Nashville Scene 12-28-23 by FW Publishing

NEWS:

DECEMBER 28, 2023–JANUARY 3, 2024 I VOLUME 42 I NUMBER 47 I NASHVILLESCENE.COM I FREE

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY CONVENES IN JANUARY. WILL THERE BE MORE CITY-VERSUS-STATE BATTLES?

MUSIC:

BLUEGRASS GIANTS MARK 100 YEARS OF EARL SCRUGGS AT THE RYMAN >> PAGE 31

FILM:

>> PAGE 7

THE BEST PHYSICAL MEDIA OF 2023 >> PAGE 34

From the brand-new to the new-to-us, here are 20 local finds we fell for in 2023

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12/21/23 5:42 PM

WITNESS HISTORY This 1959 Gibson ES-355 was played by Country Music Hall of Fame member Grady Martin in countless Nashville sessions for a range of artists—from Conway Twitty to Henry Mancini. Complete with custom features, “Big Red” was Martin’s go-to electric guitar. From the exhibit Sing Me Back Home: Folk Roots to the Present artifact photo: Bob Delevante

RESERVE TODAY

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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12/21/23 11:35 AM

CONTENTS NEWS 7 State Preemption and the Coming Legislative Session The Tennessee General Assembly will convene once again in January. Will there be more city-versus-state battles? BY CONNOR DARYANI, NASHVILLE BANNER

8 Talking to Eugene Spencer About Public Housing The director of Metro’s new Resident Services Department on challenges and opportunities within Nashville’s public housing community BY NICOLLE PRAINO

9 Nashville CARES Hit by Tumultuous Year for HIV/AIDS Funding Local organization faced changes, fears 2024 cuts

BY HANNAH HERNER

9 Pith in the Wind

Baby Snakes Vintage • PHOTO BY ANGELINA CASTILLO

This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog

COVER STORY 11 New Discoveries From the brand-new to the new-to-us, here are 20 local finds we fell for in 2023 BY SCENE STAFF

21 CRITICS’ PICKS

Pete Davidson, Old Crow Medicine Show, New Year’s Eve Concerts, Funny Girl and more

BOOKS 28 Good Old-Fashioned Murder Michael Sims’ new anthology of short fiction presents antique whodunit gems BY CHRIS SCOTT; CHAPTER16.ORG

MUSIC 31 Forever Changes Bluegrass giants mark 100 years of Earl Scruggs at the Ryman

NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD AND THIS MODERN WORLD

MARKETPLACE

BY EDD HURT

32 Another Look The Scene’s music writers recommend recent releases from Brian Brown, Ashley McBryde, Bill Lloyd and more BY RACHEL CHOLST, EDD HURT, SEAN L. MALONEY, ADDIE MOORE, DARYL SANDERS, STEPHEN TRAGESER AND JACQUELINE ZEISLOFT

33 The Spin The Scene’s live-review column checks out Keanu Reeves’ band Dogstar at Brooklyn Bowl BY ASHLEY SPURGEON

FILM 34 The Best Physical Media of 2023 From Showgirls and The Others to Invaders From Mars and beyond, here are some of the year’s best home-video offerings BY JASON SHAWHAN

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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12/21/23 5:39 PM

FROM BILL FREEMAN

WHO WE ARE

PHOTO: TOM WILLIAMS/CQ ROLL CALL

STICKS, STONES AND WORDS THAT HURT: RUDY GIULIANI FOUND GUILTY OF DEFAMATION AND HELD RESPONSIBLE

RUDY GIULIANI IN NOVEMBER 2020

IN A SURPRISING MOVE, a suit against Rudy Giuliani was decided this month, with a jury awarding a settlement of $148 million in restitution to two former Georgia election workers. Giuliani’s guilt had already been determined. He has repeatedly — well before, during and since being at the center of this defamation suit — defamed the good names of these Georgia poll workers and falsely accused them of election interference. He has admitted to making the damaging statements but has yet to refrain from continuing his lies about election fraud. The defamed workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, were seeking $24 million apiece in their suit. The eight-person jury went $100 million dollars over the requested $48 million. What words did these women use to describe the painful ordeal caused by the false accusations so loudly trumpeted by Giuliani? As reported by USA Today: “Ruby Freeman, a 2020 Georgia election worker, told a federal jury through sobs Wednesday she was assailed with racist taunts and death threats after she was falsely accused of election fraud by Donald Trump and his campaign lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.” The attacks didn’t stop with the taunts and death threats. “Freeman, 64, said she had to leave her home in January 2021, after people came there with bullhorns and the FBI told her she wasn’t safe. Her online boutique was flooded with threatening messages, including several that mentioned lynching, after Giuliani tweeted a video of her counting votes as a temporary election worker, she said. ‘I took it as though they were going to hang me with their ropes on my street,’ said Freeman, who sued Giuliani for defamation. ‘I was scared. I didn’t know if they were coming to kill me.’” Ms. Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss

told the jury of their marked fear for their lives and of the damage Giuliani’s words caused. What was their response to the jury’s decision? Money can’t repair the damage, they said, but as reported by NPR, their “greatest wish is that no one, no election worker or voter or school board member or anyone else, ever experiences anything like what we went through.” The contrast between the women’s honest and hopeful wishes and Giuliani’s response couldn’t have been more stark. Giuliani has been described by ABC News as defiant, insisting he has done nothing wrong. What did he call the jury’s decision? “Absurd.” This unwillingness to acknowledge wrongdoing and complete lack of contrition are certainly nothing new from Trump and his many henchmen, but it’s just as dumbfounding today as it was when the first lies emerged on the campaign trail nearly a decade ago. Remember when Trump’s lies were new news? Back in 2016, Politifact launched its TrumpO-Meter, itemizing how many campaign promises Trump has broken or kept. Arguably, though, the most concerning bit of coverage was Politico’s fact-checking of Trump’s 2016 campaign statements. Over a span of just five days of fact-checking, Politico determined in 2016 that Trump lied every 3.25 minutes, on average. Gracious! Fast-forward seven years, and the same lies are continuing. We’ve always heard that the wheels of justice turn slowly, but turn they do. Giuliani may be one of the first people who made baseless claims of 2020 election fraud to be found guilty of lies and causing damage to innocent people, but let us hope he is not the last.

Bill Freeman Bill Freeman is the owner of FW Publishing, the publishing company that produces the Nashville Scene, Nfocus, the Nashville Post, and The News.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF D. Patrick Rodgers MANAGING EDITOR Alejandro Ramirez SENIOR EDITOR Dana Kopp Franklin ARTS EDITOR Laura Hutson Hunter MUSIC AND LISTINGS EDITOR Stephen Trageser DIGITAL EDITOR Kim Baldwin ASSOCIATE EDITOR Cole Villena LISTENING: CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Can’t get enough of Ziona Riley’s music Erica Ciccarone, Jack Silverman STAFF WRITERS Kelsey Beyeler, Logan Butts, Stephen Elliott, Hannah Herner, Hamilton Matthew Masters, Eli Motycka, Nicolle Praino, William Williams CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Sadaf Ahsan, Ken Arnold, Radley Balko, Ashley Brantley, Maria Browning, Logan Butts, Steve Cavendish, Chris Chamberlain, Rachel Cholst, Lance Conzett, Hannah Cron, Connor Daryani, Steve Erickson, Adam Gold, Kashif Andrew Graham, Seth Graves, Kim Green, Amanda Haggard, Steven Hale, Edd Hurt, Jennifer Justus, P.J. Kinzer, Janet Kurtz, Christine Kreyling, J.R. Lind, Craig D. Lindsey, Sean L. Maloney, Margaret Littman, Brittney McKenna, Marissa R. Moss, Noel Murray, Joe Nolan, Betsy Phillips, John Pitcher, Margaret Renkl, Daryl Sanders, Jason Shawhan, Nadine Smith, Ashley Spurgeon, Amy Stumpfl, Kay West, Andrea Williams, Nicole Williams, Ron Wynn, Charlie Zaillian ART DIRECTOR Elizabeth Jones PHOTOGRAPHERS Angelina Castillo, Eric England, Matt Masters GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Sandi Harrison, Mary Louise Meadors, Tracey Starck PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Christie Passarello GRAPHIC DESIGN INTERN Kylie Taylor FESTIVAL DIRECTOR Olivia Britton MARKETING AND PROMOTIONS MANAGER Robin Fomusa PUBLISHER Mike Smith ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Michael Jezewski SENIOR ADVERTISING SOLUTIONS MANAGERS Carla Mathis, Heather Cantrell Mullins, Jennifer Trsinar, Keith Wright EATING: ADVERTISING SOLUTIONS MANAGERS Teresa Birdsong, Maddy Fraiche, Birria tacos at Laura’s Cocina Kailey Idziak, Allie Muirhead, Niki Tyree, Alissa Wetzel SALES OPERATIONS MANAGER Chelon Hill Hasty ADVERTISING SOLUTIONS ASSOCIATES Audry Houle, Jack Stejskal SPECIAL PROJECTS COORDINATOR Susan Torregrossa PRESIDENT Mike Smith CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Todd Patton CORPORATE CREATIVE DIRECTOR Elizabeth Jones IT DIRECTOR John Schaeffer CIRCULATION AND DISTRIBUTION DIRECTOR Gary Minnis FW PUBLISHING LLC Owner Bill Freeman

For advertising information please contact: Mike Smith, msmith@nashvillescene.com or 615-844-9238 VOICE Media Group: National Advertising 1-888-278-9866 vmgadvertising.com ©2023, Nashville Scene. 210 12th Ave. S., Ste. 100, Nashville, TN 37203. Phone: 615-244-7989. The Nashville Scene is published weekly by FW Publishing LLC. The publication is free, one per reader. Removal of more than one paper from any distribution point constitutes theft, and violators are subject to prosecution. Back issues are available at our office. Email: All email addresses consist of the employee’s first initial and last name (no space between) followed by @nashvillescene.com; to reach contributing writers, email editor@nashvillescene.com. Editorial Policy: The Nashville Scene covers news, art and entertainment. In our pages appear divergent views from across the community. Those views do not necessarily represent those of the publishers. Subscriptions: Subscriptions are available at $150 per year for 52 issues. Subscriptions will be posted every Thursday and delivered by third-class mail in usually five to seven days. Please note: Due to the nature of third-class mail and postal regulations, any issue(s) could be delayed by as much as two or three weeks. There will be no refunds issued. Please allow four to six weeks for processing new subscriptions and address changes. Send your check or Visa/MC/AmEx number with expiration date to the above address.

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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12/21/23 5:17 PM

We had a blast in 2023! We can’t wait to tell you what all we have in store for 2024...

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 4, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 4, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

NEWS

STATE PREEMPTION AND THE COMING LEGISLATIVE SESSION The Tennessee General Assembly will convene once again in January. Will there be more city-versus-state battles? This story is a partnership between the Nashville Banner and the Nashville Scene. For more information, visit NashvilleBanner.com. AS THE SECOND HALF of the 113th Tennessee General Assembly approaches, local elected officials around the state are working to flip the preemption narrative, hoping to make some headway in reclaiming local control. One of the most significant outcomes of 2023’s legislative session was the onslaught of so-called “attacks on Nashville.” From an attempt to cut the Metro Council in half to takeovers of the city’s sports and airport authority boards, the Republican supermajority made multiple attempts at state preemption that courts have ruled against. But while the battle between the state and Nashville may occupy the majority of conversations around preemption, one study shows state interference reaches far beyond the boundaries of Davidson County and other blue cities in Tennessee. With that in mind, local leaders hope to find common ground and move forward on bipartisan solutions to bring back local control. But while some areas may offer a glimmer of hope, Tennesseans shouldn’t expect any drastic reclamations of local control anytime soon. “I think with any supermajority, you have to work slowly and build those relationships over time and be really engaged at all levels of politics,” says Vice Mayor Stefanie Dalton of Red Bank, Tenn. State preemption touches just about every aspect of the work local jurisdictions do, creating a complicated maze for local officials to navigate. The affordable housing issue has recently dominated headlines in Nashville, with much of the Metro Council and Mayor Freddie O’Connell making it their central campaign issue during election season. But as much as local officials might want to do something about affordable housing, they are limited in what they can do without changes to state law. “State interference into local zoning means that local governments are not able to address community concerns about short-term rentals and their negative impacts, guarantee that affordable housing units are built into new developments, or regulate the development of new utility and energy-related infrastructure,” reads a study from We Decide Tennessee, a statewide coalition of community organizations and local elected officials created to fight back against state preemption. Inclusionary zoning is one strategy the state legislature has banned. Studies show the practice of inclusionary zoning, which requires new developments to have a certain percentage

of affordable housing units, greatly increases affordable housing options. But after Nashville passed an inclusionary zoning ordinance in 2016, the state legislature swiftly passed legislation banning the practice. But while the zoning strategy may be off the table, Dalton hopes there could be room for a compromise. “They are going to be looking potentially at some legislation that would make it legal for cities to offer voluntary incentives to developers to include sub-market-rate housing in their housing development,” says Dalton. “Because affordable housing is an issue across this nation. But we don’t even have any option to offer voluntary incentives right now; it’s illegal to do that.” Red Bank is a small city surrounded by Chattanooga. Dalton says that while Red Bank isn’t one of the four big cities seen as the usual suspects when it comes to being preempted by the state, it frequently runs into issues brought on by state laws interfering with the city’s ability to operate. One action Dalton is apprehensive about is the possibility of the state capping local property taxes. “That would be absolutely devastating to our cities, especially our smaller cities like us in Red Bank,” says Dalton. “We’re about six-and-a-half square miles, and we’ve got 12,000 residents … and because we’re so small, we have a pretty small commercial corridor. So we are heavily dependent on property tax revenue.” The ability to raise revenues is an essential part of what allows cities to provide services to their constituents. Everything from fixing potholes to maintaining parks and improving public infrastructure depends on a city having needed revenues. And while Dalton hopes that one piece of legislation that would rewrite the formula for how sales taxes are redistributed to cities could increase revenues, recent rhetoric from Republican leadership has primarily centered on potential cuts. State preemption is not just a Tennessee problem. The National League of Cities conducted a study in 2019 showing that every state in the country other than Hawaii has passed legislation preempting local jurisdiction. The study looked at 12 different legal domains and found seven preempted in Tennessee. Tennessee, like other states with supermajorities in the legislature, is on the higher end when it comes to preemption. “I have spoken with county and municipal officials from Memphis to Mountain City, and what I hear over and over is that the state is an impediment to raising revenue for basic public services like new schools or infrastructure,” says Isaac Swafford, the primary organizer at We

