Nashville Scene 12-4-25

From country star meltdowns to political ineptitude, here’s our 36th annual lineup of blunders and bloopers

WITNESS HISTORY

This sixteen-inch transcription disc contains the first performance of The Prince Albert Show, the segment of the Grand Ole Opry broadcast over the NBC radio network. This October 14, 1939, show featured Roy Acuff, DeFord Bailey, Uncle Dave Macon, and the Fruit Jar Drinkers.

From the exhibit Country’s Grandest Stage: The Opry at 100

artifact photo: Bob Delevante

Waymo Could Thin Already Shrinking Rideshare Driver Earnings

The autonomous vehicle company will partner with Lyft in Nashville next year for a full rollout of driverless robotaxis BY NICK PIPITONE

Mayor’s Spending Plan Dedicates $532

Million to Maintenance, Infrastructure

A few new projects are tucked into O’Connell’s new spending plan for general maintenance across schools, greenways and city services BY ELI

MOTYCKA

Pith in the Wind

This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog

COVER STORY

Boner Awards 2025

From country star meltdowns to political ineptitude, here’s our 36th annual lineup of blunders and bloopers

Petty Crime Roundup

From an ill-advised tequila heist to a Clapton fan ditching her britches, here’s our roundup of 2025’s Boner Award-worthy small-time crime

CRITICS’ PICKS

Nashvillage Holiday Market, Mary Gauthier, The Mavericks, Erykah Badu and more

FOOD

AND DRINK

The Stars Are Out

What Nashville’s wins at last month’s Michelin American South Ceremony mean for our dining scene BY JIM MYERS

DANCE

Community Foundations

Becca Hoback and Shabaz Ujima lead a collaborative dance premiere at OZ Arts BY AMY STUMPFL

Road Scholar

Gift Guide Shop local

Photographer LeXander Bryant’s Dirt Road Baby shows how small-town living can be high art BY LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

MUSIC

When Security Feels Like a Threat

Examining the complex landscape of concert security today BY JP OLSEN

Joyful Memories There

The Ornaments prepare for their 20th season of celebrating A Charlie Brown Christmas BY DARYL SANDERS

The Scene’s live-review column checks out William Tyler at The Blue Room BY KATHERINE OUNG

Noah’s Arc Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly takes a melancholic look at the life of a movie star BY LOGAN BUTTS

YORK TIMES CROSSWORD AND THIS MODERN WORLD

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WAYMO COULD THIN ALREADY SHRINKING RIDESHARE DRIVER EARNINGS

The autonomous vehicle company will partner with Lyft in Nashville next year for a full rollout of driverless robotaxis

BY NICK PIPITONE

WAYMO WILL PARTNER with Lyft to roll out autonomous ride-hailing in Nashville next year, starting with trips booked in the Waymo app before expanding into Lyft’s platform. If the rollout goes as planned, the sight of Waymo’s white Jaguar I-Pace SUVs could go from a novelty to an everyday feature of Nashville life.

Waymo — owned by Alphabet, Google’s parent company — already offers robotaxis in Phoenix, San Francisco, Austin, Los Angeles and Atlanta. The company is testing or planning to launch soon in several other U.S. cities, including Detroit, Dallas, New Orleans, Las Vegas and San Diego. Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly recently said he pitched Waymo to come to his city as well.

Meanwhile, similar autonomous vehicle companies — such as Amazon’s Zoox and Beep’s self-driving electric shuttle buses — are also testing and launching in various U.S. cities. It seems like every day, a new announcement about autonomous vehicles puts robotaxis closer to swarming the streets of every major American city.

Several questions swirl around this shift in urban mobility, including passenger trust and safety. Equally pressing, though less often discussed, is the labor impact: Nashville rideshare drivers will soon face competition from robotaxis. Although exact figures are elusive, rideshare driving is estimated to provide income for thousands of Nashville residents, from full- to part-time drivers. The city’s booming tourism industry has fueled demand for rideshare services, but it has also flooded the market with drivers, thinning out earnings for many. Uber and Lyft drivers nationwide have seen their earnings decline in recent years. A Gridwise analysis found that hourly earnings for Uber drivers fell 3.3 percent between 2023 and 2024, while those for Lyft drivers declined 5.5 percent in the same period. Nashville resident Monique McClain has driven for Uber and Lyft for nine years, and she says earnings have fallen even faster for her and other local drivers. She serves as co-president of the Tennessee Drivers’ Union, a grassroots organization of local rideshare drivers that formed last year. The union has grown to roughly 400 members and aims to secure a fairer share of platform revenue, improved working conditions and stronger regulatory protections for drivers. McClain once drove about 60 hours a week, reliably earning around $1,500. But between October and November of last year, she and other drivers saw their weekly earnings fall sharply. Despite keeping the same schedule, her take-home pay dropped to between $600 and $800. McClain says neither Uber nor Lyft offered clear explanations for why so many drivers were

abruptly earning so much less.

McClain has since taken a job as an administrative assistant and now drives for Uber and Lyft only 15 to 20 hours a week. But she and others in the union are concerned about what Waymo’s arrival could mean for drivers who depend on rideshare work as their primary source of income.

“This is a way to phase us out,” McClain says. “More of us are forming unions nationwide, and this is a way to replace drivers.”

Waymo may not replace all rideshare drivers anytime soon, but data shows it will likely further affect their earnings. Hourly pay for Uber and Lyft drivers between July 2024 and July 2025 fell across regions where robotaxis operated, according to a Gridwise report. The sharpest declines were in San Francisco (down 6.9 percent) and Austin (5.3 percent). Researchers at George Washington University also analyzed the labor impacts of the transition to robotaxis in a study published last year. Their findings suggest one silver lining: Operating an autonomous vehicle company like Waymo will require entirely new categories of work that didn’t exist before.

“You see an autonomous vehicle on the road, and you’re just amazed,” says Leah Kaplan, a Ph.D. student in systems engineering at GWU who worked on the study. “But it’s easy to forget about all the other pieces that the driver was providing before.”

Kaplan explains that removing the driver doesn’t eliminate all labor, but rather splits it into new roles — those include remote operators, customer support, fleet maintenance and incident coordinators. A “remote monitor,” for instance, is someone who oversees rides on screen and steps in if problems arise. The challenge is that the new jobs created by Waymo and other robotaxi operators will be fewer and more technical. Driving has

long served as an entry-level job for people who need it, such as immigrants and workers without advanced training.

While Waymo’s arrival may create some local jobs, many roles will likely be remote and therefore wouldn’t need to be based in Nashville.

“Waymo often avoids the elephant in the room,” says Harry Campbell, who covers the autonomous vehicle industry for his Substack and podcast, The Driverless Digest. “They promise new jobs, but the core purpose of automation inevitably means fewer jobs.”

Analysts like Campbell foresee an extended transition phase in which human rideshare drivers and robotaxis share the road. In April of this year, Waymo reported more than 250,000 paid trips per week in the U.S, a major milestone. By contrast, Uber completed, on average, around 30 million trips per day globally in the second quarter of last year. Lyft logged 188 million rides in the first quarter of 2024.

Waymo’s expansion will also hinge on several

factors, including public perception. Americans may eventually warm to robotaxis, but AAA’s latest survey on autonomous vehicles found that just 13 percent of U.S. drivers would trust a self-driving car.

Regulation could also stifle growth, though Tennessee’s Automated Vehicles Act bars cities like Nashville from passing their own requirements on autonomous vehicles. Senate Bill 310, sponsored by state Sen. Becky Massey (R-Knoxville), proposes updates to Tennessee’s autonomous vehicle laws for commercial use. The measure would require that any autonomous vehicle transporting goods or carrying passengers have a human driver behind the wheel, actively monitoring the system, able to take control at any moment, and holding the appropriate class of driver’s license. The bill passed on second consideration in the state Senate in February, but was ultimately deferred to next year’s legislative session.

The Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure has spoken with Waymo regarding its road testing. Brendan Scully, an NDOT spokesperson, says the agency will incorporate autonomous vehicle updates in its Connect Downtown Plan. NDOT has also provided a place for AV complaints on hubNashville, the city’s non-emergency service portal.

McClain of the Tennessee Drivers’ Union says companies like Waymo may benefit from lower labor costs with driverless technology, but customers are likely to feel the trade-offs. She says service quality will decline, citing elderly riders who struggle with technology and travelers who need help with luggage at the airport.

“A lot of my passengers talk about Waymo, and many seem uncomfortable with it,” McClain says. “There are still a lot of unanswered questions.” ▼

MAYOR’S SPENDING PLAN DEDICATES $532 MILLION TO MAINTENANCE, INFRASTRUCTURE

A few new projects are tucked into O’Connell’s new spending plan for general maintenance across schools, greenways and city services

BY ELI MOTYCKA

LITTLE THINGS ADD UP. Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s new capital spending plan — the annual docket greenlighting city projects across the county — includes just a few new line items alongside a long maintenance and infrastructure backlog that will command a $532 million price tag. Metro Nashville Public Schools and city general services, which include basic infrastructure needs like fire stations and the Metro vehicle fleet, combine for almost half the entire spending plan. The rest is distributed across priorities like the Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure’s traffic calming and sidewalks,

as well as libraries, greenways, golf courses and various costs related to engineering and planning for city property.

The mayor announced his FY26 capital spending plan on Nov. 21, filing the accompanying legislation the same day for initial review at the Metro Council’s Dec. 4 meeting. While the annual capital improvements budget, filed during city budget season, details possible spending projects, the CSP selects specific projects from the capital improvements budget and legally commits funding toward each.

“This capital spending plan helps us respond to our growth by allowing departments to nimbly address needs that ensure Metro can continue to deliver great customer service to Nashvillians,” Mayor Freddie O’Connell says in a statement announcing the plan. “Funding from this capital spending plan helps us do the little things well and keep up with maintenance that may not grab headlines, but by doing the little things well, we can better execute on the big ideas and challenges ahead.”

This year’s CSP comes almost exactly a year after O’Connell’s FY25 CSP. Both come within $6 million of each other in total cost and commit the majority of city spending to general infrastructure updates and maintenance. Two special projects, the city’s new juvenile justice center (also called the Nashville Youth Campus for Empowerment) and continued costs related to preparing the East Bank for development, have driven dedicated city spending for the past two years. If approved, the latest CSP would pledge $54 million — its single largest line item — to the final “closeout” phase of the juvenile justice center.

Long-awaited plans for a revamped Richland Park Library and a new elementary school in Antioch both receive nods from O’Connell, as does continued funding for McGavock High School renovations. The plan banks nearly $50 million for roadway “state of good repair” maintenance, $7.8 million for sidewalks, $4 million for greenway repairs, and $3 million for bikeways. Nashville does not solely rely on the CSP for transportation funding and often supplements with state and federal money.

The city may also throw another $750,000 toward the abandoned Global Mall, a property that has been imbued with various dreams and visions since being acquired by former Mayor John Cooper in 2022. Cooper bought it with plans to partner with VUMC on a health center, but negotiations fell apart, leaving the property vacant and dragging on city books.

While a new stadium for the Tennessee Titans rises on the East Bank, the mayor will budget a total of $37.8 million for hardscape spending on utilities and the road grid. Metro will apparently chip in $1.1 million for a Piedmont gas line relocation and another $2.9 million for a “duct bank” to protect cables and wiring from Nashville Electric Services. West Park, popular with city sports leagues and dog owners around The Nations, is also slated for $2 million in updates.

Councilmembers will review an accompanying request for $532 million in general obligation bonds in committee this week. The city enjoys a good credit rating and typically issues these bonds to back major spending efforts like the mayor’s capital spending plan. ▼

NASHVILLESCENE.COM/NEWS/PITHINTHEWIND

Visit nashvillescene.com/news for our coverage of Tuesday’s 7th Congressional District special election.

In a livestream on X last week, Boring Company president Steve Davis answered questions about the Elon Musk-owned venture’s Music City Loop airport-to-downtown tunnel project. Safety concerns have been among Nashvillians’ top questions when it comes to the Music City Loop, but Davis described the tunnels as “amazingly safe.” However, according to reporting by the Nashville Banner, not long after the town hall, construction crews walked off the tunnel site due to safety and pay concerns. The report notes inconsistent pay schedules and allegations that a Boring Company representative was attempting to poach a contractor’s employees. Boring Company VP David Buss tells the Banner that his company intends to correct any outstanding invoicing errors, also saying, “Safety is existential to our company.” Meanwhile, Scene col umnist Betsy Phillips notes the Boring Company’s dubious projections when it comes to how many customers the Music City Loop will be able to serve. “Davis told the people watching on X that the tunnels would take 20,000 to 30,000 people back and forth to the airport in an hour (half in each tunnel),” Phillips writes. “Is this even possible?”

University School of Nashville alum Gidgie Bass has asked a court to dismiss a defamation claim from Dean Masullo, her former English teacher, who left the school in 2024 after being pub licly accused by Bass of sexual misconduct. Masullo mounted his own defense, suing Bass personally in August over public statements alleging Masullo’s inappropriate sexual advances when Bass was a high school student. The school has since commissioned attorneys to conduct a full investigation into Masullo and parted ways with former director Amani Reed, who led the school until January 2025. Bass filed a petition in Davidson County Circuit Court on Nov. 20, arguing that Masullo’s defamation claims against her constitute a retaliatory “SLAPP suit” meant to “weaponize the justice system against his victim” and should be dismissed.

Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s office quietly filed a resolution with the Metro Council before the Thanksgiving holiday that could bring increased police capabilities and surveillance technology to downtown Nashville. As word of the proposal spread last week, it sparked backlash among some close Metro observers who described it as a backdoor attempt to implement policies that have been previously rejected. The resolution is set to be considered by the council Thursday night, but Councilmember Erin Evans tells our colleagues at the Nashville Banner she anticipates many members will seek to defer the resolution. She adds that the administration has said it will not oppose those efforts.

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BONER AWARDS 2025

OUT TO LUNCH

Political choices don’t get more clear-cut than feeding lowincome children with a multibillion-dollar rainy-day fund. And days don’t get rainier than when partisan gridlock shuts down the federal government — in this case for 43 days, threatening critical public lifelines like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee still somehow bungled his moment, refusing to address widespread child hunger looming on the horizon as October turned into November and SNAP benefits ran dry for 690,000 Tennesseans. Imagine the bighearted triumph of a practical Tennessean besting D.C.’s layabouts with a proverbial stroke of his pen, just in time for the Thanksgiving season. Instead, Lee was busy courting economic development on a multi-country tour of Asia.

ANDY CRAPP, PART 2

It’s no secret that U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles is a Trump sycophant, but he’s really been diving into the deep end of manufactured outrage since the return of his dear leader. Instead of using what he’s called the “Golden Age of America” to improve the lives of average Tennesseans, Ogles has leaned into being a cheerleader for cruelty. This year’s assholery has centered on Trump’s ongoing immigration crackdown. From targeting Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell and Belmont University with political attacks to threatening to sic the National Guard on Nashville (while racking up mounting legal fees and apparently blowing money on Chipotle), the Republican has shaken off the heat from his past FBI investigation and is apparently seeking retribution — or at

From country star meltdowns to political ineptitude, here’s our 36th annual lineup of blunders and bloopers

ONCE UPON A TIME, back in the glory days of Old Nashville, our fair city had a single-term mayor so beset by scandal and notoriety that a newly established alternativeweekly newspaper called the Nashville Scene made him the namesake of an annual list of public screw-ups.

