The East Nashvillian 7.3 Jan-Feb 2017

Know your Neighbor: C H U C K B E A R D

JANUARY | FEBRUARY VOL.VII ISSUE 3

Loud & Rowdy

DAN BAIRD is still revving the rock & roll engine

A Shot of Mancini Magic

CHARLIE MCCOY

Harp legend’s new Inglehood EP pays tribute to the late composer, arranger, and conductor Get Behind the Mule

LYDIA PEELLE

East Nashville author’s new novel, The Midnight Cool Salvation Through Support

MAMA BEARS

Christian mothers with LGBT children

And the

Humanity

&EMOTION Callie Khouri’s characters have the depth of the Grand Canyon

2016 East Nashvillians of the Year

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PUBLISHER Lisa McCauley EDITOR Chuck Allen ASSOCIATE EDITOR Daryl Sanders COPY EDITOR John McBryde CALENDAR EDITOR Emma Alford CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Peter Chawaga, Randy Fox, Holly Gleason, James Haggerty, Nicole Keiper, Laura Roberts, Daryl Sanders, Tommy Womack CREATIVE DIRECTOR Chuck Allen DESIGN DIRECTOR Benjamin Rumble ADVERTISING DESIGN ILLUSTRATIONS Benjamin Rumble Benjamin Rumble, Dean Tomasek CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Chad Crawford, Eric England, Jared Manzo, Laura Roberts, Michael Weintrob 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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©2017 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

44 HUMANITY & EMOTION

From Thelma & Louise to Nashville, Callie Khouri’s characters have the depth of the Grand Canyon that made her famous

By Holly Gleason

FEATURES

36 A SHOT OF MANCINI MAGIC

Charlie McCoy’s new Inglehood EP pays tribute to the late composer, arranger, and conductor

COVER SHOT

By Daryl Sanders

CALLIE KHOURI

53 62 GET BEHIND THE MULE

EAST NASHVILLIANS OF THE YEAR

Photographed in Rayna’s bedroom on the set of Nashville

by Michael Weintrob

By Randy Fox

East Nashville author Lydia Peelle explores history, culture, and honor in her new novel, The Midnight Cool

By Randy Fox

64 LOUD & ROWDY

Dan Baird is still revving the rock & roll engine

By Tommy Womack

72 SALVATION THROUGH SUPPORT

Christian mothers of LGBT children find reconciliation with their faith through Nashville Mama Bears

By Laura Roberts

Visit

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

CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

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EAST SIDE BUZZ

19 Matters of Development

By Nicole Keiper

IN THE KNOW

Center To Replace Former 27 Retail Walmart Site On Gallatin Ave.

Your Neighbor: 35 Know Chuck Beard

By Peter Chawaga

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Shopping For A Cause

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Gallatin Pike’s New Focus

By Tommy Womack

81 East Side Calendar

By Peter Chawaga

By Emma Alford

By Peter Chawaga

Bono/Discounted Legal Support 31 Pro Offered For LGBT Community

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By Peter Chawaga

PARTING SHOT

COMMENTARY

Dave Schools

16 Editor’s Letter

By Michael Weintrob

By Chuck Allen

32 Astute Observations

By James “Hags” Haggerty

100 East of Normal

By Tommy Womack

Visit

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

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EDITOR’S LETTER No time for postmortems, there’s work to be done!

T

he morning after the election brought with it another one of those moments — singular moments when the veil is lifted, and the answer to a long-pondered question suddenly appears. In this case, it was the realization I’d just witnessed Hillary Clinton commit seppuku on the sword of Neoliberalism, with the Democratic Party acting as her kaishakunin.

The shock wasn’t Trump’s victory — that would better be described as surprise. No, it was that I’d completely missed the depth of the Democratic Party’s absolute cluelessness. And mine.

Not that it’s been easy to stay focused on what’s really been going on for the past two years. Candidate Trump’s crass candor could be as irresistible as it was mind numbing; or warping, as the case may be. It was far easier to let the rabid, “lock her up”-chanting attendees at his rallies — the “deplorables” — serve as surrogates for the vast numbers of voters lying to pollsters about their true intentions than to examine the reality behind his appeal: People are pissed off in epic proportions.

The hostility towards the Democratic Party comes from resentments traceable to Bill Clinton’s White House, so why should the venom aimed at Hillary come as a surprise? There were plenty of folks in the same “deplorable” crowd Hillary denigrated who voted for Obama. Twice.

So why now, and why Trump?

Rather than attempt an election postmortem that would require far more than one page, it makes more sense to discuss what’s been hiding in plain sight for at least the last 30 years: We’ve allowed every aspect of our existence to become

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securitized. The system is broken because we’ve allowed and encouraged it.

Almost all of our ills stem from the idea that we are each, individually, responsible for our financial lot in life, no matter what. Whether this means earning millions on Wall Street or barely getting by on Main Street is beside the point. No one among us can go it alone. There is no such thing as a free market. There never has been, and there never will be. It’s an idea floated by the wealthy to justify their wealth to themselves and, more importantly, to society.

Equating the freedom enshrined in the constitution with a free market — and the freedom to rape the land of resources that belong to us all in the process — is bullshit. But that’s what they’d have us believe. The idea of freedom has been corrupted so that it can be used against the free to financially enslave them. THAT is why people are pissed off, but whether or not they know it is another story.

We get the government we deserve. Remember that. Yes, Hillary won the popular vote, but she lost in the Electoral College and she knew it, which is why she conceded to President Elect Trump in a phone call. It was her election to lose, and it speaks to the fact that the Democratic Party has spent the last 30 years playing the market.

So enough already. Let’s get to work and rebuild the dream of a better world, together. The power is ours to reclaim if we want it, but we’ll have to work for it. There are powerful, entrenched forces arrayed against us to be sure, but if the people of this country unite and fight back, nothing can stop us.

Happy Valentine’s 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 NEW AND NOTEWORTHY We’ve been no strangers to reality/ surreality TV around East Nashville over the past few years, but December might’ve brought the most surprising scenes yet.

Early in the month, longstanding East Side hang Mad Donna’s closed abruptly.

Owners Rachel Fontenot and Neil Clark shared a social media announcement of “sincere appreciation” for nine years of customer support and tipping that we should expect “exciting details for a new project soon.”

Those details came in part from celeb business-fixer Jon Taffer, host of Spike TV show Bar Rescue, who on Dec. 12 announced the “massive TV Grand Opening of a brand

new restaurant” at 1313 Woodland St. That night, with a crew of neighbors and a new collaborator named Sheryl Crow on the scene, the Wylee’s Cafe & Bar was unveiled, replete with freshened-up exterior and interior and a new for-TV menu stocked with Crow puns: “If it Makes You Happy” salad, “All I Wanna Do” is Have Dessert, et al.

Wylee’s was back open and serving nontelevised patrons days later with lots of familiar touches still in place, including their beloved bingo, brunch, and Bloody Mary bar, but with a fresh, organic thrust (and that fresh new look).

The show responsible for the overhaul, reportedly, isn’t Bar Rescue, but a new, yet-untitled pilot. Keep an eye on our blog at theeastnashvillian.com — as soon as we get an update on the airdate, we’ll share it there.

Meantime, stop by Wylee’s 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to midnight Friday, 9 a.m. to midnight Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.

Wylee’s is one of a bunch of new names to pop up in the neighborhood over the past few months. One that might be familiar from other parts of town (and other parts of the country): Title Boxing Club — a chain with locations from coast to coast, including several in Middle Tennessee — added an East Side workout space at 605 Gallatin Ave. in mid-December.

At Title Boxing East, you can work with trainers on “a true boxer’s workout,” focused on toning muscles and confidence.

They’re up-and-going with a regular schedule of classes — hours are 6:15 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday.

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EAST SIDE BUZZ Learn more at titleboxingeast.com.

Another chain that joined the East Side recently: The East Nashville outpost of all-natural pet food makers Pet Wants opened in early December at 962 Woodland St. They sell their own proprietary brand of kibble, and offer it by the pound, with free local delivery. (You’ll also find treats, supplements, and other items at the shop.) They’re open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

More at petwantsnashville.com.

Can’t call this one a chain just yet, but it is growing: The little East Nashville sister of Murfreesboro’s The Crazy Kukla Boutique soft-opened at the end of October, with all kinds of cute kids stuff on the racks, from clothes and shoes to toys and gifts.

They’re at 1900 Eastland Ave., Unit 102 (same Walden development as the new Five Daughters Bakery, Two Ten Jack, and others), and the hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m.

Sunday. Learn more at thecrazykuklaboutique.com. (If you’re a regular ’Boro visitor, the O.G. Crazy Kukla is on the square.)

Another bit of branching out: Urban Cowboy Public House, located behind the

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Urban Cowboy B&B at 1603 Woodland St., opened in November. Like the totally overhauled main house, the Public House is high-style all around, with lots of wood cladding and rustic/industrial cool filling out its small indoor bar (flanked by a larger patio space). On the menu: craft cocktails and seasonal/organically focused food.

They’re open 4-11 p.m. weekdays, 4-midnight weekends.

A few one-and-only locations joined the landscape, too.

In mid-November, Inglewood resident Jessica Bower opened up new clothing, accessories, and home goods shop Steluta at 1601-B Riverside Drive, joining Pied Piper Eatery, Atomic Nashville, and others at the increasingly busy corner of Riverside and Porter.

The name, Bower told us, is Romanian for little star, and is meant to reflect the shopping experience she’s trying to create and the shelves she’s aiming to fill with “special treasures, large and small, that reveal the craftsmanship and thoughtfulness of the designers.”

The shop’s open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 1-5 p.m. on Sunday.

Check out more at shopsteluta.com.

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East Nashville has another new vintage haunt: Black Shag Vintage just joined the crew at The Station, Karen Goodlow Designs’ reimagination of the historic fire hall No. 18 at 1220 Gallatin Ave. On the shelves at the new shop: all manner of vintage clothing, shoes, boots, and accessories, angled “for your rock ’n’ roll heart,” in addition to the self-described “largest and best selection of original vintage concert T-shirts in the South.”

Hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, and Mondays by appointment.

They join Goodlow’s commercial/residential interior design office and Grounds 2 Give coffee, among others, in the newly renewed Station. Check out more about the location at thestationnashville.com.

Long-awaited beer bar/record shop Vinyl Tap opened its doors in late November at 2038 Greenwood Ave. Inside the new East Side hangout — designed to give off a “living room vibe” — you can browse and buy/sell vinyl, quaff local and regional craft brews (or wine or soda), and grab small bites, like sliders and charcuterie plates.

Vinyl Tap is open noon to 11 p.m.

Tuesday through Thursday, noon to midnight Friday and Saturday, and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday. Check out more at vinyltapnashville.com.

Vinyl Tap isn’t the only uncommon combination to join the scene: Former Marathon Village spot Soda Parlor completed its move to the East Side, too, opening its new, larger space at 966 Woodland St. in late November, and offering sodas, floats, “Waffle Mondaes,” and the opportunity to shop for apparel and play games in their full-on arcade.

That newly opened place joins the fleshed-out development that includes the former Turnip Truck (now Burger Up) and the aforementioned Pet Wants. Stop by 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, and learn more at olanrogerssupply.com.

For the health-conscious East Nashvillian: Hummingbird Cracker Company opened in the Porter East development at the confluence of Porter and Eastland in late November, offering gluten-free, vegan, small-batch snacks created with vegetable pulp.

The in-house description of the Hummingbird approach: “We take the natural, raw pulp left over from making fresh vegetable juice and repurpose it in these crackers that are slowly dehydrated and bursting with maximum flavor.” Among those maxi-

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EAST SIDE BUZZ mum flavors: Carrot Cake and spicy Fiesta.

They’re open at 707 Porter Road 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, and you can find more/order online at hummingbirdcrackers.com.

New thrift store Woodland Thrift — run by the folks at Set Free Church — opened in November at 943-B Woodland St.

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CLOSINGS AND MOVES After only a year in Inglewood’s Riverside Village, coffee shop and café Perk & Cork closed in late October.

“This was not an easy decision,” owner Nancy Redmond said in a social media announcement, “but (we) feel it is the best for us as a family.”

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Redmond and staff served an impressive array of house-made baked goods and sandwiches over that year at 1304 McGavock Pike, in the little blue house that was once home to East Nashville vintage mainstay OMG. Riverside Village’s original coffee slingers, Sip Cafe, left that area for a new home on Gallatin in 2014, and Perk & Cork served as the Village’s main caffeine providers from their opening in October 2015 to the arrival of Dose Cafe & Dram Bar nearby in July.

Another disappointingly short stay: “(Korean) Fried Chicken Joint” The Birdhouse closed its McFerrin Avenue doors in late October after less than a year.

“While we love our neighborhood and tried our hardest to make things work at this location, unfortunately and frustratingly, it wasn‘t to be,” a closing announcement on The Birdhouse Facebook page said.

“This business decision was a very difficult one to make, but the correct one given the circumstances.”

Although it was brief, The Birdhouse earned steady praise in and out of the neighborhood for a menu led by that fried chicken and broadened by a burst of favorites and fresh takes, like Bibimbap, Kimchi fried rice, and Korean BBQ brisket.

Guesses are we haven’t seen the last of the Birdhouse brass, though — the goodbye note also hinted that chefs Chris Futrell and Casey Carstens “hope to be serving y‘all our Korean Fried Chicken again in the very near future.”

Another big East Nashville food-scene change, though thankfully not a closure: John Stephenson, executive chef of The Family Wash, stepped down in October, telling Eater Nashville that he hoped to spend more time with family before exploring new endeavors.

As our July/August 2015 feature noted, Stephenson was a big part of bringing The Family Wash/Garage Coffee to life (alongside Wash founder Jamie Rubin, Mitchell Fox, and Robert Camardo). To read that piece, head to theeastnashvillian.com and hit Back Issues on the nav.

The Horner Rausch Optical Superstore at 968 Main St. closed in November, along with Dr. Don J. Fenn’s optometrist office next door. Investors Chad and Andy Baker (the guys behind The Dog Spot and other businesses) and partners Jim Higgins and Rick Piliponis purchased the property. Chad Baker told The Tennessean that a yet-unannounced health and wellness business was set to take over the Superstore’s location.

Some good news for fashionable neighbors that comes with a little bit of bad news for East Nashville: East Side boutique Sisters

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EAST SIDE BUZZ of Nature shut its doors at 521 Gallatin Ave. in December, but not for bummer reasons. Lead Sister Kimberly Parker recently launched a fashion line, and it’s doing well enough to necessitate some big changes.

