The East Nashvillian 7.2 Nov-Dec 2016

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER VOL.VII ISSUE 2

The ‘GARAGE COUNTRY’ World of

The stuff of legends:

GUY, SUSANNA & TOWNES

Once upon a time on Chapel Avenue

JESSIE SCOTT Takes the helm at WMOT Roots Radio 89.5 FM ’80s punk pioneers

RAGING FIRE Rekindle the flame

AUBRIE SELLERS The 2016

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE Page 45

Know your Neighbor: RANDY CRAWLEY

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PUBLISHER Lisa McCauley EDITOR Chuck Allen ASSOCIATE EDITOR Daryl Sanders COPY EDITOR John McBryde CALENDAR EDITOR Emma Alford CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Emma Alford, Mary Brace, Peter Chawaga, James Haggerty, Nicole Keiper, Michael McCall, Daryl Sanders, Tommy Womack CREATIVE DIRECTOR Chuck Allen DESIGN DIRECTOR Benjamin Rumble ADVERTISING DESIGN Benjamin Rumble

ILLUSTRATIONS Benjamin Rumble, Dean Tomasek

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Al Clayton, Eric England, Rob Norris SOCIAL MEDIA Nicole Keiper Kitchen

Table Media Company Est.2010

ADVERTISING SALES Lisa McCauley lisa@theeastnashvillian.com 615.582.4187 ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Jaime Brousse, Shauna Rae Samograd DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Christina Howell

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©2016 Kitchen Table Media P.O. Box 60157 Nashville, TN 37206 The East Nashvillian is a bimonthly magazine published by Kitchen Table Media. 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. All editorial and photographic materials contained herein are “works for hire” and are the exclusive property of Kitchen Table Media unless otherwise noted. Reprints or any other usage is a violation of copyright without the express written permission of the publisher.

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COVER STORY ‘GARAGE COUNTRY’ WORLD 34 THE OF AUBRIE SELLERS Or how a raw-edged, sweet-voiced country singer is shaking up a genre

By Tommy Womack

FEATURES

45 GIFT GUIDE 2016 Yep, ’tis the season!

COVER SHOT

By Emma Alford

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AUBRIE SELLERS

THREE’S COMPANY

Photograph by Eric England

How Guy and Susanna Clark and Townes Van Zandt made history in East Nashville

By Daryl Sanders

70 JESSIE SCOTT

One of the foremost pioneers of the Americana music movement takes the wheel at WMOT Roots Radio

By Mary Brace

76 THE FIRE STILL RAGES

A band member’s death brings ’80s Nashville punk pioneers Raging Fire back together after 25 years

By Michael McCall

Visit

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM for updates, news, events, and more!

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EAST SIDE BUZZ

IN THE KNOW

19 Matters of Development

By Nicole Keiper

Your Neighbor: 33 Know Randy Crawley

28 Anode Celebrates 25 years

By Tommy Womack

By Peter Chawaga

91 East Side Calendar

By Emma Alford

COMMENTARY

16 Editor’s Letter

By Chuck Allen

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30 Astute Observations

By James “Hags” Haggerty

PARTING SHOT

112 East of Normal

Jason Isbell & Amanda Shires

By Tommy Womack

By Rob Norris

Visit

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM for updates, news, events, and more!

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EDITOR’S LETTER

T

Dangerous Minds

o the utter bewilderment and chagrin of my peeps, I recently deactivated my Facebook account. If you’re asking yourself, “Why?” then this is for you.

Now that we live in a five-second news cycle, I came to the conclusion that there is simply too much information, nearly all of which is complete bullshit. The unending updates to this flow of sewage also serve to reduce our attention spans to that of a 4-year-old after drinking a Big Gulp. Even the brave souls posting cute kitty pictures no longer serve as a bulwark against the idiotic memes lifted from InfoWars and Breitbart.

It seems like a lifetime ago, but there once existed a land without social media and cell phones. “STOP IT! NO WAY,” say those of you under age 21, but yes, way. Facebook launched on Feb. 4, 2004. This was followed by the first iPhone on June 29, 2007. The PC has been around since the late ’70s, but the Internet didn’t really take off until the mid ’90s when Al Gore took a sabbatical from his job as vice president and worked out the kinks. Once he got that shit sorted out, Stanford University students Larry Page and Sergey Brin decided that world domination seemed like a really cool career path, registering the domain google. com on Sept. 15, 1997.

Those of you for whom simple math doesn’t create an existential crisis will notice that all of this happened within the last 20 years. That’s right. 20 years. Of course, the billionaire geniuses that came up with this stuff never considered the idea that they might be opening Pandora’s box. Our brains evolved over tens of thousands of years, slowly adjusting and adapting in order to become what observant, intelligent, alien life forms regard as the stupidest species in the universe. Now we’re attempting a forced evolution, if you will: the ability to effectively process and adapt to paradigm shifts happening in near real time, when a mere 300 years ago family entertainment was watching each other’s toenails grow.

The irony is the same folks that believe God created the universe 4,000 years ago and the first organized societies resembled The Flintstones also relish in floating Creationist memes using technology operating at near the speed of light. It never seems to dawn on them that they can’t cherry pick science. It’s an all-in kind of thing. So create a commune totally off the grid or STFU. Please.

The same holds true for the logical fallacy known as false equivalence. Sure, it’s your First Amendment right

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to express an opinion by demonstrating your ignorance; however, this doesn’t guarantee your ideas will be given weight in any reality-based conversations. But try hopping into a “discussion” on Facebook sometime by pointing out, say, that Marxism and Fascism are mutually exclusive ideologies and see what happens. You’ll likely be greeted by something like, “You’re trying to suppress my freedom of speech.” No, I’m pointing out that you’re ignorant, and the fact that you can’t grasp the difference? I rest my case.

Since going dark, I’ve been a one-man ratings killer.

OK, not really, but it is a component of my approach to disconnecting from the crazy train. Has anyone else noticed that the news media that small-handed, orange dude accuses of being totally corrupt is having a ratings bonanza? In a way, he’s correct, albeit for all the wrong reasons. How else can one explain the utterly clueless David Brooks being constantly trotted out as “the sensible Republican?” I wonder what CBS shareholders will be saying to Leslie Moonves in January when our nation of hyperventilating news-media consumers returns to its normal state of apathy? Is he thinking about this?

You bet your ass he is. Do I care? No. According to my calculations, I’ll be about halfway through season three of Mission: Impossible by Nov. 9, which means by the time you read this Steven Hill’s character, Dan Briggs, will have been replaced by Peter Grave’s character, Jim Phelps, as leader of the Impossible Missions Force. I must confess my preference for Graves. Hill seems like a throwback to tough guy G-Men from the ’40s to Graves’ cool, calculated Cold War-operative style. This was the days of Connery’s James Bond, after all. There was something about mutually assured nuclear annihilation that made for great TV and great TV theme music: The iconic opening theme

by Lalo Schifrin never gets old. I’m guessing that was what really caused the downfall of the Soviet Union — the lack of quality TV escapism. The proletariat had too much time to notice life sucked and eventually tired of paying exorbitant prices for Levis.

I wonder how long the postpartum depression will last once the shit-show leaves town. Will we be seeing an increase in Big Pharma ads for psychotropic drugs? Will NFL ratings return to normal? Will Santa be putting an extra fifth of bourbon in the stocking? Will Kanye stop talking? Will Chuck Allen return to Facebook? Who knows? One thing’s for sure, when the going gets tough, I can always turn to the Impossible Missions Force to win the day.

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EAST SIDE B U Z Z FOR UP-TO -DATE INFORMATION ON EVENTS, AS WELL AS LINKS, PLEASE VISIT US AT: THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

Matters of Development The past few months were especially busy on the East Nashville business front — closings and moves were plentiful, as were brand new businesses welcoming visitors, established names expanding with new East Side locations, and East Nashville-bred brands moving outside our side of the river.

NEW AND NOTEWORTHY MICKEY’S TAVERN NOW HAS A SIBLING in Madison called Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge. The new joint expands on Mickey’s “It’s just a bar” mantra with live music and more food offerings, but fear not — the same neighborhood bar vibe we’ve grown to know and love about Mickey’s still applies.

“The newest, most thrillingist retro hotspot”

is located at 102 E. Palestine Ave. For those of you without Google Maps, it sits behind the purple home of Jenni’s Adult Bookstore just across Due West on Gallatin. More at deeslounge.com.

In the Fatherland District, new apparel and accessories boutique The Panacherie joined the fray in mid-August, taking over Suite 204 at the Shoppes on Fatherland.

Inside the shop, you’ll find stylish women’s/teens’ clothing, plus jewelry, bags, home goods, and more, curated by the literal mom-and-pop owners: CeCe and Wayne Clark, who run the shop alongside daughters Shannon, 22, and Sophie, 11 (an unofficial employee, but, Mom says, a big help with stocking cool preteen stuff).

The overriding approach is “classic designs and basic pieces that have a unique flair at an affordable price,” CeCe told us,

with a shop vibe that was influenced by “the quintessential dress shops of the ’30s and ’40s … a place where women can be a little pampered and have fun shopping while they sip a glass of wine or a cup of coffee.”

The Panacherie is located at 1006 Fatherland St., #204, and hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday, Sunday 1 to 5.

East Side business incubator The Idea Hatchery welcomed a new resident in September: “Bohemian Artisan Retreat” Camp Gypsy took over 1106-G Woodland St., offering art, clothing, home goods, and more, all with a funky, handmade slant.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Take a closer look at what they’re doing on Instagram: @campgypsy.

Also in September: New restaurant The Terminal Cafe opened its doors at the former Khan’s Desserts space, 733 Porter

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Rd., joining Pony Show, DCXV, Pomodoro East, and others in the Shops at Porter East development.

On the Cafe menu: breakfast, sandwiches, soups, salads, caffeinated beverages, and more. They’re also pairing up with a mix of other neighbors, serving baked goods from Sweet 16th, pasta from Nicoletto’s, and more.

Hours at Terminal Cafe are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, Saturday 8 to 2. More at theterminalcafe.com.

Toffee/candy makers Walker Creek Confections moved into a larger space in The Idea Hatchery — 1108 Woodland St., Suite A — and celebrated with an open house in late September.

It’s not their only excuse to celebrate: The Tennessee-bred company, whose kitchen is located in Watertown, added another location in October, in The Factory at Franklin. Check out what they’re making at walkercreektoffee.com.

East Nashvillians have long grumbled about the neighborhood’s dearth of solid Chinese food options, and things got a little better in early October, when Southern-inspired Chinese restaurant TKO opened its

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doors in Inglewood at 4204 Gallatin Pike.

At the new eatery — noteworthy also because it’s the area’s first to eschew tipping — chef Ryan Bernhardt serves familiar fare with a twist, from bao buns that riff on biscuits and gravy to fried chicken with a sweet and sour glaze.

TKO is the first resident of the new commercial development at Gallatin and Riverwood, and its hours are 6-11 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. More at tkotn.com.

East Siders in need of quality eye care and stylish eyewear have a new place to visit: Look East, led by Doctor of Optometry Kathleen Brasfield and her husband, Joe, opened at 1011 Gallatin (the former Lost Century Vintage space) in early October.

The Brasfields carry independent eyewear brands exclusively, and offer a full line of prescription lens services, too. “We were very specific with what we wanted and what we think people in East Nashville would really want,” Joe Brasfield told us the week of the opening. “We tried to get everything from funky and colorful to classic and simple frames.”

Look East is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays, 9 to 6 Wednesdays and Thursdays,

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8 to 3 on Fridays and 10 to 3 on Saturdays.

More at lookeastnashville.com.

After a long wait (we’ve been talking about this since June 2015), The Station — the rehabilitated, renovated, and reimagined circa-1938 fire hall near the now-shuttered Walmart on Gallatin — is open.

Karen Goodlow Designs announced the completion of the new “place for creativity, community, and coffee” at 1220 Gallatin Ave. in September, and invited neighbors in for an unveiling and a celebration.

Goodlow’s interior design firm is headquartered in The Station’s Engine Bay, and as of this posting, there was still availability for leasing creative suites and private studios in the building. More at thestationnashville.com.

After sister business Hocus Pocus Beauty Boutique moved out of the neighborhood, Good Sister Bad Sister Studio and Boutique took over 914-A Woodland St., offering an array of makeup services — bridal and prom all the way to character makeup — plus hair styling, faux lashes, and more.

Makeup artist/image consultant/self-professed “Makeup Ninja” Jaiya Rose runs GSBS, and also stocks local art, accessories, and gifts in her new place. Check out more at makeupninja.biz.

Also in October, Cleveland Park’s Madeline reopened, in a sense — new owners kept that first name, but added a different concept, rechristening 1224 Meridian St. as Madeline Pizza and Pasta and debuting a menu stuffed with those titular dishes.

Among the classic items on the menu: lasagna, ziti, calzones, stromboli and, yes, pizza.

The laundrocafe version of Madeline opened in early 2015, and closed abruptly that July, after just five months in business.

Hours at the new Madeline are 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 3 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. on Saturday, and 11 to 11 on Sunday.

As of Oct. 15, East Nashvillians have an easy way to grab 100 layers of donutty goodness, as Five Daughters Bakery’s new East Side edition opened its doors at Walden where Cumberland Transit East was formerly located.

The new place at 1900 Eastland Ave., Suite 101, joins Daughters’ sister locations in Franklin and 12 South.

Hours for the East Nashville location are 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Friday, 9 to 10 on weekends. (If they sell out early, though — which happens — the doors close early.)

More info at fivedaughtersbakery.com.

New children’s shop The Crazy Kukla Boutique is now open at 1900 Eastland Ave., Suite 102 (right by Two Ten Jack and the new Five Daughters Bakery, etc.).

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EAST SIDE BUZZ

This is actually a second location — the first Crazy Kukla is on the square in Murfreesboro. And although the two will be similar, stocking clothing and gifts for babies and kids, owner Kim Simpson told us that the new shop will have “more fashion-forward clothing” and more boys’ stuff than its Rutherford County counterpart.

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More at thecrazykuklaboutique.com.

We shared news back in March about East Nashville cycling studio Verticity, and its plans to open in the Farrow at Five Points development at 10th and Russell. Those folks are now open, sharing cycle-centric classes and workouts, but in a different, pop-up location. In late October, Verticity welcomed

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riders into Verticity Underground in the Shoppes on Fatherland: 1006 Fatherland St., Suite 208. More at verticitynashville.com.

CLOSINGS AND MOVES HEARTS ALL AROUND NASHVILLE broke some weeks back, as news of the closing of longstanding Inglewood soul-food stop Bailey & Cato made the rounds.

Bailey family matriarch Linda Bailey told us that she and husband Robert had retirement in their sights, and that the restaurant would close at the end of October.

Diners from all over the city (and beyond) made a pilgrimage to 1307 McGavock Pike for years to grab the Bailey family’s meat-and-three fare, and the restaurant earned some well-deserved critical praise, too: For one, food writer/Iron Chef judge John T. Edge called their fried cornbread one of his top 10 dishes of 2012 in Garden & Gun magazine.

A little something to buffer the bummedout mood: Linda Bailey also told us that we may not see the last of her family’s kitchen skills, as her sons were looking to open up a place in town, ideally in early 2017.

Another long-running Inglewood business announced its final days recently, too: After 41 years at 1201 Greenfield, day care Progressive Children’s Center closed up shop, welcoming neighbors in for a big sale of toys and other trinkets East Side kids have enjoyed through the decades.

Children’s Center chief Terry Mooneyhan and his sister, assistant director Lamar Bauman, are retiring. Public records show that well-known developer March Egerton purchased the property in September; we reached out to see if he was willing to share his plans for the location, but hadn’t heard back at press time.

Nearby, Gallatin Avenue dive fooBAR shut its doors abruptly in September, with word breaking shortly thereafter that it’d open with a new name and new concept: the colorfully (and snakily) painted Cobra.

The doors quietly reopened at 2511 Gallatin Ave. at the start of October, and things are now rolling as usual. To keep up with shows/events, search The Cobra Nashville on Facebook.

East Side art haunt Gallery Luperca closed its doors at 604 Gallatin Ave. at the top of September, too, but they’re not gone for good.

Co-chief Sara Lederach — who wrangles Luperca alongside Katie Wolf, and helped bring the monthly East Side Art Stumble art crawl to our community — told us that they’re working on securing a new home. In

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EAST SIDE BUZZ

the meantime, they stayed alive in pop-up form in September and October, hosting Nashville painter Donna Woodley’s solo exhibition, “What’s In A Name?” at Riverside Village’s Fond Object.

“We may pop-up at Fond or another space near (East Nashville gallery) Red Arrow for November,” Lederach said, “but are really

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planning to use the next months to further build the Art Stumble and get our plans laid for our reopening in late winter.”

When the new, not-popped-up Luperca is ironed out, fans should have a lot to clap about. “The new space will allow us to further our commitment to community building and accessibility,” Lederach told us,

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“housing not just Gallery Luperca, but making space for other businesses and artists that are being pushed out of our neighborhood by unchecked development.”

Keep up with the latest at facebook.com/ galleryluperca.

Luperca wasn’t the only East Side gallery change: After a year in the cozy Shoppes on Fatherland, the photo-focused gallery Modern East ended its run in August with a final exhibition, showcasing the talents of owners Jennifer Stalvey and Brandon Felts and others.

“It has been our pleasure to share and display a rich variety of photography styles, mediums, and subject matter over the past 12 months,” a goodbye message read.

“Thank you to all of those who shared their work, to those who have regularly visited the gallery, and to those who collected original photography.”

