Nashville Scene 7-28-22

CITY LIMITS: INTEREST IN MALE BIRTH CONTROL RISES POST-ROE REVERSAL

JULY 28–AUGUST 3, 2022 I VOLUME 41 I NUMBER 26 I NASHVILLESCENE.COM I FREE

PAGE 7

MUSIC: AMANDA SHIRES FACES A HOST OF DEMONS WITH TAKE IT LIKE A MAN PAGE 32

PERFORMING ARTS: KINDLING ARTS FESTIVAL SAILS INTO ITS FIFTH YEAR PAGE 27

HOAs, builders and the city itself are weaponizing Metro Codes against ‘undesirable’ neighbors — and it’s disproportionately affecting Black and low-income Nashvillians

BY RADLEY BALKO

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CONTENTS

JULY 28, 2022

7

29

Interest in Male Birth Control Rises Following Roe Reversal ...................7

The Johnson Administration

CITY LIMITS

Researchers are looking for alternatives beyond vasectomy and condoms

CULTURE

THIS WEEK ON THE WEB:

BY D. PATRICK RODGERS

Infinity Cat Announces JEFF the Brotherhood 8-Tracks

30

Nashville Seeks Injunction to Pause Lee’s ESA Program

Catching up with breakout SNL cast member and native Nashvillian James Austin Johnson

BY HANNAH HERNER

Pith in the Wind .........................................7 This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog

Life of the Party .........................................8 Tennessee Democratic Party employees are unionizing

BOOKS

All Our Families’ Histories Alora Young’s debut poetry collection looks into the lives of the women who came before her

BY STEPHEN ELLIOTT

11

BY CIONA ROUSE

COVER STORY Code Snitching

HOAs, builders and the city itself are weaponizing Metro Codes against ‘undesirable’ neighbors — and it’s disproportionately affecting Black and low-income Nashvillians

BY RADLEY BALKO

The Peach Truck Celebrates 10 Years With Peach Week Review: A Blue Grass Boy’s Memoir of Life on the Road With the Great Bill Monroe

32

MUSIC

When in Doubt ........................................ 32 Amanda Shires faced a host of demons to make Take It Like a Man

BY LORIE LIEBIG

Morale Boost ........................................... 34

19

Kendrick Lamar brings his Big Steppers Tour to Nissan Stadium

CRITICS’ PICKS

BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

Southern Underground Pro: Final Bosses, The Righteous Brothers, Rahsaan Barber, The Forge Launch Party, The Theater Bug Presents 7 Ways to Sunday, The Cancellations, Cat Power, Kiki’s Delivery Service and more

The Spin ................................................... 35

24

36

Can You Deg It? ....................................... 24

Whole Lava Love

FOOD AND DRINK

The Scene’s live-review column checks out Sharon Van Etten, Julien Baker and Angel Olsen at the Ryman

BY STEVEN HALE

FILM

Glencliff eatery Degthai shows no signs of stopping

Fire of Love is a heartwarming doc about true love and volcanoes

BY ALIJAH POINDEXTER

BY CRAIG D. LINDSEY

Tip Jar ...................................................... 25

Yep

Meet cook Boogie Soto of Midnight Oil and The Centennial

Writer-director-producer Jordan Peele’s relentlessly original Nope is now playing everywhere

BY ASHLEY BRANTLEY

BY D. PATRICK RODGERS

27

37

PERFORMING ARTS

NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

Fire Starters

Kindling Arts Festival sails into its fifth year

BY ERICA CICCARONE

38

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3pm Springwater Sit In Jam

5pm Writers @ the Water Open Mic

FROM BILL FREEMAN

PHOTO COURTESY OF METRO NASHVILLE

PET OF THE WEEK!

PEARL-COHN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, 2017

WHY ARE MORE TEACHERS LEAVING THE CLASSROOM? As the new school year rushes toward us, many are concerned whether there will be enough teachers in classrooms to instruct and care for our children.

A 2021 Wall Street Journal analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics found the number of people quitting work in the education sector has grown faster than in any other industry. The BLS data, as noted by a Money report, shows that “182,000 people quit their jobs in public education in February of this year, up from 138,000 the same month in 2021.”

The teacher shortage is continuing, and teachers still in the classroom are feeling unhappy and unappreciated. According to The Tennessean, teacher resignations and retirements in Nashville are up by 15 percent. The numbers show that nearly 550 teachers resigned just last year — up from 464 resignations or terminations the year before. Metro is seeking to fill 250 teaching vacancies before classes start on Aug. 10. As National Education Association President Becky Pringle told Money, “After persevering through the hardest school years in memory, America’s educators are exhausted and increasingly burned out.”

Fifty-five percent of educators have said they’ll likely leave the industry sooner than they planned.

So why are educators leaving the industry?

No single reason is carved into stone.

There are numerous explanations for why teachers are finding their calling fading to a distant whisper. In recent years, teachers have finally begun receiving raises and costof-living increases. But low pay has not been the sole culprit in driving teachers from the classroom. J.C. Bowman, executive director of Professional Educators of Tennessee, tells The Tennessean: “Educators do not feel welcome in their own careers. They do not feel like they are being listened to by parents or policymakers. They do not feel respected. It is a morale issue.” Bowman notes that heavy workload, poor salaries and pointless legislation have also influenced teachers’ decisions to leave.

And who can blame these teachers?

They’ve come through the past two years of COVID-19 having to deal with bipartisan arguments over how best to care for children in the classroom. There have been

threats of violence over whether children should wear masks, there have been changes in the culture surrounding teaching — what some have called “education culture wars” — and yes, there have been many school shootings that have taken the lives of students and teachers alike. Further, teachers now have to prepare their students to react or respond to such violence.

Now it seems to be a teacher you need body armor and a great capacity for dealing with frustration over being pushed and pulled when it comes to what you’re allowed to teach.

According to Tennessee’s Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn, on average, the state has been short by about 2,000 teachers for the past several school years.

In working to fill the gap — at least to some extent — Tennessee has partnered with the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Labor to create teacher apprenticeship programs, which will allow future teachers to get real experience in the classroom while they are earning their degrees.

Further, Metro does have a backup plan should the county’s many teaching vacancies not be filled prior to the school year. Director of talent acquisition for Metro Nashville Public Schools Amber Tyus recently told WPLN that there are “permanent substitutes, school administrators, principals, assistant principals, instructional coaches, or deans of education” who are “very capable of stepping into the classroom and filling in without a teacher being present.”

As a community, let’s remind every teacher we know that we appreciate all they do. Let’s remember to thank them for their service, just as we would for veterans.

Remind them that we sincerely appreciate their abilities, the time and skills they bring to the table to educate our children, and most of all, the dedication they have caring for our children and guiding them through their school years.

Teachers, my hat is off to you!

Editor-in-Chief D. Patrick Rodgers Managing Editor Alejandro Ramirez Senior Editor Dana Kopp Franklin Arts Editor Laura Hutson Hunter Culture Editor Erica Ciccarone Music and Listings Editor Stephen Trageser Contributing Editor Jack Silverman Staff Writers Kelsey Beyeler, Stephen Elliott, Hannah Herner, J.R. Lind, Eli Motycka, William Williams, KateLynn White Contributing Writers Sadaf Ahsan, Radley Balko, Ashley Brantley, Maria Browning, Steve Cavendish, Chris Chamberlain, Lance Conzett, Steve Erickson, Nancy Floyd, Randy Fox, Adam Gold, Kashif Andrew Graham, Seth Graves, Kim Green, Steven Hale, Steve Haruch, Edd Hurt, Jennifer Justus, Christine Kreyling, Craig D. Lindsey, Margaret Littman, Brittney McKenna, Marissa R. Moss, Noel Murray, Joe Nolan, Betsy Phillips, John Pitcher, Margaret Renkl, Daryl Sanders, Megan Seling, Jason Shawhan, Michael Sicinski, Nadine Smith, Ashley Spurgeon, Amy Stumpfl, Kay West, Abby White, Andrea Williams, Ron Wynn, Charlie Zaillian Editorial Intern Claudia Villeda Art Director Elizabeth Jones Photographers Eric England, Matt Masters, Daniel Meigs Graphic Designers Mary Louise Meadors, Tracey Starck Production Coordinator Christie Passarello Festival Director Olivia Britton Marketing and Promotions Manager Robin Fomusa Publisher Mike Smith Senior Advertising Solutions Managers Sue Falls, Michael Jezewski, Carla Mathis, Heather Cantrell Mullins, Jennifer Trsinar, Keith Wright Advertising Solutions Managers Richard Jacques, Deborah Laufer, Niki Tyree Sales Operations Manager Chelon Hill Hasty Advertising Solutions Associates Jada Goggins, Audry Houle, Alissa Wetzel Special Projects Coordinator Susan Torregrossa President Frank Daniels III Chief Financial Officer Todd Patton Corporate Production Director Elizabeth Jones Vice President of Marketing Mike Smith IT Director John Schaeffer Circulation and Distribution Director Gary Minnis For advertising information please contact: Mike Smith, msmith@nashvillescene.com or 615-844-9238 FW PUBLISHING LLC Owner Bill Freeman VOICE MEDIA GROUP National Advertising 1-888-278-9866 vmgadvertising.com

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NASHVILLE SCENE | JULY 28 – AUGUST 3, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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CITY LIMITS

INTEREST IN MALE BIRTH CONTROL RISES FOLLOWING ROE REVERSAL

Researchers are looking for alternatives beyond vasectomy and condoms

BY HANNAH HERNER

I

t takes two to conceive. But the societal responsibility of preventing pregnancy largely falls on women.

This summer’s reversal of Roe v. Wade via the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision brought conversations about birth control to the forefront.

But more than 60 years after the first oral contraceptive for women was introduced, science has yet to develop an FDA-approved method of contraception for men beyond vasectomy and condoms.

One barrier: meeting the criteria. Meharry Medical College professor Anthony Archibong has been studying male birth control since the 1980s. He’s currently working on off-label use for one drug, and in the past has focused on antigen shots, which cause a man’s body to turn against his sperm.

But for the kinds of methods Archibong researches to be considered successful, he says they have to be reversible, costeffective, accessible, dependable, easy to take, have few side effects and not reduce libido, he says — criteria that are largely not required of popular female birth control methods.

Another barrier for this research is lack of funding. According to the Male Contraceptive Initiative, the Durham, N.C., nonprofit is the largest funder of nonhormonal male contraception research. The organization has an operating budget of approximately $3 million a year and four employees. Since Roe was reversed, the MCI’s website traffic has doubled. There’s been an uptick in interest around participating in clinical trials and donations, according to spokesperson Kevin Shane.

THIS WEEK ON OUR NEWS AND POLITICS BLOG: The Metro Council has relatively little power to battle against the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the decision that reversed Roe v. Wade and its precedent that the U.S. Constitution protects the right to abortion. Nevertheless, the council and the mayor’s office — in a rare bit of cross-branch cooperation — are doing what they can. The council passed a resolution requesting the benefits board explore whether Metro’s employee insurance covers

“One individual who gives us millions of dollars each year, he is almost single-handedly making sure that this happens,” Shane says. “We’ve been saying that [a male contraceptive option] is 10 years away forever, because there’s no money and there’s no one doing this work.”

Shane says that with slightly more funding, a hormonal option will likely be first to hit the market. Most promising is Nesterone/Testosterone (NES/T), a gel that’s applied on the shoulders daily. It’s been tested on committed heterosexual partnerships in which the female stops birth control entirely, to success. It’s heading to stage 3 trials, which, according to Shane, means it could be on the market within a few years.

According to a 2019 study led by the Male Contraceptive Initiative, men are twice as likely to opt for a nonhormonal method (80 percent) as a hormonal method (40 percent), though Shane predicts it will be five to 10 years before one hits the market.

The most promising MCI-funded study involves triptonide, an herbal extract used in Chinese medicine that alters the sperm so it can’t penetrate the egg. Another grant recipient, Contraline, is beginning clinical trials for a hydrogel that’s injected into the vas deferens.

Until more options come to the market, one effective option — vasectomies — is seeing an uptick in public awareness. Urologist Matthew Pollard, who performs three to five vasectomies a week, has noticed younger patients who often haven’t already had children in his consultations — and a growing wait list. The majority of the time, a vasectomy is covered by insurance.

Pollard emphasizes that a person should

not depend on a vasectomy being reversible, however. He estimates that 80 to 95 percent of the time, a reversal can get sperm back into the ejaculate, though the sperm count and quality is often lower. He recommends that his patients freeze sperm before the procedure for this reason.

“There’s lots of factors, but there is a significant portion of patients who — even though they do get a great reversal and everything went really well and the reconstruction was excellent — they still have to do something additional to get pregnant,” Pollard says.

The procedure typically takes 20 minutes under local anesthesia, and requires one day on the couch, icing the surgical site. The next day the patient will be sore and sensitive, but should be up and doing their normal activities. By the end of the week, they’re

totally back to normal.

Still, the most common question Pollard gets around the procedure: Will it affect my sexual function?

“Men who have vasectomies, essentially, the vast majority of time don’t notice any significant change before and after vasectomy as far as their sex life goes,” he says.

Perhaps the largest barrier to getting new male contraceptives on the market is simply the will.

“A lot of people would say, ‘It’s easier to stop an egg a month — the menstrual process — than it is to try and stop this incredible sperm production,’ ” Shane says. “We don’t put too much stock in that because, yes, the science might be complicated, but hey, we’ve been able to put people on the moon for God’s sake. I think we can figure it out.”

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

travel and associated costs for people seeking health care — including abortion — in other states when it is unavailable in Tennessee. If the board finds that the insurance does not in fact provide that benefit, it has been instructed to add it. Councilmember Joy Styles made a rambling speech expressing vague support for “women that need a voice and need assistance,” but claimed she had to abstain from the vote due to a “board affiliation.” Styles is the chairman of the board at a local crisis pregnancy center. … The benefits board, a relatively obscure board (and given the number of obscure Metro boards, that’s saying something), actually got a twofer at the meeting. Mayor John Cooper nominated David Wyley Long. During a Rules Committee meeting, Councilmember Bob Mendes asked Long for his thoughts on Dobbs and the aforementioned resolution. Long expressed his unequivocal support for the Supreme Court’s decision. The council’s confirmation vote was deferred; the mayor’s office,

which maybe should have vetted Long a little earlier in the process, announced his nomination would be withdrawn. … Councilmembers Jeff Syracuse and Joy Styles traded rhetorical barbs during a Budget and Finance Committee meeting. Both are trying to find a way for the Metro government to assist the entertainment industry. Syracuse accused Styles of being a Joy-come-lately with her legislation to create a 15-member Nashville Entertainment Commission; Styles says if Syracuse has been working so long to find a solution, why isn’t there one? Syracuse, who says he will be running for an at-large seat since he is term-limited from seeking reelection as a district councilmember, says Styles’ legislation “has zero engagement with the most important industry in this city.” Styles’ bill was deferred for a third time at Tuesday’s meeting. …

Matt Wiltshire wasn’t required to make a campaign finance disclosure for his mayoral campaign since he didn’t officially announce his candidacy until

after the July 1 deadline. He nevertheless did, saying he raised $351,332 in one week. … Metro is still fighting against Gov. Bill Lee’s education savings account program, seeking yet another injunction to keep the program at bay at least for the upcoming school year. … Writes contributor Betsy Phillips, Gov. Bill Lee’s adviser Larry Arnn popped up in The Tennessean last week with excuses, but no apology.

Arnn is the president of Michigan’s Hillsdale College and the man to whom Gov. Lee wants to give over curriculum development at many Tennessee schools.

After insulting teachers while the governor sat by meekly, Arnn wrote an op-ed for the daily last week, explaining that it’s not he who is wrong, but we who are too stupid to understand fancy words like “dumb.”

DR. MATTHEW POLLARD

KEVIN SHANE

UROLOGIST MATTHEW POLLARD, WHO PERFORMS THREE TO FIVE VASECTOMIES A WEEK, HAS NOTICED YOUNGER PATIENTS WHO OFTEN HAVEN’T ALREADY HAD CHILDREN IN HIS CONSULTATIONS — AND A GROWING WAIT LIST.

NASHVILLESCENE.COM/PITHINTHEWIND EMAIL: PITH@NASHVILLESCENE.COM TWEET: @PITHINTHEWIND

nashvillescene.com | JULY 28 – AUGUST 3, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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7/25/22 5:27 PM

CITY LIMITS

LIFE OF THE PARTY Tennessee Democratic Party employees are unionizing

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T

ennessee is not the easiest place to be a labor organizer.

The state’s most powerful people, like Gov. Bill Lee, actively lobby against union drives. Tennessee teachers were stripped of collective bargaining power more than a decade ago. And in November, Tennessee voters will decide whether to add “right to work” language — provisions that undermine union power by allowing workers to benefit from collective bargaining without paying dues, which has been state law for decades — to the state constitution.

