Nashville Scene 8-19-21

AUGUST 19–25, 2021 I VOLUME 40 I NUMBER 29 I NASHVILLESCENE.COM I FREE

CITY LIMITS: LEE GIVES PARENTS EXEMPTIONS TO SCHOOL MASK MANDATES PAGE 9

MUSIC: CONNIE SMITH AND MARTY STUART’S MARRIAGE MUSIC PAGE 38

THE

Cann is ISSUE

Exploring Tennessee’s hemp industry, the difference between CBD and Delta-8, marijuana policy in Nashville and more

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NASHVILLE SCENE | AUGUST 19 – AUGUST 25, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

CONTENTS

AUGUST 19, 2021

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32

Walk a Mile: Sylvan Park ...........................7

Big Dreams, Large Spaces

CITY LIMITS

In the 20th installment of his column, J.R. Lind explores the relics of Old Nashville tucked away in this West Side neighborhood

BY J.R. LIND

Pith in the Wind .........................................8

This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog

Not So Special ............................................9 Governor gives parents exemptions to school mask mandates

BY STEPHEN ELLIOTT

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PERFORMING ARTS

TMProductions holds space and bridges the gap for local dancers, actors and more

BY AMY STUMPFL

33 ART

Offbeat

Donna Woodley brings the irreverent and curious Perception and Perspective to NKA Gallery

BY JOE NOLAN

Artists Talk

COVER STORY The Cannabis Issue 2021

Getting in the Weeds .............................. 11 Examining the legal and chemical differences between CBD, Delta-8 and THC

BY D. PATRICK RODGERS

Hempin’ Ain’t Easy .................................. 12 The Hemp Alliance of Tennessee seeks to grow the hemp industry through education, legislation and partnerships

BY ERICA CICCARONE

High Crimes ............................................. 14 Nashville is an outlier in a state that continues to buck the national trend of more progressive marijuana policy

David Onri Anderson on his painting ‘Test of Time’

BY LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

34

BOOKS

Spanks for the Memories

Talking With Stephen K. Stein about the BDSM movement in modern America

BY MEGAN SELING

Our state has a rich past — and promising future — with the cash crop

Miel Owner Seema Prasad Pushes for Digital COVID Passport Conventional Wisdom: 2021 International Association for Identification Conference ON THE COVER:

Optimara Agriculture Photo by Eric England

MUSIC

From soap to salve to ice cream, we recommend these Tennessee-made CBD products

Tennessee’s Hemp-Heavy History .......... 18

State Investigation Says Fired Vax Chief Bought Infamous Muzzle Herself

37

Listen Up .................................................. 37

BY ERICA CICCARONE AND MEGAN SELING

More Nashville Venues Announce Vaccination Protocols [Updated]

BY ARAM GOUDSOUZIAN AND CHAPTER 16

BY STEVEN HALE

CBD and Chill .......................................... 16

THIS WEEK ON THE WEB:

Maggie Rose wants to open up lines of communication with Have a Seat

Marriage Music ....................................... 38 Connie Smith and Marty Stuart apply natural grace on The Cry of the Heart

BY GEOFFREY HIMES

The Spin ................................................... 39 The Scene’s live-review column checks out Bully at Mercy Lounge

BY J.R. LIND

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BY CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

CRITICS’ PICKS

Killer Nashville International Writers Conference, NightLight 615 presents Clueless, Sierra Ferrell, Futurebirds w/Teddy and the Rough Riders, The Middle of Somewhere Hemp Fest III, Weekend Classics: Playtime, Broadway Brunch, Kindling Arts Festival, Maintenance Phase Podcast, The Library That Dolly Built and more

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40 FILM

Strange Scenes

The Defy Film Festival brings the weird world of experimental cinema back to East Nashville

BY JOE NOLAN

Sign of the Times

The heartwarming CODA offers boundarypushing deaf representation

BY CORY WOODROOF

FOOD AND DRINK Bowled Over

The forthcoming Eastside Bowl will be a boon to Madison’s entertainment scene

BY MARGARET LITTMAN

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MUSIC CITY GRAND PRIX

MUSIC CITY GRAND PRIX AND NASCAR SHOW THERE’S AN APPETITE FOR RACING IN NASHVILLE The Big Machine Music City Grand Prix brought about 110,000 fans to downtown Nashville the weekend of Aug. 6 through 8, with a sellout crowd of 60,000 fans attending the actual event on Sunday. After attempts in 2010 and 2015 to bring an IndyCar race to Nashville failed, and after many discussions between Nashville sports and tourism officials and IndyCar executives, 2021 saw it all come together.

Music City Grand Prix founder and CEO Matt Crews, a former football great and record-breaking kicker for MTSU, kept at it until the race became a reality. One of the deciding factors in landing the event was how well Nashville did hosting 2019’s NFL Draft, according to Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles. Penske Entertainment owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the NTT IndyCar Series and IMS Productions.

Apparently, excitement was so high for the Music City race that Miles claimed, “Nashville is going to join Monaco at the absolute top tier of street racing in motorsport across the globe.” His Twitter blew up when he said it, but it turned out he was on target. I can understand the skepticism — the Cumberland River is hardly the French Riviera, and pontoon boats don’t have the high-class air of super yachts. But Nashville is a centrally located city in the nation, and that allows almost anyone to get here easily and affordably.

Miles added that he meant no disrespect to Monaco but that he thought the setup here in Nashville would propel the street race to the top tier. If Miles is a betting man, I hope he laid money on that, because according to a release from NBC Sports, not only was the race a huge success for our city, it also averaged a total audience delivery of 1.212 million viewers, “making it the mostwatched NTT INDYCAR SERIES race on cable in NBC Sports history (since 2009).

It’s also believed to be the most-watched INDYCAR cable race in 23 years (2.218 million; ESPN; 1998).” Wow! Economically, Nashville has also gotten out ahead of the curve (pun intended).

Despite the challenges created by the pandemic, according to a recent report published by real estate investment company Stessa, Nashville has had the most economic growth in the U.S. With events like the IndyCar race and the Fourth of July celebration that attracted some 350,000

people to our city, economic activity has really picked up. More people visiting or attending events generally means more people renting hotel rooms, eating in restaurants and visiting entertainment venues. In other words, it’s helping our bottom line.

Success, they say, has many authors.

Mayor John Cooper rallied and unified the necessary folks, and Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp president and CEO Butch Spyridon convinced Penske that Nashville was the right place for the race. The police department notified the public, keeping the traffic flowing and providing safety.

As if the success of the Music City Grand Prix was not enough to have tourists and locals alike making plans for next year, there is a great chance that NASCAR will be returning to the Fairgrounds Nashville by 2023 — if all continues to go as planned.

What’s more, NASCAR Champion’s Week will return this year, bringing an influx of drivers, celebrities and tourists to crown the winner of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series — our own Music City Center will host. We had the same honor in 2019, but of course COVID forced the celebration to go virtual in 2020.

And let’s not forget the Nashville Superspeedway, which had a successful reopening this year with full stands and Kyle Larson taking home the Cup. The track played host to the triple-header weekend after it had been inactive since 2011. The latest multimillion-dollar transformation finally has the track back up to speed (sorry, another pun), and fans are equally as ready to return for future races already on the schedule.

Though the inaugural Big Machine Music City Grand Prix was a success, according to NBC, “Podium finishers Scott Dixon and James Hinchcliffe both said some modifications to driver etiquette would improve the racing.” Likely, those modifications will be put in place prior to next year’s race. Yes, the grand prix will return next year, as the city has a three-year contract in place.

The city learned a lot too. As racer Hinchcliffe said: “It wasn’t just we got dumb lucky putting ourselves in a highly populous city. There’s an appetite for racing here!”

Editor-in-Chief D. Patrick Rodgers Senior Editor Dana Kopp Franklin Associate Editor Alejandro Ramirez Arts Editor Laura Hutson Hunter Culture Editor Erica Ciccarone Music and Listings Editor Stephen Trageser Contributing Editor Jack Silverman Staff Writers Kelsey Beyeler, Stephen Elliott, Nancy Floyd, Steven Hale, Kara Hartnett, J.R. Lind, Kathryn Rickmeyer, William Williams Contributing Writers Sadaf Ahsan, Radley Balko, Ashley Brantley, Maria Browning, Steve Cavendish, Chris Chamberlain, Lance Conzett, Marcus K. Dowling, Steve Erickson, Randy Fox, Adam Gold, Seth Graves, Kim Green, Steve Haruch, Geoffrey Himes, Edd Hurt, Jennifer Justus, Christine Kreyling, Katy Lindenmuth, Craig D. Lindsey, Brittney McKenna, Marissa R. Moss, Noel Murray, Joe Nolan, 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 Kahwit Tela Art Director Elizabeth Jones Photographers Eric England, Matt Masters, Daniel Meigs Graphic Designers Mary Louise Meadors, Tracey Starck Production Coordinator Christie Passarello Events and Marketing Director Olivia Britton Marketing and Promotions Manager Robin Fomusa Publisher Mike Smith Senior Advertising Solutions Managers Maggie Bond, Sue Falls, Michael Jezewski, Carla Mathis, Heather Cantrell Mullins, Jennifer Trsinar, Keith Wright Advertising Solutions Managers William Shutes, Niki Tyree Sales Operations Manager Chelon Hill Hasty Advertising Solutions Associates Caroline Poole, Aya Robinson, 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 | AUGUST 19 – AUGUST 25, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

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CITY LIMITS

SYLVAN PARK

In the 20th installment of his column, J.R. Lind explores the relics of Old Nashville tucked away in this West Side neighborhood

BY J.R. LIND • PHOTOS BY ERIC ENGLAND

Walk a Charlotte Avenue

Mile

49th Avenue North

with J.R. Lind

51st Avenue North

THE ROUTE: From 51st Avenue North and Wyoming Avenue, north on 51st to Charlotte, then right. Right on 50th, then left on Park Avenue and right on 49th.

Right on Nevada then left on 50th and right on Wyoming, back to the start.

CRANES: 0 ABANDONED SCOOTERS: 0

Wyoming Avenue

Once a month, reporter and resident historian J.R. Lind will pick an area in the city to examine while accompanied by a photographer. With his column Walk a Mile, he’ll walk a one-mile stretch of that area, exploring the neighborhood’s history and character, its developments, its current homes and businesses, and what makes it a unique part of Nashville. If you have a suggestion for a future Walk a Mile, email editor@nashvillescene.com.

H

eat-beating morning runners on the Richland Creek Greenway orbit the duffers similarly making an effort to dodge the worst of the summer of 2021’s most brutal temperatures. Perhaps none of the athletes know the property encircled by the trail wasn’t always lush open space dotted by trees.

In 1923, at what is now the corner of McCabe Park at Wyoming and 51st avenues, Nashville’s Municipal Children’s Home opened. The U-shaped building served as a home for the orphaned and what were euphemistically known as “troubled youth” for decades. The straight-out-of-central-casting orphanage was abandoned in the 1960s, with kids from then on housed in cottages sitting on the property until the state took over juvenile services in the 1970s. Portions of the old main building stood until the 1990s, as did the remaining cottages, finally being dismantled when Metro Parks assumed control of the tract.

Interestingly enough, that segment of McCabe Park is still officially owned, at least according to its deed, by the City of Nashville’s Municipal Children’s Home, despite

neither the City of Nashville nor the home continuing to exist.

Across Wyoming, just north of the park along 51st, is The Living Word International Church, housed in a substantial and surprisingly tall building. The sign says the congregation, a member of the Pentecostal Church of God in Christ denomination, is celebrating a pastoral anniversary. Though its name has changed a handful of times, Christians of a Pentecostal persuasion have been worshipping in the building since at least 1961.

Technically, this section of Sylvan Park is The Cottages of Idaho, at least according to the Planning Department, though these days few of the homes could be accurately described as cottages — unless one was comparing them to, say, the Palace of Versailles or the Federative Republic of Brazil.

They are tall and wide and deep and as inescapable as the Holy Spirit. But to their builders’ (or perhaps to a particularly protective neighborhood association’s) credit, the exteriors of these giants at least match the character of the neighborhood.

There are no sidewalks here, an odd anomaly given that there’s plenty of room for them and that the rest of Sylvan Park has excellent sidewalk coverage, dating to its time as a planned community. In 1887, the Nashville Land Improvement Co. opened up what would become Sylvan Park to development. Called variously New Town or West Nashville, it stretched from what was then the City of Nashville’s limits at 38th Avenue to Morrow Road. It was intended as an independent satellite city, and though it had its own churches, stores and offices along Charlotte, the independent suburb idea never really launched. Nevertheless, the neighborhood was full and bustling by the time World War II began; it was even served

nashvillescene.com | AUGUST 19 – AUGUST 25, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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CITY LIMITS by its own streetcar line — known colloquially as the Sylvan Park Dinky — that ran down Park Avenue.

Though new homes are spread throughout Sylvan Park’s many blocks, many of the Victorian- and Queen Anne-style homes of the original vintage remain. Sylvan Park — appropriately, given the fact that its name is derived from the Latin for “forest” — is well-treed, the neighborhood’s leafy branches providing ample shade for walkers who, at least on the southern run of 51st Avenue, don’t have the benefit of sidewalks.

It’s a garden spot, too. Many residents obviously take great pride in their green thumbs. One yard in particular was absolutely bursting on a recent bright August morning with golden sunflowers, a pastiche of pastel wildflowers and one mighty pinkbloomed tree.

Abruptly, 51st dives steeply, perhaps sloping down to some long-buried tributary of Richland Creek. Here is where the sidewalks begin.

It is also here — where 51st intersects Nevada — the homes retain more of their original character, albeit with fresh coats of paint brightening up the old bungalows. A car in one drive includes a small bumper sticker of the arms granted to Joan of Arc’s family after her martyrdom: Azure a sword per pale argent hilted or between a crown in chief and two fleurs-de-lis of the last. For those who don’t speak blazon, that’s a blue shield with a vertical gold sword, topped by a gold crown and between two fleur-de-lis. Why is the Maid of Orleans so beloved in this corner of West Nashville? Who can know?

Near where St. Joan is commemorated via decal, St. Ann is honored with a parish and a small parochial school, providing a spiritual bookend to 51st paired with the Living Word on the other end. Across Charlotte from the parish is what is surely Nashville’s most interesting bank, architecturally: the Regions branch with the bright-gold geodesic dome roof, a relic of the 1960s, when Buckminster Fuller’s innovation enjoyed a brief burst of popularity.

Turning east on Charlotte we find a nowvacant lot dribbled with the detritus of demolition. The Sadler family ran a Shell gas station here for 33 years; it was locally famous for its impeccably clean convenience store, with shelves and tile gleaming. The floors still survive, a sort of urban version of Hidden Lake’s abandoned dance floor.

Mapco paid the Sadlers $4.5 million for the lot in 2020.

Just beyond the western outpost of the Turnip Truck, Richland Park spreads out like a verdant blanket. With old Cohn High

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THIS WEEK ON OUR NEWS AND POLITICS BLOG:

as its backdrop and the town-square-esque row of brick offices and storefronts across Charlotte, it’s clear this public space was meant as the common front yard of the abortive independent city. The park includes the Nashville Public Library’s charmingly small Richland Park Branch, which from 1962 until 1965 was also the broadcasting home of the city’s public radio station, a legacy that lives on in WPLN’s call letters: Public Library Nashville.

Cohn’s legacy lives on as well, as the backend of the double-barreled name of PearlCohn High School. Cohn opened in 1928 as a junior high, named for Corrine Cohn, who pioneered the idea of junior high schools in Nashville; it was the first school in the city named for a woman. Cohn died before the school opened, but her widower Charles remained committed to the school, donating 2,000 books to the library when the school opened and creating an endowment that funded the library for the rest of the school’s existence. He also donated a pipe organ, making it likely Cohn was the only school in Tennessee so equipped.

