Nashville Shirley


The American Dream, Nashville-Style By Shirley Fong-Torres Shirley would love to hear from you at wokwiz@aol.com (In the photo above, Shirley Fong-Torres, the Wok Wiz, is pictured at Bluebird Cafe with, from left, Tim Meitzen, Chris Cavanaugh, Jason Howard, and Anthony Christopher Orio) My bipolar honeybear, Wroburlto, complains about my taste in music. It's too Country Western for the cutting edge of gay life-style, where he dances the night away. So, imagine my surprise when Wro began dropping hints that we should visit Nashville. At first, they were intended to perk my curiosity. "Mommy, did you know that Elvis' solid gold Cadillac is in the Country Music Hall of Fame?" "Think, Mommy, if we were in Nashville, we could see more than 20 stars in one night at the Grand Ole Opry." "Mommy, the biggest barbecue competition in the whole world is held at the Jack Daniels distillery." Wro Plays to My Weaknesses Then he started playing on my weaknesses - for wild clothes, good deals and anything related to gambling. "Guess what, Mommy? A Nashville art museum has an exhibition of clothes worn by Nashville stars." "Did you know that a bottle of Gentleman Jack (Tennessee whiskey) with the master distiller's autograph sold for $400 on E Bay?" "Mommy, the largest hotel anywhere outside Las Vegas is in Nashville. Hello." I'm not sure what that last one had to do with gambling, but Wro works my subliminal circuits. And anyway, he had me with Elvis' car. My Secret Love for Country Western Music Visiting Nashville has been a long-time dream of mine. Country music activates my secret identity. In the privacy of my shower, I am the Chinese Loretta Lynn. I once owned a red pick-up truck, and I update my wardrobe of cowgirl boots and hats every time I visit Reno. I have escorted real Nashville stars through Chinatown's dim sum row, appeared on singer Chely Wright's music video on TNN, and I have supported numerous country singers in the lounges of Las Vegas. So, a trip to Nashville was my hajj. (Elvis' famous gold piano) It also seemed like an appropriate place for Wroburlto. After all, no other city has so many conflicted personalities. Over the years, Nashville has been known as "Music City;" "Rock City;" "Athens of the South;" "Minnesota of the South;" and the "Wall Street of the South." It treats this civic schizophrenia with nothing more than honky tonk cures and ambitious urban renewal projects. So, Wro and I were off like two hungry guitar pickers drawn to distant stage lights. Just minutes after landing at the Nashville airport, we were in the center of all things Country Western. Stay at the Downtown Hilton Tip #1: If your trip to Nashville is motivated by honky tonk dreams, or anything related to Music City heritage, stay at the downtown Hilton. It's a lovely, all suites hotel - literally. So many downtown hotels that claim that distinction just have a superfluous wall between the bed and the rest of the furniture. Not the Nashville Hilton, which is as perfectly located for my purposes as any hotel could be. It sits next door to both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Arena, a few short blocks from lower Broadway's honky tonk scene, the Ryman Auditorium and the rest of downtown's attractions. Being an immigrant's daughter, the Hall of Fame let me identify with the sisterhood of outsiders. Wro says the Hall should be renamed "The Museum of the American Dream," because the history of Country Music is the story of poor kids who came to the big city hoping to change their fate. An Appalachian Variation on the Immigrant's Dream That makes it an Appalachian variation on the immigrant's dream. Elvis's golden Cadillac equals the Chinese-American's "Gold Mountain." It is also just one of the symbols of country music's story, as told in the Hall of Fame: ~When she cashed the check on her first hit record in 1929, Maybell Carter bought a $250 Gibson guitar that is now valued at $575,000. Lefty Frizzle's first paycheck went to a new custom Gibson, too. ~When the Everly Brothers got their first paycheck, they bought custom leather jackets. ~When Webb Pierce made it, he had Hollywood costume designer Nudie Cohn design his "Silver Dollar Convertible." ~Cindy Walker's Hall of Fame acceptance speech refers movingly to the old dress she wore that night, and which her dead mother has sewn for her long before. ~"Nudie suits," as Cohn's sparkling, fringy costumes are called, became synonymous with C&W music and American culture. Visiting a De Facto Smithsonian But, we're serving dessert before appetizers. The Country Music Hall of Fame is a de facto Smithsonian Museum. The history of this once regional music form mirrors the history of all American families. Since Nashville is a city of stars and short stories, anecdotes are used as currency in all conversations about this city: ~Early Tennessee banjos were made of ground hog hide and oak. ~Marty Robbins guitar was about the size of Wroborlto's, smaller than an Hawaiian ukulele. ~Hank Williams' death created so huge a void in this fledgling industry that "Who is the next Hank?" has been asked ever since. Faron