ARTIST IN PROFILE: JEREMY FETZER & KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOR: JIM HAWK
L I L L Y
H I A T T
NOV/DEC 2021 • VOL. XI ISSUE 6
ON LOVE, LOSS & ACCIDENTAL REINVENTION
PLUS THE 2021 BAD INFLUENCERS' GUIDE TO THE HOLIDAYS
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What could we do if we did it
TOGETHER?
Breakle yc the C verty of Po
Meet Our Neighbors’ Basic Needs
s Give Kid l an Equa Chance
Buil Stro d Heal ng, Comm thy unitie s
Together, we can be the hand raisers. The game changers. The moment makers. We can be the everyday heroes who stand united to make sure every child, every family, every person in our community thrives.
Get involved at unitedwaygreaternashville.org/together. 4
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WHEN GLAMOUR AND STYLE ENTERED EVERYDAY LIFE. During the interwar years of the 1920s and 1930s, an international style manifested stateside in a broad array of decorative and fine arts, architecture, and design. For the first time, quality household goods were mass-produced affordably, allowing more Americans to enjoy these dynamic objects. As we celebrate our 20th anniversary, come explore 140 works of art presented in the Frist’s own art deco interior, and examine how the glamour and optimism of the Roaring ’20s and the
THROUGH JANUARY 2 D ow nt ow n Na shv ille 919 Br o a d w ay, Na shv ille, T N 3720 3 Fr i s t A r t Mus eum.or g @ Fr i s t A r t Mus eum # T he Fr i s t # Fr i s t A r t D e c o
devastation of the Great Depression in the ’30s shaped this iconic style.
Organized by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, and Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska Platinum sponsor
Hospitality sponsor
Education and community engagement supporters
Spanish translation sponsor
The Frist Art Museum is supported in part by
Lurelle Van Arsdale Guild, designer (American, 1898–1985); Electrolux Corporation, manufacturer (Dover, Delaware, founded 1919). Electrolux Vacuum (Model 30), designed 1937. Chrome-plated steel, aluminum, vinyl, and rubber, 8 1/2 x 23 x 7 3/4 in. Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver, 2004.3466. Image courtesy of Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver. Photo: Wes Magyar 2021 theeastnashvillian.com November | December
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Get back to the healthcare you need.
Get back to you. From missed checkups to ongoing symptoms, now it’s time to put yourself back on your to do list and get the healthcare you need more safely than ever before.
ER | Physician Clinics | Urgent Care | Virtual Visits
TriStarHealth.com/GetBackToYou
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theeastnashvillian.com
Creative Director
Contributing Writers Founder & Publisher
Lisa McCauley lisa@theeastnashvillian.com
Editor-in-Chief
Chuck Allen editor@theeastnashvillian.com
Chuck Allen
Jay Dmuchowski James Haggerty Jack Evan Johnson Leslie LaChance Andrew Leahey Megan Seling Tommy Womack
Layout & Design
Benjamin Rumble Photo Editor
Travis Commeau
Associate Editor
Illustrations
Randy Fox
Benjamin Rumble Dean Tomasek Tommy Womack
Contributing Photographers
randy@theeastnashvillian.com
Scott Sax Madison Thorn
Advertising sales@theeastnashvillian.com Ad Design Benjamin Rumble Distribution Manager Whit Hubner The East Nashvillian is a bimonthly magazine published by Kitchen Table Media. All editorial content and photographic materials contained herein are “works for hire” and are the exclusive property of Kitchen Table Media, LLC unless otherwise noted. This publication is offered freely, limited to one per reader. The removal of more than one copy by an individual from any of our distribution points constitutes theft and will be subject to prosecution. Reprints or any other usage without the express written permission of the publisher is a violation of copyright.
©2021 Kitchen Table Media P.O. Box 60157, Nashville, TN 37206
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Contents
11. 12.
15. 21. 22.
On the Cover Lilly Hiatt photographed at 3sirens by Travis Commeau
28.
have a holly jolly
Parting Shot photographed Chuck Allen
37. 43. 47. 48.
Editor’s Letter by Chuck Allen
Astute Observations by James “Hags” Haggerty
Matters of Development By Randy Fox, Jack Evan Johnson
Know Your Neighbor
Jim Hawk By Leslie LaChance
Artist in Profile:
Jeremy Fetzer By Tommy Womack
Cover Story
Lilly Hiatt
On love, loss & accidental reinvention By Megan Seling
2021 Bad Influencers' Guide to the Holidays
It's More Than Just Pedal Taverns
Photo essay with a first-time visitor By Scott Sax
Out East Soundtrack Featuring The Ornaments Curated by Andrew Leahey & Jay Dmuchowski
East of Normal
by Tommy Womack
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Editor’s
Letter
’Tis the Season by
Chuck
Allen
O
ne of my all-time favorite songs is the brilliant and timelessly poignant “Turn, Turn, Turn” by Pete Seeger, which I first came to know through The Byrds' 1965 rendition thereof. An ode to the acceptance of change, the song embodies a gentle approach to dealing with ourselves and the world in which we live. While this may seem like a tall order these days, it's somehow comforting to remember that being human has always been challenging. When Seeger wrote “Turn, Turn, Turn,” schoolchildren were being shown films to “Duck an Cover” in case of a nuclear blast, amidst the existential dilemas presented by the Cold War. Kid's these days confront a new set of existential dilemas; while not as terrifying as being vaporized in a nuclear blast, they are no less threatening. But it's always been this way. The “Book of Revelations” is now two millenniums old and ever since it was written, there've always been those who cry out, “The end is nigh!” There's a danger in being too relativistic though. The 60s held an entirely different set of challenges to the ones young people face today. Perhaps the biggest difference is the path to humility. Consumer-culture capitalism and social media celebrate the individual at the expense of community. This combination is new to us, and we're still trying to figure it out. I think we will, eventually. In the meantime ...
To everything (turn, turn, turn) There is a season (turn, turn, turn) And a time to every purpose, under heaven.
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Astute Observations
by James “Hags” Haggerty
SOUTH FOR THE WINTER
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reetings, friends, I hope this column finds you well. It seems not much has changed since I last observed astutely. As you know, I have spent the summer and a bit of the fall working on my Airbnb in North Adams, Massachusetts. North Adams is a tiny mountain city at the edge of New York and Vermont with a blue-collar work ethic and an appreciation for art and culture. Mountain and river views abound, and the dominant politics are a deep blue. It’s been lovely. Every room has been freshly painted and appointed with furnishings hunted down at the local Habitat Restore and other thrifty sources. My chateau, affectionately dubbed “The Exile on East Main Street” is looking great and booking well. The photography of Jim Herrington, Theresa Kereakes, and Alan Messer is proudly hung as is beautiful artwork by Wendy Walker Silverman. I hope to generate sales for them. I like to think of the house as a comfortable and stylish rock ‘n’ roll art gallery. I have enjoyed the break from Bill Lee and the Williamson County school board screamers but alas, it is time to come home to the Country Club Estates section of Inglewood and my cozy Riverwood cottage. As I look to the future and my career as a roving bassist, I feel uncertain but hopeful. I want nothing more than to get back on the road and in the studio with my musical compatriots safely and I know that will happen. In the meantime, as temperatures drop, and the leaves display their colors and begin to fall and the holidays approach (my favorite time of year), I am feeling grateful for the little things. The big things will work themselves out in time, as they always do. For now, I am focusing on gratitude. As I consider the things for which I’m grateful this Thanksgiving, community comes immediately to mind. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to play on a new Charlie McCoy Bossa Nova record with the Inglehood Records gang back in July, which has just been released. Everyone was safely masked, vaxxed, and distant, and it was a pleasure to make music with old friends. Listening to the finished record this past week reminds me of how lucky I am
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to be a part of such a richly talented community. To be able to make music with such fine musicians is something that enriches my soul immeasurably. I have been ruminating on the past 18 months. This dreadful time of isolation, frustration, and fear has also held bright spots for me. It seems almost unreal that I managed to pay my mortgage with sourdough bread. I made new friends and enjoyed weekly fellowship with old pals on a regular basis. While not playing bass, I was able to use my hands to share a little comfort and sustenance with friends and neighbors and feel as if I was contributing some small joys in a time of bleakness. I am looking forward to firing up the oven for more baking and camaraderie this winter. Sourdough makes an excellent stocking stuffer, don’t you know? Yesterday, intrepid editor, Chuck Allen asked Jen Gunderman, Marty Lynds, and myself (The Ornaments) to contribute a holiday playlist to this magazine in anticipation of our annual performances of Vince Guaraldi’s classic A Charlie Brown Christmas. Putting my contributions to the list on paper put me in such a beautiful mood. Remembering the Christmas soundtrack of my youth made me smile inside. The sweet sugar plum memories formed into an insight for me. In the words of the great Curtis Mayfield, We’ve got to keep on pushing Cause we’ve got strength and it don’t make sense not to keep on pushing More than ever, I am excited to share some Christmas cheer with everyone this year. Did I mention that The Ornaments will be performing at Chark Kinsolving and Jamie Rubin’s swanky new Eastside Bowl? Did I mention that the music venue housed inside is called The Wash?! Did I mention there will be shepherd’s pie?! If that isn’t a reason for gratitude, I don’t know what is! I’ll be spending the next few days battening down the hatches, cleaning and preparing for guests here at the Exile and then it’s a north to south road trip for Tania and myself. I’m excited to return home to you East Nashville. All in all, life is good. Happy Holidays!
