Nashville Scene 7-20-23

CITY LIMITS: NASHVILLE DIVES DEEP INTO SCHOOL SAFETY CONVERSATIONS PAGE 8

THE SPIN: BEYONCÉ BRINGS SPECTACLE, POIGNANT MOMENTS TO NISSAN STADIUM PAGE 38

7

CITY LIMITS

Street View: What Will Become of Metro’s Newly Acquired Property at 88 Hermitage Ave.? 7

Says Learotha Williams, the historically significant building’s ‘future will reflect Nashville’s priorities’

Post-Covenant, Nashville Dives Deep Into School Safety Conversations 8

Three weeks out from the return of Metro schools, here’s a look at MNPS’ school safety response

It’s a Four-Man Race in Northeast Davidson County’s District 11 ................... 8

A Steve Smith associate and a Presbyterian pastor are among the candidates in the Old Hickory-containing district

Pith in the Wind ...................................... 10

This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog

13

COVER STORY

35th Annual ‘You Are So Nashville If ...’

See all the winners, honorable mentions and even the ‘Weirdies’ in our annual YASNI contest

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CRITICS’ PICKS

Boy George and Culture Club, Nashville Dance Festival, JPEGMafia and Danny Brown, Eraserhead and more

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FOOD AND DRINK

A Taj of Class

South Nashville institution Taj Indian Restaurant continues to delight in revamped location

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BOOKS

No Laughing Matter

Harrison Scott Key’s How to Stay Married is a tragicomic memoir of marital crisis

35

MUSIC

Cannery Hall Releases Updated Renderings, Construction Photos

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Stumps in Nashville

35 Catching up with widely traveled musician and Novo Guitars luthier Mariah Schneider

Gearing Up: Putting It All Together

Panning Out

Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway sing of big dreams on City of Gold

Perpetual Motion

Kurt Vile appraises the journey on (Watch My Moves)

KELSEY BEYELER

The Spin

The Scene’s live-review column checks out Beyoncé at Nissan Stadium

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FILM

Splices: It’s Barbenheimer Time

Early Voting Begins for Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council

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Talking Touring and ‘SNL’ With Please Don’t Destroy

38

This weekend marks the premiere of massive, meme-fueled studio releases Barbie and Oppenheimer

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THE IMPORTANCE OF TIPPING: SUPPORTING OUR HARDWORKING SERVERS

I recently came across an enlightening CNBC story about Brendan Madden, a 25-year-old driver for Luigi’s Famous Pizza and Catering in Lincroft, N.J. The compelling account relates Madden’s experiences as a delivery driver and the challenges he faces in an industry heavily reliant on tips.

For me, Madden’s story serves as a poignant reminder of the impact our tipping habits can have on the lives of hardworking individuals. It was disheartening to learn about the unpredictability of his earnings, which can range from a meager $13 to a substantial $200 in tips on any given day. Madden lives with his parents and has clear gratitude for his own situation, while also expressing his concerns about how others survive given the flaws in the tipping system. He discusses the challenges of relying on the goodwill of customers. I believe his story resonates with the struggles faced by servers nationwide, and highlights the need for us to examine our own tipping practices and consider the far-reaching consequences they can have.

Let’s take a moment to delve into the origins of the term “tip.” According to one story related by the Tampa Bay Times, the term supposedly originated in 18th-century English taverns, where patrons would place coins in a box marked “To Insure Promptness.” While there may be days when we feel the service is not as prompt as we would like, we must remember that servers, like anyone else, have their share of challenges. They may have personal issues, financial difficulties or even health concerns, yet they strive to provide us with a pleasant dining experience.

Unlike many of us who have the luxury of retreating to an office or private space when we have a bad day, servers are constantly in the public eye throughout their shifts. While I don’t make excuses for workers who display laziness, I firmly believe that the majority of those in the hospitality industry are dedicated and committed to their roles. I co-own a restaurant called Valentino’s in Nashville, so I appreciate the efforts of restaurant owners who — like myself and my business partner — strive to create a fair and supportive environment for both servers and patrons.

Let’s focus on Tennessee’s server wages.

According to a recent table noted on the U.S. Department of Labor website, the mini-

mum wage for tipped employees is a mere $2.13 per hour, a figure that hasn’t changed in many years. All employees working in the United States are entitled to at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, but many may not realize that employers can use an employee’s tips to meet this requirement. However, if an employee does not earn enough tips to reach the minimum wage, the employer is obligated to make up the difference. It is essential for servers to understand their rights and inform their employers if they consistently fall below the federal minimum wage.

Food delivery workers also experience very similar outcomes, as mentioned by Madden in the CNBC story. CBS News ran a story back in April on the fact that tipping etiquette has changed, specifically since the pandemic: “Tipping etiquette — once relatively simple and straightforward — has been upended in the last few years, as a global pandemic … and the rise of thirdparty delivery apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats, which tack on a slew of fees that appear to include delivery charges, can leave customers feeling less than generous toward delivery people themselves.”

This is understandable. It’s hard to tip if you think the company providing the goods is already taking care of their employees. Still, I’d encourage you to read the fee section carefully to see what portion the server or delivery person is actually receiving. What’s more, kindness, patience and a smile don’t cost anything — and are always appreciated.

Let’s make a conscious decision to be more generous with our tipping. Our generosity can significantly impact the lives of servers and contribute to a fairer and more sustainable hospitality industry. I encourage restaurant and venue owners also to ensure they take good care of their servers, recognizing their hard work and dedication. Together, we can foster an environment that values and supports those who make our dining experiences enjoyable. By tipping generously, we can demonstrate gratitude for the tireless efforts of servers and contribute to their financial stability and well-being.

Bill Freeman

Bill Freeman is the owner of FW Publishing, the publishing company that produces the Nashville Scene, Nfocus, the Nashville Post, and The News.

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WHAT WILL BECOME OF METRO’S NEWLY ACQUIRED PROPERTY AT 88 HERMITAGE AVE.?

Says

Street View is a monthly column in which we’ll take a close look at developmentrelated issues affecting different neighborhoods throughout the city.

88 Hermitage Ave. is a site of unique historic significance. While the state of Tennessee has properties that at one point housed segregated schools, the Hermitage Avenue building is one of the only remaining properties of segregated schools for people with disabilities. It’s the former site of the Tennessee School for the Blind’s “Colored Department” — a school that according to historian Learotha Williams serves as “a monument to how African Americans tried to navigate Jim Crow.”

The city purchased 88 Hermitage from the state on June 7, 2022, saving it from the uncertainty of a sale to private developers. The Metro Development and Housing Agency and the nonprofit Historic Nashville Inc. agree that the property is worth preserving. But what exactly will happen to the School for the Blind is still a mystery.

The Tennessee School for the Blind’s “Colored Department” was the school’s segregated campus for visually impaired Black children from 1940 to 1965. The campus’s creation coincided with the Black Women’s Club movement — a group of powerhouse political activists in the 19th and 20th centuries who organized vital services for people in poverty, campaigned to end lynching, helped women win the right to vote and provided crucial support to their local communities. These same women supported Black children at the Tennessee School for the Blind as teachers, nurses and patrons.

“Out of all the vulnerable people in Tennessee at the time, I humbly submit to you that poor, blind Black children were some of the most vulnerable,” says Williams. “I’m mindful that they created the space as a result of Jim Crow, as a desire of them not to have those children intermingling with white children. But nonetheless, and this is the case with a lot of things with Jim Crow, you take something that was put together maybe as an afterthought, and it ends up having tremendous significance.”

The 88 Hermitage Ave. parcel includes about 2.5 acres of land adjacent to Wharf Park. In 2019, a plan to buy the property from the state for just over $11 million failed in the Metro Council. (Initially, planners proposed relocating Nashville School of the Arts to the site, but plans included demolishing the School for the Blind campus.) At the time, Mayor John Cooper —

then an at-large councilmember — voted against the deal.

The Metro Development and Housing Agency is currently evaluating potential uses for the parcel, and these plans include preserving the School for the Blind campus. The buildings have been vacant for a number of years, and building surveys have revealed asbestos and structural issues. When the Metro Council voted to acquire the property in 2022, they commissioned a study that estimated restoration costs would be about $8 million.

MDHA communications director Richel Albright says the 88 Hermitage team couldn’t provide a public update for the property’s proposed use, but they are evaluating responses from their feasibility study, including public comments from a meeting in January. “The consultant team has reviewed stakeholder and community feedback and performed technical analysis to advance the feasibility study,” Albright says. “We are working with them to hold a community meeting later this summer that outlines the possibilities for the site, which will include some of the feedback we received at our last meeting.”

One option for the parcel is affordable housing. Before the council voted on acquiring the property, MDHA’s housing director Angie Hubbard confirmed that the property would be considered as part of Metro’s effort to convert unused parcels into muchneeded affordable housing stock.

In a recent Budget and Finance Committee Meeting, Councilmember Courtney Johnston sparked debate when she

suggested the city sell 88 Hermitage to raise funds to buy the Morris Memorial Building, another historically significant site. “Why do we need two buildings that we’re doing absolutely nothing with that have massive renovation costs?” Johnston asked. “We can’t save the world, we have to start prioritizing.”

District 29 Councilmember Delishia Porterfield and Councilmember At-Large Zulfat Suara, both of whom are Black, took to the mic to respond. “It’s not appropriate to say we can sell one Black building to buy another Black building,” said Porterfield. Suara criticized Nashville’s lack of urgency when considering properties significant to Black history. “That is the problem that I’ve seen with this city,” she said. “Our priorities are warped, and when it comes to the African American community, it’s always asked to be placed on the back burner. This building has been in the Capital Improvements Budget for a long time; there’s been a lot of talk about a museum for a long time. But every time there’s always something bigger, better that we want to do. And for somebody to disparage it by saying let’s sell another building for another building, it’s insulting.”

In an email to the Scene Johnston explains

that she’d like to see capital funds spent on 88 Hermitage go to other infrastructure needs like sidewalks or real estate. She also says she didn’t like that Metro purchased the property without a plan. “If you’re going to purchase a dilapidated building with taxpayer funds, it needs to be at a price with a great use planned for it.” she says. “Metro was not doing that when we purchased 88 Hermitage Ave.”

While the site’s future is unclear, the School for the Blind is still standing. Williams says it represents “a deep history that we’re just now starting to appreciate,” and its future will reflect Nashville’s priorities.

“The city historically has had a bad track record,” he says. “Our first inclination is to tear down in the name of public improvement, and that destruction has led to the erasure of some of the most historic sites in the city, if not the country.”

“This space is representative of our history,” he continues. “And how we respond to it, how we act and how we deal with it is a reflection of Nashville in the 21st century. Are we going to fight to preserve the past, or are we going to continue our policy of marginalization and erasure?”

Learotha Williams, the historically significant building’s ‘future will reflect Nashville’s priorities’

POST-COVENANT, NASHVILLE DIVES DEEP INTO SCHOOL SAFETY CONVERSATIONS

Three weeks out from the return of Metro schools, here’s a look at MNPS’ school safety response

This time last year, Metro Nashville Public Schools and the Metro Nashville Police Department were collaborating to bolster the city’s school safety measures following the Uvalde school shooting in Texas. In the time since, Nashville experienced a similar tragedy when three students and three staff members were shot and killed at the Covenant School, a private Christian school in Green Hills. The tragedy reinvigorated citywide school safety conversations ahead of the district’s first day of classes on Aug. 8.

This summer the city hosted several meetings considering school safety and gun violence through the lenses of different Metro departments. Following the first meeting, the Metro Council allocated $6.5 million of city funds to school safety enhancements, including radio communications upgrades and shatter-resistant film for glass in school buildings. MNPS may receive more related funding through state grants, but must first go through an application process — a district spokesperson confirms plans to do so. The MNPD, however, will not apply for state grants to hire more school resource officers for elementary schools because the department doesn’t have the positions or the staffing levels to do so, though it is applying to receive state funds for SRO positions that already exist.

School resource officers — armed MNPD employees — have been placed in middle and high schools for years. The police department has noted its goal to put SROs in elementary schools, though MNPS has pushed back on that idea in the past. Rather

IT’S A FOURMAN RACE IN NORTHEAST DAVIDSON COUNTY’S DISTRICT 11

A Steve Smith associate and a Presbyterian pastor are among the candidates in the Old Hickory-containing district

than SROs, Metro schools will instead rely on safety ambassadors, or unarmed MNPS employees who will work with local law enforcement and MNPS’ security department to facilitate safety operations. On-duty police officers will continue to be present in and around elementary schools, along with the department planning the deployment of a new “rapid response team.”

