Nashville Scene 5-18-23

A f f a t e s L L C A n n d e p e n d e n t y o w n e d a n d o p e r a t e d f r a n c h i s e e o f B H H A f f a t e s L L C B e r k s h i r e H a t h a w a y H o m e S e r v i c e s a n d t h e B e r k s h r e H a t h a w a y s y m b o a r e r e ig s t e r e d s e r v c e m a r k s o f C o u m b a n s u r a n c e C o m p a n y a B e r k s h r e H a t h a w a y a f f a t e E q u a H o u s i n g O p p o r t u n ty

MAY 26

EMILY KING AND DEVON GILFILLIAN WITH JOSEPH SOLOMON

SEPTEMBER 15

RHIANNON GIDDENS WITH ADIA VICTORIA ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

SEPTEMBER 17 LIVE AT THE OPRY HOUSE

SQUEEZE AND PSYCHEDELIC FURS ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

SEPTEMBER 22

LARRY FLEET ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

NOVEMBER 2 & 3

CAAMP

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

NOVEMBER 10 2ND SHOW ADDED!

TAYLOR TOMLINSON ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

NOVEMBER 27

LIZ PHAIR ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

Pinewood Derby, Billy Joel & Stevie Nicks, Nashville AAPI Writers Showcase, Neutral Snap

BOOKS

Some

Matthew Vollmer’s memoir considers the mysteries of the living and the dead

TINA CHAMBERS; CHAPTER16.ORG

Photo by Angelina Castillo

PET OF THE WEEK!

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Adopt. Bark. Meow. Microchip. Neuter. Spay.

NO MORE CITY FUNDING FOR THE NASHVILLE AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Mayor John Cooper has decided not to put the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce in the budget this year, which means the chamber will receive no funding from the city. This will be the first time in 33 years, according to the Nashville Business Journal, that the chamber will not receive funds from the city. Though this decision may be surprising for some, it doesn’t come as a surprise to everyone.

In May 2020, I wrote about how the mayor had cut the chamber’s funding in half, from $350,000 to $175,000. As the chamber receives funds for recruiting businesses to both our city and the surrounding area, it seemed odd that 46 companies moved to “our region,” but none of them to Davidson County. This brings the leadership of chamber president and CEO Ralph Schulz into question in terms of economic development. Despite Nashville’s incredible growth, the chamber has also downsized its office space and cut staff during Schulz’s tenure.

Late last year, I had a poll conducted within the business community. Fifty-eight percent of respondents gave Schulz a rating of 0 or 1 out of 10 for his leadership, and 44 percent disagreed with the chamber’s regional focus. The chamber’s focus should be more on Nashville.

This has not, however, been the most negative news related to the chamber and Schulz’s leadership in recent years.

A year ago, without consulting Mayor Cooper, the chamber was pushing legislation to give county mayors the power to take over school boards. This move seemed to have angered Mayor Cooper, who was blindsided by the chamber’s actions. Some speculated at that time that the mayor cut the chamber’s budget by 50 percent because of that move — and as I noted in a previous letter, “The relationship between the chamber and the city was, as Councilmember At-Large Bob Mendes put it, ‘likely at a 50-year low.’”

The Nashville Business Journal reported that when it comes to the contract between city and chamber, “the city and the chamber [should be] aligned and share a vision for growth.” But from all outward appearances, and perhaps despite best efforts by the mayor, such a vision does not seem to be shared.

Further, when the Metro Council voted against bringing the Republican National Convention to Nashville in 2024, GOP lawmakers became vengeful. As reported earlier this month by the Nashville Scene: “During the three-month session, the Tennessee General Assembly passed bills cutting the Metro Council in half, abolishing Nashville’s police oversight board, restricting funds related to the Music City Center, taking over seats on Nashville’s airport and sports boards and easing the path to a NASCAR-fueled overhaul at The Fairgrounds Nashville’s racetrack.” As reported by the Nashville Post, “the state has taken an even more aggressive stance toward Metro governance, and some local officials have chafed at the chamber’s absence from some of the debates.” They feel the chamber should have been much

more supportive. “Rep. Caleb Hemmer (D-Nashville), who chairs the Nashville delegation in the state General Assembly,” reports the NBJ, “said he spent ‘an insane amount of time’ combatting state legislation aimed at Nashville — and said he could have used more help from the city’s business leaders.”

State representatives have been trying to take over leadership positions in Nashville, and rather than apologizing or stepping in to help out, Schulz has said the bill to cut the Metro Council in half “was not an issue for us to address, so they took no position on it.” Metro councilmembers work to advocate for Nashvillians across the city, but Schulz was apparently uninspired.

In the same NBJ article, Schulz essentially excused himself from not coming to the aid of business leaders — saying, effectively, if legislators are going to pass those laws (to disenfranchise and disempower Nashville’s leaders), they’re going to pass them, and the chamber could make recommendations after the fact. Way to fight for your fellow business leaders, Mr. Schulz.

In light of these and the more recent events, it’s not surprising that Mayor Cooper has decided not to include the chamber in the budget this year. If the chamber is not doing its part to help Nashville grow and thrive — and if chamber CEO Schulz, who is supposed to support our city’s business leaders, won’t step up — there’s little reason to pay out rewards.

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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RALPH SCHULZ

DIGGING INTO NASHVILLE’S GUN VIOLENCE DATA

More than 150 people have been shot in Davidson County so far in 2023

BY LENA MAZEL

FAILING PRISON LEAVES INMATES DEAD, FAMILIES GRIEVING

median household incomes and per capita incomes above the Nashville average, while Districts 2, 5, 17 and 21 do not. And looking more closely at the data reveals some striking patterns — particularly the overlap between the Chamber of Commerce’s map of economic disparity and the MNPD’s gun violence map. In areas with higher poverty in Districts 6 and 17, for instance, more shootings occur. Overall, shootings in Nashville are widespread and not decreasing.

A string of incidents at Trousdale Turner Correctional Facility highlights concerns about CoreCivic, Nashville’s home-grown private prison operator

BY ELI MOTYCKA

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

According to the Metro Nashville Police Department, as of this writing, 154 people have been shot in Nashville in 2023. Thirty-nine of those shootings have been fatal. Since the Covenant School shooting on March 27, the city has experienced nine other fatal shooting incidents and 33 nonfatal incidents. Gun violence is happening everywhere in the city: In the past three years, every Metro Council district — of which there are 35 — has seen at least one fatal shooting. The city experiences an average of roughly 11 shootings per district per year.

But this data doesn’t encapsulate the whole picture of how shootings occur throughout the city. While the data suggests that shootings are widespread, they happen much more frequently in some areas.

Consider District 35, which encompasses Bellevue in western Davidson County. In the past three years, that district has had one fatal and two non-fatal shootings. District 17, which encompasses Wedgewood-Houston and Eighth Avenue, has experienced 134 shootings — 21 fatal and 115 non-fatal.

The two districts have slightly different populations — according to census data from the Nashville Chamber of Commerce, District 35’s population is 19,133, while District 17’s population is 20,138. But even accounting for the slight population difference, a person is still about 64 times more likely to be shot in District 17 than in District 35. Overall, the number of shootings in District 17 is nearly seven times the Nashville average.

District 17 isn’t the only district with disproportionately high numbers of shootings.

Nashville has six districts with more than 60 shootings in the past three years, all with relatively high population density and all concentrated near the city’s downtown core: D2, D5, D6, D17, D19 and D21. Three of these districts (2, 17 and 21) have experienced more than 90 shootings in the past three years.

On the other end of the spectrum are five districts (D4, D8, D24, D34 and D35) with the lowest shooting numbers: eight or fewer total shootings in the past three years. Districts 4 and 24 have experienced four total shootings. District 35, Nashville’s safest in terms of gun violence, has experienced three.

While there are some overall trends, it’s difficult to conclusively predict where and why people will be shot. Still, Nashville follows nationwide trends suggesting that Black people are significantly more likely to be shooting victims. So far this year, the city has had 26 Black victims of fatal gun violence and 13 white victims. For non-fatal gun incidents, the numbers are 83 and 31 respectively, with one victim’s race listed as “other” on MNPD’s website. There are also about three times as many male victims as female victims.

Overall, the wealth of a district often correlates with its safety from gun violence. Recent census data shows that Nashville’s median family income is $65,565 and its average per capita income is $39,509. According to the Chamber of Commerce’s website, four out of the five safest districts have median family incomes of at least $90,000. District 35, the safest, has a median family income of $105,000 and an average per capita income of $53,458. District 34, which had eight shootings in the past three years, has a median family income of $144,000 and a per capita income of $99,193.

In the districts with the highest numbers of shooting incidents, the wealth demographics are mixed. Districts 6 and 19 have

After the Covenant School shooting in March, students from across Tennessee rallied at the state Capitol to urge politicians to consider gun reform legislation, and the Tennessee Three used Rep. Justin Jones’ (D-Nashville) and Rep. Justin Pearson’s (DMemphis) expulsion (and subsequent reinstatement) from the legislature to continue to bring national attention to gun violence issues. There are other local gun reform efforts. Kelley Griggs, a local tech entrepreneur, created a grassroots, bipartisan petition from the Nashville business community urging the legislature to enact extreme risk legislation designed to keep dangerous people from obtaining firearms. (Griggs co-wrote the petition with a few others, she says, but they wish to remain anonymous.)

Even Republican Gov. Bill Lee supports extreme risk legislation. The petition currently has over 260 signatures.

Griggs says the letter advocates for extreme risk protection orders because that legislation covers both gun availability and mental health issues — causes of violence discussed on both sides of the aisle. “Other issues came up,” she says, “but these were the things that we all agreed could be first steps.” Recent polling suggests that the majority of Tennesseeans support strengthened background checks and red flag laws.

After the state’s Republican supermajority failed to address firearm legislation during its regular session, Gov. Lee signaled his intention to call a special legislative session on Aug. 21. Despite Lee’s call for state leaders to consider expanding existing risk protection laws, House Republicans released a statement saying they considered such legislation a “non-starter.” Recent polling suggests that the majority of Tennessee parents support expanded background checks and extreme risk protections.

If it does indeed take place, Lee’s proposed special session will begin three months after the publication of this story. If shootings continue at their current pace, about 14 additional Nashvillians will be killed by guns before the legislature convenes.

Editor’s note: The data for this piece was pulled on May 10, and some numbers may have changed since.

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

Danny Lowrance was seven months from parole when he got sick. He had served four years of a six-year sentence and was earning “good time” — days without incurring disciplinary citations. Pam Lowrance, his mother, last spoke to him on March 22, two weeks before he died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

The next time she got news about Danny was from a doctor at VUMC following up with her about her son’s advanced directive. He had suffered a stroke induced by septic shock and was unresponsive.

“He didn’t get any treatment,” Pam tells the Scene. “He had been sick. He thought it was allergies, then his organs started shutting down.”

Pam held Danny’s memorial service outside Chattanooga, where she lives, and it was attended by his family and a few childhood friends. “He tried to go for about a week to get medical treatment, and they didn’t take him until he collapsed. When you’re a ward of the state, they’re responsible for medical care, shelter, food — like fostering a child. If they had just given him some antibiotics, I think he would be alive right now.”

Danny died at VUMC on April 10. He’s listed as the 38th inmate death in Tennessee prisons since the year began. In 2022, 182 people died in Tennessee prisons, down slightly from 191 deaths in 2021.

There have been six more deaths since Lowrance’s, including another — Charles Nelson, age 41 — at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, the Hartsville prison opened by CoreCivic in 2016. It’s the state’s largest facility, housing around 2,500 inmates, and has been the target of a nearly constant string of lawsuits. A case filed in March against specific CoreCivic employees, including former warden Martin Frink, alleges negligence and “deliberate indifference” in the death of Jose Torres at the hands of another inmate last year. In February, CoreCivic brought in its sixth warden in seven years, Vince Vantell.

Since its opening, Trousdale has been plagued by allegations of mismanagement and understaffing. Family members of inmates allege rampant violence, arbitrary lockdowns, retaliation by staff against inmates and difficulty communicating with loved ones.

IF SHOOTINGS CONTINUE AT THEIR CURRENT PACE, ABOUT 14 ADDITIONAL NASHVILLIANS WILL BE KILLED BY GUNS BEFORE THE LEGISLATURE CONVENES.

PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

Through a Facebook group, “Loved Ones in Trousdale Turner,” Pam and others communicate about how to support people on the inside.

A month after Danny’s death at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Pam is dealing with paperwork and legal hurdles from the state. The day she speaks with the Scene, Pam has just gotten nextof-kin paperwork notarized so TDOC will send her the $14.53 left in Danny’s inmate trust account.

“He was just sick,” Pam tells the Scene. “The fact that they had him handcuffed until they took him off that ventilator — that’s what stays in my mind the most.”

CoreCivic, which rebranded from Corrections Corporation of America in 2016, helped build the nation’s private prison industry from its offices in Middle Tennessee. The same year, shareholders sued over mismanagement, alleging that executives covered up severe understaffing and negligent medical care. These problems have been rampant across the U.S. prison system, prompting the U.S. Senate to conduct a bipartisan 10-month internal investigation into federal facilities that concluded in the fall.

In January 2020, Tennessee issued a scathing audit about its own Department of Correction that detailed findings confirming understaffing, inadequate facilities, noncompliance with state policies and insufficient medical care. The state found that official data and records were frequently wrong, nonexistent or lost. CoreCivic facilities were at the center of many of these claims, including at Trousdale, where state auditors found incidents of contractual noncompliance and reporting errors, including the “questionable” finding that staff had not reported any serious accidents or injuries over the entire 18-month audit period.

When asked about Lowrance’s case, CoreCivic

shared a statement that reads, in part: “Our top priority is the safe, secure management of our facilities and caring for inmates in a humane and appropriate environment.”