Young was the first 'next Hank,' zooming out of Louisiana with "Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young." ~Elvis thought he was inconspicuous slipping into town late on Sunday nights, in a solid gold Cadillac. ~Priscilla considered her first anniversary gift to Elvis, having French craftsmen gild his piano in 24 karat gold, a class act. ~Floyd Tillman started the cheatin' song thing, with "Slippin Around" in 1949. ~ Lefty Frizzle, at age 19, wrote "I Love You 1000 Ways," while in jail for statutory rape of his wife. ~Kitty Wells was forbidden to sing her scandalous hit, "Honky Tonk Angels," on the Grand Ole Opry stage. ~Clear channel radio station WSM, which spread the Opry gospel far and wide, took its name from "We Shield Millions," motto of original Opry sponsor and station owner, National Life & Accident insurance company. Dinner with Richard Lee One special service the museum provides is songwriter dinners. We went to one with Richard Lee, who wrote some Crystal Gayle and Reba hits that have entertained our showerheads for decades. He told stories of how each song was written. In the case of Richard's biggest hit: "I was working away at the piano on this tune I had titled 'Don't It Make My Rainbows Blue.' Now, if I had stuck with that, I'd still be a struggling songwriter, my family would not have financial security and you wouldn't have any clue what I'm talking about. But fortunately my dog Amanda kept staring up at me, pleading with me to leave the piano, with her big, brown eyes…Today, my Grammy for that song sits on my mantle, and Amanda's little blue collar is wrapped around it." Richard also tipped us to a great venue to catch young songwriters on the rise, a favorite subject of Wro's. Tip #2: The legendary Bluebird Café, whose dinner concerts are televised throughout the South, has two shows every night. The early shows have better ticket availability and feature younger singer-songwriters, guys in the process of becoming famous. The next morning, over a wonderful Southern breakfast at the Hilton, Wro frantically informed me that we only had 12 hours before the Bluebird's early show. Sensing an impending ADHD (or even a full-blown manic) episode, I suggested many of Nashville's more sedated attractions: The Lane Motor Museum, which has an amazing collection of classic European cars and free admission to children under 18; The Belle Meade Plantation, an Ante Bellum thoroughbred farm on the Natchez Trace; the Cheekwood Botanical Gardens and Museum of Art, with a regional collection and delicious Southern gardens; and RCA Studio B, where Elvis and so many others recorded their hits. Visiting the Frist Center for the Arts No surprise, Wro insisted on something I didn't suggest, the Frist Center for the Arts. In a lovely Depression-Era post office, the Frist has been converted by the medical-political family that is one of the city's main cultural benefactors. Kids get in free here, too, and, in fact, education and outreach are the focuses of the museum. The Frist doesn't even have a permanent collection, centering, in Nashville fashion, on temporary blockbusters and interactive teaching projects. Wro was drawn to the Manuel exhibition, an over-the-top collection of 50 lavish suits designed by the reigning emperor of Nashville costumes, Manuel Arturo Jose Cuevas Martinez. Manuel left Mexico in the early 1950's and landed a job tailoring for Nudie Cohn. He has outlived all his famous competitors, and his name is now synonymous with all that glitters in Music City. Once again, a single anecdote stands in for the spirit of what we saw: An aging Nashville star kept asking Manuel for more youthful clothing than she could wear with any dignity. So Manuel took her aside and told her, 'Darling, I have known you since you were a princess. Now I think you should be a queen.'" Our Manuel experience suited (Wro insisted on that pun, forgive me) our American Dream theme. However, it probably gives a false impression of the Frist Center, which normally plays to more traditional arts. It also reminded my clothes-obsessed bear that I had not sewn any new bear outfits since Build-A-Bear-Workshops first came to San Francisco. His designs for a Manue-style suit were a bit ambitious, though. A Week-Long Music Extravaganza As Wro fussed wildly about having to wear "rack-bought" clothes, I dealt by going out to lunch. CMA sponsors the Music Festival (formerly known as Fan Fair), a week-long extravaganza in which the music industry tries to put the stars in touch with their fans, in personal appearances, concerts of all sizes, etc. It is, by far, Nashville's busiest tourism event, having outgrown both the Municipal Auditorium and the State Fairgrounds, too. CMA also runs its own restaurant, Red Wagon Cafe, in the gentrified Historic East Nashville. Though they also serve lunch and dinner, they are most famous among local foodies for their brunches. We enjoyed pumpkin pancakes and an eggs dish named after Loretta, but resembling a classic Benedict. (Singer Josh Turner, with Wro, turned up during brunch to sing a couple of songs) Hot young (Wro's words, not