East Nashvillian Issue 11 by The East Nashvillian

ALWAYS FREE!

VOL II, ISSUE 5 MAY/JUNE 2012

Elizabeth

Cook

NEIGHBORHOOD KITCHEN

NEW BREWS!

MEET THE CURATORS

Benefiting:

Table of Contents

Editor Chuck Allen Associate Editor Daryl Sanders Design Director Lauren Vandervelde Advertising Design Benjamin Rumble Emily Marlow Contributing Writers Helen Gaye Brewster Susannah Felts Liz Jungers Hughes Robbie D. Jones Theresa Laurence Carole Ann King Melanie Meadows Contributing Photographers Stacie Huckeba Mike Straisinger/Nashville Sounds Lauren Vandervelde Advertising Contact Lisa McCauley lisa@theeastnashvillian.com 615-582-4187

Correction The East Nashvillian regrets the following error which appeared in the March-April issue on Page 34: In the article, “Color East Nashville Green,” E3 Innovate was identified as not being located in East Nashville, but that is incorrect — they are located on the East Side at 909 E. Trinity Ln.

www.theeastnashvillian.com The East Nashvillian is published bimonthly by Kitchen Table Media, LLC. No portion of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission from the Publisher. All rights reserved. © 2012 Kitchen Table Media, LLC

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Two breweries are better than one East Nashville’s Main Street will soon boast not one, but two microbreweries, Fat Bottom and Broadcast Brewing Co. By Liz Jungers Hughes What’s In a Name? Clearing up the confusion about East Nashville’s two new ‘pharmacies’ By Liz Jungers Hughes Take me out to the ballgame East Nashville location favored for new Sounds stadium By Helen Gaye Brewster Cookin’ in the neighborhood kitchen FEAST Together builds community one healthy, locally grown meal at a time By Susannah Felts The keepers of Nashville’s cultural heritage By Robbie D. Jones An East Nashvillian in Hollywood Elizabeth Cook’s star is on the rise By Daryl Sanders Tim Carroll knows good rock from bad Singer-songwriter-guitarist returns with his most-focused album to date By Daryl Sanders Anthony Viglietti Riverside Drive’s best friend By Melanie Meadows It’s Festival Time on the East Side By Carole Ann King Lost dogs and mixed blessings You can find a little bit of everything on the East Nashville listserv By Theresa Laurence

TDOT Map & Routes Getting around on the weekends

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Publisher Lisa McCauley

Table of Contents

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TDOT Map & Routes Getting around on the weekends

w w w.t h e e a s t n a s hv i l l i a n .co m

Publisher Lisa McCauley

Letter from the Editor

“Life’s Rich Pageant”

here’s nothing like a crisis to focus one’s mind. When one’s world gets turned upside down and daily rituals fall by the wayside, trivial inconveniences no longer matter. Of what people are made becomes very clear. Expressions of largesse and good intentions turn to dust in the face of action. On the other hand, there are those special few who rise to the occasion, whose actions speak louder than words. They are the ones who have no expectations of thanks or reciprocation, whose simple reward is to put the well being of others before themselves. Lisa and I have recently been challenged by such a crisis. We’ll make it through. Being both pragmatic and tenacious helps. Ours is not a unique situation; it actually helps to know that others have been faced with similar challenges and triumphed. But beyond our personal wherewithal, it has been our friends who have pulled us through, without whom there wouldn’t be the magazine you now have in your hand. In particular, Lisa and I would like to thank Daryl Sanders and Mark Pilkinton for making this issue of The East Nashvillian possible. Words cannot fully express our heartfelt gratitude for all that you’ve done.

• Organic Gardening • Year ‘Round Gardening • Composting

Keep the faith,

Please join us for our FREE gardening classes!

Saturdays @ 3pm

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May 5 th June 2 nd June 23 rd July 14 th

Year ‘Round Gardening with Hydroponics Compost Tea Propagation/Cloning Basic Hydroponics

Worm’s Way 901 Main Street, Nashville, TN 37206 (615)-227-7261 Class dates/times/subject matter subject to change. Feel free to contact the store for updates.

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1/24/12 1:07 PM

Letter from the Editor

“Life’s Rich Pageant”

• Organic Gardening • Year ‘Round Gardening • Composting

Keep the faith,

Please join us for our FREE gardening classes!

Saturdays @ 3pm

www.th eeastnashvillian.co m

May 5 th June 2 nd June 23 rd July 14 th

Year ‘Round Gardening with Hydroponics Compost Tea Propagation/Cloning Basic Hydroponics

Worm’s Way 901 Main Street, Nashville, TN 37206 (615)-227-7261 Class dates/times/subject matter subject to change. Feel free to contact the store for updates.

6 TNAD2.indd 1

1/24/12 1:07 PM

East Nashville’s Main Street will soon boast not one, but two microbreweries, Fat Bottom and Broadcast Brewing Co. By Liz Jungers Hughes • Photo by Stacie Huckeba

www.th eeastnashvillian.co m

Bottoms up: Ben Bredesen’s Fat Bottom Brewery soon will be putting smiles on the faces of East Nashville residents, one beer mug at a time.

www.theeastnashvillian.com

Two breweries are better than one

hirsty East Nashvillians soon wife — I think she was tired of me line between great-tasting, flavorful will have two new reasons to buying so much beer — got me a beer, without being too full-bodied or raise a glass in the coming book on home brewing, and I think heavy,” Causey says. “I like to experimonths, as the neighborhood welshe’s regretted it ever since,” Bredesen ment, and it’s good to have fun with comes a pair of microbreweries to 900 explains. ingredients and see where they take Main St., an industrial complex forHe began brewing as a hobby about you, but I don’t like experimenting for merly home to the Fluffo mattress faceight years ago, and has since develexperimenting’s sake.” This philosotory. Fat Bottom Brewery, owned by oped a brewing style he calls “exciting, phy can be found in Broadcast’s Honey Ben Bredesen (son of former governor but ‘sessionable.’” Continuing he says, Ale, made with local honey, and their Phil Bredesen), is on schedule to open “What I want to brew is something Extra Pale Ale, a lighter brew featuring this June, to be joined later in the fall people can drink every day, but that’s more hops and a bitter dry finish. by Mike Causey’s Broadcast Brewing a lot more interesting, without going Like Bredesen, Causey because interCompany. Both ventures will welcome overboard just for the sake of going ested in craft beer thanks to a gift from visitors to imbibe in their respective overboard.” his wife, and began brewing at home taprooms, while sharing an interior Contributing to Fat Bottom’s fullabout 10 years ago. A Birmingham green courtyard. ness of flavor is the fact that Bredesen native, he moved to Nashville 25 years When Bredesen moved into East makes only unfiltered beers. While ago, and established a production Nashville six years ago, he acutely felt filtering beer does improve shelf life company called Skyscraper Media. the lack of a neighborhood microand stability, the filtering equipment The name Broadcast is a nod to his brewery or brewpub, a deficiency he is expensive, and it can diminish the background in media, which dates looks forward to remedying. While taste of beer. back to a stint as a DJ at a college radio searching for a station, as well location for Fat as to Nashville’s Bottom, Bredesen great radio tradi“I first got into brewing when my wife — hoped to settle tion. Broadcast I think she was tired of me buying so in East Nashville, also connotes an though he didn’t analog, old-school much beer — got me a book on home think that would experience, which brewing, and I think she’s regretted be possible due to Causey hopes his it ever since,” Bredesen explains. a lack of industrial brewery will prospace in the area. vide to its guests. When the Fluffo “I enjoy actually building became making something available last year, he was thrilled to be “Filtering takes away a lot of flavors, with my hands as opposed to someable to set up shop close to home. a lot of hop oils and some of the volathing that’s digital, that doesn’t exist in While Bredesen plans to leave the tiles that you smell in a glass of beer,” the real sense,” he says. “That’s what I iconic Fluffo sign painted on the side Bredesen explains. Unfiltered beers enjoy about the beer making — taking of building, he has spent the past sevcan be recognized not just by their the raw ingredients and turning it into eral months transforming the former more robust flavor, but by a visible something people enjoy drinking and mattress factory into a working brewcloudiness that is the result of yeast being a part of.” ery and taproom. With the help of arnot being extracted as in most comBredesen also appreciates the conchitect Steve Powell at Powell Design mercial beers. nective power of brewing and found Studio, Bredesen plans to honor the You’ll see and taste the difference inspiration for Fat Bottom in microindustrial past of the building with in all of Fat Bottom’s beers, includbreweries that function foremost as the use of concrete, steel and wood in ing the tentatively named Fat Bottom gathering places, such as Amnesia in the renovation. Wheat, a summery American wheat Portland, Ore., and Russian River in Getting Fat Bottom on its feet has ale made with fresh ginger. Not to be Santa Clara, Calif. been exciting, though challenging confused with ginger ale or ginger Both Broadcast and Fat Bottom for Bredesen, who is new to the craft beer, Bredesen’s signature brew is light will offer tours, but the spacious beer business. Born and raised in bodied with just a touch of fruit. He taprooms and outdoor courtyard Nashville, Bredesen attended Brown is also particularly excited about his will invite guests to linger for hours University, then returned home after Black Betty, a black IPA (India Pale Ale) over a few pints and simple food. Fat graduation. He spent eight years in whose dark grains lend it a seductive Bottom plans to be open Tuesday the healthcare software industry at smokiness. through Saturday from 4 p.m. to Qualifacts Systems, Inc., where he was Mike Causey of Broadcast Brewing midnight, while Broadcast will begin VP of Marketing before quitting last Company has his own unique brewing with more limited hours Thursday September to open his brewery. style, but is largely of the same beer through Saturday. Neither Causey nor “I first got into brewing when my philosophy as Bredesen. “There’s a fine Bredesen want to be in the restaurant/

East Nashville’s Main Street will soon boast not one, but two microbreweries, Fat Bottom and Broadcast Brewing Co. By Liz Jungers Hughes • Photo by Stacie Huckeba

www.th eeastnashvillian.co m

Bottoms up: Ben Bredesen’s Fat Bottom Brewery soon will be putting smiles on the faces of East Nashville residents, one beer mug at a time.

