Monthly Archives: March, 2010
Nashville On New Years Eve: A Survival Guide [Road Closures] [Etc]
With upwards of 10,000 people expected to brave tomorrow night’s chilly temperatures for the big inaugural Bash on Broadway, midnight guitar drop and fireworks display, things are bound to get a little sticky, so we put together a little survival guide to get you through the last hours of 2009 with us. Let us know if we forgot anything in the comments, and have a happy (and safe) New Years Eve!
Survival Tip #1: Bundle up. It’s gonna be cold, y’all. Not only will it be cold, there’s a 50/50 chance of rain/snow, and a wind chill that makes our bones hurt just reading about it. If you’re planning on hanging out downtown, swap the formalwear and high heels for mittens, hats and boots. Free handwarmers will be distributed to the first 2,500 people downtown, so get there early (or stay home by the fire and show up just in time for the guitar drop – your call).
Survival Tip #2: Clear the roads. The downtown NYE celebration will be shutting down more than a few roads, so check out these road closures and steer clear or maneuver around the best you can.
Closed today:
- Broadway (1st Avenue to 2nd Avenue)
- Broadway North Lane (2nd Avenue to 3rd Avenue)
- Broadway South Lane (2nd Avenue to 3rd Avenue)
- 1st Avenue (Demonbreun to Church Street)
- 1st Avenue East lane cutout/passenger loading zone (Broadway to area opposite entrance of ACME parking lot)
- Riverfront Park arrival court
Closing tomorrow (Thursday):
- 6am: ACME Alley, Broadway (2nd Avenue to 3rd Avenue)
- 8am: Titan Way from Russell to Victory Lane; Victory Lane from Titan Way to South 1st Street
- 3pm: 2nd Avenue (Demonbreun to Commerce Street)
- 11pm: Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge (to reopen at the end of the fireworks show)
All roads are scheduled to re-open by 5pm on Friday, so keep that in mind if you’re out and about on New Years day.
Survival Tip #3: Repeat after us… Don’t drink and drive! We know that our readers would never drink and drive (right? Right???), but if you find yourself wondering if you’re sober enough to drive, don’t take the chance. Sobriety checkpoints and more than a handful of over-indulged drivers make NYE one of the most dangerous nights of the year to be out on the roads, especially after a drink or two. And there are options, so many options!
- Sober Ride: The Davidson County Sheriff’s Office has been offering free, safe, sober rides for 26 years, and this year is no different. Call 615-862-RIDE (7433) for a free sober ride, or if you’re at the Broadway Bash, head to a Sober Ride “bus stop” at either Second Avenue & Commerce or Third & Broadway. Don’t try to use them as a taxi service, though – Sober Ride will only take you home or to your hotel, not to another party or bar.
- Zingo: The scooter-bound Zingo drivers will land you and your car safely home after a wild night. Just give them a call 20-30 minutes before you need your ride (allowing extra time on busy nights might be a good idea) at 877-ZINGO99, and you won’t have to worry about getting back to your car the next day.
- Tow To Go: AAA & Budweiser have teamed up to provide free rides & towing service for you and your car on New Years Eve (and all holidays). You don’t have to be a member of AAA to use the free Tow to Go service, so program 1-800-AAA-HELP into your phone and you’ll be ready to go tomorrow night.
- GoFastCab: You have to be sober enough to send a text message for this one, but with big, noisy crowds GoFastCab is a lifesaver. Just text your full pickup location to 777CAB and the next available cab will be dispatched to you. GoFastCab is a free service, but you still have to pay for your cab ride.
Survival tip #4: Have fun! It’s been a great 2009 for Nashvillest, and we want to see every single one of you happy and safe on the other side. Here’s to 2010!
Photo by smsm1.
With upwards of 10,000 people expected to brave tomorrow night’s chilly temperatures for the big inaugural Bash on Broadway, midnight guitar drop and fireworks display, things are bound to get a little sticky, so we put together a little survival guide to get you through the last hours of 2009 with us. Let us know [...]
Nashville On New Years Eve: A Procrastinator’s Guide
Nothing like waiting until the night before to make your New Years Eve plans, right? Every year, we swear we’ll be partying in style… next year. Then, when next year rolls around, we find ourselves in the same place – On the couch. Now, there’s nothing wrong with settling in for a quiet night at home, but if you’re looking for something to do and just can’t seem to find anything fun, Nashville’s got you covered. Here are (just a few) of our suggestions for being out & about tomorrow night.
