EastNashvilleBlog.com » Around East Nashville

Holly Street Rocks! Benefit Featuring Roman Candle

Jason Kirk — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 20:25:56 +0000

Holly Street Daycare is hosting its 7th Annual Holly Street Rocks! fundraiser in October. All proceeds from the benefit go directly to the Holly Street Tuition Subsidy Program, which helps families in need afford quality child care for their children. The fundraiser will include 50 fabulous wines to taste, provided by Midtown Wine & Spirits; entertainment from popular indie rock band Roman Candle; and hundreds of silent auction items up for bid, from great artwork to weekend getaways.

Holly Street Daycare is a non-profit that provides affordable, quality childcare for parents. The Tuition Subsidy Program bridges the gap between assistance a family might be receiving and the rising cost of quality childcare. At Holly Street, children experience personalized attention and progressive learning in an intimate, low teacher/child ratio environment. Additionally, the center offers specialized programs such as dance, music and educational field trips. Holly Street strives to create an overall setting to further develop each child’s values, attitudes, and social skills.

Musical guest Roman Candle owes its edgy rock sound to years of focusing on the craft of songwriting and melody. In 2006 Pitchfork’s Grayson Currin said, “Roman Candle is one of the best, most complete American rock bands to surface in a decade.” PASTE magazine called their current album, Oh Tall Tree in the Ear, a “Modern Rock Masterpiece” and the band has toured with artists such as Rufus Wainwright, Aimee Mann, and the Indigo Girls. Roman Candle at the Limelight is a show not to be missed!

Holly Street Rocks!

7th Annual Silent Auction/Wine Tasting

Featuring musical guest Roman Candle

A benefit for Holly Street Daycare’s tuition subsidy program

Have You Lost Your Dog in East Nashville?

Jason Kirk — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:59:06 +0000

Has anyone recently lost a dog near the Maxwell Heights/Greenwood Neighbors area? Last night in that area an East Nashville neighbor came across a little guy who wants to go home, and she is trying to make that happen. He’s a small, black-and-white, shorthaired dog and we’d like to help him to get back where he belongs. If you think this might be your dog, send a description or picture to us at comments@eastnashvilleblog.com or message us on Twitter.

On a related note, we highly recommend that anyone who has lost or found a pet check out the East C.A.N. website for more information on what to do in such a situation. There are a lot of common-sense tips there that can save you a lot of time and hassle and give you the best chance of helping your animal get back home safely. You can read more about East C.A.N., an organization started and run by concerned East Nashville neighbors, in the August/September issue of The East Nashvillian magazine.

East Nashville Community Acupuncture

Ginger Burden — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:59:57 +0000

If you have always wanted to try acupuncture but could never afford it, I strongly advise that you check out East Nashville Community Acupuncture, located next to Pad Thai Kitchen in the 2-story brick building at 604 Gallatin Ave. I’m not sure how long this place has been there, but I went for the first time recently and had an extremely satisfying experience.

First of all, acupuncture is usually pretty expensive – $60 or more for a single visit – but at ENCA they do a sliding scale for payment, so you only pay between $15 and $35 depending on how much you happen to feel like paying that day. It’s worth that price and way more. The staff is friendly and helpful and Alexa Hulsey, the owner/acupuncturist, was very professional and really took the time to talk to me about the issues I was there to treat.

The acupuncture room at ENCA is calm and soothing

The acupuncture itself takes place in a quiet, dimly lit room with about 10 or so super-comfy reclining chairs where Alexa can treat many clients at once, but never once did I feel bothered by people coming and going, even when the room was almost entirely filled. Calm, soothing music plays softly in the background so you can zone out to while resting, or you can bring headphones and listen to your own music. Alexa also gives each person a comfy blanket, eye pillow, and a bell to ring if you need to get her attention.

