8-5-21 Nashville Scene

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CONTENTS

AUGUST 5, 2021

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Anti-Abortion Protests on the Rise at Nashville’s Planned Parenthood Location...9

Crawl Space: August 2021

CITY LIMITS

The reproductive health care facility uses volunteers to escort patients past what representatives call harassers

BY LENA MAZEL

School Is Coming Back, and COVID-19 Never Left ...................................................9

ART

The August First Saturday events bring a cool crawl to the dog days

BY JOE NOLAN

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BOOKS

Vandy infectious disease expert: Require vaccination for all school staff and make students mask up

Still Running

BY STEVEN HALE

BY MICHAEL RAY TAYLOR AND CHAPTER 16

When in Fran’s ......................................... 10 The future of beloved East Nashville dive Fran’s East Side is in question

BY MARGARET LITTMAN

Pith in the Wind ...................................... 10

The team behind John Lewis’ March launches a new series

37

MUSIC

Two-Way Player ....................................... 37

This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog

Opportunity keeps knocking for the multitalented Bryant Taylorr

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BY CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

COVER STORY Music City Grand Prix

A Fan’s Guide to a Grand Ole Grand Prix .............................. 13 A close look at the track, the drivers and the technical aspects of this weekend’s race

BY CRAIG HAVIGHURST

In It for the Long Run .............................. 16 Music City Grand Prix’s organizers are looking to get on a level with some of U.S. racing’s most prestigious events

BY GEERT DE LOMBAERDE

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CRITICS’ PICKS Kelsey Waldon & Town Mountain, Becca Mancari w/Annie DiRusso, Nashville Black Market’s Friday Night Market, Jerry Garcia 79th Birthday Celebration, Noisefest III feat.

Queens of Noise, Drag Brunch, Mirror House, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace and more

When It Comes to COVID-19 Vaccinations,Tennessee Continues to Blow It ON THE COVER:

Illustration by Lucie Rice

Take It to the Stage................................. 38 After a long layoff due to COVID, Greta Van Fleet gets back in gear

BY DARYL SANDERS

Another Look ........................................... 40 The Scene’s music writers recommend recent releases from Mike Hicks, Jim Lauderdale, Hannah Juanita and more

42 FILM

Fools for Each Other A new documentary celebrates the life of Guy Clark — and just as importantly, Susanna Clark

BY NADINE SMITH

Sparks and Recreation Annette is peculiar, pretentious, long and occasionally brilliant

BY D. PATRICK RODGERS

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Cheap Eats .............................................. 33

Celebrate Oyster Day at Marsh House

BY LORIE LIEBIG

The Bagel Has Landed ............................ 31

BY MEGAN SELING

Nashville Judge Vacates Paul Garrett’s Conviction for 2000 Killing

Two shows highlight country music’s troubling willingness to keep looking backward

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The Scene’s editorial staff searches for the city’s best bagel

Help YEAH! Make the Youth Arts Programming You Want to See

The Same Old Tune ................................. 37

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FOOD AND DRINK

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REP. JIM COOPER

REP. JIM COOPER FACING UNPRECEDENTED CHALLENGE FROM ODESSA KELLY Even though the candidate qualifying deadline to run for the United States House of Representatives is April 7 of next year, the contest for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District is definitely underway, and is attracting intense interest.

It’s hard to say if other candidates will enter the race, but currently U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper — the longtime incumbent and lifetime Nashvillian — and East Nashville community activist Odessa Kelly are in full campaign mode ahead of the Democratic primary.

Why is this race an unusual one?

Cooper served in Tennessee’s 4th Congressional District from 1983 to 1995, and was elected to represent the 5th District — which is currently made up of Davidson and Dickson counties and most of Cheatham County — 19 years ago. Cooper’s reputation and name recognition are high, and he has years of experience under his belt — enough to know how and when to pick his battles.

This time, however, Cooper may have more of a battle than he first anticipated.

In 2020, Keeda Haynes, also a Democrat, gave Cooper a pretty good run for his money in the primary race, garnering about 40 percent of the vote to Cooper’s 57 percent.

Nashville Democrats were not ready to see him go. From all indications, Kelly is a stronger opponent. No doubt Cooper recognizes this and is following the news and conversation Kelly is generating — she seems to be a trailblazer, a go-getter who cares about Nashville. Kelly has deep community ties, and attended Metro public schools and Tennessee State University.

She is the executive director of Stand Up Nashville, and when relating how much she cares about the real needs of Nashvillians, she comes across as genuine. That said, so does Rep. Cooper.

Another reason this race is more unusual than most is because newcomers seldom raise so much money this early on. Between April and June, Kelly, according to the Scene, raised $302,000 to Cooper’s $582,000.

Each candidate has their own way of raising money, but Cooper has been funded largely

by Tennesseans while a large amount of Kelly’s contributions are coming from out of state. She’s received funds from the Justice Democrats, a political action committee founded by leaders who worked on Bernie

ODESSA KELLY Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, and has also raised funds through ActBlue, “the fundraising tool used by left-leaning candidates to raise money from individual contributors through the internet.”

Kelly has spent more than half of her funds, much of it on digital advertising, but that could work well for her in building name recognition. Though Kelly’s financial foothold is impressive for the timeframe, some voters may frown on her receiving such a great amount of financial support from out-of-state donors or groups — and could conclude that she does not have the ear of the people. They may also worry that she could be more influenced by people who do not live in Tennessee, despite her comments to the contrary.

One thing that could influence the outcome of this race is the fact that voters in our area are seemingly becoming more progressive. Kelly may find good support among millennials, and has already received donations from Young Democrats. Still, she’ll want to win over some of the more prominent longtime Democrats, because — as recently noted by Tennessee Lookout — despite the fact that Nashville may be liberal by Tennessee standards, it’s not liberal when compared to the platforms of progressive representatives like New York’s Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The rural areas of the 5th District are significantly more conservative.

Another factor that could affect the race is that of redistricting. The GOP-controlled state legislature could decide to redraw the 5th District in an effort to gain another seat in Congress. If that happens, the district could look completely different.

Democrats supporting Kelly want a more progressive Democrat than the avowed Blue Dog Cooper, and they’re working hard to ensure it. Cooper has long served his district and is a known quantity to voters.

Generally, the incumbent has the upper hand in congressional races, but like it or not, this time Cooper is going to have to fight hard to hold onto his seat.

PHOTOS: ERIC ENGLAND

PET OF THE WEEK!

Editor-in-Chief D. Patrick Rodgers Senior Editor Dana Kopp Franklin Associate Editor Alejandro Ramirez Arts Editor Laura Hutson Hunter Culture Editor Erica Ciccarone Music and Listings Editor Stephen Trageser Contributing Editor Jack Silverman Staff Writers Kelsey Beyeler, Stephen Elliott, Nancy Floyd, Steven Hale, Kara Hartnett, J.R. Lind, William Williams Contributing Writers Sadaf Ahsan, Radley Balko, Ashley Brantley, Maria Browning, Steve Cavendish, Chris Chamberlain, Lance Conzett, Marcus K. Dowling, Steve Erickson, Randy Fox, Adam Gold, Seth Graves, Kim Green, Steve Haruch, Geoffrey Himes, Edd Hurt, Jennifer Justus, Christine Kreyling, Katy Lindenmuth, Craig D. Lindsey, Brittney McKenna, Marissa R. Moss, Noel Murray, Joe Nolan, Betsy Phillips, John Pitcher, Margaret Renkl, Daryl Sanders, Megan Seling, Jason Shawhan, Michael Sicinski, Nadine Smith, Ashley Spurgeon, Amy Stumpfl, Kay West, Abby White, Andrea Williams, Ron Wynn, Charlie Zaillian Editorial Intern Kahwit Tela Art Director Elizabeth Jones Photographers Eric England, Matt Masters, Daniel Meigs Graphic Designers Mary Louise Meadors, Tracey Starck Production Coordinator Christie Passarello Events and Marketing Director Olivia Britton Promotions Coordinator Caroline Poole Publisher Mike Smith Senior Advertising Solutions Managers Maggie Bond, Sue Falls, Michael Jezewski, Carla Mathis, Heather Cantrell Mullins, Jennifer Trsinar, Keith Wright Advertising Solutions Managers Olivia Bellon, William Shutes, Niki Tyree Sales Operations Manager Chelon Hill Hasty Advertising Solutions Associates Aya Robinson, Price Waltman Special Projects Coordinator Susan Torregrossa President Frank Daniels III Chief Financial Officer Todd Patton Corporate Production Director Elizabeth Jones Vice President of Marketing Mike Smith IT Director John Schaeffer Circulation and Distribution Director Gary Minnis For advertising information please contact: Mike Smith, msmith@nashvillescene.com or 615-844-9238 FW PUBLISHING LLC Owner Bill Freeman VOICE MEDIA GROUP National Advertising 1-888-278-9866 vmgadvertising.com

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NASHVILLE SCENE | AUGUST 5 – AUGUST 11, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

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CITY LIMITS

ANTI-ABORTION PROTESTS ON THE RISE AT NASHVILLE’S PLANNED PARENTHOOD LOCATION The reproductive health care facility uses volunteers to escort patients past what representatives call harassers

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

BY LENA MAZEL

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olf umbrellas, anti-abortion protesters and professional videographers — staff members at Nashville’s Planned Parenthood facility on Dr. D.B. Todd Jr. Boulevard say these are increasingly a part of their daily operations.

“We have four different health centers across the state, and our Nashville health center gets more protesters than all the others combined, and then some,” says Julie Edwards, patient advocacy manager for Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi. Edwards says this year, Planned Parenthood has seen a “regular presence” of about twice as many protesters as they saw in 2020. Generally, Edwards says protesters are becoming “a lot more organized and a lot more strategic, and they are pulling together a lot more funding.”

Some protesters have started to investigate clinic staff too. “They will stalk us on the internet, basically,” Edwards says. “They’ll find out our names, our emails, where we work, how old we are — they use that to intimidate us.” Edwards says they’ve seen more protesters than ever before as well.

At the clinic, protesters do not interact directly with patients. Instead, volunteers called patient escorts act as a shield between patients and protesters. Edwards calls them “protectors of a safe environment” and “emotional caretakers.” Patient escorts are trained in de-escalation techniques and follow very specific protocols. Most notably, they do not interact with protesters unless they need to tell them to obey the law — among other protections, the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994

prohibits protesters from blocking a patient’s access to an abortion clinic.

Planned Parenthood typically sees three main groups of protesters, Edwards says: quiet people who sit and pray, more aggressive folks with paid camera crews, and representatives from what are known as crisis pregnancy centers. The more aggressive protesters try to “get our patients on camera so that they can capture evidence of what they would call ‘saving’ someone for their social media,” Edwards says. These protesters create privacy concerns, so patient escorts now carry large golf umbrellas to shield patients as they walk from their car to the clinic.

People from crisis pregnancy centers — nonprofits created in an attempt to dissuade women from getting abortions — are the most consistent protesters at Planned Parenthood. They come to the clinic in vans that contain ultrasound equipment and try to talk patients into receiving their care rather than Planned Parenthood’s. Crisis pregnancy centers provide free resources like pregnancy tests and ultrasounds, but they actively discourage abortions.

Scott Hord, a retired pastor from Smyrna, protests at Nashville’s Planned Parenthood location five days a week. He has been performing what he calls “rescues” for more than six years. “God gave me two words in a Starbucks in Smyrna,” he says. “Engage abortion.” Now Hord runs Operation Saving Life, a nonprofit group that he says has between five and 20 protesters at Planned Parenthood every day that it’s open. They also have an ultrasound van.

Ruth Washburn, an independent protester, is at the clinic when the Scene

visits on a Friday in late July. After explaining some of the services OSL and other organizations provide (counseling, baby showers and adoption assistance, among others), she concludes, smiling, that there’s “really no reason anyone would get an abortion.” “We’re just there to support these women, not to judge or condemn,” she says. Through her clear bag, business cards with the words “ABORTION IS MURDER” are visible. The words are in red lettering, dripping with blood.

While Hord says he trains volunteers to “go in love, humility and truth,” he later adds that “not everybody that goes in there needs a hug — some people need to be introduced to truth.”

“Either Planned Parenthood is on the side of truth or we’re on the side of truth,” Hord says. “But one of us has to be wrong.”

One source who spoke to the Scene on the condition of anonymity says she left a role at a crisis pregnancy center and is now training to become a patient escort. As a volunteer nurse, she was concerned with the misinformation crisis pregnancy centers give to patients, which she calls predatory and manipulative.

“If you have to lie or misconstrue your message to further your agenda, then you don’t have anything,” she says. “You have nothing. It’s not realistic, and it doesn’t make sense to me.”

Edwards says protesters have an incomplete idea of Planned Parenthood. “They only see us as abortion providers and not as reproductive health care services,” she says.

Hord says he knows that Planned Parenthood provides other services, but given his views, he believes people shouldn’t go in for any reason. “If you know Planned Parenthood is doing something bad, why would you go there for birth control?” he asks.

Edwards recalls a local mother who pulled up to the clinic with a large Jesus sticker on her van. “You can’t call yourself a Christian!” protesters yelled as she walked into the clinic.

The woman was at Planned Parenthood to get her daughter a cancer screening. Before she and her daughter left, the woman signed up as a clinic volunteer. “My God tells me to love everyone,” she told Edwards.

Planned Parenthood has infrastructure in place to safeguard the mental health of its volunteers and staff, including mentoring support for newer volunteers. “It takes a special person to do this kind of work,” Edwards says. Legally, protesters cannot enter clinic property, including its parking lot.

“Our number one priority is the safety of our staff and patients, and we always want our patients to feel welcomed,” says Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi president and CEO Ashley Coffield in a statement. “Our volunteer patient greeters are amazing, and I’m so grateful for all they do.

As for the protestors, these people manufacture drama daily and their presence affects our patient’s dignity, privacy and autonomy. Also, can we please stop calling them protestors? They are harassers. They don’t just stand there holding a protest sign — they actively block our driveways and go to great lengths to verbally and physically harass our staff and patients. In any other context, this would be considered stalking.”

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

SCHOOL IS COMING BACK, AND COVID-19 NEVER LEFT Vandy infectious disease expert: Require vaccination for all school staff and make students mask up

BY STEVEN HALE

A

s Nashville prepares for a third school year that will be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the virus has shown it can adapt as well as if not better than the society it’s attacking. The vaccines, developed with miraculous speed, have been remarkably effective against the virus. Yet so many Tennesseans — and Americans in general — have been so resistant to getting the shot that the virus is raging again, in the form of the Delta variant.

In July, COVID-related hospitalizations increased nearly five-fold, and state health officials say that upward of 97 percent of those cases — and 98 percent of deaths — are among unvaccinated patients. That’s a category that still includes most Tennesseans. As of Aug. 1, just 39.3 percent of Tennesseans are fully vaccinated; 44.6 percent have received at least one dose.

Newly released data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reinforces the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines. The infection rate for unvaccinated people is eight times higher than for vaccinated people, and the hospitalization rate for the unvaccinated is 25 times higher. Breakthrough infections for vaccinated people are rare, but the agency has found that vaccinated people can spread the virus if they become infected. And the Delta variant appears to be more contagious, possibly even as contagious as chickenpox. As a result, the CDC has released new guidelines recommending that even vaccinated people should resume wearing masks indoors if they live in hightransmission areas or in a home with particularly vulnerable people.

Now comes the new school year. On Aug. 10, Metro Nashville Public School students will return for what the district hopes will be the first full year of in-person classes since the pandemic hit.

Last week’s Scene cover story focused on how Napier Elementary — and the school’s principal, Dr. Watechia Lawless — is approaching this year’s unique challenges. One of those challenges, of course, is COVID-19.

As of this writing, MNPS is not requiring masks in schools — only “highly encouraging” them for staff and students. Students older than 12 are eligible for the vaccine, but that leaves large numbers of elementary school and middle school students unprotected.

Infectious disease specialist and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine professor Dr. William Schaffner spoke to the Scene recently about how and why vaccines are the way out of the pandemic. But he also had thoughts about the coming school year. Schaffner strongly supports bringing students back to school in person and says schools can be a “low-risk environment.” Although children have been hospitalized and died from COVID-19, those

nashvillescene.com | AUGUST 5 – AUGUST 11, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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8/2/21 6:08 PM

CITY LIMITS

WHEN IN FRAN’S The future of beloved East Nashville dive Fran’s East Side is in question

BY MARGARET LITTMAN

F

ran’s East Side, the beloved East Nashville dive bar and karaoke destination, is losing its lease and scrambling to find a new location. A GoFundMe campaign has been started to help Frances Adams, its 70-something proprietress, keep the beer flowing while she finds a new location.

