Nashvillest

Flickr user dwneese caught this gorgeous sunrise on the parking garage at the Baptist Hospital. We loved the silhouette of the skyline and the great colors.

Photo Of The Day will be a recurring feature for Nashvillest as long you keep giving us stuff to post. Don’t worry- We’ll give you props. Just add them to the pool or tag them with “Nashvillest” if you’re feeling lazy.

Everyone has a personal opinion on the best places to eat, drink and be merry in town. We’re fiercely defensive of McDougal’s for chicken fingers, Joey’s for pizza and Baja Burrito for, well, burritos - but we know that others will die fighting for Pizza Perfect or Chile Burrito. 

AOL’s City’s Best contest aims to settle the score. Votes have been tallied and they’ve released their conclusive list of the “best” in a score of categories. We found that sometimes our favorites wound up second or third, but it’s still a great go-to list when you’re craving barbeque but want to try something new, or if you’re trying to come up with a list of the best country bars you’ve never been to for your visiting friends. 

Good morning, Nashville. In case you’ve been dying to know what ever happened to Mt. Juliet’s most famous non-couple, Pauly Bear and Snoogums, Channel 4 brings us the news that Snoogums is now suing Pauly for publicly humiliating her. If you missed the story a few weeks back, Pauly told the whole town about Snoogums dumping him by way of a paid classified ad in the local paper. Snoogums’ lawyer said she was “mortified” when she saw the ad and was also pretty embarrassed about his multiple posts in Craigslist’s Rants & Raves section (we can’t believe we missed that). We’re not sure which is funnier: The actual feud or fact that it’s still making headlines.

• Getting defensive. The Sheriff’s office isn’t backing down from their decision to restrain the immigrant woman who gave birth in custody a few weeks ago. They say the story, which made it all the way to the New York Times, was sensationalized and they didn’t treat the woman any differently than they would have treated any other inmate.
• Big changes ahead. Major changes are in store for Nashville’s high schools within the next few years. Mainly, they’ll involve the creation of “career academies” and smaller learning communities for 9th graders in all area high schools.
• Bits & pieces. Public Works cuts down on roadside brush cleanups after Metro budget cuts … The Feds are saying that Middle Tennessee is a haven for undocumented immigrants … Traffic fatalities are dropping dramatically in the rest of the state, but not in Nashville … Latest Bushism: Wall Street “got drunk and now it has a hangover.”

Photo by emdoyle.

• While everyone’s been busy accusing them of trying to poison everyone in North Carolina, the TVA has actually been working out a pretty sweet deal: They’re teaming up with Nissan to work on bringing zero-emissions electric cars to Middle Tennessee by 2010. We can only hope. [WKRN]
• The Metro Arts Commission is doling out over $2M in grants to area non-profits that promote the development of arts and culture the city. The grants are being split 46 ways, and we’re holding out hope that maybe one of the 46 will help bring some public art downtown that doesn’t look like a chunk of roller coaster. [Out & About].
• Metro Police locked up 134 of their cars out of service today in an effort to save the city money on gas. [Tennessean]
• More bad news for the Sounds today as they apparently missed the deadline for extending their lease on Greer Stadium past December 31st. They say it’s because they’ve had some trouble with ADA compliance, but no one seems to know for sure what’s going on. [Tennessean]

Photo by moooster.

We’re not quite sure what’s going on here, but we found this capture by theworldtoashes pretty endearing. Speaking of weird cars, this one was definitely a close second.

Photo Of The Day will be a recurring feature for Nashvillest as long you keep giving us stuff to post. Don’t worry- We’ll give you props. Just add them to the pool or tag them with “Nashvillest” if you’re feeling lazy.

We’ve got more funny people for you. They call themselves Team Genius, and they do music videos, improv, and a Flight-of-the-Conchords-esque video series called Boy Friends. It makes us laugh, and we love recognizing the random places around Nashville that they film. This one is our favorite, and we think that anyone who has ever done a doubletake at the storefronts on Broadway will appreciate it. 

Good morning, Nashville. It looks like we’ll be suffering through one more day of the withering heat before some overnight rain hopefully cools things off a bit for the rest of the week. So far Vanderbilt has only reported one heat-related emergency. NES has been showing some much-needed mercy to folks who are behind on their bills cope by holding off on cutting their electricity until after the heat wave passes in order to keep everyone’s A/C running. If you or someone you know is in serious need, don’t forget you can still apply for assistance through the Metro Action Commission.

• Good neighbors. Nissan is working hard to buy their way into the hearts of local nonprofits through some “sizable” cash donations to groups including the Harpeth River Watershed Association. The new Franklin headquarters are slated to open this morning at 10:30am.
• Not so bright. From the department of dumb criminals come the two men who had just stolen a few things from the Goodwill in Cookeville only to run out of gas before they even got out of the parking lot
• Bits & pieces. Let the gas-stealing begin … The fountains in Bicentennial Park are still broken, but should be fixed sometime soon … An Amber Alert has been cancelled for a 12-year old girl in Overton County this morning who was abducted by her step-father after he turned himself in … A local dog has a weird talent of sniffing out bedbugs.

Photo by nauright

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We’re celebrating withour neighbors in Franklin, who made the list of Money Magazine’s 100 Best Places To Live. They’re the only Tennessee city to make the list, and at #45, they’re making us very proud [via Post Politics]. 

Photo by kmoliver. 

• We knew something was up when the FDA gave us the green light to start eating tomatoes again despite the continued rash of salmonella illnesses. They’re now thinking it’s the Texan jalapeños. New rule: When in doubt, blame Texas. [WSMV]
• An apartment complex on 16th Ave. near Belmont went up in flames this morning after a guy knocked over the incense he was burning. No word yet on how many residents are displaced, but fortunately no one was hurt. Hats off to the firefighters who were called out in the record-breaking heat to put out the fire. [WSMV]
• Gov. Bredesen admits that the state buyout plans aren’t going as well as he’d hoped. We’re not sure what he was expecting since he’s trying to cut 2,200 jobs from the state budget, but those who don’t accept the buyout plans will be laid off anyway. [WKRN]
• Jessica Simpson played her first country show in Wisconsin this week, eliciting a pretty wide range of reactions. [Tennessean]

Photo by Thomas Hawk.

Beer-loving Nashvillians (we know you’re out there), mark your calendars for this weekend - The Music City Brewer’s Festival is here again. In its 7th year, the festival will feature beer samples from over 30 breweries, live music, and food available for purchase. If you’re willing to brave the heat and crowds for beer, buy your tickets early! Advance tickets are only $35, while tickets at the festival are $45. More beer for less money is good by us.
[A fair review of last year's Music City Brewer's Festival can be found here, for those who are on the fence about going.]