Nashville Confidential

elvis has rocked the building

I didn't think anything could beat last night's Wilco performance (a dazzling display), but dare I say tonight's Elvis Costello show at the Ryman was the best I've seen in my 90 days here? It's almost as if Declan sat down and said, "I wonder what Mapgirl would like to hear me play tonight?" My number one hope was for "Girls Talk," and when he launched into it, that really loud "woooo" you heard across the Mid-South was me ...

None of that lounge-lizard stuff (thank goodness). Elvis rocked the building -- he looked and sounded fantastic. He burned through so many genres and styles, and was simply a joy to watch. The choice of songs, the pacing of the songs, the homage to the venue, everything about the show was so well-executed. When he sang Patsy Cline's "Sweet Dreams," I about came apart. Later, Elvis stepped away from the mikes and did a truly acoustic song, proving that the Ryman Auditorium has perhaps the best, warmest acoustics anywhere. You can hear everything (including the empty beer cup rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling down the balcony floor. I wanted to punch whoever caused that to happen).

There was one point in "Deep Dark Truthful Mirror" where each person in his band, to a player, firing on all cylinders. It was incredible to behold. They were so sharp and fierce. I'm probably the only person in the place who groaned when "Alison" started -- yet he turned it around. Using the same tune, he sang parts of "For the Good Times" and "Suspicious Minds." Genius.

down from the mountain

I'm more of a New Englander at heart than a Southerner, but I do trust my friend HCB, and he loves the South, esp. The University of the South, aka Sewanee.

His daughter -- who, you read it here first, will be a top-ranking U.S. government diplomat someday, if not the Chief Executive -- spent four happy years at Sewanee on her ascent to greatness. Since it's only about 90 minutes from this metropolis, I thought I'd visit and take in some fall color.

Interstate 24 had some beautiful trees, but just as many billboards and painted barn roofs plugging "See Rock City"and "Ruby Falls," as well as tons of ads for RC Cola, Goo Goo Clusters and Pecan Log Rolls.

The only wrinkle was that it misted, drizzled and rained during my entire visit to Sewanee, but it was as beautiful as advertised. "The Domain of the University of the South" is a mountaintop northwest of Chattanooga, and if you love symbolism and history and architecture (guilty, guilty, guilty), it's paradise.

just say yes

The news was universally bad today, from Moscow to Minnesota. It was raining here and the traffic on Interstate 40 was horrible. This only confirmed my belief that I would never make it living in the suburbs. How people survive the commute is beyond me. I was trying to get to the local NPR station to answer phones for pledge week and, in a little secret that the Tennessee Department of Transportation decided not to share with anyone until we were right up on it, the exit to Interstate 65 was closed. Maybe if the lottery passes, the state can buy some more road signs, give us a bit of a heads-up before the ghetto detour! (Yes, I'm bitter.)

All I could think of were the poor radio staff members, sitting in windowless Pledge Central, trying to handle all three phones at once. Meanwhile the other I-65 refugees and I inched along in some unfamiliar part of town, where our discount tobacco or methamphetamine needs could be easily met. Finally, my extensive Sunday driving tours and mapgazing paid off: I zigged and zagged and doubled back and somehow found myself at the radio station.

No worries about Pledge Central. I wasn't the latest volunteer to arrive, and there were about 15 people already handling the phone bank, in Studio C -- a giant, open room with gorgeous hardwood floors. It's a state-of-the-art studio from which WPLN broadcasts some of its amazing live music shows. Today it was humming, with three hours left in the weeklong membership drive. This was a fund-raising operation the likes of which I'd never seen. A giant TV monitor broadcast the current totals and the distance to our staggering $400,000 goal.

Answering the phones is another way to make sense of the middle Tennessee puzzle. People called in from towns I'd never heard of, and it was neat to talk to people from all over. WPLN has been successful in using translators to broadcast all over the state -- even Tullahoma. Tullahoma is the punch line of middle Tennessee, it's kind of like our Creve Coeur. (Seriously. I talked to one guy who included "Trailer 5" in his address.)

now are you ready to visit?