“We often say, ‘This is one of the last remaining fill-in-the-blanks in Nashville,’ but this truly is one of the last true dive bars in Nashville,” says Chris Thompson, a longtime regular at Fran’s. “It would be a shame to lose it.” Thompson is so wellacquainted with neighborhood watering holes he was once dubbed “the Mayor of East Nashville” in the Scene’s Best of Nashville issue.

With a goal of raising $50,000, the GoFundMe campaign would help Adams stay open and pay rent month to month while finding and leasing a new location, completing renovations, securing permits and moving.

Gowa, the master of Fran’s legendary karaoke program and the bar’s promoter (who prefers to use only her first name), is helping Adams with her relocation efforts

THIS WEEK ON OUR NEWS AND POLITICS BLOG: Tennessee’s Republican leaders are finally starting to openly advocate for vaccination, with recent op-eds signed by most of the state Senate’s GOP members and from Rep. Sabi Kumar (a doctor) pushing (in varying degrees of aggressiveness) reluctant Tennesseans to get the shot. Contributor Betsy Phillips says that’s all well and good, but even with this sudden change of heart, the Republicans continue to blow it. “Every step of the way, the state has been dumber than rocks about this,” she writes.

“I do not encourage or support any kind of corruption or using deceit to try to destroy your political enemies — let me be clear about that.

But if you’re going to choose evil, you have to

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used to it. It’s happened all over the country. It does not make them sick. It doesn’t make your surgeon sick — if the surgeon has to wear the mask for eight hours in an operation, it’s not gonna make your child sick. Put that away, that’s all malarkey.”

There are other steps schools can take to lower the risk of spreading the virus, he says. Among

them: splitting classes into smaller pods of students and eating lunch in classrooms to avoid large gatherings in the cafeteria. But the most direct way to combat infection and transmission of the virus is, again, getting the shot.

“I think every adult that has anything directly to do with schools should be vaccinated, and that should be required,” Schaffner says. “Whether

you’re a public school, or private school, every teacher, every school bus driver, every custodian, everybody who works in the cafeteria, every coach, every secretary, every crossing guard. Everybody who has anything to do with schools, obviously — hello? — should be vaccinated. And if they haven’t been yet, shame on them.”

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

and posted about the efforts on her Instagram account last week.

Adams has run more than a dozen bars in Nashville over the course of more than 50 years. She has already relocated Fran’s East Side once.

It moved to its current location at 2105 Greenwood Ave. in March 2008. Before that, East Side (as it is still technically officially called) was located on Gallatin Avenue (where the Cobra is today). Gowa, Thompson and others say the magic of Fran’s East Side is not its physical space, but its community.

FRAN’S In addition to the karaoke, residents of the neighborhood and she wants Fran’s East Side is known for its friendly them to be able to be nearby. bartenders, eclectic crowd, pool tables, On the GoFundMe page Adams explains cheap beer and a large cat tapestry that hangs on the wall. More than 15 music videos, the situation: “Our landlord is forcing us to move. I’ve been here thirteen years, including for Lee Brice and Keith Urban, taking care of the property and doing all have been filmed at Fran’s, Adams says. the repairs on the building. He doesn’t “Fran’s is a melting pot,” says Gowa. “It want to renew the lease after he led us to is a place where everyone feels at home. believe he was going to renew it. We have Everyone is equal. Veterans, blue-collar tried everything. We offered more than a workers, mixed in with hipsters, millennials fair share to stay and continue to rent the and good-timers. And the karaoke is part of building but he doesn’t want to accept our the magic.” offer. It’s not fair to someone who has taken Gowa is planning to open a coffee shop care of the lot and the building, to choose not called Neon Moon, and has been looking for to renew the lease.” places where she could split the rent with Adams says her current agreement is Fran’s — either next door or in a daytime/ essentially a month-to-month lease that nighttime scenario similar to Wedgewoodends Oct. 31, 2021, but that date has changed Houston’s Falcon & Flamingo. She says she several times, so she is preparing as best would have been interested in the vacant she can. space adjacent to Fran’s. Fran’s East Side is Davidson County records list Antonio committed to staying in East Nashville, as Dunlap as the property owner for the opposed to moving to Madison, Old Hickory Fran’s storefront, plus its adjacent vacant or somewhere less expensive, Adams says, storefront, since 2003. According to county because many of the regulars are longtime

records, back property taxes are owed on the building for both 2019 and 2020.

In addition to paying rent to the landlord, Adams now owes CSX, the railroad company, too. CSX recently took possession of the parking lot and driveway, and in June began charging Adams rent.

This increased expense came after the lower income in 2020. Adams says she was closed for about five months in 2020, and it took her about three months to get caught up on rent when Fran’s reopened. The Scene was not able to reach either Dunlap or CSX for comment.

Adams looked at a few prospective properties, some leasing at rates as high as $36 per square foot. “I am not paying $8,000 a month for a bar,” she says. “Our beers are $2.50. We could go up to $2.75, but if I pay that much in rent I will go out of business. I am not an idiot.”

There are several ways to help efforts to save Fran’s East Side: Go have a beer or two.

Karaoke takes place from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Friday through Sunday. The bar opens at 9:30 a.m. six days a week (noon on Sundays).

Donate to the GoFundMe. Adams could use the help of an attorney with whom she could consult, not to mention leads on available properties. While Adams will be able to turn any space into a welcoming dive bar with the oversized cat tapestry hanging from the wall, Gowa thinks an older property with some character (and parking, which Adams says is needed for the beer permit) would be the best fit.

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

be smart about it. Get your bad ducks in a row, so to speak, before you make your move.” She points out, for example, that fired vaccine official Dr. Michelle Fiscus is able to easily refute any reason higherups offer for her dismissal, easily wrong-footing the politicians. If Gov. Bill Lee, who allegedly has larger political aspirations, keeps losing the news cycle to a heretofore anonymous health department employee, imagine what might happen if he gets on a national stage and has to face the savviest of political operators. … Less than one month after closing overflow shelters in July, Metro has opened a temporary COVID-19 shelter for people experiencing homelessness. Metro announced that the space, owned by the sheriff’s office, would serve as a temporary overflow shelter and would open in response to a cluster of positive COVID test results at the Nashville Rescue Mission. Metro claimed it was having a difficult time finding hotels to take in the unhoused because of “damage and criminal activity.”

Nonprofit group Open Table Nashville, however, says that’s not exactly true. “We refuse to accept that a jail, or a location that emulates a jail, is ever an appropriate sheltering option,” Open Table reps

nomination for governor in 2022, according to a source familiar with his nascent bid. Martin, a pulmonary and critical care specialist at Sumner Regional Medical Center and a former Meharry Medical College professor, has never run for office but has grown increasingly more outspoken on health care and COVID-19 issues in recent months. He has joined other doctors in criticizing the pandemic response of Republican Gov. Lee, who would be his opponent in 2022 should both win their party’s nomination. … Paul Garrett spent more than 10 years incarcerated for killing a Nashville sex worker named Velma Tharpe. He was released in 2011. Earlier this year, Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk disavowed the conviction, which came under his predecessor. On Monday, a judge vacated Garrett’s conviction. Another man has been charged with the killing.

said in a statement. “We have housed individuals experiencing homelessness in hotels in the past without logistical, staffing, or liability issues. If we, a small non-profit, can successfully navigate this, we believe that larger, government organizations can do so as well.” … Metro Nashville Public Schools is in the process of allocating the third and final round of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds, part of the federal government’s COVID-response spending. Since March 2020, MNPS has received $26 million in the first round and $123 million the second, and is planning to spend $267 million in this final allotment. MNPS is planning virtual community meetings before finalizing its plan later this month. … Marcus Floyd, a public defender who has done stints as a mayoral adviser, prosecutor and probation officer, is running for a seat on the bench. He announced Monday that he will be a candidate for the General Sessions Division VII seat currently occupied by Judge William E. Higgins. Higgins was first elected in 1980 and has been re-elected — without opposition — five times. … Physician Jason Martin of Nashville is on the verge of launching a campaign for the Democratic

PHOTO: EMILY QUIRK

cases are rare. Young children appear to be far less vulnerable to serious cases of illness if infected. Still, Schaffner says, they have some risk, which can be significantly lessened in a few ways.

He says all unvaccinated students should wear masks, as does the CDC. “That’s clear, and no, the wearing of the mask is not tedious,” Schaffner says. “Children can be

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A FAN’S GUIDE TO A GRAND OLE GRAND PRIX

BY CRAIG HAVIGHURST

PHOTO COURTESY OF INDYCAR.COM

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ell people from Nashville that you’re into motorsports and auto racing, and they’ll tend to assume you mean NASCAR. That’s because stock car — a historically wild Southern sport with a legacy at our own Fairgrounds Speedway — has been the most popular style of racing in America since the 1980s. I myself grew up on NASCAR and its outsized heroes, including Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough and the late, great Dale Earnhardt. But I was also dazzled as a kid by the epic Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day weekend. And over time, particularly with the advent of HD television and the fascinating rise of now-retired driver Danica Patrick around 2005, I became hooked on the sport that’s built around the Indy 500, the style of racing known as, and run by, IndyCar. IndyCar is America’s premier league for open-wheel racing, meaning the cars’ spinning tires are unguarded. This makes for a contest that requires precision and reflexes as much as pure speed. In NASCAR, the automobiles bump and nudge like a rugby scrum. Contact between or

THE TRACK’S TWISTS AND TURNS

among lighter, lower and quicker IndyCars can lead quickly to calamity, so much of the sport’s breathtaking suspense lies in just how close the contestants are to each other while traveling at 100 to 200 mph — without touching. It combines uncanny concentration, prodigious if not obvious athleticism, layered strategy and teamwork worthy of any great basketball or soccer squad.

In a remarkable turn of events, IndyCar is coming to the streets of Nashville. A vast logistical operation has set up a temporary 2.17-mile track around the parking lot of Nissan Stadium and across the Korean War Veterans MemorialBridge, out and back, promising an eye-popping thrill ride roughly 80 feet above the Cumberland River. IndyCars are often likened to fighter jets, and this will be the closest we’ve ever come to watching them fly.

While this audacious new racecourse will be mesmerizing and fascinating for IndyCar fans, many Nashvillians will witness this particular form of racing with little background or context. So, while the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix is going to be a party for 60,000 on-site spectators with two stages of live music and a variety of events over three days, it will be so much richer to understand what’s happening and what’s at stake on the track — this is a more complicated game than it appears. For the fan as for the drivers, IndyCar produces a

The tired joke is that race car drivers just turn left all day, but that’s not the case here. Some IndyCar tracks are indeed classified as “ovals” — like Indianapolis — where the emphasis is on miles covered (i.e., 500) at top speed. But each season also finds the cars competing on “road” courses — specially built tracks designed with a mix of left- and right-hand corners and elevation changes to challenge the drivers — and “street” circuits like Nashville.

These are built for a weekend, bounded by concrete barriers, tire walls and catch fences. Organizers hope Nashville will join the historic street courses of Long Beach and St. Petersburg as fixtures in the IndyCar season. (More on that in our companion story, “In It for the Long Run,” on p. 16.) They say Nashville, with its long straightaways, is going to be the fastest average-speed street course on the calendar.

Obviously, the Korean Veterans bridge is the Nashville track’s showpiece. It’ll be the first Grand Prix raceway to span a major body of water, and it’ll provide iconic moments in person and on TV. The first will be the start, where the cars will form up in their starting grid and accelerate two by two down the eastbound side of the bridge as the green flag falls. As the bridge morphs into Shelby Avenue, the cars will brake hard and jostle for position as the wide left-hand Turn 9 quickly narrows like a funnel. If there’s not a collision on the first lap, it will be due to the reflexes and experience of the drivers.

THE GRANDSTANDS UNDER CONSTRUCTION IN NASHVILLE

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PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

A close look at the track, the drivers and the technical aspects of this weekend’s race

lot of fast-paced mental input, and it takes some orientation to follow along.

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Other features to note include the finish line just in front of Nissan Stadium’s east front and pit row, and the quick left-right combination of Turns 1 and 2. This feature, called a chicane, is designed to slow traffic down at a crucial spot where cars will reenter the racing action from the pit lane.

Then, accelerating from about 60 mph, the racers will bend right and streak up the westbound side of the bridge. As drivers approach the blind crest high above the river, they’ll feel their body grow light in their harnesses, while the cars will be concurrently pressed down to the track by aerodynamic downforce. They’ll be able to drive two abreast on the bridge, tempting drivers to attempt passes. The sound rocketing down the Cumberland River should be an experience in itself. Bring earplugs.

During a brief stay on the west side of the Cumberland comes a knotty hairpin made of Turns 4 to 8. Here the cars will have to sort into a single file line, but some drivers are said to be thinking this slow-speed complex could be a good passing zone — akin to the famous hairpin turn at Monaco. After the right-hand Turn 8, the cars will cross from asphalt onto the concrete surface of the bridge and go full tilt along a half-mile, gently bending rocketway, perhaps reaching 205 mph. Then toward the bottom of the hill, they’ll brake hard and enter that Turn 9 funnel, and the cycle will begin again. A lap should take a bit more than a minute, but watch lap times carefully, because nobody really knows. And even margins of a 10th of a second per lap are where the difference is made in IndyCar.

HOW TO WATCH A RACE

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A PACKED RACE WEEKEND While the featured race takes place late Sunday afternoon, the IndyCar experience represents a full weekend of on- and off-track activity. Friday provides a session for driver practice, where racers and teams will get their first experience of the street circuit.

They’ll take stock of bumpy sections, the transitions from concrete to asphalt, braking points, the quirks of entering and exiting the pit lane, and more. In Nashville, the teams have a lot to learn about how to adjust the cars’ wings and suspension to maximize grip in the turns and minimize drag on the long, high-speed straightaways. They’ll get a feel for the bridge and the complex hairpin turn.

And they’ll look for auspicious places to set up and pass their competitors.

Don’t overlook qualifying, which takes place on Saturday afternoon. Cars race the clock in a boundary-pushing rush comparable to competitive downhill skiing.

The cars run with low fuel and special aerodynamic tweaks for sprint-like speed versus the marathon approach to the race, so they’re never lighter or quicker than on Saturday. Watch the drivers duck in and out of the pits here, making adjustments for the day’s conditions. Over three rounds, cars are eliminated until Sunday’s starting order — or grid — is established in order of lap times achieved. Starting position is important but not essential to winning. Fans watch for drivers to make up positions at the start, and if conditions are right, cars can recover from a weak Saturday and move to the front through passing and quick pit stops. If it should happen to rain, starting order becomes less consequential, and even last-to-first performances are not unheard of “in the wet.”

There are more races during a weekend than just IndyCar, as other leagues tag along

to fill up the three days with action. During the Nashville experience, you’ll also be able to watch Trans Am (essentially American muscle cars) and GT America cars — the nomenclature here is a bit deceptive, because most of the brands running will be modified European sports cars, including Mercedes, Audi, Porsche and Aston Martin.

Unlike the IndyCar garages, which will be closed to all but the highest dollar ticketholders, both those leagues’ paddocks will be open for browsing by general ticket holders.

And whenever there aren’t motors ripping around the track and over the concert-ready production setups, there will be music. A variety of headliners and local artists are set to play between Friday at 10 a.m. and Sunday night. Friday night’s closeout show will feature Brooks & Dunn, Jamey Johnson and others. Saturday’s headliner is country artist Jon Pardi, while Sunday’s post-race party is a Grand Ole Opry special featuring The Oak Ridge Boys, Justin Moore and others.

General-admission fans will be able to roam from a “Beach” on the riverbank and Cumberland Park all the way to the interior of the track along Shelby and Interstate Drive. The area includes a Family Fun Zone next to Nissan Stadium, food trucks and enclaves for sponsors and merchandise.

