NEWS: CONSERVATIVE “RISING STAR” HERMANDORFER EXPECTED TO LAND TOP FEDERAL JUDGE POST
>> PAGE 7
THE SPIN: KIM PETRAS, 4 NON BLONDES AND BIG FREEDIA REIGN AT NASHVILLE PRIDE
>> PAGE 38
DRINK UP
Cheap, cold beer, puddin’ shots, mocktails and our thoughts on Nashville’s newest bars
WITNESS HISTORY
Michael Nesmith wore this suit, designed by Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors and embellished with rhinestones, embroidered musical notes, and an American flag motif, while performing on the NBC-TV special 33-1/3 Revolutions per Monkee in 1969—the band’s final performance as a quartet until 1986.
From the exhibit Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock, presented by City National Bank
artifact: Courtesy of Michael Nesmith artifactphoto: Bob Delevante
Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Could Prohibit Tennessee AI Laws Federal budget legislation includes provision that would infringe upon states’ right to legislate artificial intelligence BY HAMILTON
MATTHEW MASTERS
Senators Advance Hermandorfer for Top Federal Judge Post
Conservative ‘rising star’ expected to be confirmed to 6th Circuit Court of Appeals within weeks BY
ELI MOTYCKA
Pith in the Wind
This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog COVER PACKAGE: DRINK UP
I’ll Drink to That
From puddin’ shots at Gramp’s to The Patterson House’s coffee-based Cafe de Ático, here are nine unique drinks we’ve been enjoying BY SCENE STAFF AND CONTRIBUTORS
Cracking Open a Cold One
On the hunt for cheap, cold domestic beers in Nashville BY JULIANNE
AKERS
In With the New
Fresh bars Close Company, Sauced, Urban Cowboy Bar and Pont Neuf stand out among all the new BY HANNAH HERNER
In This Economy?
Nashville’s beer economics reward scale and location BY ELI MOTYCKA
PICKS
Fourth of July, Elvis Costello and the Imposters, Drkmttr Art Auction, Flipsville and more
What’s Yours Is Mine
Venice and the Ottoman Empire dresses a bloody history of empire in silk and velvet BY
Walking a Pitch-Dark Road
Scott Payne delivers a riveting account of going undercover with homegrown extremists BY HAMILTON CAIN; CHAPTER16.ORG MUSIC
Pour One Out
After 40 years, Murfreesboro’s The Boro Bar and Grill is closing BY AMANDA HAGGARD
Out for a Joyride
Kesha takes the wheel on Period BY SEAN L. MALONEY
The Scene’s live-review column checks out
BY
An unsettling Danielle Deadwyler leads disjointed post-apocalyptic thriller 40 Acres BY CRAIG D. LINDSEY
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Discover The Woods: Tucked away in it’s own little enclave of Charlotte Park, just a few blocks from an emerging retail/restaurant district on Robertson Rd and a short bike ride down James Ave to Centennial & 51st and the heart of the Nations, The Woods blends convenience with privacy; nature with style. Featuring 2- and 3- bedroom homes with architecture reminiscent of historic Craftsman Tudors and mid-century-modern A-frames, with floor plans that satisfy today’s demands.
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TRUMP’S ‘ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL’ COULD PROHIBIT TENNESSEE AI LAWS
Federal budget legislation includes provision that would infringe upon states’ right to legislate artificial intelligence
BY HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS
A PROVISION IN The federal “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act could result in a 10-year moratorium on state-level artificial intelligence legislation.
Tennessee’s Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn and Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined Washington state’s Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell and Attorney General Nick Brown in a virtual press conference on June 18 highlighting their opposition to the provision.
Other Republicans have also expressed opposition, such as Tennessee’s state Sen. Bo Watson (R-Hixson), who joined a press conference June 26 with lawmakers from Utah, South Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin and Montana.
The provision, which would prevent new AI laws by states and prohibit the enforcement of existing state laws related to AI, is a part of the U.S. Senate’s reconciliation bill. The provision survived the significant procedural hurdle of being cleared by the parliamentarian, who allowed it to remain in the bill. According to Republican Senate leadership, as of this writing, the bill is expected to pass both chambers of Congress.
But the Senate’s version of the bill is significantly different from the version that passed in the House — meaning it will need to return to the other chamber for approval once more be-
fore heading to President Donald Trump’s desk. Trump set a July 4 deadline.
In May, Skrmetti was one of 40 state attorneys general who signed onto a letter from the National Association of Attorneys General to congressional leadership opposing the ban on AI laws.
“The impact of such a broad moratorium would be sweeping and wholly destructive of reasonable state efforts to prevent known harms associated with AI,” the letter reads. “This bill will affect hundreds of existing and pending state laws passed and considered by both Republican and Democratic state legislatures. Some existing laws have been on the books for many years.”
“These laws and their regulations have been developed over years through careful consideration and extensive stakeholder input from consumers, industry, and advocates. And, in the years ahead, additional matters — many unforeseeable today given the rapidly evolving nature of this technology — are likely to arise.”
AI is impacting nearly every aspect of modern life, from higher education to medicine and surgery. It was recently used in 2024 election robocalls that mimicked the voice of former
Joe Biden, which led to criminal charges.
According to reporting by Politico, the provision that would restrict AI legislation comes as “top artificial intelligence companies are rapidly expanding their lobbying footprint in Washington, [D.C.].”
“We want America to be AI-dominant,” Skrmetti said in the June 18 press conference. “We want to make sure that our adversaries don’t get ahead of us, but we need to make sure that in the process, we’re not leaving American consumers behind. If there’s a 10-year moratorium on state enforcement, that effectively means 10 years where we are at the mercy of the judgment of Big Tech, and we have no guarantees that they will be responsible with the incredible power this would give them. Our nation is built on checks and balances, and we have to be sure that the states are in a position to fulfill their mandate of protecting their citizens.”
Artificial intelligence was the subject of numerous bills in this year’s session of the Tennessee General Assembly — from school safety to health care and deep-fake pornography. The previous year’s legislative session saw the notable bipartisan passage of the ELVIS Act, which
made Tennessee the first state to protect individuals’ likenesses, voices and images from “an algorithm, software, tool or other technology, service or device.”
“You can’t just say we’re not going to regulate or enforce state laws for a period of 10 years, because think of what would happen to individuals in that period of time,” Blackburn said. “We need a national standard, but until we get it, it is our states that are standing in the gap.”
Blackburn left the virtual press conference early — before reporters were able to ask questions.
Despite her opposition to the provision, Blackburn has voiced support of the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which she argues “will make America stronger than ever before.”
Blackburn’s fellow U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty also supports the bill. All of Tennessee’s congressional representatives in the U.S. House voted for the bill — aside from the state’s lone congressional Democrat, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen. ▼
AS THIS STORY WENT TO PRESS ON MONDAY, THE "ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL" WAS PROCEEDING RAPIDLY THROUGH THE SENATE VOTING PROCESS — LEAVING THIS STORY SUBJECT TO CHANGE. VISIT NASHVILLESCENE.COM FOR THE LATEST.
President
PHOTO:
TN.GOV
GOV. BILL LEE SIGNING THE ELVIS ACT IN 2024
SENATORS ADVANCE HERMANDORFER FOR TOP FEDERAL JUDGE POST
Conservative ‘rising star’ expected to be confirmed to 6th Circuit Court of Appeals within weeks
BY ELI MOTYCKA
TEN YEARS AGO, Whitney Hermandorfer celebrated her graduation from The George Washington University Law School, where she finished first in her class and edited law review articles debating federal precedent. This year, she successfully defended Tennessee’s ban on transgender health care for minors in front of the Supreme Court of the United States. Soon she will help write federal precedent as one of the youngest judges across the nation’s 12 federal courts of appeals.
Hermandorfer has sailed through every step of her Senate confirmation process as the first appeals court judge nominated by President Donald Trump in his second term. Raised in Franklin and educated at the Harpeth Hall School and Princeton University, Hermandorfer returned to Nashville in recent years to argue controversial state positions for Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s Special Litigation Unit. She has clerked for Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh, all of whom ruled in her favor just weeks ago, upholding Tennessee’s law banning gender-affirming care for minors in United States v. Skrmetti
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Hermandorfer’s nomination to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals — the Cincinnati-based body that sits just below the Supreme Court and hears federal cases from Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan — along party lines in a brief meeting on June 26. Hermandorfer defended her short but prestigious résumé to senators in a June 5 hearing during which she was introduced by Tennessee’s Republican U.S. Sens. Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn.
“There is no one more qualified to take on that important role of an appellate judge,” Blackburn told colleagues on June 26. “She will be a tireless advocate for our constitution. She will apply the law as it is written and not rewrite it.”
Democrats criticized Hermandorfer’s lack of federal trial experience and her history arguing to restrict personal freedoms, which includes defending Tennessee’s strict abortion ban as well as U.S. v Skrmetti. They also used her hearing to expose the tightly connected world of conservative activism, tying Hermandorfer to both the Federalist Society and the Teneo Network, social and professional groups organized around
judicial challenges to advance aspects of conservatism via setting or overturning constitutional precedents.
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, an advocacy coalition for more than 240 groups, sent senators a letter opposing Hermandorfer’s nomination.
“At a time when so many of our fundamental civil rights are under attack, we need to trust that our judges will impartially and fairly rule on cases without bias or animus,” reads the letter. “Unfortunately, a careful review of Ms. Hermandorfer’s record shows a demonstrated hostility towards our civil and human rights that is disqualifying for a judicial nominee. We strongly urge the Senate to oppose her nomination to the Sixth Circuit.”
Official confirmation to the bench will likely come later in July following a full Senate vote. Republicans have a three-person chamber majority. A few conservatives — like Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — have demonstrated a willingness to buck the president’s agenda, though court confirmation expert Carl Tobias expects Hermandorfer will easily win the votes necessary for approval. Her nomination looks even more palatable to less extreme Republicans as it comes alongside several other hyper-partisan nominees for federal judgeships.
“She looks like the typical Trump 1.0 nominee in the sense that she’s been active in the Federalist Society, she’s wellcredentialed, she’s clerked for excellent judges that are well-respected, and she subscribes to conservative ideological tenets like originalism,” says Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond.
“It’s not clear that she’s what people call a ‘MAGA’ judge, who is more loyal to Trump than the Constitution. She has accolades, and she’s well-spoken — she showed that in her hearing. She’s a rising star among conservatives, and at some point she will be a chief judge of the 6th Circuit.”
Hermandorfer’s age and deep connections in the conservative legal world set her up as a potential future Supreme Court justice, Tobias estimates. At least, Hermandorfer can expect a decades-long career determining critical cases for Tennesseans, Kentuckians, Ohioans and Michiganders, pending confirmation. ▼
Seven Metro councilmembers, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, are suing the state of Tennessee over a new law under which the state could imprison elected officials who vote for “sanctuary city” policies. The felony penalty, passed during Gov. Bill Lee’s special session in January, raised significant constitutional red flags. “This is the first known instance in American history where a state has imposed felony liability on local officials simply for the viewpoint expressed in their votes,” reads the suit, in part. This suit comes on the heels of another legal challenge — a team of lawyers from legal and immigrant advocacy groups filed a lawsuit in June challenging a new Tennessee law that criminalizes providing “harbor” to undocumented immigrants
The Nashville Public Library’s main location downtown will remain closed through July 28 following a fire in the adjacent parking garage last month. The library announced the extended closure, noting that assessment found more than 90 percent of the building sustained a light impact from soot and smoke as a result of the early morning fire on June 10. This level of impact is defined when residue can be found on a surface, though so minimal that it cannot be differentiated from dust at first glance.
U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District posted a racist cartoon on social media last week featuring a depiction of Democratic Socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Ogles (who himself has been investigated by the FBI) is also asking U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to subject Mamdani to denaturalization proceedings. Writes longtime Scene opinion columnist Betsy Phillips, “There’s something so pathetic about this. And I don’t mean in the sense of it being small-minded and half-assed. I mean in the ‘pathos’ sense.”
Over the weekend, Metro officials, nonprofit agencies and around 50 to 60 residents of a camp along the Cumberland River near Nissan Stadium worked quickly to relocate people out of concern that their tents were in the path of the planned Fourth of July fireworks show downtown “I’m not a person that would ever entertain the idea of moving someone temporarily for a fireworks show and then bringing them back,” April Calvin, director of Metro’s Office of Homeless Services, told our colleagues at the Nashville Banner calling such a scenario “very traumatic.” Some of the residents were moved to a nearby Rodeway Inn. Calvin tells the Banner that OHS’ plan is for those placements to lead to permanent housing.
PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS
PHOTO: RAY DI PIETRO
WHITNEY HERMANDORFER
I’LL DRINK
TO THAT
From puddin’ shots at Gramp’s to The Patterson House’s coffeebased Cafe de Àtico, here are nine unique drinks we’ve been enjoying
BY SCENE STAFF AND CONTRIBUTORS
IN LAST YEAR’S Drinking Issue, we dispatched our staff and freelancers to bars, dives, restaurants and lounges around the city to track down a dozen quintessential versions of classic cocktails — from Sperry’s martini to Chopper Tiki’s mai tai. This year, we decided to round up some less classic, more unusual fare, but with no specific directive in mind. Tell us what you’re drinking lately, we told our staff and contributors. Whatever you like What they came back with is a wide array of drinkable (and slurpable) concoctions, from an elevated coffee-centric drink at the new Patterson House location to puddin’ shots at East Nashville’s new Gramp’s Garage Bar — and even a couple of top-shelf mocktails. Read on for more.
THE PATTERSON HOUSE: CAFE DE ÁTICO
Thirty years after its high point as a fern-bar classic, the espresso martini is again having a bit of a moment. Even longneck-slinging downtown honky-tonk bartenders have learned how to mix espresso, vodka and Kahlúa together to make a passable version. While The Patterson House has served many coffee-based drinks in the past, the highend cocktail emporium wouldn’t have been the first place to go for one of those sweet treats, created as a response to a patron’s request for “something to wake me up, then fuck me up.” With this literal “Penthouse Coffee,” named after TPH’s new location on top of the Voorhees Building in the Gulch, beverage manager Alex McCutchen decided to emphasize the fruity characteristics of the coffee bean using a mixed base of vodka and sherry-finished brandy, plus fruity Byrrh Grand Quinquina aromatized red wine and a tart cranberry liqueur. The concoction is basically cold-brewed with coarse-ground Crema coffee for 18 hours before being shaken to order with a rich Demerara sugar syrup. The result is an espresso martini worthy of serving in the penthouse. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
DRINK UP
Cheap, cold beer, puddin’ shots, mocktails and our thoughts on Nashville’s newest bars
DISKIN CIDER: THE ONE WITH THE WHISKEY
For those of us who prefer ciders to beer, Diskin Cider has been a godsend since it opened in 2018. If I’m not getting a cider flight (because it’s too hard to choose just one flavor), I like to go with one of their whiskey-based cocktails. The One With the Whiskey is paired with Rosy Cheeks, Diskin’s seasonal cranberryorange-maple cider. At first blush, it sounds like a combination that might not work, but the tartness of the cranberry cuts through the sweetness of the maple syrup and orange liqueur. Fellow cider- and whiskey-heads: Make sure to try Diskin’s year-round whiskey cocktail, Whiskey Business, which is made with Son of a Peach, their peach-tea-flavored cider. LOGAN BUTTS
GRAMP’S GARAGE BAR: PUDDIN’ SHOTS
Sean “Big Daddy” Porter — the man behind Daddy’s Dogs and, more recently, East Nashville’s Gramp’s Garage Bar — is a marketing wiz. Sometimes that means sharing his sensual, boudoir-style photos while promoting Daddy’s Dogs’ annual Valentine’s Day date night series, and sometimes it means hawking puddin’ shots at Gramp’s. A kind of subverted version of the timeless, ever-popular Jell-O shot, Porter’s liquor-loaded puddin’ shots come in a variety of rotating flavors, Nanna’s Nutter Butter (made with peanut butter whiskey) and Lemon Blueberry (made with vanilla vodka) among them. I’ve found my puddin’ shot journey to be a Goldilocks scenario. The Nutter Butter was a bit thick for my liking, while the Lemon Blueberry wasn’t thick enough. The Snickers flavor, however — velvety and chocolatey and made with bourbon — was just right. Your mileage may vary. D. PATRICK RODGERS
PHOTOS: ERIC ENGLAND
The Frist Art Museum and Civic Design Center
Invite
Invite
Invite you to an opening reception for Avenues to a GreatCity Conte CommunityArts Gallery Frist Art Museum
Invite you to an opening reception for Avenues to a Great City
OnThursday,July 10, 2025
Conte Community Arts Gallery
5:00–6:30 p.m.
Opening Panel Conversation Avenues To A Great City Thursday, July 10, 2025 6:30 - 7:30 pm
Frist Art Museum Auditorium
Frist Art Museum
Rechter Room
On
Conversation to follow
Rechter Room
5:00–6:30
Opening Panel Conversation to follow 6:30–7:30 Auditoriump.m.
On Thursday, July 10, 2025
5:00–6:30 p.m.
Opening Panel Conversation to follow 6:30–7:30 p.m.
Opening
Rechter Room
Auditorium
Free parking is available in the Frist Art Museum guest lot on a first-come, first-served basis; space is limited.
Opening Panel Conversation to follow 6:30–7:30 p.m.
Avenues to a Great City's Opening Panel is part of an event series exploring the influence of The Plan of Nashville with regard to the past, present and future twenty years after it was published. The Opening Panel welcomes the author of The Plan, as well as other key participants in the project's development, publication, and subsequent impact. It is only by reflecting on the past context of planning in our city that we can continue to vision for the future.
Auditorium
Learn more at CivicDesignCenter.org
Free parking is available in the FristArt Museum guest lot on a first-come, first-served basis; space is limited.
Free parking is available in the Frist Art Museum guest lot on a first-come, first-served basis; space is limited.
THE FOX BAR & COCKTAIL CLUB: GHOST BEACH
Ghosts stick around. A standout from the Fox’s Halloween menu, Ghost Beach is a cloudy creation that just as easily works its magic as a frosty tonic in the summer heat. Wonderbird gin — a Mississippi-distilled cult favorite, distilled in a process that “borrows from traditional sake making” — does the heavy lifting with assists from lemongrass shochu and Strega, an herbal Italian digestif, making this a booze-forward sipper. Orgeat and yuzu add floral complexity. Each sip gets filtered through a sweet foam blanket, made from berry liqueurs. Stop by soon — we hear its days are numbered. ELI MOTYCKA
A-ROI: PASSION
FRUIT HEAVEN
When my wife and I made reservations for North Nashville’s Japanese-Thai fusion restaurant A-Roi, I wasn’t expecting to come away with a new favorite cocktail. But after ordering the Passion Fruit Heaven, I had to update my running list. It’s essentially a whiskey sour made with Evan Williams, but featuring pineapple and passion fruit juice instead of simple syrup. Sometimes all you need is the right combo of bourbon and fruit mixers. Pair it with a yellowtail maki roll during happy hour.
PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND
JULY 11+12 ONE C1TY / 4 PM - 9 PM
Escape the heat and shop after dark at our FIRST-EVER Crafty Bastards Summer Night Market! Join us Friday, July 11 and Saturday, July 12 from 4-9pm at oneC1TY to shop from 60+ local and regional artists!
CLOSE COMPANY: DAISY DE SANDIA
Close Company, the latest project from the mixology masters behind Death & Co., is meant to be a volume cocktail bar. That means the bartenders do a lot of the prep work in advance. The menu is divided into easily decipherable descriptors with names like “Boozy,” “Juicy” or “Fizzy.” The bar doesn’t list every ingredient on the large signs over the ordering well, because are you really going to order the Daisy de Sandia because you discovered it’s made using a 3-to-1 pressed watermelon-tosugar ratio in the syrup? No. You’re going to order it because it’s delicious and refreshing! The Arette Blanco Tequila contributes herbal mineral notes and balances the sweetness of the watermelon and the Lillet Rosé aperitif. The secret off-menu additions of a Tajín-salted cucumber slice, fresh lime juice, a few dashes of absinthe and pebble ice are the surprises that make the Daisy de Sandia magnifico. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
GOODTIMES: MIAMI VICE
Sometimes the only thing that can get me through a muggy Nashville summer heat wave is a drink that makes me feel like I’m sitting by a (non-lake) body of water. The blended cocktails at GoodTimes Full Service Bar in Wedgewood-Houston — one of my new go-to spots — do just the trick. Instead of choosing between frozen-cocktail staples like a piña colada and a strawberry daiquiri, I always go with the Miami Vice — a combination of the two. It’s refreshing, not too sweet and, most importantly for a drink like this, served with a fun straw.
LOGAN BUTTS
CORAL CLUB: NEO-TROPICAL
For a vintage vibe, check out East Nashville’s Coral Club — the writers’ choice for Best New Cocktail Bar and readers’ choice for Best Happy Hour in the Scene’s 2024 Best of Nashville issue. Tucked away next door to chef Edgar Victoria’s Alebrije (another Best of Nashville winner), the cocktail lounge is a respite from the everyday hustle and bustle of Nashville. One of their popular year-round mocktails is the Neo-Tropical, a tart and spicy little number made with Giffard Nonalcoholic Aperitivo, pineapple, ginger and lime soda. First published by our sister publication, Nfocus. JANET KURTZ
BLUEPRINT UNDERGROUND COCKTAIL CLUB:
LET’S NOT AND SAY WE DID
Even at a vibey spot like Blueprint, owner Billy Dec recognized the need for nonalcoholic options on the menu — especially for his younger, more health-conscious clientele. Along with his friend/business partner and Better Than Ezra frontman Kevin Griffin, Dec collaborated with his bar staff to create an extensive list of N/A offerings. Dec describes this particular drink as “a way to celebrate without compromise, a bold, flavorful alternative for those who want to be part of the party — without the alcohol.” Living somewhere on the cocktail continuum between a margarita and a paloma, this mocktail uses Ritual ZeroProof Tequila as a base that substitutes the heat of peppers for the alcohol burn. Agave syrup and lime juice represent the margarita side of its lineage, and white grapefruit juice brings the paloma to mind. A jalapeño slice acts as a garnish while contributing one last extra bit of bite to this well-balanced mocktail. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN ▼
PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND
SATURDAY, AUGUST 2
The Factory at Franklin’s Liberty Hall
1 - 4pm
PARTICIPATING BOUTIQUES
ABLE / Any Old Iron / Banded / Brittany Fuson / CT Grace, a Boutique / e.Allen / Elle Gray / Exclusive Look Boutique, The / Fab’rik Franklin / Flash & Trash & a Little Bit of Sass / Franklin Road Apparel / The French Shoppe / Glamour
Formals / Harper’s Den / Hollie Ray Boutique / Mountain High Outfitters / Nash Collection / Nine Thirteen / Palmer Kennedy / Pauli’s Place Boutique / Society Boutique / Style with a Twist / Vinnie Louise / Wilder / The Willing Crab
CRACKING OPEN A COLD ONE
On the hunt for cheap, cold domestic beers in Nashville
BY JULIANNE AKERS
THE CLOSEST I’VE ever felt to holding the Holy Grail was when I was handed a 12-ounce bottle of Miller High Life at Duke’s in East Nashville earlier this year. Let me explain.
I love a crisp white wine, a snooty craft beer or an extravagant cocktail as much as anyone. But at the end of the day, I have to go back to my roots — a cheap, cold beer. Under the right circumstances, it’s both totally unremarkable and the best thing I’ve ever tasted.
Part of the appeal of a cheap beer is the environment you’re in. For me, that’s oftentimes a grimy, dimly lit dive bar with sticky floors and graffiti on the bathroom walls. A place where hazy cigarette smoke clouds the patio and the
sound of clinking billiard balls echoes inside; where the decor mostly includes dart boards and beer memorabilia. (I say this as someone who proudly has a Miller High Life mirror mounted in my kitchen.)
As a recent Nashville transplant, I’ve spent a fair share of my past six months trying out various pubs and dive bars. And now it has become my personal mission — and my assignment for the Scene’s Drinking Issue — to visit as many local watering holes as possible, and to learn the best spots to crack open a cold one in all its glory.
Starting in East Nashville, the aforementioned Scene favorite Duke’s is the first bar in Nashville that served me a bottled Miller High Life (the premium and most delectable way to enjoy the beverage, in my most humble opinion). This was just a few months following my move to Tennessee, and was my sign from the all-knowing spiritual beer entities that everything was going to be all right.
Just a few blocks away on Woodland Street at Lakeside Lounge, I enjoyed the $3 “frosty” special, a glass mug filled to the brim with Genesee Light. (Though if you’re ordering a frosty, you probably don’t care what it contains.) Frosties are just $2 during Lakeside’s happy hour, which is seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
While a bit more refined and newer to the East Nashville bar scene, Schulman’s Neighborhood Bar offers bottled PBRs, 7-ounce High Life pony bottles and — if you want a bit of novelty — a 40-ounce bottle of High Life for $15. (For an extra $10, they’ll serve it to you in a Champagne bucket with a side of Aperol, though that may be antithetical to the cheap beer enjoyer’s ethos.) If you’re a fan of large portions, Fran’s Eastside — another longtime Scene fave, which relocated to Dickerson Pike a few years back — offers low-cost buckets of domestic beer.
While Mickey’s Tavern doesn’t offer bottled beers, it’s a solid spot to enjoy tall boys, priced decently, while illuminated by red mood lighting that can either be cozy or ominous, depending on where you want your night to go.
The tried-and-true Dino’s closer to Five Points has you covered if you’re searching for a simple beer and some animal-style fries to soak it up. If you’re wanting a cold beer and live music, Cobra has some friendly bartenders and PBR on draft.
