Nashville off Radar Show

Thanks first of all to Tom O et. al. for entry into the Sunday night Nash show–for which there were no tickets sold. Good to see Vmorris, Lafayette, and others. This time last year, a similar event to cap the Americana conference was held at 3rd & Lindsley–in my book a far superior venue to last Sunday’s, the fourth in a national franchise of City Wineries. The fact that the “general public” was in attendance last year picked up the level, as opposed to the laminate-sporting dregs of the Americana convention registrants who hung around the whole weekend and stayed seated in the middle of the room Sunday–possibly because most were too burnt-out to care. The crowd constitution/energy, the sound system, and the amenities were mediocre at best Sunday. But still. . .

1 Blessed
2 Can’t Let Go
3 Pineola
4 Drunken A
5 It’s Hard to Take This Old Heartache
6 World Without T
7 Compassion
8 Lake Charles
9 Cold Day in Hell
10 Little Angel Little Brother [with Amos Lee]
11 Are You Down
12 Burning Bridges
13 Everything but the Truth
14 Protection
15 Changed the Locks
16 Something Wicked…
17 Unsuffer Me
18 Essence
19 Joy
20 Honeybee
________________________
21 Magnolia
22 Get Right with God [with Amos Lee & Elizabeth Cook]

Here is my wish list for the City Winery venue for November, when I return for Lu X 3:

1. If I ask an employee in person 3 days before the show what are the door times and opening set time, give me correct info.
2. If I have to call the 615 Nash area code number listed on the CW website day of show to confirm the same info, don’t have the phone on call forwarding to NYC and have my Nash-specific question bungled by a CW employee speaking live from the Manhattan branch.
3. Allow me to pay for drinks with a credit card.
4. Have more than two beer brands and two wine choices constituting the full menu.
5. Serve some food, or failing that, allow us to bring food on the premises from outside (banned Sunday).
6. If I choose to charge my phone during the show, perhaps the first or second outlet I come to on the wall might be operative.
7. If I visit the men’s room, perhaps the smell of paint and the splinter-granting unvarnished grain of the entry doors could be eliminated.
8. Perhaps consider revising the policy of valet park costing three dollars LESS than self-park.
9. If all the valets must leave immediately after the show, put the leftover keys in a prominent place or with a prominently identified employee (Sunday, no less a personage than AMOS LEE HIMSELF had to tell me who had the remaining keys as he exited the premises while I was walking in circles).

But other than that, good launch CW people! And no, I don’t own stock in 3rd & Lindsley, the Ryman, or anywhere else. Perhaps this will become the “exciting new venue” Lu predicted upon her walk-on. As a certain Aussie singer-songwriter might say, “it’s not there yet.”