Don't believe everything you read in the paper, except for this. How exciting! (Note to parents: Rest assured, I am not one of the sweet young things sipping a martini at the sleek bar.)

think out of the bed

Those of you who know me well will find this hilarious. The company's president wants to take a more active role in marketing and communications. So she wants to meet with my boss and me every day. At 7:30 a.m.

No, I am not kidding -- EBL, stop laughing right now.

Ever since the Walk-Bike Nashville meeting, I've carried a lot of guilt about driving to work. (Hey, a girl's gotta have a hobby.) I know I should walk to work. I want to walk to work. But, walk to work AND get there by 7:30 a.m.? Well, why not?

So last night I drove to work and dropped off my stuff, left my car in the deck and advised the security officer that it would be there all night because I was walking home. ("Did it break down?" he asked. "I could call you a taxi.")

Seemed like a great idea -- until this a.m., when I had to walk to work. In the dark. As the sun was coming up. It's a shamefully short walk and not really that bad. But I prefer an afternoon walk to a morning one.

So we tried that once. And it was very nice. The end.

here for one night only: the homebody

Sorry, PFK, but it's raining a lot -- just as it has all day -- and I'm deeply ensconced in my abode. Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire cannot lure me out tonight, despite your reliable recommendation and the papers' claim that it's a must-see show. We'll experience them in Chicago sometime, or come here and catch their next Nashville performance.

Sorry, HCB, my daytrip to Sewanee will have to wait until next week. The trees haven't started to turn yet and, as previously mentioned, it's rained all day. Next Saturday for sure.

It's kind of nice to have a quiet night after visiting out-of-town and having out-of-town visitors. I flew to Chicago last weekend for three days and returned to Nashville to spend a too-brief day-and-a-half with my parents.

Illinois had perfect autumn weather. Sigh. It was worth giving up the Southern Festival of Books (!!!) but I marked the event in my own way by patronizing an independent bookseller in Park Ridge, going to hear author David Sedaris read at the Chicago Theater, and completing an entire book just for leisure. Heavenly.

the magic of the bluebird

It would be difficult to state what I like best about the Bluebird Cafe -- the intimacy (about 20 tables), the no-talking policy (people will shush offenders) or the legendary photos that line the wall behind the stage. Tonight what I liked best was that John Wesley Harding performed there and I was sitting about 10 feet away from him.

I see a lot of shows, I see a lot of shows alone, but the thought of sitting so conspicuously solo in that small room prompted me to make a reservation at a table (extra $$, it carries a $7 food-or-drink minimum) and asked to be seated with other people. (They do this more in the South, in certain family-style restaurants, too, and it's really quite nice.)

Very happily for me, I was the fourth at the table of three Vanderbilt post-graduate students, all very cool women (they covered my $7 minimum, how nice was that?). One was quite enthusiastic -- she greeted me outside by showing a photo she had taken with Wes (she brought it to have him sign it). She is a HUGE fan, and is the type who needs to make a personal connection with the artist. I find that kind of endearing, although one of her friends found it kind of annoying, and I enjoyed watching that dynamic.

meet the neighbors

This is quite a different take on downtown living. And a nationally recognized perspective, no less.

voice of reason

Behold Reason No. 5,982 why I love the Nashville Scene.

Behold why it's even more important that they wrote this editorial this week. The Supreme Court decision has huge implications for the Nov. 5 election here. I can't -- and won't -- say this at work, but absolutely "NO" to the lottery. I wish I still lived in Illinois, where I could vote multiple times.

bonus: breadsticks

It's not the bad days that make me homesick, it's the good ones, because I wish my family and friends were here to experience them too. It was just gorgeous today -- very cool and fallish. (Some people here complained that it's getting too cold, because we didn't reach the 70s today. I'm going to have to smack them.)

So after errands (do you sense that I run more errands than I did in my previous city? Feels that way to me) I decided not to head straight home but to drive out to the country and wend my way back on side roads. I thought of my brother, sister-in-law and nephew when I drove by a Fazioli's that advertised, "Free balloons, tonite 5-9." That's my nephew's dream night: dinner at Fazioli's and free balloons. I missed him today.