation’s free organic meals are a lifeline for cancer patients and their caregivers BY MARGARET LITTMAN
Catching Fire
Kindling Arts Festival continues to engage and empower local artists BY AMY STUMPFL
BOOKS
All About Alonso
Film scholar and Vanderbilt alum Alonso Duralde on his new book Hollywood Pride BY JASON SHAWHAN
MUSIC
Bless This Mess
Meg Elsier gets real on Spittake BY HANNAH CRON
Staking a Claim
Danielia Cotton embraces the full spectrum of her roots BY RACHEL CHOLST The Spin The Scene’s live-review column checks out Lake Street Dive at Ascend Amphitheater
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EVICTION NOTICES RAISE QUESTIONS ABOUT METRO SUPPORT FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Hobson Flats received Barnes Fund support, but advocates say more than 100 tenants have received eviction notices since 2021
BY LENA MAZEL
Street View is a monthly column taking a close look at development-related issues affecting different neighborhoods throughout the city.
HOBSON FLATS, a complex in Antioch run by Elmington Property Group, is classified as affordable housing. Despite this designation, it’s now facing serious allegations. Local advocacy organizations Poder Popular and Tennessee Student Solidarity Network recently claimed that Elmington has evicted vulnerable tenants, mistreated workers and caused distress through lack of communication and difficult eligibility processes.
One former Hobson tenant sharing her story with the Scene requested anonymity because of ongoing legal action. She signed up to live at Hobson Flats because of its reputation as affordable housing.
“What I thought was a blessing turned out to be a nightmare,” she says.
She tells the Scene that when she was unable to pay rent on time, she ended up with a $3,700 bill and an eviction notice. Her original rent was set at $1,200 per month. She reached out to Poder Popular for help when Elmington took her to eviction court last summer. Now organizers from Poder Popular tell the Scene she’s paying off the $3,700 bill in $50 installments.
This wasn’t the first time Poder Popular encountered evictions at Hobson Flats. After a Black single mother told organizers that Elmington had charged her higher rent after losing her Section 8 paperwork, the group started knocking on doors. According to documents shared with the Scene, they found a number of others facing eviction.
“On Monday, October 10, 2022, we visited Hobson Flats and connected with residents,” one document reads. “We found that every resident living in Section 8 or income-restricted apartment reported mismanagement, constant harassment and threats of eviction from [the] management office over minor incidents.”
In November 2023, tenants also experienced a police raid, with dozens of armed officers storming the complex. Notably, a source tells the Scene that this raid happened around 3 p.m., when children living at the complex were coming back from school. Local labor advocacy organization Workers’ Dignity also raised concerns over Spanish-speaking residents not understanding police announcements before the raid, causing serious distress.
Cases like these led Poder Popular and Tennessee Student Solidarity Network to speak against Elmington at Metro Council’s budget hearings on June 4.
“[Elmington is] not focusing on low-income people,” one speaker said. “They only want their winnings.”
Other speakers mentioned rent increases, lack of maintenance and reports of worker exploitation. Organizers asked for representation on the Metro Housing Trust Fund Commission (which oversees the Barnes Fund, a Metro housing trust fund) for renters, minorities and working-class people. They also asked for the Barnes Fund to stop funding rental projects like Hobson Flats and instead focus on their other affordable housing models.
The Barnes Housing Trust Fund is Nashville’s largest affordable housing fund. Its funding can go only to nonprofit organizations, though these nonprofits can sometimes partner with developers like Elmington, provided the nonprofit has at least 51 percent interest in the development. Barnes-funded rental units built before 2020 are required to remain affordable for 20 years; units built after 2020 must remain affordable for at least 30. Hobson Flats received a total of $2 million in Barnes Fund grants in 2019 and 2020 via Elmington’s partnership with Woodbine Community Organization, as well as federal funding.
Many affordable housing complexes in Nashville, including Hobson Flats, are run using a model called LIHTC (low-income housing tax credit).
“When you are applying to a LIHTC property, you have to make less than or equal to a set percentage of the area median income,” says Elizabeth Leiserson, director of the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands’ Eviction Right to Counsel program. Unlike other programs like Section 8, which often set rent at 30 percent of an individual’s income, LIHTC sets rent at a flat rate based on the median income earned by households in the region.
“It’s income-limited, not income-based,” Leiserson explains.
A representative for Hobson Flats tells the Scene that rent for their one-bedroom apartment is currently $1,128 per month; a two-bedroom rents for $1,351. According to the Metro Nashville Planning Department’s State of Affordable Housing dashboard, Nashville’s area median income is currently $74,850; Hobson Flats’ one-bedroom units are considered affordable for
a single-person household that earns roughly 60 percent AMI, or $44,950 per year.
At LIHTC housing, monthly rent can also legally increase not once but twice per year: once during lease renewal, and again when AMI increases. This has put low-income renters in precarious positions, including at Hermitage Flats, another of Elmington’s affordable housing properties. In 2022, WSMV reported that Elmington raised rent for one Hermitage Flats tenant twice in six months.“It’s supposed to be affordable housing,” she said. “What’s affordable? Affordable for who?”
With prices set at a flat rate for everyone and the potential to increase twice a year, it’s not surprising that evictions happen. According to figures shared by Legal Aid, the 323-unit Hobson Flats has filed at least 116 eviction lawsuits since December 2021. Legal Aid has served as representation for 15 of these tenants.
As head of Legal Aid’s Eviction Right to Counsel program, Leiserson often represents tenants who are overwhelmed and confused by the eviction process. Some of her clients are unaware that evictions are public and remain on your record. The eviction process can be confusing, and it can also be expensive. A recent Tennessee law has made the cost to appeal an eviction prohibitive, particularly for low-income renters: As of 2022, defendants must provide bond equal to a full year of rent if they want to appeal.
Nashville has a huge deficit of affordable housing. According to Metro’s 2021 Affordable Housing Task Force report, the city needs to build 35,715 rental units for people living at 30 percent AMI by 2030 to keep up with demand.
The Barnes Housing Trust Fund website shows that Nashville has built just 1,799 of those units so far. There are deficits in affordable housing for many middle-income residents as well.
But the situation at Hobson Flats raises some important questions. Does a lower-rate rental make enough of a difference when rent is set as “affordable” based on an AMI of $74,850 and can increase twice a year? Should affordable units have other protections in place to keep low-income renters safe from quickly escalating eviction cycles and legal fees?
Metro’s Planning Department has recently increased renter protections on Barnes-funded units. There’s a 2023 regulation no longer allowing complexes to raise tenants’ portion of rent midlease, and they hired a compliance monitor in January, Metro Housing Division director Angela Hubbard tells the Scene. They’ve continued to fund other projects, like community land trusts and attainable home ownership funding.
When asked about Poder Popular’s request for working-class and renter representation on the Metro Housing Trust Fund Commission, Hubbard explains that while the actual appointment of people to the MHTFC is up to organizations with spots on the commission, the Planning Department does “robust engagement through many mechanisms” to understand the lived experience of renters and working-class Nashvillians.
Anyone can make public comments at Housing Trust Fund Commission meetings, and Planning holds regular community listening sessions. But Hubbard still acknowledges that hearing everyone’s voice can be challenging. “I’ve worked in government and housing for 17 years,” she says. “I often find that people that have the most challenging housing journeys are mostly not going to show up at a government-sponsored meeting or conversation.”
To combat this issue, the Planning Department continues to partner with nonprofits and community groups including the Legal Aid Society and the Tennessee Fair Housing Council. They’ve also recently launched a survey to inform their Unified Housing Strategy.
A representative from Poder Popular, Simon Hannibal, says they will continue to fight for Metro to “have some real community and democratic input of the most directly impacted people.”
“I think it’s crucial that our elected officials reflect the needs and demands of the people — one of the highest demands being affordable housing,” they say.
Elmington Property did not respond to the Scene’s request to comment for this story. An administrator at Hobson Flats reiterated that their late payment and eviction policies operate in line with lease agreements. ▼
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Davidson County Ballot Guide
Here’s what Nashville voters will find on the Aug. 1 ballot for federal and state primaries and local general elections
BY NASHVILLE BANNER STAFF
This story is a partnership between the Nashville Banner and the Nashville Scene The Nashville Banner is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization focused on civic news. Visit nashvillebanner.com for more information.
Federal
U.S. Senate
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
Name: Marquita Bradshaw
Age: 50
Professional experience: Environmental justice chair, Sierra Club, Tennessee Campaign website: marquitabradshaw.com
Education: Bachelor’s in journalism and communication from the University of Memphis
Political experience: Democratic nominee, U.S. Senate, 2020
Bio: Bradshaw, a native of Memphis, started her political activism as a child concerned about pollution from a nearby contaminated military base. After years of working with advocacy groups like the AFL-CIO and the Sierra Club, Bradshaw upset party favorite and Nashville attorney James Mackler to become the Democratic nominee for Tennessee’s other Senate seat in 2020. While Bradshaw was the first woman of color to earn a party nomination for statewide office in Tennessee, she lost to Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty in the general election.
With early voting now open, see our ballot guide, coverage of state and federal primary matchups and more
EARLY VOTING is now open in Davidson County, with the city’s 12 early polling locations open Monday through Saturday until July 27. Election Day will follow on Aug. 1. Nashville voters will find the county’s general elections on their ballots, along with the more competitive state and federal primaries.
In this week’s issue, we have an extensive Davidson County ballot guide, put together by our colleagues at the Nashville Banner. We’ve also got stories on competitive state House races in Sumner and Williamson counties, as well as pieces on primary races for U.S. Senate and House of Representatives seats.
Find more of our election coverage online, including a rundown of the Democratic primary for the state House District 60 seat and the general election for the Metro Nashville Public Schools board District 1 seat.
Name: Lola Denise Brown
Age: 67
Professional experience: Not available
Campaign website: LolaDenise Brown for United States Senator on Facebook
Education: Bachelor’s in behavioral science from American Baptist College
Political experience: First-time candidate Bio: Not available
Name: Gloria Johnson
Age: 62
Professional experience: Teacher, consultant
Campaign website: votegloriajohnson.com
Education: Bachelor’s in special education and teaching from the University of Tennessee Political experience: Representative, Tennessee House of Representatives, 2012-2014 and 2018-present
Bio: Johnson is a former teacher from Denver who has represented the Knoxville area in the 13th and 90th districts of the Tennessee House. After the Covenant School shooting in 2023, Johnson and fellow Representatives
Justin Pearson and Justin Jones — later nicknamed the “Tennessee Three” — led a gun control protest in the House, which resulted in Jones and Pearson being expelled by their Republican colleagues. Johnson kept her seat by the margin of a single vote.
Name: Civil Miller-Watkins Age: 58
Professional experience: Middle school math teacher
Campaign website: civilforsenate.com
Education: Bachelor’s in sociology and social work, master’s degree in education from the University of Tennessee, Martin Political experience: Former Fayette County School Board member, secretary of the Tennessee Democratic County Chairs Association
Bio: After losing the Democratic primary for
District 94 in 2016, Miller-Watkins won the uncontested District 26 Democratic nomination for Tennessee state Senate in 2020 but lost to Republican Sen. Page Walley in the general election. She is married to Charles Watkins Sr. They have eight children and 10 grandchildren.
REPUBLICAN PRIMARY
Name: Marsha Blackburn
Age: 72
Professional experience: Politician Campaign website: marshablackburn.com
Education: Bachelor’s in home economics from Mississippi State University Political experience: Incumbent (since 2019), U.S. House of Representatives (20032018), Tennessee state Senate (1998-2003)
Bio: Blackburn got involved in politics as a founder of the Williamson County Young Republicans after moving to Tennessee from her native Mississippi. She was first elected to the Tennessee state Senate in 1998, and has held elected office for more than 25 years. After four terms as a member of Congress, Blackburn was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018. Blackburn was among the 147 Republican lawmakers who voted against certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win and has been endorsed by Donald Trump. She and her husband Chuck Blackburn have two children and three grandchildren.
Name: Tres Wittum
Age: 37
Professional experience: Analyst for the Tennessee state Senate
Campaign website: treswittum.com
Education: Bachelor’s in media and communications from the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga
Political experience: Campaign chief for Tennessee state Sen. Bo Watson, Davidson County Chairman Bio: Wittum has been involved in politics
since he was state chairman of the Tennessee College Republicans while a student at UT Chattanooga. After graduation, he worked as a policy and research analyst in the Tennessee state Senate for six years before launching his political career. In 2022, Wittum ran for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District, coming in last in a 10-person Republican primary election won by Rep. Andy Ogles.
INDEPENDENTS
Name: William Tharon Chandler Age: 56
Professional experience: Farmer
Campaign website: N/A
Education: Bachelor’s in German and economics from Memphis State University
Political experience: Perennial candidate
Bio: Chandler is a farmer in Lawrenceburg with a history of seeking statewide office as both an independent and a Democratic candidate. Chandler has run for U.S. House four times in Tennessee since 2002 and once in Missouri in 2008. In 2016, Chandler ran as a Democrat against Marsha Blackburn for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House. He ran for Tennessee’s other U.S. Senate seat in 2020.
Name: Pamela Moses Age: 46
Professional experience: Not available Campaign website: pamelamosesforsenate.com
Education: Bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee
Political experience: Candidate for mayor of Memphis
Bio: Moses is a Black Lives Matter activist and one-time Memphis mayoral candidate. Moses was convicted of voter fraud in 2021 for voting in several elections as a convicted felon, but the conviction was later reversed. Moses’ case caught national attention and she later sued the state and Shelby County
District Attorney for emotional damages for what some considered a political prosecution. In 2018, Moses founded Stand Up America, a neighborhood preservation organization.
Name: Hastina Robinson Age: 53
Professional experience: Emergency medical technician
Campaign website: vote4hastina.com
Education: Not available
Political experience: Former candidate for state Senate
Bio: Robinson ran as an independent candidate for Tennessee state Senate District 33 but lost to Democratic Rep. London Lamar.
5th Congressional District
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
Name: Maryam Abolfazli Age: 45
Occupation: Former executive director of Rise and Shine Tennessee
Campaign website: maryamforcongress.com
Education: Bachelor’s in international relations from Oglethorpe University, master’s in public affairs from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs
Political experience: Chair, Metro Human Relations Commission
Bio: Abolfazli is running to represent Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. A single mom and second-generation immigrant, Abolfazli in 2023 organized a rally for gun safety after the Covenant School shooting, leading to the formation of Rise and Shine Tennessee. Her career includes work with the U.N. in Afghanistan, the World Bank and various nonprofits. Named one of the Scene’s 2023 Nashvillians of the Year, Abolfazli lives in Bellevue with her son, Auden.
