An Evening of Gospel Music, Spirituals & Old Hymns with Odessa Settles and the Connection, Buddy Greene and Ashley Cleveland

Bluebird Cafe
Friday, November 2
9:30 pm
$12.00

Settles is a founding member of the Princely Players (both an educational and musical experience) and the bedrock of Nashville black gospel. Her own family members back her up forming the Connection and creating beautiful harmonies on songs like Never Come the Day and Lovely to See You. Joining Ms. Settles is multiple Grammy winner Cleveland, whose song He Is shot straight to #1 on the Christian charts (she is also the only woman to win 2 Grammy?s in the Best Rock Gospel category). Harmonica extraordinaire Greene rounds out the evening with his award winning music, including Mary, Did You Know? Join us for what is sure to be a truly inspiring evening!

Frank Callari Has Died

Frank Callari and Ryan Adams

Prominent Nashville manager Frank Callari died in Nashville on Friday (Oct. 26). He was 55. Callari, a graduate of the Hotel Ecolier in Lausanne, Switzerland, first worked as general manager of the Hilton Inn at JFK Airport in New York City. After earning a degree in music technology from New York University, he worked in music for several years before moving to Miami, where he met and eventually managed the Mavericks. He also at various times managed Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams and Junior Brown. He also had worked as senior VP/A&R and artist development for Lost Highway Records. Tentative funeral plans are for Thursday (Nov. 1) at Christ the King church in Nashville. Marshall Donnelly-Combs Funeral Home is handling arrangements. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Overbrook School (his son Michael's school) or the American Diabetes Association.

At the Frist Center for Visual Arts

Artists Forum
Friday, November 2
6:30 p.m.
Auditorium
FREE
Hear Tennessee-based artists Breanna Rockstad-Kincaid and Jane-Allen McKinney discuss the thoughts and processes behind their work.
Following the discussion, enjoy Lisa Webb on keyboard in the Grand Lobby.
Image: Jane Allen McKinney. The TSU Olympian, 2004. Brass, copper, aluminum, and precast concrete. Courtesy of the artist.

Art History Lecture:
"The Power of Conversation: Talking Art and Literature in European Salons (1780-1939)"
Saturday, November 3, 2:00 p.m.
Auditorium
FREE
Dr. Barbara Hahn, Distinguished Professor of German at Vanderbilt University, will explore the informal gatherings of Jewish women in Germany before Hitlers military occupation in Europe. The talk will examine the influence of these gatherings that hosted artists, scholars, and politicians whose cultural discussions laid the foundation for the flourishing European culture of today.

Frist Center Holiday Card Contest
Saturday, November 3
10:3011:30 a.m.
Upper Level, Studio A
FREE
Designed for children ages 5 to 13, the Frist Center will host a holiday collage art-making activity. Those wishing to participate will have the opportunity to enter their artwork in a holiday card contest. After all of the artwork is reviewed and a winner is chosen, a reproduction of the winning entry will be used as the front image of the Frist Center's 2007 holiday card. In addition, the winner will receive an ArtQuest journal and fifty holiday cards with envelopes to send to friends and family.

Chess as Art?
Marcel Duchamp, one of the founding members of The Socit Anonyme once asked, "And why isn't my playing chess an art activity?"

Good question. During the run of The Socit Anonyme: Modernism for America (http://e2ma.net/go/792043956/683854/24290974/goto:http://fristcenter.org/site/calendar/eventdetail.aspx?cid=422) exhibition, come play chess (make art la Marcel Duchamp) in the Grand Lobby. There are two chess sets available during regular Frist Center hours.

Friday: Downtown Nashville Happy Hours and Special

417 Union: $3.50 margaritas, beer: $2 domestics, $2.50 imports, and $3 premium imports from 4 - 7 pm
Beer Sellar: $2 domestic drafts, $3 premium drafts from 2 - 7 pm
Bar Car: 2-for-1 Happy Hour and Free Buffet from 5 - 9 pm
Bourbon Street Blues & Boogie Bar: Happy Hour from 4 - 7 pm
Broadway Brewhouse: $1 off all drafts from 11 am - 7 pm
Buffalo Billiards: Free Pool from 4 - 7 pm
Cornerstone Bar: Half-price on all beverages from 4 - 7 pm
Coyote Ugly: $2 longnecks and $3 well drinks from 11 am - 7 pm
El Rey: $2.99 margaritas and $.99 domestic draft beers from 4 - 7 pm
Flyte: $5 Sky martinis, $1 off premium wells, $4 premium drafts, $1 off all wines by the glass, 1/4 off antipasti, and 1/3 off all appetizers at the bar from 14:30 - 6:30 pm and 10 pm - last call
Fuel: $5 fruit shots from 5 - 8 pm
Graham Central Station: Flashback Fridays with $0.75 well drinks and wine until 10 pm and $1.75 longnecks from 10 pm to close
Hooters: $3 16 oz Bud bottles and $3.50 Bud draughts from 3 - 6 pm
Morton's: Power Hour featuring Bar Bites at $4 plate in the bar from 5 - 6:30 pm and 9:30 - 11 pm
Past Perfect: 2-for-1 Yazoo Drafts from 4 - 7 pm
Piranha's Bar & Grill: Happy Hour with 2-for-1 pints from 4 - 8 pm
Sambuca: $2 bottled beer, $3 house wine, $4 martini, 1/2 price appetizers from 4:30 - 7 pm and complimentary wine tasting from 5 - 6 pm (tasting only on the 1st Thursday of each month)
radius10: 2-for-1 domestic beer, well drinks and house wine; $2 off bar menu and 1/2 off pizzas in the bar and on the bar terrace from 5 - 7 pm
Rhythm Kitchen: Social Exchange with drink specials and free hors d'oeuvres from 5 - 8 pm
Wildhorse Saloon: Free admission for locals after 10 pm, excluding certain special concerts

Thursday: Downtown Nashville Happy and Specials

417 Union: $3.50 margaritas, beer: $2 domestics, $2.50 imports, and $3 premium imports from 4 - 7 pm
Bar Twenty3: Two Three Thursdays features $2 domestic beers and $3 house wines
Beer Sellar: $2 domestic drafts, $3 premium drafts from 2 - 7 pm and 2-for-1 drafts from 8 pm - close
Bourbon Street Blues & Boogie Bar: Happy Hour from 4 - 7 pm
Broadway Brewhouse: $1 off all drafts from 11 am - 7 pm
Buffalo Billiards: Free Pool from 4 - 7 pm
Cornerstone Bar: Half-price on all beverages from 4 - 7 pm
Coyote Ugly: "Ladies Night" $1 shot specials and no cover for ladies 7 - 10 pm
Decades: $2 Miller Lites all night
El Rey: $2.99 margaritas and $.99 domestic draft beers from 4 - 7 pm
Flyte: $5 Sky martinis, $1 off premium wells, $4 premium drafts, $1 off all wines by the glass, 1/4 off antipasti, and 1/3 off all appetizers at the bar from 4:30 - 6:30 pm
Fuel: $4 big draft beers from 5 - 8 pm
Graham Central Station: Ladies Night with $0.25 drafts and no cover for ladies
Hooters: $3 16 oz Bud bottles and $3.50 Bud draughts from 3 - 6 pm
Morton's: Power Hour featuring Bar Bites at $4 plate in the bar from 5 - 6:30 pm and 9:30 - 11 pm
Past Perfect: 2-for-1 Yazoo Drafts from 4 - 7 pm
Piranha's Bar & Grill: Happy Hour with 2-for-1 pints from 4 - 8 pm and 3-for-1 Domestic Drafts from 8 pm to close
radius10: 2-for-1 domestic beer, well drinks and house wine; $2 off bar menu and 1/2 off pizzas in the bar and on the bar terrace from 5 - 7 pm
Sambuca: $2 bottled beer, $3 house wine, $4 martini, and 1/2 price appetizers from 4:30 - 7 pm
Wildhorse Saloon: Free admission for locals after 10 pm, excluding certain special concerts

