Musician's Widow

Believe it or not, for the last few years, I’ve worked for a little “hot dog stand” in a bar downtown Nashville part-time. I’d make hot dogs, hamburgers, sandwiches, nachos, Frito-chili pies, and other snack items. I’d sell chips, gum, candy, cigarettes and canned sodas. I did this once or twice a week for about three years.

This year, though, I’ve gone to being a back-up employee, filling in when the owner needs to go out of town or has something come up. I made this choice to allow me to focus more on writing and other career goals. However, I have to admit that I HAVE missed many elements of working there regularly.

Saturday night, I filled in while the owner went out of town for the weekend. It was my first time back in the stand in over two months, and I was actually a little nervous! Did I still have the skills to handle a busy Saturday night? (I usually worked the slower week nights.)

You may be wondering: what kind of skills do you really need to make hot dogs? You need several, and they are skills I credit my time at the stand for teaching me.

1. The most basic of people skills. You can’t be a wall flower and work in any sort of a service industry. You have to be able to talk to people.
2. Figure out how to read people in an instant. Are they drunk? What are they wearing that might tip you off as something to strike up a conversation? Do they have an accent that might help you know they “aren’t from around here?” Are they mad at the world? Are they shy or cocky or open and welcoming to conversation?
3. Learn how to BS. Frankly, this isn’t anything I didn’t already know how to do. Having a journalism degree, I always used to joke that I had my BS in BS. This job just taught me how to turn the volume up on it a little. Example: Have I been to NYC? No, but I have friends who have been. Is there anything they told me at some point that I can use to chat up this business man from the Big Apple?
4. Counting change back. Face it, these days, most places have a machine that tells someone how much change to give back. In this stand, I had to do it all in my head. Math is not my strong point, so I had to learn fast how to count change back and how to figure a tab on the fly.
5. Be the center of attention. When the band promotes the hot dog stand between songs, wave, and smile and maybe make some sort of smart comment to the lead singer to make people laugh. When a customer gets hungry, they’re going to remember you faster that way and, hopefully, feel inclined to come see you.
6. Time management and juggling multiple orders at a time. I still struggle with this if my heads not fully in the game. Luckily, last night, I was on my toes and I was able to fill multiple orders at a time and not get a single one wrong. GO ME!
7. Tipping is good.Tipping is wise. Tip karma will bite you in the butt.

I made a lot of friends working there, and it was always really nice to be a part of the fabric that makes that bar run. I’m still part of the family, but sometimes when I go back I feel a little disconnected now. But I remind myself it was a choice I made to step back from it.

Sadly, there was a big festival in Nashville on Saturday that I think cut into our customers that night. That along with rain made the Saturday night more like a really good week night. A bummer for the stand because sales were down and a bummer for me because my tip jar just didn’t do as well as sometimes.

But I enjoyed myself and was grateful. I was  reminded of things I didn’t miss: sore feet, super late hours, the homeless coming to ask for free food (it kills me to say no…), and coming home smelling like cigarettes and french fries. These things,though, are all minor compared to the fun (c’mon, I get to listen to great music all night and have been known to bust out dancing when things are slow) and satisfaction I have when I do work there.

CMA Fest wrapped up three four days ago, and I think everyone has recovered. Or at least close to recovered. Nashville got a much needed shot in the arm economically, and country music fans got a much needed chance to meet their favorite stars. It was a win/win week.

Well. Except for the heat. And the lack of parking. But otherwise, it was great!

Music fans enjoy free shows at the Riverfront Stages

For me, this was the first year since moving to Nashville that I didn’t have to be down at CMA Fest, either to work or to see my husband play. So, while every day I intended to go downtown, every day something more pressing came up close to home. However, Sunday, I made it a priority to go see what this year’s CMA Fest had to offer.

I had heard the nightmare stories about parking being non-existent from friends, but by Sunday things had died down some. Parking was no problem, much to my delight. However, the heat was just as bad as I had heard it was.

I was born and raised in Texas. I can “take” the heat. However, despite drinking plenty of water and wearing a loose sundress, the heat did start to get to me after awhile. It made me shorten my time at CMA Fest dramatically, in fact.

This guy wanted to save souls. All he did was get on nerves.

