LEGISLATURE PASSES
HEALTH CARE
“CONSCIENCE” BILL
>> PAGE 7
FOOD & DRINK: RIVERSIDE VILLAGE’S DINING EVOLUTION CONTINUES WITH FOUR NEW SPOTS
>> PAGE 32
Nashville’s Cambodian immigrant community just wants you to know they’re here
“Replanted
in a New Land”
WITNESS HISTORY
This hand-painted bass drumhead was used by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band around 1970—one of the many used by the band throughout their almost sixty-year career.
From the exhibit Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock, presented by City National Bank
artifact: Courtesy of Jimmie Fadden artifact
photo
Health Care ‘Conscience’ Bill Passes
The legislation, written by a conservative advocacy group, could affect urgent care and rural patients BY
HANNAH HERNER
Pith in the Wind
This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog
Multiple City Studies Confirm Nashville’s Dire Housing Need
Housing diversity is seen as key to alleviating catastrophic home prices BY
ELI MOTYCKA
COVER PACKAGE: “REPLANTED IN A NEW LAND”
Inside East Nashville’s Cambodian International Buddhist Temple
The temple’s annual community memorial blessing took place March 23 BY
LAURA HUTSON HUNTER; PHOTOS
BY
ERIC ENGLAND
Community Advocate Sarong Vit-Kory
Born in a refugee camp, the longtime Nashvillian is a leading advocate for the Cambodian community BY KIM GREEN
The Venerable Han Hoeung
The Cambodian monk teaches compassion BY LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
Sony Sok
Sok sees Nashville’s Khmer diaspora as a success story of transcending hardship BY KIM GREEN
Sovann Chan and Rethy Long
The father and daughter found each other decades after chaos forced them to become refugees BY KIM GREEN
CRITICS’ PICKS
Lucy Dacus, Independent Bookstore Day, Garden of Earthly Delights, Widespread Panic and more
FOOD AND DRINK
It Takes a Village
Riverside Village’s dining evolution continues with four new spots — including, yes, takeout Chinese BY
MARGARET LITTMAN
THEATER
Body Fluid
Faye Driscoll’s performance Weathering arrives at OZ Arts just in time BY LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
MUSIC
To Know the Comma
Legendary singer and phenomenal songwriter Alison Moyet looks back on four decades of singular music BY JASON SHAWHAN
A Whole Mood
Japanese Breakfast explores the depths on For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women) BY HANNAH CRON
The Spin
The Scene’s live-review column checks out Duke’s 10th anniversary party featuring William Tyler and Friends and more BY P.J. KINZER
A Body at Rest
The Shrouds reminds us that there’s no one else like David Cronenberg BY JASON SHAWHAN
NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD AND THIS MODERN WORLD MARKETPLACE
ON THE COVER:
The Venerable Han Hoeung; photo by Eric England
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HEALTH CARE ‘CONSCIENCE’ BILL PASSES
The legislation, written by a conservative advocacy group, could affect urgent care and rural patients
BY HANNAH HERNER
A BILL ON ITS way to Gov. Bill Lee’s desk will allow physicians to refuse care to individuals if it violates — per the legislation’s language — their “conscience.”
At least one physician says the bill is too broad and redundant, and could be detrimental to rural patients. While being discussed in one committee, the legislation, called the Medical Ethics Defense Act, was linked to abortion care, gender-affirming care and euthanasia.
The bill was written by the Alliance Defending Freedom, an Arizona-based conservative Christian legal advocacy group that has also advocated for legislation limiting abortion and gay marriage and targeting transgender people. The organization has worked to pass such legislation in six other states in the past seven years.
Erica Steinmiller-Perdomo, an attorney at the ADF, traveled to the Tennessee General Assembly to testify on behalf of the bill in March. She claimed that similar laws in Illinois, Ohio, Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Montana and Florida have not been challenged legally.
The Alliance Defending Freedom helped a New York City surgeon bring a case against her employer for being asked to participate in an abortion, among other lawsuits.
“There are doctors who practice medicine consistent with a pro-life worldview in which an abortion is never medically necessary,” Steinmiller-Perdomo said, “and there are procedures that are available to treat a woman in that circumstance without having to perform an elective abortion.”
Current Tennessee law in part states, “A health care provider may decline to comply with an individual instruction or health care decision for reasons of conscience,” though the Medical Ethics Defense Act offers additional legal pro-
tections for health care workers who may go against generally accepted medical standards. State law also protects physicians from having to give “medically inappropriate health care.”
Sponsor Rep. Bryan Terry (R-Murfreesboro) said at a House Health Subcommittee meeting in March that he thought the bill would assist in a physician shortage and put the state in a better place to recruit and retain physicians.
One physician Tennessee has gained is urogynecologist Dr. Jonathan Shaw, who currently practices in Chattanooga. He claims he was pressured to participate in gender-affirming care in New Hampshire and looked for a different job before he was “pushed out.” He was attracted to Tennessee because of what he calls “common-sense policies that preserve the freedom to be guided by conscience.”
“If one doctor’s allegiance is to the patient, I would say that my conscience allegiance is to the designer of the patient, the God that created the universe and the rules and laws that we live by,” said Shaw during the committee meeting. “I can have allegiance to both. The patient, to do no harm, and to the God of the patient as well. One does trump the other.”
Michael Chupp, CEO of the Christian Medical Association, also testified in favor of the bill, noting that the organization has 538 members in Tennessee. ADF lawyer Greg Chafuen listed euthanasia, prescribing an abortion pill and “gender issues” as examples of where the bill could come into play. (A bill that would allow adults suffering from terminal disease to end their lives with medication was tabled earlier this year.)
DR. AMY GORDON BONO ADDRESSES PROTESTERS AND REPORTERS OUTSIDE THE JUSTICE A. A. BIRCH BUILDING, AUGUST 2022
U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn accused Vanderbilt University Medical Center last week of “concealing” diversity, equity and inclusion programs in a letter to VUMC President Jeffrey Balser. Blackburn cites a January executive order from President Donald Trump demanding that entities receiving federal funding end such programs. The health care giant insists it has eliminated all DEI programs in compliance with Trump’s order. Blackburn’s accusations directly correspond with a Fox News report published March 18, itself based on an anti-DEI campaign by nonprofit Consumers’ Research. Fox News includes screenshots that claim to show password-protected VUMC webpages related to DEI.
Primary care physician Dr. Amy Gordon Bono said in a committee meeting that the General Assembly could address “moral injury” in a more meaningful way — with measures that address the high cost of care, for example. “I see nothing in this bill that alleviates the regular burdens of health care workers,” she said.
Rep. Susan Lynn (R-Mount Juliet) asked if a physician should have the right to refuse gender-affirming care. Bono suggested tailoring the bill just to that procedure.
Bono points out that the bill does respect the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, meaning physicians would still be required to offer care in emergency situations. But the gray area, she tells the Scene, is care that may be urgent but not emergent
“You can still have medical issues that are urgent, but are not emergent, that would still lead to a delay in care of the patient, potentially,” Bono said. “We’ve encountered this plenty of times, especially in the care of pregnant patients. Where do we draw the line between what is urgent versus emergent? How can we take steps to keep someone from succumbing to an urgent issue that is not yet emergent?”
The bill might also be more detrimental in rural areas.
For more coverage of this year’s session of the Tennessee General Assembly, visit nashvillescene.com/state-legislature.
“Ultimately when someone denies a patient care, that patient still needs help, and we just don’t have a good number of health care providers in rural areas,” Bono says. “Sometimes there’s only one person to turn to, and there’s nobody else to take that person’s place, so the person just ends up being denied health care.” ▼
Gov. Bill Lee has announced the appointment of a former federal agent as Tennessee’s first chief immigration enforcement officer to lead the state’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Ryan Hubbard retired as a federal agent in February after 28 years in immigration enforcement working as a U.S. border patrol agent and with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service and Homeland Security Investigations. The creation of the CIEO position comes after Tennessee lawmakers passed a sweeping immigration package — in line with crackdowns implemented by the Trump administration — during this year’s special session.
On April 11, six state Republicans were appointed as deputy whips, a role traditionally tasked with counting votes and keeping a party’s members in line. Included in a media release were photos of each newly appointed whip alongside House Majority Whip Johnny Garrett (R-Goodlettsville), who presented each deputy whip with an actual framed black whip. The Tennessee Black Caucus issued a release saying the gifts “reflect a troubling lack of awareness and sensitivity in the General Assembly.” The Tennessee State Capitol was built in part by the labor of enslaved people. As this issue went to press, the 2025 session of the Tennessee General Assembly was winding toward its close. Also in the final days of the session, lawmakers discussed “DEI dismantling,” the state budget, immigration and much more. See the latest at nashvillescene.com/ state-legislature
PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS
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MULTIPLE CITY STUDIES CONFIRM NASHVILLE’S DIRE HOUSING NEED
Housing diversity is seen as key to alleviating catastrophic home prices
BY ELI MOTYCKA
the study targets zoning-restricted density.
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NEW REPORTS HAVE begun to circulate among city lawmakers and planners that set the table for major housing reforms. Conclusions describe a city lacking sufficient supply and housing diversity, a problem attributed to limited and outdated zoning restrictions ripe for reform. City planners are expected to deliver two more major studies — a unified housing strategy and an ecological conservation report — as well as formal policy recommendations to the Metro Council in June.
Councilmembers, led by first-term reps Rollin Horton and Quin Evans Segall, attempted to broaden permissions for higher-density building across the city last year. The legislation — sweetly termed Nashville’s Essential Structures for Togetherness, or NEST — met fierce opposition from single-family neighborhoods and scored a few limited successes. Sponsors withdrew an ordinance to allow multifamily residences to be built by right in many areas currently zoned for single-family homes, pending further study — namely a Housing and Infrastructure Study expected the following year.
“We’re never going to have community if every time we tear down a duplex or a smaller-scale home we build a 6,000-square-foot multimillion-dollar home,” Evans Segall told Scene sister publication the Nashville Post early last year. “A variety of housing [and] a variety of neighbors is what creates that community, and it’s what we all are craving in Nashville right now.”
The report’s initial findings landed last month along with an executive summary. Though still tagged as draft documents, the Housing and Infrastructure Study’s recommendations signal a coming sea change for city codes and zoning meant to induce building amid an urban housing shortage. In addition to specifics, like a recommendation to allow taller buildings with single-egress stairs (a proposed NEST ordinance),
“Looking ahead to the next ten years, Nashville’s current zoning code and zoning map are unlikely to accommodate the amount of housing Nashville will need,” the summary states plainly as its first “key finding.” It revisits the point several times.
“The current base zoning districts are out of date,” the summary states, later adding particular emphasis on higher density. “Nashville should update its zoning code to accommodate these kinds of smaller footprint buildings.”
Veteran Councilmember At-Large Burkley Allen, a longtime proponent of detached accessory dwelling units (DADUs) on single-family lots, added her own zinger in the study’s online comment section. “We are losing our small 1940’s ranches and attic apartments that have been entry points into the neighborhood in the past,” she wrote. “We do not need to replace them with 5,000 square foot homes with no yard.”
Another study — commissioned as a thirdparty view on the city’s approach to low- and mid-rise multifamily development colloquially known as “middle housing” — returned its own definitive analysis. Nashville paid Interval LLC, a one-man consultancy run by Memphis and Shelby County planning director John Zeanah, for the opinion.
“Among Metro Nashville’s regulatory environment there are numerous opportunities to roll back restrictions to allow more variety of housing,” reads Zeanah’s report. “This memo includes findings from a variety of codes and standards but finds that the zoning code provides the most opportunity for reform to begin to enable middle-scale housing to be built in Metro Nashville. Though it is a critical first step, updating the zoning code should only be the start. Barriers in the fire codes, building codes, and stormwater regulations can be just as vex-
ing, particularly for developers trying to finance a project.”
Infrastructure updates, too, can facilitate more and faster density, the report finds. While furnished as technical analyses, both reports reference political considerations more relevant to the councilmembers tasked with achieving the recommended changes. Zeanah mentions the “political friction often associated with adding more units to a lot in exclusively single-family zoning districts.” A generalized concern for residents who “worry that changes mean their own neighborhoods are no longer for them” hangs over the Housing and Infrastructure document, which cautions that development has often been “fraught for neighbors, reasonably concerned about how change may affect their quality of life.”