Soon, Trousdale will be one of just three privately run facilities in Tennessee. On June 30, CoreCivic’s contract with Tennessee to operate South Central Correctional Facility will terminate after 32 years.

“We are not seeking to renew the contract, and will cease operating the facility by no later than June 30,” a CoreCivic spokesperson tells the Scene Also on June 30, CoreCivic will lose its contract with the state of Oklahoma to operate the 2,400-bed

North Fork Correctional Facility. It lost its contract to operate West Tennessee Correctional Facility in 2021, the same year it lost its contract to operate Leavenworth Detention Center in Kansas, part of an executive order from President Biden to end federal contracts with private prison operators.

For years, CoreCivic has avoided government accountability for its failed prisons. Recent terminated contracts and financial disclosures indicate a slow pivot away from state prison operation and toward migrant detention centers, all advertised as “government real estate solutions,” on CoreCivic’s official website. The corporation has sold facilities in Pennsylvania, California, Oklahoma and Georgia. CoreCivic has forecasted a bump in detainees following the May 11 expiration of Title 42, a COVID policy that gave border agencies more leeway to expel immigrants. CoreCivic executives referred to this policy as an “occupancy restriction” in a recent letter to investors.

The Trousdale contract runs through 2026. Darrell Alfred Cooper, 61, died there on Jan. 13. Cooper was the prison’s first death in 2023. He had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in 2021 but was in remission. His ex-wife says he had been beaten badly by other inmates in late December and died from his injuries. Instead of receiving medical care, he was put on suicide watch to keep him away from further violence.

“He was in a wheelchair and couldn’t defend himself,” says Jean Cooper, Darrell’s ex-wife and primary contact on the outside. “The guards open up the pods for anyone to get in — inmates run that prison. I’m not looking for money. I can’t bring Darrell back. I just don’t want nobody else to go through what he did. It’s a death trap down in Trousdale, and I pray for anybody with family down there.”

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

‘LEAVE BEHIND’ PROGRAM PUTS HARM REDUCTION TOOLS IN THE HANDS OF THE MOST VULNERABLE

MNPD, Nashville Fire and STARS partnership launched as threats of new drug xylazine loom

BY HANNAH HERNER

uring the first quarter of 2023, emergency medical services responded to 1,328 suspected drug overdoses in Davidson County. Nearly 142 of those overdoses were fatal. Naloxone was administered in 47 percent of instances, accounting for at least 600 doses of the overdose-reversal drug commonly known by one of its brand names, Narcan.

It’s not uncommon for people brought back from an overdose to refuse further medical treatment, says Jeremy Reese, regional overdose prevention specialist for statewide drug prevention organization STARS. As part of the “Leave Behind” program — a new collaboration between STARS, the Metro Nashville Police Department and the Nashville Fire Department — first responders leave kits with those who just survived an overdose, in hopes of preventing a fatal one.

DANNY LOWRANCE PHOTO COURTESY OF PAM LOWRANCE

“In those types of situations, these people are refusing service to the ER, but they just overdosed and we’re leaving them with nothing,” Reese says. “That’s where the Leave Behind program comes into play. These officers, they are the ones that are feet on the ground. They are there in those high-energy situations where we unfortunately cannot be.”

Naloxone distribution in Davidson County centers on nonprofit outreach organizations, and the occasional person who approaches STARS for supplies because they cannot afford it. Over-the-counter Narcan was recently approved by the FDA, though has its own barriers to entry.

Officer Michael Hotz is head of MNPD’s neighborhood safety unit, which focuses on overdose death and drug distribution investigations. He says he’s been pleasantly surprised about the response to the Leave Behind program since it started earlier this year. The unit uses data on fatal and nonfatal overdoses to do outreach in Nashville’s most prone neighborhoods — typically those closest to the interstate, he says.

“The need for it and the desire for it in the general public, I’ve actually been quite impressed by and a little shocked by,” Hotz tells the Scene. “Not only is it individuals who are suffering from substance use disorder that are an obvious high risk of an opioid overdose that are willing to get these drugs and training from us, but also people who have a loved one or someone very close to them who’s suffering from substance use disorder who would want to be ready to intervene in the case of a potentially fatal drug overdose.”

The program is paid for through state grant dollars. STARS’ regional overdose prevention specialists train first responders to distribute the kits, which contain two doses of Kloxxado (a double-strength dose of naloxone, compared to Narcan), recently legalized fentanyl test strips and information about opioid use disorder recovery. So far, first responders distribute around 50 kits per month, but there is capacity to expand, Reese says.

The number of fatal drug overdoses has increased each year since the Metro Public Health Department started keeping track in 2016. Hotz says he believes harm reduction strategies like these kits are an answer to getting those numbers down. When he started at MNPD 13 years ago, there was a prescription pill problem, which morphed into heroin.

“When that morphed into the fentanyl epidemic, that’s when we really saw the unfortunate snowball effect,” Hotz says. “Its addictiveness and deadliness combined for the perfect storm.”

Just as the city’s first responders are getting organized about distributing naloxone, and the state legalized fentanyl test strips, another drug came on the scene. Earlier this month the Metro Public Health Department released a public health advisory on xylazine, an animal sedative showing up in overdoses. There are testing strips available for xylazine, but opioid reversal drug naloxone cannot reverse effects of xylazine on breathing, as it is not an opiate.

“It’s throwing gas on a fire,” Reese says. “It’s super scary. We’re starting to see the effects of it.”

THIS WEEK ON OUR NEWS AND POLITICS BLOG:

The mayor’s race kicked off last week with a televised forum. WKRN put 10 candidates on a stage for a live Q&A that covered transportation, policing, development and a host of other issues. Candidates are still struggling to distinguish themselves from a crowded field for Metro’s top office. The summer is packed with campaign events — early voting starts July 14, and Election Day is Aug. 3 Metro’s sidewalk ordinance — initially passed in 2017 and updated in 2019 — compels homebuilders to invest in sidewalk-building, either by paying for chunks in front of new homes or paying into a sidewalk fund. That legal requirement constitutes an unlawful “taking” in violation of owners’ property rights according to conservative justices of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Federal judges ruled in favor of owners suing the city and kicked the case back to a lower court, which previously ruled in favor of Nashville, to determine the city’s liabilities. The high-profile property rights case was backed by conservative and libertarian legal organizations. … A coalition of former board chairs, founders, staff and volunteers is fighting to stop the sale of nonprofit Alive Hospice to a for-profit entity, reports Steve Cavendish of the Nashville Banner. The coalition voiced opposition in a press conference last week and filed a complaint with Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, protesting what they expect will lead to a significant shift in Alive’s mission and operation. … The Metro Nashville Public Schools board’s draft budget for the 2023-2024 year includes $8 million for universal free lunches, $42 million for employee pay increases and measures to address the district’s shortage of substitute teachers. The board passed the draft document last week, an early step in citywide budgeting conversations that will take place through May and June. … Property assessor and mayoral candidate Vivian Wilhoite stressed economic parity and better city services in her Q&A with the Banner, part of a series with candidates as election season gets underway. Russ Pulley, a Green Hills councilmember running for one of the city’s five countywide at-large seats, emphasized crime reduction and inclusionary zoning in his Q&A with the Scene. … Some of the council’s most significant voices are aging out or running for higher office this year, while a crop of newcomers is vying for first terms across the city’s 35 districts. Early storylines for the next Metro Council are starting to take shape, including a large bloc of returning representation in Antioch and competitive races in key North Nashville and East Nashville districts. … White supremacy has always been a part of America, writes Scene contributor Betsy Phillips, from Ben Franklin to Tucker Carlson. Imprecise definitions of whiteness have expanded and contracted for centuries according to power and politics, says Phillips — and white supremacist backlash has always been there too.

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SUMMER * GUIDE *

PRESENTED BY

DOWN ON MUSICIANS CORNER

Talking with artist Alanna Royale and the free concert series’ executive director Justin Branam about the new season

BY STEPHEN TRAGESER

WHEN I GET ON THE PHONE with phenomenal soul singer and songwriter Alanna Royale — who came to Nashville a little more than a decade ago, and who appears on our cover this week — she’s bursting with excitement. She’s got a new single called “Run Around” on the way, she’s got a summer tour lined up opening for Australian soul-funk ensemble Surprise Chef, and she’s making her fourth appearance at Musicians Corner; fifth, if you count one of the program’s lockdownera livestreams.

On May 19, Royale and her glove-tight band will play ahead of groovy Louisiana outfit Seratones on opening night of the new season for the long-running free concert series in Centennial Park. The show kicks off five weeks of concerts whose roster runs the gamut from rocking songsmith Amythyst Kiah to cosmic pastoral ensemble William Tyler and the Impossible Truth to the Nashville Symphony. As a teenager, Royale didn’t often have money for concert tickets, but she was deeply passionate about getting as close to music as possible. She recalls reaching out to her local concert promoters, hunting any opportunity to work a show for free, just to see some of it.

“Anytime I see an opportunity to support an organization — or a concert series or a foundation or anything — that’s putting on entertainment that’s free and open to everyone, I just want to do that,” Royale says.

“[In Nashville], we now have an extremely

mixed range of income and privilege. It’s really important to continue providing that entertainment for people. I can barely afford to go to the movie theater, and people are out here with kids.”

Making sure everyone in town has ac-

cess to a broad range of excellent performances — spanning Americana, country, R&B, rock, hip-hop and beyond — has been Musicians Corner’s guiding principle since the nonprofit Centennial Park Conservancy launched the program in 2010. For the past several years, series executive director Justin Branam (whom you might have seen perform during the series’ inaugural season in 2010) has led a team of Conservancy staffers and a small army of volunteers in putting on what amounts to 10 to 15 small festivals each year.

They pull together funds from Conservancy memberships, corporate sponsorships, grants and more that pay for things like production and security, as well as paying artists for their performances — not something every free festival is able to do. They book a lineup that is consistently diverse in terms of race, gender and style, aiming for the series to represent the full range of Nashvillians’ identities. And they work hard to make the atmosphere amid the West End park’s venerable oaks and maples fun and welcoming for everyone — especially families with young kids. Whole families can come together to Musicians Corner’s afternoon and evening shows and see rising stars to legends who only the parents might be able to see at a regular nighttime gig; if they can book a sitter, that is.

“Every year, I look out there and I see kids dancing in front of the stage and really enjoying the live music,” says Branam.

“And I think it’s only a matter of time before one of those kids is gonna be all grown up, and they’ll be playing on the stage. And it’ll be like a full circle moment of, ‘I saw music here when I was 3, and it changed my life.’” *

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

MUSICIANS CORNER WEEKENDS MAY 19 THROUGH JUNE 17 IN CENTENNIAL PARK

ALANNA ROYALE

From family activities to concert series and beyond, here’s our roundup of great summertime stuff to do and where to do it

FAMILY PLAN

A lineup of family-friendly summer activities in Middle Tennessee

BY TOBY ROSE

HENRY JAMES ONCE SAID “summer afternoon” are the two most beautiful words in the English language. But he didn’t have to contend with Super Mario. I have three kids — ages 5, 7 and 9 — and this will be the first summer I find myself not only looking for activities that suit all their interests, but also competing with a screen that is far more entertaining than I could ever be. Here are my solutions.

TENNESSEE RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL

No kid (or grown-up) can resist the charms of a Renaissance fair. Travel back in time and dress up in your finest medieval ware with your fellow hobbits, elves, knights and maidens. Snack on turkey legs and Jester Chips. The annual event, which takes place in Arrington each weekend in May, features royal jousts, knife throwing, comedy, magic shows and more — not to mention people-watching at its prime. Kids love the spectacle (and souvenirs) of it all. Beat that, Nintendo! Tickets, schedule and more info at tnrenfest.com.

May 20, 21, 27, 28 & 29 in Arrington, Tenn.

OLD STONE FORT STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK: ENCLOSURE WALL TRAIL

This hike presents a high-risk, high-reward situation. Your kids will either have a blast or they’ll whine the whole way, so exercise your own judgment. If you choose to embark on this adventure, after a moderately easy hike, you’ll be greeted with some of our state’s most dazzling waterfalls and swimming holes. So load up on snacks, and godspeed. Open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily in Manchester, Tenn.

BRENTWOOD SPLASH PARK

I come to the Brentwood Splash Park to chill. The kids run berserk through the water slides and splash stations while I set up shop on one of the lounge chairs with a stack of magazines. Admission is only $2 per kid — and make sure to bring cash for the iced lemonade cart — which makes you Parent of the Year for less than $15. The park is open daily but hours vary; see their site for details. Open daily at 920 Heritage Way

DONELSON PLAZA STRIKE & SPARE

Sometimes we leave our house screens for outside screens. The Donelson Plaza Strike & Spare is one of my kids’ favorite arcades in town, and I love the bowling alley’s old-school vibe. Zero frills, tons of fun. Plus I got to explain what an ashtray is. Who says there’s no learning during the summer? Sadly, the nearby Donelson Bowl closed this month after 63 years in business to make way for an apartment complex — leaving the Strike & Spare as your only remaining old-school bowling option in this neck of the woods. Open daily at 2710 Old Lebanon Road

TO-DO LIST

A roundup of concerts, film series and other summertime happenings across Nashville

COMPILED BY HANNAH CRON

MAY 18: Waka Flocka Flame at Brooklyn Bowl

MAY 18: All Time Low w/Mayday Parade at the Ryman

MAY 19: Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks at Nissan Stadium

MAY 19: Full Moon Pickin’ Party at Percy Warner Equestrian Barn

MAY 19-20: Musicians Corner feat. Seratones, Alanna Royale, Nikki Lane and more at Centennial Park

MAY 19-20: Scottish Ballet’s The Crucible at TPAC’s Jackson Hall

KELLEY’S BERRY FARM

As soon as school’s out, we always head to Kelley’s Berry Farm, where the kids grab buckets and set to work picking strawberries. Quite a few of the berries end up in their mouths instead of the buckets. It’s pure joy. However, the late-winter frost did a number on Tennessee’s strawberry crops, so make sure to call ahead for picking availability. Open 7 a.m.-6 p.m. daily in Castalian Springs, Tenn.

