Nashville News Blog

Courtesy of Johnston & Murphy

​Here's some news to make you proud (or nauseated, depending on your political views) of your Music City roots. Johnston & Murphy shoe company, a division of Nashville-based Genesco Inc., has designed some shoes especially for President Obama. According to the company's press release, J&M has "designed a truly unique pair of shoes to complement the president's sharp and sophisticated fashion sense."

As for the fashion-challenged staff of Pith, who are typically clad in New Balance sneakers, jeans and T-shirts, all we can say is, "They look pretty cool, as far as dress shoes go." In other words, if we had to go to a wedding or something, and thus were forced to dress up, we could live with this shoe option. It's sleek, tapered, elegant ... classy yet sassy.

A bucolic scene you're not likely to see anytime soon. Sorry.

​Perhaps it's only obvious to us transplanted Northerners, but there is a unique phenomenon here known as "false blizzard alarm letdown" (or if you prefer its medical name, post-meteorological-hyperbole syndrome). It appears our previously predicted two to six inches of snow will now more likely be "only about one inch of snow"--or what us Yankees call "a light spring dusting." Sorry kids, put those sleds away. But hey, you at least got the day off from school!

​Mayor Karl Dean unveiled a new consultant's study yesterday suggesting that the Music City Center would add $135 million annually to the local economy. The study was conducted by HVS Consulting, who did a similar study for a convention center in Overland Park, Kan. In that study, for the four-year period from 2005 though 2008, HVS' hotel room occupancy projections were only off by, uh, 37 percent. Figuring a similar margin of error for our project, you can assume that $135 million figure is right, give or (more likely) take $50 million.

If you're on a plane and seated next to this man, be afraid--but only if you're an incompetent thespian.

​On his blog, Sports Media America, Scene theater critic Martin Brady shares a recent travel experience in which he misses his flight to visit his family because...well, he's turned up on the FBI Watch List.

He muses about the possible reasons: Did they confuse him with an Irish terrorist of the same name? Is it because he always pays his taxes late? Too much porn surfing?

One possibility he failed to consider: Perhaps his association with us radical socialist ne'er-do-wells at the Scene flagged him for suspicion.

Martin's ultimate conclusion?

If only my name had been Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Then I might've skated.

As for us, we're not sure which is more bizarre--that Martin Brady is on the FBI Watch List, or that the Scene theater critic has a sports blog.

​Britt Savage is at it again.

You may remember reading about Savage last April, when she made an entire dress out of IRS tax forms. "I mostly used the beautifully pink Child and Dependent Care 1040A forms plus some paler pink Individual tax forms," she says on her website. Savage, a singer-songwriter who fronts the band Britt Savage & Twang Deluxe, wore that dress at one of her "Mod Night" showcases, then auctioned it off on eBay for $306. It was bought by "a tax prep dude from MA," she writes in an email. The dress became such an Internet sensation that it will be included in the upcoming edition of Ripley's Believe It or Not!

In keeping with her seasonal theme, Savage has now made a dress entirely out of Christmas gift wrapping--the top is woven wrapping paper, the skirt is shredded ribbons. She wore the dress last night for her set at The Billy Block Show at 12th & Porter, and is now auctioning it off on eBay.

As with her last auction, all proceeds are going to her favorite charity, Heifer International, an organization fighting hunger in 57 countries including the U.S. If someone you know is a size 6, it's the perfect gift...and it's already wrapped! But hurry, because the auction ends at 11:38 a.m. tomorrow.

Apparently Nashville has become the epicenter of the casting universe. On Saturday, Dec. 12, the same day that the makers of Love Don't Let Me Down will be auditioning extras at the Musicians Hall of Fame, those rascally Coen Brothers (or at the very least their casting director) will be in town looking for a girl to play the role of 14-year-old Mattie in their upcoming remake of the classic True Grit, scheduled to begin shooting in the spring.

Mattie is the lead role, and the Coens have made it clear they'd love to find someone completely unknown, so it's conceivable that some unknown Middle Tennessee teen could wind up a huge star before long.

The details are all in the Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle story linked above, but here are the basics: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12, at the downtown Nashville Sheraton. Open to 12- to 16-year old Caucasian girls, all looks considered. Bring a photo you can leave there, and bring only one parent/guardian.

