East Nashvillian Issue 11

52
Cook Cook Elizabeth Elizabeth ALWAYS FREE! VOL II, ISSUE 5 MAY/JUNE 2012 NEIGHBORHOOD KITCHEN NEW BREWS! MEET THE CURATORS

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Transcript of East Nashvillian Issue 11

Page 1: East Nashvillian Issue 11

CookCookElizabethElizabeth

ALWAYS FREE! VOL II , ISSUE 5MAY/JUNE 2012

NEIGHBORHOOD KITCHEN NEW BREWS! MEET THE CURATORS

Page 2: East Nashvillian Issue 11

Bene�ting:

Page 3: East Nashvillian Issue 11

Bene�ting:

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PublisherLisa McCauley

EditorChuck Allen

Associate EditorDaryl Sanders

Design DirectorLauren Vandervelde

Advertising DesignBenjamin Rumble

Emily Marlow

Contributing WritersHelen Gaye Brewster

Susannah Felts

Liz Jungers Hughes

Robbie D. Jones

Theresa Laurence

Carole Ann King

Melanie Meadows

Contributing PhotographersStacie Huckeba

Mike Straisinger/Nashville Sounds

Lauren Vandervelde

Advertising ContactLisa McCauley

[email protected]

615-582-4187

Correction

The East Nashvillian regrets the following error which

appeared in the March-April issue on Page 34: In the article,

“Color East Nashville Green,” E3 Innovate was identified as

not being located in East Nashville, but that is incorrect —

they are located on the East Side at 909 E. Trinity Ln.

www.theeastnashvillian.comThe East Nashvillian is published bimonthly by Kitchen Table Media, LLC. No portion of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission from the Publisher. All rights reserved.

© 2012 Kitchen Table Media, LLC 5

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812161922263133384350

Two breweries are better than oneEast Nashville’s Main Street will soon boast not one, but twomicrobreweries, Fat Bottom and Broadcast Brewing Co.By Liz Jungers Hughes

What’s In a Name?Clearing up the confusion about East Nashville’s two new ‘pharmacies’By Liz Jungers Hughes

Take me out to the ballgameEast Nashville location favored for new Sounds stadiumBy Helen Gaye Brewster

Cookin’ in the neighborhood kitchenFEAST Together builds community one healthy, locally grown meal at a timeBy Susannah Felts

The keepers of Nashville’s cultural heritageBy Robbie D. Jones

An East Nashvillian in HollywoodElizabeth Cook’s star is on the riseBy Daryl Sanders

Tim Carroll knows good rock from badSinger-songwriter-guitarist returns with his most-focused album to dateBy Daryl Sanders

Anthony VigliettiRiverside Drive’s best friendBy Melanie Meadows

It’s Festival Time on the East SideBy Carole Ann King

Lost dogs and mixed blessingsYou can find a little bit of everything on the East Nashville listserv By Theresa Laurence

Table of Contents

TDOT Map & RoutesGetting around on the weekends

Page 5: East Nashvillian Issue 11

PublisherLisa McCauley

EditorChuck Allen

Associate EditorDaryl Sanders

Design DirectorLauren Vandervelde

Advertising DesignBenjamin Rumble

Emily Marlow

Contributing WritersHelen Gaye Brewster

Susannah Felts

Liz Jungers Hughes

Robbie D. Jones

Theresa Laurence

Carole Ann King

Melanie Meadows

Contributing PhotographersStacie Huckeba

Mike Straisinger/Nashville Sounds

Lauren Vandervelde

Advertising ContactLisa McCauley

[email protected]

615-582-4187

Correction

The East Nashvillian regrets the following error which

appeared in the March-April issue on Page 34: In the article,

“Color East Nashville Green,” E3 Innovate was identified as

not being located in East Nashville, but that is incorrect —

they are located on the East Side at 909 E. Trinity Ln.

www.theeastnashvillian.comThe East Nashvillian is published bimonthly by Kitchen Table Media, LLC. No portion of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission from the Publisher. All rights reserved.

© 2012 Kitchen Table Media, LLC 5

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812161922263133384350

Two breweries are better than oneEast Nashville’s Main Street will soon boast not one, but twomicrobreweries, Fat Bottom and Broadcast Brewing Co.By Liz Jungers Hughes

What’s In a Name?Clearing up the confusion about East Nashville’s two new ‘pharmacies’By Liz Jungers Hughes

Take me out to the ballgameEast Nashville location favored for new Sounds stadiumBy Helen Gaye Brewster

Cookin’ in the neighborhood kitchenFEAST Together builds community one healthy, locally grown meal at a timeBy Susannah Felts

The keepers of Nashville’s cultural heritageBy Robbie D. Jones

An East Nashvillian in HollywoodElizabeth Cook’s star is on the riseBy Daryl Sanders

Tim Carroll knows good rock from badSinger-songwriter-guitarist returns with his most-focused album to dateBy Daryl Sanders

Anthony VigliettiRiverside Drive’s best friendBy Melanie Meadows

It’s Festival Time on the East SideBy Carole Ann King

Lost dogs and mixed blessingsYou can find a little bit of everything on the East Nashville listserv By Theresa Laurence

Table of Contents

TDOT Map & RoutesGetting around on the weekends

Page 6: East Nashvillian Issue 11

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May 5th Year ‘Round Gardening

with HydroponicsJune 2nd Compost TeaJune 23rd Propagation/CloningJuly 14th Basic Hydroponics

• Organic Gardening • Year ‘Round Gardening • Composting

Please join us for our FREE gardening classes!

Worm’s Way 901 Main Street,Nashville, TN 37206 (615)-227-7261

Saturdays @ 3pm

Class dates/times/subject matter subject to change.

Feel free to contact the store for updates.

TNAD2.indd 1 1/24/12 1:07 PM

“Life’s Rich Pageant”

There’s nothing like a crisis to focus one’s mind. When one’s world gets turned upside down and daily rituals fall by the wayside, trivial inconveniences no longer matter. Of what people are made becomes very clear. Expressions of

largesse and good intentions turn to dust in the face of action.

On the other hand, there are those special few who rise to the occasion, whose actions speak louder than words. They are the ones who have no expectations of thanks or reciprocation, whose simple reward is to put the well being of others be-fore themselves.

Lisa and I have recently been challenged by such a crisis. We’ll make it through. Being both pragmatic and tenacious helps. Ours is not a unique situation; it actually helps to know that others have been faced with similar challenges and triumphed. But beyond our personal wherewithal, it has been our friends who have pulled us through, without whom there wouldn’t be the magazine you now have in your hand.

In particular, Lisa and I would like to thank Daryl Sanders and Mark Pilkinton for mak-ing this issue of The East Nashvillian possible. Words cannot fully express our heart-felt gratitude for all that you’ve done.

Keep the faith,

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Letter from the Editor

Page 7: East Nashvillian Issue 11

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May 5th Year ‘Round Gardening

with HydroponicsJune 2nd Compost TeaJune 23rd Propagation/CloningJuly 14th Basic Hydroponics

• Organic Gardening • Year ‘Round Gardening • Composting

Please join us for our FREE gardening classes!

Worm’s Way 901 Main Street,Nashville, TN 37206 (615)-227-7261

Saturdays @ 3pm

Class dates/times/subject matter subject to change.

Feel free to contact the store for updates.

TNAD2.indd 1 1/24/12 1:07 PM

“Life’s Rich Pageant”

There’s nothing like a crisis to focus one’s mind. When one’s world gets turned upside down and daily rituals fall by the wayside, trivial inconveniences no longer matter. Of what people are made becomes very clear. Expressions of

largesse and good intentions turn to dust in the face of action.

On the other hand, there are those special few who rise to the occasion, whose actions speak louder than words. They are the ones who have no expectations of thanks or reciprocation, whose simple reward is to put the well being of others be-fore themselves.

Lisa and I have recently been challenged by such a crisis. We’ll make it through. Being both pragmatic and tenacious helps. Ours is not a unique situation; it actually helps to know that others have been faced with similar challenges and triumphed. But beyond our personal wherewithal, it has been our friends who have pulled us through, without whom there wouldn’t be the magazine you now have in your hand.

In particular, Lisa and I would like to thank Daryl Sanders and Mark Pilkinton for mak-ing this issue of The East Nashvillian possible. Words cannot fully express our heart-felt gratitude for all that you’ve done.

Keep the faith,

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Letter from the Editor

Page 8: East Nashvillian Issue 11

Two breweries are better than one East Nashville’s Main Street will soon

boast not one, but two microbreweries, Fat Bottom and Broadcast Brewing Co.By Liz Jungers Hughes • Photo by Stacie Huckeba

BottomS uP: Ben Bredesen’s Fat Bottom Brewery soon will be putting smiles on the faces of East Nashville residents, one beer mug at a time.

T hirsty East Nashvillians soon will have two new reasons to raise a glass in the coming

months, as the neighborhood wel-comes a pair of microbreweries to 900 Main St., an industrial complex for-merly home to the Fluffo mattress fac-tory. Fat Bottom Brewery, owned by Ben Bredesen (son of former governor Phil Bredesen), is on schedule to open this June, to be joined later in the fall by Mike Causey’s Broadcast Brewing Company. Both ventures will welcome visitors to imbibe in their respective taprooms, while sharing an interior green courtyard.

When Bredesen moved into East Nashville six years ago, he acutely felt the lack of a neighborhood micro-brewery or brewpub, a deficiency he looks forward to remedying. While searching for a location for Fat Bottom, Bredesen hoped to settle in East Nashville, though he didn’t think that would be possible due to a lack of industrial space in the area. When the Fluffo building became available last year, he was thrilled to be able to set up shop close to home.

While Bredesen plans to leave the iconic Fluffo sign painted on the side of building, he has spent the past sev-eral months transforming the former mattress factory into a working brew-ery and taproom. With the help of ar-chitect Steve Powell at Powell Design Studio, Bredesen plans to honor the industrial past of the building with the use of concrete, steel and wood in the renovation.

Getting Fat Bottom on its feet has been exciting, though challenging for Bredesen, who is new to the craft beer business. Born and raised in Nashville, Bredesen attended Brown University, then returned home after graduation. He spent eight years in the healthcare software industry at Qualifacts Systems, Inc., where he was VP of Marketing before quitting last September to open his brewery.

“I first got into brewing when my

wife — I think she was tired of me buying so much beer — got me a book on home brewing, and I think she’s regretted it ever since,” Bredesen explains.

He began brewing as a hobby about eight years ago, and has since devel-oped a brewing style he calls “exciting, but ‘sessionable.’” Continuing he says, “What I want to brew is something people can drink every day, but that’s a lot more interesting, without going overboard just for the sake of going overboard.”

Contributing to Fat Bottom’s full-ness of flavor is the fact that Bredesen makes only unfiltered beers. While filtering beer does improve shelf life and stability, the filtering equipment is expensive, and it can diminish the taste of beer.

“Filtering takes away a lot of flavors, a lot of hop oils and some of the vola-tiles that you smell in a glass of beer,” Bredesen explains. Unfiltered beers can be recognized not just by their more robust flavor, but by a visible cloudiness that is the result of yeast not being extracted as in most com-mercial beers.

You’ll see and taste the difference in all of Fat Bottom’s beers, includ-ing the tentatively named Fat Bottom Wheat, a summery American wheat ale made with fresh ginger. Not to be confused with ginger ale or ginger beer, Bredesen’s signature brew is light bodied with just a touch of fruit. He is also particularly excited about his Black Betty, a black IPA (India Pale Ale) whose dark grains lend it a seductive smokiness.

Mike Causey of Broadcast Brewing Company has his own unique brewing style, but is largely of the same beer philosophy as Bredesen. “There’s a fine

line between great-tasting, flavorful beer, without being too full-bodied or heavy,” Causey says. “I like to experi-ment, and it’s good to have fun with ingredients and see where they take you, but I don’t like experimenting for experimenting’s sake.” This philoso-phy can be found in Broadcast’s Honey Ale, made with local honey, and their Extra Pale Ale, a lighter brew featuring more hops and a bitter dry finish.

Like Bredesen, Causey because inter-ested in craft beer thanks to a gift from his wife, and began brewing at home about 10 years ago. A Birmingham native, he moved to Nashville 25 years ago, and established a production company called Skyscraper Media. The name Broadcast is a nod to his background in media, which dates back to a stint as a DJ at a college radio

station, as well as to Nashville’s great radio tradi-tion. Broadcast also connotes an analog, old-school experience, which Causey hopes his brewery will pro-vide to its guests.

“I enjoy actually making something

with my hands as opposed to some-thing that’s digital, that doesn’t exist in the real sense,” he says. “That’s what I enjoy about the beer making — taking the raw ingredients and turning it into something people enjoy drinking and being a part of.”

Bredesen also appreciates the con-nective power of brewing and found inspiration for Fat Bottom in micro-breweries that function foremost as gathering places, such as Amnesia in Portland, Ore., and Russian River in Santa Clara, Calif.

Both Broadcast and Fat Bottom will offer tours, but the spacious taprooms and outdoor courtyard will invite guests to linger for hours over a few pints and simple food. Fat Bottom plans to be open Tuesday through Saturday from 4 p.m. to midnight, while Broadcast will begin with more limited hours Thursday through Saturday. Neither Causey nor Bredesen want to be in the restaurant/

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“I FIRST gOT INTO bREWINg WHEN My WIFE — I THINk SHE WAS TIRED OF ME buyINg SO

MuCH bEER — gOT ME A bOOk ON HOME bREWINg, AND I THINk SHE’S REgRETTED

IT EVER SINCE,” bREDESEN ExpLAINS.

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Page 9: East Nashvillian Issue 11

Two breweries are better than one East Nashville’s Main Street will soon

boast not one, but two microbreweries, Fat Bottom and Broadcast Brewing Co.By Liz Jungers Hughes • Photo by Stacie Huckeba

BottomS uP: Ben Bredesen’s Fat Bottom Brewery soon will be putting smiles on the faces of East Nashville residents, one beer mug at a time.

T hirsty East Nashvillians soon will have two new reasons to raise a glass in the coming

months, as the neighborhood wel-comes a pair of microbreweries to 900 Main St., an industrial complex for-merly home to the Fluffo mattress fac-tory. Fat Bottom Brewery, owned by Ben Bredesen (son of former governor Phil Bredesen), is on schedule to open this June, to be joined later in the fall by Mike Causey’s Broadcast Brewing Company. Both ventures will welcome visitors to imbibe in their respective taprooms, while sharing an interior green courtyard.

When Bredesen moved into East Nashville six years ago, he acutely felt the lack of a neighborhood micro-brewery or brewpub, a deficiency he looks forward to remedying. While searching for a location for Fat Bottom, Bredesen hoped to settle in East Nashville, though he didn’t think that would be possible due to a lack of industrial space in the area. When the Fluffo building became available last year, he was thrilled to be able to set up shop close to home.

While Bredesen plans to leave the iconic Fluffo sign painted on the side of building, he has spent the past sev-eral months transforming the former mattress factory into a working brew-ery and taproom. With the help of ar-chitect Steve Powell at Powell Design Studio, Bredesen plans to honor the industrial past of the building with the use of concrete, steel and wood in the renovation.

Getting Fat Bottom on its feet has been exciting, though challenging for Bredesen, who is new to the craft beer business. Born and raised in Nashville, Bredesen attended Brown University, then returned home after graduation. He spent eight years in the healthcare software industry at Qualifacts Systems, Inc., where he was VP of Marketing before quitting last September to open his brewery.

“I first got into brewing when my

wife — I think she was tired of me buying so much beer — got me a book on home brewing, and I think she’s regretted it ever since,” Bredesen explains.

He began brewing as a hobby about eight years ago, and has since devel-oped a brewing style he calls “exciting, but ‘sessionable.’” Continuing he says, “What I want to brew is something people can drink every day, but that’s a lot more interesting, without going overboard just for the sake of going overboard.”

Contributing to Fat Bottom’s full-ness of flavor is the fact that Bredesen makes only unfiltered beers. While filtering beer does improve shelf life and stability, the filtering equipment is expensive, and it can diminish the taste of beer.

“Filtering takes away a lot of flavors, a lot of hop oils and some of the vola-tiles that you smell in a glass of beer,” Bredesen explains. Unfiltered beers can be recognized not just by their more robust flavor, but by a visible cloudiness that is the result of yeast not being extracted as in most com-mercial beers.

You’ll see and taste the difference in all of Fat Bottom’s beers, includ-ing the tentatively named Fat Bottom Wheat, a summery American wheat ale made with fresh ginger. Not to be confused with ginger ale or ginger beer, Bredesen’s signature brew is light bodied with just a touch of fruit. He is also particularly excited about his Black Betty, a black IPA (India Pale Ale) whose dark grains lend it a seductive smokiness.

Mike Causey of Broadcast Brewing Company has his own unique brewing style, but is largely of the same beer philosophy as Bredesen. “There’s a fine

line between great-tasting, flavorful beer, without being too full-bodied or heavy,” Causey says. “I like to experi-ment, and it’s good to have fun with ingredients and see where they take you, but I don’t like experimenting for experimenting’s sake.” This philoso-phy can be found in Broadcast’s Honey Ale, made with local honey, and their Extra Pale Ale, a lighter brew featuring more hops and a bitter dry finish.

Like Bredesen, Causey because inter-ested in craft beer thanks to a gift from his wife, and began brewing at home about 10 years ago. A Birmingham native, he moved to Nashville 25 years ago, and established a production company called Skyscraper Media. The name Broadcast is a nod to his background in media, which dates back to a stint as a DJ at a college radio

station, as well as to Nashville’s great radio tradi-tion. Broadcast also connotes an analog, old-school experience, which Causey hopes his brewery will pro-vide to its guests.

“I enjoy actually making something

with my hands as opposed to some-thing that’s digital, that doesn’t exist in the real sense,” he says. “That’s what I enjoy about the beer making — taking the raw ingredients and turning it into something people enjoy drinking and being a part of.”

Bredesen also appreciates the con-nective power of brewing and found inspiration for Fat Bottom in micro-breweries that function foremost as gathering places, such as Amnesia in Portland, Ore., and Russian River in Santa Clara, Calif.

Both Broadcast and Fat Bottom will offer tours, but the spacious taprooms and outdoor courtyard will invite guests to linger for hours over a few pints and simple food. Fat Bottom plans to be open Tuesday through Saturday from 4 p.m. to midnight, while Broadcast will begin with more limited hours Thursday through Saturday. Neither Causey nor Bredesen want to be in the restaurant/

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“I FIRST gOT INTO bREWINg WHEN My WIFE — I THINk SHE WAS TIRED OF ME buyINg SO

MuCH bEER — gOT ME A bOOk ON HOME bREWINg, AND I THINk SHE’S REgRETTED

IT EVER SINCE,” bREDESEN ExpLAINS.

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Page 10: East Nashvillian Issue 11

Fat Bottom Brewery and Broadcast Brewing Company will be “manufacturing” a different form of relaxation than the former tenant at 900 main St.

“THAT’S WHAT I ENjOy AbOuT THE bEER

MAkINg — TAkINg THE RAW INgREDIENTS

AND TuRNINg IT INTO SOMETHINg pEOpLE

ENjOy DRINkINg AND bEINg A pART OF.”

— Mike Causey

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Continued on page 12

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bar business, hoping instead to focus on making great beer and self-distributing kegs to local bars and restaurants. Eventually, a restaurant will round out the 900 Main Street complex and complement the brewer-ies’ business.

Fat Bottom and Broadcast hope the excitement of friendly competition and the convenience of side-by-side prox-imity will create a beer lover’s destina-tion, one thing missing in a city with a lively and growing craft beer scene. They will join well-established Yazoo and Blackstone along with Jackalope, now a year old, and Franklin’s first mi-crobrewery, Turtle Anarchy Brewing Co., set to open at the end of May. The Nashville area is also home to several brewpubs, including Bosco’s and Big River Grille, defined as restaurant-breweries that sell at least 25 percent of their product on site.

Both Bredesen and Causey agree there remains plenty of room for growth in the local craft beer boom. According to the Brewers Association, the trade association representing

small and independent brewers, Tennessee ranked 36th in the nation in per capita breweries in 2010, with 23 total breweries, or one for every 275,918 residents. Compare this to

number one Vermont, whose 21 total breweries amount to one for every 29,797 residents, and it is clear that the Tennessee market is by no means full.