PINEY RIVER: PINEWOOD CANOE & CAMP

My prescription for dwindling attention spans — for parents and kids alike — is to spend a full day on the river. Middle Tennessee is teeming with great waterways, but my crew likes the Piney River. Pinewood Canoe & Camp allows you to rent a canoe or kayak, bring a picnic lunch, and simply meander. For an added bonus, leave your phone in the car. You can do it. I have faith in you. (Whereas I did not have faith in my family not to tip the canoe and ruin my phone.) Visit pinewoodcanoecamp.com for rental information. Open 9 a.m.-3 p.m. daily in Nunnelly, Tenn.

THE AQUATIC CRITTER

Here’s one way to cool off during the dog days of summer: Take your crew to go hang out with some cold-blooded reptiles. The Aquatic Critter is not your average pet shop. When my 9-year-old decided he wanted a turtle for his birthday, we went here for some market research. The verdict’s still out on the pet turtle, but the kids had so much fun looking at the exotic fish, and the staff is super-friendly. Open daily at 5009 Nolensville Pike *

MAY 19-JUNE 8: 1973 series at the Belcourt

MAY 20: Cornelia Fort Pickin’ Party feat. Laney Jones and the Spirits at Cornelia Fort Airpark

MAY 20: Jess Williamson w/Jo Schornikow at The Basement

MAY 21: Wednesday w/Cryogeyser at The Basement East

MAY 22: Converge w/Brutus and Frail Body at The Basement East

MAY 23-38: Into the Woods at TPAC’s Jackson Hall

MAY 26: Christine McVie Tribute feat. Caitlin Rose, Jemina Pearl and more at The Blue Room at Third Man Records

MAY 26: Nova Twins w/Girl Tones at The Basement

MAY 26: Emily King w/Joseph Solomon and Devon

Gilfillian at the Ryman

MAY 26-28: Musicians Corner feat. Hayes Carll, Amythyst Kiah, William Tyler and the Impossible Truth and more at Centennial Park

MAY 27: KDSML and Friends at The End

MAY 27: Cariño: A Celebration of Being Big, Black and Brown at The Office (604 Gallatin Ave.)

MAY 27: The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys at the Station Inn

MAY 28: Yelawolf at The Caverns

MAY 30: Waterparks w/Hunny and Elliot Lee at Brooklyn Bowl

MAY 31: Annie DiRusso w/Hannah Cole at The Basement East

MAY 31: Moony EP Release at The End

JUNE 1: Movies in the Park: Minions: The Rise of Gru at Elmington Park

KELLEY’S BERRY FARM

SCOTTISH BALLET’S THE CRUCIBLE AT TPAC’S JACKSON HALL

MOVIES IN THE PARK: MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU

PHOTO: JANE HOBSON

OVER35 FEATUREDBEERS!

SATURDAY MAY 20TH

2PM - 7PM

HOT WHEELS

Nashville’s skate and bike scene prepares for a multimodal summer

BY ELI MOTYCKA

THERE ARE EIGHT RULES at Nashville’s secret bike park. With shovels and wheelbarrows, volunteers have molded mud into jumps that can launch riders 10 feet in the air, linking together to form an intricate course. “Bikes only!” says rule two. Rules six, seven and eight forbid racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia. Another sign with a few additional rules — no camping, no dumb stuff, be cool — is signed only by “locals.” The track is nestled just feet from backyards; dense brush on all sides hides it from view. Wheel-friendly pockets of Nashville can make summer feel like a single adventure. City engineers and planners have dropped critical new cycling infrastructure in the past nine months, making non-car travel across the city safer and more appealing. Hundreds more miles of projects wait in the pipeline, as does a direct e-bike subsidy from Metro to residents that got bumped to next term. Increasing transportation options has become a key issue in this year’s mayoral race — candidates have emphasized repeatedly how unsafe the city has become for pedestrians and cyclists sharing the road with cars, pointing to NDOT’s WalknBike Nashville plan and the regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Committee.

A growing base of cyclists and advocates — dubbed “Big Bike Energy” by the Scene in November — has helped Nashvillians exercise, commute and explore, proving demand for bike paths and greenways. Many of these paths thread together major urban green space and commercial hubs, connecting residential centers with parks, farmers markets, restaurants and concert venues. Halcyon, an offbeat longtime 12South bike shop, hosted a closed-circuit

“criterium” race around Sevier Park at the neighborhood’s annual music festival earlier this month. The Tennessee Bicycle Association runs crits at The Fairgrounds Nashville every Wednesday.

Extremely cool skate shops — Compound in Donelson, Asphalt Beach on Woodland Street — have sustained a market for skateboards and in-line skates, particularly since such outdoor hobbies boomed during the height of COVID. Maple Built, the successor of Salemtown Board Co., produces wooden-board decks on Buchanan Street via a mission-driven apprenticeship program. Cecil’s Skate Shop, the latest venture from things-that-move entrepreneur Austin Bauman of Green Fleet Bikes and Shelby Ave. Bike Co., brought a board store (and ice cream, and a toy shop) to Porter Road last year. All feature interactive terrain, like rails and quarter-pipe jumps, establishing places to gather and sowing seeds for a boarding community that’s based on reclaiming public space.

Not-so-secret hotspots around Nashville have gotten a recent boost of money and support. East Siders swear by Cornelia Fort Airpark, a decommissioned airport tucked into a corner of the Shelby Park system. Its tarmac is now a campus for biking, blading, picnics, kite-flying and model rocket launches. The city of Dickson made its new skate park an area destination. Nestled between tennis courts and a baseball diamond, the pump track at Watkins Park — a joint venture between public, private and nonprofit groups — is up and running. Two Rivers, just down the street from Compound, has had a complete skatepark for years and helped build a youth boarding community in Hermitage and Donelson.

“There are cliques,” says Scene photographer Eric England. “There’s bicycle guys, scooter kids and skateboard kids. They don’t always intermingle.” He goes to Two Rivers with his 12-year-old son, who’s a scooter kid.

“He’s got friends there that he sees after school — sometimes we’re out there almost every day. It’s better than looking at your fucking phone.” *

JUNE 1: Amish Science w/Negro Justice, Soultru and Spoken Nerd at The Cobra

JUNE 1-4: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard at The Caverns

JUNE 1-JULY 31: Summer Reading Challenge at Nashville Public Library

JUNE 2: The Nashville Black Market’s Friday Night Market at Nashville Farmers’ Market

JUNE 2: Brew at the Zoo at the Nashville Zoo

JUNE 2: Ruston Kelly at Ascend Amphitheater

JUNE 2-3: Musicians Corner feat. Caroline Spence, Jordy Searcy and more at Centennial Park

JUNE 3: Rich Ruth at The Basement East

JUNE 3: Ode to Otha on Sweetbriar Avenue

JUNE 3: Ron Pope at the CMA Theater

JUNE 3: La Luz at The Blue Room at Third Man Records

JUNE 3-4: Tanya Tucker at the Ryman

JUNE 4: Valerie June at City Winery

JUNE 7: Fenne Lily and Christian Lee Hutson w/Why Bonnie at The Basement East

JUNE 7: Shania Twain w/Kelsea Ballerini and Breland at Geodis Park

JUNE 8: Movies in the Park: Mean Girls at Elmington Park

JUNE 8: Catie Turner at The Basement East

JUNE 8-10: Musicians Corner feat. Nashville Symphony, Savannah Conley, The Brummies and more at Centennial Park

JUNE 8-11: CMA Fest

JUNE 10: Cornelia Fort Pickin Party’ feat. Boo Ray at Cornelia Fort Airpark

JUNE 10: Pylon Reenactment Society at The Basement East

JUNE 11-12: Indigo Girls w/Aaron Lee Tasjan (June 11) and Larkin Poe (June 12) at the Ryman

JUNE 13: Duran Duran w/Bastille and Nile Rodgers and Chic at Bridgestone Arena

JUNE 14: Diarrhea Planet w/Twen at the Ryman

JUNE 15: Movies in the Park: Top Gun: Maverick at Elmington Park

JUNE 15-18: Bonnaroo feat. Kendrick Lamar, Odesza, Foo Fighters and more at The Bonnaroo Farm

JUNE 15-18: Nashville Symphony: Black Panther in Concert at the Schermerhorn

JUNE 16-17: Cabaret on Stage with Kristen Chenowith at TPAC’s Jackson Hall

JUNE 16-17: Musicians Corner feat. Blessing Offor, Coco and more at Centennial Park

JUNE 17: Bryan Adams at Bridgestone Arena

JUNE 17-18: Exposition of Elegance: Classic Cars at Cheekwood Estate and Gardens

JUNE 19: Rodrigo y Gabriela at the Ryman

JUNE 20: Hermanos Gutiérrez at The Basement East

JUNE 20: Tegan and Sara w/Carlie Hanson at the Ryman

JUNE 20-25: 1776 the Musical at TPAC’s Jackson Hall

JUNE 22: Movies in the Park: Lightyear at Elmington Park

JUNE 22: Sierra Hull at the Ryman

LUKE COMBS, CMA FEST

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

SIPS OF SUMMER

brought to you by summer tastes better with a cocktail in hand!

SHEEP'S BLOOD

Ingredients

2 oz Black Sheep

Reposado Tequila

1 Tablespoon Blood Orange Puree

½ Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice

½ oz Gran Marnier

Top with 2 oz Club Soda

Tajin Smoked Sea Salt Rim

Mint Sprig

Step 1

Rim glass with lime and apply smoked sea salt and tajin mix to rim

Step 2

Shake all ingredients with ice and pour into the glass

Step 3

Top with club soda and lift the mix with a spoon to the top

Step 4

Garnish with mint sprig

For more summer cocktail recipes, visit blacksheeptequila.com

Kayak

615-800-7321

Pictured: Emeril's Coastal JalapeñoBerryMartini

JUNE 23: Nashville Jazz Workshop: Jazz in the Park feat. Rod McGaha at Hadley Park

JUNE 23: Full Moon Pickin’ Party at Percy Warner Equestrian Barn

JUNE 23: Lindsey Lomis at Exit/In

JUNE 23-25: Re:SET Concert Series feat. LCD Soundsystem, Steve Lacy, boygenius and more at Centennial Park

JUNE 24-25: Nashville Pride Festival feat. Fletcher, Autumn Nicholas and more at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park

JUNE 24: Leslie Jones at TPAC’s Polk Theater

JUNE 24: Tori Amos at the Ryman

JUNE 24: Wavves w/Cloud Nothings at Eastside Bowl

JUNE 25: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds w/Garbage and Metric at First Bank Amphitheater

JUNE 26: Ally 400 Nascar Cup Series Race at Nashville Superspeedway

JUNE 27: Ben Folds at the Ryman

JUNE 29: Jerry Douglas Band at the Ryman

JUNE 29: Julia Gomez at The East Room

JUNE 30: Daisha McBride at Eastside Bowl

JULY 1: Summer Zzzoofari Slumber at Nashville Zoo

JULY 1: Monster Jam World Finals at Nissan Stadium

JULY 3: Matchbox Twenty at Bridgestone Arena

JULY 4: Let Freedom Sing! feat. Brad Paisley and more, downtown on the riverfront

FAREWELL TOUR

The NashTrash sisters plan their retirement after 26 years

BY HANNAH HERNER

SISTERS BRENDA KAY AND SHERI LYNN wanted to be closer together. So in a California bar in 1996, Sheri concocted a plan that would evolve into the iconic NashTrash pink tour bus. “I wrote it all down in one fell swoop on a piece of paper,” Sheri says. “I woke up the next morning, sober as a judge. I said, ‘Well, that’s a good idea.’ I called Brenda. One year later, I [had] moved to Nashville, we had a bus, it was pink, and we were open for business.”

After 26 years in business, The “Jugg Sisters” act is coming to a close. At 65, Sheri is looking at retirement in the next year, she tells the Scene

These days, every show of the musical-comedy tour of the city sells out, and includes repeat customers. It’s highenergy and raunchy, and feels like a plea to take notice of the things that have always made Nashville special. On top of bits about country music legends, as their pink bus rolls through the most tourist-friendly parts of the city, the sisters talk about the accolades of Nashville’s Fisk Jubilee Singers, closing with, “Didn’t that just blow your mind?” They cover important moments from the civil rights movement and the namesake of Rep. John Lewis Way — and “Get ready to shit your pants,” because the Nashville Symphony Orchestra has won two Grammys.

Over the years, Brenda and Sheri have also become more true to themselves, they say. They started as Dolly Partonesque country music caricatures complete with spandex, wigs and blue eyeshadow. The look has been toned down, but the comedy has gotten even more confident. On the day the Scene accompanies the sisters on a tour, NashTrash kicks things off by pulling out of the Nashville Farmers’ Market and gesturing up at the state Capitol — the “assholes up on the Hill.”

But there’s room for a new guard on the pink bus. Comedian Ben Oddo hosts one tour, and thespians Jenny Littleton and Hank Haggard are manning another. After Sheri leaves, Brenda has plans to do a solo show while mentoring the new-

comers. The bus is its own beast — one they’ve mastered.

“It’s hard to find a comedian musician, plus do a show on the bus,” Brenda says. “It’s a different ball game. You have to be good at improv, you have to think on your feet, you have to point out shit and also be funny.”

“We’re trying not to put any pressure on the new kids,” Sheri adds.

