The East Nashvillian 7.5 May-June 2017 by The East Nashvillian

MAY | JUNE VOL.VII ISSUE 5

ALL THEM WITCHES’ POWERFUL, MUSICAL SORCERY DUALTONE’S GOT CHUCK The East Side's premier indie label releases the final album by the father of rock & roll

DEEPER THAN SKIN Chris Saint Clark connects Kustom Thrills Tattoo with the local art community

THE FOOD SHERIFF Jesse Goldstein is blending design, branding, and culinary art at his East Nashville kitchen

East Nashville Hope Exchange Requiem For Charlie Bob’s Know Your Neighbor: Evelyn Hale Artist in Profile: Timothy Weber

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May | June 2017 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

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THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM May | June 2017

C O M I N G TO T H E N E W LY R E S TO R E D C H E E K WO O D M A N S I O N

ON VIEW JUNE 17 - SEPTEMBER 10

Journey back in time with the costumes of Downton Abbey®. Exhibition is included with admission or membership, but timed entry is required. Reserve your time today!

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PUBLISHER Lisa McCauley EDITOR Chuck Allen ASSOCIATE EDITOR Daryl Sanders COPY EDITOR John McBryde CALENDAR & SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Emma Alford CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Emma Alford, Peter Chawaga, Warren Denney, Randy Fox, Holly Gleason, James Haggerty, Craig Havighurst, Tommy Womack CREATIVE DIRECTOR Chuck Allen DESIGN DIRECTOR Benjamin Rumble PHOTO EDITOR Travis Commeau ADVERTISING DESIGN ILLUSTRATIONS Benjamin Rumble Benjamin Rumble, Dean Tomasek CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Travis Commeau, John Cummings, Eric England, Alysse Gafkjen, Danny Clinch

Kitchen

ADVERTISING SALES Lisa McCauley lisa@theeastnashvillian.com 615.582.4187

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ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Jaime Brousse

Media Company Est.2010

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DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Christina Howell

©2017 Kitchen Table Media P.O. Box 60157 Nashville, TN 37206 The East Nashvillian is a bimonthly magazine published by Kitchen Table Media. This publication is offered freely, limited to one per reader. The removal of more than one copy by an individual from any of our distribution points constitutes theft and will be subject to prosecution. All editorial and photographic materials contained herein are “works for hire” and are the exclusive property of Kitchen Table Media unless otherwise noted. Reprints or any other usage is a violation of copyright without the express written permission of the publisher.

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CHECK OUT OUR NEW LOCATION !!

955 EAST TRINITY LN 615 227 6584 CHECK OUT OUR NEW WEBSITE HUNTERSCUSTOM.COM 12

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COVER STORY

42 BEWITCHED

All Them Witches’ powerful, musical sorcery has won them legions of fans at home and abroad By Andrew Leahey

FEATURES

33 SUMMER READING

East Nashville Hope Exchange helps stem the summer slide for atrisk kids

COVER SHOT

By Randy Fox

ALL THEM WITCHES

50 DEEPER THAN SKIN

Photographed by Alysse Gafkjen

With Kustom Thrills Tattoo, Chris Saint Clark is making a positive impact on the East Nashville art community

East Nashville, February, 2017

By Warren Denney

60 THE FOOD SHERIFF

Jesse Goldstein is blending design, branding, and culinary art at his East Nashville kitchen By Holly Gleason

68 DUALTONE’S GOT CHUCK

How East Nashville’s premier indie label landed the final album by the father of rock & roll By Holly Gleason

77 REQUIEM FOR CHARLIE BOB’S By Craig Havighurst

Visit

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM for updates, news, events, and more! CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

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IN THE KNOW

EAST SIDE BUZZ

Your Neighbor: 31 Know Evelyn Hale

19 Matters of Development

By Tommy Womack

By Emma Alford

in Profile: 36 Artist Timothy Weber

24 A Different Kind of East Side Buzz By Peter Chawaga

By Randy Fox

Mural Project Stresses Importance of Arts Programming

81 East Side Calendar 106 By Emma Alford

By Peter Chawaga

COMMENTARY

PARTING SHOT

16 Editor’s Letter

So Long, Charlie Bob’s

By Chuck Allen

28 104 East of Normal

Astute Observations By James “Hags” Haggerty

By Tommy Womack

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EDITOR’S LETTER Please, stop all this winning!

reetings once again from your friendly neighborhood “enemy of the people.” Have you had enough of this winning? Boy, I sure have! I never realized fixing everything could be so easy. Luckily — at least for the purveyors of an alternative reality — our national psyche is founded upon winning or losing. This helps keep things super simple; solutions can be summed up in a tweet. The other cool thing is this: To have a winner there must be a loser. Can’t afford health insurance? Get a better job, loser. Of course, the job you leave behind will necessarily be filled by yet another loser. Which sucks, because this means there will always be losers among us. Or not. If social media is any indication, trashing losers seems to make us feel like winners while distracting us from the factual, objective reality in which we’re all being taken for a ride. Speaking of health insurance, I’m not so sure anyone read the bill passed by those wild and crazy Republicans. I can dig it. They were itching to bust out of chambers and cruise over to the White House for some beers with the Prez in his beautiful Rose Garden. Wow — I’ll bet that was some party! Hanging out, discussing Atlas Shrugged, feeling in a particularly buoyant mood knowing that you’ve given people back their “freedom” to die uninsured. It must’ve been a really special afternoon. But enough of all that — there’s more work

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM May | June 2017

to be done for the, um, eh, … people. Yeah, them. No resting on your laurels if there’s still money left to grift! I gotta hand it to you and the fearless tweeter: The marketing campaign was and is brilliant. “Make America Great Again!” Whose idea was it to leave off for whom it will be great? It’s not your fault if the poor schmucks that elected you actually believed the slogan was meant for them, right? Adding the “Again” part was a nice touch, too. When is Again. Or is it was? WHO CARES! That’s what makes it so awesome! It’s like a Dylan song — the interpretation is up to the listener (supporter). Whatever the interpretation, rest assured it’s a fantasy version of America that never existed, but WHO CARES! This is some seriously geniuslevel shit. I’ll bet you get endless pleasure reading freakout stories about our country’s march toward fascism, knowing that the fearless tweeter barely has the attention span of a gnat. It takes dedication and commitment to be a dictator, after all. No, focusing on fascism is part of the grift — like the gang of pickpockets in Oliver Twist on a much grander scale. It keeps everyone distracted and fighting amongst themselves while the .00001 percent liberates another few trillion from the 99.9999 percent. Which is what they really mean when they’re talking about freedom. The freedom for us to be stupid enough to believe voodoo economics will ever work.

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EAST SIDE B U Z Z FOR UP-TO -DATE INFORMATION ON EVENTS, AS WELL AS LINKS, PLEASE VISIT US AT: THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

Matters of Development NEW AND NOTEWORTHY THERE’S PLENTY ON THE HORIZON for the East Side: New businesses have joined the flock and several large developments are in the works. One development for which we’re awaiting more details is a beer garden-style lodge and music venue at Hart Lane and Ben Allen Road. A spot near East Nashville’s closest Department of Motor Vehicles on Hart Lane offers a chunk of land that includes one of the highest points in all of Davidson County (cue Fourth of July fireworks display). The open space hasn’t gone unnoticed. Ron Brice, owner of 3rd & Lindsley, and architect Richard King have secured 35 acres in the area. If their plan is approved, the development will include an indoor-outdoor lodge with a recording studio, plus an event space situated at the land’s highest point. Brice

and King are also aiming to have around 100 residential lots on half of the newly acquired property. The prices for the single-family homes would start around $250,000, with some including two-car garages and rooftop decks. This new project follows Metro Planning Commission’s recent passage of the city’s first trail-oriented development community policy, which calls for publicly accessible trails to connect all properties within an area that is underserved by existing greenways. These policies encourage “active” transportation. In laymen’s terms, this means more pedestrian traffic. This new development would, in theory, have multiuse trails connecting to all parcels of the land, including Oakwood Park and nearby schools Jere Baxter Middle and Maplewood High. Also in the mix in that area is a residential development headed by Center 615’s owner, Christian Paro. Paro has plans for properties on Broadmoor Drive and Ben Allen Road that overlap the trail-oriented development pol-

icy enveloping Brice and King’s project. The concept includes 321 residential units ranging in price and size, offering condos and apartments. The 52 acres would also include several buildings for commercial retail and restaurant tenants. The project also allots for around 10 acres of green space that will loop up with Nashville Greenways. It looks like the plans for The Eastsider are moving forward. Metropolitan Historic Zoning Commission approved plans for the mixed-use development at 105 S. 11th St. in March. Before being razed in 2014, the old Edgefield Restaurant formerly sat in the planned location. A look at their detailed plans includes two buildings, a two-story and three-story structure with a courtyard between the two. It looks like there is the possibility of a restaurant or retail space on the main floors of the 11th Street-facing unit, with bed-and-breakfast style rooms on the upper floors. An opening date is still far away, but ground has broken and construction is a go.

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EAST SIDE BUZZ MPF, an apartment data tracking company, recently released research that shows Nashville currently has more apartment construction than any other city in the nation. On that front, The Cleo, one of the newest additions to East Nashville’s growing apartment market at 1034 W. Eastland Ave., welcomed its first round of residents in April. The 291-unit building offers one- and two-bedroom apartments and studios. The amenities include a bocce ball court, pet spa, soundproof music studio (SO Nashville), and a free bike share. Move ins have started, but The Cleo won’t fully complete construction until June. Sorry about the noise, new residents. The Eastland, located directly across the street from The Cleo, is moving along with construction. The four-story, 53-unit building has plans for retail on the bottom floor and apartments on top. Further adding to that MPF stat, we have Solo East. Located at 1118 Litton Ave., just one block down from Gallatin Avenue, the Solo East condo development had its ribbon cutting ceremony in early April, welcoming tenants to its “Building A.” Construction on “Building B,” the second half of the development, is still underway. They offer one- and two-bedroom units; a few are still on the market, starting around $176,000. Pet Wants, which seems to be synonymous

with what East Nashville wants, has been open for several months at 962 Woodland St., but hosted their official grand opening in April. They offer all-natural, slow-cooked dog and cat kibble, plus other crafted pet goodies, and they even deliver. For food of the homo sapien variety, we added another option this spring with the opening of The Mainstay, the newest eatery to grace the Fifth and Main building, former home to The Vine. Mainstay, an upgraded sports bar of sorts, is offering a farm-to-table bar food menu, retro games, and free parking. They serve “elevated bar food” and a full cocktail menu. Currently, they open at 4 p.m. and only offer a dinner, but have plans to expand into the brunch and lunch hours as soon as possible. Either way, they’ve got Nintendo NES at the bar — what more can millennials ask for? Sister to The Wild Cow and fellow veg-friendly restaurant, Graze celebrated their one-year anniversary last month — looking good, guys. Now that we’ve got dinner plans covered, on to drinks. The plans for the Sinker’s Wine and Spirits expansion are coming along. Last summer, Sinker’s, located at 3304 Gallatin Pike, announced they’d be doubling their shop size and things are shaping up. Bargain pizza slingers Little Caesars has closed up shop in the strip and

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM May | June 2017

they’re working on new signage for the entire building. The vacant flower shop next to the strip has been leveled. No word on our end what’s slated for that spot. Another East Side business doing some expanding is Fond Object. The vinyl and vintage connoisseurs at the corner of Riverside and McGavock opened a sister store to their Riverside Village shop downtown. Appropriately, they had the grand opening for their second location on Record Store Day. The new space is a little larger and includes an indoor stage. In coming months, they will bring in some vintage retail like the Riverside location, as well as create a space for art exhibits. Double trouble seems to be the theme around these parts. Parlour and Juke, the über hip hair salon that many celebs are known to frequent, has opened a second location on this side of the river at 1101 Riverwood Drive. This will be the sibling to their original Eighth Avenue, Cannery Row spot. Access to the original location is reminiscent of a speakeasy, but the new one is its antithesis. Windows cover nearly every wall of the beauty/barber shop, keeping things open with tons of natural light. It’s easy to spot, right at the corner of Gallatin Pike in Inglewood. They’ve opened online booking for the new location, so grab a spot at parlourandjuke.com. The East Side has another ink spot added to its roster. Veteran tattoo artist Chad Koeplinger opened up shop in the old Trick-or-Treat Tattoo space at 2100 Greenwood Ave., across from Southern Grist Brewing and Fran’s East Side. His new shop, Adventure Tattoo, runs by appointment only. The guy has been tattooing for over 20 years, in every state, on every continent (sans Antarctica), so we can see why he likes to make his own schedule. Speaking of artists (of a different variety), Nous Art House and Flora Plant Shop opened their joint-space together recently at 305 E. Trinity Lane. Nous Art House is a photo studio and art show space. Owner Ashtin Paige is a photographer herself and plans on hosting future exhibits and photo shoots in the new Trinity Lane space. Next door, Flora Plant Shop is all about the aesthetics as well, offering specialty houseplants and plant workshops. Adding another art-centric biz to the wrap for this issue — Raven and Whale Art Gallery opened their doors in April in The IDEA Hatchery at 1106 Woodland St. They will primarily showcase the photo-surrealistic work of the owners and husband and wife duo Jason Brueck and Kate Harrold, but plan on having visiting exhibitions in the future. SnapShot Interactive kept their promise for a March finish date for their new office space at 1530 Riverside Drive in the old Riverside Drive Church of Christ building. Their offices are ready and open for visitors to drop in and see the renovated space. Something for the adventurous fitness buffs,

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EAST SIDE BUZZ we recently welcomed a new (to the East Side) workout studio. The Chrome Bar made the move to 2809 Dickerson Pike, regrouping on this side of town after their original space downtown on Lafayette Street was destroyed in a storm. One of the main offerings? Pole dance workouts — the business name fits. Chrome Bar also offers a variety of other options in their space: barre, aerial yoga, and private training to name a few.

COMING SOON Project 615, the maker of some of our favorite Nashville reppin’ tees, recently announced plans for a second location. They’re looking toward The Nations in West Nashville. No worries, though, the philanthropic, Music City-centric apparel brand will keep its home at the Shoppes on Fatherland, too. Their demand has just out-

grown the space, so they’re opening up shop on the West Side. No word on an opening date yet. Riveter will be bringing some fine jewelry to the East Side as one of the newest additions to The IDEA Hatchery in 5 Points. They will offer unique, artist-crafted jewelry and jewelry repair. They were slated to have their grand opening this May, but no set date yet. A couple of food-related developments for the neighborhood this go-around: Lockeland Table’s sous chef Danny Bua Jr. left his post at the eatery this spring to pursue his dream of running a food truck — a taco truck to be exact. No concrete details on this one yet, but we can tell everyone to keep their eyes peeled for “That Awesome Taco Truck” sometime later this summer. We are still waiting for a definite timeline on the planned new Riverside Village restaurant Fort Louise, which will take over the former Perk & Cork space at 1304 McGavock Pike. Fort Louise will be the second business venture for Jessica Bower, owner of women’s clothing, jewelry, and home décor boutique Steluta, which is also located in Riverside Village. They’re planning a “chef-driven eatery” that will provide a brunch, lunch, and dinner stop for neighborhood patrons in an intimate, dinner-party environment. Bower has tapped Chicago chef Greg Biggers to craft the menu and oversee the kitchen. Porter House Bistro shuttered back in February after several months of lease negotiations pushed them out of their space at 1115 Porter Road, but now the same space is firing its kitchen back up for another restaurant concept. New York chef Julia Janksic has plans to open Café Roze, an all-day café. There is some construction going on behind those bay doors, and we are waiting for more announcements on this front. Edley’s is branching out of BBQ. It’s not quite East Nashville, but it’s just over the river. Owners Catherine and Will Newman have plans to open Pancho & Lefty’s Cantina in the old Pub 5 spot, directly across the street from Bridgestone Arena. They will be offering Mexican fare and are anticipating an opening sometime this May. Here’s to hoping they’re open on July 4 to provide that prime rooftop spot for viewing fireworks. CLOSINGS AND MOVES Hey Rooster’s General Store, formerly rooted on Gallatin Avenue across from the strip with Camille’s Market (slated to be Sprout’s Market come 2019), left this neck of the woods in February. Owner Courtney Webb has found a new roost in Hillsboro Village. We miss the cute, local-centric shop in these parts, but her new home in the old Bookman/Bookwoman location is an upgrade. She’s shacked up in a portion of that old space, but kept the “Book-

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EAST SIDE BUZZ Woman” namesake on the storefront as a nod to the beloved former bookstore. The new spot had its grand opening on April 22. Urban/industrial décor shop The Fuselage closed its doors at the end of March, but if you really miss the shop you’ll still be able to find them one county over in The Factory at Franklin. We lost another East Side shop to The Factory as well; sweet-makers Walker Creek

Confections left The IDEA Hatchery at the start of the year. Pour one out for longtime East Side meatand-three homies Charlie Bob’s. After 65 years, the cheap beer, cheap eats, cheap tunes haunt closed its doors last month. On April 30 the nofrills staple on Dickerson Pike fried its last eggs. Word is the spot has been eyed by a developer for a flats and lofts residential project.

