David Lynch Behind the Curtain
🎞️ Witt talks Lynch before Dune · Private school vouchers · Sleeper bills · Film rundown · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone.
Storms are expected to roll through tonight, lasting well into Saturday. Strong winds, large hail, tornadoes, and rain. The whole nine yards. Be on guard.
In other news, last week, Tennessee Health Commissioner Ralph Alvarado issued an order banning the use of pronouns in agency emails. “Pronouns may not be used in an email unless they are being used within a sentence in the place of a noun,” the missive reads.
End of an era.
Onward.
Faced with the prospect of meeting the late David Lynch, even the most casual fan would likely have struggled to initiate smalltalk with the enigmatic director. But actress and Nashville resident Alicia Witt spent nearly four decades talking to the iconoclastic American filmmaker who died in January about the dogs in the neighborhood she lived in as a child. “I felt like he was an uncle,” Witt told an audience gathered at the Belcourt last Sunday while recalling her most cherished moments with the director who ignited her movie career with a pivotal role in his adaptation of Dune when she was seven.
In the wake of Lynch’s death shortly after he evacuated from his L.A. home during January’s wildfires, The Belcourt rushed to pull together a tribute to a director who rose above 80s Hollywood’s tendency to cater to blockbuster filmmaking by committee. The result is “David Lynch: A Retrospective,” a series of screenings, seminars, and special events running through March 19th that includes showings of all Lynch’s films with the exception of 1980’s The Elephant Man.
Before the Belcourt’s matinee screening of Dune, Witt and The Belcourt’s Programming and Education Coordinator, Zack Hall, tried to bring the reality of Lynch into focus–a difficult task given the filmmaker’s rather elusive relationship with the press and penchant for the singularly surreal approach to Americana that cemented his reputation as one of cinema’s most towering figures. Rather than buying into the mythos, Witt made sure to foreground Lynch the person, a guy who committed even the smallest details to memory. Years after their first meeting, Lynch made sure to keep up with those dogs. He also sent Witt rose bushes for her garden, a hobby she first mentioned to him during their time on Dune.
⧖⧗⧖ SHOW YOUR SUPPORT ⧗⧖⧗
If you want to support our work at The Pamphleteer, a recurring donation is the best way. We have a $10/month Grub Street tier and a $50/month Bard tier. Membership gets you access to our comments section and free access to upcoming events.
🎓 Private Schools Line Up For Vouchers On Tuesday, the Tennessee Department of Education announced that 162 schools had already expressed interest in the new Tennessee Education Freedom Scholarship Program. In Davidson County, 27 schools are on the list. Most private schools wishing to participate are religious schools. According to State Affairs, critics of the program have raised concerns about Islamic schools receiving state funds.
“A quality education has the power to change the trajectory of a child’s life, and I’m grateful that Tennessee parents will have the opportunity to choose the best school for their child through the Education Freedom Scholarship Program,” said Governor Lee in the press release. “I commend the participating schools for their partnership to deliver excellent educational choices for parents in the coming school year.”
Though there is no formal application process for families currently set up, interested families can sign up to learn more here.
🗺️ State Legislators On The Move It may seem early, but the General Assembly has already sent a few impactful bills to the governor’s desk. The Senate and the House passed a bill authorizing a county legislative body to recall a person appointed to a position by the county with a two-thirds vote. They also approved legislation to collect DNA from certain convicted offenders to check against cold cases and a bill that deletes all references to the World Health Organization in Tennessee Code—requiring that a pandemic can only be “declared by the federal Centers for Disease and Prevention Control.”
The House passed a bill that places nuclear energy production under green energy in Tennessee’s tax code, allowing companies “to seek pollution control tax credits for certain machinery and equipment.” They also approved a bill creating a Tennessee Juvenile Justice Review Commission to suggest recommendations to help juvenile delinquents. Both pieces of legislation received little to no opposition during yesterday’s final vote in the House and await the Senate.
Likewise, the Senate passed a few interesting bills on final reading that are waiting on the House. The contentious preservation bill establishing grant funds for farmers who place their land within easements made it through the Senate. So did a bill allowing magistrates to consider reliable hearsay evidence when setting bail, legislation setting deadlines to clear out homeless encampments, and a bill requiring the Education Department to review teacher evaluation practices in the state.
🚨 Bailess Crimes The Tennessee State Senate is set to consider Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 25, a constitutional amendment that would empower judges to deny bail to individuals accused of serious crimes, including capital offenses, terrorism, second-degree murder, aggravated rape of a child, aggravated rape, grave torture, or any crime requiring at least 85% sentence service upon conviction. Currently, the Tennessee Constitution permits judges to deny bail only in first-degree murder cases where the death penalty is possible.
The Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference has endorsed this amendment, with Executive Director Stephen Crump describing it as the most significant public safety legislation evaluated in over a decade. On Monday, the Senate will take up the resolution. It will require a two-thirds majority to pass.
TENNESSEE HIGHWAYS
The Reason Foundation ranked Tennessee Highways 5th in Highway in terms of performance and cost-effectiveness, but the state ranked near the bottom in both urban fatality rate and other fatality rate. (More Info)
DEVELOPMENT
- Veteran developer plans second hotel for Music Row site (NBJ)
- West Coast tech company to take space at River North (Post)
- Turkey and the Wolf Icehouse Opens (Scene)
✹ WEEKLY FILM RUNDOWN: March 14-20
Black Bag (Dir. Steven Soderbergh; Starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender) As if January’s experimental ghost story Presence weren’t enough, indie pioneer Soderbergh plants another flag in 2025’s movie calendar with this sleek spy flick starring Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett as real-life spies George and Kathryn Woodhouse, who try to save their marriage in the wake of treason charges. Reviews have been stunning. Now playing in theaters.
Novocaine (Dir. Dan Berk; Starring Jack Quaid) A mild-mannered bank teller whose ability not to feel pain turns him into a vigilante when robbers kidnap the girl of his dreams in this well-reviewed action comedy. Now playing in theaters.
The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (Dir. Peter Browngardt) WB’s most iconic IP gets the last laugh now that this tale about America’s favorite cartoons fighting off aliens is seeing the light of day after the studio scrapped the finished product after a case of Space Jam remakeitis. Now playing in theaters.
THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week here and our weekly film rundown 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
🎸 Bright Eyes @ The Caverns, 8p, $69.50+, Info
🎻 Schubert's Unfinished and The Zodiac Suite @ Schermerhorn Symphony Center, 7:30p, $18+, Info
🎸 Taxiway, LB Beistad, Shlomo Franklin @ The Underdog, 7p, $10, Info
🎸 Julianna Zachariou @ The Basement, 7p, $19.78, 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
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
The Pamphleteer
The Pamphleteer
The Pamphleteer
The Pamphleteer