After the Jugg Sisters’ tour wraps up in about a year, they both have plans to leave town — but not together. They have other interests — gardening, cooking, boating, “drinking nice wine, hearing nice music.” Don’t be surprised if you hear about Sheri directing a community theater production in Kentucky, or Brenda managing a rescue farm in Pennsylvania.

“I think about that, I just start crying,” says Sheri. “We have to be together. I always say that to Brenda. As we get older, we’re getting, I think, more close, because we just don’t care about the petty stuff anymore. We realize our time on earth is fleeting. Better not spent pissed off at each other.”

Sheri’s plan to be closer to her sister worked. They’ve been side by side on the bus, working within inches of each other, for the past two-and-a-half decades. If their plans to move elsewhere, separately, come to fruition, they’ll have to get used to living hundreds of miles apart. And Nashville will have to get used to the gap they’ll leave.

“We came along with that pink bus, and we did that without any competition at all for 10, 12 years,” says Sheri. “Slowly but surely, there was a party bus on the street and another weird little comedy bus and a sing-along bus — and well, well, well, look at all the little children we spawned.” *

JULY 4: Music City Hot Chicken Festival at East Park

JULY 6-7: Nashville Symphony: Jurassic Park in Concert at the Schermerhorn

JULY 7: The Nashville Black Market’s Friday Night Market at Nashville Farmers’ Market

JULY 11: Foreigner Farewell Tour at Ascend Amphitheater

JULY 11: Old Gods of Appalachia Live: The Price of Progress at TPAC’s Polk Theater

JULY 11: Mountain Goats w/J Mascis at the Ryman

JULY 12: First Aid Kit w/The Weather Station at the Ryman

JULY 12: Hurray for the Riff Raff at 3rd and Lindsley

JULY 13: Dwight Yoakam w/The Mavericks at FirstBank Amphitheater

JULY 14: Juan Wauters at The Blue Room at Third Man Records

JULY 14: Killer Mike and the Midnight Revival at the Ryman

JULY 14: Nashville Jazz Workshop: Jazz in the Park feat. Cord Martin at Hadley Park

JULY 15: Beyoncé at Nissan Stadium

JULY 16: Blink-182 w/Turnstile at Bridgestone Arena

JULY 18: Erykah Badu at Bridgestone Arena

JULY 20: Boy George and Culture Club at Ascend Amphitheater

JULY 21-22: Full Moon Pickin’ Party at Percy Warner Equestrian Barn

JULY 22: Ed Sheeran at Nissan Stadium

JULY 22: Cornelia Fort Pickin’ Party feat. The FBR at Cornelia Fort Airpark

JULY 23: Kurt Vile and the Violators at The Caverns

JULY 23: Sad Summer Fest feat. Taking Back Sunday, The Maine and Motion City Soundtrack at Ascend Amphitheater

JULY 24: Greta Van Fleet at Bridgestone Arena

JULY 25: Maggie Rogers w/Soccer Mommy at Ascend Amphitheater

SHERI LYNN (LEFT) AND BRENDA KAY

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

BRAD PAISLEY, LET FREEDOM SING!

RETURN TO OZ

OZ’s Brave New Works Lab and Scottish Ballet’s The Crucible lead the summer’s performing arts selections

BY AMY STUMPFL

SUMMER MAY NOT OFFICIALLY ARRIVE for a few more weeks, but things are already heating up for local arts organizations, and a vibrant mix of programming is ready to hit the stage. Audiences can expect a busy season packed with stellar performances — from small offbeat indie works to internationally acclaimed artists and big Broadway shows.

OZ ARTS BRAVE NEW WORKS LAB, MAY 18-20

OZ Arts kicks things off on Thursday with its Brave New Works Lab. The program showcases some of the city’s most innovative artists, and this year’s lineup provides an intriguing blend of dance, music, theater and multimedia. The lab includes four new works from artists Sangeetha Ekambaram and Joi Ware (Peripheral Convergence); Eboné Amos (Girl, Gurrl, Gworl — iterations of freedom); Clay Steakley and Becca Hoback (The Fire Cycle: Stone Sutra); and Gabrielle Saliba (Ride).

SCOTTISH

MAY 19-20

BALLET

PRESENTS THE CRUCIBLE AT TPAC,

Looking for more of an international flavor? Tennessee Performing Arts Center has you covered with Scottish Ballet’s powerful adaptation of The Crucible. Inspired by Arthur Miller’s stunning masterpiece about the Salem witch trials, this ballet features evocative choreography by Helen Pickett and a haunting score by Peter Salem. Best of all, Nashville gets to experience the production’s U.S. premiere first — before it heads to The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

INTO THE WOODS AT TPAC, MAY 23-28

Also in May, TPAC welcomes the star-studded tour of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods — which recently earned six Tony nominations, including Best Revival of a Musical. It’s not often we see so many A-listers hitting the road to reprise their Broadway roles, but theater

lovers can look forward to catching big names like Montego Glover as The Witch, Stephanie J. Block as The Baker’s Wife, Sebastian Arcelus as The Baker, and Gavin Creel as Cinderella’s Prince/Wolf.

STREET THEATRE PRESENTS FALSETTOS, JUNE 16-JULY 1

Heading into June, Street Theatre Company will present William Finn and James Lapine’s contemporary musical Falsettos at The Barbershop Theater. This Tony Award winner follows a gay man, his lover, his wife and his son as they navigate everything from relationships and bar mitzvahs to the looming AIDS crisis. Smart, funny and full of heart, this offbeat show is tailor-made for Street Theatre — especially during Pride Month. And director Randy Craft has put together a terrific cast, including Ryan Greenawalt, Mike Sallee Jr., Katie Bruno and more.

KINDLING ARTS FESTIVAL 2023: COUNTERCULTURE AT VARIOUS VENUES, JULY 27-30

In July, you’ll want to check out Kindling Arts Festival 2023: Counterculture. This four-day festival promises to entertain and inspire with a daring lineup of cutting-edge artists performing at venues around the city. Highlights include BAR FIGHT! 2666: Let the Bodies Hit the Floor — the much-anticipated follow-up to last summer’s “queer karaoke/ wrestling crossover theatrical experience,” starring Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva. Then there’s Kindling’s signature dance showcase and a “parody musical of the East Nashville Facebook Page,” courtesy of the comedic minds at Cherry Bomb.

NASHVILLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL AT ONEC1TY, AUG. 31SEPT. 24; ACADEMY PARK IN FRANKLIN SEPT. 28-OCT 1

And of course, the summer wouldn’t be complete without an evening under the stars with the Nashville Shakespeare Festival. This marks NSF’s 35th season, and they’re celebrating with the Bard’s rollicking comedy Much Ado About Nothing. Director Denice Hicks has set the story in 1973 Nashville, offering a unique “blend of nostalgia and contemporary relevance.” Audiences will enjoy funky styles of the era and plenty of great music from singer-songwriter Larysa Jaye. The production, which takes place at OneC1ty, wraps up with a big dance party full of peace, love and understanding. A bonus weekend of performances will follow at Academy Park in Franklin. *

JULY 25: JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown: Scaring the Hoes at Marathon Music Works

JULY 25: Ann Wilson at Brooklyn Bowl

JULY 25: John Fogerty at FirstBank Amphitheater

JULY 27: The Chicks at Bridgestone Arena

JULY 27: The Impractical Jokers at Grand Ole Opry House

JULY 28: Manchester Orchestra and Jimmy Eat World at Ascend Amphitheater

JULY 28: 50 Cent at Bridgestone Arena

JULY 30: Melissa Ethridge at the Ryman

AUG. 3-5: James Austin Johnson at Zanies

AUG. 4: The Nashville Black Market’s Friday Night Market at Nashville Farmers’ Market

AUG. 4-10: Music City Grand Prix downtown

AUG. 11: Full Moon Pickin’ Party at Percy Warner Equestrian Barn

AUG. 11-12: Tomato Art Fest at Five Points in East Nashville

AUG. 14: Counting Crows and Dashboard Confessional at the Grand Ole Opry House

AUG. 15: The National w/The Beths at Ascend Amphitheater

AUG. 17: CupcakKe at Brooklyn Bowl

AUG. 17-26: Wilson County Fair/Tennessee State Fair in Lebanon

AUG. 18: Tim Heidecker: The Summer of Two Tims at City Winery

AUG. 18-19: Defy Film Festival in East Nashville

AUG. 18-20: Professional Bull Riders Team Ride at Bridgestone Arena

AUG. 19: Black Arts Bash at Cheekwood Estate and Gardens

AUG. 19-20: Deep Tropics feat. Gorgon City, What Is So Not and more at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park

AUG. 20: Jodeci at Ascend Amphitheater

AUG. 26: Guns N’ Roses at Geodis Park

AUG. 26: Cornelia Fort Pickin’ Party feat. Brazilbilly at Cornelia Fort Airpark

AUG. 30: Leanne Morgan at the Ryman

AUG. 31: Bully at Brooklyn Bowl

AUG. 31: Shakti at the Ryman

AUG. 31: Doobie Brothers at FirstBank Amphitheater

SELECT ONGOING EVENTS

Dino Trek at Nashville Zoo, through July 30

Richland Park Farmers Market, 9 a.m.-noon Saturdays at 4711 Charlotte Ave.

12South Farmers Market, 4-7 p.m. Tuesdays at Sevier Park, 3000 Granny White Pike

Farmin’ in the Hall, 4:30-7 p.m. Thursdays at Crievewood United Methodist Church, 451 Hogan Road

East Nashville Farmers Market, 3:30-6:30 p.m. Tuesdays at 511 Woodland St.

Elise Kendrick: Salon Noir at the Frist, through July 31

Guitar Town: Picturing Performance Today at the Frist, through Aug. 20

Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature at the Frist, through Sept. 17

Storied Strings: The Guitar in American Art at the Frist, May 26 through Aug. 13

Ron Jude: 12 Hz at the Frist, May 26 through Aug. 13

Teens Take the Frist! at the Frist, July 29 through Sept. 3

LIGHT: Bruce Munroe at Cheekwood Estate and Gardens, through Oct. 27

Carmen Herrera: Estructuras at Cheekwood Estate and Gardens, through Sept. 3

JOI WARE (LEFT) AND SANGEETHA EKAMBARAM WILL PERFORM PERIPHERAL CONVERGENCE AT OZ ARTS BRAVE NEW WORKS LAB

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

TOMATO ART FEST

SIPS OF SUMMER

brought to you by

S ummer ta S te S better with a cocktail in hand !

b lack S heep S ummer S ie S ta

Ingredients

2.5 ounces Black Sheep

Tequila blanco

3/4 ounce fresh lime juice

3/4 ounce agave syrup or simple syrup

½ ounce Campari

½ ounce fresh grapefruit juice

Lime wheel (for serving)

Step 1

Add Black Sheep tequila, lime juice, agave syrup, Campari, and grapefruit juice in a cocktail shaker. Fill shaker with ice, cover, and shake vigorously until outside of shaker is very cold, about 25 seconds.

Step 2

Strain cocktail through a Hawthorne strainer or a slotted spoon into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with lime wheel.

For more summer cocktail recipes, visit blacksheeptequila.com

ARTS BELLEVUE PRESENTS THE SECOND ANNUAL

SATURDAY, JUNE 3 5-9PM

CAROL’S HOMESTEAD BOTANICAL SANCTUARY

Outdoor Education Summer Camp for Kids of All Ages

Join Dr. Carol Batey-Prunty and her husband John for an educational handson experience of nature, cooking and more!

With these 4-hour classes you’ll learn about resources ranging from home gardens, greenhouses, and woodland supply resources!

May 29 – June 1 | June 19 – 22 | July 10 – 14

9 AM – 1:30 PM | Lunch Provided & Music Taught $375 per person | Siblings Discount - $300 per person

Early Bird Discount Before April 1st - $50 o Register by calling 615-485-4548 or visit carolshomestead.wordpress.com 7731 Ridgewood Road, Goodlettsville, TN 37072

SCAN FOR TICKETS

FRIDAY, JUNE 9

7:00 to 10:00 pm

PLANETARIUM STARGAZING SCARY STORIES

ROASTING MARSHMALLOWS ARTS + CRAFTS ( ZOMBIE) SURVIVAL SKILLS TRAINING GAMES + CHALLENGES

BARS BY ROSEMARY & BEAUTY QUEEN

GRILLED CHEESERIE DADDY'S

DOGS

COUNSELOR SKITS BY THIRD COAST COMEDY CLUB

CAMP SONGWRITING & SING-ALONG WITH MORGXN

Presented without the Nashville Symphony.

CRITICS’ PICKS

WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF THINGS TO DO

VIRTUOSO FIREWORKS

[LOSE THE BOOZE]

THE GREAT CURIOUS COCKTAIL PARTY

Curious Elixirs, maker of botanic-heavy, booze-free cocktails, is on a mission to show the world that not drinking can be fun too. The company is hosting what it is billing as “the biggest boozefree party on the planet.” The plan for The Great Curious Cocktail Party is 50 different parties in 50 different cities at the same time. Nashville’s event, a boozefree trivia night, takes place at Killjoy, the city’s new nonalcoholic bottle shop. “With 50 simultaneous satellite parties across the country, The Great Curious Cocktail Party is set to be the largest sober celebration America’s ever seen,” says Curious Elixirs founder JW Wiseman. “We’re honored to be ushering in the zero-proof movement in Nashville,” says Stephanie Styll, Killjoy owner. Killjoy is located inside the Loading Dock — trust us, it’s there, just follow the signs. A ticket, available online, covers admission, snacks and some NA drinks, with others available for sale. 6 p.m. at the Loading Dock, 2028A Lindell Ave.

