Nashville Scene 4-20-23

7

CITY LIMITS

Street View: A Week in the Life of a Metro Councilmember.......................................... 7

Nashville’s legislative body is one of the biggest in the country — here’s how District 30’s Sandra Sepulveda spends most of her time

BY LENA MAZEL

Abortion Care Tennessee Hopes to Keep Up Momentum

At a variety show fundraising event, the abortion fund provides catharsis

BY HANNAH HERNER

Wild Times in Tennessee Politics

Read more on our news and politics blog, Pith in the Wind

BY D. PATRICK RODGERS

11

COVER STORY

The Green Issue

29

FOOD AND DRINK

License to Il .............................................29

Il Forno in Chestnut Hill is Italian through and through

BY KAY WEST

Chefs Get Hooked on the Koji Supply Chain .......................................................31

46

FILM

Art for Art’s Sake

Showing Up depicts the isolating, soul-crushing slog of life as a starving artist

BY D. PATRICK RODGERS

8

East Nashville’s Proper Saké Co. finds a side hustle inoculating rice

BY ELI MOTYCKA

9

33

CULTURE

She Bangs

‘Queen of Pinups’ and Nashville native Bettie Page to receive historical marker

BY HANNAH HERNER

34

Gen Z and the Big-Picture Approach to Environmental Activism .........................11

As one local expert notes, small-scale actions won’t offset the massive harm being done by corporate polluters

BY CONNOR DARYANI

Ashley Brailsford’s Unearthing Joy Makes Nature Accessible ...................................12

When it comes to getting diverse groups outdoors, Unearthing Joy meets folks in their own communities

BY KELSEY BEYELER

On Tap: Five Things to Know About Nashville’s Tap Water..............................14

A word on disinfectant byproducts and an update on lead pipes

BY HANNAH HERNER

Living Alongside Urban Wildlife .............14

‘The best thing you can do for these animals is just leave them alone’

BY KELSEY BEYELER

TDEC Referees Waste Treatment in Dickson County .......................................16

Wary of discharge in waterways, environmentalists are raising pollution concerns and trying to block a new sewage facility

BY ELI MOTYCKA

19

CRITICS’ PICKS

Wilco, Zach Person, Ali Wong, 20 Years of The 5 Spot, Rico Nasty and more

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NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

50 MARKETPLACE

ON THE COVER: Shelby Bottoms

Photo by Eric England

DANCE

Last Dance

Nashville Ballet bids farewell to Paul Vasterling with New in Nashville

BY AMY STUMPFL

36

ART

Ease Down the Road

Omari Booker finds freedom from incarceration in Fifteen

BY ERICA CICCARONE

41

MUSIC

Vinyl Arrangements ................................41

Your quick-reference guide to Record Store Day 2023 in Nashville

BY HANNAH CRON

It Happened in Minsk .............................41

Belarusian post-punk phenoms Molchat Doma look forward

BY CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

Let’s Get Physical ....................................42

Physical Music Products meets the challenges of vinyl record pressing head-on

BY KIM BALDWIN

The Spin ...................................................44

The Scene’s live-review column checks out Snooper at Soft Junk

BY P.J. KINZER

THIS WEEK ON THE WEB: United Record Pressing Announces Expansion

The Tennessee GOP’s Many Ties to White Supremacy

Shotgun Willie’s Plans Move to Madison

Leaked Audio From House Republican Caucus Meeting

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Schedule

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

Contributing Editors Erica Ciccarone, Jack Silverman

Staff Writers Kelsey Beyeler, Stephen Elliott, Hannah Herner, J.R. Lind, Eli Motycka, William Williams

WHAT AMERICA THINKS OF THE EXPULSION OF YOUNG BLACK LAWMAKERS PEARSON AND JONES

In March, the expulsion of two young Black lawmakers from the Tennessee General Assembly sent ripples of shock and anger across the country. State Reps. Justin J. Pearson (D-Memphis) and Justin Jones (DNashville) made history. Together with Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville), the lawmakers have fondly become known as the “Tennessee Three.” In the wake of the Covenant School shooting, all three were threatened with expulsion due to joining the peaceful protesters, many of them teenagers, at the state Capitol advocating for stronger gun reform.

Pearson and Jones were ultimately expelled by House Republicans, leading many Americans to take to social media to express their outrage. Even President Biden tweeted: “Earlier, I spoke to Reps Jones, Pearson, and Johnson to thank them for their leadership and courage in the face of a blatant disregard of our nation’s democratic values. Our country needs to take action on gun violence — to do that we need more voices like theirs speaking out.” Vice President Kamala Harris flew to Nashville for a quickly assembled rally on the campus of Fisk University. “A democracy says you do not silence the people, you do not stifle the people, you do not turn off their microphones when they are speaking,” said Vice President Harris. “These leaders had to get a bullhorn to be heard.”

The decision to expel the two lawmakers was based on allegations of misconduct, but many Americans saw it as a racially motivated move, considering that Johnson — a white woman — faced the same allegations but narrowly avoided expulsion.

According to state Rep. Antonio Parkinson (D-Memphis), Democrats attempted negotiation with Republicans to avoid expulsion, but it happened anyway — and it put Tennessee in the national spotlight in the worst kind of way. Since the turn of the 20th century, only two other members of the Tennessee House of Representatives have been expelled — both of them after sexual misconduct or criminal violations. This time, two young Black men were removed for essentially getting in the trenches with their constituents and pleading for gun reform.

Thankfully, both Pearson and Jones have been sent back to the state House to continue representing their districts. Both are still determined to fight for their constituents.

Jones has pledged to remain focused on gun reform — “because that’s what these young people are begging us to do,” he told CNN.

But the negative impact of the situation remains.

Nearly every media outlet you can think of has reported on these events. Much of the coverage repeats the same thoughts — that Tennessee legislators were wrong in their actions, and that they abused their power. Worse, many people nationwide feel the expulsion of the two young Black lawmakers was a racially motivated move.

A USA Today/Ipsos poll finds: “Threefourths of those surveyed, including more than 6 in 10 Republicans, say legislators have the right to peacefully protest at statehouses.” Fifty-one percent of those polled “call the expulsions an anti-democratic abuse of power.”

If any good has come out of this horrible situation, it’s that many are now seeing truths that might have otherwise remained in the shadows. While some progress has been made in recent years, much work still needs to be done to ensure that all Americans are treated justly. It is also encouraging to see an outpouring of support for the Tennessee Three from Americans of all races — and even both parties — who recognize that justice and equality are essential if we are to have any kind of functioning democracy.

It is up to all of us to continue to push for positive change, both in our government and in our society as a whole. Gun reform is of course a sensitive issue. There are many sensitive issues, but they still must be addressed. In the case of Tennesseans calling for gun reform in the wake of the mass shooting at the Covenant School? It was appropriate for the students, parents and teachers to put themselves out there in protest. And it was no doubt a moment when the Tennessee Three felt an overwhelming sense of commitment and desire to support their grieving constituents. In the end, the people should have the final say. That’s what a democracy is supposed to be.

The last thing we should be doing is working against those who are working on behalf of the people. They’re simply working for democracy.

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

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VIEW: A WEEK IN THE LIFE OF A METRO COUNCILMEMBER

Nashville’s legislative body is one of the biggest in the country — here’s how District 30’s Sandra Sepulveda spends most of her time

BY LENA MAZEL

Street View is a monthly column in which we’ll take a close look at developmentrelated issues affecting different neighborhoods throughout the city.

It’s an unprecedented time for Nashville’s Metro Council.

Last month, Republicans in the Tennessee state legislature passed legislation to cut the council in half, from 40 members down to 20. Then, on April 10, a panel of three chancery court judges ruled that reducing council size was illegal, halting its implementation. That same day, the council held a special meeting, where the body voted unanimously to reappoint Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) to the Tennessee House of Representatives, just four days after his expulsion from the legislature.

But even in less busy times, the job of a Metro councilmember extends well beyond passing local resolutions and debating at the Metro Courthouse every first and third Tuesday. In their districts, they can do vital behind-the-scenes work strengthening community initiatives, representing constituents in crisis, and even responding to local emergencies.

This month, the Scene spoke with Councilmember Sandra Sepulveda about some of the less publicized parts of being on the Metro Council.

In District 30, Sepulveda represents nearly 19,000 people. But her council role sometimes extends beyond her district. She’s the first Latina (and second Latinx person, after Fabian Bedne) to serve on the council, so she’s often the first point of contact for many Spanish-speaking constituents. As the body’s only Latina representative, she’s a single voice representing an entire community, and that’s a role she takes seriously. “It’s a heavy responsibility to carry,” she says. “You don’t get the day off. If you’re not in the room, if you’re not fighting, there might not be anyone else who will see that perspective.”

Like many of her colleagues, Sepulveda balances a day job with her role on the council. On weekdays after work at Conexión Américas, where she serves as community engagement and development manager, Sepulveda heads to the Metro Courthouse. On Mondays, she attends committee meetings; on alternating Tuesdays, council meetings. She’s on the council’s ARP committee and the city’s Homelessness Planning Council, and she and other councilmembers often attend

district or citywide events on evenings and weekends.

The work of the Metro Council varies from district to district. Some districts have more zoning and infrastructure issues, while others require more assistance with issues like natural disasters or evictions. In District 30, Sepulveda has advocated for increased construction safety, increased diversity on city boards and free legal counsel for low-income renters. She’s stepped in often as an advocate for tenants facing eviction in her district. “During the pandemic, it hit really hard,” she says. “It’s usually an apartment complex. And sometimes it’s enough that I say, ‘Hey, I’m a councilmember, they’re trying to work through this thing.’”

Sepulveda has also faced more complex eviction cases. At one point, residents at an apartment complex experienced a fire and evictions on the same day. In that instance, a nonprofit contacted Sepulveda to see if she could help. “Then it was a lot of calling lawyers and getting other nonprofits involved.”

“I didn’t expect to have to deal with many landlords taking advantage of people because they are immigrants or because they don’t know their rights,” says Sepulveda.

On many evenings, Sepulveda also receives calls from constituents facing emergencies — most often “gunshots or something going on in the neighborhood,” she says. Being on call is typical for many Metro councilmembers, who field calls from constituents about issues ranging from abandoned ducks on the loose to gunshots from unregulated Airbnbs. Sometimes Sepulveda receives calls from people who are waiting for a response from Metro’s non-emergency number and want her to follow up for them. “When you’re able to call yourself, it tends to move things along a little bit quicker sometimes, especially if there’s a big emergency,” she says. “Recently, I got a late phone call saying, ‘Hey, all the lights are on except for these four houses on this street. Can you reach out? We’re getting to very cold temperatures and there are elderly people here.’ So I’ll reach out to the NES to see what’s going on and push things along as much as I can. Because I know several of these departments are overwhelmed with work.”

Sepulveda also says emergency calls can vary widely. “An emergency could be trying to help a family who’s being evicted and getting them right to counsel — getting them connected to the free attorneys.

It could be something like, ‘Hey, this person feels discriminated against and it was someone out of a Metro department. Can you help with this?’ Or it could be a gunshot. It just depends.”

Beyond day-to-day emergencies, the current council has dealt with an intense four years. “I don’t think any of us imagined going into our first term with a tornado, then COVID, then flooding, power outages and a bombing,” she says. “Yeah, it’s not a typical council load.”

And now, they’re facing an uncertain future. The Metro Planning Department has drawn up potential redistricting maps for the proposed council reduction. If the new lawsuit remains unchallenged, districts could stay the same until 2027 elections. Whatever the outcome, district councilmembers may be representing thousands more constituents apiece in the future.

Sepulveda says the council is a “full-

time job” and her colleagues share a similar time commitment to the work. “A councilmember once told me that this will take up as much time as you let it,” she says. A recent council meeting, covering redistricting and the contentious Titans stadium deal, lasted until nearly 2 a.m. Some nights, Sepulveda works until midnight translating her bilingual newsletter or handling other administrative work.

Still, Sepulveda says the Metro Council’s work makes a tangible difference in people’s lives.

“There’s a good number of people who just think that their vote doesn’t matter and that local politics doesn’t matter, when we’re actually able to get so much done at the local level,” she says. “I wish more people would see more of those results and connect the dots.”

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

METRO COUNCILMEMBER SANDRA SEPULVEDA

ABORTION CARE TENNESSEE HOPES TO KEEP UP

BY HANNAH HERNER

With the event’s slate of comedians, drag queens and musical performances, the upbeat and celebratory energy at Abortion Care Tennessee’s “Abortion Forever No Matter What” variety show contrasted with the cause it was created to support.

The fundraising event at the Blue Room at Third Man Records on April 8 was a bright spot amid a few tumultuous weeks in Tennessee — inside of a few tumultuous years for reproductive rights. Another bright spot: The statewide abortion fund is able to cover costs for Tennesseans traveling out of state to receive an abortion, says Robyn Baldridge, co-founder and development coordinator for ACT.

“We can’t do a lot to quell the emotional horror that comes from having to travel out of state for basic health care, but we can, at the very least, make sure that someone who does not want to continue a pregnancy can get to where they need to go to make that happen,” Baldridge says.

Earlier in the day, ACT and reproductive justice advocacy and education group Beyond Roe Collective partnered to produce a self-managed abortion training class, which they plan to offer quarterly. For fear of legal ramifications, the organizations can’t say exactly how to obtain the pills necessary for a medication abortion (that’s a question for the public health campaign Plan C), but takes it from there, explaining how to administer mifepristone and misoprostol for a medication abortion — safe up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy. (The training also

described a method with just misoprostol, as mifepristone is currently at risk of being banned under federal litigation.)

Baldridge, who led the training, advised on medication for pain and nausea and how to know when the bleeding is too much. (Soaking more than two pads an hour is a reason to seek medical care.) At the hospital, a patient can tell health care workers they’re having a miscarriage — though simply saying they need medical care is enough. When doing online research, a person can use an incognito tab or what’s known as a virtual private network (VPN). They should also have someone check in on them during the process, and avoid talking about it via text for security purposes.

The scene at the self-managed abortion training wasn’t part of the original plan for ACT, which started in a grassroots manner in 2018, years before Tennessee’s strict abortion ban went into effect. On March 3, 2020 — the day of Nashville’s devastating tornado — they launched their socials. Then the pandemic negated in-person fundraising events. The organization became grantfunded, and in its early days could offer $75 through clinics to the patients who needed it most.

“I worked in a clinic, and there were just no resources even before [the fall of Roe v. Wade] — people were having to travel,” Baldridge says. “I saw $50 being the difference between someone continuing a pregnancy or not.”

