The document highlights Nashville's rich cultural landscape, emphasizing its reputation as 'Music City' with diverse musical genres, historic venues, and significant architectural landmarks. Key attractions include the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, the iconic Ryman Auditorium, and the historic Parthenon, showcasing both the city's artistic heritage and modern innovations. Additionally, it provides insights into local shopping and dining experiences that enhance the Nashville visit.

1. Nashville | Going Places | March/April 2010
Come for the music.
Stay for the culture...and the
history...and the shopping...and
the architecture...
Past Issues
By Sally Moe
Enter to Win The City of Music
The Art of Architecture
Free Travel Planner
It’s All Greek to Me
About Us
View Sally's images of Nashville
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Music City. Athens of the South. Cashville and Nashvegas. The Protestant Vatican. The
Buckle of the Bible Belt. Nashville gets called a lot of things...maybe because it is a lot of
TABLE OF CONTENTS things. A center for the arts, entertainment and higher education. A live action history book
with sprawling plantations and diverse architecture. A historic Southern capital that values its
past. A modern metropolis that embraces the cutting edge.
FEATURES
But you know it and I know it: Nashville is all about the music. And what you might not
Destination: Hong Kong know? Not just country music...all kinds of music. Raspy blues, stompin’ honky tonk, rock,
pop, gospel, jazz...even classical.
Beauty, History &
The Bard The City of Music
Come for the Music…
Yup, I did say classical, and Grammy Award-
Sunshine, Shoreline & winning at that. The Nashville Symphony rivals
Sights symphonies of much larger cities...as does its
Hometown, USA home, the Schermerhorn Symphony Center,
named after the symphony’s erstwhile
Always Turned On conductor, who made it his mission to raise the
company’s profile to its current level. Once my
EVERYDAY LIVING
group settled down from neck-straining ferret
Living Healthy overload at the Viennese-style opulence of the
interior, we were wowed by the symphony’s
Here & There
performance of Rachmaninoff’s evocative The General Jackson cruises past Nashville’s
skyline, most notably the AT&T building (aka the
Double Take Symphonic Dances, honored with two Batman building).
enthusiastic standing ovations. Photo: Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention
IN EVERY ISSUE Center
The center’s design is so beautiful that you
View from the Top
shouldn’t miss the tour, which is offered for the bargain price of 50 minutes of your time and
Automotive starts at 1 p.m. most days of the week. The tour provides a prime opportunity to see the
venue’s 3,617-pipe Martin Foundation Concert Organ, a masterpiece of engineering that took
Editor's Notes more than 13,000 hours to construct and finish. (Uh huh...but can you play Misty on it?)
Letters to the Editor
Obviously, Nashville takes its Music City
Ask Pete reputation seriously. Serving as a subtle
reminder of where you are, Music City hits are
streamed via speakers on downtown streets.
Throughout the city, guitar-pick-on-a-stick
signs identify Live Music Venues where you
can catch in-person performances at least four
days of the week. Chances are good you’ll find
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2. Nashville | Going Places | March/April 2010
something you like—the list of participating
places is about as long as your arm and
includes spots like Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge,
The Stage and B.B. King’s Blues Club—and
many of them are within walking distance of
one another on Broadway. Just north of the
intersection of Broadway and Second Avenue
Waiting for the show to begin at the Bluebird Cafe.
is the Wildhorse Saloon; north of Broadway on Photo by: Sally Moe
Fifth Avenue is the Ryman Auditorium, aka the
“Mother Church of Country Music” (née the Union Gospel Tabernacle, built 1892), which was
home sweet home to the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 ’til 1974. Downright convenient.
Speaking of convenience, if you head over to the Green Hills shopping district to pay your
respects to the retail gods, you’ll be a stone’s throw from the legendary Bluebird Cafe, tucked
away in an unassuming strip mall. This is a can’t-miss spot for the quintessential Nashville
experience—where songwriters strut their stuff, either singing their own songs that other
performers made famous, or performing and talking in the round, in the row, during Open Mic
nights or Writers Nights. The main requirement is the music has to be their own. Garth
Brooks got his start at the Bluebird; Faith Hill, Bonnie Raitt, Keith Urban and countless other
luminaries have performed here as well. The Bluebird is snug, friendly and accessible, but
everybody in the room is serious about the music—so hit the mute button during
performances.
Back to Top
The Art of Architecture
If you’re an art lover or an architecture buff,
or simply in search of a shot of visual caffeine,
be sure to spend some time at the Frist Center
for the Visual Arts, next door to the Union
Station Hotel on Broadway. Established in
1934 as Nashville’s main post office, this Art
Deco gem was repurposed in 2001 as a
museum of the highest caliber. It continues to
house the post office’s downtown branch on
the lower floor, while retaining its eye-popping
Gotham-style deco splendor throughout. The
terrazzo, aluminum and marble, and sleek, The Romanesque perfection of the Union Station
Hotel lobby.
spare embellishments of the period greet you Photo by: Sally Moe
everywhere, from the humblest interior corner
to the soaring lobby and magnificent entry. Modern-day renovations to the museum have
enhanced functionality and blend seamlessly with the original structure to provide a complete
experience, where the building itself is every bit as fabulous as its exhibitions, concert series,
interactive Artquest Gallery, craveworthy gift shop and café.
While in the mode of exploring historic, redefined buildings, pop in next door to the Union
Station Hotel. From its completion in 1900, this Richardsonian Romanesque landmark with its
Mercury-topped spire served as Nashville’s train station for roughly half of the 20th century,
until the decline of rail travel eventually led to its closing. After much civic discourse on the
subject, the beloved building was re-opened as a hotel in 1986. Numerous details have been
preserved from the original structure—particularly, the stunning domed, paneled 65-foot
stained-glass ceiling in the lobby, as well as massive stone fireplaces, the train schedule
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3. Nashville | Going Places | March/April 2010
board, stained-glass windows and Romanesque columns and arches. (But not the alligator
ponds? Seriously?)
In 2005, $11 million worth of renovations further polished this historic gem to reflect its
current status as a Wyndham Historic Hotel, so the comfort of the interior fulfills the promise
of the exterior. (FYI, through December 2010, a perk of staying overnight at the hotel is free
admission for two to the Frist Center. Nice how that works out.)
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It’s All Greek to Me
Nashville hosted the World’s Fair in 1897,
and in homage to its “Athens of the South”
reputation, built a reproduction of the
Parthenon as the fair’s visual centerpiece. In
keeping with world’s fair structures, it was built
to inspire but not to last; however, it was so
admired that it was re-created in more
permanent materials some 20 years later. Due
to painstaking attention to detail and proportion,
Nashville’s permanent Parthenon took some 10
years to build. And yet, there was something
missing: the statue of Athena Parthenos.
Athena Parthenos holds court in Nashville’s
She would come...but much later. Parthenon.
Photo by: Sally Moe
Fast forward to 1982, the year that Nashville
artist Alan LeQuire, then just 27 years old, was commissioned to build Athena.
This would be a massive undertaking—and proof not only of LeQuire’s talent, but his sheer
audacity. All told, Athena took eight years to complete. At nearly 42 feet in height—said to
qualify her as the largest piece of indoor sculpture in the western world—she is gilded with
8.5 pounds of 23.75 karat gold leaf, and (I hope she will forgive me for sharing this) her
weight is estimated at 12 tons. A statue of Nike stands atop the flattened palm of her right
hand, and to give you a sense of scale, Nike herself is 6’4” tall. This may be the hardest
thing of all to comprehend as you behold the finished product: That deceptively petite Nike
statue perched on the palm of Athena’s hand is probably taller than you are.
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