www.theeastnashvillian.com

Two breweries are better than one

www.th eeastnashvillian.co m

bar business, hoping instead to focus on making great beer and selfdistributing kegs to local bars and restaurants. Eventually, a restaurant will round out the 900 Main Street complex and complement the breweries’ business. Fat Bottom and Broadcast hope the excitement of friendly competition and the convenience of side-by-side proximity will create a beer lover’s destination, one thing missing in a city with a lively and growing craft beer scene. They will join well-established Yazoo and Blackstone along with Jackalope, now a year old, and Franklin’s first microbrewery, Turtle Anarchy Brewing Co., set to open at the end of May. The Nashville area is also home to several brewpubs, including Bosco’s and Big River Grille, defined as restaurantbreweries that sell at least 25 percent of their product on site. Both Bredesen and Causey agree there remains plenty of room for growth in the local craft beer boom. According to the Brewers Association, the trade association representing

small and independent brewers, Tennessee ranked 36th in the nation in per capita breweries in 2010, with 23 total breweries, or one for every 275,918 residents. Compare this to

“That’s what I enjoy about the beer making — taking the raw ingredients and turning it into something people enjoy drinking and being a part of.” — Mike Causey

number one Vermont, whose 21 total breweries amount to one for every 29,797 residents, and it is clear that the Tennessee market is by no means full. Tennessee is reflective of a larger national trend in the growth of microbreweries. There was an 11 percent increase in the number of operational

breweries in the country last year, a number that reached the milestone of 2,000 in February 2012. Causey credits the growing popularity of craft beer, in part, to the restaurant industry trend towards using locally sourced produce and meats, which has raised the public’s interest in eating — and drinking — locally. Microbreweries, which employed over 100,000 workers in 2011, also give beer drinkers the chance to support their local economies, while enjoying a product that is both tasty and unique. Fat Bottom and Broadcast promise to deliver on each of these counts, while enhancing the eclectic melting pot of East Nashville’s social scene. “I think a lot of things that are good for this area are coming from East Nashville,” Causey says, expressing excitement over the neighborhood’s creative atmosphere. “We want to help in any way we can to foster that culture in East Nashville and to make this community richer.”

Continued on page 12

PHOTOS BY LAUREN VANDERVELDE

Fat Bottom Brewery and Broadcast Brewing Company will be “manufacturing” a different form of relaxation than the former tenant at 900 Main St.

www.th eeastnashvillian.co m

small and independent brewers, Tennessee ranked 36th in the nation in per capita breweries in 2010, with 23 total breweries, or one for every 275,918 residents. Compare this to

“That’s what I enjoy about the beer making — taking the raw ingredients and turning it into something people enjoy drinking and being a part of.” — Mike Causey

Continued on page 12

PHOTOS BY LAUREN VANDERVELDE

Fat Bottom Brewery and Broadcast Brewing Company will be “manufacturing” a different form of relaxation than the former tenant at 900 Main St.

Continued from page 8

What’s in a name? Clearing up the confusion about East Nashville’s two new ‘pharmacies.’ confusing name? “It’s a place you go to feel better,” says owner Terrell Raley, who was inspired by the dozens of medicine bottles they found while excavating his neighboring restaurant, Holland House. “We found a ton of medicine bottles, some of which still had proper labels on them and still had tinctures and medicinal things inside, and we kept them, figuring that we’d always, somewhere down the road,

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LANDSCAPE

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find a purpose for them,” he recalls. Those bottles eventually found their way into the concept for The Pharmacy, a burger parlor that invokes the old-time charm and simplicity of a drugstore soda fountain, with a menu of hearty burgers and house-made sausages, creative phosphates, ice cream floats and German beers. Quickly becoming an East Nashville institution, The Pharmacy’s backyard beer garden has recently been readied for the summer season with additional trees, seating and a separate bar — just what the doctor ordered. —Liz Jungers Hughes

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PHOTOS TOP RIGHT BY LAUREN VANDERVELDE

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Williams spent many years filling prescriptions in multiple East Nashville locations, and knew upon leaving AmMed Direct last year that he wanted to return to this area to open his own neighborhood pharmacy. Having spent most of his career working for chains and corporations, Williams is enjoying the change of pace that has come with running Riverside Village Pharmacy. “We answer the telephone, we look you in the face, and talk to you like you’re a real person,” Williams says. He is also pleased to offer free, sameday delivery to the East Nashville and Madison communities. “Most people we deliver to really need the service — their health won’t allow them to drive, and they have to take the bus or depend on other people.” 18 Pharmacy acRiverside Village cepts all insurance plans and is open Monday through Saturday, with emergency service available on Sundays. The store also carries a variety of gift items, baby-related merchandise, jewelry and local art, and many natural bath and body product lines including Thistle Farms, Kiss My Face, Badger, Burt’s Bees, Pacifica and Tom’s of Maine. Of course for burgers, you’ll have to hit The Pharmacy, not Riverside Village Pharmacy. Why the

PHOTOS BOTTOM LEFT BY STACIE HUCKEBA

hen The Pharmacy, a burger parlor and beer garden, opened its doors on McFerrin Street last December, most people quickly caught on that it’s not a place to get your prescription filled. East Nashvillians, who have long accepted that you can’t do your laundry at Family Wash, aren’t quite so easily confused. But with the new Riverside Village Pharmacy, an actual pharmacy, arriving in the neighborhood within a month of The Pharmacy, more than a few bewildered burger seekers have been surprised to see owner and pharmacist Gary Williams behind the counter dispensing medicine, rather than German beer and ice cream floats. Williams is a 1978 graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy, and spent 15 years as a pharmacist at CVS before moving on to AmMed Direct, a mail-order prescription company specializing in diabetic supplies and medications. Williams holds specialty certifications in Diabetes, Nutrition & Weight Loss Management, and Medication Therapy Management. While at CVS,

Continued from page 8

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LANDSCAPE

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organic garden maintenance • environmental landscape design & installation • landscape renovation & clean-up • residential master planning • raingardens • native planting

8525009 landscapeTN.com

PHOTOS TOP RIGHT BY LAUREN VANDERVELDE

www.th eeastnashvillian.co m

PHOTOS BOTTOM LEFT BY STACIE HUCKEBA

14 THE EAST NASHVILLIAN

THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 15

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THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 15

The Sounds may soon be hosting their Pacific Coast League opponents at a new, state-of-the-art stadium on the East bank of the Cumberland River.

www.theeastn ashvillian.com

hhh, baseball. The all-American pastime. There’s nothing like a summer night at the ballpark — the crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd, the smell of hot dogs and popcorn, and don’t forget the fireworks when the home team scores. Since 1978, the Nashville Sounds have played their home games at Greer Stadium, a state-of-the-art facility when it was first erected, but no longer on par with other Triple A ballparks, such as the ones in Memphis and Louisville. There has been a lot of talk in recent years of a new ballpark — and the main question is where to build it. There is no denying that a new ballpark can increase attendance and provide an economic boost. According to a Dec. 16, 2011 article in the Nashville Business Journal, “New minor league ballparks built since 1985 have had, on average, a 67 percent increase in attendance in their first three years.” Restaurants and

East Nashville location favored for new Sounds stadium By Helen Gaye Brewster Photo by Mike Strasinger shops near a new stadium benefit, too, as evidenced by the bars, restaurants and shops near Bridgestone Arena and LP Field filled with fans on game days and nights. With the Sounds playing 72 home games a year, there would be a nice boost for businesses near a new stadium. Last year, the consulting firm Populous was hired to conduct a feasibility study that included analyzing potential sites and making recommendations for the location of a new stadium. Populous has worked on AAA parks such as Victory Field in Indianapolis, Autozone Park in Memphis, and Durham Bulls Athletic

Park in Durham, among others. In a press release from Mayor Karl Dean’s office dated Dec. 1, 2011, it was announced that the study narrowed potential locations to three sites: the East Bank of the Cumberland River, Sulphur Dell near Germantown, and the North Gulch area north of Charlotte Avenue . The study called the East Bank the site “that can produce impact on a grand scale,” and that development there “creates a new front door to downtown Nashville.” “I am especially intrigued by the East Bank site because it offers an opportunity for more than just a baseball stadium,” Mayor Dean said. “It could be the catalyst for a complete transformation of one of the last undeveloped, highly visible sections of our city’s skyline.” The Sounds also seem to favor the East Bank. Sounds owner Frank Ward said in a statement regarding the Populous site evaluation study, “We

owners of PSC, would say that the highest and best use of that land is a scrap metal recycling facility. Having said that, PSC has a solid business and benefits from the central location and the rail, river and interstate access that the location offers. Moving equipment and changing locations is an intimidating process for any business. That is particularly true for one that has been in one location for as long as PSC has. It’s not an easy process. “Mayor Dean believes that the Cumberland River is an underutilized asset of the city,” Johnson continued. “He has already made significant investments to improve the riverfront, including the Riverfront Master Plan and the newly opened Cumberland Park. The PSC property is ideally situated across the river from downtown, next door to LP Field and about half a mile from the Music City Center. Whether that land is developed as office, commercial, park, residential or retail space, there are any number of uses that would improve Davidson County’s tax base and the beauty and livability of our city.” East Nashville residents also would benefit from another family-friendly entertainment option. Triple A baseball games are an affordable outing compared to the cost of other professional sporting events, giving East Side families the chance to take the kids to a game without breaking the bank. The average cost for a family of four to attend a minor league baseball

game is $61.23, including tickets, hot dogs, sodas, a couple of beers and parking, according to MiLB.com, the official website of minor league baseball. Those prices compare favorably to the lowest price for a single ticket for a Titans game (around $45.00) or a Predators game (around $25.00.) With easy access from the East Side by walking, bike or bus, it would make attending professional sports affordable and convenient.