REPUBLICAN PRIMARY
Name: Andy Ogles
Age: 53
Occupation: Former Maury County mayor and executive with Americans for Prosperity and the Laffer Center
Campaign website: andyogles.com
Education: B.S. in Liberal Studies from Middle Tennessee State University
Political experience: Former Maury County mayor
Bio: A Middle Tennessee native, Ogles was involved in politics in his work with Americans for Prosperity and the Laffer Center earlier in his career. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2002, state Senate in 2006 and U.S. Senate (briefly) in 2017. In 2018, he defeated the incumbent mayor of Maury County and served in that role until his election to Congress in 2022. His biography has been the source of debate and controversy, as NewsChannel 5 and other outlets have reported on false or exaggerated claims made by Ogles, including about his work and education history.
Name: Courtney Johnston
Age: 45
Occupation: Real estate agent, Synergy Realty
Campaign website: johnstonforcongress.com
Education: Bachelor’s degree in finance from Louisiana State University
Political experience: District 26 Metro councilmember
Bio: Johnston, a real estate agent with experience in finance and the food and beverage industry, defeated an incumbent to win her Metro Council seat in 2019, and was reelected unopposed in 2023. She was raised in Louisiana and has lived in Middle Tennessee for two decades. Her career includes stints in residential real estate, health care and executive search consulting, catering and debt reorganization.
6th Congressional District
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
Name: Lore Bergman
Age: Unknown
Occupation: Activist
Campaign website: lorebergman.org
Education: Unknown
Political experience: None
Bio: Lore Bergman is a first-generation immigrant, who on her website touts her experiences as exactly what the country needs to combat the “MAGA views” that she says John Rose is contributing to. Her policies cover a large swath of progressive issues, such as affordable housing, Medicare, resources for people with disabilities, banning assault weapons, lower drug prices and women’s reproductive health.
Name: Clay Faircloth
Age: 59
Occupation: Pastor and career coach
Campaign website: fairclothforcongress.com
Education: Master’s in counseling from Trevecca University
Political experience: Ran for this seat in 2022
Bio: Faircloth was born and raised in Middle Tennessee, east of Nashville. He left his job at a Nissan plant in Smyrna after just a few years to pursue being a pastor. He also works at the American Job Center of Middle Tennessee as a career coach. He’s running as a Democrat, and a campaign video on his website largely focuses on Republican legislators’ attacks on abortion and LGBTQ rights.
Name: Cyril Focht
Age: 29
Occupation: Instructor at Tennessee Tech
Campaign website: vote4focht.us
Education: Master’s in computational media, University of California, Santa Cruz; bachelor’s from Tennessee Tech
Political experience: Activism
Bio: Focht was born and raised in Cookeville. He has a deep interest in technology, which comes through on his campaign website’s policy page, which focuses solely on tech issues. His big initiatives include getting social media under control, putting oversight over artificial intelligence and expanding broadband access in rural areas.
REPUBLICAN PRIMARY
Name: John Rose Age: 59
Occupation: Incumbent District 6 Representative, founder of Transcender Corp., farmer Campaign website: johnrose.com
Education: Master of science in agricultural economics from Purdue University, law degree from Vanderbilt University
Political experience: Served as the state agriculture commissioner
Bio: Rose grew up in Cookeville and now lives there with his wife and two sons. He got his start as a businessman involved in the tech industry while also running his family farm. He is currently in his third term as a Republican in the House of Representatives. Rose is best known for controversy surrounding how he met his wife. At the time that they met, she was 17 and he was 41. They married four years later.
7th Congressional District
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
Name: Megan Barry
Age: 60
Professional experience: Corporate consultant Campaign website: meganbarryforcongress.com
Education: Bachelor’s in elementary education from Baker University, MBA from Vanderbilt University
Political experience: Mayor of Nashville (2015-2018), Metro councilmember (20072015)
Bio: Barry moved to Nashville to attend Vanderbilt University, worked as a corporate
ethics and compliance consultant and was elected to the Metro Council in 2007, where she served until becoming the city’s first female mayor in 2015. In 2018, Barry resigned from office after having an affair with the head of her security detail and pleading guilty to felony theft for misuse of city funds related to the affair. Since her 22-year-old son died of a drug overdose in 2017, Barry has advocated for people struggling with substance use disorder. She is married to Vanderbilt professor Bruce Barry.
REPUBLICAN PRIMARY
Name: Mark Green Age: 59
Professional experience: Founder and CEO of Align MD
Campaign website: markgreentn.com
Education: Bachelor’s in business management from the United States Military Academy, master’s from the University of Southern California and medical degree from Wright State University
Political experience: Incumbent (since 2019), District 22 Tennessee state Senate (2013-2018)
Bio: Green served in the U.S. Army for nearly 20 years, including as a special operations flight surgeon in Afghanistan and Iraq. After leaving the Army in 2006, Green founded Align MD, an emergency room staffing company. Green was elected to the Tennessee state Senate in 2013 and represented the Clarksville area until he was elected to U.S. Congress in 2018. In 2017, then-President Donald Trump nominated Green to be U.S. Army Secretary, but Green withdrew his nomination amid backlash against his comments about transgender and nonbinary people. Green is married to Camilla Joy Guenther, and the couple have two adult children. In February, Green said he would not seek reelection before changing his mind two weeks later.
State Senate District 20
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
Name: Heidi Campbell Age: 55
Occupation: District 20 Tennessee state senator, music business executive Campaign website: voteheidicampbell.com
Education: Bachelor’s from Sarah Lawrence College, MBA from Vanderbilt University
Political experience: Former vice mayor and mayor of Oak Hill
Bio: In 2020, Campbell flipped the Tennessee state Senate’s District 20 seat from red to blue. Campbell has a long history of politics in Tennessee, starting as the Oak Hill mayor. She ran for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District in 2022 but lost to now-Rep. Andy Ogles. In 2023, she ran for mayor of Nashville, finishing fifth with 8.2 percent of the vote. A progressive, Campbell says her focus will be on reproductive rights, cannabis decrim-
inalization, transit and comprehensive gun reform.
REPUBLICAN PRIMARY
Name: Wyatt Rampy Age: 56
Occupation: President of Poplar Realty Co. Campaign website: wyattrampy.com
Education: Lipscomb University
Political experience: Ran for state House in 2022
Bio: Rampy is the president and founder of Poplar Realty in Bellevue. He got his start in banking, originally with Sovran Bank and then Bankers Trust. He lost in the Republican primary for the District 59 House seat to Michelle Foreman two years ago. He is an elder at Bellevue Church of Christ and serves on the boards of the Bellevue Community Foundation, Nashville Christian School, God’s Word for Warriors and World Christian Broadcasting. He lives in Bellevue with his wife Wendy. They have four children.
Education: Bachelor’s in political science from Lipscomb University, JD from Nashville School of Law
Political experience: House District 50 representative, District 35 Metro councilmember
Bio: Mitchell is the incumbent House member from District 50, which includes Charlotte Park, Bellevue, part of Goodlettsville, Joelton, White’s Creek and Scottsboro. First elected in 2012, Mitchell has served on the insurance and health committees in the past two legislative sessions. Before his election, Mitchell served on the Metro Council. He is involved in numerous county organizations: Bellevue Family YMCA, FiftyForward J.L. Turner Center and Tennessee Conservation Voters.
Education: Bachelor’s in marketing from Belmont University
Political experience: District 10 Metro councilmember
Bio: Webb’s political career began with a 2023 upset of incumbent Metro Councilmember Zach Young for the District 10 seat. A lifelong resident of Goodlettsville, Webb credits her career in her family’s automotive business at Bob Frensley Ford. In 2019, Webb sold the business and started a construction company with her husband and her two sons. Her qualifying petition has been challenged by Mitchell, her November opponent. After the Davidson County Election Commission upheld the validity of signatures on her
petition, Mitchell appealed the decision to Chancery Court.
District 51
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
Name: Aftyn Behn
Age: 33
Occupation: Former campaign director for national political group Rural Organizing Campaign website: aftynbehn.com
Education: Master’s in social work, University of Texas
Political experience: House District 51 representative, longtime community organizer Bio: In 2023, Behn won a special election over former Metro Councilmember Anthony Davis for the 51st District seat following the death of Bill Beck. She’s the first woman to represent her district in more than 50 years. Behn is formerly the campaign director for Rural Organizing, overseeing the group’s electoral strategy and execution and shaping the political and policy landscape impacting small towns and rural communities. Previously, she worked at the Indivisible Project. Originally from East Tennessee, she organized with the Tennessee Justice Center in 2017 during the national Medicaid and Affordable Care Act congressional fights.
District 52
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
Name: Justin Jones
Age: 28
Occupation: Independent activist (prior to taking office)
Campaign website: justinjonestn.com
Education: Bachelor’s in political science from Fisk University, Master of Divinity in theological studies from Vanderbilt University (tentative)
Political experience: House District 52 representative
Bio: Justin Jones is a native of Oakland, Calif, and the son of a Filipina mother and African American father. Jones is known for his activism, notably campaigning for the removal of a Nathan Bedford Forrest bust from the Tennessee State Capitol in 2019. Jones has also been involved in numerous protests, including a 62-day sit-in at Legislative Plaza. Along with fellow Democratic Reps. Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson, Jones — who was briefly expelled from his seat by the Republican supermajority — is one of the “Tennessee Three.”
REPUBLICAN PRIMARY
Name: Laura Nelson
Age: 54
Occupation: Not available
Campaign website: lauranelsontn52.com
Education: Not available
Political experience: Former vice chair of the Davidson County Republican Party Bio: Nelson will square off with Jones for a second time after she ran against him in the 2023 special election following Jones’ expulsion from the state legislature. She lost handily in heavily Democratic District
52. She previously served in a leadership role with the Davidson County Republican Party. Nelson filed a challenge against Jones’ qualifying petition, arguing that he did not have enough valid signatures. The Davidson County Election Commission voted 3-1 (with one abstention) that Jones did produce the 25 signatures necessary to qualify.
District 53
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
Name: Jason Powell
Age: 46
Occupation: Director of business development, Freeman Webb Campaign website: powellfortennessee.com
Education: Bachelor’s from the University of Colorado, MBA from the University of Memphis, MPA from Tennessee State University
Political experience: District 53 representative
Bio: Powell has held the District 53 seat since 2012. He has a background in real estate and is a director at Freeman Webb, the company run by District 56 Rep. Bob Freeman. He was the Democratic floor leader for the 109th Tennessee General Assembly and has been the Democratic whip for the 111th and 112th General Assemblies. Powell sponsored legislation to prohibit corporal punishment in public schools (HB 1965).
REPUBLICAN PRIMARY
Name: Yog Nepal Age: Not available
Occupation: Owner, Titans Home Care Campaign website: x.com/yog_nepal
Education: Master’s from Ashworth College Political experience: Not available
Bio: According to a post on his social media, Nepal grew up a Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal before relocating to the U.S. at age 20. He moved to Nashville in 2008 and has been the owner of Titans Home Care since 2021, though the business is currently listed as administratively dissolved by the Secretary of State’s office.
District 54
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
Name: Vincent Dixie Age: 50
Occupation: Small business owner, A Way Out Bonding and Bail U Out Bonding Campaign website: dixie4tn.com
Education: Bachelor’s in accounting, MBA from Tennessee State University Political experience: District 54 representative
Bio: Democrat Vincent Dixie has been serving in District 54 since 2018, focusing on health, education and justice reform. An alumnus of Metro Nashville Public Schools, Dixie went on to own Bail U Out Bonding and A Way Out Bonding, with offices in six Middle Tennessee counties. Dixie was previously an internal auditor for HCA and Ardent Health Services. He is an active member of St. Vincent DePaul Catholic Church and Omega Psi
Education: Bachelor’s from Columbia University, JD from the University of Memphis Political experience: District 55 representative
Bio: Clemmons has held the District 55 seat since 2015, when he upset incumbent Gary Odom. He served as the Democratic Caucus Chair in the 113th Tennessee General Assembly and sponsored legislation to exempt the sale of fruits and vegetables from the food retail sales tax (HB 409). Clemmons has three sons with his wife Tamara, and is a partner at the law firm Clemmons & Clemons in Nashville. He is running unopposed.
District 56
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
Name: Bob Freeman Age: 49
Occupation: President of Freeman Webb Company
Campaign website: votebobfreeman.com
Education: Bachelor’s from MTSU, master’s in sustainability from Lipscomb University Political experience: District 56 representative, chairman of the board at Tennessee Environmental Council
Bio: Serving in District 56 since 2018, Freeman is the son of Bill Freeman, a noted real estate executive and fundraiser for both the Tennessee and national Democratic parties. Bill Freeman is also owner of FW Publishing, the Scene’s parent company. Before entering politics, Bob Freeman co-founded Freeman Applegate Partners, an energy consulting firm. He prioritizes education, infrastructure and bipartisanship.
Name: Nick Forster-Benson Age: 21
Occupation: Student at Vanderbilt University Campaign website: nick4nashville.com
Education: Studying economics and quantitative social science at Vanderbilt University Political experience: Intern, Illinois 10th Congressional District Democrats; research assistant, Vanderbilt ROCCA lab; leader at Vandy Votes
Bio: Forster-Benson is a current student at Vanderbilt. A native Tennessean, he says his biggest priorities are tackling Tennessee’s housing, health care and hunger crises. He interned with the Tennessee Department of Treasury and the Federal Reserve.
District 58
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
Name: Harold Love Jr.
Age: 51
Occupation: Pastor of Lee Chapel AME
Church Campaign website: haroldlovejr.com
Education: Bachelor’s from Tennessee State University; master’s in theological studies from Vanderbilt University; Ph.D. in public policy from Tennessee State University Political experience: District 58 representative; assistant minority leader, state House of Representatives; president-elect of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators Bio: Love is unopposed for reelection to the District 58 seat. A 33rd degree mason, he is the youngest child of the late Rep. Harold M. Love Sr. and Mary Y. Love. In 1999, he was ordained by the A.M.E. Church and has served in an assortment of pastoral roles ever since. Love has served on several key committees, and his wife Leah Dupree Love is an attorney and owner of Dupree Consulting.
District 59
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
Name: Caleb Hemmer
Age: 42
Occupation: Health care executive
Campaign website: calebhemmer.com
Education: Bachelor’s from University of Tennessee, MBA from Tennessee Tech University
Political experience: District 59 representative Bio: Hemmer is unopposed for the District 59 seat. He works in health care at Longevity Health Plans. In the House, he has served on the Health Committee, the Population Health Subcommittee and the Insurance Committee and Subcommittee. Hemmer was an aide to former Gov. Phil Bredesen and was also an executive in the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. He served as commissioner on the Metro Fair Board for seven years.