Wednesday Happy Hour and Specials in Nashville

Bar Twenty3: 80's Power Hour with $1 well drinks from 9 - 10 pm
Beer Sellar: $2 domestic drafts, $3 premium drafts from 2 - 7 pm
Bourbon Street Blues & Boogie Bar: Happy Hour from 4 - 7 pm
Broadway Brewhouse: $1 off all drafts from 11 am - 7 pm
Buffalo Billiards: Free Pool from 4 - 7 pm
Cornerstone Bar: Half-price on all beverages from 4 - 7 pm
Coyote Ugly: $1 shot of the night from 7 - 10 pm and Late Night Happy Hour featuring $2 domestic longnecks from midnight - close
Flyte: $5 Sky martinis, $1 off premium wells, $4 premium drafts, $1 off all wines by the glass, 1/4 off antipasti, and 1/3 off all appetizers at the bar from 4:30 - 6:30 pm
Fuel: 3-for-1 cocktails and drafts from 5 - 8 pm
El Rey: $2.99 margaritas and $.99 domestic draft beers from 4 - 7 pm
Hooters: All You Can Eat "Wingsday" for $9.99 from 5 pm to close and $3 16 oz Bud bottles and $3.50 Bud draughts from 3 - 6 pm
kazu restaurant: Martini Wednesday with $6 top shelf martinis
Morton's: Power Hour featuring Bar Bites at $4 plate in the bar from 5 - 6:30 pm and 9:30 - 11 pm
Past Perfect: 2-for-1 Yazoo Drafts from 4 - 7 pm
Piranha's Bar & Grill: Happy Hour with 2-for-1 pints from 4 - 8 pm
Sambuca: $2 bottled beer, $3 house wine, $4 martini, and 1/2 price appetizers from 4:30 - 7 pm
radius10: 2-for-1 domestic beer, well drinks and house wine; $2 off bar menu and 1/2 off pizzas in the bar and on the bar terrace from 5 - 7 pm
Wildhorse Saloon: Free admission for locals after 10 pm, excluding certain special concerts

First Saturday Gallery Crawl- November 3

Various locations
6 - 9 pm
Free
Art galleries throughout downtown host receptions and art openings on the first Saturday of every month. Most galleries serve free wine and other refreshments. A free shuttle provides transportation among the galleries from 6 pm to 10 pm. See the shuttle map and gallery listing here. Listings below include additional information about some of the openings. Please NOTE that a total of 19 galleries are officially on the tour. The map (hyperlink above) includes a complete list of galleries that will be open this Saturday.

The Arts Company
Saturday, November 3
215 5th Avenue North
254-2040
6 - 9 pm
Free
"Classic Black & White Photography" features works by Amalie R. Rothschild, Bill Steber, and Bob Kolbrener. Exhibit on display through December 22.

Dangenart Gallery
Saturday, November 3
83 Arcade. 251-1616
6 - 9 pm
Free
"3-D Hieroglyphs" features sculptures by Daniel Lai. Exhibit on display through November 26.

Estel Gallery
Saturday, November 3
115 Rosa Parks Blvd (8th Avenue N)
251-8997
6 - 9 pm
Free
"Illuminaria" features paintings by Robert Wood. Exhibit closes on November 3.

The Rymer Gallery
Saturday, November 3
219 6th Avenue North
752-6030. 6 - 9 pm
Free
"Wonder" featuring works by Hunt Slonem, John Woodrow Kelley, and Amanda Crandall.

SQFT Gallery
Saturday, November 3
61 Arcade
837-2606
6 - 9 pm.
Free
"The Siblings Show" featuring works by Nashville artists, siblings, Aaron Durnin and Becca Durnin. Exhibit on display through November 27.

TAG Art Gallery
Saturday, November 3
237 5th Avenue North
255-7816
6 - 9 pm
Free
"This Is Us" features works by Chris Scarborough and Marcus Kenney. "Same Town" features drawings by Michael Krueger. Exhibits on display through November 24.

Take 121 Arts
Saturday, November 3
121 3rd Avenue South
6 - 9 pm
Free
"First Timers" featuring over two dozen artists who have never sold works through a professional gallery. Awards ceremony at 5 pm.

Twist Art Gallery
Saturday, November 3
73 Arcade
6 - 9 pm
Free
"Inside/Outside" features an installation by Kaaren Engel. Exhibit on display through November 24.

Ambrose Lofts
Saturday, November 3
162 4th Avenue North
456-8160
6 - 9 pm
Free
Open house of all lofts available for sale (from $200,000) in the Ambrose building. Fine art from Dragon Fine arts and works by artists from Atlanta will also be on display and available to purchase. Wine and hors d' oeuvres. This stop is featured for the first time on the gallery crawl!

Dunn Bros. Coffee Live Music & Art
Saturday, November 3
401 Church Street
252-2567
Open until 10 pm
The walls of the shop are lined with paintings, portraits and photographs. Works by water color artist Wendy Latimer and painter Marleen De Bock are currently on display. Show runs through December 31. Live music by Karen Paperelli from 7:30 to 9:30 pm.

Mad Mod
Saturday, November 3
162 Rosa Parks Blvd (8th Avenue N)
244-6807
6 - 9 pm
Open house with special savings for downtown residents including 20% off regular priced items. First Saturday Gallery Crawl attendees are encouraged to drop in!

Fire Finch
Saturday, November 3
305 Church Street
942-5271
6 - 9 pm
Open house featuring wine and hot cider. First Saturday Gallery Crawl attendees are encouraged to drop in to see one of downtown's newest retail shops!

Solo Art Exhibition at TAL
Sunday, November 4
Tennessee Art League
808 Broadway
2 - 4 pm
Free
Opening reception for "Dining with Poet, Prophets, Elves and Angels" featuring works by Mar Augelli. Exhibit runs through November 26.

Downtown Nashville News and Information

New Retail
Kenny & Company!
303 11th Avenue S.
782-8000
This store in the Gulch sells upscale kitchen and bathroom fixtures including faucets, tubs, sinks and more.
Hours are Mon - Fri, 9 am - 5 pm.

Events this Week

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure
Saturday, November 3
Bicentennial State Park
6:30 am - 12:30 pm
Annual Race for the Cure
25% of the net income from the race supports Komen's Award and Research Grant Program, which funds groundbreaking breast cancer research, meritorious awards, scientific and educational conferences around the world. Advance registration closes on October 31.

A Conversation with Ann Patchett
Saturday, November 3
Main Library
615 Church Street
862-5800. 10 am
Free
Ann Patchett, author of Bel Canto, reads from her books and discusses her new novel, Run. Followed by a book signing.

CMA Songwriter Series at Hard Rock Cafe
Tuesday, November 6
Hard Rock Cafe
100 Broadway
782-4018
9:30 pm
$15 through Ticketmaster
They craft the hits, and they're playing them at the Hard Rock Cafe, as part of "Nashville Celebrates Country" the activities and events surrounding the 41st Annual CMA Awards. Featuring B. James, C.D. Johnson, R. Rutherford, and V. Shaw.

