No Further West

The army officer passing through Panama was in one of those watering hole conversations that could last all night with a fellow U.S. traveler. After hearing the American journeyman’s endless complaints, the good soldier asked his new drinking buddy why he just didn’t go back to his own country. “Because I’m a Manifest Destiny Man, and my country will be here long before I die!” 

Though the joke’s early variants date all the way back to 1847, it managed to prophesize both the ambivalence and the sheer magnitude of America’s westward expansion and its ultimate global dominion. Nearly 180 years later, it's a cutting statement that manages to tackle the worst tendencies of American hubris while foreshadowing the cultural crisis that would erupt when the nation was out of western land on which to expand and had no choice but to openly flirt with its imperialist tendencies.

Considering that the movies arose as a popular art form right around the time Arizona earned statehood in 1912, it comes as little surprise that the western captured the popular imagination in ways other film genres just couldn’t. From 1903s “The Great Train Robbery” to the rise of John Ford in the Depression years, it became the most American of genres in the only artistic medium to which the nation can claim dominance. As Thomas Schatz writes about the western’s impact in his foundational film studies book Hollywood Genres: “It is interesting in this regard that we as a culture have found the story of the settlement of the ‘New World’ beyond the Alleghenies and the Mississippi even more compelling than the development of the colonies and the Revolutionary War itself.”

Yet the Western’s supremacy would not last. As American film began its Renaissance, movies like The Wild Bunch and Little Big Man challenged the genre’s conventions with their interrogations of violence and parallels between Vietnam and the nation’s policy toward Native Americans. Hollywood cinema may have reached the pinnacle of its artistry with such revisionist westerns, but the result was that its most popular genre collapsed, morphing into the urban action cinema of the Clint Eastwood kind or migrating to television in miniseries like 1985’s Lonesome Dove or the shows to which Quentin Tarantino paid tribute in Once Upon A Time in Hollywood…The western’s popularity never wavered; it merely became the stuff of lower art only redeemable when filmmakers turned classic crowd pleasers into prestige pics like the Coen Brothers’s remake of True Grit, Eastwood’s Unforgiven, or Kevin Costner’s Dances with Wolves.

🚧 Eat Dirt And Kick Rocks Can you have buyer’s remorse if you didn’t buy in to begin with? Last year, a wide array of Nashvillians found themselves united in opposition to Metro’s decision to include provisions for a new Titans stadium within the development plan for the East Bank. Now that the ink has dried, two new obstacles have come to light over the last week involving the NFL franchise, adding insult to injury.

On Monday, Fox17 reported that, in addition to the $2.3 billion for the new stadium, Titans CFO Shannon Myers is demanding Metro foot the bill for $80,000 worth of upgrades to the current stadium before the start of the new season. Apparently, the stairs require repair and electrical revamps are needed in the interest of fan and player safety. 

Last night, Councilmember Joy Kimbrough, who took office last fall (and wasn’t part of the stadium deal), joined a community meeting at the Word of Life Christian Center near the Bordeaux Library to discuss the city’s plan to dump some dirt in her district. (In case you haven’t noticed the massive mounds adorning your skyline view, 340,000 cubic yards of excavated earth have been piled high since the start of stadium construction this February.) 

The original plan was to dump the debris at landfills in Sumner County. According to the Banner, things have changed and the new strategy is to haul some "clean fill" to "bolster the cap" at the former Bordeaux landfill. Since 2004, the area has been maintained as a habitat for wildlife; now, the site could possibly become home to a solar farm. In any case, Bordeaux residents aren’t happy. “We just do not want the dirt,” said Kimbrough. “Period. Take it somewhere other than here.” MEGAN PODSIEDLIK

🗳️ Early Voting Closes Tomorrow  Since July 12th, just over 27,000 people cast their ballots for August’s primary elections. In other words, under seven percent of registered Davidson County voters have participated in early voting so far. 

The most prominent showdown is between Representative Andy Ogles and Councilmember Courtney Johnston, his Republican challenger for the state’s 5th Congressional District. Both candidates agreed to do a quick Q&A, summing up their respective platforms. You can review Ogles’ answers here and Johnston’s here.

Nashvillians can head to the polls at one of twelve locations before early voting ends tomorrow. Or, if you're like us at the Pamphleteer, you can wait a week and pull the lever on Election Day, August 1st.

On the Republican primary ballot:

US Senate: 

• Marsha Blackburn (incumbent) 
• Tres Wittum

US House of Representatives, Tennessee’s 5th District:

• Andy Ogles (incumbent)
• Courtney Johnston

State House of Representatives, District 60:

• Chad Bobo
• Christopher Huff 

On the Democratic primary ballot:

US Senate

• Marquita Bradshaw 
• Lola Denise Brown
• Gloria Johnson
• Civil Miller-Watkins 

US House of Representatives, Tennessee’s 6th District : 

• Lore Bergman
• Clay Faircloth
• Cyril Focht 

State House of Representatives, District 56

• Nick Forster-Benson
• Bob Freeman (incumbent)

State House of Representatives, District 60 

• Tyler Brasher
• Shaundelle Brooks 
• John W. Parrish 

Full sample ballot here.

DEVELOPMENT

• Downtown's Morris Memorial building to be transformed into hotel, speakeasy (NBJ)
• Ernest Tubb Record Shop to reopen (Post)
• Nashville Yards outdoor project progresses (Post)
• Dallas company once again buys South Davidson apartment complex (Post)

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

🤖 Revolt Against The Anti-Human: AI & The Omega Point @ Nashville City Club, 5p, Info
+ hosted by The Pamphleteer

🎸 American Aquarium @ Grand Ole Opry, 7p, $53+, Info

🪕 The Tennessee Bluegrass Band @ Station Inn, 9p, $25, Info

🎸 Charley Crockett @ Ryman Auditorium, 8p, $35+, Info

🎸 Mary Timony @ The Blue Room, 8p, $25.88, Info
+ w/ Speedy Ortiz & Kate Teague

🪕 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