Another Shoppes on Fatherland change: After a three-year run, the doors at Hempopotamus closed in August, with owner Kim Hussey-Ross shifting her business to Internet-only sales.

Fans can still purchase Hempopotamus’ locally made, industrial hemp-derived products at hempopotamus.com. The “only” should be a temporary thing, too — when we checked in with Hussey-Ross, she said she was working on bringing some of her wares to local retailers’ shops, so East Nashvillians would still be able to grab stuff in person. (Interested biz folks should reach out to info@hempopotamus.com.)

Sawtooth Print Shop packed up its East Side home in early September, too, but not to close, just to move to a new space across the river. The letterpress design/print studio moved to 2100 Dunn Ave in Berry Hill.

“It’s a bittersweet feeling to leave the East Side and the community we feel so supported by,” a Sawtooth social post said, “but the times are changing and we want to be around for a long time despite the current no-holdsbarred development going on all over town.”

Sawtooth began in an Inglewood garage, then moved to 604 Gallatin Ave. before this latest move. You can keep up with what they’re doing at sawtoothprintshop.com.

East Nashville-based cloth diapering service Smile Mommy! was another autumn loss — it closed in October after a warehouse sale at its now-former home, 1013 Gallatin Ave. The shutdown was the result of great news, though: Owner Kelly Bacher is the new mother of twin girls, and her growing family needed more of her attention.

“We are so sad to move on from it, but are lucky to have had the chance to share one of our passions with so many new parents and babies,” Bacher said.

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The final East Nashville days of Little Octopus will be upon us as you pick up these pages — the last dinner service inside POP, 604 Gallatin Ave., Suite 202, is Nov. 20.

LO is moving to the former Ru-San’s space in The Gulch, and was initially set to close in late July, but build-out delays pushed that back (lucky for its East Side devotees). An opening date for the Gulch location hadn’t

been announced at press time, but it’s expected soon, along with news about the new concept taking over POP. Another one skipping the East Side for western climes: Fat Bottom Brewing closed its East Nashville taproom at 900 Main Street in October, to get its new, bigger facility in The Nations going.

The new place is expected to open in

November, housing an expanded brewing program (including sour and barrel-aged beers), a restaurant called The Hop Yard, a small event space called “The Reserve” and a filling station they’re calling “The Nations’ Tiniest Beer Store.”

Porter Road Butcher, meanwhile, announced intentions to close some doors, but luckily for us, they’re not the East Side ones.

The Tennessean reported in October that the Sylvan Park location would be shuttering, so PRB’s owners could focus on their East Side flagship. The neighborhood butcher shop is due to get an expansion, and charcuterie line, too, the paper said.

COMING SOON

BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS, YOU may be mere days away from finally getting to step inside long-in-the-works-and-anticipated beer bar and record shop Vinyl Tap, located in the former home of The Family Wash at 2038 Greenwood Ave. Owner Todd Hedrick initially hoped to get the place open this past spring but was delayed due to the extensive renovations undertaken. The totally redesigned space will be ready for prime time on Nov. 25. Keep up with the latest at vinyltapnashville.com.

In early October, we learned a little more about GReKo Greek Street Food, long in the works at 704 Main St. When we first heard about the place — aiming to bring the “authentic flavor and spirit from the streets of Greece to the Athens of the South” — word was that a summer opening was in the works.

When summer came and went, we wondered if the place fell through. But happier times: Things are moving along, and the latest hope is for an opening this fall. The sign is up, and according to an update from those folks, interior work was humming along.

“Our crew has been busting their butts to get work done so that GReKo can finally open its doors,” the update read. For more, visit grekostreetfood.com.

Work is also underway at the former Riverside Drive Church of Christ at 1530 Riverside Drive. Video production and web development/design firm SnapShot Interactive is reinventing the circa-1937 structure to use as their new HQ, and keeping a focus on maintaining the historic aesthetic.

General manager Bart Mackey told us their goal is “to just be really respectful,” keeping the building’s front facade more or less the same, with small additions to the back.

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“We’re really excited about the historic aspect of it,” Mackey said, “so we want to do as little as possible.”

Once the reno is complete (Mackey is hoping for February 2017), the building will have a fully outfitted video studio, editing bays, and room for about 60 employees in a large, open work area.

The garden level space and mezzanine may end up housing coworking members or other tech-focused startups (those plans were still in the works), and Mackey expects SnapShot’s home to also host regular, community-focused events, like techie workshops and local artist spotlights. Check out more at snapshotinteractive.com.

Another historic property that may get new life: The Nashville Post reported in September that an investor group had purchased the historic Roxy Theatre at 827 Meridian St., and had plans to develop a restaurant and/or live entertainment venue there.

“We’re enamored with the history associated with the building,” group spokesman Elliott Kyle told the publication. “Geographically, we feel it is inevitable the McFerrin/Cleveland Park district goes through

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a revitalization and we hope to have a hand in that narrative over time.”

One of the East Side’s most popular burger-and-beer spots is getting a Williamson County cousin, too — Brentwood Home Page reported in September that a second The Pharmacy Burger Parlor & Beer Garden was in the works in the former Lyrics Restaurant space in The Factory at Franklin.

The original Pharmacy opened here in the neighborhood in 2011.

— Nicole Keiper Have East Side development news to share? Reach out to: nicole@theeastnashvillian.com.

Anode Inc. Looks Ahead After 25 Years IN MID-OCTOBER, DIGITAL MEDIA company Anode Inc. celebrated its 25th anniversary with a swath of high-tech diversions at its 926 Main St. headquarters.

Besides analog food and drinks, there was

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a virtual reality puzzle for guests to complete, an “LED meadow” installation, and a display of reactive lighting, all showcasing the company’s expertise in interactive digital media.

In its 25-year history, which began in founder and president Mark Magnuson’s house on Fairwin Avenue, Anode has focused on a combination of marketing materials for corporate clients and interactive experiences for schools, museums, and libraries. It developed a digital display for the Nashville Public Library Foundation that pairs donor names with the initiatives they have supported and an exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame that allows visitors to record and email their own versions of hit songs.

“We’ve always been focused on using computer technology to help tell stories,” Magnuson says.

Anode’s first official office was on the corner of Fifth and Broadway, but it was forced out to make room for Bridgestone Arena and the then-burgeoning NHL expansion team. The company bounced around Broadway locations for 18 years before getting pushed out by the increase in tourism.

“Personally, I moved to East Nashville in 1987,” Magnuson says. “I used to live off of West End in the Richland area, and I was looking for a much more diverse neighborhood because I wanted to be stimulated by a diverse culture that I was just not getting in that part of town. It was just a lot freer over here.”

Encouraged by his personal experience, Magnuson found a former diesel engine repair shop and transformed it into a studio space for his business. “I think one of the things I’m most proud of is being a part of East Nashville and to see all of the development,” he says. “There have been lots of pioneers in East Nashville when you think about the music industry. We’re just proud to join the ranks, being a graphic design studio of our size and caliber.”

With a sense of responsibility to its home, Anode has made several local philanthropic efforts. It supports East Nashville Athletics, formerly the East Nashville Little League, with pro bono work. It has also been involved in the beautification of Main Street, planting more than 20 trees and replacing the asphalt on its property with a courtyard garden.

“We wanted to be part of the revitalization,” Magnuson explains. “There are many businesses now that are really trying to put a better spin on the look and feel to continue to make East Nashville people proud to be from East Nashville.”

— Peter Chawaga

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Astute OBSERVATIONS James “Hags” Haggerty

I

That’s the spirit!

t’s the holiday season. The most wonderful time of the year! Thanksgiving, Christmas (lapsed Catholic), and New Year’s Eve, the trifecta of goodwill, if you will. It’s the time of year when family, friends, and loved ones gather together to celebrate the simple pleasures of togetherness and hopefulness. Peace on earth, charity, and goodwill toward men; turkey and stuffing, chestnuts roasting on an open fire; folks dressed up like Eskimos; The Herb Alpert and Tijuana Brass’ Christmas Album — these are a few of my favorite things.

For me, it’s the time of year when I connect with those closest to me, remember those that have passed on, and celebrate the near and dear ones.

It’s a busy time of Ornaments gigs and parties and rushing here and there. It is also a time of reflection and resolution. To put it succinctly, it is a time of gratitude. It is also a time of belt loosening.

But this year, there has been a Grinch trying to wrap its tiny, grubby little fingers around my hopeful, holiday heart. An orange-faced, windsock-for-a-haircut, jaw-jacking, loudmouthed, ill-mannered, sexually harassing, ignorant, bullying, insecure 70-year-old man-child Grinch.

Now wait just a minute, Hags. Politics? Really?

Yes. Absolutely. Shockingly, the astute observer has an opinion on the topic.

Normally I treat this column like a party. Politics and religion are off the table, but what else is there to write about this November?

For the record, I am registered as independent because, like Groucho Marx and Woody Allen, I would never join a club that would have me for a member. Thank you. I’m here all week. Try the sturgeon.

If you read the paper, watch the news, and especially if you use social media, you, like me, realize that our country is in a panic. By the time you read this, we will have narrowly escaped disaster or fallen into the abyss, depending on where you’re coming from. For many, no matter the outcome, it will seem as though the very fabric of our republic

is at stake. Or is it?

In my short lifetime, there have been many panicked, abyss-peering moments that we have stared down and come through as a people: the Cold War, Vietnam, Nixon, Watergate, Weather Underground, punk rock, Ayatollah Khomeini, the Iran hostage crisis, Jimmy Carter, gas crisis, Ronald Reagan, fern bars, Bill Clinton, W, terrorist attacks, Wall Street, and let’s not forget Milli Vanilli or acid-washed jeans. The list goes on and on. For me, this list conjures childhood memories, screaming headlines, dinner table discussions, arguments, and the TV news reporting impending doom nightly at 6 and 11.

And yet, our republic did not crumble. We made it through. I believe our country has made much progress in the last 40 years. Forty some years ago Roe v. Wade was being decided. Women won.

Marriage equality was a pipe dream, as was medicinal and decriminalized marijuana. How about Colin Kaepernick sitting out the national anthem and not getting kicked out of the NFL? Free speech and peaceful protest won that day. I could go on but I’m running out of inches on the page.

This election has held up a mirror to the dark and ugly parts of our society. Hate, bigotry, racism, homophobia, and ethnocentrism are anti-American. They are anti-civilization, and they make it very hard for me to enjoy my eggnog and mistletoe, damn it.

Have we no hope? Will Santa bring only coal this year? Perhaps clean coal? To this I say, “Humbug!”

I believe that our better nature will guide us through this uncertain time. I believe that the same holiday spirit that fills our homes at this time of year is the true American spirit. Charity for the least among us, a joyful vitality, a celebration of family and community, peace on earth and goodwill toward men — these are the ideals that will carry us through this temporary darkness.

Happy Holidays! See you next year!

Hags is a part-time bon vivant, man-about-town, and contributor to The East Nashvillian who earns his keep as a full-time bassist extraordinaire. His holiday band The Ornaments will once again grace The Family Wash stage for their annual week-long residency, thrilling kids young and old with the music of Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas.

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KNOW your NEIGHBOR

“H

P H OTO GR A PH BY ER IC E N GLA N D

ere at the community center, we do recreation and play for adults and kids. We have neighborhood associations who hook up on Monday and play ball, in midday. But from 3 to 6, it’s kids only. And that’s a service that a lot of people in this part of town — with all the new people coming in to the area — they don’t know it exists. They’re like, ‘you mean I can bring my kid here and they can hang out after school?’ Yep! And the next question is always, ‘How much does it cost?’ I tell them it’s free and they’re just baffled. We have a lot to offer!” — Randy Crawley

Randy CRAWLEY

we have a flag football league after school, where we take our kids in our after-school program and practice, come

by Tommy Womack up with plays, and go against kids in other community centers. We grab one of the vans we use in the parks department, bring our kids over to their kids and we play each other. And in that, we collaborate with other community centers in close proximity with us, like South Inglewood and Kirkpatrick. So it’s a nice opportunity for the kids to meet other kids from other parts of town, other socioeconomic backgrounds, and it’s very fun.

“We also have arts and crafts, and a partnership with They call Randy Crawley the Frist Center,” he continues, “Mr. Randy,” and he’s the pro“where we do a series of arts gram coordinator at the Shelby and crafts projects based on Community Center. His occuthe exhibits that are showing pation is — quite literally — at the Frist at the time; then fun and games. we conclude the curriculum For as busy as he is, his own by actually touring the Frist. description of his job is very We do that every semester. straightforward: “I, and my So there’s one in the fall, and staff, come up with fun ideas there’ll be another one in the based on what the kids and spring. On Wednesdays, we people want to do, and we make do chess. And if they (the it happen.” A fireball of energy kids) don’t know how to play with a ready smile and a conthat’s fine — no pressure, just tagious laugh, Crawley bounds come and learn.” out of his office to shake hands, A lifelong Nashville done up in a purple Metro resident, it was while still Parks T-shirt, khaki shorts, and studying for his degree in sneakers. He’s 31 years old, but recreation at Middle Tennessee looks younger, and he clearly State University — he graduated in 2008 — that Crawley enjoys what he does. came to work for Metro Parks The Community Center as a summer seasonal worker. building sits on the grounds of “I have been a recreation leader Shelby Park at 401 South 20th through the Purcell and Dean St. The first things to catch a administrations, and I finally visitor’s view would be the jungle gym and the tennis court, became a program coordinator but that’s just scratching the in 2014,” he says. surface. There’s the dog park, the Hours at the center are generally noon to 8, with the 3 to playground, the golf course, the 6 time slot for schoolkids only. mini-golf course, the baseball field, the softball field, the boat ramp — the list goes on. But Mr. Noon to 3 are the principal hours to accommodate homeschooled children. Anyone interested, however, is encouraged to check their Randy’s fiefdom centers around the Community Center building Facebook calendar (facebook.com/shelbycommunitycenter) to itself, and the outdoor activities near enough to it. keep track of all the days and times for all the different activities.

New ideas for how to have fun abound, and are employed one Asked what he likes to do for his own fun and games, Crawley after another. “One we just did Friday was a four-square tournament for fall break, invited a couple of food trucks in during the says, “I like to read, I like to fellowship with my family. I’m really big on family. I like to bring that kind of atmosphere to the lunch time, played music from one of the stereos we had, and it Community Center.” was just a beautiful day,” Crawley says. “So that’s one event, and

“

“I like to read, I like to fellowship with my family. I’m really big on family. I like to bring that kind of atmosphere to the Community Center.

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the

‘GARAGE COUNTRY’ WORLD of

AUBRIE SELLERS or

how a raw-edged, sweet-voiced country singer is shaking up a genre

BY TOMMY WOMACK

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ERIC ENGLAND

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I

‘‘

f you’re not pushing buttons, you’re just making something pleasant; it’s probably been done before, and it’s not making people feel anything.” So says post-country chanteuse Aubrie Sellers, and if you’ve not heard of her yet, sit tight, you will.

New City Blues, Sellers’ incendiary debut, initially released on Carnival/Thirty Tigers this past January, has been snapped up by Warner’s and was released anew with two bonus tracks in September. It’s indeed a button-pusher.

Guitars growl and bark, sounding like 1950s Sears Silvertone amps on 11, honks and licks spurting up in the foreground while a Daniel Lanois-esque scrim of chorus and echo hangs as a backdrop, anchored in place by thunder drums. It’s like Luther Dickinson, The Edge, and Jon Bonham all played in the same band, and it’s far from “chillin’ to some Skynyrd and some ol’ Hank” fare. “Garage country,” Sellers calls it, the sometimes ever-soslight twang in her voice being the one long arm going all the way back to the Opry, and her lyrics that tell about being a 24-year-old woman in 2016 as adroitly as Loretta Lynn told the story of being a mother of three in 1967.

The record begins with a Western sunrise. A gauzy, Gretsch tremolo twang rises up over the horizon alone, pulling shadows across the dirt. It rises slowly. After 30 seconds, the picked notes give way to chords until the sound has as much to do with Radiohead as it does a 21st century spaghetti Western. Then, at the 45-second mark, in come the drums, and when they come, they rattle Gary Glitter’s hairpiece right off his head. Add bass guitar, shake well. In 60 seconds, what started as a quiet morning moment in the desert has become a barefisted call to arms, and then the voice hits. Like Texas honey.

Sittin’ at the corner of an old crossroad Yella light red light green light go I can’t hit the gas, can’t turn the wheel Can’t go back and make a deal The sun ain’t up, the moon’s gone away Sure gets dark before the light of day!

It could be a song about love, about despair, or about this whole godforsaken country of ours. It’s two parts country, two parts rock & roll, two parts young woman’s diary, and two more parts rock & roll.

And with a couple of “take a breather” tunes at points along the way, this aggression is perpetuated for the lion’s share of the record. Some people are going to get it, some aren’t, and that suits Sellers just fine.

If any or all of its elements were toned down toward industry standards a good 30 percent, you’d still have a breath of fresh air; as it is, it’s a gale. And you will be kissed by the storm. At the time of the interview, she had just gotten home from an eight-week tour of radio stations. By the time this goes to press, you will have heard of her. Record labels don’t send an artist on a two-month tour of radio stations for you to wind up not having heard of her. And if the →

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hype weren’t justified, if Aubrie Sellers weren’t a raw-knuckled right cross to the whole pistol-packing country music genre, then cool matte-finish magazines wouldn’t put her on the cover either.

S

ellers’ road to glory started four years ago, when she first packed her talent and her gear into a Yukon and hit the road, playing every hole in the wall that would have her. It fit her, that kind of life. She was used to it. The road has always been her home, and we’ll get to why that is in a bit.