Then the Supreme Court decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade leaked in May 2022.

“In the 48 hours after the Supreme Court

leak, we had raised $56,000,” Baldridge says. “I looked at our PayPal and thought it had to have been a glitch.”

Abortion Care Tennessee has found a new purpose in responding to the way Tennessee’s restrictive abortion laws have been implemented, while other organizations such as Healthy and Free Tennessee focus on advocacy work, and Beyond Roe Collective on education. Giving to Planned Parenthood is great, Baldridge says, but they never helped fund abortions — and now, they don’t perform abortions at all.

“We should all be able to be doing literally anything else than advocating for basic human freedoms,” she says. “Ideally at some point we’ll have enough money and energy and bandwidth to be able to dismantle the systems that make our work necessary. But right now in Tennessee, we’re just doing what we can to respond to the reality and make sure our patients can get where they need to go.”

Costs for travel and obtaining an abortion out of state are rising, Baldridge says, up to about $2,500 per person.

“The momentum needs to stay, because a lot of it had already died down by the time the law even went into effect,” she says.

At the state House this year, a bill providing an exception for rape and incest, as well as one that would ban only “elective abortions,” failed. Instead, only a narrow allowance for doctors to perform the procedure to save the life of the mother was added — a “compromise bill” to appease anti-abortion organization Tennessee Right to Life.

Baldridge says the people of Tennessee said “absolutely not” when the state legislature nearly completely banned abortion. Indeed, more Tennesseans now identify as pro-choice than anti-abortion. There’s some consolation and some hope, she says, because ACT has their backs.

“I didn’t realize until [ACT’s fundraiser shows] actually happened, how much people need an outlet to donate and to give back as much as they need a space of joy and catharsis and of processing together,” Baldridge says. “That really happens at these events, and it’s really special.”

ROBYN BALDRIDGE, CO-FOUNDER AND DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR FOR ACT BENEFIT FOR ACT

WILD TIMES IN TENNESSEE POLITICS

BY D. PATRICK RODGERS

It’s been a wild few weeks in Tennessee politics.

Just a week-and-a-half after the horrific Covenant School shooting in Nashville, two young Black lawmakers — Democratic Reps. Justin Jones of Nashville and Justin J. Pearson of Memphis — were expelled from their seats by House Republicans for participating in anti-gun protests. Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville), a white woman, narrowly avoided expulsion despite joining her fellow members of the so-called Tennessee Three in protest. It was enough to make national headlines, bringing the attention of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris — not to mention MSNBC, The New York Times, CNN and Fox News.

Last week, liberal activism and media outlet the Tennessee Holler published leaked audio from a closed-door House Republican Caucus meeting. The April 10 meeting — regarding the body’s Tennessee Three expulsion hearings — was fraught with infighting, with Rep. Jason Zachary and other Republicans sniping at one another. “The left wants Tennessee so bad, because if they get us, the Southeast falls, and it’s game over for the republic,” Rep. Scott Cepicky can be heard

saying in the audio.

Despite the House GOP’s bickering and complaints about decorum, both Jones and Pearson were unanimously restored to their seats by their home districts’ legislative bodies. Chancellor I’Ashea Myles swore Jones in on the steps of the Capitol on April 10, and Pearson was sworn in three days later. Both members were back in the state House within a week of their expulsion.

Now the Tennessee General Assembly is rushing toward the conclusion of its 113th session. As this issue of the Scene heads to press on Monday night, the body is set to hear a number of bills — on tax breaks for corporations, on stripping away power from Metro Nashville and more. Visit the Scene’s news and politics blog, Pith in the Wind, for updates on this lightning round of lastminute legislation.

Also on Pith, find updates on the Metro Council’s latest vote regarding the plans for a new East Bank stadium for the Tennessee Titans and the RNC’s recent donor retreat at the Four Seasons in downtown Nashville, as well as the state’s decision not to challenge a court order delaying implementation of drastic cuts to the council.

REP. JUSTIN J. PEARSON

PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

NEAL JOHNSTON STEVE AUSTIN

APRIL 26

SNARKY PUPPY WITH NATE WOOD

APRIL 30

BLUES TRAVELER WITH VANESSA COLLIER

JUNE 5

DARIUS & FRIENDS

BENEFITING ST. JUDE ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

JUNE 7

MARTY STUART’S

LATE NIGHT JAM ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

SEPTEMBER 18

EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

SEPTEMBER 25

NASHVILLE: REUNION TOUR

CLARE BOWEN, CHARLES ESTEN, JONATHAN JACKSON, SAM PALLADIO ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

OCTOBER 5 & 6

GREGORY ALAN ISAKOV WITH DAMIAN JURADO (10/5) AND LUCIUS (10/6) ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

Green Issue The

Exploring environmental activism, water quality, living alongside urban wildlife and more

This Saturday, April 22, marks the 53rd annual Earth Day. Inspired in part by the catastrophic 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, Earth Day was born out of the environmental activism movement of the 1960s, but has grown into a global event — complete with cleanup and education opportunities, celebrations and, however ironically, corporate sponsors.

Earth Day is a great reminder of the kinds of individual actions we can take to stay green, and you can look back at the Scene’s past Green Issues for extensive directories of ecofriendly organizations, services, businesses and restaurants. The Nashville area offers urban farms like Brooklyn Heights Community Garden; initiatives like the Cumberland River Compact and The Food Initiative; reuse services and refill centers like The Good Fill and Turnip Green Creative Reuse; nonprofits like Urban Green Lab and TennGreen Land Conservancy; ecofriendly recycling services like RecycleNash and Tri-Star Recycling; and advocacy groups like Walk Bike Nashville. (Find links to all of these and more via nashvillescene.com.)

Centennial Park Conservancy will host a Nashville Earth Day celebration on Saturday at the Centennial Park Bandshell, a free event featuring exhibitors and vendors — “75 recycled, reused, up-cycled, organic, and all-natural products and offerings.” There will also be sets from performers including Lera Lynn, Kyshona and more, not to mention a yoga class from Small World Yoga, food trucks and kids’ events.

But as we explore in this issue, responsibility for the existential threat posed by global warming and associated environmental events lies primarily at the feet of corporations — which, by a wide margin, out-pollute individuals. Also in this issue, we’ve got stories on Nashvillians coexisting with urban wildlife, waterway woes in Dickson County, Nashville’s water quality and nature-based education organization Unearthing Joy. Read on, and happy Earth Day. —D. PATRICK RODGERS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Gen Z and the Big-Picture Approach to Environmental Activism

As one local expert notes, small-scale actions won’t offset the massive harm being done by corporate polluters

BY CONNOR DARYANI

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, according to one Nashville environmental scientist, reusable straws probably aren’t going to be the thing that solves global warming. When it comes to environmentalism, there’s a wide range of personal philosophies. There are the “recycling is king” people.

There are the bike people. There are even the occasional “chain myself to a tree/refuse to move for a bulldozer” environmental activists. And as a larger portion of the public begins to accept climate change as a reality, more people are becoming conscious of their impact on the environment. But over the past decade, a new challenger has entered the ring.

“Gen Z is kind of fed up with being like, ‘We can make a change,’” says Carley Carder, an environmental scientist who works in stream restoration. “There’s just no way. There’s no way we can make a change like that.”

Carder cites a 2017 study, which found that 100 companies are responsible for 71 percent of global carbon emissions since 1988. While a significant portion of that number comes from consumers burning the fuel supplied by oil corporations, naturally, this led many people, especially among the “Don’t blame me, I just got here” generation, to question just how impactful a tube of natural deodorant can really be. Columns, debate

GreenIssue The

panels and lengthy Instagram posts ensued. (TikTok hadn’t come to the States yet.)

But as hard as people worked to spread the message that maybe we should be doing more to put pressure on corporations to stop killing the environment, corporations’ PR experts worked harder. ExxonMobil, the fifth-highest carbon emitter in the world, kicked off an ad campaign centering on everything they were doing to be green. BP, number 11 on the list, encouraged people to know their own carbon footprint and how to reduce it. Though Amazon wasn’t on that 2017 list, Jeff Bezos’ corporation is the biggest polluter of the so-called “Big Five” tech companies; last year, Amazon allowed users to tell Alexa to “grow a tree,” which would send a dollar from the user’s Amazon Pay account to the global reforestation nonprofit onetreeplanted.org.

Pressuring these corporations to engage in real, substantial change requires a massive, organized movement. Many members of Gen Z have taken to calling any form of environmentalism that doesn’t directly target global-level polluters performative.

“There’s a part of me that doesn’t want to say that,” says Carder. “I want it to be true, that people can make a change [on an individual level]. That feels good. But maybe that’s a part of the problem, is that I just want to feel good about it.”

“Don’t litter, keeping water clean,” she says. “I think we can make a difference in that, but when it comes to this conversation surrounding climate change, it’s a whole different ball game.”

Picking up trash, conserving water, and biking or walking when possible are all things that individuals can do to improve the environment of their communities. These individual actions will look different depending on the community you live in. Carder points to rural communities, where biking isn’t really possible, and gas-guzzling vehicles are more often a part of life. In coastal cities, she notes, avoiding singleuse straws could actually make more of a difference.

If you’re thinking about climate change, individual-level actions like these are really just a drop in the bucket. But they can, according to Carder, be an important step toward developing the passion for the environment that people need in order to organize and create bigger change.

“I think people getting outside is another important thing,” she adds. “If you get outside and you start to love it, then you will appreciate [the environment]. I think that’s important. I grew up in a really rural area, and so you’re outside all the time. But in Nashville I think the opportunities to get outside are a lot harder.”

Along with improving our immediate environments, Carder says it’s time to start applying pressure up top.

“I think governmental regulation is the answer — go out and vote,” she says. “You also vote with your dollars. So make sure you’re spending money in places that really care about this kind of stuff. If enough people stop buying stuff from Amazon every day, then that will send the message.” ■

Ashley Brailsford’s Unearthing Joy Makes Nature Accessible

BY KELSEY BEYELER

ON A WARM Wednesday afternoon, sunshine peeks through the clouds over the Brooklyn Heights Community Garden while a cluster of parents and kids gathers to learn about animals.

Representatives from the Nashville Zoo lead the discussion — they even brought some live critters with them, including a millipede and a Madagascar hissing cockroach. At the end of the event, organizer Ashley Brailsford asks participants what brings them joy.

Brailsford is the founder of Unearthing Joy, an organization dedicated to inclusive, multicultural, nature-based education that centers the contributions of Indigenous people and people of color.

Brailsford started the organization after she was, as she puts it, “liberated” from her previous job at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her son was 5 years old at the time, and when schools shut down, the two spent a lot of time together outside. Brailsford noticed how thoughtfully her son engaged with nature and wanted to enroll him in a local environmentally oriented program. She encountered a problem during her search.

“The ones I was seeing were really white, they weren’t diverse,” says Brailsford. “So I said, ‘Well, I want us, and I want him, to see himself in these spaces. I guess I’m gonna do this little program maybe once a week, and I’ll invite some other families I know who may be interested.’”

Brailsford took participants to a poultry farm, where they learned about chicken breeds and how civil rights icon John Lewis would preach to chickens when growing up on his parents’ farm. Parents wanted to know when the next event would be. Seeing a demand, Brailsford combined her professional background in early childhood education and her love for the outdoors to create Unearthing Joy. While her local programming engages a diverse community of youth and adults, Brailsford also trains organiza-

tions and community leaders on incorporating culturally inclusive practices into their own nature-based programs.

When the Scene asks about Brailsford’s biggest influences, she points out that many well-known historical figures had deep connections with nature. Harriet Tubman, for example, was an herbalist. “George Washington Carver — all we heard about was him and his peanut,” says Brailsford. “[But] this man was a master at composting, a master at regenerating soil. … He was a master at ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ — all those concepts.” Brailsford also mentions contemporary peers like Leah Penniman, author of Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land. These leaders demonstrate the oftentimes overlooked intersectionality of environment, history, civil rights and community.

“Some people will say, ‘Well, how do we get more Black and brown people in nature?’” says Brailsford, “It’s not that we don’t enjoy it. There’s been strategies, historically, that have very, very much, intentionally, caused a disconnection over time. And made outdoor spaces unsafe. I mean, we’re still experiencing trauma and policing that happens outside usually. And so there’s just been so much, historically, that has created a disconnection, which creates a barrier to re-engaging communities back into nature.”

Brailsford is working to rebuild those connections by facilitating them herself, and she’s also equipping other organizations to do so. That means expanding the definition of “being outside.” For some, it means digging in the sand or engaging with animals. For others, it might mean simply sitting outside to chat, or making art outside.

“Often we hear ‘nature,’ we [think we] got to go for a hike, we got to go for a kayak experience, we got to go somewhere far to enjoy it,” she says. “But I always say, ‘Well, what’s here?’ We can hear birds here. We can grow stuff right here, right? So it’s not that organizations have to recruit Black and brown folks to come to their space, but how do we engage folks in the spaces they’re already in with what’s there as well? So I think the barriers exist on both sides, mindset-wise, about how we get to engage folks. ”

Brailsford also has some tips for those seeking to make outdoor spaces more inclusive.

“What already exists in folks’ neighborhoods and how can you uplift that?” she asks. “You don’t have to go create a new initiative. Who’s already doing the work? It may be on a smaller scale, and you may have to really look for it, because it’s not always that they’re an official nonprofit. But there is somebody in every community doing something that is supporting nature and the environment, or trying to engage kids in different ways.” ■

When it comes to getting diverse groups outdoors, Unearthing Joy meets folks in their own communities

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

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GreenIssue The Living Alongside

Urban Wildlife

BY KELSEY

DESPITE THE CONTINUED population growth of Nashville and the urbanization of its surrounding areas, we still share our space with wildlife. Who can forget the famed coyote that was found in a bathroom at the Music City Center back in 2019, ultimately becoming the inspiration for Nashville SC’s mascot Tempo? Or the tens of thousands of purple martins that dropped so much bird poop downtown that the Nashville Symphony Center removed trees from its plaza? That’s not to mention all the animals in parks and nature centers, plus those that show up in our backyards and sometimes even in our houses.

“We grow up learning about all these really cool faraway animals like zebras and chimpanzees and elephants, and there ends up being a big disconnect,” says Debbie Sykes, director of the Nashville Wildlife Conservation Center. “You can really find wildlife just right outside your backyard.”

