People, Places & Events >>

• Best Ideals in Practice
  Elise Tyler
  At 25, Nashville native Elise Tyler is a small-business owner, a community activist, a recycling advocate, a political organizer and a philanthropist on a modest personal scale—and the hub of these concerns is the Halcyon Bike Shop she runs in 12South. There she preaches the gospel of... More >>
• Best People We Miss
  Ted Jarrett / Stacy Fleeman
  Every music scene depends on a connector who stands as the one degree of separation between everybody and everybody else, whether he's an artist, a studio owner, a doorman or simply everyone's biggest fan. In Nashville's blazing 1950s and '60s R&B scene, that man was Ted Jarrett, producer,... More >>
• Best MNPS Principal
  Greg Hutchings, West End Middle School
  For decades, countless national and regional studies have consistently declared middle schools the weakest link in the public school system's three-tier setup—the place where struggling students are lost forever, where overachieving students opt out to private academies, and where... More >>
• Best MNPS Teacher (2 Comments)
  Mary Catherine Bradshaw, Hillsboro High School
  Tell your earnest young pediatrician that your son's teacher is Mary Catherine Bradshaw, and he gets a dreamy look of remembrance. This is hardly rare. Doctors, lawyers, bankers, social workers, professors, journalists and entrepreneurs will attest that it was Bradshaw who alternately nurtured... More >>
• Best Coach
  Geoff Macdonald, Vanderbilt
  With all due respect to Jeff Fisher, Barry Trotz, Bobby Johnson or anyone else you want to name, Vandy women's tennis coach Macdonald consistently meets one of the most difficult challenges any coach in any sport faces—he keeps a good program good. While Johnson has pulled VU's football... More >>
• Best Mascot
  Gnash, Nashville Predators
  Let me begin by saying I'm not a fan of sports mascots. My disdain comes from years of having to watch the San Diego Chicken get cheers and the San Francisco Giants' Crazy Crab get jeers from the frigid faithful—primarily because the damn kooks in costume took all the attention away from... More >>
• Best Sports Anthem
  "I Like It, I Love It," Nashville Predators
  While Republica's "Ready To Go" and Gary Glitter's "Rock And Roll Part 2" have become staples at stadiums and arenas throughout North America, Tim McGraw's country hit—with a subtle tweak of the lyrics to make it event-specific—has become an enduring tradition for a franchise that... More >>
• Best Debate
  What About Vince Young?
  Everyone remembers the dynamic college career of the former University of Texas sensation. Many forget, though, that as a rookie in 2006 he guided the team to victories in eight of its final 11 games (including six straight at one point) and nearly into the playoffs. A series of utterly... More >>
• Best Bloodlines
  Ryan Suter, Nashville Predators
  The team's first-round choice in 2003 is the son of Bob Suter, a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team—that's right, the Miracle on Ice guys—and the nephew of Gary Suter, who played a total of 1,145 career NHL games for three different teams. Another uncle also played college... More >>
• Best Outside-the-Box Use of a Venue
  Adrenaline Drags, Nashville Superspeedway
  Imagine the Tennessee Titans opening up LP Field to Friday-night flag football leagues. That's effectively the idea behind adrenaline drags, which allow anyone who wants to bring any car he or she wants and race down the drag strip on pit road approximately every other Friday night throughout... More >>
• Best Venue Nashville Needs
  A Downtown Stadium for the Nashville Sounds
  Sadly, this remains nothing more than an idea. Despite plenty of anecdotal evidence from places such as Memphis, Louisville, Rochester, N.Y., and so many others regarding the benefits of such a venue, political opposition on numerous fronts repeatedly has stalled this notion over the years. For... More >>
• Best Memory of Steve McNair
  Next-to-Last Play, Super Bowl XXXIV, Atlanta
  No one ever will forget the circumstances under which the former Tennessee Titans quarterback died this past summer. But the local fan base would rather remember the late McNair for his judgment and character on the field—as in the unforgettable penultimate play of Super Bowl XXXIV, when... More >>