The East Nashville Community Acupuncture website has lots of useful information for new patients, including paperwork that you can fill out and bring with you to save time. Payment is by cash or check only, and be aware that there is a one-time $10 application fee in addition to your visit fee the first time you go.

Follow East Nashville Community Acupuncture on Facebook, or contact them by phone at (615) 457-1979.

Thirth of July Street Party Recap

Lindsey Boise — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:07:45 +0000

Seeing that we just moved to the neighborhood about six months ago, we didn’t know what to expect when we received a neighborly letter informing/reminding/warning us about the annual Thirth of July Street Party that was to go down right across the street from our place on Ordway and North 12th Street.

All I can say is it was really fun. There were Jolly Rogue Sneaux Balls, people twirling sparkly sticks, and live music. Though we didn’t indulge (meat is murder, duh), they even had BBQ from Oinker’s/Crazy Calvin’s for the carnivores out there.

Thee Phanton 5ive and The Minor Keys played, but we missed them and only caught the last two bands, Heypenny and the Eastside Bulldogs. I captured a short video clip of Heypenny playing “CopCar” and you can watch it below.

The proceeds ($10 at the plastic fence) went to East Nashville Flood Relief. And in the morning, it was like nobody had even been there. Magic. I recommend everyone and anyone to come down next year and enjoy the festival.

East Nashville Belly Dancing Workshop

Jason Kirk — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:37:30 +0000

Learn to belly dance with Sidonia next weekend in East Nashville

Belly dancing is an old art form, having been around for centuries. The first recorded Western encounter with it came in 1798 when Napoleon and his troops invaded Egypt. But you don’t have to have an army of your own, or even travel around the world, to learn about belly dancing – you can get involved with it right here in East Nashville thanks to Sidonia, a local practitioner of American- and Egyptian-style belly dancing. In fact, she’s putting on a workshop right here in our neighborhood at BlossOMing Yoga next weekend. Here are the details straight from the source:

Belly Dance Veil Workshop with Sidonia
Saturday, June 12th, 3pm-5pm
$30 before June 4th, $35 after June 5th
BlossOMing Yoga – 604 Gallatin Avenue (East Nashville)

The focus of this workshop is the use of a single veil in the mysterious and elegant art form of belly dance. We will learn tips, tricks, and techniques as well as a short choreography to pull it all together. Working with a veil will not only strengthen and tone your arms but will also elevate the level of grace and fluidity in your dance. All skill levels are welcome. Veils will be provided, but you may bring your own if you wish.

For more information, check out the BlossOMing Yoga website.

The Great Nashville Flood of 2010

Jason Kirk — Mon, 03 May 2010 17:26:05 +0000

We had no idea when we left for Dalton, Ga., on Saturday morning what would be in store for us when we returned home the next day. First we dropped our dogs off at A Bark Above in Inglewood at about 10:30am; at that point it was already raining pretty steadily, but not so bad that we couldn’t begin our trip down the road. The rain actually intensified as we drove along past Franklin and toward Murfreesboro, but once we got about 45 miles down I-24 the storm stopped abruptly. We filed it away in memory and got about the business of enjoying our trip to Dalton.

That evening, though, we began to get messages from friends about the flooding in Nashville. When we got up in the morning we learned that the interstates had been closed at various points and that the forecast was calling for more rain throughout the day. After considering our options we decided to try to make it home, with the option of staying in a hotel for the evening if we weren’t able to get back to the house. We stopped in Chattanooga to gas up and eat some lunch, and the messages from home were that things were actually getting worse. The whole thing felt like a surreal joke, especially since the drive was rainless and generally uneventful until we were 45 miles outside of the city. At that point we could see dark skies ahead and the wind picked up. The rain began coming down when we passed Murfreesboro. Within a few miles of the first drops we had to slow down to 40 miles per hour on the Interstate, and once we reached Hickory Hollow Parkway the rain was so heavy that we had to take the exit and stop in a hotel parking lot to see if we could wait out the rain.

