Monthly Archives: December, 2011
Bright & Early: A Nashville Party Don’t Stop Edition
Good morning, Nashville. We hope that at least a few of you are out enjoying the giant party downtown this morning for Employee Appreciation Day. Mayor Dean kicked it off at 8am with free breakfast from Puckett’s, and Nashville’s Largest Coffee Break happens at 9:30am. There’s also a Preds ice cream social later and some sort of public painting thing going on in the afternoon, and all of these events together make us feel incredibly bummed that we don’t work downtown. However, all of our sources tell us that this will be a yearly occurrence, so maybe next year. Check out the Downtown Partnership for a full schedule of events.
- Schermerhorn open for NYE. Though we read earlier this week that the Schermerhorn might be opening in January, it turns out they’ll actually have things back up and running in time a the New Year’s Eve concert. We can’t wait to welcome them back!
- Time is up for stimulus jobs. Today is the last day of work for about 1,000 folks who were hired into jobs funding by stimulus money. All around rural Tennessee–and especially Perry County–the jobs were created to combat rising unemployment rates. Now that the money has run out, so have the jobs.
- Bits & pieces. One of our Broadway honkytonk staples is expanding to Austin, Texas … The International Black Film Festival kicked off in Nashville last night … Rep. Jim Cooper wants someone to build us a new federal courthouse … Metro Police have busted 27 people on DUIs since they ramped up their efforts to catch impaired drivers.
Photo by rdt410.
Good morning, Nashville. We hope that at least a few of you are out enjoying the giant party downtown this morning for Employee Appreciation Day. Mayor Dean kicked it off at 8am with free breakfast from Puckett’s, and Nashville’s Largest Coffee Break happens at 9:30am. There’s also a Preds ice cream social later and some [...]
Happy Hour: So Driving Is Not Our Strong Point
- The stats are in, and according to The Daily Beast, Tennessee drivers really are some of the worst and most dangerous in the country. The survey took into account fatal accidents, DUIs, and careless or distracted drivers. The good news (for us, at least) is that our beloved neighbors to the north have far worse drivers than we do. [The Daily Beast via WKRN]
- Vince Young is very tired of hearing about Vince Young in the news, and Jeff Fisher is too. [Tennessean]
- Just in time for all of that holiday traveling, BNA is adding free wi-fi and charging stations for those of us who like to lug our laptops around on vacation. The catch is that you only get 20 minutes of internet time until you have to pay up. [WSMV]
- The Nashville Zoo is welcoming a new baby white-cheeked gibbon to the family, all the way from Minnesota. The 9-month old creature will be raised by a surrogate mother and it’s just as cute as a button. Cuter, even, than a button. [WTVF]
- For our readers out in Planet LaVergne, you may experience some unusually low water pressure from October 1-11 because crews will be doing some maintenance on a water tank. [WSMV]
Photo by a kee.
The stats are in, and according to The Daily Beast, Tennessee drivers really are some of the worst and most dangerous in the country. The survey took into account fatal accidents, DUIs, and careless or distracted drivers. The good news (for us, at least) is that our beloved neighbors to the north have far worse [...]
The Great Escape Packing It In On Broadway, But Not Going Far [Comings & Goings]
A few years back, as newly-transplanted Nashvillians, your Nashvillest editors quickly learned to navigate the streets of Nashville as only a broke couple of college kids could do. Just about every weekend, you could find us at one of two places – Eating budget tacos at SATCO or pawing through heaps of used CDs at The Great Escape (sometimes both). And that’s why we’re pretty bummed to hear that the Great Escape’s 33-year-old flagship store on Broadway will be closing down on Sunday, October 17 and consolidating with their newer Charlotte Ave location.
It’s not all sad news for Great Escape enthusiasts, though. While not within walking distance for carless, penniless freshmen, The Great Escape on Charlotte Ave will become something of a “Super Store” and carry twice the inventory, plus a super-discounted outlet store open 7 days a week. The Charlotte Ave Great Escape just recently reopened after spending three months cleaning up from the May flooding, and it should make a cozy new home for all of our dusty Great Escape memories.
Read the full email sent to The Great Escape newsletter subscribers here. RIP, Great Escape Broadway – Downtown Nashville and future generations of broke college kids will miss you indeed.
Photo by jcurio.
A few years back, as newly-transplanted Nashvillians, your Nashvillest editors quickly learned to navigate the streets of Nashville as only a broke couple of college kids could do. Just about every weekend, you could find us at one of two places – Eating budget tacos at SATCO or pawing through heaps of used CDs at [...]