However, here’s the thing I love about CMA Fest: people watching. Mostly, its watching the families that are out doing this big event together. On one corner, a man had a microphone preaching about how everyone there was going to go to hell, and how everyone there is a sinner for even being there! I briefly wanted to ask the man what he thought was so bad about families going out to an event together and enjoying an afternoon together? I could see no harm in it whatsoever! It was amazing to me to see so many teens and kids NOT buried in a video game.

My husband and I both mused, though, at one point after he had walked along the Riverfront, down Broadway to Bridgestone Arena, and then over to Shelby Street Bridge: for once it was pure country coming out of all the bars on Broadway… and on the big stages was… well… “Rockin’ Country” I guess you’d call it. In other words, music that was only called country because they brought a fiddle or a steel player along. Not because it was actually what we would define as country. But, hey, I learned a long time ago… the music business is my life. It doesn’t mean I can always make sense of it!

That being said, there is one thing I do understand: music fans love their music. And that was what it was all about, no matter what. A love of music and a chance to experience a very cool festival that happens only once a year.

Me and George Strait! haha!!

My husband and I went to one of our favorite “watering holes” to cool down after walking around for awhile. We’ve become regulars there, so we stopped to visit with the bartender for awhile. I asked him how the week had been, and he said simply, “Amazing.” He couldn’t get over how incredibly nice everyone had been all week, and they had definitely had a good week sales-wise!

“You hear horror stories all year about CMA Fest,” he said. “But I don’t know what that was all about. Everyone who came in this place was great. They all have great stories, and they’re all just so happy to be here. I’ve loved it!”

I love it, too, and I’m sorry I didn’t make it down for more of the events this year. A friend is talking about coming to CMA Fest next year, and I hope she does! It’ll give me an excellent excuse to go, too.

Yes it was incredibly hot. Like I briefly said, I cut my time downtown short due to the heat getting to me. And parking downtown is a pain even on a quiet weekend. But at the end of it all… CMA Fest is just a cool thing country music and Nashville does for its fans. I love that fact. I love this city. So, you know, I’m already looking forward to next year!

Everyone is volunteering to help flood victims. Distributing water. Donating clothing. Donating money. Helping people rip out things from their flooded homes. Opening homes to strangers in need of a place to stay…

I wanted to find a place to help out, preferably somewhere that would allow me to use my talents.

A friend posted on her Facebook page that she was starting work to plan a benefit concert to raise money to help flood victims. I’d worked with the friend before on fundraisers, and I definitely wanted to help her again.

So last Wednesday, eight of us gathered in a house in Nashville to plan out this benefit concert that my friend had already set far into motion. Dividing up the work, bouncing ideas off one another. Some good ideas. Some not so good ideas. But by the end of the night, we had a solid game plan formed.

Joe Diffie, Lee Roy Parnell, Billy Dean, Lee Brice, Jeremy McComb and Jerrod Niemann are among artists scheduled to perform.

On May 17th, music fans are encouraged to join us at Limelight in downtown Nashville for a night of great music, good times, and a chance to raise money for several great organizations who are working hard to help flood victims.

Our lineup includes performances by:  Rick Huckaby, Glen Templeton, Melanie Martel, Jared Ashley, Chad Warrix, Jeremy McComb, Lee Brice, Jerrod Niemann, Billy Dean, Lee Roy Parnell, Joe Diffie

Doors will open at 5:00 pm, and the music starts at 5:30. A $10 donation will be taken at the door to benefit the Nashville Red Cross. Silent Auction (which includes donated items from the Nashville Predators, Tennessee Titans, Marriott, area salons, Atlanta Braves, area restaurants, George Strait autographed guitar, and much more) and sale of t-shirts and koozies to benefit Salvation Army, Nashville Humane Association, and Happy Tails Humane.