ABC's Good Morning America Live Taping
Wednesday, November 7
Sommet Center Plaza: Chevy Stage Corner of Broadway and Fifth Avenue
7 - 8 am
Free
The CMA Awards multiple nominated duo, Big & Rich, will perform

41st Annual CMA Awards
Wednesday, November 7
Sommet Center
501 Broadway. 6:30 pm
$166.50 - $548.75
CMA's annual awards show
Broadcast live on ABC from 7 - 10 pm

TRICK OR TREAT AT THE TRACE RESTAURANT

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2007

HAVE DINNER AND DRAW FROM THE SKELETON HEAD FOR YOUR SPECIAL TREAT. IT COULD BE 10%, 20%, 50% OFF ENTIRE BILL, IT COULD BE FREE APPETIZER OR DESSERT, IT COULD BE A FREE ENTREE OR IT COULD BE A FREE DINNER FOR 4 AT THE TRACE

Make your reservations now by calling 385-2200 or go online at The Trace.

(No other discounts may be used or gift cards this night.)

Where the Reiners Meet

MTSU Animal Science Arena (Next to Miller Coliseum)
304-B W. Thompson Lane
Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Every Tuesday night
6:00pm-9:00pm

If you are into reining-style horse riding then come out every Tuesday night to meet like minded people and have a good time.

Elmer Gantry (World Premiere) presented by the Nashville Opera

by Robert Aldridge and Herschel Garfein
James K. Polk Theater, TPAC

Friday November 16, 2007, 8:00 PM

Sunday November 18, 2007, 2:00 PM

Tuesday November 20, 2007, 7:00 PM

Jennifer Rivera

James Bobick

Based on the famous book by Sinclair Lewis (and the movie version starring Burt Lancaster), the opera Elmer Gantry brings this vivid American story to the stage, with all of its power intact. As in the recent movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou", this opera utilizes roots gospel music mixed with classical music to etch a vivid portrait of the fictitious Evangelist Elmer Gantry, and his rise to power and fall from grace in early 20th Century rural America. Containing beautiful melodies, blended with graceful humor and searing drama, this is a production unlike any other, and not to be missed. Co-production with Peak Performances @ Montclair State


Burt Lancaster and Shirley Jones

LisaBeth Weber

Music composing, performing and recording is the second stream in LisaBeth Weber's creative flow. Her mom taught her three chords when she was 13, she says, and she took it from there.

Now she plays an acoustic steel- string guitar, "a little mandolin," and piano (though "not yet on stage"). Her new "record" "Fire Tower Sessions" -- just came out. Although it's a CD, Weber's trying to keep the word "record" alive, ar guing that all four of her CDs are in fact "recordings of her music." And this is her third record to be called a "session" another word she likes to use because of its old-time suggestiveness.

With Maggie Marshall, her "best friend and singing partner," Weber traveled to Nashville so Grammy- winning engineer-producer Bil VornDick could do the job. Weber had lucked into meeting him years ago, when he gave her a lift from Nashville to a music conference in Memphis. Although they spent four hours together in his car, it was years before she asked if he would produce her latest record.

The fire tower of the title was lo cated near VornDick's home, and the music on the record is Weber's usual mix of allusions to life all around her, especially relationships and some politics.



During the last few years, she has been involved with the Sundance and Philadelphia film festivals. She credits the movie, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" for tak ing her song-writing style in an old- timey direction. But it didn't end there: Weber and Marshall recently opened at the Sellersville Theater for none other than Ralph Stanley, whose "Man of Constant Sorrow" was a film standout.

Two of her songs have been played on NPR's "Car Talk" program. One could have been selected based on title alone: "Get Back in Your RV, Harvey." However, Weber's ultimate music dream is expressed in the name of one of her Web sites (silverscreen songs.com).

Those who wear many hats often produce a resume for each different skill set. That's true for Li saBeth Weber's Web sites. This woman of many pins among her art and music pursuits has designed a core site with many entrances -- but all roads lead to the same artistic source.

Read the entire article in NJ.com.
Written by Pay Summers

Ellendales Lunch Buffet Week of October 29 – November 2

Entrees
Cumin Roasted Chicken with a Cilantro Crème Fresh
Swedish Meatballs
Hawaiian Style Ham Steaks with a Pineapple Cherry Glaze

Vegetables
Steamed Vegetable Medley
Sugar Snap Peas and Pearl Onions
Tempura Broccoli Florets

Pastas
Southwestern Penne Pasta
Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

Rice & Potatoes
Roasted Garlic & Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes
Spanish Rice Pilaf

Salads, etc.
Sundried Tomato Chicken Salad
Jalapeno Bowtie Pasta Salad
Artichoke & Spinach Mediterranean Salad
Green Olive & Mustard Green Potato Salad
Black Olive Hummus
Caesar Salad
Fresh Fruit
Soup du Jour

·Bonus dish: Chile Con Queso

We’re taking Thanksgiving Day reservations now.
Call for details. 884-0171, ext. 3

Ellendales restaurant
2739 Old Elm Hill Pike
Donelson, Tn
615 884-0171

Emmaus Church is on the Move

Engineers are transporting a 660-ton German church 12 kilometers by truck to save it from destruction: Its home village is set to be swallowed up by an expanding coal pit.

Jesus once told his disciples that if they had faith and did not doubt, they could tell a mountain to be "taken up and cast into the sea" and it would happen. Now an entire church in eastern Germany is being taken up and moved -- thanks to a little faith and a lot of modern technology.

Earlier this week, people in Heuersdorf, a village in Saxony near Leipzig, saw the 750-year-old Emmaus Church lifted onto a truck ahead of its journey to the town of Borna, 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) down the road, which begins on Thursday. The church will reach its destination on Oct. 31 if all goes according to plan.



To achieve this feat, the 14.5-meter-high, 8.9-meter-wide and 19.6-meter-high chapel underwent an extensive preparation phase, which began started shortly after Easter 2007 -- the last time a service was held in the church.

First , a steel and concrete platform was constructed underneath the structure and thousands of cracks in the walls were plugged with concrete. Then, the church was wrapped in four steel corsets. Once ready, the structure, which weighs 660 tons, was raised 1.6 meters by hydraulic lifts so that an enormous, multi-wheeled red transport bed could be slid in beneath it.

The move is necessary because the village of Heuersdorf is set to disappear, swallowed up by a massive coal mine. The town sits upon an estimated 52 million tons of lignite, or brown coal, which will be taken for use at the nearby power plant in Lippendorf. The town had originally won a court battle to keep its land, but a 2005 decision by a higher court overturned that ruling.





Read the entire article and history at Spiegel Online.

New Members for the Country Music Hall of Fame

In a time when many bemoan the current state of country music, Sunday's night's Country Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony represented everything that's right with the beloved genre.

Dierks Bentley called the medallion event honoring inductees Mel Tillis, Ralph Emery and Vince Gill "the last link to the good stuff." True musical visionaries including Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Kenny Rogers, Michael McDonald and Bill Gaither got a deserving welcome on this red carpet, where even the arrival of noted guitarist Jimmy Capps was announced to the crowd by Bill Cody.


Mel Tillis


Vince Gill

Amy Grant was by husband Vince's side, but just barely. She had been booked for months to perform out of town, but was able to change the show from evening to afternoon. She slipped into her black dress in an airport bathroom. The night was also special for Vince because it was the 82nd birthday of his mother, who was there to witness his big night. "She's the same age as the Grand Ole Opry," Amy said. "You would think she was 60. He gets all of his good looks from his Mama."


Ralph Emery

Ralph put the finishing touches in his speech about four hours before the ceremony, but Vince and Mel decided to wing it.