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

BY CONNOR DARYANI, NASHVILLE BANNER

Decide Tennessee. “Meanwhile, the state sits on huge budget surpluses while giving away huge tax subsidies to corporations and threatening to refuse federal education monies.” The refusal of federal funding for education in Tennessee looks increasingly unlikely. A working group created by Republican leadership to explore the rejection of federal funding for education met multiple times in November, with little to show why it would be a good idea. Almost immediately following the conclusion of those meetings, Gov. Bill Lee began a push to expand a controversial school voucher program statewide. Critics argue this measure would divert much-needed funds from public schools, which are already stretched thin. The elephant in the room remains the battle between the state and Nashville. But with the O’Connell administration’s hiring of Rep. Darren Jernigan (D-Nashville) as the director of legislative affairs and lots of rhetoric surrounding new beginnings with the state, local officials hope the coming session will be less combative. “We have a new mayor, we have a new vice mayor, 50 percent new council — it is a reset moment and a time to build back relationships,” says Nashville Vice Mayor Angie Henderson. Some legal battles over state preemption have carried over from the previous administration — top of mind is a battle over legislation that allowed the state to take over the airport authority board. In the first months of O’Connell’s administration, a three-judge panel ruled that bill unconstitutional, leading to a dramatic reversion to the old Metro-appointed board. But not only has the state already expressed its intent to appeal the ruling, Sen. Paul Bailey (R-Sparta) has already said he plans to file legislation to take over other airport authority boards around the state, which would sidestep the Home Rule provisions that Metro Legal has used

to argue against legislation targeting Nashville. But while some issues may already be under litigation, Henderson hopes that other less dramatic but arguably more impactful issues may present opportunities for bipartisan action. “I would like to see us, as a region, make some clear advancements on transportation,” says Henderson. “Just a few weeks ago, the mayor and I were together at the Transportation Policy Board meeting there, chatting with and talking to folks in leadership at TDOT, so I think we have a lot of opportunities in some of our shared spaces and corridors.” Earlier this month, Chattanooga was awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to fund a study of what it would take to install an Amtrak line linking Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga and Atlanta. This came following the conclusion of a Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations study in June that, aside from pursuing the grant, also recommended various actions the General Assembly could take to prepare the state for regional transit, including establishing a public transit office. The idea was met with bipartisan enthusiasm. O’Connell and Dalton both sit on the board of the Tennessee Municipal League, an organization that promotes legislation deemed good for local control, and fights back against legislation that could be preemptive. Dalton says the league has been in conversation with legislators on both sides of the aisle in preparation for the coming session. “I would hope that as we build relationships, folks in service at the state would be in dialogue with us to get our perspective as a city,” says Henderson. “Coalition building, I think, is really important all across the state, because state policy absolutely does affect and have local results — for the good and the bad.” ▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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12/21/23 5:16 PM

TALKING TO EUGENE SPENCER ABOUT PUBLIC HOUSING The director of Metro’s new Resident Services Department on challenges and opportunities within Nashville’s public housing community BY NICOLLE PRAINO

How is this similar to your previous job? It’s similar because we’re serving the same demographic of people. We serve people who are at income levels of 30 percent of [area median income] and below, and that’s generally throughout the country when you talk about public housing or affordable housing. The difference here, though, is that the population is larger. The need is more intense, and there’s room for more opportunity where there’s more need. I want to be able to implement sustainable programming, sustainable new ideas. So that’s why it’s different. There’s more of a challenge here. The people are the same. The demographic is the same. The challenge is larger. What are those challenges? Where you have a larger need in a population, that is harder to penetrate the culture of what creates that condition. When you have a generation of people who have grown accustomed to living on incomes that are $15,000 — or in some instances $0 — you get accustomed to living that way of life, and you don’t think that there’s anything else attainable. It’s hard to penetrate that community. It’s hard to build hope and trust. That’s where the challenge is. It’s not so much creating the opportunity. There’s opportunity around us [that abounds]. If you’re looking for opportunity, it’s there. It’s those that don’t believe in the opportunity that’s around them. So the Resident Services Department, then, has to not only present the opportunity, but they have to get people to buy into what’s available to them.

Why is specifically having the Resident Services Department now the answer to that problem? Well, because you have staff that are available every day of the week, and you have staff that have the responsibility of reaching out constantly to residents. We build one-on-one relationships. We have responsibility. We’re there on a five-days-aweek schedule. The residents get accustomed to coming to us, and that builds trust. That builds pathways to opportunity.

What made this the time for that to happen in Nashville? I think the change in leadership sort

of prompted this — [MDHA executive director] Dr. Troy White’s vision of where the agency is going. Providing more affordable housing, but also building strong communities and strengthening neighborhoods — that’s all a part of his vision. And you can’t do that necessarily unless you have a Resident Services Department within that helps complete that mission. As I said, it’s really hard to do when you work with outside service providers.

What does it take to develop the department? Fortunately, when I came in, there was already a groundwork of partnerships in place. It’s my job to nurture those partnerships, to grow those partnerships. What we are currently in the process of doing is creating a couple of one-stop centers, if you will, that will create job training, opportunity, educational opportunities, and make it available to our entire portfolio. Homeownership is another pillar of what we will be offering in Resident Services. To get started, we have to foster these partnerships that we have in place.

What does each day look like as the leader for that department? As the captain of the ship, so to speak, for the department, it’s my job to go out and establish relationships all the time. To make sure that people in the community throughout Nashville know who we are, what we do, and help them understand how they can partner with us, how we can work together to complete what our mission is. So later on today, I have a meeting with someone from the mayor’s community safety office. We have a lot of the same goals in terms of providing safety and resources to some of our community. So it’s my job to to get out there and make sure that people understand that we exist and let them know what we do. It’s also my job to go out there and look for resources in addition to just partnerships, to look for funding and ways that we can grow our presence, grow our staff. It’s my responsibility to make sure that everyone within my department knows what their responsibilities are, what their core duties are, and make sure that they’re doing that, talk with residents to find out how they feel about the services that we’re providing. And always be responsive to what the needs are.

You grew up in public housing. How does that better position you to do this job today? Well, I don’t have limited expectations about what people can do. I’ve seen it firsthand. I’ve done it myself firsthand. Also, this might not be the correct way to term it, but I don’t have a fear of interacting in our communities. I walk the grounds. I like to interact with people. I don’t have any reservations about that, and I understand the culture. When I meet people, sometimes I understand what body language says or understand what the un-

EUGENE SPENCER spoken sentiment is just by meeting people and meeting their children or seeing their homes, seeing how they’re living. I can understand their culture because I lived in it for a long time. That’s very important, because that provides a connection with people. People can see it in my eyes. They can feel it when they meet me, and I think it creates trust. Ultimately, you can’t do your work if you don’t have the trust of the residents, because they won’t interact with you.

Why do you think there’s what you described as a fear of public housing communities? Generally speaking, our communities in a lot of instances are sort of isolated. When you hear stories about an incident that may happen in one of our communities, of course, it’s something that creates fear in people. Folks would rather deal with a community from afar if they don’t understand it or have not been to the community. So I think when you deal with a community that has been isolated for a long time, there’s a fear because there’s no familiarity with it. There’s no direct relationship with the community. But you have to be immersed in the community, meet the people to disperse that fear. If you meet people who live here and you talk with them, you understand that everyone’s the same everywhere.

Do you see the Resident Services Department as a way to change that isolation to help the community? I do. Because part of our goal and job along with the communications department is to make the personalized stories, those success stories, make people aware of what’s going on. Make other neighbors aware of goings-on, which builds hope with them as well. But once you illuminate what’s going on, it creates a bridge between this

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

EARLIER THIS YEAR, Nashville’s Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency announced the creation of its Resident Services Department, designed “to identify, prioritize and provide services and resources” for Nashville’s public housing residents. The first director of the new department, Eugene Spencer, came to Nashville from a similar position at a housing agency in Maryland. The Scene sat down with Spencer to discuss his role. This interview has been edited for length.

community, other communities, and people gain more interest about what’s happening. They want to help. They want to be a part of it. So yes, Resident Services is a big part of that.

Summarize what you see as the future for Residents Services in Nashville. Opportunity and equity for all residents is what we’re shooting for here. What I see for Residents Services in Nashville is creating a platform that will perpetually provide those opportunities and always bring in additional support to create opportunity and equity. We want folks to sometimes purchase homes and move out of MDHA communities, or sometimes we also want them to make a step and be able to afford a workforce development type of housing situation. Other times we don’t necessarily expect individuals to raise income, but we expect them to raise their standard of living. All of those instances fall under opportunity, and it falls under creating equity for those families to have a higher standard of living.

Is there anything else that you would want people to know about Resident Services or about what you do here? I want people to know that the residents who live in our communities are part of Nashville. We are one large community. Nashville is going through a tremendous growth transformation. So our communities and our residents, we hope to provide them with that same level of growth and transformation as the city grows. That would be my message. That we want to be a part of the transformation of Nashville as well, and Resident Services will be working hard to provide those opportunities and level of equity to get people to the same level that others are within this metropolitan area. ▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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12/21/23 5:16 PM

NASHVILLE CARES HIT BY TUMULTUOUS YEAR FOR HIV/AIDS FUNDING Local organization faced changes, fears 2024 cuts

PITH IN THE WIND NASHVILLESCENE.COM/NEWS/PITHINTHEWIND

BY HANNAH HERNER

State officials are prioritizing Interstate 24 between Nashville and Murfreesboro for one of the first “Choice Lane” projects under the recently passed Transportation Modernization Act. Before Christmas, the Tennessee Department of Transportation unveiled its 10-year project plan, including details on initiatives it wants to complete in the Nashville area. The $15 billion plan encompasses 93 projects using the annual TDOT work program budget and the $3 billion appropriation from the Transportation Modernization Act. Democrats have filed a bill to change the language of the act so TDOT must get approval from local governments where proposed toll lanes would be constructed.

“

In the latest installment of her Metro Council analysis column On First Reading, Nicole Williams (aka “@startleseasily”) reports on appointments to the Music, Film and Entertainment Commission and the Metro Arts Commission. Apparently those didn’t go quite as smoothly as mayoral appointments tend to. Also on deck: funding for a robot dog to be used by the Metro Nashville Police Department. Councilmember Bob Nash bemoaned his colleagues’ incessant questioning of policerelated legislation. But, writes Williams, “I think it’s fine to incessantly question a department authorized to use deadly force.”

“FUNDING IS SERIOUSLY BEING THREATENED AT ALL LEVELS — AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL AND AT THE STATE LEVEL.” — AMNA OSMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF NASHVILLE CARES HIV epidemic,” Osman says. “With funding being eliminated and threatened, all these efforts will have to stop in some programs and areas. ... It’ll be a challenge to have adequate funding to comprehensively address the HIV epidemic. Funding is seriously being threatened at all levels — at the federal level and at the state level.” This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post. ▼

PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

“Anybody that accesses our services will be able to do that in a one-stop shop, under one roof,” Osman says. “That really reduces barriers to accessing services and being retained in care. That is an ultimate focus and goal for Nashville CARES in the next year.” In July, CARES contested the state’s decision not to award it Ryan White Insurance Assistance Program funding, which it had received from the state since 2001. The litigation is ongoing, and Osman declined to comment on the matter. Osman fears additional federal cuts will shrink funding coming to the state over time. At the federal level, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has been contested by a small group of conservative U.S. House Republicans who accuse the Biden administration of using it to promote abortion. Osman fears this rhetoric will affect funding further in 2024. “It’s contradicting because we have a national HIV/AIDS strategy that says, if we do all these efforts throughout the United States, we will start to see a significant reduction in the

AMNA OSMAN

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

TENNESSEE STATE LEADERS in January became the first in the country to reject federal HIV/AIDS prevention money, a decision that put funding for Nashville CARES and other local organizations at risk. It was the start of a tumultuous year for Nashville CARES. “Over the course of the last decade, we’ve never had this significant of a reduction or problems with funding,” Amna Osman, executive director of Nashville CARES, tells Scene sister publication the Nashville Post. In January, the Tennessee Department of Health turned down $8 million in federal HIV prevention funding through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A Department of Health representative told media at the time that “it is in the best interest of Tennesseans for the state to assume direct financial and managerial response for these services.” CARES lost $315,000, or 45 percent of its annual prevention dollars. The changes in the state’s HIV prevention program took effect May 31. Gov. Bill Lee and lawmakers promised replacement funds for the $8 million and ultimately allocated $4.5 million in state funding to be directed toward HIV prevention, aimed at first responders, mothers, children and victims of human trafficking, leaving out explicit mentions of the populations most affected by the HIV crisis: people of color and men who have sex with men. In addition, the CDC rerouted $4 million in HIV prevention funding to United Way of Greater Nashville. Nashville CARES was one of the six organizations that received a piece of Lee’s replacement funding — $600,000, which Nashville CARES shares with other Middle Tennessee providers. In June, that funding will expire. Osman says the organization has received $172,000 from the CDC redirection, too. “The important thing to highlight is that the legislators, while they appropriated this money, they only appropriated it for one year,” Osman says. “CDC funding was a five-year cycle. We have to go back now again next year to ensure that these funds continue to be funded at that same level, if not more, for future years.” Meanwhile, Nashville CARES put a mobile clinic on the streets this year, and introduced syringe exchange services. Midyear, the organization announced its clinic at Metroplex Drive would close and it would renovate its Thompson Lane location so the clinic and pharmacy can move there. Osman says the goal is to consolidate services at one location, slated for completion in summer 2024. The organization is still offering services at its Metroplex Drive location for the time being.