In addition to the donations and the sale of shirts, etc. we will be taking item donations for all the organizations. The needs of each are as follows:

Nashville Humane Association is asking for:

• Dry Dog Food and Cat Food
• Small Size, Joy or Dawn Dish Liquid
• Kitten Food
• Puppy Food
• Cat Litter and Litter Pans
• Animal Toys
• Food Bowls
• Leashes, Collars
• Carriers/Kennels

Salvation Army is asking guests to bring:

• Cases of Bottled Water
• NEW socks, underwear, and t-shirts
• Hygiene kits
• Supplies for clean-up kits which include: mop, broom, work gloves, mask, sponge, rubber gloves, bleach, all-purpose cleaner, trash bags, and paper towels

Happy Tails is asking guests to bring:

• small blankets for crates
• Pillow Cases
• Towels

As many know, the music community was hit hard by this flood, just as many families. Millions of dollars in gear were lost when Soundcheck, where many musicians store their gear, was among the businesses underwater. The photos and stories coming out of there are heartbreaking, and they personally make my stomach turn. Unfortunately, many of the musicians did not carry insurance on their gear, and are left with  no where to turn.

At this benefit, 5% of all bar sales will benefit musicians affected by the flooding of Soundcheck storage facility.

We encourage everyone to come out and show their support.

To anyone outside of Nashville wishing to support the cause, you may have heard you can text “REDCROSS” to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross. However, perhaps you are like me… I can’t do $10 more on my cell phone bill. It’s a budget thing for me. I know what my bill is going to be, and when it wavers… it throws me off big time. But, I can donate otherwise! (Or perhaps $10 just isn’t in your budget, but you can do $5. Or $10 isn’t as much as you want to donate, and texting 10 times to donate $100 is just a pain.)

We have set up a Post Office box to accept donations for our charties. Pick one of our charities you’d like to support (Nashville Red Cross, Salvation Army, Nashville Humane Association, or Happy Tails Humane) and mail a check in THE CHARITY’S NAME to:

BANDing TOGETHER
P.O. Box 23474
Nashville, TN 37202-3474

I assure you, none of the donated money will go anywhere other than the charity you make your check out to… these will be delivered directly to charity. For any new information as it becomes available, visit our Facebook event page, and please spread the word! It’ll be one AMAZING night.

Simply due to the high volume of hits this blog has had in the last four days of searches for “Printer’s Alley Flooding,” I wanted to make a brief note here…

Printer’s Alley was not affected by the flooding this last weekend! Nor did it lose power when much of downtown was left in the dark. In fact, Bourbon Street Blues & Boogie Bar has a soft reopening this week!

ALL the clubs in the Alley — Bourbon Street, Fiddle & Steel Guitar Bar, Kelli’s, Lonnie’s and, yes, even the Brass Stables are all open and just fine. Even Jesse Zane’s around the corner is good to go.

In fact, all of the clubs and bars in downtown are open and ready for a rockin’ weekend to celebrate making it through a rough week. Nashville is OPEN for business!!

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
– Winston Churchill

In every tragedy, a “bright side” can be found if you look hard enough. Luckily, in the Nashville flood, you don’t have look hard at all. It’s all right there.

This community has pulled together in a way I could have never imagined happening. People from one suburb are traveling all the way across town to help strangers in another suburb. Race, religion, age and social status mattering none. Offers to help have come in faster than requests for help can be made.

Some of my favorite stories include the ones where neighbors are helping each other — neighbors who before this tragedy had never met one another, and yet had lived next door to one another for five or more years. One news report, a man actually said that it was almost worth having this happen to find out what kind of community he lived in… one that overwhelmed him to tears with their offers to help him rebuild his home that has been destroyed.

When electricity was out, I heard a report of a man saying he had sat down and played games with his two small children — the first time he’d done that since they were born. The lack of electricity forced him to reconnect with his own family.

I always believe that everything happens for a reason, and perhaps its stories like these that are why this flood happened. Perhaps we all needed a wake-up call as to what is most important in life — the people around us. This newly invigorated sense of community is exactly what is going to pull this city back together. Both emotionally and physically.

Now I understand: This is why this state is called the Volunteer State.

I had a whole different blog post planned tonight. I want to speak on the good that has come out of this flood. But now I feel compelled to instead attack head on hateful words I’ve read tonight.

I was born and raised in Texas. I will forever be a Texan in my heart. I love the state deeply. It’s more than a state… its a state of mind. However, I have truly grown to love Nashville just as deeply as I love Texas. Nashville is more than just a city. Its the people that make it so special.

