The East Nashvillian 12.2 March-April 2022

ARTIST IN PROFILE: DEVIN DRAKE | KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOR: ALLIE SCHMIDT

MARCH | APRIL | VOL. XII ISSUE 2

r d Ol C ow n c Medi i e Show

ADDS ANOTHER VERSE TO THE AMERICAN SONG ON PAINT THIS TOWN

Saving the Forest on Forrest DEDICATION HELPS PRESERVE GREEN SPACE IN LOCKELAND SPRINGS

Wasteland of Opportunity AFFORDABLE HOUSING ADVOCATES QUESTION PRIORITIES OF EAST BANK REDEVELOPMENT

Explore the diverse cultural and political landscapes of Cuba and its diaspora through the paintings, photographs, sculptures, videos, and installations of fif ty Cuban ar tists. We invite you to see how these ar tists connec t their own experiences with historical, political, and psychological realities to create works that can resonate with anyone who grapples with questions of freedom, identity, and displacement.

T H R O U G H M AY 1 D o w n t o w n N a s h vi l l e , 9 1 9 Broad way, Nas h vi l l e , TN 3 7 2 0 3 | Fri st A rt M u se u m. o rg | @ Fri st A rt M u se u m | # Cu b a n A r ta ttheFrist

Organized by Pérez Art Museum Miami Platinum sponsor

Education and community engagement suppor ter

Hospitality sponsor

Program and Spanish translation sponsor

Suppor ted in par t by the 2022 Frist Gala patrons and

Yoan Capote. Island (see-escape), 2010. Oil, nails, and fishhooks on jute mounted on plywood, 106 x 315 x 4 in.

Collection Pérez Art Museum Miami, museum purchase with funds provided by Jorge M. Pérez. Photo: Oriol Tarridas

Be part of something beautiful.

Nature teaches us a lot about the importance of diversity.

So do classmates.

Inglewood Elementary Environmental Sciences STEAM Magnet Serves Pre-K - 5 To visit, call 615-262-6697 4

theeastnashvillian.com March | April 2022

theeastnashvillian.com

Contributing Writers Founder & Publisher

Lisa McCauley lisa@theeastnashvillian.com

Editor-in-Chief

Chuck Allen editor@theeastnashvillian.com

Associate Editor

Randy Fox randy@theeastnashvillian.com

Jay Dmuchowski Brandon Gee James Haggerty Jack Evan Johnson Leslie LaChance Andrew Leahey Angela Lese Brittney McKenna Tommy Womack Contributing Photographers

Chad Crawford Devin Drake Jason Myers Kit Wood

Creative Director

Chuck Allen Layout & Design

Benjamin Rumble Photo Editor

Travis Commeau Illustrations

Benjamin Rumble Dean Tomasek Tommy Womack

Advertising sales@theeastnashvillian.com Ad Design Benjamin Rumble The East Nashvillian is a bimonthly magazine published by Kitchen Table Media. All editorial content and photographic materials contained herein are “works for hire” and are the exclusive property of Kitchen Table Media, LLC unless otherwise noted. This publication is offered freely, limited to one per reader. The removal of more than one copy by an individual from any of our distribution points constitutes theft and will be subject to prosecution.

Reprints or any other usage without the express written permission of the publisher is a violation of copyright.

©2022 Kitchen Table Media P.O. Box 60157, Nashville, TN 37206

Dee's 1/3 H - no word from the client. I'm guessing it will be a p/u

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Contents

9.

10.

13.

On the Cover

Old Crow Medicine Show photographed by Kit Wood

19.

20.

26.

36.

42.

47.

50.

Editor’s Letter

By Chuck Allen

Astute Observations

By James “Hags” Haggerty

Matters of Development

By Randy Fox, Jack Evan Johnson

Know Your Neighbor

Allie Schmidt

By Randy Fox Artist in Profile:

Devin Drake

By Randy Fox Cover Story

Old Crow Medicine Show adds another verse to the American song on Paint This Town

By Brittney McKenna

Saving the Forest on Forrest Dedication (and a little fairy dust) helps preserve green space in Lockeland Springs

By Leslie LaChance

Wasteland of Opportunity Affordable housing advocates question priorities of East Bank redevelopment

By Brandon Gee

Out East Soundtrack Featuring Angela Lese

Curated by Andrew Leahey & Jay Dmuchowski

East of Normal

by Tommy Womack

June 4–5 BRAND NEW! Fisher Center for the Performing Arts

PHOTO BY KARYN PHOTOGRAPHY

Discover Shakespeare’s Dark Lady

PHOTO COURTESY OF BELMONT UNIVERSITY

March 18–26 at TPAC

P U R C H A S E T I C K E T S AT

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Editor’s

Letter

Course Change by

It

Chuck

would be great if we lived in a society where Women’s History Month wasn’t needed. There’s no “White Guy History Month” for a reason (but give the paternalistic, authoritarian-lover, Tucker Carlson, time). But here we are. There’s been a very effective propaganda machine in operation for decades beating us over the head with the idea of “each individual is an island playing in a zerosum game,” which is a clarion call to white guys to defend their place at the top of the heap while ignoring and voting against their self-interest.

What bullshit.

We need each other for this thing to work. It’s like an aircraft carrier; everyone has a role to play and a duty to perform. The captain can’t be alone on the bridge without a navigator or someone at the helm. There are cooks, radar specialists, nuclear-reactor technicians, weapons handlers, pilots, aircraft crew, mechanics … the list goes on. Just launching an aircraft requires an orchestration of specialized skills, any one of which can mean the difference between life and death.

Now that Tucker’s favorite dictator, Vladimir Putin, has launched an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, folks are a bit more concerned about our military capabilities. The combat readiness of an aircraft carrier — or a submarine carrying tactical nukes — requires fit, healthy crews. Hence the Pentagon’s COVID-19 vaccine requirements. The

Allen

cry of “individual freedom” doesn’t work if the crew of an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine suffers a COVID outbreak. It’s hard to maintain deterrence if the sailors can’t get out of bed.

As for how this relates to the need for Women’s History Month, it should be obvious.

But just in case …

The overwhelmingly white-male-based power structure upon which our society is rooted doesn’t change independently. Those who benefit from the status quo are A) unaware that they benefit from the status quo; B) fully aware of their position and resist threats to it; C) don’t care. Women’s History Month (like Black History Month) is one of the mechanisms designed to point this out to the inhabitants of all three categories.

Just as the aircraft carrier requires input from the helm to change course, so too does society; otherwise, things keep moving in the same direction through inertia. Removing barriers to participation, whether they be education, access to childcare, equal pay, etc., are fundamental to empowerment.

By empowering women, we bring to bear their talents and, even more importantly, their wisdom and reap the benefits as a society.

A woman founded this magazine. I’ve witnessed her experience with barriers to entry, particularly where misogyny is concerned. This is a real, lived experience for women throughout our society; nothing will change if we leave it up to those who benefit from the status quo.

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Astute Observations

by James “Hags” Haggerty

10

HAVE A SUNSHINY DAY

It’s

a lovely Sunday, noontime. I am sitting in my oddly shaped triangle of a backyard here at the Inglewood chateau known to some as the Top Secret Hifi Lair/Haggerty Sourdough Bakeshop at the wrought iron table that I found at M&M furniture back in 2005. (That sure was a fantastic rummage spot.) The birds are chirping, I’ve had my allotment of black coffee and, like the weather today, I’m feeling partly sunny and partly cloudy.

I’m sitting with the lovely Tania. My neighbor is in his driveway rebuilding the ignition system on his MG. I was a guest at a Portuguese-themed dinner party right here in the neighborhood last night. The food and drink were delicious and the company was sparkling. As I write, I am listening to acoustic and vocal demos for a Josh Rouse-produced session to be cut tomorrow at Alex The Great Studios with my brother, Marc Pisapia, on the drums. Later this week, I will be hosting the Haggerty Reel to Reel Happy Hour at Sid Gold’s Request Room. In short, life is good.

With Omicron seemingly on the wane, I’m feeling hopeful for the future. The possibility of performing and recording music in safety seems possible and much closer. My FODLOB (fear of death — love of breathing) is moderating and my pandemic vocation of sharing delicious bread with friends and neighbors is back and stronger than ever. Like this afternoon in the yard, the dark clouds are parting, the light is shining down, and I’m remembering what optimism feels like. It feels something like cool, clean, crisp cotton sheets. Can you dig it?

The preceding has been partly sunny. The following is partly cloudy …

What is gerrymandering? To me, the word sounds like a kids’ game of ringolevio or kick the can, but it is not. Our conniving GOPcontrolled legislature has carved up cool old blue Nashville into a red hot zone. Parler is here. Fox News is here. It seems like Nashville is turning into a right-wing amusement park or Kid Rock’s personal vomitorium.