It operated as a junior high — at the time

grades 7 through 9 — for only eight years, with senior high grades added beginning in 1936. The school closed in 1983, but has continued to serve Metro Nashville Public Schools in various ways since, as the home of the alternative high school as well as the headquarters for the community education program and the Homework Hotline. The handful of homes south of the school on Elkins sit on flat-topped mounds, perhaps a way to lessen the volume from decades of chattering 20th-century teens.

South on 49th, as one walks away from the history at Cohn and the well-preserved homes that neighbor it along Park Avenue, one metaphorically walks away from history as well: The developers on this stretch committed to the repetitive modernity of the tall-and-skinny.

Many of the remaining original homes stay hidden behind high and dense hedges, like dollops of little vignettes from The Secret Garden. And as the neighborhood was originally envisioned, small suburban respites from the big city a few miles east.

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

The vaccine-refusal- and Delta-variantfueled COVID-19 surge pushed Tennessee back above 2,000 hospitalizations for the first time since the pre-vaccination winter. Hospital executives throughout the Midstate warned that beds are rapidly filling up, with many, if not most, saying there are no available beds at all, as the usual seasonal influx of other respiratory virus hospitalizations has come earlier than usual — while the usual late-summer, startof-school increase in trauma patients is right on schedule. … Meanwhile, and if readers will forgive the pun, a school board meeting about mask mandates for students in Williamson County produced a viral video, as parents and others hurled vituperative and threatening rhetoric at health care professionals after the meeting. The scene was less vitriolic at a simultaneous Metro school board meeting, with anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers hurling their misinformation in between parents complaining that a book about seahorse reproduction was a stealth effort to indoctrinate children into acceptance of people who are transgender. Seriously, that happened. … A ruling from the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals means the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s extension of an eviction moratorium doesn’t apply to renters in Tennessee (and the other states in the 6th Circuit’s bailiwick), leaving Nashville renters scrambling to pay rent. … Meanwhile, Gov. Bill Lee’s office felt it necessary to send a memo to lawmakers assuring them that various conspiracy theories around the governor’s pandemic response, such as it is, and vaccination program, if it exists, are false.

The most bizarre one involves the governor scheming to have the vaccine given to beef cattle (“vaccine” does come from the Latin word for “cattle,” after all!) so that it is introduced into the food supply and thus inoculates carnivorous Tennesseans without their knowledge or consent. Contributor Betsy Phillips rightly notes that this is of course silly, because the governor has shown very little interest in getting people to get the shot voluntarily, so the idea that he had some grand scheme to get them protected stealthily seems unlikely. (But that’s exactly what someone running a beef-based stealth vaccination scheme would say!) She also makes the more salient point that this sort of silliness and the necessity of a response shows that Tennessee Republicans are infighting, a predictable outcome given the purge of moderating forces within the party. … Speaking of which, twice-impeached former President Donald Trump endorsed Lee for re-election. … The TBI is investigating a fatal police shooting that took place earlier this month in West Nashville. The Metro Nashville Police Department claims three officers, who were all wearing body cameras, fired on a man who charged them with a knife.

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

NASHVILLE SCENE | AUGUST 19 – AUGUST 25, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

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CITY LIMITS

NOT SO SPECIAL

Governor gives parents exemptions to school mask mandates

BY STEPHEN ELLIOTT

P

arents across the state can now opt their K-12 students out of school mask mandates after Republican Gov. Bill Lee on Monday issued an executive order clawing back some power from local school boards and other bodies.

Lee’s order followed a request from every Republican member of the state House for a special session. House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) asked for a special session for several reasons, including the establishment of a new school voucher program for students in schools with mask mandates. He won’t get that, after Lee on Monday said a special session was no longer necessary.

“Local decision making is very important,” Lee said. “Independent decision making by parents … is the most important. No one cares more about the health and wellbeing of a child than their parent.”

The governor was undeterred by a recent and dramatic surge in COVID-19 cases and especially hospitalizations, including among children, because, he said, “those hospital beds are filled with adults.”

Asked why his order didn’t apply to other school requirements for non-COVID vaccines and other health issues, Lee said that

masks are the “issue of most frustration and concern right now.”

In Lee’s home county — Williamson — a mob of anti-mask parents recently threatened doctors and other health professionals who urged the county school board to institute a mask mandate. The board did indeed decide to implement one, but gave parents the option to opt their kids out for medical or “religious reasons,” and thousands have done so.

In neighboring Davidson County, the school board also instituted a mask mandate but with only a medical exemption, and according to The Tennessean, no parents have secured one.

Around the state, students and teachers returning to classrooms have been contracting COVID-19 or forced to quarantine due to close contact with others in large numbers.

COVID-19 vaccines are currently not approved for use in children younger than 12.

Though Lee’s order did not address all of Sexton’s requests, he called it a win.

“Gov. Lee’s executive order issued today is good news in affirming a parent’s right to make health care decisions for their children,” Sexton said. “I am hopeful this order can be extended further by curtailing the power of the six independent health departments that can still impose unlimited man-

dates upon our business community. I feel confident the immediate need for a special session has been averted in the interim by using executive orders. However, the House still stands ready to act if the call comes.”

And Lee didn’t rule out pursuing other measures in the future, including those related to Tennessee businesses instituting vaccine requirements for customers or employees.

Senate Speaker Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge), who opposed a special session and said local school boards should be able to make their own decisions, also praised Lee’s order.

“Gov. Lee’s executive order is a wise and prudent solution to the proliferation of school mask mandates,” McNally said.

“While I strongly urge all Tennesseans to get vaccinated or wear masks if they cannot, I respect any Tennessean with a sincere religious or medical exception. This executive order acknowledges the authority of local school and health boards to make these decisions while ensuring parents have the ability to opt out. This is an appropriate compromise that strikes a proper balance between freedom and public health.”

Democrats roundly criticized Lee’s decision, though some expressed optimism that not holding a special session would prevent supermajority Republicans from going even further in cracking down on local elected bodies and private businesses taking COVID-19 precautions. House Democratic Caucus Chair Vincent Dixie (D-Nashville) said that a special session “most definitely” would have produced policies that he considers more harmful, but still called Lee’s

“HE’S WILLING TO PLAY RUSSIAN ROULETTE WITH OUR CHILDREN. HE’S SENDING THEM INTO THE LION’S DEN WITH NO ARMOR.” —VINCENT DIXIE

decision “appalling.”

“It goes to show the attitude of the governor and the Republican Party when it comes to our babies’ lives,” Dixie said. “He’s willing to play Russian roulette with our children. He’s sending them into the lion’s den with no armor. We have a serious lack of leadership.”

Though Lee moved to give parents a way out from masking their kids, he still praised the effectiveness of masks in blunting the spread of COVID-19.

“It’s protective,” he said. “We all know that masks are protective. That’s why parents need to make their decision about whether their kids wear a mask to school.

If parents want their child to be protected in that way, they should do so. They should have the ability to make that decision for the health of their children.”

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

nashvillescene.com | AUGUST 19 – AUGUST 25, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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NASHVILLE SCENE | AUGUST 19 – AUGUST 25, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

THE

Cann is ISSUE

Exploring Tennessee’s hemp industry, the difference between CBD and Delta-8, marijuana policy in Nashville and more

Getting in the Weeds Examining the legal and chemical differences between CBD, Delta-8 and THC

BY D. PATRICK RODGERS

M

ore and more often over the past three or four years, you’ve seen those three letters cropping up: CBD. Perhaps you have a general understanding of the cannabis-derived chemical.

Maybe you’ve sampled it in a tincture or a gummy or even a cocktail.

But then, closer to a year ago, you started hearing about a different hemp-related substance. Maybe you saw it in vape shops, in print and web advertisements

or even at convenience stores — Delta-8. This substance, unlike CBD, has psychoactive effects. Or simply put, it gets you high. So how exactly is that legal?

First, the basics. Cannabidiol (CBD for short) and Delta-8 are both cannabinoids, or compounds derived from the cannabis plant. Marijuana and hemp are both types of cannabis. While marijuana remains an illegal Schedule I drug (more on that later), hemp cultivation is legal in Tennessee. As defined by the 2014 Farm Bill, which was updated in 2018, hemp contains no more than 0.3 percent Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or what’s commonly referred to as THC. Most of us know THC — another cannabinoid — as the compound in marijuana that gets you stoned.

“In states like Tennessee, the only thing that’s regulated in hemp — the ‘decaf’ version of cannabis in Tennessee — is the growing process,” says Joseph Fuson. He’s a partner at criminal defense and civil litigation firm Freeman & Fuson and the founder of Hemp Law Group, a firm that represents hemp growers and retail stores. “You’ve got to have a plant that is less than 0.3 percent THC. But once … you cut the plant down, there’s no more regulation in the state.”

Dr. Greg Gerdeman is president of commodi-

ties exchange NASHCX and the chief scientist at CBD company Tennessee Farmaceuticals. He has a Ph.D. in pharmacology from Vanderbilt and a B.S. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Centre College. He’s studied the human brain’s relationship to cannabis for about 25 years, and says he “made some early discoveries in the science of how cannabis works, that we now call the endocannabinoid system.”

As Gerdeman explains, by-products from legal hemp are themselves also legal.

“The Farm Bill legalized the growing of hemp and the hemp industry, and in the language of it, it stated that any extracts or isomers or derivatives thereof were also to be considered hemp,” says Gerdeman.

“And this has created the opening where folks have said, ‘Well, if I take CBD and use a chemical reaction to derive another cannabinoid, it doesn’t matter what that cannabinoid is, or if that cannabinoid is an analog of Delta-9-THC — it’s fair game, because it came from hemp.’ ” And that’s where Delta-8 comes in. Gerdeman gets a bit technical explaining the extraction process of the cannabinoid, but to oversimplify it: Chemists basically “cook CBD in an acid” to produce Delta-8. That’s

nashvillescene.com | AUGUST 19 – AUGUST 25, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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Hempin’ Ain’t Easy

NuSACHI

The Hemp Alliance of Tennessee seeks to grow the hemp industry through education, legislation and partnerships

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BY ERICA CICCARONE

hen Tonya Lewis started learning about hemp, she was curious about the whole plant — flower, seed and fiber. Her curiosity led her to the 2018 Southern Hemp Expo, a large hemp-centric trade show and conference that includes dozens of panels and speakers as well as a long roster of exhibitors. But she left feeling disappointed. The focus was largely on the flower and extracts that produce everything from CBD gummies to medicinal marijuana.

There was little discussion about the whole plant and the industrial uses of hemp.

As a member of the Hemp Alliance of Tennessee, Lewis is engaged in changing that. Along with the organization’s president, Frederick Cawthon, Lewis wants to make Tennessee the center of the nation’s hemp industry. (For the layperson: Hemp and marijuana are both forms of cannabis; hemp includes 0.3 percent or less of the intoxicating component known as THC, while marijuana contains more. The U.S. Farm Bill, passed in 2014, defines hemp as distinct from marijuana. The former is legal to grow and sell, including in Tennessee, while the latter is still a Schedule I drug according to

the Controlled Substances Act.) Lewis is the co-owner of NuSachi, a business-to-business company that extracts rosin from the plant using heat and pressure — rather than solvents — preserving the essence of the plant. NuSachi creates white-label products that other companies brand and sell. The market is competitive, and small companies like NuSachi require heavy investment to reach their potential.

The Hemp Alliance of Tennessee seeks to help our state’s hemp-centric operators achieve success by, in part, educating the public and lawmakers about the many uses of hemp, beyond tinctures, gummies and the host of other retail products on the market.

The Hemp Alliance of Tennessee was founded last year, but Cawthon and others were already working in earnest in 2013 via the state chapter of the Hemp Industry Association. Now freestanding, HAT’s mission has three prongs: fostering connections among people in the hemp industry across the state; educating the public and advocating for progressive hemp legislation; and providing information and resources to people in the industry.

“The industry is still in its infancy and exploratory phase,” says Cawthon. “Rules are changing left and right. We have a very close relationship with the Tennessee

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: J. MITCHELL, NuSACHI CLINT PALMER, OPTIMARA AGRICULTURE BERNICE HOLLINS, TENNESSEE HARVESTER ENTERPRISE CODY SEALS, OPTIMARA AGRICULTURE TONYA LEWIS, NuSACHI FREDERICK CAWTHON, PRESIDENT OF HEMP ALLIANCE OF TENNESSEE; OWNER OF RADICAL LABS

“The industry is still in its infancy and exploratory phase. Rules are changing left and right.”

—FREDERICK CAWTHON

Department of Agriculture. … We have them come in periodically to tell us what’s changed and what we need to know.”

The lobbying arm of HAT is called the Tennessee Growers Coalition, a political action committee that advocates for a progressive legal and regulatory framework to move the needle in our state legislature.

“Our strategy coming into this fight,” says Cawthon, “[was] there’s been a lot of work done in the past, but it was mostly at top level — i.e., somebody writing a bill and trying to get a legislator to pass the bill. What we feel was missing was the ground game, the grassroots effort. … [Tennessee Growers Coalition] files the bills, and it’s us ramping up the base to get that bill passed.”

HAT recently launched the Free to Plant campaign, hosting events across the state where the public can learn about hemp and

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

why, unlike CBD, you can’t find Delta-8 in plant form — you can find it sprayed onto an herbal product so that it can be smoked like marijuana, but the herb itself does not contain the psychoactive compound. “[Delta-8] is so very similar to Delta-9 — cannabinoids in general have yielded a surprising amount of potential health benefits,” says Gerdeman. “So I think that Delta-8 very likely could have many of the same benefits related to the ‘big three’ that cannabis is really wellregarded for — pain relief, helping with anxiety and inflammation, and sleep.

This is a big cluster of symptoms that cannabinoids tend to work towards on multiple mechanisms.”

Though there isn’t a wealth of research surrounding Delta-8 specifically, Gerdeman points to a 1995 study wherein the cannabinoid was shown to be an effective antiemetic — that is, a drug that curbs nausea and vomiting — in pediatric cancer patients, with negligible side effects.

Delta-8’s psychoactive effects are shown to be about half as powerful as those of THC. But with no regulations, folks can obviously just take twice as much of the product, and some Delta-8 producers lean into this. Attorney Fuson compares it to beer manufacturers simply making bigger bottles or cans to give the consumer more alcohol, since they can’t raise the alcohol content of the beer itself.

But if Delta-8 has similar effects to THC, and CBD is shown to be a booming business that can earn locally based farmers and companies big profits, why is marijuana still a no-no?

“The Schedule I legal status of cannabis as a flower is absurd,” says Gerdeman. “It always has been — never based in science. And Delta-9-THC coming from a cannabis flower is Schedule I as though it has no medical value, but Delta9-THC that’s produced synthetically and sold as cannabinol — which is a generic name for Marinol — that’s been FDAapproved for 30-plus years.”

Fuson has similar thoughts when it comes to marijuana’s Schedule I status, and points out just what a boon the regulated sale of weed has become in other states.

“So the states that have legalized the full-octane-THC marijuana plant, and allowed those things to exist in in their state against federal law — because federal law continues to classify marijuana as a Schedule I drug, which is crazy — those states have built up a very big infrastructure surrounding marijuana and the marijuana industry,” says Fuson. “It’s heavily taxed, it’s heavily regulated. The government’s got their hands all in every aspect of it, from the very first seed you get to grow all the way to the package you put on the shelf and how you sell it.”

