Nashville Scene 7-2-20

JULY 2–8, 2020 I VOLUME 39 I NUMBER 22 I NASHVILLESCENE.COM I FREE

CITY LIMITS: POLICE CHIEF STEVE ANDERSON IS RETIRING. NOW WHAT? PAGE 7

FILM: GOOD TROUBLE IS AN EXCEPTIONAL PORTRAIT OF CIVIL RIGHTS ICON JOHN LEWIS PAGE 26

THE CHILL BILL AND MARGARITA FROM REDHEADED STRANGER

DRINK UP In our annual drinking issue, we explore frozen drinks, nonalcoholic beverages, great local beers for summertime and more

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NASHVILLE SCENE | JULY 2 – JULY 8, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

CONTENTS

JULY 2, 2020

7

21

Police Chief Steve Anderson Is Retiring.

What’s Next for the MNPD?.......................7

Confessions of a Music Critic

CITY LIMITS

The mayor’s choice for chief is months away, and could be a sign of how much change to expect

BY STEVEN HALE

Faces of Rural Activism .............................7 Activists in rural communities across the state are speaking out against racial injustice

BY BAILEY BASHAM

Lapping the Competition...........................8 What we can learn from NASCAR and Bubba Wallace

BY J.R. LIND

Pith in the Wind .........................................9 This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog

VODKA YONIC

On embracing the inherently uncool song that got me through heartbreak

21

BOOKS

Remembering Robert Johnson Brother Robert provides a human perspective on the man who changed American music

BY MICHAEL RAY TAYLOR AND CHAPTER 16

22

MUSIC

Buzz Cason looks back at 50 years of his Nashville studio Creative Workshop

COVER STORY Drink Up

BY EDD HURT

Freeze Out................................................ 10 From Asian Orange at Babo to the Buzzard God at Pearl Diver, here are 13 of the best frozen drinks in Nashville

BY ASHLEY BRANTLEY

Cleaning Up ............................................. 13

Hey Man, Nice Shot ................................. 22

Our resident beer obsessive recommends five local brews to try this summer

BY J.R. LIND

You Don’t Need a Drink .......................... 15

The Spin ................................................... 24

BY STEPHEN TRAGESER, LORIE LIEBIG AND CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

25 FILM

Primal Stream XV ................................... 25 Underrated sci-fi, Altman’s best and a classic murder mystery, now available to stream

Yes, it is possible to experience bar culture and creativity without the booze

BY JASON SHAWHAN

BY MARGARET LITTMAN

Good Trouble is an exceptional portrait of a civil rights icon

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ON THE COVER:

The Chill Bill and margarita from Redheaded Stranger Photo: Daniel Meigs

Talking with Kim Carnes on the 35th anniversary of Barking at Airplanes

The Scene’s live-review column checks out Brendan Benson, 615 Pride and more

Five to Try ................................................ 14

Councilmember Zulfat Suara on Police Reform: ‘It Takes a Mindshift’

Learning How Things Work .................... 23

BY CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

BY STEVE CAVENDISH

Today’s Takeout Pick: Woodlands Indian Vegetarian Cuisine

BY CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

BY JASON SHAWHAN

Doing a blind wine taste test with one of Nashville’s most talented young sommeliers

Dozens of Black Lives Matter Demonstrators Arrested at Capitol

The Lees of Memory swing for the fences with Moon Shot

How hand sanitizer saved Pennington Distilling Co.

Wine About It .......................................... 14

Bonnaroo 2020 Is Canceled

BY MEGAN SELING

Look for a Star......................................... 22

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THIS WEEK ON THE WEB:

Stand Up, Speak Up, Speak Out............. 26

BY RON WYNN

CRITICS’ PICKS Catch up with Salon@615 on YouTube, go Soak a Sister, build your own streaming Joel Schumacher film fest, go down a Thelonious Monk rabbit hole, check out Studio Tenn Talks, visit the newly reopened Frist Art Museum and more

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FROM BILL FREEMAN BRENTWOOD POLICE OFFICER KILLED, A COMMUNITY COMES TOGETHER TO COMMEMORATE A LIFE OF SERVICE When Officer Destin Legieza was killed on June 17 in a collision with a drunk driver, an entire community was left mourning. It was the first officer the Brentwood Police Department, which was established in 1971, had lost in the line of duty. And what a great loss it was.

In watching the press conference, it was apparent how painful the loss is for Legieza’s fellow officers. Assistant Chief Richard Hickey expressed his heartfelt sorrow as he described his friend and colleague as a “shining star” in the department and in the community.

Officer Legieza, who had been a member of the Brentwood police for five years, was a third-generation law enforcement officer.

His father is a lieutenant with the Franklin Police Department, and his grandfather is retired from the CSX Railroad Police.

Brentwood Police Department Chief Jeff Hughes stated that when hiring, they “set out for applicants with a servant heart … and [Legieza] possessed every quality and trait we were looking for.”

Perhaps his servant’s heart stemmed, at least partially, from being a native Tennessean, and from being so immersed in his community. He had a passion for his family, friends and his neighbors. He loved his work, he loved Tennessee, he loved the camaraderie of sports. He was an ardent Titans fan — he reportedly drove a Nissan Titan truck and had a dog named Titan. He appeared to have a real passion for life and extended himself to improve the lives of every person he met.

At his work, Legieza was part of a brotherhood — a tight-knit group of 14 officers who worked the midnight shift.

For two officers in particular, this has been an especially difficult time. Officers Tim Finney and Brent Rowsey, along with Officer Legieza, were such a close trio that Legieza had fondly nicknamed them the “tripod.” Rowsey told WKRN, “You know if one doesn’t go, it falls, and that’s how it was, us three, we were together all the time.” He added, “Didn’t matter who you were, what you looked like, where you came from ... he’d treat you the same way.”

Legieza’s wife Heather was quoted by The Tennessean as saying, “My husband, Destin, was the best man I’ve ever met.” Many would say that’s what you might expect to hear from a spouse — but the overall sentiment from every person who came in contact with Legieza seemed to be the same.

“He was a helluva man,” his shift supervisor Sgt. Zach Hartman said. “When you hear people heaped with words of praise when they pass, I wonder if they are that good. But I can promise you this. Everything you’ve heard is true. He was that good of an officer and partner. He was that good of a son and that good of a husband. He was that good of a dude.”

It is little wonder then, that hundreds of Brentwood and Franklin residents lined the streets to pay their respects during the officer’s funeral procession. The funeral itself, honoring Legieza’s life and service, featured a 21-gun salute and performances

by Vince Gill and Lee Brice, as well as an appearance by Mike Keith, longtime voice of the Tennessee Titans. As such an avid Titans fan, Legieza surely would’ve been proud to see how many lives he has touched and changed for the better.

In addition to those who lined the streets during the funeral procession, hundreds more gave donations to aid the officer’s family. WKRN raised $77,000 during their fundraiser on Thursday, June 18, allowing people like myself to drive by and donate on the spot. If you’d like to contribute to Officer Legieza’s family, accounts are set up at First Horizon banks in Officer Legieza’s name. The GofundMe account, now closed, raised more than $50,000 for the family.

I’d like to echo the words of Brentwood Fire Department Chief Brian Goss — who asks us to learn from Legieza’s story. “I say just be kind to your police officers, be kind to one another. … We don’t take for granted when we leave the house in the morning that we [won’t necessarily] be coming home again.”

Bill Freeman Bill Freeman is the owner of FW Publishing, the publishing company that produces the Nashville Scene, Nfocus, the Nashville Post and Home Page Media Group in Williamson County.

GUESTS AT THE SERVICE LAID FLOWERS, WREATHS AND PERSONAL ITEMS NEAR OFFICER DESTIN LEGIEZA’S PATROL VEHICLE

Editor-in-Chief D. Patrick Rodgers Senior Editor Dana Kopp Franklin Associate Editor Alejandro Ramirez Arts Editor Laura Hutson Hunter Culture Editor Erica Ciccarone Music and Listings Editor Stephen Trageser Contributing Editors Jack Silverman, Abby White Staff Writers Stephen Elliott, Nancy Floyd, Steven Hale, Kara Hartnett, J.R. Lind, William Williams Contributing Writers Sadaf Ahsan, Radley Balko, Ashley Brantley, Maria Browning, Steve Cavendish, Chris Chamberlain, Lance Conzett, Steve Erickson, Randy Fox, Adam Gold, Seth Graves, Kim Green, Steve Haruch, Geoffrey Himes, Edd Hurt, Jennifer Justus, Christine Kreyling, Katy Lindenmuth, Craig D. Lindsey, Brittney McKenna, Marissa R. Moss, Noel Murray, Joe Nolan, Chris Parton, Betsy Phillips, John Pitcher, Margaret Renkl, Megan Seling, Jason Shawhan, Michael Sicinski, Ashley Spurgeon, Amy Stumpfl, Kay West, Cy Winstanley, Ron Wynn, Charlie Zaillian Art Director Elizabeth Jones Photographers Eric England, Daniel Meigs Graphic Designers Mary Louise Meadors, Tracey Starck Production Coordinator Christie Passarello Circulation Manager Casey Sanders Events and Marketing Director Olivia Moye Events Manager Ali Foley Publisher Mike Smith Advertising Director Daniel Williams Senior Account Executives Maggie Bond, Debbie Deboer, Sue Falls, Michael Jezewski, Carla Mathis, Heather Cantrell Mullins, Stevan Steinhart, Jennifer Trsinar, Keith Wright Account Executive William Shutes Sales Operations Manager Chelon Hill Hasty Account Managers Emma Benjamin, Gary Minnis Special Projects Coordinator Susan Torregrossa President Frank Daniels III Chief Financial Officer Todd Patton Creative Director Heather Pierce IT Director John Schaeffer For advertising info please contact: Daniel Williams at 615-744-3397 FW PUBLISHING LLC Owner Bill Freeman VOICE MEDIA GROUP National Advertising 1-888-278-9866 vmgadvertising.com

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In memory of Jim Ridley, editor 2009-2016

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CITY LIMITS

POLICE CHIEF STEVE ANDERSON IS RETIRING. WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE MNPD?

FACES OF RURAL ACTIVISM

Activists in rural communities across the state are speaking out against racial injustice

The mayor’s choice for chief is months away, and could be a sign of how much change to expect

BY BAILEY BASHAM

G

W

hen Mayor John Cooper announced on June 18 that Metro Nashville Police Chief Steve Anderson would be retiring, it came as a surprise, but not a shock.

Anderson, who has been chief for a decade and in the Nashville department for more than 40 years, has faced calls for his resignation or firing at multiple points over the past few years. He had become widely seen, both inside and outside of Metro government, as the primary obstacle to substantive change and innovation in the way Nashville approaches policing and public safety. In recent weeks, the calls for his removal — from community activists and at least 15 Metro councilmembers — had reached such a pitch that it seemed untenable for him to stay much longer. Still, the mayor had appeared to back him publicly and gave no indication that a change was imminent. Even the city’s other criminal justice officials were not given a heads-up before Anderson’s retirement was announced.

Now, with COVID-19 cases surging and protests against racism and police brutality ongoing, the mayor is preparing to make a hire that is likely to have significant and lasting effects on the city. The situation is further complicated by the fact that Anderson will remain in place until at least October, meaning Nashville will have a lame-duck police chief until the fall.

One Metro Nashville Police Department veteran and one longtime officer who is still on the force tell the Scene that the news of Anderson’s impending departure was greeted by many officers with joy and relief — tempered with wariness about the fact that he will still be in charge for months to come. Anderson has long faced dissent among the rank-and-file, but he filled the upper levels of the department with loyalists who largely share his view of policing and how to run the department. Sources who spoke to the Scene on the condition of anonymity said officers were watching closely to see what moves Anderson would make following the announcement, and what effect those moves would have on the department’s internal politics.

A slew of those moves came last week.

Anderson promoted Cmdr. Kay Lokey to deputy chief, overseeing the department’s Administrative Services Bureau.

It’s a significant post that, according to a department release, “consists of the Crime Laboratory & Crime Scene Investigations, Training Division, Human Resources Division (including recruitment), Behavioral Health Services, Information/Technology

Division, and the Records Division.” The appointment of Lokey to such a high-ranking position caught the attention of Metro insiders. The 23-year MNPD veteran is implicated in a pending federal lawsuit against the department by Ada Thaxter, a Black former MNPD lieutenant. In the suit, Thaxter accuses Lokey of fostering a hostile work environment at the Midtown Hills Precinct, ignoring Thaxter’s complaint of sexual harassment by another officer and retaliating against Thaxter “for properly doing her job.” Thaxter’s credibility has also been called into question, it should be noted.

Lokey filed a complaint against her for “untruthfulness,” and she was later indicted on forgery charges in 2016 for allegedly claiming to be then-Fraternal Order of Police president Danny Hale in letters the department said “disparaged various members of the MNPD.” Those charges appear to have been dismissed and expunged, as the Criminal Court Clerk has no record of them.

To take over Lokey’s post at the Midtown Hills Precinct, Anderson appointed Capt.

Dwayne Greene, a 19-year veteran of the department. Lt. Josh Blaisdell, also a 19-year veteran, was promoted to captain and will follow Greene in the role of overnight field supervisor. In addition, 10 more promotions were announced, moving two sergeants to the rank of lieutenant and eight police officers to the rank of sergeant. In the department release announcing the promotions, Anderson noted that the 12 people being promoted “have a combined total of 125 years of community experiences as police officers in Nashville.”

It’s obvious why experience is seen as an asset when it comes to leadership roles. But as Nashville’s police department is entering a transition — and under intense scrutiny — the mass promotion of department veterans struck some skeptical insiders as the solidification of an institution in need of systemic change. Observers inside Metro who spoke to the Scene wonder whether the moves were tea leaves to be read. Was Anderson acting with a belief that the new chief would be hired from within the department? If not, might a new chief be better positioned to succeed if allowed to fill leadership roles on their own?

When he announced Anderson’s retirement, Cooper said there would be a “national search” to find his replacement. He also said his office would “organize input from the entire community as we find the right leader for this next chapter of community safety in Nashville.” The Community Oversight Board said in a statement following the retirement announcement that its members looked forward to being involved in the

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

BY STEVEN HALE

ANDERSON process, and that the “voice of the community must be reflected early and often.”

Nashville’s other criminal justice leaders — including District Attorney Glenn Funk, Sheriff Daron Hall and Public Defender Martesha Johnson — are also certain to have opinions about where the MNPD goes next. But as of this writing, sources say the mayor’s office has not reached out to them to discuss the next chief.

Hall tells the Scene that while the role of police chief is the mayor’s to fill, he intends to make it clear that he wants someone he can collaborate with on reform-minded initiatives, like the new Behavioral Care Center meant to facilitate the decriminalization of mental illness. Hall says he had some success working with Anderson on recent issues, like decreasing misdemeanor arrests to lower the jail population during the coronavirus pandemic. But he also describes Anderson as “maybe not the easiest guy in the world as a chief of police for creativity and change.”

“I think the national search is the right idea, to open up for that,” Hall says. “I know there’s some local folks that are qualified, so for the community’s sake I think that’s important. I think the real test for the city is how much change are you interested in and willing to do?”

One internal candidate whose name was the first one cited by Metro insiders is Deputy Chief John Drake, who was recently promoted. Drake is Black and has spent his entire 32-year career in Nashville.

Hall, a veteran insider himself who has been Nashville’s sheriff since 2002, says he’s not sure most Nashvillians want change as dramatic as what’s being called for on the streets. But if they do, he says he doubts it will come from within.

“Drastic change is very difficult to do, I think, from inside the system, someone who grew up in the system,” Hall says. “But I’m not convinced the entire city wants drastic change. I think we need someone willing to make change and to be flexible and creative, but I think if you’re asking for dramatic change, I think that’s very difficult from the inside.”

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

ina Simmons-Johnson remembers vividly the night in 1966 that her dad came home bruised and bloodied. There were scratches covering his arms, and his bruised knuckles were turning purple. Four years old at the time, Simmons-Johnson climbed into his lap and gently touched his busted lip. He winced slightly under her touch.

“Daddy, what happened?” she whispered.