The road has led her to this moment at The Post East coffee shop on Fatherland on a sunny autumn noontime, fresh from the photo shoot for this story. She is radiant in black from head to toe: black hair, eyes rimmed with kohl, black sweater top, black leather pants, black all the way down to her fingernails. In the midst of all this stark raven magic is a magnetic million-dollar smile that’s a deadringer for Mom’s. Sellers is Lee Ann Womack’s daughter.

Immediately, 50 percent of you are scoffing and thinking, “Well that explains all the attention, doesn’t it!” But everyone from Bobby Bare Jr. on down will tell you that good breeding is no golden ticket.

In some ways, it makes it all just that much harder.

And this is why Sellers — going by that name — hit the road in her Yukon four years ago under her own flag, blithely anonymous.

Nobody knew it was Lee Ann Womack’s daughter playing for scraps in some dive in Oklahoma. Or if they caught her opening for Marty Stuart, or Hayes Carll, or John Moreland, or Chris Stapleton, nobody ever said, “Hey, she’s good. I wonder whose daughter she is.”

“People ask me, ‘Are you going to sing any of your mom’s songs?’ ” she muses, nursing a cup of water, “Uh, no!”

Often a solo acoustic act, these shows would only hint at the garage country she wanted to capture as a recording artist. “I’ve got a very traditional, sort of country sweet voice, and this very electric, driving music,” she says. “That’s not really been paired frequently — never in country, so people hear it for the first time and they don’t know what to do with it because it’s so raw to them, because they’re so used to hearing processed, over-produced tunes. All my influences, all my favorite records, are raw. And they’re older, because back then you couldn’t overdo things, Led Zep records and Steve Earle and George Jones — and Ralph Stanley is one of my favorite singers of all time. I think all of those people made really soulful records, and Buddy and Julie Miller, too.

“Two things that drove this record were the electric guitars and the drums,” she continues, “We all got in there in one room and recorded the bulk of it live together. There was an initial week, then another day later on that we went back in and did some more songs.

And, of course, there was more than that, there was preproduction and us just getting in and messing around with guitar pedals and sounds. It was a process. I started recording three years ago and didn’t really stop working on it until two years after that and then started figuring out what to do with it.”

Sellers’ words hit as hard as the music. “Sit Here and Cry,” the new single, is honky-tonk-on-steroids, hammering out the futility of holding on to what’s gone. (“I’m gonna sit here and cry ‘til you come back!”) It’s her favorite track on the record. “It’s got some energy to → it,” she says.

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‘‘

People ask me, ‘Are you going to sing any of your mom’s songs?’

Uh, no!

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‘‘

The headstrong boom-cha of “Liar Liar” lays a cad on the mat and spanks him senseless. “People Talking” goes after the very gossip hounds that got that cad in trouble to begin with. And “Magazines” targets the vacuousness of the celebrity culture. The raucous, pounding “Paper Doll” has more to do with The Sonics than anything on country radio.

There’s a sense of the rootlessness endemic to her generation, the displacement and uncertainty; the joy, the rage, and the seamy day-to-dayness that is a millennial woman’s lot in 2016 America.

It’s maybe no more stark than on “Losing Ground.” “It’s a personal song about how I feel every day,” she says, “I wrote just to get it out.

It was not one of those ‘craftsmanship’ songs, more like a journal or therapy. I didn’t know if anyone would get it or feel that way, but it turned out a lot of people connect with that song.

“I tell people there’s not a lot of happy songs,” she adds, stirring the straw in her water, the sun through the window setting a sparkle in her eyes against her jet black backdrop, “but they’re not unhappy songs either. It’s life. The way it is.”

And indeed there is enough tentative contentment here, too.

“Something Special” describes a lady inviting her man to find some Zen delight in a frankly mundane evening with her: They can go down to the lake, or go to the coffee shop, or sit under the stars, just something they don’t do all the time. (“Stop and smell the roses / you know they go so fast.”) And “The Humming Song,” which eschews words in the chorus entirely to focus on the lost art of our age — melody. “That’s another one I wrote by myself,” she offers.

“The atmosphere of that song is really important to me and to the record, because that’s another facet of me, that dreamy sound and the big melody that transports you to another place. I like that really aggressive dirty gritty sound, and I love that dreamy atmospheric sound. I love California steel, like Neil Young, or Bakersfield sound kind of steel. That’s very dreamy, very atmospheric, so I have some of that on ‘Losing Ground’ and ‘The Humming Song’ and it creates some of that mood.” To sweeten the deal melodically, the two bonus tracks are covers of golden classic tunes: the Beach Boys’ “In My Room” and the Zombies’ “The Way I Feel Inside,” cut live in the studio. Considerably gentler fare, they’re not unlike a bubble bath after a hard day.

“I got my first guitar when I was 13, and that’s when I started playing and writing; but I didn’t consider myself a songwriter ’til I started writing for this album,” she says, “and then I couldn’t imagine not writing all my songs. When you’ve been playing your whole life, you want to know the songs are as true as you can make them.

Who’s truer to my life than me?”

When you’ve been playing your whole life, you want to know the songs are as true as you can make them. Who’s truer to my S life than me?

ellers was born in Nashville 24 years ago, the scion of East Texas expats: traditionalist country powerhouse Lee Ann Womack and Jason Sellers of Ricky Skaggs’ band. She grew up on the tour bus, loving it. She was home-schooled by her mom on that bus, and she saw early on what life was like behind the curtain.

“I’ve always been introverted,” she says — although she comes across very personable — “and to have my mom occupied all the time working, I was off doing my own thing just observing all →

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the time, and I noticed many times how people behaved when my mother was in the room and when she wasn’t. For instance, I would go to Donut Den all the time a long time ago, and there was a girl there who wasn’t very friendly.

And then one time my mom went in and the girl acted like the nicest person in the whole world, and just experiencing that over and over again gave me a cynical view of people.

Just seeing that happen a lot, growing up in the entertainment industry, there’s a lot of phoniness and a lot of people going head over heels for something and you’re like, why? I write about that a lot — ‘Magazines’ and ‘Paper Doll’ and ‘Liar Liar,’ they’re all about phoniness in different forms.”

And while all the glitz and schmooze didn’t make her terminally cynical, it did make her aware. And she learned. She learned that this was show biz — both show and biz. It taught her a lot about what to do, what not to do, and how important it was to find and work with the right group of people.

A few years ago, she struck up such a relationship with Grammy-nominee Adam Wright, with whom she cowrote seven of the album’s 16 tracks, and who contributes guitar, piano, ukulele, and harmonica.

Other fingerprints on the songs belong to East Nashville favorite Mando Saenz, Neil Mason, Jessie Jo Dillon, Dani Flowers, Phillip and Amber White, Brent Cobb, and Aubrie’s father, Jason Sellers. Then again, a healthy handful of the tunes came from the pen of Sellers herself alone and without a net. There is nothing on the record that was pitched from an outside source, as is the way of this town. It’s all Sellers, sometimes with coconspirators, sometimes not.

The players on the record are heavy hitters: Glenn Worf on the bass, Fred Eltringham on the drums, Chris Coleman on guitars and keys, Josh Grange on pedal steel, Tim Marks on bass, Park Chisholm on guitar and banjo, and Jason Goforth on harp and the lap steel that lights up “In My Room” through a montage of pedals. Mom even chimes in on a backing vocal or two.

“A lot of the wacky guitar stuff is done

by Chris,” Sellers notes. “He likes country music and understands it like I do, but he also understands the rock stuff, and he’s really willing to be bold and get ‘out there’ and try a bunch of stuff until something sticks. And Fred plays on a lot of records; he’s an incredible drummer, and when I told him I like ‘When the Levee Breaks’ and I like this live drum sound on a lot of these records — this kind of really trashy bold drums — he was totally able to do it and knew what I was talking about.” Sellers’s stepfather, Frank Liddell, produced the album. And before you even say it, this is not like anything he’s ever produced before, for a lot of the instrumental reasons we’ve already noted.

Sellers’ life is going to be on the road — like she’s well accustomed to — for a long time to come. She left on tour the day after the interview. She was destined to go to England among other places. After the new year, from January through to the end of March, she’s going to be out opening for Miranda Lambert, and many people who have not yet been exposed to her absolutely will be. Time will tell if 2017 is the Year of Aubrie; what is assured is that a lot of people

right now believe it will be. Her acerbic and joyous sides will be on display in stadiums.

“Maybe my favorite line from the whole album is from ‘Like the Rain,’ and it says, ‘no flower grows on sunshine alone.’ I think that really sums up a lot of my writing,” she says.

As the sun through the coffee house window plays on Sellers’ face, there’s a feeling that the light is going to shine on her for a good while to come.

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2016 holiday ** * ** *

GIFT GUIDE T

he holidays are upon us. Like it or not, it is time to start rocking and wrapping around the Christmas tree. Luckily for you, we are oozing holiday spirit and have saved you from sweating those shopping lists with a few prime picks for our holiday gift guide. Santa is keeping things local this year.

Pamper Yourself

certified massage therapist for over 10 years, basing her business on the East Side in the Body in Balance Building on Main Street.

She specializes in deep work, but is trained in trigger-point, muscle-release, neuromuscular therapy and prenatal techniques as well.

She tailors her time to benefit each client’s goals of relaxation and pain and stress relief.

Added bonus: She gives her patients tips on stretching and strength exercises to minimize discomfort. Val can tailor any session to fit just about any customer’s needs; we think a Gift Certificate ($45-$105) for some time on her table is money well spent.

953 Main St. | 615.491.1848

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J VAL KNUST, LMT has been a nationally

lady’s (or man’s) facial bases covered. They offer a menagerie of services: facials, laser treatments, injectables, waxing, and more (Services starting at $15). We learned about their Diamond Dermalinfusion ($165) technology. It is a non-invasive skin-perfecting treatment with both instant and cumulative results, packed in to a potent punch of a 30-minute session. It’ll leave the skin with immediately noticeable improvements in volume, hydration, tone, and texture. Stop in to grab a gift certificate today. myglowskincare.com 1013 Fatherland St. | 615.226.4627

We’re all looking to soothe those winterchilled bones and chapped faces during these bitter months, and ABODE MERCANTILE has the solution. They carry an exclusive line of bath products from Soak Body Company, which includes their Sugar Scrub ($9.99), Shea Butter Crème ($9.99), Bath Salts ($15.99), Body Spray ($15.99), and Natural Bar Soap ($6.50) — for a luxurious (and needed) gift. abodemercantile.com 1002 Fatherland St. #101. | 800.535.8184

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Give the gift of glowing skin from

GLOW SKINCARE. This stop has every

GIFT GUIDE

By Emma Alford

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cont.

GIFT GUIDE

Pamper Yourself

Here’s something that should not be stressful this holiday season: shopping for wine.

WOODLAND WINE MERCHANT

makes wine buying — and wine giving — super easy. They’ll wrap any bottle you buy in their custom-designed paper and adorn it with a letterpressed tag. The wrapping is free of charge, and it looks fantastic. Woodland carries a carefully curated selection, focused on ethically farmed and naturally produced wines, small-production spirits, and craft beers. To top it off, the 6 for $60 bags are the perfect way to get a variety of high-quality wines for a great price. No fuss. Give one as a gift, or pick one up and get ready for all those holiday parties! woodlandwinemerchant.com 1001 Woodland St. | 615.228.3311

approach to wellness. She specializes in Thai Yoga massage, acupressure, and reflexology — making this massage session different from the rest. Her clients leave feeling relaxed and recharged, so what better gift could you give? She is located inside of East Nashville Family Medicine and offers online booking. We guarantee she has the healing touch for anyone on your list. Pick up a Gift Certificate ($50-$180), or try a special holiday package of three or five for 20% off. www.musiccityhealingarts.com 801 Woodland St.| 615.243.6068

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CITY WINERY NASHVILLE is more

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Jillian Reed of MUSIC CITY HEALING ARTS takes a holistic

than just the name implies — it is an event, an experience. The space is like no other in the city, operating as a fully functioning winery, fine dining restaurant, and music venue.

Wine snob on your list this year? You can’t go wrong if you pick up some of City Winery’s signature vino. These three blends were among our favorites: Music City Pinot Noir 2014, Carneros, CA ($28), Pedal Steel Petite Sirah 2014, Chalk Hill, CA ($26), and their Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2013, Diamond Mountain District, Nappa, CA ($30). Each offers a different blend of tastes and aromas, giving you plenty of options for the distinctive wine connoisseur. Plus, the staff on deck is endlessly knowledgeable about their wines, so we’re sure they’d be more than eager to help you choose the perfect pour. citywinery.com/nashville/ 609 Lafayette St. | 615-324-1010

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A newbie to the Shoppes at Fatherland,

HER BOOKSHOP has a little bit of

standing plays year ’round. Their seasons are diverse, unique, and inspire the creative juices in all of us. Grab a Gift Certificate (Prices start at $45) for the theater buff on your list. One thing we’re always able to count on them for is the annual A Christmas Story production. We know 24 hours straight of the classic on Christmas Day just doesn’t cut it. We don’t need to explain, just let Ralphie do the talking. nashvillerep.org.

505 Deaderick St. | 615.244.4878

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everything, and can order you just about anything. Fittingly, they’ve got something for the creative (and hungry) soul. The Artists’ and Writers’ Cookbook: A Collection of Stories with Recipes ($30) by Natalie Eve Garrett features tons of recipes from artists and writers. They could be serving up Neil Gaiman’s “Coraline’s Cheese Omelette,” or Jane Smiley’s “Trenton Tomato Pie.” Get someone behind the cutting board with their favorite artists. herbookshop.com 1006 Fatherland St., Suite 103A 615.485.5420

NASHVILLE REPERTORY THEATRE graces our fair city with out-

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GIFT GUIDE

Creative for the

MUSIC VALLEY ANTIQUES & MARKETPLACE has an abundance

of finds for the crafting creative, but this DIY kit is a must for the HGTV addict. This Rethunk Junk Paint Set ($30/qt., $10/prep) includes three different paints in a variety of colors. This set is perfect for that person set on antiquing every piece of furniture in their home. Buying them a change of clothes might be helpful, too. musicvalleyantiques.com 2416 Music Valley Drive, #126 615.846.6212

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keeps candy the way it should be, simple and old-fashioned. They use fresh ingredients to craft tasty treats like almond toffee, caramels, and pralines. Scrumptious and Southern, these goodies are all natural and would make a sweet gift this year. Pick up one of their Sampler Tins in the large ($32) or small ($18) size; it’s filled with a smattering of almond toffee, pecan pralines, and creamy sea salt caramels. The holy trinity, if you will. You can also pick up individuals gift boxes and bags of their pralines and caramels, which come in a variety of flavors. Go for the traditional NOLA-style Pecan Praline 1/4 lb. Gift Box ($10) or spike it up with the Tennessee whiskey variety. The Gourmet Caramel 2.5 oz. Kraft Gift Bags ($6) range in taste from simple sea salt to adventurous bacon chipotle or boozy moonshine flavors. Try ’em all. walkercreektoffee.com 1108 Woodland St. | 615.295.4137

HIGH NOTE GIFTS is quintessentially

Nashville, featuring goodies from folks across the city. This local treasure trove of sweets is just “the thing” for chocolate lovers on your list. The Gift Box ($25.00) includes an Olive & Sinclair chocolate bar, two Goo Goo clusters (OG and Supreme), and from Colt’s, two Marie McGhee’s Bumble Bees, and two milk chocolate-covered marshmallows. Death by chocolate is real. highnotegifts.com 1201 Fourth Ave. S. #104 | 615.873.0403

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For a gift that’s poppin’, check out

KERNELS GOURMET POPCORN

on Gallatin (OK, we cringed at how cheesy that was too). This spot’s gourmet popcorn makes a great gift for that special someone.

By special, we mean that person that you have no clue what to get. They have all the classic flavors, both savory and sweet, plus a couple of unique bites you won’t find anywhere else.

With all of the hot chicken hullabaloo around Nashville, Kernels even created their own sweet heat popcorn. Grab a Canister ($20) and fill it with your choice picks or, for that special someone, their festive Mason Jar of Caramel Corn ($9.99) might do the trick. Pick your pop. kernelsnashville.com 2501-B Gallatin Ave.| 615.378.7674

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Chocolate with a rock & roll attitude? That’s the idea behind CHOCOLATE F/X, your dreamy chocolate stop in the Shoppes on Fatherland. You won’t find any choco-goodies quite as pretty as these. This sweetery has your back for the chocoholic on your list.

For something festive, snag a Handcrafted Christmas Tree ($38). These decadent Douglas Firs are made with milk, dark, and Belgian chocolates and hand-painted with cocoa butter.

For someone whose tastes can’t be tamed, grab a Caramel & Truffle Assortment Box ($30) — this features small-batch, unique, seasonal favorites like apple cider caramel, strawberry balsamic truffle, Yuzu Mandarin with marzipan, salted caramel and dark ganache swirl, and pumpkin pie ganache. chocolatefx.net 1004 Fatherland St. #101 | 404.402.6562

GIFT GUIDE

Sweet Tooth for the

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GIFT GUIDE

for the

Kiddos

MUSIC FOR AARDVARKS NASHVILLE is as different as the name

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THE CRAZY KUKLA BOUTIQUE

If you haven’t had the chance to stop by

LOOK EAST yet, drop in and welcome

them to the hood. This new neighborhood eye doc is a one-stop optical shop. They have a unique selection of luxury eyewear and a great eye doc, Kathleen Brasfield, who sees patients ages 4 and up. For the cool kid on the list, the Babiators ($20) are making us coo. These stylish little aviators are for kids up to age 7. Help protect those baby peepers from UV rays in style this year. lookeastnashville.com 1011 Gallatin Ave. | 615.928.2281

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PONY SHOW, an “oasis from the ordinary,” has some pretty precious matching mommy/daughter tees and onesies. This Gal Power (Adult $36; Baby onesie and kids tees $28) design would make a great gift for any mom and kid duo — or grab one for you and a friend to make them gal pal tees.

