Estoy feliz de que seas mi vecino
NEWS: FAMILIES OF INCARCERATED TENNESSEANS MAKE PLEA FOR PRISON REFORM
MUSIC: MUSICIANS DISCUSS PUSHING BACK AGAINST GENERATIVE A.I. IN CREATIVE WORK
We’re better when we look out for each other In a divi d w ld, I’m glad we’ same block
Exploring mixed-citizenship-status romance, potent advice from a sex therapist, Nashville’s first romance-only bookstore and more
Rosanne Cash wore these handmade Charlie Dunn boots, embossed with moons, stars, and her initials, on the cover of King’s Record Shop, her 1987 album featuring four charttoppers—“The Way We Make a Broken Heart,” “Tennessee Flat Top Box,” “If You Change Your Mind,” and “Runaway Train.”
From the exhibit Rosanne Cash: Time Is a Mirror
RESERVE TODAY
Families of Incarcerated Tennesseans
Make Plea for Prison Reform
Proposed state legislation could increase transparency and accountability in correctional facilities plagued by violence
BY JULIANNE AKERS
Pith in the Wind
This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog NES Board Approves Independent Review Following Winter Storm Fern
Utility will donate $1 million to recovery fund, suspend late fees and disconnects through June
BY HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS AND EMILY R. WEST
The Buzzing Sound That Has Disrupted Nashvillians for Years Cement plant blames cleared trees and East Bank prep for increase in volume BY HANNAH HERNER
COVER PACKAGE: THE LOVE ISSUE
Wedding Wear That Spans Decades
East Nashville’s Dear Saint Vintage is part of a bridal vintage resurgence
BY JULIANNE AKERS
Coitus Questions
Sex therapist Valerie Martin — who helps people overcome abstinence-only education and religious shame — shares her most frequent advice BY HANNAH HERNER
Burning Love
Slow Burn, Nashville’s first all-romance bookstore, fans the flames of the local reader community BY ANNIE PARNELL
Mixed-Status Romance
Couples with different citizenship statuses navigate turbulent immigration policies and zealous enforcement BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ
Valentine’s Day Streaming Roundup
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In memory of Jim Ridley, editor 2009-2016
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Proposed state legislation could increase transparency and accountability in correctional facilities plagued by violence
BY JULIANNE AKERS
IN SEPTEMBER, Brenda Kay Spitzbarth traveled more than two hours from her home in Maryville to Lebanon to attend a town hall event focused on prison reform in Tennessee.
During the Q&A portion of the town hall, Spitzbarth approached the podium with a question.
“How do I keep my son safe?” she asked a panel of state lawmakers and corrections officials.
At the time, her 38-year old son Dustin Sims was incarcerated at Turney Center Industrial Complex, a state-run prison in Hickman County. “I’m here because my son is in immediate danger,” Spitzbarth told officials at the September meeting, outlining concerns over violence in the facility and illegal drugs being smuggled into the prison. She said when her son attempted to get involved in mental health and drug treatment programs, his requests were largely ignored. When she would try to contact the prison in an effort to get help for her son, she often also received no response.
“What do I do to get help for my boy?” she pleaded with the panel.
One month later, her son was killed while in protective custody at Turney Center. According to Sims’ autopsy report, he was stabbed in his head, neck, chest and torso multiple times and suffered blunt force injuries across his body.
Spitzbarth’s worst fears were made reality. She tells the Scene she routinely received phone calls from Sims in which he expressed his fear inside Turney Center, which he said was wracked with violence and gang activity.
“He was terrified, and he said, ‘Mom, it’s just a matter of time till they bust through that door right there, they’ll kill me,’” Spitzbarth says. “And me being a mother sitting on the other side, I’m scared to death for him.”
Sims was killed while in protective custody, a period of confinement for incarcerated people who are in danger or under threat of being harmed. A few days after her son’s death, Spitzbarth received her final letter in the mail from him, in which he’d written that he wanted to remain in his single-cell unit for a little while longer. Several days later, he was placed in a cell with the man who killed him, she says.
“My full belief is that the staff at the Turney Center just displayed deliberate, malicious indifference to his situation, and they contributed to his murder by placing him in the cell with that man,” says Spitzbarth.
Since Sims’ death, many questions remain over what policies and procedures were taken
by Tennessee Department of Correction staff that day — and what could have been done to prevent it. Spitzbarth continues to express frustration with TDOC and its lack of transparency and communication with families of those incarcerated in Tennessee prisons. When it comes to prison reform in the state, much of the chatter centers on mismanagement and violence reported inside facilities run by the massive private prison operator CoreCivic. But Spitzbarth and others contend that conditions in Tennessee’s state-run prisons are also becoming increasingly dangerous, and the lack of accountability persists.
“I just want Dustin’s life to mean something,” Spitzbarth says. “Yes, he needed to be in prison, but he also deserved to be safe and in a humane situation.”
A recently filed piece of legislation, House Bill 2111/Senate Bill 2531, seeks to increase communication and support through the creation of a family advisory board within the Tennessee Department of Correction. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Clark Boyd (R-Lebanon) and Sen. Tom Hatcher (R-Maryville).
Spitzbarth says a board could be one step in the right direction.
“People don’t seem to care that those 20-something-thousand families have children and mothers and wives and daughters and sons out here that are affected by the way they treat them and the way things are handled inside,” she says.
Hatcher is also sponsoring a bill that could equip correctional officers with body cameras at the CoreCivic-run Trousdale Turner Correctional
The Tennessee General Assembly is back to business after taking an unexpected weeklong hiatus during the city’s ice storm. Legislators are now considering a bill to further regulate fertility clinics and restrict genetic testing on embryos (similar legislation failed last year) and a prison-reform bill following disastrous conditions at state facilities in recent months. A Democrat-backed effort to allow counties greater control over gun regulations failed, as did a push to expand health insurance coverage for more Tennessee children, while conservative lawmakers advanced separate bills allowing public schools to display the Ten Commandments and requiring aspects of the Bible and prayer to be integrated into the school day. Keep up with the state legislature via our weekly recaps, “On the Hill,” every Friday morning.
“
“I JUST WANT DUSTIN’S LIFE TO MEAN SOMETHING. YES, HE NEEDED TO BE IN PRISON, BUT HE ALSO DESERVED TO BE SAFE AND IN A HUMANE SITUATION.”
—BRENDA KAY SPITZBARTH
Center — one of the state’s most notoriously dangerous facilities. If passed, the bill would require TDOC to study the cost of running a pilot program using the cameras at the prison and report its findings to the General Assembly by July.
Tennessee’s top correction official is against the proposal of placing body cameras in all of the state’s prisons. In January, TDOC Commissioner Frank Strada told lawmakers at a Senate State and Local Government Corrections Subcommittee that it would cost millions of dollars in implementation, monitoring and public record requests. He argued instead in favor of expanding a central intelligence center that would use AI technology and drones in an attempt to stop contraband from making its way into the facilities.
TDOC declined to comment on pending legislation or allegations of lack of communication and transparency with families of incarcerated Tennesseans. ▼
The Metro Council started budget discussions with a contested public comment period at its Feb. 3 meeting. Housing and cost-of-living concerns repeatedly came up in residents’ short appeals to the chamber. Eviction support, rental assistance and more funding for the Barnes Housing Trust Fund were just a few recommendations from a public still struggling with the city’s high housing costs. City leaders, meanwhile, are struggling with further fallout related to Winter Storm Fern, specifically the longer-term effects of Nashville’s widespread power outages and further analysis, and public sentiment, related to NES’ mixed leadership during the crisis. Many praise the linemen and repair workers who pulled long shifts in freezing temperatures but criticize the utility for unclear and undercommunicated information about when and how power lines would be restored.
Contributor Betsy Phillips digs into the relationships between the FBI the KKK and the civil rights movement in Nashville — specifically a rumor that the Rev. Kelly Miller Smith was an FBI informant during the city’s civil rights era. Smith was a towering figure in the NAACP the Nashville Christian Leadership Council and desegregation locally, and a close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Phillips found Smith’s FBI file and explains that his comments to the feds are a masterstroke in strategic communications — rather than work against the movement, Smith used his connection to work the FBI and protect the efforts of civil rights activists at the time.
Utility will donate $1 million to recovery fund, suspend late fees and disconnects through June
BY HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS AND EMILY R. WEST
THE NASHVILLE ELECTRIC SERVICE BOARD on Monday unanimously approved an independent review of its response to January’s deadly Winter Storm Fern. The utility also announced that it will make a $1 million donation to the city’s storm recovery fund, among other actions.
“We are proud of NES’ response in restoring power to 230,000 households in 13 days — that was historic,” said board chair Delta Anne Davis on Monday. “Yet in many ways we did not live up to the standards Nashville has come to expect from NES during their 87 years of service in the community.”
The sentiment was echoed by CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin, who said NES is “committed to learning from the storm.”
Cement plant blames cleared trees and East Bank prep for increase in volume
BY HANNAH HERNER
THE SOUND IS an E-flat, suspects Cleveland Park resident Adam Ollendorff.
It sounds like the world’s longest-running lawnmower, which verges into helicopter-sound territory at times. Sometimes it sounds like a crop plane circling the neighborhood for hours at a time, or someone’s loud old refrigerator. It changes volume, but not pitch, and doesn’t have a regular schedule. Quite simply, it’s at a frequency that’s “really annoying,” one area resident tells the Scene
The needle-drops happen a few times per week — but there have been days when it’s nonstop for 12 hours. An opportunity for peaceful gardening, porch coffee or a rooftop hang is foiled.
And it seems to be getting worse, according to Ollendorff.
“It used to be that you’d have to step outside to hear it, and now I noticed that I can hear it in the living room with the doors and windows closed,” he tells the Scene
It’s been bothering Derek Lisle and his neighbors in the Salemtown Neighborhood Association too. The sound, Lisle says, has even woken them up at night.
“I’m asking the board members to help us execute on an independent after-action review that can be completed quickly,” Broyles-Aplin said. “I believe this action completed on an aggressive timeline is important while the last two weeks are fresh on all of our minds, and data is readily available, and also to help prep us for spring and summer inclement weather.”
“We need an unbiased report, one that focuses on facts and not politics, one that brings concrete and actionable findings back to us,” said vice chair Casey Santos. “Throughout this assessment, everything should be on the table, including our preparations, our communications, as mentioned, our operational response and our technology, so we can be prepared for the next storm or other emergency, improve our recovery time and improve service to our customers — service they expect and deserve.”
The board also approved a resolution that increases emergency expenditures from up to $500,000 to as much as $5 million per transaction for preexisting contracts that have already been authorized in response to the storm. Currently there are three contracts related to “external staffing support” that fall under those emergency expenditures, but according to NES attorney Laura Smith, more emergency expenditures may be paid out in the near future.
Broyles-Aplin said NES will suspend all electricity disconnects and late fees through June, allow flexible payment options throughout 2026 and provide additional online and call-center customer
“We just know that before last spring, it was never an issue, and now it’s frequently an issue,” Lisle says.
Emily Hardesty went on a fact-finding mission to share with her neighborhood Facebook page in Cleveland Park. Every now and then a new resident poses the same question: “What’s that buzzing sound?” Following the sound, she ended up at 1916 Cement Plant Road, which serves as a gravel entry to the Cumberland River Greenway.
It’s also the site of an industrial machine operated by the aptly named Buzzi Unicem, a cement company that has been in operation there since the early 1900s. It originally functioned as a cement manufacturing plant and was converted to a cement distribution terminal in the 1980s, company spokesperson Sally Yundt tells the Scene in a statement.
Cement is the dry material that serves as the primary binder in concrete. The company receives dry bulk cement by railcar and Cumberland River barge, and distributes it by truck to local concrete producers, or puts it into bags.
The sound comes from exactly where Hardesty suspected: an enclosed water slide of sorts that shoots air to move dry cement through piping from barges and rail cars to the plant. Buzzi Unicem hasn’t changed operations in years, Yundt tells the Scene. But there have been some changes in the area over the past century — more people have moved into the area, and more recently, land clearing has taken place between the plant and its neighbors as part of ongoing development of the Cumberland River’s East Bank.
“Recent developments undertaken by the local municipality and private developers along the riverfront have altered the surrounding landscape, including the removal of trees and structures,” Buzzi Unicem says in a statement.
support options. She also said NES will immediately “enhance emergency management leadership … address communications outage information and outage map improvements … revisit estimated time of restoration practices [and] initiate evaluations focusing on strengthening system resiliency.”
Six people spoke during a public comment portion of Monday’s meeting, including two NES linemen and two Metro councilmembers — District 7 Councilmember Emily Benedict and District 19 Councilmember Jacob Kupin. One of the linemen — BJ Heath, who has worked as a lineman for more than 20 years — spoke in support of his NES colleagues, including those at the top of the organization.
“I appreciate the [public] support of the linemen, and on the flip side, you can’t appreciate linemen and bash the CEO and the management team,” Heath said. “We’re all in this together. We couldn’t complete the work that we completed without the equipment and tools that are provided by management, so I stand with our management team. … The entire company, we did a great job. We communicated well. We did as much as we could, as fast as we could, as safely as we could, and as quickly as we could to restore power to our customers, and I think we did a pretty good job.”
“This isn’t about [the linemen’s] effort,” said Councilmember Benedict. “This is about whether they were given the tools to succeed. When a third of a district is without power for two weeks, that’s not what residents call a good response.” Councilmember Kupin called NES’ response “a failure
that needs to be addressed.”
NES vice president and chief customer and innovation officer Brent Baker offered more insight into the technical challenges of the storm and how NES will move forward.
“We have a better model now of how to predict [storm impact intensities] — we will be enacting that in the future,” Baker said, adding that NES began working on a 10-year comprehensive storm-hardening plan in May of last year. The plan utilizes drone and lidar technology, especially when planning vegetation management.
“We did our first 500 miles in August to help us understand our trees a bit better,” Baker said. “We will begin evaluating even more what other tools need to be implemented in our system. There are tools that we use, but maybe not at the scale we will in the future. And no technology and no modernization will be left unturned.”
