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| Street Mural, Nashville, TN |
Tuesday: 12k Steps: We learned that the
beautiful in-bloom trees we’d been seeing across Dixie were generically known
as “Dogwoods” and that we’d chosen the perfect time of the year to come visit
them. “Cornus is a genus of about 30–60 species of woody plants in the
family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods, generally distinguished by their blossoms, berries, and distinctive bark. Most are
deciduous trees or shrubs, but a few species are nearly herbaceous perennial
subshrubs...." Subshrub - what a word. Up, breakfasted
and showered. On the road for 9-ish. Headed
towards Tryon to visit Eunice Kathleen Waymon’s home place (better known as
Nina Simone.) The most recent inspiration for this visit was Warren Ellis’ “Nina
Simone’s Gum” See this article for the wonderfully odd, gory details. See one of Mr Ellis's bands in action here (from UG playlist)
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| Nina Simone's Childhood Home, Tryon, NC |
A beautiful sidebar detour. Turns out, we can have ideas, dreams and destinations and make them all happen purely through focus, force of will and the support of spreadsheets. Aware that's a privilege lots of other folks are still fighting for. Eunice was forced to change her name and forced to sing so that her piano-song could have its voice heard. And what a voice. The very modest homestead on a plot of less than an a half acre was a one roomed house on brick stilts, locked with a single padlock. A porch with a rocking chair offered photographic fodder.
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| Sometimes I Sit And Think. Sometimes I Just Sit. |
Hit the road again, doubling back towards Asheville, onwards from North Carolina, into Tennesseee via Knoxville and Chatanooga. Stopped at a huge truck station / gas station in the middle of nowhere and had a large Subway meal. Marc asked the no-fucks-given lady behind the counter, just off her lunchbreak, to talk him through the 12 bread offerings as he hadn’t done the Subway thing before. Her look of what the absolute fuck is going on in my life right now was a joy to behold. The “navigation device” had fallen out of its crappy dashboard clip on the way and bent the USB connector. The retired looking, mostly toothless server behind the counter in the truckstop shop was able to tell me precisely which USB-C connector I would need on the replacement cable and sold me a blue one. My biases were smashed by that man on that day.
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| Subshrub-Way |
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| Welcome To Nashville! |
We hit the outskirts of Music City, Nashville round about 430pm having decided that even though we’d gained an hour with the timezone change in Tennessee, that trying to get the hire car back by 5 would be an avoidably stressful stretch. We were pretty bushwhacked when we hit Nashville, so the decision not to extend our day’s drive by 3-4hrs and skip Memphis was indeed a good one. Mike Tyson once said "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face..." The drive from Nashville to Memphis would have been our punch in the face that day. That said, I suspect Memphis (Graceland, Sun Studios, Big Star, William Eggleston and on and on) will require its own immersive visit at some point in my future.
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| Avoiding A Punch In The Face |
We knew the Kimpton Aertson hotel in Nashville would be a good one and so it turned out. Large, airy, city facing room, fifth floor with lots of exposed, “distressed” raw materials, concrete in particular, and a huge marble surfaced bathroom (twin sinks!) with an extra large walk-in shower. Mind boggling upgrade from the bathroom in the DC Holiday Inn. Lugjery in fact. The dimensions of the room were extra. And the massive walk-in shower with butcher tiles and a bench!
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| Lobbie, Aertson - Robbie Robertson (hidden) checking in |
The goal of squeezing in a standup gig came up again. I was hungry after a day of driving and wanted to hit a good Mexican I’d read about. Marc discovered a place called Zanies.
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| Zanies |
Annoyingly, doors opened at 7pm and the gig finished by 9pm. Eventually decided to eat early then taxi across to the show even if we were a little late. Walked 30 mins to the Gulch, ate at Las Toritos – guy who served us ordered us an Uber on his phone / account out of pure compassion for our inexplicable and desperate Uberlessness. Comedy club was fine. Lots of sex jokes, pretty uninspired all told. We saw 3-4 comics including the headliner Conner Larson. Then they all came back onstage to do one liners. Seems like a nice comic community going on in Nashville. I was glad of the comedy club experience - Zanies has a huge national reputation.