“I am especially intrigued by the East Bank site because it offers an opportunity for more than just a baseball stadium.” — Mayor Karl Dean It also would be a boost for businesses in East Nashville. For fans who want to grab a bite or a drink before or after a game, a quick glance at their smart phones would tell them there are bars and restaurants within minutes of the potential East Bank sites. It seems the matter now rests in the hands of the mayor. With the potential for enormous impact on East Nashville and signs from all sides pointing towards support of an East bank site, now is the time for East Side residents to ask Mayor Dean to step up to the plate for a new ballpark in East Nashville.

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Take Me Out to the Ballgame

are especially excited about possible sites for a new stadium on the East Bank. While there are other attractive sites, none offer as many pluses — ease of access, ready parking, and proximity to downtown are just a few. And the Sounds would be delighted to be part of Metro’s bold plan to develop and upgrade a significant piece of riverfront property.” What could a new Sounds ballpark mean for East Nashville? The lessthan-desirable appearance of PSC Metals adjacent to one of the major entrances to the neighborhood has long been bemoaned by East Side residents. The Populous study references more than one site on the East Bank, and while any East Bank location would be a positive for East Nashville as well as downtown, the possibility of a ballpark being built on the PSC Metals site is intriguing because it would create a long-desired change to the landscape. A new ballpark would change the face of East Nashville to visitors and residents accessing the East Side or downtown at the Shelby Avenue exit from the interstate. Improving the appearance of this entryway would create an even greater sense of pride in the neighborhood, and present an aesthetically pleasing look that showcases Nashville as the prosperous, visionary city that we are. When asked about the PSC site as a potential location, Bonna Johnson, press secretary to the mayor, said, “We don’t think that anyone, including the

The Sounds may soon be hosting their Pacific Coast League opponents at a new, state-of-the-art stadium on the East bank of the Cumberland River.

www.theeastn ashvillian.com

www.theeastnashvillian.com

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Cookin’ in the neighborhood kitchen

FEAST Together builds community one healthy, locally grown meal at a time

By Susannah Felts • Photos by Stacie Huckeba

FEAST Together’s Benjamin Surmi hopes to educate the group’s members about healthy cooking.

These kitchens offer a new way to bridge the gap between an area’s food producers and its consumers, occupying a space between café, CSA shares, and your own fridge and oven drew 55 member families. Surmi and Harrison, both of whom have professional cooking backgrounds, are developing a second neighborhood kitchen in East Nashville, which will likely operate out of the 6000-squarefoot kitchen at Compassion Nashville,

the transitional home for families run by the nonprofit organization Sophia’s Heart. The first of FEAST Together’s three primary goals is simply to “make it easier for people to eat healthy food that comes from our local farms,” Surmi says. Applying the CSA model to prepared meals gives people who aren’t so sure what to do with a box full of kale a way to eat locally grown, sustainable food at home. A second goal is community building and education. “People can volunteer to work alongside the chef to make the food,” Surmi explains. “You have the chance to work with some of the best chefs in our city and learn skills.” Third, and crucially, Surmi and Harrison envision FEAST Together as a way to not only bring high-quality, locally sourced, sustainably farmed

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ou know all about farmers’ markets and CSAs (community-supported agriculture). Now meet the latest trend on the front lines of the food revolution — communitysupported, or neighborhood, kitchens,. These kitchens offer a new way to bridge the gap between an area’s food producers and its consumers, occupying a space between café, CSA shares, and your own fridge and oven. Community residents can pick up and eat at home dishes or full meals made by local chefs from local, sustainably farmed ingredients. Residents also can volunteer to pitch in with the preparation and cooking of the meals, and/or take a cooking class with a local chef. In the past few years, the neighborhood kitchen concept has blossomed in ventures such as Salt, Fire & Time in Portland, Ore., Three Stone Hearth in Berkeley, and Sweet Deliverance in New York City. Now, Benjamin Surmi and Jenny Vaughn Harrison, cofounders of FEAST Together, are working hard to bring the concept to Nashville — but with a unique socialjustice angle. (FEAST is an acronym for Food Education Affirming Sustainable Traditions.) They plan to develop several neighborhood kitchens across the Nashville area, each supported by members in much the way CSA members buy shares of a farm’s seasonal harvest. Last fall, FEAST Together offered their first meal-membership program — a different culinary-themed meal to members each week, prepared by Chef Martha Stamps at her kitchen on West End. Their first offering

Cookin’ in the neighborhood kitchen

FEAST Together builds community one healthy, locally grown meal at a time

By Susannah Felts • Photos by Stacie Huckeba

FEAST Together’s Benjamin Surmi hopes to educate the group’s members about healthy cooking.

www.theeastnashvillian.com

food to those who prioritize ethical eating and can afford the oftenhigher cost of such meals — think of the restaurant-goers who suss out the source of their chicken on Portlandia — but also to underserved populations in the community. In theory, a member’s subscription not only pays for his meals, but allows FEAST Together to buy ingredients on a scale at which the same high-quality food can be offered, either at a subsidized rate or for free, to low-income community members and the homeless. (If it sounds like a pie-in-the-sky concept,

Thirth 37206 Local sponsors include:

Meanwhile, there is plenty cooking in the kitchen at Sophia’s Heart. As consultants to the organization, FEAST Together is providing meals and training in healthy cooking for the resident families. “Our job is to create a program that they can afford, that the people who live here will actually eat, and that is offering the healthiest possible food to them,” Surmi says. To that end, he realizes that esoteric fare like quinoa curry might not fly, so they’ve done “good, earthy soul food with good ingredients,” he says, such as local pork chops with green beans and mac and cheese, and for dessert, apple crisp made with maple syrup instead of sugar. On another night, the kitchen turned out roasted chicken with collard greens cooked with Benton’s bacon, corn bread made from scratch, and skin-on mashed potatoes. When the next FEAST Together membership meal program becomes a reality, Surmi hopes to see the lines blur between the food for the Sophia’s Heart families and the program members — all while keeping costs low as possible. “It’s going to tax our creativity to the max to pull it off, but I think we’ve got some really exciting strategies to involve the resident families,” he says. He imagines one resident saying to another, “Hey, we made quinoa today; you’ve gotta try it!”

East Nashville’s favorite block party is back for its 8th consecutive year! Bands at press time include: Elmo Buzz and the Eastside Bulldogs Off the Wagon Other bands TBA

Tuesday July 3rd from 6pm - 12am

$15 covers beer and entertainment and a portion of the proceeds will go to a local charity. Visit www.thethirth.com for more information

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Surmi makes guacamole as part of a demonstration involving Mexican cuisine.

look no further than Chicago’s First Slice, through which a single-family subscription also provides meals for 20 hungry people each month.) Earlier this spring, FEAST Together offered their second meal program through Martha Stamps Catering and attracted nearly 40 member families, who receive soup, entrée, stew, salad and bread each week, for the length of their membership. Stamps offers a new culinary theme each week, and members can also arrange to purchase locally grown and locally made ingredients at the kitchen when they pick up their meals. Surmi and Harrison now plan to create a similar membership-based meal program for the East side, which is where their venture was born, in a sense — the two first connected via the East Nashville listserv. While a few chefs have expressed interest in participating, the missing piece, so far, is an ample member base. “It requires a minimum number that will give the chef the stability to get started,” Surmi explains. “We have to have that commitment to allow the price to be low enough.” They’re considering a different model for East Nashville, one through which members have more flexibility in their choices each week, rather than one set meal. As the farmers market season ramps up, they hope to increase FEAST Together’s visibility and bring in a new crop of potential members.

THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 21

Thirth 37206 Local sponsors include:

East Nashville’s favorite block party is back for its 8th consecutive year! Bands at press time include: Elmo Buzz and the Eastside Bulldogs Off the Wagon Other bands TBA

Tuesday July 3rd from 6pm - 12am

$15 covers beer and entertainment and a portion of the proceeds will go to a local charity. Visit www.thethirth.com for more information

www.theeastnashvillian.com

Surmi makes guacamole as part of a demonstration involving Mexican cuisine.

THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 21

By Robbie D. Jones • Photo by Stacie Huckeba

www.theeastnashvillian.com

the old downtown Children’s Museum, forerunner of the Adventure Science Center. After graduating from East Nashville High School, Riggins-Ezell attended Belmont, Western Kentucky, and George Washington University. On staff at the TSM since 1975, in 1981 Governor Lamar Alexander appointed her museum director, a position she’s held ever since.

The Tennessee State Museum

“I love the tangible past, collecting it, interpreting it and passing it on to the future.” — JIM HOOBLER Riggins-Ezell’s zeal for history was fostered by the Southern tradition of storytelling by her neighbors and especially her grandmother, who shared family stories of the “War Between the States,” Jesse James, and the Bell Witch. “The older people in the neighborhood treasured their heritage as well as the community’s unique, funny, and colorful history,” she explains. “What makes East Nashville special is its resilient sense of community

teeming with energy, passion, and infinite possibilities.” The Tennessee State Museum’s senior curator for art and architecture is Jim Hoobler of Edgefield. A native of Atlanta who moved to Nashville in 1972, Hoobler holds degrees from University of Georgia and Vanderbilt University. During high school career counseling, Hoobler realized he should consider being a museum curator due to his interest in history, museums, and artifacts. “In fact, I went to museums before I was even old enough to go to kindergarten,” Hoobler says. “So, I have grown up and been in museums nearly my entire life. I love the tangible past, collecting it, interpreting it and passing it on to the future.” Hoobler is also directly involved with the restoration and interpretation of several of Nashville’s most iconic National Historic Landmarks, including the Tennessee State Capitol and the Downtown Presbyterian Church. Over the years he has served on numerous commissions and boards at the local, state and national levels. In 1986, he built a new townhouse on Russell Street in Edgefield, but he is currently renovating a 1920 Bungalow on Fatherland Street. “I love the walkability of Edgefield,” he says. “I have many restaurants to walk to, and have many neighbors who are good friends.” Another Atlanta native who calls East Nashville home is Wesley Paine, longtime museum director of The Parthenon at Centennial Park. Paine originally came to Nashville to attend Lipscomb University. “I had planned

Three guardians of Nashville’s culture in front of historic East High: (L-R) Jim Hoobler, Lois Riggins-Ezell and Marsha Mullin.

