Best of Nashville
BEST CHARITY EVENT: OKTOBERFEST
There’s only one Nashville event where you can run a 5K and drink enough German beer (with guys in lederhosen) to float the Queen Mary. It’s Oktoberfest in historic (and authentic) Germantown, and it’s 27th annual event is scheduled for Oct. 13. The neighborhood’s two congregations—Assumption Catholic Church and Monroe Street United Methodist—work together with other neighbors to plan and host the festival, which features traditional German food and drink, a run, a home tour, arts and entertainment. In other words, figure in a hangover. For more about the event, visit historicgermantown.org. —LIZ GARRIGAN
BEST BOOSTER OF LOCAL FILM: ANDY VAN ROON
My turn to embarrass the Keyser Söze of Nashville filmmaking, an offstage string-puller who shuns the spotlight yet remains the one degree of separation between most everyone working here in film or TV. Van Roon was founding president of FilmNashville, the organization that banded together local film and TV professionals and offered them health insurance; he conceived and produced last spring’s Nashville Arts Summit, which assembled an unprecedented breadth of the city’s arts groups to share ideas and resources. Most recently, he’s built Nashville’s chapter of the 48 Hour Film Project into a breeding ground for festival-ready shorts and feature-film test runs, and his grassroots lobbying effort with others on behalf of the state’s long-overdue incentives-package overhaul was cited by many as crucial. Oh, and one other thing—this was all volunteer work. Van Roon, whose oft-mentioned vampire-prince looks belie a soft-spoken Old World charm, is now at work on several projects, including a large-scale animated musical called Snowyville that he co-wrote and will co-produce. If the many people he’s helped out buy a ticket, it should make its money back the first weekend. —JIM RIDLEY
BEST NIGHT TO GO OUT FOR DINNER: DINING OUT FOR LIFE FOR NASHVILLE CARES
Once a year, Nashville CARES makes it awfully easy to donate to charity. You eat out, and the restaurant donates at least 30 percent of the tab to an organization devoted to helping people with HIV/AIDS. Participating restaurants range from pizza joints to some of the city’s finest dining meccas, and a few pony up as much as 100 percent of your bill. The Nashville CARES website (nashvillecares.org) lists each restaurant and its percentage split, so you can check before you choose. Last April, the event raised more than $70,000 at 62 restaurants. That money helped fund everything from counseling, housing aid and home-delivered meals to assistance with medical insurance and dental care. —LISA ROBBINS
BEST PLACE TO SEE COUNTRY GIRLS GONE WILD: CADILLAC RANCH
Cadillac Ranch has everything a cowboy could ask for: sex, steak and dollar PBR. Here, droves of city slickers and country boys congregate en masse, eyes glued to a dance floor illuminated by blue neon lights and the sequin-adorned tops of girls who’ve come to realize that two-steppin’ just ain’t hot enough to rope in a cowboy. Trust us, you ain’t seen country until you’ve got yer eyeful of lithe ladies in cowboy hats dry humping—er, dancing—to the “Cotton Eye Joe.” The walls of the club may be lined with murals of gunslingers, longhorns and various cacti, but this isn’t your parents’ dance hall. Because nowadays, nothing says, “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” like a half-naked cowboy getting knocked off the mechanical bull, as his little buckin’ bronco finds its way out of said cowboy’s boxer shorts to join the party. —ELIZABETH ULRICH
BEST TRIVIA NIGHT: THURSDAYS AT 3 CROW BAR, 8 P.M.