"I have personally been flooded with an awful lot of years of memories," Vince said. "Every garage band I was in that got me here, every record I got somebody to buy got me here, every song I wrote with somebody else got me here. The thing that gives me great peace is knowing I did this with an enormous amount of help along the way."

Mel's thoughts turned to his train trip from Florida to Nashville 52 years ago. "I knocked on a few doors," said Mel, as his wife, Kathy DeMonaco stood nearby. "I wanted to be a singer and they said, 'We don't want any stuttering singers.' I said, 'Oh boy, what do you want?' They said, 'We need songs.' I said, 'I've never written a song in my life,' so I started writing songs."

Mel's "Stick With Me Baby" is included on the new Robert Plant/Alison Krauss album.

Little Richard has recorded Mel's "I Ain't Never" for an upcoming album benefitting Don Imus' ranch for sick children. Dierks said his version of the song delivered Sunday was a different than Little Richard's.

"I'm not going to dance on top of the piano!" Dierks said. "Mel's original version is pretty good, so it's hard to beat that, so that is what I'm going to do — same key, same everything."

Martina was delighted to honor Ralph, who was instrumental in promoting her career early on. I asked if she dared to dream that one day she might join him in that legendary circle.

"No," she said. "That is one of those things that seems so far out of your reach. It is the pinnacle."

Visit Beverly Keel's colum in the Tennessean to read more.

A Message from the Singing Sommelier and Vinea

To the True Lovers of Great Wines

Just a reminder, tomorrow night, Tuesday October 30th, we have a true Count (not the one that counts on Sesame Street or sell Coco Pebbles) coming to Nashville for a tasting at Sunset Grill. Again, this is a sit down tasting with 6 wonderful wines from northern Italy and a plate of food prepared by Chef du Cuisine, Dustin Prichet. It starts at 6 pm and only costs $15.

We still have about 25 seats available so make a reservation with me here at the shop 269-6880.

Oh, by the way, did I mention that he did his under grad work at Texas A & M, so if your a true Aggie you have to come.

Drink Great Wine
Mark Johnson the Sommelier

Conte Brandolini Merlot
$15.99 a bottle

Starting in the mid-1980s, Count Brandino Brandolini set about realizing his ambition to produce world-class Merlot at his family’s picture-perfect 500-acre estate in the Friuli district of northeast Italy. Several years of study at the University of Bordeaux, in addition to time spent at the family’s Bordeaux estate, the highly regarded Château Greysac, convinced Brandolini that Friuli possessed the ideal terroir for production of superb quality wine. Significant investments were made in the construction of a state-of-the-art winery and cellars.Consumers will recognize this much more readily as an Italian wine than a Merlot, as it is dead dry and nicely structured with acidity -- unlike many vaguely sweet Merlots. The fruit recalls plums and dried cherries, with medium-bodied weight leaning toward the light side, making this a promising partner for chicken dishes or relatively robust fish preparations.

Conte Brandolini Treanni
$20.99 a bottle

Count Brandino Brandolini, a native Venetian, grows top quality Cabernet Franc, Refosco and Merlot grapes at his family’s picture-perfect Vistorta and Cordignano estates in the Friuli district of northeast Italy. From these historic properties, he proudly presents TREANNI (treh-ahn-ee), or “three years,” an inventive red blend uniting select batches of wine from three consecutive vintages.Much as a painter relies on different hues from a palette to create a work of art, Brandolini judiciously brings together the freshness of a young wine, the complexity and concentration of a two-year-old wine, and the elegance of a mature wine to yield this seamless composition of aroma, flavor and texture.


Conte Brandolini Pinot Grigio
$15.99 a bottle

Conte Brandolini owns the 325-acre Cordignano estate in the Province of Treviso, where Pinot Grigio, originally cultivated throughout northeastern Italy, is grown. Soil in Friuli creates a distinctive Pinot Grigio style which is richer and more complex. This historic estate has been owned by the Brandolini family since 1780. This line of estate-bottled wines represents the history and versatility of winemaking in Friuli.


Conte Brandolini Refosco
$16.99 a Bottle

The 2005 Brandolini Refosco has everything to recommend it: clear, bright, eye-appealing red color; enticing fruit aroma that reaches a midway point of strawberry meeting cherry; and a fresh, clean cherry flavor. Like many northern Italian red wines, the 2005 Brandolini Refosco has a noticeable acidity; it appears behind the excellent fruit giving the palate a constant refreshing cleansing for the next taste. This combination of fruit and acidity makes the 2005 Brandolini Refosco wonderful with food. During our lunch it was served with a variety of hors do'oeuvres: black olive pate, cured pork cheeks and copa ham. But I found myself returning to it with the northern Italian dish of risotto cooked with red wine, onion and radicchio. I'm sure the Texas A&M-educated Count Brandolini d'Adda wouldn't object to it accompanying a plate of barbecued spare ribs or a tex-Mex grilled pork chop with rice and beans. And ground beef empanadas or grilled chicken quesadillas would be good choices, too. Combining the quality of the 2005 Brandolini Refosco with the reasonable price gives the wine all the components of a good value wine.

Carrie Underwood in People

You had a hit with 'Before He Cheats.' Do you still keep in touch with your exes? Not really because most of my exes are pre-Idol, so, yeah, I don't really. [It's like,] "Well, you wish you would have stayed with me, huh?" [Laughs

Do you listen to talk about your looks or consider yourself a sex symbol?

No. If I didn't do what I do, nobody would ever look twice at me. I'm a blender – and the only reason anybody, if they do think of me in that way, it's just because I do what I do. I'm okay. But I'm not, like, anything special.

You're very humble.

I just tell it like I see it. [Laughs]

What motivated you to write some songs on your new album?

It's definitely a plus when you can write your own stuff. It's coming from a personal place – and it's just more to be proud of. I just wanted to see if I had the talent and just try. It wasn't a huge deal like, "every song on the album must be mine," because there are so many talented writers.

As a songwriter, do you think you'll get more respect in the Nashville community?

I'm sure it just comes with the territory. People know I have more to do with my songs. I think some people think everybody makes all the decisions for me and I don't really get to have a say in anything. And that's completely not true.

Read more about Carrie in People.

The Wagonmaster Has Left the Building

For 50 years, Porter Wagoner starred on the Grand Ole Opry, wearing otherworldly suits and singing about salt-of-the-earth concerns.

The Country Music Hall of Famer died at age 80 tonight, as dignitaries and stars gathered at the Country Music Hall of Fame to induct its three newest members. Mr. Wagoner was admitted to the hospital on Monday, Oct. 15 and had been under doctors’ care since then. Mr. Wagoner was released to hospice care on Friday, days after the announcement of a lung cancer diagnosis.

Known as “The Thin Man From West Plains,” Mr. Wagoner’s contributions to country music are manifold and consequential. Marty Stuart, who produced this year’s much-heralded comeback album Wagonmaster, calls him “an American master and a cornerstone of our music.”

A hit-maker for more than a quarter-century, he was a Country Music Hall of Famer and a three-time Grammy winner whose best-loved singles included “A Satisfied Mind,” “Misery Loves Company” and “Green, Green Grass of Home.”



His syndicated television show allowed him to serve as an ambassador for the genre, and it proved invaluable in spreading the fame of Wagoner’s hand-picked “girl singer,” Dolly Parton, with whom he had hit duets including “Just Someone I Used To Know” and “Making Plans."

In the studio, he was an innovator who tweaked traditional country arrangements and found fresh sounds in a genre that often tugs against change.