District 60
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
Name: Tyler Brasher Age: 34
Occupation: Director at Gibbins Advisors Campaign website: tylerfortn.com
Education: Bachelor’s from University of Tennessee, Martin
Political experience: Member of Metro Nashville’s Participatory Budgeting Steering Committee, member of Metro Nashville’s Health and Educational Facilities Board, Hermitage Community Advisory Board
Bio: A ninth-generation Tennessean who moved to Nashville eight years ago, Brasher has worked in health care finance his entire career. Since moving to the city, he’s been active in a number of volunteer Metro boards and was named to the Health and Educational Facilities Board by Mayor Freddie O’Connell. He’s been endorsed by Nashville’s firefighters union, the Service Employees International Union, Moms Demand Action, Rep. Bo Mitchell and seven current Metro councilmembers.
Education: Bachelor’s from John Jay College (CUNY), master’s from Tennessee State University
Political experience: Independent gun reform advocate
Bio: Brooks was thrust into the spotlight after the loss of her son, Akilah Dasilva, in the 2018 Waffle House shooting. A parole officer by day, she’s been a vocal advocate for reforming gun control laws and has spoken out in favor of red-flag laws, expanded background checks, waiting periods and a ban on assault weapons. She’s been endorsed by Rep. Gloria Johnson, Rep. Vincent Dixie, the Equity Alliance, state Sen. Heidi Campbell, District Attorney Glenn Funk, and four current or former Metro councilmembers.
REPUBLICAN PRIMARY
Name: Chad Bobo
Age: 48
Occupation: Benefits manager
Campaign website: chadbobo.com
Education: Bachelor’s from University of Mississippi, master’s from University of Phoenix
Political experience: Staff for Cameron Sexton
Bio: A former constituent services staffer for state House Speaker Cameron Sexton, Bobo grew up in Mississippi and came to Tennessee in 2015. Bobo says his top issues are jobs, education, transportation and family values. He’s been endorsed by both Gov. Bill Lee and the Nashville chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police.
Name: Christopher Huff
Age: 50
Occupation: FedEx driver
Campaign website: vote4huff.com
Education: Not available
Political experience: Not available
Bio: Born and raised in Hermitage, Huff calls himself a “proud pro-Second Amendment candidate” and lists the issue first on his campaign site while also emphasizing his faith. He was the 2022 Republican nominee, losing to Darren Jernigan by 20 percent. He has been endorsed by Tennessee Right to Life and believes life begins at conception.
Davidson County
4th Circuit Court
Name: Stephanie Williams Age: 50
Occupation: Family law mediator, Thompson Burton
Campaign website: stephanie4judge.com
Education: Bachelor’s from Trevecca College, JD from University of Tennessee
Political experience: Special master, 4th Circuit Court (appointed)
Bio: Williams is running unopposed for
Circuit Court judge. She worked as a special master in the 4th Circuit Court, the judgeship she is running for, for nine years. Williams worked as an attorney in Tennessee for about eight years and is currently a family law mediator and adjunct professor at MTSU and the Nashville School of Law. Williams has lived in Nashville for 35 years and raised her two children, now adults, as a single mother while commuting to Knoxville for law school.
Property Assessor
Name: Vivian Wilhoite
Age: 61
Campaign website: Not available
Education: Bachelor’s from Tennessee State University
Political experience: Metro Council, 20032011; candidate for mayor in 2023
Bio: Incumbent Vivian Wilhoite is a Democrat running unopposed for Nashville Property Assessor. A member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, she says her office prioritizes “appraising all taxable properties to achieve fair and equitable values.” Wilhoite is originally from Gulfport, Miss., and is married.
Metro Nashville Public Schools board
District 1
Name: Demytris Savage-Short Age: 46
Occupation: LPN at Vanderbilt Medical Center
Campaign website: demytrisforschoolboard.com
Education: Degree from Tennessee College of Applied Technology
Political experience: Advocated for optout forms to be made available for students during COVID
Bio: Savage-Short is a Republican running for the District 1 school board seat on a platform of increased parental authority in children’s education. She is passionate about preserving Judeo-Christian values and focusing on “education rather than indoctrination.”
Name: Robert Taylor
Age: 46
Occupation: Instructor and program coordinator at Meharry Medical College
Campaign website: taylorforschools.com
Education: Bachelor’s from Fisk University, master’s from Bowie State
Political experience: Ran for same seat four years ago
Bio: Robert Taylor founded the New Life Center, a nonprofit “dedicated to strengthening families,” according to his website. He is also a church administrator at Word of Life Christian Center International. Taylor’s platform is built around what he calls “FAST” — family engagement, accountability, student focus and teacher support. He says he would like educators’ voices to play a more significant role in student discipline. ▼
JULY
AUGUST
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER 10
DECEMBER
4 days celebrating the most innovative local theater, dance, comedy, performance art, and more
MADE POSSIBLE WITH THE SUPPORT OF
Conservatives Battle in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District
Metro Councilmember
Courtney Johnston takes on incumbent U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles for the Republican vote
BY ELI MOTYCKA
TAKE A SHORT drive down Franklin Pike during election season and you can usually feel which way the Republican winds are blowing — or at least where the money is flowing. A few days before early voting began, big Courtney Johnston yard signs far outnumbered the single plywood billboard for Andy Ogles outside the stately homes lining Nashville’s surrender to Brentwood.
Johnston raised more than $700,000 since April in her bid to unseat Ogles, an unpopular incumbent whose campaign relies on personal loans and support from Koch-funded conservative activist group Americans for Prosperity, Ogles’ former employer. A Johnston win in the Aug. 1 Republican primary, just like Ogles’ primary victory two years ago, would feel like a coup inside a party fractured by the dominance of Donald Trump.
Ogles, then serving as Maury County mayor, jumped into the GOP primary for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District when state lawmakers cracked Nashville into three congressional seats in January 2022. In name, the district had long belonged to Davidson County and was held for decades by centrist Democrat Jim Cooper. It now contains the county’s wealthy enclaves of Oak Hill, Green Hills, Forest Hills and Belle Meade, as well as diverse and quickly growing
Gloria Johnson Looks Past August in Long Primary Run-Up
Legislature star has spent her Democratic primary campaign running against Marsha Blackburn
BY ELI MOTYCKA
MANY DEMOCRATS STILL jump at the long shadows of Phil Bredesen and Karl Dean, party standard-bearers who lost their bids for U.S. Senate and the Tennessee governorship, respectively, in 2018. Gloria Johnson is not one of them.
With retiring elder statesmen, no discernible postTrump bump and a meager fundraising outlook, the Tennessee Democratic Party has limped a path forward, often putting up rookie candidates with little support who take regular blows in even-year elections across the state. Nashville’s cracked congressional district — split into three gerrymandered districts in 2022 — and
neighborhoods in southeast Davidson County. The district also wanders through Wilson, Williamson, Maury, Marshall and Lewis counties. (In 2022, Cooper announced he would not seek reelection in a district he deemed unwinnable for Democrats.) Ogles, who burnished his credentials as a conservative activist, won the 2022 primary with 35 percent of the party vote; former state House Speaker Beth Harwell and attorney Kurt Winstead, both seen as more traditional Republican alternatives, split another 46 percent of the vote.
Since then, scandals and drama have dogged Ogles in Tennessee and Washington. In one of his first moves as a congressman, he joined a GOP rebel faction trying to depose Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, a quest that plunged the House majority into chaos the following October. Reporting from NewsChannel 5’s Phil Williams has discredited Ogles’ professional and educational background, earning him comparisons to ousted New York Rep. George Santos. Messy finances, blurry lines between his congressional communications and his reelection campaign, and high-dollar expense reports billed to taxpayers have further hurt his conservative credibility. Despite frequent appearances in the conservative mediasphere, Ogles never quite earned a spot alongside Reps. Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene or Jim Jordan as a national star. He showed off his favorite talking points at a First Tuesday luncheon on July 2, a monthly conservative huddle emceed by former Metro Councilmember Robert Swope: inflation, the threat of artificial intelligence and a looming global takeover by China. As far as legislation, he touts his failed “No Juicing Joe Act,” which would notify Congress of medications taken by President Biden.
Johnston, a fast-talking Metro councilmember who put aside her real estate career in 2019 to become a full-time politician, has become institutional Republicans’ answer to Ogles’ national embarrassment. A 2017 home break-in
a swift political exit by incumbent U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper added insult to injury.
That is, until an impromptu protest against GOP inaction on gun control in the days following the 2023 Covenant School shooting put Johnson and fellow Democratic state Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson under the national spotlight. The moment brought attention and money to the “Tennessee Three,” and Johnson — a Knoxville Democrat who has antagonized state Republicans over four terms in the Tennessee General Assembly — took the opening, declaring her candidacy for Republican Marsha Blackburn’s U.S. Senate seat in September of last year.
In the Democratic primary, Johnson still faces three other candidates, including Memphis candidate Marquita Bradshaw, who handily lost a longshot bid against Bill Hagerty for Tennessee’s other U.S. Senate seat four years ago. Even so, the campaign has been about Blackburn since Johnson’s campaign announcement. Bradshaw’s presence in the race has kept some prominent Black elected officials on the sidelines of the primary, according to Democratic insiders, but poses an outside threat to Johnson, who has accumulated money and favor ahead of primary day. Many Democrats wonder: Is
prompted her to run for Metro Council, where — representing parts of Oak Hill and Berry Hill in District 26 — she has been one of a few conservative voices since 2019. Support from Kim Kaegi, a prolific fundraiser and Johnston’s founding campaign treasurer, brings a Rolodex of Tennessee GOP royalty and mainline access to the party’s biggest donors.
“Republican leaders, the community, the party, we knew we had to coalesce around one strong person with character and integrity who was going to do the job instead of chase headlines because of some immature need for attention,“ Johnston tells the Scene at a coffee shop in Brentwood. She’s about to head to The Heritage, an upscale senior living facility developed by former Nashville Mayor John Cooper, brother of Rep. Jim Cooper. “A lot of Republicans have disengaged and don’t recognize their party anymore. They want someone who can bring resources to the district, who understands the district, and who can represent Tennessee with dignity.”
“I don’t think [Johnston] can run on her record, because her Metro Council record speaks for itself, so the only thing she can do is call me names, and I’m totally going to ignore that,”
it time to get our hopes up again?
Blackburn has earned stature among the national GOP as a safe-seat senator with a shameless habit of culture-war sound bites and no true scandals to her name. Her issues directly follow the Fox News cycle with special attention to anti-immigrant racism and transphobia. As a career politician with 20 years in D.C., she has the relationships and experience to quickly raise money — Blackburn has brought in more than $1 million per month in 2024 — and line up national endorsements. As an original Tea Party loyalist, Blackburn has the bona fides to satisfy Republicans’ cranky flank and avoid what might really scare her: a serious primary challenge from the right.
recently told Scene
. “I’m not gonna call someone silly names on the playground.”
Johnston’s campaign ads, in which she identifies as a “conservative outsider,” smother Ogles from all sides while avoiding platform specifics. She emphasizes that voters, donors and Republican contacts typically object most to Ogles’ character, not his politics or votes. When pressed, there’s a little daylight between the Republican mainstream and her views on abortion (a ban at 16 weeks and some exceptions), guns (do more to vet owners’ mental health) and immigration (expand pathways to legal residence and deport individuals convicted of a crime), though her major selling point to voters is her willingness to comply with party leadership and support Trump.
Johnston’s sunny retail politics — a skill refined by five years’ worth of neighborhood meetings and local meet-and-greets — sharply contrast with Ogles’ aversion to public appearances; at a recent Maury County Chamber of Commerce coffee meetup, Johnston flitted through the crowd while Ogles’ proxy, James Amundsen, lurked on the fringes. ▼
Johnson has capitalized on Democrats’ true moment of political energy to step out into hostile waters and test the party’s appeal in a post-Dobbs, post-Covenant Tennessee. In the weeks leading up to early voting, Johnson regularly hit three or four county campaign events a day, rallying voters against GOP extremism and the two big wedge issues favored by Tennessee Democrats this
cycle: gun control and reproductive rights. Over the past two years, these two topics have anecdotally animated non-voters and swing voters in Tennessee, particularly suburban women. Democrats haven’t yet seen these issues translate to statewide votes for a properly funded and widely established candidate.
Blackburn has apparently taken notice, sending well-groomed young men to Johnson’s campaign events as “trackers.” Fundraising texts tease polls that show a race tighter than Bredesen’s 2018 loss, but still far from close. ▼
Ogles
sister publication The News
ANDY OGLES
COURTNEY JOHNSTON
PHOTOS:
Three Republicans Vie for Whitson’s Open House Seat
With District 65’s Rep. Sam Whitson retiring, three conservatives are duking it out in Williamson County
BY HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS
FROM LEFT: MODERATOR BO PATTEN SPEAKS WITH REPUBLICAN MICHELLE FOREMAN, REPUBLICAN LEE REEVES, DEMOCRAT
LARHONDA WILLIAMS AND REPUBLICAN BRIAN BEATHARD DURING A HOUSE DISTRICT 65 ELECTION FORUM IN FRANKLIN, JULY 10
TENNESSEE’S STATE HOUSE DISTRICT 65 will have a new representative this year following the retirement of current Rep. Sam Whitson (R-Franklin). Whitson, a retired U.S. Army colonel respected by state Republicans and Democrats alike, has endorsed current Williamson County Commission Chair Brian Beathard in the Republican primary.
“I’ve discovered since I’ve been up there [on Capitol Hill], county commissioners hit the ground running,” Whitson said in April. “They understand the budgetary process, they understand how to get things done, how to work as a team, and Brian will bring that experience from his years here in our county to Capitol Hill in Nashville.”
Beathard has positioned himself as a more moderate Republican who opposes school voucher bills and touts his support of the Second Amendment. He sees his support from many local and county leaders as critical to his campaign, describing them as his “mentors” who have helped make Williamson County successful.
“I want to fight for less regulations, again, particularly on business,” Beathard says. “I want to fight for local control of our city and county governments, and I want to end the redistribution of Williamson County tax dollars and get more money back for our schools and our roads. In short, I’m running to keep this seat Sam-esque.”
Beathard is facing two opponents in the Aug. 1 Republican primary: first-time candidate Lee Reeves, who has earned the endorsement of Gov. Bill Lee, and Michelle Foreman, who previously lost races for Nashville’s Metro Council in 2019 and House District 59 in 2022.
Reeves is a supporter of Gov. Lee’s voucher program, while Foreman is against vouchers. Both say addressing illegal immigration at the state level is a top policy concern. Reeves says that if elected he would propose a bill targeting “illegal entry” into Tennessee, which would criminalize being an undocumented immigrant in the state.
“We cannot enforce for the federal government what the federal government has not been enforcing, but we can enforce
state law,” Reeves says. He adds that his proposed legislation would be modeled after similar laws in Texas and Oklahoma, where first offenses for “illegal occupation” are misdemeanors, and subsequent violations are felonies. Reeves’ goal is to “demagnetize Tennessee” to undocumented migrants.
Foreman is proposing an even more hardline approach, advocating for the overturning of the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe, which ruled that a state can’t prevent children of undocumented immigrants from attending public schools. She also wants to see the state work with the federal government to enforce immigration laws, adding that she doesn’t support “any amnesty at all” and believes mass deportations are needed.