Little did any of us know that 36 years later, the Scene would still be issuing Boner Awards, named for the aforementioned Mayor Bill Boner. But as the years go by, Nashville’s elected leaders, country stars and other public figures keep managing to biff it badly. This year’s issue features a fine crop of Boners: onstage meltdowns from country (and rap-rock) stars who ought to know better, ineptitude and infighting from the state’s Republican supermajority, political showboating from clout-chasing wannabe congressional representatives, a small-town mayor causing a power outage due to a sausage biscuit. (Yes, that last one is real. Everything you read in this issue is real.)

Read on for a list of this year’s biggest screw-ups, compiled by the Scene’s editorial staff. See also: our petty-crime roundup, in which former staffer and current contributor J.R. Lind highlights some of the dopes and ding-a-lings arrested for Boner-worthy criminal behavior in 2025.

least headlines. What’s more, he’s called to “denaturalize and deport” New York City Mayorelect Zohran Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, and the day before the NYC mayoral election, Ogles shared a clip of the second plane crashing into the World Trade Center on 9/11, accompanied by the caption “WAKE UP NEW

YORK!” When you exploit the deaths of nearly 3,000 people (mostly Americans) for cheap political points, you’re not (allegedly) “America First,” you’re (allegedly) just a dick.

A SECRET THIRD OPTION

An ultimatum from the Trump administration

briefly gave Vanderbilt Chancellor Daniel Diermeier a chance to stand on values: Either reject a sweetheart funding deal to preserve university independence, or take an inside track for federal money. Somehow Diermeier found a secret third option that perfectly captures the worst aspects of equivocating elite university culture. Pleasing no one, except perhaps himself, the school’s top decision-maker instead chose to question the question, issuing feedback and comments as part of an “ongoing dialogue” with the Oval Office about how much presidential control over campuses might be proper. Outspoken faculty and students point to several peer universities’ clear rejection of this Faustian bargain, slamming Diermeier at protests for betraying core university commitments. Diermeier can point to his 10-year contract extension, which keeps him in Kirkland Hall through 2035.

BENDING THE KNEE TO BLACKBURN

Professors from Middle Tennessee State University and Austin Peay State University, as well as teachers from Rutherford and Williamson counties, were among those fired because of their social media comments following the death of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. The kicker? The schools fired them because U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn told them to. As a refresher: Kirk said in the aftermath of the Covenant School shooting in Nashville — which resulted in the deaths of three children and three adults — that gun deaths

are “worth it,” and just the cost of keeping our Second Amendment rights. University staff who referenced that quote and others by Kirk were dismissed at the behest of Blackburn’s social media posts. Possibly the worst bit? MTSU ran a banner across the top of the school’s website announcing a faculty member’s firing over Kirk comments, while a previous faculty dismissal — the firing of a teacher who was arrested after exposing his genitals to a teenager — did not warrant similar fanfare. Calling for the firing of constituents is a bold move for a gubernatorial candidate. We wonder if the ass-kissing will pay off when Blackburn inevitably starts running the state.

MARSHA, MARSHA, MARSHA

Several D.C. Republicans scolded U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn in November after a provision to allow Blackburn and others to sue the government (and line their pockets with taxpayer money) made its way into the bill that reopened the federal government after the longest shutdown in the nation’s history. The provision, which was later repealed, would have allowed senators to sue for up to $500,000 after the phone records of eight lawmakers, including Blackburn and fellow Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty, were seized as part of the now-defunct investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (You know, that attack aimed at overturning a legal and legitimate election.) Both Hagerty and Blackburn eventually said they weren’t seeking monetary damages, only “accountability,” and supported the provision’s repeal. One of the loudest Republican voices criticizing the provision was U.S. Rep. John Rose of Tennessee’s 6th Congressional District, who is running against Blackburn in the 2026 gubernatorial Republican primary. Rose publicly urged Blackburn to not sue taxpayers. “I’m glad she’s answered the call [to repeal the provision] and she can now answer to the people from Tennessee about the backroom deal to put this into the bill,” Rose told the Knoxville News Sentinel. The public scolding served as a preview of what’s sure to be an election filled with plenty of mudslinging — and when John Rose is the one lecturing you about ethics, you know you’ve crossed a line.

THESE GUYS SUCK, CHANGE MY MIND

After the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a pair of ill-meaning white boys honored the right-wing provocateur’s legacy by planting themselves in the middle of a historically Black college campus with inflammatory conservative messages like “DEI should be Illegal” and “Deport all illegals now!” Unlike Kirk, the so-called Fearless Debates duo did not obtain any kind of permission to be there, and after pissing off the student body, they were escorted off campus by security. In true conservative youth fashion, they issued a “we just wanted to talk” non-apology and claimed they didn’t know they had visited a historically Black university campus despite saying in an Instagram post that TSU was “the first HBCU that we’re visiting on the Fearless Tour!” There’s little reason to believe that the gruesome twosome

was doing anything besides trolling by bringing an anti-DEI sign to TSU — an institution whose existence was made necessary due to segregation — and even less reason to call them “fearless.”

Their attempt to turn undergrad outrage into easy content whiffed, exposing the vapidity of these conservative college tours.

GREEN CHASES THE GREEN

Former U.S. Rep. Mark Green finally left Congress over the summer (after previously announcing his early retirement and then reversing course at the behest of Trump) to chase business interests. Green decided to form a “global business development” company, Prosimos, in order to “continue that fight” against China. “If an American company doesn’t do it, a Chinese company will, and we are in a fight right now for the future of the world order,” Green told the Scene’s sister publication the Williamson Scene. Green’s midterm retirement triggered a special election in the 7th Congressional District, costing taxpayers money. Green endorsed his former Army buddy Matt Van Epps, and previously told Axios that Congress is “broken.” While that may be true, its usefulness as a springboard for politicians to enrich themselves is apparently still going strong.

DEEP POCKETS, SHALLOW PRINCIPLES

State Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) came in third in October’s 7th Congressional District Republican primary — spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and earning just 4,004 total votes in the process. The self-described “culture warrior,” a lawyer by trade, has faced widespread criticism for representing several parents who have sued Williamson County Schools, with the latest suit centered on the inclusion of a transgender student in a girls-only sex-ed course. In August, Bulso told Scene sister publication the Williamson Scene that the lawsuit’s potential impact, either in hurting or helping his campaign, is “not something that I really gave any consideration to.” Days later, a Bulso political ad touted the lawsuit, reading in part, “I will not sit by while the Transgender Mob tries to erase what it means to be a woman — or a parent. That’s why I’m not just suing, I’m running for Congress.” Shameful.

TROOPER STUPOR

GRIN AND BARRETT

Matt Van Epps emerged victorious in a crowded Republican primary race in October, earning the GOP nomination for the vacant 7th Congressional District seat. Among the losing Republicans was Dickson state Rep. Jody Barrett, who’d secured endorsements from country musician John Rich, former UFC champion Tito Ortiz (for some reason) and even outgoing U.S. Rep. Mark Green’s exwife. But you know who didn’t seem to have as much confidence in Barrett as those other folks? Barrett himself, who said the following during his election night concession speech: “My campaign manager smacked me upside the head a couple of times for saying this. I didn’t really want to win this thing anyway. I never wanted to run for an office in D.C., but this was an opportunity that opened up, and a lot of people came and lifted me up and kind of pushed me to take a run at this.” Maybe one more smack upside the head would’ve done the trick — or at least convinced Barrett to keep some thoughts private.

FARMER REAPS WHAT HE SOWS

During a meeting of the state House’s Criminal Justice Subcommittee in March, state Rep. Andrew Farmer (R-Sevierville) criticized state Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) for the latter’s absence at the statehouse this year. Pearson had missed days during the session due to his brother’s death from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in December 2024. Farmer’s comments made Pearson, in his own words, “very, very angry.” Pearson yelled and pointed at Farmer before approaching him as the subcommittee broke for recess. We shouldn’t have to say this, but we will just in case: Pearson’s outrage at Farmer is entirely justified. Discourse and disagreement are part of politics, but Farmer’s personal blows to Pearson and his family during a time of grief crossed a line.

SOILED REPUTATION

The footage of state Sen. Ken Yager’s traffic stop for drunk driving is hard to watch. While vacationing in Jekyll Island, Ga., he hit a car and left the scene — unintentionally, he says — and was pulled over. Video obtained by NewsChannel5 shows the Kingston Republican wobbling through the field sobriety test in pants that appear to be soaked with urine. The incident — which occurred in a car paid for with campaign dollars, which he refunded — jeopardized his status as the Republican Caucus chairman under the state Senate’s expulsion rules. While some constituents petitioned for him to resign, his colleagues were quiet. Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, familiar with public embarrassment himself, said only that he was praying for his fellow Republican. Yager pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor, avoiding a felony conviction that would have activated expulsion proceedings. There was no intraparty reckoning, even though the GOP loves to portray itself as tough on crime. Meanwhile, a Franklin man who helped police investigate a sexual assault case is facing deportation proceedings over a 9-yearold DUI, as our sister publication the Williamson Scene reported. It’s hard to divorce the hypocrisy over Yager with the widespread conservative crackdown on undocumented immigrants: Tennessee’s own U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty introduced a bill to make a DUI automatic grounds for deportation. So Yager’s piss-drunk antics could get someone removed from the country, but not ousted from the General Assembly? McNally should pray his party develops some integrity instead.

WHEN A PROBLEM COMES ALONG …

In April, six lawmakers were appointed as deputy whips — a role traditionally tasked with counting votes and keeping a party’s members in line. And with those appointments came literal whips, framed and presented to the lawmakers

In one of the most memorable scenes from this year’s legislative session, state troopers arrested 80-year-old protester Lynne McFarland for refusing to leave her seat at the close of a Senate committee meeting. McFarland sat in protest of a proposed bill that would have prohibited undocumented students from enrolling in public schools. While she committed a peaceful, nonviolent act of protest against a particularly disgraceful piece of legislation, three state troopers physically carried her out of the Cordell Hull State Office Building, placed her in a patrol car and arrested her. She was charged with two misdemeanors: disrupting a meeting and resisting stop, frisk, halt, arrest or search. It feels as though Tennessee state troopers — who, according to their website, have a mission to “serve, secure and protect” — could find something better to do with their time.

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by House Majority Whip Johnny Garrett (R-Goodlettsville), causing several Democrats to cry foul. The Tennessee Black Caucus argued that the gifts “reflect a troubling lack of awareness and sensitivity in the General Assembly” during a “legislative session marked by deeply divisive bills that target and harm minority communities across Tennessee.” Republicans snapped back with photos of Democratic former U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who was also photographed with a ceremonial whip in 2001. The Tennessee State Capitol was built in part by the labor of some enslaved people. Times change — maybe the theatrics of politics should too.

SOBER JUDGMENT

In August, WSMV discovered that state trooper James Zahn had a penchant for arresting sober people for driving under the influence. A week after a report detailed seven instances from 2018 to 2025, Zahn arrested his eighth sober driver: a 71-year-old former U.S. attorney who had just been in a collision. While Zahn might have been prolific, he was not an outlier — the trend of bogus DUI arrests was so bad in 2024 that it inspired a new state law about DUI arrest transparency in the 2025 legislative session, which Gov. Bill Lee signed into law. But it invited even more scrutiny on the Tennessee Highway Patrol’s operation, and WSMV has even substantiated claims that troopers are incentivized to make DUI arrests to earn “premium overtime.” (Some ex-troopers allege there are quotas, which THP denies.) The accusations depict THP as being less interested in protecting drivers and more interested in serving themselves.

PETTY CRIME ROUNDUP

From an ill-advised tequila heist to a Clapton fan ditching her britches, here’s our roundup of 2025’s Boner Award-worthy small-time crime

BY J.R. LIND

WHAT DOES SOMEBODY do with 66 bottles of tequila?

Throw an alarmingly comprehensive rager? Sing two-thirds of an annoying song? Compare the quality of the brand backed by the guys from Breaking Bad with the quality of the brand backed by some bro podcasters, as well as the brand sold by the most loathsome Real Housewife of Salt Lake City?

OK, so Occam’s razor almost certainly applies here, as it usually does, and the motivation was money — flipping boosted booze is just a baby step from Tennessee’s most famous criminal tradition. (Bootlegging, not rampant public corruption.)

And if someone is motivated to steal 66 bottles of tequila, as ever picking the right victim is critical. For example, choose a venture-capital-backed, post-“it”city, Juan-come-lately elevated Mexican restaurant — because who cares if some finance bro’s insurance

HE DID NAZI HIS ARREST COMING

When Travis Keith Garland put on a rabbi costume in January and entered the Gordon Jewish Community Center — streaming the whole interaction from his phone — he tried to pass it off as a prank. Later, NewsChannel5 found that it was not a one-off instance of dumbassery, but instead a planned ambush from the neo-Nazi Goyim Defense League — the same hate group that paraded through Nashville streets last year. This type of behavior is exactly why such Jewish institutions need security. Armed guards stepped in and de-escalated the situation in January. Garland not only missed the point of a “prank” (i.e., to be funny) but also scared a lot of people in the process. He was slapped with a civil rights intimidation charge, and his bond was set at $250,000.

GRAND OLD POTTED PLANT PARTY

After years of awaiting trial, former state House Speaker Glen Casada and his former chief of staff Cade Cothren were finally sentenced for their political-kickback scheme (via a company called Phoenix Solutions) in September — and then they were quickly pardoned by President Trump. Texts revealed during the trial show that former state Rep. Robin Smith, a co-conspirator turned witness, called at least one fellow Republican an “idiot” and referred to several as “potted plants,” to which Cothren replied “absolutely.” While Casada and Cothren seemingly escaped any real consequences for their actions, the divide between the ousted Republicans and current state leadership remains pretty clear. After the guilty verdict, the House Republican Caucus

company has to pick up the bill for a place that will probably be gone in nine months, to be replaced by A New Concept? Do not under any circumstances choose a beloved institution, because: 1. That’s gross, and B. It will absolutely motivate its admirers into levels of internet sleuthing usually reserved for Swifties anticipating an album release. And if that beloved institution has an enviable social media presence curated by years of pithy outdoor signage? Just rob a bank next time, bro.

After three doofuses broke into the storeroom of East Nashville’s Rosepepper, carting out more than $2,000 worth of tequila, the restaurant wisely shared the security footage on its widely followed social platforms. The alleged perps were quickly identified, in no small part because they didn’t cover the cameras until after their mugs were clearly captured by the lens.

Two grand worth of tequila seems like pretty small beer compared to the nearly $30,000 in perfume stolen (and resold) by two Nashville sisters over the summer at the behest of their Svengali-like handler, who helpfully sent the women pictures of the fragrances to be targeted. The sisters, apparently unfamiliar with the virtues of the “hidden” folder in the iPhone’s Photos app, saved the cheat sheet. That helped police link them to the multiple thefts.

A more creative version of the scheme was dreamed up by a 61-year-old Mt. Juliet man who enjoyed crossing the Stones River, heading to the Hermitage

noted that current state House Speaker Cameron Sexton was “instrumental in uncovering illegal activity by two former members,” so any real return to politics for the pair seems unlikely, at least here in Tennessee.

SHALLOW FAKES

During Tennessee’s annual legislative session, Nashville Democrat Heidi Campbell always tells it like it is, ripping Republican colleagues for bad-faith arguments or straight-up untruths. This year, the state senator told it how it isn’t, letting her partisan bias outweigh a basic commitment to verification when she posted a fake version of Trump’s creepy note to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on her Instagram account. The real one, which surfaced weeks later, is plenty unsettling. Campbell’s own version — borrowed from an uncited source and still on her account as of this writing — only fueled the “BlueAnon” mockery Democrats might suffer if they stoop to the poor standard of integrity widely accepted by today’s GOP.