Yet another creditor has lined up for a piece of Steve McNair's $19.6 million estate. This time it's Greenbrier, Tenn., artist Patricia Thompson, whom McNair allegedly commissioned to do three portraits: one of McNair, one of his family, and one of his manager, Bus Cook. ...Michael David Barrett, the man accused of secretly filming ESPN reporter Erin Andrews in hotels in Nashville and elsewhere, is expected to plead guilty in Los Angeles next week. With a likely jail sentence of at least a couple of years, he should get ample opportunity to learn what it's like to have no privacy. ...

Councilman Mike Jameson writes an email to his fellow Metro Council members warning them not to be fooled by what he considers to be manipulative tactics used by Cooley Public Strategies, the PR firm hired by the Music City Center Coalition to sway public support in favor of the project. "Tactics which seek to manipulate polling data or to create artificial appearances of public support have no place in this discussion," Jameson says. ...The Metro Parks and Recreation Department has named an interim director. On Jan. 1, longtime department employee Tommy Lynch will take over the position from embattled director Roy Wilson. ...

Titans quarterback Vince Young can't finish practice after aggravating a knee injury sustained in Sunday's game against the Colts. Coach Jeff Fisher is downplaying the severity of the injury, and seems to think Nashville's football messiah will be ready to go on Sunday. ...Where in Nashville would you expect the 23-year-old bassist of one of the biggest rock bands in the world to buy a home? An ornate East Nashville manse? Germantown? A trendy downtown penthouse? A rustic Leipers Fork getaway? Nope, Kings of Leon's Jared Followill has settled in Green Hills. (Hey, cut the guy a break--Jack White's Oak Hill address ain't much hipper.) ...

Dickerson Road adult bookstore Pleasure Palace has its license pulled after one of its patrons is caught pulling something else. ...And finally, a feel-good story of a more wholesome variety: An anonymous donor throws a gold coin worth $1,100 into a Salvation Army kettle outside a Clarksville Kroger.

Several Metro Council members ask the $14 million question: Does the Music City Center financing plan propose robbing Peter to pay Paul? ... Meanwhile, with no convention center hotel currently in the cards, Tower Investments moves ahead with its own development plans on the MCC team's preferred hotel site. ...

The "Wooded Rapist" is now the incarcerated rapist, after receiving a 10-year sentence. ... The parents of a kidnapped infant are suing to find out why police thought they were trying to sell their baby, then took their other children into custody. ... Yet another bank is robbed, this time a SunTrust on Dickerson Pike. ...

It's not bad enough LenDale "Smash" White, once a huge part of the Titans offense, has to spend most of his time on the bench while teammate Chris "Dash" Johnson makes a run for the record books--now Carolina Panthers fans have gone and stolen his "Smash and Dash" brand. ... Is the University of Tennessee football team, currently under investigation for alleged recruitment violations, in for a host(ess) of headaches? ...

State workers to the city: Turn that &%$*ing Christmas music down, for Christ's sake! ... So you want to be in the movies? Head down to the Musician's Hall of Fame this Saturday. ...

The new convention center financing plan is finally revealed, sans hotel. Goldman Sachs says it's kosher, so there's nothing to worry about, right?... Former Lakewood city court clerk "borrowed" over $11,000 from traffic citation revenue, and apparently forgot to pay it back.... Three teens are indicted for the botched drive-by shooting that killed an innocent 16-year-old girl....

The Nashville Symphony gets another Grammy nomination, its eighth since joining forces with the Franklin-based Naxos label in 2000.... Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America plans to close a Minnesota prison due to a crash in the Minnesota inmate market.... Michael David Barrett, who allegedly videotaped ESPN reporter Erin Andrews through a peephole in a Nashville hotel, may have stalked and videotaped Andrews in other locations....

An MTSU nursing professor resigns after being convicted and sentenced on four federal felony counts of bank and wire fraud.... A former Gallatin oilman has been indicted in connection with a multimillion-dollar mail fraud case and an extravagant Sweet 16 party for his daughter that was aired on MTV and tipped off the ripped-off investors about his whereabouts.... Could this be the beginning of a bank-robbing spree?...

And finally, country singer Martina McBride now owns the controversial Peyton Manning jersey once donned by Jeff Fisher at charity event. Now that the Titans have won five straight games since the stunt, maybe the bozos who made such a big deal about Fisher's alleged faux pas (which in reality was a good-humored homage to the event's keynote speaker, former Colts head coach Tony Dungy) will shut up....

​Nashville writer, filmmaker and activist Molly Secours--a subject of many a Pith post for both her insights into health care as a recent cancer survivor, and her struggles to keep her home out of foreclosure--has been picked up as a regular contibutor to Huffington Post.

Secours will be contributing one or two stories a week to the left-leaning news and opinion website, and she couldn't be happier. "I feel kind of geeky how excited I am about it," she says.