While there we were able to get online and check out the TDOT SmartWay site. All the major highways were colored in blue to indicate that they were flooded, but some of the side roads appeared to be open so we planned out a route to make it home. We got about a mile down Hickory Hollow before we reached Mill Creek and saw signs of pretty bad damage to the land and local homes and businesses. A Metro police officer had the area blocked off; we asked him if there were any routes open to help us get back to East Nashville and he suggested that we take Bell Road, which he had heard was open and passable by that point. We took his advice, though not without some trepidation; on Saturday one person died there when his vehicle was caught in flood waters.

Antioch Middle School's football field early Sunday afternoon

Even a few inches of water can be too much to drive through in these conditions.

After driving past underwater football fields and several other roads blocked off by Metro police, we managed to make our way to Nolensville Pike. The road was not only open, but full of people shopping and going to fast food restaurants. Frighteningly enough, most folks were still driving like they would in normal conditions, even though heavy streams of water took up half the right lane in many spots and snapped utility poles and blacked-out stoplights gave plenty of indication that conditions were anything but normal. Eventually we made it back to an open stretch of I-40, which led us back to the Shelby Avenue exit and then the safety of home. We picked the dogs up and saw some streams above their normal capacity up in Inglewood, but there was nothing like what we saw on the way back home.

This normally placid creek near Maplewood High School flooded on Sunday.

Last night at 9pm the local media were still going strong with their coverage of the flood. We looked for any sign that the national news media was paying any attention to our city’s plight, but the signals were far from encouraging. CNN was talking about Ford Motor Company’s profits and a car bomb in Times Square. Headline News featured Nancy Grace taking calls from people who had an opinion about Sandra Bullock adopting as a single mother. FOX News had Geraldo Rivera talking about the new immigration law in Arizona. MSNBC featured a documentary about a high school girl who was murdered several years ago. ABC News Now was talking to a priest about South Park and Islam.

Only the Weather Channel had an inkling of what was going on here – and even then the images and information coming out of Nashville were relegated to a split-screen with “V2: Target Tornado,” the regularly scheduled programming. A wastewater treatment plant was submerged, there were more than 600 water rescues in a single day in our landlocked state, people were swept away in their cars and died, and all the situation merited on a channel dedicated to weather was a sidebar with an info ticker showing brief headlines about the state government operating under an effective state of emergency. It seemed at the time like the only thing that could get anyone to pay real attention to Nashville would be for Pat Robertson to say that this historic flood was the result of a deal that Andrew Jackson made with the Devil, pissing off people around the country and raising enough awareness about the situation in Nashville that we could start getting some assistance.

Today the word is getting out a bit more, but in general, Americans still know more about Sandra Bullock’s adoption than they do about Music City drowning. It’ll probably stay that way for at least another day or two. So while we wait to see the extent of the damage once the waters recede later in the week and figure out what we’ll have to do to help one another recover, please, be safe out there. Don’t drive through town any more than is absolutely necessary, and if you do decide to get out and drive, please, don’t try to be a hero and cross any flooded streets. Conserve water at home so the people who need it most will have it. And when it’s time to start picking up the pieces, do what you can to help your neighbors. Whether it’s time, money or physical labor, donate what you can – it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to count on much help from the outside anytime soon.

You can check up with Nashvillest’s open thread for the latest info, and you can go here to volunteer with Hands On Nashville, the mayor’s office for emergency volunteer services. And if you know anyone outside the area, spread the word about what’s going on down here.

You Say Tomato, We Say Fun: Tomato Art Festival Recap

Jason Kirk — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:57:18 +0000

Historic East End, home of the Tomato Arts Festival

Folks from all over Nashville flocked to East End on Saturday for the Tomato Art Festival, one of the biggest parties of the year on this side of the Cumberland. That’s no surprise given that it’s been voted Best Festival in the Nashville Scene Readers’ Poll two years running. After a pre-festival gathering with some local artist friends, we walked down to Five Points to take in all things Tomato.