Over the weekend, NES announced the restoration of power to 99.9 percent of its customers after some 230,000 people across 294 square miles were left without power from the historic winter storm. The storm resulted in the deaths of at least 29 people, five of whom were in Davidson County, and sparked political turmoil as state and federal Republicans threatened oversight. NES reported that the storm caused 787 broken utility poles, with more than 1,900 linemen working across the state. The utility utilized assistance from crews from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Ohio, Virginia, Texas and West Virginia. ▼
“These features previously acted as natural sound buffers, and their removal may have made existing operational sounds more noticeable.”
But if a buzzing sound happens and no one is around to track how many decibels it is, did it happen at all?
It might as well not have, at least from a Metro Codes perspective. A violation of Nashville’s commercial noise ordinance is defined as anything over 70 decibels that takes place between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., measured from the wall of the nearest residential structure. There’s no limit during the day.
According to Metro Codes spokesperson Will Dodd, his department has not captured the sound, or any kind of violation.
“There had been a couple times we had sent people out after hours when we were getting complaints,” Dodd tells the Scene “But it’s not happening every day. And so it seemed like every time our inspector was out there, there was none of that noise taking place.”
Another limitation, he says: It would be hard to distinguish one sound that’s violating the noise ordinance from every other highway and industrial sound that could
interfere. Even if there was a violation and the company was cited, state law limits the fine to $50.
These types of issues are best talked out, says Councilmember Jacob Kupin, who has tried to get in touch with the company — which is located in his District 19. District 5 Councilmember Sean Parker can hear it from his district across the river too.
“To me, anything that’s disrupting the quality of life for neighbors on both sides of the river is some sort of a violation,” Kupin says. “The fact that both Salemtown and East Nashville are having issues tells me that it is a violation, and it’s something that should be just addressed, because it’s the right thing to do.”
Buzzi Unicem acknowledges that they received correspondence from councilmembers concerned about the sound, and no meetings have ever happened, the company says.
“They’ve been here a long time, so we don’t have a problem with them being there and operating, and they should be allowed to do that,” Lisle says. “But they should just try and be good neighbors while doing that.”
romance, potent advice from a sex therapist, Nashville’s first romanceonly bookstore and more
TO INVOKE SOME ancient text: Love is patient, love is kind, love sends an earnest submission to our annual Sweet Scene feature — even if said submission is not reciprocated. (Not that I’d know from personal experience.) Check out this year’s reader-submitted Sweet Scene valentines in this week’s issue — they are so, so sweet.
We’re back once again with our annual Love Issue, inspired by Valentine’s Day. (RIP to The Dating Issue … for now.) In this issue, reporter Julianne Akers checks out locally owned bridal store Dear Saint Vintage (where even a single gal like myself can pine over the gorgeous vintage gowns). Readers can check out the latest stories of love, longing and lust on offer at Nashville’s first romance-only brick-and-mortar bookstore, profiled here by Scene audience editor Annie Parnell. We’ve brought back a curated list of Valentine’s-friendly streaming films from associate editor Logan Butts, and you can visit nashvillescene.com for a playlist of local love songs put together by music editor Stephen Trageser.
All is not light and fluffy in love, however. We also have a moving story from managing editor Alejandro Ramirez about challenges in immigration proceedings for couples with mixed citizenship status. Plus, I learned a lot from a (for-journalism) session with local sex therapist Valerie Martin, who shared her most potent advice.
I’m honored to guest edit this issue again this year. As RuPaul would say, “Everybody say love.”
—Hannah Herner, Nashville Scene reporter and Love Issue guest editor
ILLUSTRATIONS BY
TORIAN STAGGS
East Nashville’s Dear Saint Vintage is part of a bridal vintage resurgence
BY JULIANNE AKERS
AT DEAR SAINT VINTAGE, 1950s love ballads play as guests are presented with precisely curated clothing racks. They are full of lace, chiffon, tulle and brocade — wedding gowns that have belonged to generations of brides.
The wedding wear shop began with an idea from co-owners Hope Beard, Kate Hollyfield and Keaton Moore, who met while working at Hip Zipper Vintage in East Nashville’s Five Points neighborhood. While working there, they gleaned knowledge of older clothing, fabrics and pricing of vintage items.
The trio began to see a gap in Nashville’s bridal market for people drawn to vintage attire and those seeking an unconventional look for their big day. Plus, they could capitalize on the city’s bachelorette boom. Beard says they often do business with shoppers who drove several
hours or boarded a plane to browse the store’s selection.
They named the store Dear Saint — a nod to a line from Romeo and Juliet — and officially launched online in August 2023. They set up their first brick-and-mortar location within East Nashville’s Scout’s Barbershop in 2024 before officially moving into their current site on Woodland Street in June of last year.
With roughly 200 dresses in stock, the store offers wedding attire from the 1920s through the 1990s, plus a select few from the early Aughts. Most of their inventory is priced below $1,000 — a cost hard to come by in the modern bridal market. The owners say affordability is one reason for what they call a vintage resurgence in the wedding dress world. They also note that an increasing number of brides are concerned about the environmental impact of producing new clothes.
One of the biggest challenges the store faces is ensuring they offer a wide range of sizes. The owners acknowledge this, saying many of the dresses they receive tend to fall into the petite size range.
The owners say they try to maintain offerings with a waist size of up to 40 inches, though availability can vary, and the process of sourcing vintage has an ebb and flow. Beard adds that the size of certain dresses can be expanded through seam allowances, corset additions and other tailoring methods.
“I think people want to find a way to embrace their individuality and want to shop sustainably,” says Hollyfield. “And I think more and more people are growing weary of the wedding industrial complex, as some people call it, and it’s kind of nice to be able to support a small business and have a really curated experience when you know it’s not funneling back into a big box store.”
Beard says the quality of vintage dresses often far surpasses that of cheaply made contemporary dresses.
“There is this phenomenon where the dresses that have survived 50 years or more are going to be the smaller special-occasion dresses, because they were only worn once or twice, whereas bigger dresses that were worn more often and well-loved don’t necessarily survive,” says Moore. “The fabric degrades, or it has holes in it or whatever, and it gets altered. So a lot of the dresses we find are small, but we have really tried to make a valiant effort to have as many size options as we possibly can.”
When sourcing dresses, the owners say they often obtain the gowns directly from the previous wearers, or family members who might’ve received the dress as an heirloom.
“There’s extra care and love that was taken when these garments were made,” Beard says. “A lot of them may have been homemade, and even still, I would say a lot of the quality is above today’s fast-fashion standards.”
“A lot of times when somebody has reached out to us and has come and sold a dress, they’re walking out the door saying, ‘Oh, I’m so glad it’s gonna have another chance or a new life,’” Hollyfield says. “And so that’s always a great aspect too, is getting to kind of take that weight off of somebody and turn it into hope for somebody else.” ▼
As dresses come into the shop, not all of them make it to the rack for sale. Some materials are too aged and fragile and unable to make it through the laundering and restoration process. Others are simply too damaged from the start. Moore jokes that it’s a form of natural selection — if a gown can’t survive the laundry process, there’s no way it would be wearable. However, certain kinds of damage call for alterations to salvage as much of the dress as they can.
“We do try to keep the dresses as close to the original form as possible,” says Moore. “But sometimes there’s just holes in the sleeves or holes in the train, so we’ll adjust that way. And then sometimes we get dresses that are just never going to come back in style realistically. We just have to make a judgment call. … ‘What can we do to this dress to make it more appealing to a modern bride?’ They might not want a super-high neck and puff sleeves and a dramatic train and all of the big statement pieces.”
Sex therapist Valerie Martin — who helps people overcome abstinenceonly education and religious shame — shares her most frequent advice
BY HANNAH HERNER
In the center of the Bible Belt — where religious shame is common, abstinence-only education reigns and abortions are banned — Nashvillians are doing the deed against all odds.
Valerie Martin, a certified sex therapist at mental health service provider The Gaia Center, helps address people’s struggles with sex — or in many cases, the lack thereof. She sat down with the Scene to share her most potent advice.
The most common reason a couple ends up on Martin’s couch is desire discrepancy — one partner simply wants to do it more often than the other. There’s a dual control model of desire, she explains, for which she uses the illustration of a gas pedal and a brake pedal. While sex advice has historically centered on the gas pedal, the bigger problems are in the brake pedal — the environment and other outside stressors.
“Some people don’t need a lot on their gas pedal and they’re ready to go,” Martin tells the Scene. “Maybe they’re more spontaneous. And some people have a very sensitive brake pedal, or there’s relational issues that are like the parking brake is pulled.”
Desire can be a finger trap of sorts, she says. The more you try to pull at it, the more stuck you get.
“Rather than trying to fix desire, if we can orient toward pleasure and connection, then that’s usually the pathway,” she says. “Getting to know what feels good for each of us, and finding ways to connect.”
The sex-addiction industry can help some people, but it doesn’t give a full picture, Martin says. Rather than “sex addiction,” the phrase therapists use is “out-of-control sexual behavior.”
“People often in a more conservative area, if they’re doing anything that might seem remotely deviant, their community can just go, ‘Oh, you’re a sex addict. Oh, we understand now — it’s a disease. Oh, you didn’t ask for this.’”
In some cases, people have sexual behaviors that are destructive, which Martin helps address. Out-of-control sexual behavior can be treated as it often stems from trauma, a need for
better coping skills or relational issues, she says. It doesn’t mean the person has to identify as a sex addict for the rest of their lives.
Martin also helps a lot of clients who grew up within what’s known as purity culture. They were promised a robust sex life as long as they just waited for marriage.
“They waited until marriage, and then they have all these issues in their relationship, and they feel like they’re being punished,” Martin says.
In Nashville — a blue dot in the Bible Belt — lots of people have reframed their approach to the religion they grew up in or left it behind all together. Therapy can bridge the gap between what they know to be true and what they feel in their body, Martin says.
“Intellectually, they’re like, ‘I don’t believe that stuff — I know that stuff isn’t true,’” she says. “But their body grew up believing all of that. It grew up already internalizing the fear, the bracing, the shame.”
Many clients are also up against gender scripts when it comes to sex.
“If we’re using heteronormative examples, well, if a guy doesn’t want to have sex with me at all times, then I must not be desirable, because that’s what they’re supposed to want,” Martin says. “Then, of course, men are dealing with that stereotype that they should want it all the time.”
The LGBTQ community deals with stereotypes too, including terms like “lesbian bed death” — a myth that lesbian couples in committed relationships have less sex than other couples.
“They have, sometimes, their own unique challenges, but in a way, I feel like they’re a little bit less burdened by some of the norms of the cis-hetero patriarchy,” Martin says.
Sex education should include diversity in sexual orientation and be part of science curriculum, Martin says — not something that depends on a parent’s birds-and-bees talk. For many clients, the lack of education can still contribute to troubles in the bedroom.
“They’re going to grow up with not a lot of knowledge and some inherent sexual shame,” Martin says. “You have these highly functional, capable adults who are embarrassed to ask basic questions about their bodies, and then they might delay treatment for something that’s very treatable, or live in pain that they don’t need to be living in.” ▼
Slow Burn, Nashville’s first allromance bookstore, fans the flames of the local reader community
BY ANNIE PARNELL
WALK UP THE STAIRS and around the corner at 604 Gallatin Ave. and you’ll find Slow Burn Bookshop, Nashville’s first all-romance bookstore. You’ll know you’ve found the right place when you see the curling vines of roses, which drape over the shop’s wide windows.
Inside, Slow Burn looks like a dark academia library, the kind you might find in one of the castles in its Romantasy section. Its walls are painted black and covered in bookshelves, usually full of novels and trinkets. On my first visit to the shop, a rainy day just after its grand opening weekend on Jan. 10 and 11, most of those shelves were empty. With an estimated 1,600 attendees, the celebration was a huge success — and Slow Burn’s owner, Tonya Pineda, had to close for a whole week afterward to restock.
“I think that Nashville was just feral for a romance bookstore,” she says.
Slow Burn began as a “smut truck,” a side hustle that “just grew out of control” in the past year, Pineda says. She built a local following through social media and pop-up appearances, and eventually decided it was time to start her “brick-and-mortar era.”
“I didn’t go into this thinking I would open up a store at all,” she says.
Romance fiction, a rock for an unsteady publishing market, is on the rise. U.S. print sales have doubled over the past five years, according to The Guardian. There’s a passionate fan base behind the genre, and Nashville is no exception. Pineda credits the local romance community for Slow Burn’s success, which has surprised even her.
“When I opened this, I had no clue how big this community was,” she tells the Scene
To strengthen that sense of community, Pineda hosts events like the upcoming Galentine’s Day Weekend and a free monthly book club, which she plans by polling Slow Burn’s Instagram followers about what subgenre they’d like to read. This month she selected Your Masked Valentine by Pru Schuyler, a dark hockey romance centering on a professional player and his coach’s daughter. Club meetings feature themed trivia, and participants can purchase a “book box,” which typically includes a signed edition and goodies.
Pineda got into romance novels as a young mother looking for an escape from the exhaustion of raising an infant. Originally, she sold her favorites as a way of spreading the gospel of romantic fiction. Now her favorites can be found in the store’s Monster/Paranormal room in the back — “that’s my section,” she says.
Like fan fiction, which the genre is frequently in conversation with, romance relies heavily on a semiotic language of tropes and subgenres like these, which readers tend to specialize in.
Alongside the books on sale at Slow Burn are copies of the The Novel Trope Guide, a catalog published by Virginia bookstore Novel Grounds that serves as a guide for new fans. Looking for a spicy, small-town “fake dating” romance?
You’ll find a recommendation in its pages, with icons to let you know if it’s part of a series, has a BIPOC author or LGBTQ themes, among other categories.
Slow Burn is organized by these subgenres, from Gothic to Sports Romance and everything between — including a prominent Heated Rivalry-themed display. The surprise-hit TV show is based on the gay hockey romance book series Game Changers, and Pineda thinks its success is simple: queer representation. LGBTQ couples are “not very represented in mainstream media, or even big book media,” she points out. “They’re seeing themselves.”
In turn, the show is creating a surge of interest in romance novels, especially queer
ones. Jacob Tierney, the show’s creator, told cultural commentator Evan Ross Katz he approached adapting Game Changers “as a fan” after loving the book series. The romance audience is still predominantly female — Pineda estimates 85 percent. But as she points out, “There’s men that read this too.”
“[Game Changers] has been around for a long, long time,” she says. “I think people are now getting a peek at it, and they’re like, ‘Wow, we had no idea this even existed.’”