Music City’s Bash on Broadway (with Guitar Drop), 7:30pm, 1st & Broadway, free. After a failed attempt at unloading $250 concert tickets for last year’s NYE celebration, the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau is throwing this year’s party for free. This time, they’ve put together a lineup of music for the night including Rodney Atkins, Jonny Lang, Tommy Sims, Marc Broussard, the Dirt Drifters, and Gabe Dixon. And our city is so rock ‘n’ roll that we’re dropping a guitar at midnight (instead of a lame glittery ball), then shooting off some fireworks because that’s how we roll. We’ll be hooking you up with road closures in a separate post, so stay tuned!
Dine in style. Enjoy a low-key, fancy-shmancy meal with some champagne and other little perks, depending on where you decide to drop your dollar. Downtown Details has the scoop on fixed-price evenings at Capitol Grille, Sambuca, Prime 108, The Melting Pot, Nashville City Club, Flyte, Sole Mio and Merchant’s, and the Nashville Scene has the deets for dinner at Sperry’s, The Wine Loft, Urban Flats and more.
12th & Porter’s 2nd Annual New Years Big Ass Bash. 7pm doors/9pm show, $20-$40, 18+.
If you click that little link right above, you’ll be able to score $20 tickets to 12th & Porter’s NYE bash. They’re asking $30 regular price ($40 for VIP), and the evening will feature American Bang, Luna Halo, The Jane Shermans, The Minor Kings and Leslie. There will be a photobooth, DJs and drink specials – The usual party fare.
Mercy Lounge’s HAPPY ENDINGS. 9pm, $25-75.
The Mercy Lounge has been hyping up their crazy “Happy Endings” shindig for the past few months, promising “the wildest fairytale world you’ve ever seen,” “more fun than Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory” and a “mind-blowing midnight countdown filled with lasers and drenched in complimentary champagne.” While we take a moment to recover from reading the description, head over to MercyLounge.com to read more about the indoor snow fall, interactive video walls and other shenanegins to expect on NYE at Mercy. Buy your tickets in advance (like, now) if you expect to get in. PS: The Cannery’s party is already sold out.
10th Annual NashvilleParty.com Blowout. 9pm, Limelight/Aerial, $30-75. If it has its own website, it must be cool, right? There’s a party at Limelight, a VIP party at Aerial, a VIP party at Limelight, a bunch of music and drinking, and it’s 21+ except maybe if you’re an 18 year old female at Limelight only (we’re totally not kidding).
McFadden’s New Years 2010 Glow. 8pm, $30-50, 21+. We’re really only recommending this because it promises glow jewelry, glow sticks, glow PAINT… and get this, MUCH MORE TO GLOW. We can’t exactly claim to know what that means, but it sounds like there’s going to be a rave at McFadden’s, and that’s something we’d like to observe from a safe distance.
New Years Eve Spectacular. 6pm VIP dinner, 8pm general admission, Wild Horse Saloon, $50-150.
We saw “Sexy Cowgirl Stilt Walkers” and were sold. Plus entertainment by Jeffrey Steele, Ira Dean & JC Andersen… and magic tricks! We like magic tricks.
If you just want to catch a show and drink some beer, Nashville Cream has things covered with a pretty thorough roundup (and a hilarious flowchart) of the evening’s happenings, and Metromix covered everything else.
Photo by Amit Gupta.
Nothing like waiting until the night before to make your New Years Eve plans, right? Every year, we swear we’ll be partying in style… next year. Then, when next year rolls around, we find ourselves in the same place – On the couch. Now, there’s nothing wrong with settling in for a quiet night at [...]
A Very Merry Christmas From Us To You [Lights Out]
Good morning, Nashville, and merry Christmas! Like many of you, we’ve spent the past few days on the road dodging snow drifts and ice storms and running around the country visiting all the folks we like and love. So while we gorge ourselves on holiday cookies and home-cooked meals, we’re shutting things down around here for a few days. We promise we’ll be back in time to guide you through your Nashville New Years Eve adventures, though. In the meantime, happy holidays and safe travels!
Photo by fallingwater123.
Good morning, Nashville, and merry Christmas! Like many of you, we’ve spent the past few days on the road dodging snow drifts and ice storms and running around the country visiting all the folks we like and love. So while we gorge ourselves on holiday cookies and home-cooked meals, we’re shutting things down around here [...]
Bright & Early: He Sees You When You’re Sleeping Edition
Good morning, Nashville. Yesterday brought us an entertaining-but-sort-of-scary tale of Santa robbing a local bank at gunpoint (and the pictures… oh, the pictures!) We’re happy to be able to balance it out this morning with another Christmas-y story, only this one involves a mysterious woman handing out Christmas cards containing $100 to random strangers in the Dickson Kmart. Several shoppers were approached by the woman who handed them an envelope, wished them a Merry Christmas, and then disappeared into the store. Hooray for random acts of kindness!
- Merry Christmas! Another random act of kindness happened at a Franklin Waffle House when a group of men left a $400 tip as they slipped out the door.