• Best Barmaid at Brandon's (Whose Name Isn't Shantay)
  Carmelita Stafford
  Nights inside the dank press bar named Brandon's, in the dingy Arcade alley, the city's ink-stained wretches seek comfort from Carmelita. Considerately, she hears our woes, which chiefly involve dealing with hapless editors and lying politicians, and she serves us alcohol until we can't remember... More >>
• Best Karaoke Host
  Donna Noack
  Currently working Nashville's karaoke circuit from Purple Heys to the Tennessee State Fair with tireless energy and a leisurely earth-mother vibe, Donna Noack has been building some of the finest karaoke nights in the city. She exudes genial support and enthusiasm, and she also understands the... More >>
• Best Vinyl Spinnerette
  Sho'Nuff, Springwater
  There's a difference between being a DJ and being able to size up a crowd and play excellent music. DJs, through mixing, scratching and shifting beats, craft a nonstop ride through music, and that's all well and good. But impeccable selection and timing make all the difference, as anyone knows... More >>
• Best Drag MC
  Daisy Rae Welch
  With impeccable timing, a flair for the risqué, and the sharp focus of a bird of prey, Daisy Rae has honed her craft on many of Nashville's finest stages, going all the way back to The Chute. These days, she rules the Church Street gayborhood, presiding over Tribe's weekly Humpday... More >>
• Best Petition Drive
  Carol McCullough
  When East Nashville resident Carol McCullough found herself wishing in 2007 that Trader Joe's would bring its tasty, healthy and relatively affordable groceries to Nashville, she did what any community organizer would do—she started a petition. McCullough, whose day job is working for the... More >>
• Best Place to Throw a Party
  Performing Artists Co-op
  Co-op owner Mo Sweeney wanted to build a rehearsal space that was clean, vibey and affordable, but his East Nashville room-for-hire has become more than that. Like a cross between The Bluebird and Spanky's clubhouse, the Co-op has evolved into a kind of community center for artist-types. In... More >>
• Best Pedestrian Tourist Circuit Without Tourists
  SoBro
  Try this on for a word problem: Find a concert at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center that appeals to you. Buy tickets. Arrive three hours early and visit the Country Music Hall of Fame. Stroll up the street for early dinner at Sole Mio. Attend your concert in one of the world's most perfect... More >>
• Best Place to Arrange a Money Drop When You're Blackmailing Your Lover's Other Lover
  El Rey Azteca
  Located in White's Creek, El Rey Azteca ("The Aztec King") has easy interstate access from downtown: Just shoot right up I-24 and get off at Old Hickory Boulevard. It also has a large building you can hide behind, and delicious food you can eat with the $10,000 you're trying to extort from a... More >>
• Best Local Online Place to Waste an Afternoon
  Tennessee State Library and Archives
  The Tennessee State Library and Archives has an online collection (tennessee.gov/tsla) that will suck you in and steal hours from you. Everything from old maps of Tennessee that look like the mapmaker was just going on guesses to mule-race broadsheets to letters home during the Civil War, not to... More >>
• Best Cemetery for Living People to Enjoy
  City Cemetery
  Nashville has a lot of great cemeteries, but the original is still the best. It's a lovely place to walk your dog (though bring your own baggies; the ones they provide tend to be crumbly) while visiting some of Nashville's oldest and most distinguished residents. The ongoing preservation efforts... More >>
• Best Lesser-Known Fall Festival
  Music and Molasses, Ellington Agricultural Center
  There's literally something for everyone at this fall harvest celebration, coming up Friday through Sunday on the lush grounds of the Tennessee Agricultural Museum. Your kids will love the petting farm, storytellers, pony rides, and educational activities that range from shucking corn to washing... More >>
• Best Ghostly Overnight Trip
  Newbury House, Rugby, Tenn.