He was among the pioneers of the country “concept album,” releasing song-sets such as “What Ain’t To Be Just Might Happen” and “The Cold, Hard Facts of Life” that offered unified themes. As a performer and producer, he sought the beauty of harmony and the reality of dissonance.

He was a tenacious song-scavenger, listening to outside material even during down-time at the Opry in this new millennium, hoping to find hit songs and new ideas. And in the wake of Minnie Pearl’s 1996 death, Mr. Wagoner and Jimmy Dickens became the public faces of the Grand Ole Opry.



Oh, yes, and there were the suits. Mr. Wagoner wasn’t the first to wear a rhinestone suit on the Opry — Dickens has that designation — but he was certainly a famed and ardent devotee of the power of garb.

Backstage in his dressing room, the suits were so heavy that they were hard to hoist with one hand. They must have been hot, and burdensome to wear. But under the lights, on the grand stage, they sparkled and dazzled. Opry patrons would always applaud at the first sight of Wagoner, cheering him as a vision and as a visionary as he welcomed them to the show, professed his pleasure to be there and told a joke or two.

Clothes didn’t make the man, but they accentuated him, and Mr. Wagoner’s stage outfits could be read like rhinestone novels, with glittering wagon wheels and other symbols that told stories of the songs and life of this farmer’s son from Missouri.

Read the entire story of this great entertainer in the Tennessean.
By PETER COOPER
Staff Writer
Published: Monday, 10/29/07

Downtown Nashville Happy Hours and Specials for Tuesdays

Tuesday:

417 Union: $3.50 margaritas, beer: $2 domestics, $2.50 imports, and $3 premium imports and free snacks from 4 - 7 pm

Beer Sellar: $2 domestic drafts, $3 premium drafts from 2 - 7 pm

Bourbon Street Blues & Boogie Bar: Happy Hour from 4 - 7 pm

Broadway Brewhouse: $1 off all drafts from 11 am - 7 pm

Buffalo Billiards: Free Pool from 4 - 7 pm

Cornerstone Bar: Half-price on all beverages from 4 - 7 pm

Decades: "In the Biz" Night featuring no cover all night and 2-for-1 beers

El Rey: $2.99 margaritas and $.99 domestic draft beers from 4 - 7 pm

Flyte: $5 Sky martinis, $1 off premium wells, $4 premium drafts, $1 off all wines by the glass, 1/4 off antipasti, and 1/3 off all appetizers at the bar from 4:30 - 6:30 pm

Fuel: 2-for-1 cocktails and drafts from 5 - 8 pm

Hooters: $3 16 oz Bud bottles and $3.50 Bud draughts from 3 - 6 pm

Morton's: Power Hour featuring Bar Bites at $4 plate in the bar from 5 - 6:30 pm and 9:30 - 11 pm

Past Perfect: 50% off all wine by the glass and 2-for-1 Yazoo Drafts from 4 - 7 pm

Piranha's Bar & Grill: Happy Hour with 2-for-1 pints from 4 - 8 pm and Customer Appreciation Night with $0.25 drafts from 8 pm - 2 am

radius10: "Tini Tuesdays" with $5 Stoli martinis at the bar and 2-for-1 domestic beer, well drinks and house wine; $2 off bar menu and 1/2 off pizzas in the bar and on the bar terrace from 5 - 7 pm

Sambuca: $2 bottled beer, $3 house wine, $4 martini, and 1/2 price appetizers from 4:30 - 7 pm

Wildhorse Saloon: Free admission for locals after 10 pm, excluding certain special concerts

Downtown Nashville Happy Hours and Specials for Mondays

Monday:

Bailey's Pub & Grille: Monday Night Wingman featuring $0.35 wings and $2.35 Bud Selects

Beer Sellar: $2 domestic drafts, $3 premium drafts from 2 - 7 pm

Bourbon Street Blues & Boogie Bar: Happy Hour from 4 - 7 pm

Broadway Brewhouse: $1 off all drafts from 11 am - 7 pm

Buffalo Billiards: Free Pool from 4 - 7 pm

Cornerstone Bar: Half-price on all beverages from 4 - 7 pm

Coyote Ugly: "Ugly Mondays" featuring $2 domestic longnecks all day and 2-for-1 well drinks from 7 pm - 10 pm

El Rey: $2.99 margaritas and $.99 domestic draft beers from 4 - 7 pm

Fuel: 2-for-1 tequila from 5 - 8 pm

Flying Saucer: $2.50 Pint Night featuring most everything on the wall

Flyte: $5 Sky martinis, $1 off premium wells, $4 premium drafts, $1 off all wines by the glass, 1/4 off antipasti, and 1/3 off all appetizers at the bar from 4:30 - 6:30 pm

Hooters: Monday Night Trivia 7:30 - 9:30 pm with happy hour specials: $3 16 oz Bud bottles, $3.50 Bud draughts, same specials from 3 - 6 pm

Morton's: Power Hour featuring Bar Bites at $4 plate in the bar from 5 - 6:30 pm and 9:30 - 11 pm

Past Perfect: Service Industry Night, including all hotel employees, receive 50% off everything behind the bar and 2-for-1 Yazoo Drafts from 4 - 7 pm

Piranha's Bar & Grill: Service Industry Night featuring $4 domestic pitchers and Happy Hour with 2-for-1 pints from 4 - 8 pm

radius10: 1/2 off bottles of wine and 2-for-1 domestic beer, well drinks and house wine; $2 off bar menu and 1/2 off pizzas in the bar and on the bar terrace from 5 - 7 pm

Sambuca: $2 bottled beer, $3 house wine, $4 martinis, and 1/2 appetizers all day

Wildhorse Saloon: Free admission for locals after 10 pm, excluding certain special concerts

Chef Roland Mesnier is Coming to Nashville

The Viking Store
The Factory at Franklin
230 Franklin Road, Building 13
Franklin, TN 37064
615.599.9617
~
Thursday
November 8, 2007
6:30 PM to 9:00 PM
~
$79.99 per person



One of the most renowned pastry chefs of this century, Roland Mesnier has created thousands of elegant and dazzling desserts for American presidents, their families and the world’s foremost dignitaries for more than 25 years. A brilliant and witty speaker and teacher, the White House former executive pastry chef shares his stories based on his latest book, All The President’s Pastries in a 2.5 hour presentation that reflects on his years in the White House serving under presidents from Jimmy Carter to George W. Bush and includes a photo essay of his most stunning desserts, a dessert demonstration and an audience favorite: a Q&A where attendees ask about life in the White House from the chef’s perspective.

Cool Car and a Nice View From the Office

The NV200 is aimed at small business professionals that are constantly on the move, and although the boxy, panel van exterior doesn't do much for the eyes, it's what's on the inside that counts.The interior is a rolling job site, with everything from equipment-specific storage to a full computer workstation. This particular model is supposedly built for a professional oceanic photographer, with all the gear and toys necessary to make that hard existence livable.We want one now, and we're taking donations. Before you start rummaging through your seat cushions to help the cause, check out Nissan's press release after the jump and our high-res gallery below.

PRESS RELEASE

NV200
A Smart Business Tool of New Generation - for Active Professionals

* A substantial, rugged-looking exterior, combining a dramatic front cab with a traditional box-like storage space, creates an emotional looking body form never before seen in the LCV class.

* An interior created to combine efficiency and a human touch, mentally refreshing its occupants when traveling to or from a job site. The customizable cargo area houses a unique pod that can smartly accommodate a variety of business needs. The pod is divided into customizable trays and boxes for efficient storage of profession-specific equipment, materials, work gear and apparel.

