Off the Beaten Path in Nashville

If emerging hip cities were like the new kids at school, then Nashville would be the fascinating girl with the cool outfit who shows up at homeroom. With its vibrant music scene, emerging foodie status, streets full of the young and bearded and very own TV show, Nashville is the place to be. Or so we discovered when we decided to take our Christmas vacation there and everyone we told said, “We’ve been meaning to go to Nashville.”

 

The 10-hour drive is relatively painless for those of us from the DC-metro area (straight out on I-66, left on I-81, right on I-40), so it’s a good way to spend an I-don’t-want-to-fly vacation. I did not become an expert on Nashville in our five days of touring, eating, drinking and copious napping. But we did discover some neat out-of-the-way sights, scenes and drinks that will appeal to us aging cool kids.

1. The Parthenon at night

Our first evening in Nashville, we strolled over to the Parthenon in Centennial Park. During the day, I’m sure it’s amazing to see this leftover relic from the 1897 Centennial Exposition and the art inside. But at night, it was spooky and regal and lit with Christmas colors. We wandered between its concrete columns and told stories of time warps. You never get a monument all to yourself in D.C.

2. Johnny Cash Museum

We decided to skip the Country Music Hall of Fame for the Johnny Cash Museum, which had more sentimental value for me because I love the love story of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. The small museum packed in a lot of tourists when we were there, but we were still able to spend all the time we wanted listening to his music, watching his videos and looking over an interesting and intimate array of stuff from Johnny’s life. I didn’t see the love letter Johnny wrote to June after she died, but my husband did. With my tendency to cry in public, he thought that was best.

3. The Escape Game. Driving to this out-of-the-way building, I started to think that maybe I’d been suckered into a dumb activity that only tourists do. Wrong. The Escape Game location is in an amazing artist enclave, little homes for recording studios and a pie shop and a really fantastic coffee shop. And the game itself – where you and your compatriots are locked in a room for an hour and must solve puzzles to escape – is totally awesome. And no, we didn’t escape. Boo.

4. Third Man Records. The Nashville outpost of Jack White’s recording studio is tiny and weird and quirky, selling almost entirely vinyl. It’s worth a visit if you’re a fan. And ask if the studio is open. Walking through it, with its Astroturf barbecue area and big blue wall and ginormous overhead fan makes you feel like a rock star.

5. Haircut at Monty's

If there is anyone in your party who could remotely use a haircut, take them to Monty’s in the Arcade. The open-air corridor of shops covered with a roof is cool; art galleries ring the second floor. And Monty’s is everything you want a cool-guy barber shop to be: the barbers are friendly and tattooed, the Galaga is free, the pomade is plentiful and there’s a Playboy in the magazine rack. 

6. Dancing on a Monday at The 5 Spot. As we sat on our stools at The 5 Spot and watched the couples begin expertly jumping and jiving to the first beat of the first song on this soul and swing night, the couple next to us leaned over and asked, “Do you know what’s going on?” We’d come to dance. But this was DANCING: swinging and spinning and what have you. Fortunately, after a couple of whiskeys with picklebacks, we were right in there and it was blast. Get there early. When we left at midnight, the line stretched halfway down the block.

7. Corsair Distillery 

Visit this distillery in the old Yazoo brewery. You can sip a beer beforehand in the Corsair taproom, check out the 100-year-old pre-Prohibition-built still on the tour, pet the bowtie-wearing cat that lives in the distillery and sample some killer rye during the post-tour tasting. Extra bonus: Anyone in your group not interested in the tour can hang out at the Soda Parlor down the hall.

8. Arcade and comic books. On New Years Eve, I made the males in my family decide the itinerary. And boy, did they. We spent two hours at a great $7/hour-$10/day video game arcade on the non-tourist side of Nashville. After an hour, I bailed and went to the nicest tea shop next door. Then we went to a comic book and used album store, where the cash register guy made me feel very good about my depth and breadth of Arrow knowledge.

9. Galax, VA

No, the city of Galax, VA is not in Nashville. But it is the best place to stay for the night if you’d rather drive two five-hour stints than one 10-hour marathon. Galax is home to the historic Rex Theater which, every Friday night, hosts a live bluegrass show broadcast on WBRF 98.1. Obvious regulars come out for the lively show – they jump up for every song and politely sit down and fan themselves in between. Do yourself a favor and fuel up at the Galax Smokehouse beforehand.