Hags is a bass player, bread maker, and regular contributor to The East Nashvillian. The Ornaments begin their The Wash at Eastside Bowl residency at on December 17.
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Matters of Development NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2021 By Randy Fox and Jack Evan Johnson
Tornado Recovery Updates After suffering considerable damage from the March 3, 2020 tornado — including a tree literally cutting the building in half — Beyond The Edge Sportsbar in Five Points reopened Sept. 9, with limited hours and a limited menu. “We weren’t ready, but we didn’t want to miss football season,” owner Matt Charette said. The nearby Boston Commons and Drifters Tennessee Barbeque restaurants, also owned by Charette, were damaged in the tornado as well. Boston Commons was able to open in February, but Drifters has yet to open, and Charette does not yet have an opening date. “It was just too much, mentally, to be working on all three places at the same time,” says Charette. “Drifters is almost ready to go, we’re just waiting on staff.” A construction crew was spotted working on the 1000 Woodland St. lot recently, formerly home to Family Dollar. The property, owned by Nashville-based Magnolia Investment Partners, will eventually be home to two new restaurants, in two new buildings. “For some
reason, that parcel has taken forever to get their grading permit from Metro Water,” Metro Nashville District 6 Councilmember Brett Withers said. “Construction is just now beginning.” Edley’s Bar-B-Que will be one of the restaurants, moving from its Main Street location. Across 10th Street, the two tornado-damaged Hill Center Five Points buildings — formerly home to Burger Up and other businesses — are being rebuilt. The property’s two-story office building appears to be nearing completion. The second floor will be home to the Hawkins Partners landscape architecture firm. The new corner restaurant building, with a rooftop bar, remains under construction. “Burger Up decided not to return,” said Councilmember Withers. “Some of the stuff in that block, from the restaurant standpoint, they did not have the foot traffic they would have wanted.” East End United Methodist Church, located at 1212 Holly St., is set to be demolished after post-tornado efforts to save the 115-year-old structure were unsuccessful. The church plans to save the large stained glass window depict-
ing Jesus as the Good Shepherd and will use it at a new church to be constructed at the same location, according to WZTV. The decision to demo was recently approved by the Historic Planning Commission. The new building is expected to be completed by mid-2023. After months of delay, renovation work has begun on the historic Russell Street Presbyterian Church property at 122 S. 11th St. Built in 1911, the property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was most recently part of a three-building complex owned by Y-CAP (YMCA Community Action Programs). The roof of the main building was severely damaged by the March 3 tornado. After months of assessment the building was determined to be salvageable. In September 2020, veteran East Side developer and real estate manager, Mark Sanders and wife Patti, who have lived across the street from the building for almost 40 years, purchased the property from the YMCA of Middle Tennessee. The complete renovation that has now begun will transform the building into a restaurant space →
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Matters of Development while preserving its historic character. Sanders hopes to complete the project by Fall of 2022. Work is progressing on two office buildings on lots located at 918 Main St. and 3 McFerrin Ave. The properties were formerly home to the clothing store Molly Green and the Dualtone Music Group, and both buildings were razed by the March 3 tornado. The properties are
now owned by a firm tied to the publishing company and record label Razor & Tie. The building on Main will be a five-story residential and retail building with the McFerrin property a 5,000-square-foot, 2-story office building. Both buildings were designed by East Nashville-based Powell Design + Construction Studios.
New & Noteworthy The three-story building between Duke’s and The 5 Spot at 1012 Main St., is being built as townhomes but will operate as a hotel, according to Councilperson Brett Withers. There will also be a small restaurant space in the building and a small parking lot. “A lot of people are surprised — it does have a small rear parking lot,” Withers said. Additionally, Metro has required a sidewalk to be added, along with other improvements. “If you walk by it, most of the new sidewalk has been poured, planning strips with street trees … they are adding a parking lane … they are kinda widening Main Street a little,” he said. East Nashville Pediatrics, a pediatric primary care office specializing in the care of children and adolescents, plans to open its doors in December at 3926 Gallatin Pike, Suite 2. “We support families with positivity, personal connection, and evidence-based care,” the business’s website says. For more info, visit them online at eastnashvillepediatrics.com. For Inglewood residents still mourning the loss of Inglewood Hardware, some good news has arrived. Elder’s Ace Hardware is aiming to be open by Thanksgiving at the old Save-ALot building located at 2622 Gallatin Pike. The Chattanooga-based franchise operates 22 Ace Hardware stores in Tennessee and Northern Georgia. More info at eldershardware.com. East Nail Bar has opened at 819 Main St., Suite 2. The salon is advertised as a BYOB, “Nash-Vegas-style salon,” also offering free wine and beer. Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday. 615.922.2990. The Little Free Art Gallery — a dollhouse-like art gallery sitting on a roadside post — has been erected on Sharpe Avenue between Chapel Avenue and Manchester Avenue. Visitors are free to take or leave a miniature art piece from the gallery, and there’s a dropbox attached to the post where you can leave your artwork if there’s no room in the gallery to display it when you come by. Closings & Moves Beloved East Side beer joint and karaoke hangout, Fran’s East Side at 2105 Greenwood Ave., was scheduled to close Halloween weekend, after an “End of the Line” farewell party. However, plans have changed slightly and the bar will stay open at its current location until the end of the year. Two beloved non-East Side institutions announced their imminent departure recently. The downtown music venue complex Mercy Lounge/Cannery Ballroom/The High Watt will be closing its doors in May →
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Matters of Development 2022 after almost 20 years. The owners have announced plans to relocate to an undisclosed location. Already gone is the iconic downtown diner, Hermitage Cafe which permanently closed its doors Halloween night, after more than 30 years of business. The late night diner was a favorite post-show destination for both musicians and music fans alike and will be missed by many. Not closing yet, but news that the 1000 Main St. property that is home to Duke’s and Shep’s Delicatessen has recently been put on the market, is creating some uncertainty for the popular local bar. “Unfortunately, we’re as much in the dark as anyone else,” Sara Nelson of Duke’s said. “We do have a lease for a few more years, but anything can happen when and if a property changes hands. … We only have control over what happens inside our tiny little corner of the neighborhood, and we hope to be there for many, many years. We’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing until someone makes us stop!” The final, end of the line came for the Gerst Haus in October with the demolition of the once-popular German restaurant’s former home at 301 Woodland St. Originally opened in 1955 on Second Avenue near the Metro Courthouse, the restaurant became a favored hangout for Metro officials and newspaper reporters, a tradition that continued when it relocated across the river in 1970. In 1998, the Gerst Haus relocated again due to the construction of Nissan Stadium to the 301 Woodland St. location where it operated until 2018.
