The East Nashvillian 6.4 March-April 2016 by The East Nashvillian

Artist in Profile: AARON MARTIN | Know Your Neighbor: MELANIE COCHRAN

MARCH | APRIL VOL.VI ISSUE 4

‘Monumental Stuff’ How Cinderella Sound Studio helped shape Nashville music history

Karma &

Karisma

BottomsUp!

Building community on the East Side, one pint at a time

Huzzah!

Richie Lee has been changing lives in East Nashville for a decade, and he’s just getting started

With pill and willow, Phoenix of East Nashville is helping keep vintage base ball alive

There Goes the Neighborhood Market

The Heat Is On

Walmart calls it quits in East Nashville

East Nashville author serves up the lowdown on the city’s hot chicken craze

Unbound & Unabashed Aaron Lee Tasjan finds his place in the crowd

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March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

PUBLISHER Lisa McCauley EDITOR Chuck Allen ASSOCIATE EDITOR Daryl Sanders COPY EDITOR John McBryde CALENDAR EDITOR Emma Alford CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Rebecah Boynton, Sarah Hays Coomer, Timothy C. Davis, Randy Fox, Holly Gleason, James Haggerty, Stacie Huckeba, Nicole Keiper, Theresa Laurence, Tommy Womack CREATIVE DIRECTOR Chuck Allen DESIGN DIRECTOR Benjamin Rumble ADVERTISING DESIGN Benjamin Rumble

ILLUSTRATIONS Benjamin Rumble, Dean Tomasek

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Stacie Huckeba

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Kelli Dirks, Eric England, John Partipilo SOCIAL MEDIA Nicole Keiper ADVERTISING SALES Lisa McCauley lisa@theeastnashvillian.com 615.582.4187

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©2014 Kitchen Table Media P.O. Box 60157 Nashville, TN 37206 The East Nashvillian is a bimonthly magazine published by Kitchen Table Media. This publication is offered freely, limited to one per reader. The removal of more than one copy by an individual from any of our distribution points constitutes theft and will be subject to prosecution. All editorial and photographic materials contained herein are “works for hire” and are the exclusive property of Kitchen Table Media unless otherwise noted. Reprints or any other usage is a violation of copyright without the express written permission of the publisher.

March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

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FEATURES

28 THE HEAT IS ON

East Nashville author serves up the lowdown on the city’s hot chicken craze

PG.38

By Tommy Womack

46 BOTTOMS UP!

COVER STORY

Building community on the East Side, one pint at a time

UNLEASHED & UNBOUND

Aaron Lee Tasjan finds his place in the crowd

By Theresa Laurence

By Holly Gleason

‘MONUMENTAL STUFF’

How Cinderella Sound Studio helped shape Nashville music history

COVER SHOT

By Daryl Sanders

THE NEW SOUTHERN GOTHIC

63 KARMA & KARISMA

Aaron Lee Tasjan

Photograph by Stacie Huckeba

Richie Lee has been changing lives in East Nashville for a decade, and he’s just getting started By Randy Fox

71 HUZZAH!

With pill and willow, Phoenix of East Nashville is helping keep vintage base ball alive By John McBryde

GOES THE 75 THERE NEIGHBORHOOD MARKET

With the closing of the Walmart Neighborhood Market the community wonders what will take its place By Rebecah Boynton

Visit

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM for updates, news, events, and more! CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

EAST SIDE BUZZ

15 Matters of Development By Nicole Keiper

IN THE KNOW

East Side Musician, Composer Paul Gordon Passes Away

30 Artist in Profile: Aaron Martin By Randy Fox

By Randy Fox

Your Neighbor: 37 Know Melanie Cochran

22 WXNA Moving Closer to On-Air Debut By Randy Fox

By Tommy Womack

New Historic Markers Approved for East Nashville

83 East Side Calendar By Emma Alford

By Randy Fox

AUXILIARY

COMMENTARY

81 Cookin’ in the ’hood

Editor’s Letter

By Timothy C. Davis

By Chuck Allen

24 Astute Observations By James “Hags” Haggerty

Simple Pleasures

w.t.f.?

106 PARTING SHOT

Linda Windon & Little Bit

By Sarah Hays Coomer

By John Partipilo

By Stacie Huckeba

104 East of Normal By Tommy Womack

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EDITOR’S LETTER

Welcome to the Machine

rom Woody Guthrie to Kendrick Lamar, protest songs find a way to tap the collective conscience and give it expression by challenging the multifaceted manifestations of The Establishment. And The Establishment doesn’t appreciate it one bit. Take the much-talked about and maligned Super Bowl performance by Beyoncé, for instance. Establishment talking heads were appalled — appalled — by the imagery of Black Panther regalia denigrating their signature event. Did they comment on the militarism evidenced throughout? Of course not. The military-industrial complex has the most expensive weapons system in the history of mankind on the line and, being a cornerstone of the establishment, they used the Super Bowl as a cheerleading opportunity for themselves. Noticeably absent was what is by most measures a seriously — if not fatally — flawed piece of shit known as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. But instead of taking the opportunity to point this out, the propaganda arm of The Establishment, aka the mainstream media, focused its outrage on Beyoncé. The Establishment is well-versed in the art of suppressing ideas and opinions that threaten it. Some of its techniques are subtle; others, like the feigned Beyoncé outrage, are more in your face. The so-called “Citizen’s United” decision was of the latter variety. Basically a middle finger to the individual-as-citizen, the SCOTUS affirmed what Mitt Romney insisted on the campaign trail: corporations are people. Except when it comes to personal responsibility and jail time, apparently. A somewhat subtler version of suppression could be the use of a song like Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” by Republicans on the campaign trail. Willfully ignorant of the song’s actual meaning, they attempt to co-opt it because of the jingoistic, American exceptionalism-sounding title — which is, ironically, precisely the irony Springsteen intended. Got in a little hometown jam so they put a rifle in my hand Sent me off to a foreign land to go and kill the yellow man One wonders if the next Tory running for prime minister in the U.K. will use The Sex Pistols’ “God Save the Queen”? God save the Queen, and her fascist regime Oh, well. One of the earliest antiestablishment dramas to be played out on the national stage was between John Lennon and President Richard “I’m not a crook” Nixon. Nixon was the first real figurehead of the establishment — once it became popularly known as “The Establishment” — and he played his role with gusto. He didn’t care for Lennon’s antiwar sensibilities in the least. Lennon, for his part and to his credit, didn’t give a shit about what people in The Establishment thought of him and he could see right through them. The Establishment really hates that, because it’s far easier to

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

maintain power over people when they’re ignorant. John Lennon knew this and had a refined array of bullshit detectors. Coupled with the ability to sum it all up in a gorgeous three-minute pop song, this made him dangerous. Imagine there’s no heaven It’s easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky No heaven? And, even worse, no hell? If there’s no hell then how the hell will we threaten the people with eternal damnation if they don’t join our cause (Ted Cruz)? “Imagine” is subversive from start to finish — a classic protest song wrapped in a sweet candy coating. And for his efforts, Nixon kept an FBI file on him and thwarted his attempts to domicile stateside. No doubt Lennon had the last laugh, though, when Nixon was forced to resign in disgrace. If there’s one thing The Establishment has learned over the years, it’s to start indoctrination young. Each generation presents a new threat. In the ’60s, it was those smelly, long-haired, free-loving, antiwar-protesting hippies — and black kids. In the ’70s it was mainly just the black kids; the white kids were too stoned to protest and their former hippy parents were still dazed from the ’60s. The ’80s saw the ultimate in establishment validation with the election of Ronald “welfare mothers” Reagan. Protest music reinvented itself in the form of punk rock bands like Black Flag and the Circle Jerks, among many, many others. The alt-music scene was incredibly dynamic during the ’80s, as well, pushing back against the hair bands of the day, which were viewed as superficial and commercial (The Establishment). Then came the ’90s. Nirvana’s Nevermind pretty much drove a stake through the heart of glam metal. They were like The Beatles in that there was a clear before/after line of demarcation. But Cobain’s lyrics also signaled something of a “fuck it” attitude toward rock music; it had become The Establishment in a way. The baton was passed, so to speak, to rap and hip hop. The new protest singers were black dudes riffing about life on the mean streets — the flipside of America’s “Shining City on the Hill.” They became the purveyors of antiestablishment, truth-to-power sentiment. So what of this generation — the so-called “millennials?” The Establishment was ready. “Entitled hipsters” and other pejoratives began floating around, relegating an entire demographic to an afterthought by the globalists of The Establishment. But the bearded ones shouldn’t be underestimated. For one, they have an unprecedented access to information, which is by its very nature a challenge to The Establishment. They are also unfazed and underwhelmed by the bullshit swill generated in the media. They want authenticity. They want community. And the way they’re going about finding what they’re looking for is, at least for now, opaque to The Establishment.

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Matters of Development NEW AND NOTEWORTHY THE PAST FEW MONTHS BROUGHT A broad mix of new businesses to East Nashville. In mid-January, DancEast leader Emily Masters branched out with a complementary East cousin: YogaEast, meant to “offer a more complete range of movement expression opportunities for the neighbors in her community.” Classes are held at 805 Woodland St., Suite 314, and run $10 a class (with discounts for repeat visits). To take a look at the offerings and schedule, visit yogaeastnashville.org. Also in January, The Basement East, aka The Beast, broadened its offerings too, officially launching The Pub at The Basement East. They’re under the same roof, but The Pub gets its own name because the guilty parties are serving up far more than a few quick at-the-bar venue snacks. The menu includes a mix of Vietnamese-Mexican fu-

sion street food, from Banh Mi or Cubano sandwiches to prosciutto maki (yes, a sushi-style roll wrapped in tasty cured ham), fresh spring rolls, and build-your-own nachos or rice bowls. Not your average club fare; not your average restaurant fare, either. Hours for The Pub are 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. For more: thebasementnashville.com/the-pub. Caps doffed to the new Mister Hats, which opened in January at 921 Gallatin Ave. The shop — a new East Nashville outpost for a Memphis-bred brand — carries a variety of hat and cap brands, from Stetson to Kangol. The shop’s open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and you can also window shop/actual shop online at mrhats.com. Long-awaited new East Side craft brewery Southern Grist Brewing opened its doors in early February at 1201 Porter Road (the former Boone & Sons space), serving creative brews in the taproom and in to-go crowlers (a can/growler hybrid). Among the first creations poured: a “Nashville Mule” sour ale

inspired by the Moscow Mule cocktail and a coffee milk stout called “Wishing Well.” Stop by to try Tuesday through Thursday 4-9 p.m., Friday 4-11 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. More details: southerngristbrewing.com. In mid-February, Inglewood’s new bookstore, Atomic Nashville, welcomed neighbors at 1603 Riverside Drive. On the shelves: lots of local (and other) books, local art, local music, and more. atomicnash.com will share the latest. Some fresh fashions hit East Nashville in early February too, as “boho/beach” clothing and accessories shop Lucaya Clothing Co. opened its doors at 713 Porter, joining other Porter East spots including Pony Show and Apple & Oak. At Lucaya, ladies can shop for dresses and jewelry and skincare and more, all with that relaxed/sunny vibe. The shop is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, and you can also snag stuff online at shoplucaya.com. As of Valentine’s Day, 5 Points has a new floral name: FLWR Shop at 123 S. 11th

March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

EAST SIDE BUZZ

St., providing “fashionable and stylishly discerning residents of Nashville with a thoughtfully curated selection of the freshest flowers available.” As of press time, their proper retail grand opening was set for March 15, but shopkeeps Alex Vaughan and Quinn Kiesow had something of a soft opening around the big floral

holiday o’ love, building up calloused hands (and selling out of pretty well everything). The two longtime floral industry pros did time in Los Angeles and New York before putting down roots here, and at FLWR Shop, they’re offering pre-arranged bouquets, potted plants, and a subscription flower service that puts bundles of blooms on your door-

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step on a weekly or monthly basis. To keep up with FLWR news (and to ogle what they’re putting together): flwrshop.com. In late February, the brothers behind Nicoletto’s Pasta Co., Ryan and Danny Nicoletto, invited diners in to their new Nicoletto’s Italian Kitchen at 2905 Gallatin Pike, Suite A, right next to Mickey’s Tavern. The combination restaurant/market has a 16-seat eat-in space, where diners can enjoy make-your-own pasta bowls with a variety of fresh-cut pastas and classic sauces, from marinara to Alfredo, plus hand-rolled meatballs (and vegan meatballs) and other proteins. From the market part of the kitchen, there are dry and fresh pastas, desserts, sauces, and more. Particularly good news for the night crawlers among us: Kitchen hours include lunch, dinner, and late-night eats, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday (they’re closed on Sunday). To keep up with the latest, visit nicolettos.com. If you’ve been looking for social media/ marketing help, there are some new(ish) neighbors you might want to meet: Parachute Media, who came our way via Melrose, setting up shop in the rehabbed brick building at 708 Gallatin, across from the Eastland Kroger. Some cool neighborhood connections to note: They’re working/have worked with a bunch of neighborhood-tied names, including Edley’s and Turnip Truck, and the cool and arty signage on the front facade of their space was brushed up there by East Nashville artist Andee Rudloff, who’s done a ton of Tomato Art Fest-related mural work around here. “I like to support the local economy where I live and work,” founder and CEO Ryan Carter told us, “and the fact that she’s an East Nashvillian, she was a perfect fit for Parachute Media.” To learn more about those folks, visit parachutemedia.co. By the time this hits the streets, there will be a new place to graze over in the former Silly Goose space at 1888 Eastland Ave. The the folks behind The Wild Cow have been working on Graze, “an all-day plant-based casual restaurant” that shares a non-meat focus with its bovine brother around the way, but will bring its own brand of flavors. Check out our “Know Your Neighbor” piece on owner Melanie Cochran (pg. 37) for more info. Over in 37207 at 2121 Gains St., some of our art-inclined neighbors have launched Construct — “an open space for all art

March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

EAST SIDE BUZZ

forms, hosting community practices, classes, individual artists, and events.” Construct’s organizers are aiming to host dancers, performance artists, visual artists, and more within the new place’s 2,300 square feet of flexible space. Although the doors have been opened since January, they’re still working on updating and upgrading things, and at press time, had plans to host a proper grand

opening celebration on Saturday, April 23. To keep up with the build-out and schedule, drop by constructnashville.com. CLOSINGS AND MOVES At the start of the year, outdoor/active gear retailer Cumberland Transit closed down its East Nashville location at 1900

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

Eastland. Owner/“godfather” Allen Doty told us the company opted not to re-up their lease for pretty simple reasons. “It wasn’t because we were making too much money over there that we closed,” he said. “Had we had enough business over there to keep the doors open, we certainly would have kept the doors open.” The larger flagship Cumberland Transit on the west side of town (2807 West End Ave.) remains, and Doty said we shouldn’t necessarily count the outdoorsy business out of East Side life for good. “We like East Nashville [and] we certainly are keeping our eyes open for another, busier location,” he said. “There’s a lot of good eatin’ over there, a lot of good music over there, a lot of good people over there. Why wouldn’t we?” Although the doors had been closed for a bit prior, we finally got word in late February that neighborhood sweets shop Sophisticakes wouldn’t be reopening. “Our Sophisticakes family has recently gone through an unexpected and heart-wrenching personal family situation. While we have been working through it as best as possible over the last several months, it’s become financially necessary for us to close,” owner Heather Peters told us. “This decision has not come without a lot of thought, heartache, and tears. We are so grateful for all of those that supported us during our year in business in East Nashville. Every single one of you brought us joy and support that we can never express how truly grateful we have been for it. Thank you for your prayers and love.” The business had been open at 707 Porter Road since last spring. Also shuttered for a minute now: pop star Tiffany’s Tiffany’s Boutique, which had been sharing vintage/new fashions at 1006 Fatherland St., Suite 201. Tiffany stepped back from the shop to focus on another love: music. At press time, she was hard at work on a new album called A Million Miles. “The charm of the store was that customers or fans could come in and have a shopping experience with me personally,” Tiffany told Florida Today. “With me being gone so much recording and touring soon, I knew the experience would not be the same, and I did not want to do that to people.” She’s not dropping her shopping side altogether, though — the singer also told the newspaper a boutique truck that would let her “bring that shopping experience to the fans” was in the works. Also early in the year: Vintage shop Live True Vintage closed its doors at 3123 Gallatin Pike after three years in that space. It’s not a total shuttering, just a move, but said

March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

EAST SIDE BUZZ

move isn’t keeping Live True in the neighborhood — owner Tammy Pope told us that a new space in the Lakewood area should open in March or April. At the end of January, the Southern Thrift location at 2701 Gallatin Pike closed up. It was one of four Southern Thrifts in Nashville; the others — on Lebanon Pike, Charlotte Pike, and Metroplex Drive — will stay open. Moves that are still in the neighborhood: BarreAmped Nashville EAST, which opened on Woodland in July, was in the middle of a move to 1002 Fatherland St., Suite 202, at press time. Clothing shop Vinnie Louise recently relocated to a new space just a few doors down from their old space — they’re now sharing stylish ladies wear at 737 Porter Road. COMING SOON March should bring a welcome new food stop to McFerrin Park: The Birdhouse, a “(Korean) Fried Chicken Joint” at 726 McFerrin Ave. Chefs Chris Futrell and Casey Carstens are bringing Southern roots and a love of Korean street food together at the restaurant,

which will be serving the aforementioned Korean fried chicken, along with bibimbap, Korean BBQ brisket, and more, all with an all-natural focus. Take-out will be a big part of The Birdhouse, but patio seating and delivery were also in the plans. Keep up with the latest at birdhousenashville.com. The former location of The Family Wash finally has a new tenant: Co-owner Todd Hedrick shared plans for Vinyl Tap, a craft beer bar and record store that was in the build-out phase at 2038 Greenwood Ave. at press time. Word is we should expect lots of local craft beer, wine, and a limited food menu, plus new and used vinyl to buy. Live music might happen in the future, too. Last update we got, Hedrick was shooting for May to open; keep up with Vinyl Tap’s progress at facebook.com/vinyltapnashville. — Nicole Keiper

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

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East Side Musician, Composer Paul Gordon Passes Away EAST NASHVILLE’S MUSIC COMMUNITY lost one of its own when musician, composer, and producer Paul Gordon passed away at age 52 from complications related to a genetic heart defect. Gordon, a well-known and popular resident of the Lockeland Springs neighborhood, was diagnosed over 15 years ago with a congenital heart condition. He had recently returned from a tour backing country artist Jennifer Nettles. On Feb. 18, he checked himself into St. Thomas West Hospital and passed away that same day. Born Paul Christian Gordon in Newport, R.I., in 1963, Gordon first came to national prominence as a member of the ’90s alternative pop band New Radicals. Since that time, he has worked as a keyboardist, guitarist, or producer with a large and diverse list of artists that includes Natasha Bedingfield, Danielle Brisebois, The Devlins, Goo Goo Dolls, John Gregory, Nona Hendryx, Eran DD, The Juliet Dagger, Chaka Kahn, Mandy Moore, Lisa Marie Presley, Prince, Carly Smithson, Brenda K. Starr, Wild Orchid, Anna Wilson, and David Yazbek. In 2007, he joined The B-52s touring band as a keyboardist and has most recently been working with Sugarland lead singer Jennifer Nettles on her solo projects. In addition to his work with other artists, Gordon also built a career as an accomplished soundtrack composer for children’s and animated programs for The Fox Network, ABC Family, and Spike TV, writing or cowriting themes for such popular shows as Digimon, Power Rangers Wild Force, and Transformers: Robots in Disguise. In 2006, Gordon, his wife, Jennifer, and their two son sons, Alec and Graham, relocated to Nashville from Los Angeles. They immediately became active members of the Lockeland Springs community, and Gordon was a frequent patron at the Eastland Café, often holding court on the corner barstool. On the day of his funeral, Feb. 22, a special place was set at the bar to honor Gordon, while friends and family toasted his memory. In a post on their Facebook page, The B-52s paid honor to Gordon’s memory: “Our friend, keyboard player and guitarist, bandmate and brother, Paul Gordon passed away peacefully today and our hearts are broken. Words can’t express all the feelings we share as we remember his generous spirit, kindness and talent. He was and always will be a part of our B-52s family and we will miss him so much. We send our love to his family.”