Finding a trivia night that’s competitive—with a crowd you’d actually like to clink mugs with—isn’t easy. There’s always the potential to stumble upon a scene where too-drunk gamers have clearly turned up for the dollar beers alone. But Thursdays at 3 Crow Bar bring a booze-sloshing meeting of the minds and a top prize—$50 in bar cash—that you’ll actually have to work for. Plus, the folks at Trivia Time have dumped techie trivia gadgets to craft a paper-based game with real retro charm. It hearkens back to the days of recess kickball, when friends doled out high fives with complete abandon. Now, you can get your warm and fuzzies with teammates who value shots over Swiss Cake Rolls, which is, of course, endlessly more fun. —ELIZABETH ULRICH
BEST CRIME PREVENTION EFFORT: EAST NASHVILLE CRIME PREVENTION LISTSERV/MEETING
If you’re a thug casing East Nashville for some lucrative criminal opportunities, think again. The ’hood has eyes. Minutes after you’ve stolen that lawn mower, stuck up that pawn shop or ripped the copper out of that air conditioner, descriptions of your appearance, your car, even the color of your sneakers have been emailed to 800 East Siders who are looking out their windows and phoning in your whereabouts to the MNPD’s East Precinct. Just ask Fast Fred. It’s hard to know how many thieves have been ’cuffed because of the EN Crime listserv, but it’s uncanny how many times an email alert from listserv helmsman Bob Acuff is followed an hour later by another message announcing the criminal’s arrest. In addition to spending hours a day near his police scanner and tending the listserv, Acuff mediates the weekly East Nashville Crime Prevention meetings at 11 a.m. each Thursday at Beyond the Edge, where concerned residents gather to brainstorm ways to make the area safer. And according to East Precinct Sgt. Dan Ogren and Cmdr. Robert Nash, both of whom frequently attend the meetings, these efforts are not in vain. And where else can East Side McGruffs take a bite out of crime and a bacon-cheddar burger at the same time? —JACK SILVERMAN
BEST WALK-IN CLINIC: SHADE TREE
It’s one thing to recognize a problem, and another to do something about it. The area of East Nashville around Dickerson Pike has been for many years one of the toughest parts of town when it comes to access to health care. Residents of the Belshire and Bordeaux neighborhoods reported not having visited a doctor, in some cases, in 15 years or more. To address this shortcoming, the Vanderbilt University medical school, in partnership with, and using input from, the surrounding community, opened Shade Tree, a free clinic run by medical students who volunteer their time (of which, as doctors-in-training, they have precious little) and are overseen by attending physicians from VUMC. Free services include physicals for adults and children, diabetes management, HIV testing and more. The clinic is open Saturdays from 12 to 4 p.m. and Tuesdays from 6 to 9 p.m. —STEVE HARUCH
BEST MUSIC ROW KARAOKE BAR EAST OF THE CUMBERLAND: MUSIC ROW CAFÉ
After dark Tuesday through Saturday, the Music Row Cafe transforms itself from cheap motel restaurant to cheap motel karaoke bar. The salad bar becomes a beer bar, the room gets even smokier and Tim warms up the room with a couple of choice songs. The crowd, ranging from truck drivers to truck mechanics, sing the country standards, but occasionally you’ll get a glimpse of a young Elton John or ABBA in their prime. There are no starlets here hoping to be discovered by music execs. These karaokers sing because they love the music or they’re really drunk, or both. —ROB WILLIAMS
BEST PLACE TO SPOT JACK WHITE: MARCHE
Nashville is a pretty good spot for celebrity sighting: Nicole Kidman at Wild Oats, LeAnn Rimes at Margot, Kelly Clarkson at Red Door West, Ben Folds strolling down Belmont, the Kings of Leon just about everywhere. But for the rock-minded, the motherload is recent Nashville transplant Jack White. Outside of cruising slowly down Franklin Road so you can point out his red chimney, your best chance of catching a glimpse of the guitar hero is by rolling into Marché for an afternoon delight. According to a server—who chooses to remain anonymous—the great white-and-red one loves stopping by the Five Points hot spot for a late lunch or brunch, missing the crowds and anyone who might be foolish enough to freak out externally. (It’s all about inner glee people.) If I have to hear that I “just missed Jack White” one more time, my external cool might be compromised. —LEE STABERT
BEST PLACE TO DANCE: PLAY