PHOTO (CENTER) BY LAUREN VANDERVELDE

ince ancient Athens, museums have served to safeguard cultural heritage. They serve as repositories for collections of art and historic artifacts. More often than not, the very buildings and sites housing museums are considered artifacts that should be protected. It’s no coincidence that Nashville — the Athens of the South — is blessed with a wide variety of museums, from one of America’s oldest presidential museums to one of its newest art museums. Perhaps it’s also no coincidence that many of the curators of these museums — the keepers of Nashville’s cultural heritage — call East Nashville home. We wanted to know why, so we asked them. Ironically, the city’s oldest museum is housed in one of the newest museum facilities. The Tennessee State Museum (TSM) traces its history to 1817 when local portrait artist Ralph E.W. Earl opened a museum on the Public Square. Over the years, the museum hopped around, landing in the basement of the War Memorial Auditorium in 1937 and then in the basement of the James K. Polk Building in 1981. A military branch museum still operates from War Memorial. A stalwart in the museum world, Lois Riggins-Ezell was born in East Nashville and grew up on Ordway in the Lockeland Springs neighborhood, where she still lives in a 106-year-old Folk Victorian next door to her childhood home. Riggins-Ezell became interested in pursuing museum studies after serving as a junior docent at

to make my living in theater, either acting-directing or teaching,” Paine says. “There just weren’t many jobs in the early 1970s, so when I was offered a job at Fort Nashborough in the fall of 1974, I saw possibilities for both teaching and doing theater in nontraditional ways.” As a result, Paine initiated a living history program at the city-owned historic site on the riverfront. Five years later, she was appointed director of The Parthenon, the city’s official museum, a job she has held ever since. “Watching people engage with The Parthenon and the collection — often to their surprise — is a huge rush,” she says. “I see it daily and it never fails to make me happy to be where I am, doing what I do. It reaffirms

how important museums are to the fabric of our lives.” Paine started out in Edgefield in 1979 in a home co-owned with her brother, but currently lives in a 102-year-old home she purchased in 1985 in Lockeland Springs. She was attracted to East Nashville due to the “beauty of the architecture and the fact that we could afford a house, even though it needed a lot of money and huge amounts of sweat equity. I learned much more about plaster walls, plumbing and HVAC than I ever wanted to know — and still don’t know enough, I think.” Nashville’s second oldest museum is located on a 1,120-acre plantation which was home to the guy on the 20 dollar bill — Andrew Jackson — from

1804 till his death in 1845. The State of Tennessee purchased The Hermitage from Jackson’s son in 1854, in order to preserve it as a shrine to “Old Hickory,” and in 1889 turned it over to the care of the Ladies’ Hermitage Association to operate as a nonprofit museum on behalf of the people of Tennessee. Today, The Hermitage is one of the country’s oldest and largest historic site museums, which attracts visitors from around the world. The chief curator and vice president of museum services at The Hermitage is Marsha Mullin of Edgefield. A native of Indiana with degrees from Indiana University, Notre Dame and Texas Tech, Mullin moved to Nashville in 1987 to work at The Hermitage, where she has led multiple restoration projects. She and a friend moved into a 1901 Folk Victorian on Boscobel since “East Nashville seemed affordable and reasonably convenient for commuting.” They were attracted to the Edgefield neighborhood since they “both worked in historical-related professions and loved old houses,” Mullin explains. “When we first moved in we met several elderly former residents — either they dropped by and just knocked on the door or they came on the annual home tour,” she says. “They were always thrilled that the house was being taken care of.” Mullin compared living in East Nashville to the small towns of her youth. “I love the diversity, the walkability and the architecture.” While most historic house museums tell the stories of rich and powerful men, Nashville boasts an exception with Belmont Mansion, which tells the story of Adelicia Acklen — one of the city’s most famous women. Nashville’s version of Scarlett O’Hara, Acklen called Belmont home from 1853 to 1887 when she sold the Italianate Villastyle estate, that became a girls school which eventually evolved into Belmont University. In 1972, the university created the Belmont Mansion Association for restoring the hilltop mansion and operating it as a nonprofit museum. The person responsible for safeguarding Belmont Mansion for the past quarter century is Mark Brown of Lockeland Springs. Brown became

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The keepers of Nashville’s cultural heritage

By Robbie D. Jones • Photo by Stacie Huckeba

www.theeastnashvillian.com

The Tennessee State Museum

Three guardians of Nashville’s culture in front of historic East High: (L-R) Jim Hoobler, Lois Riggins-Ezell and Marsha Mullin.

PHOTO (CENTER) BY LAUREN VANDERVELDE

www.theeast nashvillian.com

The keepers of Nashville’s cultural heritage

interested in museum work during his undergraduate years at Belmont, working at the mansion as a student, which inspired him to switch majors from education to history. “From the very beginning, I wanted to work in house museums,” Brown explains. “I enjoy researching the people, the customs, the way that everyday life was lived. I’m fascinated by the history of interiors and the decorative arts.” After moving to Nashville from Knoxville, where he directed Blount Mansion, Brown was introduced to East Nashville by attending St. Anne’s Episcopal Church. He soon purchased a Neoclassical cottage built in 1905. “Lockeland Springs was not the ‘in’ place to live back then,” he says. “Now,

it seems East Nashville is such a hip place to live I am not sure I am cool enough to live here anymore,” he adds with a laugh. Combined, these five keepers of the city’s cultural heritage have nearly 175 years of professional experience at their respective institutions, and have done more than their part in making Nashville a better place to live, work and play. Can you imagine Nashville without Belmont Mansion or The Hermitage? With no Parthenon, no Tennessee State Museum? These five East Nashvillians have not only shaped the city’s culture, but have volunteered their time and skills to help preserve and restore their own historic homes and neighborhoods, leading the way for others to follow.

The Parthenon

The Belmont Mansion

the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau and Bob Schatz.

The Hermitage

PHOTOS (TOP & CENTER) BY LAUREN VANDERVELDE; PHOTO (BOTTOM) courtesy of

“Watching people engage with The Parthenon and the collection — often to their surprise — is a huge rush.” — WESLEY PAINE

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The Parthenon

The Belmont Mansion

the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau and Bob Schatz.

The Hermitage

PHOTOS (TOP & CENTER) BY LAUREN VANDERVELDE; PHOTO (BOTTOM) courtesy of

“Watching people engage with The Parthenon and the collection — often to their surprise — is a huge rush.” — WESLEY PAINE

Christian Paro | 615.517.1589 | christian@parosouth.com | www.parosouth.com

615.383.4848 COMMUNITY@WATKINS.EDU

An East Nashvillian in Hollywood Elizabeth Cook’s star is on the rise

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By Daryl Sanders PHOTOS BY STACIE HUCKEBA

An East Nashvillian in Hollywood Elizabeth Cook’s star is on the rise

❂ www.theeastn ashvillian.co m

By Daryl Sanders PHOTOS BY STACIE HUCKEBA

AN EAST NASHVIL LIAN IN HOLLYWOOD

in early April, critically acclaimed Americana recording artist and popular satellite radio disk jockey Elizabeth Cook is relaxing on the sofa in the sunlit living room of her East Nashville home. Cook, who is sharing a cup of coffee with a visitor, has just returned from a business trip to Los Angeles. “It’s an exciting town,” she says. “But it’s a working town, everybody’s working all the time, and there’s a ton of opportunity; as to where Nashville is so small it feels like much more of an insider’s game here. So, it’s really fun to step into it out there. “I love my home here,” she adds, “but I love the energy of L.A.” The neo-country songstress has made several trips to L.A. in recent months which have resulted in representation

Cook’s comic commentary attracts a quarter of a million listeners a day to her Sirius satellite radio show. THE EAST NASHVILLIAN

by the Paradigm agency in Beverly Hills and deals with several television production companies and a major network. She has read for some sitcoms, and there even has been discussion of her hosting a talk show. “Something, somehow, somewhere will hopefully manifest itself in the form of television,” she says and laughs. “But I don’t know what it’s going to be yet. “What’s important to me about my Hollywood opportunities is that I really don’t want to do something that just cops out, I really don’t,” she continues. “I may find I have to a little bit to get the access I need to do something a little weightier like Louie on FX, which is an important show to me.” “It’s difficult, apparently, for there to be complicated women on TV — complicated in that she is going to look

this way, but say something from this perspective, sounding like this,” she explains. “All the women in sitcoms it seems are just one-dimensional, they’re there so men can bop around them like idiots and be funny. And they’re always the straight man. Or they’re just cracking dick jokes. “It seems to be the consensus [of her L.A. business associates] that there’s an opportunity there for somebody to represent the female set who would have a few more layers ... a more fully formed character.” That somebody, of course, could be Cook, whose slender, blonde good looks and Southern accent, half drawl and half twang, belie her sharp intelligence and her educational and business background. She isn’t at liberty to say who she has read for, but a recurring creative theme being discussed is the “fish out of water” concept featuring a country girl in the city. “The part of it that interests me the most is the opportunity to do some acting,” says Cook, who has been working with acting coaches in Nashville and L.A.