Last night Secours posted her first HuffPo story, about her recent trip to Washington. She first discussed the experience on her Red Room blog, which spurred quite a bit of debate here on Pith.

The organization Secular Life has been making waves over the last couple of weeks with its Green Hills billboard advertisement featuring the following: "Not Religious? You're not alone." The brainchild of Nashvillian Thaddeus Schwartz, the group seeks to provide community for folks who are nonreligious. Secular Life's credo can be summed up in this one sentence from its website: "We embrace a life free of superstition and full of inquiry." Inquiry? (Gasp!) No superstition? (Gadzooks!)

The above YouTube video, posted last Thursday, features sample voicemail messages from angry Nashvillians. As the video makes hilariously clear, some folks don't take kindly to free thinkers here in the buckle of the Bible Belt. Among the highlights:

​You may remember the tale of Nashvillian Molly Secours, a filmmaker, writer and activist who wound up in the crosshairs of the two biggest issues of the last year--health care reform and the foreclosure fiasco--when she found herself simultaneously battling uterine cancer and fighting to refinance her house so she wouldn't lose it to the bank.

In July, Secours headed to Washington to join Nancy Pelosi at a Capitol Hill press conference that was broadcast on CNN. This week, she headed back to our nation's capital to have a breakfast meeting with our representatives. In film review parlance, we don't want to dish out any spoilers here, so we'll let you guess: Who of the following brushed her off, and who listened thoughtfully and respectfully?

1. Sen. Bob Corker
2. Sen. Lamar Alexander
3. Congressman Jim Cooper

The answers--along with a blow-by-blow account of what is known on Capitol Hill as "Tennessee Tuesday"--can be found here.

The KKK comment was hyperbole for the sake of humor, cowboykiller. We're pretty sure none of our local GOPers ever burned a cross or lynched anyone. Well kinda sure.

​Here at Pith we tend to find a lot to complain about, from nursing home abuse to political chicanery to gun-happy legislators to those crazy birthers. But the truth is, we love it here in Nashville! We just find it much more urgent to raise awareness of criminal activity, ignorance and malfeasance than to chatter on about our lovely breakfast, terrific neighbors, fabulous co-workers or beautiful greenways. As they say, no news is good news, so conversely, we can deduce that good news is no news, at least for the most part.

Which is why we gasped in horror late last week when we noticed a couple of Pith comments by cowboykiller999 touting his brand new blog nashvillesuxx.blogspot.com, which features the header, "NASHVILLE, WTF!!!"

To wit:

Nashville sucks, let's admit it. From the country music wanna-be's and the KKK inspired politicians all the way to the fucking restaurants and bars, I cringe when I wake up each morning.

I've had a condo here for about 5 years now, but I think of it more like a jail sentence; in the sense that living here has made me appreciate the outside world and the fact that turning on the radio in this God-forsaken hell hole is like getting raped in the ear.

Anyway, this blog is for everyone like me, anyone who's been to Nashville and seen the shit-storm they call a city and for the people who have been dragged here for one reason or another (assuming you're not stupid enough to want to move here).

Cowboykiller, we sure hope for your sake you don't meet Trace Adkins in a dark alley.

​Oh dear Lord, what have started? Please forgive us!

The obvious question, of course, is, this: If cowboykiller hates Nashville so much, why does he live here? Or is it that Nashville provides the perfect setting in which to indulge his misanthropic nature?

To his credit, at least this nattering nabob of Nashville negativism provides you the opportunity to defend our fair city (or to share your own Nashville horror stories). Contact him at cowboykiller999@gmail.com, and he'll post your thoughts on his blog. Tell him Pith sent ya.

P.J. "Crockett" Tobia, as we remember him

​The Scene's bustling newsroom hasn't been the same since investigative reporter P.J. Tobia, the Sonny Crockett of news journalism, bid us adieu to become an embedded reporter in Afghanistan. Tobia's experiences there have led to several high-profile stories in The Washington Post, The Philadephia Inquirer and, most prestigious of all, The Nashville Scene.

So who should pop up on Gawker this afternoon but our beloved Peter John Tobia, regarding a piece he wrote for True/Slant about a story on the Stars and Stripes site concerning the Rendon Group, a company that compiles background profiles on reporters who apply for embeds with the U.S. military.

After managing to get a hold of his own Rendon report, Tobia found that the company had been closely monitoring and assessing his writings the way a psychotic jilted-lover stalks his/her ex:

I do think the reports are creepy though. These guys have read almost everything I've written in the last few years, even interviews I've given to local news blogs. Reading this report is like perusing the diary of your stalker. Rendon also classifies certain publication as "left leaning" which I find odd.