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Because of his heart condition, Gordon was unable to qualify for life insurance, and a special GoFundMe account (gofundme/ PaulGordon) has been set up to assist with funeral expenses and to provide short-term support for his wife and sons. A separate memorial fund is also being established to provide for greater, long-term needs. — Randy Fox

WXNA Moving Closer to On-Air Debut NASHVILLE’S NEWEST RADIO STATION, WXNA 101.5 FM, is moving closer to its debut. The listener-supported, community-focused, low power FM station recently announced its debut schedule. It features a full slate of programming from 7 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week. In addition to several free-form, genre-jumping musical programs, the schedule also features many specialty shows spotlighting rock & roll, jazz, soul, blues, classical, movie soundtrack music, and a wide selection of other genres. Longtime fans of independent Nashville radio will recognize many shows aired pre-

viously on WRVU, such as Pete Wilson’s R&B revue Nashville Jumps, Janet Timmons’ new music guide Out the Other, Doyle Davis’ D-Funk, Roger Blanton’s in-studio jamfest Delicious Elixir, and Laura Powers’ morning punk rev-em-up Needles + Pins. Quite a few prominent Nashville musicians are making the jump from playing instruments to playing records, with shows such as David Olney’s Free Fall, Tommy Womack’s Happiness Hour, Kristi Rose and Fats Kaplin’s This Is Pulp Radio!, and Richie Owens and Howard Yearwood’s bluegrass fest Wagon Wheel. WXNA’s debut schedule also contains a variety of talk radio programs, including the community-focused Nashville Haps with Ashley Crownover, the comedy scene overview Nashville Stand Up Sits Down with Chad Riden, and the food-focused Yum Yum Eat Um Up! with Dawn and Gene Kote. “Each week, WXNA will deliver 82 original shows and over 120 hours of locally crafted, independent programming,” WXNA president Heather Lose says. “To be creating this station in the town we love, for the people of Music City, is a thrill beyond measure, and we can’t wait to go live.”

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THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

WXNA will broadcast at 101.5 MHz FM with an effective power of 100 watts. The station’s signal is expected to reach 425,000 listeners in its primary broadcast area that includes all of East Nashville and Inglewood, with an additional 215,000 listeners in its broad coverage area, and a worldwide audience through online streaming. The station is expected to be on the air by April. — Randy Fox

New Historic Markers Approved for East Nashville ON THE MORNING OF FEB. 25, 1862, Federal gunboats were moored on the east bank of the Cumberland River with their guns aimed at downtown Nashville. As detailed in Randy Horick’s story, “The Nonbattle of Nashville,” in the July-August 2015 issue of The East Nashvillian, it was the culmination of a gradual and mostly peaceful invasion of Federal troops from the north that had sparked panic on the streets of Nashville and the withdrawal of Confederate forces to the south. Shortly before 11 a.m., Mayor R.B. Cheatham and nine other leading Nashville citizens crossed the river in a small steamboat for an appointment in the Edgefield neighborhood. The delegation entered a home at 612 Woodland St. and formally surrendered the city of Nashville to Union Gen. Don Carlos Buel, ending Nashville’s eight months as the capitol of the Confederate State of Tennessee. One hundred and fifty-four years after that historic day, the Metropolitan Historical Commission has approved the placement of a historic marker in front of the house where the surrender was finalized, and agreed in concept for a second marker on the east bank of the Cumberland where Federal forces were encamped. The community organization Rediscover East! has headed up the push for the two markers and is now raising funds for their placement. The Woodland Street marker will cost $1,750 and the East Bank marker $2,500. Send donations to: Rediscover East! PO Box 68069 Nashville, TN 37206 Please indicate “Surrender Marker” in the memo line. Rediscover East! is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization and contributions are tax deductible. For more information, visit the Rediscover East! Facebook page. — Randy Fox

March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

Astute OBSERVATIONS James “Hags” Haggerty

Housing heartaches

y friend Gina is a blues singer. Until recently, she lived in building E at Howe Gardens on Greenwood Avenue with her boyfriend, Scott, a drummer. They spend much of their time on the road. The rent they paid was affordable and allowed them to make ends meet. Ownership at the complex has recently changed hands. The new management company, Brookside Properties, did not renew any expired leases. Along with many other residents on month-to-month leases, Gina and Scott were given approximately six weeks to vacate or renew, post-renovation, at nearly double their current rent. How can anyone afford to live in East Nashville anymore? Stories like this have become common, as common as bulldozers out the front window. “Lovey, did someone steal the lawnmower? Shake me up another appletini, won’t you?” Gina told me about her neighbors Dorothy and Evelyn. One is in her 60s and the other in her 70s, and both receive Section 8 assistance. Both live alone and neither drives. They take the bus. Their church is 10 minutes away. They both received notice to vacate or stay and pay a $500-per-month increase. The new owner of Howe Gardens is Middle Farms Capital, LLC. East Nashville resident Nick Ogden is one of three principal partners in the company. According to The Tennessean, Ogden is the owner of Howe Gardens. I became aware of Ogden five years ago when he financed a record that I played on. I remember hearing stories of the generous Vanderbilt whiz kid who ran a nonprofit company dedicated to clean water and building wells in Africa. I was impressed. Five years later, the nonprofit advocate, globetrotting hippy, clean water crusader is a heartless capitalist? I needed to know more. How did that happen? I had heard the stories of rude treatment from the Brookside Management office, the most blatant of which was the notice informing leaseholders that their current leases would not be honored and that they must vacate like those on month-to-month leases. This was later blamed on a clerical error in the management office. Dorothy and Evelyn cannot afford the increase. They are not plugged into the Internet, and apartments disappear fast. Section 8 housing disappears even faster. Gina told me she spent hours fruitlessly searching online and making calls trying to find anything for them.

It was at this point that I knew I had to write about this. Young people move all the time. Rental properties change hands. That’s just the way it goes. But little old ladies put out on the street? That’s not the East Nashville way. I got a phone call. “James Haggerty, this is Nick Ogden.” I had spoken to some mutual friends and word had reached him. We had a long conversation. We talked about percentages and partners, about the spirit of East Nashville. We talked about the great society. He was worried that I might be less than kind with my words. I didn’t blame him. “I’ve been taking a tremendous amount of criticism over the purchase of Howe Gardens,” he said. “It’s been really hard over the past two weeks.” I told him I understood that he was under no legal obligation to help people like Evelyn and Dorothy. I asked him if he thought he had a moral one. He told me that he was not aware of their situation. He asked me to push my deadline to see what he could do. Less than 24 hours later, he found Section 8 housing for Dorothy and Evelyn and committed to doing the same for all of his Section 8 residents. He would be refunding security deposits early to help residents with moving expenses, and that Middle Farms Capital would help Dorothy and Evelyn with their moving expenses. And any other elderly or disabled residents who needed financial assistance in moving would be helped on a case-by-case basis. Compassionate capitalism. I love it. I wish it were the rule and not the exception. Thank you, Nick Ogden, for proving me wrong. This story should have a happy ending. Sadly, as of this writing in mid-February, it seems that Dorothy and Evelyn are not taking advantage of the housing that is available to them. Both alone with no family to help them, it seems they hope ignoring the problem will make it go away. I wish that were true. The truth is if they do nothing and the eviction process is started, they will lose their Section 8 housing vouchers and truly be left with nothing. That will be heartbreaking. Stories like these are multiplying in the new Nashville. With no rent control statutes in place, we will hear them more and more. Last week, the Metro Council tabled two proposed affordable housing bills. Perhaps they weren’t strong enough. This problem needs fixing. Nashville is a great city because of its people. I’m hoping the Metro Council will act to keep it that way.

Hags is a part-time bon vivant, man-about-town, and contributor to The East Nashvillian. He was fortunate enough to buy his East Side home during a kindler, gentler time when banks still gave mortgages to full-time bass players. No one is sure where the mortgage lives now, although it was last seen securitized in a Southeast Asian investment portfolio.

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

simple PLEASURES By Sarah Hays Coomer

Recipe for sanity in a maddening election year

’ve always been a moderately political person. I was psyched to vote in my first election at age 18 and have voted at every opportunity since. I ditched school once in high school to go see Bill Clinton speak and was so worked up on my way home that I got into a minor car accident. I watch the news most nights and enjoy lively debates as long as they don’t turn vicious. I’ve never had any doubt it’s worth the effort to stay educated and involved. But 2015 was a watershed year for me. Maybe it was the terrorists joyfully masquerading as martyrs, gloating over bloodshed all over the world; the gun violence and blatant racism still plaguing our country; or the astonishing rise of politicians riding a popular wave of bigotry that I would prefer not to know exists in our midst — whatever the reason, I reached my saturation point. I didn’t want to hear about that world anymore, and I certainly didn’t want to see the images. I wanted to ignore it, but when I tried to shut out the noise, it seeped in around the perimeter of my days. It popped up on televisions in public places and littered my Twitter feed with viral evidence of human brokenness. Overexposure didn’t solve anything, but neither did willful blindness. Ignorance felt icky. It made me feel even more vulnerable, like a sitting duck — powerless over my own safety and even more powerless over the well-being of my 4-year-old son. So I peeked out over the edge of my own exhaustion and panic and noticed something I never fully appreciated before. People in my own community were getting shit done while I was busy whining about the state of world affairs in my pajama pants. It was up to me whether or not to join them. So I put on some pants — real ones without an elastic waistband — got together with some of those intrepid people, had a cocktail, and discovered that I’m

not at all powerless. I’m a roaring, raging, mommy badass with a fire to keep my kid, family, and friends safe from harm and free to live their lives — and I’m far from alone in that effort. There are a whole bunch of folks tucked in amongst our tree-lined streets who not only give a damn, but who are doing something about it. Every day. And they are not old and crotchety with nothing better to do, like I previously would have guessed. They are some of the most engaging, energetic, and caring people I’ve ever met. In his State of the Union address back in January, President Obama spoke about “daily acts of citizenship.” He talked about going above and beyond, reaching out from our secluded, narrow lives to help somebody out, to vote, to shop local, to volunteer, or speak out on an issue we care about — be it animal rescue, veterans, equal rights, gun safety, homelessness, or early childhood education. In spite of 2016 being an election year, there will be less TV for me this time around. I’ll keep up with the basics, but after that, enough is enough. I’d rather spend time with people who give me hope, women and men who give a damn and are doing something about it — starting somewhere, doing something about something that matters. There’s no power to be found in footage of S.W.A.T. teams on autorepeat. In that coverage, we will only find fear and loathing. Power comes from showing up and taking action, so that someday, maybe, we can all go peacefully back to our PJ pants. Terrorists and politicians peddling hatred for a living have no place in my world, but hating them back isn’t the answer. The answer is in farmers markets and fundraisers, art classes, yard sales, and music festivals. Maybe I’m just getting old. I don’t know, but pouting and throwing things at the screen isn’t doing it for me anymore. I need action, and there’s no shortage of things to act on, right here in my very own town.

Sarah Hays Coomer is an author, certified personal trainer, and nutrition and wellness coach. She kind of likes to exercise, kinda not. She runs a free wellness group in East Nashville for anyone looking to raise a glass to good health, and her book, Lightness of Body and Mind: A Radical Approach to Weight and Wellness, will be published in May 2016. You can find her strengthoutsidein.com, Instagram@strengthoutsidein, or Twitter@strengthoutside

March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

East Side homeboys The Wild Feathers indulge in a masochistic, lip-melting lunch at Bolton’s prior to hitting the road in support of their new record, Lonely is a Lifetime, which drops March 11. Joel King looks for the recipe of Bolton’s eye-watering dish in Timothy Charles Davis’ The Hot Chicken Cookbook while bandmates Ben Dumas, Taylor Burns, & Ricky Young relish the exquisite pain of this neighborhood staple. Photograph by Eric England

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

The Heat Is On East Nashville author serves up the lowdown on the city’s hot chicken craze

rince’s, Bolton’s, Hattie B’s, Pepperfire; Nashville is on fire with hot chicken. It’s national. Even KFC’s gotten in on the act. So the time was right for a comprehensive reference for all things hot chicken — and now we have one, courtesy of East Nashville writer Timothy Charles Davis and his (suitably named) The Hot Chicken Cookbook. Davis’ reasoning behind writing such a book is laconic to a suitable Southern degree. “Somebody was going to write a book on hot chicken,” he says. “Might as well have been me.” The Hot Chicken Cookbook is as much a history of Nashville’s lethal delicacy as it is a recitation of recipes. Essays from aficionados — former Mayor Karl Dean, Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan, and Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern, to name a few — and interviews with experts (including a number of influential hot chicken chefs) sit side-by-side with tutorials on hot chicken, hot tempeh, hot Cornish game hen, skillet-fried okra, and the much-treasured pimento mac and cheese. (“A lot of people go to eat the sides as much as they do the chicken,” Davis says.) And weaving all the way through the book from beginning to end is a delightfully wry and readable rundown of what we can know about how hot chicken came to be. Spoiler alert: No one really knows, but the embraced tradition is that many years ago, Thornton Prince III, a strapping field hand with a wandering eye, came home to his best girl after a night of philandering. The next morning, bent on revenge, his wronged woman made Thornton a nice fried chicken breakfast, only she loaded the bird with a brain-searing dose of cayenne, garlic, and lord knows what. Rather than recoiling at first bite, however, Thornton liked it! As a matter of fact, he liked it so much he dedicated his life to perfecting the recipe and spreading the napalm yard-bird gospel hither and yon. That’s the story anyway. At the time when the mother church, Prince’s Hot Chicken, came to be in North Nashville many years back, no one saved newspaper clippings or printed up the restaurant’s history on the menus; there was no anticipation that one day people would like to know such things as who invented it and when. So the tale of Thornton will have to do. A genial 40ish bearded chap with a passing resemblance to Richard Thompson, Davis sits in Pepperfire on Gallatin Road tucking into some medium heat tenders. (Initiates would do well to know that medium heat generates lip sweat.) An accomplished freelancer who has written for Savuer, Mother Jones, the Oxford American, Gastronomica, the Nashville Scene, the Christian Science Monitor, Salon, and The East Nashvillian,

among others, Davis is a Charlotte, N.C., native, where he graduated from UNC Charlotte and went on to get an MFA at Queens University. He got his start writing at local arts bible Creative Loaf ing, which led to newspaper staff writing jobs. “I got into it doing music- and book-related stuff,” he says between bites, “but my jobs in both Charlotte and Myrtle Beach were staff writer jobs, so I ended up writing about everything, and I sort of got into food writing by accident. I did a piece for Gastronomica, on a barbecue symposium, and I got people from food magazines calling asking if I would like to write for them, so I totally backed into it.” He developed his own slant on food writing. “What I’ve always written about food-wise was always the stories behind the food,” he says. “When I had the job at the newspaper in Myrtle Beach, they asked me to be the food critic, which I did for a few months, and that’s not my thing. I like to eat, but I’m not into passing judgment on people.” Davis landed in Nashville in 2007, and the love affair with hot chicken began. “I had Bolton’s and Prince’s not long after I’d gotten here, and like a lot of people I talked to in the book, I found myself a week later wanting it again. I started having it once a week, probably. These days it’s often twice a week, especially now that everybody wants me to eat it. “Matthew Teague, who became my editor for the book, used to be a literary editor at the Oxford American, and we ended up having lunch often,” Davis recalls. “One day we were at a hot chicken restaurant, and we thought about how there’s a fair amount of information about hot chicken, but not in one place. We planned it out — not exactly on a napkin, but very similar to that — and I immediately started on it. That was August of 2014, and it took a year, start to finish, to have the book ready.” The book has already gone into a second printing — no small achievement in this Kindle kind of world — and response has been mainly positive, save the odd Buffalo, N.Y., native thinking that their wings are the origination of hot chicken. The book has even passed muster on the Fraternal Order of Hot Chicken Facebook page (“where things can get ‘heated,’ ” Davis quips.) “I think a lot of people like the idea that they have something they can point to or hand off to a newbie when the subject of hot chicken comes up,” Davis says. “And that’s part of why I wrote it, to make a compendium of hot chicken information, along with a history and recipes, in one volume. Some have said they really like the tone of the book, which was somewhat on purpose. It’s kind of an eccentric dish to begin with, so I wanted to try to kind of match that.”

B y To m m y W o m a c k

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The Hot Chicken Cookbook by Timothy Charles Davis is published by Spring House Press springhousepress.com

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March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

Artist in Profile

AARON

Martin Savvy millennial has found a new way of looking at life B Y R A N DY F OX

aron Martin doesn’t fit the stereotype of millennials. The 26-year-old artist and musician is utterly lacking in the sense of entitlement or expectation of easy praise that his generation supposedly carries in abundance. Not only is he not staring constantly into a smart phone screen, he also has a surprising answer when you ask for his phone number. “I don’t even have a phone,” he says. “That’s another reason I’m so happy. I’m totally into working on art right now or working on music. My break from what I love to do is doing something else I love, and I think a lot of that focus has to do with not having a phone. My phone broke in October and I haven’t replaced it yet. My friends hate it, but I’m holding off for as long as I can.” Since moving to Nashville in 2011, Martin has steadily built an impressive reputation and a prolific resume as a creative force in both art and music. On the art side, his intricate and psychedelic pen and ink art has appeared in gallery showings and become a favorite with indie rockers. He’s created posters, album covers, and other artwork for scores of bands, including Birdcloud, Blackfoot Gypsies, Diarrhea Planet, The Ettes, Hellbender, The Kingston Springs, The Jag, Alanna Royale, and TORRES. As a musician, he was bass player for local rockers Sol Cat, appeared on the web series 24HR Records as a member of the ad hoc band, The Love & Terror Cult, and is currently collaborating with members from several Nashville bands in the local indie rock supergroup Okey Dokey. It’s an impressive list of accomplishments to achieve in just five years, especially for someone who grew up with no particular focus on becoming an artist or musician. Martin spent his childhood and teenage years in Monterey, Tenn., a small rural town about 15 miles east of Cookeville. “It was a beautiful place to grow up,” he says. “I got along with almost everybody — played football in high school, had some interest in art, music, and drama. People ask me all the time if I always wanted to do art. I wish I could say I did, but I never really thought about it. “My first time around at college, I majored in engineering at Tennessee Tech. My dad wanted me to have a solid career that would take care of me, but that didn’t work out. When it was time to be honest about everything, I realized I wanted to go to art school.” That moment of honesty came as the result of tragedy. “My dad was never sick in his whole life,” Martin says. “He found out he had cancer in the summer of 2010, and then four months later, he was gone. I got more serious about my goals after he passed away. I moved to Nashville and started figuring out exactly what I wanted to do → with art.”