Championing the underrepresented is a core tenet of her shop’s mission. More than any particular subgenre, Slow Burn focuses on uplifting diverse perspectives and indie authors — a personal cause for Pineda.
“I’m a Black and Puerto Rican person, so I was never represented in any mass media growing up,” she says. “I hope that people feel [represented] when they come in here.”
Pineda also has her finger to the pulse. Dire Bound by Sable Sorensen, one of last year’s Slow Burn book club picks, was picked up for distribution by a Hachette imprint in May.
“Now is the time to be in romance,” she
for publishing deals. There’s just so much happening.” ▼
BOOK OF THE MONTH CLUB: YOUR MASKED VALENTINE BY PRU SCHUYLER
6:30 P.M. SATURDAY, FEB. 28, AT SLOW BURN
GALENTINE’S DAY WEEKEND: HEARTBEATS AUDIOBOOK RELEASE PARTY AND SIGNING BY AUTHOR REBECCA ELDER NOON-5 P.M. FRIDAY, FEB. 13, AT SLOW BURN
SLOW BURN X REGAL CINEMAS WUTHERING HEIGHTS MOVIE NIGHT
6 P.M. FRIDAY, FEB. 13, AT REGAL GREEN HILLS
Couples with different citizenship statuses navigate turbulent immigration policies and zealous enforcement
BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ
GUSTAVO MORADEL CALLS Nashville his favorite city in the country. After moving to town from Los Angeles roughly 10 years ago, he started building his music career, playing everywhere from Mexican restaurants to entertainment center Plaza Mariachi to most of the city’s “legendary” venues (aside from the Opry, he says). He met Liza Landry on Bumble in 2018. Landry came to town as a teacher with AmeriCorps. Her father was dying of cancer; Moradel was trying to navigate life as an undocumented immigrant who arrived from Honduras as a child in 2006.
They married in 2020 at Bicentennial Park, broadcasting to their families on Zoom. They had a daughter, now 4 years old. In 2022, Moradel — a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which offers some protection from deportation — began the process of adjusting his immigration status. Then the 2024 election happened. The couple remembered how Donald Trump’s first term went, and his reelection campaign promised more extreme immigration crackdowns. They also expected Tennessee’s supermajority of Republican lawmakers to bring the same anti-immigrant fervor to state-level policy. So they moved to Landry’s home region of New England in winter 2024.
Nashville is “a town we love,” Moradel tells the Scene, sitting with Landry on a video call. “It’s a town that was not easy to leave.”
Love is complicated — and so is immigration law. Marriage has long been considered a reli-
able pathway to citizenship, but during Trump’s second term, couples now navigate a more chaotic legal landscape than in the past.
Will York, an attorney with immigration-focused firm Ozment Law, says there’s a common misconception that marrying a U.S. citizen automatically grants status. In reality, marriage- and family-based applicants face heavy screening. This includes an interview to verify the bona fides of the relationship.
“The idea of having all of their intimate details put out on display in front of a government official can be intimidating, even in the most immigrant-friendly times,” says York.
Federal agencies like Immigration Customs and Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have been the source of terrifying headlines — including killing Alex Pretti and Renée Good in Minneapolis, detaining a 5-yearold and bragging about shooting a Chicago woman. Immigration agents have also turned courthouses and federal buildings into unsafe terrain, arresting people who show up to traffic hearings or green card interviews. In December, ICE agents even blocked some immigrants from proceeding with a citizenship ceremony in Boston.
York says that in the past it was “exceedingly rare” for people “showing up for some sort of benefit to be arrested at interviews.” It’s caused a chilling effect: Some families decide not to file petitions out of fear, or decide the risk of living in a mixed-status household outweighs the risk of enforcement action at an interview.
As far as York knows, no local couples have avoided seeking a marriage license out of concerns the paperwork could trigger enforcement. He has, however, noticed couples asking more detailed questions about the process. York stresses the need to seek individualized legal counsel before filing any petitions to determine whether marriage offers “strategic benefits” or if it could risk “triggering” enforcement.
“We see Nashville [and] Middle Tennessee families navigating this landscape every day, because love doesn’t really wait for papers,” he says. “Love doesn’t wait for permission, right? So people fall in love in all circumstances, in all climates, in all weather conditions, in all political environments.”
“We see Nashville [and] Middle Tennessee families navigating this landscape every day, because love doesn’t really wait for papers. Love doesn’t wait for permission, right?”
—ATTORNEY WILL YORK
Moradel and Landry’s prediction that Tennessee would fall in line with Trump’s immigration policies materialized. The state legislature has filed several bills targeting immigrants, including a vague bill prohibiting the “harboring” of undocumented immigrants. (It could affect mixed-status couples, says York, but there remains a lot of “confusion and questions” about the law.)
ICE also coordinated with Tennessee Highway Patrol to conduct a massive traffic sweep of South Nashville in May of last year, detaining almost 200 people. The couple says the news was heartbreaking — they have both worked and volunteered with South Nashville’s immigrant communities.
Moradel is in the final steps of his status adjustment. The process has taken years, and the couple has spent thousands of dollars on the process — “a luxury that not everybody gets to have,” says Moradel.
While Moradel’s status adds complexity to the marriage, the couple doesn’t consider it a strain on the relationship. It helps that the couple enjoys a lot of love and support from friends and family.
“Our families are from completely different parts of the world,” says Landry, “but the essence of what they are and the love that they exude is the same.”
Moradel was born in Honduras and raised Christian and says Landry’s family of Jewish New Englanders “took me as one of their own.” Landry references a similar warmth in Moradel’s family when they visit.
“I think that the way our families have come together [is] representative of what brought Gustavo and I together, which is really just like our values and the things that make us feel at home,” says Landry. “We really, I think, found home in each other.” ▼
We recommend seven recent romantic films to stream this weekend
BY LOGAN BUTTS
CINEMA CUPID (ME) is back with the Scene’s second annual Valentine’s Day streaming roundup. There’s a paralyzing amount of options on any given streaming service, so we hope this list helps you wade through the streaming swamp this weekend as you and your significant other cozy up for a romantic movie. We’ve rounded up seven recommendations of thematically appropriate films released in the past year that you may have missed. We stuck to films we have not reviewed in full, which means you will not be seeing the likes of recent worthwhile genre entries such as The Wedding Banquet, Oh, Hi! and Together here — all of those are currently streaming as well, and our reviews can be found at nashvillescene.com/ arts_culture/film_tv.
The Threesome be a bit frustrating at times, especially throughout the film’s back half. But a charismatic cast (Zoey Deutch, Jonah HauerKing and Ruby Cruz make up the titular … trio) and a rare, legitimately new spin on the romdram formula make for a worthwhile watch. Plus, Jaboukie Young-White gets in a half-dozen killer jokes.
Coen and Tricia Cooke, is bizarre — but in a compelling way. Of the material we’ve gotten from the Coen brothers since their split, I’d much rather delve into Ethan’s wacky adventures than Joel’s overly staid Macbeth adaptation — sorry!
One of the most underrated films of 2025, Splitsville is a hilarious romp bursting with the sort of screwball energy we don’t get enough of these days. Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona star opposite the decidedly average-looking Kyle Marvin and Michael Angelo Covino, the film’s screenwriters. Don’t worry, this isn’t your average mid-2000s, schlub-dates-model misogynistic schlock. It’s all part of the joke.
Honey Don’t, the latest lesbian romantic
BROOKLYN, AVAILABLE TO RENT OR PURCHASE
Starring two of our most underrated actors — André Holland and DeWanda Wise — Love, Brooklyn is a warm romantic drama about grief. The script could’ve explored its themes more deeply, but director Rachael Abigail Holder is one to watch.
Heart Eyes, pitched as a romantic-comedy slasher, is a fun genre mash-up addition to the holiday slasher canon. Some inventive kills and a pair of game leads (scream king Mason Gooding and former Tennessean Olivia Holt)
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: HEART EYES, HONEY DON’T!, THE THREESOME PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION, MATERIALISTS, SPLITSVILLE
make up for some of the script’s weak points.
MATERIALISTS ON HBO
MAX
I saved the two highestprofile entries for last. Materialists, the second film from Past Lives writer-director Celine Song, doesn’t live up to the first film’s instantclassic status. But Materialists is a genuinely fascinating, if tonally messy, movie. I view it as something akin to It Follows, an attempt to interrogate long-held genre conventions (in this case, rom-coms rather than horror flicks). Because of that, the characters can sometimes feel like avatars for the film’s themes rather than real people. But Chris Evans is so good in it that I don’t mind it.
The most recent, and probably highestprofile, of the entries on this list, the straightto-streaming People We Meet on Vacation is an adaptation of BookTok sensation Emily Henry’s 2021 novel. On paper, it sounds like a less-thanstellar combination, but star Emily Bader is so charming that she carries People on her back into respectability. ▼ PRESENTED BY
PRESENTED BY
MY FAV HUMAN, LENA — A decade of being my Valentine! Loving you is hands down the best thing I’ve ever done. Can’t wait to celebrate with you, & our best pal Mia. <3 MONSUHH — No power? No shower? No worries when we’re together. Meet you in NOLA. Love you! THE FAB FOUR — Happy Valentine’s Day Renee, Lori & Anita! Missing the OG group. Love, Erika Jovi MY KK — They say the best love finds you when you aren’t looking and they were right. Happy first Valentine’s Day, I love you forever! -AC
ON THE SPECTRUM LOVE — My name is Jackie and I am on the spectrum. My wife Megan deserves the best Valentine’s declaration of love! ❤️❤️❤️
RYAN — You are the burliest, gnarliest, most durable, seasoned, softest guy and I’m so glad to be in your neck of the woods. I love you! -Dev
MARY ORLIK — Roses are red, Violets are blue, All I know is, I wanna grow with you! Every day with you is a day well spent! I love you to pieces! Muah!!
ADALINE — Happy Valentine’s Day! We love you! Love, Mom & Dad
MY DARLIN’ ALEAH — Happy Valentine’s Day sweet girl, our first of many! From, Marshall <3 SOULS — To my soul. To my love. 18yrs & more to come. You’re mine for life. Souls forever. But this feels new. Asking you to be mine, again. Valentine?
BRANDYN M “B DAWG” — I love you so much! I love doing life with you! Cheers to many more Saturdays at Honeytree drinking Underbergs and eating BLBC! KB <3 — Happy Valentine’s Day to my Arkansas sweetheart! XOXO, KC
JONATHAN — “So stay on my arm, you little charmer!” -M. DIANA ZADLO — Be my butterfly? Sugar, baby. -forever yours, Nina
NASHVILLE FILM FAMIL — What a group of badasses. PAs, G+E, Sound, Camera, Art, HMuW, Crafty, Transpo, Production … stay safe, rest well, take care of each other + kick ass.
ALLISON — To my biggest inspiration, my best friend, and the woman I get to marry. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life loving and laughing with you. —Trigg
PRECIOUS PATRICK — My PPsheeshee- You make me laugh most every day and keep my belly full of good food. I love you and your handsome face endlessly, Love, C HENRI — My Hen, my love! Happy Valentine’s Day and two year anniversary of when we proposed to each other on the same day. I love you forever! -Tiff
CLINTON — Happy seven years to my sweet love. May you always know how important you are to me. I’m beyond blessed to have you to love & be loved by you. ~Amy BELLA CIAO — Here’s to the working class, the fighters, the organizers, the journalists, the historians, the ones who resist. I love you! You make our city great.
SARAH S — Happy Valentine’s Day to the love of my life. I look forward to what this year holds for us. Jack
FRANKIE T. — My coobie. Sorry things have been so hard for the last 14 months. Many things have changed but one thing never will. Love always, Your Wife.
ALEX — Happy Valentine’s Day to my husband and best friend. I am so lucky to know you. I love you to the moon and back. Elle does too! Love, Leah
TO CHEG — We can’t wait to celebrate you in October :) our OTP for ever and ever. Love, CINDER
SEAVER — And in a wide sea of eyes, I see one pair that I recognize. And I know that I am, I am, I am the Luckiest. I love you more than my luggage. -Christie
NASHVILLE SCENE FEBRUARY 12 – FEBRUARY 18, 2026 • nashvillescene.com
MIGRA WATCH — Music City Migra Watch, thank you for all the love and care you have spread to our community
MOM, DAD, AND GRAY — Happy V Day! I love you three so very much and miss you guys! Love, Mer Mer
DOLLY — Sometimes what saves you is a tiny calico cat with a bell nose. Happy 4 year Gotcha Day to my sweet FURever valentine, Dolly. From Hope & Hank!
TO MY STINKY BOYS — Roses are red, Clovers are green, Mama loves Dada and Ari Dean!
MY SCHEM — Roses are red, so is my hair. I want to be with you everywhere. Love, your BNR
HUN BUN — “I’ll be your wife, and share my life, We will grow old, And when we die we’ll bury ourselves, cause no one wants to die alone.”
JING AND BABY — Happy Valentine’s Day, Jing. 16 years together, 11 years married, 4 pets and now 1 baby. Here’s to countless memories. -Ezra
LILIEBHUTS — Esposa Amor, Te amo, te quiero, Amorigami, Thank you for being my beautiful beautiful wife, friend, Sherpa, moon puppy. And Happy Birthday Leto!
HOWDEE BOOK CLUB — Roses are red, this book club’s elite. Smart, fierce women — no wonder everyone wants a seat. —Deahna
JASSON — Roses are red, my love for you burns hot. After all these years, I still like you a lot. —Deahna
BUDDY STEW — Roses are red, this Buddy Stew’s rare. Through every new chapter, no other crew can compare.
—Deahna
MARIE, LHS, BRITTNEY — Roses are red, Mas Tacos is life. The booth is our home, always feels right. —Deahna
NES — A big Happy Valentine’s Day to the Nashville Electric Service, for all your hard work and dedication through Winter Storm Fern. xoxoxo, Chelon et al BHEAD — Roses are red, Sperry’s is yum. I’d steal that brass lion again — just for you. —Deahna TO THE HELPERS — A heartfelt word of thanks to the kindhearted people who did what they could to help those impacted by the ice storm. This is what love is all about.
TRAITORS CHAT IYKYK — Roses are red, Rapaport eats like a goon. Rob swallows eggs whole, Colton smug as ever — no credit for Lisa f*ing Rinna gone way too soon.
