Monthly Archives: December, 2011
Happy Hour: Definitely Not A Nashville Party
- More complaints were filed about John Rich’s infamous parties at Mt. Richmore on Love Circle. This time, his neighbors called the police and accused him of having fireworks and helicopters. [Tennessean]
- The Sarah Palin email hacking trial finally ended today, and former UT student David Kernell was charged with one count each of obstruction of justice and unauthorized access to a computer. He was not found guilty of wire fraud, and the identity theft charge was declared a mistrial and can be tried again. No word on the sentence yet. [Tennessean]
- The West Nashville Farmer’s Market starts up again this Saturday and will run from now through the end of October. [WSMV]
- Due to all the storms predicted, TDOT has actually canceled the westbound I-440 closure scheduled for this weekend. But we all know that it will probably still be mostly closed because that’s how TDOT rolls. [WSMV]
- The City of Franklin has seen 15 car break-ins in three weeks. Keep an eye out, folks! [Tennessean]
Photo by urbanwoodchuck.
More complaints were filed about John Rich’s infamous parties at Mt. Richmore on Love Circle. This time, his neighbors called the police and accused him of having fireworks and helicopters. [Tennessean] The Sarah Palin email hacking trial finally ended today, and former UT student David Kernell was charged with one count each of obstruction of [...]
The Weekendist: Flowers, Film & Roller Skates Edition
Our weekend picks are here! Lots of freebies, lots of not-so-freebies, and plenty of fun to cram in. Leave us a comment and let us know what you’re planning (and what we missed)!
Friday
- Opening Night Dinner and a Movie: Vincere. Belcourt, Dinner @ 6:15pm, movie @ 7, $25. Our heads are still a little bit stuck in film festival mode, and we keep hearing so many great things about this Italian movie that we figured it’s worth noting. The opening night shindig includes a fancy-pants dinner and a glass of wine and might also score you some points for date night.
- Lwala: A Night of Celebration. Vanderbilt University’s Langford Auditorium, 7pm, $30+. Join the Lwala Community Alliance to celebrate Lwala, an African village best known from the award-winning Sons of Lwala documentary. In addition to hearing the latest from the village, there will be some cultural performances and a virtual tour through Lwala. Ticket proceeds benefit the Lwala Community Alliance.
- Guilty Pleasures. Mercy Lounge, 9:30pm, $12. If 80s cover bands are your thing, Mike Grimes & co. will be bring the party to the Mercy Lounge. We love these guys because of their 327,893,179-person roster, because they’re fun, and because you never know who might show up. Seriously.
Saturday
- Cheekwood 50th Birthday Celebration. Cheekwood, all day, FREE. Cheekwood is celebrating their big 5-0 this weekend by throwing themselves a giant party and inviting everyone in the whole world, for free. See the art and gardens and snack on some “birthday treats,” which we feel is probably cake of some sort.
- First Saturday Art Crawl. Downtown, 6pm, FREE. Good art and free wine always get the Nashvillest stamp of approval, but this is one of our favorites. The gallery crawl spans a few blocks in the heart of downtown and you will not get bored. Check the Downtown Partnership for shuttle schedules, gallery listings and a gallery map. And if you’re feeling ambitious, consider taking advantage of the free Music City Circulator since parking is pretty much guaranteed to suck.
- Nashville Rollergirls v. Arch Rival Rollergirls. Tennessee State Fairgrounds, 7:30pm, $13. Our beloved rollergirls are set to take on the Arch Rival Rollergirls out of St. Louis (Arch Rivals? Get it…?) and if you’ve never been to a bout before, it’s one of the things you need to do before you die. So do it tonight. Also, bring some canned food for the YWCA to score free NRG gear.
- Jimmy Buffet. Bridgestone Arena, 8pm, $88.50+. Okay, so if you’re committed enough to Jimmy Buffet to shell out $100 for a ticket, then you probably already have your evening planned. But if you want to catch the last-minute train to Margaritaville, there are still some tickets left. Everyone else may want to pay attention to the traffic.
Sunday
- Goo Goo Dolls w/ The Rocket Summer. Ryman Auditorium, 7:30pm, $35. We aren’t advocating this one, but hey! There might be a few Goo Goo Dolls fans out there still, right? And our inner 13-year olds are still pretty excited about The Rocket Summer.
Photo by fallingwater123.