Additional school safety measures — not all of which are new — include security vestibules, AV intercom locks, routine drills, locked classrooms, interior and exterior cameras, badge-access control, a K-9 division and visitor management systems. Officers will have key cards, and lockboxes with keys and building information will be placed in schools for first responders to utilize in case of emergencies. Suspicious behavior can be reported to individual schools, the district’s family information center or to the police. The district also folds social and emotional learning into its safety response.

Some families say they feel safer when an armed guard is on school grounds, while others worry that increased exposure to SROs could have negative effects on students — such as the criminalization of normal childhood behavior. Local officials maintain that SROs are not involved with discipline. While there have been positive anecdotes about relationships with SROs, there have also been reported instances of abuse and extreme altercations between SROs and students across the country. In 2021, a Knoxville student was shot and killed in school by a police officer.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” says Metro Councilmember At-Large Zulfat Suara, who

is chair of the council’s education committee. “There are parents that feel like if we have officers in school, shootings will not happen. Now, when you look at some of the shootings we’ve had across the country, we’ve had situations where the officers were there and the shootings have happened, right? And so it’s not a direct correlation that having officers there [would] mean that we’re going to stop something from happening. But you also want to respect parents.”

Though MNPS, the MNPD and the Metro Juvenile Court haven’t specifically tracked school arrests, Lt. Jason Picanzo of MNPD’s School Safety Division says he’s starting to do so as conversations about the school-toprison pipeline continue. In the first community meeting, Picanzo shared arrest data from four schools, though when asked he declined to disclose which ones. According to Picanzo, a total of 203 situations involving disorderly students, narcotics, fights, threats or weapons resulted in six arrests at those four schools. According to the MNPD, 122 arrests were made at schools last year, including some cases of outstanding warrants or runaways.

The school safety meetings allowed locals to submit questions and comments. The Scene obtained submissions through a public records request. Of the 26 submitted questions and comments, almost half mentioned gun reform or the politics surrounding it — a matter local leaders have very limited control over, as state Republicans have resisted gun reform efforts. Two commenters wanted to see more armed guards in school. Efforts to arm teachers did not move forward during this year’s legislative session, and MNPS’ director of schools opposes the idea.

“I am a public school teacher in MNPS,” said commenter Susan Norwood. “I do not feel safe coming in to work. … We have a teacher and a sub shortage. There are not enough adults in the building to maintain a safe environment.”

“More guns is not the answer,” said Dana Shaw.

“Why haven’t we made the most obvious solution possible?” asked Laura Phillips. “Put armed guards in every school. … More than one too as many as they can get.”

“I am an MNPS elementary school teacher,” said Robyn Prescott. “The feedback from parents and guardians has been overwhelmingly positive to having a uniformed officer at our school DAILY!”

“Why aren’t teachers allowed to bring personal guns and lock them up in their desk if they complete a mandated gun safety class and full background check?” said Dandida Kruse.

“How do you plan to respond to social, social and emotional needs of the students?” asked James Polk.

“My daughter begins kindergarten next year, and while worries and fears accompany any new student and their caregivers as they begin school for the first time, those worries and fears should never include the fear that they will be murdered or traumatized,” said Margaret Kingsbury. “It is unconscionable.”

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

Some Nashvillians refer to District 11 as Davidson County’s best-kept secret, and following the end of Councilmember Larry Hagar’s second term, the district is now seeking new representation. D11, which largely remains the same after redistricting, encompasses areas along the edge of Old Hickory Lake in the northeast portion of the

county.

The district contains the Lakewood and Old Hickory neighborhoods, and follows southeast into Hermitage. There have been growing concerns in the district regarding continued growth that now pushes toward Hermitage and Old Hickory. Jeff Eslick, Eric Patton, Joe DeLucas and Sherard Edington are all seeking

the open seat.

Hagar tells the Scene he would run again if he were not term-limited, but is instead endorsing Edington. He cited their 14 years of friendship as well as Edington’s character as primary reasons for the selection. “I think everybody’s been pretty satisfied with the job I’ve done,” Hagar says. “And I appreciate the ones running

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CITY LIMITS

that will carry on what I’ve already accomplished and hopefully make it even better.”

Edington, a Presbyterian pastor, has lived in Old Hickory for the past 27 years and says this experience in the district separates him from the other candidates. “I’ll do all I can to maintain the character of our neighborhoods,” Edington says. “I’ll work with developers while also using the power of the Office of Planning and Zoning to ensure that what we get out here is what we want.” He has received endorsements from Democratic state House District 60 Rep. Darren Jernigan as well as the Nashville Fraternal Order of Police and the Nashville firefighters union. He has received donations from both Hagar and Jernigan totaling $785.06 as well as $1,631.06 in a personal loan. In total he has raised $20,721.09 for his campaign. Some of Edington’s focuses, according to his website, are public education, affordable housing and small businesses.

Patton, director of client relations at Artemis CPA, has no previous experience running for office. He says he was initially hesitant to jump into the race due to the uncertainty surrounding the size of the Metro Council, which was set to be cut in half before a court panel halted the implementation of a new state law. Patton has received endorsements from groups including Planned Parenthood, TIRRC Votes and local workers union SEIU, among others. He feels the district is being forgotten. “It feels like we’re getting left behind by people who want to keep us small,” Patton says. “We’re growing, but we’re not growing like the rest of town.” Patton’s three primary focuses are schools, services and small businesses; he cites those issues as integral to the district. He has received $40,289 in total toward his campaign.

The owner of Slick Media Productions and media manager for several bars including Tootsies Orchid Lounge on Lower Broadway, Eslick is looking to put his previous experience in sales and marketing to use. Eslick’s three primary concerns according to his website are safety, limiting the number of homeless encampments and growth management. His company recently produced an ad attacking mayoral candidate and term-limited Metro Councilmember Freddie O’Connell, which was paid for by conservative Lower Broadway bar impresario Steve Smith. Smith, who owns Tootsies and co-owns Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk & Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse, also owns land in Old Hickory in the form of the country club as well as other land near the club. Eslick has received $58,402.72 in total contributions for his campaign, $45,050.72 of which has come from a loan he took out himself. It is the largest total of any candidate in the race.

Eslick did not return the Scene’s requests for an interview in time for publication.

Believing that District 11 has “had enough” of what he sees as a lack of leadership in the community, DeLucas — a retired restaurant manager from Pennsylvania — is primarily focused on bringing an outside perspective and transparency to the position. He is concerned with homeless encampments, as well as infrastructure in the district. “Residents that I’ve talked with, most of them aren’t fans of current representatives, and they want to see change,” he says. “And they want people that are real, and that won’t just give them political jargon, that will tell them the truth.” He believes that any growth that occurs should be what the residents want, and should be primarily focused on having the community in mind. He has received $835 total in campaign contributions.

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

Early voting in city elections started July 14 and runs through July 29.

Every seat on Nashville’s 40-member Metro Council is up for grabs, along with the vice mayor’s seat and the mayor’s office Election Day is Aug.

3. A mayoral runoff, which looks very likely, would extend the race for the top two vote-getters until September. Some voters in East and South Nashville will choose their state representative in special elections for Districts 51 and 52, following Republicans’ expulsion of incumbent Democrat Rep. Justin Jones and the June 4 death of Democrat Rep. Bill Beck Downtown Councilmember Freddie O’Connell scored a late endorsement in the mayor’s race from TIRRC Votes, the campaigning arm for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, while a right-leaning PAC previewed an ad blitz for a fellow candidate, Republican Alice Rolli Former city financial executive Matt Wiltshire leads the race in fundraising, which has topped $6.5 million across all 12 mayoral candidates. Money has poured into the council races as well, specifically for at-large candidates, who have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in countywide races. … At-large candidates Chris Cheng, Chris Crofton and Olivia Hill spoke with the Scene about their platforms, continuing a long list of interviews with most of the race’s 21 candidates. All three are new to electoral politics. … Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke at the Tennessee Republican Party’s 2023 Statesmen’s Dinner, a fundraiser and social event held at the Music City Center. Once considered a favorite to challenge former President Donald Trump, DeSantis has seen his presidential campaign struggle since his announcement, a botched digital unveiling on Twitter with conservative billionaire Elon Musk Trump partisans Gov. Bill Lee and U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty did not attend. … Writing on the dinner, Scene contributor Betsy Phillips points out the hypocrisy of Republicans’ obsession with “Judeo-Christian values,” which — they claim — form the ideological basis for conservative state policies. … After dropping three games in a row, Nashville SC has a monthlong hiatus from league play. Meanwhile, the Titans landed All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins ahead of the August

In the three-and-a-half decades since the Scene first launched our annual “You Are So Nashville If …” issue, Nashville’s population has grown by nearly 40 percent. We’ve seen the arrival of professional sports franchises and world-class dining establishments, not to mention a disorienting number of business and real estate developments.

But for all that’s changed over the past 35 years, the core of Music City’s identity — as evidenced by this year’s YASNI submissions — has remained the same. Nashvillians love poking fun at our city. We’re also a largely progressive town that has long been at odds with our state’s Republican-controlled legislature. Out of roughly 1,200 submissions, 21 specifically referenced the outlandish behavior of the Tennessee General Assembly, which went out of its way to pass legislation targeting Nashville this year.

Twenty entries dealt with House Republicans’ expulsion of Democratic Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, while 16 referenced Gov. Bill Lee. A whopping 34 entries covered the legislature’s ill-conceived and legally dubious attempts to restrict drag performances, 10 covered Republican gerrymandering, five referenced state House Speaker Cameron Sexton, and six riffed on Lt. Gov. Randy McNally’s predilection for leaving … peculiar Instagram comments.

Of course, there was more to it than just that. Thirtysix submissions had one thing or another to do with Nashville’s crowded field of mayoral candidates, with five entrants submitting exactly the same joke. (“You are so Nashville if you’re running for mayor.”) Thirty-three entries covered Nashville’s recently approved deal to fund a new Titans stadium, while 29 had something to do with people either moving into or out of Nashville — with 14 others

specifically about Californians moving here. (By the way, you can stop submitting variations of “You are so Nashville if you’re not from here.” We get that one at least a dozen times every year.)

As always, the Scene’s editorial team combed through all the submissions, and after a daylong meeting duking it out, we narrowed down the list to about 150 entries that are funny, original, incisive or, ideally, some combination of the three. Below, find our first-, second- and third-place winners and our honorable mentions, along with everything else that made the cut. Also below, our list of particularly earnest entries — that is, the ones that weren’t exactly funny but were just too damn wholesome to do away with altogether — and everyone’s favorites, the Weirdies.

Dive in. Thanks for submitting, and thanks for reading.

First Place

The state legislature already overturned this joke.

About the Winner

It’s no surprise that this year’s batch of YASNI submissions was full of entries about the Tennessee General Assembly. But out of all of the entries wagging a finger at the fools in the legislature, our favorite was a concise but effective entry from JJ Wright, who nailed the Republican supermajority’s penchant for passing laws designed specifically to punish Nashville.

A retired software developer who has lived in Nashville “pretty much all my life,” Wright calls 2023 a brutal year for local politics. But he’s also quick to point out that it’s really nothing new.

“We’ve kind of been a laughingstock for a long time,” he says. He cites the frequency with which Tennessee was lampooned on Saturday Night Live this year, but also recalls a time when a website called “Is Tennessee on The Daily Show Tonight?” would simply redirect you to either a Yes or No based on that day’s episode.

The state’s evergreen status as late-night joke fodder is cold comfort to Wright, who spends his post-retirement days making electronic and industrial music from his home studio. He’s submitted entries to YASNI for years, and has even made it in print a few times, but this is his first winning entry.

