Fall Guide
María Magdalena Campos-Pons’
Behold tops our list of the season’s most exciting art, music, book, theater, dance and film events
WITNESS HISTORY
Cindy Walker used this hand-painted Royal typewriter, decorated with ower decals, to compose many of the hundreds of songs she tailored for a wide range of artists including Bob Wills, Webb Pierce, Roy Orbison, Glen Campbell, Ray Charles, and Ricky Skaggs.
From the exhibit Sing Me Back Home: Folk Roots to the Present
RESERVE TODAY
ARTIFACTPHOTO: Bob Delevante
Street View: Nashville’s First Publicly Funded Cooperative Housing Development
Residents of The Cottages at Drakes Creek will soon be able to pay monthly ‘maintenance fees’ instead of rent BY LENA MAZEL
Pith in the Wind
This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog
Unbannable Library Showcases Community Reactions to Book Censorship
Paul Collins’ community art project uses ‘big, goofy, joy-filled books’ as a reaction to book challenges across the state BY KELSEY BEYELER
USN Plans Damage Control
After Teacher Investigation
Administrator shares firsthand account of sexual misconduct investigation, students circulate petition, and prep school convenes task force BY ELI MOTYCKA
COVER PACKAGE: FALL GUIDE
Ways of Seeing
Catching up with Nashville’s María Magdalena Campos-Pons ahead of her exhibition at the Frist BY LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
Visual Art
Must-see museum and gallery shows for Nashville’s most plentiful art season BY JOE NOLAN
Film
What to catch at the Nashville Film Festival BY SCENE STAFF AND CONTRIBUTORS
Books
Talking This Is How a Robin Drinks with author Joanna Brichetto BY KIM BALDWIN
CRITICS’ PICKS
Tim Murray Is Witches, First Time Stories, Tennessee Titans vs. Green Bay Packers, Chazz Palminteri: A Bronx Tale and more
FOOD AND DRINK
Date Night: Marsh House, Nashville Sundae Club and JMAS Breakfast Burritos Dinner and dessert in the Gulch plus a bonus breakfast on the East Side BY DANNY
BONVISSUTO
MUSIC
Still in the Groove United Record Pressing marks 75 years of vinyl manufacturing BY MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER
All Things Being Equal
Seeing Derv Gordon is the ultimate anti-establishment move BY SEAN L. MALONEY
Follow Your Arrow Kassi Ashton is unapologetically herself on her debut Made From the Dirt BY RACHEL CHOLST
Talking with Banning Bouldin about the
The Envelope, Please Sierra Ferrell tops a substantial slate of Americana Honors & Awards Winners BY STEPHEN TRAGESER
FILM
Gimme Moore!
The Demi Moore-starring The Substance is a pageant of the perverse BY JASON SHAWHAN
NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD AND THIS MODERN WORLD MARKETPLACE
ON THE COVER:
María Magdalena Campos-Pons in her Vanderbilt studio; photo by Angelina Castillo
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JMAS Breakfast Burritos • PHOTO BY ANGELINA CASTILLO
WHO WE ARE
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF D. Patrick Rodgers
MANAGING EDITOR Alejandro Ramirez
SENIOR EDITOR Dana Kopp Franklin
ARTS EDITOR Laura Hutson Hunter
MUSIC AND LISTINGS EDITOR Stephen Trageser
DIGITAL EDITOR Kim Baldwin
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Cole Villena
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Jack Silverman
STAFF WRITERS Kelsey Beyeler, Logan Butts, John Glennon, Hannah Herner, Hamilton Matthew Masters, Eli Motycka, Nicolle Praino, William Williams
SENIOR FILM CRITIC Jason Shawhan
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Sadaf Ahsan, Ken Arnold, Ben Arthur, Radley Balko, Ashley Brantley, Maria Browning, Steve Cavendish, Chris Chamberlain, Rachel Cholst, Lance Conzett, Hannah Cron, Connor Daryani, Stephen Elliott, Steve Erickson, Adam Gold, Kashif Andrew Graham, Seth Graves, Kim Green, Amanda Haggard, Steven Hale, Edd Hurt, Jennifer Justus, P.J. Kinzer, Janet Kurtz, Christine Kreyling, J.R. Lind, Craig D. Lindsey, Margaret Littman, Sean L. Maloney, Brittney McKenna, Addie Moore, Marissa R. Moss, Noel Murray, Joe Nolan, Betsy Phillips, John Pitcher, Margaret Renkl, Daryl Sanders, Nadine Smith, Ashley Spurgeon, Amy Stumpfl, Kay West, Andrea Williams, Nicole Williams, Ron Wynn, Charlie Zaillian
EDITORIAL INTERN Katie Beth Cannon
ART DIRECTOR Elizabeth Jones
PHOTOGRAPHERS Angelina Castillo, Eric England, Matt Masters
GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Sandi Harrison, Tracey Starck, Mary Louise Meadors
GRAPHIC DESIGN INTERN Michelle Maret
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Christie Passarello
MARKETING AND EVENTS DIRECTOR Robin Fomusa
BRAND PARTNERSHIPS AND EVENTS MANAGER Alissa Wetzel
DIGITAL & MARKETING STRATEGY LEAD Isaac Norris
PUBLISHER Mike Smith
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Michael Jezewski
SENIOR ADVERTISING SOLUTIONS MANAGERS
Teresa Birdsong, Olivia Britton, Carla Mathis, Heather Cantrell Mullins, Niki Tyree
ADVERTISING SOLUTIONS MANAGERS Maddy Fraiche, Kailey Idziak, Rena Ivanov, Allie Muirhead
SALES OPERATIONS MANAGER Chelon Hill Hasty
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IT DIRECTOR John Schaeffer
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ENJOYING: The homemade pimento cheese at Homegrown Taproom
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NASHVILLE’S FIRST PUBLICLY FUNDED COOPERATIVE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
Residents of The Cottages at Drakes Creek will soon be able to pay monthly ‘maintenance fees’ instead of rent
BY LENA MAZEL
Street Viewis a monthly column taking a close look at development-related issues affecting different neighborhoods throughout the city.
NEXT YEAR, RESIDENTS at the 60-unit Cottages at Drakes Creek will face a pretty unusual choice. They can continue renting their units at an affordable rate, or they can pay a similar rate and become a homeowner.
Thanks to a $7 million grant from Metro Nashville’s Barnes Housing Trust Fund and the efforts of two local community organizations, the Cottages at Drakes Creek (located on Safe Harbor Drive in Goodlettsville) will soon become the first publicly funded cooperative housing development in Nashville. Residents can pay monthly “maintenance fees” instead of rent, which will fund joint ownership and upkeep of the complex. They’ll also receive training about how the model works, and eventually democratically run the new cooperative. They’ll even collectively choose the co-op’s new name.
This new housing co-op is the joint effort of two local organizations: the Southeast Center for Cooperative Development and the William Franklin Buchanan Community Development Corp. (which often go by SEC4CD and WFBCDC). SEC4CD provides wide-reaching education about worker cooperatives and other cooperative models. It also provides technical assistance and microfinance services to worker cooperatives and helps businesses transition to employee ownership, and is looking to advise more cooperative housing projects. The WFBCDC funds projects addressing community needs, including “affordable housing, workforce development and business investment.” Some of their latest projects include mixed-use affordable housing, homebuyer education and a partnership to build a North Nashville community garden.
With help from local partners, National Cooperative Bank and Metro Nashville’s Planning Department, the WFBCDC and SEC4CD are launching the co-op as one solution to Nashville’s pressing need for affordable housing. Its development comes amid recent public conversations about how to fund truly sustainable affordable housing projects.
The Cottages at Drakes Creek plan is a significant step for the Barnes Fund, Nashville’s major source of public funding for affordable housing development. In its 10-year history, it has funded more than 4,700 affordable housing units. But after one Barnes Fund-supported complex filed eviction notices to more than 100 residents, the advocacy group Poder Popular spoke out against allocating public funding to traditional rental developments, calling on government officials to prioritize funding other models like cooperatives
and land trusts — arrangements that don’t make a property management company a profit.
Carlina Bell, executive director at the WFBCDC, explains that the co-op is run on a “limited equity model,” meaning residents each hold part of the capital that makes up the complex. “The payments which were formerly known as rents become what we call a monthly maintenance fee,” she says. “That is applied to mortgage, covers insurance, and covers the daily operational aspect of that property.”
The limited equity model means residents can build up equity through homeownership without needing a large down payment or home loan. The monthly maintenance fee stays low too. It’s set as affordable for anyone making 50 percent of Nashville’s Area Median Income (the median of what all households earn in a given area). At 50 percent AMI affordability, the co-op’s fees are lower than many affordable housing complexes, which are often set at 60 percent AMI affordability.
Rosemarie Henkel-Rieger and Benny Overton are co-executive directors at SEC4CD. They tell the Scene that while the co-op has to pay for maintenance fees, repairs and emergency reserves, moving away from a profit-based model means the co-op can stay affordable. “That’s a huge piece, not extracting the profit,” says Henkel-Rieger.
The co-op is also built on a community land trust, an increasingly popular affordable housing tool. Co-op residents own the unit but not the land, which is protected from market pressures.
Once they bought the property, SEC4CD met with residents to explain the changes. A key point was to reassure everyone that they could continue renting their units whether they opted
Years of alleged gallivanting among the D.C. elite finally caught up with U.S. Rep. Mark Green, whose divorce details became very public last week when his wife Camilla contacted Green’s congressional colleagues. Green, a Clarksville Republican currently running for a fourth term in the House of Representatives, reportedly began an extramarital affair with a woman 27 years his junior after taking up his post representing Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District. Camilla referred to the younger woman as a “predator” and described Green as a corrupted hypocrite who hosted Bible studies while joining colleagues in a culture of drinking, partying and adultery.
into the co-op or not. If these renters ever move, the unit will go on the market as part of the co-op — but it will be open only to people making 50 percent AMI or below.
The resident response was “surprisingly enthusiastic,” Overton says. “I thought we would get a lot of questions or concerns.”
“They were receptive and enthusiastic because we were clear with them that they would not be displaced,” Bell adds.
SEC4CD is also partnering with Free Hearts, a nonprofit helping formerly incarcerated women and girls. Formerly incarcerated people often struggle to find stable housing, and Free Hearts will work with SEC4CD to help identify formerly incarcerated women who qualify for the co-op and walk them through the application process.
One of the main hurdles co-op creators face is simply lack of understanding from the public. “It’s not easy to wrap your head around, because there are a lot of components to it,” says Bell.
Leaders hope The Cottages at Drakes Creek will show Nashville that the model can work overall. In turn, that will help SEC4CD facilitate more coops. It’s currently working to educate religious organizations about how they could donate excess land to build more housing. “We hope that this pilot will demonstrate to those groups that this is a viable option for them,” says Overton.
In the meantime, Bell says this is a great chance for Nashville leaders to show cost-burdened residents that they care.
“This is a novel initiative for the city, and we have just jumped right in,” she says. “I see this as a wonderful opportunity for Metro government to send that message to residents — that we see you, we hear you, we want to retain you in the city.” ▼
Residents at Old Tent City, Nashville’s largest and oldest homeless encampment near downtown, were put on sudden notice earlier this month by city and state officials seeking to clear a portion of the camp. City employees clarified that six structures — including a two-story home built out of salvaged plywood under I-24 — had been slated for demolition. Mayor Freddie O’Connell told media that the city sought to clear the makeshift homes, which were out of compliance with Metro’s building code out of a concern for residents’ personal safety. The state says Metro police initiated the clearance with the Tennessee Department of Transportation weeks ago after identifying the site as a danger to the community. Old Tent City provides living space for an estimated 100 residents across 20 acres of land between Hermitage Avenue and the Cumberland River.
Funding provided by ESSER, the federal COVID-19 relief program for schools, is set to expire Sept. 30. Davidson County received $450 million over three funding waves, spreading the money across schools for a variety of programs, including summer education and tutoring. The substantial federal funding helped Metro Nashville Public Schools facilitate its transition of fifth grade back into elementary schools, helped put nurses in every school building and funded more mental health counselors, restorative practice assistants and social workers since the start of the pandemic.
PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND
ROSEMARIE HENKEL-RIEGER AND CARLINA BELL AT THE COTTAGES AT DRAKES CREEK
NASHVILLE SCENE PODCAST
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UNBANNABLE LIBRARY SHOWCASES COMMUNITY REACTIONS
TO BOOK CENSORSHIP
Paul Collins’ community art project uses ‘big, goofy, joy-filled books’ as a reaction to book challenges across the state BY
KELSEY BEYELER
LOCAL ARTIST and Austin Peay State University professor Paul Collins wants to make books that are “too big to ban” — and he’s doing exactly that through a public art project he calls the Unbannable Library.
Drawing from a medium he previously developed to display his work, Collins has distributed giant homemade books to roughly 20 teams of artists and writers to fill with their responses to book censorship. Coinciding with the national Banned Books Week (Sept. 22-28), the results will be peppered throughout libraries across Middle Tennessee in the coming weeks before culminating in a joint exposition at the Southern Festival of Books on Oct. 26 and 27 — the same place Collins exhibited his big books last year, and where he got the idea for this project.
In recent years, the Tennessee General Assembly’s Republican supermajority has passed a slate of bills that censor what can be taught to students in K-12 schools and which books schools have access to. The legislation and a handful of conservative groups have ignited hundreds of book challenges across the state — many of which highlight the experiences of LGBTQ characters and people of color. Though not all of the challenges lead to book bans, some materials have indeed been removed from school libraries or school curricula. Other complaints have made it harder to get certain books in some Tennessee public libraries, though the phenomenon has mostly been avoided in Metro Nashville Public Schools and public libraries.
Collins sees book bans as more than just a response to mature words in texts, but as a way for those in power to suppress the experiences
“That’s a problem for me — who’s trying to encourage my students to trust their life experiences
and to make art based on it,” says Collins, who teaches in APSU’s Department of Art and Design. Collins’ big books range in size from around the height of a bedside table to a whopping 6-and-a-half feet. They’re made using a variety of materials such as bamboo reed fencing, muslin, chicken wire and more. They feature page-like canvases that people are encouraged to interact with by turning.
The books will be filled with a range of art and text inspired by banned books. References include everything from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass toMaia Kobabe’s Gender Queer, Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and more — including original works by the local artists involved with the project. When the Scene makes a recent visit to Collins’ studio to discuss the Unbannable Library, local artist and poet Christine Hall is there working with Collins, sewing strawberries for a giant book inspired by a poem she wrote when she was 15.
The Scene also discussed the project with poet Ciona Rouse and artist Karen Seapker, who are creating a big book inspired by Toni Morrison’s Sula. That one will appear at the upcoming event Artville (Sept. 27-29 in Wedgewood-Houston) before landing at the Southern Festival of Books. Seapker calls the project “a really creative and playful way at addressing something that is actually very dangerous and damaging.”
