Nashville Scene 12-25-25

NEWS:

ART:

DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 I VOLUME 44 I NUMBER 47 I NASHVILLESCENE.COM I FREE

CUT OUT THE TONGUE’S JAGGED EDGES MAKE FOR AN EXCELLENT GROUP SHOW

THE LOCALLY BASED COMPANY OUTFITTING HOMELAND SECURITY

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>> PAGE 6

MUSIC:

A QUICK GUIDE TO NEW NASHVILLE MUSIC AND SHOWS IN 2026 >> PAGE 27

CATHY CARRILLO

GISSELLE HUERTA

ASHLEY WARBINGTON

Nashvillians of theYear MUSIC CITY MIGRAWATCH Everyday citizens document ICE, warn neighbors in effort to resist mass deportations in their own communities

BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

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WITNESS HISTORY Trisha Yearwood wore this Manuel suit, embellished with embroidered roses and rhinestones, at the 1999 ACM Awards, where she performed “I’ll Still Love You More,” a Top Ten Billboard hit.

From the online exhibit Suiting the Sound: The Rodeo Tailors Who Made Country Stars Shine Brighter artifact: Courtesy of Trisha Yearwood artifact photo: Bob Delevante

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RESERVE TODAY

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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CONTENTS NEWS 6 The Locally Based Company Outfitting Homeland Security Workwear Outfitters, headquartered in Nashville, is a repeat vendor for ICE and U.S. Border Patrol

BY NICK PIPITONE

6 Council Defers Mayor’s Security Deal With Downtown Nonprofit Fearing surveillance abuse, council again defers guidelines for a $15 million grant

BY ELI MOTYCKA

7 What’s Next for the City’s 911 Co-Response Programs?

REACH goes 24/7 as it finishes third year; Partners in Care aims to add weekend coverage

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BY HANNAH HERNER

From left: Gisselle Huerta, Cathy Carrillo, Ashley Warbington • PHOTO BY ERIC ENGLAND

COVER STORY

MUSIC

9 Nashvillians of the Year: Music City MigraWatch

26 Deep in the Blues

Everyday citizens document ICE, warn neighbors in effort to resist mass deportations in their own communities

Talking with Tom Hambridge about a remarkable career that gets more interesting as years go by

BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

BY RON WYNN

27 Sounding the Depths

15 CRITICS’ PICKS

A quick guide to new Nashville music and shows pinging our radar in 2026

Nashville’s Nutcracker, Old Crow Medicine Show, Music City Bowl, Christmas Vacation and more

BY STEPHEN TRAGESER

FOOD AND DRINK

FILM

22 Date Night: Holiday Salon & Bathhouse, Rosemary & Beauty Queen and Margot

ON THE COVER:

28 Timmy Supremacy

Photo by Eric England

It’s never too cold for a night out when you start with a sauna

Josh Safdie’s comedic thriller Marty Supreme is a dizzying showcase for Timothée Chalamet

BY DANNY BONVISSUTO

BY LOGAN BUTTS

ART

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25 The Mirror and the Faces in It Jagged edges make for an excellent group show in Cut Out the Tongue

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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NEWS

THE LOCALLY BASED COMPANY OUTFITTING HOMELAND SECURITY Workwear Outfitters, headquartered in Nashville, is a repeat vendor for ICE and U.S. Border Patrol

BY NICK PIPITONE

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Fearing surveillance abuse, council again defers guidelines for a $15 million grant

BY ELI MOTYCKA

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

THE AVERAGE NASHVILLE resident may not know Workwear Outfitters by name, but they’ve almost certainly encountered its clothing. The company bills itself as the “world’s workwear authority,” with global headquarters off Marriott Drive near the Nashville International Airport. Its portfolio includes some of the most recognizable brands in the industry. Red Kap is a century-old staple of workwear, while Bulwark FR is a leader in fire-resistant protective apparel. The company supplies work apparel and footwear to the manufacturing, automotive, oil and gas industries, along with many other sectors.

Workwear Outfitters is also a major supplier of uniforms to the federal government, particularly to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Federal spending data reveal nearly $120 million in contract awards to Workwear Outfitters since fiscal year 2022, with 92 percent coming from DHS. The company is a repeat high-dollar vendor for Customs and Border Protection, the Transportation Security Administration, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

For example, Workwear Outfitters secured a $1.4 million obligated contract amount from Homeland Security on Feb. 14 for “ERO Enforcement Jackets.” The contract runs through August 2026. “ERO” stands for “Enforcement and Removal Operations,” which ICE describes as managing “all aspects of the immigration enforcement process, including the identification, arrest, detention, and removal of aliens who are subject to removal or are unlawfully present in the U.S.” Among the awarding subagencies, Customs and Border Protection is Workwear’s biggest customer, with contracts totaling $65.7 million since 2022. TSA contracts have totaled $34.9 million since then, while ICE contracts have been lower, at $4 million. Product service codes indicate that all the contracts are for either special-purpose clothing or men’s outerwear.

Workwear Outfitters is headquartered in Nashville, but the company’s reach extends far beyond Middle Tennessee. The company employs more than 5,800 people worldwide, including roughly 700 employees in the Nashville area and an additional 300 elsewhere in the state. Workwear Outfitters’ Nashville roots date back more than a century — the company was founded in Nashville in 1923 as Harlin Bros. & Williams, later renamed Red Kap Industries, which was acquired by VF Corporation in 1986. Nashville stayed the center of operations throughout VF’s ownership of the Workwear division. After that division was sold in 2021, the newly formed Workwear Outfitters retained its Nashville headquarters.

COUNCIL DEFERS MAYOR’S SECURITY DEAL WITH DOWNTOWN NONPROFIT

The company’s relationship with the federal government also has a long history. Bob Stallman, the company’s vice president of marketing, e-commerce and strategy, says the company’s history as a federal uniform supplier stretches back to the 1940s. Workwear has provided uniforms to the Department of Homeland Security since the agency’s creation in 2002, and it also supplies uniforms to the Department of Interior, including the National Park Service.

“Our company’s expertise includes the capability to design, make and deliver high-quality, cost-effective uniforms that meet the diverse needs of each department, along with the ability to manage the complex logistics of outfitting thousands of federal employees stationed all over the globe,” Stallman tells the Scene by email.

Workwear Outfitters’ Nashville location doesn’t much help or hurt its role as a federal uniform supplier, says Mark Borkowski, the former chief acquisition officer and assistant commissioner at Customs and Border Protection. “A congressman may try to influence these contracts, but the law doesn’t permit that, and it usually doesn’t happen,” Borkowski says.

However, Stallman says the company’s Nashville headquarters does offer operational advantages. “Tennessee is centrally located for fast distribution to a large percentage of the U.S. population, and we complement our Tennessee distribution centers with a network of other distribution centers across North America,” he says.

Winning these federal contracts can meaningfully benefit a company’s growth trajectory, according to Paul Middlebrooks, program manager at the Tennessee APEX Accelerator. His organization works with businesses across the state, helping them pursue and secure federal awards.

“If you know you have that consistent revenue coming in over multiyear contracts, you can plan your operations much better,” he says.

As a privately held company, Workwear Outfitters doesn’t release financial information. But data from the Tennessee APEX Accelerator, provided to Tennessee’s U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, sheds light on the statewide economic impact of federal contracts. According to the Accelerator, the total economic impact of federal contract awards across 753 of its counseled clients in Tennessee was nearly $2.17 billion last year.

Homeland Security’s expanding footprint has created abundant opportunities for federal contractors like Workwear Outfitters. U.S. Border Patrol staffing levels have fluctuated over the past decade, but in recent years the agency has consistently employed roughly 19,000 to 21,000 agents. Borkowski, the former CBP acquisition chief, notes that each agent typically requires multiple uniforms per year. A major 2025 federal law, commonly referred to as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” also includes about $170.7 billion in additional immigration and border enforcement funding for DHS, including $8.3 billion for hiring and retaining Border Patrol agents.

Whether this bounty of uniform contracts represents an economic boost for a locally based employer or an unpleasant reminder of Homeland Security’s reach depends on one’s politics.

But Stallman notes that Workwear Outfitters has supplied uniforms to the federal government for decades, across multiple administrations and frequently shifting political winds.

“We have provided uniforms to the Border Patrol through the last 11 presidential administrations and have provided uniforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement through the last six administrations,” Stallman says. “As a federal contractor, our job is to provide required materials to support the missions of these law enforcement entities. Our company follows established laws and does not take political positions.” ▼

CONFUSION AND SKEPTICISM around a city agreement with the Nashville Downtown Partnership, now twice deferred by the Metro Council, leaves $15 million waiting with the business nonprofit for at least five weeks. For more than an hour at its Dec. 16 meeting, the council debated a memorandum of understanding inked by the mayor’s office that included controversial tech upgrades for police acquired via a new state grant for public safety. Members narrowly chose to defer approving the agreement until Jan. 20, the next full council meeting, with a 19-17 vote.

Many members — notably Sandra Sepulveda and Zulfat Suara, as well as downtown Nashville’s Jacob Kupin — considered deferral the best option to further consider the city’s options amid fierce and vocal pushback from anti-surveillance activists.

Many advocates and councilmembers are also skeptical of further city coordination with the Nashville Downtown Partnership, a nonprofit steered by business interests that manages contracted programs like the city’s Downtown Ambassadors and which managed the Nashville Public Library garage when it was severely damaged by a fire in June. Ironically, deferring the MOU leaves $15 million with the NDP without clear spending oversight until an MOU can pass the council.

After several rounds of amendments and debate, members discussed the importance of proceeding with public trust. They also cast blame on the mayor’s office for failing to clearly explain the grant.

“As someone who works hard on downtown safety, I didn’t know that this was happening, and I wasn’t part of this conversation,” Kupin said on the chamber floor. “And again, money for downtown safety is important. But every page I turn on this thing, it gets more convoluted and complicated.”