Tennessee is reflective of a larger national trend in the growth of mi-crobreweries. There was an 11 percent increase in the number of operational

breweries in the country last year, a number that reached the milestone of 2,000 in February 2012.

Causey credits the growing popular-ity of craft beer, in part, to the res-taurant industry trend towards using locally sourced produce and meats, which has raised the public’s interest in eating — and drinking — locally. Microbreweries, which employed over 100,000 workers in 2011, also give beer drinkers the chance to support their local economies, while enjoying a product that is both tasty and unique. Fat Bottom and Broadcast promise to deliver on each of these counts, while enhancing the eclectic melting pot of East Nashville’s social scene.

“I think a lot of things that are good for this area are coming from East Nashville,” Causey says, expressing excitement over the neighborhood’s creative atmosphere. “We want to help in any way we can to foster that cul-ture in East Nashville and to make this community richer.”

Page 11: East Nashvillian Issue 11

Fat Bottom Brewery and Broadcast Brewing Company will be “manufacturing” a different form of relaxation than the former tenant at 900 main St.

“THAT’S WHAT I ENjOy AbOuT THE bEER

MAkINg — TAkINg THE RAW INgREDIENTS

AND TuRNINg IT INTO SOMETHINg pEOpLE

ENjOy DRINkINg AND bEINg A pART OF.”

— Mike Causey

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Continued on page 12

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bar business, hoping instead to focus on making great beer and self-distributing kegs to local bars and restaurants. Eventually, a restaurant will round out the 900 Main Street complex and complement the brewer-ies’ business.

Fat Bottom and Broadcast hope the excitement of friendly competition and the convenience of side-by-side prox-imity will create a beer lover’s destina-tion, one thing missing in a city with a lively and growing craft beer scene. They will join well-established Yazoo and Blackstone along with Jackalope, now a year old, and Franklin’s first mi-crobrewery, Turtle Anarchy Brewing Co., set to open at the end of May. The Nashville area is also home to several brewpubs, including Bosco’s and Big River Grille, defined as restaurant-breweries that sell at least 25 percent of their product on site.

Both Bredesen and Causey agree there remains plenty of room for growth in the local craft beer boom. According to the Brewers Association, the trade association representing

small and independent brewers, Tennessee ranked 36th in the nation in per capita breweries in 2010, with 23 total breweries, or one for every 275,918 residents. Compare this to

number one Vermont, whose 21 total breweries amount to one for every 29,797 residents, and it is clear that the Tennessee market is by no means full.

Tennessee is reflective of a larger national trend in the growth of mi-crobreweries. There was an 11 percent increase in the number of operational

breweries in the country last year, a number that reached the milestone of 2,000 in February 2012.

Causey credits the growing popular-ity of craft beer, in part, to the res-taurant industry trend towards using locally sourced produce and meats, which has raised the public’s interest in eating — and drinking — locally. Microbreweries, which employed over 100,000 workers in 2011, also give beer drinkers the chance to support their local economies, while enjoying a product that is both tasty and unique. Fat Bottom and Broadcast promise to deliver on each of these counts, while enhancing the eclectic melting pot of East Nashville’s social scene.

“I think a lot of things that are good for this area are coming from East Nashville,” Causey says, expressing excitement over the neighborhood’s creative atmosphere. “We want to help in any way we can to foster that cul-ture in East Nashville and to make this community richer.”

Page 12: East Nashvillian Issue 11

18

Printed on 100% recycled content with soy and vegetable based inks

LANDSCAPEsolu ons+

organic garden maintenance • environmental landscape design & installation • landscape renovation & clean-up • residential master planning • raingardens • native planting

8525009landscapeTN.com

www.platinumsaloneast.comfind us on facebook & myspace

When The Pharmacy, a burger parlor and beer garden, opened its doors

on McFerrin Street last December, most people quickly caught on that it’s not a place to get your prescrip-tion filled. East Nashvillians, who have long accepted that you can’t do your laundry at Family Wash, aren’t quite so easily confused.

But with the new Riverside Village Pharmacy, an actual phar-macy, arriving in the neighborhood within a month of The Pharmacy, more than a few bewildered burger seekers have been surprised to see owner and pharmacist Gary Williams behind the counter dispensing medicine, rather than German beer and ice cream floats.

Williams is a 1978 graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy, and spent 15 years as a pharmacist at CVS before moving on to AmMed Direct, a mail-order prescription company specializing in diabetic supplies and medica-tions. Williams holds specialty certifications in Diabetes, Nutrition & Weight Loss Management, and Medication Therapy Management.

While at CVS,

Williams spent many years filling pre-scriptions in multiple East Nashville locations, and knew upon leaving AmMed Direct last year that he wanted to return to this area to open his own neigh-borhood pharmacy. Having spent most of his career working for chains and cor-porations, Williams is enjoying the change of pace that has come with running Riverside Village Pharmacy.

“We answer the telephone, we look you in the  face, and talk to you like you’re a real person,” Williams says. He is also pleased to offer free, same-day delivery to the East Nashville and Madison communities. “Most people we deliver to really need the service — their health won’t allow them to drive, and they have to take the bus or depend on other people.”

Riverside Village Pharmacy ac-cepts all insurance plans and is open

Monday through Saturday, with emergency ser-vice available on Sundays. The store also carries a va-riety of gift items, baby-related mer-chandise, jewelry and local art, and

many natural bath and body product lines in-cluding Thistle Farms, Kiss My Face, Badger, Burt’s Bees, Pacifica and Tom’s of Maine.

Of course for burg-ers, you’ll have to hit The Pharmacy, not Riverside Village Pharmacy. Why the

confusing name? “It’s a place you go to feel better,” says owner Terrell Raley, who was inspired by the doz-

ens of medicine bottles they found while excavating his neighbor-ing restaurant, Holland House. “We found a ton of medicine bottles, some of which still had

proper labels on them and still had tinctures and medicinal things inside, and we kept them, figuring that we’d always, somewhere down the road,

find a purpose for them,” he recalls.  Those bottles eventually found

their way into the concept for The Pharmacy, a burger parlor that invokes the old-time charm and sim-plicity of a drugstore soda fountain, with a menu of hearty burgers and house-made sausages, creative phos-phates, ice cream floats and German beers. Quickly becoming an East Nashville institution, The Pharmacy’s backyard beer garden has recently been readied for the summer season with additional trees, seating and a separate bar — just what the doctor ordered. —Liz Jungers Hughes

What’s in a name? Clearing up the confusion about East Nashville’s two new ‘pharmacies.’

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Continued from page 8

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Page 13: East Nashvillian Issue 11

18

Printed on 100% recycled content with soy and vegetable based inks

LANDSCAPEsolu ons+

organic garden maintenance • environmental landscape design & installation • landscape renovation & clean-up • residential master planning • raingardens • native planting

8525009landscapeTN.com

www.platinumsaloneast.comfind us on facebook & myspace

When The Pharmacy, a burger parlor and beer garden, opened its doors

on McFerrin Street last December, most people quickly caught on that it’s not a place to get your prescrip-tion filled. East Nashvillians, who have long accepted that you can’t do your laundry at Family Wash, aren’t quite so easily confused.

But with the new Riverside Village Pharmacy, an actual phar-macy, arriving in the neighborhood within a month of The Pharmacy, more than a few bewildered burger seekers have been surprised to see owner and pharmacist Gary Williams behind the counter dispensing medicine, rather than German beer and ice cream floats.

Williams is a 1978 graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy, and spent 15 years as a pharmacist at CVS before moving on to AmMed Direct, a mail-order prescription company specializing in diabetic supplies and medica-tions. Williams holds specialty certifications in Diabetes, Nutrition & Weight Loss Management, and Medication Therapy Management.

While at CVS,

Williams spent many years filling pre-scriptions in multiple East Nashville locations, and knew upon leaving AmMed Direct last year that he wanted to return to this area to open his own neigh-borhood pharmacy. Having spent most of his career working for chains and cor-porations, Williams is enjoying the change of pace that has come with running Riverside Village Pharmacy.

“We answer the telephone, we look you in the  face, and talk to you like you’re a real person,” Williams says. He is also pleased to offer free, same-day delivery to the East Nashville and Madison communities. “Most people we deliver to really need the service — their health won’t allow them to drive, and they have to take the bus or depend on other people.”

Riverside Village Pharmacy ac-cepts all insurance plans and is open

Monday through Saturday, with emergency ser-vice available on Sundays. The store also carries a va-riety of gift items, baby-related mer-chandise, jewelry and local art, and

many natural bath and body product lines in-cluding Thistle Farms, Kiss My Face, Badger, Burt’s Bees, Pacifica and Tom’s of Maine.

Of course for burg-ers, you’ll have to hit The Pharmacy, not Riverside Village Pharmacy. Why the

confusing name? “It’s a place you go to feel better,” says owner Terrell Raley, who was inspired by the doz-

ens of medicine bottles they found while excavating his neighbor-ing restaurant, Holland House. “We found a ton of medicine bottles, some of which still had

proper labels on them and still had tinctures and medicinal things inside, and we kept them, figuring that we’d always, somewhere down the road,

find a purpose for them,” he recalls.  Those bottles eventually found

their way into the concept for The Pharmacy, a burger parlor that invokes the old-time charm and sim-plicity of a drugstore soda fountain, with a menu of hearty burgers and house-made sausages, creative phos-phates, ice cream floats and German beers. Quickly becoming an East Nashville institution, The Pharmacy’s backyard beer garden has recently been readied for the summer season with additional trees, seating and a separate bar — just what the doctor ordered. —Liz Jungers Hughes

What’s in a name? Clearing up the confusion about East Nashville’s two new ‘pharmacies.’

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Continued from page 8

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Page 14: East Nashvillian Issue 11

14 THE EAST NASHVILLIAN THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 15

Page 15: East Nashvillian Issue 11

14 THE EAST NASHVILLIAN THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 15

Page 16: East Nashvillian Issue 11

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16 17

A hhh, baseball. The all-Ameri-can pastime. There’s nothing like a summer night at the

ballpark — the crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd, the smell of hot dogs and popcorn, and don’t forget the fireworks when the home team scores.

Since 1978, the Nashville Sounds have played their home games at Greer Stadium, a state-of-the-art facility when it was first erected, but no longer on par with other Triple A ballparks, such as the ones in Memphis and Louisville. There has been a lot of talk in recent years of a new ballpark — and the main question is where to build it.

There is no denying that a new ballpark can increase attendance and provide an economic boost. According to a Dec. 16, 2011 article in the Nashville Business Journal, “New minor league ballparks built since 1985 have had, on average, a 67 per-cent increase in attendance in their first three years.” Restaurants and

shops near a new stadium benefit, too, as evidenced by the bars, restaurants and shops near Bridgestone Arena and LP Field filled with fans on game days and nights. With the Sounds playing 72 home games a year, there would be a nice boost for businesses near a new stadium.

Last year, the consulting firm Populous was hired to conduct a feasibility study that included analyz-ing potential sites and making rec-ommendations for the location of a new stadium. Populous has worked on AAA parks such as Victory Field in Indianapolis, Autozone Park in Memphis, and Durham Bulls Athletic

Park in Durham, among others. In a press release from Mayor Karl Dean’s office dated Dec. 1, 2011, it was an-nounced that the study narrowed po-tential locations to three sites: the East Bank of the Cumberland River, Sulphur Dell near Germantown, and the North Gulch area north of Charlotte Avenue . The study called the East Bank the site “that can produce impact on a grand scale,” and that development there “creates a new front door to downtown Nashville.”

“I am especially intrigued by the East Bank site because it offers an op-portunity for more than just a baseball stadium,” Mayor Dean said. “It could be the catalyst for a complete trans-formation of one of the last undevel-oped, highly visible sections of our city’s skyline.”

The Sounds also seem to favor the East Bank. Sounds owner Frank Ward said in a statement regarding the Populous site evaluation study, “We

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

East Nashville location favored for new Sounds

stadium

By Helen Gaye BrewsterPhoto by mike Strasinger

are especially excited about possible sites for a new stadium on the East Bank. While there are other attractive sites, none offer as many pluses — ease of access, ready parking, and proxim-ity to downtown are just a few. And the Sounds would be delighted to be part of Metro’s bold plan to develop and upgrade a significant piece of riverfront property.”

What could a new Sounds ballpark mean for East Nashville? The less-than-desirable appearance of PSC Metals adjacent to one of the major en-trances to the neighborhood has long been bemoaned by East Side residents. The Populous study references more than one site on the East Bank, and while any East Bank location would be a positive for East Nashville as well as downtown, the possibility of a ball-park being built on the PSC Metals site is intriguing because it would create a long-desired change to the land-scape. A new ballpark would change the face of East Nashville to visitors and residents accessing the East Side or downtown at the Shelby Avenue exit from the interstate. Improving the appearance of this entryway would create an even greater sense of pride in the neighborhood, and present an aes-thetically pleasing look that showcases Nashville as the prosperous, visionary city that we are.

When asked about the PSC site as a potential location, Bonna Johnson, press secretary to the mayor, said, “We don’t think that anyone, including the

owners of PSC, would say that the highest

and best use of that land is a scrap metal recycling fa-

cility. Having said that, PSC has a solid business and benefits from the central location and the rail, river and inter-state access that the location offers. Moving equipment and changing locations is an intimidating process for any business. That is particularly true for one that has been in one loca-tion for as long as PSC has. It’s not an easy process.

“Mayor Dean believes that the Cumberland River is an underutilized asset of the city,” Johnson contin-ued. “He has already made significant investments to improve the riverfront, including the Riverfront Master Plan and the newly opened Cumberland Park. The PSC property is ideally situ-ated across the river from downtown, next door to LP Field and about half a mile from the Music City Center. Whether that land is developed as office, commercial, park, residential or retail space, there are any number of uses that would improve Davidson County’s tax base and the beauty and livability of our city.”

East Nashville residents also would benefit from another family-friendly entertainment option. Triple A base-ball games are an affordable outing compared to the cost of other profes-sional sporting events, giving East Side families the chance to take the kids to a game without breaking the bank. The average cost for a family of four to attend a minor league baseball

game is $61.23, including tickets, hot dogs, sodas, a couple of beers and parking, according to MiLB.com, the official website of minor league base-ball. Those prices compare favorably to the lowest price for a single ticket for a Titans game (around $45.00) or a Predators game (around $25.00.) With easy access from the East Side by walking, bike or bus, it would make at-tending professional sports affordable and convenient.

It also would be a boost for business-es in East Nashville. For fans who want to grab a bite or a drink before or after a game, a quick glance at their smart phones would tell them there are bars and restaurants within minutes of the potential East Bank sites.

It seems the matter now rests in the hands of the mayor. With the potential for enormous impact on East Nashville and signs from all sides pointing to-wards support of an East bank site, now is the time for East Side residents to ask Mayor Dean to step up to the plate for a new ballpark in East Nashville.

the Sounds may soon be hosting their Pacific Coast

League opponents at a new, state-of-the-art stadium

on the East bank of the Cumberland River.

“I AM ESpECIALLy INTRIguED by THE

EAST bANk SITE bECAuSE IT OFFERS

AN OppORTuNITy FOR MORE THAN juST A

bASEbALL STADIuM.” — Mayor karl Dean

Page 17: East Nashvillian Issue 11

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16 17

A hhh, baseball. The all-Ameri-can pastime. There’s nothing like a summer night at the

ballpark — the crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd, the smell of hot dogs and popcorn, and don’t forget the fireworks when the home team scores.

Since 1978, the Nashville Sounds have played their home games at Greer Stadium, a state-of-the-art facility when it was first erected, but no longer on par with other Triple A ballparks, such as the ones in Memphis and Louisville. There has been a lot of talk in recent years of a new ballpark — and the main question is where to build it.

There is no denying that a new ballpark can increase attendance and provide an economic boost. According to a Dec. 16, 2011 article in the Nashville Business Journal, “New minor league ballparks built since 1985 have had, on average, a 67 per-cent increase in attendance in their first three years.” Restaurants and

shops near a new stadium benefit, too, as evidenced by the bars, restaurants and shops near Bridgestone Arena and LP Field filled with fans on game days and nights. With the Sounds playing 72 home games a year, there would be a nice boost for businesses near a new stadium.

Last year, the consulting firm Populous was hired to conduct a feasibility study that included analyz-ing potential sites and making rec-ommendations for the location of a new stadium. Populous has worked on AAA parks such as Victory Field in Indianapolis, Autozone Park in Memphis, and Durham Bulls Athletic

Park in Durham, among others. In a press release from Mayor Karl Dean’s office dated Dec. 1, 2011, it was an-nounced that the study narrowed po-tential locations to three sites: the East Bank of the Cumberland River, Sulphur Dell near Germantown, and the North Gulch area north of Charlotte Avenue . The study called the East Bank the site “that can produce impact on a grand scale,” and that development there “creates a new front door to downtown Nashville.”

“I am especially intrigued by the East Bank site because it offers an op-portunity for more than just a baseball stadium,” Mayor Dean said. “It could be the catalyst for a complete trans-formation of one of the last undevel-oped, highly visible sections of our city’s skyline.”

The Sounds also seem to favor the East Bank. Sounds owner Frank Ward said in a statement regarding the Populous site evaluation study, “We

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

East Nashville location favored for new Sounds

stadium

By Helen Gaye BrewsterPhoto by mike Strasinger

are especially excited about possible sites for a new stadium on the East Bank. While there are other attractive sites, none offer as many pluses — ease of access, ready parking, and proxim-ity to downtown are just a few. And the Sounds would be delighted to be part of Metro’s bold plan to develop and upgrade a significant piece of riverfront property.”

What could a new Sounds ballpark mean for East Nashville? The less-than-desirable appearance of PSC Metals adjacent to one of the major en-trances to the neighborhood has long been bemoaned by East Side residents. The Populous study references more than one site on the East Bank, and while any East Bank location would be a positive for East Nashville as well as downtown, the possibility of a ball-park being built on the PSC Metals site is intriguing because it would create a long-desired change to the land-scape. A new ballpark would change the face of East Nashville to visitors and residents accessing the East Side or downtown at the Shelby Avenue exit from the interstate. Improving the appearance of this entryway would create an even greater sense of pride in the neighborhood, and present an aes-thetically pleasing look that showcases Nashville as the prosperous, visionary city that we are.

When asked about the PSC site as a potential location, Bonna Johnson, press secretary to the mayor, said, “We don’t think that anyone, including the

owners of PSC, would say that the highest

and best use of that land is a scrap metal recycling fa-

cility. Having said that, PSC has a solid business and benefits from the central location and the rail, river and inter-state access that the location offers. Moving equipment and changing locations is an intimidating process for any business. That is particularly true for one that has been in one loca-tion for as long as PSC has. It’s not an easy process.

“Mayor Dean believes that the Cumberland River is an underutilized asset of the city,” Johnson contin-ued. “He has already made significant investments to improve the riverfront, including the Riverfront Master Plan and the newly opened Cumberland Park. The PSC property is ideally situ-ated across the river from downtown, next door to LP Field and about half a mile from the Music City Center. Whether that land is developed as office, commercial, park, residential or retail space, there are any number of uses that would improve Davidson County’s tax base and the beauty and livability of our city.”

East Nashville residents also would benefit from another family-friendly entertainment option. Triple A base-ball games are an affordable outing compared to the cost of other profes-sional sporting events, giving East Side families the chance to take the kids to a game without breaking the bank. The average cost for a family of four to attend a minor league baseball

game is $61.23, including tickets, hot dogs, sodas, a couple of beers and parking, according to MiLB.com, the official website of minor league base-ball. Those prices compare favorably to the lowest price for a single ticket for a Titans game (around $45.00) or a Predators game (around $25.00.) With easy access from the East Side by walking, bike or bus, it would make at-tending professional sports affordable and convenient.

It also would be a boost for business-es in East Nashville. For fans who want to grab a bite or a drink before or after a game, a quick glance at their smart phones would tell them there are bars and restaurants within minutes of the potential East Bank sites.