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Have any East Side development news to share? Reach out to:

emma@theeastnashvillian.com

A Different Kind of East Side Buzz EAST NASHVILLIANS HAVE SOME NEW neighbors worth buzzing about these days, courtesy of Turnip Truck. The natural foods grocer, located on Woodland Street, has installed three honeybee hives on its roof with the goal of boosting neighborhood gardens and accessing a hyperlocal source of honey to be incorporated into some of its fare. “Our local residents will reap twofold benefits,” John Dyke, Turnip Truck’s founder and owner, says. “If they’re customers to our food service departments, they will have access to the most local honey available as we will be using rooftop honey in our prepared foods. Area gardeners and green thumbs within a 3-mile radius may notice extra pollinators this year from our hives.” The keeping of the bees will be left up to Andy Manchester, Turnip Truck’s baker in residence. Manchester keeps bees at home with his wife, Amy, and is a member of the local beekeeper association, which supplied the queens necessary for the new colonies. The Manchesters provided honey, pollen, and brood bees from their backyard and ensured that the new hives were acclimated properly. “In a nutshell, we literally had to make sure the bees accepted the queen and her pheromones, which drive the activity of the hive,” Dyke explains. “To do this, we kept the queens in a ‘queen cage,’ a small plastic device with small holes for air and one end with a fondant-like candy that the bees eat away to release the queen. Luckily for us, the bees accepted the queens.” The three hives stand on two pallets on the roof and each one consists of a screened bottom-board base supported by wooden bodies that were handmade by Bon Aqua Springs Woodenware. Although June is the typical honey-harvesting month, these hives aren’t likely to produce a significant amount until next year. If and when they do yield the sweet syrup, Turnip Truck will be careful not to take too much. Following a successful year, Dyke would like to add more hives to the roof. “This project completely epitomizes our mission,” he says. “Local, clean, community-minded, real-deal food supply work is our bread and butter. This is all about environmental stewardship and giving back to our neighbors. These bees are everything we are.” — Peter Chawaga

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EAST SIDE BUZZ Mural Project Stresses Importance of Arts Programming AS PRESIDENT TRUMP SEEKS TO CUT national and local arts programming budgets, with measures surely to affect the arts in East Nashville, area artist Jack Elliott has launched a mural project to raise awareness for their importance. He has invited artists who participate in local programming to help him with the project, a 50-foot mural titled “Nashville Quilt.” Particularly concerning to these artists is the potential for reductions to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and, therefore, local contributions. “In the last two years, the NEA has supported Davidson County with $2.1 million in grants that have helped to fund countless arts and cultural programs,” Hana Elliott, the artist’s wife and business manager, says. “Cuts to NEA funding will have a ripple effect on the organizations it currently serves. … Furthermore, the organizations that do not have backup resources readily available, notably those in low-income communities, will likely be the most impacted by funding cuts. Then we’re looking at a city where disparities in income, race, and geographic location dictate a Nashville resident’s access to arts and cultural institutions.” Since March, Jack Elliot has been bringing artists and volunteers together to contribute to the mural at the corner of 28th Avenue and Charlotte Avenue, part of the “Off The Wall Nashville” urban art program meant to revitalize the Charlotte corridor. The goal of the project is to stand up against potential cuts through the very efforts they would stymie. “A mural alone isn’t capable of fighting policy,” his wife says. “What public art can do, however, is start a conversation. It can give a face to the artists and Nashville residents who rely on arts programming through nonprofits and who may be affected by cuts.” “Nashville Quilt” has partnered with Park Center, Poverty & the Arts, Room In The Inn, and Oasis Center, all of which help underserved populations through arts programming. The backdrop for the mural was painted by about 30 volunteers; then 16 members of the partner organizations were brought in to fill out individual sections, bolted onto the final mural to resemble patches on a blanket. “Each artist was asked to design a patch that portrays their perspective on what it means to be creative in Nashville,” Hana Elliott says. “As quilts often take disparate pieces of fabric from multiple sources and combine them into one cohesive, meaningful piece, so does the ‘Nashville Quilt.’ ” To make the most of the project and its stand against potential budget cuts, the organizers have commissioned author Lily Hansen and photographer Elizabeth Ratliff to create a storybook detailing the mural and profiling each

artist. This will hopefully demonstrate the full scope of the project to those who are drawn in by the visuals of the mural itself. “Each patch of the mural tells a story and I dream that these stories provide a different worldview to the viewer,” Elliott explains. “I dream that the viewers will want to learn more … and that they will see the storybook that gives more detail on the project and each

artist. I dream that they feel a personal connection to the artists through their stories and I dream that this not only teaches them about someone with a different background from themselves, but also that it shines a light on the importance that arts programming has played in these artists’ lives and in the strength of our community.” — Peter Chawaga

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Astute OBSERVATIONS James “Hags” Haggerty

To Russia, with Love Здравствуйте, соотечественники! If you don’t speak Russian, you probably don’t recognize the above words. It means, “Greetings, compatriots.” Today is Thursday, April 27, 2017, and I have returned from my mission/gig in Russia and am safely over the jetlag. Many thanks to Chuck and Daryl at The East Nashvillian for extending my deadline so that I could deliver this debriefing to you. I, like many of you, am fed up with the media. It seems I can’t get a straight answer these days. Somebody give me some truth! What’s the deal? What’s the skinny? Give me the straight dope! Hacking, tampering, leaking, harboring, just what the hell is going on in Russia anyway? I decided to find out. I literally took a page from my man Chuck Barris’ book and jetted to Moscow and St. Petersburg, deep cover style. I was attached as bass player to the backbone, the nerve center of a great rhythm and blues band whose birth reaches back to the early years of Saturday Night Live. My backstory was tight. From Nashville to New York to Helsinki I jetted. I maintained my cover from airport to airport, country to country, just an affable bassist with a passport, nothing to see here. My eyes were groggy, but my mind was sharp. I was ready. One Aeroflot flight from Helsinki later and our entourage landed in Moscow. Immigration went smoothly and before I knew it, we were checked in at The Crowne Plaza Hotel, Moscow. Once in my room, I set up my wireless communications network, showered and promptly passed out. Three hours later, I needed to eat. I made my way downstairs and was greeted by Big Sasha, the concert promoter. He beckoned me to the bar and handed me a beer. “Local,” he said. In order to maintain cover, I drank it and then another. I noticed five guys in suits and crew cuts keeping a close eye on us. They looked like military. Sasha said, “Security.” They were all packing holstered handguns. The next day was gig day. That morning, our lovely interpreter, Svetlana, a graduate student in international politics and the daughter of diplomats, offered a tour of

the Russian Art Museum. I declined in order to brush up on the set for that night. Lunch was in the hotel banquet room. Svetlana and I had a nice conversation that briefly touched on the Soviet era, which she referred to as the time when everyone was scared. Lunch was delicious. I must tell you, when in Moscow, try the borscht. Accompanied by our armed security team, we shuttled to the gig. Backstage, Sasha greeted us with buckets of Kentucky Fried Chicken, cold cuts, fruit, candy, pastry, an espresso machine, fine Russian vodka, Coca Cola, Orangina, San Pellegrino, good old American Budweiser, and a friendly staff asking us if we needed anything. Their hospitality was over the top and truly touching. The gig was great. A big crowd danced and sang along and cheered for an encore. The next day we flew to St. Petersburg and were wined and dined again by Sasha and his staff. The gig was more of the same. They danced and sang and clapped all night. Later, we went out to a bar. Stylish urban young professionals were drinking artisanal cocktails, flirting, and dancing to Beyoncé and Pharell. It was like Manhattan with a Cyrillic alphabet. I’ve been home for three days now, safely in my Inglewood chateau and reflecting on the experience. As a kid of the cold war, I was curious about Russia and what the people would be like. With the controversy surrounding Putin and Trump, I wondered what I might encounter. I found friendly, intelligent, motivated, proud, fun-loving, serious people involved in a capitalist economy. I had two conversations that touched on politics. One was about two sentences long with a woman about my age at the gig in Moscow. “That’s some president we’ve got,” she said. “Us too,” I said. We both shrugged our shoulders and rolled our eyes and continued to talk about music. I might as well have been hanging out in East Nashville doing the same eye roll and shoulder shrug. I got the sense that, like me, she was waiting on cooler heads and the pendulum to swing in a better direction. Sly Stone said it best, just everyday people wherever you go.

Hags is a part-time bon vivant, man-about-town, and foreign correspondent for The East Nashvillian who earns his keep as a full-time bassist extraordinaire. Never one to shy away from a bit of daring-do, he lept at the opportunity to bring us this report, shrugging his shoulders at the danger in order to keep our readers informed.

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KNOW your NEIGHBOR

“I

P H OTOG R AP H B Y TR AV IS C OMM E AU

do all sorts of things. I do work with staff and chair the program committee now, and get involved in a lot of volunteer ways — fundraising is a big part of what the board does at Fannie Battle. So it’s been kind of a lifelong thing with me. And it is amazing that this program has survived and continued to fulfill the mission of Miss Fannie Battle for over 125 years now. That’s a pretty exciting thing. I feel like it’s given a lot more to me than I could ever give back.” — Evelyn Hale

Evelyn HALE

Born and raised in a very different Inglewood than the one we have now, in a time when some neighbors had dirt by Tommy Womack floors and many, like Hale’s father, grew gardens to put food on the table, service to others became a hallmark of Hale’s life. Retired from teacher education positions at several institutions, including MTSU, she serves on more boards than most people could manage to have the energy for. At the age of 77 (and looking nothing like it), she is program committee chair and early childhood consultant at Fannie Battle, and volunteers at a slew of other service organizations that retirement Yes, it’s been just over 125 has afforded the time for her years since Fannie Battle to undertake. opened up the day school “I’d always wanted to be a and childcare center that still teacher,” Hale says, “but as I bears her name, and carries worked on my master’s degree, on the traditions and goals instead of wanting to be a that have always been the first grade teacher all my life, center of their work: to provide affordable high-quality I got involved in the teacher childcare for at-risk children education program at MTSU, in a nurturing environment and I worked there for 17 while empowering families years. Then I had several jobs to reach their potential. And in teacher education, doing Evelyn Hale has had a hand adjunct work at community in things almost all her life. colleges as there weren’t very Seventy years ago as a many people who had the young girl, Hale begged and credentials to teach early cajoled her parents to let her childhood coursework, and join her older sibs in the anthen I became program nual Fannie Battle Christmas director of the early childhood program at Tennessee Caroling (an event that began State University, with the in 1916 to raise funds for the Tennessee Early Childhood center and continues to this Training Alliance. I got more entrenched day). Since then, she has lived in what’s going on in Nashville, and a life as intertwined with the center as in later years, I was asked to be on the anyone in the rest of the family, which Fannie Battle board. I couldn’t be a votwas a considerable amount. ing board member because I was over “My parents were involved.” she says, a program that served the whole state. making herself heard over the din in So, I served as an adviser for years until Bongo East. “My dad always had a big I retired, then I was asked to be a full garden and he loved sharing, because he board member.” always planted way more than we could Making good use of herself has been Hale’s life. “My dad said eat, and he felt like that was part of his giving back — that he was whatever you do in life, do something that’s useful to other people,” gifted to grow a productive garden, so he always took fresh produce she says. “So I felt like I picked a path where I could bring him over to Fannie Battle for the kids in the summer. My mother baked happiness as well. And the important thing is that people tell you cookies at Christmas and other times and took them over there. I how grateful they are for what you have done for them. They have was very fortunate to grow up in a family that believed in sharing no idea what it does for me. It just brings great joy.” the wealth, and the wealth was a good garden!”

“

My dad said whatever you do in life, do something that’s useful to other people

Please join us in supporting the Fannie Battle’s ongoing mission to provide high-quality childcare for at-risk children by attending the fifth annual Yum!East, to be held June 1, from 6–9 p.m. at Pavilion East. This 21+ event provides guests the chance to sample food and drink from 30 different East Nashville restaurants. Tickets are available now at yumeast.com.

May | June 2017 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM May | June 2017

Summer READING East Nashville Hope Exchange helps stem the summer slide for at-risk kids

By Randy Fox

f you’re a parent, or even if you’re not, you’ve probably heard of the summer slide — when school kids fall behind in reading and math over the summer break — a phenomenon that is especially prevalent among low-income families. Fortunately for at-risk children on the East Side, an organization known as East Nashville Hope Exchange has the tools to help stem the summer slide. The Hope Exchange is a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening the literacy levels of East Nashville’s low-income children, a mission they’ve been pursuing for over a decade. The ability to read and write effectively is the bedrock upon which all learning is built; consequently, children lacking literacy skills often suffer profound emotional and psychological effects. A child with an outgoing personality and a desire to participate in class discussions can become withdrawn and uncooperative when asked to read aloud. Self-image issues and feelings of inadequacy can easily morph into behavioral problems. Children from low-income families where English is a second language find themselves becoming outcasts as they fall behind their peers in English comprehension and communication. These are just a few of the challenges East Nashville Hope Exchange regularly faces. Launched in 2004 as part of the St. Ann’s Episcopal Church’s Freedom School K-8 mentoring program, East Nashville Hope Exchange quickly evolved into a separate summer literacy program and became an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in 2010. Executive Director Ameshica Linsey explains literacy is a perishable skill, requiring reinforcement and nurturing. “Two-to-three months of achievement can be lost during the summer,” Linsey says. “That ‘summer slide’ is particularly common among low-income students because they lack an encouraging atmosphere and access

to books that students from most middle-income families take for granted. We want to close the achievement gap between low-income and more affluent students, and it’s important to start closing that gap early.” East Nashville Hope Exchange’s summer literacy program is modeled on a program developed by Vanderbilt University. The program employs certified teachers and volunteer teaching assistants to combine classroom reading and fun activities for small groups of students. In addition, field trips to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, the Nashville Zoo, the Adventure Science Center, and other destinations provide cultural enrichment. Guest readers from the community also play an important role by broadening students’ perspectives with personal testimonials about the importance of literacy. “We also bring in the arts,” Linsey says. “We integrate music, visual art, and other areas that appeal to students who achieve higher in those areas than in literacy. That boosts their confidence and their desire to read.” Parental involvement is one of the most important elements. The focus beyond the individual student is embodied in the program’s theme, “My Family, My Community, My World.” In 2013, Nashville Hope Exchange launched its school-year program, supporting student learning throughout the year with monthly workshops and in-home visits by Hope Exchange volunteers. This combination provides training and support for parents and family members. Often parents face their own literacy challenges. In such cases, East Nashville Hope Exchange connects them with community adult literacy resources. “We’re here to serve the family as a whole,” Linsey says. “Family engagement is a key component to our success. We offer a family workshop once a month. Parents or family members learn how to boost their children’s confidence and encourage reading. It →

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THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM May | June 2017

can be difficult at first, but parents learn how to establish routines, such as reading a book every night after dinner with their children. Parents become excited as they witness their child’s progress. Many parents tell me their child inspired them to read more.” The focus on both children and parents has an average success rate of 91 percent of students avoiding the summer slide by either maintaining or improving their reading skill level. Linsey, who has an undergraduate degree from Fisk University and an graduate degree from Tennessee State, says that the unique focus on both students and parents drew her to the East Nashville Hope Exchange. “I had been a director at a child care center serving kids in the inner city, and I knew how desperately they needed help,” Linsey says. “I saw parents that couldn’t read and had dropped out of high school. When I found out about the Hope Exchange’s programs — and especially how they work with both kids and parents — it was something that just grabbed my heart.” Since joining the Hope Exchange as executive director in December 2016, Linsey has managed the nonprofit’s programs and strategic planning, as well as fundraising, marketing, and community outreach. The last few years have been a time of particularly heavy growth for the program. Between 2014 and 2015, the summer program’s enrollment grew from 45 to 101. Over 175 volunteers donated 2,098 hours in 2016. While the East Nashville Hope Exchange advised and assisted the launch of a similar program by the Bordeaux North Nashville Literacy Partnership in the summer of 2016, its primary focus remains on the East Side. “We get requests from a lot of schools outside of the area, but there’s only so much we can do,” Linsey says. “We have six target schools in the Stratford and Maplewood clusters of East Nashville. Our recruitment liaisons talk to parents and teachers to identify those in need. “For this year, we plan to partner with as many Metro schools as we can to run summer programs on site at Ross Early Learning Center and Warner Enhanced Option Elementary School instead of St. Ann’s. I would like to expand our program even further so we can serve more students and their families, but that takes funding.” As with most nonprofits, adequate funding is a constant challenge. The East Nashville Hope Exchange currently receives 61 percent of its funding from grants and foundations; individual and corporate donations comprise the remainder. The organization’s recent annual wine tasting and silent auction fundraiser was a success, but new sources of revenue are essential for continued growth. “We’re trying to diversify our sources of funds so we’re not so dependent on grants,” Linsey says. “We want to get more individual community contributions, but that takes awareness.