- Playing with food. Meanwhile, Murfreesboro is dealing with pressing emergencies such as The Case Of The Exploding Ketchup which apparently warranted a 911 call. It seems that some hooligans are somehow rigging restaurant ketchup bottles to turn into a “volcano” of ketchup upon opening and this is considered tampering with food, which is a felony.
- Bits & pieces. It wouldn’t be Christmas without someone threatening to blow up our airport … If you’re staying in town for Christmas, expect a lot of rain and wind … More Swine Flu vaccines are being recalled for not being potent enough … Tanning beds are now subject to a special tax.
Photo by wjb13.
Good morning, Nashville. Yesterday brought us an entertaining-but-sort-of-scary tale of Santa robbing a local bank at gunpoint (and the pictures… oh, the pictures!) We’re happy to be able to balance it out this morning with another Christmas-y story, only this one involves a mysterious woman handing out Christmas cards containing $100 to random strangers in [...]
Happy Hour: Dirty Santa
- Once upon a time, Santa robbed a Nashville bank in full garb and there are pictures. By “once upon a time” we mean “this morning” and by “pictures” we mean this. Merry Christmas to us! (And we’re glad no one was hurt.) [Tennessean]
- We’re not quite sure how to follow a story like that, except to pass along this tearjerker of a tale about one of our favorite Nashvillians, Keith Urban, making a kid’s wish come true. [Blind Gossip]
- A pedestrian was hit by a car near the Capitol today after she bolted out in front of it on Sixth Ave. [WSMV]
- Also, our beloved Music City Star commuter train collided with a dump truck this morning. Fortunately no one was hurt. [Tennessean]
- Congratulations, Nashville! We are the 18th most literate city according to some guy in Connecticut. [WSMV]
Photo by Newhaircut.
Once upon a time, Santa robbed a Nashville bank in full garb and there are pictures. By “once upon a time” we mean “this morning” and by “pictures” we mean this. Merry Christmas to us! (And we’re glad no one was hurt.) [Tennessean]
We’re not quite sure how to follow a story like that, except to [...]
Bright & Early: One Year After Kingston Edition
Good morning, Nashville. Today marks the one-year anniversary of the TVA ash spill in Kingston, Tennessee. Since this is one news story we’re absolutely guilty of harping on here at Nashvillest, we didn’t want today to pass by unnoticed. On December 22, 2008, 5,4 million cubic yards of fly ash (or 1.1 billion gallons) spilled out of a containment area when the dike ruptured, causing enough environmental destruction to be visible from space–the before and after images of which are seen above courtesy of NASA. Nearly $231 billion has already been spent on cleanup and it could take as long as four more years to finish. Each day, workers shovel ash into 100 train cars and ship it to Perry County, Alabama. Since the spill, many residents of Kingston have seen property values plummet and complained of health problems. We’re hoping things will look better a year from now.
- Car insurance rates go up. Most major insurance companies are planning to raise car insurance rates more than usual in Tennessee in 2010 because we’ve apparently become a little more expensive to insure over the past year.
- Onward through the fog. Overnight we experienced something called freezing fog, which is basically fog that freezes on every possible surface such as your car and interstate overpasses. In other news, we hear it’s snowing in Metro Center and we feel cheated.
- Bits & pieces. Someone dumped another chunk of gold into a Salvation Army kettle … The parents of a Metro students are suing the school system because they claim their child was shocked by a pencil sharpener … The TVA is keeping an eye on yet another ash pond … Some burglars broke into the Charlie Daniels Museum on 2nd Avenue last night.
Images courtesy of NASA, mashed up by us.
Good morning, Nashville. Today marks the one-year anniversary of the TVA ash spill in Kingston, Tennessee. Since this is one news story we’re absolutely guilty of harping on here at Nashvillest, we didn’t want today to pass by unnoticed. On December 22, 2008, 5,4 million cubic yards of fly ash (or 1.1 billion gallons) spilled out [...]
Happy Hour: Beet To The Punch
- TDOT has whipped out some brand spankin’ new technology to keep the roads ice-free this year: Beet juice. Basically, it just makes everything stickier so that the salt will stay in place longer. The downside is that our cars will be covered in salt and beet juice and that’s gross. [WSMV]
- A furniture store in Donelson is giving away Christmas trees to families who may not be able to afford them. Originally the trees were included for free with any furniture purchase, but they’ve decided to put the leftovers to good use. [WKRN]
- The Tennessee Highway Patrol has scheduled 100 checkpoints through the end of the year across the state, so don’t be the jerk caught driving around drunk. Actually, just don’t drive drunk at all. [WTVF]
- If you watched the game yesterday, you might’ve seen Keith Bulluck doubling over after a touchdown. Turns out he’s out for the rest of the season. [Tennessean]
- Carrie Underwood is gettin’ hitched to that hockey player who is not a Pred! Clearly she is mistaken. [WKRN]
- The parent company of The Zone and WKDF filed for bankruptcy yesterday. [WKRN]
Photo by Dave or Atox.
