Nashville - Nashville Scene - Pith in the Wind - Tobia Archives

Posted October 17, 2008 at 09:53:04 AM by PJ Tobia

Last night I was in the Nashville airport, flying to my sister’s place to go meet my new nephew. At gate C-16, on a flat-screen TV hanging from the ceiling, McCain and Obama were talking at this charity event.

There were maybe a hundred people at the gate, fitting all the usual airport descriptions: business travelers in wrinkled suits, students plugged into their iPods, moms and dads laden with toys and bags, surrounded by rug rats running them ragged.

For most of an hour though, all of the people were riveted—their 100 pairs of eyes locked like vices on the zillion-pixel image hanging above them. They looked at the screen and listened to the sounds coming from it as if it were the most important message they would ever receive, even though it was just the candidates making clever jokes about themselves.

The only time I've ever seen a group of strangers so communally riveted by a news broadcast was in lower Manhattan in the days following Sept. 11, 2001. Then, people in Chinatown crowded around radios on Kim Lau Square, listening for reassurance in news reports of what the world had become.

Continue reading "The Way We Are Now"...

Category: By the Way, Tobia

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Posted September 26, 2008 at 12:55:04 PM by PJ Tobia

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Looks like banks aren’t the only ones receiving a bailout from Uncle Sam this week.

While not nearly the tax dollar-o-rama that Wall Street might be getting, the federal department of Housing and Urban Development has launched what it’s calling a Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which essentially dumps a ton of cash on municipalities so that they can “acquire and redevelop foreclosed properties that might otherwise become sources of abandonment and blight within their communities.”

According to HUD, the Nashville-Davidson County area currently has a low “local abandonment risk,” with a 3.1 percent foreclosure rate. The department is still going to drop a cool $4,051,397 on the city, almost double what Chattanooga and Knoxville will get.

Then there’s Memphis, with its staggering—by Tennessee standards—6.7 percent foreclosure rate. It will receive $11,506,414 in HUD money. Someone should be sure to tell the feds that Memphian politicians would like their “neighborhood stabilization” dollars in non-sequential, unmarked bills.

Category: Tobia

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Posted September 18, 2008 at 05:02:33 AM by PJ Tobia

This week’s cover story details the rollercoaster life of the late Phil Gernhard, the Music Row hitmaker with a golden ear and a troubled mind. One of the most bizarre aspects of the story is that Gernhard’s fourth wife, Anna Maria, is a Stockholm-based escort available for “dates” if the price is right. As you can see at her website—which includes prices per hour (in Swedish krona) and pictures of what you’ll get for your money—she's not exactly bashful about her services. Definitely NSFW.

Then there are Gernhard’s hits. In a 40-year career as a songwriter, producer and A&R man, Gernhard left his thumbprint all over the Billboard charts. After the jump are videos of some songs that Gernhard wrote or produced.

Continue reading "Number One With A Bullet: Behind the Music"...

Category: Tobia

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Posted September 08, 2008 at 10:07:20 AM by PJ Tobia

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Yesterday’s 17-10 Titans victory against the Panthers [Sorry, make that Jaguars] went a lot like many games last season. The defense played valiantly while the offense waited for a playmaker to step up. In this case, that playmaker was Chris Johnson. But the real story of the day was a frustrated Vince Young going down with a knee injury late in the game. Backup QB Kerry Collins stepped in and guided the offense in a 80-yard campaign that ended in a LenDale White touchdown.

This has led online commenters to scream for VY’s job. “Put it in the hands of Collins,” writes “Joy Kat” over at Music City Miracles. “[He’s] someone who CAN get it done!”

Sorry, kitten, but that ain’t gonna happen.

Continue reading "Titans QB Controversy? Not So Fast"...

Category: Sports, Titans, Tobia

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Posted September 02, 2008 at 03:00:23 PM by PJ Tobia

Over at Hispanic Nashville Notebook, John Lamb has posted a very well-written review of George’s Flag, a bizarro 500-page ride through one man’s nonsensical idea of what it means to be Hispanic in America.

As it happens, a copy of George’s Flag also ended up on our doorstep a few months back. Because the book is written by a local author—somebody named Edward Ronny Arnold—and about issues surrounding immigrants and immigration, I thought I might write a small review myself, for our book section. Then I read it.

Continue reading "Hispanic Kids In The Pope's Batmobile: A Nashville Author's Outlandish Immigration Tale "...

Category: Tobia

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Posted August 28, 2008 at 02:06:10 PM by PJ Tobia

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The Sankari family just can’t seem to avoid trouble. The Syrian clan appeared in the pages of Scene (and here on Pith) a few weeks back for administering a group beatdown to 18-year-old family member Yaman Sankari. After Yaman admitted to having sex with her 28-year-old boyfriend, her father, grandmother, grandfather, two uncles and an aunt kicked and punched her about the face and body, according to police reports.

Now the family business, Fast Service Market on 175 Lafayette Street, has become the target of a police sting. According to affidavits and a press release from Metro cops, police have been staking out three convenience stores—including Fast Service Market—near the crime ridden projects on Lafayette Street.

The stores sell glass tubes, sometimes advertised as flower holders or other innocuous gewgaws that ingenious junkie craftsmen turn into crack pipes. It’s legal to sell these things -- only if the seller knows they won't be used to wolf crack.

So police wired-up informants and sent them into the store to ask for “crack pipes” and chore boys—steel wool used as filters. Mohamed Y. Sankari, Mohamed N. Sankari and Ahmed Sankari—Yaman’s uncle, father and uncle, respectively—didn't seem to sense the sting and were arrested. Bond is set at $5,000.

