1. Nashville Banner Email
"Start each day with a comprehensive rundown of the most important stories impacting our city and state."
That’s how the Nashville Banner describes its daily email, The Flyer, and it delivers just that. Aside from the Daily Scene (shill!), I don’t get daily emails. I have so many custom filters on my inbox my husband can barely get through, and that’s by design. But this has value.
Every day, you get:
A lead story — The Lede — on important topics like the Tennessee Supreme Court, homelessness, Plaza Mariachi’s bankruptcy, Swan Ball drama, crime statistics or the Fourth of July. There are also once-in-blue-moon videos from Demetria Kalodimos like: “How Ford’s Would-Be Assassin Saw the Attempt on Donald Trump’s Life”.
A couple other top stories from the Banner on Metro Council meetings, congressional races, the mayor, TDOT, the CDC, lawsuits and so on.
Under that umbrella, you get concise political reporting. I am decidedly not a political junkie because I cannot be without compromising my mental health. The Flyer delivers just enough information to keep me informed but not despairing. Most importantly, they offer impartial political reporting that won’t piss off either side — yes, it's possible — in addition to important little items like this one from July 11 that will piss people off but that we really ought to know:
As a Democrat who donated to Voices for a Safer Tennessee in the days after the Covenant School shooting, this was “a real kick in the teeth.” The Randy McNally donation, in particular, is especially hard to stomach within 18 months of the startling hypocrisy that was him getting busted on social media for commenting on a young gay man’s photos even as he led the Tennessee Senate to pass bills targeting the LGBTQ community. (Leave it to Betsy Phillips to offer a more nuanced take on that debacle than ol’ Randy deserves.)
A daily quote from sources as wide-ranging as the San Diego Zoo, Skechers’ lawyers, NASA reps, Mark Cuban and a Poozeum curator (which is exactly what you think it is).
A best of the rest section with links from around the internet that is my absolute favorite way to start the day. If the lead stories are my vegetables, this is my dessert. Here’s are some recent ones:
OPEN THE DOORS: Belmont University will welcome its first class of students to its new medical school next week as projections show a nationwide and statewide need for young doctors. (WPLN)
BOOK IT: Justin Timberlake’s mugshot from his recent DUI arrest has been turned into an Andy Warhol-style portrait that is in high demand. (ArtNet)
IDENTITY THEFT: A once-prominent tech blog has been resurrected and has been publishing AI-generated content under the bylines of former staff members. (404)
A LIFE WELL-LIVED: A woman known as the “Tinder Granny” for her promotion of a sexually active lifestyle well into her later years died last month at 88 years old. (The New York Times)
MONEY TALKS: Ziglag, a charity funded by a group of ultra-wealthy conservative Christian families, aims to have a profound impact on this year’s election. (ProPublica)
“GOD’S INFLUENCER”: An Italian teen who died of leukemia in 2006 has been approved for canonization and will become the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint in 2025. (NPR)
That last one ... I cannot tell you how many years I’ve wondered what the deal was with Catholic saints but kept forgetting to Google it, and hoo boy, did that send me down a rabbit hole. The short version is that the saint system involves a lot of ceremonies and asking the dead for stuff and touching things they touched so they’ll do stuff for you, and what I ultimately learned is that Catholics basically believe in magic! They just have the least fun PR team in the world spreading that message.
Bottom line: Follow The Flyer. It’s five minutes of your day well spent.
2. Just.Wash Mobile Car Wash & Detailing
Have you ever noticed that the day you need your car washed is also the day everyone else does? Whether it’s due to the G.I. issues of local birds or the (debunked) lemming effect, it is annoying. Now we have a solution.
Just.Wash is a mobile car-detailing service that keeps it simple. Rather than charging you upwards of $150 for an at-home detail, they offer a basic wash and interior cleaning that's affordable, easy and reliable for around $50 per vehicle. They use minimal water and environmentally friendly chemicals, and they serve all of Davidson County and a decent chunk of Williamson.
But the best bit is that they’re part of Justice Industries, a nonprofit that employs people who often face barriers to employment due to criminal history, past addiction, mental illness, domestic abuse or generational poverty. (See also their crucial stopgap service Just.Glass.) Every time I’ve used the service, my Just.Washers have stayed every bit of the hour I booked and more getting it just right, and they’re very generous with a coupon in your inbox for your next wash. Tip: Book two washes in the same location at once and get 10 percent off.
3. Summer Movie Series
Monday
Fat Bottom Brewing Co. in the Nations dedicates a whole day to movies, starting with G movies for little kids at 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. and PG-13 films for big kids at 6 p.m. All movies are projected in The Taproom with no cover charge, but the real best-kept secret is that kids eat free all day Mondays.
Wednesday
Bringle's Smoking Oasis in the Nations kicked off its summer series the week after the Vols clinched the World Series with The Sandlot and promptly followed that up with the world’s best comic fairy tale, The Princess Bride.
Bringle's screens at dusk, allowing you to enjoy the full glory of 1980s Cary Elwes, one of the few adult blond men you can trust.
While this post will come too late for you to dive into the gorgeous insanity that is Nicolas Cage playing a historian and cryptographer in the aptly named National Treasure, you can still make Despicable Me July 31 and Freaky Friday Aug. 7. Bonus: Kids get free popcorn.
(Sidebar: Who must we bribe to get a Cage double feature on the bill this fall? While Con Air is awesomely bad, The Rock is legitimately awesome, and I will shove VX gas balls down anyone’s throat who says otherwise.)