—Deahna
JEFF — Happy Valentine’s to the most generous and handsome man a girl could have for a husband. Your pancake and pizza skills are top notch. Love, Laura TERESA — Happy Valentine’s Day to my bestie who is always up for any adventure! Couldn’t make it through this life without you ❤️ Love, Shana
TO THE BUDDY STEW — What a delight to be an ingredient in our wholesome broth of friendship. Our camaraderie consommé. Our buddy bouillon. Our soulmate soup. Love you all. -Paji
TO AMANDA — I can’t believe I get to marry the coolest person I’ve ever met. I’m the luckiest guy around. I love you. -Paji
S.S. GAI — Not hyperbole to say this chicken is so good we had to move to Nashville to be closer to it. Still in love, now with a standing date on Sunday nights.
NICOLE HARTMANN — I love you so much & can’t wait to celebrate our first married Valentine’s Day together. You’re the best wife and we’re going to have the best life. PAUL, MY LOVE — After 22 years together you continue to surprise and delight me with your love and friendship. I’ll love you till the day I die.
JADE HOSKINS — Your Mama loves you dearly! FRANKIE — You are made of the softest parts of snow! Missing you lots, hope you’re staying warm. Xoxo, E. TO THE EIC — I’d like to formally announce that whenever we finally wed, you will be taking a month off. Prepare now. Thank you. <3
PODCAST TO LOVE — Happy Valentine’s Day From LaTest With LaTesa Podcast! Epi.11 - Situation Vs Relation. Featuring A Valentines Episode Collab With @thegirlspodcast4675 JIMMY P — You are the love of my life! I am so thankful for you and that God led me here to meet you. You bring me such joy, here’s to many more years of fun!
MOM DAD LUCY AND PI — Happy Valentine’s Day to the best family ever. I am so thankful that y’all are my family and I love y’all so much! -your favorite, Parker H. CAM55 — Celebrating 36 years on 2/17! Happy Anniversary to my Valentine! (and they said it wouldn’t last.) TB REPRO BRATS — My fellow brats, You are each a light in my life, your friendship enriches me more than I can say and our village sustains me. Much love, Gracie ADAM & JUNIPER — Adam! Happy Valentine’s Day. I’m so grateful to have you and Juniper. You two are the lights of my life. I love you, love you, love you! -Mady CONNIE — Happy Valentine’s Day, baby. I love you I love you!! Love, Emma DORKATRON — I love you. All of you. Love, Dweebus JEFFREY ROLLIN — Happy Valentine’s Day to the love of my life and my best friend. I love you and Odie Sue so much. You are my forever Valentine!!! Love, Taylor I <3 SUEÑOS BUENOS — Our immigrant community has needed LOVE & that was found at Sueños Buenos for me & many in our beloved South Nashville. Keep on, Ruby. <3 Nichole
POUR MA FAMILLE — Pour Ma Famille, Even though we are all in different places now, my love for all is still the same. Je vous aime tous. Sincèrement, Kahwit ABBIE — My Abbie, my girlfriend, I love you so much! We have a year ahead where we’ll do lots. I appreciate you immensely. Be strong small sad hamster. -Lane
ROBERT — Every day is like Valentine’s Day with you. I love you so much and wish everyone could have a partner as loving and supportive as you. From Melody
LANE STEVENSON — I love you more than all of the world’s ice cream cones and cookies combined! Thank you for being just as sweet <3
MATT — Happy Valentine’s Day to my favorite person to be around. I love hanging with you & our sweet pup Betty. Love you! -Sophie
DEAREST SJB — Thank god and the Nashville Scene for bringing us together. Love, LSJ
NES — Thank you for working to get our power back after the ice storm!!
TO EMILY! — Happy last Valentine’s Day with us not being married, I love you! From your soon to be husband, Jake NAYELI — Hope your getting swoll.
PACO — Happy Valentine’s Day to my forever Valentine <3 Love, Hailey
VINO PUCK — Vino: you’re our favorite fur baby Valentine. Xoxo, Papa Kurt and Momma Mary
MY PERFECT PROVISION — Happy Valentine’s Day, my amazing husband, Kurt. Love, Mary DESTIN — Thank you for being my best bud. I love you forever. Amirrah!
MIKE — Spending the last year with you has been the most beautiful experience of my life. Thank you for being my forever Valentine! I love you ~ C
MADELEINE — You have the most beautiful soul, and I want to watch movies and listen to tunes with you forever and ever and ever! I love you so much. Ian
SOPHIE HARRIS — HI HONEY!!!!! Happy Valentine’s Day aka your favorite holiday!! You’re the best valentine that a girl could ever have!! I love you!! -Anabel<3
PAXTON K. — Thank you for time and time again being the best partner a man could ask for, I love you endlessly. The future is so bright sweets. Love, Linc GREGORY <3 — 10 years of friendship, 5 years of love, and 5 months until forever. Let’s stay together until death... then haunt people. I love you MOSTESTER.
TCL + THE GREAT 18 — To my daughters, I may not be the perfect mom but my love has always been endless & unconditional. Thanks for loving me and helping me grow. Queen P MY HUSBAND, ERIC — You love me in a way I did not know existed. Every day your patience, kindness, laughter
and determination inspire me. You’re mine. Love, Tabitha ANGELA D MY MAMA <3 — Mom, everything good in me started with you. Your love is my forever home. Happy Valentine’s Day to my first best friend - <3 your fav daughter DeA
BENJAMIN — u carry urself with a quiet strength that I admire. u protect, u provide, and u care deeply, even when u don’t say it out loud. Happy V Day -DeAnna <3
BEULAH — You are the butter to my milk! Love Graham AINSLEY — Shoutout to Ainsley, the og Nashville Scene collector! You’re the best — love you! <3
BABY JAMIE — Happy 1st Valentine’s Day Jamie!! You are such a sweetheart already! You are the cutest and I love you so much. From: Emmalee
TO MY DADDIES — Thanks for always giving me treats! Happy Valentines. Love, Callie “Meow”
MY FAVORITE GIRLS — Traci, Genevieve, and Vada, Thank you for being in my life. You fill my days with light, laughter, and love. So lucky to have you as my family. Ta Tom DADDY — I love you to the moon! You are the best daddy. Love, Waylon
DEAR BEANS XOXO — Happy Valentine’s Day! I’m so glad you decided to walk across town one fortuitous evening in May - I was looking for you! Avec amour, Alice TO MY VALENTINE JAKE — Food had no flavor, water didn’t quench and my heart never knew yearning until there was you. You are a calming wave in my ocean mind. Happy 3 years.
TSQUARE — It’s all about picking the right one. Mission accomplished! It’s fun and easy and you make me a better person. Onward love❤️ Babz
JZILLA — you feel like home and adventure all bundled in a pink kitty blanket with the lingering scent of blown out candles & a little bit thca. xo, vday
TO DIETRICH — From notes in the car, To notes in the kitchen, I can’t believe our love isn’t fiction, I’m so lucky to call you mine, Will you be my Valentine? ♥️ Gillybug RED — To my darling red, the kindest heart and the warmest soul. You are a gift to everyone around you. Happy love day! Love, L
TO MF. LOVE JF — Roses are red, violets are blue, we’re so married with a love so true. Every year gets better, here’s to forever. Let’s do it again 4/4. Love u more
TJ — Sweet T - Here’s to us and a year full of purpose, peace and love. What if it all works out? I love you! -JW GWEN, NICO, AND MIKE — I love you three so incredibly much! Magnolia House forever <3
TEDDY — Roses are red, Your eyes are blue, To my favorite goblin: Happy v-day to you <3 K
NINA (HONEY BUNCHES) — if we could hold a mirror back to who we were then, what would we tell them? go ahead. bulk buy the bagels. stay past sunset. try again— press send. -L
TO CALEB — Words can’t express what a lucky woman I am to have you as a husband and best friend. Thank you
for loving me so well. Love, Ellen ERIC — Mi amor, you have reignited the fire in my heart! With you, I am complete & content! I am elated to create our garden & grow together <3 -Nicole xoxo MY FAVE KEIG BOYS — Colty, these last 8 years have been 67—I love you. Auggie, mama loves you more than you love lightning McQueen. Dave+Darrel, you’re the best dogs ever
ALLISON — Happy V day! Hopefully we’re at Mitchell’s reading this. Love ya till time collapses, and then I’ll love you again backwards -Nick
DREW, CLOVER, BOOGI — To all the amazing cuddle puddles, hiking trips, dog walks and love. You bring so much joy to our carved out space here in the world. Love Anneke
BILL ROSS — Happy Valentine’s Day, Love, Camille TO MY BABY LINDY — Happy First Valentine’s to the newest love of my life. May your day and your life be sweet, soft, loving, curious, magical and glowing. Love, Mama DUNCAN C. — For my best friend and lover, with whom I have the most fun and feel the most at east. My life is forever sweeter with you in it. I love you -Hannah D MY BUTTER CROISSANT — Dearest Frankie, you’re my butter costume to my dancing croissant. xoxo, Sarah PAUL, MAGGIE & AERIN — Happy Valentines Slay! To my nonstop family, you’re all more legendary than a demon hunter and I’ll never throw away my shot at loving you!
Love, mom
ZACH — Her love for you will never die - it’s Valentine’s Day in Heaven too. Smokey
BRIAR ROSE — Happy first galentines to my favorite gal XOXO Aunt Rachel
DANIEL — What we have is the real deal. One of those Antony & Cleopatra-esque love epics. But better, because it’s ours <3 So glad we found each other. Jake TAY — You add sunshine to my everyday. I love our big adventures but it’s the small moments that are so special. I’m proud to be your wife. Love, Samantha
DRIA SVOBODA (SOON!) — Couldn’t think of a better way to kick off our engagement than announcing it in a magazine. I love you more x infinity and I can’t wait to marry you!
TO MY AMAZING WIFE — Cristin, 15 years ago I married my best friend, and you still make me laugh and feel lucky every day. Thanks for loving us (and me). Love, Geoff
TO MICK — Roses are red, Violets are OK, Thanks for putting the kids to bed, I’m so tired and I love you. Kaitlin ALEX — I would die for you. I would kill for you. Either way, what bliss. My forever person, I love you and I like you. Happy Jess-entines Day
BABESTICK — Happy Valentine’s Day & eight years in Nashville! xoxo cheers
MY EMMA — I finally understand what all those cheesy love songs were talking about <3 You are my best guess! I love you more than I did yesterday, Ali NOVA WEST — It is an honor to love you, and bask in the pure sunshine you are. Thank you for moving to Nashville
this month, Feb 2026. Kiss me when u c this. -M HANNAH — Our first Valentine’s Day as wives! Can’t wait to spend a million more with you by my side! I love you!
-Katherine
TIM — One year down, so many more to go!
EMMA T. — Emma! My best friend for life, I love you dearly. Wishing you the happiest Valentine’s Day. -Ariana S. MATT AND CHARLIE — To the greatest loves of my life! You make me feel so spring has sprung. And everytime I see you grin, I’m such a happy individual <3 xxxx, Perry SETH! MY LOVE — I never thought I’d find eyes as pretty, a smile as stunning, or a laugh as infectious. Here’s my love in print! Forever yours, Melyna KEN — Pokeballs are red, Miku is blue, Nothing makes me happier, than watching Naruto with you :) Happy V-Day and also 1 year anniversary! xoxo, Love, Hannah
PEARCE — To my forever Valentine, I carry your heart with me always (just like you’ll carry me when I can’t walk in my heels anymore)! Love, Maddi
SLOOTY — You’re the best husband there ever was and ever will be! —xoxo, Natalie
IAN — You are my Valentine today and every day! May we laugh a lot this weekend and eat some tasty food. I couldn’t love you more! XOXO Madeleine LANDO — Happy V-Day baby! P.S. brunch at Nadeen’s? MY SWEET ILIJA — Whenever we’re together, the world fades away and we’re wrapped in our own bubble of love and happiness. You’re the love of my life. -Kayla PHISHINGTON — 1 year and a lifetime to go. I love doing life with u and creating art with u. I can’t wait to see what the rest of our lives brings. Love Mookie <3 HERE’S TO YOU MAMA — To the one holding it all together. ... How do you do it all with such grace and compassion? Either way, you’re a fucking legend. -Love Iz and me
TO MY BEST FRIEND, WIFE, AND FOREVER-GIRLFRIEND — I can’t wait to see what the next chapter of our story has in store for us. I love you to the moon and the stars and mars … and back !! With love, for Emilee from Zoe
KAILEY — Happy Valentine’s Day! No matter where we are, I always want to be by your side. Our path in life might change but we always have each other. Love you forever. -Carson
UTAH AND COOKIE — Hey there! I love you guys so so much, I wouldn’t be the same person I am today if it weren’t for your never ending support <3 I love you so much! -S
PETER! — HVD, my sweetie! You are the best partner I could ever ask for. xo, Katie
CAMI — Every day I spend married to you makes me more and more grateful to be on this earth at the same time as you are. I love you endlessly. Your Cal
E.O. — 11.29.25 b.d.
TO BEBE (CARSON) — Almost 4 years of loving you, and each year just keeps getting better. Happy Valentine’s Day to my forever person <3 I love you so much! -Kailey TO MY HUSBAND! — Happy first Valentine’s Day married! Devin, I love you so much and I am so grateful to have you by my side for everything life brings us. xx Christie CHRIS M. LOVE B — In a hotel less than 2 miles from our house, as we sit in the throes of a house w/o power + unexpected expenses — U R my guy, my best friend, my 4Eva. B
FRIDAY, FEB. 13
MUSIC
[THE POWER OF LOVE] SARAH POTENZA
Soul singer Sarah Potenza will perform a special Valentine’s Eve show at City Winery Friday night. “I’ll be doing all my favorite love songs,” Potenza tells the Scene. “And we’ve got some dedications, too.” In advance of the show, Potenza gave her fans the chance to dedicate a special number to their partners, and she’ll also be performing those selections. Potenza will be backed at the show by John Paciga on piano, John Allen on upright bass and Jon Radford on drums. The powerhouse vocalist first gained national recognition as a contestant on Season 8 of NBC’s The Voice, which led to recording and touring opportunities. After releasing a pair of well-regarded bluesy rock records — Monster and Road to Rome — Potenza has transitioned into what she calls her “disco diva” phase. She’s working with producer/ remixer Dave Audé, who has had more No. 1 hits on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart than any other producer. The pair has released several singles over the past two years and they are currently working on new recordings. “It’s the first time in my life that the big persona I have fits the music,” she says.