* The displayed NV200 has been outfitted specifically for use by a professional ocean photographer. The work area is equipped with a remote control panel for a spider camera, as well as equipment for organizing and editing photographs and images while on assignment.

Please visit Autoblog to see and read more. Credit Damon Lavrinc

A Night in the Hermitage Hotel by Deep Fried Kudzu

Room:
The room was a nice size; it featured an armoire for the television and minibar, a desk with internet access, a sitting area, and a very nice bathroom with double sinks, a glass-enclosed shower, nice-size bathtub, and the commode area was enclosed. The bath products - soaps, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and gel - were from Molton Brown (we liked the Molton Brown shampoo so much that we bought a bottle of it from the shop downstairs). The room's overall decor was very nice, and very comfortable. Robes were provided. Our room rate included the cost of breakfast the next morning. It was a **great** value. The Hermitage is Tennessee's only AAA 5* hotel recipient.

Service:
The service was Fantastic. The bellman, Frederick, took us on a little tour, and made it a point to let us know what he suggested to have for supper, what the hours were of the little shop (but also said that since we were guests of the hotel that no matter what time it was, we could have anything we wanted - uh, you don't hear that very much), and that we would be 100% taken care of the whole time we were at the property. Turn-down service included cookies, ice, slippers, and bottles of water. The check-in was nice, the concierge let us know that he would arrange anything in the world we wanted, and when we left the valet was prompt and let us know just how much they appreciated us coming for a visit, and to come again soon. Y'all, we drove up in Av's van - not my Volvo, and neither of us dressed all that great walking in - in fact, Av was wearing shorts and sandals - and they treated us like rock stars. Hermitage, you have my heart.

Extra:
The hotel is downtown, so it makes for a great location, especially for people on government business. Everything about the hotel is top-notch.Our experience is this: From now on, as long as there are rooms available at the Hermitage, we're not staying anywhere else in Nashville. We used to stay at the Opryland Hotel quite a bit, and especially enjoyed the balcony rooms, but there is absolutely NO comparison between the two hotels.

In fact, I'm listing The Hermitage as my new #1 hotel pick, moving the Ritz-Carlton in New Orleans to #2.



Visit Deep Fried Kudzu to read more about her visit to the hotel and Nashville.

On the Road to Jack Kerouac's House in Orlando, Florida

Jack Kerouac lived in this home at the time On the Road made him a national sensation. And it was in this home that Kerouac wrote his follow-up, The Dharma Bums, during eleven frenetic days and nights. The Kerouac House, as it has come to be known, is now a living, literary tribute to one of the great American writers of the twentieth century.

Like all the other places in Kerouac’s nomadic journey, he didn’t live here long. But the home represents a critical juncture in Kerouac’s life, when he made the transition from a 35-year-old nobody writer, to the bard of the Beat Generation.



Visit the Kerouac Project to learn more.

Health Alert For Horse Owners And Local Residents

The Tennessee departments of Agriculture and Health are urging horse owners to be on the alert and review vaccination records for eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) and other mosquito-borne diseases including West Nile virus (WNV).

“Outbreaks of viral encephalitis in horses are a seasonal occurrence due to the prevalence of mosquitoes in late summer and early fall,” said Dr. Ron Wilson, state veterinarian with the Agriculture Department. “Horse owners should be aware of symptoms of viral encephalitis and consult their local veterinarian should their horse develop any of the signs associated with this group of diseases.”

Several states have reported cases of EEE in horses this season. Tennessee’s first confirmed case of 2007 was reported this week in Blount County.

Up to 90 percent of horses infected with EEE virus can die.

Another mosquito-borne disease, West Nile virus infection, has been seen in horses across the state, including East Tennessee, in 2007.

Wilson says the spread of WNV has heightened awareness and concern for other nervous system diseases in horses.

Read the complete story in the Upper Cumberland Daily News.

The Stress of Preparing for a Reining Horse Show

I have a horse that is no longer eligible for the aged events. Translation=he is well trained and show smart, also is likely to have some arthritic changes taking place from years of hard work. He takes a different kind of preparation than the futurity and derby horses. Consistency is still key, but diversity in schooling is what keeps him fresh minded and fit. I liken it to cross training in human athletes.
~
He has to stay fit enough so that I don't hurt him warming up and showing, but not so fit that it will take hours of loping to take the edge off. I don't want him sour, sore, pin eared, and swishy tailed but I also don't want him too fresh and "big" when he is in the pen.
~
First I find the date when the competition occurs, then I track backwards to the current date. From there I can pencil in work sessions on my calendar in three or four day rotations to take me through the show. I seldom do circling, turn arounds, and stopping in one session on a year round basis-but I WILL have to do so as the competition nears.
~
Next, I check my bank balance to be sure that I have budgeted funds for the trip. By this time, I am generally exhausted thinking about how I am going to pull this off and I could easily be talked out of going. Instead, I will have a glass of wine, get a good night's sleep and attack the organizing effort in the morning.
~
Read the full post at The Practical Guide to Reining blog.

Jack Lawrence's Horse Training Techniques and Cowboy Philosophy

Visit Tennessee Home and Farm to watch a video about Jack Lawrence and his Cowboy Way and Horse Training.

Dracula, Valse-Fantaisie and Ballet: Tango presented by the Nashville Ballet

Nashville Ballet presents Dracula, Valse-Fantaisie and Ballet: Tango at TPAC

October 26 - 28

A charming ballet from one of the giants of twentieth-century choreography, George Balanchine. The New York Times praised its "windswept pattern of pure dancing, attuned to the joyfulness of its waltz rhythms." The second piece will be Ballet Tango, which explores the essence of one of the world's most passionate and complex of dances. And to round out the evening, just in time for Halloween, Paul Vasterling's chilling take on the classic Dracula myth.

Visit the TPAC website for more info and tickets.

Upcoming Concerts to Know About

Widespread Panic at the Ryman
October 25 - 26

Julia Burton and Buck & Duke at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge
October 25

Old Crow Medicine Show at the Ryman
October 27

Blues Traveler at the Wildhorse Saloon
October 28

Annie Lennox with Carina Round at the Ryman
October 28

WSM's 82nd Anniversary Listener Appreciation Concert with Vince Gill, Mel Tillis, and Ralph Emery at the Ryman
October 29

Nashville Restaurant Health Scores This Week

HIGH SCORES:
TN Business Enterprise/ Federal Courthouse
801 Broad Street
Date Inspected: 10-18-07
Score: 94

E. Milano’s Pizza
2219 Murfreesboro Road
Date Inspected: 10-17-07
Score: 94

Hermitage Cafe
71 Hermitage Avenue
Date Inspected: 10-17-07
Score: 94

H & T Home-Cooking
2371 Murfreesboro Road
Date Inspected: 10-17-07
Score: 95

Ed’s Fish & Pizza
1801 D.B. Todd Blvd
Date Inspected: 10-17-07
Score: 95

My Dad’s Pizza
1601-A Buchanan Street
Date Inspected: 10-16-07
Score: 95

Belmont College Main Kitchen
1900 Belmont Blvd
Date Inspected: 10-18-07
Score: 94

LOW SCORES:
Sobro Diner
1 Hermitage Avenue
Date Inspected: 10-17-07
Score: 53

Major Violations:
·Employee went from front counter to cut tomatoes without washing their hands
· Egg slices on prep line at 60.4
· Employee wiped nose and did not wash hands

China Gourmet
4115 Lebanon Road
Date Inspected: 10-16-07
Score: 57

Major Violations:
· Raw beef and chicken in the prep cooler are out of temperature
· Employee did not wash hands after handling dirty dishes and returning to serving area
· Flies in the stock room

D’s BBQ
730 McFerrin Street
Date Inspected: 10-16-07
Score: 57

Major Violations:
· Live roach crawling on hand-sink
· Fish @ 45 inside refrigerator, must be 41 or below
· Mice droppings on shelf with onions
· Mice droppings on top of water heater

Downtown Nashville Details

News & Information

New Restaurant & Lounge - Agave Tequila Lounge!
118 12th Avenue S. 254-9997. New Mexican restaurant and lounge has opened in the Gulch. Over 150 tequilas behind the bar. Hours are Tues - Sat, 4 pm - 3 am.

