A teenage peeping Tom strikes up an acquaintance with his older, sexually experienced subject, but the friendship takes a drastic turn. A boy and his father rely on computer data to see if a frozen lake is safe for skating. A woman wants to know if her sick husband will live—so she can decide whether or not to abort her lover’s child. Ten films about the Ten Commandments, lasting a total of 10 hours, comprise the late Krzysztof Kieslowski’s 1987 masterwork; it has been showered with superlatives over the past decade, yet it remains a phantom for most viewers—until now. Thanks to the Belcourt and Nashville Premieres, in an inspired bit of seasonal programming, the legendary Decalogue screens for the next three weeks in two-hour blocks. On weekends, in a sort of decathlon for cinephiles, the theater shows all 10 hours (with breaks). It’s the highlight of what’s shaping up as a moviegoer’s feast this week. For more information about tickets and passes, call 846-3150.
—J.R.
This week’s picks by Martin Brady, Chris Davis, Steve Erickson, Bill Friskics-Warren, Paul Griffith, Heather Johnson, MiChelle Jones, Jim Ridley, Jack Silverman, Angela Wibking and Ron Wynn.
Thursday, 19th
The Black Keys/Chris Crofton & the Alcohol Stuntband On their debut LP The Big Come-Up, Akron, Ohio, duo The Black Keys trash-compact funk, ’70s blooze jams and skeletal Delta hypno-groove into a choogling, rumbling racket—not bad for two white guys from the Rust Belt who got anointed with a bit of T-Model Ford’s mojo. (Small wonder their next record’s on Fat Possum.) The bluster of Dan Auerbach’s one-man-Mountain guitar and growled vocals conceals surprising subtlety, and drummer/producer Patrick Carney’s dope beats are as lulling as fruit likker. They rock, and they’d better: They’re billed with local boys Chris Crofton & the Alcohol Stuntband, whose latest five-song EP packs some serious Detroit heat—especially on a brass-knuckled tribute to Motor City wrestler The Sheik. The show’s at the Slow Bar.
—J.R.
Bobby Bare Jr./Matthew Ryan/Jim James/David Mead In an attempt to salvage the “songwriters in the round” format it has driven into the ground, the Bluebird Cafe presents another in a series of hip, no-weak-spot lineups. It can be hard to tell the songwriting forest from the partying trees at a Bare Jr. show, but Bare’s latest, Young Criminals Starvation League, is stripped-down enough to reveal his sensitive side. Ryan’s angst-rock could plunge Kafka into depression, but last year’s Concussion traded solipsism for a more compassionate look at emotional dissolution. James is the frontman of the mournful Kentucky farm-rockers My Morning Jacket; their Chocolate and Ice EP is equal parts Flaming Lips and Mark Everett. Recent Nashville re-transplant Mead is finishing up his third album of smart pop for RCA.
—P.G.
Will Hoge and Friends w/The Rugs Hoge fans who missed his post-Thanksgiving day blowout at 12th & Porter will have yet another chance to hear songs from his forthcoming Blackbird on a Lonely Wire during an early show at 3rd & Lindsley, benefiting Second Harvest Food Bank. The night’s lineup also includes Saddlesong co-founder Carter Little, who will unveil solo material that’s reportedly more Tom T. Hall than Uncle Tupelo. Americana-leaning Patrick Davis and modern rocker Josh Kelley also have new discs slated for 2003, while opening act The Rugs play songs from their current full-length, Suez Canal. The buzz surrounding the local foursome’s radio-ready fare stems from the high-powered riffage and head-bobbing melodies of “Everything” and “Breakdown,” both of which contain choruses catchier than a Mountain Dew commercial.
—H.J.
Friday, 20th
Bekka Bramlett CD Release Party Bramlett has distinguished herself as a backup singer, songwriter and recording artist, either solo or with her ex-husband Billy Burnette, and she has a new album out. But the main attraction at her 3rd & Lindsley gig is the reunion of her parents Delaney & Bonnie—their first appearance onstage together, we’re told, since their marriage and act went bust in the early ’70s. Between 1968 and 1972, the couple made a handful of unclassifiable but fabulous and uniquely Southern albums that, with the help of “sidemen” like Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Leon Russell and Gram Parsons, mixed country, blues, gospel and rock ’n’ roll with more soul and grace than anyone has since. Indeed, anyone looking for Parsons’ cherished “Cosmic American Music” need look no further than the Bramletts’ tambourine-spanked shout and shimmy.
—B.F-W.