His shoulders fell as he sighed.

Her father was the first Black man hired at Arnold Engineering Development Complex just outside Tennessee’s Franklin County. He’d been out organizing in the area, registering people to vote — that’s something he did regularly, but he’d never before come home looking like this.

“I started getting angry,” Simmons-Johnson tells the Scene. “I didn’t want him to keep going out there, but he told me, ‘If everybody decided to stay at home because they were afraid, we would not be any better off than we were.’ That, ‘Sometimes you have to be willing to take a beating or to be called an ugly name to make sure that other people who are more frightened than you have a chance.’ There were the usual threats, the ‘if you know what’s good for you’ kind of things, but he continued to do what he did.”

Simmons-Johnson says that in the late ’60s, that was normal — the way racism presented itself across the country, even in small towns like Winchester, Tenn., where she’s lived all her life. Her family roots in the area run deep — she’s traced them back to 1808 — as do, she says, the roots of racism in America.

Simmons-Johnson says in small towns, most folks are outwardly neighborly, and for the most part, if an issue doesn’t affect you, you don’t see evidence of it. But racism’s face is familiar, and it can be seen in small grocery stores, along the boulevard on Saturday nights, behind the mayor’s desk or at the judge’s bench, and even in the pulpit.

“These things happen in every city in the country, but when I was growing up, people weren’t bold [like they are today],” she says. “The incidents of racism and racial violence were isolated. I thought for a long time that racism was not as prevalent here.

People tried to act with some decorum and some class. Now they don’t care.”

Protests in response to police brutality and racial violence have grown widespread across the country in recent weeks. According to a survey from USA Today, as of June 18, the recent demonstrations have taken place in at least 1,700 cities and towns in the U.S. so far.

Many demonstrations — like a 150-person protest held in Savannah, Tenn., on June 5 — have been driven by the quick organizing of young people of color. Tensions arising from small-town protests haven’t spawned dozens of arrests like the ones in larger cities — and indeed in Nashville — have over the past several weeks, but organizers like Nicole Harris, who planned the Savannah protest, say showing up for the demonstrations has been intimidating.

Savannah is small, and Harris says because

nashvillescene.com | JULY 2 –JULY 8, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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CITY LIMITS

that seems to be rooting against my freedom and success,” says Martin, who is Black. “But it’s always seemed like the South wasn’t ready to hear me. We talked about putting a Black Lives Matter flag out, but we were afraid for our safety. I heard there was a protest planned in Winchester, and then that KKK was organizing. We were ready to get in the car to drive back to Brooklyn to join our neighbors there — but I knew that I had to be here.”

Darlene Leong Neal, a community organizer with local advocacy groups including the TN Anti Racist Network and Power Together Tennessee, says the work of Martin and Harris is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to advocacy in rural communities.

“Showing up in a smaller town is riskier than an

SPORTS

LAPPING THE COMPETITION

What we can learn from NASCAR and Bubba Wallace

BY J.R. LIND

I

t was, in fact, a noose.

A remarkably thorough and wellstaffed investigation by the FBI — which sent 15 agents — determined that it wasn’t a hate crime directed at Bubba Wallace, the only Black driver in NASCAR’s premier division. But that doesn’t detract from the fact that it was indeed a noose.

It is true, everyone who isn’t a conspiracy theorist or a professional huckster believes, that a crew member found a noose hanging from the door of the No. 4 garage at Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway on June 21. It was found after NASCAR, in a remarkable and unexpected move, banned with immediate effect the flying of the Confederate flag at its events. It was found after a plane flew above the track, NASCAR’s largest, with a message to “Defund NASCAR,” whatever that means. It was found after Wallace continued to be outspoken about racial injustice, indeed wearing an “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirt at a race in Atlanta, his No. 43 car abandoning its traditional livery for a matte-black look, featuring the message “#blacklivesmatter.”

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And, of course, the noose — which is undisputed — was discovered as America goes through its latest and perhaps most profound reckoning with race in 50 years.

What the FBI did, in fact, determine was that the noose had been hanging in the garage since at least October 2019 and thus could not have been aimed at Wallace. Further, NASCAR clarified that its assignment of Wallace to the garage with the offending knot was an unfortunate but unforeseeable coincidence, as garage numbers are assigned by a driver’s ranking and the convoluted process has become even more Byzantine due to social distancing.

We also know that of all the garages at Talladega, only one had its garage pull tied into a noose. We know it is not a common knot for a pull. And we know that a noose is a loaded piece of imagery in a way that, say, various bowlines or a figure-eight loop could not possibly be.

While not aimed at Wallace specifically, the choice of the noose, by whomever it was, was a remarkable piece of dumbassery or naivete or thoughtlessness, if not something more insidious than that.

urban environment,” says Leong Neal. “Often, everyone knows everyone, and the repercussions of taking a stand for justice can mean losing friends or even family connections. Activism can actually be quite traumatic for some in a small town, and it can be really lonely, but it can also be very empowering. We have to fight like hell for our rural spaces, where there are often less resources to tackle social problems.”

Jessica Wilkerson is an assistant professor of history and Southern studies at the University of Mississippi, and the author of To Live Here You Have to Fight. She says activism in rural communities has been pivotal. Wilkerson is originally from Corryton, Tenn., which is about 20 miles northeast of Knoxville and part of the historically socially active Those aforementioned conspiracy theorists and hucksters were quick to mock NASCAR for assuming at the outset that Wallace was being targeted. And given that only the lone crew member and a handful of NASCAR brass knew about the noose at the time, they could have sat on the story until the investigation came to its conclusion. On the other hand, had they done so, they could have just as easily been dismissed for hushing it up.

NASCAR, like the rest of us, is working all this out in real time and, by all accounts, is doing the best it can, much as the rest of us hope we are.

From its origins on dirt tracks and beaches as a “Hey watch this!” competition between bootleggers and gearheads, NASCAR has been, without dispute, America’s whitest major sport with an overwhelmingly white fan base. It’s not that there’s anything inherent in watching fast cars go zoom that kept away Black folks or Asian Americans or anyone else, though the once-overwhelming prevalence of Confederate imagery and the location of many tracks in middling cities of the Deep South probably didn’t feel too welcoming. In any case, NASCAR’s alabasterism just was.

Given the myriad possible reactions NASCAR could have had not only to this moment but also This Moment, the organization’s reaction — even if it’s easy, with the benefit of hindsight, to characterize it as an overreaction — is charming. It did not come off as crass or cynical or tone-deaf. It certainly felt more genuine than, say, the barrage of emails explaining how your oil-change place is addressing systemic racism.

Appalachian region.

“Lots of organizing happened in the early 20th century around labor, and the legacies of that work continue,” says Wilkerson. “Sometimes the way that we tell the history of the civil rights movement is through a few key places, but organizing was happening in communities across the South. I’m in Oxford, [Miss.] — a small rural community — but still, protests are starting to happen every day.

“Elizabeth Alexander wrote recently in The New Yorker that the youth who are organizing might be called the Trayvon generation,” Wilkerson continues, referencing the death of Trayvon Martin, the 17-yearold Black boy who in 2012 was shot and killed by George Zimmerman. “They were around the same age, and that was a story that so many of the young folks followed or at least remember. We’re starting to see how that has affected people.”

Terrance Martin says constantly seeing new stories of young Black men being killed has been more painful than he can describe. He sees himself, his friends and his community in the photos of those like Trayvon Martin. And being forced to engage with those stories so frequently, he doesn’t feel that he can continue to let others take the lead in the work.

“Bearing witness to injustice done unto others who look like me — how can I not question those who are responsible?” says Martin. “I was living in Charleston when Dylann Roof entered a historically Black church down the street and murdered nine people in cold blood, just because they looked like me. I can’t be silent. To me, there is no choice. Speaking out is worth the risk. I need to show up for my hometown, to support and empower my community, to validate the pain that is felt here. There’s too much work to do to leave right now.”

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

Years from now, normal, properly functioning human beings — that is to say, not conspiracy theorists or hucksters — will not remember the Garage Pull Heard ’Round the World. The memory from the weekend at Talladega will be Wallace behind the wheel of the 43 — along with Dale Earnhardt’s No. 3, the most iconic number in stock-car racing, made legendary by Wallace’s boss Richard Petty — with his fellow drivers escorting him down pit row before the race, their crews lined up in a phalanx behind them. With attendance at Talladega severely limited, the usual cacophony of the pre-race was replaced by poignant silence.

When Wallace finally emerged from his car, his mask made of an American flag

PHOTO: NASCAR

TERRANCE MARTIN AND JAS BAXTER, ORGANIZERS OF THE JUNETEENTH CELEBRATION IN WINCHESTER

PHOTO: FRANKIE BROWN

of that, the community is close. There have been counter-protesters and bikers revving their engines to drown out speakers at anti-racism rallies. But since that June 5 protest, community culture has begun to change. Confederate flags have been removed from store windows, and people are having conversations about how to support the Black community in Hardin County. Harris, who is 23, says her main goal is to be heard.

“If you’re yelling, and I yell back, you’re not going to hear me,” says Harris. “You’re just going to yell louder. This is about opening the minds of people who don’t know any different and changing the minds of people who know better. This is about me, a Black person in a small town, coming out the door and dealing with things that should have been left behind 50 years ago.”

Harris and her co-organizers have since formed the Minority Justice Organization, a nonprofit group aimed at advocating for racial justice in the South.

“People think we are trying to erase history, but we are just trying to acknowledge the parts that are bad so we don’t repeat them,” Harris says. “I just don’t want there to be any George Floyds here.”

Harris’ attitude echoes that of many young people of color in American cities, large and small. Terrance Martin, originally from Cowan, Tenn., moved to Brooklyn after college. For the past year, he’s been working as a therapist with those affected by the criminal justice system. He and his partner Lindsey, a born-and-raised New Yorker, fled the city to shelter from COVID-19.

When they first got to the South, Lindsey was surprised to see Confederate flags flying in neighboring yards.

Welcome to the South, Martin told her.

“When George Floyd was murdered, I wanted to express my pain and exhaustion in having to work constantly to safely navigate a white world

NASHVILLE SCENE | JULY 2 –JULY 8, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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CITY LIMITS bandana couldn’t hide his emotion. Overwhelmed, tears streamed down his cheeks as he embraced his competitors one by one.

CDC guidelines be damned, at least for that moment, as no pandemic or government tut-tutting can stop our common humanity.

Finally, Wallace encountered Petty. Nearing his 83rd birthday, The King somehow manages to look the same as he ever did, his famous wide smile under his more famous black and befeathered cowboy hat. It was impossible to see Petty’s mustache (even Kings, when they become octogenarians, wear masks in the time of COVID), but you know it was there. He bear-hugged Wallace, now obviously in the throes of a full-heave cry, and leaned in. He whispered something, and it’s not important what it was — not to us at least, though it clearly meant something very deep to Wallace himself. The man who made famous the gorgeous 43 — painted in its stunning red and its blue that manages to be light and bright simultaneously — anointing his successor in the young Black kid from Mobile in the heart of the Deep South, as the nation and NASCAR roils and wrestles around them.

It is still 2020, of course, and that still means this tale has a predictable denouement: Wallace standing on the hood of his car, all those drivers and crew members stretching out to the vanishing point behind him, as he snapped a photo with his smartphone. The perfect ending would have been Wallace taking the checkered flag. Alas, he did not, finishing in the middle of the pack, though he briefly led the race, prompting “Bubba!” chants from the sparse crowd.

NASCAR as an organization, along with its drivers — who put together the pre-race escort without direction from the top, organizing it, of course, via group text — were completely without artifice.

If consultants guided their response, it wasn’t obvious. For Americans who hardly pay attention to stock-car racing, it showed what the sport’s appeal is to those for whom it is an obsession. It exists without the careful stage management of the more prominent pro leagues. Its people seem genuine. Nothing about this weekend at Talladega was couched in jargon — not that of the board room, not that of the PR-industrial complex and not that of the Critical Theories department. NASCAR really came off as having done the right thing because it was the right thing to do.

Compare that to the NFL, as Commissioner Roger Goodell issued a mealymouthed statement May 31. He faced a barrage of criticism for its disingenuousness and its barely-a-half-measure show of support for its Black players and the movement against racism generally. That led to Goodell issuing a second statement a few days later that explicitly said, “Black lives matter,” but it came as forced. It’s as if the league is trying to do literally the least it can to keep from upsetting anybody, and effectively just upsetting everybody.

The NFL — and hell, the rest of us — might learn a lesson from NASCAR here.

That instead of trying to sound right or speak right or appear right all the time, just be right to everyone.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

THIS WEEK ON OUR NEWS AND POLITICS BLOG: Following an alarming spike in COVID-19 diagnoses, Metro’s Board of Health voted to mandate masks for Nashvillians in most circumstances. Davidson County’s death toll from the virus passed 100 last week, and the city saw an increase in active cases ahead of the vote in an emergency meeting June 26. The health department is charged with enforcing the mandate, though public health director Dr. Michael Caldwell conceded it would be difficult. Nevertheless, masks are the best and easiest way to slow the spread of the virus, and Nashvillians awoke Monday to a world of universal face-coverings. … One hot spot in the onceagain-spreading pandemic is within the walls of Davidson County’s jails and detention centers. Sheriff Daron Hall reported 183 inmates and four staffers tested positive last week. … Dozens of Black Lives Matter protesters at Legislative Plaza were arrested June 28. The Tennessee Highway Patrol reported 38 people were arrested, mostly for criminal trespass, for sitting on a wall near the state Capitol. Two juveniles were also held and released to their parents. This came after a 90-minute “Back the Badge” rally nearby, which supporters used as a petition drive to recall Mayor John Cooper and the 32 Metro councilmembers who voted for the property tax increase. Recalling Cooper would require more than 67,000 signatures, 15 percent of the county’s registered voters. Far fewer people than that were present at the Back the Badge event. … A vigil held June 24 honored the memory of Gustavo Enrique Ramirez, a 16-year-old who died in a construction accident earlier in the week. Ramirez was working in the scaffolding of the site at 315 Interstate Drive alongside his older brother when he fell, plummeting 120 feet. He wasn’t wearing a safety harness, which Tennessee’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said may not have been required. … Numerous current and former Vanderbilt University students shared stories of sexual assault by Commodore athletes, with one explicitly accusing Khari Blasingame, now a Tennessee Titans fullback. Through his agent, Blasingame denied the allegation. The university said it would review its policies and procedures to develop an action plan to address sexual assault. … Longtime Nashville Democratic state Sen. Brenda Gilmore endorsed Keeda Haynes in the former public defender’s primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper. Haynes has attracted some support from the liberal wing of the party as she seeks to unseat Cooper, a moderate who has served more than two decades in Congress and who typically declines to support House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The local chapters of national progressive groups Indivisible, Sunrise Movement and Our Revolution have all endorsed Haynes, as has national progressive group Democracy for America and former presidential candidate Marianne Williamson. … Because it’s Nashville, there has to be a song for everything. In response to ongoing unrest about the relationship between police and people of color, Henry Particelli released the song “Your Name.” The video, shared by the Metro Nashville Police Department, has a “surprise ending.” Surprise! Particelli is an MNPD sergeant.

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In our annual drinking issue, we explore frozen drinks, nonalcoholic beverages, great local beers for summertime and more

DRINK UP SUMMER’S HERE, AND YOU NEED A DRINK — and boy, have we got just the issue for you. In our annual drinking issue, your old pals at the Scene give you a rundown of some of the best boozy frozen drinks in town, along with a handful of great local summertime beer recommendations. We also try out a blind wine taste test with one of Nashville’s best sommeliers, take a look at how hand sanitizer saved one local distillery in the time of COVID, and take a look at some of the city’s tastiest mocktails. Dive in, and drink up!

From Asian Orange at Babo to the Buzzard God at Pearl Diver, here are 13 of the best frozen drinks in Nashville

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BY ASHLEY BRANTLEY attlesnake pasta and frozen drinks — if you’d told me six months ago that those would be the summer dining trends in Nashville in 2020, I’d have thought you were crazy.

(Awesome, but crazy.) Yet here we are.