See all the winners, honorable mentions and even the ‘Weirdies’ in our annual YASNI contest

Second Place

Your write-in vote for mayor is REMOVE, STOP or UNSUBSCRIBE. —TRIPP SULLIVAN

Honorable Mentions

You’ve outsourced your “thoughts and prayers” emails to ChatGPT. —MEGAN MINARICH

The Tennessee legislature has more national primetime events than the Titans. —ROBERT VOGT

You wish your state representatives were as scared of guns as they are megaphones. —ANDY GASPARINI

You submitted this in drag just for the hell of it. —JAMIE YOST

And the Rest

Cameron Sexton is your neighbor. —SHAUN MELBY

It’s okay, we don’t want to admit that Cameron Sexton lives here either. —STEPHEN YEARGIN

Okay okay okay we get it, there was once a roller coaster where the mall is. —JESSE NEWKIRK

Your favorite music venue is Korean Veterans Bridge. —KP THOMAS

You attend all the Nissan Stadium concerts for free on the pedestrian bridge. —DEBORAH SETTLES

Even the vegan restaurants are participating in Hot Chicken Week. —JACOB MAURER

Your husband and your boyfriend are in the same band. —ANGELA SCHMIDT

You consider dating a girl in Hendersonville

a long-distance relationship. —RIE RIVERS

You work in Nashville and make a short, one-hour drive each way from your affordable house. —HEILER SWEELY

You think the “Ben Shapiro for J.R. Lind” trade we made with California will go down as one of the worst of all time. —ALEX DAUGHERTY

Your football team had so many injuries in 2022 that even Bart Durham refused to help —DAVID DUHL

You are currently running for mayor. —WILSON HUBBELL

You decided that you might as well run for mayor too. —NICK LEONARDO

You’re following the black bear saga more closely than the mayoral race. —SARAH SMITH

Your first thought after hearing about the wild black bear roaming the city was that he would love the mead at Honeytree. —LOGAN ELLIOTT

Your first question was whether South Nashville Bear would choose Grindr or Scruff for his debut. —TRENT HANNER

Your lieutenant governor is your biggest Instagram follower. —ALLISON LUND

Your most thrilling celebrity sighting was the Demonbroomin’ bike lane sweeper. —C. GABRIEL

You canceled your subscription to The Tennessean because you now have the Nextdoor app. —BOB WARD

The more expensive The Tennessean becomes, the thinner it gets. —HILARY JONES

Your child is going to be a third-grader again next year. —KEITH HEIM

You thought about taking the TCAP for your third-grader to avoid canceling your summer vacation. —LOGAN ELLIOTT

Protesting at the state Capitol counts as school for the day. —HILARY JONES

You hear about “The Tennessee Three” and you know who all six of them are. —NANCY JONES

You gave up on writing a country song about the Tennessee Three because you couldn’t rhyme anything with Cameron Sexton. —DREW MAYNARD

You have fewer civil rights than a gun. —ANDY GASPARINI

You’re willing to pay for a one-way SpaceX launch for Gino Bulso. —ANONYMOUS

You’ve triple-checked that the bigot Jack Johnson isn’t the banana-pancakes Jack Johnson. —ASHLEY HASKINS

Your city and your state are in a conscious uncoupling. —MAEVE MCCONVILLE

Republican legislators are obsessed with you. —DEBORAH SETTLES

Your life’s goal is to win YASNI submission before the Scene is shut down by the TN legislature. —C. GABRIEL

Your state legislature is entirely staffed with the political equivalent of Barney Fife. —JESSE NEWKIRK

You didn’t realize when you relocated here two years ago that it also meant you became a Tennessean, too. —BOB WARD

A few months after voting for your state representative you get to vote for him again. —GEORGE OESER

You and your state rep both got kicked out of the state legislature. —ALEX DAUGHERTY

Your apartment complex lies within two different U.S. congressional districts. —AMY BONO

Your congressperson doesn’t live in Nashville. —KEN LASS

Your government representatives

The Earnest Ones

You still long for another movie review from Jim Ridley. —LEE ANNE CARMACK

You are not upset that your neighbor is having a party with a loud rock band, because they are very good. —PAT MCCAULEY

Your first concert was at Starwood. —ELLIE CAGLE

You’ve searched extensively but unsuccessfully for a legit Gold Rush bean roll recipe. —BARBARA CARROLL

Your alt-weekly has more (and better) news than your newspaper. —HILARY JONES

You’re sure Bianca Page would have a word for these legislators if she were still with us. —MAEVE MCCONVILLE

Between the rise of Khalil Ekulona and the return of Demetria Kalodimos, you are feeling pretty good about journalism in Nashville. —CLIFTON KAISER

Seeing red ribbons tied on mailboxes and trees still makes you cry. Every. Single. Time. —STEPHANIE BURSET

You are already mourning the loss of Bob Mendes’ council blog posts. —KATIE M.

You just haven’t been the same since the boys from Hot Fudge Tuesday hung it up. —JESSE NEWKIRK

You’re still proud of your city, no matter how heartbreaking it is to live here. —ANDY GASPARINI

The red-and-black bow will stay on your mailbox until we have common sense gun reform laws. —ALLISON LOTT

ETC. will always mean Earl Thomas Conley! RIP my friend. —RANDY SMITH

You still call it Hermitage Landing. —JULIE DAVENPORT

You remember cattle grazing on Donelson Pike. —DARCY BOMER

You just got here and are ready to fight for the soul of our city. —JASON RINGROSE

You know Daphne at Brown’s Diner. —WILLIAM LIPCHIK

You work at the Ryman. Live in Bellevue with your son who had his heart transplant at Vanderbilt. Love to take your wife to Loveless Cafe when she comes to visit from Buffalo NY. Finally have become snobbish about what sweet tea and mac and cheese he prefers. —JOE SIMONICK

You made 10+ Nash Trash trips with Brenda Kay and Sherry Lynn. —RANDY SMITH

aren’t. —ALLISON LUND

Your congressman hails from Culleoka, Clarksville or Cookeville. —WARD CULLUM

The speaker of the state House, who represents Crossville, lives closer to you than your representative in Congress. —ANONYMOUS

You got excited when you saw the new congressional redistricting map because you thought it was a new transit plan. —LOGAN ELLIOTT

Third Place

Your voting districts are so gerrymandered that your favorite watering hole is the nexus of three congressional districts. —TINA CALDWELL

Your congressman is real brave when he’s posing for a Christmas card. When there’s an actual tragedy, not so much. —JESSE NEWKIRK

You believe Hendersonville native Josef Newgarden won the Indy 500 because he learned to drive in Nashville traffic. —AMANDA MCCLENDON

You hope the traffic from the new football stadium doesn’t run into the traffic from the new soccer stadium as they pass the traffic from the new racetrack. —MAEVE MCCONVILLE

You have a $2 billion new stadium in the works and some of the most poorly funded public schools in the nation. —DEBORAH SETTLES

This is not what you meant when you wished for arena football to make a comeback. —CHARLIE HARRIS

You pass a French cocktail bar on the way to the French cocktail bar. —HOLLAND CROUT

You take your coffee without employee abuse. —MEGAN MINARICH

You’re glad Garth is an ally but are still waiting for Alan Jackson to repurpose “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow.” —CHARLIE HARRIS

Your license plate says “Choose Life,” but your driving says otherwise. —JESSE NEWKIRK

Your hat says BNA but your license plate says CA. —JESSE NEWKIRK

The neighbor who moved from California last week would love your vote for city council. —TRENT HANNER

It’s easier to get a record deal than a home loan. —CHRIS FRAKER

Your starter home cost $750K.

—JASON RINGROSE

You periodically put “Coming Soon” signs on your lawn, just to fuck with people. —THOMAS STILL

You’ve hooked up with a realtor just to get advance notice of new home listings. —ALEX DAUGHERTY

You’re really concerned about overdevelopment now that your

build is complete. —JESSE NEWKIRK

Housing costs are going to force you to be so Mt. Juliet next year. —MAEVE MCCONVILLE

You long for the days when downtown was more wholesome, like when you used to catch the bus home from school in front of Swinger’s World. —JULIE DAVENPORT

You know exactly which Krystals are still open. —ALEX DAUGHERTY

You live your life like Phil Williams is always watching. Because he is. —JASON SPARKS

You know to walk the opposite direction if Phil Williams approaches you with a microphone. —C. GABRIEL

You secretly hope PSC Metals stays around to help keep Nashville real. —TRENT HANNER

Your Xbox runs through a 32-channel soundboard. —JOSE MALDONADO

You’re really trying to avoid submitting a YASNI about the West End Chili’s. —C. GABRIEL

Your bro-country bar lasts longer than your bro-country duo. —HILARY JONES

You’ve been here long enough to mourn the closing of a business that replaced an establishment for which you previously mourned. —ANDY GASPARINI

You publicly grieved the closing of a meat-and-three you’ve never even been to. —ALEX DAUGHERTY

You never wanted a Mrs. Grissom’s pimento cheese sandwich until they tore it down. —JAMIE YOST

While you’re waiting for your dinner reservation, the restaurant changes ownership three times. —RICK GUIDEN

You’d rather choke down a Bud Light than go to one of the Broadway bars that refuses to serve it. —STEPHEN YEARGIN

You suspect Kid Rock was on all fours lapping up the beer after he shot it. —JAY PHELPS

You think that the most surprising thing about a tourist urinating off of Jason Aldean’s rooftop bar was that anyone noticed. —ANDY GASPARINI

You’re pretty sure Jason Aldean’s over-stitched, over-bedazzled jeans violate the drag ban. —ASHLEY HASKINS

The state of Tennessee thinks drag is a threat to children. Sugar, look in the damn mirror. —MEGAN MINARICH

You voted yes for dragon boats but no for drag on boats. —JOE SOUTER

Your Sunday morning quandary is “church or drag brunch?” —HEATHER BURWELL DRAG DRAG DRAG DRAG DRAG DRAG DRAG DRAG DRAG … —NATE GRIFFIN

“Transportainment” is a word in your vocabulary. —HILARY JONES

You can’t tell if the dump truck circling your house is searching for a new construction site or is just a new conduit for bachelorette transpotainment. —JACKI GIARDINA

Your kids compete by counting bachelorettes on their side of the street every time you drive down 12South. —EMILY FREITAG

Seeing Soccer Moses at a game counts as going to church that weekend. —HILARY JONES

You do Hany Mukhtar salutes around the office in lieu of handshakes. —LOGAN ELLIOTT

You’re still trying to figure out where the Nun Bun went. —JAMIE YOST

You have SoundWaves taste, but a Nashville Shores budget. —ALLISON EVERETT

Your senator is hawking pizza

The Weirdies

You’ve referred to the rats on Broadway as “chicken of the streets.”

You know Lower Broad doesn’t mean your short ex-girlfriend. You lose out to a drawing for Preds tickets at a bar downtown to a woman in a bachelorette party... seriously this happened. 104.5 was giving away a pair of Preds playoff tickets. We went downtown, decked out in our gear, along with several other fans, and they called the name of a super-drunk woo girl... all of us fans were like, you have got to be kidding. Yay Nashville!

You are still salty about the kid who stole your Skeletor costume at Comic Con last year.

You watched the recent mayoral debates, and it was so pitiful, that you really, really missed Bill Boner, and wished he was running again. Definitely would be a lot more fun! Your yard sale sign says ‘everything must go’ but your prices say ‘ain’t shit leaving here.’

For the love of God, stop fucking kyaking in Percy Priest.

You are addicted to O’Charley’s Honey Mustard. . .

