Group Therapy
Grimey's Empire
Grimey's New and Preloved Music, having recently relocated to 1604 8th Ave. S., threw a four-day open house/celebration from last Thursday to Sunday to show off its bigger digs and expanded inventory. After navigating the cramped space in Grimey's former location on Bransford Avenue, local discophiles are in heaven: the exposed red brick walls, freshly painted shelves and homespun touches are all very inviting, and there's actually room to move about and flip through the endless racks of CDs and vinyl.
Grimey's co-owner (and namesake) Mike Grimes is also well known as the former co-owner of the now closed but once popular Slow Bar in East Nashville. This past weekend's well-attended bash was not without nostalgia, as the spirit of Slow Bar was fully in evidence. That's to be expected, given that Grimey's is, and Slow Bar was, a forum for non-mainstream music, a place where the curious listener can hear something they're not likely to get anywhere else in town.
Grimey's is located in the same building as music venue The Basement, and Grimes has been booking some live shows there as well, hoping to bring some of the Slow Bar vibe back to Nashville. The Basement is a cozy little spot, but it's not designed to host a large crowd, which raises the question of just how much he can resurrect the Slow Bar here.
As Grimey continues to book shows and get more involved at The Basement, it wouldn't be surprising to see the club move away from singer-songwriter-oriented fare and become a hang for fans of the local indie rock scene. In the meantime, the adjacent record store is settling in nicely, and you can catch Grimey and friends at 12th & Porter at "Guilty Pleasures" next week—another holdover from the old Slow Bar days in which various local music scenesters revisit cheesy classics from the '80s, complete with a crack backing band.
On the water
Even a laid-back scene like Grimey's open house was still a scene. There are times when we need a mini-vacation from our social lives, when we need to disappear for a bit. But downtime doesn't have to mean staying at home. Nashville is full of places where you can lay low and still get out of the house. My favorite is Blue Moon Café, located in Rock Harbor on the Cumberland River. Once the dinner rush is over and the preppy families have gone home, Blue Moon attracts some interesting characters. There'll always be a cluster of good ol' boys, probably dressed in Hawaiian-print Tommy Bahama shirts, telling tall tales, glancing at the girls and pretending for a moment that the Cumberland is really the Caribbean. A group of pretty gals may sit nearby. They'll clink glasses and laugh often. Surely, you'll see an array of couples, some of whom are overly furtive and give away the nature of their rendezvous.
But that's the beauty of Blue Moon—no one cares who you are or what you're doing. The gleaming motorboats, the reflection of the moon on the water and even the swarming bugs take you far, far away from Broadway, Demonbreun and the Gulch. It's not Hemingway's Havana, but you can feel like an expatriate for a little while. Just don't be surprised if you see fellow scenesters—you're not the only one who needs a break from being fabulous.
—Amy Waddell, photos by Darek Bell & Amy
