Thank YOU, thank YOU, thank YOU. Hello Again! Welcome to another wonderful collaboration between East Side Story and The Post. Before we get started on one of the wildest, loudest, and most amazing shows to date, I first want to let you know what happened pre-show this round.
Two shows ago, when we featured the very talented Nadia Bruce Rawlings, I was introduced to the talented poet and Kentucky Colonel Jonathan Finn Formica (better known everywhere as simply Finn). He mentioned after that show that he was going to be filmed alongside the world-renowned food writer, TV personality, chef, and teacher Andrew Zimmern as he films his next great television show. Talk about a wonderful, BIZZARE way to spend a lovely September Tuesday night in Nashville, right? And talk about perfect timing too since I had already scheduled one of the best food journalists in area to be the featured author for this particular date before knowing about Andrew coming to town. Sometimes everything works out like Baby Bear soup. Oh, to preface the TV deal, the premise of the show that we were told would be that Finn would take Andrew all around Nashville in his cab and show him the real people, entertainment, and food beyond the typical stereotypes of Lower Broadway and other places every other television show and their mom always films. I agreed to let Finn crash our previously planned East Side Storytellin’ show below so he could get some film of him reading his original poetry in front of a great crowd. That is where we left it.
Not really planning as much as usual because I was only in charge of one production team (ours), besides giving the featured guests and the owners of The Post a heads up that this TV spot was a good possibility, we went with the flow of the day. The flow of Tuesday, September 15th ended up meaning that an entire productive, excited, and extremely nice film crew crashed our site at 7pm, just in time for the regular audience attending the show to gladly sign waivers and sit with Andrew to witness Finn do his thing for us. We didn’t record the reading, but it was something fierce, stylish, and special (basically everything Finn is all of the time). It was an all-around perfect addition to a crazy night, and the schedule worked out perfectly because some of the band was caught in traffic so sound check was serendipitously delayed for us to get everything in just right. All that said, you can see from the picture below that Andrew enjoyed the readings, the music, The Post, and East Side Storytellin’ to the fullest. I’m already looking forward to seeing how the TV show turns out later this year (we’ll keep you posted when we know it will air … it will be the premiere episode!) and also what Andrew thinks about the Based On: Words, Notes, and Art from Nashville that I was lucky enough to give him a copy of before he left.
Now, back to the normal programming that you expected before I dropped that delightful bomb above…
Let me be the first to officially, whole-heartedly welcome you to the recap of the 67th epic edition of East Side Storytellin’! Like the 66 previous shows East Side Story has put together, we all decided to take a break from our busy schedules all over town in order to sit back and relax and get everyone cultured up just right in the form of a Nashville writer reading from original prose, followed by an amazing local musician performing and talking about their original music, and then a round-up creative conversation with all featured guests of this event to talk about their individual journeys and personal ties to Nashville. Without further ado, fulfilling the entertainment portion of your day, this is the recap and recording of East Side Storytellin’ 67. Let us begin, again.
The first featured guest of the night was a self-trained chef and retired and recovering caterer with 25 years experience. With a background in the fine arts, she ran her own full-service catering company called A Matter of Taste for over 16years, working for and alongside individuals, corporations, universities, non-profits, and the entertainment industry. She cooks and teaches others at Second Harvest Food Bank’s Culinary Arts Center and at Magdalene House through Green Fork Academy. She also serves on the board of Walk Bike Nashville (not to be confused with another favorite Walk Eat Nashville – who happened to be in the crowd for the show = thanks for coming out Karen!). A member of the Community Food Advocates and Les Dames D’Escoffier International (say that 3 times fast), she is here tonight because she is an excellent food writer. She has contributed articles for several magazines, consistently reviewed Nashville restaurants in a weekly column for The Tennessean, and also has dabbled in poetry and prose to Alimentum (the Literature of Food). This particular night, she was ready to share with everyone excerpts from her first cookbook titled Third Thursday Community Potluck Cookbook, which you can purchase at East Side Story. It was truly an honor to showcase the Third Tuesday community celebratory leader in that of Nancy Vienneau (pronounced V-N-O just so you know)!
Nancy took to the stage with a beautiful outfit and a plate full of home-made cookies for all to take in during her reading. She began with a very cool excerpt related to a special tomato inspired dish since we were still in East Nashville and that is our patron vegetable/fruit. She then went on to talk about figs and another dish that reminded me totally of Christmas (soon approaching and will be here before we know it as usual). Actually, speaking of Christmas, Nancy personally reminded me (not sure if it was her voice or appearance or manners or all of the above) of the mom in the movie The Christmas Story. Everything about Nancy’s reading made me and others present extremely hungry and happy about the great food and sense of community she was talking about that she practices daily with her family and friends. I honestly can’t wait to try the community potluck and the recipes in her book as soon as I have some free time to do so. You should plan on the same.
