Good morning, Nashville. Today’s the day! CMApocalypse 2010 is off to a stormy start, but hopefully all thunder and lighting and wind and rain will stay far away from downtown for this morning’s kickoff parade. Don’t forget to check out the lengthy list of road closures, which started at 8am today. And speaking of traffic, people have already started lining up at the gates of Bonnaroo and clogging up the entirety of I-24 between here and the ‘Noog. So if that’s a route you typically take, you may want to take a look at TDOT’s handy map of suggested Bonnaroo detours.

• Up in the air. We are all very relieved to hear that Metro Council has passed a bill legalizing balloon advertising, which we were not aware was illegal in the first place. And apparently no one else knew either. The future of the inflatable tube people, however, is still in question.
• Make way for duckling. Here is a very heartwarming story about some Office Depot employees who spent hours rescuing some baby ducklings trapped in a storm drain on Thompson Lane yesterday, with a little help from the fire department. Here’s hoping that the Office Depot bosses find it as heartwarming as we do.
• Things you might have missed yesterday: Play CMApocalypse Bingo here (or here!), catch Snooki and The Situation in real life here, and put all your mullet and/or TruckNutz™ photos here.
• Bits & pieces. It’s Free Fishing Day on Saturday, which means everyone can go fishing without a license, just this once. Go crazy! … Just a few weeks after accidentally releasing a murderer, Metro Police accidentally let a drunk guy under arrest into the Davidson County Jail with a gun … The Tennessee Board of Regents approved a tuition increase of anywhere from 5-11.4% for all their colleges and universities … A Michigan resort is offering temporary employment to laid-off Opryland workers.

Photo by B to the T.