Vital for paying attention to the racing action will be the 19 large video screens distributed around the racecourse. With about half the track on a suspended bridge, Nashville comes with less advantageous sightlines than most courses, and some of the best viewing angles have been eaten up by highdollar patron packages and sponsors. So do yourself a couple of favors. Attend Saturday for qualifying so you can get a sense of the best spots for viewing a part of the track and a good video picture. And record the race at home on your DVR. As fun as a live race is, it’s honestly easier to follow the competition with expert commentary and a bird’s-eye view. And second, you’ll want to see the race as the international television audience sees it. If all goes well, it should make Nashville look like a bridge to the future. ■

SECOND AVENUE SOUTH

MUSIC CITY GRAND PRIX EVENTS SCHEDULE, AUG. 5-8 THURSDAY, AUG. 5 5:30 p.m.: Fan Fest/Autograph Session/Pit-Stop Challenge FRIDAY, AUG. 6 10 a.m.: Public gates open; New Sound of Nashville Stage concert; Family Fun Zone opens 11 a.m.: Trans Am Series practice 1 12:40 p.m.: SRO GT America test 1:15 p.m.: SRO GT America practice 1 2:15 p.m.: Trans Am Series practice 2 3:10 p.m.: NTT Indycar Series practice 1 4:25 p.m.: Stadium Super Trucks practice 5:15 p.m.: Drew Green concert, Main Stage 6:15 p.m.: SRO GT America practice 2 7 p.m.: Brooks & Dunn, Jamey Johnson, Vince Neil, Tyler Farr and more, Main Stage 9:30 p.m.: Track/gates close SATURDAY, AUG. 7 7:30 a.m.: Walk Bike Nashville Fun Walk/Ride 10 a.m.: Public gates open 10 a.m.: New Sound of Nashville Stage concert 10 a.m.: Family Fun Zone opens 11 a.m.: Trans Am Series qualifying Noon: NTT Indycar Series practice 3 1:20 p.m.: Trans Am Series race 2:50 p.m.: SRO GT America qualifying 3:30 p.m.: NTT IndyCar Series qualifying/Firestone Fast 6 5 p.m.: Tim Dugger concert, Main Stage 6:15 p.m.: Stadium Super Trucks race 1 7:25 p.m.: SRO GT America race 1 8:30 p.m.: John Pardi concert, Main Stage 10:30 p.m.: Fireworks show 11 p.m.: Track/gates close SUNDAY, AUG. 8 9 a.m.: Public gates open 9 a.m.: New Sound of Nashville Stage concert 10 a.m.: Nondenominational worship service feat. CeCe Winans 10 a.m.: Family Fun Zone opens Noon: NTT IndyCar Series warmup 12:40 p.m.: Lane Motor Museum parade lap 12:45 p.m.: Vintage Indy cars lapping session 1 p.m.: Pre-race party feat. DJ Hish, Main Stage 1:45 p.m.: Stadium Super Truck race 2 2:45 p.m.: SRO GT America Race 2 3:50 p.m.: NTT IndyCar Series pre-race ceremonies 4:40 p.m.: NTT IndyCar Series Big Machine Music City Grand Prix [80 laps] 7 p.m.: Grand Ole Opry at the Track feat. The Oak Ridge Boys, Justin Moore, Riley Green, Danielle Bradbery & Callista Clark, Main Stage 9 p.m.: Track/gates close

MUSIC CITY GRAND PRIX COURSE

FIRST AVENUE SOUTH

PEABODY STREET

An 80-lap IndyCar contest can’t be won by going full-tilt the whole time any more than a runner’s marathon can. Drivers will pick their times to burn the most fuel, punish their tires, take the most risk. Watch as the teams choose when to swap between the two tire types. The red-banded ones are quicker and softer but wear out faster. The blackbanded tires are more durable but slower per lap. Tires are changed, of course, during pit stops, which should happen three to four times per car during this race. Focus on the coordination of the crews as they jump over the wall to change four tires, tweak the car’s wings and fuel it up for the next stint. All that takes about seven to nine seconds.

On track, watch the entire field — not just who’s “winning” — for two reasons. Passes in midfield have points implications for the overall driver championship. Also, with pit stops shuffling the order, it’s not always the car in front that has the upper hand. In my racing journey, I found it revelatory to focus less on who’s leading but instead focus on the cars in pursuit, because then you can feel just how hard it is to not get left behind by these fearsome 700-horsepower machines and their highly trained pilots. I like to say racing is a movie with only the car chase, and who doesn’t love a car chase?

IndyCars have only manual steering, so the forces of the road are sent back through the steering wheel, which takes immense muscle to control. That applies to braking as well. Watch for puffs of smoke from drivers’ tires in the braking zones. These “lockups” represent tiny miscues that can lead to flat

spots on the tires and frustrating vibrations.

Races, particularly ones as hot as Nashville, leave drivers spent physically and mentally. While shifting gears with their fingertips dozens of times each lap, they’re taking stock of every turn apex, the positions of the cars around them, the surface of the road, and every nudge and skitter of the car on the slick pavement. They can feel the car getting lighter as it burns off fuel and their tires losing performance as they scrub off their rubber. The drivers endure two to four G-forces in every direction as they lap, and in crashes they can suffer tens of Gs. I hope you come away from the race weekend with due respect for their mental focus, courage and physical endurance.

A word about wrecks. Yes, they happen, and no, we don’t enjoy them. They disrupt the action and put our drivers in danger. For decades, open-wheel, open-cockpit racing was absurdly deadly, claiming multiple lives a year. Relentless high-tech improvements in driver safety starting around 1970 slowed that dramatically, but the sport is still perilous. Four IndyCar drivers have perished since 2000, the most recent being Englishman Justin Wilson in 2015. Last year, IndyCar added a structural halo above the drivers’ heads, and several scary crashes have suggested that these “aeroscreens,” controversial at first, have been and will continue to be life-saving.

CUMBERLAND RIVER

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DRIVERS TO WATCH IndyCar tends to be a hotly competitive sport, less prone to dynastic teams or drivers than its money-bloated international cousin Formula One. So far this season’s 10 races have produced eight different winners. Remember that on Aug. 8, you’ll be watching but one contest from a 16-race season in which drivers are competing for points toward the season championship. That’s why a pass in the midfield can be as consequential as a pass for the lead at Nashville in terms of who reigns come September. Here are some of the key drivers competing in Nashville.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN will be a star of the coming week — because he’s the only IndyCar driver to have grown up in Nashville, and because the local guy has at age 29 already snagged two IndyCar season championships, in 2017 and 2019. He started this year ignominiously, however, with an unforced spin and wreck on the first lap of the first race in Birmingham, Ala. He’s had ups and downs since, but in taking his first trophy at Mid-Ohio on July 4, he arrives as the most recent race winner.

HÉLIO CASTRONEVES is a veteran and fan favorite for his mile-wide smile and abundant Brazilian charisma. He became known to a lot of civilians by winning Dancing With the Stars in 2007, paired with future country artist Julianne Hough. Racers and fans revere him because he’s won the Indianapolis 500 a record-sharing four times, including this year’s thriller in May. The season championship has eluded him, with four second-place finishes between 2002 and 2014.

IN IT FOR THE LONG RUN

Music City Grand Prix’s organizers are looking to get on a level with some of U.S. racing’s most prestigious events

BY GEERT DE LOMBAERDE

SCOTT DIXON is the reigning IndyCar champion and the most accomplished overall driver in the field. A New Zealander, the 40-yearold has taken six titles since 2003, and he’s won major races in other global leagues. He’s truly one of the greats of our time and a jovial guy famous for his composure in the cockpit even when things get heated.

JIMMIE JOHNSON entered the 2021 IndyCar season as a “rookie” with high hopes and a curiosity factor that was off the charts. With seven NASCAR cup championships to his credit, he’s one of American racing’s biggest celebrities. In a fascinating glimpse at the differences between the styles of racing, Johnson has failed spectacularly in the ground-hugging IndyCars. He’s finished at or near the bottom of the seven races he’s participated in, sometimes becoming an on-track obstacle to other drivers.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF INDYCAR.COM

ÁLEX PALOU, a rookie in 2020, raced Castroneves in a thrilling back-and-forth finale of the Indy 500 in May, crossing the finish line just a half-second behind the winner, and he’s currently leading in championship points. The 24-year-old Spaniard took the opening race where Newgarden spun out, and he won again in June. His name’s pronounced puh-LOW, and you’ll want to remember it.

PATRICIO O’WARD is the other youngster capable of taking the championship, an unmissable entrant in his striking orange-and-black car. The 22-year-old Mexican was a rookie in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. In 2021, O’Ward has been on a tear, with bold wins in Texas and Detroit.

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he ambitious and big-name backers of the Music City Grand Prix are looking to burn some rubber and quickly make their mark in the auto-racing world. But just as importantly, they aim to be around for a long while — which is not something many openwheel street racing events have been able to do — and become another anchor on Nashville’s hospitality calendar.

Aug. 8’s Music City Grand Prix will be the IndyCar Series’ 11th race in 2021, and will be the third — after St. Petersburg, Fla., and Detroit’s Belle Isle — of four events this year on a temporary street circuit. (The Grand Prix of Long Beach will close the IndyCar season in late September; it was first run in 1975 and has hosted Indy-style open-wheelers since 1984, except for last year, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced its cancellation.) Nashville’s is the first new street course in IndyCar in nearly a decade, and Music City Grand Prix CEO Matt Crews and his team have in hand a three-year contract that comes with an option to add two years.

Expectations are high for a race that will have drivers zooming across the Cumberland River at about 200 mph and firing through concrete canyons near Nissan Stadium before a global TV audience in more than 100 countries. The Grand Prix team is forecasting that the three-day event will have an economic impact of $25 million, give or take a few million. (Some context: The massive CMA Fest produced $65 million in direct and indirect spending in 2019 before COVID forced organizers to take a two-year hiatus.) Grand Prix president Chris Parker, a former senior Nashville Predators executive, says his team’s goal is to supplement June’s CMA Fest and July’s fireworks extravaganza with a third big summer downtown draw — and the initial interest and enthusiasm has been “tremendous.”

Delivering on those expectations year after year won’t be easy, however. A number of cities have found that the initial excitement of hosting a big IndyCar race weekend can be hard to sustain or doesn’t quite pay the bills. For example: The Grand Prix of Baltimore arrived on the scene in 2011 with a lot of fanfare and a memorable track in the city’s Inner Harbor district. But the race didn’t produce the economic benefits organizers had promised, and its backers racked up $3 million in debt, including almost $1.2 million to the city. Another group took over the event, which closed down parts of Baltimore’s economic center, but the race was last run in 2013.

In Denver, Indy-style cars under the sanction of the CART organization ran on a downtown circuit in 1990 and 1991. CART’s successor, the Champ Car World Series, returned to the Mile High City in 2002 and ran through 2006 before scheduling conflicts ended that event.

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FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG

Champ Car’s first race on the grounds of the Edmonton City Centre Airport in 2005 drew more than 200,000 attendees over three days. But that number dropped steadily in subsequent years, and new promoters stepped in to handle the event in both 2008 and 2010. By 2012, city officials said they had lost $12 million on construction and sponsorships in the previous three years and would not pony up more money to further update the track at the airport, which was in the process of being closed down in favor of commercial development. The event’s run would end at eight years.

Promoters in Houston have taken three cracks at hosting top-level auto racing. A first run from 1998 to 2001, under CART sanction, ended because of construction projects in the track’s downtown footprint. Five years later, Champ Car returned to race around the recently built Reliant Stadium (home of the Houston Texans, which has since been renamed NRG Stadium), but that run lasted just two years because Champ Car ceased operations and merged into what is now the IndyCar Series. A promoter made another run a few years later, signing a five-year contract with IndyCar and lining up Shell to sponsor the race weekend for four years.

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After two events, the promoter said scheduling problems meant there would be no 2015 race, and the event has not returned to the calendar since.

There are more tales of promoters designing street races to showcase their cities and help draw visitors, businesses and their dollars to town but having to fold up their tents a few years later. But there are also longtime success stories, like Long Beach, St. Pete and Toronto. (In Toronto, Indy cars have run nearly every year since 1986, but the city hasn’t hosted a race during the COVID era.) In those places, the circuits have produced iconic images, such as the long Shoreline Drive in Southern California, or the yacht-dotted bay in Florida — instantly recognizable racing scenes Nashville organizers want the Korean Veterans Memorial Bridge to join — and attracted sponsors that stick around for years.

Those are the events the Grand Prix’s ownership group — which includes Justin Timberlake and Dale Earnhardt Jr. — is seeking to emulate by designing a track that will stick around and connecting with sponsors and other entities that have the same long-term goals.

Parker says the GP crew focused heavily on building its partnership with the Titans and Nissan Stadium as well as the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp and other business and tourism groups.

Also important was “date equity,” the idea

of having the race at the same time each year — angling to make it both a Nashville destination and a fixture on the IndyCar calendar — and the confidence that the city streets the cars will race on aren’t going anywhere.

“We wanted relative certainty that we could build this thing for the long term,” Parker says.

The backers are pumping $10 million into their big weekend this year, although that number will come down significantly for future editions when they don’t have to buy concrete barriers, fences and other gear from scratch or make quite as many road improvements. The city is not cutting a check to help fund the event, but Metro officials have helped out with permitting and the logistics of roadwork, and the massive undertaking of creating the track on the Korean Veterans Memorial Bridge and nearby streets. Parker says the investors are clear that it’s a heavy financial lift to begin with; the benefits — both financial and reputational — will come over time.

“This is not about year one,” he says.

“It’s all about years two, four, five, 10 and 15. The investors see an opportunity in the event, but they also see what Nashville can deliver in the long run.”

The title sponsor of the racing festival is Big Machine, the holding company for music labels, a vodka-focused distillery and a racing team that this year began fielding a car in NASCAR’s second-tier

Xfinity Series. Founder and record executive Scott Borchetta is a Grand Prix investor as well as a racer himself: Driving a 1972 Chevrolet Corvette, he was a 2020 division champion in the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association, and he will race the Grand Prix’s track as part of the weekend’s Trans Am TA2 contest. He has long sponsored events and drivers, including Hendersonville native and two-time IndyCar season champion Josef Newgarden, and has used racing as a vehicle to champion his recording artists.

Soon after he bought the former Tenn South distillery in 2015, he also began showcasing his spirits line via the sport, including as title sponsor of NASCAR’s stop at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Sponsorships from Big Machine and others make up a decent chunk of the event’s income, along with a cut from food and beverage, parking and merchandise revenues. But Parker says ticket sales, including those to premium and VIP suites, are key — which is where having a series of concerts by Big Machine acts comes in.

From midday Friday until Sunday night, the aim is to keep things loud and rocking and build the expectation of return visits.

“We didn’t set out to create just another race on the IndyCar circuit,” Parker says.

“This is a three-day festival where the racing is a part of it. It’s having the ability to program three, four, five days in Nashville — with something that is uniquely Nashville.”

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | AUGUST 5 – AUGUST 11, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

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8/2/21 7:02 PM

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NASHVILLE SCENE | AUGUST 5 – AUGUST 11, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

CRITICS’ PICKS W E E K L Y

R O U N D U P

O F

T H I N G S

T O

D O

ART

THURSDAY / 8.05 [TRASH TREASURY]

JODI HAYS: PAST PRESENT

J O D I H AY S : PA S T P R E S E N T

[TENNESSEE, 2021]

KELSEY WALDON & TOWN MOUNTAIN

MEGAN STALTER

ZieherSmith Gallery

sound is shot through with Springsteen-like populist sensibilities. 8 p.m. at Brooklyn Bowl, 925 Third Ave. N. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN [HI GAY!]

MEGAN STALTER

Fans of HBO Max’s delightful comedy series Hacks — which landed a staggering 15 Emmy nominations last month — will recognize Megan Stalter as Kayla, the deeply privileged and inept assistant to Hollywood talent agent Jimmy.

While Stalter’s filmography doesn’t have

a whole lot of entries just yet, the improv performer and self-proclaimed theater kid has loads of experience crafting similarly clueless and narcissistic characters. Over the past two years, and particularly over the course of the pandemic, a number of the comedian’s Twitter and Instagram Live videos have gone viral — like, for instance, one from June in which Stalter (who is bisexual) mocks corporations’ appropriation of Pride Month by playing the part of a butter-store owner who offers a special deal to any customer who can “prove that you’re queer.” She’s great at delusional rants and portraying a complete lack of self-awareness, and for a look at her approach to stand-up, Google her chaotic and confrontational 15-minute set for HBO Max’s Queer Comedy Showcase.

It’s something. Catch her Thursday at Zanies, where she’ll perform two sets. 7 & 9:15 p.m. at Zanies, 2025 Eighth Ave. S. D. PATRICK RODGERS

MUSIC

FRIDAY / 8.06 [FAST FORWARD]

BECCA MANCARI W/ANNIE DIRUSSO

One of the verbs we use to discuss music is “play.” Singer, songwriter and multiinstrumentalist Becca Mancari certainly embodies that in her work. Even when her voice is gentle and the tempos are slow, there’s always a kinetic energy brewing

inside the expression. But she also knows just how powerful music is. In her lyrics — especially on her masterful 2020 LP The Greatest Part — she opens up about the rejection, fear and misunderstanding that people in the LGBTQ community face. In the way she conducts her career, she stands up for and speaks out about improving conditions for fellow musicians and fellow queer people. Through this work, she’s made a lot of friends, like her Bermuda Triangle bandmate and Alabama Shakes frontwoman Brittany Howard and singer-songwriter and Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams.