❂ It’s midmorning a few weeks later and Cook is holding court on Elizabeth Cook’s Apron Strings, her four-hour show on Sirius Radio Network’s Outlaw Country channel. After IDing the song which preceded the break, Cook tells her listeners about a new, expensive lotion she recently purchased called “Dead Sexy.” “I can rub this lotion on me and I can feel men wantin’ to jump on me,” she quips. The beautiful and talented Cook, who has never needed lotion or anything else to make men want to jump on her, long has been recognized for her prowess as a vocalist and songwriter; most recently for her critically acclaimed album, Welder, produced by rock heavyweight Don Was. The album earned Cook three 2011 Americana Music Association Honors and Awards nominations, matching rock legend Robert Plant for the most noms. But it is her popular satellite radio show that has catapulted the natural-born comedienne from the stage of the Grand Ole Opry to the sets of late-night network talk shows — and beyond. Although they are recorded in advance, Cook’s segments feel live and spontaneous, like a running stream-of-consciousness commentary on not only the music, but her own life, such as her thoughts on the Dead Sexy lotion she bought, or her tongue-in-cheek observation about a “mama bird” carrying “bugs and worms” back-and-forth all day long to newly hatched babies in a nest outside her window — “That’s what you get, you little slut.” After setting up a new track from The Mavericks, she jokingly adds, “You know they have some good Cuban blow,“ a nod to lead singer Raul Malo’s ancestry. Later, she refers to Lorrie Morgan as “a hot piece of country ass.” She introduces a collaboration between Jack White and Tom Jones on the Willie Dixon classic “Evil” with a description of the two men — White with black shirt buttoned to the neck and pale skin contrasted by Jones with white blouse open to the waist revealing “oiled and tanned” skin and gold chains. She concludes the intro by saying “but they settled their fashion differences” in time to record the song. Cook shares new recipes and even makes up words, something she says she likes to do. On this morning, she combines the words projectile and trajectory to come up with “trajectile.” “It’s pretty close to live,” she says about recording her voice tracks for the show she’s hosted for the past four years. “No more than a day out, sometimes morning of. It’s never that far out.” When she first hosted the show, she went to Sirius’s Nashville studio every day to record her parts. But her busy touring schedule soon made that impossible, so she records her voice tracks on a laptop with a “$50 mike from Guitar Center,” then uploads to the network’s secure servers from wherever she might be. Cook’s show attracts at least a quarter of a million listeners a day — including much to her surprise, David Letterman.

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On a warm afternoon

AN EAST NASHVIL LIAN IN HOLLYWOOD

Cook’s comic commentary attracts a quarter of a million listeners a day to her Sirius satellite radio show. THE EAST NASHVILLIAN

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On a warm afternoon

AN EAST NASHVIL LIAN IN HOLLYWOOD

recording of my part, but so that the directors could be talking to me over the phone into my headphones while I was in the vocal booth, sort of coaching me along,” she explains. “So it’s an interesting process, I’d never done anything like that before. Then they contacted me to give them another version of their theme song, which was really cool, too.” She went into the studio and recorded four versions of the show’s main theme, which features the lyrics: “My dreams are all dead and buried/Sometimes I wish the sun would just explode/When God comes and calls me to his kingdom/I’ll take all you sons of bitches when I go.” “I did what I call a pitiful-billy, a rockabilly one and a hillbilly one, several different grooves, I gave them four versions,” she says. They used the rockabilly version to open the episode in which she appeared. The show creators (Dave Willis, Jim Fortier) liked her performance as Tammi so much, they approached her about appearing in additional episodes. “She was great,” Willis says. “Her voice was really perfect.” “I can confirm I’ll be appearing on Squidbillies again,” she says with a laugh. Cook has agreed to provide the voice for Tammi in future episodes.

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For all the incredible highs she has experienced in the past year, Cook recently had one extremely low moment — the loss of her father, Tom Cook, who passed away in March after being diagnosed with lung cancer. Fortunately, she was able to be with him at the time of his death. “He died in a total bear hug in mine and my sister’s arms,” she recalls. “I’m so fortunate that I came off the road when I did. I was a 24-hour-a-day nursemaid for two weeks, and it was a great comfort to him.” Her father was released from the hospital on a Friday night a couple of weeks before his death, and on the way back to his home, he was listening to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio. “Riding down I-40 on a stormy night with my dad in transport sitting there breathing oxygen and [Opry announcer] Eddie Stubbs comes over and talks to Daddy and says, ‘We want to wish Mr. Cook a speedy recovery and we hope to see him backstage at the Opry real soon,’” she recalls. “Then they sent a big basket to him on Monday full of Moon Pies and stuff like that — so sweet.” Cook is quick to credit the Opry, and general manager Pete Fisher in particular, as an ongoing source of support throughout her career. “The Opry — the continuum of having that outlet through the whole thing has been very quietly, in an understated way, but absolutely the strongest thread — it gave me a platform to sing,” she says. “I couldn’t come out and do the current hit of the day because it wasn’t me, so I’d do an old country song, or do a Jessi Colter song or something the Opry audience understood that I also thought was cool.”

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Cook hits the road again in May for a couple of months of dates with her band, which includes her husband, singersongwriter-guitarist Tim Carroll. On June 7, Cook and company will be back in Nashville for a headlining date at The Station Inn. Then after two nights in New York City at City Winery on June 11-12, she will return to Late Night With David Letterman on June 13 as the musical guest. “It’s a perplexing time for me, it’s not easy,” she says of the whirlwind of attention surrounding her at this moment in her life. “I’m very excited and feel like Alice in Wonderland when I get a phone call and it’s David Letterman when my dad was dying calling to check on me.” Even if Cook ends up with a house in the Hollywood Hills, she envisions continuing to live in East Nashville. “I think so, yeah, I don’t see that changing,” she says and laughs. “At least part-time, which it’s part-time now anyway, you know. We’re on the road all the time and when I’m off the road, I’m in L.A. a lot. “But I love coming home,” she continues. “I have all my haunts and shops here, and it just keeps getting better. I love my yard and my house, and it’s where my friends are. I love East Nashville.”

Tim Carroll, shown here performing at The Family Wash, has just released his seventh full-length studio album.

Singer-songwriter- guitarist returns with his mostfocused album to date

red-and-black woodblock print of Tim Carroll’s face hangs on the living room wall of the East Nashville home Carroll shares with his wife Elizabeth Cook. The word “Rock” runs across the top of the print and the word “Man” runs across the bottom. “Rock Man” — there is probably no more apt description of the singer-songwriter-guitarist. Although he wasn’t an original member, Carroll got his start in the legendary Indiana proto-punk outfit, The Gizmos. After moving to New York City in the early ‘90s, he fronted the city’s seminal roots rock group, The Blue Chieftains, who recorded for the Deisel Only label. When the band broke up in 1993, Carroll made his way to Music City, eventually landing a deal in the late ’90s with Sire Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Carroll is most visible these days performing and recording with rising star Cook, but the former major label rocker is still making his own records and recently released his seventh fulllength album, Look Out, on Gulcher Records. It is his first release since 2009’s All Kinds of Pain, which the label also released. Cook has toured extensively the last few years, so Carroll hasn’t had a lot of time to work on his own music, but he makes the most of any downtime he has. “Every time we’d come home for a couple of days, I’d just go for it and dig into my writing and my recording, which I kind of do at the same time nowadays,” he says. “Actually, I didn’t even realize I was making a record as much as I was. I was doing it because I just like to keep writing and playing and recording.” “Oddly enough, even though I did it at home and pretty much engineered it myself, for the most part, I think it might be my best record,” he continues. “Right now, I really like it.”

The album is arguably Carroll’s most-focused song cycle, which he attributes in part to the abundance of material he had to choose from for the album. “I probably had 25 recordings going or something like that,” he says. “Then when I was trying to whittle down my record, I just made difficult decisions and dropped certain songs, thinking, ‘No, that one is not quite right, not quite good enough — close but no cigar.’” Look Out, which hit stores on March 27, features “incredibly good drumming” from a pair of familiar drummers, Marco Giovino and Rick Schell. Giovino handled all the drumming on All Kinds of Pain and Schell was the drummer on the two records that came out of the Sire deal. Keyboardist Tim Atwood, who worked with Carroll on 2008‘s The Devil Is A Busy Man, contributed piano, organ and accordion to the album. But for all the great accompaniment, the success of the record is built upon the artist’s songwriting and adept guitar work. “I think he’s brilliant,” says Cook, who added backing vocals to a few tracks. “The closest person I can think of is Freddie King in the sense that when he plays a guitar solo, it’s almost another verse, because he talks, his guitar licks make words to me and I feel like he’s really talking,” Cook says. “He never plays the same solo twice, ever, ‘cause it’s that pure.” For more information or to purchase Look Out, go to gulcher.bigcartel.com or iTunes. — Daryl Sanders

THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 31

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After listening to the show for five months, Letterman dug Apron Strings so much he invited her to be a guest last August on Late Night With David Letterman; to sit and talk about her radio show, Welder and more. It was a big moment for the East Nashville resident and she 360-slam-dunked it. Stylishly dressed in a long-sleeved black dress and black boots, Cook came on the set as Paul Shaffer and “The World’s Most Dangerous Band” were playing the verse from The Four Tops hit ‘I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)” that mentions “apron strings.” She had the host and his studio audience howling from the moment she sat down, regaling them with stories about her music, producing her radio show while on tour and her unusual family and upbringing. But the signature moment came in an exchange near the end of her 15-minute appearance. After Letterman, who had been on vacation the previous week, asked Cook if she was currently on tour, she told him, “Not at the moment, ... I’ve been on vacation, too.” “Oh, good, good for you,” he said laughing, then asked, “No fatwas,” in reference to the death sentence conveyed on him the previous week by a jihadist website for making jokes about al-Qaeda leaders. “Do what — nooooh,” Cook said, “I don’t eat that,” which left Letterman speechless and the audience roaring with laughter and applauding. Cook followed the Letterman appearance with a guest spot on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson in October. Prior to those two guest slots, she had never appeared on any of the late night talk shows, even as a performer. Some high points from her appearance on Ferguson’s show: • On what she considers hot in a man: “Well, he can’t be prettier than me, you know. And I don’t like guys who get manicures.” • On if she likes rattlesnakes: “As accessories.” • On if she has a bus for her band: “It’s not that sexy, it’s like minivan hell.” Also in October, she appeared in an episode of the Adult Swim animated series Squidbillies, infamous for its twisted portrayal of life in the Appalachian Mountains of northern Georgia and featuring a family of hillbillies who are squids, a not-so-subtle metaphor for inbreeding. The show has become home to hip singer-songwriters, such as Todd Snider, Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch and Jason Isbell, and celebrated Southern rockers, like Widespread Panic, Jason & The Scorchers, and Drive-By Truckers. Even the leading man, make that leading squid, Early Cuyler, is played by a musician, the incomparable Unknown Hinson. The invitation to appear on Squidbillies came after someone from the show attended a live performance by her in Atlanta. “One day they called out of the blue and said they had a guest role, they wanted me to do an acting part, and I was thrilled,” she recalls. Cook provided the voice for Tammi, the pregnant teenage girlfriend of the family’s teenage son, Rusty Cuyler, in an episode called “Keeping It In The Family Way.” She recorded Tammi’s parts at Blackbird studios. “We had to find a place that had the ISDN capability so they could not only get a good

Tim Carroll knows good rock from bad

AN EAST NASHVIL LIAN IN HOLLYWOOD

❂ 18

❂

Tim Carroll, shown here performing at The Family Wash, has just released his seventh full-length studio album.