You see your crush at the liquor store at noon on a Wednesday. MOON PHASES (maybe this year?)

cutters on QVC. —ALLISON LUND

You have two Krogers: the good one and the other one. —ALLISON EVERETT

You’ve been ghosted so much you consider Nashville the most haunted city in America. —RIE RIVERS

You know that the best new live music venue in Nashville is located in an old Kmart. —ANDY GASPARINI

Your new favorite concert venue used to feature “blue light specials.” —JULIE DAVENPORT

Death comes for us all, just as bartaco will come for your neighborhood next. —CHARLIE HARRIS

The year is 2047. There are now four generations of fans watching Moon Taxi on Friday at Live on the Green. —MATTHEW REWINSKI

You know which Old Hickory Boulevard people are talking about. —CAROL REID Free white hood with every 50-gallon purchase. —ALLISON LUND

The first rule of FIGHT CLUB IS: No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service. —ALLISON LUND

You worry your neighbors have forgotten that Nazis are the BAD guys. —STEPHAN SHARP

You thought In-N-Out Burger was the new Déjà Vu after-hours food truck. —JIM FLAUTT Exit/In is out and In-N-Out Burger is in. —KEN LASS

Anyone visiting Geodis Park MUST follow the clear bag policy UNLESS your father violated the Espionage Act. —ANDY GASPARINI Taylor Swift has more pull than your state senator. —KRIS LOTT

You assumed they were referring to the lieutenant governor when you heard a bear was heading to Nashville. —C. GABRIEL

Honorable Mention

You think the city could balance its budget if they taxed every restaurant, bar or hotel that’s using Dolly’s name, image or likeness. —CHARLIE

Honorable Mention

You’re still wringing out your clothes from the Taylor Swift concert. —HILARY JONES

You were able to score tickets to see Taylor Swift but not a spot for your child at the YMCA summer program. —EMILY STEELE

Your bushes are as dead as Titans offense. —KRIS LOTT

You get inexplicably horny driving through the City Cemetery. —ALEX DAUGHERTY

Your favorite food truck has a permanent address. —MIKE MONTGOMERY

You wondered how much sleep Dave Ramsey lost when the student loan forgiveness program came out. —LESLIE HALES

Your Altima has an Insta but not a license plate. —JOE SOUTER

You’re excited to Airbnb your shed for $1,200 a night during the 2029 Super Bowl. —ANDY GASPARINI

You just wrote a song with Steve Poltz. —TERENCE SHINE

You remember when John Rich used to beg to get on stage at the Sutler and they wouldn’t allow it. —SCOTT GORDON

You sublet your house every SEC Tournament to Kentucky fans, who then leave after one night. —THOMAS STILL

You observed a moment of silence for the five-year anniversary of the death of the Antioch IKEA. —C. GABRIEL

You saw George before he was Michael Shannon. —SCOTT GORDON

Your airport has a Ferrari dealership. —JAMIE YOST

You take an Uber to Radnor Lake. —MAGGIE O’NEILL

Your professional sports teams’ general managers’ unemployment rate is higher than the city’s. —KEN LASS

You bet on the height of the meringue on Miss Linda’s Chocolate Meringue Pie at the Soda Shop. —DENISE VOLZ

You took the last train to Clarksburg. —JAMIE YOST

Your airport’s cellphone waiting lot is the I-40 exit ramp to the airport. —CLIFTON KAISER

You really love BNA’s new cellphone waiting area conveniently located in Smyrna. —ANDY GASPARINI

If your dad had been born in 1895, you’d be ready to hang it up too. —TRENT HANNER

You know who Kid Oak is. —BAILEY VEACH

You deleted your Tinder account and now just shoot your shot on the East Nashville Rooms for Rent Facebook page. —MATTHEW BARTLEY

With all of the Vern graffiti, you wonder if Panda is alright. —CHRIS FRAKER

Your first job is working at Sounds games, but your WeGo route doesn’t

run on weekends. —JADE SWAFFORD

You have to give up your downtown gig money to park downtown trying to earn a little gig money. —MARK SHENKEL

You’ve been pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving because you were avoiding potholes. —DAVID BENNETT

You’ve entered the Land of the Lost through one of Nashville’s premier pothole time portals. —CHADWICK NOTTINGHAM

One of your hoodies has been washed 100 times and it still smells like Sportsman’s Grille. —MATTHEW REWINSKI

When you serve pie, you cut it into five weird shapes and then give everyone a piece of dog crap instead. —BRIAN SWENSON

You signed a chatbot to a publishing deal. —ANDY LOGAN

You’re still waiting for Antioch to “pop.” —DANIEL RYAN

You’ve witnessed the full cycle of East Nashville from (broke) unemployed musicians to (generationally wealthy) unemployed musicians. —DANIEL RYAN

You try to make it to breakfast by 9:30 before the bachelorettes wake up. —TYLER BRASHER

You get aroused by reading the “pornographic” passages of bestselling novels out loud at your local school board meetings. —KEITH HEIM

Your pastor unironically tells the congregation that teachers are indoctrinating kids while all of the 3- to 4-year-olds are in Sunday school. —KEITH HEIM

You’re becoming increasingly disturbed by the Morgan & Morgan billboards. —JAMIE YOST

You think Midtown should just be called Vanderbilt. —RICK GUIDEN

You Google “How to recycle YASNIs about Nashville into YASNIs about Monarch.” —HILARY JONES

You’ve named all the Hillwood Boulevard Turkeys, but worried cause you haven’t seen them in a couple days. —DENISE VOLZ

You’ve stolen a mini bike from an unsuspecting Shriner. —KATHERINE SKOPIK

The only Tennessee Pride you can handle is sausage on your plate. —HEATHER BURWELL

You didn’t watch the coronation because the only royalty you recognize is Dolly. —ALLISON EVERETT

You attended George Santos’ induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. —RANDY SMITH

You’ve ever heard yourself on the radio … at your day job. —KEITH BROGDON

When your neighbor dies of old age, you bring a covered dish, an all-cash offer and a demolition crew. —JIM FLAUTT

Past Winners:

1989: You think our Parthenon is better because the other one fell apart.

—Susan Fenton

1990: Your mayor is married and engaged at the same time.

—Maralee Self

1991: You say to the person behind the counter at the Hot Stop, “We really kicked y’all’s ass in that Desert Storm.” —Willie D. Sweet Jr.

1992: You go to a Hank Williams Jr. concert at Starwood and pass out before Hank does. —Ted W. Davis III

1993: Your church congregation is referred to as “the studio audience.”

—Sharon Kasserman

1994: You think that the H.O.V. lane is for people with AIDS. —Paul Allen

1995: No winner

1996: You never meant to stay here this long. —Robert Jetton

1997: You’ve checked your flower bed for Janet March. —Terry Robertson

1998: You’re the only one who doesn’t know you’re gay. —Diana Hecht

1999: You dig up your mom. —Rick Hagey

2000: You want to vote Brad Schmitt off the island. —Chad Tribble

2001: Your minister follows the Nine Commandments. —Ken Lass

2002: Towns you’ve never heard of are going to be hit by a tornado at 6:51, 6:53 and 7:01 p.m. —Rick Hagey

2003: You returned a friendly Southern wave to Adam Dread as he veered across Franklin Pike. —Cindy Parrish

2004: You need a war to sell records.

—Joe Scutella

2005: Your governor gives TennCare beneficiaries McDonald’s instead of health care coverage. —Ken Lass

2006: You were a gay cowboy before being a gay cowboy was cool.

—Michael Williams

2007: You saw Kenny Chesney in a Kroger reading Out & About

—Michael Williams

2008: Your DUI arrest gets a five-star rating on YouTube. —Roy Moore

2009: Your local GOP makes the KKK look like the ACLU. —Jonathan Belcher

2010: Your city flooded and all you got was a lousy T-shirt. —David Anthony

2011: Gay gay gay, gay gay; gay gay gay gay gay. —Dana Delworth

2012: You think Bart Durham should direct The Real Housewives of Nashville

—Holly Matthews

2013: You think the TV show should have been called Mount Juliette.

—Bill Hench

2014: Your amp goes to 11, but not to Belle Meade. —Zack Bennett

2015: You’re afraid Bob Mueller’s mustache will be torn down to build a high-rise apartment building.

—Zack Bennett

2016: Your therapist doesn’t know you’re gay. —Russell Ries Jr.

2017: In June, you were citing Rule No. 48.24-B that states a goal can be reviewed if an inadvertent whistle caused a stoppage in play. In January, you thought hockey was played with a ball. —Brian Bates

2018: Nashville is canceled. Also, the TV show was not renewed.

—Charlie Harris

2019: Your idea of “light rail” means doing just a little bit of coke.

—Katie Wesolek

2020: Your idea of contact tracing is checking for hand stamps from Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk & Rock ’N’ Roll Steakhouse.

—Megan Minarich

2021: You think Derrick Henry offseason workout vids should be flagged as erotica.

—Chase Stejskal

2022: You’ve been on the darkweb trying to solicit trash pickup.

—Logan Elliott

JULY

THE

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CRITICS’ PICKS

WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF THINGS TO DO

the movie’s approach and execution are — most notably that grotesque and freaky Baby — the theme is relatively simple: Fatherhood is scary. Lynch has admitted that Eraserhead was inspired at least in part by the birth of his daughter Jennifer (herself now an accomplished filmmaker), though he’s also said a bunch of vague, Lynchian stuff about it, telling BAFTA in 2007 that it was his “most spiritual film” before refusing to elaborate further. The fine folks at the Belcourt Theatre keep the tradition alive this weekend with a midnight screening. While you’re there, pour one out (metaphorically speaking, of course) for star and frequent Lynch collaborator Jack Nance, whose story was as tragic as his hair was tall. Midnight at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave.

DANCE

SATURDAY / 7.22

MUSIC [VERSATILE PIANIST] KELLI COX

THURSDAY / 7.20

[OH BOY]

MUSIC

BOY GEORGE AND CULTURE CLUB

It’ll be a Thursday night packed with ’80s pop hits when Boy George and Culture Club bring The Letting It Go Show tour to Nashville. “Catharsis” is the word when the beat drops on “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me,” one of the group’s best, and I don’t always know exactly what the lyrics mean, but the vibes are clear in songs like “Karma Chameleon” and “I’ll Tumble 4 Ya” — you’re supposed to dance. Joining the tour are two more ’80s heavyweights, Berlin and Howard Jones (the synth-pop Brit, not the current candidate for Nashville’s Metro Council). Having seen each of these bands live before, I can safely say this is a stacked show. Berlin frontwoman Terri Nunn is every bit the rock star as the better-known acts of her era, and her stage presence and voice endure. You’ll recognize “Take My Breath Away” from the Top Gun soundtrack, of course, and “No More Words” is a personal favorite breakup song. Jones will

round out the show with his peppy keyboard creations, including a very important pickme-up: “Things Can Only Get Better.” 7 p.m. at Ascend Amphitheater, 310 First Ave. S. HANNAH HERNER

FRIDAY / 7.21

FILM

[THE HIGHER THE HAIR ...]

MIDNIGHT MOVIE: ERASERHEAD

Before Twin Peaks, before Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet and even his take on The Elephant Man, there was David Lynch’s 1977 feature debut Eraserhead. Conceived in the early ’70s while Lynch was a student at the AFI Conservatory in Los Angeles, the surrealist black-and-white outing was a labor of love a long time in the making. While some critics panned Eraserhead at the time of its release, it attracted a devoted fan base, securing Lynch’s reputation as a filmmaker’s filmmaker and landing among the decade’s most beloved midnightmovie staples. The thing is, as weird as

[THE FUTURE OF DANCE]

NASHVILLE DANCE FESTIVAL

Nashville’s reputation as a center for dance is well documented, with Nashville Ballet often leading the way in terms of dynamic new works and innovative collaboration. With this weekend’s inaugural Nashville Dance Festival, the company promises to continue that trend while celebrating some talented young artists. The new event will feature a variety of both classical and contemporary works (including a sneak preview of Nashville Ballet’s upcoming season), performed by dancers from the School of Nashville Ballet’s Choreographic Intensive, guests from Collage Dance Collective in Memphis and Dance Theatre of Harlem, plus Nashville Ballet company dancers and members of the second company, NB2. It’s a great way for dance lovers to experience a wide range of styles and performances in a relaxed, family-friendly atmosphere. 7 p.m. at Belmont’s Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, 2020 Belmont Blvd.

It’s a big weekend for Nashville Jazz Workshop, with two concerts spotlighting top local talent. The first features pianist Kelli Cox, who’s getting more attention locally as a fine soloist. Her idiomatic versatility is evident during her shows heading her band The Kelli Cox Collaborative. Both throughout those shows and on the group’s recent releases, Cox demonstrates an admirable flair and facility while performing both mainstream jazz and contemporary popular tunes. A native of Denver, Cox has been a professional since her teen years, and her list of collaborators ranges from Richard Marx and LeAnn Rimes to CeCe Winans and Bobby Vinton. Despite being a busy and in-demand artist who appears at several festivals throughout the year, Cox is also very involved with jazz education and mentorship and spends a good amount of time interacting with the next generation of emerging jazz musicians. Her talents as a leader and player will be on display Saturday night at Nashville Jazz Workshop’s Jazz Cave. 7:30 p.m. at Nashville Jazz Workshop, 1012 Buchanan St. RON WYNN

[COME TO THE CABARET!]