While various forms of marijuana legislation have come before the state legislature in recent years (more on that on p.14), Tennessee remains in the increasingly small collection of states where neither medical nor recreational use is legal. Even if full legalization never comes to our state, we’re likely to keep seeing cannabinoids like CBD and Delta-8 on shelves and menus at vape shops, restaurants, gas stations and grocery stores. ★

NASHVILLE SCENE | MARCH 18 – MARCH 24, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

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nashvillescene.com | AUGUST 19 – AUGUST 25, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

35

High Crimes Nashville is an outlier in a

state that continues to buck the national trend of more progressive marijuana policy

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BY STEVEN HALE

FREDERICK CAWTHON SMELLS A HEMP PLANT AT HOLTKAMP GREENHOUSES

try some products. This is an opportunity to get the public invested in legislation, and it’s also an opportunity to provide what Lewis hoped she’d find at the 2019 Hemp Expo: education about industrial hemp.

Farming hemp has the potential to be incredibly environmentally sustainable. It grows well in poor soil, requiring little fertilizer or irrigation. The plant has a negative carbon footprint — it draws carbon from the air and sequesters it in the soil. However, discarding or composting the majority of any plant is not sustainable, and Cawthon and Lewis want to see that by-product being put to good use. The woody byproduct of hemp, called shive or hurd, can be combined with lime and used to make floor tiles, insulation and other building materials. This composite is a good thermal insulator and moisture regulator. It’s also fire-resistant and lightweight. Researchers are learning more about how the plant’s oil can be used as biofuel. “It’s ‘Drill, baby, drill’ versus ‘Grow, baby, grow,’ ” says Cawthon.

He also sees more potential for hemp in the automotive industry, especially in the Southeast and specifically in Nashville.

Car manufacturers already use hemp for purposes as diverse as the upholstery and

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FREDERICK CAWTHON’S COMPANY RADICAL LABS

filament in car batteries. Cawthon wants to see U.S. farmers growing that hemp, instead of having automakers import it from other countries. But to do any of this, the U.S. needs to build up the infrastructure to grow and process hemp so that it can feed into existing manufacturing processes.

If Tennessee embraces developing the infrastructure to support industrial hemp, there’s another opportunity. Lewis and Cawthon both want to see the industry investing in racial equity, especially because the so-called war on drugs has disenfranchised communities of color for decades. Back at the Southern Hemp Expo, Lewis says she scanned the room and was struck by the absence of women and people of color.

“As a woman of color in this industry,” she says, “it’s really hard to get involved unless you have a lot of capital to support your entry.” Seeds, processing equipment and licenses can all be prohibitively expensive, she explains. “You’re entering a space where there is a lot of risk,” says Lewis.

Other states are slowly investing in equity. Colorado’s Accelerator Program reduces fees and provides mentoring for people previously incarcerated for drugrelated offenses, as well as their family

members. But programs like this are slow to roll out and often entangled in legal holdups.

In April, the Associated Press reported that operators in such social-equity programs get “locked up in predatory contracts” and “overmatched in a cutthroat market dominated by international companies.”

“A whole bunch of white people are becoming millionaires out in Colorado and California,” says Cawthon, “when there’s still people locked up in prison for doing the same thing.”

Lewis and Cawthon stress that programs must be developed with great intention toward making the industry sustainable for people of color and women. “What can we do beyond creating jobs?” Lewis asks. “How do we support people educationally? How do we support individuals who are looking for career positions in this industry? What does equity and inclusion look like beyond having a few people producing products?

How do we diversify our entire supply chain to include people of color as well? There’s movement slowly, but it’s going to take some money — a lot of money and a lot of people willing to make some sacrifices to be intentional about creating opportunities for people.” ★

little more than a year ago, Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk announced that his office would no longer prosecute people for possessing half-an-ounce or less of marijuana. It was the direct route to accomplishing what the Metro Council had attempted a few years earlier. In 2016, councilmembers in Nashville — and in Memphis — passed ordinances creating a civil penalty for simple possession of marijuana, giving police officers a formal way to avoid criminal charges. Those laws were later nullified by the state legislature.

But despite the hostility state officials have shown toward relaxing marijuana policy in the slightest — even to legalize medical uses — Funk’s policy remains. He says the leadership of the police department was on board right away, and that it allows officers to focus on more serious issues affecting public safety. The number of days people spent in Nashville jails for marijuana offenses was already decreasing before the policy was enacted.

In 2014, there were 5,148 jail days related to such offenses; by 2019, that number was at 120. In 2020, after the DA’s office stopped prosecuting simple possession, there were just six.

But Nashville is an outlier. Across the state, even as legal cannabis compounds like CBD and Delta-8 increase in popularity, people continue to face criminal sanctions for possessing even small amounts of marijuana.

“Most of my days are spent in court defending people with cannabis-related, marijuana-related drug charges,” says attorney Joseph Fuson, a partner at criminal defense and civil litigation firm Freeman & Fuson. “The answer is, it happens all day every day, all over the state. I get calls every day of people getting pulled over.”

Nashville’s relatively progressive stance on possession has only accentuated its status as a blue dot in a sea of deep-red.

“If you’re on the north side of Old Hickory Boulevard, you’re in Davidson County, and they won’t prosecute you for minor marijuana offenses, right?”

Fuson says. “And if you’re on the south side of Old Hickory Boulevard, in the other lane, then you will get prosecuted in Williamson County, and they will a lot of times demand probation and fines and drug testing.”

But broader acceptance of marijuana use is spreading fast. In elections last year, voters in several states approved the legalization of marijuana for recreational use. Eighteen states plus Washington, D.C., have legalized nonmedical marijuana, and the conservative South is not exempt from the trend.

Voters in Mississippi overwhelmingly approved medical marijuana last year too.

In recent years, the Tennessee legislature has considered dozens of bills on the issue, ranging from qualified medical marijuana approval to fullblown recreational legalization. But without fail, the bills have stalled or been voted down outright, even as many have earned the support of some Republican lawmakers.

But for now, Tennessee continues to prosecute and incarcerate people for using a product that’s legal in some form in more states than it is not. ★

NASHVILLE SCENE | MARCH 18 – MARCH 24, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

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CBD and Chill From soap to salve to ice cream, we recommend

5

these Tennessee-made CBD products

BY ERICA CICCARONE AND MEGAN SELING

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he variety of CBD products on the market has long outrun the original tinctures and gummies that first introduced the nonintoxicating cannabinoid to consumers. You can now find it listed as an ingredient in almost anything that touches your skin — lotion, oil, lip balm, shampoo, even socks. Plus, chefs and bakers are putting it in all sorts of delicious morsels. Tennessee is home to many small businesses getting a foothold in the market, and we were curious: Is this truly a magical elixir, or are folks getting carried away?

We set out to do some sampling. We looked for brands that use quality ingredients creatively in products that do what they claim. We gave extra points for professional product design and the ease of using the website. Here’s what we liked most.

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Yuyo Botanics Turmeric Salve, $35-$70 yuyobotanics.com Yuyo Botanics is a local, woman-owned company that handles all of my CBD needs. Their products are made from an array of botanicals, like sweet orange oil, lemongrass and cinnamon. (And the website handily notes the benefits of each.) My favorite product is the Turmeric Salve, a formula of hemp extract, organic aloe leaf juice, turmeric and several other soothing herbs. Turmeric is antiinflammatory, and this sweet-smelling salve relieves my chronic back pain and menstrual cramps. I highly recommend it as a Mother’s Day gift — my ma uses it to soothe her neuropathy. The true miracle?

It goes on smoothly and doesn’t leave a sticky residue.

TIP: Got an anxious kitty or pup? I use Yuyo’s Pet Formula to calm my stressprone cat Frittata. A couple drops is all it takes for him to chill out. EC

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Saturated Ice Cream, 3 Juneteenth flavor, $10-$21 saturatedicecream.com When Lokelani Alabanza lost her job as executive pastry chef at Hattie Jane’s Creamery at the start of the pandemic, she didn’t have to dig too deep into her repertoire when deciding what to do next.

She was already known for innovative and delicious dessert creations, so she used her ice cream powers for good and founded Saturated, a line of plant-based CBD ice cream. While I was definitely a little more happy and relaxed after polishing off a serving of Juneteenth (a bright and tangy raspberry, hibiscus and lime sorbet mixed in with an equal dose of creamy coconut ice cream), I can’t confidently say which was responsible for elevating my mood — the 20 milligrams of CBD or Alabanza’s knack for flawless flavor profiles.

TIP: While many flavors are available as pints, Saturated’s 4-ounce cups are the perfect single serving to keep in the freezer for when you want to CBD and chill. MS

Jade’s Elevation 4 Revive Herbal CBD Bath Salts, $25-$35 jadeselevation.com Always curious about what’s good in our sister city to the west, we checked out Jade’s Elevation, a Memphis company that grows hemp on a small urban farm, extracts rosin using heat and pressure, and creates a bevy of soothing products.

We tried the Revive Herbal CBD Bath Salts. A blend of Epsom salts, hemp milk, dried herbs and full-spectrum hemp rosin, Jade’s bath salts make for a tranquil soak in the tub. The fragrance is soothing but subtle — just right for folks like me who do not get along with strong-smelling essential oils.

TIP: Put on a cozy-mystery audiobook, dim the lights and soak for 30 minutes for the best effect. Follow it with Zennessee Organics Lux Body Oil (item No. 4 in our roundup). EC

Zennessee Organics Lux Body Oil, $27 zennessee.com Local brand Zennessee Organics sells a collection of CBD products online and at the Nashville Farmers’ Market, where they’re more than happy to chat about your needs. I chose the Lux Body Oil on the recommendation of a friend, and I love it. CBD is blended with several oils — avocado, sweet almond, jojoba and olive — giving it a sweet, comforting scent that doesn’t overwhelm. A couple of drops go a long way, and I expect my 2-ounce bottle to keep my skin hydrated for months. I imagine it also makes for a great massage oil.

TIP: The folks at Zennessee were kind enough to throw in some of their 25-milligram CBD gummies. One of those took care of a nagging afternoon headache, so I could get my work done and chill at home. EC

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Canvast Supply Co. Organic Hemp Flowers, $15-$50 canvastsupplyco.com You can always get back to basics with some good old-fashioned smokable hemp flower. For this, we recommend Canvast Supply Co., a woman-owned business that specializes in growing various strains of hemp. If you like citrus and pine, try the Alpen Gleaux CBD Premium Greenhouse Hemp Flower. For the more adventurous, the Gas Hemp CBD Premium Indoor Hemp Flower is described as having a “pungent and complex gasoline fuel with a diesel odor and taste.” For something soothing, Lifter Premium Hemp Flower has notes of lavender and chamomile.

TIP: Interested in greening your thumb? Canvast also sells seeds, equipment and a farm planning workbook. EC

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Anzie Blue 6 Mint Strips, $10 anzieblue.com At Hillsboro Village’s Anzie Blue, you can eat, drink or wear your CBD — the line of products includes everything from blackberry-flavored tinctures to sports balm and pet treats, and for $2 they’ll add cannabidiol (that’s CBD’s full name) to any drink on their coffee and tea menu. Anzie Blue’s mint strips are a convenient way to handle the inevitable post-brunch coffee breath. Each $10 tin contains 10 tiny breath strips — they’re as thin as paper and as small as your fingerprint. Just pop the strip on the inside of your cheek or under your tongue and let it dissolve for fresh breath and 20 milligrams of made-in-the-USA CBD. Admittedly the minty freshness doesn’t last longer than 20 minutes or so, but the strips are still pleasing.

TIP: Anzie Blue recently partnered with Marigold Popcorn to introduce CBDinfused popcorn — check out flavors rosemary-basil and milk-chocolate drizzle before your next movie night. MS

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Bang Candy Company 7 Dream Drops, $50 bangcandycompany.com Dream Drops are an ideal treat for a CBD first-timer like myself, someone who’s always wary of anything that could make a person feel stoned or, worse, appreciate Led Zeppelin. (Those 1990s D.A.R.E. classes really did a number on me, let me tell you.) One dome-shaped truffle contains just 10 milligrams of CBD, derived from hemp grown locally by Tennessee Homegrown, and the candy itself is sheer perfection. The white-chocolate Dream Drops are delicately flavored with matcha powder, peppermint oil and smoked salt; and the dark-chocolate version has orange extract and sea salt. Both have a pinch of tongue-tickling popping candy, too, because what’s a Bang Candy confection without a little whimsy?

TIP: If you’re looking for something stronger, Bang also offers milk-chocolate Dream Drops made with Delta-8, a cannabinoid that has effects comparable to regular THC. (Read: It’ll get you high.) MS

The Old Hemp Farmer’s Wife CBD Soap Bar, $10 theoldhempfarmerswife.com LaTanya Bell calls herself The Old Hemp Farmer’s Wife. She sources her CBD from her husband Harold Jarobe’s company, Tennessee Homegrown, and the plants are grown on a small farm in Readyville.

The CBD soap is definitely earthy. It’s dominated by the smell of frankincense, which I’ve found people either love or hate. Our tester, Scene education reporter Kelsey Beyeler, called it a “unisex scent” that didn’t cling to her body after her shower. She also noted that it didn’t dry out her skin like a lot of products, but left her feeling moisturized and clean.

It contains 100 milligrams of CBD, and while Kelsey isn’t convinced that “CBD matters in soap,” at $10, it’s a hefty bar that should get you plenty clean for weeks to come.

TIP: This soap contains beef tallow, so it may not be suitable for vegetarians and vegans. EC

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

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Dimer Chill Caramels, $10-$45 dimercbd.com Dimer partnered with the pros at Nashville’s Olive and Sinclair Chocolate Co. to create the recipe for its Chill Caramels. At $10 for two, they’re a bit more pricey than some of our other suggestions, but each salted caramel delivers 75 milligrams of CBD. Important note: Dimer caramels contain small amounts of the nonpsychoactive cannabinoids CBC and CBG, as well as the psychoactive cannabinoid THC (though the packaging promises consumers that the THC content by weight is beneath the 0.3 percent limit defined by the Farm Bill). Learn about the legality and differences among CBD, Delta-9 and Delta-8 on p.13.

TIP: Based on the dosage, I expect that the Chill Caramels will be perfect for insomniacs like myself. EC

nashvillescene.com | AUGUST 19 – AUGUST 25, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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Our state has a rich past — and promising future — with the cash crop

BY J.R. LIND

ennessee has been a hemp state for a lot longer than it hasn’t been one.

The versatile plant was already a major cash crop in the United States by the time Tennessee joined the union in 1796, and pioneer families who’d had success with it brought it across the Applachians from Virginia and the Carolinas. Producing hemp was critical at a time when ships were the primary conveyances of commerce, as its tough fibers are perfect for making sails and lines, and farmers could cash in with both government and private commercial supply contracts.

A farm report from the 1840s gushed about Tennessee’s suitability for the crop, encouraging more farmers to grow it.

“Hemp grows luxuriantly upon our River Bottom Lands, but has hitherto been neglected; although it is believed to be more profitable than any other crop that can be raised,” the report read.

For the next several decades, as farming in Tennessee expanded from subsistence to business, hemp kept pace, particularly in places like East Tennessee and parts of Middle Tennessee unsuitable for cotton. The northern two-thirds of Middle Tennessee were particularly strong hemp producers, according to Joseph Killebrew, the state’s first agriculture commissioner, who wrote a detailed agronomic survey in 1874.

Production generally declined for the next 75 years. William Randolph Hearst and other lumber and paper magnates get an unfair amount of the blame for their cynical advocacy of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937.