Singer-songwriter- guitarist returns with his mostfocused album to date

THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 31

www.theeastnashvillian.com

www.theeastn ashvillian.com

Tim Carroll knows good rock from bad

Anthony Viglietti Riverside Drive’s best friend By Melanie Meadows

own small city and Viglietti worked as the electrical system manager. “The monastery gave me both a spiritual life and a way to use my talent for electrical work, something I had been interested in since I was a child,” Viglietti says. After several years at St. Meinrad, he worked at a monastery in Louisiana, then decided

he no longer wanted to be a monk. One of his sisters lived in Franklin, so he relocated to the Nashville area and started his career at Nashville Electric Service (NES), where he still works as senior energy services specialist. Viglietti is an EPA Energy Star and HERS (Home Energy Rating System) Rater and a LEED for Homes Green

About Riverside Drive • I t is illegal to dump trash or yard waste on the median, and it is illegal to park on the median. Metro police officers have been instructed to write citations to drivers of cars parked on the median. •R iverside Drive is the only community road in Nashville that is dedicated to the memory of war veterans from World War I and II, and the Korean War. Friends of Riverside would like to see the plaques updated to include veterans from subsequent wars and military conflicts (Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.).

•F rom the 1940s to the 1970s, the median was filled with irises, poppies, ornamental trees and other lush greenery. • The 1998 tornado destroyed many of the trees and other landscaping on Riverside Drive. •F riends of Riverside Drive is a charity whose sole purpose is to raise funds for the care and upkeep of Riverside Drive. •S ince 2009, over 70 Yoshino cherry trees have been planted on Riverside Drive.

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ext time you drive down Riverside Drive, take a moment to notice the cherry trees. It’s hard to miss them in the spring when their lovely pink blooms seem to be exploding all around. Or next time you visit the Inglewood Kroger, take a moment to notice the space on Gallatin Road over by CSX railroad overpass. You’ll see the Inglewood sign and some nicely landscaped space around it. It’s clear that someone took the time and effort to make sure when people pass through Inglewood, they know they are entering a unique community. That someone is Anthony (Tony) Viglietti. An energetic, lean man who is quick to flash a wide grin, Viglietti has been an active member of the Inglewood and East Nashville communities since he moved to the East side of the river in 1986. He was born in Memphis in 1949 to Italian immigrants — truck farmers who migrated to West Tennessee from the northern part of Italy to farm the rich riverbed soil. Viglietti, his two sisters and younger brother were raised in a traditional Italian Catholic family. He attended parochial school, studied to become a priest and then entered the Benedictine monastery at St. Meinrad in southern Indiana. Founded by Swiss-German monks in 1854, the St. Meinrad monastery operated as its

Anthony Viglietti Riverside Drive’s best friend By Melanie Meadows

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Viglietti (far left) joins other neighborhood volunteers at a recent tree-planting event on Riverside Drive.

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Rater for the U.S. Green Building Council. Soon after purchasing a condo in Green Hills, he became active in his new neighborhood, serving as vice president and, later, president of the condo association. He also served as vice president for Woodmont East Neighbors. “I came about my community activism naturally,” Viglietti says with a smile. He shares a 1935 photo of a group of Italian men, all wearing suits and Fedoras, standing proudly in front of a produce truck marked “Shelby County Grower’s Association,” and points out both his paternal and maternal grandfathers are pictured as two of the founders of the organization, which has become an institution in Shelby County. In the spirit of his grandfathers, Viglietti has been quick to take a leadership role in his community. He moved to Inglewood in 1986, a neighborhood that a trusted friend told him was “the best kept secret in Nashville” and soon joined Riverwood Neighborhood Alliance, the organization that later became Inglewood Neighborhood Association (INA). At first, he was an at-large member of INA and chaired the beautification committee. When CSX refused to clean up the overpass at Gallatin Road, Viglietti rolled up his sleeves and got to work, leading the effort to turn an eyesore into a neatly

landscaped median. He served as vice president and president of INA before founding the organization that is his passion today — Friends of Riverside Drive.

Restoring Riverside Drive Nicknamed “Double Drive” by longtime residents because of the median that separates the two lanes, Riverside Drive picks up from Greenfield Avenue (the street beside 18 the Inglewood Kroger) andw continues through Inglewood, crossing McGavock, Porter and Eastwood Avenues, ending up at the entrance to Shelby Park. According to an article published by The Tennessean in 1971, Riverside Drive was dedicated as a memorial to World War I veterans during the 1930s when the American Legion planted poppies and irises in the median. Also in the ’30s, the late Louise Fort, mother of famous World War II pilot Cornelia Fort, donated a generous number of irises and peonies and planted them in the median strip in front of her home. During the World War II years, maintenance of the landscaping waned, but it was rededicated in 1959 through efforts led by the Urban Beautification Committee and other community groups. There are two memorial plaques along Riverside Drive, one near Shelton

Avenue and the other near Shelby Park, marking the median’s purpose as a living memorial to war veterans. Many older Inglewood residents recall the median being filled with ornamental trees and flowers in the ’40s, ‘50s and ‘60s. In those days, even the children walking to school knew to treat the median respectfully, never trampling the flowers. It was lush with greenery including dogwoods, magnolias and spruces all the way into the 1970s. Over time, the carefully tended landscaping was destroyed by storms, carelessness and neglect. Flowers no longer bloomed in the median and people began parking cars and even dumping trash and yard waste there. To Viglietti, it was a call to action. His employer, NES, was involved in efforts to replace trees that had been cut back or removed to provide clearance for power lines, so he began working with the utility and local environmental organizations to get trees for Riverside Drive. In 2009, Cumberland River Compact gave Inglewood 10 dogwood trees as part of ReLeaf Nashville, an annual tree-planting event sponsored by NES, the National Tree Foundation and the Metro Beautification and Environment Commission. The purpose of the event is to replace trees removed or trimmed by NES to keep them out of the power lines. NES purchases the trees and the Nashville

July 8-11

6:00pm-8:00pm Babylon, Daniel’s Courage in Captivity, is a Vacation Bible School program at Nashville First Church of the Nazarene for children ages three - fifth grade. Kids will join Daniel in Babylon as they explore exotic sights and smells through skits, crafts, games, music, and small group lessons. Children and adults will find that they are not much different from Daniel and his friends! Children will receive a free t-shirt. A CD of the VBS music will be available for a suggested donation of $5.

Space

iS limited, So regiSter now at:

www.nfcn.org/VBS n a S h v i l l e

firST church of the 510 woodland St., nashville, Tn 37206

n azarene

www.nfcn.org • ( 615 ) 255 - 1289

Continued on page 37

THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 35

Viglietti (far left) joins other neighborhood volunteers at a recent tree-planting event on Riverside Drive.

www.th eeastnashvillian.co m

landscaped median. He served as vice president and president of INA before founding the organization that is his passion today — Friends of Riverside Drive.

July 8-11

Space

iS limited, So regiSter now at:

www.nfcn.org/VBS n a S h v i l l e

firST church of the 510 woodland St., nashville, Tn 37206

n azarene

www.nfcn.org • ( 615 ) 255 - 1289

Continued on page 37

THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 35

Continued from page 34

Tree Foundation solicits neighbors to plant the trees in their yards. In 2010, after being appointed to the Beautification and Environment Commission, Viglietti attended the Nashville Cherry Blossom Festival and forged a relationship with the JapanAmerica Society of Tennessee. Cherry blossoms, or sakura, have been the symbol of U.S.-Japan friendship since the mayor of Tokyo donated 3,000 cherry trees to Washington, D.C. in 1912. Building on that tradition, the Nashville Cherry Blossom Festival’s mission is to plant 1,000 cherry trees — 100 trees every spring for 10 years — to beautify the landscape and provide a backdrop for the annual festival. Viglietti was interested in finding a way to bring this concept to Inglewood, which is how the Riverside Blossom Festival was born. In the spring of each year, Inglewood’s Riverside Village hosts the Riverside Blossom Festival, where neighbors come together to celebrate spring and new life in the community.

“I came about my community activism naturally” This year, the festival will be held May 12 and will feature music, shopping and kids’ activities, as well as local food and beverages. More than half of all proceeds from the festival will go to Friends of Riverside Drive, whose official mission is: To raise awareness in the Nashville community of the only community drive dedicated as a living memorial to those who fought in World War I, World War II and the Korean War; to restore the dignity, solemnity and beauty of this drive by the continued planting of Yoshino Cherry trees, planting of red poppies (the emblem of World War I) and formal landscaping of the entire median; and to provide for its care in perpetuity. “The sole purpose of Friends of

Riverside is to raise funds to support this mission,” Viglietti explains. “We are excited to have 15 board members, including attorneys, councilmen, landscapers, a judge and a local historian, to help guide us as we continue improving this unique road.” This spring is an exciting time for beautification efforts in Inglewood and Nashville as a whole. Viglietti is in the process of establishing Friends of Riverside as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. He’s working on a fundraising campaign through a new program called Groupon Grassroots. In addition, Nashville was one of 10 cities chosen to participate in Keep America Beautiful, a National Day of Action, with large-scale cleanups and other coordinated events on April 28. So if you see a lean man with a shovel standing in the median on Riverside Drive, it’s probably Tony Viglietti. Just like his grandfathers, he’s digging in, organizing and trying to make his community better for future generations.