P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y J O H N PA R T I P I L O

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

“Holy Moly”

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

“So Am I … I Guess”

March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

Artist in Profile

I feel more like Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m community savvy. All my success has been through word of mouth and just being around in the scene. Every opportunity I found since I came to Nashville has been a result of that attitude of picking up on what I can find around me. 34

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

Artist in Profile Enrolling at Watkins College of Art, Design & Film for the 2011 spring semester, Martin soon discovered commercial art wasn’t the direction for him. “I had two professors that saw pretty quick how frustrated I was,” he recalls. “They were like, you don’t turn your homework in, but you bring the stuff you actually want to work on to class. They suggested I just quit school and go do it for myself. I really appreciated that.” The work that Martin wanted to do was complex, detailed pen and ink work. It’s a medium that appealed to him on many levels. “I think what attracted me to pen and ink is that if you do fuck up, you can turn it into something else with black and just move on. After my dad died, the idea that I could take screw-ups or misfortunes and turn them into something else became very important to me.” His free-flowing, psychedelic style is part of the same process of not worrying about individual details and letting the work find its own form through the process of creation. “Sometimes a piece may be based on a theme or idea, but mostly just starts from small elements — eyes, a mouth, a letter, or some other element and then I just go for it,” Martin says. While attending Watkins, he struck upon a unique showcase for his artwork, one that built a network of connections for him in the local art and music communities. “When I first moved to Nashville, I wasn’t interested in playing music, but I wanted to be part of the scene,” he says. “I would approach bands, send them some of my artwork and say, hey, I really dig your music. I had some money left from when my dad died, and I didn’t want to just waste it, so I started sponsoring free shows. I would work out a trade with bands. I would do artwork for them, and they would play a show for me.” The connections he made through house party concerts led to art commissions from many bands, and raised the profile of his work. It also led to a second form of creative expression. “I met the guys in Sol Cat through my buddy Jan, who played guitar with them,” Martin says. “I started doing artwork for the band and was hanging out with them a lot. Johny Fisher [the band’s keyboardist and guitarist] called me one day and said they needed a bassist and that I was it.” Although Martin had played guitar since he was 14, he had never seriously considered a music career. It took some convincing, but within a short time he joined the band, playing on their first album, Sol Cat (2013), and the national tour that followed. After playing with the band throughout 2013, he discovered that being a full-time rock & roller left little time for his primary passion. “I finally hit a point where I wasn’t doing art anymore,” Martin says. “I also wanted to

make a different type of music, so I quit near the end of 2013. But it was fine with everyone, and we’ve all stayed friends. Just recently I started working on a new music project with Johny Fisher called Okey Dokey — all the other members are from other bands in town. It’s a big collective thing.” Martin’s appreciation for working with a collective of creative people also manifested in his artwork. Shortly after leaving Sol Cat, he began working with the local artist collective known as The Creek Orthodox Indians for Christ, or Creek for short. With that group and other artists, Martin has worked on murals at 901 Marina St. in East Nashville, Halcyon Bike Shop, Queen Ave Art Collective, Mustard Tower Studios, and The Basement East. Although wall murals might appear to be a very different medium, the journey from intricate crosshatching with ink to painting large with enamels isn’t that far of a jump. “With murals, I approach it with the idea that I’m just using a bigger pen,” he says. “I just let it happen — trust your eyes and hands to take you to the right place.” Trusting his eyes, hands, and instincts has enabled Martin to build a successful career while going against the grain of standard 21st century marketing wisdom. Though he maintains a Facebook page and Instagram account, his online profile remains very low; he prefers to build real world social connections rather than virtual social networks. It may make him seem especially business savvy, but he doesn’t think of his accomplishments in commercial terms. “I feel more like I’m community savvy,” he says. “All my success has been through word of mouth and just being around in the scene. Every opportunity I found since I came to Nashville has been a result of that attitude of picking up on what I can find around me. When I moved here, I didn’t want just a new life, I wanted a new personality, and that meant I had to find a new way of looking at life.” Martin’s different attitude applies equally to both the joys and tragedies of life. “I miss my father, of course,” he says, “but I’m really not sad about losing him anymore. If he hadn’t passed away, I would probably be in the middle of nowhere working at a nothing job. While I would love for him to still be here, I think he’d be excited about the person I’ve become.”

March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

CONCERT & FESTIVAL

JUNE 24 & 25 PUBLIC SQUARE PARK

More information at nashvillepride.org

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

KNOW your NEIGHBOR

“T

P H OTOG R AP H B Y J OHN PA RTIP IL O

he main reason we opened a restaurant is to try to make people realize maybe they can enjoy a meal that doesn’t involve animals. We never want to push it down anyone’s throat, but we thought maybe if they come here and enjoy their meal they might say, well, I don’t have to eat meat with every meal. That’s happened a lot, actually. Every meal we serve is vegan, and people sometimes don’t even realize that, and sometimes they’ll come in and talk about how much they like the food, and they’ll find out it’s all vegan and think, ‘Oh my gosh, I can eat vegan food and like it?’ So I think that’s one of our goals is to make vegan food good.”

Melanie COCHRAN

tofu, carrot-daikon slaw and sesame seeds with a drizzle of house-made peanut sauce. Just typing that out makes a by Tommy Womack fellow hungry. A Jackson, Miss., native, Cochran came to Nashville 20 years ago to go to Vanderbilt, where she majored in history. (And that is the subject of the two classes she teaches at Vol State on Gallatin Road.) “I lived in East Nashville when I was going to Vanderbilt, when it was not like this,” Cochran says, sipping on a coffee at Ugly Mugs, right around the corner from The Wild Cow. “I was probably the only Vanderbilt student who lived off Shelby. It was a lot less hip than it is now.” It was while working at Beyond the Edge in 5 Points 11 years ago that she met John, who worked there also. They’ve been an item ever since, and married It’s commonly accepted that motherhood of a toddler is one of for six years now, which puts their matrimony at about the same the hardest jobs in the world. Doubling the amount of toddlers age as the restaurant. Three years ago, their son Damien arrived, pushes it to the top of the list. Owning a restaurant is probably and a year ago, he was joined by his little brother, Killian. John fourth or fifth down on that tally. Now, imagine owning a restaurant, parenting a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old, and being an adjunct helps keep the kitchen stocked and works in the kitchen. He used professor at Vol State, and, just to round it all off, playing in a to be the main chef before he passed that baton to Nick Davis a band! It’s a wonder Melanie Cochran doesn’t look like some harfew years ago. ried, bleary crone with a beeping phone and notes written on her Graze will open in March, with more vegan fare, but on an hand. Instead, she’s a composed, pretty brunette with lively eyes expanded plane with extra hands on deck. “When we started and just enough tattoos to fit in on the East Side. Perhaps it’s the thinking about opening up Graze, our general manager and one healthy diet. of our other managers were interested in partnering with us,” She and her husband, John, opened up The Wild Cow on Cochran says, “so that’s what we’re doing, and they’ll be running Eastland Avenue six years ago, and are on the precipice of opening Graze for the most part.” their second place, Graze, around the corner in the space which The extra space will afford expansion into areas the Wild Cow until recently held The Silly Goose. The Wild Cow is a cozy, couldn’t contain. “There are things we’ve wanted to do at the Wild woodsy place with a dozen or so tables and paintings of cows on Cow like fresh juices,” Cochran says, “but we don’t have room for the wall, which is really about as bovine as the place gets. (Cheese anything else, so we’re putting those things in the new place.” is an option on a few dishes, though, if you want it.) Everything is And, oh yeah, the band! They’re called The Swanies, and you organic and fresh. They do not own a microwave or a freezer. can find them on Facebook. Melanie plays bass and absolutely It’s a small place, and indeed part of the attraction of opening a doesn’t sing. “We played Foobar a couple of weeks ago, and have second venue is so they’ll have extra room over there to store the a gig coming up at the East Room,” she says. “I suppose I’d say fresh produce and other items they need to make Buffalo Tempeh it’s punk rock, if I had to say.” Don’t look for a record release gig Strips and the Far Eastland Bowl, which is sautéed garlicky kale anytime soon. There are nappies to change, juice bars to stock, served over organic brown rice and topped with organic grilled history to be taught, and carrots to shred. All in a day’s work. The Wild Cow | 1896 Eastland Ave. | thewildcow.com

March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

Unbound &

Unabashed Aaron Lee Tasjan finds his place in the crowd By Holly Gleason

he scruffy kid at the bar, hunched over a plate of eggs, is easy to miss. A funky hat, an oversized coat, a limp T-shirt, he’s a little too much of a bright shiny penny to be some jaundiced, sarcastic songwriter, someone biting the nuevo-hipster onslaught pouring into East Nashville. Indeed, the slight 20-something at the bar quietly eating his breakfast is probably part of this sudden immigration problem. After a string of texts, the guy with the oversized black glasses looks around, makes eye contact, and waves. Aaron Lee Tasjan, it seems, is far sweeter than songs like “Bitch Can’t Sing,” “American Tan,” and “East Nashville Song About A Train” might suggest. If his songs skewer and his pictures show a lank, fairly road-worn guy who desperately needs to wash his hair, Aaron Lee Tasjan in person — plate of eggs in hand and crossing The Family Wash — is more adorable urchin than deviant fringe dweller. Smiling, he nods a few times, then says, half-charm/half-disarm and a little aw shucks apologetic, “I was kinda hungry, so I went ahead.” If the young guitarist who won the Essentially Ellington Competition at Lincoln Center

leading to a scholarship at Berklee College of Music has been the luckiest musical drifter, he’s also been driven by a relentless curiosity and will to explore. Morphing into a self-described “indie folk grit” practitioner — evoking John Prine, Steve Goodman, and even Kris Kristofferson — Tasjan is miles from his former lives. First, there was the stint as principle guitarist-songwriter in the outlandish industrial dance/glam/punks Semi Precious Weapons. He would go on to record “I Believe in Elvis Presley” with SPW manager (and one-time Led Zeppelin publicist) BP Fallon; the track produced by Jack White would be released on Third Man Records. Then he would serve as hired gun stand-in for Johnny Thunders in one of David Johansen’s latter incarnations of the New York Dolls. “I don’t think anyone expected me to do anything,” he confesses. “I see myself through the lens of my friends, and how they deal with things. No one expects very much of most people. I like that element of not throwing everything in everybody’s face. Have a little mystery. Let the music do some of the talking.” →

Photography by Stacie Huckeba

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

The kids in this town don’t have a clue They’re as white as the collar they painted blue — “East Nashville Song About A Train” When you ask Tasjan about “ENSAAT,” an NPR Songs We Love, his wryly ironic assessment is, “That’s some eternal truth to drop on a changing Nashville landscape.” He understands the double down of a song calling out hipsters as poseurs for the inauthenticity of their suburban desire to write a rambling song of that ilk. “Look, I’m talking about myself as much as anyone,” he levels, both intimate and sly. “I’m pointing out my own hypocrisy, the idea of moving here and writing a song about trains! It seemed a lot of people might be doing that, so it was interesting to comment on, because I had thought about it — and how it would look to someone who’s a native Nashvillian, trying to relate to that world about me. “But it’s me, you know, taking that stance with myself as much as anyone. To me, it’s [a little more honorable] for one of us to say it before someone like Rodney Crowell does. I think if we [as a generation] can recognize that potential shortcoming and write about it in a way that shows a respect for what came before, that’s being honest. I think that’s pretty important.” Tasjan, in a faded Duane Allman Skydog T-shirt, isn’t trying to weasel around the obvious. His finger-picking on “ENSAAT” is clean, the melody winsome and bittersweet, suggesting the Carter Family’s purity. And the lyrics? Well, they put a hollow point through the obvious reality of (sub)urban kids faking authenticity. “You can’t replicate what was. Maybe you can be part of the conversation of what was and where do we go, who we are, what it means,” he offers, trying to ground his view as something more than truculent millennial. “With all due respect to those people in ‘Heartworn Highways Revisited,’ that isn’t true — it’s all calculated. East Nashville Tonight is more realistic in its portrayal of this moment than the update on ‘Heartworn Highways.’ “Let’s be honest: there is no new John Prine, no new Guy Clark,” Tasjan continues. “They made the art, and they made that time. They weren’t chasing anybody else, that made them special. Well, that and the quality of the songs.” Tasjan doesn’t think he writes in their company, looks away when it’s suggested his satire and commentary brush against Prine’s and the late Goodman’s. He is a seeker, which made him continually move on. He’s also a kid from New Albany, Ohio — as small town and flyover as it gets — and knows there’s more to life than Main Street and making your military-turned-academic dad proud. Some lessons were learned the hard way, things achieved most people strenuously work 40

towards and can’t attain. In the gap between here and there, he’s run into the unthinkable. In that triangle, Tasjan — having shown tremendous native talent as a guitarist attracted the attention of his band director, who manifested his interest in the young teenager by molesting him — was forced to come to terms with some difficult choices. What do you do when you’re young and impressionable, when the grown-up who’s your teacher does something wrong? But even more so, how do you give up on something that’s almost like breathing? Because — for Tasjan — making music was the most potent and powerful thing he’d found. Quitting the school band for self-preservation, he faced intense parental pressure and disappointment. Knowing his father, an Army man who became the VP of university relations for Ohio State, wasn’t going to take to his son walking away quietly, the sensitive young man cast about for other ways to foster his talents. He eventually found himself onstage at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis, being named the winner of the wildly competitive Essentially Ellington jazz guitar competition. If he’d redeemed himself to his father in terms of not squandering his talent, the full ride to the prestigious Berklee College of Music reinforced his father’s notion of what his son’s education should be. For the mostly taciturn kid who lived in his head, the regimentation and pressure didn’t feel where his heart was drawn; but dutifully, off Aaron Lee went to Boston. The trouble with drinking is it ain’t no trouble at all... Unless I’m low on money, or too high on the weed — “The Trouble with Drinking” Whether Berklee was meant for Tasjan or not, he found kindred spirits: genius kids with jagged musical ideas. They also had a propensity for drugs, partying, wild living, jettisoning authority, living beyond the law — or at least rules. It wasn’t long before the skinny kid from Ohio found himself in Williamsburg, sifting songs and guitar tones with his Berklee buddies. “In Brooklyn, there was a shit ton of young people moving into these apartment buildings that grown-ups with real jobs couldn’t pay for; they had trust funds and parents paying for everything. That was the death rattle for New York, a place where artists who wanted to be artists could live on nothing and do their art. You want to transcend the thought patterns of tradition, but live this rebellion your family’s paying for?” But more than garden variety rebellion, Tasjan and friends found a way to shove a finger in the eye of all things Midwestern. Sure, the guitarist was part of the Hootenanny

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

post-alt-roots Madison Square Gardeners — deemed “the best NYC has to offer” in 2008 by The Village Voice — but it was Semi Precious Weapons that pushed every button and boundary that existed. “When I was in Semi Precious Weapons, people didn’t know what to make of it,” he says.

t’s weeks later in the back bar of Tenn Sixteen. Dressed in a Lilly Hiatt T-shirt “that Lilly gave me, which makes me feel connected,” a super-old pair of boots, a flannel shirt he bought out on the road — things, he says, “Mean something to me” — Tasjan still looks like the definition of AnyShaggyYoungHipster, one more kid coming to the Land of Dreams ’n’ Hot Chicken. But A.L.T. has a pretty vast past, and it’s about to be sifted. “People didn’t know it was a gay band,” he explains of SPW, the most glam band since the New York Dolls broke up. “It was outrageous. We had a song called ‘That’s Kunt,’ another called ‘She Only Wants to Fuck Jesus.’ ...” Our eyes meet. There is that moment when pushing buttons becomes sheer shock for people who can’t get the job done in more subtle ways. Justin Tranter, the wildly charismatic platinum blond fashionista frontman (who would go on to be a wildy successful songwriter in his own right,) was as brazen and full-tilt a gender-shattering persona as Johansen or Bowie, but even more aggressively radical in his sex-forward reality. Like a Sherman tank in spike heels, fishnets, and excessive eyeliner, Tranter’s seductive power bleeds across art into life. “Magnetic Baby,” which unapologetically taunts a girl whose party dress he looks better in, lured no less a showwoman than Lady Gaga — and for a time, Tranter was Tasjan’s inamorata. “I was in a romantic relationship with the lead singer of that band,” Tasjan says a little shyly. It’s not fear of confessing driving the hush of the revelation, but more the reticence of kissing and telling. But like so many things about Tasjan, what’s beneath the surface will surprise you. “That was always in me, but I’d really kept to myself,” he says. “I came up against it, and was trying to figure it out. That band, then dealing with all the stuff that came with the rest of it. Trying to figure out ‘Was I gay?’ It was an interesting time.” Some people come into the bar, stop and say “hi.” The conversation is simple, easy. They head to the bar, and Tasjan returns the gaze. “You know I don’t care what you want to label me as, I’m going to be who I am. I’m gonna fall in love with the people my heart feels — and I’m going to party ’cause it feels good.” And the folks back home? “It seemed like a much more awkward conversation to have for others than for me.” Like many millennials, he resists labels →

Let’s be honest: there is no new John Prine, no new Guy Clark.They made the art, and they made that time. They weren’t chasing anybody else, that made them special. Well, that and the quality of the songs. March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

In life, you sometimes feel like you just care about the wrong stuff, the wrong things that exist in this world. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really tricky to not fall into the trap of people telling you what life or success means. 42

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

and refuses to be bound by convention. It explains the ferocity of his electric playing, the blues of bending notes, the fingerpicking songwriter bits. But it also marks how he ventures through life. “I’ve never been a person to close myself off from my heart,” he ventures. “I have to live with the fragility of what is, but those songs have to come out of something. These things have to be acknowledged outside of me, because to hold it all in … “I don’t want to exist in turmoil. Drawing this stuff out of me — the hypocrisy and the questioning — the songs allow me to do this in a place that’s more solitary, and it gives me more time to think it through instead of some bizarre public forum where there are all these people who aren’t qualified telling you what to do or feel. People just chiming in, which I experienced from the time I started playing. That’s why the songs are like this.” If he has the smart-mouthed stoner kid market covered — “The Trouble with Drinking,” “Madonna’s from Amerika,” and “Drugs and Junk Food” — there has been a busted romanticism emerging from his rawnerved morning-afters. But there’s been a shift. Even the burner songs on his upcoming The Refuge — like the ambling shuffle “It’s A Hard Life” — have a buzzing undercurrent of social commentary as much as a slinky recasting of Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35.” “I’ve spent a long time feeling bad about the parts of myself that didn’t really measure up to this standard, you know, that myth there’s some kind of way to be. When people start talking about normal, that’s not real. “So when I started writing, I took all that stuff about myself I wasn’t proud of and I blew it up to try to make it positive, to try to make it something that transcends expectations. “I know I’m kind of lazy, kind of a slacker. For me, I took that and turned it into good with the songs and music; I wanted to change the perspective. It’s more about trying to embrace the things you want to run away from.” Success ain’t about being better than everybody else Success is about being better than yourself — “Success” “In some ways,” Tasjan continues later, trying to define his voice and his reason for mattering as an artist, “I’m trying to write [these songs] in such a way, someone who feels like they don’t have so much self-worth, they can see themselves, can sense their value. “I always felt like all these people [around me] were so ambitious, and all I had was songs. The rest didn’t interest me, all those things everybody was chasing. In life, you sometimes feel like you just care about the wrong stuff, the wrong things that exist in this world. It’s really tricky to not fall into the trap of people telling

you what life or success means.” The man who’s also recorded with The Golden Palominos, Jesse Malin, Pat Green, and Tim Easton has built an intriguing career. Each turn has been a shift, each opportunity providing different windows to look through. As he’s moved through his various incarnations, Tasjan has always tried to absorb new influences. On Telling Stories to the Wall, Tasjan offers “Not Punk,” a spoken word dustup that evokes the Beats and namechecks Iggy, Dylan, Lenny

