Missing Megaphone
Good afternoon, everyone.
The Nashville Symphony underwent another round of layoffs after trimming the executive team last July. Friday, the organization laid off eight employees, amounting to 13 percent of the remaining staff, citing “challenges driven by inflation, shifting consumer behavior, an increasingly competitive landscape, and broader economic uncertainty.” Revenue slipped to $22 million in FY 2023, down from $29.9 million in 2022 and below the pre‑pandemic FY 2019 figure of $23.2 million.
Pure speculation, but the Symphony’s marketing power likely took a hit when 91.1 ditched classical for a Lightning 100‑style indie format. I’ve griped about that change before, yet its full impact didn’t click until last weekend in Fort Worth: a radio ad on the city’s classical station prompted my girlfriend to buy tickets to Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman for us. A dedicated classical frequency is a marketing megaphone the Symphony no longer has.
In related musical news, tickets for the 2025 Pilgrimage Festival went on sale yesterday. John Mayer and Kings of Leon are headliners.
Onward, Davis.
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😷 Blackburn Bashes VUMC For Hiding DEI Practices On Tuesday, Senator Marsha Blackburn openly criticized Vanderbilt University Medical Center in a letter sent to VUMC’s President and CEO Jeffrey R. Balser. “I write to you today to express my grave concern regarding reports that Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has begun concealing its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts instead of fully complying with President Trump’s executive action to end wasteful DEI programs in educational institutions,” she wrote. “For the benefit of Tennesseans and all Americans who rely on VUMC for lifesaving care and research, I urge you to end all DEI programs and fully comply with the President’s executive action.”
Blackburn also accused VUMC of “[scrubbing] its website of references to DEI initiatives at the institution, going so far as to password protect web pages tied to DEI and climate activism.” This isn’t the first time Vandy has wiped its public archives. In 2022, VUMC removed pages associated with its Clinic for Transgender Health after the Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh exposed the clinic for its procedures provided to minors.
“Vanderbilt opened its trans clinic in 2018,” Walsh posted on X at the time. “During a lecture the same year, Dr. Shayne Taylor explained how she convinced Nashville to get into the gender transition game. She emphasized that it's a ‘big money maker,’ especially because the surgeries require a lot of ‘follow ups.’"
💋 Drake Tied Up In Romantic Scandal Metro Nashville Police Department Chief John Drake is currently under internal investigation for an alleged office romance. According to WSMV, Drake faces “accusations that he carried out a romantic relationship on the city’s dime.” The publication also obtained texts between the chief and another Metro employee.
Though the allegation is fit fodder for the gossip column, it’s too soon to tell if it has the makings of a Megan Barry-level scandal. MNPD Public Affairs Director Don Aaron told WSMV that there is currently no proof that the relationship was carried out during work hours. The accusations against Drake also come from the ex-husband of the Metro employee allegedly involved with the police chief.
According to The Tennessee Star, after Mario Mitchell was arrested for aggravated stalking charges related to his ex-wife earlier this month, he accused Chief Drake of both carrying out this romantic relationship during work hours and ordering his arrest. Mitchell has since walked back his claim that Drake was responsible for his arrest, but the Office of Professional Accountability is still investigating the alleged workplace romance.
💸 No Tariff Impact The Tennessee Ledger spoke with project executive over the new Nissan Stadium, Kellen DeCoursey, who says the $2.2 billion stadium is largely insulated from Trump’s import tariffs because “a lot of the steel that you see going in today is American‑made and sourced,” leaving only a few specialty parts exposed. He adds that the Titans ordered long‑lead gear like electrical panels and HVAC units early—“lessons learned from the pandemic”—to avoid the COVID‑era supply‑chain bottlenecks that once stretched delivery times.
📜 Passing Bills While Hiding In Plain Sight Did you know that there’s a way a bill can make it through all three readings without ever being discussed during a regular Metro Council meeting? Though legislation is discussed more extensively during board and commission meetings, the main events are the council meetings that occur twice a month. Anyone who tries to follow along with the council’s agenda knows it’s basically a full-time job, so it’s understandable why members of the public who only tune in to regular meetings expect clarity on bills and resolutions making their way through the Metro. That said, here’s how legislation can pass without any council discussion outside of commission meetings.