In recent months, I’ve had no less than five upscale iterations of a chain-restaurant-ish Cajun-blackened pasta thing, and I’ve never been more pleased. From crawfish mafalde at Nicky’s Coal Fired to Rolf and Daughters’ garganelli in tomato-cream with barbecue chicken, this is a trend I (and my swelling gut) can get behind.

Fine food that’s also comforting feels good right now, as does returning to frozen flavors of summers past.

To that end, Nashville bartenders have been using their downtime wisely. You know that pasta maker, panini press or air fryer you “had” to have to “survive” quarantine? For Nashville’s bar pros, their can’t-live-without-it product appears to have been a frozen drink machine, and they are not playing around. Here are 13 frozen drinks for every taste.

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BUSHWACKER, EDLEY’S BAR-B-QUE

If you need a bushwacker explained, let me be the first to say: Welcome to Nashville, Chad! While I’d argue the quintessential ’wacker comes from Broadway Brewhouse, Edley’s adult Frosty is right up there: creamy, coconut-y and bursting with booze. The signature chocolate swirl is also festive AF. Second sip: Edley’s frozen strawberry margarita is also one of the best — and highestproof — in town. Do not skip it if it’s in the spinner.

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

FREEZE OUT

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APEROL SPRITZ, NICKY’S COAL FIRED

Making a frozen drink with Aperol can be challenging. Nicky’s is equal to the task, and their seasonal Italian spritz is now spinning.

If you like bitterness and bite with your bubbly and citrus, this slushy’s for you.

BUZZARD GOD, PEARL DIVER

If I had to describe the Buzzard God in two words, I’d say pineapple margajito (the latter of which isn’t even a word). Pineappleinfused blanco tequila is mixed with lime, fresh mint and syrup made from genepy, aka one of those botanical Italian liqueurs bartenders sneak into everything.

Second sip: Don’t forget the bar’s namesake, The Pearl Diver: light and dark rum, fresh orange and lime juices, cinnamon, allspice, vanilla and vegan honey butter cream. This is East Nashville, after all.

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

FROSÉ, MIDNIGHT OIL

The first time I had a frosé was in Austin.

It was delicious and deadly — but deadly I did not know until Midnight Oil unveiled their version. Made with bottles on bottles of rosé and no less than a bathtub’s worth of vodka, it makes all other frosé look downright Mormon.

Second sip: Oil also makes a stellar frozen marg, as well as a peach-jalapeño variety

ASIAN ORANGE, BABO

For their boozy riff on an Orange Julius, Babo mixes whipped-cream vodka and fresh orange juice with Calpico, a noncarbonated Japanese soft drink that has a milky, tart flavor — kind of like plain yogurt. Think liquid creamsicle by way of Tokyo.

using fresh peppers. Get ready to sweat or pass out; whichever comes first.

HARRY NILSSON, ATTABOY AT LAKESIDE LOUNGE

The only positive about not being able to pull up a stool at the currently shuttered Attaboy is that their Lakeside Lounge partnership yielded something great: slushies. At the top of that list is their piña colada, aptly named in honor of the iconic songsmith and singer of the ’70s earworm “Coconut.” The drink features the usual suspects — pineapple, rum — but they’re elevated by rich coconut cream and zingy lime, which livens up a cocktail that can drink heavy in lesser hands.

Second sip: Made with scotch, lemon,

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

P honey and ginger, The Penichillin is another slushie surprise — sweet, sour and strong.

LOADED FROMOSA, PARTY FOWL

“Champagne with a splash of OJ” — that’s the only right way to order a mimosa.

Otherwise you’re just drinking sugar juice, and ain’t nobody got time for that. The bros at Party Fowl have twisted the mimosa even further, freezing it and letting you bump the booze quotient with peach moscato, sangria or lambrusco.

Second sip: Fowl also offers frozen lemonade, cherry limeade and watermelon frosé, which happen to be the exact pairings the James Beard Foundation recommends with hot chicken pre-party barge.

NEGRONI, EMMY SQUARED

If sharp herbal liqueurs are your thing, get to Green Hills, where Emmy Squared spins a frozen Negroni with some twists.

In addition to the typical vermouth, they swap Campari for Salers (an earthy French aperitif that’s mellowed in oak) and Averell Damson Gin Liqueur. Of course, that’s not regular gin either; this sophisticated stuff is aged with heirloom plums from an orchard in upstate New York. Put on your fancy pants and make the pilgrimage.

CHILL BILL, REDHEADED STRANGER

With a backbone of vodka and lime, Chill Bill gets an herbaceous, rhubarb-y boost from Aperol and a dash of sweetness from orgeat. The syrup is made from almonds, sugar and orangeflower water, and it’s often used in a Mai Tai. If you’re looking for something Aperol spritz-y that’s also tiki-adjacent, Bill’s your guy.

Second sip: The Stranger’s frozen margaritas — regular and strawberry — are both titans of industry. Stout and sharp, they’re made with orangey dry curaçao, which gives them a tart-not-sweet tenor that’s a welcome change from gallon-jug mixers.

SLUSHY DU JOUR, MOTHER’S RUIN

As the name indicates, frozen finds at Mother’s Ruin change, but I’ve yet to have one I didn’t love. My favorite thus far is The Green Machine: tequila, lime, tomatillo and salsa verde. The last two ingredients give it a savory undertone, just as a salted rim would a margarita. Other slushies du jour

nashvillescene.com | JULY 2 –JULY 8, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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have included the Honeydew List (melon, citrus, cucumber, aloe vera) and Cash & Prizes (blueberry, lemon, fig). If variety’s the name of your game, Ruin’s your spot.

SPIKED MILKSHAKES, JOYLAND

If you’re tired of bushwackers but still need a high-octane frozen fix, Joyland’s got you. Start with one of their decadent homemade shakes — vanilla, coffee, peanut butter cup, chocolate, malt — and add two ounces of Sazerac Rye whiskey or Plantation 5 Years rum. Personally, I find their shakes to be a thing of beauty without booze too, so I keep it classic with vanilla and rum.

STRAWBERRY DAIQUIRI, CHOPPER

A top-secret blend of fruit juices gives this cocktail grown-up Hawaiian Punch vibes — but not, you know, the gross ones. Fun fact: The full name of Hawaiian Punch is “Hawaiian Punch Fruit Juicy Red Punch,” with an emphasis on “punch” because its ingredients, in order, are water, high-fructose corn syrup and less than 5 percent juice. Yum! But this cocktail is not that. It’s got the nostalgia factor, but with a punch of pineapple and tang from cranberry that make it sweet and not saccharine.

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

Sometimes only a daiquiri will do, and Chopper is the spot for that. Their frozen daiquiri is simple — just lime, strawberry and rum — but at a tiki bar known for freshness and flavor, those are the only ingredients they need.

Second sip: Be on the lookout for rotating seasonal specials like their peach colada made with Peach Truck peaches.

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

VODKA BREEZE, TWILIGHT TAVERN

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6/29/20 5:47 PM

CLEANING UP How hand sanitizer saved Pennington Distilling Co.

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PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

eff Pennington had a tough first half of March. The co-owner of Pennington Distilling Co. was tracking his numbers, which were already way down after his local distributor Best Brands was hit by the March 3 tornado and thus unable to ship any of his product for more than two weeks. Then the pandemic struck, and the honky-tonks of Lower Broad were shuttered by government edict — eliminating some important volume outlets for his flagship Pickers Vodka.

“We lost 40 percent of our business for a good 60 days there,” Pennington recalls.

Best known for Pickers, Pennington Distilling Co. had finally entered the national whiskey spotlight with recent medals at major spirits competitions. They’d won a Double Gold Medal and the award for Best Tennessee Whiskey with their Davidson Reserve Tennessee Straight Sour Mash Whiskey at the prestigious San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Pennington also earned medals for the latest editions of his rye and bourbon. “They say vodka pays the bills, but Davidson is my passion!” he says.

But just when PDC should have been making hay with their new award-winning brown liquors, Pennington found himself isolated from potential new customers.

The spirits business is split into on-premise sales (bars and restaurants) and off-premise sales (retail outlets), and most big brands depend on retail sales for something like 70 to 80 percent of their revenue. PDC’s ratio skewed much more toward bar sales, particularly outside Tennessee — out of state, more than 60 percent of Pennington’s throughput comes across the bar at major outlets like the legendary Flora-Bama Lounge, where Pickers is the well vodka.

“Outside of the state, we really depend on the bartenders to sell our brands and educate the customers,” says Pennington.

“Bartenders and servers are our best ambassadors, so it wasn’t the most ideal situation to have all those bars closed down.”

On the other side of the business, while liquor stores remained open (designated as essential businesses), consumers were gravitating away from craft spirits, preferring to grab a handle of something cheap near the front door to minimize their time in the store. Higher-end artisan products like Pennington’s Reserve require sampling and education to convert new customers, and those sales efforts weren’t possible during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. “San Francisco is the Olympics of spirits competitions, and we didn’t have the chance to promote it,” says Pennington. “We did buy some billboards, but then nobody was driving.”

Some distilleries comparable in size to PDC depend on sales through their own tasting rooms as an important part of their revenue mix, but Pennington had made the decision to limit his involvement in the whis-

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

BY CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

key-tourism game. With all three legs of the traditional liquor business model sawed off beneath him, Pennington was looking for a solution when an answer came knocking — a charity request for bulk hand sanitizer.

“We pivoted to hand sanitizer really by accident,” says Pennington with a chuckle.

“We dipped our toe in, and within three days we were all in!”

The process of making commercial sanitizer isn’t as simple as making some alcohol and adding a little aloe to keep your hands from cracking. The official World Health Organization formula is very explicit, and federal regulations require additives to ensure that the product is not potable in order to exempt it from spirits taxes. An adjunct part of PDC’s business model has included blending and packaging for other smaller spirits brands, so they were uniquely positioned to undertake the process of converting base alcohol into sanitizer.

“One of my investors knows some people at the mayor’s office, and they reached out to see if we could help with some hand sanitizer,” says Pennington. “We figured we’d make 500 gallons for them for some goodwill that would cost us a few thousand dollars. So we did that, and then the Metro PD called, and some other small communities and nonprofits and the homeless shelter called, and we got up to about a thousand gallons. It was getting pretty expensive.

“And then we got a call from a distillery out of Oregon who had a government contract from the DOJ for a bunch of prisons asking if we could make some bulk stuff because they couldn’t do it all,” he continues. “I said, ‘We could do that — especially if they’re paying!’ Next thing you know we got a call from Amazon, who had been getting a bunch of bad press for Whole Foods and how they were protecting their employees. They were looking for a ton for internal use, and

so we got that contract. I don’t mind charging Amazon. They don’t pay taxes!”

Within 10 days, Pennington went from making 500 gallons a day to 16,000 gallons daily. Instead of the belt-tightening and furloughs Pennington had been dreading, he found himself in expansion mode. “We updated a lot of our equipment overnight,” he says. “We were able to hire 15-plus displaced hospitality workers for six weeks to help us package. We paid $17.50 an hour and split up tips from the community donations we were getting at our Friday giveaways at the distillery. I think hospitality workers get knocked for being lazy, but we had a lot of people that wanted to work instead of taking unemployment. I joked with my guys at the shop who were amazed at how these guys were blowing them out of the water. ‘You see what good workers can do? You see how hard the hospitality industry is? I’d hire a bunch of Waffle House line cooks over you guys.’ ” It quickly became apparent that PDC couldn’t keep up with orders without major changes in their processes. Pennington explains: “At first we started out using our own equipment, but as the Amazon and other contracts came in, we realized that there was no way we could make that much. So then we partnered up with Fresh Hospitality and Michael Bodnar, who had a relationship with a fuel ethanol plant that had equipment to make [U.S. Pharmacopeia-grade] ethanol.

That’s the key ingredient in sanitizer that most people couldn’t get in bulk, so that’s what allowed us to go get some of these bigger contracts.”

But Pennington still wanted to give back to the community. “It allowed us to do a lot of giveaways,” he says. “The first Friday that we announced at 9:51 that we would be giving away sanitizer at the distillery, we had cars lined up by 10:01, and eventually it stretched all the way back to the interstate.

We gave away sanitizer every Friday for six weeks. We finally saw the demand start to subside, but we added it up and realized that we ended up giving away — between the nonprofits, the homeless shelters, the police departments, emergency management, the Middle Tennessee towns that called and the giveaways to the community and local businesses — over $220,000 in free sanitizer.

Which is pretty cool considering we didn’t lose money on this. We actually sold enough to be able to do that. We didn’t start off with that intention, it just kinda happened, and we’re grateful.”

“Sometimes it’s just dumb luck,” he says.

“I’ve worked my butt off for eight years, literally humping 18-hour days, some days feeling like beating my head against the wall. [And then] out of nowhere, some business like this just falls in your lap. We didn’t even do anything to get this. We didn’t do anything different from any other distillery [every distillery is required to use the same recipe], but I think Fresh [Hospitality] was a great partnership who was able to get us access to pretty much unlimited ethanol.

We’re still selling to big restaurant chains that are opening and the state of Tennessee for all their public buildings, and I do believe the pie is going to double or triple in that business overall.”

Even so, Pennington is glad to be back distilling his passion products in the Davidson Reserve portfolio. “The good thing is that the juice is good, and it’s there, in the barrels and in the bottles,” he says. “We’ll get the chance to get out there and prove how good it is when people feel comfortable to go out and feel normal.”

In the meantime, he’s thinking of staying in the sanitizer game for a while. “Like I told you about how vodka pays the bills, maybe sanitizer is another vodka.”

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

nashvillescene.com | JULY 2 –JULY 8, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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WINE ABOUT IT

FIVE TO TRY

BY STEVE CAVENDISH

Our resident beer obsessive recommends five local brews to try this summer

Doing a blind wine taste test with one of Nashville’s most talented young sommeliers

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BY J.R. LIND

tions, silver and green hues, no evidence of gas or sediment. And then we are looking at — let’s see what we get for viscosity.”

He begins swirling his glass. There are pieces of white paper on the table for us to use as a solid background to make a visual examination. I realize this, of course, after we are done tasting. I’ve been holding mine up to a light coming through the window, stupidly, which was a little blinding.

“Viscosity will be regarding tiers. It’s looking kind of thick at the moment. Yeah.

It’s looking like heavy tiers. I have to revisit it. Oh, there you go. Yeah. Medium, plus heavy tiers. Cool.”

Burch is looking for a thickness in the wine, something that will separate the varietal from other possibilities. Whites in general tend to be thinner than reds. I’m staring into the gold liquid trying to look like I’ve done this before. We bring the glasses up to smell them.

“On the nose. Wine is clean, youthful, moderate, aromatic intensity. As far as fruits are concerned, we’re looking at ripe yellow apple. Pear. And a creaminess to it too. And maybe indicating some malolactic fermentation. Has heavy tiers. Kind of a flinty character. Yeah. I think maybe a vanilla thing.”

I’ve always been fascinated by the descriptors wine enthusiasts use. I’ve eaten a pear. I know what it looks like. But what does a pear smell like? What does a yellow apple smell like? It’s easy to mock, but think of it as a vocabulary — we’re not so much talking about a literal pear. It’s pear-inspired. It’s a way to talk about the commonalities of an endlessly complex substance.

Burch never really liked wine until a few years ago. He only began learning about it to get promoted to a serving position at Kayne Prime. At some point, it began to click for him, and he got his first certification. Now he can artfully distinguish between pears and yellow apples.

We take our first tastes.

“OK. Not a ton of organic earth here. Generally fruit and oak-driven, and we’ll move on. Yeah. Cool. On the palate the wine is dry.

Fruits, confirmed the nose. We’re looking at, again, yellow apple, pear. There was a creaminess, and again, indicating malolactic fermentation of vanilla or almost like a sweet vanilla thing going on. Yep. Yeah.

Sweet vanilla. So I think indicating oak usage again, new oak, and I guess here’s more

for a minerality, like a wet river rock, not much for organic earth. And we’ll just go ahead and move to structure.”