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By Carole Anne King The East Side is no stranger to festivals — the more the merrier as they say. Whether your thing is food, music, arts & crafts, or just playing in the sunshine, there are plenty of options to stave off boredom this year. So get outside and forget your cares and remember — eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we may die. — The Editor

Riverside Blossom Festival

ks oo ile ! , N ob Gift

Continued on page 40

We've got gifts for Mother's Day, Father's Day and graduation!

neighborhood activist, is president 18 and executive director of local nonprofit Friends of Riverside Drive. Since 2009, more than 90 cherry trees have been planted up and down Riverside Drive’s grassy median. This year’s festival boasts two music stages featuring music for everyone, from bluegrass and county to rock and Americana. The Electric Stage, sponsored by Sweetwater Brewery and located in the Village Pub & Beer Garden parking lot, will feature swing band Eight O’ Five Jive, The Bluegrass Playboys, pub regulars The Broken Sparrows and Pageant. The Acoustic Stage, located down the alley behind the Riverside Village Courtyard, will present singer-songwriters Cory and Jess, Joe Carpenter, Sarah Lou Richards, Roger Jokela, Leslie Rodriguez and Breaux Gargano. For more information visit www. facebook.com/#!/riversideblossomfest or www.riversideblossomfest.com

he name almost says it all. fEASTival Nashville is dedicated to the food, music and culture of East Nashville, and is a veritable feast, a cornucopia if you will, of the best that the East Side has to offer. The free festival is Saturday, May 19 from noon until 11 p.m. at East Park, the hub for all activities. So don’t forget to bring along your lawn chairs and blankets to stake your own hub for the day’s lineup. “The day will be filled with music, food, art and a kids’ area. Festival goers can expect to see over 15 music artists, be able to taste some great food from over 20 food vendors, browse through over 30 art and unique vendor booths, enjoy performance art and a local art installation,” says co-event coordinator Julie Trull. A sampling of fEASTival Nashville 2012 includes: The Kidzone, presented by YMCA artEMBRACE, will have activities for families as well as offer for purchase art created by the children in their program. Entertainment confirmed at press time includes Buffalo Clover, Dirt Heavy, The Lowry Sisters, Tesla Rossa, Vinyl Thief and The Lonely H. Looking to try new cuisine or restaurants you haven’t gotten to yet? You’re in luck. East Nashville restaurants will be serving their signature items at a discounted price during fEASTival. The festival’s Art Village will showcase local artists and craftsman, art demonstrations and hands-on, how-to opportunities for festival-goers. Fashion Bytes, Inc. will put on a fashion show in the evening. Featured contributors include Old Made Good, The Hip Zipper and Goodbuy Girls with hair and makeup by Studio Green Organic Salon. There’s even a festival after party. Bar 308, located at 407 Gallatin Avenue, will host the no-cover gathering. For more information, visit www.bar308.com.

l M ht nd st Ki o Rig o B & the t Ge

www.theeastnashvillian.com

ast year, it sported a different name and an earlier date that proved more than a little frosty, but the 2012 Riverside Blossom Festival promises, in the words of its director Tracy Hamilton, “to be bigger and warmer than last year.” Formerly the Inglewood Cherry Blossom Festival , the renamed and retrofitted event will take place May 12 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Riverside Village, the burgeoning East Nashville neighborhood business community at Riverside Drive and McGavock Pike. Expect the area to be bursting with craftspeople and artisans, jewelry makers, painters and sculptors, local musicians, children’s activities, and local food and drink. This season’s fluffy, pink blooms may be long gone, but nonetheless, the festival is both a joyful celebration of springtime and the blossoming of Inglewood and surrounding neighborhoods as wonderful places to live, work and play. A portion of the festival proceeds will benefit restoration of Riverside Drive to its original beauty and purpose as a memorial to war veterans. “The whole purpose behind doing the festival is to help us continue planting Yoshino cherry trees, to raise awareness of the significance of Riverside Drive and bring back a boulevard worthy of the memorial,” explains Anthony Viglietti, who is widely considered to be the heart and soul behind the mission of the festival. Viglietti, a 28-year resident of Inglewood and a longtime

fEASTival Nashville

Tablets, SmartPhones, Stereo Systems, Turntables, Police Scanners, and more. PHOTO BY MELANIE MEADOWS

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Riverside Blossom Festival

ks oo ile ! , N ob Gift

Continued on page 40

We've got gifts for Mother's Day, Father's Day and graduation!

l M ht nd st Ki o Rig o B & the t Ge

www.theeastnashvillian.com

fEASTival Nashville

Tablets, SmartPhones, Stereo Systems, Turntables, Police Scanners, and more. PHOTO BY MELANIE MEADOWS

From Spring through Summer, festivals bloom across East Nashville

Get it Fixed Right! Amplifiers, Turntables, T.V.s and more. Serving Nashville for 41 years and Counting.

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Continued from page 38

he aptly named Thirth of July is the place to get a headstart on your patriotic partying. Now in its eighth year, this mustattend neighborhood get-together takes place Tuesday, July 3 at North 12th Street between Calvin and Ordway. And by “neighborhood” we mean “everyone’s invited,” although the focus is on East Nashville residents and neighbors. “It’s a great way to meet your neighbors and experience all that East Nashville has to offer,” says chief instigator and event coordinator Chris Thompson, who started the event with friends on his front lawn simply to have a good time before the Fourth. From its humble beginnings, it has grown quite a bit over the years. More recent celebrations have drawn more than a 1,000 people from all over Nashville, in cluding rock stars, politicians and even a few Westsiders, “but there’s plenty of room for everyone,” Thompson says. A $15 cover charge per person takes care of the beer (provided by Yazoo), the expenses and the bigname entertainment (always with an East Nashville connection). Although the event started with a potluck, it got too big to provide food so Chris encourages everyone to “please bring cash for burgers, dogs, and other food items.” Headliner Elmo Buzz and the Eastside Bulldogs (Todd Snider’s side project which includes Elizabeth cook and Tim Carroll) and bluegrass group Off the Wagon are the two acts already confirmed for for the event. For more information, check the new website www.thethirth.com (currently under construction). The party starts at 5 p.m. and there will be burgers, hotdogs, BBQ, bands — and surely some dancing in the streets — until midnight. A portion of the proceeds will go to a yet-to-be-named nonprofit.

Music City Hot Chicken Festival

Photography exhibit and silent auction

alling all hot chicken lovers. The 2012 Music City Hot Chicken Festival is looking for 10,000 heat-seeking, hungry souls to feast on this Nashville-original culinary tradition. The free annual celebration takes place Wednesday, July 4 at East Park. The first 500 people will score free hot chicken samples from Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack, 400 Degrees, Pepperfire Hot Chicken, and Bolton’s Spicy Chicken & Fish. But there is no need for latecomers to go without; they will find plenty of the hot bird for sale in the food garden. The fest also features an amateur cooking contest, the Yazoo Brewery beer garden, bouncy inflatables for the kids and lots of great local music. For more information visit www.musiccityhotchickfestival.com. This year’s festival benefits the Friends of Shelby, a private, 501(3), nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation, protection, enhancement and stewardship of Shelby Park and Shelby Bottoms. Visit www.friendsofshelby.org for more information.

Sunday, May 20, 5-8 p.m. Holy Name Church, 521 Woodland Street Donations will benefit Holy Name’s Haiti ministry Photographs by East Nashvillian contributor Theresa Laurence For more information: Theresa.Laurence@yahoo.com

POCKET PARK SOCIAL

Fun in the summer sun

ot to be outdone, the latest entry to neighborhood groups on the East Side, The Shelby Hills Neighborhood Association, will be hosting its Pocket Park Social on Saturday, May 12th from 11 :00a.m. until 1 :00p.m. The event will be held at the “pocket park” located at the corner of 14th Street and Shelby Avenue. Featuring music by The Blackfoot Gypsies and a visit by The Trunk mobile boutique, the Pocket Park Social will be a terrific opportunity to meet neighbors and find out more about the SHNA.

can include barking up the right tree. TOP PHOTO BY STACEY IRVIN, BOTTOM PHOTO PROVIDED BY CHRIS THOMPSON.

THIRTH OF JULY

Haiti: Searching for Beauty in a Broken Land

Your friendly neighborhood solar installer To learn more about solar energy: www.SundogSolarEnergy.com For a free site consultation: info@SundogSolarEnergy.com 615-650-0540

Continued from page 38

Music City Hot Chicken Festival

Photography exhibit and silent auction

POCKET PARK SOCIAL

Fun in the summer sun

can include barking up the right tree. TOP PHOTO BY STACEY IRVIN, BOTTOM PHOTO PROVIDED BY CHRIS THOMPSON.

THIRTH OF JULY

Haiti: Searching for Beauty in a Broken Land

Your friendly neighborhood solar installer To learn more about solar energy: www.SundogSolarEnergy.com For a free site consultation: info@SundogSolarEnergy.com 615-650-0540

You can find a bit of everything on the East Nashville listserv By Theresa Laurence Illustration by Dean Tomasek

he East Nashville listserv, the online hub of the neighborhood, is the place to be if you want to find a lost dog, a reliable plumber or sell your old couch. You can announce your band’s next gig, review a new restaurant or garner support for a community service project. That is how the vast majority of the East Nashville Google group’s nearly 7,000 registered members use the listserv. But for a small, vocal cadre of neighbors, the listserv is where to go for stimulating conversation, heated debates and the occasional knockdown, drag-out fight over everything from neighborhood zoning regulations to sharia law. “There’s not a lot of rules on the listserv, which drives some people absolutely batty, but generally things take care of themselves,” listserv creator and moderator Laura Creekmore says When she launched the listserv 12 years ago, Creekmore envisioned it would be like a “virtual coffee shop,” where ideas are free-flowing and debate is civil — most of the time. She does occasionally step in with a personal email to an offensive contributor or offer a public admonishment, but she generally does not keep a tight leash on listserv posters. Creekmore sees the listserv as “a resource for people to talk about all kinds of things.” In fact, she created it after “getting in trouble” for discussing issues on another neighborhood listserv.