Kaye, Tom Waits, Steve Jones, and the anti-punk Blink-182. In part, it is a meditation on the roots of his rejectionist folk; it’s also an homage to the rhythms of words and poetry. “I love Ginsburg and Kerouac; the rhythms of their words are like James Brown, where every instrument is a drum,” he says. “It’s a great way to connect the pieces; the underlying thing that pulls you into a song is that primal rhythm. It’s not just the beat the way a rhythm section plays it. The way Allen Ginsburg reads his own poems is genius. →

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THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

“So when I wrote ‘Not Punk,’ I was really trying to tap into that beatnik way of speaking those rhythms. Or the way John Prine talks ‘Lake Marie,’ the rhythm [of how the words fall] draws me in even more than the words he’s singing. It’s back to the cave.” “Not Punk” opens evoking Lenny Kaye’s Nuggets, the 1972 compilation of psychedelic tracks from 1965-68, but it eventually turns to offer a picture of Johansen proclaiming the New York Dolls didn’t invent punk or glam. For Tasjan, it is a declaration that hits close to home. “For [ Johansen], it’s about where the roots come from. In spite of everything [the Dolls did], being managed by (Sex Pistols/Bow Wow Wow impresario) Malcolm McLaren, it’s where the roots come from that mattered to David Johansen. So the song is a great way to get into all that: David loves blues musicians. I remember being in Argentina at the Willie Dixon Blues Club, playing in the Green Room covered in black and white (promo) pictures of all these old blues greats — really obscure people — and David knew them all! Every single one, and he was so thrilled to tell me about them.” The past is as important to the world class guitarist as whatever the future holds. It’s not just Johansen and the mark working with the Dolls left on the guitarist, but the quirky and overlooked everywhere. In The Blazes contains the sweeping twang of “Lucinda’s Room,” a musicians’ homage that evokes the late Texas songwriter Blaze Foley as well as the song’s namesake Williams — weighing the emotional cost of the life of fringe artists who give it all to their art.

said, ‘Well, that’s unusual.’ She said, ‘My friends are all like that. The head of my label is ...’ And she outed David Geffen, because to her it wasn’t a big deal. That was Judee Sill. “Look at the way she got arrested: when she was a girl she fell in with a group of kids who wanted to rob a convenience store, and they talked her into holding the gun. When they got caught, she went to prison for it. When I was reading what stuff there was, who knows how much was perfectly true? But her struggle

to exist in this world where there wasn’t a readymade place for someone being as honest as she was really makes you think.” Your conscience becomes thinner than the soles of worn out shoes You never take a step without your refugee blues — “Refugee Blues” CONTINUED ON PAGE 97

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Scripture and cocaine would do about the same Take a line of either and it just might kill the pain — “Judee Was A Punk” Blazes also offers “Judee Was A Punk,” a celebration of obscure folkie Judee Sill, best known for The Hollies’ hit “Jesus Was A Crossmaker.” Though she was lost to pop culture — in 1979, The Los Angeles Times failed to run an obituary when the genre-blurring Southern California country-rock precursor died of a drug overdose at 35 — she remains an artist whose shimmeringly pretty melodies those who know of her are madly passionate about. “It’s hard to find stuff about her, but I fell in love with her whole story — and the way she was this Jesus freak who was bisexual, did drugs, just followed her desires. When she signed with David Geffen as the first artist on Asylum, she was this visionary. “Her first album didn’t do well, then when she was doing press for Heart Food (the follow-up), she mentioned in a radio interview she was bisexual — and the radio interviewer

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March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

The tank array at Smith & Lentz Brewing Co.

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

Bottoms Building community on the East Side, one pint at a time By Theresa Laurence

Photography by Kelli Dirks

up!

Kurt Smith and Adler Lentz of Smith & Lentz Brewing Co.

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

n a dark and chilly winter night, neighborhood patrons packed into the snug and brightly lit Southern Grist taproom, curious to see what tasty beverages awaited them during the brewery’s grand opening week. The boisterous crowd squeezed together at long wooden tables sampling tart wheat ales, coffee milk stouts, classic IPAs, and more. Friends and strangers cozying up together, sharing conversation, and happily buzzing on some tasty craft beer — what could be better on a cold winter night (or a warm summer afternoon, for that matter)? For East Nashville’s newest crop of taproom entrepreneurs, watching this scene unfold is a dream come true. “It’s been awesome,” Southern Grist founder and CEO Kevin Antoon says. “There’s been an outpouring of people who are so nice and super supportive, some who have been here all three nights.” Cars have filled the small parking lot, and neighbors have walked over from nearby residences to get in on the action. As Southern Grist co-owners Antoon, Jamie Lee, and Jared Welch witness years of scheming and months of detailed preparations come to fruition, they are feeling pretty gratified with their microbrewery venture, especially their choice to set up shop on the East Side. “East Nashville is such a tight community, it’s the perfect place for a neighborhood brewery,” head brewer Welch says. After all three had moved to Nashville in 2007, Southern Grist’s owners met while working at the technology company ServiceSource, and discovered through word of mouth within the company they each had a passion for home brewing and drinking craft beer. “That led to an exciting leap to open the brewery,” Welch. recalls “It’s been an awesome rollercoaster ride.” Southern Grist is the latest craft brewery to open in East Nashville, joining other neighborhood taprooms Smith and Lentz, which opened last October, and Fat Bottom. East Nashville Beer Works is moving along with plans to open in late May. For a few brief moments in time (before Fat Bottom relocates to West Nashville this summer) there will be four microbreweries operating in the neighborhood, which is good news for craft beer lovers and taproom owners alike. “The general consensus in the craft beer world is that everyone raises each other up,” Sean Jewett, head brewer for East Nashville Beer Works, says. When Austin, Texas, transplants Kurt

Smith and Adler Lentz were scouting out a location for their brewery last year, they had a eureka moment when they found space for rent on Main Street across from Fat Bottom and Edley’s Bar-B-Que. “We pounced on this opportunity,” Smith says, recalling the serendipitous journey that brought him and his business partner to the East Side. Smith and Lentz, both natives of Wisconsin and passionate home brewers, met through the craft beer community in Austin and relocated to Nashville to start their own microbrewery. They had originally planned to open their taproom in the heart of downtown, near Rocketown, but that building burned down, so they went scrambling to find an alternate location. “We didn’t have many options that would work for us,” Lentz says. When they found the Main Street building, home to the former Worms Way gardening supply store, they knew they had the right spot. With high visibility along a major artery of the neighborhood, Smith and Lentz Brewing Company has plenty of exposure to drivers and walkers. It’s also easy to find for tourists and residents coming from other parts of the city. At the heart of Smith and Lentz, though, are East Side residents who have thoroughly embraced the brewery as a third home, that primary place where people gather and spend time, outside their home and work. “I don’t know many other neighborhoods in the city, much less the country, where you get this much support,” Lentz says. After only four months in business, Lentz sees how different their brewery would have been if they had ended up downtown instead of in East Nashville. “We would have been doing bachelorette parties and serving people from the conventions,” he says. The Main Street location has provided the brewery with a starkly different clientele. That includes regulars who play in the Tuesday night Ping-Pong tournaments and families who return week after week to enjoy happy hour with their children — sometimes with a takeout dinner in tow.

On Thanksgiving and Super Bowl Sunday, Smith and Lentz hosted a community potluck, and they welcome people to celebrate birthday parties and other special occasions at the brewery. “It’s a whole different ballgame than it would have been downtown,” Lentz says. As Smith and Lentz and Southern Grist build their brands in well-established pockets of the neighborhood, District 7 Metro Councilman Anthony Davis and his business partner and brewmaster Sean Jewett are busy transforming an empty warehouse on Trinity Lane into the future East Nashville Beer Works. Located on the pioneering side of Ellington Parkway, East Nashville Beer Works “hopes to revitalize a section of the neighborhood where there’s not a lot happening,” Davis, president of ENBW, says. “I feel like we’re taking a risk, but this seems like the right place to be.” With the motto “Beer is Community,” Davis and Jewett are striving to →

March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

Jared Welch, Kevin Antoon, and Jamie Lee of Southern Grist Brewing Co.

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

create a family-friendly destination where there are few restaurants and a veritable desert of craft beer options. “Trinity is going to be growing and changing,” Davis says, “and when it does, East Nashville Beer Works will be at the forefront. This is going to be a really cool, fun space.” Touring the still-raw and mostly empty warehouse with snow on the ground and no heat in the building, it’s hard to see Davis and Jewett’s vision for the space, but it certainly sounds tempting: a sleek bar serving fresh brewed beers, hot pizza from the oven, and an outdoor beer garden for the warmer months where patrons can imbibe without leaving the kids or dogs at home. As Jewett describes some of East

If any of the new neighborhood taproom owners has the cred to claim the moniker East Nashville for their brewery, it’s Davis, who has deeper roots in the neighborhood than any of the others and was recently reelected to his District 7 council seat. Jewett, whose backyard serves as East Nashville Beer Works’ temporary test lab, apprenticed with local craft beer rock star Derrick Morse, formerly of Cool Springs Brewery, who is now overseeing the new Franklin brewery, Mantra, in partnership with chef Maneet Chauhan. That opportunity to work under Morse was a great experience, Jewett says, and fueled the fire to become a professional brewer. After connecting with Davis, a self-described serial

This is the best time to be a brewer. We’re resurrecting old styles and trying new things, and no one is afraid to be experimental with bold flavors or unfamiliar styles. — Sean Jewett

March 30

ANDREW BIRD

April 2

DR. DOG

April 9

FISK JUBILEE SINGERS

April 13

JETHRO TULL

WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY IAN ANDERSON

April 17

CHICK COREA & BÉLA FLECK April 24

BEN FOLDS WITH YMUSIC with Dotan

April 25

BOZ SCAGGS Nashville Beer Works signature flavors, it feels like the taproom’s target grand opening of late May can’t get here soon enough. A home brewer since 2009, Jewett is continuing to master the balanced and bright flavors of ENBW’s signature offerings. The Miro Miel honey blonde ale will be made with different batches of locally sourced honey; the Smoked Porter will be made with house-smoked grains, and the Session IPA will be brewed with a rotating supply of hops. Several of ENBW’s signature brews bear neighborhood-centric names, just as the brewery itself does. It will be the first of the city’s roughly 15 breweries to actually incorporate the name Nashville, and it’s something Davis thought long and hard about. He says he’s not trying to latch on to the recent trendiness of the neighborhood. “It’s all about the community,” he says. “We want to be humble about it, and we know there will be pressure to live up to the name.”

entrepreneur and craft beer lover (although, incidentally, not a home brewer), the two decided to move forward with starting a business. Last year, Davis sold his 10-yearold web design firm, iDesign, and went allin on his dream of starting a brewery. With a 15-barrel system, East Nashville Beer Works will be producing more beer than its neighbors and already has plans to distribute to local bars and restaurants before the taproom opens. “We definitely want to get our product out to the market,” says Davis. They will also offer a crowler to go, filled while you wait. Southern Grist, by contrast, has a four-barrel system, and for now, is not distributing beyond the taproom. It’s so small scale, in fact, that Welch is the company’s only full-time employee, while Antoon and Lee still have their day jobs. “I’m running on adrenaline,” Antoon said during his brewery’s opening week, “but I’m not ex→ hausted yet.”

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March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

Sean Jewett and Anthony Davis of East Nashville Beer Works

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

Three new microbreweries sprouting up in one neighborhood in less than a year may sound like a lot, but all the taproom owners are adamant that the Nashville market is far from saturated. “The Southeast is one of the last big untapped markets for craft breweries,” Jewett, a native of St. Louis, says. And with Nashville considered one of the whitest hot cities in the country, Davis thinks it only makes sense that more people are jumping into the business here. Southern Grist’s Antoon sees the craft beer industry in Nashville as just being born. Cities with similar demographics to Nashville support dozens of local breweries. Throw a dart at a map of Denver, and you’ll probably hit a brewery; walk down several blocks in Portland and stumble in and out of 10 breweries. Like the other local brewers, Antoon feels that now is the time for Nashville to stake its claim as one of the great craft beer cities in the country. After growing up in the classic American macrobrew territory of Wisconsin, Lentz later lived in San Diego and Austin, which supported thriving microbrewery scenes. He also traveled around the country, and occasionally the world, installing brewery equipment. Smith, also from Wisconsin, lived in Minneapolis and then Austin, where he began brewing several batches of beer a week and volunteering at local breweries. After bonding over craft beer in Austin and getting serious about opening their own brewery, Smith and Lentz decided they had a better shot at success if they entered a different market with more room for growth. While researching potential cities for their startup brewery and drawing up their business plan, Nashville rose to the top of the list. “The quality of life here … was everything we were looking for, and we felt that Nashville was a good size city that could support another brewery,” Lentz says. Nashville’s appetite for quality craft beer has not disappointed the two friends. On a recent weekend, when Bearded Iris Brewery was holding its grand opening in nearby Germantown, and other local breweries were holding special events, Smith and Lentz had one of its busiest weekends ever. “That just proves how the neighborhood — and the city — support a growing taproom scene,” Smith says. “It’s really encouraging.” Smith and Lentz have built their business completely through word of mouth and social media. “We have done no marketing or advertising, and we’re seeing steady growth,” Lentz says. Since opening, they have branched out beyond their own taproom to distribute to a select few Nashville bars and restaurants, including the Village Pub & Beer Garden and The Hop Stop on the East Side.

“For Nashvillians who have long relied on standbys Blackstone and Yazoo breweries to fulfill a local craft beer craving, the recent blossoming of neighborhood taprooms is a concept that’s overdue,” Southern Grist’s Welch says. “Everyone wants to support local.” Neighborhood patrons are eager to embrace these new local breweries, and the brewers and business owners are more than happy to help each other out as well. As Antoon, Lee, and Welch worked out Southern Grist’s final kinks before opening to the public, they always felt comfortable calling on Smith and Lentz for advice. “They’ve been super helpful and really generous with sharing information,” Welch says. “The craft beer community in Nashville has really embraced us, and we were strangers,” Antoon adds, noting that reps from Yazoo sent over a gift congratulating them on their opening night. “This is not a competitive market — it’s friendly competition.” “This is the best time to be a brewer,” Jewett says. “We’re resurrecting old styles and trying new things, and no one is afraid to be experimental with bold flavors or unfamiliar styles.” Welch, of Southern Grist, has concocted perhaps the most unusual offering of the moment: a Moscow Muleinspired Nashville Mule ale that includes hand-grated ginger and fresh lime zest. And yes, this small-scale artisanal approach to brewing does come at a price. A 32-ounce crowler of the Nashville Mule style ale, canned at the bar while you wait, will set you back $13. “There’s no economy of scale here,” Welch says. “Everything is done by hand and a lot of cost goes into our beer. That’s not too far out of line with other breweries who offer 64-ounce growler fills for around $16. So far, people are clearly willing to pay.”

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3/14 Eli “Paperboy” Reed

opener Jeremy & the Harlequins

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opener Peter Aristone SOLD OUT

Smith and Lentz Brewing Company 903 Main St. smithandlentz.com Southern Grist Brewing Company 1201 Porter Road 615-727-1201 southerngristbrewing.com East Nashville Beer Works 320 E. Trinity Lane eastnashbeerworks.com

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â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Monumental How Cinderella Sound Studio helped 54

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Cinderella Sound Studio owner Wayne Moss in the driver’s seat, photographed from the live room vantage point looking into the control room. (Photo by Eric England)

Stuff’

By Daryl Sanders

shape Nashville music history March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

ot surprisingly, Nashville’s oldest independent recording studio isn’t located anywhere near Music Row. It is instead 12 miles away on a block-long, wooded street in Madison in the same space it has occupied since 1961. If it’s your first visit to Cinderella Sound Studio, it’s easy to drive right past it. From the outside, the repurposed two-car garage looks like it might be someone’s home workshop. There is nothing whatsoever to suggest that inside the white, cinder-block walls recordings were made that influenced the history of popular music, recordings that are featured in the Dylan, Cash and the Nashville Cats: A New Music City exhibit currently running at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, recordings that include a pair of albums by the genre-defying session supergroup Area Code 615. Cinderella Sound is owned by Wayne Moss, legendary session guitarist and protégé of Chet Atkins, and one of the aforementioned cats. Moss played the Buddy Hollyinspired guitar on Tommy Roe’s only No. 1 hit, “Sheila,” was one of the three guitarists (along with Jerry Kennedy and Billy Sanford) playing the monster riff on Roy Orbison’s second and final No. 1, “Oh, Pretty Woman,” and was one of the guitarists on Bob Dylan’s magnum opus Blonde On Blonde. He played on records by Patsy Cline, Bobby Vinton, Waylon Jennings, and Steve Miller, to name just a few. Moss was also one of the two guitarists in Area Code 615. Of the 16 musicians spotlighted in the Hall of Fame exhibit, seven of the cats were Moss’ bandmates in Area Code 615: keyboardist David Briggs, drummer Kenny Buttrey, guitarist Mac Gayden, multi-instrumentalist Charlie McCoy, pedal steel player Weldon Myrick, bassist Norbert Putnam, and fiddle player Buddy Spicher. (The band also included banjo player Bobby Thompson.) In many ways, the highly influential recordings the group made at Cinderella are what solidified the studio’s place in Nashville history. As McCoy put it recently by phone from his condo in Florida, “It was monumental stuff.” The two albums the band recorded at Cinderella — 1969’s Area Code 615 and 1970’s Grammy-nominated A Trip In The Country — were instrumental masterpieces that informed not only the burgeoning country rock movement, but also jam-oriented Southern rock bands, and even the godfathers of jam themselves, the Grateful Dead, who saw Area Code 615 perform live at the Fillmore West in February of 1970 during a four-night stand headlined by Country Joe and the Fish.

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

No one has made more records at Cinderella Sound than Charlie McCoy (far left), shown here in the studio’s control room with some of his former bandmates, (L-R) Cinderella’s Wayne Moss, Jimmy Miller, and Mac Gayden. (Photo by Stacie Huckeba)

“

If you listen to that record real close, at the end when it slows down and gets into that big, long fadeout, if you listen real close, Kenny has a saw and he is sawing a piece of wood. — Charlie McCoy

The idea for an instrumental band combining country, rock, and R&B came out of some downtime during sessions in 1968 with The Monkees’ Michael Nesmith, who was in Nashville recording tracks for the album The Monkees Present. Moss, Putnam, and Briggs were among the musicians who joined in a “country rock” jam on The Beatles’ “Lady Madonna.” The result was an “aha” moment that prompted Moss to say, “We need to cut an album like this.”