Now we’re into the terroir, the word the French use to describe all the environmental factors that shape a wine, including soil, sunlight and altitude. Each note is a giveaway to the hidden wine’s location. In order for him to pass his advanced test, Burch began a regimen of 160 flash cards per day, a number based on an algorithm for optimal memorization. He can explain the theory behind different varietals and describe how microclimates make subtle changes in the same grape. All of that knowledge has him narrowing the range of possibilities.

“Structurally, the wine is dry. OK. Acid is moderate. Alcohol is high. The body is full.

The texture is round or creamy. The wine isn’t balanced though. And we’re looking at — God, what else? Moderate plus length and finish, moderate complexity. Possible grape varieties here are chardonnay, viognier. I’m gonna take this to the New World, to a — let’s see, warm climate. And age range here is probably one to three years. And possible countries are the U.S., Australia. Then we’ll say that this is a chardonnay from the U.S. — California, North Coast, Sonoma, Russian River Valley. From 2018.”

He clicks the stopwatch at 4:15. It would be a decent pace if he were taking the test. We repeat the exercise with the red, which he identifies as a nebbiolo grape from the Piedmont region of Italy. His call is a 2015 Barolo.

I peel back the wrapping on the white to find a 2016 Arista Chardonnay, a vineyard steps from the Russian River in Sonoma County, Calif. The red is indeed a Barolo, a 2013 vintage from the mountainous part of Northern Italy near Turin and Milan. He was slightly off on the years, but nailed both of the grapes, styles and regions.

Burch breaks a small smile. Not an overconfident smile, or even a, “Well, look what I did,” kind of smile. It’s the smile of someone who’s been completely immersed in a world and able to share a glimpse of what he’s learned from it. It’s the kind of smile you can share after years of study and flash cards and tastings and anxious preparation for a test that seems utterly and completely incomprehensible to a mortal like me.

Alex Burch might be slightly insane, but I would trust any glass he ever put on my table.

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

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nder normal circumstances, summer is always a fine time for outside beer drinking. Even those of us who are maltmen when it comes to preferred styles shove off our porters and stouts and Scotch ales and festbiers until autumn returns to dial down nature’s thermostat. In the meantime, we seek out the lighter, refreshing, straw-colored styles, those that are perfect for day-drinking under the climbing sun or sipping easy on sultry nights.

Below are five local brews to suit every beer drinker. Grab a few and toss one six feet to your socially distant drinking buddy.

SULTRY SEAGULL, JACKALOPE BREWING Fruited wheat ale, 4.4 percent ABV Jackalope already struck summer gold with its strawberry-raspberryinfused Lovebird wheat ale. But as the temperatures started to rise, the crew added an extra kick: lemonade. If the original berry-heavy version was perfect for sipping while sitting in a shady spot on the porch, its more citrusy cousin is likely to push that chair into the sunlight, bring out the sunglasses and strip off your shirt. Close your eyes and imagine sunbathing on a quiet beach while the tart and sweet make magic in your mouth. Sultry Seagull was a limited run, but there are still cans around. Like their namesake squawkers in Finding Nemo, snatch one up and say “Mine!”

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TAILGATE BREWERY

MANGO PASSION FRUIT BANANA COCONUT SOUR SCHNACK, TAILGATE BREWERY Fruit sour, 6.7 percent ABV The mischievous geniuses at TailGate have spent much of Covidtide brewing

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

ALEX BURCH

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

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et me say from the outset that I think Alex Burch might be slightly insane.

Now, he’s not insane in a Hannibal Lecter, stuck-behind2-inch-Plexiglas kind of way — at least not from what I’ve seen. Burch, 29, is quiet and smart and has built impressive wine lists at Bastion and Henrietta Red. If he arrives at your table to make a suggestion, take it and you’ll be rewarded with interesting, sometimes-striking wines that might confound your idea of what a traditional pairing with food is.

No, he’s insane in an obsessive-devotion kind of way, and I have proof: He’s in the process of attempting to become a master sommelier, having recently passed his advanced test. Burch is not alone in his insanity, as hundreds of wine professionals go through the rigorous testing each year, only to fail due to the difficulty of the task. The Court of Master Sommeliers test, immortalized by the documentary Somm, is part service test, part theory test and part blind tasting. It has been known to break people — smart people, knowledgeable people — who take it. To even attempt this is insanity, at least to me.

We’re sitting at a table in Bastion, where he’s the wine director, at noon on a Monday.

We’ve got two bottles of wine, provided by a wholesaler, wrapped in brown paper bags to conceal their identities. He asks me to uncork and pour the bottles — one red, one white — so we can do a blind tasting. I wanted to know what it takes to have a palate so finely tuned that you could identify a wine just by sampling it.

We pull the glasses of white in front of us.

Burch has a group of fellow wine pros that he does blind tasting with on a regular basis, but COVID-19 has put this on hold for a few months. Mostly he’s been leading wine tastings online for the restaurants. He’s a little out of practice, but still up for calling two wines for me, a process in which he describes, out loud, everything he’s seeing and tasting.

It’s how the master sommeliers will judge whether he’s good enough to join them.

“This will be, honestly, probably pretty dry,” he says. “Yeah. So it’d be like, once you touch the first glass, your time starts. Oh, God. All right.”

He clicks his stopwatch and begins his description. If this were a real test, he would have 25 minutes to identify six wines, so he’s given himself four minutes and 10 seconds to call the white. A real test would also include an intimidating panel of masters — not me. There was a cheating scandal in 2018 that rocked the sommelier world, so when Burch took his advanced test, he said there were a lot of precautions. That only heightens the anxiety of the test takers.

“So this is a clear white wine, straw with a medium-concentration color, no rim varia-

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new dessert beers. Not beers that go with dessert, but rather beers that could be dessert themselves.

Blueberry-cobbler beer, banana-pudding beer and a stunning variety of fruity, smoothie-textured others.

Don’t bother committing the name of this one to memory, as the staff is able to translate your request for “that one with all the stuff in it” or “tutti frutti” or “that papaya boysenberry dragon fruit acai sour thing or whatever.” And don’t let the inclusion of coconut drive you off. Though some coconut-infused beers give off a bit of a sunscreen smell (or flavor), this one lets the coconut wisp delicately in the background, giving this surprisingly easy drinker (given its relatively high ABV) the taste of ambrosia (the fruit salad, not the nectar of the gods, though after a couple, your opinion could go either way).

GRANNY WHITE WIT, BLACK ABBEY BREWING Belgian white ale, 6 percent ABV Belgian whites get a bad rap in large part because of the (forgive me) pale imitations of the style popularized by Blue Moon. But well-crafted ones, especially with decent citrus hints, are perfect summer brews. Black Abbey collaborated with Edley’s Bar-B-Que for their take on the style, named for the Nashville road (and by extension, a long-ago tavern operator). While orange is often the preferred citrus of choice for wits, Black Abbey went with grapefruit to do its dance with the traditional coriander. The result is delightful grill-side beer that’s sharp with just the right levels of spice. This was another limited release, available at Edley’s, Pancho & Lefty’s, Black Abbey’s taproom and The Filling Station. Get a pint (or a growler!) if you spot it.

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

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YOU DON’T NEED A DRINK

Yes, it is possible to experience bar culture and creativity without the booze

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BY MARGARET LITTMAN he first time I went to The Catbird Seat — in the Josh Habiger and Erik Anderson era, before Uber and Lyft were ubiquitous — I was dining with drinkers, and therefore the designated driver. I was blown away by my multicourse nonalcoholic pairings. While I’m not a teetotaler, I often choose not to drink, and that night was remarkable: I didn’t feel like my fine-dining experience was any less enjoyable because I eschewed the wine and cocktails.

Zero-proof culture has come a long way from the days when you’d just be offered club soda with lime or a Coke dismissively. Whether you are in recovery, have medical concerns, follow religious directives or just don’t feel like having a drink, you no longer have to suffer through a Shirley Temple that makes you feel like a kid at the grown-ups table.

“It has been great to watch the evolution,” says Trudy Thomas, director

of beverage at Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. With her team, she developed nonalcoholic drinks served throughout the resort, including three relaxation specials at SoundWaves, the resort’s waterpark.

“What is really beautiful about a bar is that it is one of the arenas where, as adults — regardless of career or background — we can all meet,” says Mary Cooksey, manager of the Oak Bar, the boozy hangout at the historic Hermitage Hotel. “If we don’t make sure we have something for everyone, if we are leaving people out, then we are not doing our jobs.”

Cooksey moved to town in March — the day that month’s tornadoes touched down, to be exact. One of her missions was to improve on the spirit-free section of the bar’s menu. “I thought it was important to re-create the care we put into alcoholic drinks into the spirit-free drinks.”

The Oak Bar will rotate seasonal drinks to pair with seasonal food menus, using herbs and vegetables from the hotel’s Glen Leven Farm, just as the kitchen at the Hermitage Hotel’s Capitol Grille does. On the menu now are: Freshly Minted, which features Seedlip Garden 108 nonalcoholic spirit, mint syrup, chilled peppermint sencha green tea and cucumber; and Whole Melon, made with watermelon juice, citrus stock, watermelon shrub, basil and sparkling water.

“It used to be that all the nonalcoholic drinks were syrupy-sweet, but now they are complex,” Thomas says. “You want balance, whether in a cocktail or a nonalcoholic drink.

Balance is key to great pairings. You do not want something too bitter or too sweet.”

Elizabeth Endicott, who owns East Nashville’s Lyra with her husband Hrant Arakelian, agrees. “I think a lot of times people overcompensate when trying to make a nonalcoholic drink, and that’s when

it comes out sugary,” she says. Endicott and Arakelian found that it was fairly easy to develop nonalcoholic drinks to put on the menu because, she says, nonalcoholic drinks are a large part of Middle Eastern cuisine.

The key to making a good nonalcoholic drink is quality ingredients — be they fresh herbs like the Oak Bar gets from Glen Leven, honey from Gaylord’s on-site hives or other local ingredients.

Craig Schoen, bar manager and coowner of East Nashville’s Peninsula, finds summer the easiest time of year to make nonalcoholic drinks — or anyway, he does in a regular year; the restaurant has not yet reopened post-coronavirus closures.

The key to his concoctions is the shrub, a mixture of sugar, vinegar and fruit. Peach Truck peaches and butterfly-pea flower teas are two of his favorite ingredients this time of year. Another secret ingredient is the liquid from the jar of fancy cherries sitting in your fridge. “People buy really nice cherries for Manhattans, and there’s so much liquid in there,” says Schoen. “That juice makes a great shrub. What else are you going to do with it?”

Schoen mixes drinks with a savory tonic syrup he makes with cinchona bark and lemongrass. It has less than half the sugar of other tonics, and is intentionally crafted to work with those seasonal fruits. Even while the restaurant is temporarily closed, the tonic is for sale online (with weekly contactless pickup). One bottle should get you 22 drinks, he says, when mixed with soda water, shrubs and other ingredients.

Endicott too prefers soda water instead of water, because she feels the effervescence gives drinks an extra punch. Two standouts at Lyra include the popular hibiscus grapefruit soda, made by steeping the flowers into a tea, and a za’atar lemonade, which highlights the

SMITH & LENTZ

GERMAN PILS, SMITH & LENTZ BREWING German pilsner, 5 percent ABV The East Side’s Smith & Lentz got hit with a brutal double whammy: First their taproom took a hit from the March 3 tornado, then they got hit by the pandemic (which has changed everyone’s life). Nevertheless, the crew keeps brewing this straightforward interpretation of the unpretentious classic-style pilsner. It is crisp, clean and bright, a completely crushable tipple to enjoy while waiting for whatever normal will be.

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CALLA IPA, YAZOO BREWING COMPANY New England IPA, 6 percent ABV The hazy New England-style IPA had a moment a few summers back, as hopheads opted for its creaminess as an alternative to the dry and sharp mouthfeel of the West Coast IPA. Because of the softer touch, New Englands are often better when the hops show citrus rather than piney character. Calla hits with good grapefruit and even tangerine notes, but there’s also just a hint of mint, which is unusual, unexpected and downright smile-sparking. Calla was Yazoo’s spring seasonal, but there are still plenty of sixers out in the world.

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

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PHOTOS: ERIC ENGLAND

BUTCHERTOWN HALL herbaceousness of wild thyme.

Seasonal housemade sodas that pair with the restaurant’s Tex-Mex offerings are a signature at Germantown’s Butchertown Hall. As the cocktail menu changes seasonally, so too do these refreshers, says Dan King, the restaurant’s beverage director. Summer offerings include: watermelon mint; peach morita (which is essentially a chipotle pepper, allowed to ripen until it is red); blueberry vanilla cardamom; and a pineapple sage, which has become so popular it sticks around for multiple seasons. Past favorites have included pomegranate rosehip and strawberry black pepper.

“People have latched on to these more than ever,” King says.

“People are working from home, and maybe their lunch breaks are more extended, but they are still going to go back and work,” he says of the sodas’ midday popularity.

Sean Lyons, director of restaurants at the Dream Nashville hotel — which includes Stateside Kitchen and Parlor Bar — thinks interest in mocktails will increase this summer as everyone is focused on staying healthy in the time of COVID. Stateside Kitchen creates a weekly seasonal mocktail in summer with shrubs, fresh herbs and fresh juices. (In winter there’s a nonalcoholic eggnog.) When the hotel’s Parlor Bar reopens this month, there will be more options.

While more restaurants and bars are being intentional about alcohol-free drinks on the menu, almost any cocktail can be made without the spirit. Lyons, Endicott and others emphasize that asking for one shouldn’t be seen as an imposition. At Lyra, for example, anything on the happy-hour menu can be made spirit-free.

“I really encourage anyone interested in exploring spirit-free drinks to talk to your bartender,” the Oak Bar’s Cooksey says.

“Creativity is key to what we do.”

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CHECK OUT SOME OF THESE MOCKTAIL MAVENS FOR YOURSELF:

STATESIDE KITCHEN AND PARLOR BAR

Peninsula SoundWaves at Gaylord Opryland Resort Butchertown Hall Lyra Restaurant Minerva Avenue STK Steakhouse The Catbird Seat Stateside Kitchen Folk Rolf and Daughters Chopper

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CRITICS’ PICKS D I S T A N C I N G

[SIT ME DOWN IN THE SALON CHAIR]

COMEDY

CATCH UP WITH SALON@615 ON YOUTUBE

Aside from a sad couple of weeks in the early 1990s when I was hungry for any kind of counterculture — especially the druggy kind — I’ve never really been much of a Grateful Dead fan. Still, I’m envious of the glee with which Deadheads dig through bootleg recordings. That’s why the amount of material being made public and streamable online lately has been one of the weird, unexpected bright sides of having to live through a pandemic. It’s like digging through virtual crates for cultural gems.

The latest example I’ve come across is live recordings of the Salon@615 author events.