“Our liberation is directly tied to being able to have access to each other’s voices — to debate it, to disagree, to allow it to move us and change us,” says Rouse, who also hosts a regular banned-book club with Aria Cavaliere at The Blue Room at Third Man Records.
Tennessee State University assistant professor in art education Mike Mitchell is leading a handful of students in filling their own book through
his Art and Social Practice class. Not only will the students fill the book with their own contributions, but they are also inviting other students and artists to fill it. Mitchell says he hopes to counter the restrictive nature of book bans with a sense of openness for the project.
A similar topic comes up in conversations with both the TSU students and Rouse and Seapker — this country’s history of limiting (and even at times criminalizing) Black people’s access to books and literacy as a form of suppression. Tanyah Lowery says that as a student attending a historically Black university, joining the project and learning about censorship feels particularly important. Likewise, classmate Ramaya Lee-Mosely discusses pushing past feelings of nervousness to speak up on the topic in order to inspire others.
As book censorship fosters a culture of fear and hesitancy among librarians who could face legal ramifications for doing their job — or frustration for those seeing books they love being restricted — it has also sparked civic engagement. From people seeking out banned books and creating book clubs, to others protesting book censorship and initiating community art projects, the restrictive climate has generated renewed energy around challenged texts, and the Unbannable Library seeks to harness that momentum.
Collins says he hopes his project will get more people into libraries to play around with these “big, goofy, joy-filled books.” ▼
PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND
PAUL COLLINS
USN PLANS DAMAGE CONTROL AFTER TEACHER INVESTIGATION
Administrator shares firsthand account of sexual misconduct investigation, students circulate petition, and prep school convenes task force
BY ELI MOTYCKA
FRUSTRATION AND disappointment continue to build among students, parents, faculty and alumni at University School of Nashville following administrators’ handling of alleged sexual misconduct by English teacher Dean Masullo. The school dismissed Masullo over the summer after an internal investigation. Fallout continues, specifically related to the administration’s perceived lack of communication with parents and students.
In late August, Alex Little — the student’s attorney — sent a letter to the private school’s board of trustees asking USN to clarify the investigation into Masullo and apologize for dismissing the student’s requests for better communication. Connor Daryani first reported on this letter for the Nashville Banner
Many parents and students swapped rumors about Masullo’s abrupt absence. Little’s letter set off a flurry of correspondence, a student petition, text threads between parents, angry emails, public criticism and private calls for top administrators to immediately step down.
In a letter dated Sept. 9, 20 faculty members wrote to the school’s board of trustees criticizing director Amani Reed and top administrator Quinton Walker for prioritizing the school’s reputation and legal considerations over the concerns of the affected student. The same day, Jeff Edmonds — listed as USN’s assistant head of high school for academic affairs — described his experience accompanying the student through weeks of conversations during which attorneys retained by the school replaced administrators and communication gradually cooled, then ceased.
“Any mistakes or poor judgment reflected in what I saw came from human beings struggling to do their best in a vulnerable and risky situation,” Edmonds writes in his preface. “In my opinion the school acted mostly out of fear,
which is understandable if not admirable.”
Edmonds shares that the student and her peers were frequently in the dark about the school’s investigation into Masullo. He writes that Walker, USN’s assistant head of school, was initially sympathetic to Masullo, defended Masullo’s behavior and implied that the student had brought sexual misconduct accusations for financial gain.
Through a spokesperson, the school says it “disputes some of the statements” in Edmonds’ letter, which spans 10 pages. Juanita Traughber, USN’s director of communications and marketing, warned the Scene against publishing Edmonds’ letter, stating that “USN will have no choice but to seek any and all legal remedies available, including an injunction against your publication.”
More than 500 students have signed a petition supporting the faculty response and urging the school to hire a third-party investigator to “restore the faith of the community in USN.”
Eric Kopstain, president of the USN Board of Trustees, announced Friday afternoon that the school would convene a new task force, engage additional legal counsel and contact Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk to conduct separate reviews of different aspects of the situation.
“We apologize that our prior communications have disappointed so many of you,” reads Kopstain’s letter, in part. “We regret that our communications and actions have not adequately addressed your concerns. We seek to continue to listen and take to heart any and all feedback. We will keep you informed about this work when we have new facts to share, hold forums for conversations, and report recommendations to the USN community.”
Disclosure: Motycka is a 2013 graduate of University School of Nashville. ▼
PHOTO: ELI MOTYCKA
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE
Fall Guide
María
Magdalena Campos-Pons’ Behold tops our list of the season’s most exciting art, music, book, theater and film events
WAYS OF SEEING
Catching up with Nashville’s María Magdalena Campos-Pons ahead of her exhibition at the Frist
BY LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
WHEN YOU TALK with María Magdalena Campos-Pons, it’s easy to get carried away. On a recent Tuesday afternoon at her studio on the Vanderbilt University campus, the artist padded across a makeshift flat file — layers of workson-paper she covered with cardboard and yoga mats on the floor — in slippers she picked up from a recent stay at an Italian hotel. She beams with what seems like a real sense of wonder, holding a staff made from dried sunflowers affixed to a stick with black gaffer tape.
“I’m realizing that I’ve got an American Gothic look here,” she jokes before placing the staff carefully back in its place among various handmade paint brushes. Campos-Pons explains that the staff is actually a kind of broom she recently made for a performance, something like a sweeping ritual, and then speaks of how powerful the act of cleaning a space can be.
“I’m interested in the idea of labor as a beautifying process,” she says, explaining that this was the way she grew up, raised by workers at a former sugar plantation in Cuba. “That’s my personal history — how much beauty was surrounding me in places of scarcity.”
It’s hard to make small talk when approached with such direct tenderness.
María Magdalena Campos-Pons — Magda to her friends — is the subject of what might be the most important exhibition of work by a Nashville-based artist in recent history. Behold, which opens at the Frist Art Museum on Sept. 27, spans nearly 40 years of the artist’s work and includes photos, multimedia installations, video art, painting and performance. It’s her first multimedia museum survey since 2007, but more importantly — for Nashville at least — it’s the first career-spanning survey of the artist’s work since she became a Nashville resident in 2017.
Among the most magnificent pieces in the show are recent works that Campos-Pons made in the seven years she’s lived here. But to fully appreciate the stories those works tell, you must first get familiar with her artistic lineage.
In many ways, Campos-Pons’ installation
Spoken Softly With Mama is the artist’s masterpiece, and it returns to Nashville after a 2011 exhibition that was also at the Frist. But a more straightforward starting point into the artist’s world is a 24-by-20-inch Polaroid Polacolor Pro photograph from 1999. Like Spoken Softly, the ultra-large Polaroid was made in the late 1990s, about a decade after she first arrived in the U.S. Both works also foreshadow ideas that Campos-Pons would return to throughout her career.
The Polaroid is called “The Right Protection,” and it shows the artist from the back — from the nape of her neck to the base of her spine. Her bare skin is covered in dozens of drawn-on eyes. She explains that in this piece, she was investigating sight. Or rather, “seeing beyond the sight
of the eyes — sensorial seeing, perceptual and seeing with the body itself.”
A companion piece — also from 1999, also called “The Right Protection” — further explores Campos-Pons’ practice as a curious instigator. It is a lithograph of the Polaroid, but instead of painting the eyes onto the paper’s surface, the artist made the paper itself, painting the pulp directly into the paper. That way, the artist explains, the “eyes are merging as the paper is being dried,” she says. “I painted it with colored pulp, in a way.”
The lithograph, which is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, shows one of Campos-Pons’ greatest strengths. She is able to translate ideas in different mediums and through different methods — in this case both photography and printmaking.
The eyes return in pieces that the artist made while living in Nashville, and if you look closely you’ll find eyes emphasized or drawn into many of Campos-Pons’ works. The 2020 ink-and-watercolor painting “Miasma #7” was made during the long days of the early pandemic when Campos-Pons was working from home, set up at her kitchen table. The pieces from this time period reflect the stunted way we all processed the world — instead of her body, it looks more like a global map, a battleground, an oil spill, a broken mirror. In an attempt to include examples from all of Campos-Pons’ expansive output, Behold is divided into sections based on theme rather than chronology and medium. Each section works like its own mini exhibition — “History of a People Who Were Not Heroes” features three powerful installations, including Spoken Softly With Mama, and “Process and Performance” addresses the artist’s continuing use of her own presence as a conduit for ideas. The show opened in September 2023 at the Brooklyn Museum — less than a month before the artist received a prestigious
María Magdalena Campos-Pons: Behold Sept. 27-Jan. 5 at the Frist Art Museum
A Mother’s Rivers of Tears performance
6:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 26, at the Frist
María Magdalena Campos-Pons in conversation with Carmen Hermo and Katie Delmez Noon-1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27, at the Frist
MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship — and will travel to the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center in L.A. after it leaves Nashville.
There’s one series in particular that will perhaps resonate with her Nashville audiences more than their New York or Los Angeles counterparts. Secrets of the Magnolia Tree is Campos-Pons’ series of massive mixed-media works that monumentalize the artist and her friends as anthropomorphized owls. These 132-by-90inch multipanel works read like photographs that have been painted on top and alongside of, but of course there is much more to them than that. The titular magnolia tree is a relatively new item that Campos-Pons has begun to incorporate into her work. It began when she moved to Nashville to work as the Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Art at Vanderbilt University. The university grounds are located on an arboretum, to which she attributes this recurring symbol of the magnolia — a symbol that seems to haunt her recent work.
“What I saw was not only the beauty of the nature here,” she explains, “but walking in Vanderbilt’s arboretum — and having the privilege to explore and be in the company of the magnolia — was for me a way to think about the complex history of the South. I am an Afro-Cuban woman, a melanated person, and the relationship between Black people in the South and the landscape is a complex one. So to reconcile my celebration of the beauty of the tree — which I do, I cannot help it — I need to … engage myself in the reverie of this location.”
To imagine herself as an owl is a way to appreciate the Southern landscape — and especially its trees — with the necessary detachment from the horror of its history. Once you’ve detached from that, Campos-Pons explains, you cannot help but revel in the beauty of the world. As she speaks of the owl, she continues to work in her studio. She never seems to stop
working, and she speaks in what seem like carefully parsed fragments of off-the-cuff poetry: “It was a complex history, but — however, however, however — look at what has come out of it. How much beauty!”
She picks up a small brush and dabs at a bit of white paint. At the moment, she’s painting on a large-scale photo of a cracked cement wall that she took on a recent visit to her hometown of Matanzas, Cuba. She’s attentively tracing lines around the cracks in the gray cement, working slowly and deliberately in a kind of Japanese wabi-sabi. She is working to empha-
size the crack, and in the process she will beautify its presence instead of erasing it.
The exhibition title is fitting for an artist like Campos-Pons, who takes the smallest things — like looking, seeing and being seen — and turns them into universally relevant points of interest simply through her careful appreciation. “What is it to behold?” I ask her. What is it about witnessing that is so important?
“We are voyeurs of our times,” she says simply, not looking up from her painting. “Everyone is a participant in the narration of time.”
“No one is excluded.” ▼
PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO
Visual Art ↗ Fall Guide
Must-see museum and gallery shows for Nashville’s most plentiful art season
BY JOE NOLAN
FALL IS THE BEST season for gallerygoing, and Nashville’s autumnal offerings include a varied seasonal selection of everything from animation and video art to oil painting and poetry. There’s lots of good work organized by local artist-curators coming in the next few months, and those are the folks to watch as we look ahead to a new calendar year. Artist-led projects do a lot of heavy lifting this fall, and there are also several noteworthy shows at local institutions like the Frist.
MUSEUMS AND UNIVERSITIES
JOURNEY THROUGH JAPAN: MYTHS TO MANGA Oct. 25-Feb. 16 at the Frist Art Museum, 919 Broadway
Journey Through Japan celebrates the exceptional culture of the Land of the Rising Sun in a wide-ranging display of more than 150 objects at the Frist this fall. The exhibition spotlights the art of origami, Japan’s storied masters of ukiyo-e woodblock printing, robot technology, animated film and even colorful youth fashion. Is there another culture that’s transformed the everyday into art like Japan has? This exhibition is my top pick for family art outings this season.
GLOSS: A MEASURED RESPONSE TO RECENT VIDEO ART
Through Dec. 8 at Vanderbilt University Museum of Art, 1220 21st Ave. S. Vanderbilt University’s Museum of Art hosts a major new video art exhibition organized by VUMA curator Rachel P. Kreiter this fall. Gloss: A Measured Response to Recent Video Art includes 10 video works made in the past decade by a roster of international and U.S.-based artists celebrated for their time-based contributions at the frontiers of new media. Kreiter’s narrative display tells a story about aesthetics and how the grit and grain of early video art experiments gave way to the shimmering surfaces at the forefront of today’s video art vanguard.
SOLAR WIND
Through Sept. 30 at Lipscomb’s John C. Hutcheson Gallery, 1 University Park Drive
Solar Wind is an exhibition of art and writing that explores the relationships between contemporary culture and the planet. The show features work from 21 artists and writers, and includes painting, sculpture, video installation, printmaking and poetry. The works combine to create a broad conversation about the nuances of our global condition. The most provocative questions in the show address the consequences of human “un-wilding,” and the exhibition boasts work by noted Nashville artists like Caroline Allison, Mandy Rogers Horton and Billy Renkl, as well as exhibition curator Georganna Greene.
NIEKO MCDANIEL: WHAT’S AROUND, FOUND & SCROUNGED
Sept. 23-Oct. 17 at TSU’s Hiram Van Gordon Gallery, 1108 37th Ave. N.
Nieko McDaniel’s What’s Around, Found & Scrounged wins my award for best exhibition title this season. McDaniel’s imaginative street-inspired world-building art conveys utopian signs and signifiers, pointing to a fantastic graffiti-covered kingdom inspired by the ancient street writing frozen in time in Pompeii. McDaniel’s work is one part spray paint and one part hip-hop, and it would look great in a video game. The artist’s common materials and cartoon colors are broadly appealing. But for all of Daniel’s figurative work, the installation feels buoyant and unmoored by predictable narratives. This is a groovy show with some heavy vibes and some light ones, and an up-to-theminute contemporary focus on form.
GALLERIES
EVE MARET: SPACE NOODLES
Sept. 22-Nov. 17 at Random Sample, 407 48th Ave. N.
Local composer and synth maestra Eve Maret has made a home for her live ambient music performances at Random Sample. The gallery/shop/music venue is one of the only Nashville art spots regularly bringing music to its space. But Maret is leaving her keys, knobs and buttons at home this fall, and bringing a new exhibition of works-on-paper to the West Nashville gallery. Space Noodles is an art therapy diary consisting of a number of abstract forms and designs Maret created during a recent period of spiritual introspection. A friend of Maret’s gave her the paper and acrylic paint pens she deploys here, and her drawings speak to the larger creative project of communities supporting one another in our mental health and conscious evolution.