“Whether that’s back to their country of origin or back to the border, on the other side of it — either way — and the state needs to play a role in working with the federal government and getting that done,” says Foreman, noting that she believes undocumented children should also be deported.
Foreman has earned endorsements from District 61 State Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood), Tennessee Stands, and musician and right-wing activist John Rich.
Foreman has been involved in numerous lawsuits as both a defendant and a plaintiff, including being ordered to pay $100,000 in sanctions to former Metro Councilmember Dave Rosenberg, against whom she filed and lost a 2023 defamation suit. Foreman lost to Rosenberg for the District 35 council seat in 2019. The Tennessee Lookout reported that a judge found that “Foreman’s actions constituted a strategic lawsuit against public participation, known as a SLAPP suit,” a lawsuit meant to intimidate or financially burden someone.
Foreman says she’s appealing the ruling, and insists she was the victim of a “hit job on me by a liberal politician, a liberal judge.” She also sued her 2022 Democratic House District 59 challenger, Caleb Hemmer, for “libelous claims” in election ads. Hemmer won the race, and that case was later dismissed.
The winner of the Republican primary will face off against Democratic candidate LaRhonda Williams in November. ▼
Campaigns Report Second-Quarter Funds as Early Voting Begins
House District 60 remains hottest race, as state and local financial disclosures become available BY
NICOLLE S. PRAINO
WITH EARLY VOTING currently underway for the Aug. 1 election, campaign financial disclosures for the second quarter are due for the candidates.
Federal disclosures were due Monday but had not been released as of press time. Numbers from state and county candidates were available, however. Among the most contested races in the state primary elections is House District 60, a seat being vacated by Democrat Darren Jernigan, who is now working in Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s administration. The wealth is spread out among both the Republican and Democratic campaigns, with local donors showing up for their favored candidate.
Democrat Shaundelle Brooks is out-earning her opponents on either side of the aisle, bringing in $52,865 in contributions this quarter. She’s landed funds from state Reps. Aftyn Behn, Justin Jones, Harold Love Jr. and Gloria Johnson, as well as donations from Metro Councilmembers Emily Benedict, Zulfat Suara and Kyonzté Toombs. Her Democratic challenger, Tyler Brasher, brought in $41,430. Brooks also outspent Brasher $47,626 to $29,969 respectively. Brasher also received funding from Metro Councilmembers Burkley Allen, Erin Evans, Quin Evans Segall and Rollin Horton. State Reps. Karen Camper and Yusuf Hakeem donated to both campaigns. Camper gave more to Brooks, while Hakeem gave more to Brasher. A third Democrat, John Parrish, has not yet filed a second-quarter disclosure and announced on Sunday he would be pulling out of the race for personal reasons. He added in a statement on his campaign’s Facebook page that he would endorse Brooks.
On the Republican side of the House District 60 primaries, the financial competition isn’t as stiff. Chad Bobo earned more than $34,000 in contributions, while Christopher Huff brought in around $3,800. Huff also spent nearly all of that this quarter and ended with just $806 in the bank. Bobo has around $16,000 going into the next quarter.
The person with the largest change in fund balance this quarter is District 56 Rep. Bob Freeman, who faces challenger Nick Forster-Benson in the Democratic primary. Freeman started the quarter with the second-largest balance on hand already with $328,145.92, and he ended the quarter with $386,777.28 in the bank. He’s also lapping his opponent by tens of thousands in contributions, earning more than $90,000 this quarter, while Forster-Benson earned just over $1,000. (Disclosure: Freeman’s father Bill Freeman owns FW Publishing, the Scene’s parent company.)
At the end of the quarter, the person with the most money on hand is Democratic District 52 Rep. Justin Jones, who came in with a starting balance of more than $958,000 to begin with, earned just over $8,000, spent around $34,000 and ended with more than $932,000. The Nashville Banner reports that Jones received $3,700 between April 17 and May 1 when his campaign did not have a treasurer, and state officials told him he could not accept donations. Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance general counsel Lauren Topping told the Banner that he will be required to return those funds.
Jones doesn’t face a primary challenger. His likely Republican foe in the general, Laura Nelson (she too is unopposed in her party’s primary), has also remained steady in her funding — though it’s hundreds of thousands below Jones, with an ending balance this month of $8,139.47.
Property assessor Vivian Wilhoite and 4th Circuit Court candidate Stephanie Williams are both unopposed in the Davidson County general election, but the race for the Metro Nashville Public Schools board’s District 1 seat is still hot. Republican Demytris Savage-Short’s disclosure for the quarter shows she brought in $2,537, spent around $2,000 and still ended with nearly $2,500 on hand. Democrat Robert Taylor’s disclosure shows he received $8,685 this quarter but spent more than $13,000, leaving him with just under $2,000 in the bank during this early-voting period. ▼
way late play date: csi. friday, august 9. 7pm–10pm.
SUMNER
Haile Fights ‘Constitutional Republican’ Challenge in Sumner County
Chris Spencer has commanded an online army against state Sen. Ferrell Haile in a test by the party’s populist wing
BY ELI MOTYCKA
COUNTY’S CONSERVATIVE Rebellion has now reached the desk of Ferrell Haile, Gallatin’s mild-mannered senior Republican once again seeking his party’s nomination in the state Senate. The Sumner County Constitutional Republicans — a further-right splinter organization not to be confused with the Republican Party of Sumner County or the Sumner County Freedom Caucus — have tapped into anti-transgender hate, Christian nationalism and lingering anger about COVID-19 mandates to fuel a primary run for once-failed local candidate Chris Spencer.
Spencer courted endorsements from popular far-right avatars Lee Beaman, Riley Gaines and John Rich and has filled social media with attacks on Haile’s Senate record. A pithy hashtag (#HaileNo) and a dedicated website — which falsely claims that Haile supports forced vaccinations, wants pornography in schools and votes “against the Bible” — reflect Spencer’s experience and comfort with conservative clickbait.
Haile, a well-known figure with relationships across his district, has not shown the modern media chops to run a comparably dirty communications campaign. Earnest posts, like a July 6 endorsement video with Gov. Bill Lee, show off Haile’s belief that traditional markers of political strength will outweigh memes and spin. They also inspire a posting barrage from Spencer’s online army, who show up in the comments to call Lee and Haile “RINOs” and redirect viewers to pro-Spencer propaganda.
“He is strong on keeping Tennesseans safe, he is strong on making sure the family is protected
in this state, and he will work together with me to make sure parents have education freedom for their children,” Lee says, standing side by side with Haile in a wood-paneled room. “This is a man we need to keep in the Senate.”
While Haile functions loyally within the state’s Republican supermajority, he has at times tried to push for legislation that would allow exceptions to the state’s abortion ban and create pathways to medical marijuana; he’s also broken from the party when it comes to lax gun laws on at least one occasion. Nuanced legislation, along with an eager challenger obsessed with social media posting, has provoked a messy primary race fought largely on Facebook and in mailers in which candidates battle over the true meaning of “conservative.”
The Sumner County Constitutional Republicans have built up a strong local network in part by siphoning off interested members from the Republican Party of Sumner County, the traditional party branch. After the SCCR put several members on the Sumner County Commission and school board (who have in turn endorsed Spencer), local backlash appeared to stem the group’s rise this year — thanks in part to the rival Sumner County Freedom Caucus, which formed as a mitigating conservative alternative. Spencer, who tied up the Sumner County Fire Department in litigation after he lost a 2018 bid for Hendersonville alderman, has proven he won’t go away easily. Spencer is by far his own biggest supporter, having sunk $64,357 into his run as of June 30.
But likes and comments are one thing; votes are another. ▼
SUMNER
SEN. FERRELL HAILE CHRIS SPENCER
OPENING WEEKEND:
SEP 13 & 14
Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor Joyce Yang, piano
HERBIE HANCOCK:
2024 NORTH AMERICAN FALL TOUR
SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
RACHMANINOFF AND MAHLER with the Nashville Symphony
BEETHOVEN’S NINTH: ODE TO JOY with the Nashville Symphony & Chorus
FEB 6 TO 8
Nicholas Hersh, conductor
Tucker Biddlecombe, chorus director
Gabriella Reyes, soprano
Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo soprano
Alek Shrader, tenor
David Leigh, bass
Supported by the Mary C. Ragland Foundation
SEP 18
Presented without the Nashville Symphony.
TCHAIKOVSKY CELEBRATION with the Nashville Symphony
APR 24 TO 26
VIOLENT FEMMES
with the Nashville Symphony
Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor
OCT 9
Nathan Aspinall, conductor
HOME ALONE IN CONCERT with the Nashville Symphony
DEC 6 TO 8
Oliver Herbert, cello
Tony Siqi Yun, piano
Lawrence S. Levine Memorial Concert
LETTUCE with the Nashville Symphony
APR 30
Jason Seber, conductor
DREW & ELLIE HOLCOMB’S NEIGHBORLY CHRISTMAS
Enrico Lopez-Yañez, conductor
INDIGO GIRLS with the Nashville Symphony
DEC 17
Presented without the Nashville Symphony.
THE WAR AND TREATY with the Nashville Symphony
JAN 16 TO 18
Enrico Lopez-Yañez, conductor
MAY 29 TO 31
Enrico Lopez-Yañez, conductor
Giancarlo Guerrero, music director Home Alone
Joyce Yang The War and Treaty
Drew & Ellie Holcomb
Herbie Hancock Nashville Symphony Chorus
Lettuce
Violent Femmes Tony Siqi Yun
Indigo Girls
CRITICS’ PICKS: WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF THINGS TO DO
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, JULY 19-20
MUSIC [TRUE STORIES] SWAMP DOGG
In the year of country-R&B crossover records like Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, the contributions of Black Virginia-born producer, singer and songwriter Jerry Williams Jr. seem more relevant than ever. Williams co-wrote the country standard “She’s All I Got” with Gary U.S. Bonds — and Black Nashville native Freddie North released what is arguably the definitive version of the tune in 1971, selling more than a million copies before producer Billy Sherrill recorded Johnny Paycheck’s version, which was also a hit. Working under the sobriquet Swamp Dogg, Williams has been making weird, funny and ribald avant-R&B albums since 1970. If you haven’t heard Swamp Dogg’s 1970 debut album Total Destruction to Your Mind or his 2020 Nashville-recorded Sorry You Couldn’t Make It, get up to speed on one of the world’s finest
pop musicians. His new album Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th St., recorded mostly in Nashville, places the man with the air-raidsiren voice in a bluegrass context. You won’t be the same after you’ve heard rock-jazz guitarist Vernon Reid shred on the album’s version of “Rise Up,” a Williams original he first recorded with The Commodores in 1969. Williams will make two Nashville appearances to mark the release of Blackgrass. He’ll perform and sign albums at Grimey’s New and Preloved Music on Friday — see Grimey’s website for information about attending the event. Williams will also play a short set on the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday night. The great soul-country auteur, who just turned 82, explains Blackgrass to me via phone from his home in Southern California: “I wanted to make sure I stayed with stories, which is the same thing I do on my other albums.” EDD HURT
5 P.M. FRIDAY AT GRIMEY’S (1060 E. TRINITY LANE)
7 P.M. SATURDAY AT THE GRAND OLE OPRY HOUSE (600 OPRY MILLS DRIVE)
Visit calendar.nashvillescene.com for more event listings
THURSDAY
/ 7.18
MUSIC [GIVE IT TIME]
STEPHANIE SAMMONS
Stephanie Sammons brings her timeless Americana to The 5 Spot on Thursday to celebrate the release of her debut full-length album Time and Evolution. The Texas-based songwriter has crafted her sound over the course of years after she left behind a career in financial planning to focus on her art, studying with the likes of Mary Gauthier, Emily Saliers, Jonathan Brooks, Gretchen Peters and more. Time and Evolution, produced by Mary Bragg, centers Sammons’ emotive voice and plainspoken storytelling. Fans of ’90s folk and rock will find much to celebrate, but Sammons’ gentle urgency and sensitive storytelling is also a contemporary blast of fresh air. RACHEL CHOLST 6 P.M. AT THE 5 SPOT 1006 FOREST AVE.
FILM
[NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN CUTS] ENO
Brian Eno is one of the most innovative musicians, recording artists and producers in the history of popular music, so it’s not surprising director Gary Hustwit’s careerspanning film about him is itself a cuttingedge work of art. Hustwit brings Eno, billed as the world’s first generative cinematic documentary, to the Belcourt on Thursday for a pair of screenings at which attendees will be treated to unique cuts of the film created live and in real time. Using a proprietary software system developed by Hustwit and digital artist Brendan Dawes, the film has millions of possible variations drawn from the director’s original interviews and Eno’s extensive archives of neverbefore-seen footage and unreleased music.
“He’ll be basically compiling the film live at two separate performances,” Belcourt program director Toby Leonard explains to the Scene via email. “The version I saw at Sundance, one of six different versions to play there, included a
ADULT BOOK FAIR PAGE 22
PARADISE ROAD SHOW PAGE 24
QUEER QLASSICS: THE LAST OF SHEILA PAGE 26
number of edited sequences — a segment of him present-day at his farm giving an overview of the software that he uses to produce his more recent ambient material, a section on producing U2’s The Unforgettable Fire, another section on Fela’s influence on his work with David Byrne — all tied together with various clips and such.” A Q&A with the director will follow each of the screenings.
DARYL SANDERS
6:30 AND 9:15 P.M. AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.
[FEEL IT IN YOUR BONES]
MUSIC
THE NECKBONES
It’s been nearly a decade since legendary Oxford, Miss., garage punks The Neckbones last reunited to play a show in Nashville. Famously one of the few rock bands signed to Mississippi blues stalwart Fat Possum Records in the mid’90s, The Neckbones sound more like Guided by Voices with a drawl than R.L. Burnside. Songs like “Art School Dropout” and “Dead End Kids” play fast and loose with suburban disaffection, layered in grungy fuzz and thrashing guitar chords. If you dig the kind of stuff that gets booked at Gonerfest, this is a rare opportunity to see some of their progenitors tear it up. Bring ear plugs.
LANCE CONZETT
9 P.M. AT BETTY’S GRILL 4900 CHARLOTTE AVE.
BOOKS [ADULT MONEY]
ADULT BOOK FAIR
Imagine a school book fair but with adult money. Taylor Street Art and Books and Bearded Iris have made that vision a reality. A book fair focused on summer reads will pop up at the local brewery’s Germantown location. I recently
realized that reading solely nonfiction is very weird, so this sounds like a great opportunity to find a more lighthearted read. Taylor Street Art and Books, a micro book store inside 100 Taylor Street Art Collective, hosts an impressive number of events — book clubs, watercolor classes, workshops and more. Literary Flour will also be on hand to provide the perfectly branded “cookies for book lovers.” The bakery does not have a brick-and-mortar location, so it’s a special treat to see them at events. I truly am always looking for the grown-up version of my schoolage favorite Anne of Green Gables, even if it will be stashed in the “to be read” pile for a while.