These are the big-name author events that are generally hosted at the Nashville Public Library, and they often feature illustrious LEGALIZE writers interviewing other illustrious EVERYTHING writers. Since the in-person programming had to go on hiatus, the library is uploading streams of previously unreleased as they want for free — within limits set by recordings, and I couldn’t be happier to the artists — and easily buy what they like. sit on my couch in sweatpants with a Artists can sell physical and digital plastic tub of hummus, nodding formats of their releases (with furiously in agreement as Ann robust streaming options for Patchett talks to Elizabeth what you’ve bought), merch Gilbert about creativity. bundles and more. You EDITOR’S NOTE: And with views in the low might have heard about AS A RESPONSE TO THE ONGOING COVID-19 PANDEMIC, WE’VE CHANGED hundreds (as of press #BandcampFriday, in THE FOCUS OF THE CRITICS’ PICKS time, at least), it still feels which the platform has SECTION TO INCLUDE ACTIVITIES YOU CAN like you’re involved in waived its cut of sales PARTAKE IN WHILE YOU’RE AT HOME something intimate and (typically 15 percent on PRACTICING SOCIAL DISTANCE. exclusive. Other highlights digital formats) on the in the series include first Friday of each month Doris Kearns Goodwin in since the COVID-19 crisis conversation with Jon Meacham, began, leaving millions more and Ta-Nehisi Coates with Tiana Clark. dollars on the table for artists. Bandcamp New recordings are released at 6:15 p.m. also pledged to donate fees collected on every Thursday — on July 2 you’ll be able to watch a stream of poet Nikki Giovanni’s appearance, and on July 9 you can watch poet Billy Collins. Keep an eye out for Zadie Smith and Margaret Atwood, whose appearances will be made available in the next few months. Find more information and a complete list of streams on the Salon@615 webpage, or visit the library’s YouTube channel. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER MUSIC

E D I T I O N

Juneteenth to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. The next #BandcampFriday is set for July 3, and there’s a wealth of local music to dive into on the platform. Many of the late, great John Prine’s records are available, as is Margo Price’s solo catalog and a heap of releases from Jack White’s Third Man Records. You’ll also find outstanding rappers like Gee Slab, Rashad tha Poet, Brian Brown and Starlito; rockers like Soccer Mommy, Bully, All Them Witches and R. Stevie Moore; songsmiths like Becca Mancari and Robyn Hitchcock; electronic producers like Makeup and Vanity Set; and tons more. If you prefer to take a more spontaneous trip, just click through all releases tagged “Nashville” and go from there. and go from there. STEPHEN TRAGESER

[LEGALIZE RANCH]

WATCH NEW STAND-UP SPECIALS FROM ERIC ANDRE AND HANNIBAL BURESS

Even though it was announced late last year, we still don’t know when the new season of Adult Swim’s resident late-night anti-talk show The Eric Andre Show will finally air. But until that happens, you can watch the show’s stars — utterly destructive host Andre and his blasé sidekick Hannibal Buress — do their stand-up thing with two newly released specials. Legalize Everything, Andre’s first special, is now streaming on Netflix (which will also soon be the home of Bad Trip, his hidden-camera prank-comedy film, which was supposed to hit theaters in the spring). Of course, Andre puts his trademark anarchic antics on overdrive as he unloads manic takes on drugs, sex and general disorderly conduct on a New Orleans crowd. As for Buress, he takes it cool as usual with his latest special Miami Nights (which will be streaming for free on YouTube beginning Friday, July 3).

Expect chill, observational material for the people of Miami, where he was memorably arrested on a trumped-up disorderly intoxication charge in 2017. CRAIG D. LINDSEY THEATER

BOOKS

S O C I A L

[BE IN THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS]

STREAM BROADWAY’S HAMILTON ON DISNEY+

Broadway fans have even more to celebrate this Fourth of July weekend, as Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical sensation Hamilton will be available to Disney+ subscribers beginning July 3. The Tony Award-winning blockbuster about founding father Alexander Hamilton was filmed at The Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway

[BAND TOGETHER]

EXPLORE NASHVILLE MUSIC ON BANDCAMP

The pandemic has hit musicians especially hard: The patchwork of revenue streams they rely on dried up suddenly, and there’s no way to know when those might start flowing again. It was already a challenging business in which to make a living, and it hasn’t helped that payouts from streaming are notoriously small, despite the medium being enormously popular with fans. When you’re not buying records directly from artists’ websites or via your favorite local record store, Bandcamp seems like the next-best option for showing your support. If you’re unfamiliar with the platform, users can stream as much music

HAMILTON

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CRITICS’ PICKS

[GET ON THE BIKE]

PARTICIPATE IN BIKE 4 EQUALITY

[WET ’N’ WILD]

GO SOAK A SISTER

[RIDDLE ME THIS]

BUILD YOUR OWN STREAMING JOEL SCHUMACHER FILM FEST

For this, the 16th installment in our ongoing series on filmmakers around whom to create your own at-home streaming film festival, we thought we’d pay homage to a recently departed icon. Joel Schumacher, who died June 22 after a yearlong battle with cancer, was so much more than the legendarily horny director who put nipples on the Batsuit — although, yes, he was that too. Indeed, the man directed roughly two dozen films over the course of four decades.

But we have to start somewhere, so let’s start with 1985’s St. Elmo’s Fire, Schumacher’s

third directorial effort (and according to Scene arts editor Laura Hutson Hunter, “the smart person’s Brat Pack movie”), which is available to rent via Amazon Prime and iTunes for $4. Follow that up with his next film, 1987’s absolutely undeniable The Lost Boys, the vampire horror-comedy with cinema’s sexiest sax man — that one is available for $4 via Prime. Up next is 1990’s somewhat spotty sci-fi afterlife exploration Flatliners ($3 via Prime), which is at least interesting as something of a time capsule, what with its early-career performances from Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts and Kevin Bacon. From there, check out an even more divisive Schumacher effort — 1993’s angry-white-male thriller Falling Down, which late New York Times film critic Vincent Canby said functions like a “Rorschach test to expose the secrets of those who watch it.” Though that film’s take on society’s ills is inelegant, it’s a great document of toxic white fragility with a compelling performance from Michael Douglas at its center. Then, because you’ll want to lighten the mood and we simply can’t ignore it, dip into 1995’s profoundly absurd Batman Forever, which is now on HBO Max. Thanks in part to its array of deeply weird performances (surprise, Tommy Lee Jones reportedly despised working with Jim Carrey), there’s plenty there to dig in on. Skip 1997’s Batman & Robin, of course. The remainder of Schumacher’s career was hit-and-miss, to say the least, with much of his latter-day filmography panned by critics and ignored by audiences. But there are some gems in there, including — believe it or not — 2003’s Colin Farrell vehicle Phone Booth ($4 on Prime), a tight, 81-minute thriller that was made at the last possible moment before the widespread use of cellphones blew its premise to smithereens. D. PATRICK RODGERS CHILDREN

For 10 years, the Music City Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have been on the scene, raising hell and money with plenty of heart. Our local chapter of the LGBTQ nuns supports LGBTQ-friendly organizations such as Launch Pad, Souls

United, Nashville CARES and more, and they’re ready to host their first fundraiser since the pandemic madness started. Stay socially distant by grabbing some water balloons, heading to Trax bar, and flinging them at sisters Payda Play, Mary Chastity and Reya Sunshine. They’ll be grilling lots of bites, which you can buy for $10, and pouring plenty of beer and shots — including the obligatory of Jell-O shots, of course. Don your holiest mask and head over to play. 2 p.m. Sunday, July 5, at Trax, 1501 Ensley Blvd. ERICA CICCARONE

SOAK A SISTER

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[WE ARE ADVENTURING, WE ARE ADVENTURERS]

VISIT ADVENTURE SCIENCE CENTER

The kids have exhausted every YouTube video, craft project, Fortnite quest and virtual national park tour. They’ve

played so many board games, you wonder if going pro in Monopoly is an alternative to college. They speak three languages fluently thanks to Duolingo, and have produced detailed maps of every hiking trail in Nashville’s parks system. But look at the calendar — school, if it comes back on time, is still more than five weeks away. Grab some masks and load up the minivan, because the Adventure Science Center is back. The educational playground reopened on June 18 under limited hours (Thursday through Monday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.) and in limited capacity (150 guests per hour). Advance timed-entry tickets are available on the museum’s website, along with a cleaning plan. It’s a good plan, and thorough. The museum is limiting capacity at various exhibits, particularly those in tight spaces. But there are plenty of pandemic-friendly options, including a daily outdoor demonstration of a liquid-nitrogen cloud. (By now, thanks to all their Googling, your kids probably know what that is, even if you don’t.) Understandably nervous parents may be reassured by one thing: Metro’s Coronavirus Task Force chairman and sudden and unexpected local celebrity Dr. Alex Jahangir also happens to be the chairman of the Adventure Science Center board — and he says it’s OK. J.R. LIND MUSIC

CHARITY

When our fledgling country celebrated its independence in 1776, our delusional founding fathers failed to recognize that Indigenous and Black people were, in fact, people, inhabiting the same land that the declaration’s author either drove them from or subjugated them to. As monuments to these men are toppled across the country, we must ask ourselves what the July Fourth holiday means to all Americans. Frederick Douglass made a keynote address on July 4, 1852: “The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me,” he said. “This Fourth July is yours, not mine.” Instead of bringing all Americans together under the patriotic annual display of lights, the Fourth of July, as Douglass noted, “reveals the immeasurable distance between us.” This year, we are called not to celebrate but to protest the ongoing racism that our Black communities face. Locals Cedric Duncan and Tony Woodland will lead a bike ride from Halcyon Bike Shop in 12South, through the Gulch, and on to the Black Lives Matter protest in Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, which begins at 4 p.m. For an extra dose of inspiration, the Black Lives Matter protest is organized by Teens for Equality, the small group of teen girls who brought more than 10,000 people to a demonstration downtown last month. 3 p.m. Saturday, July 4, at Halcyon Bike Shop, 2802 12th Ave. S. ERICA CICCARONE

FILM

SPORTS

in 2016, and the performance features the original principal cast — including Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Phillipa Soo, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Christopher Jackson, Daveed Diggs and more. If you aren’t already a subscriber, you can get Disney+ for $6.99 per month, $69.99 per year, or as part of a Disney+/Hulu/ESPN Plus bundle for $12.99 per month. Visit disneyplus.com for complete details. And while you’re waiting, you might also check out the original cast recordings of some other uniquely American musicals — we suggest 1776, Ragtime and Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson. AMY STUMPFL

[CREPUSCULAR]

GO DOWN A THELONIOUS MONK RABBIT HOLE

Jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk — whose recently unearthed 1968 performance at a Palo Alto, Calif., high school, Palo Alto, hits the market July 31 — began writing and performing in New York in the early 1940s. Born in North Carolina in 1917, Monk moved with his family to New York in 1922, settling into an African American neighborhood called San Juan Hill. By 1957, when Monk and his band played New York’s Carnegie Hall, he had built up a repertoire of zigzagging, addictive tunes that included “Epistrophy” and “Crepuscule With Nellie.”

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CRITICS’ PICKS Monk copyrighted around 70 compositions, many of which have become standards. It’s arguably the finest achievement by any American composer of the 20th century.

So what are you waiting for? Start with 2005’s At Carnegie Hall, which documents the 1957 show, and then dip into Brilliant Corners, also from 1957. For a contemporary take on Monk, check out Mast’s brilliant 2018 Thelonious Sphere Monk, which relocates the familiar themes in technological space.

Apart from that, there’s a ton of great Monk repertory albums. Try Carmen McCrae’s 1990 Carmen Sings Monk, or pianist Tommy Flanagan’s 1983 Thelonica. Happy hunting.

[CONVERSATIONS WITH THE STARS]

CHECK OUT STUDIO TENN TALKS

Studio Tenn may have postponed its current season, but this professional theater company has been stepping up with great virtual content — including a weekly livestream series called Studio Tenn Talks: Conversations With Patrick Cassidy.

Cassidy is the son of Broadway legend and Academy Award winner Shirley Jones and the late Tony-winning actor Jack Cassidy, and he has a career of his own that spans nearly 40 years and includes Broadway, film and television. He took over the reins as Studio Tenn’s artistic director in November 2019, and is distinctly qualified to talk shop with big names such as Adam Pascal, Emily Skinner and Norm Lewis. New shows air each Sunday night at 7 p.m., and generally run about an hour. Upcoming guests include Ken Page (from The Wiz, Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Cats, and the voice of Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas) and Victor Garber (Godspell, Sweeney Todd, Assassins, Damn Yankees and more).

Visit studiotenntalks.com to learn more, or check them out on Facebook and YouTube.

FILM

AMY STUMPFL [SLAUGHTERHOUSE FLOOR]

STREAM THE KILLING FLOOR VIA FILM FORUM

Bill Duke is famous as a character actor with a mile-long résumé, from Predator to American Gigolo, but he’s almost equally prolific — if not as frequently recognized — in his work as a filmmaker. The Killing Floor, Duke’s feature-length directorial debut, was first broadcast on PBS’ American Playhouse in 1984, and eventually earned praise at the 1985 Cannes and Sundance Film Festivals, but languished in obscurity for years before a recent 4K restoration. Set in a Chicago slaughterhouse while both the Great War

ART

THEATER

EDD HURT

and the Great Migration of Black laborers from the South to the North are underway, The Killing Floor is a marvelously acted and incisively nuanced exploration of how racial and ethnic divisions have been historically used to break up labor organizing. It’s an instant essential discovery, the kind of film I hope someday plays in classrooms to teach kids about parts of our country’s past that some teachers neglect to mention. Needless to say, it’s even more necessary viewing in an era when simmering tensions in our history are boiling over. The Killing Floor is now available in the “virtual screening rooms” of theaters across the country for $10 — I chose to sponsor New York’s Film Forum with my viewing. NATHAN SMITH [FRIST AND FOREMOST]

VISIT THE NEWLY REOPENED FRIST ART MUSEUM

Great news for Nashvillians who’ve been missing our city’s art institutions: The Frist Art Museum reopened to all visitors in a limited capacity on July 1.

Even better news: The museum’s staff is taking reopening in the age of COVID-19 extremely seriously, and has thus instituted an array of safety precautions. Those include no-contact temperature screenings, stringent cleaning procedures, handsanitizing stations and physical-distancing markers. Face masks are required, as is securing advance-time tickets via the Frist’s site (fristartmuseum.org) to limit the number of patrons in the space at any given time. Once in the building, visitors can enjoy a full lineup of exhibitions that opened before the museum’s March 15 Metro-mandated shutdown, all of which have had their closing dates pushed back to the end of the summer or later. Those include: The Nashville Flood: Ten Years Later; Mel Ziegler: Flag Exchange; Jitish Kallat: Return to Sender; Terry Adkins: Our Sons and Daughters Ever on the Altar; and J.M.W. Turner: Quest for the Sublime.

Personally, I’m particularly excited to check out the work of Adkins, a Fisk University alumnus whose art, according to Scene arts editor Laura Hutson Hunter, “transcends disciplines, often incorporating the legacies of underappreciated figures in Black history, especially when it comes to music.”

Visit the Frist’s site for more details on all the aforementioned exhibits, and to secure your visiting time. The Frist Art Museum, 919 Broadway D. PATRICK RODGERS

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VODKA YONIC

CONFESSIONS OF A MUSIC CRITIC On embracing the inherently uncool song that got me through heartbreak

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BY MEGAN SELING Vodka Yonic features a rotating cast of women and nonbinary writers from around the world sharing stories that are alternately humorous, sobering, intellectual, erotic, religious or painfully personal. You never know what you’ll find here each week, but we hope this potent mix of stories encourages conversation.

T

his is a story about a song. It’s not a good song, but during a very fragile time in my life, it could do what all the other songs couldn’t. And I’ve never told anyone about how much I love it … until now.

I was barely in my 20s and working as a full-time music critic for a cool alt-weekly newspaper in Seattle. The region was of course known for its abundance of influential musicians — yes, Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, but also Elliott Smith, Neko Case, Built to Spill, Sleater-Kinney, Death Cab for Cutie and The Gossip. And this music was my life.

I interviewed touring musicians, reviewed records and wrote a weekly column about the local all-ages music scene. I went to shows three, four, sometimes five nights a week. Eventually I even hosted a local music show on one of the city’s most popular rock radio stations.

But when my heart fell apart for the first time in my adult life, none of that music mattered.

The world’s catalog of songs about heartbreak runs decades deep, and it’s packed with perfect entries from brilliant singers and songwriters like Whitney, Elton, Otis, Joni, Marvin, Mariah, Dolly, Alanis, Robyn and Stevie (both Wonder and Nicks) — but I was too sad to listen, too sad to sing along. I drowned myself in quiet.

But one day I heard a song that stuck. I don’t remember where I was when I heard it, but I know I didn’t search it out. It found me. I remember downloading it off some skeezy internet service and burning it to CD (I was a late adopter both to love and MP3 technology). For weeks I took it with me every time I needed to get out of my head, from long nighttime drives to sun-soaked hikes through nearby woods. It was the only song that didn’t make me feel like I was carrying the weight of the world, and I listened to it constantly.

It opens with a heart-gripping, hopeful piano line. By the time the chorus hits, a stream of mounting strings has burst into a bright orchestra, bringing optimism, adoration and comfort with it.

But this song — my song — wasn’t by any of the artists who will forever be remembered as The Greats. No, when my heart shattered for the first time, it was the band Train, specifically their song “Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me),” that picked up the pieces.

