The Sounds of a City

Good afternoon, everyone.

Traveling through Dallas today, I was again reminded of the dignity imbued into a city with a healthy classical radio station. Complain about Dallas all you want, but turning on the car to Strauss colors the mundane positively.

At the beginning of the year, I wrote about how Louisville’s classical station redeemed some of its more unsavory aspects on a basic sensory level. In 2020, Nashville axed the old classical station and replaced it with an undifferentiated contemporary station in pursuit of a younger demographic. It’s a small thing, but in aggregate, the absence of a standard feature of most cities sticks out.

With the DNC in Chicago this week (can you imagine the smell?), I’m reminded that back in 2023, Walgreens in the city’s central area would blast classical music on outdoor speakers to keep out the “loiterers.” What’s the science behind this?

If, as Simon Leys puts it, bad taste, ignorance, and stupidity are fiercely active forces, what does that make something we generally agree to be the opposite of all these things? Equally active? A force that when put against the all-consuming progressive push forward, balances it out and produces a more harmonious whole? Seems like something we could use more of.

In other news, we’re doing a Bar Hours next Thursday, August 29th. RSVP to get the location.

Onward.

💊 Overdoses Are Down Last week, Rep. Caleb Hemmer shared some grim news: Davidson County has the second-highest overdose death rate in the country. “I convened a meeting of expert stakeholders from [Federal], State, and Local Health and Law Enforcement on the topic to learn more about the problem and discuss solutions,” Hemmer posted on X. “We had nearly 700 people die last year and that is unacceptable. This is a problem worth fixing!”

Mayor O’Connell broached the subject a week earlier during his regular roundtable. “So far this year, fatal overdoses are down by around 21 percent,” he said. “While the numbers are trending in the right direction, we know there's still a lot of work to do.” 

Since taking office, O’Connell has had to contend with Nashville’s ballooning opioid crisis. On June 26th, he signed Executive Order 4 updating the Metro Behavioral Health and Wellness Advisory Council to help tackle this issue. On August 9th, he reminded the press that Fentanyl is “detected in about 70 percent of overdose- related deaths,” before emphasizing the importance of Narcan. “Our Metro Public Health Department at the Lentz Public Health Center has Narcan kits available. Our Office of Nightlife has been focused on the availability of Narcan within the entertainment district, and when you go to MPHD, no names or signatures are required.” MEGAN PODSIEDLIK

🏟️ Men in Women's Sports Since taking office, General Skrmetti has set out to protect women’s sports. This Friday, his office took a victory lap after the Supreme Court denied the Biden admin’s request to partially reinstate its new Title IX rule. Over the past three years, multiple states, including Tennessee, have filed suits opposing the DOE’s redefinition of “sex” to include “gender identity.” While the cases are pending, the highest court agreed that the new guidelines should be put on pause, but not without dissent. Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch, and Jackson disagreed in part with the court’s decision, stating that provisions unrelated to sexual discrimination should be put into effect.

“I am grateful that the Supreme Court of the United States agreed that no part of the Biden administration’s Title IX rule should go into effect while the case proceeds,” Skrmetti said in a press release. “This is a win for student privacy, free speech, and the rule of law.” MEGAN PODSIEDLIK

DEVELOPMENT

• Grilled Cheeserie owners open restaurant at the First Art Museum (NBJ)
• Italian sandwich shop All’Antico Vinaio slated for downtown (Post)
• Status of future South Street restaurant building unclear (Post)
• Historic downtown structure listed for sale for $17.6M (Post)
• Second Avenue building sells for $17.5M (Post)
• Dog park bar & restaurant to open in Nashville (WSMV)

✹ AN INTERVIEW WITH KEVIN ROBERTS

The Heritage Foundation, founded in 1973 by Paul Weyrich, Edwin Feulner, and Joseph Coors, has a long history as a prominent conservative think tank. Much of its gravitas and reputation is rooted in the significant role it played in shaping policy during the Reagan era, then again in the Gingrich era. Heritage also played a significant role by giving intellectual ammunition to conservatives resisting the expansion of government during the Obama years. From the fight over Obamacare to the budget battles, conservative lawmakers came to rely heavily upon policy work done by Heritage, especially as complex multi-thousand page bills became the norm and outstripped the capacity of policy staff on the Hill.

As a think tank built on generating ideas and policy proposals to put into the hands of lawmakers and their staff, Heritage had largely avoided much public attention outside of professional political circles. That is, up until recent months when the Biden-Harris campaign and its surrogates began hammering Heritage’s Project 2025, a wide-ranging conservative policy blueprint and personnel database intended for the next administration. Biden and Harris began calling it “Trump’s Project 2025”, characterizing it as a “radical”, “extreme”, and “dangerous.” After the first presidential debate, an embattled President Biden ratcheted up the rhetoric with statements like: “Project 2025 will destroy America.” In response, President Trump disavowed Project 2025, stating on several occasions that he has not had anything to do with the project and has issued his own policy manifesto, called Agenda 47.

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

🎸 Noun @ DRKMTTR, 8p, $12, Info
+ collaborative project of Marissa Paternoster of Screaming Females

🎸 Open Mic Mondays @ Tennessee Brew Works, 6p, Free, Info

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

💀 Grateful Monday @ Acme Feed & Seed, 8p, Free, Info

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

📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.