It’s common for bills on first reading to be passed on what’s known as the consent agenda, which is a bundle of items that are passed unanimously, without discussion, in a single vote. Any legislation on its first, second, or third (and final) reading can be pulled off the consent agenda for discussion on the floor, but, as Vice Mayor Angie Henderson reminds us every council meeting: “All resolutions and second and third reading ordinances on this agenda are included on the consent agenda if recommended for approval unanimously by all committees to which the item was referred.”
That means that if a council member never requests an item that is unanimously approved during committee meetings to be independently discussed on the floor, you’ll never hear sponsors explain their bill during a regular council meeting. Though members can pull bills off consent at any time for discussion, which they do for a variety of reasons, the council also passed a new rule that will go into effect next meeting making it even harder to remove a bill from the consent agenda for discussion on its first reading.
DEVELOPMENT
✹ REPEAT ILLEGAL OFFENDER OF THE DAY
The Deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia (sounds like a compelling movie title) has been the talk of the nation lately, as Democrats have been eager to portray him as just a regular guy who the Trump Deportation Machine mistakenly Hoovered up in their efforts to deport illegal immigrants. But as the days have passed, Garcia's record proves to be anything but lily-white: a domestic-violence accusation levied against him by his wife, proof of his association with the deadly Salvadoran gang MS-13, and, relevant to us here in Tennessee, an encounter with the state highway patrol on suspicion of human trafficking that the Biden DOJ swept aside. (More Info)
✹ REVIEW: BLACK BAG (2025)
At some point between the frenzy over Killing Eve, Apple’s relentless PR push for Slow Horses, and Netflix’s binge-ready Treason, the British spy series infiltrated American television. That small screen espionage saturation has remained the go-to explanation for Steven Soderbergh’s new Brit spy thriller Black Bag’s failure to connect with audiences despite the star power of Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender as married National Cyber Security Centre rooting out each other as potential traitors. Yet, as Hollywood’s great experimenter, Soderbergh’s take on the ubiquitous genre outshines his streaming contemporaries while making a case for the power of pure cinema.
Reteaming with scribe David Koepp after the release of their stellar haunted house movie, Presence, in January, Soderbergh yet again aims to reinvent genre conventions via his penchant for character study–a tactic that has made his previous efforts like Erin Brokovich and the Ocean’s movies transcend their popcorn flick origins while remaining utterly entertaining.
As he puts his own stamp on the spy procedural, Soderbergh cultivates a nuanced ode to the sanctity of the marriage bond, sidestepping seven-year-itch platitudes and easy cynicism. His spy movie is not centered around convoluted globe-trotting melodrama or politically savvy takes on international relations (though it more than excels on both fronts). It’s a carefully stylized allegory about the trust issues and small betrayals that sink many a lifetime commitment as they distract from what truly matters.
All sleekness aside, Soderbergh doesn’t merely capture our attention so we keep asking what happens next. He provides a seamlessly executed glimpse into a couple’s life that lingers in the mind long after those of us fortunate enough to see it on the bigscreen have left the theater and begrudgingly go back to Black Bag’s streaming content counterparts.
Black Bag is now playing in theaters and will remain at The Belcourt through next week.
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
🎻 The Lafayette Music & Immersive Bicentennial Tour @ Schermerhorn Symphony Center, 7:30p, $30+, Info 🎸 Amos Lee @ Ryman Auditorium, 7:30p, $40+, Info
🎸 Beach Bunny @ Brooklyn Bowl Nashville, 8p, $39.40+, Info
🎸 Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit @ Brown County Music Center, 7p, Info
🎸 Ian Munsick @ The Pinnacle, 8p, $45+, Info
🎸 Amos Lee @ Ryman Auditorium, 7:30p, $40+, 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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Today's newsletter is brought to you by Megan Podsiedlik (Nashville), Jerod Hollyfield (Crowd Corner), Camelia Brennan (Local Noise), and Davis Hunt (everything else).