Crazy Town

Hey Folks,

To quote Wikipedia, “Music Row is an area just to the southwest of downtown Nashville.  It’s home to hundreds of businesses related to the country music, gospel music and contemporary Christian music industries. Centered around 16th and 17th Avenues South (called Music Square East and Music Square West), Music Row is widely considered the heart of Nashville's entertainment industry. In this area, one will find the offices of numerous record labels, publishing houses and recording studios...”

Some of the superstars you hear on the radio today as well as the session musicians you hear backing up the Brad Paisleys and Carrie Underwoods of the billion dollar music industry walked Music Row with high hopes and made it big.  Most though never found their fortunes through the front doors of those offices on 16^th and 17^th Avenues.  Well, guess what folks, I walked The Row too.  It took me about two days but all I found were a couple of leaking meters and what I thought was a leak underground but was just a stinky storm water drain.  Now, if I had learned to play the guitar or was born with a good singing voice then maybe things would have worked out differently.  My point here is, I felt a kinship walking those same sidewalks with those seeking their fortune and fame.  I hope they find what they were looking for.  Hey, who knows, the 20 something kid who looked at me strangely when he saw me climbing out of the bushes at Sony Music (to get at the meter) just may end up on the main stage at the Opry one day.  Oh, and Sony, trim the bushes around your place will ya – it took me forever to find that thing.

The capital building.

My overall impression of Nashville isn’t that of the trendy “Music City” persona the visitors bureau describes or the “Hollywood with a twang” that Jason Aldean conveys in his song “Crazy Town”.  There’s a good mix of southern hospitality and class but for the most part, to me, it’s an edgy and gritty working town.  You can tell they were riding the wave for a long time but now with MP-3’s and free downloads the gold has lost a little bit of it’s lustre.  The parking lots on Music Row still contain high end sports cars they’re just a couple of years old and need a good wash.

Don’t get me wrong though.  It is a cool place and on Saturday we went downtown again and toured the area some more.  Culture was on the agenda this trip so we made a beeline for the Tennessee State Museum.  Okay, maybe not a beeline.  We first stopped at the funkiest donut shop this side of Woodstock.  I mean come on, culture is important but this was DONUTS! 

“Peace, Love and Little Donuts” is stuck in a little hole in the wall a block or two from the bus station so if you’re ever in Nashville don’t miss it.  May I suggest the double chocolate.  Margo went for the maple.

We finally made it to the museum after strolling around downtown for a bit.  We were thinking art exhibits.  I was pleased with the admission price of free ‘cause if I was going to have to suffer through a bunch of art it better at least be free. That isn’t the case though.  It’s more a museum of natural history.  The exhibits run from samples of a mastodon found in the state to prehistoric pottery all the way up to pioneer history (think Davy Crockett), the Civil War and World War II.  We barely saw a third of it so I’ll save that for another post.  We plan to go back next Saturday and yeah, maybe I’ll warm up to some art.  Till then, take care and have yourself a donut – it’s cultural.