They come in men’s, women’s, child, and infant sizes, so the combinations are endless.

Get them for the whole family. As always with Pony Show originals, these designs are printed locally with eco-friendly ink and sweatshop-free tees. ponyshownashville.com 723 Porter Road | 615.319.2244

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is a new addition to the East Side. They have an assortment of accessories, clothing, and toys for children and babies. The new mama and her bambino can look stylish with these gifts. Little Unicorn Marindale Backpack ($75) is a sophisticated diaper bag; it’s so fashionable folks won’t even know you’re carrying around a poopy pack. The durable cotton canvas, vegan leather bag comes with a protective iPad pocket, cushioned changing pad and matching stroller straps, and plenty of pockets. Swaddle in style with this cotton set of three swaddling blankets by Little Unicorn Swaddles ($40). These snuggle rugs, which come in three adorable, original prints, are made with 100-percent cotton muslin and are lightweight and breathable, just the way mamas and babies like ‘em. thecrazykuklaboutique.com 1900 Eastland Ave. 615.540.1977

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implies. The program has locations throughout the country and offers an interesting and refreshing alternative to traditional music classes for babes and kiddos. The influences of rock, blues, folk, jazz, and pop all shine through in the course, which has an innovative approach that appeals to both children and parents. The program has its own catalog of original music that we guarantee kids and parents alike will enjoy (i.e. no Barney songs).

These classes are for ages 3 months to 5 years, with jam sessions, musical storytelling, and plenty of dancing. We think a 10-Week Semester ($190) of these would be a great gift for any wannabe rock star toddler (you know, the ones already banging on kitchen pots and pans with wooden spoons). The price even includes a CD of the original music used in the class. You are living in Music City, after all, so let your kids play the part. nashvilleaardvarks.com 615.933.8925

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HATCH SHOW PRINT — the iconic

poster pusher of Music City — has its own take on the coloring book. These Barnyard Animal Coloring Cards ($10) were designed in 1933 by artist Charles Clack and later carved into woodblock prints by Hatch. The woodblock print cards feature the original Barnyard Animals along with envelopes and crayons. No penalties for coloring outside the lines. hatchshowprint.com 224 Fifth Ave. S. | 615.577.7710

DELGADO GUITARS is East Nashville’s own family-run, handmade guitar artisan. Manuel Delgado, a third-generation guitar guru, now runs his family’s business.

Every instrument that passes through Delgado’s hands is unique, customized, and the only one like it. Delgado’s craftsmanship is not lost on us folks at The East Nashvillian.

Delgado should have the bases covered for any guitar player this year with a grab bag of sorts. The Player’s Pack $55.00 ($100.00 value) comes with a capo, set of strings, strap, pick, and a guitar humidifier. If your rock star already has all their gear chops covered, pick up a Delgado Guitars Baseball Cap $19.95 or a gift card. Can’t go wrong with either. delgadoguitars.com 919 Gallatin Ave. #10 | 615.227.4578

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GIFT GUIDE

Rockstar for the

If you’re shopping for a music lover, then

FANNY’S HOUSE OF MUSIC is a

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necessary stop. Fanny’s has a huge selection of strummin’ instruments for the pickers out there, plus oodles of vintage goodies to pan your way through. They also offer lessons and professional repair and restoration. One of the coolest finds at Fanny you’ll see is their Makala Waterman Ukulele (($48.99).

It’s not just any old uke — this thing can swim! It’s waterproof, so you can take it for a dip in the tub or have a jam on the beach without sweating the suds or waves. For the adventurous strummer, this is a one-of-a-kind gift. Are you a dolphin lover or just beginner uke-er? This Makala Dolphin Ukulele ($48.99) features a dolphin-shaped bridge that will make it easy to pick it out of a crowd. The women of Fanny’s inform us this is a great quality beginner ukulele and would make a great travel companion for those ramblers.

Another eye-catcher, Fanny’s Signature Kal Etched Uke ($99.95), would make a fantastic gift for the pretty picker. This ukulele has been laser-etched with Fanny’s custom artwork by Nashville-based artist Scott Guion. This thing is so gorgeous you won’t want to put it under the tree. fannyshouseofmusic.com 1101 Holly St. | 615.750.5746

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of 5 Points, is the mothership that steers the Tomato Art Fest every year. The beloved spot offers a diverse selection of original fine arts, crafts, jewelry, and other odds ’n’ ends. We love Beth McDaniel’s upcycled line of jewelry, Reclaimed (Bracelet $125; Earrings $38; Necklace $65). McDaniel takes the bric-abrac of junk drawers and turns it into unique pieces that we think any woman would want to wear. With this gift, you can honestly say there is not another like it. artandinvention.com 1106 Woodland St. | 615.226.2070

2616 has three things going for it: great

brands, great prices, and a great cause.

This women’s resale boutique was created to provide funds to YWCA programs like Dress for Success, Weaver Domestic Violence Center, Family Literacy Center, and Girls Inc. Basically, they’re all about girl power — empowering females one stylish outfit at a time. Drop by the boutique to find something for any professional lady on your list. Whether they need a go-to pair of Handmade Freshwater Pearl & Sterling Silver Earrings ($15), a new Folli Follie Red Wallet ($50), or a gorgeous new Elliot Lucca Leather Bucket Handbag ($40), 2616 has you covered. And when you shop there, it’s almost like you’re giving two gifts.

2616 Gallatin Pike | 615.891.4222

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Makes sense that HER BOOKSHOP would have the perfect gift “for her.” This lovely little book nook has beautiful binds for anyone on your list, but The Feminist Activity Book ($12) is a great choice for the femme shopper. Think adult highlights for the feminist. It features some fun activities like “Doodle Feminis-T-Shirts,” “Women’s Mad Libs,” and a maze through “patriarchal bullshit.” It’s sure to generate some laughter around the tree. herbookshop.com 1006 Fatherland St. Suite 103A 615.485.5420

BELA BEGONIAS is a new jeweler, hoping to land around some East Nashville’s necks this holiday. The Bela Begonias brand is inspired by an earthy bohemian vibe and built on the idea of quality over quantity.

Bethany of BB wants her jewelry to last for years and years, with the chance to be passed down to the next generation. They love us so much at The East Nashvillian that they’re offering readers 15 percent off with this code: EastNash15. The Tiny WanderLust Tags ($42/gold fill, $37/sterling silver) can speak to anyone on your list; Choose from five tags, each with their own meaning. You can pick one for the free spirit or the day dreamin’ moonchild. Each piece is constructed with sterling silver or 14k gold fill, sure to last through everything, including day-to-day activities like showering, sleeping, and working out. Or try on the Gold Dipped Arrowhead Necklace ($118-$138) for size. They’re available in different lengths. Another eye-catching piece for the lady on your list are these Desert Cactus Hoop Earrings ($58). They’re hand-formed, comprised of copper-dipped chrysoprase, aquamarine, pyrite, and copper — a unique and popular choice that we think goes perfectly with just about any OOTD. belabegonias.com

Five Points resident florist, FLWR SHOP, is the labor of love of one couple that’s made fresh flowers their passion. They have over 20 years of combined experience in the floral industry, and during that span, have learned how to craft quite the bouquet and stay on budget. Any lady loves flowers, so something from FLWR Shop is a safe bet. Pick a themed arrangement, try the Subscription Service ($65), or set her up with one of their Gift Boxes ($125). It comes with several goodies — a fresh arrangement, a candle, and some luxurious, small batch, natural bath products including an herbal facial steam, all packaged to please her eyes. No wrapping paper needed. flwrshop.com 123 S. 11th St. | 615.401.9124

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GIFT GUIDE

for Her cont.

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of small-batch treats for the ladies. High Note is supporting a handful of local businesses with this roundup of goodies that features a small tin candle from Glimmer of Hope, Trubee Honey Lip Balm, and soap from Little Seed Farm, all packaged neatly into a small handmade clutch from Hummingbird Factory ($45.00). highnotegifts.com 1201 Fourth Ave. S. #104 | 615.873.0403

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LOOK EAST is our newest, independently owned local eye care/ eyewear one-stop shop. They’re not just in the business of bifocals, they want to keep those peepers looking proper underneath the glasses, too. Any girl, anywhere, is tired of those itchy, red, looks-like-you’ve-beencrying eyes after removing makeup. We Love Eyes Eye Makeup Remover and Foaming Cleanser ($38) is a necessary gift for the fresh-faced lady. It’s vegan and made from nontoxic essential oils. This stuff will clean up last night’s makeup without any stubborn traces left behind. lookeastnashville.com 1011 Gallatin Ave. | 615.928.2281

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HIGH NOTE GIFTS is their collection

some Shit That I Knit Beanies ($125) and Headbands ($50). These vulgar knitters are based out of Boston and each piece is crafted with high-quality material: hand-dyed Peruvian merino wool, alpaca, or cashmere.

These warm babies will last the wearer a lifetime. Seems like the perfect gift for the chilly months ahead. rustiquenashville.com 700 Fatherland St. | 615.477.7629

Peruse PAULI’S PLACE BOUTIQUE this year for a curated collection of women’s shoes, clothing, jewelry, and accessories. She packs a lot of variety into a small punch of a shop. These are some items we loved from their closet this year: Feel luxurious in a European-made silk and velvet Kimono Jacket ($225). Choose from a variety of gorgeous colors, some with hand beading and fringe. This is a statement piece for the lux lady. We’re handing it to handbags this year.

What woman doesn’t always need a new purse? Pauli’s has a beautiful assortment of soft leather and suede bags in all shapes and sizes: crossbody, satchel, totes, and clutch styles. This Most Wanted USA leather crossbody bag ($98) is the perfect everyday purse to tote around the city, available in black and brown. Jewelry for your jewel?

Pauli’s Place has a large selection of locally handcrafted and designer jewelry in stunning silver and gold. These semiprecious pieces are the perfect gift for your precious peach.

1006 Fatherland St. Suite 201 | 615.801.7516

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GIFT GUIDE

Him for

THE HIP ZIPPER is a necessary stop on

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the shopping trail for great vintage finds. The Zipper is the original, all-vintage clothier in East Nashville. Contrary to the name, they were around before the East Side became so “hip.” They offer reasonably priced vintage threads from the 1940s through the 1980s.

Pull up someone’s britches with a Vintage Belt Buckle this year. They have plenty of unique designs to choose from with plenty of personal flair. The best part, one size fits all. White gold ornate oval buckle w/ black and gold flecks stone ($29); Flying eagle buckle with red and turquoise stones ($32); Ornate floral oval buckle ($28); Small oval buckle w/ marble stone ($22); Small rainbow stone buckle in horseshoe ($19); Ornate oval buckle w/ brown enamel horsehead ($24). hipzipper.com 1008 Forrest Ave. | 615.228.1942

ABODE MERCHANTILE abides for

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the dude on your list. They have a selection of items from SouthLife; each beautifully crafted piece features a Remington shell.

Included in the collection are a Nashville Double Old Fashioned Glass ($12), Shot Glass ($10), Hip Flask ($30), Leather Key Chain ($10), and a Bifold Wallet ($33). Any of these would make a classy gift for the Southern man you’re shopping for. abodemercantile.com 1002 Fatherland St. #101 | 800.535.8184

DAVIDSON FARMERS CO-OP has

plenty of great gifts for the outdoorsman on your list. In the thick of winter anyone would be thankful to have these in their wardrobe.

The Under Armour Freedom Hoodie ($54.99) is a little dose of patriotism and a big dose of warmth and durability. The Muck Boot Company’s Mossy Oak “Break Up”($193.99) sees this legend of the swamp debuting a new camo pattern for the holidays. Supposedly, this camo can hide you in any fickle forage across the entire country; great for hunters on your list or just the Southern man who likes his wardrobe Mossy. davidsonfarmerscoop.com 3511 Dickerson Pike | 615.860.4774

HIGH NOTE GIFTS is almost like the

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“best of ” store for local makers and artisans.

The shop features products made by local small businesses right here in Nashville. This celebration of all things local and artisanal definitely has plenty for you gift givers. Got a grill man to buy for? High Note Gifts has compiled a Nashville Grill Master Gift Set ($39.00). The trio includes the “People Tested, Pig Approved” BBQ sauce from Nashville’s Hog Heaven, and two spice blends from JM Thomason. What’s cookin’? highnotegifts.com 1201 Fourth Ave. S. #104 | 615.873.0403

PONY SHOW offers some dreamy vintage

finds, locally made goods and prints, and some of the best (and wittiest) shirts around.

All Pony Show brand apparel is designed by the owner and printed locally at Friendly Arctic with eco-friendly ink and sweatshop-free tees. This shirt could really work for a dude or dudette, but because Pony Show has a plethora of adorable shirts for femmes, we will give this one to the boys. “Goin Wild in East Nashville” Baseball Tee ($38) is great for any forever 37206-er, and it comes in baseball or regular tee form. Pick your poison. ponyshownashville.com 723 Porter Road | 615.319.2244

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for Him cont.

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J DCXV believes in Nashville, and you can,

too, with the now iconic shirt from the design and apparel brand’s artist Adrien Saporiti. DCXV (or 615 in Roman numerals) crafts some awesome threads, bursting out of Nashville’s cowboy boot bubble. We love the classic I Believe in Nashville ($25) shirts, which come in all shapes and sizes.

Buy it for the man, woman, kid, baby, OR dog on your list. Seriously, they make these shirts for everyone. For a 37206-ite, go for the East Nashville Buffalo Shirt ($25). dcxvindustries.com 727 Porter Road | 615.295.8905

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Let this Christmas go up in smoke for the stogie lover this year. East Nashville’s cigar shop SMOKERS ABBEY has all a smoker’s needs covered. This tobacconist can meet the desires of any new or veteran cigar enthusiast.

They have a selection of beautiful handcrafted pipes for the toking bloke. Just look at this killer Carved Viking Meerschaum Pipe ($200) — who wouldn’t want to show that off ? This gorgeous pipe would make a wonderful gift; case included. For a simple starter pack, grab a Lotus Humidor Case ($19) and fill it with two tasty Cigars ($10.99 ea.) and a Zico Lighter ($29). A classy gift if we ever saw one.

604 Gallatin Ave. #102 | 615.678.8458

A Nashville must-see, the COUNTRY

MUSIC HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM has more than just awesome

exhibits. Drop by their gift shop Circa to grab some holiday swag. Statement piece is an understatement for this men’s Rockmount Gabardine Embroidered Jacket ($150).

This classic, vintage-style bolero blazer will undoubtedly be remembered on Christmas morning. countrymusichalloffame.org 222 Fifth Ave. S. | 615.416.2001

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Homestead for the

You can’t miss CUMBERLAND HARDWARE in the heart of 5 Points.

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tle shop nestled in the Shoppes at Fatherland, specializing in locally made and crafted homewares, foods, and other high-quality gift items.

Drop by their space to cross several to-dos off that daunting shopping list. A very Nashville gift, without the wait, would be a batch of Loveless Café biscuits and jam. At Abode you can pick up the famous café’s Biscuit Mix ($7.99) and Preserves ($8.49), without the long, stomach rumbling delay. Take it a step further and snag someone the Loveless Café Cookbook ($19.99) while you’re there. abodemercantile.com 1002 Fatherland St. #101 800.535.8184

DAVIDSON FARMERS CO-OP has all outdoorsy needs covered,

wilderness survival and field plowing alike.

But for something a little different, we think this “Farmer’s Life” sign ($34.99) is a great gift for the country homestead. Think Luke Bryan’s version of “Thug Life.” davidsonfarmerscoop.com 3511 Dickerson Pike | 615.860.4774

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Nestled into a cozy Fatherland shop,

RUSTIQUE offers a little bit of everything

for anyone on your list. It is a great spot to start your holiday shopping. They offer goods made locally (or nationally) with a dose of charm and novelty that sets their inventory aside. Who doesn’t love a candle?

These slow-burning smell-goods from Opal & Wonder ($15) are poured in Asheville, N.C. using 100 percent soy wax and will be available in special holiday scents. Keep the home smellin’ fresh and festive. And for the Christmas tree, check out these Ceramic Ornaments ($12 ea.), which are handmade here in Nashville through a collaboration of two local companies, RV Pottery and Ruthie & Oliver Letterpress. rustiquenashville.com 700 Fatherland St. | 615.477.7629

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J ABODE MERCANTILE is a perfect lit-

This charming neighborhood tool shop has any screws, nuts, or bolts your heart desires — all sold with a smile. This gadget could come in handy for anyone, but might make a particularly apropos gift for the overprotective father. This duo, flashlight and taser from Kentucky Tactical Supply ($29.99), will keep you safe in power outages OR the impending zombie apocalypse. With a super bright LED light and a power stun gun to boot, this really is a nifty find. We always love a gift with more than one use.

1018 Woodland St. | 615.227.1240

no introduction. You know what they’re all about. We highly recommend you drop by their gift shop Circa for a few gifts this year.

Keep the water rings off end tables during this season of holiday parties and soirees with the Vinylux Record Label Coasters ($20).