The council’s deferral was also a direct repudiation of work from the mayor’s office to secure money outside the city budget for police upgrades, including a $415,000 armored SWAT vehicle and data-crunching law enforcement software. The mayor’s office, at the direction of chief of operations and performance Kristin Wilson, had coordinated with the NDP to receive $9 million in “grant-funded gifts.”

Some of these would have likely triggered a public oversight process required by an ordinance passed after tense council debate over automated license plate readers.

“We’ve worked closely with MNPD, NDOT and the Nashville Downtown Partnership to secure $15 million for downtown safety,” O’Connell says in a statement to the Scene. “We collaboratively identified a balanced mix of safety priorities that would let us spend state money on initiatives like additional lighting and camera upgrades that we would otherwise

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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have to spend local money on. ... Surprisingly, given the chance to add common sense guardrails to this funding, the Metro Council declined. The good news is that the funding is available, and we’ll just have to keep

working to make sure the Metro Council is ready to spend it on shared priorities.”

O’Connell helped lead council efforts to limit police surveillance during his time as a councilmember. ▼

WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE CITY’S 911 CO-RESPONSE PROGRAMS?

program serving a similar number of people with similar outcomes in 2025 compared to the same period of 2024. Around 36.4 percent were transported to the emergency room, 29.7 percent were provided with resources but stayed put, 5 percent refused resources, 4.9 percent were transported to inpatient care, and 4.8 percent were transported to the Mental Health Coop’s Crisis Treatment Center. Around 4 percent of Partners in Care calls resulted in arrest.

“There might be someone who has an outstanding warrant,” Brooks says. “It might be a more serious felony charge, even if it’s not a current outstanding warrant; it might be domestic-related. Most of the time when an arrest is made, it’s going to be on something that an officer actually had limited discretion on.”

The goal is to train all patrol officers on crisis intervention. For now, 600 of 1,700 total officers are trained — and 300 to 400 of those are patrol officers While 76 percent of Partners in Care calls come through 911 or the Department of Emergency Communications, around a quarter of the calls are initiated by the officers themselves when they arrive on a call they believe would be better served by the program.

But police violence during mental health crises still happens. In July 2024, Metro police killed a man in Bellevue while he was reportedly having a manic episode. That event took place outside of PIC’s hours.

Also during this year’s July-through-September period, REACH saw 414 calls — a jump from the 222 calls received in the same period in 2024. Still, 32 percent of this summer’s calls ended in an emergency room transport — a decrease from 36 percent the year prior. However, only 9 percent were through an ambulance, representing a drop from 14 percent ambulance transports in Q3 of 2024.

One of the overarching goals of REACH is freeing up ambulances and emergency room beds.

While the emergency room was still the destination for calls around a third of the time in the most recent quarter, using REACH vehicles rather than an ambulance is still a win. And sometimes that’s a required first step before more intensive mental health treatment, explains EMS District Chief Chad Tidwell. It saves an ambulance bill for the patients too.

Not offering Sunday service alone meant 300 or so eligible calls were missed from January through November, Tidwell says — and that makes the program ripe for growth. The department hopes to add an additional vehicle in the future.

“So far we’ve seen, obviously, our numbers increase, which is what we were hoping to see,” Tidwell tells the Scene. “We’re definitely catching more of those REACH-appropriate calls and decreasing that gap in service that we were missing before we had them operating overnight and on Sundays.” ▼

REACH goes 24/7 as it finishes third year; Partners in Care aims to add weekend coverage

BY HANNAH HERNER

AS PARTNERS IN CARE enters its fifth year and Responders Engaged and Committed to Health (REACH) rounds out its third, Michael Randolph says there are more than enough mental health calls coming through 911 to keep him busy.

The director of co-response services at Mental Health Cooperative tells the Scene that as many as 80 percent of 911 callers sent their way are coming into contact with the programs for the first time. In addition, anyone who has an interaction with PIC or REACH is contacted by a follow-up specialist who helps connect them to resources including housing, food and substance abuse treatment.

“I’m really encouraged by that data, because it shows that these are people that traditionally haven’t been served by the mental health system,” Randolph says. “I think we’re seeing more of the people who maybe were getting on the way to being in a traditional mental health crisis, but not quite there yet. Now we can go and talk to them earlier and intervene.”

REACH, a co-response program between paramedics at the Nashville Fire Department and mental health clinicians at Mental Health Coop, began offering 24/7 services with two vehicles that serve the entire county earlier this month.

The Metro Nashville Police Department’s co-response model, Partners in Care, is still operating just five days per week from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. According to Capt. Anthony Brooks, head of alternative policing strategies for MNPD, the next step will be to expand to weekends, with a goal of implementing the expansion in July 2026. More than 300 patrol officers are trained to take part in Partners in Care, but Mental Health Coop needs to hire at least 10 more clinicians.

“We haven’t had as much of a challenge hiring staff [as] we anticipated, but it does take time, because it’s very nuanced work,” Randolph says.

“We’re training people to go into these really intense situations and identify: ‘Is this a mental health crisis? Is this substance use? Do they need social services, resources like food boxes or the electricity turned on, or do we need acute psychiatric care? How do we do a risk assessment for suicide?’”

According to the latest quarterly report — which accounts for July 1 through Sept. 30, 2025 — Partners in Care responded to 1,068 calls. The statistics remain stable year over year, with the

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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Nashvillians of theYear

MUSIC CITY MIGRAWATCH Everyday citizens document ICE, warn neighbors in effort to resist mass deportations in their own communities

BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

FROM LEFT: CATHY CARRILLO, ASHLEY WARBINGTON, GISSELLE HUERTA; PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

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KEEPING UP WITH ICE is exhausting work.

This year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement grew more aggressive and unpredictable, and as a result more calls and tips flooded into the hotline operated by the volunteers at Music City MigraWatch. After receiving word of ICE activity, volunteers coordinate efforts to verify officers in the area, sharing to followers online whether the sighting was a false alarm or the real thing. And if someone gets to the scene of an arrest quickly enough, the MigraWatch team does their best to ensure the detainee knows their rights.

Immigration has been one of the biggest issues of the year, from the federal to the local level. President Donald Trump’s increased enforcement — highlighted by bloating the ICE budget, ramping up recruitment efforts and setting absurd arrest quotas — has led to certain neighborhoods in cities like Chicago and Los Angeles resembling occupied war zones. Some mayors and governors have stood up to the president on the issue, becoming national targets of conservative outrage. Other politicians have fallen in line, including the overwhelming majority of Tennessee Republicans, who passed bills that encourage police departments to cooperate with ICE and penalize lawmakers who seek to protect undocumented immigrants.

In May, an unprecedented weeklong operation rocked Nashville when the Tennessee Highway Patrol collaborated with ICE to conduct extensive traffic arrests in South Nashville, home to predominantly Latino neighborhoods. Troopers and ICE agents detained 196 people, most of whom had no criminal history. Music City MigraWatch volunteers were on the scene documenting arrests and trying to spread the word about where the operation was taking place.

The turmoil of that operation also led to a surge in Nashvillians enraged and distraught over the action and seeking ways to help. The Tennessean reported that by the end of May, MigraWatch ballooned to 200 volunteers.

Cathy Carrillo established the MigraWatch hotline under her grassroots organization The Mix back in 2018. One year later, Carrillo took part in preventing officers from detaining a Hermitage man who had spent hours sheltering in his van with his son outside their home. Neighbors and other Nashvillians formed a human chain to block agents from the man. (Carrillo details the hectic day in an interview with the NPR-distributed podcast Radio Ambulante.)

“It comes down to people knowing their rights and people knowing that there are other folks out there that care,” Carrillo tells the Scene.

“There were about 40 people that were community members, advocates, councilmembers, folks from other nonprofits in that space calling for ICE to leave. And eventually, they did.”

After Trump’s election in November 2024, The Mix — which had rebranded to The ReMix Tennessee — once again set up MigraWatch.

After the May operation, MigraWatch and The ReMix were inundated with requests to volunteer or donate and questions about how to help.

The growth was exciting, but signaled a time to change.

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@MUSICCITYMIGRAWATCH’S INSTAGRAM PAGE In June of this year, Music City MigraWatch became an independent organization, and its parent organization again rebranded, to The ReMix Way. “After the May raid, we knew that it was important, in order for both groups to keep capacity and to be able to grow … to make it two separate spaces,” Carrillo tells the Scene.

The two groups still work closely together: MigraWatch could be considered the response unit (it’s “our 911” says Carrillo), while The ReMix handles mutual aid and community support for immigrant families affected by these operations.

And membership overlaps, with many people organizing ReMix fundraisers and fielding MigraWatch tips.

Scroll through MigraWatch’s Instagram page (@musiccitymigrawatch) and you’ll see posts confirming reports, photos of suspected ICE vehicles, graphics warning people about increased state trooper presence at events like soccer games, protest announcements and warnings about misinformation.

Two volunteers who help manage the hotline are Ashley Warbington, who also volunteers with The ReMix, and Gisselle Huerta, co-founder of advocacy group Hijos de Inmigrantes (Children of Immigrants). The trio spoke to the Scene one day after a suspected ICE arrest was made outside Sip Cafe on Gallatin Pike, followed by a flurry of other reports and rumors.

Sitting inside Tempo on Nolensville Pike — adjacent to Latino community center Casa Azafrán, across from stalwart Vietnamese grocery store InterAsian, and up the road from various enclaves of immigrant communities and businesses — the three admit they’re a little “fried” after the preceding 24 hours.

Huerta had been driving around the city all

“I’ve been able to see hundreds of people come through MigraWatch,” says Carrillo. The hotline was started by a group of young adults — “kids, truly,” says Carrillo — but has “evolved into something that’s so much more.” morning, and Warbington had been monitoring ICE’s field office just off Brick Church Pike. Their phones light up often at the table, no doubt receiving more Signal messages about potential sightings. As they speak to the Scene, Huerta and Warbington are also preparing for an upcoming training event, where they’ll be able to teach a new crop of volunteers how to get involved in documenting ICE activity and alerting the community. Training sessions are also now being offered in counties outside of Nashville.

