The Eternal City

I spent the past ten or so days in Italy, which was an interesting place to be in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk's assassination. When we think of Rome, we often overlook the spiritual component of the empire; instead, we tend to focus on the political and martial dynamics.

Seeing ancient things set in stone or cast in metal invokes a materiality I don't often associate with the spiritual world. Maybe it's just my Presbyterian upbringing. But it was Ancient Rome, the ruins of which you can touch with your own hands, that vested Pontius Pilate with the authority to crucify Jesus, and it is in Rome that the fount of the world's largest Christian Church now sits.

Absent Kirk's assassination, I'm sure I would've marvelled superficially, as I like to do, at the tile mosaics, marble sculptures, and architecture of antiquity. Thrown into relief by the spiritual ferment back home, the religious elements of the region really jumped out to me though. I saw St. Peter's Basilica, visited the Shroud of Turin Cathedral, and gazed at the crumbled pagan ruins.

In the Vatican, before you walk into the room with Raphael's frescoes, including the School of Athens, you look up and see a work by a lesser artist, as your tour guide tells you, which depicts a bronze crucifix set at the end of a long hallway with a shattered statue of Mercury in the foreground.

After the Romans crucified Jesus, they couldn't have imagined that 300 years later, the emperor of this same empire would himself become a Christian and end their persecution. Many inconceivable things can and will happen in the future. DAVIS HUNT

🖋️ Edited by Megan Podsiedlik.

🔑 Key Lee Appointments Last week, Governor Lee announced that Stuart McWhorter will replace Lee’s long-time advisor Butch Eley as Deputy Governor starting on October 15. McWhorter was previously the director of the Unified Command Group that coordinated Tennessee’s COVID response and will continue serving in his current role as Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.

Lee also appointed Jim Todd to the 20th Judicial District Criminal Court to replace the aged Cheryl Blackburn. Todd currently serves as a judge in the Davidson County General Sessions Court, District VI.

🎫 Skrmetti Takes On Scalping Schemes Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has joined the FTC and six other state attorneys general in a lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation. The suit asserts that the company enabled ticket scalping schemes by allowing brokers to bypass purchase limits with hundreds of fake accounts. The complaint also alleges violations of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act through deceptive claims about enforcing ticket limits, which were not applied to these brokers.

Back in 2023, Skrmetti became a hero to all anti-hero lovers when he launched an antitrust investigation into Ticketmaster after Swifties experienced problems buying tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. This is the latest in consumer protection antitrust probes made by the Tennessee AG’s office. ​​

“Tennessee wouldn’t be Tennessee without world-class live music from the mountains to the Mississippi,” Skrmetti said in a press release. “When consumers line up for a show, they should never have to compete with armies of scalpers scooping up hundreds of tickets at a time. We’re fighting to level the playing field and get tickets back into the hands of real fans at fair prices.”

📀 Oracle Still Invested In Nashville Oracle Corporation announced that Clay Magouyrk and Mike Sicilia are taking over as co-CEOs of the $414 billion computer technology company. The pair will succeed Safra Catz, who will continue serving as executive vice chair of the board.

According to recent reports, Oracle is moving forward with its plans to make Nashville the company’s global headquarters despite delays since the original announcement in 2024. According to the Nashville Business Journal, the riverfront campus that will be on the East Bank riverfront campus will cost the company about $2 billion.

Larry Ellison, Oracle's co-founder, touted Magouyrk and Sicilia’s commitment to artificial intelligence strategies. Oracle was also recently recognized as a market leader in AI agents and conversational AI. The future world headquarters is projected to employ 8,500 workers by 2031.

DEVELOPMENT

• H.G. Hill plans expansion of Belle Meade Publix development (NBJ)
• Data center breaks ground on 11-acre site on Brick Church Pike (NBJ)
• Chicago restaurant group enters market with Mediterranean concept (Post)
• East Nashville apartment property sells for $39M (Post)
• Immersive music venue eyed for The Arcade (Post)
• Midtown hotel building sells for $25M (Post)

✹ A BILLBOARD FOR CHARLIE

From Jerod Hollyfield

The day after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, residents driving down Cookeville’s main drag came face to face with a billboard bearing the Turning Point USA founder’s image and the text, “Husband, Father, Martyr.” It was the handiwork of Dave Roland, owner of Roland Digital Media. 

“For the 41 years we've been in the sign business, we've been very selective about what we put on advertising, even types of business that we will work for, just because these media are meant to change people's minds,” Roland said. “But the Bible talks about being Watchmen, and we feel like we have that obligation to warn people of what's going on around them.”

Since he founded his business in Cookeville, Roland has amassed holdings that stretch from Loudon County just outside Knoxville to Cheatham County. In the last few years, he has also added more than 40 digital billboards that dot the roads between Mt. Juliet to Pleasant Shade. In times of crisis like an Amber Alert or national tragedy, he can get a message up and running in as little as five minutes. 

Though Roland has been a fixture of Republican politics in Cookeville for years, his first time speaking out through his business happened during one such crisis: the Middle Tennessee tornado outbreak in 2020 that ravaged his city. When President Trump came to survey the damage, Roland made sure he was welcome despite the pushback from some in the community. “I got to meet the president face to face,” Roland said. “That day, we had all of our 19 area digital billboards locked on his message, greeting him all day long, and that’s when I really started.”

While his efforts certainly helped Putnam County swing 3-to-1 for Trump in 2024, Cookeville has long been under fire from leftist activists, including the bizarre story we brought readers last year of Mayor Laurin Wheaton appointing witches to serve on the Christmas parade board when the city took it over due to the controversial exclusion of LGBTQ+ groups. But according to Roland, the area’s politics is, nevertheless, undergoing a seismic change.

“The word Republican was a cuss word in Putnam County up until a few years ago,” Roland– who began voting Red during the Reagan years and never looked back–said. “But I guess you say like, just like Reagan said, I didn't leave the Democrats. Democrats left me.”

THINGS TO DO

View our calendar for the week 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

🎸 Slow Pulp @ The Basement East, 7p, $63.05, Info

🪕 Kyle Tuttle's Bluegrass Monday @ Dee's Lounge, 6p, $10, Info

🪕 Val Storey, Carl Jackson, Larry Cordle & New Monday @ Station Inn, 8p, $20, Info

💀 Grateful Monday @ Acme Feed & Seed, 7p, Free, Info

🕺 Motown Monday @ The 5 Spot, 9p, $5, Info

📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.

Today's newsletter is brought to you by Davis Hunt, Megan Podsiedlik and Camelia Brennan.