Monthly Archives: December, 2011
Bright & Early: Why Do We Have This Inexplicable Craving For Tomatoes And Chicken Wings This Morning Edition
Good morning, Nashville. For starters, the weather is going to be amazing this weekend, so we suggest that you start planning some ways to get out and enjoy it ASAP. However, not everyone is having the Best Winter Ever, as you might’ve noticed the signs popping up at restaurants around town about a tomato shortage. We’ve seen this a few times over the past few years, and this time Florida’s unseasonably cold weather is to blame. The price of tomatoes is on the rise and many restaurants are temporarily yanking them from the menu or adding them by request only. Unlike the devastating Chicken Wing Shortage, the tomato thing should resolve itself in a few weeks when the spring harvest happens. Fret not.
- Park it. As downtown parking becomes somewhat of a shrinking commodity, we’re hearing all sorts of tales of both privately owned and Central Parking lots engaging in some price-gouging (or just taking advantage of supply and demand). At any rate, we’ve found that Park It Downtown is a pretty valuable resource in these times so there you have it.
- Step aside. The Music City Center has hit another snag that’s putting them a bit more behind schedule (pattern alert!): The Greyhound hub isn’t quite ready to relocate from its current perch at 8th and Demonbreun, which makes it a little difficult to start construction.
- Bits & pieces. A cyclist was shot four or five times near Belmont’s campus at 14th and Edgehill last night … The Cadillac pickup that “fell” off of the Gateway Bridge yesterday actually flipped off the road right before the bridge, into a parking lot, and it looks like alcohol was involved … Ten Tennessee towns have been chosen to receive grants to revitalize commercial districts … In case you missed this story a year ago, this Belmont student is still truckin’ along on her quest to find ridiculous ways to pay for her college education.
Photo by urbanwoodchunk.
Good morning, Nashville. For starters, the weather is going to be amazing this weekend, so we suggest that you start planning some ways to get out and enjoy it ASAP. However, not everyone is having the Best Winter Ever, as you might’ve noticed the signs popping up at restaurants around town about a tomato shortage. [...]
Happy Hour: What A World
- Around 4:15 this afternoon, a car “fell” or “apparently flipped” (depending on where you get your news) off of the Gateway Bridge downtown. No one seems to know who or how and we are just so confused right now. [WSMV]
- What we wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall while Metro talks to teachers about gang code words and rappers that kids in gangs listen to. [WSMV]
- Our January unemployment rate stayed steady at 10.7%, so things didn’t get any worse. Which is good. [WSMV]
- A Metro elementary, middle, and high school were all put on lockdown today when some armed robbery suspects were reported to be nearby. Three of the four were arrested and the other is still at large. [WTVF]
- Dolly Parton is opening some trinket store downtown next Friday and we are sorely disappointed that we must miss her appearance at the grand opening. [Tennessean]
- Who doesn’t love this FedEx driver who saved a kitten from a burning house in Murfreesboro? [WKRN]
- Tim McGraw is not running for governor, but rather performing at CMApocalypse. [WSMV]
Photo by Chris Wage.
Around 4:15 this afternoon, a car “fell” or “apparently flipped” (depending on where you get your news) off of the Gateway Bridge downtown. No one seems to know who or how and we are just so confused right now. [WSMV] What we wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall while Metro talks to [...]
Saturday: PodCamp Nashville At Cadillac Ranch
It’s not too late to sign up for PodCamp Nashville, an “unconference” dedicated to the creation & distribution of digital content (see also: Barcamp ’09, Podcamp ’09, Barcamp ’08). It’s going down this Saturday at the Cadillac Ranch, and it’s free. Yes, 100% free, but bring a canned good to donate to Second Harvest Food Bank when you come!
At an unconference, instead of bringing in keynote speakers, the sessions are given solely by attendees – those living in Nashville’s digital world every day. There’s a little something for everyone, with sessions like WordPress SEO Strategies, Sex, Lies & Social Media, Social NETiquette, Web Typography and Best Practices for e-Newsletters, among many.