DARYL SANDERS
7 P.M. AT CITY WINERY
609 LAFAYETTE ST.
[SINK INTO THE FLOOR] ROMANCE IS DEAD:
I’ll never forget my first viewing of Get Out My movie-obsessed horror-freak friends and I piled into an absolutely packed theater at the Regal Hollywood 27, anxiously awaiting sketch comedian turned filmmaker Jordan Peele’s directorial debut. The trailer was an all-timer from the “holy shit, what a great premise” perspective, and Peele fully delivered on the trailer’s promise. The crowd was absolutely locked in from the opening scene (poor LaKeith Stanfield), laughing and gasping in equal measure until those final agonizing — then exhilarating — moments when Lil Rel Howery saves the day. The film was a sensation, ultimately becoming one of the most profitable movies in Hollywood history, catapulting star Daniel Kaluuya to A-list status, inspiring countless memes, introducing phrases into the cultural lexicon (“Sunken Place,” etc.) and garnering four Oscar nominations. (I would have nominated it for 10 Oscars if I could.) Get Out’s success instantly propelled Peele into
the “I can get a studio-level film funded” level of directors. Although I’m in the small but passionate camp that believes Nope is Peele’s best outing, Get Out reigns supreme as an increasingly relevant cultural artifact. Visit belcourt.org for showtimes. LOGAN BUTTS
FEB. 12 & 15 AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.
The Los Angeles singer-songwriter aesthetic meets Nashville’s somewhat more bluegrassy singer-songwriter aesthetic on The HercuLeons’ 2025 debut album John Cowan and Andrea Zonn: The HercuLeons. Cowan sang and played bass with New Grass Revival in the 1970s before joining The Doobie Brothers and writing the 2024 memoir Hold to a Dream: A Newgrass Odyssey, while Zonn has sung and played fiddle with the likes of Pure Prairie League and James Taylor. Cowan and Zonn cut The HercuLeons with producer Wendy Waldman, who gives it a sheen that’s appropriate for a record that aspires to the kind of studio-perfect slickness you might hear on, say, a ’70s Karla Bonoff album or Little Feat’s Dixie Chicken. There are hints of newgrass-y
and somewhat prog-leaning blues on “Straight Up,” and Cowan and Zonn fuse Nashville-style soul with Los Angeles folk rock throughout the album. The HercuLeons peaks with their cover of John Sebastian and Lowell George’s “Face of Appalachia,” which Sebastian cut with George on slide guitar for his 1974 album Tarzana Kid. Cowan and Zonn’s harmony vocals take Sebastian’s song about romanticizing Appalachia into a zone Sebastian’s more workaday version didn’t approach, and it’s slick without being superficial, which counts for a lot.
EDD HURT
7:30 P.M. AT 3RD AND LINDSLEY
818 THIRD AVE. S.
[MEND YOUR BROKEN HEART] BUBBLEGUM’S HOUSE OF BROKEN HEARTS
Why settle for the same old flowers and chocolates when you can spend your Valentine’s Day weekend with Bubblegum’s House of Broken Hearts? Promising “the most beautiful freak show you’ve ever seen,” House of Broken Hearts offers a real celebration of Nashville’s vibrant artistic community, showcasing everything from puppetry and dance to comedy, drag and more. There’s a Tunnel of Love projection installation, and comedian Grant Collins has created a campy puppet menagerie. Gemikal and JJ will be on hand to share their signature blend of spoken-word poetry and jazz saxophone, while storyteller Justin Luis is presenting a piece with choreography by Jasmine Clark. Maddie Hicks is debuting a
Middle Tennessee schools. Many mediums are represented — from ceramics and computer graphics to photography and printmaking. One standout piece is a mixed-media work from Catharine Hollifield — a playful garden scene built from a mosaic of square paper fragments, textiles, cutout butterflies and a variety of other elements that showcases the breadth of work on display. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER THROUGH FEB. 28 AT THE PARTHENON 2500 WEST END AVE.
[TO MEAT OR NOT TO MEAT]
&
number from her upcoming musical Fairy Floss, and Hannah Dorfman will be serving up juicy monologues while dressed as an anatomical heart. There’s a Dare to Fail film showcase, and Never Sent has created an immersive collection of unsent love letters. Presented by Bubblegum Productions, it’s wacky, sweet and whimsical — it’s pure Bubblegum. And with a different lineup at each performance, audiences can look forward to a one-of-a-kind experience with every show. AMY STUMPFL FEB. 12-14 AT THE DARKHORSE THEATER 4610 CHARLOTTE AVE.
KIDS ARE ALRIGHT]
One of the unexpected benefits of parenthood, in my experience, is that it frees you to embrace opportunities you might have otherwise overlooked. It’s like the cynicism that might have carried over from your own teenage angst washes away, and you’re able to fully embrace wholesome experiences like picnics and camping. I’m planning to take my kid to the Middle Tennessee Regional Student Art Exhibition at The Parthenon, and together we can share a kind of vicarious pride for all these talented developing artists. It won’t be a stretch — there are some truly astonishing works on display here. Now in its 18th year, the Tennessee Art Education Association’s annual exhibition features 187 winning works, which were selected from more than 830 pieces submitted by students in sixth through 12th grades from
A university setting is an ideal environment for art that asks difficult questions. Vanderbilt’s Curb Center is proving that point by hosting two exhibitions that contend with themes of resilience and adaptation in the face of climate change. What’s additionally interesting is how the exhibitions approach their common theme in markedly different ways. Resilience + Adaptation is a group show of painting, sculpture and photography by 10 different Nashville-area artists. The exhibition is the result of a selection process by jurors from Vanderbilt and the Frist Art Museum, and participating artists include Aletha Carr, ILL.SAN, Georganna Greene, Martica Griffin, Meagan Claire Hall, Courtney Adair Johnson, DaShawn Lewis, Stephan Micheletto-Blouin, Martha Morales Purucker and Sarah Spillers. Simultaneously, the Curb Center will host Seeds From Svalbard: Art, Resilience and Adaptation in the Polar North, which is the result of a long investigation into the polar north by Vanderbilt faculty members Jana Harper, Lutz Koepnick and Jonathan Rattner. This work includes experimental film and research-based installations, and will stay on view continuously in Vanderbilt’s Buttrick Hall Atrium until March 6. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER THROUGH APRIL 21 & MARCH 6 AT VANDERBILT’S CURB CENTER
1801 EDGEHILL AVE.
Presented by Nashville Repertory Theatre and Nashville Shakespeare Festival, Fat Ham may well be one of the season’s hottest tickets. And why not? James Ijames’ Pulitzer Prizewinning play offers a thoughtful (and often hilarious) twist on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, taking the tale from dreary Denmark to a lively backyard cookout in the modern American South. Here we meet Juicy — a young, queer Black man, forced to “grapple with his father’s ghost, family expectations and the cycle of violence that haunts them all.” Mikael Burke (a respected Chicago-based director, who actually grew up here in Music City) makes his Nashville directorial debut, and the cast includes Chicago’s own Julian “joolz” Stroop as Juicy, along with local favorites like Tamiko Robinson Steele, Bakari J. King, CandaceOmnira, Michael A. McAllister-Spurgeon, Persephone Felder-Fentress and Gerold Oliver. And I’m eager to check out Gary C. Hoff’s scenic design and Melissa K. Durmon’s costumes. Taking on themes of identity, generational trauma and liberation, Fat Ham marks an exciting regional premiere — and a promising collaboration between two of the city’s leading arts organizations. AMY STUMPFL Feb. 13-22 AT TPAC’S JOHNSON THEATER
505 DEADERICK ST.
Are your friends becoming concerned by the amount of Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams videos you’ve sent them? Have you developed a newfound interest in hockey? Well then grab your Montreal Metros jersey and crank up Wolf Parade’s “I’ll Believe in Anything” because it’s time to go to the cottage. And by “cottage,” I mean Acme Feed & Seed’s
From platinum-selling chart-toppers to underground , household names to undiscovered gems, Chief’s Neon Steeple is c bringing the very best national and regional talent back to Broadway.
2.7 Ultimate Eric Church Experience - The Outsiders Album Anniversary Show 2.9
Dallas Moore, Daryl Wayne Dasher w/ Special Guest Jimmy Dasher 2.11
Tyler Hilton & Kate Voegele: Celebrating The Music Of One Tree Hill w/ Special Guest Gina Miles
2.14 A Special Valentines Evening with Karen Waldrup
2.15 Heartland
2.16 Buddy’s Place Writer’s Round w/ Ryan Larkins, Alex Hall, and Smithfield
2.18 Chase Rice - Unheard Songs, Unforgettable Hits
2.19 Ashley McBryde: Postcards From Lindeville
2.20 Ashley McBryde: Postcards From Lindeville
2.21 Made In America - A Tribute To Toby Keith
2.22 Hot Brown SmackdownBilly Strings Afterparty
2.23 Chief’s Outsiders Round w/ Skyelor Anderson & Ben Kadelecek and Guests Max Boyle, Jacob Lutz, Ryan Mundy, Luke Stevens
2.26 Uncle B’s Damned Ole Opry Presents “Banned From The Grand: The Songs Of Cash, Hank, & Other Grand Ole Opry Exiles”
2.27 Aaron Nichols & The Travellers - Chris Stapleton Tribute
2.28 Waymore’s OutlawsRunnin’ With Ol’ Waylon
rooftop for a Galentine’s Day celebration of the popular steamy hockey television show Heated Rivalry, which is based on the book series Game Changers by Rachel Reid. On Friday, Acme and local band Randy and the Mormons will host a Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov look-alike contest, featuring themed drinks and (PG-13) recreations of some of the show’s famous scenes. Attendees are even encouraged to bring their favorite fan edits and fan fictions. (This is a safe space and, as Elena would say, you deserve sunshine.) Contest sign-up begins at 6 p.m., so show up early to discuss tuna melts, smoothie dates and Ilya’s iconic Episode 5 monologue.
BOBBIE JEAN SAWYER
7 P.M. AT ACME FEED & SEED 101 BROADWAY
FILM
[I DREAMT I WENT TO MANDERLEY AGAIN] ROMANCE IS DEAD: REBECCA
Since the Belcourt has been showing fucked-up love stories with its Romance Is Dead series, you know they had to throw in some Alfred Hitchcock joints. We go back to 1940 for this one, when the Englishman partnered with Gone With the Wind producer David O. Selznick for his first American thriller, based on Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 novel. Laurence Olivier is Maxim de Winter, an aristocratic widower/ walking red flag who takes a young bride (Joan Fontaine) who’s constantly reminded she’ll never be better than his deceased wife. As always, Hitch plays the audience like a violin, laying out a tense, creepy first half that’ll have you thinking — to borrow a This Mortal Coil album title — it’ll end in tears. But the eventual twists and turns in the second half will have you rooting for Fontaine’s poor trophy wife. (Fontaine even gives a line that’ll elicit applause from the ladies.) Leave it to Hitchcock to make a visually stunning, entertainingly deranged movie about second-wife syndrome that won the Oscar for Best Picture. Visit belcourt.org for showtimes. CRAIG D. LINDSEY
FEB. 13-14 & 17 AT THE BELCOURT
2102 BELCOURT AVE.
[HOOPS CITY]
SPORTS
In December, Nashville made an aggressive bid into the world of non-conference, neutralsite men’s college basketball games, an increasingly profitable lane for destination cities with available arenas during November and December. Bridgestone Arena played host to back-to-back matchups between Gonzaga and Kentucky (a blowout win for the Zags), and Tennessee and Illinois (a convincing Illini win over the in-state Vols). On Saturday, Bridgestone is adding to its college basketball menu with the inaugural Nashville Hoops Showdown between No. 17-ranked Virginia and Ohio State. Although not at the heights of the nationalchampionship-producing Tony Bennett era, the Hoos have slowly inched their way up the AP Top 25 rankings this season. Meanwhile, the
Buckeyes find themselves squarely on the March Madness bubble. If The Ohio State University is going to make its first NCAA Tournament since 2022, a win on Saturday will be a huge step in the right direction. LOGAN BUTTS
7 P.M. AT BRIDGESTONE ARENA
501 BROADWAY
[BRUNCH TUNES]
MUSIC
JAY BRAGG
Last month, Ella’s by Christian Petroni, the coastal Italian restaurant in the Hyatt Centric, launched a live music brunch. Every Saturday, guests can enjoy tunes from a local Nashville musician along with the restaurant’s brunch menu (think: ricotta pancakes, tiramisu French toast sticks and prosciutto Benedict). It’s a nice alternative to the higher-energy downtown music options. For Valentine’s Day, acoustic musician Jay Bragg is on the lineup. Bragg, who has played at Ernest Tubb Record Shop and other storied venues, calls himself “the wizard of whimsy,” so you can expect some nontraditional love songs on his set list. Other performers on the lineup include Greg Oliveras and Kayla Walker. MARGARET LITTMAN
11 A.M. AT ELLA’S BY CHRISTIAN PETRONI AT THE HYATT CENTRIC
210 MOLLOY ST
FILM [KEYED UP]
ROMANCE IS DEAD: THE PIANO TEACHER
Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke notoriously put audiences through hell — not once but twice — when he made Austrian and American versions of his polarizing endurance test Funny Games. And yet, some folks consider his 2001 erotic psychodrama The Piano Teacher (adapted from Nobel laureate Elfriede Jelinek’s 1983 novel) to be his most disturbing film. A lot of credit goes to star Isabelle Huppert, who’s never been afraid to play amoral anti-heroines, for carrying most of the twisted weight. Beating fellow redhead Nicole Kidman’s Babygirl shenanigans by more than two decades, Huppert’s titular, repressed professor engages in sadomasochistic hijinks with a young pupil (Benoît Magimel),
NASHVILLE SCENE FEBRUARY 12 – FEBRUARY 18, 2026 • nashvillescene.com
eventually sliding deeper into a depraved downward spiral. If Hollywood’s violent horror/ action films inspired Haneke to make Games, I believe he saw a couple of those problematic teen sex comedies where a male minor scores with an older, wiser smokeshow (My Tutor fans, where you at?!) and made his own deranged yet utterly believable version. Visit belcourt.org for showtimes.