Reggae Sound System Vibes Caribbean Hut hosts an evening of reggae, roots, dub and dancehall. Among the capable DJs lugging crates to the Antioch eatery are Craig Allen and Josh Elrod of the dub group Phase Selector Sound, DJ Raul and DJ FlockofSeagulls. Kon Moulder will also be on deck spinning 45s by ’80s reggae giants like Sugar Minott and Buju Banton. Show time is 10 p.m.
—C.D.
Minus One For better or worse, Minus One recall the halcyon days of grunge and noise-rock circa 1992. As you might expect from a band who cite Helmet and Silverchair as influences, they’re full of noisy guitar bluster coupled with melodic backing vocals. No one will mistake them for Korn, but their sound is plenty aggressive; they play at Bunganut Pig in Murfreesboro.
—S.E.
Jim Hoke Nonet Deck the halls with bop as saxophonist Hoke and his hard-swinging nine-piece outfit bring some holiday cheer to Cafe 123’s late-night jazz showcase, starting around 10:30 p.m. Or arrive earlier for dinner and a fine set of guitar jazz by David Andersen.
Trent Summar & The New Row Mob/Les Honky More Tonkies A Yuletide grudge match of surly, sweaty, rowdy, rangy, butt-ugly twang, with the loser forced to leave town. Expect flying chairs, sawdust in the eyes, etc. And guys, keep your elbows outta the mistletoe, if you know what we mean. Blood flows like eggnog 10 p.m. at 12th & Porter.
Saturday, 21st
The Gypsy Hombres Hip Christmas music is an oxymoron no longer. Nashville stalwarts The Gypsy Hombres have garnered stellar reviews from the national media for their yuletide disc Django Bells—a play on words reflecting their love for and dedication to the musical style of gypsy jazz great Django Reinhardt. The record features revamped classics like “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (interpreted as a minor-key tango), “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” (surprisingly engaging as a bluesy mid-tempo workout) and an inspired “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.” In December’s Down Beat magazine, Dave Zaworski gives the album a four-star review, the only one of six holiday CDs to receive a perfect score. Likewise, Entertainment Weekly lauds Django Bells with the only perfect “A” grade in the magazine’s holiday roundup. Celebrate the holidays with Hombres bandleader/violinist Peter Hyrka and bassist David Spicher, 6:30 to 9 p.m. Saturdays at Ellendale’s restaurant in Donelson, and at Saffire’s Sunday brunch. Or catch the whole band (with guitarist David Sebring) at their weekly Cafe 123 appearances, 8-11 p.m. Wednesdays.
—J.S.
Funiki The Japanese word for “atmosphere,” Funiki is also the new name of the Brian Kotzur Band. Fans of the gonzo psychedelic party unit, fear not; Funiki still raze clubs with spontaneous vocal exchanges between drummer Kotzur and singer Matt Robison and a killer twin guitar lineup featuring David Soldi and Duane Denison. Funiki bring their cultivated ambience to Blue Sky Court, where they share a bill with The Lone Official.
—C.D.
Jeff Coffin’s 2nd Annual Holiday Blowout This just might be the biggest gathering of top area jazz talent assembled all year, with Flecktones member and multi-instrumental wizard Jeff Coffin heading the bill. Coffin brings together such fine players as saxophonist Don Aliquo, trumpeter Rod McGaha, Nashville’s most prolific jazz vocalist Annie Sellick and a host of other contributors, including Derek Jones, Chris Walters and Roy Agee. Get to Cafe 123 early.
—R.W.
Kijiji’s African Drums feat. Baba Musa & Nature’s Drummers For those who haven’t been exposed to much traditional African music, Baba Musa & Nature’s Drummers offer a chance to sample the whirling multiple rhythms and percussive patterns commonplace in African music. Things get started 8 p.m. as part of the latest series of live dates at Kijiji Coffee House and Deli, now settled into its new home at 1207 Jefferson St.
—R.W.
Will Kimbrough/Jeff Finlin The British don’t know much about hot chicken or good coffee, but they know gutsy Nashville songwriters when they hear them—Kimbrough and Finlin are among those who’ve recently returned from successful journeys across the pond. That’s more than can be said for the pair’s hometown, which essentially ignored excellent releases by both artists this year. Kimbrough’s well-crafted look at the conflict between artistic and domestic life, Home/Away combines a London pop sensibility with the guitarist’s South Alabama roots. Finlin’s latest, Somewhere South of Wonder, is a quirky roots-pop wonder that uses historical referents to score emotional points. They perform at the Slow Bar.
—P.G.