The 6-pack of record label coasters are made with recycled vinyl. Great for the music lover or Holly Homemaker. Keep your chicken hot just like Nashville likes it with Coop’s Hot Chicken Paste ($11). This paste is bonafide Nashville Hot Chicken, produced right here in Music City. Take the hot chicken home with this gift. countrymusichalloffame.org 222 Fifth Ave. S. | 615.416.2001

J MUSIC VALLEY ANTIQUES AND MARKETPLACE reminds us of a high-

brow flea market. The family-owned business is in partnership with more than 30 vendors, with vintage goods and crafty finds throughout. You will inevitably end up at Opry Mills this holiday season, and this stop is just a hop and a skip away. For some unique, folky home décor, pick up one of these “Nashville” signs ($75) for the homestead. It’s the perfect empty space filler and no one will ever forget where they are. musicvalleyantiques.com 2416 Music Valley Drive #126 615.846.6212 If you know Nashville, then you know

HATCH SHOW PRINT. The maker of

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Who doesn’t love pancakes on a Sunday morning? With this gift you can skip the long lines of Pancake Pantry and Pfunky Griddle; you don’t even have to get out of your PJs. Sunday Morning Pancake Mix ($10-12) from MY FRIEND WHO LOVES TO COOK has whipped up the best flapjack mix since your mama’s homemade hotcakes of yore. Serve them with an XL side of bacon (no charge) and OJ, all in the comfort of your own home. This mix is healthy AND tasty, made up of a nine-grain, organic blend milled right here in East Nashville. Make someone’s morning brighter with hotcakes on the griddle. myfriendwholovestocook.com

many a locally loved poster prints has tons of gifts for you weary shoppers. Contrary to the name, this Nashville staple does more than just show prints and has plenty o’ pretty thangs that might fit the bill for someone on your list. For a festive pick, grab the LimitedEdition Holiday Print for 2016 ($20), featuring Santa himself. Ho ho ho. On a less seasonal note, they have Framed Nashville Skyline Prints ($65). The Batman building has never looked so good. hatchshowprint.com 224 Fifth Ave. S. | 615.577.7710

ATOMIC NASHVILLE is a neat stop for any nerds on the list. This bookstore next door to Pied Piper serves up comics, art, music, and reads with a local slant. Answer someone’s holiday prayers with these celeb Prayer Candles ($12.95 ea.). These high-quality candles come with different famous mugs on them — whether you want Darwin or Dali, they’ll have an idol for everyone. For more home décor ideas, check out local artist Jim Elston’s artwork ($45). Elston is an illustrator who has worked as a visual artist for Dreamworks and several Netflix series. This Nashville transplant’s artwork would make a lovely and unique gift for the homestead.

Comes framed and all, just buy some wall hangers and this gift is good to go. atomicnash.com 1603 Riverside Drive | 615.678.8857

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for the

Critters BAXTER BAILEY & COMPANY

is a paw-fect boutique for the precious pup.

Their high-end, locally produced products are made for only the finest fur babies. For that chompy Chihuahua, pick up Chester the Squirrel or the Sly Fox ($19.95 each). These adorable power plush toys are backed with an extra layer of durable mesh, sure to last long after the holidays. For stylish Spots, we know you’ll love these festive Baxter Bailey Berry & Moss Check Collars ($20-$24) available in sizes petite to XL. We get to wear those chunky, thick knit sweaters from the moment we smell pumpkin spice. Our dogs should, too. Check out their stylish Navajo Shawl Sweater ($32-$38). They’re 100 percent handmade, warm, comfy, and most importantly, your dog will look great. baxterbaileycompany.com 1002 Fatherland St. #102 | 800.535.8184

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The bespeckled building of

THE DOG SPOT will catch the eye of

any dog lover. The Dalmatian-patterned stop has something for any of your four-legged friends this holiday. At The Dog Spot you can get your precious pet groomed, boarded, fed, treated, and spoiled all in one place! Cats and dogs want to celebrate, too, ya know. A dog can never have too many toys. Or Kongs.

You can’t go wrong with the Classic Kong ($14.99/large size). Stuff it with some treats or fill it with peanut butter and keep your mutt entertained for hours … or at least a few minutes. We also think the Kong Picnic Patches ($11.99) toys are pretty presh. They come with two squeakers, so if you’re gifting this to your dog, you may want to invest in some earplugs for yourself. Or give a dog a Nylabone ($7.99). This one is particularly good for the teething pup AND it’s bacon flavored. Save that pair of shoes and invest in one of these for your new pooch. thedogspot.com 1004 Gallatin Ave. | 615.385.1800

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JOHN CANNON FINE ART is a purveyor of fine artwork and commissions pieces, and teaches painting classes to all ages and skill levels. In all honestly, any of his work would make a wonderful gift. However, being the crazy East Nashville animal lovers we are, we are smitten with his Pooch Portraits ($195), which he’s offering as a Christmas special: 9x12 for the price of an 8x10. These are the purr-fect present for any animal nut this year. He’ll take a photo of the beloved fur baby and immortalize them forever on canvas. Speak with the artist himself about his commission work, sizes, and pricing. johncannonart.com 1108-C Woodland St. | 615.496.1259

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Tired of smelling your friends’ and family members’ stinky pooches? Let’s put them on CLOUD 9. This mobile pet grooming service comes to their clients, so no more doggie downer trips to the groomer and no more clogged drains from the St. Bernard’s mop of fur. We think a from Cloud 9 Mobile Grooming Gift Card ($65) would be the perfect present for the animal lover on your list. No worries about that wet dog smell this holiday season! cloud9mobilegrooming.com 615.351.8473

WAGS AND WHISKERS, East Nashville’s OG holistic pet shop, has quite the bounty for the healthy pooch on your list. You will find a smorgasbord of healthy food and treats for puppers and kitters alike. Icelandic Lamb Horn ($15.99) sounded like an obscure instrument some East Nashville hipsters discovered when we first heard about it (it isn’t), but it is something your pets will want to make some noise over. The name pretty much says what it is, and these Icelandic chew toys are 100 percent natural, long lasting, and contain no additives or preservatives. They’ll keep them occupied for hours and help reduce tartar and plaque buildup. Open Farm Treats ($10.99) are a dog’s equivalent to your run to Porter Road Butcher. These treats are created with humanely raised meats and dehydrated at low temps to preserve all the nutrients and good stuff your dog deserves. You can see where every ingredient comes from on their website. Stick this one under the tree for Fido. wagsandwhiskersnashville.com 1008 Forrest Ave. | 615.228.9249

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Townes Van Zandt fiddles and Guy Clark plays guitar while Clark’s wife, Susanna, and friend and songwriter Daniel Antopolsky relax on the porch of the house they shared in East Nashville in 1972.

(Photo by Al Clayton, courtesy of the Al Clayton family.)

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Three’s Company How Guy and Susanna Clark and Townes Van Zandt made history in East Nashville

By Daryl S anders Photograph

by

Al Clayton

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ike so many properties these days in East Nashville, the white stucco house that stood at 1307 Chapel Ave. in the early ’70s is no longer there, razed a number of years ago to make way for a new and larger structure. There was nothing particularly special about the tiny, two-bedroom house that sat one property west of the intersection with Douglas Avenue — nothing except Guy Clark wrote the song there that launched his celebrated career. Oh, yeah, and the incomparable Townes Van Zandt wrote one of his best-loved songs there, as well.

For six or seven months at the end of 1971 and the first half of 1972, decades before East Nashville had an internationally recognized music scene, Clark and his wife, Susanna, lived on Chapel, along with their friend Van Zandt.

Van Zandt was already a legend in songwriting circles, but Clark’s career was just getting

“They moved to Nashville in November of ’71, and they lived on Mickey Newbury’s houseboat [on Old Hickory Lake in Hendersonville] for a few weeks,” Saviano continues. “Then a secretary at Sunbury Dunbar found them the house on Chapel, and they moved in there in December of ’71 before Christmas.”

The couple decided to tie the knot about a month after they moved to Chapel Avenue (on Jan. 14), and Clark asked Van Zandt, who was in New York City at the time, to be his best man. After the ceremony at the Sumner County courthouse, and a raucous reception on Newbury’s boat, the Clarks and Van Zandt went back to the East Nashville abode. The house had four small rooms (two bedrooms, living room, kitchen) and a bath. With the arrival of Van Zandt, the second bedroom would double as Susanna’s art studio and his bedroom. In her book, Saviano describes how they found a mattress discarded behind a neighborhood grocery story that night and dragged it home for Van Zandt to sleep on.

Although he came up with the hook for

‘‘

So I called Guy back and got the lyrics over the phone, and then we went in and I cut both ‘Old Time Feeling’ and ‘L.A. Freeway.’

— Jerry Jeff Walker

started when he moved to the little house on Chapel. It was where he wrote “L.A. Freeway,” as well as where he first played the song for Jerry Jeff Walker, who would release it as his first single for MCA later that same year.

Clark’s time in East Nashville is covered extensively in writer/producer Tamara Saviano’s new book, Without Getting Killed Or Caught: The Life and Music of Guy Clark (Texas A&M University Press). “Guy and Susanna and Townes were in that house very briefly, but it was a pretty creative few months that they were there,” Saviano says during a recent interview with The East Nashvillian.

While living in Los Angeles in the fall of 1971, Clark signed a songwriting contract with Sunbury Dunbar, the music publishing arm of RCA Records, and they gave him the option of continuing to live in LA or relocating to New York or Nashville, where the company also had offices. He chose Nashville, in part because his friend Mickey Newbury was here.

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“L.A. Freeway” while living in California, Clark didn’t write the song until he got to East Nashville. “Guy had written on a burger sack with Susanna’s eyebrow pencil, ‘If I could just get off of this L.A. Freeway without getting killed or caught,’ ” Saviano says. “He carried that little piece of burger sack in his wallet until he got to Nashville, and he wrote the song in the house on Chapel.”

“L.A. Freeway” wasn’t the first song he wrote at the little house next to the alley between Douglas and McKennie. That was a song called “Old Time Feeling,” and it was the one Clark played first for Walker during Walker’s fateful visit to East Nashville.

Walker and Van Zandt both knew Clark from the days when they all were playing the folk clubs in Houston. “Guy was basically a folk singer,” Walker says from his home in Austin. “He came through folk music, he knew the tradition, that’s what he was before he became a songwriter. He was the first one

of all of our group who actually toured. He wore a suit, played a 12-string, a six-string, and a banjo, told stories, and played that kind of stuff. I remember sitting in the audience and watching him perform, and I thought, ‘Oh, no, I’ve got to be slicker than I am, you know.’ ” Walker had been working on his first album for MCA with his band at a studio in Austin, but after hearing the results, his manager, Michael Brovsky, wanted him to cut a few sides in New York with some musicians from Woodstock. He agreed, and decided to make a connection in Nashville so he could pay Clark a visit.

“I had heard Guy was back from LA, and that he was in Nashville,” Walker recalls. “How I got the Chapel Street address I do not know.

But I stopped (in Nashville), got off the plane, and got a rent-a-car, drove to that address, and went to the house.” According to Walker, Van Zandt wasn’t around during his visit, which he said “probably helped, because Guy had time to be face-to-face with me.”

As he remembers it, Clark told him, “You know, I was always kind of envious of you and Townes writing songs,” then added, “I had a breakthrough.” After that, he played “Old Time Feeling.”

“That’s the first song of his I ever heard,” Walker says. “As we were finishing, I said, ‘I’m on my way to New York, and I’m going to cut that song.’ He said, ‘Yesterday, I wrote this song, “Pack Up All Your Dishes,” ’ and he played me that song. When he got to the chorus, (sings) ‘If I could just get off of this L.A. freeway without getting killed or caught,’ I said, ‘Guy, that’s really good.’ After that, I went back to the [airport] and flew into New York.”

In New York, Brovsky asked what he was going to record and Walker told him, “I’m going to record this song of Guy Clark’s called ‘Old Time Feeling.’ ” After Walker played it for him, the manager said, “OK, another introspective Jerry Jeff ballad.”

He encouraged Brovsky to consider working with Clark. “He can perform, and he’s writing, and he wrote this other song,” Walker told him, then played the chorus to “Pack Up All Your Dishes,” which is all he could remember.

His manager loved it and said, “That’s a hit!”

And I said, ‘OK, I’ll record both of them.’

“So I called Guy back and got the lyrics over the phone, and then we went in and I cut both ‘Old Time Feeling’ and ‘L.A. Freeway,’ ” he says.

It was Walker who convinced Clark to call the song “L.A. Freeway” instead of “Pack Up All Your Dishes.” As Saviano relates in her book, Walker called Clark and told him all the musicians were calling it “that ‘L.A. Freeway’ song,” and asked if they could change the title.

Clark agreed.

Although it wasn’t a Top 40 hit, “L.A. Freeway” did make it into the Billboard Hot

100 and was a hit in select markets, including LA and cities in Texas, giving Clark’s fledgling songwriting career an important boost.

Clark also wrote “Let Him Roll” at the house on Chapel under some hilarious circumstances vividly described in Saviano’s book: He nailed himself in the bedroom to avoid his wife and Van Zandt, who he felt were “denigrating” his intelligence. That song, along with the two recorded by Walker, all appeared three years later on Clark’s debut album for RCA, Old No. 1.

Naturally, the prolific Van Zandt wrote songs while he was living at the house on Chapel, including “If I Needed You,” which would become a hit nine years later for Emmylou Harris when she recorded the song as a duet with Don Williams for her album Cimarron. Van Zandt recorded it for his 1972 album The Late Great Townes Van Zandt, produced by “Cowboy” Jack Clement. Watching her husband and Van Zandt ply their trades, Susanna decided she could write songs, too.

CO N T I N U E D O N P A G E 1 0 6

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPH The photo accompanying this story was taken sometime in 1972 by the late Al Clayton, a renowned photojournalist best known for his work for Look and Life magazines. His assignments took him from his home in Copper Hill, Tenn., to the warfront, to the most impoverished areas of the U.S., and to Nashville’s Music Row, where he fell in with a group of songwriters who were changing the face of the city — writers like Mickey Newbury, Kris Kristofferson, Chris Gantry, and Townes Van Zandt. Clayton knew Van Zandt from his work for Look, which led him to East Nashville and the house at 1307 Chapel Ave. Clayton is the subject of a forthcoming documentary, Look Out Lord, Here Comes Al Clayton, being produced by Steve Colby and Katy Powers for Pogo Pictures in conjunction with Clayton’s immediate family.

— Daryl Sanders For more information about the documentary, visit pogopictures.com/tv-film/.

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Jessie Scott

One of the foremost pioneers of the Americana music movement takes the wheel at WMOT Roots Radio

By Mary Brace

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his afternoon, when you tune your radio to 89.5 FM and listen to the newly revamped WMOT Roots Radio — Middle Tennessee State University’s collegiate station — you’ll hear a woman with a low, warm, confident rumble of a voice that says, “I’m boss → here.” And she is.

Photograph by Chuck Allen

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Jessie Scott in the WMOT broadcast booth at The Factory, Franklin, Tenn.

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essie Scott has outlasted perhaps 90 percent of her peers on the hands-on side of radio in order to take the helm and deliver — at the request of Music City Roots and the campus’ College of Media and Entertainment — a 100,000-watt radio station programmed to the Americana format.

No mere social networker, Scott, who had brief, but memorable, Nashville stints in the late 1990s, is one of the original promoters and pioneers of the Americana format. It was at the end of Scott’s first pass at working in Nashville that she stepped onto what she calls “the magic carpet” that’s taken her to New York, Washington, D.C., Texas, and back to Music City. But the seeds of roots radio found fertile soil in her mind as far back as the 1970s. Scott points to a pivotal day in 1975 when she was paid a visit by Ed Salamon, the legendary program director at New York City’s WHN from 1975-81, a period during which it ranked No. 2 in that market.

“I was playing progressive country and my boss, Ed Salamon, came over to my apartment one day,” she recalls, “and we pulled out the Goose Creek Symphony, Blue Ridge Rangers, Gram Parsons and Flying Burrito Brothers, and the Byrds, and we carted them up and played them, and I knew in 1975 that it was a format unto itself. It took 25 years more for me to get the COM (command) at XM to go take it there.

In a lot of ways, this (programming WMOT) is just me chasing my north star.”

What makes Scott’s career even more exceptional is her success in such a male-dominated industry. Female programmers are virtually unheard of. When asked what strategies and advantages she’s used, her initial response would send any number of women to rattling their broomsticks at the glass ceiling. “I’m really blessed, I’m really lucky,” she says.

When pressed, Scott continues, “There were things I learned along the way that helped, the technology pieces, for instance. I got to XM to

be a program director and after Trevor, my son, was born in 1986, I really came back to the business knowing that I had to be part of the brain trust, that that was my only salvation. I was no longer going to be a disembodied voice in the night.”

“Those seeds were planted for me with two lovely relationships with people I treasure and one of them was in the ’80s with Keith Richards; the other was the ’90s with Wolfman Jack.”

Stop. This. Train. Keith Richards? Wolfman Jack? Mentors?

When asked how and in what ways Keith Fucking Richards was a career influence, the redheaded ball of electric energy explains, “So, (Rolling Stones’ sax man) Bobby Keys was my boyfriend. Bobby was really magical for me, he opened up the doors to a world where I got to be friends with Keith and Woody, to spend time with them and talk music with them, and be accepted by them. For me, the Rolling Stones were the ones who turned me onto blues when I was 14 years old, and to be accepted by them was especially meaningful.

“We used to make tapes from my 20,000 pieces of vinyl in my house in NYC, and I would bring them to Keith, and we would sit, the three of us, and listen to music together; then Keith would listen to me on the radio and be like, ‘This is bullshit. You need to do this, you don’t need to be working on WNBC with Stern and Imus.’ ” Later, working in Florida, Scott had a taste of restaurant music marketing and worked for Wolfman Jack before moving onto Orlando’s WMMO-FM 98.9. The Wolfman — Scott imitates the famous DJ’s caustic rasp, “You need to run it, you need to own it,” — further convinced Scott of the importance of following her own vision.

