FEC WARNINGS OVER BOOKKEEPING
>> PAGE 8
MUSIC: AMANDA SHIRES PAINTS
A NEW PICTURE ON NOBODY’S GIRL
>> PAGE 27
INTERNATIONAL BLACK FILM FESTIVAL LOOKS BACK ON TWO DECADES
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GOOD AS GOLD
As the Major League Soccer season draws to a close, Nashville SC is chasing trophies
BY JOHN GLENNON
WITNESS HISTORY
Dolly Parton wore this Debra McGuire-designed lamé top and fringed suede skirt when she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999. Parton said the outfit “reminded me of the country and western artists who came before me.”
From the exhibit Dolly Parton: Journey of a Seeker
artifact: Courtesy of Dolly Parton artifact photo: Bob Delevante
Area Nonprofits Share Plans for Latest Round of Opioid Abatement Funds
For awardees, projects like school programming and re-entry offerings come from personal experience BY HANNAH HERNER
Pith in the Wind
This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog
Shoddy Bookkeeping Draws FEC
Warnings for Tennessee Republicans
Campaign finance oversight flagged latest reports from Blackburn, Harshbarger and Green, as well as candidate Van Epps BY ELI MOTYCKA
Protesters Call for Avelo Boycott at BNA
Budget airline has drawn nationwide criticism for partnership with ICE BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ
COVER STORY
Good as Gold
As the Major League Soccer season draws to a close, Nashville SC is chasing trophies BY JOHN GLENNON
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Nobody Too Amanda Shires paints a new picture on Nobody’s Girl BY HANNAH
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Photo: Nick Bastoky, Nashville SC
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Protest against Avelo Airlines, Sept. 20 • PHOTO BY ANGELINA CASTILLO
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AREA NONPROFITS SHARE PLANS FOR LATEST ROUND OF OPIOID ABATEMENT FUNDS
For awardees, projects like school programming and re-entry offerings come from personal experience
THOMAS GOOCH CAN’T wait to buy a company vehicle for his nonprofit when the next round of opioid abatement funds comes through this winter.
With My Father’s House, Gooch runs recovery houses for men transitioning out of incarceration. Two of the locations aren’t on bus routes, and new funding means he’ll be able to hire an employee to shuttle them to the bus stop, take them to treatment and even pick up new residents from jail or prison.
The Tennessee Opioid Abatement Council recently announced its second round of awards, which fit into the categories of education, harm reduction, prevention, treatment, recovery support and/or research. Locally, child abuse prevention nonprofit Nashville Children’s Alliance was awarded $1.72 million, and homeless service provider Community Care Fellowship was awarded $3 million.
More than $50 billion in opioid abatement funds is currently being distributed in the country, including millions in Tennessee. The money comes from lawsuits against companies charged with fueling the opioid epidemic, including CVS, Walgreens, Kroger and drug companies Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson, among others. In Davidson County, there were 110 suspected overdose deaths during the second quarter of 2025, representing a 20 percent decline year over year. There were 530 deaths in 2024, compared to 700 in 2023, representing a 24 percent decrease overall. Nationally, overdose deaths decreased by nearly 27 percent in 2024 compared to 2023. This funding is the first opioid abatement award for My Father’s House. Gooch founded the organization in 2013 after noticing a dearth of organizations to help formerly incarcerated fathers — many of the recovery programs he saw were aimed at mothers. My Father’s House will also use the $758,000 in funds to hire a caseworker and pay for the first two weeks of rent for 120
BY HANNAH HERNER
people who come through its locations’ doors.
The houses weren’t Gooch’s first foray into the recovery space. He was the first to work for the state’s syringe exchange program following its launch. He trained others statewide, using his experience at a formerly underground program at Street Works. Gooch brings lived experience to the operation as well: He got clean 22 years ago, he tells the Scene
“If you went through that or something similar, it’s easy for you to know that they’re scared to move,” Gooch says of My Father’s House residents. “They’ve got doubt that they can change. They don’t believe anybody really wants to help them, so you’ve got to really show them that’s a possibility.”
Kristen Gilliland, a neuroscientist at Vanderbilt University, is approaching her Brain Change program from a personal perspective, too. Her son died at age 22 from a drug overdose. Using $1.03 million over three years, she and her team created a program to implement at Metro Nashville Public Schools.
Gilliland’s goal is to teach young people about the dangers of addiction in a compassionate, nonfear-based way. She describes Brain Change as the complete opposite of D.A.R.E. programs of yore.
Adolescent brains are very plastic, and more easily able to wire and rewire connections, she points out.
“My passion now is to really try to teach kids how beautiful their brain is and what the impact is of not only just substance use, but stress, social media ... on their developing brain,” Gilliland tells the Scene. “It really comes from trying to teach kids why the brain is so much more vulnerable to addiction during these years because of the changes that are going on as it’s on its way to maturing the prefrontal cortex.
She continues, “Why don’t we teach kids in real time what’s happening in their brain so they can
A judge ordered prison time, probation and a $25,000 fine for Cade Cothren last week — the first sentencing related to a lucrative kickback scheme involving top Tennessee Republican elected officials. The sentencing covered extensive business dealings between Cothren, thenRep. Robin Smith (R-Hixson) and Tennessee’s then-Speaker of the House Glen Casada, who funneled business to a political consultancy and split the proceeds. Casada and Cothren were each convicted on more than a dozen counts of money laundering, honest wire services fraud and related charges in a three-week jury trial in May. Casada’s sentencing was postponed due to Cothren’s lengthy sentencing hearing.
use these changes to their advantage?”
Nationally, adolescent overdose fatalities spiked with the onset of the pandemic, but have since eased.
Through videos led by teens and at-home education for parents, Gilliland hopes to prompt conversations she wishes she’d had with her son.
“So many parents feel that we shouldn’t have these conversations because they think if they tell them about these drugs that kids are going to use them, and it’s just the opposite,” Gilliland says. “They need to have these conversations, because kids truly look up to their parents way more than parents think they do.”
As one of Middle Tennessee’s Regional Opioid Prevention Specialist employers, STARS plays a key part in harm reduction locally, including distributing naloxone and fentanyl test strips. STARS also offers school programming and intensive outpatient treatment for adolescents.
According to STARS CEO Rodger Dinwiddie, with $2.95 million in funding, the nonprofit will produce two media campaigns (one for children and one for adults), amp up school programming with 12 new employees and renew focus on drug disposal offerings. All this arrives as part of a program called Thriving Together.
At 40 years in the game, STARS is one of the more experienced area organizations when it comes to addressing the opioid crisis and addiction.
“If there is an anti-drug coalition already in your community or another organization that’s got their hands in this issue … really look to partner [with them] and not re-create the wheel,” Dinwiddie advises. “There’s absolutely no reason to have duplication at this point. Work with your community. Work with your partners in the community and invite them to the table so that they can be a part of the process and help move the needle.” ▼
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, along with six other state attorneys general and the Federal Trade Commission have sued Ticketmaster and Live Nation over ticket scalping in the Central District of California The suit describes various methods in which the corporate entertainment entities contributed to inflated market prices for tickets, potentially violating state and federal consumer protections. Rising ticket costs, additional service fees and price-fixing allegations have fueled public resentment toward the corporate consolidation, especially in Nashville, where concertgoers and industry professionals criticize monopolistic behavior by the multibillion-dollar company. In May 2024, Skrmetti also joined a federal antitrust lawsuit against the ticketing and touring company to break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation, which merged in 2010.
With social media posts and phone calls, Tennessee’s U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn has directed her office’s influence against individuals — including several university professors — who have made public comments about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Blackburn, currently running to succeed Bill Lee as governor of Tennessee, has publicly supported the firings of four professors across the state after each made comments about Kirk following his assassination at a Sept. 10 speaking event at Utah Valley University, prompting concerns from critics about the senator’s aggressive stance against legally protected speech. After the 2023 Covenant School shooting, Kirk commented that such gun deaths were “worth” maintaining Second Amendment rights. Writes Scene opinion columnist Betsy Phillips support for Kirk indicates that Blackburn cares more about national political influence than gun deaths in her own state — troubling priorities for one of Tennessee’s top elected officials.
PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND
THOMAS GOOCH, MY FATHER’S HOUSE
KRISTEN GILLILAND
SHODDY BOOKKEEPING DRAWS FEC WARNINGS FOR TENNESSEE REPUBLICANS
Campaign finance oversight flagged latest reports from Blackburn, Harshbarger and Green, as well as candidate Van Epps
BY ELI MOTYCKA
THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION flagged routine midyear financial reports from U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, former U.S. Rep. Mark Green, U.S. Rep. Diana Harshbarger, and 7th Congressional District candidate Matt Van Epps in its round of September warning letters. Potential mistakes — including overlimit contributions (Van Epps, who is vying for Green’s seat), unauthorized committee transfers
(Harshbarger) and misreporting a high-dollar corporate donor (Blackburn) — could draw campaign audits or fines if left unaddressed. Candidates raising money in Congress submit regular reports to the FEC detailing money received and spent. Money solicited or spent associated with public office presents the obvious potential for misuse, and for more than 50 years, the Federal Election Campaign Act — enforced by the FEC — has dictated the legal guardrails for public officials’ finances.
The three top GOP officials — as well as candidate Van Epps, Green’s preferred successor in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District — received letters in mid-September from FEC analysts flagging reporting mistakes and threatening additional action.
A Sept. 15 warning letter states that Harshbarger, a third-term Freedom Caucus member representing East Tennessee’s 1st Congressional District, may have funneled more than $6,600 through an unauthorized committee, GOP Winning Women 2026. Candidates must authorize committees in order to engage in joint fundraising. The warning letter was addressed to Harshbarger’s treasurer Thomas
PROTESTERS CALL FOR AVELO BOYCOTT AT BNA
Budget airline has drawn nationwide criticism for partnership with ICE
BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ
ON SATURDAY MORNING, roughly 40 protesters gathered outside the Nashville International Airport cellphone lot calling for a boycott of a budget airline that contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The demonstration was part of a nationwide rebuke of Houston-based Avelo Airlines, which announced in April it would assist in flying deported immigrants out of the country.
The protesters lined up alongside Murfreesboro Pike waving signs, receiving supportive honks from passing vehicles while chanting for Nashville to “de-ICE” its planes.
Avelo doesn’t operate any deportation flights out of Nashville; those instead take off from Arizona. Responding to Avelo protesters on social media, BNA says the airport “does not have the authority to restrict or deny air service” due to federal grant obligations. The budget airline’s CEO called the contract with ICE a way to expand service and keep its crews employed. Avelo advertises cheap flights starting at $29, competing with other low-budget airlines like Spirit.