We’re looking back at 2023 with some of our favorite photos of the year. From gun safety advocates’ demonstrations at the state Capitol to the GOP supermajority’s attempts to expel the Tennessee Three, a heated Metro election season and much more, it was a busy year — and the Scene’s photographers were there to document much of the action.

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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As 2023 draws to a close, you, dear reader, are no doubt being inundated with year-end countdown lists. And we here at the Scene are certainly responsible for some of them, from our Dec. 14 issue’s Top Local Albums Critics’ Poll to our forthcoming annual Jim Ridley Film Poll. (Stay tuned for that one in January.)

From the brand-new to the new-to-us, here are 20 local finds we fell for in 2023

But for this week’s cover package, we’re skipping the countdowns, awards and numbered lists. Instead we’ve gathered up some of our favorite local finds from the past year. Some are brandnew, like East Nashville’s delightful Tiger Bar, or Old Hickory’s kid-centric Baby Snakes Vintage. Others, like Nashville-based artist Briena Harmening, are simply new to us. Wedding professionals, coconut curry noodles, a revitalized 600-plus-acre park — you’ll find all that and more in this week’s issue. Read on to see what we fell for this year.

Thanks to its mid-’70s tavern decor, classic cocktail list, strong beer selection and outdoor bar area, relatively new East Side establishment Schulman’s Neighborhood Bar is, as they say, a vibe. It’s even named for late, great bar proprietor David “Skull” Schulman, who opened Skull’s Rainbow Room in Printers Alley 75 years ago. (That’s a painted portrait of Skull hanging over the end of the bar, where the Old Nashville icon and his beloved poodles can keep an eye on the merriment.) Delightful as all of that is, none of that stuff is what keeps me coming back. My reason for returning? Schulman’s pastrami dip. Tucked amid a short-but-sweet sandwich menu that also features a classic cheeseburger, a fried bologna and a vegan “chicken” sandwich, the dip is a simple but absolutely undeniable offering that’ll form a sturdy base for a night of drinking — or a hearty late-afternoon lunch on a leisurely Sunday. Some deli purists (like my New Yorkborn significant other) will tell you it’s not a dip if you don’t do the dipping yourself. And indeed, Schulman’s offering comes presoaked. Does it bother me? Not even a little bit. Icon Entertainment & Hospitality’s Bill and Shannon Miller and their sons Blake, Jordan and Will are really onto something with Schulman’s, which opened this fall in a site formerly home to Southern Grist. At the intersection of

THE PASTRAMI DIP AT SCHULMAN’S NEIGHBORHOOD BAR Porter and Greenwood, Schulman’s neighbors include Vinyl Tap, Cafe Roze and Tabla Rasa Toys, with Grillshack Fries and Burgers and Nelson Drum Shop just a stone’s throw away on Riverside. Though legendary karaoke dive Fran’s

PHOTO: JM COLLECTIVE

The Pastrami Dip at Schulman’s Neighborhood Bar

East Side relocated to Dickerson Pike from the area at some point last year, this little pocket of East Nashville’s Eastwood neighborhood is still going strong. Schulman’s — and its pastrami dip — have a lot to do with that. D. PATRICK RODGERS NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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mar. Love, Parnassus’ goal is to bring you debut and new-to-you authors with a focus on lifting up queer, Black and POC stories and writers. It is also for an adult audience, as some of these books will have explicit sex scenes. Hooray! KIM BALDWIN

A New Devotion to The Good Fill

EAST NASHVILLE BEER WORKS

East Nashville Beer Works Collaborations East Nashville Beer Works has distinguished itself with solid flagship offerings like the honey-sweet Miro Miel and crisp Tennessee Sipper, but the brewery’s playful side shines in its rotating cast of collaboration beers. A golden stout made with Proximity Malt challenges what I’ve come to expect from the traditionally earthy and thick draft, and their espresso creme ale with Retrograde Coffee shows that coffee flavors needn’t be limited to dark porters. These adventurous brews deliver what they advertise, and while they may delight some and confuse others, I usually leave happy that I indulged my curiosity. ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

aka @YourLesbianBookMom on Instagram, had an idea for a romance subscription box. Parnassus said, “We love it,” and Love, Parnassus was born. This new monthly subscription box kicks off in January with Say You’ll Be Mine by Naina Ku-

I secretly suspect my house guests aren’t as jazzed about me doubling down on my devotion to The Good Fill this year as I am. The store, which has locations in The Nations and East Nashville, sells cleaning supplies (such as laundry detergent and spot remover) and personal care products (makeup, dental floss and deodorant). The idea is that you bring in your own refillable containers, or buy theirs, and then bring them back and purchase goods by weight. Last year I got into the groove, going plastic-free for toothpaste and other travel supplies. But this year every random container in my house got cleaned, sanitized and reused. Dish soap is in an old water bottle. Lotion and hair conditioner are in unmarked jars (or marked with wax-pencil notations only I can decipher). Glass bottles of all shapes and sizes hold what visitors might want to use to clean and bathe, if they knew what was where. I love contributing to the circular economy, generating less waste (though I’m definitely not at zero yet). I’m more inclined to buy only what I need to refill, because I don’t want to fill a second container, so there’s no stockpiling. Maybe 2024 is the year I’ll get into labeling. MARGARET LITTMAN

Tiger Bar If you make a reservation at Tiger Bar, you’ll get a text reminding you that it is “COCKTAIL ATTIRE SUGGESTED.” And it’s a good suggestion, to help you get into character for the theatrical presentation that is Nashville’s most fun new bar. The 1930s sideshow-inspired gin joint opened earlier this year on Gallatin Pike and has ambiance to spare. The circus-inspired decor is impeccable, and the era-accurate music and less-era-accurate smoke machine sending curls of fog out from beneath the bar make for a cinematic experience. The food is delicious and savory — the salt-and-vinegar fries, meaty olives and salty popcorn flight. There’s caviar too, but the real stars are the craft cocktails. Prepare to select something you’ve never tried before on Tiger Bar’s extensive and evolving menu (or spin the “Mystery Wheel” to select a random item, if you’re feeling adventurous). The Cotton Candy Negroni, a clear negroni that turns its signature amber color when you drop in the dissolving cotton candy, is a winner. The tiny and super-chilled Tom Thumb martini shots are no-brainers. The Snake Oil Charmer — made with grapefruit, olive oil, egg whites, vodka, bergamot liqueur and bitters, garnished with a skeleton leaf — is a Tiger Bar original, so unexpected and tasty. I love theater, and I can tell the proprietors of Tiger Bar (whose combined résumés include Pearl Diver, The Treehouse and No. 308) do too. The attentive and knowledgeable staff make it all the more memorable, explaining the back story of a gorgeous green cocktail called the Four Legged Myrtle while pouring it over slushy

Love, Parnassus I fell in love with romance books during the early lockdown part of the pandemic. With a few notable exceptions like the Fifty Shades and Twilight series (not sorry), I stick to the rivers and lakes that I’m used to: memoirs and literary fiction. But in 2020, when the world became more than I could handle, I found an escape through romance. Luckily, it’s a relationship that stuck. Now romance is having a moment. A long-beloved genre is finally getting the praise and attention it deserves, thanks in large part to booksellers and #booktok. One such bookseller is Katie Garaby, co-host of Between the Covers Romance Book Club at Parnassus Books. Garaby,

THE GOOD FILL

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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East Side Pho’s Coconut Curry Noodles

TIGER BAR’S COTTON CANDY NEGRONI

ice. My personal favorite is the Aviation, which my server explained was named for Amelia Earhart and modeled after the color of the sky when she set out to fly around the world. Earhart probably would have enjoyed a 1930s gin joint, God rest her soul. Tiger Bar is a good place to reflect on these things. The smoky air, the attire, the music, the lore — it’s all so romantic. Honestly, I wouldn’t take someone there if you don’t want to love them (it’s too powerful!). But it’s also a great place to have a memorable night on the town. HANNAH HERNER

Nashville Guitar Repair Master List When you get a new guitar with strings so high above the fretboard you’re contemplating becoming a slide player, or your workhorse guitar starts sounding like bees live in it whenever you switch between pickups, you need someone who knows how to give your instrument some TLC. If you asked me who to turn to, there are about five names I’d give you; a lot of others are likely to recommend some of those same five people. In a city with far more guitarists than the

1,352 once counted by The Lovin’ Spoonful, this poses a problem. A handful of luthiers get so much work that they have to quote lead times of many weeks on jobs that should take days to complete at most. Meanwhile, others who have an equal commitment to quality fly under the radar. In an effort to alleviate the bottlenecks and spread the work around, Dave Johnson of Scale Model Guitars and Jack Brunson of Jack’s Guitarchaeology concocted the Nashville Guitar Repair Master List. This archive, which lives online at jacksguitarchive.com, includes contact information and the general location — or specific addresses if they have a shop outside their home — of 33 luthiers, plus notes from the specialists themselves on what kinds of work they do. Add to that six amp-repair shops, one effects-pedal specialist and 11 brickand-mortar instrument stores in the general Nashville area. As a hobbyist player, I will probably never be truly free of “gear acquisition syndrome,” but I’m trying to be a lot more intentional about actually using what I have. Nothing knocks the shine off the playing experience like an instrument that needs a setup, and I’m excited to use this list to keep my little collection in top form. STEPHEN TRAGESER

We West Siders constantly update our mental maps of East Nashville, a simple land of bitter cocktails and buzzy luncheonettes. The right food craving can turn an errand to Madison into a meandering journey through McFerrin Park; when it gets close to dinnertime, a bike ride through Shelby can end pretty far up Gallatin. East Side Pho’s coconut curry noodles make for a dish with that kind of magnetism. The kitchen clearly knows what they have, because the noodles appear twice on the menu

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

— as a proper entrée and in a smaller “snack size,” an easy add-on to any of the spot’s other excellent dishes. Thick, chewy rice noodles are a coveted offering for Nashville’s gluten-free community. East Side Pho is just one of the many phenomenal offerings at award-winning outpost The Wash. The many neighborhood parking headaches are a testament to the plaza’s popularity and its aspirational urban planning, which prefigures a city where patrons drive less. ELI MOTYCKA

Baby Snakes Vintage If you’re looking for great vintage scores, the newly opened Baby Snakes is the place for you.