NORTH NASHVILLE CULTURE CRAWL
Oct. 18-20
I love a summer festival as much as the next guy, but Nashville’s summer weather can make any day outdoors an endurance challenge. Sign me up for fun fall art festivals like the North Nashville Culture Crawl, which finds some of Norf’s usual suspects organizing a whole weekend full of creative fun and events. The crawl highlights the artists and creative venues that make the neighborhood a pillar of Nashville’s contemporary art community. The festival is hosted by the North Nashville Arts Coalition, and the three-day event will feature more than 30 locations and activations that include food, live music and dance performances, creative classes and activities. And don’t miss Renaissance: The Rebirth of North Nashville, curated by Evan Roosevelt Brown for Elephant Gallery.
MARGARET THOMPSON: SKY MIRROR
Dec. 7-Jan. 18 at Red Arrow, 919 Gallatin Ave.
Margaret Thompson is a painter based in Santa Fe, N.M. Red Arrow has included Thomp -
son’s work in a few group shows, including its recent Nashville Hot Summer display at The Arcade. Thompson unveils her first solo exhibition at Red Arrow’s East Nashville gallery space this fall, and the artist’s moody palettes, mysterious symbols and dense narrative scenes are a
perfect match for a season of short days, long nights and naughty and nice tricks and treats of all kinds. Thompson’s oil-painting display includes figurative narratives, cosmic abstractions and fantastical landscapes in an overdue introduction to Nashville’s art scene. ▼
Film ↗ Fall Guide
WHAT TO CATCH AT THE NASHVILLE FILM FESTIVAL
A busy fall film season kicks o with the 55th annual NaFF. Here are our critics’ 16 picks from this year’s fest.
BY SCENE STAFF AND CONTRIBUTORS
AUTUMN AT THE MOVIES promises a little something for all audiences.
Vanderbilt University’s free ongoing International Lens series at Sarratt Cinema features a wide array of films, from sobering documentary A Decent Home (showing Oct. 3) to a special pre-release screening of A24’s On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (Nov. 14) and Denis Villeneuve’s astonishing Blade Runner 2049 (Dec. 5). The 19th annual International Black Film Festival is set to take place Oct. 2 through 6 and feature a number of promising titles — particularly in the Long Documentary category, which will include Emmett Till: White Lies, Black Death and Betye Saar: Ready to be a Warrior, among several others. Meanwhile, a number of limited and wide releases are set for the Belcourt Theatre as well as the area’s AMC and Regal locations. Francis Ford Coppola’s long-awaited epic Megalopolis will land Sept. 26, with anticipated titles A Different Man and Joker: Folie à Deux coming in October. Before all that, however, the 55th annual Nashville Film Festival will take over the Belcourt, Regal Green Hills, The Franklin Theatre and elsewhere. Taking place Sept. 19 through 25, the fest will feature nearly 50 feature-length films and a slew of panels, short films, music videos and more.
Ahead of the fest, our film writers cued up a number of this year’s selections. Below, read our 16 picks for what to check out at this year’s Nashville Film Festival.
DEVO
Few bands lend themselves to the documentary form like Devo, the abrasive performance-art outfit with a radical worldview that evolved — or perhaps devolved — into one of the most pioneering acts of the video era. Devo charts the band’s singular genesis from an idea into a full-blown movement, born from the political maelstrom of Kent State during the Vietnam War, synthesizing the thumb-nosing absurdity of Dada-ism and pop art with the oxidized decay of the Midwest. Though the documentary’s format is a little straightforward for a band that was so consistently out-of-the-box, Devo features a wealth of archival footage, from the band’s proto-punk performances for befuddled audiences in Ohio to the radical video art that put them on the map of an early MTV. 3:30 p.m. Sept. 19 at the Belcourt NADINE SMITH
A MAN CALLED HURT: THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT
Jamison Stalsworth and Alex Oliver’s blues documentary A Man Called Hurt: The Life and Music of Mississippi John Hurt doesn’t revolutionize the music-doc genre. But over the course of little more than one hour, the filmmakers manage to illuminate the life and especially the music of a blues pioneer whose guitar style continues to influence pickers the world over. The film tells of the shy, smiling John Hurt’s early life in Mississippi, where the singer was born just two generations out of slavery. The bluesman cut his first recordings before the Depression, but talking heads like singer-songwriter John Sebastian help flesh out Hurt’s rediscovery by Greenwich Village folkies in the 1960s. The directors mostly spare viewers new interpretations of the music from contemporary artists, and the film is at its best when it dives into the technical elements and mysterious roots of Hurt’s ebul-
lient fingerpicking. This one is a must-see for Nashville guitar slingers at this year’s fest. 3:30 p.m. Sept. 20 at Regal Green Hills Theater 16; 9 p.m. Sept. 24 at The Franklin Theatre JOE NOLAN
THE DAY THE MUSIC STOPPED
Documenting the long-mounting battle between independent music venues and big corporate interests like Live Nation, The Day the Music Stopped focuses on longtime Nashville show space Exit/In in particular. The feature-length doc includes interviews with former Exit owner Chris Cobb, former Metro Councilmember Jeff Syracuse, former Nashville Mayor John Cooper and a host of artists — not to mention performances from the likes of Alanna Royale, JEFF the Brotherhood and more, plus some especially moving footage of scatologically named posi-punks Diarrhea Planet’s performance at Cobb and company’s run of farewell shows in 2022. The film, directed by Patrick Sheehan and produced by beloved local journalist and broadcaster Demetria Kalodimos (who also provides much of the documentary’s context), feels a bit like a time capsule, running through the multitude of hardships and complications that befell Nashville over the past half-decade — from COVID, the March 2020 tornado and the Christmas Day 2020 bombing to Music City’s rampant development boom. 6 p.m. Sept. 20 at Regal Green Hills Theater 3
D. PATRICK RODGERS
SONGS FROM THE HOLE
Contessa Gayles’ Songs From the Hole tells the story of James Jacobs, who served decades in prison after shooting and killing another teen in cold blood when he was only 15 years old. The film — which Jacobs co-wrote — follows Jacobs and his family through the years of his incarceration, when the young man began writing
songs to help him maintain his sanity in the crushing isolation of solitary confinement. Songs From the Hole struggles to connect Jacobs’ story to larger social justice narratives, but its portrait of Jacobs and his family is revealing. The real stars here are Gayles and her editing team, who deploy creative re-enactments, reverse footage and inventive cutting to match the beats and lyrics Jacobs wrote in his cell. The result is far more visually poetic and formally experimental than most documentaries of its kind. It reads like a long experimental music video, bringing a fresh look to a tragically all-too-familiar story. 6:30 p.m. Sept. 20 at Regal Green Hills Theater 15 JOE NOLAN
WE CAN BE HEROES
Live-action role players of all ages will most likely get a kick out of this coming-of-age doc, which won the Special Jury Award for Empathy and Bravery at this year’s SXSW. Directors Carina Mia Wong and Alex Simmons get into fantastical-filmmaking mode as they follow the boys, girls and nonbinary kids who attend a live-action role-playing summer camp in upstate New York. It’s an eye-opening mix of fantasy and reality, as these youngsters turn into mythical, larger-than-life warriors in the blink of an eye, briefly escaping the mental, physical and personal obstacles they regularly face in real life. 1:30 p.m. Sept. 21 at Regal Green Hills Theater 3 CRAIG D. LINDSEY
SWAMP DOGG GETS HIS POOL PAINTED
For more than a half-century, the prolific soul man known as Swamp Dogg has paved his own lane, occupying almost every position imaginable in the music industry. From songwriting workhorse to self-taught record mogul, Swamp Dogg has done it all on his own terms, mixing blues and country with a bawdy sense of humor and clear-eyed political consciousness. You can’t pin the man down: He scored hits for Johnny Paycheck and Tracy Byrd, but he’s also worked with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and even managed a young Dr. Dre; he’s experimented with Auto-Tune, but he’s also dabbled in old-time string music. The new documentary Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted is a fittingly eccentric portrait of an artist who gladly draws outside the lines, blending stories from the Dogg himself and longtime bandmates with whimsical sound design and psychedelic animated interludes. 4 p.m. Sept. 21 at Regal Green Hills Theater 2 NADINE SMITH
JAZZY
The 55th annual Nashville Film Festival Sept. 19-25 at the Belcourt, Regal Green Hills, The Franklin Theatre and more
Somehow both languid and fleeting, Morrisa Maltz’s South Dakota-set coming-of-age tale Jazzy floats by dreamily, riffing on the filmmaking of early Sofia Coppola and Barry Jenkins but with a style all Maltz’s own. Jazzy, the director’s second narrative feature film following 2022’s Lily Gladstone-starring The Unknown Country, centers on Jasmine Bearkiller Shangreaux’s Jazzy during an always difficult moment in the life of an impressionable kid: the untethered period
SONGS FROM THE HOLE
NOVEMBER 14
DARYL HALL WITH
NOVEMBER 17
CHELSEA
JANUARY
FEBRUARY 24
FEBRUARY 28
ZACH
Film ↗ Fall Guide
when your best friend moves away. Gladstone, on board as an executive producer alongside the Duplass brothers, teams up once again with Maltz for a brief but important supporting role. 5:30 p.m. Sept. 21 at Regal Green Hills Theater 1 LOGAN BUTTS
BOB TREVINO LIKES IT
Bob Trevino Likes It is a heartwarming movie about what it’s like to have the worst father in the world — and that’s not an exaggeration. The film follows Barbie Ferreira as Lily Trevino, a 20-something traumatized by an estranged father who accidentally befriends a stranger on the internet (John Leguizamo) with the same name as her deadbeat dad. The semi-autobiographical film is from writer and director Tracie Laymon, and festivalgoers be warned: It’s a tearjerker. Beautifully written and full of fantastic performances, Bob Trevino Likes It will go down in history with feel-it-all comedy-dramas like Little Miss Sunshine. If you’re in therapy, you should probably see this movie; it’ll probably make you want to go for an extra session afterward. 6:30 p.m. Sept. 21 at Regal Green Hills Theater 16 HANNAH CRON
MY OLD ASS
After dealing with the painful subject of school shootings in her 2021 feature debut The Fallout, actress-turned-director Megan Park goes for more lighthearted (but still sentimental) fare with her sophomore flick. Nashville alumna Maisy Stella stars as a teen who spends her 18th birthday drinking some shroom-infused tea with friends and getting a sobering visit from her middle-aged self (Aubrey Plaza). Does any of this make a lick of sense? Hell no. But this will certainly delight those who’ve always wanted to go back in time and tell their younger selves to lighten the fuck up. 8 p.m. Sept. 21 at Soho House CRAIG D. LINDSEY
ANY OTHER WAY: THE JACKIE SHANE STORY
One of the myriad treasures in Nashville’s Music City crown was the late, great Jackie Shane — R&B musician and soul singer, bandleader, fashion plate, pangender icon and dynamic performer. Shane packed in audiences internationally before returning back home to Nashville to care for family and conceal a burning spotlight of a gift underneath a bushel. Directors Lucah Rosenberg-Lee and Michael Mabbott don’t just give a diva her flowers — they help chart a whole other history of Nashville music, as well as depict a family in the process of fixing several decades’ worth of fragmentation. The music is flawless, to the surprise of no one who’s heard the live record of Shane onstage, but Any Other Way lets Jackie — the woman and the icon — live in her own words: sweet and sassy, with a Little Richard wig anecdote that’ll blow the roof off the theater. Essential viewing for everyone. 1 p.m. Sept. 22 at Regal Green Hills Theater 2 JASON SHAWHAN
DRIVER
Nesa Azimi’s Driver depicts the struggles and sacrifices undertaken by some of the country’s most underappreciated workers: female truck drivers. The film follows Desiree Wood and the members of her organization Real Women in Trucking as they fight day-to-day setbacks and an industry that fails to protect its workers from harassment and abuse. This is what America looks like to many — open roads, truckstop towns, small paychecks and large workloads. Every woman in the film is someone you know, and their support for one another carries their story through every hope and every heartbreak. It’s a necessary and thought-provoking piece about the injustices many try to make invisible and the importance of listening to those who have been silenced by systems we are all complicit in. 3:30 p.m. Sept. 22 at Regal Green Hills Theater 15 HANNAH CRON
TO A LAND UNKNOWN
An unexpected heart-pumping thriller, narrative feature To a Land Unknown tells the story of a Palestinian refugee struggling to make it and
for a better tomorrow. 7:30 p.m. Sept. 22 at Regal Green Hills Theater 3 CRAIG D. LINDSEY
UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE
Part absurdist comedy, part surreal drama, Universal Language takes place in the city of Winnipeg — where everyone is now a Farsi speaker, and everything is influenced by Iranian culture. The plot follows several characters and plot lines including but not limited to frozen money, beauty-pageant-winning turkeys and Tim Hortons. It’s a wacky and sometimes confusing picture that has a distinctly Canadian sense of humor — one that might be lost on an American audience. But it’s a great pick for any fan of oddball movies or anyone who needs a break from the Hollywood machine. 7:30 p.m. Sept. 23 at Regal Green Hills Theater 15 KEN ARNOLD
SUPERBOYS OF MALEGAON
Whether you’re a fan of Hollywood or Bollywood, it’s unlikely you’ve heard the incredible real-life story of Nasir Shaikh, who once was an amateur filmmaker in the Indian town of Malegaon. Along with his buddies, he made low-budget, community-sourced comedies and dramas (and, of course, superhero movies) for his hometown to enjoy. It’s an endearing story, and in director Reema Kagti’s accomplished hands, Superboys of Malegaon is a hilarious and touching look back at a small-town hero who brought the kind of hope and joy only cinema can. If it doesn’t inspire you to pick up a camera or make your wildest dreams come true, it hasn’t done its job. 11 a.m. Sept. 25 at the Belcourt SADAF AHSAN
MUSIC VIDEO PROGRAMMING
provide for his family in Athens. But one day, after being ripped off by a smuggler, he sets off on a dangerous journey of revenge. He pivots from the emotional strife of living on the fringes to having to act in the moment and do what’s necessary to stay alive — and Mahmood Bakri’s lead performance is staggering. At a time when it’s very needed, To a Land Unknown zooms in on the plight and trauma of Palestinian displacement in a way you won’t be able to forget. 6 p.m. Sept. 22 at Regal Green Hills Theater 15 SADAF AHSAN
THE BLACK SEA
In this improvised dramedy, co-director Derrick B. Harden is a streetwise Brooklynite who comes to Bulgaria to spend some “adult time” with an old lady he met on Facebook. When he gets there and learns the woman is dead, the stranded tourist finds ways to make a buck, including starting up a cafe outside the office of a friendly travel agent (Irmena Chichikova). While clumsy in places, this movie does put you in the shoes of a foreigner who comes to a country with nothing except drive, ambition and hope
There are many interpretations of what a music video should be, but some of the best are veritable short films with stories that work even with the music removed. This year’s fest pairs many of its most anticipated releases with music videos that complement their themes, ranging from popular favorites to rare live recordings. Chappell Roan’s “Casual” (showing 5 p.m. Sept. 22 at Regal Green Hills Theater 16), directed by Hadley Hillel, is a fantastical cinematic treat in which Roan falls into the snare of a man-killing siren. Carrie Brownstein directs Succession’s J. Smith Cameron in the video for Sleater-Kinney’s “Say It Like You Mean It” (6:30 p.m. at Regal Green Hills Theater 16), portraying a darkly burning narrative in stunning black-and-white. Psychedelic global music trio Khruangbin’s “A Love International” (available to stream online) captures the beauty of imagination and love across generations with direction from Scott Dungate. Director Reece Daniels takes “playful” to a new level in Jordan Webb’s Monopoly-inspired “Pass Go” (7:30 p.m. Sept. 22 at Regal Green Hills Theater 3), while another selection sees Nashville Ballet interpret Chet Atkins’ “Jitterbug Waltz” (3:30 p.m. Sept. 20 at Regal Green Hills Theater 16 and 9 p.m. Sept. 24 at The Franklin Theatre). Be sure to arrive early to your NaFF feature-length screenings to see these music videos and more. HANNAH CRON ▼
ANY OTHER WAY: THE JACKIE SHANE STORY
BOB TREVINO LIKES IT
Friday, September 27, 7 PM – 10 PM
Learn about your favorite cocktail, mocktail, and spirit with a splash of science. Unlimited* samples.