Bright & Early: Trailing Edition
Good morning, Nashville. After repeated warnings from Governor Phil hoping to prepare parents for lower TCAP scores, the results are finally coming in and they’re pretty bad. Because officials thought that the test was so easy that it wasn’t giving accurate feedback, they made it more difficult this year and graded it a little differently. As a result, many kids and parents are upset because they’re scoring so poorly compared to previous years even though they’re performing the same.
- Looking back. It’s hard to believe it’s been three years since Mayor Dean took office, but with only one year left in his term, he’s looking back on what it was like to lead a city through a recession and one of the most devastating natural disasters in Nashville’s history.
- Good news for Schermerhorn. The flood-damaged Schermerhorn Symphony Center could reopen as early as January. Crews are currently reinstalling the commercial kitchen, and they’ll eventually have to replace the entire heating, A/C and electrical systems.
- Bits & pieces. Yesterday’s grand reopening of the Grand Ole Opry House was a big ol’ party … TDOT is planning an overhaul of the state’s bike routes and they really, really need your input … WPLN has been taking a close look at chronic homelessness in Nashville this week … Thanks to an increase in the NHL’s salary cap, the Preds are nearing a $50 million payroll.
Photo by neuski.
Good morning, Nashville. After repeated warnings from Governor Phil hoping to prepare parents for lower TCAP scores, the results are finally coming in and they’re pretty bad. Because officials thought that the test was so easy that it wasn’t giving accurate feedback, they made it more difficult this year and graded it a little differently. As [...]
Happy Hour: Don’t Crack-Tax Us, Bro
- Did you buy any crack (or any other illegal drug, for that matter) last year? And did you pay taxes on it? You could be eligible for a refund! Since the Tennessee Supreme Court struck down the “crack tax” last year, only 161 people have stepped forward to get their money back. [Tennessean]
- A student-run branch of the Tennessee Credit Union opened up inside of Antioch High School this week, aiming to give students some work experience and money management skills. [WTVF]
- Vanderbilt released the Tennessee Men’s Health report card and apparently our men are very, very unhealthy! In fact, on a scale of one to Fail, they get a Fail. [Tennessean]
- ‘Tis the season when the deer are bangin’ and, consequently, they are much more likely to run out in front of your car while pursuing a sexy deer mate. So be careful! Seriously. [WSMV]
- Metro Schools received a $12 million grant to boost the district’s magnet program, so they’ll be starting up six new magnet schools including the much-anticipated Pearl-Cohn High School for entertainment and music business. [City Paper]
Photo by Vic James Photography.
Did you buy any crack (or any other illegal drug, for that matter) last year? And did you pay taxes on it? You could be eligible for a refund! Since the Tennessee Supreme Court struck down the “crack tax” last year, only 161 people have stepped forward to get their money back. [Tennessean] A student-run [...]
Happy Hour: Making A Break For It
- The most important news of the day, by far: “‘Panda Cows’ look like Oreos come to Nashville Zoo.” We need to see the Oreo cows! [Tennessean]
- On the more terrifying end of the news spectrum, Spring Hill firefighters are dealing with a venomous spider infestation in their fire stations–an infestation so intense that the poisonous critters have been found to actually be falling from the ceiling tiles, skittering across the floor and snoozing on someone’s camouflage bedspread. [WSMV]
- If you’re on the internet right now, you probably already heard about Southwest buying AirTran. We can now get to even more cities for cheap from BNA! Here’s the list: [Tennessean]
- This year’s flu vaccine will also protect you against H1N1, which we still prefer to call “swine flu.” [WKRN]
- Vanderbilt’s weight management clinic is getting pretty creative in fighting obesity in rural Tennessee. Rather than traveling all over the state, they’ve been counseling kids and their families through Skype. [WPLN]
- Metro Councilman Duane Dominy filed an ordinance to try to keep the state fair right here in Nashville, and on the same Fairgrounds at which it’s been held for decades. [Tennessean]
Photo by a kee.
The most important news of the day, by far: “‘Panda Cows’ look like Oreos come to Nashville Zoo.” We need to see the Oreo cows! [Tennessean] On the more terrifying end of the news spectrum, Spring Hill firefighters are dealing with a venomous spider infestation in their fire stations–an infestation so intense that the poisonous critters [...]