Scott’s next fateful jump brought her to Nashville. At both WRLT Lightning 100 and WSM, her dynamic personality and ever-forward motion made a lasting impact on many

of the city’s Americana musicians and music industry leaders alike. In the middle of her work as Lightning’s program director, Scott helped launch another ball into the air, an additional radio station called The Phoenix. It was Nashville’s first attempt at something like an Americana station. Competing philosophies with other station personnel and conflicts with upper management, however, resulted in Scott’s departure.

“At the 11th hour, it became clear to me that my vision for the channel wasn’t going to be the one that was winning the day,” she explains. “I wanted it to be an Americana station, I wanted it to be a reflection of Nashville history, a grand, decades-long exercise in, sort of, outliers.”

Instead of straight-up Americana, The Phoenix wound up being a combination of Americana, well-established local and national singer-songwriters, and, depending on whose vision was prevailing at the time, acoustic versions of 1970s greats and country rockers.

After a short stop at WSM, Scott was offered her dream: program director of XM’s X Country music channel, and so the magic carpet went off to the nation’s capital. Unfortunately for her, when XM and Sirius merged, the resulting company was forced to choose between DC’s X Country and Nashville’s Outlaw Country.

Outlaw Country won.

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any others would have been demoralized at that point, but Scott continued to roll, cofounding event production and media company Music Fog. Scott felt Austin calling, so she sold her house and moved to Texas. Hill Country Barbecue, a small chain restaurant based in NY and DC, came knocking. In many ways, it was a lot like radio, only without the signal. “I was lobbying for artists to come by and play for us,” she says, “and when it turned into a full-time job, I was in charge of their live music program and booking artists at →

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three venues, everything from bar mitzvahs to Congressional parties.”

The Hill Country gig meant a move back to New York and, around that time, she also started working as music director for Sun Radio — a gig she loves and still carries by prerecording four hours of voiceover work daily. About now, one might be getting the idea Jessie Scott is a workaholic. Call her that, though, and she’ll just tell you, again, how lucky she is. Oh, and somewhere in all this, she’s also found time to start up an airplay chart company for Texas’ Americana community radio stations. Now, on her latest dream gig, technology means she still gets to keep all those other balls spinning while helping the Music City Roots crew build their dream radio station.

“Within a month of moving back to New York, I’m walking, and I could not rotate my hips and it was incredibly painful and it started limiting the amount of things I could do,” she says. “I was having to think about how many stairways I’m going to come up on the subway, have to go up, and how many sidewalks on ice, it was very traumatic. And so I got the first hip done; it took like 18 months in New York before that happened, and another 13 months, I got the second one done. When I was coming off healing, I felt better, I thought, ‘Damn! Let me go back to where I got on the magic carpet,’ which was Nashville.”

Scott’s excited by all the changes the city has undergone in her time away, as well as the challenge of broadcasting to such a wide area. “We benefit from the amazing growth of Nashville,” she says. “It used to be you’d go to the Loveless for Music City Roots, that seemed like that was

really far. It was far away. And it isn’t anymore.

I just think that this is becoming much more of a regional area, there’s growth in all these towns. I think the music speaks for itself — it’s a 100,000-watt radio station, it goes from the Alabama border to Bowling Green, Ky. Within that framework, there is rural, there is suburban, there is exurb and there is city. …

“I was driving in [on] Hillsboro, and I came

“

meeting with an industry friend sent Scott in the direction of MTSU’s campus and Music City Roots’ organizers, who, in spite of running in the same circles for several years, she’d never met. After countless meetings with MCR execs Craig Havighurst and John Walker, her relationship with the team behind the plan for flipping WMOT “naturally evolved, and the first time John introduced me as a program director to a station that didn’t even yet exist was around May, and I just kind of smiled and went, ‘Yeah!’ ” It took almost nine months of planning and working behind the scenes, but the station made its debut to much applause this past September.

Count Americana Music Association Executive Director Jed Hilly among its boosters.

“It’s amazing, I mean, I had Emmylou Harris grab me and say, ‘We have a station!’ ” he says.

“I think their approach is solid, it’s very community based, and I think they’re guaranteed for success. Jessie’s one of the anchors — she’s like a beacon.”

As Americana’s definition evolves to include the likes of Bon Iver on its charts, Hilly expects Scott to be among the people who “keep us real in the future.” When asked how she defines the still evolving genre, Scott says, “For me, what Americana is about is the same thing that creates the United States of America, which is the great melting pot of phonics brought to this country by different immigrants, overlaid together on top of Native American and African American musical influences, and how that melting pot comes together is what creates this

... there are so many people who are making great music that live in this sonic world, there’s just no reason why you just can’t do it, you can’t get young people back to the radio, I think you can. around the corner of Broadway [and Division] only to find these condos being built — of course, Noshville has closed — and it struck me that the buildings that were once were part of a landscape are being eradicated at a rapid rate and in their place are skyscrapers, tall condos, and more city-sidewalk stuff. … it really is interesting to watch what were the last remnants of a village turning into a city.”

Not long after returning to Nashville, a

”

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Raging Fire 2.0 (L-R): John Reed, Mark Medley, Jeff Cease, Giles Reaves, Melora Zaner, and Joe Blanton.

FIRE RAGES

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A band member’s death brings ’80s Nashville punk pioneers Raging Fire back together after 25 years

By Michael McCall Photography by Eric England

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Heather Lose

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Melora Zaner

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elora Zaner winces and tilts her head so she can peer over her eyeglasses as she looks at drummer Mark Medley. Founding members of the groundbreaking Nashville punk band Raging Fire, which formed in 1983, Medley recognizes that look — even if the two only have worked together a few times since releasing a career compilation album in 2015 and performing two reunion concerts.

Medley had suggested they work up a version of “Walking the Dog,” Rufus Thomas’ 1963 R&B classic. An impressive list of rockers covered it over the years; Aerosmith’s 1972 version, from the band’s debut, might be best known. Others include the Rolling Stones, The Sonics, Mitch Ryder, Everly Brothers, Flamin’ Groovies, John Cale, and Green Day. In the rehearsal hall, Zaner exhibits her reluctance more through body language than words. Raging Fire had never recorded a cover song, although a provocative version of AC/DC’s “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” became a concert favorite in the 1980s.

Medley wanted to mine the same territory by recording a familiar rock tune steeped in sexual machismo.

He likes the way the phallic symbolism of the lyrics assumed a different meaning coming from Zaner, whose voice can go from a fragile whisper to a confrontational snarl.

“I like how it messes with stereotypes, because it’s obviously meant to come from a guy,” Medley says later. “Melora is so good at turning songs like that on

their head and making it something unexpected.”

For this weekend rehearsal, the band consists of Zaner, Medley, bassist John Reed, keyboardist Giles Reaves on a Hammond B-3, and guitarists Joe Blanton and Jeff Cease. The guitarists, both friends of the late Raging Fire founder and guitarist Michael Godsey, played on the lone newly recorded song added to the band’s comprehensive career compilation, Everything Is Roses: 1985–1989. They also joined the band for reunion performances in 2015 at the Exit/In and Grimey’s record store.

“Michael Godsey is the reason I am a guitar player,” Cease says. High school friends, Godsey would invite Cease over, put on albums by the Who and pick up his guitar and play Pete Townsend’s parts. Those experiences set Cease on his life’s course. “He was so cool, and it made me want to be that cool, too.”

Cease carried that inspiration to great heights. He has played in several notable local bands, including Rumble Circus, before becoming a member of The Black Crowes at the start (and peak) of their recording career. In recent years, Cease injects a rock crunch into country star Eric Church’s band.

Initially calling themselves Ring of Fire, until they ran into trademark issues, Raging Fire’s founding lineup featured Zaner, Godsey, Medley, and bassist Les Shields, now an attorney in Florida. After Shields left in 1985, the bass slot would change every year or two. It included the late Lee A. Carr, Reed, and Rusty Watkins. Shields, Reed, and Watkins appear on different tracks of Raging Fire’s new album, These Teeth Are Sharp, named after a song Shields wrote that the band performed for a couple of years, but never recorded. →

“We knew we were on to something new ... and we could do it in our own way, by being young and Southern and having our own stories to tell.”

— Melora Zaner

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The new album was cut in three days stretched over three months. Zaner flew in from New York one weekend a month, arriving in time for Friday night rehearsals. They recorded on Saturday. Shields traveled to town for the first session. Reed played on the second session, Watkins the third.

Back at rehearsal, Zaner openly shows her reluctance toward “Walking the Dog;” Medley presses her, and she begrudgingly relents. The band blasts into a high-speed version, reminiscent of Aerosmith. Zaner gives it a try, but never connects with the lyrics. The band discusses ways to rearrange it to suit her. Blanton plays the chord structure slower, with more menace, and Reed slips in with a haunting bass part. Medley hears something he likes. “That reminds me of the Doors,” he says. “Let’s try it slow like that.”

At that moment, Jeff Cease enters the discussion with a lean, mystical guitar progression, bluesy and dangerous, reminiscent of Howlin’ Wolf ’s “Smokestack Lightning.” “Yes, yes, that!” Medley crows. Zaner voices her approval. In a few minutes, each member finds their part around Cease’s lead. The steamy groove reeks with late-night atmosphere.

“I really didn’t want to do it,” Zaner admits later.

“But once Jeff came up with that lick, I could hear it in a different way. I love Billie Holiday. I’ve always been attracted to female singers who don’t have these big, rangy voices, but are so expressive and emotional. I started hearing her in my head, how Billie would do it.

I like exploring that part of my voice, and I don’t get to do that a lot in this band. I’m so glad we stuck with it.”

A few weeks later, sitting on the back deck of Medley’s East Nashville home, the drummer notes that the band’s best material came from following such left turns. “That is so typical of how Raging Fire works,” Medley says. “So often we’ll start one place and end up in another. We’ll disagree and someone will say this isn’t working. But we press on and most of the time end up with a song that sounds like us.”

Adds Reed: “That’s one thing I love about this band. No one holds back, everyone voices an opinion, and it’s taken as a positive thing. It’s very creative and in the moment. You have to be on your toes, and it keeps you engaged in what’s going on in a very real way. I love hearing it all come together and being a part of that kind of process.”

Part of the looseness, or lack of tension, comes because the stakes aren’t as big now. They aren’t youngsters chasing dreams anymore; they aren’t looking for that magical record deal. Live, Raging Fire always drew fervent fans, and the band was taken aback by

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how passionately people responded to last year’s performances and the Everything Is Roses compilation (available on vinyl LP, CD, as a download, and on streaming services).

“It might sound corny, but now we’re just in it for the love of the music and for each other,” Shields says.

“Back in the day, we were young and had big goals and lots of life conflicts, like you do at that age. We don’t have expectations with this record. We felt like we have some unfinished business. We want people to hear these songs, most of which come from back in the day. But there’s no end game. This isn’t our life now. But man, it sure feels good to get together and rock out again.”

The motivation to record new tracks came from what the band felt was missing from the compilation.

Several songs they performed or recorded were lost, or only existed in inferior versions — a live take lifted from a VHS, for instance. Some songs they’d half-forgotten until hearing demos and wondered why they hadn’t recorded them. Some songs they thought sounded better with the arrangements they worked up in 2015 than they had 30 years ago.

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hat said, it’s important to point out that no one in Nashville sounded like Raging Fire, then or now. Zaner was one of the few female vocalists involved in the local punk scene. She also was the only member of a local punk band with a Vanderbilt degree in English literature and philosophy. Godsey and Medley were old friends, having grown up together. All three guys played in incarnations of pioneering Nashville punk bands. But Zaner’s voice and songwriting led them in a distinctly new direction.

In the early 1980s, Jason & the Scorchers were exploding on the national scene by blending punk rock with country music. In their wake, a score of brash indie-rock bands surfaced. There were colorful roots-rock acts (Walk the West, Webb Wilder & the Beatnecks, the Dusters); there were power pop bands (the Questionnaires, Practical Stylists, In Pursuit, Bill Lloyd & the December Boys) that merged Music City craft with youthful verve; and there were longhaired, power-chord thrashers (Royal Court of China, Shadow 15, Guilt) who brought a Southern sensibility to metal thunder.

Raging Fire stood alone amid the noise. The Scorchers merged the Sex Pistols with Hank Williams; Raging Fire brought together The →

Giles Reaves

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‘‘

“That’s one thing I love about this band. No one holds back, everyone voices an opinion, and it’s taken as a positive thing. It’s very creative and in the moment.

Clash with Tennessee Williams. They drew from such influences as The Who, Led Zeppelin, X, and The Cramps. Zaner’s literate, complex lyrics (influenced

by Carson McCullers and Flannery O’Connor) and her mix of aggressiveness and fragility gave the band a style of its own.

The singer offered the rare spectacle of a petite, yet powerfully present, female in a male-dominated music scene. Their shows were different in another way, too: They were among the only bands on the local underground club scene, along with Walk the West and White Animals, that drew as many women as men to their shows.

The band gave up nothing when it came to force and fury; the power chords of “Everything Is Roses” and “Knee Jerk Response” matched the sonic rage of any leather-clad peers. Yet Zaner came on as a mix of Blanche Dubois and Scarlett O’Hara, a delicate creature with a strong core who proved a match for the Stanley Kowalskis and Rhett Butlers pounding away around her.

The psychological conflicts and layers of emotions in the lyrics of “A Family Thing” and “The Morning in Her” represented a generation of young women dealing with the combustible cocktail of sexual freedom, contradictory desires, and the aggressive misogyny that snaked through punk culture in the 1980s.

As with every generation, standing at the forefront of change was both exhilarating and shattering, and Raging Fire’s songs conveyed all the excitement, confusion, and anger of what it felt like to do battle on

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— John Reed

the front lines.

Other members also developed unique styles.

Godsey drew on Pete Townsend’s style of single-note melodicism and violent barre chords, while adding a dash of Steve Jones belligerence and George Harrison tenderness; Medley played drums like he was pummeling an enemy, in the manner of Bonham and Moon, serving as a lead instrument as much as Godsey’s guitar; and Shields (and the series of bassists who replaced him) set down a thumping, flexible foundation while having to alertly follow the challenging arrangements.

This distinctive sound wasn’t an accident. “The first night I met Michael, at a party, we started talking about music,” Zaner said in interviews for the liner notes of Everything Is Roses. “He listened to songs I’d written for a band I was in (Color Flag). He said I should form a new band with him and Mark and Les. I told him I’m not a punk singer; I don’t scream. I identified with punk music, I just didn’t sing that way.”

Godsey didn’t back off, and Zaner started to understand his vision. “We knew we were on to something new,” she said. “We wanted to combine storytelling with the punk music we loved. We wanted to bring in blues and pop melodies. I don’t have a big voice, but I thought I could be a stylist and maybe do something interesting. I thought of Patti Smith, one of my heroes, and Siouxsie and the Banshees, and X and Blondie, but also Billie Holiday and Little Esther. I thought there was something valid there, and we could do it in our own way, by being young and Southern and →

John Reed

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Laura Powers

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Joe Blanton

having our own stories to tell.”

As Medley recalls, the men in the band started in the loud-and-brash camp where everyone turned the amps up to 11 and let it rip. Godsey and Medley had played in Nashville’s first successful hardcore band, CPS (or the Committee for Public Safety). They had toured, playing Washington, D.C. (where members of Minor Threat were in the audience), and other East Coast cities.

Shields had been lead singer for The Ratz, another pioneering Nashville punk band.

The four immediately gelled. “Michael was so inspired

by Melora’s lyrics, and he started creating all these midsong changes to heighten the drama,” Medley recalls. “It wasn’t the usual song structure. Michael kept tinkering with the arrangements and doing these complicated turnarounds. It was hard to play, frankly, but that was part of the fun. It made us play better, and that inspired us even more.”

Rick Champion, a local music scene honcho in the ’80s who had opened Nashville’s first underground rock club, Phrank ‘n’ Steins, recognized the band’s potential and signed on as manager. Thanks to Champion, and booking agent Glenn Hunter, Ring of Fire’s third show was opening for The Cramps in Chicago. Their first show as Raging Fire was opening for The Gun Club, a significant LA act and another influence on the band’s bluesy, seductive sound.

Raging Fire drew fervent audiences in their hometown and beyond. They toured the Southeast and Midwest constantly, occasionally venturing up the East Coast for gigs in New York and Boston. “We were very dedicated and worked so hard,” Zaner says. “We were committed 100 percent. We rehearsed at least three times a week, more if there was a show. It was our life.”

The band’s initial EP, 1985’s A Family Thing, drew raves across America. “A band so determined to stake out its own turf is a band to watch,” wrote esteemed music critic Don McLeese, in the Chicago Sun-Times.

The Raging Fire song “Everything Is Roses” opened City Without a Subway, a compilation album benefitting Vanderbilt University’s WRVU radio station; the album remains the best time capsule of Nashville rock at the time. Later, after Raging Fire’s 1986 full-length album, Faith That Dreams Are Made Of, the band was featured, along with the Pixies and other new acts, on the College Music Journal compilation Ten of a Kind. In 1987, Raging Fire was voted “Best Unsigned Band” in a CMJ reader’s poll.

Record companies took notice. However, as Champion recalls, some A&R executives wanted to develop Zaner as a solo act. Other talent scouts loved the band, but didn’t know how to market their unusual style; many said they had trouble selling a punk band with a female singer. One top major label A&R executive promised to sign the band, only to have the deal killed by a senior executive who had never seen the group.