Urgency for housing has become such a slippery political issue as it directly reflects the broad range of realities experienced across Nashville. In the same city, young families live between cars and hotel rooms while empty-nesters tend to single-family homes with two or three empty bedrooms. Makeshift homesteads built from tents and plywood under I-24 are less than a mile from the elegant Victorian mansions on Russell Street, though these residents live worlds apart.
Some call for dense, walkable blocks bustling with new restaurants and businesses as others cling to the spacious comforts of familiar neighborhoods that they bought into decades ago. New building — a physical manifestation of the changing city’s recent boom times — has also faced organized opposition from neighbors protecting specific qualities that make up their shared corner of the world. Now, armed with market analyses and executive summaries printed on letterhead, planners and lawmakers are preparing to tinker with a housing market that everyone believes is out of whack. ▼
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“Replanted in a New Land”
Nashville’s Cambodian immigrant community just wants you to know they’re here
BY KIM GREEN
ON APRIL 17, 1975, the victors of the Cambodian Civil War occupied Phnom Penh, the country’s capital, and marched its 2 million inhabitants into the countryside. While Saigon fell in neighboring Vietnam, Khmer Rouge revolutionaries cut off Cambodia from the outside world and began to implement their fanatical vision: resetting their civilization’s history to “Year Zero” and transforming a modern nation into a brutal agricultural slave-labor collective. They abandoned the cities, schools, hospitals, temples and businesses; killed a generation of leaders, monks and professionals; and forced the entire population into camps to work the land, to be starved and terrorized, in an attempt to make them forget who they had been.
By the time Vietnamese troops ousted Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge in 1979, an estimated 2 million Cambodians had died by execution, hunger, torture or disease. The country was in ruins. Hundreds of thousands of sick and starved Cambodians braved battle zones, banditry and minefields to reach the U.N. refugee agency’s overflowing camps in Thailand. More than 150,000 Cambodian refugees, many with the help of the United States Catholic Conference (USCC), were resettled in the United States, with the largest diasporas gathering in Long Beach, Calif., and Lowell, Mass.
Nashville’s Cambodian community, by comparison, is relatively small. A 1989 U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services report estimated that beginning in 1978, around 100 families — or 500 people — had settled here. Many lived on Archer Street in Edgehill and along Shelby Avenue in East Nashville. They found work in factories, an African violet greenhouse and the Gaylord Opryland Resort. They resisted their own erasure by living, and by refusing to forget who they had been.
On the 50th anniversary of “Year Zero,” the Scene checked in with our city’s Cambodian community to find out how they’ve built new lives as Americans, Southerners and Nashvillians. They recalled coming here with nothing, and the support they received — from USCC, ESL teachers, YMCA counselors, public assistance and the Belmont Baptist Church. They told us with pride about converting a modest house off Dickerson Pike into a Buddhist temple and community anchor. They discussed businesses they’ve launched, children they’ve sent to school, homes they’ve saved up for. They also spoke of genocide’s ghosts: shattered aspirations and the buried fear and pain that emerge as anxiety, haunted silences, anger — and occasionally, mental illness or violence. And they defined the ingredients of their extraordinary resilience: hard work and gratitude; commitment to family, faith and their close-knit community; and awestruck thankfulness for the miracle of being alive at all.
Here are a few stories of who the Cambodian Nashvillians were, who they are now, and who they’re still becoming.▼
Inside East Nashville’s Cambodian International Buddhist Temple
The temple’s annual community memorial blessing took place March 23
BY LAURA HUTSON HUNTER; PHOTOS BY ERIC ENGLAND
In the Cambodian tradition, people invite monks to their homes to bless the spirits of their family members. Because there tend to be fewer monks in American communities, the tradition evolved into a communal blessing ritual. Every year, members of the Cambodian community from all around Middle Tennessee — and sometimes from other states — gather at the Cambodian Buddhist Temple in East Nashville for a special memorial service.
The temple serves a vital role in the community of Cambodian Nashvillians. “If they’ve experienced a loss or something that’s very tragic,” the Venerable Han Hoeung tells the Scene “they can become extremely depressed, and they can lose their faith in life and living. We try to strengthen them, and we use the dharma for them to have faith and a sense of positivity in their lives.”
The temple’s walls are lined with paintings that detail the life of the Buddha, from birth to enlightenment to death and beyond. Framed photographs of revered Buddhist leaders, some adorned with cosmological markings, provide another layer of visual information to focus on during the ritual chantings and meditation.
It is customary to remove shoes before entering the temple, and seeing an assortment of sandals, children’s sneakers and slippers is an indication of a large group gathered inside.
Monks are the spiritual leaders of the Cambodian community. One of the first things many Nashvillians ask the monks about is their robes. A brilliant saffron-orange is the most popular choice for Cambodian monks from the Theravāda school of Buddhism, but if you travel to Malaysia or Myanmar, it’s more common to see monks in maroon robes.
“The origin of the color of the robe,” Hoeung explains, “comes from the Buddha’s time, which was a very poor time, and so monks did not have robes to wear. Instead, they would find scraps as they’re walking or doing their meditation. They would take pieces of rags that they found, and after they had a certain amount, they would stitch them up and wrap it around. And to blend in with nature, they would just dye it one color. And the Buddha said, ‘Any color that comes out is the color that you wear.’”
Community Advocate Sarong Vit-Kory
Born in a refugee camp, the longtime Nashvillian is a leading advocate for the Cambodian community
BY KIM GREEN
Sarong Vit-Kory was born in 1982 in the Khao I Dang refugee camp in Thailand. Four years later, her family resettled in Nashville. For Vit-Kory, her parents and her five siblings, the city became a home and a refuge. She learned English at school and church, and her father worked at the Opryland Hotel.
Vit-Kory comes across as resolutely buoyant and enterprising. After graduating from MTSU, she spent time in Cambodia, carried her bilingual skills back home, and became a dogged advocate for Nashville’s Cambodian refugee families. She helps them navigate citizenship applications and doctor’s appointments, cares for her mother, and takes the Buddhist monks on outings. “You can negate evil with goodness,” she says, “and being compassionate.” The Scene spoke with Vit-Kory about growing up in Nashville’s small Khmer community.
What’s your first memory? In the camps. I remember walking barefoot with my sisters in a sandy, dusty area. My mother was cooking, and she said, “Go find your father. Tell him to come home.”
What are some early memories of Nashville? We lived in Cayce Homes. Some other Cambodians stayed in the Fatherland and Boscobel areas, and on South Ninth. They were our “phums” — “phum” means village — like back in Cambodia. Everyone would gather at the phums and eat, drink, play games and sing karaoke. There were two or three weddings every summer — very festive. Romvong [traditional folk-dance music] was a glimpse of our parents’ lives before the war.
Where did you go to school? We Cambodians went to Cora Howe Elementary, and then Bailey Middle. We spoke Khmer while we were learning English. Then Metro said everyone had to go to their zoned schools. After fifth grade, I was in class with no Cambodians. We lost our fluency. This affected our relationship with our parents, who only knew Khmer.
Where did you worship? In the 1980s, the community was very centered around the Belmont Baptist Church. There was a Cambodian pastor there. Wednesday nights, a bus picked us up at the phums. I was in the choir. That’s when I learned that I love to sing. I’m crazy about Christmas carols. My parents didn’t talk about Buddhism. Really, the basis for life then was just to get by, to
save money, to raise your kids, and just work.
Why did you visit Cambodia? I got a degree in international relations and wanted to learn more about developing countries, for my career. I also wanted to learn Khmer so I could communicate with my parents and be closer to them.
Going to Cambodia helped me remember that Cambodian girl I was in elementary school. When I would go to the temple and hear the chanting, I felt the physical and spiritual world come together. It became a part of my identity as a Cambodian Buddhist woman.
Did you understand what your parents had been through during the Khmer Rouge regime? I always knew they came from a war. I didn’t understand the kind of atrocity it was. It’s something I didn’t grow up hearing about. You’d maybe hear the words “Pol Pot” or “Khmer Rouge” while people were drinking together. And my mother, who is mentally disabled, would say certain words to
herself in Khmer, like “Communi! Communi!” I realized later, when I went to Cambodia, that she was saying the word “communists.”
Did your mother tell you anything about that time? She always said she sewed the black uniforms for the Khmer Rouge. Then about 10 years ago, someone asked her, “Tell us, please, sister. Be honest. What did you do during the war?” It turns out, she had to collect and count the rice that was being shipped to a factory and probably on to China. Not by choice. Of course, she had to do it. The reason she lied was, she said, “Never tell the truth, or you can get killed.”
Everyone went through the war. But a few people got extremely traumatized. I think my mother got it the worst. She hears voices at night, so I’ll comfort her. It’s a cry of suffering, a cry of loneliness.
What drives you to be a caretaker for your family and community? I think I was always a little Buddhist girl and didn’t even know it. Because
when I was 7 or 8, I made a decision: I just want to do good.
I think everyone has a little Buddha in them. You and I are the same. We’re human. Your joy is my joy.
What does the American Dream mean to you? My father was a farmer. He never imagined what his country would go through, and that he would have to leave everything that he knew. For the rest of his life, he used his bare hands to provide for his family. But it was such a life of meaning for him.
Every family has its problems, but we do everything together. That’s how we create meaning. Success is finding meaning with people you love in your life. We’ve been replanted in a new land, and we’ve been able to survive with each other. It’s a story of the human spirit. We are so infinite. We are so much stronger than we think we are. And the Cambodian community in Nashville is an example of that. They are survivors. ▼
APRIL 25
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LEA MICHELE
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RHIANNON GIDDENS & THE OLD-TIME REVUE WITH YASMIN WILLIAMS
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NOVEMBER 22
THE LONE BELLOW ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM
The Venerable Han Hoeung
The Cambodian monk teaches compassion
BY LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
THE VENERABLE HAN HOEUNG didn’t always want to be a monk.
“In the beginning, I didn’t want to be a monk at all, but my father was a monk,” Hoeung explains through a translator. “He was a great monk, and well-known. He wanted me, as his son, to continue that legacy. I said to myself that I would — but only for a month or two.”
He laughs as he remembers those younger years, and his own childish folly.
“Obviously, at the age of 14, there are a lot of distractions in your life,” he continues. “You have all this freedom and just kind of so many choices. But it also seemed chaotic at the same time. That’s what attracted me to Buddhism — the moment I was ordained to be a monk, there was peace and calmness. And I thought, ‘I can use this to educate myself and also to educate the people.’”
Hoeung has been a monk for almost 30 years. In June 2021, he moved to Nashville from Cambodia. It’s been quite a transition.
“I had been living in Cambodia most of my life,” he says, “and the country is a developing country. So you see a lot of things in process and in progress. Versus here, where everything seems to be fully established already. Freedom is in abundance.”
He lives among a community of monks at the Cambodian International Buddhist Temple in East Nashville, where he feels comfortable but always enjoys going out into the community. As he did in his home country, Hoeung loves to speak with younger Cambodians living in Nashville about the dharma — the interconnectedness of all life. But unlike in Cambodia, in Nashville he feels a greater freedom to express ideas, especially when it comes to injustices he perceives.
“We’re able to instill a certain type of emotion in [younger generations] that gets them to be so compassionate about their parents and about others that they will cry and become very emotional. And then we try to let them become familiar with that emotion of being compassionate, so that they can always use that and take it with them as they’re growing up.”
“Before the opposition party in Cambodia took power, monks had quite a bit of freedom,” he explains. “If there was injustice, the monks would come together just sort of to be a face for the people. But after the opposition party was dissolved, all monks realized that they cannot say too much.
“When I came here, I realized that I can speak about what I feel is right — especially when it comes to speaking about justice,” Hoeung continues. “You can speak that without having that fear or the sense of oppression that monks now in Cambodia experience.”