Wash (located off Gallatin Avenue at 1101 McKennie Ave.), offering micro-kitchens for restaurant startups. Construction on US-41 is expected to begin in December, and be completed by the end of 2022. The complex is near the historic Congress Inn — once used as a Civil War hospital — which a Cauble-led investor group also purchased recently with plans for a boutique hotel, Salt Ranch. Metro Nashville District 5 Councilmember Sean Parker says 650 units of affordable housing, spread across three separate projects, will be coming to East Nashville in the coming years. One project is a $300 million mixed-use project Austin-based developer Cypress Real Estate Advisors has planned for a 14.4 acre McFerrin Park site with addresses 301 N. Second St. and 651 and 660 Joseph Ave. “They haven’t even filed their application yet,” Parker said. “The developers have had a number of meetings with the community — we’re going back and forth about the plans.” Another project is a 195-unit residential project by a Chicago firm, planned for 900 Dickerson Pike, which Parker says is two to three years away. There is a third affordable housing project Parker says he is not ready to comment on.
Chicago-based design firm Alfred Benesch and Company, along with property owner Brandon Bubis, have applied for a zoning change to build 26 multi-family units at 121 Hart Lane, near Dickerson Pike, according to Metro Planning Department documents. In Other Development News A Franklin-based developer planning a 245 apartment units in North Inglewood, at 301 Ben Allen Road. An Atlanta developer has purchased an East Bank property, located at 51 Oldham St., for $12.5 million and has plans for a 350-unit apartment complex. A $300 million mixed-use development is planned for McFerrin Park. A 0.54 acre unimproved East Nashville property once eyed for a mixed-use building, located at 1009 and 1013 Dickerson Pike, has sold for $2.35 million. The Metro Planning Commission has approved a plan allowing 32 townhome units to be built on a 2.47-acre site at the intersection of Walker Terrace and Williams Avenue in Madison, according to Planning Department documents.
Coming Soon A representative from Calypso Cafe, which closed its 301 Gallatin Ave. location in East Nashville in March 2020, due to COVID19, has told The East Nashvillian that the restaurant will be reopening. “I’m not sure the opening date yet, but we are beginning to hire staff and get the space ready. WE ARE SO EXCITED TO BE BACK!!!” Allison Wills Brooks said in an email. Another new Dickerson Pike development has been announced and will include retail, restaurants, and amenity spaces. Developers Tyler Cauble of Hamilton Development and Keith J. Leman announced the purchase of the 2.28-acre site, located at 2801-2809 Dickerson Pike, in September. The project is to be called US-41, paying homage to Dickerson Pike’s “long history of music and Americana,” a press release said. US-41 will bring green space and local restaurant concepts and bars including the second iteration of Cauble’s soon-to-open restaurant concept, The
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Architecture | Custom Design | Historic Renovation 6I5.76I.9902 nineI2architects.com
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Jim
HAWK
B Y
L E S L I E
KNOW your NEIGHBOR
L A C H A N C E
I
think it would be amazing if we had neighborhoods in East Nashville, all over the city actually, that had wildflower corridors, and it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. Creating these alleyways as a nice place to walk, where you can feel good and enjoy the flowers, makes a city a better place to live. We’re taking care of our pollinators, the bees, the birds, creating habitat, which is so important. We can’t live without our pollinators.” —Jim Hawk
This wildflower vision is one of many that arise from the thousands of neighborhood conversations Hawk facilities across the city in his role as executive director of Neighbor2Neighbor, a local non-profit that advocates for better neighborhoods through civic engagement. The organization is small but mighty, powered by a paid staff of two and a solid volunteer-base of neighbors and community leaders who seek neighborhood-level solutions to what are often city-wide problems. The organization focuses on eight “passions” that address not only things like beautification and safety, but also the pressing problems created by rapid development, like affordable housing, gentrification, constructions noise, and residents being shut out of the planning process. Through his work, Hawk helps connect individuals and community groups with each other, as well as with city government, agencies, and resources they need to make positive changes at their doorsteps. “That’s a whole lot of conversation going on,” he says. “And it’s among people who want the best for their neighborhoods, and to be good neighbors.” Hawk was drawn to community organizing from his early days in Christian education. He grew up in Clarion, Pennsylvania and came to Nashville in the 1980s to study at the Scarritt Graduate School and Vanderbilt, where he earned a Master of Arts in Christian Education from Scarritt along with another in Divinity from Vanderbilt. “Amazingly, I use those degrees every day even though it might look like neighborhood organizing has little to do with that. Vanderbilt was very good at systematic theology, and creating systems and relationships is important in the work I do. There’s actually a lot of relevancy to it,” Hawk observes. Neighborhood organizing is like ministry in another way. “You really have to feel called to do it. Also, in all the major religions, the call is really to love your neighbor. So that’s something we all can embrace. We may all think differently about what it means to our neighbor, but we all aspire to it,” he says. “When you come to a neighborhood workshop or training, you already have experience and knowledge,
Jim Hawk in the backyard wildflower garden of his Historic Edgefield home. Photograph by Madison Thorn
and we try to get you to contribute those to the stone soup pot. There are things I know because I’ve studied the issues and can bring that to the table to share. But it’s more about orchestrating an educational experience where together we all learn.” Neighbor2Neighbor isn’t Hawk’s first go-around with community organizing. In the 80s he was chair of Nashville’s nascent Pride event. “It was so amazing that year. We got 500 people to come out and just didn’t think it could get any bigger than that,” Hawk says. He also helped to found Stonewall Mission Church, a small, ecumenical, non-evangelical congregation in Nashville. “I’m not a mega-church person,” he explains. His affinity for small churches grew from his work in rural Pennsylvania, where he worked with congregations that typically had fewer than ten members. “One church I worked with had only two members, and they were sisters,” he recalls. For a few decades Hawk also worked in digital printing. “It was a good job, good people to work with. But it dawned on me that everything I was making got thrown out eventually or maybe recycled. I wanted to do something more sustaining.” He looked to the non-profit world for more meaningful work, found what was then called The Neighborhood Resource Center in 2013, and which became Neighbor2Neighbor in 2014. He’s been helping his neighbors make their communities stronger, safer, more beautiful, resilient, and healthy ever since. “When I started working here, I said ‘This is a great organization doing great things, and I could probably do this for the rest of my life.’” To learn more about Neighbor2Neighbor's “Eight Passions,” or to sign up for one of the many workshops, visit www.n2n.solutions. November | December 2021 theeastnashvillian.com
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Artist in Profile JEREMY
Fetzer
In search of the three perfect ingredients By Tommy Womack
I
n several ways, Jeremy Fetzer’s album cover designs fly in the face of most others out there, and he sidesteps a typecast signature style. Every cover is different, but they do follow a certain thread of minimalism — the stark black & white contrast of Jason Isbel’s The Nashville Sound, the classy retro 60s folkie simplicity look of Gillian Welch’s The Lost Songs, and (my favorite) the 70s funky groove of Pam Tillis surrounding by bright red tile and lounging in a bathtub with a glass of wine while cramming an Oreo in her mouth (I know. Ick, right?) on Looking for a Feeling. These designs and more have not only given him a livelihood but they’ve served as siphon for his expressionjonesing in much the same way his musical pursuits have. →
Photography by Travis Commeau
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Artist intheeastnashvillian.com Profile
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All album artwork this and facing page courtesy of the respective copyright holders; kindly provided by Jeremy Fetzer.