“People are kind of shocked at how affordable those flights are,” Mike Lacy, one of the Nashville boycott organizers, told the Scene Saturday. “Well, someone is underwriting that. And on one hand, it’s the Immigration and Customs Enforcement [that] is underwriting it, but it is also the families of immigrants — many of whom have credible claims to asylum but are not having their cases held — that are underwriting your cheap flight.”
The boycott saw success in New Haven, Conn., where the city prohibited “the use of public funds for any travel on Avelo Airlines.” Lacy thinks similar restrictions on Metro funds are possible in Nashville.
A series of speakers closed out Saturday’s protest. Daisy Ruiz Pérez of Workers’ Dignity highlighted the labor advocacy organization’s recent campaign to educate business owners and managers on how to defend their rights and protect their employees from immigration agents. “We’ve been going out canvassing to businesses … hoping to teach them their Fourth Amendment rights, and letting them know that they don’t have to let ICE agents in,” she said.
Luis Pedraza of grassroots advocacy group The ReMix Tennessee called for people to get involved in advocating for their community, whether by assisting in mutual aid for families torn apart by ICE, by campaigning for political candidates aligned with their values, or through protests and direct action.
“You do not have to wait to have all the answers … to get involved,” he said. Pedraza also shared that he was affected by the “deportation machine” when his brother was removed from the country in 2017. “I have to deal with that every day. But I know that I’m gonna keep fighting, even though it’s scary.” ▼
Datwyler, a Wisconsin political consultant with a history of FEC fines and violations.
Datwyler served as U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles’ campaign treasurer, and his financial reporting resulted in a $5,750 fine paid by the congressman in an FEC settlement. On Aug. 27, Datwyler opened a new super PAC, Citizens for a Conservative Tennessee, which appears to be tied to state Rep. Jody Barrett’s congressional campaign. (Barrett, like Van Epps, is running for the 7th Congressional District seat given up by Green this summer.)
Federal regulators tagged Green’s fundraising committee, the Green Victory Fund, for failure to refund nearly $60,000 in donations pledged toward his abandoned reelection campaign. Green treasurer Cabell Hobbs responded to the FEC’s request the next day, stating that these donors had been refunded after the June 30 reporting deadline. Green announced his retirement in early June, just six months into his term, and officially resigned on July 4. At least one of the listed donors confirms to the Scene that the Green campaign has refunded his check.
Congressional hopeful Van Epps flubbed his first quarterly report, exceeding individual
contribution limits from Franklin residents Claire and Peter Bray. Again, Hobbs — also Van Epps’ treasurer — promptly promised the FEC he would redesignate the donations on Van Epps’ next report. Hobbs has served as treasurer for numerous GOP campaigns and committees, including John Bolton’s super PAC, the fundraising arm of the former Trump national security adviser that drew its own alleged FEC violations related to the campaign’s work with Cambridge Analytica.
Blackburn regularly takes big checks from corporate PACs and D.C.-based Leidos Holdings Inc., a multibillion-dollar defense contractor that’s sent at least $28,000 to the Tennessee Republican since 2019. A discrepancy between Leidos’ own reporting and Blackburn’s “Making A Responsible Stand for Households in America” PAC earned a Sept. 14 warning letter to Blackburn treasurer Les Williamson. The MARSHA PAC reported a $5,000 donation from Leidos in March, though the PAC hasn’t reported a donation to the MARSHA PAC since 2024. Williamson attributed the confusion to a mail-sorting issue in a Sept. 18 follow-up letter to the FEC. ▼
PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO
PROTEST AGAINST AVELO AIRLINES ON
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GOOD AS GOLD
As the Major League Soccer season draws to a close, Nashville SC is chasing trophies
BY JOHN GLENNON
IT’S BEEN MORE than a quarter-century since the Tennessee Titans saw their Super Bowl dreams dashed in Atlanta, the collective groan of their fans echoing across Music City when Kevin Dyson was tackled a yard short of the end zone in January 2000.
It’s been more than eight years since the Nashville Predators fell just two wins short of capturing the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup, giving superstar Sidney Crosby and the favored Pittsburgh Penguins all they could handle before succumbing in a six-game final series.
Sure, plenty of great memories remain.
Who can forget the Music City Miracle, which served as a playoff prelude to the Titans’ Super Bowl appearance, the day Dyson’s 75-yard kick return for a touchdown in the closing seconds gave the team a stunning win over the Buffalo Bills?
Who can forget the jam-packed streets of downtown Nashville in spring 2017, when the underdog Preds knocked off three straight favored opponents and turned Lower Broadway into a three-ring circus for weeks en route to the Cup final?
Still, the fact remains that nearly three decades after the Titans and Predators settled on opposite banks of the Cumberland River, this city — not to mention the state of
Tennessee — is still seeking its first major professional sports championship.
Might a relative upstart change all that over the next several weeks?
There are rumblings coming from Geodis Park, where Nashville SC — in just its sixth season of Major League Soccer existence — is chasing trophies as the MLS season draws to a close.
The Boys in Gold, as they’re sometimes called by the NSC faithful, are still in contention for not just one, but two pieces of soccer silverware as of late September.
NSC is in the running for the U.S. Open Cup trophy, given to the winner of the nation’s oldest soccer tournament, and — most importantly — the MLS Cup trophy, given to the winner of the league’s playoffs.
How’s that for an entertaining close to the 2025 season, and one to give Nashville sports fans some hope as the Titans and Predators struggle to regain respectability?
“It’s a city that has been bridesmaids for so long, and it deserves to win a championship,” says Mike Jacobs, Nashville SC’s president of soccer operations and general manager.
“We’re so prideful in what that means for our fans and our
city that we want to provide that for them. … We’re desperate to provide that for them.”
TALKING TROPHIES AND TITLES
We should note that the trophy cases of the Titans and Predators aren’t barren.
The Titans, for instance, captured the Lamar Hunt Trophy for winning the AFC Championship en route to playing in their only Super Bowl.
The Predators earned the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl for winning the Western Conference playoffs in 2017, and also captured the Presidents’ Trophy for piling up the NHL’s most regular-season points in 2018.
But neither team has enjoyed that last-teamstanding championship moment.
We should also note that professional soccer offers more opportunities for trophies, as there are awards for a couple of in-season tournaments, as well as for both the regularseason and playoff champions. The most significant title would likely be the MLS Cup, as it decides the league champion through a traditional playoff format — like that of the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB.
“The MLS Cup for me is the most important one,” says Nashville SC goalie Joe Willis. “They’re all important, but that’s how we define who is the champion for the season. … It’s something every player who plays in the league aspires to win.”
There are of course no guarantees NSC will capture any of the crowns this season. In fact, the club is dealing with its first real slump of the season after hitting “a bit of a sticky patch,” in the words of the team’s star striker, Englishman Sam Surridge. NSC has lost six of its past seven MLS contests.
But a landmark Sept. 16 victory over the Philadelphia Union in the semifinal of the U.S. Open Cup — a yearlong, 96-team tournament that takes place at the same time as the MLS regular season — vaulted Nashville SC into the Open Cup final for the first time. That means NSC’s first opportunity to record a historymaking pro sports championship will occur Oct. 1, when the team travels to Austin FC for the tournament’s title match.
“All of our preparation for the whole season is to match the ambition of this club, which is to pursue trophies,” Nashville SC coach B.J. Callaghan says. “That’s not something we hide from. That’s the business that we’re in. This season, our opportunity is to win … trophies. That’s what we can play for, and that’s what we want to do.”
The fact that the Boys in Gold are in the running for trophies — “hardware,” as players and fans often term them — is all the more impressive given how quickly the team rebounded after suffering through the worst season in franchise history in 2024. NSC missed the playoffs last season for the first time in its six-year existence, finishing with just 36 points — the fifth-lowest total among the league’s 29 (now 30) teams.
Less than a year later, Nashville SC had already totaled 50 points through its first 30 of 34 contests in 2025, and the team was on pace to break the franchise record of 54 points set in 2022.
What a difference Callaghan — a coach in his first full season with the team — as well as a series of shrewd personnel additions can make.
SPEARHEADING A TURNAROUND
General manager Jacobs has played a central role in the team’s reversal of fortune.
It was he who guided the coaching search that landed on Callaghan, a former U.S. men’s national team assistant coach. The 44-year-old Callaghan, a New Jersey native who played at Ursinus College, had never served as an MLS head coach in the past.
But he’s brought to the club an attacking, entertaining style of play, something fans had begged for after watching a largely successful — but very defensive-minded — style of play under former coach Gary Smith.
“When we hired B.J., it wasn’t, ‘Hey, can you come in and change things?’” Jacobs says. “We had a very definitive idea of what we wanted to do as a club and where we wanted to go. Then when we had that idea, it was, ‘Which potential candidate looks the most like this profile?’”
Among the key new players signed by Jacobs for this season: midfielder Eddi Tagseth, an energetic, 5-foot-7, 148-pound Norwegian with long blond locks who looks more than a little bit like a Christmas elf; Jeisson Palacios, a rugged, athletic central defender from Colombia; and outside back Andy Najar, a slick-dribbling playmaker from Honduras.
“IT’S A CITY
THAT HAS BEEN BRIDESMAIDS FOR SO LONG, AND IT DESERVES TO WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP.”
—Mike Jacobs, Nashville SC president of soccer operations and general manager
They’ve blended well with Nashville SC’s core of standouts, which includes Surridge, Willis, former MLS MVP Hany Mukhtar, team captain Walker Zimmerman, left back Daniel Lovitz, midfielder Alex Muyl and other veterans.
Najar, selected to play in the MLS All-Star Game earlier this season, is a good example of the more offensive-minded players the team sought to make over its personality.
“We were changing our game model,” Jacobs says. “We knew fans would be excited to see a marauding right back like Andy Najar bombing down the right side, getting involved in the attack.
“But not only would it be more fun for fans — it was also the best way for us to win,” he continues. “So it wasn’t compromising one for the other. The feeling was that how we were going to play — whether it was ambitious or not
— was going to be more attractive to watch and help us win games.”
While Nashville SC’s peers, the Titans and Predators, have labored to emerge from recent seasons of struggle, NSC has seemingly made it look easy.
“I think that after you have a down year like we did, there needed to be some change — but you don’t necessarily have to start from square one,” says Willis, who’s been with the team since its MLS expansion season in 2020.