“Sisters of Nature has decided to close its chapter as a storefront in Nashville in order to fully dedicate our love and attention to our new clothing line based out of L.A.,” an

announcement from Sisters of Nature read.

“We are still more passionate than ever about ethical fashion and we will continue to play our part by being designers and producers of socially conscious pieces, as opposed to curators. We have been rapidly evolving since we hit the ground running in 2013 out of our vintage camper trailer and are so excited for the direction of the brand.”

Some good news to follow up that news: The Sisters folks also announced in December that friends and fellow East Nashville fashion players Vinnie Louise were set to take over the vacated space at 521.

(Vinnie’s been sharing their wearable wares at 737 Porter.)

“Passing along our keys will be so much easier knowing our space will be in such good hands with the women of Vinnie,” that announcement said. “Supporting and celebrating local brands has always been the backbone of Sisters of Nature, so we hope you can join us in welcoming them to the block!”

COMING SOON In mid-November, word broke that one of Nashville’s best-known chefs is working on coming to our side of the river.

Philip Krajeck — the multiple James Beard nominee behind Germantown’s Rolf and Daughters — has a new restaurant in the works on Meridian in McFerrin Park, and according to a release, we should see that “seasonally focused neighborhood” place open its doors in the spring.

Krajeck’s Germantown restaurant, with a menu of rustic Italian food, cemented his place as a rising culinary star both in and outside of Nashville — among reams of praise, Bon Appétit named it the third best new restaurant in the country in 2013.

East Nashville might not be a full-fledged craft beer hotbed yet, but we’re working our way there — and The Tennessean hinted that more might be on the way. The paper got word in November of Noble’s Kitchen and Beer Hall, in the works at 974 Main St. (part of the Hunter’s Custom Automotive campus), and aiming for a January opening. Among the plans: 48 taps with local/ regional beer, plus a fresh, local-focused food menu.

Another growing subsect of our neighborhood food scene: sweet stuff. Something to look forward to on that front, according to the Nashville Business Journal: Shugga Hi Bakery & Café, at 1000 Dickerson Pike.

The sisters behind that project, Kathy Leslie and Sandra Austin, are native East Siders, and they told the Journal that a “funky-type vibe” was their aim (they’re working with East Nashville architecture and real estate biz Southern Athena), and that we can expect donuts, “alcohol-infused cakes,” and more once the doors open. We haven’t heard any more about timeframe, but we’ll share more on our blog when we know it.

Our pizza options may be about to broaden, too: The Nashville Business Journal’s Jacob Steimer reported in November that

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EAST SIDE BUZZ Louisville-based BoomBozz Craft Pizza and Taphouse was a potential new resident at 1003 Russell St. (the former Crystal Fountain Church of God in Christ).

BoomBozz is known for “award-winning gourmet pizzas with premium ingredients” and craft beer, and has seven locations in Kentucky and Indiana. If this plan comes to fruition, it’d be the first Nashville BoomBozz.

East Nashville-launched Five Points Pizza, meanwhile, is working on spreading out, too — they announced in mid-October that a West Nashville restaurant was in the works, with an expected opening of late 2017. That location’s set to be larger than the East Side original, though it should have familiar markers, like the well-loved Woodland carryout counter.

Also expanding, though in a different way: creative suites/coworking spot Center 615 is adding a new west wing, which they expect to be finished early in 2017. Looking for space to work in the neighborhood?

Their Main Campus is at 615 Main St. (with several other buildings close by in the 615 family); online home is c615.co.

One more eating and drinking hub to keep an eye on the horizon for: Actual Brunch chef Dan Forberg is working on opening the Inglewood Lounge, “a neighborhood bar with bold food, cheap drinks,” and more at the former Mrs. Winners building at 3914 Gallatin Pike.

Forberg told the Nashville Scene that he’s been DIYing the build-out, “taking my time, being careful about every decision,” and that once the doors open, we should see bar food that’s inspired by global street fare, plus, down the line, the brunch he’s come to be known for. We’ve been holding tight for a grand opening date, and we’ll update on our blog; if you’d like to keep up, check facebook.com/inglewoodlounge.

—Nicole Keiper

The retail development will cover 14,700 square feet. In addition, there will be a three-story, 88,000-square-foot storage facility behind the center to be operated by SpaceMax, a division of Childress Klein.

“It will be our first storage facility in Nashville,” Chris Poholek, a Childress Klein partner, says. “There’s only one climate-controlled storage facility there on Main Street, East Nashville

Self Storage, and it’s pretty full, so we think there’s a real need for the storage.”

The property group expects five or six stores to occupy the center, including a restaurant on either end, but thus far, none of the spaces have been leased. Renderings indicate a brick facade and large awnings.

“It was the storage that drove this project, but once we found the site it made sense to add re-

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

Retail Center To Replace Former Walmart Site On Gallatin Ave. The site of the former Walmart at 1216 Gallatin Ave. will host a new retail center and a large storage facility expected to be complete by the summer of 2017.

Real estate development company Childress Klein, with dual headquarters in Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C., expects to start construction in April.

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EAST SIDE BUZZ tail and we’re really excited about that,” Poholek says. “I think it’s great for the community.”

Poholek credits District 5 Council Member Scott Davis and the Greenwood Neighborhood Association for supporting the project, and plans to staff the new space with local employees.

—Peter Chawaga

Shopping For A Cause

Gallatin Pike’s New Focus Joe Nolan is the type of person who sees the beauty in everyday things. That might be why his professional biography includes the roles of singer, songwriter, poet, critic, and photographer. Wearing one of his many hats, that of a reporter for Nashville’s National Public Radio affiliate WPLN-FM,

Nolan has turned his rose-tinted vision on Gallatin Pike and started a movement.

After moving to East Nashville in 2012, Nolan found himself captured by the scenery along its main thoroughfare. As WLPN sought content that would drive visitors to its website, he saw the chance to share that feeling with a wider audience.

“I saw all these things that were really cool

As many fashionable East Nashvillians already know, there’s a local store where high-end brands meet discount prices and philanthropic cause. 2616 Resale Boutique, located at 2616 Gallatin Pike, offers gently used and new clothing, jewelry, and accessories for women, the sales of which benefit YWCA Nashville’s social programs.

“It’s a place where you can donate your clothing, and we will resell it, and the proceeds, all the money we get from the items, will go right back into our programs,” Michelle Mowery Johnson, director of communications for the YWCA, says.

The boutique opened in the summer of 2014 as a way for the YWCA to utilize the overwhelming clothing donations that it receives. Since then, the store has raised over $250,000, supporting efforts like the YWCA’s 51-bed emergency center for women and children fleeing domestic violence; Girls Inc. programming in local schools; a family literacy center; and MEND, a preventative domestic violence education program for young men. The program that might benefit most directly from these efforts is Dress For Success, a national nonprofit that provides women who are entering or reentering the workforce with suits and work clothes.

But support of those programs isn’t the only way that the store is making a difference around East Nashville. It’s helping in neighborhood wardrobes and wallets, too.

It’s not uncommon to find Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, even Armani wares on the racks, which are replenished regularly. Suits typically go for around $25, while skirts, pants, and blazers can be had for $12 to $15.

“We’re so grateful for the support of the East Nashville community because the folks there, they shop, they donate, and they volunteer,” Mowery Johnson says. “A lot of our regular customers live in the area, and they visit on a weekly basis because the merchandise turns over every week.”

Those who are interested in donating can do so directly at 2616 Resale Boutique or YWCA Nashville’s main office in Green Hills.

Those interested in volunteering to process clothes can visit YWCANashville.com.

—Peter Chawaga January | February 2017 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

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EAST SIDE BUZZ and beautiful on Gallatin Pike, all the signs and the diversity, the gumption of all these little businesses and how that’s really special,” Nolan says. “As I kept seeing it more I had this urge to pull over and take photos of all this stuff. So when the opportunity to do a project for WLPN [came up], it seemed like a place to actually share that idea with the world.”

Nolan’s pitch became the Pikes Project, a series of photo essays on WPLN’s website that has featured Gallatin, Nolensville, Charlotte, and Dickerson pikes, along with extended captions and radio spots punctuated with Nolan’s spoken word poetry.

The project has been recognized with a $4,000 THRIVE award from the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, which Nolan will use to keep taking photos, host an exhibition and poetry reading, and promote #PikesProject on Facebook and Instagram to encourage others to post their photographic tributes.

“The whole thing has turned into a campaign where I’m trying to engage East Nashville, and eventually the whole city, so that any of us can go online and see the photos that the whole neighborhood has taken,” Nolan says. “There’s any number of other people that have their own take on what Gallatin Pike is and what makes it special. There’s every reason to keep on looking at it, keep on asking what it is, keep on wondering what it will be and what it has been.”

—Peter Chawaga

and GOP-led Congress could threaten their rights. In her legal opinion, their concerns are merited.

While it is all but legally impossible to invalidate same-sex couples that are already married, Eaton does expect to see efforts on federal and state levels to undermine the rights that come with same-sex marriage and to add obstacles for those trying to marry their partners. She is concerned about potential state efforts to challenge same-sex couples with children. For transgender people, she recommends updating identity documents as soonas possible.

Of course, taking legal precautions is easier said than done. That’s why Eaton has begun gathering the necessary resources on a volunteer basis for those who might not be able to afford to defend their rights.

“So far, we have more than 60 attorneys and notaries who are offering their services at either free or highly discounted rates to get LGBT individuals and families protected,” Eaton says. “We are supported, and there are a lot of people out there willing to do whatever it takes to make sure we are protected.”

Eaton started a GoFundMe page, “LGBT Legal Relief Fund,” to provide downloadable

legal documents for self-protection, to connect the LGBT community with lawyers who are offering discounted and free services, and to raise additional money. So far, the effort has raised about $3,000, well short of the $20,000 that Eaton estimates would be necessary to completely cover the costs of those who have contacted her.

Eaton is currently on an extended stay with her family in South America and is coordinating these efforts from abroad. Her connection to East Nashville and its role as a haven for the LGBT community has motivated her to stay involved stateside.

“East Nashville has a particularly high concentration of LGBT families, and this area of town is by far the most progressive and has been for a long time,” she says. “I was in as much shock as everyone else after the election, but being here, there was very little outlet for me to channel those feelings. I can’t commiserate over beers with friends, I can’t protest, I can’t file lawsuits. I had to do something with all of these emotions and what occurred to me is that I can connect people to resources at home. I can remind people that there is an entire community supporting them, and they need only reach out for help.”

—Peter Chawaga

Pro Bono/Discounted Legal Support Offered For LGBT Community No matter where on the political spectrum they stand, November’s election night lives on in the minds of Americans.

As results ticked in and it slowly became clear that Donald Trump would emerge as the president-elect, voters were either disheartened or elated. For one group, fears were stoked and questions were raised.

“Literally starting the morning after the election, my inbox was flooded with emails from LGBT folks who are scared of what comes next,” says Sunny Eaton, a visible and openly gay figure of Nashville’s LGBT community and law partner in Eastside Legal, a progressive firm with a history of supporting gay rights. “People are afraid that their marriages will be overturned. I fielded a lot of questions about adoption and parental rights between couples. Transgender individuals have been under attack all year, even before these election results — they have a lot of reasons to be afraid.”

To date, over 200 members of the LGBT community have contacted Eaton with questions about how a Trump presidency January | February 2017 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

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Astute OBSERVATIONS James “Hags” Haggerty

Stranger than fiction

A

t this time last year, in this magazine, I wrote a column of gratitude and resolution. I had much to be grateful for then and still do, and I am resolved to make 2017 a meaningful year. This January, however, I can find nothing more important to write about than the current state of the union.

Statistically speaking, some of you are happy with the outcome of the presidential election. To those I say, congratulations and good luck. This particular column may not be your cup of tea (party).

If you are like me, you are probably wondering what the hell to do now. I have a few ideas on the subject. …

Personally, I realized on the morning of Nov. 9 that I have been living in a bubble. I surround myself with people of like mind, and I fooled myself into thinking that most folks in our country feel like I do. On that morning after Election Day, I received a wake-up call from a friend in Ontario offering me a room. I am not moving to Canada.

Here’s the thing, folks — I have struggled with this column for weeks. I really wanted to write a satire to lampoon Mr. Trump’s cabinet choices. I wanted to point out, in a comedic and thought-provoking fashion, the outrageousness and danger of Trumpism. I thought of a fantasy federal politics league where I could pit Trump, Sessions, Puzder (The Hamburgler), and a few historical figures like Joseph Goebbels or Nikita Khrushchev (Oops, Putin!) against a team of my choosing: Bernie Sanders, JFK, Martin Luther King Jr., Jimmy Carter, Nicola Tesla, etc., but I’m no Jonathan Swift.

Try as I might, I could not come up with anything as un-American or shocking as the truth of Jeff Sessions’ (separate and unequal) Alabama legacy as Attorney General or Rick (let’s scrap the … what was the third one? The EPA!) Perry as Secretary of Energy or Rex (former Exxon Mobil CEO) Tillerson as Secretary of State or Stephen (“birth control makes women fat and unattractive”) Bannon as chief strategist.

To put my literary struggle in a nutshell, it is beyond my abilities to conjure a satire from a satire.

Truth, in this case, is far stranger than fiction.

Donald Trump’s America is a country of frustration and anger. It is a place of exclusion and discrimination. Mr. Trump has harnessed the base emotions of the alt-right — racism, misogyny, homophobia — wrapped them in his demagogic blanket of “I’m great, I have all the answers, trust me,” and rode that wave of fear straight to the White House like Slim Pickens on the back of a nuke in Dr. Strangelove.

The Democrats failed their traditional base and, out of arrogance, inattention, and overconfidence, alienated voters that could have given them the election.

I have no desire to be a useless complainer or a loud empty barrel. I am neither a politician nor a political scientist. I am an empowered voter and a very concerned citizen.

Right now, the Trump administration has narrow majorities in the House and Senate. Midterm elections are two years away. In the meantime, it is up to us to have our voices heard. Congressmen and senators live and die by votes. Popularity and strength are everything.

When important votes are occurring, we must call our members of Congress. We must stop by their offices to demand meetings to voice our concerns and questions about corporate deregulation, climate issues, or civil rights issues, to name an important few. Go to town hall meetings with your representatives and ask the tough questions.

They were elected to represent us. Organize and peacefully protest. It is our right to have our voices heard. When done strategically, pressure from the voting public can have great effect. This is what we can do now to affect the political future.