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| Vinyl adhesive ads pasted to the pavements.... new one on me |
We were spat out at 9pm in the freezing cold in the equivalent of the Long Mile Road area of Nashville. Walking back in to the city proper would have been possible but highly unpleasant in the cold. We crossed the street to the second Subway of the day to be greeted by a highly indignant store operator who'd already tidied away the 12 types of bread. I ordered a Coke and we set about getting warm and getting Uber properly set up using Revolut. It worked and despite a heavily cologne-tinged Uber ride back to the hotel, we were never gladder to get ourselves a lift. We'd never again have to depend on the pity or good nature of others to get from A to B in America.
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| Music City! |
Wednesday: 38k Steps A mind with no inputs is a dead thing. I depend on inputs for any kinds of outputs at all. Unrelated, I’d asked at the desk if breakfast was included in our room rate and was told that since I’d got a great deal on the room, breakfast was, unfortunately not included. Wow. Given the huge variety of dining options on offer within walking distance of the hotel, competition raising all boats, it happened that we didn’t spend a red cent in their boojie bar / restaurant for the 4 days we were there. The alternative decent rated coffee place I found hilariously turned out to be a different boojie hotel lobby café place (The Graduate) 6 blocks away. Also picked up a warm muffin. The hotel apparently where artists and producers stay when in town. Beautiful building. Overdone interior décor.
I got the hire car dropped back relatively pain free. We were almost run over by a fast moving SUV in the car park as we did the final unloading. Got back to the hotel and left to find somewhere for breakfast on our way to our main objective for the day, a visit to Third Man Records. Marc asked the lady valet (turns out she was the ninja driver of the SUV in the parking garage) for a breakfast recommendation. CiCi was her name. She said she’d only been in Nashville for a few months since she moved from LA but the best place she’d been to was Midtown Café.
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| Breakfast a deux, part deux Midtown Cafe Nashville |
We took her recommendation and had the best breakfast of our trip, possibly ever (see above). The menu contained a full section dedicated solely to the expansive topic of “Biscuits and Such.” Me: Huevos Rancheros with salsa verde, black beans and grits, plus a single pancake on the side. Marc some kind of poached egg vibe. So grateful were we for the recommendation that we bought CiCi a voucher for the place. We ended up coming back for breakfast the next day too. Rocking good food. Set us up for the day. Then, maybe a 40min wander / walk down back towards the Gulch to Third Man.
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| House With Front Porch, The Gulch, Nashville |
We came across many homeless looking folks in the neighbourhood. Turns out that the Nashville Rescue Mission is up the block from Third Man and it’s a huge operation. Some informative reviews (edited - may required further editing) of the facility from Google:
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| Sunlight DC |
Luther Knoop: Having stayed here at the Gospel Mission in Nashville TN, I just would like to thank those here who teaches our to me in the spirit of Kindness. I am a 50 year old man who recently had my car stolen in Oregon. I rode a Greyhound bus to Nashville. That's because I had been driving here, and with plans to start my Wood Flooring business in this town. .....They said that had threatened them. I did not threaten them by any means. As a matter of fact, I was quite polite each time that I called. I then had a very large man come into my area, the computer room , and using a very aggressive tone, threatened me! Shahkeer Stewart: Unsafe place to be when you dealing with rude people, panhandlers, people trying to snuggle drugs into their property....the worst experience I ever had when there’s a major violent confrontation occurring it made me want to think twice about going back there it’s just like when you’re incarcerated or in mental hospital not only that when the staff wakes people up real early at 4AM every morning to sit outside or dayroom filled with overcrowded people nowhere to sit ending up sitting on a dirty floor. A rough place. Very rough. But it offers assistance to the homeless. Thank you God for places like these. Three hot meals every day, benefit roster, a cot to sleep on. What more do we need?