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

EAST SIDE PHO’S COCONUT CURRY NOODLES

BABY SNAKES VINTAGE NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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TROLL HOUSE COTTAGE

The Old Hickory Village storefront is jam-packed with Garfield T-shirts, badass denim jackets, leather cowboy boots, pretty lace blouses, E.T.themed jewelry. It’s got basically everything you could ever want in a vintage shop, except for one thing: adult sizes. That’s right — Nashville’s best new vintage shop is for kids only. Operated by the folks behind Anaconda Vintage, Baby Snakes (located at 105A 24th St. in Old Hickory) is tucked into the same complex that houses beloved Live True Vintage, making Old Hickory an unexpected destination for Nashville’s vintage lovers. The shop carries a well-curated but broad selection of clothes for newborns, babies and young children — I recently got my 7-year-old a perfect pastel sweatshirt covered in puffy paint cats that screams “1986” in the best way possible. There are also accessories like pewter piggy banks, nostalgia-inducing Golden Books, Smurf figurines — even California Raisins. Be on the lookout for fresh styles coming to a day care near you. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

Troll House Cottage If there’s a high tea to be had, I’m going to have it. There’s something about the tiered

tower of treats being lowered onto the table in front of my eyes that makes my heart sing. The girlhood joy of tea parties reemerges as I sit giggling across from a loved one and raise a tiny teacup to my face. Troll House Cottage is my new favorite place to do that. I enjoyed my longtime favorite High Garden creamsicle oolong tea in the cozy and intimate tea room — housed in a cottage built in 1927 — with substantial and tasty sandwiches and desserts. The Donelson establishment is a lovely destination to embrace the tea party, but it also offers breakfast and lunch throughout the week, and the cutest gift shop, featuring wares by local makers. It’s the perfect place to meet up with a friend and celebrate a birthday, engagement, breakup, new job or just surviving the crazy world we live in. It’s the perfect place to, well … spill the tea. HANNAH HERNER

ergetic, fitness-focused styles like power flow or vinyasa. It instead emphasizes meditation and stretching of deep connective tissues, like fascia networks and ligaments. I was surprised when walking into my first Yin Yoga class — all the lights were turned off, and the room was lit only by candles set up around the perimeter. An instrumental soundtrack quietly played in the background, and I could see silhouettes of more experienced Yin Yogis already lying down with stacks of blocks and straps at the ready for support. Once we got into the session, it was a revelation. The slower pace provides the ability to tune into every part of your body in each pose and find your equilibrium before moving on, which allows more time to fall deeper into one’s meditation. I was immediately hooked. And Sunday nights couldn’t be better timing-wise. It is the perfect way to center yourself and reflect on the past week without distraction, and prepare for the one ahead. Personally, I can think of no better way to stave off the Sunday Scaries. CARA SURIYAMONGKOL

Artist Briena Harmening Keep your eye on Briena Harmening in 2024. The Nashville-based artist’s smart, singular works have been showing up at independent exhibitions — even a weekend-long pop-up at Coop Gallery in August — but she seems destined for much more. Harmening’s textile-based work borrows familiar elements — quilts and tablecloths, screen-printed truisms — but reassembles them in unexpected ways. There is a crocheted blanket whose lines seem to radiate out of a sexist insurance claim, and an assemblage of found fabrics and woven doilies says “Now Is Not the Time” and “Prayers.” If Jenny Holzer and Mike Kelley had raised a child in Appalachia, their work might look a little like this. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

‘Spinning’ My Nights at Bar Continental When I heard The Continental was morphing into the Bar Continental vinyl listening room, I

Yin Yoga Hot Yoga of East Nashville is not new for me — I’ve loved the studio ever since I started practicing there about two-and-a-half years ago. But a more recent discovery is their Yin Yoga on Sunday nights. Yin Yoga is slow-paced compared to more en-

BAR CONTINENTAL

PHOTO: MICK JACOB

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

BRIENA HARMENING’S “THAT’S NOT NICE”

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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LOCALS PAY WHAT YOU WANT

Daily pay-what-you-want Museum admission for residents of Davidson and bordering counties, now through January 31, 2024—and with late-night programs Tuesdays in January, it's a new way to swing for the city lights. above: Bill Anderson at his home on Old Hickory Lake, 1975. photo: Raeanne Rubenstein

LEARN MORE NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 4, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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ASHLEY BRANTLEY

Community Passports at the Nashville Public Library We’ve sung the praises of the Nashville Public Library’s various non-book-related resources a lot in these pages, and their Community Passports are yet another wonderful thing you can check out totally for free. The library partners with local museums to allow cardholders to check out free passes for themselves and a guest. The wait lists can be very, very long — the National Museum of African American Music has 1,500 people on the wait list as of this writing — so perhaps the best way to approach the community passports is to find something you haven’t quite gotten around to visiting, put your name onto the wait list and then forget about it until you get an email saying the passes are yours for the next seven days. That’s what I did when checking out a different kind of community pass from the library. I’d always been curious about the electric BCycles around town, so I put my

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

was bummed. The Continental was my favorite Sean Brock restaurant, full stop. The brunch was the best in town, and it all worked — cocktails, carts, pâté, prime rib. I must’ve been in the minority as a return visitor — which is a shame, if not a surprise. When 19th-century hotel food is your concept and you start as only a tasting menu, your pool is small. So I think most locals saw The Continental as fun, one-time dining where you could easily go five times without eating the same dish. Whatever went down, Brock said in a statement of the evolution to Japanese “kissa” concept: “Visiting Bar Continental is like attending a concert, you feel the music — it’s transcendent, similar to an experience on Lower Broadway.” I couldn’t be happier to disagree. Bar Continental — with its plush couches, tall ceilings, rare records and smart, mellow staff — could not be further from Lower Broadway if Brock did open it in Japan. Bless him for that. We do not need more places to “woo” and puke and sling loaded guns onto the floor. But more places to hear that Buckingham Nicks album where everybody pulled their nips out for the cover? Yes, please. The food and drink at Bar Continental is as rich and thought-provoking as the music. The Calabrian chili tartare with sunchokes is toasty and bold. The honeynut squash with XO country ham and mimolette cheese is a savory-sweet revelation. And the cashews, which appear basic as can be, are the most addictive bar snack in town, with nostalgic, unexpected notes of white chocolate and salty pretzel. On the turntable, every night kicks off with a theme, ranging from the Stones and CCR to Jerry Garcia. On Mondays you can bring in your own vinyl for a Community Listening Party. Best of all, on Sundays, they’re not only spinning soul music — they’re also bringing back the prime rib cart. If there’s a better way to start your week than au jus and Al Green, I am yet to find it.

TURNIP GREEN CREATIVE REUSE

name onto a wait list, went about my life for a few weeks and then was pleasantly surprised to remember that past me had signed up for a week of free rides on the city’s shareable e-bikes. The library currently offers separate passes to the aforementioned National Museum of African American Music and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and the BCycle pass allows unlimited two-hour rides from any of the city’s bike-share stations. COLE VILLENA

Hue Dinner Events As part of the annual Nashville Design Week in November, Brian and Cassia Garrett hosted an event called Design for the Black Culinary Experience. It was beautiful, and unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. Dozens of guests were seated at communal tables and guided through the evening with discussions and delicious food. All the while, the Garretts led a conversation with four local chefs about cooking, life and community. The event featured chefs Jerod Wilcher (ButterFLY Garden), Karen Thomas (The Pepper Pott), Star Maye (Anzie Blue) and Marcus Buggs (Coneheads). It reminded me that chefs have so much more to offer than just food — they are often passionate, dedicated and hospitable people who sacrifice social lives to facilitate connection for others. November’s event aligned with the mission of Hue, a company co-founded by the Garretts to celebrate Black chefs and storytelling

CASSIA AND BRIAN GARRETT

through private dinner series. In creating these special spaces for food and community, Hue also uplifts Black chefs who are too often underrepresented in the culinary industry. Despite Black chefs’ immense creativity and incalculable impact on the global food landscape, Bloomberg reports that only six of the world’s Michelin Star restaurants have Black executive chefs. Hue seeks to highlight and uplift Black chefs in ways that transcend the traditional restaurant experience and more fully involves those behind the recipes. It’s still a new organization, but I can’t wait to see how far they go with it. I’ll be keeping an eye out for future events. Those interested can follow Hue on social media and join a list to be notified about upcoming events on its website, experiencehue.com. KELSEY BEYELER

Sixth Avenue South Let Me Love Going Downtown Again Back in 2019, I shared my secret shortcut across SoBro when the Division Street Connector opened, and I hinted at another time-saver that involved taking advantage of Sixth Avenue South. Well y’all have clearly heeded my advice, and now, as Jimi sang: “(Crosstown traffic) all you do is slow me down / And I’m trying to get on the other side of town!” But I still had my ace in the hole, the secret luge run that can get me from Hillsboro Village to Bridgestone Arena in less than 15 minutes, even during rush hour. As more and more of my friends tell me that traffic/parking/tourists keep them from venturing downtown, I feel it’s my civic duty to give up my clandestine route to encourage locals to discover the urban core again. Here’s the route: From anywhere in 12South/ Hillsboro Village/Green Hills, make your way to Edgehill Avenue. Waze will tell you to try South Street and then attempt a left turn without a traffic light onto Eighth Avenue South. Don’t do that. (Stupid algorithm!) Cross Eighth at the Sci-

entology center and take the first left onto Fort Negley Boulevard. After you pass the Adventure Science Center on your right, turn left onto Sixth Avenue at the corner of the City Cemetery. That’s it. Your next stop after just a few traffic signals will be at the Music City Center — nay, it will be in the Music City Center, since Sixth passes right through it, leading to two entrances into the underutilized parking garage. There you can park for up to five hours for $10, maybe as much as $20 during special events, but that’s still cheaper than any legal parking spot downtown. (Heck, if you can even find one of the scarce metered spots downtown, they’ll cost you $2.25 an hour and kick you out after three hours.) Passing under a crawling I-40 at rush hour while breezing down Sixth on the way to a Preds game is one of my favorite pastimes. Along the route, I can stop at New Heights, Tennessee Brew Works or Yee-Haw for a craft beer or Bar Sovereign for a cocktail, and the way home is even easier. So don’t shun downtown; take it back, and discover what it still has to offer if you’re willing to walk a couple blocks to the Ryman. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

Turnip Green Creative Reuse’s New Location Turnip Green Creative Reuse isn’t a new store, but it moved to a new location this year, and it’s the best one yet. The nonprofit collects thousands of pounds of materials that would otherwise get tossed in the trash — seat belts, padded envelopes, empty pill bottles, anchors, screws and glitter, to list just a few — and organizes and categorizes it all. The stuff is then sold with a pay-what-you-can model, and used in arts educational classes that Turnip Green leads. When Turnip Green left East Nashville for Wedgewood-Houston, its first stop was at a spot that was sometimes hard to get to thanks to

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

SONOBANA train stoppages on Fourth Avenue South. The new location on Third Avenue South is train-drama-free, larger and hyper-organized, allowing for happy hours of browsing. I keep a running list of what I might need — electrical plates, spray paint, tulle fabric — to keep myself from getting distracted by shiny objects. However, my favorite find this year was, in fact, a shiny brass belt buckle that I put into immediate rotation. I love the serendipity of what I find when I walk these newly organized aisles and the ideas I get for new projects (regardless of whether I complete them) as much as I love the zero-waste nature of the whole enterprise. Turnip Green Creative Reuse is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday at 1014 Third Ave. S.

friends. And we were relaxed enough that we actually had fun and will remember it as long as we’re here — exactly as it’s supposed to be. There are many, many great folks in town to work with. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t shout out some who helped us. Major thanks to ace planner Melinda Melton at Inspired Help; the staff at venue The Cordelle; DJ Matthew Maglione, aka Brer Sunshine; the crew at South Fork Catering Co.; and photographer extraordinaire Fiona Battersby. STEPHEN TRAGESER

MARGARET LITTMAN

Japanese cuisine is the not-so-hidden influence behind Nashville’s most vaunted restaurants right now. Buzzy spots like Locust, Kisser and Bastion come with long lines and hefty bills — and home cooks can experiment with the same ingredients thanks to longtime White Bridge Road staple Sonobana. The popular sushi spot abuts a one-room Japanese grocery that offers staples like miso, mochi and nori maki, the crunchy rice cracker snacks that have found mainstream success in America after being repackaged and remarketed by Trader Joe’s. Furikake hardly constitutes a “New Discovery” so much as a pantry essential that still, somehow, eludes too many kitchens. Sonobana offers many versions of this seaweed-based sprinkle — as do many grocery stores not named Publix or Kroger — opening up several months’ worth of shopping in the furikake aisle.

Nashville Wedding Professionals It can be tough to have a balanced perspective on the industry surrounding marriage. For one, a wedding is ideally something you do only once. For another, especially in Nashville, the wedding-adjacent bachelorette scene is very visible and easily (lazily) vilified. When you’re getting ready to have your wedding here, it’ll quickly become apparent that population growth and Music City’s growing reputation as a wedding destination have made planning your ceremony a daunting task. However, as my wife Sarah and I discovered, all that expansion has led to the city being jampacked with professionals who are absolute masters of making the experience smooth and enjoyable. It was not inexpensive, though everyone we worked with delivered extraordinary value for the money. There was some additional work involved, though I have to credit Sarah, a fantastic planner herself, with tackling most of it. And lots of the things we had to do were fun, like deciding on cake flavors and picking our first-dance song. On our wedding day in November, we had the best time we could imagine with our family and

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

The Furikake Aisle at Sonobana MILL RIDGE PARK

gathering spaces for families in southeast Davidson County. With an epic playground featuring a massive slide, an interactive musical art installation, exercise equipment, pavilions and more, the park offers something for the whole family. The park’s hundreds of acres also provide exciting opportunities for folks to engage with nature. The Friends of Mill Ridge Park nonprofit makes it all possible through constant events and programming such as nature walks, community garden days, sky-watch parties and outdoor movies. This park is a much-needed and much-deserved asset to the Antioch community that will benefit its residents for years and years to come. KELSEY BEYELER

ELI MOTYCKA

Mill Ridge Park

Madame Tussauds Nashville

Perhaps the most exciting part about Antioch’s new Mill Ridge Park is that as great as it is, it’s not even finished yet. In August, the city unveiled the completion of its first round of a multiphase master plan to turn 622 acres off Old Hickory Boulevard near Cane Ridge High School into a network of play areas, trails and outdoor