With that forthcoming vote in mind, employees of the Tennessee Democratic Party have decided to unionize with IBEW Local 429 — the local chapter of the electrical workers’ union that also represents Democratic Party workers in several other states. Party leadership has decided to voluntarily recognize the union.

Though the staffers behind the organizing effort acknowledge the symbolism of making the move in Tennessee’s challenging organizing climate, they say the push is mostly about the material concerns of current and future employees, in part inspired by challenges faced by past party employees.

“Under previous administrations, there have been some firings that came out of left field,” says Cassie Jackson, TNDP digital director. “We wanted to make it so that could never happen under any administration, even after we’re gone.

We want to protect workers in terms of compensation and the amount of hours that we work and help the Tennessee Democratic Party live up to its values that it claims to hold.”

Organizers are demanding that the party’s executive committee add a progressive disciplinary structure into party bylaws.

Additionally, union supporters say that a negotiated contract could help Tennessee keep talented young political operatives from leaving for jobs in Washington, D.C., or flashier races in more competitive states.

“We have a skill drain to other states,” says special projects manager Jason Miller. “We’re trying to keep those folks.”

TNDP Chair Hendrell Remus says the decision to voluntarily recognize the union stemmed from a desire to “live out those Democratic values that we have professed to believe in.”

“Our party has talked extensively about supporting unions, supporting the rights for employees to organize, making sure people can retire with dignity and have good wages and a safe workplace,” he says. “But for a long time, we’ve only talked about that. We are all in support of employees having a right to unionize and being able to express that

“WE WANT TO PROTECT WORKERS IN TERMS OF COMPENSATION AND THE AMOUNT OF HOURS THAT WE WORK AND HELP THE TENNESSEE DEMOCRATIC PARTY LIVE UP TO ITS VALUES THAT IT CLAIMS TO HOLD.”

— CASSIE JACKSON, TNDP DIGITAL DIRECTOR

right through organizing. There really wasn’t any significant differences for us to not voluntarily recognize them. We just had to work out some kinks on what the bargaining unit would look like, and beyond that, there was no reason to force a vote on it.”

That could remain a sticking point, as union organizers want the bargaining unit to be as big as possible — including employees of coordinated campaigns jointly established by the state party and major candidates as well as TNDP-funded organizers working for county parties.

“Right now, the focus is on the staff,” Remus says. “When we get into the collective bargaining part of this, we’ll have to decide if we want to include coordinated employees in this overall staff agreement or if we just want to focus on our core staff.”

Adds Jackson: “I can say very strongly that we want to support and have as many workers that qualify as part of our bargaining unit as possible so they can be protected.”

The bargaining process is still some weeks off, and Remus says he will seek executive committee approval of any negotiated contract with the staff.

Anyone who has sat through an executive committee meeting (for either of the state’s two major parties) knows that nothing is guaranteed when that group of party leaders gathers.

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | JULY 28 – AUGUST 3, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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CODE SNI TCHING HOAs, builders and the city itself are weaponizing Metro Codes against ‘undesirable’ neighbors — and it’s disproportionately affecting Black and lowincome Nashvillians

BY RADLEY BALKO

T

he first time Freddie Benford turns the engine over, the faded blue 1967 Dodge Coronet 440 sputters. There’s a dog-eared Bible and some old prescription bags on the dash, and a colony of COVID masks hangs from the transmission lever.

Benford turns the key again. Still nothing.

On the third try the old car comes to life, purring at first. Then Benford gives it some gas, and it roars. He smiles. “She’ll burn rubber from here to Chattanooga,” he says.

“Rebuilt the engine myself. You could drive to California and back on one quart of oil.”

The Coronet was Benford’s first car. His dad paid $150 for it in 1977, and Benford inherited it back when his father passed away. “It’s sentimental,” he says. “Real sentimental.”

Benford and his wife Clarice Ramey live in a modest white brick ranch home in East Nashville’s Rosebank neighborhood, along the western edge of the Shelby Bottoms Greenway. He’s an auto parts salesman; she works in child care. Benford tells me their ages — he’s 62, she’s 70 — then grins. “I have always appreciated an older woman,” he says.

The couple bought their home in 1997. It’s a pretty plot of land, with a sun-drenched, gently sloped front yard and a backyard lined with trees. The house itself looks well lived-in.

There’s some peeling paint and a rusty, photogenic pair of old lawn chairs out front. The house is busy, so the driveway is often lined

with cars as the couple’s friends and family come and go. It’s certainly not an eyesore.

The grass is well-trimmed. There’s no visible trash. No furniture on the lawn. No debris.

From the street, or even the front yard, you’d be hard-pressed to understand why, according to Benford, inspectors from the Metro Codes Department have visited the couple more than 50 times. Or why, he says, they’ve racked up $3,500 in fines. Or why in 2016, just a few years after the couple finally paid off their mortgage, the city put a lien on their home — one that remains in place today.

According to the city, the first problem is the small fishing boat the couple has parked on a trailer in their front yard. That apparently isn’t allowed. Neither are the cars of friends and relatives who sometimes park off the driveway, slightly on the lawn.

But to get to the main problem, I have to take the couple’s long driveway up to the house and enter the backyard to find the carport that extends out from the home.

Benford spends a lot of time under the carport. He works on the Coronet here. He tinkers at his workbench and listens to the radio. On the blistering June day I visit, it isn’t hard to see why he likes it. The trees provide shade, rustle up a nice breeze, and bathe the area in dappled light. As we talk, the couple’s lab mix Bella patrols a T-shaped patch of grass.

“See that mini fridge over there? He wrote me up for that,” Benford says, referring to the Codes inspector. “I never heard of something so dumb. A man can’t have a mini fridge in his own garage?”

Benford sighs, rolls his eyes, and continues. “He wrote me up for having tools out here. Said you can’t have tools that aren’t put away. He said I can’t have the work bench. Once I was drinking a can of soda when he came over. He told me to put it away. You believe that? I’m a grown man, and you’re telling me to put away my soda.

Everything you see out here, they told me I can’t have.”

Benford’s hardly a hoarder. At worst, you could say the carport has some clutter.

There are a few chairs, some tools, a grill and a couple empty kerosene tanks. In 2018, his wife suffered a fall in the shower, hit her

head, and sustained injuries that required brain surgery and a long convalescence.

Benford himself recently had knee surgery.

So there’s also a walker, a cane and assorted medical devices.

The structure is enclosed by the house on one side. The other three sides are open.

And that, apparently, is the problem. “If that was an enclosed garage, it wouldn’t be an issue,” says Jamie Hollin, the couple’s attorney. “But they can’t afford to build a garage.

So the city won’t leave them alone.” The carport isn’t visible from any public space, and as far as I could tell, the surrounding neighbors would have to strain to see it.

Benford says he and Ramey are the only Black couple in the neighborhood, and for the most part, that hasn’t been a problem.

“We get along with everybody,” he says.

“Everyone is friendly.”

But Benford says the first complaint that put the couple on the city’s radar came from a white neighbor in 2003. “That lady would ask me to come help her move things, or fix something,” Benford says. “She’d ask for rides to and from the bus stop. Come to find out she was reporting us to the city the entire time.”

Those reports attracted the attention of a particular Codes inspector, who then became a thorn in the couple’s side for nearly two decades. “At first he’d only come around when she called in a complaint,” Benford says. “But then he just started showing up on his own.

He’d just come into the backyard and start telling me to put things away. Neighbors told me he’d sometimes park in their driveway and watch us with binoculars.”

The Coronet also became an issue.

Nashville prohibits residents from keeping inoperable or unregistered vehicles on residential properties unless they’re stored in an enclosed garage. Paradoxically, the city also forbids residents from making major repairs on their own vehicles — again, unless it’s done in an enclosed garage. For Benford, that means when the Coronet has broken down over the years, his only legal option is to have it towed to a garage and pay someone else to fix it, even though he has the skills to fix it himself. According to Benford, the same Codes inspector has repeatedly shown up at his home over the

years solely to demand that Benford prove that the car is operable. “I lost count of how many times he made me do that,” Benford says. “More than 20.”

“It’s just outrageous and demeaning,” says Hollin. “You’re going to come out and make this man start his car for you on command? You’re going to put a lien on this couple’s home over an old car? Some chairs in a carport? A goddamn refrigerator?”

Benford says he wasn’t aware of the lien until Hollin told him last year. “I can’t sell my house until we pay those fines,” Benford says. “How are you going to put a lien on somebody’s home without even telling them?”

“They just don’t care,” Hollin says.

“These folks have lived here for 25 years.

Hell, Freddie’s lived in Nashville all his life.

They work hard. Finally pay off their house.

And they have to put up with this bullshit because of nosy neighbors, some petty tyrant inspector, and a bunch of oblivious Metro officials. It just makes me mad.”

Over the past three years, the Metro Codes Department has fielded more than 95,000 complaints. Some complaints concern unkempt vacant lots, abandoned buildings that pose a fire hazard, dumped garbage or cars abandoned in alleyways.

Others are requests for the city to remove old signs or debris. But browse the content of the complaints themselves — they’re all conveniently posted and plotted on the city’s “Nashview” site — and you’ll see a lot of complaints from residents about “eyesores,” tall grass, unregistered vehicles, cars parked on grass or houses in need of new paint or siding. You’ll see a lot of neighbors reporting neighbors. (The Metro Codes Department did not respond to multiple requests for comment in time for publication.)

Upon receiving a complaint, the Codes office is then supposed to send an inspector out to investigate. If a property owner doesn’t address the violations in a timely manner, the city can issue a warrant to appear in Environmental Court. Failure to appear in court can result in a fine or incarceration. If the fines accumulate or the problem isn’t fixed, the city can request a lien, or even ask for jail time.

“Think about who a system like this

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PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

FREDDIE BENFORD

targets, and who it benefits,” says Joanna Weiss, co-director of the Fines and Fees Justice Center in New York. “Poor people don’t typically call Codes on their neighbors, because poor people don’t trust the legal system. The people who benefit from complaint-driven systems are people for whom the legal system already works perfectly. Wealthy people. White people.

Developers. And they usually use it as a weapon against people who don’t have the means to fight back” Tennessee in general is among the worst states in the country when it comes to predatory fines and fees. Environmental courts, which exist only in Davidson and Shelby counties, can add another layer of harassment. Nashville and its leaders also have

strong incentives to keep the system as it is.

“Want to know who benefits most from gentrification?” Hollin asks. “It ain’t developers or landlords. It’s the city of Nashville. For all the talk about affordable housing you hear from the Metro Council, remember that every time a poor family has to sell their house and move out of a ‘desirable’ neighborhood, what happens? A bigger house goes up. The property value goes up. And the city gets more tax revenue.”

SNITCH CITY

Critics like Hollin and Weiss point to two fundamental problems with how Nashville enforces property standards: The laws themselves are vague, and they’re driven by anonymous complaints.

As for vagueness, Codes inspectors often tell the people they cite that they’re only enforcing the law — that they aren’t given the discretion to overlook even petty violations. That isn’t quite true. There’s no provision that prohibits Freddie Benford’s mini-fridge, for example, or his soda can, or the tools he keeps under his carport. But there is a prohibition on “open storage,” and that gives inspectors wide discretion to cite anything in a yard they or a neighbor might find unsightly.

“They told me I was in violation of open storage because I had more cushions on my porch than I had chairs,” says Claire, an East Nashville resident who asked to not be identified by her real name. (Several sources for this article said they feared retaliation

from the city or Codes, and requested anonymity.) “I had a shovel leaning against the house. He ordered me to put that away. My husband had cut some 2-by-4s into blocks for my kids to play with. The inspector called it ‘construction debris.’ Because one neighbor complained about our yard, it was like he was looking for as many violations as he could.”

“I had a tenant, a couple, who loved garden gnomes,” says Burt, a builder and landlord whose properties include affordable housing. “They had dozens of them.

The neighbors hated the gnomes and called Codes. But I told the city that this is art. You may hate it, you may think it’s ugly, but it’s art, and there’s no code prohibiting it. They backed off the gnomes, but then started citing them for all sorts of ticky-tack violations until they had to move.”

One former city official with experience in Codes enforcement, who also asked not to be named, said the laws are vague enough that inspectors could easily find violations at every home in the city, including his own and those of other Codes inspectors.

“Code enforcement is inherently adversarial,” says Bill Maurer, a litigator with the Institute for Justice, a libertarian public-interest law firm. “It doesn’t need to be, but it almost always is. It operates on a presumption of guilt. You must have done something wrong, or your neighbor wouldn’t have complained.”

Another problem: The system is primarily driven by anonymous complaints.

Anyone can call in a complaint to the 311 hotline or send one through the city’s website. In 2018, Metro even put out a video that included instructions on how to report violations.

“I’d compare it to anti-loitering laws,” says Weiss. “You have these vague laws that are wildly open to interpretation, that essentially make everyone a potential criminal.

But then you have this added component where everyday people become the enforcers, with no accountability for false reporting. So everyone is a potential criminal, but the only people actually criminalized are those who happen to have neighbors who don’t like them.”

In response to an email query, Bill Penn, Metro assistant director of property standards, wrote that because some complainants may fear retaliation, “the codes department would not be in favor of doing away with anonymous complaints.”

Helpfully, the city posts all Codes complaints going back three years on its Metro Hub site. The site also plots those complaints on an interactive map. So when I first embarked on this story, I reached out to a few economist acquaintances to see if one of them might be interested in analyzing the data. I was referred to Alexander Taylor, a Ph.D. student and economics lecturer at George Mason University. Taylor agreed to cross-reference Codes complaints data with Census data and figures from the Davidson County Assessor of Property. What he found was striking. While the average Nashville ZIP code generates about six Codes complaints per 100 residents, in gentrifying ZIP codes the figure nearly doubles — to 11. (Economists have specific criteria a ZIP code must meet to qualify as “gentrifying.”)

Next, Taylor looked at data from the assessor’s office to control for the type of property (single family, multi-family, business, etc.), and its condition (excellent,

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dilapidated, etc.). He found that homes in gentrifying ZIP codes are about 50 percent more likely to have a Codes complaint than homes of a similar value and condition in non-gentrifying ZIP codes.

Taylor then looked at home values in the two Nashville ZIP codes that produced the most Codes complaints over the past three years. In my own 37206 ZIP code — which includes fast-gentrifying neighborhoods Edgefield, Lockeland Springs and Shelby Bottoms — homes assessed at less than $200,000 had 120 percent more complaints on average than homes valued higher than $500,000. In the 37208 ZIP code — which includes Germantown and the historically Black neighborhoods of Salemtown, Osage and North Nashville — the lower-value homes had about 70 percent more complaints than the more expensive homes.

Taylor also found a clear racial disparity: For every 10 percent increase in a Nashville ZIP code’s Black population, the number of Codes complaints increases by 50 percent.

“These numbers don’t surprise me, but I’m glad someone did the work,” Weiss says.

“It shows that low-income people tend not to call Codes on other low-income people, and few people call Codes on wealthy people. It’s usually newer, wealthier residents calling codes on older, poorer people who have lived in these neighborhoods for years.”

‘YOUR COST OF COMPLIANCE IS NOT MY PROBLEM’

Back in the fall I was working from home when a Davidson County sheriff’s deputy knocked on our door. When I answered, he seemed almost embarrassed. “I hate doing this,” he said. He then handed me a warrant to appear in Environmental Court. “I walked around your property, and I don’t really see why they’re going after you. You must have really pissed somebody off.”

Over the preceding six months or so, we had received two citations from Codes for overgrown vegetation. But the notices don’t specify where on your property the violations actually are. (I’d later learn that inspectors do take photos, they just don’t send them to you.) After the first notice, I found a few ground-cover vines had crept onto a public sidewalk, so I trimmed them back.

After the second notice, I walked around and saw a few vines had also crept over our back fence. I trimmed those too. But what the city was pursuing us for would turn out to be a much bigger problem.

Our property includes two steep gradations running in two directions. Consequently, we’re constantly battling erosion.

The property also sits a few feet below the road at a fairly busy intersection. A storm runoff pipe feeds directly into our front yard, so every time it rains, our yard is flushed with streetwater, which then washes down the length of the property along the westeast gradient. Street runoff is typically full of chemicals and other street gunk, which makes it more difficult to get grass to grow, which only exacerbates the erosion. The other gradient, and the one behind the warrant, is a steep slope on the south side of our backyard. Google Street View photos of the property from well before we moved in show the slope has always been teeming with wild growth, often overtaking the public sidewalk.

When we moved in, we put up a 6-foot privacy fence, which has kept the growth contained. I regularly spray and hack away

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at the growth to keep it well inside the fence.

There have been a few occasions when some plants might have crept over parts of the fence or onto the sidewalk. Vines can grow quickly. But we’ve substantially improved the aesthetics of the property.

Admittedly, inside the fence, the slope could at times be a bit wild, particularly toward the end of the summer. My wife and I sometimes joked about the mini Jurassic Park in our backyard. Landscapers told us our only real option is terracing, which would cost $30,000 or more. But the vegetation on the slope wasn’t visible from any public space, and it didn’t bother us much.