Artist in Profile
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Artist in Profile NOVEMBER 23
OPETH/MASTODON NOVEMBER 24
THREE DOG NIGHT NOVEMBER 30
LESLIE JORDAN & FRIENDS DECEMBER 3 & 4
THE MAVERICKS DECEMBER 28
ROBERT EARL KEEN DECEMBER 30 & 31
OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW JANUARY 19, 20 & 21
DWIGHT YOAKAM FEBRUARY 3
JOSS STONE & CORINNE BAILEY RAE
DECEMBER 15
CHICAGO JANUARY 9
FRANKIE VALLI
& THE FOUR SEASONS
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“I have no design background or education; I just have picked it up and made it up as I go.” So says well-rounded Renaissance dude, Jeremy Fetzer, a man like so many who have moved to Nashville with a guitar in a hand and fell backwards into a career. He still plays guitar in Steelism and before that, with Dualtone Artists The Deep Vibrations, and has no intention of giving the music up so he can spend all damn day in front of a gigantic Mac monitor cropping things and double-clicking on the palette tray. But Fetzer has plied his design trade for a menagerie of artists including Boz Scaggs, Delbert McClinton, Bobby Rush, Justin Townes Earle, Lucinda Williams … pause for breath … lots of other folks too. With that aforementioned minimalism usually front and center, the last thing you’re going to accuse Jeremy Fetzer’s album cover work of is being too busy. “I feel like what I figured out is writing and guitar and design all need about three great ingredients that go together, and then your finding the perfect placement for them. Whether it’s a song, a melody line, or a record cover, or a martini, or a margherita pizza, you just have the perfect three ingredients and make them work together. [That’s] been my philosophy and trick, for all of my artistic pursuits.” In a sense, “artistic” is almost a too pretentious notion for what he’s doing with his covers. He’s not beating you over the head with a dazzling use of color and theme, or bizarre Dali-esque imagery, or Pollack splats, or anything radical for the sake of being radical. Don’t expect Hipgnosis-style covers of two businessmen shaking hands while one of them is on fire, or naked children climbing up a stony mountain. Fetzer doesn’t carry truck in mind-fucks. His designs are reminiscent of a time and age when photos of the artists actually appeared on the covers, hearkening back to lost eras of cover aesthetics, like old jazz records, old gospel records. “For me,” he says, “it’s making the photography and those feelings work together. And usually, like I said, you just need two or three really good components for the cover. I’m always trying to do as little as possible, just to make it work. I guess I like to keep it clean. It could be my OCD tendencies, but also, that’s how so many great [covers were designed], from Blue Note to Bob Dylan [and] I guess the early Beatles covers, before the drugs kicked in.” His work can’t be put in a box. Just take
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a look at a the album artwork he so kindly provided us. He designs the cover that the music hollers out for. On the cover of Ashley Monroe’s Rose Gold, the warmly toned, almost snapshot-like photo could be a Lynn Anderson shot from 1972. The shot of Ashley in the midst of some tall grass and flowers is so reminiscent of that time long past, that you forget for a moment that Ashley’s hair is pink. Then on to Sturgill Simpson’s The Ballad of Dood and Juanita, and it couldn’t be more different — a wood-block printing of a cowboy with his horse and his dog looking like something that would be printed on the frontispiece of a turn of the century wild west novel. Then another left turn and we have the great Boz Scaggs. The cover of Out of the Blues is a throwback in style back to the great Blue Note record covers and others like them, such as Kind of Blue or Duke Ellington & John Coltrane Live in Concert. Take a trip to his website (or your record collection), where Fetzer gives us minimalism with hair on it: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s Reunions — a cover consisting of a far-away shot of a long stretch of grassland horizon taking up the bottom inch of the image, the entire rest of the backdrop above the grassland nothing but slate gray sky, with the title of the record nestled in the top of it, and in the right bottom corner atop the grass horizon is one tiny man, a man who could be Jason Isbell, or could be a guy named Eddie. We’ll never know. A 34-year-old, bookish and amiable sort, Fetzer made his pilgrimage from his homeland of Canton, Ohio to our fair city to study at Belmont. The guitar he carried with him belied his real reason for coming. He hit the ground running with the guitar too, and gained some traction, flirting with some good labels and playing come good gigs. “I’ve always had bands, and I got into design initially just to do it for my own musical projects, to keep costs down, and then I started to have friends asking me to do design for them. My wife had a little bit of design background, so she helped me out enough that I could figure out the technical side when I was just getting started, and she would occasionally help and collaborate.” One aspect of the pandemic is it appears to have killed road work and boosted creativity at the same time. And Fetzer has benefited. “I almost feel guilty because the pandemic
Artist in Profile didn’t really affect design. I think when touring shut down people needed to create more content and release more records than ever. So my design workload went up, which was strange, because vinyl sold more than ever in 2020, so it’s like I had no music work, it was just all design work, which was an interesting thing.”
Other services falling under Fetzer’s umbrella of expertise include book designs, brochures, logos, about any graphic you might like that you can’t get from a tattoo parlor. “Sometimes I think about how this design thing has happened for me, like I still feel I have imposter syndrome with it,” Fetzer muses. “It’s not something I planned
for, but I keep trying to find the similarity between design and music and guitar, and I feel like what I figured out is writing and guitar and design all need [those] three perfect ingredients.”
for any further reference, dig on fetzerdesign.com.
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theeastnashvillian.com November | December 2021
Going For It Lilly Hiatt on love, loss, and accidental reinvention By Megan Seling
Photography by Travis Commeau
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Rock 'n' roll heart with a country soul. Lilly Hiatt relaxes at 3Sirens.
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here’s a very honest moment on Lilly Hiatt’s new album Lately when Hiatt tells us everything we need to know about how she’s been coping with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the song “Been,” a loose and leisurely country-tinged stroll through her day-to-day life at home and off the road, Hiatt sings with a warm Southern drawl, “And if you ever come out with me / You’ll love all that you see / Not meant to stay in one place / Stillness just steals my grace.” The song sounds fairly mellow upon first listen, but Hiatt’s voice is thick with frustration. You can almost hear her jaw tighten a little more with each verse, as she begrudgingly sings about having to stay home and do mundane tasks like grocery shopping and chores. It’s not the life she wanted, nor is it the life she’s known since childhood. Hiatt was born to move, explore, and create, first as the musically inclined daughter of legendary singer-songwriter John Hiatt, of course, and then as a talented artist in her own right. The pandemic didn’t just put a temporary hold on her music career, it uprooted her entire identity during a pivotal point in her promising future. Since releasing her first solo album Let Down in 2012, Hiatt has toured the country with Drive-By Truckers, John Prine, Justin Townes Earl, and Margo Price. She’s worked with notable producers including Doug Lancio and Michael Trent of Shovels & Rope, and after 2017’s critically acclaimed Trinity Lane, she was nominated for Emerging Artist of the Year at 2018’s Americana Music Honors & Awards. In February 2020 Hiatt was poised to take one more big step as she prepared to release Walking Proof, her fourth full-length album (and second for New West Records). Produced by former Cage the Elephant guitarist Lincoln Parish — with guest appearances from Aaron Lee Tasjan, Amanda Shires, and Luke Schneider — Walking Proof is arguably the best work of Hiatt’s career. “Little Believer,” featuring Tasjan, starts as an upbeat rock ‘n’ roll love song brimming with layers of fuzzy guitar and handclaps. It’s fun, crunchy, and poppy. But by the end, Hiatt uncharacteristically cuts loose, spiraling into a Seattle-circa-1993 maelstrom of urgent guitar and drumming while incessantly and breathlessly repeating the phrase “I wanna be your little believer” until her lungs are out of air. →
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YOU CAN’T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT...
U N L E S S YO U S H O P LO C AL!