Our weekend picks are here! Lots of freebies, lots of not-so-freebies, and plenty of fun to cram in. Leave us a comment and let us know what you’re planning (and what we missed)! Friday Opening Night Dinner and a Movie: Vincere. Belcourt, Dinner @ 6:15pm, movie @ 7, $25. Our heads are still a little [...]
Bright & (Not So) Early: Feeling Texty Edition
Good morning, Nashville. Remember that texting-while-driving ban that passed last year? Seeing as today is National No Phone Zone Day, Metro might actually be out enforcing it. Since the law went into effect last July, we keep seeing news stories every few months about how the number of folks who have actually been pulled over for such an offense are embarrassingly low, and it’s mostly because none of the officers know how to enforce it. Today, however, they’ll actually be looking for offenders, but the bottom line is that we shouldn’t be texting and driving anyway because it’s dangerous.
- E is for E-mer-gen-cy. New billboards are popping up over town that show the average emergency room wait time for area hospitals, updated every four hours. The campaign is part of an effort to reduce the overall wait time for hospitals owned by TriStar Health System.
- Guns in Bars is back. The state Senate passed a different version of the Guns in Bars bill that was struck down in court last year, and this version hopes to take some of the mystery out of the language. If the bill passes this time around, it’ll allow gun owners to carry their weapons into any establishment that serves alcohol as long as they’re not drinking and no signs are posted that expressly ban guns.
- Calling in the big guns. Everybody’s favorite Central Parking may soon be spreading the love to Portland, Oregon, where they have been declared an “elegant solution” for the city’s parking woes. Perhaps someone should warn them?
- Bits & pieces. If you are trying to hide the marijuana plants that you’re growing, you should probably not place them in your windowsill in plain view … With all the rain, Tennessee’s strawberry crop is looking mighty good this year … The Titans are sticking up for Chris Johnson not showing up for practice … The weekend weather outlook looks decent-ish for tonight and tomorrow, with a possible washout on Sunday night.
Photo by HoorayParaPulse.
Good morning, Nashville. Remember that texting-while-driving ban that passed last year? Seeing as today is National No Phone Zone Day, Metro might actually be out enforcing it. Since the law went into effect last July, we keep seeing news stories every few months about how the number of folks who have actually been pulled over [...]
Happy Hour: Keep Calm And Carry On
- We are happy to report that after watching Mayor Dean’s State of the Metro address, the libraries won’t be cutting back to 20 hours per week, brush removal is still going to happen, and the school budget will be completely funded. And Sevier Park is getting a community center. [WKRN]
- And now for the real shocker: Westbound I-440 will see some closures this weekend. [Tennessean]
- The state Senate voted to impose a new fee on hospitals in return for the state not making a major cut to TennCare. [WZTV]
- Some new statistics show that more than 60% of Tennessee’s bankruptcies are caused by excessive medical bills. [WSMV]
- And for some reason, Kid Rock is hosting the CMT Music Awards. We’re setting our sights on Snoop Dogg for next year. [Tennessean]
Photo by Neuski.
We are happy to report that after watching Mayor Dean’s State of the Metro address, the libraries won’t be cutting back to 20 hours per week, brush removal is still going to happen, and the school budget will be completely funded. And Sevier Park is getting a community center. [WKRN] And now for the real [...]
Bright & Early: The State Of Things Edition
Good morning, Nashville. This morning, Mayor Dean will be delivering his annual State of the Metro address at 10am in Riverfront Park. He’s expected to deliver all sorts of bad news about the proposed budget for next year, which will be presented to Metro after the address. As we’re all amply aware, it’s been a tough financial year for the city (and the rest of the universe) and we may end up losing some pretty big taxpaper services as a result. There’s been some talk of closing eight recycling centers, halting brush pickup, cutting library branches down to 20 hours per week, and closing our beloved super-secret Green Hills county clerk office that’s never crowded. You can watch the whole thing live on WSMV.com.
- All about the money. The bill that would create a constitutional ban on income and payroll taxes might have reached an impasse due to the cost of printing notification of the amendment. Since money is tight this year, a House subcommittee voted to put it off until they know if there’s any money left in the budget for it.
- Stay in school. Brad Paisley paid Belmont students a visit yesterday as part of the “Insiders View” seminar series. A Belmont alum, Paisley imparted all sorts of wisdom to the audience while those of us watching his Twitter feed got to hear about how he got a D in guitar.