On Tap: Five Things to Know About Nashville’s Tap Water

A word on disinfectant byproducts and an update on lead pipes

BY HANNAH HERNER

FOR NASHVILLIANS, the water that comes out of their faucets started out in the Cumberland River. Our water quality has come a long way since the days when we dumped all of our waste in the river (though sometimes sewage still overflows into it) and thought lead pipes were best. Even so, the Cumberland remains on the state’s list of “impaired and threatened” waterways, and there’s room for improvement.

The Scene spoke with Metro Water Services and advocacy group Environmental Working Group to find out about Nashville’s tap water quality. Here are five takeaways.

Nashville water’s main problem: what’s left from the disinfectants

In the EWG’s analysis of Nashville water, disinfection byproducts are the main concern. Disinfecting drinking water is important, so in order to lessen the need for these products, Nashville would need to better protect its source water, says Sydney Evans, senior science analyst at EWG.

“When you add disinfectants, and there are other contaminants or other organic matter in the drinking water, those disinfectants are going to combine and interact with those other materials, and that’s where you get the byproducts,” Evans says. “It’s impor-

tant to note because disinfection byproducts are associated with cancer risk long term — especially bladder cancer. It’s a matter of looking at how we can keep disinfecting as necessary, but lower these concentrations of disinfectant byproducts.”

Nashville’s water is disinfected with a very diluted bleach, which keeps it free of bacteria and pathogens, says Metro Water Services spokesperson Sonia Allman.

“That disinfectant keeps it safe and clean all the way to its endpoint, which is the faucet in someone’s house,” she says.

Filters help with smell and taste, but aren’t imperative

“When I go to a restaurant, I want to make sure that when I drink that water, I actually want to smell a little bit of that chlorine smell,” says Allman, “because that tells me that there is a disinfectant in there and not only is the water disinfected, but also if that glass wasn’t completely clean — that’s going to help as well.”

In her home, Allman puts tap water in a pitcher and lets it sit in the refrigerator to allow the smell to dissipate. Water filters are also an option to help with taste, but she says it is important to change the filter regularly so it doesn’t end up adding bacteria.

Metro and the EWG agree — bottled water is not superior. It is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, which has less stringent regulations than the tap water regulated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Metro Water is under deadline to identify and replace all lead pipes

Allman says the organization is on track to comply with the EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule Revisions requirement, which requires the system maintain an inventory of service line materials by October 2024.

Metro replaces any lead portions located

between the water meter and the public when they come across them, Allman says, but there are still older homes in Nashville that have lead pipes, or lead or brass soldering. (Metro is not responsible for pipes on private property.) To quell that issue, Metro has put orthophosphate into the water since the 1980s to coat the pipes and prevent lead from leaching into the water.

Nashville is at about 1 part per billion of lead. With the elimination of lead lines completely, it can get down to zero.

“Even though there is a 15-part-per-billion action level, no amount of lead is safe,” Allman says.

Nashville is less affected by industry than other cities

“We’re not like Detroit and many other large cities in that we do have some industry, but not the large amount of industry along the river or here in our city that a lot of other large cities have,” Allman says.

The biggest pollutant in creeks and streams is sedimentation, she says, which can be quelled by monitoring construction areas. The Metro Water Services Stormwater Division handles the source water of streams and creeks that run into the Cumberland.

The EWG doesn’t make statements about how one water system may be worse or better off than another. It’s important to point out health risks, Evans says, but some water systems simply need more support to get high-quality drinking water.

“We don’t want to punish systems that are challenged by worse water quality and fewer resources,” Evans says. “So many of those cities are known for really good drinking water because they’re starting with really good drinking water.” ■

The center is one of several organizations educating folks on and advocating for wildlife throughout the state. The nonprofit also serves as a wildlife hospital specializing in turtles. Organizations like Walden’s Puddle and Ziggy’s Tree also care for wild animals in need. Their websites educate people on what to do if they see animals such as reptiles, squirrels, possums or rabbits that may be in need of assistance. Some incidents may require observing an animal from afar to assess the situation; others might require more immediate assistance from a permitted wildlife rehabilitator. Caring for injured or seemingly deserted wildlife does not mean removing animals from their habitat and trying to nurse them back to health on your own. In some cases that can be dangerous to both humans and wildlife — particularly with animals that can carry rabies, like bats, raccoons, skunks and foxes.

“The best thing you can do for these animals is just leave them alone,” says Sykes. “The only time you really need to interfere tends to be if you see them acting sick.”

Sykes also encourages folks to “coexist” with wildlife by making small changes that can prevent unnecessary injuries for animals and unwanted interactions for humans. In our yards, this includes skipping mowing if and when possible and checking for animals beforehand. Planting native pollinator plants can also encourage healthy ecosystems, provide shelter for some animals and attract bugs that feed others. Sykes also recommends avoiding pesticides and herbicides that can have hazardous and reverberating effects on entire food

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

‘The best thing you can do for these animals is just leave them alone’

BEYELER

PHOTO COURTESY OF NASHVILLE WILDLIFE CONSERVATION CENTER

chains. Those who use bird feeders should clean them regularly to prevent the spread of avian diseases. Check trees for nests before trimming branches. Sykes keeps her cat indoors to prevent wildlife attacks, as cats pose a threat to other animals.

Folks can also manage their houses in a way that supports wildlife without attracting animals inside. Checking for and sealing points of entry can prevent animals from entering, and now is the perfect time to do that — it’s currently baby raccoon season, and mothers are looking for safe places to shelter their offspring. If creatures do get in, Skyes suggests “evicting” them by creating a one-way door that allows them to exit and not re-enter. The Humane Society recommends “gently harassing the animals so they’ll move to an alternative location,” such as placing vinegar-soaked rags nearby or blaring music. These techniques create unwelcoming conditions that animals are likely to move away from. Keep in mind that mothers might have babies nearby, so if you call on professionals to trap and relocate, they might address only one animal and not the others — and the Humane Society doesn’t recommend this practice.

Windows are important too. The American Bird Conservancy estimates that as many as a billion birds die every year from hitting windows — nearly half of these are residential windows. Reflective windows can confuse birds and cause them to fly into the glass or even fight their own reflections, which can lead to brain damage. Additionally, the light that passes through them at night can confuse migratory birds and throw them off their paths. In the evenings, folks can turn off their lights or shut the blinds. In the daytime, anything to break up reflections can help. Investing in bird-safe glass is one option, but you can also buy anti-collision decal stickers, mark your windows with temporary paint or soap, or hang ribbons or strings. There are plenty of websites that provide helpful suggestions and links. Organizations like Bird Safe Nashville are working with the city to make it more bird-friendly. They’ve engaged homeowners and commercial businesses to become “lights out” partners, helped facilitate the Lights Out Nashville Resolution signed by Mayor John Cooper and partnered with the city and other organizations to help Nashville apply to join the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Urban Bird Treaty Program.

“Every action we take either takes away support or provides support for wildlife,” says Kim Bailey of Bird Safe Nashville. “When you think about it, that’s impactful. Like ‘Wow, my choices matter.’” ■

GreenIssue The

TDEC Referees Waste Treatment in

Dickson County

Wary of discharge in waterways, environmentalists are raising pollution concerns and trying to block a new sewage facility

BY ELI MOTYCKA

TRACE CREEK IS STRINGY like a mop, thick with algae and Sphaerotilus natans, a bacteria-loving growth known as “sewage fungus.” Coming down Liz Smith’s ridge in White Bluff, you can smell the creek before you see it. The odor falls somewhere between industrial cleaning solution and an over-chlorinated swimming pool.

According to Smith, it’s worse in the summer when the creek gets low and the air is hot. Last year, she began clearing a path to the creek for her grandkids when her brother, who had experience assessing water quality, raised concerns about the smell and a visible layer of gray-green scum.

“This is what people do here — we go out in the waterways,” says Smith, standing in her kitchen on a warm April day. “I want that pipe shut down. It’s a disaster.”

On the edge of Smith’s property, a white PVC pipe juts out from the bank, pumping treated sewage into Trace Creek. This is the discharge point for the White Bluff Wastewater Treatment Plant on Shady Oak Road, operated by the Dickson County Water Authority. Further upstream, before the discharge point, the scum and algae clear up, giving way to a rocky creek bed full of snails and camouflaged stoneflies.

“Their discharge permit prohibits discharge that creates visible scum, objectionable appearance, anything that would interfere with the recreational uses of this stream,” says George Nolan, an attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center. “It appears to us that it’s a very clear pollution

problem that needs to be addressed.” He brought the issue to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, which regulates water permits. They didn’t see a problem. In fact, TDEC had just approved their discharge permit.

“Frankly, we were shocked when TDEC took the position that there is no pollution, no permit violation and no problem,” says Nolan.

The water authority, state regulators, residents and environmental groups are now navigating a maze of appeals, hearings, rulings and corrective action. In one corner, the Water Authority of Dickson County argues that its three sewage plants — “water reclamation facilities” in industry jargon — have remained compliant with their permits even while expanding capacity to absorb explosive population growth. In the other, the Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of the Harpeth Conservancy, an environmental group, argues that visible pollution from WADC’s discharge point requires immediate action from TDEC regulators.

Both sides have gotten mixed results from state regulators. After initially dismissing environmentalists’ concerns — officially filed as what’s known as a 118(a) complaint brought under the Tennessee Water Quality Control Act of 1977 — TDEC will have to defend its rationale in administrative court. Nolan, SELC and the Harpeth Conservancy appealed TDEC’s dismissal, elevating the matter to the Tennessee Board of Water Quality. In its legal filing, SELC argues that TDEC “is turning a blind eye towards visible pollution in Trace Creek.” A trial date is set for late October.

On April 4, TDEC indicated it will block WADC’s proposal for a new sewage treatment plant a few miles down Route 46 in Hickman County. The proposed plant would process up to 12 million gallons a day, several times bigger than WADC’s existing facilities, and discharge into Lick Creek, a popular fishing spot and tributary of the Duck River. The Lick and the Duck are vaunted as exceptional Tennessee waterways, an official recognition that confers additional protections against industry and

development. Thousands of freshwater mussels purify the Duck, while Lick Creek is blessed with the coppercheek darter, a ray-finned fish the size of a large sardine.

The state argued that the facility’s danger to Lick Creek is more pressing than the need for additional sewage treatment. “WADC has not demonstrated that … degradation of Exceptional Tennessee Waters is necessary to accommodate important economic or social development … and has not demonstrated that less-degrading alternatives are not practicable,” reads its official statement, in part. The Tennessee Wildlife Federation and Friends of Lick Creek, a local advocacy group, celebrated the news. TDEC will host a public hearing in May before issuing a final ruling.

In its own letter, WADC argued that Dickson and Hickman counties are suffering economically. Expanded sewage capacity facilitates growth, allows for more homebuilding, and promotes industry. Waterways bear the burden. Population spillover from Nashville has driven demand for more infrastructure. Developers have pounced on cheaper land in Nashville’s “collar counties” like Dickson, Hickman, Cheatham, Sumner and Wilson. New clusters of homes mean solutions for how to get clean water in and sewage out.

“Builders, many from Nashville, come out to these rural communities that don’t have infrastructure for that kind of density,” says Dorie Bolze, who heads the Harpeth Conservancy. “They start to scream, ‘We don’t have enough money for a sewer plant.’ It’s hard for small towns. Growth needs water and sewer.”

More homes means more toilets; more flushing means more chlorine, nitrogen, PFOS, PFAS, phosphorus, E. coli and other chemical aspects of human life. Sewage discharge puts the state in the middle of growth and environmental protections, arbitrating an increasingly intense competition for habitat in Middle Tennessee between the residents of its houses and the residents of its rivers.

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

ALGAE IN TRACE CREEK

WITNESS HISTORY

Avondale High School pitcher Bill Anderson and his Rawlings glove were destined for a different game—turning professional as a hit songwriter and recording artist with a Country Music Hall of Fame career that has spanned eight decades.

From the exhibit Bill Anderson: As Far as I Can See

ARTIFACT: Courtesy of Bill Anderson

ARTIFACTPHOTO: Bob Delevante

CRITICS’ PICKS

THURSDAY / 4.20

DANCE

[FREEDOM

AND FIRE OF FLAMENCO] TABLAO FLAMENCO

If you’ve never experienced an authentic flamenco show, you’re in luck, as Tablao Flamenco opens Thursday at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. This unique art form has been around for centuries, serving up a fascinating blend of song, dance and guitar. Rooted in the musical traditions of Southern Spain — including Sephardic, Andalusian Roma and Arab influences — flamenco explores the human condition with equal parts passion and precision. The term tablao actually refers to both the small clubs where flamenco shows take place and the wooden platform (or tablado) on which a flamenco dancer might perform. Presented in partnership with Rhythm of the Arts (a performing arts organization that showcases the work of culturally authentic artists), Tablao Flamenco features a cast of award-winning artists. This particular performance takes place in TPAC’s intimate Johnson Theater, meaning audiences can look forward to more of a traditional club vibe with dancers and musicians moving freely about the venue, improvising and interacting with the crowd. April 20-22 at TPAC’s Andrew Johnson Theater, 505 Deaderick St. AMY STUMPFL

[GHOST

MUSIC

WORLD]

ZACH PERSON

There’s not much blues on Texas singer, songwriter and guitarist Zach Person’s 2021 self-titled debut full-length, which is being marketed as a modern blues album with traces of indie rock. This is a typical setup for any number of contemporary blues records — the heyday of electric blues was the 1950s and early ’60s, when Buddy Guy, Elmore James and Howlin’ Wolf did their best work. For Person, who’s in his mid-20s and grew up in New Jersey and North Carolina before moving to Houston,

it’s probably irrelevant that his debut album is an amalgamation of classic rock, Black Keys-style tunes and a touch of blues guitar. Person made his bones as a contestant on American Idol in 2016, and while I don’t want to get all Ghost World on you and decry the soulless nature of the modern music scene, it’s hard for me to figure out just what American Idol has to do with blues culture. Still, Person’s album has its moments, and he even does a tune called, ahem, “Crossroads,” which sounds a bit like a Joni Mitchell song from the mid-’70s. Person

GUITAR TOWN: PICTURING PERFORMANCE TODAY

seems willing to investigate the myths that have swallowed the real Robert Johnson and made him opaque to historical analysis. He’s a promising artist — let’s hope he finds himself a subject. 7 p.m. at The Basement, 1604 Eighth Ave. S. EDD HURT

[EYES TO THE SKIES]