And then there’s the afterparty from 4-7pm, sponsored by Yazoo, featuring a series of Ignite sessions. We were pleasantly surprised when the Ignite sessions turned out to be one of the highlights of BarCamp ’09 – Presenters race to give concise, 5-minute presentations on a prepared series of 20 15-second slides, and the results can be humorous, enlightening, educational, inspirational or just downright confusing. If you’re confused (or just want to know more), click here to view some of the past BarCamp Ignite sessions.
We know that’s a lot to swallow in one sitting, so just take our word for it. Come down for a day of ideas, conversations and new friends. We’ll see you on Saturday!
It’s not too late to sign up for PodCamp Nashville, an “unconference” dedicated to the creation & distribution of digital content (see also: Barcamp ’09, Podcamp ’09, Barcamp ’08). It’s going down this Saturday at the Cadillac Ranch, and it’s free. Yes, 100% free, but bring a canned good to donate to Second Harvest Food Bank [...]
Springtime Reopenings Give Us Hope That Spring Will Eventually Come
The entrance of March brings with it the reopening of some of our favorite local walk-up food joints. I Dream of Weenie and Bobbie’s Dairy Dip have reopened as of this week, and although it’s still a little too cold to stand outside munching a hot dog, we have hopes that spring will throw some warm weather our way soon, and we can start indulging our hot dog-and-soft-serve dreams. Reigning Nashvillest BBQ champ Martin’s Bar-B-Que has also reopened, after a few cold winter months slaving away working on their brand new location.
We’re still pining away for our Mas Tacos and Jolly Rogue fix in 2010 (but thankfully, we can get snowballs year-round at Fleur de Lis Flavors). What are your favorite seasonal treats here in Nashville? Let us know in the comments!
EDIT: Since it’s supposed to be 63 degrees and sunny on Monday (then rain the rest of the week), we’ve decided it’s time to hold a little Nashvillest meetup. Bobbie’s Dairy Dip for lunch at 12pm Monday (3/8)! We’ll see you there!
Photo by nicholaswyoung.
The entrance of March brings with it the reopening of some of our favorite local walk-up food joints. I Dream of Weenie and Bobbie’s Dairy Dip have reopened as of this week, and although it’s still a little too cold to stand outside munching a hot dog, we have hopes that spring will throw some [...]
Bright & Early: Rockin’ The Vote Edition
Good morning, Nashville. This weekend, Nashville will be one of the nine polling places for the Iraqi parliamentary election. Because Nashville has the largest Kurdish populations in the United States, we were chosen to host one of the polling sites and Iraqi nationals will be traveling into town from all over the southeastern US to cast their votes. Their election sounds way more confusing than ours, however, as there are 6,172 candidates representing 240 political parties and they’re all fighting for 325 Iraqi Council of Representatives seats. Yikes.
- Gas tax troubles. It seems like everyone is all about going green these days, specifically with hybrid and and fuel-efficient cars. But this much efficiency spells out bad news for Tennessee’s gas tax. If people aren’t buying as much gas, then Tennessee isn’t collecting as much revenue which they use to build roads and fix potholes and all that. Gubernatorial candidate Ron Ramsey (remember this for when MTSU quizzes you!) is proposing a per-vehicle fee so that everyone would be contributing the same thing to the road fund regardless of gas usage.
- Music City Center drama. The Music City Center has hit a bit of a snag with financing that requires an actual change in state law. The current state lending laws cap the interest rate that a city can pay out on bonds, and in order for the financing to happen as planned, Metro will need the state to make an exception. No one seems to think this will be a problem, but they are concerned about the time crunch.
- Bits & pieces. The Workplace English bill is making its way through the legislature, this time with the support of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition … A worker was injured from a fall while cleaning up the coal ash at the Kingston TVA site … This is the time of year where we tell you to that the IRS owes Tennesseans several million dollars and you should probably check to see if any of that is yours … Here is a much better article on the new free Circulator routes, map included.
Photo by Paul Nicholson.
Good morning, Nashville. This weekend, Nashville will be one of the nine polling places for the Iraqi parliamentary election. Because Nashville has the largest Kurdish populations in the United States, we were chosen to host one of the polling sites and Iraqi nationals will be traveling into town from all over the southeastern US to [...]