TDOT has whipped out some brand spankin’ new technology to keep the roads ice-free this year: Beet juice. Basically, it just makes everything stickier so that the salt will stay in place longer. The downside is that our cars will be covered in salt and beet juice and that’s gross. [WSMV]
A furniture store in Donelson [...]
Bright & Early: It’s Never Going To Snow Here Edition
Good morning, Nashville. We hope you survived Snowpocalypse 2009, though we didn’t experience a whole lot of wintery weather worth writing home about here in Middle Tennessee. Our neighbors to the east, however, were a different story. Up in the northeastern corner of the state, Scott County emergency personnel are still working to repair some of the worst winter storm damage they’ve ever seen. With trees and power lines down along with numerous road closures, they say it could be a week or more before they can get the county back up and running. The storm also kept a lot of Tennessee travelers from making their holiday escapes with dozens of grounded flights and interstate closures. Another big snow storm is forecasted for the coming week but should stay in the midwest. We’re keeping our fingers crossed!
- Case closed. Six months after former Titan Steve McNair was found murdered alongside girlfriend Sahel Kazemi, Metro Police have closed the investigation for good, still ruling it a murder-suicide. The man who sold Kazemi the gun was sentenced to 30 months in prison, but hopes to appeal the decision.
- Borrowed time. We’ve mentioned before that the Tennessee unemployment fund seems to be running out of cash, and now it looks almost certain that the state will have to borrow about $20 million from the federal government to keep it afloat.
- Bits & pieces. The folks at the Tennessean received a surprise in the mail in the form of a return-to-sender love letter from one of their former reporters that was only about 56 years too late … Starting next year, you’ll be able to pick up your beer at Walgreens. There won’t be any forties, but that’s what gas stations are for, right? … How ’bout them Titans? … The possibility of a new Sounds stadium is back on the table.
Photo by Grey Street Girl.
Good morning, Nashville. We hope you survived Snowpocalypse 2009, though we didn’t experience a whole lot of wintery weather worth writing home about here in Middle Tennessee. Our neighbors to the east, however, were a different story. Up in the northeastern corner of the state, Scott County emergency personnel are still working to repair some [...]
Bright & Early: Crushing Our Dreams Edition
Good morning, Nashville. A white Christmas is looking a little less likely as we get closer to the holiday. We’ve been reading all sorts of fancy explanations of the impending storm system over the past several days, but now it looks like the weather just isn’t going to be cold enough for more than a few flurries. As it stands now, we’ll probably be seeing a cold, stormy, wet Christmas instead. Once again, there’s always next year.
- Highs and lows. Vince Young made it back to practice yesterday after sitting out for a few days this week due to a hamstring injury he suffered on Sunday. And we suppose this is where we talk about the truck that exploded into flames in front of his house last night too.
- What’s in a name? It seems that the Preds and the Sommet Group might be close to reaching an agreement over naming rights for the Nashville-Sommet-Arena-Center. Though nothing’s official yet, we’re happy they’re working things out.
- Bits & pieces. … The latest estimate for the Kingston cleanup is five years … Councilman Eric Crafton may be gearing up for a run for Juvenile Court Clerk … West Tennessee felt another quake early this morning originating in Missouri.
Photo by gypsygirl.photography.
Good morning, Nashville. A white Christmas is looking a little less likely as we get closer to the holiday. We’ve been reading all sorts of fancy explanations of the impending storm system over the past several days, but now it looks like the weather just isn’t going to be cold enough for more than a [...]
Happy Hour: Don’t Worry, Be Happy
- Tennessee somehow became the fourth happiest state in the country despite Memphis’ ranking as the second most miserable city in America earlier this year. [WSMV]
- And why are we happy? Because our unemployment rate went down last month! [WZTV]
- But we are very, very sad to learn that Kiba, one of the Nashville Zoo’s most beloved elephants, had to be put down this morning because of a debilitating joint disease. [WTVF]
- Legislators are working hard to fix a struggling state unemployment system. [WSMV]
- A four-year old kid in Chattanooga was caught wandering around the neighborhood drinking beer and wearing a dress he stole from under someone’s Christmas tree. [WSMV]
Photo by Neuski.
Tennessee somehow became the fourth happiest state in the country despite Memphis’ ranking as the second most miserable city in America earlier this year. [WSMV]
And why are we happy? Because our unemployment rate went down last month! [WZTV]
But we are very, very sad to learn that Kiba, one of the Nashville Zoo’s most beloved elephants, [...]
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