MEET THE ASTRONOMER TALK AND TELESCOPE VIEWING

Some kids have their heads in the clouds, others have their eyes on the stars. I was always the latter, but there were never all that many women astronauts or astronomers for me to look up to. The new book The Sky Is for Everyone: Women Astronomers in Their Own Words, edited by Vanderbilt University’s Dr. David Weintraub and Virginia Trimble, aims to fix that problem. On Thursday, Weintraub will be on hand at Vanderbilt’s Dyer Observatory for a “Meet the Astronomer” session to talk about his book and the essays it compiles from women astronomers like Poonam Chandra and Jocelyn Bell Burnell. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and autograph, and Weintraub will take audience questions following his talk. Guests will also have the opportunity to see the stars for themselves using the observatory’s Seyfert Telescope. Tickets must be purchased online in advance, so don’t miss your chance to learn about the superstars who are shooting to the top of a historically male-dominated field. All ages are welcome, but this talk is recommended

for ages 12 and up. 7 p.m. at Vanderbilt University Dyer Observatory, 1000 Oman Drive, Brentwood HANNAH CRON

FRIDAY / 4.21

ART [THREE SONGS, NO FLASH]

GUITAR TOWN: PICTURING PERFORMANCE TODAY

Just as music helps us process emotions and express ideas in ways that words by themselves can’t, writing about a performance only tells you part of what it was like. The past decade or so has been extremely busy across Nashville’s collection of music scenes, and an array of photographers has been hard at work telling more of the story. The Frist’s Guitar Town exhibit collects the concert coverage of 10 photographers — Angelina Castillo, Lance Conzett, Steve Cross, Emma Delevante, H.N. James, John Jo, Laura E. Partain, John Partipilo, Jenni Starr and Diana Zadlo — many of whose work you’ve seen in the Scene’s live-review column The Spin. (Castillo, in fact, recently came on board as a full-time staff photographer at the Scene.) They have preserved dozens of fleeting moments that showcase a network of communities evolving, keeping the creative spirit burning bright in the face of immense challenges such as the continually rising real estate prices that have made life harder for musicians and kept the

APRIL 21 - AUG. 20

Frist Art Museum

“LUKE SCHNEIDER AND HIS LIGHT PANELS,” ANGELINA CASTILLO ZACH PERSON

as well as rock maestro Tim Carroll, whose Friday evening Rock ’n’ Roll Happy Hour is likewise a 5 Spot hallmark. Rounding out the bill is a rare appearance from wide-ranging, widely loved rock project Joe, Marc’s Brother. 6 p.m. at The 5 Spot, 1106 Forrest Ave. STEPHEN TRAGESER

MUSIC [BLANK WAVE ARCADE]

B|_ANK W/ALEX SILVA

independent venue landscape volatile. A small sampling of the musicians pictured includes Sierra Ferrell, Adia Victoria, Jack White, Brandi Carlile, William Tyler and Yola, performing in venues large and small — including some that have closed, like Fond Object and Mercy Lounge. See the pics in the Frist’s Conte Community Arts Gallery until Aug. 20; starting May 26, it will pair up nicely with the traveling exhibit Storied Strings: The Guitar in American Art, which will feature photos and instruments in the Ingram Gallery. April 21 through Aug. 20 at the Frist Art Museum, 919 Broadway STEPHEN TRAGESER

MUSIC

[TIME

HASN’T BEEN KIND] MICROWAVE

infectiously merry music.” It’s a topsyturvy story to be sure, centered on a dashing young hero, a beautiful young maiden and a band of decidedly tenderhearted pirates. But it’s also a marvelous parody, not only poking fun at the Victorian establishment and its stuffy moral code, but also at the conventions of opera itself. Packed with goofy humor — and some of G&S’s most memorable melodies — Pirates offers a family-friendly evening of madcap mayhem. Artistic director John Hoomes has assembled a wonderful cast, with Leroy Davis in his Nashville Opera debut as the swaggering Pirate King, and Curt Olds making a welcome return to Music City as the lovable Major-General Stanley. April 2123 at TPAC’s Polk Theater, 505 Deaderick St AMY

STUMPFL

[LET THEM COOK]

MUSIC

THE MEAT AND THREE TOUR FEAT. MIKE FLOSS,

CHUCK INDIGO, REAUX MARQUEZ, YOURS TRULY JAI & MORE

A powerhouse lineup of Nashville-based rap and R&B is hitting the Blue Room, presented by local activist organization the Southern Movement Committee. It’s hard to pick a name to start with: You’ve got a pair of hardworking DJs becoming fixtures around bars, museum lobbies and art galleries in TrueStarr and AfroSheen. You’ve got some recent Best of Nashville Writers’ Choice winners in rappers Mike Floss (Best EP for Contraband) and Reaux Marquez (Best Hip-Hop Solo Single for “Crowd Control”). Chuck Indigo is not just a fiery MC but also a key figure in fostering the city’s current hip-hop landscape. Upand-coming rapper and singer $avvy brings an experimental edge, even by the standards of Nashville’s diverse scene. Rounding it all out is the smooth and sophisticated neosoul of Yours Truly Jai. 8 p.m. at the Blue Room at Third Man Records, 623 Seventh Ave. S.

ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

been The 5 Spot, a small bar with a stage in Five Points that Diane Carrier and her husband William “Bones” Verheide opened in 2003. A few years later, the couple handed off the business to Todd Sherwood and Travis Collinsworth; sadly, Carrier died in 2017, but she’s fondly remembered as a firm believer in the area’s music scene years before it became widely renowned. The place quickly became a staple of both the neighborhood and the Music City music ecosystem, and it has remained so despite the 2008 financial crash, the tide of “It City” washing over Nashville in the early 2010s, the lockdown phase of COVID-19 and more gyrations in the music business — globally and locally — than you can shake a stick at. To celebrate, The 5 Spot hosts a big ol’ party on Saturday spotlighting a selection of East Side favorites. The lineup includes Brett Rosenberg’s wry rock outfit Quichenight, as well as country- and rockschooled songsmith Stephie James. Stellar songwriter Derek Hoke — who in the fall ended his long-running Two Dollar Tuesdays show at The 5 Spot just as his new album Electric Mountain arrived — will be there,

B|_ank and Alex Silva have both released really interesting lo-fi electronic compositions on the Canadian Duck Tapes label. Will Hicks’ one-man musical vehicle B|_ank offered the album Th Moof — a jazzy voyage through the cosmos. His wild rhythms and a broad array of synth tones alternate between floating ambience, terrifying noise and deep-end dance music. Meanwhile Baltimore resident Alex Silva, who has a literal master’s degree in music for film composition, showcases his knack for repetitive hooks and oscillator tones reminiscent of a score to a PBS docuseries Gen X kids watched in science class. The electronic mayhem begins with Boston imports Total Wife and locals Isolation Room. 7 p.m. at Drkmttr, 1111 Dickerson Pike P.J. KINZER

SUNDAY / 4.23

SPORTS [ULTIMATE!]

NASHVILLE NIGHTSHADE HOME

OPENER

It’s finally springtime in Tennessee (at least for the short time before summer fully takes over), which means outdoor sports are beginning again across Nashville. For those who don’t know, Music City has a professional women’s ultimate team named Nashville NightShade, which is gearing up for its fourth season in the Premier Ultimate League. The PUL is made up of 12 teams spread throughout the eastern half of the United States, and NightShade is one of the league’s founding members.

[THE VERY MODEL …]

THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE

My impression of Microwave is that they were emo kids, but now they’re adults and life still sucks, but hey, they can go get blackout drunk at bars and stuff now. I mean that in the best possible way: 2014’s Much Love captures the unsettling feeling of still being unsettled when your “young adult” peers have built solid, pleasant lives for themselves, and lead singer Nathan Hardy has just enough self-awareness that even the whiny songs elicit a chuckle rather than an eyeroll. Standout track “Dull,” which features a characteristically catchy riff, captures the spirit well: “If falling in love is the best high, I’ve passed the best times of my life / Now the silence is cold, and every time we talk, it’s dull and awkward.” 2019’s Death Is a Warm Blanket is still about surviving one’s disappointing early adulthood, but in a more nihilistic way — with more screamed vocals and heavy riffage to match. Microwave is based in Atlanta and makes frequent stops in Music City’s rock halls. This time they’ll visit Eastside Bowl with support from Oso Oso, Delta Sleep and Mothé. 7 p.m. at Eastside Bowl, 1508 Gallatin Pike S. COLE VILLENA OPERA

Nashville Opera is closing out its 202223 season this weekend with a true classic — Gilbert and Sullivan’s rollicking adventure The Pirates of Penzance. First presented at New York City’s Fifth Avenue Theatre in 1879, Pirates remains one of the duo’s best loved and most often produced operas, thanks to its “clever wordplay and

SATURDAY / 4.22

[5 ON IT]

MUSIC

20 YEARS OF

THE 5 SPOT

Throughout two decades of extraordinary change — for better and worse — in East Nashville, one constant has

MICROWAVE

QUICHENIGHT AT 20 YEARS OF THE 5 SPOT

NASHVILLE NIGHTSHADE HOME OPENER

PHOTO: MARK CASTRO

gods shine down on us and give us her hot takes on dating? Whatever comes out of Ali Wong’s mouth, it’ll be the opposite of tame. 7 p.m. at the Ryman, 116 Rep. John Lewis Way

N. TOBY LOWENFELS

MONDAY / 4.24

FILM [HEROIN CHIC] MUSIC CITY MONDAYS: TRAINSPOTTING

It’s hard to believe that, for a brief moment in time, junkies were considered cool. Heroin chic was unfortunately a thing in the mid-’90s: Models were looking all strung-out in Calvin Klein ads. Stars like future Avenger Robert Downey Jr. were going to jail for their habitual smack use. And of course there was Trainspotting, that darkly comic 1996 arthouse hit that basically made Scotland-based junkies look like awesome bandits. You could say director Danny Boyle (who would later win oodles of Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire) adapted Irvine Welsh’s 1993 novel a bit too well, with a young Ewan McGregor leading a band of amoral addicts who shoot up and do criminal acts mostly to forget that they’re Scottish. With a Britpop-heavy soundtrack that also includes tunes from legendary users Iggy Pop and Lou Reed, this movie led audiences to believe that heroin is more than an addiction. It can also be an adventure. 8 p.m. at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. CRAIG D. LINDSEY

BOOKS

TUESDAY

MUSIC [SHE’S HERE THAT’S THE THING] BEABADOOBEE

Outlets like NME tapped beabadoobee as an artist to watch just before the pandemic began, and the Filipino British songwriter’s full-length debut Fake It Flowers came out via Dirty Hit Records (home to The 1975, Rina Sawayama and Wallice, whose debut LP I eagerly await) just days after I moved to Nashville in fall 2020. I immediately fell in love with “Care,” a towering pop-punk anthem that sounds like it was ripped from the opening of an Aughties teen movie about the best summer vacation ever, or a basketball tournament that changes everything, or something. I’ve seen reviewers call this songwriting approach overly derivative. I can’t really argue other than to say: I don’t care! As an elder Gen Zer, I enjoy hearing rocky, Y2K-tinged songs on the radio again. Take me back! Last year’s Beatopia skews less toward pop punk and more toward bedroom pop but still shows beabadoobee’s talent for writing earnest, sweeping songs that describe the melodrama of adolescence and the tenderness of young love. Like Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour or Snail Mail’s Lush, the album fills me with a distinct feeling: “Wow, being a teenager was full of so many over-the-top emotions. That was way too much to deal with. Take me back!” Joe P, an indie rocker who ventured out as a solo artist during the pandemic, opens. 8 p.m. at Marathon Music Works, 1402 Clinton St. COLE VILLENA

The league’s mission is “to achieve equity in the sport of ultimate by increasing accessibility to the sport for, and visibility of women, transgender, intersex, non-binary, genderqueer, and genderfluid people.”

NightShade is also a nonprofit organization, so come out and support the team in their home opener against the Minnesota Strike on Sunday at Harpeth Hall. You can pick up a one-game ticket or a “season ticket” to all three NightShade home games, and according to the team website, everyone is encouraged to join the team for a post-game social at Jackalope Brewery for food and beer. You may even see Scene staff reporter Eli Motycka coaching from the sidelines.

1:30 p.m. at Harpeth Hall School, 3801

Hobbs Road LOGAN BUTTS

MUSIC

[MAKE A MOVE] THE TAJMAHOLICS

The music that Kentucky-born singer Jonell Mosser essays with her band, The Tajmaholics, during their Sunday evening shows at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge skews to R&B and soul. Mosser & Co. have become a draw for the venue because they nail a sound that’s become increasingly unfashionable — except, just possibly, in Nashville. What The Tajmaholics specialize in is FM-radio-friendly pop R&B as you might remember it from the 1970s. The band — featuring a very skillful and subtle guitarist, Tom Britt — grooves lightly on a selection of well-chosen covers and smart originals. Their take on Little Feat’s “All That You Dream” sports Britt’s agile

reharmonization of the tune, and they do justice to Nesbert “Stix” Hooper and Will Jennings’ great “Never Make a Move Too Soon,” cut by both The Crusaders and B.B. King. Meanwhile, the band shines on their version of Gerry Goffin and Carole King’s “Take a Giant Step,” itself recorded by Taj Mahal and The Monkees. Mosser, who has been a Nashville resident for decades, sings in a belting R&B style, and she definitely has an ear for appropriate material. She’s reportedly working on a live album drawn from her Dee’s performances. 5 p.m. at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge, 102 E. Palestine Ave., Madison EDD HURT

COMEDY [HEART BURN]

ALI WONG

Through her groundbreaking comedic career, Ali Wong has made an art of being angry. Her latest show, the surprisingly serious Beef, is a scripted Netflix series in which she plays a woman on the verge of a breakdown. But there are still flashes of Wong’s humor. In one scene she chases Steven Yeun’s character down the street, releasing all the tension of the episode in slow motion, her limbs flailing, nostrils flaring. She’s always thrown her entire body into her routine — her pregnant belly played a prominent role in her first two standup specials — and though she’s tiny, she can fill a stage with rage, stomping back and forth like a caged animal in sensible (yet stylish) sneakers. Fresh on the heels of a divorce, this round of standup should be especially wild. Will the comedy