Heading across the river, I encountered a bar that might just be the epitome of an ice-coldbeer hang: Batter’s Box on Hermitage Avenue, a small but mighty establishment with a grand view of the twinkling Nashville skyline from its front patio.
If you feel like tackling the beast that is Lower Broadway, Robert’s Western World offers one of the best deals in town — $2.50 for a High Life. You can also venture down to Printers Alley for some brews at Fleet Street Pub.
West Nashville’s Springwater Supper Club — the oldest operational bar in Tennessee and another longtime Scene fave — is a delightful cash-only joint a stone’s throw from Centennial Park. A place where vintage music videos and old-school movies play on scattered corner televisions and an American flag acts as the divider between back- and front-of-house.
As I neared the end of my monthlong tour of Nashville’s best bars for cold beers, a wrench was thrown into my plans. I tested positive for COVID-19. This is where I questioned whether chugging beers in the name of “research” every weekend was the best thing for my immune system.
That left me with only half the story. A wellrounded piece would explore more of Nashville’s neighborhoods. Sources and Scene staffers tell me to head to The Villager Tavern in Hillsboro Village and Betty’s Grill on the West Side, Bobby’s Idle Hour in Midtown, Rosie’s Twin Kegs in South Nashville and legendary karaoke spot Santa’s Pub by the fairgrounds.
I guess I’ve got more research to do. ▼
PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO
$3 “FROSTY” SPECIAL AT LAKESIDE LOUNGE
IN WITH THE NEW
Fresh bars Close Company, Sauced, Urban Cowboy Bar and Pont Neuf stand out among all the new
BY HANNAH HERNER
I’VE HEARD BEFORE that I should turn and face the strain (ch-ch-changes). It’s easy to get lost in the never-ending barrage of new places to eat and drink in Nashville. But four shiny new bars are ripe for potential third-space status. They may feel foreign to longtime residents, but I predict they’ll become old favorites in time.
Here’s our rundown.
CLOSE COMPANY
1316 ADAMS ST. closecompanybar.com
As someone who suffers from claustrophobia, news of an underground bar called Close Company did give me pause. But I was pleasantly surprised by the colorfully decorated haven in the newly revitalized Neuhoff District. Besides, the fact that they have a conversation pit is enough for it to make this list, in my opinion.
In a city that boasts tons of inventive and tasty cocktails costing roughly $15, Close Company has managed a feat with the Champagne Lassi (yes, like those delicious Indian drinks) and the Bitter Melon Negroni, which is like no negroni I’ve tasted before. Perhaps that’s not surprising coming from the people who brought us upscale New York City cocktail bar Death & Co. The snacks — including chips, Hot Pocket-style pastries and popcorn — taste better thanks to being served from the cute snack window, too.
I have to go back and get one of the “group activity” menu items — the “mini martinis for the crew” seems most up my alley. The
Neuhoff District is only getting started in terms of development, so it’s time to become an early adopter.
SAUCED
1221 SIXTH AVE. N. Instagram: @sauced.nash
What’s the difference between drinking wine at my house and out in public? The people at Sauced know a whole lot more about wine than me. Tell them what you like, and the staff will skilfully recommend a glass from the selection of the day. (Just don’t be too shy to ask about the prices. The lack of menu leaves room for surprises.)
I enjoyed the perfect pairings of bread, butter and olives to accompany my wine, not to mention the vinyl the team spins in the spalike former home. I’ll go back when the heat breaks to check out the newly added patio. Sauced is a great first stop on a Germantown crawl, with Mother’s Ruin and Frankie J’s just down the street. It’s an outpost of a Brooklyn-based spot, a bit bougie and a bit preten-
tious. But hey, I didn’t move nearly 500 miles from home eight years ago to drink Twisted Teas.
URBAN COWBOY BAR
40 THE ARCADE urbancowboy.com/urban-cowboy-bar
It’s hard to top the original Urban Cowboy in East Nashville. The outdoor seating area, the fire pits, the gorgeous lobby, the crafty drinks, the cacti — it has never disappointed me, or any visitors I bring there.
The newly opened Urban Cowboy Bar in The Arcade, however, is right up there with its sister location in terms of vibes. The two-story outpost’s Western-style decor is detailed and gorgeous (I simply love leaded glass), strengthened by the architecture of the surrounding environs of the historic Arcade. It’s the perfect way for a local to enjoy the downtown energy without, hopefully, the potential for downtown puke. With The Arcade currently being revamped, I’m hopeful it can become just that destination for locals.
I’m intrigued by the peach-infused vodka drink Are You Mad at Me?, but you can’t go wrong with any of Urban Cowboy’s house cocktails. In addition to a robust nonalcoholic selection, I love a little gimmick — I’ll take the “Take This Shot” randomized shot for $6, please.
PONT NEUF
3820 CHARLOTTE AVE. (INSIDE L&L MARKET) pontneufbar.com
With a name like Pont Neuf, a Floral Soirée? I’m immediately sold.
Created by the founder of Amelia’s Flower Truck, the French-inspired wine bar is the prettiest addition to the West Nashville bar scene. The bar hosts reading nights, flower crown making, live music and movie nights, offering legitimate ways to form community at bars — just like our ancestors did. It’s not open as late as some others, but it makes for a great, mellow stop on a girls’ night excursion. Like the flower truck before it, Pont Neuf knows how to market to the ladies. See y’all during golden hour for a $10 spritz. ▼
PHOTOS: ANGELINA CASTILLO
CLOSE COMPANY
PONT NEUF
PONT NEUF
URBAN COWBOY BAR
IN THIS ECONOMY?
Nashville’s beer economics reward scale and location
BY ELI MOTYCKA
FEW THINGS GO together like country songs and ice-cold beer. There’s also baseball and ice-cold beer, football and ice-cold beer, hot afternoons and ice-cold beer, good friends and ice-cold beer. The amber liquid flows freely in downtown Nashville, where tourists and locals can find all of the above for prices that vary dramatically.
Markets put a dollar amount on a transaction between a buyer and seller at a place and time. Wild variability across all four of these components has created an uneven beer market in Nashville, with prices varying more than 150 percent within a few blocks’ walk for the same glass bottle. For one hour on Friday, the perounce price of Miller Lite varies by 750 percent between Tootsie’s and one East Nashville neighborhood bar.
In a town where tourists warp the local bar-conomy, how much is too much to pay for a beer? Specifically, a cold domestic bearing the brand name of American brewers who have quenched generations regardless of race, class, creed or political persuasion. Like any self-respecting budget-haver, the Scene has a line, and this is how we drew it.
Legacy domestic brands offer an easy control group across which to compare prices. These include the full families of widely distributed major brewers — Miller, Budweiser, Coors — as well as Pabst Blue Ribbon and Busch. The inclusion of Busch, wholly owned by Budweiser’s parent company, may surprise some purists, but
it is a regional favorite and perennial bestseller according to local bartenders. These options provide passable and consistent quality between establishments and make up most bars’ staple beer selection.
Standard 12-pack prices at a gas station “Beer Cave” inside the I-440 loop set baselines at $1.08 for a 12-ounce Miller High Life can and bottle; $1.25 for Bud Light and heavy; $1.45 for Miller Lite cans and bottles; and $1.50 for Coors Light and Banquet. Prices reward scale, with 16-ounce PBR and Busch tall boys working out to $1.35 each in a six-pack. Over in the fridge, a 32-ounce can of Miller High Life runs $2.79, the best perounce deal in the city verified by Scene reporting. Consider anything on top of these prices as the “social markup” charged by a bar that competes on ambience, entertainment, food and community.
From our research, only iconic Broadway honky-tonk Robert’s Western World offers cold $2.50 domestics all day, every day. The selection is limited to Busch, Busch Light, Miller High Life and PBR. Coors (Light and Banquet), Budweiser and Miller Lite jump to $8 here, a price that lands between neighbors The Stage ($7 all domestics) and Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge ($9 all domestics). Across the street, Nudie’s advertises its own $6 “Basic Brew” deal, which includes all the standard labels. Even the Four Seasons bar, which prices Jack Daniel’s pours at $16 and domestic bottles at $8, stays within this range.
If you’re going out, the Robert’s deal ranks as the best in the city. The famous “Recession Special” ($6) pairs a PBR with a thick-cut fried bologna sandwich, chips and a MoonPie, a special honed by the market over decades.
“We sell thousands a night,” one server tells the Scene during a packed Friday lunch hour.
“I’ve been here 15 years — some of the staff has been here for decades. We don’t have turnover, and the place stays full.”
Broadway’s $6 to $9 range mirrors the small but bustling pocket of Midtown bars like Red
Door Saloon ($7) and the various bars within the Division Street labyrinth of Losers, Winners and Riley Green’s Duck Blind ($8).
Real deals come with scale, timing and hu-
mility. Long-standing dive bars price within a second range, somewhere between $3 and $4.50. Outside of Robert’s, downtown’s cheapest cold bottle might be at The Batter’s Box on Hermitage Avenue. Domestics start at $3.25 for a can of PBR all day; shell out another 25 cents for Coors, Miller and Budweiser bottles, or $3.75 for a Bud Light on draft.
“We raised prices a quarter across the board a few months ago,” says Laura, the affable Batter’s Box bartender who serves a full cast of regulars. “Got to keep up with the times.”
Institutions Brown’s Diner and The Villager Tavern both keep prices in that range. Before 7 p.m., The Villager sells draft pitchers for $10 and Miller High Life for $2.50 — the only pricematch to Robert’s found by the Scene. Brown’s drops draft prices by $1 during happy hour, which runs weekdays from 3 to 5 p.m. Across town, Schulman’s sells 40 ounces of Miller Lite for $4 for one hour on Friday afternoon, giving the new Porter Road bar the unique distinction of the cheapest American domestic per-ounce during that brief window.
These two ranges set up a clear dividing point at $5. Pay more and you’re paying the tourist premium sold to out-of-towners who want a big night in Music City. Stay under $5, and you’re in good company, as long as you don’t stay home. ▼
THE BATTER’S BOX
PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO
Hold onto your buns — Burger Week is back!
For one week only, join 50+ local restaurants as they serve up their juiciest, cheesiest, wildest burgers for just $8 ! When it’s over, help us crown the winner by voting for your favorites!
Browse participating locations, view drink specials, plot your route and earn points toward the grand prize! get the app!
downloadme!
$8 burger specials for one week only!
icon guide
Carry out available
Vegetarian available upon request
Gluten-free available upon request
Outdoor seating available
Pet-friendly
Available via Uber Eats
Little Harpeth’s Chicken Scratch on-special
51 North Taproom
Goating Banana Peppers for Bacon
Smashshburger with herbed goat cheese spread, banana peppers and bacon.
Barrel Proof
Southern Comfort Burger
5 oz. patty on a Charpier’s poppy seed bun with house made roasted poblano pimento cheese, tomato, fried okra and house made pickled okra burger sauce.
Bavarian Bierhaus
Cheddar Burger
Two fresh flame grilled burger patties topped with Cheddar served on a toasted bun. Lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle served on the side.
Beyond the edge
The Hot Mess
Thick 6 oz beef patty slammed with crispy bacon, fried jalapeño poppers, melty American and cheddar cheese and a reckless flood of spicy peach sauce. It’s sweet. It’s spicy. It’s dripping down your arms and all over your shirt—and you’re gonna love every damn bite.
Black
Tap Craft Burgers & Beer
The Tennessee Burger
Prime burger, Jack Daniel’s red pepper jam, kosher pickles, sweet potato chips, white BBQ and parsley.
Brown’s Diner
Hatch Chili Queso Burger
Brown’s famous burger, topped with spicy onion straws on a bed of romaine lettuce and Hatch chili aioli. Covered with Brown’s original Mexican Beer Cheese Sauce, made from Hatch chili’s, Chihuahua cheese and Modelo beer. Topped with a pile of pickles on a fresh local Charpier’s Brioche Bun.
Burger Republic
The Campfire Burger
Angus beef patty, espresso house-made BBQ sauce, white cheddar cheese, crispy fried onions and Schwartz’s Pickles, served on an artisan brioche bun, made fresh locally at Charpier Bakery.
Camburgers
The PB&J
A fresh take on a childhood classic. A perfect merging of sweet and savory with crispy bacon mixed into peanut butter and our signature candied onion grape jelly.
Cledis burgers & Beer
Blackberry Smoke
Smash burger with white American cheese, bacon, grilled jalapeños, smoked blackberry preserves and whipped mascarpone.
Common Ground
Smashburger
Two 3oz patties crisped on a flattop with caramelized onions, house-made pickles, American cheese and CG sauce on a fresh-baked bun from Charpier’s Bakery in West Nashville.
Double Dogs
Bacon Cheeseburger
A single hamburger patty topped with one slice of American cheese, two slices of hickory smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato and Duke’s ® Mayonnaise.