So we decided to leave it alone.

Our problems began when a row of townhouses went up on the vacant lot behind us. The closest had a direct view into our backyard. When I read the warrant, it became clear that the house behind us was the source of the complaint — and that the city wasn’t targeting us for a few plants, it was targeting us for the entire slope. That afternoon I called the Codes office and left a message. I hoped, probably foolishly, that once I explained all of this to them, they’d see we were in a difficult situation and would back down. That isn’t what happened.

When Tad Dominiak, the inspector assigned to our case, called me back, the conversation did not go well. Dominiak told me every plant on the slope longer than 12 inches would need to be removed. He threatened me with a fine of $50 per day, per weed, if we didn’t comply. When I told Dominiak that removing all of the vegetation would cause massive erosion, he suggested terracing. We had looked into that, I told him, and it would cost tens of thousands of dollars. He responded, “Your cost of compliance is not my problem.”

“THINK ABOUT WHO A SYSTEM LIKE THIS TARGETS, AND WHO IT BENEFITS. POOR PEOPLE DON’T TYPICALLY CALL CODES ON THEIR NEIGHBORS, BECAUSE POOR PEOPLE DON’T TRUST THE LEGAL SYSTEM. THE PEOPLE WHO BENEFIT FROM COMPLAINT-DRIVEN SYSTEMS ARE PEOPLE FOR WHOM THE LEGAL SYSTEM ALREADY WORKS PERFECTLY. WEALTHY PEOPLE. WHITE PEOPLE. DEVELOPERS. AND THEY USUALLY USE IT AS A WEAPON AGAINST PEOPLE WHO DON’T HAVE THE MEANS TO FIGHT BACK.” — JOANNA WEISS, CO-DIRECTOR OF THE FINES AND FEES JUSTICE CENTER IN NEW YORK

‘IT’S A SHAM’

As Jamie Hollin recounts the first time he visited Davidson County Environmental Court, his face flushes red. He speaks slowly at first, but picks up volume and momentum with each syllable. “I was stunned and appalled,” he says. “And frankly, to call it a court gives it way too much credit. It’s a sham. A joke. A predatory body. Here’s the common denominator among the people I saw in that room: poor, Black and elderly. Ninety-five percent of them didn’t have a lawyer. And their rights were being trampled.”

Hollin, 47, was born in Memphis to “dirtpoor” parents (his phrase). He moved out at 17 and put himself through college at the University of Tennessee. He then moved to Davidson County and worked part time while attending Nashville School of Law. He’s lived in Nashville ever since, forging a career of bulldog legal activism that’s put him squarely in the headlines for some touchstone city controversies.

Hollin is whip-smart, tenacious and unapologetically profane. He almost seems to invite you to underestimate or stereotype him, if only so he can prove you wrong. Poke around the Scene’s or The Tennessean’s archives, for example, and you’ll find that this gadfly with a syrupy drawl, ever-present stubble and boot-strap background — whose Twitter avatar was, until recently, a photo of him clutching a catfish — once made national news with an expletive-filled rant against the state’s infamous 2011 “Don’t Say Gay” bill (while serving on the Metro

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Council, no less). Hollin also led the effort to pass an LGBTQ anti-discrimination bill, and fought the city’s police union to establish a Community Oversight Board for the Metro Nashville Police Department.

Environmental Court is Hollin’s latest battle. He wants it abolished. In the spring, as we chatted from his one-room law office above the Shoppes on Fatherland, he succinctly explained why. “I’m a child of poverty,” he said. “When you fuck with poor people, it pisses me off.”

Hollin’s first exposure to the court was in 2015. He was representing a friend who operated a short-term rental property. Hollin was so upset at what he saw that he returned to the court over ensuing months just to observe. On one morning in 2016, he’d had enough. He stood up in the back of the court.

“I yelled out that I was an attorney, and if anyone in that room had a case pending, I’d represent them for free.” Over the following week, Hollin says he got over 60 cases dismissed.

In addition to property standards, the Environmental Court adjudicates a wide range of complaints, from dog-related infractions (including leash violations, excessive barking, and bites or attacks) to noise and other nuisances and short-term rentals. The court occupies a curious space in the legal system, straddling the boundary between civil and criminal law.

Braden Boucek, director of litigation at the conservative Southeastern Legal Foundation, says this is by design. “In a civil court, there’s no punitive component,” he says. “At worst, a court can award damages against you. But no one is injured because they don’t like the look of your house or your yard. So Environmental Court gives the city regulators [a] punitive component.”

The Metro Council could certainly pass a law making unmowed grass or peeling paint a criminal offense, though it would probably be unpopular. But if it did, it would need to afford those people basic due-process rights. The Tennessee Constitution guarantees those protections for anyone accused of an offense punishable by more than $50.

“The Environmental Court brings the functional equivalent of the punitive powers of a criminal court into a civil context, but without the accompanying rights the criminal justice system is required to afford the accused,” Boucek says.

It’s no coincidence, then, that the court imposes fines right at $50. Boucek and Hollin both believe that if anyone were to challenge the $50 per day threat, the city would likely lose. “That’s just bullshit,” Hollin says. “It’s the same violation. You haven’t broken the law again just because the sun set and rose again on the same patch of unmowed grass.”

The Tennessee legislature established countywide environmental courts in 1991.

that would be a huge conflict of interest.’ “ Hollin checked the Airbnb site. His hunch was correct. But there was more. City regulations require short-term rental owners to post their permits on sites like Airbnb and Vrbo. Hollin’s clients had been fined or cited for failing to do so. The city attorney had failed to post her own permit.

“At that point, I figured I might as well check the referee too,” Hollin says. Sure enough, then-referee Jim Todd also operated a short-term rental. And he too had failed to post his permit. Both later resigned.

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

IN THE INTEREST OF JUSTICE

JAMIE HOLLIN

The initial legislation authorized counties of more than 600,000 people to set up a special docket under general sessions courts solely to hear codes complaints.

At around that time the city was in the midst of a big urban-planning push. Tennessean archives are rife with stories about how the Metro Beautification Bureau was handing out fines — and liens — for overgrown grass, trash and other eyesores. At first, the bureau and the Environmental Court focused mostly on vacant lots with absentee owners, but both then moved to occupied homes. By the mid-1990s, city officials were lamenting that the court wasn’t punitive enough. One Metro councilmember complained about the court’s low “conviction rate.”

Here again, while the initial complaints about the lack of punitiveness focused on practices like trash dumping and slumlords, the court’s new powers were inevitably directed at vulnerable people, such as those experiencing homelessness. On at least two occasions, religious leaders were brought to the court for attempting to set up homeless shelters. And in 2010, The Tennessean’s “Action Line” columnist lamented that the court had been ineffective at clearing homeless people from a vacant lot whose presence was “troubling” to patrons of a nearby shopping mall.

By 2001, the number of Codes cases had grown to the point that the General Ses-

sions judge who oversaw them couldn’t keep up. She created a new position, a “referee,” to take over the docket. Her first appointment was a former Metro police officer and prosecutor who would hear cases once a week, more if necessary, and was paid $25,000 per year.

The referee is not a judge, and the Environmental Court itself is more administrative than legal. The ambiguousness of it all gave city officials what they wanted — the ability to plow through stacks of cases relatively quickly. But that comes at the expense of due process for the people the city targets.

“They’ve created an unelected official out of whole cloth who gets to rule on cases that affect these people’s lives and livelihoods in profound ways,” Hollin says. “He has the power to fine you. He has the power to throw your ass in jail. And he’s not accountable to the public.”

About a year after he got that first batch of cases dismissed, Hollin struck blood again. In 2017, he was representing another short-term rental owner. As Airbnbs have proliferated throughout the city, they’ve increasingly occupied more of the Environmental Court docket.

“I was sitting there waiting for my client’s case, watching a Metro attorney argue complaints against other short-term rental owners,” Hollin says. “I thought, ‘I wonder if that city attorney has an Airbnb herself? Because

“The priority in the Environmental Court is efficiency, not due process,” says Maurer. “They don’t adhere to the rules of evidence. They don’t pay much attention to rights. The goal is to resolve as many cases as possible, as quickly as possible. That’s a big problem because you’re dealing with people’s most important and cherished possession — their homes.”

Maurer and the Institute for Justice currently represent two Memphis residents who lost their homes because of Environmental Court decisions. In both cases, the residents couldn’t afford to make repairs after a storm damaged their homes. The city bulldozed one house. It evicted IJ’s other client, an elderly woman, and put her possessions on the street.

It then auctioned off her home. Both people are now homeless.

“The environmental courts don’t record their hearings,” Maurer says. “They don’t preserve evidence. So sure, you can appeal a decision. But you can only appeal based on what’s in the record. And for most of these cases, there is no record. It’s just a series of orders.”

Another of Hollin’s cases, which unfolded as I was reporting this story, particularly highlights the court’s inattention to due process. Hollin’s client rents out her home under an owner-occupied short-term rental permit.

But the city says his client doesn’t actually live at the house, so the rentals are illegal.

Hollin says it’s the only house his client owns.

She often isn’t at home because she travels for work. Moreover, he points out, when the city later cited her for a separate offense of failing to fix a storm-damaged fence, it served her, in person, at the very address where it claimed she wasn’t living.

Because Environmental Court hearings aren’t recorded, Hollin hired his own court reporter to create a record. When the Codes inspector testified, Hollin noticed he was referring to a folder stuffed with documents, some of which the city would later submit as evidence. Hollin objected, arguing that he hadn’t been given copies of any of those documents, as the city was required to do under the rules of procedure. According to the transcript, the referee had to look up the rule.

“Any lawyer in this state knows that you have to turn over exhibits before trial,” Hollin says. “You shouldn’t have to look that up.” After conceding that Hollin was right on that rule, referee Renard Hirsch then cited a different rule, which he said allowed him to disregard the disclosure requirement if doing so would be “in the interest of justice.” He overruled Hollin’s objection, apparently deciding it would be in the interest of justice to exempt the city from its disclosure requirements. Later, Hollin attempted to introduce evidence that the city had served the warrant for the broken

fence to his client at the very address where the city claimed she didn’t live. The city objected, and the referee refused to allow it into evidence.

“They treated my client this way despite the fact that she had an attorney,” Hollin says. “And the only reason she can now appeal is because I hired my own court reporter to create a record of this bullshit.

Imagine how they treat the people who have to represent themselves.”

When Hollin tried to appeal, the first hearing fell on a day when he’d be out of town for his daughter’s baseball tournament. So he asked to reschedule. The city objected, and General Sessions Judge Allegra Walker sided with the city. So Hollin sent an intern to sit in and take notes on the hearing. Shortly after the session began, someone from the court clerk’s office kicked Hollin’s intern out of the courtroom.

Hollin was furious. “Court proceedings are open to the public,” he says. “Anyone can sit in. That was clearly an attack on me directed through my intern. It is inexcusable.”

The current referee, Hirsch, is a commercial and bankruptcy lawyer who was appointed in 2017. According to Hollin, Hirsch is paid $50,000 per year to hear Codes cases, plus health insurance, a pension, a parking space and subscriptions to legal services. Hirsch says he does not receive benefits. He hears cases one or two days per week.

Hirsch’s approach to the position has been especially irksome to Hollin. “The previous referees at least understood that these are administrative hearings,” he says. “They wore business attire. Hirsch came in on the first day wearing a robe and hoisting a gavel.” Now agitated again, Hollin adopts a scolding tone. “You are not a judge. You do not preside over a real court.

You are a part-time administrator who helps the city harass poor people for parking on their own grass.”

‘LARGE SPIDER INFESTATIONS’

Our first date in Environmental Court came in December 2021. Because the warrant emphatically threatened jail time for failing to be in court when our case was called, I made sure to verify the time, address and courtroom number a few days in advance.

But that would prove difficult. While the warrant instructed me to appear in court on a Tuesday, the website for Environmental Court said the docket was only held on Wednesdays. The warrant also cautioned that due to the pandemic, the time, date and location of Environmental Court could change on short notice. It provided a web address, advising me to check within 24 hours of my court date to confirm where and when I was to appear. When I checked the address, I received a 404 error. I wasn’t able to finally confirm the date, time and location until I called the clerk’s office on the morning of the hearing.

When we got to court, the scene was similar to what Hollin described. The gallery was mostly older people. About half of them were Black. At one point Hirsch called the name of one disheveled-looking man sitting behind us.

When the man stood up, Hirsch asked what efforts he had made to address an apparent multitude of violations. The man answered that he had taken care of everything but the peeling paint, but at the moment, he just didn’t have the money to repaint his house.

Hirsch replied, “Well what do you think we

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should do about that?” The man answered, “Maybe just dismiss the complaint?”

Hirsch, the city attorneys and the Codes inspectors all laughed, apparently thinking the man had made a joke. The man wasn’t laughing. And with good reason. According to HomeAdvisor, the cost of repainting a 1,500-square-foot home ranges from $750 to $4,000. Homes in poorer condition tend to fall on the higher end, because they require more preparation.

When our case came up, Tad Dominiak met with us in a side room. I had printed out some photos and documents to make our case. None of it mattered. Dominiak showed us the photos of our slope he had taken (clearly from our neighbor’s property), and reiterated that every violating weed would need to be removed or he’d recommend the daily fine. “That’s what we do,” he told us. “We regulate the standard of living on a property so that it’s not helter-skelter.”

I told Dominiak we had since consulted with two more landscapers, both of whom suggested we trim the large shrubs and vines, but leave the ground vines to stop erosion. Both said the dominant vine on the slope was wintercreeper, which they actually recommended planting on similar slopes. But the Codes section pertaining to weeds is vague. It reads: “All premises and exterior property shall be maintained free from weeds in excess of twelve inches.”

That presumably includes plants 12 inches high, but it isn’t clear if it would also include plants 12 inches long. So I asked Dominiak if the plan the landscapers had suggested to us would be OK. He refused to offer any guidance, except to say that whatever we did should be “appropriate in this neighborhood.” We would need to spend the money to execute a plan first, he said. Then he’d tell us if we were in compliance.

Dominiak also showed us the four complaints that had been filed against us. They were comically exaggerated. One referred to a “tree log” that was “rotting” on our “unkempt property.” This was a branch that had fallen during a storm. That complaint also mentioned “out of control vegetation” that required “bi-weekly trimming” to prevent it from intruding on our neighbor’s property.

Another claimed our excessive vegetation had “overtaken” sidewalks, was “causing property damage to neighbors,” and complained of “rodents and vermin” living amid the vegetation, along with “large spider infestations” that were “causing concern to neighbors.”

Because of the 6-foot fence that surrounds our property, there’d be no way to know if our slope was housing colonies of “vermin” without trespassing. One would also think we’d have seen all these vermin.

We hadn’t.

When I spoke to him, our neighbor denied any knowledge of the complaints, but he did say our slope had been the subject of discussion in the neighborhood. I told him I was sorry to hear he’d had to pay someone to trim the vines, and offered to reimburse him if he had receipts. (His was the only property any vines could have encroached upon.)

He said he didn’t know anything about that.

He also said the townhouses had an HOA, and it was possible that the president of the HOA had filed the complaints.

But then he said something revealing.

There’s a small park across the street from us. The previous year, a homeless man who

16

lived out of his car with his dog had begun parking there. The man was harmless. My neighbor told me, approvingly, that his HOA president had repeatedly reported the homeless man to the city, and got him removed from the park.

LIGHTING UP CODES

There is at least one good argument for a codes-enforcement system driven by anonymous complaints. That argument is that it helps underserved neighborhoods. It allows members of those communities who may be apprehensive about reaching out to city officials using their own names to draw attention to vacant lots, absentee landlords and other genuine public-safety hazards.

But this isn’t how complaints-driven systems play out in practice. On the ground, it tends to be the residents of those very communities who are hit hardest. “The city ends up prioritizing aesthetic complaints from people with status and influence over genuine threats to public safety,” says Weiss.

“That’s because those are the people who trust the system enough to use it.”

Browse the Facebook groups for city neighborhoods, and you’ll also see speculation that builders and developers have weaponized codes departments to target low-income holdouts in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods. They call in a series of complaints, the theory goes, then swoop in with a lowball offer.

Because complaints are anonymous, it’s almost impossible to prove who filed them.

But in 2019, Nashville’s Fox affiliate WZTV ran a series of reports alleging that developers have been weaponizing codes to target properties they want to acquire. Two reports focused on Evelyn Suggs, a beloved, then-94year-old Black landlord in North Nashville.

Suggs told the station several of her properties had recently been hit with a rash of Codes complaints. Shortly after, developers began contacting her with offers to buy those properties. Some made reference to her battles with Codes. Other local residents, including Freddie Benford, have similar stories.