In two years, get out and vote in the midterm elections.

To the Democratic Party, please get your house in order. Remember the working class. You counted on their votes and did not get them. Get to work now. Humility and inclusiveness should be your mantra.

Friends and neighbors, I wish you a peaceful and meaningful 2017!

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. We were relieved to hear he won’t be moving to Canada, since bassists who can write are hard to come by.

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KNOW your NEIGHBOR

“E

P H OTOG R AP H B Y C H UC K AL LE N

ast Side Storytellin’ follows the same template every time.

A local author, or poet, does a 15-minute reading of original material, and then a local musician or band follows with a 30-minute show.

Then I have about a 15-minute casual conversation onstage with the featured guests to talk about their creative process and their ties to Nashville. I find it’s a great way to digest the art, and since an author typically doesn’t have a rock star setting or big-performance audience, it’s great for them to get used to that, and it’s great for the musicians, too, because a lot of times around here it’s tough to get a truly listening audience. As far as the audience, the conversation at the end is a nice ice-breaker. The people feel like they can approach and tell the artists how they appreciate their music, or writing. And maybe they’ll buy something!” — Chuck Beard

Chuck BEARD

with facial hair to match his name, has been on the East Side since ’07 when he wound up in town after an era of happy

by Tommy Womack wandering to California and other places. He came to Nashville to write for Nashville Arts magazine, and remains a freelance writer today. The grand opening of East Side Story took place during the Tomato Art Festival of 2012.

Married with one child, he works another job in addition to running the store in order to pay the bills.

But he’s still at the store most every day. “Most days, yeah,” he says, “I work part time over at Oasis Center in the morning, and I have odd hours here. But it works for me.”

The 100th episode (for lack of a better word) of East Side Storytellin’ will happen at The Post on Fatherland on Tuesday, Feb. 7. Singer-songwriter Phil Madeira (author of God On the Rocks) will provide the music and writer John J. Thompson, author of Jesus, Bread and Chocolate, will For five years, Chuck Beard has be doing the reading. “I met Phil run East Side Story, a small but during the Based On project and distinctive bookstore in The Idea thought this would be a good Hatchery on Woodland Street. soulful match,” Beard says. “And And he’s run East Side Storytellin’ it turns out they’re friends, so since late 2012. The store’s inventory is only local talent. Beard that’ll be nice, too; a cool communal thing.” calls it “Nashville’s stubbornly Pairings of artists who plow local-centric book nook.” similar furrows happen a lot The store has curated two at East Side Storytellin’, but special-edition books: The they’re not necessarily planned. first was The Wolf ’s Bane, a “There always seems to be some hand-bound historical tale of a serendipitous theme where like Nashville werewolf written by they’re both from Ohio and I author Betsy Phillips and illustrated by print makers Lesley didn’t know this,” Beard says.

Patterson-Marx, Carrie Cox, “Or a couple of shows ago, it Megan Kelley, Bryce Coatney, was very father-themed, with and Jessica Crouch. The second a nonfiction book about taking self-published book in 2015 was care of a father and the writer an anthology titled Based On: Words, Notes, and Art from Nashville, was a big cars man, and the musician had just done an album a collection of short stories, songs, and visual art prints. A CD of about his father who worked on cars. And that wasn’t planned. music is included, and each song is inspired by a corresponding Something like that always tends to happen. It’s really neat for story, the illustrations likewise. Contributors include Tony Earley, everybody involved.”

JT Ellison, Victoria Schwab — and this writer, among others — East Side Storytellin’ is staged on the first and third Tuesday of providing the short stories, Griffin House, The Coal Men, David each month and runs from 7 p.m. to 8:30-ish. Beard signed a new Mead, and others providing music on the CD, and visual prints one-year lease on the store in August, and he looks forward to continue offering a venue for Nashville’s literati, as well as musicians (also each tied to its specific story) by Julie Sola, Ian White, Cory and visual artists. “The show always ends up, at least for me, feeling Basil, and others. All proceeds from the book benefit the Arts & like I needed to hear that artist’s message. It’s almost like going to Business Council of Greater Nashville. creative church or something. Get inspired!”

A native of Bowling Green, Ky., Beard, who is a 35-ish chap

“

The show always ends up, at least for me, feeling like I needed to hear that artist’s message.

For more information, check out eastsidestorytn.com January | February 2017 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

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A Shot of

MANCINI MAGIC Charlie McCoy’s new Inglehood Records EP pays tribute to the late composer, arranger, and conductor

BY DARYL SANDERS PHOTOGRAPHY BY JARED MANZO

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t all started with an idea Inglehood Records impresario Cowboy Keith Thompson had — he wanted to make a record of songs by renowned composer/ arranger Henry Mancini featuring harmonica. It was just another of Thompson’s retro-drenched dreams — nine releases and counting — that have turned a hobby into a label. Sort of.

When he’s not pursuing postmodern twists on niche ’60s music with his label, Thompson is on the road working as an in-demand front-of-house engineer, currently handling live sound for both Peter Cetera and The Blues Brothers. Originally, he thought he would do the record with Rob Paparozzi, the harmonica player for The Blues Brothers, but the concept didn’t appeal to Paparozzi.

Dreaming bigger, Thompson wondered if harmonica superstar Charlie McCoy might be interested. “I worked with Charlie when I was the technical director of the Country Music Hall of Fame,” Thompson recalls. “He was fantastic, he was so talented.”

As it so happened, one of the guitarists in Cetera’s band, hit songwriter Bruce Gaitsch, was a friend and neighbor of McCoy’s.

Thompson asked Gaitsch if he thought the harp master would be interested in his Mancini idea. “You ask him,” Gaitsch said and gave him McCoy’s number.

Thompson called him and said, “Charlie, we think it would be really cool to do a harmonica record, the songs of Mancini.”

McCoy loved the idea. “I’ve always wanted to record ‘Moon River,’ ” he says of the award-winning Mancini standard first performed by actress Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The song was composed by Mancini with lyrics by Johnny Mercer and has been covered countless times, but is most identified with singer Andy Williams, who opened each episode of his long-running weekly NBC television series with it.

“It’s probably the most famous harmonica song of all time,” Thompson says. The late jazz harmonica pioneer Toots Thielemans, who was a friend of McCoy’s, played on Mancini’s original recording.

At Thompson’s suggestion, the two men met for lunch to discuss the idea further. When Thompson explained the terms of the deal, McCoy had never heard anything like it. There was no contract, Thompson was going to pay for everything, and when the record was released, McCoy would get a percentage of the CDs to sell with no strings attached.

Recalling that meeting, McCoy says, “I thought, ‘Something’s wrong with this picture.’ This doesn’t happen much in our business, you know.”

“Trepidatious” is how Thompson recalls the harmonica legend’s reaction to his offer. “As anybody would be,” he continues, “if someone came and offered them the moon. Like, ‘What’s you’re angle, man?’ ” When McCoy asked Thompson pointblank what he got out of it, he immediately answered: “I get to make a record with Charlie McCoy!” The plan was to record an EP, something McCoy had never done in his long career, which includes 39 full-length albums and counting — he’ll be dropping his 40th in early spring.

In consultation with two of his musical cohorts, bassist James “Hags” Haggerty and drummer Martin Lynds, Thompson came up with 12 Mancini compositions, then narrowed it to six and sent arrangements to McCoy for those songs: “Baby Elephant → Walk” and “Theme from ‘Hatari!’ ” from the film Hatari, January | February 2017 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

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He said, ‘The secret to put good microphones in 40

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM January | February 2017

Harmonica wizard Charlie McCoy, producer/engineer Cowboy Keith Thompson, and the session musicians work out an arrangement during the A Shot in the Harp date: (clockwise from lower left) Joe V. McMahon (guitar), Micah Hulscher (piano), James “Hags” Haggerty (bass), Randy Leago (baritone sax), McCoy, Thompson, Bruce Gaitsch (guitar).

making good music is you front of good musicians.’

— Charlie McCoy on Cowboy Keith’s production style

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“A Shot in the Dark” from the second Pink Panther film, “Mr. Lucky” from the CBS drama of the same name, the theme from the ABC sitcom “What’s Happening!!,” and, of course, “Moon River.”

“We were going to try to keep it away from the on-the-nose Mancini stuff that everybody’s done, like ‘Peter Gunn’ and ‘Pink Panther,’ ” Thompson explains.

As it turned out, “Mr. Lucky” didn’t quite work for McCoy, so Thompson asked if he wanted to find a replacement. “Sure, I’ll look for one,” McCoy told him. As he began his search, he was amazed at the volume of material

by Mancini. “There’re lots and lots of songs to choose from,” he says.

Ultimately, McCoy settled on another tune from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the thoroughly delightful “Something for Cat.” “He said, ‘Look, I found this mambo, I think it would be cool,’ ” Thompson recalls. “Our five-piece rhythm section is very good at mambo, mambo really suits us. ... So when he brought that to the table, it was a natural fit.”

McCoy wrote the arrangement for “Something for Cat,” and reworked the arrangement Thompson had sent him for “Moon River.” “I love all the songs,” he enthuses.

The bulk of the EP was recorded on Wednesday, June 1, at Thompson’s home. Not his home studio, his home! McCoy was in one of the bedrooms, and at the end of the session, he overdubbed vibes from the living room. Baritone sax player Randy Leago was in the attic, Lynds was in the living room, and the rest of the Inglehood Rhythm Section — Haggerty, guitarist Joe V. McMahan, and keyboardist Michah Hulscher — were in Thompson’s office/control room. Percussionist Glen Caruba and guitarist Gaitsch also got the call that day: Caruba was in the dining room, while Gaitsch moved around some, but was primarily set up in the hallway.

None of that mattered. The result sounds huge, full and rich, as if it could have been recorded in a large room, such as RCA Studio A. Thompson is something of an audio conjuror.

People with “real” studios scratch their heads and ask, “How does he do it?”

“The sound he came up with was amazing,” McCoy says of Thompson. “He’s got the right idea. He said, ‘You know, the secret to making good music is you put good microphones in front of good musicians.’ ” While McCoy had met Leago once, he didn’t know the rest of the Inglehood crew, but they knew who he was. McMahan even had a stack of LPs for him to sign.

“We were all blown away,” Haggerty says.

“Everything he played was perfect on the first take and sounded like a hit.

“He was amazing, but totally down to earth,” the bassist continues. “A true gentleman and an inspiration.”

In addition to Gaitsch and Caruba, there also were a couple of other special guest musicians present that day. “I brought in some famous friends to sit in on it, like Shane Keister and Paul Leim,” Thompson says, both of whom McCoy had worked with in the past. Keister contributed piano and organ to “Hatari!,” while Leim played drums on “Moon River.”

“Everybody was having fun,” Thompson says. “It was meant to be a fun hang, not just a session.”

The rest of the horns were overdubbed a week later with Leago on alto saxophone, Barry Green on trombone, and Vinnie Ciesielski on trumpet, playing as a section. Thompson likes to record the baritone sax when the basic tracks are being laid down. “I really feel like bari sax is part of the rhythm section,” he says. “If you don’t cut with it live, it definitely changes the flavor.”

In addition, Tania Hancheroff, Laura Mayo, Joe Chemay, and Tommy Keenum added lush

backing vocals to “Moon River,” while violinist Aaron Till and cellist Gary Tussing overdubbed strings on the same song.

After the record was mixed and mastered, it still lacked a title. Riffing off “A Shot in the Dark,” Lynds suggested calling it A Shot in the Harp and casting McCoy as Inspector Clouseau on the cover. “That’s a genius idea,” Thompson told him.

McCoy also liked the concept: “I must say it was pretty doggone clever.”

Thompson ran with the idea, staging a photo shoot behind the hangars at Cornelia Fort Airpark with McCoy dressed in a trench coat and hat like Clouseau and model Mavis Turner attired as a ’60s femme fatale at the scene of a crime — the murder of the woman’s harmonica.

“I like for people to know we’re having fun making this music,” Thompson explains. “I want the covers to convey, ‘Hey, this is fun to listen to.’ ” There is no denying A Shot in the Harp: The Music of Henry Mancini is a fun listen — but it’s more than that. The EP captures the essence of Mancini’s magic with a collection of lively, sophisticated performances featuring the harmonica wizardry of a living musical legend, and in doing so, expresses the essence of what Inglehood Records is all about.

“We just want to make good music that we really care about,” Thompson says. “And that’s what we did.”

A Shot in the Harp: The Music of Henry Mancini is available online at the Inglehood Records site (nashvillesoulmusic.com), as well as charliemccoy.com and the iTunes store. The disc also can be purchased at Grimey’s New & Preloved Music and The Groove.

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Producer, writer, and director Callie Khouri on the set of Nashville, December 2016.

Humanity

& EMOTION From Thelma & Louise to Nashville, Callie Khouri’s characters have the depth of the Grand Canyon that made her famous

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“I People like being behind the curtain, ... that’s the difference between a show that’s contrived and one where the drama is real.

‘‘

was in East Nashville last night,” Callie Khouri enthuses. “I was there at Lockeland Table; I love their bone marrow so much! And I don’t even like that kind of thing.

“I feel like an animal when I’m eating it,” continues the platinum-maned Oscar winner, savoring the thought of the previous night’s meal. “I know it’s a delicacy for years and years, but there’s something so primal to it — and all the nutrition.”

Khouri is just that kind of woman — wherever she is, she gets the most out of it. Whether it’s an East Nashville restaurant, a job most would find mundane, or — according to many — being a top shelf catalyst for Nashville’s recent “it” city explosion, Khouri finds the best in wherever she is and explodes its meaning for all that it’s worth.

Khouri, for those who don’t recognize the name, may well be the catalytic convertor on Nashville’s surge. Not a civic planner, a tourism lobbyist, or rainmaker, she is — beyond the 1992 Best Original Screenplay Oscar winner for Thelma & Louise — the creator of Nashville, ABC’s behind the scenes in the music business and Music City primetime blockbuster now finding its home on CMT: Country Music Television.

Whether you watch the adventures of Rayna James, Juliette Barns, and Deacon Claybourne or not, plenty of people do. And they hang on the epic rises and plummets of the rollercoaster that cuts a lot closer to the bone of the country music business than the stars and the executives like to admit.

“Someone who’d had a long and illustrious career said to me, ‘You know people. You know what the deal is,’ ” Khouri says softly. “And I’ve had other country artists say they can’t watch, because it’s too real, because they’re afraid they might see something that’s happened to them.