Hoeung encourages curious Nashvillians to come visit the temple if they’d like to learn more about the dharma, mindfulness and meditation — as long as a translator is available. ▼
Sony Sok
Sok sees Nashville’s Khmer diaspora as a success story of transcending hardship
BY KIM GREEN
SONY SOK WAS 13 years old when he stepped off the plane from L.A. to Nashville in October 1981. “It was the coldest day I’ve ever seen,” he recalls. He soon settled in East Nashville with his mother and four of his siblings. Two other siblings went to Australia. His father, a grocer and durian farmer, did not survive the Khmer Rouge regime. Sok was in kindergarten in Pailin, a province in western Cambodia, when the Khmer Rouge took over his country. But he does not linger on losses. He tells his life story as a gratitude list of supportive allies and opportunities seized: English classes at Khao I Dang refugee camp; United States Catholic Conference caseworkers who found his family a place to live and registered him in sixth grade; two ESL teachers at Cameron Middle School who helped him adjust to American life; and a YMCA director named J. Lawrence, who ran sports leagues for Cambodian kids and took Sok under his wing, connecting him with a scholarship to Cumberland University. Lawrence also
hired him to translate for other Khmers, whom he helped with doctor visits or legal problems. Without the Y, Sok says, “I wouldn’t be who I am today.”
Who he is today is a husband and proud father of two grown daughters, as well as a cheerful jokester who “can’t stay still.” He works as a warehouse supervisor at Wilson Sporting Goods and a pharmacy tech in Franklin. In his spare time, he makes old cars run like new. He attends the Belmont Baptist Church and the Cambodian Buddhist Temple, where he helps with landscaping and preparing for big celebrations like Khmer New Year every April. Sok sees the two faiths as entirely compatible: “Either Jesus or Buddha, if you compare them, they are the same,” he says. Both offer “life lessons, peace, a better understanding of yourself and other people.”
Fifty years after Cambodia’s nightmare began, Sok sees Nashville’s small Khmer diaspora as a success story of transcending hardship and enduring as a community. “We are strong, and we are brilliant,” he says, laughing. “We are hard workers. We are together, work[ing] as a team.”
When I ask him what he’d like to tell his fellow Nashvillians, he says, “I want my voice to be heard, so they know we are here.” Then he grins and adds, “Buy me a large pizza with everything.” ▼
Sovann Chan and Rethy Long
The father and daughter found each other decades after chaos forced them to become refugees
BY KIM GREEN
WHEN SHE WAS 15 years old, Sovann Chan broke down a nailed-shut door and fled her family’s East Nashville house in the middle of the night. Her father had abused her in that attic room since she was 8 years old. She knew she could never go home.
For the next few years, she stayed with friends and at youth crisis intervention space Oasis Center, worked in restaurants and bars, had a daughter and opened a Cambodian restaurant, Angkorians. The restaurant closed in 2020. Life went on. But she began to have questions: How could a father do such things to his daughter? Why didn’t she look like her younger sisters?
started new families. Life went on. And then Long’s daughter appeared in Lowell. He could not believe she was alive.
Sovann knew instantly that this man was her real dad. He was humble. He welcomed her into his family with a lobster feast. And his left ear was burned and scarred from mine and rocket blasts during the war.
For them, this reunion is one more miracle in their parallel histories of extraordinary, improbable survival. “He wants me to tell you,” Chan says, translating for her dad, “that there’s not many who have a life story like mine.”
“I hit the jackpot,” she says, smiling at him. “I think I’m at peace.” They visit each other several times a year. Life goes on. ▼
Chan sent a DNA test to Ancestry.com and found a match in Lowell, Mass. An uncle told Chan, mysteriously: “If this man is your father, he’ll have a missing ear.” She went to Lowell to find out.
Rethy Long had last seen Chan 43 years before, when she was a newborn in the Cambodian jungle near the Thai border. Chan’s mother and Long were victims of collective forced marriage, a common Khmer Rouge practice. In 1979, Vietnamese troops ousted Pol Pot’s regime, and the couple fled into the forest, where Sovann Chan was born. Her mother was so malnourished that she could not breastfeed. They wrapped their baby in rags and leaves.
Amid the chaos of fighting and flight, the family got separated. Each made their way to Thai refugee camps and to America, where they
Live Music at ON BROADWAY
APRIL LINE UP
4.2 Styles, James Slater, Rachel Thibodeau
4.5 Jeff Hyde & Ryan Tyndell – The Songs of Eric Church
4.6 Chapel Hart
4.8 Heather Morgan, Tiera Kennedy, Iris Copperman w/ Ross Copperman
4.10 Casey Beathard w/ Tucker Beathard
4.11 The Ocean Blue –Performing The Ocean Blue and Cerulean Albums
4.12 The Warren Brothers
4.13 Pick Pick Pass w/ Kevin Mac, James LeBlanc, Jacob Lydia
4.15 Showtime: Nashville w/ Riley Anderson, Skyelor Anderson, Duke Jones, Will Moseley
4.17 Jammy Buffey w/ Special Guests Brendan Mayer and Coral Reefer Legend, Roger Bartlett
4.18 Ty Herndon – Celebrating 30 Years of “What Mattered Most”
4.19 Waymore’s Outlaws –Runnin’ With Ol’ Waylon
4.26 Melodies for Miracles: A Benefit for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
4.27 Corb Lund & Hayes Carll: Bible on the Dash Tour
4.28 Buddy’s Place Writer’s Round w/ Alyssa Bonagura, Fraser Churchill, Sean Kennedy
4.30 Uncle B’s Drunk with Power String Band Show feat. Bryan Simpson w/ Mae Estes, Lera Lynn GET TICKETS AT CHIEFSONBROADWAY.COM FOLLOW US @ChiefSBROADWAY om cha ons, t a s, eeple committed mmi
MONDAY-WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28-30
MUSIC [FEELING IT]
LUCY DACUS
Over the past decade, lauded singer-songwriter and boygenius member Lucy Dacus developed a singularly expansive indie-rock-ish style. On her latest LP Forever Is a Feeling, released in March, she took the opportunity to tread new territory. Beyond a rare single, this is the first time Dacus has tried her hand at love songs. And be warned — they have just as much seismic impact as her ruminations on heartbreak and aging. Her circle of collaborators has expanded too, and she’s brought strings and other rich sonic elements into the mix. But while the subject matter and sound are a departure from her previous work, Forever Is a Feeling maintains a through line with its predecessors — what longtime co-producer Collin Pastore described in a recent interview with the Scene as the same “heart memory.” You have three chances to hear it for yourself. First, Dacus performs a special stripped-down set at the Frist on Monday, April 28, open only to members of Nashville Public Radio’s music discovery station WNXP and the Frist Art Museum. The following two nights, she’ll make her debut as a solo headliner at the Ryman. HANNAH CRON
APRIL 28 AT THE FRIST & APRIL 29-30 AT THE RYMAN
919 BROADWAY & 116 REP. JOHN LEWIS WAY N.
Visit calendar.nashvillescene.com for more event listings
THURSDAY / 4.24
MUSIC
[OUTSIDE THE WINDSHIELD] SEAN THOMPSON’S WEIRD EARS
As you might expect from an in-demand guitarist who spends a big portion of the year on the road, the road songs on Sean Thompson’s new album Head in the Sand signify. The album is the latest installment in a series of releases credited to Sean Thompson’s Weird Ears, and he integrates jazz-influenced guitar solos into songs that often reference the kind of popcountry-rock that flourished in the 1970s. The tunes Thompson came up with for Head in the Sand wax funny about life on the road and the complexities of being a touring musician from Nashville who just wants to understand the world as it reveals itself to you outside the windshield. “Riding in the Van” sounds like, say, The Atlanta Rhythm Section, while “Storm’s Comin’ Tonight” contains a free-jazz section and a spiky guitar solo. Another reference point for Head in the Sand might be ’70s band Sea Level, whose records updated Southern rock by adding jazzy touches, but Thompson’s music suffuses a droll, super-informed concept album about the musician’s lot, complete with guitar solos that take the songs somewhere new. Thompson sings in an unpretentious voice that’s perfect for
his lyrics. In “Not in the Cards,” he sings: “Would it be easier to take if I lost my cool / Screaming, shouting, acting like a fool?” Head in the Sand even has its political overtones — listen to the words to the title track — but Thompson’s worldview seems couched in everyday wisdom. EDD HURT
9 P.M. AT DEE’S COUNTRY COCKTAIL LOUNGE 102 E. PALESTINE AVE., MADISON
FILM [DARK SIDE OF THE RUINS] PINK FLOYD AT POMPEII — MCMLXXII IN IMAX
Witness a moment of music history at Nashville’s Regal Opry Mills as Pink Floyd at Pompeii — MCMLXXII hits IMAX for two nights only. Watching any Pink Floyd live performance is a transformative experience for audiences, but perhaps none more so than the band’s iconic 1972 concert in the ruins of Pompeii, Italy. The concert — held without an audience — is deservedly remastered and getting re-released on IMAX so that new generations of fans can be immersed in the experimental genius of the British rock band. The classical iconography and setting of Pompeii is a stark contrast to the fresh and innovative psychedelic rock that was, at the time, about to alter the course of music history forever. A particular highlight is the epic performance of “Echoes,” which opens
SEAN THOMPSON
SPECIAL ACTIVITY AREAS
SPRING STREET
Visit Spring Street to explore arts and crafts booths, live art demonstrations by muralists and chalk artists, live painting by members of the Williamson County Arts Council, interactive art, photo ops, and classic games. Enjoy storytimes at the FSSD Story Bus (12:00, 12:30, 1:00, and 1:30 PM), a musical petting zoo from Back2Rock, and live cultural performances by Danza Azteca Quetzalli, along with the colorful Festival of Lights Parade.
MAIN STAGE Presented by NISSAN USA
You can’t have Main Street without MAIN STAGE! Rock on over to the Square to see a variety of bands, acts, and performances take center stage.
ACOUSTIC STAGE
Presented by
PRICE PRINTING
There’s plenty of great music awaiting you at Main Street Festival’s Acoustic Stage!! You won’t want to miss out on this year’s incredibly talented lineup of performers on the corner of 4th and Main!
PETONE Presented by ANIMALIA HEALTH & WELLNESS
Main Street Festival is for everyone, including the pups! If your furry family members are accompanying you on Main Street, be sure to stop by the Pet Zone featuring a fenced-in pet park, refresh station, treats, pet vendors and more!
KIDONE Presented by HopeUC
Looking for endless fun at Main Street? Look no further than KidZone! With exciting games, creative crafts, and engaging activities, KidZone is the ultimate destination for your little adventurers.
*Located in the Landmark Booksellers parking lot
CATERPILLAR CRAWL
Enjoy Discounts & Win a Movie Ticket to The Franklin Theatre! Grab a passport and follow the Caterpillar Crawl to find the unique Caterpillar at each destination and write its code on your passport to claim your prize!
•Hollie Ray Boutique
•McGavock's Coffee & Provision
•Sweethaven
•Shuff's Music (closed Sunday)
•Twine Graphics
•Mellow Mushroom
•Hester & Cook
•The Registry
•Visit Franklin Visitor Center
•WILDER
•Puckett's Restaurant
•The Heirloom Shop
•Kilwins Franklin
•Philanthropy
•Walton’s Antique & Estate Jewelry
•Finnleys
•Hop House Tennessee Taps
•Heylee b
•Five Points Post Office
•Frothy Monkey
Passports available at the DFA tent on the square or at each shuttle stop entrance.
FOOD VENDORS
PUBLIC WIFI ACCESS
Scan the QR code above for free public wifi access while at our festival! Provided by United Communications.