*Please drink responsibly.
Books ↗ Fall Guide
TALKING THIS IS HOW A ROBIN DRINKS WITH AUTHOR
JOANNA BRICHETTO
The Tennessee naturalist’s debut book about urban nature is out Sept. 24
BY KIM BALDWIN
JOANNA BRICHETTO IS a certified Tennessee naturalist. She is also a blogger, a native plant evangelist, a defender of hackberry trees and much more. In her debut book This Is How a Robin Drinks: Essays on Urban Nature, Brichetto invites us to notice and celebrate the nature around us through 53 lyrical essays. The Scene recently spoke with her about her book, Nashville’s literary ecosystem and how she became a naturalist.
You call yourself a “late-blooming naturalist.” What made you take the leap to becoming a certified Tennessee naturalist? I grew up near the Smokies. It was nature all day, every day. I heard about this certification program at Tremont in the Smokies, and for years, that was my big dream. Then I heard about the Tennessee Naturalist Program at Owl’s Hill Nature Sanctuary, and that’s when everything changed. I was in the second class and got my certification in 2012.
I feel like I’ve been a naturalist most of my life, but it didn’t really get serious until I was part of a community where everybody from all these different backgrounds were also interested in frog spawn, picking seeds out of scat and learning about butterfly host plants.
In the title essay, you mention that you’d learned overnight that we had set a new record for the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. You take your son to school and then sit outside crying as you watch a robin drink. Can you say more about that morning and that essay? That was the Pulse nightclub shooting. It was that far back, and it was the usual reaction: stunned, numb. But I have to keep going with everyday life, even though this is continuing to happen all around me. The contrast between taking my little boy to school and then going to such lengths to provide food or water for these wild birds in my driveway, the contrast was heartbreaking. How does having a chronic illness affect the way you interact with nature? Oh my gosh, it’s massive. When I got certified as a natu-
MORE BOOK EVENTS OF NOTE:
Saturday, Sept. 21: Words & Music, in partnership with Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra, at The Porch House, 2811 Dogwood Place.
Sunday, Sept. 22: Porch Writers Live at Babo, 1601A Riverside Drive.
Wednesday, Sept. 25: Andrea Jo DeWerd, author of What We Sacrifice for Magic, at The Bookshop, 1043 W. Eastland Ave.
Sunday, Sept. 29: Lauren Markham, author of A Map of Future Ruins: On Borders and Belonging, in conversation with Becca Andrews, at Novelette Booksellers, 1101 Chapel Ave.
Wednesday, Oct 2: Comedic Writing for Everyday Life with Cortney Warner at The Porch House.
Saturday, Oct 5: Horrigin Stories: the Horror Genre as Memoir with Lori Beerman at The Porch House.
ralist, my big plan was to give back to my community and do the most important work, which to me was helping the field trips for school kids at Warner Park and Owl’s Hill. I realized I couldn’t sign up for stuff and know for sure I’d be able to follow through. I stayed at home and added habitat, which gave me more plants and animals to observe. Little by little, I realized this is nature too. Part of my regimen to get better is taking as many walks as I can manage, no matter how shitty I feel. I usually walk the neighborhood before dawn and at dusk. I love those transitional times. There’s so much going on, like chimney swifts going to bed, and bats coming from bed, and different insects. It’s just heaven. What are small things people can do to make a difference in their relationship to nature? Take the same walk every day, a few days in a row. I’ve noticed that when you repeat the same walk, even if it’s just a walk to your mailbox, you’ll see something different every day. I want everybody to plant a native plant where they can see it all the time, especially if it’s a butterfly host plant. My first one was the Tennessee state wildflower, the purple passion flower. It volunteered in my yard, and now I grow it everywhere because it’s the caterpillar host plant for the gulf fritillary butterfly. There’s a blurb on the cover of your book from author Margaret Renkl. How does it feel to have Margaret’s support? I would say it’s a dream come true, but I didn’t even dream that big. Margaret was actually my editor for one of those essays, way back when she was the editor of Chapter 16. But we never met. I was having a crisis with the publisher and was advised to call her. She’s a friend of the literary ecosystem. I worked up my courage, and I called her. She was so helpful. That’s when she became aware that I was putting a book together and having trouble. Years later, she had me over to look at something in her yard and she asked why my book isn’t a book yet. I explained, and she just said, “OK, we’re gonna do this. We’re gonna have a launch at Parnassus, in conversation with me.” And that was amazing, just amazing. I didn’t know I was gonna have a launch. So it was completely overwhelming. I’m very, very grateful.
Who do you hope reads this book? People who don’t normally read nature writing. I would love that. I would love to draw somebody in who has never heard of Annie Dillard. Someone who just wants to read something fun about Nashville, and then they are totally sucked in, and they’re going to run out and buy native plants so they can support our food web and keep the world from burning quite as fast. ▼
Friday, Oct. 18: Louise Erdrich, author of The Mighty Red, in conversation with Ann Patchett at Montgomery Bell Academy’s Paschall Theater, 4001 Harding Pike.
Thursday, Oct. 24: Erik Larson, author of The Demon of Unrest, at Montgomery Bell Academy’s Paschall Theater.
This Is How a Robin Drinks: Essays on Urban Nature By Joanna Brichetto Available Sept. 24 via Trinity University Press 256 pages, $19.95
Brichetto will discuss This Is How a Robin Drinks with Margaret Renkl 6:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 23, at Parnassus Books
Oct. 26-27: The Southern Festival of Books at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, the Tennessee State Museum and various locations. Visit sofestofbooks.org for details.
Tuesday, Oct. 29: Margaret Renkl, author of Leaf, Cloud, Crow at Parnassus Books, 3900 Hillsboro Pike.
Wednesday, Oct. 30: Barry Sonnenfeld, author of Best Possible Place, Worst Possible Time, in conversation with Peter Kurland at the Nashville Public Library, 615 Church St.
Music ↗ Fall Guide
Our picks for the best concerts and festivals of the season
BY STEPHEN TRAGESER
THIS FALL, the calendars at Nashville venues large and small are overflowing with concerts. Some massive tours that you’re likely aware of are coming through, including Chappell Roan (Oct. 1 at FirstBank Amphitheater), Charli XCX and Troye Sivan (Oct. 2 at Bridgestone Arena), Sabrina Carpenter (Oct. 16 at Bridgestone Arena), Post Malone (Oct. 19 at Nissan Stadium) and Billie Eilish (Nov. 6 at Bridgestone Arena). We’ve rounded up some more that caught our eye, with extra notes on a handful of them.
SEPT. 28-29: PILGRIMAGE MUSIC AND CULTURAL FESTIVAL AT THE PARK AT HARLINSDALE FARM, 239 FRANKLIN ROAD, FRANKLIN
At Pilgrimage, there’s something for most music fans (at least those whose tastes tend toward roots, rock and pop). And with noteworthy sets scattered throughout the day, it’s been one of the more family-friendly fests in our area since 2015. The trend continues this year: Saturday’s lineup includes Celisse, Allison Russell, Willi Carlisle and headliner Dave Matthews Band, while Grace Bowers and the Hodge Podge, Myles Smith, COIN and headliner Noah Kahan are among those on deck for Sunday.
OCT. 11: KYSHONA AT 3RD AND LINDSLEY, 818 THIRD AVE S.
Expert songwriter and phenomenal singer Kyshona explores her family history in depth on her latest LP Legacy. This challenging task was even harder because her ancestors were enslaved people, and a great deal of information was lost or never even collected. The result is a vital, vibrant expression of strength and resilience in a rocking and soulful musical setting. Don’t miss this chance to hear her bring it to life.
OCT. 19-20: DRKMTTR FEST AT DRKMTTR, 1111 DICKERSON PIKE
Since 2015, all-ages space Drkmttr has stepped up in all kinds of ways for Nashville’s music community. This year, the co-founders took a major step and became a federally recognized nonprofit. A wide range of great musicians — from Georgia post-punk aces Pylon Reenactment Society to Nashville guitar wizard William Tyler and beyond — will help them celebrate this achievement and raise funds at the inaugural Drkmttr Fest
OCT. 28: BIGXTHAPLUG AT EASTSIDE BOWL, 1508A GALLATIN PIKE S., MADISON
One of the most fun sets at Bonnaroo this year was from Dallas rapper BigXThaPlug. He’s a master at working the crowd with gestures and expressions, timing his dropping of bars for maximum impact. His flow is reminiscent of Biggie at three-quarter speed, his stage presence is a bit like Andre the Giant, and he’s primed to blow the doors off Eastside Bowl
NOV. 9: THE PRIVATES AT THE BASEMENT, 1604 EIGHTH AVE. S.
Though they never got to build the outside-of-Nashville following of contemporaries like JEFF the Brotherhood, The Features or Those Darlins, nervy quartet The Privates played a key role in leveling up Nashville rock ’n’ roll in the Aughts. In August, YK Records released the long-overdue retrospective compilation We’re Really Rocking Now, Haven’t We?, bookended by two excellent new songs; now The Privates have scheduled their first show in more than a decade. Whether it’s a one-off or the harbinger of a revival to come (a là Be Your Own Pet), it’s a reason to celebrate.
NOV. 23: KAITLIN BUTTS AT EXIT/IN
This has been a huge year for country songsmith Kaitlin Butts, with months of touring — from clubs to festivals of all sizes — in the
TWENTY-FIVE MORE SHOWS FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION:
Sept. 26: Styrofoam Winos Album Release at Soft Junk
Sept. 27: Musicians Corner Season Finale feat.
Parker Millsap, Larysa Jaye & more
Sept. 30: Khruangbin at Ascend Amphitheater
Oct. 2: La Luz at The End
Oct. 9-12: You Got Gold: Celebrating the Life and Songs of John Prine at various venues
Oct. 10-13, Oct. 17-20: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit Ryman residency
Oct. 10: Amanda Shires: Off the Record —
Unplugged and Untamed at Exit/In
Oct. 11-12: Breakaway Nashville feat. Tiësto, Marshmello and more at Fair Park
Oct. 11: Jeff Lynne’s ELO at Bridgestone Arena
Oct. 11: Vampire Weekend at Ascend Amphitheater
Oct. 12: Maggie Rogers at Bridgestone Arena
Oct. 18: Teddy and the Rough Riders Album Release at Soft Junk
run-up to and in the wake of her excellent LP Roadrunner! You don’t need to know it’s inspired by Oklahoma! to enjoy it; it’s just outstanding songwriting and playing in an updated honkytonk mode. Don’t sleep on tickets to her homecoming show; it’s highly unlikely she’ll play intimate rooms like this for much longer.
DEC.
6-7: KACEY MUSGRAVES AT BRIDGESTONE ARENA, 501 BROADWAY
Kacey Musgraves’ Deeper Well is exactly the kind of album you hope the champion singer-songwriter would make more than a decade into her career. It’s a spiritual and tonal reset that builds on all the work she’s been doing — personally and professionally — and it sounds simultaneously softer than much of her previous work and more confident than ever. She’ll celebrate with a two-night blowout at the ’Stone with Lord Huron and Nickel Creek supporting. ▼
Oct. 19: Rainbow Kitten Surprise at Ascend Amphitheater
Oct. 25: Sturgill Simpson at Bridgestone Arena
Oct. 25: X at Brooklyn Bowl
Oct. 27: Latto at Municipal Auditorium
Oct. 28: Tinashe at Marathon Music Works
Oct. 31: Being Dead at The Blue Room at Third Man Records
Nov. 4: Clairo at the Grand Ole Opry House
Nov. 7: Julie Williams at The Blue Room at Third Man Records
Nov. 11-13: Leon Bridges at the Ryman
Nov. 14-16: Briston Maroney’s Paradise at Brooklyn Bowl
Nov. 20: Chapel Hart’s Hartfelt Family Christmas at City Winery
Nov. 20: Gwar at Brooklyn Bowl
Dec. 6-7: The Mavericks at the Ryman
PHOTO: ANNA HAAS
KYSHONA
DAVE MATTHEWS BAND
Theater & Dance ↗ Fall Guide
Talking with Banning Bouldin about the new 21 Yeses
BY AMY STUMPFL
WE OFTEN THINK of lighting as something of an add-on in an onstage performance — a design element that helps guide the eye while illuminating and enhancing the performers. But with the upcoming premiere of New Dialect’s 21 Yeses, those elements are actually built right into the choreography itself.
It’s just the sort of innovative work that drives Banning Bouldin, who founded New Dialect in 2013. Her goal has always been to help build a more robust contemporary dance ecosystem in her hometown. As the company’s artistic director, Bouldin has created a host of imaginative new works. But in recent years, she’s been particularly drawn to working with tangible objects and materials that both support and inspire her choreography.
“I haven’t been this excited since I made The Triangle five years ago,” says the Nashville native and Juilliard graduate, who has garnered national attention for her contributions to the dance world. “I learned so much from that process — that’s really when I started using functional objects in unconventional ways, creating sculptural formations and lifelines between the dancers. So I’m really happy to keep pulling threads from that practice forward into 21 Yeses. Not only that, but the objects in this case are being used to cast light and to generate the visual effects for the work.”