Pat Gallagher’s 10th Annual Christmas Show What better host for Christmas festivities than the twinkly-eyed Gallagher, who always looks like he’s got something on the rest of the world. Under his loving, wobbly guidance, this annual Douglas Corner gathering usually generates enough stories to carry us through the next year. As usual, the lineup for the event is first-rate—Gwil Owen, Allison Moorer, Richard Ferreira, Amy Rigby and Kristi Rose accompanied by East Nashville’s Neighborhood Band (guitarist Tim Carroll, drummer Mark Horn and bassist Paul Slivka). A $5 donation benefits Community Care Fellowship, an agency that serves homeless Nashvillians.
—P.G.
NewSong’s Christmas Shoes Tour “What’s it all about?” you may well wonder if you’ve somehow managed to miss “The Christmas Shoes” phenomenon. It started two years ago, when the contemporary Christian group NewSong released a song about a little boy searching for the perfect shoes for his dying mother. To make the story even more compelling for holiday consumption, the tyke meets a power- and money-obsessed lawyer and reminds him of the importance of family. Public response to the recording was tremendous and only grew with the publication of the best-selling book last year by Donna VanLiere, whose husband Troy manages the band. This year, there was a made-for-TV movie starring Rob Lowe. If you missed both, or want more, don’t miss NewSong’s upcoming concert featuring guests Freddie Colloca, Brother’s Keeper, Dove Award-nominated Mark Schultz and Dove Award-winner Ginny Owens—and, of course, the beloved song. NewSong’s Christmas Shoes Tour comes to The People’s Church, 828 Murfreesboro Road in Franklin.
—M.J.
Saturday, 21st-Sunday, 22nd
Les Kerr CD Release Party/Moe Denham Christmas Party Here’s an ideal double billing for the weekend before Christmas, with both events occurring at Jazz on White Bridge Road. You can begin the weekend by hearing selections from Nashville’s Bayou ambassador Les Kerr, who’ll be presenting tunes from his new holiday release, Christmas on the Coast. The disc includes contributions from legendary vocal group The Jordanaires on four tracks. The Sunday concert features Hammond B3 mainstay Moe Denham, who’ll be demonstrating his versatility on the organ in a wealth of styles, from blues and soul to jazz and pop. Things begin 1 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday.
—R.W.
Film
Gangs of New York From De Palma and Schrader to Lucas and Spielberg, the lions of early 1970s Hollywood have roared all year long. Now comes Martin Scorsese’s dream project, an epic about the graft, grift, murder, thievery and revolt that shaped 19th century New York. If it’s even half as lively and absorbing as Herbert Asbury’s book—or Luc Sante’s vice history Low Life, which draws from Asbury’s source material—expect fireworks. Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz and Daniel Day Lewis star; watch for Maura O’Connell as a street singer. (No wonder the characters spend so much time outdoors in the cold.) The movie starts Friday.
—J.R.
Alias Betty Truffaut associate Claude Miller adapted this creepy Ruth Rendell mystery about a novelist (Mathilde Seigner) paralyzed by the death of her son—until her mother (Nicole Garcia) devises a chilling remedy. The classy thriller opens Friday at the Belcourt.
—J.R.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers The second film in Peter Jackson’s large-scale rendering of the Tolkien epic finds the hobbits Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) in grave peril as they sojourn to destroy the evil ring. The three-hour fantasy opens Wednesday throughout the area, including the IMAX screen at Opry Mills.
—J.R.
Standing in the Shadows of Motown This long-in-the-making documentary spotlights the Funk Brothers—the house musicians at Motown Records who backed up countless singers, from Mary Wells to Stevie Wonder to The Temptations, in the 1960s and ’70s. Advance word has it that the film’s best scenes involve nothing more than such legendary but unheralded musicians as Johnny Griffith and Joe Hunter just sitting around and telling stories. But the film also re-creates some of these reminiscences in newly staged dramatizations—a questionable approach, perhaps. The bulk of the soundtrack features the Funk Brothers backing up recent comers such as Joan Osborne and Ben Harper on an assortment of Motown staples, including “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” and “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.” (Bootsy Collins and Chaka Khan also make appearances, it should be noted.) The film, narrated by Andre Braugher, opens Friday at Green Hills. (The movie will be covered in next week’s issue of the Scene.)
—J.M.
Two Weeks’ Notice Fed up with her boss, wacky millionaire Hugh Grant, attorney Sandra Bullock turns in her notice in this romantic comedy from the author of Miss Congeniality. It opens Friday, along with The Wild Thornberrys Movie.
—J.R.