“I’ve been able to see hundreds of people come through MigraWatch,” says Carrillo. The hotline was started by a group of young adults — “kids, truly,” says Carrillo — but has “evolved into something that’s so much more.”

For inspiring Nashvillians to defend their immigrant neighbors, the Scene has chosen as our Nashvillians of the Year Music City MigraWatch, represented here by Cathy Carrillo, Gisselle Huerta and Ashley Warbington.

CATHY CARRILLO’S FATHER was deported when she was 14. He was driving her to a track meet when Metro police pulled him over for a broken tail light. Speaking recently to the Nashville Banner’s Demetria Kalodimos, Carrillo said her father didn’t know his attorney had just lost his immigration case and there was a deportation order. He was arrested and taken away immediately.

“What was supposed to be just a ticket for a broken tail light ended up in my dad, who had spent 15 years of his life here in Nashville, being taken away from me,” she tells the Scene, “and me at 14 years [old] being left on the side of the road.”

Gisselle Huerta’s parents were undocumented for years, becoming permanent residents after 25 years living in the States. Her group Hijos de Inmigrantes organized a “Day Without an Immigrant” rally in February, part of a national protest against Trump’s policies and rhetoric. Huerta and her group also worked

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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“You have whole families that are trying to do things the right way, who are trying to just continue contributing to their community. And so this was never about criminals. It’s about the fact that they’re criminalizing all of us.”

—CATHY CARRILLO

MORE THAN 50 people are gathered in the pews of Glencliff United Methodist Church on a Sunday afternoon — the site for December’s MigraWatch training. The attendees range in age, some looking like college students, others like seniors; the majority appear to be white.

Huerta says it’s one of the biggest groups they’ve had this year.

Most of the crowd is here for verifier training, where they’ll learn how to confirm ICE activity and how to act when at the scene of an arrest.

Warbington and fellow MigraWatch volunteer Luis Pedraza lead the verifier training, which also includes information on the rights of citizens and noncitizens alike.

In a slideshow presentation, Pedraza and Warbington stress the need to record everything — and they stress the fact that volunteers have the right to do so. An officer may demand verifiers back away, and under Tennessee law they’ll have to maintain a buffer of 25 feet. But even at that distance, Pedraza says, you can capture an event like an ICE agent dragging someone out of their car or smashing a window.

Twelve attendees break off into a smaller room for the inaugural court accompaniment training session called Sombra Segura, or Safety Shadow, led by Gisselle Huerta. The new training is partially inspired by a surge in ICE presence at U.S. courthouses, and Huerta points to cases of traffic tickets leading to arrests at the Wilson County and Robertson County courthouses.

Immigrants face a catch-22 when ICE shows up at court. If they follow through with their appearance, they risk arrest no matter the ruling.

If they skip the hearing, they risk a warrant for their arrest.

Court accompaniment isn’t about providing legal advice, but might involve driving someone to court (which could be helpful if they were cited for driving without a license), helping them keep their appointments, going through paperwork and even navigating them through the court building. Huerta recommends getting someone’s alien registration number, or A-number, as soon as possible to track their records.

The role will also call for spotting ICE activity at the courthouse. Courtrooms tend to prohibit recording devices, so Huerta recommends working with a teammate who can monitor outside the building for an ICE presence as well.

Huerta also fields ideas from attendees for the nascent operation, and there’s a lot of discussion about expanding efforts beyond Davidson County. One attendee offers to help out in more rural counties. Another asks if it would help to get more Arabic speakers involved, and Huerta responds with an excited “Yes!” Immigrants in Middle Tennessee aren’t just Spanish speakers, after all. And immigration enforcement isn’t focused only on Nashville.

“Whoever you want to bring, bring them,” Huerta says to the cohort.

IT’S BEEN a chaotic year, and Trump still has three more left in his second term. Keeping up with enforcement escalation, mercurial immigration policy changes and Tennessee’s own legislature is grueling work. Carrillo, Huerta and Warbington still need to balance their activism with raising their own kids and navigating

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

closely with The ReMix on advocacy at the Tennessee legislature against the state’s slate of anti-immigrant bills. She’d go on to join MigraWatch during the May operation.

Ashley Warbington has also been a presence at the Capitol, testifying during the most recent legislative session against a bill that would make it illegal to “harbor” undocumented immigrants. Warbington was no stranger to activism — she had already advocated for gun control alongside other concerned parents at the Capitol in recent years. Warbington joined MigraWatch in January, after The ReMix held a know-your-rights training at her son’s school.

She recognized one of the volunteers, who invited her to join the hotline.

Working the MigraWatch in May was fastpaced, Huerta says, with events happening “back-to-back throughout the whole night.” The days were spent organizing and preparing for the evenings. While ICE activity slowed down after the May operation, Huerta says the agency has gotten “bold” in recent months, showing up at courts, for example.

Verifying ICE activity might start with the MigraWatch hotline receiving a photo. ICE reuses the same vehicles, and the MigraWatch team has photos of the usual fleet of cars and plates. A verifier sent to the scene will take more pictures if the officers are still on site. If an arrest is in progress, Warbington says they try to let the detainee know their rights.

“We let that person know that we are there with them, that they are not alone, and to let them know that they do not have to respond to any questions,” she says. “They have the right to remain silent. And if someone is actively being detained, we do try to get … an emergency contact number so that we can verify a family member.”

Part of the job is flagging misinformation and misunderstandings. Sometimes rumors circulate, and a verifier arrives at the scene to confirm there are no ICE agents around. Sometimes an arrest is happening, but it’s not immigration enforcement — it’s MNPD or another agency. To an extent, false alarms signal how much chaos the looming threat of deportation inserts into daily life.

“They actually create more fear and panic and cause people not to want to interact with law enforcement, not want to report crimes, not want to look for help,” says Carrillo, “and we know that that’s going to lead to an even bigger humanitarian crisis.”

Carrillo points to one example: speculation that a 6-month-old child in La Vergne may have died because the caretaker was afraid to call emergency services due to their immigration status.

Carrillo also stresses that these ICE raids aren’t targeting criminals, but “working-class people.”

“You have whole families that are trying to do things the right way, who are trying to just continue contributing to their community,” she says. “And so this was never about criminals. It’s about the fact that they’re criminalizing all of us.”

their own family lives. Warbington says it can be surreal to sit outside the ICE field office and sign up for something at her son’s school at the same time.

But they’re not done yet.

“I’m not even gonna lie,” says Huerta. “I don’t think I could have done it without … these girls here, or any of the people who have been helping out, because we keep each other moving.”

Huerta adds that she’s also heartened by how the community of activists continues to grow.

“Every time we do a verifier training, we see more faces, and that’s how I know that we’re growing, and we’re starting to see more people volunteer, and more people care.”

Warbington agrees. “I also could not imagine not doing this work,” she says. “I don’t want to envision a world where there isn’t this network of community members caring for their neighbors, right? And that really keeps me going. I feel like this work is so important. I feel like it is one of the most important things that we can do to keep our community safe.”

Carrillo admits there are days when she wishes they could “just be moms” and “be normal.”

“The thing that keeps me going is understanding that there are people who did for me what I’m doing for them,” says Carrillo. “I think each one of us believes that another world is possible because we’ve seen that in our community. We’ve seen that in the ways that we’ve moved with each other. And so I think it’s the hope that things can get better, and the hope that even if they don’t, we still have each other, no matter what.” ▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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2ND & BROADWAY NASHVILLE, TN

FRIDAY

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Chief’s Outsiders Round w/ Skyelor Anderson & Ben Kadlecek and Guests Craig Campbell, Mason Maddocks, Brendan Stevens, Mike Sweep

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14

Jamie O’Neal Gypsum Album Release Show

1.22

Ashley McBryde: Just Me and My Shadow

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Ashley McBryde: Just Me and My Shadow

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Buddy’s Place 15th Anniversary Show w/ Kayley Bishop, Fraser Churchill, Abbey Cone, Sean Kennedy, Paul Sikes, Striking Matches, Cyndi Thomson

1.26

Uncle B’s Damned Ole Opry Play The Chicks “Wide Open Spaces” w/ Bryan Simpson, Caitlyn Smith, Moose Miller, Abbie Callahan, Aniston Pate

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The Sadies

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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[DANCE OF THE SUGAR PLUM FAIRY]

NASHVILLE BALLET: NASHVILLE’S NUTCRACKER

With its stunning designs and localized approach to storytelling, it’s no wonder Nashville’s Nutcracker has become such a beloved holiday tradition. Featuring story adaptation, choreography and direction by Paul Vasterling, it’s a uniquely appealing work brought to life with accompaniment by the Nashville Symphony. First presented by Nashville Ballet in 2008, the piece sets the classic tale against the backdrop of the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition, infusing young Clara’s holiday dreams with iconic figures and local landmarks — from a wintry Shelby Bottoms to a glittering Parthenon Garden. Audiences can look forward to Shigeru Yaji’s imaginative scenery and Campbell Baird’s exquisite costumes.

Of course, the dancing itself is the real draw, and as always, Nashville Ballet delivers a magical performance — from the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier right down to the delightful youth cast of mice, soldiers, lambs and bonbons. Whether it’s a favorite annual tradition or your very first introduction to the ballet, Nashville’s Nutcracker is sure to boost your family’s holiday spirit. AMY STUMPFL THROUGH DEC. 28 AT TPAC’S JACKSON HALL 505 DEADERICK ST.

FILM

DANCE

THROUGH DEC. 28

THURSDAY / 12.25 [YULE LOVE IT]

HOLIDAY SCREENINGS TRIPLE FEATURE

W Nashville is throwing out cinematic Christmas-themed triple-headers this holiday season. On Christmas Eve, they programmed the family-friendly comedies Elf, A Christmas Story and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, all in one block. For the big day, they’re serving up

A DRAG QUEEN CHRISTMAS PAGE 16

more Yuletide laughs. First it’s The Santa Clause, that 1994 stocking-stuffer in which sitcom star Tim Allen made his leading-man debut as a dad who becomes the next Kris Kringle. After that, we have Jim Carrey slapping on that damn furry green suit in Ron Howard’s 2000 adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Finally, for the date-night lovebirds, there’s Love Actually, the 2003 all-star ensemble romcom from jolly ol’ England (starring such famously charming Brits as Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson and Colin Firth) that has become a holiday fave.