When people hear about our program, they’re blown away by what we are achieving. “Our students come from homes with so many challenges, and most kids want to avoid difficult tasks,” Linsey says. “If reading seems hard, they try to avoid it. Our job is to change that attitude. When I ask parents how Hope Exchange has affected their child, many say their child asks to read books while they previously didn’t like books at all. That’s the mission we hope to accomplish.”

Individuals can show their support for East Nashville Hope Exchange by making direct donations at enhopeexchange.org. Donations of $25 will provide books and learning materials for one student in the summer program. Volunteers for teaching assistants, food set-up and break-down, clerical assistance, field trip chaperones, and more are also welcomed.

May | June 2017 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

Artist in Profile

TIMOTHY WEBER The Yin and Yang of Clay By Randy Fox TIMOTHY WEBER’S EAST NASHVILLE STUDIO

is filled with all the expected tools of his trade — potter’s

wheels, carving tools, paintbrushes, cans of paints and glazes, and large kilns ready to transform the objects he molds from soft clay into solid ceramics. The results of his work are displayed on the shelves lining his studio. Functional dinnerware, cups, and decorative planters and vases share shelf space with whimsical abstract forms combining pottery with bits of bamboo, wood, and bone, evoking Japanese design filtered through an otherworldly aesthetic. “The things that people can do with clay are extremely diverse and that’s the heart and soul of what I do,” Weber says. “You can cast it, extrude it, throw it, and liquefy it. There are a lot of ways of working with clay from very controlled and functional to spontaneous and artistic.” A native of Boise, Idaho, Weber discovered the heart and soul of clay while in high school. “I had two very good art teachers,” Weber says. “They drew me in, encouraged my interests. It really got me excited. I started hanging out at Boise State University where John Takehara was teaching. He encouraged me and allowed me to sit in on classes.” →

Photography by Eric England

Pottery photographed by John Cummings Courtesy Timothy Weber

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM May | June 2017

May | June 2017 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

Artist in Profile

squigs vase

Spirit House XVII 38

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM May | June 2017

blue crosshatch jar

Spirit House XXII

Artist in Profile

sgraffito covered jar

Gateway 7

sgraffito platter

Gateway 20 May | June 2017 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

Artist in Profile Takehara, a renowned Korean-American potter, collector, and educator, championed the utilitarian form and aesthetic of traditional Japanese and English potters. Takehara also introduced Weber to the work of Japanese-American artist Toshiko Takaezu, a pivotal figure in elevating ceramics to a fine art. She combined the principles of Eastern philosophy and abstract expressionism into art. “I was impressed with her work,” Weber says. “I met Toshiko briefly in Boise, probably in 1969, and then years later on several occasions. She encouraged me to do more free-glaze work. The more I learned, the more I realized how much I didn’t know and how expansive the field is.” Despite his passion for clay, Weber did not enroll in college immediately after graduating from high school in 1969. The Vietnam War was at its height, and he soon received his draft notice from the U.S. Army. The relatively isolated and politically conservative atmosphere of Boise provided little contact with the antiwar movement, but as Weber’s Army training progressed, he developed serious personal doubts about the job he was being trained for. “I was in the Army’s leadership school when I started questioning my life and what I was doing,” Weber says. “I finally decided to file as a conscientious objector. I wasn’t a rebel. I followed the rules, although my drill sergeant didn’t like me very well. My dad spent 20 years in the service and supported my decision. I had a choice of getting out or staying in a noncombative role. That led to me becoming an arts and crafts specialist for the U.S. Army.” Stationed at Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga., Weber worked with fellow soldiers, teaching art classes in ceramics and working in the base’s recreation center until his discharge in 1972. After briefly returning to Boise, he enrolled in Troy State University in Troy, Ala., where he earned a degree in studio art. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Weber worked in a variety of arts-related positions in Alabama. He served in administrative positons with the state of Alabama, completed residencies at several arts centers, and worked in the Alabama public school system, overseeing pottery workshops in over 100 different schools. In 1992, he moved to Nashville and quickly fell for its charm. “I could live anyplace, but I love Nashville,” Weber says. “I can’t get enough of the local music scene. The diversity of music is wonderful. I have several friends in that field and I love going to shows. People ask me if I’m a musician all the time. I tell them I’m a mudslinger, not a guitarslinger.” Weber continued working as an artist, educator, and administrator with the Tennessee Arts Commission, as a program director of the Appalachian Center for Craft, and serving residencies at various Tennessee schools. “Working in arts administration took me out of the studio,” Weber says. “There are times I 40

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM May | June 2017

wish I hadn’t stepped away from creating, but it gave me a chance to recharge both physically and emotionally. In 2007, just before the recession hit, I returned to the studio full-time, which was just about the worst time to go into business making something that people don’t absolutely need.” While Weber may sound self-effacing, he is simply recognizing a basic economic reality confronting all artists. “Some people say I can get a bowl anyplace, why do I need this bowl?” Weber says. Pulling a set of four pasta bowls from the shelf, he sets them out on the table in front of him. Although the quartet of dinnerware is uniform in shape and size, each one is decorated with different, seemingly random splashes of blue, burgundy, and other colored glazes. “People who understand how wonderful it is to live with handmade objects get it,” Weber says. “Even simple, functional pieces can become abstract and spontaneous art through techniques like free-glazing. I deliberately create a specific effect by brushing, dragging, and drawing through the glazes, but allow randomness in the details. The result is bowls that are all the same and yet very different.” Another technique frequently employed by Weber is sgraffito (Italian: /zgrä'fētō/ to scratch). Weber inscribes the wet clay with an X-Acto knife, creating lines and patterns. He then applies a layer of glaze, allowing it to sink into the inscribed patterns, and wipes the wet glaze from the surface before firing. This technique is used on both functional pieces and purely aesthetic pieces emphasizing clean and simple architecture. Weber’s extensive work with raku pottery is on the other end of the artistic spectrum. Originally based on 600-year-old traditions for the creation of Japanese tea ceremony ware, raku is characterized by hand-shaped, fairly porous vessels, with unique, often metallic-looking finishes achieved by moving red-hot pottery from a kiln into a container of paper or other combustible material. “Raku is more about form, surface, and spirituality,” Weber says. “The form of the pieces often invokes entrances and gateways. The finishing process is spontaneous and sometimes leads to happy accidents. I refer to raku as working with a state of happy anticipation. You never know what’s going to come out.” As with the Taoist principle of yin and yang, Weber has found balance in the duality of the commercial and the aesthetic. He teaches both classes and workshops, and divides his time between production of functional pieces and more purely artistic work. “I’m a poor potter, but I’ve had the chance to see a lot of great stuff and get to know a lot of wonderful people,” Weber says. “I believe living with work that is handmade by someone you have met enriches your life. I hope my work has that effect, but I also know that it’s the richness of the people I’ve met over the years that has been my greatest reward.”

Artist in Profile

red Ta place setting

pinch pot

raku closed form

Introspection raku vase

carved casserole

green Ta bowl May | June 2017 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

All Them Witchesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; powerful, legions of fans at

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM May | June 2017

By Andrew Leahey

musical sorcery has won them home and abroad

All Them Witches (L-R): Ben McLeod, Charles Michael Parks, Robby Staebler, and Allan Van Cleave.

Photographs by Alysse Gafkjen

May | June 2017 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM May | June 2017

t’s freezing in New York City. Outside The Bowery Ballroom, several dozen people are lined up in winter jackets and boots, waiting for the venue to open its doors. Everyone’s here to see All Them Witches, but no one seems to recognize guitarist Ben McLeod as he walks by. All Them Witches aren’t really that kind of band. The guys have never appeared on their own album covers. They’re rarely in their own music videos. The point is clear: in a group like this, it’s the songs themselves — not the individual Witches — that cast the biggest spell. McLeod definitely sees the line, though. Back inside The Bowery’s green room, he compares tonight’s upcoming gig — a headlining show on a Friday night in a club where the Shins will perform one week later — to the band’s first date in New York. “We were playing Pianos, opening for Kadavar,” he says, remembering the tiny, 140-capacity club several blocks to the east. “Those guys cancelled their show, but we still showed up to play, because we were supposed to meet this booking agent. It was a huge deal. We were all really excited. And he left after the third song.” Tonight, things will be different. The room will fill up with metalheads, hard rock fans, and very patient girlfriends. Fans will sing along to new songs from the band’s fourth album, Sleeping Through the War, which is still less than a month old. And no one will leave during the third song. This time, the Witches’ magic holds.

t’s been roughly half a decade since All Them Witches made their live debut, firing a triple-barreled blast of blues-metal stomp, Southern gothic grunge, and muddy space-rock upon a hometown crowd at The Basement. It was New Faces Night — the venue’s weekly showcase for young Nashville bands — and the guys had yet to build any sort of following. From the first note, though, their music packed a serious punch. “It was obvious that Ben was a ripping guitar player and it was clear that all the guys had an amazing handle on what they wanted to do,” says the club’s owner, Mike Grimes, who ran the soundboard that night. “They separated themselves from everyone else on the bill, just by the sheer level of musicianship alone.” In a town full of musical mini-scenes — the cowboy-hatted millennials playing throwback country music; the joke-cracking singer-songwriters doing their best Todd Snider impressions; the metal maniacs trashing the stage at The End — All Them Witches were a bit of an anomaly. Their guitar riffs nodded to the ’60s and ’70s, when bands like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and →

May | June 2017 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM May | June 2017

“

Mountain ruled the hard-rock roost. Their drums were fierce, like Sesame Street’s Animal doing his best Mitch Mitchell impression. The vocals were half-sung and half-spoken, shot through with Middle Eastern scales one minute and barking bursts of semi-melody the next, and the bass playing was loud, representing the pulsing heartbeat of the band’s blues-metal Frankenstein. The influences were clear, but this was something new. Their sound began taking shape during practice sessions in an East Nashville home off Straightway Circle shared by three of them Witches — bassist/vocalist Charles Michael Parks Jr. (“Parks”), drummer Robby Staebler, and keyboardist Allan Van Cleave. McLeod, who lived nearby, often joined in. “We had an 18-foot teepee in the front yard for the train kids,” remembers Staebler, who doubles as the band’s in-house art designer. “Allan was sleeping on a pallet that he made in the laundry room. We had a loft suspended from the ceiling. It was small as fuck in there. We had five dudes and three dogs, all together in a three-bedroom house. That’s where we wrote and demoed the first and second record.” While everyone has fond memories of that crowded house, All Them Witches did most of their growing up onstage. They were a live band in every possible sense, stretching the limits of their music every night. Songs were revised. Solos were swapped. Arrangements were rearranged. Some nights, Van Cleave’s keyboards would take center

stage; during other shows, McLeod’s Les Paul would drive the band forward. All Them Witches’ gigs weren’t about polish or perfection; they were about electricity and energy. “It’s like juggling,” Parks says, looking for a way to describe the band’s improvisational approach. “You’re constantly passing the ball around. Someone catches it, and you just go. You let them lead, then you let them pass it to someone else. Things just fall into place, and it makes sense.” “Our songs are like burgers,” Staebler offers, midway through his own preshow dinner in the Bowery Ballroom’s dressing room. “When we play live, we can dress up that burger. Tonight, we might throw avocado and bacon on it. And maybe the cheese wasn’t good during last night’s show, so we’ll take that off.” “Let’s cut the cheese!” McLeod yells from across the room. Staebler gives him an approving nod. Not long after that initial gig at The Basement, the Witches hit the road. Trading the cramped quarters of their East Nashville home for the rows of a passenger van, they played dive bars, clubs, and barbecue joints across the country, handling their own booking operations for two years before teaming up with their first agent in April 2014. Tucker Tharpe, owner of The Garage in WinstonSalem, remembers the guys passing through town in 2012, kicking off a long-standing relationship with his venue. Years later, All Them Witches chose Tharpe’s club as the setting for their first concert album, 2015’s At The Garage. →

First takes are better. The energy is there. We know that from being a live band. We get one take a night, so that take needs to be good enough to keep. May | June 2017 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

“They’re like a psychotic jam band,” Tharpe says. “They spin out into these 10-minute jams of heavy, dark awesomeness. The first time they played The Garage, it was raining and the club flooded, and we kept having to stop the show so we could suck the water off the floor. The people who stuck around were mostly musicians, and I could tell they were there because they’d finally heard something fresh. It was the heavy rocking blues they’d grown up with, mixed with all these influences from the past, but done in a way that sounded cool and new again. All the local bands wound up wanting to play with the Witches, from the heavy dudes to the indie rock dudes. The next time All Them Witches came here for a show, we had three or four killer local bands playing, with the Witches slapped in the middle of the lineup, and everyone came out to see them. And everyone still comes out.” The proof is in the numbers. The Witches recently sold out a two-night stand at The Garage, racking up more than 325 tickets. On a normal night, the club’s capacity maxes out at 125. “I think their fans stick around because they can really sense the band’s earnestness,” Tharpe adds. “Those guys are loyal. They’ll play The Garage until they absolutely can’t. And they’re almost there.”