Most troubling by far is that when S&S asked the military about Rendon, they denied the existence of these reports. I'm holding one of these reports in my hand right now, trust me, it exists. I've also met people who work for The Rendon Group in Kabul. In conversations, they deny that there is any nefarious objective to what they do. "We just help the military figure out what embed is right for a particular reporter," one Rendon employee told me over drinks. "If a reporter is classified as 'negative' they are less likely to go where the action is and more likely to be covering a platoon that guards sandbags in Herat."

We particularly found their concern about his work for a left-leaning publication entertaining, since here at the Scene offices, where pinkos like Woods, Ridley, Hargrove and myself ride roughshod through the halls, Tobia was considered just a smidge to the left of Rush Limbaugh. Which, of course, only made us love him more.

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The History Channel series Gangland featured an episode on street gangs in Nashville, titled "Hunt and Kill," which aired several times throughout the month of August. The show's hyperbolic tone at times made it sound like the streets of Nashville were a war zone comparable to South Central. Regardless of the exaggeration, there were enough specific details about gang activities here to remind us that Nashville isn't the quaint and cozy town pictured on postcards hawked in the tourist traps on Second Avenue.

In addition to an examination of the Brown Pride, Sureños and MS-13 street gangs (including an in-depth look at the 2006 murder of two Brown Pride members by MS-13 members on Nolensville Road), the show featured the following segment, which caught my ear in light of recent gun legislation:

NARRATOR: BP members love to pack heat, from handguns to semiautomatics.

JAMES CAVANAUGH, SPECIAL AGENT-IN-CHARGE, ATF: To be a gang, to be the bully of the block, to be the strong man, to control the neighborhood, there's no way that a gang's gonna do that without a boatload of guns.

NARRATOR: Tennessee has some of the loosest gun laws of any state. No permits or licenses are required to purchase a shotgun, a rifle or a handgun.

BROWN PRIDE MEMBER SPOOK: You just wanna buy a gun, just have a gun with you, you can get it anywhere.

BROWN PRIDE MEMBER GORDO: You can get 'em from a gun show. You don't even gotta show 'em no permit or nothing. Say I can just come up to you and be like, "hey, you wanna buy this? Here. You give me the money, that's it."

Yet another shining endorsement of Tennessee's gun laws! Way to go state legislature!

In a deal that Village Voice Media executive associate editor Andy Van De Voorde called "the world's worst-kept secret," the Nashville Scene is being purchased by SouthComm Publishing.

An announcement this morning in the newsrooms at both the Scene and the Nashville City Paper made it official: SouthComm, which owns the City Paper and a portfolio of local and regional publications, will purchase the Scene and sister publication Nfocus from Village Voice Media. The change in ownership will be complete Friday.

In the City Paper's announcement this morning, SouthComm CEO and former Scene publisher Chris Ferrell explained the motivation for the purchase:

Few people read the whole daily paper; they read sections that appeal to them. We essentially are unbundling the daily," he added. "The City Paper is our brand for news and sports, the Nashville Post and BusinessTN are our business news brands and the Scene gives us the strongest brand in the market for coverage of arts and culture. With this acquisition, we've built out our Nashville model. Over time, we will look to replicate our work here in other cities.

The terms of the sale have not been disclosed, but a source familiar with the deal's finances said that a sale price of $4 million had been mentioned early in negotiations.

Rumors about such a deal began swirling through the Scene offices a couple of months ago, then more rumors surfaced that the deal was off. A couple of weeks ago, the grapevine chatter indicated that the deal was in fact a likelihood.

Needless to say, there's been a bit of apprehension in both newsrooms as folks speculate on their job security. In fact, even though pretty much everyone here knew the news was coming, we've been a bit overwhelmed with a variety of emotions here at Pith. Stay tuned....

​No stranger to the pages of Pith, Liberadio(!) has been informing, entertaining and infuriating Nashville listening audiences for five years now. Each Monday morning from 7 to 9 a.m. on WRVU-91.1 FM, co-hosts Mary Mancini and Freddie O'Connell offer an alternative perspective to the glut of right-wing talk radio shows clogging up the airwaves.

McConnell has left his job as an Internet strategist at SouthComm (publisher of The City Paper, Music Row magazine, nashvillepost.com and several other print and online publications) and started SearchViz, an inbound marketing agency specializing in search engine optimization, Internet marketing, Web design and Web services integration.