It seems the matter now rests in the hands of the mayor. With the potential for enormous impact on East Nashville and signs from all sides pointing to-wards support of an East bank site, now is the time for East Side residents to ask Mayor Dean to step up to the plate for a new ballpark in East Nashville.

the Sounds may soon be hosting their Pacific Coast

League opponents at a new, state-of-the-art stadium

on the East bank of the Cumberland River.

“I AM ESpECIALLy INTRIguED by THE

EAST bANk SITE bECAuSE IT OFFERS

AN OppORTuNITy FOR MORE THAN juST A

bASEbALL STADIuM.” — Mayor karl Dean

Page 18: East Nashvillian Issue 11

Y ou know all about farmers’ markets and CSAs (communi-ty-supported agriculture). Now

meet the latest trend on the front lines of the food revolution — community-supported, or neighborhood, kitchens,.

These kitchens offer a new way to bridge the gap between an area’s food producers and its consumers, oc-cupying a space between café, CSA shares, and your own fridge and oven. Community residents can pick up and eat at home dishes or full meals made by local chefs from local, sustainably farmed ingredients. Residents also can volunteer to pitch in with the prepara-tion and cooking of the meals, and/or take a cooking class with a local chef.

In the past few years, the neighbor-hood kitchen concept has blossomed in ventures such as Salt, Fire & Time in Portland, Ore., Three Stone Hearth in Berkeley, and Sweet Deliverance in New York City. Now, Benjamin Surmi and Jenny Vaughn Harrison, cofounders of FEAST Together, are working hard to bring the concept to Nashville — but with a unique social-justice angle. (FEAST is an acro-nym for Food Education Affirming Sustainable Traditions.) They plan to develop several neighborhood kitchens across the Nashville area, each supported by members in much the way CSA members buy shares of a farm’s seasonal harvest.

Last fall, FEAST Together offered their first meal-membership program — a different culinary-themed meal to members each week, prepared by Chef Martha Stamps at her kitchen on West End. Their first offering

drew 55 member families. Surmi and Harrison, both of whom have pro-fessional cooking backgrounds, are developing a second neighborhood kitchen in East Nashville, which will likely operate out of the 6000-square-foot kitchen at Compassion Nashville,

the transitional home for families run by the nonprofit organization Sophia’s Heart.

The first of FEAST Together’s three primary goals is simply to “make it easier for people to eat healthy food that comes from our local farms,” Surmi says. Applying the CSA model to prepared meals gives people who aren’t so sure what to do with a box full of kale a way to eat locally grown, sustainable food at home.

A second goal is community build-ing and education. “People can volun-teer to work alongside the chef to make the food,” Surmi explains. “You have the chance to work with some of the best chefs in our city and learn skills.”

Third, and crucially, Surmi and Harrison envision FEAST Together as a way to not only bring high-quality, locally sourced, sustainably farmed

Cookin’ in the neighborhood

kitchenFEAST Together builds community one healthy, locally grown meal at a time

By Susannah Felts • Photos by Stacie Huckeba

THESE kITCHENS OFFER A NEW WAy

TO bRIDgE THE gAp bETWEEN AN AREA’S

FOOD pRODuCERS AND ITS CONSuMERS, OCCupyINg A SpACE bETWEEN CAFé, CSA

SHARES, AND yOuR OWN FRIDgE AND OVEN

FEASt together’s Benjamin Surmi hopes to educate the group’s

members about healthy cooking.

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Page 19: East Nashvillian Issue 11

Y ou know all about farmers’ markets and CSAs (communi-ty-supported agriculture). Now

meet the latest trend on the front lines of the food revolution — community-supported, or neighborhood, kitchens,.

These kitchens offer a new way to bridge the gap between an area’s food producers and its consumers, oc-cupying a space between café, CSA shares, and your own fridge and oven. Community residents can pick up and eat at home dishes or full meals made by local chefs from local, sustainably farmed ingredients. Residents also can volunteer to pitch in with the prepara-tion and cooking of the meals, and/or take a cooking class with a local chef.

In the past few years, the neighbor-hood kitchen concept has blossomed in ventures such as Salt, Fire & Time in Portland, Ore., Three Stone Hearth in Berkeley, and Sweet Deliverance in New York City. Now, Benjamin Surmi and Jenny Vaughn Harrison, cofounders of FEAST Together, are working hard to bring the concept to Nashville — but with a unique social-justice angle. (FEAST is an acro-nym for Food Education Affirming Sustainable Traditions.) They plan to develop several neighborhood kitchens across the Nashville area, each supported by members in much the way CSA members buy shares of a farm’s seasonal harvest.

Last fall, FEAST Together offered their first meal-membership program — a different culinary-themed meal to members each week, prepared by Chef Martha Stamps at her kitchen on West End. Their first offering

drew 55 member families. Surmi and Harrison, both of whom have pro-fessional cooking backgrounds, are developing a second neighborhood kitchen in East Nashville, which will likely operate out of the 6000-square-foot kitchen at Compassion Nashville,

the transitional home for families run by the nonprofit organization Sophia’s Heart.

The first of FEAST Together’s three primary goals is simply to “make it easier for people to eat healthy food that comes from our local farms,” Surmi says. Applying the CSA model to prepared meals gives people who aren’t so sure what to do with a box full of kale a way to eat locally grown, sustainable food at home.

A second goal is community build-ing and education. “People can volun-teer to work alongside the chef to make the food,” Surmi explains. “You have the chance to work with some of the best chefs in our city and learn skills.”

Third, and crucially, Surmi and Harrison envision FEAST Together as a way to not only bring high-quality, locally sourced, sustainably farmed

Cookin’ in the neighborhood

kitchenFEAST Together builds community one healthy, locally grown meal at a time

By Susannah Felts • Photos by Stacie Huckeba

THESE kITCHENS OFFER A NEW WAy

TO bRIDgE THE gAp bETWEEN AN AREA’S

FOOD pRODuCERS AND ITS CONSuMERS, OCCupyINg A SpACE bETWEEN CAFé, CSA

SHARES, AND yOuR OWN FRIDgE AND OVEN

FEASt together’s Benjamin Surmi hopes to educate the group’s

members about healthy cooking.

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Page 20: East Nashvillian Issue 11

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21THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 21

Thirth37206

3

East Nashville’s favorite block party is back for its 8th consecutive year!Bands at press time include:

Elmo Buzz and the Eastside Bulldogs

Off the Wagon

Other bands TBA

Tuesday July 3rd from 6pm - 12am$15 covers beer and entertainment and a portion of the proceeds will go to a local charity.

Local sponsors include:

Visit www.thethirth.com for more information

food to those who prioritize ethi-cal eating and can afford the often-higher cost of such meals — think of the restaurant-goers who suss out the source of their chicken on Portlandia — but also to underserved populations in the community. In theory, a mem-ber’s subscription not only pays for his meals, but allows FEAST Together to buy ingredients on a scale at which the same high-quality food can be offered, either at a subsidized rate or for free, to low-income community members and the homeless. (If it sounds like a pie-in-the-sky concept,

look no further than Chicago’s First Slice, through which a single-family subscription also provides meals for 20 hungry people each month.)

Earlier this spring, FEAST Together offered their second meal program through Martha Stamps Catering and attracted nearly 40 member families, who receive soup, entrée, stew, salad and bread each week, for the length of their membership. Stamps offers a new culinary theme each week, and members can also arrange to pur-chase locally grown and locally made ingredients at the kitchen when they pick up their meals.

Surmi and Harrison now plan to create a similar membership-based meal program for the East side, which is where their venture was born, in a sense — the two first connected via the East Nashville listserv. While a few chefs have expressed interest in participating, the missing piece, so far, is an ample member base.

“It requires a minimum number that will give the chef the stability to get started,” Surmi explains. “We have to have that commitment to allow the price to be low enough.” They’re considering a different model for East Nashville, one through which mem-bers have more flexibility in their choices each week, rather than one set meal. As the farmers market season ramps up, they hope to increase FEAST Together’s visibility and bring in a new crop of potential members.

Meanwhile, there is plenty cook-ing in the kitchen at Sophia’s Heart. As consultants to the organization, FEAST Together is providing meals and training in healthy cooking for the resident families. “Our job is to create a program that they can af-ford, that the people who live here will actually eat, and that is offering the healthiest possible food to them,” Surmi says.

To that end, he realizes that esoteric fare like quinoa curry might not fly, so they’ve done “good, earthy soul food with good ingredients,” he says, such as local pork chops with green beans and mac and cheese, and for dessert, apple crisp made with maple syrup instead of sugar. On another night, the kitchen turned out roasted chicken with collard greens cooked with Benton’s bacon, corn bread made from scratch, and skin-on mashed potatoes.

When the next FEAST Together membership meal program becomes a reality, Surmi hopes to see the lines blur between the food for the Sophia’s Heart families and the program members — all while keeping costs low as possible.

“It’s going to tax our creativity to the max to pull it off, but I think we’ve got some really exciting strategies to involve the resident families,” he says. He imagines one resident saying to another, “Hey, we made quinoa today; you’ve gotta try it!”

Surmi makes guacamole as part of a demonstration involving mexican cuisine.

Page 21: East Nashvillian Issue 11

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21THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 21

Thirth37206

3

East Nashville’s favorite block party is back for its 8th consecutive year!Bands at press time include:

Elmo Buzz and the Eastside Bulldogs

Off the Wagon

Other bands TBA

Tuesday July 3rd from 6pm - 12am$15 covers beer and entertainment and a portion of the proceeds will go to a local charity.

Local sponsors include:

Visit www.thethirth.com for more information

food to those who prioritize ethi-cal eating and can afford the often-higher cost of such meals — think of the restaurant-goers who suss out the source of their chicken on Portlandia — but also to underserved populations in the community. In theory, a mem-ber’s subscription not only pays for his meals, but allows FEAST Together to buy ingredients on a scale at which the same high-quality food can be offered, either at a subsidized rate or for free, to low-income community members and the homeless. (If it sounds like a pie-in-the-sky concept,

look no further than Chicago’s First Slice, through which a single-family subscription also provides meals for 20 hungry people each month.)

Earlier this spring, FEAST Together offered their second meal program through Martha Stamps Catering and attracted nearly 40 member families, who receive soup, entrée, stew, salad and bread each week, for the length of their membership. Stamps offers a new culinary theme each week, and members can also arrange to pur-chase locally grown and locally made ingredients at the kitchen when they pick up their meals.

Surmi and Harrison now plan to create a similar membership-based meal program for the East side, which is where their venture was born, in a sense — the two first connected via the East Nashville listserv. While a few chefs have expressed interest in participating, the missing piece, so far, is an ample member base.

“It requires a minimum number that will give the chef the stability to get started,” Surmi explains. “We have to have that commitment to allow the price to be low enough.” They’re considering a different model for East Nashville, one through which mem-bers have more flexibility in their choices each week, rather than one set meal. As the farmers market season ramps up, they hope to increase FEAST Together’s visibility and bring in a new crop of potential members.

Meanwhile, there is plenty cook-ing in the kitchen at Sophia’s Heart. As consultants to the organization, FEAST Together is providing meals and training in healthy cooking for the resident families. “Our job is to create a program that they can af-ford, that the people who live here will actually eat, and that is offering the healthiest possible food to them,” Surmi says.

To that end, he realizes that esoteric fare like quinoa curry might not fly, so they’ve done “good, earthy soul food with good ingredients,” he says, such as local pork chops with green beans and mac and cheese, and for dessert, apple crisp made with maple syrup instead of sugar. On another night, the kitchen turned out roasted chicken with collard greens cooked with Benton’s bacon, corn bread made from scratch, and skin-on mashed potatoes.

When the next FEAST Together membership meal program becomes a reality, Surmi hopes to see the lines blur between the food for the Sophia’s Heart families and the program members — all while keeping costs low as possible.

“It’s going to tax our creativity to the max to pull it off, but I think we’ve got some really exciting strategies to involve the resident families,” he says. He imagines one resident saying to another, “Hey, we made quinoa today; you’ve gotta try it!”

Surmi makes guacamole as part of a demonstration involving mexican cuisine.

Page 22: East Nashvillian Issue 11

to make my living in theater, either acting-directing or teaching,” Paine says. “There just weren’t many jobs in the early 1970s, so when I was offered a job at Fort Nashborough in the fall of 1974, I saw possibilities for both teach-ing and doing theater in nontraditional ways.” As a result, Paine initiated a liv-ing history program at the city-owned historic site on the riverfront. Five years later, she was appointed direc-tor of The Parthenon, the city’s official museum, a job she has held ever since.

“Watching people engage with The Parthenon and the collection — often to their surprise — is a huge rush,” she says. “I see it daily and it never fails to make me happy to be where I am, doing what I do. It reaffirms

how important museums are to the fabric of our lives.” Paine started out in Edgefield in 1979 in a home co-owned with her brother, but currently lives in a 102-year-old home she purchased in 1985 in Lockeland Springs. She was attracted to East Nashville due to the “beauty of the architecture and the fact that we could afford a house, even though it needed a lot of money and huge amounts of sweat equity. I learned much more about plaster walls, plumbing and HVAC than I ever wanted to know — and still don’t know enough, I think.”

Nashville’s second oldest museum is located on a 1,120-acre plantation which was home to the guy on the 20 dollar bill — Andrew Jackson — from

1804 till his death in 1845. The State of Tennessee purchased The Hermitage from Jackson’s son in 1854, in order to preserve it as a shrine to “Old Hickory,” and in 1889 turned it over to the care of the Ladies’ Hermitage Association to operate as a nonprofit museum on behalf of the people of Tennessee. Today, The Hermitage is one of the country’s oldest and largest historic site museums, which attracts visitors from around the world.

The chief curator and vice president of museum services at The Hermitage is Marsha Mullin of Edgefield. A native of Indiana with degrees from Indiana University, Notre Dame and Texas Tech, Mullin moved to Nashville in 1987 to work at The Hermitage, where she has led multiple restoration proj-ects. She and a friend moved into a 1901 Folk Victorian on Boscobel since “East Nashville seemed affordable and reasonably convenient for com-muting.” They were attracted to the Edgefield neighborhood since they “both worked in historical-related pro-fessions and loved old houses,” Mullin explains.

“When we first moved in we met several elderly former residents — ei-ther they dropped by and just knocked on the door or they came on the annu-al home tour,” she says. “They were al-ways thrilled that the house was being taken care of.” Mullin compared living in East Nashville to the small towns of her youth. “I love the diversity, the walkability and the architecture.”

While most historic house museums tell the stories of rich and powerful men, Nashville boasts an exception with Belmont Mansion, which tells the story of Adelicia Acklen — one of the city’s most famous women. Nashville’s version of Scarlett O’Hara, Acklen called Belmont home from 1853 to 1887 when she sold the Italianate Villa-style estate, that became a girls school which eventually evolved into Belmont University. In 1972, the university cre-ated the Belmont Mansion Association for restoring the hilltop mansion and operating it as a nonprofit museum.

The person responsible for safe-guarding Belmont Mansion for the past quarter century is Mark Brown of Lockeland Springs. Brown became

S ince ancient Athens, muse-ums have served to safeguard cultural heritage. They serve

as repositories for collections of art and historic artifacts. More often than not, the very buildings and sites housing museums are considered artifacts that should be protected. It’s no coincidence that Nashville — the Athens of the South — is blessed with a wide variety of museums, from one of America’s oldest presidential muse-ums to one of its newest art museums. Perhaps it’s also no coincidence that many of the curators of these mu-seums — the keepers of Nashville’s cultural heritage — call East Nashville home. We wanted to know why, so we asked them.

Ironically, the city’s oldest museum is housed in one of the newest mu-seum facilities. The Tennessee State Museum (TSM) traces its history to 1817 when local portrait artist Ralph E.W. Earl opened a museum on the Public Square. Over the years, the museum hopped around, landing in the basement of the War Memorial Auditorium in 1937 and then in the basement of the James K. Polk Building in 1981. A military branch museum still operates from War Memorial.

A stalwart in the museum world, Lois Riggins-Ezell was born in East Nashville and grew up on Ordway in the Lockeland Springs neighborhood, where she still lives in a 106-year-old Folk Victorian next door to her child-hood home. Riggins-Ezell became interested in pursuing museum stud-ies after serving as a junior docent at

the old downtown Children’s Museum, forerunner of the Adventure Science Center. After graduating from East Nashville High School, Riggins-Ezell attended Belmont, Western Kentucky, and George Washington University. On staff at the TSM since 1975, in 1981 Governor Lamar Alexander appointed her museum director, a position she’s held ever since.

Riggins-Ezell’s zeal for history was fostered by the Southern tradition of storytelling by her neighbors and es-pecially her grandmother, who shared family stories of the “War Between the States,” Jesse James, and the Bell Witch. “The older people in the neigh-borhood treasured their heritage as well as the community’s unique, fun-ny, and colorful history,” she explains. “What makes East Nashville special is its resilient sense of community

teeming with energy, passion, and infinite possibilities.”

The Tennessee State Museum’s senior curator for art and architecture is Jim Hoobler of Edgefield. A native of Atlanta who moved to Nashville in 1972, Hoobler holds degrees from University of Georgia and Vanderbilt University. During high school career counseling, Hoobler realized he should consider being a museum curator due to his interest in history, museums, and artifacts. “In fact, I went to muse-ums before I was even old enough to go to kindergarten,” Hoobler says. “So, I have grown up and been in museums nearly my entire life. I love the tangible past, collecting it, interpreting it and passing it on to the future.”

Hoobler is also directly involved with the restoration and interpreta-tion of several of Nashville’s most iconic National Historic Landmarks, including the Tennessee State Capitol and the Downtown Presbyterian Church. Over the years he has served on numerous commissions and boards at the local, state and national levels. In 1986, he built a new town-house on Russell Street in Edgefield, but he is currently renovating a 1920 Bungalow on Fatherland Street. “I love the walkability of Edgefield,” he says. “I have many restaurants to walk to, and have many neighbors who are good friends.”

Another Atlanta native who calls East Nashville home is Wesley Paine, longtime museum director of The Parthenon at Centennial Park. Paine originally came to Nashville to attend Lipscomb University. “I had planned

The keepers of Nashville’s

cultural heritage

three guardians of Nashville’s culture in front of historic East High: (L-R) Jim Hoobler, Lois Riggins-Ezell and marsha mullin.“I LOVE THE TANgIbLE

pAST, COLLECTINg IT, INTERpRETINg IT

AND pASSINg IT ON TO THE FuTuRE.” — JiM HooBler

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The Tennessee State museum

By Robbie D. Jones • Photo by Stacie Huckeba

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Page 23: East Nashvillian Issue 11

to make my living in theater, either acting-directing or teaching,” Paine says. “There just weren’t many jobs in the early 1970s, so when I was offered a job at Fort Nashborough in the fall of 1974, I saw possibilities for both teach-ing and doing theater in nontraditional ways.” As a result, Paine initiated a liv-ing history program at the city-owned historic site on the riverfront. Five years later, she was appointed direc-tor of The Parthenon, the city’s official museum, a job she has held ever since.

“Watching people engage with The Parthenon and the collection — often to their surprise — is a huge rush,” she says. “I see it daily and it never fails to make me happy to be where I am, doing what I do. It reaffirms

how important museums are to the fabric of our lives.” Paine started out in Edgefield in 1979 in a home co-owned with her brother, but currently lives in a 102-year-old home she purchased in 1985 in Lockeland Springs. She was attracted to East Nashville due to the “beauty of the architecture and the fact that we could afford a house, even though it needed a lot of money and huge amounts of sweat equity. I learned much more about plaster walls, plumbing and HVAC than I ever wanted to know — and still don’t know enough, I think.”

Nashville’s second oldest museum is located on a 1,120-acre plantation which was home to the guy on the 20 dollar bill — Andrew Jackson — from

1804 till his death in 1845. The State of Tennessee purchased The Hermitage from Jackson’s son in 1854, in order to preserve it as a shrine to “Old Hickory,” and in 1889 turned it over to the care of the Ladies’ Hermitage Association to operate as a nonprofit museum on behalf of the people of Tennessee. Today, The Hermitage is one of the country’s oldest and largest historic site museums, which attracts visitors from around the world.