While Creekmore didn’t have any grand vision for the listserv from the outset, she did want it to “reflect the character of the neighborhood — a little bit funky and quirky.” When things cross the line from funky to furious, as a recent post that began as a question about the cinema complex at 100 Oaks, but soon devolved into a racist, name-calling session, Creekmore made a rare public commentary on the thread asking for cooler tempers. Right in the middle of that recent debate was one of the most antagonistic and long-winded posters on the listserv, John Barrett. “I defwinitely start slinging arrows with the best and the worst of them,” he says. “I probably should be embarrassed, but I’m not.” Barrett doesn’t have much patience for the genteel, “why can’t we all just

get along” attitude of some posters. He often comes to the listserv with an agenda in hand, ready to spar with the best of them. Barrett’s biggest listserv adversary is his political polar opposite, Bill Bernstein, the owner of East Side Gun Shop. “There are always people I disagree with, who are unable to engage in civil debate, and there’s no sport in that,” Bernstein says. “Just because I disagree with you doesn’t make you evil or a bad person,” he adds. Bernstein claims that he uses the listserv “mostly for entertainment,” and whether he entertains or infuriates more people is up for debate. But love him or hate him, Bernstein is transparent with his identity and opinions; everybody knows his name, his beliefs, and his business name and address. “I think if you post an opinion on a hot topic then you need to be able to stand behind it and defend it,” he explains. One of his biggest complaints about the listserv is “allowing people to hide behind multiple screen names.” Some posters, including Barrett, have been accused of using misleading online identities known as sock puppets. “There’s no way to know how many aliases are on there,” Barrett says. “That’s part of the intrigue.” To him, that’s just part of the listserv game. To all those who think this sounds exasperatingly childish, Barrett offers this advice: “To me, it’s exactly like listening to the radio. Turn the station Continued on page 44

42 THE EAST NASHVILLIAN

www.theeastnashvillian.co m

Lost dogs and mixed blessings

You can find a bit of everything on the East Nashville listserv By Theresa Laurence Illustration by Dean Tomasek

42 THE EAST NASHVILLIAN

www.theeastnashvillian.co m

Lost dogs and mixed blessings

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Continued from page 43

Neighborhood Restaurant lunch - dinner - weekend brunch

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when you don’t like it.” For him, the listserv is just fine the way it is, slinging arrows and all. Even when it comes to the most controversial of topics, he says, “I don’t think anyone has the right to say stop talking about this.” Fortunately for him, Creekmore has his back on this. “If you live in East Nashville and care about an issue, why shouldn’t you be able to discuss it on the listserv?” she asks. Michael Jessing, known simply as “Wryker” on the listserv, would like to see less religion and politics on the Google site, but he won’t hesitate to jump in to those discussions. “I try to bring some levity when the posts get personal and nasty,” he says. “I’m not prejudiced, I hate everybody,” he’s fond of saying. Wryker often refers to himself in the third person when posting, and created his own fan club which requires a “twodrink minimum” to join. Of his online moniker, Jessing explains, “I’m not hiding behind it, I just think it’s a much cooler name.” His name is one that will not likely be duplicated, since he made it up over 30 years ago while playing Dungeons and Dragons. An East Nashville resident for seven years, Jessing initially used the listserv to meet friends in a new city. He immediately found someone to join him on a tour of hot chicken restaurants and someone else looking to turn a backyard full of fresh mint into a mint julep party. These types of experiences — connecting with real, live neighbors — is what the listserv is all about for Lana Sigg. She organized the first listserv lunch five years ago to “put names with faces” and connect people who would otherwise only communicate with each other through a computer screen. To her, the listserv is “not about the debates, it’s about meeting people in the neighborhood.” Sitting outside on Mad Donna’s patio last month, a small group of listserv lunchers gathered to bask in the sunshine and have a little conversation, without a bit of name-calling or fistfighting. “A lot of the ones that do all the barking don’t show up,” says Brian Hayes, a regular at the listserv lunches. Hayes, better known as “Rembrandt” on the listserv, is probably the number one poster on the site, possessing a seemingly endless supply of one-liners

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For a complete listing oF vendors and schedule oF events, check out our Web site at www.feastivalnashville.com

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FEASTIVAL_AD.indd 1

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YOUR FRIENDLY EAST NASHVILLE INSURANCE AGENT

Continued from page 43

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For a complete listing oF vendors and schedule oF events, check out our Web site at www.feastivalnashville.com

Continued on page 46

FEASTIVAL_AD.indd 1

4/13/12 3:29 PM

Continued from page 44

whipped out to comment on nearly any topic. “I don’t get as wordy as a lot of them,” he says, but he will jump in, over and over again, with a well-placed sentence or two. Hayes, who lives in Inglewood, drives a pickup truck, speaks with a Southern drawl and is often ribbed by other listserv posters for his poor spelling, says he tries to stay civil with his discussions, even when someone makes a rude comment about his poor grammar. He appreciates the posters who can look beyond a few misspelled words and connect beyond the keyboard. “Some people are out there to cause trouble,” he says. But, “once I meet somebody, I usually end up being pretty good friends with them.” Hayes has used the listserv to round up volunteers for his children’s school, and to volunteer for flood cleanup through the message board. “Back at the flood, people really came together,” Hayes recalls, and the listserv was ground zero for organizing

neighborhood efforts for recovery. “There’s a lot of community stuff that gets done because of the listserv.” Sigg, who has served as cochair of the Holly Street Daycare annual fundraiser, says she used the listserv to help drum up support for the event. The East Nashville Community Action Network was also born on the listserv, and the idea for the Tomato Art Fest incubated there. “A lot of business ideas get floated on the listserv,” Sigg explains. Through the weekly listserv lunches, Sigg has gotten to be such good friends with some people in the neighborhood that they now babysit her children. Jim Edmondson, Sigg’s babysitter extraordinaire, says he is mostly on the listserv “for the freebies,” to see what people are buying/selling/trading. An affable poster, Edmondson is not likely to offend many people with his contributions. A pre-tornado East Nashville pioneer, Edmondson has seen a lot of

changes in the neighborhood since he moved here in 1997. For him, one of the most valuable assets of the listserv is the ability to connect with people who have lived here for decades longer or even grew up on the East side. “You meet people who have really lived here a long time and can give history of the neighborhood and of the buildings,” he says. Whether you use the listserv to research historic buildings, recommend a car repair shop or let the neighborhood know what you think about “Obamacare” or the country’s mortgage crisis, you will likely find plenty of strong opinions for and against you. For the foreseeable future it will remain, as Creekmore envisioned it, a “diverse, multi-colored reflection of our community.” Without the heated debates, the listserv would certainly be a kindler, gentler place, but then it wouldn’t be the East Nashville listserv.

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THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 47

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MARKETPLACE YOUR TRUSTED NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICE PROVIDERS

MARKETPLACE Melissa lundgren Realtor,CRS,ABR,ePro,EcoBroker direct/text/vm 615 405-4784 melissa@MelissaLundgren.com www.MelissaLundgren.com Your east nashville Homes specialist!

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THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 47

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As no doubt you already know, major rehabilitation on I-24 at the Main Street and Woodland Street bridges will continue throughout the summer. Deanna Lambert, the Community Relations Officer – Region 3 at the Tennessee Department of Transportation has provided us with information regarding road closures, detours, times and dates, which you will find below. To sign up for weekly email updates, go to: www.tdot.state.tn.us/ i24bridges/maps.shtml. — The Editor

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Traffic traveling east on I-40 and north on I-65 to East Nashville will exit on 2nd / 4th Ave Exit, then left at 2nd Ave to Korean Veterans Blvd and turn right on Korean Veterans Blvd / Shelby Ave. Traffic traveling west on I-24/I-40 heading to East Nashville will exit on 2nd Ave Exit, then turn right onto 2nd Ave to Korean Veterans Blvd then turn right on Korean Veterans Blvd / Shelby Ave.

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Traffic traveling I-65 south heading east will take Briley Pkwy Exit and turn left on Briley then take Ellington Pkwy exit then Ellington Pkwy to Main St /James Robertson exit then take S 5th St to Shelby Ave, then take a right on Shelby Ave then left to on-ramp entering I-24 east.

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I-24 Closures throughout Summer 2012 This project consists of 13 weekend closures beginning April 20, 2012. Weekend Closures ONLY: Fridays 9 p.m. to Mondays 5 a.m. Closed Roadway Segments • I-24 West will be closed from Mile Marker 47.8 to Mile Marker 50.2 • I-24 East will be closed from Mile Marker 46.8 to Mile Marker 48.0 • Woodland Street from Interstate Drive to South 5th Street • Main Street (James Robertson Parkway) from Interstate Drive to South 5th Street • I-24 West on-ramps at Shelby Avenue • I-24 East on-ramp at Spring Street Interstate Detour Routes • From north of Nashville on I-24 East/I-65 South toward Chattanooga will follow I-65 South/I-40

West at Exit 86, then follow I-40 East/I-65 South at Exit 84A, and then follow I-40 East/I-24 East at Exit 210. • From south of Nashville on I-24 West/I-65 North toward Clarksville/Louisville will follow I-65 South/I-40 West at Exit 211, then follow I-40 West/I-65 North at Exit 210A, and then follow I-65 North/I-24 West at Exit 208. Local Detour Routes • East on Woodland Street wanting to continue east on Woodland Street will turn right onto Interstate Drive, then turn left onto Shelby Avenue, then turn left onto South 5th Street, and turn right onto Woodland Street. • West on Woodland Street wanting to continue west on Woodland Street will turn left onto South 5th Street, then turn right onto Shelby Avenue, then turn right onto South 2nd Street, then turn left onto Russell Street, then turn right onto South 1st Street, and turn left onto Woodland Street.

•E ast on James Robertson Parkway (Main Street) wanting to continue east on Main Streetwill turn right onto Interstate Drive, then turn left onto Shelby Avenue., then turn left onto South 5th Street, and turn right onto Main Street. •W est on Main Street wanting to continue west on James Robertson Parkway (Main Street)will turn right onto Spring Street, then take the I-24 East on-ramp, then exit I-24 East at James Robertson Parkway (Exit 48), and turn right onto James Robertson Parkway. •S helby Avenue to I-24W will turn onto South 5th Street and will continue on Spring Street to the I-24W on-ramp. •J efferson Street and North 1st Street to I-24 East will take North 1st Street, and then turn left onto Woodland Street to the I-24 East on-ramp.

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