CRAWL
5TH
BOOTH & PARTNER DIRECTORY
and closes the Pompeii set list. The song is a big reason why the concert has become so popular among the legions of Pink Floyd fans. Released on their 1971 album Meddle, the track represents a shift to a more conceptual approach to music with some remnants of the experimental and psychedelic Syd Barrett era of the band. The remastered cut is also showing, in a non-IMAX format, at the Belcourt on April 28 as part of Music City Mondays. ADAM DAVIDSON
APRIL 24 & 27 AT REGAL OPRY MILLS
570 OPRY MILLS DRIVE
[TALL TALES, STIFF DRINKS]
POETRY
POETRY POP-UP
Roses are red, violets are blue, I love Ciona Rouse and so should you. April is National Poetry Month, and in case you missed it, events have been happening around town all month … and it’s not too late to catch another one! Rouse — a local poet who you may know from her Best of Nashville-certified Banned Book Happy Hour — is hosting a poetry pop-up through her bookstore, Bard’s Towne Books & Bourbon (also a pop-up, for now). The event will feature three poets reading their work, a writing prompt for attendees and aspiring poets and an open mic for anyone who wants to share their work. Listening, creating, drinking — what more could you want? If you’re looking to get into the local poetry scene, Rouse is the person to start with, and a free event during National Poetry Month is a no-brainer. KIM BALDWIN
6 P.M. AT TALL TALES ROOFTOP BAR
811 MAIN ST.
SPORTS [A NEW HOPE]
2025 TITANS DRAFT WATCH PARTY
Hope can be a good thing. Sometimes, especially in the spring following a putrid season, it can be the only thing holding an NFL fan base together. That’s where Tennessee Titans fans find themselves currently. After a truly terrible 2024 campaign, the boys in twotoned blue own the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. It’s widely expected that the Titans will select former Miami, Washington State and Incarnate Word gunslinger Cam Ward. The 2024 Davey O’Brien Award winner and consensus AllAmerican led the Hurricanes to their best season
in nearly a decade, and now he’s expected to be the Titans’ savior as they barrel toward a shiny new East Bank stadium. That’s a lot of pressure for a 22-year-old, and that’s not even to mention the smattering of comparisons to franchise icon Steve McNair. Join fellow sad but hopeful Titans fans at the “old” Nissan Stadium on Thursday evening to watch as Tennessee either takes Ward or shocks the football world. Let’s just hope, if Ward is the selection, things go better for him than they did for Will Levis. And Vince Young. And Jake Locker. And Marcus Mariota.
LOGAN BUTTS
6:15 P.M. AT NISSAN STADIUM
1 TITANS WAY
MUSIC
[PANIC! AT THE JAM SHOW] WIDESPREAD PANIC
Get ready for a jam-packed summer of music, y’all, because outdoor concert season unofficially kicks off in downtown Nashville this weekend with a three-night run from Widespread Panic. A tenured outfit from Athens, Ga., known for drawing dedicated showgoers to marathon live gigs, Widespread Panic returns to Music City for the first time since 2022, when the band performed a two-night run at Bridgestone Arena that culminated with a New Year’s Eve gig. This year, showgoers won’t need to put on quite as many layers when heading to the show (although one can never rule out a raincoat; it’s April in Tennessee, after all). Instead, they’ll
soak up a night of Widespread Panic riffs under a starry sky (again, no rain, please!) and against a backdrop of the city’s skyline. Not a bad way to soak up one of the early nights in a new season of outdoor entertainment, right?
MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER
APRIL 24-26 AT ASCEND AMPHITHEATER
310 FIRST AVE. S.
FRIDAY / 4.25
FILM [WATTS GOIN’ ON] WEEKEND CLASSICS: KILLER OF SHEEP
As someone who’s become an expert of sorts on the film, I love how people keep discovering Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep, the most revered independent film debut by an African American filmmaker that — for a good 29 years — wasn’t officially released to the general public. Shooting in the early ’70s, Burnett used his UCLA Film School MFA thesis to make a neo-realistic, episodic, award-winning vision of life in Watts, Los Angeles’ grungy, workingclass Black neighborhood, where the kids roam free and the adults are stuck in a rut. Its soundtrack, filled with unlicensed songs, made it unreleasable for decades — until Steven Soderbergh forked over some cash to pay for the rights and finally get it in theaters and on home video in 2007. Before the movie gets the Criterion Collection treatment next month, the Belcourt will screen a new 4K restoration of this DIY classic. Catch it with another recently unearthed Burnett flick — 1989’s The Annihilation of Fish, starring James Earl Jones and Lynn Redgrave, also playing this week. Visit belcourt.org for showtimes. CRAIG D. LINDSEY APRIL 25-26 & 29 AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.
ART [GARDEN PARTY] GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS
Coop’s second annual Garden of Earthly Delights fundraising exhibition and party celebrates the creative cooperative’s 15-year legacy of supporting and promoting artists making bold, boundary-pushing work. Expect an evening packed with live performances from DJ Tika, Grandma Fun, hum. dance collective,
Kaitlyn Raitz and Solia Mor, plus poetry readings by C.I. Aki, William Lipchik, Carson Colenbaugh, Jasmine Lucas and Meg Wade. Guests can dive into interactive art-making stations, snag a pop-up portrait and bid on original works from Coop’s roster of alumni and current members. But wait — there’s a raffle too, with prizes ranging from art critiques to handcrafted jewelry. Every dollar raised will go toward a $10,000 goal to fund 10 artists over the 10 months of Coop’s 2026 calendar. So grab a ticket, put on your best garden party wear and make this scene in Wedgewood-Houston. Art deserves a party, and Coop knows how to throw one. Get your tickets at givebutter.com/c/GOED25 JOE NOLAN
6:30-9:30 P.M. AT COOP GALLERY
507 HAGAN ST.
[GOOD MOVES]
MUSIC
WEBB WILDER ALBUM RELEASE
The news that Nashville rock ’n’ roller Webb Wilder was readying the release of his first new album in five years, Hillbilly Speedball, sent me back to his 1989 full-length Hybrid Vigor Produced by his longtime associate and fellow Hattiesburg, Miss., native R.S. Field, Hybrid was Wilder’s shot on a major label after he’d released his debut album It Came From Nashville in 1986. In retrospect, the combination of New Wave rock and what I guess you’d call Received Classic Rock on Wilder’s early albums reflected an earlier version of Nashville, when no one had figured out how to integrate Faces/Rolling Stones/Savoy Brown rock with New Wave and country to create Americana music. Wilder, who turns 71 in May, makes like a New Waveinfluenced Southern rocker with a healthy sense of irony and a feel for the nuances of all that 1970s British Invasion-influenced power pop throughout Hillbilly Speedball. Wilder has great taste in cover versions — he tips his cowboy hat to songs by Sonny Curtis and Jerry Allison, Chuck Berry and, yes, Savoy Brown, whose 1971 rocker “Tell Mama” gets an Americana-style overhaul. Still, my favorite moment on the album is his concise, carefully orchestrated tribute to power pop itself, “Coupla Good Moves,” which is one of Wilder’s best tunes from any era. File Hillbilly Speedball on the shelf with Tommy Womack’s recent albums — Nashville rock lives forever. EDD HURT
8 P.M. AT RIVERSIDE REVIVAL
1600 RIVERSIDE DRIVE
MUSIC
[AT YOUR
FINGERTIPS]
JO SCHORNIKOW EP RELEASE
It can be hard to even look at the sheer mass of a pipe organ and not be a little bit intimidated, and often enough the sound bears this out. Singer-songwriter and keyboardist Jo Schornikow’s first job as a teenager in her native Melbourne, Australia, was as a church organist, and she continued that work as she moved to New York and later to Nashville. She’s the music director at East Nashville’s Woodland Presbyterian Church, in addition to making her own records (see 2022’s Altar) and participating in a wide variety of other projects. (Phosphorescent and William Tyler
GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS
WIDESPREAD PANIC
and the Impossible Truth are just a couple examples.) She’s long been fascinated by the pipe organ’s capacity for more contemplative expression, which it reveals more readily when she’s practicing alone. “I connect with the sound of the pipe organ that isn’t beholden to any specific religion or denomination,” Schornikow writes in an email, “and hope others might enjoy a way to do this too.” Using the pipe organ at Woodland, she’s made a beautiful EP blending ambient composition and traditional songwriting called Quiet Excerpts, out Friday via Keeled Scales, and she’ll celebrate Friday night with a performance at the church. Bassist Jack Lawrence and drummer Anson Hohne will play with Schornikow, and there will be support from songsmith Annie Williams (whose debut LP Visitor was a 2024 highlight) and the sonic explorations of the Spencer Cullum Duo.
STEPHEN TRAGESER
6:30 P.M. AT WOODLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
211 N. 11TH ST
MUSIC
[FRIENDS ARE, IN FACT, ELECTRIC] SHARON VAN ETTEN & THE ATTACHMENT THEORY
Sharon Van Etten has an honest-to-goodness band. We at the Scene have always been fans of her work, but boy howdy has this group elevated the New Jersey native and onetime Murfreesboro coffee-slinger’s work to another level on her new LP Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory. “I feel like so many people have given up their time and have left their families to pursue this project,” Van Etten told the Scene recently. “I also felt like I owed it to them to give them more, to feel more invested and trusted. It’s a constant letting go.” That letting go is the sonic and philosophical thread that ties the album together. It feels like release: a never-ending free fall, or levitation that never strays too far from gravity’s pull. Each song exhibits a group of folks dialed in and deeply aware of the sounds they are creating as an ensemble. While clearly of a lineage (including Yo La Tengo, Kate Bush and more, all
without it feeling like hypercitational pastiche), the members of The Attachment Theory — bassist Devra Hoff, drummer Jorge Balbi and keyboardist Teeny Lieberson — sound like themselves more than anything. Love Spells will open the show. SEAN L. MALONEY
8 P.M. AT BROOKLYN BOWL
925 THIRD AVE. N.
SATURDAY / 4.26
BOOKS [SHOP LOCAL] INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE DAY
It’s time for the 12th annual Independent Bookstore Day! Hosted each year on the last Saturday in April, IBD celebrates indie bookstores across the country. Several of Nashville’s bookstores will be participating with special events, exclusive merch and author appearances. Over in Green Hills, Parnassus Books kicks off the event with children’s songwriter Emily Arrow, who will lead a storytime. They’ll also have two in-store signings — local multihyphenate Tyler Merritt, author of This Changes Everything, and Parnassus co-founder Ann Patchett. The Bookshop in East Nashville invites you to give its Wheel of Bookishness a spin for a chance to win some goodies, plus you can enjoy the limited-edition merch for sale. For audiobook fans, there’s a Libro.fm “Golden Ticket” hidden somewhere in the shop — if you find it, you’re the winner of 12 free credits! And just for the kiddos: Fairytales, a children’s bookstore located in Five Points, will have a full day of kid-friendly events. Its schedule includes storytimes, crafts, face painting and improvised fairy tales courtesy of Gnu Tales, plus two sing-along hours with Alissa Lindemann and Carter Hamric. TINA DOMINGUEZ ALL DAY AT YOUR FAVORITE LOCAL BOOKSTORE
MUSIC
[HEAR MY SONG] DBD ♥’S JRB: A CELEBRATION OF JASON ROBERT BROWN
Jason Robert Brown is widely regarded as one
of the finest musical theater composers of his generation, best known for Tony-winning works like Parade and The Bridges of Madison County, along with the “generation-defining” musical The Last Five Years. Brilliant as the composer may be, we don’t often see his work produced here in Nashville. (Though there have been some really terrific student productions recently of 13 and Songs for a New World.) So I was delighted to see that local actor, singer and cabaret artist Dustin Davis is bringing his new solo show — DBD ♥’s JRB: A Celebration of Jason Robert Brown — to the intimate Analog at Hutton Hotel this weekend. Guests can look forward to a great evening of JRB stories and songs, including one of Davis’ personal faves — “It All Fades Away” from The Bridges of Madison County. He’s backed by a killer band, including David Weinstein music directing and on keys, Lindsey Miller on guitar, Alex Hodge on bass and Dan Kozlowski on drums. Special guests include the always fabulous Megan Murphy Chambers, Rachel Agee and Dietz Osborne. AMY STUMPFL
7:30 P.M. AT ANALOG AT HUTTON HOTEL 1808 WEST END AVE.
SUNDAY / 4.27
[ON THE PLUS SIDE]
SHOPPING
BAD AND BODACIOUS: A PLUS SIZE MARKET
If you’ve driven by the Airstream goodness at the corner of Riverside Drive and Rosebank Avenue and wondered what was going on with everyone milling about, eating, drinking and looking like an East Nashville postcard, this is your sign to stop in. Horse Girl Vintage, one of the businesses that operates from the parking lot in front of Nelson Drum Shop, is hosting Bad and Bodacious: A Plus Size Market on Sunday. Finding vintage and cool secondhand clothes that fit plus-size bodies (sizes XL and up) can be a real pain. Not at Bad and Bodacious, which promises 30 vendors selling vintage (years 2000 and earlier) and modern clothes in plus sizes. There will be a place where you can try things on (again, not super common in secondhand shopping), plus jewelry, trinkets, art and live portraits for sale. Prices will range from $5 to $100, but most items will be in the $25 to $30 range. The All or Nothing Bagels trailer is in the same parking lot as Horse Girl (hence the happy milling about), so of course there will be coffee and bagels too.