Back at home, the band caught the attention of New West Records’ incoming president, John Allen. It was May 2014, and the Witches had been named Lightning 100’s “Band of the Week,” a local honor that promised them daily spins in exchange for a free, station-sponsored concert on Friday night. Intrigued, Allen showed up to the gig. “This was before Lightning 100 started doing those shows at Soulshine Pizza,” he remembers. “They were hosting them at the Pourhouse instead. So I went to the Pourhouse on a Friday afternoon, and I saw the guys setting up in front of a table full of girls who were obviously there for a bachelorette party, and I thought, ‘Fuck, this is gonna suck.’ But then they started playing, and it was great. When you’re making music like this, it’s really hard not to sound like you’re aping certain classic rock bands, where it’s like, ‘Here’s our Sabbath riff, and here’s our Cream song.’ But these guys were making everything their own. They were moving forward. One of the reasons I came to New West was to break a new artist. That was the expectation, that was the goal, and that’s what we’re doing now with All Them Witches and Ron Gallo.” On June 11, 2015, New West officially announced All Them Witches as the label’s newest client. The guys played Bonnaroo

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM May | June 2017

the following weekend, with Allen tagging along. There, on an oversized computer screen backstage, the label CEO made an important discovery. “Everyone talks about marketing strategies,” he says, “but there was a moment at Bonnaroo where it hit me. YouTube had this big display backstage, where they broke down a band’s number of streams across different territories. It was Minority Report-type stuff. I looked up Ben Folds, and you could see he had a huge audience in South Korea. Then I pulled up All Them Witches, and they still hadn’t toured all that much at that point, so I figured their Top 10 cities would be nearby places like Nashville, Asheville, and Atlanta. When I looked at the YouTube insights, though, I saw Cologne, Mexico City, France, and Rio. Nashville wasn’t anywhere close to the top. Looking at that screen helped me understand the power of YouTube discovery. The people who love this kind of music are super-fans, and they talk to each other. They recommend things. I knew we needed to get the guys overseas.” All Them Witches headed to Europe for the first time in February 2016, kicking off the tour with a sold-out show in Greece. Parks remembers singing to a crowd of 1,200 Athenians, most of whom already knew his lyrics. Later that week, 900 people showed up to the band’s first gig in Tel Aviv. John Allen was right: The band’s audience stretched far beyond the Southeast. Meanwhile, All Them Witches’ own roots had begun to move beyond the Southeast, too. Simply put, the guys were moving away. Staebler headed back to Ohio. Parks resettled in North Carolina. Van Cleaves headed all the way to New Mexico. With McLeod holding down the fort in East Nashville, All Them Witches continued to be a Tennessee-based band, with the others flying into town for pretour rehearsals and studio sessions. “I love getting to travel to places like Europe, because it gives me more perspective,” says Van Cleave, who works as a trail builder when he’s not manning the keyboards. “Being in New Mexico does that, too. It’s the opposite lifestyle of the one I live day to day with the band. I remember one time, I was living in a canyon on the Green River in Colorado for three weeks straight, with three other people. It was a two-day rafting trip to get there, and a park ranger would come and bring us vegetables once a week and take our trash and raft it out. I went from that situation to the Salt Lake City Airport, where I caught a plane to Columbus and played a show with the guys at Carabar, and I almost had a panic attack! It was such a shock to my system, because of all the noise and all the people, and the fact that I was playing a rock & roll show to 20 times more people than I’d seen during the past month.”

Another shock to the system arrived in the form of Dave Cobb, the Grammy-winning producer behind albums by Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton, and Sturgill Simpson. A lifelong rock & roll fan, Cobb had first approached the Witches in 2015, offering to help them record the album that would later become Dying Surfer Meets His Maker. At the time, the guys didn’t feel ready to work with an outside producer. When Cobb reiterated his interest one year later, however, they jumped at the chance. The timing was right. The result is Sleeping Through The War, the band’s most expansive record to date. “I’ve never heard the Sturgill record, the Stapleton record, or the Jason Isbell records,” Parks admits. “Those records aren’t the reason we wanted to work with Dave. After we went out to lunch with him, we just knew we were on the same page. He was cool with experimenting in the studio and re-amping and doing weird stuff. He’s got the rock & roll spirit. He wants to make art. He wants to make albums. That’s what we want, too.” For years, the guys had produced their own records, working fast to keep costs low. They tracked Our Mother Electricity in one day, paying their mastering engineer with a case of beer. They recorded Dying Surfer Meets His Maker in a makeshift studio inside a Pigeon Forge cabin. They never used click tracks, preferring a somewhat lo-fi sound steeped in the freewheeling spirit of their live shows. “They are four alpha males, and they didn’t know how to go into the studio with someone,” John Allen says. “But I finally got them to meet with Cobb, because I knew he’d get it. And once they met him, they knew that, too.” Rather than book time at RCA Studio A — Cobb’s Music Row headquarters, filled with tall ceilings and steeped in country history — the crew set up shop at Creative Workshop, a funky, 1970s studio in Berry Hill. They took their time dialing in the right sounds then knocked out eight songs in a single day. The rest of the 10-day recording cycle was spent listening, mixing, and laying down overdubs, including the stacked harmonies of a female choir — Erin Rae, Tristen, and Caitlin Rose, all first-rate songwriters — and “When the Levee Breaks”-worthy harmonica riffs from longtime Willie Nelson band member Mickey Raphael. Captured in a single take, Raphael’s harmonica leaves a honking, haunting path through the album’s 10-minute closer, “Internet.” “That’s how we work, too,” Parks says. “First takes are better. The energy is there. We know that from being a live band. We get one take a night, so that take needs to be good enough to keep.” “They already had a good, firm grip on who they were, so my job was to be a cheerleader,” says Cobb, who let all four Witches record in the same room together, each instrument

bleeding into the next instrument’s microphone. “Separating them or putting them in different booths would have taken it all away. We didn’t even use headphones. Instead we used microphones and monitors, like it was a live show, and I just let them go. It was loud in there! Everybody was blasting, and it sounded great.” Back at The Bowery Ballroom, the guys wrap up their take-out dinners and head downstairs, ready to kick off their headlining

set. It’s their biggest New York show ever. Onstage, a giant backdrop of Sleeping Through The War’s cover art — a Rorschach-ish swirl of dye on watercolor paper created by Staebler — reaches toward the ceiling. The guys walk beneath it, their heads down, and pick up their instruments. Then a keyboard drone gives way to a flurry of guitar feedback, the crowd surges forward, and All Them Witches are flying high once again, casting the spell that’s taken them halfway across the world.

STEVE WINWOOD with Lilly Winwood May 10 • Ryman Auditorium • ryman.com

FRANZ FERDINAND with Omni May 22 • Exit / In • exitin.com

DARRY HALL & JOHN OATES AND TEARS FOR FEARS with Allen Stone May 24 • Bridgestone Arena • bridgestonearena.com

DAVID GRAY May 24 • TPAC’s James K. Polk Theatre • tpac.org

SIGUR ROS June 12 • TPAC’s Andrew Jackson Hall • tpac.org

NAHKO & MEDICINE FOR THE PEOPLE July 26 • Cannery Ballroom • mercylounge.com

FOSTER THE PEOPLE July 31 • Ryman Auditorium • ryman.com

JIM JEFFERIES Aug 12 • Ryman Auditorium • ryman.com

ROGER WATERS Aug 13 • Bridgestone Arena • bridgestonearena.com

THE MAGPIE SALUTE Aug 25 • Marathon Music Works • marathonmusicworks.com

2CELLOS Oct 29 • Grand Ole Opry House • ryman.com

MICHAEL MCDONALD with Marc Cohn Oct 30 • Ryman Auditorium • ryman.com

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DEEPER by Warren Denney photography by Eric England

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than

SKIN

With Kustom Thrills Tattoo, Chris Saint Clark is making a positive impact on the East Nashville art community

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ashville has always drawn the dreamer, from the prehistoric hunters along the Cumberland River to the ravenous heart of Hank Williams to the suited-up snake oil visionaries of today. Out in broad daylight are those who wear their dreams on their sleeves. And their skin. Chris Saint Clark, renowned tattoo artist and owner of Kustom Thrills Tattoo, is one dreamer who works in that open light. His shop is alive on Main Street in East Nashville, and is one part studio, one part salon, one part garage. The big room pulsates with a vibe that is simultaneously rebellious and warm. A soundtrack of surf rock and rockabilly emanates from speakers throughout and the whole conjures a nod to West Coast Kustom Kulture — tattoos, hotrods, Rat Fink. “I was consumed with art all the time as a child,” Saint Clark says, looking the part as he sits quietly behind a beer at Red Door Saloon East. “I was continually drawing monsters — I was known as the ‘Monster Kid’ in school — but then, the first time I got into cars and hotrods, I was borne away by that imagery. I couldn’t get enough of the Ed Roth thing, the Rat Fink thing. “The nutty excitement of hotrods and monsters drew me in, the metal flake, guitar-inspired surf stuff — rockabilly. Kustom Thrills is a nod to Kustom Kulture, and a nod to Ed Roth and Von Dutch. Kustom with a ‘K,’ the West Coast nod. Exciting — the word ‘thrill.’ Spills, chills, and Kustom Thrills.” There is a strange American cleanliness in recalling the fat days of that culture, the late-1950s and early 1960s, and its Southern California influences. It is a cleanliness mixed with danger, oddly, and familiarity — a movement built on custom cars, motorcycles, hairstyles, fashion, and art. But even its bedrock founder, “Big Daddy” Roth, joined the Church of Latter Day Saints in his later years, revealing the beautifully stunted national fusion of thrill-seeking with a Pilgrim guilt. It is the same tension that has driven so much American art — from rock & roll to Jackson Pollock, from Warhol to Merle Haggard. Cormac McCarthy’s work is easily as frightening as anything found in the Old Testament. Enter the tattoo. Or, rather, reenter the tattoo. From its beginnings in ancient Polynesian culture to a sidewalk on Fatherland Street, the tattoo has supported the bearer as he or she moves through two worlds. →

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”

Tattoos are very healing. They represent something to the bearer that words can’t express. They tell a story only that person knows. 54

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The world that leaves a physical mark, and the one that allows you to speak to your dead grandfather, as you walk along arm in arm. The tattoo may be the present-day American manifestation of enchantment, writhing beneath a society that has always struggled in speaking to magic. Culturally, the tattoo has moved into the mainstream consciousness in a way that never previously existed. No one saw this coming. But when you examine the art, you examine the reasons that propel it — and much lies rooted in the real human disconnection created by the digital world of today. Tattooing is a last stronghold of handson work.

“The way Europeans visualize and approach art is so much different than with Americans,” Saint Clark says. “They are the masters. We just wanted a picture of the girlfriend, and your dog. Maybe your religion on the other arm. I’ve been in the culture a long time, and in it as an artist for 20 years. Tattoos always made you dangerous, you know, a guy with a skull on his arm. But underneath it is a rite of passage, a life-altering event. The sense that you’re never going back.” There lies in everyone a heart for this, of course. Secret thought. It is that powerful place where art, music, and literature converge, a place in which anything is possible,

where the heart swells and retreats, and spirit holds sway. Some howl and wrestle there, while others turn and walk the straight line. All mix as one out in the workaday street. “Tattooing has become so much more accepted culturally just in the past decade,” Saint Clark says. “Tattoos are worn by just about everyone, from police officers to your barber. Tattoos don’t make the person, so why should we be judgmental? It’s an antiquated way of thinking. I think it’s positive for everyone to have tattoos, but there’s a huge difference between the guy with the beautiful, full-color sleeve and the thug with homemade → face tattoos.”

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aint Clark, who arrived here in 2007, has worked to turn his shop into a Nashville flash point. Admittedly, he believes Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York, Chicago, and his native Atlanta are the richest cities when it comes to the scene, but he claims to have found fertile creative ground of a high order in East Nashville. And he believes the community around him has grown stronger, citing safer streets and more business, in the nine years he has been in the neighborhood. “It’s a secret paradise here,” Saint Clark says. “It is amazing. When I moved here, I sold everything I had. It was all or nothing. That’s what I did, and I was meant to be here. “We have tried to help in growing the neighborhood and being a part of the change. We’re going to bring positive people in here, and help with events, and be a part of everything. The artistic energy here is just emitting always.” Saint Clark is no stranger to challenge. He came to Nashville after a bar fight almost landed him in prison, and following a post9/11 stint in the military. The son of blue-collar rock & roll Baptists, with four older sisters, Saint Clark had certainly been supported in his home life when it came to art and music, but he floundered for direction out on his own. “I started playing music when I was around 13 years old,” Saint Clark says. “I look back on the people in my life. Found a drummer and found a bass player. Started making music. From there it was all downhill. I fell in love with everything music, art, and rock & roll. My dad was a mechanic, and he was molding me into this ‘Kustom Kulture’ kind of guy. He had the slicked-back haircut, a greaser-style pompadour. Rock & roll man. I was immersed in it all, this working class family, and they were very supportive of my art and tendencies — they never said ‘no’ to that direction. I just wasn’t really taking it anywhere.” Saint Clark was living a life on the edge, always on a motorcycle or in a fast car, partying and bartending in Atlanta when chance brought him drunkenly to a table at which master tattooist Tony Olivas was sitting. Saint Clark had embraced the tattoo culture, but didn’t understand it from the artist’s perspective, and the invitation to join the table changed his life. He had received a bachelor’s degree in arts in 1992 from the Art Instruction Schools of Minnesota, but had found no real-world application. Upon discovering Saint Clark’s background, Olivas asked him to bring some artwork for review at his shop, Sacred Heart Tattoo. “It was a natural progression, I guess,” Saint Clark says. “I didn’t know who I was. Just trying to look cool, and be cool. One of the guys I hung out with then had pushed me to become a tattoo artist, and that night I sat across the

table from the king — Tony Olivas. World famous. He told me he was looking to hire an apprentice, and to come by the next day. “I woke up late, so hungover, started pulling out everything I could think of. I didn’t have a real portfolio, and it was pouring the rain. I didn’t have a car at the time, either, so I literally ran the few blocks down to the tattoo studio and sat there with crumpled up drawings. I had no presentation. I waited for a couple of hours — I think he was surprised to see me, but he could see the gleam in my eyes. “He took a real chance on me,” he continues. “History was made, and I’ve built a life around it now. I’ve been all over the world with it, and won awards working alongside him.” However, despite his good fortune, Saint Clark’s life did not change overnight. As he apprenticed at Sacred Heart, he also pushed the nightlife to the edge, winding up in a bar fight that nearly derailed him. Despite having his hand on a real lifeline, he seemed intent on destruction. “During those years of my apprenticeship, I was running around with some tough guys,” Saint Clark says. “I went deep into it. I was more of an asshole. I wanted to show out, and I got into a lot of trouble one night — got in a bar fight and almost went to prison for two years. Thank God the judge listened to my plea. I did probation and all I had to do to

stay out. It was a bar fight like hundreds before, but I got caught. … If you’re a tough guy you’re going to wind up in the prison yard, or the graveyard. “I hung out with guys that went to one of those two places. What kept me out was that Sacred Heart was a thoughtful shop, and Tony Olivas was a thoughtful guy. It rattled my cage and woke me up — almost like it happened for a reason. Someone came in and switched the light on.” Saint Clark joined the state guard after 9/11, and turned his eye to a newly imposed discipline. He wound up in Savannah as a second lieutenant in the military police, but kept his hand in tattooing while there, working in street shops. He ultimately took the gamble on Nashville to be closer to his young daughter. “During that time, I think I went from being a boy to being a man,” Saint Clark says. “I started seeing positive effects from being positive in my outlook, and moving away from the negative. “I was still honing my skills, and I became a Freemason. It made me a better man. That’s when I learned about really giving out to the community, and receiving in return. Negative people disappeared — gone from my life. I learned about being happy and keeping a smile on my face.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 98

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The

Food Sheriff Jesse Goldstein is blending design, branding, and culinary art at his East Nashville kitchen By Holly Gleason INSPIRATION — LIKE WISDOM — COMES FROM STRANGE places. You have to be open and aware to recognize it when it crosses your path. For Jesse Goldstein, known to local foodie cognoscenti as “The Food Sheriff,” the world is a pupu platter of wow. “A friend in East Nashville had this tattoo that said, ‘Leap and the Net Will Appear’,” the Southern force of food recalls. “I thought about that at the end of the year, thought that I needed to do something different.” The year was 2013. Goldstein had spent 10 years as the brand manager for Tom Morales’ various enterprises, starting out “in the field,” running a kitchen for TomKats’ movie catering division. He later would lead the refurbishing of The Loveless Café’s storied home-cooking empire and also the relaunch of the SoBro Café at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Laughing now about his role in the epic TomKats brand, the blond ball of energy with the raging 360 take on what food can and should be marvels. “The best business is more than a business, it’s a cherished community asset,” he begins. “When someone comes to town, where do you have to take them? When you’re celebrating something special, or want a treat, where is that place you have to go? “After restarting the Country Music Hall of Fame, The Loveless entered the picture,” Goldstein says. “Tom had ideas. He had friends who could help. And it was a cherished community asset. “My motto from Day One — and every day after that — was simple: ‘Don’t fuck it up.’ It wasn’t about changing it to change it; it was about figuring out how to keep everything that was great about it … only make it better.” →

Photography by Eric England

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Jesse Goldstein threw caution to the wind when he launched The Food Sheriff Department.