“People like being behind the curtain, so the more of that experience we can deliver — that’s the difference between a show that’s contrived and one where the drama is real. These are artists trying to deliver something great, and to deliver something that works … and it’s not always the same thing. And then there’s the biggest question: When you do deliver that home run, how do you own it? Or (do you) become a slave to it?”

Khouri understands the nature of becoming a slave “to it.” Not that this is a story about Nashville, beyond being the latest creative endeavor to bear her mark. There will be no talk of plot twists or cliff hangers, as we explore the woman Mayor Megan Barry deems “one of the smartest and savviest people I’ve ever met” and CMT Chief Brian Phillips, who ultimately picked up the weekly hour-long drama, marvels “is so cool headed, she doesn’t seem to get rattled by anything, even her show being cancelled.”

Let’s start where it really matters: with the woman whose breakthrough film — an allegory about her best friendship with a not-yetsigned singer as a young unrealized creative person in Nashville, the stakes of integrity, and the constrictive nature of female archetypes — was just entered into the National Film Registry.

The statuesque blond was born in Texas, raised in Paducah, Ky., and came of age — after leaving the college track at Indiana’s Purdue University — as a waitress yearning to create in Nashville, Tenn.

Though she’d go on to study at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, it was her time slinging drinks at the Exit/In that actually forged Khouri’s fierce creative focus.

As her friend from back then — and later CMA Female Vocalist →

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of the Year — Pam Tillis remembers, “She read books and saw films and had thoughts. I was starved to have someone like that in my life.

When we’d finish running around, doing the things kids do at that age, we’d sit up and talk and talk all night. It was amazing.”

Khouri loved music, loved the rogues and writers who inhabited the cracks around Music Row. But she didn’t sing or play or crave to be onstage like her friend Pam, so the young Syrian-American packed up her creativity and headed — like so many dreamers before her — west.

Undaunted by how hard it was for women to break into the industry, she made commercials, worked on music videos — and wrote.

It was the writing, marked by strong character development, actual life textures and tenor, and, ultimately, a denouement that became a feminist manifesto, that distinguished the good-natured, quick-witted Khouri as a visionary.

The friendship between Geena Davis’ naive Thelma and Susan Sarandon’s worldly Louise gave feminism a living, breathing humanity. Two women limited by their respective realities broke through expectations and rejected all that was “their role in life.” It also took the well-honed notion of the hero’s journey, with the script spun to give it a double X chromosome twist; so pungent on many levels, it captured the imagination of high-impact British director Ridley Scott, best known for his action and effects films, including Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, and Hannibal.

The little film with the not-so-subtle message about female repression became one of Scott’s three Oscars for Best Directing. It also landed Khouri on the cover of Time.

Seismic moments: It’s what the woman who also directed the femme fiction force The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood specializes in. Be it the square-peg Southern Junior Leaguer flipping out at a meeting of the socialite group — and spilling the beans on all the gossip no one mentions — or Diane Keaton, Katie Holmes, and Queen Latifah’s hilariously real bank robbery in Mad Money.

If decried by Rush Limbaugh as “a feminazi” in the wake of her film debut, time has more than exonerated the female Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid. But pushing the woobie spot is part of what makes Khouri’s work so empowering — and the female bonding in light of all the tacit bondage is its own kind of thrill.

One of the things I love about Callie: She writes roles for strong women, and strong women of a certain age. It’s not just 25-35, but it’s 45-60. “I —Mayor Megan Barry

know she gets tagged as a feminist,” Brian Phillips says, “and I don’t know how she feels about it; but she writes great female characters. And who better to write great female characters? She’s got layers and layers of things going on, accomplishments, a personal life — and she’s just so funny.”

Mayor Barry concurs. “One of the things I love about Callie: She writes roles for strong women, and strong women of a certain age,” Barry says. “It’s not just 25-35, but it’s 45-60. You see these women as powerful and dynamic. Rayna’s in charge, trying to run a label, maintain a career, raise her kids; but she’s in control of her career, making things work in a very real way.”

Beyond the female empowerment that has been a rich vein in Khouri’s work, there’s the role location — and humanity — have always had. And it is genuinely a role, amplifying the depth of her characters, whether the gorgeous panoramic Grand Canyon final shot of Thelma & Louise or the languished framing of the sprawling →

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I don’t just come up with crazy shit that people would never do; I come up with crazy shit that actually happened.

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Southern house and horse farm in Something To Talk About. Even Brad Pitt’s honey-dripped video vixen shots — the first time America saw the eventual superstar — was as much about objectifying a regular — if gorgeous — guy as social commentary.

So when the word started to spread Callie Khouri was coming to Nashville, to make a TV show, about the music business, for a major network, one had to wonder. How — or why — would someone of her stature do this? What would it mean for the coastal bias toward country music, when the battle of “country & western” is still being fought at major media outlets, educated cocktail parties, and high dollar charity events that love hay bales and barbecue, or the even more ubiquitous denim & diamonds.

“Broadcast networks use shorthand to sell concepts,” Phillips admits with a laugh. “It’s crazy pitch language: Think Dynasty, but set in Nashville, or think Dallas, but set in Nashville. It makes us (as locals) a little sensitive. And six years ago, when Nashville hit, we had seen a lot of really terrible reality TV that was unrealistic, poorly made, and seemed to go out of its way to play to the worst stereotypes.”

To that end, when Nashville hit, I was writing a weekly wrap-up for The Hollywood Reporter. Being told one of the publishers didn’t like the show — and didn’t see why they needed to cover it, I was not surprised to learn we weren’t going to continue the endeavor after the seventh “Insider” was published.

Again, Phillips has perspective. “You have to remember we come from a longstanding belief in Nashville — with TV and films — they never get the town right,” he says. “It goes back 41 years to Robert Altman and Nashville, which is a wonderful cinematic achievement, but Altman didn’t particularly care for Nashville.

“He saw it as an insular business, in a red state and a red town,” he continues. “That’s how he played it. And it stuck. Somebody associated with doing a sequel to Nashville said it wouldn’t happen because ‘latter day Nashville is a capital of narcissism.’

“So you hear someone — even Callie Khouri — is doing a show with a network that comes with a recipe for drama that’s pretty formulaic, you’re gonna be skeptical. But I tuned in for the first episode, was seduced as I always am by T Bone (Burnett)’s music — and was amazed at all the small details they were getting right. Little things so unusual, it was obvious somebody cared.”

That somebody was Callie Khouri.

T

oday, Khouri is running errands. Dropping screeners at Fed Ex, picking up a few things at the grocery store. Connecting to the mundane is part of what gives her characters their authenticity, and she credits the characters and their stories for pulling people in. She also credits the city for being one more character in her mix.

“This is a town that’s always been underestimated in some ways,” she allows, moving through traffic. “Look at how many universities and colleges are here. Now the restaurants are really good, and we have a few great hotels, so we got here at a good time just as everything was ready to coalesce.

“Now when people come here, they’re having all these experiences, and they go home with a good feeling,” she says. “Obviously, there’s the Opry or a particular show, but there’s all this music here beyond that. We’ve been able to do the CONTINUED ON PAGE 93

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ENOTY 2016

(East Nashvillians of the Year) The start of 2017 can only mean one thing: the announcement of the 2016 winners for East Nashvillians of the Year!

Awarded by the Historic East Nashville Merchants Association (HENMA) from nominations submitted by the general public and selected by HENMA members in a secret ballot, these awards recognize contributions to the local community that stand out — ones that “pay it forward” and exemplify the values we share in our humble neighborhood.

The awards are presented in two categories: Business and Citizen. The Citizen’s award for 2016 goes to Bonnie Bogen in recognition for her efforts establishing a MOMS Club with four chapters on the East Side.

Dave Brown and Mike Grimes, proprietors of The Basement East, are the recipients of the Business award.

We’d like to offer our congratulations to the winners and wish them all the best in the coming year.

PA S T W I N N E R S 2008 BUSINESS: Meg & Bret MacFadyen, Art and Invention Gallery CITIZEN: Bob Acuff

2010 BUSINESS: Alan Murdock, ArtHouse Gardens CITIZEN: Catherine McTamaney

2012 BUSINESS: The East Nashvillian CITIZEN: Elizabeth Chauncey

2014 BUSINESS: Powell Architecture + Building Studio CITIZEN: Brett Withers

2009 BUSINESS: Dan Heller, Riverside Village CITIZEN: Carol Norton

2011 BUSINESS: The Green Wagon CITIZEN: Eric Jans

2013 BUSINESS: March Egerton, Developer (Walden) CITIZEN: Carol Williams

2015 BUSINESS:Matt Charette, Restaurateur CITIZEN: Darrell Downs, Kelly Perry

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Mike “Grimey” Grimes & Dave Brown

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ENOTY

BUSINESS

The Basement East Dave Brown & Mike Grimes

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little over two years ago, Dave Brown and Mike Grimes were at a crossroads. Their small, 100-seat-capacity music venue on Eighth Avenue South, The Basement, was a local institution, and they were ready to make the jump to something bigger. Driven by visions of epic rock shows, they signed the lease on a 7,500-square-foot former printing plant on Woodland Street and began working on The Basement East. Although the task seemed daunting, they were sure their experience would carry them through, but they had no idea just how much of a “Beast” — as the venue would soon be nicknamed — they were tackling.

“Everything we knew and thought about running a club had to change,” Grimes says.

He and Brown are sitting in the worn but comfortable chairs in The Basement East’s green room, a room that has already hosted hundreds of musicians and regularly shakes with the clang of guitars, bass, and drums.

“At The Basement, we always had one door guy and one, maybe two, bartenders,” Brown says. “When we opened here, we just had a skeleton crew, and we had to expand our staff a lot.”

“We knew we’d have to change, but there was so much we didn’t expect,” Grimes adds.

“Some of our ideas did not pass muster with reality. A place this big, 400-capacity, is a huge place to fill and staff. We had to hire security, an extra talent booker, a venue manager. We had to work way outside the model of The Basement.”

By Randy Fox Photograph by Chad Crawford

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Finding that new model has been a challenge, but it’s one that Grimes, Brown, and their hardworking staff have risen to. Since opening in April 2015, The Basement East has featured a multitude of musical triumphs and must-see shows. They’ve also added the adjoining Pub at the Basement East and expanded the outside deck, creating a hypercool hangout that overlooks the main traffic corridor of East Nashville.

As the largest music venue on the East Side, it’s played host to nationally touring acts (Cage the Elephant, MuteMath, Dawes, and Chris Stapleton), multiartist events (The Last Waltz 40th Anniversary Tribute, Prince and David Bowie tributes) and special shows from many established Nashville-based bands (The Mavericks, The Wild Feathers, and Tyler Bryant) who quite deliberately chose to play The Basement East.

“One thing I really didn’t expect was underplays by acts that could easily sell out the Ryman,” Grimes says. “Because of the relationships and friendships we’ve made over the years, they feel like this is a safe place to try out new stuff. It’s very gratifying that people like Todd Snider and Buddy Miller want to play at The Basement East.”

DJ parties have also become a foundation of The Basement East’s schedule, attracting hundreds of dance-inclined attendees each month. The Boom Bap with DJ Metrognome and Queer Dance Party (QDP) both began in smaller East Nashville venues and made the jump to The Basement East as they grew in popularity.

“QDP had been at The 5 Spot for five years, and they just outgrew the space,” Grimes says.

“The same thing happened with Boom Bap. Working with others in the music community and securing weekly and monthly shows have really helped us to secure our bottom line.”

The Basement East has excelled with its combination of great shows for good causes.

Benefits for local musicians with medical bills or other unexpected expenses are part of the fabric of Nashville’s music community, and Brown and Grimes have been instrumental in organizing benefit shows for a variety of causes.

Recent shows have benefited efforts to combat sex trafficking in Cambodia, Louisiana flood relief, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and many others.

“About 50 percent of the benefit shows we book are from people coming to us with the idea, and the other 50 percent are ones we think of,” Grimes explains. “Partially, it’s from wanting to fill our calendar with quality music, but we also want to pay reverence to great musicians, especially in a year like this last one where we have lost so many greats. When David Bowie passed away, I knew someone was going to do a tribute show. I felt like we could do it best, and we made sure the proceeds went to the Music Health Alliance.”

It’s very gratifying that people like Todd Snider and Buddy Miller want to play The Basement East.

— Mike Grimes

Giving back to the community is something that both Grimes and Brown see as the heart of their business philosophy.

“I think the strategy of a great business should obviously be to succeed financially,” Grimes says. “But it should also help other people and businesses, as well.”

“Not only in terms of charity,” Brown adds.

“Hopefully, what we’re doing is a beneficial thing for the neighborhood. Some of our neighbors have told us their business triples on nights when we have really big shows. It’s awesome that there’s so much happening right now, right here in this strip of East Nashville, and we love being a central part of that.”

Despite the many day-to-day frustrations and challenges, Brown and Grimes remained true to their vision of rock & roll glory on the East Side and certainly have no regrets about their decision to give birth to The Beast.

“A lot of people think when you start a business it should explode and become a tremendous success,” Grimes says. “But success tends to come very incrementally for businesses that last a long time. Keeping that in my mind has been a challenge. I’m the guy who can panic because we have an off night. If it wasn’t for Dave, I would have lost my shit many times.

He reminds me we’re on a 10-year plan.”

“The funny thing is most people would think those roles would be reversed,” Brown says, “because Mike is the biggest cheerleader in the world.”

“But get me behind closed doors and I can lose it,” Grimes continues. “Because I have high expectations for every event and when one doesn’t happen, I’m really disappointed.

When you jump to that bigger scale of events, the disappointments ratchet up in scale, but the victories are even bigger.”

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ENOTY

CITIZEN Bonnie Bogen

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f I contributed anything, I think it was the attitude that people are going to have different points of view and different ways of doing things and to not be judgmental. I’ve learned the hard way that when I’ve been judgmental, I was often wrong.”

Bonnie Bogen is sitting in the vestibule of St. Ann’s Episcopal Church discussing the East Nashville MOMS Club which she founded in 2008. That philosophy of open-mindedness and inclusiveness has applied to her entire adult life — from her first work with nonprofits in college to her current position as a development and administrative assistant at East Nashville Hope Exchange located in St. Ann’s.

“I like to think our chapter (of the MOMS Club) has maintained some humility about itself,” she says. “It’s been a place

where people with different viewpoints can come together with the central focus of doing the best we can for our kids. And I think we need more of that common ground in the world right now.”