The chief curator and vice president of museum services at The Hermitage is Marsha Mullin of Edgefield. A native of Indiana with degrees from Indiana University, Notre Dame and Texas Tech, Mullin moved to Nashville in 1987 to work at The Hermitage, where she has led multiple restoration proj-ects. She and a friend moved into a 1901 Folk Victorian on Boscobel since “East Nashville seemed affordable and reasonably convenient for com-muting.” They were attracted to the Edgefield neighborhood since they “both worked in historical-related pro-fessions and loved old houses,” Mullin explains.

“When we first moved in we met several elderly former residents — ei-ther they dropped by and just knocked on the door or they came on the annu-al home tour,” she says. “They were al-ways thrilled that the house was being taken care of.” Mullin compared living in East Nashville to the small towns of her youth. “I love the diversity, the walkability and the architecture.”

While most historic house museums tell the stories of rich and powerful men, Nashville boasts an exception with Belmont Mansion, which tells the story of Adelicia Acklen — one of the city’s most famous women. Nashville’s version of Scarlett O’Hara, Acklen called Belmont home from 1853 to 1887 when she sold the Italianate Villa-style estate, that became a girls school which eventually evolved into Belmont University. In 1972, the university cre-ated the Belmont Mansion Association for restoring the hilltop mansion and operating it as a nonprofit museum.

The person responsible for safe-guarding Belmont Mansion for the past quarter century is Mark Brown of Lockeland Springs. Brown became

S ince ancient Athens, muse-ums have served to safeguard cultural heritage. They serve

as repositories for collections of art and historic artifacts. More often than not, the very buildings and sites housing museums are considered artifacts that should be protected. It’s no coincidence that Nashville — the Athens of the South — is blessed with a wide variety of museums, from one of America’s oldest presidential muse-ums to one of its newest art museums. Perhaps it’s also no coincidence that many of the curators of these mu-seums — the keepers of Nashville’s cultural heritage — call East Nashville home. We wanted to know why, so we asked them.

Ironically, the city’s oldest museum is housed in one of the newest mu-seum facilities. The Tennessee State Museum (TSM) traces its history to 1817 when local portrait artist Ralph E.W. Earl opened a museum on the Public Square. Over the years, the museum hopped around, landing in the basement of the War Memorial Auditorium in 1937 and then in the basement of the James K. Polk Building in 1981. A military branch museum still operates from War Memorial.

A stalwart in the museum world, Lois Riggins-Ezell was born in East Nashville and grew up on Ordway in the Lockeland Springs neighborhood, where she still lives in a 106-year-old Folk Victorian next door to her child-hood home. Riggins-Ezell became interested in pursuing museum stud-ies after serving as a junior docent at

the old downtown Children’s Museum, forerunner of the Adventure Science Center. After graduating from East Nashville High School, Riggins-Ezell attended Belmont, Western Kentucky, and George Washington University. On staff at the TSM since 1975, in 1981 Governor Lamar Alexander appointed her museum director, a position she’s held ever since.

Riggins-Ezell’s zeal for history was fostered by the Southern tradition of storytelling by her neighbors and es-pecially her grandmother, who shared family stories of the “War Between the States,” Jesse James, and the Bell Witch. “The older people in the neigh-borhood treasured their heritage as well as the community’s unique, fun-ny, and colorful history,” she explains. “What makes East Nashville special is its resilient sense of community

teeming with energy, passion, and infinite possibilities.”

The Tennessee State Museum’s senior curator for art and architecture is Jim Hoobler of Edgefield. A native of Atlanta who moved to Nashville in 1972, Hoobler holds degrees from University of Georgia and Vanderbilt University. During high school career counseling, Hoobler realized he should consider being a museum curator due to his interest in history, museums, and artifacts. “In fact, I went to muse-ums before I was even old enough to go to kindergarten,” Hoobler says. “So, I have grown up and been in museums nearly my entire life. I love the tangible past, collecting it, interpreting it and passing it on to the future.”

Hoobler is also directly involved with the restoration and interpreta-tion of several of Nashville’s most iconic National Historic Landmarks, including the Tennessee State Capitol and the Downtown Presbyterian Church. Over the years he has served on numerous commissions and boards at the local, state and national levels. In 1986, he built a new town-house on Russell Street in Edgefield, but he is currently renovating a 1920 Bungalow on Fatherland Street. “I love the walkability of Edgefield,” he says. “I have many restaurants to walk to, and have many neighbors who are good friends.”

Another Atlanta native who calls East Nashville home is Wesley Paine, longtime museum director of The Parthenon at Centennial Park. Paine originally came to Nashville to attend Lipscomb University. “I had planned

The keepers of Nashville’s

cultural heritage

three guardians of Nashville’s culture in front of historic East High: (L-R) Jim Hoobler, Lois Riggins-Ezell and marsha mullin.“I LOVE THE TANgIbLE

pAST, COLLECTINg IT, INTERpRETINg IT

AND pASSINg IT ON TO THE FuTuRE.” — JiM HooBler

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The Tennessee State museum

By Robbie D. Jones • Photo by Stacie Huckeba

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Page 24: East Nashvillian Issue 11

18

Christian Paro | 615.517.1589 | [email protected] | www.parosouth.com

Modern suites ranging from 80 to 725 square feet

Rent includes all utilities, high speed WiFi, parking, cleaning service and access to conference room

1400-square-foot event space also available for rent

interested in museum work during his undergraduate years at Belmont, work-ing at the mansion as a student, which inspired him to switch majors from education to history.

“From the very beginning, I wanted to work in house museums,” Brown explains. “I enjoy researching the people, the customs, the way that ev-eryday life was lived. I’m fascinated by the history of interiors and the decora-tive arts.”

After moving to Nashville from Knoxville, where he directed Blount Mansion, Brown was introduced to East Nashville by attending St. Anne’s Episcopal Church. He soon purchased a Neoclassical cottage built in 1905.

“Lockeland Springs was not the ‘in’ place to live back then,” he says. “Now,

it seems East Nashville is such a hip place to live I am not sure I am cool enough to live here anymore,” he adds with a laugh.

Combined, these five keepers of the city’s cultural heritage have nearly 175 years of professional experience at their respective institutions, and have done more than their part in making Nashville a better place to live, work and play. Can you imagine Nashville without Belmont Mansion or The Hermitage? With no Parthenon, no Tennessee State Museum? These five East Nashvillians have not only shaped the city’s culture, but have volunteered their time and skills to help preserve and restore their own historic homes and neighborhoods, leading the way for others to follow.

“WATCHINg pEOpLE ENgAgE WITH THE pARTHENON AND THE COLLECTION — OFTEN

TO THEIR SuRpRISE — IS A HugE RuSH.” — Wesley Paine

615.383.4848 [email protected]

Offering classes in clay, cartooning, book making, printmaking,

painting, sculpture, fi ber arts and more!

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the Hermitage

the Belmont mansion

the Parthenon

Page 25: East Nashvillian Issue 11

18

Christian Paro | 615.517.1589 | [email protected] | www.parosouth.com

Modern suites ranging from 80 to 725 square feet

Rent includes all utilities, high speed WiFi, parking, cleaning service and access to conference room

1400-square-foot event space also available for rent

interested in museum work during his undergraduate years at Belmont, work-ing at the mansion as a student, which inspired him to switch majors from education to history.

“From the very beginning, I wanted to work in house museums,” Brown explains. “I enjoy researching the people, the customs, the way that ev-eryday life was lived. I’m fascinated by the history of interiors and the decora-tive arts.”

After moving to Nashville from Knoxville, where he directed Blount Mansion, Brown was introduced to East Nashville by attending St. Anne’s Episcopal Church. He soon purchased a Neoclassical cottage built in 1905.

“Lockeland Springs was not the ‘in’ place to live back then,” he says. “Now,

it seems East Nashville is such a hip place to live I am not sure I am cool enough to live here anymore,” he adds with a laugh.

Combined, these five keepers of the city’s cultural heritage have nearly 175 years of professional experience at their respective institutions, and have done more than their part in making Nashville a better place to live, work and play. Can you imagine Nashville without Belmont Mansion or The Hermitage? With no Parthenon, no Tennessee State Museum? These five East Nashvillians have not only shaped the city’s culture, but have volunteered their time and skills to help preserve and restore their own historic homes and neighborhoods, leading the way for others to follow.

“WATCHINg pEOpLE ENgAgE WITH THE pARTHENON AND THE COLLECTION — OFTEN

TO THEIR SuRpRISE — IS A HugE RuSH.” — Wesley Paine

615.383.4848 [email protected]

Offering classes in clay, cartooning, book making, printmaking,

painting, sculpture, fi ber arts and more!

PH

OTO

S (

TOP

& C

EN

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) B

Y L

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the Hermitage

the Belmont mansion

the Parthenon

Page 26: East Nashvillian Issue 11

18

An East Nashvillian in

Hollywood

An East Nashvillian in

HollywoodELIzABETH

COOK’S STAR IS ON THE RISE

❂BY

DARYL SANDERS

PHOTOS BYSTACIE HUCKEBA

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Page 27: East Nashvillian Issue 11

18

An East Nashvillian in

Hollywood

An East Nashvillian in

HollywoodELIzABETH

COOK’S STAR IS ON THE RISE

❂BY

DARYL SANDERS

PHOTOS BYSTACIE HUCKEBA

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Page 28: East Nashvillian Issue 11

THE EAST NASHVILLIAN

in early April, critically acclaimed Americana recording artist and popular satellite radio disk jockey Elizabeth Cook is relaxing on the sofa in the sunlit living room of her East Nashville home. Cook, who is sharing a cup of coffee with a visitor, has just returned from a business trip to Los Angeles.

“It’s an exciting town,” she says. “But it’s a working town, everybody’s working all the time, and there’s a ton of opportunity; as to where Nashville is so small it feels like much more of an insider’s game here. So, it’s really fun to step into it out there.

“I love my home here,” she adds, “but I love the energy of L.A.”

The neo-country songstress has made several trips to L.A. in recent months which have resulted in representation

by the Paradigm agency in Beverly Hills and deals with several television production companies and a major network. She has read for some sitcoms, and there even has been discussion of her hosting a talk show.

“Something, somehow, somewhere will hopefully manifest itself in the form of television,” she says and laughs. “But I don’t know what it’s going to be yet.

“What’s important to me about my Hollywood opportunities is that I really don’t want to do something that just cops out, I really don’t,” she continues. “I may find I have to a little bit to get the access I need to do something a little weightier like Louie on FX, which is an important show to me.”

“It’s difficult, apparently, for there to be complicated women on TV — complicated in that she is going to look

this way, but say something from this perspective, sounding like this,” she explains. “All the women in sitcoms it seems are just one-dimensional, they’re there so men can bop around them like idiots and be funny. And they’re always the straight man. Or they’re just cracking dick jokes.

“It seems to be the consensus [of her L.A. business associates] that there’s an opportunity there for somebody to represent the female set who would have a few more layers ... a more fully formed character.”

That somebody, of course, could be Cook, whose slender, blonde good looks and Southern accent, half drawl and half twang, belie her sharp intelligence and her educational and business background. She isn’t at liberty to say who she has read for, but a recurring creative theme being discussed is the “fish out of water” concept featuring a country girl in the city.

“The part of it that interests me the most is the opportunity to do some acting,” says Cook, who has been working with acting coaches in Nashville and L.A.

❂It’s midmorning a few weeks later and Cook is holding court on Elizabeth Cook’s Apron Strings, her four-hour show on Sirius Radio Network’s Outlaw Country channel. After IDing the song which preceded the break, Cook tells her listeners about a new, expensive lotion she recently purchased called “Dead Sexy.”

“I can rub this lotion on me and I can feel men wantin’ to jump on me,” she quips.

The beautiful and talented Cook, who has never needed lotion or anything else to make men want to jump on her, long has been recognized for her prowess as a vocalist and songwriter; most recently for her critically acclaimed album, Welder, produced by rock heavyweight Don Was. The album earned Cook three 2011 Americana Music Association Honors and Awards nominations, matching rock legend Robert Plant for the most noms.

But it is her popular satellite radio show that has cata-pulted the natural-born comedienne from the stage of the Grand Ole Opry to the sets of late-night network talk shows — and beyond.

Although they are recorded in advance, Cook’s segments feel live and spontaneous, like a running stream-of-con-sciousness commentary on not only the music, but her own life, such as her thoughts on the Dead Sexy lotion she bought, or her tongue-in-cheek observation about a “mama bird” car-rying “bugs and worms” back-and-forth all day long to newly hatched babies in a nest outside her window — “That’s what you get, you little slut.”

After setting up a new track from The Mavericks, she jok-ingly adds, “You know they have some good Cuban blow,“ a nod to lead singer Raul Malo’s ancestry. Later, she refers to Lorrie Morgan as “a hot piece of country ass.” She intro-duces a collaboration between Jack White and Tom Jones on the Willie Dixon classic “Evil” with a description of the two men — White with black shirt buttoned to the neck and pale skin contrasted by Jones with white blouse open to the waist revealing “oiled and tanned” skin and gold chains. She con-cludes the intro by saying “but they settled their fashion dif-ferences” in time to record the song. Cook shares new recipes and even makes up words, something she says she likes to do. On this morning, she combines the words projectile and trajectory to come up with “trajectile.”

“It’s pretty close to live,” she says about recording her voice tracks for the show she’s hosted for the past four years. “No more than a day out, sometimes morning of. It’s never that far out.”

When she first hosted the show, she went to Sirius’s Nashville studio every day to record her parts. But her busy touring schedule soon made that impossible, so she records her voice tracks on a laptop with a “$50 mike from Guitar Center,” then uploads to the network’s secure servers from wherever she might be.

Cook’s show attracts at least a quarter of a million listeners a day — including much to her surprise, David Letterman.

AN EAST NASHVILLIAN IN HOLLYWOOD

On a warm afternoon On a warm afternoon On a warm afternoon

Cook’s comic commentary attracts a quarter of a million listeners a day to her Sirius satellite radio show. w

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Page 29: East Nashvillian Issue 11

THE EAST NASHVILLIAN

in early April, critically acclaimed Americana recording artist and popular satellite radio disk jockey Elizabeth Cook is relaxing on the sofa in the sunlit living room of her East Nashville home. Cook, who is sharing a cup of coffee with a visitor, has just returned from a business trip to Los Angeles.

“It’s an exciting town,” she says. “But it’s a working town, everybody’s working all the time, and there’s a ton of opportunity; as to where Nashville is so small it feels like much more of an insider’s game here. So, it’s really fun to step into it out there.

“I love my home here,” she adds, “but I love the energy of L.A.”

The neo-country songstress has made several trips to L.A. in recent months which have resulted in representation

by the Paradigm agency in Beverly Hills and deals with several television production companies and a major network. She has read for some sitcoms, and there even has been discussion of her hosting a talk show.

“Something, somehow, somewhere will hopefully manifest itself in the form of television,” she says and laughs. “But I don’t know what it’s going to be yet.

“What’s important to me about my Hollywood opportunities is that I really don’t want to do something that just cops out, I really don’t,” she continues. “I may find I have to a little bit to get the access I need to do something a little weightier like Louie on FX, which is an important show to me.”

“It’s difficult, apparently, for there to be complicated women on TV — complicated in that she is going to look

this way, but say something from this perspective, sounding like this,” she explains. “All the women in sitcoms it seems are just one-dimensional, they’re there so men can bop around them like idiots and be funny. And they’re always the straight man. Or they’re just cracking dick jokes.

“It seems to be the consensus [of her L.A. business associates] that there’s an opportunity there for somebody to represent the female set who would have a few more layers ... a more fully formed character.”

That somebody, of course, could be Cook, whose slender, blonde good looks and Southern accent, half drawl and half twang, belie her sharp intelligence and her educational and business background. She isn’t at liberty to say who she has read for, but a recurring creative theme being discussed is the “fish out of water” concept featuring a country girl in the city.

“The part of it that interests me the most is the opportunity to do some acting,” says Cook, who has been working with acting coaches in Nashville and L.A.

❂It’s midmorning a few weeks later and Cook is holding court on Elizabeth Cook’s Apron Strings, her four-hour show on Sirius Radio Network’s Outlaw Country channel. After IDing the song which preceded the break, Cook tells her listeners about a new, expensive lotion she recently purchased called “Dead Sexy.”

“I can rub this lotion on me and I can feel men wantin’ to jump on me,” she quips.

The beautiful and talented Cook, who has never needed lotion or anything else to make men want to jump on her, long has been recognized for her prowess as a vocalist and songwriter; most recently for her critically acclaimed album, Welder, produced by rock heavyweight Don Was. The album earned Cook three 2011 Americana Music Association Honors and Awards nominations, matching rock legend Robert Plant for the most noms.

But it is her popular satellite radio show that has cata-pulted the natural-born comedienne from the stage of the Grand Ole Opry to the sets of late-night network talk shows — and beyond.

Although they are recorded in advance, Cook’s segments feel live and spontaneous, like a running stream-of-con-sciousness commentary on not only the music, but her own life, such as her thoughts on the Dead Sexy lotion she bought, or her tongue-in-cheek observation about a “mama bird” car-rying “bugs and worms” back-and-forth all day long to newly hatched babies in a nest outside her window — “That’s what you get, you little slut.”

After setting up a new track from The Mavericks, she jok-ingly adds, “You know they have some good Cuban blow,“ a nod to lead singer Raul Malo’s ancestry. Later, she refers to Lorrie Morgan as “a hot piece of country ass.” She intro-duces a collaboration between Jack White and Tom Jones on the Willie Dixon classic “Evil” with a description of the two men — White with black shirt buttoned to the neck and pale skin contrasted by Jones with white blouse open to the waist revealing “oiled and tanned” skin and gold chains. She con-cludes the intro by saying “but they settled their fashion dif-ferences” in time to record the song. Cook shares new recipes and even makes up words, something she says she likes to do. On this morning, she combines the words projectile and trajectory to come up with “trajectile.”

“It’s pretty close to live,” she says about recording her voice tracks for the show she’s hosted for the past four years. “No more than a day out, sometimes morning of. It’s never that far out.”

When she first hosted the show, she went to Sirius’s Nashville studio every day to record her parts. But her busy touring schedule soon made that impossible, so she records her voice tracks on a laptop with a “$50 mike from Guitar Center,” then uploads to the network’s secure servers from wherever she might be.

Cook’s show attracts at least a quarter of a million listeners a day — including much to her surprise, David Letterman.

AN EAST NASHVILLIAN IN HOLLYWOOD

On a warm afternoon On a warm afternoon On a warm afternoon

Cook’s comic commentary attracts a quarter of a million listeners a day to her Sirius satellite radio show. w

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Page 30: East Nashvillian Issue 11

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THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 31

After listening to the show for five months, Letterman dug Apron Strings so much he invited her to be a guest last August on Late Night With David Letterman; to sit and talk about her radio show, Welder and more. It was a big moment for the East Nashville resident and she 360-slam-dunked it.

Stylishly dressed in a long-sleeved black dress and black boots, Cook came on the set as Paul Shaffer and “The World’s Most Dangerous Band” were playing the verse from The Four Tops hit ‘I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)” that mentions “apron strings.” She had the host and his studio audience howling from the moment she sat down, regaling them with stories about her music, produc-ing her radio show while on tour and her unusual family and upbringing.

But the signature moment came in an exchange near the end of her 15-minute appearance. After Letterman, who had been on vacation the previous week, asked Cook if she was currently on tour, she told him, “Not at the moment, ... I’ve been on vacation, too.”

“Oh, good, good for you,” he said laughing, then asked, “No fatwas,” in reference to the death sentence conveyed on him the previous week by a jihadist website for making jokes about al-Qaeda leaders.

“Do what — nooooh,” Cook said, “I don’t eat that,” which left Letterman speechless and the audience roaring with laughter and applauding.

Cook followed the Letterman appearance with a guest spot on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson in October. Prior to those two guest slots, she had never appeared on any of the late night talk shows, even as a performer.

Some high points from her appearance on Ferguson’s show:• On what she considers hot in a man: “Well, he can’t be

prettier than me, you know. And I don’t like guys who get manicures.”