MY SO-CALLED BAND PAGE 18

FCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP PAGE 20

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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12/17/25 4:06 PM

Spend your Christmas evening watching what longtime Scene contributor Donna Bowman once called “the ultimate Richard Curtis movie because it’s six Richard Curtis movies crammed into one holiday package.” CRAIG D. LINDSEY 4 P.M. IN THE LIVING ROOM AT W NASHVILLE 300 12TH AVE. S.

crowd. But if it has the attorney general of Florida all in a tizzy, it must be one helluva show.

The tour comes to Nashville at the venerable (and privately owned) Ryman Auditorium, where a bad bitch gallimaufry of America’s best queens — including Lexi, Shea Couleé, Jewels Sparkles, Crystal Methyd, Suzie Toot, Brooke Lynn Hytes and Lydia B Kollins — will dance and sing and prance and vixen and bring holiday cheer to the famous stage on the Music City stop of the country’s longest-running drag tour.

Celebrate our campiest holiday by thumbing your nose at the grim no-funnies. J.R. LIND 7:30 P.M. AT THE RYMAN 116 REP. JOHN LEWIS WAY N.

[YOU SERIOUS, CLARK?]

CHRISTMAS VACATION

MUSIC

The week between Christmas and New Year’s is a no-man’s-land. Some people are traveling, some people are working, some are just filling up on leftover candy and Chinese food — and almost everyone is looking for something to do. That makes it the perfect time to revisit Gremlins, the 1984 horror-comedy cult classic that revels in tearing down everything we hold dear during the holiday season with pure, unadulterated chaos. Family? Giftgiving? Beloved pet dogs? Gremlins gleefully and viciously comes for all of these, with a sidebar monologue from Phoebe Cates that will traumatize any children watching and once and for all convince them that Santa isn’t real.

Fresh off a fittingly unhinged Jack in the Box partnership, Gizmo and his friends return to the big screen for daytime showings at various Nashville-area Regal Cinemas on Friday. Follow it up, if you like, with a home screening of the even-more-batshit Gremlins 2 — and don’t feed them after midnight. ANNIE PARNELL DEC. 26 AT LOCAL REGAL LOCATIONS

[PEACE, LOVE AND SOOOOUUL]

JOHNY JACKSON’S SOUL SATISFACTION

Once upon a time, Johny Jackson’s Soul Satisfaction was regularly lauded in the pages of the Scene. “Jackson is the king of Prince, George Clinton and every other band that ever put out a grinding groove that gets booties bouncing and rumps rubbed,” we wrote in 2002. “Soul Satisfaction has become a Nashville institution,” we opined two years later. Jackson, a New York City transplant, got cabooses moving in Music City from roughly 1994 to 2005 by spinning soul,

SUNDAY / 12.28 [SLEIGH]

A DRAG QUEEN CHRISTMAS

Down in Florida, the state’s attorney general called on the city of Pensacola to invoke the morality clause in its contract with the operator of the city-owned Saenger Theatre and cancel a visit from this year’s edition of A Drag Queen Christmas — citing all the typical fussbudgetry one has come to expect from the anti-drag

FILM

[OPRY MILLS SCREAM]

MUSIC CITY MONDAYS: OPRYLAND USA: A CIRCLE BROKEN

2025 marked the 100th anniversary of Hillsboro Theatre’s opening (it’s now the Belcourt Theatre), which took place just a few months before the Grand Ole Opry radio show began broadcasting country music across the airwaves. The show was later relocated from its downtown studio to Hillsboro Theatre for two years. Eventually, the Opry moved out of its most storied location at the Ryman to the Grand Ole Opry House, next to a theme park called Opryland USA. For those of us who spent our summers soaked on the Grizzly River Rampage, harassing park employees dressed as Hanna-Barbera characters and challenging our cousins to see how many times we could ride the corkscrewing Wabash Cannonball in a single afternoon without puking (which was eight, BTW), it came as a shock when the park closed in 1997 to open an outlet mall. Opryland’s closing is a line of demarcation in our history between the old Music City and “New Nashville.” As part of its Music City Mondays series, the Belcourt will host a work-in-progress screening of Brandon Vestal’s documentary about the beloved park. While few have seen it yet, I hope it answers all my questions. Did anyone actually want Shopryland? Did The Hangman really become the Kong roller-coaster at a Six Flags in California? Did they ever fix Chaos? We need answers. P.J. KINZER 8 P.M. AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.

TUESDAY / 12.30

[CARRY THE WEIGHT]

THE LONG PLAYERS PAY TRIBUTE TO ABBEY ROAD

A list of iconic Nashville pop/rock acts probably leads with Kings of Leon, Paramore or Miley Cyrus, gradually making its way to smaller indie darlings. But locals know that the music scene extends far beyond the red carpet, with great musicians and performers doubling as parents and neighbors living non-celebrity lives

16

SATURDAY / 12.27

disco and funk records at venues across town.

He moved back to the Big Apple two decades ago, but for one night only, the maestro of movement will return to Nashville — perhaps for the last time ever, he tells the Scene — to get folks grooving at The Basement East. Jackson says tickets are moving fast. “The original regulars are now bringing their grown children to the upcoming event,” he tells us. “People are excited.” If you’re looking to burn off some of those Christmas-feast calories, find romance on the dance floor and/or shake off any of the bad juju you picked up in 2025, this is the place to do it. D. PATRICK RODGERS 8 P.M. AT THE BASEMENT EAST 917 WOODLAND ST.

SPORTS

HS25: GREMLINS

around the city. For 20 years, a rotating cast of multitalented industry veterans has teamed up as The Long Players to pay musical tribute to 20th-century music’s most towering albums.

Members’ professional associations include Bruce Springsteen, The Chicks and Cheap Trick, and their bias toward classic rock reaches apotheosis with their latest selection, The Beatles’ Abbey Road. Catch them two nights in a row this weekend at 3rd and Lindsley. ELI MOTYCKA DEC. 26-27 AT 3RD AND LINDSLEY 818 THIRD AVE. S.

DRAG

[I HATE CHRISTMAS CAROLERS]

MONDAY / 12.29

CHRISTMAS VACATION

MUSIC

FILM

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation — the third film in the Vacation series, featuring the third pair of actors to play the Griswold children — is the type of movie so many families consider their own personal tradition around the holidays. It reminds us that families are often complicated, funny and exasperating, and while sometimes we wouldn’t choose them if it were up to us, they’re worth having around. Also, the hard work of a light display can really pay off.

At a cool hour and 37 minutes, the 1989 Chevy Chase comedy is my preferred way to get in the mood for the season. Seeing this Christmas classic can only be improved by watching it with other families — further reinforcing the point that the stress and joy of the holidays is universal. HANNAH HERNER 5 P.M. AT THE FRANKLIN THEATRE 419 MAIN ST., FRANKLIN

PHOTO: STACIE HUCKEBA

FILM

FRIDAY / 12.26

THE LONG PLAYERS

[BOWL SEASON]

MUSIC CITY BOWL

The Music City Bowl might welcome a record-breaking crowd to Nissan Stadium this year, as the in-state Tennessee Volunteers and their substantial fan base will make the trek to Nashville. The 8-4 Vols, who will face Illinois (also 8-4) out of the Big Ten, have played in the previous two record-setting Music City Bowls, drawing a crowd of 69,143 for a 2010 matchup with North Carolina and 69,489 for a

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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12/17/25 4:06 PM

STAFF PICKS JAN 4 Higher Vibrations

RESONATE: SYMPHONIC SOUND BATH with Kayce Laine JAN 9 & 10

MOZART’S JUPITER SYMPHONY

featuring Gemma New and Conrad Tao Classical Series presented by HCA Healthcare TriStar Health

JAN 11

BLUEBIRD AT THE SYMPHONY

Make Your Pick.

NashvilleSymphony.org

with Jessi Alexander, the Warren Brothers, and members of the Nashville Symphony NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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[ROLLIN’]

OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW

After two decades as one of the genre’s premier folk-country-rock bands, Old Crow Medicine Show continues to expand the boundaries of Americana. I’ve always heard the band as a modern extension of the folk groups of the early 1960s, complete with string-band instrumentation and Bob Dylan covers. Old Crow’s 2017 live album 50 Years of Blonde on Blonde does a good job of updating Dylan’s groundbreaking 1966 foray into rock-country, and you might also recall the band’s signature song, “Wagon Wheel,” which co-founder Ketch Secor co-wrote with Dylan. Their 2025 Christmas album OCMS XMAS features a set of Secor originals along with a cover of the Plastic Ono Band’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over).”

Meanwhile, Secor released a 2025 solo album, Story the Crow Told Me, that finds him exploring country-folk-hip hop in tunes like “Dickerson Pike.” Old Crow’s New Year’s Eve shows, which began in 2009, have become part of Nashville lore — the band’s albums are excellent, but they might be best experienced live, with Secor’s showmanship and the group’s ensemble playing brought to the fore. The 502s and AJ

THURSDAY / 1.1

WEDNESDAY / 12.31

If, for you, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum falls into the category of “downtown attraction that I’ve unjustly ignored over the years because it seems like a tourist destination,” now is your time to do away with that notion. Throughout January, Nashvillians and those in surrounding counties (Cheatham, Robertson, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson) can visit the museum with a “pay what you want” admission fee. It’s the perfect time to peruse the excellent new Muscle Shoals: Low Rhythm Rising exhibit, which details northwest Alabama’s journey to becoming one of America’s foremost musical centers. As celebrations for the venerated radio show’s centennial year continue into 2026, make sure to check out Country’s Grandest Stage: The Opry at 100 on your visit as well. LOGAN BUTTS THROUGH JAN. 31 AT THE COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM 222 REP. JOHN LEWIS WAY S.