We caught some of Tommy Keenum's crooning when we arrived.

Music played on three separate stages scattered around the Five Points area for most of the day. The August sun was brutal on one of the hottest days of the year to date, so we give credit to all the performers who put in their time providing free entertainment for the thousands of people in attendance. Last year an estimated 12,000 people showed up, and it wouldn’t surprise us at all to find out that this year’s number was even larger.

The festival is billed as “costume friendly,” and there was plenty of evidence to support it. From adults decked out in red costumes to kids (and dogs!) with their hair dyed red, yellow, and green, enthusiasm for the day’s theme was on prominent display.

Did we mention that Saturday was hot? Luckily there were plenty of chances to cool down, from the local Five Points businesses who threw open their air-conditioned interiors to the public, to the vendors selling refreshments, to the fine folks at Love Thy Pet who provided a pool for everyone’s dogs to find some relief.

'Dog Days' indeed.

And what would an arts festival be without some art? All the local galleries invited the public to come in and sample some of the local fare, including Art & Invention Gallery and its Tomato Art Show. There was also a silent auction of pieces out at the Art Institute‘s booth, which featured the piece below.

She may hate tomatoes, but Nashville loves them.

We thoroughly enjoyed our two hours at the festival, and the rest of the crowd seemed to be having a great time, too. Like some friends that we ran into in a shady spot as we headed out, though, we wondered why the festival has to be scheduled for the hottest time of the year. Is it to make sure that we stay as red as the tomatoes for the next week or so? There are already so many ways the festival will stay with us – we could probably do without this one.

East Nashville Farmers Market Wednesday

Jason Kirk — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:50:38 +0000

Every Wednesday - East Nashville Farmers Market

It’s Wednesday, so we headed over to the East Nashville Farmers Market to shop and take in the sights on this beautiful, hot afternoon.

The Howling Brothers provide musical goodness.

While browsing, we took a moment to sit on the haybales and listen to the Howling Brothers play a little old-fashioned southern folk music.

Tangy salsa!

We got free samples of a nice, tangy salsa from Gracias Salsa – a new addition this week. Cheila Eagan, whose husband makes the stuff, told us that they use the salsa for everything from a dip to a marinade at their house.

A crowd at the Delvin Farms booth.

The Delvin Farms booth was hopping as usual, with people picking up their CSA shares as well as browsing the popular farm’s offerings.

We liked their pork chops so much that we came back!

This week we opted for ground lamb from Peaceful Pastures instead of their pork chops, which we’ve already determined are delicious. We also got a full bag of the sugar snap peas from Foggy Hollow Farm in Joelton that we sampled last week, which we’ll probably use in this week’s Market to Table.

The Farmers Market closes at 6:30 today, so you’ve still got time to get over to 210 S. 10th Street and get some fresh food – if you hurry!

Wrangle Up a Catfish Tomorrow at Shelby Bottoms Park

Jason Kirk — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 01:00:11 +0000

If you’re feeling frisky tomorrow, grab the kids and head down to Shelby Bottoms Park for the Seventh Annual Catfish Rodeo and Water Festival. According to the hosts, the free Catfish Rodeo is:

…all about our connecting children to our local waters. The Cumberland River Compact and Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency partner each June to offer Middle Tennessee youth the opportunity to fish for free. No experience necessary! The day involves 2,000 pounds of catfish stocked in Lake Sevier, an exciting flight of fishing, educational booths and activities for children and parents. Our educational booths at Shelby Bottoms Nature Center involve fishing, scavenger hunts, boating and water education activities that all ages can enjoy.

The actual Catfish Rodeo starts at 8:30 a.m. and is open to the first 600 registered juniors aged 5-16. That puts us a bit out of the eligible range here at EastNashvilleBlog.com, but do let us know if one of your kids happens to win this thing so we can tell everyone!