Happy Hour: Getting Our Goat
- See this baby goat, you guys? Her name is Bette and she lives at The Green Wagon, where she is being bottle fed because her mom didn’t take care of her. Go give her a squeeze for us. [Flickr]
- Now back to our regularly-scheduled programming: The Nashville MTA officially announced their new free Circulator buses that we’ve all known about for weeks, and supposedly there are maps schedules somewhere but we’ve yet to find them. [WSMV]
- Speaking of, this MTA bus appears to have crashed into a pole downtown today and nine people were injured. [WKRN]
- An MTSU poll revealed that about 75% of Tennesseans can’t name a single person who’s running for governor this year, so let us help you out. They are: Bill Gibbons, Bill Haslam, Jim Kyle, Kim McMillan, Mike McWherter, Ron Ramsey, Zachary Wamp and Tim McGraw. [WPLN]
- We were actually (mostly) kidding about the Tim McGraw bit. You were paying attention… weren’t you? [Perez]
- The city’s Nashville Riverfront Concept Plan actually includes rerouting the Cumberland River and building an island barrier between downtown Nashville and East Nashville which we shall call Middle-earth. [Post Politics]
Photo by Megan Morris.
See this baby goat, you guys? Her name is Bette and she lives at The Green Wagon, where she is being bottle fed because her mom didn’t take care of her. Go give her a squeeze for us. [Flickr] Now back to our regularly-scheduled programming: The Nashville MTA officially announced their new free Circulator buses [...]
Blogs We Love: 365 Things To Do In Nashville [Nashvillest Spotlight]
We’ve uncovered a few blogs in the past few weeks that made us stop and think, “Hey, our readers would probably like that just as much as we do!” We’re all about sharing the love, and today our love is directed toward 365 Things To Do In Nashville.
The concept is what you might expect – A simple suggestion of one fun thing to do in Nashville, every day, for a year. While we all know about local gems like the Belcourt, Yazoo, Bluebird Cafe, Mercy Lounge’s 8 off 8th and the Country Music Marathon, there’s just something about being reminded of their greatness, one at a time, every morning. And they’re only on day 23, which means it shouldn’t take you too long to catch up!
You’ll also find a vibrant community around the 365 Things To Do In Nashville Facebook page, where active discussion happens among 23,000+ fans as each day’s tip is posted to the page (and yes, we just said 23,000+ fans – Maybe this isn’t such new news, after all). Best 2-for-1 Tuesday in town? Mafiaoza’s is the clear winner, at least among this particular group of Facebook commenters.
We always appreciate a little local love & pride, and 365 Things To Do In Nashville does it well. Keep up by subscribing to their RSS or following along on Facebook.
We’ve uncovered a few blogs in the past few weeks that made us stop and think, “Hey, our readers would probably like that just as much as we do!” We’re all about sharing the love, and today our love is directed toward 365 Things To Do In Nashville. The concept is what you might expect [...]
Bright & Early: The Bridge To Somewhere Edition
Good morning, Nashville. If you’ve been downtown in the last 24 hours, you might’ve already seen the brand new Bridgestone Arena signs that were unveiled last night. We discussed potential nicknames on Twitter last week and heard everything from The BAr to The BrA to The Rubber Palace to, simply, The Bridge. And we think we like that one. We also really like this new Preds defenseman Denis Grebeshkov who waltzed out onto the ice last night for his first game with the team and carried them to a 4-3 victory (well, him and the generous Oiler who accidentally kicked in our winning goal.) Things are off to a good start at The Bridge!
- Biting the hand. In between lobbying for an Ikea and fighting valiantly on behalf of the English language, Councilman Eric Crafton has found some time to come up with another plan: Suing the state government. Crafton is urging Metro to sue the State of Tennessee for some more funding for Metro Schools because the current distribution apparently discriminates against wealthier counties.
- Thank you, but no. The controversial May Town Center development project as we know it, which was supposed to create a “second downtown” in Bells Bend, has officially been canned. A neutered version that will probably be about half the size of the original will be making its way to the Metro Council in a few weeks and residents plan to fight that one just as hard as they did the last.