Photo by Pat Whelen from Pexels
CUS TO M F LO OR S/FUR N I T UR E/FAC A DE S A N D N AS H V I L L E ’S C OOL E S T LU MBE R S TO R E . WWW.GO ODWOO D N ASHVIL L E.CO M | 13 07 DI C KE R S O N P I K E , N A S H VI LLE T N 37 2 07 32
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On the album’s title track, Hiatt comfortably nestles into her country roots to contemplate life on the road. Over mellow twangy guitar and the steady hit of what sounds like a woodblock, Hiatt sings, “Lord, release my hands / I have joined a rock ‘n’ roll band / And it’s put me on the road / Away from everyone I know.” The Highwomen’s Shires provides backing vocals and playful fiddle that give the song a carefree and inviting porch jam vibe. At the end of the record is “Scream,” a haunting and sparse track where Hiatt reclaims her own space in the world with the chorus, “Year after year running from home / I want someplace that’s just my own to scream / And I ain’t slowing down for nobody.” Each song takes a surprising turn and is an example of what’s possible when a songwriter shuns preconceived rules or expectations of a single genre and lets the music lead the way. Goddamn right the record was beginning to garner a lot of attention. Hiatt had two months’ worth of Spring shows booked across the U.S., and Walking Proof’s first few singles, “Brightest Star,” “P-Town,” “Candy Lunch,” and “Some Kind of Drug” (featuring John Hiatt) received a flurry of early praise from national outlets including Rolling Stone, Spin, NPR, and Garden & Gun. Impressive to locals, the singer’s face was also painted larger than life on the outside wall of East Nashville’s beloved record store, Grimey’s. You know you’ve truly made it when your face graces Grimey’s. But then came the stillness. Walking Proof was released on March 27, days after the World Health Organization declared COVID19 a global pandemic. While the record still sold and earned vital praise from critics — it was the first of Hiatt’s albums to chart on Billboard, making both the Tastemakers and Top Album Sales lists, and the notoriously picky Pitchfork gave it a 7.6 — there was no party and no tour. Hiatt’s favorite aspect of releasing new music, performing the songs live, was canceled and the at-home performances she attempted to film to connect with fans in place of touring only seemed to make her feel worse. “I was so bummed about Walking Proof and not getting to play it,” she says while sipping an iced chai outside Inglewood’s Sip Cafe. “I was really invested in those songs. I had these visions for them live. I’m making all these videos and getting really frustrated with my video skills and getting in my head about how I looked and how I sounded — things that you don’t do when you’re playing with four people. That took a while. That did a little number on me.” As all her hopes for Walking Proof faded, and the pandemic’s negative impact on our day-to-day mental health weighed more heavily, Hiatt’s year only seemed to get worse. In April singer-songwriter John Prine, a man Hiatt has known since childhood and who she credits for inspiring her to become a writer, died from complications due to COVID19. In August, Hiatt’s friend and former tour mate Justin Townes Earle died of an accidental drug overdose. She also went through a break-up. Hiatt sinks down into her chair a bit when asked about the heartbreak, which she addresses on Lately — “It was hard,” she finally offers. → “It was a hard thing.
3Sirens of Sound, Vision, and Space
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he website for 3Sirens Music Group describes its headquarters as “a secret gem of a studio somewhere in East Nashville,” but ask co-owners Alyssa and Doug Graham about their East Side creative space and studio and you’ll get a far more complex By Randy Fox description. “People call it a studio because it is a brick and mortar space, but that was never the intention,” Alyssa Graham said. “It started as a vision that Doug, myself, and [fellow musician] David Garza had. Doug and I grew up together as kinda hippies, so we had this artistic, Utopian philosophy of inclusiveness. You get into the business of music, get a little jaded, and you lose sight of that simple dream of collaborating creatively. We really wanted to get back to the days of Greenwich Village in the 60s or what Gertrude Stein’s home in Paris was in the 1920s -- a space where people can come together and collaborate. After renting studio time in Austin during South By Southwest 2016 and recording impromptu sessions with friends, the Grahams began searching for a more permanent space close to home with the help of their friend, music producer Dexter Green. Their search led to a homey, two-story turn of the century Victorian house in East Nashville. Purchasing the property in early 2018, the Grahams and Green began transforming it into a unique studio/creative workshop/clubhouse with first rate audio equipment and instruments and an inspiring sense of quirky decor. “Basically, we were trying to emulate the studio experiences that we loved, and avoid the ones we didn’t,” Doug Graham said. “We never intended it to be a big studio, just a place to do these sessions ourselves, and include friends who wanted to make music.” With vintage furniture, murals filling the walls throughout the house by local artist Scott Guion, and accommodations available for visiting guests (Green is the only full-time resident), 3Sirens quickly became a place where artists want to record and spend time. The type of space that informs the music that is made there, leading to recordings that could not have been made in any other space. Over the last year sessions have expanded from friends, to friends of friends, to inquires from artists who have just heard about the 3Sirens experience. Or as Green noted, “Everybody that comes over, wants to come back.”
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“I write songs so I can deal with my own life,” she adds. “That’s maybe very selfish of me, but that’s why I write, because if I didn’t I don’t think I’d understand my life. There were days where I just couldn’t — I felt so incredibly uncomfortable with myself, like I literally felt like crawling out of my skin. I didn’t have anywhere to go or run away to or things to distract me. That’s something I’m not great at. I don’t like to be uncomfortable.” But this time songwriting, her usual means of escape when she’s unable to go anywhere else, wasn’t coming easily. “I felt [the songs] creeping up but I wasn’t sure what it was, so in that sense, I just didn’t feel very sparked from those songs,” she says. So to get through the days, Hiatt started to take exploratory strolls around her East Nashville neighborhood. She walked down side streets she never really noticed before, indulged her curiosity, and got to know her neighbors. And, she says, she got “really into flowers, people’s porches, and wondering what [her neighbors] do with their lives.” “There was a tenderness to it all because last year was really hard. I felt like in my
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I write songs so I can deal with my own life
“
neighborhood everybody was a little more into asking, ‘How are you doing?’ and talking about what’s going on and how we felt because you kind of had to.” Hiatt baked, cooked, and listened to records. She appreciated how listening to music — something we’ve all taken for granted at some point in our lives — helped her feel connected to the music community she so dearly missed. “I listened a lot to Jeremy Ivey’s record, Waiting Out the Storm. Kid Cudi put out a great record last year, I listened to that a lot. I loved
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—Lillt
Hiatt
Margo Price’s record. ‘South Gotta Change,’ by Adia Victoria, and her most recent record [A Southern Gothic] is just amazing, I’m just blown away. Bully put out an awesome record. “The cool thing is that so many of these records, and so many of these things I was listening to, they’re people I know,” she adds. “Those records felt like my friends.” Hiatt also did what so many others did when faced with a quiet house and too much time on their hands… she got a dog. A puppy, actually. His name is Elvis — as in Presley, not Costello — and he’s an adorable black lab/pitbull mix. “He’s cool. He’s a little handful, but he’s awesome.” At one point in 2020, after writing through her grief, heartbreak, and boredom with lackluster results, Hiatt felt a spark with a song called “The Last Tear,” a mid-tempo country song about being tired of crying about a break-up. “I kept writing because I know that sometimes you have to just purge the mediocre stuff — get it out — at least in my experience. I just kept writing. Finally, I was like, ‘Ah, there’s something that feels like what I’m trying to get at.’” “The Last Tear” is more simple and stripped down, especially compared to the dynamic songs on Walking Proof, but it unlocked something within Hiatt. She learned she didn’t have to chase inspiration by constantly rushing around from one place to the next — inspiration can be found in stillness, too. “I think something cool that’s been really freeing for me is I used to search for my inspiration,” she says. “Now I know you can just kind of conjure it on your own. Get inspired! Find something to get inspired by! Discovering that, learning it was there and you just have to start talking with it, that was cool.” “The Last Tear” was just the beginning. “Been,” the song in which Hiatt chides the stillness that left her questioning who she is when not constantly touring, came next. Before long, Hiatt realized she had a whole
new record on her hands. To capture the confessional, personal nature of the material, Hiatt turned to her friend, drummer and producer Kate Haldrup. “She became my confidant,” says Hiatt. “I felt like I could trust her with these brand new, raw sentiments and not be judged. Usually, I want to wait a little bit to get [songs] to the studio, but I took them right to her, and I just knew that with Kate we could make something that was different than what I’ve done.” Hiatt also put together a new band, with Mike LoPinto on guitar, Robert Hudson on bass, Haldrup on drums, Micah Hulscher on keys, and Steve Hinson on pedal steel. Coley Hinson does some guitar on a couple of tracks, too. Lately was released on October 15, 18 months after Walking Proof, and to call it a pandemic project would be a superficial take on what is actually a deep exploration of isolation and longing — in all its forms. The opening track, “Simple,” paints a warm, beautiful picture of a time when Hiatt was gathered with family for a birthday — there are hugs, cake, and her dad playing records — but the song aches with longing and weepy guitar. It’s just a vision. Hiatt sings softly, with the bittersweet knowledge that reliving those moments would be impossible now, “I can’t watermark the memory, it changes with the moon / And every soft smell makes me think about you / The people that I love, they are always in my heart / Even when we don’t talk, I know where ya are.” The song “Gem” is about a different kind of longing, the kind that comes after reluctantly ending a relationship. While previous songs like “Simple” and the syrupy love song “Ride” rang out bright and clear, Hiatt’s vocals and guitar in “Gem” are both distorted, thick with the same kind of fog that can settle in your brain when reeling from fresh heartbreak. “I just sit around and blink / Dishes piled in my sink / I won’t ask you to come by / I won’t let you see me cry,” she sings. Lately lacks all the confidence Hiatt captured on Walking Proof, but that just makes it more honest and relatable — whose self-esteem hasn’t taken a hit in the midst of this hellscape? Now, as Hiatt hits the road for the first time since releasing both albums — she’s spent the last half of October and the first half of November traveling through the Southwest and up the West Coast on an 18-date tour with Lydia Loveless — Hiatt is carrying with her two versions of herself. There’s the Lilly Hiatt who wrote Walking Proof, a rock ‘n’ roll record that’s filled with friends and free of the weight of unprecedented
suffering, and the Lilly Hiatt who wrote Lately, a collection of songs composed while still making sense of a new world, one that carries the heaviness of loss and weight of survival. “How do I merge those worlds? Because I’m not the same me as the last two years,” Hiatt says. “And that’s good! I’m glad I’m not. I want to grow and evolve. In a way, I feel confidence from a different place, but there’s just a bit of shakiness that I’d be lying if I said wasn’t there.” Another positive to come from the past 18 months? The gatekeeping of country music has continued to chip away as more artists collaborate, mix traditional sounds with unexpected genres and, frankly, stop giving a fuck about what the good ol’ boys think. Hiatt has never been one to follow a set path, musically speaking, and now her shows will contain even more multitudes as she makes room for both Lately and Walking Proof to coexist. How this dichotomous experience will impact her future songwriting remains to be seen, of course, but all bets are off. Hiatt has learned to embrace the stillness, to see what’s waiting for her there, but she’s also a rocker at heart — expect to hear more from both sides.