Not long thereafter, while boating at Center Hill Lake, Moss discussed with Buttrey and producer Elliot Mazer the idea of an instrumental group made up of some of the young session players. Mazer thought he could sell such a group to a label — and he did, landing the group a contract with Polydor. Because they were all busy with session work, the primary sessions for the first album were scheduled many weeks in advance. “We all booked a complete week, six weeks in advance,” Putnam explains, “because we couldn’t do it two Cinderella added a third room in the late ’70s weeks in advance, somebody that is used primarily for drums, but also for would be booked, you know.” horns and strings. (Photo by Eric England) When the nine members of the group that would later take its name from a Nashville phone book convened at Cinderella studio to begin recording their first album, there was no real plan other than to improvise on some popular songs. After a week of work, they had 11 genre-bursting renditions that included not only “Lady Madonna,” but also The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” and “Get Back,” Dylan’s” Just Like A Woman,” Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” and Mason Williams’ “Classical Gas.” With all nine musicians in the tracking room, it would get pretty March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

Former members of Charlie McCoy & The Escorts catch up with one another at Cinderella. (L-R) Quitman Dennis, studio owner Wayne Moss, and Bill Aikins. (Photo by Eric England)

Moss at work in the studio in earlier times. (Photo courtesy of Wayne Moss)

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

The Flickinger recording console. Note â&#x20AC;&#x153;Wayne Moss | Cinderellaâ&#x20AC;? etched in the center of the board.

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hile Cinderella began to receive worldwide recognition after the release of Area Code 615’s eponymous debut, Moss was doing some rudimentary recording in his garage as early as 1961. “I was doing recording in West Virginia before I even got here, so I was just continuing what I had been doing since high school,” he explains over coffee in the kitchen of his ranch-style home located on the same property as Cinderella. “It was always my ambition to own a studio.” Back in ’61, Moss was playing guitar in Charlie McCoy & The Escorts, Nashville’s top rock band that included not only McCoy and Moss, but also Buttrey, keyboardist Bill Aikins, and saxophonist Quitman Dennis. When the group decided to close The Sack, their teen club in East Nashville, they moved the microphones and other gear to Moss’ garage. “We brainstormed it riding in the car to gigs,” Dennis recalls. “We decided to do it and that Wayne’s garage was going to become a studio. We all decided to cooperate and do it

2 for 1

crowded. “We were literally on top of each other, which was a good thing,” Putnam says. “We could get a balance in the room and hear everything because we were so close. It was really cool.” For McCoy, the sessions really began to click when Spicher and Thompson presented their idea to the band for “Hey Jude,” playing the fiddle-banjo intro that can be heard on the record. “That was it,” he says. “Once we did that, we said, ‘OK, now we know what to do.’ We’d all been trying to play country, or we’d all been trying to play R&B. Let’s pick some great songs and everybody play his own style. And that’s what the Area Code was.” Spicher, Thompson, and Myrick were country cats, while the rest of the band, even though they played country sessions, had a background in R&B and rock. Regarding the band’s recording of “Hey Jude,” McCoy reveals a little-known fact: “If you listen to that record real close, at the end when it slows down and gets into that big, long fadeout, if you listen real close, Kenny has a saw and he is sawing a piece of wood. We took the microphone outside, and miked the saw, sawing that piece of wood. So, there’s a saw on that record.” Those sessions were “a whole lot of fun,” according to Gayden. “There was a lot of laughing,” he says. “It was real loose because you had nine session players who had played with everybody.” Briggs also remembers the sessions for the first album as being loose. “There was a lot of goofing off,” he says and laughs. “We would record one or two [songs], then we would go play baseball for an hour. We didn’t have any real teams or anything like that, we were just hitting and throwing around.”

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as a joint band venture. “We went to salvage yards, and scrounged up material and doors,” he continues. “Everybody worked with tools to do that and got it working.” “We all pitched in,” McCoy says. “That table the amplifiers sit on, I built that table. Everybody was pitching in out there.” “The band built that studio,” echoes Aikins. “That was an effort of the whole band.” They divided the garage into two areas: the control room and the tracking room. Dennis laughs as he recalls that he “hung the door” between the control room and the studio. There was a drum booth for Buttrey in the main room, which these days is used for vocals. It wasn’t long before both Aikins and Dennis left The Escorts, so Moss bought out his bandmates and became sole owner of the

“

“It’s just, you know, stay loose, be real, be genuine; this is not Music Row, we don’t have to worry about people sneaking in and listening to it from some label,” he continues. “Just do our thing, experiment and have a good time and not worry about it. “That was the first place in Nashville that I ever recorded where you could just be yourself a hundred percent.” Over the years, a number of legendary engineers got their start at Cinderella, including Neil Wilburn, who would go on to become one of Columbia’s top engineers in Nashville, and Gene Eichelberger, who is probably best known for his work at Quadrafonic Sound. “We had a UA (Universal Audio) board and it was tube type,” Moss says of the studio’s original console. “Neil Wilburn wired it up. He was working at Electra Distributing, selling me resistors and stuff.

That was the first place in Nashville that I ever recorded where you could just be yourself a hundred percent. — Mac Gayden

studio. “Yeah, it cost me 60 bucks per member, which was basically some microphones and cables and stuff,” he says. Early on, sessions at the studio were mostly for McCoy and Moss’ company, Wormwood Music. “Wayne and I had a publishing company, and the main reason we did that [the studio] was for us to do demos,” McCoy explains. In 1964, McCoy signed with Monument Records, and over the next four years, the label released seven double-sided singles featuring McCoy backed by The Escorts, most of which were recorded at Cinderella Sound. “The technique for recording that we all had was kind of developed during the Escorts sessions,” says Gayden, who had replaced Moss as the band’s guitarist by then. “We had a methodology to it, and we stuck to that all the way through the 615 and Barefoot Jerry stuff. 60

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

“

“So when I got Neil to wire that up, I said, ‘Why don’t you come out here and engineer?’ And he said, ‘I don’t know anything about music.’ I said, ‘It doesn’t matter, you know about electronics, and a monkey can mix music.’ ” So that’s how Wilburn became Cinderella’s first engineer. Initially, Moss had a Roberts mono 2-track recorder, but was using an Ampex PR-10 2-track stereo machine by the time Wilburn came on board. “I know Neil Wilburn engineered the Faron Young radio show out here on the PR10,” Moss says. “In the process, he [Young] brought Merle Kilgore, and The Louvin Brothers, and everybody on The Opry to do their latest single on his radio show. The Louvin Brothers and all these people that came in here got to see the studio, and thought, ‘Shoot, I ought to cut here, too.’ So, it brought a lot of business to the place.” Eichelberger moved to Nashville to work

at Cinderella in the fall of 1969. “Gene is very knowledgeable,” Moss says. “I don’t care what you brought into the studio, a tuba or whatever it was, he’d listen to it in the studio and go back into the control room and make it sound just like it sounded live — and that is hard to do.” By the time Eichelberger arrived, Moss had moved up to an Ampex 8-track machine. Within a few years, he had upgraded to first a 16-track MCI recorder and finally a 24-track MCI machine, which he still has. “It’s a good workhorse machine for those who are fanatics about cutting to tape,” he says. After he acquired the 16-track MCI machine, he got the board he still uses, a recording console designed by legendary audio engineer Daniel Flickinger and considered to be among the best sounding mixing desks ever made. There are only two still in use — the one at Cinderella and one in the U.K. — but back in the ’70s, in addition to Cinderella, Flickinger made consoles for Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield, Johnny Cash, Ike Turner, Ray Stevens, Funkadelic, Muscle Shoals Sound, and Motown. Flickinger himself came to Cinderella after it was installed. “They never fired up the console to see if it worked until it got installed at Cinderella,” Moss recalls. “Then they had to go through and debug it, and Flickinger showed up for that. “The Flinginger was 24 in and 24 out,” he continues. “I told Flickinger I wanted a 16-track console because I had a 16-track machine at the time, and he said, ‘No, you want a 24.’ And I said, ‘No, I want 16 and four extra busses for echo returns.’ He said, ‘I’m going to charge you the same thing for a 24 as I will for a 16.’ I said, ‘OK, I’ll take it.’ “Flickinger and I had several disagreements, and he always won,” Moss adds with a laugh.

“She Shot A Hole In My Soul,” which was written by Gayden and Chuck Neese. Gayden led the session which included Buttrey and Putnam. Some of the folk and rock artists who followed Dylan to Nashville worked at Cinderella. One of the first was folk artist Eric Anderson, who recorded the album A Country Dream there in 1968, backed by five of the cats from the Code: Briggs, Buttrey, McCoy, Myrick , and Putnam. Mazer met Buttrey at a session in Nashville

for the folk duo Ian & Sylvia, and met Moss through the drummer. “Kenny introduced me to Wayne Moss, and I meet Wayne, and we talk about it, and we see Cinderella Sound,” Mazer recalls. “I say, ‘Great, we’ll work there.’ And I did quite a few albums there. Did 615 there, a guy called Jake Holmes — I did one album there. A guy called Ken Lauber — I did a beautiful album there with him.” One of the best-known records Mazer helmed at Cinderella was Linda Ronstadt’s CONTINUED ON PAGE 98

he first album recorded at Cinderella was 1964’s Folk Instrumentals, an album by The Greenwoods released on the Decca label. The Greenwoods included McCoy, Moss, Dennis (on bass), and Gayden, as well as multi-instrumentalist Willow Collins. “That was pretty cool,” McCoy recalls. “I had never really played a lot with a banjo before that, and Willow Collins was a really fine banjo player. It was kind of an eye-opening experience.” In addition to the sessions for Wormwood Music, Cinderella hosted demo sessions for other Nashville-based publishing companies. “We had a good portion of the writers on Combine cut out here — Billy Swan, Kristofferson,” Moss says of the storied company led by Bob Beckham. The first hit record recorded at Cinderella was Clifford Curry’s 1967 beach music classic March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

Karma &

Karisma Richie Lee has been changing lives in East Nashville for a decade, and heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just getting started By Randy Fox

Photography by Eric England March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

n 2006, Richie Lee was living in New Jersey, working in a high-pressure sales job, making a six-figure salary — and generally feeling unsatisfied with life. It was an experience that had haunted him for some time, a sense that despite the money and success, he was missing something very important. “I was teaching martial arts part-time,” Lee says. “One of my students was a 9-year-old girl named Amy who was severely disabled by cerebral palsy. She would stand within the confines of her walker, and we would go through punches to help her limber up and to get her moving. One day, she came in, and she stepped away from her walker for the first time. Later that day, I went into my boss’ office at the printing company and said, ‘I’m leaving, and I’m moving to Nashville.’ It was the gift that Amy gave me.” A decade after that life-changing moment, Lee sits in his East Nashville studio, Karisma Fitness, talking about the ups and downs he’s encountered on his journey. With his friendly smile, intensity of purpose, and charming manner, it’s easy to understand how he built a reputation as one of the most dynamic and popular personal fitness trainers in Nashville. Born in 1970, Lee spent his early years growing up in Mississippi. “My dad was Asian and from Washington Heights in New York City, and my mom is a redheaded, green-eyed Irish Kelly from Mississippi,” he says. “She was a country & western singer, and we moved around a lot when I was very young. I never really got settled, and in Mississippi during the 1970s, you were pretty much white, black, or me. So I got picked on a lot.” After his parents’ divorce, Lee lived with his father in Garfield, N.J. Located just north of Jersey City, and only a few miles from New York, it was a world away from Mississippi. Lee took to his new surroundings immediately, and he soon found a way to defend himself from bullies. “I got into martial arts pretty early on,” he says. “I was a small kid, growing up in a poor neighborhood. My dad was a black belt, and he began teaching me some basics at a very young age. I joined the wrestling team when I was 12, and then I got seriously into martial arts and was never picked on again. At one point, I thought I would become a martial arts film star.” Lee’s teenage dreams of an ass-kickin’ cinematic career never came to be. Instead, he attended college at Jacksonville University in Florida and then returned to New Jersey, finding work in the printing industry. Within a few years, he was one of the top salesmen in his company, working with such high-profile magazines as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and GQ. “I was working with a lot of top-end accounts, hanging out with Victoria’s Secret models, wearing the finest clothes and driving the expensive cars,” Lee says. “I loved it at first,

but life as I saw it drastically changed after 9/11. I lived right across the river from the World Trade Center, and I saw the second tower fall from my driveway. It struck a chord in me, even though it took me a few years to realize what I really wanted out of life.” The feeling that he was missing out on something continued to grow for the next several years, culminating with the epiphany he experienced while training a young martial arts student. In the mid-1990s, his mother had settled in Mt. Juliet, Tenn., and Lee became a frequent visitor to the Nashville area. The charms of a simpler life in the Music City, and particularly East Nashville, seemed to be the answer. Buying a condo on Eighth and Woodland, Lee began a new career in real estate. “That didn’t work so well,” he says. “For lack of a better phrase, I wasn’t good at kissing people’s asses, and around that same time the real estate market began crashing. I had kept up my personal fitness program in martial arts and people that saw me at the gym started asking me if I would train them. Then I was asked to fill in as the instructor on a kickboxing class because the instructor couldn’t make it. Everything just took off from there.” Receiving his certification as a personal trainer in 2007, Lee made the career switch from hustling houses to teaching his students to hustle in the gym. Choosing a name that combined the appeal of “charisma” with the spelling of his goddaughter’s name (Karissa), Karisma Fitness was born. Working out of several gyms in Nashville, his fitness programs quickly gained popularity, and he was voted Best Personal Trainer in the Nashville Scene’s “Best of Nashville” poll in 2009 and 2010. “I set down roots in East Nashville,” Lee says. “I loved it here, and I loved the people. I was renting space from East Nashville Martial Arts on Gallatin Road just for my morning boot camp class, and then in October 2011 I got the opportunity to take over the entire space.” Although it seemed Lee was in the fast lane to success, fate had a few punches to throw at him. “I took this place over, moved my mom into an apartment in Madison, and lost my condo to foreclosure all in a weekand-a-half period,” he says. “I had invested in another gym. They had this huge business plan that looked great, but they had some very bad issues that were not obvious. When that fell through and the space in East Nashville became available, I had to make some decisions quickly — let my condo go or let my dream go. My condo was replaceable but my dream had yet to be realized, so I chose the dream. “I was at a point of no return,” Lee continues. “I didn’t want to go back to working in corporate America, and I also couldn’t go back because of my age — the type of sales I worked in was all about being young. I ran Karisma without a glitch for four years without anyone knowing that I no idea where I was going to lay my head at night.” →

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Lee at his Karisma Fitness studio showing how itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s done. 66

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I think I needed to be stripped down by a higher power to humble me and make me realize which path was truly important. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot easier to choose when you have no choice. March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

The philosophy and mindset that gave Lee the strength to weather his personal financial challenges and stay focused on his bigger dream are the same principles that he seeks to instill in his students. “I think I needed to be stripped down by a higher power to humble me and make me realize which path was truly important,” Lee says. “It’s a lot easier to choose when you have no choice. It was very tough at times dealing with that stress, but it all comes down to confidence. All I do is make people believe they can do what they already can do. They just don’t believe that they can do it. I don’t train people’s bodies. I train their minds, and they train their own bodies.” Although Lee utilizes many standard fitness techniques like circuit training and weight training, his programs are primarily centered on the hybrid martial art of kickboxing, with a greater emphasis on philosophical traditions than is found in most mixed martial arts programs. “I basically took the principles and discipline of martial arts and put it into a fitness program that makes sense in everyday life,” he says. “I’ve trained fighters, but I’m just not interested in doing that anymore. Programs can be tailored to the individual, but what we all want is to feel good about ourselves, and respect ourselves. You get to that point by respecting others. People come in and get a great workout, but they’re also getting a life skill. You’re not just walking on a treadmill or learning Zumba.” As Lee talks of his students, he never uses terms like “client” or “customer.” He has an emotional connection to them that goes much deeper. “My introduction package is called ‘Welcome to the Family’ because that’s what it is,” he says. “I didn’t have a very strong family growing up, but now I have the opportunity to create my own. You don’t walk in here, take a class, and then walk out. You become part of the family. My people know that if they’re stranded somewhere at 3 o’clock in the morning they can call me, and I will do my best to get there. I wouldn’t operate under any other circumstances.” That sense of family also extends to his love for the neighborhood he adopted when he made the decision to change his life. “I’m definitely an East Nashville snob,” he says. “Those of us that have been here for 10 years or more are the pioneers of this neighborhood. When I first moved here, the friends I already had in Nashville all said, ‘Don’t move to East Nashville.’ That was the difference between people who have a vision and people who don’t. People that have a vision never know what to expect, but you’re committed to the ride, and that’s what East Nashville was. “I love growth and I love new people coming in, but I don’t love it changing the things

that are already good. I think East Nashville just needs to slow its roll a little bit. It’s a more grungy part of town, and I love that part of it. It’s a very unique village, and I think a lot of people moving in here now just don’t understand that yet. People who come here need to become a part of the community that was already here rather than closing themselves off into their own little sub- communities.” One way that Lee is actively seeking to become a bigger part of the community is his work with child fitness programs. In addition to being a host at past Mayor’s Fitness Field Days, he recently launched a child fitness program at Karisma. As with his other programs, he sees child obesity as the symptom of deeper problems. “You have to plant the seeds of a healthy lifestyle early,” Lee says. “I’m not saying everyone has to have a totally healthy, skinny child, but if you’re not teaching your child discipline and you think a candy bar is what will make them happy just because it shuts them up, that’s not good parenting. “To watch how iPhones and iPads have become the inexpensive babysitter bothers me so much. Kids don’t know how to relate with each other. There’s a lot more to life than just looking at a screen all the time. I say this because I was an unfocused child, and without the discipline I learned from

martial arts, I would be dead or in jail now. It’s a very emotional issue for me. We’re in the very early stages of the program I would like to build, but my vision is to accommodate all children into classes so they can learn respect for each other.” The kids’ programs that Lee envisions are just part of his future plans. “I really feel like I’m about to turn a corner with what I’ve accomplished at Karisma,” he says. “I’d like to help as many people as possible on many different levels — weight loss, addictions, low self-esteem. I want to take Karisma’s philosophy and spread it further — speaking at schools, motivational speaking — doing things like I’m doing, just on a bigger scale.” It’s been a long journey from that moment a decade ago when a little girl’s courage and resolve pointed the way to a new path for his life. Lee may have traded Armani suits for sweaty workout clothes, but he has also learned where true wealth resides and the incredible karmic dividends one receives from investing in the welfare of others. “I’m so much happier now than I was 10 years ago,” he says. “It means so much more to me to know that I can give someone the gift of confidence than if I could give them a check for $50,000. Money can be lost, but that confidence can never be taken away.”

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Representing the Phoenix of East Nashville vintage base ball club are, L-R: Jamie “Little Shaggy” Watson (Scorekeeper) and Eliot “Toot Toot” Watson (Batboy), both of whom are holding “willows,” and Jay “Shaggy” Watson, who is holding the “pill.”