MARGARET LITTMAN

THURSDAY / 5.18

[EXPLOSIONS OF ORCHESTRAL COLOR]

MUSIC

VIRTUOSO FIREWORKS

With a concert title like Virtuoso Fireworks, expectations are naturally high. But considering the dazzling talent of Bomsori Kim, it’s a perfect description. This weekend, the Nashville Symphony welcomes the internationally celebrated violinist for an evening of thrilling masterworks — all played with Kim’s expressive style and extraordinary technique. The program includes a pair of beautiful operatic works — Henryk Wieniawski’s Fantaisie Brillante (on themes from Gounod’s Faust) and Franz Waxman’s Carmen Fantasie (part of Waxman’s score from the 1946 film Humoresque). Audiences

can also look forward to Richard Strauss’ evocative “tone poems,” Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration) and Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks. Interestingly enough, Kim shares a long history with Nashville Symphony music director Giancarlo Guerrero, as the two met several years ago at the Montreal International Musical Competition and have continued to collaborate regularly. In fact, Guerrero led the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic (where he also serves as music director) in recording Kim’s newest album, Bomsori: Violin on Stage, which was released on Deutsche Grammophon in June 2021. May 18-20 at the Schermerhorn AMY STUMPFL

[SLIDE JOB!]

PINEWOOD DERBY

Before NASCAR’s Ally 400 returns to the Nashville Superspeedway in June, stop by Imogene + Willie for an even bigger high-octane, four-wheeled frenzy: the Pinewood Derby. The Nashville clothier is resurrecting the Boy Scout staple event — in which competitors assemble cars from plastic wheels and carved wood to race on a downhill track — as a fundraiser for Big Brothers, Big Sisters. Teams from local institutions like Barista Parlor, The Peach Truck and Third Man Records will square off against a host of other entrants (registration filled up before the Scene could enter a car, unfortunately) in the Imogene + Willie backyard starting at 7 p.m. A $25 ticket includes pit-road access along with a Bad Luck Burger Club burger and a drink — let the good times roll. 6 p.m. at Imogene + Willie, 2601 12th Ave. S. COLE VILLENA

ART [LONDON FOG]

LONDON AMARA: THE ALCHEMY OF SPIRIT AND LIGHT

Large-format collodion wet-plate

MAY 18-20

Schermerhorn Symphony Center

BOMSORI KIM

LONDON AMARA: THE ALCHEMY OF SPIRIT AND LIGHT

photography is one of the most inherently captivating mediums. Think of Sally Mann’s haunting studies of the South, or the eerily detailed antique photographs of the mid1800s. Florida-based artist London Amara is exhibiting a selection of her own wet-plate photographs at the Parthenon — a fitting home for similarly grand but out-of-time works. The works in The Alchemy of Spirit and Light show Amara’s concern with “skirting the expectation that photographs need always be directly representational, using it instead to record patterns of light and dark that refer primarily to themselves, or to nature as a quasi-spiritual force.” The wet-plate technique requires that Amara use a portable darkroom — she’s made hers from an ice-fishing tent — when working in remote locations. The exhibition is open through September, but the Parthenon will host a free opening reception for the exhibition on Thursday night. Opening reception 6-8 p.m. May 18; through Sept. 10 at the Parthenon, 2500 West End Ave.

LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

FRIDAY / 5.19

[MIDCENTURY

MUSIC

in a fit of bad faith. The latter-day Tin Pan Alley pro sums up his universe in “My Life” with this couplet: “I still belong / Don’t get me wrong.” On the other hand, some of Joel’s stuff can be moving, and let’s face it — he writes great pop tunes. I appreciate his 1986 song “Big Man on Mulberry Street,” which is an excellent Steely Dan rip and suggests that Joel has misgivings about staying home when he could be out having fun. Like, say, Paul McCartney, Joel is a creature of contrivance whose ebullience — and ear for the killer hook — carries him through his problems with concept. He appears Friday with another great figure from the days of classic rock, Stevie Nicks, whom you may remember from her solo career and her work with another group of California hedonists, Fleetwood Mac. 7 p.m. at Nissan Stadium, 1 Titans Way EDD HURT

[SOUTHERN ROCK SHINDIG]

RIDE THE TIDE MUSIC FESTIVAL

MODERN]

EASTSIDE BOOGIE

Most evenings, I listen to my 1950s playlist and imagine I’m living in a time when I couldn’t possibly know what an email was. (Unfortunately, it’s also a time when I couldn’t have my own bank account.)

The Eastside Boogie is an opportunity to celebrate the best parts of the midcentury — its music, cars, dancing, hairdos and outfits. Second-time host Eastside Bowl is the perfect aesthetic fit for two nights of rock ’n’ roll and rockabilly music including headliners Chuck Mead and the Stalwarts (on Friday) and local favorites Hillbilly Casino (on Saturday). The Friday lineup includes The Royal Hounds, India Ramey, The Cowpokes and others, and you can come early on Saturday for the drive-in car show and a vintage and Western-wear fashion show. It’s already a big year for the Nashville midcentury enthusiasts, as just last month they secured a historical marker for queen of the era Bettie Page, and even for the more casual fan, it’s a great place to get style inspiration. May 19-20 at Eastside Bowl, 1508 Gallatin Pike HANNAH

HERNER

MUSIC

[YOU

MAY BE RIGHT]

BILLY JOEL & STEVIE NICKS

When people say they dislike classic rockers like the Eagles and Billy Joel, what they usually mean is that these artists’ worldviews grate on their sensibilities. In the case of Joel — a gifted melodist and pianist and a pop singer of infinite crassness — the philosophy behind two of his Broadway-meets-The-Beatles tunes, “My Life” and “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me,” seems to derive from his desire to normalize rock itself, as if the New Jerseyborn pop auteur’s biggest influences were Margaret Thatcher and the iconic ’70s character Fonzie. Like the Eagles, whose “Hotel California” and “Life in the Fast Lane” cast the country rockers as victims of a California-specific hedonism they only pretend to condemn, Joel applies his skills to songs that often seem to have been created

If you like your rock with a Southern flavor, then the Ride the Tide Music Festival this weekend at The Caverns might be your jam. The festival, which runs from Friday morning till midday Sunday, is the brainchild of Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies frontman Mike Farris and Caverns owner Todd Mayo. “We were looking to do something, and then I got a call from Todd wanting to partner with us to do a festival, and we jumped at it,” Farris tells the Scene Most of the performers slated to play have personal connections to Farris and the band. “The thought was to focus on artists we’ve worked with in the past or were friends with or people we’ve come up with,” Farris explains. In addition to the Cheetah Wheelies, who will headline and perform all three days, the bill includes Drivin N Cryin, Lucero, North Mississippi Allstars, Trigger Hippy, Highwater and Them Vibes on Friday, and Jimmy Hall, Foy Vance, Eli “Paperboy” Reed, Ruthie Foster, Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown, and Bonnie Bishop on Saturday. Free on-site camping is included with the price of admission. May 19-21 at The Caverns, 555 Charlie Roberts Road, Pelham DARYL SANDERS

MUSIC [CHOW DOWN]

VENUS & THE FLYTRAPS EP RELEASE SHOW

You can’t judge a book by its cover, but you can judge this band by their excellent name. Venus & the Flytraps, the duo of Nashvillians Ceci Tomé and Brenna Kassis, make music that bites. If you’re the kind of girl (or guy) who grew up screaming every word to Live Through This, the Flytraps’ new Venus in Love EP is definitely for you. The already-released singles “Worse Together,” “Red Hot” and “Scaredy Pants” are riot grrrl by way of Taylor Swift, showcasing angst and attraction with sharp Gen-Z humor. Venus & the Flytraps will play a special release show at The East Room to celebrate the EP with special guests Archie Summers and Meg Elsier. The duo will be making their Bonnaroo debut in June, so check them out now before they catch on with the festival crowds. Just like their namesake, once you hear Venus & the Flytraps, you’ll be stuck with them for good.

8 p.m. at The East Room, 2412 Gallatin Pike

HANNAH CRON

SATURDAY / 5.20

FILM

[HOME, THE ONLY ONE I KNOW]

1973 SERIES: MEAN STREETS

Red lights bathe the bar in an eerie glow, as if the watering hole resides in hell itself. An impossibly confident young man enters the bar in slow motion, a girl on each arm. “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” blares. In this moment, the life of Charlie Cappa (played by Harvey Keitel) is about to change for the worse, but movies are about to change for the better. Martin Scorsese’s crime classic Mean Streets, airing at the Belcourt as part of their series on the films of 1973, signified a few things — the arrival of Scorsese as a master filmmaker with a fully formed style; a revolutionary change in the use of pop music in film (to this day, people still ape Scorsese’s use of The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” in opening credits); and the birth of a true movie star. For many audience members, that iconic bar entrance was the first time they’d seen Robert De Niro on screen. It would be far from the last. May 20 & 24 at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. LOGAN BUTTS

[SUMMER

MUSIC

TAKEOFF]

CORNELIA FORT PICKIN’ PARTY

For those in search of a wholesome, family-friendly outdoor summer concert series, might I recommend the Cornelia Fort Pickin’ Party? Part of Shelby Bottoms, the Cornelia Fort Airpark was converted to a recreational greenspace after it was acquired by the city. The concrete airstrip and surrounding field and flora make a beautiful hotspot for bikers, skaters, dogwalkers and outdoor-lovers of all kinds.

Once a month throughout the summer (May through August), the park holds a pickin’ party featuring local musicians, food, drinks, kid-friendly activities and more. The proceeds are then poured right back into the park itself. May’s event will feature music from psych-folk outfit Laney Jones and the Spirits, along with genre-bending crooner Miss Tess and country singer Dakota Danielle. While this is a ticketed event, kids 15 and under won’t need to pay if they arrive with an adult who has a ticket. This gathering is about as Nashville as you can get in one of the best possible ways, and you’ll have multiple opportunities to check it out this summer.

5:30 p.m. at Cornelia Fort Airpark, 1199 Shadow Lane KELSEY BEYELER

MUSIC

[SHE’S GOT THE LOOK] THE LOOK AWAYS W/ ZOOK

Amid the ever-abundant noise of Music City, The Look Aways have carved out a niche all their own. The group’s eclectic song list straddles many idioms, from pastoral jazz to Latin pop and ambient folk. “There is a special sort of trust within our group that allows us to explore our make-believe worlds in real time,” says vocalist Erica Wilkes. “I like to think of our set as a collection of three-minute plays, each a space to play a new role.” The band plays more than just unique covers, as percussionist extraordinaire Anson Hohne contributes his own introspective songwriting that boldly ventures into modern classical and free-jazz territories. “Lyrically, I try to express as small of a moment, subject, emotion, etc., as possible in a way that is abstruse enough to stretch beyond its original intention,” Hohne says.

VENUS & THE FLYTRAPS

49 WINCHESTER

ADEEM THE ARTIST

ALLISON DE GROOT

ALLISON RUSSELL ANGEL OLSEN

BILLY STRINGS

BONNIE RAITT

BRANDI CARLILE

BRUCE ROBISON

CAAMP

CHARLEY CROCKETT

DAN AUERBACH

HERMANOS GUTIÉRREZ

ISA BURKE

JEFF PICKER

JEREMY IVEY

JONATHAN WILSON

KYLE TUTTLE

MARGO PRICE

NICKEL CREEK

PLAINS

S.G. GOODMAN

SIERRA FERRELL

SISTASTRINGS

SUNNY WAR

THEE SACRED SOULS

TYLER CHILDERS

THE WAR AND TREATY

WILLIAM PRINCE

ZACH BRYAN

Hohne’s focused intent encapsulates The Look Aways sound. The indie psych-folk brainchild of Zach Tittel, better known as Zook, begins the evening. 6 p.m. at The 5 Spot, 1006 Forrest Ave. JASON VERSTEGEN COMMUNITY

[SACRED HARP]

DEFORD BAILEY AVENUE DEDICATION CEREMONY

If you can breathe, you can get pleasing sounds out of a harmonica, but to make the instrument truly sing is an art. Born in 1899, DeFord Bailey was an incredible player who taught himself an array of techniques to make his harmonica sing, bark, yowl, moan and much else. His best-known works include “Pan-American Blues,” whose rhythm emulates the PanAmerican train that ran through Nashville on the L&N Railroad, and “Fox Chase,” a funky twist on a folk tune from the British Isles in which he evokes an entire hunting party. Known as the “Harmonica

perfect director to helm Oscar-nominated 1973 buddy dramedy The Last Detail, adapted from Darryl Ponicsan’s 1970 novel by Oscar-winning screenwriter Robert Towne (Chinatown). Who better to make a movie about ornery dudes with a disdain for authority than a director who also fit that profile? Jack Nicholson and Otis Young play cynical Navy lifers who are assigned to escort a naive, kleptomaniac seaman (Randy Quaid) to jail. But before that happens, the men go about giving this poor kid a good time, often making stops to drink, goof off, even visit a Boston brothel (where a young Carol Kane gets to deflower Quaid). For a hangout movie about three sailors who go on a hedonistic journey throughout most of the East Coast, you might get a little unnerved by the awkward, raw and proudly profane way Ashby presents this story of Vietnamera military men trying to have some fun before reality gets back to kicking their asses. It’s showing as part of the Belcourt’s ongoing 1973 series. May 21, 23 & 25 at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. CRAIG D. LINDSEY

[WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS]

MUSIC

EN ATTENDANT ANA W/CRYSTAL EGG, BUDGE

Wizard,” Bailey was among the first regular performers when the Grand Ole Opry evolved from the WSM Barn Dance in 1925, and he was the show’s first Black featured player. He remained a staple until the show unceremoniously fired him in 1941, part of the fallout of an industry-wide copyright upheaval — for which the organization issued an apology only recently. Bailey left behind a powerful legacy when he died in 1982, as well as a family full of talented musicians. In March, the Metro Council approved an ordinance to rename Horton Avenue — which runs through Edgehill, where Bailey lived for many years — as DeFord Bailey Avenue. A special event to mark the renaming is coming on Saturday, set for the picnic shelter in William Edmondson Homesite Park near the corner of 14th and Horton avenues. Bailey’s R&B-schooled grandsons Carlos DeFord Bailey and Herchel Bailey will perform, as will special guest country-R&B songsmith Smokin’ Otis. Noon at William Edmondson Homesite Park, 1400 14th Ave.