CRAIG D. LINDSEY
FEB. 15 & 18 AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.
People forget how Fatal Attraction, that sexyass shocker from 1987, scared the shit out of people — guys especially — back in the day. Erotic-thriller king Adrian Lyne (9 1/2 Weeks) gave audiences a steamy, slicked-out expansion of British screenwriter James Dearden’s 1980 short “Diversion,” taking his cautionary tale of infidelity and obsession and turning it into a yuppie horror show. It’s also where Michael Douglas began his journey of playing flawed men who get entangled with dangerous smokeshows. Here Douglas plays a married New Yorker named Dan Gallagher whose hot-and-heavy fling with an unhinged baddie (Glenn Close, way the hell against type) leads to disruption — and a bit of pet-boiling — in his otherwise picture-perfect life. It was a success at the box office, raking in $320 million worldwide. But it also became a cover story-launching hotbutton topic, calling out those who’ve engaged in toxic trysts while preventing others from getting into one. Fatal Attraction was more than a tawdry thriller; it also provided plenty of material for date-night couples to discuss/argue about on the car ride home. Visit belcourt.org for showtimes. CRAIG D. LINDSEY FEB. 15 & 18 AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.
In case you need a brief introduction to the guzheng: It’s a stringed acoustic instrument in the zither family whose history goes back thousands of years in China. It lies flat and looks a little like an oversized pedal steel while
sounding a bit like a harp’s cousin. If that piques your interest, it’s hard to imagine someone more excited (and qualified) to open up its world to you than Wu Fei, a native of Beijing who moved her family to Nashville just more than a decade ago. She’s been studying music since she was very little, and among other things has become an absolute master of classical guzheng repertoire and technique — as well as improvisation, a practice she began to learn in grad school as a way to find her voice as a composer. Her new solo program Moon Hunter incorporates guzheng and touches on Chinese opera and folklore, and it expands on an improv piece she recorded in 2022 for Wu Fei’s Music Daily, the ongoing newsletter she started during COVID lockdown. Fei’s performance Sunday at 3 p.m. is the culmination of a Lunar New Year celebration that will begin at 2 p.m. in Ingram Hall’s lobby and feature cultural exhibits and other activities (including a drumming performance from the Chinese Arts Alliance of Nashville). STEPHEN TRAGESER
2 P.M. AT VANDERBILT BLAIR SCHOOL OF MUSIC’S INGRAM HALL
CHILDREN’S WAY AND 24TH AVENUE SOUTH
MUSIC [MOON BASE] ADVANCE BASE & MOONTYPE W/JOE KENKEL
It’s hard to imagine anyone else making the line “smashing 40s in the parking lot” sound as otherworldly as Margaret McCarthy does. On “How I Used to Dance,” the opening number on her band Moontype’s second studio album I Let the Wind Push Down On Me, the phrase has an angelic lull, cast over muted piano and warbling synths that make it feel both cozy and alien at once. Moontype has a penchant for imbuing surprising images like this with reverential grace. It’s something they share with fellow Chicagoan and current tourmate Owen Ashworth, whose Omnichord-tinged tracks have melted hearts first under the name Casiotone for the Painfully Alone and lately as Advance Base. On his latest album, Horrible Occurrences, one of the most heartwrenching moments strikes as a character is watching Jackass on his phone; on Etiquette, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, a character goes cruising at Nashville’s Parthenon. On Feb. 18, their tour comes to Drkmttr with support from Joe Kenkel of Styrofoam Winos, whose latest solo album Naturale finds meaning in breezes and sweeping the floor. ANNIE PARNELL
8 P.M. AT AT DRKMTTR
1111 DICKERSON PIKE
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OZ Arts welcomes the regional premiere of Ogemdi Ude’s Major
BY AMY STUMPFL
AS A CHILD growing up just outside Atlanta, Ogemdi Ude spent many a Friday night at the local high school football game. Admittedly, she had no real interest in the game itself. For Ude, it was all about majorette dance — a vibrant form that originated in the 1960s with historically Black colleges and universities.
“I would always sit right behind the dancers, just taking it all in,” says Ude, a Nigerian American dance/theater artist and educator currently based in Brooklyn. “I was obsessed. I started practicing in middle school, and it was a big part of my life from the ages of 11 to 14. Then I went away to boarding school and college — places where majorette dance was not really an option. But a few years into my career, I hit a point where I really just wanted to get back to it. It’s interesting because I don’t think that I was like the best majorette dancer, but I do think that was the place where I was most passionate about what it meant to move — and what it meant to move with other people.”
Such passion has been a driving force throughout Ude’s career. Using movement and voice to honor and interrogate rich themes of grief and memory, her work often blurs the line between personal and cultural narratives. Ude’s latest project, Major, arrives at OZ Arts this weekend, following an exciting world premiere at Hamburg’s Kampnagel International Summer Festival in the summer, a sold-out run at New
York Live Arts in January, and recent stops in Seattle and Los Angeles.
Described as a “dance theater project exploring the physicality, history, sociopolitics and interiority of majorette dance,” Major features a dynamic team of Southern Black femmes as they employ “the movement of their girlhood to answer the questions of their present.” And while Major strives to celebrate the spirit and energy of majorette dance, Ude says the piece is also quite introspective.
“I wanted to think about what it means to dive back into the body and the work you once knew, while still acknowledging where you are now,” she says. “There’s so much depth and fullness to majorette dance. But we’re not out there trying to be a majorette team. The piece is more about the desire — the wanting to be a majorette. And that feels distinct to me in the sense that we’re honoring the stewards of the form, but we’re also honoring the fact that we have a variety of histories within it.”
Ude says Major has been warmly embraced by audiences from the beginning, though she is particularly excited to be returning to the South, where “audiences have a certain familiarity and understanding of what majorette dance is about.” She’s also happy to have members of TSU’s Sophisticated Ladies majorette squad, along with a drum line from the Aristocrat of Bands, taking part in this weekend’s perfor-
mances at OZ Arts.
“It’s been really exciting to integrate the work intergenerationally, and we’re so happy to be working with TSU,” Ude says. “There are spaces where I feel like we’re introducing people to the form, and then there are spaces where we’re able to learn … to dance alongside and learn from, to respect and revere, and really be in conversation with the people who are doing it big — and have been for years.”
That sense of reverence is reflected in The Chord Archive, an evolving archive that’s being presented alongside all Major performances. Developed and nurtured by archivist Myssi Robinson, The Chord blends physical and digital documentation, highlighting both the creative process and the personal stories of former majorettes.
“The Chord Archive is a multidisciplinary memory-keeping container that attends to the interior intimacies and external legacies that feed the Major ecosystem,” says Robinson, a Bessie Award-winning performer and multidisciplinary maker. “There’s a mixed-media lobby installation, quilted together from responsive drawings, video poetry, photography and process materials that give poetic context to the work, while zooming in on the individuals who make it happen. Also developing through interpersonal connection within our cast and on tour is an online oral history collection that en-
shrines the stories of majorette originators.”
Robinson says she hopes audiences will recognize Major as more than just a work of dance theater, adding that “once the performance manifestation of Major has quieted, The Chord Archive will remain a gathering place that community can visit to dive into a brilliant web of intimate Black femme histories.”
For Ude, it’s how we navigate — and heal from — the gaps in our own histories that is key.
“Not practicing majorette dance for like 12 years, and then wanting to go back to it — that certainly creates some gaps,” she says. “I mean, I’m in a different body. There are holes in my history and training. But I think the return is still worthy — to sit with those histories and nostalgias, to forgive those gaps and create something beautiful within that fissure. And then to ask people to go with us on that intimate journey — that’s powerful.
“Sometimes when we try to draw on those past dreams and ideas, we feel like that makes us a fraud, but I think it makes us full.” ▼
Major Feb. 12-14 at OZ Arts
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Emily Yellin discusses the memoir of civil rights leader the Rev.
BY ARAM GOUDSOUZIAN
IN HIS LAST and greatest sermon, on April 3, 1968, at Mason Temple in Memphis, Martin Luther King Jr. applauded his fellow minister James Lawson. “He’s been to jail for struggling,” said King. “He’s been kicked out of Vanderbilt University for this struggle. But he’s still going on, fighting for the rights of his people.” In Nonviolent: A Memoir of Resistance, Agitation, and Love, Lawson recounts a life fighting for civil rights. He shaped many of the movement’s key struggles, from Little Rock to Nashville to Birmingham to Memphis.
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7:00 PM
10:30 AM
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19
RACHEL GRIFFIN with ADRIENNE YOUNG at PARNASSUS The Sun and the Starmaker
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21
SATURDAY STORYTIME with NORMAN THE DOG at PARNASSUS Norman, At Your Service: My First Day
6:00 PM
GAVIN NEWSOM at OZ ARTS Young Man in a Hurry
6:30 PM
SCOUT UNDERHILL
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24
with KAY DAVAULT at PARNASSUS DnDoggos: Spells Like Trouble
6:30 PM
LAUREN GROFF with ADAM ROSS at MONTGOMERY BELL ACADEMY Brawler
10:30 AM
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28
SATURDAY STORYTIME with MARGARET RENKL & BILLY RENKL at PARNASSUS The Weedy Garden
3900 Hillsboro Pike Suite 14 | Nashville, TN 37215 (615) 953-2243 Shop online at parnassusbooks.net
Before he died in 2024, Lawson collaborated on the book with Emily Yellin, a longtime contributor to The New York Times and other national publications. Yellin is also the author of books including Our Mothers’ War: American Women at Home and on the Front During World War II and the producer of Striking Voices, a 10-part video series about the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike. Yellin answered questions via email.
You called the Rev. Lawson one day in 2020 and asked about working together on his memoir. How did you know him, and why did you want to tell his story? I have known Rev. Lawson since I was 5 years old, when his oldest son John and I were in elementary school together. My parents and he and Mrs. Lawson became friends while working together in the movement in Memphis. At various times in my life since, our paths have crossed.
When the pandemic came, I thought working with him on his memoir was something we could do, even though we were stuck at home for a year. His family had wanted him to do it for decades. And our family connection meant we had a trust that served us well. He said our working together was providential. I said it was a secular parable about being nice to your friends’ kids and your kid’s friends, because you never know which one might help you write your memoir one day.
688 pages, $36
Nonviolent 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, at
public figure and a quiet, behind-thescenes force. Dr. King said Rev. Lawson was the leading strategist and teacher of nonviolent direct action in the world. And John Lewis called him the architect of the nonviolent movement in America. The behind-the-scenes part was by design. He and Dr. King agreed that he would be the one to operate under the radar in many of the campaigns he helped lead. That way, in Birmingham for instance, when everyone else was in jail, he could still strategize and organize on the outside to move the cause forward. In Nashville, he recruited and trained college students like John Lewis, Bernard Lafayette and Diane Nash to join in a campaign to end segregation in the city. But he was very adamant that the students, not him, would be the ones out front at press conferences and during demonstrations.
1968 in Memphis has been written by white, male historians. Much of it is very good. But we saw the need to dig deep into his account, partly because it would be the first major work written in first person by a Black person directly involved in that moment. It felt vital to get his perspective into the historical record. Also, it was such an amazing story of nonviolent resistance overcoming what Rev. Lawson came to call “plantation capitalism.”
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The ethic of nonviolence defined Lawson’s approach to politics and society. How did he come to adopt this philosophy? He found nonviolence first through his mother’s wisdom and then through studying the teachings of Jesus and Gandhi. It evolved during his time in federal prison for resisting the Korean War draft, his time in India and Africa in the mid1950s, and his early work in the South with the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a group committed to nonviolent social change. How would you describe Lawson’s role in the civil rights movement over the course of the 1960s? He was somehow both a significant,
You devote one of the four major sections in Nonviolent to Memphis in 1968, a period defined by the sanitation strike and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Witnessed through the eyes of Lawson, how did this turbulent moment look? Just about everything ever written about
Lawson writes of Donald Trump: “He has an emptiness — a vast hole in his soul.” How did Lawson interpret the politics of our time? He also said that publicly about Tennessee’s governor, Bill Lee, when Lee enacted some of Trump’s health care and economic policies that hurt vulnerable people in the state. Rev. Lawson said the health of a nation, a state or a city should be measured by things like its infant mortality rate, its rate of people living in poverty, and the ability of all its citizens to make a living wage.
To read an uncut version of this interview — and more local book coverage — please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. ▼
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WMOT Roots Radio Presents Finally Friday featuring Garrett Boys, Garrett Hendricks & Lauren Lucas
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Jam: AK Cody, Jon Brennan, Jet Jurgensmeyer, Bucky Heard & BellaonBass
Musicians and others in the music business discuss pushing back against generative artificial intelligence in creative work
BY JP OLSEN
THE SHOTGUN WEDDING of artificial intelligence and recorded music came earlier than you might realize. In the 1950s, researchers at Bell Labs in New Jersey were already coaxing primitive data-driven bleeps and bloops out of early computers. These technical investigations were not meant for human enjoyment, and for decades, they stayed largely sequestered within university labs and on the fringes of experimental music.
That all changed in the mid-2000s with the arrival of deep learning, which allowed computers to learn by example rather than instruction. Suddenly machines could pick up patterns and perform complex tasks, like composing music, without being explicitly programmed for them. Paired with vast archives of scraped — or as critics bluntly put it, stolen — digital audio, these systems have now escaped from the lab and gone directly to music production, streaming platforms and copyright cases.
For guitarist and activist Marc Ribot, the stakes are clear. “They’re chopping up our work and repackaging it as the work of this wonderful robot,” says Ribot, speaking by phone from New York. We spoke in mid-January, the day before he and other musicians descended on the Manhattan headquarters of Warner, Universal and Sony for an “Emergency Demonstration to Stop Major Label AI Licensing.” The event was a warning shot against AI deals currently being negotiated without artists’ involvement.
Ribot has had a highly praised solo career as well as collaborations with Tom Waits, Robert Plant, The Black Keys and many others. He has become a vocal critic of how AI systems ingest and reassemble human creativity en masse. In our conversation, he notes how once a single guitar line, drum pattern or vocal fragment is isolated, it effectively becomes potential raw material for AI and something that can be endlessly reshaped and recombined into new recordings without the musician who created it even knowing about it.