Thank you Salvation Army for your service to the United States of America. Pray for the homeless!!! This isn’t a homeless shelter, it’s both a jail cell and a mental institution. The staff is cruel; They steal the few belongings the people here have, berate and are overall unpleasant. The “rules” constantly change and are never stable. They force you outside in 30 degree weather when it’s mealtime. They keep accepting people even though there aren’t any rooms to keep any more people. Then, to add insult to injury, they are “Christian” based. I am a Christian and there is nothing like that here, minus a few words from scripture thrown on the walls. This is a horrible place, especially if you’re elderly, disabled or have children. You’re better off sleeping outside. Very rude and unkind! Didn't care if you were sleeping in cold or not! Didn't sound concerned or wanting to help anyone!!
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| Mirrors On A Hotel Wall |
LESS THAN 1 STAR FAR AS I WOULD VOTE!!! RUDE RUDE!! Its full of crackheads and old people waiting to die but its better than the street if your serious about getting your life together. Its not as scary as you think its just old people living out their days and the rest are working trying to put their life together just stay out of the way and you'll be good. Skeeter: It smells of urine in areas inside and out. The food is horrible. They allow mental patients and they do not take their meds and yell , cuss and threaten unseen people around them. They do not drug test. They give you only water at meals. No snacks allowed to fill your food craving since you can not eat the untasty rather bad tasting food. If you bring snacks they make you throw them away. No drinks allowed in you room but water. I drank so much I feel like a fish. I never seen but a few clothes on a table donated but sure there is more but not put out. Employee take home first I bet. They do intake on you then forget you. No pillows, shabby thin blankets nasty stained ones too. If your bed is under an air vent you will freeze at night and they will give you no extra blanket. People with violent past allowed in. No screening done. I feel unsafe here. A lot of us do. I feel sorry for who ever is stuck here for long. I am going to a better place.
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| Jack and Meg Tiki Mugs |
As the brainchild of Jack White, it’s unsurprising that the Third Man record store / pressing plant / studio / venue was a very cool spot. It had a guitar / noise station with Third Man “hardware” – basically a bunch of dorky sounding guitar pedals. Another pedal board allowed you to select accompaniment – “Blues in E” “Rock Jam in D” “Thrashin’ in C” etc. There was a conical speaker above your head and the drum stool you were sitting on vibrated with any distorted sound giving you the impression you were a very talented guitarist rocking the room.
Quality merch including stickers and a full fledged vinyl-only record store. Marco bought a hat and I picked a “Music is Sacred” enamel mug plus a box of Third Man branded BlackWing pencils (gorgeous) and ….. stickers. Walked back through downtown (unknowingly skirting the strip). Tried to visit multiple old churches on our walk back through downtown but they were ALL locked up. Definitely a sign. Ended up pulling into Union Station Hotel lobby bar “Station Airy” for cocktails (another great Old Fashioned).
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| Union Station |
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| If Guns 'n' Roses Was A Honky-Tonk Band & Jesus Was The Singer, Asleep |
Then it was off to an early pre-booked dinner at Adele’s on McGavock Street. Early because we had tickets to the Beths – doors at 7. This place was fantastic.