THEATER

JASON DANIELEY

Over the past 25 years, Jason Danieley has dazzled audiences on Broadway, in some of the world’s finest concert halls and via multiple filmed performances on PBS. This weekend, Nashville audiences can check out this award-winning artist, as Tennessee Performing Arts Center and Studio Tenn Theatre Company kick off the third year of their Cabaret on Stage series with Jason Danieley: Without a Song. Billed as something of a “musical memoir,” the program will showcase songs from Danieley’s Broadway career — including shows such as Curtains, The Full Monty and

Next to Normal (in which he performed opposite his late wife, Tony nominee Marin Mazzie). But audiences can also look forward to an intimate evening of jazz standards and “songs that musically marked significant moments of his personal and professional life.” 8 p.m. at TPAC’s James K. Polk Theater, 505 Deaderick St. AMY

[THE NIGHT TRAIN IS BRINGIN’ ME HOME] NEW YORK NIGHT TRAIN SOUL CLAP & DANCE-OFF

For more than a decade-and-a-half, New York City’s sultan of vinyl Jonathan Toubin has been toting his superior collection of soul and rock ’n’ roll 45s to nightclubs, warehouses, music fests and various holesin-the-wall across the nation and around the globe. The noted DJ’s New York Night Train Soul Clap & Dance-Off has earned praise from the likes of The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker and The Village Voice thanks to its good-time vintage vibes and Toubin’s seemingly bottomless collection of hard-to-find records. The dance-off portions of Toubin’s Night Train events are the stuff of legend, with at least one happy couple having met and fallen in love during the witching-hour dance-floor showdown. On Saturday night, Toubin and his crates of wax will return to Nashville for an installment at Brooklyn Bowl, with an opening set from relative newcomers Crystal Egg — who make a radical form of synthesizer-centric, thumping rock ’n’ roll. Doors are at 7, show is at 9, dance party is at 10, and the local-celeb-judged dance-off goes down at midnight. 9 p.m. at Brooklyn Bowl, 925 Third Ave. N. D.

MUSIC [MANNERS MAKETH MAN] MAN ON MAN

Sexual orientation or gender identity don’t always have to be part of the discussion about artistic expression by folks in the LGBTQ community; sometimes those aspects of a person’s life play a big role in what they have to say, and just as often they don’t. When queer artists choose to make art about being queer, that’s a valuable opportunity for everyone to share in the spectrum of their experience. And when Man on Man — that’s the NYC rock duo of Faith No More co-founder Roddy Bottum and his partner, fellow longtime musician and onetime Middle Tennessean Joey Holman — does it, it’s a fun trip in the bargain. In June, they released Provincetown, a riff-filled, gnarly, grooving LP whose guitar- and synth-centric sound draws on heavy psych, shoegaze, post-disco pop and more. The lyrics examine the ongoing work of living a rich, joyful life in spite of people who are happy to make you feel small. Among the standout songs is “Gloryhole,” which reflects on how, in many ways, mainstream culture has coopted queer culture instead of showing true support. Album closer “Hush,” meanwhile, features guitar hero J Mascis, and follows a relationship that at least one party wants to keep secret. You could take the refrain “No one’s gotta know / Keep it just between us” as an acknowledgement of the dangers queer people face from hateful assholes, a defiant declaration of independence, or both — a fascinating multitude that you can consider along with the duo when

they stop in at The Blue Room on Friday. Opening is Nashville indie-pop outfit Riley Parker, whose recent EP Discover is a jewel box of finely crafted and emotionally affecting tunes. 8 p.m. at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, 623 Seventh Ave. S.

SUNDAY / 7.23

MUSIC

[MOORE IS MORE]

BRANDON MOORE BIG BAND

Composer, arranger, educator and multi-instrumentalist Brandon Moore has assembled an exciting new big band with many of the city’s and region’s finest players. The distinguished list of contributors includes Moore and four other saxophonists, four trumpeters and trombonists, plus a fine rhythm section. This represents the latest step for Moore, who also has extensive academic credentials within the music world, having won a DownBeat Student Music Award and having been selected as an Outstanding Soloist in the Graduate Jazz Soloist category in 2018. The holder of both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in saxophone and jazz studies, respectively, he’s also collaborated with a number of top players across multiple genres. That list includes Brett Eldredge, Dan & Shay, Hugh Jackman, Thomas Rhett, Pat Coil, Duffy Jackson, Joel Frahm, Don Aliquo, Danny Gottlieb and others. Moore’s compositions and arrangements have been performed by artists such as The Airmen of Note, Chris Potter, One O’Clock Lab Band, Joe McBride and Eric Scortia. Sunday he’ll be headlining this fine new big band in the second of two weekend concerts being held at the Nashville Jazz Workshop’s Jazz Cave. 7:30 p.m. at Nashville Jazz Workshop, 1012 Buchanan St. RON WYNN

MUSIC

[RIPPED TOUR]

SAD SUMMER FEST

It’s summer, and that means it’s time for everyone’s favorite touring pop-punk music festival sponsored by a popular shoe brand. That’s right: Get ready for the Sad Summer Fest, brought to you by Converse and shopping mall shoe store staple Journeys — what, were you thinking about

something else? The 16-stop festival first kicked off in 2019 and features bands from pop punk’s heady Aughties heyday (this year’s lineup includes Taking Back Sunday, The Maine and Motion City Soundtrack) and newer artists who’ve kept the genre’s flame burning into the 2020s. Among these younger acts, I’d be most excited to catch Australia’s Stand Atlantic. Their 2020 record Pink Elephant is a well-performed and just plain fun nod to late-Aughts Fueled by Ramen acts, and it’s also a great album to listen to if, hypothetically, you’ve just graduated during a global pandemic and are learning how to skateboard in the empty parking decks of your abandoned college town. (Hypothetically.) Also check out Mom Jeans and Hot Mulligan, who represent guitar-driven emo music’s shift from the hooky pop rock typified by bands like All Time Low — or The Maine, for that matter — toward the folded-beanie, math-rocktinged Midwest emo of the later 2010s. 2 p.m. at Ascend Amphitheater, 310 First Ave. S. COLE VILLENA

MONDAY / 7.24

MUSIC

artists Max and Jax as their openers. At their reunion show in 2022, I discovered that Nickelodeon had done a phenomenal job of implanting Big Time Rush, both on screen and off, into my head. I could sing nearly every word, despite not having listened to them (much) since their hiatus in 2014. After posting encouraging videos during the pandemic, Kendall, Logan, James and Carlos listened to the clamor of their fans and are now touring to promote Another Life, their first album in a decade. The pop group does their utmost to make each show high-energy, and the atmosphere is electric. This boy band has grown up over the past decade, and — even with a reported set list of more than 20 songs — fans just can’t get enough. 6 p.m. at Ascend Amphitheater, 310 First Ave. S. KARIN MATHIS

MUSIC [KISS CITY] BLONDSHELL

Honestly, I stopped listening to rock lyrics a long time ago. If I had to pinpoint when exactly, it’d probably be when this Foo Fighters chorus went mainstream: “There goes my hero / Watch him as he goes.” But when Blondshell released its self-titled debut earlier this summer, I started paying attention to lyrics again. The indie-rock band is led by 25-year-old Sabrina Teitelbaum, and I’ve been blasting her album in my car at full volume, floored by how deeply her words cut. Check out the opening to her revenge scorcher, “Salad”: “Keep an eye out for his pickup / I know all about it / I would take a gun out / Put some poison in his salad / And it wouldn’t be so bad / It wouldn’t hurt the world / Look what you did / You’ll make a killer of a Jewish girl.” The only genre with that kind of short-form storytelling is … well, country. So listen up. NYC three-piece Hello Mary opens at The Blue Room. 8 p.m. at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, 623 Seventh Ave. S. TOBY ROSE

MUSIC [ALL NIGHT RADIOS] MERCY BELL

TIME RUSH

[GOTTA LIVE IT BIG TIME] BIG

After thinking about us worldwide, Big Time Rush returns to Nashville with

Nashville singer and songwriter Mercy Bell catches the conflicted tone of ’90s country on her 2021 EP Golden Child Bell, who was born in Boston and moved to town in 2012, makes music that references country without being the thing itself. I wouldn’t call Golden Child and Bell’s self-titled 2019 full-length Americana,

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for that matter — her conception seems guided by both commercial ’70s soft rock and the dictates of musical theater. In that respect, Bell has more in common with, say, Nashville soul-rock-pop artist Nicole Atkins than with country rocker Margo Price. Golden Child finds Bell mentioning shopping at Walgreens in two songs, while “The Hustler” is a critique of the hypocrisy of suburbanites. Golden Child amounts to a scaled-down version of post-Garth Brooks country that catches the longing — and the sense of all-American distance — that you hear in tracks by Patty Loveless and Kathy Mattea. I like the strings and horns that help define the sound of her self-titled 2019 album, and Bell’s songwriting is at a peak on the record’s “Black Dress” and “Dynamite.” Bell says she’s working on the music for a forthcoming musical that’s based on Tracy Baim and Owen Keehnen’s 2011 book about queer activism in Chicago, Leatherman: The Legend of Chuck Renslow. She also has a five-song EP produced by Little Bandit leader Alex Caress set for release later in the summer. Fauna Halo and Gil Costello open. 7 p.m. at The Basement, 1604 Eighth Ave. S. EDD HURT

MUSIC [ROCK ’N’ ROLL MYSTICS] GRETA VAN FLEET

Nashville-based hard rockers Greta Van Fleet have a new album Starcatcher, which hits stores and streaming services on Friday. It is the band’s third full-length studio album for Lava/Republic and has already yielded one hit, “Meet the Master,” which went to No. 12 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart. GVF recorded the album in early 2022 at historic RCA Studio A with producer David Cobb, and under his direction, the group expanded its classicrock-inspired mystical musical vision. On Monday, three days after the album’s release, the Grammy-winning rock quartet will kick off the Starcatcher World Tour in their adopted hometown with a headlining show at Bridgestone Arena. Greta Van Fleet first came to fame on the strength of their live performances, and they remain a dynamic live band, with bassist Sam Kiszka and his childhood friend/drummer Danny Wagner holding down the bottom while the Kiszka twins — lead vocalist

Josh and emerging guitar god Jake — soar. Nashville fans will see the first of 21 U.S. dates currently scheduled, the first of 10 with Icelandic blues rock band Kaleo as the opener. 7:30 p.m. at Bridgestone Arena, 501 Broadway DARYL SANDERS

TUESDAY / 7.25

MUSIC

[HEAR IT IN THIS LIFE]

MAGGIE ROGERS

If YouTube disappeared tomorrow, I’d contact NYU directly for the 2016 footage of Maggie Rogers, then a student, reducing Pharrell Williams to tears with an early cut of “Alaska.” The moment and song vaulted Rogers to fame that year, burnishing her reputation as an ascendant star. She backed it up two years later with Heard It in a Past Life, a staple album stamped with Rogers’ songwriting and production credits that rolls together dance music, wistful folk and sing-along pop. Outwardly obsessed with the craft of writing songs, Rogers has used her platform to defend reproductive rights and advocate

for responsible climate policy, endearing her to fans as a friend you just haven’t met yet. She chided the audience at the Ryman in 2019 for not dancing enough, a problem she hopes to avoid with much more space (and a pit) at her show at Ascend. 8 p.m. at Ascend Amphitheater, 310 First Ave. S. ELI MOTYCKA

MUSIC [DYNAMIC DUO]

JPEGMAFIA AND DANNY BROWN

Rap is mainstream now, and many of its biggest artists follow trends and industry standards, save for some old-guard traditionalists. When you consider all that, JPEGMafia and Danny Brown stand out as fearless, even transgressive artists in the genre. Their collaboration Scaring the Hoes provides 14 quick tracks featuring rapper-producer Peggy’s brilliant brand of chaotic beatsmithing: crunchy staticky noises, clever sampling, plenty of synths and elements of punk rock and industrial. It’s also fun to hear Danny Brown return to more experimental styles following 2019’s more restrained (but quite good) U Know What I’m Sayin? It can be a dizzying affair when you mix in both MCs’ rapid deliveries, but the chemistry and enthusiasm are undeniable. Fans of loud sounds, surreal bars and drug-fueled debauchery are in for a face-melting good time. 8:30 p.m. at Marathon Music Works, 1402 Clinton St. ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

MUSIC [OUT MY BACK DOOR] JOHN FOGERTY

It’s great to read that 1960s songwriter and singer John Fogerty got the publishing rights to his song catalog early this year after he spent decades fighting to gain control of his tunes. Since Fogerty wrote some of the most famous songs of the late ’60s — you might know “Proud Mary,” “Lodi” and “Bad Moon Rising,” all of which Fogerty sang with Creedence Clearwater Revival — his song bag contains significant monetary and cultural value. As a listener who heard Creedence on the radio in the late ’60s and early ’70s and watched, say, Ike & Tina Turner apply soul-revue techniques to “Proud Mary” on television, I think Fogerty is one of the greatest songwriters of the

era. Although I like Creedence’s records, I find a lot of them somewhat mechanical, which might mean Fogerty was a genius of simplicity who never allowed anything extraneous to get in the way of his postrockabilly guitar playing and his strident but expressive vocals. In other words, Fogerty’s work seems tied to a specific era in a way that Lennon and McCartney’s and Joni Mitchell’s don’t — you can hear the contradictions of a very troubled period on what might be Creedence’s best album, 1969’s Willy and the Poor Boys. After Creedence broke up, Fogerty soldiered on, but I don’t have much to say about solo hits like “Centerfield,” from 1985 — by then the ’60s were really over. As did many other ’60s artists, Fogerty lost his context when the decade ended, and that was an unfortunate turn of events for a songwriter who had helped to shape its sensibility. 7 p.m. at FirstBank Amphitheater, 4525 Graystone Quarry Lane, Franklin EDD HURT

[COME ON HOME, GIRL]

ANN WILSON AND TRIPSITTER

Seattle’s 1970s-bred hard rockers Heart have sold tens of millions of records, earned a well-deserved spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and served as a source of inspiration for countless young women entering the arena of rock ’n’ roll. They also released one of the most kickass debut LPs of all time with 1975’s Dreamboat Annie, the A-side of which alone features “Magic Man” (!), “Crazy on You” (!!) and two versions of the title track (!!!). Of course, not a lick of that would’ve been possible without frontwoman Ann Wilson, possessor of one of the most iconic voices in classic rock. Wilson is still out there on the road touring, and recent set lists show that — in addition to tunes from her solo catalog — the legendary rocker and her backing band Tripsitter are still performing all the Heart staples you hope to hear, along with a few covers (including one or two tunes by Heart’s spiritual siblings Led Zeppelin). Pay tribute to the legend Tuesday night. 8 p.m. at Brooklyn Bowl, 925 Third Ave. N.