Friday’s show is Mancari’s first here in her adopted hometown since the release of The Greatest Part, and she’s promised that some pals will join in, though the special guests are a secret. Someone who will be there for certain is opener Annie DiRusso, a Belmont University student who has become something of a TikTok sensation with her facility for snarling poppy rock and a knack for confronting the less pleasant parts of relationships. 9 p.m. at The Basement East, 917 Woodland St. STEPHEN TRAGESER [NIGHT MOVES]

NASHVILLE BLACK MARKET’S FRIDAY NIGHT MARKET

Since it was established in 2018, the Nashville Black Market has been helping local Black-owned businesses, entrepreneurs and creators grow and gain exposure, and starting this Friday, the group

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“TANGLED GARTER,” JODI HAYS

THURSDAY, AUGUST 5

SHOPPING

Kelsey Waldon was one of the last acts John Prine had a hand in signing to his family-run Oh Boy label before his passing in April 2020, and her White Noise/White Lines — Waldon’s 2019 Oh Boy debut and third LP in total — affirmed the potential he saw in her. Intelligent, compassionate tracks like “Kentucky, 1988,” a tonesetting origin-story song, and the scathing “Sunday’s Children,” about the moral selfrighteousness of certain churches, showed a gift for plainspoken, timeless songcraft with a progressive but never preachy slant. Waldon’s latest release is the covers collection They’ll Never Keep Us Down, featuring renditions of songs by Neil Young, Nina Simone, Prine (naturally) and four other artists who’ve shaped the 33-year-old as a writer and musician. Waldon will play Brooklyn Bowl on Thursday, and also on the bill is Town Mountain, a gang of pickers from Asheville, N.C., whose trad-bluegrass

COMEDY

MUSIC

During the shut-in days of 2020, artist Jodi Hays started experimenting with a new painting process that utilized the scraps of cardboard boxes that had begun accumulating around her East Nashville home. The resulting works are singular — a mix of Southern vernacular aesthetics and Abstract Expressionist formalist ambition.

It’s a perfect match for the creaking floors and exposed brick walls of ZieherSmith Gallery on Third Avenue South, just a few blocks from Lower Broadway. Catch Hays and her new work at Thursday night’s opening reception before she heads to New York for a group show in September, then a solo show at L.A.’s Night Gallery in the spring. Opening reception 5-7 p.m. at ZieherSmith Gallery, 509 Third Ave. S.; through Aug. 31 LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

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8/2/21 3:55 PM

CRITICS’ PICKS

MUSIC

SATURDAY / 8.07 [CUT THE CAKE]

JERRY GARCIA 79TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

Over three decades, late Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia worked in an array of styles that dazzled as they swirled together. With the Dead, he ran the gamut from mutant pre-rock and R&B to fusioninflected jazz to country-rock. His standout second solo LP Garcia (Compliments) features him as a singer and lead guitarist on a suite of blues, R&B and pop covers, backed by an enormous shape-shifting band.

In an oft-quoted interview filmed for the 1990s documentary series The History of Rock ’n’ Roll, Garcia laughs heartily as he talks about a formative incident. Early in the life of the Dead, he unintentionally ingested LSD in a birthday cake someone brought backstage before a concert. Throughout the show, he hallucinated that the audience was full of mafia hitmen, ready to kill him if he didn’t play well enough. After he came down and got a firm grip on the reality that he wasn’t about to be assassinated, he took to heart the idea that he needed to play for his life. You can hear that on the multitudinous records and even bigger archive of bootlegs Garcia left behind when he died in 1995.

Even if he didn’t nail it every time — or even a lot of the time, to some listeners’ ears — he was always pushing. That’s what an assembly of top local players is gathering to celebrate Saturday at The Basement East. The full lineup of performers wasn’t announced at press time, but members of Dead-loving Music City rock outfits Los Colognes and Futurebirds will play, and you can expect many more to join in. 8 p.m. at The Basement East, 917 Woodland St. STEPHEN TRAGESER

PRI NTERS ALLEY

NASHVI LLE, TN

Please consider Jane’’ s Hideaway Jane

B E ST N E W BA R B E ST N E W R E STA U RA N T 22

NASHVI LLE, TN

MUSIC

PRI NTERS ALLEY

THERE’S

[IF IT’S TOO LOUD, YOU’RE TOO OLD]

NOISEFEST III FEAT. NOTQUEENS OF NOISE NOT

It was early February 2020, and I was sitting in an East Nashville rehearsal space with members of local rock band Queens of Noise. The teens were closing in on finding their voices and their own rock ’n’ roll/riot grrrl identity since forming four years earlier after attending a Joan Jett concert. They were weeks away from releasing a new 7-inch featuring a GoGo’s-esque single “Up Against the Wall” and an in-store release party at Third Man Records. They spoke openly about some of the toxicity and close-mindedness they’ve experienced in their lives and how that was inspiring exciting new material. And then … well, you know. Now, finally, the band will make its post-pandemic debut to perform and host Noisefest III at The End — but the

BOOZE IN HERE

EVERGREEN: GAMES

STUFF YOU CAN DO ANY TIME [GOING FOR THE GOLD]

PLAY THE OLYMPICS-THEMED GOOGLE DOODLE GAME

For years, the Google Doodle — a piece of art, an animation or an interactive game that graces the top of the dominant search engine — has marked holidays, the birthdays of important historical figures and other noteworthy events. For the Tokyo Olympics, Google presents a tribute to 16bit Japanese roleplaying games, complete with anime cutscenes from Studio 4°C. In Doodle Champion Island Games, you take control of a calico cat named Lucky and compete in a variety of summer sports to earn scrolls. There are nods to Japanese folklore and history in the mix (you face off against a legendary samurai in archery, for example), and the controls are simple and accessible — just control keys and a space bar for the most part.

It’s a surprisingly big game that even includes sidequests, but luckily it saves in your browser, meaning you can play until the Olympics wrap up in Tokyo on Aug. 8.

ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

STREAMING

is kicking off a new monthly market event.

The inaugural Friday Night Market will feature more than 40 vendors, plus food trucks, drinks, giveaways and a DJ providing some shopping music. You can also head to thenashvilleblackmarket.com to learn how to become a vendor and check out videos from past events. The Friday Night Market will return the first Friday of each month, but why wait? Head to Rundle Avenue and be ready to shop and support local Black businesses. 6 p.m. at the Nashville Black Market, 630 Rundle Ave. ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

[MAGGOTS? MAGGOTS.]

WATCH GARTH MARENGHI’S DARKPLACE ON AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

I still remember the exact moment when I became a Garth Marenghi stan: I was at a bar in Raleigh, N.C., that was hosting a BBC Night, screening British cult shows like Chris Morris’ provocative news satire Brass Eye, and this weird horror parody called Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace. (Technically, those shows originally aired on Channel 4, but whatever.) I found Darkplace to be quite the fascinating comic creation.

Originally broadcast for one six-episode series back in 2004, it’s a show-withina-show about a long-lost supernatural medical drama from writer/director/star Marenghi (played by co-creator Matthew Holness), a self-centered horror writer who’s clearly a Stephen King-Harlan Ellison mashup. As you might’ve guessed, the program is purposely awful and amateurish, as Marenghi and his cast — which includes future Brit comedy stars Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd) and Matt Berry (What We Do in the Shadows) — play a gun-wielding hospital staff fending off evil forces when they’re not saving lives. Anyway, this hilarious mess of a show can now be streamed in its entirety on Amazon Prime Video. CRAIG D. LINDSEY

occasion is bittersweet. It will be the Queens of Noise’s penultimate performance, as 80 percent of the band will be heading off to college in the fall. (The final performance comes one week later, on Aug. 14 at noon at the Tomato Art Festival.) It’s hard not to feel a little robbed of what could’ve been, if it weren’t for the global pandemic crashing the party. But as Joan Jett has proven, the ability to rock knows no age. May these

NASHVILLE SCENE | AUGUST 5 – AUGUST 11, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

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8/2/21 3:55 PM

UPCOMING EVENTS

GET TICKETS & LEARN MORE AT PARNASSUSBOOKS.NET/EVENT

THURSDAY, AUGUST 5 6:00PM

PARNASSUS SUBSCRIPTION BOX CLUBS AUGUST SELECTIONS:

MARY ADKINS

in conversation with OPHIRA EISENBERG on FB LIVE Palm Beach TUESDAY, AUGUST 10 6:30PM

JEFF ZENTNER

in conversation with DAVID ARNOLD at PARNASSUS In The Wild Light 6:00PM

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 11

ADDISON ARMSTRONG

in conversation with ARIEL LAWHON on FB LIVE The Light of Luna Park 6:00PM

THURSDAY, AUGUST 12

RAQUEL VASQUEZ GILLILAND

in conversation with ZEA KEMP on FB LIVE How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love With the Universe 6:00PM

MONDAY, AUGUST 16

AJ PEARCE on FB LIVE Yours Cheerfully 2:00PM

SATURDAY, AUGUST 21

FARRAH ROCHON, MIKAELLA CLEMENTS & ONJULI DATTA

in conversation with SHYLA WATSON on FB LIVE The Dating Playbook & The View Was Exhausting 6:00PM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 27

ROXANNE DUNBAR-ORTIZ

in conversation with ROBIN D.G. KELLEY on FB LIVE Not a Nation of Immigrants 6:30PM

KELLY MOTLEY at PARNASSUS The Fight for My Life

PARNASSUSBOOKS.NET/FIRSTEDITION-CLUBS

SATURDAY, AUGUST 28

@parnassusbooks @parnassusbooks1 @parnassusbooks 3900 Hillsboro Pike Suite 14 Nashville, TN 37215 (615) 953-2243 Shop online at parnassusbooks.net nashvillescene.com | AUGUST 5 – AUGUST 11, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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VOTING OPEN NOW THROUGH SEPTEMBER 6 For 33 years, the Nashville Scene has been the source for the best of people, places and things in Nashville. From the readers’ poll results to the writers’ picks, our hugely popular Best of Nashville print issue is the definitive source on where to go and what to do in Music City.

Cast your ballot and help name the BEST this city has to offer.

#BON21

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NASHVILLE SCENE | AUGUST 5 – AUGUST 11, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

SCAN TO START VOTING

BESTOFNASHVILLE2021.COM

CAST YOUR BALLOT ACROSS 8 GROUPS AND MORE THAN 275 CATEGORIES! Arts, Culture & Music

Best Art Gallery Best Art Happening Best Band (local) Best Beer Event/Beer Festival Best Bowling Alley Best Charity Event Best Cheap Date Best Comedy Venue Best Concert Series Best Country Music Artist Best DJ (Performer) Best Drag Performer Best Event/ Festival (local) Best Film/TV Actor or Actress (local) Best Food Event Best Free Fun Best Honky-Tonk Best Instrumentalist Best Karaoke Bar Best LGBTQ Bar Best Movie Theater Best Mural Best Museum Best Performing Arts Group Best Photographer Best Place to Dance Best Place to Hear Live Music Best Place to Play Pool Best Place to Throw Darts Best Place to See a Play Best Printmaker/Poster Designer Best Rapper/Hip-Hop Act (local) Best Singer-Songwriter Best Stage Actor/Actress (local) Best Stand-Up Comedian (Local) Best Theater Company (local) Best Trivia Night Best Visual Artist Best Writers’ Open Mic Night

#BON21 People & Places

Best Bachelorette Attraction/ Activity Best College Sports Team Best Community Role Model Best Cultural Center Best Day Trip Best Nashville SC Player Best Park Best Place to People Watch Best Place to Ride a Bike Best Place to Swim Best Place to Take Out-ofTowners Best Place to Worship Best Predators Player Best Religious Leader Best Sports Mascot Best Titans Player Best Transportainment Best Water Attraction Best Weekend Getaway

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Best Bagel Best Bakery Best Bar Best Barbecue Best Bartender Best Beer Selection Best Breakfast Best Brewery (local) Best Brunch Best Burger Best Burrito Best Cake Baker (local) Best Candy Store Best Catfish Best Caterer Best Cheap Eats Best Chef Best Chinese Best Cocktails Best Coffeehouse Best CSA/Local Produce

Health, Beauty & Fitness

Best Aesthetician Best Chiropractor Best Dentist Best Gym/Fitness Club Best Golf Course

Kids & Pets

Best Babysitting Service Best Daycare Best Dog-Friendly Restaurant Best Dog Park Best Elementary School (Public or Private) Best Family -Friendly

Home & Garden

Best Apartment Community Best Developer Best Electrician Best General Contractor/ Builder Best House Painter

Retail & Services

Best Adult Toy Store Best Antique Store Best Attorney Best Auto Dealer Best Auto Mechanic Best Bank Best Barber Shop Best Bicycle Shop Best Book Store (local) Best Boutique Hotel Best Bridal Boutique Best Car Wash/Auto Detailer Best CBD Retailer Best Clothing Consignment Best Dry Cleaner Best Event Planner

Best Craft Beer Retailer Best Cupcakes Best Deli Best Dessert Best Distillery Best Dive Bar Best Doughnut Best Farmers Market Best Farmers Market (Vendor) Best Food Delivery Service Best Food Truck Best Fries Best Happy Hour Best Hot Chicken Best Hot Dog Best Ice Cream Best Indian Restaurant Best Italian Restaurant Best Juice Bar Best Korean Restaurant Best Late-Night Eats Best Liquor Store

Best Margarita Best Meat and Three Best Mediterranean Best Menu Best Mexican Best Neighborhood Bar Best New Bar (Opened since October 2020) Best New Restaurant (Opened since October 2020) Best Patio Best Pizza Best Place for a Business Lunch/Power Lunch Best Poke Best Place for a Romantic Dinner Best Restaurant Best Restaurant in Rutherford Co. Best Restaurant in Sumner Co. Best Restaurant in Williamson Co.

Best Restaurant in Wilson Co. Best Restaurant with a View Best Ribs Best Rooftop Bar Best Sandwich Shop Best Seafood Best Service Best Small Plates Best Sports Bar Best Steakhouse Best Sushi/Japanese Best Taco Best Takeout Best Thai Best To Go Cocktails Best Vegan Best Vegetarian Best Vietnamese Best Wine List (Restaurant or Bar) Best Wine Store Best Winery/Vineyard Best Wings

Best Hair Removal Best Hair Salon Best Hair Stylist Best Hospital Best LASIK Surgery Center Best Lash Salon Best MediSpa Best Nail Salon

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Best Place to Get a Blowout Best Plastic Surgeon Best Primary Care Physician Best Reflexology Best Skin Care Center Best Spa Best Yoga Studio

Restaurant Best High School (Public or Private) Best Kids Clothing Best Middle School (Public or Private) Best Outdoor Fun Best Pediatrician Best Pet Boarding/Day Care

Best Pet Grooming Best Pet Store Best Place to Adopt a Pet Best Place to Have a Baby Best Place to Have a Birthday Party Best Place to Take Kids when it’s Raining Best Playground

Best House Cleaning Service Best Interior Designer Best Lawn Service Best Mortgage Lender Best Moving Company Best Neighborhood Best Nursery/Garden Center Best Fashion Designer Best Florist Best Gift Shop Best Hotel Best Inn/Bed and Breakfast Best Insurance Company (Local) Best Jewelry Store Best Men’s Clothing Store Best New Business Best Nonprofit Best Outdoor Adventure Store Best Place to Buy an Engagement Ring Best Place to Buy Eyewear Best Place to Buy New Musical Instruments Best Place to Buy Used

Best Place to Buy Furniture Best Plumber Best Real Estate Agent Best Real Estate Brokerage Best Senior Living Best Specialty Contractor

Musical Instruments Best Place to Buy Vinyl Best Place to Buy/Sell Music Best Place to Work Best Place to Buy Comic Books Best Printing Company Best Shopping Center Best Shopping Mall Best Smoke Shop Best Swim Lessons Best Tattoo Studio Best Tourist Tour Best Vintage Clothing Store Best Wedding Venue Best Women’s Clothing Store

Best Pre-School Best Private School Best Summer Camp Best Swim Lessons Best Teacher (Public or Private) Best Veterinarian Best Toy Store (local)

Media & Politics

Best Blog (local) Best Columnist (local) Best Conservative (local) Best Current Metro Council Member Best Facebook Page Best Food Instagram Best Instagram (local) Best Liberal (local) Best Podcast Best Politician (local) Best Radio Personality or DJ Best Radio Station Best Reporter (local) Best Scandal of the Year Best Sports Radio Show or Podcast Best Sports Writer Best TV News Personality (local) Best TV News Station (local) Best Twitter Account (local)

BESTOFNASHVILLE2021.COM

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Leading the charge for what promises to be an afternoon of fierce nostalgia for earlyAughts Nashville and Murfreesboro indie rock is Tower Defense, local DIY punk pillar Mike Shepherd’s dual-bass unit with wife Sarah also on low-end, Currey May on guitar and Jereme Frey on drums. The foursome will showcase its 2020 YK Records LP In the City, a quick-witted set of New Wave meets post-hardcore meets magical realism.