Hear me out! Madame Tussauds’ Nashville location is a worthwhile stop — something I discovered just this year. Having not grown up in a wax-museum family, I didn’t know of the delights and horrors I was missing. On a recent trip to the longtime attraction, I was impressed by detailed figures and their lifelike quality, down

to veins on the statues’ hands. It’s art, full stop. In Madame Tussauds Nashville’s dreamsequence-like walkthrough, you’ll find a host of musicians in beautifully decorated sets. My favorite was the 1950s-style recording studio. You’ll see the Elvis figure that’s featured in the WeGo transit ads, and the newest addition, Kacey Musgraves. Also residing in Nashville’s outpost are Miley Cyrus, Reba McEntire, Diana Ross, Ozzy Osbourne, Rihanna, Elton John and more. You won’t see Dolly, though — she hasn’t given permission yet. Selfies are welcome — just don’t touch the hair! That is, if you, unlike me, are not absolutely given the heebie-jeebies by the wax figures. Located in the back side of the Opry Mills mall, the museum is relatively easy to access. Following your tour, you can get a wax-hand keepsake, or purchase a package that includes a glass of wine from the nearby Amber Falls Winery. Being in a tourist environment helps me remember the excitement I felt when I first moved to Nashville. It helps me remember why I stay — the things I can’t get back home. Home certainly does not have a 1.2-million-squarefoot mall with two wax figures of Taylor Swift. HANNAH HERNER ▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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LIVE MUSIC | URBAN WINERY RESTAURANT | BAR | PRIVATE EVENTS

1.02

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REBIRTH BRASS BAND

ANTHONY DAVID

FEBRUARY 25

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HOWARD HEWETT

DAVE HOLLISTER MATTERS OF THE HEART TOUR

12.28 THE TON3S (AKA THE HAMILTONES) SONNY LANDRETH IN A RARE SOLO 12.29 APPEARANCE - WITH KEVIN GORDON 12.30 DOMINE: FOR THE LOVE OF PINK FLOYD 12.30 THE CLOSE LANGHORNE SLIM WITH TWAIN, 1.1 NATALIE JANE HILL, ERIN RAE & ANDREW COMBS GIBBONS & FRIENDS 1.5 BILLY CELEBRATION JAM- SOLD OUT - JOIN WAITLIST BILLY GIBBONS & FRIENDS 1.6 CELEBRATION JAM SOLD OUT - JOIN WAITLIST CITY OF LAUGHS FEATURING MIKE 1.6 JAMES, KHRISTAL MAJORS, EDDIE SISNEROS AND ASHLEY CORBY SWEET BABY JAMES 1.11 THE #1 JAMES TAYLOR TRIBUTE 1.11 REDD & THE PAPER FLOWERS DUNN WITH JILLIAN DAWN 1.12 ALLIE & REN RICHARDS.

MUSIC AND MINDSET 1.14 TO ELEVATE & MOTIVATE 1.15 MLK: MOTOWN DREAM MCEUEN (CO-FOUNDER OF 1.17 JOHN NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND) 1.18 THE MOLLY RINGWALDS SARAH CLANTON - SHADOW WORK 1.20 EP RELEASE PARTY 1.20 ALICIA WITT 1.21 JONATHAN COULTON 1.26 AN EVENING WITH CREED BRATTON 1.27 AN EVENING WITH TRACE BUNDY 1.27 CHRISETTE MICHELLE NASHVILLE BEATLES BRUNCH FEAT. 1.28 FOREVER ABBEY ROAD & FRIENDS 1.28 WAYLON 1.29 ADAM CONOVER 1.30 THE SIXTIES SHOW

CAT POWER

CAT POWER SINGS DYLAN: THE 1966 ROYAL ALBERT HALL CONCERT

(EARLY & LATE SHOWS)

MARCH 5

GEOFF TATE & ADRIAN VANDENBERG

TICKETS ON SALE NOW Museum members receive exclusive pre-sale opportunities for CMA Theater concerts. Learn more at CountryMusicHallofFame.org/Membership.

EVE with NEW YEAR’S

DEC

CHRIS KIRKPATRICK of *NSYNC • O-TOWN • LFO

ALL SATURDAYS — IN —

DECEMBER 12:00PM

PORTION OF PROCEEDS GOES TOWARDS

ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION

12:00 PM to

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Taste • Learn • Discover

Saturday

609 L AFAYET TE ST. NASHVILLE , TN 37203, NASHVILLE , TN 37203

BOOKED BY @NATIONALSHOWS2 • NATIONALSHOWS2.COM

The CMA Theater is a property of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

224 REP. JOHN LEWIS WAY S • NASHVILLE, TN CMATHEATER.COM • @CMATHEATER

@CIT Y WINERYNSH / CIT Y WINERY.COM / 615. 324.1033

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

2023/24 SEASON

NASHVILLE SYMPHONY COME HEAR EXTRAORDINARY JAN 5 & 6 | 7:30 PM JAN 7 | 2 PM

JAN 11 TO 13 | 7:30 PM FirstBank Pops Series

PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION Nashville Symphony Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano

JAN 18 & 19 | 7:30 PM

PIRATES OF GREAT GERSHWIN! THE CARIBBEAN: Nashville Symphony Byron Stripling, conductor Tony DeSare, piano

DEAD MAN’S CHEST IN CONCERT Nashville Symphony Jonathan Rush, conductor

COMING SOON TO THE SCHERMERHORN JAN 20 | 7:30 PM JAN 21 | 2 PM HCA Healthcare and Tristar Health Legends of Music

KRISTIN CHENOWETH with the Nashville Symphony JAN 26 | 7:30 PM Special Event

VIDEO GAMES LIVE with the Nashville Symphony

THANK YOU TO OUR CONCERT PARTNERS

FEB 2 & 3 | 7:30 PM Classical Series

CLYNE, MOZART, AND PROKOFIEV with the Nashville Symphony

FEB 8 TO 10 | 7:30 PM FirstBank Pops Series

FEB 22 TO 24 | 7:30 PM Classical Series

FEB 14 | 7:30 PM Special Event

FEB 25 | 7:30 PM Presentation

PATTI LABELLE with the Nashville Symphony

ELGAR’S ENIGMA with the Nashville Symphony

The Lawrence S. Levine Memorial Concert

FEB 7 | 7:30 PM Special Event

LUNAR NEW YEAR with the Nashville Symphony

ROMANCE AT THE SYMPHONY: CINEMA’S ICONIC LOVE THEMES with the Nashville Symphony

LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO Presented without the Nashville Symphony.

The Ann & Monroe Carell Family Trust MOVIE SERIES PARTNER

FAMILY SERIES PARTNER

POPS SERIES PARTNER

BUY TICKETS: 615.687.6400

NashvilleSymphony.org/Tickets

music director 20 Giancarlo NASHVILLEGuerrero, SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 4, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

MUSIC LEGENDS PARTNER

WITH SUPPORT FROM

CRITICS’ PICKS: WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF THINGS TO DO Visit calendar.nashvillescene.com for more event listings

PETE DAVIDSON

ART

COMEDY

[KING OF STATEN ISLAND]

You probably already have an opinion about Pete Davidson, the stand-up comic, star of Peacock’s Bupkis and former Saturday Night Live cast member. People tend to either love him or hate him. I’m Team Pete. I appreciate how he uses what is ostensibly going on in his life in his material and that he isn’t afraid to talk about hard things lots of people ignore. I love that he bought a Staten Island Ferry boat. I found his SNL cold open when he hosted on Oct. 14 to hit just the right tone in a week when nothing felt funny. He has a new one-hour special, Turbo Fonzarelli, airing on Netflix in January, and I’d rather be able to say I heard those jokes first delivered live and in-person on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium. The Ryman’s acoustics and sightlines make it a good place to catch stand-up, so I’ll be at the Mother Church to see what he has to say. MARGARET LITTMAN 7 AND 9:30 P.M. AT THE RYMAN 116 REP. JOHN LEWIS WAY

MUSIC CITY BOWL PAGE 22

NEW YEAR’S EVE CONCERTS PAGE 24

FUNNY GIRL PAGE 26

[PEAS IN A POD]

AT YOUR SERVICE

Everyone in Nashville is still talking about Geoff Sobelle’s Food, the performance that mesmerized OZ Arts audiences for its twoweekend run in late November and early December. The buzz around that show will likely continue through the new year, if for no other reason than because it spawned this excellent curation of visual art by OZ’s Daniel Jones. Featuring six of the city’s most relevant artists, At Your Service is a multidisciplinary display that asks, “Are we serving the food or is the food serving us?” Alongside works by Omari Booker and Annie Brito Hodgin, a massive canvas from Will Maddoxx shows a Christlike figure engaging in rough play atop a white table setting. Three panels from Donna Woodley look kind of like long tables themselves, and are stacked with cakes and bowls of noodles at off-kilter angles. There’s a quilt of fast-food wrappers by Vadis Turner and a video work of Marlos E’van as an alter-ego clown eating a hamburger. This is a charming, expansive look

at how a universal theme is being explored locally, and it’s icing on Sobelle’s already delicious cake. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER THROUGH JAN. 20 AT OZ ARTS 6172 COCKRILL BEND

FRIDAY / 12.29 MUSIC

THURSDAY / 12.28

FRIDAY, DEC. 29

[KEEP ON THE SONNY SIDE]

SONNY LANDRETH W/KEVIN GORDON

From the bayous of Lafayette, La., to the City Winery stage on Lafayette Street, legendary slide guitarist and singer Sonny Landreth will make a rare solo appearance in Music City on the heels of his latest album Voices of Americana, released on Halloween. Landreth is famous for his blistering electric blues-rock on hit records such as South of I-10 and From the Reach, but Voices brings the Grammy-nominated artist back to his acoustic roots as a young man in the ’70s, recording for Crazy Cajun Records out of Houston. The sprawling 20-song collection was seemingly conceived at the great American musical crossroads where blues, folk, bluegrass and country meet. Using the swampy sounds of

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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PHOTO: NICK FANCHER

SPORTS

SATURDAY / 12.30 [GRIDIRON GRIT]

MUSIC CITY BOWL

Although not as stacked with local talent as last season’s iteration when Kentucky and Iowa faced off, this year’s Music City Bowl still brings intrigue despite the usual matchup of mediocre SEC and Big Ten programs. For starters, 2023 marks the 25th anniversary of the Music City Bowl, which means fans can expect some extra celebrations marking the occasion. Plus, this year’s matchup between the University of Maryland Terrapins (7-5) and Auburn University Tigers (6-6) should provide for more fireworks than 2022’s shutout win for Iowa. The Terrapins averaged just under 30 points per game this season, led by Taulia Tagovailoa (yes, Tua’s little brother), who recently announced he will not be playing in the game. However, they have enough offensive weapons for the points to keep flowing even without the All-Big Ten quarterback. Meanwhile, the Tigers were a bit of a chaos agent, nearly upsetting Iron Bowl rival Alabama in the regular season finale. LOGAN BUTTS 1 P.M. AT NISSAN STADIUM 1 TITANS WAY

MARISSA NADLER

FOOD & DRINK

[YOU FANCY HUH]

FANCY AS F**K CHAMPAGNE DINNER

Leave it to the folks at Lockeland Table to figure out how you can have a fancy night out for New Year’s Eve without banging your head against the wall looking for a Dec. 31 babysitter. They’re throwing their party a day earlier. Nab your tickets to the Fancy as F**k Champagne Dinner for Dec. 30, on the eve of New Year’s Eve. You still get to have the fancy soiree with a meal by chef Hal HoldenBache, Champagne and specialty cocktails, a DJ spinning tunes and all the festivities, but without the complications of going out on actual New Year’s Eve. Holden-Bache’s menu includes a bounty with wood-fired oysters Rockefeller, Korean fried chicken, crab Rangoon and much more. Take the fine folks at Lockeland Table at their word: This is a party worth dressing up for. Do you have sequins left over from when you saw Taylor Swift? This is your excuse to wear them again. Tickets are $250 and should be purchased online in advance. MARGARET LITTMAN

7 P.M. AT LOCKELAND TABLE 1520 WOODLAND ST.

MUSIC

forefront of the current freak-folk syndicate. Similarly, Kansas City-to-NYC transplant Scout Gillett has a pair of records released by Brooklyn label Captured Tracks — an EP and a full-length — showcasing a similarly macabre tone. Both blackened songbirds display a kind of bleak poetic storytelling, recalling Southern Gothic novels or Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s horror masterpiece “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The quirky, melancholy hooks of Ohio’s Baby Wave will warm up the Blue Room, opening the evening for Nadler and Gillett. PJ KINZER 8 P.M. AT THE BLUE ROOM AT THIRD MAN RECORDS 623 SEVENTH AVE. S.

[YEAR-END BONANZA]

OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW

In Nashville, the year doesn’t end until Old Crow Medicine Show howls “Wagon Wheel” from the stage of the Ryman Auditorium. For the 14th time in the band’s career, this tenured, rowdy roots group says au revoir to the past year with a headlining gig inside the Mother Church of Country Music. Those who make the trek downtown (on New Year’s Eve? Bless you) can expect a night of high-flyin’ hootin’ and hollerin’ from frontman Ketch Secor and company, led by familiar fan-favorite cuts — like “Methamphetamine” or “Take ’Em Away” — and some new tunes, like “Miles Away,” the lead single from 2023 studio album Jubilee.

an old resonator guitar, Landreth dug deep in the mud to showcase some of the most intimate songwriting and emotive guitarwork in his prolific discography. Opening for Landreth is veteran songster and guitarist Kevin Gordon. JASON VERSTEGEN

[SPECTRAL VOICE]

MARISSA NADLER, SCOUT GILLETT & BABY WAVE

With her surgically fingerpicked melodies and ethereal croon, Marissa Nadler has established herself as one of the unorthodox queens of contemporary folk music. With a style all her own, the Nashville newcomer’s incredible talents have drawn the attention of collaborators ranging from pop crooner Angel Olsen to Velvet Underground founder John Cale to harpist extraordinaire Mary Lattimore to ambient black metalist Xasthur. The New England native’s lush signature style of noir folk — celestial and ominous, while simultaneously velvety and warm — has put Nadler at the

OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW

PHOTO: JOSHUA BLACK WILKINS

MUSIC

8 P.M. AT CITY WINERY 609 LAFAYETTE ST.

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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December in... 12/28

FRIDAY

12/29

HUTTON

HOTEL

PRESENTS

SEAN THOMPSON’S WEIRD EARS WEIRD JAZZ

MARISSA NADLER & SCOUT GILLET

DEC

THURSDAY

A N A L O G

DOORS: 8 PM SHOW: 9 PM GA ADV: $40 GA DOS: $45 RESERVED SEATING: $75

WITH SPECIAL GUESTS BO RINEHART, BETH NIELSEN CHAPMAN, BAKHITI KUMALO, JEFF TAYLOR, AND MORE TBA!

with BABY WAVE SATURDAY

12/30

AFROMAN Rent out

623 7TH AVE S NASHVILLE, TENN.