It’s possible that these developers simply scoured the complaints and court records available online to find property owners with fines, then made offers to those owners. But Burt, the local builder, says he’s witnessed it firsthand. “It absolutely happens,” he says. “I’d go so far as to say it’s common. I’ve personally heard developers boast about ‘lighting up Codes’ on a property they want to buy.”

Advocates like Weiss and Maurer say this is common in other places. “It’s just eminent domain by another name,” Maurer says. “Instead of officially declaring a property blighted and handing it over to a developer, you just hit it with codes complaints until the owner is overwhelmed.”

Many of Nashville’s Codes complaints come from Metro councilmembers themselves, often after they’ve been contacted by neighborhood associations. Not surprisingly, the Codes office gives these complaints top priority.

That likely happens in other cities, too.

But there’s a quirk in Nashville city government that makes it especially problematic here: Nashville has one of the largest city councils in the country, with 41 members.

Only New York and Chicago have more.

But New York and Chicago are of course much larger cities. New York has one

“YOU FEEL A LITTLE BETRAYED, TO BE HONEST,” SAYS SUSAN, WHO SAYS A NEIGHBOR HAS CALLED CODES ON HER FOR EVERYTHING FROM AN ACCUSATION THAT SOMEONE WAS LIVING IN THE RV IN HER GARAGE (CODES CONFIRMED THAT NO ONE WAS LIVING THERE) TO HER HUSBAND REPAIRING HIS TRUCK IN HER DRIVEWAY. “I’M YOUR NEIGHBOR. IF I’M DOING SOMETHING YOU DON’T LIKE, KNOCK ON MY DOOR. TALK TO ME.”

council representative for every 167,000 residents; Chicago, one for every 54,000.

In Nashville, it’s one for every 17,000. This means in Nashville, it takes comparatively fewer votes to get elected. Looking at the 2019 Metro Council election results, for example, about 30 of the 35 district races could have been won with around 1,500 votes. And that means endorsements and support from HOAs or neighborhood associations carry a lot more weight.

“HOAs and neighborhood groups tend to be most concerned about aesthetics and property values,” says Weiss. “So you’re giving power to groups who target people whose homes are seen as eyesores, or who they think make the neighborhood less desirable.”

“I served on the Metro Council,” Hollin says. “And I can tell you that the number one source of Codes complaints is the Metro Council.”

By the mid-2010s, some Metro councilmembers began to complain that the Codes office hadn’t kept up with the city’s growth.

In 2016, a Metro-commissioned report concluded that the Codes office was understaffed, and had especially been unable to keep up with the surge in short-term rentals.

In response, Codes and the Environmental Court seem to have stepped up enforcement of those rentals. Short-term rental owners have more resources to defend themselves than someone like Freddie Benford does. But the owners targeted tend to be people with one or two properties, not large developers.

And like low-income residents with “unkempt” properties, short-term rentals aren’t popular with groups who wield political power, like neighborhood associations.

The 2016 study also reflects the biases of the city officials who commissioned it. It was written from the perspective of aggrieved neighbors, not the targets of those neighbors’ complaints. Consequently, the report treats

due process for those hit with citations not as a right that should be afforded to anyone facing punishment, but as a burden and frustration for complaining neighbors.

The report also never considers the countering allegation that the Codes office has been weaponized against low-income people, nor does it consider that its recommendation that the city hire more inspectors could exacerbate the problem.

THE WARM AND FUZZY

In the end, my wife and I decided to have all the vegetation removed from our slope.

It would be expensive, but the threatened $50-per-day-per-weed fine, applied retroactively, would have been considerably worse.

We were given a three-month extension to get it done.

After getting estimates in the $10,000 to $15,000 range, we finally found a landscaper who quoted us a little over $5,000. The guy we hired told us the wide range was due to high demand for landscaping during the pandemic, along with an influx of people from the coasts used to paying exorbitant prices for landscaping. He also said he’d had other clients struggling to comply with Codes, and in those cases he’s tried to charge just enough to pay his workers and cover his costs.

Once the job was done, I called Dominiak to ask him to inspect the slope and tell us if we were in compliance. I also hoped to avoid another appearance in Environmental Court.

It was a bizarre conversation. “So you want me to give you a warm and fuzzy?” Dominiak asked. I asked him to repeat himself. I had not misheard him, so I asked what he meant by a “warm and fuzzy.” He replied, with ample condescension, “That’s when I tell you everything is OK, and you did everything right, and you have nothing to worry about.”

I never got my warm and fuzzy. In fact, I never heard from Dominiak again. Instead,

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I had to go to Environmental Court in March to learn if the thousands of dollars we spent had brought us into compliance. It had, but Hirsch then told me I’d need to pay another $134 in court costs.

“When they rule against you but waive the fine, they stack the deck so there’s no incentive to challenge their authority,” Hollin says. “You lost, but you only had to pay $140.

If you then appeal to General Sessions court and lose, the judge could punish you by reimposing the $50-per-day fine. If she’s really mad at you, she could make it retroactive.

It’s a strong incentive for you to shut up and pay the fees that keep the court operating, even if you did nothing wrong.”

WHO IS NASHVILLE FOR?

I’ve gone back and forth over how much of our own story to include in this article.

We clearly aren’t the people who typically get caught up in these fights, and while the money we’ve had to pay to come into compliance put a significant dent in our savings, it won’t bankrupt us or force us to sell our home. We don’t need sympathy, and we certainly aren’t in the predicament of more typical targets like Freddie Benford. And while I’ve written about predatory municipal courts and fines and fees in other cities, it’s hard not to worry that writing our own battles might put a target on our backs.

But in the end, I concluded that there’s some value in publishing a firsthand account of what it’s like to get caught up in all of this. And in talking with other people who have battled Codes, I found some camaraderie. Claire, the East Nashville woman who was told to put her cushions and kids’ blocks away, had also dealt with Dominiak.

“Oh my God, that man!” she says. “A neighbor had complained about my kids’ toys in our yard. He treated me like I was a bad parent! He just kept scolding me because my kids didn’t clean up their toys. Then he mentioned something called the ‘Clean Up Song.’

He told me it was a song I should sing to get my kids to pick up. Then he sang it for me. He actually sang it for me. I just about lost it.”

“You feel a little betrayed, to be honest,” says Susan, who says a neighbor has called Codes on her for everything from an accusation that someone was living in the RV in her garage (Codes confirmed that no one was living there) to her husband repairing his truck in her driveway. “I’m your neighbor. If I’m doing something you don’t like, knock on my door. Talk to me.”

Over email, Penn writes that he can’t respond to to specific cases. But he does defend Dominiak. “Mr. Dominiak is a former military service member, having served in both the Marines and Air Force,” writes Penn. “He is a no nonsense, straight to the point type of person.” Penn adds that the phrase “warm and fuzzy” is military lingo, and wasn’t intended to be condescending.

Penn concludes, “Mr. Dominiak has gone above the call to assist many individuals he has come in contact with.”

Feeling outcast is a common sentiment among Codes targets, including my wife and me. You feel a bit like a pariah, like you’re a scourge on the neighborhood. It changes how you feel about your neighbors, your place in the community, your relationship with the city. On some level, the Codes issue is just another debate about who Nashville is for, about who gets to have a stake in how the city grows and evolves.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked to Black people who had Codes called on them by white people with Black Lives Matter signs in their yards,” says Hollin. “It would be comical if it weren’t so damaging.”

I moved here in 2010, fell in love with the city, and persuaded my now-wife to move from New York in 2015. We’ve wrestled with our own contribution to the neighborhood’s gentrification. But while we’ve had problems with neighbors over the years, we’d never considered reporting someone to the city. The problem with anonymous complaint-driven Codes enforcement is that it puts the shape and direction of the city in the hands of people who do.

“It’s funny — people move to this neighborhood because it has a reputation for being interesting and eclectic,” says Jim, an East Nashvillian who was reported by a neighbor for participating in the “no-mow May” campaign to leave lawns uncut to facilitate pollinators. “But once they get here, they start reporting people because they don’t like the look of their property. They want everything to look the same.”

“For many people, it isn’t about not wanting to comply with city codes,” says Maurer.

“It’s about living in a home that isn’t up to code, or being homeless. If cities were truly interested in fixing violations instead of just harassing the poor, they’d work with people to help them come into compliance. They’d offer suggestions, perhaps even provide some aid. The revealing thing is that they don’t. They start with citations and get more punitive from there.”

SAFE AND ATTRACTIVE

There are some delicious ironies to the conclusion of our story. After we cleared the vegetation from the slope, the erosion came fast and furious, just as the landscapers had predicted. A few weeks later, I saw the neighbor we suspected had reported us talking to a city official in front of our house. He’d later confirm to me that he’d recently complained to the city about an increase in storm runoff from our property, which had been flooding his yard.

I’ve since attempted to stop the erosion by anchoring cement blocks into the slope and turning them into beds with trees and decorative plants. Hauling cement blocks and 35-pound bags of mulch up a steep slope is a laborious process, and I have no idea if it will work. But while it’s still been expensive — about $4,000 so far — it’s nowhere near what we’d have to pay a landscaper for terracing.

Then, a couple months ago, I noticed that the quickening erosion had begun to expose the roots of a towering elm tree that grows diagonally out of the slope. I consulted with an arborist, who told us that in five years or so, the tree will pose a threat to our home and two others. By forcing us to fix a dubious problem, the city had created a genuine safety hazard. Taking down the tree will cost another $4,000 to $6,000.

Several months ago, when I needed Tad Dominiak to give us our warm and fuzzy, I Googled him to find his contact information.

The second search result was a tweet from Nashville Mayor John Cooper.

“Folks like Tad Dominiak, who works with Metro Codes, are working behind the scenes to keep our neighborhoods safe and attractive,” Cooper wrote. “I’m grateful for hardworking employees like Tad.” EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

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This week at...

LIVE MUSIC | URBAN WINERY | RESTAURANT | BAR | PRIVATE EVENTS THURSDAY

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FRIDAY

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NASHVILLE SCENE | JULY 28 – AUGUST 3, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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NASHVILLE BEATLES BRUNCH FEATURING FOREVER ABBEY ROAD THE CLAUDETTES IN THE LOUNGE ERIC NEUMANN IN THE LOUNGE

8.6

DINING WITH DIVAS DRAG BRUNCH

8.7

80’S BRUNCH FEATURING MIXTAPE

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AURAL FIXATION

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ALABAMA BRUNCH FEATURING BOYS IN THE BAND

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JOHNNY FOLSOM 4

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GIRLS OF NASHVILLE

8.06

The Yussef Dayes Experience 8.16

DUELING DUOS: THE DONJUANS VS. FOSTER & LLOYD BENEFITTING MUSIC HEALTH ALLIANCE

8.17

AN EVENING WITH LEA MICHELE: LIFE IN MUSIC

8.18

O-TOWN WITH LFO

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THE SHOOTOUTS IN THE LOUNGE

8.20

DINING WITH DIVAS

8.21

NASHVILLE BEATLES BRUNCH FEATURING FOREVER ABBEY ROAD

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CRITICS’ PICKS R O U N D U P

O F

T H I N G S

T O

D O

SPORTS

W E E K L Y

SUMMER AT THE MOVIES JULY 29 - AUGUST 3 The Belcourt

BLUEGRASS NIGHTS AT THE RYMAN: RICKY SKAGGS AND KENTUCKY THUNDER

It’s always a treat to see Ricky Skaggs at the Ryman, as the famed venue offers just the right setting for an intimate performance with room to get rowdy. Virtuosic mandolin player and celebrated vocalist Skaggs, joined by his longtime band Kentucky Thunder, takes the Ryman stage Thursday evening, bringing a half-century of true bluegrass mastery with him. Skaggs has a deep, diverse catalog of original tunes and bluegrass classics, so look for an unpredictable set list that will likely include some of the Kentucky native’s new music, like recently released tracks “Thanks Again” and “Hearts Like Ours.” 7:30 p.m. at the Ryman, 116 Rep. John Lewis Way BRITTNEY McKENNA

FILM

FRIDAY / 7.29 [A LITTLE SHORT FOR A STORMTROOPER]

SUMMER AT THE MOVIES: STAR WARS, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK & RETURN OF THE JEDI

If you include every feature film, every Disney+ series and every animated series

MUSIC

will be the versions of the films that Lucas tinkered with in recent decades, because those are the only versions available to screen. Suck it up, purists. It’s still going to be great.) Visit belcourt.org for tickets and showtimes. July 29-Aug. 3 at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. D. PATRICK RODGERS

[MATTER OF TIME]

LOCKELAND STRINGS W/LYDIA LUCE, S.G. GOODMAN & MICHAELA ANNE

The Blue Room at Third Man Records will present a special evening of original music this Friday, with local-favorite string ensemble Lockeland Strings performing alongside S.G. Goodman, Lydia Luce and Michaela Anne. The ensemble will perform an original piece by composer Alex Wong, with featured artist performances peppered

PHOTO: RYAN USHER

MUSIC

[DARLING RICKY]

as of the completion of the year’s Obi-Wan Kenobi, there’s roughly 132 hours of watchable Star Wars content. That’s five-and-ahalf days’ worth of Jedi, Sith, stormtroopers, lightsabers, pod races, droids, Gungans and Wookiees — and that’s not to mention all the comic books, novels, toys and various ephemera now officially part of the greater Star Wars canon. But long before it was a multibillion-dollar Disney property, Star Wars was a quirky little space-opera script conceived by a nerdy recent USC grad who was obsessed with the 1930s Flash Gordon film serials. Fresh off the success of his 1973 coming-of-age flick American Graffiti, George Lucas struck gold with 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope — which Disney passed on, by the way — when it captured the imagination of the movie-going public thanks to its groundbreaking special effects and ageold thematic elements. The magic of A New Hope and its sequels The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983) still absolutely holds up, particularly when projected onto a proper big screen, John Williams’ magnificent Oscar-winning score blasting through a theater’s speakers. For its Summer at the Movies series, beloved arthouse the Belcourt Theatre will play all three films for the very first time in its glorious 1925 Hall. As of press time, each film is set for four total showings. (Yes, these

SOUTHERN UNDERGROUND PRO: FINAL BOSSES

As live performance has become more possible, Nashville’s own down-and-dirty indie wrestling promotion Southern Underground Pro has returned with a vengeance.

Though the company — somewhat humorously known as “SUP” — has been running shows since 2017, it has found a new momentum in the past year, and the upcoming Final Bosses event will be the group’s first show at the Eastside Bowl in Madison. Along with hard-hitting regional talent, SUP shows regularly feature some of the fastest-rising names in American indie wrestling. In addition to a title defense by SUP’s current champion Alec Price — who holds the company’s “Bonestorm Championship” — Final Boss features kickass wrestlers like Fred Yehi, one of the most acclaimed grappling technicians in the game today, who has made appearances for promotions like Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling, and Billie Starkz, a colorful wunderkind who turned her athletic background as a cheerleader into a career as one of the most beloved women on today’s indie-wrestling circuit. With WWE SummerSlam and the Starrcast wrestling convention taking over Nashville this weekend, the city will be overrun with old-timers and legends — but SUP ensures that new blood is still pumping in the wrestling scene. 6 p.m. at Eastside Bowl, 1508A Gallatin Pike S. NADINE SMITH

STAR WARS

THURSDAY / 7.28

[’SUP?]

LYDIA LUCE

nashvillescene.com | JULY 28 – AUGUST 3, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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CRITICS’ PICKS

It’s tough to imagine a more idyllic setup for a summer weekend than what the BobFest crew has for its first in-person event since 2019. Some 20 bands, DJs and solo musicians will play Friday and Saturday at a landing along the Red River, just northwest of where it winds its way past the small town of Adams, Tenn. Admission to the festival is free; you can camp on site, and the Red River Canoe rental company is nearby, convenient for setting up a leisurely float.

But once the sun begins to set, an array of excellent Nashville musicians will take the stage. Friday, see shape-shifting rockers like Blood Root and The Ragcoats, as well as psych-garage champions Chrome Pony.

Electronically enhanced music and movement group HR Lexy is set to go on at midnight on Friday, and if the Bell Witch — said to have tormented a family in the vicinity in the 19th century — is still around, I wouldn’t be surprised if she stalks out of the woods for a listen. Saturday, check out the maximal rock stylings of Nordista Freeze, the self-described “crime jazz” of Scene contributing editor Jack Silverman and his quartet, the warped funk and blues of The Weird Sisters and lots more. Keep an eye on BobFest’s Instagram account for updates. July 29-30 at 8002 Old Highway 41 N., Adams, Tenn.