“I think we did a good job of taking some of the things that made us good in our early years, like our defensive abilities and the way we were able to get [shut-outs],” he says. “But what we added on to that was a little more of a game plan moving forward in the attack and scoring goals, and finding ways to become more consistent in that aspect.”
BRINGING BACK A FAN BASE
Winning, it turns out, is good for business.
Nashville SC took some hits on the ticket front following the 2024 season, when the team stumbled to the finish line, winning just three of its final 14 games.
Geodis Park looked noticeably not full at the start of the 2025 season, with some fans clearly taking a wait-and-see approach before buying NSC as both competitive and entertaining. Things began to change during a hectic but highly successful May, when Nashville SC went unbeaten in nine games across all competitions, posting five victories and four draws.
All of a sudden, those empty seats started to fill in.
Since May, the team says it has averaged more than 28,200 fans per contest, which is in keeping with the season-ending figures over the past few years at Geodis Park — a 30,000-seat facility that is the largest soccer-specific stadium in North America.
Nashville SC’s season ticket base is “in the low 20,000s,” according to the club.
But Lindsey Paola, NSC’s chief business officer, notes that the franchise — which is in the process of wrapping up season ticket renewals for the 2026 season — has seen 25 percent growth in seat renewals from 2025, along with an 8 percent increase in revenue.
“Sometimes in the hardest times, you learn the most about yourself as an organization,” Paola says. “So it was difficult last year, but great this year. … And every time we do well on the field, it makes it easier, right?”
Something is clearly going right on the home pitch, as NSC has totaled a 13-2-3 record in all competitions at Geodis this season. The team’s 10 league victories, in a stadium that’s once again being referred to as “The Castle,” have NSC tied for third-most in MLS.
“In any sport, when you’re really good, your
team has a home-field advantage, and the place you play is an awful place for visiting teams to come into,” Jacobs says. “When you think about the best years of the Titans in Nissan, and you think of the Preds going on the Stanley Cup run, that’s what Bridgestone was like. I think what’s great is we’ve had that year after year at Geodis.”
CHAMPIONSHIP DREAMS
What might winning a championship this year mean for the franchise — especially a title that would be a first for both Nashville and the entire state?
From a financial standpoint, it would undoubtedly open new sets of eyes, stirring interest in potential new Nashville SC season ticket holders and new corporate partners. Who wouldn’t want to be associated with a champion?
“I do think from a business perspective, it would open doors with potential sponsors down the road,” Paola says. “It would also bring new fans into the building, so there’s a lot of economic effects of a big win like that. … It would be a huge moment.”
A title would also offer a larger platform to spread the gospel of soccer in a region where the sport’s roots don’t run especially deep.
All of a sudden, there might be more enthusiasm for building mini pitches, an MLS initiative that began a decade ago, with the intent to provide safe soccer-playing places for children in underserved communities.
All of a sudden, there might be more kids participating in Nashville SC’s coaching clinics around town.
“Long-term, it just grows the sport of soccer in the South,” Paola says. “We’d heard hockey couldn’t happen in the South. It did. We heard soccer couldn’t happen in the South. Well, it’s happening.”
From a front-office perspective, winning a championship would serve as proof positive
that the plan Jacobs and his staff began to put in place in the midst of last year’s troubling season was the right one.
So many questions must have kept him up nights heading into the 2025 season: Would Callaghan, a longtime assistant, prove the right man as head coach? Had Jacobs made the right kind of multimillion-dollar personnel additions? Ones that would bring energy and entertainment to a team that looked old and stale in 2024? Would the Boys in Gold finally — finally — find a way to score more goals?
In sports, nothing confirms quite like the feel of cold, hard silverware.
“For our club, [winning a championship]
would be validating and affirming, that all this work and all this planning, that it was right and it was worth it,” Jacobs says.
For the players, the chance to win a championship this season means a shot at history.
A handful of Nashville SC members — including Lovitz, Mukhtar, Willis, Taylor Washington and Zimmerman — stepped on to the pitch for the franchise’s first MLS game, when more than 59,000 fans packed Nissan Stadium to experience the milestone moment in 2020.
Not many memories will top that.
But lifting a trophy certainly would. ▼
NASHVILLE SC COACH
B.J. CALLAGHAN
September 26-28
2025 PUBLIC ART
Adrienne Outlaw
Brett Douglas Hunter
Brian Wooden
Caleb McLaughlin
Evan Roosevelt Brown
Jason Brooks
John Holmes
Keavy Murphree
Kimia Kline
Maggie Sanger
Marlen Lugo
Dr. Megan Jordan
Nashville, TN
Visit calendar.nashvillescene.com for more event listings
SEPT. 26-28
ART [GOING ALL-CITY]
ARTVILLE
In a city full of events, Artville stands out above the rest. Its founding director Samantha Saturn is the daughter of one of Nashville’s first gallerists — in the 1980s, her mother Nancy founded Zimmerman Saturn Gallery, an art gallery on Second Avenue. Now in its third year, the weekendlong festival celebrates some of the best art in the city. And because it gives Nashville artists cash awards to create site-specific public artworks, it feels like an event created with local impact in mind — not one designed just to attract quick tourist attention. Artville is playing the long game, and it’s one of the best things that has happened to Nashville’s art scene in years. Artville has spread out from its initial run around the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood into downtown’s Walk of Fame Park, the Neuhoff District and the Fairlane Hotel. It includes a whole slate of events and components, so I’d recommend checking out the website (artville.org) for details, and to make sure you don’t miss anything. High on my list of Artville essentials is seeing an exhibition by photographer Caroline Allison in the Neuhoff building, and the site-specific works from all 12 of this year’s artists (including heavy hitters John Holmes, Kimia Ferdowsi Kline, Adrienne Outlaw, Brett Douglas Hunter, Keavy Murphree and more). There will also be live music, food and drink options and activities for kids — not to mention the American Artisan Festival (now in Walk of Fame Park), which was the building block that the entire Artville operation was built upon. Don’t miss it. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
SEPT. 26-28 AT VARIOUS LOCATIONS
THURSDAY / 9.25
MUSIC
[IT’S A TENNESSEE THING] A SLICE OF THE COMMUNITY LIVE — THE NEW SOUND OF TENNESSEE HIP-HOP
Local Renaissance man Jerome Moore — cohost of the Nashville Scene Podcast — will be hosting a live taping of Nashville Public Television’s A Slice of the Community on Thursday. This special episode will focus on the continually evolving sound of Tennessee hip-hop, with particular interest given to the Middle Tennessee area. Local hip-hop stalwarts 2’Live Bre, Tim Gent and Daisha McBride will be featured on the episode, giving their thoughts on “how their music reflects community, culture and the evolving sound of the South as they combine local pride with statewide impact.” Food will also be provided by Five Points Pizza, so arrive early and grab yourself a slice. The event is free, but
FRIDAY / 9.26
BOOKS
[NEW LOBES ON THE VENN DIAGRAM] TWIN LEAD
LINES LAUNCH EVENT
While the adage always applies that lyrics don’t have to work as poetry for a song to be good, the two disciplines certainly run parallel, sometimes closer together or further apart — like complementary melodies. You may have noticed a poetic inclination to Lou Turner’s songs, whether in her own solo records or those with her outstanding rock band Styrofoam Winos, and she’s just published her debut poetry collection Twin Lead Lines via Third Man Books. The collection examines living as an artist in this very weird world we’ve got. It touches on chosen family, but biological family plays a role too: Late Opry star Little Jimmy Dickens was a distant relative and appears as a character throughout the collection. Turner celebrates the release at much-loved East Side DIY spot Soft Junk with readings from the book, while Trevor Nikrant and Will Johnson provide a soundscape (expect some twinned lead lines, naturally) with their pedal steel guitars. Hilary Bell and Ciona Rouse will also read their work, and the great Cassie Berman, late of Silver Jews, rounds out the night with a set of her music. STEPHEN TRAGESER
8 P.M. AT SOFT JUNK
919 GALLATIN AVE.
SATURDAY / 9.27
[SLOWDOWN]
MUSIC
MICHAEL BEACH
Michael Beach’s new album Big Black Plume shows off two sides of the Australian singer and songwriter. Beach, who grew up in California and made the move to Melbourne in 2005, seems comfortable with midtempo rockers that have a hint of glam and power pop. My favorite Big Black Plume track in this vein is “Poison Dart,” which features nifty guitar riffs and a classic, ungrammatical rock couplet that goes, “Don’t forget there is electricity flowing / Between you and I.” Meanwhile, “No One Knows Any Better” rides on a piano figure played in loose time and drums that accent the beat without driving it forward. “No One Knows” flirts with formlessness over nine minutes but never descends into selfindulgence. Big Black Plume works best when it slows down, as in the organ- and piano-driven “I’m Gonna Need Ya.” Beach has cited influences like Bill Fay, Terry Riley and Big Star, and that confluence of nondoctrinaire talents — along with Brian Eno — is part of what informs “Deep Blue Eden,” which you might program with Eno’s 1977 “Spider and I” on your next mix. At its best, Big Black Plume strikes me as down-home mysticism delivered with an emotionalism that seems appropriate for these troubled times. EDD HURT 7:30 P.M.
[HAPPY MAN]
MUFARO’S BEAUTIFUL
DAUGHTERS: AN AFRICAN
MUSICAL
Nashville Children’s Theatre is back this weekend, and ready to open its main-stage season with Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Musical. Based on John Steptoe’s awardwinning book, this new musical was adapted to the stage by Karen Abbott, and features music and lyrics by Taryn Janelle and LeRell Ross. Presented in the rich tradition of African folktales, the story follows a kindhearted villager and his two daughters — both beautiful, but with quite different personalities. And when the young women are summoned to meet the king, we see how very differently they will approach both the journey and those they meet along the way. Directed by frequent NCT collaborator Jon Royal (with musical direction by Piper Jones), the musical’s cast includes James Rudolph II, Gerold Oliver, Jennifer WhitcombOliva, O’Neal Black, Jailin Roberts and Maya Riley. Young audiences can look forward to vibrant scenic and lighting design by Scott Leathers and costumes by April Anderson, along with choreography by Thea Jones. Touching on themes of kindness and compassion, Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters offers a worthy opener for NCT’s “Season for Storytellers.” AMY STUMPFL SEPT. 27-OCT. 30 AT NASHVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE 25 MIDDLETON ST.