Previously, Shepherd and Frey were the NASHVILLE rhythm section in Apollo Up!, and dealt in skate-video-worthy Dischord Recordsinspired fare from 2002 to 2008. With Apollo’s frontman Jay Leo Phillips returning to the fold, they’ll rev back up for this show too. Also turning back the clock: pop-rock three-piece The Carter Administration, led by singer-songwriter-guitarist Todd Kemp — who last year returned with a killer NASHVILLE record of spiky, intricate pop under the name The Prudish Few with Shepherd on bass and Phillips on drums. (Got it?) Even if you weren’t there back in the day, ice-cold beer and quality punk rock — eight bands’ worth! — sounds to me like a good way to kill a hot August afternoon. The show is free, and — even better — will be over by 8. 4 p.m. at The 5 Spot, 1006 Forrest Ave. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

FOOD & DRINK

SUNDAY / 8.08

26

[POTATOES O’BRIEN]

DRAG BRUNCH

Eggs Benedict would be a half-decent name for a drag performer. So would Quiche Lorraine, for that matter. Dutch

Baby. Frittata. Surely there are dozens of queens named Bloody Mary already. See, brunch and drag are an obvious winning combination. In that spirit, Tavern at the Bobby Hotel is bringing back Drag Brunches every Sunday. Beat your face, grab your judies and head down to Fourth Avenue for a late-morning show featuring local favorites Cya Inhale and Vidalia Anne Gentry, along with a rotating cast of guests from Nashville and beyond. Tickets including brunch and seating on the main floor are $45. General admission is firstcome, first-served at $20. Doors open at 11 a.m. and the show begins at 11:30. 11 a.m. at Tavern at Bobby, 230 Fourth Ave. N. J.R. LIND

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[THE BOYS ARE BACK]

JEFF ZENTNER BOOK EVENT FEAT. DAVID ARNOLD

If you’ve been missing in-person book events, this one might be your best entry back into the world of fun conversations, approachable writers and shop dogs — all things that make events at Parnassus so much fun. Longtime Nashvillian Jeff Zentner is an award-winning YA author whose new book In the Wild Light delves into the worlds of opioid addiction and the unique blend of comfort and angst that makes leaving small Appalachian hometowns so difficult. Joining him will be New York Times bestselling author David Arnold, another YA phenom with Southern street cred. The Lexington, Ky.based writer’s latest book, The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik, has been optioned for film by Paramount. The event is free, but space will be limited — registration is required to attend. You can find details about the event and register at parnassusbooks.net. 6:30 p.m. at Parnassus, 3900 Hillsboro Pike LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

NASHVILLE SCENE | AUGUST 5 – AUGUST 11, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

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CRITICS’ PICKS

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KEITH ANDERSON’S PODUNK NIGHTS

WED

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8/12

FEAT. DANIELLE PECK

7:30

8/7 A SALUTE TO LED ZEPPELIN SUN

JEREMY IVEY

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8:00

TUE

SMITH CURRY

7:30

7:00

8/8 W/ THE MINKS, AMELIA ROSE 8/9

WILDHEART WEDNESDAYS ERIN ENDERLIN, CARLENE CARTER, & MORE

8/6 AMERICA’S HEART TRIBUTE SAT

6:30

8/10 WITH SAM HUNTER PLUS JULIET HAWKINS

8:00

SAM RIGGS W/ JOEY GREEN

FRI

8:00

WORLD TURNING BAND

SAT

8:00

8/13

THE LIVE FLEETWOOD MAC EXPERIENCE

8/14

JONATHAN TYLER & THE NORTHERN LIGHTS + QUAKER CITY NIGHT HAWKS

SUN

8/15

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8/8

8/22

THE MINKS (SUPPORTING JEREMY IVEY)

SHELLY COLVIN (SUPPORTING T. HARDY MORRIS)

9/5 THE MANGO FURS (SUPPORTING LIZ COOPER)

COMING SOON 8-17 DEREK ST. HOLMES BAND 8-18 WILDHEART WEDNESDAYS 8-19 THAT 90’S SHOW + 8 TRACK BAND 8-20 RUBIK’S GROOVE 8-21 THE MIDNIGHT RIDERS : THE ALLMAN BROTHERS REVUE 8-22 T. HARDY MORRIS WITH SHELLY COLVIN 8-24 THE PIANO MEN: THE MUSIC OF ELTON JOHN AND BILLY JOEL 8-25 WILDHEART WEDNESDAYS FEAT. CLAY MILLS , REBECCA LYNN HOWARD & MORE 8-26 BONNIE BISHOP W/ BEN DANAHER 8-27 JEFFREY STEELE SOLD OUT!

8-28 A PINK FLOYD EXPERIENCE : ANDERSON COUNCIL “WISH YOU WERE ANIMALS” 9-2 STONEY LARUE 9-3 RESURRECTION : A JOURNEY TRIBUTE 9-4 PAT MCLAUGHLIN BAND 9-5 LIZ COOPER W/ THE MANGO FURS 9-11 MAGIC CITY HIPPIES W. COOL COMPANY 9-14 JOE TROOP (OF CHE APALACHE) 9-15 BLACK JOE LEWIS & THE HONEYBEARS 9-18 GUILTY PLEASURES 9-19 HEARTLESS BASTARDS

10-1 LOS COLOGNES 10-2 SUNNY SWEENEY 10-7 THE WILDER BLUE 10-8 & 9 WILL HOGE 10-15 SERATONES 10-17 EMILY WOLFE 10-19 TOMMY CASTRO & THE PAINKILLERS 11-3 WILLIE WATSON 11-9 LOVE HEALS EVERY BODY : A BENEFIT FOR THISTLE FARMS 11-21 BRANDY CLARK SOLD OUT!

12-5 DAVID SHAW

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NOT OUR FIRST GOAT RODEO TOUR

WEDNESDAY / 8.11 [GREATEST OF ALL TIME]

NOT OUR FIRST GOAT RODEO TOUR FEAT. YO-YO MA, STUART DUNCAN, EDGAR MEYER, CHRIS THILE & AOIFE O’DONOVAN

There are artists who help shape and define their musical genre of choice. Then there are those who blend and even defy them.

And this virtuosic group of musicians — Yo-Yo Ma on cello, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Edgar Meyer on bass and Chris Thile on mandolin, along with featured vocalist Aoife O’Donovan — certainly falls into the latter category. The group first teamed up for The Goat Rodeo Sessions back in 2011, offering a unique sound that honors each of these accomplished musicians’ traditions and backgrounds, melding bluegrass, Americana, international folk and classical. In 2020, they released Not Our First Goat Rodeo, once again leaning into the intricate style that they have playfully compared to a goat rodeo — it’s an aviation term for a situation in which 100 things need to go right to avoid disaster. They’ll be performing together live for the first time in nearly a decade, and this concert marks the beginning of their much-anticipated summer tour. 7:30 p.m. at Ascend Amphitheater, 310 First Ave. S. AMY STUMPFL [TAKE IT EASY]

JON PARDI

The super-ordinary dudes who sing modern country tend to have things both ways. For example, take a look at the image of California-born Nashville country star Jon Pardi. On the one hand, he’s a working stiff who finds time to slide between the sheets with his loved one in

his 2018 hit “Night Shift.” However, unlike many working stiffs, Pardi got some choice Tom Petty-isms from his studio musicians to spice up “Night Shift.” The song’s video features Pardi performing on a stage above Lower Broadway, where hordes of his fans are presumably buying drinks.

I like “Night Shift,” which sports a nifty four-bar bridge that’s simple but effective.

Meanwhile, Pardi delves into Eaglesisms on “She Ain’t in It,” a 2017 hit for the post-neotraditionalist singer. Another hit, 2020’s “Ain’t Always the Cowboy,” might be considered a breakthrough for modern country — in the song, it’s a restless woman who leaves Pardi. I say it’s not a breakthrough until Pardi’s team gives him a song that situates him in the real world, more or less. Pardi has an easy way with a lyric, and he’s the successor to George Strait if anyone is. In this crazy post-bro-country world, that’s saying something. 9 p.m. at Brooklyn Bowl, 925 Third Ave. N. EDD HURT MUSIC

8:00

MUSIC

COUNTRY OUTDOORS

MUSIC

THU

8/5 FEAT. DRAKE WHITE, MO PITNEY & MORE

[GUESS WHO’S BACK]

MIRROR HOUSE FEAT. ANNA B. SUTTON, SARAH BANDY & MORE

Mirror House, the Porch Writers’ Collective’s night of poetry and song, is back in person with a dreamy lineup. This month’s bill includes visiting writer Anna B. Sutton, a Nashville native turned North Carolinian whose debut poetry collection, Savage Flower, explores female oppression and agency in the Bible Belt. She’ll be joined by local poet Simba Alik, aka Simba the Poet.

You may know Sarah Bandy as the cool babe who founded Youth Empowerment Through Arts and Humanities and gave the next generation of musicians the opportunity to pick up instruments and go hard. Bandy is also a multifaceted indie rocker, playing drums, harp, banjo, guitar and bass. She’ll perform a set, as will Church Goer, whose music blends elements of pop, metal, gospel and club music. 7 p.m. at Tempo Nashville, 2179 Nolensville Pike ERICA CICCARONE

PRIVATE EVENTS

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criticspicks_8-5-21.indd 28

8/2/21 3:56 PM

thebasementeast basementeast thebasementeast

917 Woodland Street Nashville, TN 37206 thebasementnashville.com

Gemini Syndrome // Aug 8

JERRY GARCIA 79TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION // AUG 7

w/ A Killer's Confession, OVTLIER & Pushing Veronica

BLINK 182 VS. WEEZER TRIBUTE // AUG 11

LEAH BLEVINS // AUG 12

CIGARS FROM A. Fuente Ashton CIGARS FROM A.CAO Fuente Cohiba Ashton CAO Davidoff Cohiba Montecristo Davidoff Padron Montecristo Padron Tatuaje Tatuaje Zino Zino & &Many Many More More

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TAKE OFF YOUR PANTS AND JACKET & THE GREEN ALBUM

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KODY WEST // AUG 13

DRIVIN N CRYIN // AUG 14

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Upcoming shows Aug 5 Aug 6 Aug 7 Aug 8 Aug 11 Aug 12 Aug 13 Aug 14 Aug 18 AUG 21 AUG 22 Aug 24 Aug 25 aug 27 aug 31 Sep 1 Sep 8 Sep 9 Sep 10 Sep 11

Simmons Bank is now open at the Gulch.

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OVTLIER & Pushing Veronica

Blink 182 vs Weezer Tribute Leah Blevins w/ brit taylor Kody West w/ wade sapp Drivin N Cryin w/ LORE fancy hagood feat. sarah buxton Chase Matthew female rock icons of the 80's tribute John 5 w/ Jared James Nichols & Black Satelitte sarah darling w/ maggie baugh and colin elmore space capone w/ nick connors hellzapoppin Brandon "Taz" Niederauer Kashena Sampson Sam Fischer The Foxies w/ Wild Love Nikki Lane w/ Joshua Hedley

Sep 12 Sep 15

turnstile SOLD OUT! Elana Jane, Eric Van Houten, Sammy Arriaga, and Maddie Consoe Summer Salt w/ Covey and Breakup Shoes Jordy Searcy w/ palmertrees Gary Numan w/ i speak machine Wild Rivers w/ jillian jacqueline Fozzy w/ Through Fire, Royal Bliss & Black Satellite Jukebox the Ghost Perpetual Groove the nude party The Emo Night Tour Mae & The Juliana Theory celebrating the life and songs of John Prine SOLD OUT! okey dokey Parker Millsap w/ molly parden Noga Erez w/ McKinley Dixon Madison Cunningham w/ S.G. Goodman gus dapperton w/ Spill tab The Backseat Lovers w/ branson anderson Pecos & the Rooftops SOLD OUT!

Sep 17 Sep 20 Sep 27 Sep 28 Sep 30 Oct 1 Oct 2 Oct 5 Oct 7 Oct 8 Oct 9 Oct 14 Oct 16 Oct 17 Oct 18 Oct 19 Oct 21 Oct 22

Aug 10 Aug 11

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RED SHAHAN // AUG 6 Aug 5 aug 6 Aug 6 Aug 7 Aug 7

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UPCOMING SHOWS

vincent neil emerson get happier fridays (5pm) free show! red shahan (9pm) the woods (7pm) rufio hooks, dillon warneck & Loving sons (9pm) emily rose ben chapman w/ wade sapp, Meg McRee, Tyler Halverson & special guests

Aug 13 get happier fridays free show!

Aug 14 love montage & badculture (7pm) Aug 14 Samuel Herb w/ Bonner Black (9pm) Aug 20 & 21 Sierra Ferrell SOLD OUT!

Aug 27 Aug 27 aug 28 aug 29 Sep 1 Sep 1 Sep 2 Sep 9 Sep 10 Sep 12

get happier fridays (5pm) free show!

Darrin Bradbury (9pm) Rett Madison w/ Liv Greene Molly Martin, Ryan Sobb & The Dead Mall, The Singing Butcher Valley Maker w/ The Ophelias (7pm) Haley Powers, Meg Williams, Leilani Kilgore (9pm) tm easton w/ upstate mojo Husbands w/ Crumbsnatchers Rock Eupora w/ Sad Baxter & Gentle Organisms Quiet Hollers w/ She Returns From War and Katy Guillen & The Drive

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nashvillescene.com | AUGUST 5 – AUGUST 11, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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FOOD AND DRINK

H&S Bagels

Proper Bagel

Crieve Hall Bagel Co.

Shep’s Delicatessen

Bagelshop

THE BAGEL HAS LANDED The Scene’s editorial staff searches for the city’s best bagel

BY MEGAN SELING

Y

ou might have missed it while you were hunkered down in your COVID-19 quarantine bubble, but Nashville entered a bagel boom over the past year or so. Jewish deli Shep’s opened in the former Marché space in East Nashville’s Five Points neighborhood, and farmers market favorite Bagelshop found a permanent spot in the Fairlane Hotel. South Nashville’s bagel delivery service Crieve Hall Bagel Co. also moved into a storefront in, of course, Crieve Hall, and a real-deal New York bagel maker left New Jersey to open H&S Bagels near Vanderbilt in June.

The only thing to do with this newfound wealth of golden, boiled yeast rings — OK that sounds weird, sorry — is try them all. For the first official Nashville Scene Blind Bagel Taste Test, we purchased six plain bagels from five local bagel shops. A panel of tasters sampled the freshly baked goods both with and without the shop’s accompanying cream cheese and judged them on a scale of 1 to 5 in five categories:

appearance, texture, flavor, cream cheese and overall bagelability. They were scored on a scale of 25 possible total points.

As staffers tried bites of each bagel — often going back for seconds and thirds — it became clear: There are no losers here. Numerically speaking, the results were as close as an Olympic swimming heat, with the scores sometimes landing within a 10th of a point from one another. All the bagels were good bagels, or as one taster poetically put it, “All carbs are good carbs.” An important note: We did not include Nicky’s Coal Fired, which offers bagels on the weekend, or Mr. Aaron’s Goods, which offers bagels by delivery Wednesday and Saturday. Both receive a lot of local praise, but we wanted to focus on full-time bagel bakeries that offer bagels at least five days a week. Star Bagel wasn’t included because its owner has posted COVID denial and QAnon-related conspiracy theories on its social media accounts.

On to the results!

H&S BAGELS

105 17th Ave. S., handsbagels.com Score: 19.7 Cost: $1.50 By only a few weeks, H&S Bagels is the newest bagel shop on the block. It was opened in June by Hector Sanchez, a former New Jerseyite with more than 40 years of experience in the bagel business, according to the H&S website.

They’re so serious about perfecting the New York bagel here in Nashville that they even bring in what they call “that magic NYC water” for the process. Whoa.

The main complaint our tasting panel had about H&S Bagels, which received the highest score in our “overall bagelability” category, was that the bagel was “dense” or “doughy.” A similar sentiment was said about the shop’s cream cheese, which was so thick it broke one very flimsy plastic knife. Still, the bagel’s delicately savory flavor was widely praised, as was its appearance — it was, without a doubt, the prettiest bagel on the table.

Also worth noting: The H&S leftovers were the first to be gobbled up by office onlookers once the taste test was over.

nashvillescene.com | AUGUST 5 – AUGUST 11, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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PHOTOS: ERIC ENGLAND

“

“Great, crisp outside with chewy interior texture.”

“As shiny as the head of a bald man.”

“Wow, folks.”

“Tastes like it dated an onion. Nice color and excellent chew.”

“Really great flavor — surprised at how distinct it was.”