MUSIC

STEPHEN TRAGESER [BRING BACK THAT LOVING FEELING]

THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS

RED, WHITE & ZOO

The Nashville Zoo has always been a major draw for local families. But why let the little ones have all the fun? This Friday night, you can check out Red, White & Zoo — a fun event designed just for guests 21 and older. You can stroll the grounds enjoying unlimited wine samples from near and far, along with a curated selection of spirits, craft beers and ciders. (Brands include Bread & Butter, Domaine Bousquet, Hopler/Pannonica, Kate Arnold, Slam Dunk,

Union Wine Co. and more.) Or perhaps stop by one of your favorite food trucks or vendors, such as Delicias Colombianas, Ten Oaks Barbecue, Loveless Cafe, The Grilled Cheeserie, Vee’s Chick-N-Cones or Steaming Goat. Of course, there will also be plenty of live music and animal exhibits to enjoy along the way. 7:30-10:30 p.m. at the Nashville Zoo, 3777 Nolensville Pike AMY STUMPFL

RED, WHITE & ZOO

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[RETURNING STAR]

RAHSAAN BARBER

Multi-instrumentalist, bandleader and record label executive Rahsaan Barber has established himself as a mainstay on both the area and national jazz scenes. He’s also made quite a mark as an educator since earning a master’s degree in jazz performance from the Manhattan School of Music in 2005. But he began his teaching career at Belmont, and he served as vice president of the Tennessee Jazz and Blues Society, and as a board member for the Nashville Jazz Workshop’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion panel. Currently a professor of jazz studies and saxophone at the University of North Carolina, Barber makes a grand return to the Nashville Jazz Workshop’s Jazz Cave on Friday, heading an outstanding quintet whose ranks include his brother Roland Barber (trombone), Matt Endahl (piano), Jon Estes (bass) and Josh Hunt (drums). 7:30 p.m. at the Nashville Jazz Workshop’s Jazz Cave, 1012 Buchanan St. RON WYNN MUSIC

There’s something about The Righteous Brothers’ best songs that makes them feel surprising even on the 9 gazillionth

[WILD NIGHTS ARE CALLING]

KLYPI

[ALL AT ONCE]

MACY RODMAN W/KLYPI & BUDDY CRIME

Amid the overwhelming whirl that is contemporary life, the perspective of artists who are able to pick apart its layers of

sound, images, relationships and cultural signifiers is invaluable. Cue New York’s Macy Rodman, whose work as a podcaster and maker of electronically enhanced pop music presents astute cultural criticism while simultaneously being fun and occasionally dizzying. “I’ve given myself the permission to be whoever at any point,” she told Document Journal in 2020. “That can be performative or not performative, it can be vulnerable, or it can be clownish. I’ve given myself permission to go back and forth.”

She’s coming through Music City in the wake of Uncontrollable Flammables, a collection of remixes of songs from last year’s Unbelievable Animals. It would be hard to imagine a more perfect match for this bill than Nashville expat Klypi, a masterful multimedia artist who also uses their own spin on dance-pop to process and investigate our world. They’re coming through with Louisville’s Buddy Crime, who also makes kinetic, catchy post-synth-pop music and describes himself as “a self-actualized, self-3Dprinted A.I. who chose the form of a pop star named Buddy Crime” and just released an LP called 3D Printed Pop Star. 8 p.m. at Drkmttr, 1111 Dickerson Pike STEPHEN TRAGESER

SATURDAY / 7.30 ART

BOBFEST FEAT. NORDISTA FREEZE, HR LEXY & MORE

MUSIC

[BOBBING ALONG]

listen. There is a tightening, a slowly ratcheting tension that builds and builds for what feels like hours as Bill Medley’s thick baritone pulls the song along. Then Bobby Hatfield’s molasses tenor comes along for a bit of tonal counter-punching. And then there’s The Moment, as the men, almost arguing with one another, begin to urge and beg and plead. Medley needs your love way down here. Hatfield needs your love way up here. Bring it on back! Can’t you hear how much they need the love brought back? And then? Boom. They are in harmony, backed by an estimated 495,000 stringed instruments playing at their lushest, and every timpani in the world ba-booming simultaneously. Credit the dark genius of the Wall of Sound production or the Brill Building masterminds who put lyrics and music together, sure, but those songs don’t work without the vocal virtuosity of the singers and their impeccable performances. (And we know this based on hearing some truly dreadful covers made by otherwise talented artists.) The best Righteous Brothers songs should, perhaps, be left to the Righteous Brothers. Sadly, Hatfield died in 2003 and Medley hung it up, feeling there wasn’t another high-register man who could do those songs justice. Without Bobby, baby, what good was he? But in 2016, he brought it all back after hearing Bucky Heard at a Vegas casino. He’s not the same as Hatfield — who is? — and Heard acknowledges as much, but Medley, who would know, says Heard is the only person he ever considered for a revival. 8 p.m. at the Schermerhorn, 1 Symphony Place J.R. LIND CHILDREN

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throughout the evening. Local singer-songwriter Lydia Luce joins the proceedings on the heels of her critically acclaimed EP Garden Songs, while Kentucky native Goodman visits Nashville shortly after sharing her excellent new album Teeth Marks. Rounding out the trio of guests is Nashville-based Michaela Anne, who also has new music in the mix with this year’s Oh to Be That Free.

7 p.m. at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, 623 Seventh Ave. S. BRITTNEY McKENNA

[MAY THE FORGE BE WITH YOU]

THE FORGE LAUNCH PARTY

Artist-slash-maker space Fort Houston is consciously uncoupling with its Artisan Support Project. Newly rebranded as The Forge, the former Artisan Support Project makes its big debut this weekend in its relatively new space — a 24,000-square-foot warehouse on Willow Street, just south of

NASHVILLE SCENE | JULY 28 – AUGUST 3, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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CRITICS’ PICKS

7 WAYS TO SUNDAY

SPIRITS OF SUMMER

MUSIC

[NO ACCIDENT]

THE CANCELLATIONS W/NEHODA

A pair of relative newcomers to Nashville’s rock scene join forces for a Sunday night gig at Midtown’s most venerable dive — a place Cancellations frontman Elijah Jones shouted out as a favorite place to play in his group’s Nashville Cream interview last month. “Springwater is grimy,” he said. “You can do whatever you want there.” Jones & Co. recently celebrated the release of Pity Parade, their third record of witty, catchy, eclectic yet cohesive alt-rock in just two years. Nehoda takes its name from singer-guitarist Patrick Nehoda, and although it translates to “accident” in Czech, the power trio has left little to chance in its

[AMPLIFYING YOUNG VOICES]

THE THEATER BUG PRESENTS 7 WAYS TO SUNDAY

One of the things I love most about The Theater Bug — beyond its consistently polished and fearless performances — is the fact that no topic is off limits. Over the years, this innovative youth arts program has taken on a variety of sensitive subjects, including everything from bullying and trans youth to adoption, mental health and grief. This weekend, you can check out the Bug’s original musical 7 Ways to Sunday, which offers a thoughtful look at teen depression and suicide. Featuring book and lyrics by artistic director Cori Anne Laemmel and music by Eric Fritsch, the story centers on Sunday Miller, a 15-year-old girl with some unique super powers. But when she sees her own future and discovers the secret pain facing her family and friends, she decides to use those powers to travel back in time, reliving the same day in an effort to change the outcome.

The cast features a host of talented young performers, as well as local pros Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva and Chase Miller. 7 Ways to Sunday was created in partnership with The Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network, and parental guidance is strongly advised for those younger than 13. July 30-Aug. 7 at Z. Alexander Looby Theater, 2301 Rosa L. Parks Blvd. AMY STUMPFL

28 Smooth Tunes w/ DJ Butter 29 A Good Ol’ Time w/ DJ PoBoy

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Open on Mondays

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Queerfest Showcase

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There’s a real art to pairing music and cocktails. This weekend, you can choose your favorites as the Nashville Symphony presents its fourth annual Spirits of Summer fundraiser. This popular event offers a uniquely immersive experience, as principal pops conductor Enrico LopezYañez guides guests through a multicourse orchestral program. Each piece of music is carefully paired with a cleverly crafted cocktail designed by top mixologists from Chaatable, Old Glory, Perfectly Cordial, and Rosemary & Beauty Queen. Between each course, ticket holders can sample some light bites and compare notes before voting on the best musical-cocktail pairing at the end of the evening. It’s a great opportunity to mingle with some of the symphony’s musicians, and perhaps learn more about the upcoming season. Best of all, proceeds go to support the symphony’s many worthy programs. 6 p.m. at the Schermerhorn, 1 Symphony Place AMY STUMPFL

Nashville’s ONLY vinyl record store with full bar and 24 seasonal craft beers on tap.

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[SPIRITS IN HARMONY]

THEATER

CLASSICAL

LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

three years together. Rounded out by bassist Grayson Papa and drummer Jeremy Gill, Nehoda hit the ground running, gigging around Middle Tennessee on a nearly weekly basis until COVID stopped the band in its tracks in early 2020. That fall saw the release of the group’s debut LP But Anyways… — a bighearted, huge-sounding rock record equal parts Dinosaur Jr., Pearl Jam and Delta blues. A follow-up single, “Show Me the Way” backed with “What Would Kurt Do,” is due later this year. 9 p.m. at Springwater, 115 27th Ave N. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

MUSIC

downtown. The new spot operates under the leadership of directors Erin Hewgley and Alyssa Beach, and this weekend you can get a peek at what’s up their sleeves — including an expansive group exhibition, signature cocktails from The Whisky House Nashville and beer from Bearded Iris Brewing. 5-10 p.m. at The Forge, 217 Willow St.

[LONELY DAYS ARE GONE]

THE BOX TOPS

Memphis-based ensemble The Box Tops are the epitome of rock/soul endurance, thanks in part to longtime members Bill

nashvillescene.com | JULY 28 – AUGUST 3, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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NASHVILLE SCENE | JULY 28 – AUGUST 3, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

FATHOM EVENTS’ STUDIO GHIBLI FEST 2022: KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE

[OH COME CHILD]

CAT POWER

When Cat Power does a cover, it might not sound anything like the original, but that’s never been the point. Idiosyncratic, aloof singer-songwriter Chan Marshall has now released three albums of covers with her longtime project Cat Power — 2000’s The Covers Record, 2008’s Jukebox and the just-released Covers — proving she can rework existing material into something entirely new and entirely her own. For this tour, Marshall is bringing loads of new covers — including a fantastic rendition of Bob Seger’s “Against the Wind” and a fairly straightforward cover of Nico’s “These Days” — as well as some old favorites, like her take on The Rolling Stones’ “I Can’t Get No (Satisfaction),” which might have been the first hint that Marshall treats original songs like a DJ treats a sample. She takes what works for her and leaves the rest. All three of those songs have been included in recent shows, and she’s also peppering in a few original favorites, like 1998’s cool kid anthem “Cross Bones Style.” 9

CAT POWER

p.m. at Brooklyn Bowl, 925 Third Ave. N. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

WEDNESDAY / 8.03

KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE

[WARM LEATHERETTE]

CHARLI XCX

Nashvillians have had opportunities to see British pop maestro Charli XCX dating back to the earliest stages of her career.

Among her other local shows, there was her “out on a school night” gig at Mercy Lounge back in 2013 and her 2018 appearance opening for Taylor Swift at Nissan Stadium that felt like a headlining set at an arena. It’s almost certain there were some folks in our area who caught Charli XCX’s recent set in the Roblox metaverse, delightfully weird software bugs and all. Wednesday, Music City fans get to see her at the Mother Church of Country Music. She takes the hallowed Ryman stage in the wake of Crash, an album on which she scales back the giddy, glitchy, hyperpop-kissed sound that colored 2020’s How I’m Feeling Now. For the new album’s introspective stories of frustration, heartbreak and the complicated emotional states that surround them, Charli XCX & Co. often look back toward the production styles of pop R&B in the late ’80s and early ’90s to excellent effect. There’s plenty more in the mix too: “Every Rule,” a standout song about love that feels right but comes at a cost, nods just the tiniest bit to the late Julee Cruise’s “Falling,” which Twin Peaks fans know well. 8 p.m. at the Ryman, 116 Rep. John Lewis Way STEPHEN TRAGESER MUSIC

At first, Hayao Miyazaki’s 1989 anime adaptation of Eiko Kadono’s 1985 children’s fantasy novel seems like one of the more adorable — even farcical — selections in the Studio Ghibli catalog. It follows a 13-yearold witch-in-training who leaves home (with her wisecracking cat Jiji) and moves to the big city, where she starts a delivery service by hopping on her broom and picking up and dropping off packages. But in the second half, it delves into some emotional territory when Kiki becomes despondent after losing her powers. Then it becomes a piece of animated art that looks at the rarely addressed matter of childhood depression.

(The Simpsons did it a year later with the “Moaning Lisa” episode.) So listen up, parents with kids who get blue from time to time: Whether you watch the subtitled original or the 1998 dubbed-by-Disney rerelease (with a young Kirsten Dunst voicing Kiki and the late Phil Hartman as Jiji), this is essential viewing for both you and your little ones. As part of its Studio Ghibli Fest, Fathom Events will present Kiki’s Delivery Service at select AMC and Regal locations. Visit fathomevents.com for tickets and showtimes. July 31-Aug. 3 at AMC and Regal Theaters CRAIG D. LINDSEY

The concept of “a Nashville singersongwriter” has evolved a lot over the past 50 years, and that’s a positive change toward a more diverse group of artists who bring influences to the table from R&B to dance pop and beyond. Two musicians who have been very active in this expansion in recent years are standout singer-songwriter Molly Parden and much-loved guitarist and songsmith Juan Solorzano. They’re bringing their annual two-night celebration of friends and collaborators back to The Basement to start the week. The program kicks off with Juanaroo on Monday night, when Solorzano takes the spotlight and welcomes Becca Mancari (whose superb The Greatest Part he plays on extensively), Dan Tyminski (who you’ll surely recognize as the vocalist on “Man of Constant Sorrow” from O Brother, Where Art Thou), Parden and many more.

Tuesday, it’s Mollapalooza, with Parden hosting boundary-busting songsmiths like Jillian Jacqueline, Josh Gilligan (who in fact plays both nights) and Thad Kopec. Proceeds from ticket sales will go to Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit that advocates for laws to prevent gun violence. Aug. 1-2 at The Basement, 1604 Eighth Ave. S. STEPHEN TRAGESER

PHOTO: MARIO SORRENTI

[I WAS FEELING BLUE, BUT I’M BETTER NOW]

JUANAROO AND MOLLAPALOOZA

[IN THE PINES]

PINEGROVE

Lo-fi rockers Pinegrove started as a New Jersey garage band, anchored by childhood friends Evan Stephens Hall and Zack Levine, whose catchy and disheveled ballads earned them a dedicated fan base (known as Pinenuts) in the mid-2010s.

They’ve struggled through a decade of ups

and downs, including a yearlong hiatus in 2018 after Hall was accused of sexual coercion. A lengthy Pitchfork profile chronicled the band’s path forward, including an accountability process between Hall and his accuser. Few details about the incident ever became public. The band is outspoken about social justice and its songs are shot through with male vulnerability, sometimes the exact soundtrack for just-another-day and sometimes so earnest that listening feels like emotional labor. On 11:11, the band’s latest release, Hall, Levine and guitarist Sam Skinner recapture some of the infectious ennui that vaulted Pinegrove to stardom in 2016 on the back of hits “Aphasia” and “Old Friends.” Sinai Vessel and Poise will join them for both shows of this two-night stand.

8 p.m. Aug. 3-4 at Brooklyn Bowl, 925 Third Ave. N. ELI MOTYCKA COMEDY

FILM

SUNDAY / 7.31

[DO THE EVOLUTION]

MUSIC

RON WYNN

MONDAY / 8.01 MUSIC

Cunningham and Gary Talley, whose tenure in the band goes back to the days when they were known as The Devilles, working the Bluff City and Midsouth circuit. They changed their name to The Box Tops in 1967, and thanks to the gritty vocals of future Big Star frontman Alex Chilton and later Wayne Carson Thompson, they enjoyed a string of hits — “The Letter,” “Cry Like a Baby,” “Choo Choo Train” and “Soul Deep” remain staples among R&B fans. The Box Tops have undergone a host of personnel changes over the decades, though all the original members regrouped in 1996 for the underrated LP Tear Off, which included a new version of “The Letter.” The current edition now features Talley on lead vocals, guitar and sitar, as well as Cunningham on vocals and bass, Rick Levy on guitar/vocals, keyboardist Barry Walsh, and drummer Ron Krasinski. 8 p.m. at City Winery, 609 Lafayette St.

MUSIC

CRITICS’ PICKS

[BIG HART]

KEVIN HART

Doesn’t it seem like omnipresent funnyman Kevin Hart is trying to conquer all the streaming services at the same time? This year alone, he’s made two movies for Netflix — the recently released (and critically reviled) The Man From Toronto and the upcoming Me Time, co-starring Mark Wahlberg. You can currently see him on Peacock (where he and Snoop Dogg hosted an Olympic highlights show last year that was basically just them roasting athletes), getting wine-drunk with such celebs as Jay-Z, Pete Davidson and Kristen Stewart on his interview show Hart to Heart. (He also stars in a new season of Real Husbands of Hollywood on BET+, but you know nobody got that shit.) He’s currently hitting arenas with his Reality Check Tour. Will we eventually see his new set of jokes on Netflix (where he dropped his last two specials) or Peacock? Hey, maybe he might go in a different direction and send his special to discovery+! We’ll see what happens when we get there. 7 p.m. at Bridgestone Arena, 501 Broadway CRAIG D. LINDSEY

nashvillescene.com | JULY 28 – AUGUST 3, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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JAY’S SPECIAL

CAN YOU DEG IT?