Yes, Train — a band that has managed to

BOOKS

REMEMBERING ROBERT JOHNSON

Brother Robert provides a human perspective on the man who changed American music

BY MICHAEL RAY TAYLOR

remain tremendously popular yet somehow also forgettable. A band that is even less cool than their very uncool tourmates Maroon 5.

Today Train is likely most recognized for their obnoxiously quaint 2010 hit “Hey, Soul Sister.” That melody-driven song, full of heys and ukulele, was shoved down America’s throat by way of just about every television commercial that aired that year. (It was so ubiquitous there was even a Tumblr blog dedicated to tracking every time the song was used in ads, shows and movies.)

But nearly a decade before that turd dropped, adult-contemporary radio was all about Train’s 2001 hit “Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me).” The song has all the ingredients to be legitimately good: It was produced by Brendan O’Brien, who’s worked with Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen, and the strings (the element of the song for which I am most a sucker) were arranged

by Paul Buckmaster, a composer who’s collaborated with David Bowie, Leonard Cohen and Miles Davis.

But the song’s promise dissolves the moment singer Patrick Monahan opens his mouth to tell the tale of a milquetoast prissy dream girl through pseudo-poetic lyrics that sound like they were Mad-Libbed in.

“She acts like summer and walks like rain,” he sings in the first verse. “Since the return of her stay on the moon, she listens like spring and she talks like June.”

Monahan goes on to sing of soul vacations and falling from shooting stars without permanent scars. He mentions that “she checks out Mozart while she does Tae Bo,” because sure, those are also nouns. But the chef’s kiss for corniness comes when Monahan falls into a sort of New Radicals “You Get What You Give”-flavored anti-rap with the lines: “Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken / Your best friend always sticking up for you / Even when I know you’re wrong? / Can you imagine no first dance, freeze-dried romance / five-hour phone conversation / the best soy latte that you ever had, and me?”

WHAT THE HELL DOES ANY OF THAT EVEN MEAN?!

Still, that summer, years after that lyrical nonsense managed to win two Grammys, I listened to “Drops of Jupiter” over and over again.

Why I liked a song so easily mockable and inherently uncool made no sense to me; why I liked a dude so obviously unworthy of my adoration made no sense to me. But the heart wants what it wants — in love and, I suppose, in music. I couldn’t help but fall for that dummy just as I couldn’t help but fall for that try-hard pop song that name-checks Billy Blanks’ home aerobic routine, which itself peaked in the ’90s.

And while I’m being honest, I might as well admit: I still swoon a little when I hear those strings.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

T

he city of Memphis plays a featured role in Brother Robert: Growing Up With Robert Johnson, a memoir by Annye C. Anderson, the legendary musician’s younger stepsister. As Preston BROTHER ROBERT: GROWING Lauterbach, AnUP WITH ROBERT JOHNSON derson’s co-author,

BY ANNYE C. ANDERSON WITH writes in the book’s PRESTON LAUTERBACH epilogue: “During HACHETTE Brother Robert’s 224 PAGES, $28 time, people called Beale ‘the Main Street of Black America.’

Much more than a hangout for blues musicians, Beale had a storied history, a cast of colorful current characters, and a list of lively venues, from low-down dives to first-class theaters infusing the atmosphere around Johnson.”

This was the Memphis neighborhood where W.C. Handy created the blues at the turn of the 20th century. By the 1920s, it housed a pulsing, crowded blend of speakeasies and music halls, brothels and houses of worship, criminal elements and respectable families. As Anderson, who turned 94 this year, tells it, her mother Mollie Spencer was “a hardworking woman, a Christian woman,” who wouldn’t tolerate “any blues and finger poppin’ in her house.”

But nearby was the home of Anderson’s adult sister Carrie, where the young girl and the teenage Johnson could listen to popular music — on the radio, on the Victrola and in live performances by relatives and neighbors. It was there, Anderson says, that her sister “helped to rear Brother Robert, and she bought him his first guitar.” He was soon playing at local house parties — not only the blues, but country music and other popular genres. Anderson lived with her stepbrother off and on for 11 years, starting when she was only 3, but her recollections are sharp and detailed. She is perhaps the only living person who knew Robert Johnson.

As Lauterbach explains in his introduction: The first memory of Robert Johnson in this book is of a long-legged eighteenyear-old carrying a toddler up a flight of stairs. The last is of him playing at a party celebrating Joe Louis’s victory over Max Schmeling. In between are memories of him taking a little girl to the movies, caring for her father’s horse, teaching her a simple piece on the piano, and sitting outside with his guitar, singing nursery rhymes for her and her friends or playing upbeat tunes that got them dancing.

The complicated branches of family that produced Anderson and Johnson trace to

Mississippi, where Johnson was born, where popular legend has it that he sold his soul to the devil at “the crossroads,” and where he died mysteriously in 1938 at the age of 27.

But his life as Anderson recalls it — like the roots of Johnson’s music — is very much a Memphis story. Lauterbach — a historian and author of Bluff City, Beale Street Dynasty and The Chitlin’ Circuit — proves an ideal interviewer to tease this fascinating tale from the nonagenarian, first at her home in Boston and later on joint trips to her old Memphis haunts.

For that is what constitutes the bulk of this short book: an extended interview, a freewheeling journey through old times with an earnest historian and a sharp-witted witness.

Mrs. Anderson, as she insists Lauterbach call her, remains a child of the city that gave the world the blues and ultimately rock ’n’ roll. Although her life after Johnson’s death led her to the East Coast, college and a long career as a teacher and school administrator, she brings her brother and the Memphis of her youth to life with verve and humor, in a dialect that could have originated nowhere else: When I got to Sister Carrie’s with the barbecue, I saw my father cutting Brother Robert’s hair. All the pots were out, heating water on that stove. That’s how Brother Robert took a bath in a coldwater flat. Brother Robert kept himself clinically clean. … He was tall, slender, and built like the way women like men, especially black men, to be built. He had the African physique. He didn’t have overly broad shoulders, he was highhipped, had narrow hips.

Until now, most people knew Johnson only through his recordings. Of those, Lauterbach reminds readers that “he only spent a few days making them, and what we are hearing is barely an hour and a half of his life.” And yet those songs influenced generations, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton. As is so often the case in American music history, Johnson was paid what Anderson called “peanuts” for his work, with decades of profits going to rich white men in distant cities. The latter part of the book is devoted to the often-infuriating ways that others tried to take advantage of the family to claim a piece of that legacy and the ways his sisters tried to reclaim it.

This book gives Mrs. Anderson at long last a chance to have her say — and what a stirring conversation it proves to be.

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

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MUSIC

LOOK FOR A STAR Buzz Cason looks back at 50 years of his Nashville studio Creative Workshop

BY EDD HURT

HEY MAN, NICE SHOT

The Lees of Memory swing for the fences with Moon Shot

BY CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

A

moon shot, a no-doubter, a goner, a deep drive — for those not up on their baseball lingo, these are all terms for a ball hit extraordinarily far. We’re not talking merely over the fence, but to the upper deck or out of the MOON SHOT SELF-RELEASED FRIDAY, park entirely. Moon Shot JULY 3 is also the title of the fourth full-length album from The Lees of Memory, the Volunteer State alt-rock trio featuring Superdrag cofounders John Davis and Brandon Fisher along with drummer Nick Slack.

“I guess it’s kinda cocky, huh?” says Davis. “Like calling your shot.” The singer-songwriter-guitarist is an avowed fan of the San Francisco Giants and, during a normal summer, a regular at Nashville Sounds games.

With Moon Shot, Davis came to play. The last album from the veteran tunesmith that sounded this hi-fi was Superdrag catalog standout In the Valley of Dying Stars, released 20 years ago. The common denominator: producer-mixer Nick Raskulinecz, a Grammy winner for his work on Foo Fighters’ 2002 LP One by One. Moon Shot was recorded partially

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and plays guitar — he set out to succeed outside the confines of Nashville’s Music Row, an area only a few miles from Cason’s studio in Berry Hill.

“I just always had a wide spectrum of liking everything,” Cason tells me from a seat at Creative Workshop. “But we faced the harsh reality that we were in Nashville, and it was hard to get accepted. I say ‘we,’ which is me and Mac and the guys we were working with.”

James Elmore Cason was born in 1939 in Nashville. He learned to sing parts in church choirs, and became a devotee of Nashville DJs Gene Nobles and Bill “Hoss” Allen, who played R&B records on radio station WLAC. By 1960 he’d scored a hit, “Look for a Star,” under the name Garry Miles.

He’d also gained road experience with Nashville group The Casuals, who began backing singer Brenda Lee in 1958.

After an early-’60s stint in Los Angeles working with producer Thomas “Snuff” Garrett at Liberty Records — where Garrett had extracted hits from the likes of Buddy Knox and Gary Lewis & the Playboys — Cason returned to Nashville in 1964. Not content to have produced Knox’s splendid 1963 single “Hitchhike Back to Georgia” in Nashville with guitarist Wayne Moss arranging, Cason co-wrote the very Brian Wilson-esque 1965 song “Sandy” for Ronny and the Daytonas, a Beach Boys-style group fronted by Nashville singer John Buck Wilkin.

Along the way, Cason had a hand in writing

a pop standard, “Everlasting Love,” which first hit the charts via Robert Knight’s 1967 recording. It has since been cut by the aforementioned Carlton, as well as by The Love Affair and Gloria Estefan. In his producer’s role, he recorded Clifford Curry’s 1967 soul hit “She Shot a Hole in My Soul” at Moss’ Cinderella Sound Studio in Madison.

The pop side of Cason’s career merits its own compilation. His 1970 rendering of Dennis Linde’s “Funky Street Band (Play It Louder)” finds him exploring soul-rock.

In the late ’60s he joined a group of fellow Nashville studio musicians to record pop pastiches for the low-budget Spar Records label. As part of a group called The Now Generation, Cason sang and played on tracks like 1969’s “Daytona Darlin’,” a weird, funny riff on Chuck Berry.

After cutting the first sessions at Creative

in Davis’ Inglewood jam room and partially at Rock Falcon off Music Row. Davis calls it the first true instance in his career “where my home studio and the big studio got together.” Metro Nashville’s stay-athome order, which was issued back in March, meant that Raskulinecz was unable to meet the band in person for mixing sessions. Amazingly, he mixed the entire record at his dining-room table.

Power pop, in a nutshell, is sad sentiments in happy packages, and Moon Shot is a reminder of Davis’ mastery of the form. The Superdrag-Lees continuum is full of honest, heartfelt, hard-rocking tunes, but the new ones pack an emotional wallop in the traumatic current moment.

“I’m lonely all the time,” Davis declares on Moon Shot’s soaring opening salvo “Lonely Everywhere.”

Via phone from his home in Knoxville, Fisher tells the Scene that “Lonely” set the tone for the entire process of making the record “from the recording to the guitar sounds.”

A total of 30 songs were written, and the trio settled on 10 to record. The ones that made the cut dial back the retro-psych trappings of the last Lees record, 2017’s long-form The Blinding White of Nothing at All, with a higher percentage of co-writes.

There are flirtations with New Wave punk (“Live Without”), Beatles-esque bops (“Free and Easy”) and even Prince-inspired funk-rock (“Far Beyond”).

It is eclectic yet cohesive. When Davis penned two of the album’s centerpieces — the dreamy “No Floor No Ceiling” and the rousing “Crocodile Tears” — on backto-back days, a lyrical through line began to emerge.

“There’s a lot of really sad songs on this record,

which ended up being finished at a pretty sad time in history,” Davis says. “I definitely didn’t mean for it to be a downer, but that’s just what spilled out. ‘No Floor No Ceiling’ I don’t think I spent more than 15 minutes on. It’s close to the surface sometimes.”

A powerful marriage of blurry shoegaze guitars and sunny multipart harmonies, “Crocodile Tears” is an ode to finding healing via music in times of grief.

As the chorus goes: “The radio might help when you feel blue / That’s what rock ’n’ roll’s supposed to do / Records lift me up when I can’t move / That’s what rock ’n’ roll’s supposed to prove.”

“That could be the corniest line of all time or the most triumphant line of all time, I’m not sure,” says Davis. “I just wanted to sing it like Robert Pollard would.”

With Davis in Nashville and Fisher in Knoxville, exchanging drafts of songs and rewriting sections as they saw fit — as opposed to making real-time suggestions and edits — allowed for material to evolve in surprising ways. The plangent, Teenage Fanclubesque verse of “Drift Into a Dream,” for example, is Fisher; the bridge — a baroque, psychedelic vocal mélange — is all Davis. “It comes out of nowhere, but it’s intentional,” Fisher says. “Transport the listener somewhere, then come back.”

One would be remiss not to mention Moon Shot’s attention-grabbing artwork. It was drawn by illustrator and friend-of-the-band Stirling Snow, with an assist from DC Comics colorist Mark H. Roberts. Inspired by Thin Lizzy’s iconic Jailbreak and RZA’s Bobby Digital in Stereo album art (both by comic-book artists), it could easily pass for a vintage hip-hop album cover

Workshop on March 9, 1970, with Jimmy Buffett, Cason facilitated Buffett’s career by recording the future star’s first two albums, 1970’s Down to Earth and 1971’s High Lonesome Jubilee. The studio was renovated in 1976, and Parker Cason oversaw a 2017 update of the control room.

Cason’s latest music doesn’t tarnish his standing as a pop master. “Montana,” the opening track of 2020, is one of his best in years. Talking to Cason, I get the sense he’s still looking for a hit. As he tells me, making those hits takes work and, just maybe, a little rule-breaking — as in the time Leon Russell set up shop in the studio.

“Leon kept the video going the whole time. He was ahead of his time on video. And he kept the tapes running. We had stacks and stacks of 16-track tapes.”

EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

ART: STIRLING SNOW WITH MARK H. ROBERTS

I

n early 1970, Buzz Cason opened Creative Workshop, the recording studio he’d always wanted in Nashville. The ’60s had flown by, pushed

by The Beatles, blues, soul and Bob Dylan, and in the universe of Music City, Cason had helped shape the sound of the decade. Working with a group of now-legendary singers, musicians and songwriters, Cason created a pop utopia that reached beyond the physical and metaphorical borders of Nashville. Cason’s solo work stands the test of time, and he has made his mark as a producer, studio owner and filmmaker.

At 80 years old, Cason seems eternally young and ready to rock ’n’ roll, and he’s been keeping busy of late. In May, he released an album of pop songs, 2020, recorded with his sons Parker and Taylor Cason. In addition, he says he and his longtime friend Mac Gayden — himself a formidable guitarist and songwriter — are readying a new full-length, Come Along, for release this summer.

Meanwhile, Creative Workshop continues to thrive. With its history of pop and country hits that includes The Judds’ 1984 track “Why Not Me” and Carl Carlton’s 1974 rendition of Cason and Gayden’s song “Everlasting Love,” it’s one of the great Nashville recording studios.

As the continued success of Creative Workshop demonstrates, Cason is an adept businessman. But his history as a post-Beatles popster is just as fascinating. A superb all-rounder — Cason sings, writes, produces

or sci-fi movie poster. Fans will want to own it on vinyl.

Speaking of which, the physical LP of Moon Shot is still in the works at the pressing plant, but the band fast-tracked the release to streaming platforms — you’ll be able to hear and preorder it via Bandcamp on Friday.

“We always seem to release records at a terrible time, no matter what we do,” says Davis with a laugh, remembering how Superdrag dropped its 2009 swan song Industry Giants at the nadir of the last global recession. “This time, I have no idea what to expect.

But I just feel like it would be a mistake to just sit on it and wait for a good time to put it out. I don’t know if that’s coming.”

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MUSIC

LEARNING HOW THINGS WORK Talking with Kim Carnes on the 35th anniversary of Barking at Airplanes

BY JASON SHAWHAN

N

ashville is so rich with musical achievements that sometimes you have to dig deep to get surprised anymore. And given the heaps of talented musicians, songwriters and READ A LONGER VERSION producers living OF THIS INTERVIEW AT and working in NASHVILLESCENE.COM and around Middle Tennessee, it’s not uncommon (even during the pandemic) to interact with someone who helped change things up across genres. But you don’t often encounter a titan of electronic music and synth pop. You could say that about the late, great Donna Summer, or formerly local Italodisco icon Trish Vogel of The Flirts. But I’m here to talk about Kim Carnes, who’s been tackling genres with style and grit for five decades now, and how in 1985 she released a historic synth-pop album.

