Next Level Nashville

The world's first Energy Drink Cafe is over in Wedgewood-Houston and it’s called Volta. The cafe serves energy drink concoctions with infusions like collagen, creatine, and NAD+. There are multiple caffeine levels you can choose from. The highest, MAX, requires you sign a waiver to consume it. They’ve also got matcha and protein shakes. 

Volta feels like the kind of place that belongs in California, but it’s gestating in Nashville, and feels well outside the popular representation of the city. I wrote last year about the Bitcoin Conference sneaking in under the nose of the city’s intelligentsia and setting off their alarm bells, circumventing the Metro Council and everyone else to bring Donald Trump to town. 

There is a version of Nashville that is coming into shape entirely foreign to the Broadway, Country Music axis, which feels like a melange of cryptocurrency, technology, and health. Volta falls into this camp of exciting, emerging companies that capture a zeitgeist not yet on the radar of most Nashvillians. 

Part of our goal here is to not only inform you, but to provide you as clear an understanding as possible of how this city is changing. And that requires looking outside the standard channels of information and influence and grappling with emerging trends and emerging people in the city. If we were to do a Nashville Leaders feature, it would look vastly different from the Nashville Post’s or the Tennessean’s. DAVIS HUNT

🖋️ Edited by Megan Podsiedlik.

📞 Women’s Caucus Pounces On Workplace Complaints Metro Nashville’s Women’s Caucus met last night to discuss the alleged workplace complaints within Nashville’s emergency communications center. According to WSMV, a number of Department of Emergency Communications employees surveyed by their union, the DEC, and the Women’s Caucus described their work environment as “toxic.”

When asked about the situation during Friday’s media roundtable, Mayor Freddie O’Connell said his office will take action if needed, but expressed confidence in Metro’s existing processes. “For one, caucuses are not really the place where HR matters really are explored formally,” said O’Connell. “We do have an HR process.”

He went on to point out that, as far as he’s aware, there are no active HR complaints in the Department of Emergency Communications. “We take all complaints seriously, but otherwise, from a personnel matter standpoint, it doesn't seem to be anything other than public commentary,” explained O’Connell. “I would absolutely encourage Metro council members to be aware of how the civil service and HR processes work.”

🚍 Infighting Over Subsidized Bus Passes Walk Bike Nashville is experiencing a snag in its bus pass program due to an “unexpected price hike.” Last week, the nonprofit put an indefinite pause on new QuickTicket memberships and halted its participation in WeGo Ride due to Metro increasing the special Walk Bike membership bus pass price from $25 to $50. 

Though Walk Bike Nashville acknowledged that the taxpayer subsidized passes still “provide an excellent value for transit users” despite the increased rates, it also expressed concerns about “such a drastic price hike with such little notice” in a blog post. 

WeGo Transit shot back at Walk Bike with a statement posted on social media. "It's a shame that Walk Bike Nashville decided they needed to scare their members with misleading information about our ongoing discussions about their WeGo Ride partnership,” reads the post, which was later deleted.

The WeGo Transit account also pointed out that Walk Bike's 673 participants “took a total of over 81,000 rides on WeGo Public Transit at an average cost to Walk Bike Nashville of $0.18 per ride,” and explained that the cost had to be “adjusted upward to be fair to everyone and keep the program sustainable.”

DEVELOPMENT

• Florida-based Asian restaurant Hawker expands to Franklin (NBJ)
• The Nations slated for new restaurant Maggie's Place (NBJ)
• Music Row buildings sell for $4.23M (Post)

✹ REPEAT OFFENDER ALL-STAR OF THE DAY

On August 24, 2025, 51-year-old James L. Moore was arrested in Nashville and charged with attempted criminal homicide after allegedly shooting 22-year-old Jaqwavius Woodruff multiple times in the face and neck at a motel near Antioch Park. Police reported that others at the scene were also placed in imminent danger during the attack. Woodruff survived but was left with life-threatening injuries, and Moore was taken into custody the same day.

Moore’s arrest came little more than a year after he was paroled in March 2024, following more than three decades behind bars. In 1993, he was convicted in Rutherford County of first-degree murder and attempted especially aggravated robbery, crimes for which he served about 31 years in the Tennessee Department of Corrections before his release. (More Info)

✹ MISSIONARY ZEAL

An Interview with Shaman director Antonio Negret

From Jerod Hollyfield

From the surprise hit Weapons to the latest entry in The Conjuring Universe that hits theaters next week, American horror movies have, as of late, remained in thrall of the devil. While The Pamphleteer has discussed how this recent religious turn has reinvigorated the genre, we can say that even the cream of the crop stay mired in the Heaven/Hell dichotomy. But Antonio Negret wanted to explore a more nuanced religious world in his most recent film, Shaman. 

Shot on location in an Ecuadarian village at the foot of a volcano, the film follows a family of missionaries as they negotiate remaining deferential to village customs while providing humanitarian and spiritual support. But when their preteen son (Jett Klyne) becomes one with an ancient entity, parents Candace (Sara Canning) and Joel (Daniel Gillies) must overcome their spiritual and personal shortcomings to preserve all they hold dear. 

Though Shaman boasts confident effects and unrelenting dread, its greatest triumph is navigating a story about conversion and cross-cultural exchange while staying off of any soapbox. 

Negret sat down with The Pamphleteer to discuss managing audience expectations, directing native first-time actors, and crafting faith-adjacent horror that connects universally.

THINGS TO DO

View our calendar for the week here and for more recs, click 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

🎸 311 @ The Pinnacle, 6p, $94+, Info

🎸 Adam Wakefield Trio @ Dee's Lounge, 6p, $5, Info

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

📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.

Today's newsletter is brought to you by Megan Podsiedlik (Nashville), Jerod Hollyfield (Crowd Corner), Camelia Brennan (Local Noise), and Davis Hunt (everything else).