WALDO

WEDNESDAY / 7.26

[EVERYDAY FOLK]

MUSIC

JAKE XERXES FUSSELL

It could be that the subject matter of the folk tunes North Carolina guitarist and singer Jake Xerxes Fussell plays on his 2022 album Good and Green Again is somewhat irrelevant to the overall effect of Fussell’s music. Good and Green Again is an impeccably played and thoughtfully arranged album that stands as a good example of modern folk music. For example, Fussell interprets a tune, “The Golden Willow Tree,” that was published in the late 19th century as part of the famed Child Ballads. The song — a sea shanty — has also been performed as “The Sweet Trinity,” and Kentucky banjo player and singer Justus Begley recorded it in 1937 in a version that’s slightly anarchic. Meanwhile, Aaron Copland did a thorough reharmonization of the song in 1952. Fussell’s take on the tune comes across as a trifle genteel, but he knows how to exploit the modal melodies of the folk songs he plays. Good and Green Again also features a turn by well-known folk singer Will Oldham on “Love Farewell.” At his best, Fussell transforms his material, and it’s hard not to be charmed by the album’s “What Did the Hen Duck Say to the Drake?,” which is an instrumental that gives Fussell a chance to show off his chops. I’ve seen recent footage of Fussell playing Nick Lowe’s “I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass,” and I wonder how future folk-song collectors will interpret Lowe’s cheerful ode to the joys of random violence. Singer-songwriter Sam Moss opens. 7 p.m. at The Basement, 1604 Eighth Ave. S. EDD HURT

MUSIC

[THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT] YEAH! BENEFIT FEAT. THE LITTLE UGLIES, HENNESSY MARGARET & COLBY MILLER

Since the inaugural Southern Girls Rock ’n’ Roll Camp in 2003, the organization that evolved into Youth Empowerment through Arts and Humanities — that’s YEAH! to you — has been a community pillar, breaking down barriers to artistic expression for kids across the Midstate and showing them how powerful their voices are. The pandemic put the nonprofit’s programming on pause, but the leadership team, staff and volunteers built up a stellar suite of programs for 2023 that included the Summer Jam camp and springtime weekly Rock Block program for youth ages 11 to 17, as well as the Ready2Rock summer camp for ages 5 to 10. All of the programs involve age-appropriate lessons in performance and songwriting, supervised band practice and workshops on related topics from live sound to arts advocacy and beyond. These programs run on lots of volunteer hours; I put in a slew of them myself when I was a student at MTSU, and they’re still some of my best memories, so you should absolutely volunteer your time if you can! But there are plenty of aspects of running these programs that require money, and you can help with that as well by heading over to The 5 Spot for Wednesday evening’s benefit show. If the cause is the reason to come, the music is the reason to stay. Check out wide-ranging folkschooled songsmith Colby Miller; Amelia Rossettie and Maria Malafronte’s soul-, pop- and folk-inspired project Hennessy Margaret; and The Little Uglies, a group of touring and session aces backing up the Southern-rock-informed songwriting of frontman Dutch Noss. 6 p.m. at The 5 Spot, 1106 Forrest Ave. STEPHEN TRAGESER

RECIPE CONTEST!

To register or for more details: tomatoartfest.com/events/recipecontest

The winning entry will get the Chef Hadley Long treatment and be featured on the menu at Margot Cafe & Bar TAF weekend.

CATEGORY IS

The recipes should be inspired by the classic BLT, but do not have to be a BLT sandwich. Be creative, whether that’s a soup, pastry, quiche, salsa or otherwise.

A TAJ OF CLASS

South Nashville institution Taj Indian Restaurant continues to delight in revamped location

For many years, Taj was one of South Nashville’s few trueblue Indian restaurants. While Nashville itself has long had a reputation for excellent Indian cuisine, especially east and west of downtown, South Nashville has flown a bit more under the radar — though a major exception was Taj Indian Restaurant. And what an exception it was. With an unassuming exterior that belied the flavors inside, Taj offered a combination of deliciously diverse Northern Indian specialities and a solid lunch buffet that made it not only the best Indian in South Nashville, but one of the finest Indian outposts in the entire city.

Taj has since moved out of its longtime Nolensville Pike home, opting this spring for a brand-new location at the intersection of Nolensville Pike and Harding Place that anchors a revitalized plaza of restaurants and shops. The interior is spacious, modern and flooded with natural light, a welcome change from the darker interior of Taj’s original location. Taj’s move can also be seen as something of a power play amid Nashville’s booming Indian scene. Plenty of new Indian spots have cropped up throughout the city over the past few years — from Nawabi Hyderabad House just off West End and Vivek Surti’s acclaimed, high-concept Tailor in Germantown, to Taj’s new neighbors Surati and Eggholic — which adds an element of competition. Taj appears to have risen to the challenge, offering not just a pleasantly refreshed dining experience, but a menu that seems to have expanded in both breadth and quality from when we last left it.

The menu has variety in spades — and while it’s not the biggest menu in Nashville, it is certainly high in the rankings. Many celebrity chefs will tell you that an overlong menu is a sign of mediocrity, but Taj is one of the few restaurants I trust to deliver regardless of the number of choices. True, there are several shared ingredients and styles of curry on the menu, meaning that it perhaps isn’t as complicated as it may appear. But big-time credit is due to Taj’s furiously busy kitchen, which delivers consistently and deliciously, especially fresh off a move. From complex curries to freshly baked garlic naan and street foods like pakora and chaat, Taj is a restaurant where the big menu supplies a big boost.

I mention the chaat for a reason — it’s a must-order. While Taj’s selection of other appetizers is impressive, with plenty of grilled meats and golden-fried morsels to choose from, the aloo tikki chaat might be one of the tastiest appetizers in Nashville. Spiced potato (aloo) patties come delicately fried, topped with yogurt, crispy chickpea noodles

and chutney, creating a dish that leaves you with more questions than answers. Is it sweet or sour? Spicy or tangy? Is the vibrant masala spice the star of the show, or is it the ingenious blend of toppings? These dilemmas are what make Indian cuisine so fascinating and delicious, and you won’t find a better representative than this dish. But we don’t go to Taj for the appetizers alone. The appetizers and soups take up only one page of the sizable menu, with the remainder divided between dozens of curries, biryanis, Indo-Chinese fusion dishes and tandoor-roasted meats. Of the latter, classic tandoori chicken and satisfying boti lamb kabab are my personal favorites, while the goat biryani and Indo-Chinese paneer chili are standouts from other parts of the menu. But I’d be remiss not to call out the range of excellent curries, both meat and veg, that Taj has on offer.

If any cuisine could be said to have perfected its vegetarian options, it’s Indian, and Taj dishes like chana masala and aloo gobi ought to draw the veg eaters into a trancelike state. There are of course many other vegetarian options, like my beloved palak paneer, a dish of sautéed spicy spinach and bouncy cubes of paneer cheese (not unlike the en-vogue halloumi). I still give Woodlands the nod for Nashville’s best vegetarian Indian, but Taj is close behind, dishing up a range of options that can entice even the most committed carnivore.

For the meat eaters, classics like butter

chicken and chicken tikka masala take their familiar place on the menu, but for those in search of an alternative path, go for the chicken methi malai. It’s as creamy, spicy and decadent as any korma, while the presence of fresh fenugreek brings out a lovely flavor reminiscent of demerara syrup or brown sugar. I myself love a goat or lamb curry, and I rarely leave Taj without a lamb achari in hand. But there really is something for everybody here.

That’s why the next time I’m at Taj, I’m planning to try something different. Maybe the seekh kabab. Or the vindaloo? Or the Chicken 65? Or the chicken biryani? Or the …

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NO LAUGHING MATTER

Harrison Scott Key’s How to Stay Married is a tragicomic memoir of marital crisis

“When you hear of a friend’s marriage breaking up,” writes Memphis native Harrison Scott Key in the first chapter of How to Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told, “it’s always like, ‘Really? No way. What happened?’” The humorous memoir details his wife’s infidelity, the nearly total collapse of their marriage and the difficult path they follow in the ensuing years to save it. Readers might reasonably expect Key’s telling of “what happened,” including the crisis of his own Christian faith that arises from the event, to be about as funny as a cancer diagnosis.

Readers would be wrong.

Practically every page presents laughout-loud lines about Key, his wife Lauren — who figures heroically in his previous comic memoirs, The World’s Largest Man and Congratulations, Who Are You Again? — and her secret boyfriend. “He has a decorative seashell collection and can’t even grow a beard,” Key writes early on of the boyfriend. “I am not making this up.” By and large, he does not seem to be making up any of the tragicomedy that follows, although he does change the names of his three daughters, the boyfriend and a few ancillary characters. (In a disclaimer at the front to the book, Key quips that he “can provide real names for a small fee.”)

Shortly after learning of Lauren’s affair, Harrison has to give a college lecture titled “Making Sad Things Funny.” He successfully does this throughout How to Stay Married, yet sadness creeps in. As Tolstoy observed nearly 150 years ago, “Each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” and learning, layer by funny layer, of the unhappiness of the Key household makes for an engrossing read. As with many unhappy relationships, seeds of marital distrust had been planted in childhood. In excavating underlying causes of Lauren’s affair, Key provides lessons toward the blithe how-to promised by the title. Most are no-brainers that could be summarized as “do occasional laundry,” “help with the babies” and “know when to seek counseling.”

Key faces his many failings as a husband — in one chapter listing them alphabetically, from ASSFACE to ZINGER. (N is for “I sleep NAKED” and O is for “I OVERSHARE, for example, by telling the world I sleep naked.”) He takes pains to make clear that his book is not a vindictive hit job on Lauren, that she not only approved it but is given the penultimate chapter to summarize the affair, the breakup and the reconciliation from her perspective.

“Being married to a funny person is hard,”

she writes. “We constantly picked on each other.” She frankly describes meeting and gradually falling for “Chad” — the alias both stick to in the book — and feeling like her chapter title, “A Whore in Church.” Her directness — simple, honest and lacking a joke every third line — contrasts with the rest of the book in a way that provides a heartbreaking depth to her husband’s comic riffs.

Writers have, of course, long explored the thin separation between comedy and tragedy. Mark Twain famously wrote, “Inside of the dullest exterior there is a drama, a comedy, and a tragedy.” Updike asked, “Is not the decisive difference between comedy and tragedy that tragedy denies us another chance?” And Mel Brooks explained: “Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.”

How to Stay Married is dimpled with one open sewer after another, yet from the beginning readers are reminded that another chance is coming. When it arrives, Key reflects:

All the yesterdays described in this book feel like a million years in the past, each terrible flesh-eating moment now a fossil buried in memory — fossils that only occasionally get reanimated and try to eat us again.

Key, who holds an MFA as a playwright, once tried as a grad student to rewrite Othello into a comedy called Goats and Monkeys. In oversharing his own marital tragedy, despite the “Taylor Swiftness of it all,” he delivers a truly Shakespearean resolution, one grounded in a mystery “that can only be explained by the most powerful and ridiculous force in the universe: wondrous, impossible, hilarious love.”