After the jump, O'Connell's press release--which we noticed fails to mention the Liberadio(!) connection. (No point in potentially alienating clients, we suppose....)

​

​I have to confess that when I first noticed YES WE CAN Discount Tobacco & Beer as I drove down Gallatin Road yesterday, I winced. How cynical, I thought: appropriating the slogan of the 44th president of the United States of America to hawk nicotine and alcohol. I asked the proprietor, who was deeply engrossed in a cell phone conversation, if in fact the store was so named in honor of President Obama, and he confirmed my assumption before returning to his call.

​But the more I thought about it, the more it made perfect sense. After all, we know about Barack's much-publicized cigarette smoking. Then there's his fondness for beer, as evidenced by a photo of him quaffing a cold one at a Bulls-Wizards basketball game, not to mention that snoozefest of a beer summit a couple weeks back.

So instead of a marketplace of vice, YES WE CAN is really a monument to those human weaknesses that make Barack Obama more, well, human. One of us. And in these challenging economic times, who wants to pay full price to indulge their self-destructive behaviors? To put it in the current political vernacular, think of YES WE CAN as the "Cash for Drunkers" program. Or maybe the Obama Stimulants (and Depressants) Package.

So I walk into the office this morning (11:45 is still technically morning, right?), only to be greeted by several co-workers milling about excitedly. "What the hell's going on?" I shout, to which co-worker Patrick Rodgers responds, "the Siegels are here!" Now we've got three or four Jewish employees here, present company included, so I figured someone's relatives were in from out of town. "Who are the Siegels?" I ask. "No..SEAGULLS!" Patrick fires back. And sure enough, there are live seagulls in the building, one of which soon goes AWOL and flies into my office. Apparently, Captain D's is filming a commercial here today.

Shortly thereafter, Boss Kotz emails the editorial department to apologize for the commotion, and to let us know we can work from home today if we like. To which managing editor Jim Ridley fires back, "What, are you kidding? And miss the possibility of free Captain D's?"

Just another day at the Pith in the Wind offices.

Frank Dileo on Larry King Live, part 1

At the time of his death, Michael Jackson was being managed by Frank Dileo, a storied music industry veteran who moved to Nashville several years ago and was the subject of a November 2007 Scene cover story. In addition to his prolific music biz career, Dileo played the roles of Tuddy Cicero in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas and Mr. Big in the Wayne's World movies. You can read more about Dileo, and a statement he released the day after Jackson's death, here.

Outside of a couple of very brief appearances, Dileo has been keeping a low profile since Jackson's death. But last night on Larry King Live, Dileo talked at length about having to tell the family members about Jackson's death, conflicts between family and management, allegations of Jackson's drug use and his friendship with the King of Pop.

Part 2, below:

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For some reason, ever since this blog began several years ago, I've been hounded by speculation that the "Pith Man" featured on our logo banner is in fact me. As the above photo makes perfectly clear, I bear absolutely no resemblance to said character. I hope we can now put this nonsense to rest once and for all. Now back to our regular programming....

Speaking of Jim Cooper being in the hot seat, Molly Secours is none too happy with the congressman. Secours, you may recall, barely avoided complete financial ruin during a recent bout with cancer, and was featured in the above press conference with Nancy Pelosi a couple of weeks ago.

Secours sent Pith a copy of a letter she sent to Cooper on Friday:

Dear Representative Cooper:

Last week I was invited to tell my story at a press conference with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about health care reform. I told them how devastating it is to fight a disease like cancer and how struggling with the debt as a result of inadequate health care adds to the indignities. I also shared avoiding foreclosure shouldn't take an act of Congress and how without your help, I may have lost my house.

After having spoken with numerous health care advocates in Washington and those who are dedicated to health care reform and fighting for real changes--many of whom have signed the letter below--I'm very disappointed in the actions of the Blue Dog Democrats. As you and I both know, if a public option is not included in this bill, millions will face physical and financial devastation. We hear conflicting reasons in the press every day as to the 'real reasons' Blue Dog Democrats are fighting against a public option and it saddens me. For that reason, I along with hundreds of thousands--maybe millions of others--must add my name to the list below.

Please Congressman Cooper, you have the power and the wherewithal to influence this decision and reform health care in America. It is a sad day when there is the political will to fund wars but not enough money so that all Americans might live with adequate health care. I am asking that you listen to your constituents and use your influence for the benefit of millions and for future generations to come. You will be rewarded and remembered.