mine) star Josh Turner turned up during brunch to sing a couple songs and talk to the customers. This sort of thing just doesn't happen in California, but we were sensing it's not that odd in Music City. Josh told us he first came to town to attend Belmont University, "Because my parents wanted me to go to college, and because I wanted to go to Nashville, and so I made both things happen at same time." Josh is so fresh a talent (he had his first gold record 'Long Black Train' in 2003) that he still collects autographs himself, on his guitar - Hank, Jr., Loretta, Little Jimmy Dickens, Emmy Lou Harris, Vince Gill, Charlie Pride, Marty Stuart and most impressively Eddie Arnold. "He's been like a Grand Daddy to me. He and I have lunch and he tries to give me good advice. He hated 'Long Black Train,' but he loves a good love song." Josh also answered Wro's question about making it. Failures Never Bothered Josh "I always knew God had given me this mission, so failures didn't bother me. There were some really talented people at Belmont when I was there, but they would go to an audition and not make it and they'd be crying, like the world had ended. I don't think you can make it in this business if you have that kind of self-doubt. I watch 'Nashville Star,' or 'American Idol' and I see young people who are wondering if they are good enough. Those are the ones who won't make it. The ones who know and don't worry about failures have a chance." As Josh posed for photos with Wro, I figured I had a couple hours before my bear's good mood would evaporate. So I spent them at the Ryman Auditorium, the long-time home of the Grand Ole Opry and before that a spiritual meeting hall. A Loretta wannabe gets religious vibes walking around there, and my only regret about the trip is that there wasn't a timely opportunity to catch a Ryman show. The auditorium, however, was not having a calming effect on Wro. First he stepped into the spotlight on the Ryman stage, a delicious photo op the auditorium allows visitors, and began singing from "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels," by J.D. Miller. "From the start most every heart that's ever broken Was because there always was a man to blame." Then Wro started mumbling strange accusations that Josh had been cheating on him. (When he came to the Red Wagon Café, Josh Turner had been accompanied by his wife and business manager). So we left quickly and walked down Lower Broadway to the Hatch Print store. This is one of the two oldest businesses in town, and still prints concert posters by hand, like it has since Reconstruction. I bought my bear a copy of an old Hank Williams concert poster and he stopped talking about "abusive clothing" and "cheating men" long enough that we could return to the Hilton so Wro could change clothes for the Bluebird. The Bluebird Cafe -- A Casual Spot for Dinner Not that one needs to dress up for dinner there. The Bluebird Café is as casual as long necks and old jeans, with diners sitting tightly around cabaret tables. It's a rare non-smoking club too! We caught a wonderful show, with Chris Cavanaugh of Missouri, Jason Howard from Murfreesboro, Anthony Christopher Orio of Nashville and Tim Meitzen from Little Rock taking turns singing their own compositions, some of which were almost famous enough that we had heard them on the radio, though most were new. The young men had wonderful senses of humor, something that seems to be slipping away in CW music these days. Anthony brought the house down with "I Taught Her Everything She Knows" and Tim sang a hilarious song about men shaving parts of their body that real men should not shave. Jason's father-in-law, an old studio musician who had toured with Johnny Cash, sat in on one song. All the boys posed for pictures with Wro. Station Inn -- the Most Famous Bluegrass Honky Tonk We left singing some of the boys' songs and headed down to Station Inn, the nation's most famous bluegrass honky tonk. We sat on some old vinyl seats that had been pulled from Lester Flatt's tour bus. This place is all about the music, with respectful crowds of pure bluegrass enthusiasts. We left with banjo licks in our heads. But by the time we got back to the Hilton, I was beginning to feel a bit irresponsible. A good mother would be exposing her son to something more than honky tonks, gaudy clothes and a bunch of photos ops with "hot boys." I went to bed with a resolve to broaden our cultural horizons the next day. IF YOU GO... Visit www.tnvacation.com and www.nashvillecvb.com. Nashville Hilton Downtown 121 4th Avenue Nashville, TN 37201 (615) 620-1000 Country Music Hall of Fame 222 Fifth Avenue South Nashville, TN 37203 (615) 416-2001 www.countrymusichalloffame.com Station Inn 402 12th Avenue South Nashville, TN 37203 (615) 255-3307 www.stationinn.com Hatch Show Prints 316 Broadway Nashville, TN 37201 (615) 256-2805 Ryman Auditorium 116 5th Avenue North Nashville, TN 37219 615-458-8700 www.ryman.com Frist Center for the Arts 919 Broadway Nashville, TN 37203 615-744-3332 www.fristcenter.org Red Wagon Café 1112 Woodland Street Nashville, TN 37206 (Click below for more travel stories!)