S. STEPHEN TRAGESER

SUNDAY

[SOLDIER’S ROMP]

FILM

/ 5.21

1973 SERIES: THE LAST DETAIL

Late, great filmmaker Hal Ashby (Harold & Maude, Shampoo) was the

[LITERARY HERITAGE]

NASHVILLE AAPI WRITERS SHOWCASE

Parisians En Attendant Ana are bringing their blissful avant-garde pop across the Atlantic for a month in the States. After starting their May run with a weekend at the Milwaukee Psych Fest, the French squad will head from the Midwest to the California coast and back to the Eastern Seaboard, stopping at Nashville’s favorite all-ages art space along the way. Their recent LP via Trouble in Mind, Principia, is a highambition/low-fidelity jewel that touches on the midcentury pop of their homeland while bringing freaky jazz and sophisticated, lush melodies. Fans of Saint Etienne, Stereolab and Camera Obscura should take note. Opening up are locals Budge and standout newcomers Crystal Egg. 7 p.m. at Drkmttr, 1111 Dickerson Pike P.J. KINZER WRITING

The literary canon abounds with impactful writing by Asian Americans, from Maxine Hong Kingston to Jhumpa Lahiri, Viet Thanh Nguyen and Ocean Vuong, to name just a few who have captured my own imagination. May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and The Porch Writers’ Collective and API Middle Tennessee have joined forces to showcase and celebrate AAPI writers here in Nashville. The lineup includes poetry by James Kyson, Nina Coyle, Jing Geng and Jenny Zheng; fiction by Jackie Richardson; a short play by Josh Inocalla; and essays by Steve Haruch, Tomiko Peirano and JR Robles. According to organizer and emcee Yurina Yoshikawa, topics include family, names, adolescence, mockingbirds, language, the universe, identity and more. 4 p.m. at The Forge, 217 Willow St.

ERICA CICCARONE

[DOG DAYS]

Remember how you felt when you realized that the backyard creek you used to splash around in is actually full of crushed beer cans, condoms and old car parts? That feeling undergirds every track on Rat Saw

Backstage with Tommy Howell & Friends

Featuring The Cast of HBO’s Entourage with Kevin Dillon, Kevin Connolly and C. Thomas Howell

Backstage with Tommy Howell & Friends featuring Charlie Sheen, C. Thomas Howell, Darren Dalton with musical guest Tim Montana

Saturday, May 20

SONGWRITER SESSION

Alex Hall

NOON · FORD THEATER

Saturday, May 20 NASHVILLE CATS

Brent Mason

2:30 pm · FORD THEATER

Saturday, May 20

HATCH SHOW PRINT

Block Party

3:00 pm · HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP

LIMITED AVAILABILITY

Sunday, May 21

MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

Laura Weber White

1:00 pm · FORD THEATER

Saturday, May 27

SONGWRITER SESSION

Porter Howell

NOON · FORD THEATER

Sunday, May 28

MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

Alison Prestwood

1:00 pm · FORD THEATER

Saturday, June 3

HATCH SHOW PRINT

Block Party

10:00 am, 1:00 pm, and 3:30 pm

HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP

LIMITED AVAILABILITY

Saturday, June 3

SONGWRITER SESSION

Carson Beyer and Michael Lotten

NOON · FORD THEATER

Sunday, June 4

MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

Nick Scallorn

1:00 pm · FORD THEATER

God, the fifth full-length from Asheville, N.C., rockers Wednesday. Wednesday last visited Nashville supporting peppy pop rockers Beach Bunny, and Rat Saw God still carries catchy riffs and singable choruses, but most of these newest songs will sound familiar to anyone who grew up listening to 2000s rock radio while driving around the Southeast, trying to figure out how the freedom of summer vacation turned into endless, aimless days with too much heat and too little to do. Vocalist Karly Hartzman paints such compelling pictures of bleak suburbia that it’s a bit surprising that “Chosen to Deserve,” which has a riff that sounds more like The Outlaws than Smashing Pumpkins, works as well as it does. But it’s a song about trusting your worst stories with someone you love after you’ve run out of good ones to share — a perfect complement to this very solid rock album. Cryogeyser, who craft similar musical moods from their home in Los Angeles, will open. 8 p.m. at The Basement East, 917 Woodland St. COLE VILLENA

MONDAY / 5.22

[BOYS DON’T CRY]

MUSIC

NEUTRAL SNAP

The post-hardcore genre called emo is also post-punk music, which means a band like Green Day might have as much to do with modern emo as, say, The Smiths, Jimmy Eat World and Rites of Spring. Emo seems like it’s a pretty durable style, and you can hear the influences flying around throughout New Orleans band Neutral Snap’s 2021 album Tell Me How I Feel. It goes without saying that Neutral Snap doesn’t exactly hark back to Eddie Bo or Snooks Eaglin — these guys are rockers who rock, but their idea of bringing the funk is using sprung rhythms and prog-lite sections to augment lyrics about their relationship problems and the socialization issues they don’t seem interested in solving. Tell Me

How I Feel contains a lot of interesting music in a pop-punk mode that seems influenced by Taylor Swift’s songwriting — give Swift credit for creating a style of lyric writing that allows everyone to be a cheerful pop solipsist. As is usual in emo, the formalism takes over, so I’m bemused by the band’s calculated shifts in dynamics and simplified math-rock structures. “I Think I’m Falling in Love With a Girl From the Circus” works well, and you might be interested in their quick-and-dirty song about Hilary Swank. Telltale and Goalkeeper open. 7 p.m. at Drkmttr, 1111 Dickerson Pike EDD HURT

[WHERE HAVE ALL THE RUDE BOYS GONE?]

FILM

MUSIC CITY MONDAY: THE HARDER THEY COME

If your ears perked up recently when you heard Toots and The Maytals’ “54-46 (That’s My Number)” on a Levi’s commercial, this Music City Monday is for you. The Harder They Come did for reggae what Saturday Night Fever would do for disco five years later. Perry Henzell’s film extended the music’s reach and made an international star of singer Jimmy Cliff. The plot revolves around the mythos of Jamaican folk hero and “The Original Rude Boy” Ivanhoe Martin, played by Cliff. And the ensemble is the ’27 Yankees of Jamaican movie casts, featuring comedy duo Bim and Bam, producer Leslie Kong, ska singer Prince Buster, and rocksteady godfather Alton Ellis. The soundtrack, still a staple in every reggae collection, features the soulful sounds of Toots, The Melodians, Desmond Dekker and Cliff himself. It screens both as part of the Belcourt’s ongoing 1973 series and as the latest Music City Monday selection. May 22 and 25 at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. P.J. KINZER

PHOTO: ZACHARY CHICK

WEDNESDAY

WITNESS HISTORY

From punk rock to West Coast country-rock, Dave Alvin’s battle-scarred guitar case for his 1964 Fender Mustang has seen it all, reflecting a love and union of American roots music.

From the exhibit Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock

artifact: Courtesy of Dave Alvin artifact photo: Bob Delevante

CRITICS’ PICKS

TUESDAY / 5.23

ART [NATURE IS HEALING]

THU 5.18 BLAKE RUBY ALBUM RELEASE SHOW FEAT • BRIDEY COSTELLO

• DJ VAL HOYT

FRI 5.19 VENUS & THE FLYTRAPS EP RELEASE SHOW • MEG ELSIER

• ARCHIE SUMMERS

SAT 5.20 THE GARDEN OF EDEN • NORFLEET

• TENNESSEE MUSCLE CANDY

MON 5.21 DUCKY NEPTUNE EP RELEASE SHOW FEAT • MELISSA FARRIOR

• MIKAYLA LEWIS

TUE 5.22 POSTER BOY • BEAN.

• DYLANN DUNN

THU 5.23 ULTIMATE COMEDY • FREE!

FRI 5.25 SKY DADDY PRESENTS • STRAY ARCADE • BUDGE

• AMERICAN SNAP 2412 GALLATIN AVE @THEEASTROOM

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UPCOMING EVENTS

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SATURDAY, MAY 20

SPECIAL SATURDAY STORYTIME

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When I Talk to God, I Talk about You

6:30PM

CELIA BELL

MONDAY, MAY 22

with LINDSAY LYNCH at PARNASSUS

The Disenchantment

6:30PM

JEFF FASANO at PARNASSUS

Americana Portrait Sessions

6:30PM

TUESDAY, MAY 23

GUITAR LESSONS

with former Musicians Institute and Austin Guitar School instructor MARK BISH

WEDNESDAY, MAY 24

DOAN PHUONG NGUYEN

with STEPHANIE APPELL at PARNASSUS Mèo and Bé

10:30AM

SATURDAY, MAY 27

SPECIAL SATURDAY STORYTIME

with BRAD & KRISTI MONTAGUE at PARNASSUS

The Fantastic Bureau of Imagination

6:30AM

TUESDAY, MAY 30

MEG MASON with ANN PATCHETT at PARNASSUS

Sorrow and Bliss

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TIFFANY CALVERT:

ADVERSARIAL NATURE

Tiffany Calvert’s Adversarial Nature, currently on view downtown at Tinney Contemporary, offers an intriguing take on multimedia art. The 17th-century origins of Dutch floral painting coincided with the “tulip mania” that saw the Dutch flower market skyrocket before crashing. The hellish economic bloodletting that followed the tulip run was as miserable as the paintings of the flowers were gorgeous, and the weird juxtaposition of a beautiful art period and a devastating economic downturn sort of reminds me of the way the digital art space has evolved. Calvert actually uses an AI tool called StyleGAN (style generative adversarial network) that she trains on a dataset of classic Dutch floral canvases. The AI generates its own take on Dutch Golden Age plant paintings — complete with all the glitches and weird effects we’ve come to expect from the unsettling AI image posts flooding our socials. Calvert reproduces the remixed masterworks as water-based latex prints, which she sticks vinyl to and paints over, applying gooey oils with a loose, imperfect hand. Adversarial Nature boasts a knockout title and collects numerous contradictions within one ambitious series — artificial versus human intelligence; digital art versus traditional art; AI as a plagiarist; art as plagiarism; natural versus artificial interpretations; and expressions of beauty. It’s a lot, but it’s a super timely show for springtime 2023. Through June 3 at Tinney Contemporary, 237 Rep. John Lewis Way N.

JOE NOLAN

owner of Capitol Chevrolet, was driving on Elm Hill Pike with his partner William Powell when he was shot and killed and Powell was wounded. According to Powell, who took a bullet to the leg, an armed Black man entered their vehicle at a four-way stop and attempted to rob them before opening fire. The authorities didn’t believe Powell’s story and charged him with Gourley’s murder, but a jury acquitted him of the charge. The murder has remained unsolved till this day, but now former Atlanta Journal-Constitution feature writer and columnist Martha Smith Tate has tackled the mystery in The Last Ride. In the book, the Vanderbilt alum connects the dots and sheds new light on what really happened on Elm Hill Pike that morning in 1968. Tate will be discussing her book and signing copies at the Vanderbilt Bookstore next Wednesday on the anniversary of the murder. There’s free parking for up to four hours in the 2525 Garage behind the store. 5 p.m. at the Vanderbilt Bookstore, 2501 West End Ave. DARYL SANDERS

[DON’T YOU JUST LOVE THE SUN?]

MUSIC

PEDRO THE LION

[TRUE-LIFE MURDER MYSTERY]

MARTHA SMITH TATE: THE LAST RIDE

WEDNESDAY / 5.24 BOOKS

Fifty-five years ago this month, Nashville was rocked by the murder of prominent car dealer Haynie Gourley. On May 24, 1968, Gourley, who was majority

For a pretty large swath of elder millennials struggling with their personal spirituality, David Bazan’s Pedro the Lion was a guiding light around the turn of the 21st century. With an opening trifecta of 1998’s It’s Hard to Find a Friend, 2000’s Winners Never Quit and 2002’s Control, the Seattle-based indie-rock outfit was often lumped in with that inscrutable cultural phenomenon known as “emo.” And yes, Bazan’s lyrics and delivery have always been steeped in emotion, his arrangements similar to those of Midwestern emo contemporaries like American Football and The Promise Ring. But Pedro stood apart from the pack with an idiosyncratic approach to songwriting — Control, for instance, is a concept album about a philandering businessman. And it’s really good. Woven throughout all of Pedro the Lion’s work is the complicated relationship that Bazan — who was raised Pentecostal — has with his faith. Pedro is currently on tour celebrating the 25th and 21st anniversaries of It’s Hard to Find a Friend and Control, respectively, and will play both albums in their entirety. It’s sure to be a cathartic show for conservatively raised indie-rock fans of a certain age. Erik Walters — a member of the current Pedro the Lion lineup — will open. 8 p.m. at The Basement East, 917 Woodland St. D. PATRICK RODGERS

VIOLET FEMME

Nashville Rep closes season with delicate Violet

BY AMY STUMPFL

There’s a reason Jeanine Tesori is considered one of modern musical theater’s finest composers. Her unique ability to convey complicated emotions through music is well documented. Six of her musicals have earned Tony nominations, including Caroline, or Change; Thoroughly Modern Millie; and, more recently, the current Broadway hit Kimberly Akimbo. (She won her first Tony for Best Original Score in 2015 with the Pulitzer Prize finalist Fun Home.) This weekend, fans can check out one of Tesori’s earliest works, as Nashville Repertory Theatre presents Violet — onstage at TPAC’s Johnson Theater through May 21.