Continue reading "Was a Crack Pipe Sting on Lafayette Street a Waste of Time?"...

Category: Tobia

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Posted August 13, 2008 at 11:05:25 AM by PJ Tobia

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This week’s Scene features an article about some pretty strange cultural norms. No, not cheerleading, although that can be weird too. I’m referring to “Spare the Rod,” a story about a teenager named Yaman Sankari, who received a group beat-down from her father, grandmother, two uncles and an aunt, after Yaman admitted to having sex with her 28-year-old boyfriend, Khalat Haji. The family is of Syrian descent and according to Jean Crow, an attorney at Nashville’s Legal Aid Society who advocates for victims of domestic violence, this kind of thing is not unheard of among Nashville’s Middle Eastern immigrant community.

“The children are culturally American,” Crow says. “But the parents are still living in the old country, with the old country’s rules.” Crow speculates that this type of social disconnect may be what led to Yaman Sankari being beaten so badly that her father and grandmother had to take her to the hospital.

When I spoke with Yaman’s father Mohamed, he kept returning to the fact that until Haji came along, his daughter had been a virgin. He said repeatedly that Haji raped her. As Mohamed said these things, I got the impression that I was listening to a defense of his daughter’s virtue, rather than an accusation of Haji’s guilt. “That’s not the way I raised (her),” Mohamed said.

We can hope that the younger generation of immigrants is absorbing some of the more tolerant aspects of our culture — teenage promiscuity aside — and will pass those on to their children. It’s a pretty good bet that the younger Sankari will react much more reasonably if she has a daughter.

Above are mug shots of Yaman's family. Left to right they are: Uncle Ahmed Sankari, Grandmother Fatima Chabarek, Aunt Manal Sankari, Father Mohamed Sankari, Grandfather Nazir Sankari. Below is Yaman's Uncle Mohamed Y. Sankari.

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Category: Law and Order, Tobia

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Posted August 13, 2008 at 11:00:19 AM by PJ Tobia

When I profile somebody, they're rarely happy with the end result. I’m not going to name any names, but let’s just say I don’t often get a whole lot of positive critique from those whose lives I examine in the pages of this august weekly. This week, I profile Jevon Kearse of the Tennessee Titans. I would like to avoid any misunderstanding — and charges of character assassination — this time, especially because I genuinely liked meeting and ~~stalking~~ talking to Kearse about life and football. (You'll also find a slideshow of our story here.) To that end I wrote an open letter to The Freak. I’m too lazy to mail it, so I posted it after the jump. :

Continue reading "An Open Letter to The Freak, Jevon Kearse"...

Category: Sports, Tobia

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Posted August 05, 2008 at 01:37:10 PM by PJ Tobia

When I learned that Mike Sneed was the first attorney to represent Juana Villegas, I knew she was in trouble.

Sneed is the kind of guy who gives lawyers a bad name. He’s been censured and cited by state regulators for taking his client's money and not showing up for court, depositions or scheduled meetings. He’s even been successfully sued for malpractice, which isn’t as easy as you might think. Years ago, Sneed teamed up with Carmen Ceja — a Nolensville Road notario who charges clients big bucks so she can improperly file government documents on their behalf. This gave Sneed access to some of Nashville’s most vulnerable clients.

Sneed and Ceja are just two of many business people who offer shoddy or unlicensed legal or accounting services to Nashville's immigrant communities. There’s Elmer Virula, who made thousands preparing taxes, immigration documents and marriage licenses for Nashville immigrants. Problem is, he isn’t an attorney or a CPA and the marriage licenses he sold where from the state of California. He is now facing charges from the Tennessee attorney general’s office.

And who could forget Robert “Ismael” Chavez, disgraced former head of the TN Hispanic Chamber of Commerce?

Continue reading "Q: Why do scumbags rip-off immigrants? A: Because they can."...

Category: Immigration, Tobia

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Posted August 01, 2008 at 10:29:53 AM by PJ Tobia

It’s tax holiday time again in Tennessee. Today through Sunday most clothing and school supply’s costing $100 or less are tax free. Ditto computers costing $1,500 or less. Get out there and buy ~~shit~~ things.

Category: Tobia

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Posted July 30, 2008 at 10:49:30 AM by PJ Tobia

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Bruton's Mugshot

Last Friday night, John Bruton was relaxing by himself, masturbating in the cozy confines of his car. He had his pants and underwear pulled down, and an array of porn magazines fanned out on the dashboard.

Unfortunately, Bruton’s car was parked in front of a Kroger at 711 Gallatin Road, right near Eastland Avenue.

You would think that Bruton received the shock of his life when Metro Nashville police officer Jerry Bell walked up to the car and tapped on the driver’s side window. But according to the police report Bell filed, Bruton remained pretty calm.

The carjacker “looked at me and then pulled up his pants and underpants and placed the pornographic magazines in the vehicle’s glove box,” Bell wrote in his report. Bruton exited the car and Bell asked him to turn around and place his hands behind his back for cuffing. “No, I ain’t doing it,” said Bruton, according to Bell’s report.

The officer then forced Bruton to turn around and the two scuffled. “The defendant…grabbed a hold of the front of my uniform… We struggled, which resulted in us hitting the grocery cart bin and then falling to the ground.”

Bruton took off running down Gallatin, though he was apprehended a short time later. Today he will go to court and face charges of indecent exposure, resisting arrest, and assault.

Category: Crazy Crap, Tobia

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