STEVEN MCMORRAN HOUSE WEEKEND Nashville singer songwriter with credits like Joe Cocker, Michael Bolton, Tim McGraw, Rivers Cuomo, and more, Steven comes fresh from a stint on THE VOICE as a member of Team Camila, bringing his full band to the Analog stage.

05 - 06

DOORS: 7 PM GA: $FREE RES: $20

JASON SINGER (OF MICHIGANDER) Michigander is the brainchild of songwriter, singer, producer, and guitarist Jason Singer, bringing a rich blend of hook-driven and radio-ready indie rock with electronic flourishes and earnest, big-hearted storytelling.

DOORS: 6 PM SHOW: 8 PM 02 GA: $15 DOS: $20

FEB

@THEBLUEROOMNASHVILLE

JAN

THEBLUEROOMBAR.COM

8 PM IN THE LYRIC BALLROOM 31 DOORS: GA: $60 VIP: $150 UPCOMING

DEC

BLUEROOMBAR@THIRDMANRECORDS.COM

JAMES OTTO

COUNTRY SOUL SESSIONS

James Otto, has been called The Biggest Voice In Country Music and that might just be true, his voice is as big as he is. He’s a seasoned and soulful singer who understands the electrifying magic that occurs when a remarkable voice meets a hit song.

FEB

The Blue Room for your upcoming event!

DOORS: 6 PM SHOW: 7 PM GA: $20

ALL SHOWS AT ANALOG ARE 21+ 1808 WEST END AVENUE, NASHVILLE,

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

SUNDAY / 12.31

Come ready to sweat, dance and sing along, as the band often treats this year-end bash as an excuse to leave nothing behind. The Dec. 30 show includes support from Kasey Tyndall and onetime Old Crow member Willie Watson. The Dec. 31 bill features Watson and Harper O’Neill. MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER

DEC. 30-31 AT THE RYMAN AUDITORIUM 116 REP. JOHN LEWIS WAY N.

HIKE

MONDAY / 1.1 [ON THE PATH]

TENNESSEE STATE PARKS FIRST DAY HIKES

Whatever your New Year’s resolution, I bet the Tennessee State Parks system’s First Day Hikes series will help you achieve it. Get moving more? Check. Get outside more? Check. Do more low-cost and free activities? Check. Explore new-to-you places in Tennessee? Check. Indulge a feeling of smug superiority starting your year off right? Also check. Tennessee State Parks offer ranger-led hikes at most of the system’s 57 parks on Jan. 1. Some hikes are more like family-friendly walks on paved trails

[DRINK A CUP OF KINDNESS YET]

NEW YEAR’S EVE CONCERTS

COVID lockdown and the lingering pandemic kept the New Year’s Eve energy somewhat subdued during the past few years. However, the party barge is firing on all cylinders in Music City as we say goodbye to 2023. The New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash event at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, spearheaded by the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp, gets going early, just after 5 p.m., with a family-friendly rap celebration called Music City Hip-Hop 50. Curated by Lovenoise’s Eric Holt, the segment features stellar Nashville MCs Tim Gent and Daisha McBride and a short DJ set from Mayor Freddie O’Connell. The second segment, focused on country music and kicking off at 6:30 p.m., will be broadcast live on CBS affiliates and streaming service Paramount+; swing by or tune in to hear Thomas Rhett, Lainey Wilson, Lynyrd Skynyrd and more. Old Crow Medicine Show will conclude their traditional two-night NYE run at the Ryman, and in a riffing mood, one might say this is the move if you want to “party like it’s 1939.” If you’d prefer to party like it’s 1989, veteran ’70s and ’80s tribute ensemble Guilty Pleasures will be at 3rd and Lindsley, while their ’90s-loving counterparts My So-Called Band will be at The Basement East. Edging up just one year, you can catch the early or late shows of the Pop2000 Tour, featuring O-Town and LFO and hosted by *NSYNC’s Chris Kirkpatrick at City Winery. You have two parties to choose from at Analog at Hutton Hotel. In the venue’s Lyric Ballroom, Kenny Smoov hosts the 92Q and Analog Soul New Year’s Eve Party with Louis York, The Shindellas and more;

meanwhile in the main space, Scott Mulvahill reprises his tribute to Paul Simon’s Graceland with help from special guests (including Bakithi Kumalo, who played bass on the album). Progressive string-band music is the mode of the evening at

Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge, where Lindsay Lou, Kyle Tuttle and John Mailander’s Forecast will ring in the new year, while country-rockers Teddy and the Rough Riders and friends take over Bobby’s Idle Hour. Superb soul singer-songwriter Devon Gilfillian headlines an NYE Disco party at Eastside Bowl, where you might hear his original tunes, his full-length tribute to Marvin Gaye’s epochal What’s Going On or something else entirely; in any case, expect it to be excellent. Speaking of discos, Acme Feed & Seed’s Disco Rodeo New Year’s Eve: The First Rodeo of 2024 features four floors of music, including live performances plus seasoned DJs like Coach, Rate, Rod Youree and AB. Looking for more DJs? Marathon Music Works has you covered, as Nashfeels and Privilege combine efforts for the Feels Like Privilege party, featuring DJs Memville, CropTopTot and Crisis. How about more live music — but also with DJs? Pop-and-rockers Jive Talk and Okey Dokey are taking over The 5 Spot for A Masked Affair, which will also feature DJ Maggie Wells on the wheels of steel, while Girlhouse, RobinAugust and others will hold it down at The East Room alongside DJ Afrosheen for New

Year’s East. Shows sell out quickly, so be sure to purchase tickets ahead of time or check with venues for availability before you head out. Take care out there, and we’ll see you next year. STEPHEN TRAGESER

AT VARIOUS VENUES ACROSS NASHVILLE

LONG HUNTER STATE PARK with hot chocolate served at the end. Others are more strenuous endeavors with big payoffs like waterfall views. Some start first thing in the morning, others are designed for those who need until the afternoon to get going. At Long Hunter State Park, you can do some birdwatching. At Old Stone Fort, the hike includes some history lessons. Even if you’ve visited all the Middle Tennessee state parks before, seeing them through the eyes of a ranger at this time of year provides a new perspective. Hikes are free, and donations are welcome. Advance registration online is required, as space is limited. MARGARET LITTMAN JAN. 1 AT TENNESSEE STATE PARKS

MUSIC

TIM GENT

[SHOULD AULD ACQUAINTANCE …]

LANGHORNE SLIM AND FRIENDS

Not even New Year’s Day — a day defined for some by nursing blurry-eyed hangovers or at least a case of the yawns for my fellow eight-hours-or-bust sleep enthusiasts — can

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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12/21/23 12:50 PM

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CLASSES

thur 12/28

4PM Open Mic Night w/ Elray Jackson 9PM Stacey Kelleher • Kiernan McMullan • Stevie Rae Stephens

fri 12/29

7PM At a Glance Agency Showcase w/ • Kristoff Walkenson • Genna Matthew • OTNES • Riley Parker • Together Breakfast

sat 12/30

7PM Victoria Woodworth • John Dennis • LH Halliburton 9PM Madeleine Kelson • Abbdavv • Lauryn Peacock

tues 1/2

7PM pony Up Tuesdays- Songwriters Bringing Texas to Nashville w/ Grace Pettis • Rachel Laven & Friends 9PM Luke Wood • LH Halliburton

wed 1/3

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7PM Karaoke Wednesday w/ Meg Gehman

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for independent people

UPCOMING EVENTS

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6:30PM

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3

AIME ALLEY CARD with DWIGHT LEWIS at PARNASSUS The Tigerbelles 10:30AM

SATURDAY, JANUARY 6

SATURDAY STORYTIME with CLAIRE TATTERSFIELD at PARNASSUS Cupig TUESDAY, JANUARY 9

6:30PM

LAUREN KUNG JESSEN with JENNA LEVINE at PARNASSUS Red String Theory 6:30PM

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10

RICK GLAZE with CECIL ELROD & KEM HINTON at PARNASSUS Ralph & Murray 6:30PM

TUESDAY, JANUARY 16

JENNIFER MOORMAN with REA FREY at PARNASSUS The Magic All Around 6:30PM

THURSDAY, JANUARY 18

BROOKE WELLS at PARNASSUS Resilient 10:30AM

SATURDAY, JANUARY 20

SATURDAY STORYTIME with CARTER HAMRIC at PARNASSUS Big Ole Day at the Beach

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

LANGHORNE SLIM

SUN 12.31 NEW YEARS EAST FEAT: • DJ AFRO SHEEN • GIRLHOUSE • CASPER SAGE • WILD LOVE • ROBIN AUGUST TUE 1.2

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FRI 1.19

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nothing to do

2412 GALLATIN AVE

PHOTO: HARVEY ROBINSON

WED 1.24 WILD PARTY • COUSIN SIMPLE • MODERN DAY MIRACLE

@THEEASTROOM

stop a handful of songwriters in Nashville from stepping onstage and sharing a few tunes. And as in previous years, folk singer Langhorne Slim leads a sermon of song worthy of welcoming in a new year. The annual Slim and Friends New Year’s Day bash returns to City Winery, and if you’re committed to kicking the new year off with live music, this is a hell of a place to start. The lineup includes Andrew Combs, Erin Rae, Katie Schecter, Twain, Matt Lovell, Natalie Jane Hill and more guests to be confirmed. A portion of ticket proceeds benefit local tornado relief efforts, Slim shared on Facebook in December. MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER

7:30 P.M. AT CITY WINERY 609 LAFAYETTE ST.

THEATER

TUESDAY / 1.2 [HELLO, GORGEOUS!]

FUNNY GIRL

Broadway sensation: Funny Girl. Just days after Lea Michele took her final bow at the August Wilson Theatre in September, this popular musical revival hit the road with up-and-coming triple threat Katerina McCrimmon in the coveted title role. Now, Nashville audiences can look forward to experiencing this bittersweet comedy, which tells the story of Fanny Brice, an influential star of the early 20th century known for her zany brand of comedy. I’m eager to check out the revised book by Tony Award-winning actor-writer Harvey Fierstein, along with tap choreography by Ayodele Casel. And besides McCrimmon, the cast includes Grammy Award winner Melissa Manchester as Mrs. Brice, with Stephen Mark Lukas as Nick Arnstein. But the real star of this show is the iconic score by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, featuring classic songs like “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” “I’m the Greatest Star” and “People.” AMY STUMPFL JAN. 2-7 AT TPAC’S JACKSON HALL 505 DEADERICK ST.

The Tennessee Performing Arts Center is ringing in the new year with a bona fide

12.28

FRI

12.29

SAT

& EVAN WAYNE ISON 5-7PM SONNYSICK HOMEBOY FREE

SUN

4PM SPRINGWATER SIT-IN JAM

12.30 12.31

calendar.nashvillescene.com

9PM PAUL WATSON, COLE GREENWALT

WED 5PM WRITERS @ THE WATER OPEN MIC

1.3

115 27TH AVE N. OPEN WED - SUN 11AM - LATE NIGHT

FUNNY GIRL

PHOTO: MATTHEW MURPHY FOR MURPHYMADE

THUR

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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12/21/23 12:50 PM

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 4, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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GOOD OLD-FASHIONED MURDER Michael Sims’ new anthology of short fiction presents antique whodunit gems BY CHRIS SCOTT