[YOU’RE

GONNA BE POPULAR] KRISTEN CHENOWITH

Aristotle. Socrates. Descartes. And now, Chenoweth. One of Broadway’s leading ladies, Kristin Chenoweth recently released her book I’m No Philosopher, but I Got Thoughts, and she’ll be signing copies at Parnassus Books on Monday evening. The television actress, Broadway star and New York Times bestselling author delivers an inspiring high-design, colorful book featuring philosophical-ish musings on connection, creativity, loss, love, faith and closure. Each ticket includes one signed/ personalized copy of the book and admission to the signing line. Admittance to the line will be on a first-come, first-served basis, starting at 5:30 p.m. 6 p.m. at Parnassus, 3900 Hillsboro Pike KARIN MATHIS

MUSIC

[A SHOT IN THE ARM] WILCO

Last year, after a pretty long stretch away from recording together, Chicago’s monsters of dad-friendly folk rock released their 12th studio album, Cruel Country The whopping, 21-track double album was Wilco’s first recorded in person and in studio in a decade, and while it’s far from the band’s most experimental outing, there is an undeniable immediacy to it. As AllMusic’s Mark Deming puts it, “There’s very little flash in this music, but there’s a warmth and excitement in the process of creation that’s deeply satisfying, even joyous.” Indeed, it’s more Mermaid Avenue and less Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but frontman Jeff Tweedy and his compatriots know better than to deprive live audiences of Wilco’s deep,

ALI WONG

WILCO

GUITAR LESSONS

with former Musicians Institute and Austin Guitar School instructor MARK BISH

Jazz, Rock, Blues, Country, Fusion, Funk, Flamenco, etc. Technique, theory, songwriting. Programs available. 40 years exp. 512-619-3209 markbishmusic@gmail.com

DOWNTOWN

Saturday, April 22

HATCH SHOW PRINT

Block Party

10:00 AM, 1:00 PM, AND 3:30 PM

HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP LIMITED AVAILABILITY

Saturday, April 22

SONGWRITER SESSION

Gretchen Peters

NOON · FORD THEATER

Sunday, April 23

INTERVIEW AND PERFORMANCE

Dave Alvin

2:30 PM · FORD THEATER

Saturday, April 29

SONGWRITER SESSION

Trannie Anderson

NOON · FORD THEATER

Sunday, April 30

MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

Billy Justineau

1:00 PM · FORD THEATER

Saturday, May 6

SONGWRITER SESSION

Madeline Edwards

NOON · FORD THEATER

Sunday, May 7

MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

Mike Rogers

1:00 PM · FORD THEATER

Saturday, May 13

SONGWRITER SESSION

Jenn Schott

NOON · FORD THEATER

Sunday, May 14

MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

Joseph Wooten

1:00 PM · FORD THEATER

Check our calendar for a full schedule of upcoming programs and events.

Museum Membership

Members receive free Museum admission and access to weekly programming, concert ticket presale opportunities, and much more.

JOIN TODAY: CountryMusicHallofFame.org/Membership

diverse catalog. Recent set lists show that the band dips heavily into songs from the eternally influential Foxtrot, and isn’t afraid to pull out crowd-pleasing samplings from Summerteeth and Being There. A Wilco show is always a warm and fuzzy thing, especially when it goes down at the Mother Church of Country Music. What’s more, attendees Tuesday night will be treated to gorgeous, immersive lighting design by Nashville’s own Cour Design. Folk duo The A’s will open. 7:30 p.m. at the Ryman, 116 Rep. John Lewis Way

N.

D. PATRICK RODGERS

MUSIC [SUGAR TRAP] RICO NASTY

Rico Nasty is rap’s brash, bold poppunk princess, bringing the fun kind of “I’m gonna fight you” energy to her music. Trap Lavigne can command any beat with a roar, but she also showed off her range on 2022’s Las Ruinas with tracks like the screeching, industrial “Vaderz” and confrontational anthem “Black Punk” sharing space with the bouncy “Dance Scream” and the longing, airy “Focus on Me.” The multifaceted Maryland MC will keep you on your toes, whether or not you’re in the mosh pit. Omeretta the Great, who released Emotional Gangsta in 2022, opens. 8 p.m. at Eastside Bowl, 1508A Gallatin Pike S. ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

WEDNESDAY / 4.26

MUSIC [JAZZY FLAIR]

SNARKY PUPPY

Snarky Puppy combines idiomatic elements in a manner few groups can match. Under the leadership of bassist Michael League, they have repeatedly displayed in their music flair for melodically appealing numbers that also provide ample room for solos and

inventive interaction between and among the various band members. Their songs have cleverly dipped into rock, pop, soul and blues territory while always retaining an improvisational framework. The band views itself as a collective, and over an extensive history that dates back to 2004 and includes more than a dozen albums, more than 40 musicians have been part of the group. The current roster will be performing selections from their array of Grammy-winning LPs Wednesday night at the Ryman. Welltraveled multi-instrumentalist Nate Wood will also feature.

7:30 p.m. at the Ryman, 116 Rep. John Lewis Way N. RON WYNN

FILM

[ELECTRONIC SUPER HIGHWAY]

SCIENCE ON SCREEN

JUNE

2023: NAM

PAIK: MOON IS THE OLDEST TV

Back when television was still a young medium, giving home audiences a daily intake of middlebrow entertainment, Nam June Paik was the first person to realize that this flickering box could also be used for subversive, disruptive commentary. Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV, a new documentary from Amanda Kim, shows how the anarchic Korean artist not only mastered video art, creating busy set pieces either inside or around this piece of talking furniture. He’s also largely responsible for the aesthetics of everything from MTV to YouTube to the whole gotdamn internet.

For Science on Screen’s screening of Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV, artist and filmmaker Jonathan Rattner will be on hand to discuss the topic of materiality and technology, as well as the influence of Paik’s work. “Big Sister,” an original video-art installation from Kari Leigh “Bunny” Ames, Dylan Simon and Fjolla Hoxha, will also be on view in the lobby. 8 p.m. at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. CRAIG D. LINDSEY

RICO NASTY

SPECIAL ACTIVITY AREAS

SPRING STREET Presented by HG HILL REALTY

Spring Street is back with a full block of fun on Main Street! Between 1st and 2nd Avenues, enjoy an interactive cultural and art area including art demonstrations, cultural performances, and collaborative art experiences.

PETZONE Presented by PETSENSE by TRACTOR SUPPLY

The parking lot next to Simmons Bank will be transformed into PetZone, an activity area for you and your four legged friends! Play games and win prizes for your pets, or adopt a companion of your own at the adoption center!

INTERNATIONAL JAZZ DAY AT THE FRANKLIN THEATRE

Stop by The Franklin Theatre during the festival! All weekend long they’ll be screening 2022s International Jazz Day Celebration Concert. PLUS, take a look behind the curtain with a tour of our historic 1937 theatre.

BUSKERS CORNER

After debuting at Pumpkinfest, Buskers Corner returns to embed music into the footprint of the festival right next to vendors, in addition to the festival Main Stage and Acoustic Stage presented by Lipscomb University.

WHISKEY LOUNGE & BEER GARDEN

Take a load off and enjoy an adult beverage at either the Whiskey Lounge presented by Leiper’s Fork Distillery or the Beer Garden presented by Bavarian Bierhaus.

CAT WALK

Sign-Up & Win Tickets!

Sign-up to our newsletter at WilliamsonHeritage org and be entered to win a Family Four Pack of Franklin Theatre movie tickets!

ACOUSTIC STAGE

Presented by 400s 500s

THE FRANKLIN THEATRE

Grab

Enjoy Discounts & Win a Movie Ticket to The Franklin Theatre! Grab a passport and follow the to find the unique “Pete The Cat” plush at each destination and write its code on your passport to claim your prize!

• Franklin Bakehouse

• Shuff’s Music

• Twine Graphics-Retail

• Savory Spice

• Hester and Cook

• Heart and Hands

• The Registry

• The Heirloom Shop

CAT WALK stop entrance.

FOOD VENDORS

PS 32 Bavarian Bierhaus

PS 34

• Walton’s Jewelry

• Binks Outfitters

• Native Matter

Passports available at the DFA tent on the square or at each shuttle

Wild Bill’s Olde Fashioned Soda

Unique Funnel Cake House

Mama “D” Papa “Doo”

Woolson Concessions

Buffalo Sausage

Ellie’s Doughnuts

PS 38 Leiper’s Fork Distillery

FV 40 Below Company

FV

FV

FV

Califarmia

Colton’s Steak House & Grill

Fabulous Food Services

Faith’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream

Flour & Forge

FV Hogwood BBQ

Ritmos Calientes - Caribbean

Guerreros Quetzalcoatl Aztec

Guerreros Quetzalcoatl Aztec

Chinese Arts Alliance

Guerreros Quetzalcoatl Aztec

Logan’s Snack Shack

Mama Yang and Daughter

Rice Rice Baby

Smokey Dawggs Gourmet Hot Dogs

The Jiving Turkey

The Pepper Pott

Travelin Tom’s Coffee Truck

Uncle Bud’s Catfish, Chicken, and Such

Vee’s Chick N Cones

Whitney’s Cookies

Will’s Chills/Little Jimmy’s Italian Ices

SS Joey’s Italian Ice The Wacky Lemon

SS Birdie’s Frozen Drinks

SS Bubble Bar

PS Buffalo’s Street Corn

SPRING STREET PERFORMANCES

• Kilwins Franklin 11:00 - 11:15

Theatre 12:00 - 12:30

Dancers 1:20 - 1:50

Dancers 2:00 - 2:30

3:45 - 4:15

Dancers

Vanderbilt Philippine Dance

Guerreros Quetzalcoatl Aztec

Guerzreros Quetzalcoatl Aztec

Chinese Arts Alliance Guerreros Quetzalcoatl Aztec

LICENSE TO IL

Il Forno in Chestnut Hill is Italian through and through

BY KAY WEST

Years ago, when Nashville reached a population count that drew a new breed of big-box chain restaurants to stake a claim on our dining landscape, and especially as franchise-happy Cool Springs emerged from Williamson County farmland, the Scene decided we would review the first location of each of those.

Which is what sent me and my semireluctant companions to the region’s first Olive Garden on Galleria Boulevard for dinner one night. It wasn’t that it was horrible — particularly not if you like loads of cheese, cloying sauces and huge portions. I just didn’t understand the excitement that greeted its arrival.

So before I wrote the review, I called a friend in Texas who had long been a fan and asked her, “What is it you love about Olive Garden?” She replied, “Three things: I love the breadsticks, I love the bottomless salad bowl, and I love that it’s not too Italian.”

And there, ladies, gentlemen and fluid, is the secret to America’s most beloved “ethnic” chain restaurants. P.F. Chang’s is not too Chinese, Chipotle Mexican Grill is not too Mexican, Au Bon Pain is not too French, and Olive Garden is not too Italian.

Other than its local address — at one end of Third Avenue South straddling Wedgewood-Houston and Chestnut Hill — Il Forno is Italian through and through. Chef Egidio Franciosa (who opened the restaurant in December 2021 with his wife/partner Jannah) grew up in Naples. The restaurant’s woodburning brick oven was hand-built in Naples by third-generation maker Stefano Ferrara, imported to California, shipped to Nashville, installed in the Il Forno kitchen and finished on site by an Italian craftsman, hand-dazzled with gleaming gold-penny tiles.

Il Forno features a floor-to-ceiling mural of an iconic photo of legendary Italian actress/siren Sophia Loren lustily tearing into a hunk of bread. It was hand-painted by Italian American Nashvillian Tarabella Aversa, who also painted the murals on the patio walls.

The wine list is Italian; the cocktail menu includes Italian classics like a Negroni and an Aperol spritz; sparkling water and sodas are Italian imports; limoncello, sambuca, amaro and grappa are among the after-dinner beverages; and Peroni is available by the bottle.

Throughout the menu, the flavors, ingredients, traditions and techniques of Italy are fully realized on every plate, from the simplest to the most complex. Every dish is titled in Italian, though succinctly described in English. Most importantly, the flour used in the breads and pizza — milled by Naples-based company Antimo Caputo — is 00 Caputo, the absolute gold standard for

FETTUCCINE VERDE PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

IL FORNO 1414 THIRD AVE. S. ILFORNOWOODFIRED.COM

authentic Neapolitan pizza.

Take a tip from La Loren and order a plate (or more, depending on the size of your party) of focaccia Napoletana, a puffy, chewy round of the rustic bread, its surface sprinkled with salt and oregano and blistered in the 900-degree oven. Pass the plate, pull off a hunk and dunk in the fruity olive oil. We also used pieces as a scoop for the robust marinara that a duo of fat meatballs was immersed in, topped with a melted dab of mozzarella, a starter special that evening.

Two carpaccios lead the appetizers, and though I rarely pass up the chance for the classic steak version, we instead opted for the carpaccio di polipo. Our curiosity was rewarded with a sublime and pristine masterpiece, an artistic arrangement of nearly translucent slices of octopus, fingerling potato and shallots, halved cherry tomatoes and a little nest of wild arugula with a dash of lemon dressing.

I applaud the light hand with the dressing, which doesn’t drown but enhances the greens, as the sherry vinaigrette does to the arugula at the center of the Zio Franco, which also has candied walnuts, red wine poached pear and goat cheese, one of five salads on the menu.

Onto a round of bread on a wood cutting board, the fresella places a scoop of diced, salted Roma tomatoes marinated in olive oil, topped with several thick slices of soft cheese — which leaned more to mozzarella than burrata as described on the menu — and drizzled with a syrupy balsamic. It was delicious, but not what I was expecting when I ordered based on the promise of indulging in the decadent, oozy creaminess of burrata. Similarly, the cioppino tomato broth delivered on flavor — salty, garlicky, a bit spicy — but had only mussels and shrimp and not the clams as noted on the menu; though the bowl literally overflowed with the two shellfish, I also missed the chunks of cod or halibut typical to most versions of the Mediterranean fish stew.

The expert decision of which homemade pasta provides the best partnership for a particular sauce has been made in the kitchen, so you just have to deliberate between wild-caught octopus ragu, Bolognese, black truffle sausage with cream sauce or lamb ragu with porcini mushroom. The latter was our choice; the meat and the fungi were equally represented in the earthy sauce, which coated each perfectly al dente strand of green fettuccine.

Perhaps, like my family, you have long

touted the pizza at Bella Napoli Pizzeria as the best in Nashville; owner Paolo Tramontana brought the Franciosas from California to Nashville in 2014 when he recruited Chef Egi for his kitchen. Perhaps you have been a follower of the Il Forno pizza truck since it hit the road in 2017, the success of which helped finance their bricks-and-mortar dream.