Barking at Airplanes is a distinctive record. Released right smack in the middle of the ’80s, it bridges the expansive variety of sound proliferating throughout the world at that time. It’s smooth like SoCal yacht rock, angular like Italy’s most left-field club struts, majestic with the operatic punch of lighter-swaying Detroit arena rock, icy-hot passionate like the sonic onslaught of Trevor Horn’s Zang Tuum Tumb empire, and rooted deeply in the kind of emotional truths that Carnes had been serving up as a songwriter and solo artist since the ’70s. This album distills a seemingly impossible collection of sonic movements, meshing the acoustic and the electronic in a way that still thrills.

Great pop albums were plentiful in the ’80s. That decade was certainly the zenith of synth-pop as a genre, though it endures to this day in countless subgenres and magpie-philosophy hits. But Barking at Airplanes was the first widely distributed synth-pop record produced by a woman, and though Carnes’ place in music history as a songwriter and artist has been secure for quite some time, it’s the historic nature of this record (and its recent 35th anniversary) that led me to talk with her. For an hour on a lovely, quarantined Monday afternoon, I spoke on the phone with Carnes about one of the greatest albums ever recorded, and it was everything any fan of electronic pop could hope for. A portion of our conversation is below; find the full version at the Scene’s website.

Was there ever a point when Barking at Airplanes was going to be a concept album? There are moments where there’s not a traditional narrative, but elements of the songs are echoed in others. Like the way that the Wall of Men background vocals in the last choruses of “Crazy in the Night” and “Don’t Pick Up the Phone” seem to dialogue with one another. Or how the ethereal vocal pads and chords on “Orpheus” and “Oliver”

seem to be syncing through time with “Draw of the Cards.” Not consciously, no. I wasn’t thinking that they should fit in that way, but because I write the way I do — I write mostly on piano, unless I’m with someone else who plays guitar — a lot of those chords, I steal from myself. I always have pictured the things that I want to do in a song, how I want to tell that story. Like on “Bon Voyage,” I asked someone at the EMI offices in Paris if they would take a recorder to Charles de Gaulle Airport and record the tone and announcements there, because I knew that that song was situated in that space, and I wanted that atmosphere to begin and end the song. There are so many songs that as I write them, I picture little movies in my head. And while the whole album wasn’t meant to be a grand conceptual story, each of its pieces were these little movies, and that kind of fits that category. And you mentioned “Oliver,” and when I wrote that I thought it needed a shortwave radio and not tuned to a channel, just picking up the space in between — the static. [Co-producer Bill Cuomo] is so creative, and so keyed-in, that any of my ideas and flourishes to help tell the stories in those songs, he was all for it and helped to make it happen.

That’s the best kind of collaborator to have — someone who takes what you give them and can run with it. Yes! He had been my keyboard player for many years, starting in my early days, playing on the demos I would cut for other artists. And he was so incredible, we just hit it off immediately. I still refer to him as my right and left hand. I can write something, play it on the piano, and he’ll watch me play it a couple of times, and then sit down with it. You can’t really teach somebody — they can copy your chords, but you can’t teach them the same feel. But Bill just knows. He’s been so instrumental in so many of my albums that it was time to work together on that level.

One of the things about this record that feels so historic is that it’s the first synth-pop album produced by a woman, and you don’t get enough credit for that. That’s a landmark. I don’t get any credit for it. You’re the first person who’s ever pointed that out — or noticed, even, I should say. … We took great care with it, and somehow it all just got lost, except for “Crazy in the Night.” When that single was a hit, worldwide, I would go to Europe and to South America and do shows there and do “Crazy in the Night,” and the sense of potential was so great. And I thought, “This is how ‘Bon Voyage’ and ‘Rough Edges’ and ‘Oliver’ — this is how these songs are going to get out there and they’ll get heard, and they’ll get noticed.” And not really. The album didn’t get dug into very deeply.

So much of your work in the early ’80s found a way to bridge the rock world and the more electronic sounds coming out of Europe. There’s never a sense that any aspects of the record are in conflict with each other. I was always so taken by some of the synth sounds coming out in those days, just obsessed with it. And the Fritz Lang movie Metropolis. That film blew me away, and I must have seen it again and again. The film Black Orpheus as well — all those gorgeous, hypnotic elements, mixing together and making something beautiful.

Early on, Bill had a Prophet synthesizer, and just the warmth of that machine, that analog keyboard. When I wrote songs on my

acoustic piano, I knew, in my brain, I could hear it as played on that synth. So there had to be that collaboration in all of the elements.

Did y’all record analog or digital? I couldn’t tell you for sure. Probably analog, just because I held on to that as long as I could. I love analog. For some artists, digital is the way to go. But for me, the warmth of analog always won out. And even albums that I recorded digitally, I would mix them to analog, just to recover some of the warmth.

I always loved the sound of The Cars’ albums. And Mike Shipley, who engineered and mixed all those albums, we put a call out to him and he said he would come and mix [Barking at Airplanes]. That was an important part of that record, because we had all the sounds down, and all the songs.

But it can all be ruined, or lost, in the mix.

I’ll never turn an album over to an engineer and say, “OK, mix this, and I’ll come back.” I have to sit there the whole time. I’ve always said it’s like having somebody else dress your baby. As we were writing these songs and recording everything, I heard it all in my head, and what you want is for that to continue on. I wanted to bring Mike’s expertise on, and use that to keep the sounds that Bill and I had brought, to understand what we were going after. He was an important part of the album, for sure.

While you were writing, was it a conscious process of, ‘This needs to be synthetic, but this needs to be live?’ Do you have those arrangements in your head as well, or is that part of the development process as you bounce sounds off of different people? I’d say it’s a little of both. I would have arrangements in my head, and Bill would too, but there would be a lot of brilliance coming from my band, from the guys playing. I always want to see what they’re going to come up with as well. You

pick people, and you have them around you because you know that they can come up with something amazing that hadn’t occurred to me.

I know when something’s wrong, but I also know when it’s right. Like on “Rough Edges,” Ry Cooder plays the most amazing bottleneck guitar, which is his style, and I am such a huge fan of his, and I thought, ‘We’ve got to have this on the record.’ And I could never have thought of the notes he’d play; he just came in and was his brilliant self. And also on that song, the backing choir, these were all people I love and respect, James Ingram, Martha Davis from The Motels, Julia and Maxine Waters — people whose voices are just amazing and that I remain in awe of.

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nashvillescene.com | JULY 2 –JULY 8, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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MUSIC

THE SPIN

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s has been proven time and again since COVID-19 made it unsafe to have shows in person, the livestream environment is far from ideal for performers or audiences. But everyone’s doing their damnedest to make the most of it, even as the fatigue of coping with the pandemic for almost four months sets in.

After a pause for several weeks, the Scene resumed our No-Contact Shows series with a run of three streams. On June 23, Michigan native, longtime Nashvillian and standout power-pop singer-songwriter Brendan Benson kicked it off with three tunes from his new solo LP Dear Life played live from his home studio. For the folks who know Benson best as Jack White’s co-frontman in The Raconteurs, his set offered a reminder of the richness of his catalog (as well as his underrated skill as a guitarist).

Stellar rapper Rashad tha Poet (whom you might also know as spoken-word artist, actor, author and teacher Rashad Rayford) joined in on June 24 with a phenomenal prerecorded set. He performed songs from across his jazz-inflected catalog that explore the challenges facing Black communities in Nashville. He also took time to shout out fellow local MCs’ fine work and to talk about the public conversation we’re having about systemic racism.

“Understand this: This world is going to keep moving forward,” said Rayford. “It’s hard work. It’s not an easy thing. As Black people, we’ve been carrying this burden for a long time in our day-to-day lives. It’s going to be hard, but you have to make a choice and say, ‘I don’t want the world to be how it’s been.’ ” On June 25, *repeat repeat offered up a prerecorded, socially distanced session highlighting their topflight brand of power pop. Kristyn and Jared Corder worked with their bandmates to record a semi-live-instudio show from their separate houses. The glove-tight set was a reminder of how good it’ll feel when it’s finally safe to have rock shows in person again.

Like most everything that’s happened so far in 2020, this year’s Pride Month has looked much different from celebrations of years past. 615 Pride, which streamed later on the evening of June 25 from East Nashville studio space H.O.M.E., showcased an eclectic roster of buzzed-about Nashville artists and raised money for Launch Pad, an initiative that helps support LGBTQ youth in Nashville who are facing homelessness.

The night kicked off with a performance from talented MC Lord Goldie, who artfully addressed the protests against racism and police brutality with “Chosen Ones,” a collaboration with singer-songwriter Taryn Coccia.

Glam-rockers The Blam Blams followed Lord Goldie with a powerhouse set marked by high energy, sparkling bell-bottoms and massive harmonies. Electric guitar in hand, Kelly Hoppenjans came next, showing off the expert lyricism that’s woven through her Brandy Zdan-produced OK, I Feel Better Now.

Becca Mancari, whose stellar new album The Greatest Part dropped a few hours after the show, rounded out the bill with songs from the new record. Among the highlights were the hauntingly poetic cuts “Hunter” and gut-wrenching “First Time.” She paused to reflect on what a Pride celebration means during a historic time of necessary unrest.

“I’m usually so excited for June,” Mancari said. “But with this movement for Black Lives Matter, we can’t have a Pride without equal rights for every human being, every Black trans person, every Black queer person — so this Pride is canceled until that happens. I still have a lot of pride in my heart, but I want change to happen now.”

The cancellation of SXSW in March — something that had never happened in the Austin, Texas, conference’s 33 years — was an ominous indication of the coronavirus’s severity. Nearly four months later, independent venues around the country continue to struggle, with some shuttering permanently and many more concerned about their ability to hang on without federal aid.

June 26’s Pride in Local Music livestream highlighted some beloved spaces in Austin and Nashville by having acts from the cities’ respective queer music scenes perform in those venues, sans crowds. Nashville’s own Maggie Rose served as host, and the Music City artists gave some top-tier performances.

Standing alone onstage, acoustic guitar in hand, Jaime Wyatt cut an apparition-like figure against Exit/In’s familiar flat-black walls and neon sign. Wyatt hails from the Tacoma, Wash., area — same as Neko Case, with a similarly plainspoken classic-country style. Performing a pair of songs off her just-released, Shooter Jennings-produced second album Neon Cross, Wyatt’s yearning vibrato tugged on the heartstrings, her head-to-toe cowboy regalia glistening under the soft blue light.

Compared to the block-party atmosphere of their ensemble gigs, a stripped-down Alanna Royale set at Grimey’s, with guitarist Jared Colby backing singer Alanna Quinn-Broadus, felt more like an after-hours hang. The duo followed the jazzy set-list staple “I Know” — from the band’s most recent EP, 2018’s So Bad You Can Taste It — with a new number, “Fall in Love Again.” You had to use your imagination to hear the brass and percussion, but Quinn-Broadus’ always compelling vocals easily sold the song’s rueful, passionate plea to rekindle a romance.

At the Bluebird Cafe, Joy Oladokun evoked a young Tracy Chapman with her conversational singing and tender, articulate songs like “Smoke,” a vivid meditation on weed, religion and the quest for peace of mind. Back at Exit/In, the six-deep backing band fanned out behind Tayls frontman Taylor Cole for two songs: 2017’s apt-for-Pride “Pop Tart (Queer Boy Small Town)” and a new one from their forthcoming Have You Ever? I Have Always LP, produced by Flaming Lips touring keyboardist Jake Ingalls.

Austinites of note included FUVK at Waterloo Records (the Grimey’s of Austin), whose nimbly played, bookish indie pop called to mind K Records greats The Softies. Rapper Mama Duke was also a standout, with a performance at blues venue Antone’s. Her set highlight “No Plan B,” about the struggle to justify one’s existence as an artist in a heartless world, felt particularly relatable at this moment in time.

EMAIL THESPIN@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | JULY 2 – JULY 8, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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FILM

PRIMAL STREAM XV Underrated sci-fi, Altman’s best and a classic murder mystery, now available to stream

BY JASON SHAWHAN

THE LAST OF SHEILA

THE INVASION

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t’s Fourth of July time, so that works with the ongoing tumult of society in a revolutionary space.

Our legislators continue to betray us. And trust is in very short supply.

I miss pools and cookouts and Black Cherry White Claw-lubricated gossip. And until the movies can truly safely reopen, streaming remains the way of disseminating culture and keeping connected with those we love. So here are some epic bits of entertainment to keep the pleasure center occupied during this ongoing PCP-spiked carnival ride that is 2020. As always, look back at past issues of the Scene for more recommendations of what to stream.

reconstruction came an entirely different creative force under a completely different set of directives to reshape and reorganize the film from within. It’s not often that a movie’s physical production becomes a demonstration of the concepts that propel it, but weird things happen with big Hollywood money. Beloved Nashvillian Nicole Kidman is great, as always, and there are moments that will haunt you. Respect as always to the inimitable Veronica Cartwright. Audiences pretty much ignored this film in 2007, but way too much of it feels far too resonant in The Now, and it plays like the sharpest and coldest of prophecy. And the implications of its ending will pollinate your nightmares.

THE INVASION ON DIRECTV

NASHVILLE ON VIDEO ON DEMAND AND AMAZON PRIME

If it were just the fourth iteration of Jack Finney’s deathless allegory The Body Snatchers (in this instance adapted by David Kajganich of Suspiria ’18) or a sharp sci-fi fusillade against bourgeois complacency, The Invasion would still be worth checking out. Director Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall) took the invaders-from-space tropes and crafted a subtle, downbeat film about waking up to discover your friends have embraced fascism. That’s something we as a people could definitely explore these days, even if rather than the traditional pod-formed duplicates, these invaders are a mycelial parasite that spreads itself via cough or saliva. You don’t have to be digging deep into current events for that to resonate in the hippocampus — when the act of coughing has been weaponized, with lethal results, in real life. But when Warner Bros. got worried about the film being a bit too somber, they decided to bring in a whole new creative team for reshoots — refocusing things and upping the action quotient, but certainly not messing with adding in too many ideas. The creative team chosen to deliver mindless action without making the audience think too hard? James McTeigue and the Wachowski siblings, whose triumph with V for Vendetta for some reason made the suits think they would get lots of brainless sensation. So into this film about cellular infiltration and

Still the best movie ever made about America and a source of consternation to several decades of the domestic songwriting industry, Robert Altman’s 1975 epic of political mobility, human sprawl, alienation and the marketing of the authentic just grows more and more relevant to being alive. The pointillist bits of tragedy and rapture that we glean from social media feeds today are all there in this deeply human tapestry — the technology is alien, but the emotions are all too relatable. An RPG of circumstance and ambition, a slow-motion collision between fame and infamy, and a wrenching musical about an industry built on hard-won personal truth, Nashville is a daunting masterpiece that remains deeply accessible. Ronee Blakley

NASHVILLE

and Lily Tomlin both got nominated for Oscars, though only Keith Carradine’s devastating song “I’m Easy” would claim one. Nonetheless, this film endures. And if you wanna talk country music masterpieces, Alan Rudolph’s Songwriter (starring Willie Nelson and recent 84th-birthday boy Kris Kristofferson) is also currently streaming on Amazon Prime. And if you wanna get real with it and have a Ronee Blakley double feature, Wes Craven’s peerless A Nightmare on Elm Street is right there waiting for you on HBO Max.

SCARE PACKAGE ON SHUDDER A mental margarita of a horror anthology that spreads its aesthetic net wide, this collection was a big hit at the Chattanooga Film Festival last month. Funny, disgusting, smart and willing to dig deep into an idea (or a body), Scare Package exhibits the variety that is typically the strength of the anthology format while avoiding most of the mistakes that one often encounters when working with so many different writers and directors. The wraparound segment is actually incredibly strong, and at its best (a particularly grotesque encounter in the woods exploring the line between human and goo; a literal escape from a metanarrative; Chase Williamson doing that thing he does; a deconstruction of what it means to be a loved one of a horror heroine; the peerless visual instincts of the Andujar sisters) it keeps the viewer hooked and ready for more. If a movie can make you laugh, gross you out and make you want to do some research, that’s an across-the-board win.