But the fact is that hemp’s primary usage — sail production — took a big hit with the arrival of steamships, and large-scale hemp farming was already on the skids by the time the law took effect. There was a slight uptick when World War II began, but only until DuPont and others were able to produce synthetic fibers that matched hemp’s durability. By 1950, virtually no one was

HEMP SEEDS AT OPTIMARA AGRICULTURE

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The small-scale nature of Tennessee’s hemp industry betrays the fact that it isn’t being driven by industry at all. Though hemp is famously multipurpose with material applications, the boom is being driven by CBD, which is derived from the flower, whereas the fiber is from the stalk. Tennessee is also regulatorily friendly toward Delta-8-producing hemp, an increasingly popular extract that has thus far dodged the federal narcotic schedule despite psychoactive properties.

Agriculturally speaking, growing for CBD and Delta-8 is a more difficult process than simply growing for fiber, as pollination and seed-to-flower times are a bigger concern.

Furthermore, all CBD-producing hemp must be grown organically by law because there are no approved pesticides for the plant. But it’s easier to be profitable on a small operation with the extracts than it is with fiber, so the juice is worth the squeeze (so to speak).

The factors that make Tennessee such fertile ground for hemp are the same as they were in 1842 (and the same as they are for any other number of cash crops): four distinct seasons with a mild winter, plentiful rainfall, rich soil and so on. But farming is a tough business, and bubbles often burst (just ask, among others, Dutch tulip farmers in 1637, still a cautionary tale almost 500 years later), hitting non-diversified farmers especially hard.

But for now, with the extracts still largely unregulated (and their benefits largely unverified), the market is wide open and the green rush is on.

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

Tennessee’s HempHeavy History

farming hemp in Tennessee, so the passage of the Drug Enforcement Act in the 1970s, which classified hemp and all other forms of cannabis as Schedule I drugs, had little effect on the hemp industry in Tennessee — because there was so little to affect anyway.

Hemp farming lay dormant in Tennessee for the next 64 years. But in 2014, ours became one of the first states to take advantage of a provision in the federal Farm Act that allowed hemp production if states established a pilot program. The program was bolstered in large part by rural Republican support — including from state Sen. Frank Niceley, who is no one’s idea of a progressive, but who had been pushing for a hemp program even before federal authorization — and Tennessee was in the first cohort of states to give hemp a whirl.

In 2015, there were 44 licensed growers. By June 2020, there were 3,359 — a 29 percent jump from 2019 and an astounding jump of nearly 1,500 percent from 2018.

The overwhelming majority of these are small operations — most are five acres or smaller. In fact, while the state licensed nearly 16,000 acres for hemp (more than was harvested for tobacco), less than 40 percent of those acres actually produced hemp.

With the massive growth in hemp production came concerns from established farmers that inexperienced growers are getting into the game and diluting not only profitability but quality — but the state says most Tennessee hemp farmers have been farmers for more than 15 years.

NASHVILLE SCENE | MARCH 18 – MARCH 24, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

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A pair of Nashville-raised bands that experiment with the art of the riff — deconstructing it and rebuilding it in creative, crushing new ways — will co-headline this must-see gig for loudguitar-loving locals. The duo Friendship Commanders conjures an arena-size racket from an extra-sturdy drum kit and a wall of amps set to stun. Friendship Commanders are descended from the almighty Sabbath, and are spiritual younger siblings to Miami doom-popsters Floor and Boston psych titans Major Stars, and Southern cousins of

H O U S E Q UA K E THURSDAY, AUG. 19 Mercy Lounge

BOOKS

CHARLIE ZAILLIAN [KILLER QUEEN]

KILLER NASHVILLE INTERNATIONAL WRITERS CONFERENCE

Gunpowder, gelatine, dynamite with a laser beam — all potential murder weapons if your character is a killer queen. But what if you can’t decide on the most lethal (and entertaining) way to dispose of the victim?

How will you guarantee she’ll blow your mind? This weekend’s Killer Nashville International Writers Conference aims to help, and it has plenty of panels for wannabe Walter Moseleys and Agatha Christies. In

[AS IF]

NIGHTLIGHT 615 PRESENTS CLUELESS

It’s kind of funny how the most beloved movie adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma isn’t the 1996 one starring then-“it girl” Gwyneth Paltrow, or even the 2020 one starring then-“it girl” Anya Taylor-Joy. It’s actually this 1995 teen comedy starring then-“it girl” Alicia Silverstone. If you didn’t know already, it’s true: Clueless, your girlfriend’s favorite high school movie, is actually based on some sophisticated classic literature. Writer-director Amy Heckerling (Fast Times at Ridgemont High) took the 19th-century story and dropped it into 1990s

coming artists at no cost. Thursday, they’ll expand their programming further with their inaugural showcase concert, featuring three artists who’ve recently recorded with them. Indie-rock duo Multi Ultra opens the show; listen for their recent ’70s-popschooled single “Tonight.” Yours Truly Jai, an outstanding songwriter and singer steeped in R&B and neo soul who released her second EP Bare With Me back in March, takes the middle set. Multi-instrumentalist and multifaceted rock ’n’ pop songwriter Kristen Ford, who’s a key player in multiple bands, leads her group The Assembly at the top of the bill. You might hear her single “Radio,” which came out earlier this year.

Though it’s unlikely you’ll see a cameo from June Millington — co-founder of rock heroines Fanny, who appears on the studio version — it’s still a standout tune about falling in love with music that says something to you. 8 p.m. at The East Room, 2412 Gallatin Ave. STEPHEN TRAGESER

[PLEASE WON’T YOU BE …]

MUSIC NEIGHBORS SHOWCASE FEAT. YOURS TRULY JAI, KRISTEN FORD AND THE ASSEMBLY & MULTI ULTRA

Mr. Rogers had it right — knowing your neighbors is great. The Nashville nonprofit Music Neighbors puts in a lot of work to make it easier to get to know the musicians living among us right here in Music City.

In addition to the website they’ve created as a platform for discovering local music, the organization produces live-in-studio EPs and performance videos for up-and-

MUSIC

coed Northwest heavyweights Helms Alee and Lozen. The outfit’s pair of 2020 singles — “Stonechild” and “The Enemy I Know” — find six-stringer Buick Audra and skinsman Jerry Roe zeroing closer than ever into the sweet spot where pummeling drums, thrashing guitars and hummable hooks meet. As for Yautja’s alternative-metal instant classic The Lurch — the foursome’s sludge-and-crust-rooted, ultimately genretranscending Relapse Records debut — after spilling so much ink about that record in these pages, I can’t wait to experience it live. Birmingham, Ala.’s Null supports.

8 p.m. at Exit/In, 2208 Elliston Place

Beverly Hills, with Silverstone as the young, materialistic, upper-crust matchmaker — named Cher, not Emma — who’s too busy setting up couples to notice the lack of romance in her life. She eventually finds her George Knightley in the form of her exstepbrother, played by the forever-youthful Paul Rudd. (After all these years, I still don’t know how to feel about that.) Anyway, if you feel like taking a trip back to the as-if ’90s, NightLight 615 will be having an outdoor screening. Tickets are $10 in advance and $18 day of, and you can grab dinner from one of the food trucks parked nearby: The Grilled Cheeserie, Twisted Po Boy, Loveless Cafe, Southern Spoon, Chivanada, Daddy’s Dogs and Bradley’s Curbside Creamery.

There will also be beer and wine. The event is for patrons 21 and older. Visit nightlight615.com for details. 7:30 p.m. at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, 600 James Robertson Parkway CRAIG D. LINDSEY MUSIC

FRIENDSHIP COMMANDERS

fact, Moseley is one of the featured guests, along with bestselling writers Lisa Black and J.T. Ellison. Although the book signings are free and open to the public, aspiring authors will need to register to attend the conference. Session topics range from using suspense to further plots to details about forensic investigations to fixing second drafts. Want to match wits with other murderinos — err, I mean, attendees?

On Friday and Saturday, a former TBI director will set up crime scenes based on actual cases over the past few decades.

Finally, several agent roundtables will help demystify the process of getting your book out into the world. Visit killernashville.com for details. Aug. 19-22 at Embassy Suites Cool Springs, 820 Crescent Center Drive, Franklin GALYN GLICK MARTIN FILM

PHOTO: JAMIE GOODSELL

CATT McCREARY

[THINGS THAT GO ‘POP’ IN THE NIGHT]

HOUSEQUAKE FEAT. CATT McCREARY, JET TROUBLE, JULES PAYMER & LOST STARS

Even though good pop music can speak to you at any time in your life, I still associate it with going back to school. Maybe it has something to do with how pop songwriters who are on top of their game tend to be adept at peeling back the layers of difficult social situations. Whether you’re headed back to campus or there have been a whole

nashvillescene.com | AUGUST 19 – AUGUST 25, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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CRITICS’ PICKS

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[FUTURE RETRO]

SIERRA FERRELL

About a decade ago, I came up with a hyphenated term to describe a lot of music that contains elements of country but doesn’t traffic in hardcore folk. What I call folk-country-pop is a staple of modern Nashville, a city that produces a lot of backward-looking quasi-country music that contains elements of singersongwriterdom and, well, pop. Since it’s a

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SIERRA FERRELL electronically enhanced pop tunes like “I Wish I Liked Drugs,” but she also plays bass in a rock band called Modern Day Flirt.

The locally residing, Kansas City-bred duo that makes up Lost Stars hits the nail on the head with “Pop Song,” as they sing: “I found myself in the words of a pop song / It made me feel like I’m not alone.” See if you don’t feel the same on Thursday. 8 p.m. at Mercy Lounge, 1 Cannery Row STEPHEN TRAGESER

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22

MUSIC

FRIDAY / 8.20 [TRAVELIN’ BANDS]

FUTUREBIRDS W/TEDDY AND THE ROUGH RIDERS

The catchiest song on Futurebirds’ 2020 album Teamwork is a straightforward rocker titled “Wear It Out,” which lays out the method of the band with panache and grit. “Wear It Out” amounts to a modified soul-rock tune with more than a little trace of one of Futurebirds’ biggest influences, Drive-By Truckers. Formed in Athens, Ga., in 2009, the group — led by singer Daniel Womack — explores the psychological terrors of being a modern Southerner, and tunes like the Teamwork tracks “Wandering Minds” and “I’m Killing You” sound a little haunted. Teamwork contains plenty of rock guitar and soulful singing, but their doleful side might be the thing that makes you love the band. The album’s combination of organ, horns, pedal steel and those guitars makes it a collection you can listen to in several moods. Also appearing will be Nashville’s

given that critics of commercial country decry the kind of sonic innovation that they might find exciting in other forms of music, the idea that retro-country might save the genre from itself seems strange.

In the case of rising folk-country-pop star Sierra Ferrell, who’s signed to Rounder Records, her music plays on the idea of intelligent retro. On her new full-length Long Time Coming, Ferrell gets down with a cumbia-esque Latin rhythm on “Why’d Ya Do It,” which also dips into what’s often called gypsy jazz. Meanwhile, “Jeremiah” plays on ideas of ’70s pop-country, with the folk element arising from its drumless arrangement and Ferrell’s gentle delivery.

Another track, “Bells of Every Chapel,” swings in waltz time. Her subject matter is love and its vicissitudes, a territory Ferrell navigates well enough. I’ve seen Ferrell perform several times, and I recommend her music — she comes across as funny and tough. Intelligent retro has its merits, and Ferrell does it as well as anyone right now.

She’ll play two nights this weekend at The Basement. Aug. 20-21 at The Basement, 1604 Eighth Ave. S. EDD HURT

SATURDAY / 8.21 COMMUNITY

PRI NTERS ALLEY

PRI NTERS ALLEY

accept the many financial, social and medical benefits of hemp in all its various forms. The Middle of Somewhere Hemp Fest III is proof of all that. It’s an outdoor, kid-friendly event in Smithville, Tenn., with a cause important enough to garner a performance from Mississippi natives and Nashville mainstays The Weeks, a rock outfit built around the brotherly duo of frontman Cyle Barnes and his drummer brother Cain, who’ll be eager to play tunes from their 2020 album Twisted Rivers for an in-person audience. There will also be food trucks along with craft beer from rural Tennessee breweries, locally grown hemp producers, local artisans and more. Visit bertdriver.com for more information. 4 p.m. at Bert Driver Nursery, 175 Hurricane Ridge Road, Smithville LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

[HEMPER FI]

THE MIDDLE OF SOMEWHERE HEMP FEST III

[BLUE RIBBON]

PROFESSIONAL BULL RIDERS MUSIC CITY KNOCKOUT

It is only acceptable to use the adjective “rank” to describe two things: a foul smell and a 1,500-pound male bovine. In the former usage, the connotation is, of course, bad. No one has ever been flattered because someone said their shoes smelled rank.

The latter, however, is the highest praise.

Every bucking bull breeder wants their beast to be known as one of the rankest in the world. Bridgestone Arena promises the world’s rankest bulls will be on hand when the Professional Bull Riders Music City Knockout hits town this weekend. Just how tough are the bulls? Consider that PBR is the top bull-riding circuit in the world. Thus far this season, only three riders have made it the requisite eight seconds on at least half their rides, two Brazilians — best-inthe-world Jose Vitor Leme and countryman Kaique Pacheco — and American Cooper Davis, who does his best to represent the stars and stripes in the sport that, in recent years, is increasingly dominated by the boys from Brazil. Aug. 21-22 at Bridgestone Arena, 501 Broadway J.R. LIND FILM

VOTED BEST FOR 15 YEARS!

Teddy and the Rough Riders, who get into country rock on their 2021 track “Don’t Say Sorry.” The song touches on the eternal country-rock tropes of being on the road with a traveling band and missing that special someone who stayed home. 8 p.m. at 6th & Peabody, 423 Sixth Ave. EDD HURT MUSIC

: Winners’ Reader poll

bunch of presidential administrations since you graduated, the monthly Housequake showcase at Mercy Lounge is back with some rising pop artists you’ll want to get to know. Dallas-based Jet Trouble is the only out-of-towner on the bill, but he’s worked here with folks like outstanding rapper nobigdyl. before; they share a knack for organically working their Christian faith into their music. Catt McCreary, who came to Nashville from Atlanta to study at Belmont University, has two recent singles that feel like two sides of the same coin.

“Temporary Vibe” chronicles a relationship whose partners are only good for each other in the short term, while “Good for Me” recognizes deep care and understanding that help a relationship go the distance. Not only does Jules Paymer write sophisticated

[PLAY BOY]

WEEKEND CLASSICS: PLAYTIME

Jacques Tati’s 1967 film Playtime is a masterwork of visual comic precision.