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Casting his aquamarine eyes to the side and back, he looks down, then offers a commiserating aside. Part of his Day One strategy was hearing out the veteran waitresses and staff about their concerns, strengths, and thoughts. “We sat with all the employees to hear what (they thought) didn’t need to change, what needed changing,” he explains. “One of the waitresses came up after we were done, and said, ‘Do we have to keep dumping the jam back into the tubs at the end of the day?’” Goldtstein pauses for effect, letting this revelation sink in. He understands how much diners don’t think about what goes on behind the scenes — and how much is taken for granted. As the horror slowly rises, he leans a little closer. “I told her, “ ‘Oh, yes, we’re definitely going to stop doing that.’ ” Goldstein, affectionately deemed The Food Sheriff by his brothers, has a down-home way about him that makes everything seem all right. With a robust smile, two arms filled with genuinely artistic tattoos — including a truth-in-advertising “One of the Lucky Ones” on his right arm — and hands that fly as he talks, he is the “secret weapon” for many of Nashville’s best food-based “assets,” including Goo Goo Cluster, The Peach Truck, Arnold’s Country Kitchen, Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint, Biscuit Love, Olive & Sinclair Chocolate Co., and Cochon Butcher, as well as creating the wildly successful cocktail collective 3st of the Month. Standing inside his custom built-out lair in a fairly nondescript section of the decidedly unculinary Trinity Lane, he is mixing elixirs — small batch gins, bespoke bitters, a dash of tonic — to create a fresh “little something” to quaff while discussing his evolution from hippie kid to culinary visionary to design/conceptualizing expert before integrating all of it as a denizen of “marketable branding.” Industrial though the former machine shop and manufacturing general store may be, Goldstein is cozy. There are 300 bottles of exotic liquor in a black rack behind him, hundreds of Goodwill glasses on shelves behind that — for serving, showing off, and photographing the bespoke cocktails he’s known for — and a custom kitchen filled with top-of-the-line Kitchen Aid appliances for staging cooking demonstrations, recipe creation, photo and video shoots, and the very occasional private event for the likes of high-end handmade →

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designer Alabama Chanin or James Beard Award-winning chef RJ Cooper, whose stints at DC’s Vidallia, NYC’s Le Bernardin and Atlanta’s acclaimed Brasserie le Coze and Ritz Carlton Buckhead have amped the buzz on his Nashville restaurant debut Henley at The Aertson Hotel in Midtown. “With that great big personality, Jesse has such a detailed eye and palate,” Cooper says. “His creative drive and energy blows me away. And he has this genuine care of what is happening in this city.” “My mom was a midwife who delivered 5,000 babies,” Goldstein says proudly. “She delivered the baby of a baby of a baby she’d delivered the year she retired, and my dad was the captain of the volunteer fire department. They’d met in art school, and had two sons when someone told them about Penland School of Crafts in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was near a co-op Quaker community. “They went to visit — and moved,” he continues. “We raised goats, drank their milk, and made cheese. I was the last generation that could grow up poor and still not know it. We were raised to apologize to the weeds and thank the vegetables.” It all tumbles from his lips like so much popcorn falling from the basket, a little salty, very warm, and absolutely delicious. Goldstein’s narratives — like the logos he’s designed for the Vui’s Kitchen, Citizen Kitchens, Funk Seoul Brother, and GReKo Greek Street Food — are transfixing. Sophisticated without flexing, the expansive creative comes by it honest. “(My parents) predated hippies, but got claimed by them,” he exults. “We had tubs of miso in the house, and grew all kinds of vegetables. My mother was amazing. If there was something we didn’t like, she’d go, ‘OK …’ and make it another way. “She always had another way. One summer it was corn — or the greens, which were just weeds! She’d just pull ’em up. I remember how she made lamb’s quarters.” He pauses for a moment, still savoring the flavor all these years later. For Goldstein, all of it is visceral: the tastes, textures, scents, presentations, combinations. Looking away, he says with another laugh, “The farm to table movement? Like this is something being invented. That’s how we ate. Honestly, what’s important is this: How are you treating things? Bless the weeds, thank the vegetables. “Good food is simple food. A) Start with good ingredients, B) Then don’t even fuck with them. Let those ingredients be what matters.” Coming from a small public high school, Goldstein heard someone mention Johnson & Wales College on Career Day with the comment, “Jesse likes to cook.” The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. And when he arrived at culinary school, like turned to love.

There was a certain irony to that love, though. “It was a very sensible decision,” he says. “I went to culinary school, but I really wanted to go to design school — only I was afraid of computers.” Upon graduation, Goldstein needed to find his place in the world. The standard college placement parade of organizations looking began. As he remembers it, “There were so many situations, in their coat and tie, very uptight, and it just didn’t feel right.”

Until that day … “There’s this guy slumped back on the couch in his Birkenstocks,” he recalls. “It was the first time he’d ever gone out on recruitment. I liked him immediately.” Tom Morales needed someone to cook for his rapidly expanding movie catering business. When locked on locations, the high-level Hollywood people require a certain level of hospitality and cooking. It was an unlikely job with unique challenges. “We’d have sites →

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with no running water, different locations every day, no ice machines,” he says. It suited the brash young man still finding his way. And because Goldstein has a wicked work ethic, he insisted his new boss “keep me working.” A stint at Nashville’s now long-gone Starwood Amphitheater saw the young Turk catering to many of the late 20th century’s most iconic rock acts, which was a very soft open for what was to come. But the adventure of every day being different suited Goldstein, and started to set him up for what would become the wildly eclectic Food Sheriff Department. As he recalls of the rigors, “My last film was Shaft in January Y2K. The film was so over-schedule, the other caterer had quit and the people (on the film) were pissed because there was work they (were scheduled for and) couldn’t get to. “It was 3 degrees with a wind chill of negative 30, and only one burner to boil water,” he continues. “You would literally go into the walk-in freezer to warm-up. They placed us two blocks away, and people were bitching their fish was cold. “You realized what we were doing wasn’t just feeding, we were keeping the vibe up. Giving people something to nourish them, but also make them feel good. That makes you fearless.” In Goldstein’s case, fearless was for other adventures. When the film wrapped, he headed

to Charleston, S.C. But Nashville was in his blood. He returned in 2003 to help Morales take over the food at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. He started with the edict, “Once this is done, we have to be ready the next day. Everything has to be ready: new staff, uniforms, menu. “When we came in, the Hall had been open less than a year, but looking at the catering menu, words were misspelled,” he recalls. “ ‘Vegetables’ and ‘dessert’ were misspelled, and to the outside world, it looks like, ‘Those rednecks can’t spell.’ “So, that was my first major rebranding.” But Goldstein’s work at Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum was more about elevating the museum experience. “We didn’t think to become famous, or to be known on our own,” he explains. “We’re there to add value to coming to the Hall of Fame. By year’s end, things had turned around.” Next came The Loveless. And then came the start of what would become Goldstein’s 360 advertising/branding/conceptualizing empire. Ever the pragmatic post-hippie kid, that latent desire for design school reemerged after receiving a $450 bill from a graphic designer. “It was an itty bitty eighth of a page ad,” he remembers, as the late afternoon sun streaks through windows, falling almost white on the concrete floor. “I said, ‘Let’s just buy the

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program, and I’ll learn how to do it.’ “It was the best decision I ever made.” Equally fortuitous was the notion of taking The Loveless “social.” With all their events and rising interest in Southern culture, the chef cum art director recognized he really had that “cultural treasure.” With his definitive care, he wanted to make it vital — beyond the robust mail-order business and weekly Americanaleaning Music City Roots concerts being staged in The Loveless Barn. “There’s that thinking, ‘Why would a 60-year-old café Tweet?’ or ‘Why does a recipe on Pinterest get so much interest?’ It’s because it’s viral, and alive,” Goldstein says. “People have a way of engaging beyond just getting their biscuits.” Falling deeper in love with branding, strategy, and design, Goldstein transitioned “out” of the hospitality business and “into” the creative world. Working out of his house, with a coterie of clients including a plastic surgeon, it was a building process. But beyond money, there was conviction — and commitment to the food scene. “When it came time to find a building, Rose (from Arnold’s Country Kitchen) said, ‘Well, Bill’s got this building on Trinity Lane.’ I walked in, and … you know, I didn’t build their website for free to get an office, but this wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t told them what I needed while I was doing their website. “And I knew (the second I walked in): This place was going to be a great coworking spot. A lot of things could get done here.” And they did. 3st of the Month exploded. “I had drawn out the logo, and suddenly, it was thousands of members!,” he recalls. “That food pusher aspect of myself wanted a cocktail club, where you’d say, ‘What do you mean you don’t like gin?’ ‘Have you tried this brand?’ ‘Have you had it this way?’ “It wasn’t about getting wasted, but getting together. And exploring what cocktails could be.” It was — the tip of the iceberg. With The Food Sheriff Department taking on staff and clients, it wasn’t long until the big brands came calling. During the build-out, the Puck-ish visionary reached out to Kitchen Aid — through their website — to see if he might be able to wrangle some state-of-the-art equipment for his test/staging kitchen. “The next morning, I got a call, ‘What’s your wish list?’” Goldstein says, still shocked. “I’d checked the right box that got to the right desk at their marketing department in New York. I’d drained my savings account to build out my kitchen, and now I was just telling them everything I wanted. They told me, ‘The folks with Kitchen Aid will need to approve this.’” With stellar timing, the Sheriff cocks his head. “And the Kitchen Aid folks, they said, ‘Well, we’re doing this and all, but I noticed you didn’t ask for a dishwasher.’”

Fresh Hospitality recognized the spark in The Food Sheriff Department’s concept, too. They teamed with Goldstein to form Fresh Branding, offering full-service branding and marketing services for food and beverage specialty businesses. “The Food Sheriff Department is utilized by Fresh Branding, and used by outside clients for photo shoots, test kitchen things, video pieces,” he says. With eight people, it’s everything from social media to advertising, recipe creation to implementation of those ideas. And always, always in the spirit of collaboration. “We’re never trying to run somebody’s business,” he emphasizes. “If they ask, we know the challenges that go into restaurant management, product launches, making your company profitable. “That whole merchandise reality: design, source, order, receive, fulfill. To manage that holistically is important, just like asking the right questions. No matter what we’re looking at, it’s the same: What’s the end game? Where’s it going to be sold? Who’s going to buy it? What’s the story? “Those things matter,” he continues. “Visually, there’s a story. Even if it’s a cool recipe, then three more recipes you can try. Create an emotional connection, and people don’t even realize they’re bonding. There are so many stimuli, so many synapses, you want to be connected in whatever ways you can.” Goldstein knows it’s a rabbit hole that one can disappear into. So many possibilities, options, outcomes. Recognizing the potential for “analysis paralysis,” he trusts his gut and strips things down to the basics. After years of experience, he knows, “It’s the process of priorities. I say, ‘Tell me who you are in as few words as possible’. … “On the movie sets, we say, ‘Work smarter, not harder.’ Condensing what you do makes it more powerful.” RJ Cooper agrees. “The Food Sheriff has the ability to experiment and execute progressive programs with the infrastructure to assimilate and create a brand,” the celebrated chef says. “I love the artistic nature and the culture of the soulful people here. The growing culinary scene is inspiring.” With almost two decades invested in some aspect of Nashville’s food and dining community, it can almost be a blur. Certainly Goldstein is immersed in what’s next, rather than looking back on what he’s done. Still, there are moments where reckoning knocks. “I had my family in town, and I was showing them around,” he says. “I realized how many things I touched that are community assets. Seeing all the growth, to just have a piece of any of it, to have your hands in it, to play with that clay. “The sign of a great artist is you can look and know it’s theirs. What I do is different: I’m transparent in the process. I take what projects need, and make sure people see those things in the best way possible.” May | June 2017 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

Dualtone’s How East Nashville’s premier indie label

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Got Chuck landed the final album by the father of rock & roll BY HOLLY GLEASON | PHOTOGRAPHY BY DANNY CLINCH May | June 2017 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

aul Roper, president of Dualtone Records, remembers getting the call about — possibly — being the label for Chuck Berry’s final album, titled simply Chuck. “A lot of jaws dropped,” he says. Thirty-eight years after his last studio release, Rock It!, Berry was ready to release 10 songs he’d been working on for decades. Still marveling, the music-loving label head confesses, “You can’t prepare people to work with something on the scale of literally the founder of rock music.” Continuing, Roper says of Dualtone’s latest jewel, “It’s a career moment — and we’re all spellbound by the process.” Having built a reputation via their Grammy-earning later career work for June Carter Cash, Ralph Stanley, and Guy Clark, Dualtone found themselves in consideration through their relationship with singer-songwriter Esme Patterson’s lawyer Gary Pierson, who connected the label to Joe Edwards. Edwards, who owns Blueberry Hill Studios, encouraged Berry to return to playing with his monthly residency at Edwards’ local restaurant. “We first heard (Chuck) in 2015,” Roper recalls. “It was so great and unexpected. This isn’t dialed in at all. Everyone keeps asking, ‘Why did it take 38 years to put it out?’ I think he’s a tough businessman, so someone may’ve approached him earlier and may not have been able to make a

deal, but I also think he was perfecting and getting it right.” Due out June 9, Chuck is a euphoric collection. Frisky and freewheeling, rather than relying on nostalgia to ratify what was, there is a spunk to “Wonderful Woman” that offers the same sexual appreciation as “Nadine,” “Sweet Little 16,” and yes, “Maybelline,” while “3/4 Time (Enchiladas)” had a shuffle that was equal bits naughty and delighted by life. At times experimental, there’s the eerie mostly spoken tale of Berry’s accomplishments-driving “Dutchman,” at others’ sequel-cizing “Johnny B. Goode” and “Havana Moon” with the updated “Lady B. Goode” and “Jamaica Moon,” Berry — even all these years later — engaged his legacy from a place of pushing it forward and burnishing it. And then there’s “Big Boys,” a jaunty look at how we view age at different points of life. Featuring Tom Morello on guitar and Nathaniel Rateliff on vocals, it suggests the same power surge of hormones and euphoria that made “C’est La Vie” and “Promised Land” standards. For a man approaching 90, it was vital — and thrilling. It was a bonus that proved one does not have to “age out” of rock & roll; it is as much attitude and energy as it is dexterity and mainlining life as it’s going down. “Remember this about Chuck,” says The New York Times best-selling author Joel Selvin, who won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for his Burt Berns biography Bring on the Night. “When he got his shot, it was the ’50s. He was a 30-year old-black guy who was married — at that point for 10 years — with kids. But when he got his shot, he was gonna take it. “He was speaking to those kids in code. His subtext? The way he played guitar? Came at the kids? It was rhythmic, →

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catchy, ingenious. Those lyrics were beyond clever, with such a subtext. So, in 1964, the Supreme Court handed down the Brown decision and desegregated the schools, and Chuck was on the charts and the radio, doing it to music, to culture. He was a very advanced guard. You know, guys like that, they don’t change.” “This isn’t an oldies album,” Roper says. “It has the contextualization of now. We wanted Chuck to really shine, to make (this record) be now without losing him. Our benchmark was the London Sessions, but we wanted it to sound as it should sound — to get that jumpoff, so it’s his record. Though no one expected the rock’s founding father to pass before the album was released, the Dualtone staff understood that Chuck was to be the icon’s final work. After an initial meeting by phone, Roper and some of the team found themselves journeying to St. Louis to meet with the Berrys. When they walked into the house, there were telegrams from Elvis Presley’s people asking for songs next to Grammy Lifetime Achievement awards, pictures of Berry with everyone from Etta James to Axl Rose. Mrs. Berry had laid out a spread of snacks and drinks. As Roper recalls of the scene, “Talking to his wife, Themetta, it was obvious he was working, he’d said to the family, ‘Make sure I finish the record. Make sure I get this done.’ “On the phone, they were getting the feeling of who we are, feeling comfortable with our process. It wasn’t (about) who’d write the biggest check, they wanted someone who would do right by the record, by Chuck’s legacy. They realized the younger generations didn’t really know other than maybe Back To The Future, so this (album) was important to them.” With the challenge to contemporize without losing Berry’s inherent swagger, the label brought in Leagues’ Jeremy Lutito to help mix, to get a sound that had the electricity, but also the immediacy of modern records. Just as important to both the family and Team Dualtone was threading Berry’s family deeper into the tracks. While Charles Jr. and daughter Ingrid had toured with their father for decades, they’d never had an indelible place on their father’s records. Beyond enlisting Morello, Rateliff, and Gary Clark Jr., the powers that be brought Jr. and Charles III (Charlie) to Nashville to put some guitar parts on Berry Sr.’s St. Louis recordings. Beyond the legacy, highlighting the talent they shared seemed critical. “Charlie played as a hobby, but not really professionally,” Roper explains. “We thought it would be cool to have three generations of the family, you know, to have him play on his grandfather’s record, who also happens to be the father of rock & roll.”