A NO-BRAINER

During an August meeting with the Music City Center’s Convention Center Authority, officials with Elon Musk’s The Boring Company revealed the planned route for the Music City Loop — a future Teslas-only tunnel connecting the airport to downtown Nashville that has already been met with significant local backlash. Officials also explored the possibility of making the convention center a stop on the tunnel’s route. The proposed route was the primary headline from the meeting, and while the construction of Musk’s tunnel may hold untold future Boner Awards (there have already been contractor walk-

Lowe’s and getting his consumer durables at a steep discount by swapping barcodes of expensive items with cheaper ones. Who among us hasn’t gone through the self-checkout and “accidentally” punched in the produce code for bananas instead of the one for a front-loading combination washer/dryer?

And if there’s a crime worse than stealing, it’s … zoning violations, probably, as the owners of Backstage Venue in Goodlettsville learned when they were cited by the satellite city for “promotion of on-site sexual encounters/activities.” The issue, Goodlettsville officials insist unconvincingly, is not the fact that the Backstage may or may not be a swingers’ club. It’s that it’s not appropriately zoned, which allowed for the co-location of a children’s dance studio nearby.

Surely we can agree that tax evasion is higher on the moral turpitude scale than a zoning snafu. At least it is for anyone with a developed sense of shame and propriety — which means, of course, this did not occur to YouTubing Aristotelian wonder WhistlinDiesel, whose rich body of work includes the Rashomon-esque “My $2M Lake is Nearly Complete (Car Battery Dumping Ground).”

During that video, he helpfully admits in the opening seconds that both the lake and its purpose are “illegal.”

Mr. Diesel was arrested not for his illicit watercourse, but for tax evasion for failing to pay tax on a 2020 Ferrari F8 Tributo. Predictably, he turned it into Content, and even more predictably — in the modus typical of the medium

offs over safety and pay concerns), the meeting’s Boner-worthy affront came from board chair Norah Buikstra. “I think that this project, of all things, is something we all ought to be able to get behind,” she said. “Everybody get a partial lobotomy and take out political preferences, and we can just look at this and say, ‘This is a great project for our city.’” So if Nashvillians take out a portion of our brains and stop thinking about politics, we might think the loop is a good idea? Hmm. You know what? Fair point, actually.

BUILDING TENSION

Most people didn’t even know Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure director Diana Alarcon’s name. But anonymity — one of the reprieves that comes with being a midlevel city bureaucrat — is a revocable privilege. That’s a lesson Alarcon found out the hard way when the department’s surprise installment of “beautification balls” on Korean Veterans Boulevard pissed off Nashville’s tightly knit homeless advocacy community. These hastily named and hastily deployed orbs of hostile architecture replaced two blocks’ worth of benches popular as a public resting spot. The benches’ sudden disappearance was seen as a salvo in a war on people living outside, with Alarcon as Metro’s commanding lieutenant. Bench-building parties became a September social event, and simple wooden designs popped up around the city. Any DIY seating that wasn’t immediately confiscated by NDOT was freely adopted as a nap nook or sitting spot — exactly what a bench is for.

KNOW YOUR ACRONYMS

Mayor Freddie O’Connell faced his first real test

— he insisted the state was just hatin’, y’all. “Won so big they thought I was cheating,” he posted. “I didn’t do ANYTHING.”

Which, yes, is exactly what the state is alleging — if “ANYTHING” means “paying sales tax on your 2020 Ferrari F8 Tributo.”

If Diesel needs some drivers for his post-arrest videos, Middle Tennessee has plenty of qualified candidates. Obviously, he’d want someone who would take care of all the necessary maintenance, like the two men arrested in March following a police chase on Thompson Lane. They might have gotten away with it too, except the driver stopped at a (well-lit) gas station to top off his tires mid-abscond.

Less easy on the wheels was the 64-year-old woman arrested downtown for DUI after driving on the curb so many times it tore her tires to shreds, leaving her careening on the rims. Once stopped, police found her pantsless and claiming to have consumed five drinks at the Bridgestone Arena Eric Clapton concert.

Speaking of slow hand (forgive me): A Lyft driver caught a charge in November for switching out of the app and tuning in to a little adult film on his dashmounted iPhone. That may or may not be a crime in and of itself depending on the passenger, but … uh, taking matters into your own hands, such as it is, will get you ringed up for indecent exposure real quick — as he learned. ▼

in office when a sudden ICE operation terrorized the city over the spring and summer — he learned quickly that an ounce of basic briefing was worth a pound of damage control. While O’Connell tried to serve as both the city’s chief law enforcement executive and a sympathetic proimmigrant community guardian, apologizing for disappeared family members and vowing not to collaborate with immigration enforcement, a call surfaced in which a federal officer plainly warned Metro’s Department of Emergency Communications about the whole thing days in advance. The warning didn’t seem to get far: The city’s call operator incorrectly interpreted “ICE” as a federal “culture and immigration office,” leaving the mayor with a common political choice: ineptitude or hypocrisy.

WHERE THERE’S SMOKE, THERE’S BONERS

Turns out storing a bunch of unsupervised flammable gas in a parking garage near a beloved civic institution might not have been the best idea. An early-morning blaze next to the Nashville Public Library downtown incinerated cars, warped the concrete structure and buried legal liability in a mess of contractors, subcontractors, insurance policies, and publicprivate agreements. The city’s fire report didn’t yield much information, but pictures from inside the garage sent to local media show a dozen gas canisters in a storage room operated by the Nashville Downtown Partnership and leased to subcontractor Block by Block. Six months later, the city’s flagship library branch is still closed from fire damage, and no one’s reached for the bill.

YA THINK?

In July, a DoorDasher in Madison called 911 to report a house fire. The Nashville Fire Department dutifully arrived on scene and put down the conflagration. Noting that the house was empty, boarded up and disconnected from the power grid, they called in fire investigators. The firefighters did their duty and departed, only to have NFD called back a few hours later with the place aflame a second time. NFD, sternly and seriously, declared they suspected arson — a determination that no doubt took about two seconds to finalize.

NO PRIDE FOR VUMC

Vanderbilt University Medical Center laid off more than 600 people this year, and in doing so gutted its entire slate of LGBTQ programming. Gone is the Trans Buddy Program (and the student they were paying pennies to run it), and all but deleted is the Program for LGBTQ Health. The VIVID Health Clinic, formerly known as the Transgender Health Clinic, is no more. Once known for such care, VUMC turned its back on the community, and garnered a letter from the Metro Council LGBTQ Caucus, which reads in part: “This is not about red tape or resources. This is about values.” It was just one of several jabs at the community in recent years, including pulling out of the 2025 Nashville Pride Festival and handing over records of transgender patients during a 2023 state government probe.

COUNCILMANIC CRONYISM

Although Metro Councilmember David Benton rarely speaks during council meetings, he caught a glimpse of the spotlight this year in the debate over immigration. Benton cozied up to Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles in May at a press conference announcing a probe into Mayor Freddie O’Connell following a sweep of Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests. Benton continued to push fearmongering rhetoric related to immigrants and support for license plate reader technology (found to be used as an aid in Tennessee immigration enforcement). In June, he left a council meeting early in what certainly looked like an attempt to avoid voting on a resolution to honor Immigrant Heritage Month. If only Benton would channel all of this recent buzz into some meaningful legislation at the local level that helps, not hurts, his constituents.

COUNCIL CAGE MATCH

Things got heated at the Metro Council this year, and one particular meeting in August takes the cake — or at least the Boner Award — for most screaming. At the meeting, Councilmember Sean Parker approached fellow Councilmember Tasha Ellis, reportedly using profane language (the exact details of which remain unknown). This caused Ellis to begin yelling, claiming that Parker threatened her. Ellis continued to yell at Vice Mayor Angie Henderson, who attempted to call order to the quickly unraveling meeting. Much of the back-and-forth from that night was not spoken into mics, and thus could not be heard in the meeting’s livestream. This led to even more confusion, as some online clips circulated presenting the situation completely out of context. That same night, Councilmember Ginny Welsch falsely claimed that Lauren Magli, a resident of The Nations, lives in Franklin. This resulted in Magli rising from her seat in the gallery … and she also began yelling. The council seems to have cooled down for now, but this one night of chaos has worked to counteract the typical parliamentaryprocedure-following meetings that might as well be a white-noise machine.

SIGNATURE SERIES

District 20 Councilmember Rollin Horton has been a key figure in the rezoning debate this year, especially when it comes to his recently passed plan for The Nations. This led to the formation of an extremely vocal group of West Nashville residents calling themselves Voices of District 20. Unhappy with Horton’s handling of the rezoning, the group launched a recall petition in October seeking to force an election and oust Horton from office. The petition was not returned to the Metro Clerk. Seemingly, this was because they did not garner enough signatures to trigger a recall election. However, the group told the Nashville Banner that they had collected “more than enough” signatures, but declined to provide proof. When asked by Scene sister publication the Nashville Post about signatures, the Post received no response. The group then decided they would switch their target at Horton to an ethics complaint. They did not file it until several weeks

THE TWO-TONE BLUES

After the Titans finished their 2024 season tied for the worst record in the league, therefore “earning” the first overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, there was cautious optimism heading into the team’s 2025 campaign. Sure, turning a 3-14 team into a postseason contender in one offseason is rare, but with future franchise cornerstone Cam Ward and a few exciting new veterans taking the field, the arrow had nowhere to point but up. Turns out, there was another level of hell for this putrid franchise to reach. With the team on pace to have the league’s worst record for the second straight year, head coach Brian Callahan — labeled an offensive guru prior to his hiring — was stripped of his playcalling duties before ultimately being relieved of … well, all of his duties. Callahan was fired less than two years into his tenure, and a mere six days before the Titans faced the New England Patriots and head coach Mike Vrabel, Callahan’s more successful predecessor. There’s always next year.

later. Inside that ethics complaint, the group pushes for Horton’s actions to be investigated and prosecuted by the District Attorney’s office. We’ll see what route the group takes next, but right now it seems as if they’re trying to fill a legal filing bingo card.

READING IS FUNDAMENTAL

Back in the spring, the Tennessee Department of Education took to Facebook to thank Tennesseans for participating in March Literacy Month — an initiative highlighting “how Tennessee’s meaningful reading investments continue to strengthen early literacy skills and prepare students to reach their full potential.” Sounds great, right? The only issue: The TDOE misspelled “Tennessee” in the post’s graphic, leaving off that crucial final E. The post was live for several days before being deleted. Typos happen to us all. (Trust us: We know this as well as just about anyone.) But it’s hard to get more egregious than this.

HORSIN’ AROUND

U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee’s 2nd Congressional District suffered a broken rib and some bruising this summer after he was kicked by a horse on his family’s East Tennessee farm. The Republican congressman was adamant that the injuries didn’t affect his supposedly maniacal working hours. But given his very public recent flip-flopping on whether Congress should release the Epstein files, we’re wondering if the horse kicked him in the head too.

TO CATCH THE PREDATORS

In July, the Nashville Predators’ Development Camp prospects got involved with some good causes for a community outreach day — they visited sick kids and helped teachers, among other worthy acts of service. It’s just that the slogan the team picked to print on T-shirts for the day … well, perhaps they could’ve come up with something a little better than “Preds in the Community.” Needless to say, scores of folks online had a field day with the slogan, making To Catch a Predator references and so forth. Saturday Night Live even got in on the action a few months later, spoofing the slogan and the team’s name with a sketch starring host Miles Teller as a flustered Predator who seems to be the only one picking up on how unfortunate the phrase “I’m a Predator in my community” sounds.

CONGESTION QUESTIONS

Seemingly about once a month, there is an apparent “unprecedented” gridlock event at the Nashville International Airport. It’s one of those “with great growth comes great congestion nightmares” situations. But on a Monday night in September, BNA’s traffic woes truly reached unforeseen heights (lows?). Drivers were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic for hours, and passengers were hiking I-40 with their luggage in tow. Reddit users were convinced there was a “small riot” happening. BNA blamed unforeseen surges in rideshare requests and

hundreds of arrivals for a major convention for the “unprecedented” — there’s that word again — traffic event.

CONCERNED CITIZEN!

In April, The Tennessean’s Liam Adams reported on a convoluted dispute between the nonprofit that owns the former home of downtown Nashville’s Central Church of Christ and the family that controls the deed to the property through stipulations in the original grant made to the church. That family, by the way, includes Amy Grant. The state attorney general got involved, and the whole thing is admittedly pretty complicated. Grant and her family hired PR firm the Ingram Group to get the word out about their side of the story, even getting a story on the battle in The Wall Street Journal. After The Tennessean’s version ran, a concerned citizen penned a letter to the editor. Now, Nashville’s daily paper has what might be generously described as a capacious opinions policy, which allows for bad-faith (or outright false) claims to be made without any sort of rebuttal or clarification, and gives Responsible and Concerned Conservative Cameron Smith a platform to make the most tepid criticism of the Trump administration’s excesses while insisting that whatever the president is doing is Actually the Left’s Fault. Another concerned citizen, who disputed Adams’ characterization of Grant and her relations as “aggressive,” was Brandon Gee of Madison. Who is quoted in the story Adams wrote. Because he was working the account for the Ingram Group. Gee — a former Tennessean staffer, by the way — was just doing his job, and more power to him, but it took weeks for the editors at the local daily to append a note to the story disclosing Gee’s connection to the broader story.

I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE

The Tennessean has been called a lot of things lately — “generous ice cream shop” is not one of them. This legacy newspaper did bestow one surprise scoop this year when departing opinion editor David Plazas let slip his career plans to Scene publisher Mike Smith well before making the decision public. Now comfortably opining for the Atlanta Constitution-Journal, Plazas left Nashville in May, no doubt after slightly frustrating The Tennessean’s news side by giving away his final story.

NOW THAT WAS NASTY

Officials with both Cheekwood Estate & Gardens and SB Initiative Inc. (the fine folks who oversee the annual Swan Ball charity event) concluded their highly publicized spat at 2024’s end. SBI retained control of the Swan Ball name and trademark, while also regaining control of the swanball.com domain. Bruised from the legal battle, Cheekwood nonetheless did not have to pay any damages to SBI and might be better off without the headaches of dealing with the highsociety gala. Regardless of which party “won,” the nastiness of the disagreement likely sullied the images of both. Here’s a Boner Award to Cheekwood for losing what control it previously had of the Swan Ball. And another Boner Award presented to any SBI members who misguidedly

PLEASE CLAP

We all get in our feelings and overreact sometimes. But not all of us like to bleat about woke snowflakes the way Kid Rock does, so a February kerfuffle set off our Boner alarm. The Cowboy Baybee popped into fellow Broadway bar owner Jon Bon Jovi’s JBJ’s Nashville during a celebration for Bon Jovi keyboard player David Bryan’s birthday, and he sauntered onstage to sing “Proud Mary.” The crowd showed good taste and an awareness of what to do when a bully shows up: While they didn’t boo Rock outright, they also didn’t encourage his braying by clapping along with the beat. This rubbed Mr. Chillin’ the Most the wrong way. He stopped the song multiple times to give clapping lessons, and eventually stormed off the stage, proclaiming thus: “You know what, fuck y’all. You ain’t gonna clap, I’m gone.” One hopes there was a fresh diaper and a binky waiting in the green room.

thought Jane MacLeod, the pleasant yet tenacious CEO of the art museum and botanical gardens, might perhaps crack under the stress of the lawsuit and resign.