The French actor-filmmaker spent most of the mid-’60s working on this ambitious, amusing take on living in a hyper-modern, increasingly industrial society, shooting it on an enormous set (dubbed “Tativille”) and filming it in 70 mm. (A bucket-list dream of mine is to catch the 70 mm print on the big screen.) Playing his signature character from his previous films — the bumbling, pipe-smoking, umbrellacarrying Monsieur Hulot — Tati wanders around interchangeable Parisian buildings filled with gadgets, doohickeys and other technological wonders, practically getting lost in his own irrelevance. While it was considered a flop upon its release, the movie has of course become a revered classic that’s best seen in the theater. So if you’re going out to the movies this weekend, you should head over to Belcourt and take in this marvel — and in 35 mm! Aug. 21-22 at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. CRAIG D. LINDSEY

We’re living in a golden age of hemp positivity. Politicians, business owners, even parents are coming around to

NASHVILLE SCENE | AUGUST 19 – AUGUST 25, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

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23

CRITICS’ PICKS

THE WOMAN WHO RAN

saturday august 28

Tommy Howell (C. Thomas Howell)

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BROADWAY BRUNCH

Nashville Repertory Theatre is back this Sunday with its signature fundraiser — the annual Broadway Brunch. Presented live and in person at City Winery, this always-popular event, now in its sixth year, serves up a fun party vibe with a delicious brunch, bottomless cocktails, a live and a silent auction, plus a host of musical performances. This year’s honorary chair is Nashville-based singer, songwriter, actress and television personality Kellie Pickler. And as always, the celebration boasts a terrific lineup of talent — including Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva, Jamie Citerin, Katie Bruno, Megan Murphy Chambers, Patrick Dailey, Bakari King, Christopher Bailey and Steven McCoy, with Randy Craft serving as music director. Auction items include everything from custom art, fashion and jewelry to sports and entertainment memorabilia, and even a luxury trip to Switzerland. Visit broadwaybrunch.org for complete details. 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at City Winery, 609 Lafayette St. AMY STUMPFL FILM

Wolfpack

[TOAST OF NEW YORK]

as layers of anxiety and tense emotion slowly unravel. Though it’s still familiar, Hong’s work has taken on a different tenor over the past decade, as his films are now frequently centered on his primary creative collaborator (and somewhat controversially in the South Korean tabloids, his romantic partner) Kim Min-hee. Hong’s movies are not just general studies of aging and emotional evolution over time, but specifically hinge on how Kim changes and grows across performances, frequently playing characters who have the appearance of outward success but are flailing on the interior. Their latest film together, The Woman Who Ran, is a study in repetition, as the titular woman, an emotional nomad unsure of her next move, cycles through several similar interactions with acquaintances she hasn’t seen in years, selling a story about her life that cracks open a little bit more each time she tells it. As in so much of Hong’s work, the character’s life plays out like a sad joke: humorously awkward the first time you hear it, but increasingly tragic and painful with each iteration. Aug. 22-25 at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. NADINE SMITH

WEDNESDAY / 8.25

[SO FAR AWAY]

THE WOMAN WHO RAN

For more than 20 years, soft-spoken South Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo NASHVILLE has made a prolific run of films that play out like a series of variations on familiar themes: His characters are often creatives or artists, usually emotionally stunted in some way, revisiting past memories and reminiscing with friends not seen in years,

PERFORMANCE

THEATER

SUNDAY / 8.22

[BLAZE A TRAIL]

KINDLING ARTS FESTIVAL

Even though it was established somewhat recently in 2018, the Kindling Arts Festival has already earned a loyal following, due in large part to the wide range of performances it showcases — including theater, contemporary dance, music, film, aerial arts and more. And this

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NASHVILLE SCENE | AUGUST 19 – AUGUST 25, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

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TUESDAY LIVE MUSIC 7PM WEDNESDAY KARAOKE & 39 CENT WINGS 6PM THURSDAY OPEN MIC 7PM-9PM FRIDAY COMEDY NIGHT (OPEN MIC) 7PM SATURDAY YOGA 8AM SANGRIA SATURDAY 6PM SUNDAY BRUNCH SPECIAL & LIVE MUSIC 11AM-2PM OPEN JAM 7PM 8 AM - 11 PM MONDAY - THURSDAY AND 8 AM - 12 PM FRIDAY TO SUNDAY

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UPCOMING EVENTS

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SATURDAY, AUGUST 21

FARRAH ROCHON, MIKAELLA CLEMENTS & ONJULI DATTA

moderated by SHYLA WATSON on FB LIVE The Dating Playbook & The View Was Exhausting

LAUREN GROFF

SEP 9 at 6:30PM Parnassus Books Free event - must RSVP

FRIDAY, AUGUST 27 6:00PM

ROXANNE DUNBAR-ORTIZ

in conversation with ROBIN D.G. KELLEY on FB LIVE Not a Nation of Immigrants 6:30PM

IN PERSON THIS FALL:

SATURDAY, AUGUST 28

KELLY MOTLEY

SALON@615:

BECCA STEVENS

SEP 13 at 6:15PM Nashville Public Libary Free event - must RSVP

at PARNASSUS The Fight for My Life 6:00PM

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1

ALICE MCDERMOTT

in conversation with TONY EARLEY on FB LIVE What About the Baby? presented in partnership with The Porch Writer’s Collective 6:00PM

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2

JAMIE SUMNER

in conversation with SUSAN VERDE on FB LIVE One Kid’s Trash 6:30PM

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8

WES ELY

CODY ALAN

OCT 18 at 6:15PM Nashville Public Libary Ticket Required

@parnassusbooks @parnassusbooks1 @parnassusbooks

at PARNASSUS Matrix

ADRIENNE YOUNG

SALON@615:

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9

LAUREN GROFF 2:00PM

SEP 14 at 6:30PM Harpeth Hall Free event - must RSVP

GET TICKETS & RSVP AT PARNASSUSBOOKS.NET/EVENT

at PARNASSUS Every Deep-Drawn Breath 6:30PM

MARGARET RENKL

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 at PARNASSUS – SIGNING EVENT ONLY The Last Legacy

3900 Hillsboro Pike Suite 14 Nashville, TN 37215 (615) 953-2243 Shop online at parnassusbooks.net nashvillescene.com | AUGUST 19 – AUGUST 25, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

25

CRITICS’ PICKS year’s festival is bigger than ever, featuring 15 projects over four days. Highlights from the much-anticipated program include the premiere of Seven (Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva’s daring performance film project, which explores “the intersection of Blackness and Fatness”); The Small Parts Playset (a new work from Nashville’s own Nate Eppler, in collaboration with NYCbased playwright and toy scholar Jonathan Alexandratos); intimate concerts presented inside a projection dome (featuring Gardening, Not Architecture and Winston Harrison); the restaging of Cameron L.

Mitchell’s Blackbird (which he’s developing under Alicia Haymer’s direction); and a huge dance showcase (featuring works from Di Mossa, Becca Hoback, Novel Dance, Lena Mazel and Skyler Levine, Numinous Flux, Amanda Reichert and Sarah Salim, and Alexandra Winer). Shows take place Aug. 25 through Aug. 28 at various locations, including OZ Arts, The Barbershop Theater, Ozari and Nashville School for the Aerial Arts. Visit kindlingarts.com for complete details and ticket information. Aug. 25-28 at various locations AMY STUMPFL

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Hannah Dasher •

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Fiddler Championship 9:45 am – 5:00 pm

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Saturday, September 11 SONGWRITER SESSION

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•

The Two Birds Tour CMA THEATER

Saturday, August 28

NOON – 12:45 pm

Lori McKenna

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Saturday, September 18 SONGWRITER SESSION

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You Got Gold CMA THEATER

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The PTO Comedy Tour CMA THEATER

Friday and Saturday, November 12 – 13 LIVE IN CONCERT

Willie Nelson And Family CMA THEATER

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Check our calendar for a full schedule of upcoming programs and events.

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26

PODCAST

Saturday, August 21

WATCH THE LIBRARY THAT DOLLY BUILT

Out of the numerous achievements Dolly Parton has attained throughout her storied career, it’s the library she created to help children read stories that she’s most proud of. Established in 1995, the Imagination Library, a book-donation program that mails books to children from birth to age 5, has gone from an initial mailing of 2,100 copies of The Little Engine That Could in Dolly’s native Sevier County to five countries and 1 million books per month. The Library That Dolly Built, a new documentary available on various streaming services, shows how the library grew from another charitable endeavor of Parton’s — a buddy program that encouraged students to graduate high school. Despite the program’s success, Parton and her foundation learned from educators that the most important factor of a child’s success in kindergarten was if the child had been read to or not prior to starting school. What follows in the documentary is the extraordinary process it took to build the library’s program, from the book publishers to the distributors and how, in the end, Dolly herself was the little engine that could. The Library That Dolly Built is available to stream now via Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play and video on demand. CHRISTINA SMART [DIETING DEBUNKED]

LISTEN TO MAINTENANCE PHASE PODCAST

The American weight-loss industry’s influence on the public is so strong that doctors, government health officials and educators ignore volumes of peer-reviewed studies that say, over and over again, that diets don’t work. Whether it’s Weight Watchers, keto, Adkins, the “Master Cleanse” lemonade diet or others, nearly everyone who subjects themselves to counting calories, measuring out almonds or squeezing lemons only gains more weight in the long run. When we fail to achieve the promises of Oprah Winfrey, Gwyneth Paltrow and fitness gurus, we blame ourselves rather than the diets, leading to a shame spiral that results in more weight gain. If you think diets are out and wellness is in, I’ve got news for you. It’s all the same damn thing. The Maintenance Phase podcast debunks diets and weight-loss campaigns by showing us the science that the diet industry hides. Hosts Aubrey Gordon (author of the essential new book What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat) and Michael Hobbes (You’re Wrong About podcast) dig into the cultural assumptions, junk science and anti-fat bias that pervade our culture and our brains. The Biggest Loser? A shit show. Celery Juice? GTFO. Dr. Oz? He’s been put on notice. They also discuss the real-life experiences of very fat people, and the discrimination they face in finding and keeping employment, getting adequate health care, riding on airplanes and much more. The recent episode about the BMI was No. 1 on the Apple Podcast Health and Fitness list. (Spoiler alert — the BMI is racist trash.) Given the subject matter, you might expect Maintenance Phase to be heavy and alienating.

But Gordon and Hobbes are so funny and charming that, a few episodes in, they feel like old friends. I wish everyone I know would listen to a single episode of this podcast to understand how we are manipulated by a multibillion-dollar industry to hate ourselves and each other — all in the name of “health.” ERICA CICCARONE SHOPPING

DOWNTOWN

[DOC OF MANY COLORS]

[WHOLESOME HANGS]

GO TO THE 12SOUTH FARMERS MARKET

The term 12South may evoke images of tourists, cheesy murals and overpriced shops, and while those aren’t inaccurate connotations, the neighborhood has more to offer than all that — especially on Tuesdays. Every Tuesday from May through October, the 12South Farmers Market pops up in Sevier Park. Its many vendors offer a variety of products, including produce, honey, baked goods and plants. You’ll also come across live music, story time for kids and food trucks. Most weeks offer special events, which you can find on the market’s website, 12southfarmersmarket.com. The last Tuesday of every month, for example, hosts puppy play dates. Visitors can grab a snack, meander through the market and wander the park to enjoy its many amenities. Or you can just sit and people watch (or dog watch). Even as the rise of the Delta variant muddies the waters as to which activities are safe, the 12South Farmers Market remains a solid option with its open-air setting and plenty of space for social distancing. 4-7 p.m. Tuesdays at Sevier Park, 3000 Granny White Pike KELSEY BEYELER

NASHVILLE SCENE | AUGUST 19 – AUGUST 25, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

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LINDA DAVIS WITH LANG SCOTT & BILL WHYTE Aug. 28

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Giordano Dance Company February 11-13, 2022

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BOWLED OVER

The forthcoming Eastside Bowl will be a boon to Madison’s entertainment scene

BY MARGARET LITTMAN

“Y

JAMIE RUBIN (LEFT) AND CHARK KINSOLVING

PHOTOS: DANIEL MEIGS

ou know how I told you I was never getting in the bar business again? Well, you gotta come see this.”

That was the call Jamie Rubin got from his old friend Chark Kinsolving three years ago. Rubin had stepped away from The Family Wash, the East Nashville bar, restaurant and music venue he started in 2002. Kinsolving was the founder and former co-owner of the three-venue complex south of Broadway home to Cannery Ballroom, Mercy Lounge and The High Watt. When he sold his share of the venue ownership to his then-partner in 2013, he needed a break from working in hospitality. But after he toured the nowshuttered Madison Bowl location, he started figuring and refiguring ways to create a bowling alley/restaurant/bar/venue concept.

While the negotiations with the landlord at Madison Bowl ultimately died, Kinsolving’s new dream did not. Soon he was talking to Micah Lacher, president of Anchor Investments, about a different project, and they discussed an old Kmart location less than three miles south of Madison Bowl on Gallatin Pike. Anchor — which focuses on vacant spaces — bought that space in 2017.

(Anchor also owns The Russell and The Gallatin hotel projects, which have a social justice component to their business plans, donating a portion of their proceeds to address homelessness in the city.) Lacher was a fan of Kinsolving’s and Rubin’s former projects — he was a devotee of the popular annual Charlie Brown Christmas show at The Family Wash — but didn’t know either of them personally.

When Kinsolving was able to see inside the space, he realized he had something better than the old Madison Bowl. He had a completely blank canvas — a 32,000-square​​ foot blank canvas.

“I told him I didn’t have any money [to invest], and he said, ‘That’s cool, I want your brain,’ ” Eastside Bowl’s Rubin says of landlord Lacher. So he signed on, along with a third partner, Tommy Pierce, an investor in The Basement East. The group now plans to open Eastside Bowl to the public on Oct. 1.

The opening is one of the city’s most anticipated new projects, not just because of Kinsolving’s and Rubin’s histories and former projects, but also because of the size and complexity of what’s in store, and because of the excitement of something new designed by and for locals — particularly after the year that was 2020.

Rubin thinks he and his partners can create the sense of place they’ve created in the past because they understand the community, and as with the old Family Wash, it’s the kind of spot where they’d all want to hang out as patrons. “This will be like the Wash, the kind of place where people will feel it is theirs,” he

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says. “It already has a crazy energy.”

“This is something Nashville needs,” Lacher adds. “A lot of bowling alleys have closed, and people just want somewhere they can get together and be together.”

Eastside Bowl will have 16 bowling lanes.

You can bowl like you always have, or pay an additional $10 for HyperBowling, a technology-enhanced game that Kinsolving describes as a combination of pinball and bowling, with LED lights and a reactive bumper you use to help navigate the ball. While neither Kinsolving or Rubin are regular bowlers (they are huge fans of The Big Lebowski, they say), they found HyperBowling more fun and less gimmicky than they expected. “It is pretty tricky and pretty fun,” Kinsolving says. Eastside Bowl will be the only alley within a 300-mile radius with HyperBowling, but you can choose the oldschool approach if that’s your thing.

The space’s 750-person-capacity music venue, to be called The Wash at Eastside Bowl, is just one new venue coming to the area. The Roots Barn will open next year, two miles north of Eastside Bowl. The Wash will be in the 5,000-square-foot former receiving room of the Kmart. Small details — like a curtain to prevent the audience from seeing bands setting up onstage — will help preserve the magic of live music, Rubin says. Because the bowling, restaurant and bar will generate revenue, they won’t feel obligated to book acts every night, and will select acts that they think fit the vibe they’re creating.

The team brought in chef Michael Cribb, formerly of The Bound’ry, as a food consultant to develop the menu for Chark’s Laneside Diner, called The Diner for short.

They’re planning to serve classic diner food, with The Diner initially set to open at 6 a.m. and close late-night. Eventually it might be open 24 hours a day on the weekends — the idea being that folks who work in the music and hospitality industries can head over be-

fore or after a shift. And yes, the shepherd’s pie from The Family Wash will be on the menu (both vegetarian and with meat). “Any of the old Wash favorites are no-brainers,” Rubin promises, adding that the beloved pot pie will likely be a weekly special. He expects pizza to be popular with bowlers.

The Lounge will serve as the establishment’s 1970s-style bar space. Like anyone who has scrolled through Eastside Bowl’s Instagram feed, Lacher raves about the aesthetic overhaul the team has accomplished, pointing out the midcentury-modern-style decorative elements in a space where folks used to buy spark plugs and winter boots.

Lyon Porter, the mind behind Urban Cowboy and The Dive Motel and Swim Club, helped consult on some of the design elements.

While Eastside Bowl has four distinct parts — a diner, a lounge bar, a bowling alley and a music venue — it has unifying elements in its carpeting, wallpaper and color, with a retro feel. The diner is painted the exact colors of a 1958 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop guitar.

All four spaces will share a kitchen (within limits — certain foods may be hard to eat while bowling).

The team is still working on staff uniforms, but don’t be surprised if classic-style bowling shirts show up. While Eastside Bowl is staffing up for long hours seven days a week, Katie Watson, who is heading human resources efforts, says they aren’t having trouble hiring.