All that being said, I was alarmed when a friend informed me she had read hateful posts aimed at Nashville on a Texas Artist’s Facebook page after that artist had sent out love to the city. Before I could look up the post, I ran into the same thing on yet another Texas Artist’s page!

I am literally sitting here stung.

There is a definite difference between the Texas Music scene and what you would call the Nashville Country Music scene. And I happen to be someone who likes both, and who has criticized elements of both in the same breath.

My husband is in the music industry, and to say I’ve grown jaded of it would be an understatement. But at the end of the day, I absolutely love it and I wouldn’t trade my life and the craziness of the music industry.

I wonder how many Texans know that on any given night in this city, you can find any style of music you want being performed live. We have rock bars, blues bars, jazz bars. We even have karaoke bars (groan). I wonder how many know that ALL types of music consider the Grand Ole Opry hallowed ground because of its history in music in general. I wonder how many realize that what they hear on the radio is perhaps only 2% of the music available in Nashville.

There is so much about this city that you have to come visit and experience in person to understand.

And the biggest thing within it is simply the people. We’re not all perfect, and you’ll run into your person who is in a bad mood or has a bad attitude, but on a whole the city is a friendly and open city. Yet at the same time, its a small community. It’s the strangest thing and it took me forever to wrap my brain around it! I am more likely to run into someone I know at the mall here than I am to run into someone I know at the store back in my small hometown in Texas. Nashville is the biggest small town you’ll ever experience. I even know some of the homeless by name, and I know if I were ever in danger they’d come to my rescue. How does that happen!?

As a teaser to my next blog post, I heard a story the other day about someone going out to help the homeless (who have also been displaced by the flood). Only they couldn’t find them… because the homeless were helping others themselves!

I’ve said it several times lately, but I mean it.  I have been humbled by this city more times in the last few days than I could ever describe. The giving spirit has been stunning. So while this city has humbled me…

…people in my own home state have stunned me with their hateful words towards Nashville. I know so many Texans in Nashville, and I am sure they would all be just as hurt as I am by words such as, “I feel bad for any folks dealing with the wrath of mother nature but…yes the Nashville sound sucks so bad God is trying to wash away the grand ol’ opry and hopefully CMT too!” or “Nashville can shove it! Stay Texas true!!“

I always thought that Texans were proud of their country and held themselves to a high standard. Yes, I read many rebuttals to these posts and others like them. People chastising these words, and standing up for Nashville.

“Feeling sorry for the city and the people of NASHVILLE and the destruction they are dealing with has nothing to do with OUR Texas artists and their music. Have a heart you losers. ‘True’ Texans know & understand the difference!“

I truly believe that last statement, but sadly its the ones that spew such hate that make the biggest impact. It is their statements that will give Texas a black-eye for a long time to come.  Their slaps leave a mark, and as a Texan I think the mark left on my emotions runs deeper than it does on others.

Please, Texas Music Fans, realize that this is about people’s lives. This is about caring about our fellow man, woman and child. This is about caring about our fellow Americans. Please take a moment to realize that before you confuse it or combine it strictly with what kind of music you like.

Anyone wishing to help can donate the the Nashville Red Cross by visiting www.nashvilleredcross.org/donate

In case you haven’t heard, which is very possible given the lack of national news coverage, Middle Tennessee was hit hard by storms this weekend and much of the Nashville area is severely flooded.

Nashville Under Water

I’ll start my account with an email I sent out to family late last night/early this morning:

I thought I’d take a moment to let everyone know that Craig and I are okay up here in Nashville! This has been one of the craziest weekends and experiences. Never in my life did I think I’d live through something like this flooding.

There has been storm predictions leading up to Saturday, but our biggest concern was the chance of tornadoes. In fact, Saturday, Craig and I were under a warning several times. At one point, they listed off streets in which rotation was being seen by Doppler radar… and all those streets were just blocks away. We had pillows and blankets in our guest bathroom tub, ready to take cover any second. To say I was beside myself scared would be an understatement.

As we watched on TV, the interstate that we take into town every day turned into a lake. A portable classroom literally floated down the interstate, and LaVergne (where we live) was declared a disaster area. We couldn’t have gotten out if we had to… all exits out of town were flooded. Luckily, we had food, electricity, and a sense of humor. Our foundation did get over saturated/flooded and our garage had about a quarter inch of water in it… but opening the garage door released that and we were fine.