HOLD THE ICE

In August, the West Tennessee town of Mason approved the reopening of a CoreCivic prison to house federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees in a heated public meeting that ended in confusion. The meeting drew protesters from across the state and saw Mason police attempt to silence the press. Contracts were given to town officials just minutes before the meeting began, and the meeting itself featured Mayor Eddie Noeman engaging in arguments with town residents. A rushed vote at first appeared to have been a no on reopening the prison under ICE authority, with Noeman telling Scene sister publication the Nashville Post he didn’t know what the result was and refusing to confirm the vote’s outcome. Later, the mayor and several aldermen convened with a lawyer who was introduced as the town attorney in the meeting (though he actually isn’t), and the vote was determined to have passed. Days later, the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee demanded that the town “immediately stop all actions related to contracts” with CoreCivic and ICE, arguing that the board did not follow the town’s charter. Despite the concerns of some town officials and residents, the prison began receiving federal inmates in September.

BONER OF A LONELY HEART

Last month, Clarksville-Montgomery County School Board appointee Teresa Crosslin resigned just hours after being sworn in. The reason?

A resurfaced 2014 episode of the Showtime reality series Gigolos. Under the name “Jenna,” Crosslin appeared in a … very randy segment of the program, which followed male escorts in Las Vegas. The next day, Crosslin backtracked, rescinding her resignation and saying she’s decided not to let the horny TV appearance define her. Believe it or not, we of the Boner Awards committee are not here to shame anyone for their sexual proclivities, as long as everything’s consensual. It’s more the flip-flopping that earns a trophy — and in this case, there’s enough Boner Award to go around. As Clarksville Democrat Karen Reynolds put it in a Clarksville Now op-ed not long after the Gigolos fiasco: “This situation is not the fault of one individual. It is the result

of a decision-making process that has stopped prioritizing qualifications and started prioritizing ideological loyalty.”

SATURDAY NIGHT’S ALL RIGHT FOR GRIPING

Before he threw a chair from a rooftop bar, before he got caught on a neighbor’s security camera hollering the N-word, country star Morgan Wallen was known as a simple himbo who partied recklessly during COVID lockdown and got disinvited from his musical guest appearance on Saturday Night Live. He got a do-over, and was even invited back for a second SNL appearance in March. Anora star Mikey Madison hosted, fresh off her Oscar win; Joe Jonas made a cameo. But apparently Wall-dawg didn’t have the best time. During the “goodnights” portion of the program, Wallen scooted like he’d seen a ghost and posted a picture of his private jet in his Instagram stories with the caption “Get me to God’s country.” While the singer later told comedian Caleb Pressley he was simply “ready to go home,” the memes rolled in and SNL trolled him a couple times. “I thought maybe he had to go to the potty or something,” said GOAT SNL cast member Kenan Thompson when Entertainment Weekly asked him about the incident. “The ‘God’s country’ of it all is strange because it’s like, what are you trying to say? … We’re not all under God’s umbrella? That’s not necessarily my favorite. But whatever. Moving on, we got a new show.”

THREE CHORDS AND THE OOF

In late October, international ticketing and touring behemoth Live Nation made a great to-do revealing plans for a new venue. Next fall, they’re set to plunk a 4,400-capacity venue — notably similar in size to The Pinnacle, the new downtown venue owned and operated by LN’s main rival AEG — near their local headquarters in Wedgewood-Houston. The awkward traffic patterns, frequent cargo trains and lack of convenient parking in the area make that neighborhood a head-scratcher of a location.

Nonetheless, soon will rise a slick, unremarkable edifice that will house performances likely booked and promoted based more on projected ROI than artistic merit or community needs. And in one of the more hubristic moves in recent memory, it will be called “The Truth,” in reference to songwriting legend Harlan Howard’s oft-repeated quip about how a good country song is built on “three chords and the truth.” Only time will tell if the company’s choice of name for the place will blow up in their face.

OFF THEIR ROCKER

For some reason, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store unveiled a new logo with a minimalist design over the summer, removing the iconic “old-timer” and his rocking chair. The company faced immediate backlash on social media from customers, including right-wing politicians and influencers who jumped on the bandwagon to bash the marketing change and the decision to renovate the restaurant’s interiors. As the culture war of it all snowballed, Cracker Barrel stock took a nosedive, and management quickly reverted to the original logo, scrapped its interior changes and fired the marketing company it worked with on the plans.

GRAB YOUR SAUSAGE IN A SAFE LOCATION

It’s rarely a good idea to grab your sausage while behind the wheel, as former Springfield Mayor Billy Paul Carneal learned late last year. Hizzoner Emeritus knocked out power to the entire downtown of Robertson County’s seat when he crashed into a power pole. Not only did that send the Black Patch into pitch black — it sent live wires onto the roof of a nearby funeral home, catching it afire. It was a big to-do, as one might imagine. And it was all because Carneal, in his telling to the local and always chock-full of hilarity Smokey Barn News, “leaned over to pick up a sausage biscuit and before he knew it the pole was in front of him.” ▼

THURSDAY, DEC. 4

MUSIC [OUR LADY OF THE SHOOTING STARS] MARY GAUTHIER

Mary Gauthier has often spoken about her ability to split an audience in half; one half can focus only on the somber nature of her work, deeming her songs too depressing for a night out, while the other half can recognize themselves in Gauthier’s forthright tales of addiction, recovery, grief and isolation. It’s the latter half whom Gauthier writes for, those who are not only moved to tears by her modern folk classics — such as “I Drink,” “Drag Queens in Limousines” and “Mercy Now” — but also feel a sense of hope because they realize they’re not alone. For those folks, myself included, Gauthier is the patron saint of sad songs. And what better place to commune with our patron saint than inside Nashville’s best listening room, The Bluebird Cafe? Gauthier will take the stage at the iconic venue on Thursday to share songs and stories from her incredible career. BOBBIE JEAN SAWYER

6 P.M. AT THE BLUEBIRD CAFE

4104 HILLSBORO PIKE

NASHVILLE REP PRESENTS IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE

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JULIA MARTIN: MY HEART’S DESIRE

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SOUTHERN CHRISTMAS SAMPLER

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THURSDAY

/ 12.4

FILM

[HELL ON EARTH] RESTORATION ROUNDUP: JACOB’S LADDER

It’s wild to think that screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin had not one but two supernatural stories hit multiplexes in 1990. One of them, the romantic tearjerker Ghost, became a box-office success that won him a Best Original Screenplay Oscar. But we’re here to talk about the other one: Jacob’s Ladder, the Adrian Lyne-directed war movie/paranoid thriller/psycho-horror mash-up that baffled critics and audiences. Tim Robbins spends two hours going through it as a tormented postal-working Vietnam vet named Jacob “Professor” Singer, hallucinating like crazy in scuzzed-up 1970s New York. When he’s not being hunted by demons and grieving over his dead son (an uncredited pre-Home Alone Macaulay Culkin), he’s also wondering if he’s dead, alive or locked up in a loony bin somewhere. Yes, it’s one of those tonally/ visually erratic mindfucks where you’re always stuck in is-this-shit-actually-happening mode. But it’s also become an influential cult fave,

inspiring everything from the entire Silent Hill media franchise to the nightmarishly abstract moments from Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Catch the 4K restoration at the Belcourt this week. Visit belcourt.org for showtimes. CRAIG D. LINDSEY DEC. 4 & 7 AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.

SHOPPING

[SINCE WE’VE NO PLACE TO GO] NASHVILLAGE

HOLIDAY MARKET

This week, the city kicks off its inaugural Nashvillage Holiday Market in Walk of Fame Park downtown. The festivities begin Thursday night at 6 p.m. with a tree-lighting ceremony, presented by the Nashville Downtown Partnership and the Nashville Predators. Though the market itself is free to attend each day, a ticketed Holiday Cocktail Bash (21 and up, naturally) will take place Friday evening, and St. Nick himself will be available for photos with the kiddos from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday (printed and digital photos are available for a fee). Vendors at the market will include Hatch Show Print, Nashville Candle Company, Humphreys Street Coffee and many others, and Saturday’s especially family-friendly happenings will

also include crafting, face painting, science experiments from Mr. Bond’s Science Guys and much more. If you find yourself in need of some holiday spirit, shake off the bah humbugs in the warming glow of this cavalcade of Christmas events. Visit nashvillageholidaymarket.com for more details and a full schedule. D. PATRICK RODGERS

DEC. 4-7 IN WALK OF FAME PARK

121 FOURTH AVE. S. (ENTER ON DEMONBREUN STREET)

FRIDAY / 12.5

[HOOPS CITY]

SPORTS

GONZAGA VS. KENTUCKY & ILLINOIS VS. TENNESSEE

Roughly the first month-and-a-half of the college basketball season is generally made up of three types of games — longstanding rivalries grandfathered into the schedule, Goliaths hosting Davids, and marquee non-conference matchups played at neutral sites. Bridgestone Arena has been dipping its toe into the earlyseason non-conference battles as of late, and two (as of press time) ranked men’s matchups are slated for 501 Broadway this weekend. The “neutral” status of these games might be called into question, though, as Gonzaga makes the 2,000-plus-mile trip to take on a significantlycloser-to-Nashville squad from Kentucky on Friday. Then on Saturday, the neutrality is even more of a sham when the Tennessee Vols take on Illinois in an event that is being dubbed Music City Madness. Regardless of the fairness of these games being counted as neutral-court affairs, these two should provide some exciting hoops and an early peek at potential Final Four selections for your brackets come March.

MUSIC

[PULLING SOME STRINGS] TIMBRE’S ANNUAL CHRISTMAS CONCERT

Singer, composer and harpist Timbre Cierpke stays busy: Highlights from her 2025 include recording a Radiohead tribute album and multiple appearances backing Sigur Rós onstage. But for more than a decade she’s also put considerable effort into making a new Nashville holiday tradition with her annual Christmas concert. Her voice and her ethereal harp are at the center of the program, bringing out the mysterious and solemn qualities as well as the joy of Yuletide music both secular and liturgical. (For the repertoire, think more along the lines of “Carol of the Bells” or “Good King Wenceslas” than, say, “Rudolph the RedNosed Reindeer.”) As she has many times before, Timbre will perform with support from her ensemble — featuring strings, brass and drums — and the SONUS choir, and SONUS will perform an a cappella set of their own to get things started. Don’t be late if you want in on the hot cocoa! STEPHEN TRAGESER

6:30 P.M. AT FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH

113 EIGHTH AVE. S.

[BIG

MUSIC

VOICES] THE MAVERICKS

The Mavericks made their neotraditional country breakthrough in 1994 with What a Crying Shame, which hit the top 10 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart that year. Music writer Robert Christgau deemed it “the best Cuban American Texas music Nashville can capitalize,” and the album is a product of the Nashville studio system, with several co-writes from Kostas, covers of Bruce Springsteen and Jesse Winchester, and guitar from studio ace Brent Mason. Singer and co-founder Raul Malo does sing something like, say, Roy Orbison, but I

THEATER

[YOU WANT THE MOON?]

NASHVILLE REP PRESENTS IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE

don’t really hear what’s specifically Texas about The Mavericks — the up-tempo songs on What a Crying Shame remind me of Dwight Yoakam more than they do George Strait. Malo defines The Mavericks’ style with his big voice, and they’ve always chosen good material — check out 2017’s “Damned (If You Do),” with former Yoakam guitarist Eddie Perez on board for one of their best tracks. Malo has been battling cancer in recent months and won’t be performing at the band’s two-night run at the Ryman, but he will be in attendance. Paying tribute to the great singer and one of country’s finest bands will be a bunch of acolytes, including Patty Griffin, Hector Tellez Jr., Steve Earle, Marty Stuart and Wendy Moten. EDD HURT

DEC. 5-6 AT THE RYMAN

116 REP. JOHN LEWIS WAY N.

The holiday season just wouldn’t be complete without at least one viewing of Frank Capra’s 1946 classic It’s a Wonderful Life. But as much as I adore Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, there’s really no substitute for live theater. So I’m always on the lookout for a fresh take on this sentimental favorite, and Nashville Repertory Theatre has just the ticket with its new production opening this weekend at TPAC’s Polk Theater. Adapted by Catherine Bush (the prolific playwright-in-residence at the historic Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Va.), this new version features just 10 hardworking actors, who bring to life the many colorful characters of dear Bedford Falls. Alicia Fuss directs an outstanding ensemble, including Matthew Carlton, Matthew Benenson Cruz, Aleia Eagleton, Darci Nalepa Elam, Eric D. Pasto-Crosby, Eve Petty, Tamiko Robinson-Steele, Brian Charles Rooney, Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva and Garris Wimmer, plus swings Nick Govindan and Joy Pointe. I’m especially eager to check out the festive design elements — from Gary C. Hoff’s evocative scenery to Melissa K. Durmon’s 1940s costumes. With its memorable characters and heartfelt message, it’s hard to imagine a better way to welcome the holidays. AMY STUMPFL

DEC. 5-21 AT TPAC’S POLK THEATER

505 DEADERICK ST.

[CHRISTMAS JAM]

MUSIC

DANIEL DONATO’S COSMIC COUNTRY CHRISTMAS

There’s no shortage of Christmas shows in Nashville, but if you’re looking for a twangier way to ring in the season, check out Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country Christmas show at Brooklyn Bowl. Donato’s blend of country and psychedelic rock has made the artist a favorite among honky-tonkers and jam band fans alike. This year, he released his breakthrough album Horizons, played both Bonnaroo and Red Rocks Amphitheater (where he opened for String Cheese Incident), and made his headlining debut at the Ryman Auditorium. So his Cosmic Country Christmas, which has become

NASHVILLAGE HOLIDAY MARKET

DANIEL DONATO PHOTO: JASON

ARIEL POSEN THU, 12/4

MINI TREES FRI, 12/5

CHOKECHERRY SAT, 12/6

SAM GREENFIELD MON, 12/8

CONNOR KELLY & THE TIME WARP FRI, 12/12

GOTTMIK + VIOLET CHACKI FRI, 12/12

EMO

GLYDERS SUN, 12/14

HOUSE

12/16

OLIVIA BARTON THU, 1/29 GHENGAR FRI, 1/30

MARISSA NADLER SAT, 2/7

an annual tradition in Music City, feels like a homecoming victory lap for the multitalented artist. It also makes for a perfect early Christmas gift. Bring your Deadhead dad, don your tiedye apparel and raise a glass to another year of making psychedelic country memories with the family. Dee White, Kris Myers, Kyle Tuttle, Lindsay Lou, Maggie Rose, Ronnie McCoury and Willow Osborne will also take the stage.