[COMING UP ROSES]

MY SO-CALLED BAND

Weren’t the 1990s fun, and don’t you wish you could still have some? If you’re like me, the current era — Trump, Musk, Laura Loomer — gets you down, but the music of 30 years ago might remind you of the time of Seinfeld and Frasier, when people still used landlines and Trump was just an annoying businessman. My So-Called Band is one of the nation’s foremost ’90s and early-Aughts tribute bands, and the Nashville group has been doing its thing since 2009. Their set lists include tunes by Creed, Green Day, Nelly Furtado, Silverchair and Oasis, and that just scratches the surface. If there was ever a moment when we needed the commercialized punk of Blink-182 (what, you’re not into their 1999 album Enema of the State or its 2001 follow-up release Take Off Your Pants and Jacket?), it’s this feckless political era. My SoCalled Band knows all the big hits and forgotten treasures of the ’90s, so you might hear Owsley’s “Coming Up Roses” and Pushmonkey’s “Now” in their set. Celebrating New Year’s with a bunch of great old tunes is a good way to get ready for what the year has in store — hey, can I request Aimee Mann’s “You’re With Stupid Now”? EDD HURT 10 P.M. AT THE BASEMENT EAST 917 WOODLAND ST.

MUSEUM

Lee & Blue Summit open Tuesday’s show, while The Creekers and Shovels & Rope do the honors Wednesday. EDD HURT DEC. 30-31 AT THE RYMAN 116 REP. JOHN LEWIS WAY N.

[MUSCLE SHOALS TO MUSIC CITY]

VISIT THE COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM

SATURDAY / 1.3 MUSIC

punkwoknashville

2021 contest against Purdue (both losses). The outing versus the Fighting Illini will have extra resonance for the Vols — Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer rejected an offer of $2 million to be Tennessee’s starting quarterback this season, opting to close out his career in Champaign, Ill., instead. Sadly, a game with two just-outsidethe-Top-25 teams might be the most exciting matchup Nissan Stadium sees this year. LOGAN BUTTS 4:30 P.M. AT NISSAN STADIUM 1 TITANS WAY

MUSIC

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MUSIC

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[LIKE THEY USED TO]

3RD AND LINDSLEY TURNS 35

Just a few years ago, it seemed a proposed development was likely to displace 3rd and Lindsley from the former restaurant building south of Broadway where the venue has made its home since 1991. Word came in fall 2024 that the project was scrapped, and

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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12/17/25 4:06 PM

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in the spring, owner Ron Brice and his staff announced expanded schedule offerings along with a five-year lease extension at their longtime site. Saturday, the venerable listening room and longtime home of Lightning 100’s Nashville Sunday Night program will celebrate 35 years in business with help from some of the singer-songwriter-rocker folks who have been performing there routinely, practically since the beginning. The bill features Jonell Mosser, Gary Nicholson, Jack Pearson and Ashley Cleveland, who have between them penned hits, supported legends, drawn steady crowds and been looked up to by generations of aspiring Nashville musicians. They say you can’t make old friends, and they’re right; you can’t just conjure up decades of history out of thin air, either. Here’s a living slice of Nashville’s history you can experience for yourself. STEPHEN TRAGESER 8 P.M. AT 3RD AND LINDSLEY 818 THIRD AVE. S.

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[YOU HAVE BEEN MY FRIEND]

NASHVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: CHARLOTTE’S WEB

More than 70 years after its publication, Charlotte’s Web still has the power to capture both the heart and the imagination. And if it’s been a while since you’ve revisited this tender tale, you’ll want to check out Nashville Children’s Theatre’s lovely production, onstage through Jan. 4. Based on E.B. White’s enduring 1952 children’s classic and adapted to the stage

by Joseph Robinette, Charlotte’s Web follows the unlikely story of Wilbur — a lovable little pig who is saved by a bright, creative spider named Charlotte. NCT’s new artistic director Jenilee Houghton makes a splendid directorial debut, and the cast features a nice mix of new and familiar faces. Maya Antoinette Riley gives a particularly thoughtful performance as Charlotte, and newcomer Brityn Ramsey finds all the wonder and innocence of dear Wilbur.

Rounding out the cast are Charlotte Myhre Shealy, Gerold Oliver, James Rudolph II, Galen Fott and Natalie Rankin. Scott Leathers draws

the audience into the story with his evocative scenic and lighting design, and William H. Ditty’s costumes are great fun. A timeless tale of friendship, courage and compassion, Charlotte’s Web offers a perfect way to celebrate the holiday season. AMY STUMPFL THROUGH JAN. 4 AT NASHVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE 25 MIDDLETON ST.

MONDAY / 1.5 SPORTS

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[NASHVILLE NATIONALS]

FCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Although our local squads won’t be involved — Tennessee State and Austin Peay did not qualify, and Tennessee Tech was eliminated in the first round by North Dakota — the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-AA) national title game will be played in Nashville at Vanderbilt’s FirstBank Stadium in January. The FCS national championship game took place in the DallasFort Worth suburb of Frisco, Texas, from 2010 to 2025, but Music City won a bid to host the contest in 2026 and 2027. The competition isn’t unfamiliar with the Volunteer State, however, as Chattanooga played host from 1997 through 2009. The matchup hasn’t been set as of press time, but expect the usual suspects — namely, schools from the Dakotas and Montana — to be on the gridiron. It has been 15 years since the championship game did not feature a school from one of those three states. And the SEC thinks it’s a dynasty. LOGAN BUTTS 6:30 P.M. AT FIRSTBANK STADIUM 2601 JESS NEELY DRIVE

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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The Long Players perform 8:00 The Beatles "Abbey Road" featuring Gordon Kennedy, Kent Agee, Mike Vargo, Jace Everett, Ben Cyllus, James Rubin & Seth Timbs

The Long Players perform 8:00 12/27 The Beatles "Abbey Road" featuring Gordon Kennedy, Kent Agee, Mike Vargo, Jace Everett, Ben Cyllus, James Rubin & Seth Timbs SAT

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JAN 31 SOS: THE RECESSION POP PARTY Dec 27 Johny Jackson's Soul Satisfaction Sold out! feb 1 So/us The peter gabriel experience dec 30 john corabi w/ cody parks & the dirty south feb 3 sudan archives w/ Cain culto dec 31 my so-called band: 90's new year's eve feb 4 don was & the pan detroit ensemble JAN 2 NOW AND THEN: A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES feb 6 Nordista Freeze's space prom: to dream or jan 3 Welcome to the nu year 4 tribute not to dream JAN 9 FINGERNAILS ARE PRETTY w/ take the power back & Business of misery feb 7 Nordista Freeze's space prom: to dream or jan 10 blade rave not to dream JAN 12 GRUNGE NIGHT 13 feb 10 Fox stevenson w/ Yue jan 15 magic city hippies w/ supertaste Feb 11 Tyler ramsey & Carl Broemel jan 16 spafford jan 17 club 90s presents: the upside down 80s party Feb 12 Jonah Kagen w/ anna graves Feb 13 The Emo Night Tour JAN 18 CLASSIC CITY WRESTLING w/ DEEOHGEE Jan 21 Sierra Carson w/ Riley Whittaker, caroline carter & laken campo feb 14 clay street unit w/ cris jacobs feb 16 Smile Empty Soul w/ Primer 55 & Makes my blood dance jan 22 stanaj w/ jack avery & Clark Beckham feb 17 Caroline jones jan 24 east nash grass feb 18 The Birthday massacre w/ Daedric & dommin JAN 27 IGUANAHEAD, MATERIALIZER (FKA THE SWELL feb 19 Kelsey waldon w/ Gabe lee FELLAS), AND AVALON feb 20 clipping. w/ open mike eagle JAN 28 BONNIE STEWART AND FRIENDS feb 20 Shadowgrass jan 29 couch w/ thumber feb 21 saxsquatch w/ shea-k jan 30 brett sheroky

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12/31

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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FOOD & DRINK: DATE NIGHT

HOLIDAY SALON & BATHHOUSE, ROSEMARY & BEAUTY QUEEN AND MARGOT It’s never too cold for a night out when you start with a sauna

BY DANNY BONVISSUTO

Holiday Salon & Bathhouse 747 Douglas Ave., Suite 106 holidaynashville.com Rosemary & Beauty Queen 1102 Forest Ave. rosemaryandbeautyqueen.com Margot Café & Bar 1017 Woodland St. margotcafe.com

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

my marriage mostly feels like a small business — except when we’re out, just the two of us, supporting other small businesses.

ROSEMARY & BEAUTY QUEEN

Date Night is a multipart road map for everyone who wants a nice evening out, but has no time to plan it. It’s for people who want to do more than just go to one restaurant and call it a night. It’s for overwhelmed parents who don’t get out often; for friends who visit the same three restaurants because they’re too afraid to try someplace new; and for busy folks who keep forgetting all the places they’ve driven past, heard about, seen on social and said, “Let’s remember that place next time we go out.”

YEARS AGO, WHEN my marriage was still in single-digit territory and my child (now a teen) was a toddler, an old friend and I were talking about the ways the years had changed us. When we met, we were young and single: He smoked cigarettes, and I wore miniskirts with chunky black heels. Down the road, we each got married, had a child and became each other’s go-to babysitter.

“Having a kid turns marriage into a small business,” he said casually, as if imparting common knowledge. “Everything becomes about managing logistics and finances. Staying

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married really comes down to whether or not you can run a small business together successfully.”

At the time, I dismissed his comment outright, as he has a tendency to be

SOAKING POOL AT HOLIDAY SALON & BATHHOUSE

cynical and callous. What about love and companionship? And learning how to share a life? With 20 years of wedded bliss now in the rearview mirror, I’ve come to understand how annoyingly right he was. In this season of life,

STOP 1: HOLIDAY SALON & BATHHOUSE The faint scent of indoor pool came to me shortly after my husband Dom and I entered Highland Yards and left the ass-cold night on the other side of the door. It felt a little odd to start a Date Night in our around-thehouse clothes with backpacks slung over our shoulders — the factory-model version of ourselves. We’d get gussied up après spa.