Theater
A Christmas Carol For the past several years, the excellent Mark Cabus has performed this one-man rendering of the Charles Dickens classic. Versatile and skilled, Cabus somehow manages to bring to life the entire cast of familiar characters, from Scrooge to the various ghosts to Tiny Tim. He plans to retire his acclaimed tour de force after this final series of engagements. You can catch three shows at the Darkhorse Theater, Dec. 20-22 at 7:30 p.m. Pre-show entertainment will be provided by the Metro Nashville Chorus of Sweet Adelines International, an a cappella barbershop-style singing group comprising 30 women of various ages. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door, with reduced rates for seniors and students. For reservations, call 252-6797.
—M.B.
Art
The Arts Company Gallery owner Anne Brown is rebounding nicely from a serious coronary episode a few months ago, and she should be on hand for her gallery’s annual Holiday Arts Market, with photography, painting, folk art and sculpture by gallery artists, Dec. 21-24. Join Brown and some of her artists for the opening reception, 2-6 p.m. Dec. 21.
—A.W.
Cheekwood Botanical Garden & Museum of Art If the reindeer and twinkling lights are getting to you right about now, the art exhibitions at Cheekwood should offer refreshing visual relief. Just opened in the Temporary Contemporary gallery is a show of Miami photographer Roe Ethridge’s high-gloss, hyper-real, highly stylized photographs, ranging from a large pink bow to studio portraits of pigeons. Even edgier are the videos by Yoko Ono and other artists screening in the Installation Galleries. Then there is the display of art by Iraqi refugees on the lower level of the Learning Center and “Andrew Wyeth’s Helga Pictures” at the museum itself.
—A.W.
Tribal Arts Inc. William Darrell Moseley has been collecting tribal art from Africa and Asia for 45 years. Retired now from a career in healthcare consulting in Africa and the Middle East, Moseley has set up shop—literally—in downtown Franklin. His gallery on Main Street showcases some of the thousands of objects he’s collected over the years, including ceremonial masks, ritual statuary, jewelry, weapons, textile art and household items. The gallery is open by appointment only, so call and make a date to see Moseley’s fascinating collection—and perhaps start one of your own. The number is 790-3095.
—A.W.
Comedy
Da Comedy Squad Chances Kool Jazz Bar presents this evening with some of Nashville’s funniest comedians, who kick it with a style on par with BET’s Comic View. Featured performers include B-Cov, Renegade, Cheeks and Ray-nard, with music from DJ Freaky J. Advance tickets for the Dec. 22 show are $7, available at Jerue’s Fashions and at Chances; or tickets can be had at the door for $10. (For the uninitiated, Chances is at the corner of Thompson Lane and Murfreesboro Road, behind the Mapco.) Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and show time is 8 p.m. For more information, call 945-7841 or 319-1200.
—M.B.
Events
Red Wagon’s Vintage-Vintage Night The event’s name refers to vintage clothing and vintage wine, both of which will be in abundance 5-8 p.m. Dec. 19 at the popular East Nashville eatery at 1112 Woodland St. In addition, original art, handmade jewelry, cards and more will be for sale, making this a most pleasant, mall-free opportunity to cross numerous names off your holiday gift list. And while shopping and imbibing, sample Red Wagon’s new dinner menu, inaugurated just a couple weeks ago. If the restaurant’s stellar lunch/brunch offerings are any indication, it bodes well for the burgeoning East Nashville nightlife. (Regular dinner hours are 5:30-9 p.m. Thurs.-Sun.)
—J.S.
A Season of Celebration Cheekwood’s newly expanded holiday celebration includes the “Trees of Christmas” display of elaborately trimmed trees, plus special programs that explore Jewish, Latin American and African American traditions. The Festival of Posadas-Navidad, a Hispanic celebration that honors the biblical journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, is spotlighted in a program on Dec. 21. Meanwhile, “Trees of Christmas,” itself a 37-year-old Cheekwood tradition, is back in its original home in the mansion, with more than a dozen trees and rooms decorated by some of Nashville’s top designers. For more information, call 353-6978.
—A.W.
fantasy in iceIf you’ve lived in Nashville long enough—well, maybe not even that long—it’s easy to get jaded about Opryland’s annual “Country Christmas” celebration. Lights, lights and more lights, holiday music...yeah, yeah, whatever. But this enormous ice sculpture, currently on display at the hotel and convention center’s Gaslight Theater, sounds pretty intriguing. We’re talking 1.5 million pounds of ice—enough to create an entire miniature complex of buildings, including polar bears, slides made of ice, holiday vignettes and a “cathedral,” complete with colored ice in place of stained glass. Sure, it’s cold in there, but visitors are provided parkas upon entry. So if you’re looking for something to do with your visiting relatives, well, this just might be it. “Fantasy in Ice” runs through Jan. 4 at the Gaslight Theater, next to the Opry Plaza. For ticket information—anything this spectacular is gonna cost you—call (888) OPRY-872.
—N.B.