BOBBIE JEAN SAWYER

8 P.M. AT BROOKLYN BOWL

925 THIRD AVE. N.

[SAY GOODNIGHT]

MUSIC

WILL HOGE ALBUM RELEASE

Friday and Saturday at 3rd and Lindsley, singer-songwriter-guitarist Will Hoge and his band will celebrate the August release of his powerful new album Sweet Misery. In the past, Hoge has kicked off tours for new albums with a record release show in Nashville, but this

time he flipped the script. “I really wanted to just let the record kind of breathe and live a little bit,” Hoge tells the Scene prior to a tour date in Indianapolis. “So we’re going to end the whole thing in Nashville, and these will be the release shows for Nashville.” Sweet Misery, which is Hoge’s 15th studio album, has been well-received both in concert and by Americana radio. The first single — the title cut “Sweet Misery” — reached No. 13 on the Americana singles chart, and the second single, “Another Planet,” just debuted on the chart. “Over the two nights, we’ll cover a lot of the new record, but we’ll also do stuff from older records,” he says. “We’re planning on recording the shows, so they will ultimately become a live record as well.” Hoge’s current band features Mark Masefield on keys, Christopher Griffiths on bass, Jon Tyler Wiley on lead guitar and Santo Rizzolo on drums. DARYL SANDERS

DEC. 5-6 AT 3RD AND LINDSLEY

818 THIRD AVE. S.

[ROCKIN’ AROUND THE BEAST]

MUSIC

JD MCPHERSON W/MELISSA CARPER

Trade in the eggnog and fuzzy sweater for a tallboy of cold beer and a few Santa Claus patches on a denim jacket, because JD McPherson rolls into The Basement East this week for a one-night stop on his Socks: A Rock ’n’ Roll Christmas Tour. An annual holiday show named after McPherson’s 2018 album of seasonal originals, the show should be a festive night with a twist of vintage rockabilly, soul and rock ’n’ roll music. Arrive early, because main support comes from Melissa Carper, a can’t-miss singer-songwriter in the Americana scene who’s touring in support of a new holiday album, A Very Carper Christmas. On the new collection of tunes, Carper channels moments of old-school Christmas crooning (“Christmas Memories”), weaves heavy-hearted folk tales (“Just One Stocking”) and, at times, has a ton of fun (“Dumpster Divin’ on Christmas Eve”). Together, Carper and McPherson should deliver a one-two punch unlike any other touring tandem this holiday season. MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER

8 P.M. AT THE BASEMENT EAST 917 WOODLAND ST.

SATURDAY / 12.6

FILM [A ONE AND A TWO] RESTORATION ROUNDUP: YI YI

Everyone’s family dynamics are different, and some are more cordial than others — and even though many of us have this built-in support system, it can still feel like our struggles are ours to tackle alone. This is one of many themes that Edward Yang’s turn-ofthe-millennium masterpiece Yi Yi speaks to. Universally acclaimed, the late Taiwanese New Wave director’s final film follows the everyday problems of a middle-class family in modern Taipei. The father (played by fellow Taiwanese filmmaker Wu Nien-jen) reconnects with an old flame, the mother experiences a religious void in her life, the daughter navigates the messiness of young love, and the son tries to answer life’s questions through photography. What sounds like a potentially mundane drama expands into a beautiful tapestry. All of these subplots are painfully real, and each viewer is bound to relate to any number of characters in this sprawling

ensemble. If you’re looking for a film to inspire empathy and introspection, or to expand your horizons into foreign film, you should check out Yi Yi at the Belcourt this week. For showtimes, visit belcourt.org. IAN MATTHEWS DEC. 6-7 AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.

ART [STRONG DESIRE]

JULIA MARTIN: MY HEART’S DESIRE

Nashville artist Julia Martin is one of the most influential figures in the local art community. She’s been running her namesake gallery since 2013 — and she has the Best of Nashville awards to prove it. But even before Julia Martin Gallery opened, Julia Martin the artist was making big waves with her instantly recognizable style. Now working out of a studio in the lauded Downtown Presbyterian Church, Martin has developed her canvases into something more urgent and impressionistic. With her solo exhibition My Heart’s Desire, she’s bringing all that out into the gallery space for the first time. “The simple act of beginning a tiny little wish journal has cracked me wide open,” Martin explains in a recent Instagram post, “along with taking the time to name little things all around me that I already love and appreciate.” Look for Martin’s signature wild, prismatic colors, but with a few more scuffs and painterly flourishes layered in. A showcase of works from ceramicist Brooke Gillon, who is collaborating with her son in many instances here, will also be on view. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER OPENING RECEPTION DEC. 6, 6-9 P.M.; THROUGH DEC. 20

AT JULIA MARTIN GALLERY

444 HUMPHREYS ST.

MUSIC [BLESSED] JID

JID’s Grammy-nominated God Does Like Ugly is not necessarily as refined as previous efforts like DiCaprio 2 or The Forever Story, but with it the Atlanta rapper still shores up his claims as one of the best MCs out right now. He flexes complex flows and vivid storytelling on tracks like “Gz,” demonstrating a talent for lyricism that continues to develop to dizzying heights, and his slower collaborations with artists Don Toliver and Jessie Reyez show off a commitment to more than just rapping his ass off. He always keeps a foot planted in gritty reality though: For

example, rink jam “Sk8,” featuring inventive Atlanta duo Earthgang and Princess of Crunk Ciara, juxtaposes a bouncy beat with tensions between different neighborhood gangs threatening to ruin a good time. There’s love for the complexity of it all, with various sides of Atlanta getting a shoutout. Features are a huge strength of the album, which includes microphone acrobatics from Vince Staples on “VCRs” and scene-stealing verses from legends Pusha T and Malice of Clipse on “Community,” but JID holds his own among the star-studded supporting cast. Fellow Atlanta rapper Young Nudy opens. ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

7 P.M. AT MARATHON MUSIC WORKS 1402 CLINTON ST.

SUNDAY / 12.7

[TINSEL TITLES]

SHOPPING

A

VERY BOOKISH HOLIDAY MARKET

Sugar and Spice Book Co. is hosting its very own holiday market, complete with author signings and bookish merch to get you in the holiday spirit. The mobile romance bookstore will be carrying a curated selection of titles that can serve as the perfect stocking stuffers or cozy reads for you. You can meet and get your books signed by multiple indie authors, including Juliana Smith, Nikki Sloane, Emma Miller, Tay Rose, Kelsey Whitney, Crystal J. Johnson, Felicity Vaughn and A.C. Wonderland. If you’re looking for an art print, new jewelry or other bookish goodies, local favorites Starlight Candle Co., Sarah Sundays, Minor Inconvenience, Clay + Clover Earring Co. and Lauren Rae Designs will be on hand with their latest. Last Rodeo Tattoo will also have a specially designed bookish flash sheet for those looking for a cute new addition to their tattoo collection. The event is free to attend, but RSVPs are highly encouraged.

TINA DOMINGUEZ

1 P.M. AT SOUTHERN GRIST BREWING IN THE NATIONS 5012 CENTENNIAL BLVD.

[SYMPHONIES OF SICKNESS]

SPORTS

PRO WRESTLING SYMPHONY: ON HOLIDAY

The cage match is one of the most exciting and brutally fearsome faceoffs in pro wrestling battles. WWE’s Hell in a Cell, often revolving around the family drama between the Undertaker and Kane, created some of the most exciting moments of the Raw Is War era. While the Brothers of Destruction — along with others like Triple H, Mick Foley and Bret Hart — made the cage a staple of any pay-per-view event in the late ’90s, the tradition actually dates back to 1936 in rural Missouri, when local grapplers would face off in a chicken-wire cage. Music City wrestling promotion Pro Wrestling Symphony will bring a rare cage match to Nashville when Shane Mercer and Mad Dog Connelly face off on Dec. 7 at On Holiday. The event will also feature three tournament matchups, two men’s and one women’s, for the PWS titles to be awarded in the spring. Fans will have an opportunity to catch some of our best local upcoming ring

WILL HOGE

From platinum-selling chart-toppers to underground , household names to undiscovered gems, Chief’s Neon Steeple is c bringing the very best national and regional talent back to Broadway.

om pla hi f’ N h t om cha ons, t a s, eeple committed to mmi

12.1 Mo Pitney, Wyatt McCubbin, Drake White: A Benefit For Rahab House

12.5 Pickin’ Party w/ Dan Tyminski, Phillip Lammonds, Kevin Mac

12.6 The 12th Annual Christmas at Buddy’s Place w/ JP Burr, Walker County, Adam Hambrick, and Tana Matz

12.10 Andy Griggs

12.11 Ashley McBryde: The Redemption Residency **SOLD OUT**

12.12 Ashley McBryde: The Redemption Residency **SOLD OUT**

12.13 Christmas with Julie Roberts

12.14 A Hannah Dasher Christmas

12.16 Chief’s Outsiders Round w/ Skyelor Anderson & Ben Kadlecek and Guests Cay Aliese, Julie Eddy, Kinsley, Chloe Lawson

12.17 Uncle B’s Damned Ole Opry Xmas! w/ The Band Loula, Belles, WHYNOT

12.18 A Very Merry Brassfield Christmas

12.20 Not Quite Brothers

12.21 Christmas with Emily West

12.30 Buddy’s Place Writer’s Round (and Buddy’s Birthday!) w/ Alyssa Bonagura, Karli & James, Dan Smalley

FIND REDEMPTION ON THE 5TH FLOOR OF CHIEF’S BROADWAY’S FIRST NA-FORWARD BAR

talent, as well as local rock outfit Red River Hymn. P.J. KINZER

7 P.M. AT BROOKLYN BOWL

925 THIRD AVE. N.

MONDAY / 12.8

[ON & ON]

MUSIC

ERYKAH BADU

At the turn of the millennium, it seemed like everyone was waiting for something — caught in the past and anxiously awaiting the future. Erykah Badu’s sophomore album Mama’s Gun was perfect for such a moment; it established her as a singular voice and crowned her as the Queen of Neo Soul. Mama’s Gun saw Badu at her most innovative and most introspective, at once bearing the weight of the world and waiting for answers to come, while also turning inward to reflect on love, heartbreak, indecision and growing pains — the personal as political. The album’s sound — combining jazz, classic soul, funk and hip-hop to evoke Black music history while bringing in a distinctly modern and futurist sound — is incredibly influential. Recorded at Electric Lady Studios with contemporary hip-hop and neo-soul heavyweights like Questlove, D’Angelo and J Dilla, Mama’s Gun — much like Badu herself — is firmly planted in the now while also looking toward a distant and speculative beyond. Badu revisits her seminal project on a current 25thanniversary tour, which arrives at The Pinnacle Dec. 8. Listeners new and old can experience the era-defining album that solidified a music legend. LILLY LUSE

8 P.M. AT THE PINNACLE

901 CHURCH ST.

[BIDING MY TIME]

MUSIC

ROBERT LESTER FOLSOM

Robert Lester Folsom isn’t exactly a household name in music. When he selfreleased his hazy, psychedelic-influenced folk-rock album Music and Dreams in 1976, the release made its rounds in the Southeast without gaining much traction. But in 2014, Anthology Recordings re-released the record, which caused a surge in popularity thanks to songs like “My Stove’s on Fire” and “April Suzanne.” Additional unreleased music by Folsom soon came to light, and he’s garnered a decent following since. In recent years, his songs have been featured in shows like Outer Banks and the 2021 revival of Gossip Girl. Now 70-year-old Folsom is embarking on a tour that’s been nearly 50 years in the making. The singersongwriter is headed to small, intimate venues across the U.S. to play his soft rock and psychtinted classics. He’ll soon be at Skinny Dennis in East Nashville for a Dec. 8 show. Burlington, Vt.-based folk-rocker Lily Seabird will open.

JULIANNE AKERS

8 P.M. AT SKINNY DENNIS

2635 GALLATIN PIKE

WEDNESDAY

/ 12.10

[DON’T REGRET, REMEMBER]

FILM

STAFF PICKS: PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE

I’m afraid to see Portrait of a Lady on Fire again. I walked away unscathed the first time I saw French writer-director Céline Sciamma’s visually stunning, universally acclaimed 2019 tale of 18th-century queer romance. But I know if I take it for a second spin, I’ll most likely end up a blubbering pile on the floor. Sciamma goes to a distant island to follow the quietly sensuous (and sensual, of course) love affair that builds between a frustrated aristocrat (Adele Haenel, Sciamma’s real-life ex) who’s about to be wed off to a nobleman, and her walking companion (Noémie Merlant), actually a painter secretly hired to do her wedding portrait. Although men are mostly absent from this story, the patriarchal norms they’ve created are always present, hovering heavily. It reminds you that this beautiful, intoxicating, hella sapphic union probably won’t last long. This glorious heartbreaker of a movie will screen at the Belcourt on Dec. 10, a staff pick selected by musician and sometime Scene contributor Quinn Hills. Visit belcourt.org for showtimes.

CRAIG D. LINDSEY

8 P.M. AT THE BELCOURT

2102 BELCOURT AVE.

MUSIC

[IT’S FRUITCAKE WEATHER!] SOUTHERN CHRISTMAS SAMPLER

We all have our favorite holiday traditions, and one of mine surely has to be David Alford’s Southern Christmas Sampler, which returns to the historic Belmont Mansion this month in celebration of its 30th anniversary. It’s a delightful evening, packed with sweet Christmas stories and songs that take us back to holidays of long ago. But it’s Alford’s tender recitation of Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory” — underscored by live original music from Paul Carrol Binkley — that has kept audiences coming back year after year. Once again, the pair will be joined by Jenny Littleton and Erin Ramsey, along with musicians Antonia Ferguson, Russell Davis and Brad Albin. There will be a special 30th anniversary party on Dec. 19, where guests can enjoy a selection of tasty hors d’oeuvres, desserts, seasonal drinks and more. And longtime fans will want to keep an eye out for another special treat — The Southern Christmas Sampler 30th Anniversary album, featuring a mix of Binkley’s original songs and some really lovely arrangements of traditional holiday tunes. AMY STUMPFL

DEC. 10-28 AT BELMONT MANSION ON BELMONT UNIVERSITY’S CAMPUS

51 North Taproom

Quesa Barbacoa

Flavorful braised beef atop a griddled cheddar corn tortilla with salsa roja, ranch, diced onions, cilantro and sliced avocado. Served with a side of tortilla chips and salsa verde. V / GF

Bakersfield Tacos + Tequila + Whiskey

Papas y Chorizo

Our take on a traditional-style potato and chorizo taco features vibrant, tri-colored marble potatoes and spicy chorizo sausage, garnished with crema, white onions, and cilantro. V

Brown’s Diner

Brown’s Smoked Chicken Birria

Charcoal braised chicken, served on a corn tortilla with a Chihuahua Cheese blanket, topped with white onion, cilantro, and our house made verde sauce. Served with as side of consommé. V / GF

Buddy’s Tiny Tonk

Walking Taco

A Frito Bag with our southern sloppy Joe, shredded cheddar cheese and tomatillo sauce.

Cledis Burgers & Beer

Subculture Chicken Taco

For one week only we’re bringing back

Subculture Cafe’s signature hot chicken taco. Chef Pablo Bonacic’s signature hot chicken, asian slaw, topped with aioli and served on a corn tortilla. V / 2GO / UE

Common Ground

Wam Bam Shrimp Taco

Flour tortillas filled with crispy fried shrimp tossed in our signature Wam Bam sauce on top of a napa slaw. This is topped with avocado crema. Served with house seasoned corn chips and avo smash. V / GF / 2GO

Don Miguel Juicery + Rustic Kitchen

Tri Tip Steak Tacos

We melt Monterey Jack cheese directly onto warm corn tortillas, creating a perfectly cheesy base for our tender grilled tri-tip steak. Topped with vibrant house-made pico de gallo, creamy

avocado, and a splash of our signature chipotle sauce, each bite is a coastal-inspired delight. V / GF / UE / 2GO

Dos Santos Mexican Restaurant

Crispy Pork Belly

Fried pork belly tossed in a sweet and smoky glaze over cabbage, finished with carrot habanero, pickled onions, cilantro, and sesame. Crunchy, spicy, and rich in one bite. See nashvilletacoweek.com for more! V / GF / UE / 2GO

F.A.B. Pizza

The One With The Not Your Mamas Taco

Ever wonder what would happen when you cross a pizza and a taco. Look no further and come see us at F.A.B. Pizza. V / GF / UE / 2GO

Family Tacos

Birria & Pastor Perfect Match

One famous birria taco and one traditional pastor taco served with cilantro, onions and a cup of consommé. GF / UE / 2GO

Federales Tacos & Tequila

Lamb Quesabirria with Consommé

GoodTimes Cruch Wrap

Jalapeño salsa, mustard, ketchup, two smash patties and melted cheese, pico and lettuce.