Summer Mix Tape for In-Betweeners

The summer before my senior year in high school, a disreputable boy with long hair asked if he could put in a cassette tape as we drove God only knows where in my grey Chevy Cavalier. Out of my speakers came The Rolling Stones, who I associated with the music of my parents and therefore didn’t like. But these songs weren’t the mid-80s, feathered and puffy-shirted “Dancing in the Streets” version of Rolling Stones I thought I knew (You’re right, that was Mick’s fault.) These songs were interesting, lyrical, as dirty and soulful as they were heartbreaking and orchestral. I asked him if I could borrow this tape.

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That stifling hot summer, driving around the long, flat streets of Tulsa, Okla., flittering away time with my lovely, disreputable friends when I wasn’t working a 40-hour-a-week temp job, became defined by that tape. “Play With Fire,” “Paint It Black,” “Ruby Tuesday,” “Sympathy for the Devil,” “Wild Horses,” all became the soundtrack for my last childhood summer, the summer before I turned 18. “Hot Rocks” the guy had written on the cassette label, further proving that this was the perfect summer tape. “Wow,” I thought, “He’s put together the best Rolling Stones mix ever.”

"Hot Rocks: 1964-1971" was the actual name of the album, a compilation and The Rolling Stone’s biggest selling album. I didn’t know this until years later. If you can’t laugh at your 18-year-old self, then you’re doing it wrong.

As we squeeze out the last bits of fun of this last month of summer, I figured it would be a good time to put together a Summer Mix Tape for In-Betweeners to help us all remember that time in our lives when we stayed out late, slept in long and never wore sunscreen. Songs don’t hit me as powerfully as they once did, but they can still transport. A great song can make the sun shine a little bit brighter, can make me smile a little wider and can remind me of that kid in that car that heard that mind-blowing album for the first time.

Summer Mix Tape for In-Betweeners

Click cassette below to play

WARNING: There is an inherent lustiness to summer, with all the heat and exposed skin, and an inherent heat to summer songs. Songs with a (*) may not be kid appropriate.

1. The Rolling Stones - Street Fighting Man
2. *Kings of Leon - Four Kicks (Heirs to The Rolling Stones, this entire album, Aha Shake Heartbreak, their second, is a a fantastic summer listen, an ode to young boys hanging out of trucks with their hormones flapping around them.)
3. TLC - No Scrubs (A great Nineties ode to the girls who refused to respond to the boys hanging out of trucks with their hormones hanging around them.)

4. Nikka Costa - Everybody Got Their Something (Favorite line: “There’s a time for every star.”)

5. Liz Phair - Polyester Bride (Song about sitting at a bar jawing with the bartender. What could be more summery than that?)

6. Rufus & Chaka Khan - Tell Me Something Good

7. Jarabe De Palo - Bonito (And what’s the good thing you want to be told? That everything is beautiful, bonito.)

8. Justin Timberlake - Senorita (The next grouping of songs sound like they're performed at some sweaty club or house party.)

9. Beastie Boys - Live at P.J.'s

10. *Pink - God is a DJ (Favorite line: “God wants you to shake your ass.” I believe that.)

11. *Prince - Housequake (This album, Sign of the Times, is Prince’s masterpiece and another one that I have on rotation all summer.)

12. Sly & the Family Stone - Dance to the Music ("Get on up, and dance to the music.")

13. The Goat Rodeo Sessions - Here and Heaven (Haunting, yet rousing song from awesome collaboration of Yo-Yo Ma and some great bluegrass musicians.)

14. Sam Cooke - Summertime (I know, this one just seems too obvious. But, you see, I was introduced to it in the summertime. By this boy. He would do push ups on concrete blocks. Ahh…summertime.)

15. Sam Sparro - Black and Gold

16. Morphine - Super Sex (I don’t know if it was summertime when a cute guy - who's now my husband - gave me this song on a mixtape. But I know it was hot.)

17. Stevie Wonder - I Was Made to Love Her (Stevie personifies summer to me.)

18. Elton John - Amoreena

19. Everclear - Santa Monica

20. Japandroids - Young Hearts Spark Fire ("We used to dream now we worry about dying. I don’t want to worry about dying. I just want to worry about those sunshine girls.”)