Events this Week

CMT "Gone Country" Concert
Thursday, Oct 25. Wildhorse Saloon. 120 2nd Avenue N.
Doors open at 5:30 pm, concert at 8 pm. Free.
Concert and taping featuring the cast of the new CMT series "Gone Country." Cast includes Bobby Brown, Carnie Wilson, Dee Snider, Julio Iglesias Jr, Sisqo and more. John Rich is the host.

Urban Sun "Oktoberfest" Customer Appreciation Party
Thursday, Oct 25. Urban Sun. 209 10th Avenue South #227. 291-6800. 9 am - 8 pm.
Customer appreciation party complete with refreshments, tanning trivia prizes, and specials including 25% off new memberships and all retail purchases.

Bone Bash 2007 at City Hall
Friday, October 26.
City Hall.
405 12th Avenue S. 8 pm - midnight.
General admission tickets $25, VIP tickets $55 (includes food and drinks).
Annual fundraiser for the Arthritis Foundation features a costume contest, silent auction, and fortunetellers. Live entertainment by Denny Diamond, Slippery When Wet and Appetite For Destruction. To purchase tickets, visit http://ww2.arthritis.org/communities/Chapters/TEN/BoneBash/index.htm.

Final Frist Friday and New Exhibitions!
Friday, October 26. Frist Center for the Visual Arts.
919 Broadway.
244-3340.
6-9 pm.
No admission charge for members, and non-members pay $8.50.
Guilty Pleasures, an 80's cover band, will perform in the courtyard. Light appetizers are provided and there is a cash bar. Admission includes entrance to the exhibits, including two exhibits that open on Friday - The Société Anonyme: Modernism for America and Rosemary Lang: Flight open Friday and continue through January 27.

Nashville Ballet's Fall Series
Friday, October 26 - Sunday, October 28.
TPAC's Polk Theatre. 297-2966. Performance times vary.
$19 - $59.
The Nashville Ballet will perform three works. George Balanchine's Valse-Fantaisie, Argentine dance-inspired Ballet: Tango, and Paul Vasterling's Dracula.

Encore Condominiums Open House
Saturday, October 27. Encore Sales Center.
119 3rd Avenue South. 324-3838. 11 am - 3 pm. Free.
A special limited release of homes priced from $200,000. Speak with a sales consultant, tour the model home, and learn about special buyer incentives. Catered lunch by Chili Burrito, door prizes and live broadcast by Lightning 100.

Masquerade Ball Fundraiser
Saturday, October 27.
The Standard Restaurant and Ballroom.
167 Rosa Parks Boulevard (8th Avenue North). 254-1277 x11. 7 pm.
$50.
Fundraiser for the Friends of Church Street Park. Tickets are 100% tax deductible. Black tie or festive attire. Ballroom dancing, seated dinner, and open wine and beer bar.

Nightmare in Music City - Annual Halloween Party in the Gulch
Saturday, October 27.
City Hall, Bar Twenty3 and outside. 9 pm - 2 am. $10 in advance. $15 at the door.
The annual "Nightmare in Music City" block party. Huge dance floor, costume contests, and DJ Lunchbox inside City Hall.

1st Annual Wildhorse Saloon Halloween Bash
Saturday, October 27. Wildhorse Saloon.
120 2nd Avenue North. 902-8200. 6:30 pm. $15, in advance through Ticketmaster.
Costume contest with grand prize trip for two to New Orleans, 2nd place $300, and 3rd place $100. Live music by Guilty Pleasures, Christie's Ex, and The Devonshires.

Jack's R Wild Halloween Party
Saturday, October 27. Hard Rock Cafe. 100 Broadway. 782-4018.
8 pm - 1 am.
Costume contest with prizes up to $500 and live music by Max Headroom, an 80's cover band, from 10 pm - midnight.

Black, White, Red Halloween
Saturday, October 27. Fuel. 114 2nd Avenue South.
8 pm - 3 am.
Costume contest, drink specials, live music and DJs. Free entry before 10 pm if you wear all white, all red, or all black.

Frite Nite
Saturday, October 27. Sky Lounge.
305 Broadway. 364-5678. 9 pm. $10.
Best costume contest, prize give-a-ways, and music by DJ Tinman, DJ Express, and DJ Shawn B.

Phantom of the Opera Silent Movie with Organ Performance
Wednesday, October 31. Schermerhorn Symphony Center. One Symphony Place. 687-6400.
8 pm. $10 - $25.
Renowned theatre organist Tom Trenney will provide improvised accompaniment to the 1925 silent film classic, The Phantom of the Opera. Audience members are encouraged to attend in costume and cheer, boo and hiss as part of "silent movie etiquette."

Americana Music Festival and Conference
Wednesday, October 31 - Saturday, November 3.
Various downtown venues. 386-6936.
Four-day wristband $30.
Four-day festival featuring over 60 bands. Plus, the Americana Honors & Awards Show at the Ryman Auditorium on Thursday, Nov 1 at 7 pm featuring Lyle Lovett, Patty Griffin, Emmylou Harris, Old Crow Medicine Show, Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale and more. Tickets are $35 for the awards show through Ticketmaster.

Man Who Lived in Arizona Cave Expelled

Here is a news story from a few years ago. It reminded me of a story that a friend of mine told me once upon a time. He worked on Ted Turner's Vermejo Park Ranch, it is located in New Mexico and it was so huge that they found a guy living on the property and he thought he was living on public land. He had no idea that what seemed like the wide open spaces and wildness was private property. I mean it is 588,000-acres and so they sent him on his way with no trouble but he had a teepee and everything set up and thought he was the mountain man. I felt bad for the guy to think that he wanted to be away from the madness of cities and all and yet he couldn't get away from the control.

Well here is the news brief from a few years ago about another man...


A man was evicted from a cave he had lived in for 11 years after pleading guilty to using a national forest for residential purposes.

Thomas J. Crawford had a bed, books and clothes arranged on hangers, along with pots and cutlery for cooking in his cave in the Coconino National Forest in northern Arizona.
He was arrested Friday after a Flagstaff resident reported a suspicious camp.

Crawford pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Monday and was sentenced to one year of probation and banned from the forest.

He told Forest Service officials he would come to Flagstaff every week or so to get supplies and water. Sometimes, he would work here.

Crawford, accompanied by Forest Service officials and a reporter from the Arizona Daily Sun, was allowed to remove his possessions after he was released from jail Tuesday.

"As you can see, I don't have a TV or anything," he said. "I've got the sky, the wind, the rain, the canyon wrens. ... This is a beautiful mountain. You could explore it a lifetime."

Nashville’s Union Station Hotel Reopened and Rededicated After $10 Million Renovation Project

Nashville’s Union Station Hotel, fresh from a $10 million renovation, marks its grand reopening Oct. 9, exactly 107 years after the Louisville & Nashville Railroad opened the building as a showplace train station.