HANNAH HERNER
4-7 P.M. AT BEARDED IRIS BREWING 101 VAN BUREN ST.
FRIDAY
/ 7.19
[LIKE NO ONE’S WATCHING]
DANCE
THE NASHVILLE DANCE FESTIVAL
The Nashville Dance Festival is back this weekend, offering “an unforgettable celebration of movement, creativity and community.” First introduced last summer, the inaugural event highlighted a wide range of both classical and contemporary works while showcasing the talents of some amazing young artists from around the nation. This year’s installment promises an even bigger lineup, with performances from Nashville Ballet company artists, members of NB2 (Nashville Ballet’s official second company) and students from School of Nashville Ballet’s Choreographic Intensive. Audiences can look forward to catching a sneak peek of the ballet’s
upcoming season, including a preview of the dreamy wedding pas de deux from The Sleeping Beauty. You can also check out a couple of world premieres: Beyond, from choreographer Adji Cissoko, and If I Can Dream, from choreographer Travis Bradley and featuring the music of Elvis Presley. Plus there will be special performances from guests Collage Dance Collective (from Memphis) and Alonzo King Lines Ballet (from San Francisco). It’s an ambitious program, and perfectly suited to Belmont University’s gorgeous Fisher Center for the Performing Arts.
AMY STUMPFL
7:30 P.M. AT BELMONT’S FISHER CENTER 2020 BELMONT BLVD.
[STAR TIME]
MUSIC
CHARLIE BROWN SUPERSTAR W/ LANEY JONES & MORE
If the work of Brett Fuller, better known as Charlie Brown Superstar, is any indication, West Virginia has some next-level electronic music on the come-up. Fuller’s profile expanded significantly when expert country songsmith Tyler Childers called on him to co-produce the electronically enhanced “Joyful Noise” third of his spiritually inspired triple album Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?, weaving samples of recorded religious gatherings and threads from hymns, folk songs and electro-funk into a
THE
DANCE FESTIVAL
PHOTO:
Holiness Church get-down. In his solo work, Mr. Superstar leans heavily toward the unbeatable grooves of disco and house, building up tracks that each feel like you could spend a whole evening dancing to them. Fuller’s traveling show pulls into Third Man on Friday with local support courtesy of standout rockers Laney Jones and the Spirits and other guests to be announced. STEPHEN TRAGESER
8 P.M. AT THE BLUE ROOM AT THIRD MAN RECORDS 623 SEVENTH AVE. S.
[GETTING THE BOYS BACK TOGETHER]
FILM
SEVEN SAMURAI
One of legendary director Akira Kurosawa’s greatest films and one of the most acclaimed films in history — sitting at 20th all-time from the Sight and Sound Top 250 poll — returns to the Belcourt with the fresh new coat of 4K restoration. Seven Samurai, which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, stands tall not only in the canon of cinema but also through its influences. The most obvious of these is John Sturges’ 1960 Western adaptation The Magnificent Seven, but the film also influenced films such as Ocean’s Eleven, A Bug’s Life and The Avengers. The film opens in the year 1586, when a poor Japanese village learns that a band of bandits plans to attack their village after the harvest. Upon hearing this news, the village elder suggests the villagers go into town to recruit hungry samurai or those willing to work for only rice. When the villagers gather their samurai (a band that includes recurring Kurosawa actors such as Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune), everything comes down to a last-stand effort of the village with their seven samurai facing off against hundreds of bandits.
KEN ARNOLD
JULY 19-25 AT THE BELCOURT
2102 BELCOURT AVE.
SATURDAY / 7.20
[LOVE ON THE SPECTRUM]
DATING
CATCH A MATCH MIXER
One of the things I like about the Netflix dating show Love on the Spectrum is its emphasis on dating etiquette and conversation. Asking your date questions and listening to their answers is something I’d argue many neurotypical people haven’t mastered, but the people on the show take this direction in stride and approach each date with positivity. Locally, the Catch a Match mixer emulates some of the same values. Nonprofit organization Autism Tennessee invites adults of all genders and sexualities who identify as neurodivergent to Jackalope Brewing Company to connect for friendship as well as dating purposes. During Catch a Match, attendees can “engage over shared passions, unmask and be your authentic self as you meet others with similar experiences,” according to the event description. Dating does get better and better with practice, and Autism Tennessee gives an opportunity to do just that. The chance for a love connection is icing on the cake. HANNAH HERNER
2 P.M. (FOR AGES 18-35) AND 4 P.M. (FOR AGES 35 AND UP)
AT JACKALOPE BREWING COMPANY
429 HOUSTON ST.
MUSIC
[CALLING ALL METALHEADS] LIGHT IN THE BLACK
The Donelson Pub will host some goatthrowing-worthy hard rock and metal Saturday night when Light in the Black makes a rare Nashville appearance. The quartet features former Secret Weapon lead singer Charlie Kavanagh backed by bassist Tony Nagy, guitarist Mike Simmonz and drummer Paul Simmons — the latter two are brothers and local metal legends best known for their work in the band Simmonz. Simmons lives in Norway these days, so Saturday’s show will be the group’s first in Nashville in more than a year. The band came together in 2020 after the guitarist saw a video clip of Kavanagh performing with another Nashville band. “I was like, ‘Holy shit,’” Simmonz recalls. “He was singing all these old-school metal songs from the late ’70s, early ’80s — Judas Priest and Dio and stuff like that — and just nailing it.” A few months later, the brothers asked Kavanagh to sing on a recording of Deep Purple’s “Mistreated,” and after that session, they decided to form a band together. Kavanagh suggested Nagy to round out the lineup. Light in the Black will perform two sets Saturday night, featuring a mix of original material and some of their favorite hard rock covers. DARYL SANDERS
8 P.M. AT THE DONELSON PUB
945 ALLEN ROAD
[THE HORROR!]
FESTIVAL
NASHVILLE HORROR CON 2024
Local hellraisers who’ve been craving another horror convention in this town (especially since the Full Moon Tattoo and Horror Festival came and went earlier this year) will be happy to know a new con full of celebs and carnage is coming this weekend. The two-day blood feast, launched by the folks behind the Evansville, Ind.-based Horror Con,
will have a modest-sized collection of familiar faces taking pics and signing autographs. Four formerly young cast members (Thora Birch, Omri Katz, Vinessa Shaw and Nashville’s own Jason Marsden) from that witchy Bette Midler movie Hocus Pocus will be reuniting for a Q&A. The special-guest list also includes wrestling legend Mick Foley, ex-Jackass castmate Bam Margera, Supernatural recurring guest Emily Perkins, makeup artist Ve Neill, and Eddie Munster himself, Butch Patrick. Unfortunately, the thing we were looking forward to the most — a screening room designated for horror films — won’t be at this year’s inaugural fest. Due to lack of space and film submissions, the screening room has been postponed until next year’s con. Visit nashvillehorror.com for details.
CRAIG D. LINDSEY
JULY 20-21 AT THE FAIRGROUNDS NASHVILLE 625 SMITH AVE.
[BETTER GET IT IN YOUR SOUL]
MUSIC
DELVON LAMARR ORGAN TRIO
I can’t blame my parents for this one, but when I was little, I somehow got it into my head that sophisticated music required you to listen studiously, be still, and maybe even dress up (read: put on uncomfortable clothes) to listen to it. The music that I later learned was called soul and funk, however, completely eradicated this silly notion: It’s very rich, complex music that is absolutely made for moving your body, whether you’re in jeans or a sharp tailored suit. This is the sweet spot wherein you’ll find contemporary soul-jazz instrumental group Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio — a space they share with legendary ensembles of the 1960s and ’70s. Over the past decade the Seattle group has released three studio LPs and a couple live albums that showcase their eminently groovy take on the sounds made by The Funk Brothers, The J.B.’s, The Meters and especially Stax icons Booker T. & the M.G.’s. They put their stamp on the style — in the spirit of jazz organ pioneer Jimmy Smith, Lamarr can call forth every tonal
color imaginable from the Hammond B3’s tonewheels and Leslie rotating speaker, and he even plays bass with the pedals — but don’t mess with what has been working perfectly well for decades. STEPHEN TRAGESER
8 P.M. AT THE MIL AT CANNERY HALL
1 CANNERY ROW
CARS [BURNOUTS AND BELLY FLOPS] PARADISE ROAD SHOW
The freewheeling folks behind the Paradise Road vintage car and motorcycle show began organizing in 2016 with a simple purpose: reimagine classic auto shows for a younger generation of motor-heads. Begone, exhibitions of overpriced pristine machines that can be afforded only by boring boomers — car-culture enthusiasts far away from their golden years are embracing a DIY approach that focuses on fun over fortune. Paradise Road is making its way from the show’s native Palm Springs to The Dive Motel for the third year in a row. Classic choppers, hot rods, pickup trucks and muscle cars dating back to 1984 and older can enter the exhibition, including registration for Best in Show awards to be held at 5 p.m. that evening. Attendees are encouraged to compete in an all-American pie-eating contest as well — just make sure to wait awhile before jumping back into the pool.
JASON VERSTEGEN
11 A.M. AT THE DIVE MOTEL
1414 DICKERSON PIKE
SUNDAY / 7.21
MUSIC
[THE SOUND OF HEALING] THE RESET
Looking for an unusual way to relax and recharge this weekend? Then you’ll definitely want to check out Davin Youngs’ The Reset, which arrives at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center on Sunday afternoon. Billed as “an immersive sound healing experience,” The Reset blends improvisational singing, sound healing instruments and looping technology to create a truly one-of-a-kind immersive environment that fosters mindfulness, restoration and renewal. Youngs, a Chicago-based singer and sound healing artist, has brought The Reset to a number of iconic concert halls and festivals around the country. Nashville’s own Kayce Laine will be joining Youngs for the Schermerhorn event, and her crystal singing bowls and other sound healing instruments are sure to add another unique element to the experience. Depending on the ticket you purchase, you may choose to sit or lie down during the performance. (Yoga mats will be arranged on both the stage and the orchestra floor, although traditional theater seating also will be available.) Participants are invited to bring a yoga mat or meditation cushion, a blanket, sweater and crystals — along with an open mind. AMY STUMPFL
2 P.M. AT THE SCHERMERHORN
1 SYMPHONY PLACE
NASHVILLE HORROR CON
HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS
WEDNESDAY / 7.24
MUSIC [YOUR MOVE] JON ANDERSON AND THE BAND GEEKS
UPCOMING EVENTS
PARNASSUSBOOKS.NET/EVENT FOR TICKETS & UPDATES
6:30PM
ROBYN HITCHCOCK
THURSDAY, JULY 18
with SEAN NELSON at PARNASSUS
1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left
10:30AM
SATURDAY, JULY 20
SATURDAY STORYTIME with JONATHAN MERRITT at PARNASSUS My Guncle and Me
6:30PM LEV GROSSMAN with HANNAH WHITTEN at PARNASSUS The Bright Sword
WEDNESDAY, JULY 24
6:30PM LAUREN THOMAN with COURT STEVENS at PARNASSUS You Shouldn't Be Here
FRIDAY, JULY 26
6:30PM CHRIS WHITAKER with KATHY SCHULTENOVER at PARNASSUS All the Colors of the Dark
10:30AM
SATURDAY, JULY 27
SATURDAY STORYTIME
I was geeked out in July 1975, when I saw Yes at Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium. I was 16 and in thrall to prog rock, but I don’t remember loving the material from Yes’ then-current album Relayer, which featured Patrick Moraz in place of beloved keyboardist Rick Wakeman. In retrospect, Relayer sounds like a sincere effort to combine prog with fusion jazz. The second time I saw Yes was in 2014, when the band — minus singer Jon Anderson — played the Ryman. Since I’d changed a little since 1975, I’d spent more time in the previous decades with James Brown and Miles Davis than I had with Yes classics like 1971’s “I’ve Seen All Good People” and their 1972 cover of Paul Simon’s “America,” which they sang in the manner of benevolent aliens attempting to understand human culture. Wednesday at the Ryman, Anderson joins a band called The Band Geeks to present a program of Yes classics and Anderson solo material from albums like 2019’s 1000 Hands: Chapter One. Anderson is in excellent voice at 79, and he and The Band Geeks have a new album, True, set for August release. Opening will be The Return of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, which features drummer Carl Palmer playing live onstage to video screens of a 1992 show by late ELP members Keith Emerson and Greg Lake. Am I still a geek? Of course. EDD HURT
7:30 P.M. AT THE RYMAN
116 REP. JOHN LEWIS WAY N.
MUSIC
[20 YEARS OF TEARS] HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS W/THURSDAY, STICK TO YOUR GUNS & MORE
Nearly a year removed from playing nostalgic emo mega-fest Tennessee Is for Lovers and headlining Marathon Music Works with a backing orchestral arrangement (dubbed the Emo Orchestra, of course) in-your-feels Ohio band Hawthorne Heights returns to Nashville with another stacked lineup of tenured touring groups from the Warped Tour-era music scene. This time, the bill comes with some heavy
hitters. The lineup — described by promoters as “celebrating the music of the MySpace generation,” which sure makes me feel old, guys — includes the reunited Thursday, a tastemaking band in post-hardcore hailing from New Jersey fronted by Geoff Rickly, and Stick to Your Guns, the tried-and-true hardcore outfit from California known for songs with often-crusading punches. Stick to Your Guns tours in support of “Invisible Rain,” a single that dropped earlier this year. The show also includes alternative band Anberlin, pop-rock group Armor for Sleep and rock outfit This Wild Life. MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER
7 P.M. AT THE SKYDECK 5055 BROADWAY
[QLASSIC QUESTIONS]
FILM
QUEER QLASSICS: THE LAST OF SHEILA
For a movie that filmmakers Rian Johnson (who said it straight-up influenced his Knives Out films) and Edgar Wright consider a mustsee, you’d think the 1973 whodunit The Last of Sheila would be better-known. Directed by film/ theater vet Herbert Ross (Funny Lady, Footloose), this murder-mystery by the sea has an all-star cast (Richard Benjamin, James Mason, Raquel Welch, future Deadwood heavy Ian McShane) as Hollywood folk taking part in an elaborate, weeklong parlor game conceived by James Coburn’s manipulative uber-producer. Perhaps not a lot of people know about it because it was quite queer-coded for its time. Written by thencloseted celebs Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins (who threw scavenger hunts for their famous friends back in the day), this film about people hiding life-threatening secrets doesn’t shy away from giving us characters who’ve engaged in same-sex activities. Film historian/ critic Alonso Duralde will talk more about the movie in a post-screening discussion. He’ll also sign copies of his new book Hollywood Pride: A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Representation and Perseverance in Film. Read Scene senior film critic Jason Shawn’s interview with Duralde in this week’s Books section. CRAIG D. LINDSEY
8 P.M. AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.
PHOTO: VINCE ALONZO
7/18 Laser 101
7/20 Intro to Wood Turning
7/20 Intro to MIG Welding
7/21 Sewing Club
7/21 Beginner’s Intro to Crochet
7/24 Build Your Own Canvas Stretcher Frame
7/25 Beginner’s Intro to Manual Loom Knitting
7/25 Intro to TIG Welding
7/27 Intro to Metal Working: Part 1
7/28 Sewing Club CLASSES: LEARN A
SOMETIMES IT CAN be challenging to get people to agree to be interviewed for a newspaper. Not everyone wants to share personal details about tough times in their lives for all the world to read. I was hesitant to reach out to folks for an article about The Heimerdinger Foundation.