“We have been lucky in a lot of ways,” says Watson. “Anyone who wants to come see this place and have a tour and meet the guys gets excited, and almost everyone who has, jumped on board.”

High school students have been interested in working, and Watson says their parents like knowing that the place their kids will be toiling is locally owned. “The people we’ve talked to love this industry and love this neighborhood.”

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NASHVILLE SCENE | AUGUST 19 – AUGUST 25, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

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PERFORMING ARTS

BIG DREAMS, LARGE SPACES

TMProductions holds space and bridges the gap for local dancers, actors and more

BY AMY STUMPFL

TMPRODUCTIONS IS LOCATED AT 630 RUNDLE AVE. TO LEARN MORE, VISIT TMPRODUCTIONS.ONLINE.

SCENERY Arts and Culture News From the Nashville Scene

Looking for the latest on art and culture in Nashville? Subscribe to Scenery, our weekly newsletter that covers visual art, theater, comedy, books, film and more.

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TOSHA MARIE

S

top by TMProductions on any given day, and you’ll likely see young dancers working on their technique. You might also find professional theater artists developing a new work.

Or perhaps an entrepreneur, finalizing a marketing strategy. And seemingly everywhere is owner and executive director Tosha Marie — teaching, brainstorming and encouraging.

“I’m definitely wearing a lot of hats right now,” says the Nashville native, who’s been performing since age 5. “But that’s OK. I have big dreams and goals for this place, and it’s been exciting to see it all come together.”

A successful dancer, educator, choreographer and director, Marie describes TMProductions as a “collaborative performing arts complex.” Located just off Fesslers Lane, the 11,000-square-foot facility — which opened June 30 — includes everything from co-working and conference areas to rehearsal and dance space. There’s a 6,000-square-foot ballroom, a smaller dance studio, plus two rehearsal rooms — each equipped with a piano for practice or selftape auditions. Computers and printers are

available, along with a whiteboard and projector. There’s even a gallery, where local artists can show (and sell) their work.

That’s big news for Nashville’s arts community, and Marie says she’s already heard from several local theater companies — all eager to use the facilities for rehearsals or small gatherings. Beyond the space itself, however, she’s hoping TMProductions can bridge the gap for what she calls “driven, but often underrepresented” creative people, bringing a variety of resources and services under one roof. Already, in-house partners include Street Theatre Company, a photographer/videographer, a massage therapist, a social media/marketing strategist and more.

“I wanted to create a space where not only I could thrive, but I could help others grow and thrive, too,” Marie says. “I know how hard it is to take your career to the next level, especially if you’re not able to afford formal training or college. There are so many dance studios in Nashville, but the arts community can still feel fractured. And as a Black choreographer — often the only Black person behind the table at auditions — I feel a real responsibility to create a more

equitable and supportive environment. I just wanted to bring everyone together, providing resources, opportunities and a truly inclusive approach.”

With that in mind, TMProductions offers a comprehensive education program called Subsistence — designed for high-school- and college-age students looking to launch a career in the performing arts. Training covers everything from pre-professional dance and concert dance technique to Broadway fundamentals and “triple-threat coaching.”

“We’re basically a dance-focused studio,” she says, “but we also provide instruction in voice and acting. Unlike most studios, we don’t offer preschool- and elementary-level classes. And we’re not going to dance competitions. Our program focuses on people who really want a career. That means teaching more than just steps. Students are going to learn what it actually takes to make it as a performer in the real world.”

Beyond this more specialized training, TMProductions also offers drop-in community classes, covering everything from therapeutic yoga and ballet barre to hip-hop and jazz. Monthly membership plans are available for artists, featuring unlimited classes, open studio time, discounted rental rates for rehearsal and studio space, and discounted services with partner businesses.

There’s also a business membership plan, offering entrepreneurs conference space, discounted rentals and services, and the opportunity to utilize TMProductions’ address.

“As an entrepreneur myself, I’ve been there,” Marie says. “I know how hard it is to find space, or run a business out of your kitchen when your printer dies, or you don’t have access to a conference room.

“I think that’s one of the things that’s been so exciting about the response so far,” she adds. “People are just so happy to find such a supportive, collaborative approach.

Initially, I think the assumption was that this is just a dance studio or just a rehearsal space. Then, they get here and they’re totally blown away — it’s so much more. The energy is amazing. People are excited, and they feel like they’re actually being set up for success — no matter what their goals may be.”

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | AUGUST 19 – AUGUST 25, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

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ART

ARTISTS TALK

OFFBEAT

Donna Woodley brings the irreverent and curious Perception and Perspective to NKA Gallery

David Onri Anderson on his painting ‘Test of Time’

BY LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

N

BY JOE NOLAN

D

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ashville native and Watkins alum David Onri Anderson makes art that overflows with esoteric symbolism, but still manages to be down-to-earth. His solo show of paintings and sculptures, Elements — now on view DAVID ONRI ANDERSON: ELEMENTS at David Lusk Gallery — ON VIEW THROUGH includes “Test of Time,” a AUG. 28 AT DAVID LUSK large-scale painting that GALLERY, 516 HAGAN ST. combines ideas about local and global issues in a way that is representative of the artist’s vision, but is also urgent in a way that many of his paintings are not. I spoke to Anderson about this particular painting during a recent gallery visit.

“I was born in Nashville, and I’ve stayed here because I really love how close I can be to nature and to the community,” he says. “But the more I see buildings coming up and down, the more I feel this sort of temporal thing that doesn’t ever satisfy, and doesn’t give identity to the community. It feels like it just pulls us back and forth. I was thinking about how the Roman Empire fell, and the British Empire fell, and how there’s all these empires trying to take over the world, and they all fall. And so I want that — I want that empire to fall, and I want nature to continue to thrive and grow. Instead of a Roman column, I want a big tree.

“The intention behind it was to show how I want life and nature — the idea of a tree — to be our source of power and our source of identity and vitality. I wanted to say, like, instead of the Roman Empire, or the empire of objects and monuments, what if we let the tree be the monument? Or let earth be our temple? Or let nature be our source of value and pride?

“The rootedness, the dark gnarliness of the trunk and the greenness of the leaves — these are all representative colors and textures and feelings of what the revolution can embody. To me, the revolution is not something that we all need to figure out how to build, but it’s to figure out how to get rid of some things so that other things can grow.

“I usually like to make paintings that are constructive — that present something beautiful. But this time, I wanted to destroy something so that life can grow.”

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Another work features former Nashvillian Brandon Donahue. “Sir Brandon the Great” pictures the artist sitting on the closed lid of his ceramic “throne,” his left foot propped up on a basketball just like the ones he uses in his iconic flowerlike sculptures.

Both of these images shout out local creative leaders with equal parts humor and respect. And like all of Woodley’s work, they ask questions about identity with more mirth than militance, more poetry than pedantry.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

“TEST OF TIME,” DAVID ONRI ANDERSON

tucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, then added her own question regarding the death of the young Black medical worker who was killed by the Louisville Police during a raid of her apartment. Woodley pictures the pop star wearing a face mask with her questioning post written across it, conjuring the social unrest, the pandemic, and the pop culture and social media of 2020 in one portrait.

Woodley’s humor comes through again in her series The Royal Court, which pictures Black men through the lens of royalty, with each image unexpectedly including a toilet — a tongue-in-cheek reference to a “throne.”

Actual Black royals have ruled in kingdoms all over the planet long before Harry met Meghan, and the idea of Black royalty pops up in the stage names of reggae legends like King Tubby and Prince Buster; in the paintings of Kehinde Wiley; in the Afrofuturist imagery deployed by pop stars like Beyoncé. Woodley’s royals include a pair of North Nashville artists who have helped recenter the North Nashville neighborhood — and the creative legacies of its HBCU institutions — in the middle of the city’s contemporary art scene.

“Prince Joseph III” pictures muralist and member of the Norf Art Collective Joseph “doughjoe” Love. He sits on the closed lid of a toilet with a proud look in his eye. His bike is parked next to the toilet, with a prominent “Chisholm for President” sticker on the top tube of the bike frame.

Shirley Chisholm became a different kind of Black royalty — in 1972 she became the first African American to run for a major party’s presidential nomination and the

“SIR BRANDON THE GREAT,” DONNA WOODLEY

“PRINCE JOSEPH III,” DONNA WOODLEY

onna Woodley’s display at Coop Gallery’s 2016 group show of new members did two things: It broadened the artist’s audience, and it established her as an irreverent and curious painter who is DONNA WOODLEY: unafraid to explore PERCEPTION AND her community’s exPERSPECTIVE THROUGH AUG. 21 AT NKA periences as Black GALLERY, 915 BUCHANAN ST. women in the South.

CLOSING RECEPTION 5-9 P.M. SATURDAY, AUG. 21 In that show, Woodley and her friends wear white granny panties on their heads in disarmingly silly images that prompt conversation about the visibility of Black women and the toxicity of selfie culture.

That show, in addition to the Gallery Luperca display at the long-lost Fond Object, led Scene culture editor Erica Ciccarone to name Woodley the city’s Best New Artist in that year’s Best of Nashville issue. Some of those same breakthrough works are now on display at Perception and Perspective, Woodley’s latest exhibition at NKA Gallery.

The new art gallery — pronounced “inka” — is presented by Slim & Husky’s, and is located next to the Buchanan Street pizzeria.

In her artist’s statement, Woodley writes that the exhibit includes work created before COVID-19 alongside new pieces, and the title emphasizes how circumstances before and since the pandemic have shaped our understanding of the world, ourselves and each other. The pandemic is the backdrop for everything right now, and it’s an understandable timeline to organize a contemporary art show around. But this isn’t really a show about the virus or its effects; it functions more as a thoughtful retrospective of a half-decade of art-making by a unique artist with a personal voice that’s both offbeat and right on time.

Both “Kelsheika’’ and “Trasheena the 5th District Councilwoman” are from 2017, and give a bit of context to the development of Woodley’s more recent work. “Trasheena” features those signature white granny panties — here they’re worn outside the hypothetical councilwoman’s jeans. Both these works point to the struggles parents of color grapple with when it comes to giving children names that might limit their opportunities due to racial discrimination. In Woodley’s world, a woman named Trasheena can still get out the vote.

The humor that Woodley brings to serious issues and important ideas can be found throughout Perception and Perspective, and one of the best things about the display is that it reminds viewers that art doesn’t have to be brooding and tortured to address serious subject matter. “ ’Sup Nigga? #justiceforbreonnataylor” references a comment made on a social media post by musical mogul Rihanna. The artist reposted a Black History Month announcement from Ken-

8/16/21 5:23 PM

Be SEEN in the

BOOKS

SPANKS FOR THE MEMORIES Talking With Stephen K. Stein about the BDSM movement in modern America

BY ARAM GOUDSOUZIAN

UPCOMING SPECIAL ISSUES

S

usan Sontag once called BDSM “the furthest reach of the sexual experience.” As historian Stephen K. Stein shows in his new book, Sadomasochism and the BDSM Community in the United States: Kinky SADOMASOCHISM AND People Unite, the THE BDSM COMMUNITY sexual community IN THE UNITED STATES: of BDSM (BondKINKY PEOPLE UNITE

BY STEPHEN K. STEIN age and Discipline, ROUTLEDGE Dominance and Sub220 PAGES, $44.95 mission, and Sadism and Masochism) has evolved over the past half-century. Its practitioners have shifted their practices and gained more mainstream acceptance, fostering a broader culture of sexual freedom in the modern United States.

Stein is an associate professor of history at the University of Memphis. He answered questions via email.

What is BDSM? How can a historian research it? Generally speaking, BDSM includes a

Fall Guide September 2

host of practices that inject a power dynamic into sexual activities, though many people engage in BDSM activities, such as flagellation, that do not specifically lead to sexual intercourse.

The BDSM community offers rich opportunities for historians. The Leather Archives and Museum in Chicago is dedicated to preserving the community’s history, along with that of leather organizations, whose membership often overlaps that of BDSM organizations. It has the papers of many important BDSM activists, as well as club newsletters, convention programs and other publications. Most of these, though, date from 1980 to the present. The BDSM community’s earlier years are very poorly documented.

How has the status of BDSM evolved in the United States since the 1960s? Have the sexual practices changed over this time? Popular, psychological

Pride Issue September 16 For information on advertising to the Scene’s audience of more than 400,000 people, email Mike Smith at msmsith@nashvillescene.com 34

and legal perceptions of BDSM have changed dramatically over the last 50 years. Previously seen as a mental dysfunction subject to criminal prosecution and requiring psychiatric treatment, BDSM activities today spark much less disapprobation.

Today’s BDSM community evolved slowly over time as people with BDSM interests found one another via personal ads, cruising bars and bathhouses, and personal introductions. The first formal, publicly advertised BDSM organizations formed in the early 1970s as forums for learning, personal exploration and finding like-minded partners.

BDSM organizations exploded in size and number in the 1980s, and these organizations helped institutionalize and normalize BDSM practice, encouraging some activities and discouraging others. Practically every American city has a local BDSM group (or several), and these remain the central institutions of the community despite the growth of [BDSM social network] FetLife and other internet sites, which connect kinky people.

Why did BDSM leaders advocate a “safe, sane and consensual” movement in the 1980s and 1990s? Early BDSM organizations and activists struggled to define and explain their sexual interests. In the mid-1980s, they adopted the phrase “safe, sane, consensual.”

It proved useful against both external critics (“What we do is safe, sane and consensual, so leave us alone”) and to police conduct within the BDSM community (“What you’re doing is not safe, sane, consensual, so knock it off”).

Over time, the community’s emphasis on consent and the individual right to pursue happiness in one’s own way proved an effective counterargument to BDSM critics.

What is the historical relationship between BDSM and LGBTQ communities? Did they work more in concert or opposition? Many — arguably most — of the early BDSM activists were gay or lesbian or bisexual or influenced by the LGBTQ community. Gay leather bars, which emerged in the 1950s, proved one of the most reliable places to meet men with BDSM interests. When dedicated BDSM organizations formed in the 1970s and 1980s, many were exclusively gay or lesbian. The leaders of these organizations played a central role in organizing the BDSM community, and the BDSM community reflects their values. Across the United States, BDSM organizations worked to advance LGBTQ rights, and sexual rights in general.

Fifty Shades of Grey was a blockbuster, both as the 2011 novel and 2015 film. How was this phenomenon received within BDSM circles? Fifty Shades of Grey has been a mixed blessing for the BDSM community. It reversed the membership declines of many BDSM organizations by attracting new people to the community. This growing BDSM interest also caught the attention of sexually oriented businesses, which expanded their product lines to include restraints and other BDSM equipment. There is easier access to a greater variety of low-cost BDSM paraphernalia than ever before.

On the other hand, most members of the BDSM community were offended — even outraged — by the depictions of BDSM in Fifty Shades, particularly how the relationship developed between Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey, which involved manipulation and coercion rather than negotiation.

It generally ignored the community’s credo of “safe, sane, consensual.”

The book (and film) also repeat the common trope that people drawn to BDSM were abused as children or experienced other psychological trauma, which they reenact in BDSM scenes. Numerous psychological surveys of the community, though, have found no evidence to support this. Apart from their sexual interests, people into BDSM differ little from their vanilla friends.

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

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NASHVILLE SCENE | AUGUST 19 – AUGUST 25, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

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TO BENEFIT

MUSIC

LISTEN UP

Maggie Rose wants to open up lines of communication with Have a Seat

BY MEGAN SELING

2

020 was supposed to be Maggie Rose’s year — not unlike it was supposed to be for a lot of artists. The previous spring, the Maryland-born, Nashville-residing songsmith gathered with an impressive roster of guest musicians at soul mecca FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala., to record her third full-length album. She hoped the record would further the work she did on 2018’s Change the Whole Thing, establishing her as a genre-busting songwriter, a shapeshifting butterfly fully emerged from the country-music cocoon she spun up early in her career with 2013’s Cut to Impress.