MARGARET LITTMAN
10 A.M. TO 4 P.M. AT HORSE GIRL VINTAGE 1102 RIVERSIDE DRIVE
[MAKE IT HAPPEN]
MUSIC
THE ART OF REVOLUTION FEAT. TRANE SPITTA
At their core, all forms of art are ways of processing ideas and feelings — and they’ve historically been major drivers of social change. Top-notch MC TRANE Spitta has curated Sunday’s event at Bowery Vault as a means of sharing and exploring ways to blend art and activism. The program for the afternoon includes a workshop Spitta will host discussing
JO SCHORNIKOW
YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD TAPROOMS
UP ALL NIGHT: ONE DIRECTION DANCE PARTY FRI, 4/25
BIG SOMETHING PANIC AFTERPARTY FRI, 4/25 & SAT, 4/26
MICHIGAN RATTLERS SAT, 4/26
DEHD W/ SWEAT FM, MERLIN BRANDO TUE, 4/29
INOHA W/ FLIGHT BY NOTHING TUE, 4/29
SIR WOMAN W/ ISAIA HURON WED, 4/30
NICOTINE DOLLS W/ LOSTBOYCROW THU, 5/1
MARCO WITH LOVE W/ LANEY JONES SAT, 5/3
KOLDKRUSH SAT, 5/3
THE BROWNING W/ SWARM, THE DEFECT MON, 5/5
ABE PARKER W/ ZACH PARADIS TUE, 5/6
HOT TO GO: CHAPPELL ROAN PARTY FRI, 5/9
KNOX W/ THE WLDLFE SAT, 5/10
KEN POMEROY W/ DRUMMINGBIRD FRI, 5/16
THE BONES OF J.R. JONES W/ RUEN BROTHERS SAT, 5/17
Where Modern American Cuisine Meets Southern Flair!
Great Food in a unique and fun location. Local live music every Friday and Saturday. Take a turn off Broadway and head to the Back 40!
315 Deaderick St #225, Nashville, TN 37238 back40nashville.com 615.258.5568
Saturday, April 26
HATCH SHOW PRINT
Block Party
9:30 am, NOON, and 2:30 pm
HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP
LIMITED AVAILABILITY
Saturday, April 26
WRITERS ROUND On the Rise
Featuring Seth Costner, Dan Harrison, Sydney Shae, and Zoee
11:30 am · FORD THEATER
Sunday, April 27
MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT
Justin Moses
1:00 pm · FORD THEATER
Friday, May 2
SPECIAL EVENT
The Art of Squindo
3:30 pm · FORD THEATER
LIMITED AVAILABILITY
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making music financially sustainable for artists — important because it’s difficult to push for change without sufficient resources. State Rep. Shaundelle Brooks (D-Nashville) will appear and talk about advocating for common-sense gun laws. Art is to be experienced and not just talked about, of course, and there will be a wealth of performances as well, including spoken-word artist Karimah, R&B singer-songwriter Trisha Alicia and TRANE Spitta himself, sharing some new work developed in collaboration with stellar trumpeter Fredrick Weathersby. If you’re trying to find ways to turn your frustration into action, here’s a good place to start. STEPHEN TRAGESER
1-5 P.M. AT THE BOWERY VAULT
2905C GALLATIN PIKE
WEDNESDAY / 4.30
MUSIC
[A HERO’S DEATH] FONTAINES D.C.
Nashville’s so, so ready for a headlining show from Fontaines D.C. A buzzed-about post-punk band hailing from Dublin, Ireland,
Fontaines D.C. last played Music City in 2023 — an opening slot for Arctic Monkeys at Ascend Amphitheater. In the two-ish years since that gig, the band has released a stellar new album — 2024’s Romance — and caught the attention of the Recording Academy, scoring a pair of Grammy nominations ahead of the 2025 ceremony. The band describes the newest album as indebted to influences including “old Hollywood soundtracks, Korn, OutKast and A$AP Ferg.” Those wanting to dig into Fontaines D.C. should spin lead single “Starburster” before turning to other numbers such as the trippy altrocker “I Love You” and cinematic new song “It’s Amazing to Be Young.” English duo Jadu Heart opens the now-sold-out show. MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER 7:30 P.M. AT MARATHON MUSIC WORKS 1402 CLINTON ST.
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IT TAKES A VILLAGE
Riverside Village’s dining evolution continues with four new spots — including, yes, takeout Chinese
BY MARGARET LITTMAN
“Give the people what they want.” That’s the mantra of Chad Newton and Gracie Nguyen, co-owners of You Are Here Hospitality, the company behind East Side Pho in The Wash and East Side Banh Mi nearby.
When the two were considering what to do for their next restaurant, they leaned into their backgrounds, having lived and worked in the San Francisco Bay area. They leaned into their desire to open a variety of Asian restaurants in East Nashville. They leaned into Reddit.
“Nashville really, really, really wants Chinese takeout,” says Newton. “I read it everywhere, on Reddit, Instagram. We get feedback from customers, from other chefs.”
In an exclusive interview with the Scene, Newton reveals that You Are Here is opening Golden Prawn #3, a Chinese American takeout joint in the small restaurant space in Inglewood’s Riverside Village formerly home to Castrillo’s Pizza. Golden Prawn #3 joins three other restaurants opening at the intersection of Riverside Drive and McGavock Pike this year, continuing Riverside Village’s evolution into one of the city’s more interesting restaurant microneighborhoods, which now will offer sushi, coffee, Mediterranean food, sandwiches, beer, breakfast tacos, ice cream, pizza and more. This growth comes as some favorites, including Lou and Castrillo’s, have closed their doors.
Golden Prawn #3 (no, there are not two other locations) is a tongue-in-cheek naming convention intended to honor the classic Chinese American food Newton ate two to three times a week growing up in Mountain View, Calif. The restaurant will offer takeout and delivery dishes à la carte, plus a hot-table buffet for lunch and dinner seven days a week, with the possibility of some late-night hours.
“Chinese food just like Mom used to order,” Newton laughs.
Nguyen cooked at several Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants throughout her career, including San Francisco’s famous The Slanted Door. “It’s definitely like we’re playing all the hits. Anything that you would ever expect in a classic Chinese takeout is going to be available,” Newton says.
As the neighborhood gets excited for the opportunity to order in Chinese American food, two other spots have recently opened their doors to find lines waiting to get into their dining rooms.
In March of last year, Mary Carlisle Gambill (aka MC) and Ben Gambill were in Tokyo at the end of a vacation. Their kids had eaten their fill of sushi and wanted something different. Tokyo Neapolitan pizza has an incredible reputation, so they headed to a spot called Savoy — it’s fair to say that dinner changed their lives.
“We looked at each other and said, ‘That’s the best pizza we have ever had,’” says MC, adding that the family lived in New York for many years and thought they knew what good pizza was.
“It was so simple, so perfect.” The couple — who collectively have experience in real estate, architecture, urban planning and restaurant investment — was so blown away by the artistry, precision and taste that they decided to open a neo-Neapolitan pizza place in Nashville.
Back home, the Gambills were introduced to chef Sean Brock, who was on his own Neapolitan pizza journey. (Remember back when he’d fire up pizzas in a small pop-up oven at the East Nashville Farmers Market?) The three teamed up to open the wood-fired Sho Pizza Bar together. Open daily for lunch and dinner, Sho has seating for 30 people in its light-filled dining room, where reservations are accepted. Walk-ins are available for the outside patio, bar and chef’s counter.
With chef Trey Tench, who worked with
Brock at The Continental and Bar Continental, the team serves perfectly formed pizzas from dough that has fermented for three days in the restaurant’s proofing room. They’re gently shaped to get the right air bubbles in the crust (there’s no exaggerated dough-tossing here) and then topped with combinations of meats, cheeses and produce from purveyors from Tennessee to Italy.
As with any project Brock is involved in, the attention to detail is nearly fanatical. Diners are handed a pair of scissors to cut their pies, and they’re shown how to do so without crushing out those carefully crafted air bubbles in the crunchy — not soggy — crust. Options include the Bianca, topped with Meyer lemon, and the Salumi, which uses beef pepperoni. Pies are priced between $18 and $24. There’s always a seasonal offering (the “Sho-Stopper”), plus
salads, dipping sauces for that extra crust and desserts. The yuzu vinaigrette on the little gem salad packs a flavorful punch. Drinks from the full bar are equally inventive. Ben Gambill sees the Sho Pizza Bar concept as something that is replicable in other locations in the future. Brock himself will be behind the counter making pizzas several days a week. Some behind-the-scenes reorganizing at Brock’s signature restaurant, Audrey, has made Brock’s time available to focus on launching Sho and the expansion of Joyland, his burger restaurant. Paul Mishkin, the founder of Franklin’s Southall Farm and Inn, has always been Audrey’s majority owner. Mishkin is now Audrey’s sole owner, and the Southall team manages the operations. Audrey serves Brock’s recipes, created by chefs who trained under him, and it is still his personal art that hangs on the walls and his books on the
PHOTO:
GRACIE NGUYEN, GOLDEN PRAWN #3
SHO PIZZA BAR
shelves. Brock is also available to cook private dinners in the space, including upstairs in the kitchen that used to be home to restaurant June.
While crowds head to Sho Pizza Bar on the north side of McGavock Pike, lines are out the door and down the block at Curry Boys BBQ, which opened in March in the house that was once home to Lou (and Fort Louise before that, and Perk & Cork still earlier). “It’s been going incredibly well,” says Sean Wen, one of Curry Boys’ owners. “We’re just in shock at how insane it’s been.”
The Curry Boys team made the James Beard Award semifinalist list in the Best Chef: Texas category in both 2023 and 2024, and Nashvillians are learning why as they clamor for the brisket bowl paired with green curry, Thai green salad and pulled-pork nachos. The three original Curry Boys teamed up with Nashville’s Adam Lathan (one of the owners of The Gumbo Bros in the Gulch) to open the new location.
“People are allowing us to expand their palate, and it is really cool,” Wen says of the restaurant’s unusual flavor combos. “It’s super rewarding for us.”
Curry Boys is open for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday. And if you walk or bike up (or take the bus — both the No. 4 and No. 6 WeGo buses serve the intersection), it might not look crowded. But looks can be deceiving. Wen says the back patio has been a big draw.
“If the weather is halfway decent, people are hitting the patio,” he says. “When you first walk in, you might only see a couple of folks in line, and then you go in the back patio and it is packed.” (The Curry Boys lease does not include the triangular section of grass to the west of the building.)
So far, the customer base has been about half people from the neighborhood and half folks from elsewhere, the team says. “It makes me so happy to hear that people are coming out of their way to try us,” Wen says. “But we also love that the Riverside Village vibe has been so welcoming. It’s really cool to see how this community supports their local business.”
And the Curry Boys have been doing their part to support their neighbors. They all have
regular orders at Mitchell Deli next door and Sabell’s across the street. The staff’s post-shift hang is Village Pub and Beer Garden.
All those breakfast, lunch and dinner options (which join Ladybird Taco and Bite-a-Bit Thai Sushi) need dessert. Dose Coffee’s baked goods shouldn’t be overlooked. The Tennessee Cobbler Co. serves fruit cobbler à la mode from its food truck on the corner. Now Hattie Jane’s Creamery, the small-batch ice cream maker based out of Columbia, plans to open its latest scoop shop in Riverside Village in late summer or early fall, depending on the permit and construction process.
“We like to embody the Southern-ness and the Southern nostalgia of ice cream,” says Hattie Jane’s founder and CEO Claire Crowell. “It’s kind of retro, kind of modern.” That means offering a combination of flavors, from the old-school Nana Puddin’ to the Goo Goo and Jack (which is only for customers ages 21 and older due to its inclusion of Jack Daniel’s No. 7). Seasonal flavors are offered five times a year (winter, spring, summer, fall and holidays), along with yearround favorites like Mulekick coffee. Seasonal strawberry is so popular that it is the only flavor Hattie Jane’s offers in both dairy-free and regular varieties. It’ll be available as soon as Tennessee strawberries are ripe.
Like the cozy ice cream-closet vibes of the Donelson shop, the Riverside Village store — which will be in the same building as Sho Pizza Bar and Ladybird Taco — will be small, with room for lines of folks waiting for a sweet treat. In all the Hattie Jane’s locations (other than at Assembly Food Hall), there are specials and hours that fit the neighborhood. If people in Riverside Village want an ice cream cone after dinner, the shop will stay open later than the Donelson one, which Crowell says doesn’t have a nighttime audience. In Murfreesboro, Mondays include an MTSU special, and Crowell, who used to live in Inglewood, sees spirit nights and other local school promotions in the future.