“What’s potentially tragic on a cultural level and harmful on a social level is that all those tens of thousands of musicians who are out there imitating their hero,” Ribot says. “And all the mistakes they made — well, the name for all those mistakes is … our culture.”
While Ribot describes the cost to culture, Dr. David Arditi’s scholarship addresses the economic logic that makes these systems tick. A sociologist at the University of Texas at Arlington and the director of the school’s Center for Theory, he has spent his career examining how digital platforms have reorganized labor and power in the music business.
“The benefit to industry is they can cut labor out,” Arditi says. “So to me, these are exploitation machines.”
Figures sounding the loudest alarms about AI’s threat to culture and labor include Geoffrey Hinton, the “godfather of deep learning,” who helped pave the way for generative systems and large-scale models. Since 2023, Hinton has issued urgent warnings about the technologies he helped build. His about-face gives this particular moment a chilling urgency because — well, if the guy who helped make this stuff is worried sick about it, what does this mean for everyone else?
John Strohm, a Nashville-based rights attorney, former president of Rounder Records and once a guitarist (and occasional drummer) for The Lemonheads, describes this era as “a crisis about creation.” Increasingly, he sees it as an escalating battle between corporations and those doing music business on an independent, DIY level.
Companies training AI models, Strohm says, have largely converged on the same justification, which is that ingesting copyrighted material without permission is perfectly OK because it constitutes fair use. But as many IP lawyers point out, fair use was meant to protect socially valuable activities such as criticism, commentary, news reporting and teaching — not to provide legal cover for hoovering up the world’s creative musical output and then weaponizing it against the very people who made it.
Several high-profile lawsuits are beginning to define the legal boundaries around generative AI. One of the most consequential was filed by Universal Music Group, ABKCO and Concord, alleging that Anthropic unlawfully copied and reproduced copyrighted song lyrics while training and operating its Claude models. The suit argues that Anthropic ingested vast quantities of protected music publishing data without permission, then reproduced that material verbatim when prompted — a potential copyright violation at both the training and output stages. Together these suits argue that AI companies systematically ingested copyrighted literature to build their models — without permission, compensation or transparency — and that such mass copying is not automatically shielded by fair-use doctrine. None of these cases involves sound recordings yet, but legal experts say their outcomes will heavily influence whether AI companies may continue to ingest large catalogs of recorded music — and whether musicians will have any meaningful recourse when their creative labor becomes part of a training dataset. Separate lawsuits filed by major labels against AI music services like Suno and Udio do target sound recordings directly, but the book and lyrics cases above remain the clearest indicators of how courts are beginning to define the legal boundaries around text- and publishing-side training. (Disclosure: I was un-
aware that Anthropic had ingested my book The Narcotic Farm — published by Abrams and republished in 2021 by a university press — until a fellow author alerted me. I have since joined the class-action suit.)
Strohm, along with many musicians and writers, points out that copyright law is more restrictive than the pro-AI argument suggests. To begin with, fair use rests on four considerations, one of which is whether harm is being inflicted on creators. Strohm says that such harm is already visible within streaming, where services such as Spotify divide a fixed pool of revenue among an ever-growing number of tracks, and that each additional upload diminishes the value of every other stream, already understood to be a paltry sum.
As he explains it, when AI-generated music is produced and uploaded at industrial scale, it doesn’t merely compete with human artists aesthetically — it dilutes the royalty pool. Spotify recently announced that it removed more than 75 million “spammy” tracks last year, a crackdown the company tied to the arrival of generative AI tools and widespread abuse of its upload system.
The growing fear and resentment toward AI practices among working Nashville musicians has been palpable, and it’s only intensifying.
Jerry Roe, a veteran Nashville drummer, has just stepped out of a session for a major label project when the Scene reaches him by phone. He traces the frustration to what he sees as the industry’s loving embrace of whatever new cost-saving technology comes along, even if it may hurt the very people who built this city’s sound.
“Tech’s whole deal is to just move fast, break things and disrupt shit without thinking about what the consequences are,” Roe says. “They’ve taken over all our means of distribution and homogenized and monopolized all of the cash flow. It’s the worst industry that’s ever existed.”
Karen Hao is a Hong Kong-based journalist who has spent years chronicling the culture that built modern artificial intelligence. She points out that these systems were not handed down by singular geniuses so much as assembled by a small circle of men who found themselves making civilization-scale decisions without democratic oversight. An MIT graduate who was senior editor at MIT Technology Review and the author of the 2025 book Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI, Hao went to school with current top dogs inside the AI industry. She has reported on the internal dynamics of OpenAI, Google and Meta, documenting how the extraordinary power of the technology became concentrated in the hands of largely unremarkable men. In Empire of AI, she narrows the view into a single and potent idea: “Over the years, I’ve found only one metaphor that encapsulates the nature of what these AI power players are: empires. … In the simplest terms, empires amassed extraordinary riches across space and time, through imposing a colonial world order, at great expense to everyone else.”
Victoria Banks is living the reality of someone whose craft is now being automated by what Hao calls an empire. A veteran Nashville songwriter with hits for Sara Evans and cuts on Mickey Guyton’s Grammy-nominated Remember Her Name, Banks, who also teaches songwriting at Belmont University, is feeling the ground shift beneath the profession that has sustained her since the 1990s. Of particular concern to her — as it is to many songwriters — is Suno, a generative-AI music platform that allows users to input a simple text prompt and create a fully produced track with lyrics, vocals and instrumentation.
“On one hand, it’s extremely inspiring and exciting,” Banks says, explaining that for some artists it can be deeply effective in fleshing out song ideas. However, using the system has potential effects that stretch far beyond providing a prompt and receiving music in return. “It scares me to death putting anything in there. Every time you’re putting a song into Suno, you’re feeding [its ability] to learn how to do what you do.”
Her anxiety centers on the existential threat that this technology means for the nonperforming songwriter — the writers whose craft lives almost entirely on the page and in the melody.
“That’s my world,” she explains. “What a nonperforming songwriter can do with a pen is comparable to what Picasso could do with a brush. It’s lifetimes of honing words, lifetimes of honing melodies. That craft is exactly what’s feeding these models. They’re learning how to do it instead of us — and that’s what makes me sad.”
Scot Sherrod, a Nashville music publisher and longtime Music Row executive who has a professional relationship with Banks, widens the frame. “Where will the individualism come from?” Sherrod asks. “I feel like we are creatively cannibalizing ourselves right now.”
Also a musician, Sherrod entered the business in the mid-1990s and has guided writers through every major disruption of the modern music economy, from home studios to the collapse of physical sales to the rise of streaming. Generative AI, he believes, smothers them all.
“Nobody even understands how disruptive this thing is going to be,” he says. “Not even the CEO of Sony or Universal. They don’t know.”
If Sherrod sketches a future in which music risks collapsing into a feedback loop of its own inputs, Charles Alexander offers at least one potential brake on that slide. A Nashville-based technologist and digital strategist, as well as an adjunct professor teaching about music and AI at Middle Tennessee State University, Alexander comes to the debate as a songwriter as well. His company ViNIL is developing verification tools to help authenticate and protect music and voices in an AI-saturated media ecosystem.
“Our perspective is that, ‘This technology is here,’” Alexander says. “And how we are choosing to address it is to preemptively … authorize and authenticate the content.” He argues for fingerprinting your audio, a method that de-
tects what is already present in the waveforms. The distinction is certainly technical, not legal. But in a near future when AI-generated tracks can be uploaded by the tens of millions, it could spell the difference between attribution and oblivion.
ViNIL’s push to safeguard attribution in an increasingly synthetic ecosystem addresses one part of the problem. But the questions Ribot raises live on a different layer entirely. To him, the value of music has never been its polish, but the accumulation of tiny human imperfections — mistakes, hesitations and idiosyncrasies passed down through generations of players. Strip those away and you don’t just change the sound. You change the lineage.
Looming over all of this is how laws have not caught up to the reality they’re meant to govern. Courts have yet to rule definitively on whether training generative AI systems on copyrighted music without permission is lawful, leaving creators in limbo as major companies press ahead under aggressive interpretations of fair use. Lawsuits challenging those assumptions are moving through the courts. But they move at a human pace — while the technology runs along at machine speed.
In this gap, consequential decisions about how our culture is made, owned and monetized are being made by companies acting brazenly and asking questions later. The result is a moment of uncertainty where musicians, songwriters and technologists are trying to figure out whether the future of their craft will be something built by humans or stitched together by machines trained on everything those humans ever made.
“Culture serves a function,” says Ribot. “People will miss it when it’s gone.” ▼
THE SPIN
BY CLAIRE STEELE AND LIV RAPIER
THE SECOND ANNUAL 615 Indie Live spread out over some 15 venues on Saturday, bringing Nashville fans a feast of local music (or at least music with strong local connections) and highlighting the key roles that independent venues play in our diverse ecosystem all year long.
The inside of Drkmttr was a welcome sight, especially after a weeklong power outage amid the ice storm threatened the all-ages nonprofit venue’s continued existence. On Saturday, the club slowly filled up during Ol Blue’s set. The band members slithered their way through clockwork post-punk ostinatos and one slick funk ostinato. Meanwhile, the two vocalists chanted in unison and a multi-instrumentalist wizard conjured weird sounds via a synth and a slide whistle.
Next up, Hussy Fit quickly sprang to life, determined to have a good time. The self-described “bubblegrunge synthpop riot band” roared
Meels draws on nature — and our displacement from it — in her ‘critter country’ tunes
BY BOBBIE JEAN SAWYER
IN THE FALL, country singer-songwriter Meels shared her music video for “Willow Song,” a gentle but thought-provoking meditation on our relationship with nature. Though she wrote the song while in school at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute, it sounds like a long-lost folk tune that could have been recorded by the Carter Family. The video, with all the warm nostalgia of an old VHS tape found in your grandma’s attic, recalls variety shows like Hee Haw and The Muppet Show “This video took me back to every Saturday night with my grandma back in the ’70s,” one YouTube commenter wrote. “I swear everything just stopped for a whole three minutes,” wrote another.
The video features Meels strumming the song while seated on a hollow log, a puppet racoon accompanying her on harmonica. The inspiration came from Meels and her boyfriend and creative director Henry Pakenham falling in love with old Hee Haw clips.
“We both just became really inspired by the idea of these live performances on the variety shows from the ’70s and the late ’60s,” Meels tells the Scene. “I’m a huge John Denver fan and a big Muppets fan. We were like, ‘It would be so cool if we continued this theme, creating the visual brand for this project by doing a bunch of different kinds of variety shows.’ [‘Willow Song’] was heavily inspired by John Denver on [The Muppet Show] doing ‘Garden Song’ and Linda Ronstadt doing ‘Blue Bayou.’ We just drew inspiration from those videos and got my dad to puppeteer the raccoon. [All my videos have] just
through stadium-worthy rockers full of dynamite hooks and sing-along choruses that yielded plenty of audience participation. (The bubble machine didn’t hurt, either.) Singer Cordie Nicole introduced set highlight “Sick,” saying, “The message of the next song is simple: You can’t grab pussy if you got no hands.”
Metro Councilmember Sean Parker proclaimed his support for indie venues and introduced staunch powergazers Total Wife, who left us all buzzing in sympathetic vibrations anchored to their excellent 2025 LP Come Back Down. Their set ended, as it typically does, with a cacophonous thrashout for the ages.
Venus & the Flytraps, currently in the middle of their first tour as headliners, closed out the Drkmttr festivities. Ceci Tomé and Brenna Kassis harmonized through their oughta-be-hits, from the chunky fuzz bass of “Swiss Army Girl” to the flip-a-cop-car confidence of “Daphne Janes” to their love letter to Nashville, “Debbie Downsville” — all from last year’s full-length debut Demonette. Clearly delighted, Tomé proclaimed: “I didn’t even clock Philly. Philly didn’t clock us. Go Birds, fuck ICE, free Palestine.”
A couple of hours later, down on Elliston Place’s storied Rock Block, fans filed into venerable club The End — itself recently threatened by
been such a family affair.”
Meels released her second record, a seven-song EP titled Across the Raccoon Strait, Jan. 30 via Lost Highway. She describes her blend of folk, bluegrass and country as “critter country,” a nod to her appreciation for the natural world and her hometown of Mill Valley, Calif.
“I grew up in such a naturally beautiful place with millions of animals, so using animals as metaphors for my life just felt really natural,” she says. “Critter country was born through the way I was songwriting. It’s a homecoming in a lot of ways. I wrote most of these songs in my New York apartment in a state of yearning for home.”
The EP, which Meels produced alongside Peter Groenwald and Mark Campbell, is the follow-up to her 2024 indie-folk LP Tales From a Bird’s Bedroom. She says the new record represents her finding a sound that’s truly her own.
“There are a lot of personal stories on this record, and it feels like it’s coming from a more confident place than the music I’ve put out in the past,” she says. “I finally feel like I’ve arrived at a genre that just fits really well with my voice and songwriting.”
The songs on Racoon Strait mark the arrival of a oneof-a-kind lyricist. The EP concludes with “Marsha June,” a tender tribute to her nonconformist grandmother. Another highlight is “The Wizard,” which once again deftly weaves metaphors about flora and critters to examine Meels’ experience with obsessive compulsive disorder. “My obsessive compulsive degree,” she sings as the beat bounces along, “Scratching and nagging at me / My mind is full of fleas.”
“I had a mentor in college that was amazing,” Meels recalls. “One day she told me, ‘Meels, I just love your songwriting because sometimes it feels like you’re writing happy songs about the end of the world, kind of how they do in fairy tales.’ That kind of struck me, and I didn’t really ever notice that I was doing that before. Sometimes when I’m writing, I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m doing it again.’”
tough financial times — for even more Nashville rock. Amid the names of artists who’ve graced the tiny stage spelled out on the walls and multiple decades of band stickers, Boy Orbison warmed up the crowd at 8 p.m. Led by singer-songwriter Benjamin Ringel, the group of “damn good friends” jump-started their set with last year’s hooky, gritty, power-pop-indebted “Heartbreaker,” their most-played single on Spotify.