It all started when Tracey Ford, a principal/ owner at EOA Architects, approached Bouldin about the possibility of creating a dance installation for Nashville Design Week. A longtime dance lover, Ford had seen The Triangle at OZ Arts, along with Neon Nights — an immersive installation Bouldin created with New Dialect in 2021 that featured lighting concepts from Michael Brown, a Nashville-based production designer known for his work with folk band Bon Iver.
“When Tracey asked if I would be interested in making something for Nashville Design Week, I was honestly terrified,” Bouldin says. “You know — terrified in the way that, as an artist, you know you’re right on the edge of your competency. It’s a good kind of terror, but still.
“My creative producer partner Teten and I had been talking about how much we’d loved working with Michael Brown, and all that we’d learned from him as a production designer in the concert industry. So Teten said, ‘What if you take those amazing wireless LED tubes that you see at concerts, and use them in your choreography?’ That was it —I couldn’t wait to jump in.”
Bouldin gathered a team of dancers and set up an experimental rehearsal environment that focused on how the LED tubes might best be utilized —from building the choreography to having the dancers create their own lighting design in real time. Together they created a 20-minute piece for Design Week that premiered at Soho House Nashville in November.
A second performance took place as part of OZ Arts’ 10th Anniversary Bash in April.
“It was such a fascinating moment of reveal for us,” Bouldin says. “Looking at the way these LED tubes could impact the choreography, and then using the choreography to cause the lighting design —we realized that we were blurring the line between dance and design. The use of light and darkness, the shifts in coloration and intensity —it was so evocative. Audiences were really moved, but said it also felt very meditative. Over and over they said, ‘I just wanted it to keep going.’”
Heeding that call, Bouldin decided to expand the piece to an evening-length theatrical production under the direction of Michael Brown. Co-presented with the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, New Dialect’s 21 Yeses will premiere Nov. 22 at TPAC’s Johnson Theater. The project is funded, in part, by a grant from South Arts, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Tennessee Arts Commission.
In choosing to present the work in TPAC’s intimate Johnson Theater, Bouldin says she hopes audiences will feel like “they’re inside the dream.”
“It feels like this incredible space odyssey, but instead of watching the visual effects happen to the dancers from a distance, we’re hoping audiences feel like they’re part of the journey. The design is meant to evoke sensation, and I think dance composition does the same thing when you’re wielding it well. But we’re also playing with things that dance doesn’t normally play with here — that feeling of being at a concert or club, being inside the visual effects. I think that blurring of lines offers a neat point of engagement for audiences.
“I’m so excited for this work to have its world premiere here in Nashville,” she adds. “When I first started New Dialect, so many folks from
the dance field were like, ‘You’re going to try that in Nashville?’ So the fact that we’re in our 11th season — that we’ve been met with so much support, and the dance community has grown so much over the last decade —is just amazing. I feel really proud to be working in this city, and to be sharing this piece with Nashville first.” ▼
MORE UPCOMING THEATER AND DANCE PERFORMANCES:
Sept. 26 & 28: Nashville Opera’s Carmen at TPAC’s Polk Theater
Oct. 3-6: Nashville Ballet’s Dracula at TPAC’s Polk Theater
Oct. 8-20: Moulin Rouge! The Musical at TPAC’s Jackson Hall
Oct. 17-19: Botis Seva/Far from the Norm’s BLKDOG at OZ Arts
Oct. 25-Nov. 3: Nashville Rep’s Our Town at TPAC’s Johnson Theater
Nov. 5-10: Shucked at TPAC’s Jackson Hall
Nov. 15-17: The Cook-Off at Nashville Opera’s Noah Liff Opera Center
Nov. 15-16: Emma Sandall’s An Ambivalent Woman of 37 at OZ Arts
21 Yeses
Nov. 22-24 at TPAC’s Johnson Theater
BOTIS SEVA / FAR FROM THE NORM
OCTOBER 17–19
“A hold-onto-your-seat, staygripped, whirlwind journey”
— The Voice
“A major new talent”
— The New York Times
“Botis’ political, theatrical and experimental take on Hip-hop might just make him the next big thing”
— Evening Standard
BOTIS SEVA REINVENTS HIP-HOP DANCE THEATER
The breakout winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production, BLKDOG brilliantly blends visceral theater and wide-ranging dance styles to invent a breathtaking movement language that unites Hip-hop, Popping, Breaking, Krump, and House. Director and choreographer Botis Seva creates an emotionally-charged performance that powerfully confronts socio-political issues and provides haunting commentary on how the youth of today navigate a world that was not built for them.
PART OF OZ ARTS’ INTERNATIONAL 2024-25 SEASON — MORE ON THE NEXT PAGE!
12
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17-19
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“Exhilarating,
(LONDON, UK) BLKDOG TICKETS FROM $25 MARCH 5 & 6
JANUARY 24 & 25
OCTOBER 26
FESTIVAL OF GHOULS X (NASHVILLE)
TICKETS $25
(KISANGANI, D.R. CONGO) with Heru Shabaka-Ra of the Sun Ra Arkestra MY BODY, MY ARCHIVE TICKETS FROM $25
“A major new talent…the most piercing moment of dance action in the whole festival.” — The New York Times
“They create a wildly unique experience and one that is not to be missed”
“Breathtaking political art...the greatest single example of solo dancing I’ve seen in a long time.”
— Los Angeles Times
— Rockrevolt
(SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA) BALANCE & IMBALANCE AND JUDO TICKETS FROM $30
— The New York Times
“Exhilarating…Lightning-quick… Cherishes physical risks and the swift, fearless execution of daunting tasks”
“A
“One
— Vulture
“An
PHOTO
PHOTO
LATER THIS YEAR AT OZ ARTS
DECEMBER 6-8
THE WOOSTER GROUP
(NEW
YORK, NY)
SYMPHONY OF RATS
TICKETS FROM $30
“American theater’s most inspired company.”
— The New York Times
“The Wooster Group in full flood . . . full of laughter and a radiating sense of pleasure.”
— New Yorker
“I was grinning like a kid at the circus… the theatrical avant garde is still f*cking sh*t up as gleefully as ever.”
— Vulture
AN UNMISSABLE PERFORMANCE FROM NEW YORK’S LEGENDARY AVANT-GARDE THEATER COMPANY
With an astonishing array of video imagery and a frenetic assortment of equipment, legendary New York theater collective The Wooster Group transforms OZ into a sort of mad scientist’s laboratory for their latest “deliriously trippy” production. With singing, stunts, and stupefying multi-screen visuals, this reimagining of a playful 1988 satire by avant-garde guru Richard Foreman is a genre-bending, often hilarious thrill ride about a fictional U.S. president receiving messages from outer space.
ABOUT THE WOOSTER GROUP
Widely hailed as one of the world’s most influential performance companies, The Wooster Group has been creating boundarybreaking works for dance, theater, and multimedia since the mid-70’s. Known for their pioneering use of new technologies, they develop and perform their work at The Performing Garage in Manhattan at 33 Wooster Street. The collective’s constantly morphing company of artists have included some of stage and screen’s most lauded talents including Elizabeth LeCompte, Spalding Gray, Willem Dafoe, Steve Buscemi, and Kate Valk.
Visit
calendar.nashvillescene.com for more event listings
THURSDAY, SEPT. 19
COMEDY
[TOTALLY WITCHIN’] TIM MURRAY IS WITCHES
Sprung from the playful perspectives that result from gay kids trying to metabolize their place in the outside world, and fresh from a triumphant turn at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Tim Murray Is Witches is a musical comedy extravaganza built on “the way we obsess over the things we love” and the importance of finding and building our own covens. Murray has a gift for understanding culture from the inside out, and he’s refined and reworked Witches into a unique experience that speaks to the inquisitive and the fanciful of all ages. It leaves audiences green with envy and suffused with the magic that comes from imagination and verve. JASON SHAWHAN
7 P.M. AT THIRD COAST COMEDY CLUB 1310 CLINTON ST.
THURSDAY / 9.19
BOOKS
[LITERARY LIBERTY] BANNED BOOK HAPPY HOUR
On a recent Thursday night, I sat outside with a Maypop Sparkling Water and listened to a wide range of folks wax nostalgic about what Slaughterhouse-Five means to them. Kurt Vonnegut’s 1969 novel is one of many books being banned and challenged in schools and libraries across the country. Books like this are the focus of Banned Book Happy Hour, a monthly meetup on the patio at The Blue Room co-hosted by poet Ciona Rouse and musician Aria Cavaliere. This month, to celebrate the launch of Banned Book Week (Sept. 22-28), the party is moving inside. Hosted by Third Man Books and Rouse’s new pop-up endeavor Bard’s Towne Books & Bourbon, the event inside The Blue Room will feature performances by The
FIRST TIME STORIES PAGE 30
TENNESSEE TITANS VS. GREEN BAY PACKERS PAGE 32
CHAZZ PALMINTERI: A BRONX TALE PAGE 36
Shindellas and Cavaliere, plus other special guests. Head to thirdmanbooks.com for tickets and more information. KIM BALDWIN
7 P.M. AT THE BLUE ROOM AT THIRD MAN RECORDS
623 SEVENTH AVE. S.
FRIDAY / 9.20
[SAID,
WORD
SPOKEN
NOT SUNG] TOMMY WOMACK
While Tommy Womack is best-known as one of Nashville’s most talented and humorous rock ’n’ rollers, he is so much more than that — including a memoirist, novelist, radio host and magazine columnist/feature writer. Friday evening at Springwater, Womack will unveil another side of his creativity: his first spoken-word show. He will read excerpts from his memoirs — Cheese Chronicles and Dust Bunnies — as well as essays, rants, some demented poetry including a poem about Jesus coming into his bedroom, and a radio play, The Lavender Boys, inspired by his novel about a closeted gay Confederate soldier. He will be joined on the radio play by guest voice actors Kristi Rose and Paul Burch, who like Womack are longtime fixtures in the local indie music scene. There also will be one bit that features some music, a spoken-word number over jazz courtesy of bassist Dan Seymour. “To do a spoken word show — it’s not something that I just got a yen for recently,” Womack tells the Scene. “But now just seems the time to do it, you know, to explore it, before I became a doddering old fool.” DARYL SANDERS
6 P.M. AT SPRINGWATER
115 27TH AVE. N.
FILM [WORTH THE DRIVE]
SEE A MOVIE AT THE STARDUST
DRIVE-IN
We’re at the end of summer. Leaves are turning yellow, the weather is cooling off, pumpkin spice is back, and autumn is finding its way into Nashville. The first official weekend of fall (arguably the best season) deserves a proper celebration, and there’s nothing better than sitting under the stars with friends or family and yapping about Halloween and your favorite seasonal activities. This can all happen at the Stardust Drive-In Theatre, one of just over a dozen drive-in movie theaters left in Tennessee. Only 40 minutes from Nashville, the Watertown theater is at the top of my fall to-do list and a perfect place to enjoy the sweetness of a new season. One of this weekend’s flicks will be Speak No Evil, director James Watkins’ new horror thriller. To see the full weekend movie lineup and other info, visit stardustdrivein.com.
KATIE BETH CANNON
SEPT. 20-22 THE STARDUST DRIVE-IN THEATRE
310 PURPLE TIGER DRIVE, WATERTOWN
MUSIC
[POP PERFECTION] ASHE
Friday evening at Brooklyn Bowl, Nashvillebased singer-songwriter Ashe will play her first show in her adopted hometown since 2022 — and her only show of 2024. The budding pop
star, whose work has been praised by the likes of Variety, Billboard and People, will perform material from her just-released third album, Willson. The album, which she recorded in Nashville with producer Collin Pastore, features a dozen tracks of pop perfection, including the singles “Running Out of Time” and “I Wanna Love You (but I Don’t).” Ashe, who will be accompanied by keyboardist Jackson Dyson, bassist Andrew Brown, drummer Scooter Spicer and guitarist Emma Harvey (on loan from the band Sawyer), tells the Scene Pastore will sit in with her group for about half of the set. In addition to songs from Willson, those fortunate enough to score a ticket to the sold-out show can expect to hear some of the best-known material from her first two albums, including her global hit “Moral of the Story.” “I’m going to pick a handful of old songs that I know are really important to the fans,” she says. “‘Moral of the Story,’ for instance. I wouldn’t have a career without that song.” Austin, Texas-based singersongwriter Bo Staloch opens. DARYL SANDERS 8
BOOKS [STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE] KYLE PRUE: HOW TO PISS OFF MEN
Have you ever been enjoying a night out with friends when a man decides that it’s imperative to recite the entire plot of the
original Star Wars trilogy to you as you’re ordering drinks? Has your best friend ever dated a less-than-ideal boy claiming to be a man? Kyle Prue has some tips for you. The TikTok personality and author will visit Parnassus Books to discuss his most recent release, How to Piss Off Men: 109 Things to Say to Shatter the Male Ego. Prue graduated from the University of Michigan, where he studied “narcissism and love bombing (acting and poetry).” In his “How to Piss Off Men” series, the comedian shares witty oneliners for best getting under the most obnoxious mansplainer’s skin, such as referring to an NFL jersey as “cosplay” or letting a man know “he has the confidence of a much taller man.” Prue will be joined in conversation by Nashville’s own award-winning playwright and lyricist Carolyn German. Stop by Parnassus Books for a night of laughs, comebacks and questions to heckle even the most patronizing man in your life.
6:30 P.M. AT PARNASSUS BOOKS
3900 HILLSBORO PIKE
STORYTELLING
[TELL ME A STORY] FIRST TIME STORIES
Our stories have great power. They not only entertain and inspire, but also help people connect on a deeper level. For the past 13 years, Actors Bridge Ensemble has celebrated the power of storytelling with its popular First Time Stories. This monthly series actually started out as something of an open-mic night, with participants serving up unscripted, real-life stories of first jobs, first pets, first heartbreaks and the like. Since COVID, Actors Bridge has been curating the event, often highlighting some of Nashville’s most fascinating figures. But rest assured — while they’ve preselected the tellers, no one has any idea what the stories will be. Presented on the third Friday of each month, it’s always a great gathering. This month’s lineup is no exception, featuring jazz luminary Annie Sellick, along with ABE company stage manager Kat Tierney-Smith and a special tandem story from ABE board co-chair Tracy Coats and her best pal Moira O’Leary. Producing artistic director Vali Forrister hosts the evening. AMY STUMPFL
6 P.M. AT ACTORS BRIDGE STUDIO 4610 CHARLOTTE AVE.
SATURDAY / 9.21
FOOD & DRINK
[WORLD MARKETS] INTERNASHIONAL NIGHT MARKET
Those interested in celebrating Nashville’s growing diversity and the people who represent it have an exciting opportunity to do so at the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition’s fourth annual InterNASHional Night Market. Centered on food and entertainment, the night market features a curated selection of more than 25 food vendors, restaurant owners and performers — all locals who represent various countries and cultures from across the globe. The event not only provides an opportunity to shake up a date night or connect with new people, but
ASHE
John Paul White: In Concert with the Nashville Symphony
SEP 24 | 7:30 PM
Daniel Stevens, conductor
VIOLENT FEMMES with the Nashville Symphony
SEP 28 | 7:30 PM SEP 29 | 2 PM
Lidiya Yankovskaya, conductor Simone Porter, violin
OCT 9 | 7:30 PM
Jason Seber, conductor
also benefits TIRRC’s Belonging program, which seeks to “build solidarity between immigrant and non-immigrant communities in Nashville and beyond.” There are a few different tiers of tickets that offer different levels of food access, including reduced-price tickets for 7- to 12-yearolds — just make sure to secure the tickets before arriving at TIRRC’s Antioch headquarters.