In addition to a hair salon and spa services, Holiday — a gorgeous Finnish-inspired salon and bathhouse — offers two spaces to sweat and get wet: The roomy bathhouse, which includes a saltwater soaking pool for up to 10 people, and the soak and sauna room, perfect for one or two people, tops.

I reserved the latter. After a quick shower, per Holiday’s rules, we toweled up and let the heat of the far infrared sauna seep into our skin. It was so quiet in there we could hear Dom’s mysterious digestive system, which was thankfully drowned out by a train rolling by on nearby tracks. There are few sounds that relax me more than a train whistle.

Once we started to drip and droop, we added bath salts to the soaking tub, got in and turned on the jets. Instead of drying off, I lay down on the cedar floor, and even that was heaven. I so rarely lie still.

One hour passed slowly, and we spent our final 10 minutes getting dressed for drinks and dinner. It was a tad too toasty to layer back up after all that soaking and showering, but when we stepped back into the night, the cold didn’t cut into me.

STOP 2: ROSEMARY & BEAUTY QUEEN “This is the spot,” Dom said of Rosemary & Beauty Queen’s patio during an end-of-fall hangout. It was sunset, and the LED lighting

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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under the benches and railing of the backyard oasis matched the pinkish-purple sky. At the time, it was hard to imagine why anyone would choose to be inside over being amid palm trees, turf and good tunes. It’s easier to imagine in December.

Indoors at RBQ is currently the spot.

Specifically, the living-room-like nook of the early-1900s East Nashville cottage between the front window and the (defunct but fantastic) double-sided fireplace, where multicolored Christmas lights, tabletop tea candles and vintage holiday yard decor create the warmest, fuzziest place I’ve parked myself all season.

(Seriously. I took a picture and made it my laptop wallpaper, and every time I minimize a screen, I hear 30 Rock’s Liz Lemon saying, “I want to go to there.”)

Fresh from Holiday, I wasn’t quite ready to replace the toxins I’d just sweat out, which made the Wink & Nod — with blackberry puree, almond syrup, lime and mint — the exact right drink at the exact right time. I straight-up out-ordered Dom, who’s on a

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

PATIO AT ROSEMARY & BEAUTY QUEEN

VEAL SCALLOPINE AT MARGOT CAFÉ & BAR

mezcal kick lately and went with the spicy paloma. They weren’t kidding about the spice, but he loved the heat. When we’d sipped our way down to nothing but ice, we peeled ourselves off the leather couch, took our empty glasses to the bar and made the three-minute walk to dinner.

STOP 3: MARGOT CAFÉ & BAR When plotting our 20-year anniversary dinner, making reservations at new and shiny restaurants didn’t feel right. I wanted to celebrate somewhere that’s been around as long as we have, so I searched the Scene’s Best of Nashville food and restaurant winners from 2005. It was total nostalgia overload of long-gone restaurants I loved — South Street, Yellow Porch and Mirror. Margot Café & Bar, which opened in 2001, was all over the list, placing third behind Mambu and Zola for Best Original Menu and first in the Best Chef and Best Nashville Restaurant categories.

On the heels of the recent news that Margot will serve its last plate of housemade potato

chips and aioli in June, reading through the 2005 winners was a much-needed reminder that locally owned restaurants — unlike the small business of marriage — aren’t supposed to last forever. Things change, priorities shift, and even when there are butts in the seats and local produce at the door, it’s not a gentle way to make a living. Good for owner Margot McCormack. She fed us well. It’s bold to let go and imagine a different life for yourself.

I will not shake my fist at Nashville’s everevolving restaurant landscape; I’ll just make reservations.

Our server was as interesting as anything on the menu: Well-educated on every dish, as all Margot waitstaff tends to be, he was curt and concise, with a rapid-fire delivery of specials and a very specific way of setting plates down to make sure the food was presented just so.

“Y’all forgive my compulsive behavior,” he said as he arranged our artisan cheese plate between us. Dozen Bakery toast in the back, San Simón cheese to the left and pot of plum jam at 3 o’clock. Then he turned my side plate

so the rose design was on the left.

When I asked him to bring me a glass of red with dinner, it occurred to me that I trust Margot Café completely. After years of couple’s dinners, big birthday celebrations and sunny patio brunches for two, I know I’m going to be taken care of on every level. Even someone like me, who may or may not wrestle with control issues, could ignore the menu, describe a few preferences and be thrilled with anything executive chef Hadley Long and his staff send out of what looks like 3 square feet of kitchen.

And I would’ve done that, if I wasn’t dead set on the ditalini that night, scattered with leeks and a dollop of pesto on top for me to stir in myself, plus big, impossibly melty local mushrooms and salty hits of cheese throughout. Pasta and cold nights go together like Dom’s medium-rare tri-tip steak with tomato bread pudding croutons.

Like maple walnut cheesecake that’s neither too cold nor too room temp. Like Frenchpress coffee and a cup someone has been thoughtful enough to warm. ▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

WITNESS HISTORY

Local Kids Always Visit Free Plan a trip to the Museum! Local youth 18 and under who are residents of Nashville-Davidson and bordering counties always visit free, plus 25% off admission for up to two accompanying adults.

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ART

THE MIRROR AND THE FACES IN IT Jagged edges make for an excellent group show in Cut Out the Tongue

A MIRROR IS NEVER neutral. It returns your gaze, but it also distorts and narrates. In Cut Out the Tongue, a mixed-media group exhibition curated by Alexis Özden (Öz), mirrors are everywhere — both literally and in symbolic reflections. There are reflective materials, dualities and repeated patterns. And where there isn’t a mirror, there’s often an eye — itself a type of mirror.

The central object of the show is a trifold mirror shrine made by Öz titled “It’s Not a Sin but Shame That’s Unholy.” The shrine’s inner panel has been replaced by a stained-glass snake with a bifurcated tongue, its fanged head ringed in a golden halo. As the viewer stands before the piece, they may feel like they’re a part of the story, but they’re certainly not its final word.

Mirrors beguile with their immediacy, only to reflect difference.

On view at Random Sample through Jan. 18, Cut Out the Tongue displays works by Öz along with four other queer artists of Southwest Asian and North African (known collectively as SWANA) backgrounds: Ali El-Chaer, Amel Abdalla, AB Bedran and Diluvio Palazzolo.

According to the exhibition statement, the pieces are “in direct opposition to the colonial model,” celebrating “the individual reclamation of cultural resistance through art, providing perspective on community, spirituality and queerness.” Perspective is important here, and is evident in terms like SWANA. Unlike the term “Middle Eastern” — a label based on Eurocentric perspectives — SWANA emphasizes the region’s own geographic framing, a sloughing off of political and colonial baggage.

Mixed media is the ideal approach for such a purpose. Much of the work in Cut Out the Tongue is collage, but even the pieces that aren’t technically collage contain a similar overall effect.

There’s so much going on here — embroidery and crochet from Bedran; oil, chalk, crochet, gouache and even blood from Abdalla; screenprinting and goldleaf from El-Chaer; stones, sequins and clippings from Palazzolo; and infinite ephemera — everything from wax to shattered CDs — from Öz. The end result is not unlike a quilt put together by everybody at the party.

At the show’s entrance, it seems like tears transform into poppies as Palazzolo’s masked collage face — with its silver mirrored eyes — drops liquid reflective tears out of its frame. Underneath is a piece composed of poppies — the poppy is a symbol often used in solidarity with Palestine, its petals, stems and stamens encompassing all four colors of the Palestinian flag. The poppies burst out and droop down the side from dangly strings. Palazzolo sets the tone here, and continues to do so throughout much of the show. Their mixed-media compositions include text, and found poetry is collage of the most expressive kind: “With respect and awe / we scream from /

“HOUSE OF THE LORD,” ALEXIS ÖZDEN (ÖZ); PHOTO: LINDA PARROTT

BY CAT ACREE

Cut Out the Tongue Through Jan. 18 at Random Sample, 4904 Charlotte Ave.

within our souls / this is my land!!!”

From here, Öz begins to call viewers to prayer with pieces that contend with the sacred and the damned. “House of the Lord” contains the image of a church surrounded by scratchedout eyes, embedded within a scarred golden frame that could’ve held a mirror in another life. From this frame, strings tether eyes made of melted wax. In other pieces, bodies shrink before towering forces, as in “Witness,” a textual masterpiece of woven wire and strips of fabric and paper, with a plastic sheet casting a sheen over a hooded person in meditation. The sculpture “SHAMARAN” — a half-snake, half-woman mythical creature — is crumbling on its pedestal. In “Culture of Convenience,” what appears to be an orange sofa sewn in soft, silky fabric has caught fire, a pyre surrounded by eyes.

Finding the mirrored elements within Be-

dran’s work is particularly rewarding. Their predominant mediums are crochet and tatreez — a traditional kind of Palestinian embroidery — and their geometric, repeating patterns (in particular “Four Ducks,” which is reflected into eight ducks) are reassuring in their precision and work as a kind of grounding force over the entire exhibition. However, in a moment that returns to the destabilizing nature of mirroring, Bedran’s hollow-eyed sea-blue painting “Artemis in the Woods” seems to share a haunted stare with Abdalla’s large-scale “The Genocide,” an overwhelming, shadowy portrait of a family’s destruction in Gaza. In it, an older woman is holding a child against a scene on fire — green earth turned brown, the outlines of martyrs lost.

Abdalla points to Gustav Klimt as part of their inspiration, and that’s evident in the way people clutch at the bodies of their beloveds.