With sincere gratitude,

Molly Secours

"The letter below" to which Molly refers was written by Reps. Lynn Woolsey (D-California) and Raul Grijalva (D-Arizona) and signed by dozens of other congresspeople. You can read it after the jump...

This will be remembered as the week the Obama Birther movement gained critical mass.

In the 2008 presidential election, Sarah Palin was like manna from heaven for Democrats, bringing the lunatic fringe of the Republican Party front and center and exposing the hate, intolerance and old-fashioned stupidity that has permeated the GOP for the last couple of decades. So it was with a bit of remorse that I learned of Palin's retreat (at least temporarily) from the political arena. Where are we going to turn for our right-wing nutjob entertainment pleasure?

Thank you to all who applied, but the position has been filled: The Obama Birther phenomenon has evolved far beyond our wildest expectations, morphing from extreme-fringe chatter to a bona fide movement, inspiring ridiculous legislation and drawing support from imbecilic blowhards Rush Limbaugh and Lou Dobbs. Make no mistake folks: These Birthers are off-the-charts, cuckoo-for-Cocoa-Puffs, batshit crazy. And the best part? They're gaining steam.

That's right: As reported by liberal bastard media empire The New York Times, the Birther movement is growing. And in the last two days alone, it's caught the attention of Gawker, The Atlantic, Salon and The Los Angeles Times, to name a few.

From Eric Etheridge's New York Times piece:

"Slowly but surely, this meme is going mainstream," says [Allahpundit].

"Did Lou Dobbs really GO THERE? Seriously? This is getting absurd," says the First Read team at MSNBC.

Six months into his presidency, the charge that Barack Obama is -- literally -- un-American is gaining not losing steam. Yes, the Birther bump is growing....

Whether the idea has been debunked or or not is not something that seems to impact the birther movement. In fact, as Dave Weigel points out, "the 'birther' movement began in response to Obama's own efforts to debunk rumors."...

Weigel, whose Washington Independent article provides a detailed history of the movement, says "the cottage industry of conspiracy theories about the president's birth shows no signs of disappearing," even despite suffering "scores of embarrassing legal defeats, and even after tussles between the attorneys who've turned frivolous lawsuits about the president's citizenship into full-time jobs."...

Sit back and enjoy the ride. I know I will.

The first page of Sarah Palin's resignation speech after the Vanity Fair editors had their way with it. See the whole thing here.

For Sarah Palin, going rogue is nothing new--the woman who put the "ick" in maverick gave her Republican handlers fits as she'd start free-styling off the top of her head, off point and usually off-kilter.

Now that she's no longer a vice presidential candidate nor a governor, there are no more high-paid speechwriters or nervous chaperones--thus there's no more rogue for her to go. She's just Sarah being Sarah.

The editors at Vanity Fair decided to take a red (and blue, and green) pen to Palin's resignation speech, in an attempt to "whip it into publishable shape." Executive literary editor Wayne Lawson wielded the red pen, the research department green, the copy editors blue. The result? Something akin to one of my blog posts before and after managing editor Jim Ridley has translated it into the King's English.

Hear's hoping thay dont deside to take a redd pen to my werk.

As Pith noted earlier, Nashvillian Molly Secours was scheduled to join Rep. Nancy Pelosi today at a press conference on Capitol Hill to discuss her experiences with the American health care system, and doggone it if Michael Jackson tribute station CNN didn't manage to shoehorn a little news coverage into their broadcast!

In her introduction, Pelosi says, "For the American people, America's Affordable Health Choices Act will mean a cap on your cost, but no cap on your benefit.... That represents real change."

Then, in a mere 90 seconds, Secours manages to destroy any argument for opposing universal health care, not by spewing political rhetoric, but by simply telling her story. The gist: After being diagnosed with stage 4 uterine cancer and undergoing months of chemo and radiation treatment, Secours was taken to the brink of financial ruin, nearly losing her house were it not for a last-minute intervention. And she had insurance. From a major carrier.

And now, the same policy she had has doubled in price. And she's terrified to attempt to change carriers. "Now that I have cancer," Secours says, "I'm a marked woman." She continues:

"There are 47 million people without insurance in this country and they're not looking for a handout. There are thousands of people like me who have insurance, and they're not looking for a handout.... What we're looking for, what we're asking for, what we're begging for, what I'm begging for, is a current health-reform package that becomes law, so that people like me can receive adequate health care and aren't fiscally and physically ruined by getting a diagnosis of cancer."

See the entire clip here.

A year-and-a-half fighting cancer, another five months fighting the corporate behemoth, and Molly Secours still looks maaahvelous!