Joining Rose at FAME were players from Muscle Shoals’ legendary rhythm section The Swampers — guitarist Will McFarlane, who’s also known for playing with Bonnie Raitt in the 1970s, and legendary bassist David Hood. On drums PLAYING BROOKLYN was Sarah Tomek, BOWL THURSDAY, who’s been with AUG. 19; HAVE A SEAT OUT Rose for years and AUG. 20 VIA STARSTRUCK has also performed RECORDS with Them Vibes and Steven Tyler. Kelly Clarkson’s horn section Them Horns made an appearance too.

On keys was Lloyd Buchanan, who’s played with Alabama Shakes, and producing was Ben Tanner, a co-founder of the Shakes, who’s also produced St. Paul and the Broken Bones and John Paul White; Tanner and White launched Single Lock Records as well.

In all, nearly 20 players joined in, all fortified by different musical backgrounds and experiences. The result was Have a Seat, a record that feels both timely and timeless.

The 11 tracks hop along the musical spectrum, winking and nodding at some of the best soul, R&B, funk and rock songwriters in the rich history of those genres, while lyrically contributing to the conversations we’re having now as a country. Have a Seat was all set to be released in 2020, ahead of an 80-date tour. And then, for reasons that everyone is tired of thinking about, none of that happened.

More than a year later, Rose looks back on the unavoidable delay with gratitude. It was heartbreaking, of course — “The ambiguity of everything just became so overwhelming,” she says — but she uncovered opportunity in the quiet year.

“The issues that made us write a lot of these songs were getting worse,” Rose says from her home in Nashville, while on a quick 72-hour break from the rescheduled tour. “I think communication was becoming more and more polarized, so even if I did put [Have a Seat] out during the pandemic without touring, I felt like I’d be maybe poking the bear or agitating the audience a little. But I think I’m much wiser, I’m more compassionate. I think I have more empathy after this year because I got to listen.”

Listening and making room for others is at the root of Have a Seat, but Rose is aware the expression has more than one meaning.

On one hand, “have a seat” can be an invitation. Read it in a different tone, however, and “have a seat” becomes a command that someone sit down and shut up. So which is it?

“I think it depends on who it’s being said to,” Rose says with a laugh.

“It’s to the industry. Like, ‘You should pay attention to this now. I paid my dues, I found who I am. I’ve done all the work that I’ve done with authenticity, and I love doing it.’ But then much more important with this music is the invitation to be a part of it — you’re welcome to be a part of this. If you are someone who’s contributing wonderful things to the world, there should be room made for you.”

Song after song, Have a Seat benefits from Rose’s collaborative nature. Opening track “What Are We Fighting For,” co-written with Larry “Brother Love” Florman and Alex Haddad of Them Vibes, is like the album title in that it’s an exercise in duality. It starts as a soothing, soulful organ-

laced number, with Rose questioning the need for arguing with someone she clearly cares about. In the last minute of the song, the music builds and Rose’s patience wears thin. Like a roller coaster taking its final plunge after cresting the highest point of the

track, the song spirals into an all-out gospel jam session with tambourine, wailing guitar and a choir of backing vocals from Shanay Johnson and Karita Law. At the center of it all is Rose, demanding answers — demanding to know what you’re willing to fight for.

“I’m certainly not one with all the answers,” says Rose. “That was why we decided to start the record with a conversation. Even though sonically it’s this huge song right at the top of a record, that’s like setting the table to me — it slowly builds.

The whole idea of that proverbial table really begins with that song.”

On the following track “Do It,” Rose shuts down the noise and takes ownership of her life. Over a funky party beat peppered with blasts of big-band horns, she sings: “Why should I be a people pleaser / Fall into line / That would be such a crime.” On “What Makes You Tick,” an upbeat blues-tinged number featuring stellar guitarist Marcus King, Rose implores the listener to look inside themselves. On its surface, “What Makes You Tick” is a catchy tune about unplugging and appreciating what surrounds you. Sitting among the other tracks on Have a Seat, though, it’s also a challenge to check yourself, to form your own opinions — even if it’s difficult because of others’ expectations or the demands of your daily routine.

Without a doubt, that’s relevant today; people argue loudly against requiring masks in public schools while hospitals report that capacity for seriously ill COVID patients — who in most cases are unvaccinated — has dwindled almost to nothing. It was relevant in 2019, too, but Rose says she wasn’t frustrated about sitting on songs she knew many people in the world could relate to.

“I was excited to wait for my turn,” she says. “I think it was important to not take up any space in the conversation, especially with the BLM movement. I wanted to listen for a while.”

As part of her purposeful listening, Rose used the break from touring to launch her podcast Salute the Songbird, which is now in its second season. On the show, Rose talks to other women in the music industry about their triumphs, struggles and day-to-day inspiration — guests have included Grammynominated country singer Mickey Guyton, journalist Kelly McCartney and Fitz and the Tantrums singer Noelle Scaggs. Those heart-to-hearts inspired Rose to take a second look at Have a Seat and really ensure her message was clear. “[Salute the Songbird] brought so many amazing artists and women into my life,” she says. “I was listening to their stories and how hard they’re working, and just felt super connected to my artistic community.

That made me rearrange the track listing to an entirely different sequencing for the record. With all the events [of 2020], we had to really step back and think about how we wanted to unfold the story. I love it now.

“These songs have evolved so much from the day I wrote them. I don’t ever want to have to repeat 2020, but it’s been a bit of a gift to have this opportunity to be like, ‘OK, this is the record that’s for right now. We still want to put this out, right?’ Absolutely.

It’s probably more relevant to me now than it ever was the day I wrote all the songs. It’s seasoned them in a really great way.”

EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

nashvillescene.com | AUGUST 19 – AUGUST 25, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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8/16/21 6:11 PM

MUSIC

MARRIAGE MUSIC

Connie Smith and Marty Stuart apply natural grace on The Cry of the Heart

BY GEOFFREY HIMES

S

ometimes the unlikeliest romances are the best romances.

Marty Stuart was an 11-year-old starstruck country fan when he first met Connie Smith at the Choctaw County Indian Fair in Philadelphia, Miss., in the summer of 1970. Smith was a 28-year-old star with 14 top 10 country hits behind her.

Nonetheless, as they drove home from the show, Stuart told his mother he was going to marry Smith someday.

And he did. Flash-forward to 1995, 18 years after Smith’s previous top 20 single and three years after Stuart’s most recent top 20 single. Smith hadn’t released an THE CRY OF THE HEART album of new mateOUT FRIDAY, AUG. 20, VIA FAT POSSUM rial since 1978, but Stuart’s solo career was still yielding an album every year or two. Smith was single after divorcing three different husbands, and Stuart was single after divorcing Johnny Cash’s daughter Cindy in 1988.

“She came to my dressing room at the Grand Ole Opry,” Stuart remembers, “and said she was thinking about making a record and asked me if I would produce it. I said, ‘Absolutely.’ We were acquaintances at that point but not close friends. I knew she could sing beautifully, but I said she should write the songs for her next album. So we got together to write songs. I called Harlan Howard, and the three of us wrote a song — ‘How Long,’ a country shuffle. There’s nothing like a good country shuffle to kick off a relationship. I called it our first date. We wrote ‘Hearts Like Ours,’ and one love song led to another.”

“It didn’t take long for us to become a couple,” Smith admits. The two were wed on July 8, 1997, and Connie Smith, her first album in 20 years, was released in 1998.

Now the couple have collaborated again on the brand-new The Cry of the Heart, only the third solo album Smith has released since 1978. Released at the same time will be a new 38-minute video documentary, Connie Smith: The Cry of the Heart, directed by Stuart and telling her life story via dozens of priceless old performance clips.

This new album got its start on a television show. Between 2008 and 2014, The Marty Stuart Show was syndicated by RFD-TV, and Smith sang on most episodes. It was an oldfashioned country music variety show that Stuart modeled on the famous franchises hosted by Porter Wagoner and the Wilburn Brothers. Near the end of the show’s run, Smith had exhausted her large catalog and started singing her favorite songs by other artists. One of those was “A Million and One,” a No. 2 country hit for Billy Walker in 1966 — other recordings of which yielded modest pop hits for Dean Martin and Vic Dana that same year. But never had the song sounded so good as it did that night.

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“Connie was singing so great that I held my breath when I heard it,” Stuart recalls.

“After the show, I went back to the control room, and asked, ‘Can I get a copy of that?’

When I heard it again, I knew it was the beginning of an album. The Jack Greene song ‘All the Time’ was the same scenario.

We took the audience’s applause out, but everything else you hear on the record is untouched from the original TV taping.”

“I wasn’t thinking about an album when I sang it,” Smith adds. “I was just having fun, singing songs I’d always wanted to sing. Once you get into a song, sometimes it really works.”

With those two songs in hand, Stuart and Smith went looking for new songs with the same feel. The spouses wrote two songs together plus one song apiece with other cowriters. Bluegrass legend Carl Jackson contributed two songs, one of them co-written with Melba Montgomery.

“We found a new Dallas Frazier song, ‘I Just Don’t Believe Me Anymore,’ ” Smith says. “That makes 72 songs of his that I’ve done now. I believe he’s as good a writer as we’ve ever had. He’s right up there with Hank Williams. I’m surprised that he’s not in the [Country Music] Hall of Fame. When I was young I started cutting his songs, and he started writing songs for me. Then he started writing songs about me. Our hearts melted together.”

“Dallas and Connie are like soul mates,” adds Stuart. “She became a character, and he supplied the dialogue and settings for her.

He told me one time that he saw her as a target, and he hit the bullseye every time.”

“The demos I liked the most were his,” Smith concludes, “just his guitar and his foot hitting the floor. I like demos that are sparse and leave room to put your own ideas in without fighting off the ideas that are already there. Hearing his songs is like hearing someone talk; one line will just get you.

It was a match, just like Weldon Myrick on

steel guitar was a match; he helped create the Connie Smith sound.”

Three songs on the album (“Look Out Heart,” “Heart, We Did All That We Could” and “Here Comes My Baby Back Again”) are framed as conversations between the narrator and her own heart. The narrator admits that she had sworn she’d never fall in love again, but now she just can’t help herself. All she can do is apologize to the Valentine organ and warn it to brace itself for turbulence ahead.

“It’s a relevant theme,” Stuart says. “When she sings, people say, ‘She must have been there too.’ Of course, we’ve spent many years researching this subject. They don’t call Connie the Queen of Broken Hearts for nothing.”

“We’re all pretty much the same,” Smith declares. “We all have wants and needs and sorrows, and there’s nothing like sharing them. You feel better when you hear someone else talking or singing about those things, like, ‘Oh, that’s happened to her too.’

Give me some George Jones, and I’m happy, even if I’m sad. Even if he’s sad.”

Once they had the songs, they decided to cut them in the same style as Smith’s classic singles from the ’60s, recorded at the legendary RCA Studio B. Fortunately, Smith, who just turned 80, still has the broad range and lustrous tone of her younger self, thanks to all those years of semi-retirement.

Stuart backed her up with his own band, His Fabulous Superlatives, as well as his firstcall steel guitarist Gary Carter and Smith’s longtime pianist Pig Robbins.

“From working with Connie over the years,” Stuart points out, “I’ve learned that she’s at her absolute best when all the pieces are in place: a great song, Pig Robbins on piano, a lot of guitar, steel guitar fills, upright bass, quiet drums — that unapologetically Studio B soundprint.”

The album was pretty much done by the end of 2020, but in January of this year

Smith and Stuart both came down with COVID infections. Smith had the worst of it, winding up on a breathing apparatus in a hospital for 11 days. Even now she goes to therapy a few times a week to cope with the consequences. But she remains upbeat, already making plans for her next album.

“They asked me if my heart stopped, did I want to be revived, and I said, ‘Of course, I don’t want to be a COVID statistic,’ ” Smith says. “But I got through it with prayer and the Lord’s mercy, with a lot of support from my friends and family — especially Marty.

He loves music and I love music. We love to get in the car and drive around and listen to something he’s heard, or something I’ve heard. There are guitars all over the house, and he’ll pick one up and we’ll start singing and maybe start writing.”

In addition to his music career, Stuart is a widely published photographer. While serving as a talking head in Ken Burns’ Country Music series, Stuart learned more about his first meeting with Smith and the origin of his picture taking.

“I used to say I was 12 when I first met Connie, but Ken Burns proved to me that I was 11,” says Stuart. “I had my mom take me to the department store so I could get a new yellow shirt and maybe Connie would notice me. After the show I got her autograph and she waved me along. But later I saw her sitting alone by the bus, so I got my mother’s camera and said, ‘Miss Smith, is it OK if I take your picture?’ That was the first picture I ever made.”

“I remember this little kid coming up on the stage,” adds Smith, “and talking to Weldon Myrick and asking about the gauge of the strings. I thought, ‘This kid doesn’t have a bashful bone in his body; he acts as if he already belongs up here.’ I don’t remember about the autograph and the photograph, but I do remember that.”

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NASHVILLE SCENE | AUGUST 19 – AUGUST 25, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

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8/16/21 6:11 PM

MUSIC

THE SPIN

FEEL THE SAME

BY CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

B

ully received a hero’s welcome Saturday at Mercy Lounge. It was the second engagement in a two-night run — the Nashville noisepop crew’s first local club shows since playing Third Man Records in 2018. Last weekend’s shows were a follow-up to a last-minute appearance at Outloud Fest in June and served as a better-late-thannever release celebration for the group’s third album Sugaregg. The LP came out this time last year and took home top honors in our Top Local Albums Critics’ Poll.

Bully and its singer-songwriter-guitarist (and frequently its producer-engineer) Alicia Bognanno have been local fixtures for eight years now. The Sub Pop signees have helped build a bridge from the party-hearty garagerock explosion of the late Aughts and early 2010s to the more introspective, less dudecentric and often just-as-noisy current landscape of contemporary rock. Bognanno has not so much changed up the Nirvanaand Pixies-rooted sound that marks the

introduction, firing off 10 of Sugaregg’s 12 tunes in the set list’s first act. The fact that Bognanno’s trademark searing, coarsebut-melodic howl is one of the best yells around is common knowledge, reaffirmed on the go-for-broke single “Where to Start” and Runaways-like “Stuck in Your Head.” If anyone had concerns about her ability to sustain it over time, they’d have been reassured by her dialed-back vocal approach on slower, more dynamic newer songs like the Sugaregg centerpiece “Prism” and its penultimate epic “Hours and Hours.”

And where Bognanno’s past live bands have tended to match up closely to her parts — giving the effect of being attacked by one giant guitar — new lead six-stringer Chappy Hull added color with his penchant for serpentine, lightly overdriven riffs, carried over from his primary band Shell of a Shell. Drummer Wes Mitchell and bassist Nick Byrd kept a firm foundation. At stage right, meanwhile, fifth member Brett Mielke alternated between second guitar, shaker and tambourine, freeing Bognanno up to go berserk hardcore frontperson style, unencumbered by guitar. She leaned into the role on furious originals like “Focused,” from Bully’s second LP Losing, and “Add It On,” Sugaregg’s scorched-earth, Hüsker Düesque opener.