Drake’s
Southern Comfort Burger
Old Bay-seasoned Drake’s butcher blend patty with pimento cheese, potato chips, mayo and pickles on a warm butter-toasted bun. Served with chips.
Elliston Place Soda Shop
Soda Shop Patty Melt
Our classic Patty Melt features a juicy all beef patty, smothered with melted American cheese and topped with caramelized onions—grilled to perfection and served on your choice of buttery, toasted bread.
Family Tacos
visit sceneburgerweek.com for details
Gathre
Blue Smoke Show
CAB, smoked white cheddar, smoked brisket mac, blueberry BBQ, bacon and onion rings on a brioche bun.
Germantown Cafe
GTC Burger
Two brisket-chuck patties stacked with cheddar, crisp lettuce, bread & butter pickles and dijonnaise, all served on a brioche bun.
Germantown Pub
GTP Steakhouse Burger
A 1/4 pound beef burger seasoned in our special steak seasoning blend, topped with Swiss cheese, grilled onions and steak sauce on a garlic buttered bun.
Golden Sound
Golden Sound Smashburger
Expertly smashed ground Angus beef chuck with caramelized onions, house dill pickles, American cheese and Secret Sauce on a Martin’s Potato Bun.
GoodTimes Full Service Bar
GoodTimes Crunch Wrap
Two smash patties with melted cheese, ketchup, GoodTimes sauce, jalapeño salsa, pico de gallo and lettuce wrapped in a tortilla.
Gray & Dudley
G&D Burger
Crisp, smoky Nueske’s bacon stacked over a juicy, perfectly seasoned beef patty, melted Tillamook cheddar, fresh gem lettuce and thick slices of heirloom tomato, all tucked into a soft, toasted bun.
Graze Nashville
Drive Thru Burger
Plant-based love letter to the classic American cheeseburger — seitan-quinoa patty, melty vegan cheddar, mustard, ketchup, pickles and raw onions.
Grillshack Burger & Fries
The Grillshack Smasher
A smashier, meltier spin on the Grillshack Burger.
Two crispy-edge patties of local Bear Creek farm beef; two slices of white American cheese, grilled onion, deli pickles and a special garlic mayo.
Harth Restaurant & Bar
Korean Bacon Burger
Locally sourced black hawk wagyu beef burger, kimchi, gojuchang mayo, provolone cheese and strips of bacon.
Fat Bottom Brewing
Rye’d or Die
Two smashburger patties, smoked Gouda, sauerkraut, Russian dressing, leaf lettuce and red onion on marble rye bread.
Flat Tire Diner
Pastrami Burger
Mouth-watering pastrami (seasoned & smoked onsite) stacked on top of a juicy burger grilled on top of thinly sliced onions, topped with creamy scratch made Mornay gruyere-beer-cheese sauce, served in a fresh baked caraway bun (straight from our onsite diner bakery) with tangy kosher dill pickles.
TENN at Holston House
Holston House Burger
Grilled 6oz patty with house-made pimento cheese spread, pickled jalapeños, arugula and smoked mayo on a brioche bun. Add a fried egg for $2 or fries for $3.
Jack Brown’s Beer & Burger Joint
Tickle the Pickle
100% American Waygu beef patty topped with pepper jack cheese, jalapeño-cilantro ranch and fried dill pickles on a Martin’s potato bun.
Jasper’s
Smash Burger
Two beef patties, American cheese, onions, dill pickles and mustard on a brioche bun.
Joyland x Hattie B’s
Southern SmashUp Burger
A single Joyland cheeseburger on butter-toasted Martin’s bun with Hattie B’s bacon-laced pimento cheese and HOT fried pickles, shredded pickle slaw and special sauce.
JWB Grill
Black & Blue Burger
Crispy, thick-cut bacon layered over creamy, tangy Gorgonzola cheese, thinly sliced red onions and leafy lettuce stacked high on a juicy, flame-grilled patty and finished with our signature house-made BBQ sauce. Served on a toasted bun.
Karrington Rowe
KR Burger
A prime cut beef patty topped with Boursin cream cheese, spring mix and bread & butter pickles. Finished with comeback sauce on a brioche bun.
Limo Peruvian Eatery
Loaded Burger
A juicy Angus patty stacked with golden fried plantains, a perfectly cooked fried egg, crispy potato sticks, lettuce and tomatoes, and finished with vibrant chimichurri and creamy aji sauce—all nestled in a soft, toasted potato bun. Experience the bold flavors of Peru in every bite!
Lovelorn Lounge
Champagne Smash
6oz dry-aged Bear Creek Farms patty, champagne caramelized onions and BBQ sauce, cheddar cheese, Moriah’s applewood smoked bacon and dijonnaise on a Charpier Bricktop Bun.
Makeshift visit sceneburgerweek.com for details
Mesero
The Rose Burger
Park Cafe
Hereford Burger
A prime cut beef patty layered with creamy Boursin cheese, fresh arugula, B&B pickles and our house made comeback sauce, all served on a toasted brioche bun.
The Pharmacy Burger Parlor & Beer Garden
Grilled Watermelon Sugar High
A slice of grilled watermelon on top of our hand-pattied beef with arugula, goat cheese and mayo.
punk wok
The Homesick Okie
A chargrilled patty, authentic OKC hickory sauce, shredded cheese, pickles and diced onions on a sesame seed bun.
Red Onion
Southwest Chicken Burger
Ground chicken chorizo, pepper jack cheese, jalapeño bacon, romaine lettuce, guacamole, jalapeños and tomato on a house-made jalapeño cheddar bun.
Robert’s Western World
Robert’s Western Burger
Two griddled beef patties topped with melted American cheese, thick-cut tomato slices, crisp deli-style pickles and a generous stack of iceberg lettuce—dressed how you like it. Served on a toasted challah bun with a side of classic fries.
MOOYAH Burgers, Fries & Shakes
MDC
Double beef MOOYAH cheeseburger with American cheese, lettuce, tomato and MOOYAH Sauce.
Mr. J’s Original
Classic Cheeseburger
A 1/3 pound patty on a toasted potato bun piled high with shredded lettuce, fresh tomato, diced onion and our signature burger sauce. Simple. Juicy. Classic.
Nashville Palace
The Gouda Time Burger
A char-grilled beef patty stacked with rich smoked gouda, sweet candied bacon jam, our signature smoky special sauce, crisp lettuce and crunchy pickles—all served on a toasted brioche bun.
Otto’s x Tamale Lady Nashville
La Smashica
Southern Grist
The Grist
Dry-aged burger, pickles, cheddar cheese, grilled onion, whole grain mustard and smoked mayo.
STK Steakhouse
Bacon Cheese Wagyu Burger
Wagyu beef, hot buffalo cheese melt, blue cheese, pickles and heirloom tomato. Served with chips.
Streetcar Taps & Beer Garden
Brisket Jam Sliders
Two all-beef patties, smoky brisket jam, sweet relish and pimento cheese on a brioche bun. A flavor-packed bite!
Taco Bamba
Bamba Double Smashburger
Brisket Chop Chop patty, American cheese, chili relish and Bamba Smoke Sauce.
tavern midtown
Tavern Double Smash
100% all beef patty topped with bacon, American cheese, BBQ sauce and onion rings. It’s the perfect fare for taking in honkytonk music and drinking cold beer.
Rodney Scott BBQ at Chief’s on Broadway
The Honky Tonk Smash
Two smash burger patties, potato chip baked mac and cheese, smoked and candied bacon, fried onions, drizzled with Kathy’s Sweet Sauce.
Rosemary & Beauty Queen
RBQ Smashburger
Two patties, flat-top smashed and seared with melted American. Finished with house-made drive-thru sauce: mayo, mustard, ketchup, onion, pickle, and Worcestershire. Served on a Martin’s potato roll with extra napkins.
Scoreboard Bar & Grill
Walflin’ Aint Easy Burger
This bad boy stacks a juicy beef patty between two golden waffles, topped with crispy bacon, a fried egg and a drizzle of maple butter. It’s sweet, savory, and downright impossible to fumble. Only here for Burger Week!
Sidecar Bar
Tavern Burger
She’s smokin’, spicy and not here to play nice — brisket gets the smash treatment, then things heat up with a crispy cactus and cheese tamale, creamy guac, chipotle mayo and all the fixins’ stacked high on a potato bun.
Gooey Sauce, American cheese, lettuce, tomato and pickle on Brioche.
Teddy’s Tavern
Teddy’s Southern Slinger
7 Cedars Farm burger, Tillamook cheddar cheese, battered onion ring, filled with bacon bourbon jam and white BBQ sauce.
Top Note Rooftop Restaurant & Bar
The Big Country Burger
Fried green tomatoes tossed in Nashville Hot seasoning, southern slaw, local three pepper jam and pepper jack cheese on a brioche bun.
Stateside Kitchen
The Smokeshow
Dry aged 4oz smash burger, pickled jalapeño, caramelized onion, smoked cheddar, chipotle aioli and a swipe of cream cheese.
Charbroiled 8oz. certified Angus beef, Havarti cheese, house pickles and special sauce on a brioche bun.
SILO
Silo Burger
Grilled beef patty topped with melted cheddar cheese, crisp lettuce, fresh tomato, sliced onion and our signature Silo sauce, served on a toasted bun.
Sonny’s Patio Pub & Refuge
Smash, Dip and Crunch Burger
Two certified Angus beef patties, American cheese, mustard, grilled onion, pickle, potato roll, pepper jack cheese dip and crunched up nacho cheese chips.
JULY 4
COMMUNITY
[FIREWORKS AND FRIED CHICKEN] FOURTH OF JULY ROUNDUP
Now that Nashville is one of the country’s preeminent Fourth of July locations, there is never a shortage of things to do around town on the holiday. If you want to avoid the massive crowds and mediocre music lineup (sorry, Dierks!) of the official Let Freedom Sing! celebration downtown, most Nashville suburbs hold fireworks displays of their own. And if you still want to check out the downtown fireworks, but from a distance, the Adventure Science Center’s Red, White and Boom festivities are a popular, cost-effective choice with a great view. The best bet for a family-friendly day that won’t break the bank is the Music City Hot Chicken Festival, which will be commandeering East Park from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. At the festival’s 19th annual installment, you can expect an antique fire truck parade, local art on display, a kids’ zone, an exciting music lineup featuring the likes of LadyCouch and Peter One and, of course, plenty of Music City’s finest delicacy. If you find yourself overwhelmed and overheated after a day out and about, the Belcourt is showing Fourth of July staple Independence Day twice on Friday as part of the kickoff for its Action Distraction series.
LOGAN BUTTS
VARIOUS VENUES THROUGHOUT NASHVILLE
THURSDAY / 7.3
COMMUNITY
[FREEDOM TO BE] ALIVE WITH PRIDE: LGBTQ EXISTENCE AND RESISTANCE IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE
A key factor in feeling any kind of pride is dispelling shame, and the most effective way to combat shame is with visibility. That’s what makes an exhibition like Alive With Pride: LGBTQ Existence and Resistance in Middle Tennessee — on view at Vanderbilt’s Central Library through Sept. 24 — so important. Curator Sarah Calise has organized a thorough and multifaceted portrait of queer Nashvillians throughout modern history. Included in the exhibition is an assortment of ephemera and priceless information culled from Vanderbilt’s special collections and archives, like the grassroots newsletters that helped spark the development of political and social networks during the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. There are drag costumes and recordings from some of Nashville’s most groundbreaking performers, whose impact on popular culture has been undeniable. Calise has left no stone unturned — from the earliest Pride celebrations to the
AIDS crisis through today. This is a monumental exhibition and a must-see for anyone curious about Nashville history in general, and especially those with an interest in queer culture. Find out more in a series of curator talks, which will be held on site on three Saturdays — July 12, July 19 and Aug. 9. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER THROUGH SEPT. 24 AT VANDERBILT’S CENTRAL LIBRARY, FOURTH FLOOR LOBBY 419 21ST AVE. S.