Glencliff eatery ​​Degthai shows no signs of stopping

BY ALIJAH POINDEXTER

I

f you’re anything like me, the idea of going out for Thai in Nashville conjures up images of narrow, homey dining rooms with wood paneling and knickknacks by the dozen.

The menus are tight and welldefined, featuring noodle and curry DEGTHAI standards with 3025 NOLENSVILLE PIKE pictures that all DEGTHAI.COM seem to date back to about 2004. The employees are wellmannered and good-humored, but service is just decent. And the food, whether you’re in Brentwood or Berry Hill, is always good, but rarely is it great.

It can be hard to pick a standout from Nashville’s Thai options — something

24

Degthai has sought to remedy since its founding in 2011. Starting life as a food truck, Degthai quickly established itself in Nashville’s crowded and ever-inventive market, offering up authentic, fiery Thai entrées. But it took a brick-and-mortar location for the owners to fully realize their vision of creating a true Nashville stalwart.

The secret to Degthai’s success is an open one. It doesn’t take a high-level gourmet — or an obscure Brentioch food writer — to note the freshness and vibrancy Degthai offers. It practically grabs you by the collar the moment you step into the restaurant: semi-open kitchen with chefs hard at work over cast-iron woks, tasteful murals soaring high over a spacious dining room, and eccentric road signs that appear to have

been pilfered from Thailand’s Department of Highways. But more than that, you come to Degthai to eat, and eat you will — thanks to a rapid-fire kitchen that chugs along like a freight train through even the toughest lunch rush. Have no fear if the line looks long — you’ll have your food in no time.

Ordering at Degthai is like choosing a Mortal Kombat character. The selections are well-defined, the stats are all equal, and the bond you form with your primary choice is stronger than that of some marriages. For me, it’s the Tiew Gang Vegan, a supple, spicy and creamy coconut soup with crispy tofu, al dente instant noodles, and an orchard’s worth of fresh vegetables. As a betting man, I like its chances against any Vietnamese, Lao, Thai or Chinese noodle dish in Nashville. A close second is Jay’s Special, a chicken stir-fry that packs in sweet, salty and umami factors.

And while I rarely order it, I’d be remiss to ignore the tom yum, a hot and sour noodle soup with gargantuan prawns and an in-

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

FOOD & DRINK

toxicatingly vibrant aroma of lemongrass and lime.

Most consider Nashville’s “true” traditional eatery to be the classic Southern soul-food establishment, which brings together people from various socioeconomic backgrounds for the sake of good eating.

Think Bolton’s and Prince’s, or meat-andthrees like Arnold’s, Monell’s and the recently shuttered Dandgure’s. Degthai is a mold-breaker.

It’s a delight to see Degthai’s dining room packed with families, students, tourists and locals alike, all enjoying authentic and exceptional food from a country 9,000 miles away. While we decry the “woo girls,” pedal taverns and affordable-housing shortage of New Nashville, we can also enjoy some elements of our city’s rise to stardom. For better or for worse, Old Nashville is disappearing. Degthai, a spot that has stuck it out through Nashville’s boom and pandemic doldrums, makes the pill a bit less bitter.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | JULY 28 – AUGUST 3, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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FOOD & DRINK

TIP JAR

Meet cook Boogie Soto of Midnight Oil and The Centennial

WHERE TO GO TO FIND NASHVILLE’S BEST HOSPITALITY PROS

Everyone knows that bartender — or that cook, that server, that host or that barback.

The one who asks you about your day and actually cares about the answer. The one who ensures you’re not hungry, thirsty, lonely or uncomfortable. The one who knows your name, and too often goes unsung. With our feature Tip Jar, we’ll profile people in Nashville who are true pros at hospitality — in every sense of the word.

O

K, so in our intro, we just waxed poetic about the bond you share with someone in the restaurant industry when you know their name?

Well, get ready trolls, because I’m kicking us off with someone who will not tell me hers.

The person I know as “Boogie Soto” has been a fixture in The Nations since 2016.

Born and raised in Huntsville, Ala., Boogie moved to Nashville in 2013 to further her career in (what else?) roller derby. Her handle was Electric Boogaloo after the funky ’80s dance style, so naturally, everyone called her “Boogie” for short.

Whether she’s frying green beans and wings at The Centennial or getting me through COVID with cheese bread at Mid-

night Oil, Boogie’s always cooking something simple and delicious. That makes sense — she started cooking at a small farmto-table sandwich shop. She sticks with it, she says, because of the accomplishment she feels when she watches people take a bite of her food and smile.

What I notice most about Boogie is that she’s always chatting with someone while delivering their food. With me, she’s shooting the shit about where to find the best pizza in Huntsville (Earth & Stone, in my opinion). With someone else, she’s petting a dog or talking to a baby. (OK … maybe these are all me.) What stands out, though, is that she’s every bit that old cliché about never having met a stranger. Somehow I just always knew “Boogie from The Centennial.”

And when your nature is so warm and welcoming that you never need an introduction?

You earn the one-name treatment.

To that end, ask Boogie for her “real” name and she’s likely to tell you something like this: “Not even my mom calls me by my government name, so if it’s OK, I’d like to keep that to myself.”

Fair enough. Boogie on. We had a few questions for Boogie. Here are her answers.

WHERE DO YOU HANG OUT WHEN YOU’RE NOT AT WORK? I stay home a lot, but if I go out, I

SAT SEPT 17

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

BY ASHLEY BRANTLEY

always end up at The Centennial.

FAVORITE MENU ITEM AT THE CENTENNIAL: Spicy chicken sandwich, no lettuce, extra pickles, with fries. Don’t forget a side of honey mustard to dip your sandwich!

FAVORITE MENU ITEM AT MIDNIGHT OIL: White pie — olive-oil base with spinach, San Marz-

ano tomatoes, mozzarella and ricotta — with a cauliflower crust. Add garlic and sausage.

(Writer’s note: I will henceforth be calling this pie “The Ghost Boogie.”)

ANYTHING ELSE? Don’t miss out on Nashville’s favorite fake holiday, St. Patrick Swayze Day, at The Centennial on Saturday, Aug. 13!

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

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MORE INFORMATION AT OUTLOUDMUSICFESTIVAL.COM • SCAN QR TO BUY GA + VIP TICKETS:

nashvillescene.com | JULY 28 – AUGUST 3, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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Columbia State Community College

American Watercolor Society Exhibit August 1 - September 30 Reception August 11, 5 - 7 pm Pryor Art Gallery Columbia State Community College 1665 Hampshire Pike, Columbia, TN

Waymon L. Hickman Building Open 8 am - 5 pm, Monday - Friday (931) 540-2883

CONCEPT, STORY TREATMENT, AND CHOREOGRAPHY BY

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NASHVILLE SCENE | JULY 28 – AUGUST 3, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

PERFORMING ARTS

FIRE STARTERS Kindling Arts Festival sails into its fifth year

BY ERICA CICCARONE

PHOTO: TIFFANY BESSIRE

I

JAMES RUDOLPH II IN THE NAUGHTY TREE experience that we could share.”

They became enamored with what is happening in queer underground fight clubs in cities like London and New York. In these spaces, queer people can express anger and frustration — emotions that are often dangerous to express in public — in a safe, consensual, joyful space. The result is Bar Fight!, which will take place at Ozari Events on Friday and Saturday. Doors open at 8 p.m. for drinks and karaoke in the pop-up bar the artists are building. At 9 p.m, fighters take the stage at the fictional Princess Daddy’s Fight Night & Karaoke, “the underground fight club where songs are slayed and rivalries are laid to rest.” Co-directed by local theater artist and fight choreographer Diego Gomez, the show will feature Gomez, Wanda Amanda Creech, Brooke Gronemeyer, Justin Harvey, Blake Holliday, Josh Inocalla and Nikki Staggs. “They will perform their combat,” says Malone, “they will sing their songs, and we will all share along and hopefully experience a kind of celebratory catharsis that we’re much in need of.”

Speaking of catharsis, The Naughty Tree premiered at Third Man Records’ The Blue Room in April, and it was sensational. Directed by Jones and Lenin Fernandez, the production is a cabaret-style queer telling of the Garden of Eden story. It’s an idea Jones brought to playwright and Woven Theatre co-founder River Timms last summer. They hadn’t worked together before, but Jones saw Timms’ Tall Tales at The Barbershop Theater and approached Timms to share his vision.

Timms, who has studied feminist and liberation theology, says Jones “said the exact words that just turn all of my nods to, ‘Yes. I want to do this.’ ” The production is hilarious and chaotic, moving and raucous, with an effervescent James Rudolph II starring as Mother Nature in drag, with a faux-moss-covered bustier and silver go-go boots. He narrates the story we all know too well — the creation of the universe (courtesy of the Creator, played by Lila Toshiko), the dawn of humans, the for-

PHOTO: KARA MCLELAND

n 2018, the Kindling Arts Festival launched after three months of planning with a team of fewer than 10 people. Understandably a bit slapdash and uneven, those first few days of programming buzzed with possibility. The KINDLING ARTS FESTIVAL air was electric — JULY 28-31 performance artists AT VARIOUS VENUES are not known for KINDLINGARTS.COM their stoicism — and the festival welcomed experimentation and emerging artists.

Now shepherding the festival into its fifth year, co-artistic-director Daniel Jones looks back and says, “Holy shit — how did we pull that off?”

This year’s festival — which takes place July 28-31 — has a larger staff and more resources. Forty people — including technicians, volunteers and logistical support staff — will produce a four-day festival that takes place across five venues, hosting 19 projects and involving more than 160 artists. Organizers keep the cost of admission affordable with most shows priced at $15 to $20, and several packages tailored to themes and disciplines.

If you can’t find something that interests you at this year’s festival, check your pulse.

It promises a solid lineup of theater, dance and community programming that speaks to the topical and the timeless. PYDANCE’s Pool performance is inspired by the desegregation of the Centennial Park swimming pool; Winston Harrison and Derek Pearson’s Interim employs time-lapse photography to explore the nature of time; aerial arts company Suspended Gravity’s Alchemy reminds us of the importance of shared places and communal experiences.

“Our goal is to always be pushing the envelope and be out there challenging ideas, both from a sense of what the art can be, and how it can be experienced,” says Jones.

Co-artistic-director Jessika Malone was born and grew up in Nashville and now works as producing director of Fusebox Festival in Austin, Texas. Her piece in Kindling is born out of the isolation she felt at the height of the pandemic. Sheltering in place meant that she and her collaborators couldn’t create performances in a community setting — it was an “enormous interruption to our rhythm and to our sense of identity.” She missed “the magic of performance and what it meant for bodies to be in space together.”

Malone and her collaborators started talking about what they’d produce when they could work together again. “What did we really want out of performance? What do we love the most about it? What do we want to really lean into? What do we want to celebrate and elevate? We started to think a lot about dance. And we started to think about singing.

And we started to think about punching, and all of the things that bodies do. … We just really wanted a very visceral and very joyful

LENIN FERNANDEZ AND McKAY HOUSE IN THE NAUGHTY TREE bidden fruit, the serpent, exile. But there are two Adams (Fernandez and Kane Dayton) and two Eves (McKay House and Dee Benn) for added chaos and the possibility of orgies.

The Tree is played by statuesque drag queen Justine Van de Blair, and Raven of Back to Black Burlesque plays a sexy Serpent. Jones says choreographer Fernandez “channels the spirits.” His work in The Naughty Tree is tender and sublime.

The performance also includes poetry to dive more deeply into the themes, and the whole thing is carried through by the weird rockers of Fable Cry. The band members — who perform here in freaky animal costumes — came on board with lots of their own ominous rock numbers, which they altered for the play. It’s rollicking and glam and intense.

“That’s the most fun I’ve had in a theater space ever in my life,” says Timms. “And it came together flawlessly. It was so beautiful.

It was so good. I used to be a hardcore-punk kid. … And something that I’ve been trying in my writing to capture is the feeling of being at a punk show. I have never been able to do it until this one.”

The Naughty Tree — which will be staged

at 8 p.m. Sunday at OZ Arts — is a celebration of queerness, nonconformity and inclusion. It makes a place for all of us who have felt castout to be brought into the fold of a loving, kinky, inclusive spirit. It’s emblematic of Kindling’s programming overall — freewheeling, uncensored and full of heart, pushing the boundaries of what we imagine performance art to be. And to state the obvious, queercentered stories like The Naughty Tree and Bar Fight! are critically important in states that appear to be committed to eroding the rights of queer people. Kindling has always been self-sustaining, relying on donations from patrons, small grants and the personal savings accounts of organizers. But the lack of institutional support means that artists can take risks that other local gatekeepers will not allow.

“I’m so grateful when I look back that we did just jump in with both feet and say, ‘This is crazy, and this is huge, and we don’t have a lot of time, but, man, we need this,’ ” says Jones. “And the city has continued to show us over and over again that it is still needed more and more.”

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

nashvillescene.com | JULY 28 – AUGUST 3, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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Live at the Schermerhorn fr th id is ay !

coming soon CHRISTOPHER CROSS: 40TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR August 11*

THE ROBERT CRAY BAND August 16*

LITTLE RIVER BAND

Presented without the Nashville Symphony.

August 26*

July 29

TERRY FATOR September 2*

BONEY JAMES September 18*

HOLST'S THE PLANETS

September 29 to October 2

GO NOW! THE MUSIC OF THE MOODY BLUES

August 5

October 7 Presented without the Nashville Symphony.

*Presented without the Nashville Symphony.

EXPLORE OUR CONCERT CALENDAR AND BUY TICKETS

NashvilleSymphony.org/Tickets | 615.687.6400

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CULTURE

THE JOHNSON ADMINISTRATION

people do it, you know? So it’s a change of pace for the audience and for me. And now I’m on, like, the Impressions Supreme Court.

Catching up with breakout SNL cast member and native Nashvillian James Austin Johnson

ON DONALD TRUMP

BY D. PATRICK RODGERS

Y

ou could say James Austin Johnson’s freshman Saturday Night Live season went unreasonably well.

The stand-up comedian, impressionist and actor grew up in Nashville, where he PLAYING JULY 28 AT attended Glengarry ZANIES Elementary, Meigs Magnet, Davidson Academy and Trevecca Nazarene University. About a decade back he moved to Los Angeles, where he joined the comedy scene and landed small parts in the Coen brothers’ Hail, Caesar! and AMC’s Better Call Saul.

Not long after Donald Trump took office, Johnson began firing off videos mimicking the president with rambling asides about everything from Scooby Doo to Weird Al Yankovic. The videos exploded on social media, thanks to Johnson’s uncanny ability to replicate not only Trump’s bizarre mannerisms and speech patterns, but also his unhinged, free-style stream-of-consciousness rambling. Johnson joined the SNL cast for the show’s 2021-2022 season, becoming the series’ resident Trump and Biden impressionist and racking up more than 40 minutes of screen time during cold opens alone.

This week, Johnson returns to his hometown for a pair of shows at Zanies. The Scene caught up with the comedian by phone on his 33rd birthday while he was driving from Los Angeles to Pomona, where he’s filming a movie alongside a slew of fellow comedic talents — Nicole Byer, Will Arnett and Rob Riggle among them. We spoke about flying first class (“It fully stems from being so terrified to travel that I just pour everything into making the experience a vacation of the mind for myself”); his distaste for Cool Springs’ layout (“Pack a bag — it’s impossible to find your way to an exit”); attending Christian private school (“I found it an odd experience”); Nashville’s celebrities (“I would love to get a red carpet, and invite Amy Grant and Vince Gill”); and conservative comedians (“It breaks my heart that all these guys who I looked up to so much because they were genuinely funny have become conservative, somber, downbeat cultural critics”). Find excerpts from our conversation below.

ON DEVELOPING HIS COMEDY AS A TEENAGER

So I was repeating eight minutes of Brad Stine’s CD Rebel Without a Curse — because he’s a clean comedian. I was repeating eight minutes of his act as a monologue in middle school monologue competitions, forensics competitions. My dad, who worked at Trevecca Nazarene University, needed to fill time at a singing competition called Trojan Idols, because they were the Trojans. He asked me to do comedy — 10 minutes of comedy to fill the time while they counted

the votes for the singers. I didn’t really think much beyond it other than like, “Oh, well, I’ll do 10 minutes of my own stuff.” I think an hour before the show I wrote down my own jokes — I’d never written a joke in my life — and so I just did that. I did a weird dance to “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2.”

I did some shit like, “Hey, don’t grandmas smell weird?” and all that kind of shit. It went unreasonably well.