I miss the days of peaceful coexistence with the folks I disagreed with. Gone are the days of agreeing to disagree. In their place is a much more aggressive and dangerous form of disagreement. The cultural war is raging right here

theeastnashvillian.com March | April 2022

in what I thought of as a hippy town full of music nerds. They can pry my freak flag from my cold dead hands, dammit.

And another thing!

Putin is not a verb. Unfortunately, he is not a passing wind. Russia’s belligerent dictator is bent on bringing back the former glory (as he sees it) of the Soviet-era empire (and substituting kleptocracy for communism while he’s at it). Ukraine is not a military or economic threat to Russia. The threat to Russia is a philosophical and ideological one.

Ukraine is a democracy. That is their threat to the autocrat. Ukraine is an example of a free society, and it’s right next door.

I don’t know about you, dear reader, but I feel like I’m living in a real-life Whack-a-Mole. Just when I feel like it’s safe to peek my head out, the carny’s hammer comes down.

The thing is the same energy Tennessee Republicans used to take down Nashville’s 127-year history as a blue dot is the same energy Vlad is using in his unprovoked attacks on democracy. Let’s face it, the GOP has hitched his wagon to the Trump train. Trump is a Putin fan and refers to him as a strong leader. Many in the far-right support Putin and are rooting for him to win his war on a free democracy. Putin attacked a country. The GOP attacked a county. Their aims are the same as far as I can tell. Hold on Hags, I thought you were feeling hopeful?!

Well, in truth, I am feeling hopeful. The scourge of COVID-19 and its many variants seems surmountable. I believe our society, which has been so beaten and battered, will find equilibrium and sanity, and clear-headedness will eventually quell the anger, bitterness, and hatred that has infected so many. I believe that Putin will be neutralized before he is backed into a corner with his finger on the (gasp!) nuclear trigger.

I am feeling hopeful because I think now more than ever, it is up to us as free thinkers, as thoughtful people, to look out for each other. It is up to us to embrace love and not fear. As we make our way back out into the world again, we have the power to reform it. To bring healing through thought and deed, music, art, and culture. In short, “Think Globally, Act Locally.” As I said, I’m waving my freak flag wide and high. Join me, won’t you?

Hags is a bass player, bread maker, and regular contributor to The East Nashvillian.

Although his opinions are his own, we mostly agree with him.

C EL EB R AT I N G 10 Y E A R S O F C U S TO M & ON E O F A K I N D WO O D WO R K I N G .

13 07 D IC K ER S O N P I K E, N A S H VI LLE | 615. 45 4. 3817 | G OODWOODN ASHVILL E. C OM

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ILLUSTRATION BY BENJAMIN RUMBLE

Matters of DEVELOPMENT MARCH | APRIL 2022

By Randy Fox and Jack Evan Johnson

New & Noteworthy

Closings & Moves

All People Coffee, has opened at 347 Douglas Ave., Ste. 101. All People Coffee serves coffee and specialty drinks along with a selfpour beer wall with 12 local brews on tap.

Follow them on Facebook @allpeoplecoffee.

Snooze, An A.M. Eatery opened its East Nashville location at 969 Main St., in February. The Denver-based breakfast chain’s operates over 50 locations in nine states. For more info and local hours, visit snoozeeatery.com.

Asphalt Beach Skate Shop reopened at its former East Nashville location, 961 Woodland St., in February, nearly two years after the March 2020 tornado destroyed the building.

For updates, follow them on Facebook and Instagram @asphaltbeachskateshop.

Plane Jane cocktail bar opened in late January at 1315 Dickerson Pike, adjacent to Coneheads. For more info, follow them on Facebook @planejanebar and on Instagram @planejane615.

Beloved dive bar and karaoke hangout, Fran’s Eastside, reopened in February at its new location of 2504 Dickerson Pike, Ste. B, in the former location of Bellshire Pizza, which has moved to Smyrna. The new Fran’s is much like the old Fran’s, with smoking indoors, karaoke on the weekends, two pool tables, and a stage for live music (eventually). “It’s still the same old Eastside. It’s a dive bar,” says Katrina Head, bartender and daughter of Fran’s owner Frances Adams. Hours are Monday-Thursday 10 a.m.-?, Friday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 a.m., and Sunday noon to 3 a.m.

Coming Soon People who have noticed the recent construction at the former location of Walden, 2909B Gallatin Pike, can wonder no more. A new “sideshow inspired neo-noir cocktail bar,” The Tiger Bar was announced early March. The project is the brainchild of Jamie White, Ben

Clemons, Corey Ladd, and Matt Spicher, the same team of hospitality veterans that masterminded Pearl Diver. The description in the press release was intriguing but short on details, and Ben Clemons says the enigma was a deliberate choice.

“We want to keep [Tiger Bar] a bit of a mystery,” Clemons said in an interview with The East Nashvillian. “A lot of early press on Pearl Diver described it as a tiki bar, even though it never was or has been, and we’ve spent the last four years trying to reclaim our concept.

So there are certain things about Tiger Bar that we want to keep hush-hush so the assumption train doesn’t go crazy.”

Clemons says Tiger Bar will have a strong emphasis on pre- and post-prohibition cocktails done in an era-specific style with a strong, classic neo-noir feel to the decor, name dropping the film Nightmare Alley (both original and remake) as a reference point. “There’s going to be a lot of nods to sideshow elements from the late 1930s to the mid-40s as far as colors, some of the decor, lighting, and design aesthetic, →

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Matters of Development but it’s definitely not a big top-Barnum & Bailey deal. It’s more of an elegant, dark play on that time frame. We’re really sticking to our guns on the feel of the space. You’re not going to see any digital impact. All of our point of sale systems will be hidden from view, all of the audio systems will be disguised and possibly filtered to have an era-specific sound. It’s a time travel moment and a great spot to meet up with friends for cocktails

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and small bites. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

An early Fall 2022 opening date is planned.

For updates, follow @tigerbar_nashville on Instagram.

Porter Road Grocery, a new spin on the small neighborhood grocer concept, is on course to open by the end of April at 703 Porter Road.

Owned by Jim Douglas, founder and owner of Sticky Tomato — a cannabis product company

based in Murfreesboro, it is the first of three neighborhood grocers he plans to open this year.

The approximately 400-square-foot retail space will offer goods from local butchers, farmers, and producers as well as out-of-state suppliers of specialty items and Sticky Tomato cannabis products. Douglas says he will offer high-quality items at reasonable prices. The second of Douglas’ neighborhood grocery stores will open in June at 502 S. Maney Ave. in the historically Black Murfreesboro neighborhood where Douglas grew up with a third opening planned in North Nashville this fall.

While there’s been no official confirmation yet, rumors of local favorite Calypso Café’s return to their former East Nashville location at 301 Gallatin Ave., are running hot and heavy. The building recently received a new paint job and new Calypso Cafe signs were erected. Calypso’s business was hit particularly hard by the pandemic and, in November 2020, the local chain gave up the lease on the East Nashville branch while announcing plans to eventually re-open in a different location. At the current time, their 100 Oaks location is the only one open.

Follow their Instagram feed @calypsobebetter for updates.

A new honky tonk/tiki-themed bar, Hubba Hubba Tiki Tonk, is aiming to open July 4 at 922 Main St. (the former location of No Quarter, which is moving to a larger space next door).

The venture is a partnership between The Crying Wolf’s Dave Young and Seattle rock ‘n’ roll bar Screwdriver. “Think The Stones in Hawaiian shirts partying with ALF and Magnum P.I. on a Wayne White-designed yacht,” said Screwdriver’s Chris Jones. Follow them on Facebook @hubbahubbatikitonk.

Alex Griffin, co-owner of Eastwood Deli Co., has signed a lease and will be opening a new restaurant at 701 Porter Road (the former location of the Pomodoro East Italian restaurant, which closed following a March 2021 fire).

Griffin says the “eclectic” sister restaurant to Eastwood Deli Co. will serve steaks, fish, pasta, and more. Griffin’s longtime catering business, Alexander’s Catering, will also operate from the new location.

Virginia-based taco chain, Bartaco, has announced plans to open a Five Points location at 1000 Woodland St. The eatery will join Edley’s Bar-B-Que in the under-construction building on the lot that was formerly the home of Family Dollar, a building razed by the March 3 tornado.

Bartico currently operates locations in 11 states and Washington, D.C. The owners of Greko in East Nashville and Darfons in Donelson are planning an ambitious retail project in Donelson that will include a sports bar called Greeno and Shorty’s, a collaboration with Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint owner Pat Martin, and an Italian food concept called Salento Italia.

Matters of Development Quick Bits A request was filed in March to rezone eight parcels that make up the Meridian Court development at 1405 Dickerson Pike. If approved, the request will permit a multi-family development on the 2.5 acres site consisting of 34 Residential Units within six buildings, two garage buildings, and surface parking. Once redeveloped, access to the development from Meridian Court will be limited to emergency vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists.

Plans for a 26-unit residential project on a 1.12-acre site located next to Apple Annie’s Inn at 1333 Dickerson Pike have been announced.