Gordo’s Taqueria

Mash-ville & Mission Combo

A nod to our new home in Nashville and our San Francisco Mission roots. The Mash-ville layers griddle-fried corn tortillas with melted Monterey Jack, fluffy mashed potatoes, savory chorizo, fresh pico, and a light, bright avocado salsa. The Mission stacks griddle-fried corn tortillas, Monterey Jack cheese, seasoned carne asada, house-made guacamole, fresh pico and a spicy tomatillo salsa. Two cities, two tacos—one / UE / 2GO

Quesabirria tacos are rich, hearty, and full of deep flavor - made with tender lamb, slow-cooked in a savory adobo sauce, and loaded with gooey melted cheese. Pro tip: Dip your tacos in the warm consommé before each bite — your taste buds will thank you.

Fonda Visit nashvilletacoweek.com for additional taco specials.

Graze

Tofu “Fish” Tacos

Housemade fried tofu fish, carrots, red cabbage, rosemary tartar sauce, finished with fresh cilantro onion relish. V / GF / 2GO

Harth Restaurant & Bar

Pork Carnitas Taco Carnitas slow roasted in beef tallow, mango habanero salsa, red onion, and lime. V / 2GO

JWB Grill

Smoked Baja Taco

Smoked alligator served on warm corn tortillas, layered with citrus slaw, pickled onions, queso fresco, and fresh pico de gallo, then finished with chipotle aioli and a sprinkle of cilantro. V / GF / 2GO

Limo Peruvian Eatery

Nikkei Taco

Crispy wonton taco meets ceviche-style tuna tartare marinated in our bold citrus blend. Topped with rocoto aioli, fresh guac, ají limo, togarashi, and spring onions, then finished with our Signature Nikkei Sauce. Every bite bursts with flavor and crunch. 2GO / UE

GoodTimes Full Service Bar

Lona

Tinga Taco

Chipotle pulled chicken, black bean puree, queso fresco, and crema. V / GF

Maggie’s Place

Castle Taco

Refried beans, chicharrón, pickled onion, queso fresco and jalapeño relish.

Makeshift

Jerk Chicken Taco

Two marinated jerk chicken tacos topped with vibrant mangolime salsa and creamy queso blanco, all served on a hand-made corn tortilla. UE / 2GO

Mesero Brisket Taco

Oven-roasted, slow-cooked brisket, tomatillo sauce, queso chihuahua, onion, cilantro, mesero slaw, and arroz rojo. V / GF

Nativo Latin Food

Tropibeef

A warm flour tortilla filled with slowcooked shredded beef, topped with roasted corn, sweet caramelized plantain, fresh queso fresco, cilantro, and diced onions. Finished with our signature avocado aioli, this taco brings together bold Latin flavors in a perfect balance of sweet, savory, and creamy. V / GF / 2GO

Nectar Urban Cantina

Nectar Hot Chicken Taco

Handmade flour tortilla cradling a crispy, hand-breaded chicken tender. It’s drizzled with bold, spicy hot oil for a kick, then topped with refreshing cool coleslaw and bright, tangy dill pickles. 2GO

Only Chicken

Spicy Chicken Pita

Tender chicken thighs seasoned with a blend of aromatic homemade spices, combined with mozzarella cheese and a rich heavy-cream sauce, then cooked to perfection. Served warm inside soft pita bread for a bold, comforting, and flavorful bite. Visit nashvilletacoweek.com for more taco specials.

Otto’s

Beef Me Up, Scotty

Mongolian beef on flaky roti with pickled cabbage and carrot, a wasabi-avocado spread, and toasted sesame seeds. Sweet, savory, spicy - beam us up.

Punk Wok

Resting Beach Face

Our riff on a Baja-style taco with tequila and beer battered mahi and a bunch of other cool stuff.

Saint Añejo

Winter Mole Crunch

Crispy pork belly tossed in our house made mole sauce. Topped with pom de gallo and cilantro. Served on a golden corn tortilla. GF / 2GO

The Salty Burrito

Korean Taco Beef, bang bang sauce, cabbage, cilantro and pickled onions. Served with chips and guac. 2GO

Scoreboard Bar & Grill

Pineapple Chili Chicken Tacos

Tender chicken marinated in a sweet and spicy blend of pineapple juice, chili, garlic and fresh lime, then grilled for a crispy finish. Served on warm tortillas and topped with crisp lettuce, fresh pico de gallo, and cool sour cream. Served with side of tortilla chips and salsa. 2GO / UE

Taco Bamba

The Queen Bee

Spiced crispy chicken, ancho honey, Texas Pete slaw, pickled onion, serranos and bacon canela crunch on a flour tortilla. GF / UE / 2GO

Taco Mama

The Sizzler

Marinated steak, lettuce, tomato, avocado, grilled onions, queso fresco, red chili butter sauce. Served with chips and salsa. Visit nashvilletacoweek.com for additional taco specials. GF / 2GO

Taco Mamacita

Korean BBQ Taco & Side

Beef barbacoa tossed in Korean BBQ sauce, pickled red onion, sriracha mayo, cabbage, cilantro and radish. This taco also comes with your choice of a 3oz side of Mexican street corn, green chili rice, or charros beans. V / GF / 2GO

Tee Line

Crispy Pork Belly Street Taco Crispy pork belly, caramelized onion, roasted tomato salsa and queso, on a corn tortilla. V / GF / UE / 2GO

Top Note Rooftop

Lamb Barbacoa Taco

Braised lamb, house made corn tortilla, habanero pineapple jam, and onion cilantro relish. GF / UE / 2GO

TopGolf Swing Suites

Feather & Fin

Two tacos on flour tortillas. One features turkey tinga, cilantro and onion while the other features blackened shrimp, pico, cilantro oil and chipotle aioli.

Wacamole Mexican Food

Cali Taco – Golden State Crunch

A warm organic 6” tortilla (corn or flour) is layered with a crispy cheese crust made from Oaxaca and Chihuahua cheeses, topped with juicy California-style sirloin steak, smooth fresh guacamole, crispy potato sticks, and slow-caramelized onions. Finished with our signature Wacamole aioli for the perfect balance of creamy, smoky, and savory. V / GF

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AROUND 9 A.M. ON NOV. 3, cellphones of Nashville chefs and restaurateurs started blowing up. Some of the chefs were still in Nashville, while others had already made the trek to Greenville, S.C., in anticipation of the inaugural American South Ceremony for the storied Michelin Guide

The folks who’d been invited to the ceremony already knew they had been “selected” as part of the first American South region. The excitement to come that evening was finding out who won a coveted star (or two, or maybe even three), who made the distinction of the “Bib Gourmand” and who might have been singled out for a special regional distinction for the sustainability practices or beverage program.

But by 10 a.m., everyone knew who won what due to a press release snafu that announced the winners 12 hours too early. Nonetheless, it was a heady buzz of happiness and celebration, even if the anticipatory tension of the ceremony had been softened.

Since 1991, the apogee of culinary recognition in the United States has been the James Beard Foundation Awards, divided by region alongside a handful of national awards. Beard-winning chefs have come to our city over the years, but Nashville native Tandy Wilson of City House became the first homegrown chef to win Best Chef: Southeast in 2016. Dubbed the Oscars of the food world, the Beard process uses nominations and peer reviews to vote through two rounds to pick the winners. The “short list” folks get invitations to the ceremony, though only one winner is picked in the regionals.

Saddled with accusations of political favoritism, shameless campaigning and loose judging requirements (note: this writer is a former judge for the James Beard Awards), the

THE STARS ARE OUT

What Nashville’s wins at last month’s Michelin American South Ceremony mean for our dining scene

BY JIM MYERS

hospitality cognoscenti began to wonder if the awards would remain as relevant as they had been.

Then came 2005, with the arrival of the Michelin Guide covering the New York area. Begun in France by the tire company hoping you would take long drives to discover good places to eat — and buy more tires — the guide became the de facto bar-setter for European restaurants. Winning and losing stars brought both euphoria and despair. In the

BASTION

THE CATBIRD SEAT LOCUST PHOTOS: VICTORIA QUIRK

GIFT CARD

case of Bernard Loiseau, after losing position in another guide, he killed himself, reportedly over the fear of losing one of his three stars.

While the Michelin Guide has spread throughout select cities and regions of the United States, its presence remains incumbent on who will stroke the big check. In a version of pay to play, or at least pay to be reviewed, getting the Michelin Guide costs upwards of $1 million for a three-year contract, per city, based on reports from Atlanta. The fee is usually paid for by local convention bureaus and state-level tourism commissions, who see it as a good investment to continue to attract gastronauts who plan trips around their dining itineraries.

“Tennessee has some of the most talented chefs and most creative kitchens you’ll find anywhere,” Commissioner Mark Ezell of the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development tells the Scene by email. “Michelin is a trusted stamp of approval and puts our talent on an international stage, from James Beard winners to neighborhood favorites in every corner of our state. This partnership is about elevating our story and attracting food-focused travelers from around the world.”

At the Nov. 3 ceremony, 12 restaurants made the basic Guide, and six earned the Bib Gourmand — ostensibly for being good and a good value. Nashville notably scored three one-star restaurants — Bastion, The Catbird Seat and Locust — which all came from the same restaurant group, Strategic Hospitality.

The American South Region covers seven states (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Greater Atlanta), and only one establishment in that area earned two stars: Emeril’s in New Orleans.

Josh Habiger, the soft-spoken owner of Bastion and now a partner at Strategic Hospitality, was thrilled with their showing.

“Any recognition is really pretty cool,” says Habiger. “You work so hard in this business, and an award like a Michelin star helps the business, the city and your whole staff. It

GUIDE SELECTION

Arnold’s Country Kitchen

Audrey

Bad Idea

Cafe Roze

Folk

Hattie B’s

Iggy’s

International Market

Judith Tavern (Sewanee)

Rolf and Daughters

Shotgun Willie’s Tailor

also fills the seats.” Habiger adds that he felt Nashville restaurants Rolf and Daughters and Peninsula should have won stars as well.

Habiger’s partner Max Goldberg is more effusive in his praise. “I really have this imposter syndrome, but Josh is the real deal,” says Goldberg, insisting that Habiger ultimately elevated the entire food scene in our city. “We created Catbird for him [Habiger was part of the first chef duo at The Catbird Seat], and now he’s had this tremendous ripple effect.”

Earning a spot in the guide for his family meat-and-three, Arnold’s Country Kitchen, Kahlil Arnold says he loved rubbing shoulders with the fine-dining chefs who point to him as one of their favorites. That serves as a reminder that the Michelin Guide has broadened enough to include a taqueria in Mexico City in its onestar rankings. “I was humbled beyond belief and only wish I could have shared the moment with my dad,” says Arnold.

The Michelin Guide awards claim to eschew the influence of both service and decor, though both elements of the dining experience were repeatedly mentioned during the ceremony while listing the plaudits. That seeming incongruity adds to the mystery of their method. While Peninsula was mentioned as deserving a star, the East Nashville restaurant was inexplicably put in the “Bib” category — though few think of the space, whose chef Jake Howell recently won a Beard Award, as a “value” proposition. Perhaps, as Goldberg mentioned, “value” is not synonymous with “affordability.”

In the end, while James Beard honors individuals — perhaps a nod to the rise of celebrity chefs — the Michelin Guides reward the restaurants, and starred places give communities both cachet and credibility. And once you’re on their radar, you are reviewed on a yearly basis, a sure incentive to keep plugging away with superlative ingredients and creative presentations that reflect the mind and ethos of the chefs behind the food. ▼

BIB GOURMAND

Kisser

Peninsula

Redheaded Stranger

Sho Pizza Bar

SS Gai

St. Vito Focacceria

Uzbegim

1-STAR

Bastion

Catbird Seat

Locust

SOMMELIER AWARD

Alex Burch-Bad Idea

GREEN STAR (SUSTAINABILITY)

January at Southall (Franklin)

DANCE

COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS

Becca

Hoback and Shabaz Ujima lead a collaborative dance premiere at OZ Arts

BY AMY STUMPFL

FOR MORE THAN a decade, audiences have flocked to OZ Arts for bold, innovative programming that showcases a diverse lineup of acclaimed U.S. and international artists. Yet this vibrant contemporary arts center also provides a much-needed home to local creatives, supporting the development of new work while offering vital opportunities for collaboration and community engagement. This weekend’s premiere of Solus + Synergy is a perfect example.

Highlighting two new dance works — one from Becca Hoback with Kaitlyn Raitz and the other from Shackled Feet Dance with Rod McGaha — it’s an enticing double bill that takes on profound themes in a fresh, inspiring way. Both pieces also emphasize multimedia experimentation by merging dance, film and live music.

The evening opens with Hoback’s Solus, a deeply personal solo performance that examines “a search for the sacred and profound.” Created in collaboration with composer and cellist Kaitlyn Raitz, this autobiographical dance/film/ music triptych represents the culmination of Hoback’s multiyear Sacral Series — a collection of powerful dance solos that “explores the harmful effects of purity culture.” (Audiences will likely recall previous installments, including Initial Dissent, most recently presented at the Darkhorse Theater in May, and Mellow Drama, which premiered at Kindling Arts Festival in July.)

“It’s been such an interesting journey,” says Hoback, who previously appeared at OZ Arts with Enactor, a debut of solo dances in 2021

that she has since toured to various European festivals. “I’ve learned so many lessons along the way, both personally and professionally. Emotionality and vulnerability are at the heart of everything I create, but this project is especially personal. I’m thrilled to finally share it, and hope that people will connect with it.”

Despite the solitary, contemplative nature of Solus, Hoback says Raitz’s contributions have been invaluable.

“This is our first time working together, but from the beginning, I’ve felt an inherent sense of trust with Kaitlyn,” Hoback says. “She has a beautiful sensibility in her composing and in her playing, which aligns so well with the sensitivity and vulnerability that I’m trying to embody onstage. Much of our collaborative process has been virtual, just due to our schedules. But I feel like we’ve struck a really cool balance. I’ve still felt the intimacy of solo practice, but to have someone on that journey with me is quite special.

“I’m grateful to be returning to OZ and feel so supported by them,” she adds. “We’ve been talking about this project for such a long time now, so to be able to share this final section of Sacral in a place that feels so safe has been really exciting. And I’m so honored to share the stage with Shackled Feet Dance. I love their work, which is really built on community, and I think Synergy will offer a wonderful complement to my solo piece. I feel like there will be a nice balance, and a beautiful energy to the evening.”

Indeed, the second portion of the program features celebrated choreographer Shabaz Ujima and longtime collaborator Thea Jones of Shackled Feet Dance, debuting a new work titled Synergy. Featuring an ensemble of multigenerational movers, this joyful work centers on the “liberation of the body and mind” through the spirit of “Black classical music” — Miles Davis’ preferred term for jazz.