For more local book coverage, please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee.

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MOTHERFOLK with BROTHER BIRD

WHITE, THE WILD FEATHERS, THE VEGABONDS with support from JB STRAUSS

ERIN VIANCOURT “WON’T DIE THIS WAY” Album Release Party with MOSE WILSON

The Drums w/ Cold Hart

Shadowgrass W/ LANE BROTHERS

The Wans w/ DE3RA and Iguanahead

Havok & Toxic Holocaust

the criticals

Tessa Violet w/ Frances Forever

Leanna Firestone W/ Abby Cates

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Galactic Empire

a tribute to david bowie

josh meloy

QUEERFEST

orthodox & friends

tribute to led zeppelin

treaty oak revival

the emo night tour

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Grunge Night 9

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old 97's w/ angel white

TRASH PANDA & HOTEL FICTION

MY SO-CALLED BAND

SEAN MCCONNELL W/ Bowen*Young

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A Tribute To Lynryd Skynyrd [9PM]

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Ready Revolution, Mickey Commodore, Tommybomb [9PM}

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Eddie Clendening and the Blue Ribbon Boys

Mercy Bell, Fauna Halo, Gil Costello

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MUSIC GEARING UP: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Catching up with widely traveled musician and Novo Guitars luthier Mariah Schneider

Editor’s note: In our occasional series we call Gearing Up, we profile some of the people around town who make, repair or sell the instruments and other equipment that musicians use.

It’s only been a few years since Mariah Schneider built her first guitar, but you’d never know it. A Nashvillian by way of Germany, she began her professional lutherie career at Novo Guitars less than a year ago.

Still, Schneider has hit milestones at breakneck speed, recently marking her 100th guitar assembly. One build she worked on went to My Chemical Romance guitarist Frank Iero.

Schneider might be new to the craft, but she and guitars go way back. Fascinated with her grandfather’s woodwork, she developed an interest in building guitars before she learned how to play one.

“I think even as a kid I was like, ‘Yeah, he can just build me a guitar, right?’” Schneider tells the Scene. “You should have to kind of cut out the shape and put a string on there, I guess!”

She began playing around age 12, with lessons from a guitar teacher who made sure to show her how to care for and maintain the instrument as she learned to play it. In 2013, she moved to Tennessee from Germany with her family, attending Nashville School of the Arts and later Middle Tennessee State University. She also formed her own rock band, Slider, which has been active in the Nashville music scene since the mid-2010s and released its first album Gravity Waves in 2019.

But it wasn’t until after COVID lockdown that Schneider built her first instrument. One of her friends invited her to join in on a trial run of a guitar-building workshop, and within a few weeks, Schneider had finished her first guitar. Along with mentorship from other friends — including one who is a tech at Guitar

Center and another who works for Fender — Schneider taught herself the fine art of turning a pile of parts into an instrument that’s ready to sing, hum, growl or anything else a player could ask of it.

At the same time, she was busy touring the world, playing guitar in Julien Baker’s band during the album cycle for Baker’s 2021 record Little Oblivions (which included The Wild Hearts Tour’s stop at the Ryman in July 2022). As Baker’s tour came to a close late last year, Schneider began to consider what to do next. She reached out to a friend who worked as the production manager at Novo, a firm launched in 2014 by longtime boutique luthier Dennis Fano, who moved his production facility to Nashville circa 2018. Schneider asked about what it was like to work there, and expressed interest in joining the team if an opening ever came up. A few months later, that’s exactly what happened, and Schneider describes what happened next as a dream.

“I interviewed on Tuesday and had rehearsals Wednesday, Thursday,” she says. “On Thursday, found out I got the job and I would be starting the next Monday. So I rehearsed Thursday, we drove to Atlanta to play our last show of the year on Friday, came back Saturday, and I started my new job at Novo Monday. And there I was, in final assembly.”

Since the fall, Schneider has spent her work weeks putting together a fair share of Novo’s guitars. As one of two employees working in final assembly, she gathers custom-machined necks and bodies, electronics and other hardware for each instrument — which in most cases have been painted, finished and distressed to each customer’s specification — and turns them into a resonant, responsive instrument that’s thoroughly set up and ready to rock.

In her precious spare time, Schneider is always looking for ways to give back to the communities that have given to her. In an industry dominated by men — often older, straight white men at that — Schneider credits much of her success to female and queer friends who eagerly shared their knowledge and expertise.

Inspired by her friends, other content creators and her own success sharing videos of her work on wiring up effectspedal boards on Instagram, Schneider’s next goal is to create guitar- and boardbuilding content with a group of queer friends. She’s eager to give others a chance to learn more about topics they are passionate about from people whose experiences reflect their own.

Schneider isn’t going to let making music fall by the wayside either. In the near future, she’s got a few shows with femme-centered Foo Fighters tribute band Fingernails Are Pretty. And there’s more to come from Slider: a new album, new shows and even a new band member.

“Without the queer music scene, I actually wouldn’t know my friend who works at Fender. So I think absolutely, that’s just brought me so much joy — whether I just hang out with friends on the side or I actually actively play music.”

EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

PANNING OUT

Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway sing of big dreams on City of Gold

If you’ve ever seen Molly Tuttle perform live, you know that her band Golden Highway is one of the best in the game, bluegrass or otherwise. Over the past several years, the singer-songwriter and virtuosic guitarist has logged some serious miles with her band, a talented group of players with a natural, easy chemistry and chops for days.

It’s fitting, then, that Tuttle would record her new album City of Gold, out Friday, with the band she knows so well. What’s surprising about the move is that it’s the Grammy-winning artist’s first time bringing the band into the studio, allowing Tuttle and co-producer Jerry Douglas more room to capture the ensemble’s electric live energy in recorded form.

“In a way, it’s a lot more challenging [to record that way], because we’re so used to putting on the show,” Tuttle tells the Scene, calling during some downtime in Missoula, Mont. “But it’s completely different than when you get into the studio and everything’s under a microscope. You’re working totally different hours. You’re hyperfocused on these songs. It made us grow a lot as a band. I think it made us a better band.”

It’s hard to imagine Tuttle and Golden Highway becoming any better than they already were, particularly given the accolades they’ve racked up in recent years. Tuttle’s 2022 release Crooked Tree took home Best Bluegrass Album at this year’s Grammy Awards, while she was also nominated in the coveted all-genre Best New Artist category. These honors come after strings of International Bluegrass Music Association wins — including Tuttle’s historic win for Guitar Player of the Year, a first for a woman artist — and Americana Music Association honors, among other awards.

City of Gold is Tuttle’s best work yet. Where Crooked Tree veered more into traditional bluegrass territory than Tuttle’s previous releases, the new LP showcases the full spectrum of Tuttle’s talents and influences, which — as hinted on her lockdown-era covers EPs …But I’d Rather Be With You and …But I’d Rather Be With You, Too — span not just bluegrass but folk, pop-oriented rock and even country. Douglas’ production lends itself well to this blend, as the dobro master and roots-music fixture knows a thing or two about approaching traditional music in nontraditional ways. Tuttle says Douglas helped the group “fine-tune the music even more.”

The record opens with “El Dorado,” an almosttitular track as the phrase is the Spanish name for the mythical City of Gold. Tuttle, who was born and raised in California, first found inspiration in the El Dorado story as a child on a field trip. The sense of wonder lingered, and she and co-writer Ketch Secor channeled it into the song — a dusky, rollicking, rambling story of snake oil and fortune seeking.

“We just started coming up with all these interesting characters that we imagined might have come to California during the Gold Rush and tried to strike it rich in all these different ways,” says Tuttle. “For me, music is my city of gold. And I’m always kind of chasing the next song, the next wave of inspiration. I’m not doing this to get rich, per se, but I think we all have something like that, that we’re chasing after.”

Tuttle co-wrote all of City of Gold’s songs with Secor, their shared narrative sensibilities and individual predilections fusing into a vivid, image-rich collection of quirky characters, intriguing locales and sharp observation. “Where Did All the Wild Things Go?” puts a face on the concept of gentrification, lamenting the loss of character that often happens when cities grow.

“We were riffing on that book, Where the Wild Things Are, and started talking about Nashville,” she says. “Everyone who lives in Nashville, you hear a lot about the ‘old Nashville.’ I’ve lived here eight years, so I don’t think I was around for most of the ‘old Nashville’ days. But I still feel the echoes of that. And I grew up near San Francisco. That’s a good example. When I was a kid, and when my mom was growing up in the area, it was really this wild place. Everyone was experimenting with new ideas. Now that character’s changed, as well.”

Other highlights on City of Gold include “Down Home Dispensary,” a catchy, playful plea for legal-

PERPETUAL MOTION

Kurt Vile appraises the journey on (Watch My Moves)

Kurt Vile’s latest album (Watch My Moves) is a pathway, one that listeners are meant to wander. Maybe you’ll forget where you’re going for a moment as you become immersed in the psych-folk-rocker’s dazed melodies, whimsical strumming and characteristic cooing. You’ll observe a few things along the way and maybe glean some insight. Regardless, the journey will be mellow.

Released in April 2022, (Watch My Moves) is Vile’s ninth studio album — counting Lotta Sea Lice, his 2017 collab with Courtney Barnett, but skipping his work with The War on Drugs — and his first album for jazz-centric label Verve, a recent shift from his longtime relationship with Matador. It offers a glimpse into the experience of constantly touring with his backing band The Violators. The opening track “Goin on a Plane Today” considers the titular activity while casually — if a bit existentially — considering Vile’s life and career. In “Say the Word,” Vile layers meta-lyrical reflections atop smooth-as-as-silk picking: “I wrote the words to this song / Drivin’ from Philly to Amherst / I wrote the words to this song / Sittin’ still in Saskatoon / Words to this song come and go and fly away.”

The theme of movement carries over to our conversation: Vile spoke to the Scene from France, an ocean away from his next visit to Tennessee. Sunday, he and The Violators — with support from alt-country rockers Florry — will be at The Caverns in Pelham, Tenn., a little more than an hour southeast of Nashville.

“We cover ‘Punks in the Beerlight’ pretty much most nights since this record’s come out, so I’ll definitely be thinking about that,” Vile says, noting a tribute to Silver Jews

ized marijuana in the South, and “When My Race Is Run,” a poignant and nuanced exploration of mortality. Closer “The First Time I Fell in Love” is a nostalgic, melodic waltz with an unexpected message, one worth discovering while listening.

With a new album to tour and an overflowing trophy case, Tuttle has much to look forward to in the remainder of 2023. She’ll headline a number of her own dates in addition to supporting Dave Matthews, Dierks Bentley and Charley Crockett. Tuttle and Golden Highway’s next gig in town is Sept. 8 at Cheekwood; a few weeks later, they’ll perform with Jerry Douglas as part of IBMA Bluegrass Live in Raleigh, N.C..

“It’ll be great to get to play the songs with Jerry for the first time outside of the studio,” she says. “And then we’re gonna be announcing some headlining tours all through the fall. It’ll just be a great way to celebrate the record and round out the rest of the year.”

and the late, great David Berman. In 2009, that band played their final show at McMinnville’s Cumberland Caverns, a different Middle Tennessee cave; it’s about the same distance from Music City as The Caverns, in a slightly different direction. “I love Tennessee, anywhere near Nashville,” Vile continues. “The fact that [our show is] in an actual cave, underground — that is ridiculous. In the best way.”

Despite the album’s theme and the extensive traveling Vile has done supporting it, much of (Watch My Moves) was recorded at Vile’s home studio in Philadelphia. It was a matter of necessity, due to COVID, but it gave Vile an excuse to upgrade the studio and settle in. “I didn’t know there was gonna be a pandemic hitting,” he says, “but I could feel something on the horizon, and I was looking forward to woodshedding.”

Some of the songs — including “Jesus on a Wire,” “Cool Water,” which nods to Hank Williams’ rendition of the classic Western tune, and a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s moody deep cut “Wages of Sin” — were already tracked before lockdown, but more followed. While the album doesn’t directly comment on the tumultuous time in history, it’s reminiscent of those early-quarantine days, when we were stuck at home and

forced to look more closely at things around us, both physical and not, that we’d been too distracted to pay close attention to. Nearly every track gives you space to get lost in these considerations, especially instrumental tracks like “Kurt Runner” and “(Shiny Things),” which feel like being stuck in a record’s locked groove.