DANCE [DANCE CITY] HUBBARD STREET DANCE CHICAGO
As Nashville steadily builds its reputation as a contemporary dance hub, the Tennessee Performing Arts Center continues to host a wide range of innovative artists. This Saturday, TPAC kicks off its 2025-26 Dance Series with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. A driving force in dance since 1977, Hubbard Street seeks to “awaken the human spirit through contemporary dance, envisioning a dance landscape that is relevant and accessible to all.” This weekend’s much-anticipated performance certainly reinforces that mission, bringing together some of the genre’s most daring and original choreographic voices. The evening’s program showcases the company’s compelling and everexpanding repertoire, featuring Black Milk with choreography by Ohad Naharin; Show Pony by Kyle Abraham; Sweet Gwen Suite by Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon; and Blue Soup by Aszure Barton. And be sure to check out the rest of the series, which includes Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (Feb. 21-22) and Complexions Contemporary Ballet (March 14). AMY STUMPFL
SEPT. 27 AT TPAC’S POLK THEATER
505 DEADERICK ST.
FILM [OLD HOLLYWOOD]
NASHVILLE: A CITY ON FILM — THE FRESHMAN & WINGS
I’m kinda surprised film historian/podcaster Karina Longworth hasn’t done a You Must Remember This deep dive on Jobyna Ralston, the Tennessee-born silent-film actress who appears in two classic pictures that will screen at the Belcourt this weekend. On Saturday, you can see
her as the dewy-eyed love interest for Harold Lloyd’s fumbling, bumbling college man in the 1925 comedy crowd-pleaser The Freshman. It’s one of several Lloyd comedies in which Ralston served as the leading lady. And on Sunday, she’ll appear as another dewy-eyed love interest, wrapped up in a love quadrangle with Richard Arlen (whom Ralston would later marry) and Charles “Buddy” Rogers’ rival combat pilots and Clara Bow’s smitten ambulance driver — that’s the 1927 war epic Wings (the first recipient of a Best Picture Oscar). Fun fact: Back in their upand-coming days, Bow and Ralston were both honored by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers as “WAMPAS Baby Stars,” a yearly roundup of young ingenues destined for greatness. T. Minton, the Belcourt’s public historian and archivist, will introduce both films. Visit belcourt.org for showtimes. CRAIG D. LINDSEY SEPT. 27-28 AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.
SUNDAY / 9.28
MUSIC
[HIJOS DEL SOL] HERMANOS GUTIÉRREZ
When Hermanos Gutiérrez step onstage, the guitars sing. For those who haven’t bought in yet, this is a brotherly Swiss Ecuadorian duo who perform otherworldly songs without speaking a word. Channeling Western and Latin guitar influences, the group builds cinematic landscapes in tightly woven instrumental songs, creating a live experience unlike any other in the Americana-rock scene today. And yes, it’s the type of group that perfectly fits The Caverns — an age-old cave turned concert hall in rural Pelham, Tenn., roughly 80 miles southeast of Nashville. The band released its last two records on Nashville label Easy Eye Sound, enlisting The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach with producing duties. Give the band a spin by starting with 2024 album Sonido Cósmico (don’t sleep on album single “Low Sun” or groovy closing number “Misterio Verde”). Newcomers should also check out “Elegantly Wasted,” the duo’s 2025 collaboration with soul singer Leon Bridges. Rahill opens the show. MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER
5 P.M. AT THE CAVERNS 555
FITNESS
[BIKES, BOATS, BOOTS] GOLDEN PHEASANT TRIATHLON
A standard triathlon — like the version you’d see at the Olympics, for example — traditionally involves a 1.5-kilometer swim (a little less than a mile), a 40-kilometer bike ride (25 miles) and a 10-kilometer run (a little more than six miles). Having had the opportunity to see one of these races in person at the 2016 Rio Olympics, I came away more impressed with the mental fortitude put forth by the endurance athletes than by any physical feat. It is a grueling process. Thankfully for people like me who are interested in triathlons but do not have that level of dog in them, the Golden Pheasant Triathlon exists. The annual event — which runs its eighth iteration on Sunday — is noncompetitive. It also tweaks the formula a bit. Instead of swimming, participants will kayak roughly two miles in the Cumberland River along Shelby Park. They will then bike the Shelby Bottoms Greenway back toward Shelby Park (about eight miles). Then they’ll finish the event with a three-mile run looping through most of Shelby Park and around Sevier Lake. Or they can choose to close the day on a shortened walking loop instead. Most importantly, it’s all for a good cause: Proceeds from the event benefit Friends of Shelby Park and Bottoms, and Walk Bike Nashville. LOGAN BUTTS
8 A.M. AT SHELBY PARK
401 S. 20TH ST.
[SHOP GOTH]
SHOPPING
GOTH AND ALTERNATIVE SWAP AND SALE
One thing I learned from spending time with the delightful group that is GOTHBATS (Guild of Tennessee Humanitarians Bolstering Alternative Trending Subcultures) is that goth is a state of mind — not necessarily a style of dress. But the group is also passionate about selfexpression, which ranges from vampire-inspired looks to cyber-goth aesthetic and everything in between. The group’s third annual swap and sale simply promises no “normie” clothes, and
CHARLIE ROBERTS ROAD, PELHAM
HERMANOS GUTIÉRREZ
LIGHTSABERS & FISHNETS
9
4
an opportunity for “baby bats” to get started on their goth journey with gently used alternative clothing. Those who bring a bag of clothes to share will receive “bat bucks” as a discount on clothing purchases that day. GOTHBATS hold events year-round, but prime goth season is approaching — when velvet, leather and chunky boots take center stage. Plus, there are offerings from the group’s own Nashville alternative designer Pretty Grungy. GOTHBATS are always a charitable group, and so proceeds from the event will benefit the ACLU and The Catio.
[LEND
A HAND] TEXAS STRONG:
A NIGHT OF MUSIC AND HOPE, FROM NASHVILLE WITH LOVE
The news moves so fast that early July feels like the distant past, but Central Texas is still suffering in the wake of a catastrophic flood that killed more than 130 people along the Guadalupe River. Country singer-songwriter Heather Victorino, a Lone Star State transplant to Music City, is working with artist management company The Neon Row to organize Sunday’s Texas Strong benefit. The evening will start with a writers’ round (lineup TBA as of this writing), and there will be a silent raffle of donated prizes. The show wraps with a set from Victorino and her band, who make rollicking country with a bit of a ’90s neotraditional edge to it. There’s no cover for the show, but donations will go to the nonprofit OneStar Foundation’s Central Texas Recovery Fund. And if you can’t make it out, you can donate to the GoFundMe campaign launched by Victorino and The Neon Row.
STEPHEN TRAGESER
7 P.M. AT TIN ROOF
1516 DEMONBREUN ST.
MONDAY / 9.29
FILM
[WHOOP THAT TRICK] MUSIC CITY MONDAYS: HUSTLE & FLOW
Oscar-winning anthem “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp.” You knew the Belcourt was going to make it a Music City Mondays offering at some point. CRAIG D. LINDSEY
2:50 & 8 P.M. AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.
MUSIC
[LAST OF MY KIND] SHABOOZEY
TUESDAY / 9.30
ART [JE NE SAIS QUOI] KIT REUTHER: MONOCHROMATIC
Not too long ago, I revisited Craig Brewer’s Dirty South dramedy Hustle & Flow, and I’m still blown away by how seriously people took this gleefully ghetto film. When I first saw it 20 years ago, I was expecting this multiple Sundance award winner to be another gritty look at lowly Black folk trying to claw their way out the ’hood. Even though that’s exactly what happens, it’s done in the most whacked-out way possible. Terrence Howard became a breakout star and Best Actor Oscar nominee by playing the worst pimp in Memphis. Saddled with a pitiful stable of ladies (including a pregnant prostitute played by his future Empire co-star Taraji P. Henson), Howard’s DJay pivots into launching a rap career, in the hopes of getting a tape in the hands of hometown star Skinny Black (actual rap star Ludacris). This sweaty, skanky, sowrong-it’s-hilarious flick features wall-to-wall Southern hip-hop, including Three 6 Mafia’s
Pour a double shot of whiskey, because Shaboozey’s coming back to town. The hitmaker known for blending country twang with pop hooks and a touch of hip-hop headlines downtown venue The Pinnacle on Sept. 29 as part of his Great American Roadshow tour, which is taking the singer to a dozen concert halls across North America this fall. Those who catch the show will likely hear cuts off Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going: The Complete Edition, an 18-song deluxe reissue of his breakthrough album. The expanded take on Where I’ve Been includes collaborations with Sierra Ferrell and Myles Smith, as well as “Amen,” his new single featuring Nashville kingpin Jelly Roll. And of course, the original and deluxe edition of Where I’ve Been both feature “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” the infectious tune that propelled Shaboozey to the top of the charts last year. Now it’s time to raise a glass and sing along. MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER
8 P.M. AT THE PINNACLE
910 EXCHANGE LANE
Kit Reuther is one of Nashville’s most elegant artists. Her paintings are minimal, gestural, muted, messy, abstract and refined all at once. Her sculptures are even harder to define, but all have an unmistakably easy beauty that seems to be the artist’s signature. Monochromatic, the exhibition of Reuther’s recent work at David Lusk Gallery, includes a selection of new paintings alongside bronze sculptures and a few powder-coated aluminum pieces that show her constant experimentation. The gallery’s statement about Reuther conveys the mystery and down-to-earth nature of its artist: “Her most recent paintings loosely reference still-life compositions organized across the canvas, where washes of color, abstracted geometry, bits of texture and gestural markings make the suggestion of form.” LAURA HUTSON HUNTER THROUGH OCT. 25 AT DAVID LUSK GALLERY 516 HAGAN ST.