Since moving to Nashville in 2006, Bogen has been a major force for finding common ground and bringing people together for the betterment of their neighborhoods. In addition to founding the East Nashville MOMS Club, she oversaw the establishment of an INVEST program at Lockeland Design Center Elementary that brought much-needed assistance to the teaching staff, assisted with membership drives for the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, and now works with the literacy programs of the East Nashville Hope Exchange, all while also caring for her two children.

By Randy Fox Photograph by Chad Crawford

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Born in Clarksville, Bogen grew up in the small, south central Kentucky town of Russellville. After high school, she secured a degree in art history from New York University.

She worked for the Museum of Modern Art and learned successful fundraising techniques for a nonprofit firsthand.

“When my son was born, I became a stayat-home mom,” Bogen says. “I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but I was suffering from postpartum depression. I had a friend who could see I was struggling. She suggested I check out a new MOMS Club that was just starting in Brooklyn. I never did and shortly thereafter we moved to Nashville.”

Settling in the 12 South neighborhood in 2006, Bogen and her husband were closer to family members, but she found that wasn’t alleviating the issues she was struggling with as a new mother.

“I was still at home alone with a 6-monthold baby every day, and I felt incredibly isolated,” she says. “I found the MOMS Club of Green Hills, and I got to hang out with an incredible group of ladies who helped me deal with many of the issues I had as a first-time mother.

When we moved to East Nashville in the fall of 2007, I was inspired to create that same type of group here.”

MOMS Club was founded in 1983 by a group of Silicon Valley stay-at-home mothers and is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing mutual support for mothers and their children. With over 100,000 members in 1,500 chapters, the organization has been incredibly successful at bringing mothers together and establishing service activities that benefit their local neighborhoods. For East Nashville, Bogen found that the basic structure of the MOMS Club needed a few tweaks to meet the needs of a diverse and unique neighborhood.

“I have a very open-minded attitude from spending my young adult years in New York,” she says, “and when I talked to others about the MOMS Club, it bothered me that it might sound like a stuffy, traditional, judgmental organization. It was originally based around traditional ideas of families, but I tried very hard to make our chapter more reflective of our neighborhood.

“At our very first June party, one of our moms performed a song she had written, and has since been recorded, called, ‘Knocked Up,’ about how she became pregnant out of wedlock with the child that was in our group. I think that’s symbolic of how our group is a little different from most of the MOMS Club chapters in the United States. We have moms who are not married, moms who are gay, moms who are touring musicians, and many of us still have that look of surprise, ‘What? Me? A mom?’ ” The success of the East Nashville MOMS club led to four separate chapters — Eastwood, Lockeland, Rosebank, and Inglewood — through a process known as “sistering,” required

I’ve learned the hard way that when I’ve been judgmental, I was often wrong.

by the national organization for clubs with more than 50 members. Since the MOMS Club bylaws require daytime meetings, Bogen assisted local working mothers with founding their own organization with nighttime activities. She is also eager to assist in the creation of a group for stay-at-home fathers.

Although her son and the MOMS Club occupied much of her time, Bogen’s priorities drastically changed when her daughter was born in 2009 and diagnosed with the rare, life-threatening disorder, congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS), a condition that requires lifelong monitoring of the patient’s breathing.

“My daughter encountered some severe health issues the first semester my son attended Lockeland Design Center,” Bogen says. “Once both of my children were in school, I volunteered to work at Lockeland to be close to my daughter, but also because I wanted to give back to the school. They had provided a supportive place for my son at a very traumatic time in our lives.”

After working closely with the Lockeland Design Center Parent Teacher Organization, Bogen moved to her current position at the Nashville Hope Exchange, ensuring that her work as a community activist is far from complete.

“As I’ve looked at career paths over the years, I realized that I can’t do anything that doesn’t have a greater purpose,” Bogen says. “I’ve never worked in a for-profit business for any length of time. I’m driven and a perfectionist, and I don’t want to spend that sort of energy on something that is just dedicated to the bottom line.

“My ultimate goal is to create something like a United Way for East Nashville. I would like to match the resources of our community with the people who are already doing good work in our neighborhood. I think community is what is really special about East Nashville, and we need to have an easy way for people to see how they can help rather than just turning inward and limiting their focus to their own homes and families.”

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Get Behind

THE MULE East Nashville author Lydia Peelle explores history, culture, and honor in her new novel, The Midnight Cool

By Randy Fox

Photograph by Eric England “I think of mules as totally rock & roll even though nobody else does,” Lydia Peelle says. She’s sitting on a bench in Shelby Bottoms as joggers, families, and other assorted individuals pass by on a gloomy, overcast December day. Peelle reflects on the role of mules in Tennessee history, a subject that provided the fabric of her first published novel, The Midnight Cool.

“Mule traders used to be everywhere,” she says. “They were the used car salesmen of the day. Mules were a huge economic driver and were part of the slang, songs, and culture of America.

Thousands of mules were kept and traded not far from this very spot in East Nashville, and yet today, a lot of people don’t even know what mules are.”

Peelle built her novel upon the once ubiquitous mule (a sturdy, hardworking hybrid resulting from crossbreeding a male donkey and a female horse) and the unique personalities of mule traders.

A native of Boston, Peelle has garnered acclaim for her fiction.

Her 2009 short story collection, Reasons For and Advantages of Breathing (Harper Perennial), received an honorable mention for the PEN/Hemingway Award, and she is the recipient of two Pushcart Prizes, an O. Henry Prize, a Whiting Award, and the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35” honor. A Nashvillian since 2000 (except for two years obtaining her MFA at the University of Virginia), Peelle discovered the history of mules in her adopted home state, giving her the impetus to cultivate a story that had been germinating for many years.

“I initially wanted to write about horse traders,” she says.

“When I was in college, I worked at horse auctions, and there is still a definite subculture with its own code of ethics. They will spin all kinds of stories, but are inherently honest. If you ask them a direct question, they will give you an honest answer. I wanted to explore that subculture in its heyday, and 1916 was the end of that era due to the spread of automobiles and the United States’ entrance into World War I.” As she researched the background for her novel, Peelle realized that the real “work horse” of the preautomotive era was the less glamorous, but far more reliable mule. The mule’s steadier disposition and hardier physique powered American

accomplishments during both peacetime and war.

“Over 300,000 mules were shipped to Europe for World War I, with many of them passing through Nashville,” she says.

“Just thinking about that number and knowing that was a small percentage of the mules in this area gave me the setting for the novel. There was a huge clash of cultures at that time — you would see a mechanized tank next to a mule-drawn cart. Even machine guns were sometimes carried on the backs of mules.”

The contrast between mechanization and mules served as a metaphor for the larger story within the novel. “Ultimately I wanted to tell the story of a man who has lived outside of mainstream culture, on the fringes, very free, coming to terms with his role as a citizen and an American,” Peelle says. “An offshoot is the question: What is freedom in America? While I was writing the book, I put blinders on in regards to current events. I was immersed in the period — reading papers and documents from the time, listening to the music — but when I would check back in with the present, I realized it really wasn’t that much different. It became an interesting lens on current events.”

The Midnight Cool is now available from Harper Perennial.

Throughout the months of January and February, Peelle will be touring bookstores across the South with her husband, Ketch Secor of the band Old Crow Medicine Show. Secor will be providing a musical accompaniment to Peelle’s readings from the novel and a slideshow of mules in American history. Despite mules’ rock star status with Peelle and her desire to proselytize their history, Peelle doesn’t think of herself as a historian.

“I don’t think of it as an engagement of history so much as an engagement with place,” she says. “The great freedom of fiction is to explore a place different from where you are, but find the commonalities you have with that place or time. Writing this novel was a way of connecting with my adopted hometown. I like to think about all the untold stories that have happened in a particular place — that’s what I love about writing. It’s a way to get in touch with those stories; it’s like traveling in your own home town.”

For more on Peelle, her fiction, and mules, visit lydiapeelle.com 62

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& Rowdy!

LOUD Dan Baird is still revving the rock & roll engine

By Tommy Womack | Photography by Eric England 64

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‘‘

I

’m the luckiest guy you’ll ever meet.”

That’s what Dan Baird has to say about his long life in the service of ass kicking. The rowdy-voiced, telecaster-beating rock & roll torchbearer sits drinking coffee with his feet up on a crate/table in his basement man cave cum recording den, where he did everything but the drums on his new record, SoLow, which dropped Jan. 6 on the JCPL label.

He sits there with a full head of black hair almost to his shoulders, a face full of character, and a ready smile that reveals the trademark gap in his front teeth. That luck, it’s largely because of that song: “I got a little change in my pocket goin’ jing-a-ling-a-ling.”

With Malcolm Young and Keith Richards not the men they once were, Dan Baird is arguably the best electric rhythm guitarist in the world. He has the meaty forearms to show for it. He works out at the Y four times a week to keep his chugging rock & roll engine rumbling, and he stands with Ian Hunter and a short list of others to show how men on the back nine can keep it together and still blow people’s minds.

Being how Baird has stridden resolutely into his seventh decade, some (not all) of the tunes on SoLow confront mortality. He looks on his life in “Say Goodbye,” and how youth is wasted on the young — “Here it comes, another December / Didn’t think it’d still hurt this bad” — he was born in December. “Used to run the streets together, dyin’ laughin’ at the inside joke / Those days were gonna last forever, loud guitars and blowin’ smoke.” In “Get Up & Go,” he sings, “Back when the future was something, I woke up feeling good / Now all them belts and hoses rattle under my hood.”

The record opens (or rather, kicks open your door) with the automatically infectious, but ominously titled “Cemetery Train.” Driven by a Replacements-ish riff, Baird muses on oncoming dotage. “Hey Mr. Conductor, I got my ticket / Let’s drive it right into the ground / … C’mon baby let’s go singin’ along on the cemetery train!” He sounds more defiant than resigned, exactly like a man who’s stayed in the game even during the lean times, not the least because of how fortune smiled on him some 30 years ago.

His band The Georgia Satellites rocketed into the stratosphere in 1986, and you couldn’t avoid that song on the radio even if you’d wanted to. Perhaps the last purely rock & roll hit single, “Keep Your Hands to Yourself ” was Humble Pie with more horsepower, in heavy FM rotation for months on end because nothing else rocked as well. People in this town and elsewhere slave their lives away trying to write such a hit, and many have words that hiccup as nifty as “no huggy, no kissy, until I get a wedding ring!”

But to have such a monster, conditions have to put you in a position to blow up the death star. Once in his life, Dan Baird got the big bullseye. The result has not meant a gated mansion, but he doesn’t have to ring up wipers at AutoZone either.

There have been many tunes of much merit from the master’s hand since then (“Younger Face” and “I Love You Period” to name only a couple), and a slew of great albums, but no more out-of-the-parks. Anyway. Ancient history. He’s still here, sipping coffee in his basement lair, sucking on the stomach-churning high octane Swedish snus that keep the cigarettes at bay, still very much alive, and still making great rock & roll with Dan Baird & Homemade Sin, which — SoLow notwithstanding — is still very much an ongoing concern.

Solow is exactly that: solo. With the exception of Brad Pemberton on drums and Joe Blanton on some backing vocals, it is Dan Baird all by his lonesome. He plays the telecaster in the right channel, the Les Paul Junior in the left, and the bass and lead guitars right down the middle. Some →

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I fired myself for having a bad attitude.

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of the songs were intended for Homemade Sin, but were dropped because Baird had written riffs that filled up so much room that there wasn’t space for a second guitar part. It’s a different rock & roll than his usual offerings, but not too different. (As The Boss once said, surprise your fans but don’t freak ’em out.)

Many riffs harken back more to Paul Westerberg — Baird’s a big fan — or a cranked-up Tom Petty, than they do The Faces or Bad Company.

The guitars ring more than roar. And it’s not all doom and gloom; there is a helping of the good time rock & roll he’s known for, such as the rockabilly tinged “Naughty Marie” and The Faces-sounding “Silver Baby.” But even in the more fun-and-games material, Baird will sneak a line in about how a man ought to make hay while the sun shines because, just maybe, the future’s shorter than the past.

“Dan has forgotten more about rock & roll than most people have ever learned,” says Warner Hodges, the incendiary guitarist with Jason & the Scorchers who now plays lead guitar in Dan Baird & Homemade Sin. “He’s an amazing guy. He knows more about Marshalls and Hiwatts than any human being I know. And writing songs with him is one of the coolest things that’ve ever happened to me. I’ve always respected his work.”

Gregarious and loquacious, Baird is a dream interview. Pull his string and sit back. His liner notes are the same way — if liners can be gregarious.

He goes on there to explain things in depth: “This thing started out when Homemade Sin was writing and recording Get Loud (their third and most recent album). I got a recording rig and put it in the basement of the house.

Got to writing for that record and just writing for the love of it. By the time we’d picked the songs for Get Loud, I had some good songs left over. And I just kept writing.”

“It’s been years since I was someone’s ‘guitar solo’ player,” he muses. He played that role in Will Hoge’s band for a couple of years about a decade ago, “and I really liked the challenge back then. I also like playing bass.” On all instruments, he acquits himself capitally. He was, however, prudent when it came to his own drumming skills, or lack thereof. “Drums? Nope, not for me, I called Brad Pemberton.”

Continuing, he says, “I needed backing vocals. Some people sound great singing with themselves, not me. I called Joe Blanton. He said, ‘Sure, and you ought to let me mix it too.’ OK. We recorded the drums at his place, The (Underground) Treehouse.”

Most of the vocals and guitars were cut in Baird’s basement, and he made a kind concession to his neighbors. Whereas most people use a small low-wattage tube amp that distorts at a lower volume and doesn’t scare the microphone to death, Baird preferred his more powerful amps that performed best at brain-searing volume. So in order to lessen the risk of having the cops called on him, he built a big heavy wooden box that fits over both his amp and the microphone and keeps things from shaking off the shelves at the Kroger three blocks away.

Blanton, who plays in The Bluefields with Baird and Hodges (it gets a bit incestuous with these guys), figured largely in the recording and writing part of this process. “I wrote some songs with him, and one thing progressed to the next,” Blanton says. “We go back and forth. He mentors me in a lot of things EQ wise, and he has just his vast knowledge and studio experience. … He’s just got tons of information that’s helped me out over the years to be a better engineer and producer and writer. And I’ve got a few things that he was missing, new pieces of the puzzle, and so we just started working together on it that way, me kind of grading his work, and then just kind of ultimately deciding to mix it over here at my place.” →

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D

aniel John Baird was born in San Diego in December 1953. His father, John Gutzke, was a civilian contractor with the Navy, and when those contracts ran out, the family moved back to the ancestral homelands of Atlanta. When Baird was about 5 years old (and his brother about 2), his mother divorced Gutzke and married Bob Baird. Dan wound up taking Baird for his last name. His brother did not.