“A big part of our mission is about building community in a way that allows us to celebrate our differences,” says Ujima, who established Shackled Feet Dance in 2016. “Because what makes our community so beautiful is the fact that it’s so diverse. And that’s really the concept behind Synergy — bringing all of these different energies and perspectives together to create something that moves us all in a positive way.”

Synergy’s performers range in age from 21 to 77, and include artists from Friends Life Community — an organization dedicated to creating opportunities for adults with developmental disabilities.

“It’s important for us to create a cast of people that truly reflects our community,” Ujima says. “It’s an honor — and I think a responsibility — to create space for different abilities, different ages and backgrounds and body types. I love that we’re able to showcase artists that we don’t always get to see onstage, and to share all those different stories.”

Much of the story of Synergy is built on the work of trumpeter, composer and visual artist

Solus + Synergy

Dec. 5-6 at OZ Arts, 6172 Cockrill Bend Circle

Rod McGaha, who also has created video projections featuring his unique artwork.

“I’ve been collaborating with Rod for several years now,” Ujima says, “and what I appreciate so much about him is that his approach is always to explore, to play and improvise. Rod is not only a musician, he’s an incredible visual artist whose work has been presented at the Frist Art Museum, Fisk University and more. So it just felt natural to include Rod’s work, to create an immersive experience that shows how artists really thrive when in community with other artists.”

Ujima says Synergy features an original score from McGaha, who will be performing live, along with percussionist Nioshi Jackson. The piece experiments with structured improvisations from both the musicians and dancers.

“When I think of OZ Arts, it’s not just about seeing a performance,” he says. “It’s an experience. So we wanted to create an experience where the audience is immersed in art and music and movement, to create a communal vibration that lasts long after they leave the theater.

“That’s what’s so important about OZ,” he continues. “Yes, they bring in all of these incredible artists from around the world, but they’re also providing a space for what’s happening right here in Nashville. They’re bringing people together through these artistic experiences, allowing us to connect and grow. And with the world being so divided right now, that’s something to celebrate.” ▼

PHOTO: ROD MCGAHA

ROAD SCHOLAR

Photographer LeXander Bryant’s Dirt Road Baby shows how small-town living can be high art

BY LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

A PHOTOGRAPH IS great when it shows you connections you might never see otherwise. Consider William Eggleston’s monumental tricycle, RaMell Ross’ camera shroud, Nan Goldin’s unflinching black eye. LeXander Bryant’s exhibition Dirt Road Baby — on view through Dec. 20 at Red Arrow — is full of great photographs. A quiet portrait sets the stage. At 60 by 40 inches, “Deacon Berry” is the largest photograph in the exhibition, but most of that space is taken up with darkness, barely perceptible in shades of black. The deacon is shown in profile, and his head is bowed as he reads from what one can only assume is a Bible. The photo’s one instance of color comes from a glowing stained glass window that silhouettes the holy man. And what a color — a sharp, cyan blue centers what looks like a neon sign of praying hands, and is echoed in the gallery’s upper level, where a line of cyanotypes puts a gritty, experimental cap on the show.

Beside “Deacon Berry” — almost in line with where the deacon’s gaze would be if he were to raise his eyes from the text in his hands — is a stack of three Crisco cans. This mixture of reverence and irreverence — of deifying something so banal but so essential — works like a Southern Black version of Andy Warhol’s soup cans.

On the opposite wall, three photographs continue Bryant’s story. The middle piece shows a dirt road in a classic one-point perspective. Like the part of a movie in which a character casually states its title, this photograph’s straightforward simplicity conceals the entire exhibition’s overarching theme. Titled “Hotel Hill (Dirt Road to Heaven),” it lovingly details a path toward Bryant’s family cemetery. The path cuts through a lush treeline that provides just enough shade to emphasize where the sunlight hits it further down the road. The lighting makes the path feel optimistic, like a subliminal message that brighter days are just ahead.

To the left of the dirt road is “Walker Springs Dirt Road Baby,” in which a boy is standing on a gold rim facing an overgrown patch of woods. His back is toward the camera’s lens, but the effect isn’t cold or isolating — instead, it creates a kind of kinship with the boy, underlining that we’re looking in the same direction. The light is hitting the boy’s face, and the sun peeks out through the bramble in the top right corner of the photograph. A tiny rainbow spectrum at the sun’s edge lends the piece a hallowed, almost biblical feeling.

On another wall, a piece called “The Weight of Gold 01” shows the same boy, this time car-

rying the gold rim in a way that recalls a bass drummer’s stance, and wouldn’t be out of place next to one of Derek Fordjour’s marching band paintings. This is what it is to be a dirt road baby — a son of the South raised on the outskirts, moving along to a country road’s beat.

If youth and possibility course through the works on this side of the gallery, the three photographs on the other side deal with elders, lineage and maternity. And watermelons.

“Carry Me Through” is a portrait of a woman holding a watermelon like a swaddled baby. Her stylish red dress and pearls, as well as her direct, full-faced smile, show her pride in having her picture made. The camera crops off the top of the photograph and keeps it firmly outside of family-portrait territory — this mother, with her naturally cradling arms, is as much a motherwith-child as any Renaissance pietà. Again, Bryant has reclaimed art history for Southern Black culture, where it feels right at home.

Another photograph is a pile of whole watermelons that could be a study in shadows, texture, pattern and repetition. But its central watermelon has a long stem that winds out of it in a way that mimics a newborn’s umbilical cord. Like the optimism of the light at the end of his dirt road, Bryant has made connections by

deploying subtle, almost subliminally recognizable details.

Viewers who remember Forget Me Nots, Bryant’s 2022 solo exhibition at the Frist Art Museum, undoubtedly recall the wheatpasted posters that the artist frequently brings into his installations. Dirt Road Baby is no exception. A black-and-white photograph of a trailer from Bryant’s dirt-road hometown is wheatpasted onto the wall underneath the staircase. The to-scale photograph is printed onto four panels and hung almost like wallpaper, aside from the scratchiness of the wheatpaste technique. It’s an ambitious but irreverent addition to the show — it brings the country town into the gallery, contextualizing the work in its natural setting, but also upending the preciousness of an art gallery’s white-box suggestion. The crackles and ridges of the wheatpasted photo echo the weeds and vines that are growing up around the trailer in the same spindly shapes.

Sitting on the floor in front of the wheatpasted photograph is the same gold rim from Bryant’s photographs — bright and polished like a sentinel standing guard, at once a pedestal to stand on and a weight to carry.

LeXander Bryant: Dirt Road Baby, guest curated by Evan Roosevelt Brown Through Dec. 20 at Red Arrow

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MUSIC

WHEN SECURITY FEELS LIKE A THREAT

Examining the complex landscape of concert security today

BY JP OLSEN

ONE NIGHT IN early October, Neko Case and her band had been onstage at Grundy County underground venue The Caverns for only a few songs when they stopped playing. According to accounts from fans in attendance who reached out to the Scene, as well as those posting on social media and Reddit, the widely loved singer-songwriter pointed out security staffers carrying guns whose presence made her deeply uncomfortable, and ended the show shortly after. Case’s team did not respond to a request for comment.

“No advance requests were made to adjust our standard security protocols prior to the show or during our pre-show security meeting and venue walk-through,” representatives from the venue tell the Scene, echoing a statement sent to Stereogum. “When the tour manager requested that our licensed armed security be moved to the back of the house, we immediately made that accommodation after determining that guest and artist safety would not be compromised. Unfortunately, we did not receive this request until after the show had begun. We were surprised and disappointed when the artist chose to end the performance early and not return to the stage. All ticket holders will be fully refunded.”

The event touched off a broader debate about what “safety” means today — and whether the systems designed to protect us can sometimes feel menacing.

In online spaces like Reddit, the arguments grumbled along for more than a week after the Case concert. Some blamed the artist for overreacting; others praised her for asserting a boundary many trauma survivors could recognize. A few dismissed the uproar as city-mouse hand-wringing. Others said The Caverns is safe, the venue’s rustic aesthetic part of its charm.

Similar conversations appear online regarding venues all over the United States. This episode in our backyard revealed a lingering gap between the machinery of safety and the feeling of being safe. To management at The Caverns, a familiar armed guard signified professionalism. To the artist, he represented danger. To the crowd, he embodied a larger confusion: Was this safety — or a threat?

Security specialists readily acknowledge the risks facing public venues. And recent research — along with even a casual look at the country’s roiling political climate — suggests that Americans’ perceptions of danger and their demands for protection increasingly fall along partisan lines.

Political scientist Eric Raile at Montana State University in Bozeman has shown that perceptions of risk and danger that once cut across party affiliation, such as those tied to public

health and safety, have become bound up with political identity. In his study of pandemic-related attitudes, Raile found that “partisan risk positions correspond with partisan information sources, ” with Democrats viewing the coronavirus as a primary threat while Republicans framed the greater risk to be restrictions on freedom or economic harm. Likewise, psychologist Mark J. Brandt, who teaches at Michigan State University, has found that the connection between perceived threat and political belief varies by context and that the type of threat often determines whether people seek protection through authority or resist it as overreach.

A visible gun is a Rorschach test for how we interpret power. In the din of the Reddit scrum around the Case show, one truth emerged: There is no universal definition of “security.”

For industry veterans like Jim Digby, who have spent decades managing the mechanics of safety, such ambiguity is nothing new — and it often comes with high stakes.

INSIDE THE INDUSTRY

Digby’s perspective is shaped by firsthand experience with high-stakes incidents. He recalls being on tour with Metallica in 1992 when, at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, singer James Hetfield was badly burned by pyrotechnics, which naturally ended the set early. Co-headliner Guns N’ Roses also cut their set short after Axl Rose stormed off the stage. The packed crowd of some 50,000 fans erupted into a full-scale riot, leaving about a dozen people injured and hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. Digby later served as a stage manager at Woodstock ’99, where 200,000 people endured cascading operational failures amid sweltering heat. Not surprisingly, the gathering spiraled into the chaos — including multiple incidents of sexual assault — that was later chronicled in documentaries produced for HBO and Netflix, respectively: Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage and Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99

Taken together, these incidents reinforced a sobering reality for Digby. Across much of the live-music industry, safety still relies more on instinct than on formal training or regulation.

“It is not standard in the United States for crowd managers to have any kind of safety, firstaid or conflict-resolution training,” Digby says. “In many cases guards have little or no preparation for what they might face.”

I can attest to that. One summer at Blossom Music Center outside Akron, Ohio, I worked security. I had just turned 18. I was rawboned and painfully out of my depth. But after a short security briefing, there I was, sashaying into the maw of 20,000 Waylon Jennings fans, splintered billy club in hand, wearing what could only be

described as an oversized authority costume. I remember thinking, “I can’t believe they’re trusting me to do this.”

Lack of training, Digby insists, extends from frontline staff to senior management. “There [are] no prerequisite qualifications required to be in charge of putting on a mass gathering,” he explains. “I got on-the-job training over the last 40-plus years. But it’s not required.”

Despite that, Digby sees an industry that “does OK” today, but is doing so “in an unregulated form.”

FROM 9/11 TO THE SAFETY ACT

High-profile incidents in the 1990s underscored gaps in safety, but the events of 9/11 radically reshaped the landscape. Federal policy attempted to codify preparedness, yet introduced new pressures and expectations for visibility. The newly formed Department of Homeland Security introduced the SAFETY Act, offering liability protection to venues that adopt approved security standards. The law encourages preparedness — but also incentivizes visibility. To prove compliance, operators have increasingly favored measures that could be documented: metal detectors, bag checks, armed presence. In effect, showing safety became inseparable from showing force.

For high-flyer acts like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Foo Fighters, security travels with the tour and is rehearsed, specialized and tightly controlled. But most artists don’t have that luxury. Their safety, and that of their fans, depends on whoever the promoter or venue hires that night.

SHARED RESPONSIBILITY

William Rathburn, a former LAPD deputy chief and later Dallas police chief, has watched the evolution of event security from the other side of the barricade.

bomb packed with nails and screws exploded, killing one woman, triggering another person’s fatal heart attack and injuring more than 100. The blast also upended the life of security guard Richard Jewell, who was wrongly accused of the bombing.

Rathburn notes that in a packed venue, a firearm isn’t as big a danger as the panic it can trigger. The instinctive rush to flee when you hear gunfire can injure far more people in the crush of a stampede than the weapon itself.

Rathburn has long argued that safety is a shared duty. Going back to 1976, as a young LAPD captain, he helped draft a memorandum of understanding for The Rolling Stones’ concert at the Los Angeles Coliseum. It detailed who was responsible for what — police, promoters, stage crew — and included a promise from the band that no inflammatory statements would be made from the stage. “The importance of that is sharing the responsibility,” he said.

Over the past decade, an organization Digby founded called the Event Safety Alliance has worked with the industry professional organization Entertainment Services & Technology Association to develop safety standards for live events. These are drafted by industry experts, opened for public comment and revised through a multiyear review and balloting process before adoption. They cover crowd management, security, fire safety, weather preparedness, rigging and temporary structures, and communications. They offer venues, promoters, and touring crews a shared framework for planning and operating safe shows. They emphasize that security must adapt to its context. The challenge for every venue and performer is finding a balance that reassures without drawing undue attention.

Visit nashvillescene.com/music for a look at some ways industrywide safety standards are being developed for live-event production

In 1996, serving as security director for the Atlanta Olympics, he warned that Centennial Olympic Park was a “soft target” and urged mandatory bag checks. Organizers balked, worried about optics as Atlanta made its debut on the international stage. Eight days into the Games, a pipe

The October incident at The Caverns wasn’t a failure of planning, but a collision of past and present in a deeply divided world. And it is a reminder that safety isn’t just about preventing harm, but also about making space for human vulnerability. The show may have ended early, but the larger conversation it sparked is still unfolding. ▼

SECURITY AT THE 2023 TAYLOR SWIFT SHOW AT NISSAN STADIUM

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

JOYFUL MEMORIES THERE

The Ornaments prepare for their 20th season of celebrating A Charlie Brown Christmas BY

DARYL SANDERS

THE ORNAMENTS’ ANNUAL performances of Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas have become a Nashville Yuletide institution.

The group celebrates their 20th anniversary this month with a series of area shows culminating in six nights at Eastside Bowl Dec. 17 through 22.

“It’s astonishing to me that it has been 20 years,” says pianist and group leader Jen Gunderman. “But it has been, and it’s evolved so much over time.”

If you’re one of the group’s many fans, you owe thanks to Eric Brace, who kick-started the whole thing back in 2005 by arranging the trio’s first gig. The group’s three original members — Gunderman, bassist Jim Gray and drummer Martin Lynds — were on the road backing Brace in his band Last Train Home when the idea was first raised to perform Guaraldi’s soundtrack from the beloved 1965 TV special.

“We were coming down [Interstate] 81, and somebody popped that CD in,” Lynds recalls.

“We were just playing it, and somebody said, ‘Man, we should do this.’ Jen said, ‘I’ve got the sheet music,’ so I go, ‘Then we should totally do it.’”

While the rest of the band was discussing the idea, Brace took action. “Before I knew what was happening, Eric picked up the phone and called Jamie Rubin at The Family Wash and booked us a show,” Gunderman says. “Like, while we were still in the van, before I knew whether I could play this shit.”

Twenty years later, it’s well-established that

Gunderman can “play this shit,” but she was understandably nervous prior to that first show on Dec. 21, 2005. Dubbing themselves The Ornaments, they were on a double bill that night with bassist James “Hags” Haggerty’s bossa nova outfit Hags-A-Nova.

“We didn’t really have a concept that we would ever do it again,” says Gunderman, “and I was scared stiff because I’m not really a jazz player.”