THE ORIGIN OF the detective story is, like that of many art forms, a matter of debate. Some historians credit the honor of the first whodunit to the biblical Daniel, others to a tale ascribed to Scheherazade in One Thousand and One Nights. But although the genesis of detective fiction may be shrouded in the mists of literary history, there can be little doubt that the murder mystery genre flourished in the 19th century, when classic detectives like C. Auguste Dupin, Sergeant Cuff and Sherlock Holmes left audiences hungry for more and more elaborate crimes. In The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries, the latest collection of short stories edited by Tennessee native Michael Sims, the celebrated author and anthologist presents 13 murderous tales. The stories span the Victorian Age, illustrating the evolution of the fictional detective as he — or she — solves the vilest of all crimes. “No doubt we are all civilized people here,” writes Sims in the book’s introduction. “We obey the law and wish each other well. Of course we do. And yet — here we are, preparing to enjoy stories about murder.” Sims understands that beginning with the story of Cain and Abel, readers have relished homicide. We as an audience want no end of artful stories about serial killers, devious villains seeking fortunes, jealous lovers exacting revenge, and any other combination that a clever investigator can suss out and put right in the end. Indeed, the idea of murder as an art form is a recurring theme in detective fiction, with killers as well as their pursuers portrayed as artists and the reader acting as connoisseur. The writer who can best provide the reader with the chill of a horrific murder, then show how the detective discovers and captures the perpetrator, will be rewarded with praise for a job well done and loyalty through many stories. The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries is a deliberately broad cross section of the type, including a nearly equal mix of male and female authors of varied backgrounds. Sims is expert at anthologizing little-known authors, as he has done in previous works that include Frankenstein Dreams, The Phantom Coach and The Penguin Book of Victorian Women in Crime. It is thus no surprise that most of the authors presented in this collection are unknown beyond the world of detective fiction mavens, yet are truly talented storytellers. Sims seems to delight in choosing the entries, noting, “In planning a cocktail party or anthology, I select the invitees based upon the likelihood that some may be even more interesting in juxtaposition than in my previous individual encounters with them.” Thus he presents a group of authors who have in common only the ability to surprise and chill

with their words — writers who, presented in chronological order, provide a history lesson in murder fiction. A couple of important firsts are found in the collection, including, in Sims’ words, “the holder of a cherished title … ‘first female detective.’” “The Judgement of Conscience,” published in 1864 and ironically written by a man, features a detective who is herself mysterious, using only her initial, Mrs. G. Also showcased is a story by Charles W. Chesnutt, who, Sims notes, “left behind a hugely influential legacy as a pioneer Black writer.” “The Sheriff’s Children” (1889) is not just a murder mystery but a commentary on late 19th-century race relations. For whatever reasons, most of the authors in The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries are not widely remembered. Yet these contemporaries of Poe, Collins and Doyle were important contributors to the genre. They created clever, memorable characters who employed the technologies of their era, thrilling readers with

the awful crime, the cat-and-mouse chase and the triumph of order over chaos. Sims notes the importance of the cultural desire for resolution, observing that mystery novels were “popular during World War II among the crowds hiding in the Underground from Nazis blitzing London.” The world is still a dangerous place, which perhaps explains why this new collection will find a willing audience almost two centuries after the earliest of the stories was published. For more local book coverage, please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. ▼

The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries Edited by Michael Sims Penguin Classics 352 pages, $18

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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MUSIC

FOREVER CHANGES

Bluegrass giants mark 100 years of Earl Scruggs at the Ryman BY EDD HURT

PHOTO: GREG VORBIO

POPULAR MUSIC IN North America entered a revolutionary stage in the 1940s, and a handful of recordings from the decade document the shift into music that was more virtuosic than what had come before. When you listen to jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker fly into space on his solo on a 1942 track with pianist Jay McShann’s band, “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles,” technology connects you to a moment when music fundamentally changes. In the world of bluegrass music, you could date a similar change to a 1946 recording of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys at the Ryman in Nashville that features the altogether radical banjo playing of Earl Scruggs on a version of a well-known Appalachian tune, “Little Maggie.” Scruggs turns “Little Maggie” into an expression of a fast, tough world, and his banjo technique carves its melody into fragments. In every way, Scruggs was a revolutionary musician. On Jan. 6 at the Ryman, a group of bluegrass greats who have been inspired by his career and music gather to mark Scruggs’ 100th birthday. It’s a fitting tribute to a groundbreaking musician whose work ties together tradition and relentless innovation. Indeed, the musicians who will take the Ryman stage to celebrate Scruggs’ career largely work in an area he created. The show’s musical director, dobro master Jerry Douglas, has carried the torch of progressive bluegrass throughout his career. With players on the high level of banjoist Béla Fleck, mandolin aces Sierra Hull and Sam Bush and The Del McCoury band — and a host of other amazing instrumentalists and singers — carrying on his aesthetic, the music Scruggs helped codify continues to change with the times. Douglas will also be performing with The Earls of Leicester, whose moniker puns on the name of what might be the best-known traditional bluegrass group, Flatt and Scruggs. For many listeners, singer and guitarist Lester Flatt’s

JERRY DOUGLAS

music with Scruggs defined bluegrass in the 1950s and ’60s in the same way as did the ’40s recordings by the singer and mandolin player who is usually credited with the invention of the genre, Bill Monroe. Flatt and Scruggs became as much a part of ’60s culture as any pop or rock group via their signature tune, “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” and 1962’s “The Ballad of Jed Clampett,” the theme they performed for the television show The Beverly Hillbillies. For banjoist Charlie Cushman, who has played with The Earls of Leicester for a decade, growing up in Clarksville, Tenn., in the 1960s and ’70s afforded him the chance to immerse himself in the world of bluegrass, from the first recordings by Monroe to banjoist Don Reno’s 1956 “Remington Ride,” a record that influenced Cushman. In addition to his duties with The Earls of Leicester, he’s a much-recorded studio musician, and he owns a banjo repair business in Cottontown, Tenn., Cushman Banjo Set-Up and Repair. He’s been a professional musician for a half-century, and his take on bluegrass history comes from way inside the genre. “[Earl] brought the banjo from being a background instrument to a lead voice,” Cushman tells the Scene from his home. He’s referring to Scruggs’ stint in Monroe’s band, which lasted from 1945 until 1948. “In other words, playing melodies. Bill Monroe, I think he was the vehicle to put this [music] on a 50,000-watt station, WSM, at the Opry. Pre-Earl Scruggs, he had the Blue Grass Boys’ name, from Kentucky, but the music at that time was not really that much different from any other string band until Earl Scruggs stepped in.” As Cushman says, it was the technique Scruggs mastered — using three fingers to play both melodies and arpeggiated variants on them — that opened up new rhythmic and harmonic possibilities that pointed the way to the future of the music. Scruggs grew up in

Earl Scruggs 100th Birthday Celebration 8 p.m. Jan. 6 at the Ryman

EARL SCRUGGS Cleveland County, N.C., in the southwestern part of the state, where he was born on Jan. 6, 1924. He died in 2012 at age 88. Scruggs later said the three-finger technique was common in that part of North Carolina, but he invented a style of bedrock utility that was fast and sometimes sardonic — the unmistakable signature of a searching, modernist sensibility. Scruggs’ playing on 1949’s “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” and 1952’s “Pike County Breakdown” sounds aggressive and fresh today, just like a Charlie Parker solo from the same time. In later years, Scruggs famously split with Flatt

and kept his eyes to the future by playing with rock and folk musicians like The Byrds, whose country-bluegrass-rock fusion owed a debt to the work of Flatt and Scruggs. For Cushman, as for innumerable other bluegrass players, what Scruggs accomplished stands as a benchmark for their profession. “He was a tidal wave of a musician. Once he stepped up to the microphone in 1945 with Bill Monroe, everyone started thinking of this stringtype music in a more organized, sophisticated delivery. Whereas before, it sounded like frontporch pickin’.” ▼

THE EARLS OF LEICESTER NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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12/21/23 4:15 PM

ANOTHER LOOK

The Scene’s music writers recommend recent releases from Brian Brown, Ashley McBryde, Bill Lloyd and more BY RACHEL CHOLST, EDD HURT, SEAN L. MALONEY, ADDIE MOORE, DARYL SANDERS, STEPHEN TRAGESER AND JACQUELINE ZEISLOFT THE NEW YEAR is fast approaching, along with a lot of great music from Nashvillians to look forward to. But before we get there, Scene writers have eight more recommendations for releases from 2023. Find them at your favorite local record store, add ’em to your streaming queue or pick them up via the artists’ websites (or their merch tables). The fate of much-loved sales-and-streaming platform Bandcamp — which changed hands for the second time in the fall — remains uncertain. At press time, there was no news as to whether the Bandcamp Friday promotion, during which the company waives its cut of sales for a 24-hour period, will return. But many of our picks are available directly from artists via Bandcamp as well.

ways having it — or not — can mess with your perspective. Over sophisticated beats by Carmine Prophets, top-notch rapper Brian Brown cannily considers a bunch of these angles. He kicks off by looking at the way his hometown of Music City hasn’t done the best job of managing the influx of dollars during the past decade’s “it city” boom, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It’s an excellent way for Brown to bookend the year, which he began with his kickass Two Minute Drill EP. STEPHEN TRAGESER

understands very well, and she knows how to build a standard rock arrangement into something both grand and human-scale. Her approach is most effective on “Serenity,” which sports a fine guitar solo and achieves an equilibrium the song’s title alludes to. EDD HURT

RAINSTICKS, HERE COME THE WARM JETS (Oreo Bottle) BOYS CLUB FOR GIRLS, BOYS CLUB FOR GIRLS (Brooklyn Basement)

EARDRUMMER, EARDRUMMER (self-released)

ASHLEY McBRYDE, THE DEVIL I KNOW (Warner Music Nashville) Ashley McBryde’s fourth record The Devil I Know leans unabashedly into Nashville nostalgia. After her 2022 critical darling Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville and winning her first Grammy this year for a duet with Carly Pearce, McBryde delivers her signature gritty and rock-inflected sound on her latest LP. On “Cool Little Bars,” she sings about watering holes with cigarette machines where they play “songs you don’t hear much anymore,” and she prays that “time just forgets to turn places like this into drive-thrus and condos.” McBryde’s been making music in Nashville for more than 15 years and inevitably has seen a lot of change to the city — and her industry. JACQUELINE ZEISLOFT

all the gnarly shows you saw this year, A Trip to Tennessee posits that our homegrown strains are some of the headiest anywhere. SEAN L. MALONEY

On their self-titled debut album as Eardrummer, two powerhouses of the local DIY electronic music scene, Adrienne Franke and Eve Maret, build layered, palatial sonic worlds through seven synthdriven songs. In line with their titles, multiple kaleidoscopic compositions reflect the creativity artists glean from both science fact (“Hibiscus,” “The Bee,” “Helium Zone”) and science-fiction (“Space Freeway,” “Planet Orange’’). The two tracks not fitting neatly in those boxes reign as the duo’s most compelling. “Ultra” is an electro-pop stunner that’s ready-made for a slew of remixes, while the Vangelis-inspired closing track “Ode” sounds like it’s truly from another world (perhaps even Planet Orange) courtesy of flute accompaniment by Proteins of Magic. ADDIE MOORE

Come for the distinctive harmonies, stay for the power-pop hooks. Amie Miriello and Vanessa Olivarez take inspiration from the Laurel Canyon songs of the ’70s — but strive to open up the “boys’ club” notorious at that time to everyone. The duo’s self-titled debut pursues that mission on all levels. “Tell Me I’m the Only One,” the album’s opener, is on its surface a song about interrogating a lover as things fall apart. But there’s also a sense of empowerment here: Women don’t need to put up with anything less than the best from the people around them. Miriello and Olivarez’s power turns into something delicate and honest on the moving song “Closest,” and the high-spirited “5 O’Clock Shadow” showcases the duo’s ability to hammer out a groove and run with it. Boys Club for Girls is the start of something magical, so you should get in on the ground floor. RACHEL CHOLST

While I would definitely like to hear Rainsticks do a track-for-track tribute to Brian Eno’s lauded 1974 solo debut, I’ll have to wait. However, this November LP of originals from songsmith and multi-instrumentalist Asher Horton — featuring his longtime drummer cohort Ben Parks and vocal contributions from Emily Hall — is no consolation prize. Released the day after Thanksgiving, it’s a wistful, thoughtful collection that blends jingle-jangle psych and power pop (and, yes, the occasional Eno-phonic treatment). Horton’s appreciation for the fleeting joys of life and the challenges that contemporary society poses to living in the moment come rippling out of reverberant spaces like memories you thought you’d lost. STEPHEN TRAGESER

BILL LLOYD, LOOK INTO IT (Whole-In-One)

VARIOUS ARTISTS, TRIP TO TENNESSEE (Weedian) VERA BLOOM, IT’S ME (Monte Carlo Sounds)

BRIAN BROWN AND CARMINE PROPHETS, BBGONPROFIT (It’sYoWorld) Musicians have been singing about money for a long time, reflecting on the things it can offer you, the things it can take away from you, the

Vera Bloom’s It’s Me radiates West Coast vibes throughout the Nashville-by-way-of-Washington-state singer’s six-song EP. Although Bloom keeps everything lean, with grunge-y guitars and Pavement-style structures, It’s Me sounds almost lush at times — Bloom isn’t a doctrinaire post-’90s rocker. It’s Me pairs Bloom’s classic-rock vocal style with great guitar licks drawn from the recent history of a group of rock genres she

Heavier than that 11-29 you caught after graduation, danker than that D9 you bought at the gas station, Weedian: A Trip to Tennessee follows the smoke toward the riff-filled land of, uh, here. Curated by the beloved meme page, the compilation contains 49 (!) tracks of bong-rippin’ eardrum destruction from across the Volunteer State’s heavy-music underbelly. With local luminaries like Friendship Commanders, Flummox, Electric Python and Black Moon Mother and a list of out-of-towners that reads like a flyer for

Nashville power-pop legend Bill Lloyd masterfully integrates some of his rootsier inclinations into his pop-rock sound on this impressive new 14-song collection. Lloyd plays all the instruments on five of the tracks and is accompanied on the others by some top players, including bassists Garry Tallent and Doug Kahan, guitarist Pat Buchanan, multi-instrumentalist Jim Hoke, pedal-steel guitarist Pete Finney, and drummers Martin Lynds and Jonathan Bright. Bright also handled the bulk of the engineering and mixing on the record. Songs like “The After-Party Party” remind us Lloyd is a colorful and intelligent lyricist with a wry sense of humor. While his solo records never disappoint, Look Into It shows Lloyd is continuing to grow as an artist. DARYL SANDERS ▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