That second marriage tanked when Baird was 11, and then it was just his mother, his brother, and himself. Personalities clashed. (Two things Baird is not are meek and retiring.) To this day, for whatever reason, there are lingering hard feelings between him and his mother. “We’re not tight,” he says. “I have a poor relationship with my mother. Getting a good one with my brother, though, which is good.”

Baird was 10 years old when The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, and the die was cast. “Yeah, that was pretty great,” he recalls, “but I think the first guy I heard that made me go, ‘Wow, I think I can maybe do that,’ is Johnny Rivers. He wasn’t the greatest singer, and he wasn’t the greatest guitar player, but he put together something with a vibe. Was his version of ‘Maybelline’ the best? No, but I remember it. His version of ‘Memphis?’ Not the best, but I remember it.

It had a swing and a slink to it. And he did ‘Secret Agent Man.’ How cool was that?

That’s the first lead guitar line I ever learned to play.

“I think I was 12 when I got my first guitar — for Christmas; a Sears Silvertone gut-string,” he recalls. “I asked for drums, got the guitar.

I’m sure that was for the sake of my mom’s sanity. I remember we had a Lowery organ in the house, and I’m not much better on a keyboard now than I was then, but I learned to make chords, and I became fascinated by the power of it. I didn’t have many guitar lessons

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or anything like that, just ‘show me how you did that’ kind of stuff. I was always going to the music store and hanging out and being a jerk.

“My first band was The Flying Tigers,” he remembers, “and we did ‘Live With Me’ by the Stones, so later when I got to play with (Stones saxophonist) Bobby Keys, I told him, ‘I don’t need a lyric sheet. Let me just access the rusty file.’ The Flying Tigers were enthralled with The Quicksilver Messenger Service, and wanted to try and be as experimental as The Dead on ‘Dark Star,’ but we couldn’t pull off anything with real power. We were writing our own songs, you know, 15-, 16-year-old guys just trying stuff out, being a bunch of goofballs.”

There was a string of bands after The Flying Tigers. “Then there was Ted and The Desperate Natives (there was no Ted), and that was cover songs and stuff, but trying to write a few things. Then there was The Nasty Bucks, which was pretty much all original tunes, and that band had some real interesting human beings in it. Then The Rabbits, which was a pop song outfit, and then right around 1980 was the first incarnation of The Satellites, which was called Keith and The Satellites (and there WAS a Keith —bassist extraordinaire and monumental character Keith Christopher).

The two guitarists, Baird holding down much of the rhythm duties and ace axeman Rick Richards on lead guitar, went through so many permutations of bass players and drummers that even Baird doesn’t know how many there were. (The consensus is roughly three drummers and seven or eight bassists.)

“We went through all those incarnations and we kind of split up like bands do. And Rick Price started playing bass with Rick Richards and Mauro Magellan on drums, as The Hellhounds. Then I came and sat in one night

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM January | February 2017

and thought ‘This is pretty great. This is kind of where I should be!’”

The Georgia Satellites were born.

They signed with Electra Records, and their eponymous debut was a rock & roll gut punch: “Battleship Chains” (written with kindred spirit Terry Anderson), “Can’t Stand the Pain,” and “The Myth of Love” were standout tracks, but it was the Chuck Berry/Humble Pie hybrid — about the lady holding back the goods until vows were exchanged — that was released as the single. Wisely. Whoever made that decision probably got a raise.

“Keep Your Hands to Yourself ” was a huge hit — it went all the way to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 during a 14-week run on the chart. It took The Georgia Satellites from the club circuit to arenas in one giant jolt. It was wonderful. And it was not wonderful.

“When you’re in a band, everybody’s in the boat, everybody’s got an oar, and you’re all rowing toward success island,” Baird says.

“Hopefully you’ve got a manager and a team giving you directions, but it’s you guys in the band doing the rowing. Well, we all got in our boat, grabbed our oars, and all of a sudden somebody dropped a 450 horse power diesel in the back and like whomp — hello, Success Island!

“Once you get there, and you’ve skipped from step three to like 11 — you’ve totally passed through the ‘grow your audience of loyal fans’ bit, and everything else you learn on those steps you skipped over,” he explains.

“When we first came out, we were new and unusual. And all of a sudden when Top 40 radio’s playing us six months later, people thought, ‘Well, they’re not as cool as we thought they were; everybody likes them.’

And then country radio starts picking you up. And you’re going like, what is CMT doing playing this video of a brazen rock & roll song?”

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Sporting their signature “Free Hugs” T-shirts, Nashville Mama Bears Yvonne Frith (left) and Kelly Holiday share a laugh — and a hug — outside GracePointe Church in Franklin.

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Salvation THROUGH

Support Christian mothers of LGBT children find reconciliation with their faith through Nashville Mama Bears “If you’re still going to live in sin, you need to be quiet about it.”

That was the pronouncement from church leadership to Dawn Bennett regarding her daughter, Erica, upon hearing that she was dating another girl.

Christian mothers of LBGT children are often faced with a seemingly impossible dilemma: reject their child, or reject their faith. While there are congregations and pastors accepting of their parishioner’s sexual orientation regardless of whether or not doing so violates the institutionalized tenets of the larger church body, many do not.

Erica, who was 15 years old at the time, had confided to one of her friends in the youth group she had a girlfriend. Her friend, in turn, told the youth pastor.

Rather than speaking to Erica’s parents about the situation — she was, after all, a minor — the church leaders chose to confront Erica with point-blank questions like, “Have you broken up with your girlfriend yet? Because that’s sinful and you’re going to lose your salvation.”

Thus began Dawn Bennett’s quest of reconciling her love for her daughter, her child, with her deeply held religious faith, a quest that eventually led her to a support group for Christian mothers of LBGT children known as Nashville → Mama Bears.

Story and Photography

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Nashville Mama Bears find strength in one another: (L-R) Linda O’Connell, Monica Maday, Kelly Holiday, and Yvonne Frith.

Changing hearts one at a time: Some of the Nashville Mama Bears and their cubs have heart-shaped “Just Because They Breathe” tattoos inspired by the private Facebook group of the same name.

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Sitting outside The Parthenon in Centennial Park with a loving smile on her face, Nashville Mama Bear Dawn Bennett holds photos of her trans son Logan (left), who was born Erica (right).

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rica Bennett was 18 months old when she and her family moved to the Nashville area.

She spent her days on the baseball diamond, throwing around a white ball with red laces with the boys — she wasn’t old enough to play softball. She had braces on her teeth, and as she grew older, she’d line her pretty eyes with dark liner and let her chestnut hair hang loose around her face. She never met a stranger.

“She loves people,” Dawn Bennett says, smiling in a far-off way when she talks about her daughter. “She sincerely loves the human race.

Babies and animals just flock, because that’s the kind of heart Erica has.”

Like many folks living in the Bible Belt, Erica went to church on Sundays with her family. Her father was an usher; her mother taught marriage classes; and her older brother was in the youth group.

Erica also went to church on Wednesday evenings, a special night to her because on Wednesday nights she wasn’t just a spectator in a pew. She was a part of something. Erica was a musician, and she played her bass guitar in the church’s praise-and-worship band.

But Erica also happened to like girls, and when the church leaders became aware of the fact, she was no longer allowed to play in the band on Wednesday nights.

“I don’t have band practice tonight.” “I’m not in the rotation.” “I don’t feel well.” These were the excuses she told her parents every Wednesday night for three weeks until one night, Erica broke down and told her parents everything.

“Please don’t make me go back there,” Erica pleaded.

Her parents already knew their daughter was a lesbian and were affirming in their support of her. Furious about their daughter’s treatment, they met with the senior pastor of the church, along with the youth pastor and his wife.

“This is completely unacceptable,” declared Dawn to the church leaders, who apologized for the hurt that had been caused to the family.

Erica, however, would not be welcome back to play in the church’s praise-and-worship band.

The Bennetts walked out of the church they had been attending for the past several years and never walked back in.

“M

y entire life with Paul growing up has been fearful. I knew something was different.” The fear in Beth’s voice is real. It’s the same kind you hear from a person talking about a car crash they experienced — they’re through it, but they can’t un-feel what happened.

Beth grew up Southern Baptist. Anything with an alcohol label on it was off-limits, sex before marriage was a no-no. And being gay?

“Gay was absolutely wrong,” Beth says of what she was taught from an early age.

After Beth married, she and her husband — who happened to be a varsity athlete in football and baseball — had three children they loved with every shred of every bit of their being: two girls and one son named Paul.

Growing up in Florida and Georgia, Paul was introduced to sports at an early age. He played on a T-ball team — his father was the coach.

They’d spend many evenings and afternoons tossing around the ball in the yard. They’d camp together, too. Man-stuff. But for Paul, the manstuff didn’t come so naturally.

Some nights, after a T-ball game that didn’t go well, Paul would come home with his spirits and his head down. As he bowed his head to say his prayers at night, Beth and her husband would always make sure to look into the face of the child they loved and say to him, “If all the boys in the whole world were lined up, we’d still choose you.”

Come high school, Paul began to thrive, having found his niche in the school’s theater department. Beth was over-the-moon happy her son had finally found the place where he could be himself. In the back of her mind, however, a growing cloud of fears was beginning to form.

Perhaps it was the result of the mother’s intuition, but Beth began to wonder if her son might be gay. And if he was, how did that fit in with the Christian faith she believed in — the one that, ever since she was a little girl, had taught her that homosexuality was a sin?

“You watch everything,” Beth says as she remembers Paul’s childhood. “If he said a girl was pretty, my heart just leapt for joy. Because I thought, ‘He’s not [gay].’ Then he would do something and I’d think, ‘He is [gay]. He’s not.

He is.’

“I never once thought, ‘I wish I didn’t have a gay son, or I wish him to be any different,’ ” Beth says quickly. “But I knew as a mom what he was going to experience, and it scared me to death.”

Following high school — with a year off in between — Paul auditioned as a vocalist and was accepted into the North Carolina School of the Arts. After graduation, he moved to New York City.

Beth and her husband had also moved by then, this time to the Middle Tennessee area.

Driving back from Whole Foods one Saturday, Beth got a call from her son in New York.

“Mom, is Dad there?”

“Yes, honey, he is.”

“Can you put him on speaker?”

Beth hit the speaker button.

“Mom and Dad, I’m gay.”

“We still love you,” Beth and her husband both said to their son. “We’re going to be with you. We’re not going anywhere.”

Beth’s husband leaned into the phone.

“If all the boys in the whole world were lined up … ” And Beth, her husband, and Paul finished → together, “… we’d still choose you.”

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In a sense, Beth’s fears were finally put at ease.

Her son was indeed what she’d feared all along; he was gay. But what did that mean with relation to Christianity?

“I immediately began to look at things online,” Beth says. “And began to look at [Christian] books outside of the conservative Christian arena.”

Beth picked up a book on how to read the Bible differently. She looked at work from Rev. Dr. David Gushee, an author and Christian ethics professor at Mercer University, whose book Changing Our Mind speaks on inclusion of the LBGTQ community with relation to the Christian church. Slowly, Beth began to make peace with the Christian view of homosexuality she’d feared growing up, and the son she loved with all her heart.

More than six months had passed since the day Paul made his call home. Beth was sitting in her Sunday school class when the war that had been waging inside her — not understanding how loving someone could be grouped into the same category as adultery and stealing — finally reached the surface.

“I’m really struggling with this issue,” Beth said slowly to the group. “I don’t feel that the [homosexual] people that I’m meeting, that they’re the abomination that’s talked about in scripture. … God has definitely got his hand on this journey [I’m on]; I can feel it. … And our son is gay.”

Immediately, two older gentlemen in the Sunday school class whipped out their Bibles.

“Until your son repents,” they said to her, “until [your son] decides to come back to God, he [can’t] be in this church.”

Beth is quick to point out neither of these men were leaders of the church, only members of the Sunday school class, but the incident hurt like nothing else before. She cried as she and her husband walked out of the Sunday school they had attended for seven years.

“We never went back,” Beth says.

‘‘

I never once thought, ‘I wish I didn’t have a gay son, or I wish him to be any different,

United States, with some in other countries.

Some of the stories shared in the group were similar to Beth’s.

“News got out [to my church community], ‘They’ve got a gay kid,’ ” Dawn Bennett recalls following her daughter Erica’s coming out. “And then it was questions about my parenting, questions about conversion therapy, and did I want to do right by my child and remove this sin from [her] life?”

The “Just Because They Breathe” Facebook group served as a safe place where mothers could process the new journey they were on without being judged on what their Christian stance was with regards to homosexuality. And also simply be encouraged to love their children — no questions asked.

Over the years, two other Facebook groups sprang from the “Just Because They Breathe” group: “FreedHearts” and “Serendipitydodah for Moms.” These groups also focused on connecting Christian mothers of LBGTQ children.

Along with these online groups came

face-to-face meet-ups between Middle Tennessee women outside of these groups.

“I met one mom — she lives in Knoxville — we met at a Cracker Barrel halfway,” Beth says.

“All we could do was sob and talk a lot. We kept looking at each other going, ‘I know, I know, I know.’ ” The Nashville and Middle Tennessee area mothers began to congregate with one another on a regular basis, getting together for dinners and retreats.

It was a safe place to share their stories — some happy, some sad: Kelly Holiday and her lesbian daughter Kelsey experiencing chants of “man-child” as Kelsey walked across the stage during her eighth-grade graduation. The taunts were so loud Kelly can remember little else of the day.

Heather Gee-Thomas and her lesbian daughter Shaw, who, when a friend of the family learned Shaw was gay and wanted to press the →

F

or the next two years, Beth and her husband did not attend church.

“We were very sad on Sundays,” Beth says.

The couple would sometimes tune into Atlanta-based Pastor Andy Stanley online, and Beth continued to read a variety of Christian literature. Then she happened to stumble across an online article about Linda Robertson, a woman in Seattle whose own son, Ryan, was gay and died of an accidental drug-overdose.

Robertson had founded a private Facebook group called “Just Because They Breathe.” The group was geared toward conservative Christian mothers who had recently learned their children were gay.

“It became my church,” Beth says of the online group.