Huzzah! With pill and willow, Phoenix of East Nashville is helping keep vintage base ball alive

By John McBryde

Photography by John Partipilo March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

t’s trivia night at Drifter’s BBQ, and members of the Phoenix of East Nashville vintage base ball team appear fully braced for two hours of competition. It is the 85th Monday this assortment of men has met at the popular 5 Points bar and restaurant to field questions on categories ranging from sports and movies to inventions and anatomy. Tonight’s team consists of eight players who will do brainy battle against 10 other groups poised for action. Stakes are rather high, as the winning team is awarded $50 toward the following Monday’s bar tab. “There’s a natural competitiveness that arises when we play this each week,” Jay “Shaggy” Watson, one of the Phoenix players, says. “When we don’t win at trivia, we go home pretty upset.” As it turns out, the team finishes third and leaves with a collection of beer koozies for their efforts, yet satisfied that there’s always next week. When asked how many nights of the 85 Phoenix has finished in first place, Steven “Chicago” Schryver shrugs and admits he doesn’t really know. “It’s hard to say,” he says. “We’ve had winning streaks of four or five weeks, but I’m not sure how many total wins we’ve had.” While Watson, Schryver, and the other Phoenix players may be drawn to Drifter’s each Monday by a competitive spirt, it’s really their sense of camaraderie that brings them out. It’s a connectedness that dates to how they all met in the first place, as members of the Phoenix of East Nashville club that’s part of the Tennessee Association of Vintage Base Ball (TAVBB). Established in 2012, the TAVBB combines

history with baseball as it was played in the 1860s (and was at that time the two-worded “base ball”). Players wear uniforms similar to ones that would have been worn some 150 years ago, play by 19th century rules, and demonstrate an air of civility. “No spitting, no swearing,” as Schryver puts it. The game is similar to modern baseball, with a few subtle and some not-so subtle differences. The ball is a tad larger and softer than baseballs of today, and players do not wear gloves. There is no home run fence, stealing bases isn’t

allowed, and the batter is called out if the ball is caught by a fielder on one bounce, which is known as the “bound rule.” And in keeping with the tradition of the 1800s, every player has a nickname. “What we’re trying to do is to recreate what a baseball experience would have been like in the 1860s,” says Chris “Snookie Roy” Hoff, captain of the Phoenix squad and a member of the league since it first began. “In that respect, even

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

though we’re playing a game and we’re competing, and there is a winner and a loser, what we’re really doing is, we’re base ball reenactors.” The 2016 season of TAVBB gets underway in April and features 10 teams — the Nashville Maroons, the Franklin Farriers, Travellers Club of Brentwood, the Stewarts Creek Scouts, the Highland Rim Distillers, and Phoenix in Middle Tennessee, and Emmett Machinists of Knoxville, the Knoxville Holstons, the Mountain City Club of Chattanooga, and the Lightfoot Club of Chattanooga in East Tennessee. The season runs through Sept. 1011, when it culminates with the championship tournament known as the Sulphur Dell Cup. Instead of typical baseball diamonds, games are played at historic locations such as Mansker’s Station in Goodlettsville, the Sam Davis Home in Smyrna, and Carnton Plantation in Franklin. Phoenix of East Nashville plays its home games at Bicentennial Mall. Though historical documents show that base ball was played in Edgefield as early as 1860, Phoenix members have been unable to find a suitable spot on the East Side for 21st century games. “We would love to play home games in East Nashville, but I’m just not sure we can find a place,” Hoff says. “Everybody on this team is proud to be representing that community.” That pride shows, in part, through the players’ uniforms. When Hoff and others were planning for the team’s first season — in 2014, when the TAVBB expanded from two teams the year before to eight — they wanted to be sure that Phoenix reflected the aura of East Nashville. “We had to figure out what the uniforms were going to look like, the team colors,” Hoff recalls. “My first idea was to go to the East Nashville High School website and find out

‘‘

… even though we’re playing a game and we’re competing, and there is a winner and a loser, what we’re really doing is, we’re base ball reenactors.

what their colors are. Turns out they were red and gray. Someone showed me a drawing of a uniform with gray shirts and red pants, and it looked great. So we went with the red pants.” And then there’s Drifters. Even though all the Phoenix players don’t reside on the East Side and home games are played across the river in downtown Nashville, they’re all loyal to the community their team calls home. Besides, they needed a good neighborhood hangout where they could knock back a few beers after a match, as well as gather during the TAVBB offseason for more competition and camaraderie. “The trivia idea just came out of a discussion we were having during our first road trip a couple of seasons ago,” says Schyler, who lives in Donelson. “I was in the car with [teammates] Horse-Fly ( Jack Chambers), Crash ( John Niedzwiecki) and Hammer (Curtis Piatt). We were talking about trivia and wondering if there was a place we could meet for trivia night. Someone mentioned Drifter’s and it seemed to be a natural fit. It was on a Monday night when nobody really had anything going on. It was the place where we typically meet on Sunday afternoon after a match at Bicentennial Mall. So we’ve got kind of a core group that meets there every Monday. “We’ve got that camaraderie on game day, after a match at Drifters on the deck, and on

Monday nights.” Some of the players are, indeed, from East Nashville, a fact that has certainly ingrained a community pride. “I definitely feel that,” says Watson, an Inglewood resident whose “Shaggy” nickname comes from his mild resemblance to the lanky hippy from The Scooby-Doo Show. “When I joined the league, there was the opportunity to join just the league and you would be on any of the teams where there was an opening. And I really wanted to be on the East Nashville team because I wanted to play on the team from my community.” For Watson, the team has become a bit of a family affair. His wife, Candi Henry (aka “Black Widow”), was the league’s first female umpire (or arbiter) last year and returns to help out this year. Their youngest son, 7-year-old Eliot, has been named bat boy for Phoenix this season. Nicknamed “Toot Toot,” one of his duties will be to blow a wooden train whistle when a player scores. Eleven-year-old Jamie is the team’s official scorekeeper. While his son’s method of using an iPad and a special scoring app may not exactly adhere to the 1860s way of life, Watson says “it’s been fun for him to learn the different rules the vintage game has.” As for the age range of Phoenix players, it basically mirrors that of the league. The median age of the East Side club is around 44-45,

with one player in his 20s and a couple in their 70s. Seniors on the team are John “Caboose” Harmon, 71, and Lacey “Magic Hands” Spivey, 70. “If you add the ages of those two guys together, it goes back to the time of the Civil War,” quips Paul “Nails” Clark. The good-natured ribbing of the seniors notwithstanding, they can bring a certain wisdom and discipline to the game. And especially in the case of Spivey, they bring quite a bit of athleticism. A 23-year resident of Inglewood, Spivey has medaled four times in five years of competing in the Tennessee Senior Olympics. When he was 40, he rode across the country on a bicycle. The TAVBB continues to grow and attract more interest. Fans can enjoy a family-friendly environment, catch a little 1860s-style base ball, and soak up some of the charm from local historic places. Likewise, as more and more East Nashvillians learn about the league and their “home team,” the greater the enthusiasm, Watson says. “We’ve done some events to promote our team and the league,” he says. “For instance, we were at the East Nashville Beer Festival last year, and had a table set up where people could learn more about it. Everybody who heard about it was interested. I feel like there’s lots of support when people know about it.”

March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

ESS15_EN_HalfPageH_August.indd 1

8/17/15 10:20 AM

There Goes the

Neighborhood Market With the closing of the Walmart Neighborhood Market, the community wonders what will take its place

ight inches of snow blanketed the frozen ground as shoppers poured into the Walmart Neighborhood Market for the very last time. The retail juggernaut announced it would be shuttering 269 of its stores worldwide, and the Gallatin Avenue location had not made the cut. The closing sign was hoisted, prices were slashed, and the store began the descent toward its imminent demise, leaving East Siders wondering what would come next. In the days prior to its closing, an eerie, almost apocalyptic scene began to unfold. The deli with hot bar items and prepared foods was consumed first, then the meat and fresh produce sections to follow as the shelves of canned goods and other sundries deteriorated in the frenzy. Elderly shoppers clutched at their winter layers, wandering slowly through barren aisles and filling shopping carts to maximum capacity. “This is bittersweet,” District 5 Council Member Scott Davis noted about the market’s closing. “The bad news is that the immediate neighborhood is losing quick access to decent food at a reasonable price. The good news is that it opens up a lot of opportunity for the other grocery stores in the area, including the Walmart Supercenter on Dickerson Pike, Turnip Truck, and the two Krogers.”

District 6 Council Member Brett Withers weighed in on the area’s food climate: “No, it is certainly not a food desert; it is the opposite of a food desert, in fact.” This high number of competing grocery stores has most residents chalking Walmart’s closing to an overly saturated market. But more persnickety critics blame the store’s losses on everything from a dirty parking lot and poorly stocked shelves to theft and even an apathetic staff. But according to Walmart Director of Communications Anne Hatfield, the company is simply moving in a different direction. “There is absolutely no truth to the rumors of theft,” Hatfield sternly stated. “Our CEO, Doug McMillon, indicated at our annual analyst meeting last fall that we would be closing a percentage of stores. This is a strategic move about our long-term success as we move forward.” As news of Walmart’s announcement spread, some community members rejoiced in glorious jubilation, rallying others on social media platforms to lure grocery chains like Publix and Trader Joe’s to take over the empty space. Yet other members of the community questioned whether a Publix or Trader Joe’s would be well-suited to meet the needs of Walmart’s customer base. Critics felt elated, but how did the store’s dedicated shoppers feel? →

By Rebecah Boynton

March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

“I don’t like this, because this is convenient for me,” said Gregory Watson, a longtime shopper at the neighborhood market, who filled his cart with various food items two days before the shutdown. “I’m really going to miss the deli the most. If I’ve been working all day and I’m tired, I know I can come in here and purchase whatever kind of meat I want already prepared. Then when I get home, I can put my side items in a pot and I don’t have to worry too much about dinner.” Myrtle Williamson, an older Walmart shopper accompanied by a younger companion, expressed her disappointment. “This isn’t good for me,” she said. “I’m living right down the street. Now, I will start shopping at the Rivergate or Madison stores.” The disconnect between Walmart’s critics and its dedicated shoppers has some community members concerned over a continued disenfranchisement of individuals in East Nashville. “I think a lot of people tend to associate with people who are like themselves, and so they may not have a big-picture look at the whole neighborhood and the whole district,” Withers said. “The statistics bear out that though it is shrinking, there still is a lot of poverty in our community. And though there is nothing wrong with having a Publix — choices are always wonderful — I think that a certain socioeconomic class might benefit from it more.” Exactly what will fill the vacant building now that Walmart has pulled out is uncertain, but what does prove true is that both East Nashville fans and critics alike are expressing the same hopes for the future loud and clear: that another grocery store — a place that provides fresh produce, prepared foods, and a decent selection at an affordable price — takes Walmart’s place. Yet unlike critics, shoppers are more doubtful that Walmart will actually deliver. “I’d like to see another grocery here, but I doubt Walmart will do that,” shopper Rebecca Freeman remarked as she leaned one elbow on her shopping cart. “I hope to see a store that will meet the needs of all the community rather than some kind of business that might take advantage of people.” When asked how she felt about a Publix or Trader Joe’s moving in, Freeman expressed excitement followed by a gloomier speculation. “I’d love to see either a Publix or Trader Joe’s, but will Walmart make a decision to sell this building to them? I just don’t know.” Williamson’s younger companion, Ricardo Spence, agreed that Publix would be a good match. “We would love to see another grocery store here,” he said, “even though I can see a Planet Fitness or something similar taking its place.” These fears from within the community are not baseless; Walmart has a well-known reputation for hoarding properties and refusing to

sell or lease to competitors, a business strategy that has left communities stuck with empty buildings and/or mediocre retail options. According to Hatfield, however, the company seems open to selling or leasing the property to any competition. “My understanding is that we will not have any restrictions on the future use of the property,” she said. “We will list it and either sell or lease it. But, more than likely, we will sell it.” Whatever the future holds for the vacant Walmart Neighborhood Market, Council

Member Withers encourages residents to explore other established options. “I don’t endorse one business or the other, but I would encourage people to check out the Aldi,” he said. “I think people would be pleasantly surprised.” Withers also noted that the East Nashville Farmers Market begins its season in Shelby Park the first week of May. Between it and locally owned Turnip Truck, organic produce in East Nashville is in heavy supply without a Trader Joe’s landing on the local food scene.

March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

w.t.f.? By Stacie Huckeba

Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow

(Or how some East Nasty newbies just don’t get it)

“P

lay a fucking train song!” That was the anthem of the “new” East Nashville back in my day. That was back when Skip “Play a Fucking Train Song” Litz ran sound at the Radio Café. Back when Todd Snider walked his dogs without a leash around Little Hollywood smoking a joint every morning. Back when 5 Points was nothing more than the Slow Bar and the gas station, which was just called “Benny’s Market” and was the only place to get a cup of coffee outside your own kitchen. And I’m not trying to be all “You kids get off my lawn” about it. I mean, let’s be real, East Nashville has seen more than one renaissance. We weren’t the first generation to come along and change the face of this neighborhood. Since its inception, this area has changed hands numerous times. Most times out of great tragedy — like the fire of 1916 or the tornados of 1933 and 1998. But there is something distinctly different about this “new” East Nashville. In the past, no one tore it down to start from scratch. Not unless Mother Nature took it out first. Previous newbies just built on what was already here and even paid homage to the history that came before them. The old Family Wash was actually a Laundromat; the old Turnip Truck was actually a service station. Newcomers to the area fixed up the Victorians and Post Wars, they refurbished the Tudors and Bungalows. They didn’t tear down entire blocks of them to build giant, ugly track homes. And don’t get me wrong; I’m not against growth or change. I love being able to find a decent meal close to home now. I love meeting friends and clients nearby for fancy coffee. I love the new Family Wash as much as I loved the old one. I realize that with all that growth there are going to be different kinds of folks

with different ideas and different viewpoints moving in. But some of the demands of the new residents have gotten out of hand. It’s bad enough that our city has allowed developers to completely destroy one of the most beautifully diverse, historic neighborhoods in the country with shitty construction that crams four families onto a lot that was designed for one. It’s a crying shame that they let it happen without updating the NES power stations, causing people to go without heat during this year’s record-setting snowstorm. But when the people that move into those places start petitions to stop the train horns, you’ve just taken the fucking joke too far. I’m sorry, but I don’t have an ounce of sympathy for anyone who moves into some cheaply constructed, overpriced, prefab track house with thin walls and shitty insulation a block away from a working train track, and then bitches about the sound of the fucking trains. And I certainly can’t get on board with the city spending what is estimated at $1.5 million to turn them into “quiet zones” when our goddamned interstates are littered with potholes the size of swimming pools after every freeze, which only compounds our almost paralyzing traffic situation — a traffic situation that is a direct cause of all that new growth. As a city we have bigger hot chicken to fry when it comes to dealing with the amount of growth we are under than making the train horns go away. Whitney Pastorek, from Houston, is leading the fight against the train horns. She alledgedly started a website, stopthetrainhorns.com. Whitney describes herself as a “40-year old Houstonian who spent 15 years living in New York City, and six in Los Angeles.” She says, “The light, sound, CONTINUED ON PAGE 99

March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

East Nashville’s Easter Eggstravaganza Free, Fun-Filled, Family Event in East Park with Egg Hunt & Visit from Easter Bunny Saturday, March 19 • 11:00am-1:00pm Palm Sunday Services Sunday, March 20th • 9am, 10am, 11am, 5pm & 5:30pm Maundy Thursday Service Thursday, March 24th • 6:30pm Good Friday Service Friday, March 25th • 6:30pm Easter Sunday Services Sunday, March 27th • 9am, 10am, 11am & 5pm

www.nfcn.org 80

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

Cookin IN THE ’ ’HOOD Recipes from East Nashville favorites

PH OTOGR AP H BY JOH N PA RTIP ILO

BY TIMOTHY C. DAVIS

The idea of a salad as a meal in and of itself is a relatively new concept in the restaurant world. As a side, it’s a no-brainer: Nothing goes better with a nice steak or a bowl of pasta than a side salad. But with the help of influential farm-to-table chefs like Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., salads soon occupied a prime place on restaurant menus. In the hands of a chef like Waters, the salad became something bigger than a bowl of raw veggies: a cornucopia of whatever was in season, cooked minimally (if at all), and tossed in a simple, house-made dressing. This new concept in salads was accompanied by entrée-size prices. The Julia Salad at Batter’d & Fried Boston Seafood House is one such salad — and with a price reflecting that fact: $19.99. Like most foods named after people, this one has an interesting story behind it. Julia Ledbetter, the owner of The Body Shop fitness studio, was fed up with all the fast/fried food lunchtime options in East Nashville. Attacking her quandary head-on, she expressed her desires to Batter’d & Fried owner Matt Charette,

who agreed that more menu options that weren’t battered and fried would be not only good for business, but also for his regular customers’ health. Soon, Charette and his team came up with a once- or twice-aweek chef ’s special that would later become the Julia Salad after it proved so addictive that Ledbetter would habitually poke her head in and ask if it was available. Others shared her fervor, and, newly rechristened, it soon became an everyday menu option. According to restaurant GM Meagan Gregory, it’s one of the restaurant’s most-ordered items, and far and away their most popular salad. OK, so it’s not the origin story of the X-men. But consider: An East Nashville neighbor cared enough to ask for (healthy) help at a neighborhood restaurant. The restaurant cared enough about this neighbor to not only name a salad after her, but to add a special “Julia’s Body Shop” icon denoting heart-healthy options on their menu. Having a sandwich named after you is cool, no doubt. But seeing a dialogue develop into an ever-evolving menu item, well, that’s cooler still.

JULIA SALAD INGREDIENTS

For the salad: Sushi grade tuna (6 ounces) Mesclun/spring lettuce mix Chopped walnuts Goat cheese Tomato, medium sized Kalamata olives Balsamic dressing: 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar Freshly ground black pepper (Add a spoonful of Dijon mustard if desired, and/or minced garlic/shallots)

PREPARATION

Make dressing. Arrange a large handful of salad greens in a large bowl or recessed serving plate. Toss about half the dressing with the greens. Add chopped walnuts, goat cheese, and Kalamata olives to taste. Using a well-heated, lightly oiled pan, sear tuna on each side, no longer than 20 seconds per side, taking care to not overcook. While allowing tuna to cool slightly, quarter tomato and cook, skin side up, until just starting to caramelize (the tomato’s skin should be starting to wilt slightly). Add tomatoes to salad. Thinly slice tuna crosswise, and fan across salad. (Note: Batter’d & Fried drizzles the tuna with eel sauce; for convenience, we’re omitting that step.) March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

STACIE HUCKEBA

PHOTOGRAPHY & FILM PRODUCTION THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME FOUNDATION, THE AMERICANA MUSIC ASSOCIATION, SONY MUSIC GROUP, YEP ROCK MUSIC GROUP, REDEYE DISTRIBUTION, GOLD MOUNTAIN ENTERTAINMENT, MIKTEK AUDIO.

USA TODAY, ROLLING STONE, VINTAGE GUITAR, COUNTRY WEEKLY, SOUND ON SOUND, THE HUFFINGTON POST, TNN, CMT

+1 615.516.4664 // stacie@staciehuckeba.com

staciehuckeba.com

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

EAST SIDE CALENDAR M A R C H | A P R I L 2016

EMMA ALFORD CALENDAR EDITOR

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

UPCOMING FEEL THE RHYTHM West African Dance Class 7-7:15 p.m., Mondays through March 14, Sevier Park

Join the drum circle for this Afro-Cardio get down. Afro-Modern dancer and choreographer Winship Boyd leads this West African dance class, driven by the beats of live drumming. Students will learn specific rhythms such as Tiriba, Sunun, and Guinea Faré. Drop in to the class for $10. 3021 Lealand Lane

ADOPT, DON’T SHOP

East C.A.N. Dog Adoption Event Noon-2 p.m., Saturday, March 12, Pony Show Looking for your fur-ever friends? Do it on the East Side with East C.A.N. They will be hosting

two adoption events in March. This is the first — you can find those lovable butt-lickers and shoe chewers at Pony Show in Porter Crossing. 723 Porter Road

DON’T BREAK THE EGG

Pysanky: Ukranian Egg Painting Class 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, March 12, Shelby Bottoms Nature Center

This Easter egg art is a bit more detailed than the usual dunk-n-dye method we’re all accustomed to. Pysanky is a Ukranian tradition of using beeswax to create beautiful designs on eggs. East Nashvillian community members Becca and Michael Dohn will lead a class with very limited spots for ages 13 and up. This delicate and detailed art form takes time and patience. Register in advance.