FILM
[IT’S NOT THE PLANE, IT’S THE PILOT] NIGHTLIGHT 615 PRESENTS TOP GUN: MAVERICK
Back in 2022, audiences flocked to the longdelayed legacyquel Top Gun: Maverick, which made more than a billion dollars worldwide. After two years of pandemic hell, people needed to see damn-near-superhuman movie star Tom Cruise back in fighter pilot gear, ready to kick ass, break hearts, save the day — you know, Tom Cruise shit! But unlike its shallow, jingoistic, hella homoerotic predecessor, Maverick is actually a pathos-filled popcorn flick. Notoriously cocky Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Cruise) is now an old, lonely sumbitch, struggling to stay relevant as he leads a new class of young guns (who
include contemporary matinee idols Miles Teller and Glen Powell). Yes, the film has thrilling flight sequences, but it’s also not afraid to get morbid or emotional. I dare you not to tear up during the scene between Cruise and the late Val Kilmer, giving his final performance as Maverick’s cancer-stricken rival-turned-buddy Iceman. As Cruise’s need-for-speed demon flies the sunniest of skies in Top Gun: Maverick, he never forgets about the dark cloud that’s waiting for his ass once he hits land. CRAIG D. LINDSEY
7 P.M. AT BICENTENNIAL CAPITOL MALL STATE PARK
600 JAMES ROBERTSON PARKWAY
[THE DRK ARTS]
ART
DRKMTTR ART AUCTION
Beloved local venue/cool-kid hang Drkmttr acquired its 501(c)(3) designation last year, which means its status as a community-driven countercultural haven is now totally official. To celebrate and help raise funds for future programming, its organizers are hosting an art auction, and a slew of the area’s best and brightest have donated works for the cause. Come out and bid on works by artists like Lindsy Davis and Brett Douglas Hunter, prints from Music Valley Archive and Hatch Show Print, and dozens more — including Lizzie Carsello, whose “SOLIDARITY” mural adorns the venue’s external wall. Even if you don’t place a bid, the party is a worthy cause, and your $30 ticket directly helps support Drkmttr’s mission: to provide an accessible, inclusive space for art, music and expression, especially for marginalized communities. DJ Juicy B — the multiinstrumentalist behind projects like Boo Dudes and The Spaceship of the Imagination — will be the event’s MC. Tickets include hors d’oeuvres and drinks. For more information and tickets, visit drkmttrcollective.com. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
7 P.M. AT DRKMTTR
1111 DICKERSON PIKE
FRIDAY / 7.4
FILM
[YOUR MOVE, CREEP] ACTION DISTRACTION: ROBOCOP
The rhetoric surrounding virtually every Paul Verhoeven movie is pretty much the same: Is this thing satire, or is it earnest? And the answer, pretty much every time, is: A little from Column A, a little from Column B. The Dutch filmmaker first entered the American market with 1985’s box-office bomb Flesh and Blood, but he followed that up with 1987’s masterwork RoboCop. Verhoeven’s sci-fi/action/thriller mash-up lays the outsized violence on thick and features career-best performances from a rogues’ gallery of “Oh, that guy!” character actors, from Peter Weller in the titular role to Kurtwood “Red Forman” Smith as the villainous Clarence Boddicker. Here in the dog days of summer, it’s a perfect selection for the Belcourt’s ongoing Action Distraction repertory series, as full of intentionally hilarious laugh lines as good, old-fashioned gore. (And a little bit of both in that scene where RoboCop shoots the guy in the crotch.) Before the screening, for some
apocryphal on-set lore, look up the YouTube clip “Robo Wants an Oreo.” You won’t be disappointed. For showtimes, visit belcourt.org.
D. PATRICK RODGERS
JULY 4 & 7 AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.
[INDEPENDENTS DAY]
MUSIC
FLIPSVILLE
Tyler Davis’ monthly takeover of Springwater Supper Club and Lounge falls on the Fourth of July, so it’s a good opportunity to check out the ongoing variety show. Flipsville has been Davis’ ongoing project, attempting to shine a spotlight on local talent and show Nashvillians a good time. A cartoonist and DJ himself, Davis always curates a stacked evening of independent art from the city — live music, burlesque performers, local merchants and turntablists. This month, Flipsville kicks off early for an extended slate of events on the holiday evening. The seven-band bill includes the notorious fart-punk pioneers Nightmare Beach and the brash hooks of Cha Cha Heels. Performer/producer Abby Costello will be the featured burlesque act. Middle Tennessee vendors will be selling records, art and rare wares. It’s an opportunity to buy a new screenprinted poster, see a weird band you’ve never heard of and get a cold one at the oldest beer joint in Tennessee. And if you feel like you have to get to see some fireworks after sundown, the bombs bursting in air downtown aren’t far off. But if you miss it because you get stuck at a family barbecue you wish you could escape, the good news is that Flipsville happens every month on the first Friday. P.J. KINZER
4 P.M. AT SPRINGWATER
115 27TH AVE. N.
SATURDAY / 7.5
ART [COME TOGETHER] TO GATHER: TOGETHER
There is a wave of excellent photography happening in Nashville right now, which means that showcasing just a segment of it — organized by artist racial identity and subject matter — has the potential to be monumental all by itself. That’s the case with To Gather: Together, which features excellent work by some of the area’s most interesting photographers, from LeXander Bryant — whose 2022 solo show at the Frist was the subject of a Scene cover story — to Tyquan D. Morton and Arielle Gray. The group show is co-curated by Alisa Jernigan and Evan Roosevelt Brown, and it works like a visual archive of Black community living. From the curatorial statement: “This exhibition is a visual journey through time, capturing the spirit, resilience, and evolution of Black communal life. Drawing from historic archives and contemporary photography, it weaves together the moments — both monumental and everyday — that have defined and continue to shape the collective experience of Black communities.”
LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
OPENING RECEPTION 5-8 P.M. AT ZEITGEIST
516 HAGAN ST.
FILM [A QUARTER-MILE AT A TIME] ACTION DISTRACTION: THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS
As part of its Action Distraction series, the Belcourt screens the first installment of the ongoing film series that’s had a huge impact on how we think about car culture for most of this century. The Fast and the Furious is loosely
on Ken Li’s 1998 Vibe story “Racer X,” a deep dive into underground street racing, and was unleashed on megaplexes in summer 2001. It’s worth seeing on the big screen just for the jaw-dropping, borderline-psychedelic race and stunt sequences featuring heaps of practical effects. But aside from the bits about stolen DVD players, the story holds up well among even the most beloved car movies. (I love Bullitt and think it’s due for a revisit, but ask your movie-savvy friends what it’s about and see who remembers anything besides the chase scene.) The late Paul Walker plays undercover cop Brian O’Conner, who has to earn his way into Dominic Toretto’s (Vin Diesel) race crew, which is suspected of a series of daring high-speed heists. Amid action that highlights the addictive nature of driving insanely fast and living to tell about it, the plot gives commendable space to the idea of chosen family, which never gets old. For showtimes, visit belcourt.org. STEPHEN TRAGESER
JULY 5 & 10 AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.
MUSIC [PUMP IT UP] ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE IMPOSTERS
Columbia Records left Elvis Costello’s classic take on fascism, “Night Rally,” off the version of his 1978 album This Year’s Model that the label released in the United States. Columbia had to sell me another piece of vinyl, the 1980 compilation Taking Liberties, to get me into “Night Rally” and a collection of Costello’s pop-meets-punk B-sides and bits of evocative weirdness. Those include 1980’s “Ghost Train” and the supremely murky “Hoover Factory.” This Year’s Model updates the musical and emotional dynamics of The Rolling Stones’ 1966 Aftermath,
based
“BELMONT
TO GATHER: TOGETHER
MUSIC
FLOSS BRENT COBB &
7/12
while 1979’s Armed Forces draws from Iggy Pop, ABBA and Nick Lowe. Costello famously cut his 1981 country-rock exploration Almost Blue in Nashville with a somewhat bemused Billy Sherrill producing. That collaboration is documented on the 1982 U.K. television show The South Bank Show, and it was around that time I saw Costello play the Grand Ole Opry House in support of Almost Blue. Since then, Costello has branched out, working with the likes of Paul McCartney and Allen Toussaint. He’s also been recognized as an Americana artist, which seems appropriate for a guy who helped invent the genre on 1986’s King of America. On his current tour, Costello digs into his work from 1977 through 1986. He’s been playing “Night Rally” on the tour — sometimes songs become even more relevant over time. EDD HURT
8 P.M. AT THE RYMAN
116 REP. JOHN LEWIS WAY N.
[HELLO LIKE BEFORE]
MUSIC
ANTHONY DAVID
As someone who has crossed paths with him on several occasions (I think I still have the flip phone that holds the selfie I took with him at a North Carolina music fest ages ago), I’ll always have a soft spot for Georgia soul man Anthony David. Coming from the same late-’90s/ early-Aughts Atlanta alt-soul scene that gave us India.Arie (whom David duetted with on his 2006 single “Words”) and others, this raspyvoiced, guitar-strumming, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter is one of the many current R&B troubadours who does his best work when he’s on the fringe. His 2008 album Acey Duecy, released through major label Universal Republic, is really just a compilation of songs from his first two independently made releases, 2004’s Three Chords & the Truth and 2006’s The Red Clay Chronicles. (Hey, if it ain’t broke.) He also doesn’t mind saluting his musical elders, as evidenced by his 2018 tribute album Hello Like Before: The Songs of Bill Withers. See him perform those Withers classics when he plays City Winery this weekend. CRAIG D. LINDSEY
7:30 P.M.
SUNDAY / 7.6
HISTORY [LIVING HISTORY]
THE ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL TOUR
Too often we look at history in terms of key dates and individual events. While that approach may have gotten you through a few intro-level classes in school, it really misses out on a lot of the context and the rich complexities that shaped our nation. Fortunately, The Battle of Franklin Trust recently introduced a new 90-minute tour designed to help connect the dots. Dubbed the All Men Are Created Equal Tour, this unusual offering traces the United States from the Declaration of Independence to the Civil War and Reconstruction, examining its “decades-long struggle over the very meaning of equality and how the country drifted apart over the issue of African slavery.” Available at all three BOFT sites, this extended tour also digs into the unique perspectives of the families who first settled in Middle Tennessee in the early 19th century. It’s a great way to honor the Fourth of July holiday while gearing up for next year’s 250th anniversary of American Independence. Best of all, proceeds from every ticket go to help fund the new Carter House Visitor Center and Museum, which is expected to open in 2026.
AMY STUMPFL
ONGOING TOURS AVAILABLE AT CARNTON, 1345 EASTERN FLANK CIRCLE IN FRANKLIN; CARTER HOUSE, 1140 COLUMBIA AVE. IN FRANKLIN; AND RIPPA VILLA, 5700
MAIN ST. IN SPRING HILL
MONDAY / 7.7
COMMUNITY
[YOU SPIN ME RIGHT ROUND] CAROUSEL OF DREAMS
Ken Means, the master wood-carver who created the Carousel of Dreams inside The Factory at Franklin, says, “I don’t know many things in life that can give you in three minutes what a carousel can. You’re able to travel to any place in the world. You’re only limited by your imagination.” After being lulled into his
PRO WRESTLING SYMPHONY: RISE UP!
dreamworld of floral zebras and jeweled ponies, you’ll agree. Visitors can pay $5 for a single ride or $12 for a day pass. If you have a child who would be content and whine-free with riding this dreamscape only one time, please share: What’s your parenting secret? For the rest of us, the day passes afford us the opportunity to sit back and watch as our children’s smiling faces rotate around and around. And around and around. Though there might be a slight tussle over who gets to sit atop the coveted seahorse, it’s virtually impossible to be cranky while riding this work of art. Even after breaking for a double scoop of Jeni’s pink bubblegum and root beer ice cream, our riders were able to hop back on the saddle. And no one puked, which is a beautiful dream in itself. TOBY ROSE
7 A.M. TO 10 P.M. DAILY AT THE FACTORY AT FRANKLIN
230 FRANKLIN ROAD, FRANKLIN
TUESDAY / 7.8
FILM
[THE ACTION IS THE JUICE] ACTION DISTRACTION: HEAT
What is there to say about Michael Mann’s crime-drama masterpiece Heat that hasn’t already been said? The film wasn’t particularly well-praised when it was originally released in 1995. The reviews were good, not great, and it was nominated for a whopping zero Oscars, which seems unfathomable considering its level of influence on modern filmmakers. Everyone from Christopher Nolan to Mia Hansen-Løve has sung its praises in the years since, and it’s the only time legendary actors Robert De Niro and Al Pacino shared scenes together in the 20th century. Even if you aren’t a fan of Mann’s Dudes Rock story, damagedbut-proficient protagonists or the three-hour, slow-burn runtime (personally, I am a major fan of all of those things), the action scenes alone are worth the price of admission. Those booming gunshots ringing throughout the streets of L.A. in the post-robbery shootout or the hockey-mask-and-machine-guns opening armored truck heist rewrote the Bible on how to film a non-hokey action sequence. That makes it a perfect selection for the Belcourt’s
new Action Distraction series. For showtimes, visit belcourt.org. LOGAN BUTTS
JULY 8 & 13 AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.
WEDNESDAY / 7.9
MUSIC/SPORTS
[BITTERSWEAT SYMPHONY] PRO WRESTLING SYMPHONY: RISE UP!