Nashville-based developer Brandon Plunkett, in partnership with Nick Adler and Ashley Quinn (via BNA Development), hopes to close on the property this month with construction planned to start in the fourth quarter of this year.

California-based Condit Properties, LLC has paid $1.9 million for the .29-acre East Nashville property at 501 Gallatin Ave., which is currently home to Porter Road Butcher. The company also owns the adjacent structure housing Local Honey and Barista Parlor (as well as another nearby property where The East Nashvillian office is located.)

Connecticut real estate company Forstone Capital paid $10 million for a four-parcel Dickerson Pike property, with addresses of 1218, 1224, and 1236 Dickerson Pike, as well as 5 Ligon Ave. An East Bank property located at 810 Cowan St., formerly owned by Kenny Pipe & Supply, sold to Pinnacle Hospitality Partners for $14.83 million.

The Amplify on Main apartment complex, 30 McFerrin Ave., sold for $20.1 million to a New Jersey company.

The Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency Design Review Committee approved the design concept for a mixed-use building at 949 Main St. A three-parcel property located near The Dive Motel in East Nashville, with addresses 1405, 1407, and 1409 Dickerson Pike, has sold for $6.65 million to local real estate investment firm Wedgewood Avenue.

An Atlanta hotel developer has paid $4.2 million for an East Bank warehouse with an address of 206 N. First St. — located two blocks from Topgolf — and is planning to build a Residence Inn by Marriott hotel at the site.

A Main Street commercial property near Smith & Lentz Brewing has sold for $3.4 million.

A New Orleans developer paid approximately $12.5 million for 11 parcels off Dickerson Pike in East Nashville, on which it plans a mixed-use development. The addresses are 1505-1603 Dickerson Pike, and 1612 and 1616 Luton St.

A .63-acre East Nashville commercial property with an address of 926 Main St. sold for $4 million.

A 0.6-acre property at 949 Main St. sold for $3.9 million to local development company ZMX Inc., which is planning a mixed-use building for the property.

The Five Points building previously home to Tenn Sixteen Food & Drink Co., 1016 Wood-

land St., has sold for $3.2 million.

Nashville-based development company ZMX Inc. is planning to soon break ground on a boutique residential project on two Lischey Ave. sites in East Nashville. The project will include 21 condominiums in a three-story building and four townhomes. →

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Matters of Development The Groove Ends Property Bid

R.I.P. Crete the Cat

The owners of East Nashville record store, The Groove, have ended their bid to buy the shop’s property at 1103 Calvin Ave., and more than $25,700 donated to a GoFundMe campaign has been returned to donors. After being informed that the property was for sale late last year, The Groove owners Michael Combs and Jesse Cartwright attempted to raise funds to purchase the property with a deadline of January 31, 2022. Once The Groove’s current lease expires Combs and Cartwright will have to negotiate a lease with the new owner or relocate their shop. Follow The Groove on Facebook @TheGrooveNashville and Instagram @thegrooverecords.

Five Points feline lovers were saddened by the news in February that Crete the Cat, the beloved and feisty neutered gray tom cat that has long held court in the alley behind The 5 Spot on Forrest Street, has passed away aged 20. The 5 Spot co-owner Todd Sherwood posted the news of Crete's passing to Face-

book on February 10. A frequent visitor to The 5 Spot, Wags & Whiskers, and Hip Zipper, the feral feline has been greeting patrons (from a distance) since at least 2004, and was profiled in a “Know Your Neighbor” feature in the March/April 2019 issue of The East Nashvillian. Godspeed, good kitty, and may your bowl always be full of the finest tuna in the Great Beyond.

Breaking Ground Local anti-poverty non-profit Martha O’Bryan Center (marthaobryan.org) celebrated a groundbreaking for the expansion of its East Nashville headquarters on January 10, with Mayor John Cooper and other officials speaking. The construction and renovation at the campus will add 32,000 square feet and provide more space for essential community services, including an eight classroom early learning center, an improved community kitchen, and an expanded food bank, which is the busiest food bank in Nashville.

On Wednesday, March 10 an official ground-breaking ceremony was held for the Shelby House project at the corner of Shelby Avenue and South Fourth Street. The mixeduse project will include a 71,000 square-foot recovery services center and 484 affordable housing units. Shelby House is an joint effort between Holladay Ventures, Evergreen Real Estate, and Samaritan Recovery Community — a local nonprofit with more than 50 years experience in East Nashville helping people recover from substance abuse.The first 195 units of the project are planned to be completed by fall of 2023 and made available to graduates of the recovery program on a firstcome, first-serve basis.

Litton Avenue Traffic Calming A planned traffic calming project is moving forward for Litton Avenue and Burns Street. With the design completed, 70 percent approval from property owners on both streets is required to move to the next step.

Residents on Litton Avenue or Burns Street are encouraged to contact councilmember Emily Benedict at Emily.Benedict@nashville.gov to express their approval or disapproval of the project.

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ALLIE

“

Schmidt

J

B Y

R A N D Y

KNOW your NEIGHBOR

F O X

ust because a doctor tells you something [about your prospects in life] it doesn’t mean that it’s true. I wasn’t going to live my life based on what the doctor said. I was just going to do it and figure it out as I go. A lot of people follow me on Instagram who do not have a disability and I want them to know that’s a philosophy anyone can learn.

Sometimes you might just be forced to learn it a little earlier.” —Allie Schmidt

At the age of 31, Allie Schmidt has built an impressive career as a lifestyle blogger, life coach, activist, corporate and marketing consultant, and wife and mother.

It’s a remarkable resume for anyone her age, achieved because of her disability rather than in spite of it.

A native of White House, Tennessee, Schmidt attended MTSU and studied in Australia before beginning her marketing career. “I was working at my first corporate job when I realized that my motor skills were deteriorating,” she says. “Tasks as simple as buttoning my pants or writing my name became excruciatingly difficult. From there, my mid-20s were filled with anxiety and uncertainty, as I visited countless doctors trying to find an explanation for my sudden weakness.”

After a misdiagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome, unnecessary surgery, a seemingly endless battery of tests, and mounting medical bills, the muscle control in her arms and hands continued deteriorating. Just before her 27th birthday, she learned her condition was far more serious than initially suspected — amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, a neurodegenerative disease resulting in the progressive loss of control of voluntary muscles and often, a greatly shortened lifespan.

“You can’t diagnose ALS, it’s a process of elimination,” Schmidt says. “It got to the point where the only diseases left on the table were ALS and a very rare subset of ALS where the weakness stays only in your arms.

It’s one of those cases where there are so few people with the variant they can’t say confidently which way it will go. I don’t really go to doctors anymore, there’s no point. My arms are fully paralyzed now. There’s nothing to be done except continue living my life.”

Coming to terms with uncertainty meant making definite choices about the course of her life. “Before my diagnosis, I was pretty free-spirited,” Schmidt recalls. “I thought I would move to New York and get a bigger job in a bigger city, and keep traveling the world. When the diagnosis hit, my entire life changed and I had to figure out what I wanted my life to look like if I only had a few years left. For me, that meant finding someone that I really cared about and starting a family together.”

Schmidt and her husband, Charlie Friedman welcomed their son, Asher, into the world in December

Allie Schmidt on the porch of her Woodland Street home.

Photograph by Chad Crawford

2018, but having a child brought an awareness of the particular challenges disabled parents face. “When I was pregnant I assumed there would be products on the market that would be at least somewhat adaptive for someone with a disability, but there were not,” Schmidt says. Even items as basic as diapers and clothing present special challenges to disabled parents. Simple design changes such as magnetic catches instead of buttons and loops attached to the tabs of disposal diapers would be game-changers. “People with disabilities don’t necessarily always need one-off products created just for us,” Schmidt says. “Sometimes all it takes is including our perspectives earlier in the design process.”

The search for workarounds led her to social media where she began sharing her experiences and advocating for better parenting products. In March 2020, she launched disabilitydame.com, a site sharing her parenting experiences and filled with recommendations for products, tips for disabled parents, advice on navigating the often nightmarish American medical system, and more. Schmidt has also become an advocate and a paid consultant for products specifically designed to help disabled parents. As an activist-fundraiser, she works with the LiveLikeLou Foundation, raising funds for a proposed top-tier ALS research facility at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

“The most satisfying thing for me is when people tell me that I’ve helped them just by reading my story because they’re going through the same thing,” Schmidt says. “They tell me they appreciate my optimism. I don’t want to perpetuate the narrative that disability is something tragic or something to be afraid of. I want to own it and show others that there can be a light at the end of the tunnel. It is really scary at the beginning, but you can find beauty in so many different ways.”

Follow Schmidt through her blog, disabilitydame.com, or on Instagram @disability_dame. To donate to VUMC’s proposed ALS research center, visit livelikelou.org/participant/DisabilityDame.