  Just two-and-a-half hours from Nashville, historic Rugby is a real-life ghost town, with a reasonably priced boarding house inn that contains guest books filled with spectral sightings from recent visitors. Be sure and ask to stay in Room 2, where guests have reported being awakened by a male... More >>
• Best Neon
  Belle Meade Theater
  OK, so the Fox's Donut Den sign will be staying up after all. That's nice, but it won't come close to the most illuminating news about Nashville neon—that the vertical visage of the old Belle Meade Theater sign is blazing away again as the signpost of the new Harris Teeter on Harding Pike.... More >>
• Best New Office Building
  Pinnacle at Symphony Place
  Finally, Nashville has a skyscraper with a finely detailed glass curtain wall that proudly acknowledges its contemporary provenance. Courtesy of its energy-saver reflective coating, Pinnacle shimmers on the skyline like a desert mirage—hence its nickname "The Phantom." The green roof atop... More >>
• Best Zoning Non-Change
  Bells Bend
  When Metro's Planning Commission took a pass on the proposal by Jack May and Tony Giarratana to build a virtual downtown in Nashville's largest remaining agricultural and forested landscape, they gave Scottsboro community residents the chance to keep it that way. The developers pulled out all... More >>
• Best Start on a Post-Playing Career
  Kyle Vanden Bosch, Tennessee Titans
  The two-time Pro Bowler is still plenty productive, despite an injury that caused him to miss six games in 2008. But he has aligned himself with locally based TNA Wrestling in what looks like a head start on his next career. For the second straight year, TNA will conduct a local event (Nov. 9 at... More >>
• Best Condo Tower
  Adelicia/Terrazzo
  It's not easy to make good architecture out of high-rise residential, as witness Encore, Icon, Viridian and the horrors looming over West End near Vanderbilt. The Adelicia and Terrazzo, however, show that it's possible. Balconies are the major design challenge posed by the multi-story multi-unit... More >>
• Best Chance to Screw Up SoBro
  Music City Center
  "Convention centers are supposed to revive cities by bringing in revenue from out-of-town visitors and creating local jobs. But the more gargantuan they become, the less happily they fit into the places they're intended to benefit," writes New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberger. Music... More >>
• Best Urban Design Move by Mayor Karl Dean
  The Riverfront Plan
  It's a call of nature for the new alpha dog to pee on the fireplug already doused by his predecessors. Fortunately for Nashville's riverfront, Mayor Dean resisted this all-too-basic urge, after a few taps with a rolled-up newspaper. During the Purcell administration, a two-year master planning... More >>
• Best Antidote to Metro Council Cavemen
  Megan Barry
  Barry never really had to say much at all about her bill to ban workplace discrimination against gay and lesbian city workers. It was as though she cast a spell on the council knuckle-draggers who have prevented progress in this city so many times. And the bill passed easily, with very little... More >>
• Best PR Guy
  Joe Pagetta, NPT/Nashville Film Festival
  Like Elaine Wood, the Nashville PR veteran and event planner whose calls are always returned, Pagetta is successful first and foremost because people enjoy talking to him. He understands where different media outlets are likely to see the interest in his causes, so editors and reporters never... More >>
• Best Local Public-Affairs TV Host
  Bob Mueller, This Week With Bob Mueller
  The age of media consolidation has turned the local public affairs show into the television version of the dodo bird in most cities. Fortunately, Nashville's WKRN-Channel 2 offers its own look at key issues and stories with This Week With Bob Mueller at 9 a.m. Sundays. Veteran anchor and... More >>
• Best Pilot Idea
  The Vault, WSMV-Channel 4
  You'd think the smash success of NPT's "Memories of Nashville" documentaries would have shown Nashville's news channels what a goldmine they have stashed away in their archives. Yet one local news outfit a few years back reportedly chucked hundreds of hours of tapes in the trash because it... More >>
• Best One-Stop Blog
  Nashvillest
  In the olden days, there were hip young women who knew all the fun stuff happening in town. If you were lucky, one of them dated your brother, and she would come over once a week for dinner and tell you what you should not miss out on. Then you’d be stuck doing dishes while the cool kids... More >>
• Best New (Old) Newspaper
  The Nashville Retrospect
  Nashville history junkies, meet your new best friend, courtesy of publisher and former editorial cartoonist Allen Forkum. It's a pretty ingenious idea: If print newspapers are an antiquated notion—as most print newspapers seem convinced—why not start one as a nostalgia enterprise... More >>
• Best Move Up the Dial
  Radio Free Nashville
  As it gears up for its fifth anniversary on the air next April, the city's low-power community radio station has been given an extraordinary gift: a new frequency at 107.1 FM, which (unlike its current location) is clear of any competing signals. RFN is celebrating with a barn-raising Oct. 25... More >>
• Best Radio Voice
  Fred Buc, Radio Lightning
  Most on-air voices these days are loud and obnoxious, assaulting our ears with lame jokes and sexual innuendo only a junior high schooler would enjoy. That's why Lightning 100's Fred Buc wonderfully bucks the trend. With his conversational calm and steady tongue, Buc skips all the nonsense,... More >>