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12/21/23 4:15 PM

MUSIC: THE SPIN

HEY NOW, YOU’RE A DOGSTAR BY ASHLEY SPURGEON DEC. 20 MARKED my first visit to Germantown’s Brooklyn Bowl — a comfortable, accessible venue that not only honors and respects the power of the mirrorball, but also allows the pleasure of judging strangers’ bowling scores between sets. The pre-show house music for this Dogstar show (the first of two Nashville dates, winding down a fall reunion tour for the trio) deployed an extremely rare The Cure/Blondie/ The Cure/Blondie combo, highlighting the uber-’80s influences of the bands to come. The

ON TARGET: ARCHER OH

snarls with aplomb. There was the lightest touch of surf rock (think coasting grooves rather than straight shredding) with occasional dips into dirge-y psych heaviness — but the kind of psych that grandma and grandpa understand, treading out far enough to evoke “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” but no further. They mentioned it was their first time in Tennessee, and I would see a longer set if they glide through again. Consider that cassette tape purchased. For headliners Dogstar — my brain kept choosing to call them “Perro Estrella” — there was, of course, an expected mood shift. The elephant in the room is the massive worldwide sex symbol action star celebrity on bass, and the zooming in of every other camera phone didn’t let you forget it. (“Hey, remember the time we saw Keanu Reeves play bass at a bowling alley?” is a true story hundreds of people can now deploy.) Dogstar by no means comes across as a Keanu Reeves vanity project, and a handful of bass-forward intros doesn’t change that. In fact, it was drummer Robert Mailhouse who pulled in one of the biggest applause bursts of the night when he whipped out rock’s secret weapon: the harmonica. The songs were all surprisingly short and rock-radio-ready, with vocalist Bret Domrose

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Saturday, December 30

Tuesday, January 9

SONGWRITER SESSION

PERFORMANCE

Brinley Addington

Charlie Worsham

NOON · FORD THEATER

Featuring Long Jon

6:30 pm · FORD THEATER

MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

Saturday, January 13

Charlie McCoy

SONGWRITER SESSION

Kent Blazy and Cory Batten NOON · FORD THEATER

PERFORMANCE

Silent Country Disco PHOTOS: ROB HINKAL

*benefitting My Friend’s House PIANO KARAOKE 6-9 w/Anna Lee Palmer PIANO KARAOKE 9-1 w/Kira Small SAT 12.30 ANNA LEE PALMER 7-9 PIANO KARAOKE 9-1 w/Benan SUN 12.31 SING IN THE NEW YEAR w/SID’S Doors 8:30, karaoke 9:30-1:30 Tickets available on website MON 1.1 CLOSED for Winter Break WED 1.3 CLOSED for Winter Break FRI 12.29

Tuesday, January 2

evoking a Bono-esque “Sad Romantic Man” vibe, while Reeves lumbered around with pretty much exactly the same rock-stage energy displayed in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure a mere (sweet Baby Jesus in the manger), uh, 34 years ago. “Sleep,” from the group’s new record Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees, was a highlight, as was the cover of the Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated” during the encore, making the point again that the band prefers short and punchy to long and meandering. I expected a show like this to run like clockwork and was not disappointed — the openers began at 8 p.m. on the dot, and everyone was heading out just after 10, into a chilly, crisp and clear night. ▼

*Closed Tuesdays

THU 12.28 PIANO KARAOKE 8-12 w/Paul Loren*

1:00 pm · FORD THEATER

less-than-a-week-away-from-Christmas spirit brought out numerous holiday sweaters and at least one Buddy the Elf and Mrs. Claus to a pretty packed house. There were definitely a few younger faces in the crowd, but the average age was firmly in the “my college had a computer lab” bracket. Openers Archer Oh were a more or less instant hit for me: This is proper rock ’n’ roll. Think a SoCal-infused Strokes with zero overindulgence, a natural understanding of melody, and an insistent drummer (Pedro Hernandez) who’s able to do a lot with a little kit. Youthful energy was evident right from the top and never flagged, with vocalist Arturo “Archer” Medrano balancing plaintive rock crooning and bratty garage-band

6 NIGHTS A WEEK!

EAST NASH V I LLE

Sunday, December 31

EXCELLENT TO EACH OTHER: DOGSTAR

Live Piano Karaoke

with former Musicians Institute and Austin Guitar School instructor

Sunday, January 14 MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

with DJ Jerry

Zoe & Cloyd

6:30 pm · HALL OF FAME ROTUNDA

1:00 pm · FORD THEATER

Saturday, January 6

Tuesday, January 16

SONGWRITER SESSION

PERFORMANCE

Don Schlitz

East Nash Grass

NOON · FORD THEATER

6:30 pm · FORD THEATER

Sunday, January 7 MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

Sierra Hull and Justin Moses 1:00 pm · FORD THEATER

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 28, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2024 • nashvillescene.com

12/21/23 4:15 PM

FILM

THE BEST PHYSICAL MEDIA OF 2023

From Showgirls and The Others to Invaders From Mars and beyond, here are some of the year’s best home-video offerings BY JASON SHAWHAN PHYSICAL MEDIA IS no longer limited to weirdos and hoarders like me. The reign of terror from streaming giants who are removing films and TV shows from their libraries has the most mainstream of outlets talking about how important physical media is to preserving cinematic history. So with that in mind, we’re taking a stroll through the essential Blu-ray, 4K and DVD releases of 2023. For the future.

SHOWGIRLS (Vinegar Syndrome UHD/Blu-ray) Every sequin shimmers, every betrayal burns, and this film hasn’t looked this gloriously alive since the original 35 mm prints. David Schmader’s commentary track reigns, there’s an essay from historians Liz Purchell and KJ Shepherd (among all sorts of fascinating authors, getting at the weird whys of this film), and we have Paul Verhoeven on board! Accept no substitutes.

PLEASE BABY PLEASE (Music Box Selects Blu-ray) Alongside Dicks: The Musical, Please Baby Please is the film that best illustrates the joys of when underground theater gets just enough money to make a movie and detonate all manner of antiquated concepts. It’s one of the most continually rewarding films of the past couple of years, and director Amanda Kramer casts a specific kind of bohemian spell that makes everyone into sexy gender theory students. With comeback queen Demi Moore, Harry Melling (formerly Harry Potter’s slobby cousin Dudley) getting a serious glow-up, and Andrea Riseborough finding her inner leather daddy. An utter blast for all involved.

more enduring fairy tales. Freeway (see last year’s physical media roundup) gave us 1995 Reese Witherspoon (in a career kick-start of a role) as Little Red Riding Hood (and Kiefer Sutherland as the Big Bad Wolf), and 1999’s Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby (per the WGA, not an actual sequel) presents Natasha Lyonne and Maria Celedonio as Hansel and Gretel on a journey across the border to find a mysterious nun named Sister Gomez (played by Vincent Gallo, who is somehow just as problematic today as he was 24 years ago). Just as, if not more, fucked-up than its predecessor, Trickbaby is a work of fearless sleaze that will never leave your mind, and this new scan does right by a movie that’s always looked weird on home video presentations before.

GOODBYE DRAGON INN (Metrograph/Kino Lorber Blu-ray) A subtle, exquisite film about the ghosts we see (and those we hang out with) every time we watch a movie, Goodbye Dragon Inn is a love letter to janky theaters, unrequited emotions and the way we hold on to how things make us feel. Metrograph’s restoration does something interesting, setting up the speckled, vintage film print of Dragon Inn that the Fu-Ho Grand Theater is showing, the 2003 negative that director Tsai Ming-liang and his cinematographer shot, and the current digital exhibition standard of 4K DCP. (It’s a visually elegant illustration of what the old Mr. Show sketch “The Pre-Taped Call-In Show” was putting across about the shifting nature of media and how we perceive it.) Plus, it features an exceptional introduction from critic Nick Pinkerton.

THE SENSUAL WORLD OF BLACK EMANUELLE (Severin box set) There’s no better tribute to the Laura Gemser-starring Black Emanuelle films of the ’70s than pure unbridled excess, and this 13-Blu-ray/two-CD box set features all of the Emanuelle Nera cycle (except for the one that’s questionably legal in the U.S.) in several variants. It maps the world of exploitation cinema via transgressive impulses (for real, this is not a journey for the moderately delicate) and all the ’70s outfits and vibes you could hope for, doing the work as an achievement in both scholarship and sleaze.

THE OTHERS (Criterion UHD/Blu-ray) One of 2001’s greatest films, The Others has been given an exquisite 4K upgrade now that it’s free from the clutches of Bob Weinstein. This is classic ghost-story realness with La Nicole at her most flawless, and writer-director Alejandro Amenábar delivers the kind of thrills and chills that old people like me lament the absence of in most movies. The Criterion Collection can always summon some unexpected surprises, and this is a sleek shock of classy, creepy atmosphere. Now let’s just hope the U.S. gets a proper restoration of Amenábar’s Tesis some day.

ROBOT MONSTER 3D (Bay View Pictures/The 3D Archive) There’s nothing quite like finally being able to see a film in 3D after it’s been languishing as a punch line for decades. Does its reach exceed its grasp? Most certainly. But as one of the lost 3D titles finally given glorious, stereoscopic life, Robot Monster is something historic, with lots of great supplements that deliver context and behindthe-scenes info, including some of the drama between the various 3D factions in the early ’50s.

THE SERVANT (Criterion Blu-ray/DVD) There really is nothing that compares to elegant black-and-white melodrama, and this Joseph Losey film is a work of kinky class warfare that somehow still retains its power to shock six decades down the road. Anyone who enjoyed Saltburn (or hated it) should check this out, because nobody did it like Dirk Bogarde did it. You will want to change your wardrobe and do some remodeling.

FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI (Criterion Blu-ray) Hou Hsiao-hsien’s 1998 opium-haze masterwork — with its desire and regret in late 19th-century Chinese flower houses (brothels) — gets an impeccable restoration that vibes with deep sensation and emotional power. Nobody does longing like Tony Leung Chiu-wai, and he’s staggeringly good here. If you want to get a feel for where the visual sensibility of John Wick: Chapter 4 came from, it is right here.

FREEWAY II: CONFESSIONS OF A TRICKBABY (Vinegar Syndrome UHD/Blu-ray) Have you ever wondered what would happen if a judicious amount of meth were applied to the classic Grimm’s Fairy Tales? Writerdirector Matthew Bright sure did, making two transgressive masterpieces out of a pair of the

THE OTHERS

INVADERS FROM MARS (Ignite Films UHD/Blu-ray)

GOODBYE DRAGON INN

This one is a technicolor nightmare, a recursive warning and a sustained mood that sticks in the craw of everyone who sees it, and it feels like prophecy at this point. Invaders From Mars

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INVADERS FROM MARS is essential ’50s sci-fi (from Gone With the Wind production designer William Cameron Menzies) that still retains the power to disturb and inspire 70 years later. This is an incredible restoration.

festival awards for this atmospheric, non-horror short, but when you experience it as part of The Outwaters’ infernal universe, it makes for an incredibly auspicious beginning to a filmmaker’s career.

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IRREVERSIBLE (Altered Innocence Blu-ray) Gaspar Noé’s 2002 shocker finally gets a proper HD presentation in North America (in both its theatrical and its academically interesting but ideologically inferior “Straight Cut”), and it’s still as visceral and transformative as it’s always been. As vertiginous as it ever was, Irreversible benefits from a quality transfer, the exquisite elliptical teasers and an amazing feature on how the effects team crafted the historic fire extinguisher murder.

DR. CALIGARI (Mondo Macabro UHD/Blu-ray) This remarkable work of future sleaze never even got a DVD release, so for it to pop up on both 4K UHD and Blu-ray thanks to the weirdos at Mondo Macabro is kind of amazing. One of the most quotable films of the ’80s, Dr. Caligari is also a great example of low-budget deviant art that has aged with kinky grace. This film was responsible for one of the wildest, most wonderful midnight screenings in Belcourt history. Juice us up, we’re all shiverboys.

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MESSIAH OF EVIL (Radiance Blu-ray) One of the greatest films of the ’70s finally gets a full-on 4K restoration, staying true to both early1970s color saturation and the glorious aliveness of grain. (Jim Cameron could learn from it.) Radiance went all-out on this exquisite (and region-free) presentation, and it comes with a book as well.

THE OUTWATERS (ETR Blu-ray) Good found-footage films benefit from a stacked physical media incarnation, because you can then explore and break down their construction. This exquisite nightmare is also expanded upon in a couple of bonus short films, including “Card Zero,” which indicates writer-director Robbie Banfitch’s skills as a conventional filmmaker as well — he easily could have racked up

GEORGIA/MRS. PARKER AND THE VICIOUS CIRCLE (Imprint Australia Blu-ray) One of my duties as co-host of Fearless Pretender, the only current podcast about the film and television work of Jennifer Jason Leigh, is to keep an eye out for when her films get proper restorations or physical releases. And given the utter chaos that has befallen independent films of even the ’90s, it’s a relief that the Australian label Imprint has done quality region-free Bluray releases for 1994’s Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle and 1995’s Georgia. If you’re looking to strengthen your own libraries with two classic indies, you can easily start here. As for local folk, you’ve never seen a film handle multiple musicians in the family like Georgia, and it will knock you flat. ▼

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