“I think we’re entering an era of just going for it,” she says, laughing. “Whatever you want to do, try it out. Do it. Push the envelope. You want to put some crunchy crazy guitars on something and you’ve never done that? Do it! If you want to work with someone you feel really completely inspired by, join forces, ask them! I say this to myself, too, to muster up my own courage to try new stuff, whatever that may be. Just go for it. I don’t even know what that means, just try to have some fun. “I feel like people more than ever want to enjoy things together — and feel part of things together. And that’s a really exciting thing. Like, let’s all get together and have a good ol’ time, and do the things that make us happy.” Lilly Hiatt's latest release, Lately is available now on New West Records via all streaming channels. It will also be out on cassette tape, as well as vinyl, in the near future. Stay tuned to lillyhiatt.com for more.
Local eyecare. Independent eyewear.
LOCAL EYECARE. INDEPENDENT EYEWEAR.
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2021 BAD INFLUENCERS'
Guide
TO THE HOLIDAYS
A whimsically fantastical curated collection of phantasmagoric ideas designed to keep your inner Grinch at bay A Holiday Shot for Safety and Health
Here Comes Seitan Claus!
While a vaccination shot in the arm would rank far lower than socks or even underwear for a holiday gift on most Christmas lists, protecting yourself and your loved ones from a virus that has taken over three-quarters of a million American lives and left thousands of individuals with long-term debilitating conditions is certainly a gift to be thankful for. Everyone 5 years of age and older is now eligible to receive a COVID-19 Vaccination, and you may be eligible for a booster shot if you are age 65 or older or meet certain other conditions. So give your kids and maybe yourself an important and vital early present today!
Wintertime may be the sleepy season for our honey bee friends, but things are buzzin’ at The Be-Hive, East Nashville’s vegan-friendly deli and market. In addition to gift cards, their pre-ordered cBEd Cookie dough can be refrigerated or frozen and is a great way to guarantee you’ll have plenty of freshbaked cookies even after Santa gets his fill. They also have fun merch available, including hoodies and tote bags. Shop online at bethehive.com or in-person at 2414 Gallatin Ave.
Bizkit photo by Zach Halfhill / Courtesy Guerilla Bizkits
Essential Rock Block Reading!
Search vaccines.gov, text your ZIP code to 438829, or call 1-800-232-0233 to find vaccination locations near you in the US.
Celebrate fifty years of Nashville’s most venerable local venue with Exit/ In: Fifty Years and Counting. This history of a Music City institution of rock (and country, and blues, and more) features a full history along with never-before-seen photographs of the shows and artists who made Exit/In legendary. A special, limited edition in a swanky gold foil-stamped slipcase with autographs from John Hiatt, Marshall Chapman, Rodney Crowell, Jason Ringenberg, Darius Rucker, Moon Taxi, Margo Price, and All Them Witches is also available. Order from store.exitin.com/collections/ fifty-years-and-counting-book
Delectable Material Looking for a sweet or savory vegan holiday treat with a punk attitude? Guerrilla Bizkits is your answer. As their website says, “NO nuts, NO dairy, NO eggs, NO animals, FUCKING VEGAN!” and they mean it, man! In addition to gift cards, they also offer bizkit shaped (and butter scented) candles as well as a carrying hefty selection of indie-label hardcore punk records. And for this holiday season they’re debuting a new Blitzed Bizkit flavor featuring rosemary + cranberry. Visit Guerrilla Bizkits at 1006 Fatherland St. #207 or online at bizkits.biz.
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French Delights for a Joyeuses Fêtes! Are Tiny Tim and the gang tired of the plum pudding and spotted dick for Christmas day dessert? Take a jump across the English Channel for a taste of authentic French delights made in the “East Bank” of Nashville from Cocorico Cuisine. Their Salted Butter Caramels are perfect for dipping apple slices, as a spread on pancakes, toasts, and crepes, or drizzled over granola or ice cream, and their Croquants aux Amandes [French Almond cookies] are sure to make the Scroogiest of holiday revelers shout, “Le magnifique!” Order online for local pickup at cocoricocuisine.com.
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Looking for a funky groovy holiday getaway but still not confident about traveling in pandemic times? Then just plan your holiday vacation for scenic Dickerson Pike at The Dive Motel. Each of The Dive Motel’s 23 rooms feature their signature “Party Switch” that spins a Disco Ball to four programmed music channels: Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll, and Sleep. (We’ll let you figure out which one is the soundtrack for “paying” for that pizza you ordered!) You also get complimentary access to The Dive Bar & Lounge and while we can’t guarantee Polar Bear Club weather in a climate change world, the pool is located right outside your door. Dive on to The Dive Motel at 1414 Dickerson Pike, or check ‘em out online at thedivemotel.com
theeastnashvillian.com November | December 2021
Three Strikes, No Spares! Looking for a different type of holiday activity, or just looking to throw a heavy weight around to let off some holiday steam? Then take the family bowling! Eastside Bowl is the place for multiple types of family fun from the excitement of Hyperbowling (which ramps up the fun while eliminating the frustration of the dreaded “gutter ball” for you first-time bowlers) to a fully stocked arcade room, live music, and even tasty diner food and refreshing drinks — all housed in over 30,000 square feet of space, which means there is plenty of elbow room to socially distance from that weird group of folks down on lane 12. Roll on over to 1508 Gallatin Pike S. and visit eastsidebowl.com for the latest on hours and any special events.
Cocorico Croquants aux Amandes photo by Chrissy Nix for Pink Flamingo Social / Courtesy Cocorico Cuisine
Take a Drive to the Dive!
GIVING BACK
Social Solidarity and Mutual Aid for the Holidays Sometimes the best holiday gift is simplest, and for more than year now the Nashville Free Store has been providing food, household supplies, clothing and other essentials to neighbors in need for free, no questions asked. Located at 1213 Dickerson Pike the store is open for business every Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with donation drop-off hours every Friday, usually 3-7 p.m., but hours can vary. You can also donate cash via Venmo (@Nashville-Freestore). Follow @nashvillefreestore on Instagram for updates of hours and needed items and for information on how to volunteer.
