Music City's Imagined Savior

Twenty-four years ago, NewsChannel 5 employee, Nashville tour guide, and musician Glen Weiss turned forty and felt it was time for a big life change. In a self-described “drunken stupor”, he got an idea: what if there was a hot, female superhero in a bikini who shot lasers from her behind?

He held onto that idea, and now almost twenty-five years later Weiss is the creator of two short films, two feature films, a web series, a video game, and a musical revue. Thong Girl—the beautiful and brilliant Assistant District Attorney and superhero—is their star. Weiss has made international news with the franchise, even having a local law named after his titular character. I’ve gotten to know him over the last week and been fortunate to hear of how it all happened from the man himself.

Weiss’ time working at NewsChannel 5 inspired an interest in film and television production and gave him the platform to begin his franchise. Thong Girl’s first appearance was on the network’ sketch comedy show Stubby’s Place, which Weiss wrote for. He introduced the premise in a 7 minute short film, and convinced another talented coworker to get involved. Weiss’ friend (who worked master control at the network) was also a comic artist, and through their collaboration, the Thong Girl comic books were born. Soon, he found himself going to comic book conventions. Often, the pair would hire a woman to wear a bikini, play the role of Thong Girl live, and greet convention goers. They were very popular, with adults and children alike. Weiss laughed remembering one little girl who said, “Thong Girl, when I grow up I want to be just like you.” 

It wasn’t until his third Thong Girl film (and first feature) in 2006 that he “got the Mayor in trouble, and everything took off.” Weiss’ crew had effectively gotten unrestricted access to the Gallatin municipal building from then-mayor Don Wright who was letting them film in his office. Wright, however, hadn’t told anyone else in the building this was happening—apart from the fire chief. The result was a media tempest brewed on the wild internet of the early aughts: Weiss thanked Wright for allowing the crew to use the building on his blog. As the mayor was up for reelection, someone searched his name and found that a film called Thong Girl 3 was recently filmed in his office, and the news spread.

💥 A Vision To Reduce Traffic Violence “Welcome, everyone, to an event I wish we did not need to have,” Diana Alarcon, Director of the Nashville Department of Transportation & Multimodal Infrastructure, greeted the audience at last week’s Vision Zero Screening and Panel Discussion. “An event to honor people who have lost their lives while traveling in our city, and to honor those who have forever been impacted by traffic violence on our streets.”

Alarcon impressed upon those in attendance the importance of Vision Zero’s goals: not only to reduce the number of pedestrian deaths to zero, but also to usher in “the culture change we so desperately need to embrace.”

Mayor Freddie O’Connell was on hand to address the audience before the Q&A began: “I think that one of the most important considerations about Vision Zero is that this is about infrastructure choices and design that are intended to keep people safer,” he said. “And we have not, as a city, historically, always done this.”

One audience member asked why Nashville has adopted Vision Zero when it has failed in other cities. (“It's been ten years since Vision Zero first landed in the US, and traffic fatalities are up 30 percent nationwide in that time frame,” opened the host of Consider This, Scott Detrow, in an NPR broadcast this February.)

Alarcon answered first: “It actually has not failed in other cities,” she said. “As a matter of fact, Holcomb, New Jersey last year actually put on record zero fatalities.” While she acknowledged that there have been challenges in maintaining buy-in and sustaining Vision Zero programs across the country, she emphasized the importance of community conversations to keep the vision alive.

“These are very difficult things for cities to do,” O’Connell followed up. “For anyone to assert that Vision Zero has failed, they may be saying that a lot of cities that have embraced Vision Zero—either as a philosophy or a goal—haven't achieved zero traffic deaths. But I can tell you— from watching our investments right now this year—what Diana and her team have achieved is reducing traffic violence in Nashville.”

During the discussion, Alarcon shared the underlying goal of Vision Zero: “Many different approaches can help continue under alignment to that which leads to equity,” she explained. You can watch the full presentation and Q&A here. MEGAN PODSIEDLIK

🗳️ November 5th Election Timeline In anticipation of November’s election, the Davidson County Election Commission sent out sample ballots this week. Some important dates:

• Voter registration ends on October 7th.
• Absentee ballot requests must be submitted by October 29th. 
• Early voting runs from October 16th to Halloween, October 31st.
• The DCEC will inspect voting machines on October 14th and 28th.

You can download the GoVoteTN app on your phone and take advantage of some helpful features, including an interactive sample ballot, updated voting locations, an online voter registration form, and district information. 

🚍 Throwing The Taxpayer Under The Empty Bus Last week, the Davidson County Republican Party coordinated an Anti-Transit-Tax Meeting to organize a counter-campaign against Mayor O’Connell’s proposed transit referendum. The Banner’s Stephen Elliott attended the event and reported on the gathering spearheaded by DCRP Chair Lonnie Spivak and former Metro council member Emily Evans. 

“Last time, when Mayor Barry had her transit plan with the big tunnel, there was a very organized effort, more than a million dollars spent in direct mail and advertising,” said Spivak. “It doesn’t seem like we’re going to be anywhere near that opposition.”

Though the coffers are running a bit low, you have probably spotted a few “Vote No Transit Tax” signs around your neighborhood. The bipartisan coalition of those against the tax have been making their rounds and handing out free yard signs across Davidson County.

HELENE ROAD DAMAGE IN EAST TN

DEVELOPMENT

• New Marriott hotel slated near East Bank (NBJ)
• Giarratana skyscraper captures international award (Post)

✹ THIS WEEK IN STREAMING (October 1st)

Oddity (AMC+) Releasing a small-budget British horror film between Twisters and the new Deadpool last July may not have been the best plan. Regardless, this supernatural tale of a doctor reeling from the murder of his wife at their country estate and his blind, clairvoyant sister-in-law’s inquiry into the matter is perfect early October viewing thanks to its impeccable plotting and palpable sense of dread. 

The Vance-Walz VP Smackdown (Hulu, Peacock, Paramount+) The Midwest hustle reaches its climax as the Senate’s bootstraps hillbilly faces off against a real-life character from A Prarie Home Companion. Will Vance’s debate acumen put his campaign into overdrive as it did twice during his Ohio Senate run? Will Walz explain cleaning a perfectly good air filter in that TikTok video? Will they sit on couches? Come for the inevitable KOs involving military service; stay to see how CBS moderators Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan deal with the Saint Paul Rambo’s penchant for tall tales. The debate will also air on all local broadcast stations, cable news, and streaming cable services like YouTube TV and Sling.

The World of Gotham (Max) Just in time for the release of Joker: Folie À Deux in theaters on Friday, Max has put together a collection of Batman’s greatest screen appearances from Tim Burton’s surrealist takes to Christopher Nolan’s high-minded spectacle. At the very least, it offers up the opportunity to revisit Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker for all the incels who need to brush up on the lore before the weekend.

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

🎸 Royel Otis @ Brooklyn Bowl Nashville, 8p, $39.5, Info

🎸 Pete Yorn @ The Blue Room, 12p, $25.88, Info

🪕 Kenny Thacker & Friends @ Station Inn, 8p, $20, Info

🎸 Honky Tonk Tuesday @ Eastside Bowl, 8p, $10, Info‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌
+ two-step lessons @ 7p, The Cowpokes @ 8p

🎺 Todd Day Wait @ The Underdog, 11:30p, Free, Info‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌

📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.