MUSIC
[WOMEN IN MUSIC] HAIM
California pop rockers Haim seem to be a bit cursed when it comes to their headlining Nashville shows. After a pair of Bonnaroo appearances and opening up for the Future Mrs. Kelce at Bridgestone in 2015, the sisters finally headlined a gig in town with a War Memorial show in 2018. The reason for the years-long delay? Tornadic activity canceled their first attempt at a top-of-the-set-list night
SHABOOZEY
PHOTO: DANIEL PRAKOPCYK
at Cannery in 2014. Then, in 2022, Haim’s show at Ascend was postponed four months due to a COVID outbreak among the touring party. So let’s hope that Paul Thomas Anderson’s favorite band is able to take the stage with no delays, cancellations or postponements this week at The Pinnacle. Danielle, Este and Alana are touring behind June’s I Quit, the band’s fourth LP and an album of soft-rock breakup jams. With production from former Vampire Weekend multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, I Quit maintains the trio’s sleek California vibes while flexing some different muscles musically. Lo-fi pop artist Dora Jar opens. LOGAN BUTTS
7:30 P.M. AT THE PINNACLE
901 CHURCH ST.
WEDNESDAY / 10.1
MUSIC
[TEEN IDLE] MARINA
Marina Diamandis — formerly of Marina and the Diamonds, now just Marina — is that pop girl. Her latest album, Princess of Pop — released through her own label Queenie Records — is also a title that could apply to Diamandis herself. Make no mistake: Pop does not mean vapid. Marina doesn’t shy away from social commentary and politics in her art — “Man’s World” is just one example. During her Nashville date, she’ll certainly play her latest singles, “I <3 You” (an ode to fun, freedom and partying) and “Cuntissimo” (a new invention marked by fashion and an aversion to settling down). Go back to her early work “Are You Satisfied?” for some similar themes. It’s been a winding path for the singer, who has taken time between albums, written a poetry book and seen her 2012 works resurge with the help of young’uns on TikTok. (You may know her as the purveyor of “Primadonna” or “Bubblegum Bitch.”) Australian musician Mallrat, who gave us the banger that is “Groceries,” is a strong opening act. Marina helped lay the groundwork for the tenacious, smart and satire-forward female artists of today. There’s still time to study up on your Marina history. HANNAH HERNER
8 P.M. AT THE PINNACLE
910 EXCHANGE LANE
MUSIC
[OUT OF THE RACES AND ONTO THE TRACKS] THE RAPTURE
With the U.S. population potentially declining for the first time in the nation’s history this year, the old could soon outnumber the young — making culture more nostalgic than ever. So here’s my take: Rock music, notably fueled by youth, is dying. But New York City dance-punk band The Rapture is returning to the stage this fall for the first time in 15 years, and it will most definitely rock. Though they were never mainstream enough to pull in $2 billion from a reunion tour, they are among the most influential bands of the Aughts. Led by the perpetually unhinged vocals of frontman Luke Jenner, their 2002 single “House of Jealous Lovers” paved the way for Justice, MGMT and a slew of other dance acts. So whether you agree or disagree that rock music is on its last leg — last week’s Turnstile show at The Pinnacle was undeniably fun — at least we can all go out swinging. TOBY ROSE
8 P.M. AT MARATHON MUSIC WORKS 1402 CLINTON ST
FILM
[THERE’S A GIRL IN THE GARDEN] LIVE LIFE GIVE LIFE PRESENTS SHAUN OF THE DEAD
Long before Last Night in Soho, Baby Driver and his forthcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s The Running Man, British filmmaker Edgar Wright exploded onto international screens with Shaun of the Dead. The 2004 film — the first installment in what Wright would later dub his Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy, alongside 2007’s Hot Fuzz and 2013’s The World’s End — is one of the great horror-comedy efforts of all time. Wry and fun with almost as many scares, classic zombie-flick references and touching moments as laughs, Shaun features primo performances from a slew of British comics, most notably frequent Wright collaborators (and buddies) Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. On Oct. 1 at the Belcourt, Live Life Give Life Nashville — a fundraising group that supports organ-donation efforts — will host a screening of the modern classic, with proceeds set to benefit Tennessee Donor Services. Kick off Spooky Season while patronizing Nashville’s best movie theater and supporting a good cause.
D. PATRICK RODGERS
7 P.M. AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.
From platinum-selling chart-toppers to underground , household names to undiscovered gems, Chief’s Neon Steeple is c bringing the very best national and regional talent back to Broadway.
t ons, t a s, eeple committed mmi
SEPTEMBER LINE UP
9.1 Nashville Hall of Fame Writers Round w/ Tony Arata, Matraca Berg, Gary Nicholson
9.3 Eric Paslay’s Song in a Hat
9.5 Kat Hasty
9.9 Dallas Moore, Scott Southworth, Daryl Wayne Dasher
9.11 “Afternoon Delight” Day Party w/ Will Hoge, Robert Ellis, Adrian & Meredith, Abe Partridge, Justin Wells
9.14 The Dirty Grass Players
9.16 Chief’s Outsiders Round w/ Skyelor Anderson & Ben Kadlecek w/Guests Antwan Wilmont,Dustin De La Garza, Chris Hatfield, Chad Michael Jervis
WRITERS’ ROUNDS AT CHIEF’S
Payton Smith & Friends: The Bridge Album Release Show
9.19 Kendell Marvel
9.20 Seals & Crofts 2
9.21 Cody Parks & The Dirty South, Austin Martin & The Herd, Charlie Farley
9.27 Ralph Stanley II & The Clinch Mountain Boys
9.29 Buddy’s Place w/ Janelle Arthur, Mike Kinnebrew, Dan Smalley
9.30 Dan Harrison, Jeff Middleton, Mark Irwin, Mark Taylor
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
Kendell Marvel
Kat Hasty
Dirty Grass Players
FOOD & DRINK
THE STATISTICS SURROUNDING addiction within the hospitality community are alarming.
“There are an estimated 15.5 million restaurant employees nationally, and an estimated 2.5 million are struggling with alcohol and drug abuse,” says Charleston, S.C.-based industry veteran Mickey Bakst. He should know. In his 40-plus years managing renowned restaurants, Bakst struggled with sobriety himself.
“When I got sober, nobody would sponsor me in AA unless I quit my job,” he says. “I didn’t meet another restaurant person for probably three or four years. So here I am. I just gave up my two best friends — drugs and alcohol, right? And you’re telling me I’ve got to give up the other things that I love? That sucks.”
Sober since 1982, Bakst saw the impact that alcohol and drugs were having on his beloved industry, and he reached out to James Beard-nominated restaurateur Steve Palmer of Indigo Road Hospitality to discuss what they could do to help. Together they founded a support group for hospitality workers called Ben’s Friends.
“Ben’s Friends started in November of 2016,” says Bakst. “The true impetus was me being sober for 40 years and Steve being sober at the time, I don’t know, 15 years, and us seeing so many people destroy their lives or lose their lives. That was the impetus for us saying, ‘We have to do something.’ We would meet on Saturday mornings, and we would talk about, ‘Did you hear about this person?’ Or, ‘Did you hear about this person?’ And we would also both say, ‘We’re too busy to do anything about it.’”
Bakst’s tipping point came when he was hosting a special brunch for Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud in Charleston. “I had a room full of icons,” Bakst remembers. “Ruth Reichel was there, Danny Meyer was there. There was a room full of people, and they were my guests at a brunch at Le Farfalle.”
“A young kid by the name of Drew Tursi was the [chef de cuisine], and that day he cooked for all of his heroes and his icons,” he says. “And he went home that night and drank and drugged himself to death in celebration. That sort of cracked me.”
Palmer had already suffered a similar trauma the year before. “Steve had a friend come and help him open a restaurant in Florence, S.C.,” Bakst recounts. “The friend was working with three other sober chefs on the line, and he didn’t show up for work. Steve went and found him in a hotel room with a bullet wound to his brain and bottles of booze surrounding him. Steve had no idea that person had been in treatment four or five times, and that person’s name was Ben Murray. And as a result of Ben taking his life, Steve and I said, ‘Enough is enough!’ and we created Ben’s Friends.”
BEN THERE
Ben’s Friends is on a mission to help hospitality workers deal with addiction through community
BY CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
The idea was simple. The pair of restaurant pros started spreading the word that they were going to gather people together in Charleston and offer help to anyone in the industry who needed it.
“They’re all coming together to help each other find that path to sobriety,” Bakst says. “And that’s all we are about. We’re not mental health experts. We’re not doctors. We’re just people who know how to stay sober and are trying to help others in the industry be sober.”
A couple dozen people showed up for the first meeting, but soon people started visiting from other cities. Ben’s Friends has grown to 28 cities, with two more groups currently in the process of formation. The organization hosts 17 national Zoom meetings each week, including a daily midday meeting at 1 p.m. Eastern time and a post-shift meeting five nights per week at 11 p.m. Local groups host in-person meetings weekly, and in Nashville, Black Hawk Farms COO and former chef Andrew Whitney leads the Ben’s Friends gathering every Thursday for an hour starting at 11 a.m. at O-Ku in Germantown. It’s usually a small group — never more than 10 participants — but it is a community. “We’re on a first-name basis, so it’s quasi-anonymous,” explains Whitney. “We share post-shift war stories and coping mechanisms. We’re all in the same boat. We’ll sit on the patio if the weather is nice.”
Whitney knows, like most people, his path to and through sobriety is unique to him. “I spent the first five to six years trying to figure out what sobriety was,” he says. “I didn’t find a likeminded community in traditional AA meetings. It was hard to find the right place in the right room.”
When he discovered the local Ben’s Friends chapter almost four years ago, he knew immediately he was in the right place. “I felt the instant shared journey at that meeting,” says Whitney.
“It created an intense feeling of finding a place, and I’ve met more sober people in the last five years on the Zooms, just taking care of others and providing community.”
Bakst explains that a Ben’s Friends meeting has both similarities and differences to the traditional path through Alcoholics Anonymous.
“Nobody’s paid,” Bakst says. “We follow the AA model in the sense of how we do it, but we have slightly different requirements. Anybody who leads a meeting needs to be at least two years’ sober. They have to come to the meetings, and I have to see them there. They have to contribute. They have to get a feel of who we are and what we do.
“I said we followed the AA model, but the reality is we’re different from AA,” he continues. “We open our doors to anybody. I don’t care what drug you use. I don’t care what you drank. We are open to anybody. We believe that an
addiction is an addiction. We have meth addicts coming. We have heroin addicts, opioid addicts. So we’re open to everybody.”
Another distinction is the attitude toward what AA calls a “higher power” — something Bakst knows is a personal topic. “We don’t focus on God,” he says. “Steve is talking about God all the time. I don’t ever think about God. God kept me out of AA for six years, from the time I first tried, to the time I got sober. It’s not my thing. We certainly support anything that people believe, but we’re not God-focused in our meetings. I also believe in picking and choosing the parts of AA that work for you. Not everything works for everybody. ”
“I try to lead with curiosity and offer support,” says Whitney. “I want people to understand that the meeting is there for them, and you define what that help is. For me, I say I didn’t drink yesterday, I didn’t drink today, and I don’t plan on drinking tomorrow. That’s the best I can do today. This is very, very rewarding work, and I’m fortunate to be in a position to do it.”
Woven among the altruism of Ben’s Friends’ efforts is a sad truth about the industry today. “Here’s the reality,” says Bakst. “This is self-centered for the restaurant industry. They can’t afford to lose employees anymore, and so Ben’s
Friends is helping people not have to leave and stay there.”