Chef Egi knows his pizza, and you will want to know his pizza too. Six — including the classic margherita — are tomato-based, all finished with fior di latte, a lighter iteration of mozzarella. The six pizze bianche build atop a fior di latte base. Italian meats, cheeses and Mediterranean vegetables abound as toppings, and fresh basil is strewn with a free hand. The beauty of the Stefano Ferrara oven is its blazing heat — which chars the rim of the dough, creating those signature blackened air bubbles, but in the short cook time keeps the foundation pliable enough to fold in half and eat as pizza is intended, with one hand.

No matter how strongly I insist at the end of a meal that I can’t possibly have one more bite of anything, there is always room for panna cotta, and Il Forno’s — set with a seasonal fruit compote — is not to be missed. I mean it. So light, you can also indulge in the tiramisu, which passed with flying colors the scrutiny of my pastry chef dining companion.

One caveat I cannot ignore: Il Forno’s noise level, which is exacerbated by a high metal ceiling, concrete floor and walls, lots of glass, bare wood tables, metalframed chairs and the open dining room and kitchen. My round table of four was centered between tables along one wall and the wood banquette that also divides the bar from the dining area, and we simply could not converse without significantly raising our voices and leaning way into the table. As fabulous as the food is, the overall experience was diminished by the battle to be heard. It’s not an uncommon issue in contemporary restaurants in reclaimed spaces, but there are mitigators and sound-canceling measures that can be put in place to help lower the din. On return visits, I’ll ask for a seat on the banquette or a table against the wall, or I’ll enjoy the lovely patio.

But truthfully, I’ll take the inherently Italian raucous gathering of family and friends at a crowded table, passing plates, drinking wine, laughing, talking and, yes, yelling at one another over a “not too Italian” experience every day.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

TIAMISU,PANNA COTTA AND LIMONCELLO MARTINI

CARPACCIO DI POLIPO

CHEF EGIDIO MAKING A CAPRICCIOSA PIZZA

CHEFS GET HOOKED ON THE KOJI SUPPLY CHAIN

East Nashville’s Proper Saké Co. nds a side hustle inoculating rice

BY ELI MOTYCKA

There’s a sterile room in the back of Rice Vice with its own monoculture. Temperature probes and fan boxes control heat and moisture, making sure owner Byron Stithem’s 160 kilograms of living rice doesn’t kill itself. Koji, the rice-and-fungus symbiosis that’s become extremely on-trend in Nashville’s culinary world, grows here.

“I’ve been getting it from Byron for four years — his is the cleanest I’ve ever used,” Chris DeJesus tells the Scene while prepping for dinner service at Butcher & Bee. DeJesus, Butcher & Bee’s executive chef, keeps koji in a plastic container in the back corner of the restaurant’s walk-in fridge, drawing from his stash when inspiration strikes. Right now, he’s using it to make fermented peppers and okra miso. “It pulls moisture, concentrates sugars, breaks down proteins and enzymes, all that. It’s insane.”

Clean koji is an essential step in brewing consistent sake, a traditional Japanese alcoholic rice beverage Stithem started brewing in Nashville six years ago as Proper Saké Co. (Stithem has since relocated from the Gulch to East Nashville, where Proper’s Rice Vice also serves as a sake bar and home for pop-

up food events.) When chefs like DeJesus took notice, Stithem started making culinary koji on the side. Culinary koji follows the exact same process Stithem uses for his sake but with a slightly different grain.

“Koji is the finished product with fully propagated spores,” explains Stithem in his koji room. He makes his koji with Aspergillus oryzae, the technical name for the common sake mycelium that brewers usually call “koji kin.” “If you put it under a microscope, it’d have the same mycelial structure as a mushroom.” The fungus comes from Japan as a fine green powder, which Stithem sifts over big bags of rice like fine powdered sugar or Parmesan cheese.

It then moves to kitchens. Chefs’ fermentation craze was helped along by The Noma Guide to Fermentation, a buzzy cookbook published in 2018 from the industry-leading restaurant known for its innovative kitchen. Renewed attention on Japanese culinary culture has made superstars out of miso and koji, the cuisine’s foundational fermented ingredients, influencing kitchens at acclaimed Nashville spots including Bastion, Dozen, Butcher & Bee, Rolf and Daughters, Folk, Hathorne and Henrietta Red.

“The dish called for a vegan sauce that would fall into a buttermilk ranch category,” says Eric Nolden, who works at Henrietta Red. “We added koji, water, salt and thyme — it took a few weeks to ferment. It gives you this really savory sauce, like ranch dressing, but without dairy. Just fermented rice inoculated with this mold.”

Koji has also helped Henrietta Red ferment scraps of bread and peeled vegetables into special sauces and misos. Nolden buys two kilos from Stithem every week or so.

“If you’re a chef who pays attention to national trends, it’s obvious that everyone’s using it,” says Nolden. “It’s an indispensable tool we need to have in the toolbelt.”

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

KOJI FROM PROPER SAKÉ CO.

BURNS VILLAGE & FARM MAY EVENTS

Friday, May 12 • 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm How Does a Community Build a Village?

We invite you to join us for a free Friday evening presentation in Germantown by cohousing architects Jack Wilbern and Patricia Tetro

SITE PROGRAMMING & SCHEMATIC DESIGN WORKSHOP

Sat. May 13 • 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

Sun. May 14 • 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Our architects Jack and Patricia will guide us as we begin to plan the layout of our community. This is intended for members and also those who want to learn about cohousing development.

CALL 615-480-2786 FOR DETAILS

HTTPS://BURNSVILLAGEFARM.COM

SHE BANGS

‘Queen of Pinups’ and Nashville native Bettie Page to receive historical marker

BY HANNAH HERNER

While combing through the 1940 Hume-Fogg High School yearbook, Ben Wilkinson says it’s “like the Bettie Page Show.” Page was her class salutatorian and was voted “Girl Most Likely to Succeed.” Wilkinson, a die-hard Bettie Page fan, led the local campaign for a historical marker in her honor, and pushed for it to be located near the school.

“That was her home,” Wilkinson tells the Scene. “She didn’t have the best home life from what I read. When she was at HumeFogg, she was the star.”

Nashville native and “queen of pinups” Page will receive a historical marker outside her alma mater on April 22 — what would have been the late icon’s 100th birthday. Mayor John Cooper has also named April 22 Bettie Page Day.

Jessica Reeves with the Metropolitan Historical Commission was all for the marker.

“We don’t have a lot of popular culture markers,” Reeves says. “For her to be from Nashville — that’s something that the city can really be proud of.

The photogenic brunette bombshell who cut her own bangs and sewed her own lingerie became a household name at 27. She was one of the earliest Playmates of the Month for Playboy, and she was a pioneer of BDSM content.

“She was just a trailblazer in the modeling world,” Wilkinson says. “The images themselves that photographers took of her — they’re some of the most powerful and important modeling images of all time in my opinion.

“Later, she became a symbol of female empowerment,” he continues. “She became a muse for artists. She’s probably one of the most drawn icons of all time. Even actors, designers, musicians — all kinds of creative people owe a lot to Bettie Page. She’s a popculture icon.”

It’s Page’s confidence and charisma that stood out to local pinup model Sammi Farra.

“Even back then, she didn’t care what people thought,” Farra says. “She was just going to do what she wanted to do, and it made her happy — that really showed through in her photos. I think that’s what really resonates with me and inspires me.”

One person who tried to quash Page’s career was Tennessee’s U.S. Sen. Estes Kefauver — who has a federal building named for him across from Hume-Fogg at 801 Broadway, as it happens. Page was among Kefauver’s targets in hearings aimed at indecent publications and pornography — things he believed caused “delinquency.”

“That experience traumatized her, and it’s pretty much said that’s the reason she left

modeling and disappeared,” Wilkinson says.

Page converted to evangelical Christianity in 1959 and worked for televangelist Billy Graham. She endured severe mental health struggles and all but entirely disap-

peared from the public eye later in life. Page didn’t get to reap all the benefits of her popularity while she was living, so this marker feels like restitution, Wilkinson says.

“[Estes Kefauver] has a building,” he

says. “And right across the street is going to be Bettie Page’s historical marker. You can almost say it’s like a redemption thing. People love Bettie. She persevered. She lasted.”

LAST DANCE

Nashville Ballet bids farewell to Paul Vasterling with New in Nashville

BY AMY STUMPFL

With a rich blend of new works and a beloved fan favorite, New in Nashville seems like the perfect way for Nashville Ballet to close its 2022-23 season. But this vibrant collection of movement and music also offers a particularly fitting tribute to longtime artistic director Paul Vasterling, who’s retiring after more than three decades with the company.

“It’s interesting because we program so far in advance, so everything was in the works long before I announced my plans to retire,” says Vasterling, who joined Nashville Ballet as a company dancer in 1989 and has served as artistic director since 1998. “But I do think it’s very representative of my taste and time here. I’m always striving to highlight other voices as part of our programming, bringing in different perspectives and different masterworks — that’s been important for both our artists and our audience.”

The New in Nashville lineup certainly delivers in that regard, serving up a pair of brand-new ballets by Matthew Neenan and Tony-nominated choreographer Donald Byrd. The program also includes Cathy Marston’s dazzling Snowblind, which is based on Edith Wharton’s book Ethan Frome. And then there’s Vasterling’s own Appalachian Spring, set to Aaron Copland’s sweeping score and performed live by the Nashville Symphony.

“Appalachian Spring has always been so special to me,” Vasterling says of the piece, which premiered in 2017. “It’s such a personal work, which I created in the fall of 2016 — just months after my mother had passed away. It was a very intense time. I’d been struggling with the ending, and when it finally came to me I realized: ‘Oh wow, this is actually about my mom.’ But that’s the beauty of art — it reveals itself in such unexpected ways. Beyond all that, I just love Copland’s music. Actually, I feel like this entire program is very solid musically, and sort of embodies the way I think. It all works so well with where we are as a company, but it also feels like a real bridge between the work I’ve done and what the future holds with Nick.”

Vasterling is referring to Nashville Ballet’s CEO and incoming artistic director Nick Mullikin, who first joined the organization’s staff in 2015, and was named associate artistic director in 2018.

“Having dedicated more than three decades of my life to Nashville Ballet, it wasn’t easy to think about retirement,” says Vasterling, who will continue to serve the organization as artistic director emeritus. “But the timing feels right, knowing that the company is in such secure hands. Nick not only has the artistic vision, he also can speak the busi-

ness language. More importantly, he really cares about the art form and all the ways it can speak to us. He’s such a thoughtful leader — it’s exciting for me to be able to step back now and watch where the company goes.”

Mullikin says he is “deeply honored” to lead Nashville Ballet into its next chapter, and hopes the 2023-24 season will build on Vasterling’s incredible legacy, with an ambitious mix of innovative contemporary works, romantic classics and several world premieres.

“We’re certainly excited about the new season,” Mullikin says. “But I also think it’s important that we not look at this as some wild departure or change for the company, but rather, just as the next step — a natural transition. Nashville Ballet owes a great deal of its success to Paul. He has challenged us to think about how we look at classical ballet in a contemporary space, pushing boundaries and inspiring everyone around him. And it’s because of that, that we’re able to take things to the next level. He has laid the foundation, and now we get to build upon it.”

That foundation reflects a period of unprecedented growth and artistic development, with a clear focus on accessibility and inclusivity. Under Vasterling’s direction, Nashville Ballet has grown from a troupe of just 12 dancers to become the largest professional ballet company in Tennessee — with 32 full-time professional artists from around the world. During his tenure, Vasterling has created more than 40 original ballets, all while building the company’s repertoire and national reputation, and opening countless doors to dancers and other collaborators along the way.

That’s the work that has fed Vasterling’s soul for the past 34 years.

“There was a time that I really thought my legacy would be the ballets themselves

— the choreographic works,” he says. “And there’s definitely a part of me that hopes those works will live on, and continue to be performed. But what I’ve come to realize is that it’s the people — their passion for the art,

and the way they’ve changed the world in big and small ways through the work that we’ve created together. That’s what I’m most proud of —that’s my legacy.”

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NEW IN NASHVILLE

APRIL 21-23 AT TPAC’S JACKSON HALL

MATTHEW NEENAN’S HILOS

PAUL VASTERLING

PHOTOS: HEATHER THORNE

SUPPORTED BY:

April 21–23, 2023

TPAC’s Jackson Hall

With the Nashville Symphony

Featuring Paul Vasterling’s Appalachian Spring and new-to-Nashville works by creative visionaries and Tony-award nominees.

EASE DOWN THE ROAD

Omari Booker nds freedom from incarceration in Fifteen

BY ERICA CICCARONE

In 2008, Omari Booker was arrested for a nonviolent drug offense. In a poetic gesture of optimism, he took an art class at Tennessee State University when he was out on bond awaiting sentencing. He entered Charles Bass Correctional Complex in 2009 with a 15-year sentence. Booker served three-anda-half years before being released on parole. Fifteen — his moving solo exhibition at Elephant Gallery, on view through May 20 — marks the end of his parole.

In a June 2017 interview for Nashville

Arts Magazine, Booker told me that when he was incarcerated, art became a way to feel free. “When I was drawing and sketching and listening to my headphones, I didn’t feel like I was in prison anymore,” he said. He wants his work to help others access freedom as well — from prisons socially or personally constructed; in other words, from whatever keeps us from liberation of the mind.

The two most prominent works in the exhibition are impressive self-portraits. “This Black Bird” is 96 by 96 inches — square like a box — and you really need the space of the whole gallery to take it in. In the portrait, Booker sits on the bunk in his cell, stooped over with a letter and an envelope in his hands. He’s looking down and to the side, like he’s paused his reading, or is preparing to read it again. His face is closed, troubled, and he is alone.

Another self-portrait called “Corrected” — measuring 60 by 48 inches — is hung directly across from “This Black Bird.” In it, Booker sits in a large armchair. He is barefoot, at ease. His long fingers hold a paintbrush. The window behind him is open, and he’s flanked by an easel and a record player. His expression is relaxed and open. Red and yellow

flowers cascade around him. “This Black Bird” and “Corrected” show the artist at vastly different points, yet these works aren’t juxtaposed — they’re in conversation. The Booker of “Corrected” says with his whole body that the Booker of “Black Bird” has a future — that there will be great struggle, but also ease.