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8/2/21 3:47 PM

CRIEVE HALL BAGEL CO.

4825 Trousdale Drive, Suite 228, crievehallbagel.co Score: 17.5 Cost: $2.50 Crieve Hall Bagel Co. was born last year, in the middle of the pandemic. After owner Ben Cornfield lost his job, he and his wife Lizzy started baking bagels in their home kitchen, delivering them around town to bring in some extra cash. Demand continued to grow, so the two ditched the home kitchen and opened the Crieve Hall Bagel Co. storefront in May of this year. The menu is small — just bagels, drip coffee and a few locally made drinks like Maypop Sparkling Water and Walker Brothers kombucha — but they’ve stayed busy, often selling out before their 11:30 a.m. closing time.

Unsurprisingly, Crieve Hall’s sourdough bagels looked the most homemade, a characteristic I personally appreciated, but the appearance is what cost them the most points in the end. The texture and flavor categories received mostly high scores, but the appearance category was peppered with 2s and 3s, ultimately landing them — just barely — in last place. A technicality, really. And that said, if you’re a fan of whipped cream cheese, this is the place to be. Theirs is delicious and light as a cloud.

“

“Impressive flavor — both the bagel and cream cheese.”

“Light, airy — would be best as a bagel sandwich.”

“I love these, but they’re thick, not super bagelly.”

“Doesn’t look like a conventional bagel, though that’s admittedly the least important factor.”

“Nice, good, classic — not mad.”

SHEP’S DELICATESSEN

1000 Main St., shepsdeli.com Score: 17.7 Cost: $2.75 It felt as though the entire city of Nashville released a collective sad sigh when beloved chef Margot McCormack announced a little more than a year ago that she would not be reopening Marché Artisan Foods after the restaurant closed due to both the pandemic and the March 2020 tornado. The hard-to-swallow news was sweetened up a bit, though, when it broke that a NYC-style Jewish deli would be moving in months later. Finally! An option for latkes other than Noshville! Shep’s menu is loaded with traditional Jewish comfort food — latkes, pastrami and corned beef, chopped liver, house-made pickles — and their bagels attempt to replicate that familiar New York style, with a shiny and chewy golden-brown skin. Unfortunately, the flavor fell flat for some of our taste testers, but that didn’t keep it from being a perfectly acceptable vehicle for cream cheese.

“

“This bagel was fine. Just fine.”

“Little plain but that’s OK. Lets the cream cheese shine.”

“Looks like a TV bagel.”

“Ideal chewiness — exactly what I’m looking for, texture-wise.”

“Kinda boring, little too dense.”

BAGELSHOP

401 Union St., bagelshopnashville.com Score: 19.8 Cost: $3 Like the folks at Crieve Hall Bagel Co., Bagelshop owners Max and Kayla Palmer started small. They sold their bagels and other baked goods via local farmers markets and pop-ups around town for several months before opening a bagel cafe in the Fairlane Hotel. There, the line for their bagel sandwiches often stretches back 10, 12 or 15 people deep. It makes sense, right? A bagel sandwich is the perfect hangover food, and downtown is riddled with folks who partied too hard just hours prior. The bagels are also legit delicious. Bagelshop received the highest marks in the taste category, edging out H&S by just 0.2 points thanks to its bagel’s salty flavor and cornmeal-coated bottom. Bagelshop is also the most expensive on the list, though — a plain bagel with no cream cheese costs $3.

“

“Good crust.”

“A little salty — that’s a good thing. Crusty bottom.”

“Flavor wasn’t amazing but complemented the great texture. Soft, air pockets, not too chewy.”

“This was flavorful enough to be enjoyed plain.”

“Very solid, even if not necessarily my favorite. Would never be disappointed if these showed up on my desk.”

PROPER BAGEL

2011 Belmont Blvd., properbagel.com Score: 19 Cost: $12 for six (a single plain bagel is currently unavailable through online ordering, and Proper Bagel was not open for in-store dining at press time) Proper Bagel is a (relatively new) Nashville institution, and so it wasn’t surprising to see the Belmont Boulevard spot show up in the top three, losing out to the top two by less than a point. Of all these bagel shops, Proper Bagel has been doing it the longest, and they’ve won Best Bagel in our Best of Nashville issue multiple times since they opened in 2016. Not only that, but the shop’s cream cheese won out over all the others by a fairly wide margin. I know specialty cream cheese flavors aren’t a part of the taste test, but I’d be remiss not to mention just how well Proper Bagel does it — their rotating menu of seasonal cream cheese flavors currently includes peach, cookie dough, scallion-dill, lavender and honey, garlic-rosemary and jalapeño-bacon, among others.

PHOTOS: ERIC ENGLAND

“ 32

“This bagel needs the cream cheese to reach its full potential.”

“Solid but not too special, cream cheese steps it up a lot.”

“Best flavor by far.”

“A little too dense, but good flavor and perfect color.”

“I love a super-chewy bagel, so this one really hits the spot for me. Might be a little tough for some folks who like a lighter texture.”

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | AUGUST 5 – AUGUST 11, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

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So Refreshing!

Refreshing!

A women’s column featuring a rotating cast of contributors

Sunshine Taco Shop — Rolled Quesadilla — $8.99

Y

ou know what’s better than finding a great neighborhood taco shop? Finding a great neighborhood taco shop that also sells rolled quesadillas. I’d never had a rolled quesadilla, so I didn’t know what I was missing — but now that I’ve tasted the sweet Southern California manna, I don’t know how I’ll be able to stay away. It’s like a fried burrito stuffed with steak and melted cheese, or a fat quesadilla that you have to eat with both hands.

SUNSHINE TACO SHOP Sunshine Taco Shop is a modest storefront in Hermitage that I’d driven past 3466 LEBANON PIKE, lots of times before finally deciding to stop in, and right away I could tell it was HERMITAGE SUNSHINETACOSHOP.COM special. The staples are fantastic — I love the spicy pork and fish tacos ($2.89 and $2.99, respectively). But it’s the over-the-top add-ons that push Sunshine into extraordinary territory. Sure, you could have fresh-made churros — but you can also get fresh-made Oreo churros ($1.49 for regular and $2.49 for the Oreo ones). You can order a fajita burrito — but you can also request that it be covered with cheese and deep-fried ($8.59 for regular and $10.08 for the upgrade). The rolled quesadilla in question is big enough to share, and at $8.99, cheap enough to order a second to go.

LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

Vodka Yonic

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8/2/21 3:48 PM

ART

CRAWL SPACE: AUGUST 2021

The August First Saturday events bring a cool crawl to the dog days

ESCAPE ROUTES AT TINNEY CONTEMPORARY

I

t’s beginning to look a lot like 2019, guys. Most of the First Saturday Art Crawl’s participating galleries will hold opening receptions from 6 to 9 p.m. this month, and the downtown galleries are back in the mix after opting out of the crawl last month over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

WEDGEWOOD-HOUSTON

Kellie Bornhoft’s two-channel video installation, Boundless Sediments, will send tremors through Coop. Bornhoft’s videos blend sculptural images of smashed rocks and chalk drawings with sound and poetry in an environmental exhortation about the actual stuff of the earth beneath our feet.

The press release — I haven’t seen the work yet — has me expecting something sensual and intense. That said, activist art has become an exceedingly boring space as unique individual expressions by socially engaged artists give way to artists putting politics before creativity, transforming their words, images and sounds into actual propaganda in the process. Bornhoft seems more like a scientist than an extremist — she claims “an interest in the way the earth moves in refusal.” If that’s just the press release, I’m here for the poetry.

In addition to Bornhoft’s video verses, Matt Johnstone’s Free Nashville Poetry Library is holding its monthly Show & Sell: A Makers Bazaar at The Packing Plant during the crawl. The open-air market will host zine publishers, experimental comic book creators and small-press artisans. Expect DIY poetry, experimental printing, art books, screenprinting, handmade goods and more. Johnstone has organized many of these kinds of events at The Packing Plant, and we’re excited to see it becoming

34

“SUPERNOVA,” DAVID ONRI ANDERSON

“VR PAINTING 18,” ARDEN BENDLER BROWNING

BY JOE NOLAN

ELEMENTS AT DAVID LUSK GALLERY a more formalized, regular feature of the Wedgewood-Houston happenings. Let’s all meet at the bazaar along Gray Street this Saturday night.

A couple columns back, I wondered about the changes that might come to the crawl events as social distancing and mask restrictions abated. It’s exciting to see projects like Show & Sell emerging in the spaces where we’ve recently lost Wedgewood-Houston event regulars like Infinity Cat. Another new feature at the Wedgewood crawl is Converge’s Grassroots Art Park outdoor performance space. That spot will host live music from The Pitch Meeting — a nonprofit founded by musician Eric Fortaleza that provides songwriters with experienced backing musicians — Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m., and a dance performance and interactive art project with Converge creators-in-residence Hannah McCarthy and Beth Reitmeyer from 5 until 7 p.m. Converge is a nonprofit project deploying art and design in the name of creative placemaking. Their Grassroots Arts Park is located at 1231 Martin St. David Onri Anderson opened his second solo show at David Lusk Gallery on Aug. 1, and the gallery will be open during regular Saturday hours from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., just before the crawl starts to gather momentum.

Anderson received his BFA from Watkins College of Art in 2016, and he’s already one of Nashville’s best-known emerging artists and independent curators. Elements finds Anderson using grass, flowers and nutshell stains along with acrylics and graphite to capture his symmetrical compositions of swirling sunflowers, glowing lanterns and burning candles. The result is an iconography of contemporary spirituality that’s too sincere to be a stoner goof, and

too intense and personal to be part of the one-size-fits-all creative detritus of the New Age. Anderson’s stylized representations are grounded in simple, fundamental notions about nature and transformation, which he relates in his press release: “The ground is made fertile with respect, the seed grows from darkness into the sun’s love. The dark earth nurtures our roots, the sun blesses the day.” Cue the Wicker Man soundtrack and check out @davidluskgallery on Instagram for upcoming Elements events, including an Instagram Live tour of the show with Anderson this Sunday at 12:30 p.m., and a reception for the show on Saturday, Aug. 14, from noon until 3 p.m.

Former Nashvillian Liz Clayton Scofield will be back in town to open The Play’s the Thing at Unrequited Leisure Saturday at 11 a.m.

The artist uses the convention of a stage play to explore the performative nature of identity in an exhibition of sculpture and video. Unrequited Leisure will also be flying Scofield’s “Cloud Flag” from its AIRspace flagpole gallery. The gallery will host a reception during the crawl from 5 until 7 p.m.

DOWNTOWN

I’m stoked to have the downtown galleries back online for the August Art Crawl, and Arden Bendler Browning’s Escape Routes at Tinney Contemporary is a particularly plugged-in affair. Bendler Browning paints shamelessly luscious abstract landscapes with tweaked-out palettes inspired by the otherworldly color combinations oozing from the digital art space. Bendler Browning spent most of 2020 in a pandemic lockdown in the dense urban squeeze of Philadelphia. She weathered the storm in the modest natural spaces she could access within Philly’s concrete jungles, and in

the virtual worlds she created in isolation during the longest days of the pandemic.

Her big circular paintings offer viewers immersive portals of chromatic energy to simply get washed away in. The show’s VR component offers an even more extreme escape route, bringing the various paintings to life in nine different scenes, and inviting viewers to splash right through them in a hyperreal gallery in the metaverse. I love the digital-analog overlap in the VR, AR and blockchain digital art spaces right now, and this cybernetic display of natural spaces recalls the computers “like flowers with spinning blossoms” in poet Richard Brautigan’s “All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace.”

Just up the street from Tinney, Chauvet Arts will open an expansive new group show Balance: Order & Chaos. The multimedia display includes street photography, abstract painting and sculptures made from recycled debris, and features works from gallery faves like Mandy Rogers Horton, Denise Stewart-Sanabria, Jorge Yances and printmaker Paul Roden. Chauvet will be open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. before hosting its Art Crawl reception from 6 until 9 p.m.

EAST NASHVILLE

Pam Marlene Taylor opens CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) at The Red Arrow Gallery with

a reception from 6 until 9 p.m. on Saturday night. The show’s title references the halfreal/half-virtual entities many of us became during 2020. Expect a selection of small framed textile weavings as well as larger draped and tasseled works that will speak to your humanity — it’s like Blade Runner’s Voight-Kampff test, but with crochet.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | AUGUST 5 – AUGUST 11, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

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BOOKS

STILL RUNNING

The team behind John Lewis’ March launches a new series

BY MICHAEL RAY TAYLOR

“P

rogress never moves in a straight line,” writes Andrew Aydin, a longtime policy adviser to the late Rep. John Lewis, in his afterword to Lewis’ posthumous graphic memoir Run: Book One. “Too many people did not understand the forces that gathered to attack and weaken the Voting Rights Act almost immediately after its passage.”

Aydin previously collaborated with Lewis and artist Nate Powell on the bestselling trilogy March, which began with Book One in 2013 and culminated with Book Three in 2016 — the last volume winning a National Book Award RUN: BOOK ONE

BY JOHN LEWIS AND ANDREW AYDIN, ILLUSTRATED BY NATE POWELL AND L. FURY ABRAMS COMICARTS 160 PAGES, $24.99 for Young People’s Literature. As Aydin explains, Lewis’ team decided in 2017 to build a second series around a “simple” idea: “First you march, then you run.”

Even before a global pandemic and Lewis’ death at age 80 in June 2020, publication of this new book saw several delays. Now, with artist L. Fury joining the original team, Lewis’ complicated story picks up where the March trilogy left off. The civil rights movement in general, and more particularly Lewis’ Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, has come under attack — not only from external forces seeking to undermine the 1965 Voting Rights Act, but also from internal division, as leaders like Stokely Carmichael and Jim Forman begin to turn away from the nonviolence advocated by Lewis and his mentor, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. These divisions roil from the Watts riots to Vietnam War resistance, from embassy protests against South African apartheid to an all-night debate over the future of SNCC at an old church camp in Kingston, Tenn. A speech in June 1966 by Willie Nicks, a “brash and aggressive” organizer from Chattanooga, introduces what will become a pervasive slogan, “Black Power.” Lewis meets with President Lyndon Johnson and leaders of the Democratic Party while other SNCC members advocate violent revolution. Lewis, the lifelong advocate of “good trouble,” wrestles with the question of how “good” his work has become in such a turbulent period of American history.

Ultimately, history is what Run: Book One records as the life of John Lewis becomes

increasingly public. As with the first three books, the cinematic artwork that keeps the story moving is painstakingly drawn from photographs and other historical references. (Fury details this process in an informative “From the Artist” essay in the book’s extensive back matter.) While the story remains visually gripping through scenes of sometimes disturbing violence and increasing political intrigue, new realities of the future congressman’s life introduce — out of necessity — a much larger cast of characters than appeared in books of the original trilogy. Readers may find themselves referring to a helpful 12-page “Biographies of the Movement” section ahead of the book’s thorough notes and sources.

These people and their actions allow readers to encounter (many, perhaps, for the first time) the angry divide that existed in America in 1966. “And today the attacks on voting rights continue and bear an all-too-familiar pedigree,” Aydin writes in his afterword, “like those Congressman Lewis faced in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and elsewhere during the early days of the Civil Rights Movement.” But those attacks, and the internal battles of SNCC, aren’t what make the book a moving story of one man (rather than a historic account of a movement). As with most good memoirs — and novels for that matter — the book’s greatest conflicts are internal.

“I could feel everything slipping away,” Lewis says to himself in a poignant panel near the end of Run: Book One. How the 26-year-old regains his life and wins back the movement that he considers his “family” emerges as a driving force behind the new series. In a 2016 interview with Chapter 16, Lewis drew on his experience in advising young protesters to “make our country and our institutions a little more human. It’s not one that lasts for a few days or a few weeks or a few months or a few years — or one election cycle. It is the struggle of a lifetime.”

In early 2020, when he knew he was dying of pancreatic cancer, Lewis agreed to write — or rather, dictate — one more book on his philosophy of nonviolent struggle, aimed at young people seeking social justice today. This book was released by Grand Central Publishing a month ahead of Run: Book One under the title Carry On: Reflections for a New Generation. In it, he speaks simply and directly of the lessons in nonviolence he learned amid the chaos of the 1960s. In Run: Book One, readers watch as he lives through them.

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

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MUSIC

TWO-WAY PLAYER

Opportunity keeps knocking for the multitalented Bryant Taylorr

BY CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

T

he early 2010s witnessed the rise of the singing rapper, with Drake and J. Cole leading the charge. A decade on, newcomers like Nashville’s Bryant Taylorr continue to seek and PLAYING SATURDAY, find melodic sweet AUG. 7, AT EXIT/IN spots between the intensity of hip-hop and sensitivity of R&B. Originally a drummer, the Antioch native stepped out from behind the kit during his senior year at Nashville School of the Arts. Taylorr was playing in the school’s pop ensemble, in which, as he tells the Scene, “people brought in songs that were popular at the time and a full band would learn and play them — background singers and everything.” When the group was looking for another male vocalist, Taylorr volunteered, took to it instantly, and began writing original material on the side.