“If somebody in 1990 or 2000 came to work drunk, I told him to get the fuck out and don’t come back,” he says. “Shame on me! Now people are listening. A lot of the work that I do is talking with HR departments that want to know how to deal with their employees.”
Bakst is pleased to see incremental change in the industry.
“I think restaurants today are doing things that are really positive,” he says. “They’re cutting out shift drinks. They’re starting run clubs and yoga clubs. I know restaurants that are doing family meal at the end of the night so that the people have a way to unwind, which I think is incredible. Somebody makes a big pot of food earlier in the day, and they roll it out when the shift is done. And everybody sits around and unwinds.”
And some of them might even log into a Zoom call afterward.
If you’re a hospitality worker who needs help dealing with addiction, visit bensfriendshope.com/ meetings or call a Ben’s Friends team member at 843-990-8001. Andrew Whitney also welcomes inquiries at andrewgwhitney@gmail.com. ▼
PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND
ANDREW WHITNEY
NATURE ONE, CITY GIRL ZERO
What a chance encounter with a bear taught me about legacy BY
SYDNE SCIVALLY
Vodka Yonic features a rotating cast of women, nonbinary and gender-diverse writers from around the world sharing stories that are alternately humorous, sobering, intellectual, erotic, religious or painfully personal. You never know what you’ll find in this column, but we hope this potent mix of stories encourages conversation.
I THOUGHT I MADE THE CHOICE TO STAY INSIDE BECAUSE I DIDN’T LIKE NATURE. BUT IT WASN’T UNTIL I WAS SPRINTING BACK TO THE AIRBNB AND THROWING MY BODY AGAINST THE DOOR TO GET AWAY FROM THE BEAR THAT I REALIZED THAT WASN’T TRUE. I DIDN’T JUST DISLIKE NATURE — I WAS AFRAID OF IT.
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LAST SUMMER, my friends and I went on a pilgrimage to Dollywood for the first time. We spent the first day of the trip eating kettle corn and riding the Blazing Fury roller coaster, our plastic seasonal Dolly cups bashing us in the shins the whole time. When we got back to the Airbnb in Gatlinburg, exhausted and sun-weary, my friends sat down to rest while I went back to my car to grab something I’d forgotten from the back seat. I walked out distracted, looking down at my phone. When I glanced up, I realized I was within petting distance of a huge black bear. Here’s something good to know about Gatlinburg: There are bears, just out and about. There are bears on the street, in the woods and in people’s front yards. There are special bearproof trash cans to keep them out of garbage so they don’t keep coming back for food. Gatlinburg is known for its bears. The bear was not out of place. I was.
I have spent my entire life in Nashville. As a child, I played in well-maintained yards, concrete driveways and cul-de-sacs. I’ve moved three times, but only within the limits of Davidson County. I grew up in the suburbs, moved briefly for college, and moved back to Bellevue to begin my adult life. I don’t have much of a relationship with nature, and that was on purpose. “Why would I go outside?” I used to ask people with the natural shrewdness of a 5-year-old, “when we built the inside? We made in here so we wouldn’t have to be out there.”
And there were practical reasons to not go outside. My mother had such an aversion to dirt that coming in from playing outside was a four-step process: Take off your shoes; wash your hands; change your dirty clothes; sweep the floor where you came in. It was just another chore, so we didn’t go outside. It was easier that way.
I thought I made the choice to stay inside because I didn’t like nature. But it wasn’t until I was sprinting back to the Airbnb and throwing my body against the door to get away from the bear that I realized that wasn’t true. I didn’t just dislike nature — I was afraid of it.
Here’s the thing about growing up in the city: When you’re raised by parents who also grew up in the city, they can’t teach you about the outdoors. All they know to tell you are the ways it can hurt you. Ticks, stinging nettles, poisonous spiders, poisonous berries, tainted water — you’re lucky if you come back alive. The
As I got older, I learned about the danger I presented to the outside world. Science class taught me about the world’s natural habitat, and how the actions of humans have altered it. I started to understand that I was capable of hurting nature, even if I didn’t understand how. Bears that spend too much time around humans are often killed by rangers out of an abundance of caution. I know now that this is about habituation — bears can become aggressive if they think they’re competing for food — but I didn’t know that when I saw that bear. All I knew was that I was as big of a danger to the bear as the bear was to me. I ran for his life as much I ran for my own.
Once I started telling my family about this, they revealed — to my surprise — that I come from very outdoorsy people. Go back two generations in my mom’s family and you’ll find a bunch of sharecroppers. My paternal grandmother talks about the life she spent outside, picking apples and drinking spring water, with a wistfulness that makes me wish I could give it back to her. I started to wonder how so little time could pass in our family, yet my attitude toward nature was so different from theirs.
I started to feel like I was missing out. It’s only as an adult that I’ve learned how much there is to like about being outside. I go out onto my apartment balcony to let the sun shine on my skin in the spring. I watch the rain from my deck chair during the summer storms. I went to East Tennessee a few years ago and got to see Ozone Falls for the first time. It’s not to be missed. I still stress about ticks, but I finally think I found the right bug spray.
And if I see a bear again, maybe I won’t run. Maybe I’ll get a picture. From inside. Through the window. ▼
Backstage at 3rd: A Musical Journey with THE STRING REVOLUTION, MEG PFEIFFER, JOHN LOMAX III
JONELL MOSSER with special guests KENTUCKY THUNDER, SHEILA LAWRENCE, VICKIE CARRICO and ETTA BRITT
THE PETTY JUNKIES with SINCLAIR
Backstage Nashville! Daytime Hit Songwriters Show featuring SHAWN CAMP, DENNIS MORGAN, RYAN LARKINS & SOFIE SMITHSON
Backstage At 3rd: SONGS AND STORIES with GORDON KENNEDY EMILY WEST
this2 w/ ZEKI and thankmelater. (9pm) lily grace
jasmin.4.t w/ chrysalis (7pm) big richard (9PM) wheelwright w/ scott levi jones
w/ jenna kay (7pm)
MUSIC
NOBODY TOO
Amanda Shires paints a new picture on Nobody’s Girl
BY HANNAH CRON
AMANDA SHIRES IS The voice of reason you’d want in your corner, but only if the support is mutual. She is no one’s wife, no one’s backing musician and no one’s punch line. And right now, the only person she’s fighting for is herself. Her ninth solo album Nobody’s Girl, out Friday via Silver Knife/ATO, explores what’s left in the wake of a love that’s gone away: hard memories and frustration, coupled with growth and new beginnings. Shires made the record with frequent collaborator Lawrence Rothman, who also produced her 2022 album Take It Like a Man It listens like a work of gothic literature — Shires seems to haunt a space once hallowed, recounting something good gone by. But the story she’s telling isn’t a sad one — it’s proof of life, a vision of rebirth and reinvention. She hopes that listeners come away knowing that if she survived, they can too.
“I would hope the reaction would be, like, maybe they could find some acceptance in themselves, if they are lacking it, for the way that surviving things can be messy and beautiful,” Shires says. “And that if you’re beginning again, it’s possible, even though it sometimes feels like it’s not.”
Like any act of survival, recording Nobody’s Girl wasn’t an easy process. The piano-driven lead single “A Way It Goes” wasn’t written until after Shires thought the record was finished.
“Lawrence, my producer, insisted that I wasn’t done with my record yet,” she recalls, “even though I was well past 20 songs written, and even though I didn’t feel like I needed to write any more or had any more to say. They were insistent, and I’m grateful for that because I wasn’t done yet.”
Rendered as an atmospheric ballad, with ambient instruments floating around the crisp backbeat, “A Way It Goes” is one hell of a reintroduction to Shires’ world. In the wake of Shires’ divorce from fellow musician Jason Isbell, one might have certain expectations about the contents of an ensuing “breakup” record. Shires makes it clear that while her life has changed, she is still the main character of this story. It’s not about him, it’s about her and what she has become and is becoming. Shires sets the tone for the record from her first lines: “I can show you how he left me / Paint a picture, growing flowers for nobody / But I’d rather you see me thriving / Vining my way back up.”
“The first song is key to this record because it sets up my discomfort in the subject matter,” she explains, “but also the kind of pride I have in myself for finding myself again and taking my identity back — in being my own, belonging to myself.”
Much of the record deals with growth and rebirth, but in that process, Shires doesn’t shy away from the reminders of what was. In many
ways, it feels as though she’s whispering into the ears of those she’s lost — not angry, not screaming. Amid chugging guitars, Shires says it herself in the fiery but restrained “Piece of Mind”: “If you think I could hate you, you’re wrong.” She’s taking the high road, even if others don’t. She continues, “But that was a real fucked-up way to leave.”
Some of the more affecting lines on the record are small observations, material objects taking power over Shires’ perception — a handful of jelly beans, a glimpse of footage from a doorbell camera, an old kitchen table. In these moments, Shires is a specter, viewing her past and present from a higher point of view.
“I was in a long-term relationship and mar-
riage, and when you live in that space, it does at times feel haunted, and you do have to do things to make the space your own,” she says. “And to do that, I think not only takes time with it, but it takes courage and it takes reflecting. … I reflected on them so much, like trying to identify what I did wrong or right, and then also, like, ‘How do I walk through these spaces? What do I need to do?’
“So I don’t feel like there’s something missing or that [I need to] keep the memories from flooding back too much and all that. And there are little things I did. And I would like to say they’re helpful. But only to an extent, because you can only really clean so much, and you can only really repaint the same thing white so many times.
But a lot of it too is — just as cliché as it sounds — is taking the time to heal and process.”
Shires can see things more clearly now, and she’s moving on to something brighter. She’s taking Nobody’s Girl on the road across North America with Disney stars turned folk-rock singers Aly & AJ. All the while, she is focused on becoming more and more fully herself.
“I am proud of myself for getting through it, and finding peace with myself and the closure that I needed … and the beauty that comes in making something from a time that feels super dark. I not only lost my relationship, but I also lost my grandmother and my dad, and then it was like one thing after another. But in the end, here I stand.” ▼
Nobody’s Girl out Friday, Sept. 26, via Silver Knife/ATO
THE BIG 4-0
Government Cheese gets ready to celebrate four decades of making music together
BY DARYL SANDERS
BACK IN 1985, in Government Cheese’s very first year as a band, singer-songwriter-guitarist
Tommy Womack had a premonition at a nightclub in Bowling Green, Ky. “I remember being at a Cheese soundcheck at the Alibi disco in May of ’85,” Womack says, “and I just got this feeling that this is gonna last a long time.”