- Bits & pieces. Not only is the USPS trying to drop a day of delivery, but they’re trying to drop an entire town. Stand strong, Milton, TN! … The New Madrid fault is a-movin’ and a-shakin’, which could be bad news for our West Tennessee neighbors … On March 20th, Goodwill will be having a wedding gown sale for brides who want top-notch gowns, but can’t (or don’t want to!) pay full price.
Photo by Paul Nicholson.
Good morning, Nashville. If you’ve been downtown in the last 24 hours, you might’ve already seen the brand new Bridgestone Arena signs that were unveiled last night. We discussed potential nicknames on Twitter last week and heard everything from The BAr to The BrA to The Rubber Palace to, simply, The Bridge. And we think [...]
Happy Hour: We Forget Sometimes That We Have An Official State Rap
- Yes, it is true: We really are probably going to get an eighth official state song. If approved, Brenda Monroe-Moses’ “So I’ll Just Shine in Tennessee” will join “My Homeland, Tennessee,” “When It’s Iris Time In Tennessee,” “My Tennessee,” “Tennessee Waltz,” “Rocky Top,” “Tennessee,” and “The Pride of Tennessee” among the honored ranks. This does not even count THE TENNESSEE BICENTENNIAL RAP which is not an official state song, but is listed on the official state song webpage anyway, for obvious reasons. [WZTV]
- Then why, for the love of all things holy, can we not have two state beverages, at least one of which is not milk??
- Rocketown (which has not yet been torn down, mind you!) has officially purchased a new space on Lea Ave. between 4th and 5th. According to the Nashville Business Journal, they’ll be shuttering the current building on June 13th and emerging from their cocoon in July as a new and improved skateboardin’, coffee-drinkin’ butterfly. Or something. [ WSMV]
- It’s that time of year again–The time of year during which the United States Postal Service threatens to skip a particular mail delivery day each week because they are Sick And Tired of everyone speeding around them in their funny little trucks. Or maybe it’s for budgetary reasons, we can’t really remember. But this time, we think they’re for real. [Tennessean]
Photo by ryan2013.
Yes, it is true: We really are probably going to get an eighth official state song. If approved, Brenda Monroe-Moses’ “So I’ll Just Shine in Tennessee” will join “My Homeland, Tennessee,” “When It’s Iris Time In Tennessee,” “My Tennessee,” “Tennessee Waltz,” “Rocky Top,” “Tennessee,” and “The Pride of Tennessee” among the honored ranks. This does [...]
Bright & Early: Everything Old Is New Again Edition
Good morning, Nashville. Over the past few months, we’ve been hearing quite a bit of speculation about what’s going to happen to the dilapidated Bellevue Center Mall. Last we heard, city officials were thinking of turning it into a magnet school which apparently prompted a flood of mail from constituents who thought that was the worst idea they’d ever heard. Councilman Eric Crafton, who represents most of Bellevue, announced last night that a development firm has been tapped to turn it into a “lifestyle center shopping area,” whatever that means (and no, Facebook, this does not seem to include an Ikea.) We should be able to see the blueprints in April or May.
- One fish, two fish. We are pleased to report that the very important Fish Tanks In Barbershops bill passed its first hurdle yesterday and was approved by the House 95-1. Rep. Mike McDonald (D-Portland) must hate the fishies, as he was the one lone voice crying out in the wilderness. Next up: the Senate.
- Put down the chicken wings. There is a Chicken Wing Shortage in Nashville, and all over the country! Wings have historically been very cheap because they were kind of the “leftovers,” if you will, but now people are eating so many of them that the prices are shooting through the roof and restaurants such as Nuttin’ But Wings in North Nashville can’t afford to sell them for cheap anymore, or sell them at all.
- Bits & pieces. It’s straight-up mutiny in Lakewood, Tennessee, where residents would evidently like to wipe their own city off the map … If you’re flying out of BNA this week, be sure to take advantage of the free day of parking … Our inner 10-year olds are totally geeking out over this new, free-ish spring break program at the Tennessee Aquarium.
Photo by wjb13.
Good morning, Nashville. Over the past few months, we’ve been hearing quite a bit of speculation about what’s going to happen to the dilapidated Bellevue Center Mall. Last we heard, city officials were thinking of turning it into a magnet school which apparently prompted a flood of mail from constituents who thought that was the [...]
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