You could argue that collage is a quintessentially queer art medium, providing artists with so many possibilities to construct new worlds and identities — particularly by slicing up and rearranging symbols of violence into images that work like armor for the artists. Likewise, mirrors are iconic within SWANA art, from the craft of ayeneh-kari (an Iranian art form that involves decorating with mirrors in geometric patterns) to the contemporary installations of artists like Shirin Abedinirad. With Cut Out the Tongue, the shrapnel of mirrors hasn’t had its jagged edges softened. Rather, the pieces have been fitted together as these five artists construct their own self-defense systems without also shoring up their borders.

This is the best kind of group show — excellent for the individual artists, but even better all together.▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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MUSIC

DEEP IN THE BLUES

Talking with Tom Hambridge about a remarkable career that gets more interesting as years go by

BY RON WYNN

PHOTO: BRADLEY COOK PHOTOGRAPHY

Follow Hambridge on Instagram (@tomhambridge) for the latest updates

DRUMMERS RARELY GET their just due in blues circles, but Tom Hambridge is certainly among the exceptions. He’s rightly achieved substantial recognition not only as a rhythm master but also as a gifted songwriter and great producer. He considers the drummer’s role in the blues to be vital.

“The drummer is the foundation, the heartbeat that sets up and leads the band through transitions from section to section of a song in any genre,” Hambridge says. Among his influences, he cites players so widely known that “iconic” isn’t really an exaggeration — such as Ringo Starr, Steve Gadd, Buddy Rich and Levon Helm — as well as those who deserve to be better known, like Chicago blues champion Fred Below and early rock ’n’ roll ace Earl Palmer.

Hambridge also has high praise for Music City drummers Greg Morrow, Chris McHugh and Shannon Forrest, among others.

A native of Buffalo, N.Y., a Berklee graduate and a longtime Nashvillian, Hambridge made his earliest impact as the drummer and lead vocalist for blues-rocker Roy Buchanan in the 1980s. After three years with Buchanan, Hambridge began to establish his ongoing remarkable array of playing, writing and producing credits. A small sampling of the artists he’s worked with over the course of his career includes Jeff Beck, Keith Richards, B.B. King and Billy Gibbons. “I feel blessed to have worked

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with so many of my heroes,” he says, noting that a few others he would love the opportunity to work with include Sir Paul McCartney, Alison Krauss, Phoebe Bridgers and Cheap Trick.

A winner of four Grammys, Hambridge has had several songs recorded by revered artists and/or featured in film and television. Many of his top projects are part of ongoing professional relationships with blues heroes and rising stars.

This summer, Buddy Guy followed his appearance in Ryan Coogler’s vampire tale Sinners with his latest Hambridge-produced LP Ain’t Done With the Blues, which became Guy’s eighth No. 1 album on Billboard’s Blues Albums chart.

Hambridge has also produced all three of young blues master Christone “Kingfish” Ingram’s studio albums. Hard Road was released in September, while their previous collaboration 662 won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album, and its predecessor Kingfish was nominated for Best Traditional Blues Album. “[Ingram and I have] written some amazing songs together, and those records have won lots of wonderful awards,” says Hambridge. “I’ve loved watching his career blow up, and I am very proud of him.”

In August, Hambridge released his latest solo album Down the Hatch via Quarto Valley.

The 12-track collection of searing electric blues boasts an array of great collaborators. Guitarists include Bob Britt (who’s played with Bob Dylan),

Rob McNelley (Delbert McClinton, Bob Seger), Tom Bukovac (Joe Walsh) and Buddy Guy himself, while Glenn Worf (Mark Knopfler) and Anton Nesbitt (BeBe and CeCe Winans) are among the bassists who took part.

The album opens with a fine cover of a hard-charging tune previously done by George Thorogood, “Willie Dixon’s Gone.” Other excellent cuts include the anthemic “Every Time I Sing the Blues” and a rendition of “How Blues Is That,” a loping scorcher that Hambridge cowrote with Richard Fleming and that Guy cut on Ain’t Done. Guy contributes some ferocious playing to the rollicking “You Gotta Go Through St. Louis,” while some of Britt’s best work is on the melancholy, nearly psych-pop number “What Might Have Been.”

Hambridge’s production and writing career began exploding in the late ’90s after the success of Susan Tedeschi’s Just Won’t Burn, which Hambridge produced and which included two classics he penned, “Rock Me Right” and “It Hurt So Bad.” Meanwhile, Hambridge has continued playing drums with a host of legendary blues and rock figures, among them the aforementioned Thorogood and Guy as well as the late Johnny Winter. He credits his drumming background for greatly aiding him in his role as a producer.

“I’m right there in the kitchen cooking with the artist and other musicians when I’m playing

on the tracking sessions,” says Hambridge. “As the drummer, I’m motoring the band, so If I feel the groove needs to be faster, slower, harder or softer, I don’t have to leave the control room and walk out on the floor to explain that to each musician. They feel it when I play the new tempo, different groove, or new arrangement.”

Though he isn’t resistant to advances in recording technology, Hambridge doesn’t rely on them in the studio.

“I’m old-school,” he says. “I still make records with real musicians together in the studio listening to and playing off each other. Considering I started making records on 2-inch tape, it is easier now using Pro Tools to fix things and do edits. We used to have to cut the tape with a razor blade. … Even though today it’s all about streaming, and CDs are pretty much obsolete, I still go in every time with the intention of making an album. Crazy as it sounds, I’m still searching for the perfect sequence for every record I make.”

Looking forward, Hambridge’s schedule remains full.

“I enjoy it all. I’m always excited to get started on the next project. I dig playing venues that have a rich history like the Hollywood Bowl, Red Rocks, Madison Square Garden, the Ryman [and] small towns in the middle of nowhere as well as big cities like New York, Paris and London.

Clubs, dive bars, roadhouses — hell, I’ll play anywhere.” ▼

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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12/17/25 2:43 PM

SOUNDING THE DEPTHS

A quick guide to new Nashville music and shows pinging our radar in 2026

BY STEPHEN TRAGESER

COURTNEY MARIE ANDREWS

DAVID BYRNE

AS 2025 DRAWS to a close, there’s already a ton of music to look forward to in Music City in 2026. Maybe you have some holiday gift cash burning a hole in your pocket, or perhaps you’re finally getting a few minutes to yourself to make some plans for the new year. We’re here to lend a hand with a quick rundown of some new releases and shows on our radar in the coming months.

Let’s include books about music in “releases.”

Jan. 13 is publication day for What You Do When You’re Lonesome (DaCapo Press), Rolling Stone senior research editor Jonathan Bernstein’s authorized biography of the late, great Justin Townes Earle. Gearheads can preorder Made on Earth for Rising Stars: The Electro-Harmonix Story (Third Man Books), an in-depth history of the groundbreaking effects-pedal company, though they’ll have to wait a bit as the book’s ship date is May 12 as of this writing.

Fans of epic video-game rockers The Protomen have been waiting more than a decade for Act III: This City Made Us, the third installment in their ongoing Mega Man-inspired

LOS STRAITJACKETS

WEDNESDAY

rock opera. New tracks have been rolling out on the group’s Bandcamp profile throughout the fall, and the full LP is officially out Jan. 9. That’s also release day for Bloodline, the debut fulllength from self-described Afro Appalachian folk singer Mon Rovîa. He lives in Chattanooga but frequents Nashville and will be playing a release event at Grimey’s on Jan. 9.

Widely loved singer-songwriter Courtney Marie Andrews’ next album is called Valentine; it’s out Jan. 16, and her release tour will stop at The Blue Room at Third Man Records a good bit later, on March 27. State Fête, the debut from the improvisational trio of wide-ranging Nashvillian Matt Glassmeyer, Billy Martin (of Medeski Martin and Wood) and Jonathan Goldberger is due Jan. 16 as well. Meanwhile, Andrews’ fellow songsmith Bre Kennedy is set to celebrate her new LP The Alchemist with a show at The Blue Room on release day, Jan. 30, and Jeremy Ivey’s Its Shape Will Reveal Itself is on deck for a Feb. 16 release.

The calendar is also already brimming with shows that don’t have local releases attached.

Two beloved Middle Tennessee rock bands, The

BILLY STRINGS

Features and Glossary, are reuniting for a pair of shows benefiting public radio, Jan. 30 and 31 at Eastside Bowl (tickets sold out very quickly). Soul legend Mavis Staples plays the Ryman Jan. 24 with support from M.J. Lenderman. Contemporary bluegrass star and rocker Billy Strings will also be at the Ryman, on Feb. 22; that show is sold out, but as has become tradition on his adopted-hometown run, he’s playing the previous two nights at Bridgestone Arena as well.

Rock instrumental champions Los Straitjackets are headed to The 5 Spot Feb. 6, the night before independent venues all over town join in the daylong second annual 615 Indie Live festival, featuring performances from soul legend Charles “Wigg” Walker, rockers like Lilly Hiatt and Venus & the Flytraps and heaps more.

Looking ahead a little further, Bonnaroo-bound rock aces Wednesday are stopping in at Brooklyn Bowl March 15, and the venerable rock ’n’ pop explosion that is Redd Kross will be back at The Blue Room April 11. Pop queen Demi Lovato will be at Bridgestone Arena April 14.

Hometown rock heroine (and recent Scene cover

interviewee) Hayley Williams’ tour for Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party stops in at the Ryman for three nights, April 25, 27 and 28. While it’s technically not summer, May 9 is far enough off that it feels like it, and that’s when David Byrne’s latest tour touches down at Ascend Amphitheater.

If you’re going to Big Ears Festival in Knoxville (March 26 through 29), you’ve got a chance to see him there as well.

Speaking of summer, festival season will be here before you know it. We know the lineup of the aforementioned Bonnaroo (featuring Skrillex, The Strokes, Kesha and more) and Big Ears Festival, but info on free concert series Musicians Corner, Nashville Pride, AmericanaFest, Pilgrimage and other fests is yet to come. ▼

Find links to order records and buy concert tickets at nashvillescene.com/music

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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12/17/25 2:44 PM

FILM

TIMMY SUPREMACY Josh Safdie’s comedic thriller Marty Supreme is a dizzying showcase for Timothée Chalamet

BY LOGAN BUTTS

WHEN TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET visited the Belcourt last December to promote his Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, his star power felt palpable. He genuinely has it, whatever it is. And he’s wielded that power by working with interesting directors and taking on challenging roles.