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ARTIST IN PROFILE

DEVIN DRAKE Photograph by Chuck Allen

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REALITY IN MINIATURE

By R a n d y F o x

S

tepping into the world of Devin Drake’s artwork requires

an adjustment of scale. It’s a world of familiar streets scenes,

buildings, and architectural details — an abused but steadfast corner bus stop, a graffiti-covered light pole, or a beloved

local storefront. Or perhaps it’s a well-accustomed interior space — a family TV room of your childhood lit by a warmly glowing

cathode ray tube or perhaps a dimly remembered hospital room.

Drake’s facsimiles of these places and objects are marked by an

astonishing level of meticulous detail and craft but are all the more impressive because they can be held in the palm of your hand.

→

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"I

often like to create vignettes where I can tell a story through a piece and I am the director,” Drake says. “I don’t know why people enjoy smaller versions of large things so much, but it’s something everyone seems to enjoy. Maybe it goes back to being a kid with dolls and action figures.”

A native of Springfield, Tennessee, Drake says he’s been drawn to art since his own days of action figure obsession. “I’ve been doing art most of my life — painting, illustrating; when I was younger and through my early high school years I was really into it. I took a break for about 10 years while I was in my late high school years and early twenties, but I’ve always tinkered with and built stuff.”

Drake was also exposed to a classic American hobby at a young age, resurfacing later in his chosen medium. “My great-grandfather built model cars and when I hung out with him, we would go to the hobby store and build models together. I think my generation was the last to build models. When I was a kid, there would be a whole aisle of model cars at Walmart. Now if you go to any big box store, there are no models, and you can’t find hobby shops like Hobby USA anymore, they just died out.”

Drake’s return to art and his work’s eventual intersection with model making began in 2018. He was inspired by another artist’s work to try his hand at complex cardboard sculptures of ordinary objects. He sculpted

ARTIST IN PROFILE life-size pasteboard simulacra of classic radios, cameras, and a Cold War-era Soviet cosmonaut helmet on display at the Golden Sound location of Barista Parlor. The sale of a few of his sculptures encouraged him to take his art more seriously and a chance at exploring a different form of art put him on the course to crafting realistic miniatures.

“I had a bunch of buddies that were going to school at Watkins and they didn’t have much money, so if they needed a spaceship or other models for the films they were making, I would build it,” Drake says. “I kept going with it and started making miniatures of places around town — a sidewalk or a doorway that looked interesting and replicating it.”

Drake says the inspirations for his streetside vignettes can strike at any time.

“I keep a running notepad on my phone when I see a place or an object with a lot of character. My brain just seems to recognize quirky, less obvious things whether it be street scenes, a random doorway, or a strange crack in something here or there. I’ve always been drawn to architecture and design — really just lines, so I take photos all the time of stuff. Some of the pieces do have real-life inspirations, but if there’s graffiti on it I create my own.”

“I don’t really have a rhyme or reason to what I create,” Drake continues. “Sometimes it holds a nostalgic value for me — like the TV room, it was based on the playroom from my childhood — and other times it’s just an interesting piece. I like to stick with stuff people can recognize or relate to.”

While Drake often embellishes or adds to his dioramas, he likes to begin the process with every possible detail he can gather about its real-world counterpart. “If I’m recreating something, I like to have a gallery of photos in front of me while I work,” Drake says. “It’s even better if I can take actual measurements. When I did the recreations of [beloved local businesses] The Groove and Dino’s, I first did a rough sketch and left little boxes for each measurement. Then I measured everything that I needed, came home and did a mockup in cardboard. Once I feel okay about how it’s shaping out, I’ll turn to the actual materials I build with — primarily basswood, balsa wood, a lot of heavy card stock or mat board, and styrene plastic. If I need something that’s an organic shape, I’ll use ovenfired clay. I also use a lot of superglue → and X-ACTO knife blades.”

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Images of artwork used in this story courtesy Devin Drake.

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ARTIST IN PROFILE Drake’s obsession with gathering every possible detail and measurement before beginning is more of a challenge for commission work. “I work with the client and try to get as much information that I need,” Drake says. “I obviously can’t drop everything and just fly to Seattle to take photos and measurements. It’s a little frustrating to not have things at your fingertips.

“One of my recent commissions was a recreation of signage of a bar in Tokyo that was the client’s boyfriend’s favorite bar. She didn’t have any measurements and I had to use photos from Google and Instagram, basing proportions off the measurements of the doorframe, since doors are usually a standard size. It was more complicated but it turned out pretty well and they were happy with it.”

Drake’s miniature work also serves as a substitute and dry run for another of his interests — designing and crafting fullsized furniture. “I love mid-century furniture,” he says. “I have sketchbooks full of my own furniture designs, but as of right now I don’t have a place to build them, so I’ve made several pieces in 1/12 scale.

That’s purely because I love the furniture and the design and it gives me an outlet to build it without having 2,000 square feet of space for a woodshop.”

For the past two years, Drake’s work

has mostly been showcased through social media, leading to a deluge of commission work. As restrictions ease, he’s focusing on the prospect of gallery shows.

“It took about a year to get my first show at the Rymer Gallery on Fifth Avenue and it went really well, but was cut short by the pandemic. I’d like to reach out to galleries in New York or L.A. and maybe do some exhibits in those cities.”

Effects work for film is definitely an area Drake is interested in pursuing further. He’s even started declining some commission work due to an increased load of prop and miniature effects work.

Could dinosaurs or otherworldly beasts soon be stalking the (miniature) streets of the Eastside? Well … “I love stop motion animation and have since I was a kid from the Star Wars films and Ray Harryhausen’s movies,” Drake says. “I have a script for a short I’ve written that I’ve been storyboarding here and there, and my goal is to eventually shoot it. For right now, I plan to keep doing film stuff, taking commissions, do more gallery shows, and see where that gets me.”

DEVIN DRAKE IS ON INSTAGRAM

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MARCH 16 & 17

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MARCH 13

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SLASH FT. MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS

APRIL 13

JOHNNYSWIM

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The Old Crow Medicine Show gang hanging at Dee's Country Cocktail Lounge. (Clockwise from far left) Ketch Secor; Mason Via; Jerry Pentecost; Cory Younts; Morgan Jahnig; Mike Harris. photograph by K it W ood

HANGING BESIDE THE STORY BY BRITTNEY MCKENNA

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A MIRROR COAL ASH PILE Old Crow Medicine Show adds another verse to the American song on Paint This Town

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S Since debuting with their first studio album, O.C.M.S., in 2004, Old Crow Medicine Show have become something of a string band institution. That album boasted one of the band’s — not to mention the genre’s — biggest hits, the Bob Dylan cowrite and live show staple, “Wagon Wheel,” and announced frontman Ketch Secor and the virtuosic group of players as a singular new voice in American roots music.

In the intervening years, the band released a string of acclaimed, boundary-pushing albums, earning Grammy Awards, a Platinum certification (for “Wagon Wheel”), and an induction into the Grand Ole Opry — among other accolades — along the way.

Few bands have built careers akin to Old Crow’s, which somehow boasts both mainstream success and outsider cred and, at nearly two decades in, has profoundly influenced the trajectory of country, bluegrass, Americana, and more.

It makes sense, then, that a band of such stature would need its own headquarters. Nestled within a whistle blow of the train tracks that run through East Nashville, their new studio, Hartland Studio, has become just that, and provided a fruitful creative environment for Old Crow’s seventh studio album, Paint This Town, out April 22. In addition to being the band’s first album recorded at Hartland (co-produced with Matt Ross-Spang), Paint This Town is also a return to their earlier partnership with ATO Records, who released 2014’s Grammy-winning Remedy.

The band had long been eyeing the building that would become Hartland, waiting for an opportunity to purchase the property and make it their own. That opportunity finally came in February 2020, mere weeks before deadly tornadoes would tear across Middle Tennessee and the COVID-19 pandemic would take hold in earnest.

“It really caught our eye,” Secor says, speaking via Zoom from Hartland alongside Cory Younts, Morgan Jahnig, and Jerry Pentecost. “We used to stay at the Congress Inn there on Dickerson [Pike], so we were familiar with the area anyway. And then finally, Cory figured out somebody was selling it and we got our offer in quick and snatched it up just before the tornado touchdown.”

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The plan, as Secor tells it, was to “move in, get all of [their] stuff ” into the studio “and then go hit the road for spring and summer,” hiring others to finish out the studio while the band was on the road. The pandemic, of course, had other plans for both Old Crow and the broader music industry. With touring on indefinite hiatus, the band began immediate work on making Hartland a creative hub and soon devised plans for a new album, realizing that the social unrest of 2020 lent itself to their conscious, often allusion-heavy songwriting.

“The last couple of years have given us a lot to write about,” Secor says. “It just seems like there’s endless fodder for song right

Old Crow Medicine Show performing at Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, Colorado, Aug. 31, 2021.