• Best Local Country Music Blogger
  Jim Malec, The9513.com
  At the country music website The9513.com, Malec writes so well you don't know whether to be delighted just to read him or jealous that you don't have that kind of talent. He's rough on country music in the way that only a person who loves and thinks deeply about an art form can be. He's also not... More >>
• Best Local Twitter Feed (Print)
  Michael Cass, The Tennessean
  Michael Cass covers Metro Nashville for the morning daily. He can also be found on Twitter @tnmetro. While Twitter is mostly the social-networking equivalent of a smoke break for people who get it (and inexplicable to those who don't), Cass has managed to strike the right tone of authoritative... More >>
• Best Local Twitter Feed (TV)
  Christine Maddela, WKRN
  While she has won her share of awards for her in-depth, multi-part series on subjects such as the Tennessee Minuteman, what the weekend anchor and reporter is best known for online is her use of Twitter. Sure, everyone has a Twitter account these days—but have they ever broken one of the... More >>
• Best Show of Political Hardball
  Rep. Jimmy Naifeh
  When the Democrats went looking for that final vote to keep Naifeh with his hand on the speaker’s gavel, they came up empty. But they did find a solution that would at least keep Jason Mumpower’s hand off it. Whoever truly first proposed the idea, we’ll never really know. But... More >>
• Best Local Women's Health Blog
  Women's Health News
  Okay, Rachel Walden may have the only local women's health blog, but we shouldn't hold the lack of competition against her. At Women's Health News (womenshealthnews.wordpress.com), you can read tales of woe about women who have lost Tampons, you can keep track of the latest anti-women bills in... More >>
• Best Roman A Clef Blog
  Sorry for Partyin'
  Partying is a universal theme, "the ultimate excuse for bad behavior," says Kelli Craig. The stylist, boutique proprietor, sometime standup comedian and former Raconteurs life partner started a blog in July (preludetosuicide.blogspot.com), as a companion piece to an as-yet-unpublished book of... More >>
• Best iPhone App Developed by Some Local Dudes
  gpsAssassin
  Local secret geniuses and all around computer gurus Jackson Miller and Nicholas Holland claim to have no viral marketing campaign for gpsAssassin, but it's virtually impossible to be on Twitter and not hear someone talking about how great it is. Now it's not just the local online community, but... More >>
• Best Jimmy Stewart Imitation in Tennessee Politics
  Rep. Kent Williams
  Just like in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Williams started as the handpicked stooge of the political establishment. In January, in a bargain with the 49 House Democrats, he shocked the Capitol by snatching the speaker's gavel by a single vote—his own. He was kicked out of the Republican... More >>
• Best Reason to Give the Republican Party One More Chance
  Rep. Beth Harwell
  Harwell came across as a reasonable grown-up leader in the legislature this session—meaning she was skating on very thin ice with the Republican Party. She voted against allowing guns into bars. She led the move to dismiss a pointless ethics complaint against House Speaker Kent Williams,... More >>
• Best Country Wiseacre in the Legislature
  Rep. Frank Niceley
  A wisecracking farmer from Strawberry Plains, Niceley has never lived down his brilliant utterance, "It's not exactly rocket surgery." This year, though, he helped found the "country boy" Republican House caucus, which promptly admitted Speaker Kent Williams in defiance of the GOP establishment.... More >>
• Best Web Monkeys at the Capitol
  Burney Durham and Russell Humphrey
  The Tennessee legislative website was named the best in the country this year. The National Conference of State Legislatures said the site—capitol.tn.gov—stood out for its ease of navigation, depth of content and openness, and availability of information to the public. As soon as the... More >>
• Best Political Reporter
  Ed Cromer, The Tennessee Journal
  Every week, Cromer writes the insiders' bible of state government and politics. His reports are full of insight and institutional knowledge that only a savvy veteran can provide. He's first with the big picture on policies and trends. Past editions of his journal are like library reference... More >>
• Best Comeback
  A.J. McCall
  When last we saw the scion of the Wilson County appliance empire, he was running for the state House when someone unearthed his DUI arrest records, documenting a drunken attempt to coax a lady into his van in a Walmart parking lot. Oops. That didn't stop ol' A.J., though—he's back for more... More >>
• Best Scandal
  Sen. Paul Stanley
  No surprise on this one. In a flameout of epic proportions, the holy-rolling, gay-adoption-opposing state senator was not just caught cheating on his wife with an intern, but with an intern who A) had a past drug conviction, B) a husband in jail and C) a boyfriend on the outside who decided to... More >>
• Best Power Play
  Rep. Brian Kelsey
  They say the hardest primary campaign is the one you run in unopposed. We don't know how Brian Kelsey went from a young punk putting bacon in envelopes on the House floor to securing a Republican nomination for state Senate with no pushback from the establishment—and, frankly, we don't... More >>