The dance floor at Play is loud, sweaty and raucous, with puffs from a smoke machine filling the strobe-lit air. Half-naked men grind close together while female couples eye each other coolly at the bar. Meanwhile plenty of more, ahem, traditional couples similarly get their groove on to the bumping techno pulsations emanating from the club’s ear-rupturing speakers. While there may be hipper rooms in Music City, there’s no place where the total body abandonment of nightclub dancing is more in evidence. As the night wears on and the floor gets crowded, it’s easy to imagine that you’re someplace very far away from Middle Tennessee. Then you step into Play’s main room where the drag review is in full swing. —P.J. TOBIA
BEST TEAM-BUILDING EXERCISE: DRAGON BOAT RACING
Teamwork is key to winning Nashville’s newest tradition, the dragon boat race. Twenty rowers, sitting in a long canoe-like vessel, must paddle in absolute harmony or victory is unattainable. A drummer sitting at the head of the boat sets the pace—think Spartacus with less dying. Dragon boating started in China 2,500 years ago. The prows of the boats are decorated with a large, fearsome dragon head while a scaly, dragon tail curls from the stern. The race was held here for the first time in August on the Cumberland. The Scene fielded a team—Dragon Ass—and through practice, paddling and heckling the other teams, employees who at first didn’t even know each others’ names became pals. We may not have won first place, but it beat the hell out of trust falls and ropes courses at a corporate picnic. —P.J. TOBIA
BEST BRIDGE FOR PRAISING JESUS: JEFFERSON STREET BRIDGE
If you’re anywhere near Jefferson Street Bridge on a Tuesday evening, you’ll find a good portion of the city’s homeless population en route to the bridge’s underbelly—it’s a virtual exodus of packed shopping carts and people trudging toward the sweet sounds of gospel music. Often the voice on the end of that mic is that of Candy Christmas, a doe-eyed brunette with gospel roots and hair artfully teased to the heavens. She started the Bridge Ministry in 2004 to bring food, clothes and Jesus to Nashville’s homeless. The service doesn’t look like much: it’s a whole mess of folding chairs nestled under the graffiti-laced walls of the bridge. While the city’s less fortunate may find refuge in this concrete chapel, a recent trek to join the congregation proved a little intimidating for this reporter. Two members of the church stood and yelled at passing cars. —ELIZABETH ULRICH
BEST PLACE TO TAKE YOUR JUNK: GOODWILL INDUSTRIES
Yes those pants make you look fat. And they’re taking up valuable closet space. Time to send them—along with the 25 white T-shirts you don’t wear and the eBay purchase that wasn’t exactly “NWOT in excellent condition”—toward their higher calling, i.e. someone else’s closet. Goodwill makes it easy to clear out your stuff without the guilt of throwing it away or the hassle of selling it. A dozen donation locations across town are open daily. The Green Hills location (behind Hillsboro High School) is particularly convenient, since it shares a parking lot with a phalanx of recycling Dumpsters, perfect for disposing of your empty wine bottle collection and the cardboard boxes you were saving in case you ever decided to move. —CARRINGTON FOX
BEST EMERGING CROSSROADS: RIVERSIDE VILLAGE
Formerly the near-derelict intersection of McGavock and Riverside, East Nashville’s newest gathering spot is now called Riverside Village. Home to Sip Café, East Nashville School of Music, Castrillo’s Pizza and Inglewood Backs & Tracks, among other small businesses, Riverside Village is the brainchild of Dan Heller, who is working to build a community where previously there was little more than blight. At the heart of the quaint retail nexus is a courtyard with café tables and chairs, a mural and a doggie water fountain. —CARRINGTON FOX
THE BEST OUTDOOR PLACE TO GET MARRIED: SHELBY STREET BRIDGE
Consider this an open-air cathedral of urbanity. Spread before you, your soon-to-be and your guests is the soaring skyline of downtown Nashville arrayed across the west bank. Looming on the east bank is that fortress of sport and entertainment, LP Field Coliseum. Below your feet the Cumberland River flows into the future as steady as the promise of your new life together. If you want to really put on the dog for your wedding, and since the bridge is for pedestrian traffic only, Metro will rent the bridge for your exclusive use for $1,000 per day, as it does for other exclusive events like food and wine tastings. But warn your guests not to get too rowdy on the champagne. Metro Public Works inspects the bridge for possible damage after each event. —JOE SWEAT
BEST SPOT IN THE CITY TO BE ONE WITH NATURE: SHELBY BOTTOMS
