James Beard benefit dinner at the Belle Meade Plantation

Chef Martha Stamps is hosting a Friends of James Beard Benefit at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 4, at the Belle Meade Plantation.

The event features a seven-course dinner with wines from the Winebow collection, prepared by chefs Stamps, Tandy Wilson, Donald Link, Mike Lata, Joe Shaw and John Fleer.

The meal costs $150 for James Beard Foundation members and $175 for the general public.

The dinner will be served in Martha's at the Plantation, 5025 Harding Road.

To make a donation or purchase tickets, call 353-2828 or e-mail nashvillebearddinner@comcast.net.

This info came from the Tennessean newspaper.

Train Fans Want Amtrak Back in Nashville

It's been nearly 30 years since the last passenger train left Union Station, but advocates of city-to-city rail hope it won't take another 30 years to get it back.

A spider web of routes takes a broad circle around the city, passing through Louisville, Ky., Memphis, Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C., but national rail advocates consider Tennessee to be the most underserved rail state. In a report released last week, they targeted Nashville for the expansion of passenger rail.

Trains equal less pollution and highway congestion, proponents say, but state officials say Nashville isn't populous enough to support a city-to-city route.

"It would be wonderful to say I can be in Memphis and jump on a train to Nashville, but the volume of people who would do that isn't anywhere close to what the cost would be to provide the service," said Ed Cole, chief of environment and planning with the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

Read the rest of this story in the Tennessean

Fred Thompson, The Next President?

Check out the new website, I'mwithFred.com, for Fred Thompson and see what the man is all about. Besides being a fellow Tennessean, I haven't heard any other candidate truly discuss the real issues and real solutions. They all seem to just say the things that they feel will get them elected.

If the election was tomorrow, here is the man that would get my vote.

He is on Hannity and Colmes tonight.


Photo comes from the University of Tennessee website.