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Christianity button, Heather kindly but firmly stood up for her daughter. “[Shaw’s] the exact same person she was before you knew [she’s gay],” Heather said to the friend. “There’s nothing different about her, except now you know that she is attracted to girls. She’s the same quality human being that she always was.”

Monica Maday, who is a transgender woman with a gay child. “This is what I’ve always wanted in my entire life,” Monica says of the group, “is to have real friends.”

want to continue to love you, but I hope that you can respect my decision and that’s all. And I go by Logan and I hope that you can respect my choices.’

A smile began to appear on Dawn’s face.

“Do you remember? …” Dawn started.

And Dawn told her son Logan about when he was little, and how he used to play Barbies with his sister, how he wanted to be the boy doll and be called Logan.

“So am I surprised?” Dawn said. “No.”

And she continued, the steadiness in her voice remaining steady and growing stronger with every word.

“For the first 20 years of your life I raised you as my daughter Erica. Erica was standing up and Logan was sitting down. Now that you are a grown adult and you get to choose how to live out the rest of your days, Erica will sit down and Logan will stand up.”

“You are my child,” Dawn said without hesitation. “I love you completely.”

The women have deemed themselves the “Nashville Mama Bears,” and frequent Nashville-area gay clubs wearing “Free Mama Bear Hugs” T-shirts, offering hugs to club patrons. The response from the patrons is extremely positive, especially for some club-goers whose own parents are not supportive of their gay lifestyles.

“Without that group,” Kelly says, “I would never be able to go into a gay club and offer free hugs. I would never be able to march in a PRIDE parade.”

“We’ve become best friends,” Beth says.

“We’ve experienced the death of their husbands [with] some of [the moms]. … We share pictures of our gay children going to prom. … We walk through life together. Talk about a support group … people that automatically love our children.”

The Nashville Mama Bears not only have a positive and heart-warming effect on each other’s life, but the love they radiate has a way of rubbing off on others as well. Heather recalls an uplifting interaction she once had with a friend on social media, someone she’s known since childhood.

“He is a very conservative country boy,” Heather says of a Facebook friend of hers in the Nashville area. “I went to middle school with him. … He said, ‘I’ve just been reading your [Facebook] posts [pertaining to your support of your daughter Shaw] for years. And I see a parent will do anything for their child, and it’s changed my heart.’

“We’re changing hearts one at a time,” Heather says. “That’s all you can do.”

A

year and a half ago, Erica — now almost 20 years old and living on the East Coast — got on a plane and headed home to see her mom, Dawn.

“Mom, we gotta talk,” she said after arriving at her mother’s home.

Dawn looked up from the dishwasher to see her daughter, Erica, standing in front of her, water welling up in the corners of her eyes.

“I need a hug first,” Erica said.

Dawn wrapped her arms around her daughter.

Erica took a breath.

“I’ve transitioned female to male,” Erica said in one breath. “I use he/him pronouns, I love you so much, I hope that you’ll continue to respect me and not throw me out and I love you and I January | February 2017 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

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EAST SIDE CALENDAR EMMA ALFORD CALENDAR EDITOR

J A N U A R Y | F E B R U A R Y 2017

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

UPCOMING D. STRIKERS AGAIN RR Release Party

8 p.m., Friday, Jan. 13, Radio Cafe

Every Friday the 13th since 1998, D. Striker has released a new issue of his handwritten zine, “RR.” In every edition, readers have come to expect a smattering of topics covering the city’s past and present, full of some NSFW stories. The ever-elusive, irregular publishing schedule calls for a night of raucous partying when the issues do come out. At the release, you can expect D. Striker and his band to take the stage along with these cats: Lew Card, Kristina Murray, and James Jewell. Turn up at the Radio.

4150 Gallatin Pike

LET’S CALL IT A TRIPLE THREAT

Poets, Playwrights, and Players 9:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 14, The Family Wash

Words and music, music and words. The Wash has a phenomenal evening lined up for word and tunesmiths. Ted Drozdowski’s

Scissormen will be cranking out songs alongside some stellar poets and performers.

Award-winning poet TJ Jarrett, Gregg Greene of Nashville’s Blackbird Theater Company, music and word artist Jas Taylor, Nine Lives of Catfire author Sally Harvey Anderson, and poet/songwriter and visual artist Cowboy Concept Y’all will perform some of their best-written wordspeak. It’s a free gig, but donations are accepted and the performers will have their books, recordings, and artwork available, so support ’em.

626A Main St.

RUNNING FOR A DREAM 5K 4 MLK

Monday, Jan. 16, East Park Community Center

“Join the cause. Stand for unity. Run for diversity.”That is the mantra of this 5K, and we couldn’t have said it better — so we didn’t try. Barefoot Republic is a nonprofit Christian summer camp that works to build cross-cultural relationships between kids of different colors and socioeconomic backgrounds, a mission that you might venture to say MLK would find worthy.

This run is to promote and fund Barefoot Republic’s cause of finding unity among diversity. If you find this a worthy mission (who wouldn’t?), run along.

700 Woodland St.

SATURDAY NIGHT’S ALRIGHT

“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 21, The Basement East

Come catch some of Nashville’s finest singer-songwriters as they do Sir Elton John proud with performances of the legend’s top hits, and all for a worthy cause.

They’ll be backed by some of Nashville’s top musicians on a night of Elton music benefiting the Tennessee Equality Project.

So get on that Yellow Brick Road and head to The Basement East for a Saturday night of fun. Presented by The East Nashvillian and The Tennessee Help. See The Basement East Facebook page for ordering tickets.

917 Woodland St.

AMITYVILLE (NO HORROR) STORY LAUNCH

Amityville Records Launch 8 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 21, The East Room

Amityville Records is catapulting into the new year with a launch of its own. The fresh local label will be kicking things off at The East Room with a heavy local line

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up: Ian Taylor, Ladyshark, and Lauren Strange. Strange will be releasing the music video for her cover of “Zombie” by The Cranberries. Five bucks at the door. Check out this new music-making addition to the East Side.

2412 Gallatin Ave.

GET EGGUCATED WITH CHEF HAL

Lockeland Table Presents: The Incredible Edible Egg and So Much More 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Jan. 21, Lockeland Table

Lockeland Table has an egg-cellent class lined up. Chef Hal Holden-Bache of Lockeland Table will lead the morning.

You’ll see Hal whip up a savory quiche chockfull of local ham and cheese and a second course whammy of parmesan, arugula, Tuscan bread, and cauliflower cream gratiné. Lockeland’s pastry chef will also provide a dough demonstration, and you’ll be schooled on exactly how to prepare the perfect boiled egg. If you’re egg-specially interested, sign up online. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, after all.

1520 Woodland St. •

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YOU CAN HAVE IT THREE WAYS Nashville Opera presents Three Way Jan. 27-29, TPAC’s James K. Polk Theatre

Making its world premiere here in Nashville is Three Way, a frisky three-act performance that’s taking on the future of love and sex, complementing it with a dose of humor and drama. The vivacious production may be an apropos pick for first-time opera-goers or millennials (which are probably the same folks, right?). Three Way moves along with lyrical storytelling in the vernacular, creating a complex, but accessible opera for any newbies. “Sexy, funny, and a little bit naughty” may sound like an online dating profile bio, but it’ll double as a description for this musical romp, too. Keep your eyes peeled for our ticket giveaways for this one or grab your tickets on Nashville Opera’s website. Catch it here before it moves on to NYC this summer.

505 Deaderick St.

TEA TIME

Winter Tea at Historic Amqui Station 1-3 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 28, Historic Amqui Station

Enjoy a little warmth and Southern hospitality at the station for some teatime.

Find your favorite crumpet or teacake and sip on some tasty tea blends while you enjoy a “special” program for your viewing pleasure.

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM January | February 2017

No pinkies out for this one, but do show up early for a free tour of the station museum.

Snag your tickets for teatime in advance.

303 Madison St.

YOU NASTY WOMAN

Nasty Women Exhibit

Saturday, Jan. 31, The Basement East

Nasty women of all shapes, sizes, ages, gender-identifying classes (or non), races, religions, and backgrounds: This show is for you. In the wake of the election and the looming president-elect’s inauguration, Gallery Luperca is putting together an exhibit to raise the voice of Nasty Women in the city. Catch the opening at the end of January. This event is a fundraiser, so 100 percent of the proceeds from all pieces sold will be donated to the Tennessee Immigrants and Refugee Rights Coalition.

If you’ve got some artistic persuasion, they will be accepting submissions for the show until Jan. 17. Stayed tuned to Gallery Luperca’s Facebook page for updates about the show.

917 Woodland St.

SAVE A DANCE

Valentine’s Day Dance Hosted by MOMS Club of East Nashville-Rosebank 3-5 p.m., Friday, Feb. 10, South Inglewood Community Center

EAST SIDE CALENDAR

Mamas, papas, and kiddos — shake a leg. The Rosebank chapter of MOMS Club of East Nashville is hosting a V-Day soiree.

There will be a bake sale, face painting, crafts, a raffle, and, of course, a dance. All proceeds will benefit South Inglewood Community Center and Give Me 10. Give Me 10 is a program dedicated to helping children and families who depend on school meals, facing hunger during school breaks. The program has already helped more than 300 East Nashville families, providing meals, clothing, and other daily needs to those who might need a leg up.

Pretty good reason for a dance-off, right?

• RESIDENCIES AND SHOWCASES 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

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

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

Tim Carroll’s Rock & Roll Happy Hour

Be sure to check out the happy hour deals in The Idea Hatchery.

Red Arrow Gallery

Fridays, 6-8:30 p.m., The 5 Spot

“Young Professionals”

by Daniel Holland Opening Reception Jan. 14 Jan.12-Feb. 2

•

“Denied Realities”

by Mary Mooney Opening Reception Feb. 11 Feb. 1-March 5

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

We don’t art crawl on the East Side, we art stumble. Every month, local galleries and studios will open their doors after hours to showcase some of the fabulous work they 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.

The Basement East Nasty Women Jan. 31

• SHELBY PARK EVENTS & CLASSES

“Old” Moon Night Hike 7-8 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 12

All ages, registration required

Bird Friendly Coffee Social All day, Saturday, Jan. 14 All ages

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Where Did Our Summer Birds Go?

Seeds, Seeds, & More Seeds

Make a Winter Bird Feeder

All ages

All ages

1-3 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 21

10-11 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 14

All ages, registration required

Body Works

10-11:30 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 27

Shelby Bottoms After Dark

Bird Friendly Coffee Social

All ages

All ages

4-7 p.m., Friday, Jan. 27

10-11 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 21

Ages 18 and up, registration required

All day, Saturday, Jan. 28

Composting and Earthworms 1-2 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 4 All ages

Full “Bone” Moon Hike 7-8 p.m., Friday, Feb. 10

All ages, registration required

Bird Friendly Coffee Social 8-10 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 11 All ages

Storytime and Snack!

2-3 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 15

All ages, registration required

Body Works

10-11 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 18

Ages 18 and up, registration required

Woodcock Watch 5-6 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 23

All ages, registration required

Antler-Shed “Hunt” 2-3:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 24

Ages 5 and up, registration required

Winter Waterfowl

11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 25

Ages 8 and up, registration required

Bird Friendly Coffee Social 8-10 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 25 All ages

Winter is Weird

11 a.m.-noon, Saturday, Feb. 25

All ages, registration required

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• RECURRING ANSWER ME THIS

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.

Ω

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

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 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 January | February 2017 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

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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

BRING IT TO THE TABLE Community Hour at Lockeland Table

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

Lockeland Table is cooking up family-friendly 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 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

LET’S 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

Beast Bingo

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

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.

≈

CAN’T SPELL BINGO WITHOUT BEAST 7 p.m., Mondays, The Pub at The Basement East

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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

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM January | February 2017

HAGZILLA ROCKS!

Hags’ Late Nite Moonglow LP Record Show 11 p.m.-1 a.m., Mondays, The Family Wash

East Nasty bon vivant James “Hags” Haggerty caps off Monday evenings at The Wash, spinning “whatever comes straight out of his head” — which could be anything from Iggy Pop to Andrew Gold to Dizzy Gillespie to The Bee Gees. Whatever is on Hags’ playlist, the vibe will be cool. $2 domestics, and it’s free. Be there or be square!

626 Main St. A

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) →→→

EAST SIDE CALENDAR

NO LAUGH TRACK NEEDED

CRAWLIN’ TO THE FATHERLAND

Ultimate Comedy Show by Corporate Juggernaut

Fatherland Shoppe Crawl

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.

Crawl on over to the Shoppes on Fatherland

8:30 p.m., Tuesdays, The East Room

5-8 p.m., last Wednesday of every month, Shoppes on Fatherland

for their monthly shopping free-for-all. 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. →

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 like-minded folks — with the opportunity to leave in a more perfect state than you entered in.

1701 Fatherland St. Suite A, 615.457.2920

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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 88

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HONESTLY, OFFICER ...

East Nashville Crime Prevention Meeting

11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Thursdays, Turnip Truck

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.

701 Woodland St., 615.650.3600

END THE WEEK ON A HIGH NOTE Family Wash Fridays

Noon-2 p.m. every Friday, The Family Wash

Friday lunch never tasted so good with these weekly lineups of music featuring a “Secret Special Guest” at The Family Wash/ Garage Coffee. This end-of-the-week event is presented by WMOT/Roots Radio 89.5 and hosted by Roots Radio DJ, Your Witness. We can’t tell you who the guest each week is, but we promise you’ll be glad you stopped by.

626 Main St. A

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

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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

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

MAXWELL HEIGHTS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

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

EASTWOOD NEIGHBORS 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 1601 Eastland Ave., eastwoodneighbors.org

GREENWOOD NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

6 p.m., second Tuesday of every month House on the Hill

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NEIGHBORHOOD MEETINGS & EVENTS HISTORIC EDGEFIELD NEIGHBORS

7 p.m., last Tuesday of odd numbered months East Park Community Center

Social gatherings held in even numbered months.

600 Woodland St. historicedgefieldneighbors.com

LOCKELAND SPRINGS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

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

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

401 S. 20th St., shelbyhills.org

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

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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

4500 Gallatin Road, inglewoodrna.org

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

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HENMA

6-8 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 9, location TBD

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 quarter. 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

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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

calendar@theeastnashvillian.com

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Callie Khouri CONTINUED FROM PAGE 50

music that didn’t make it out of Nashville, to show the depth of that scene because there’s really been no way to export it.

“That’s always been the thing I treasured most about this city, the music.”

