A Night at The Opera
Good afternoon, everyone. Happy Friday, the Pamphleteer will be back after Thanksgiving!... Jerod takes us out for a night on the town at the Nashville Opera... Ethics complaint officially filed against Councilmember Rollin Horton... And much more!
Early Voting! The special election to replace Mark Green in U.S. Congressional District 7 falls on December 2 (the Tuesday after Thanksgiving), so you might want to consider getting to the polls early. Find the early voting schedule (November 12-26) here. Find your election day voting location here.
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With The Shining, Nashville’s Local Opera Company Proved the Relevance of the Form While Making a Case For City’s Future
From Jerod Hollyfield
“Aside from it being Halloween, why did you choose to do this?” a mildly irate audience member asked Nashville Opera CEO & Artistic director John Hoomes at the talkback for the company’s production of The Shining back in October. Based on Stephen King’s now-classic horror novel, the adaptation courted some controversy in the days leading up to opening night–especially among those who rattle off Puccini and Rossini like most of us reference Barilla.
News Channel 5 ran a backhanded promo piece that positioned the decision to tap into King’s fanbase as a way for the company to cope with the ravages of COVID 19 and Gen Z’s eroded attention spans. But The Shining was no act of desperation from an artform near its own death rattle. Nor was it an irredeemable cultural transgression. It was a pure form of cultural populism that proved the Nashville Opera is one of the few sites of accessible art in a city besieged by monolithic corporate blandness and failing policies that are hurdling Music City’s middle class toward an unaffordable oblivion.
While the opera iteration of The Shining debuted in 2016, it has continued to garner pop culture clout that has long evaded the genre. It remains novel enough that composer Paul Moravec attended Nashville Opera’s production and made himself available for the 30-minute talk back after the show. In response to the nonplussed attendee’s interrogation of the company’s motivations, Moravec remained good natured. “Well, I wrote it for the money,” he half joked. “But I just thought it'd be a great opera. It's a perfect subject for an opera, in my view, because it's about love, death and power, which are in spades. Those are the things that make an opera…By the way, the body count in [Puccini’s] Tosca is higher than The Shining. It's actually more violent. It's true.”
Join Us On December 10th for an evening with writer Aaron Renn. Renn's recent book, Life in the Negative World, talks about being a Christian in a culture hostile to Christianity.
At our event, he will discuss this in addition to the crisis of civic leadership plaguing cities like Nashville. Aaron runs a very popular Substack, has written for The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic and was recently profiled in the New York Times. Currently, he's a Senior Fellow at American Reformer.
This is the first in a new series of monthly lectures we'll be hosting. Paying subscribers receive free access to this and future events. (Buy Tickets)
HEADLINES
- 📏 Ethics complaint filed against Metro Councilmember Rollin Horton. Yesterday, members of a group called “Voices of District 20” filed a complaint accusing District 20 Council Member Rollin Horton of "doxxing" constituents and retaliating against the group engaged in the recall petition effort. (Tennessean)
- 🚧 The Boring Co. to tunnel under Broadway and West End Avenue. More details/some kind of announcement could become public during a November 24 live conversation Boring is hosting about Music City Loop on its X account. (NBJ)
- 🌃 D-7 Congressional candidate Aftyn Behn makes national headlines after leaked audio. A podcast clip resurfaced where Behn said a number of negative things about Nashville while hosting a show, including, “I hate this city," referring to Music City. (Fox 17)
- 🦃 Happy Thanksgiving! Did you know that you can’t purchase liquor on Thanksgiving Day in Tennessee? Fun fact: food thermometers are the most requested, last-minute order for Instacart on Thanksgiving day. Lastly, several community organizations are providing free turkeys across Middle Tennessee. Click here to learn more.
DEVELOPMENT
- Final beam raised at new Nissan Stadium (Fox 17)
- In-N-Out Burger opening four locations in Middle Tennessee soon (Axios)
- Former South Nashville Hooters building sold for $1.3M (Post)
THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week here.
📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.
🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.
👨🏻🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide.
TONIGHT
🎸 Twen @ The Blue Room, 7p, $23.41, Info
🎻 Guerrero's Return "A Hero's Life" @ Schermerhorn Symphony Center, 7:30p, $29+, Info
🪭 The Crazy, The Sexy, The Cruel @ The Eighth Room, 7p, Info
🪕 The Cowpokes @ Acme Feed & Seed, 12p, Free, Info
🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info
🎸 Kelley’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info
SATURDAY
🎸 Jens Lekman @ Exit/In, 8p, $38.60, Info
🪕 The Lone Bellow @ Ryman Auditorium, 7p, $37+, Info
🎸 Die Spitz @ The Blue Room, 2p, $28.26, Info
🪕 Shannon Slaughter and County Clare @ Station Inn, 9p, $25, Info
🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info
🎸 Kelley’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info
SUNDAY
🎸 Die Spitz @ The Blue Room, 7p, $28.26, Info
🪕 Bluegrass Jam @ Station Inn, 7p, Free, Info
+ a night for musicians and singers from all over the world to gather and enjoy making music together
🪕 Sundays Between with Easy Green @ Tennessee Brew Works, 1p, Info
+ a bluegrass celebration of the music of the Grateful Dead
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
Today's newsletter is brought to you by Davis Hunt, Megan Podsiedlik and Camelia Brennan.