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| Gnocchi And Smoked Salmon @ Adele's, Nashville |
Huge open plan kitchen. A staff of maybe 12 behind the kitchen counter plus 5-6 floor staff. We were early so it wasn’t busy. But it filled up lively. Found out our waitress was an artist who spent time studying in Glasgow at the RGI (Royal Glasgow Insititute Of Fine Arts.) All she wanted to do was practice her art and eventually buy a modest home in Nashville.Very fricken good meal (10/10)
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| Boone, NC |
Given we were staying in the types of regional, middle of the road hotels frequented by business travellers, a recurring theme of the trip, for me at least, was observing the familiar rites of corporate America being practiced in common areas like lobbies, lifts, cafes etc. There’s a lot of well dressed, well turned out people really struggling to turn up is what I observed. People presenting with something resembling a smile but unhealthy and unhappy in their skin. Make no mistake, going for dinner with the same group you’ve spent a long day “workshopping” with is work. In the Nashville hotel, going from lobby to 5th floor, the lift stopped on floors 2,3 and 4 picking up members of the same work group heading to a day of meetings (with roller cases) on the 8th floor. It became ridiculous as I was slowly swamped in a small space by a growing group of bushy tailed professionals, morning-high-fiving each other. I was asked jokingly if I wanted to join them for their workshop's “closing remarks”. I declined. Drinking hotel lobby coffee in a business hotel is also interesting. Again, people dragging themselves by their boot-straps to breakfast or to the first coffee before a wave of small talk and strategising gets in the way. I’m sure some of these folks were happy to be there, but my sense from the majority I witnessed was grind grind grind. Of course, there’s glamour and fun associated with a paid business trip to a nice location. But the cost to lives left behind at home and to the soul of the owner is high. Performative ain't cheap. Anyways – I had a funny perspective being on a jolly myself, but totally untethered having just left corporate life. I was maybe seeing what I wanted to see.
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| Elevator Selfies One Man Missing |
10min Uber ride (soundtrack: “They’re Takin' Uberlery Now”) to Brooklyn Bowl (a fully functioning Bowling Alley) to catch The Beths. The Uber driver's cousin was a comic, so too was the Uber driver who managed to squeeze in many humorously on-point physical disparagements of his Erupoean fares on the 10min journey to the venue. We were early (1930) cos we thought we needed to be. That was OK though as we got a good seat upstairs overlooking the stage. Sidney Gish came onstage for 8, with the Beths at 9. Sidney Gish was cool – very reminiscent of Liz Phair. I admired her independent feminist punk rock glide onto the stage, no band, no drummer, no nuthin’. Just her, a guitar and a loop pedal and a couple of effects as she built each song from scratch. And it was fun. Subsequently learned she has perfect pitch and she hasn’t released anything in a few years, so it's interesting that she's touring. Nerdy, awkward but triumphant delivery and won the crowd over quickly even though a small section knew the songs already. There were 4 disco balls hanging off a circular lighting truss and they were used to great effect. The new phone I picked up before the trip really came into its own. The photos at the Beths gig in mixed / very low light worked well.
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| The Beths At The Brooklyn Bowl, Nashville |
The Beths rocked. A bunch of possibly spectrumatic kids from Auckland New Zealand, as bemused with America as the crowd were with them. We knew no songs but enjoyed the gig anyways. At the band intro section, the bass player introduced us to his Breakfast and Travel Updates blog Funny interlude. One worth following. Liz is the lynchpin of the band, the main songwriter and obviously the personality who keeps the rest of them in check. Minimal interaction from her from the stage though when the band are obviously chomping at the bit to interact. She'd get freaked out when heckled or with any message or request shouted from the crowd. It was great to get to a gig on this trip, not only for the energy injection of live music, but for the cultural experience of being with an American crowd. US crowds have a reputation of being less enthusiastic, but this Nashville crowd were very much up for it. The God view of the crowd from our balcony seat was great too. A man in his sixties on his own in a Big Star tshirt just below us bopping along consistently. A retired couple from Chicago at our elbow who’d never heard of Wilco. Several female couples furiously bopping and singing along to all songs. A joy to observe. The sound guy wearing a mustard yellow tshirt with IMPRESSIVE written across the chest.
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| Mismatched Multimedia |
Wandering around the venue during the gig I noticed that the video feed from the stage was being beamed onto screens at the end of each bowling lane. I assume so folks who were bowling could watch the gig if so inclined – though no one was bowling as the band played. Except for one dude who very audibly got a strike during a slower acoustic number resulting in laughs from the crowd and the stage. We took a photo in a photo booth in the corner. Found out later that The Beths play Whelans in Dublin in May as part of this world tour. Worth checking out!