“East Nashville is underserved in ice cream,” Crowell says.
Adds Wen: “This street is becoming more of a foodie destination.” ▼
CURRY BOYS BBQ
BODY FLUID
Faye Driscoll’s performance Weathering arrives at OZ Arts just in time
BY LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
“I DESCRIBE IT as a flesh-and-breath sculpture.”
Faye Driscoll is a total original. Her work defies tidy descriptions simply because it is unlike just about anything you’ve ever seen before. And Weathering, which comes to OZ Arts April 24 through 26, might be her most original work yet. It’s a multidimensional sensory experience that’s part theater, part art installation. In the simplest terms, it’s a 70-minute performance made for 10 bodies, which move through a series of actions on a platform made from foam.
From her home in California, Driscoll describes the work as a kind of tableau vivant — an arrangement of bodies that are posed in a particularly theatrical way. Think of Géricault’s “The Raft of the Medusa,” or any of those memes of contemporary snapshots (erroneously) labeled “accidental Renaissance.”
“It’s dealing with the body, and moments when our bodies reach outside themselves and into other bodies in ways that are more extreme than the everyday,” says Driscoll. “Often these are moments of violence or catastrophe or sex — some moment when the body is on edge.”
An important element of Weathering: Its audience is situated in the round, which allows the viewers to see details that might be overlooked in a more traditional arrangement. They can see the performers’ skin close up, their bodies and their sweat.
As the work progresses, the platform the performers are on begins to rotate — at first almost imperceptibly, then with more force.
“There’s drool, and intimate contact between mouths and bodies, and a slow peeling away of clothing.”
The meaning you can attach to the piece — to the performers, their movements and connections — depends on where you are situated in the audience, and what your view is at any given moment of action. That decentralized perspective lends itself to a more fluid understanding, like the parable of the blind man describing an elephant — you can perceive only what’s directly in front of you, and it’s rarely the whole story.
“The piece sort of rolls through all these images, and it doesn’t really fixate on one,” Driscoll explains. “So you can’t really stay in the story that you started to make, and you’re definitely going to make up a lot of stories about what you’re seeing and what’s happening. It lives in this indeterminate space, and I think that as a viewer, it asks you to do that as well — to question your own perception while perceiving. To watch and observe your own process of attaching meanings to things.”
Even the title of the piece allows for multiple interpretations. “Weathering” might describe the physical wear of a house after an intense storm, but it might also mean the process of surviving.
“There’s the idea of bearing something, or of moving through something, and that you’re being altered by the endurance it takes,” she says. “And then there’s literally weather, which connects to this time of an unprecedented acceleration toward what seems to be a death wish that we’re in, and living with that is very, very existential.
“We think of ourselves as humans as kind of separate from the environment that we’re in,”
Driscoll continues, “like it’s a binary that we’re in with nature, with this thing that we try to manage and control. And I’m proposing that the problem is that we perceive ourselves as separate, and that, what if we instead considered ourselves — with every breath, every piss, every drink — we are weathering. We are active participants. We are of this world, and we are making this world.”
The importance of performances like Weathering — works that challenge and provoke their audience — is especially relevant today. It’s perhaps even more relevant than when it was first performed in 2023 at New York Live Arts in Chelsea. The increasingly polarized political climate makes it harder to push boundaries — people and institutions are often more reluctant to go against societal norms.
“I think of art as a space where we get to examine these [cultural norms and assumptions] in a ritual environment,” says Driscoll. “These are moments where we can have the opportunity to go through a kind of reckoning with our ways of being. There are so few spaces where we can do that now. It’s so important to be pushed outside of our comfort zones, and then to live in the questions after — to live in the discomfort and be changed by it.” ▼
Faye Driscoll: Weathering April 24-26 at OZ Arts
MUSIC
YOU MIGHT THINK you’ve never heard Alison Moyet, but regardless of your own aesthetics and means of engaging with music, that’s probably not the case. That would be putting aside more than four decades of elegant, passionate performances from an international icon based in the U.K. who’s had the occasional American success. No stranger to pop, dance or R&B charts the world over, her voice — distinctive, earthy, passionate, playful, creative — has too much power to be held only by the 1980s. Or by any one mode of outreach: Like James Brown, like Ofra Haza, Moyet has never been just a singer and performer. She’s a building block of sample culture, a piece of the foundation of countless genres, singles, vibes and movements.
Moyet’s laugh in “Situation” — the B-side to Yazoo’s “Only You,” the 1982 debut single from her synthpop duo with Depeche Mode co-founder Vince Clarke — became one of those sounds that bound the pre-internet music world together. Her sound has been a soulful, resolute foundation for synthpop, roots rock, balladry and nervy electronics, even as it’s also been the wild swoop of possibility, unbound by tradition or expectation. It’s given life to myriad sounds and voices working on a nearly infinite plane. You’ve got to respect anyone who’s been doing things their own way for four decades — and that’s just as a solo artist. When you add in those years with Yaz (as Yazoo was marketed in the States), the story gets even more delicious.
In the fall, Moyet released her newest album Key, which allows an extensive look at the songs that have shaped this career: rethought, reworked and recorded in a way that lets an unspoken dialogue between past and future unfold. Moyet spoke with the Scene via phone in the winter in preparation for her first performance in Nashville, Sunday at Marathon Music Works. We discussed many aspects of artistic creation and careers — and solved a disco mystery that has percolated on dance floors and in chat rooms since the mid-’90s. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
It brings my heart such joy to say the phrase “your forthcoming American tour.” How does that feel? It is such an exciting thing.
As a fan, I always wondered if this was something I would ever get the chance to see. There’s so much dread in the world right now that this feels like pure joy. These are difficult times, and to be able to have a moment of togetherness, without agenda, is just a lovely thing.
I’m fascinated by Key Often, when an artist re-
TO KNOW THE COMMA
Legendary singer and phenomenal songwriter Alison Moyet looks back on four decades of singular music
BY JASON SHAWHAN
leases a collection of rerecorded songs, it’s about regaining control. These songs don’t feel like they’re meant to supplant anything — more that they’re part of an evolving conversation between you and the songs that have been part of your life. It ties into the fact that it’s been 40 years that I’ve been a solo artist, and I’m very aware that my voice could go at any time. I’m at that age, and this isn’t something I can keep on doing forever. But performing live is my very favorite thing, and I wanted to tour the moment I decided to go to university. I did that during lockdown, and I decided that my next project would be touring, and I wanted to tie it in with the 40-year anniversary.
But at the same time, when you have been a solo artist and you’ve worked with so many different producers and musicians and lineups, you end up with a really schismatic catalog. And that was definitely the case for me. I wanted to look across those 40 years [as if all the material had] been written across the same year — but
without being some nasty karaoke. I wanted to see how I was relating to and engaging with these songs as a woman in her 60s, as opposed to the various periods in my life where they’d come about.
I’m glad you mentioned your recent fine art degree from the University of Brighton. Do you approach the process of printmaking in a similar way to how you approach songwriting? Both art forms seem very process-oriented. I think so. And also, there’s the subject matter. I often deal with memory, and the corruption of memory, and reframing, and grids. Grids, for me — as someone very chaotic — become quite important. I really like to be contained and to have parameters, because otherwise I spill into chaos. For me, it’s like when I write lyrics: trying to pull in all these thoughts that I have into one place, so that I can look at them in a condensed form and find out where I am with it. And it’s like that with print, in that I am awash with ideas, and I can bring in
these stories and memories and metaphors and revisit my thoughts and experiences with them.
Your work is enduring because it’s distinctive. I revisited your 1994 Top of the Pops performance of “Whispering Your Name,” in which you’re singing live. The post-raver children were not ready for it, but you won them over. The fact that I can still work is an amazing thing. So much of music can be tied up with youth. Because when you look at so many other things, when you look at painters and writers, we accept that with each passing year, there’s a new school honed or there’s a new vocabulary that is expanding. There’s a greater understanding of life, a greater sense of nuance; all those things get brought to the table. For me there’s just a little bit of sadness that I got my biggest platform when I wasn’t really prepared for it. I hadn’t figured out what I wanted to do, or figured out my path.
And when I was signed to Sony — everything that was suggested I said, “Yeah, I’m gonna give that a try, I’m going to see what that’s like.” Because that’s what you do at that age. And suddenly you have a hit, and you get locked in. And it can be very difficult to come out of that, because you’ll have years of being called “an ’80s artist.” Which can be really frustrating, because you want to respond “Fuck off, I was singing in the ’60s.” When you call me “an ’80s artist,” all you’re saying is that’s when I made money. And that’s a very sad thought for anyone, that the most significant period of your life is when you were making money. And it’s just not the truth. Great artistic moments can happen at any time, and they might never be seen by others, and you might never get that platform. The greatest songwriter who ever lived we might never hear.
There’s a mystery that I have grown to fear may never be solved, even from years of searching the internet and asking DJs and industry folk. Who are Steve Rocket and Johnny Nitrate, who remixed “Whispering Your Name”? They were producer-engineers Pete Davis and Adrian Bushby [future Spice Girls, Eagle-Eye Cherry and New Order collaborators].▼
Playing 8 p.m. Sunday, April 27, at Marathon Music Works
Read the uncut version of this interview at nashvillescene.com/music
PHOTO: NAOMI DAVISON
A WHOLE MOOD
Japanese Breakfast explores the depths on For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women)
BY HANNAH CRON
“NOTHING THICKER THAN a knife’s blade separates happiness from melancholy.”
That line from Virginia Woolf’s classic Orlando is also the thesis of the latest album by Japanese Breakfast, For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women). Released in March via Dead Oceans, the record reflects the fallout of an extended period in the spotlight.
Japanese Breakfast is a rock-and-pop fourpiece led by Michelle Zauner, launched in 2013. The group has origins in the Pacific Northwest, where Zauner grew up, and Philadelphia, where she graduated from Bryn Mawr. In 2021, the project released Jubilee, its third album and most critically acclaimed one to date. Just two weeks earlier, Zauner published her memoir Crying in H Mart, which unraveled her complex relationship with her Korean American identity in the wake of her mother’s death. The book rocketed to the top of The New York Times’ bestseller list and stayed there for more than a year. Japanese Breakfast received a coveted musical guest slot on Saturday Night Live, while Zauner was interviewed on The Tonight Show, Good Morning
America and other TV mainstays.
But with a newfound level of fame often comes an exacerbated sense of anxiety, as Zauner discovered. If Jubilee captured the brightness and joy of a sunny summer day, For Melancholy Brunettes is a rainy afternoon in early spring. It’s decidedly more mellow than its predecessor — more akin to the group’s earlier work with the addition of strings and harps throughout. The references are classic and romantic: “The Birth of Venus,” Orlando Innamorato, Leda and the Swan.
Zauner is a master at combining the profound and the personal, slipping in and out of characters and her own thoughts between lyrics. The album may be dedicated to sad women, but most of its subjects are troubled men. She plays many characters, from a sailor seduced by siren song on “Orlando in Love” to a teenage boy seduced by violence in internet subcultures on “Mega Circuit.” Perhaps the most compelling one Zauner inhabits is a version of herself. Standout song “Picture Window” captures her own preoccupation with death and the struggle of explaining the depths of anxiety to a compassionate but inexperienced partner. “Do you not conceive of my death at every waking minute,” Zauner asks, “while your life just passes you by?” She doesn’t wait for an answer before diving into the song’s echoing refrain: “All of my ghosts are real / All of my ghosts are my home.”
Near the end of the album lies the only guest
appearance, the first on a Japanese Breakfast record, and unbilled in the title of the track. Jeff Bridges (yes, that one) duets in a soulful serenade on “Men in Bars.” It’s a surprise during a full playthrough of the album, but not an unpleasant one. Zauner plays a different role in every song, and each is sad in a different way. It’s a state of being she’s become familiar with — maybe too familiar, as she mentions in songs like “Winter in LA.”