The culture of professional wrestling has undergone dramatic changes over the past decade. What was once considered lowbrow, anti-intellectual sports entertainment is finding a new audience and a fresh crop of athletes who are more reflective of the culture as a whole. In the past, fans had to see wrestling live in huge arenas or county fairgrounds, but contemporary wrestling venues are now commonly in spaces that are traditionally rock clubs. Nashville independent wrestling has packed out Cobra and The Basement East on numerous occasions. Local promotion Pro Wrestling Symphony is a great example of how this new generation of wrestlers operates outside the old guard’s perimeters. PWS has a forward-thinking, egalitarian take on where pro wrestling belongs — which is anywhere the fans are. Pairing live music, young grapplers and a squared circle, PWS will bring local and national talent to Brooklyn Bowl for the one-night event. The fight card includes the high-flying Alejandro, Hendersonville’s Colby Carter, the 6-foot, 1-inch Freya the Slaya and a tag team match between the young bucks of Royal Prestige and the dominant Middle Tennessee duo Violence Is Forever. Local indie-rock trio The Dangerous Method will also be onstage. P.J. KINZER
8 P.M. AT BROOKLYN BOWL
925 THIRD AVE. N.
ANTHONY DAVID
2ND &
Live Music at ON BROADWAY
FISH
COMING SOON
JULY LINE UP
7.3 Levi Hummon
7.4 Waymore’s OutlawsPost Firework Concert
7.5 Ricochet
7.6 Livin’ The Write Life w/ Sherry Austin, Gary Frost, Ellis Griffin, Jadynce Jean, Aaron Loy, Allison Nichols, Will Rambeaux, Jagger Whitaker
7.8 Salute the Songbird with Maggie Rose, Special Guest: Kaitlin Butts
7.9 Eric Paslay’s Song In A Hat w/ Tenille Townes, Adam Hambrick
7.10 Brassfield w/ Special Guests Rick Huckaby, Kayce
7.12 Gabe Dixon “Parts I’ve Played” Album Release Show
7.13 Pick Pick Pass w/ Kevin Mac, Keith Stegall, Michael White
7.15 Chief’s Outsiders Rounds w/ Skyelor Anderson & Ben Kadlecek w/ Guests Ivy Alex, Sheyna Gee, Emily McGuill, Rachel Schumacher
7.16 Songwriter City Presents: The Songs of Music City with Lee Thomas Miller and Wendell Mobley
7.17 John Paycheck
WRITERS’ ROUNDS AT CHIEF’S
From platinum-selling chart-toppers to underground icons, household names to undiscovered gems, Chief’s Neon Steeple is committed to bringing the very best national and regional talent back to Broadway.
7.18 An Evening with Joe Bob Briggs: How Redneck’s Saved Hollywood
7.19 Take Me To Church Tribute - #1 Eric Church Tribute in America
7.20 Like Combs - The Luke Combs Experience
7.23 Uncle B’s Drunk With Power String Band Show Featuring Tyler Childers’ “Purgatory” with Leah Blevins, Alex Lambert, Nathan Belt, Aniston Pate, and Many More!
7.25 Jason Eady w/ Special Guest Addison Johnson
7.26 Jeff Hyde & Ryan TyndellThe Songs of Eric Church
7.27 Music Row for Musicares w/ Jackson Dean, Driver Williams, Jason Nix, and More Special Guests!
7.28 Buddy’s Place w/ Dylan Gerard, Walker County, Paul Sike
7.29 Dan Harrison, Jeff Middleton, Mark Irwin, Mark Taylor
7.30 Thom Shepherd Presents The Songwriters
7.31 Jamie O’Neal - There Is No Arizona 25th Anniversary
TICKETS
At Chief’s we understand that great music is born from the heart and soul of it’s creators, which is why our writers’ rounds are dedicated to celebrating the brilliant minds behind some of today’s most iconic songs.
Rose
WHAT’S YOURS IS MINE
Venice and the Ottoman Empire dresses a bloody history of empire in silk and velvet BY CAT ACREE
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice, the two most powerful forces in the eastern Mediterranean Sea for four centuries, is typically described as a series of conflicts. Between the 15th and 19th centuries, the seven Ottoman-Venetian Wars were brutal, bloody affairs, including some of the biggest maritime battles in history. They’re depicted in paintings so full of warring, smoke-filled galleys and galleasses that it can be difficult to see the sea beneath them.
But when there is conflict, an exchange is inevitable — like when your car door dings someone else’s and a spot of paint transfers between the two. Such exchange is the locus of the Frist Art Museum’s summer show Venice and the Ottoman Empire, a traveling exhibition of more than 150 incredible artifacts from Venice’s seven civic museums, Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia and the University of Zadar’s museum in Croatia. It was co-curated by Stefano Carboni and the Frist’s curator-at-large, Trinita Kennedy, who previously worked together on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s show Venice and the Islamic World
While engaged in their on-again, off-again wars, the Venetians and the Turks were trading partners, with a network of Venetian merchants traveling throughout Ottoman territories and importing spices, textiles and delicate metalwork, and the Ottoman merchants doing the same. All those wars exposed the wealthiest folks to new designs, and craftspeople incorporated these elements to meet a growing demand for fresh signifiers of opulence and style. (There is no mention in the exhibition of the slave trades that were a point of competition and profit for the two superpowers, and discussions of production processes are minimal. One small parenthetical note, much like this one, acknowledges that the nimble little fingers of child labor have “long been part of the textile industry.”)
As a display of cross-cultural exchange, Venice and the Ottoman Empire is diverse in its materials and broad in its themes. The books are some of my favorites: the very first illustrated cookbook from 1570, and a merchant’s arithmetic book open to a guide to hand signals for different numerical values. An astoundingly beautiful qibla indicator — a tool to determine the direction of prayer to Mecca — is worth the price of your ticket alone. Luxury fabrics have an especially significant place in the story. Red and gold textiles, with pomegranate and arabesque Ottoman designs on silk and velvet, appear in nearly every room of the show — even showing up as a backdrop to a 15th-century painting of the Madonna and Child.
The most prominent interchange here is happening on the level of the craftspeople, but the exhibition devotes more of its attention to the people calling the shots (pun intended), because (of course) that’s who could have their portraits made. Most prominently featured is the head of the colonial Venetian empire — an official called the doge — who was elected by the oligarchical class. I feel obligated to explain that Trump and Musk’s naming of the “Department of Government Efficiency” is a reference to the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, and at best, the deeper reference to the doge of Venice is politically convenient but almost unquestionably coincidental.
There’s a notable effort to cast the relationship between the two empires as “usually” peaceful, with the intention of preserving their economic partnership. Venetian ambassadors, sent to other cities to protect the interests of the merchants, were the first of their kind. But while the show’s emphasis is firmly on commerce and trade during peacetimes, the military artifacts are some of its most interesting. Of special note is a 17th-century silk Ottoman banner emblazoned with calligraphic verses from the Qur’an,
flown while in battle, that was recently restored and will exhibit only at the Frist.
And finally, we’ve got to talk about the boat. In 1583, the cargo ship Gagliana Grossa sank while it was transporting a huge number of round glass window panes, which had been ordered (in a coded letter!) by a Venetian diplomat on behalf of Sultan Murad III. The shipwreck is the show’s major hook, but its massive room — illuminated in blue like it’s underwater — has no boat. You simply cannot do a shipwreck room and not have a model or illustration of the boat, or any boat. The room is mostly window panes laid flat on tables.
There’s a common issue among some touring historical exhibitions — a particular way of presenting history that skews so optimistic as to be disingenuously apolitical. The fact that Islamic and Christian empires experienced cooperation and economic and artistic success does not supersede the bloody root cause: empire and its endless wars. At one point, we’re told, there wasn’t a war for a whole 72 years, which may be a long time, but also isn’t.
The ramifications of empire create the conditions of everyday life. The tension is elemental, the friction necessary to the exchange, and the conflict impossible to separate from the reciprocity in art. The Frist’s other summer show, Fabric of a Nation: American Quilt Stories From the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is a sterling example of how powerful it is when historical artworks are placed as clearly as possible in their context, and how those artworks end up serving us in our better understanding of what life was like at some point in time. The largely Christian Venetian Republic and the Muslim Ottoman Empire are inextricably bound — with violent clashes and periods of tenuous diplomacy equally responsible for this enduring legacy of elaborate metalwork, distinct flavor profiles and the fanciest pillows. ▼
Venice and the Ottoman Empire Through Sept. 1 at the Frist Art Museum 919 Broadway
PHOTO: JOHN SCHWEIKERT
WALKING A PITCH-DARK ROAD
Scott Payne delivers a riveting account of going undercover with homegrown extremists
BY HAMILTON CAIN
IN HIS 1991 autobiography A Season for Justice, celebrated civil rights lawyer Morris Dees recounted the courtroom battles and close escapes of his career — with a particular focus on his creative legal strategy to bankrupt the Ku Klux Klan. (Disclosure: I was one of the book’s editors.) As Dees urged in his introduction, his family and colleagues — and by extension, his readers — should know him by his cases; chapter by chapter, decade by decade, he ticked them off, bringing us into a rancid cesspool of racism.
Scott Payne organizes his own riveting story, Code Name: Pale Horse, in a similar vein, bolstered by the gifts of his talented co-writer Michelle Shephard. The memoir re-creates his assignments as an undercover FBI operative, opening with a harrowing scene set in Rome, Ga., in 2019 as he meets a cell of white supremacists he found online. He’d reached out to them as “Scott Anderson,” a South Carolina biker and former skinhead, now auditioning for “the Base.” The nearest FBI backup is miles away. His initial contacts go by digital noms de guerre — “Militant Buddhist” and “Pestilence” — underscoring the quasi-religious nature of underground right-wing brotherhoods. Code Name: Pale Horse is nothing if not a spiritual quest. After launching his narrative, Payne circles back to his childhood and adolescence in Greenville, S.C., in the 1980s, when he was caught in the tides of his parents’ stormy relationship. An aspiring musician, he was prone to partying and toying with occultist ideas. He transformed his body with tattoos and piercings. A notion of good versus evil, then, emerges from the page, both raw and elliptical. A conversion to Christianity steered him onto a path of righteousness and a college degree in criminal justice. In a job interview with the Greenville sheriff’s office, he impressed the officer with a list of minor crimes, from petty larceny to driving under the influence; each time he’d eluded detection and gotten away scot-free. The law saw his potential as a skulker, someone who could talk the talk and walk the walk, a perfect candidate to infiltrate white supremacist groups. A star was born. Payne quickly picked up on the rhythms and lingo of the racists he was investigating. Code Name:Pale Horse evokes the blurry line between calculated performance and real feeling, with Shephard’s crisp prose conveying, in Payne’s rich conversational voice, how and why these hideous networks attract broken souls. More than once Payne feels the tug of community and connection. During an investigation dubbed Operation Roadkill, his relationship with a man identified here as Scott T became more than a performance. “It was about as close a friendship
as was possible under the circumstances. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I was going to the dark side, but I loved that guy.”
After joining the FBI in 1998, with stints in New York and Texas, Payne and his young family moved to Knoxville, where he worked the rugged mountains and valleys north of the city and later throughout the South. He signed onto a case involving the Ku Klux Klan — even he can’t quite believe it — by pitching his guitar skills for a gig. They agreed to take him on, and he planned accordingly. “Once I started running through my set list, I had to eliminate some of my favorite songs from some of my favorite artists, including Otis Redding, Ray Charles, Bill Withers, Prince, Hootie,” he recalls. “Heck, even if there was a Black musician in the band, I took them out of the lineup. Then just when I thought I had my tabs ready to go, I saw I still had Jimi in there. … So out went Mr. Hendrix.” He kept his cool and never blew his cover.
Payne mastered the tools of his trade, which positioned him beautifully for his confrontation with the Base and their apocalyptic mindscape.
“In twenty-five years of undercover work that I
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With her charming personality and radiant energy, Sunshine is sure to make every day a little brighter for the lucky person who brings her home.
have done, I have never had to burn Bibles, or to set fire to an American flag,” he observes. “I’ve damn sure never been with a group of people who stole a goat and sacrificed it at a pagan ritual, then drank its blood. I did all that over just three days with ‘The Base.’” He keeps us in his grip through the final pages, with allusions to dystopia and the pale horse from Revelation. The memoir itself is a kind of revelation — a glimmering light on our nation’s underbelly and the pitch-dark road ahead as forces of fascism spread amid the land.
For more local book coverage, please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee.
Code Name: Pale Horse: How I Went Undercover to Expose America’s Nazis By Scott Payne with Michelle Shephard Atria Books 256 pages, $28.99
an independent bookstore for independent people
UPCOMING EVENTS
PARNASSUSBOOKS.NET/EVENTS FOR TICKETS & UPDATES
MONDAY, JULY 7
6:30PM MALLORY ARNOLD with LAUREN NOSSETT at PARNASSUS How to Survive a Horror Story
6:30PM
MAGGIE RAPIER with HANNAH WHITTEN at PARNASSUS Soulgazer
10:30AM
THURSDAY, JULY 10
SATURDAY, JULY 12
STORYTIME WITH YOUR STUFFED ANIMAL! at PARNASSUS
4:00PM
TUESDAY, JULY 15
GORDON KORMAN with CHRISTINA SOONTORNVAT at PARNASSUS Snoop
6:30PM
KANDI STEINER at PARNASSUS The Wrong Game and The Right Player
THURSDAY, JULY 17
SATURDAY, JULY 19
6:30PM LISA SCOTTOLINE at PARNASSUS The Unraveling of Julia
Shop online at parnassusbooks.net
@parnassusbooks @parnassusbooks1 @parnassusbooks @parnassusbooksnashville
&
Jeremy Pinsly, Lydia Popovich, Ashley Greco, Eddie Ortiz, Cortney Warner & Josh Lewis
Anthony green w/ Kurt Travis & Geoff Rickly
Ashley Monroe
cliffs w/ the pauses and seth beamer
Chester w/ Glassmeyer/Rhees/Combz (7PM) ford cooper w/ Kenny Sharp and Adonis (9pm) carson beyer w/ Christen Ball (7pm)
Sunpusher, Gremlins, Messer (9pm) cps w/ shuteye (7pm) HOT GIRL SH*T feat. Qwynn,
POUR ONE OUT
After 40 years, Murfreesboro’s The Boro Bar and Grill is closing
BY AMANDA HAGGARD
LONGTIME MURFREESBORO VENUE and latenight shenanigans hot spot The Boro Bar and Grill is slated to close this weekend after more than four decades of serving icy beverages and interesting times.