THE LAST OF SHEILA ON VIDEO ON DEMAND AND AMAZON PRIME Rightfully mentioned by Rian Johnson in publicity for Knives Out (currently

streaming on Prime), this 1973 murder mystery/dark comedy is a marvel.

With razor-sharp wit and a genuinely provocative and surprising mystery (courtesy of screenwriters Tony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim!), the film finds a group of Hollywood friends and phonies on a luxury yacht — destination: murder. And y’all know a boat- or train-based murder mystery is an irresistible combination of elements. One of those romans à clef that has held its secrets close to its chest for the intervening four-and-a-half decades, The Last of Sheila is a mean and vicious excoriation of what it means to be socially and professionally tied to toxic people, yet it never stops being a riot of pithy lines and devastating quips. Dyan Cannon and Richard Benjamin are at the top of their game, James Coburn is an indelible emotional puppeteer, and a young Ian McShane pops up to lay the groundwork for a career that still surprises to this day. If you’re looking for one of those ’70s films that people (including me) are always saying they never make movies like anymore, this is a great place to start. Theme song by Bette Midler, and exquisite costume design by the late Joel Schumacher (read more on his films in this week’s Critics’ Picks).

ATHENA ON TCM A tip of the hat to the essential Linoleum Knife podcast for this 1954 MGM musical. In Athena, a family of holistic numerologists, botanists, bodybuilders and freethinkers (seven sisters, each named for a famous goddess in Greek mythology; a gruff personal trainer/cult leader of a grandpa; and a mellow seer of a grandmother) uses kindness, quality living, feng shui and sheer force of will to better the lives of a congressional candidate/ lawyer and a mid-level crooner. Debbie Reynolds delivers song-and-dance moxie, and Hercules himself, Steve Reeves, heads up a subplot involving the Mister Universe pageant that brings more beefcake than the mid-’50s could have imagined. It’s silly and diverting, with a great scene of Jane Powell using grace and poise to deflect the bad vibes of an entire fancy cocktail party.

It also features one of my favorite kinds of moments — a musical makeover, and in this case it’s for a stuffy old house.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

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Want the Scene Delivered?

FILM

STAND UP, SPEAK UP, SPEAK OUT

the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, often standing side by side with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Andrew Young, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy and other civil rights stalwarts. He recalls being extremely close to Robert F. Kennedy prior to his assassination — an event that triggered his decision to move from being an activist operating outside of the system to running for office

BY RON WYNN and attaining a position within it.

The film doesn’t overlook setbacks Lewis has suffered, from the physical bruawn Porter’s exceptional tality he endured at the hands of cops and documentary John Lewis: racist white onlookers at demonstrations Good Trouble offers a to the pain of losing his position at SNCC to comprehensive and fasKwame Ture (formerly known as Stokely cinating portrait of a life Carmichael) due to his refusal to embrace devoted to multiple battles or endorse the emerging Black Power for social justice, movement. Lewis’ view was that the civil JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE voting rights and PG, 96 MINUTES rights struggle, and indeed all social justice economic equality.

OPENING FRIDAY, JULY 3, movements, must be both nonviolent and Porter’s producVIA BELCOURT.ORG multiracial. That stance doesn’t always tion differs slightly sit well with more radical types — people from 2017’s equally noteworthy PBS docuwho feel that ideology dilutes the impact mentary Get in the Way through its blend of and importance of Black voices, particuamazing archival footage (some of which larly in organizations created by African even Lewis acknowledges he’s seeing for Americans. Also included in Good Trouble the first time); reflections and assessments is Lewis’ 1986 campaign for Georgia’s on his impact from various political figures, 5th Congressional District, which pitted educators and activists; and family rememhim against longtime friend Julian Bond brances that delve into other areas of Lewis’ in what turned into a bitter, ugly battle, life that have been given less notice. with both men throwing accusations The film — which will be available against each other. Also shown to stream via the Belcourt’s site is Lewis’ disgust over the Suon Friday — doesn’t take a BUY YOUR TICKET VIA preme Court’s gutting of the straight path to the present, BELCOURT.ORG FOR A Voting Rights Act in 2013, instead alternating between PRERECORDED DISCUSSION BETWEEN LEWIS AND OPRAH and the failure of Congress spotlighting key political and WINFREY, AND WATCH A PANEL to support new efforts to repersonal moments in Lewis’ FEATURING FREEDOM RIDERS store its original power.

60-year career. His thirst BERNARD LAFAYETTE AND RIP Good Trouble consistently for knowledge and love for PATTON LIVE ON THURSDAY, JULY 9, AT 7:30 P.M. shows how much respect reading at a young age didn’t and admiration Lewis enjoys. exactly make Lewis an ideal Over the course of his career he’s worker on the family property in been idolized not only by congressional Alabama, but it fueled a desire to do veterans like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi something other than pick cotton and raise and the late Elijah Cummings, but also chickens. He came to Nashville as a student newcomers like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (he studied at both American Baptist and and Ilhan Omar, who cite him as an inspiraFisk), and his time here in the early ’60s tion for their interest in politics. He has forever shaped his destiny. Lewis was menalso forged close bonds with newer figures tored by such greats as the Rev. James Lawlike Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacy son and schooled in the power of nonviolent Abrams and Texas activist Lizzie Fletcher. protest and civil disobedience. This became The film’s only shortcoming is that it feathe foundation for his life’s philosophy and tures no discussion of Lewis’ recent battle attitude — a mix of unshakable optimism with pancreatic cancer, nor about his feeland the knowledge that change never comes ings on such current groups as Black Lives quickly, and seldom without cost.

Matter. His perspective regarding ongoing The documentary features footage of the demonstrations against police brutality and brutality waged against college students systemic racism would have been welcome. demonstrating in downtown Nashville, the But so much about Good Trouble is vital Freedom Riders in South Carolina and the and valuable. Now 80, Rep. John Lewis has marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge helped make some major positive changes in Alabama. That material is no less vivid in American society. While he clearly feels and shocking today than it was decades ago, that much more remains to be done, he’s and Lewis was right at the center of numerfought to bring America closer to its ideals. ous epic events. He spoke as part of 1963’s EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM March on Washington and served as head of

Good Trouble is an exceptional portrait of a civil rights icon

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Trust be advertised and sold in satisfaction of said debt and the cost of the foreclosure, in accordance with the terms and provisions of said note and Deed of Trust;

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Read about and comment on each puzzle: nytimes.com/wordplay.

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vs.

DAVIS, LARRY This cause came to be heard on the 4th day of October 2019, before the Honorable Mike O’Nea;, Judge of the Juvenile Court of Davidson County, Tennessee upon a status hearing. Counsel for Mother made an oral motion for Service of Process by Publication filed. In this cause it is appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon Larry Davis, it is ordered that said Defendant be served by publication and enter his appearance herrin within thirty (30) days from the last day of publication of this notice, and defend or default will be taken against him. The hearing to be held at 100 Woodland St., Nashville, TN 37213. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks. It is further ordered that said four (4) week succession publication will constitute service upon Larry Davis in the above-captioned case.

Vanessa Saenz Attorney for Plaintiff NSC 6/18/20, 6/25/20, 7/2/20, and 7/9/2020 FORECLOSURE SALE NOTICE WHEREAS, Vinod T. Zaver and wife, Manglaben V. Zaver, by a Deed of Trust, dated July 27, 2005, of record in Book 1129, Page 1562 and Modification of record in Book 1473, Page 2407, Register’s Office for Wilson County, Tennessee AND of record in Instrument No. 20050803-0090649 and Modification of record in Instrument No. 20111205-0094622, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, conveyed to Randall Clemons, Trustee, the hereinafter described real property to secure payment of a promissory note as described in said Deed of Trust; and The notice required by 26 U.S.C. Section 7425(b) to the United States has been timely given, that the sale of the land thus advertised will be subject to the right of the United States to redeem the land as provided for in 26 U.S.C. Section 7425 (d) (1).

WHEREAS, Robert Evans Lee having been appointed Substitute Trustee by Wilson Bank & Trust, the owner and holder of said note by an instrument of record in Book 1600, Page 153, Register’s Office for Wilson County, Tennessee AND in Instrument No. 20140714-0061742, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, with authority to act alone with the powers given the Trustee; and WHEREAS, default having occurred with respect to the note secured by the Deed of Trust, and the full balance owing having been accelerated; and WHEREAS, Wilson Bank & Trust, as the owner and holder of said note, has demanded that the real property covered by the Deed of Trust be advertised and sold in satisfaction of said debt and the cost of the foreclosure, in accordance with the terms and provisions of said note and Deed of Trust; NOW, THEREFORE, notice is hereby given that I, Robert Evans Lee, Substitute Trustee, pursuant to the power, duty and authority vested in and imposed upon me in said Deed of Trust, will on July 31, 2020 at 10:30 A.M., Central Time, at the front door of the Courthouse in Lebanon, Wilson County, Tennessee as to the 5 acres on Sparta Pike, Lebanon, Wilson Co. property AND at 12:00 P.M., Central Time at the front door of the Courthouse located at 1 Public Square, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee as to the 1.74 acres on Billingsgate Road, Antioch, Davidson Co. property, offer for sale to the highest and best bidder for cash and free from all rights and equity of redemption, statutory or otherwise, homestead, dower and all

NOW, THEREFORE, notice is hereby given that I, Robert Evans Lee, Substitute Trustee, pursuant to the power, duty and authority vested in and imposed upon me in said Deed of Trust, will on July 31, 2020 at 10:30 A.M., Central Time, at the front door of the Courthouse in Lebanon, Wilson County, Tennessee as to the 5 acres on Sparta Pike, Lebanon, Wilson Co. property AND at 12:00 P.M., Central Time at the front door of the Courthouse located at 1 Public Square, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee as to the 1.74 acres on Billingsgate Road, Antioch, Davidson Co. property, offer for sale to the highest and best bidder for cash and free from all rights and equity of redemption, statutory or otherwise, homestead, dower and all other rights and exemptions of every kind as provided in said Deed of Trust, certain real property situated in Wilson and Davidson County, Tennessee, described as follows: MAP 104 GROUP PARCEL 023.00 PARCEL I A parcel of land situated in the 19th Civil District of Wilson County, Tennessee, and more particularly described as follows: Being a tract or parcel of land situated and lying on the northerly side of Sparta Pike and bounded generally on the north by Forbes and Spring Creek, East by lands of Smith and South by Sparta Pike, the same being a triangular tract running to a point at the westerly end, containing by estimation five (5) acres, more or less.

Being the same property conveyed to Vinodkumar T. Zaver and wife, Manglaben V. Zaver by deed to create tenancy by the entirety, dated 8/13/04, of record in Book 1067, Page 2192, with further reference at Book 1065, Page 2103, in the Register’s Office for Wilson County, Tennessee.

Subject property is unimproved property and has the address of Sparta Pike, Lebanon, Wilson County, TN 37087

MAP 149 GROUP 340.00 PARCEL 2

PARCEL

Land lying and being situated in the Second Civil District of Davidson County, Tennessee, described according to a survey made by James L. Terry and Associates, dated June 12, 1985, described as follows, to-wit: Beginning a point living on the westerly line of the Pebble Creek Apartments at the southeast corner of the Ervin Entrekin, Trustee property as of record in Book 4940, Page 721, Register’s Office of Davidson County, Tennessee; thence running with the said line of Pebble Creek Apartments South 2 degrees, 53 minutes, 47 seconds West a distance of 375.21 feet to a point lying on the northerly line of Terragon Trails, Section I, as of record in Book 4860, Page 61, Register’s Office of Davidson County, Tennessee; thence leaving the said line of Pebble Creek Apartments and running thence with the said northerly line of Terragon Trails North 43 degrees, 57 minutes, 06 seconds West a distance of 555.18 feet to a point lying on the southerly line of the Ervin Entrekin, Trustee, property; thence leaving the said Terragon Trails and running with the Entrekin Property south 86 degrees, 28 minutes, 03 seconds East a distance of 405.05 feet to the point of beginning, containing 1.74 acres, more or less.

Being the same property conveyed to Vinod T. Zaver and Manglaben V. Zaver, by Final Decree Confirming Sale from Clerk and Master, recorded on February 26, 2004 and filed for record in Instrument 20040226-0021868, said Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee.

Vinod T. Zaver and Vinodkumar T. Zaver is one and the same person.

Subject property is unimproved and has the address of Billingsgate Road, Antioch, Davidson Co., TN 37013

Vinod T. Zaver and Vinodkumar T. Zaver is one and the same person.

Subject property is unimproved and has the address of Billingsgate Road, Antioch, Davidson Co., TN 37013 The right is reserved to adjourn the day of sale to another day and time certain, without further publication and in accordance with law, upon announcement of said adjournment on the day and time and place of sale set forth above, and/or to sell to the second highest bidder in the event the highest bidder does not comply with the terms of the sale.

Substitute Trustee will make no covenant of seisin or warranty of title, express or implied, and will sell and convey the subject real property by Successor Trustee’s Deed, as Substitute Trustee only.

THIS sale is subject to all matters shown on any applicable recorded Plat or Plan; any unpaid taxes which exist as a lien against said property, including without limitation city and county property taxes; any restrictive covenants, easements or setback lines that may be applicable; any statutory rights of redemption not otherwise waived in the Deed of Trust, including rights of redemption of any governmental agency, state or federal; and any prior liens or encumbrances that may exist against the property. This sale is also subject to any matter that an accurate survey of the premises might disclose.

C O M P U T E R / I T: Va n d e r b i l t University Medical Center seeks a Quality Assurance Analyst, Sr. in Nashville, TN, responsible for assuring quality of testing and test reports; planning assurance testing efforts defining testing strategies on projects or programs; executing test activities including Non Functional Requirements Validation, UAT, Usability, Integration, Regression, among other duties.

Bachelor’s degree in IT, Comp. Sci. or closely related field + 5 years exp. Must have exp in software testing using various test tools, testing web based developed applications, and working in various software development methodologies. Mail resume to Jessica Lucas-Stroud, VUMC, 2525 W. End Ave, Ste 500, Nashville, TN 37203; reference Job Code 885320. No phone calls please.

Want to reach

INTERESTED PARTIES are Mary Caraker; Dept of the Treasury - Internal Revenue Service; Community First Bank & Trust; and Bone McAllester Norton PLLC

the best

THIS IS AN ATTEMPT TO COLLECT A DEBT, AND ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THIS PURPOSE.

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EMPLOYMENT C O M P U T E R / I T: Va n d e r b i l t University Medical Center seeks a Senior Database Architect in Nashville, TN, responsible for all of VUMC’s Data Model, including computer software application systems that data is extracted, how each system interacts with other VUMC systems in the Data Model, and how to modify the Data Model to accommodate any new systems needed to meet operational business requests, among other duties. Bachelor’s degree in Comp.

Sci., IT, Info. Systems, or Math. + 5 years exp. Must have exp ETL tools; Oracle; Microsoft SQL server; and data development and technologies. Mail resume to Jessica Lucas-Stroud, VUMC, 2525 W. End Ave, Ste 500, Nashville, TN 37203; reference Job Code 885327 . No phone calls please Franke Management, LLC. Smyrna, TN. Business Intelligence Specialist.

Designs, modifies, develops & writes comp. software systems that support the Business Process & Company Goals.

Supports &/or installs software appls/operating systems. Req. a bachelor's in Info. Systems or Comp. Science & 3 yrs. of rltd exp. in data mgmnt, extraction & transformation or a master's in Info. Systems or Comp. Science & 6 months of rltd exp. in data mgmnt, extraction & transformation. Exp. w/ Microsoft SSIS or Halo. Exp. w/SQL. Send resume to Sondra Owens at sondra.owens@franke.com.

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The right is reserved to adjourn the day of sale to another day and time certain, without further publication and in accordance with law, upon announcement of said adjournment on the day and time and place of sale set forth above, and/or to sell to the second highest bidder in the event the highest bidder does not

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