❦

BROADWAY AT BAILEY MIDDLE

‘In The Heights’ March 4-20, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 5 p.m.

Single matinee performance Saturday, March 12, at 2 p.m. Nashville’s Street Theatre Company is bringing a piece of Broadway to the East Side with its performance of the Tony-winning musical In The Heights. The production is a tale of a thriving Latin-American community in NYC’s Washington Heights neighborhood, blending show tunes with hip-hop and Latin rhythms. Check out one of the many performances this March. Break a leg 2000 W. Greenwood Ave.

SHORT CIRCUIT

A Circuit Bending Workshop 2-5 p.m., Sunday, March 13, Little Harpeth Brewing Have an old Alphie II robot lying around? Or

March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

EAST SIDE CALENDAR

maybe one of those Robie coin chompers? This circuit bending workshop with McLean Fahnestock will run through the basics of circuit bending and rewiring used battery-powered toys. Those long-forgotten toy-bots left in the dust by your kid for an iPhone or tablet can have new life breathed, or wired, into them. Give that dusty bot another shot. Details for this workshop to come, check Gallery Luperca’s website (galleryluperca. com) for more information. 30 Oldham St.

DESIGN ON A WINE Wine & Design 5-8 p.m., Friday March 18, Gallery Luperca

Calling all interior designers, this night is for you. Gallery Luperca is providing a special evening of art viewing just for the home designers’ market and their clients. Designers can shop and scout unique local art from several East Side galleries for all their potential clientele and art endeavors. No specifics yet, but there will be incentives and discounts to buyers. They’re hoping to make this a monthly event, so jot it in your agenda between tile talking and cabinetry canoodling. 604 Gallatin Ave., Suite 212

IMPROV YOUR SUNDAY NIGHT

Delayed Gratification Improv 8-11 p.m., Sunday, March 20, Mad Donna’s

Looking to improve your Sunday night? Improv it. We joke. But really, if you’re looking for a less typical evening, stop by the Delayed Gratification Improv night at Mad Donna’s. They perform a two-hour “long form” improv set with a musical guest. Cheap drinks, tasty eats, and laughs? Don’t be delayed. 1313 Woodland St.

ADOPT, DON’T SHOP

East C.A.N. Dog Adoption Event 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sunday, March 20, Little Octopus

Another chance to find your fur-ever friends on the Eastside with East C.A.N. This is their second adoption event this March. So if you happened to miss the first, put on your collar and head over. Pooches are patiently waiting. 604 Gallatin Ave.

A DIVINE HEALTH FAIR

Divine Art Community Outreach Day 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, March 20, Divine Art Café The ladies at Divine Art Café have partnered with the folks at Vanderbilt’s Organization for Interprofessional Student Community Engagement (that’s a mouthful — VOISCE for short) along with the Meharry-Vanderbilt

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

Student Alliance. They’re cohosting a community service day to offer free health screenings, oral hygiene tips and kits, and other info on community legal resources and business-client services. Grad students from Vandy and Meharry medical studies will be on-hand to answer any questions about your health woes. 604 Gallatin Ave., Suite 109

VAUDEVILLE AT MAD DONNA’S

Tinderbox Circus Sideshow 8-11 p.m., Saturday, March 26, Mad Donna’s

They came from the Black Hills of Kentucky with a sideshow of icky entertainment. The Tinderbox Circus has a variety of acts, from burlesque to sword swallowing — all whimsical if not slightly disturbing. If you’re into “dangerous” juggling or glass eating, this night may tickle your fancy. We recommend not eating right before attending. 1313 Woodland St.

BEER FLOWS EAST East Nashville Beer Festival Noon-5 p.m., Saturday, April 9, East Park

We are firm believers that things just taste better on the East Side — beer included. East Nashville Beer Fest is returning for its sixth year. The day-drinking extravaganza will feature beers from over 45 brewers with more being added to the lineup daily. You can expect to see your local favs like Yazoo and Jackalope — plus plenty more happy hops from across the country. As always, there will be food trucks aplenty and live tunes. Lotsa games, selfie AND photo booth opportunities, too. Don’t miss it; drink up ’ya filthy animals. 700 Woodland St.

WITH A CHERRY BLOSSOM ON TOP

Nashville Cherry Blossom Festival 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, April 9, Nashville Public Square

Sushi’s great and ramen is even better, but if you really want to learn more about the land of the rising sun, here ya go. The Cherry Blossom Festival is a free, family-friendly hoorah of Japanese culture. The fest kicks off with the 2.5-mile Cherry Blossom Walk at 9 a.m. along the Cumberland River Greenway. The fest blooms at 10. You can expect a menagerie of Japanese culture, contemporary and traditional including martial arts displays, cuisine, music, and plenty of children’s activities. Proceeds from the festival go toward the goal of planting 1,000 cherry trees across the city over 10 years — we’re up to 700 this year. 10 Public Square

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EAST SIDE CALENDAR

VINYL PARADISE Record Store Day 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, April 16, The Groove and Fond Object

Spotify, iTunes, Pandora, yadda yadda — they’re great, we guess. But nothing beats 180 grams of vinyl, and National Record Store Day reminds us of that. East Side vinyl sources The Groove and Fond Object will again be celebrating Record Store Day with some sweet-sounding sales, craft brews on-site, live music — and, of course, records galore. 1103 Calvin Ave. and 1313 McGavock Pike

DINNER WITH A CAUSE Dining Out for Life Tuesday, April 19, various locations

This special Tuesday sounds like the perfect date night to us, if you’re feeling generous. Across the country, restaurants will participate in this nationwide fundraiser to raise money for HIV/ AIDS services and organizations. Participating restaurants will donate a portion of all sales on this day to Nashville CARES, which offers services to over 60,000 Middle Tennesseans suffering from the HIV virus and AIDS. You can tack on that dessert guilt-free knowing that your bill will go toward a great cause. Restaurants will donate between 30 to 100 percent of proceeds to Nashville CARES. For a full list of participating restaurants go to: diningoutforlife.com

GIVE BACK AND GET DOWN RelayLIVE 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday, April 23, Cumberland Park

are bringing this festival to various spots across the city in an alcohol-steeped romp. The various sessions will focus on different liquors and wines with plenty of information on how to pour and pair like a pro. On Thursday, April 28, Bourbon and Bluegrass takes place over at Pavilion East and is part and parcel of the festival. Check the website for details about each event and to purchase tickets.

AFTER THE PARTY, IT’S THE AFTER PARTY

East Nasty Marathon After Party 6 p.m., Saturday, April 30, Pavilion East

What better way to celebrate slaying a 26-miletrek than an after party with all your running buddies? Throw out that year of training you’ve been sweating through and kick back with a few beers. Call it your cheat night. Pavilion East will bring out the bands and brews, just bring those tired soles. 1006 Fatherland St.

• UPCOMING

ART EXHIBITS East Side Art Stumble 6-10 p.m., second Saturday of every month, multiple East Nashville galleries

RelayLIVE is in its inaugural year here in Music City. The lowdown — it’s a giveback music festival. You can expect to hear from several Nashville cancer survivors, cancer researchers, and maybe even a few local celebs. Plus, there will be tunes from local bands and musicians throughout the day. The event is free, but they encourage individuals to form teams to participate in fundraising leading up to the event. All proceeds will go toward the American Cancer Society. On top of music and guest speakers, expect tons of food and family-friendly fitness activities and competitions. Oh, and a bounce house. Every good festival has a bounce house. 592 S. First St.

We don’t art crawl on the East Side, we art stumble. Every month, local galleries and studios will open their doors after hours to showcase some of the fabulous work they have gracing their walls. Participating venues stretch across East Nashville — Gallery Luperca, Modern East Gallery, Red Arrow Gallery, Sawtooth Printshop, and Main Street Gallery, to name a few. You can expect to see a diverse, eclectic mix of art, affording the opportunity to meet local artists and support their work. Local retail stores are stumbling in as well, with some businesses participating in a “happy hour” from 5-7 p.m., offering discounted prices on their merchandise to fellow stumblers. Be sure to check out the happy hour deals in The Idea Hatchery.

LIFT YOUR SPIRITS

Main Street Gallery

Music City Spirits and Cocktail Festival April 28-30, various locations

We’ve all got our favorite haunts for tasty libations here in Nashy. The mixologists of Music City are teaming up across the city to honor the craft of cocktails. Jon and Lindsay Yeager of PourTaste

625 Main St, Nashville

Birds in the Airport performance and art showing 7:30 p.m., Saturday, March 19

→ March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

EAST SIDE CALENDAR

Sawtooth Printshop 604 Gallatin Ave #215

•

CHRISOLUX “50 Dollar Show”

Opening reception 6-9 p.m., Saturday March 12

RECURRING

Modern East Gallery

TELL ME A STORY

1006 Fatherland St. #203

Geoff Brown, Jen Stalvey, Patrick Redmond “Nashville Town”

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

Looking for something to get your creative juices flowing? They’ve partnered with WAMB radio to present an all-out affair with book readings, musical performances, and author/musician interviews in just one evening. If you want some adult beverages, feel free to BYOB. Check the website to see who the guests of honor will be for each performance. The event is free, but you may want to reserve a spot by calling East Side Story ahead of time. 1701 Fatherland St. Suite A, 615.915.1808

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Eastside Art Stumble Reception 6-9 p.m., Saturday, March 12 March 4-26

Beth Gwinn’s “For the Love of Music and Photography, ’70s Rock and Roll”

Eastside Art Stumble Reception 6-9 p.m., Saturday, April 9 April 1-30

Gallery Luperca 604 Gallatin Ave #212

Pilates class

Every Tuesday, 6-8 p.m.

Sebastian Smith’s “Old Testament of Kink”

Closing reception 5-8 p.m., Saturday, March 5

• S EHV EENLT SB&YC LPA SAS ERS K Mr. Bond and The Science Guys

10 a.m., third Saturday, March through May

Celebrating Suess

12-3 p.m., Saturday, March 5 All ages

Ukranian Egg Painting

10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, March 12 Registration required

EXHIBIT NOW OPEN ••••••••••••••••••

@CountryMusicHOF • #BachmanGretschExhibit

First Full Moon of Spring Hike

8-9 p.m., Wednesday, March 23 All ages

Marsh Madness Hike & Picnic

11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Thursday, March 24 All ages, registration required

Cherry Tree Spree!

2-3 p.m., Saturday, April 16 All ages, registration required

STEP INSIDE The Beauty

Earth Day Sunrise Hike

Downtown Nashville • 615.416.2001 CountryMusicHallofFame.org

6-7 a.m., Friday, April 22 All ages, registration required

March | April 2016 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

EAST SIDE CALENDAR

ANSWER ME THIS

Trivia Time! 8 p.m., each week, 3 Crow Bar, Edley’s East, Drifter’s, Edgefield, Lipstick Lounge

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

prizes for top scoring teams, but remember: Nobody likes a sore loser. Monday at Drifter’s Tuesday at Edley’s BBQ East, Edgefield Sports Bar and Grill, and Lipstick Lounge (7:30 p.m.) Thursday at 3 Crow Bar

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SING US A SONG

M.A.S.S. (Mutual Admiration Society of Songwriters) 7-10 p.m., every other Sunday, Mad Donna’s

Join Mad Donna’s for their night dedicated to all you songwriters out there (which is most of Nashville, right?). The first half of the night is dedicated to a singer-songwriter set, with an open mic at the end of the night. Check out the sweet drink specials, too. 1313 Woodland St.

HIP-HOP AT THE SPOT The Boom Bap 9 p.m., fourth Sunday of every month, The 5 Spot

Once a month, The 5 Spot brings the beats and you bring the moves. Think of it as a hip-hop roundtable. A mess of DJs — resident hosts and guests — spin their favorite tracks, rotating throughout the night. Let their records bring the ruckus to you. This soiree was so popular it’s spread to other cities, but you can catch it where it started here in East Nashville. 1006 Forrest Ave., 615.650.9333

EAST ROOM HAS JOKES Spiffy Squirrel Sundays 6 p.m., Sundays, The East Room

The East Room is making a name for itself in Nashville’s comedy scene in part through Spiffy Squirrel Sundays, started up by The East Room head honcho Ben Jones through NashvilleStandUp.com. Hosted by local comedian Chad Riden, the shows bring in an array of national and local funny guys and gals, and it’s quickly become one of the best places in town for up-and-coming comics to flex their funny bones. If you’re looking for a laugh, check it out. Five bucks gets you in the door. They usually have some music planned for post-laughs, so stick around to see the bands. 2412 Gallatin Ave.

BRING IT TO THE TABLE Community Hour at Lockeland Table 4-6 p.m., Monday through Friday, Lockeland Table

Lockeland Table is cooking up family-friendly afternoons to help you break out of the house or away from that desk for a couple of hours. Throughout the week, they host a community happy hour that includes a special snack and drink menu, as well as a menu just for the kiddies. A portion of all proceeds benefits Lockeland Design Center PTO, so you can feel good about giving back to your neighborhood while schmoozing with your fellow East Nashvillians. 1520 Woodland St., 615.228.4864

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EAST SIDE CALENDAR

SHAKE A LEG

possibly your number/letter combo. 1313 Woodland St.

For those looking to hit the dance floor on Monday nights, The 5 Spot’s “Keep on Movin’” dance party is the place to be. This shindig keeps it real with old-school soul, funk, and R&B. Don’t worry, you won’t hear Ke$ha — although you might see her — and you can leave your Apple Bottom jeans at home. If you have two left feet, then snag a seat at the bar. They have two-for-one drink specials, so you can use the money you save on a cover to fill your cup. 1006 Forrest Ave., 615-650-9333

NO LAUGH TRACK NEEDED

Keep On Movin’ 10 p.m. until close, Mondays, The 5 Spot

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

Local jokesters have taken up residency in The East Room for Corporate Juggernaut, a weekly series of open-mic comedy shows put on by Gary Fletcher, Jane Borden, and Brandon Jazz. Brad Edwards is your host and his backing band is The Grey Grays. Doors and sign-up are at 8 p.m. Help support Nashville’s growing comedy scene. 2412 Gallatin Ave.

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RINC, Y’ALL

Scott-Ellis School of Irish Dance 4:30-5 p.m., ages 3-6, and 5-5:45 p.m., ages 7 & up, Mondays, Eastwood Christian Church Fellowship Hall You’re never too young — or too old — to kick out the Gaelic jams with some Irish Step dancing. No experience, or partner, required. Just you, some enthusiasm, and a heart of gold will have you dancing in the clover before you can say “leprechaun.” 1601 Eastland Ave., 615.300.4388

JAZZY BOTTOM FOR YOUR BUCK East Nashville Jazz Jam 7-9:30 p.m., Tuesdays, Fat Bottom Brewery

Q: What’s even better than cheap craft beer and a tasty meal? A: Cheap craft beer, a tasty meal, and a jazz jam. Fat Bottom Brewery offers their $10 pint and entrée special accompanied by a jazz jam hosted by local drummer Nicholas Wiles. It’s a chance to meet some other jazz cats and play your poison. Peruse their menu and beer garden and pick a brew. 900 Main St.

SWEAT IS AN ARTFORM

Pilates at Gallery Luperca 6:15-8 p.m., Tuesdays, Gallery Luperca

Galleries are usually strictly reserved for viewing art and sipping wine; Gallery Luperca has different ideas. You can now drop into the gallery any Tuesday to sweat it out in a Pilates class offered by 100A Pilates. Drop in for $12 or pay $60 for a five-class-plan. P.S. Bring your own mat. 604 Gallatin Ave., Suite 212

DRAG B-I-N-G-O WAS HER NAME-O Drag Bingo 8-11 p.m., Tuesdays, Mad Donna’s

Drop by Mad Donna’s Loft for the rotating cast of Drag Bingo-callin’ queens. Each week, they’ll have prizes for the first to get to B-I-N-G-O, plus drink specials. They’re calling your name — and

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EAST SIDE CALENDAR

GONE IN 60 SECONDS

ART IS FOR EVERYONE

You can drop in at the Spot pretty much any night and expect to catch some live music. This evening is no different. Another monthly staple for you music lovers, “60 Seconds to Show” features David Newbould & The Stowaways hosting the evening and backing friends, plus performances from other acts each month. You can typically expect 3 bands bringing some Americana, folk, and rock sounds. You can catch a different earful each installment. Just $5. 1006 Forrest Ave.

If you’ve been filling in coloring-book pages for years, but you’re too intimidated to put actual paint to canvas, it might be time to give it a try. Local artist John Cannon teaches intimate art classes at The Idea Hatchery, and the small class size keeps the sessions low-pressure and allows for some one-on-one instruction. If you’re feeling like you could be the next Matisse with a little guidance, sign yourself up. 1108-C Woodland St., 615.496.1259

60 Seconds to Show 9 p.m., third Wednesday of every month, The 5 Spot

SPINNING SMALL BATCHES

Small Batch Wednesday and Vinyl Night 6-9 p.m., Wednesdays, Fat Bottom Brewery

WALK, EAT, REPEAT Walk Eat Nashville 1:30-4:30 p.m., Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Fridays, 5 Points

Fat Bottom has plenty of things happening on Wednesday nights — reason enough to move your own bottom over there. Each Wednesday they have food specials and a small batch brew release. They’re called small batch for a reason, so get there early enough to sip one. They’ll also have special guest DJs every week spinning their own vinyl, but you can even bring your own records if you’ve got a special song request. It’s an excellent way to get through hump day. 900 Main St.

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

TOAST TO MOTHER EARTH

PALAVER RECORDS POW WOW

East Nashville Green Drinks 6-9 p.m., third Wednesday of every month, Village Pub & Beer Garden

Tired of talking sports and gossip every night out? Village Pub has something in mind for the greener East Nashvillian. Once a month, they host an evening for environmentalists to sit down for a drink and discuss ideas for a more sustainable future. Think about it like this: You’ll be saving the planet, one drink at a time. 1308 McGavock Pike, 615.942.5880

FLYING STAND-UP

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

Another evening of stand-up takes off the third Wednesday of every month, hosted by local comedian Mary Jay Berger. You can expect to see a fresh lineup each month full of local and national funny dudes and dudettes. Laughs with just a $5 price tag. 1313 Woodland Ave.

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John Cannon Fine Art classes 6-8 p.m., Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2-4 p.m., Saturdays, The Idea Hatchery

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Palaver Thursday Showcase 9 p.m., Thursdays, fooBAR Too

Looking to hear some fresh new tunes without paying a pretty penny to do it? Head over to fooBAR on Thursday nights — East Nasty-based record label Palaver Records hosts a weekly showcase to promote both local and traveling acts. It gives them a chance to scout performers, bands an opportunity to promote themselves, and music lovers a cheap show to catch during the week (only $5 at the door). There’s an array of different genres from week to week, and the beer always flows easy at foo Too with $3 Yazoo drafts. 2511 Gallatin Road

HONESTLY, OFFICER ...