• On if she likes rattlesnakes: “As accessories.”• On if she has a bus for her band: “It’s not that sexy, it’s like

minivan hell.”Also in October, she appeared in an episode of the Adult

Swim animated series Squidbillies, infamous for its twisted portrayal of life in the Appalachian Mountains of northern Georgia and featuring a family of hillbillies who are squids, a not-so-subtle metaphor for inbreeding. The show has be-come home to hip singer-songwriters, such as Todd Snider, Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch and Jason Isbell, and cel-ebrated Southern rockers, like Widespread Panic, Jason & The Scorchers, and Drive-By Truckers. Even the leading man, make that leading squid, Early Cuyler, is played by a musician, the incomparable Unknown Hinson.

The invitation to appear on Squidbillies came after someone from the show attended a live performance by her in Atlanta. “One day they called out of the blue and said they had a guest role, they wanted me to do an acting part, and I was thrilled,” she recalls.

Cook provided the voice for Tammi, the pregnant teen-age girlfriend of the family’s teenage son, Rusty Cuyler, in an episode called “Keeping It In The Family Way.” She recorded Tammi’s parts at Blackbird studios. “We had to find a place that had the ISDN capability so they could not only get a good

recording of my part, but so that the directors could be talking to me over the phone into my headphones while I was in the vocal booth, sort of coaching me along,” she explains. “So it’s an interesting process, I’d never done anything like that before. Then they contacted me to give them another version of their theme song, which was really cool, too.”

She went into the studio and recorded four versions of the show’s main theme, which features the lyrics: “My dreams are all dead and buried/Sometimes I wish the sun would just explode/When God comes and calls me to his kingdom/I’ll take all you sons of bitches when I go.”

“I did what I call a pitiful-billy, a rockabilly one and a hillbilly one, several different grooves, I gave them four versions,” she says. They used the rockabilly version to open the episode in which she appeared.

The show creators (Dave Willis, Jim Fortier) liked her per-formance as Tammi so much, they approached her about appearing in additional episodes. “She was great,” Willis says. “Her voice was really perfect.”

“I can confirm I’ll be appearing on Squidbillies again,” she says with a laugh. Cook has agreed to provide the voice for Tammi in future episodes.

❂For all the incredible highs she has experienced in the past year, Cook recently had one extremely low moment — the loss of her father, Tom Cook, who passed away in March after being diagnosed with lung cancer. Fortunately, she was able to be with him at the time of his death.

“He died in a total bear hug in mine and my sister’s arms,” she recalls. “I’m so fortunate that I came off the road when I did. I was a 24-hour-a-day nursemaid for two weeks, and it was a great comfort to him.”

Her father was released from the hospital on a Friday night a couple of weeks before his death, and on the way back to his home, he was listening to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio. “Riding down I-40 on a stormy night with my dad in transport sitting there breathing oxygen and [Opry announcer] Eddie Stubbs comes over and talks to Daddy and says, ‘We want to wish Mr. Cook a speedy recovery and we hope to see him backstage at the Opry real soon,’” she recalls. “Then they sent a big basket to him on Monday full of Moon Pies and stuff like that — so sweet.”

Cook is quick to credit the Opry, and general manager Pete Fisher in particular, as an ongoing source of support throughout her career. “The Opry — the continuum of having that outlet through the whole thing has been very quietly, in an understated way, but absolutely the strongest thread — it gave me a platform to sing,” she says.

“I couldn’t come out and do the current hit of the day because it wasn’t me, so I’d do an old country song, or do a Jessi Colter song or something the Opry audience understood that I also thought was cool.”

Cook hits the road again in May for a couple of months of dates with her band, which includes her husband, singer-songwriter-guitarist Tim Carroll. On June 7, Cook and company will be back in Nashville for a headlining date at The Station Inn. Then after two nights in New York City at City Winery on June 11-12, she will return to Late Night With David Letterman on June 13 as the mu-sical guest.

“It’s a perplexing time for me, it’s not easy,” she says of the whirlwind of attention surrounding her at this moment in her life. “I’m very excited and feel like Alice in Wonderland when I get a phone call and it’s David Letterman when my dad was dying calling to check on me.”

Even if Cook ends up with a house in the Hollywood Hills, she envisions continuing to live in East Nashville. “I think so, yeah, I don’t see that chang-ing,” she says and laughs. “At least part-time, which it’s part-time now anyway, you know. We’re on the road all the time and when I’m off the road, I’m in L.A. a lot.

“But I love coming home,” she continues. “I have all my haunts and shops here, and it just keeps getting better. I love my yard and my house, and it’s where my friends are. I love East Nashville.”

tim Carroll, shown here performing at the Family

Wash, has just released his seventh full-length

studio album.

A red-and-black woodblock print of Tim Carroll’s face hangs on the living

room wall of the East Nashville home Carroll shares with his wife Elizabeth Cook. The word “Rock” runs across the top of the print and the word “Man” runs across the bottom.

“Rock Man” — there is probably no more apt description of the singer-songwriter-guitarist.

Although he wasn’t an original member, Carroll got his start in the legendary Indiana proto-punk outfit, The Gizmos. After moving to New York City in the early ‘90s, he fronted the city’s seminal roots rock group, The Blue Chieftains, who recorded for the Deisel Only label. When the band broke up in 1993, Carroll made his way to Music City, eventually landing a deal in the late ’90s with Sire Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros.

Carroll is most visible these days performing and recording with rising star Cook, but the former major label rocker is still making his own records and recently released his seventh full-length album, Look Out, on Gulcher Records. It is his first release since 2009’s All Kinds of Pain, which the label also released.

Cook has toured extensively the last few years, so Carroll hasn’t had a lot of time to work on his own music, but he makes the most of any downtime he has. “Every time we’d come home for a couple of days, I’d just go for it and dig into my writing and my recording, which I kind of do at the same time nowadays,” he says. “Actually, I didn’t even realize I was making a record as much as I was. I was doing it because I just like to keep writing and playing and recording.”

“Oddly enough, even though I did it at home and pretty much engineered it my-self, for the most part, I think it might be my best record,” he continues. “Right now, I really like it.”

Singer-songwriter-guitarist returns with his most-focused album to date

Tim Carroll knows

good rock from bad

The album is arguably Carroll’s most-focused song cycle, which he attributes in part to the abundance of mate-rial he had to choose from for the album. “I probably had 25 recordings going or something like that,” he says. “Then when I was trying to whittle down my record, I just made difficult decisions and dropped certain songs, thinking, ‘No, that one is not quite right, not quite good enough — close but no cigar.’”

Look Out, which hit stores on March 27, features “incredibly good drumming” from a pair of familiar drummers, Marco Giovino and Rick Schell. Giovino handled all the drumming on All Kinds of Pain and Schell was the drummer on the two records that came out of the Sire deal. Keyboardist Tim Atwood, who worked with Carroll on 2008‘s The Devil Is A Busy Man, con-tributed piano, organ and ac-cordion to the album. But for all the great accompaniment, the success of the record is built upon the artist’s songwriting and adept guitar work.

“I think he’s brilliant,” says Cook, who added backing vo-cals to a few tracks. “The closest person I can think of is Freddie King in the sense that when he plays a guitar solo, it’s almost another verse, because he talks, his guitar licks make words to me and I feel like he’s really talk-ing,” Cook says. “He never plays the same solo twice, ever, ‘cause it’s that pure.”

For more information or to purchase Look Out, go to gulcher.bigcartel.com or iTunes. — Daryl Sanders

AN EAST NASHVILLIAN IN HOLLYWOOD

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Page 31: East Nashvillian Issue 11

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THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 31

After listening to the show for five months, Letterman dug Apron Strings so much he invited her to be a guest last August on Late Night With David Letterman; to sit and talk about her radio show, Welder and more. It was a big moment for the East Nashville resident and she 360-slam-dunked it.

Stylishly dressed in a long-sleeved black dress and black boots, Cook came on the set as Paul Shaffer and “The World’s Most Dangerous Band” were playing the verse from The Four Tops hit ‘I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)” that mentions “apron strings.” She had the host and his studio audience howling from the moment she sat down, regaling them with stories about her music, produc-ing her radio show while on tour and her unusual family and upbringing.

But the signature moment came in an exchange near the end of her 15-minute appearance. After Letterman, who had been on vacation the previous week, asked Cook if she was currently on tour, she told him, “Not at the moment, ... I’ve been on vacation, too.”

“Oh, good, good for you,” he said laughing, then asked, “No fatwas,” in reference to the death sentence conveyed on him the previous week by a jihadist website for making jokes about al-Qaeda leaders.

“Do what — nooooh,” Cook said, “I don’t eat that,” which left Letterman speechless and the audience roaring with laughter and applauding.

Cook followed the Letterman appearance with a guest spot on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson in October. Prior to those two guest slots, she had never appeared on any of the late night talk shows, even as a performer.

Some high points from her appearance on Ferguson’s show:• On what she considers hot in a man: “Well, he can’t be

prettier than me, you know. And I don’t like guys who get manicures.”

• On if she likes rattlesnakes: “As accessories.”• On if she has a bus for her band: “It’s not that sexy, it’s like

minivan hell.”Also in October, she appeared in an episode of the Adult

Swim animated series Squidbillies, infamous for its twisted portrayal of life in the Appalachian Mountains of northern Georgia and featuring a family of hillbillies who are squids, a not-so-subtle metaphor for inbreeding. The show has be-come home to hip singer-songwriters, such as Todd Snider, Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch and Jason Isbell, and cel-ebrated Southern rockers, like Widespread Panic, Jason & The Scorchers, and Drive-By Truckers. Even the leading man, make that leading squid, Early Cuyler, is played by a musician, the incomparable Unknown Hinson.

The invitation to appear on Squidbillies came after someone from the show attended a live performance by her in Atlanta. “One day they called out of the blue and said they had a guest role, they wanted me to do an acting part, and I was thrilled,” she recalls.

Cook provided the voice for Tammi, the pregnant teen-age girlfriend of the family’s teenage son, Rusty Cuyler, in an episode called “Keeping It In The Family Way.” She recorded Tammi’s parts at Blackbird studios. “We had to find a place that had the ISDN capability so they could not only get a good

recording of my part, but so that the directors could be talking to me over the phone into my headphones while I was in the vocal booth, sort of coaching me along,” she explains. “So it’s an interesting process, I’d never done anything like that before. Then they contacted me to give them another version of their theme song, which was really cool, too.”

She went into the studio and recorded four versions of the show’s main theme, which features the lyrics: “My dreams are all dead and buried/Sometimes I wish the sun would just explode/When God comes and calls me to his kingdom/I’ll take all you sons of bitches when I go.”

“I did what I call a pitiful-billy, a rockabilly one and a hillbilly one, several different grooves, I gave them four versions,” she says. They used the rockabilly version to open the episode in which she appeared.

The show creators (Dave Willis, Jim Fortier) liked her per-formance as Tammi so much, they approached her about appearing in additional episodes. “She was great,” Willis says. “Her voice was really perfect.”

“I can confirm I’ll be appearing on Squidbillies again,” she says with a laugh. Cook has agreed to provide the voice for Tammi in future episodes.

❂For all the incredible highs she has experienced in the past year, Cook recently had one extremely low moment — the loss of her father, Tom Cook, who passed away in March after being diagnosed with lung cancer. Fortunately, she was able to be with him at the time of his death.

“He died in a total bear hug in mine and my sister’s arms,” she recalls. “I’m so fortunate that I came off the road when I did. I was a 24-hour-a-day nursemaid for two weeks, and it was a great comfort to him.”

Her father was released from the hospital on a Friday night a couple of weeks before his death, and on the way back to his home, he was listening to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio. “Riding down I-40 on a stormy night with my dad in transport sitting there breathing oxygen and [Opry announcer] Eddie Stubbs comes over and talks to Daddy and says, ‘We want to wish Mr. Cook a speedy recovery and we hope to see him backstage at the Opry real soon,’” she recalls. “Then they sent a big basket to him on Monday full of Moon Pies and stuff like that — so sweet.”

Cook is quick to credit the Opry, and general manager Pete Fisher in particular, as an ongoing source of support throughout her career. “The Opry — the continuum of having that outlet through the whole thing has been very quietly, in an understated way, but absolutely the strongest thread — it gave me a platform to sing,” she says.

“I couldn’t come out and do the current hit of the day because it wasn’t me, so I’d do an old country song, or do a Jessi Colter song or something the Opry audience understood that I also thought was cool.”

Cook hits the road again in May for a couple of months of dates with her band, which includes her husband, singer-songwriter-guitarist Tim Carroll. On June 7, Cook and company will be back in Nashville for a headlining date at The Station Inn. Then after two nights in New York City at City Winery on June 11-12, she will return to Late Night With David Letterman on June 13 as the mu-sical guest.

“It’s a perplexing time for me, it’s not easy,” she says of the whirlwind of attention surrounding her at this moment in her life. “I’m very excited and feel like Alice in Wonderland when I get a phone call and it’s David Letterman when my dad was dying calling to check on me.”

Even if Cook ends up with a house in the Hollywood Hills, she envisions continuing to live in East Nashville. “I think so, yeah, I don’t see that chang-ing,” she says and laughs. “At least part-time, which it’s part-time now anyway, you know. We’re on the road all the time and when I’m off the road, I’m in L.A. a lot.

“But I love coming home,” she continues. “I have all my haunts and shops here, and it just keeps getting better. I love my yard and my house, and it’s where my friends are. I love East Nashville.”

tim Carroll, shown here performing at the Family

Wash, has just released his seventh full-length

studio album.

A red-and-black woodblock print of Tim Carroll’s face hangs on the living

room wall of the East Nashville home Carroll shares with his wife Elizabeth Cook. The word “Rock” runs across the top of the print and the word “Man” runs across the bottom.

“Rock Man” — there is probably no more apt description of the singer-songwriter-guitarist.

Although he wasn’t an original member, Carroll got his start in the legendary Indiana proto-punk outfit, The Gizmos. After moving to New York City in the early ‘90s, he fronted the city’s seminal roots rock group, The Blue Chieftains, who recorded for the Deisel Only label. When the band broke up in 1993, Carroll made his way to Music City, eventually landing a deal in the late ’90s with Sire Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros.

Carroll is most visible these days performing and recording with rising star Cook, but the former major label rocker is still making his own records and recently released his seventh full-length album, Look Out, on Gulcher Records. It is his first release since 2009’s All Kinds of Pain, which the label also released.

Cook has toured extensively the last few years, so Carroll hasn’t had a lot of time to work on his own music, but he makes the most of any downtime he has. “Every time we’d come home for a couple of days, I’d just go for it and dig into my writing and my recording, which I kind of do at the same time nowadays,” he says. “Actually, I didn’t even realize I was making a record as much as I was. I was doing it because I just like to keep writing and playing and recording.”

“Oddly enough, even though I did it at home and pretty much engineered it my-self, for the most part, I think it might be my best record,” he continues. “Right now, I really like it.”

Singer-songwriter-guitarist returns with his most-focused album to date

Tim Carroll knows

good rock from bad

The album is arguably Carroll’s most-focused song cycle, which he attributes in part to the abundance of mate-rial he had to choose from for the album. “I probably had 25 recordings going or something like that,” he says. “Then when I was trying to whittle down my record, I just made difficult decisions and dropped certain songs, thinking, ‘No, that one is not quite right, not quite good enough — close but no cigar.’”

Look Out, which hit stores on March 27, features “incredibly good drumming” from a pair of familiar drummers, Marco Giovino and Rick Schell. Giovino handled all the drumming on All Kinds of Pain and Schell was the drummer on the two records that came out of the Sire deal. Keyboardist Tim Atwood, who worked with Carroll on 2008‘s The Devil Is A Busy Man, con-tributed piano, organ and ac-cordion to the album. But for all the great accompaniment, the success of the record is built upon the artist’s songwriting and adept guitar work.

“I think he’s brilliant,” says Cook, who added backing vo-cals to a few tracks. “The closest person I can think of is Freddie King in the sense that when he plays a guitar solo, it’s almost another verse, because he talks, his guitar licks make words to me and I feel like he’s really talk-ing,” Cook says. “He never plays the same solo twice, ever, ‘cause it’s that pure.”

For more information or to purchase Look Out, go to gulcher.bigcartel.com or iTunes. — Daryl Sanders

AN EAST NASHVILLIAN IN HOLLYWOOD

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Page 32: East Nashvillian Issue 11

N ext time you drive down Riverside Drive, take a mo-ment to notice the cherry

trees. It’s hard to miss them in the spring when their lovely pink blooms seem to be exploding all around. Or next time you visit the Inglewood Kroger, take a moment to notice the space on Gallatin Road over by CSX railroad overpass. You’ll see the Inglewood sign and some nicely land-scaped space around it.

It’s clear that someone took the time and effort to make sure when people pass through Inglewood, they know they are entering a unique community. That someone is Anthony (Tony) Viglietti.

An energetic, lean man who is quick to flash a wide grin, Viglietti has been an active member of the Inglewood and East Nashville com-munities since he moved to the East side of the river in 1986. He was born in Memphis in 1949 to Italian immigrants — truck farmers who migrated to West Tennessee from the northern part of Italy to farm the rich riverbed soil. Viglietti, his two sisters and younger brother were raised in a traditional Italian Catholic family. He attended parochial school, studied to become a priest and then entered the Benedictine monastery at St. Meinrad in southern Indiana. Founded by Swiss-German monks in 1854, the St. Meinrad monastery operated as its

own small city and Viglietti worked as the electrical system manager.

“The monastery gave me both a spiritual life and a way to use my talent for electrical work, something I had been interested in since I was a child,” Viglietti says. After several years at St. Meinrad, he worked at a monastery in Louisiana, then decided

he no longer wanted to be a monk. One of his sisters lived in Franklin, so he relocated to the Nashville area and started his career at Nashville Electric Service (NES), where he still works as senior energy services specialist. Viglietti is an EPA Energy Star and HERS (Home Energy Rating System) Rater and a LEED for Homes Green

Anthony VigliettiRiverside Drive’s best friend

By melanie meadows

About Riverside Drive• It is illegal to dump trash or

yard waste on the median, and it is illegal to park on the median. metro police officers have been in-structed to write citations to drivers of cars parked on the median.

• Riverside Drive is the only community road in Nashville that is dedicated to the memory of war veterans from World War I and II, and the Korean War. Friends of Riverside would like to see the plaques updated to include veter-ans from subsequent wars and military conflicts (Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.).

• From the 1940s to the 1970s, the median was filled with irises, poppies, ornamental trees and other lush greenery.

• the 1998 tornado de-stroyed many of the trees and other landscaping on Riverside Drive.

• Friends of Riverside Drive is a charity whose sole purpose is to raise funds for the care and upkeep of Riverside Drive.

• Since 2009, over 70 Yoshino cherry trees have been planted on Riverside Drive.

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Page 33: East Nashvillian Issue 11

N ext time you drive down Riverside Drive, take a mo-ment to notice the cherry

trees. It’s hard to miss them in the spring when their lovely pink blooms seem to be exploding all around. Or next time you visit the Inglewood Kroger, take a moment to notice the space on Gallatin Road over by CSX railroad overpass. You’ll see the Inglewood sign and some nicely land-scaped space around it.

It’s clear that someone took the time and effort to make sure when people pass through Inglewood, they know they are entering a unique community. That someone is Anthony (Tony) Viglietti.

An energetic, lean man who is quick to flash a wide grin, Viglietti has been an active member of the Inglewood and East Nashville com-munities since he moved to the East side of the river in 1986. He was born in Memphis in 1949 to Italian immigrants — truck farmers who migrated to West Tennessee from the northern part of Italy to farm the rich riverbed soil. Viglietti, his two sisters and younger brother were raised in a traditional Italian Catholic family. He attended parochial school, studied to become a priest and then entered the Benedictine monastery at St. Meinrad in southern Indiana. Founded by Swiss-German monks in 1854, the St. Meinrad monastery operated as its

own small city and Viglietti worked as the electrical system manager.

“The monastery gave me both a spiritual life and a way to use my talent for electrical work, something I had been interested in since I was a child,” Viglietti says. After several years at St. Meinrad, he worked at a monastery in Louisiana, then decided

he no longer wanted to be a monk. One of his sisters lived in Franklin, so he relocated to the Nashville area and started his career at Nashville Electric Service (NES), where he still works as senior energy services specialist. Viglietti is an EPA Energy Star and HERS (Home Energy Rating System) Rater and a LEED for Homes Green

Anthony VigliettiRiverside Drive’s best friend

By melanie meadows

About Riverside Drive• It is illegal to dump trash or

yard waste on the median, and it is illegal to park on the median. metro police officers have been in-structed to write citations to drivers of cars parked on the median.