Nashville filmmaker, writer and activist Molly Secours is no stranger to the pages of Pith. Right on the heels of a year-and-a-half battle with uterine cancer, including grueling radiation and chemo treatments, Secours found herself staring down the barrel of a whole 'nother crisis--foreclosure. After a five-month struggle with her mortgage holder First Franklin Loan and its owner Bank of America, during which she was repeatedly stonewalled, she finally managed to wrangle a 5 percent fixed-rate modification loan, a huge relief from the exorbitant 9.8 percent mortgage she'd been paying off.

But as Secours explained in April, her success was more attributable to friends in high places and national media coverage than to any genuine compassion or reasonability on the part of the bank.

On Monday, Secours got a call beckoning her to Washington, D.C., where she will join Nancy Pelosi at a health-care reform press conference on Capitol Hill to share her experiences dealing with the devastating financial repercussions of battling a severe illness--not to mention the insights she gained making her documentary The Faces of TennCare: Putting a Human Face on Tennessee's Health Care Failure. The last-minute nature of the invite has made this a seat-of-the-pants situation, but best Secours can tell, the press conference is supposed to air on C-Span at 10:30 a.m. Central Time today. So if you're near a TV, catch one of Nashville's true champions of the poor and marginalized offer her insights on one of the gravest crises facing America today.

According to Gay.com--a website of PlanetOut, an online media company serving the LGBT community--Middle Tennessee State University is among the the top ten gay-friendly college football schools (No. 9, to be exact):

Sometimes as gay men and women we tend to be apprehensive about going to a sporting event because we fear that we might be lambasted or bashed. But what colleges make the list for the best football atmosphere for gays and lesbians to attend?

We roamed the country for the ten best gay-friendly campuses in the country on football game days that give gays the opportunity to 'branch out' and enjoy the electric football scenery....

9) Middle Tennessee State (Murfreesboro, Tennessee)
- This school makes the list because of its progressive nature trapped by the surroundings of rural Tennessee. There is no secret that gays entrench the campus of Middle Tennessee State. The school's small fan base, along with its relative close location to Nashville makes this a prime destination for any fan wanting to see a traditional college football game without the crowd mayhem. Back in 2006, the school made headlines when ESPN caught two boys kissing each other in a opening shot of a televised broadcast. After all, what homosexual wouldn't want to go to a school whose mascot is a Pegasus?

USC and UCLA tied for the top of the list. Other schools included Ohio State, Stanford, UC Berkeley, University of Michigan, Duke, University of Oregon and Florida International.

Gee, Tony, you guys are standing pretty close together, no?

Who'da thunk it? Here in gay-hating, queer-fearing Tennessee? Perhaps there is hope for us after all!

Still, our hearts go out to state Rep. Tony Shipley. Obviously we knew he wouldn't be sending his kids to USC, UCLA, Stanford or Berkeley, since God is going to drop California off into the sea. But once he learns that it's "no secret that gays entrench the campus of Middle Tennessee State," he's going to have to cross one of Tennessee's largest universities off his list. Sorry, Tony: It looks like no place is safe from the gay invasion.

Thanks to owner Steve Smith, Tootsie's won't look like this anytime soon.

As reported in Tuesday's Tennessean, bouncers at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge will soon start using metal-detecting wands to ensure that patrons respect the bar's "no guns" policy. Yesterday, a story posted on Forbes magazine's website about the first day of Tennessee's transformation into the Wild Wild West featured these words from Tootsie's owner Steve Smith:

We've never had nobody seriously injured at Tootsie's, and I don't want to start gambling now by starting to allow guns in the place.

For Smith, who says he expects to lose a few customers, clearly sanity has prevailed over greed. But what's really striking about Tootsie's policy is this: Arguably the most legendary honky-tonk in Nashville (and the country), Tootsie's is a mecca for the hardworking, salt-of-the-earth, God-fearing, patriotic, hunting-and-fishing crowd that comprises the bulk of country music fans. And even Tootsie's thinks this is a bad idea! We're not talking about F. Scott's or some effete martini bar here.

Georgia O'Keeffe's "Radiator Building--Night, New York"

In a case that seems to have dragged on forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever, Fisk University may finally get to sell a 50 percent interest in its renowned Alfred Stieglitz Collection to Wal-Mart heiress Alice L. Walton's Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. From a story posted last night on the New York Times website:

The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum cannot try to block the sale of an art collection donated by O'Keeffe to Fisk University in Nashville 50 years ago, a Tennessee appeals court ruled Wednesday....