Marty Supreme is the first offering from director Josh Safdie following his (hopefully temporary?) professional split from his brother and fellow indie provocateur Benny Safdie. And here Chalamet gives his best, most assured and most multifaceted performance yet.

Marty Supreme is an anxiety-inducing, comedic-thriller character study chronicling American table tennis star Marty Mauser, played by Chalamet. (Don’t call it ping-pong!) Mauser is loosely based on flamboyant midcentury New York table tennis star Marty Reisman. Like Reisman, Mauser is America’s only hope for breaking through the juggernauts of Asia and Europe in international table tennis competitions, and he’s willing to do anything to reach the mountaintop.

This film makes it abundantly clear which

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Safdie brother has the juice. As much as I respected the subversive approach and top-notch performances of the Benny-directed, Rock-starring MMA biopic The Smashing Machine earlier this year, Benny isn’t working from the same bag of tricks Josh displays in Supreme. To be fair to Benny, one of the most exhilarating aspects of a typical Safdie movie is the ever-tightening vice grip of a plot, and here Josh benefits from having the duo’s usual co-writer Ronald Bronstein at his side.

Speaking of Bronstein — who has a voiceonly role in the film — the cast is truly a work of art with its array of non-professional actors, a Safdie specialty. Along for the ride in Supreme are Shark Tank judge Kevin O’Leary, musician Tyler the Creator, legendary genre filmmaker Abel Ferrara, high-wire artist Philippe Petit, NBA Hall of Famer George Gervin, ornery playwright/ screenwriter David Mamet, fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi and magician Penn Jillette. It’s a smorgasbord of, “Wait, they’re in this?”

And the inspired casting doesn’t stop with nontraditional actors. Gwyneth Paltrow gives

her first significant performance in nearly 15 years (shoutout to the terrifying Steven Soderbergh medical thriller Contagion) as washed-up movie star turned socialite Kay Stone, and Fran Drescher steps down from the SAG soapbox to play Marty’s beleaguered mother Rebecca.

But it’s Odessa A’zion who stands out from the supporting pack as Marty’s (married) romantic partner-in-crime Rachel Mizler. I won’t spoil the fun, but I will say she’s every bit Marty’s scheming equal.

As the storytelling vice grip continues to tighten, the hurdles Marty has to navigate in his quest for greatness grow increasingly hilarious.

But even if the table tennis prodigy finds himself experiencing an extraordinary stretch of bad luck, most of the events can be tied back directly to Marty’s own negligence. It’s not stingy businessmen or stuffy execs or questioning family members or Japanese table tennis champions who are preventing Marty from reaching the promised land — his compulsive, short-sighted decision-making does the most damage.

This sort of talented, driven, charm-

ing-but-obnoxious, his-own-worst-enemy lead character is fertile ground for movie stars, and Chalamet knocks the role out of the park. As a proven Ball Knower, he thrives in the role of egomaniacal athlete. And his acting chops are perfectly suited for the mile-a-minute Safdie approach to dialogue and storytelling. The Lead Actor field is likely to be stacked this year, but this is the type of role that could very well lead to Oscar-night glory for Hollywood’s current Lisan al Gaib. More importantly, it anchors one of the year’s best films. ▼

Marty Supreme R, 150 minutes Opening wide Thursday, Dec. 25

NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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12/17/25 12:05 PM

BACK OF THE BOOK

EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ 1

ACROSS Duds in bed?

4 Place for a castle 9 Retailer across the street from Rockefeller Center 13 Bread for dipping 14 Very, very 15 Very, very particular 16 Cubing needs 18 Like an S-Tier video game character 19 Computer pros 20 In position 22 Beurre demi-___ (salted butter, in France) 23 Turns on 25 ___ ejemplo 26 “Hail,” in Latin 27 Scottsbluff’s state: Abbr.

28 Overlook for an award, say 30 Hitchhiker’s hope 32 Niihau neighbor 36 Make, as money 38 Ensnare 40 Puts through the paces 41 On the topic of 43 Spanx founder Blakely 44 Spanish diminutive suffix 46 “Excuse me!”

47 Video game customization, informally 48 Fops 52 Surfboard stabilizer 53 Vesper Lynd portrayer in “Casino Royale” 54 “Star Wars” character originally portrayed by a puppet that weighed over a ton 56 They may be threaded 1

He doesn’t belong ... or a hint to the circled letters in 16-, 23-, 36-, 38- and 48-Across 60 Singer with the #1 hits “Umbrella” and “Disturbia,” familiarly 61 Levi’s Stadium player, informally 62 Actor who participated in the first WrestleMania event, in 1985 63 Came down to earth 64 “Jumping Jehoshaphat!”

65 Supporting article?

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A S H M A R S M U E S L I I H O P O H C MO N P E A S H O O T S S O O P S P A Z L E G S K N E E N O P E S I L O E D G A S H V E T O P E D S R O N E S E Y E S N E S L O U O N U S S T A M E N J E T L A G P U B T A G L D R S T H R OW F O O P B E S E T T H A I S H O R T Y A N T D C U P O I N K E R A T R O F A P P L A U S E B O T I D O L L E I A D F R E E R O B S E S P P E S T E R Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 9,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year).

Read about and comment on each puzzle: nytimes.com/ wordplay. Crosswords for young solvers: nytimes.com/ studentcrosswords.

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Most characters in Pixar’s first film 42 Bash 45 “___ to Joy” 48 Messing around on TV? 49 Mars follower, in Marseille 50 Source of the word “tiki” 51 Sierra ___ 39

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NASHVILLE SCENE • DECEMBER 25, 2025 – JANUARY 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

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IN THE CHANCERY COURT FOR DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE FOUR SEASONS HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, Plaintiff, v.

Docket No. 25-1215-IV HERMAN H. HIGA Defendant.

ORDER OF PUBLICATION AND PUBLICATION NOTICE Pursuant to Tenn. Code.

Ann. §§ 21-1-204 and 205, appearing from allegations of the Complaint for Monetary Damages and Judicial Foreclosure filed on August 28, 2025, by the Plaintiff Four Seasons Homeowners Association, whose attorney is David M. Anthony, Exo Legal PLLC, 901 Woodland Street, Nashville, TN 37206, and the Motion for Service

by Publication filed in this cause, being duly sworn to or from affidavit, that Herman H. Higa, the Defendant, cannot be served with the ordinary process of law for the following reason: X non-resident of Tennessee X after diligent inquiry the whereabouts of the defendant cannot be ascertained X judicial and other attachments will lie against the property of the Defendant in the State of Tennessee It is therefore ordered, that said Defendant enter an appearance 30 days after the last publication and file an answer to the complaint, or judgment by default may be taken against Defendant for the relief demanded in the complaint. A copy of this order is to be published for four consecutive weeks in the Nashville Scene.

The last known addresses for this defendant are: 327 Summit Ridge Circle, Nashville, TN 37215; and 8524 Via Mallorca, Unit G, La Jolla, California 92037. Date: November 26, 2025 By: Maria M. Salas, Clerk and Master

It is therefore ordered, that said Defendant enter an appearance 30 days after the last publication and file an answer to the complaint, or judgment by default may be taken against Defendant for the relief demanded in the complaint. A copy of this order is to be published for four consecutive weeks in the Nashville Scene.

The last known addresses for this defendant are: 327 Summit Ridge Circle, Nashville, TN 37215; and 8524 Via Mallorca, Unit G, La Jolla, California 92037. Date: November 26, 2025 By: Maria M. Salas, Clerk and Master David M. Anthony (BPR # 19951) Exo Legal PLLC P.O. Box 121616 Nashville, TN 37212 (615) 869-0634 Attorneys for Plaintiff NSC: 12/4, 12/11, 12/18, 12/25/25 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT Timothy Morgan and Susan Basham plan to file a Petition for Relocation in the Chancery Court for Davidson County, Tennessee.

Petitioners seek to relocate and restore the Dodson Cemetery at 3366 Stoners Bend Dr., Hermitage TN 37076. Persons believed to be buried at the cemetery and approximate dates of birth and death include: Timothy Dodson (1778-1855), Agnes Wilson Dodson (1787-1855), Julia Dodson Fitzgerald (1809-1843), Elizabeth Pennington (18131840), Sara Agnes Dodson Baker (1826-1870), Joseph D. Baker (1860-1897), John E. Baker (1852-1871), William C. Dodson (1830-1894), Elizabeth Ann Curd Dodson (1838-1919), Stephen Douglas Dodson (1870-1896), Sallie C. Dodson (18581861), Ella Sue Dodson (1859-1862), Joseph Dodson (1861-1862), Emma Dodson (1863-1864), Timothy C. Dodson (1876-1908), Thomas Marvin Dodson (1878-1950), Julia E. Dodson (1839-1864), Douglas Dodson (1896-1910), Infant (unknown). Petitioners may be contacted through Lisa K. Helton at Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison, PLC.

las Dodson (1870-1896), (1859-1862), Joseph DodSallie C. Dodson (1858son (1861-1862), Emma 1861), Ella Sue Dodson Dodson (1863-1864), Timo(1859-1862), Dodthy C. DodsonJoseph (1876-1908), son (1861-1862), Emma Thomas Marvin Dodson Dodson (1863-1864), Timo(1878-1950), Julia E. Dodthy C. Dodson (1876-1908), son (1839-1864), Douglas Thomas (1896-1910), Marvin Dodson Dodson Infant (1878-1950),Petitioners Julia E. Dod(unknown). may soncontacted (1839-1864), Douglas be through Lisa K. Dodsonat(1896-1910), Infant Helton Sherrard Roe Voigt (unknown). may & Harbison,Petitioners PLC. be contacted through Lisa K. Helton at Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison, PLC.

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