However, the album was not a solitary endeavor. Alongside contributions from The Violators — including longtime multiinstrumentalist Rob Laakso, who sadly died in May — there are top-notch collaborations throughout. Among others, Sun Ra Arkestra’s James Stewart makes a couple appearances on tenor sax, Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa drums on “Jesus on a Wire” and Julia Shapiro & Co. from Chastity Belt sing with Vile on “Chazzy Don’t Mind.” Rob Schnapf, who’s worked with Vile on previous albums, produced the record.

“It’s just friends that I want to play with often,” Vile says. “I get people involved because they inspire me.”

Speaking of working with people who inspire you: In October 2020, Vile released an EP called Speed, Sound, Lonely KV. That record was made in Nashville with producer David R. Ferguson at The Butcher Shoppe, the Germantown studio and office

space Ferguson shared with John Prine. It includes two Vile originals, one song by the late Cowboy Jack Clement and two Prine covers, namely “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness” and “How Lucky.” The second of those is a duet with Prine himself. Vile also got to sing it with him when Prine played the Grand Ole Opry House on New Year’s Eve, just a few months before Prine died of COVID complications.

“Coming to play Nashville, it was always my dream to get to know John Prine just a little bit,” says Vile. “He showed up, and we got it in two takes. I mean, that’s the beauty of a great song — and I guess the way they work in Nashville. He’s got a laid-back style, but he certainly knows how to play guitar, and he certainly knows how to punch you in the guts and then get you in the heartstrings.”

Whether he’s performing for an audience or focused on doing his best work in the studio, the ability Vile has cultivated to go with the flow continues to serve him well.

“I might have preconceived things I want to do and influences — but it never comes out like you thought it would. I feel like you’re just sort of following it as you go. That’s sort of the excitement. So you never really know until you get there.”

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THE SPIN

HAVE YOU EVER HAD FUN LIKE THIS?

In a silver-sequined sea of light-up cowboy hats, face paint and chainmail tops, the lights at Nissan Stadium went down Saturday night and “Nashville, I love you” came oozing over the speakers as R&B star Beyoncé rose up on a platform in the middle of the stage. Wearing a red-sequined dress that appears to be new to the Renaissance World Tour, she serenaded the crowd with the opening of “Dangerously in Love.” “I love you, I love you, I love you,” she sang. There was no doubt the feeling was mutual.

More than 50,000 of us had been eagerly waiting for the Queen to return to Music City — since at least her 2018 stop with husband Jay-Z, or else since the Formation World Tour came in 2016. And here she was in the flesh, greeting us with an emphatic “Hello!,” thanking us for getting dressed up and for our loyalty, reading our handmade signs. (Happy birthday, Tyrese!) A storm rolled through Nashville as the gates opened in the afternoon; by showtime, the weather was clear, but the threat of a 10 p.m. storm still lingered. Beyoncé instructed: “If it rains, we’re going to dance in that damn rain.”

Who could possibly open for Beyoncé? Why, the Queen herself, of course. The twoand-a-half-hour show began with 25 minutes of older hits like “Flaws and All,” “1+1” and “I Care,” finishing with “River Deep, Mountain High,” a tribute to the late, great Tina Turner. As the set ended, Beyoncé left the stage for the first of many costume changes. Her outfits are well-known, and so are many members of her impressive roster of dancers: Laurent and Larry Bourgeois — French twin brothers also known as Les Twins, to whom Bey referred at one point as her “first set of twins” — thrilled the crowd, as did Honey Balenciaga and Darius Hickman, two other dancers I was excited to see live.

While we waited, the enormous screen showed a full-body image of Beyoncé, curled almost in a fetal position. Starting at her toes and working upward, the on-screen Bey slowly morphed into an otherworldly silver-coated being. The portion of the show focused on her Grammy-winning 2022 LP Renaissance began with album opener “I’m That Girl”: “Please, motherfuckers ain’t stoppin’ me,” came the sample of the late Princess Loko from the P.A., as Bey returned to the stage in a silver Balmain bodysuit. Highlights piled upon highlights, with more stunning costumes than you could shake a designer stick at. In a neon pink Ivy Park original, Beyoncé sang “Cuff It.” Having reached a point in my life at which I openly weep at concerts, I cried all the way through my favorite song from this album. After months of watching “Cuff It” challenge videos, here she was, in person, singing to the thousands of people sharing this experience. After donning a camo bodysuit and the widebrimmed hat from the “Formation” music video, Bey sang crowd favorites “Formation” and “Run the World (Girls),” left again and returned riding a tank. You may think

the tank portion is not the sexiest part of the show, but you are wrong. Perched atop the six-wheeled beast on a three-legged stool and, whenever the vehicle moved, holding on to a pole attached to it, she sang her part of the remix of Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” and her own “Partition.” During the second song, she danced on the pole as the tank rolled off the stage, through an aperture in the screen on which was projected an animation of her open, metallic legs.

She put a spotlight on her backup singers, leaving the stage while they covered Diana Ross’ “Love Hangover.” Upon her return — decked out in my favorite of the Renaissance Tour outfits, a custom Loewe catsuit with trompe l’oeil hands and matching rubber opera gloves — she asked, “Do we have any Virgos?” before launching into “Virgo’s Groove.” I’m a Taurus, but I’m pretty sure I yelled along with all the Virgos. “Heated” was everything I hoped it would be — singing, yelling, ridiculously large hand fans — followed by the dancers having a vogue-style dance-off culminating in a fantastic solo by Honey Balenciaga.

One of the most poignant performances was “Black Parade,” a song celebrating Blackness that Beyoncé released on Juneteenth 2020 following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. At the end, she held her fist in the air; her dancers followed, and pretty soon most of the stadium joined in. Later, I spoke with writer, trans advocate and fellow showgoer Olivia Blake; the symbolism of the fist resonated with her, too, as she pointed out, “This concert was the

epitome of everything the Tennessee GOP is trying to erase: Blackness and queerness.”

After delivering her Kendrick Lamar collab “America Has a Problem” from behind a faux news desk, Bey sang “Pure/Honey” and vanished for a final costume change. She returned wearing her iconic silver Valentino dress with matching thigh-high boots, riding the disco-ball horse from the Renaissance album cover. “I want you to remember this night for five, 10, 15, 20 years,” she said as cables flew her and her sky horse over the stage and she sang the final song of the night, “Summer Renaissance.”

At the end of the stage, the cables lifted her off the horse and over the crowd nearby. All the while, silver confetti rained down, and she said “I love you, I love you,” as if she knew this was the exact refrain we needed to keep in mind once the show was just a memory. Beyoncé: 2. My tear ducts: 0.

EMAIL THESPIN@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

READ OUR REVIEW OF BLINK-182’S STOP AT BRIDGESTONE ARENA AT NASHVILLESCENE.COM/MUSIC

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SPLICES: IT’S BARBENHEIMER TIME

This weekend marks the premiere of massive, memefueled studio releases Barbie and Oppenheimer

Anyone who has any interest in modern cinema knows that this weekend marks the premiere of two massive studio releases — and anyone who pays any attention to social media has seen the memes.

On Friday, July 21, Warner Bros. Pictures’ Greta Gerwig-directed Barbie and Universal Pictures’ Christopher Nolan-helmed Oppenheimer will hit theaters everywhere. While the films — both of which cost between $100 million and $200 million to make — will show at Regal and AMC locations, only Nolan’s joint will also play at beloved local cinema the Belcourt Theater, where the 181-minute movie will screen in 35 mm.

Hollywood is having a field day with the blockbuster showdown. Gerwig and her

star, Barbie herself Margot Robbie, went nuclear-viral proudly showcasing their tickets to an Oppenheimer screening, taking a cue from Tom Cruise and his Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One director Christopher McQuarrie. While as of this writing Nolan has yet to join in on the fun — and according to Insider was “upset” with Warner’s decision to open Barbie against his film — he has said the prospect of a “crowded marketplace” at movie theaters this weekend is “terrific.”

Early screenings for Gerwig’s surrealist Mattel-property comedy and Nolan’s brooding drama about the dawn of the Nuclear Age both took place after the Scene’s press deadline, sadly. But stay tuned to nashvillescene.com for reviews of both.

The seventh Mission: Impossible install-

ment is still in theaters everywhere, of course, as is Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny — both have now crossed the quarter-billiondollar box office mark. Horned-up Asian American comedy Joy Ride is also still at the megaplexes, while sleeper arthouse hit Past Lives — on many a short list for best of the year so far, and referred to by our own Dana Kopp Franklin as “brilliant and achingly romantic” — is continuing its run at the Belcourt. Wes Anderson’s utterly delightful Asteroid City is still showing at both the Belcourt and Regal and AMC locations.

Coming to the Hillsboro Village theater next week is Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman’s let’s-put-on-a-show comedy Theater Camp. (Gordon, whom you’ll recognize from the second season of The Bear, co-wrote, co-directed and co-stars in that one.) Laura Tomaselli and Jesse Short Bull’s very promising documentary Lakota Nation vs. United States will also open soon at the Belcourt. Meanwhile, opening in cineplexes July 28 will be horror offering Talk to Me, which Scene critic Jason Shawhan calls “uncompromising and emotionally brutal” (stay tuned for his review of that one next week), as well as Disney’s Haunted Mansion. Though the latter is indeed based on an amusement park ride, it boasts an awful lot of star power, and director Justin Simien has previously done some interesting work.

That’s not all, of course. Repertory screenings at the Belcourt in the coming week will include Eraserhead, Contempt, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Sid & Nancy and The Doom Generation, while Heathers will celebrate its 35th anniversary with screenings July 30 at Regal locations. And at Full Moon Cineplex in Hermitage, fans of bewilderingly excellent horror-sci-fi can catch a repertory screening of John Carpenter’s The Thing

It’s hot out there. Scientists believe, in fact, that July 4 was one of the hottest days of the past 125,000 years. Take this weekend as an opportunity to cool off in the theater — lean into the existential dread with Oppenheimer, or escape reality with a bit of Barbie

Whatever you choose, it’s undeniable: Movies are back, baby.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

ACROSS

1 Markers, of a sort

5 Ones touched to be of service?

10 Babe in the pasture

14 Years ago

15 *Inappropriately jocular

16 Others, in Latin

17 River whose celestial mirror is the Milky Way, in ancient myths

18 Fragrant compound

19 *Misleadingly plausible

20 Pieces of poetry

22 Forcibly remove

24 Besmirch

25 “They should just go ahead and do that”

26 Campaign to influence emotions and morale, informally

29 Multiple-episode pilot?

30 Mary-Louise Parker show about a suburban mom dealing pot

34 It helps you find your balance

35 [As written]

36 Skinny?

37 Where you may go after reaching an impasse … or a hint for solving this puzzle’s 12 starred clues

41 Grasslands of South America

42 Port type

43 *Dullsville

44 Co-worker of Kent and Lane

45 Actress Ruby who emceed 1963’s March on Washington

46 “A foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are doing something very clever, when they are only wasting their time,” per Shaw

48 Wriggler wrangler

50 “___ Te Ching”

51 Apple varieties

54 *Likely to cause an argument

58 “La ___,” informal title for the Mexican version of “Survivor”

59 *Experienced through another

61 Soothing succulent

62 *Earnestly hitting the books

63 Blow

64 “That’s my cue!”

65 Breaks down

66 Figures on a balance sheet

67 Holds up DOWN

1 Particles proposed by Michael Faraday in the 1830s

2 “I’ll handle that!”

3 Sch. whose colors are blue and gold

4 Taken care of

5 “What’s worrying is …”

6 *Fiery feelings

7 Exam that many take in H.S.

8 Get more complex, as a mystery

33 Save them for a snowy day

35 Palindromic plea

36 Skosh

38 Roller derby protection

39 Cartridge filler

40 “What’s the ___?”

45 Yearning

46 Has the wherewithal

47 Blowhard’s exhalation

49 Held dear

50 First-year law course

sound effect

23 Frequent setting for the Ninja Turtles

25 Shiny coat

26 Picasso, for one

27 *Male zebras

28 Gym-and-swim facilities

29 Part of H.R.H.

31 OverDO it as an ACtor

32 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, for two

Online

Read about and comment on each puzzle: nytimes.com/wordplay.

Crosswords for young solvers: nytimes.com/ studentcrosswords.

this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a nonresident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon

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Joseph P. Day Clerk

Keisha Bass Deputy Clerk

Date: July 5, 2023

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Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on July 31st 2023. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Joseph P. Day, Clerk

Keisha Bass, Deputy Clerk Date: July 5, 2023

BRIDGID CALDWELL Attorneys for Plaintiff NSC 7/13, 7/20, 7/27, 8/3 /23