(L-R) Cory Younts; Mason Via; Jerry Pentecost; Ketch Secor; Morgan Jahnig; Mike Harris. photograph by J ason M yers

now, with all of the chaos that’s happening around the country, around the globe.

“What ended up happening was we had to start using it right away,” Secor says. “So, you know, everything was on top of boxes and there were cables running everywhere. It was really a clubhouse kind of vibe.”

That ragtag, DIY vibe wound up being a bit of a player itself on Paint This Town, which, while tackling difficult topics like racism and greed, is also one of the band’s more spirited releases in recent years. The band’s playing is at its finest, while Secor’s celebrated voice crackles with a renewed vigor.

Paint This Town opens with the title track, a buoyant, nostalgic ode to the recklessness of teenage love, with a distinctly American bent (“Paint it red and white for Old Glory / Paint it blue for the cops tailing your old man’s Ford,” Secor sings, alongside references to Waffle House and all-night truck stops). It’s imagery you might hear in a country song, or a Springsteen cut, but served up with the driving, frenetic string arrangements for which the band is so beloved.

As they’ve done so well on previous releases, Old Crow make America the primary subject of many songs across Paint This Town, including a particularly moving trio of tracks — “DeFord → March | April 2022 theeastnashvillian.com

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Ketch shoots for some extra cash at Dee's.

(L-R) Ketch Secor; Mike Harris; Mason Via; Cory Younts; Jerry Pentecost; Morgan Jahnig. photograph by K it W ood

We’re singers and songwriters politicians and we’re not policy And we think the Peabody Coal 30

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and performers. We’re not makers. But we love John Prine.

Company tore up Paradise.

— KETCH SECOR

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Taking a break at Dee's — just a whistle stop away from Hartland Studios. (L-R) Ketch Secor; Jerry Pentecost; Cory Younts; Mike Harris; Morgan Jahnig; Mason Via. photograph by K it W ood 32

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Rides Again,” “New Mississippi Flag,” and “John Brown’s Dream” — that address the country’s history of racism and hatred head-on.

On “New Mississippi Flag,” which opens with soulful piano and recalls Honky Chateauera Elton John, Secor envisions a Mississippi flag (infamously emblazoned with a Confederate flag until early 2021) that reflects the state’s diversity and accomplishments, like the work of writer Eudora Welty and the music of Robert Johnson. The track was originally inspired by the band’s reaction to the murder of George Floyd, with Secor musing, “After, after George Floyd is in the ground, how do you want the world for the next generation to be?”

And “John Brown’s Dream” pays foot-stomping homage to the famous abolitionist, with Secor’s vocal taking a darker turn to underscore the gravity of Brown’s situation.

Despite the social and historical elements often at play in their music, Secor does not believe Old Crow to be a political band, but rather a vessel for storytelling. It’s up to the listener to draw their own conclusions from the band’s work, which only promotes an ideology insofar as the subjects the band chooses to tackle.

“We’re just using music,” Secor says of writing about social issues. “This isn’t a loyalty oath. This isn’t a vote. This is just one of the many mirrors hung up beside the coal ash pile, saying, ‘Check it out.’ And we’re not the first people to sing about dirty old coal or about inequity or racism. We’re just adding, you know, another verse to an existing American song that’s been sung for a couple hundred years now. We’re singers and songwriters and performers. We’re not politicians and we’re not policy makers. But we love John Prine. And we think the Peabody Coal Company tore up Paradise.”

“DeFord Rides Again” was one of the first songs the band wrote for the album, with a co-writing contribution from new band member Jerry Pentecost. The freewheeling track features Pentecost on lead vocals and drums, and celebrates the music of Black harmonica player and former Grand Ole Opry star DeFord Bailey. Pentecost and Secor wrote the tune in something of a rush, with the time constraint lending urgency to the already breakneck track.

“It was actually kind of tricky, because my wife was pregnant with our twins,” Pentecost says of writing “DeFord Rides Again.” “And so we had a small amount of time to get in here and make a record together. We had done some demos here and everything just kind of came together. But that was my first songwriting collaboration in this group, working on that song.”

“As we kept working on it, we realized that Jerry was even closer to the DeFord Bailey story than we knew,” Secor adds, with

Pentecost explaining that Bailey’s gravesite is near graves of his own family members at the local Greenwood Cemetery.

“Over Christmas, me and Jerry both had COVID so we got together for a quarantine field trip,” Secor says. “We went to the Greenwood Cemetery up on Elm Hill Pike and we saw some of Jerry’s family where DeFord was buried. We saw [ Jerry’s] Uncle Billy, who’s buried

underneath the Nashville-Chattanooga-St. Louis Railway. He’s buried under the driver’s wheel. That’ll be our next song.”

The addition of Pentecost, who also plays mandolin, was integral to developing the sound of Paint This Town, as were the contributions of two other new members: Mike Harris (vocals, guitar, mandolin, slide guitar, dobro, banjo) and Mason Via (vocals, guitar, gitjo). →

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All three players auditioned for the band early into their work on Hartland Studio and subsequently helped the band get the studio into working shape.

“We tend to shake this band up every couple of years in one way or another,” bassist Morgan Jahnig says. “It definitely feels like a continuation of everything that we’ve been doing for 20-some odd years now. We’ve known Mike since the [touring with] Mumford [and Sons] days, and when it came time to look for another guitar player Jerry mentioned him and there you go. Mason being so young and full of energy, that was definitely something that a band in its 20-somethingth year needs.”

“The band is almost as old as Mason now,” Secor quips. “He’s brought a great spirit to the band. We met him pretty randomly, but there’s always been a divinity to the randomness and who becomes a touring member of this band. It just seems like we find the right folks right when we need them.”

One of those “right folks” was Ross-Spang, an in-demand producer known for work with Jason Isbell, Margo Price, John Prine, and more. Already a friend to the band, Ross-Spang helped push the band along as they sought to finish up the studio and get a new record in the can before Pentecost’s wife gave birth.

“Morgan and I especially were very nervous [about time], like, ‘I don’t think this place will be ready,’ and trying to really clean up all the coffee cups and nail guns and things out of the way before Matt got here,” Younts says.

“And when he walked in, he loved it. It’s still kind of run-down. It’s definitely not Blackbird Studios or anything. It’s very GarageBand,

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Old Crow Medicine Show's seventh studio release Paint This Town drops April 22 via ATO Records Co-Produced by OCMS and Matt Ross-Spang

preorders & tour info available at

crowmedicine.com share this story online by visiting

theeastnashvillian.com/crowmedicine

which has an element of use to it still, even though we’re getting older. But it feels like, you know, Mom is at work and Dad’s at work and we can jam out in the garage for a while. … So that made us really relaxed, like, ‘Alright, it’s gonna be okay to make a record here.’”

“You can hear some of that youthfulness in these tracks, too,” Pentecost adds. “There was just a great energy running through the building the entire time we were making the record, which wasn’t at the height of the

pandemic but it was pretty present. So, we had so many other things to be aware of as well, while making this record.”

In addition to recording Paint This Town there, Old Crow used Hartland to host a series of live-streamed performances, called the Hartland Hootenanny, on Saturday nights during lockdown. Guests included up-and-comers like Amythyst Kiah, Molly Tuttle, and Billy Strings, as well as roots icons like Marty Stuart and Jim Lauderdale, all making for a deeply collaborative, community-driven outlet during the darker days of the pandemic.

“The pandemic was like the fifth Beatle,” Secor says. “We had this place to plug into for 37 Saturday nights in a row without work. Instead of sitting around, we did our Hootenanny livestream show and that was so beautiful and so unifying. The Hootenanny really helped us to utilize the space and also to curate the next iteration of Old Crow.”

That next iteration is an exciting one to be sure, particularly as the band readies itself for an extensive tour in support of Paint This Town, kicking off around the same time of year — late March — that the band began work on Hartland in earnest. Call it coincidence, or perhaps full-circle, but for Old Crow it’s just another moment of serendipity that deepens the scope of their music.

“The bus is gonna pull up to Hartland again and we’re gonna get all the gear in and go do a big tour,” Jahnig says. “We recorded this record for a year down here. So, it’s been in the can for a while. We’re ready for people to hear these songs. That’s right at the top of my list, getting the music to the people.”

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HAPPY HOUR MON - FRI 4 - 7 Singo! Tues 7p Armored Combat LIVE streaming Wed. 7p Trivia Thurs 7p entrance & ample parking behind Gallatin Hotel

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Saving the Forest on Forrest Dedication (and a little fairy dust) helps preserve green space in Lockeland Springs

By Leslie LaChance

O

nce there was a fairy forest at the end of Woodland Street in East Nashville’s Lockeland Springs neighborhood. Tall old trees caught the breezes as they swayed over fantastic fairy houses that captivated children’s imaginations.

Students from Lockeland Elementary School learned about the natural world in an outdoor classroom. They scrambled around the rocky ruins of a 19th-century water bottling plant, splashed in the bubbling springs, and walked home dirty, wet, and happy. But in 2020, a tornado came through Lockeland Springs Park, felling the beautiful trees and carrying the fairy houses into the stormy sky.