Just a few miles from downtown, on the banks of the Cumberland River, there’s a sanctuary where migrating birds, rabbits and other critters coexist with joggers, cyclists and in-line skaters. At Shelby Bottoms Greenway and Nature Park, paved trails interspersed with rustic bridges wind through miles of meadows, wetlands and forest, offering the occasional panoramic view of the river. For curious nature lovers, there are interpretive stations scattered along the trails, and a new nature center is under construction and slated to open next year on the edge of the primitive haven. So if you’re in need of a respite from urban living, head to Shelby Bottoms for a dose of the great outdoors in the heart of the city. —SARAH KELLEY
BEST BLOCK PARTY: THIRTH OF JULY PARTY
Nothing says “freedom” like kegs of beer, fresh tacos, live music and scantily clad ladies shaking it in little more than pasties. And that’s exactly what you get at the annual Thirth of July Block Party on the corner of 12th Street and Calvin Avenue in East Nashville. To celebrate our country’s freedom, the good people of this block (which they’ve dubbed “the hippest block in East Nashville”) throw one hell of a party on the eve of Independence Day. A potluck spread offers free eats ranging from chicken wings to lasagna, and a taco truck serves up tacos for a buck apiece. As for adult beverages, you can either bring your own or—for a nominal fee and proof you’re of legal drinking age—partake in the kegs provided. Then there’s the live music, along with burlesque shows in between sets. But worry not, parents, they keep it classy, so the block party is still a kid-friendly event. —SARAH KELLEY
BEST PRECINCT COMMANDER: EAST PRECINCT’S ROBERT NASH
OK, this isn’t fair, because I don’t know the other precinct bosses, who may be great leaders. But anyone who’s had any dealings with Cmdr. Nash can tell you he’s about as intelligent, compassionate and likable a top cop as you could hope for. It’s like he stepped of Central Casting’s “good cop” file drawer: calm, dignified, sincere, genuinely concerned, easygoing and reassuring. If it were 1950, Jimmy Stewart would play him in the movie. And, along with another exemplary East Side officer, Sgt. Dan Ogren (East Precinct’s community coordinator), Nash is a frequent presence at East Nashville’s weekly neighborhood crime prevention meetings, intently listening to questions from concerned residents, and never dishing out pat replies, but instead, thoughtful, informed responses. And best of all, he’s not afraid to say, “I don’t know”—sometimes that’s the only honest answer. —JACK SILVERMAN
BEST PLACE TO READ IN PUBLIC (INDOORS): SAM & ZOE’S
Occasionally, loneliness and book lust hit at the same time. Or maybe home is not bibliophile-friendly, what with screaming children, ringing phone, etc. In either case, you need to get out of the house and find a quiet but congenial spot to do a little reading. The library’s nice, but a tad heavy on the rules—no lattes allowed—and these days loitering in any other public building might get you reported to the Department of Homeland Security. Fortunately, for the price of a very good cup of coffee, you can settle in at Sam & Zoe’s in Berry Hill. Unlike many local coffee houses, Sam & Zoe’s doesn’t make a habit of assaulting its patrons with loud music, nor is it kept dark as a tomb to accommodate laptop zombies. Its ambience is pleasantly shabby and relaxed, and it’s small enough to be cozy without feeling cramped. It can get a bit crowded during the usual rush times, but overall it’s the best caffeinated reader’s refuge in town. —MARIA BROWNING
BEST NEIGHBORHOOD WITH A VIEW: KATIE HILL
Just blocks from one of the more blighted stretches of Dickerson Road, developers Matthew Strader and Ross Stone are making a bold investment. Where East Nashville meets North Nashville—and more specifically, where Fern Avenue meets Katie Street—the builders have finished three stunning modern homes that look like they were airlifted in from the Hollywood Hills. The three houses, on the south side of Fern Avenue, have what may be the most striking view of our city, encompassing Germantown, downtown and parts of East Nashville. Don’t believe me? Check out fernavenueview.com. Several homes are in the works on the same hillside, though they’re not for the faint of wallet, beginning on the north side of a half-million bucks. But plans are also in the works for houses in the 200s and 300s on Katie Street, which runs perpendicular to Fern and also offers lovely views. Hopefully the development will attract bold, deep-pocketed pioneers (word has it a Tennessee Titan has already purchased and moved into one of them), which will in turn spark investment in area businesses. For information, call 300-8694. —JACK SILVERMAN