The Nashville-based nonprofit provides free and heavily discounted meals to people going through cancer treatment and their caregivers. Cancer treatment is heavy — and even if someone has recovered, it can be difficult to discuss that season of life.
But as it turns out, people really want to talk about The Heimerdinger Foundation. People replied to my requests within minutes.
“It was an incredible gift not to have to think about one more logistic on any given day,” explains Liz Veyhl, executive director of Small World Yoga. “Like what to order from the same five restaurants on DoorDash, or if you’ll even be able to leave the hospital room for 10 minutes to meet the driver in the lobby, when so much about supporting a child in treatment feels overwhelming and unpredictable.” When Liz and her husband Jake’s 2-year-old son was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2022, it meant six months of in-patient treatment at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. They spent 100 rotating days and nights sleeping in the hospital, while also desperately trying to balance a life at home with their newborn daughter.
“On the days where we were passing one another in the hospital just changing shifts, it was still nice to know meals were waiting and ‘where to pick up dinner’ wasn’t another source of stress to end the day,” Veyhl says.
Since 2013, the organization’s Meals 4 Health program has prepared and delivered organic, healthy, sugar-free, gluten-free meals to patients and families like the Veyhls exactly when they need them most. Even if the situation isn’t as intense as it was for the Veyhls during their long hospital stays, after any cancer diagnosis, there is a flurry of appointments to make, and research and information to digest.
Once chemotherapy starts, about 50 percent of cancer patients notice changes in their sense of taste. Some food has a metallic taste. Other food may be bland, or too sweet. As a result, many caregivers are focused on schedules and keeping their loved ones fed with new foods, but not always focused on feeding themselves. The Heimerdinger Foundation offers delivery of up to eight servings of meals per week per person in the household for up to 22 weeks. (The first 12 weeks are free; weeks 13-22 are available at a nominal fee.) Meals can be frozen to be eaten later. For many people, it’s a bright spot, a kindness and access to community during a
EXACTLY WHAT’S NEEDED
The Heimerdinger Foundation’s free organic meals are a lifeline for cancer patients and their caregivers
BY MARGARET LITTMAN
terrible time.
Earlier this year, the Heimerdinger Foundation moved from using a church’s commercial kitchen separate from their administrative offices to their own 4,000-square-foot facility in Berry Hill. Now that everything is under one roof, the decade-old nonprofit has plans for growth, including serving more clients and their families and offering more programming to the general public. Explains Katharine Ray, the organization’s executive director, they’re also now selling some of their most popular
spice blends and dressing mixes.
The Heimerdinger Foundation was founded by Kathie Heimerdinger after her husband, former Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger, died from cancer in 2011. She saw the burden that caring for a cancer patient can put on families, and she wanted a way to help. She modeled the Nashville organization after the similar Ceres Community Project in California.
“One of the things [Kathie] and her family learned firsthand was how hard it was to juggle
all the things that are in your life when your whole family is going through cancer,” says Ray, who is a longtime cancer survivor. “The whole family’s going through it: the medical appointments, the treatment schedule, and then on top of that, knowing that you need to be feeding yourself nourishing foods to heal and overcome the wounds of cancer and its treatment.”
Since its inception, the organization has delivered more than 230,000 nutrientdense meals to more than 3,000 people. The
PHOTOS: ANGELINA CASTILLO
SYDNEY DESIND, CHEF
nonprofit has a small staff, plus more than 100 volunteers who cook, package and deliver meals across Davidson and Williamson counties. Now that the organization has its own commercial kitchen, it can sell meals to those in other counties who are experiencing cancer, as long as they can pick up the meals in Berry Hill. Some people who live in other counties come to Nashville for treatment, so the pickup isn’t as inconvenient as it might sound.
Those meal sales are among the revenuegenerating activities The Heimerdinger Foundation has as part of its expansion plans. The majority of the budget comes from donations — corporate, individual and foundations. Meg Strong, owner of Haus of Yarn, the city’s leading independent yarn store, raised more than $1,000 through a percentage of sales of exclusive color-dyed yarns during April’s Local Yarn Store Day event. The Haus of Yarn email newsletter announcing the event goes to knitters across the country, and many told Strong they donated to The Heimerdinger Foundation after reading about Strong’s connection to the organization. When her mother was undergoing treatment for lung cancer, Strong and her brother appreciated the meals — for them and their mom — and the fact that they arrived, packaged with nutritional information, heating and serving instructions, plus a thoughtful card, no questions asked.
“I am such a skeptic, and I’ve lived my whole life believing, ‘Nothing in life is free’ and ‘If something seems too good to be true, it is,’” Strong says. “But they wanted nothing in return.”
Strong’s mother — who died a year ago — grew fond of the kale in her meals. That vegetable was not a favorite of hers before Meals 4 Health. Strong says the spice blends transformed the leafy greens. That’s not unusual, Ray says, and is one of the reasons they’ve started selling spice blends and dressing mixes. They’re available at the Bellevue Farmers Market and at The Heimerdinger Foundation and will be added to the website for online sales soon. There’s a cookbook for sale, too. Folks who receive Meals 4 Health span demographic
classifications, and some clients, Ray says, haven’t had access to organic, nutrient-dense meals before, so they are introduced to new flavor combinations.
The cookbook and spice blends are part of the organization’s educational outreach, not just to provide healthy meals to those going through treatment and their caregivers, but also to provide cancer-prevention nutrition information. They offer a Food Connections series of talks, open to the general public. The Aug. 7 Food Connections topic is pickling and preserving summer harvests. Chef Johnny Haffner prepares a monthly Sunset Supper at a farm in Brentwood — ticketed five-course dinners that are organized around a theme. May was strawberries, June was green (think cilantro and avocado), and July was peaches; the next two events are set for July 19 and Aug. 23. The biggest annual fundraiser in September is the Roots Dinner. Held at West Glow Farm in Kingston Springs on Sept. 21 this year, it will include cocktails in the creek, live bluegrass music and, of course, a nutritious, flavorful meal.
The Heimerdinger Foundation tends several small gardens, including at the church where they used to borrow the commercial kitchen. “They’re not big, but they’re great teaching gardens so that [people] can learn about various vegetables and herbs,” Ray says. “Those spaces don’t begin to provide us the food that we need for our program, but they’re great teaching spaces. Volunteers — both teens and adults — help harvest the gardens. Other produce for the meals comes from CSA programs and local farms.”
“I’ve been convinced of the importance of our work from day one,” says James O’Brien, Nashville entrepreneur and Heimerdinger Foundation board member. “My dad went through chemotherapy and ultimately died of cancer — the whole process is tough, and not just for the patient. Food can heal, and sadly, it’s one of the first things that we neglect during trying times. At The Heimerdinger Foundation, we’re able to use food to help both patients and their families during one of life’s most challenging times.” ▼
To register or for more details: tomatoartfest.com/events/recipecontest
Registered contestants drop their entry on August 3rd, 2024 to MARGO RESTAURANT & BAR . 1017 Woodland St.
The winning entry will get the Chef Hadley Long treatment and be featured on the menu at Margot Cafe & Bar TAF weekend.
CATEGORY IS
“WORLD TOUR WITH TOMATOES”
This category encourages international recipes featuring tomatoes. Entrants could create a dish inspired by any region of the world, as long as tomatoes are a prominent ingredient.
OVER THE YEARS, Eve Petty has devoted a lot of hours to the Kindling Arts Festival. She’s worked as an actor and stage manager. She’s helped produce and direct shows. She’s greeted guests at the door, and even swept floors. This weekend she’s at it again, as Kindling returns with a four-day celebration that showcases more than 20 unique projects at various locations around Nashville.
“I’ve worked with Kindling for seven years now in a lot of different capacities, and it really is one of my favorite things about the Nashville theater community,” says Petty, a versatile artist who’s worked onstage and behind the scenes with everyone from Street Theatre and Nashville Rep to Nashville Children’s Theatre. “I love that I’ve been able to contribute to it in so many ways, but the festival also has contributed to my development as an artist. It really is the most cool group of people, making the weirdest art.”
Petty is currently focused on Monsterball, a new creation from Daniel Carter and Kindling’s founding artistic director Jessika Malone the team behind the festival’s popular Bar Fight series. The new piece — which blends improvisational comedy with all the outrageous antics of a minor league sports team — pits life-size Muppet-like monsters against actual Nashville residents in an overthe-top kickball match.
“There’s an opening ceremony, announcers, a big halftime show and plenty of shenanigans along the way,” Petty says of the free familyfriendly performance. “But there’s also a lot of heart. The humans and the monsters start off as opposing forces, but as things continue we learn that we have more in common, and start rooting for each other. It’s been such fun experimenting with different ideas, building everything from the ground up. That’s what I love about devised work — you’re looking at it from so many different ways. It’s pushing past the limits and asking, ‘What could this be?’ It evolves with everyone’s contributions, so it’s not just one person’s project — it’s the whole group’s passion poured into a common goal.”
The same could be said for the festival itself. Established in 2018, Kindling consistently serves up some of Nashville’s most daring work, created by a diverse and dynamic roster of groundbreaking artists. And this year’s lineup may be the most ambitious to date, with 22 imaginative works ranging from cuttingedge theater, music and dance to multimedia experiences and experimental performance art.
“What’s become clear is that Kindling has carved out a space that is absolutely vital and necessary for the arts community,” says producing artistic director Daniel Jones. “We had more than 100 artist applications this year, and half our lineup is new to us — people we’ve never worked with before. It’s really a testament
CATCHING FIRE
Kindling Arts Festival continues to engage and empower local artists BY
AMY STUMPFL
to what’s happening in the city — the growth, and the way artists are ready to step up if given a platform.”
One of those artists is Asia Pyron, a busy choreographer and director of PYDANCE.
Soon after moving to Music City in 2021, Pyron directed and choreographed an original production called POOL, created for the 50th anniversary of the Centennial Art Center and inspired by local students’ efforts to integrate the Centennial Park swimming pool in the
1960s. Kindling presented an excerpt of POOL as part of its 2022 festival.
“Kindling picked us up right after our premiere, and we felt extremely supported by the festival,” Pyron says. “It not only offered an opportunity for my dancers to get paid and to be working in the field they trained in, but it also helped lift us up as a new company in Nashville. It was just a great experience.”
For this year’s festival, Pyron has created an immersive dance-theater experience called
Kindling Arts Festival
July 18-21 at various venues kindlingarts.com/2024-festival
Murder of Crows. Presented at the Welcome to 1979 recording studio, the piece “draws audiences back in time to the greatest party of yesteryear, where more than a couple of plans go awry.”
“Murder of Crows was very much inspired by Clue: The Movie,” Pyron says. “We wanted to create sort of a representation of those amazing murder mysteries, like Clue or Knives Out. And while this piece is not actually a murder mystery in itself, the whole concept is wrapped around this fabulous party where nothing is quite as it seems. It’s a lot of fun, and we’re delighted to be at Welcome to 1979. It’s such a cool space — it just screams vintage Nashville. And it gives people the freedom to move and make their own choices as they follow the characters around, which I think feels very different than just sitting in a theater watching a performance onstage. The audience will definitely be part of how this story is being told.
“This is technically the first time that Murder of Crows will premiere as a full stand-alone performance,” she adds. “So we’re excited to have people come out and explore this idea with us. I feel like it’s just so important to get people out in the community, and to put art in places where you don’t necessarily expect it. Kindling has done such a great job with that — engaging audiences, supporting artists and exploring everything that the local arts scene can be.” ▼
MURDER OF CROWS
MONSTERBALL
ACCLAIMED AUTHOR, PODCAST empire cornerstone, perceptive critic and Vanderbilt alumnus Alonso Duralde has been a fixture in cinema discourse for several decades now. As both a media personality (that’s him on your Valley of the Dolls DVD and Boom! Blu-ray and periodically on TCM) and a film critic, he’s helped queer cinema become a topic easily approachable from the mainstream, which doesn’t even get into his status as one of the foremost scholars and advocates for Christmas cinema. (He has authored several books on the subject, as well as being part of the podcast Deck the Hallmark.) He recently released his book Hollywood Pride: A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Representation and Perseverance in Film (Running Press), and he was an absolute delight to talk with in advance of his upcoming appearance at the Belcourt.
How did the idea for, and structure of, this book come together? Running Press brought it to me, they sort of pitched me the idea. This is of a piece with a couple of other books they’ve recently published — Donald Bogle’s Hollywood Black and Luis Reyes’ Viva Hollywood. So those books gave me a template as to how to incorporate the films themselves and the characters, but also the artists in a chronological framework. There was a lot to get to, so it had to be a lot of short essays and notes, because to encapsulate a 130 years of cinema history into 95,000 words meant the reader was going to get a taste of everything along the way, but there just wouldn’t be enough real estate to go too deeply on any one topic.
It had to be a Whitman’s Sampler. Part of the journey of Hollywood Pride was encountering all these interesting facets that I’d never encountered before. I’ve got my theory background, I took cinema studies classes, and I know my sissy elders, but I’d never heard of J. Warren Kerrigan, “The Great Unwed,” before. I absolutely have to tip my hat to William Mann’s Behind the Screen; he really found a lot of these folks and talked to so many of the survivors of that era who were still alive when he was writing the book, so he pointed me in a lot of the right directions.
What was the big discovery for you in the research phase? As I was putting this book together, Tre’Vell Anderson’s book We See Each Other was coming out, and that was the first time I ever heard about Angela Morley, and I was shocked that I had never come across her before. She was the first openly trans person to be nominated for an Oscar — she worked as an arranger and a conductor for not just Lerner and Loewe and the Sherman Brothers, which she got her Oscar nominations for, but also John Williams. When you think of his major iconic scores — Star Wars, Superman, E.T. — she is part of his team, put-
ALL ABOUT ALONSO
Film scholar and Vanderbilt alum Alonso Duralde on his new book Hollywood Pride
BY JASON SHAWHAN
ting those scores together in a nuts-and-bolts kind of way. But she also won Emmys for doing music for shows of great interest to the queer community like Wonder Woman and Dynasty. So how I had never encountered her name before, heaven only knows. But I’m happy I was able to give her a bit of a spotlight in this book.