Thursday 34k steps: Up, showered and legged it to get coffee before 730 – again the Virgin Hotel on Music Square. More lobby photography, more side-eyed observation of the discombobulated professional classes excruciating themselves as a form of work. I can imagine this town being an amazing “Leisurin’” town (to quote Mannix Flynn) in the Summer time. Lots of permanent outdoor seating, outdoor pools on hotel roofs. When the sun shines in all its luminescences through the daily cycle, I'd imagine that outdoor life in NC and TN shines too. I think I fell in love with the pace of life and how it's lit in Dixie and the northern reaches of the sunbelt on this trip. A walk back to the hotel via Chet Atkins Place, coming across a pickup truck with highly antagonistic bumper stickers like “2nd Amendment: America’s Original Homeland Security” “Fuck Your Feelings” “LOVE” spelt out in shapes of assault rifles Etc. Also featured a tricursal Valknut symbol in a Runic circle. [The valknut has seen some use by White supremacists. The Anti-Defamation League notes that "nonracist pagans may also use this symbol, so one should carefully examine it in context rather than assume that a particular use of the symbol is racist."]
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| Dolly Dumpster |
Coming across this Dolly dumpster a couple of blocks later made it all OK again though. Division Street played a key role in all our crosstown navigations. Got caught up in March Madness downtown 2023 SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament happening at the Bridgestone Arena. The SEC (South Eastern Conference) men’s basketball tournament begins an 8 year run that keeps the event in Nashville at least through 2030. Downtown was a shitshow at 1030 IN THE A.M. Hundreds of Tennessee fans (orange and white the predominant colours) and families wandering pre-match. And when we hit the strip proper downtown it was sensory chaos. We lasted maybe 20 minutes. The strip itself is contained to 3 or 4 blocks, 1st to 4th Avenues along Broadway. It’s packed with bars, all with street facing, floor to ceiling windows with the stage just the other side of each window. As we took our mid morning stroll down the strip, every one of these bars (sample names “Whiskey Bent Saloon” “The Stag – Nashville’s Rockingest Country Club” “Honky Tonk Central” “Redneck Riviera” “Whiskey River Saloon” “ACME Feed & Seed” “Doc Holliday’s – Home Of The Famous Sunny D Shot” “Coyote Ugly Saloon & Grill” “Dick’s Last Resort” “World Famous Nudie’s Honky Tonk”) had LIVE, electric country music blaring from the opened windows, at 1030 IN THE A.M. into mostly empty bars and out onto the packed street. Never seen or heard anything like it. The auditory chaos resembled an unsettling cinematic soundtrack to a dystopian psychological event, probably by Trent Reznor. Maybe the US is living through a dystopian psychological event right now.
We must have seen 15 full bands a-honky-tonkin' and heard 15 more before we had to escape for our own good. Fascinating but a gross theme-park-ification of what is by design an honest and simple music. We quickly got tired of looking at Wranglered cowboy drummer’s asses from unflattering angles from the street and kept moving.
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| Unflattering Angle |
We didn’t do any of the Stetson / "Ranch-Leisure" cowboy boot stores, zero desire to deal with that bullshit first thing in the morning. We hauled our introverted and slightly distressed asses back up the street for a restorative latte and early grey tea. Back to the hotel where Marc had most efficiently packed his nifty wheeled luggage ready for his mid-afternoon flight from BNA to LAX and onto NRT.
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| Johnny and June during one of Johnny's Pharmaceutically Wayward phases |
After Marc left, I had a chat with CiCi – turns out she’s in Nashville for college, wants to make the world a more peaceful place and will focus on somehow making mindfulness a career. Beautiful streetwise soul and demon valet driver to boot. A black, female Neal Cassidy with ambition and talent. Stay out of her way. “Aww guys I appreciate you!” Despite the fact that I was wrecked tired from walking and walking, I quickly made a list of things I wanted to do in the 24hrs before I shipped out myself and I set to it. On the list was: Dinner - De Sano Pizza (naturally first thing on the list despite a huge breakfast) | Guitar Store | Johnny Cash (9am – 7pm) | Grand Ole Opry / Ryman (9-4) | Pack | Wholefoods? Portable Burrito, Hot Sauce | Crema-Coffee.com | Build Receipts | Flight Details. I walked the 40mins back to downtown towards the Ryman (as it closed earliest). What an institution. What a beautiful space. What history. “Music’s Most Iconic Stage.” I texted Graham the next day and asked him if he’d ever played there. He responded "yes." Then another text: “A bragger night respond that they’d played there several times…." I was forced to respond...“You win”.