But without it, she wouldn’t be the same, and she’s used the experience to guide her in new directions. For Melancholy Brunettes was finished in late 2023, but Zauner and her bandmates agreed to take 2024 off. She spent the year in Seoul, reconnecting to her roots and fully immersing herself in the language and culture, gathering material that could become a new book and gaining valuable perspective on how she wants to approach art going forward. Now they’ve dived headfirst into the cycle around the album, which has involved TV appearances and a tour that includes stops at Coachella and Monday’s show at the Ryman.▼
IS THIS A CROSSOVER EPISODE?
BY P.J. KINZER
GOING TO COMIC BOOK shops as a kid, I was captivated by the covers of Marvel’s What If titles. They featured Uatu the Watcher, who observed timelines in the Marvel universe play out differently than in their standard series of comics. Saturday at the 10th anniversary party for Five Points bar Duke’s, I got something like the Nashville rock scene equivalent of one of Uatu’s tales, as lots of seemingly disparate sects of local music, art and culture from different eras came together into one all-day crossover issue.
Opened in 2015 by musicians Sara Nelson and Joey Plunket, Duke’s has become a prime destination for pre- and post-show beers (and even a late-night deli sandwich) on a night out in East Nashville. Many artists have also depended on the watering hole for their day jobs. The bar hosts nightly sets in a corner DJ booth that has a direct sight line to the signs on the wall that proclaim “No Dancing.” When the pub announced it would be throwing a block party to celebrate its anniversary, it seemed natural that there would be a lot of music involved. Starting at noon, the bar’s fenced-off parking lot rang with the sounds of New York’s Piggies, Ryan Sambol (late of Austin, Texas’ The Strange Boys) and Nashville’s own CH Jameson IV, with a DJ set from Sweet Time Records label boss Ryan Sweeney
The size of the stage surprised me when I arrived at the gates, just as the freshly reunited Heavy Cream was plugging in and tuning up. More than a decade ago, Heavy Cream was a mainstay of the Nashville punk underground, full of guitar crunch and irresistible hooks. As bands will do, Heavy Cream faded away as its members moved on, leaving behind a handful of singles and two LPs on local imprint Infinity Cat. Most of the lineup that appears on the band’s Ty Segall-produced 2012 album Super Treatment reconvened on Saturday, with singer Jessica McFarland, guitarist Mimi Galbierz and drummer Teddy Minton. Several different players handled bass in Heavy Cream over the years. Among them was Olive Scibelli — co-executive director of local DIY space Drkmttr, singer of Husband Stitch and former Idle Bloom guitarist — who took low-end duties on Saturday. Reunion shows can feel ramshackle, but this was not one of them. Heavy Cream is tighter than ever, and even on an open-air stage, the band felt fully realized, perhaps heralding the best era of Heavy Cream yet.
The drink lines began to lengthen as Amy Darling took over the 1s and 2s for her set of junk-shop glam and Stones deep cuts, and another band reaching into the future from Music City’s past set
up. Be Your Own Pet was one of the scene’s crown jewels a full decade before Duke’s was even a dream, and ended their inaugural run in 2008. Singer Jemina Pearl, guitarist Jonas Stein, bassist Nathan Vasquez and drummer John Eatherly started talking about getting back together just before COVID, returned to the road opening for Jack White in 2022 and released their third LP Mommy in 2023, emerging as a fully matured rock machine. During their set, they blasted through 20-year-old classics, new jams and their furious cover of The Damned’s debut single “Neat Neat Neat.”
Just before William Tyler and Friends played their first song, the guy in front of me turned to his buddy, saying reluctantly: “You’re going to hate this. It’s all instrumental.” Tyler has been a guitar slinger in Nashville since he was a teen in the late ’90s, playing with his power-pop outfit Lifeboy and later the shoulda-made-soundtracks group Character. His work got him tapped to join more established artists like international legends Lambchop and later Silver Jews, after David Berman relocated the band to Nashville. Since the Jews broke up in 2009, Tyler has focused on mostly instrumental music — both solo and in ensembles — that combines elements of intricate, fingerpicked folk with long, winding, spacious progressive rock and whatever else he’s been studying. April 25, Tyler will release Time Indefinite, a new LP of that music, and that’s likely what the two dudes in front of me were expecting.
But this was a Friends show, in which Tyler and his bandmates (including Silver Jews and Country Westerns drummer Brian Kotzur, keyboardist Jo Schornikow and The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather bassist Jack Lawrence) put their spin on the honky-tonk tradition of playing covers with a rotating cast of singers. The set ran the gamut from Eagles classic “The Long Run” (sung by Gowa Gibbs) to Stooges standard “I Wanna Be Your Dog” (by Pearl) to The Clean’s “Point That Thing Somewhere Else” (with Lawrence in a rare appearance on vocals) to the Back to the Future anthem “The Power of Love” (by Dillon Warnek). At one point, Sweeney stood next to me, looking up at Lawrence and noting his ’90s garage-punk roots: “I never thought I would see the bass player for The Greenhornes playing Huey Lewis and the News.” That’s one of the things these sets do best: strip away expectations and put the focus on having fun together.
Plunket, who’s frontman of Country Westerns as well as Duke’s co-founder, took the mic for the last third of the set, singing the beloved Silver Jews tune “Punks in the Beerlight” as well as recently fallen Portland folkie Michael Hurley’s “Slurf Song” — a fitting tribute to two elite songwriters who are no longer with us. When the set wrapped up about 10 p.m., it felt like closing the cover on a What If issue, with all the timelines reset. It was a fun experiment to see so much of Music City’s talent from different eras in the same place at once; we can hope it won’t be another decade before it happens again. ▼
A BODY AT REST
BY JASON SHAWHAN
WHEN YOU SPEND a lot of time immersed in the work of a particular filmmaker, you can find yourself fitting patterns and finding through lines across decades. And it can be great, because you feel like you’re defining a commonality that allows everything to make sense according to some easily summarized plan. And it’s great if you’re writing a book or preparing a lecture, or getting a class in order to share with others — like giving a skeleton key to someone moving into a manor filled with secrets and histories. Because now they have a way to get into this whole new sprawling thing with a sensible foundation.
and emotional searcher, still reeling from the death of his wife of many years. He has envisioned a whole new means of grieving, wherein thanks to subterranean cameras and biomimetic fabrics, people can visually interact with the decay of their loved ones’ bodies as they rot and return to the earth.
Really, most beloved Canadian David Cronenberg has made that an easy thing to do. He’s got themes and archetypes going all the way back 60 years ago. He has renegade scientists, Byzantine factions and counterfactions embroiled in secret battles just beyond curtains and eyelids, a realist sense of the human body and what it is capable of in all manner of situations, and the tragedies that ensue when someone realizes there isn’t anything beyond this life.
Just reading that, you probably have a very strong reaction — one way or the other — as to how such a concept affects you. And this is a David Cronenberg film we’re talking about, so there’s room for Byronic Romantics, religious sticklers, fatalist gorehounds and militants of various ideological bents to wallow around in the process. Regardless of where the ride of The Shrouds takes you and lets you out, this film flips all manner of switches in the subconscious and does not immediately vacate the premises. (In the six months since I first saw it at last year’s New York Film Festival, not a day has gone by without it occupying prime psychic real estate.)
questions about to what extent the body defines itself by presence and absence. (Real talk: Is that which is removed or amputated still part of the self?) And if by chance you’re wondering if the film aims to engage with AI, it sure does, both as a digital organism that consumes information and adapts accordingly as well as a means of tricking seekers of convenience into handing over the keys to the world-destroyer.
While it isn’t as if you can take those recurrences and use them to solve his films — or develop a body-horror Mad Libs — over time there can be something comforting about figuring out how the latest Cronenberg film is exploring, developing and reworking these elements. Which is why, with the writer-director in his 80s, his new film The Shrouds feels so unexpected. This is a film that feels aware of all the books and lectures and the thematic heft of a body of work devoted to exploring these elements, and as such unfurls its tendrils into new and unexpected thematic spaces.
Karsh (Vincent Cassel of Eastern Promises and Irréversible) is an entrepreneur, tech innovator
We aren’t just talking about the very private act of grief (and the even more private act of decomposition). Especially given the rise of large language model AI systems, every person watching this film understands that nothing done online operates in a truly closed system. And then the other questions start to surface. How do you maintain security for anything anymore? Before you know it, we’ve got multinational trade incursions, double and triple agents in abundance, conspiracies both vast and single-person-oriented, and sincere moments of emotional honesty that can only be expressed through kinky sex. (There’s a moment that feels like it’s having a specific dialogue with Cronenberg’s 1996 film Crash — itself the greatest film of the late-20th century — that hits so hard I started weeping profusely.) There are also real
I don’t know how to tell you how to feel about The Shrouds, because I honestly still don’t know how I completely feel about it. There are absolutes, sure. Guy Pearce, as tech attaché/confidant Maury, is the kind of wormy guy who thrives in films like this. When things get up and running, things go full Videodrome as far as feeling so trapped in the path of a tsunami of business intrigue that you just have to hunker down in gorgeous chrome and sleek surfaces until you can catch your breath. As a casual shout-out to Dead Ringers characters the Mantle twins (from both the 1988 and 2023 editions), Diane Kruger incarnates both Karsh’s late wife and her twin sister. At this point, as a viewer, things feel as if they are barreling out of control.
That said, it never feels like Cronenberg doesn’t know exactly what’s happening. He has this habit of making films that the world rapidly, metastatically evolves in order to catch up to (please see 2012’s Cosmopolis and then have a cocktail because you will need it), and the heightened, enigmatic ending we get here feels like a peek into a future chaos we don’t even have words for yet. As always, there’s no one else in the game like David Cronenberg. And with the recent death of David Lynch, it is imperative that we keep this Canadian prophet of progressive disease and minister of mind-body duality alive and making more films. ▼
ACROSS
1 Puppy bites
5 Overly trusting type
9 Hay there!
13 Sign of warming temperatures
14 “Yeesh!”
15 Nowhere to be found, in a way
16 Jewish wedding staple … and a clue to the circled square in this row
17 Actor in “Say Anything …” and “High Fidelity”
19 Deep-frying hazard, maybe
21 Cars whose logo represents the Pleiades star cluster
22 Aspiring doc’s hurdle
23 Monica in the International Tennis Hall of Fame
24 Green-skinned Marvel hero
27 Word processing function
… and a clue to the circled square in this row
28 Worker in a Washington office
29 Common antiseptic
31 Alternative to mushrooms, maybe
34 Jewish deli order
36 Cleared (of)
37 Something that may be drawn at night
39 What “…” sometimes means
40 Singer Ric of the Cars
43 Alma mater of Ian Fleming (as well as James Bond)
44 Poetic time of day … and a clue to the circled square in this row
45 Urban area associated with gaming
47 Former world capital that’s an anagram of its country’s current capital
49 Prom attendee, typically
50 Tips back and forth
52 Clad
55 Capability of being pulled and stretched
57 Skin feature … and a clue to the circled square in this row
58 A lot of lot?
59 County north of San Francisco
60 Work, work, work
61 Gmail button
62 Hard worker to a degree?
63 [Don’t delete this] DOWN
1 Indefinite degrees
2 Restaurant chain acronym
3 First responder
4 Upholsterers’ samples
5 Onetime queen of Jordan
6 “Yes, that’s it!”
7 Stops for the night?
8 Devote attention to
9 Product of hardened lava
10 “I’m well ___!”