The university, which has longstanding financial difficulties, has arranged to share ownership of the collection with the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which is preparing to open in Bentonville, Ark., and was founded by Alice L. Walton, an heiress to the Wal-Mart fortune. Crystal Bridges will pay $30 million, which O'Keeffe Museum officials have said is a bargain price, and the collection will alternate locations every two years.

Fisk must still win permission in a lower court to sell an interest in the collection, a violation of the terms of the original gift. The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum had argued that it should take possession of the entire collection if Fisk violates any of those terms, but offered to drop its opposition if it could buy "Radiator Building -- Night, New York," a key O'Keeffe work in the collection. Saul Cohen, the president of the O'Keeffe Museum, said Wednesday he could not comment because he had not yet had time to study the court ruling.

Considering that the two most valuable paintings in the collection (the "Radiator" painting and Marsden Hartley's "Painting No. 3") are worth anywhere from $20 million to $30 million according to various estimates, and that the other 99 pieces include works by Picasso, Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec and Diego Rivera to name a few, it would seem the O'Keeffe Museum is right--Walton would be getting a bargain. But then again, the Wal-Mart heiress, whose net worth is estimated at $17.6 billion, knows a thing or two about buying in volume at rock-bottom prices. At least these artworks weren't made in a Chinese sweatshop (that we know of, anyway). But if you're wandering through your neighborhood Supercenter and hear, "50 percent off Renoir on Aisle 3," it's cause for serious concern.

Kobe or not Kobe: That is the question.

Basketball geek that I am, I watched the majority of the NBA finals this year, even though my beloved Cleveland Cavaliers had made an unceremonious exit in the previous round. But when I heard the above promo spot introducing the games, I had no clue I was listening to Nashville theater mainstay Barry Scott. In fact I didn't know until yesterday, when a co-worker forwarded the freshly posted YouTube video.

In addition to his illustrious theater career in Nashville--he's the founder and producing artistic director of the American Negro Playwright Theatre at Tennessee State University--it seems Scott has carved out quite a niche as a voice-over artist. And when you hear his voice, it makes perfect sense: If they make another Star Wars film, he could give James Earl Jones stiff competition for the Darth Vader role.

Currently, Scott is directing the TSU Summer Stock Theatre production of the uproarious The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), which runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights through July 25. Here's what Scene theater writer Martin Brady has to say in this week's issue:

Later this summer, a lot of Nashvillians will be visiting the Nashville Shakespeare Festival's production of this very same show, a rollicking, irreverent, improv-laced takeoff on the works of the Bard. The TSU Summer Stock Theatre's production, under the direction of Barry Scott, takes a distinctly huge liberty with authors Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield's popular, oft-staged script: While it's intended for a tight trio of players, Summer Stock have expanded it to an ensemble of nearly 20 young faces. Truth is, showcasing the talent in this format just might work to everyone's benefit, since Complete Works is an off-the-cuff bit of spoofery that mainly requires a lot of energy, and it hits and misses with the Shakespeare jokes anyway. Overall, this version aims to adhere to the intended satirical mood, but also promises to "explore the boundaries of political correctness and racial stereotypes." That may add some seasoning, for sure.

In the wake of Steve McNair's death, it's clear just how enmeshed he and the Titans have become in Nashville's psyche. Perhaps that's why Les Carpenter's story in Saturday's Washington Post seemed particularly insightful--an outsider has a far more objective viewpoint.

While local media, Pith included, focused on the details of the crime and how the nature of his death will affect his legacy, Carpenter, from his distant perch, saw something else:

Rarely has there been an outpouring for an athlete's death quite like the one Nashville gave McNair this week. Certainly not for a retired player who never won a championship or made the Hall of Fame, though McNair, along with running back Eddie George, did lead the Titans to the Super Bowl following the 1999 season. McNair was just 36 when he died, and he hadn't been the Titans' quarterback since 2005, the year before he was traded to the Baltimore Ravens. His career had been over for two years. He was no longer the face of the franchise, but rather just a memory and a nameplate on the facade of LP Field, where the Titans play their games.

And yet for a week the city mourned. The restaurant, Steve McNair's Gridiron 9, that he opened across from the Tennessee State University campus just days before his death became a shrine where people, mostly strangers to him, came to write messages of farewell on the front of the locked glass doors and across the windows. And when the windows were filled, they wrote messages on cards, on photographs and on post-it notes and affixed them to the glass.

Perhaps the most poignant was the most simple. A white sheet of unfolded paper, taped to the window, upon which someone had scrawled the words: "Steve we forgive you."