“We see Oct. 9, 2007, as a rededication of a Nashville treasure,” said Phil Goldfarb, president and chief operating officer of Turnberry Associates, majority owner of the property.

Highlights of the $10 million renovation project involve a complete restoration, cleaning and redressing of the station’s original design and architectural features, including:

• Delicate accents in the 65-foot lobby, including a polishing of the 128 panels of multi-colored stained glass atop the hotel’s original barrel-vaulted ceiling
• Addition of an “upscale comfortable” restaurant named Prime 108
• Installation of a new marble floor in the hotel’s expansive lobby, plus cleaning of the hotel’s original gold-leaf medallions and rare bas-relief sculptures
• New marble in all bathrooms, and many guestrooms amended with glass-enclosed showers
  A total makeover of all guestrooms—no two of which are exactly alike—including furniture, fixtures and décor
• Behind-the-scenes modernization of heating, air-conditioning, Internet and other systems

“There was a grand celebration Oct. 9, 1900, that marked Union Station as a major factor in Nashville’s transportation and economic life. This Oct. 9, we put the Union Station Hotel in the spotlight again for its role in Nashville’s hospitality, tourism and meetings industries,” said Mark Bloom, a principal in Nashville-based Corner Partnership, which owns the hotel with Turnberry Associates.

The Union Station Hotel, a Wyndham Historic Hotel and a member of Historic Hotels of America, is one of Nashville’s most identifiable buildings. Many visitors consider it part of a Nashville architectural trifecta that consists of the Union Station Hotel, the nearby Ryman Auditorium and the city’s replica of the Parthenon from ancient Athens.

“The building’s size and Romanesque design are impressive now. We can only imagine what an impact it had when it opened at the turn of the last century,” Bloom said.

It is 247 feet tall from track level to the top of its clock tower, where a statue of Mercury, messenger of the gods and god of roads and travelers, perches.

The architectural and design touches inside are a tribute to artisans of another era. In addition to the signature stained-glass ceiling are large clocks at either end of the lobby, a bas-relief sculpture of an Egyptian pharaoh in a chariot and another bas-relief sculpture of a powerful steam locomotive.

The bas-relief locomotive is No. 108, which inspired the name of the hotel’s new restaurant, Prime 108.


Read more in Hospitality 1st.

Wonderful Wallace, Idaho: Quaint and gritty, town’s charms still glitter

This is from a September 2003 article in the Idaho Statesman newspaper.

Susan Whaley
The Idaho Statesman

It´s easy to see why the town of Wallace, which sits in a narrow forested valley in North Idaho, served as a setting for two films, “Heaven´s Gate” and “Dante´s Peak.”

Don´t blame Wallace for the movies´ poor showing at the box office. A set designer couldn´t create a more quaint streetscape than the brick Victorian-era buildings along Bank Street downtown. Throw in a photogenic railroad depot, historic neighborhoods and a deep green backdrop of trees on steep hillsides and you´re in business, baby.

But Wallace is more than a pretty face.
Visitors quickly learn that what lies beneath the surface is what truly has shaped the town since gold was discovered nearby in 1882. Eventually the mining camps became Wallace and other towns in the world-famous Silver Valley, home to some of the world´s richest mines.
Today, many of the mines have closed, the railroads are gone, the environment is cleaner, and Wallace´s wild and woolly past is past — but not forgotten.

Wallace highlights include:

• The Oasis Bordello Museum is a reminder that Wallace once was known far and wide for its red light district. The Oasis is just exactly as it was when the “girls” left the building in 1988. The tacky furniture and 1960s-era decor is intact, along with clothes in the closets, butts in the ashtrays and boxes of food on kitchen shelves.
• While strolling on Bank Street downtown, note the blinking traffic light. Before traffic was rerouted from the middle of town to the interstate, this intersection was the only one that stopped traffic on I-90 between Seattle and Boston.
• Well-preserved homes dating to 1890 dot the residential neighborhoods. Look for houses that are narrow and long, typical of a town where land is scarce. Also of interest are long sets of steps that take pedestrians to neighborhoods on one-lane streets carved into the hillsides. Ask locals to point out the house where actress Lana Turner was born.
• Many downtown buildings still retain the architectural details that give Wallace its quaint and gritty charm.

Southern Cooking Class at Viking Cooking School

You don’t have to live in the South to appreciate soulful Southern cookin'. In this highly requested new workshop, we’ll teach you how to create traditional Southern food from the heart.

SKILLS and TECHNIQUES
Preparing a traditional Southern dinner; learning the art of balancing seasonings; preparing lump-free, creamy mashed potatoes; pan-frying chicken to crisp perfection; braising greens; making a quickbread; making custard.

Adult classes are for students age 16 and older.

Best-Ever Crispy Fried Chicken
Perfect Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
Slow-Cooked Southern Greens
Skillet Cornbread
Homemade Banana Puddin’
Sample Recipes: Cheese Straws; Sweet Tea
Remaining Dates & Times in Nashville, Tennessee:

$79.99
Monday, November 5
6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Workshop

The Viking Store
The Factory at Franklin
230 Franklin Road
Building 13
Franklin, TN 37064
Phone 615.599.9617

Visit the calendar for more Viking cooking classes.

Garrett Parris; Singer/Songwriter

A very talented singer/songwriter that moved to Nashville to "make it" in the music industry. He is part of what Nashville is known for, lots of talented people move here to heed the call of the song. Many do not make it but for the ones that do, they live a dream that they once only dreamed of. They also become the ones that the next wave and the next wave of dreamers look to and say "They did and so can I."

Be sure to give him a listen if he is playing live or if you can find his music. He has a MySpace account so you can start there.

"What She Had To" is a song that he cowrote with John Edwards was recorded by Lonestar for their Mountains cd.

Some of his songs are:

• Tumbleweed
• The Spanish Rose
• My Heroes Ride
• Cowboy Down
• Every Horse I Ever Rode

JetBlue is Flying Out of Nashville

JetBlue Airways is pulling out of Nashville, effective January 6.

The law fare air carrier began its service in Music City in August 2006 with nonstop service between Nashville and New York.

The announcement to drop its Nashville flights comes as the carrier generated its first third-quarter profit in two years and capacity and occupancy grew.

Read more about it in the Nashville Business Journal.

Ellendales Lunch Buffet This Week

Lunch buffet week of October 22 - 26

Entrees
Southern Fried Chicken
Apple Wood Smoked Pork Loin
Knockwurst with Sauerkraut

Vegetables
German Vegetable Blend
Honey Buttered Carrots
Southwestern Cream Corn

Pastas
Gourmet Mac & Cheese
Mushroom & Spinach Lasagna
Rice & Potatoes
Rice Pilaf
Chive Mashed Potatoes

Salads, etc.
Carrot & Raisin Salad
Italian Pasta Salad
Cucumber Onion Salad
Ham & Egg Salad
Red Pepper Soy Hummus
Caesar Salad
Fresh Fruit
Soup du Jour

Bonus dish: Italian Four Cheese Fondue

So What is Nashville Known For in the Food World?

Catfish from Bakers Cafe in Goodlettsville

Is it our meat and three's, hot chicken, country ham or biscuits and gravy? I think we are known for all of these. I know all of the things I mentioned can be found all through the south and yes, I do believe we have some of the best in the nation.

C'mon, don't you think Arnold's or other meat and three's help define us? Aren't we just incredibly proud of Loveless Cafe's biscuits and country hams? What about Prince's and 400 degrees and the other hot chicken establishments, don't they mean something to the city and our pride?

Tell me what you think we are known for or should promote as our food.

Breakfast at the Loveless Cafe