21. The Rolling Stones - Mother's Little Helper (I couldn't resist. Let's all sing it together: "What a drag it is getting old.")

What do you like to listen to in the summer? What song or album brings youthful summer memories rushing back? Please tell me about your favorite songs in the comment section below or on my Facebook page.

'80s Dance Nights in the DMV

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Millennial enthusiasm for '80s alt-rock

On a recent Saturday night, my husband and I were at Black Cat in D.C., to dance to music we danced to when were dating two decades ago: the ‘80s-alternative music of The Cure and The Smiths. I was shocked at the number of Millennials crowding the place. When the first guitar strums of The Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry,” sounded, there were cries and a mad rush to the dance floor, kids dancing and jumping and shouting along to a song that came out in 1979, 35 years ago.

Why was I so amazed? Because I couldn’t have imagined dancing to music that was 35 years old when I was in my mid-20s. That would have been music of the 1960s, and would have sounded something like this (I’m not kidding; this was the No. 1 hit in 1960):

Percy Faith, "Theme from A Summer Place"

Eighties and '90s-retro dance nights are plentiful in the DMV and would seem like the perfect option for a fun night out for us In-Betweeners, a chance to embrace our past and dance like we did at prom. However, the popularity of these nights with the under-30 crowd has made me feel a little old and silly at them. And a little…annoyed, like the event has been co-opted by people who think we went around wearing neon all the time.

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Steve EP, The Cure vs. The Smiths, Black Cat

I spoke to DJ Steve EP about this phenomenon. Steve EP, known as Stephen Petix in non-DJ life, was one of the DJs for the Cure vs. Smiths Black Cat event and spins at retro-focused dance events around the area, including the very popular Eighties Mayhem nights, also at the Black Cat main stage.

Steve, who shocked me when he told me he is my age, believes that we didn’t dance to music of our parents because it was so bad. “The music sucked,” he said. “There were pockets of cool stuff – Motown and soul – but for the most part it was really lame. Popular music was terrible before rock and roll.”

The blandness of the music that preceded it is what made the birth of new wave and punk in the late-‘70s and early-‘80s so revolutionary, he said. “These people weren’t trying to be rock stars, they were breaking all the rules." Steve remembers the hardship of being a punk kid in a straight world, of being called ‘faggot’ all the time. A friend pierced her own nose because -- unlike the handy mall kiosks today -- there was no place she have it done. That angst and rebellion and even newness of that music still speaks to kids 30-plus years later.

“When I see a 12 year old wearing a Black Flag t-shirt, I think that’s awesome,” he said. “I’m not in that camp that thinks, ‘I discovered it.’” He's talking about my possesive camp.

In Between Tip: Stephen Petix's dark synth-wave group, Technophobia, is having their cassette release party Saturday, July 19 at Black Cat.

My 80s ensemble. I know. I'm pandering.

Of course, ‘80s alternative isn’t the only thing playing at retro dance nights. Steve thinks its sacrilege to mention Madonna in the same breath as the Cure and Depeche Mode and New Order, but I liked “Oh Father,” and, in retrospect, find her stuff groundbreaking, too. When she came on the scene in her bustiers and rosary beads, nobody had displayed their sexuality like she had. Except Prince.

The concept that the music of the ‘80s was groundbreaking, and that maybe the ground has been broken so thoroughly that it has yet to be supplanted, helps me understand why its been embraced by those younger than me. Helps me elbow my way in and dance along.

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Retro Dance Nights in the DMV

A list of upcoming '80s and '90s dance nights in the D.C.-metro area

(Links aren't working on iPhone 4 and higher. Squarespace says they're working on it.)

Tonight: The Legwarmers: D.C.'s Biggest '80s Retro Dance Party, The State Theatre, Falls Church, VA

Tonight: 10th Annual Pretty in Pink '80s Prom, The Ottobar, Baltimore, MD

June 28: No Scrubs: '90s Dance Party with DJs Will Eastman and Brian Billion, 9:30 Club, Washington, DC

June 28: '80s Dance Party, Tropicalia, Washington, DC

July 2 (Every 1st and 3rd Wednesday): Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Little Miss Whiskey's Golden Dollar, Washington, DC

July 25: Start Making Sense, Talking Heads Tribute w/ HMFO: a Hall and Oates Tribute, The Hamilton, Washington, DC

July 26: Purple Rain 30th Anniversary Party, Black Cat, Washington, D.C.