• Riverside Drive is the only community road in Nashville that is dedicated to the memory of war veterans from World War I and II, and the Korean War. Friends of Riverside would like to see the plaques updated to include veter-ans from subsequent wars and military conflicts (Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.).

• From the 1940s to the 1970s, the median was filled with irises, poppies, ornamental trees and other lush greenery.

• the 1998 tornado de-stroyed many of the trees and other landscaping on Riverside Drive.

• Friends of Riverside Drive is a charity whose sole purpose is to raise funds for the care and upkeep of Riverside Drive.

• Since 2009, over 70 Yoshino cherry trees have been planted on Riverside Drive.

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Page 34: East Nashvillian Issue 11

18

THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 35

July 8-116:00pm-8:00pm

Space iS limited, So regiSter now at:www.nfcn.org/VBS

510 woodland St., nashville, Tn 37206www.nfcn.org • (615)255-1289

Babylon, Daniel’s Courage in Captivity, is a Vacation Bible School program at Nashville First Church of the Nazarene for children ages three - fifth grade. Kids will join Daniel in Babylon as they explore exotic sights and smells through skits, crafts, games, music, and small group lessons. Children and adults will find that they are not much different from Daniel and his friends!

Children will receive a free t-shirt. A CD of the VBS music will be available for a suggested donation of $5.

ofthe

n a S h v i l l e

f i r S T c h u r c hn a z a r e n e

Rater for the U.S. Green Building Council.

Soon after purchasing a condo in Green Hills, he became active in his new neighborhood, serving as vice president and, later, president of the condo association. He also served as vice president for Woodmont East Neighbors.

“I came about my community activ-ism naturally,” Viglietti says with a smile. He shares a 1935 photo of a group of Italian men, all wearing suits and Fedoras, standing proudly in front of a produce truck marked “Shelby County Grower’s Association,” and points out both his paternal and maternal grandfathers are pictured as two of the founders of the organiza-tion, which has become an institution in Shelby County.

In the spirit of his grandfathers, Viglietti has been quick to take a leadership role in his community. He moved to Inglewood in 1986, a neighborhood that a trusted friend told him was “the best kept se-cret in Nashville” and soon joined Riverwood Neighborhood Alliance, the organization that later be-came Inglewood Neighborhood Association (INA). At first, he was an at-large member of INA and chaired the beautification committee. When CSX refused to clean up the overpass at Gallatin Road, Viglietti rolled up his sleeves and got to work, leading the effort to turn an eyesore into a neatly

landscaped median. He served as vice president and president of INA before founding the organization that is his passion today — Friends of Riverside Drive.

RESTORINg RIVERSIDE DRIVE

Nicknamed “Double Drive” by longtime residents because of the median that separates the two lanes, Riverside Drive picks up from Greenfield Avenue (the street beside the Inglewood Kroger) andw con-tinues through Inglewood, crossing McGavock, Porter and Eastwood Avenues, ending up at the entrance to Shelby Park.

According to an article published by The Tennessean in 1971, Riverside Drive was dedicated as a memorial to World War I veterans during the 1930s when the American Legion planted poppies and irises in the median. Also in the ’30s, the late Louise Fort, mother of famous World War II pilot Cornelia Fort, donated a generous number of irises and peonies and planted them in the median strip in front of her home. During the World War II years, maintenance of the landscaping waned, but it was rededi-cated in 1959 through efforts led by the Urban Beautification Committee and other community groups. There are two memorial plaques along Riverside Drive, one near Shelton

Viglietti (far left) joins other neighborhood volunteers at a recent tree-planting event on Riverside Drive.

Avenue and the other near Shelby Park, marking the median’s purpose as a living memorial to war veterans.

Many older Inglewood residents recall the median being filled with ornamental trees and flowers in the ’40s, ‘50s and ‘60s. In those days, even the children walking to school knew to treat the median respectfully, never trampling the flowers. It was lush with greenery including dogwoods, magnolias and spruces all the way into the 1970s.

Over time, the carefully tended landscaping was destroyed by storms, carelessness and neglect. Flowers no longer bloomed in the median and people began parking cars and even dumping trash and yard waste there. To Viglietti, it was a call to action. His employer, NES, was involved in ef-forts to replace trees that had been cut back or removed to provide clearance for power lines, so he began working with the utility and local environ-mental organizations to get trees for Riverside Drive.

In 2009, Cumberland River Compact gave Inglewood 10 dogwood trees as part of ReLeaf Nashville, an annual tree-planting event sponsored by NES, the National Tree Foundation and the Metro Beautification and Environment Commission. The purpose of the event is to replace trees removed or trimmed by NES to keep them out of the power lines. NES purchases the trees and the Nashville

Continued on page 37

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Page 35: East Nashvillian Issue 11

18

THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 35

July 8-116:00pm-8:00pm

Space iS limited, So regiSter now at:www.nfcn.org/VBS

510 woodland St., nashville, Tn 37206www.nfcn.org • (615)255-1289

Babylon, Daniel’s Courage in Captivity, is a Vacation Bible School program at Nashville First Church of the Nazarene for children ages three - fifth grade. Kids will join Daniel in Babylon as they explore exotic sights and smells through skits, crafts, games, music, and small group lessons. Children and adults will find that they are not much different from Daniel and his friends!

Children will receive a free t-shirt. A CD of the VBS music will be available for a suggested donation of $5.

ofthe

n a S h v i l l e

f i r S T c h u r c hn a z a r e n e

Rater for the U.S. Green Building Council.

Soon after purchasing a condo in Green Hills, he became active in his new neighborhood, serving as vice president and, later, president of the condo association. He also served as vice president for Woodmont East Neighbors.

“I came about my community activ-ism naturally,” Viglietti says with a smile. He shares a 1935 photo of a group of Italian men, all wearing suits and Fedoras, standing proudly in front of a produce truck marked “Shelby County Grower’s Association,” and points out both his paternal and maternal grandfathers are pictured as two of the founders of the organiza-tion, which has become an institution in Shelby County.

In the spirit of his grandfathers, Viglietti has been quick to take a leadership role in his community. He moved to Inglewood in 1986, a neighborhood that a trusted friend told him was “the best kept se-cret in Nashville” and soon joined Riverwood Neighborhood Alliance, the organization that later be-came Inglewood Neighborhood Association (INA). At first, he was an at-large member of INA and chaired the beautification committee. When CSX refused to clean up the overpass at Gallatin Road, Viglietti rolled up his sleeves and got to work, leading the effort to turn an eyesore into a neatly

landscaped median. He served as vice president and president of INA before founding the organization that is his passion today — Friends of Riverside Drive.

RESTORINg RIVERSIDE DRIVE

Nicknamed “Double Drive” by longtime residents because of the median that separates the two lanes, Riverside Drive picks up from Greenfield Avenue (the street beside the Inglewood Kroger) andw con-tinues through Inglewood, crossing McGavock, Porter and Eastwood Avenues, ending up at the entrance to Shelby Park.

According to an article published by The Tennessean in 1971, Riverside Drive was dedicated as a memorial to World War I veterans during the 1930s when the American Legion planted poppies and irises in the median. Also in the ’30s, the late Louise Fort, mother of famous World War II pilot Cornelia Fort, donated a generous number of irises and peonies and planted them in the median strip in front of her home. During the World War II years, maintenance of the landscaping waned, but it was rededi-cated in 1959 through efforts led by the Urban Beautification Committee and other community groups. There are two memorial plaques along Riverside Drive, one near Shelton

Viglietti (far left) joins other neighborhood volunteers at a recent tree-planting event on Riverside Drive.

Avenue and the other near Shelby Park, marking the median’s purpose as a living memorial to war veterans.

Many older Inglewood residents recall the median being filled with ornamental trees and flowers in the ’40s, ‘50s and ‘60s. In those days, even the children walking to school knew to treat the median respectfully, never trampling the flowers. It was lush with greenery including dogwoods, magnolias and spruces all the way into the 1970s.

Over time, the carefully tended landscaping was destroyed by storms, carelessness and neglect. Flowers no longer bloomed in the median and people began parking cars and even dumping trash and yard waste there. To Viglietti, it was a call to action. His employer, NES, was involved in ef-forts to replace trees that had been cut back or removed to provide clearance for power lines, so he began working with the utility and local environ-mental organizations to get trees for Riverside Drive.

In 2009, Cumberland River Compact gave Inglewood 10 dogwood trees as part of ReLeaf Nashville, an annual tree-planting event sponsored by NES, the National Tree Foundation and the Metro Beautification and Environment Commission. The purpose of the event is to replace trees removed or trimmed by NES to keep them out of the power lines. NES purchases the trees and the Nashville

Continued on page 37

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Page 36: East Nashvillian Issue 11

36 THE EAST NASHVILLIAN

I s Y o u r H o m e r e a d Y f o r t H e

summer Heat?

6 1 5 - 8 7 6 - 5 4 7 9 • w w w . E 3 i n n o v a t e . c o m • i n f o @ e 3 i n n o v a t e . c o m • V i s i t u s o n F a c e b o o k

Make sure your home is ready to keep youcomfortable during the hot summer months, schedule your FREE Home Energy Consult.

An E3 Innovate Home Energy Consult will show you ways to:•Reduce indoor allergens — create a healthier living space,•Reduce strain on HVAC unit — keep your whole house cool, •Reduce air leakage — have a longer lasting HVAC, and•Lower your utility bills and receive incentive money.

Give us a call, 615-876-5479, to schedule your consult today!

pRefeRRed pRoVideR foR:

free Home eNerGY CoNsult• a $150 Value •mention Code eastNasH

Tree Foundation solicits neighbors to plant the trees in their yards.

In 2010, after being appointed to the Beautification and Environment Commission, Viglietti attended the Nashville Cherry Blossom Festival and forged a relationship with the Japan-America Society of Tennessee. Cherry blossoms, or sakura, have been the symbol of U.S.-Japan friendship since the mayor of Tokyo donated 3,000 cherry trees to Washington, D.C. in 1912. Building on that tradition, the Nashville Cherry Blossom Festival’s mission is to plant 1,000 cherry trees — 100 trees every spring for 10 years — to beautify the landscape and provide a backdrop for the an-nual festival. Viglietti was interested in finding a way to bring this con-cept to Inglewood, which is how the Riverside Blossom Festival was born.

In the spring of each year, Inglewood’s Riverside Village hosts the Riverside Blossom Festival, where neighbors come together to celebrate spring and new life in the community.

This year, the festival will be held May 12 and will feature music, shopping and kids’ activities, as well as local food and beverages.

More than half of all proceeds from the festival will go to Friends of Riverside Drive, whose official mis-sion is:

To raise awareness in the Nashville community of the only community drive dedicated as a living memo-rial to those who fought in World War I, World War II and the Korean War; to restore the dignity, solemnity and beauty of this drive by the continued planting of Yoshino Cherry trees, planting of red poppies (the emblem of World War I) and formal landscaping of the entire median; and to provide for its care in perpetuity.

“The sole purpose of Friends of

Riverside is to raise funds to support this mission,” Viglietti explains. “We are excited to have 15 board members, including attorneys, councilmen, landscapers, a judge and a local histo-rian, to help guide us as we continue improving this unique road.”

This spring is an exciting time for beautification efforts in Inglewood and Nashville as a whole. Viglietti is in the process of establishing Friends of Riverside as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit orga-nization. He’s working on a fundrais-ing campaign through a new program called Groupon Grassroots. In addi-tion, Nashville was one of 10 cities chosen to participate in Keep America Beautiful, a National Day of Action, with large-scale cleanups and other coordinated events on April 28.

So if you see a lean man with a shovel standing in the median on Riverside Drive, it’s probably Tony Viglietti. Just like his grandfathers, he’s digging in, organizing and try-ing to make his community better for future generations.

“I CAME AbOuT My COMMuNITy ACTIVISM

NATuRALLy”

Continued from page 34

Page 37: East Nashvillian Issue 11

36 THE EAST NASHVILLIAN

I s Y o u r H o m e r e a d Y f o r t H e

summer Heat?

6 1 5 - 8 7 6 - 5 4 7 9 • w w w . E 3 i n n o v a t e . c o m • i n f o @ e 3 i n n o v a t e . c o m • V i s i t u s o n F a c e b o o k

Make sure your home is ready to keep youcomfortable during the hot summer months, schedule your FREE Home Energy Consult.

An E3 Innovate Home Energy Consult will show you ways to:•Reduce indoor allergens — create a healthier living space,•Reduce strain on HVAC unit — keep your whole house cool, •Reduce air leakage — have a longer lasting HVAC, and•Lower your utility bills and receive incentive money.

Give us a call, 615-876-5479, to schedule your consult today!

pRefeRRed pRoVideR foR:

free Home eNerGY CoNsult• a $150 Value •mention Code eastNasH

Tree Foundation solicits neighbors to plant the trees in their yards.

In 2010, after being appointed to the Beautification and Environment Commission, Viglietti attended the Nashville Cherry Blossom Festival and forged a relationship with the Japan-America Society of Tennessee. Cherry blossoms, or sakura, have been the symbol of U.S.-Japan friendship since the mayor of Tokyo donated 3,000 cherry trees to Washington, D.C. in 1912. Building on that tradition, the Nashville Cherry Blossom Festival’s mission is to plant 1,000 cherry trees — 100 trees every spring for 10 years — to beautify the landscape and provide a backdrop for the an-nual festival. Viglietti was interested in finding a way to bring this con-cept to Inglewood, which is how the Riverside Blossom Festival was born.

In the spring of each year, Inglewood’s Riverside Village hosts the Riverside Blossom Festival, where neighbors come together to celebrate spring and new life in the community.

This year, the festival will be held May 12 and will feature music, shopping and kids’ activities, as well as local food and beverages.

More than half of all proceeds from the festival will go to Friends of Riverside Drive, whose official mis-sion is:

To raise awareness in the Nashville community of the only community drive dedicated as a living memo-rial to those who fought in World War I, World War II and the Korean War; to restore the dignity, solemnity and beauty of this drive by the continued planting of Yoshino Cherry trees, planting of red poppies (the emblem of World War I) and formal landscaping of the entire median; and to provide for its care in perpetuity.

“The sole purpose of Friends of

Riverside is to raise funds to support this mission,” Viglietti explains. “We are excited to have 15 board members, including attorneys, councilmen, landscapers, a judge and a local histo-rian, to help guide us as we continue improving this unique road.”

This spring is an exciting time for beautification efforts in Inglewood and Nashville as a whole. Viglietti is in the process of establishing Friends of Riverside as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit orga-nization. He’s working on a fundrais-ing campaign through a new program called Groupon Grassroots. In addi-tion, Nashville was one of 10 cities chosen to participate in Keep America Beautiful, a National Day of Action, with large-scale cleanups and other coordinated events on April 28.

So if you see a lean man with a shovel standing in the median on Riverside Drive, it’s probably Tony Viglietti. Just like his grandfathers, he’s digging in, organizing and try-ing to make his community better for future generations.

“I CAME AbOuT My COMMuNITy ACTIVISM

NATuRALLy”

Continued from page 34

Page 38: East Nashvillian Issue 11

18

Electronic Adapters

Get it Fixed Right! Ampli�ers, Turntables, T.V.s and more. Serving Nashville for 41 years and Counting.

(615)227-5441

Tablets, SmartPhones,Stereo Systems, Turntables,Police Scanners, and more.

DBA Radio Shack

We've got gifts for Mother's Day, Father's Day and graduation!

3249 Gallatin Pike Nashville TN, 37216

Get the Right Gift!

& Boost Mobile

Kindles, Nooks

FEASTIVAL NASHVILLE

T he name almost says it all. fEASTival Nashville is dedi-cated to the food, music

and culture of East Nashville, and is a veritable feast, a cornucopia if you will, of the best that the East Side has to offer. The free festival is Saturday, May 19 from noon until 11 p.m. at East Park, the hub for all activities. So don’t forget to bring along your lawn chairs and blan-kets to stake your own hub for the day’s lineup.

“The day will be filled with music, food, art and a kids’ area. Festival goers can expect to see over 15 music artists, be able to taste some great food from over 20 food ven-dors, browse through over 30 art and unique vendor booths, enjoy performance art and a local art installation,” says co-event coordi-nator Julie Trull.

A sampling of fEASTival Nashville 2012 includes:

The Kidzone, presented by YMCA artEMBRACE, will have activities for families as well as offer for pur-chase art created by the children in their program.

Entertainment confirmed at press time includes Buffalo Clover, Dirt Heavy, The Lowry Sisters, Tesla Rossa, Vinyl Thief and The Lonely H.

Looking to try new cuisine or restaurants you haven’t gotten to yet? You’re in luck. East Nashville restaurants will be serving their sig-nature items at a discounted price during fEASTival.

The festival’s Art Village will showcase local artists and crafts-man, art demonstrations and hands-on, how-to opportunities for festival-goers.

Fashion Bytes, Inc. will put on a fashion show in the evening. Featured contributors include Old Made Good, The Hip Zipper and Goodbuy Girls with hair and make-up by Studio Green Organic Salon.

There’s even a festival after party. Bar 308, located at 407 Gallatin Avenue, will host the no-cover gathering. For more information, visit www.bar308.com.

From Spring through Summer, festivals bloom across East Nashville By Carole Anne King

RIVERSIDE bLOSSOM FESTIVAL

L ast year, it sported a different name and an earlier date that proved more than a little frosty,

but the 2012 Riverside Blossom Festival promises, in the words of its direc-tor Tracy Hamilton, “to be bigger and warmer than last year.”

Formerly the Inglewood Cherry Blossom Festival , the renamed and retrofitted event will take place May 12 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Riverside Village, the burgeoning East Nashville neighborhood business community at Riverside Drive and McGavock Pike. Expect the area to be bursting with craftspeople and artisans, jewelry makers, painters and sculptors, local musicians, children’s activities, and local food and drink.

This season’s fluffy, pink blooms may be long gone, but nonetheless, the festival is both a joyful celebration of springtime and the blossoming of Inglewood and surrounding neigh-borhoods as wonderful places to live, work and play.

A portion of the festival proceeds will benefit restoration of Riverside Drive to its original beauty and pur-pose as a memorial to war veterans.

“The whole purpose behind do-ing the festival is to help us continue planting Yoshino cherry trees, to raise awareness of the significance of Riverside Drive and bring back a boulevard worthy of the memo-rial,” explains Anthony Viglietti, who is widely considered to be the heart and soul behind the mission of the festival. Viglietti, a 28-year resident of Inglewood and a longtime

neighborhood activist, is president and executive director of local non-profit Friends of Riverside Drive. Since 2009, more than 90 cherry trees have been planted up and down Riverside Drive’s grassy median.

This year’s festival boasts two music stages featuring music for everyone, from bluegrass and county to rock and Americana. The Electric Stage, sponsored by Sweetwater Brewery and located in the Village Pub & Beer Garden parking lot, will feature swing band Eight O’ Five Jive, The Bluegrass Playboys, pub regulars The Broken Sparrows and Pageant.

The Acoustic Stage, located down the alley behind the Riverside Village Courtyard, will present singer-song-writers Cory and Jess, Joe Carpenter, Sarah Lou Richards, Roger Jokela, Leslie Rodriguez and Breaux Gargano.

For more information visit www.facebook.com/#!/riversideblossomfest or www.riversideblossomfest.com

Continued on page 40 PH

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The East Side is no stranger to festivals — the more the merrier as they say. Whether your thing is food, music, arts & crafts, or just playing in the sunshine, there are plenty of options to stave off boredom this year.

So get outside and forget your cares and remember — eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we may die. — The Editor

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38

Page 39: East Nashvillian Issue 11

18

Electronic Adapters

Get it Fixed Right! Ampli�ers, Turntables, T.V.s and more. Serving Nashville for 41 years and Counting.

(615)227-5441

Tablets, SmartPhones,Stereo Systems, Turntables,Police Scanners, and more.

DBA Radio Shack

We've got gifts for Mother's Day, Father's Day and graduation!

3249 Gallatin Pike Nashville TN, 37216

Get the Right Gift!