Similarly, Thomas Gomez was someone I’d never heard of before, despite having seen a lot of his work. And I’m Spanish American — I should know this guy. He was the first Spanish American Oscar nominee. It’s a lot of history, and as the medium gets older, it becomes harder and harder to have a full grasp on things as one once might have. I remember reading an article about Peter Bogdanovich in the mid-’70s where they could actually quantify the number of Hollywood studio films that existed and the percentage of them that he had seen. And then a few decades later [there’s] this explosion of indie and international cinema, where we’re getting access to more titles than we ever have before. I think about my niece, who studied screenwriting at Emerson and is now working on scripts herself, and it all feels like too much. It’s like being someone who studies literature immediately after the invention of the printing press versus 200 or 300 years later. The scope of it all exceeds the ability of any one person to wrap their arms around.
There is no magical Bogdanovich ascot that can encompass the whole of Queer Cinema History. I very much appreciated the delicate but unapologetic approach you, and all queer historians, have to those moments when we have to dip a toe into the gossip mill. This is something that queer historians in every realm have to deal with, whether you’re talking about history or literature or whatever. Henry James’ family kept his letters suppressed for a very long time. It’s only recently that we
know about the correspondence between Bram Stoker and Walt Whitman.
And this is a suppression that exists throughout all the academic disciplines. I don’t know if you saw the documentary Queer Planet that just premiered on Peacock recently, but it’s a study of same-sex activity and transness as practiced in the animal kingdom. For a very long time, if you were a scientist or a naturalist and you were trying to explain that there were same-sex pairings among penguins or bighorn rams, that would be suppressed in official channels. You could lose your grants, or not be published, or just not taken seriously in the scientific community, because there was this effort to keep down the idea that queerness occurs in and is part of the natural world. So there are constantly these forces of censorship at play, and in this case you have the very real example of people living their lives in a society where they could lose their jobs or they could go to jail if their sexuality was public knowledge. So trying to put that together decades later, you sometimes do have to rely on word of mouth and hearsay for those examples where you don’t have letters or a diary or a latein-life interview; this just isn’t the sort of information you can glean from birth certificates or land records.
Through the course of your research, who’s your favorite gay villain? I’ll give you a recency bias because I just rewatched All About Eve, and Addison DeWitt is … [Laughs] But I would love to see him go toe to toe with Waldo Lydecker from Laura. That period of gay snake I find very fascinating.
That’s the steel-cage match where all of a sudden Mrs. Danvers swoops in from the side with a folding chair. Dare we dream of a Queer Cinema Mortal Kombat? Bon mot at 10 paces.
One of the highest compliments I can pay this book is that on my library shelf, it’s right next to Raymond Murray’s Images in the Dark. For the longest time, and in a pre-internet context, it was the most comprehensive and entertaining guide out there, and I feel like what you’ve accomplished here explores and works within that milieu very well. This book stands on the shoulders of William Mann and Vito Russo and B. Ruby Rich’s work, and my hope is that one day, for some future author, this is part of the foundation of books on this topic for the next step in this field of thought.
So what specifically made you choose The Last of Sheila as the film you wanted to present for Nashville audiences? First of all, it’s fun. It’s funny, it’s a very bitchy comedy. I love Stephen Sondheim, and I can’t believe this is the only screenplay he ever wrote with his longtime pal Anthony Perkins. You have the production code period in Hollywood, the Hays Code, where officially queer characters do not exist, even though they’re still snuck in between the lines. And then that period ends in the ’60s, and you get a lot of not-great queer representation, because you’ve still got mostly white straight cis men making the movies, and you get a lot of villains and punchlines. But this movie takes the new freedom of post-code Hollywood and weaves queerness into an overall narrative, and because it’s set among Hollywood types, of course there’s going to be queerness there. You’ve got Herbert Ross directing, who has his own history off screen — ask Arthur Laurents. And you have this web of bitchiness and literal homicide and gossip and backstabbing — it’s tremendously entertaining. I love that Rian Johnson is always citing it as one of his major influences for the Knives Out films, and I’m always stunned when it comes up in conversations how many people have never heard of it. It’s always a delightful surprise.
Can you imagine what would have happened if Sondheim and Perkins had been able to make Clue work? That is a timeline I would really love to see. ▼
Hollywood Pride: A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Representation and Perseverance in Film By Alonso Duralde Now available via Running Press 336 pages, $40
Duralde will present a screening of The Last of Sheila 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 24, at the Belcourt. In conjunction with Novelette Books, he will also sign copies of Hollywood Pride
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WMOT Roots Radio Presents Finally Friday featuring DANIELLE COTTON, SAM MORROW & STEPHIE JAMES THE PETTY JUNKIES with SINCLAIR
Backstage Nashville! Daytime Hit Songwriters Show featuring TRENT TOMLINSON, CLINT DANIELS, REBECCA LYNN HOWARD & PHILLIP LAMMONDS
CONNEXION featuring THE FRENCH FAMILY BAND, JIMMY FORTUNE, MIKE ROGERS, JENEE FLEENOR, BEN ISAACS & JEFF TAYLOR
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MUSIC
BLESS THIS MESS
Meg Elsier gets real on Spittake
BY HANNAH CRON
EVERY MAJOR CITY needs an it girl. London has Charli XCX, New York has Julia Fox and Los Angeles has, well, too many to count. The entire Midwest can claim Chappell Roan now, so it’s high time Nashville has a trendsetter of its very own. For your consideration, allow me to introduce singer-songwriter Meg Elsier.
When her debut album Spittake came out June 28, she celebrated the way any star would: by having a wisdom tooth removed and lunching at Chili’s. Elsier’s effortlessly cool aura belies the vividly confessional nature of her music, but juxtaposition and paradox are par for the course in her work. The record’s title and its namesake track play off two forces at work when someone spits out their drink to laugh.
“[The concept] just seems comical and violent, slightly, which I liked,” Elsier says. “Like, there’s something dark about a spit take.”
In rich detail, the song describes the cruel comedy of feeling that your purpose in life is to amuse a deity. “God does a spit take, baby,” Elsier sings, “He says I was the joke all along.” She says the line was inspired by a separate song idea that never came to fruition.
“It was humanizing these religious figures,” she explains. “I think they’re self-conscious, and I think they’re actually mean sometimes. I just wanted to play with the superhuman aspects. I just liked the idea of being, like, a universal joke — and I’m the only one who doesn’t know it, and everybody else does.”
Despite the ironic subject matter, Elsier’s lyrics are no joke. The record tackles virtually every pain of the average 20-something: miscommunication in relationship, disillusionment, getting overwhelmed by the news, and in Elsier’s own words, “Catholic guilt.” Sonically, Spittake is as methodical as it is manic, switching at the drop of a hat between dreamy indie-pop slow-jam vibes and frenzied guitars and screaming. It’s messy the way life is when you’ve got the guts to be honest about it, an art difficult to master. No comparison seems fair — one line will bring to mind Phoebe Bridgers, and the next St. Vincent. It’s the kind of record you’d expect from a modern-day musical titan like Mitski deep into their career, rather than a debut artist.
Community is necessary for any musician,
but especially so for an independent newcomer. Elsier says Spittake and its visuals — including music videos for singles like “LA,” which was filmed at the historic Palace theater in Gallatin, and “Iznotreal,” which cuts back and forth between Elsier alone in foreboding sets and floating amid a sea of faces — could not have happened without Nashville’s supportive artist community.
“For artists, Turnip Green is the most incredible,” she notes. “Like, if I could fight for anyone, it would be Turnip Green. It really is a community effort in order for an independent artist to do anything like that — which is upsetting, but also it’s really, really beautiful. I think everybody becomes, like, more proud of it, because everybody had 37 jobs. So you’re invested, and it’s lovely. But they’re the only reason we could have made any of the props.”
Elsier’s Music City community will show out once again for a Spittake release celebration at DIY venue Soft Junk on Thursday. The supporting lineup includes Baby Wave, Razor Braids and a DJ set from Elsier’s “fellow Meg,” To-Go Records co-founder and The Blue Room
Spittake out now
Playing 8 p.m. Thursday, July 18, at Soft Junk
“I’m just so stoked — it’s just gonna be a celebration of really solid music and art in community,” Elsier says. “I just want to throw a rager for people, because people helped make everything that I’ve done. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the community that is here. So I just want to throw something fun.”
Like any good it girl, Elsier has curated the perfect vibe for her release party. Artist Sarah Goldstein put together a flyer that perfectly captures the flavor of an early-2000s church spaghetti potluck; the table is set for — as one says in fashionable circles — this party to “eat.” Crucially, Elsier chose openers she thinks the audience will want to know better.
“We have incredible bands, like Razor Braids from New York. I met them through my friend and manager MC … I love their music, and we became friends on Instagram. This bill is just people that I really want to play with. I’ve seen Baby Wave play The Blue Room so many times. [Their set is] one where it’s like, if you’re smoking outside, you run in for it.” ▼
talent buyer Megan Loveless.
STAKING A CLAIM
Danielia Cotton embraces the full spectrum of her roots
BY RACHEL CHOLST
DANIELIA COTTON IS a veteran of New York’s rock ’n’ roll scene, possessed of an inimitable sense of grit and glamour to go with the rich, powerful voice she’s recorded on a wide array of gospel, R&B and rock songs. Cotton grew up one of very few Black people in the hinterland of rural New Jersey, and she was surrounded by music; both circumstances played big roles in shaping her identity. Though country wasn’t a primary influence in her early days, her grandfather’s love for the late Charley Pride — far from the first Black country singer, but without a doubt the first Black country superstar — made a lasting impact, and she’s gearing up to release a tribute in the form of her EP Charley’s Pride: Songs From a Black Cowboy Vol. I. Her version of “Roll on Mississippi” is sublimely gentle, and her take on “Kiss an Angel Good Morning” is raw and soulful, like something that would make The Rolling Stones envious they didn’t think of first. Ahead of two shows in Music City on Friday — first at 3rd and Lindsley for WMOT Roots Radio’s Finally Friday program and later at Miss Zeke’s Juke Joint — the Scene caught up with Cotton.
How has the response been for your Charley Pride covers? We are going to be releasing the full EP in August called Charley’s Pride. It’s a tribute to Black country music. I grew up in a farming town in New Jersey called Hopewell, and there were not many Black people. My grandfather hid his Charley Pride album underneath his bed, because back then it wasn’t popular for a Black man to be into country. When I went to go interview my grandmother about the whole thing, she was like, “It was my album, and he took it from me!” Most people don’t know that, next to Elvis, [Pride] sold the most albums on RCA, ever. He was the first Black man to headline at the Grand Ole Opry. I recorded some Charley Pride covers years ago, so I thought to go back and make an EP to celebrate him. You’ve used music as a means of better understanding your identities. To grow up as a little Black kid in the New Jersey farmlands, it was not very diverse. But rock music sounded the way I felt. I wanted to have blond hair and blue eyes, like every one of my friends in my high school. My friends were all outcasts in their ways. We loved each other, and that music just sounded like everything I felt, and it wasn’t what a typical Black kid would have probably listened to — but I wasn’t around a bunch of Black kids listening to Donny Hathaway or Stevie Wonder or Michael Jackson. I was around these kids, and when their music came on, they loved it for one reason, and I loved it because it somehow expressed my anger and my discontent.
How did you get involved with music? My mom has 10 siblings: six girls, four boys. The six girls were in an a cappella gospel group. I joined when I was around 13. I sing in it to this day. My aunts, Jeannie Brooks and Carol Brooks, were both background singers. Carol was on the road with Southside Johnny. They eventually did
background [vocals] for Bon Jovi. They also sang jazz and pop and rock. My mom was also a jazz singer. I come from a musical family by nature. What are you most excited about for your two shows in Nashville? They’re going to be awesome. I went into my repertoire to find songs that I thought that audience would be open to,
Playing twice Friday, July 19: noon at 3rd and Lindsley, 6:30 p.m. at Miss Zeke’s Juke Joint
and it was a lot easier than I thought — a lot more Southern-rock-influenced songs than I realized. It’s funny: We’re more alike than we think, even with people that we feel we have nothing in common with. There’s always something that can connect you. You just have to find it. ▼
BETTER TOGETHER
BY JAYME FOLTZ
IF SATURDAY’S STOP at Ascend Amphitheater is any indication, Lake Street Dive’s current Good Together Tour is a mission to spread joy. If you have any objections, you probably haven’t had a personal experience with the Brooklyn pop-soul crew and their heavenly vocals and dance-ready beats.
The show kicked off with power-pop brother duo The Lemon Twigs, aka Brian and Michael D’Addario. The pair and their collaborators masterfully draw on the harmony-rich pop of ’60s and ’70s legends like The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Hollies. Even though Saturday’s four-man configuration of the group seemed dwarfed by the expansive stage, they caught the attention of everyone still hunting for their seat (or patch of lawn) with “Rock On: Over and Over,” the glam-kissed closer of their new LP A Dream Is All We Know
The D’Addarios kept the mood light and convivial. When someone in the audience close enough for them to hear yelled, “Who inspires you?” they playfully responded by shouting out a series of random items including “bridges” and “the sky,” and Brian described Michael’s guitar solo in set standout “What You Were Doing” (from last year’s Everything Harmony) as “surprisingly short and humble.” The longer they were onstage, the more the atmosphere felt like the kind of college house party you don’t want to end.
However, the time came for them to make way for the band of the hour. Augmented by the horn section of fellow Brooklyn band Huntertones and singer-percussionist Nêgah Santos, Lake Street Dive took the stage, which was styled like an old-school jazz club. The synth intro to “Good Together” — the titular song from the band’s just-released album, their eighth full-length since they formed 20 years ago at the New England Conservatory of Music — cued up powerhouse singer Rachael Price Decked out in a gold gown that coordinated with other members of the band (rather than matching up, they went with individual variations on the theme), Price shone brighter than the fading sun. And she didn’t miss a beat as she danced across the stage a little later during “Hypotheticals” from the group’s 2021 LP Obviously. The two songs form a neat pair, with the older one detailing the uncertainty of a new relationship and the newer one relaying how well it’s going. Nashville crowds aren’t known for their readiness to sing along, but Price needed only to gesture at us to elicit hundreds of voices finishing her line.
“I love the beginning of a show,” gushed Price, a onetime Nashvillian. “It symbolizes all the possibilities of the way things can go with the music, and every night we do things a little different.”
Then Price took a seat at the bar at the center of the stage — appropriately enough, as the
band eased into the proto-disco groove of “Seats at the Bar.” Later they brought the funk with “Get Around,” and Akie Bermiss’ keyboard solo was a highlight of “Baby Don’t Leave Me Alone With My Thoughts.”
