Love is in the Air
💞 Lovin' on some buses · Kenny Wayne Jr. · Funking Up · New Trump Movie · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone.
Mayor O’Connell authored an op-ed in this morning’s Tennessean in defense of his transit referendum and he is gushing. “Recent research has shown that the change in happiness of switching a car trip to walking is equivalent to falling in love,” writes O’Connell citing a study that puts the ability to walk to work up there in importance with your love life in terms of what makes you happy. What is love if we’re comparing it to the ability to walk somewhere? Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day, dear morning commute?
Relatedly, WeGo CEO Steve Bland went on a local podcast to talk transit and declared, “I’m always gonna drive. I run the transit agency. I’m always gonna drive, probably for a majority of my trips…but people will choose it.”
Onward.
Everybody knows Nashville is full of musicians—almost everyone you meet plays a little something or is looking for their big break to become a star. Kenny Wayne, Jr. falls into neither of these camps: he plays a lot of everything, and is distinctly unconcerned with stardom. His concern is only to play as much music as possible and build a rich community around it. The result? Wayne’s bringing back some good, old fashioned celebrations of song and dance. We got talking about his general philosophy as an artist and how it's brought these to life.
Wayne sees himself as getting into the spirit of bands from the 70s and 80s. It’s about making the music you want and the music that people genuinely enjoy hearing, not about the algorithm. “Most people trying to get on a record label are taking somebody’s advice that doesn’t know what music is supposed to sound like,” he states, criticizing the notion that, “if you want to get through this door, you have to do this.” It just shouldn’t be that way. “The machine is so massive and it’s producing some sh*t that nobody wants… let the real recognize real.” He wants to find a way, in his new work, to “create a path to where nobody has to be a server.” He admits the vision is “utopian,” but he had faith it can be brought to life.
The method is simple: go to a venue and say something like, “I’ve got friends that make music, we will blow this place up, and you will feel it at the cash register.” The difference between Wayne and other musicians is that he does this not with the intention of “getting his music out,” but with the intention of getting numbers up at their bars—asking what he can do for them instead of vice versa. He finds that to be effective, half-joking, “They’ll be like, ‘Okay! Let me get Karen real quick,’ and Karen’s like, ‘You say something about money? I love that sh*t!’”
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👨⚖️ Still Funking Up Two weeks ago, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and Tennessee Comptroller Jason Mumpower called for a special prosecutor to look into District Attorney Glenn Funk after an investigation exposed his office’s practice of secretly recording conversations. Even without a special prosecutor, the investigation into Funk is already causing a stir: a murder trial that was set to be heard on Monday has since been postponed due to the allegations against the DA.
As it happens, the case’s defense attorney, Ben Powers, appeared in two pictures among the evidence unearthed by the Comptroller’s office. This discovery has raised ethical questions as to whether Funk's office eavesdropped on Powers’ defense team when they were reviewing evidence.
"[T]he appearance of impropriety is so glaring, so organized and so far-reaching that the only cure is for the DA's Office to be disqualified from prosecuting Calvin Atchison's case so that his rights remain intact and so that the public's trust may be restored," Powers wrote. While Funk has requested that the court expedite a hearing to address Power’s disqualification motion to kick him off the case, the Tennessean reports that it is currently set for December 13th.
🌊 Hurricane Relief For Northeast TN Yesterday, Governor Lee announced that three additional counties have been approved for FEMA’s Public Assistance program. Claiborne, Grainger, and Sullivan counties were added to Biden’s Major Disaster Declaration for Tennessee, and their jurisdictions are eligible to receive funding. This extends the federal government’s disaster relief package to a total of twelve counties in Northeast Tennessee.
"Our top priority remains supporting the recovery of our communities in a way that places survivors at the heart of every decision we make," said TEMA Director Patrick C. Sheehan in a press release. “We will continue working hand-in-hand with federal, state, and local partners to deliver aid efficiently and effectively to survivors.”
The governor also announced that the Tennessee Department of Revenue will provide tax relief measures for businesses and individuals in the area. This includes extensions on tax filing deadlines and a sales tax exemption for residents of up to $2,500 on major appliances, furniture, and building supplies.
🏥 Against Sex Change Operations on Minors On Tuesday, Attorney General Skrmetti filed a response brief with the Supreme Court defending Tennessee’s law prohibiting gender-affirming transitional procedures on minors. Back in June, the Supreme Court officially took up the case involving the ban.
“The federal government, in its arguments to the Supreme Court, puts its faith in a false and manufactured consensus that ignores the many doctors, States, and countries who have looked at the evidence and determined these treatments are too risky for kids,” Skrmetti said in a press release. “The Constitution does not prevent the States from regulating the practice of medicine where hot-button social issues are concerned. People who disagree with restrictions on irreversible pediatric procedures for gender transition are free to advocate for change through state elections.”
The Supreme Court Justices are hearing arguments on this case throughout the fall, and a decision will likely come down next summer.
DEVELOPMENT
- Restaurateurs behind Kisser plan new Nashville restaurant (NBJ)
- Georgia Mexican restaurant opens first Nashville location (Post)
- Cocktail bar to open by year’s end in The Nations (Post)
✹ REVIEW: THE APPRENTICE (2024)
Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan) and Andy Warhol (Bruce Beaton) are making idle chit chat when Trump asks the white-wigged pop artist what he does for a living. Warhol looks a little nonplussed before telling The Donald that he’s an artist who makes whatever kind of art sells. In a lesser movie than The Apprentice, the exchange would serve as a shallow joke, a moment to lampoon the 45th president’s intelligence and baseline cultural ignorance.
Yet, when Trump responds “Making money is an art,” one of the 20th century's greatest cultural figures offers an affirmative grin. It’s a scene that, more than any depiction of Trump, understands his appeal as a populist striver who knows he’ll never be accepted in the world of cultural elites, but has so fully studied their inner workings they have had but little choice to keep him in the limelight for the last five decades.
Since its Cannes premiere last May, The Apprentice seemed the latest in a line of lefty Hollywood screeds meant to capitalize on pre-election angst among those in the rarified atmosphere. Trump threatened to sue the film’s producers while the media has repeatedly baited the cast into painting the project as an essential pillar of the fight to save democracy.
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 and yearly festival guide.
TONIGHT
🎺 LIVE JAZZ: Parker James, Paul DeFiglia, & Anson Hohne @ Vinyl Tap, 7p, No Cover, Info
🎸 The Wonder Years & The Menzingers @ Marathon Music Works, 7p, $25.68, Info
🎸 Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit with Alice Randall @ Ryman Auditorium, 8p, $59.75+, Info
🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info
🎸 Kelly’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info
🎸 Open Mic @ Fox & Locke, 6:30p, Free, Info
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