And a second time at my … freshman talent show in high school, it went unreasonably well again. And then the next maybe 30 times I did stand-up were abject bombs, like horrendous. Like pretty unwoke, definitely trying to be like Brad Stine, or Robin Williams. Just failing and being like, probably offensive. I’m glad there’s no footage of this dark period, because I don’t know what I was saying up there. I was just repeating things I think I saw on Comedy Central. I mean, it just all went south. By the time I got to college, I didn’t really do anything freshman or sophomore year. I think I was trying to be a poet. And then I found nashvillestandup.com and I got into the open mic scene. I just found out about open mics that didn’t card, and oftentimes I would sneak in through a patio door. I’d just get a Pepsi. You know, I buy a $7 Pepsi and [try not to] annoy everybody. I’m sure — now that Nashville is a bigger town in the last 10 years — I’m sure that it’s policed better. But I got kicked out of Spanky’s. Spanky’s was an

open mic at a terrible sports bar behind the Harding Place Walmart. I remember getting kicked out for being under 21 a couple times.

It came with its hazards.

ON IMPRESSIONS

Early on I would do Werner Herzog reviewing, like, Ghostbusters. I had a Batman thing where I was Christian Bale’s Batman.

I had a joke called “Jay-Z is downstairs,” where it was just me in a Jay-Z voice going like [in a very convincing Jay-Z voice] “Beyoncé! Beyoncé!” I’m shouting upstairs.

It really wasn’t until the last five or six years or so I truly started to flesh all that into more of a skill. I think Louis C.K. is the voice that I started doing a lot more. I think it started with doing Louis at shows.

Oh, and I would do Rory Scovel. … It’s just a big dumb goof. I had a Rory-style blond wig and a fake beard. Around Halloween they’ll often have shows where comics dress up as other comics and do a bit. And I think that’s where I was doing Rory and Louis C.K. At some point, some other comedian was just like, “Hey, you’re very good at impressions, and you should probably be doing that more onstage than you are, and that’ll just set you apart a little bit.”

I don’t know. I’ve always thought impressions are kind of corny. I stayed away from it because I wanted people to think I was cool. But at this point, I don’t give a fuck. It’s just fun. It’s just fun to do. And not a lot of

In 2015 and 2016, I was very distraught about — especially coming from like the Christian side of the Republican world — I was sort of distraught that Trump was this guy who’s plainly not Christian, and just sort of lying about it. I was raised that if you were pretending to be a Christian, that was worse than not being one at all. He just broke every rule of the world I was raised in, and being celebrated for it, and that really boggled my mind. I was extremely depressed and felt like I didn’t even know my own family and know who I was. And then I started doing the impressions of him, and I was getting more used to the idea of him. I just got more used to what America is. I was just like, “No, I mean, this guy won. He was elected, and people wanted this.” And as I got to know where that came from and what that means, I started doing the impression.

It made me feel better about him.

I also started paying a lot more attention to the words he said and his speeches, and it just hit me at some point: Oh, he is making it all up as he goes along. He has no plan.

It’s fully word association. And then as I got better at the impression, the impression became a little bit less about my anger and a little bit more about being silly. I also saw — how do I put this — I feel like I understand who Trump is, I bet, better than his own family. In the way that Val Kilmer talked about knowing Doc Holliday better than Doc Holliday knew himself. I truly feel like I understand Donald Trump in this way that, like, I don’t know, maybe no one else does. I would just see how I could turn an audience into my zombies as I do that voice — the way that I hold people’s attention when I’m doing it, I’m like, “Oh, this is how he works.

He has figured out the funniest way to talk.”

I saw him for who he really is — the funniest person alive. I think Donald Trump may be — intentionally and unintentionally at the same time, which is like a double whammy — the funniest person of all time. It made me feel better about things. I don’t know — me and Donald Trump, it’s a weird relationship.

I really hope he doesn’t find out what my politics are and sic his goons on my wife and my son. …

I mean, when you look at Donald Trump, you just have to go, “This is America. We are this.” This is the height of our culture — a guy being like, “Ted Cruz’s wife is a dog. …

Elizabeth Warren is Pocahontas.” And you see how much his fans freak out, you just gotta go, “This is the height of American culture.” Like it or not, it’s not the Criterion Collection, it’s not Aaron Copland’s [Appalachian Spring], it’s this. It is Donald Trump being like, “Oh man, that chick, she’s not even hot!” And then all of these old TBN watchers flipping the fuck out at how funny it is. The good news is, it is exactly what it looks like. It’s not anything other than what it looks like. And so hopefully more people realize that it’s a grift, and that he’s just bullshitting. I mean, he truly is. He’s like Harold Hill in The Music Man doing “Seventy-Six Trombones.” It’s a grift. That said, I’m more afraid of Ron DeSantis.

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ALL OUR FAMILIES’ HISTORIES

Alora Young’s debut poetry collection looks into the lives of the women who came before her

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used to occasionally sneak into my grandmother’s living room, bypass her covered no-sitting-allowed couch, not touch her special wooden table with the fancy legs and avoid even a quick side-eye glance at her treasured vases. Instead I’d tiptoe straight back to the coveted WALKING GENTRY shelves of framed HOME: A MEMOIR OF MY family photographs FOREMOTHERS IN VERSE and carefully slide

BY ALORA YOUNG OUT AUG. 2 VIA HOGARTH out the tall Bible, BOOKS which was likely 240 PAGES, $18 much smaller than I YOUNG WILL DISCUSS HER remember, as are so BOOK 6:30 P.M. TUESDAY, many things from my AUG. 2, AT PARNASSUS youth. But back then, it felt two-thirds my size, and I hugged it like a lost cousin before opening to that sacred text in the front few pages: the record of family members, numbered and named and dated as far back as my grandmother could best recall. Somehow I looked back on their names and saw myself. I looked into the mirror and saw their names.

In former Nashville Youth Poet Laureate Alora Young’s debut poetry collection Walking Gentry Home: A Memoir of My Foremothers in Verse, we see Young only by seeing the lives of the women who came before her. The collection really lights up in the sixth and final section of the book. There we experience Young’s direct point of view, and she arrests our breath as she builds herself in her mother’s womb in “A Letter from the Womb, Teaneck, NJ, 2002,” disturbingly comes to age in the eyes of predatory men in “When I Stop Calling Mom, Mommy” and reflects on this nation’s perpetual reckoning with its legacy of racism in poems like “American Blessings, America, Present Day.” This isn’t invitation or permission, however, to jump to the last part of the book.

Young doesn’t get to see her reflection without counting the names (and the lost names) of her foremothers. We too must experience the blood, the shotgun weddings, the singing, the colorism, the loss, the sibling rivalry, the dancing and the “same fight new time” of every generation in her mother’s lineage in order to truly witness Young (19 and now a student at Swarthmore College) grow from girl to young woman. For Young’s family, “girlhood is the trip / from the home you were born into / to the home you built,” and the lives of her foremothers are the poems she was born into before we can experience the poems she’s now building.

In “Kill a Love Song,” an ars poetica-style poem that kicks off the book’s fourth part, Young says: I have a million generations of mothers in my melody A poet’s heartbeat passed down from the very first century

A passport to our past in every iambic eulogy As Young walks us through her ancestors’ lives, she labels each section with time periods, spanning prehistory to present day.

Additionally, Young marks specific years on many of the poems to further help readers locate themselves in time, and she occasionally gives physical locations to establish place, which plays an important role in the book. Her family stories primarily take place in Lauderdale and Haywood counties in West Tennessee, where they inherited land from sharecropper ancestors “who came into the land” when their former enslaver died. Early in the collection, Young tackles the miscegenation and likely plantation rape in her bloodline, like in these lines from “1864”: I will never know the full story, but I often wonder if [Collie’s] brothers who fought were murdered by their own unknowing siblings.

From the Civil War to World War II to Vietnam; from the Great Depression to the height of the HIV pandemic to the murder of George Floyd; and from gospel songs to Sammy Davis Jr. to Lauryn Hill and Beyoncé, Young’s intimate family history also takes us through the history of the United States. Perhaps she reminds us that we cannot see America today without acknowledging the history that built the nation.

I pan for names like gold.

This history I’ve spent so long searching for . . . . I don’t know how I’ve managed to love nameless women so dearly, yet every night I pray that they look down on me with pride.

It’s difficult not to feel like her family history is all of our families’ histories. You may see yourself reflected in Young’s verse. Like me, you may step back to imagine your foremothers and how they shape your becoming.

You will count the names, try to number the unnamed, remember that you are who you are because of who they were. You will remember and be glad.

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MUSIC

WHEN IN DOUBT

Amanda Shires faced a host of demons to make Take It Like a Man

BY LORIE LIEBIG

A

manda Shires was done. In the months following the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, the awardwinning singer, songwriter and violinist couldn’t even entertain the thought of getting TAKE IT LIKE A MAN OUT back into the studio FRIDAY, JULY 29, VIA ATO RECORDS; PLAYING THIRD or performing MAN RECORDS JULY 28, onstage again.

GRIMEY’S JULY 29 AND “I was just a THE RYMAN OCT. 21 painter, and I was fine with that,” Shires says. “Except that I wasn’t fine. My heart was broken because I had quit.”

Before the world shut down, Shires’ music career seemed to be flourishing.

Her 2018 solo record To the Sunset won widespread critical acclaim. Her dream of forming a female-led supergroup to help combat the sexism, ageism and exclusion plaguing country music became a reality.

The Highwomen — Shires’ project with Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris and Natalie Hemby — made waves in the industry when they released their excellent and defiant self-titled album in 2019.

All of that forward traction came to an abrupt halt just a few months later. Shires and her husband Jason Isbell hunkered down at home as lockdowns were put into effect across the globe. She mourned the loss of close friend and legendary songwriter John Prine, who died from COVID complications in April 2020, and juggled the daily responsibilities and stresses of motherhood, all while trying to work through marital issues. There wasn’t much time left to think about the future of the music industry — if there was going to be one at all.

But the trajectory of Shires’ creative path suddenly shifted after a singersongwriter named Lawrence Rothman reached out to her with a request. They were recording their own sophomore album, Good Morning, America, and thought Shires’ harmonies would fit perfectly on one of their new tracks.

Many artists might simply ignore these kinds of cold-call requests from strangers, but Shires thought of Prine, and how he always made a conscious effort to listen to any songs that were sent his way. She gave it a chance. Intrigued by what she heard, Shires reached out to Rothman and voiced her interest in working together.

They quickly formed a close connection, communicating back and forth over texts for hours. While their friendship was blossoming, Shires was simultaneously facing an especially challenging period in her marriage.

“During this time, the disconnect [between Jason and me] hadn’t connected again,” she says. “It was a big blur of not being able to

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get through. So I thought, ‘Maybe I’ll write a song with my feelings and send it to Jason.’ ” The result was “Fault Lines,” an achingly raw assessment of where their relationship was and where it could be heading. She sent a demo recording to Isbell, hoping that her message would come through loud and clear.

Instead, he left the song unplayed. Shires sent the track along to Rothman.

“I told them, ‘You’ve got to hear this song — I wrote about where I am in my marriage,’ ” Shires explains. “They listened to it and they said, ‘That’s really great. We should record it!’ ” But she had already made a decision not to go back into the studio. Her albums, which support her poetic lyrics with an inviting and haunting blend of folk and country sounds that also draws strength from rock ’n’ roll, have earned Shires widespread praise. However, harsh criticism and insults from previous recording sessions — “I haven’t had a good recording experience in years,” she says — burned away her confidence and left her to bear the weight of the trauma. “ ‘I’m not recording music anymore,’ ” she recalls telling Rothman at the time.

“I just wanted somebody to hear [‘Fault Lines’]. I really don’t want to get into a recording scenario again, because that’s where I sustained my biggest injuries. …

We got deep in conversations, but at the same time, I had this guard up.”

Rothman continued to encourage Shires, but the risk of reopening those emotional wounds still seemed greater than the

lingering need to channel her emotions through music. Eventually, she agreed to a trial day in the studio to test the creative waters. Much to Shires’ surprise, the pair immediately hit it off and made plans to make a full album together. There was just one problem: She hadn’t written any songs.

With a new creative spark ignited, Shires began combing through her collection of journals that dated back to 2018. She wrote fragments and lines from those entries out on index cards, which she then attached to the walls of her barn with painter’s tape.

“It’s kind of a way to look at yourself from the outside,” she says, “to look into all your ruminations and see how things connect.”

After she finished her work, Shires put those cards and journals into a shredder to be composted. She’d rather have the fragments return to the soil than to face the fate of diaries from artists like Kurt Cobain and Andy Warhol, who weren’t around to

bring context to their words when they were published posthumously.

“I have a huge fear of misinterpretation,” says Shires. “I also just don’t like the idea of somebody getting on eBay and selling it for $500.”

In less than a month, Shires wrote 26 new songs that give a voice to her thoughts, feelings and experiences since she wrapped production on To the Sunset.

The final product of this transformative creative chapter is the Rothman-produced Take It Like a Man, Shires’ strongest and most autobiographical album to date.

She’ll mark the release with a sold-out show at Third Man Records’ Blue Room on Thursday, and another on Friday for fans who preordered the album at Grimey’s, as she gears up for a lengthy fall tour; Shires will also open one of Isbell’s shows at the Ryman on Friday, Oct. 21.

Lead single “Hawk for the Dove” is sultry, seductive and empowering. “Don’t Be Alarmed,” which she co-wrote with Ruston Kelly, Liz Rose and Isbell, depicts two lovers trying to break the divide that’s been built between them in a way that feels incredibly real.

“All of us have had turmoil within our respective marriages, and it was definitely coming from a place of vulnerability,” Shires says. “In one word, that’s how I would describe how I picked every song for the record. You have the choice to be vulnerable or not. However you handle yourself, it’s all about choice.”

Somehow, Shires knows how to channel even the most complicated of emotions into lyrics that stay with you for the long haul.

She voices the electric pull of attraction in “Here He Comes,” and the yearning to hold on for the long haul in “Lonely at Night” and the soul-kissed “Stupid Love.”

Driven by a lively horn section and Shires’ searing, amped-up violin, the somewhat risqué “Bad Behavior” features Morris on backing vocals, as well as Brittney Spencer, who provides a playful, impromptu riff mid-song. The addition came organically, birthed from a spontaneous moment of joy that Shires felt was essential to the song.

“That’s what music is about — when you’re doing the thing that you love and you feel great about, and you’re in that space with other people,” she says. “That’s what music is supposed to be. It’s supposed to feel good.”

Rothman’s endless encouragement and a safe, welcoming studio environment were two important elements in cultivating Shires’ creative rebirth. But this important new chapter would never have begun without her decision to recenter her own wants and needs. She’s embracing herself more than ever, standing resolute instead of shrinking down to fit anyone else’s expectations. The feedback Shires has received about the album so far reiterates just how important and impactful this era of personal reinvention has been.

“A lot of them have been like, ‘Oh, I can hear your voice! You’re singing with a lot more confidence and power.’ I have that. And it’s not because I believe in my voice any more than before. It’s just that I believe in myself more.”

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MUSIC

MORALE BOOST

Kendrick Lamar brings his Big Steppers Tour to Nissan Stadium

BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

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PHOTO: RENELL MEDRANO

M

r. Morale and the Big Steppers is possibly Kendrick Lamar’s most personal album, and his most challenging.

As suggested by PLAYING SUNDAY, JULY 31, the album art — depicting Lamar AT BRIDGESTONE ARENA with a crown of thorns holding one of his children, a gun tucked into his waistband, and his fiancée and another of their children in the background — there is a struggle between worldliness and salvation, between violence and sainthood, between his childhood in Compton and the life of fatherhood ahead of him. It’s hard not to imagine it’s also a tribute to his hero Tupac, who was rendered as Christ on the cross on the cover of 1996’s posthumously released The Don Killuminati.

While there is a messianic aspect to K.Dot’s presentation of himself on this album, his spiritual journey is as much about family as it is about God: Ascension and salvation are about overcoming generations of trauma. And while Kendrick is out to exorcise his own demons, he’s also baring the sins and scars of those close to him in a public act of redemption and absolution.

He’s open about seeking therapy — with Oprah-endorsed self-help author Eckhart Tolle voicing a psychologist at various points in the LP. The rapper, known for avoiding drugs and alcohol, admits to a sex addiction. He broaches the topic of his infidelity on intro track “United in Grief” and again in “Worldwide Steppers,” linking it to feelings of insecurity and grappling with newfound fame.

But he really brings the theme together on the expansive “Mother I Sober,” a song near the end of the album. It’s a generations-spanning story of how his mother was sexually abused, and how that revelation rocked Lamar — and how similar legacies of trauma haunt Black families. He’s open about the strain it caused on their relationship, but sets out to end it. Sometimes Lamar is content to let bleak songs have bleak endings, followed by a more hopeful track. Here, he closes out on a note of victory, rapping that he confronted his addiction, with his fiancée telling his children on the track that he ended a generational curse.