Based on Doris Betts’ short story “The Ugliest Pilgrim,” Violet follows a young woman with a devastating facial scar who journeys through the American South in 1964, convinced that a slick TV evangelist can make her whole. On the road, she encounters a pair of soldiers — Monty (a cocky kid, who initially sees Violet as an easy target) and Flick (a Black man who is able to see past her scar and recognize a

kindred spirit).

It’s an intriguing premise that explores deep themes of beauty, self-love, forgiveness and acceptance. Brian Crawley’s book feels rather disjointed at times — overstuffed with flashbacks, dream sequences and other theatrical devices. And while the character of Violet certainly gives us a worthy hero, she’s a bit of a walking contradiction. One minute she demonstrates steely nerves and undeniable street smarts. (There’s a great bit when Violet whips her newfound friends in a friendly game of poker.) The next, she’s swept up in magical thinking, certain that a fraudulent faith healer holds the key to her happiness.

Still, Tesori’s music soars — providing an exhilarating blend of gospel, country and folk sounds. And thanks to the considerable efforts of director Tracey Copeland Halter (terrific in her Nashville Rep directorial debut) and this sensational cast, Violet’s unlikely journey feels more worthwhile.

Kelsey Brodeur makes a welcome return to the Rep in the title role, her lovely voice ringing out in songs like “On My Way” and “Lay Down Your Head.” She does a nice job of channeling Violet’s internal struggle. It’s interesting to note that the audience never sees a literal scar — because there’s no heavy makeup or prosthetics to hide behind, Brodeur must reveal her character’s damaged psyche purely through movement and gesture, subconsciously touching her cheek or averting her eyes when confronted by a stranger’s cruelty.

Mike Sallee Jr. also turns in a thoughtful performance as Flick, and I particularly enjoyed his rendition of “Let It Sing.” Na-

than Quay Thomas brings a natural sense of swagger to the role of Monty (“Last Time I Came to Memphis”), and Riley West makes an impressive Rep debut as Young Violet, demonstrating a remarkable stage presence and powerful vocals.

Matthew Carlton delivers a particularly tender moment as Violet’s father in Act II’s “That’s What I Could Do,” while Ryan Greenawalt nearly steals the show as the cynical preacher. Together with the alwaysdelightful Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva, he provides one of the evening’s most memorable — and electrifying — moments with “Raise Me Up.” The entire ensemble really deserves recognition, anchored by seasoned pros such as Beth Anne Musiker and Piper Jones, along with newcomers Sheila DJ Calloway, Lawson Marchetti, Austin Jeffrey Smith and Yolanda Treece.

Music director Randy Craft leads a superb band, and I really liked the fact that they’re situated upstage, bathed in Darren E. Levin’s moody lighting. Gary C. Hoff’s simple scenic design ensures seamless scene changes, although some of the finer details are hard to pick out from the audience. And Lori Gann-Smith’s costumes capture the era nicely.

Violet is not your typical musical theater fare, and some may find its structure — including a rather rushed and overly tidy conclusion — frustrating. But there’s no denying the strength of these phenomenal performances. If you’re willing to go with it, you may find that this unconventional musical offers some interesting insights into life, love and how we all deal with our own scars. EMAIL

SOME WEIRD STUFF’S BEEN HAPPENING

Matthew Vollmer’s

BY TINA CHAMBERS

In All of Us Together in the End, Virginia author Matthew Vollmer places a routine call to his father just before Christmas 2019 and is surprised to hear his usually unflappable dad say, “Well, I’ve been meaning to tell you. Some weird stuff’s been happening.” Vollmer knows his mother’s recent death has been hard on his father, but what he doesn’t know about are the lights “appearing after dark in the woods where my father lived,” Vollmer writes, “a stone’s throw from our family cemetery, on a hundred acres of wilderness bordering national forest in the mountains of Western North Carolina.” The lights blink and dance randomly, can best be seen through an open window, and all but disappear when his dad picks up his phone to film them. Weird stuff, indeed.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Vollmer worships his parents. He describes them in glowing terms as kind, faithful, selfless and accomplished people of deep religious faith. As a child, “I just wanted them to be more human,” he admits, “because then I’d have less to live up to. Because when I measured myself against my parents, the distance between who I was and the kinds of people they were seemed insurmountable.”

This gulf is widened further when, as an adult, he finally rejects his parents’ Seventh-day Adventist faith, a belief system that grounded and sustained their family

all of Vollmer’s life. His abandonment of the religion pains his parents, but does not in any way diminish their love — although his mother worries that they will no longer be “together in the end,” if the glory of heaven is denied to her disbelieving son.

Vollmer paints a gently quirky picture of his fun-loving mom — her ability to touch her nose with her tongue, her affection for peanutbutter-and-applesauce toast and Maxwell House International Café instant coffee, her disdain for slow drivers and Willie Nelson’s braids. When she is diagnosed in her mid60s with dementia, then Alzheimer’s, and finally Parkinson’s disease, she begins a decade-long decline, which Vollmer dubs “the Great Forgetting.”

He writes poignantly about its impact on her caretakers, especially his dad, who stoically bears the burden of her daily needs with gentleness and compassion: If and when you lose your mind, the whole world slowly goes dark. At night, windows become opaque and reflect twisted apparitions. You can’t say what you want because as soon as you start your sentence, you’ve forgotten what you wanted to say: the words vanish in your mind and your mouth downshifts to mumble. Forget writing, you can’t figure

out how to use a pen. Nobody knows what’s going through your mind, but the consensus seems to lie somewhere between “not much” and “probably more than we can imagine.”

When the lights appear three months after his mother’s death, Vollmer’s response is to throw himself into researching the eerie phenomenon. He seeks advice from books, websites, friends and colleagues, an Episcopal priest, and even a shamanic psychotherapist, who insists that his mother is “keeping part of her electromagnetic field in this astral dimension” as a message to his dad. Other theories include aliens, fairies, swamp gas, fireflies and foxfire. He writes: “I learned that lights whose source could not be identified had gone by many names. Corpse candles. Flying flame. Foo fighters. Ghost beacons. Night suns. Spook lights. Spirit lanterns. Unctuous vapors.” Meanwhile, his dad seems unbothered by and perhaps even takes solace from what soon becomes a semi-nightly ritual.

All of Us Together in the End is a memoir about accepting both the certainties of life and its mysteries — whether natural or supernatural. The imprint of parent upon child, the loss of faith and the devastation of grief are important aspects of Vollmer’s journey toward healing and acceptance as he comes to grips with his early religious training, his own personal beliefs and the power of love to cover not only a multitude of sins but, it seems, a certain amount of spookiness.

For more local book coverage, please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee.

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Miko Marks and Rissi Palmer

team up for a tour that should have happened long ago

BY AMANDA HAGGARD

Rissi Palmer and Miko Marks agree: Sixteen years ago, they would not be on tour together. In 2007, Palmer’s hit “Country Girl” was charting on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs and Marks was releasing her second album

It Feels Good after working through an indie label to try to get heard in Nashville. It’s still almost totally unheard of to see two Black country artists on the same tour, but back then — in addition to the low probability of getting booked together — they both kept hearing from folks in the industry that they were rivals.

“At that time, because there hadn’t been like ‘the big Black female country star,’ everyone [wanted] to be the one, right?” Palmer says. “When I was starting out, Miko had already put out her record, and so I was kind of trailing behind her, and a lot of people behind the scenes on my side were telling me that there could only be one of us. And then later on, after comparing notes, people on her side were also like, ‘You guys are in competition.’ … So much of being a female artist in the music business, period — not just country, but in all of the music business — is wanting to be the top dog and them wanting you to be the top dog. You see people as your rival, or see people as your competition, as opposed to seeing another fellow musician who’s going through the same things that you are.”

Since 2007, both artists have come into their own. The industry has not changed much, but they have. They both worry less about pleasing the industry’s movers and shakers and more about the process of making music and making a life.

Palmer launched her own program Color Me Country Radio on Apple Music Radio, in which she interviews a who’s who of some of country music’s most interesting minds and gives space for new artists of color and their music. In addition, she established the Color Me Country Artist Fund, which has distributed grants to support BIPOC artists. She’s released several albums and played the Grand Ole Opry, as has Marks. In 2022, Marks was part of CMT’s Next Women of Country and released her album Feel Like Going Home with her band The Resurrectors. She’s just come off another tour, on which she opened for veteran rockers Little Feat. Marks notes the freedom that comes with deciding to finally write about what you want to write about.

“I wrote about Flint, Mich., and the water crisis — which, by the way, that’s still going on,” Marks says. “The bulk of my family is still there — they’re still suffering. I wanted to shine a light on that process and what’s going on. … And then with the song ‘Good-

night America’ [from 2021’s Our Country] … now you go back 15 years, I wouldn’t have ever done a song like that, ever. Because I would’ve felt it was too political, too stark, too blunt and too much of a true story. Fastforward all these years of maturity and growing: I heard that song and I was like, ‘I gotta do this song. It’s my truth. It needs to be said.’”

Marks and Palmer embarked on their co-headlining acoustic Miko & Rissi Tour on May 3 in Washington, D.C., before working their way west for a couple of weeks toward their Nashville date at City Winery on Thursday. A few days ahead of her tour with Marks, Palmer was making breakfast — no cinnamon in the oatmeal for her young daughter, but the honey is just fine — at her

home in North Carolina. At this point in her career, Palmer says it’s refreshing knowing you’ll get to travel with someone you’ve developed a deep friendship with. Her plate is always full, but she relishes being able to fill it with things she loves. As Marks was driving in the day before their tour opener in D.C., she was feeling similarly. There was no dread, just joy.

“I’ve never done a tour with just one of my friends,” Marks says. “Somebody that I’ve grown with and where our relationship has grown over the years — to go out with her as my first co-headliner, just being out there with a girlfriend, it’s gonna be something I remember for the rest of my life. We’ve really fed our friendship in a way that was natural and organic. It was like we

looked up and, ‘Oh, we’re friends.’”

The industry can be full of rejection, and days on the road can get long and lonely. Palmer remembers how touched she was when Marks first reached out to her to break the ice years ago. In a video for the song “Still Here,” performed by Palmer and Marks and released in late April, their friendship and pleasure in being onstage together is on full display.

“Aside from being a friend, I really respect her as a singer,” Palmer says. “I respect her as an artist, and her artistic choices, and all of it. And so what you’re seeing in the video [for ‘Still Here’] and what you’ll see in real life with us together is me just like, ‘This is my girl, but, like, my girl is great.’”

EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

PLAYING THURSDAY, MAY 18, AT CITY WINERY

PHOTO: CEDRICK JONES

COUNTRY BOYS CAN SURVIVE

Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band bring the sound of Burkina Faso to The Blue Room

BY SEAN L. MALONEY

One of the wonderful things about covering music and conducting interviews is that you may find yourself dropping into delightful little moments in musicians’ lives. Sometimes it’s weird, like a conversation with an alt-rock hero that took place while they were cleaning up after a friend’s dog; sometimes it’s hilarious, like when an Americana icon had to pause in the middle of a phoner to literally tell a bunch of kids to get off his freshly fertilized lawn. And sometimes, it’s low-key and beautiful: When I reached a representative of Burkina Faso’s Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band, they were enjoying a beachside lunch break on the Pacific leg of a tour that brings the group to The Blue Room on May 18.

“We needed to get out of the city and then have a meal,” says Hisham Mayet with a laugh. Along with Sun City Girls’ Alan Bishop, Mayet is a co-founder of revered Seattle indie label Sublime Frequencies, which released the group’s three albums including last year’s Sonbonbela, and he is the band’s travel companion. French is the official language of Burkina Faso, and the main language spoken in the group, so Mayet and I talked instead. ”So, an improvised picnic somewhere north of Santa Barbara is what’s happening right now.”

Bands have lunch on tour all the time, but there is something beautiful about an ensemble from a landlocked country half a world away, a week into their first American tour, just chilling on the shore and taking in the scenery. It is an image of peace that stands counter to the frenetic pulse of Baba Commandant & Co.’s music. Focused on singer Mamadou Sansou, aka Baba Commandant, his donso n’goni or “hunter’s harp” and his Lemmy-like knack for growling earworms, the group makes kinetic music blending ancient traditions of West Africa’s Manding people, comparatively recent innovations like Afrobeat, and contemporary musical visions.

“They arrived almost a week ago,” Mayet says, “then we drove down to Tijuana, Mexico, across the border and spent two days in Tijuana, which were glorious. We had a killer show there at the Tijuana Jazz Club, which wasn’t a big place. But it sold out, over a hundred people, and they went bonkers.

“You don’t see bands like this touring, and musically, they kind of don’t really sound like anybody else. ’Cause they’re mixing this traditional instrument with a rock backbeat with, like, psychedelic guitar. So in Tijuana, they were just kind of overwhelmed. It was incredible.”

Guitarist Issouf Diabate is easily one of the world’s best six-string players. With wild fretboard runs like Ernest Ranglin and on-a-dime turnarounds that invoke the cutting edge of Adrian Belew’s ’80s work, Diabate’s guitar dialogues with Sansou’s n’goni in mind-spinning microbursts of melody.

The strings in turn communicate with the rhythm section, weaving melodic ideas into the polyrhythmic fabric created by drummer Cheick Abbas Kobare, percussionist Nickie Dembele and bassist Wendeya Jessie Josias Ouedraogo. It is a torrent of sound that never loses focus, never gets bogged down in its own jaw-dropping musicianship.

“You can imagine how many bands we see and scout,” says Mayet. “For me to be able to invest so much time and effort, the band has to be something utterly phenomenal and sound unlike anybody else.”