While his NSA classmates were heading off to college, Taylorr joined Contagious. He describes the One Direction-style outfit as “an international boy band — an Asian dude, a white guy, a Dominican and me, the Black guy. … It ended up being something bigger than I thought it would be.”

When a label from the U.K. signed the group and sent them off on tour, Taylorr soaked up the experience, honing his vocal style and stage presence while seeing the world. At the same time, he considered Contagious something of a means to an end.

“I always knew I wanted to leave the group one day and do a solo thing,” he says. “It was my ramp to jump off of.”

Back in Tennessee, Taylorr connected with Clarksville-raised rapper and songwriter Tim Gent at a show in Chattanooga, forging a partnership that has paid dividends for both artists. Soon

THE SAME OLD TUNE

Two shows highlight country music’s troubling willingness to keep looking backward

BY LORIE LIEBIG

I

f you were one of the thousands of country fans who walked into Nissan Stadium for Garth Brooks’ concert on Saturday evening, you probably felt like you were living during prepandemic times. Brooks, one of the biggest country stars of the past three decades, was set to preview his fall stadium tour with a massive production that drew fans from hours away. He was to be one of the first artists to play to an audience in the stands at Music City’s football stadium, whose capacity for concerts is more than 50,000, since COVID-19 shut

after that meeting, the two got a place in Nashville together, started collaborating and in Taylorr’s words, “just kept pushing.”

“When Tim and I started,” Taylorr says, “we were sending things back and forth — he sends me a verse, I send him a hook. But once we got settled, we started making track after track after track, setting up sessions all over the place. That’s our nature — we can go into the studio anywhere and come up with a song in 10, 15 minutes. Maybe even seven.”

The duo’s work ethic and quality of output eventually caught the attention of Prescription Songs, a big-league publishing house with hits by Dua Lipa, Katy Perry and other Billboard Hot 100 regulars.

Prescription called Gent and Taylorr in for meetings, and in 2017, signed them both.

“By the time that opportunity came, I knew what to do,” Taylorr says of the Prescription deal. “I wanted my job at that time to be the last job I ever had.” So far Gent and Taylorr have scored several song placements, or “syncs.” Last fall, the pair contributed music to a promo for the ESPN-owned collegefootball-focused ACC Network, and they landed a track in a Frito-Lay commercial that ran during the Super Bowl. Taylorr also had music featured in the Netflix film Uncorked.

The song in question was the sleek, chilled-out “Strange Rooms.” If you like that track, you’ll love 2020’s Rare, the 27-year-old’s first proper release since his 2017 solo debut Juice.

With rich, atmospheric production from fellow NSA alum A.B. Eastwood, the hookheavy seven-song mini-album showcases Taylorr’s ambidexterity. “Pretty Women,” about coming to terms with what you’ve lost in a breakup when it’s too late, disarms with its emotional depth. The same goes for “Brakes,” which Taylorr wrote “from the perspective of a girl telling me to stop thinking so hard and tensing up. She’s like, ‘I’ll take the driver’s seat for a sec. Just hold on.’ ” Later on Rare, Taylorr follows the alluring, downtempo “Fan” with the rap jam “Hesitate,” spitting bars at a breakneck rate akin to André 3000 on OutKast’s classic “Bombs Over Baghdad.”

“That one’s different — shows off my rap skills a bit,” Taylorr notes of “Hesitate.” “It’s about never sitting still. We’re working for everything coming our way.”

Throughout the pandemic, Taylorr has

continued “putting together a lot of music … recording a ton,” but his current focus is regaining his sea legs performance-wise.

He’ll play Saturday at Exit/In, where you’ll also hear Eastwood on the wheels of steel and an opening set from East Side rappersinger $avvy. The headlining show comes in the wake of an early-afternoon set at The Groove’s mid-June Record Store Day festivities that drew rave reviews.

“That was my first one back with a capacity audience — extremely hot out

there, but great,” says Taylorr with a laugh, looking back on the Groove gig.

“Playing live again felt different than how I remember. I’m an animated, hyped performer. I need space to jump around a bit. That one show tired me out. I was sweating so hard. Maybe I wasn’t truly ready yet. I’d been so focused on recording I forgot about performing. But I’ve been practicing in the mirror. Going over lyrics.

Getting back at it.”

EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

down the live entertainment industry in 2020. But Mother Nature had other plans: Thunderstorms forced the indefinite postponement of the show, while the crowd took shelter as best it could.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee hoped that the show would break an all-time attendance record for the stadium, saying in a statement that the event would “show the world that Nashville is open and country music is stronger than ever before.” Tourists streamed into the city, contributing to gnarly traffic jams on surrounding streets and filling up sidewalks. There were no COVID restrictions in place for the show — masks were optional and proof of vaccination was not required.

On that same day, Chicago welcomed around 100,000 concertgoers to Grant Park for Lollapalooza.

The four-day festival didn’t allow patrons in without proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test result within 72 hours of entry, and unvaccinated fans were asked to wear masks at all times. Even though the festival’s standard has been criticized as being too lax, at least there was a standard. The stark contrast

shows the mixed bag of strategies live music venues and events are using to navigate this transitional period, in which there are increasing concerns about the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus. The Rolling Loud festival, held in Florida in mid-July, also did not have any entry criteria in place; at press time, neither does Bonnaroo.

Inside Nissan Stadium, I rarely saw masks on either fans or staff. While fans were still filing in, a video announcement from Brooks played on the LCD screens. He asked concertgoers to avoid making people wearing masks feel “uncomfortable.” He then went on to ask mask-wearing fans to do the same to those not wearing masks, as the evening was meant to “unite” audiences rather than divide.

It might have been easier to appreciate Brooks’ message if there weren’t large signs at every turn, reminding fans of the COVID risk they were taking by attending the event. Rising numbers of COVID cases — frequently among unvaccinated individuals, while some fully vaccinated people have contracted

the coronavirus — warrant unease about going into any large crowd right now. Inside the stadium, these conditions were pretty much impossible to ignore.

The concert kicked off under heavy skies with an abbreviated version of the Grand Ole Opry, emceed by announcer Bill Cody. Chris Young, whose star began its ascent in the Aughts, took the stage for a two-song set. Two legends followed: Emmylou Harris sang a duet version of “Strong Hand” with Trisha Yearwood, as lightning flashed behind them.

Moments after the duo finished, concertgoers were asked to take shelter within the stadium concourses.

Thousands of fans piled inside partially enclosed breezeways, with hundreds more spilling out into the uncovered entry plazas. Many huddled in stairways and bathrooms, waiting for the threat to pass. Other fans stubbornly stayed in their seats until the last possible moment, unable to let go of their hope that the show they’d been waiting for so long would go on. At first, tweets from Nissan Stadium’s official account offered hope that the concert could be

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books_8

MUSIC moved to Sunday night, but that option proved unfeasible; further tweets indicated that security and hospitality staffing shortages were partly to blame. A new date for the concert has not been announced.

I stayed in a cramped space with other fans for more than an hour-and-a-half, and from what I could tell, the same was true around the stadium. With no COVID protocol in effect, it is statistically likely that the virus was transmitted in some capacity. Here’s hoping that the health impact is minimal.

With all of this in mind, one question has to be asked. Was this effort to prove country music is “stronger than ever before” really worth the risk? Does the urge for country music to return to normality come from the need for community, or the comfort of pretending that major problems aren’t really there?

Another country concert in the city over the weekend served as an especially strong argument for the latter assessment. On Friday, country star Luke Bryan headlined a packed show at Bridgestone Arena that yielded its own controversial headlines. Among the evening’s special guests was Morgan Wallen, who was caught on film in February shouting a racist slur. Despite being suspended by his label and CMT — and regardless of a move by the Country Music Association that bars him from winning awards this year, though others can still win awards for their contributions to his work — his album Dangerous stayed atop the all-genre Billboard 200 chart for a record-setting 10 consecutive weeks. The album was identified in MRC Data’s 2021 U.S. Midyear Report (formerly the Nielsen Midyear Report) as the best-selling album of the year so far.

Wallen took a step out of the public eye, but he’s been on a PR tour of sorts in recent weeks. Last month, he made an appearance on Good Morning America. He said that he’d used the N-word “playfully” and acknowledged he hadn’t “really sat and thought about” how racism was an issue within country music.

A few days before he played during Bryan’s show, Wallen’s official Twitter account liked a tweet from a fan, who accused Nashville’s NAACP president of being critical of Wallen’s GMA interview only “because she wants him to push her agenda.”

Wallen’s appearance at Bridgestone Arena was not just a quick cameo, but a theatrical welcome back. Introduced as a “good friend” by Jason Aldean, Wallen joined Aldean, Bryan and Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard in throwing back a celebratory tequila shot and performed “More Than My Hometown,” the lead single from Dangerous. He introduced it as a song about “staying true to yourself,” noting “that’s been a really hard thing for me to do lately.”

Many country fans celebrated this as a moment of needed redemption and a welcome return to something approaching normal. But that perspective ignores the opportunity to make “normal” better than it was before. Much like a virus, racism itself isn’t tangible, though its effects are. And it’s easy to ignore if you simply choose not to look for it.

These two shows serve as a painful example of how determined the country music industry seems to be to live in the past. Whether it’s underplaying the risks of a global pandemic or choosing to ignore inequality while uplifting those who downplay the issue, this weekend Nashville served as a backdrop for a genre that feels increasingly out of touch.

EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

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TAKE IT TO THE STAGE

After a long layoff due to COVID, Greta Van Fleet gets back in gear

BY DARYL SANDERS

W

hen Greta Van Fleet goes onstage at the new FirstBank Amphitheater in Thompson’s Station for a pair of shows on Thursday and PLAYING AUG. 5-6 Friday, it will be the AT FIRSTBANK young, GrammyAMPHITHEATER winning rock quartet’s first in-person performances in nearly two years. For a band that has built a large following through relentless touring, it’s felt like an eternity.

“People are going to be insane to get live music back,” bassist-keyboardist Sam Kiszka says, speaking to the Scene by phone from his home in East Nashville. “I’m excited, all the guys are excited. We’ve been rehearsing and putting the set list together, and it feels like a show.”

These two performances also will be the first opportunity for the 22-year-old Kiszka and his bandmates — his 25-year-old twin brothers, vocalist Josh Kiszka and guitarist Jake Kiszka, and 22-year-old drummer Daniel Wagner — to showcase music from their second album, The Battle at Garden’s Gate. The record, which was released in April after being delayed for more than a year by the pandemic, has been wellreceived. The first single, “My Way, Soon,” went to No. 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, while the album topped both the magazine’s Top Rock Albums and

Hard Rock Albums charts and reached No. 7 on the all-genre Billboard 200.

Battle was recorded in Los Angeles at Henson Studios in summer 2019. Henson is on the property that formerly housed A&M Studios, where giants of rock like John Lennon, George Harrison and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers made historic recordings. So it was a good working environment for a band like Greta Van Fleet that draws heavily on the sounds of classic rock — indeed, their sonic debt to Led Zeppelin was pointed out by critics and became the butt of jokes on the internet.

“An amazing place,” Kiszka says of the studio. “The Rolling Stones recorded there, the Joni Mitchell stuff, Carole King — so yeah, it was just a huge amount of history and a lot of vibe. While we were in there, Justin Bieber was recording next to us. Elon Musk came in to mix his electronic music. It was just a crazy time. It was really fun.”

The album was helmed by award-winning producer Greg Kurstin, whose laundry list of credits includes Adele, Lily Allen, Paul McCartney, Foo Fighters and Maren Morris.

When the release was delayed, the group returned to L.A. last summer, stopping in at Kurstin’s new studio to record two more songs for the album, “Caravel” and “The Barbarians.” The band was excited to work with a producer who gave them a lot of control over production decisions.

“It was so freeing, and it was so hands-on,” Kiszka says. “And that was not really [the same as] our previous experiences.”

GVF had worked with producers Marlon Young and Al Sutton on their three prior releases. They debuted in 2017 with two EPs, Black Smoke Rising and From the Fires; the latter won a Grammy for Best Rock Album. Young and Sutton were also on board for the band’s first full-length in 2018, Anthem of the Peaceful Army.

“We were such a young band, and we didn’t have that much experience in the studio,”

Kiszka explains. “We were definitely a live band ... so they kind of showed us, over the course of a year or a year-and-a-half, what studio recording is about.

“I really consider The Battle at Garden’s Gate kind of a coming of age for Greta Van Fleet, and the way that we want to sculpt our albums. All of the sonic decisions were ours to make, and we knew what we wanted to do. ...

We knew what sound we wanted to create, and we knew what songs we wanted to record.”

This weekend’s shows at FirstBank Amphitheater will be Greta Van Fleet’s first appearances in the area since a delayed concert at Municipal Auditorium in late 2019 — a follow-up to a sold-out appearance at Marathon Music Works in 2018. The new gigs are the first of just a handful of dates the band plans to do as it eases back into touring. During the seven-show run, they will not only be performing songs from The Battle at Garden’s Gate, but also material from their previous recordings.

“For the first time ever, it’s going to be everything put together,” Kiszka says.

“We’re going to add in new songs that we never really played live, and we’re going to be adding in just some new flavors.”

This run will be the well-traveled group’s first from their new home base in Middle Tennessee. Originally from the small town of Frankenmuth, Mich., the band’s four members relocated in or near Nashville in late 2019 and early 2020. They first had a chance to get to know the city a few years earlier.

“We recorded Anthem of the Peaceful Army at Blackbird [Studio],” Kiszka says of John McBride’s famed recording complex in Berry Hill. “We had an amazing time, and that was the first time that we really spent a substantial amount of weeks and months in the area. ...

Now we all live in East Nashville, except for Josh who lives 30 minutes west of town. I really do think as an artist and as a musician, it’s the best place in the world right now.”

EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | AUGUST 5 – AUGUST 11, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

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MUSIC

ANOTHER LOOK

The Scene’s music writers recommend recent releases from Mike Hicks, Jim Lauderdale, Hannah Juanita and more

BY SETH GRAVES, EDD HURT, P.J. KINZER, OLIVIA LADD, STEPHEN TRAGESER, RON WYNN AND CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

R

ising numbers of COVID cases warrant some extra consideration regarding going out. Whether or not you decide it’s best to stay in, now’s a great time to pick up some FIND LINKS TO STREAM AND new records.

BUY THESE RECORDS AT Our writers NASHVILLESCENE.COM/MUSIC have eight new recommendations for you from a broad range of Music City musicians. Add ’em to your streaming queue or get a physical copy from your favorite record store. Or drop them on your wish list for #BandcampFriday, the promotion in which the platform waives its cut of artist fees on the first Friday of the month — the next installment of which is Aug. 6.

HANNAH JUANITA, HARDLINER (SELF-RELEASED) A honky-tonk woman to her core, Hannah Juanita is a natural performer who you may have seen onstage at intimate spots like American Legion Post 82 or Dee’s.

Her new album Hardliner is evocative of late-’70s records from Merle Haggard or The Strangers, with the biting lyricism of Loretta Lynn’s songwriting. It’s straightforward trad country with touches of Western swing and rock — or what one might call perfect dancing music. “Our Love Is Done,” “Grudge to the Grave” and “I’m Gonna Leave You” make her boundaries clear, while “Green Eyes” and “Hard

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Hearted Woman” see her open up about very personal circumstances. OLIVIA LADD

MIKE HICKS, I AM WHO WE ARE (SELF-RELEASED) You’ve probably heard of Mike Hicks, an outstanding keyboardist — who’s played with blues songsmith Keb’ Mo’ as well as country stars like Little Big Town and Rascal Flatts — who’s also a strong presence in Music City’s R&B scene. Hicks has released relatively little music of his own, but his EP I Am Who We Are will help you get to know him. The songs range from driving funk to lush R&B, and constitute a vibrant celebration of his identity, both as part of a community of Black artists and as a member of a dynamic and loving Black family. Opening track “Who We Are” is a groovy expression of Black pride, while the following four songs examine his relationship with and share his gratitude for individual family members. STEPHEN TRAGESER

TOTAL WIFE, TOTAL WIFE (WAREHOUSE) Barely six months after they released their long-in-the-works second album To Make Sound, Total Wife is back with a selftitled full-length. But even with that quick turnaround, the band has been able to create a record saturated with vibrant sonic ideas.