Bright & Early: The Payoff Edition
Good morning, Nashville. It seems like yesterday that we watched as the waters rose inside the Grand Ole Opry House, nearly destroying one of our city’s most prized landmarks. But they managed to make a full recovery, even replacing the wood circle from the original Opry stage, and now they’re coming home in a big way. Tons of stars ranging from Dierks Bentley and Brad Paisley to Little Jimmy Dickens will take the stage tomorrow night and celebrate recovery. As for the surrounding attractions, Opry Mills is still closed indefinitely, but the Opryland Hotel is slated to reopen on November 15th.
- Volunteer city. Hands On Nashville Day had a killer turnout of more than 1,600 volunteers, which is about 500 more than last year. Volunteers worked on improvement and service projects at schools all over the city and made an estimated economic impact of $135,525.
- Remains of missing man found. Volunteer search crews finally discovered the remains of Danny Tomlinson, who was swept away in floodwaters back in May. Our hearts go out to his friends and family who kept the search going for four very long months.
- Bits & pieces. This week’s Titans game went a little better than last week’s … Chattanooga is getting the country’s fastest internet connection, and this could be good news for the job market … Tennessee is facing a detrimental shortage of interpreters for non-English speakers … This weather is awesome. Can we keep it?
Photo by LDuck.
Good morning, Nashville. It seems like yesterday that we watched as the waters rose inside the Grand Ole Opry House, nearly destroying one of our city’s most prized landmarks. But they managed to make a full recovery, even replacing the wood circle from the original Opry stage, and now they’re coming home in a big [...]
Happy Hour: On A Roll
- The Music City Center unveiled its new website today! This means you can, uh, waste hours of your day staring at the construction cam and wishing it was 2013 already. [City Paper]
- Metro won’t be getting rid of the Stokes School building quite yet, it seems. Though they were thinking about selling it to Lipscomb, they’re now thinking that maybe they could actually use it. [Tennessean]
- Don’t forget: Lady Gaga tickets go on sale tomorrow at 10am! [WKRN]
- Belmont is blazing trails with their new bike share program, which provides 10 refurbished bicycles (hopefully fixies, as this is Belmont we’re talking about) for students to ride around town. [WKRN]
- The Martha O’Bryan Center is moving its afterschool program to some empty space at Stratford High School, where students will have full access to more homework help, tutoring and counseling. [Tennessean]
Photo by MFitzPhoto.
The Music City Center unveiled its new website today! This means you can, uh, waste hours of your day staring at the construction cam and wishing it was 2013 already. [City Paper] Metro won’t be getting rid of the Stokes School building quite yet, it seems. Though they were thinking about selling it to Lipscomb, [...]
The Weekendist: Autumn Is In The House Edition
It’s the first weekend of the Fall and the lineup is fixin’ to make our heads explode, so let’s get right to it.
FRIDAY, September 24th:
- Chelsea Handler: Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang. Bridgestone Arena, 8pm, $45-$75. Fresh of her VMA-hosting stint, stand-up comedian and TV personality extraordinaire Chelsea Handler comes to Nashville and hilarity ensues. And there are still plenty of tickets left!
- Flea Market at the Fairgrounds. State Fairgrounds, 8am-5pm, FREE (but parking is $4). We might not have a State Fair at our State Fairgrounds, but we still have one heckuva flea market. If you know how to dig, you might just find something awesome. Runs all weekend.
SATURDAY, September 25th:
- Women’s Running Magazine Women’s Half Marathon. Downtown, 7am, registration $95. Though you’ve probably already registered if you’re planning to run, the rest of us can cheer on these women as they complete Nashville’s first women’s half marathon. Also be aware of road closures (PDF alert!) taking place from 6am-11:30am.
- Preds Fest 2010: Open Practice & Open House. Bridgestone Arena, 10am-1pm, FREE. The Preds welcome fans back to Smashville by hosting several days of fan-centric activities. Watch them practice on Saturday morning, tour the arena, and basically just get excited about hockey season. Later on Saturday night, they’ll take on the Washington Capitals and hopefully do better than they did on Thursday.
- 32nd Annual TACA Fall Craft Fair. Centennial Park, 10am-6pm, FREE. Loads and loads of artists who make loads and loads of crafts ranging from woodcarving, stained glass and pottery to tie-dyed-everything-under-the-sun. Runs through Sunday.
- Grimey’s & The Basement’s Fall Festival & Big-Ass Sale! Grimey’s, 10am-8pm, FREE. It’s no secret that we’re kind of in love with Grimey’s, and these backyard BBQs are one of the many reasons. Super cheap music strewn about in bins, live music crankin’, Yazoo, Mitchell’s Deli, and tons of other stuff going on all day long. Just carpool or bike over if you can, since parking is guaranteed to suck.