- Bits & pieces. Former UT coach Phillip Fulmer will be speaking to students at commencement and we are just appalled that no one invited Lane Kiffin … The weekend forecast is looking ripe for more severe weather … More talk about those horrifying Asian carp and how they’re going to wreak havoc on our state’s fishing industry.
Photo by urbanwoodchuck.
Good morning, Nashville. This morning, Mayor Dean will be delivering his annual State of the Metro address at 10am in Riverfront Park. He’s expected to deliver all sorts of bad news about the proposed budget for next year, which will be presented to Metro after the address. As we’re all amply aware, it’s been a [...]
Happy Hour: It’s A Fairy Tale World
- Here is your Wednesday afternoon “We have no idea what to make of this situation” photo above, courtesy of @dbox who says: “A man on an all-terrain segway just asked me what the deal with Cinderella and Prince Charming was.” Captions welcome in the comments.
- Things got serious at the parking garage behind Borders on West End when a police officer was forced to shoot a fleeing suspect who also hit the officer with his car, dragged him several feet and possibly ran over him. The suspect, a registered sex offender, was under investigation for all sorts of shadiness at the law office where he worked, and when he returned to “smooth things over” with the office, employees called the police. [WKRN]
- Hillsboro Hillwood High School was on locktown for two hours today while police searched for and found a loaded gun that was carried into the school by a student. [WKRN]
- The feud-ish thing between Governor Phil and Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey reheated today when Governor Phil asked why Ramsey is putting off all the changes he’s promising in his television ads for governor, since he has the power to make those changes now. [WPLN]
- A jeep plowed into the First Tennessee bank branch in Inglewood after the driver suffered a medical condition that caused him or her to lose control of the car. [WSMV]
Photo by dbox.
Here is your Wednesday afternoon “We have no idea what to make of this situation” photo above, courtesy of @dbox who says: “A man on an all-terrain segway just asked me what the deal with Cinderella and Prince Charming was.” Captions welcome in the comments. Things got serious at the parking garage behind Borders on West [...]
Nashville’s Top 9 Unique Sports Guide [Guest Posts]
Editor’s note: Guest poster Nathan T. Baker is a Nashville storyteller and creative. He blogs at Nate News, your brainstorming session on storytelling and the Internet. When he’s not working at Sitemason or volunteering with Click Homeless, he’s likely smoothly mentioning his love of Las Palmas as a Nashvillest comment—or in his guest post bio.
Bored with Nashville?
Question: How often do you go to Broadway? Stop.
If you need more side streets in your life, try one of these unique sports for instant adventure. Here are some locals who’ve figured it out.
9. Table ramp sledding
An Official Nashvillest Congratulations From A Guest Poster is given to Lou Manning for sticking the landing, McAllister Green for pushing, and Luke Myszka for capturing the jump on his iPhone.
The Nashvillest girls would say “don’t try this at home, etc.” Lame. Luckily this is a guest post, so I’m going to recommend this to everyone I know, etc.
How to get started: Find snow, put on your elbow pads and helmet, and get after it. Also, expect to fail, as narrated on youtube by your roommate. Angle 2 has the rolling in pain. Perhaps train on very small tables. Be warned. It took nearly 50 attempts from different folks to attain this level of epic.
Bocce makes a man or woman look classy, and it’s super easy to learn. Just try to toss your ball closest to the small one. (I know the real terms, but I don’t want to make you feel small.)
Any of Nashville’s parks are perfect for bocce. There are also a few bocce courts scattered around the city, such as at Corrieri Formaggeria on 12th.
How to get started: If you don’t have a friend who keeps a bocce set in their trunk, pick up a set at Target or invest in glo bocce if you’re into night games. Da rules.
7. Joggling
This is Jason Tan jogging and juggling at the same time. It’s called joggling and I’m impressed. If your life has been a waste of space, there’s hope. Show up to your next family gathering running in the door while juggling and you’ve instantly made it.
How to get started: The Music City Jugglers meet Tuesdays at 5:30pm at Centennial Park. Also, check out Nashville Juggling for local resources and links.
Photo by Jason Brown, courtesy of Jason Tan
6. Quidditch
Yep, that’s the game from Harry Potter. There’s an active Hume-Fogg group, and more recently a Belmont group, who are practicing above.
Belmont Vision reports “several local schools are listed as having clubs for the fantasy intramural game, including Vanderbilt and University of Tennessee.”