When label personnel start throwing around phrases like “utterly phenomenal,” the instinct is to take it with a grain of salt, even when you hear that shift in timbre that denotes music-nerd excitement. But it’s a bit different with Mayet and Sublime Frequencies, a cultural enterprise launched in the early Aughts that spotlights snapshots of music scenes from around the world and has taken up some sizable real estate in this author’s record collection.

The Sublime Frequencies mission plays the long odds, making a rather huge gamble that the fringe of Western music culture can and will embrace music that’s central to — or on the fringes of — other music cultures. For two decades that gamble has paid off in some of the most thrilling, far-out sounds on record-store shelves, creating a listening world that embraces humanity’s most important ideas. “Country Riddim” this ain’t.

“[Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band’s music] is just different subject matter: dealing with human condition, growing up in a rural area, dealing with urbanization,” Mayet explains. “There’s a mystical tradition that comes from the donso hunters. They live out in the woods. They’re known as medicine men — everything is sourced from nature.”

From the guitar wizardry to the hill-country mysticism, Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band sound less like a group from around the world and more like one from around the corner. The ultimate universality of our experiences as listeners, the commonalities between performers and fans, are more important than just about anything.

“You know, we’re just sitting on a sunny beach in Santa Barbara, looking at oil rig platforms, fighting off seagulls who are waiting for us,” Mayet says, laughing again. “Well, there’s one puking right now, right on the water fountain.”

Beautiful moments, folks — that’s what it’s all about.

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THE SPIN

JOYFUL NOISE BY

STEPHEN TRAGESER

There was a little downtime during the second changeover between sets at Brooklyn Bowl Friday night. But before long, The Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way” came over the P.A. and songsmith Joy Oladokun’s band took the stage to positively deafening cheers, ready to kick off the release party for her new LP Proof of Life. They were followed swiftly by the woman of the hour, clearly overcome with emotion.

“My therapist is here, and you’re not going to believe it, but we talked about exactly this,” said Oladokun, tears flowing. “I was gonna play music, but now I’m gonna cry for an hour. … As we do this night together, you’ll notice there are themes in my music of moments where I don’t feel listened to. The fact that this room is full of people — it’s not something that ‘kid me’ imagined could be true.”

From roughly 10 p.m. to midnight, Oladokun and her small but superb band — shoutout to guitarist Daisy Spencer, bassist Gray Schweers and drummer and master of electronic elements Josh Scott — played original songs new and old, interspersed with a couple of covers including Elton John’s “Rocketman.” The cumulative effect of the songs and the discussion between them was that we were together in a kind of group therapy session; to some degree that’s what gathering together for live music has always been about. If Oladokun is still a bit of an outlier in embracing it so explicitly, it’s only that she’s ahead of the curve.

A couple hours earlier, Mon Rovîa kicked off the show as sweaty fans trickled in from the muggy twilight outside. His gentle tunes subtly spotlight the DNA that West African folk music and Appalachian folk music share, carried on intertwined melodies fingerpicked by the singer on his ukulele and by his accompanist on acoustic guitar. The songs came across almost like lullabies, belying their intensity. He was born in Liberia in West Africa, whose capital is Monrovia, but he left with his family, fleeing civil war; one highlight of his set was “War’s Coming,” which he wrote at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, reflecting on his experiences as a youngster. He ended on a hopeful note with “Big Love Ahead.”

After a short break, country-singing force of nature Fancy Hagood’s band played him to his mic. After an attempt at establishing himself as a pop artist, Hagood came to Nashville and turned his love of songcraft into 2021’s exceptional Southern Curiosity. Both the record and Hagood & Co.’s performance on Friday represent what country can be at its best. They brought sincere storytelling about the ups and downs of living all kinds of lives — in Hagood’s case, that happens to be building a life with a partner he loves as a proud gay man, which has been a hell of a lot harder to recently do thanks to our clown car of a state legislature — sung in a rich voice with a snare-tight band. Introducing

the Southern Curiosity song “Good Man,” Hagood talked about how much it meant to him to write a song about things he wanted and deserved. In “800 Square Feet,” from a forthcoming album produced by Brothers Osborne’s John Osborne, he sang about a combination of big hopes for his future with his partner and appreciation for what they have right now. If the songs Hagood played are any indication of what’s on the full LP, it deserves every accolade it gets whenever it comes out.

The point is made well and often that while it’s critical to discuss the awful situations that marginalized people go through, it’s also vital to spotlight expressions of joy from BIPOC communities, LGBTQ communities and others — pain may be an important part of people’s experiences, but it doesn’t define them. Oladokun’s set radiated the full spectrum of trauma, healing, selfacceptance and self-care. It was a nuanced and vibrant reflection of her experience as a queer Black woman, which she illuminates so skillfully in her music, a blend of folk, pop and — to an increasing degree on her latest record — rock.

Oladokun lives with the lingering impact of growing up in a church community that she loved, but didn’t accept her as she is. Yet as she told the audience while introducing

Proof of Life standout “Somebody Like Me,” she and the incredible vocal group The McCrary Sisters — whose faith plays a major role in their life and work — forged a strong bond in the studio. “Taking Things for Granted,” a kickass song from the new record whose sound she described onstage as “if Radiohead and The Beach Boys met,” tells the story of how none of the kids she invited came to her 8th birthday party. She talked to the absolutely packed room about the thrill of writing the song during a mushroom trip ahead of a session at the famed Electric Lady Studios.

She mentioned that she had a brief issue with venue security not recognizing her during load-in prior to the show. Though the issue was resolved quickly — her name wasn’t on the list, but it was of course on the marquee — it still stung, she explained, as she’s been excluded, questioned or treated differently an exhausting number of times. Then, beaming at the assembled crowd, she played “Revolution.” She co-wrote the song with Mike Elizondo and Ian Fitchuck, two of her songwriting heroes, about celebrating the power inherent in the things that make her different.

DON’T BLINK OR YOU COULD MISS IT: FANCY HAGOOD

IN RETURN FOR WHAT

PHOTOS: H.N. JAMES

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS …?

Carmen is a contrived hodgepodge that fails to coalesce

BY ERICA CICCARONE

In the opening scene of Carmen, a flamenco dancer moves on a platform in the desert near the Mexican-U.S. border, her feet moving fast and long hair whipping in the wind. Two men arrive. One yells, “Where is she?” The dancer hits the platform harder, staring at the man as he raises a gun. She dances as if to banish him from the world. She ends with a stomp. He shoots her in the head. I buckle in for a wild ride.

Carmen is a musical drama directed by Benjamin Millepied — a former principal in the New York City Ballet, director of dance in the Paris Opera Ballet and choreographer of Darren Aronofsky’s 2010 psychological horror Black Swan. The premise of Carmen is loosely based on the famous French opera of the same name. Starring Melissa Barrera (In the Heights, Scream V and VI) and rising indie sweetheart Paul Mescal (Aftersun) as star-crossed lovers, Carmen has so much po-

flamenco dancer — flees, and Aidan follows. They are now on the run, in search of a woman named Masilda whom Carmen’s mother had instructed her to find. Carmen and Aidan become lovers and endure a series of questionable decisions made by the film’s creators.

They find Masilda in an L.A. nightclub. It’s glitzy and sophisticated and a little strange — and derivative of David Lynch, particularly of Muholland Drive, but I don’t mind because the story finally comes alive. Holding hands, Carmen and Aidan navigate the scene with caution. Dancers touch Carmen as she moves through the club, as if she were part of the choreography all along. A figure stands in the center of the stage, a shawl draped over her face. When she removes it, we see it is the great Rossy de Palma — a staple in Pedro Almodóvar’s films — and Carmen’s greatest asset. Glamorous and otherworldly as Masilda, de Palma provides much-needed levity in an overly somber story. She feels deeply and loves completely, embracing Carmen the moment she discovers her identity. “If I were 50 years younger,” she says to Aidan, “I would [makes guttural sucking noise] like a plate of chilaquiles.” Honestly, we love to see it. Despite de Palma’s magnetism, Carmen fails to coalesce because the filmmakers chose style over substance. Director of photography Jörg Widmer often works with Terrence Malick, and the cinematography is as soaring as you’d expect — particularly during the masterful but displaced dance sequences. But at other times, his decisions — or perhaps those of Millepied — undercut the story. A scene is shot through the windows of the car for no apparent reason — we’re not watching from another character’s point of view, although this decision would make sense if we were. In such scenes, instead of revealing plot or character or anything at all, the shots are

distracting.

Other contrivances give the film a strained pace. The songs, while fine unto themselves, slow down the story, and the urgency of Carmen and Aidan’s plight is delayed, when it’s felt at all. The score by Nicholas Britell (Moonlight, Succession) is gripping — operatic but contemporary, evocative and moody, but so much so that it overshadows everything else, swallowing an already meager story. It’s a shame.

But what is really unforgivable in Carmen is the lack of development of the titular character. While we know much of Aidan’s past — his two tours in Afghanistan, his lingering PTSD, his family life, his damaged fellow soldiers — Carmen remains a mystery except in grief. We see her through Aidan’s gaze, and she is exoticized under these circumstances, as brown women have historically been in American film and television. Carmen departs from this only in the most relatable and best scene in the film, when Masilda forces the character’s grief out of her. Barrera can act, and it’s wrenching. We see exactly what we are missing during the other 110 minutes of the film. It gets more baffling from there — a fight club scene is accompanied by hordes of bloodthirsty men krumping, serving a heightened sense of realism that is absent in the rest of the film. As two characters spar, a rapper played by The D.O.C. — co-founder of Death Row Records and frequent collaborator with N.W.A. and Snoop Dogg, among many others — spits rhymes that are, honestly, not very good. I think he rhymes trauma with llama? It’s difficult to understand him because his vocals are overproduced.

If for the stage, Carmen might be visionary. Benjamin Millepied is clearly a gifted choreographer. Hopefully, he’ll find his groove as a filmmaker. But if not, there’s always the artform he was clearly born to dominate.

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TEQUILA MADE YA DO IT!

1 One side of a sheet

5 Ending with centi- or milli-

9 Eritrea’s capital

15 Made a fast break after breakfast, say

17 Mob member 18 Dangerously near

Some people 21 Playlet 22 Simple chord 23 “Gimme a moment” 26 One who eschews all pop culture, say 28 Word after big or go 29 No-goodnik 30 Like a controversial political issue, maybe

56 Mouth-puckering 57 ___ flour (macaron ingredient)

59 Animal that might make a waterslide to play on 62 Fad 64 Prohibition 65 Not enough, and without the urgency, to make a difference … or a literal hint to 18-, 30-, 38- and 48-Across 70 Water gate 71 Some compound gases 72 Great respect 73 Just like *that*!

8 Los Angeles neighborhood whose name means “oak” in Spanish

9 Branch

10 Sort (through)

11 Secure, in a way

12 The “A” of A-fib

13 Take over?

14 Film character whose lines were all bleeped out?

16 ___ Cherry, singer with the 1988 hit “Buffalo Stance”

19 “And yet …” in a text

23 Iron Range haul

24 Deal breaker?

25 Candied fruits or nuts

27 Romantic music genre originating in the Dominican Republic

31 “The way,” per 48-Down

32 Prefix with classical

33 Send to a terrible fate

35 Jus ___ (birthright citizenship)

39 Frequent word before “x = …”

47 Do some basic arithmetic

48 Noted ancient philosopher

49 Praises

50 “Scram!”

51 Dutch astronomer with an eponymous “cloud”

52 Reservations

53 Place for a screwdriver

58 Singer Zayn

60 Novelist Wiesel with a Nobel Peace Prize

61 Food often served in bed?

63 Sicilian skiing spot

66 Pro ___

67 Alley ___

68 Bit of merch

69 In particular: Abbr.

2 Hartsfield-Jackson airport code

3 Onetime auto replaced by the Chevrolet Aveo 4 Moderates

40 Common caviar source

41 Long-running forensics drama

42 Stereotypical product for a kid’s first entrepreneurial endeavor

43 “Yer darn ___!”

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE B

Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 9,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/ crosswords ($39.95 a year).

Read about and comment on each puzzle: nytimes.com/wordplay.

Crosswords for young solvers: nytimes.com/ studentcrosswords.

resident of the State of Ten-

nessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon Talia Elaine

Crouse. It is ordered that said

Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after June 1st 2023, same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on July 3rd 2023. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Joseph P. Day, Clerk

Bill Riggs Deputy Clerk

Date: May 4, 2023

Chelsey A. Stevenson Robert J. Turner Attorneys for Plaintiff

NSC 5/11, 5/18, 5/25, 6/1/23

Non-Resident Notice

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Docket No. 23D446

JOSHUA RYAN JAMES

vs. Lindsay M. James

Circuit Court located at 1

Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on July 10th 2023.

It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Joseph P. Day, Clerk

Bill Riggs Deputy Clerk

Date: May 11 2023

Frank E. Mondelli Sr. Attorney for Plaintiff

NSC 5/18, 5/25, 6/1, 6/8/23

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Docket No. 14D1063

In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a nonresident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon Talia Elaine Crouse. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after June 1st 2023, same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on July 3rd 2023.

It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Joseph P. Day Clerk Bill Riggs, Deputy Clerk

Date: May 4, 2023

Chelsey A. Stevenson Robert J. Turner Attorneys for Plaintiff NSC 5/11 5/18, 5/25, 6/1/23

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In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a nonresident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon Lindsay M. James. It is ordered that said Defendant enter her appearance herein with thirty (30) days after June 8th 2023, same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on Ju y 10th 2023.

It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Joseph P. Day, Clerk

Bill Riggs, Deputy Clerk

Date: May 11, 2023

Frank E. Mondelli Sr. Attorney for Plaintiff

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TALIA ELAINE CROUSE vs. THOMAS JEFFERSON CROUSE