Groovin’at 45 RPM Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last 10 years you know that vinyl is back, but with new LPs selling for $25 and up and used vinyl prices rising, it doesn’t take many records to exhaust your holiday budget. All the more reason to turn to that other groovy music format — the 45 single! It’s hard to beat the fun of sitting in the floor by the record player, slapping on one 45 after another. Sure it’s labor intensive, but that’s part of the fun. Plus, vintage 45s often feature rare non-LP tracks on the B-side so there's an extra bonus, not to mention that singles can be found for as low 25 cents (CHEAP!) So stock up for your own platter party now! The Great Escape. Grimey’s, The Groove, Vinyl Tap, and many other local record dealers all carry singles, so dig away!
All I got was this AWESOME shirt! Looking for a perfect present for that diehard rock’n’roll fan? How about a vintage tour t-shirt for their favorite band. It ‘s a great way to replace the shirt they once loved, cure a case of “I wish I’d bought a shirt” regret, or even make people think you caught shows you actually missed back in the day. The place to find all your rock’n’roll apparel is Black Shag Vintage. Duds dude Tommy Daley knows the rockin’ style and curates a collection of vintage clothing and accessories to prove it. Get down with Black Shag Vintage at 1220 Gallatin Ave. or check out their online offerings at blackshagvintage.com.
Make the Holidays the Good Dog Days! The holidays are for friends and families and that includes our furry friends. Since 2008, East CAN (Community Action Network) has been helping neighbors to find, foster, and nurture stray and abandoned dogs on the East Side. Whether you’re looking for a new doggo, willing to devote your time to fostering a pup until a forever home becomes available, or just wanting to show your support through a donation of time or money, East CAN can do! Visit eastcan.org to start your search, volunteer or donate.
Drum supply
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Gear Post 730 McFerrin Ave / East Nashville / DrumSupply.com / GearPost.com November | December 2021 theeastnashvillian.com
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Have a Steamy Holiday In Finland, saunas are an integral part of the way of life and far more complex that just sitting in a steam bath. They even tell tales of Saunatonttu, a guardian elf who punishes those who disrespect the sauna. The traditional Finnish sauna has spread to many other locales around the world, including right here in East Nashville with Holiday Salon & Bathhouse. While Holiday can’t duplicate the Finnish tradition of rolling in the snow or a quick dip in an icy lake when after the heat reaches it peak, they can offer an relaxing, refreshing and unique experience!
Be Kind, Rewind for the Holidays
More info, prices, and reservations are available at holidaynashville.com.
Eye strain from too much HD? Tired of seeing Humpty Dumpty actors from not getting your aspect ratio set correctly? Chuck the digital, and dig out that old VHS machine for an entertaining evening of fuzzy resolution and tracking lines, all in glorious 1:33. The place to dig for those classic VHS bricks (or just spend a few hours digging the classic box art) is VHS Party Tonight. Tapemaster “Righteous” Jesse Butler post gems from his personal collection along with tapes for sale, and if you prefer in-person shopping, check out his booth at the upcoming Nashville Punk Rock Flea Market. Roll tape!
Take Me Down to the Antique Mall The most exciting opening in the East Nashville this past year, at least for vintage hounds, was East Nashville Antiques & Vintage. Looking for vintage clothing, housewares, books, records, toys, or just something you’re not quite sure what it is but must have it? East Nashville Antiques & Vintage is the place to start your search.
We Got the Airwaves!
Donate, purchase merch, or listen online at wxnafm.org.
Need that last minute present for the kiddo in your life? Flitter on over to Fairytales Bookstore and More for all the imagination-inspiring kid lit any bright young reader could want. Or better yet, shop with them online! Not only will your Christmas dollars be supporting a cool local business, but they won’t be helping to finance some billionaire hot-dogging into lower Earth orbit! And Fairytales even offers free delivery to ZIP codes 37206 and 37216. Shop in person at 1108 Woodland St., Unit G or online at fairytalesnashville.com.
Visit @vhspartytonight on Instagram and the Nashville Punk Rock Flea Market at Eastside Bowl, 1508A Gallatin Pike S., Dec. 12, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Nashville’s listener-supported totally freeform radio station, WXNA 101.5 FM, is now in it’s fifth year on the air and still going strong . With over 80 different DJs drawn from the local community (including some of our own staff and contributors), all curating their own playlists, you truly never know what you’re going to hear next. Show your love for adventurous local radio with some cool WXNA swag, and since WXNA is a 501(c)3 non-profit, every purchase of merch or donation is tax deductible.
Give the Grinch for Christmas!
Check out the offerings at 3407 Gallatin Pike or get a preview of what’s available on Facebook and Instagram @eastnashvilleantiques.
Dee’s Thanksgiving Potluck Forget family drama — on Thanksgiving, turkey should be the only thing giving you a stomach ache! Escape cousins and that one uncle (and even football) at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge’s annual Thanksgiving Potluck on November 28th. Supper is served at 5 p.m. Grab your covered dish and head to Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge, 102 E Palestine Ave.
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THE ROOTS BARN
MADISON, TN Americana & Roots Concert Venue A campus for music based in the historic heart of Madison, TN. The Barn serves as a platform to emotionally connect performers with the audience. As a music and events venue, our team hosts everything from stand alone concerts, to residencies, Sunday Soul Brunch, Music City Roots Wednesday night shows, WMOT Roots Radio, PBS televised events and Private Events. Your new home to roots music, no matter what your roots are.
OPENING SPRING 2022 THE THE NEW HOME OF
BARN therootsbarn.com
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It's More Than Just Pedal Taverns There's more to visiting Music City than annoying the locals while partying on a slow-moving vehicle. As an alternative, we asked photographer Scott Sax to accompany his friend and first-time visitor Rori on a day's romp around the East Side for a glimpse (and taste) of local flavor.
Rori gets in the mood for her jaunt through
Photography by Scott Sax
East Nashville spinning 45s on the vintage record palayer in her room at The Dive Motel.
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Getting a dose of carbs and protein at I Dream of Weenie in order to sustain herself for the long day ahead. Strolling the East Side takes proper nutrition.
So many books, so little time. In order to burn off some of the calories from her Hot Southern Mess weenie lunch, Rori wanders the aisles and indulges in intellectual pursuits at The Bookshop.
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Vintage clothes or vintage vinyl? It's a tough call when shopping at Black Shag, but Rori decides she has room for both in her carry-on bag. Of course, there's not room for a drum kit in her carry on, but the the good folks at Drum Supply nevertheless let her burn off some more of those tasty calories by pounding the skins.
All in all, it was a great day, with ne'er a pedal tavern in sight.
November | December 2021 theeastnashvillian.com
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Out East Soundtrack
The Ornaments
It's the most wonderful time of the year, which means our favorite purveyors of holiday cheer, The Ornaments, return for their traditional December residency perfoming the Vince Guaraldi Trio's A Charlie Brown Christmas. This year, Jen Gunderman, James Haggerty, and Martin Lynds — known to kids of all ages as The Ornaments — bring the tradition full circle, as it were. 'Twas a Christmas long, long ago when they first played the holiday classic at the original incarnation of The Family Wash. As word spread, the audiences increased and they added more shows.
After a run at version two of The Family Wash, The Ornaments took their show to 3rd & Lindsley in order to accomodate the larger audiences. Then, due to the pandemic, last year's show was held virtually from the Instrumenthead Live studios. This year, they'll be back home for the holidays at The Wash at Eastside Bowl beginning on December 17. In the meantime, Jen (JG), Hags (JH), and Marty (ML) were kind enough to share some of their holiday favorites with us for this round of the "Out East Soundtrack."