How to get started: I have no idea. Ask wikipedia.
Photo by Katie Chow, courtesy of Belmont Vision
5. Fire Hooping
This is Kelly hooping with an LED hoop. Plus fire. My mom just got a hoop. Thanks Kelly. Now she’s going to try this and be cooler than me. Kelly helped train several women to hoop the half marathon with Hooping for Hope last Saturday. (Not with fire this time, but I hope next year?)
How to get started: Hooprama has classes and hoops.
Photo courtesy of Kelly
4. Beerio Kart
A drinking game has been popular over recent years in Nashville. Grab a beer and challenge a friend to Mario Kart. Finish the beer before you cross the line to win and the catch: no drinking and driving.
Some believe the game—called “Drunk Driving” in some circles—came to Nashville from Birmingham. Beerio Kart players have organized in California and New York, but what may be the first editorial on Beerio Kart comes from Columbia, Missouri where students at University of Missouri have a vibrant Beerio Kart scene.
How to get started: I could send you to Urban Dictionary, which has the rules, but I would rather send you to BEERIOKART.COM. The only problem is you haven’t created it yet. It’s time to add to this culture. If you’re a website developer, I want your ideas in the comments. (International scoreboard and profiles? Something adding to the no-drinking-and-driving theme?) The best idea gets to build out beeriokart.com. You’ll need to publish content as creative commons and link back to this post. Readers, please help by liking up the worthy ideas.
Photo creative commons by enggul
3. Jowling
Ever search for images mentioning jowling, faceflap, or ghost punch? (Psst. Those are LINKS.)
Folks have discovered if they loosen their face and swing it back and forth, it makes for wicked-awesome shots. Patrick Moberg and Bill Brown largely popularized the trend when they launched Jowlers.com in 2004.
The co-founders when to school together for a few years at Montgomery Bell Academy, a young men’s prep school in Nashville. If you’re up on your Nashville trivia, yup, that’s the same school that inspired the Dead Poet’s Society screenplay. Some places in Nashville chronically spawn awesome.
I broke this story to my college campus four years ago and I’ll continue to spotlight the innovation of Nashvillians if they keep this up.
How to get started: “1. Loosen all of the muscles in your face and refrain from making any expression.” Add it to the Nashvillest flickr group or it didn’t happen! If you need a challenge, give me a Doric Jump jowling shot. Innovate. Give me wow.
Photo creative commons by Scott Robbin
2. Live Action Role-Playing (LARP)
Yes. This is the thing with foam swords. And Yes. I will go with you.
Pictured are friends Heather and Dave sparing. (Thanks Moonwolfing for letting us use your weapons.) I was skeptical at how weird this would be, but after scoping out practice I saw some cool culture going on:
A man was teaching a girl bow skills; What looks like socks are attached as arrowheads. After a giant fur-donning man killed some foes, he walked back to greet the dog hanging out by the tree. Many folks have been playing for years, but are quite willing to teach interested onlookers the ropes.
How to get started: Bring a friend and go to Elmington Park Sunday afternoon. Edge closer till someone offers to let you borrow their weapons. Read up to see what you’re getting into. This and this look like local groups.
1. Start a Cracker Barrel band
I made this one up and this isn’t close to being a sport, but what’s more Nashville than music and biscuits?
How to get started: When they ask “How many please?” respond “Oh we’re just going to pick up a new books-on-tape.” Then proceed to the back right towards the toy instruments section. Bring attractive friends that will make your band shots pop. Add it to the Nashvillest flickr group or it didn’t happen!
Need More?
Here are some other unique Nashville sports and activities:
- Join the next city-wide pillow fight
- Start a hipster bicycle gang
- Join a local book club like Pipe and Book or the Paper Apples Literary Society
- Slide down the dragon at Fannie Mae Dees Park
- Jump off a cliff (Don’t try this at home, etc.)
- Become a Little Harpeth River rope swinger
- Become a Doric Jumper
- Get into Geocaching
- Go swing dancing
- Learn how to sail
What unique Nashville activities did I miss?
Bored with Nashville?
Question: How often do you go to Broadway? Stop.
If you need more side streets in your life, try one of these unique sports to infuse some adventure in your life. Here are some locals who’ve figured it out.