- Mimosas, Marys and a Movie. Belcourt Theatre, 11am, $20 members/$25 non-members. Part of a whole slew of Belcourt events during the nD celebration of independent fashion, film and music. We wish we’d had time to write about this a little more this week, but you can get the full listing of events over at Belcourt.org. The entire thing benefits the Belcourt so that they can keep bringing us awesome independent film and hopefully buy more of those fancy new chairs.
- Michael McDonald & the Nashville Symphony. Lipscomb University’s Allen Arena, 8pm, $40+. The Nashville Symphony still doesn’t have a home, but that’s certainly not holding them back. And though we were but twinkles in our parents’ eyes when Michael McDonald won his first Grammy, we can appreciate a legend when we see one. Help a symphony out.
- Jenny & Johnny, featuring Jenny Lewis & Johnathan Rice. Mercy Lounge, 9pm, $15. This one’s pretty self-explanatory and also pretty great, but you might recognize Jenny Lewis from a few other notable projects like Postal Service and Rilo Kley. Head over to Myspace for some sample tunes if you like.
- Joel McHale and Brooks McBeth. Vanderbilt University’s Langford Auditorium, 9pm, $15 students/$30 everyone else. We’re huge fans of both Community and The Soup here at Nashvillest, so we can tell you that Joel McHale is a very funny guy. We don’t know a whole lot about the other guy, but he’s probably funny too.
SUNDAY, September 26th:
- Jenny & Johnny ALL AGES show. Third Man Records, 6pm, $3. For the younger ones among us, or the thriftier, or the folks who simply aren’t available on Saturday night, J&J return for round 2. And folks who go to this show will have three days to come back and order a special vinyl of the show.
- Bumps, Bruises & Bedtime Stories. Zanies Comedy Club, 7:30pm, $15. What happens when you round up a few former Preds players and make them tell funny hockey stories in a comedy club? Guess we’ll find out! All proceeds benefit the Nashville Jr. Predators.
- of Montreal & Janelle Monae. Cannery Ballroom, 9pm, $25. For some reason, there are still tickets left for this show which is actually too good to miss.
- Matthew Perryman Jones and Amy Stroup. 3rd and Lindsley, 8pm, $10. But if you do for some reason miss that show, it should be because you’re at this show with a couple of our favorite Ten Out of Tenn’ers.
Photo by Here On The Road.
It’s the first weekend of the Fall and the lineup is fixin’ to make our heads explode, so let’s get right to it. FRIDAY, September 24th: Chelsea Handler: Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang. Bridgestone Arena, 8pm, $45-$75. Fresh of her VMA-hosting stint, stand-up comedian and TV personality extraordinaire Chelsea Handler comes to Nashville and hilarity ensues. [...]
Bright & Early: A Job Well Done Edition
Good morning, Nashville. The State of Tennessee was one of 32 groups picked by the US Department of Education to receive a slice of federal grant funding to revamp their system for paying teachers. Specifically, the state is looking at rewarding teachers in some of the state’s worst schools for their students’ performance on standardized tests. The $35 million grant will be spread out over five years and include payouts of up to $10,000 for the most effective teachers as determined by test scores and a few other criteria; additionally, it will fund some teacher training programs. Making things a bit more interesting, Vanderbilt unveiled a study earlier this week showing that teacher incentives had no affect on students’ scores.
- Naner puddin’! The folks in Hickman County are getting creative with their flood relief efforts and holding the world’s only National Banana Pudding Festival. It’s happening next Saturday and will involve 2,100 pounds of banana pudding. And it’s for a good cause! Details here.
- Another flood deadline approaching. And while we’re talking about flood things, those who qualified for FEMA aid have less than a week to buy replacement furniture, appliances and building materials tax-free. The deadline is September 30th and refund information is here.
- Bits & pieces. Metro’s program to combat truancy has seen a 70% success rate … The Metro Council could be cracking down on overgrown lawns … Nashvillians have racked up an average of $24,146 in credit card debt … File “bedbug onslaught” under phrases we never want to hear … Bomb threats that shut down Greenbrier High School in Robertson County are tied to international taunting of a gay teen who made the news a few months ago.
Photo by Mister_Moon.
Good morning, Nashville. The State of Tennessee was one of 32 groups picked by the US Department of Education to receive a slice of federal grant funding to revamp their system for paying teachers. Specifically, the state is looking at rewarding teachers in some of the state’s worst schools for their students’ performance on standardized [...]
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