A sprinkling of the history of the place was visible via the excellent gig posters on the walls for some of my own all time favourite acts like: (deep breath…..) Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Loretta Lynn, Wilco, The Temptations, Dolly Parton, Queens Of The Stoneage, Joni Mitchell, The Four Tops, Levon Helm with Gillian Welch supporting, Jack White, Flaming Lips, Emmylou Harris, The Chieftains, Sarah Vaughan, Pixies, Muddy Waters, Kris Kristofferson, Van Morrison, REM, Tom Petty, Deathcab, John Prine, Wu-Tang Clan, Harpo Marx, Patsy Cline, Neil Young, Foo Fighters, Bo Diddley, Iron & Wine, Fiona Apple, Bozo The Clown, Derek and The Dominos, Hank Williams, Nina Simone, Charley Pride, ZZ Top, Count Basie, Neko Case, Sergei Rachmaninoff (!), Kraftwerk, Bruce Springsteen, Count John McCormack, Taylor Unsurprisingly Swift, Harry Styles, Minnie Pearl, The fricken Beach Boys! Oh, and one Elvis Presley.
Most episodes of the Johnny Cash Show were recorded at the auditorium and broadcast between Jun 1969 and Mar 1971.The circular pews and the stained glass windows were magical. Music is indeed sacred in Music City and this building felt like the city’s Pro-Cathedral. I’ll need to come back for an actual gig sometime.
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| Pro Cathedral. Music City |
I then cut across the street to the Johnny Cash museum. Having missed out on Graceland on this trip, this seemed like the next best available thing. An excellent exhibition full of artefacts, documents and photos I’d never seen before. I was particularly moved by the Hurt video which played on loop at the end of the exhibit. The Ryman and the JC museum were both excellent experiences. I must have stood watching that Hurt video on loop for 20mins at the end. Incredibly moving and inspiring - watch it again if you're so inclined. The original NIN version has always been an emotional song for me, but it hits different in Nashville at the end of the Johnny Cash museum tour when the folks responsible for the country music in your veins are building their own retrospective and accumulated regrets.
Out into the weather, through the hordes of visiting basketball fans exiting the arena, onwards towards the Gibson store. I had planned on visiting a vintage guitar store but restricting myself to shank’s mare kept me honest. The most prominent feature of the Gibson store is an overhead conveyor belt of hundreds of guitars. It was an odd commercialised zombification of what I’d normally enjoy as the physical event of visiting a guitar store in North America. Because you couldn’t pick them up and play them as they jolted and jerked robotically overhead, most of the magic was lost for me. Mostly the guitars were gold top Les Pauls (100% not interested). The Flying V, the Firebird and the Explorer however…. One each thanks. Strange, soulless experience in the midst of $7k guitars. Also, to reiterate, I had over packed so there was no way I was hauling a guitar back to Ireland, regardless of other….. constraints. Left to get food as I had walked myself a wolf by this point. De Sano Pizzeria Napoletana featured prominently on multiple “Best Pizza in Nashville” lists. Funny – I got a text from Marc, who, unshackled from his over-sensitive vegetarian companion was busy sampling Deep Fried Chicken at the airport. He can’t eat pizza (technically, nether can I) but it didn’t stop me from ordering and single handedly demolishing a 19” Margherita with a fine wine accompaniment. Divine. And greasy. I scraped myself exhausted back to the hotel in the rain to figure out how I’d get everything packed and ready to go for tomorrow.
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| Hurt |
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| Wall-Eye In The Photobooth, Nashville Bowl |
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1 comment:
Oh yes… we’ll be back. You betta believe it! ☕️ ☕️ 👌😘
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