Nashville, Right Now!

I think that was Tommy Shaw on the plane. You know, the blond guy from Damn Yankees and Styx. Would have been hard to believe just a few years ago, but rockers in music city? De rigueur!

And it is music city. My limo driver, who was not an Angeleno, as in this was his real job, DRIVING THE LIMO, not trying to make it as an entertainer…all the tourist sites he pointed out were music-related. Well, except for the ‘que palace. He said to drop in at Jack’s…and I’m gonna DO THAT!

It’s over eighty here. Which is hard to believe. Flying east from L.A., it’s always COLDER! And the land is flat. And there are clouds. Not quite like a Michelangelo painting, but the kind that set your imagination free anyway.

The tallest building in town is inhabited by Nissan. Albeit temporarily. Yup, they moved their HQ from Southern California. And while my driver wasn’t quite up on the city’s history, when I saw the bridge I knew Nashville was here because of the river. Which turned out to be the CUMBERLAND! Remember fifth grade social studies? When we moved slowly across the country? From my home in New England to the truck farms in Pennsylvania to the CUMBERLAND GAP?

There’s a stadium… The Titans moved here. Can they survive in a city of 650,000? Oh yeah, that’s right, the NFL has got revenue sharing. And giant TV contracts and now its own cable network. Turns out the music business shouldn’t be run by Doug Morris, but PAUL TAGLIABUE!

There’s a giant Gibson painted on a downtown wall. And tourists on Second Street, where a Hard Rock sits on the corner, where I’m thinking all the memorabilia is country. My driver told me everything was right here, in walking distance of the Hilton. Oh, they’d moved the Grand Ole Opry out to the sticks, by a shopping mall. And the Bluebird is fifteen minutes away. But the old Opry, and Ernest Tubbs’ record shop, are right here downtown.

And what a downtown… Kind of an eastern version of "Last Picture Show". There’s one main boulevard, with a rise in it. In New York City you see the pulse, as soon as you enter Manhattan. There is no pulse in L.A. It’s just like the suburbs you left. Nashville is old school. You can’t see the pulse, but you feel it. With the old-style buildings, the neon. It’s not bright and sunny. And I’m sure super-hot in the summer. But here’s where you go if you want to make it in the country music game.

The main drag’s not inviting. It’s broad, if not quite bleak. The city isn’t gonna make you… This is where you come with your self-confidence, your talent, to show the world what you’ve got. In L.A. it’s your looks. In New York it’s your money and who you know. In Nashville it’s strap on your guitar and show me what you’ve got. It’s not inviting, but if you’ve got the talent, the city is with you.

P.S.

I wanted to hit send on this about twenty minutes ago, but I had a connection problem. Well, first of all, the ethernet cable in the room was broken. And, they asked for so much credit card information on the login page, after I whipped out my own cable, which I don’t travel without, I figured I’d call up and see if I could have it charged to my room.

NO PROBLEM!

I forgot I was in the south. The people here have a mildly stronger accent than Al Gore. Which is just a fraction of the drawl of my old girlfriend from Tallahassee. And FRIENDLY! God, you wonder why there’s still a war between the north and the south. The southerners just can’t understand what all the huff and puff and rudeness is about.

The dude didn’t come up to connect me as quickly as he said, which had me burning in my seat, as I wanted to hit send, but when he knocked on my door and came in, it was like we were NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS! Like he’d dropped by with a cup of sugar, and since he was over might as well give me a couple of cake tips.

Anyway, he said many guests break the ethernet plug so it won’t pull the laptop off the table if it’s stretched by accident. I told him there’d be no accidents in my room. I’m the only one here!

God, I guess if I could be the one to have accidents, I wouldn’t have to go for psychotherapy! Then again, Elvis Costello sang that accidents will happen. And after that, didn’t he do an album "Almost Blue", all country tunes? Funny how the English have a fascination with country. And the Canadians too. Whereas we have a divide in the U.S. If you’re into hip-hop, you’re not going to listen to country, and vice versa. But just like hip-hop used to be the sound of the streets, of a generation, and some underground stuff still is, country is the sound of the American family. Of heartbreak, loneliness and perseverance. As well as some rowdy, liquored up good times. I guess our country will be whole when we can appreciate each other’s music. Then again, Big & Rich have a black rapper, Cowboy Troy!

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  1. Comment by Tommy Shaw | 2007/10/17 at 08:07:22

    Hey Bob,

    When we got to our room last night my wife and I began to get your blog forwarded to our e-mail accounts from friends around the country who’d seen that you mentioned seeing me on that music-biz LA/Nashville flight we were both on yesterday. You certainly have a huge and respectable following!

    How about that flight? Unlike any other, this particular flight is notorious for its passengers, most all of whom are in some way involved in the music business and no other. It’s not the least bit uncommon to see legends sitting in coach because other legends or other travel-savvy music business passengers thought ahead and got their first class seats in advance. I don’t claim to be either one because my wife Jeanne and I didn’t get our upgrade, even though we were #1 and 2 on the upgrade list.

    I heard that you were giving the keynote address today at the IEBA wingding here in Nashville. STYX is receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from them tonight. The place is chock full of promoters, managers and agents I have known and worked with over the years, most of whom I am used to seeing one at a time in their particular city. I’m still trying to figure out the right way to greet folks in clusters as I walk through the hotel lobby. To assume they know me, well, that’s just not in my Southern nature or upbringing, but then when I say "Hi, I’m Tommy…" and the person says, "We’ve met many times…" it’s almost as bad. I can claim, as Sir Paul’s latest CD says in its title "Memory Almost Full." It’s just one of the little awkward things that happens in these situations.