Anxiety about the severity of the new

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JOHN 5 // AUG 24

w/ jared james nichols & black satellite

w/ maggie baugh & colin elmore

livestream tickets also available

SPACE CAPONE // AUG 27 w/ nick connors

HELLZAPOPPIN // AUG 31

Brandon "Taz" Niederauer // SEP 1

BLAKE HENDERSON & WHELAN STONE // SEP 2 w/ forrest finn

Upcoming shows AUG 22 Aug 24 Aug 25 aug 27 aug 31 Sep 1 Sep 2 Sep 8 Sep 9 Sep 10 Sep 11 Sep 12 Sep 15 Sep 16 Sep 17 Sep 20 Sep 21

female rock icons of the 80's tribute John 5 w/ Jared James Nichols & Black Satelitte sarah darling w/ maggie baugh and colin elmore space capone w/ nick connors hellzapoppin Brandon "Taz" Niederauer Blake henderson & whelan stone w/ forrest finn

Kashena Sampson w/ joshua black wilkins

& emily nenni

Sam Fischer The Foxies w/ Wild Love Nikki Lane w/ Joshua Hedley turnstile SOLD OUT! Elana Jane, Eric Van Houten, Sammy Arriaga, and Maddie Consoer the bright light social hour

w/ lo talker

Summer Salt w/ Covey and Breakup Shoes Jordy Searcy w/ palmertrees palomania! feat. James Intveld , Rosie Flores, Jim Lauderdale, Jason Ringenberg, Chuck Mead & More

PHOTO: STEVE CROSS

SARAH DARLING // AUG 25

Sep 27 Sep 28 Sep 29 Sep 30 Oct 1 Oct 2 Oct 5 Oct 6 Oct 7 Oct 8 Oct 9 oct 12 Oct 14 Oct 16 Oct 17 Oct 18 Oct 19 Oct 20 Oct 21 Oct 22

Gary Numan w/ i speak machine Wild Rivers w/ jillian jacqueline dk the drummer featuring brassville Fozzy w/ Through Fire, Royal Bliss & Black Satellite Jukebox the Ghost Perpetual Groove the nude party w/ twen freddie gibbs The Emo Night Tour Mae & The Juliana Theory celebrating the life and songs of John Prine SOLD OUT! natalie hemby okey dokey w/ nordista freeze & Gatlin Parker Millsap w/ molly parden Noga Erez w/ McKinley Dixon Madison Cunningham w/ S.G. Goodman gus dapperton w/ Spill tab how long gone podcast The Backseat Lovers w/ branson anderson SOLD OUT! Pecos & the Rooftops SOLD OUT!

SOUND AND FURY: BULLY group’s 2015 debut album Feels Like as she has fine-tuned and expanded it. Saturday’s performance introduced a new five-piece lineup that, over 23 rapid-fire songs, capably articulated the more nuanced aspects of Sugaregg while thrashing as hard as the band ever has.

Mercy Lounge filled up early for Peachy, the punk-pop trio co-fronted by bassist Leah Miller and guitarist Rachel Warrick, with Benji Coale pounding the skins. Peachy burst out of the gate a few summers ago with a highenergy, harmony-heavy sound with equal parts riot-grrrl indignation, Muffs- and Redd Kross-esque poppiness and Descendentslike brevity. They’ve only sharpened their attack since, building anticipation for an eventual follow-up with songs like the closer “Waiting,” a Warrick-penned midtempo rocker with a huge hook delivered with just the slightest bit of twang.

Bully took the stage with little

Delta variant cast a slight pall over the evening. A week before the shows, the band announced that proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test would be required for entry; a few days later, the venue (along with a slew of other Nashville venues) announced it would do the same. Both the group and the venue requested that patrons mask up, and they obliged. Putting aside future uncertainties, Bully and Nashville’s youthful rock faithful made the most of the present on Saturday. For how hectic Bognanno & Co.’s sonic maelstrom got — especially toward the end of the hour-plus performance, once the quintet reached set-list staples like Feels Like’s loping, low-end-guided “Trying” and the super-charged “Milkman” — there was never a mosh pit at the front of the room so much as gangs of friends ecstatically, cathartically and conscientiously headbanging and belting out lyrics in unison.

EMAIL THESPIN@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

DARRIN BRADBURY // AUG 27

OGINALII, EL SHIROTA, BLOOD ROOT // AUG 25

UPCOMING SHOWS

Aug 19 stef, talia stewart Aug 19 Beau Burnette, Vera Bloom, Liv Noelle Aug 20 & 21 Sierra Ferrell SOLD OUT! Aug 25 oginalii, el shirota, blood root Aug 26 Griffin Winton w/ Rayvon Pettis, Angela Autumn Aug 27 get happier fridays (5pm) free show!

Aug 27 Darrin Bradbury (9pm) aug 28 bckhnd w/ michael bowlds aug 29 Molly Martin, Ryan Sobb & The Dead Mall, The Singing Butcher Sep 1 Valley Maker w/ The Ophelias (7pm) Sep 1 Haley Powers, Meg Williams, Leilani Kilgore (9pm)

Sep 2 Sep 8 Sep 8

tim easton w/ upstate mojo spencer cullum, dominic billett (7pm) the masterons w/ the whitmore sisters

Sep 9 Sep 10 Sep 12

Husbands w/ Crumbsnatchers Rock Eupora w/ Sad Baxter & Gentle Organisms Quiet Hollers w/ She Returns From War and

Sep 15 Sep 17 Sep 18

tristan bushman, caleb elliott kirby brown w/ maddie medley The Schizophonics w/ Peachy

Sep 30

girlhouse w/ sweater boy

& bonnie whitmore (9pm)

Katy Guillen & The Drive

and Justin & The Cosmics

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8/16/21 6:38 PM

FILM

STRANGE SCENES

The Defy Film Festival brings the weird world of experimental cinema back to East Nashville

BY JOE NOLAN

T

he Defy Film Festival will return to its home base at Studio 615 in East Nashville this weekend. Defy did a solid job of programming a mostly virtual version of the fest last year, but it’s great to have the in-person DEFY FILM FESTIVAL AUG. 20-21 AT STUDIO 615, event back.

272 BROADMOOR DRIVE Defy is a local faDEFYFILMFESTIVAL.COM vorite because of its consistently high-quality programming of experimental films. Lots of festivals include at least a few screenings of what they might refer to as “weird shorts” or “twisted animation” in their offerings, but Defy takes those bizarre and hard-to-classify categories and blows them up into one big celebration of

HIGHWAY ONE strange cinema. And this year there are five features and 52 shorts vying for the eyes of the curious and the daring. Below are some of the highlights.

Director Jaclyn Bethany sets her feature film Highway One in the village of Cambria, which reads like a small town in an alternative Southern California where a group of former high school classmates gather for a New Year’s Eve party. All of the characters have Eastern European names, and the soundtrack includes lots of European folk melodies. These elements bring a dreamy fairy-tale tone to the drinking, weed smoking, confessional conversations, heartfelt reunions and general hijinks. Highway One is a bit like a surreal Big Chill, and at its best it recalls the talky ensemble films of Robert

Altman, but with a weird and sexy style that often feels like a music video in the best way.

Some of the loose poetry of this film is due to the fact that Bethany developed the scenes by letting her actors improvise off an outline she wrote. The writing and the acting are both hit-and-miss here, but I admire Highway One’s ambition, and Juliette Labelle is magnetic as the mysterious Nina.

The 8th is a feature-length documentary about abortion activism in Ireland, and it’s one of the best docs I’ve seen this year. In 1983, Irish voters added the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of Ireland, establishing that an unborn child and its mother each have an equal right to life. One factor that makes this story unique is that abortion was already illegal in Ireland before the amendment was added, highlighting the deeply conservative bent of Ireland’s largely Catholic culture. Aideen Kane, Lucy Kennedy and Maeve O’Boyle share directing credits here, and these three filmmakers manage to make this clash of mostly young progressive feminists against religious lawmakers and cultural gatekeepers dramatic and human instead of merely pedantic and political. The 8th generously explores its subject from multiple perspectives, including input from activists on both sides of the issue. This mostly unbiased approach gives viewers a complex and nuanced understanding of the controversial medical practice and Ireland’s culture war around it.

“Mantis” is a weird and sexy short about a week in the life of a young woman questing after her authentic identity. The film finds its protagonist in the middle of a postmodern pastiche of activities, relationships, fashion and media-mimicking in a vain search for her true self. “Mantis” gradually morphs into something of a horror movie featuring gory effects, digital trickery and cool costumes to illustrate its heroine’s transformation from a confused and powerless modern young woman to the ferocious feminine archetype represented by the titular insect. Tinna Jinn is enigmatic in a

SIGN OF THE TIMES The heartwarming CODA offers boundary-pushing deaf representation

BY CORY WOODROOF

T

he history of cinema is filled to the brim with polished actors attempting to feign disability in pursuit of acclaim and awards. It’s rare that we as an audience get to inhabit the life of a disabled character CODA who is portrayed by an PG-13, 111 MINUTES actor with that disability.

OPENING FRIDAY, AUG. 20, CODA, the latest smart AT THE BELCOURT; ALSO STREAMING VIA APPLE TV+ and brave effort from Tallulah director Sian Heder, features several deaf characters who are all played by deaf actors.

If that feels revolutionary, that’s because it is. While the story’s structure isn’t particularly unusual — a teen named Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones) must balance her dream of going to college to study music with the responsibility of helping with the family fishing com-

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CODA

pany — CODA has an authenticity that most films about people living with disabilities lack. Ruby’s family must reckon with some facts: Her mother (Oscar winner Marlee Matlin), father (Troy Kotsur) and brother (Daniel Durant) are all deaf, while Jones is what’s known in the deaf community as a CODA — a child of deaf adults.

Rather than making an overwrought drama featuring A-listers playing deaf characters, Heder adapted the French film La Famille Bélier, and her movie has enough genuine warmth to heat a theater during the bitterest winter. CODA digs past the disability itself to tell a truly representative story.

While 75 percent of the household is indeed deaf,

they crack jokes, get frustrated with each other, have awkward conversations, grapple with familial speedbumps, get into fights, pursue dreams, overcome obstacles and share cheesy family memories — just like most families. It’s a necessary and long-time-coming breath of fresh air to see a film about disabled people that is a straightforward family dramedy and comingof-age story.

The film’s occasional broadness is easily forgivable considering how long and how often cinema has ghettoized stories of disability as pure tragedy. It’s not only important we get these types of films to expand the range of who we get to see on screen — it’s vital

difficult, wordless role, and “Mantis” is an exceptional example of what we’re talking about when we talk about contemporary experimental filmmaking.

“Richard Nixon: Getaway Driver” offers viewers a peek into an alternative reality where folk singer Phil Ochs is the gunman on the grassy knoll responsible for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. After firing the fatal shot, he jumps into a car driven

by Richard Nixon. This cracked story unspools during the recording of one of Nixon’s infamous tapes, when the influence of LSD and alcohol finds the Tricky One making his bizarre confession. There’s some fun makeup and visual gags to see here as well, and the success of Oliver Stone’s new JFK documentary at Cannes makes this bizarre little film feel right on time. I’m not a liar.

“Bakersfield” is another horrific short. This one finds a pair of murderers becoming the unwitting victims of bizarre occult bodysnatchers. This short has a weird and recursive plot that makes for a strange tale that’s not entirely comprehensible — that’s not really a point against it, though. “Bakersfield” transforms its beautiful eponymous landscapes into the kind of isolating and deadly locale we always find in the folk-horror genre, and the dark forces that dwell in this desert are all the more terrifying because they retain their mystery.

In “Song of the Common Loon” a drug addict struggles to overcome his childhood trauma.

This trippy and hallucinatory story drifts from real-world conflicts to dream-time visions and troubled memories. The man’s fractured perceptions are an ideal subject for experimental filmmaking, and the sound editing here reminded me just how much I miss listening to films in big theaters.

The Defy Film Festival runs Aug. 20 and 21. Festivalgoers will be required to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination in order to enter Studio 615. See the full schedule, and get weekend passes and iconic pink Defy bottomless beer cups at defyfilmfestival.com.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

for the medium of film itself that representation takes more root. As prognosticators hand-wring over the fate of theaters and the state of filmmaking in the COVID era, a new type of movie is becoming more common: the mid-budget adult drama that legitimately focuses on equity.

Apple is releasing CODA both in theaters — including the Belcourt — and via Apple TV+. Yes, it is important that such a major distributor picked up a film directed by a woman and featuring a mostly deaf main ensemble. But it’s also refreshing in that it bolsters a style of filmmaking that many have thought was going extinct. If you want the mid-budget adult drama to survive, don’t just support Martin Scorsese and David Fincher. Find movies like CODA — films that harness fresh perspectives and revitalize old templates that we all deep down know we can’t live without.

Seeing the Rossi family deal with very relatable problems, nothing overtly cinematic — that’s the type of atypical studio presentation we’ve been lacking. Heder’s film does exactly what it needs to do. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel so much as seek out new, responsible ways to keep it rolling. Films like CODA represent a changing of the Hollywood guard — more folks at the table, putting people in the jobs they should’ve had all along.

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NASHVILLE SCENE | AUGUST 19 – AUGUST 25, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

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Palm part Easy two-pointer ___-Seltzer Not Ready for Prime Time Players show, for short Where a zipper gets caught?

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Marketplace

Rocky McElhaney Law Firm InjuRy Auto ACCIdEnts

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk L. Chappell Deputy Clerk Date: August 5, 2021

WRongFul dEAth

Katelyn E. Marshall Attorney for Plaintiff

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www.rockylawfirm.com LEGALS Non-Resident Notice Third Circuit Docket No. 21D1022

SHANTA GREEN HANCOCK vs.

JADONTE JAMAL HANCOCK

Rental Scene

In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon JADONTE JAMAL HANCOCK. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HIS appearance herein within thirty (30) days after September 2, 2021 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 October 4, 2021. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon JADONTE JAMAL HANCOCK. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HIS appearance herein within thirty (30) days after September 2, 2021 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 October 4, 2021. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

NSC 812, 8/19, 8/26, 9/2/2021 Non-Resident Notice Third Circuit Docket No. 21D150 BILLY HERNANDEZ vs.

ALONDRA VALUENZUELA CARRILLO In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon ALONDRA VALENZUELA CARRILLO. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein within thirty (30) days after September 2, 2021 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 October 4, 2021. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk L. Chappell Deputy Clerk Date: August 4, 2021

four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk L. Chappell Deputy Clerk Date: August 4, 2021 Jane Ellen Cassell Attorney for Plaintiff NSC 812, 8/19, 8/26, 9/2/2021

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FEATURED APARTMENT LIVING

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk L. Chappell Deputy Clerk Date: August 5, 2021 Katelyn E. Marshall Attorney for Plaintiff NSC 812, 8/19, 8/26, 9/2/2021

Your Neighborhood

Local attractions near by: · Close to Belmont and Vanderbilt Colleges

Best place near by to see a show:

Bars and restaurants near by: · Dose Coffee · The Tin Angel · Woodlands Café · Maggiano’s · and many more

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206 Fairfax Ave Nashville, TN 37212 | www.fairfaxflats.com | 629.702.2840 42

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East End Village Townhomes 307 E Village Lane Nashville, TN 37216

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eastendvillageapartmentsnashville.com | 629.205.9131

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2100acklenflats.com | 615.499.5979 Cumberland Retreat 411 Annex Ave Nashville, TN 37209

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cumberlandretreatapartments.com | 615.356.0257 Dupont Avenue Apartments 601 N. Dupont Avenue Madison, TN 37115

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

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gazeboapts.com | 615.551.3832 nashvillescene.com | AUGUST 19 - AUGUST 25, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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Flat.

Studio.

Apartment.

Home.

Whatever you call it, find yours in the Rental Scene.

Nashville Scene’s Marketplace on pages 42 - 43.

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NASHVILLE SCENE | AUGUST 19 - AUGUST 25, 2021 | nashvillescene.com