(*random special note = I want to give a particularly huge shout out to Nancy for being so flexible with all of the unexpected scheduling of the night. Not every artist would have been so patient and smiling through the entire night. The same can be said for Kat Milk Blu too, by the way)
The featured music of the night came from a band of talented folks that have joined forces and are making a big name for themselves (as evident from Andrew’s tweet and the way the entire TV production crew when gaga about them – we all went gaga over them). When LA woman Chloe Kat came to town a few years back, she never imagined playing a fateful show at The End where she shared the bill with Bam Bam, Isaiah, Aspene and Nate Foley and their band called Studio Blu and then being moved to tears by their performance of Funkadelic’s trance-inducing song called Maggot Brain. Wiping away the tears, Kat and the boys vibed so well backstage, sharing similar musical tastes, dedication, dreams, and opinions of humanity that they decided to jam together and have been blending sounds every since. Ladies and gentlemen, I’m not sure if you’re ever really ready for your mind, body, and soul to be blown away, but all of that will most certainly happen when you are introduced to the musical stylings of Kat Milk Blu!
Without any words or thoughts about introducing themselves after I introduced them, Kat Milk Blu dove right into their music and literally changed everyone’s worlds forever in an instant. Downtown could have the Americana Music Festival and a million other shows going down around Nashville all week long. I’ll go ahead and say that I instantly knew from the first measure of the first song that I was witnessing the absolute finest live music show in the land and that I’ve experienced in a very long time and I wasn’t alone in thinking that way either.
Chloe Kat is a bonafide star and director of grandiose poems that fit the accompanying music like rain exploding from a stormy cloud onto land that has been in a drought for some time (possibly a reference to Nashville’s overblown pop country scene and how the actual residents here deserve more attention that just that for the masses). The rest of the band, man, I really can’t say enough about them. They reminded me of The Funk Brothers, the band who made all of the hits for Motown and more … but they were even more fresh and relevant. I mentioned it after the show to them, but they sounded so tight, moving in and out and over and under grooves seamlessly and perfectly without even looking at one another as if they have been playing together for 20 plus years. These guys mix rock, gospel, soul, funk, and pretty much every other genre of music together into a beautiful blend of something magical to hear. You can tell from my words above that I am now one of their biggest fans, but, again, I’m not alone.
Then, because Kat Milk Blu had another gig across town after our show (because they are that in demand and deservingly so), I had the band and Nancy up on stage to share one microphone and discuss a little bit of how they each arrived in Nashville, how we all arrived together, and also how we all continue to do what we love to do. It was a comfortable, extraordinary thing to be a part of with such amazingly talented artists and good-hearted people all in one. I can’t say thank you enough to these people.
So with that said, I’ll just let you listen to a show that will most likely change your life for the better (not that it was bad before reading and listening to this though). Here is the edited version of East Side Storytellin’ 67 that featured Nancy Vienneau and Kat Milk Blu (with a side of Finn and Andrew Zimmern too). Enjoy and share with your friends and family and yourself, over and over until we break the internet.
Before I say goodbye for this round of fun, I’d like to give a big round of thanks for Nancy Vienneau and Kat Milk Blu for sharing their stories, talents, and time with us.
You can read more about Nancy’s writing here- nancyvienneau.com
You can listen to more of Kat Milk Blu’s music here- facebook.com/katmilkblu
You can listen to this show, edited, soon, alongside the previous shows too, on our website,www.eastsidestorytn.com, at our In Our Own WordsTab – see here – www.eastsidestorytn.com/in-our-own-words
I’ll keep the gratitude going for Tom Eizonas, my lovely wife and most talented artist in Emily Harper Beard (efharper), and everyone that came out live to support the show … and to everyone who has helped continue to spread the word and support the show online afterwards.
I’d also like to show much love to Clay Brunton for the beautiful artwork online to promote the show.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t share a big thanks to Finn and Andrew Zimmern and all of his wonderful production team who took time out of their busy taping and travels around town to drop by and witness something we do on the regular that we know everyone who participates and attends appreciates more than words. Continued success to you both!
Last, but certainly not least, I’d like to give one last shout out to Tonya and Chris for making The Post so welcoming and positively life-changing for the East Nashville community at large.
The NEXT East Side Storytellin’ event will be …
East Side Storytellin’ 68
Tuesday, October 6th
At The Post (1701 Fatherland Street) at 7pm
reading- Christine Hall (facebook.com/ChristineHallisapoet)
singing- Aaron Lee Tasjan (aaronleetasjan.com)
That said- that’s all for East Side Storytellin’ 67 and another fabulous event at The Post with East Side Story at the helm. Thanks for coming out and sharing the good word and giving some love to all of these great Nashville artists and our creative ideas. Please remember to be nice to one another out there.
much love,
mE