& Boost Mobile

Kindles, Nooks

FEASTIVAL NASHVILLE

T he name almost says it all. fEASTival Nashville is dedi-cated to the food, music

and culture of East Nashville, and is a veritable feast, a cornucopia if you will, of the best that the East Side has to offer. The free festival is Saturday, May 19 from noon until 11 p.m. at East Park, the hub for all activities. So don’t forget to bring along your lawn chairs and blan-kets to stake your own hub for the day’s lineup.

“The day will be filled with music, food, art and a kids’ area. Festival goers can expect to see over 15 music artists, be able to taste some great food from over 20 food ven-dors, browse through over 30 art and unique vendor booths, enjoy performance art and a local art installation,” says co-event coordi-nator Julie Trull.

A sampling of fEASTival Nashville 2012 includes:

The Kidzone, presented by YMCA artEMBRACE, will have activities for families as well as offer for pur-chase art created by the children in their program.

Entertainment confirmed at press time includes Buffalo Clover, Dirt Heavy, The Lowry Sisters, Tesla Rossa, Vinyl Thief and The Lonely H.

Looking to try new cuisine or restaurants you haven’t gotten to yet? You’re in luck. East Nashville restaurants will be serving their sig-nature items at a discounted price during fEASTival.

The festival’s Art Village will showcase local artists and crafts-man, art demonstrations and hands-on, how-to opportunities for festival-goers.

Fashion Bytes, Inc. will put on a fashion show in the evening. Featured contributors include Old Made Good, The Hip Zipper and Goodbuy Girls with hair and make-up by Studio Green Organic Salon.

There’s even a festival after party. Bar 308, located at 407 Gallatin Avenue, will host the no-cover gathering. For more information, visit www.bar308.com.

From Spring through Summer, festivals bloom across East Nashville By Carole Anne King

RIVERSIDE bLOSSOM FESTIVAL

L ast year, it sported a different name and an earlier date that proved more than a little frosty,

but the 2012 Riverside Blossom Festival promises, in the words of its direc-tor Tracy Hamilton, “to be bigger and warmer than last year.”

Formerly the Inglewood Cherry Blossom Festival , the renamed and retrofitted event will take place May 12 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Riverside Village, the burgeoning East Nashville neighborhood business community at Riverside Drive and McGavock Pike. Expect the area to be bursting with craftspeople and artisans, jewelry makers, painters and sculptors, local musicians, children’s activities, and local food and drink.

This season’s fluffy, pink blooms may be long gone, but nonetheless, the festival is both a joyful celebration of springtime and the blossoming of Inglewood and surrounding neigh-borhoods as wonderful places to live, work and play.

A portion of the festival proceeds will benefit restoration of Riverside Drive to its original beauty and pur-pose as a memorial to war veterans.

“The whole purpose behind do-ing the festival is to help us continue planting Yoshino cherry trees, to raise awareness of the significance of Riverside Drive and bring back a boulevard worthy of the memo-rial,” explains Anthony Viglietti, who is widely considered to be the heart and soul behind the mission of the festival. Viglietti, a 28-year resident of Inglewood and a longtime

neighborhood activist, is president and executive director of local non-profit Friends of Riverside Drive. Since 2009, more than 90 cherry trees have been planted up and down Riverside Drive’s grassy median.

This year’s festival boasts two music stages featuring music for everyone, from bluegrass and county to rock and Americana. The Electric Stage, sponsored by Sweetwater Brewery and located in the Village Pub & Beer Garden parking lot, will feature swing band Eight O’ Five Jive, The Bluegrass Playboys, pub regulars The Broken Sparrows and Pageant.

The Acoustic Stage, located down the alley behind the Riverside Village Courtyard, will present singer-song-writers Cory and Jess, Joe Carpenter, Sarah Lou Richards, Roger Jokela, Leslie Rodriguez and Breaux Gargano.

For more information visit www.facebook.com/#!/riversideblossomfest or www.riversideblossomfest.com

Continued on page 40 PH

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The East Side is no stranger to festivals — the more the merrier as they say. Whether your thing is food, music, arts & crafts, or just playing in the sunshine, there are plenty of options to stave off boredom this year.

So get outside and forget your cares and remember — eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we may die. — The Editor

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Page 40: East Nashvillian Issue 11

Haiti: Searching for Beauty

in a Broken LandPhotography exhibit and silent auction

Sunday, May 20, 5-8 p.m.

Holy Name Church, 521 Woodland Street

Donations will benefit Holy Name’s Haiti ministry

Photographs by East Nashvillian contributorTheresa Laurence

For more information: [email protected]

Fun in the summer sun

can include

barking up the right tree.

Your friendly neighborhood solar installer

To learn more about solar energy: www.SundogSolarEnergy.com

For a free site consultation: [email protected]

615-650-0540

C alling all hot chicken lov-ers. The 2012 Music City Hot Chicken Festival is looking

for 10,000 heat-seeking, hungry souls to feast on this Nashville-original culinary tradition. The free annual cel-ebration takes place Wednesday, July 4 at East Park.

The first 500 people will score free hot chicken samples from Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack, 400 Degrees, Pepperfire Hot Chicken, and Bolton’s Spicy Chicken & Fish. But there is no need for latecomers to go without; they will find plenty of the hot bird for sale in the food garden. The fest also fea-tures an amateur cooking contest, the Yazoo Brewery beer garden, bouncy inflatables for the kids and lots of great local music. For more information visit www.musiccityhotchickfestival.com.

This year’s festival benefits the Friends of Shelby, a private, 501(3), nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation, protection, enhance-ment and stewardship of Shelby Park and Shelby Bottoms. Visit www.friend-sofshelby.org for more information.

MuSIC CITy HOT CHICkEN FESTIVAL T he aptly named Thirth of July

is the place to get a headstart on your patriotic partying.

Now in its eighth year, this must-attend neighborhood get-together takes place Tuesday, July 3 at North 12th Street between Calvin and Ordway.  And by “neighborhood” we mean “everyone’s invited,” although the focus is on East Nashville resi-dents and neighbors.

“It’s a great way to meet your neighbors and experience all that East Nashville has to offer,” says chief instigator and event coordina-tor Chris Thompson, who started the event with friends on his front lawn simply to have a good time before the Fourth.

From its humble beginnings, it has grown quite a bit over the years. More recent celebrations have drawn more than a 1,000 people from all over Nashville, in cluding rock stars, politicians and even a few Westsiders, “but there’s plenty of room for everyone,” Thompson says.

A $15 cover charge per person takes care of the beer (provided by Yazoo), the expenses and the big-name entertainment (always with an East Nashville connection). Although the event started with a potluck, it got too big to provide food so Chris encourages everyone to “please bring cash for burgers, dogs, and other food items.”

Headliner Elmo Buzz and the Eastside Bulldogs (Todd Snider’s side project which includes Elizabeth cook and Tim Carroll) and bluegrass group Off the Wagon are the two acts already confirmed for for the event. For more information, check the new website www.thethirth.com (currently under construction).

The party starts at 5 p.m. and there will be burgers, hotdogs, BBQ, bands — and surely some dancing in the streets — until midnight. A portion of the proceeds will go to a yet-to-be-named nonprofit.

THIRTH OF juLy

Continued from page 38

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Not to be outdone, the lat-est entry to neighborhood groups on the East Side,

The Shelby Hills Neighborhood Association, will be hosting its Pocket Park Social on Saturday, May 12th from 11 :00a.m. until 1 :00p.m.

The event will be held at the “pock-et park” located at the corner of 14th Street and Shelby Avenue.

Featuring music by The Blackfoot Gypsies and a visit by The Trunk mo-bile boutique, the Pocket Park Social will be a terrific opportunity to meet neighbors and find out more about the SHNA.

pOCkET pARk SOCIAL

Page 41: East Nashvillian Issue 11

Haiti: Searching for Beauty

in a Broken LandPhotography exhibit and silent auction

Sunday, May 20, 5-8 p.m.

Holy Name Church, 521 Woodland Street

Donations will benefit Holy Name’s Haiti ministry

Photographs by East Nashvillian contributorTheresa Laurence

For more information: [email protected]

Fun in the summer sun

can include

barking up the right tree.

Your friendly neighborhood solar installer

To learn more about solar energy: www.SundogSolarEnergy.com

For a free site consultation: [email protected]

615-650-0540

C alling all hot chicken lov-ers. The 2012 Music City Hot Chicken Festival is looking

for 10,000 heat-seeking, hungry souls to feast on this Nashville-original culinary tradition. The free annual cel-ebration takes place Wednesday, July 4 at East Park.

The first 500 people will score free hot chicken samples from Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack, 400 Degrees, Pepperfire Hot Chicken, and Bolton’s Spicy Chicken & Fish. But there is no need for latecomers to go without; they will find plenty of the hot bird for sale in the food garden. The fest also fea-tures an amateur cooking contest, the Yazoo Brewery beer garden, bouncy inflatables for the kids and lots of great local music. For more information visit www.musiccityhotchickfestival.com.

This year’s festival benefits the Friends of Shelby, a private, 501(3), nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation, protection, enhance-ment and stewardship of Shelby Park and Shelby Bottoms. Visit www.friend-sofshelby.org for more information.

MuSIC CITy HOT CHICkEN FESTIVAL T he aptly named Thirth of July

is the place to get a headstart on your patriotic partying.

Now in its eighth year, this must-attend neighborhood get-together takes place Tuesday, July 3 at North 12th Street between Calvin and Ordway.  And by “neighborhood” we mean “everyone’s invited,” although the focus is on East Nashville resi-dents and neighbors.

“It’s a great way to meet your neighbors and experience all that East Nashville has to offer,” says chief instigator and event coordina-tor Chris Thompson, who started the event with friends on his front lawn simply to have a good time before the Fourth.

From its humble beginnings, it has grown quite a bit over the years. More recent celebrations have drawn more than a 1,000 people from all over Nashville, in cluding rock stars, politicians and even a few Westsiders, “but there’s plenty of room for everyone,” Thompson says.

A $15 cover charge per person takes care of the beer (provided by Yazoo), the expenses and the big-name entertainment (always with an East Nashville connection). Although the event started with a potluck, it got too big to provide food so Chris encourages everyone to “please bring cash for burgers, dogs, and other food items.”

Headliner Elmo Buzz and the Eastside Bulldogs (Todd Snider’s side project which includes Elizabeth cook and Tim Carroll) and bluegrass group Off the Wagon are the two acts already confirmed for for the event. For more information, check the new website www.thethirth.com (currently under construction).

The party starts at 5 p.m. and there will be burgers, hotdogs, BBQ, bands — and surely some dancing in the streets — until midnight. A portion of the proceeds will go to a yet-to-be-named nonprofit.

THIRTH OF juLy

Continued from page 38

TOP

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, B

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Not to be outdone, the lat-est entry to neighborhood groups on the East Side,

The Shelby Hills Neighborhood Association, will be hosting its Pocket Park Social on Saturday, May 12th from 11 :00a.m. until 1 :00p.m.

The event will be held at the “pock-et park” located at the corner of 14th Street and Shelby Avenue.

Featuring music by The Blackfoot Gypsies and a visit by The Trunk mo-bile boutique, the Pocket Park Social will be a terrific opportunity to meet neighbors and find out more about the SHNA.

pOCkET pARk SOCIAL

Page 42: East Nashvillian Issue 11

42 THE EAST NASHVILLIAN

T he East Nashville listserv, the online hub of the neighbor-hood, is the place to be if

you want to find a lost dog, a reliable plumber or sell your old couch. You can announce your band’s next gig, review a new restaurant or garner support for a community service project.

That is how the vast majority of the East Nashville Google group’s nearly 7,000 registered members use the listserv. But for a small, vocal cadre of neighbors, the listserv is where to go for stimulating conversation, heated debates and the occasional knock-down, drag-out fight over everything from neighborhood zoning regulations to sharia law.

“There’s not a lot of rules on the listserv, which drives some people ab-solutely batty, but generally things take care of themselves,” listserv creator and moderator Laura Creekmore says

When she launched the listserv 12 years ago, Creekmore envisioned it would be like a “virtual coffee shop,” where ideas are free-flowing and debate is civil — most of the time. She does occasionally step in with a per-sonal email to an offensive contributor or offer a public admonishment, but she generally does not keep a tight leash on listserv posters. Creekmore sees the listserv as “a resource for people to talk about all kinds of things.” In fact, she created it after “getting in trouble” for discussing issues on another neighbor-hood listserv.

While Creekmore didn’t have any grand vision for the listserv from the outset, she did want it to “reflect the character of the neighborhood — a little bit funky and quirky.”

When things cross the line from funky to furious, as a recent post that began as a question about the cin-ema complex at 100 Oaks, but soon devolved into a racist, name-calling session, Creekmore made a rare public commentary on the thread asking for cooler tempers.

Right in the middle of that recent debate was one of the most antago-nistic and long-winded posters on the listserv, John Barrett. “I defwinitely start slinging arrows with the best and the worst of them,” he says. “I probably should be embarrassed, but I’m not.”

Barrett doesn’t have much patience for the genteel, “why can’t we all just

get along” attitude of some posters. He often comes to the listserv with an agenda in hand, ready to spar with the best of them.

Barrett’s biggest listserv adversary is his political polar oppo-site, Bill Bernstein, the owner of East Side Gun Shop. “There are always people I disagree with, who are unable to engage in civil debate, and there’s no sport in that,” Bernstein says. “Just because I dis-agree with you doesn’t make you evil or a bad person,” he adds.

Bernstein claims that he uses the listserv “mostly for entertain-ment,” and whether he entertains or infuriates

more people is up for debate. But love him or hate him, Bernstein is trans-parent with his identity and opinions; everybody knows his name, his beliefs, and his business name and address. “I think if you post an opinion on a hot topic then you need to be able to stand behind it and defend it,” he explains.

One of his biggest complaints about the listserv is “allowing people to hide behind multiple screen names.”

Some posters, including Barrett, have been accused of using misleading on-line identities known as sock puppets.

“There’s no way to know how many aliases are on there,” Barrett says. “That’s part of the intrigue.” To him, that’s just part of the listserv game.

To all those who think this sounds exasperatingly childish, Barrett offers this advice: “To me, it’s exactly like listening to the radio. Turn the station

Lost dogs and mixed blessingsYou can find a bit of everything on the East Nashville listserv

By theresa Laurence

Illustration by Dean tomasek

Continued on page 44

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Page 43: East Nashvillian Issue 11

42 THE EAST NASHVILLIAN

T he East Nashville listserv, the online hub of the neighbor-hood, is the place to be if

you want to find a lost dog, a reliable plumber or sell your old couch. You can announce your band’s next gig, review a new restaurant or garner support for a community service project.

That is how the vast majority of the East Nashville Google group’s nearly 7,000 registered members use the listserv. But for a small, vocal cadre of neighbors, the listserv is where to go for stimulating conversation, heated debates and the occasional knock-down, drag-out fight over everything from neighborhood zoning regulations to sharia law.

“There’s not a lot of rules on the listserv, which drives some people ab-solutely batty, but generally things take care of themselves,” listserv creator and moderator Laura Creekmore says

When she launched the listserv 12 years ago, Creekmore envisioned it would be like a “virtual coffee shop,” where ideas are free-flowing and debate is civil — most of the time. She does occasionally step in with a per-sonal email to an offensive contributor or offer a public admonishment, but she generally does not keep a tight leash on listserv posters. Creekmore sees the listserv as “a resource for people to talk about all kinds of things.” In fact, she created it after “getting in trouble” for discussing issues on another neighbor-hood listserv.

While Creekmore didn’t have any grand vision for the listserv from the outset, she did want it to “reflect the character of the neighborhood — a little bit funky and quirky.”

When things cross the line from funky to furious, as a recent post that began as a question about the cin-ema complex at 100 Oaks, but soon devolved into a racist, name-calling session, Creekmore made a rare public commentary on the thread asking for cooler tempers.

Right in the middle of that recent debate was one of the most antago-nistic and long-winded posters on the listserv, John Barrett. “I defwinitely start slinging arrows with the best and the worst of them,” he says. “I probably should be embarrassed, but I’m not.”

Barrett doesn’t have much patience for the genteel, “why can’t we all just

get along” attitude of some posters. He often comes to the listserv with an agenda in hand, ready to spar with the best of them.

Barrett’s biggest listserv adversary is his political polar oppo-site, Bill Bernstein, the owner of East Side Gun Shop. “There are always people I disagree with, who are unable to engage in civil debate, and there’s no sport in that,” Bernstein says. “Just because I dis-agree with you doesn’t make you evil or a bad person,” he adds.

Bernstein claims that he uses the listserv “mostly for entertain-ment,” and whether he entertains or infuriates

more people is up for debate. But love him or hate him, Bernstein is trans-parent with his identity and opinions; everybody knows his name, his beliefs, and his business name and address. “I think if you post an opinion on a hot topic then you need to be able to stand behind it and defend it,” he explains.

One of his biggest complaints about the listserv is “allowing people to hide behind multiple screen names.”

Some posters, including Barrett, have been accused of using misleading on-line identities known as sock puppets.

“There’s no way to know how many aliases are on there,” Barrett says. “That’s part of the intrigue.” To him, that’s just part of the listserv game.

To all those who think this sounds exasperatingly childish, Barrett offers this advice: “To me, it’s exactly like listening to the radio. Turn the station

Lost dogs and mixed blessingsYou can find a bit of everything on the East Nashville listserv

By theresa Laurence

Illustration by Dean tomasek

Continued on page 44

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Page 44: East Nashvillian Issue 11

YOUR FRIENDLY EAST NASHVILLE INSURANCE AGENT

INSURANCEEric Jans

[email protected]

www.ericjansinsurance.com

health insurance

life insurance

disability insurance

supplemental insurance

long-term care

health savings account (hsa)

For a complete listing oF vendors and schedule oF events, check out our Web site at www.feastivalnashville.com

An open And free event for people of All Ages.

FashionBytes,Inc. • The East Nashvillian • Nashville Running Company • NashvilleArts Magazine • GivingMatters.com • East Nashville With Love • The Green Wagon • Brick Factory Nashville • I Run For The Party • YMCA ArtEMBRACE presenting the KidZone

Saturday, May 19, 2012 • 12 p.M. to 11 p.M. at EaSt parKJoin uS for a day full of MuSic, art, faShion and food!

••• East Park Is LOCatED at s. 7th strEEt anD WOODLanD strEEt •••

PrEsEntED BY:

OUr sPOnsOrs:

FEASTIVAL_AD.indd 1 4/13/12 3:29 PM

when you don’t like it.” For him, the listserv is just fine the way it is, slinging arrows and all. Even when it comes to the most controversial of topics, he says, “I don’t think anyone has the right to say stop talking about this.”

Fortunately for him, Creekmore has his back on this. “If you live in East Nashville and care about an issue, why shouldn’t you be able to discuss it on the listserv?” she asks.

Michael Jessing, known simply as “Wryker” on the listserv, would like to see less religion and politics on the Google site, but he won’t hesitate to jump in to those discussions. “I try to bring some levity when the posts get personal and nasty,” he says. “I’m not prejudiced, I hate everybody,” he’s fond of saying.

Wryker often refers to himself in the third person when posting, and created his own fan club which requires a “two-drink minimum” to join.

Of his online moniker, Jessing ex-plains, “I’m not hiding behind it, I just think it’s a much cooler name.” His name is one that will not likely be duplicated, since he made it up over 30 years ago while playing Dungeons and Dragons.

An East Nashville resident for seven years, Jessing initially used the listserv to meet friends in a new city. He im-mediately found someone to join him on a tour of hot chicken restaurants and someone else looking to turn a backyard full of fresh mint into a mint julep party.

These types of experiences — con-necting with real, live neighbors — is what the listserv is all about for Lana Sigg. She organized the first listserv lunch five years ago to “put names with faces” and connect people who would otherwise only communicate with each other through a computer screen. To her, the listserv is “not about the debates, it’s about meeting people in the neighborhood.”

Sitting outside on Mad Donna’s patio last month, a small group of listserv lunchers gathered to bask in the sun-shine and have a little conversation, without a bit of name-calling or fistfight-ing. “A lot of the ones that do all the bark-ing don’t show up,” says Brian Hayes, a regular at the listserv lunches.