Bright & Early: Getting Creative Edition
Good morning, Nashville. Metro is hatching a new plan to make money by selling naming rights to academic programs, beginning with the Tennessee Credit Union academy of business and finance at Antioch High School. Now, our minds can take this new thing in a number of different directions, but in all fairness, they might be able to make a pretty decent chunk of change off of it. The Tennessee Credit Union has agreed to shell out $150,000 in “cash, building improvements and in-kind services” in order to have their name tacked onto the academy. Additionally, TCU will be opening a fully-functioning credit union branch inside of the school and training students to operate it as part of an neat-sounding career training program.
- Welcome to the 21st century, LP Field. Oh thank goodness! We know that standing in an absurdly long ATM line at LP Field is like a rite of passage in Nashville and everything, but they’re finally installing credit card machines at the concession stands, this week. Be still, our beating hearts.
- Head Start expansions. Tennessee is expanding its Head Start program to include services for the mother before birth, along with services for the child from birth to age 3. The program previously served kids ages 4-5, but program administrators are hoping that the new offerings will help chip away at the state’s sky-high infant mortality rates.
- Bits & pieces. Mt. Juliet school buses have a thing for running red lights … According to the census data, the number Tennesseans who speak a foreign language at home grew 33% from 2003-2008 … Chris Johnson was a no-show for the team’s first practice, and apparently it’s because he wants a new contract … State legislators are calling for a study on medical marijuana use.
Photo by Malcolm MacGregor.
Good morning, Nashville. Metro is hatching a new plan to make money by selling naming rights to academic programs, beginning with the Tennessee Credit Union academy of business and finance at Antioch High School. Now, our minds can take this new thing in a number of different directions, but in all fairness, they might be [...]
Happy Hour: Whistling In The Dark Edition
- Not that any of you are probably at work by 6am or anything, but NES is planning some power outages from First to Seventh avenues and Church to Demonbreun this week. They’re doing some work on everyone’s favorite Music City Center and the outages should be over by 7am on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. [WSMV]
- Consider this your regular warning about the killer coyotes the roam around and eat cute little puppies. Keep am eye on your pets! [WTVF]
- And the Nashville Metro Police Chief Ronal Serpas job-hunt update: He’s one of the six finalists being considered for the gig in New Orleans that had the media all in a tizzy yesterday. [Tennessean]
- East Literature Magnet School on Gallatin had a gas leak scare today. After one of the fire sprinklers started leaking weird-smelling water, two students reported breathing problems, but nothing significant was found. [WTVF]
Photo by ryan2013.
Not that any of you are probably at work by 6am or anything, but NES is planning some power outages from First to Seventh avenues and Church to Demonbreun this week. They’re doing some work on everyone’s favorite Music City Center and the outages should be over by 7am on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. [WSMV] [...]
Bright & Early: We’re Not In Kansas Anymore, Toto Edition
Good morning, Nashville. In light of the tornadoes that have swept through Nashville and the rest of Middle Tennessee in the last few years, Tennessee is now considered to be part of a new “tornado alley.” Though other states see a lot more tornadoes than we do, we’re actually leading the country in tornado-related fatalities. Many advocates are working to update building codes for mobile homes in the region in an effort to reduce that risk because they believe that most homes in the area aren’t installed correctly or equipped to handle twisters. Here’s hoping this Spring doesn’t bring us too much more in the way of severe weather.
- Sadness on 501 Broadway. Preds fans hoping for a shot at the Stanley Cup were sorely disappointed after last night’s loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. The game was definitely hard-fought, but the Preds ended up losing 5-3. Oh well. Only 164 days until next season!
- Family affair. One Davidson County family has their eye on four political seats ranging from Davidson County register of deeds to the US House of Representatives. The three youngest kids are running a PAC because they’re too young to vote.
- Bits & pieces. A FedEx truck took a tumble on I-440 late last night, blocking traffic until 4:30 this morning … Advocates are still working hard to get medical marijuana legalized in Tennessee … Congrats to Lipscomb for making the Princeton Review’s list of green colleges … Apparently $20 is the new going rate for the Tooth Fairy, which amounts to $400 when it’s all said and done.
Photo by Paul Nicholson.
Good morning, Nashville. In light of the tornadoes that have swept through Nashville and the rest of Middle Tennessee in the last few years, Tennessee is now considered to be part of a new “tornado alley.” Though other states see a lot more tornadoes than we do, we’re actually leading the country in tornado-related fatalities. [...]
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