“The fairy forest was just flattened,” Noam Pikelny, a Lockeland Springs resident, says. “It was really sad. For a while, no one could get back there because the paths were blocked by the fallen trees.”

To make matters worse, clean-up and tree-planting efforts were stalled by the COVID pandemic.

One portion of the fairy forest, though, had survived. Or at least the folk assumed it was a surviving portion of the fairy forest. An

Photographs By Chuck Allen 36

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adjacent parcel of wooded land just northeast of the established Metro neighborhood park beckoned. A flatter expanse than the escarpment/valley location of the bottling plant ruins and springs, it boasts ephemeral streams, mature trees, a pond, and a thread of a path that ends at a stream-bordered Shelby Golf Course. It doesn’t have the same magic as Lockeland Springs Park proper, but it would do in a pandemic. And so, the people walked there among the trees and away from their computer screens. Then private property signs appeared, and the people despaired. They knew the land was no longer theirs, that developers had come at last to bulldoze the beloved trees.

“People had comforted themselves in the face of all the other development with Lockeland Springs Park. ‘At least we’ll always have our magical fairy forest,’ we thought, every time another new house appeared. And then we lost our park as we knew it to the tornado. And it raised the stakes on the possible development of the adjacent parcel. It felt like a park expansion was more important than ever. We couldn’t bear the thought of losing this potential,” → Pikelny explains.

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The tornado coupled with the pandemic galvanized the community to save the little “Forest on Forrest [Avenue]” adjacent to the now decimated Lockeland Springs Park. “People in the neighborhood did all this research and had been dreaming about this for over a decade, but it had kind of been at a standstill, especially with the pandemic,” Pikelny says. He and his wife, Caitlin Canty, with encouragement from neighbors, picked up the baton and led renewed efforts to preserve six wooded acres.

They were building those efforts on the foundation laid earlier by East Nashvillians Bo Parr, Jim Polk, former 6th District Metro Council member Mike Jameson, and current Councilmember Brett Withers. Parr and Polk had been instrumental in caring for the original Lockeland Springs Park, leading neighborhood clean-ups that helped transform it from a trash-filled gulley into a fabulous fairy forest and historic landmark over a decade ago.

Parr wrote the grant that funded the outdoor classroom, paths, and fairy houses. She even wrote the educational texts found on the signs throughout the park.

The adjacent property had been on and off the market and was constantly under threat of development. On advice from the Nashville Tree Conservation Corps, which planted hundreds of trees to restore the destroyed fairy forest, Canty and the newly formed Friends of Lockeland Springs Park contacted the Trust for Public Land (TPL) for assistance. The national non-profit helps communities acquire and preserve green space for public use. Canty sent them an impassioned email, which TPL’s Tennessee Director, Noel Durant, describes as “A love letter to Lockeland Springs Park.” In that letter, she told the lost beauty of the park and the nature of the neighboring parcel.

“Much of the care and love of the park is unofficial — people pack out trash and clear brush on their own accord,” she wrote. “Some children and park goers have adopted trees, pledging to water them during the long hot summers and keep the weeds down. The park is an official Metro park, but much of the care has always been and continues to be in the hands of neighbors.”

“We are part of a motivated community who loves and cares for Lockeland Springs Park and feels that 1900 Forrest is a natural extension of LSP,” Canty continues. “The community is also motivated by the fear of development and loss of the only wooded area left in our immediate neighborhood. The devastation of the tornado and the lost “secret garden” vibe of LSP’s former beauty, and the loss of urban canopy and so many trees in the park and on our streets and yards has motivated this community even more to ‘Save the Forest at 1900 Forrest.’”

Inspired by Canty’s letter, the community’s commitment, and a potential collaboration with Metro Parks, TPL and the neighborhood began to put together a fundraising and purchase plan for the property, which had come on the market again, this time at $2.9 million.

Then before details on that deal could be finalized, a Redfin Real Estate alert went off on Pilkney’s phone, indicating that the property had come under contract with another buyer.

“We were so close to having a path forward,” he says. “Our hearts just sank; nobody could believe it. It had just slipped from our grasp.

Everyone in the neighborhood assumed it was a developer who put it under contract.”

B

ut it wasn’t a developer. It was a young couple from Chicago. They wanted to buy 1900 Forrest Ave. because they liked the privacy of a wooded lot and the convenience of an urban neighborhood. When the advocates for park expansion made some inquiries, it was discovered that the young couple from Chicago only required about two of the six acres for their home site. Of equal importance, they were open to selling the remainder, not for development but the expanded park. “It turned out the potential

buyers had a vision that aligned with the park.

They want to belong to that place. We have an opportunity to purchase the property from them at an appraised value; they’ll retain two acres as a home site, and we’ll add just under four acres to the park,” Durant explains.

The proposed arrangement would also connect the secret garden of Lockeland Springs Park with the vast expanses of Shelby Park and Bottoms and the Cumberland Riverfront. The new appraised price for the smaller parcel was $1.6 million, and a path forward emerged. If the Friends of Lockeland Springs Park and neighbors committed to raising $800,000, Metro Parks would match them. So throughout the pandemic, without holding a single indoor fundraising event, according to Pikelny, the folks in Lockeland Springs worked to raise their share. Neighbor to neighbor, in small backyard gatherings and front porch informational sessions, on Zoom and by phone, they quietly spread the word and pitched in to buy that little parcel and keep it green forever. They raised the needed sum in a few short months, thanks, especially to some very generous donations received at the start of the campaign.

Bo Parr was among the first group of donors and likely inspired others, but she gives all →

LOCAL EYECARE. INDEPENDENT EYEWEAR.

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the credit for the fundraising campaign’s success to the young mothers who led it. “I’m the grandmother of the park now. I’m just here for historical reference only.” Some would call her the fairy grandmother of the park.

“My jaw is on the ground. The funds were raised by a handful of donors, and very quickly,” says Rebecca Ratz, Director of Friends of Shelby Bottoms. Some years back, she was the city planner who created the master plan for Lockeland Springs Park. She saw the potential for the protected open space back then and is glad to see the collaboration with TPL to realize the expansion.

As Durant observes, “There was already an understanding in the community of that property as open space before we got involved. That is a key factor in the rapid success of the fundraising efforts. It was a known and loved space.

It was of the community. The people belonged to Lockeland Springs Park, and it belonged to the neighborhood.” He suggests the fundraising and commitment to the Lockeland Springs Park expansion can serve as a model that can perhaps inspire other neighborhoods that want to save their green spaces.

“It is a small amount of acreage, but it is very interesting environmentally, with the spring, the streams that run through it,” Ratz says. “In an area that is so under pressure, where they are constantly taking down one house to put up two or scraping at the last bits of the remaining

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property, I think any acreage is a win in adding to the park. Every little bit counts in creating more space for the community to be in nature and save something that could otherwise be lost. These are the critical acres that connect Lockeland Springs Park with Shelby Park and have the potential to open up access on the north end for streets that dead-end into the park,” she observes.

So when will the new parcel officially become part of Lockeland Springs Park?

“We’re working through all the steps that need to happen next,” Durant says. Those steps include transferring the property to Metro and putting it into trust with TennGreen Land Conservancy. Fundraising will continue to provide an endowment for ongoing maintenance, like tree planting and clearing invasive species, and create a master plan. “We can’t say exactly when it’s going to be a public park, but it’s in the works — and it’s really exciting to see where we are basically a year since we had the first outreach from the neighborhood.” Durant is hoping to see a ribbon-cutting on the expansion within the year.

Park lovers will have an opportunity to support those efforts at an art show in collaboration with The Chestnut Society, Friends of Lockeland Springs, and Friends of Shelby Parks at the Shelby Bottom Nature Center in April. The show will feature work by members of the Chestnut Society. This painting group

focuses their work on raising awareness about trees and supports environmental sustainability by selling their work. President Judson Newbern, a landscape architect, also serves on the Nashville Tree Conservation Corps board and helped with tree-planting efforts. “I was over there planting a white pine, and it struck me that this is such a quirky little park, and these neighbors love it so much, this is the kind of space we should be painting right here,” Newbern says. Many of the paintings on view at Shelby Nature Center are of the park.

It seems things are finally falling into place to restore and expand Lockeland Springs Park.

Ask Bo Parr if that isn’t some fairy magic on top of all the hard work, and she’ll tell you, “That is the water speaking for itself. Those springs are here to be known; the water is making its way to the river. They are the Lockeland Springs, and they are doing their work. I think we need to follow the water.”