The band continued to record new demos while meeting an endless line of record executives, producers, song publishers, attorneys, etc. Praise was always extravagant, and promises were always left unfulfilled. “They came so close so many times,” Champion says. “There was always some catch. It got very frustrating.”

Medley recalls how momentum built quickly and then remained stuck at the same plateau for years. The band felt the music kept getting better, but their → November | December 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

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Jeff Cease

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relationship with the music industry grew more exasperating. “I couldn’t see myself riding in a van playing clubs at age 30 — even though I was only 24,” Medley says.

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edley left the band, and when Godsey gained admittance to the Parsons New School of Design in New York, the band tossed in the towel. Godsey and Zaner had become a couple. They moved to New York and set music aside. “It really hurt to leave the band,” Zaner says.

“I went through a big depression and didn’t play music for five years.”

Medley went on to play drums in other Nashville club bands while taking jobs as a museum curator. Godsey and Zaner eventually began writing songs again. They worked on music in New York, and later in Seattle, after Zaner became a top graphic design executive with Microsoft. The software company eventually put her in

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Michael Godsey is the reason I am a guitar player.

— Jeff Cease

charge of design at a new office in Shanghai, China, where she and Godsey started a label, recording their own music and that of young Chinese rockers.

Shortly after the band dissolved, the distinctive sound they developed began garnering attention in the hands of others. The grunge of Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots, and the Riot Grrl sound of Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney, all drew on the raw music and sensitive storytelling that had been Raging Fire’s territory.

“I can’t help but wonder what might have happened if we’d stuck it out for another year or two,” Medley says.

“The sound everyone said they didn’t know how to market suddenly became one of the most popular styles in the world.”

Zaner is back living in New York City, where she is a top executive developing and designing digital apps for J.P. Morgan Chase. Twenty-five years ago, she noticed how music moved in their direction, too. “I kept having people tell me they thought they heard us on the radio,” she says. “It turned out to be bands that sounded like us.

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Mark Medley

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at it all very fondly. We were such a family together, and we were so passionate and so committed.”

In the quarter century since the band ended, the core members found other routes to success. “We all followed our passions — that was something I think we took from working in Raging Fire,” Zaner says. “We all moved on, but we still had that fire in us.

There are things I wished had turned out differently, but I have no regrets.”

Zaner and Medley both say they feel Godsey’s presence, especially on stage and in the studio. They imagine how he’d respond to the new songs, and how excited he would

‘‘

The sound everyone said they didn’t know how to market suddenly became one of the most popular styles in the world.

— Mark Medley

have been to get the band back together, something he repeatedly brought up before dying of an unexpected heart attack in Shanghai in 2012.

“There’s a certain cathartic aspect of all this,” Zaner says. In the year after Godsey’s death, she thought she could never return to Nashville and never would perform music again. “Michael was always a part of everything I did. We were such catalysts for each other.”

But when Medley raised the idea of the compilation project, and when Zaner heard some unreleased recordings she thought were lost to history, she came around. “I’m so glad I did,” she says. “It feels like it’s come full circle. I won’t say it isn’t sometimes hard.

My feelings are so complicated about it all.

But when I’m with the band, and I’m singing, it feels like home.”

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EAST SIDE CALENDAR EMMA ALFORD CALENDAR EDITOR

N O V E M B E R | D E C E M B E R 2016

FOR UP-TO -DATE INFORMATION ON EVENTS, AS WELL AS LINKS, PLEASE VISIT US AT: THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

UPCOMING TALKIN’TURKEY

Boy Scout Troop 3 Annual Turkey Fry Fundraiser Nov. 1-23

Who wants to fool with a turkey on Thanksgiving anyway? We’ve all had that National Lampoon bird before. Want to skip the hassle this year? East Nashville’s Boy Scout Troop can take care of that for you.

Their annual turkey fry will begin taking your turkey to-do’s on Nov. 1. Pick up your bird the day before Thanksgiving from 12 to 4 p.m.

Visit their website, nashvilletroop3.com for more info, and email turkey@nashvilletroop3.com to order.

DRINK FOR THE DOGS

East C.A.N. Fundraiser at Butchertown Hall Through Nov. 16, Butchertown Hall

Got the dog day blues? Drink to it. The pets of East C.A.N. will thank you. Through Friday, Nov. 16, $3 of every designated drink

sold at Butchertown Hall will go toward our favorite bowwow charity. Bottoms up.

1416 4th Ave N.

TUNES FOR TOTO

East C.A.N. Benefit Concert 4-7 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 13, Lockeland Table

Some local musicians will be barking their tunes for East C.A.N. this November.

Lockeland Table is hosting a benefit show for the pooch group with acoustic performances from Dana Radford, Judd Fuller, and guests.

The suggested donation is $10.

1520 Woodland St.

EAST SIDE SOUNDS

Kendall Morgan and BASSH

6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 16, The Basement East

The folks of BMI to pick indie artists every month for this showcase at The Beast. What better way to start off a hump day evening?

This set you can catch Kendall Morgan and BASSH. The music runs 6:30 to 8 p.m., with a “Half Happy Hour” from 6 to 6:30 featuring selected discount drinks. Drop in for an earful of fun. Did we mention it’s free?

917 Woodland St.

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LUNGevity Foundation’s Breathe Deep Stache and Lash 5K 7 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 19, Shelby Park

Let’s hear it for lungs! Don your silliest stache, beard, or luscious long lashes. This facial hair 5K is a timed run and untimed walk to benefit critical lung cancer research.

Whether the hair is real or fake — head to Shelby Park for the run. If you can’t supply your own stache, they’ll be selling them on site. They’re hoping to raise $40,000 this year, which will support LUNGevity, an organization funding lung cancer research, education, and support.

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PUB-LICATION CRAWL Five Points Bookstore Explore

3 p.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 19, 5 Points

Put on your reading glasses for this literary romp through East Nashville. This pub-

lication crawl is for the most bookish of bookworms. The crawl includes four locally owned book haunts, all within just a few blocks of each other: Her Bookshop, Defunct Books, Fairytales Bookstore, and East Side Story. The basic idea is to hit each spot for a taste of their wordy flavor. This event is still in the planning stages, so we don’t have all the deets just yet.

SHOP YOUR BLOCK SATURDAY Fa-La-La-therland

10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 26, Shoppes at Fatherland

Scoff at the big box sales of Black Friday and lay-on-the-couch sellouts of Cyber Monday.

Scoot down to the Shoppes at Fatherland for some local sales on Small Business Saturday.

They’ll have refreshments, games, and door prizes. They’ll hand out maps and your job is to drop by the shops on the grid and get your stamps, then hand it over for a chance to win some goodies in their gift basket giveaway. With more than 20 little shops now incubating inside this unique community, we are pretty sure you can find something for everyone on your list this year.

1006 Fatherland St.

GIVE THEM THE SMALL BIZ Small Business Saturday Till 7 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 26, 5 Points

Ditch the mall for some local digs. Art and Invention Gallery and the Idea Hatchery will be extending their hours this Shop Local Saturday. Go work off some of that turkey tryptophan with a little jaunt around 5 points. Stay tuned to see if these guys plan anything else for this Walmart-free day as the time nears. In the meantime, start making those shopping lists.

1100 Block of Woodland Street

CAROLERSCALL Fannie Battle Caroling Dec. 1–24, Greater Nashville area

Fannie Battle Day Home for Children is continuing a yearly tradition of caroling this season, a staple of the organization since 1916.

Every year families, churches, companies, schools, and other organizations carol their way around the city, collecting money for Fannie Battle. Raise your voices if you’d like to raise money for a childcare center that’s provided support to struggling, low-income families for years. Sign up to deck the halls.

This musical tradition continues through both caroling door-to-door as well as a variety of creative endeavors.

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BARKIN’ AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE East C.A.N. Holiday Open House

6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, Location TBD

Now that they’re all grown up, East C.A.N. doesn’t need puppy pads anymore. They are hosting their eighth annual open house this December to celebrate the holiday season and the group’s anniversary. These mutt lovers have been helping save, rescue, and adopt animals for years. You can go and metaphorically sniff some butts to meet some of the East C.A.N. crew and family.

They’ll have beverages and appetizers — this is just a laid-back celebration and everyone is invited. Stay tuned to their Facebook page for location details as they are finalized.

OPEN HO-HOHOUSE

5 Points Holiday Open House 6-9 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 3, 5 Points

The savvy shops of Art and Invention, Fat Crow Press, and The Idea Hatchery will be hosting their annual Holiday Open House — a grand affair with decorations, refreshments, music, and more. It’s a true kickoff to the holiday season. Don’t be an egg nog-head, get in the spirit.

1100 Block of Woodland Street

CALLING ALL ELVES Santa’s Workshop

11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 10, Historic Amqui Station

Don your spiffiest elf hat and shoes. Historic Amqui Station in Madison is looking for some of Santa’s best helpers to lend a hand in his workshop this holiday season. Join the man himself along with his team of elves for crafts, games, and ornament-making. Sure to be a jolly ole time for the whole family.

303 Madison St.

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HOME, SWEET HOME

Lockeland Springs Celebration of Home Tour Dec. 3-4, Lockeland Springs Neighborhood

The Lockeland Springs Celebration of Home Tour is in its 38th year now. We think it’s safe to say these streets have changed during that time, but what hasn’t is East Nashvillians continuing to open their doors season after season. Take a romp around the Lockeland Springs beautiful historic homes during this year’s Celebration of Home Tour.

The tour is sponsored by a number of local businesses, and it is the Lockeland Springs Neighborhood Association’s only fundraiser for the entire year. Check the LSNA website to learn about the homes included, event sponsors and ticket vendors. lockelandsprings.org

JINGLE BUG ROCK The Theater Bug’s 5th Annual Winter Concert

Dec. 9-11, 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 6 p.m. Sunday, Theater Bug

Get your caroling fix at The Theater Bug’s annual winter concert. Over 40 of Nashville’s most talented kids and teens will be serving up holiday cheer during this winter music celebration. Be sure to buy your tickets in advance, as this is an expected sellout.

4809 Gallatin Ave.

• RESIDENCIES AND SHOWCASES Saturdays Live Music at The Post East

Nov. 11, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., The LeMasters Nov. 12, 2–4 p.m., Mos. Bros.

Nov. 19, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Kristen Ford Dec. 3, 2–4 p.m. Courtney Ariel Dec. 10, 2–4 p.m., Todd Landon Trio Dec. 17, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Fool

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Cole Slivka’s Short Sets Tuesdays, 8-10 p.m., The Family Wash

Carpetbaggers Rotating Lineup

Tuesdays, 10:30 p.m. (after Short Sets), The Family Wash

have gracing their walls. You can expect to see a diverse, eclectic mix of art, affording the opportunity to meet local artists and support their work. Local retail stores are stumbling in as well, with some businesses participating in a “happy hour” from 5-7 p.m., offering discounted prices on their merchandise to fellow stumblers. Be sure to check out the happy hour deals in The Idea Hatchery.

Red Arrow Gallery

Shawn Hall, “Involuntary Occurences” Nov. 12- Dec. 11

Wine & Design

5:30-8:30 p.m., monthly event, date TBD

Gypsy Brunch with the Gypsy Hombres

11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturdays, The Family Wash

Jazz Dinner with Stephen Davis and Bryan Clark Saturdays, 7 p.m. to close, The Family Wash

$2 Tuesdays hosted by Derek Hoke 9 p.m., Tuesdays, The 5 Spot

Alternating Residences: Chuck Mead, Billy Strings, and Friends Wednesdays, 6-8:30 p.m., The 5 Spot

Alternating Residencies: Natalie Noon, Fats Kaplin, and Friends Thursdays, 6-8:30 p.m., The 5 Spot

Tim Carroll’s Rock & Roll Happy Hour Fridays, 6-8:30 p.m., The 5 Spot

• UPCOMING

ART EXHIBITS DON’T FORGET TO STUMBLE ON East Side Art Stumble

6-10 p.m., second Saturday of every month, multiple East Nashville galleries

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• SHELBY PARK EVENTS & CLASSES Body Works

10-11 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 12

Ages 18 and up, registration required

Fall Colors Hike

2-3:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 12

All ages, registration required

Autumn Moonlight Hike 8-9 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 15

All ages, registration required

Bike Ride: Full Moon 6-7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 16

Ages 10 and up, registration required

Bird Friendly Coffee Social 8-10 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 19 All ages

Encore, Encore! Silly Grandpa, Mizz KT and Friendz Return!

10-11 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 19

All ages, registration required

Turkeys Gone Wild!

2-3 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 19

All ages, registration required

• RECURRING ANSWER ME THIS Trivia Time!

8 p.m., each week, 3 Crow Bar, Edley’s East, Drifter’s, Edgefield Sports Bar & Grill, Lipstick Lounge

East Siders, if you’re one of the sharper tools in the shed (or not, it’s no matter to us), stop by one of the East Side locales to test your wits at trivia. They play a few rounds, with different categories for each question. There might even be some prizes for top scoring teams, but 96

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remember: Nobody likes a sore loser.

Monday — Drifter’s Tuesday — Edley’s BBQ East, Edgefield Sports Bar and Grill Lipstick Lounge (7:30 p.m.)

Thursday — 3 Crow Bar

SHOP AROUND SUNDAY Sundays at Porter East

12-4 p.m., First Sunday of every month, Shops at Porter East

The shops in Porter East open their doors the first Sunday of every month for a special little parking lot party. You can expect to enjoy a selection of rotating food trucks (and flower truck), fixups from Ranger Stich, and occasionally catch some good tunes. Amelia’s Flower Truck will let you build your own bouquet while Ranger Stich weaves some amazing chain stich on your favorite denim.

700 Porter Road

EAST ROOM HAS JOKES

Spiffy Squirrel Sundays 6 p.m., Sundays, The East Room

The East Room is making a name for itself in Nashville’s comedy scene in part through Spiffy Squirrel Sundays, started up by The East Room head honcho Ben Jones through nashvillestandup.com. Hosted by local comedian Chad Riden, the shows bring in an array of national and local funny guys and gals, and it’s quickly become one of the best places in town for up-and-coming comics to flex their funny bones. If you’re looking for a laugh, check it out. Five bucks gets you in the door.

They usually have some music planned for post-laughs, so stick around to see the bands.

2412 Gallatin Ave.

BRING IT TO THE TABLE

Community Hour at Lockeland Table

4-6 p.m., Monday through Friday, Lockeland Table

Lockeland Table is cooking up familyfriendly afternoons to help you break out of the house or away from that desk for a couple of hours. Throughout the week, they host a community happy hour that includes a special snack and drink menu, as well as a menu just for the kiddies. A portion of all

EAST SIDE CALENDAR proceeds benefits Lockeland Design Center PTO, so you can feel good about giving back to your neighborhood while schmoozing with your fellow East Nashvillians.

1520 Woodland St. 615.228.4864

CAN’T SPELL BINGO WITHOUT BEAST

RINC, Y’ALL

Scott-Ellis School of Irish Dance Sundays at DancEast: 2-3 p.m., 7-12 years; 3-4 p.m., teen/adult Mondays at Eastwood Christian Church: 5-6 p.m., all ages

You’re never too young — or too old — to kick out the Gaelic jams with some Irish Step dancing. No experience, or partner, required.

Just you, some enthusiasm, and a heart of gold will have you dancing in the clover before you can say “leprechaun.”

DancEast, 805 Woodland St. Suite 315 Eastwood Christian Church, Fellowship Hall, 1601 Eastland Ave. 615.300.4388

Beast Bingo

7 p.m., Mondays, The Pub at The Basement East

We don’t have to explain Bingo, it’s simple enough. Beast Pub turns Bingo hall every Monday night, but it ain’t yer grandma’s game. Show up, eat, drink, and spell out the magic word. Drinks specials from local breweries, prizes, and show tix all at your fingertips … need we say more? Just G-O. 917 Woodland St. 615.645.9174

LETS GET FREAKY Freak Me

Mondays, 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., The Basement East

The one and only Freak Me party leaves it all on the dance floor at The Beast. They tout themselves as the “freakiest dance party in Nashville.” This hip-hop and R&B jive gyrates every Monday for free, 21 and up.

Shake your tail feathers on over.

917 Woodland St. 615.645.9174

SHAKE A LEG Keep On Movin’

10 p.m. until close, Mondays, The 5 Spot

For those looking to hit the dance floor on Monday nights, The 5 Spot’s “Keep on Movin’” dance party is the place to be. This shindig keeps it real with old-school soul, funk, and R&B. Don’t worry, you won’t hear Ke$ha — although you might see her — and you can leave your Apple Bottom jeans at home. If you have two left feet, then snag a seat at the bar. They have two-for-one drink specials, so you can use the money you save on a cover to fill your cup.

1006 Forrest Ave., 615.650.9333

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TELL ME A STORY

East Side Storytellin’

7 p.m., the first and third Tuesdays, The Post East

Looking for something to get your creative juices flowing? They’ve partnered with WAMB radio to present an all-out affair with book readings, musical performances, and author/musician interviews in just one evening. Look for this event twice each month. If you want some adult beverages, feel free to BYOB. Check the website to see who the guests of honor will be for each performance. The event is free, but you may want to reserve a spot by calling East Side Story ahead of time.

1701 Fatherland St. Suite A, 615.457.2920 615.915.1808 (East Side Story)

DRAG B-I-N-G-O WAS HER NAME-O Drag Bingo

8-11 p.m., Tuesdays, Mad Donna’s

Drop by Mad Donna’s Loft for the rotating

cast of Drag Bingo-callin’ queens. Each week, they’ll have prizes for the first to get to B-I-N-G-O, plus drink specials. They’re calling your name — and possibly your number/letter combo.