May 23 & 24

DYLAN FEST

Celebrating the Music of Bob Dylan

May 31

LAKE STREET DIVE with Sarah Jarosz

100.1 fm

June 7

MARTY STUART’S LATE NIGHT JAM

June 24

PUNCH BROTHERS July 7

YONDER MOUNTAIN STRING BAND July 21

STEVE EARLE & THE DUKES with Lucero

July 22

THE MOODY BLUES Days of Future Passed: The 50th Anniversary Tour

September 8

JUDAH & THE LION

September 22

SYLVAN ESSO October 7

TAJMO: THE TAJ MAJAL & KEB’ MO’ BAND October 8

KEVIN SMITH

CONTINUED ON PAGE 100

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First Church of the Nazarene 510 Woodland Street East Nashville

We Love Kids

Plug in

We cherish each child that steps foot through our doors. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why we place a deliberate emphasis on safety and spiritual growth within each stage of their lives, from the nursery through college.

Sing in the choir. Play in our orchestra. Play in an adult or junior recreational sports league. Volunteer with our prison or urban ministries. You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to be a member to participate in our many opportunities. Everyone is welcome!

u c a n fi n d o Y

af e r e amily h We Love Nashville

What Church Used to Be

Our five congregations include African Refugees worshiping in Swahili and Haitian immigrants worshiping in the Creole language. Additionally we provide a free hot meal on Sunday evenings for anyone in need or seeking fellowship, as well as working with our East Nashville schools and community needs.

We are an intergenerational congregation that strives to make everyone, old and new, feel accepted and loved. We offer Sunday morning traditional and contemporary services as well as Sunday school, Sunday evening worship and Wednesday evening electives with many events and activities throughout the week.

www.NFCN.org

Requiem for

Charlie ’ Bobs By Craig Havighurst

At a gentle bend of Dickerson Pike in

East Nashville, the downtown skyline seems close enough to touch. In the foreground is a weather beaten and peeling billboard that says:

Charlie Bob’s Sports Bar and Rest. Plate Lunches, Hot Wings. The place itself is a mid-century American diner with a red-and-white color scheme and a drive-in shelter. The building’s wide windows give off a warm glow on a stormy spring evening. Jon Byrd, with his band Byrd’s Auto Parts, is on a stage in the corner. He plays a mix of his own songs and classic country music covers by the likes of Bobby Bare and Porter Wagoner. “To me, it reminds me of a lot of places I’ve played where the sentimentality, the sort of working class roots of country music — that’s where you find it,” Byrd says. “And you find people who get it.” For fans of traditional country music, Jon Byrd is a humble local icon, an artist who should be playing big honky tonks and performing arts centers, which sometimes he does. But he was looking for something steady and something grounding when he approached Charlie Bob’s. “I’ve been on the East Side since 2002, and it’s just a great breakfast place,” he says. “And I knew they had

music in the corner, but it was kind of sporadic. What I did, though, was I got sort of inspired by Tim Carroll, who plays every Friday for the last four or five years at another venue — at The 5 Spot. And I just thought, ‘You know, for a songwriter or a performer, that’s got to be a good exercise.’ And I hate to be sort of analytical about it, but I just thought I need that for myself. … I came in here and asked this young fella about booking, and I said I want to play every Tuesday. And he said, ‘Well we have bands, and I don’t know if we could do every Tuesday.’ And I said, ‘I want to play from 6 to 8.’ And he was like ‘Oh! Nobody wants to play from 6 to 8! Everybody wants to play late.’ … I just came in and started doing it in April last year, and here we are a year later.” As with many things unpretentious and comforting and modest in Nashville, those Tuesdays have come to an end, and Byrd is playing his penultimate show at Charlie Bob’s. “The restaurant started back in the early ’50s by a gentleman named Charlie, and Charlie had such good success that he built on twice that I know of,” longtime owner Mike Douglas explains. “The large dining room was the original coffee house. In the ’60s, he built this dining room on that we’re sitting in right now, and he built a canopy outside, and they actually did carhopping in the ’60s. Well then in ’72, Bob came in and bought it from Charlie, and so that’s how we got the name Charlie Bob. And Bob →

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THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM May | June 2017

is my dad. So, Bob and Cynthia, my parents, bought the restaurant in ’72 and put me to work. Over 40 years. “We’re located a mile and a half from downtown on the northeast side on Dickerson Pike,” he continues. “In the last three years, I’ve had quite a few developers come talk to me wanting to purchase this property because I’ve got four and a half acres here. And one day last July, I was approached by some local developers and I liked what they did. And I’m like, ‘Well, do I want to continue working or do I want to think about retirement?’ So, after praying about it and talking with my wife, I think we set on a price, and we’ll be closing on it this Friday.” “It’s not a listening room,” Byrd explains. “I have friends who love house concerts and they love listening room situations and they love the Bluebird (Cafe). But they have a very difficult time coming to listen to me at Charlie Bob’s because I have the loud table — and that’s the table of regulars. And they’re here after a long day at work, and they are blowing off some kind of steam on Tuesday, and I’m in their space. I’ve seen Kevin Welch and Walt Wilkins handle an audience — a loud audience that won’t be quiet. And I love it, and I respect it. But there’s no way, that’s not why I’m here. And so some of my house concert friends have a little difficult time coming to Charlie Bob’s because people aren’t listening so carefully. They’re enjoying. And let me tell you what, some of my best tippers come from the loud table. And I love those people. And I get it — I’m visiting, I’m in their space. That’s the way I look at it.” The real estate developers are thinking “location, location, location” as they eye these properties on obscure Dickerson Pike. Yet, for Byrd, the address of Charlie Bob’s carries a bit of destiny. “My last record was called Route 41, which is the highway that runs from Atlanta to Nashville, so I did songs for my friends in Nashville and songs for my friends in Atlanta. … Dickerson Pike is Route 41. It is the highway that runs from Miami to Wisconsin and it goes from Atlanta right through Nashville and Murfreesboro. “I found that poetic in my own sort of way,” Byrd says. “So, I’m playing at this place going, ‘Wow! I made Route 41 and now I’m playing at this little bar right off the pike.’ ” Looking east from the restaurant, Douglas offers, “What a view. A great view of downtown. Best view in the city.” Then adds, “Got a lot of old stuff that needs to come down.” Charlie Bob’s owner says he’s seen more change in the neighborhood in the past three years than the prior 30. And he’s about to close up shop and get out of the way. “It hasn’t sunk in yet,” Douglas admits. “We’ve had a lot of people that have been in here to play. I give them a little spot to perform and let them get their music out. Actually, my dad had live music here, and so it’s kind of been ongoing you could say. “I had a young man come in a couple of days ago, his name was Chuck Resha. And he is the

grandson of Charlie Resha, that man that had this place and sold it to my parents. So, he was telling me about when he worked here as a little boy and all the fond memories he had of this place. He said it looks pretty much the same as it did back then. And I thanked him for coming out, because I like to hear stories like that.” The demise of this meat-and-three diner on old Highway 41 isn’t some American tragedy or the end of all that’s good and spiritual. We can cherish the past without believing that nostalgia

should be an operational value. Not every quaint and quirky place can live forever. In the months and years to come, Dickerson Pike will develop and likely offer up some new affordable housing options to artists and musicians who are being priced out of nearby hot spots. And Jon Byrd is taking his Tuesday night residency over to the Radio Cafe on Gallatin Pike (Highway 31E), which is itself, a resurrection of a beloved small music venue that closed up more than a decade ago.

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THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM May | June 2017

EAST SIDE CALENDAR EMMA ALFORD CALENDAR EDITOR

M A Y | J U N E 2017

FOR UP-TO -DATE INFORMATION ON EVENTS, AS WELL AS LINKS, PLEASE VISIT US AT: THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

UPCOMING A HEAPING HELP

Second Harvest Food Bank’s Annual Generous Helpings 6-9 p.m., Thursday, May 11, City Winery

What to expect: a smorgasbord of samples from the city’s top chefs and foodsters. What to know: Generous Helpings isn’t just good to your belly, it’s all for a great cause. Proceeds from the event go toward Second Harvest Food Bank, so nobody goes hungry this evening. Specifically, funds raised will go toward Second Harvest Middle Tennessee’s Table program, which “rescues groceries” from over 224 nearby grocery stores and delivers food to hungry children, families, and seniors across the state. You can expect to see fare from restaurants across the city. Wine and beer offerings will be provided by some of your local favorites as well. Tickets are available online. citywinery.com/nashville 609 Lafayette St. 615.324.1010

THERE’S NO TASTE LIKE HOME

H2O + Grain + Hops + Yeast = Beer! 7-10 p.m., Friday, May 12, American Legion Post 82

Homies who homebrew, this one is for you. This is Nashville’s first minifest celebrating the art, craft, and taste of homebrewed beer. If you’re a homebrew enthusiast, want to learn more, OR want to show off your own batches of beer, chugalug on over to the American Legion. DJ Black Circle will be spinning vinyl, Drifters BBQ will be feeding attendees, and brewers will be pouring. Early-bird tickets are on sale now for $25. A ticket will get you unlimited samples, a souvenir tasting glass, and noms. If you’re a homebrewer interested in showing off your stuff, email info@exploringhomebrew.com. The best part? The whole shebang benefits EXPLORE! Community School. Come on, get hoppy. 3204 Gallatin Pike, 615.228.3598

DOGS GONE WILD Bark in the Park

11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, May 13, James E. Ward Ag Center, Wilson County Fairgrounds

Take off for a day with your puppers and head to Lebanon for a doggone good time. New Leash on Life is an animal welfare organization that helps folks adopt, take care of, and love their beloved fur babies. Bark in the Park is a great way to support the work New Leash on Life does, while having a blast. All day they’ll be offering helpful services like vaccines, dog tags, and free kibble. There will be plenty of the fun stuff, too, like lure chasing, “Pawcasso” art (paw print art), and agility training. The treats will be going all around because the two-legged mammals can look forward to games, contests, giveaways, live music, and more. Grab that leash and go. newleashonline.org/events/bark-in-the-park 945 E. Baddour Parkway, Lebanon 615.444.1144

WINING AND DINING Nashville Wine and Food Festival

12-4 p.m., Saturday, May 20, Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park

The city is taking it to the Capitol steps for the fourth annual Nashville Wine and Food Festival. There will be winemakers from around the globe, with over 50 different wineries on deck. Some of Nashville’s own chefs will be pairing their crafted cuisines

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EAST SIDE CALENDAR

with all that vino. There will be plenty of wine to put color in your cheeks (and teeth), food to fill your belly, and music to please your ears. You’ll have the chance to indulge your mind, too. The festival will be hosting talks and seminars from top winemakers and spirits, beer, and food experts throughout the day. The event will help raise funds for the Nashville Symphony. We can all toast to that! thenashwineandfoodfestival.com 600 James Robertson Parkway

to make your commute together. At 7:45 a.m. a free breakfast will be served at Public Square Park. Burn some calories, avoid traffic jams, and get a chance to take in the city. Scope out the meet-up points in East Nashville below to find the one nearest you. Check online to find all locations and times; we imagine they’ll be adding more as the wheels keep spinning.

Tom Joy Park 7:30 a.m. Mas Tacos Por Favor 7:40 a.m. Mitchell Deli 7:20 a.m. Eastside Cycles 7:45 a.m. Two Rivers Skatepark 7:05 a.m. Shelby Bottoms Nature Center 7:30 a.m.

PINCH THE TAIL

East Nashville Crawfish Bash

11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday, May 27, East Park

We’re pinching tails here in East Nashville, of the crustacean variety. Palaver Records is hosting their annual crawfish boil again this year, but they’ve done some growing. Due to last year’s success, they are moving to East Park for more space for partying and pinching. It will be a free, family- and pet-friendly showcase, with local food and brews, art vendors, local music, and, of course, mudbugs. eastnashcrawbash.com 700 Woodland St.

FRESH-CUT BLUEGRASS

The Amqui Station Pickin’ Party 6 p.m., May 26, June 23, July 14, Aug. 11, Sept. 22, Amqui Station and Visitors Center

Bluegrass is back in full swing for summertime in Madison. Fans of all sounds Americana, “new grass,” and good ole traditional bluegrass are invited to the Station’s front porch and lawn for summer strumming. This pickin’ party will have headlining acts for each night, but they invite musicians to bring out their axes to jam along. If you’re participating in a “jam circle,” you’ll get a halfpriced ticket. Check Historic Amqui’s website for more details. amquistation.org 303 Madison St., Madison, 615.891.1154

DROP THOSE KEYS Bike To Work Day

Time varies by location, Friday, May 26, citywide

As part of Nashville’s Bike Month, Walk/Bike Nashville is hosting a citywide “Bike To Work Day.” Save the gas, call off your carpool, and grab your helmet. There will be more than 20 meet-up points across the city, so find the one closest to you and meet up with other cyclists May | June 2017 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

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“EDUTAINING” THE EAST SIDE

Mr. Bond and the Science Guys “Tomorrow’s World” Summer Reading Programs Locations and times vary

Mr. Bond and his crew are back with their summer reading program to remind kids that science IS fun. The East Side has its very own Bill Nye of sorts. Mr. Bond is back again, touring around East Nasty pushing his own scientific agenda in a fun, new way. He calls it “Edutaining” — educating and entertaining. He and his Science Guys hosts shows across the East Side. This year’s program, “Tomorrow’s World,” will show audiences how science is working to build a better world through new technologies and energy forms. See the different locations for the performances below, young Einsteins.

Goodlettsville Library 10:30 a.m., May 31 East Branch Library 3:30 p.m., June 7 Main Branch Library 10:30 a.m., June 23 Martin Curtis-Hendersonville Library 1 p.m., July 8 Inglewood Library 10:30 a.m., Aug. 5 Madison Branch Library 4:30 p.m., Aug. 10

FEAST FOR FANNIE BATTLE Yum!East

6-9 p.m. Thursday, June 1, Pavilion East

Yum!East has us salivating again. This year there will be more than 30 of East Nashville’s culinary neighbors in one yard. Guests will have the chance to sample bites from all over the East Side in one spot, while enjoying some live music and local craft beer and wine. No pets or kids; they want your full attention so you don’t miss a single sample. So we recommend booking your babysitter now, parents. Most importantly, proceeds from the event will benefit Fannie Battle Day Home for Children. Admission will include an open bar, samples of food and drink from oodles of East Nashville businesses, and guaranteed fun. You’ll even leave with a nifty souvenir glass. Buy your tickets on the Yum!East website. yumeast.com 1006 Fatherland St.

WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM

Martha O’Bryan Center’s 31st Annual Miss Martha’s Ice Cream Crankin’ 3-5 p.m. Sunday, June 11, First Presbyterian Church

It is time for the sweetest fundraiser of the year, Miss Martha’s Ice Cream Crankin’, the annual ice cream social with Purity Dairy. This sweet soiree helps raise funds for all the work the Martha O’Bryan Center does throughout the year. With hundreds of gallons of the good stuff on site, you can double down on ice cream scoops through the afternoon. There will also be plenty of other fun activities for the kids once they have their fill. Individuals, churches, and groups are also encouraged to whip up their own batch of ice cream to enter in Purity’s contest. The flavor deemed “Best In Show” will be made by Purity next year. Don’t let your chance to see your own flavor on the shelf “melt” away. Discounted presale tickets can be purchased on the center’s website. marthaobryan.org/crankin 4815 Franklin Pike

LET THE COOK-OFF BEGIN NextUP Presents: Foodbank Throwdown 2017 6:30-9 p.m., Thursday, June 15, Martha O’Bryan Center

Think Chopped. The mystery basket ingredients: typical food bank item donations (canned goods, pastas, etc). The Foodbank Throwdown challenges eight local chefs to showcase how a tasty, home-cooked meal can be made, even with the most basic ingredients. The chefs will have to impress the audience, but also cook against a clock and present their meals to a panel of food-expert judges. Sounds like a tasty spectacle to us. Included in a ticket: sample plates from the chefs, brews from Jackalope, and recipes for all of the prepared dishes. You will also be able to vote for your favorite dish and chat with the local chefs and food writers. Plus, proceeds from the event go toward Martha O’Bryan’s Post-Secondary Success Initiative, which mentors and supports first-generation college students. marthaobryan.org/nextup/events 711 S. Seventh St. 3

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BEER & CORNHOLE FOR A CAUSE Talk with Me Tennessee Cornhole Tournament 5-9 p.m., Friday, June 16, Smith & Lentz Brewery

Beer and cornhole just go together. Beer and cornhole for a good cause? Even better. Talk with Me Tennessee is a local nonprofit that provides communication devices to children and adults with special needs throughout our community, particularly language and speech disorders. The funds from this cornhole tournament will go directly toward giving someone a voice that doesn’t have one. Register your team, drink some craft brews, and make a difference. smithandlentz.com 903 Main St.

•••

RESIDENCIES AND SHOWCASES

multiple East Nashville galleries

We don’t art crawl on the East Side, we art stumble. Every month, local galleries and studios will open their doors after hours to showcase some of the fabulous work they have gracing their walls. You can expect to see a diverse, eclectic mix of art, affording the opportunity to meet local artists and support their work. Local retail stores are stumbling in as well, with some businesses participating in a “happy hour” from 5-7 p.m., offering discounted prices on their merchandise to fellow stumblers. Be sure to check out the happy hour deals in The Idea Hatchery.

RED ARROW GALLERY

“Better Angels” by Dane Carder April 8 - May 14 “Pikes Project” by Joe Nolan Opening reception May 20, 6 p.m. May 20 - June 4

Opening reception June 10, 6 p.m. June 10 - July 2 theredarrowgallery.com 919 Gallatin Ave. #4, 615.236.6575

ART & INVENTION GALLERY Gallery hours are: Thursday – Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. artandinvention.com 1106 Woodland St., 615.226.2070

RAVEN AND WHALE GALLERY Works by Kate Harrold and Jason Brueck

Introducing Raven and Whale, a new gallery in The Idea Hacthery. Open Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with extended hours on the near horizon. ravenandwhalegallery.com 1108 Woodland St. Unit G, 629.777.6965

Austin Reavis and Margie Criner

Cole Slivka’s Short Sets

Tuesdays, 8-10 p.m., The Family Wash

Carpetbaggers

Rotating Lineup Tuesdays, 10:30 p.m.,The Family Wash

$2 Tuesdays hosted by Derek Hoke 9 p.m., Tuesdays, The 5 Spot

Tim Carroll’s Rock & Roll Happy Hour Fridays, 6-8:30 p.m., The 5 Spot

Jazz Dinner with Stephen Davis & Bryan Clark Saturdays, 7 p.m., The Family Wash

•••

ART EXHIBITS DON’T FORGET TO STUMBLE ON East Side Art Stumble

6-10 p.m., second Saturday of every month, May | June 2017 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM May | June 2017

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THEATER|OPERA

EVENTS & CLASSES

The Theater Bug presents Summer Musical at The Bug

Full Moon Bike Ride

July 13 - Aug. 5, 7 p.m. 4809 Gallatin Pike

Nashville Opera & Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory present Opera on the Mountain 6-10 p.m., June 3, Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory

1000 Oman Drive, Brentwood Nashville Opera: 615.832.5242

•✳•

SHELBY BOTTOMS NATURE CENTER

9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Noon to 4 p.m., Wednesday and Friday Closed, Sunday and Monday

The Nature Center offers a wide range of nature and environmental education programs and has a Nashville B-Cycle station where residents and visitors can rent a bike to explore Nashville’s greenways. For more information, as well as the online program registration portal, visit: nashville.gov/Parks-and-Recreation/Nature-Centersand-Natural-Areas/Shelby-Bottoms-Nature-Center 1900 Davidson St., 615.862.8539

8-9:30 p.m., Thursday, May 11 Ages 12+, registration required

RECURRING FARM FRESH

Bird Friendly Coffee Social 8 a.m. to noon, Saturday, May 13 All ages, no registration

East Nashville Farmers Market 3:30-7 p.m., Wednesdays, Shelby Park, Davidson Street next to the baseball fields

Amqui Station Farmers Market

Mr. Bond & The Science Guys 10-11 a.m., Saturday, May 13 All ages, registration required

Noon to 3 p.m., Sundays through August Amqui Station and Visitors Center, Madison

It’s a Bird Day!

Take a detour from your usual trek to Kroger and stop by these markets. They offer the “cream of the crop” in locally grown organic and fresh foods. Peruse the local cheeses, milk, breads, herbs, fruits, vegetables, jams, and jellies. A few merchants even sell handmade goods, such as soaps, candles, pottery, and jewelry. Go out and meet the farmers who make your food. They also accept SNAP (food stamp) benefits. Grocery shopping has never been this fun — or homegrown. The East Nashville Farmers Market will run through the end of October, Amqui will run until the end of August. Double down and visit both.

Bird Friendly Coffee Social

SHOP AROUND SUNDAY

Build Habitat and Help Pollinators! 1-2:30 p.m., Saturday, May 13 All ages, registration required

Storytime

2-3 p.m., Wednesday, May 17 All ages, registration required 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, May 20 All ages, no registration 8 a.m. to noon, Saturday, May 27 All ages, no registration

The Eclipse is Coming 2-3 p.m., Saturday, May 27 All ages, registration required

Sundays at Porter East

Noon to 4 p.m., First Sunday of every month, Shops at Porter East

The shops in Porter East open their doors the first Sunday of every month for a special little parking lot party. You can expect to enjoy a selection of rotating food trucks (and flower truck), fixups

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EAST SIDE CALENDAR

danceast.org 805 Woodland St. Suite 314, 615.601.1897

TEA TIME

BRING IT TO THE TABLE

Sweet Tea Dance

4-7 p.m., last Sunday of every month, The Beast Pub

Looking to enjoy a dance party outside of the nightlife? I think we can all agree that the late-night, all-night club parties can sometimes be a little intense. For a more laid back Sunday afternoon soiree, head to The Beast Pub. This dance party is set in the early evening and will have you home before dinnertime (if you so please). No cover and 2-4-1 drinks! Time for tea. thebasementnashville.com 917 Woodland St., 615.645.9176

EAST ROOM HAS JOKES

Spiffy Squirrel Sundays 6 p.m., Sundays, The East Room

The East Room is making a name for itself in Nashville’s comedy scene in part through Spiffy Squirrel Sundays, started up by The East Room head honcho Ben Jones through nashvillestandup.com. Hosted by local comedian Chad Riden, the shows bring in an array of national and local funny guys and gals, and it’s quickly become one of the best places in town for up-and-coming comics to flex their funny bones. If you’re looking for a laugh, check it out. Five bucks gets you in the door. They usually have some music planned for post-laughs, so stick around to see the bands. facebook.com/TheEastRoom 2412 Gallatin Ave., 347.559.6031

DancEast

Eastwood Christian Church, Fellowship Hall 1601 Eastland Ave. 615.300.4388

Community Hour at Lockeland Table

4-6 p.m., Monday through Friday, Lockeland Table

Lockeland Table is cooking up family-friendly afternoons to help you break out of the house or away from that desk for a couple of hours. Throughout the week, they host a community happy hour that includes a special snack and drink menu, as well as a menu just for the kiddies. A portion of all proceeds benefits Lockeland Design Center PTO, so you can feel good about giving back to your neighborhood while schmoozing with your fellow East Nashvillians. lockelandtable.com 1520 Woodland St., 615.228.4864

ANSWER ME THIS Trivia Time!

8 p.m., each week, various locations

East Siders, if you’re one of the sharper tools in the shed (or not, it’s no matter to us), stop by one of the East Side locales to test your wits at trivia. They play a few rounds, with different categories for each question. There might even be some prizes for top scoring teams, but remember: Nobody likes a sore loser.

(Trivia Time! cont’d) Monday

Drifter’s Tuesday

Edley’s BBQ East, Edgefield Sports Bar and Grill, Lipstick Lounge (7:30 p.m.) Thursday

RINC, Y’ALL

3 Crow Bar, The Beast Pub

Sundays at DancEast: 2-3 p.m., 7-12 years; 3-4 p.m., teen/adult Mondays at Eastwood Christian Church: 5-6 p.m., all ages

CAN’T SPELL BINGO WITHOUT BEAST

Scott-Ellis School of Irish Dance

You’re never too young — or too old — to kick out the Gaelic jams with some Irish Step dancing. No experience, or partner, required. Just you, some enthusiasm, and a heart of gold will have you dancing in the clover 88

before you can say “leprechaun.”

from Ranger Stich, and occasionally catch some good tunes. Amelia’s Flower Truck will let you build your own bouquet while Ranger Stich weaves some amazing chain stich on your favorite denim. You can also grab a bite to eat from some of the on-site food trucks. 700 Porter Road

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Beast Bingo

7 p.m., Mondays, The Beast Pub

We don’t have to explain Bingo, it’s simple enough. The Beast Pub turns Bingo hall every

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Monday night, but it ain’t yer grandma’s game. Show up, eat, drink, and spell out the magic word. Drinks specials from local breweries, prizes, and show tix all at your fingertips … need we say more? Just G-O. thebasementnashville.com 917 Woodland St. 615.645.9176

LET’S GET FREAKY Freak Me

Mondays, 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., The Basement East

The one and only Freak Me party leaves it all on the dance floor at The Beast. They tout themselves as the “freakiest dance party in Nashville.” This hip-hop and R&B jive gyrates every Monday for free, 21 and up. Shake your tail feathers on over. thebasementnashville.com 917 Woodland St. 615.645.9174

SHAKE A LEG Keep On Movin’

10 p.m. until close, Mondays, The 5 Spot

For those looking to hit the dance floor on Monday nights, The 5 Spot’s “Keep on Movin’ ”

dance party is the place to be. This shindig keeps it real with old-school soul, funk, and R&B. Don’t worry, you won’t hear Ke$ha — although you might see her — and you can leave your Apple Bottom jeans at home. If you have two left feet, then snag a seat at the bar. They have twofor-one drink specials, so you can use the money you save on a cover to fill your cup. the5spot.club 1006 Forrest Ave., 615.650.9333

HAGZILLA ROCKS! Hags’ Late Nite Moonglow LP Record Show

11 p.m. to 1 a.m., Mondays, The Family Wash

East Nasty bon vivant and our favorite astute observer James “Hags” Haggerty caps off Monday evenings at The Wash spinning, as he puts it, “whatever comes straight out of my head” — which could be anything from Iggy Pop to Andrew Gold to Dizzy Gillespie to The Bee Gees. Whatever is on Hags’ playlist, rest assured, the vibe will be cool. $2 domestics, and it’s free. Be there or be square! familywash.com 626A Main St., 615.645.9930

TELL ME A STORY

East Side Storytellin’

7 p.m., the first and third Tuesdays, The Post East

Looking for something to get your creative juices flowing? They’ve partnered with WAMB radio to present an all-out affair with book readings, musical performances, and author/ musician interviews in just one evening. Look for this event twice each month. If you want some adult beverages, feel free to BYOB. Check the website to see who the guests of honor will be for each performance. The event is free, but you may want to reserve a spot by calling East Side Story ahead of time.

The Post East

theposteast.com 1701 Fatherland St. Suite A, 615.457.2920

East Side Story

eastsidestorytn.com 1108 Woodland St. Unit B, 615.915.1808

JOIN THE LEGION Honky Tonk Tuesdays

8 p.m., Tuesdays, American Legion Post 82

Every Tuesday, the usually members-only American Legion Post 82 opens its doors for a hipster hoedown. They play the oldies and goldies of country music, a night filled with Merle Haggard, Ray Price, and maybe a little Hank Williams. What else makes this one-off, open-door policy night stand out? FREE parking, NO cover, and CHEAP drinks — all of which are getting harder to come by here in East Nashville. facebook.com/thelegion82 3204 Gallatin Pike, 615.228.3598

NO LAUGH TRACK NEEDED

Ultimate Comedy Show by Corporate Juggernaut 8:30 p.m., Tuesdays, The East Room

Local jokesters have taken up residency in The East Room for Corporate Juggernaut, a weekly series of open-mic comedy shows put on by Gary Fletcher, Jane Borden, and Brandon Jazz. Brad Edwards is your host and his backing band is The Grey Grays. You can always expect to see fresh material and new talent. Doors and sign-up are at 8 p.m. Get out and help support Nashville’s growing comedy scene. facebook.com/TheEastRoom 2412 Gallatin Ave., 347.559.6031

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EAST SIDE CALENDAR

GET YOUR GREEN ON Engage Green

First Wednesday of each month, locations vary

Tap into your eco-consciousness every month when Urban Green Lab and Lightning 100’s Team Green Adventures join forces for Engage Green. Join these enviro-crusaders for a discussion that highlights government agencies, businesses, and organizations that practice sustainability. They will provide you with info on these trends and a way to make them an affordable and a convenient part of your own life. You can expect an hour-long presentation or demonstration with a fun, hands-on component. Green looks good on you! urbangreenlab.org

TRANSFORMING AT THE POST

WALK, EAT, REPEAT

7-8:30 p.m., Second Wednesday of every month, The Post East

What better way to indulge in the plethora of East Nashville eateries than a walking tour through the tastiest stops? Walk Eat Nashville tours stroll through East Nashville, kicking off in 5 Points, with six tasting stops over three hours. You will walk about 1.5 miles, so you’ll burn some of those calories you’re consuming in the process. This tour offers the chance to interact with the people and places crafting Nashville’s culinary scene. You even get a little history lesson along the way, learning about landmarks and lore on the East Side. Sign up for your tour online. walkeatnashville.com Corner of 11th and Woodland Streets 615.587.6138

Free Conscious Transformation Groups

Looking for a supportive environment to focus on your professional and personal development? These monthly meetings foster a place to focus on conscious transformation teaching, tools, and meditation practices to promote and hone in on a plan of action to support your transformation. The meetings are led by Energy Healer Ben Dulaney. Think of it as conscious coupling with other like-minded folks. theposteast.com 1701 Fatherland St., Suite A, 615.457.2920

HOPPIN’ & HOWLIN’ Laugh It Off Open Mic Comedy Smith & Lentz Brewery

7-9 p.m., Wednesdays, Smith & Lentz

Cheers to laughing, we could all use a little more of it these days. Smith & Lentz is hosting a night to split your sides with some open mic standup comedy. The evening is hosted by local funny guy Josh Wagner. Show up early to sign up if you fancy yourself a comedian or just drop in to enjoy a few rounds and a couple of laughs. Shotgun Willie’s will be on hand slaying with their Texas-style BBQ. Admission is free. smithandlentz.com 903 Main St. 4

ART IS FOR EVERYONE

John Cannon Fine Art Classes 6-8 p.m., Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2-4 p.m., Saturdays, The Idea Hatchery

If you’ve been filling in coloring-book pages for years, but you’re too intimidated to put actual paint to canvas, it might be time to give it a try. Local artist John Cannon teaches intimate art classes at The Idea Hatchery, and the small class size keeps the sessions low-pressure and allows for some one-on-one instruction. If you’re feeling like you could be the next Matisse with a little guidance, sign yourself up. johncannonart.com 1108-C Woodland St., 615.496.1259

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Walk Eat Nashville

1:30 p.m., Thursdays 11 a.m., Fridays and Saturdays, 5 Points

CINEMATIC HOP-STERPIECES

Brew & View — Movie Nights at Smith & Lentz Brewery 6:30-11 p.m., first Thursday of every month

They’ve got some good things brewing for viewing over at Smith & Lentz these days. The hop-masters are throwing their own movie night each month with two back-to-back pictures. Flick picks chosen from the suggestion box at the brewery. They’ll show the films on their 120-inch projector screen, serve up their delicious beer and free popcorn. Shotgun Willie’s will be dishing out their BBQ, too. Even better—it’s free. smithandlentz.com 903 Main St.