Despite her fears, The Ornaments were a hit. The following year, they performed eight total shows during a weekly December residency at The Family Wash, once again on a double bill with Hags-A-Nova. They played two sets before Hags and company closed out the night. They also had a guest soloist for the first time: pedal-steel player Pete Finney.

Gray left the group prior to the 2007 shows, so Gunderman and Lynds enlisted Haggerty to take over, and that’s been The Ornaments’ lineup ever since. When the Wash closed, they moved to 3rd and Lindsley for several years, before taking the show to Rubin’s new venue Eastside Bowl. In addition, they played Saturday matinees at the Belcourt, which have also moved to Eastside Bowl. The matinees and early sets at the clubs are popular among parents of young children. For many families, attending one of the group’s performances has become an annual tradition.

“There were kids that used to come when they were little who are now in college or mar-

ried with their own children,” Haggerty says. “It’s become multigenerational.”

For Gunderman, the performances also are a family tradition of sorts. Although she doesn’t talk about it at the shows, they are a way to honor her late father, who passed away unexpectedly on Christmas morning in 2003.

“He was from Minnesota like Charles Schultz,” she says. “He was a fan of Peanuts. He was a fan of the Vince Guaraldi record. So it was a perfect way to pay tribute to him.”

In addition to the shows at Eastside Bowl, The Ornaments will perform locally in the Opry Country Christmas program on Dec. 7 and two performances at the Temple Theatre in Portland, Tenn., on Dec. 13. This year’s special guest soloists will include the aforementioned Finney as well as harmonica wizard Charlie McCoy, saxophonist Randy Leago, trombonist Roy Agee, guitarist Joe Pisapia and saxophonist Jimmy Bowland. Also, Michael “Supe” Granda will join the group as Santa Claus at the close of the Eastside Bowl shows for a rendition of “Run Run Rudolph,” as he’s done for the past decade. ▼ Check showtimes and ticket availability at theornamentsband.com

PHOTO: STACIE HUCKEBA

TIME HAS COME TODAY

BY KATHERINE OUNG

FROM THE STAGE awash in green and yellow spotlights at The Blue Room at Third Man Records on Saturday, Nashville multihyphenate musician William Tyler suggested that the crowd take a seat on the floor. “This isn’t church,” Tyler joked, but it sure felt something like it.

Cellist Cecilia Stair stood at the ready. Audio engineer Jake Davis manned a synthesizer and Tyler’s grandfather’s reel-to-reel tape machine, outfitted with a loop carrying the ghostly whine of wind and train cars that signals the opening of Tyler’s Time Indefinite with “Cabin Six.” Released in April via Psychic Hotline, Time Indefinite is one of two albums from Tyler this year, alongside a collaborative LP with producer Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet) called 41 Longfield Street Late ’80s On Time Indefinite, Tyler renders in music images of natural bodies like the moon, stars, trees and lakes, which are both in and beyond the field of human consciousness. The album’s title points to things in the world that are uncertain and thus both indefinite and limitless. In an April interview about the record with In Sheep’s Clothing Hi-Fi, Tyler discussed influences on the LP including Mark Fisher’s application of hauntology (the philosophical idea that cultural concepts from the past keep coming back) to music and William Faulkner’s immortal quote: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

During the first set of the evening, the threepiece ensemble traversed Time Indefinite’s nine ambient folk pieces, shifting deftly from haunting guitar solos to melodies of jangling bells to expressive, urgent cello pizzicatos. Tyler switched between acoustic and electric guitar and at times employed an EBow, playing on top of the hiss and buzz of background feedback.

The live arrangement of “Star of Hope” began with ghostly murmurs of choral music, which were slowly eclipsed by a steady chord progression. Meanwhile, electric bleeps and whirs radiated from the beating center of the fifth song, “A

Dream, a Flood.” These disparate scenes reached a trembling climax on “Electric Lake,” a cinematic mélange of all the instruments and sounds Tyler assembled over the course of the album. The final song “Held” embraced the audience in a soothing odyssey, returning to the core interplay between acoustic guitar and cello.

Ever lighthearted, Tyler likened the night to therapy, with the album performance being a kind of process group therapy session. Before the “And Friends” juncture, it was time for recess and snack time, he quipped.

After the break, he introduced bassist Jack Lawrence, pianist Jo Schornikow and drummer Brian Kotzur, who play with Tyler as The Impossible Truth. In what has become a Thanksgiving-time tradition, a diverse lineup of special guest musicians joined the band on vocals for a whirlwind assembly of folk-rock classics and other covers.

First up was singer-songwriter Annie Williams She crooned a rendition of “Till I Gain Control Again” as made famous by Emmylou Harris, as well as Richard and Linda Thompson’s “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight,” while Tyler played guitar and sang backing vocals. Sean Thompson, Jemina Pearl and Dillon Watson followed. Then Joseph Plunket, local business owner and frontman of Country Westerns, rocked out to Flamin’ Groovies 1976 standout “Shake Some Action.”

Then came a duet from Cassie Berman and William’s father Dan Tyler. Berman introduced the song, giving thanks to her late husband David Berman, who was also her bandmate in Silver Jews alongside Tyler, Kotzur and others.

“Of course, we would all like David to be here,” Berman said, noting that she had felt his presence more strongly recently. She also pointed out it was her first time playing “We Could be Looking for the Same Thing,” the closer of Silver Jews’ 2008 record Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea, with a new partner. The duo eased into the familiar tune, with the elder Tyler’s gravelly overtones melding and interchanging with Berman’s bright, country-tinged melodies.

To close the night, Kotzur stayed at the kit but took the mic for a cover of Thin Lizzy’s rollicking “Running Back.” The crowd brimmed effusively with a blend of rhythm, nostalgia and camaraderie that, as Tyler put it, could only happen in this special Southern music city. ▼

10:00 am and 11:30 am · FORD THEATER FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Saturday, December 6

HOLIDAY RETAIL POP-UP Dolly Parton x Kendra Scott

10:00 am · THE MUSEUM STORE

Saturday, December 6

SONGWRITER SESSION HARDY NOON · CMA THEATER

Sunday, December 7

HATCH SHOW PRINT Family Block Party 9:30 am · HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP

Sunday, December 7

FAMILY PROGRAM Bedazzled Buttons 10:00 am

TAYLOR SWIFT EDUCATION CENTER

Sunday, December 7

MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT Sadler Vaden 1:00 pm · FORD THEATER

Saturday, December 13

SONGWRITER SESSION Ryan Hurd NOON · FORD THEATER

Saturday, December 6 HATCH SHOW PRINT Block Party 3:00 pm · HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP

HOW MUCH EMPATHY can you muster for someone who seemingly has it all? That question sits at the center of Noah Baumbach’s latest film Jay Kelly, another straight-to-Netflix offering in the director’s acid-tinged filmography.

Jay Kelly follows the titular movie star, played by George Clooney — a man seemingly born with a matinee-idol face and a mega-watt smile. Kelly slides through his picture-perfect life with heaps of movie-star charm, adoring fans, an overflowing bank account and his choice of A-list projects. But the death of his filmmaking mentor (Jim Broadbent), a chance encounter with a former acting friend (Billy Crudup, on his A-game) and the last summer before his daughter (relative newbie Grace Edwards) heads to college have Kelly rethinking just about every aspect of his ideal Hollywood life. Was his singular drive to succeed worth being absent for much of the childhood of his eldest daughter (Riley Keogh)? Is it possible to maintain some semblance of a normal, loving family life with a show-business job?

Some viewers will be allergic to a premise that threatens to veer off into navel-gazing, woeis-me territory. But Baumbach, as he often does, steers the story into a melan-comic adventure as Kelly and his team (including Adam Sandler as Kelly’s longtime manager Ron and Laura Dern as his publicist Liz) galavant through the European countryside.

There is a sense of verisimilitude that Baumbach (himself married to actor and Oscar-nominated director Greta Gerwig, who appears in the movie as Ron’s wife) and co-writer Emily Mortimer (who is married to actor Alessandro Nivola and is the mother of actor Sam Nivola, and who also appears in the film) inject into the story. That’s not to mention the meta casting of

A PICTURE’S WORTH

Peter Hujar’s Day is a triumphant work of earthy grace

BY JASON SHAWHAN

PETER HUJAR’S DAY is a biography unlike any you’ve previously seen on screen — maddening for some and transcendent for others, shaped by national treasure/ director Ira Sachs (Passages Keep the Lights On). Here photographer Peter Hujar (Ben Whishaw) accounts for a 1974 day to his friend, journalist Linda Rosenkrantz (Rebecca Hall). Rosenkrantz’s concept was a sound one: interview artists about the structure of their days in exhaustive detail. And though the scope of the project was never fully realized, her interview with photographer Hujar survived, an odd balm that understands the grind of being an artist and the fact that it doesn’t change (despite what AI-mongers would have

NOAH’S ARC

Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly takes

a melancholic look at the life of a movie star BY LOGAN BUTTS

Clooney and Sandler, two stars who have been known to put their family lives above career commitments. The Hollywood-averse may not care for all this, but it added layers of realism to the melancholy for me.

Jay Kelly’s release coincides with the 10th anniversary of Baumbach’s last traditionally theatrically released films — 2015’s very underrated screwball dramedy Mistress America and documentary De Palma. The director’s first of four outings with Netflix, 2017’s The Meyerow-

itz Stories, was the jumping-off point for star Sandler’s second-career dive into a more challenging slate of roles. Jay Kelly adds to his list of legitimately prestigious roles. He and Clooney (reciting Baumbach dialogue for the first time since Fantastic Mr. Fox) have great chemistry; you believe they’ve known each other for a long time, and you can feel the sadness emanating from the pair when their longstanding workfriend relationship is called into question. Could it finally be time for the Sandman’s first Oscar

you believe), as well as a portrait of process that makes a moment live again, with the strength of specificity and a gathering emotional power.

We weren’t there. Even if you were part of the New York art scene of the early ’70s, you weren’t there for

this day spent trying to wrangle Ginsberg and Orlovsky, or attempting to get paid for past-due invoices, or pinballing between anxiety and accomplishment without letting anyone else know. But this film casts a spell and makes the drone and the dread of artistic life into liturgy,

nomination? I’m far from a Sandler acolyte, but the Academy owes him for the Uncut Gems snub. By the time Jay Kelly shuffles toward its finale, I began to walk down the “is this navel-gazing?” path myself. But before things get too saccharine, Baumbach and Mortimer’s script delivers a brutalizing gut-punch of a final line. Is this the instant classic Marriage Story was? No, but Jay Kelly is a melancholic journey into a film star’s psyche. It fits snugly alongside some of Baumbach’s most acerbic works. ▼

enacted at kitchen tables, over infinite cigarettes, in rooftop tableaux, in extemporized dance numbers — the breath of life exhaled in the possibilities of where a day can take you.

Whishaw and Hall are superb, presenting a friendship grounded in countless infinitesimal moments. Each detail — in clothes, in color, in the sounds of the city — as perfect as needed. So specific you could touch it. So expansive you could never get your arms or mind around it fully.

Fame is actually just a subset of being remembered. The micro from the macro. And this film is a triumphant work of earthy grace. ▼

Friday,

Peter Hujar’s Day NR, 76 minutes Opening

Dec. 5, at the Belcourt

Jay Kelly R, 132 minutes Streaming Friday, Dec. 5, on Netflix

ACROSS

1 Place for a pencil sharpener

5 Argentine plain

10 Prayer leader

14 Droves

15 Disney princess who longs to be “part of that world”

16 Come to

17 Either acting sibling Andrew or Elisabeth

18 What pulls out all the stops?

19 Food generally known outside the U.S. as “lady’s fingers”

20 Start illegally, say

22 What every baseball inning starts with

24 “Kind of” suffix

25 Shore up the ranks

27 Little pest

28 Animal with a white rump

30 Highlands hat

31 Epitome of simplicity

33 Binge

35 “I’ll ___ you!”

36 Pop-pop

39 Country sharing the world’s longest international border

41 Showed great pride, in a way

42 Desirable Vegas couple?

43 Lake in the homeland of the Washoe people

47 ___ Blaster (toy)

48 Inconsequential

49 Journeys by foot

50 Ones eliciting knee-jerk reactions, informally?

51 Exemplar

53 Having a strong sense of direction?

57 Likely oriented toward platonic relationships, in brief

58 Members of the dolphin family that prey on dolphins

63 Like a revving engine

64 Skater Midori

65 Words after “ding, ding, ding”

66 & 68 “Wicked” song suggested by the answers to the seven starred clues (and whose singer is spelled by the circled letters reading from left to right)

70 Bronzed

71 Not just yet

72 Abjures

73 Target of urban renewal, say

1 Soup stock in Japanese cuisine

2 *The ones over there

3 Washington, Jefferson or Madison

4 Already heard, say

5 *One selling commercial time, informally

6 Takes in

7 The Marlins, on scoreboards

8 Lewis Carroll or George Orwell

9 *It’s used to scrub in the tub

10 Jubilant postgame report

11 Show up unannounced?

12 *Some Scandinavian money

13 Indicated

21 Irritated

23 Old enough

26 Symbol for the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its radius

29 *Stand before a meeting

32 *Genre for Aretha Franklin or Usher

33 One might start “Your Social Security number has been compromised”

34 Rate

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE

37 Chicago exchange, for short

38 Certain attachments

40 Flour used in Indian flatbreads

41 Kiss in a telenovela

44 Calls to court

45 *Your home

46 Voice command to an Android device

51 Fool’s gold

52 Write, as music

53 Symbol of authority

54 Small dessert sandwiches

55 Left of center?

56 Get ready to have one’s tonsils checked, perhaps

59 Wanders

60 World capital on the world’s longest river

61 Family name with an eponymous Row, Court, Place and Avenue in New York City

62 Composer Jule

67 Slangy refusal

69 Fish also known as a batomorph

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 s 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,

FORECLOSURE SALE NOTICE WHEREAS, Timothy Brian Malone executed a Tennessee Deed of Trust, Security Agreement and Assignment of Rents and Leases dated February 26, 2025, of record at Instrument No. 20250325-0022338, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, (the “Deed of Trust”) and conveyed to Michael Anthony Shaw, as Trustee, the hereinafter described real property to secure the payment of certain indebtedness (“Indebtedness”) owed to Edgefield Holdings, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company ( “Lender”); and WHEREAS, default in payment of the Indebtedness secured by the Deed of Trust has occurred; and WHEREAS, David M. Anthony (“Trustee”) has been appointed Substitute Trustee by Lender by that Appointment of Substitute Trustee of record at Instrument 20251020-0083417, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, with authority to act alone or by a designated agent with the powers given the Trustee in the Deed of Trust and by applicable law; and WHEREAS, Lender, the owner and holder of said Indebtedness, has demanded that the real property be advertised and sold in satisfaction of said Indebtedness and the costs of the foreclosure, in accordance with the terms and provisions of the loan documents and Deed of Trust. NOW, THEREFORE, notice is hereby given that the Trustee, pursuant to the power, duty and authority vested in and imposed upon the Trustee under the Deed of Trust and applicable law, will on Friday, December 19, 2025, at 1:15 o’clock p.m., prevailing Nashville time, on the steps of the historic Davidson County Courthouse, 1 Public Square, Nashville, Tennessee 37201, offer for sale to the highest and best bidder for cash and free from all rights and equity of redemption, statutory right of redemption or otherwise,

PUZZLE BY HOWARD NEUTHALER