    A few years ago my Damn Yankees and Shaw Blades partner Jack Blades and I went to Le Dome in LA for an A&M Records anniversary party for Gil Friesen. This was probably 1990, and by that time I had not seen any of the A&M alumni for quite a few years and was nervous walking in as I tried to visualize faces I might see and put names to them. Just as we waked in the door, I made eye contact with someone from across the room, who started to make their way towards me. Shit! I know this guy. Is he that radio guy from Chicago? What was his name? My heart was pounding. Now we were face to face and I stuck my hand out and said, "Hi, I’m Tommy…" He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Tommy, I’m John Branca, your attorney." That was 17 years ago but I’d just given up the last of the drugs and alcohol the year before so that was a decent excuse back then.

    I grew up in Montgomery, Alabama and Nashville was the first place I stopped at when I left Alabama to seek fame and fortune. Nashville agent Bobby "Smitty" Smith called me and invited me up to join a band he was putting together. Nashville was a very different place in 1973 but it was still Music City, USA and the rules you mentioned were very much in place. I didn’t make it here and had to play around clubs and bars for a couple more years before someone from the STYX organization heard me at one of them in Chicago and I got my break when one John Curulewski left the band suddenly, but I will always remember leaving my parents a note that I was off to Nashville to make a name for myself. Here I came in my Ford Econoline with my three favorite 8-tracks in heavy rotation: Hank Williams "Greatest Hits," Van Morrison’s "Tupelo Honey" and Elton John’s "Madman Across the Water."

    I still get that funny feeling when I come here.

    I hope your Internet connection is better than mine. I keep having to restart to keep web pages alive, but my new MacBook Pro has a 250 gig hard drive and over half of it is unused. My head may be getting full but my laptop’s just fine.

    Keep on blogging in the free world and I’ll see you downstairs in an hour.

    Until then,

    Hi, I’m Tommy Shaw


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  1. Comment by Tommy Shaw | 2007/10/17 at 08:07:22

    Hey Bob,

    When we got to our room last night my wife and I began to get your blog forwarded to our e-mail accounts from friends around the country who’d seen that you mentioned seeing me on that music-biz LA/Nashville flight we were both on yesterday. You certainly have a huge and respectable following!

    How about that flight? Unlike any other, this particular flight is notorious for its passengers, most all of whom are in some way involved in the music business and no other. It’s not the least bit uncommon to see legends sitting in coach because other legends or other travel-savvy music business passengers thought ahead and got their first class seats in advance. I don’t claim to be either one because my wife Jeanne and I didn’t get our upgrade, even though we were #1 and 2 on the upgrade list.

    I heard that you were giving the keynote address today at the IEBA wingding here in Nashville. STYX is receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from them tonight. The place is chock full of promoters, managers and agents I have known and worked with over the years, most of whom I am used to seeing one at a time in their particular city. I’m still trying to figure out the right way to greet folks in clusters as I walk through the hotel lobby. To assume they know me, well, that’s just not in my Southern nature or upbringing, but then when I say "Hi, I’m Tommy…" and the person says, "We’ve met many times…" it’s almost as bad. I can claim, as Sir Paul’s latest CD says in its title "Memory Almost Full." It’s just one of the little awkward things that happens in these situations.

    A few years ago my Damn Yankees and Shaw Blades partner Jack Blades and I went to Le Dome in LA for an A&M Records anniversary party for Gil Friesen. This was probably 1990, and by that time I had not seen any of the A&M alumni for quite a few years and was nervous walking in as I tried to visualize faces I might see and put names to them. Just as we waked in the door, I made eye contact with someone from across the room, who started to make their way towards me. Shit! I know this guy. Is he that radio guy from Chicago? What was his name? My heart was pounding. Now we were face to face and I stuck my hand out and said, "Hi, I’m Tommy…" He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Tommy, I’m John Branca, your attorney." That was 17 years ago but I’d just given up the last of the drugs and alcohol the year before so that was a decent excuse back then.

    I grew up in Montgomery, Alabama and Nashville was the first place I stopped at when I left Alabama to seek fame and fortune. Nashville agent Bobby "Smitty" Smith called me and invited me up to join a band he was putting together. Nashville was a very different place in 1973 but it was still Music City, USA and the rules you mentioned were very much in place. I didn’t make it here and had to play around clubs and bars for a couple more years before someone from the STYX organization heard me at one of them in Chicago and I got my break when one John Curulewski left the band suddenly, but I will always remember leaving my parents a note that I was off to Nashville to make a name for myself. Here I came in my Ford Econoline with my three favorite 8-tracks in heavy rotation: Hank Williams "Greatest Hits," Van Morrison’s "Tupelo Honey" and Elton John’s "Madman Across the Water."

    I still get that funny feeling when I come here.

    I hope your Internet connection is better than mine. I keep having to restart to keep web pages alive, but my new MacBook Pro has a 250 gig hard drive and over half of it is unused. My head may be getting full but my laptop’s just fine.

    Keep on blogging in the free world and I’ll see you downstairs in an hour.

    Until then,

    Hi, I’m Tommy Shaw

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