Hayes, better known as “Rembrandt” on the listserv, is probably the number one poster on the site, possessing a seemingly endless supply of one-liners

1313 Woodland St 615-226-1617 maddonnas.com

Neighborhood Restaurant

lunch - dinner - weekend brunch

Continued from page 43

Continued on page 46

Page 45: East Nashvillian Issue 11

YOUR FRIENDLY EAST NASHVILLE INSURANCE AGENT

INSURANCEEric Jans

[email protected]

www.ericjansinsurance.com

health insurance

life insurance

disability insurance

supplemental insurance

long-term care

health savings account (hsa)

For a complete listing oF vendors and schedule oF events, check out our Web site at www.feastivalnashville.com

An open And free event for people of All Ages.

FashionBytes,Inc. • The East Nashvillian • Nashville Running Company • NashvilleArts Magazine • GivingMatters.com • East Nashville With Love • The Green Wagon • Brick Factory Nashville • I Run For The Party • YMCA ArtEMBRACE presenting the KidZone

Saturday, May 19, 2012 • 12 p.M. to 11 p.M. at EaSt parKJoin uS for a day full of MuSic, art, faShion and food!

••• East Park Is LOCatED at s. 7th strEEt anD WOODLanD strEEt •••

PrEsEntED BY:

OUr sPOnsOrs:

FEASTIVAL_AD.indd 1 4/13/12 3:29 PM

when you don’t like it.” For him, the listserv is just fine the way it is, slinging arrows and all. Even when it comes to the most controversial of topics, he says, “I don’t think anyone has the right to say stop talking about this.”

Fortunately for him, Creekmore has his back on this. “If you live in East Nashville and care about an issue, why shouldn’t you be able to discuss it on the listserv?” she asks.

Michael Jessing, known simply as “Wryker” on the listserv, would like to see less religion and politics on the Google site, but he won’t hesitate to jump in to those discussions. “I try to bring some levity when the posts get personal and nasty,” he says. “I’m not prejudiced, I hate everybody,” he’s fond of saying.

Wryker often refers to himself in the third person when posting, and created his own fan club which requires a “two-drink minimum” to join.

Of his online moniker, Jessing ex-plains, “I’m not hiding behind it, I just think it’s a much cooler name.” His name is one that will not likely be duplicated, since he made it up over 30 years ago while playing Dungeons and Dragons.

An East Nashville resident for seven years, Jessing initially used the listserv to meet friends in a new city. He im-mediately found someone to join him on a tour of hot chicken restaurants and someone else looking to turn a backyard full of fresh mint into a mint julep party.

These types of experiences — con-necting with real, live neighbors — is what the listserv is all about for Lana Sigg. She organized the first listserv lunch five years ago to “put names with faces” and connect people who would otherwise only communicate with each other through a computer screen. To her, the listserv is “not about the debates, it’s about meeting people in the neighborhood.”

Sitting outside on Mad Donna’s patio last month, a small group of listserv lunchers gathered to bask in the sun-shine and have a little conversation, without a bit of name-calling or fistfight-ing. “A lot of the ones that do all the bark-ing don’t show up,” says Brian Hayes, a regular at the listserv lunches.

Hayes, better known as “Rembrandt” on the listserv, is probably the number one poster on the site, possessing a seemingly endless supply of one-liners

1313 Woodland St 615-226-1617 maddonnas.com

Neighborhood Restaurant

lunch - dinner - weekend brunch

Continued from page 43

Continued on page 46

Page 46: East Nashvillian Issue 11

THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 47

YOUR TRUSTED NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICE PROVIDERS

MARKETPLACE

MARKETPLACE

Frank Ballard JrFinancial Advisor.

1574-A North Gallatin RdMadison, TN 37115615-868-5704www.edwardjones.com

Member SIPC

SERVING MADISON, INGLEWOOD AND HISTORIC EAST NASHVILLE AREAS.

You can’t control the market, but you can control your decisions.

Sometimes the market reacts poorly to changes in theworld. But just because the market reacts doesn’t meanyou should. Still, if current events are making you feeluncertain about your finances, you should schedule acomplimentary portfolio review. That way, you can helpensure you’re in control of where you want to go andhow you can potentially get there.

Take control. Schedule your free portfolio review today.

whipped out to comment on nearly any topic. “I don’t get as wordy as a lot of them,” he says, but he will jump in, over and over again, with a well-placed sentence or two.

Hayes, who lives in Inglewood, drives a pickup truck, speaks with a Southern drawl and is often ribbed by other listserv posters for his poor spelling, says he tries to stay civil with his discussions, even when someone makes a rude comment about his poor grammar.

He appreciates the posters who can look beyond a few misspelled words and connect beyond the keyboard. “Some people are out there to cause trouble,” he says. But, “once I meet somebody, I usually end up being pretty good friends with them.”

Hayes has used the listserv to round up volunteers for his children’s school, and to volunteer for flood cleanup through the message board. “Back at the flood, people really came together,” Hayes recalls, and the list-serv was ground zero for organizing

neighborhood efforts for recovery. “There’s a lot of community stuff that gets done because of the listserv.”

Sigg, who has served as cochair of the Holly Street Daycare annual fundraiser, says she used the list-serv to help drum up support for the event. The East Nashville Community Action Network was also born on the listserv, and the idea for the Tomato Art Fest incubated there. “A lot of business ideas get floated on the list-serv,” Sigg explains.

Through the weekly listserv lunches, Sigg has gotten to be such good friends with some people in the neighborhood that they now babysit her children.

Jim Edmondson, Sigg’s babysitter extraordinaire, says he is mostly on the listserv “for the freebies,” to see what people are buying/selling/trad-ing. An affable poster, Edmondson is not likely to offend many people with his contributions.

A pre-tornado East Nashville pio-neer, Edmondson has seen a lot of

changes in the neighborhood since he moved here in 1997. For him, one of the most valuable assets of the listserv is the ability to connect with people who have lived here for de-cades longer or even grew up on the East side. “You meet people who have really lived here a long time and can give history of the neighborhood and of the buildings,” he says.

Whether you use the listserv to re-search historic buildings, recommend a car repair shop or let the neighbor-hood know what you think about “Obamacare” or the country’s mort-gage crisis, you will likely find plenty of strong opinions for and against you. For the foreseeable future it will remain, as Creekmore envisioned it, a “diverse, multi-colored reflection of our community.”

Without the heated debates, the listserv would certainly be a kindler, gentler place, but then it wouldn’t be the East Nashville listserv.

Melissa lundgrenRealtor,CRS,ABR,ePro,EcoBrokerdirect/text/vm 615 [email protected]

Your east nashville Homes specialist!

Continued from page 44

Page 47: East Nashvillian Issue 11

THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 47

YOUR TRUSTED NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICE PROVIDERS

MARKETPLACE

MARKETPLACE

Frank Ballard JrFinancial Advisor.

1574-A North Gallatin RdMadison, TN 37115615-868-5704www.edwardjones.com

Member SIPC

SERVING MADISON, INGLEWOOD AND HISTORIC EAST NASHVILLE AREAS.

You can’t control the market, but you can control your decisions.

Sometimes the market reacts poorly to changes in theworld. But just because the market reacts doesn’t meanyou should. Still, if current events are making you feeluncertain about your finances, you should schedule acomplimentary portfolio review. That way, you can helpensure you’re in control of where you want to go andhow you can potentially get there.

Take control. Schedule your free portfolio review today.

whipped out to comment on nearly any topic. “I don’t get as wordy as a lot of them,” he says, but he will jump in, over and over again, with a well-placed sentence or two.

Hayes, who lives in Inglewood, drives a pickup truck, speaks with a Southern drawl and is often ribbed by other listserv posters for his poor spelling, says he tries to stay civil with his discussions, even when someone makes a rude comment about his poor grammar.

He appreciates the posters who can look beyond a few misspelled words and connect beyond the keyboard. “Some people are out there to cause trouble,” he says. But, “once I meet somebody, I usually end up being pretty good friends with them.”

Hayes has used the listserv to round up volunteers for his children’s school, and to volunteer for flood cleanup through the message board. “Back at the flood, people really came together,” Hayes recalls, and the list-serv was ground zero for organizing

neighborhood efforts for recovery. “There’s a lot of community stuff that gets done because of the listserv.”

Sigg, who has served as cochair of the Holly Street Daycare annual fundraiser, says she used the list-serv to help drum up support for the event. The East Nashville Community Action Network was also born on the listserv, and the idea for the Tomato Art Fest incubated there. “A lot of business ideas get floated on the list-serv,” Sigg explains.

Through the weekly listserv lunches, Sigg has gotten to be such good friends with some people in the neighborhood that they now babysit her children.

Jim Edmondson, Sigg’s babysitter extraordinaire, says he is mostly on the listserv “for the freebies,” to see what people are buying/selling/trad-ing. An affable poster, Edmondson is not likely to offend many people with his contributions.

A pre-tornado East Nashville pio-neer, Edmondson has seen a lot of

changes in the neighborhood since he moved here in 1997. For him, one of the most valuable assets of the listserv is the ability to connect with people who have lived here for de-cades longer or even grew up on the East side. “You meet people who have really lived here a long time and can give history of the neighborhood and of the buildings,” he says.

Whether you use the listserv to re-search historic buildings, recommend a car repair shop or let the neighbor-hood know what you think about “Obamacare” or the country’s mort-gage crisis, you will likely find plenty of strong opinions for and against you. For the foreseeable future it will remain, as Creekmore envisioned it, a “diverse, multi-colored reflection of our community.”

Without the heated debates, the listserv would certainly be a kindler, gentler place, but then it wouldn’t be the East Nashville listserv.

Melissa lundgrenRealtor,CRS,ABR,ePro,EcoBrokerdirect/text/vm 615 [email protected]

Your east nashville Homes specialist!

Continued from page 44

Page 48: East Nashvillian Issue 11

48 THE EAST NASHVILLIAN THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 49

YOUR TRUSTED NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICE PROVIDERS

MARKETPLACEYOUR TRUSTED NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICE PROVIDERS

MARKETPLACE

TO BE A PART OF MARKETPLACE CALL LISA AT 615-582-4187 OR EMAIL [email protected]

Pick a winning team for your next move!Award winning Real Estate Specialists

“The Bretz Team”Cheryl and George

Keller Williams RealtyGeorge cell: 615-428-8758Cheryl cell: 615-969-5475

Office: 615-822-8585

www.movingtonashvilletn.comwww.cherylbretz.com

MARKETPLACEMARKETPLACE

Page 49: East Nashvillian Issue 11

48 THE EAST NASHVILLIAN THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 49

YOUR TRUSTED NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICE PROVIDERS

MARKETPLACEYOUR TRUSTED NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICE PROVIDERS

MARKETPLACE

TO BE A PART OF MARKETPLACE CALL LISA AT 615-582-4187 OR EMAIL [email protected]

Pick a winning team for your next move!Award winning Real Estate Specialists

“The Bretz Team”Cheryl and George

Keller Williams RealtyGeorge cell: 615-428-8758Cheryl cell: 615-969-5475

Office: 615-822-8585

www.movingtonashvilletn.comwww.cherylbretz.com

MARKETPLACEMARKETPLACE

Page 50: East Nashvillian Issue 11

18

THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 51

This project consists of 13 weekend closures beginning April 20, 2012.Weekend Closures ONLY: Fridays 9 p.m. to Mondays 5 a.m.

Closed Roadway Segments • I-24 West will be closed from Mile Marker 47.8 to

Mile Marker 50.2• I-24 East will be closed from Mile Marker 46.8 to Mile

Marker 48.0• Woodland Street from Interstate Drive to South 5th

Street• Main Street (James Robertson Parkway) from Inter-

state Drive to South 5th Street• I-24 West on-ramps at Shelby Avenue• I-24 East on-ramp at Spring Street

Interstate Detour Routes• From north of Nashville on I-24 East/I-65 South

toward Chattanooga will follow I-65 South/I-40

West at Exit 86, then follow I-40 East/I-65 South at Exit 84A, and then follow I-40 East/I-24 East at Exit 210.

• From south of Nashville on I-24 West/I-65 North toward Clarksville/Louisville will follow I-65 South/I-40 West at Exit 211, then follow I-40 West/I-65 North at Exit 210A, and then follow I-65 North/I-24 West at Exit 208.

Local Detour Routes• East on Woodland Street wanting to continue east

on Woodland Street will turn right onto Interstate Drive, then turn left onto Shelby Avenue, then turn left onto South 5th Street, and turn right onto Wood-land Street.

• West on Woodland Street wanting to continue west on Woodland Street will turn left onto South 5th Street, then turn right onto Shelby Avenue, then turn right onto South 2nd Street, then turn left onto Rus-sell Street, then turn right onto South 1st Street, and turn left onto Woodland Street.

• East on James Robertson Parkway (main Street) wanting to continue east on Main Streetwill turn right onto Interstate Drive, then turn left onto Shelby Avenue., then turn left onto South 5th Street, and turn right onto Main Street.

• West on main Street wanting to continue west on James Robertson Parkway (Main Street)will turn right onto Spring Street, then take the I-24 East on-ramp, then exit I-24 East at James Robertson Parkway (Exit 48), and turn right onto James Rob-ertson Parkway.

• Shelby Avenue to I-24W will turn onto South 5th Street and will continue on Spring Street to the I-24W on-ramp.

• Jefferson Street and North 1st Street to I-24 East will take North 1st Street, and then turn left onto Woodland Street to the I-24 East on-ramp.

d River

Nashville

DOUGLAS AVE.

FERN AVE.

LAFAYETTE ST.8TH AVE. S

HERMITAGE AVE.

LAFAYETTE ST.

CHESTNUT ST

4TH AVE. 2ND AVE.

D

CLEVELAND ST.

ROSA L.PARKS BLVD.

TN STATE

CAPITOL

EDGEHILL AVE.

4TH AVE S.

Cumberland

River

3RD AVE. N.

WOODLAND ST. MAIN ST.

WOODLAND ST.

LP FIELD

SHELBY AVE.

JEFFERSON ST.

ELLINGTON

PARK

WAY

KORE

AN VE

TERA

NS BL

VD

SPRING ST.

JAMES ROBERPARKWAY TSON

BROADWAY

DEMONBREUN ST CHURCH ST.

CHARLOTTE AVE.

S 5th ST.

6524

6524

6565

6565

6540

6540

Pkwy

6565

6565

6524

6524

Briley

S 5th ST.

DAVIDSON ST..

Traffic traveling east on I-40 and north on I-65 to East Nashville will exit on 2nd / 4th Ave Exit, then left at 2nd Ave to Korean Veterans Blvdand turn right on Korean Veterans Blvd / Shelby Ave.Traffic traveling west on I-24/I-40 heading to East Nashville will exit on 2nd Ave Exit, then turn right onto 2nd Ave to Korean Veterans Blvd then turn right on Korean Veterans Blvd / Shelby Ave.

Traffic traveling I-65 south heading east will take Briley Pkwy Exit and turn left on Briley then take Ellington Pkwy exit then Ellington Pkwy to Main St /James Robertson exit then take S 5th St to Shelby Ave, then take a right on Shelby Ave then left to on-ramp entering I-24 east.

/I-65

I-24 Closure

East Nashville Access

As no doubt you already know, major rehabilitation on I-24 at the Main Street and Woodland Street bridges will continue throughout the summer. Deanna Lambert, the Community Relations Officer – Region 3 at the Tennessee Department of Transportation has provided us with information regarding road closures, detours, times and dates, which you will find below. To sign up for weekly email updates, go to: www.tdot.state.tn.us/i24bridges/maps.shtml.— The Editor

I-24 Closures throughout Summer 2012ww

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Page 51: East Nashvillian Issue 11

18

THE EAST NASHVILLIAN 51

This project consists of 13 weekend closures beginning April 20, 2012.Weekend Closures ONLY: Fridays 9 p.m. to Mondays 5 a.m.

Closed Roadway Segments • I-24 West will be closed from Mile Marker 47.8 to

Mile Marker 50.2• I-24 East will be closed from Mile Marker 46.8 to Mile

Marker 48.0• Woodland Street from Interstate Drive to South 5th

Street• Main Street (James Robertson Parkway) from Inter-

state Drive to South 5th Street• I-24 West on-ramps at Shelby Avenue• I-24 East on-ramp at Spring Street

Interstate Detour Routes• From north of Nashville on I-24 East/I-65 South

toward Chattanooga will follow I-65 South/I-40

West at Exit 86, then follow I-40 East/I-65 South at Exit 84A, and then follow I-40 East/I-24 East at Exit 210.

• From south of Nashville on I-24 West/I-65 North toward Clarksville/Louisville will follow I-65 South/I-40 West at Exit 211, then follow I-40 West/I-65 North at Exit 210A, and then follow I-65 North/I-24 West at Exit 208.

Local Detour Routes• East on Woodland Street wanting to continue east

on Woodland Street will turn right onto Interstate Drive, then turn left onto Shelby Avenue, then turn left onto South 5th Street, and turn right onto Wood-land Street.

• West on Woodland Street wanting to continue west on Woodland Street will turn left onto South 5th Street, then turn right onto Shelby Avenue, then turn right onto South 2nd Street, then turn left onto Rus-sell Street, then turn right onto South 1st Street, and turn left onto Woodland Street.

• East on James Robertson Parkway (main Street) wanting to continue east on Main Streetwill turn right onto Interstate Drive, then turn left onto Shelby Avenue., then turn left onto South 5th Street, and turn right onto Main Street.

• West on main Street wanting to continue west on James Robertson Parkway (Main Street)will turn right onto Spring Street, then take the I-24 East on-ramp, then exit I-24 East at James Robertson Parkway (Exit 48), and turn right onto James Rob-ertson Parkway.

• Shelby Avenue to I-24W will turn onto South 5th Street and will continue on Spring Street to the I-24W on-ramp.

• Jefferson Street and North 1st Street to I-24 East will take North 1st Street, and then turn left onto Woodland Street to the I-24 East on-ramp.

d River

Nashville

DOUGLAS AVE.

FERN AVE.

LAFAYETTE ST.8TH AVE. S

HERMITAGE AVE.

LAFAYETTE ST.

CHESTNUT ST

4TH AVE. 2ND AVE.

D

CLEVELAND ST.

ROSA L.PARKS BLVD.

TN STATE

CAPITOL

EDGEHILL AVE.

4TH AVE S.

Cumberland

River

3RD AVE. N.

WOODLAND ST. MAIN ST.

WOODLAND ST.

LP FIELD

SHELBY AVE.

JEFFERSON ST.

ELLINGTON

PARK

WAY

KORE

AN VE

TERA

NS BL

VD

SPRING ST.

JAMES ROBERPARKWAY TSON

BROADWAY

DEMONBREUN ST CHURCH ST.

CHARLOTTE AVE.

S 5th ST.

6524

6524

6565

6565

6540

6540

Pkwy

6565

6565

6524

6524

Briley

S 5th ST.

DAVIDSON ST..

Traffic traveling east on I-40 and north on I-65 to East Nashville will exit on 2nd / 4th Ave Exit, then left at 2nd Ave to Korean Veterans Blvdand turn right on Korean Veterans Blvd / Shelby Ave.Traffic traveling west on I-24/I-40 heading to East Nashville will exit on 2nd Ave Exit, then turn right onto 2nd Ave to Korean Veterans Blvd then turn right on Korean Veterans Blvd / Shelby Ave.

Traffic traveling I-65 south heading east will take Briley Pkwy Exit and turn left on Briley then take Ellington Pkwy exit then Ellington Pkwy to Main St /James Robertson exit then take S 5th St to Shelby Ave, then take a right on Shelby Ave then left to on-ramp entering I-24 east.

/I-65

I-24 Closure

East Nashville Access

As no doubt you already know, major rehabilitation on I-24 at the Main Street and Woodland Street bridges will continue throughout the summer. Deanna Lambert, the Community Relations Officer – Region 3 at the Tennessee Department of Transportation has provided us with information regarding road closures, detours, times and dates, which you will find below. To sign up for weekly email updates, go to: www.tdot.state.tn.us/i24bridges/maps.shtml.— The Editor

I-24 Closures throughout Summer 2012ww

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Page 52: East Nashvillian Issue 11

52 THE EAST NASHVILLIAN