1313 Woodland St., 615.226.1617

NO LAUGH TRACK NEEDED

Ultimate Comedy Show by Corporate Juggernaut 8:30 p.m., Tuesdays, The East Room

Local jokesters have taken up residency in The East Room for Corporate Juggernaut, a weekly series of open-mic comedy shows put on by Gary Fletcher, Jane Borden, and Brandon Jazz.

Brad Edwards is your host and his backing band is The Grey Grays. You can always expect to see fresh material and new talent. Doors and sign-up are at 8 p.m. Get out and help support Nashville’s growing comedy scene.

2412 Gallatin Ave.

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FEEL THE BLUES Blues Power Happy Hour 5-7 p.m. Wednesdays, The Pub at The Basement East

Beast Pub has a serious case of the blues on Wednesdays. Every week they’ll have local musician Patrick Sweany in the DJ booth.

When Sweany is on the road, they’ll have guest DJs bringing you some deep cuts. And what better way to cure the blues than drink specials from Mississippi’s Cathead Vodka and East Tennessee’s Yee Haw Brewing? Beat the Blues at The Beast.

917 Woodland St., 615.645.9174

TRANSFORMING AT THE POST Free Conscious Transformation Groups

7-8:30 p.m., Second Wednesday of every month, The Post East

Looking for a supportive environment to focus on your professional and personal development? These monthly meetings foster a place to focus on conscious transformation teaching, tools, and meditation practices to promote and hone in on a plan of action to support your transformation. The meetings are led by Energy Healer Ben Dulaney. Think of it as Conscious coupling with other likeminded folks — with the opportunity to leave in a more perfect state than you entered in.

1701 Fatherland St. Suite A, 615.457.2920

FLYING STAND-UP Flying with Jaybird

7:30 p.m., third Wednesday of every month, Mad Donna’s

Another evening of stand-up takes off the third Wednesday of every month, hosted by local comedian Mary Jay Berger. You can expect to see a fresh lineup each month full of local and national funny dudes and dudettes. Laughs with just a $5 price tag.

1313 Woodland St., 615.226.1617

CRAWLIN’ TO THE FATHERLAND Fatherland Shoppe Crawl 5-8 p.m., last Wednesday of every month, Shoppes on Fatherland

Crawl on over to the Shoppes on Fatherland for their monthly shopping free-for-all.

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Shops keep their doors open late for you twilight shoppers. Each month they will have special sales, food trucks, and, like any proper host, wine. The compact complex houses more than 20 shops now, so you have plenty of places to peruse and scale down that shopping list.

1006 Fatherland St.

ART IS FOR EVERYONE

John Cannon Fine Art classes

6-8 p.m., Wednesdays, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. and 2-4 p.m., Saturdays, The Idea Hatchery

If you’ve been filling in coloring-book pages for years, but you’re too intimidated to put actual paint to canvas, it might be time to give it a try. Local artist John Cannon teaches intimate art classes at The Idea Hatchery, and the small class size keeps the sessions low-pressure and allows for some one-on-one instruction. If you’re feeling like you could be the next Matisse with a little guidance, sign yourself up.

1108-C Woodland St., 615.496.1259

WALK, EAT, REPEAT

Walk Eat Nashville

1:30 p.m., Thursdays 11 a.m., Fridays and Saturdays, 5 Points

What better way to indulge in the plethora of East Nashville eateries than a walking tour through the tastiest stops? Walk Eat Nashville tours stroll through East Nashville, kicking off in 5 Points, with six tasting stops over three hours. You will walk about 1.5 miles, so you’ll burn some of those calories you’re consuming in the process. This tour offers the chance to interact with the people and places crafting Nashville’s culinary scene. You even get a little history lesson along the way, learning about landmarks and lore on the East Side.

Sign up for your tour online.

Corner of 11th and Woodland Streets

AFTER HOURS SHOPPING

Third Thursday at Porter East Till 8:30 p.m., third Thursday of every month, Shops at Porter East

The Shops at Porter East are extending their hours for you weekday warriors pushing that 9-5 job. The third Thursday of every month they’ll keep their doors open until 8:30 p.m. to give folks the option to shop at a later hour, for the peeps that can’t make it in during typical business hours. The shops will offer refreshments and treats, plus food trucks. Different vendors and music will also be on hand to keep things interesting.

700 Porter Road

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HONESTLY, OFFICER ...

East Nashville Crime Prevention Meeting

11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Thursdays, Beyond the Edge

Join your neighbors to talk about crime stats, trends, and various other issues with East Precinct commander David Imhof and head of investigation Lt. Greg Blair. If you are new to the East Side, get up to speed on criminal activity in the area. If you are a recent victim of crime, they want to hear your story.

112 S. 11th St., 615.226.3343

Cafe serves up their brunch, smoothies, coffee, AND toffee for the afternoon while East Nashville songwriter David Llewellyn hosts special musical guests each week. Take your brunch will a side of music.

604 Gallatin Ave. Suite 109, 615.953.1325 y

SAY YES TO IMPROV Yes and Improv

7 p.m., second Saturday of every month, Mad Donna’s

The crew of Yes and Improv are sticking to their guns about true improv. They go into each performance blindly, only knowing what stage

ROCKIN’ AT THE SPOT

Tim Carroll’s Friday Night Happy Hour 6-8:30, Fridays, The 5 Spot

Your local watering hole has rocker Tim Carroll’s band playing their way through happy hour every Friday. It’s a great Spot to grab a beer and hear some tunes to kick off the weekend — drinks are discounted and the music is free.

1006 Forrest Ave., 615.650.9333

CAN’T FORCE A DANCE PARTY Queer Dance Party

9 p.m.-3 a.m., third Friday of every month, The Basement East

On any given month, the QDP is a mixed bag of fashionably clad attendees (some in the occasional costume) dancing till they can’t dance no mo’. The dance party has migrated over to The Beast, which gives shakers and movers even more space to cut up. Shake a leg, slurp down some of the drink specials, and let your true rainbow colors show.

917 Woodland St., 615.645.9174

CALL IT DIVINE SONGWRITING

Divine Art Cafe’s Songwriter’s Round in the Fireplace and Brunch 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturdays, Divine Art Cafe

Every Saturday gather round the fire with the toffee gurus at Divine Art Cafe. The November | December 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

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their supposed to show up on. Their set consists of short form games that last 4-5 minutes, which are fueled entirely by audience suggestions.

We think that opens the door to some pretty hilarious possibilities. Show up early for a good seat and throw back some of those 2-4-1’s.

1313 Woodland St., 615.226.1617

MAXWELL HEIGHTS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

EASTWOOD NEIGHBORS

936 E. Trinity Lane

1601 Eastland Ave., eastwoodneighbors.org

6 p.m., second Monday of every month Metro Police East Precinct

6:30 p.m., second Tuesday of every month Eastwood Christian Church Odd Month Happy Hour: Wednesday, Nov. 9, 5:30 p.m., Eastland Cafe

POETS WHO KNOW IT Poetry in the Brew

5:30 p.m. Second Saturday of every month, Portland Brew

Wordsmiths out there: East Nashville’s own open mic poetry night goes down at Portland Brew once a month. A poet is featured every month, with a chance to promote their work and read for 15 minutes — all the other poets get five minutes live. Arrive early because this poetry powwow fills up fast and there is limited seating. Sign-up for the open mic begins at 5:30, with reading starting at 6 p.m.

1921 Eastland Ave. 615.732.2003

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NEIGHBORHOOD MEETINGS & EVENTS MONTESSORI EAST ADMISSIONS TOUR 4 p.m., Nov. 16 and Jan. 18

Admissions tour for parents. 12 months through 6th grade.

801 Porter Road, monteastnash.com

LOCKELAND SPRINGS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

6:30 p.m., second Monday of each month

Quarterly meetings are held at Mad Donna’s Locations vary, visit lockelandsprings.org for more information.

SHELBY HILLS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION 6:30 p.m., third Monday of every odd numbered month Shelby Community Center

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GREENWOOD NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

6 p.m., second Tuesday of every month House on the Hill 909 Manila St. greenwoodneighbors.org

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIAITON 6 p.m., third Thursday of every month Kipp Academy 123 Douglas Ave.

EAST NASHVILLE CAUCUS 6 p.m., quarterly meetings on first Wednesday Jan. 4, April 5 Metro Police East Precinct

The East Nashville Caucus provides a public forum for East Nashville community leaders, representatives, council members, and neighbors.

936 E. Trinity Lane

EAST HILL NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

6:30 p.m., second Wednesday of every month Metro Police Precinct East 936 E. Trinity Lane

CLEVELAND PARK NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

6:30 p.m., second Thursday of every month Cleveland Park Community Center 610 N. Sixth St., facebook.com/groups/Cleveland Park

INGLEWOOD NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

7 p.m., first Thursday of every month Isaac Litton Alumni Center

MCFERRIN NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

6:30 p.m., first Thursday of every month McFerrin Park Community Center 301 Berry St.

ROSEBANK NEIGHBORS 6:30 p.m., third Thursday of every month Memorial Lutheran Church 1211 Riverside Drive

HENMA

6-8 p.m., second Tuesday of every month, location varies

HENMA is a cooperative formed among East Nashville business owners to promote collaboration with neighborhood associations and city government. Check the association’s website to learn about the organization and where meetings will be held each month. eastnashville.org

MOMS Club of East Nashville 10 a.m., first Friday of every month, location varies by group

MOMS (Moms Offering Moms Support) Club is an international organization of mothers with four branches in the East Nashville area.

It provides a support network for mothers to connect with other EN mothers. The meetings are open to all mothers in the designated area.

Meetings host speakers, cover regular business items of the organization including upcoming service initiatives and activities, and also allow women to discuss the ins and outs, ups and downs of being a mother. Check their website for the MOMS group in your area. momsclubeast.blogspot.com

fin.

• Would you like to have something included in our East Side Calendar?

Please let us know — we’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us at

4500 Gallatin Road, inglewoodrna.org

calendar@theeastnashvillian.com

2

For club listings and other events visit our Do615-powered calender online at theeastnashvillian.com

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Three’s Company CONTINUED FROM 69

Her first song was a drunken cowrite with Van Zandt, “Heavenly Houseboat Blues,” which also appeared on The Late Great Townes Van Zandt. Van Zandt included “Don’t Let the Sunshine Fool Ya” on that album as well, becoming the second artist to record a Guy Clark song. (Shortly before that, Harold Lee recorded Clark’s song, “The Old Mother’s Locket

Trick,” as a single for Cartwheel Records.)

By the time summer rolled around, the Clarks had left the house on Chapel and moved to Hendersonville to a log cabin next door to Newbury’s home at 159 Sunset Drive, where they had a picturesque view of Old Hickory Lake.

Decades later, Saviano asked Clark about

his time in East Nashville. “He said when he was there, East Nashville was not like East Nashville now, you know, where the hipsters all want to live there,” she recalls. “It wasn’t like that — it was a cheap house, and it wasn’t about the fact it was in East Nashville. But a lot of good stuff happened in the short time they were there.”

anything on the air that’s imaginative. …’ We have amazing shows on this radio station we launched with this incredible palate; with Mike Farris hosting a gospel show on Sunday mornings to R & B at night — you gotta hear it. We have good stuff. And we’re NPR. …

“I would love to see us take this format, make it successful in a demonstrable way,” she continues. “Americana has eluded success on the radio.

There’s never really been a station that’s a success story in a rated market that you could point to and say, ‘This works!’ When you’re talking about Shovels and Rope, and Lumineers, and Parker Milsap, and Hurray for the Riffraff, there are so

many people who are making great music that live in this sonic world, there’s just no reason why you just can’t do it, you can’t get young people back to the radio, I think you can. There’s already name recognition for many of the artists that we play. The joy of it is to associate their name with their music and put that in front of an audience that in the past may have had to seek it out on their own.”

Jesse Scott CONTINUED FROM 75

music, and its vitality comes from being a shared experience, the sum being greater than all of its parts.” Coming from someone described as an anchor, that leaves a lot of room for variety.

Expect some tweaks and changes as WMOT defines itself this autumn, but overall, Nashville isn’t just getting a roots radio station: Between Scott’s long legacy and Music City Root’s legend in the making, the pieces are in place to build the premier Americana station in the country.

“I think the way most radio is being used now is a wasteland,” she says. “ ‘Let’s just play safe music that everybody knows, tests, and we will beat it within an inch of its life, and we won’t do

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Jessie Scott hosts the “Yee Haw Drive Home” weekdays from 4-7 p.m.

For up-to-date programming information, visit rootsradio.com

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marketplace

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marketplace When I say “good,” you say “neighbor.”

Bobby Berry, Agent 703 Main Street Nashville, TN 37206 Bus: 615-271-2996 www.bobbyaberry.com P097314.1

Now that's teamwork.

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State Farm Home Office, Bloomington, IL

New Location:

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marketplace

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East of NORMAL TOMMY WOMACK

The Coward, the Redneck, and Kenny Rogers

O

ne of many neat things about Nashville is that sometimes you get to meet country music stars, young and old. I’ve met Little Jimmy Dickens, Garth Brooks, Rodney Crowell, Martina McBride, Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, and Waylon Jennings; had Randy Travis behind me in line to get a table at Rotier’s; very nearly sideswiped Ricky Skaggs on West End; and on and on. One I haven’t met yet — and am very much looking forward to meeting — is Kenny Rogers, and when I do, I’m going to kill him. Whatever it takes, that fucker’s going down. And it’s all about that damn song.

In 1980, when I was a senior in high school, that phone-sexing scumbag had a big hit with “Coward of the County.” The premise of the song is this: Violence is never the answer, but then again, sure it is. The protagonist walks away from fighting for his woman in the first two verses, but when the villains go too far, he spends the third verse kicking everybody’s ass.

For a 17-year-old full of rage, that song was inspiring. I took it as an invocation.

It was January of 1980. His name was David Dawson, and he was kind of a douche. I mean, not bad, he just talked a lot, and his neck was pretty red. He was a short guy, but built.

We both washed dishes at the Regional Medical Center. I was part-time, he was a high school dropout and full-time. I’d heard how one day not long after he was hired he and Glenn Carter had gotten into a fistfight in the dish room and security had to be called. That warranted David’s first write-up. (You got one; second offense and you were out on your keister.)

On New Year’s Eve I had big plans. I was going to work the day shift, go home, wash all the funk off me, and go try and score beer with a couple of other nerds. Halfway through my shift, Flo the supervisor tracked me down and asked if I’d mind double-shifting. David had called in sick, and I was naïve enough to think, gee, that’s too bad, I hope he feels better soon. I double-shifted, and missed a lot of the good riddance to the ’70s revelry. Several days later, David bragged to me that he hadn’t been sick, and I told him that I’d had to cover for him. I was mad, but I was too passive-aggressive to say I was mad, and I think he sensed that he didn’t have to worry about me jumping his shit. He had me pegged. I was the coward of the county. A few days later, Tim Smith told me that David had said, “I don’t know if Womack is scared of me, or petrified of me!” Now I was really mad, like Joe Strummer

mad. I’d been living the first two verses of that damn Kenny Rogers song all my young life, and as David’s remark rattled around my head the next two days, I became convinced that it was time to bring my wimp ass careening into the third verse.

I came to work the next day seething. I was going to make Kenny Rogers proud. I was going to slug David Dawson so hard, I was going to kick his ass with such serene malevolent panache that he was going to struggle to his knees and beg me for forgiveness, fall at my feet and plead for me to enlighten him on a better way of living. I saw him by the dishwasher, told him I wanted to talk to him; he met me over in the cart-washing station, where I looked at him for a second. And I swung.

I swung at his head. I didn’t hit anything but air. His eyes went wide, uncomprehending. The next second took five minutes as David’s redneck scrapper brain processed what was going on. At the end of that five-minute second, David pivoted back on one foot and shot out his right fist directly into my jaw. It hurt. Things began to blur. We were surrounded by people.

Suddenly security was there. Then David was in my face saying, “You fucked up, Womack! You just cost me my job!”

Indeed I had. The boss, Mrs. Yonts, called me into her office.

I pleaded with her to fire me and keep him. At no point had I considered that I was going to cost a dropout redneck a job he needed more than I did. Now I was feeling tremendous guilt.

When David came out of Mrs. Yonts’ office, freshly fired, he found me and asked when I got off work. I told him 9 o’clock.

“I’ll be waitin’ on ya,” he said, and left. I had about an hour to go on my shift, leaning over a giant aluminum sink with my Brillo pad and my spray nozzle, my mind spinning endless scenarios, all of them ending with David Dawson kicking my ass. I wished I’d never been born, or Kenny Rogers either, for that matter.

He didn’t kick my ass. My entreaties to Mrs. Yonts had mollified him. He screamed at me and whacked me upside the head once and broke my glasses, then walked away. I spent months consumed with guilt, because he was fatherless and supporting his mother. Later, I found out he was working construction and doing well. Fast forward 25 years and he showed up at a house concert I was playing in Earlington, Ky. I apologized for everything, but he stared at me quizzically — he didn’t remember any of it. What consumed me and still sears me, he didn’t remember at all. Well, I remember, I remember well. I’ve never tried to slug anyone since that day almost 37 years ago; but then again, I’ve yet to meet Kenny Rogers.

Tommy Womack is a Nashville singer-songwriter, musician, and freelance writer.

Keep up with his antics on Facebook and at tommywomack.com.

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PARTING SHOT

JASON ISBELL & AMANDA SHIRES

Spotify’s Clarify: Nashville Event

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