There are also moments of levity. Lamar has always had a knack for bringing bars and hooks to heavy themes. “Father Time” reflects on how his father’s tough — even callous — parenting shaped him into someone who, though closed off to softer emotions, was still “not as mature as [he] thought.” But Lamar balances it with a bittersweet, catchy hook by Sampha, recalling his similar balancing act in 2012’s dark yet radio-friendly jam

“Swimming Pools (Drank).”

In the end, Lamar can only save his family. In “Savior,” he stresses he can’t be the same figure for his fans, and rejects the task, adding that other celebrities aren’t saviors either. He shares how his COVID-19 infection made him question NBA star Kyrie Irving’s refusal to get a shot as one example.

The track can be scolding at times — Lamar is frustrated at people who say they are pro-Black but criticize stars like Kodak Black, who also drops rhymes on the track “Silent Hill.” Black pleaded guilty to assaulting a teenage girl and later received a pardon on federal firearms charges from Donald Trump. Does Kendrick’s complaint hold water, especially on an album that tries to confront the legacy of abusive relationships?

Kodak Black’s presence may be frustrating to those who’d like to see less-muddled messaging on an album about trauma. But it emphasizes the point of “Savior”: We look to celebrities for guidance, but when difficult times hit home, we’re on our own. Contradictions and juxtapositions are scattered throughout the album to mixed effect.

Those contradictions have led to some controversy for the track “Auntie Diaries.” The song is a call for trans acceptance, featuring scenes of Kendrick

confronting family and his pastor in defense of his trans relative — and make no mistake, that’s a huge deal coming from one of the most successful and acclaimed rappers of our time. But the track also features deadnaming and anti-gay slurs. There’s plenty of online debate about whether the transgression adds authenticity to the song (and how clumsily cis people navigate a loved one’s transition) or mars the loving message.

Still, the display of allyship coming from the typically macho, homophobic mainstream rap makes it an important

moment, if imperfect.

Exploring the politics of rappers is often a deep dive into murky messaging: We’re seeing writers revisiting the shortcomings of so-called conscious rap from the late ’90s and early Aughts, and the late, great Greg Tate noted early on that being a Public Enemy fan meant recognizing they were both brilliant agitprop artists and suckers for flirting with Farrakhan, antisemitism and misogyny.

Arguably Lamar isn’t exactly a conscious or political rapper — he’s a mainstream artist who doesn’t shy from messaging. And the politics of Mr. Morale seem to originate from a more personal point of view than his opus To Pimp a Butterfly, which felt like an ambitious effort to make sense of the troubled landscape that inspired the early Black Lives Matter movement. In a way, this album does capture the daze of the post-lockdown era, in which people are trying to reenter the world after being alone with their thoughts for so long. But the details of those internal journeys are different for everyone.

At the end of the day, Kendrick doesn’t feel like he owes you the moral clarity you want or need. And you shouldn’t bother him for any answers to your questions.

He’s got his own shit to handle.

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and her somewhat shy demeanor in between songs stood in contrast to her soaring vocals and the way her guitar seemed to pull her around the stage. After closing her set with “Ziptie” — “Oh, good God / When you gonna call it off / Climb down off of the cross / And change your mind” — she waved to the crowd and exited the stage as quickly as she’d entered it.

Van Etten, the relative veteran of the group, spent time in Middle Tennessee at the start of her career two decades ago. She closed out the night, which seemed fitting: If emotions were building steadily through the show, her set represented its cathartic peak.

Van Etten’s band emerged and launched into the thumping, industrial ’80s sounds of “Headspace” from her latest record We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong. The frontwoman appeared to a roar from the crowd and began stalking the stage like an absolute rock star. Van Etten laughed off some technical difficulties, and that synth-heavy and somewhat-haunting vibe stayed strong through “Comeback Kid,” a standout from her 2019 LP Remind Me Tomorrow.

Of the three artists, Van Etten’s stage presence felt the most dynamic, and she was also the most interactive with the Ryman audience, who she eventually called to their feet. She recalled to the crowd that the last time she’d played the Mother Church was in 2013, when she opened for Nick Cave.

That was the tour, she said, when she fell in love with her partner, with whom she has a

f you visit the merch table at a stop on Sharon Van Etten, Julien Baker and Angel Olsen’s ongoing tour, you’ll find a tote bag that reads: “I went to The Wild Hearts Tour and all I got was emotional.” Of course, anyone who came to the Ryman on Saturday night already knew to expect that. Each artist on the triple bill mines the depths of human emotions — not all of them sad — albeit from different musical and lyrical angles. As we settled into our balcony seats, my wife remarked that she was prepared to watch me get all up in my feelings for the next several hours.

Olsen took the stage first, backed by a band who, as she told the crowd, she was still getting to know. The Asheville, N.C.-residing songwriter released her sixth full-length album Big Time last month, a record that she told the Scene she made for herself as she processed coming out, romantic ups and downs and the deaths of both of her parents.

Her set was efficient — so much so that she announced toward the middle that she was adding a song — and awash in the classiccountry sounds that are so present on her latest LP. Your mileage may vary when it comes to present-day artists working in this style. On the one hand, it’s obviously preferable to what’s topping the country charts, and Olsen & Co. executed it well.

On the other — perhaps simply because so many are trying to channel the expressive power of old-school country — it can sometimes feel like an artistic facade, a rhinestone costume that keeps the listener at a distance. Still, Olsen has proven herself over and IT JUST FEELS THAT WAY: over to be a songwriter who conSHARON VAN ETTEN tains multitudes, and her perforchild; they were in the audience, as were her mance eased the audience into the evening’s parents. Van Etten has discussed her latest emotional theme. Even on happier songs as a pandemic album, recorded in her new like “Big Time,” the lush country arrangehometown of Los Angeles, and she told the ment and the warble in her voice created a crowd how thrilled she was to be performing melancholic atmosphere. It was an implicit these songs in a room with other people. Still, reminder that we are still, collectively, going she reached back further into her catalog: through it, and it came with an explicit one, Another of the set’s high points was another too: “How have the past two years been for Remind Me Tomorrow song, “Seventeen.” It’s you?” Olsen asked the crowd. musically exuberant — and had Van Etten Next up was Baker, who recently settled in dancing around the stage — but somewhat Nashville. She came to the stage alone, wearmournful lyrically, as the protagonist sees ing a guitar and holding a coffee cup, quickly in a young person some things she lost when introducing herself before picking out the she stopped being a youth herself. “I used opening notes of “Sprained Ankle.” Playing to be 17,” she sang, punching the air, “now the titular song from her 2015 debut album, you’re just like me.”

Baker introduced her fundamental self, her Van Etten and her band left the stage, but voice quietly bobbing over electric guitar as the rafters shook from the packed house’s she sang the lamenting opening lyric, “Wish I call for more. She returned and, to the could write songs about anything other than crowd’s sheer delight, brought Olsen with death.” Baker’s latest release, 2021’s Little her for two encore songs, including their Oblivions, is much louder, and she informed 2021 duet “Like I Used To.” Rising from our the crowd that some of her songs were being pew afterward, I felt a rush of different feelperformed with a full band for the first time. ings. If the kind of emotional examination But more instrumentation has not crowded these artists encourage brings sadness a out the devastating honesty of her lyrics, little closer to the surface, it makes joy and which bluntly yet artfully address battles satisfaction easier to access, too. with mental health, substances, love, loss EMAIL THESPIN@NASHVILLESCENE.COM and faith. Baker is not a chatty performer,

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FILM

WHOLE LAVA LOVE Fire of Love is a heartwarming doc about true love and volcanoes

BY CRAIG D. LINDSEY

T

he new documentary Fire of Love is literally about a rideor-die couple. Oh sure, we all know those couples who are joined at the hip and all, “We’ll do anything for each other.”

Well, ask yourself this, wannabe Steve FIRE OF LOVE PG, 93 MINUTES and Eydie: If your OPENING FRIDAY, JULY mate puts on a flame29, AT THE BELCOURT; IN retardant outfit and ENGLISH AND FRENCH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES walks straight into hot lava, would you follow them?

That’s what Maurice and Katia Krafft did on a regular basis. The Alsatian French couple were intrepid volcanologists, traveling the world and getting up close and personal with those ruptures in the Earth’s crust that shoot out lava, ash and a whole lotta hot shit. The pair made a comfortable living off of it, creating books and their own documentary films about their discoveries.

But it all came to an end in June 1991, when the Kraffts were killed near Japan’s Mount Unzen during a pyroclastic flow — a type of explosive eruption. And from the way Fire tells it via the footage the Kraffts accumulated throughout the years, they probably wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

The two were obsessed with volcanoes even before they met. They each made lifechanging visits to Italian volcanoes — Katia at Mount Etna, Maurice at Mount Stromboli

YEP

Writer-director-producer Jordan Peele’s relentlessly original Nope is now playing everywhere

BY D. PATRICK RODGERS

J

ordan Peele occupies an increasingly narrow space in film. He writes, directs and produces midbudget movies from completely original ideas — and he makes money doing it. A known quantity now thanks to the critical and commercial success of his 2017 directorial debut Get Out and 2019 follow-up Us, the onetime sketch comedian returns this week with Nope, a sci-fi/horror effort that not only lives up to its potential, but is relentlessly original.

After the sudden death of their father (the always magnificent Keith David) due to an apparent freak accident, siblings OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and Emerald (Keke Palmer) inherit the old man’s ranch, where they train and care for motion-picture horses. Descendants of the Black jockey featured in Eadweard ​​ Muybridge’s The Horse in Motion — the first moving pictures ever recorded — the Haywood siblings soon discover that a sinister force, one perhaps not of planet Earth, is looming over their longtime family ranch. Along for the ride are paranormal-activityobsessed tech whiz Angel (Brandon Perea), comi-

36

— when they were young. Although the details of how they first met is up for debate (Was it a first date? A chance meeting?), they of course bonded over shared interests. Children of post-World War II France, they grew up to be anti-war activists, appearing on the front page of daily newspaper L’Humanité during a highly attended demonstration.

Fire of Love shows the couple beginning their travels as volcano-studying man and wife in the late ’60s, often driving in a jalopy that breaks down constantly. They even start to build a traveling commune — named Team Vulcan — as people join them on their excursions. All the while, they document everything on camera, from the nifty highs to the painful lows. (People who don’t like watching burned skin fall off a leg might wanna skip this one.) At first, their volcano studies seem like a very intense hobby. But as they grow older and see how the effects of a volcanic eruption

cally cryptic cinematographer Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott) and former child star Ricky “Jupe” Park (Steven Yeun), who runs a neighboring theme park and whose backstory subplot involves a chimpanzee rampage that does a lot of the film’s subtextual heavy lifting.

As the hardworking, unfortunately named OJ, Kaluuya broods and smolders. As his gregarious sister, Palmer is electric, a nonstop delight to watch.

They and the rest of the cast do the important work of endearing us to these characters — so that no matter how outlandish Nope’s premise may ultimately prove to be, we’re invested. (And for what it’s worth, this premise is nowhere near as far-fetched as that of Us, a movie with no shortage of Peele’s trademark striking imagery but nowhere near as airtight or excellent as Get Out.) I’m far from the first critic to draw comparisons between Peele and M. Night Shyamalan, a director who exhibited similar promise, influences and thematic interests early in his filmmaking career. Indeed, Peele himself has acknowledged Shyamalan’s Signs — one of that filmmaker’s best — as a direct influence on Nope. But where Shyamalan’s characters are so often two-dimensional avatars designed to carry out a plot, Peele’s are self-aware, complicated and funny — and they speak and behave like normal people, which is a nut Shyamalan could never quite crack.

But really, this film is more Jaws than Signs — a highstakes thriller with a tight narrative and a small central cast. As with any good sci-fi, Nope is allegorical. As with

can destroy whole communities, they work to alert people about what they need to do before and after a volcano blows.

Fire is one of two documentaries about the Kraffts dropping this year. (Werner Herzog, no stranger to doing docs on people obsessed with nature, will release The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft sometime in the future.)

For this one, director Sara Dosa weaves a poignantly told, true-life love story about two people who practically made an art of flying too close to the sun. Quirkilicious filmmaker Miranda July provides wistful narration, deconstructing the Kraffts’ union with such lines as: “As in love, there are mysteries. You fall hard for what you know — harder for what you don’t.” The Kraffts themselves are more blunt when they talk about their relationship. “It’s hard for volcanologists to live together — it’s volcanic!” Maurice says at one point.

Fire shows how these two ruled out living a conventional domestic existence (kids, pets, white picket fence, etc.) in order to become magma-chasing nomads. But — and I hate to admit something so cheesy — it also makes you believe in love. It reminds me of a line Steve Martin delivers at the end of his 1991 film L.A. Story: “There’s someone out there for everyone — even if you need a pickax, a compass and night goggles to find them.” While it’s very likely they had those items before they met, Maurice and Katia didn’t need them to find one another — and once they did, they embarked on a yearsspanning love affair with volcanoes and each other, right until the very end.

A movie about people who figuratively and literally burn for each other (you hear that, Bridgerton fans?), Fire of Love is a nonfiction rarity: a documentary that can also serve as one romantic-ass date movie.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NOPE R, 135 MINUTES NOW PLAYING AT THE BELCOURT AND REGAL AND AMC LOCATIONS

any good horror, it teases out our expectations and toys with us using a tasteful amount of misdirection and jump-scares. Sure, it’s a movie about a spooky, otherworldly thing come to terrorize some likable rural Southern Californians. But it’s also a film about race, legacy, emotional trauma, grief and obsession.

Peele has a knack for conceiving and executing shots that are so compelling, so memorable, that I sometimes wonder if he dreams up these images first, later reverse-engineering plot points to get us there. A blood-covered chimp extending its paw for a fist-bump.

Steven Yeun looking skyward as his cowboy hat is blown off by some supernatural force. A string of color-

ful plastic pennants dancing in the wind, seemingly affixed to a low-hanging cloud. These moments look incredible on the big screen, and thankfully, Peele is a strong enough storyteller to make them all work.

Nope stands alongside Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All at Once as a 2022 movie that — without the help of multibillion-dollar IP — dares to be outlandish, dazzles with its imagery and makes the most of its small, exceptional cast. Though fewer and further between, it’s a blessing that we still have filmmakers like Peele taking chances within the studio system.

Nope delivers.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | JULY 28 – AUGUST 3, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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PERRY THOMPSON In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a nonresident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon PERRY THOMPSON. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HIS appearance herein with thirty (30) days after August 11, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on September 12, 2022.

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In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a nonresident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon PERRY THOMPSON. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HIS appearance herein with thirty (30) days after August 11, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on September 12, 2022.

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FEATURED APARTMENT LIVING

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk M. De Jesus, Deputy Clerk Date: July 13, 2022 Jennifer L. Honeycutt Attorney for Plaintiff NSC 7/21, 7/28, 8/4, 8/11/22

Your Neighborhood Local Attractions: · Vanderbilt University and Hospital · Belmont University · Hillsboro Village · Music Row Neighborhood Dining and Drinks: · Double Dogs Restaurant · Hopdoddy · Burger Bar · Ruby Sunshine · Biscuit Love · Belcourt Taps · McDougal’s Chicken Fingers and Wings

· Nicoletto’s Italian Kitchen · Fido · Pancake Pantry Enjoy the outdoors: · St. Bernard Park · Fannie Mae Dees Park · Centennial Park · Centennial Dog Park Best places nearby to see a show: · Belcourt Theatre · The Station Inn · The Basement · Ryman Auditorium

Favorite local neighborhood bar: · Double Dogs Restaurant Best local family outing: · Adventure Science Center Your new home amenities: · Green Pet Area · Controlled access parking garage · Outside lounge area with gas grill and TV · Washer and Dryer in each apartment

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2100 Acklen Ave, Nashville TN 37212 | 2100acklenflats.com | 615.499-5979 38

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The Harper 2 Beds / 2 bath 1265 sq ft from $1700

The Hudson 3 Bed / 2 bath 1429 sq ft from $1950

3 floor plans southavenatcommonwealth.com | 629.777.8333 Colony House 1510 Huntington Drive Nashville, TN 37130 The James

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2 bed / 1.5 bath

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gazeboapts.com | 615.551.3832 Cottages at Drakes Creek 204 Safe Harbor Drive Goodlettsville, TN 37072

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Studio / 1 bath

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3 Bedrooms/ 2 baths 1350 sq feet from $1900

To advertise your property available for lease, contact Keith Wright at 615-557-4788 or kwright@fwpublishing.com

2 bed / 1 bath 864 sq ft. $1,324-1,347

1 bed / 1 bath 576 sq ft $1,096-1,115

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brightonvalley.net | 615.366.5552 nashvillescene.com | JULY 28 - AUGUST 3, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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S U H P I TC

Nashville is a diverse city, and we want a pool of freelance contributors who reflect that diversity. We’re looking for new freelancers, and we particularly want to encourage writers of color & LGBTQ writers to pitch us.

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