Curated by Andrew Leahey & Jay Dmuchowski
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“Silent Night”
Solomon Burke (1982)
The first time I heard this, when the audience/choir joined in singing and Burke started preaching, I burst into tears; it was so beautiful and unexpected. (JG)
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“Silent Night” Jon Byrd (2017)
This song about a song has become one of my very favorite Christmas songs and just songs period. You can really identify with it as a road musician, but I think it applies to anyone around the holidays who can appreciate—and has the good fortune—to be able to slow down for a minute, turn it all off, and try to remember what really matters. (ML)
“The Christmas Song”
Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 (1968)
One day while rummaging at the Salvation Army store on Nolensville Road I was lucky enough to score this record, Something Festive, an A&M Christmas compilation in association with BF Goodrich with this song on it. I like to imagine the sessions in sunny L.A. and maybe cruising up the Pacific Coast Highway in a snappy top-down convertible with this as the soundtrack. (JH)
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“Christmas Wish” NRBQ (1985)
“I Hate Christmas” Oscar the Grouch (1975)
Things I remember from childhood Christmases in the 1970s: Rankin/Bass TV specials (and A Charlie Brown Christmas, of course), Christmas Eve church service candles dripping wax, silver tinsel on the tree, pineapple/ walnut cream cheese balls, and vinyl Christmas albums by Andy Williams, Nat King Cole, and Sesame Street. This song used to send my brother and me into fits of glee, even though it was years before I got the subversive “I’ll tell him where to leave his toys” lyric. (JG)
This track gives me the holiday warm and fuzzies every time. It conjures a lovely memory. In the late 90s, Joe, Marc’s Brother would do a Christmas show at 12th & Porter to benefit Toys for Tots. With the angels suspended on either side of the stage. We would do at least an hour of Christmas songs. Lots of guests and singalongs. It was probably ’97 or ’98 when we asked Joey Spampinato to join us for this one. I remember rehearsing with him in our basement. Joe thought he had the chords right. Joey showed him “how Al does it.” He picked up my P bass, and I grabbed a tambourine and some BGVs. At the gig, he brought his Danelectro. I played it for a minute and noticed a silver sharpie inscription on the back: “To my favorite bass player.” The signature was Paul McCartney. Merry Christmas, indeed! (JH)
“White Christmas” Bing Crosby (1942)
There’s a reason this song won an Academy Award, was featured in two films, (including one called White Christmas), and is the biggest selling single worldwide of all time. Nostalgia for an idealized Christmas past at its best, with a special connection to service members and others who can’t be home for the holidays. (JG)
“8 Days (of Hanukkah)”
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (2015)
You always hear that there aren’t any good Hanukkah songs, but I’m here to present Exhibit A. I love the School House Rock groove of this version that also reminds me of Archie Bell & the Drells’ “Tighten Up,” plus you learn a little something about Hanukkah. If this had been recorded in the 70s, kids everywhere would have been watching it in dark classrooms on “The Electric Company” on a wheeled-in TV while their teacher was nursing a hangover from the teachers’ holiday party. (ML)
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“Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy)” Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn (1960)
I love how these songs from Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker Suite” were turned on their head and taken way uptown by Ellington and arranger Billy Strayhorn, and especially this track. I always imagine that these sugar-plum fairies broke into the liquor cabinet before the holiday party. (ML)
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“Christmas Is” Lou Rawls (1967)
The vocal on this track kills me. To me it sounds like nighttime twinkly lights and hot toddies. The band swings like mad. I have happy memories of this song as a kid growing up in NY. It reminds me of snowy Manhattan and diner jukeboxes. His ad lib ho ho ho’s always make me smile. (JH)
“Skating”
Vince Guaraldi Trio (1965)
While “Linus and Lucy” is the most recognizable song from A Charlie Brown Christmas, and “Christmastime Is Here” is the most beautifully poignant, we agree that “Skating” captures the joy of the season like no other. (The Ornaments)
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I KNOW YOU ARE BUT WHAT AM I?
T
hese are the most polarized times in America any of us have ever known; for that matter, our parents’ and grandparents’ ever knew. Our country has not been this divided since the Civil War. So, what’s the principal reason for the decline and fall of the United States? (And yes, we are declining and falling.) Ask a Republican and they’ll say it’s the Democrats’ fault. And vice versa. And not only do both sides sit at loggerheads, neither side can understand how in the hell the other side can possibly feel the way they do. There are many reasons, and — and as always happens — the biggest reasons get glossed over. Who is to blame for all this mess our country has become? Let’s start with Walmart. And Amazon. That’s what’s wrong with America. Throw in Home Depot, Target, Kroger, Office Max, AutoZone, Staples, Walgreens, CVS, corporate farming, Lowe’s, Cracker Barrel, McDonald’s, Burger King, Sonic, Mapco, Waffle House, Logan’s Roadhouse, Appleby’s, and the whole darn digital revolution. I could go on and on. While traveling to gigs, if I have time, I’ll get off the interstate and take a twolanes highway in a quest to see the real America. I always see the same thing — ghost towns. Get out of the city just a little way and you’ll find it everywhere: main streets with boarded up buildings; town squares with nothing there, signs in windows saying, “For Rent, call blah blah.” Much of flyover America looks like a faded eastern-bloc country. There are literally hundreds of thousands of square miles in the USA where there’s simply nothing there. Nothing but poverty and decay. And it’s not because somebody in the big city has an abortion, and it’s not because somebody else is carrying an AK-47.
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It’s because the backbone of the middle class has always been merchants. In the small town where I grew up, there were three drugstores at the intersection of Main and Center Streets: Pate’s Drugs, Parrish Drugs, and Robard’s Drugs. The rest of our bustling downtown could serve your needs to a wide extent. If you wanted a pair of Levi’s, you went to the Stag Shop. If you wanted a Sunday suit, you went to Baker & Hickman, or His Corner. If you needed office supplies, you went to Howard Happy’s. If you needed guitar strings, you went to Don’s House of Music. There was Watson’s if you wanted a department store. (Not the Watson’s of today.) If you needed hardware, you went to Purdy’s. If you wanted a newspaper, you picked up a copy of The Messenger, our locally owned and operated newspaper. If you wanted to request “Joy to the World” or “Song Sung Blue”, you called up WTTL, our locally owned and operated radio station. If you wanted to buy a new record, you could go wither to Watson’s or the Sound Shack; if you wanted a burger, you went to Ferrell’s. Yes, there was a Ben Franklin’s and a Western Auto, but those were the only two chain stores downtown that I remember. There are no longer those three drugstores downtown; there’s a CVS at the interstate exit seven miles away. There’s no longer a Purdy’s, but there is a Home Depot twenty miles away. There’s no Baker & Hickman or His Corner or Stag Shop, or Howard Happy’s, and not even a grocery store, but there is a Walmart at the exit. There’s no more Sound Shack. WTTL is a corporate-owned toady spewing talk radio sewage 24 hours a day — and the second reason America is going to hell in a bowling ball bag is that very talk radio culture: the constant demonizing of liberals when there is not a single advancement in human history that didn’t get its start as a liberal idea. But hasn’t the digital revolution afforded independent merchants to make a middle-class living? Well, it’s helped, but then again, those people are the Davids and Amazon is a nuclear-megaton Goliath. Every chain is online while you’re selling custom-made booty socks on your humble dot com, and their lawyers can beat up yours. People are pissed. Their lives have gone. They’re ability to rise in the world — the American Dream — is almost gone. People in the countryside are blaming the loss of family values for their devastated lifestyle, and people in the cities blame conservatives, but not true conservatism. What’s considered conservatism now is nothing Barry Goldwater nor William F. Buckley would recognize. Oh, and music is free now. I had to throw that in. Now go online and buy some custom-made booty socks from some hippie in McMinnville. That’s the best thing you can do.t
EAST OF NOR MAL by Tommy Womack
Tommy Womack is a musician & author, and a regular contributor to The East Nashvillian. His new album, I Thought I Was Fine, will be released October 15.
marketplace Misty Waters Petak M.S., CFP ®, CLU® Financial Advisor (615) 479-6415 mistypetak.nm.com
March | April 2021 theeastnashvillian.com
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PARTING SHOT
"I BELEAF IN YOU” BY CHUCK ALLEN
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111 Oak Valley Drive - Nashville, TN 37207 - 615-327-1758 - MidtownPrinting.com November | December 2021 theeastnashvillian.com
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