Thursday
TailGate West shows family-friendly movies at 7 p.m. at their headquarters location at 7300 Charlotte Pike. Extra points for the patriotic synergy of kicking off the series with Independence Day on Independence Day.
Thursday/Friday
For the 21-plus crowd, NightLight 615 makes excellent use of the Bicentennial Mall amphitheater downtown and projects movies on a screen smack in front of the city skyline. Listen to a DJ as the sun sets, and enjoy cocktails as you watch movies like Happy Gilmore, Scream and Bring It On, which anyone from the ’90s is automatically required to follow with, “Oh, it’s already been broughten.”
Saturday
If you missed The Princess Bride on the West Side, you’ve got one more chance to see it on the big screen at East Nashville Beer Works as they wrap their summer season July 27.
While I know their outdoor big screen will be put to good use with football this fall, I do hope they’ll consider adding some kid-friendly programming on off nights. As far as I know, no other taproom in town has a literal playground within its walls. Pair that enclosed environment with good pizza, cocktails and a Hotel Transylvania or two? Mama is coming, and she’s taking a KreweCar home.
Sunday
Streetcar Taps and Garden on Charlotte Pike doubles down on movie magic Sundays with a multi-feature moment. The 5:30 p.m. movie is family-friendly — Disney, Pixar, etc. — while the 7:30 film is a wild card. The first in the series was Moana followed by Raiders of the Lost Ark. They also plan to show holiday movies this fall and winter, and I’d like to use this platform to start petitioning now for a Coco and Practical Magic evening in October and perhaps Trading Places in December. (The latter, obviously, will have to be a 9:30 showing unless someone can find a cut with all the boobs blurred out. The ’80s, man ... so many needless nipples.)
Follow them on Instagram, Facebook or their website for the week’s lineup. You can even reserve a table to make sure you have a seat come Sunday.
For next year
The Scene’s own Movies in the Park at Elmington Park has wrapped for 2024, but look for it in June with food trucks and family-friendly fare like Shrek and 13 Going on 30.
4. ‘Friends of McCabe Park’ Cocktail at Streetcar Taps & Garden
Going back to Streetcar for a bit, let’s drink to a good cause.
When Streetcar opened a mile from McCabe Park in early 2023, everyone on the West Side was pumped to have a cool bar with a fun outdoor space that’s dog- and kid-friendly serving better-than-average cocktails. Now you can drink one of those with the added bonus that 10 percent of the purchase price will be poured right back into the community from now through Labor Day.
The “Friends of McCabe Park” cocktail benefits the organization of the same name, which is a group of neighborhood volunteers who, simply put, “use and love McCabe Park” and work hard to make it a lovely place to play, exercise and get together.
Feel like some golf? Play nine holes for less than $20.
Need to walk the dog? The Richland Creek Greenway offers a 2.8-mile path that’s largely wooded and shady.
Want to work out but prefer to avoid the creatine crowd? Grab a $3 visitor pass for the small but eminently serviceable gym, or splurge and get the $30 monthly pass.
Whatever your activity of choice, you can get behind cheers-ing to McCabe with this cocktail, which they aptly bill as a “light summer sipper” made from blanco tequila, Campari, grapefruit, lime and simple syrup. Served up, the crisp drink is a little paloma, a little margarita and a lot bold with the bitter hit of Campari keeping it from veering too sweet. Pair it with Streetcar’s smoky Memphis-dry wings or rich, balanced pimento cheese for the perfect patio bite.
5. CMA Theater at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
We mention the CMA Theater quite a bit here at the Scene. As a venue inside the Country Music Hall of Fame, it gets booked often, so stuff happens there. Duh. But every time I mention it to a friend, they haven’t been there, so I feel like we need to take a minute and discuss it.
This 800-seat theater is small by design, which may be one reason you haven’t been (yet) despite the fact that it opened a decade ago. It’s built on a steep incline and delicately lit, which gives shows here an intimacy that draws songwriters in. To wit: I will never forget when Old Crow Medicine Show turned out all the lights, stepped quietly to the front of the stage and covered Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” as everyone in the crowd held their breath. (That was before Ketch Secor became a full vaudeville caricature, but that’s a lament for another time.) Regardless, that experience proved the venue’s worth to me, and if you’re sleeping on it as a music fan, it’s worth adding to your roster.
Upcoming shows of note:
Dave Mason’s Traffic Jam: Dave was one of the founding members of Traffic, though I will always love him best for 1977 slow banger “We Just Disagree.”
Julian Lage: Speak to Me Tour: The prodigious guitarist has collaborated with everyone from Gary Burton and John Zorn to Nels Cline, Chris Eldridge and Fred Hersch. Do I know who any of those people are? Absolutely not. But people who know and love “prodigious guitarists” do, and that’s who this is for.
The Prine Family Presents: You Got Gold Celebrating the Songs of John Prine: Devastatingly, this sold out before I could purchase tickets, but I include it here to prove why being a CMA Theater email subscriber is so important.
Ocie Elliott: I had also never heard of this Canadian folk duo until I saw the show in my email, but once I read that they count amongst their influences the Carter Family, Johnny Cash, Guy Clark, and — you guessed it — John Prine, I got myself to Spotify. There I quickly learned I like their chill, gauzy vibe, and now I’m perusing tickets for their show too. The more you know.