11 Defined set of points
12 Group that once included the members Babe Ruth and Harry Houdini
17 Martial arts champion who co-starred in 2020’s “Mulan”
18 Used a certain rideshare service
20 T
24 Hot ___
25 When doubled, comment made with a wink
26 Source of the quote “Allah doesn’t task a soul beyond its capacity”
27 Us and them, for two
30 Put down
31 The word “aquarium” has one
32 Word before check or on
33 Say it ain’t so
35 Heckle loudly
38 Gate
41 Boastfulness
42 Word sometimes repeated after “Here ...”
44 Covered with a green growth
46 New York pro athlete
47 N.F.L. star Travis
48 Thirst (for)
50 Sites for saltwater soaks
51 Souvenir from a trip?
52 Very little
53 City on a lake of the same name
54 Arm-raising muscle, informally
56 Porter or pilsner alternative, in brief
SUCCESSOR TRUSTEE SALE
Default having been made in the payment of the debts and obligations secured to be paid by a certain Deed of Trust made as of February 19, 2021 (“Deed of Trust”), by M5 ROCHESTER CLOSE, LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company (“Borrower”), in favor of Mark L. Puryear, III, Trustee for the benefit of David Chadwick Taylor (“Original Lender”), recorded September 23, 2021 at Book 8737, Page 673 in the Office of the Register of Deeds for Williamson County, Tennessee (“Register’s Office”); the Deed of Trust having been assigned to Note Investor, LLC, a Florida limited liability company (“Lender”) by Assignment of record at book 9513, page 791, in the Register’s Office; and said Trustee in the Deed of Trust having been replaced by the appointment of Joseph R. Prochaska as Successor Trustee; and the owner of the debt secured having requested the undersigned to advertise and sell the property described in and conveyed by said Deed of Trust, all of the said indebtedness having become immediately due and payable by default in the payment of a part thereof, at the option of the owner, this is to give notice that the undersigned will, on May 8, 2025, commencing at 1:30 p.m. at the main north door of the Williamson County Judicial Center, 135 4th Ave South, Franklin, Williamson County, Tennessee 37064 proceed to sell at public outcry to the highest and best bidder for cash, by Trustee’s deed pursuant to the terms and conditions announced at such sale, all of Trustee’s right, title and interest in the following described property situated in Williamson County, State of Tennessee (“Real Estate”), to wit: LAND SITUATED IN WILLIAMSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE: A tract of land in the 6th Civil District of Williamson County, Tennessee, being Lots No. 1 and 2, of a subdivision of the P.M. Chaffin Farm, and described as follows:
Beginning with a point in the center of Temple Road in line with the stone wall along Temple’s East boundary line, said point being the same point as the point indicating the Northeast corner of a parcel designated for future development, (adjacent to the Mary L Rudolph property), of Temple Hills Country Club Estates of record in Plat Book 11, Page 136, sheet#3 of 5, Register’s Office of Williamson County, TN, running thence with the center of said road South 80 degrees 15 minutes East 350 feet to an iron pin; thence Southwardly 1555 feet to an iron pin; thence North 60 degrees West 256.0 feet to a corner post in Temple’s East line; thence North 4 degrees East 1455 feet to the point of beginning.
Being the same property conveyed to M5 Rochester Close, LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company, by Deed from Katherine Harper Morales, unmarried, dated 02/19/2021 and appearing of record in Book 8433 page 266 Register’s office for Williamson County, Tennessee; and then conveyed to 6394 Acquisitions, LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company, by Quitclaim Deed from M5 Rochester Close, LLC, recorded October 17, 2024 and appearing of record in Book 9587, page 284, said Register’s office. WITH A MUNICIPAL ADDRESS OF 6394 TEMPLE ROAD, FRANKLIN, WILLIAMSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE 37069. The foregoing shall be sold together with any and all other property, real and personal, which constitutes the Property as that term is defined in the Deed of Trust, but specifically excluding any cash, accounts, deposits, escrows, refunds reserves, impounds and other cash or cash equivalents.
Interested Parties: 6394 Acquisitions LLC M5 Rochester Close, LLC Benjamin & Darlys, LLC Capital Funding Financial, LLC Jesse D. McInerney
Deed of Trust, Borrower expressly waived the statutory right of redemption, and any and all rights of homestead; dower; all other exemptions and marital rights. Title is believed to be good, but the undersigned will sell and convey only as Trustee. Title is to be conveyed without any covenant or warranty, express or implied, and any matters having priority over the Deed of Trust and matters which may affect or encumber the Property following the sale, such as rights of parties in possession; rights of tenants in possession under unrecorded leases or rental agreements; visible and apparent easements; portion of the property within any roadway; any encroachment, encumbrance, violation, variation, or adverse circumstance affecting the title that would be disclosed by an accurate and complete land survey of the land; all leases, grants, exceptions or reservations of coal, lignite, oil, gas and other minerals, together with all rights, privileges and immunities relating thereto, appearing in the Public Records; all matters shown on any applicable recorded plat; taxes or assessments that are not shown as existing liens by the records of any taxing authority that levies taxes or assessments on real property or by the public records; proceedings by a public agency that may result in taxes or assessments, or notices of such proceedings, whether or not shown by the records of such agency or by the public records; taxes assessed by correction pursuant to the provisions of T.C.A. §67-5-603, et seq.; matters that an accurate survey of the premises might disclose; any facts, rights, interests, or claims that are not shown by the public records but that could be ascertained by an inspection of the Property or that may be asserted by persons in possession of the Property; any encroachment, encumbrance, violation, variation, or adverse circumstance affecting the title that would be disclosed by an accurate and complete land survey of the Property and not shown by the public records; any mineral or mineral rights leased, granted or retained by current or prior owners; prior liens, claims and encumbrances including, without limitation, leases and other agreements; assessments, building lines, easements, covenants, and restrictions that may exist; any lien or right to lien for services, labor or material imposed by law and not shown by the public records; and, statutory rights of redemption of any governmental agency including, but not limited to, the right of redemption of the Internal Revenue Service pursuant to 26 U.S.C. §7425(d)(1), of the State of Tennessee pursuant to T.C.A. §67-1-1433(c)(1), or of any other taxing authority. Joseph R. Prochaska, as Successor Trustee Reno & Cavanaugh, PLLC 424 Church Street, Suite 2910 Nashville, TN 37219 Telephone (615) 866-2322 Publication On: April 10, April 17, and April 24, 2025
Cara E. McInerney The Real Estate will be sold to the highest and best bidder for cash (or for credit against the Obligations if Lender is the highest bidder). All bidders must (a) register at the sale; (b) execute a bidding agreement; (c) provide the Trustee with sufficient information to the Trustee so that he may determine that the bidder is not on the list of sanctioned entities maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of Treasury; and (d) provide the Trustee with a bidder’s
PUZZLE BY DANIEL GRINBERG
SUCCESSOR TRUSTEE SALE
Default having been made in the payment of the debts and obligations secured to be paid by a certain Deed of Trust made as of February 19, 2021 (“Deed of Trust”), by M5 ROCHESTER CLOSE, LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company (“Borrower”), in favor of Thomas Pennington, Trustee for the benefit of CAPITAL FUNDING FINANCIAL
LLC, a Florida limited liability company (“Lender”), recorded February 24, 2021 at Book 8433, Page 269 in the Office of the Register of Deeds for Williamson County, Tennessee (“Register’s Office”); and said Trustee in the Deed of Trust having been replaced by the appointment of Joseph R. Prochaska as Successor Trustee by appointment of record at Book 9361, page 682 in the Register’s Office; and the owner of the debt secured having requested the undersigned to advertise and sell the property described in and conveyed by said Deed of Trust, all of the said indebtedness having become immediately due and payable by default in the payment of a part thereof, at the option of the owner, this is to give notice that the undersigned will, on May 8, 2025, commencing at 3:30 p.m. at the main north door of the Williamson County Judicial Center, 135 4th Ave South, Franklin, Williamson County, Tennessee 37064 proceed to sell at public outcry to the highest and best bidder for cash, by Trustee’s deed pursuant to the terms and conditions announced at such sale, all of Trustee’s right, title and interest in the following described property situated in Williamson County, State of Tennessee (“Real Estate”), to wit: LAND SITUATED IN WILLIAMSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE:
A tract of land in the 6th Civil District of Williamson County, Tennessee, being Lots No. 1 and 2, of a subdivision of the P.M. Chaffin Farm, and described as follows: Beginning with a point in the center of Temple Road in line with the stone wall along Temple’s East boundary line, said point being the same point as the point indicating the Northeast
corner of a parcel designated for future development, (adjacent to the Mary L Rudolph property), of Temple Hills Country Club Estates of record in Plat Book 11, Page 136, sheet#3 of 5, Register’s Office of Williamson County, TN, running thence with the center of said road South 80 degrees 15 minutes East 350 feet to an iron pin; thence Southwardly 1555 feet to an iron pin; thence North 60 degrees West 256.0 feet to a corner post in Temple’s East line; thence North 4 degrees East 1455 feet to the point of beginning.
Being the same property conveyed to MS Rochester Close, LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company, by Deed from Katherine Harper Morales, unmarried, dated 02/19/2021 and appearing of record in Book 8433 page 266 Register’s office for Williamson County, Tennessee; and then conveyed to 6394 Acquisitions, LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company, by Quitclaim Deed from M5 Rochester Close, LLC, recorded October 17, 2024 and appearing of record in Book 9587, page 284, said Register’s office.
WITH A MUNICIPAL ADDRESS OF 6394 TEMPLE ROAD, FRANKLIN, WILLIAMSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE 37069.
The foregoing shall be sold together with any and all other property, real and personal, which constitutes the Property as that term is defined in the Deed of Trust, but specifically excluding any cash, accounts, deposits, escrows, refunds reserves, impounds and other cash or cash equivalents.
Interested Parties: 6394 Acquisitions LLC
M5 Rochester Close, LLC
Benjamin & Darlys, LLC Note Investor, LLC Jesse D. McInerney
Cara E. McInerney
The Real Estate will be sold to the highest and best bidder for cash (or for credit against the Obligations if Lender is the highest bidder).
All bidders must (a) register at the sale; (b) execute a bidding agreement; (c) provide the Trustee with sufficient information to the Trustee so that he may determine that the bidder is not on the list of sanctioned entities maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control
of the U.S. Department of Treasury; and (d) provide the Trustee with a bidder’s deposit of $750,000 by cashier’s or certified check, payable to the Trustee (except for the party secured by the Deed of Trust). The bidding agreement may be obtained in advance of the sale by request to the undersigned. Additional terms may be announced at the sale. The right is hereby reserved to postpone or adjourn this sale, without further publication or notice, by public announcement at the time and place appointed for such sale or for such postponed or adjourned sale. All announcements made at the sale shall take precedence over the terms and conditions of this notice.
In said Deed of Trust, Borrower expressly waived the statutory right of redemption, and any and all rights of homestead; dower; all other exemptions and marital rights. Title is believed to be good, but the undersigned will sell and convey only as Trustee. Title is to be conveyed without any covenant or warranty, express or implied, and any matters having priority over the Deed of Trust and matters which may affect or encumber the Property following the sale, such as rights of parties in possession; rights of tenants in possession under unrecorded leases or rental agreements; visible and apparent easements; portion of the property within any roadway; any encroachment, encumbrance, violation, variation, or adverse circumstance affecting the title that would be disclosed by an accurate and complete land survey of the land; all leases, grants, exceptions or reservations of coal, lignite, oil, gas and other minerals, together with all rights, privileges and immunities relating thereto, appearing in the Public Records; all matters shown on any applicable recorded plat; taxes or assessments that are not shown as existing liens by the records of any taxing authority that levies taxes or assessments on real property or by the public records; proceedings by a public agency that may result in taxes or assessments, or notices of such proceedings, whether or not shown by the records of such agency or by the public records; taxes assessed by correction pursuant to the provisions of T.C.A.
§67-5-603, et seq.; matters that an accurate survey of the premises might disclose; any facts, rights, interests, or claims that are not shown by the public records but that could be ascertained by an inspection of the Property or that may be asserted by persons in possession of the Property; any encroachment, encumbrance, violation, variation, or adverse circumstance affecting the title that would be disclosed by an accurate and complete land survey of the Property and not shown by the public records; any mineral or mineral rights leased, granted or retained by current or prior owners; prior liens, claims and encumbrances including, without limitation, leases and other agreements; assessments, building lines, easements, covenants, and restrictions that may exist; any lien or right to lien for services, labor or material imposed by law and not shown by the public records; and, statutory rights of redemption of any governmental agency including, but not limited to, the right of redemption of the Internal Revenue Service pursuant to 26 U.S.C. §7425(d)(1), of the State of Tennessee pursuant to T.C.A. §67-1-1433(c)(1), or of any other taxing authority.
Joseph R. Prochaska, as Successor Trustee Reno & Cavanaugh, PLLC 424 Church Street, Suite 2910 Nashville, TN 37219 Telephone (615) 866-2322 Publication On: April 10, April 17, and April 24, 2025.
For sale: 5.74 acres w/1.5 acre pond log cabin needs rehab ,pine & hardwood trees ,pasture and well,100 miles west of Nashville near Parsons ,Tn. $99,900. Karen Hoff, Historic & Distinctive Homes, LLC. O:615.228.3723 x302. M:615.500.4631.
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