The band gathered around one mic for fan favorite “Side Pony.” Price explained that they had gotten burned out on the hip-dipping titular song from their 2016 LP, which was inspired by her former love for the hairstyle and a metaphor for the band’s idiosyncratic blend of personalities. They once made a solemn vow to retire it permanently, but gave in after a tidal wave of fan requests; clearly, the Nashville crowd was ecstatic to have it back in the set list.
Introducing “Making Do,” a song the group wrote intending to normalize songs about climate change, drummer (and longtime environmentalist) Mike Calabrese mentioned the band’s efforts to reduce the environmental impact of their tours through a partnership with nonprofit Reverb. Bermiss took the main vocal mic for a delicious soul-funk reinterpretation of Shania Twain’s “You’re Still the One” — one of the pleasantly few moments in the show when you could see lots of phones up to capture a digital memento.
Later “Walking Uphill” offered spotlight moments for the whole ensemble, while newer band member James Cornelison’s swift and sweet guitar work had the crowd roaring. Before longtime catalog staple “You Go Down Smooth” bopped us into the encore — which featured the one-two punch of Hall & Oates’ immortal “Rich Girl” and LSD’s own rollicking “Good Kisser” — Bridget Kearney’s nimble bass and Bermiss’ synths worked in tandem to get the audience on their feet for “Dance With a Stranger.”
The song’s command to turn someone you don’t know into someone you know well is a solid summation of the Lake Street Dive ethos, as well as a neat distillation of the message of Good Together — all about finding and holding onto joy in times of division and strife. And the band’s ever-expanding fan base is clearly responding: Though the expansion of their fan base has been slow, it’s been steady, and their tour includes their debut at hometown arena Madison Square Garden. ▼
pm RITZY RANCH NUMBER ONE PRESENTS RITZY D, SARAH BUG, ROBBIE PEOPLES $10
Saturday, July 20
SONGWRITER SESSION
Dave Gibson NOON · FORD THEATER
Saturday, July 20
CONCERT AND CONVERSATION
Terry Allen (On Everything) 2:30 pm · FORD THEATER
Sunday, July 21
MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT Maggie Baugh 1:00 pm · FORD THEATER
Saturday, July 27
HATCH SHOW PRINT Block Party
2:30 pm · HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP LIMITED AVAILABILITY
Saturday, July 27
SONGWRITER SESSION Carson Beyer NOON · FORD THEATER
WITNESS HISTORY
Local Kids Visit Free
Sunday, July 28
MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT
Randy Hart 1:00 pm · FORD THEATER
Saturday, August 3
SONGWRITER SESSION Joe Doyle NOON · FORD THEATER
Wednesday, August 7
LOUISE SCRUGGS MEMORIAL FORUM
Honoring
Sally Williams 6:30 pm · FORD THEATER
Saturday, August 10
HATCH SHOW PRINT
Block Party
9:30 am, NOON, and 2:30 pm HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP LIMITED AVAILABILITY
SPLINTERED SEANCE
BY KEN ARNOLD
ONE OF THE greatest things about horror is just how much of a treasure trove of creative ideas and concepts it can be. Some horror films work, and become cult classics or outright hits; others sound good on paper but fumble Oddity, we have something that doesn’t play around with the “what” but rather the “how.” Instead of having gets creative with its
One year after the mysterious murder of her twin sister Dani (Carolyn Bracken), Darcy (also Bracken) returns to the house where her sister died. With Dani’s widower Ted (Gwilym Lee) and his new girlfriend Yana (Caroline Menton) now residing in the home, Darcy — with the help of a life-size wooden mannequin — uses her powers as a medium to try to unravel what exactly happened in that house one year ago. seems like a combination of several things we’ve seen time and time again in the horror genre. A big haunted house, a mental hospital and various cursed items are the building blocks of the film. Despite the
feeling that we’ve been here before, writerdirector Damian Mc Carthy keeps us on our toes, ramping up the suspense and working in a few crafty jump-scares. Though jump-scares are a trope with a negative connotation among many audiences, Oddity earns them using a bag of cinematic tricks — misdirection, suspense building, effective use of lighting and space and even time — in evocative ways. The jump-scares aren’t just cheap shocks to break the tension of a scene: They also add a new element of tension. Another aspect of Oddity that might seem negative on its surface but adds to the overall experience is the film’s uncanny acting. All the performances feel a bit … off. The actors’ delivery of lines feels unnatural, and normally might be something that would take the viewer out of the experience. But in this case, the acting complements the atmosphere, creating a sense of unease similar to that of horror video games from the late ’90s and early Aughts, like Resident Evil or Silent Hill. There’s something eerie and otherworldly here in the isolated setting of the Irish countryside.
With its atmosphere and tension finely tuned, Oddity amounts to more than just another haunted-house movie, placing creativity in its execution rather than its concept. It’s already a crowd favorite, having won the Midnighter Audience Award at this year’s SXSW film festival. It’s a fresh take on familiar elements of the horror genre, and is a must-see for any die-hard horror fans — especially those who recently enjoyed MaXXXine or Longlegs and need to keep the horror rolling throughout the summer months. ▼
Oddity R, 98 minutes
Opening Friday, July 19, at select Regal and AMC locations
July 8-14
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WHEREAS, Lender, the owner and holder of said Indebtedness, has demanded that the real property be advertised and sold in satisfaction of said Indebtedness and the costs of the foreclosure, in accordance with the terms and provisions of the loan documents and Deed of Trust.
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EMPLOYMENT
Senior Business Analyst (HCA Management Services LP, Nashville, TN) Req: Bach (US/frgn eqv) in CIS, Health Info Mgmt or rel + 5 yrs exp in Bus Analyst role in health care domain; familiar w/tech sys used in Health Info Mgmt, inc HL-7 data stds, Elec health rec & FHIR; prof w/Jira, Confluence, SharePoint, MS Visio & Lucid chart; prof w/EHR platforms & functionalities; familiarity w/Automation tools & platforms; understanding of .Net framework, arch & components; data analysis skills & SQL; familiar w/Data Integration, Data Mapping & SQL Server Integration Services tools; familiarity w/ DevOps principles & acquaintance w/Git & continuous integration & config mgmt tools; prof in PowerBI; familiar w/ WinSCP configurations, proc & proced. Email resume to Elaine.Healy@HCAHealthca re.com.
WHEREAS, Mustard Seed Living LLC executed a Deed of Trust dated September 30, 2021, of record at Instrument No. 202110010132439, Register of Deeds Office for Davidson County, Tennessee (collectively, the “Deed of Trust”) and conveyed to Richard A. Bynum, as Trustee, the hereinafter described real property to secure the payment of certain indebtedness (“Indebtedness”) owed to Studio Bank (referred to as “Lender” and sometimes as “Beneficiary”); and WHEREAS, default in payment of the Indebtedness secured by the Deed of Trust has occurred; and WHEREAS, David M. Anthony (“Trustee”) has been appointed Substitute Trustee by Lender by that Appointment of Substitute Trustee of record at Instrument No. 202406250047369, Register of Deeds Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, with authority to act alone or by a designated agent with the powers given the Trustee in the Deed of Trust and by applicable law; and WHEREAS, Lender, the owner and holder of said Indebtedness, has demanded that the real property be advertised and sold in satisfaction of said Indebtedness and the costs of the foreclosure, in accordance with the terms and provisions of the loan documents and Deed of Trust.
NOW, THEREFORE, notice is hereby given that the Trustee, pursuant to the power, duty and authority vested in and imposed upon the Trustee under the Deed of Trust and applicable law, will on Thursday, August 8, 2024, at 1:00 o’clock p.m., prevailing time, on the steps of the historic Davidson County Courthouse, 1 Public Square, Nashville, Tennessee 37201, offer for sale to the highest and best bidder for cash and free from all rights and equity of redemption, statutory right of redemption or otherwise, homestead, dower, elective share and all other rights and exemptions of every kind as waived in said Deed of Trust, certain real property situated in Davidson County, Tennessee, described as follows:
Legal Description: The real property is described in the Deed of Trust at Instrument No. 20211001-0132439, Register of Deeds Office for Davidson County, Tennessee.
Land in Davidson County, Tennessee, being Lot No. 183, Block 9, on the plan of Heffernan Place as of record in Book 161, Page 138, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, to which plan reference is hereby made for a more complete and accurate description of said lot.
For reference: Said Lot No. 183 fronts 50 feet on the northerly side of Albion Street, and runs back between parallel lines, with the easterly margin of 24th Avenue North, 140 feet to an alley.
Land in Davidson County, Tennessee, being Lot No. 183, Block 9, on the plan of Heffernan Place as of record in Book 161, Page 138, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, to which plan reference is hereby made for a more complete and accurate description of said lot.
For reference: Said Lot No. 183 fronts 50 feet on the northerly side of Albion Street, and runs back between parallel lines, with the easterly margin of 24th Avenue North, 140 feet to an alley.
Being part of the same property conveyed from Elizabeth Annette Essen, unmarried, to Mustard Seed Living, LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company, by Warranty Deed dated October 4, 2016, recorded October 6, 2016, in Instrument No. 201610060105798, in the Register’s Office of Davidson County, Tennessee.
Street Address: The street address of the property is believed to be 2423 Albion Street, Nashville, Tennessee 37208-3207, but such address is not part of the legal description of the property. In the event of any discrepancy, the legal description herein shall control.
Other interested parties: Kenco Distributors, Inc.
NOW, THEREFORE, notice is hereby given that the Trustee, pursuant to the power, duty and authority vested in and imposed upon the Trustee under the Deed of Trust and applicable law, will on Thursday, August 8, 2024, at 1:00 o’clock p.m., prevailing time, on the steps of the historic Davidson County Courthouse, 1 Public Square, Nashville, Tennessee 37201, offer for sale to the highest and best bidder for cash and free from all rights and equity of redemption, statutory right of redemption or otherwise, homestead, dower, elective share and all other rights and exemptions of every kind as waived in said Deed of Trust, certain real property situated in Davidson County, Tennessee, described as follows: Legal Description: The real property is described in the Deed of Trust at Instrument No. 20211001-0132439, Register of Deeds Office for Davidson County, Tennessee.
Being part of the same property conveyed from Elizabeth Annette Essen, unmarried, to Mustard Seed Living, LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company, by Warranty Deed dated October 4, 2016, recorded October 6, 2016, in Instrument No. 20161006-
THIS PROPERTY IS SOLD AS IS, WHERE IS AND WITH ALL FAULTS AND WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER, WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, AND SUBJECT TO ANY PRIOR LIENS OR ENCUMBRANCES, IF ANY. WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, THE PROPERTY IS SOLD WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, RELATING TO TITLE, MARKETABILITY OF TITLE, POSSESSION, QUIET ENJOINMENT OR THE LIKE AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, CONDITION, QUALITY OR FITNESS FOR A GENERAL OR PARTICULAR USE OR PURPOSE.
OR IMPLIED, AND SUBJECT TO ANY PRIOR LIENS OR ENCUMBRANCES, IF ANY. WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, THE PROPERTY IS SOLD WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, RELATING TO TITLE, MARKETABILITY OF TITLE, POSSESSION, QUIET ENJOINMENT OR THE LIKE AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, CONDITION, QUALITY OR FITNESS FOR A GENERAL OR PARTICULAR USE OR PURPOSE.
As to all or any part of the Property, the right is reserved to (i) delay, continue or adjourn the sale to another time certain or to another day and time certain, without further publication and in accordance with law, upon announcement of said delay, continuance or adjournment on the day and time and place of sale set forth above or any subsequent delayed, continued or adjourned day and time and place of sale; (ii) sell at the time fixed by this Notice or the date and time of the last delay, continuance or adjournment or to give new notice of sale; (iii) sell in such lots, parcels, segments, or separate estates as Trustee may choose; (iv) sell any part and delay, continue, adjourn, cancel, or postpone the sale of any part of the Property;
(v) sell in whole and then sell in parts and consummate the sale in whichever manner produces the highest sale price; (vi) and/or to sell to the next highest bidder in the event any high bidder does not comply with the terms of the sale.
to sell to the next highest bidder in the event any high bidder does not comply with the terms of the sale.
Substitute Trustee will make no covenant of seisin, marketability of title or warranty of title, express or implied, and will sell and convey the subject real property by Trustee’s Quitclaim Deed as Substitute Trustee only. This sale is subject to all matters shown on any applicable recorded Plat or Plan; any unpaid taxes and assessments (plus penalties, interest, and costs) which exist as a lien against said property; any restrictive covenants, easements or setback lines that may be applicable; any rights of redemption, equity, statutory or otherwise, not otherwise waived in the Deed of Trust, including rights of redemption of any governmental agency, state or federal; and any and all prior deeds of trust, liens, dues, assessments, encumbrances, defects, adverse claims and other matters that may take priority over the Deed of Trust upon which this foreclosure sale is conducted or are not extinguished by this Foreclosure Sale. This sale is also subject to any matter that an inspection and accurate survey of the property might disclose. THIS 18th day of July, 2024.
David M. Anthony, Substitute Trustee EXO LEGAL PLLC P.O. Box 121616 Nashville, TN 37212
david@exolegal.com 615-869-0634
Land in Davidson County, Tennessee, being Lot No. 183, Block 9, on the plan of Heffernan Place as of record in Book 161, Page 138, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, to which plan reference is hereby made for a more complete and accurate description of said lot.
As to all or any part of the Property, the right is reserved to (i) delay, continue or adjourn the sale to another time certain or to another day and time certain, without further publication and in accordance with law, upon announcement of said delay, continuance or adjournment on the day and time and place of sale set forth above or any subsequent delayed, continued or adjourned day and time and place of sale; (ii) sell at the time fixed by this Notice or the date and time of the last delay, continuance or adjournment or to give new notice of sale; (iii) sell in such lots, parcels, segments, or separate estates as Trustee may choose; (iv) sell any part and delay, continue, adjourn, cancel, or postpone the sale of any part of the Property; (v) sell in whole and then sell in parts and consummate the sale in whichever manner produces the highest sale price; (vi) and/or to sell to the next highest bidder in the event any high bidder does not comply with the terms of the sale.
Substitute Trustee will make no covenant of seisin, marketability of title or warranty of title, express or implied, and will sell and convey the subject real property by Trustee’s
Substitute Trustee will make no covenant of seisin, marketability of title or warranty of title, express or implied, and will sell and convey the subject real property by Trustee’s Quitclaim Deed as Substitute Trustee only. This sale is subject to all matters shown on any applicable recorded Plat or Plan; any unpaid taxes and assessments (plus penalties, interest, and costs) which exist as a lien against said property; any restrictive covenants, easements or setback lines that may be applicable; any rights of redemption, equity, statutory or otherwise, not otherwise waived in the Deed of Trust, including rights of redemption of any governmental agency, state or federal; and any and all prior deeds of trust, liens, dues, assessments, encumbrances, defects, adverse claims and other matters that may take priority over the Deed of Trust upon which this foreclosure sale is