KELSEY BEYELER
6-9 P.M. AT THE TENNESSEE IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE RIGHTS COALITION HEADQUARTERS
3310 EZELL ROAD
FOOD & DRINK
[DEEPENING ROOTS]
THE HEIMERDINGER FOUNDATION’S HOPE FOR HEALING ROOTS DINNER
I got a lot of heartfelt emails this summer after I wrote an article about The Heimerdinger Foundation and the work they do feeding people with cancer — and their caregivers — at no cost to the families in need. If you were one of the people who teared up, this is your chance to give back. The nonprofit’s fundraising dinner takes place Sept. 21 at West Glow Farm in Kingston Springs. The Hope for Healing Roots Dinner includes Cocktails in the Creek, dinner, live music and fellowship underneath a setting Tennessee sky. The meal is farm-to-plate, with the kind of fresh, flavorful food from the garden that the Heimerdinger Foundation is known for. Don’t forget your rain boots. It isn’t just a clever name — cocktails really are in the creek, so your feet might get wet. MARGARET LITTMAN
5:30 P.M. COCKTAILS IN THE CREEK; 6:30 P.M. DINNER AND LIVE MUSIC
1296 BRUSH CREEK ROAD, KINGSTON SPRINGS
MUSIC [TOUGH FREAKS] GARCIA PEOPLES & COUNTRY WESTERNS W/SEAN THOMPSON’S WEIRD EARS
The one thing that’s consistent about the word “chooglin’” is its marvelous inconsistency. It’s an amorphous “know it when you hear it” descriptor that can accurately describe the way songs — which are otherwise quite different — capture a particular kind of exploratory, serious-but-not-too-ambitious locomotion. All three artists playing The Blue Room on Saturday can choogle with the best of them. New Jersey’s Garcia Peoples and Nashville’s own Sean Thompson (who’s planning to release some new music just before this gig) both tend toward pan-American boogie and are known for working into jammy territory, while Thompson’s fellow Music City dwellers Country Westerns draw more on ’70s punk and hard rock as filtered through an ’80s college-rock lens. The other common thread drawing these musicians together: Their catalogs are full of songs about community and other things you need to keep going in the face of adversity. If that’s not chooglin’, I don’t know what is. STEPHEN TRAGESER
8 P.M. AT THE BLUE ROOM AT THIRD MAN RECORDS
623 SEVENTH AVE. S.
SUNDAY / 9.22
SPORTS [TITAN UP]
TENNESSEE TITANS VS. GREEN BAY PACKERS
Malik Willis, once the quarterback prince who was sort-of-but-not-really promised by the Tennessee Titans, returning to Nissan Stadium? Ground zero for many, many wasted downs
and ill-advised throws from this former thirdround pick? I hate to toss out an overcooked sports cliché, but, guys … you cannot make this stuff up. ICYMI: Last month, after a lackluster preseason, the Titans traded Willis — once the team’s top quarterback prospect — to the Green Back Packers for a future late-round draft pick. At the end of the Packers’ season-opening game, Jordan Love — the team’s high-dollar starting quarterback — suffered a knee injury that’ll likely sideline him for the coming weeks. Enter: Willis time in Wisconsin. As of this writing, the Packers backed Willis as the team’s starter during Love’s recovery, meaning there’s a solid chance he’s under center when the team lines up against the two-tone blue in late September. In a Titans season that kicked off with a stomach-churning loss to the Bears two weeks ago, a match-up against Willis — the type of quarterback who caused Titans fans to watch games between the cracks in their fingers when he played in Nashville — may be exactly what this team needs. See for yourself Sunday afternoon on the East Bank of the Cumberland. Again, you can’t make this stuff up. MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER
NOON AT NISSAN STADIUM
1 TITANS WAY
MONDAY / 9.23
MUSIC [BLACK AND BLUE ROOM] PUBLIC ACID, INVERTEBRATES, YOUTH IN ASIA, G.U.N. & MATRIX Slammers rejoice! The underground hardcore fringe is as razor-sharp as ever. The malicious metal-punk mania of NC/VA powerhouse Public Acid hasn’t dulled a bit in the band’s six-year
Live Music at ON BROADWAY
dFrom pla m icons, hif’N f’ h committe t
9.1 Joanna Cotten - The Gospel of Cotten
9.6 Ashley McBryde Fan Club Party for Members sold out
9.7 The Arcadian Wild
9.8 Pick, Pick, Pass "The Voice Takeover" w/ Kevin MaC, Craig Wayne Boyd, Jake Hoot
9.9 Kelly Willis
9.10 Guitar Town Hall w/ Driver Williams Special Guest Erik Dylan
9.15 Dale Watson & His Lone Stars w/ The Cowpokes
9.17 Buddy's Place Writers' Round w/ Alyssa Bonagura, Ben Danaher, Michael Logen
9.19 Americana Fest Showcase: Natalie Hemby w/ Kiely Connell
9.20 Americana Fest Showcase: Parker Millsap, Bryan Simpson, Caitlyn Smith w/ Laci Kaye Booth
WRITERS’ ROUNDS AT CHIEF’S
From platinum-selling chart-toppers to underground icons, household names to undiscovered gems, Chief’s Neon Steeple is committed to bringing the very best national and regional talent back to Broadway. i
SEPTEMBER LINE UP
9.21 Nashville Hall of Fame Round w/ Gary Nicholson, Beth Neilson Chapman, Rafe Van Hoy
9.22 Pick, Pick, Pass w/ Kevin MaC, Keith Stegall, Michael White
9.23 Kassi Ashton - "Made From Dirt" Album Release Party free show
9.24 Cigarettes & Pizza w/ Aaron Raitiere, Ashley Monroe
9.25 Casey Beathard w/ Special Guest Tucker Beathard
9.27 Waymore's OutlawsRunnin' w/ Ol' Waylon
9.28 Luke Dick, Jeff Hyde
9.29 Chuck Mead & The Stalwarts, Dash Rip Rock, Laid Back Country Picker GET TICKETS AT CHIEFSONBROADWAY.COM FOLLOW US @ChiefSBROADWAY
At Chief’s we understand that great music is born from the heart and soul of it’s creators, which is why our writers’ rounds are dedicated to celebrating the brilliant minds behind some of today’s most iconic songs.
Cigarettes & Pizza
Dale watson and the cowpokes
Luke Dick, Jeff Hyde
Natalie Hemby w/ Kiely connell
run of releases. Their sound borrows from early USHC, black-denim ’80s Scandinavian ragers, raw British speed metal and occasionally a Slayerlike divebomb/guitar solo. But their sophomore LP Deadly Struggle is a relentless onslaught that shows a band creating a noise all its own. Their Richmond companions Invertebrates, who share members with Public Acid, make a ferocious sonic blitzkrieg that bears a strong resemblance to the 1981 Dischord Records sound. The Nuclear Waste Abomination demo from Youth in Asia, the latest in a long line of DIY units to take on that name, is a buzzing menace of ugly punk at its finest. The ulta-low-fidelity, primitive hardcore demo from Indiana’s Matrix is a masterpiece of high-velocity, stripped-down blur of melody for fans of The Fix or bygone Hoosiers Zero Boys. Local support comes from Nashville’s reigning thrash kings G.U.N., who have a new four-song EP dropping soon. P.J. KINZER
8 P.M. AT THE BLUE ROOM AT THIRD MAN RECORDS
623 SEVENTH AVE. S.
TUESDAY / 9.24
MUSIC
[STRINGS THEORY] JOHN PAUL WHITE
The Civil Wars, who were together from 2008 until their breakup in 2014, seem like
avatars of indie-folk-country-Americana whose music illustrates the porous line that separates mainstream country from Americana. The duo of singers and songwriters Joy Williams and John Paul White made some music I appreciate, and it’s a tribute to their talents that The Civil Wars released an album, 2011’s Barton Hollow, that won Grammys in both the Country Duo/ Group Performance and Best Folk Album categories. After The Civil Wars split, White went on to record music that strikes me as sophisticated indie folk rendered by a countryinfluenced songwriter savvy enough to seek out co-writing opportunities with the likes of Bobby Braddock and Bill Anderson. His 2019 album The Hurting Kind registers as a thoughtful singersongwriter extrapolation that makes room for post-folk acoustic guitar-playing and White’s expressive vocals. White added cello and violin to some of the tracks on The Hurting Kind, and Tuesday’s show with the Nashville Symphony will feature White singing and playing with the orchestra. His April 2023 show in Birmingham with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra got glowing reviews — an accomplished solo performer, White shines on guitar, and adding strings to his indie folk gives drama to his compositions. EDD HURT
P.M.
JOHN PAUL WHITE
PHOTO: JOSHUA BLACK WILKINS
nashvilleshakes.org
BOOKS [HUSHED TOMES]
READING CLUB AT FAIT LA FORCE
While most book clubs ask you all to read the same book, Fait La Force Reading Club invites you to BYOB (bring your own book) and settle into one of their comfy chairs to read with other bookish friends. After grabbing a beer and picking your seat, you’ll see a timer on the wall marking 30 minutes of quiet reading time, followed by a 15-minute break. During the break, you can chat with your fellow readers or grab a snack from JamBox Sandwich Shop. Don’t feel like talking, and just want to keep reading? Totally fine. The cycle then restarts, and runs until 8 p.m. FLF Reading Club is held on the last Tuesday of each month, and this month they’ll be joined by mobile romance bookshop Slow Burn. The trailer will pop up outside of the brewery, featuring a curated collection of romance books for sale. No matter the subgenre — contemporary, fantasy or YA — they’ve definitely got a title to satisfy your tastes. There are also tote bags, Kindle accessories, stickers and other bookish goodies for sale. TINA DOMINGUEZ
6-8 P.M. AT FAIT LA FORCE BREWING COMPANY
1414 THIRD AVE. S.
MUSIC
[EXTREME NOISE TERROR] WHORES. W/NERVER & WAXED
When I first saw Georgia’s Whores. at Cobra (or maybe it was FooBar?) they had just released their debut full-length. 2016’s Gold was a beautifully wretched 35-minute slab of music that sounded like it was intentionally damaging my headphones every time I played it. Their outrageously loud first LP has an audio quality reminiscent of classic Melvins, Big Black or Jesus Lizard releases, so that no matter what volume the music is played at, it’s still something your audiologist would veto. Now eight years later, the power trio has released a somewhat crispier second album, War War is yet another high-volume juggernaut, schooled by ’90s AmRep compilations and unbridled fury. Their equally unsettling Kansas City tourmates Nerver probably won’t score you any points with your ENT doctor either (unless that doctor is an Extreme Noise Terror fan, instead of an otorhinolaryngologist). The drudgingly bleak
pair of tracks Nerver released on a 2023 split EP with Chat Pile last year are simultaneously gloomy and furious. And please bring earplugs and show up on time, because local thrashers Waxed are always cranked up. P.J. KINZER
8 P.M. AT THE COBRA 2511 GALLATIN AVE.
WEDNESDAY
/ 9.25
THEATER
[ONE MAN’S STORY] CHAZZ PALMINTERI: A BRONX TALE
You might recognize Chazz Palminteri from his work in memorable films like The Usual Suspects and Bullets Over Broadway, or perhaps from his recurring role on television’s Modern Family. But his biggest hit — A Bronx Tale — was actually inspired by a real-life incident from his own childhood. Palminteri was an out-ofwork actor who’d just lost his gig as a nightclub bouncer when he decided to write a one-man show about the gangland murder he witnessed as a kid growing up in the Italian American neighborhood of Belmont in the 1960s. A Bronx Tale premiered in Los Angeles in 1989 before moving off-Broadway. Palminteri would go on to write the screenplay for the critically acclaimed 1993 film, in which he starred as mob boss Sonny alongside Robert De Niro — who marked his film directorial debut with the project. A musical adaptation would follow, opening on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre in December 2016 and playing for 700 performances. These days, the Academy Award nominee stays busy with his podcast and various business ventures. But he’ll be at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center next week, performing the solo show that started it all. AMY STUMPFL
7:30 P.M. AT THE
9/19 Laser 101
9/21 Intro to MIG Welding
9/21 Birthday Party!
9/22 Lamp Making in Metal, Part 2
9/21 An Inclusive Art History
9/25 Parquetry - Geometric Patterns with Wood Veneer: Part 2
9/26 Beginner’s Introduction to Crochet
9/26 Intro to TIG Welding
10/2 Parquetry - Geometric Patterns with Wood Veneer: Part 3
10/6 Intro to Stained Glass
MARSH HOUSE, NASHVILLE SUNDAE CLUB AND
JMAS
BREAKFAST BURRITOS
Dinner and dessert in the Gulch plus a bonus breakfast on the East Side
BY DANNY BONVISSUTO
Date Night is a multipart road map for everyone who wants a nice evening out, but has no time to plan it. It’s for people who want to do more than just go to one restaurant and call it a night. It’s for overwhelmed parents who don’t get out often; for friends who visit the same three restaurants because they’re too afraid to try someplace new; and for busy folks who keep forgetting all the places they’ve driven past, heard about, seen on social and said, “Let’s remember that place next time we go out.”
“WE SHOULD GO to dinner somewhere nice.”
That was my husband Dom’s response when I told him our teenager was invited to spend a recent Friday night at a friend’s house. One of
the many unspoken rules of parenting is that, if your children aren’t home, you should leave the house. It’s an affront to all other parents making their millionth box of mac-and-cheese to squander your precious hall pass sitting on the couch in your saggy-ass sweats, burning your tongue on pizza rolls. There should be reservations involved — hand holding and conversations that focus on connection, not whose car is more in need of new tires.
While I agree with this theory in general, should-ing always puts me in an awkward spot between the woman I am and the woman I feel pressure to be: We should go somewhere nice. We should dress up a little. We should go to the Gulch because I write about food and can’t
avoid a restaurant-packed part of town, even though every time I venture in, I swear I’m never going back.