The bar, about a 45-minute drive from Nashville and across the street from the campus of Middle Tennessee State University, has hosted a massively diverse array of shows, including many with current or former Nashville bands. (See Those Darlins and The Protomen for just a couple of examples.) Owner Lee Roberts has threatened to close The Boro more than once, and over the years he has had a few deals to sell the place fall through. But this time it seems like he’s serious.
Running a bar in a college town isn’t easy for one night, let alone 40 years. And like many (or most) dive-bar owners in the history of dive-bar owners, Roberts was never looking to make the place sought-after for anything but cold beer and a good grilled burger. Though they are blurrier in some places than others, The Boro brings me memories of both of those things. But there are also memories of walking into odd themed nights — remember the pajama party taco buffet? — seeing various metal and punk shows, running into friends and acquaintances and heading there with my husband (my fiancé when we lived in Murfreesboro) to avoid the crowds at the chain restaurants littering the town.
“What I don’t think I knew would happen was it became a family thing,” Roberts says. “Regulars started to point it out to me. Everyone would say, even if they didn’t know you, they knew a friend of yours and the guy sitting next to you may know someone you know. And we had this huge diversity of clientele: ages, shapes, color and sizes. I’ve really enjoyed that. It gives you a different perspective than some homogenized corporate place.”
and
being close to MTSU, but it has served folks from all over Bucket City: students, all-day stool tenants, guys dropping in for a beer before going home, ruffians and more in an ever-changing community. At one point early on, Roberts says, he noticed a lot of other bars were doing only covers and country music. He saw the potential in having punk and metal bands play at his bar.
“We had for a time a really strong punk scene, and people would tell me that nobody was going to come see that, and well, it turns out that punk and metal could be some of our biggest draws to the bar,” Roberts says. “I guess because at first they didn’t have a lot of other places to play or go see it. But those people — a lot of the bands play here and then also come in for a burger and beer later on.”
Almost everyone who worked with me at MTSU student newspaper Sidelines snuck away for a moment of downtime there between many deadlines. More than one of the paper’s writers also slung beer there a few nights a week working for Roberts, who is known for wanting things done a certain way.
“[Some] of the people who’ve written on our Facebook posts and things like that have commented that we gave them a good work ethic and a little responsibility, and I think that’s [the] most you can hope for is to improve somebody so that they can go on and do better for themselves,” Roberts says. “They’re only going to work here for three to five years typically. The best thing or the biggest compliment to me is that they put up with my whining and moaning and they liked it. Or at least got some benefits from it, anyway.”
The Boro will close after service on Saturday,
July 5, which will also be the day Roberts retires. He is under contract with a buyer and headed for an early August close. Roberts says a handful of folks have reached out to ask about taking over and running the bar, but he plans to pass along those contacts to the new owner.
“There’s a time for everything,” Roberts says, having just finished watching country musician Cole Swindell shoot a video at his bar. “I think this was a good time to head on down the road. … I feel good about it. We’ll see what happens. I’ve had a lot of real estate deals fall apart between contract and closing, so we’ll see. But either way, I’m quitting.”
The Boro’s first day of business was June 3, 1985, and Roberts has owned and operated it from the beginning. Now he wants to walk into a bar that he doesn’t own and have a beer and a plate of food without worrying about whether the toilet is going to clog or overflow — shoutout to that tiny helluva bathroom — or if there’s going to be trouble.
Roberts has played witness to just the type
of bar hijinks one might expect, and plenty you might not. In the late ’80s, a bunch of horse riders got kicked out of the bars on the Murfreesboro Public Square, about two miles from The Boro, so Roberts set up some hitching posts out front to welcome them. He ended up with horses tromping straight through the bar and leaving behind some presents. Then there was the time the bar made international news — and the cover of the Scene’s 2014 Boner Awards — when a patron attempted to get, um, amorous with The Boro’s ATM.
“He made a mistake, and I’m sure he was embarrassed,” Roberts says, laughing slightly, and adding he was grateful he’s always had good staff who could handle the most outlandish situations. “I know it sounds trite, but mostly I think it’s important as I go to just thank the many people who have helped make The Boro a success — the patrons, and the staff, and folks who’ve kept coming back. It’s really been interesting to live it and watch it unfold.”
Though editors at the Scene throughout the years may have disagreed with me, I believe you’re not really from Nashville unless you’ve spent at least a little time in Murfreesboro. As of this writing, there aren’t any more shows scheduled until the bar closes, but there’ll be beer and food specials until then.
“On July 6, I sleep in,” Roberts says. ▼
The Boro Bar and Grill has survived
thrived
The Boro Bar and Grill 1211 Greenland Drive, Murfreesboro
PHOTOS: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS
OWNER LEE ROBERTS
PRAISE THE GODDESS: Kesha is back. And on her new album Period, she is more Kesha than ever. (Let’s adjust for inflation and make that “Ke$$$ha.”) The high priestess of party rockers has cast off the shackles of a bullshit work situation, in which her album revenue would still benefit alleged abuser Dr. Luke, and started her own label. Period revels in the singer-songwriter and producer having no one to tell her to tone it down. Tits Out isn’t just the name of her doubleheader tour with Scissor Sisters, which comes to Ascend Amphitheater on July 15 — it is also a declaration of purpose and a spiritual manifesto. Period.
The record is horny, hilarious and built entirely from hooks that will move into your head and stay there for the rest of the summer. But Period also contains clever, mature self-analysis that plays against Kesha’s knack for quippy character development and cutting commentary to create songs with a lot of emotional layers, as well as karaoke potential. It is a lot of Kesha doing what she does best, and she does it better because she is doing it for herself.
It’s clear from the very start: Opener “Freedom.” features a noisy synth-and-vocal meditation — the sort of thing you might have heard at longtime local dive Betty’s monthly Noise Nights — that makes a sudden and glorious turn to Jersey vocal house. Kesha is clearly reveling in the joy of making cool sounds for the benefit of her community instead of corporate revenue reports. Her love of super-gluing disparate sounds together and covering them in glitter to create unpredictable pop art is center stage here, confident and masterful. Period feels as vital as her 2010 debut Animal and as cathartic as her 2017
MUSIC: THE SPIN
COPOINTS OF PRIDE
BY LIV RAPIER, ANNIE PARNELL AND H.N. JAMES
NASHVILLE PRIDE FEST kicked off for 2025 a day earlier than usual, with a sea of fans dressed for the steamy weather and a colorful weekend of partying — that’s to say, wearing as little as possible while covering all the important bits — packed into Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park for Friday’s concert. The grounds opened at 6 p.m., and the early crowd gathered around the stage as the night’s host, RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant The Princess, strutted out in a white sequined dress, hair adorned with a rainbow flag.
“I’ll be your cruise director on this ship through the rest of the evening,” she said. “Are y’all ready to party tonight?” She took command of the vibe and introduced performers on the festival’s Equality Main Stage including Ahli, Empress Of and fellow Drag Race contestant Kylie Sonique Love
OUT FOR A JOYRIDE
Kesha takes the wheel on Period
BY SEAN L. MALONEY
comeback Rainbow with enough hands-in-theair moments — all with different textures, from the Lower Broadway-ready boom-clap joint “Yippie-Ki-Yay.” to the high-octane workout “Boy Crazy.” — to fill any dance floor. What Period isn’t, though, is a surprise. Back in July 2011, Kesha headlined Municipal Auditorium on a night so sweaty our drawers still haven’t quite dried out. It was her first hometown show as a pop star, on her first big tour after her hit “Tik Tok” staked its claim as an unavoidable thread in our cultural fabric. Midshow there was a break where the newly crowned pop queen interrupted the song-and-dance routine and started to play a bunch of instruments: some synths, a guitar or two, some percussion. It was like watching Karen Carpenter — one of the greatest drummers and all-around entertainers of the 20th century — on a ’70s variety show.
This was a weird gimmick at the height of the cupcake-bra era, but it gave a glimpse into the future. Kesha seemed happier in those moments than at any other point in the show, giddy with the power of a big ol’ P.A. at her fingertips. She was showing us who she really was in a way that not a lot of her contemporaries were doing. Tits out, as it were, even if there was nary a nipple to be seen.
Period feels like that moment stretched to album length, because it’s the only way Kesha is going to get her musical ideas out. Without guardrails — and without creeps over her shoulder — Kesha goes into some wild territory that feels familiar without reheating the proverbial nachos. Some moments feel like fan service, but those are the same moments that will feel fucking awesome when surrounded by Kesha
U.K. singer, MC and actress Estelle went on just after 8:30. While fresh off the release of Stay Alta, her first album since 2018’s Lovers Rock, she peppered her show with older songs like “Freak” and “Come Over.” There was also a sing-along with the theme song from Steven Universe, the much-loved animated series in which she played Garnet, the strong and silent member of The Crystal Gems. The set had moments when the audience got quiet and Estelle took a pause to encourage a show of energy, including taking her last song — her 2008 hit “American Boy” — from the top a second time to build the excitement.
Headliner Kim Petras, a German-born pop artist and longtime Angeleno, made her return to Nashville Pride, following a rain-soaked set in 2021. Since that appearance, she became the first openly trans artist to win a Grammy when her Sam Smith duet “Unholy” won Best Pop Duo/ Group Performance in 2023. The crowd swelled as Petras took the stage just after 9:30, stepping out of a wooden box and diving into her 2017 debut single “I Don’t Want It at All.” They stayed amped throughout the two-hour performance.
Petras was adorned in black micro shorts and a blue polo shirt, aptly dressed to match her new single, “Polo,” which hit streaming Friday morning. Bright lights flashed
fans, one of pop music’s most eclectic and ecumenical groups of freaks. And now, more than ever, we need that ecumenical freakdom. The forces of bullshit are hard at work trying to ruin the fun for everyone, and we need to push back. Unabashedly messy disco and unmistakably outlandish behavior are a perfect way to keep the maniacal dullards at bay. ▼
and industrial fans blew her hair back as she crawled to the front of the stage during multiple numbers. “You want one more slutty one?” she asked, introducing a run of tunes from her 2022 LP Slut Pop. “Nashville, I fucking love you,” she said again and again.
As exemplified in Saturday’s performances, Nashville Pride 2025 was a celebration of queer history and a joyful look toward queer futures.
After the Drag EXTRAvaganza showcased Nashville’s drag community, The Kentucky Gentlemen took the Equality Main Stage. “I feel the love in here,” Derek Campbell told the audience, before the twins launched into the dreamy ballad “To the Moon.” Love also echoed as they recounted the real-life heart-toheart from Brandon Campbell that inspired “Cheap Motel.”
The twin brothers do country music their own way, and they do it well. They paid homage to country’s Black history with an interlude to the tune of “Georgia on My Mind,” leading into their own rousing queer anthem “Country on My Mind.” When they led the crowd in a call-and-response of “joy is revolutionary,” the energy was electric.
Up next was GAYLE, who brought pop-punk power to
Period out via Kesha Records July 4 Playing Tuesday, July 15, at Ascend Amphitheater
PHOTO: STEVE CROSS
KIM PETRAS
the stage with her viral TikTok hit “ABCDEFU.” In addition to her own compositions, she celebrated the legacy of women in rock music with an animated cover of Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation” and got audiences into the Pride spirit with a mashup of “Born This Way” and “Pink Pony Club.”
Dragonette came onstage with a sci-fi introduction to the utopian concept of Revelation, her new album with production duo The Knocks Supported by voguing office-siren backup dancers, the trio kicked things off with a 2010s throwback to Dragonette’s hit “Hello.”
Then The Knocks moved into a dance mix that featured icons of the gay community past and present: Lipps, Inc.’s “Funky Town,” Aretha Franklin’s “R-E-S-P-EC-T,” Troye Sivan’s “Rush.” A good DJ always has a surprise in store, and The Knocks certainly did when they revealed how hard “Like a Prayer” goes when it’s mixed with the horn section from “Call Me Al.”