August 29: MJ Day 2014 - 5th Annual Michael Jackson Dance Party, 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C.

Know of other fun '80s and '90s-inspired dance nights? Let me know about them in the comments below and I'll add them to this list.

I Hate the 9:30 Club

Listen to my 9:30 Club Mix Tape while readiing this blog.

I do. I hate the 9:30 Club, that mecca to live music lovers in our nation's capital, that pantheon to mournful hipsters or shimmying sorority girls or aging dads in their Bad Brains t-shirts, depending on the night. I hate that large, still-divey venue where I've seen Kings of Leon and Lykke Li and Delta Rae and Cold War Kids and Ray Lamontagne and Old 97's and Bon Iver and Neil Finn and Rhett Miller and Mumford & Sons and Django Django and Timbaland and The Afghan Whigs. 

Okay. Maybe I don't hate the 9:30 Club. Maybe I just hate those two lumbering boy-men, those big boys with scraggly beards and fuzzy hair and heavy-rimmed glasses who were trying to get around me the last time I was at the 9:30 Club. I didn't know I was blocking their way. I didn't know until I heard a, "Umm...excuse me...ma'am."

Ma'am.

In one fell swoop, I went from feeling quite lively and chipper to feeling like someone's mom. And I AM someone's mom (more on that later). But no one wants their mom at a live music show. I knew the intrusion I used to feel when I was a high schooler at the Fillmore in San Francisco or a college student at the Bottleneck in Lawrence, Kan., and saw an "ADULT" in the crowd.

"Everything else is yours," was my sentiment. "Let this be ours."

Haim at the 9:30 Club

But just because a couple of decades separate me from that girl doesn't mean my true, passionate love for music and the musicians who create it has dimmed. My love for sold-out shows has dimmed -- I boogie by the bar to avoid the chest-to-back crowds and keep my drink filled. And my enthusiasm for waiting until 11 p.m. for the main act to go on has certainly waned. But I think I've found a solution to that, too.

The kid

I go to early shows with my kid!

We took our teenager to see the three-sister band Haim at 7 p.m. on a Wednesday (the 9:30 Club is an all-ages venue), and I've got to tell you, passing the torch was cool. He stood with his dad in the middle of the crowd -- he can do that, he's over six feet -- and catching glimpses of the look on his face while those three strong women rocked out seemed like the best reason ever to get pregnant. We took him for the whole night-out experience -- the stroll down U Street, half-smokes at Ben's -- and we were still home by 10!

I guess it's appropriate that the night of the "ma'am" was also the night of my son's first 9:30 Club show, even though I was standing nowhere near him when the boys politely asked me to move my ancient ass. I'm not going to stop doing something that makes me thrive just because it's more appropriate for my son to be enjoying it. I've figured out how to mitigate the annoyances -- go to early shows, stand by the bar, hide behind my six-foot kid. So, no, I guess I don't hate the 9:30 Club.

Unfortunately for a venue that I'm sure is not trying to attract the over-40 crowd, I kind of love the place.

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Recommended 9:30 Club Shows in June for In-Betweeners

(Some shows are sold out but try StubHub for tickets. Enjoy one aspect of being old - disposable income!)

• Tonight - Old 97's (great alt-country twang band with hawt lead singer Rhett Miller)
• 6/3 - Jamie Cullum (amazing jazz pianist turned pop crooner)
• 6/6 - Lady Gaga vs. Madonna vs. ALL the Divas - a dance party with DJ lil'e
• 6/7 - Jenny Lewis (incredible singer, songwriter. And she was in Troop Beverly Hills)
• 6/8 - La Roux (sang Bulletproof, made into a song-demon song in Pitch Perfect)
• 6/14 - Who's Bad: The Ultimate Michael Jackson tribute Band 
• 6/27 - Throwing Muses with Special Guest Tanya Donelly (90s awesomeness)
• 6/28 - No Scrubs: 90's Dance Party with DJs Will Eastman and Brian Billion

Check out my 9:30 Club Mix Tape for In-Betweeners to hear songs from the above bands.