“It’s one of the most important things in her life,” new showrunner Marshall Herskovitz says, calling from California at day’s end.

Beyond producing acclaimed films The Last Samurai and Jack Reacher, he was the force behind such iconic humanity-driven television series as Thirty Something and My So Called Life.

To him, Khouri’s passion for music is the X factor. “It’s that appreciation for music, the people who make it, and the business around it that sets Nashville apart. And Callie’s very committed to getting it right.”

Americana icon Buddy Miller, who served as the music guy when T Bone Burnett stepped down after the first season, concurs. Having coproduced Dr. Ralph Stanley, Robert Plant’s Band of Joy, and Patty Griffin, as well being a key man in Emmylou Harris’ Spyboy and Lucinda Williams’ and Steve Earle’s second set of breakthrough records, integrity is critical to Miller.

“The best part of working with Callie — and music director Frankie Pine — is how committed they are to getting the music right,” Miller explains. “So many great songwriters who don’t write for the Row but who write great songs have had their songs placed on the show; they’ve had that validation, and the exposure they wouldn’t get otherwise.

“And Callie really cares about this part of the creative community.”

‘hip’ place,” Khouri says. “There’s always something interesting going on; I still like the bars and the music and the scene. East Nashville feels alive, too, and creatively, that’s an incredible resource to plug into.

“Gunnar (the songwriter-type aspiring star) lives in East Nashville,” she continues. “There’s

nowhere else he could live. And Avery (the alternative act who flamed out and is now finding success as a producer) is an intentional character: When he lived with Juliette (one of the leads), obviously he lived with her, but he’s an East Nashville guy through and through.”

For Khouri, that energy is an intangible →

“I

want it to be real, and as real as it can be, and still be an entertaining show,” Khouri says of the challenges. “We have songs that are hits that would never get played on the radio for real — and I wish that weren’t the case. I wish there was a way to make a difference, because these songs deserve to have an audience.”

In a life follows art moment, many of the cast now tour under the Nashville banner, playing shows on the weekends. Tour buses, sound checks, the whole deal. If Chuck Easten and Sam Palladino weren’t yearning to be artists when they were cast, they’re living the life now.

And in art tapping into life, it’s not uncommon to see Nashville set up somewhere in East Nashville shooting a scene. It’s not a matter of being hip, but more plugging into the existential mojo that is driving Music City as a creative force.

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Callie Khouri that can’t be replaced anywhere else. She recognizes the frisson is the result of many forces.

“There’s a freedom that’s going on there that feels real good,” she marvels. “When I lived here (originally), East Nashville was a good place to get stabbed. Downtown, too. They weren’t abandoned, but it was just a bunch of rundown buildings, and rough characters hanging around with nowhere else to go.

“It’s beautiful how it’s all reclaimed and re-energized. It’s completely reborn. When you go to a restaurant, the young waiters and waitresses are so knowledgeable about what they’re doing. It permeates everything.”

Mayor Barry and Phillips recognize those amazing shots of Middle Tennessee that are a true Khouri signature. But beyond the tourist-enticing location porn of the city’s landmarks and countryside, there’s the complicated nature of her characters. For even when Khouri is engaging her inner Dorothy Parker wit, she is seeking to reach the deepest places of human engagement.

If that sounds like an on-ramp to a soap opera — and heaven knows with the plane crashes, crazy assistants, bed swaps, gay country hunks, addicted adults, aspiring kids, and crooked business execs, it’s seemingly basic math — it isn’t. While storylines and conflict

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or “action rising” are required to keep the show moving, sensation is anathema.

At ABC, where Shonda Rhimes rules, Nashville had its own set of challenges trying to maintain the twists needed while avoiding the OMG moments that drive so many of the network’s primetime dramas.

“ABC has a lot of Shonda Rhimes shows — with the twists and turns, a lot of big things happening,” Khouri says. “It’s a whole other kind of way to do this, and I have always wanted to stay more on the emotional side … allowing the characters to drive, and their lives determining what’s going to happen.”

Beyond having Rhiannon Giddens joining the cast — “as a regular person, not someone aspiring to be in the music business” — plans call for the show’s first transgendered character. But where some might tease that story line out and tart it up, Khouri’s notion is even more radical.

“We have a trans person playing a trans character, but it’s in no way issue-related,” she cautions. “It’s just someone who has a job, and they’re in the show. Because, you know, transgender people have jobs.”

Pausing, Khouri almost smiles at the reality around the way she sees the world. Then she confesses half-rueful, half-annoyed, “It’s so

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nuts that people have a hard time accepting reality. [Being transgender] is a fact, like people have brown hair. Why are we so concerned with it?”

Herskovitz validates Khouri’s appearance, saying of his new collaborator, “I see someone who fully owns her humanity, right down to all the conflicting impulses that make up each and every one of us.

“Human beings are complicated. Human beings are contradictory. And if you look at Callie through this lens, she’s a student — and (people in her eyes are) a study in ambivalence. She sees they feel one way about something, and another way, too. She sees it and owns the fullness and complicated nature of people, which is what makes her characters so interesting.

“When you look at the characters she creates and the way they interact, there’s a real intimacy between people, not just fake conflict.”

Khouri takes her characters’ truth with a seriousness we’d all hope to find in our own worlds. She recognizes the fiery nature of genuine, creative people — and the conflicting motives of the people around them.

“I think working from reality makes it easier,” she says with a sigh, deconstructing her show’s dynamics and cliffhangers. “I don’t just come up with crazy shit that people would never do; I come up with crazy shit that actually happened.

“It’s reality storytelling. It’s crazy, but it’s true: These things are based on someone’s emotional history. It’s like, to me, history and backstory are everything! John and June went through all kinds of crazy stuff, crazy times.

People here, driving off the road, people getting in nine kinds of trouble. You wouldn’t be doing the due diligence if you acted like all these larger than life situations didn’t happen.”

Beyond the “it-happened-one-time” ethos that bubbles under her surface, Khouri — along with the people from Opryland Entertainment who were a driving force getting Nashville launched — is seeking to show a bit more dimension to the country music business and the humanity around musicians in general.

Deacon Claybourne, the tortured can’t-getout-of-his-own-way elder hunk, is a classic example. Well past 40, battling not just the bottle, but a stubborn streak of pride that keeps him from accepting grace when it’s offered, he is an archetype: that Everyguy most women at one time in their lives has tried to save.

As the true — and often denied for a variety of circumstances — love of Rayna James’ life, he could easily be a caricature. Kind, wise, human, the reluctant sex symbol embodies the way Khouri tries to build and develop her characters.

Callie Khouri “Deacon is based on a real person,” she explains. “So I’m always really mindful of what we do with him, because people in those straits are in it for their whole lives, whether they want to be or not. Staying constantly on guard, constantly being afraid and aware of backsliding, you can’t play that for sensation.

“And you also have to accept how many times it doesn’t have a happy ending, what a struggle it is from day-to-day. It’s something I really enjoy watching and writing, because it is what people are experiencing every day in the real world, so I want it to feel real.”

Khouri pauses for a moment, letting the notion settle. Never one to overplay the drama, she recognizes what she’s been saying — and the exploitative nature of her current medium.

Once the fraught has dissipated, she picks up her thread, defining perhaps the biggest driver behind the show.

“I want to teach people how to empathize with people going through those struggles — or any struggle,” she continues. “You go through it in a way to maybe make it real, you know? You feel the frustration of having someone in your life like that, someone who just can’t quite get it together. And rather than just writing them off, you root for them, you recognize the different ways to deal with the issues, and maybe you come to understand, too, how hard life is no matter what you’re doing.”

Citing an amazing cast and characters, the journey they’ve all been on, a new writers room comprised largely of people who’ve never been to Nashville and a new “show running team” with Herskovitz and producing partner Ed Zwick, the woman who once toted drinks at the Exit/In is still finding new challenges and thrills in an already exemplary career.

Always curious, always willing, Khouri has recently sold her Santa Monica home and purchased one in Nashville. (Her husband, T Bone Burnett, maintains a house in LA, for the record) Stunned by the Hail Mary play that has kept her show in production, she manifests the desire that drives her own writing and directing into far larger returns.

“Getting cancelled and picked up?” she says of the white knuckle journey from ABC to CMT. “That’s impossible, but it happened. Like a lot of things on this show, the unthinkable was real.”

Phillips laughs thinking about the scramble to save Nashville.

“This is a deal with a lot of partners, and we were almost immediately pegged as where the show was going to land,” he now marvels. “But it wasn’t that simple. Even as I was getting all these congratulations messages — when the deal wasn’t done —and we were still trying to figure it out.

“We all had collective high blood pressure for three days, but what gave us the confidence to really pound through was the fans.

They had made their roar heard through social media; we’d see the comments, the Save Nashville Facebook pages, #SaveNashville hashtags on Twitter, old-fashioned letters and emails. It was profound, all the ways the fans of this show told us. ... We were at

the CMT Video Music Awards after-party with lawyers and executives working on deal points, hammering through the details, so we could resolve this in a way that worked for everyone. Cut to us onstage at CMA Music Fest on the River Stage announcing to all those fans that Nashville was going to live! But that’s what Callie inspires in people.”

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Loud & Rowdy CONTINUED FROM PAGE 70

Differences between the members cropped up. “We had four different definitions of what success was,” Baird says. “Mauro wanted to play every night and get as many drumming endorsements as humanly possible. Rick Price wanted to make enough money where he could build a dragster. Rick Richards just wanted to

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be a rock & roll star. I wanted the respect of my peers. From that point, us hanging in for two more records was difficult. Because everybody’s definition of what the right thing was, was completely different, and you can’t hold that together.”

To look at it, they hardly seem to have been

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deal-breaking differences; but when you’re in a van or a bus with the same three other guys for years on end, little things begin to mean a lot.

They cut a sophomore release, Open All Night, that wasn’t nearly as good as the debut, and then came the third, Land of Salvation & Sin, which was a much better record, but by then they’d been kicked off Success Island and the boat was taking on water. Relegated back to the club circuit, the bloom was off the rose, and Baird “fired myself for having a bad attitude.”

After a semi-successful 1992 solo debut, Love Songs for The Hearing Impaired, came the brilliant but commercially DOA Buffalo Nickel.

With enough royalties coming in regularly because of “Keep Your Hands to Yourself,” Baird kicked back and entered into his wilderness years. He settled in Nashville, only carefully dipping his toe back into the music business and completely eschewing the studio/ tour merry-go-round. He produced records for The Bottlerockets and Chris Knight, and otherwise bided his time.

It became evident that there was a market for him in Europe. He began playing shows there, and then came The Yayhoos, with guitarist Eric Ambel from the Del Lords, Keith Christopher on bass, and Terry Anderson on drums. He also took road jobs with Will Hoge and Todd Snider — and more recently as a gunslinger in the late Bobby Keys’ Suffering Bastards.

Then there was his relationship with the mighty Warner Hodges. Theirs is a guitar marriage made in heaven: Baird scrubbing and crunching a rhythm down low inside the sound and Warner blazing away on top of it all. They’d humped their own bands in the ’80s, sharing management, and being more colleagues than friends. Indeed, there appears to have been a bit of testosterone-fueled “my band rules, your band sucks” sort of nonsense.

But time heals all, and a new century made for an increasing mutual respect and affection between the two, a full-blown rapprochement, and in 2005, Dan Baird & Homemade Sin was born. The man with the meatiest guitar tone and loudest throaty snarl in rock & roll was well and truly back in the saddle.

Baird works constantly now. In his presence you don’t detect the barest whiff of retirement.

SoLow is fresh out of the oven and a new Homemade Sin record is slated for an April release. There is a song on SoLow, “Showtime,” where he sings, “Hope we get a good crowd, hope we get to play too loud / … we’ll go till I’m outta breath, or I sweat the old man to death. It’s show time!” And at an age when other men born in 1953 are retiring to Boca, Dan Baird likely has many, many more show times to come.

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East of NORMAL TOMMY WOMACK

Shoulder-hunching time

B

y the time you read this, we’ll be enmeshed in the most depressing part of the year, the time after the holidays when nothing goes on. Sure, there’s the Super Bowl, if you’re into that sort of thing. Valentine’s Day? Whoopdee fricken doo. OK, it’s a romantic night of respite in what is otherwise the suckiest month of the year, but then what?

St. Patrick’s Day? That’s too far away to think about. And what am I going to do then anyway? Go to a bar and not drink?

Whoopee!

At least we won’t have 6-foot snow drifts to worry about. Then again, an inch of snow in Nashville and the entire city goes crazy. Milk! Milk! Run to the store and get milk! What is it with snow and milk? You never hear about anyone bolting to the store for a can of Folger’s. I mean, milk is nice on your cereal or something like that, but coffee — now there’s a necessity. (What do lactose-intolerant people do when it snows?

Must be a lonely time for those people.) And don’t get me started about cigarettes. I don’t smoke anymore, but let me tell you, back in the day I was a damn chimney. I remember one winter walking three quarters of a mile to the Mapco to buy a pack, slipping, sliding, and freezing my ass off, feeling every inch the addict I was. And what else did I buy as long as I was there? Damn milk.

So our soupçon of snow might take up a cumulative two weeks of our winter, with people driving like idiots, taking the dog for

really short walks, making do. But you know what’s worse than the snow in winter? The damn rain! Nothing is more depressing than cold rain in February. Gray skies. Misplacing the umbrella. Making a new umbrella out of coat hangers and all the bills from Christmas. You ever notice how you hunch your shoulders up when running to your car in the rain? What the hell? You don’t stay a single bit dryer by hunching your shoulders when you’re running in the rain, but everybody still does it. Hopefully they’re not running in the rain to the Mapco for a half-gallon of milk and a pack of cigs.

Now I don’t want to be all Joe Negative here. This time of year does have its good points. Releasing records, for example. All the heavy hitters put out new stuff in time for the Christmas market, leaving the postholiday hangover open for guys like me.

The way to do it is plan on a mid-February release. This makes January more exciting, because you’re preparing for the release and your record still sounds good to you. Then you have a ray of sunshine in February, a little attention, some kind words, and by the time no one gives a shit anymore, it’s getting warm outside.

All in all, however, no matter how mild the winter may turn out to be, no matter how often the sun might actually shine in February, Donald Trump will still be president. Gird your loins, put your head down, and barrel through it. This is new territory. We all might wind up hunching our shoulders whether it’s raining or not.

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

DAVE SCHOOLS

Widespread Panic

New Year’s Eve 2016 Photographed by Michael Weintrob 102

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