They owe a lot to the NME darlings of the ’90s European and U.K. indie scenes. There’s a breathy, velour sensuousness to the vocals that pairs perfectly with the noise-soaked guitars. Meanwhile, lush, beautiful tones appear in juxtaposition with dissonant skronks and screeches, motorik beats and lo-fi electronic squiggles in a collection of songs that you should definitely hear through a quality set of headphones. P.J. KINZER

JOHN McTIGUE III, IT’S ABOUT TIME (MC3) Rhythm ace John McTigue has been a reliable and versatile drummer for country acts ranging from Nashville staples like The Cowpokes and Brazilbilly to such touring stars as Carlene Carter, Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris. But his debut solo album It’s About Time may still be a surprise for

anyone who’s pegged him as comfortable with just one idiom. The 12-song collection of duets matches McTigue with a host of topflight guitarists, but also offers conceptually intriguing collaborations with the Tosca String Quartet, string master Billy Contreras and steel guitarist Ron Blakely.

Co-produced by McTigue and guitarist Kenny Vaughan and cut at Music City’s 7 Deadly Sins studio, It’s About Time will delight the open-minded listener with its rousing journey through a host of American roots styles — performed with taste and flamboyance by a gifted musical corps and superbly anchored by McTigue. RON WYNN

SLUMP TEST, SLUMP TEST (SELF-RELEASED) I met Slump Test’s Ryan Dishen at a prepandemic punk show at Drkmttr and we quickly clicked over being transplanted Californians in our mid-30s who still carry a torch for the skate punk of our youth, à la Bad Religion and NOFX. We reconnected in June, when I saw Dishen crush it as the singing drummer in the Uncle Tupelo tribute band playing an Exit/In benefit at East Park.

In between, he’d formed Slump Test with vocalist-guitarist Ben Douglas and recorded (with contributions on bass from Vincenzo de la Rosa and Twon) this eclectic 10-song debut of melodic, uptempo punk rock that draws heavily on the Epitaph Records catalog. The band also boasts audible Dead Moon and Goner Records garage-rock influences — and on standout “Rocky Road to Damascus,” repurposes vintage ska and Clash hijinks to winning effect. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

BLAINE MASON, NATURAL INSTINCT (SELFRELEASED) Producer-DJ Blaine Mason is one of a handful of techno purists tirelessly propelling Nashville’s small, furtive and insular underground electronic scene. His new EP Natural Instinct offers up four tracks of minimalist techno that run just shy of half an hour, but amped-up tempos ensure these tunes never go long enough to get

boring. Layers of polyrhythmic percussion ride atop throbbing subterranean bass lines, while warped chords stab their way into the texture and a few mangled samples offer hints of melody. It’s heady with latent psychedelic appeal. SETH GRAVES

JIM LAUDERDALE, HOPE (YEP ROC) Three decades into a career that has seen him release more than 30 albums while penning tunes for high-profile country singers like Gary Allan and Lee Ann Womack, singer and songwriter Jim Lauderdale continues to rock — Americana style. An engaging singer whose sliding delivery suggests Leon Russell ordering extra cornbread at the meat-and-three, Lauderdale makes his eclecticism signify on his new full-length Hope. “The Opportunity to Help Somebody Through It” finds Lauderdale and his session cats working through a mild boogie. Meanwhile, “Brave One” gets close to the New Wave-meetsByrds sound that many Americana artists turn to when they’re in an adventurous mood. It’s the most striking track on a pleasingly optimistic album. EDD HURT

BEZ, THE ALTERED STATES OF AMERICA (LEAVING FOR MEMPHIS) Rapper Brandon Evans, better known as BEZ, came to Nashville from Columbus, Ga., where he shared frontman duties in a funkpunk-hip-hop outfit called Stereomonster.

He carries the intense energy needed to hold that group in orbit around him into solo hip-hop records like his new LP The Altered States of America. The jazz-inflected beats — with appearances from Fredrick Weathersby and Stefan Forbus, who organize Monday Night Jazz at The Local Distro — simmer as BEZ lays down searing bars about coming of age in a society rampant with discrimination against Black families and communities. The subject matter is heavy, but BEZ stays light on his feet. STEPHEN TRAGESER EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | AUGUST 5 – AUGUST 11, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

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FILM

FOOLS FOR EACH OTHER A new documentary celebrates the life of Guy Clark — and just as importantly, Susanna Clark

M

any of country music’s stories have been told time and again, to the point at which they’re enshrined like tall tales in pop history. But it’s a form that is so often rooted in narrative and storytelling, and there are a thousand more histories of country music that can’t be squeezed into one Ken Burns documentary, no matter how long. Aside from the stable of usual famous names like Dolly Parton and Patsy Cline, the role of women in country music in general is WITHOUT GETTING KILLED underrecognized, OR CAUGHT overlooked and NR, 95 MINUTES ignored, but OPENING FRIDAY, AUG. 6, AT especially when THE BELCOURT it comes to the POST-SCREENING PERFORMANCE FROM GUY outlaw era. It’s often forgotten that, CLARK COLLABORATOR VERLON THOMPSON, 7 P.M. alongside Waylon MONDAY, AUG. 9 and Willie, Jessi Colter was included on the famous RCA compilation Wanted! The Outlaws, which capitalized on country music’s rugged and raw new movement and turned it into a brand name, becoming the very first platinumcertified country album.

The man who at first seems like the central subject of Without Getting Killed or Caught is no stranger to documentaries — it’s his performances of classics like “L.A. Freeway” and “Texas Cookin’ ” that give the legendary outlaw-country artifact Heartworn Highways

its structure. Of course, the film employs the talking heads and archival footage you’d expect from a music documentary, but it takes a unique, story-driven approach, recruiting Sissy Spacek to provide the voice of Susanna Clark, Guy Clark’s on-and-off partner from the 1970s onward, whose words and stories give the film a valuable narrative anchor and a perspective that helps to deepen and complicate a history of country music that’s been told so many times before.

Rather than presenting yet another fawning portrait of male genius, Without Getting Killed or Caught takes a more collective approach to the life of a country music legend, and as a project its genesis was similarly collaborative. This is the first feature directing credit for both Tamara Saviano and Paul Whitfield, but the codirectors both have accomplished careers in the music world. Saviano is a music historian (the documentary grew out of seeds planted in her book of the same name on Guy), the producer of Grammy-winning tribute albums to music legends like Kris Kristofferson and Memphis’ Sun Records, and an adviser on Ken Burns’ Country Music; Whitfield is a longtime cameraman and video operator and has worked on concert films by artists including Bruce Springsteen.

By writing Susanna back into the story, Saviano and Whitfield make it clear how crucial women have been to the genre’s creative development, in ways that often go

PHOTO: AL CLAYTON

BY NADINE SMITH

unseen and unrecognized. Guy was known for his buoyant jam sessions and mentorship of other artists, offering the couple’s home as a space for artistic expression and experimentation. But unsurprisingly, so much of the labor of cleaning up after the party or keeping things in order fell to the woman of the house. But Susanna wasn’t just a means of support; she was an artist in her own right, an accomplished painter and graphic artist who designed the album covers for classics like Willie Nelson’s Stardust and Emmylou Harris’ Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town, as well as a songwriter who penned tunes that would go on to be recorded by everyone from Jerry Jeff Walker to Kathy Mattea and Miranda Lambert. Her close friendship with Townes Van Zandt was also likely a formative encouragement and influence for one of the few undeniable poets of country Western music.

Hardcore country-heads are already a

SPARKS AND RECREATION

Annette is peculiar, pretentious, long and occasionally brilliant

BY D. PATRICK RODGERS

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ven the best musicals often have a feverdream quality to them. People burst into song without warning, expressing themselves in fits of choreographed madness and gazing into the middle distance ANNETTE R, 139 MINUTES while crooning bits of OPENING FRIDAY, AUG. 6, exposition. The Leos AT THE BELCOURT Carax-directed Annette — co-written by Carax and Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks, with music by the Sparks brothers — is less fever dream and more full-blown avant-garde delirium.

Well-received at last month’s Cannes Film Festival (Carax landed the Best Director award), Annette is the French director’s first English-language film, and comes on the heels of Edgar Wright’s documentary The Sparks Brothers, a deep dive into the prolific pop outfit’s career. Starring Adam Driver as provocative star stand-up comic Henry McHenry and Marion Cotillard as Ann Defrasnoux, the famous operatic singer he falls in love with, the film is part rock opera and part arthouse fantasy.

Outlandish, ambitious and much too long, Annette was reportedly originally conceived as a concept

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album — and it feels like it, meandering its way into ponderous territory as it studies celebrity, identity and obsession. At its center are some great songs from the genuinely brilliant Mael brothers, as well as a physically intense performance from Driver, who — given his Sondheim moment at the end of 2019’s A Marriage Story — we all knew had a proper musical in him. Driver, Cotillard and the rest truly commit to their performances here, as they must. What would be the point otherwise? Carax is known for his challenging approach (see also: 2012’s Holy Motors, 1999’s Pola X), and this is perhaps the darkest and most peculiar musical you’ll ever see.

The film opens with the catchy, fourth-wallbreaking “So May We Start,” with the Mael brothers in the studio and Carax behind the board. They ultimately march out into the street, joining Driver and Cotillard in a Greek-chorus moment that establishes a lot of promise. From there, the musical never bothers to mask its exposition. The accompanist for Ann — played by The Big Bang Theory’s diminutive Simon Helberg, dwarfed by the towering Driver in their scenes together — introduces himself by singing “I’m an accompanist for Ann.” Driver and Cotillard sing “we love each other so much” in unison during a cunnilingus scene (one of the

guaranteed audience for a film like this, but where so many music documentaries use familiar techniques to tread familiar ground, Without Getting Killed or Caught has a freshness that could appeal to newcomers to the genre — especially considering one of its central subjects is a woman who was something of an outsider.

Susanna Clark was a prolific artist with a substantial impact on country music, but like so many women, her primary contributions — from songwriting to cover art to the emotional support and sounding board she provided other artists — have not been held in the same regard or considered art on the level of male outlaw auteurs like Willie, Waylon, Merle or her own husband.

As much as it is a testament to how hard women work with so little reward, Without Getting Killed or Caught is a valuable reminder that no work of art is the product of just one person alone.

stranger but more interestingly shot sex scenes in recent memory). The film ventures into Eraserhead terrain in its second act when the couple conceives a child, the titular Annette, a freaky little puppet baby somewhat reminiscent of the Japanese Monchhichi stuffed-monkey dolls of the 1970s and ’80s. I can’t stress this enough: The puppet child, which looks unsettling, is played completely straight. Is the baby really a puppet, or does Driver’s character simply see her as a puppet — some symptom of his debilitating narcissism? There are shades of David Lynch here, yes, but also of Charlie Kaufman and his flair for absurdist symbolism.

Annette takes a number of bleak turns that I won’t spoil for you. Suffice it to say Henry McHenry’s megalomania poisons everything and everyone around him. But Annette is a film of too many ideas.

Some of them are great, and some of them are silly; some of them are executed brilliantly, while others are fumbled. When it’s good — the climactic third-act duet, for instance, or the post-credits sequence that has nothing to do with the plot but is a remarkable feat — it’s very good. But when it’s not good, it’s a complete mess, an overstuffed, grandiose melodrama that stretches on and on.

Variety’s Peter Debruge has suggested that perhaps Annette is ahead of its time. Indeed, that label has been applied to Sparks’ music more than once since the band’s mid-’70s heyday, and if nothing else, Annette is refreshing in its willingness to just absolutely go for it. We need cinema that takes some big swings. Just be prepared to groan your way through Carax and the Maels’ misses.

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SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SALE NOTICE WHEREAS, THERESA AVENUE HOLDINGS, LLC, a Texas limited liability company, executed a Deed of Trust to Randall Clemons, Trustee, dated December 12, 2019 of record as Instrument No. 201912230131957, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, for the benefit of Wilson Bank & Trust (“Lender”), the hereinafter described real property, to which reference is hereby made, and to secure payment of indebtednesses of grantor then existing or to arise thereafter. The term "Deed of Trust" shall include any and all modifications, renewals, extensions or amendments thereto whether noted above or otherwise;

12, 2019 of record as Instrument No. 201912230131957, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, for the benefit of Wilson Bank & Trust (“Lender”), the hereinafter described real property, to which reference is hereby made, and to secure payment of indebtednesses of grantor then existing or to arise thereafter. The term "Deed of Trust" shall include any and all modifications, renewals, extensions or amendments thereto whether noted above or otherwise; WHEREAS, Lender did appoint Michael Clemons as Substitute Trustee, of record as Instrument No. 20210716-0095963, Register's Office for Davidson County, Tennessee; WHEREAS, Default in the payment of the note secured by said Deed of Trust has been made; WHEREAS, Lender, the owner and holder of said note and Deed of Trust, has demanded that the property be advertised and sold in satisfaction of said debt and the cost of the foreclosure, in accordance with the terms and provisions of the applicable note and Deed of Trust; and WHEREAS, if applicable, the requirements pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-5-117 have been met; NOW THEREFORE, notice is hereby given that Michael Clemons, Substitute Trustee, pursuant to the power, duty and authority vested in and imposed upon in said Deed of Trust will on THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 2021 AT 10:00 AM LOCAL TIME OUTSIDE THE FRONT DOOR OF THE HISTORIC DAVIDSON COUNTY COURTHOUSE FACING PUBLIC SQUARE PARK AT ONE PUBLIC SQUARE, IN NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, offer for sale to the highest bidder for cash and free from the statutory right of redemption, homestead, and all other exemptions as are expressly waived in the Deed of Trust, certain real property in Davidson County, Tennessee, described as follows:

Land in Davidson County, Tennessee, being Lot No. 10 on the Plan of W.R. Cornelius, Jr. Subdivision, of record in Plat Book 57, Page 124, in the Register’s Office for said County, to which Plan reference is hereby made for a more complete description of the property.

Being the same property conveyed to Theresa Avenue Holdings, LLC by Warranty Deed from Jennifer Destiny Rothlein nka Jennifer Rothlein Ansell, married, recorded September 17, 2018 in Instrument No. 201809170092210, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee.

The following is for informational purposes only: Property Address: 1600 Forrest Avenue Nashville, Tennessee 37206 Map-Parcel Numbers 08310-0-174.00

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WHEREAS, Lender did appoint Michael Clemons as Substitute Trustee, of record as Instrument No. 20210716-0095963, Register's Office for Davidson County, Tennessee; WHEREAS, Default in the payment of the note secured by said Deed of Trust has been made; WHEREAS, Lender, the owner and holder of said note and Deed of Trust, has demanded that the property be advertised and sold in satisfaction of said debt and the cost of the foreclosure, in accordance with the terms and provisions of the applicable note and Deed of Trust; and

Land in Davidson County, Tennessee, being Lot No. 10 on the Plan of W.R. Cornelius, Jr. Subdivision, of record in Plat Book 57, Page 124, in the Register’s Office for said County, to which Plan reference is hereby made for a more complete description of the property.

Your Neighborhood The following is for informational purposes only:

Local attractions: Property Address: · Broadway 1600 Forrest WHEREAS, applicable, the Zoo Avenue · TheifNashville Nashville, Tennessee 37206 requirements pursuant to Numbers 083Tenn.· Code § 35-5-117 TheAnn. Escape GameMap-Parcel 10-0-174.00 Neighborhood Dining and Drinks: · Big Machine Distillery · 12-South Tap Room · Tin Roof · Brother’s Burgers · Southside Kitchen & Pub · Eastern Peak

NOW THEREFORE, notice is hereby given that Michael Clemons, Substitute Trustee, pursuant to the power, duty and authority vested in and imposed upon in said Deed of Trust will on THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 2021 AT 10:00 AM LOCAL TIME OUTSIDE THE FRONT DOOR OF THE HISTORIC DAVIDSON COUNTY COURTHOUSE FACING PUBLIC SQUARE PARK AT ONE PUBLIC SQUARE, IN NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, offer for sale to the highest bidder for cash and free from the statutory right of redemption, homestead, and all other exemptions as are expressly waived in the Deed of Trust, certain real property in | AUGUST Davidson County,5 - AUGUST 11, 2021 NASHVILLE SCENE Tennessee, described as follows:

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Being the same property conveyed to Theresa Avenue Holdings, LLC by Warranty Deed from Jennifer Destiny Rothlein nka Jennifer Rothlein Ansell, married, recorded September 17, 2018 in Instrument No. 201809170092210, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee.

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COUNTY COURTHOUSE FACING PUBLIC SQUARE PARK AT ONE PUBLIC SQUARE, IN NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, offer for sale to the highest bidder for cash and free from the statutory right of redemption, homestead, and all other exemptions as are expressly waived in the Deed of Trust, certain real property in Davidson County, Tennessee, described as follows:

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