While Womack didn’t mention his premonition to any of his bandmates because they would have “mocked” him, it turned out to be spot-on. Now the band is performing a number of concerts billed as “40 Damn Years of Government Cheese” to celebrate four decades, culminating with a show Saturday night at 3rd and Lindsey.
What makes the anniversary even more remarkable is the fact the band’s original lineup — Womack (vocals, guitar), Scott Willis (vocals, guitar), Billy Mack Hill (vocals, bass) and “Joe Elvis” King (drums) — is still intact. The one lineup change was the addition of guitarist Viva McQueen in 1990. Thus far, the anniversary shows have been everything the band could hope for and more.
“It moved me to tears at the Louisville show a couple of times, just looking out there at these people I’ve seen for 40 years, and they keep
coming,” Willis says. “It’s a real honor because it’s our music they’re singing along to. It means a lot. We’re pulling out all the stops for these shows because we want to make them special.”
The band, which got its start in Bowling Green and rose to regional fame in the late ’80s, has had a different set list for each of the anniversary shows. They draw from their entire catalog, which includes three EPs, four full-length albums and a 43-track, two-disc anthology released in 2010, Government Cheese 1985-1995. According to Womack, the Cheese will play at least one new song Saturday night.
“We’ve got something we’ve never played before that we’re gonna do,” he says. “It’s a cover — ‘Teenage Kicks’ by The Undertones. And there’re deep cuts we’ve rotated in and out. We do a fair amount from the more recent stuff, but we also know that’s not why the people are coming out, so we cover all the classics they want to hear — ‘The Shrubbery’s Dead,’ ‘Mammaw Drives the Bus,’ ‘Camping on Acid,’ ‘Fish Stick Day’ and ‘C’mon Back to Bowling Green (And Marry Me).’”
The group will also play “Horny Mormon,” a song that didn’t make the cut for their 2022 album Love, but which will appear on Womack’s forthcoming solo album Live a Little. It’s a hilarious take on the worldly desires of Mormon missionaries.
“The minute we do ‘Horny Mormon,’ the whole crowd erupts,” Womack says.
In addition to their 40th anniversary, Government Cheese has another reason to celebrate. They are among the artists being honored in a
JANIS JOPLINING
BY BOBBIE JEAN SAWYER
THE LAST TIME Irish pop-country dynamo CMAT made her way through Nashville was in 2022, when she played a solo show at the OG Basement. A YouTube video from that tour stop, recorded just a few weeks after the singer released her debut studio album If My Wife New I’d Be Dead, shows her sitting alone onstage on a stool with a keyboard balanced on her lap singing a song called “Nashville,” which was written before she’d even visited Music City. Since then, CMAT has headlined multiple music festivals, including the 2025 Glastonbury Festival, where she drew a crowd of thousands. She also released her stellar album Euro-Country featuring the breakout hit “Take a Sexy Picture of Me,” which has delightfully been dubbed the “Woke Macarena” by some. So things looked a bit different for CMAT’s sold-out show at The Basement East on Sunday, the last stop on her U.S. tour. The audience showed up early for a firstrate set from Austin, Texas, indie band Tele Novella and was already buzzing with energy by the time CMAT took the stage. From the opening notes of “Janis Joplining,” which the singer delivered from the back of the venue before sashaying her way through the crowd to the stage, it was clear: Whether it’s a sold-out show or a pop-up for a dozen people at a Buc-ee’s, CMAT is going to give you absolutely everything she has. (Note: To my knowledge, CMAT has never actually performed at a Buc-ee’s, but that would be iconic.)
new exhibit titled Sonic Landscape at the Kentucky Museum in Bowling Green. The exhibit, which opened on Sept. 6 for a planned five-year run, puts a spotlight on dozens of influential artists from the Bowling Green area, many of whom now call Nashville home, such as Sam Bush, Bill Lloyd and Jonell Mosser.
“We’re all very proud to be associated with those artists,” Womack says. “There are a lot of great artists that came out of the Bowling Green area.”
None of the artists is more prominently featured in the exhibit than Government Cheese.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Willis says. “We were able to provide more stuff than any other bands because we’ve had more stuff. We’re the band that’s been around for 40 years.”
“It’s one of the biggest feelings of accomplishment I’ve ever had,” adds Womack. “If you had told me 40 years ago we would be in a museum someday, it would have been hard to believe.” ▼
I’ve never seen anyone command a stage with more ease than the Dunboyne, Ireland-raised artist. During “Jamie Oliver Petrol Station,” a cheeky faux diss track about the celebrity chef, she strutted across the stage in a frenzy as if giving a sermon.
“This is making no fucking sense to the average listener,” she shouted before launching into the rollicking, ABBA-inspired “I Don’t Really Care for You.” Midway through, she stopped to vamp for the audience before resuming the song, doing high kicks and choreo with her band, The Very Sexy CMAT Band. At one point she stopped the show to let a fan show off their outfit. “Sometimes you just have to put a bitch onstage,” she quipped.
Playing 8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27, at 3rd and Lindsley
“We’re just all little girls from Ireland — we’ve been roaming around in our little bus ... and the place seems to be falling down around us,” the artist born Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson told the crowd, addressing the current state of our nation. “But never you mind, because tonight we’re just going to have a very, very sexy show — a sexy show for all the gays, because this town has some of the finest caliber of LGBTQIA+ that I’ve ever come across in my life.”
Before performing “Take a Sexy Picture of Me,” the singer reflected on how the song was inspired by comments on social media about her body — something she
PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS
TV SET: TELE NOVELLA
saw an influx of after she began performing at festivals.
“People would film us on their mobile telephones, and they would post the videos of us on the internet, and very regularly the comment section of those videos would fill with very nasty comments about my physical appearance,” she said, the audience responding with boos for the misogynistic keyboard warriors. “We should not do that because it’s not nice, but in the case of my physical appearance, it seems a little factually incorrect because I am, in fact, very sexy.”
One of the highlights of the night: CMAT brought Nashville songwriter Tori Tullier onstage to help her sing “Iceberg,” a “song for Titanic-loving bisexuals everywhere,” which the pair co-wrote with another Nashville artist, Cameron Neal.
After a rousing one-two punch of “Where Are Your Kids Tonight?” and “Running/Planning,” the band left the stage and returned a few minutes later for an encore. CMAT introduced the anthemic “Euro-Country,” a song about how much she loves her home country of Ireland, with a call to reject racism and fascism.
“It feels really important to say that right now, because at the moment [Ireland is] in the process of being taken over by the far right, who are every week staging racist, anti-immigration protests and becoming more and more violent against minorities in Dublin and Bel-
fast in particular,” she said. “I feel like it’s more important now than ever to reclaim the narrative from those people [and] to leave absolutely no room for them, because Ireland is for everybody, and I feel that the same logic could be applied here.”
Though she rarely plays it on tour, in a triumphant moment, CMAT launched into her song “Nashville” after sharing what it means to her to perform the tune in its namesake city.
“This song is very, very special to me, and I’m very grateful to be able to play it here,” she said.
Then, decreed by the law of CMAT, the singer led the crowd in a dance she called the “Dunboyne County Meath Two-Step” during “I Wanna Be a Cowboy Baby.”
The stirring Western-inspired tune sounds like a longlost Paula Cole song that would’ve been performed at Lilith Fair. The performance featured an assist from opening act Tele Novella.
Before closing out the set with the torchy “Stay for Something,” CMAT noted her reluctance to end the night, and the audience clearly felt the same.
“I would love to play everything, but we would be here for, I believe, like, three hours,” she said. “Maybe one day I’ll Bruce Springsteen the shit out of it.”
After Sunday’s show, it’s easy to believe that day will soon come. ▼
BROGUE ONE: CMAT
BACK IN BLACK
International Black Film Festival founder looks back on two decades BY
RON WYNN
NASHVILLE’S INTERNATIONAL BLACK Film Festival has evolved into one of the year’s finest cinematic celebrations, spotlighting independent Black cinema nationally and globally and bringing to town key figures in the industry for panels and seminars. But as IBFF prepares for its 20th anniversary, founder Hazel Joyner Smith says there’s still plenty of work to do in the quest to provide opportunity and access to the entertainment world for aspiring performers, writers, directors and producers.
“Longevity isn’t really something that I’ve thought about,” Smith tells the Scene. “In the beginning I just had a keen interest in film and television, but didn’t know any of the key people. We just wanted to show it was possible for those in our community who wanted to get into the film and television business to do it. We’ve been so fortunate over these two decades that some of the greatest people who’ve made it have been willing to come and give us their insights, their feelings and their knowledge. When a Debbie Allen will sit with young people and tell her story, when you get people who’ve gone from doing short films to becoming executives, there’s such enormous value in that.”
When asked what has constituted IBFF’s biggest challenge, Smith says the answer plainly: money.
“Certainly whenever you’re putting together something of this magnitude, you deal with fiscal realities,” she says. “But really from the time that we did our first screening to now, the biggest challenge has always been continuing to do what it takes to convince those in our community with the talent and the desire to make movies or do television shows that they can do it with the right amount of determination and desire. That, plus getting them the access to the people who can provide them with the training
and the knowledge. That’s always been our primary goal and is still our greatest challenge every year.”
This year’s screenings and panels reaffirm the festival’s theme: 20 Years Amplified: Voices, Stories, Vision. Events kick off with a pre-festival gala Friday at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, as master actor Morgan Freeman joins the Nashville Symphony for the Symphonic Blues Experience. This program combines Freeman’s narration with performances by blues artists from his Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Miss., plus the backing of the symphony. The festival itself will run Oct. 1 through 5, with entries in five categories: marquee and special features, narrative features, narrative shorts, and both long and short documentaries. Screenings and events are being held at multiple venues, including Belmont University’s R. Milton and Denice Johnson Center, the Hutton Hotel and Sunset Lounge at the Supper Club.
Among IBFF’s most highly anticipated presentations is Kayla Johnson’s Fatherless No More (7:30 p.m. Oct. 2), an inspirational and powerful documentary about the director’s father, former NFL player and Super Bowl champion Tim Johnson, an Orlando-based pastor who is inspired to live in an RV on Rikers Island. Both Johnsons, as well as executive producer and gospel legend CeCe Winans, will be available for a special Q&A following the screening. Earlier that day, IBFF will screen Rana Segal’s The Light of Truth: Richard Hunt’s Monument to Ida B. Wells (12:30 p.m. Oct. 2). This documentary chronicles sculptor Hunt’s creation of a monument to honor groundbreaking journalist Wells, and also offers a look at the struggles each faced in their lifetimes battling racist injustices.
