Month: September 2024

From the Nashville Film Festival

A Couple of Shorts, Part 2

Lemon-Aid This Tennessee horror short is strange and funny. It’s full of vibrant colors, almost no dialogue, weird movements and many sound effects. The story is simple, mysterious, and ridiculous.Read More

From the Nashville Film Festival

A Couple of Shorts, Part 1

Casual (Music Video) by Chappell Roan Chappell Roan (your favorite artist’s favorite artist) has shot to fame after her song “Good Luck, Babe!” broke into the Billboard Hot 100. WithRead More

From the Nashville Film Festival

Nashville-related Music Films

For this list I’ve curated films from the festival that are both short and feature length with Nashville-related subject matter. From denial to lament, nostalgia to excitement, as a collectionRead More

From the Nashville Film Festival

We Can Be Heroes: Celebrating Difference

In the mid-60s, my brothers were diagnosed as autistic. It took awhile, because they were beautiful twin babies, perfectly healthy. Unlike Downs Syndrome, there are often no outer indications ofRead More

From the Nashville Film Festival

A Man Called Hurt: The Life and Music of Mississippi John Hurt

A Man Called Hurt: The Life and Music of Mississippi John Hurt begins as a comfortably muted scene in an old-time country home in Avalon, Mississippi. “Frankie” is playing onRead More

My Soul Looks Back: Nashville’s Gospel Honors

  They took us to CHURCH! Well, you might ask, wasn’t the event in a church? Downtown Presbyterian Church, to be specific? Yes, but if you’re not familiar with theRead More

Clue

I have to admit from the start that I’m biased in favor of this play: it’s a faithful and spirited adaptation of the 1985 cult classic Clue. I grew upRead More

From the Blair Master Series:

Beethoven and Shostakovich at Turner Hall.

On Friday September 6th I was treated to a lovely night at Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music. The occasion was a continuation of the Blair Master’s Series, this time featuringRead More

As You Like It

The Nashville Shakespeare Festival performed As You Like It for their very first show in 1988. As Executive Artistic Director Denice Hicks says in her program notes, she was inRead More

Next to Normal: a Compelling Depiction of Mental Illness

On September 5th, I was able to see the final dress rehearsal of Street Theatre Company’s production of the musical Next to Normal. In the intimate black box of theRead More