Check this story out online for a map of the new addition, as well as updates. theeastnashvillian.com/lockelandspringspark Follow us on Instagram @ eastnashvillian to keep up with the Gnomeses

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A WASTELAND OF OPPORTUNITY Affordable housing advocates question priorities of East Bank redevelopment

By Brandon Gee

TION: A TRUS BENJAMIL UMBLER

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As

the dust settles at The Fairgrounds Nashville, political troops in Nashville’s perpetual redevelopment war have marched three miles north to establish a new front line on the East Bank of the Cumberland River. The besieged land boasts prime riverfront property directly opposite downtown. Still, it is also segregated mainly from its surroundings, not only by the Cumberland River to the west but also by the interstate highway to the east and south.

The tactical value of this land is as apparent as the lack of a cohesive strategy for the roughly 340 acres, whose most notable landmarks include a juvenile courthouse, a National Football League Stadium, a scrapyard, and mountains of mulch. The vagueness runs deep. Is this part of downtown? East Nashville? Look to the political boundaries for guidance, and you’ll find even those in flux, with the land currently split between two East Nashville districts but slated to join a downtown one when recently completed redistricting Overview of takes effect. the current To help lift this fog of war, the Metro corridors Nashville Planning Department hired through the area under consultants and is engaged in a study, study. »»» “Imagine East Bank,” that may, if nothing else, help clarify the rules of Rendering of engagement. By defining infrastructhe "Imagine East Bank" ture needs and establishing a vision for study showing the East Bank, planners may have →

TIME AND TIME AGAIN, THE EAST NASHVILLE COMMUNITY HAS SAID, ‘HEY, WE REALLY THINK THIS IS A WASTELAND OF OPPORTUNITY,’”

— BRETT WITHERS

»»»

multimodal thoroughfares.

EMERGING CONCEPTS FOR PUBLIC REVIEW

Green Streets and Resilient Landscapes

Map & Rendering Credits: Nashville.gov

Activated Riverfront

Multimodal Boulevard Transit-Oriented Development Diversity of Housing Types

Bikeways + Greenways Residential Streets

Neighborhood Parks

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“

MY CONCERN IS THE CITY OWNS AROUND IT TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER, WHO COULD THE COMMUNITY TO ENSURE THAT LAND

hoped to forestall battle. Instead, their work seems to have instigated the first skirmish.

The advocacy organization Stand Up Nashville (SUN) has zeroed in on the planning study, canvassing East Nashville neighbors, filling meetings, and holding press conferences to galvanize support around the idea that the study represents a do-or-die moment to ensure redevelopment of the East Bank is a benefit to the existing community and not just a bonanza for developers and Nashville’s tourism industry.

“We don’t want to see people who work in low-income jobs having to move farther away,” says East Nashville’s Martha Carroll.

Carroll, who lives about two miles north of the East Bank area on Gatewood Avenue, says redevelopment and gentrification to date have already transformed her neighborhood into a

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theeastnashvillian.com March | April 2022

place difficult for working families to afford.

“Little houses are gone. Tall-and-skinnies were put in their place. You used to see kids out running around,” she says. “Those people are moving as far away as other counties.”

However, SUN’s work has also antagonized those who feel the group’s tactics are not constructive. Metro Councilman Brett Withers, whose district includes the southern end of the site under study, is among those annoyed by SUN’s methods and its narrative. The planning study is not the first, best, and last opportunity for the community to weigh in on East Bank redevelopment, Withers says, but merely the latest step in decades of community planning for the area — and a small step at that.

“Time and time again, the East Nashville community has said, ‘Hey, we really think

this is a wasteland of opportunity,’” says Withers, citing work dating back to at least the 1996 enactment of the existing East Bank Redevelopment District. “This continuation of that work is primarily focused on correcting the street grid network and making it work, and better connections for greenways and bikeways. That is all. A whole lot of people are reading a whole lot more into this.”

Withers is particularly incensed by SUN’s contention that there hasn’t been enough input from the community, explaining that the Planning Department worked with him and other council members to create a community advisory group that includes representatives from all the neighborhood groups surrounding the study site.

“I get really upset when Stand Up Nashville swarms in and says there hasn’t been any public outreach,” Withers says. “To say their work isn’t real representation is insulting to the work that the neighborhood representatives themselves are doing. … Rather than participating as a coequal with other groups, [SUN] has decided to hold press conferences and be obstructionists in some cases.”

Metro’s latest capital spending plan includes $50 million for a new, multimodal boulevard to run north-south through the middle of the East Bank study area to serve as a “spine street” for additional connector streets and to help alleviate the isolation created by interstate and Ellington Parkway construction in the 1960s.

“If we do not come up with a way of redoing our street grid, they won’t have projects to work on,” Withers says, “So some of the obstructionism I’ve seen from Stand Up Nashville is a little bit self-defeating for the union membership that they purport to represent.”

SUN is emboldened by its success in the Fairgrounds battle, having secured a first-ofits-kind “community benefits agreement” with Nashville Soccer Club, which requires commitments around affordable housing, a minimum wage for stadium workers, and the inclusion of community services such as a childcare facility in conjunction with the construction of Nashville’s new Major League Soccer stadium.

There will be similarities between the two campaigns. As at the fairgrounds, the East Bank’s combatants include Metro Nashville

100 ACRES OF THE LAND. NOW, THEY COULD SELL DO WHATEVER, OR THEY COULD WORK WITH INCLUDES MIXED-INCOME HOUSING — MARTHA CARROLL government and politicians, union and affordable-housing advocates, developers, a majorleague sports franchise — and no shortage of tangled alliances, ulterior motives, and strange bedfellows among them.

But the differences are pivotal.

Metro government owns the entirety of the 117-acre fairgrounds, but only about a third of the roughly 340 acres included in the Metro Planning Department’s “Imagine East Bank” study. Others laying claim to the territory include one of the 50 wealthiest Americans, per Forbes, in Carl Icahn, who tellingly held on to the 45 acres underlying the scrap-metal recycling business, PSC Metals, he sold to SA Recycling in October.

“My concern is the city owns around 100 acres of the land. Now, they could sell it to the highest bidder, who could do whatever, or they could work with the community to ensure that land includes mixed-income housing,” says Carroll, who scoffs at Withers claims that discussing affordable housing at this stage is putting the cart before the horse. “In my mind, we have to act early. We have to consistently raise these issues.”

Regardless of when or how often the issue of affordable housing is raised, the path forward is murky on the East Bank. Private landowners would need something from the Metro government to negotiate affordable-housing requirements. Still, the downtown code that applies to the area already allows very dense mixed uses. Furthermore, leverage to demand such provisions would be hampered by the fact that there isn’t any existing housing or residents in the area threatened with displacement.

SUN officials say they want another community benefits agreement like the one they scored at the fairgrounds, but, in the context of the East Bank, it’s not clear who would be sitting on the other side of the table to negotiate such an agreement. Nashville Soccer Club was an upstart and homeless expansion franchise desperate to salvage a stadium deal at the fairgrounds. The Tennessee Titans are part of a much more popular and influential sports league, the NFL, with an established home on the East Bank. It’s difficult to envision a scenario in which the Titans’ political fate would be determined by their willingness to play ball with Stand Up Nashville.

The Titans — and, more specifically, the publicly owned Nissan Stadium they play in — also represent the most significant domino that needs to fall before redevelopment planning can move much beyond groundwork for proposed new streets. After the likely cost for overhauling Nissan Stadium doubled from an original estimated $600 million, talks have instead turned toward the idea of constructing a brand new football stadium at a likely cost of $2 billion.

Metro owns Nissan Stadium, the land underneath it, and the parking lots surrounding it, with the Titans operating under a lease with the government. The parking lots east of Nissan Stadium have long been envisioned as the site for constructing a new stadium, if and when the time came. So, while the Titans

do have to play ball with Metro, the publicly owned land would be, for years, almost entirely tied up housing an existing stadium and a future one.

If there’s one thing the Nashville powers-that-be have demonstrated throughout the past decade, it’s a love of tall shiny buildings, which has often come at the expense of cultural cohesiveness at the community level.

Organizations like Stand Up Nashville and those for whom they advocate have their work cut out. Perhaps their biggest challenge is our transitory collective memory.

Phone messages left with the Tennessee Titans and Icahn Enterprises were not returned. Metro Council members Sean Parker and Freddie O’Connell also did not respond to interview requests.

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BENEFITING

MEDIA PARTNER

Out East Soundtrack

Angela Lese “My dad always had his records spinning or was watching VH1 and, oddly enough, he was the one who first introduced me to several strong, female artists like Stevie Nicks, Pat Benatar, Blondie, Donna Summer, etc. At the time, I’m sure I didn’t think of it much beyond, ‘Wow, these women are badass!’ But now I attribute my strength and determination to those mentors years ago and to my musical influence still today.”

For Angela Lese, a strong female influence has always been synonymous with music. You’ve seen her drum with several female-fronted bands or female artists (The Dead Deads, Taco Mouth, Raelyn Nelson Band, Kalie Shorr, etc.), which, given the influences during her coming of age years, comes naturally.