Other vital films include A Tour of One City: Negro Leagues in Nashville, Tenn., and Beyond (2 p.m.
Oct. 5), The Dichotomy of Hattie McDaniel (2:15 p.m. Oct. 5) and Beyond the Headlines: The NABJ Journey (3:15 p.m. Oct. 3). Additionally, there’s a delightful animated short (“The EKSPATS,” 12:30 p.m. Oct. 3) about an American family that relocates to Nigeria, and Tom Neff’s Clemmie G.: Unfiltered (2 p.m. Oct. 4), an insightful look at Clemmie Greenlee’s 21-year fight for community empowerment and environmental and social justice. IBFF has also scheduled several intriguing panels, ranging from a look at how filmmaking has blossomed throughout the South to the rise of short-form cinema, and the evolution of youth participation and involvement in social protest and political change.
“One thing that’s still very clear is there’s so much work left to do,” Smith says. “There’s such a vast amount of talent in this community that still hasn’t been tapped, and we’re always seeking to get them involved, get them interested and see what happens. We also continue to discover how much we don’t know yet, but we’re always learning, always trying to bring more information and knowledge to the community, and offer access and opportunity for an audience that’s historically been underserved.”
Find a full schedule of events and purchase your tickets or passes at ibffevents.com. ▼
International Black Film Festival Oct. 1-5 at Belmont University, the Hutton Hotel and more ibffevents.com
FATHERLESS NO MORE
QUAKE IN FEAR
Talking with breakout director Neo Sora about his political coming-of-age film Happyend
BY KEN ARNOLD
JAPAN IS THE official hot destination for travel post-pandemic. Almost everyone knows someone who is planning a vacation there, or just came back from one. But hidden under the surface, the imperial heart of Japan still beats through the scars of a colonial past.
Happyend follows a group of Japanese high schoolers in the near future who, after pranking the principal, are faced with the implementation of a security system that monitors them on a behavioral point-based system. The event causes a rift in a student friend group when Kou (Yukito Hidaka) is fed up with the discrimination he receives as a Zainichi Korean, and Yuta (Hayato Kurihara) just wants to focus on music.
“The main event that I was responding to for Happyend was what actually happened in 1923,” director Neo Sora tells the Scene. “The Great Kantō Earthquake essentially was the biggest earthquake to strike the Tokyo region in the past 100 years [and] resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, but the often-neglected portion of that is that the quake also triggered a massacre and genocide of Zainichi Koreans by the hands of common Japanese civilians. The imperial government at the time used that opportunity to weed out anarchists and leftist dissidents and also the Korean independence movement. … I didn’t experience that, of course, and I did experience the Abe era and also the Bush era, now the Trump era. Those are the kind of cultural touchstones and images seared into my brain. I think for me, the biggest was 3/11 [the 2011 tsunami], but also, of course, 9/11 was a really big influence, especially because I was here in New York when that happened.”
“I’m kind of folding in all these different kinds of references and times within one story,” he says. “But at the same time, it’s an evergreen pattern.”
In Sora’s dystopian future, music is all AI-curated, and AI powers the machines that are used to control the students. This kind of technology clashes heavily with Sora’s artistic and musical background as the son of composer Ryuichi Sakamoto.
“Art and music [is] especially so fundamentally tied to the body and physicality,” says Sora. “The truth is that AI just doesn’t have that. You can copy what one’s body is, but it is just a copy, even though it might be really faithful to something that actually exists. And so what’s really important is actually these bodies in space. … [My first film, 2023’s Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus] was also very much about the physicality — that was really all the whole film was about.”
Politics can drive a wedge not only between friends, but sometimes within ourselves. Yuta and Kou often seem to embody the struggle that many people feel internally — between political activism and their own happiness.
“It’s a daily swinging in between these two poles [of] complete surrender to this inevitable kind of moving toward this apocalyptic world, and trying to hold dear what is important to you while it lasts,” says Sora. “Actually, Walter Benjamin called it like a messianic hope that something new can happen. … That is definitely a reflection of the daily swing that I experienced between both poles. One day I wake up and I completely feel like Kou, and then later that day, I’m totally Yuta. This is so exhausting and tiring, right?”
“I once had a session with the screenwriter
Joan Tewkesbury, who worked a lot with Robert Altman,” he says. “She was saying every story, every character comes from within your body, and in that way I think I really wrote myself into all these characters as well.” ▼
Happyend NR, 113 minutes; in Japanese with English subtitles Playing Sept. 26-30 at the Belcourt
Saturday, September 27
SONGWRITER SESSION Ben Gallaher
NOON · FORD THEATER
Saturday, September 27
HATCH SHOW PRINT Block Party
3:00 pm · HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP
Sunday, September 28
HATCH SHOW PRINT Family Block Party
9:30 am · HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP
Sunday, September 28
MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT Mickey Raphael
1:00 pm · FORD THEATER
Saturday, October 4
SONGWRITER SESSION Adam Hambrick
NOON · FORD THEATER
WITNESS HISTORY
Local Kids Always Visit Free
Sunday, October 5
MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT Catherine Marx 1:00 pm · FORD THEATER
Saturday, October 11
SONGWRITER SESSION Max T. Barnes NOON · FORD THEATER
Saturday, October 11
BOOK TALK Author Tom Piazza with Fiona Prine 2:30 pm · FORD THEATER
Sunday, October 12
MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT C. J. Lewandowski 1:00 pm · FORD THEATER
Saturday, October 18
SONGWRITER SESSION
Alex Miller NOON · FORD THEATER
Plan a trip to the Museum! Local youth 18 and under who are residents of Nashville-Davidson and bordering counties always visit free, plus 25% off admission for up to two accompanying adults.
ACROSS
1 50 things on the Argo
5 Units equal to nine inches
10 Needing more salt, perhaps
15 Swiss-born artist whose name sounds like an art medium
16 What pronouns and their antecedents should do
17 *Person who persists in a hopeless cause
18 Destroyer of Hindu cosmogony
19 *Wildlife parks
20 Layer of bricks
21 Show obeisance
23 Smart TV features
25 Eye covering
26 *Enjoy the moment, say
27 Name on a check
29 Porter of Broadway
30 Sucker’s lament
32 Repeat
34 Cheryl of “Charlie’s Angels”
35 Bit of Q.E.D.
37 Features of some stadia
38 Start of a popular saying about gravity ... or a hint to completing the answers to the starred clues
41 Big name in Russian ballet
43 Capital on the Mediterranean
44 Blew away
48 Legislative bodies
50 Old wide-screen format
52 Crime show extra, informally
53 Lead-in to “they”
55 *Storm-tracking aid
56 Brew designed to survive trips to the subcontinent, in brief
57 Early PC game whose nonsense working title stuck
58 Partner of older
59 Guardian spirits
61 *Musical appreciation?
64 Deity with the raven familiars Huginn and Muninn
66 *Forming a union
67 ___ Day (April celebration)
68 A or B, e.g.
69 Yani ___, youngest pro golfer to win five major championships (age 22)
70 Score keeper?
71 Peeved state DOWN
1 Gives a “go”
2 Fictional character with a famous opening line
3 Took back
4 Sushi treatment that’s also a spa treatment
5 Palm starch
6 ___ Tour
7 What’s off to the side in a selfie
8 Demanding attention
9 Waits on
10 Watson and Deep Blue, for two
11 Grp. aptly hidden in “special ops”
12 “We’re head over heels!”
13 Prima ballerinas
14 Melt down
22 ___ can, item first made and patented in Britain in 1810
24 Turns the page, say
26 Up to
27 Take leave of each other
28 Just saying?
29 Taste tests, e.g.
31 Boot
33 Pronoun repeated in “___ do ___”
36 Graze
39 Above 500 on the Scoville scale
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE
40 Lake that’s home to Kelleys Island
41 Best candidates for permanent relationships
42 Callable, say
45 Gestured to keep moving
46 Some retired faculty
47 ___ es Salaam
48 Tap
49 Certain mattresses
51 Name that means “my God” in Hebrew
54 Bit of hybrid field hockey attire
57 Criticize wittily
58 District
60 Holm or McKellen of “The Hobbit”
62 Wizards’ org.
63 Over there
65 Mesh
PUZZLE BY SIMEON SEIGEL
PUBLICATION NOTICE IN THE CHANCERY COURT OF HARDEMAN COUNTY, TENNESSEE DOCKET NO. 20232
TOMEKA COLEMAN, PLAINTIFF, VS. HOWARD EUGENE COLEMAN, DEFENDANT, TO: HOWARD EUGENE COLEMAN
In this Cause, it appearing from the Complaint which is sworn to, that the whereabouts of the Defendant, HOWARD EUGENE COLEMAN, is unknown and cannot be ascertained by the diligent search and inquiry made to that end. HOWARD EU-GENE COLEMAN is there-fore, hereby, required to appear and Answer the Complaint filed in this Cause against him/her in the CHAN-CERY Court of HARDEMAN County, Tennessee, within thirty days of the last publica-tion of this Notice and served a copy of Answer on Howard F. Douglass, P.O. Box 39, Lexington, Tn., 38351, Attorney for Plaintiff, within said time. If you fail to do so judgement by default will be taken against you for relief demanded in the Complaint at hearing of the cause without further notice. It is further Ordered that this Notice be published for four consecutive weeks in the Nashville Scene. This the 17th day of September, 2025.
Kimberly P. Paras, CLERK & MASTER
NSC 9/25, 10/2, 10/9 & 10/23/25
UBS Business Solutions US LLC has the following positions in Nashville, TN. Associate Director, Tech Architect to design, plan and deliver sustainable solutions using modern programming languages. Requires a B+5 yrs. of exp. Can work hybrid (In-office/Remote). (ref. code(s) 001956). Qualified Applicants apply through SHProfRecruitingcc@ubs.com. Please reference 001956. NO CALLS PLEASE. EOE/M/F/D/V. #LI-DNP. The expected salary range(s) for this role as of the date of this posting is/are base d on factors including, but not limited to, experience, qualifications, education, location and skill level. This role may also be eligible for discretionary incentive compensation. For benefits information, please visit ubs.com/usbenefits
Cumming Management Group Inc seeks Senior Scheduler in Nashville, TN. Coordinate the preparation of project schedules based on defined project execution philosophies. Telecommuting permitted. Salary range: $145,600$155,600 per year. To apply, submit resume to: tami.hoyt@cumminggroup.com w/ ref. no. SASSTN. Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability/veterans.
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