EAST SIDE CALENDAR

FIND YOUR STATION HONESTLY, OFFICER... Songwriters Night at The Station

7 p.m., third Thursday of every month, The Engine Bay of The Station

They’re not fighting fires anymore, but the folks at The Station are on to something hot. Every third Thursday they host a writer’s round of local musicians. Jason Eskridge typically hosts the evening and several songsters join in. The Engine Bay provides a cozy, intimate setting and there is no cover — though they encourage donations for participating musicians. You can check the monthly lineup on The Station’s Facebook. Tip: There is limited parking behind the building, but overflow parking is available across the street at Eastland Baptist Church. thestationnashville.com 1220 Gallatin Ave.

AFTER-HOURS SHOPPING

Third Thursday at Porter East Till 8:30 p.m., third Thursday of every month, Shops at Porter East

The Shops at Porter East are extending their hours for you weekday warriors pushing that 9-5 job. The third Thursday of every month they’ll keep their doors open until 8:30 p.m. to give folks the option to shop at a later hour, for the peeps that can’t make it in during typical business hours. The shops will offer refreshments and treats, plus food trucks. Different vendors and music will also be on hand to keep things interesting. 700 Porter Road

East Nashville Crime Prevention Meeting

11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Thursdays, Turnip Truck

Join your neighbors to talk about crime stats, trends, and various other issues with East Precinct’s Commander David Imhof and head of investigation Lt. Greg Blair. If you are new to the East Side, get up to speed on criminal activity in the area. If you are a recent victim of crime, they want to hear your story.

East Precinct

615.862.7600

Turnip Truck

701 Woodland St., 615.650.3600

END THE WEEK ON A HIGH NOTE Family Wash Fridays

Noon to 2 p.m., every Friday, The Family Wash | Garage Coffee

Friday lunch never tasted so good with these weekly lineups of music featuring a “Secret Special Guest” at The Family Wash/Garage Coffee. This end-of-the-week event is presented by WMOT/Roots Radio 89.5 and hosted by Roots Radio DJ, Whit “Witness” Hubner. familywash.com 626A Main St., 615.645.9930

ROCKIN’ AT THE SPOT Tim Carroll’s Friday Night Happy Hour 6-8:30 p.m., Fridays, The 5 Spot

Your local watering hole has rocker Tim Carroll continuing his long tenure as the musical host for happy hour every Friday evening. The fabulous Luella has joined Carroll on vocal duites, and you can catch The Cure’s Reeves Gabrels sitting in with some otherwordly guitar riffing when he’s in town. If you’re looking for a local musical institution, the search is over. And speaking of local institutions, did we mention it’s at The 5 Spot? the5spot.club 1006 Forrest Ave., 615.650.9333

CAN’T FORCE A DANCE PARTY Queer Dance Party

9 p.m. to 3 a.m., third Friday of every month, The Basement East

On any given month, the QDP is a mixed bag of fashionably clad attendees (some in the occasional costume) dancing till they can’t dance no mo’. The dance party has migrated over to The Beast, which gives shakers and movers even more space to cut up. Shake a leg, slurp down some of the drink specials, and let your true rainbow colors show. thebasementnashville.com 917 Woodland St., 615.645.9174

POETS WHO KNOW IT Poetry in the Brew

5:30 p.m. Second Saturday of every month, Portland Brew

Wordsmiths out there: East Nashville’s own open mic poetry night goes down at Portland

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EAST SIDE CALENDAR Brew once a month. A poet is featured every month, with a chance to promote their work and read for 15 minutes â&#x20AC;&#x201D; all the other poets get five minutes live. Arrive early because this poetry powwow fills up fast and there is limited seating. Sign-up for the open mic begins at 5:30, with reading starting at 6 p.m. portlandbrewcoffee.net 1921 Eastland Ave. 615.732.2119

NEIGHBORHOOD MEETINGS & EVENTS

HISTORIC EDGEFIELD CRAFT SHOW AND FLEA MARKET 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday, July 4 700 Russell St. facebook.com/edgefieldflea

HISTORIC EDGEFIELD NEIGHBORS 7 p.m., Tuesday, May 30 East Park Community Center 700 Woodland St.

historicedgefieldneighbors.com

LOCKELAND SPRINGS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION 6:30 p.m., Thursday, May 18 The Post East, 1701 Fatherland St. lockelandsprings.org

SHELBY HILLS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

6:30 p.m., third Monday of every month, Shelby Community Center, 401 S. 20th St. shelbyhills.org

MAXWELL HEIGHTS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

6 p.m., second Monday of every month Metro Police East Precinct, 936 E. Trinity Lane

EASTWOOD NEIGHBORS 2nd Annual Potluck 6:30-8:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 9 1724 Sharpe Ave. eastwoodneighbors.org

GREENWOOD NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

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House on the Hill, 909 Manilla St. greenwoodneighbors.org

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIAITON

6 p.m., third Thursday of every month Kipp Academy, 123 Douglas Ave.

EAST NASHVILLE CAUCUS

6 p.m., April 5 Metro Police East Precinct, 936 E. Trinity Lane

The East Nashville Caucus provides a public forum for East Nashville community leaders, council members, and neighbors.

EAST HILL NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

6:30 p.m., second Wednesday of every month Metro Police Precinct East, 936 E. Trinity Lane

CLEVELAND PARK NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

6:30 p.m., second Thursday of every month Cleveland Park Community Center, 610 N. Sixth St. facebook.com/groups/Cleveland Park

INGLEWOOD NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

7 p.m., first Thursday of every month Isaac Litton Alumni Center, 4500 Gallatin Pike inglewoodrna.org

MCFERRIN NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

6:30 p.m., first Thursday of every month McFerrin Park Community Center, 301 Berry St.

ROSEBANK NEIGHBORS

6:30 p.m., third Thursday of every month Memorial Lutheran Church, 1211 Riverside Drive

THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM May | June 2017

HENMA

Dates and locations vary

HENMA is a cooperative formed among East Nashville business owners to promote collaboration with neighborhood associations and city government. Check the association’s website to learn about the organization and where meetings will be held each quarter. eastnashville.org

MOMS Club of East Nashville 10 a.m., first Friday of every month, location varies by group

MOMS (Moms Offering Moms Support) Club is an international organization of mothers with four branches in the East Nashville area. It provides a support network for mothers to connect with other EN mothers. The meetings are open to all mothers in the designated area. Meetings host speakers, cover regular business items of the organization including upcoming service initiatives and activities, and also allow women to discuss the ins and outs, ups and downs of being a mother. Check their website for the MOMS group in your area. momsclubeast.blogspot.com

ﬁn. Would you like to have something included in our East Side Calendar? Please let us know — we’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us at

calendar@theeastnashvillian.com For club listings and other events visit our Do615powered calender online at theastnashvillian.com

May | June 2017 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM

Deeper than Skin CONTINUED FROM PAGE 59

The time that had passed since his chance meeting with Tony Olivas had provided fuel for his art, a tougher life that built his ultimate inspiration. And all made him a better artist, one that has no trouble walking in two worlds. When a person places his or her hands on

another, they are making a commitment. They are making a commitment to the physical world of flesh and blood, and most certainly to the one unseen. Saint Clark recalls a childhood experience that originally broke down that barrier.

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“I definitely grew up in a religious household,” he says. “Southern Baptist. They were into healing. My grandmother was a spiritualist, and I saw things in my childhood I can’t explain. I can only attribute them to a divine presence. “I once received a black onyx bear with a lightning bolt carved in its side. It landed in my hand out of a bright flash of light in the middle of a room when I was a child. My grandparents believed in these Indian spirits that protected our family. I don’t think it was trickery by my grandmother, but I can’t explain it. I would never believe it of her. It would blow my mind, but at the same time, there was this weird thing that came out of thin air.” His tattooing is the gateway to that other side, the personal portal. “I believe in a divine being that’s bigger than us,” Saint Clark says. “There’s energy and spirituality out there. We’re energy and our bodies are vehicles. “The work is deeper than skin,” he continues. “Tattoos are very healing. They represent something to the bearer that words can’t express. They tell a story only that person knows. It can help someone move on. When a client comes in for a memorial piece, they are resonating that energy. “So, when I am in contact with that person for hours on end, you get this kinetic type of energy that flows through you. It can be exhausting both physically and mentally. It’s amazing to experience someone when they get to see the finished tattoo. Sometimes they hug you, sometimes they cry joyfully. I wear my heart on my sleeve, so I pick up on these type of things. That’s why we care so much about what we do. Art connects people.” Saint Clark’s work is recognized around the world. He is an award-winning black-andgray realist, seemingly at odds with his personal Technicolor show inside. But that recognition is a secondary benefit, and he enjoys the strong connection to the creative community. “Our art definitely resonates with the community and the idea of rebuilding,” he says. “Just as I have come from the ashes, so to speak, so has Nashville. My goal was to start something fresh and new and apply myself every day to make a positive impact on the art community. I think we’ve done that. I feel very embraced by Nashville as a whole, but East Nashville is where our heart is. “This community has pushed not only me, but my staff to be better. Nashville has a creative vibe, anyway. Everyone around us is creating music and art, so naturally it’s going to rub off on us. I always say, ‘Like attracts like.’ ”

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Chuck Berry CONTINUED FROM PAGE 75

“When we had ‘Wonderful Woman’ up, he asked if he could take another pass. He did — and just blew it up! We were all high-fiving, because it was so good. Initial response has been intriguing. Beyond the cover of Rolling Stone, Berry’s turning

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up on Los Angeles’ hippest radio station, KCRW, as well as NPR powerhouse WXPN in Philadelphia and on SiriusXM’s The Loft, Tom Petty Radio, and Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Radio. Noted Springsteen/Pearl Jam photographer

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Danny Clinch shot Berry for Esquire. Some of those pictures are part of Chuck’s packaging. Aware of the legend’s cantankerousness, he arrived in St. Louis with a plan: ask him to pose at the piano, the unheralded place he’d composed many songs — and perhaps outside, sitting in a vintage ’59 Caddy. “Everyone knows the story of Chuck Berry driving around America, demanding a bag of cash before he’d play the gig, then driving away from the show before the dust settled,” Clinch explains. “He said he didn’t think (he wanted to do it). But when we were done, I said, ‘Mr. Berry, you gotta come out and see this car.’ “You know, he comes from an era when people present themselves to the camera. He was wearing his cap, his bolo tie, his killer shoes — and he’s such a distinguished figure. We’d had such a good time, he figured he’d come outside and have a look at the car — and when he did, he had the biggest smile.” Clinch pauses, thinking about the record. A fan of rock & roll, he understands what Chuck means. But even more, he senses what it meant to the now deceased rocker. “He sounds happy on these recordings,” Clinch says. “Recording with his family, with some of the younger people he influenced. You can hear the rhythms, just like you hear them through many, many rock & roll records. It’s so alive.” The irony, of course, is that Berry didn’t make it to release day. With a press release to announce the record written and ready to go on Wednesday, March 22, the duck-walking guitarist/pop poet passed away unexpectedly on the Saturday prior. A decision had to be made: Honor the passing of an icon, or let it rock. “We reached out and asked about pushing it back,” Roper says, clearly uncomfortable with cashing in on Berry’s passing. “But the family was like, ‘Let it go. Let it happen.’ ” And so they did. On April 9, all eyes turned to St. Louis where Chuck Berry was laid to rest. As Keith Richards wrote in a letter to his hero, posted on his Facebook page, “For me the world went from black to white to glorious Technicolor when I first heard ‘Little Queenie.’ There was no doubt in my mind: It was obvious what I had to do, and I haven’t changed since. The effortless ease with which he laid down the rhythm makes a mockery of countless grimacing lip-biting, agonizing imitators.” Indeed. And the intensity and levity of Berry’s gift endures. With a new record, almost four decades after his last release, already making waves, Chuck Berry passed as so many artists wish they could live.

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615-830-1313 6thmanmovers.com load/unload labor vault storage long distance

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A AMERIC A AMERIC East of NORMAL TOMMY WOMACK

Cancer, chemo, and evil little cameras

ancer is a weird thing. Most people react – I gather – like life might be over and it’s time to “be a fighter” and “stay positive.” My reaction was different; it was more like, “Cancer? Me? I wonder what meds they’ll give me!” The description of how I found out I had bladder cancer is mildly disgusting. If you’re easily prone to be embarrassed or grossed-out, you might want to skip down a few paragraphs, because I’m not. Back around the beginning of the year, I started passing urine that looked like reddish Diet Coke. It’s the sort of thing that has a person run to Google. The preponderance of evidence was that I was dehydrated, so I started drinking more water than I had been. The only change was that the urine started to look like Killian’s Red, with the occasional granular bit of particulate matter added in for good measure. I thought, “Eureka! I’m passing kidney stones!” There was no need to worry. I’ll pass ’em and be done with it. It wasn’t painful, and to be honest I thought it was kinda cool. I started looking forward to peeing just to see what would come out. After a week, it went away, and I circular-filed the incident in the back of my gray matter, and continued my merry infantile caroms among life’s pinball machine. Then, to my pleasure, after another week or so, it came back. This time it didn’t look like any diet or alcoholic drinks; it was just bloody pee with little granules in it. The “this is neat” feeling dissipated. Still, I figured, this too shall pass. And after another week or so, it went away again. Then it came back again, and this time the particulate matter was getting bigger, like flat little bloody tabs of acid. By now it was February, and time to call the doctor. Doctors can move fast when they have to. My primary care physician took one look at my (quite interesting) urine sample and immediately referred me to her favorite urologist, and I left HIM a sample that was one for the record books. The urologist put me in the MRI machine and it revealed two blobs in my bladder where blobs shouldn’t be. What they were was anybody’s guess. Those two nickels I swallowed on a dare in

fifth grade? Who knew? So on March 9, the doc knocked me out on a table and stuck both a camera and a cutting tool up my penis, completely ignoring the One Way/Do Not Enter sign. Cameras used to be big bulky things, and now they can put one up your johnson! Amazing, and assuming you’re asleep, it’s no bother at all. The blobs were tumors, and they were cancerous. Worse, I woke up with a garden hose up my willy and my pee pee running into a collection bag. I’d have to deal with that thing for weeks. (I did four gigs with that tube up my willy and a bag of piss strapped to my right thigh under my jeans.) Then came a month for the bladder to heal, then the chemo, six Tuesdays in a row (at this writing I’m halfway through). So dig this: They inject a virus directly into my bladder called BCG. It’s tuberculosis, the kind found in horses. Somebody actually thought that up! Hey, let’s put horse TB in somebody’s bladder and see what happens! The thinking is that the body’s immune system will barge into the bladder with the kind of manpower Hitler used against Poland and mow down anything that moves, including whatever nascent microscopic cancer cells are sitting there playing pinochle with polyps and junior varsity kidney stones. And how do they inject this potion? By ignoring the WRONG WAY sign again. Only this time you’re awake. They shove a tube up your Johnson, inject the BCG, then pull it all out. It was 90 seconds of holding my wife’s hand, locking eyes with her and trying to breathe. And you know what? These urologists love their jobs. They actually like dealing with urine and its surrounding environs. They like infiltrating people’s urethras. That’s one sick bastard if you ask me. But I’m sure grateful there are perverts like that around. After my initial excitement at getting fun meds when they’re otherwise med non grata, the whole experience has changed me a bit. It’s cancer after all. I’ll be praying, and I sure appreciate the prayers of others, because if there’s one thing in my life I want no more of once chemo is over, that’s some dude in a white coat ignoring the WRONG WAY sign yet again.

Tommy Womack is a Nashville singer-songwriter, musician, and freelance writer. Keep up with his antics on Facebook and at tommywomack.com.

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PARTING SHOT

SO LONG CHARLIE BOBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S

MIKE DOUGLAS Owner

Sunday, April 30, 2017 Photographed by Chuck Allen 106

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