STOP 1: MARSH HOUSE
We arrived at Marsh House in the Thompson Hotel at 6:56 p.m., four minutes before happy hour ended. Without saying anything, two hostesses communicated about whether the happy hour menu should go with us to the table and decided against it. Shortly after we were seated, a server arrived and said, “You only have a couple minutes left to order off the happy hour menu. Want to take a quick look?” Yes, I most certainly do. There was something called “Happiest Chambong” on the menu. Could
that really be a bong full of sparkling wine? Yes. We bypassed that and got a dozen raw oysters along with the barbecue Gulf shrimp and crab
BARBECUE GULF SHRIMP AT MARSH HOUSE
LOBSTER FRA DIAVOLO AT MARSH HOUSE
PHOTOS: ANGELINA CASTILLO
ravigote from the main menu. If this sounds like Louisiana to you, it’s because the Thompson partnered with notable New Orleans chef John Besh on its food and beverage back in 2017 when it was the second hotel to open in the Gulch. Sometimes barbecue shrimp just means shrimp lacquered with barbecue sauce; this wasn’t one of those times. The Marsh House version comes in a smoky, spicy sauce that I wanted to sop up with the accompanying baguette, but it was coated with some sort of herb spread that we both found odd off-putting. The crab ravigote, a mix of raw lump crab with lemon and chives, sounded light and lovely but lacked any discernible flavor. How disorienting to eat something and not taste anything at all.
Strangely, the Caesar — which our server kindly had the kitchen split into two plates without us asking — was the sleeper hit of starters, with cornbread crumbles, toasted pepitas and grilled red onion that I spent half the salad swearing was bacon bits.
In terms of ambience, Marsh House feels forgettable in the way most hotel restaurants do, so the wall-to-wall windows and large patio would normally be a good way to make it feel more alive … except that an amateur strip show on wheels rolls by every 30 seconds. I realize party buses/barges/tractors are unavoidable when you’re out and about in the Gulch, but Marsh House’s windows bring it right to the edge of the table.
When my Lobster Fra Diavoloarrived and I took that first bite, I wanted to exist in a bubble of pleasure for a few seconds, with all my senses
fully focused on how well the ridges of the spinach creste de gallo (rooster’s crest) noodles stood up to the big chunks of butter-poached lobster: its barely restrained heat; the way the Sicilian bread crumbs melted on my tongue. That was hard to do with a flatbed of butts bouncing in my periphery.
Now listen. I am not aghast or offended. I bared my boobs a time or 12 at many a Mardi Gras back in the day for anyone with a shiny string of beads (including Drew Carey one time, randomly). But the hey-don’t-you-want-to-see-my-hoo-ha experience cheapens the we’re-adults-trying-to-enjoyan-expensive-upscale-dinner experience, and I can’t pretend otherwise.
STOP 2: NASHVILLE SUNDAE CLUB
Most of the boutiques along the two-minute walk between Marsh House and our second stop close at dusk, which is fine — I don’t need a custom-fitted cowboy hat. But it was fun to window shop and daydream our way to the drippy white, blue, hot-pink and yellow stripes painted across the front of Nashville Sundae Club.
NSC is branded for the inner children of affluent adults. Far from the Baskin-Robbins of my youth, where you could perform brain surgery beside a frosty bin of rainbow sherbet, NSC’s lighting is low, neon signs abound, and pop music makes it feel like a party where everyone just happens to be eating ice cream or drinking alcohol or both.
It’s a house of sugary vices where excess is encouraged. Don’t have just a scoop of ice cream — have a triple and add cereal! Don’t just order
soft serve — make it a blue-raspberry-dipped cake cone! You could have a regular old milkshake — but you could also have one with locally made whiskey, caramel-pecan coffee, vanilla soft serve and some caramel popcorn on top. Not into that? Have a cookie, ice cream sandwich, selection from the rack of candy, cocktail, frozen drink, High Noon or one of the namesake sundaes.
I was excited to try the cinnamon roll sundae, which includes ice cream, caramel sauce and Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but they were out the night of our visit. So I went with the classic brownie sundae, but the star of the show erred on the side of airy and spongy instead of rich and dense. I kept eating it, thinking it would eventually get better, but it never did, just as I keep returning to the Gulch thinking it’ll eventually feel like a place I want to be, and it never does.
STOP 3: JMAS BREAKFAST BURRITOS (THE MORNING AFTER)
The next morning we had just enough time for a quick breakfast before going to get the
teen. Neither of us wanted to sit and be served again, or have one of those heavy, gravy-laden meals that ends the day just as it’s getting started. Breakfast burritos squeeze nicely into the space in between.
JMAS Breakfast Burritos is a food truck on the gravel drive behind Tabla Rasa Toys at the corner of Porter Road and Greenwood Avenue in East Nashville. Dom ordered the B3 (bacon, eggs, cheddar, tots), and I settled on the Gnome (egg, cheddar, tots). We found an empty umbrella-covered outdoor table and sat in glorious silence until they called my name six minutes later. Unlike other burritos, in which you can distinguish one ingredient from the other, JMAS’ version is all mixed together. I’m not mad about it. I like my potatoes spread out evenly, not in big chunks, and a strategically placed dot of Hot Sauce Nashville’s hot garlic sauce kept every bite interesting. I could’ve sat there all day, watching wildflowers along the sidewalk sway in the late-summer morning breeze. But before long it was time to ball up our burrito wrappers and return to real life. ▼
PHOTOS: ANGELINA CASTILLO
BANANA SPLIT AT NASHVILLE SUNDAE CLUB
JMAS BREAKFAST BURRITOS
9/19
Lightnin’ Management Medicine Show - Hosted by RAY BENSON featuring performances by TAMI NEILSON,
CARLISLE, BRENNEN LEIGH, JOSHUA HEDLEY & CRISTINA VANE 7:00
AMERICANAFEST 2024 featuring HOLLER CHOIR, THE HERCULEONS (John Cowan & Andrea Zonn) GRAYSON CAPPS, Wrapped: A Round with SUNNY SWEENEY, JACK INGRAM, KELLY WILLIS
CRUMBSNATCHERS with FLIGHT ATTENDANT
AMERICANAFEST 2024 featuring TAMI NEILSON, TIM HEIDECKER, STEVE POLTZ, DAVE ALVIN & JIMMIE DALE GILMORE with THE GUILTY ONES VICTORIA CANAL with LUCY CLEARWATER + MAKENA HARTLIN
Bluebird on 3rd featuring MARK IRWIN, JENN SCHOTT & ADAM HAMBRICK + MEAGAN ALLEN and EZRA JORDAN
103-3 Country Presents MADDIE & TAE
Benefitting Kick Childhood Cancer
americanafest: Waxahatchee, neko case, madi diaz, mj lenderman, christian lee hutson, & leyla mccalla
americanafest: A tribute to the songs of 1974 americanafest: Jonah kagen, jade jackson, the bones of j.r. jones, & daniel nunnelee jp cooper w/ sam fischer nÜmb - nu metal night mason ramsey w/ halle kearns dorian electra w/ vanilla sugar & manrelic jordy searcy w/ theo kandel danielle bradbery w/ Sydney Quiseng the warning w/ holy wars Jules! As seen on Ms Rachel (12pm) sarah kinsley w/ alix page (8pm) joey valence & brae w/ romanceplanet robert delong x atlas genius w/ normal behaviour american aquarium w/ abby hamilton twista w/ Gee Slab, Emory Jaymz, and It’s Really [Just Us] the brothers comatose
hogslop string band, jim lauderdale, greg loftus, brenna macmillian, blue cactus, lou hazel, rebecca porter, & sequoia south (12PM] Americanafest: sugadaisy, humbird, she returns from war, mary bragg, & chloe kimes (7PM] americanafest: fancyhagood, mckinley james, caleb lee hutchinson, the woods, & clover county americanafest: kelsey waldon, ben sollee, wayne graham, nat myers, hunter flynn, scott t. smith, & the creekers (12pm)
americanafest: john hollier, dale hollow, rett madison, alice wallace, & julie williams (7pm) mercy hanson w/ anthropology, paperview, & avalon the way home w/ juniper(7pm) babe haven & the rosies w/ crocodyle (9PM] edwin raphael w/ savanna leigh saving escape w/ velvet mirage the closson brothers w/ sophia brand
MUSIC STILL IN THE GROOVE
United Record Pressing marks 75 years of vinyl manufacturing BY
MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER
THE MUSIC INDUSTRY can be a fickle beast. A TikTok trend could send a record label suddenly scrambling to cash in. Artists once concerned about music video rotation now jockey for frontpage position on Spotify playlists. And artificial intelligence continues to creep into corners of songwriting, a process that many still consider to be sacred — and human.
But if music-making is a fleeting business, no one told United Record Pressing.
The longtime Nashville vinyl pressing firm celebrates 75 years of operation in 2024, a rare achievement in an industry that has hopscotched from vinyl as its medium of choice to cassette, CD, digital download — and back to the tried-and-true LP, coupled with streaming. After weathering the downturn caused by the CD explosion of the 1990s and digital expansion in the 2000s, United now operates as the oldest (and one of the most reliable) vinyl pressing plants in the U.S. At 155,000 square feet, the South Nashville shop employs about 120 people and produces roughly 30,000 records a day according to owner Mark Michaels, a onetime business management consultant who purchased United in 2007.
In 2023, United underwent an $11 million expansion that included two dozen new presses. Not bad for a business that, when Michaels purchased it, largely survived off making promotional singles for hip-hop artists to ship to radio stations.
“I’m a believer in the format and I’m excited about our organization,” Michaels says. He adds, “There’s a reason [vinyl] exists. I think that reason will persist. It complements every other aspect of music delivery, in a beautiful way. I think it’s the most important format in which artists can deliver their art.”
United launched in 1949 as Bullet Record Pressing, an offshoot of the Nashville label that produced some notable hits of the time, including Francis Craig’s big-band single “Red Rose” backed with “Near You”; the B-side was one of the first Billboard chart-topping singles to come out of Nashville. For decades, the press continued to roll, delivering early rock ’n’ roll, R&B and ragtime in the 1950s. In the ’60s, the plant stood at the forefront of Beatlemania: United pressed the first U.S. Beatles single, a 1963 version of “Please Please Me” backed with “From Me to You” that predates the band’s deal with Capitol Records.
Through the ebbs and flows of vinyl popularity in the 1980s and 1990s, the plant continued to be the first stop in record-making for artists who stood by the format. The White Stripes, The Shins, Kurt Vile, Neutral Milk Hotel and more entrusted United with early-career pressings.
But prior to the mainstream reemergence of LPs in the 2010s, it wasn’t always easy for United to keep the lights on. Promotional presses and legacy releases — like an anniversary box set of Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue — helped feed the company during its lean years.
“It was terrifying,” Michaels says. “We were pressing some Johnny Cash or Elvis catalog. … We were running half-shifts and trying to keep people on payroll, but being mindful of our finances. We were really hunkered down and scrounging for opportunities where we could find them.”
Things got better, of course, with a few growing pains along the way. In 2021 and 2022, the ripples of COVID-19 impacted vinyl production and major label orders clogged pressing plants in the U.S. and abroad. United expanded at its
Allied Drive location in hopes of meeting the capacity needs of a pop chart-topper without causing painful production delays for the indie artists who helped propel vinyl to its modern success.
Today, the company presses albums for megastars like Harry Styles, Adele and Taylor Swift, while also working alongside DIY musicians like Jeffrey Novak, a solo artist who was also frontman of Nashville garage-rock outfit Cheap Time. Novak has pressed eight projects with United, including his new solo LP Blood Celebration. He keeps working with the company in part because of manageable turnaround times and the ability to connect locally with the plant’s staff.
“I always felt like they take independent artists seriously — we’re not treated like small change,” Novak says. He later adds, “Any place
that keeps a tradition like United has, it’s heartwarming. It means something deep.”
And as United celebrates 75 years, Michaels believes one part of the company’s future may be found in its old building, a 26,000-squarefoot plant on Chestnut Street. It’s part of vinyl music history and should be appreciated by fans of the format, he says. The building includes the so-called “Motown Suite,” a living space and gathering area that remains largely unchanged from its time hosting parties for Smokey Robinson, The Supremes and other artists — when segregation meant they weren’t welcome in other places.
“How do we start to activate [the building] in a way that allows the world to appreciate the important history?” Michaels says. “We’re looking into some different things right now.”
PHOTOS: ANGELINA CASTILLO
GO SEE DERV GORDON on Wednesday. Give a big ol’ middle finger to dynamic pricing schemes and myopic visions of music history and go see an artist who has mattered for six decades and counting without fitting into the square holes the C-suite has cut out for legacy artists. Go see a man who sang on records that capture singular moments in time while predicting decades of underground trends. Go see the singer of The Equals, one of the most dynamic bands to ever come out of the U.K. — ska-adjacent garage stompers who dabbled in psych and funk with energy, vitality and rebelliousness that foretold punk and New Wave as well as all their revivals and permutations. To top it all off, they effectively Trojan-horsed a perceptive social conscience into some of the most singable tunes of pop music’s imperial phase.
You might not know The Equals. Unusual for the back half of the 1960s, the original group was a multiracial unit including Derv and his guitarist brother Lincoln Gordon, guitarist and songwriter Eddy Grant, guitarist Pat Lloyd and drummer John Hall. Though this ensemble never toured the States, you could find their records sprinkled around the Midstate in dollar bins and storage-shed sales near military bases throughout the Aughts, a time when the death of vinyl meant childhood collections were being tossed to the curb. (Between the alleged death of vinyl and the format’s awkward rebirth, seemingly every secondhand shop from Clarksville to Oak Ridge was awash in European pressings of some wild pop music.) The Equals’ presence in the U.S. mostly consists of Nuggets-syle compilations and covers of songs like “Police on My Back” by bands like The Clash.
If The Equals have clearly influenced some important people, why are they noncanonical in terms of the American underground? You could chalk it up to the band’s willingness to slide between genre markers: Gordon’s voice could make every record a soul record, but the tunes range from highlife bops to full-fuzz psy-
ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL
Seeing Derv Gordon is the ultimate anti-establishment move
BY SEAN L. MALONEY
Playing 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 25, at Eastside Bowl
chedelia. Sure, the songs are thrillingly anti-establishment — “Bad Boy” and “Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys” are classic two-finger salutes to the status quo — but don’t we expect that from our rock ’n’ rollers? They were a singles band in an album era, but The Equals were making music for the masses, and the 45-rpm platter is definitely the format of the people.
I don’t have all the receipts, but I’d wager that it comes down to corporate music not being able to handle treating Black rock musicians as, ahem, equals. Corporate America’s canonization of rock ’n’ roll seemingly only allows for one Black artist
to be revered in each time- or style-based subgenre: Early rock has Little Richard, classic rock has Jimi, the punx get Bad Brains, ’80s metal gets Living Color and so on. It’s not fair, and it eschews contemporary successes and historical accuracy for storylines that reinforce a harmful hegemony. But it also puts The Equals in the company of some of the rock era’s greatest ensembles — The Isley Brothers, The Chambers Brothers, Frankie Beverly and Maze — and coolest deep-cut acts like Black Merda, Cymande and Death. It is a club whose artistic contributions to global culture far outstrip the acclaim they’ve been given.