It is tempting to say that Fifteen is predominantly about resilience and perseverance. But the word that instead keeps coming up for me is care. While Booker is represented in these two monumental oil paintings, he conceals himself in other pieces of new work in the show. He paints the people who supported him — his mother, grandmother and wife, as well as teachers and friends. Booker paints his own figure too. We see his clothing — a prison uniform here, a smart gray suit there — but his face, his hands and arms are concealed by pastel flowers. These appear symbolic of the support he felt from his family and community in the space and time between “This Black Bird” and “Corrected.” It’s a risky gesture that pays off — though I might like it more if the flowers were less impressionistic. Overall, the portraits are love-drenched and celebratory — with sunny

shades of yellow, bold pinks and lush greens.

It wouldn’t be fair for me to write this without telling you that Omari is my friend. We talk on the phone for an hour or so once, maybe twice a year, and we check in by text occasionally. He’s the kind of person who remembers details and is sure to tell you why you matter — to him, to the world. He is honest and transparent, and it’s impossible to be shifty or shady with him. And it’s impossible to lie.

Seven years ago, I classified Booker’s paintings as earnest. Eagerness and sincerity aren’t exactly prized in contemporary art, and he sometimes relied on cliché and heavy-handed symbolism. But he kept painting, developing his chops and moving toward something more original and meaningful. As his practice deepened, it became clear to me that being sincere is not the same thing as being naive, and the works’ earnestness was intrinsic to Booker’s nature. By that point, art had already been saving his life for a decade, and it wasn’t eagerness but urgency propelling him forward.

The hallway gallery at Elephant traces Booker’s emergence as an artist by showing older works beside more recent paintings. Some are sketches on blank prison travel permits and parole reporting forms — signs of an artist making do with what he had. This section is autobiographical in a way that I understand, but that I resist. I want the story to be told only through the new work — the towering portraits, the women who loved him into existence and kept him alive. It was important for him to show the whole story, including uncertain beginnings, and there’s value in that.

It is socially significant that Fifteen is on view in the white-owned Elephant Gallery in the historically Black 37208 ZIP code. It is among the ZIP codes with the highest rates of incarceration of young adults in the nation. Located near Fisk University, it is also in the neighborhood where Black student-activists were trained in nonviolent protest by James Lawson and planned the lunch-counter sitins and Freedom Rides that desegregated Nashville and the South. And it is also the neighborhood that the state bisected with I-40, killing Black businesses and amputating the limbs of a thriving community. There is struggle, yes, and there is power, and there is also ease. Fifteen is about walking through it all.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

FIFTEEN THROUGH MAY 20 AT ELEPHANT GALLERY BOOKER WILL APPEAR WITH SAM DUNSON AND CALVIN “BIG FRIDGE” BRYANT IN AN ARTIST TALK 6 P.M. FRIDAY, APRIL 28

“THIS BLACK BIRD,” OMARI BOOKER

“CORRECTED,” OMARI BOOKER

KID + PET FRIENDLY

APRIL 22+23

ONE C1TY / 10AM TO 4PM BOTH DAYS PROUDLY

Join the Nashville Scene for our Spring Craft Fair extravaganza! Come shop from over 100 curated vendors showing off their homemade goods including home decor, clothing, pet goods, jewelry, pottery and so much more! Guests can enjoy activities, giveaways, live music, craft cocktails, delicious wines, craft brews and indulge in food truck fare while supporting local artists.

SCAN

TO SEE THE FULL VENDOR LINEUP!

FOOD + DRINK LIVE MUSIC

Parker Millsap

Festival de Rock en Español

joan w/ Harriette

GET HAPPIER FRIDAYS: Bre Kennedy, Wayland, OTNES, Crocodyle (6pm)

VOLK w/ The Love-In (7pm)

NINE POUND HAMMER w/ Hans Condor & Eagle Johnson (9pm)

Stoop Kids, Madeleine, Jake Etheridge (7pm)

Stevie Rae Stephens, Becca Tremmel, The Imaginaries, Zach Meadows, Andi Jane and the Honky Tonk Cabaret, Anthony Adams (7pm)

MUSIC VINYL ARRANGEMENTS

Your quick-reference guide to Record Store Day 2023 in Nashville

BY HANNAH CRON

Record Store Day 2023 is Saturday, and we have the details you need to find the special releases of your dreams. This year, 300 titles are set to appear exclusively at independent record stores. It’s been 15 years since the first Record Store Day in 2008, and it has become an annual tradition celebrating record culture and supporting mom-and-pop record stores across Music City and around the world. Stores all over town have their own ways to celebrate. Starting out west, used entertainment giant McKay’s (636 Old Hickory Blvd.) will open at 9 a.m. with RSD exclusives and give away prints of their special Aubrey Beardsley-inspired RSD poster. While they won’t have exclusives, Alison’s Record Shop (994A Davidson Drive) will discount all records, and each purchase will come with a free Christmas record.

All three of The Great Escape’s Middle Tennessee locations — 5400 Charlotte Ave., 105 Gallatin Pike N. in Madison and 810 N.W. Broad St., Suite 202, in Murfreesboro — are celebrating Record Store Day. Each store will open early at 8 a.m., featuring RSD exclusives, giveaways and a special offer for each guest to choose five free items from a selection of sale records and CDs. The flagship Charlotte Avenue location will have a DJ spinning on site all day, and at 2 p.m., there will be a meet-and-greet and signing with Victoria Hallman of Hee Haw fame, who is releasing her LP From Birmingham to Bakersfield on RSD.

Venerable shop Phonoluxe (2609 Nolensville Pike) will be open their usual hours, starting at 10 a.m., with their usual large selection of used records — but no special offers for RSD this year. The website of Swaggie Records (211 Union St.) notes that the

IT HAPPENED IN MINSK

Belarusian post-punk phenoms

Molchat Doma look forward

BY CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

We’re now more than a year into Russia’s brutal war on Ukraine. Not long after the conflict began, Molchat Doma — a first-rate synth-punk trio from Minsk, Belarus, which is very near both countries — went on its first headlining club tour in the U.S., stopping at Exit/In in April 2022. The trio of vocalist Egor Shkutko, bassist and synth player Pavel Kozlov and guitarist, keyboardist and drum programmer Roman Komogortsev have crafted a cold but kinetic post-punk sound that perfectly suits their name: Translated from Russian, the language most commonly spoken in their hometown, that’s “Houses Are Silent.”

store is set to open an hour early at 9 a.m. for RSD, but no further information was available at press time.

The Vinyl Lab (1414 Third Ave. S.) and its companion venue and bar The Vinyl Lounge are not opening up early or offering special releases, but will host an after-party with The Wild Feathers, Tré Burt and more starting at 7 p.m. Per usual, the Nashville headquarters of Jack White’s Third Man Records (623 Seventh Ave. S.) won’t have RSD exclusives, but they will have a small in-store sale and copies of the 20th Anniversary Edition of The White Stripes’ classic Elephant that will be released on Friday. Also, country champ Emily Nenni and Banditos will play a regular ticketed show in The Blue Room that starts at 8 p.m.

Hopping over the Cumberland, The Groove (1103 Calvin Ave.) will host its annual RSD party in collaboration with Acme Radio Live. In addition to RSD exclusives for your browsing pleasure, live music starts at 11 a.m., with rock ’n’ pop bands like Future Crib and Jive Talk, much-loved East Side rapper Brian Brown, stellar singer Jamiah and more. HiFi Cookies, LabCanna and Braid Babes will be among the vendors on site, and proceeds from the festivities will support Oasis Center’s Just Us program, which provides resources for LGBTQ youth in Tennessee.

Grimey’s New and Preloved Music (1062 E. Trinity Lane) is set to open at 10 a.m. with a large selection of RSD exclusives in addition to their regular stock. WXNA DJs will spin in the store, where voter information nonprofit Headcount will have a booth. Secret Bodega will be on hand to serve hungry vinyl enthusiasts. Grimey’s main floor will be open for business as usual, while RSD exclusives will be offered out of the basement back door. If you’re looking for RSD titles, line up outside, where you’ll be presented with a menu to “order” from the exclusives currently available.

Drawing on influential English groups like Depeche Mode, Joy Division and Bauhaus — as well as ones closer to home like 1980s St. Petersburg post-punks Kino and contemporary Minsk underground rockers Soyuz — Molchat Doma has released three LPs. Though the members were born after the end of the USSR, Soviet visions of the future have echoes that you can feel in the brutalist architecture of the band’s hometown, which in turn influences its work. Not long after the group formed in 2017 came S Krysh Nashikh Domov (roughly, “From Our Houses’ Rooftops”), followed by 2018’s Etazhi (“Floors,” whose track “Sudno,” or “Vessel,” became very popular on TikTok). In late 2020, a time when the austere and mechanically oriented sound the band made felt especially resonant, Monument arrived via Brooklyn indie Sacred Bones, a label that perennially seems to have its finger on the pulse.

In the past year, Molchat Doma resettled in Los Angeles and began work on their fourth album. The current tour wraps in Pasadena, Calif., where they’ll play alongside Billy Idol, The Human League, Echo & the Bunnymen and more as part of the second installment

It’s Chipotle, but for records!

Last but certainly not least, Vinyl Tap (1038 Greenwood Ave.) is going all-out for RSD. In addition to exclusives, they will have two performance stages set up for live music with a lineup including Erin Rae, William Tyler and the Impossible Truth, $avvy, Alanna Royale and more. Be Good Market is sponsoring food and drink vendors for RSD participants to enjoy, and family-friendly activities will be hosted by Cecil’s Skate Shop and Tabla Rasa Toys.

So what can you expect to find among the racks? Many titles are special releases that will be available in only limited quantities on April 22 at indie stores; others are coming only to certain regions, while others still will be available from mom-and-pops first on RSD and be available later from other retailers. Delays in vinyl production and distribution have become increasingly common in recent years, for a whole host of reasons that include major labels monopolizing the limited capacity of vinyl pressing plants. In recent years, it hasn’t been uncommon for some RSD titles to have their releases delayed — check out the official RSD website for updates and the full list of releases.

Nashville’s own Americana power couple Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires are this year’s Record Store Day Ambassadors, fol-

lowing in the footsteps of Chuck D, Fred Armisen, Taylor Swift, Jack White, Brandi Carlile and others. Isbell and Shires have an “RSD First” joint release called The Sound Emporium EP, while Shires has her own exclusive title Live at Columbia Studio A Somewhere between The Rolling Stones and *NSYNC lies The 1975, who will release Live With the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

If you’re interested in rare tracks and alternate versions, look for the Witness to Your Love EP from alt-rock legends Garbage and Crosseyed Strangers: An Alternate Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco. Special double LPs abound, including Stevie Nicks’ Bella Donna Live 1981, Orville Peck’s Bronco, Suzi Quatro’s Quatro and Taylor Swift’s Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions

Roots-and-rock ace Amythyst Kiah more your speed? Look for her Pensive Pop EP. Or maybe obscure psychedelia like the lone, self-titled LP from Tulsa, Okla.’s Marble Phrogg is up your alley? Perhaps Afro Cuban Bop, a compilation of jazz sax legend Charlie Parker’s live experiments, is what your collection is missing. There’s a little something for everyone. Whether it’s your first RSD or your 10th, be sure to get to your favorite shop early to avoid missing out — and keep an eye on stores’ social media for updates.

EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

or another, life in the 2000s — post-Soviet era — leaves a certain imprint on you.

Growing up, was alternative music and art something you sought out on your own, or was it passed down from friends and relatives?

MTV influenced us very much as children. Later, once we got the internet, we went looking for music on local networks. There was always music at home. Our parents listened to music on cassette, and later on CD.

of New Wave goth fest Cruel World. Understandably, the band declined to answer any political questions, but was happy to answer a few others via email from the Scene ahead of their visit to Eastside Bowl on Thursday. Our interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The Eastern European human condition, at least in my perception, is a pragmatic sort of pessimism. Does that accurately describe the three of you? We are quite depressed people … brought up in far-from-cool conditions. We know there are situations much worse than ours, but one way

What has Molchat Doma been up to since its last Nashville show in April 2022? We’ve started a new period in our lives. We moved to the U.S. and have been busy rearranging our lives, arranging our music studio and occupying ourselves working on a new album. There’s so much going on in L.A. you never get bored, but of course we miss friends and relatives.

Tell me more about the band’s next moves. Before this tour, we were working on a new album, and we’ll continue to work on it afterwards. Everyone will be able to hear new songs at these concerts — and judging by the reaction [so far], they’ll really like them.

EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

WATCH STORES’ WEBSITES AND SOCIAL MEDIA FOR UPDATES

PLAYING THURSDAY, APRIL 20, AT EASTSIDE BOWL

LET’S GET PHYSICAL

Physical Music Products meets the challenges of vinyl record pressing head-on

BY KIM BALDWIN

When I arrive at Physical Music Products, a vinyl record plant just south of Nashville, I find the company’s president Piper Payne lying on the floor, fixing a pump on a record press. Payne is wearing black nylon running shorts, a vintage black Reba shirt cut into a sleeveless V-neck and black steel-toed boots. Impressively muscled and tattooed, she looks exactly like someone who built a manufacturing plant from scratch. Standing up, she runs her hands through her hair and says, “Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s hydraulic fluid.”

In addition to being woman-owned, PMP has made a name for itself in relatively short order by working closely with independent labels and offering some of the fastest turnarounds in the business, at five to seven weeks. If you’ve tried to get physical records pressed, especially in the past few years, you know to expect long wait times and frustrating delays. One well-known component among the many that make up this complex problem: There is too little record production capacity to meet global demand. Vinyl sales have been on the rise for more than a decade, and vinyl outsold CDs for the first time last year. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, vinyl revenue grew 17 percent in 2022, making up nearly three-quarters of the revenue brought in by physical music sales.

Payne identifies two other areas of concern. One is that getting a quality issue rectified at a vinyl pressing plant is time-consuming. Another — brace yourself for a surprise — is money. Payne explains that bigger labels have the leverage to negotiate more favorable payment terms and avoid paying deposits. That can put plants in the position of having to float majors’ orders financially, making it necessary to finish huge orders of Taylor Swift or Adele records quickly in order to get paid; in the process, indie labels’ or artists’ smaller orders get held up.

Payne has been working in professional audio since 2009. With a BFA from the University of Michigan, she went to Norway for grad school and then worked as an assistant to famed mastering engineer Bob Katz. She made her way to San Francisco and spent eight years as a mastering engineer, handling what’s been called “the final creative step in the recording process.” Then Payne got involved in a small record-plant startup in the Bay Area. In her role as chief product officer, she was responsible for getting records made and making sure they sounded good.