About 8:45, punk-girl trio massie99 met the audience with a juxtaposition of luxurious harmonies and righteous screams, singer-bassist Grace Christian getting out in the crowd — and even a cheer stunt. Effervescent and enthusiastic, the group’s set drew heavily on their 2024 LP Alpha Beta Omegle, with the bittersweet closer “Omegle” ending the set.
A new wave of energy rolled through the room as synthpop-indie-rockers New Translations took over. Approaching the one-year anniversary of their full-length Vacation, the group spread their infectious, head-bobbing energy in dark sunglasses that didn’t interrupt their very intentional eye contact with the audience.
Throughout the night, artists took the opportunity to pay homage to the venue, noting that mom-and-pop clubs like The End, which are so vital to musicians establishing themselves,
Meels spent a portion of 2025 on the road supporting country champ Kaitlin Butts, and she has a string of shows coming up opening for Margo Price, Carter Faith and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Before all that, Meels will make her debut as a headliner at the Station Inn on Tuesday with banjo-and-marionette sensation Phoebe Sanders opening.
“I’m excited to play the EP in full and maybe sneak a few new songs in there too,” Meels says. “It feels like the perfect room to introduce the Meels show to the world.” ▼
PLAYING 8 P.M. TUESDAY, FEB. 17, AT THE STATION INN
aren’t possible without the crowd. “Thank you to The End,” said New Translations frontman Oliver Pierce. “Please support your independent venues, please, God.”
Last up for the night were shoegaze-leaning bedroom rockers The Sewing Club. Trading around instruments throughout their performance, the five-person ensemble fronted by Hannah McElroy blazed through songs like live favorite “Alright OK” and “Strange,” which opens their 2024 EP Care. In December, the group announced a CD compilation (including both Care and their previous self-titled EP) in advance of new music. It was a fitting cap to an evening of musicians showcasing the venues that have given them so much support. ▼
5
Saturday, February 14
HATCH SHOW PRINT
Block Party
3:00 pm and 6:00 pm
HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP
Sunday, February 15
HATCH SHOW PRINT Family Block Party
10:00 am · HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP
Sunday, February 15
MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT Appalachia
featuring Richie Owens and Bob Ocker
1:00 pm · FORD THEATER
Saturday, February 21
SONGWRITER SESSION Erin Enderlin
NOON · FORD THEATER
Saturday, February 21
POETS AND PROPHETS Salute to Josh Osborne
2:30 pm · FORD THEATER
Sunday, February 22
MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT Rachel Beauregard
1:00 pm · FORD THEATER
Saturday, February 28 FAMILY PROGRAM Billy the Kid Makes It Big
9:15 am · FORD THEATER
Saturday, February 28
WRITERS ROUND On the Rise
featuring Grayson Lane, Elli Rowe, and Amelie Sampson
11:30 am · FORD THEATER
Locals Kids Always Visit Free Plan a trip to the Museum! Local youth 18 and under who are residents of Nashville-Davidson and bordering counties always visit free, plus 25% off admission for up to two accompanying adults.
IT WAS A BARTENDER friend in the Pacific Northwest — thus an impeccable judge of both people and humor — who first mentioned Nirvanna the Band as something I might dig. As a fan of things that are Canadian and mordantly funny, I followed. What Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol of NTB do is deeply funny and Canadian, but also kind of inspirational. Not stuffed full of treacle or family-friendly foolishness, it is work that engages with the capacity that we have to be encouraged.
sibling Castration Movie Anthology
It’s fascinating that Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is hitting theaters within a week of Charli XCX’s also-delightful The Moment, because both films define the current continuum of telling stories about musicians in chaotic states (as well as being about the process of The Show without showing us The Show). But where The Moment is about killing myths (it’s like the Wes Craven’s New Nightmare of pop music), NTBTSTM is about making them and letting loose with sci-fi adventure possibility. If you come into the Nirvannaverse with no familiarity with the guys or their thing, it’s like Johnson and McCarrol found some sort of alchemical formula that wins you over immediately and makes you a fan in a very short period of time.
catalog of amazing work I’d only heard of in passing. Thinking back on it, I’d probably seen some clips on YouTube or elsewhere on social media, because Nirvanna the Band sounded familiar. I found the entire series and binged it as quickly as possible while my partner was out. When she was back home, I ran it back and watched it all again with her. I was converted. I think when you mention that alchemical formula, you’re really onto something. The purity of friendship and vision, the chemistry, the rapport, the sense of humor, the guerrilla disregard for IP — it all just hits you and clicks, if it’s ever going to, the second you’re introduced to them.
JS: When Nashville was chosen to be one of the stops on the film’s American tour, at first I was a bit surprised. But when you think about it, what resonates more in Music City than an inchoate dream on a collision course with unique and unexpected forms of talent?
ZH: With the film, I think we’re in danger of them either becoming instantly famous to the point of overexposure or a kind of cult handshake reference themselves. It’s heartening to see a sold-out crowd reacting to an original(ish) comedy. I think those buzzy early screenings were massive for how the film was received because of how much fun it is to commune with other weirdos and laugh your guts out, and the people who saw it like that are likely to remember it for years to come. I only hope that upon its actual opening it can sustain that energy from the audience.
JS: We’re having this discussion as the good and decent world is mourning Catherine O’Hara, and the history of Canadian comedy — SCTV, The Kids in the Hall, Trailer Park Boys, Kenny vs. Spenny, Todd & the Book of Pure Evil, NTBTS, Schitt’s Creek and the Letterkenny/Shoresy juggernaut — that’s the kind of sustained achievement that makes you just have to sit back and take it all in. And that’s not even counting what’s going on with Heated Rivalry, but we just don’t have the space to get into Sexy Canada at the moment.
I reached out to my friend and colleague Zack Hall (you’ve seen his incredible trailer creations at the Belcourt or on The Criterion Channel, and he hosts a lot of the Midnight Movie screenings at the Belcourt as well) to chat about the film. He’s been my Canadian-comedy buddy for almost 20 years, ever since he brought Trailer Park Boys to my attention.
Jason Shawhan: How did you get to know Nirvanna the Band?
ZH: I think they’re inevitably gonna break through wherever there are pop-culture nerds and artists because there’s a generational shorthand in all their work; all of us their age grew up on a very similar media diet. That’s maybe something that’s scattered a bit in the interceding years, but I think their innate optimism in the face of the Sisyphean struggle to get a gig at the Rivoli, which leads them to evermore cartoonish schemes, is infinitely relatable as a dreamer. And their success as creators is all the more inspiring for it.
Zack Hall: Embarrassingly, I first noticed Matt Johnson as Doug in Blackberry, not knowing anything about the film. I immediately went to figure out who he was only to realize he’d directed the film himself and had this back
JS: While collating the results for the Scene’s most recent Jim Ridley Film Poll, this was the film that snuck up on me, simply because it made the Top 25 for the year as a film that had no U.S. press screenings and wasn’t part of (distributor) Neon’s for-your-consideration box. That means everyone who saw it did so either at the Toronto International Film Festival or at one of the eight one-off dates that happened in the fall, and that’s staggering. The same also goes for its similarly amazing and similarly Canadian
ZH: You forgot Nathan Fielder. There’s something really comforting about Canadian comedy. It kind of peers through the horrifying veil under which we all live here in the States and comes out with something more genuinely humane, kind and hopeful. Maybe it’s like having that neighbor with a loud, messy relationship, an ever-revolving cadre of shady comers and goers, who probably enjoys fireworks and drinking too much for their age. Makes for great peoplewatching, but you’re gonna keep your distance. I dunno. Maybe it’s just having the free brainspace that’s not tied up in living under an emerging fascist state that lets you see the world through slightly rosier lenses. But whatever it is, it’s sure a nice counterpoint to the aggressively abrasive end-of-days cringe comedy we’ve got happening here. ▼
ACROSS
1 ___ canto
4 Lessons that might be spelled out for you?
8 Photographer Diane
13 Wide-open Q&A
14 Coffee option
15 Snatching sound, in the comics
16 Nonverbal “well done”
18 Well-known scheme designer
19 One of the two Boolean values, in programming
20 Disney princess whose name is one letter off from a common princess accessory
22 Gimlet base
23 Dundee dissent
25 Cars with retractable roofs
27 What Neapolitan ice cream is divided into
30 Compete (for)
31 Bit in a breakfast bowl
32 Benefactor with a limited number of grants?
35 Symbol of the “Black is beautiful” movement
39 College concern seen in 16-, 25-, 49- and 63-Across?
42 Cathedral recess
43 Full of zing
44 Tallahassee sch.
45 Get rid of
47 Tea traders?
49 Accidentally burn, perhaps
54 Influential power
55 Feel under the weather
56 It’s a start!
58 ___-free
61 Brand in the feminine care aisle
63 Results of wearing some uncomfortable shoes
65 Mexican street food typically served with cheese, chili and lime
66 Hit TV series set at the fictional William McKinley High School
67 Cpl. or sgt.
68 Grannies
69 Fictional lover of Rochester
70 Many Ph.D.s-to-be, for short DOWN
1 Bangkok currency
2 Doha dignitary
3 Heineken subsidiary whose name means “small bodies of water”
4 Go on, in dialogue
5 One who eats crisps and uses a loo
6 Kind of duty
7 Stab, in a way
8 Spanish exclamation akin to “Oh, baby!”
9 Small hopper in the Hundred Acre Wood
10 “Spot on!”
11 Open, as a fanny pack
12 Scrapes
17 Get wind of
21 Knickknack
24 “We stand today on the ___ of a new frontier”: John F. Kennedy, 7/15/1960
26 Nursing spot
27 Attire for a fraternity party, maybe
28 Instrument originating in ancient Sumer
29 Jump at, as an opportunity
33 Opposite of SSW
34 Maybes
36 “In da Club” rapper
37 Parks in history
38 Albatross, so to speak
40 Beloved
41 Thumbs-up votes
46 PlayStation alternatives
48 So-called “father of the American cartoon”
49 Like the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey
50 It takes a bow in a concert hall
51 Sir ___ Hercules John
52 Indigenous people at the center of 2023’s “Killers of the Flower Moon”
53 ___ green
57 Layer
59 Sea creature that can weigh 400 pounds at birth
60 Possessive of a Chinese menu?
62 Zeta follower
64 Go on dates with
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Sr. Analysts, IT Marketing Systems. Perform customer relationship management/loyalty administration tasks & configuration changes according to defined technical specifications. Employer: Tractor Supply Company. Location: Brentwood, TN. May telecommute periodically from within normal commuting distance of Brentwood, TN. Multiple openings. To apply, mail resume to J. Yokley, 5401 Virginia Way, Brentwood, TN 37027. Ref. job code 240392.
Senior Developers, IT OMS. Produce code, configurations, unit tests, and design concepts to implement and support retail company’s order management system. Employer: Tractor Supply Company. Location: Brentwood, TN. May telecommute periodically from within normal commuting distance of Brentwood, TN. Multiple openings. To apply, mail resume to A. Willis, 5401 Virginia Way, Brentwood, TN 37027. Ref. job code 250143.
Lead Analysts, IT Enterprise Data Analytics. Deliver technical solutions for IT analytical projects for a major retailer. Employer: Tractor Supply Company. Location: Brentwood, TN. May telecommute from within normal commuting distance of Brentwood, TN. Multiple openings. To apply, mail resume to A. Willis, 5401 Virginia Way, Brentwood, TN 37027. Ref. job code 21-0184.
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Senior Big Data Engineer (HCA Management Services LP, Nashville, TN)(Mult): Rqs Bach (US/frgn eqv) in CS or rel; 4 yrs IT exp; 2 yrs exp w/GCP pltf; strong exp w/GCP Svcs app dsgn & imp using Spark Streaming, Kafka, SQL, JSON, Avro, Parquet & Java, Python, or Scala; exp w/GKE, Cloud Functions, Pub/Sub, Bigtable, Cloud Spanner, BigQuery, Dataflow, Cloud Composer, DataProc & Cloud Logging; exp w/NoSQL/RDBMS db; exp in CI/CD, Git, & deploy proc; strong exp w/Agile app dev, file sys mgt, & DevOps discipline; exp w/short -cycle iterations; undstnd of fund cloud computing concepts; undstnd of Lambda Dsgn Archts & Real-Time Streaming. May work remotely 100% from home office anywhere in U.S. Travel to Nashville, TN not required. Email resume to Elaine.Healy@hcahealthcar e.com.
Senior Developers, IT OMS. Produce code, configurations, unit tests, and design concepts to implement and support retail company’s order management system. Employer: Tractor Supply Company. Location: Brentwood, TN. May telecommute periodically from within normal commuting distance of Brentwood, TN. Multiple openings. To apply, mail resume to A. Willis, 5401 Virginia Way, Brentwood, TN 37027. Ref. job code 250143.
Amazon.com Services LLC seeks candidates for the following (multiple positions available) in Nashville, TN. Apply Online at www.amazon.jobs, searching by AMZ17709.6 System Development Engineer III (AMZ17709.6) Invent, develop, integrate, and migrate technologies to deliver robust and scalable internal Amazon platforms with a focus on user experience, performance, and maintainability. Extend and customize the Amazon Platforms that meet our new customer's needs. The pay range for this position in Nashville, TN is $143,700/year to $ 194,300/year; however, base pay offered may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience A sign-on bonus and restricted stock units may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the position offered. This information is provided by Nashville, TN Equal Pay Act. Base pay information is based on market location. Applicants should apply via Amazon's internal or external careers site.
Lead Analysts, IT Enterprise Data Analytics. Deliver technical solutions for IT analytical projects for a major retailer. Employer: Tractor Supply Company. Location: Brentwood, TN. May telecommute from within normal commuting distance of Brentwood, TN. Multiple openings. To apply, mail resume to A. Willis, 5401 Virginia Way, Brentwood, TN 37027. Ref. job code 21-0184.
Senior Application Engineer (HCA Management Services LP, Nashville, TN)(Mult): Rqs Bach (US/frgn eqv) in CS or rel; 5 yrs exp in SQL server db dsgn & SSIS prog; 5 yrs exp in ASP.NET, MVC, Angular, C#, JSON, LINQ, HTML5, CSS, jQuery & Entity FW; exp w/GitHub, Azure DevOPS & CI/CD; exp w/MS Azure dev; exp w/Service Central. Email resume to Elaine.Healy@hcahealthcar e.com.
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