As our guest curator of the “Out East Soundtrack,” Angela creates a playlist centered on female artists that made an impact on her musical career as well as her sense of self. Given that March is Women’s History Month, she chose ten songs written and/or performed by women that offer a glimpse into the pop-heavy musical tastes of one of Nashville’s favorite drummers.

By Andrew Leahey & Jay Dmuchowski

1

“How Will I Know” Whitney Houston (1985)

This was the first song I ever heard from Whitney Houston. I wanted to be a dancer long before I wanted to drum, and I recall participating in a dance contest at daycare to this very song. The thing that sticks with me, though, is that smile when she sang — it said it all.

2 3

4

“I Hate Myself For Loving You” Joan Jett (1988)

I’m not sure who’s the bigger fan of Joan Jett, me or my dad. I distinctly remember this music video and have idolized her ever since. Her riffs and songs are undeniable. She’s one of the greatest ever to do it. Her songs have influenced my drumming and musical tastes a ton, and I’ve covered her a lot in various bands. I also think she was my first crush, and I love how she combines androgyny, confidence, and badassery.

“The Victim” Pat Benatar (1982)

If Pat Benatar’s voice doesn’t make you feel something, we are not meant to be friends. “We Belong” or “Heartbreaker” were probably the most memorable songs for me as a kid, but I chose “The Victim” because my old cover band back in my Louisville days would cover this song. The drums are straight NASTY in this song, and I’ve borrowed a few licks and morphed them into songs I’ve recorded since.

“Alone”

Heart (1987)

Their Bad Animals album is one of my favorites of all time.

When Ann Wilson hits THAT note in “Alone,” I’m instantly taken somewhere, like my soul left my body for a moment. To me, that’s one of the greatest moments in rock & roll and the reason why music matters so much. I remember not focusing on anything except the power behind that voice. A singer or musician with that kind of influence that can make you lose every single thought is the kind of musician I aspire to be.

5

6

“Rhythm Nation” Janet Jackson (1989)

I would list the entire Rhythm Nation 1814 album here if I could.

Also one of my favorite albums ever. I almost picked “Black Cat” because I’ve covered that before … and … cowbell. But “Rhythm Nation” is a damn anthem. Pop perfection, lyrics with a strong message of unity, chants, and killer drums/percussion, not to mention one of the best videos ever to boot.

“You Oughta Know” Alanis Morissette (1995)

This list is not ordered by the most influential songs because this would be first. Alanis Morissette was the first concert I ever saw, and it was a religious experience for me. I knew for a fact that I was going to do that for a living — perform music. And here I am doing it. “Thanks, Alanis!” Jagged Little Pill is my favorite album of all time, and I wanted to put “Not The Doctor” for my song choice because I think that’s the best-written song on the album.

But I picked the massive hit instead because I’ve covered this a lot, most recently with Kalie Shorr when we were so appropriately touring Canada last fall. I started drumming for Kalie in late 2021 because I was wearing an Alanis t-shirt at a show, and she approached me because of that shirt, not because she needed a drummer and I needed a gig. Alanis is still impacting my life 25 years later.

»»»»» March | April 2022 theeastnashvillian.com

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7 8

Out East Soundtrack

“Cannonball” The Breeders (1993)

Before my magical Alanis experience, I had a similar epiphany-like feeling when I first heard “Cannonball”

by The Breeders. This is my favorite song of all time because when I first heard it, those drums spoke to me. I played flute at the time, but I just knew that I would drum someday because of that song. It’s one of the coolest grooves in any song, and it took me nearly 30 years before I finally covered it. My love for drums began with “Cannonball.”

9

“Make Me Feel” Janelle Monae (2018)

This is Women’s (rather, non-cis men’s) History Month, but I do wanna mention that Prince is one of my most significant influences of all time, and I think his closest female adaptation is Janelle Monae. If you don’t know her, stop reading and listen to the Dirty Computer album. It’s the best album of 2018, and I picked “Make Me Feel” because of the strong Prince vibes in this song. This was Janelle’s “coming out” song, and since then, she’s been a leading voice for all Black and queer people. I think she’s one of the most genius artists out there, and I especially love that she’s a strong, Black, and queer female. Voices like hers need to be amplified. Listen to this song — you can’t NOT move your booty to it.

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10

“Linger”

The Cranberries (1993)

I think this is one of the most underrated songs ever written, not for lack of popularity, but its brutal honesty and emotion. Yep, enter my first song choice based solely on lyrics. The lyrics are so painful and relatable. I think that’s why I love it so much (and The Cranberries were one of the best of the 90s, and Dolores’ voice is intoxicating). We’ve all had that one partner that made us spellbound, so in love one moment and completely ruined the next. What a gut-punch of a song, but also empowering? Like, how strong was Dolores to admit how pathetically in love she was? Ugh, so powerful.

“Fast Car”

Tracy Chapman (1988)

I think we can all agree that this is one of the greatest songs ever written. Ever. I was young when this came out, but I could still tell how heavy the song was. I remember how I liked that it was a story, too, so for me, I think Tracy Chapman was the first storyteller/songwriter that I was introduced to or left an impression on me. “Fast Car” opened up my musical palette for sure. Everyone I know knows this song — that’s influence.

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49

BLACK HOLES IN MY BEST JEANS

M

y column is due, and I absolutely can’t think of anything to write about. This isn’t the first time that’s happened.

A stream-of-conscienceless column is on the agenda here. In such cases, I usually spill my guts, which gives some people stomach trouble and makes others feel less alone.

Let’s put this gently: I don’t give a dry rat fuck about your stomach troubles. It’s probably because you have some demon in you that’s no fault of mine. You’re squeamish by nature; you’re 35 and still masturbating twice a day. (At least.) You think I’m weirder than you because it makes you feel better about yourself, and let me assure you — you’re not. I just let my freak flag fly is all. You’re down on yourself because you’ve gone to four or five NA meetings high as a bat. You’re terrified of dying homeless. ( Join the club.) You’re a conservative Christian Republican who believes a guy came alive after three days dead and walked around freaking people out, and you don’t know a tinker’s damn about how that’s a story with a moral behind it. Or maybe you’re just a pussy. I don’t know. For that matter, I don’t care. I couldn’t care less if you put a gun to my head and yelled, “Care less, you son of a bitch! Care less!”

Did you know that time and space are the same thing? No shit. Kinda mind-blowing, isn’t it. It’s hard to explain, but I’ve read a biography of Einstein, which got neck-deep into both the General Theory of Relativity and the Special Theory of Relativity. I re-read A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking about a year ago (I’d read it once before 20-odd years ago), and I just finished a wonderful book called The Order of Time by the physicist Carlo Rovelli. I understand about three percent of what I read about in all that physics business, but it yields fascinating tidbits along the way.

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theeastnashvillian.com March | April 2022

You see, it’s sorta like this. Let’s say we’re sitting across a table from one another, and you say something to me. I hear what you’re saying and see your lips moving at the same time, right? And I’m doing that immediately upon you saying what you’re saying. Wrong. My eyes’ visual of your face has traveled to me at 186,000 miles per second. The sound of your voice has traveled to my ears at 1,100 feet per second. It all seems immediate on the micro-level of us talking across a table, but when you blow it up into massive proportions, it becomes a whole different kettle of cosmic fish. That light you feel from the sun? It took eight minutes to get to you. When we saw the moon landing on live television (like I did) in 1969, do you remember Neil Armstrong saying, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for maxgerokishkisheck”? Well, he said that about 1.3 seconds before you heard it. The speed-of-light signal took that long to reach us.

And if you need any more evidence that time and space are the same thing, try this on for size. Gravity slows down time, and the farther time gets from a gravitational mass, the faster time goes. Your GPS unit in your car is on the surface of the planet where the length of a second is, well, a second! But where the satellite in space is, a second is ever so slightly faster. And if the calibrations of your GPS didn’t factor in that discrepancy, your GPS would be wildly inaccurate. Also, supermassive black holes not only suck in light, but they also suck in time. In a black hole, there is no such thing as time. Or light. Or Ted Nugent. Or idiots. But I repeat myself.

And that’s just the big picture sort of thing. Try quantum mechanics, where the teeny tiny shit abounds, and the laws of physics go completely out the window. It’s a world where one particle can be in two different places at the same time, a world where some particles don’t exist until you look at them.

Crazy, Jackson, crazy!

Well, I guess I got to the bottom of the column.

Another stream of bullshit from my brain to yours.

I’d like to thank the academy, my editors, Chuck and Randy, Lisa, who pays me, and of course all you little people, you teeny tiny little people who can be in two places at the same time. I love you all!

EAST OF NOR MAL

by Tommy Womack

In case you hadn't noticed, Tommy Womack is allergic to winter. He's also a singer/songwriter and author whose “East of Normal” column appears in each issue. His latest album, I Thought I Was Fine, is available on Schoolkids Records.

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BE CONNECTED. BE A WHEEL.

Sing Me Back Home: Folk Roots to the Present EXHIBIT NOW OPEN

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