The storms subsided, but we had more coming our way Sunday morning. Craig and I decided to sleep in shifts on the couch so we could watch the weather coverage. Predictions had originally been that rain would arrive around 10 am. However, before 6 am we were watching tornado warnings make their way our direction again.

Sunday was just bizarre, though. The storms just seemed to camp out over Nashville, and at our house we didn’t see a drop of rain until noon! From then until around 5 pm we just had a gentle steady rain. Nashville, though, quickly started to flood as the Cumberland River began to swell. Then, around 7 pm, the next round of storms came… and they passed JUST South of us!! And the area South of us flooded a bit. So Sunday night, we couldn’t go North OR South! In fact, they had the Interstate closed right at our Exit.

Sunday became almost a vigil, watching the waters rise. They continued to rise through today. Belle Meade has neighborhoods where the houses are up to their roofs with water. People taking boats and jet skis to help others. 185 cars got stranded on I-40 over night last night when the road flooded both directions. Opry Mills Mall was flooded. The Grand Ole Opry house got flooded — water up over the stage. I can hardly believe Craig and I were just there last weekend, when he played it with Joe. My heart seriously just breaks at the images of the Opry under water. Opryland Hotel has over 10 ft of water inside, and the 1500 guests there had to evacuate to a high school. Downtown flooded up to 2nd avenue. Wildhorse Saloon was affected. LP Field, home of the Titans, looked like a big soup bowl. Bridgestone Arena, where the Predators play and big concerts are held, flooded. Our Symphony Center lost a $2.5 M Organ and two Steinway pianos in flooding. And right now downtown is dark, as a transformer has blown…

Craig and I drove downtown today to get an idea of the damage. Or course, we will only really know the level of damage once the water recedes, but we could get some idea of what we were looking at…  I posted a few photos that I took to my Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/denisemattox/tags/flood/show/

Ultimately, we are okay here at our house. The worst went to our North and our South, and we were truly blessed to miss the flooding and tornados.

We have friends who were not so lucky, losing homes and vehicles and places of business.  National coverage of this flooding has been absolutely pathetic. Had it not been for Weather Channel, we’d have had no coverage at all until yesterday. But, its been amazing to see the people band together. Some opened their homes to complete strangers. And you have to be fast to sign up to volunteer, because there are so many wanting to help out.

I am amazed by this city that I love… and love even more now. Now I know why this is the Volunteer State. There have been NO looters, only volunteers.

We Are Nashville — Wonderful blog post. A must read.

I have a degree in journalism. I am proud to have that degree! However, I am literally ashamed of my industry and their lack of coverage of our plight.

I will never discount that the oil spill in the Gulf affects millions and needs to be covered. The bomber in NYC goes with our constant battle against terrorism. BOTH important stories to cover, and as a friend said on Twitter, they are “sexier” topics. However, giving our flood the same amount of coverage as a cow loose in Indiana (no really! I watched a national news program last night and this happened) is a horrible slap in the face to our city.

Lives lost. MILLIONS of dollars in damage just with the Symphony Center alone. The history and heritage of the Grand Ole Opry is a part of our nations history. Many of our musician friends — musicians who bring music to fans around the country — have lost gear. Acts have lost sets. Flights were canceled in and out of Nashville a couple days ago. All of our interstates — that carry goods to all over the country and on which thousands travel daily — were shut down. Some sections of Interstate are STILL closed. Davidson County residents (which includes many hotels!) are being urged to cut water usage in half.

It is not like what is happening here doesn’t affect people nationally. People traveling to or through middle Tennessee need to know about this. (Not to mention the damage in Mississippi, Arkansas, etc.!) Like I said, the lack of coverage makes no sense to me… Journalism degree and all.

Perhaps, though, its because we HAVE banded together so well, not crying out for handouts, that we are not newsworthy enough. You don’t need ANY kind of degree, though, to understand the emotions felt behind all of this. Fear followed by grief followed by pride and love and thanks. And perhaps it is THAT fact that no news program could begin to cover.