The recently reunited 4 Non Blondes capped off the night, starting with a cover of “Rock and Roll” by Led Zeppelin. It has been a long, lonely time since the Bay Area quartet rocked and rolled, and their Pride set mainly showcased new songs like “Monomorphic,” slated to appear on their long-awaited second album (whose title has not yet been announced). Linda Perry also shared gems from her storied career as a songwriter, like “Drama Queen,” which she originally wrote for Courtney Love.
The comeback performance was a reminder of 4 Non Blondes’ winning balance between tough and tender. Perry brought her child onstage and spoke about the surprise joys of motherhood before a rendition of the band’s ’90s hit “What’s Up?” Then, they closed out the show with new song “Hollow” — a slow-burn scorcher that left us wanting more.
Julia Cannon’s distinctive and gorgeous voice wafting from the Equality Main Stage toward the end of her set was a great soundtrack to making our way into the park on Sunday. A stroll around the grounds offered a chance to hear Belle Gray at the Rainbow Stage as well as Anna Graves at Music City PrEP’s Pink Pony Club stage. Meanwhile drag story time was happening in the Family Area and the cavalcade of drag performances continued at the Stonewall Stage
Staking out a spot for Jake Wesley Rogers on the main stage, we had an opportunity to witness Nashville’s excellent Glam Squad drag crew at work. Missouri native Rogers doesn’t live in Nashville anymore, but he graduated from Belmont University and maintains connections in Nashville, including band members Emma Lambiase
(bass and backing vocals) and Simon Knudtson (drums). Rogers is a dynamic pop performer and songwriter who just released his first full-length album In the Key of Love and he included several Key of Love songs like “Hot Gospel” and “My Misery” in his show. His fellow singer-songwriter — and one of the grand marshals of this year’s Pride Parade — Joy Oladokun joined Rogers for “God Bless.” People frequently liken Rogers to Elton John, and playing keys and wearing glittery fringe may be commonalities, but the emotional sensitivity of Rogers’ music reminded us more of English songwriter Patrick Wolf. Rogers ended his set with the anthemic “Loser,” reminding the crowd that we still have a lot of work to do and not to lose hope. If Rogers took us to a thoughtful kind of church, Big Freedia took us to a loud, vibrant and celebratory service. Days before the festival, Freedia announced a gospel album titled Church, and performed several songs from the partially Nashville-recorded album alongside Nashville in Harmony, the Music City chorus composed of LGBTQ members and allies. The crowd that gathered for Big Freedia was huge and enthusiastic, and more than ready to sing along, wave fans and arms in the air — and bounce as required. Besides the new gospel songs, Big Freedia’s set included audience favorites like “$100 Bill,” “You Already Know,” “N.O. Bounce,” her cover of Beyoncé’s “Formation,” her Pride anthem “Chasing Rainbows” and an extended version of “Betty Bussit” that required 20 volunteers from the audience to dance onstage. Is there any better way to close out a sweat-soaked Pride weekend? ▼
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Friday, July 18th, 10am - 6pm
Saturday, July 19th, 10am - 12pm
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5point6 Studio 103 S 11th St., Nashville, TN 37206
This event is accepting walk-ins. keh.com
The Made Foundation will also be hosting a gallery event on: Saturday, July 19th:
Saturday, July 5
SONGWRITER SESSION
Alan Rhody and Ricky Ray Rector NOON · FORD THEATER
Sunday, July 6
MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT
Carson McKee
1:00 pm · FORD THEATER
Saturday, July 12
SONGWRITER SESSION
Leslie Jordan
NOON · FORD THEATER
Saturday, July 12
HATCH SHOW PRINT
Block Party
3:00 pm · HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP
Sunday, July 13
HATCH SHOW PRINT
Family
Block Party
9:30 am · HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP
WITNESS HISTORY
Local Kids Always Visit Free
Sunday, July 13
MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT
Viktor Krauss 1:00 pm · FORD THEATER
Saturday, July 19
SONGWRITER SESSION
Jon Decious and Aaron Raitiere NOON · FORD THEATER
Sunday, July 20
MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT
Rodney Dillard 1:00 pm · FORD THEATER
Thurday, July 24
HATCH SHOW PRINT
Block Party
9:30 am, NOON, and 2:30 pm
HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP
Saturday, July 26
SONGWRITER SESSION
Gary Nicholson NOON · FORD THEATER
Plan a trip to the Museum this summer! Local youth 18 and under who are residents of Nashville-Davidson and bordering counties always visit free, plus 25% off admission for up to two accompanying adults.
BIG FREEDIA
REPARATIONS
An unsettling Danielle Deadwyler leads disjointed post-apocalyptic thriller 40 Acres BY
CRAIG D. LINDSEY
She’s all business as Hailey, the no-nonsense matriarch of a post-apocalyptic family in this scenic splatterfest. Rocking a hardcore Southern accent in the bucolic mountains of Canada, Hailey is never not on edge. A fungal pandemic has taken out the world’s animals, leaving farmers like Hailey to continually defend themselves against outside scavengers.
But Hailey, a former military grunt (in every sense of the world), has taught her family exactly what to do when strangers enter their premises. That’s in vivid, viscous view in the opening minutes, as the whole fam stealthily wipes out a gang of armed riffraff from their cornfield. Apart from the blood that flies all over the gotdamn place, it’s a well-executed (sorry bout that!) moment of familial teamwork.
off. (We’ve already been scratching and surviving — GOOD TIMES! — for generations.) Of course, all the outside threats in this movie are pale-faced, including a crew of cannibals who could easily pass for Jan. 6 insurrectionists. One dude is even seen wearing horns.
Thorne and screenwriter Glenn Taylor play out the race stuff visually rather than through dialogue, with minorities quietly continuing their pre-apocalyptic practice of keeping an eye out for suspicious/dangerous white people. Deadwyler picks up the generational-trauma slack by playing the angriest sista who ever lived. Carrying over the residual pain and anguish she scarily summoned as Emmitt Till’s mother in Till, the cornrowed Deadwyler plays Hailey as a tortured vet whose soul is just as dark as her wardrobe.
Acres puts the violent shit on hold for most of its first half as it presents another tale of a family surviving in a world that’s even scarier now that most of civilization is gone. The property Hailey shares with her Native American boo (Michael Greyeyes) and their blended offspring is a literal fortress, complete with a bunker filled with radio equipment and hella guns.
But even though these family members have built a nice, fenced-off ecosystem for themselves, oldest teen Manny (Kataem O’Connor) starts getting all Little Mermaid-y, yearning to see who/what else is out there. Just as with that Disney property, Manny finds love near water, becoming infatuated with a half-nekkid beauty he sees swimming in a creek (Milcania Diaz-Rojas, appearing double cheeked up on a sunny afternoon — possibly a Thursday)
If you haven’t figured it out from its historical-reparation title, 40 Acres is a dystopian thriller with blatant, in-your-face racial subtext. (Hailey’s family’s surname is Freeman, for Chrissakes!) As he depicts dark-skinned and brown-skinned characters doing well-oiled-machine work — from growing corn to quietly killing folk — director and co-writer R.T. Thorne basically makes the case that people of color will be the only ones who know what to do when the apocalypse pops
As she mumbles through her dialogue like an old lady who’s covertly giving you the best recipe for ham hocks, Deadwyler makes it apparent that her girl has seen Too Much Shit™ and would rather shoot people than get to know them. Fueled by fear, paranoia and obvious PTSD, Hailey also holds an authoritarian grip on her family, stubbornly thinking she could contain and protect a home bubbling with curious, horny-ass teens.
Deadwyler is such a dour, unsettling presence in Acres — she builds dread and tension long before the actual antagonists show up — that I found myself wanting her family to get away from her in some moments. But Thorne must’ve remembered that his film is supposed to be a rousing actioner, which explains why the movie goes full popcorn flick in its climax. Some smartass quips are also thrown in — even Deadwyler’s humorless heroine gets a couple out there.
As much as I wanna give the filmmakers props for getting their I Am Legend on and presenting another end-of-the-world thriller where my people are the badasses, 40 Acres is still a disjointed, melodramatic vision of the future. It’s also anchored by an unnerving lead performance from an actress who should maybe take a break from the serious stuff. I’m starting to get worried about her. ▼
IN 40 ACRES, Danielle Deadwyler needs to chill the fuck out.
40 Acres R, 113 minutes
Now playing at the Belcourt and select Regal and AMC locations
44 Mononymous Irish singer
1 Nosy Parkers
7 “Make like a drum and beat it!”
14 Source of the line “The female of the species is more deadly than the male”
16 “Ditto for us”
17 Half of an Arnold Palmer
18 “Ta-da!”
19 *Mensa, for one
20 “___ Enchanted,” 2004 film
22 What’s never free of charge
23 ___ hat, no cattle (folksy putdown)
24 Swiss Ms.
25 Fed. observance since 1986
28 Music biz scandal
30 Chippewa neighbors
32 Homophone of 26-Down
33 Sees red
35 HBO comedy with 17 Emmys
36 *One with a minority opinion about the shape of the world
37 Word with drum or trumpet
38 2013 film that presaged ChatGPT
39 S tick with it
41 Insect named for the Virgin Mary
43 Upton Sinclair novel
45 Captivate
49 Material for some ropes and curtains
51 Words from a loud speaker, maybe
53 Preceder of way or word
54 *Two sure things
55 S tage props?
56 X , Y and sometimes Z
57 “ Yikes”-worthy
60 Give height, as a hairdo ... or a hint for entering the answers to the starred clues
62 Filled out wrong, say
63 One rushing to a Code Blue, in brief
64 Not equilateral or isosceles
65 Clapped back at DOWN
1 Something to wear on a run
2 Anarchist Sacco
3 Without pretense
4 Elders, derisively
5 Preparation for a luau
6 Give a dirty look
7 Not on solid ground, say
8 Witty remark
9 London’s ___ Row
10 Shepherd’s stick
11 Certain seasonal workers?
12 S trip poker?
13 Formal vote
15 Big do
21 Female in Mexican-style wrestling
24 One going for a little bite?
25 Inst. known for an annual 15-Down
26 Formal vote
27 Informal 26-Down
29 Give a dirty look
31 One of the “Gilmore Girls”
34 Younger Lennon son
35 Second star ever photographed, after the sun
36 O ver-the-top dramatic
38 Prowl
39 End of a Senate address
40 Dissemble
41 L isting at Christie’s
42 Bacchanals
44 Charles Darwin’s ship
46 Bakery devices
47 Disposable
48 Croaked
50 Bribable
52 Chamber opening?
55 ___ Park, F.D.R.’s
equivalent alternative. Can work remotely. (ref. code 001038). Qualified Applicants apply through SHProfRecruitingcc@ubs.com. Please reference 001038. NO CALLS PLEASE. EOE/M/F/D/V. #LI-DNP.
Health Care Service Corporation seeks Software Engineering Senior Advisor (Nashville, TN) to develop Teradata SQL procedures & jobs to build extract, transform, & load (“ETL”) solutions. Req: MS+3 yrs exp or BS +5 yrs exp; Quarterly travel to Nashville, TN for onsite meetings & planning activities. May work remotely (including 100% remote). Pay: $146,536$242,800/yr. Benefits: https://careers.hcsc.com/tota lrewards. Email resume to hrciapp@bcbsil.com refR0042566
business for derivatives, structured notes, and structured financing transactions. Requires M+3yrs. exp. Can work remotely. (ref. code(s) 002639). Qualified Applicants apply through SHProfRecruitingcc@ubs.com. Please reference 002639. NO CALLS PLEASE. EOE/M/F/D/V. #LI-DNP.
UBS Business Solutions US LLC has the following positions in Nashville, TN. Director, Software Engineer to lead the delivery of automated ETL and reporting solutions relevant for US regulatory requirements like Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR). Requires B+12yrs. exp. or M+10yrs. exp. as an equivalent alternative. Can work remotely. (ref. code 001038). Qualified Applicants apply through SHProfRecruitingcc@ubs.com. Please reference 001038. NO CALLS PLEASE. EOE/M/F/D/V. #LI-DNP.
Health Care Service Corporation seeks Engineering Management Senior Manager (Nashville, TN) to define & create overall data warehouse & Business Intelligence (BI) architecture in tech & data tracks. Req: Master’s + 3 yrs exp or Bach + 5 yrs exp. Pay: $146,536$180,700/yr. Telecommuting/working from home permitted pursuant to company policy. Benefits: https://careers.hcsc.com/tota lrewards. Email resume to hrciapp@bcbsil.com ref R0042561.
UBS Securities LLC has the following positions in Nashville, TN. Director, Quantitative Analyst to investigate and develop valuation and risk management models used by the structured credit business for derivatives, structured notes, and structured financing transactions. Requires M+3yrs. exp. Can work remotely. (ref. code(s) 002639). Qualified Applicants apply through SHProfRecruitingcc@ubs.com. Please reference 002639. NO CALLS PLEASE. EOE/M/F/D/V. #LI-DNP.
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