East Nashville Crime Prevention Meeting 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Thursdays, Beyond the Edge

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

EAST SIDE CALENDAR

ROCKIN’ AT THE SPOT

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

Your local watering hole has rocker Tim Carroll’s band playing their way through happy hour every Friday. It’s a great Spot to grab a beer and hear some tunes to kick off the weekend — drinks are discounted and the music is free. 1006 Forrest Ave., 615.650.9333

SHAKE YO’ FOOBAR Sparkle City 10 p.m., Friday, fooBAR

Foo’s best dance party with their freshest DJs happens every Friday night. Spinmasters David Bermudez and Jonas Stein drop the needle on vinyl all night with the numbers that’ll make you shake what ’yer mama gave you. 2511 Gallatin Road

CAN’T FORCE A DANCE PARTY

Queer Dance Party 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., third Friday of every month, The 5 Spot

On any given month, the QDP is a mixed bag of fashionably clad attendees (some in the occasional costume) dancing till they can’t dance no mo’ at The 5 Spot, which was coincidentally named the second-best place to dance in Nashville. Help pack out the cozy club, shake a leg, slurp down some of the drink specials, and let your true colors show. 1006 Forrest Ave.

THERE’S A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING … First Time Stories 7-10 p.m., first Friday of every month, Actor’s Bridge Studio

We all have our firsts, some better than others. Whether it’s a story about that first prom night when you weren’t crowned king or queen, your first concert, or maybe that first kiss, these stories are the stuff of the stage. Actors Bridge hosts an open mic night for which such soliloquies are made. They call it “storytelling karaoke,” and they only ask that you tell it straight from the heart in less than five minutes. Admission is $5 (bring a few extra bucks for the cash bar). 4304 Charlotte Ave.

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CALL IT DIVINE SONGWRITING

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

Every Saturday gather round the fire with the toffee gurus at Divine Art Café. The Café serves up their brunch, smoothies, coffee, AND toffee for the afternoon while East Nashville songwriter David Llewellyn hosts special musical guests each week. Take your brunch with a side of music. 604 Gallatin Ave., Suite 109

SAY YES TO IMPROV Yes and Improv 7 p.m., second Saturday of every month, Mad Donna’s

The crew of Yes and Improv are sticking to their guns about true improv. They go into each performance blindly, only knowing what stage their supposed to show up on. Their set consists of short form games that last 4-5 minutes, which are fueled entirely by audience suggestions. We think that opens the door to some pretty hilarious possibilities. Show up early for a good seat and throw back some of those 2-4-1’s. 1313 Woodland St. →

POETS WHO KNOW IT Poetry in the Brew 5:30 p.m. Second Saturday of every month, Portland Brew

Wordsmiths out there: East Nashville’s own open mic poetry night goes down at Portland Brew once a month. A poet is featured every month, with a chance to promote their work and read for 15 minutes — all the other poets get five minutes live. Arrive early because this poetry powwow fills up fast and there is limited seating. Sign-up for the open mic begins at 5:30 p.m., with reading starting at 6. 1921 Eastland Ave.

CYCLE OF LIFE

Cycle Nashville 6 p.m., first Saturday of every month, Eastside Cycles

Let the good times roll … or pedal. Cycle Nashville is a meet up for East Side pedal pushers that love to ride and want to meet other cyclists. You’ll take a laid-back romp through the city. All riders welcome — expect things to move at a slow pace with good tunes and good peeps. If you don’t have wheels of your own, you can rent some right there in 5 Points from B Cycle. After a leisurely ride, everyone will head back to 5 Points to grab dinner and drinks. Pedal on. 103 S. 11th St.

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EAST SIDE CALENDAR

TURN THIS ONE OVER Palaver Records Presents at Turn One 9 p.m., Saturdays, Turn One

Palaver Records is casting out its net a little further into the dives of East Nasty. They have their weekly showcase spot at fooBAR and now they’re moving down Gallatin with another evening of music at Turn One. Each Saturday, they will have three bands to get your grooves

going. Tip: This haunt is cash only with games galore. Get your shuffleboard on, shoot some pool, or throw darts while you listen to the Palaver lineup. Bring enough dough for the $5 cover and your tab. 3208 Gallatin Pike

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PARTY FOR A CAUSE LightsOut Events 7:30 p.m., fourth Saturday of every month, The East Room

The East Room is getting a little philanthropic. Every month, the venue hosts a show in partnership with LightsOut Events to benefit selected charities. Four bands perform and proceeds go toward the cause of choice for the month. One of the event’s most notable benefactors is Notes for Notes, which provides musical instruments and lessons to children. (We know how much you love that, Music City.) Come on out, and listen to some local acts for a good cause. 2412 Gallatin Ave.

THIS SPACE WAS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

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EAST SIDE CALENDAR

NEIGHBORHOOD

MEETINGS & EVENTS

East Nashville area. nashvillechamber.com/calendar

East Hill Neighborhood Association

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

Cleveland Park Neighborhood Association

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

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Lockeland Springs Neighborhood Association 6:30 p.m., second Monday of each month Quarterly meetings are held at Mad Donnaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Locations vary, visit lockelandsprings.com for more information.

Shelby Hills

Neighborhood Association 6:30 p.m., third Monday of every odd numbered month, Shelby Community Center 401 S. 20th St. shelbyhills.org

Maxwell Heights Neighborhood Association 6 p.m., fourth Monday of every month, Metro Police East Precinct 936 E. Trinity Lane

Eastwood Neighbors

6:30 p.m., second Tuesday of every month, Eastwood Christian Church 1601 Eastland Ave. eastwoodneighbors.org

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

East Nashville Caucus

5 p.m., first Wednesday of every month, Metro Police East Precinct The East Nashville Caucus provides a public forum for East Nashville community leaders, representatives, council members, and neighbors. 936 E. Trinity Lane

Chamber East

8:15-9:30 a.m., first Wednesday of every month, location changes monthly The Chamber East meets every month for a networking coffee to discuss community updates and how to grow and improve the

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EAST SIDE CALENDAR

Inglewood Neighborhood Association 7 p.m., first Thursday of every month, Isaac Litton Alumni Center 4500 Gallatin Road inglewoodrna.org

McFerrin Neighborhood Association

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

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Rosebank Neighbors

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

HENMA

6-8 p.m., second month of every quarter, locations and days vary HENMA is a cooperative formed among East Nashville business owners to promote collaboration with neighborhood associations and city government. Check the association’s website to learn about the organization and where meetings will be held. eastnashville.org

Dickerson Road Merchants Association

4 p.m., last Thursday of every month, Metro Police East Precinct 936 E. Trinity Lane dickersonroadmerchants.com

• MOMS Club of East Nashville

10 a.m., first Friday of every month, location varies by group MOMS (Moms Offering Moms Support) Club is an international organization of mothers with three branches in the East Nashville area. It provides a support network for mothers to connect with other EN mothers. The meetings are open to all mothers in the designated area. Meetings host speakers, cover regular business items of the organization including upcoming service initiatives and activities, and also allow women to discuss the ins and outs, ups and downs of being a mother. Check their website for the MOMS group in your area. momsclubeast.blogspot.com

ﬁn. • Would you like to have something included in our East Side Calendar? Please let us know — we’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us at calendar@ theeastnashvillian.com For club listings and other events visit our Do615powered calender online at theastnashvillian.com 94

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Unbound & Unabashed CONTINUED FROM 45

For an outlier kid of outsize talent growing up in a midsized Ohio town, it is the odd pegs that capture the imagination. Though Tasjan runs to the more quirky and credible — he namechecks Tom Petty, The Allman Brothers, and Elizabeth Cook in “Florida Man,” and promises he knows he’ll never spell Lynyrd Skynyrd wrong in “Living Proof ” — it is, of all things, Ted Nugent who left an indelible mark on the young teenager. “Ray Wylie Hubbard likes to tease me about this during ‘Redneck Mother,’ because the first time I saw an electric guitar, it was Ted Nugent at the Ohio State Fair,” Tasjan explains. “When I open for him, he always says, ‘You better think about that Nugent story you tell every time you’re up there.’ I talk about when I was in school, and they put me on this crazy medication and said I had a learning disability, that I was a visual learner. “Well, imagine seeing Ted Nugent in a loin cloth with an electric guitar? Now that’s something you never forget.” He’s not being funny, or defensive. Turning his cards over unapologetically, he makes the case for loving the things you do without reservation. “The reason I want people to fall in and follow me is we need to listen more. There’s a lot about how much you can say, especially with all these platforms. That makes certain things have value, but I think it’s really about being able to listen and not just think about your next comment. “My generation has a lot of greatness to it, a lot of ideas that are good. They take care of things, and want to better the world if they could, but there’s also this problem with the trophy generation. You know, you’ll have that emotional response of playing sports — and that one kid who really goes for it, really kicks ass, then he gets the same trophy as some kid who just shows up. “You know, you’re supposed to f ind something to feel special about, not just this blanket thing that gets applied without recognizing the kids who stand out. That trophy doesn’t make anyone feel better. “And I think that’s why people are afraid to be exposed: they can’t take having their differences out there. I’ve chosen to deal with mine in a head-on way. Let [those things] fall where they fall, and try not to define myself by every moment along the way or every tag that could stick. “With everything swirling around East Nashville, you can’t help but wonder, ‘Gosh, am I part of the problem?’ I wrestle with that, because I’m sure there are people

running around out there thinking ‘I’m the next John Prine.’ But you know, that’s just not possible. ... “You’re not Gram Parsons, whoever you are. None of us are that, and if we’re going to contribute, it’s being the best you you are. Jason

Isbell said in an interview, ‘People out there are making bad music and it’s really bad for people to listen to.’ And I agree with that. It gets back to everybody gets a trophy: Just ’cause you think you’re writing songs like John Prine or Gram Parsons, it doesn’t mean you are.”

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‘Monumental Stuff’ CONTINUED FROM 61

Silk Purse. Ironically, Moss missed those sessions — he was in Alabama fishing at the time — but Gayden was among the musicians who got the call from Mazer. “That’s where we introduced Linda Ronstadt to Smokey Robinson, she’d never heard of him,” Gayden says of the sessions in 1969. “We would play some of Smokey’s stuff in between takes, and she would say, ‘Who is that?’” In the mid-to-late ’70s, Ronstadt would twice hit the Billboard Top 40 with Smokey Robinson compositions: “Tracks Of My Tears” went to No. 25 in 1976, and two years later, “Ooh Baby Baby” went all the way to No. 7. In 1970, Steve Miller and a few of his bandmates came to town and recorded tracks for Number 5 at Cinderella, working with Moss, McCoy, Spicher, and Thompson. “He was impressed with how fast things went,” Moss says. “He ran a song down for us and 15 minutes later it was finished.” While waiting for one of his sessions at the studio to start, Miller picked up a little guitar trick from Gayden he would use a few years later on the first of three No. 1 hits he would score. “I was in there working on the wah pedal, messing around, playing a little slide, and he heard me working on it,” Gayden, who pioneered the slide-wah technique, recalls. “He walked in and introduced himself, and at the time, I didn’t know who Steve Miller was very much. I had heard about him from the San Francisco area, but I really wasn’t aware of a lot of his stuff except what was on the radio. Anyway, I showed him how I did it, and he went back and put it on ‘The Joker.’ ”

Nashville cats David Briggs (left) and Norbert Putnam at the Hall of Fame exhibit that honors them, as well as six of their bandmates in the group Area Code 615, whose two influential, genre-shattering albums were recorded at Cinderella Sound. (Photo by Eric England)

Miller and Moss have remained friends over the years, and the rock legend plans to return to Cinderella to record later this year. “He’s going to be in town next fall and he’s going to cut some more stuff, some acoustic things,” Moss says. When Area Code 615 broke up because

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM March | April 2016

most of the members didn’t want to give up their careers as in-demand session players, Gayden, Buttrey, and Moss joined with keyboardist John Harris to form the legendary Southern rock outfit Barefoot Jerry. Their debut album, Southern Delight, which was recorded at Cinderella and released in 1971, is

considered a Southern rock classic. Although first Buttrey and then Gayden left the band after the first album, Moss kept the band going for five more albums, all of which were recorded at Cinderella. After Area Code 615, McCoy went on to a celebrated career as an instrumental recording artist whose virtuosity on the harmonica is acclaimed across the globe. To date, McCoy has released 40 full-length albums, the majority

of which were recorded at Cinderella Sound. Over the studio’s 55 years in business, a wide array of artists have recorded there, including Mickey Newbury, Tony Joe White, Charlie Daniels Band, Leo Kottke, Ricky Skaggs, James Gang, The Whites, Alex Harvey, Joe South, Jerry Reed, and Peter Criss (of KISS), just to name a few. And because of its place in Nashville history, it has attracted artists from all over the

planet. “Eddie Mitchell has cut five albums out here,” Moss says, then adds with a smile, “The Elvis of France.” When as a child Moss envisioned one day owning a studio, he couldn’t have imagined the fulfillment of his ambition unfolding in the historic way it has. “We never were in the phone book, so it was all word of mouth,” he says. “That kept the Gray Line Tours from coming out when people were recording.”

absurd legislature to stop the horns, but the trains themselves aren’t going anywhere. The “new” East Nashvillians like Whitney, on the other hand, will. They will leave when the last Todd Snider moves to Hendersonville, and the last Jamie Ruben moves to West Nashville, and the last Brian Wright moves to Donelson taking all that art, creativity, and music that made this neighborhood kick ass in the first place with them. The Whitneys will then follow suit and go gentrify those neighborhoods too. Either that, or in five years those cheaply built houses will simply fall apart or they will go up like matchsticks when the next big

tornado whips through here leaving rubble in it its wake. And when they go, another “new” East Nashville will move in on their heels. I just hope that “new” East Nashville will have more respect for the history, architecture, and culture that made this neighborhood great in the first place. In the meantime, I’m gonna milk all the goodness I can out of what’s left of East Nashville. At least until I, too, get priced out. In fact, I’m gonna wrap this up and head over to the 5 Spot right now. And I’m gonna sit under that poster of Skip Litz and I’m gonna yell for the band to play a fucking train song.

W.T.F. CONTINUED FROM 79

and energy of the urban experience have been at the heart of my entire life. East Nashville is fantastic, but I didn’t buy a home here because it was trendy. ... I found a home I loved in a neighborhood I loved at a price I could afford.” Well, I call bullshit, Whitney. I’m also from Texas, and I also spent 11 years living in Southern California. In my personal opinion, Houston is a giant, grey shithole and literally one of the ugliest, smelliest, most soulless cities I’ve ever seen. LA, on the other hand, is one of the most pretentious, self-involved communities on earth. These references do not help your aesthetic or cultural credibility in my book. The last thing I want East Nashville to become is Houston or LA. And secondly, what is it about that home and this neighborhood that you love if it is not the fact that it is trendy? Is it the close proximity to Hair World that resonated with you? Did you find solace in the dozens of discount beer and cigarette stores along Gallatin? No, you loved this neighborhood because of all the new trendy shit so just fucking say it. I’ll have more respect for you if you just say it. The brilliant tagline at stopthetrainhorns. com is “Because Train Horns Blow.” Am I the only one who literally spit my drink out at the absurd irony of that? Yes, train horns do in fact blow. That’s so people, children, animals, motorists, cyclists, runners, and a multitude of living beings’ lives might be spared from being run over by a fucking train. But what is one life in comparison to your quest for a restful night’s sleep in a neighborhood you love? If you move somewhere, do your research. Nashville might be “Music City,” but it was built on the import/export trade, which is still a huge part of our commerce. How do you suppose all those prefab doorframes and specialty coffee beans get delivered around the country in the first place? Trains, Whitney, trains deliver that shit. Noisy as they are they are a necessity, as are their safety horns. I wouldn’t be surprised if the city caves to the new money and passes through this

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marketplace When I say “good,” you say “neighbor.” Bobby Berry, Agent 703 Main Street Nashville, TN 37206 Bus: 615-271-2996 www.bobbyaberry.com P097314.1

Now that's teamwork. CALL FOR A QUOTE 24/7

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East of NORMAL TOMMY WOMACK

Music to my son’s ears

can’t always tell what my son is thinking. I often don’t know if there’s “War & Peace” going on in his head, or nothing at all. I do know he’s not a child anymore. He’s as tall as I am. Children are transparent and filterless; you can tell when they’re happy and when they’re lying. But once adolescence cloaks them head to toe, they’re inscrutable. To even guess what’s going on in their minds you have to try and remember what you were like at that age, and that’s not always a pleasant patch of Memory Lane. I wonder if I spent enough time with him when he was younger. He always wanted to throw a goddamn ball back and forth, and if there’s one thing that bores me beyond tears, it’s throwing a goddamn ball back and forth. I can’t throw and never could, so it reminds me of my own childhood (which is never good), and otherwise there is nothing in the world more numbingly mundane than tossing a goddamn ball back and forth. After 10 minutes of it, I would always beg off, and he would beg me to play more. Now I feel bad about that because he doesn’t want to play catch anymore, or leave his room, for that matter. I’m not the worst father in the world. I’ve never beaten him up, we’ve had nice, deep conversations, and we bond over rock & roll. I have a shortlist of rock icons I want him to be able to say he saw, and we’re ticking them off: Springsteen, Dylan, McCartney, the Stones, The Who, Kiss, and others to come. With ticket prices today, I had a choice — take him to shows or send him to college. I went with the shows. He recently wanted to see Tool, who were coming to town with Primus. I got some money out of savings and went trawling the secondhand websites, which is how we get concert tickets now, as you well know. I didn’t know Tool from shinola, but Primus I did, a bit. (They actually opened for my band Government Cheese once before they hit it big, around 1988 or so.) And so off to Bridgestone we went.

It was freezing. The roads were ice, and the place was packed. I was thinking, these guys must be good, for this many people to brave the elements and fill this place up. And these folks were excited. More than me. I was just there to bond with my son, and if I got turned on to the music, all the better. Primus is a trio and noteworthy for Les Claypool the bass player, who is quite the Jaco. But there was a sameness to their stuff. One song ran into the other with little distinction, not that the audience minded. And it hit me that I was a parent, grousing, “It all sounds the same. Bah!” Their last two songs (the hits, such as they’ve had any) I at least did know — “My Name is Mud” and “Jerry Was a Race Car Driver” — and I enjoyed those. And then came Tool. One loud electric guitar played by a short-haired fellow, a bass played by another short-haired fellow wearing suspenders, a fantastic long-haired drummer who would have not looked out of place in Molly Hatchet, and a lead singer who stood on a riser at the back of the stage and never came out of the shadows all night. He was never spotlit. Now that’s a new move, I thought. I don’t know how to describe Tool’s music. It was kinda prog, kinda grunge, heavy on the thud, definitely not feel-good party stuff. But I learned that in the last couple of decades — while I was listening to “Waterloo Sunset” 8,000 times — a whole generation had come of age and this band was their mother’s milk. A drunk in the aisle knew every word. Indeed, there were times when the crowd sang the songs as loud as the band played. Some were teens, some looked almost my age. I got wistful. This wasn’t my band — I was too old. The audience never sat down, but I had to on occasion, because standing hurts my back. I was jealous, and mindful that there was a whole younger generation I wasn’t part of. They weren’t going to buy my records, and I wasn’t going to buy theirs. My son loved it. He was making memories, and so was I. At least it wasn’t Dave Matthews, and it wasn’t throwing a goddamn ball back and forth.

—Tommy Womack is a Nashville singer-songwriter, musician, and freelance writer. His next solo album, NAMASTE, is scheduled for a spring 2016 release. Keep up with his antics on Facebook and at tommywomack.com.

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PARTING SHOT

LINDA WINDON & LITTLE BIT

SHELBY PARK

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN PARTIPILO

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