When that business fell apart at the beginning of 2019, she got a job offer from Pete Lyman at Infrasonic Mastering and moved to Nashville, expecting to return to mastering full time. Payne’s reputation preceded

her, and people started asking if she wanted to build a plant in Nashville.

“I was having a hard time helping my clients get their records made, and other plants were having quality issues and pricing and timeline issues,” Payne recalls. “And so I thought, ‘I’ll just build my own record plant.’” Her tone makes it sound as if she’s joking, but she’s not. Shout-out to stubbornness!

PMP’s rapid turnaround time is remarkable, and Payne attributes it to getting around

issues that slow down the process at bigger facilities. Payne has three full-time and three part-time workers, half of whom are women. You probably aren’t wondering what they do for fun, but I’ll tell you: They teach themselves how to fix anything that can break. Everyone on the press floor understands how to repair the machines, increasing efficiency and leading to creative solutions to problems that other plants might struggle with. In addition, Payne doesn’t know of any other record

plant in the world owned by a mastering engineer, who can quickly diagnose problems with test pressings.

“I haven’t found anybody faster,” she says. “We can do that because we work — we don’t wait.”

Payne chose to run older presses that use legacy technologies, though she’s quick to point out that everything that touches the surface of a record is new. Some of the presses are from the 1950s and operate by hand. Though newer presses might work faster, they’re harder to repair and can require the attention of a specialist. PMP’s machines also aren’t capable of some special techniques that produce spatters and swirls of color in the finished records.

PMP opened for business in February 2022 and pressed and shipped more than 200,000 records in its first year. “It’s not a huge number,” Payne says, “but we are good at this, and we care deeply about the product we’re putting out.”

Most of PMP’s clients have found the company through word of mouth, and Payne notes that they’re getting repeat business from engineers and labels. So far, they’ve pressed records for the likes of Dolly Parton, Sleater-Kinney, Mount Westmore, Madlib and the late, great J Dilla. A high percentage of their business comes from independent labels — one much-loved recent record pressed at PMP is Nashville indie YK Records’ vinyl edition of The Features’ The Mahaffey Sessions 1999. The firm aims to further strengthen its bond with indie labels through a partnership program; its goal is to get vinyl in the hands of up-and-coming artists, offering 100 records for $1,500. “Thao & the Get Down Stay Down is my white whale,” Payne says. “I would die if I ever got a chance to press a record for Thao.”

Right now, PMP has four automatic and four manually operated presses installed, with three automatics running and two more manual presses coming online soon. There’s room for an additional six automatic presses at the facility, and Payne gets very excited discussing ideas for growth.

“When we put out six more presses, I would love to see them partially financed by independent labels and independent artists. And then we run it, we support it, we staff it. … That would be super cool.”

EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

LEARN MORE AT PHYSICALMUSICPRODUCTS.COM AND @PMPVINYL ON INSTAGRAM

PHOTOS: ANGELINA CASTILLO

PIPER PAYNE, PRESIDENT OF PHYSICAL MUSIC PRODUCTS

AMYTHYST KIAH • BAHAMAS • THE BAND OF HEATHENS

BOBBY RUSH • CHRIS SHIFLETT • DAN TYMINSKI BAND

DOM FLEMONS • FRUITION • JP HARRISʼ DREADFUL WIND & RAIN

MARY GAUTHIER • MICHAEL CLEVELAND & FLAMEKEEPER

MIGHTY POPLAR • MIPSO • NICK SHOULDERS • THE PANHANDLERS

PARKER MILLSAP • STEEP CANYON RANGERS • YASMIN WILLIAMS

BLUE WATER HIGHWAY • BOWEN * YOUNG • CHATHAM RABBITS • CORY BRANAN

DARLINGSIDE • ESTHER ROSE • FANTASTIC CAT • JON MUQ • KASSI VALAZZA • LEON TIMBO

LOLA KIRKE • MICK FLANNERY • ROBERT ELLIS • SUMMER DEAN • WILLIAM FITZSIMMONS

AUTUMN NICHOLAS • CAITLIN CANTY • CHANNING WILSON • DENITIA • EMILY NENNI

GOLDPINE • GORDIE TENTREES & JAXON HALDANE • JAIMEE HARRIS • MYA BYRNE

ODIE LEIGH • PHILIP BOWEN • ROGER HARVEY • THE SENSATIONAL BARNES BROTHERS

SONS OF THE EAST• THUNDERSTORM ARTIS • WYATT FLORES

Featuring: WANT SYMPHONIC RUFUS WAINWRIGHT WITH THE NASHVILLE SYMPHONY

AN AMERICANAFEST SPECIAL EVENT WITH 125+ MORE ARTISTS TO BE ANNOUNCED

THU 4.20 WOMEN WITH SOUL SHOWCASE FEAT:

THE SPIN

HANG ON, SNOOPER, SNOOPER HANG ON

BY P.J. KINZER

Way back when I first started writing for The Spin, I remember being advised to just write what I would tell a friend who asked how the show was. But it’s difficult to explain the shenanigans that went on at Soft Junk on Friday without sounding like I’m riffing on Bill Hader’s long-running “Weekend Update” character Stefon. But this gallery show really did have everything: a DJ booth, hot food for sale, crowd surfing, a 3-foot-tall papier-mâché eight ball, a singer who lifted weights while performing and a grown human dressed as a giant mosquito.

The night centered on Snooper, a relatively new collection of rock-scene stalwarts who are revving up like they’re racing for pink slips. Born in the primordial ooze of COVID lockdown in 2020, the band’s core members are guitarist Connor Cummins, whom you might know from bands like Spodee Boy and Safety Net, and singer Blair Tramel, who developed the band’s distinctive video art. As they started playing shows post-quarantine, membership expanded to include drummer Cam Sarrett and bassist Happy Haugen, and they became a favorite around town in addition to touring extensively. Recently, Ian Teeple — frontman of Kansas City’s Silicone Prairie, who were in the middle of the bill Friday — joined the Snooper fold on guitar, and this was the band’s first show with Sean Booz on a second percussion setup.

What hasn’t changed between their earliest releases and the announcement of their Henry Rollins-approved first LP — Super Snooper, coming July 14 via Third Man Records — is their dedication to jagged hooks, lightning speed and multimedia mayhem. Snooper taps into the tradition of artists who break conventions and make rock ’n’ roll weird, nutty and thrilling — a proud lineage of iconoclastic freakazoids like Pere Ubu, Crime, The Locust and Devo, who examined and criticized contemporary culture in their time by tipping sacred cows

A few minutes after 8 p.m., the makeshift courtyard outside the much-loved East Side independent arts space, presided over by its signature “HOWDYWOOD” sign, was already filling up. The crowd milled about inside among Brett Douglas Hunter’s whimsical art installations, and those outside could hear what was going on, since the weather was mild and the big red garage door over the loading dock was rolled up. , playing their inaugural live set, piqued my curiosity with their minimal drums-keys-vocals setup. From the first song, the trio was wildly impressive. I loved that they seem absolutely unafraid to make ugly, bleak music. I felt a congeneric spirit between their work and the twisted punk poetry of Lydia Lunch, with synthesizers that alternated between whirring electronic noises and the kind of eerie, pulsating

organ sounds Richard Wright made on Pink Floyd’s early records. Mark it on your calendar: Per Instagram, the Egg hatches again at Soft Junk on May 7.

Back outside, DJ duo Gas.XYZ took over the P.A. The twosome consists of one of Nashville’s most prolific rappers, $avvy, and producer Enxgmaa. While they kept the crowd busy with beats and bass drops, Silicone Prairie was moving their gear into place. Seizing the opportunity to snag a spot up close, I moved along the back wall inside. Their 2021 LP My Life on the Silicone Prairie has the kind of off-kilter nervous energy characteristic of early flyover-state New Wave, which carried into the live set. In person, their saxophonist’s melody lines, which alternated between rocking and fully skronked, gave the whole thing a charming dissonance.

Within the five minutes it took me to walk with a friend to her car and back, the room became densely stuffed with rowdy dopamine addicts looking for a score. I resigned myself to scaling the handrail and hopping onto the loading dock between Snooper’s 5-foot-tall cardboard cellphone, with its LED sign on which the band’s name scrolled by, and a life-size cardboard model of an arcade game, with a TV inside playing an edited reel of ’80s-vintage TV commercials.

Amid the sea of surging bodies, I could at least make out Booz near the door, Tramel pumping her prop dumbbell and the Super Snooper — that’s their smiling mosquito mascot, rendered as a tall costume worn by a friend of the band — making its way through the crowd.

By the end of Snooper’s first song, the dock was quaking with the frenetic beat as fans bounced along. For 40 blurred minutes, they had complete control of the kinetic onlookers, while folks used their peers as stepladders to surf the frothing audience. Snooper chopped through the set with little negative space between songs, pulling back the curtain on new numbers that will appear on Super Snooper. The pandemonium was perfect, building to a crescendo in which a sweat-drenched Teeple was passed around by the audience.

Snooper exemplifies why you want to support your local art-punks: The time we live in is frequently chaotic and disturbing, and they have the combination of beautiful absurdity and explosive energy to arm us against it. The group is turning lots of heads and isn’t likely to stop anytime soon, with upcoming gigs including opening for Bikini Kill in Knoxville, a headline tour of Australia in June and a return visit to California for the Mosswood Meltdown in July.

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TENNESSEE EDUCATION LOTTERY CORPORATION

OFFICIALEND OF GAMENOTICE

TENNESSEE EDUCATION LOTTERY CORPORATION

TENNESSEE EDUCATION LOTTERY CORPORATION OFFICIAL END OF GAME NOTICE

ART FOR ART’S SAKE

Showing

BY D. PATRICK RODGERS

Notice is hereby given that the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation has declared and established, pursuant to the powers granted to it under the Tennessee Education Lottery

Notice is hereby given that the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation has declared and established, pursuant to the powers granted to it under the Tennessee Education Lottery Implementation Act (T.C.A. §§ 4-51-101 et seq.), Tuesday April 25, 2023 as the end of game date for

Act (T.C.A. §§ 4-51-101 et seq.), Tuesday, April 25, 2023, as the end of game date for the following instant ticket lottery games:

Notice is hereby given that the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation has declared and established, pursuant to the powers granted to it under the Tennessee Education Lottery Implementation Act (T.C.A. §§ 4-51-101 et seq.), Tuesday, April 25, 2023, as the end of game date for the following instant ticket lottery games: GAME # GAME NAME PRICE POINT

762 Lucky 7’

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by

Writer-director Kelly Reichardt’s films are deliberate. Intentional. Slow. In fact, hers is a brand of neorealism that is at times too slow for many audiences. And though Reichardt’s brand-new Showing Up is indeed among the slowest efforts in a filmography that stretches back three decades, it’s through its hyper-realistic, deliberate pace that the film achieves its power.

Pursuant to T.C.A. §4-51-123(c)(4)(B), holders of lottery tickets for the above-referenced instant ticket lottery games must claim a cash prize within ninety (90) days after the end of game date of April 25, 2023 Neither the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation nor any lottery retailer may pay a prize for a winning instant lottery game ticket for the above-referenced instant ticket lottery games after Monday, July 24, 2023

that the pigeon, which sticks around for the duration of the film, is a metaphor for creating a work of art — something that must be nurtured and finally released.

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Lizzy’s family dynamic is a troubling one. Her father, himself a retired sculptor, is played by Judd Hirsch, last seen as Williams’ character’s uncle in Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans

Lizzy’s younger brother

for prize payment after close of business on Monday, July24 2023,shall be null and void.

Winning lottery tickets for the above-referenced instant ticket lottery games must be received by the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation or by a lottery retailer authorized to pay the prize amount no later than close of business on Monday, July 24, 2023 Tickets for the above-referenced instant ticket lottery games received for prize payment after close of business on Monday, July 24, 2023, shall be null and void.

The fourth collaboration between Reichardt and Michelle Williams, Showing Up stars Williams as Lizzy, a cold, dour sculptor preparing for a major exhibit. Though she’s surrounded by free-spirited, Croc-wearing artists, teachers and administrators at the small Portland, Ore., arts college where she works, she rarely seems to make connections with any of them. Among her colleagues are her distracted mother Jean (Maryann Plunkett) and laid-back lothario and fellow artist Eric (André 3000, billed here as André Benjamin, who also contributes flute to the film — because yes, playing an instrument known as the Mayan double flute is something the enigmatic rapper and actor is known to do now.)

There’s also Lizzy’s landlord, neighbor, frenemy and fellow artist Jo, a sculptor with more acclaim and a seemingly much larger capacity for joy than Lizzy. Jo is played by the exceptional Hong Chau, whose recent run of work also includes performances in The Menu, the Peacock original Poker Face and The Whale — the latter of which got her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. (And with all due respect to the iconic Jamie Lee Curtis, Chau probably should’ve taken home the trophy.) Jo is often frustratingly flighty and insouciant, failing to restore Lizzy’s hot water and insisting upon nursing back to health a maimed pigeon. For what it’s worth, it’s probably not too much of a stretch to infer

Sean (John Magaro, great in Reichardt’s First Cow but iffy as a young Silvio Dante in Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark) is showing clear signs of severe mental illness. They all bicker. Lizzy, the worrier of the family, carries everyone’s burdens as her own. She is plagued. She is lonesome. She is, frankly, incessantly unpleasant. But perhaps her troubles will give her art more meaning.

None of this is to say Showing Up is an overall depressing film. As with the Coen brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis, it’s a movie about the isolating, soul-crushing slog of life as a starving artist. But like that film, it also finds a good bit of humor in the slog. (Bonus points: Both films also prominently feature an adorable but mischievous orange cat.) Showing Up isn’t the masterwork Reichardt’s First Cow is, or an absolute heartbreaker like Wendy and Lucy, another Reichardt-Williams collab. But it transmits so well the unease and obsession and anxiety of creating art.

As Reichardt’s films so often do, Showing Up manages to slowly unfold in a manner that ratchets up tension. Will some terrible fate befall Lizzy? Her art? Her family? Or will she manage to finally, mercifully, let go — of her work, her troubles and her selfimposed isolation? It’s in the small details of Lizzy’s relatable journey where Showing Up shines the brightest.

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We’re working to change that, while also providing jobs for our community’s most marginalized. Just.Glass, a program of local non-profit Justice Industries, o ers curbside glass recycling solutions for residential and commercial glass. We’re Good for the Environment; Good for the Community. Learn more at justglassnashville.org

ACROSS

1 What Do You ___? (popular modern party game)

fire

70 Hit the mall, say

71 Possible cause of a cough

DOWN

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