FOLLOW YOUR ARROW
Kassi Ashton is unapologetically herself on her debut Made From the Dirt
BY RACHEL CHOLST
KASSI ASHTON projects a certain devil-may-care attitude in her music. From the defiant anthem “Called Crazy” to the disco-kissed “Drive You Out of My Mind” to the stirring ballad “The Straw,” Ashton displays a strength that feels unshakeable on her debut album Made From the Dirt
That’s all by design. Made From the Dirt is the culmination of seven years’ work — and a lifetime of practice. Ashton and her family faced some hardships when she was young, and she had a lot of pent-up energy. Her mother worked at a private airport in California, Mo.; the singer-songwriter isn’t sure if it was her idea or her mom’s, but she started her performing career busking in the lobby.
“It was a place to direct my energy and something to keep my brain busy and
So here’s your opportunity to help fix that historical wrong: Go see Derv Gordon alongside a slew of great rock bands from near and far (including Sydney, Australia’s Gee Tee and Nashville’s The Sleeveens, who are fronted by Irishman Stef Murphy). Dance your ass off, rock the fuck out and celebrate the fact that corporate monopolies and racist mentalities haven’t taken over every stage and stream in the music world. Remember that great pop music belongs to the people, and the people are ready to party, scalpers and suits be damned. ▼
healthy and out of trouble, but I also loved it,” Ashton says. “It became the ultimate emotion reliever, stress reliever — a place to put something.”
In the years since, Ashton has poured those experiences into her songs. They don’t always come out explicitly in her lyrics, but hard-earned grit and a sense of self-possession are a fundamental part of her music. Ashton’s story also informs the title of the album.
“I actually feel bad for people that have had a really great life,” she says. “Like, I’m jealous of them — but I also feel bad, because I’m like, ‘You have no idea how strong you are and what you can endure, because you’ve never had to.’ … All of my favorite things about myself have come from struggle. I was not born with them.”
Ashton puts this evolution at the center of her live show too. She makes herself an avatar for her audience’s struggles and their triumphs.
“I’m super lucky to have a career where, yes, I can escape onstage, but I’m also doing it so that the fans can escape too,” she says. “That’s the point, right? To be seen and to feel yourself in your bones, but to also get the fuck out of your head.”
This narrative inspires both the physical layout of the stage and the flow of
THE ENVELOPE, PLEASE
Sierra Ferrell tops a substantial slate of Americana Honors & Awards winners
BY STEPHEN TRAGESER
Wednesday night, a mass of fans and a wide array of spectacularly talented musicians convened at the Ryman for the 23rd annual Americana Honors & Awards show, the keystone event of this week’s AmericanaFest. The ceremony recognized the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Honorees, including the late Rev. Gary Davis. A pioneer of Piedmont blues who influenced generations of players, Davis was posthumously given the Legacy Award, presented in conjunction with the National Museum of African American Music. Country-rock champion Dave Alvin, rocking country songsmith extraordinaire Dwight Yoakam, gospel legends The Blind Boys of Alabama and top-notch singer-songwriter Shelby Lynne were recognized as Lifetime Achievement Honorees as well. Also celebrated among their complement: Don Was, whose decades of production and performance credits include membership in the awards show’s All-Star Band, alongside such stalwarts as The McCrary Sisters, Jen Gunderman, Jim Hoke, Jerry Pentecost, Bryan Owings, Larry Campbell and bandleader Buddy Miller.
From among a stellar slate of artists, Sierra Ferrell was honored with two of the six annual awards in member-voted categories.
the show. She enjoys watching people in the crowd slowly come out of their shells.
“For the last song, I say, ‘If you take one thing from my show tonight, please let it be this: Whoever you are, whoever you want to be, you can be that thing,’” says Ashton. “‘There are no boxes, there are no boundaries — nothing you can’t have, nothing you don’t deserve. Say I deserve it all!”
Made From the Dirt was a long time coming. Ashton signed to UMG Nashville/Interscope in 2017, but she chose to hold off on touring until she’d crafted a collection of songs that she felt were worthy of touring behind. Before she could take them on the road, COVID struck. In that downtime, Ashton reevaluated her music and looked for ways to push her boundaries.
“We’ve always known this album was alternative,” she says of her team. “We always knew there would be people that didn’t get it. We always knew that it wouldn’t be straight-down-the-middle, the most commercial
The widely traveled, Nashville-residing singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has a gift for making you see through the eyes of the characters in whatever song she sings — whether it’s one she wrote or not — which is in full effect on her latest LP Trail of Flowers Ferrell was crowned Artist of the Year, and the album (produced by Eddie Spear and Gary Paczosa) was named Album of the Year
Alabama country-rockers The Red Clay Strays, who’ve been riding high on their 2022 debut Moment of Truth and its follow-up Made by These Moments (released in July), took home the Emerging Act of the Year trophy. Brandy Clark’s “Dear Insecurity,” which she co-wrote with Michael Pollack and sings with Brandi Carlile on her self-titled album, is Song of the Year
In February, blues-rockers Larkin Poe, aka sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell, won Best Contemporary Blues Album at the Grammys with their 2023 record Blood Harmony; Wednesday, they became Americana’s Duo/Group of the Year. Meanwhile, guitarist and bandleader Grace Bowers, who made a fantastic debut with her band The Hodge Podge on their soulful funk-rock album Wine on Venus, won Instrumentalist of the Year ▼
beer/truck music. But they never made me feel like I didn’t fit somewhere.”
Whether or not you get it, the music is impossible to ignore. Ashton uses an array of rhythms and a wide variety of vocal tools to elevate her songs.
“Vocal inflection and melody can be just as powerful, if not more so, than lyrics,” she explains. “Melody is where the real emotion comes from. My writing process a lot of times starts with a melody, or at least a lyric that I feel inclined to sing. In my brain, I should be able to sing the melody with no words, and you get an instant feeling of what the subject matter is. The emotion should be that clear.”
Ashton feels confident that Made From the Dirt will resonate with her audience. And if it doesn’t, at least she did it her way.
“If I’m gonna go down, I’m going to go down as myself. When they listen to it, I want people, whether or not they know me well, to say, ‘That’s totally fucking Kassi.’” ▼
Thursday, September 19
CONVERSATION AND PERFORMANCE
Swamp Dogg
2:00 PM · FORD THEATER AS PART OF AMERICANAFEST
Saturday, September 21 HATCH SHOW PRINT
Block Party
9:30 AM, NOON, AND 2:30 PM HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP
Saturday, September 21 CONVERSATION AND PERFORMANCE
Shelby Lynne
11:00 AM · FORD THEATER AS PART OF AMERICANAFEST
Saturday, September 21 FILM SCREENING AND PANEL DISCUSSION
Any Other Way
The Jackie Shane Story
2:00 PM · FORD THEATER AS PART OF AMERICANAFEST PRESENTEDINPARTNERSHIPWITHTHE NASHVILLEFILMFESTIVALANDNATIONAL MUSEUMOFAFRICANAMERICANMUSIC
WITNESS HISTORY
Museum Membership
Receive free admission, access to weekly programming, concert ticket presale opportunities, and more.
Sunday, September 22
MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT
Tony Trischka 1:00 PM · FORD THEATER
Saturday, September 28
SONGWRITER SESSION MacKenzie Porter NOON · FORD THEATER
Sunday, September 29 MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT Abbi Roth 1:00 PM · FORD THEATER
Saturday, October 5 HATCH SHOW PRINT Block Party
9:30 AM, NOON, AND 2:30 PM HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP
Saturday, October 5
SONGWRITER SESSION
Bobby Tomberlin NOON · FORD THEATER
SIERRA FERRELL PHOTO: BOBBI RICH
GIMME MOORE!
The Demi Moore-starring The Substance is a pageant of the perverse
BY JASON SHAWHAN
WE GET TO KNOW the story of The Substance’s Elizabeth Sparkle before we actually get to meet her. She’s a personality whose star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame goes through its own Elisabeth Kübler-Ross arc as we’re settling in for whatever ride this titular Substance is going to send us on. She’s turning 50 as a semi-beloved star of the fitness world, built on the symmetrical tease of early-1980s Aerobicise and the aspirational humanity of the late, great Richard Simmons in Slimnastics mode. And the industry, incarnated by Harvey (Dennis Quaid, bringing to life the subtext of the Reagan era in a suitably unctuous fashion), has decided to replace her with a newer model, both literally and figuratively.
But an unfortunate car accident leads to a fortunate hospital visit, which leads our heroine Liz (Demi Moore, flawless, with no fucks to give and kicking down the doors in lethal Amina Muaddi boots) to the Substance. It comes in a vial, it’s neon-chartreuse, and it offers something … different.
Specifically, it untethers your DNA and gives you a biological remix. It’s all elements of you, just recombined in a tighter, younger, more bangin’ package. And suddenly you’ve got a symbiotic relationship with this different version of yourself, optimized for The Club, The Youth and The Wild Life. The cycle even balances itself biologically, with each of these Yous taking seven days up and around and being active, followed by a week of dormancy while you recharge. It’s the perfect opportunity to turn the hamster wheel we’re all on into something irrelevant, using your hard-won knowledge in the School of Life alongside the supple and sexified flesh of youth like a two-person pyramid scheme.
But you know how humanity is. You know that sense of feeling we’ve still got something to offer the world, but the hands on the levers of power are attached to venal assholes who just
won’t let go.
So Liz takes the Substance, and we meet Sue (Margaret Qualley, a supernova of pert impetuousness and maxed-out apex-predator perceptions). Together these women could conquer the world. But you know how the expectations of others are. You know the energy generated in society whenever the Girls Are Fighting. And writer-director Coralie Fargeat knows this as well. So this situation is a powderkeg that plays out in a way that won the Best Screenplay award at Cannes this year. If I wanted you to come see this movie — and I very much do — I would tell you that it feels like a Screaming Mad George take on Drop Dead Gorgeous. (There. That should do it.)
You might not be into hardcore body modification and parallel evolution, but everyone who has had to sign up for an app to do anything will already recognize how the Substance works. The way tech interface legitimizes even the sketchiest of premises. The way that, regardless of whether you’re getting meal ingredients or highly experimental recombinant drugs, the process is the same. The mechanism by which you get what you need is established and not even that far a step for anyone.
Fargeat has impeccable instincts. Her debut feature, 2017’s Revenge, was an astonishing reinvention of the rape-revenge film, finding unrevealed facets and new iconography within that timeless, disreputable structure. Here she’s working on a massive canvas, one best served by viewing on the biggest possible screen. The Rejuvenatrix, Erzsébet Báthory, The Neon Demon and Saint David Cronenberg are all invited to this pageant of the perverse, but there’s also room for Ben Folds’ “Fred Jones Part 2” and Hole’s “Celebrity Skin” emotions, a genuine and palpable hurt that hits right behind the eyes like the guilt you feel when time and age claim someone right in front of you, and a sense that this might actually even be a third Valley of the
Dolls film somehow. The Substance is awesome and overwhelming and in no way concerned with apologizing for taking big, neon swings with big, neon manicures. Demi Moore has always been a treasure (2022’s Please Baby Please let us know big things were coming), and this performance is fearless in a way that would pile up awards on any man’s porch.
If you wanted to put it in terms of the classic artform of music video, The Substance starts like Eric Prydz’s “Call on Me” and finishes like the last four minutes of Aphex Twin’s “Windowlicker.” It’s the exact right blend of sensation and catharsis to feel rooted deep in human emotions and at the same time unbound by gravity, tradition or taste. It’s a roller coaster that also has a few hidden trapdoors. At the end of my screening, I kind of wanted to cheer even as I knew respectable folks weren’t going to enjoy it as much as I did.
There’s stuff in this film that will work on anyone, and some material that will work on everyone. But with the right kind of vibe, this is the kind of theatrical experience you treasure — one of those “remember when we saw that in a theater?” memories that’ll get you to take weird viewing chances in the future. Some may laugh, some may puke, and I’m just soaking in the way that Coralie Fargeat, Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley ran the table and got the arthouse and the grindhouse to sit back and sip weirdly colored adult beverages and unzip the part of the spine that keeps your freak swaddled. ▼
The Substance R, 140 minutes Opening Thursday, Sept. 19, at the Belcourt and Regal and AMC locations
1 City sitting spot
6 One shown in a crowd cutaway at a sporting event, perhaps
11 Word on a diamond-shaped yellow road sign
15 Gondola’s path
16 Ancient Greek marketplace
17 Yacht spot
18 *Rod-shaped parasite
20 Hard-core
21 Base figure, for short
22 Garden divisions
23 Made a bundle
25 “From your lips to God’s ears”
27 *Soup or sandwich
30 Point to
31 Mash-up
33 “Green”
34 Fraction of a watt-hour
36 “Foyle’s ___” (British TV drama)
37 Exploits
39 Technology used in writing the starred clues?
42 Suffix with proto-
44 Straight, informally
45 Rook’s opposite
46 Take for a ride
47 Most diabolical
50 Disturb
54 *Embarrassment from a self-own, perhaps
56 Businesswoman Huffington
58 “Peace”
59 Command
60 Noted speedway sponsor
61 Laura of “Enlightened”
62 *Grade-A quality
66 Call it a day
67 Folklore foes
68 Headdress for the archbishop of Canterbury
69 Places to get masks
70 Kingpin on “The Wire”
1 Like the longer route, maybe
2 Martial art with movements like “Parting the Horse’s Mane” and “Grasp Bird’s Tail”
3 One way to get around town
4 Clod
5 Annapolis frosh
6 Persian’s realm?
7 They often clash
8 Forecast word
9 Poetic palindrome
10 She originated the role of Fanny in “Funny Girl”
11 Like pangolins
12 Small sofa
13 Fallopian tube, e.g.
14 Make one out of two?
19 18th-century French novelist whose name means “the wise man”
24 Charge for money, say
26 Friends, in slang
28 Farming prefix
29 NYY rival
71 Correct, as writing DOWN
27 Major tributary of the Missouri
32 “Well, shoot!,” more colorfully
35 Fix
38 Deleted scene, e.g.
39 Afro-Caribbean religion
40 Plant in the mint family with healthful seeds
41 Mobile dinner table
42 Banned chemical contaminant, for short
43 Bungle
48 One half of the merger that formed Paramount Global
49 Insisted
51 Not remote
52 Starting position, maybe
53 Ran out
55 Rainflies can cover them
57 Identifying words from a familiar voice
59 Stoke
61 Makes ineligible for competition, for short
63 N.Y.C. luggage tag letters
64 Defenseman who scored a Stanley Cup-winning “flying goal”
65 ___ Dae-jung, Nobel-winning former president of South Korea
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