Thank YOU, thank YOU, thank YOU. Hello Again! Welcome to another wonderful collaboration between East Side Story and The Post. Let me be the first to officially, whole-heartedly welcome you to the recap and recording of the 134th epic edition of East Side Storytellin’! Like the 133, I repeat … 133, 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’ 134. Let us begin, again.
The first featured artist of the night is someone I first met when we were both sent to the principal’s office. Clarification, I was sent to John Grammer’s office to ask a question about the Sewanee School of Letter’s program I was in and this young lady was in the office asking questions about the program before she joined that party. Neither of us were in trouble, at that moment. This artist is a writer and editor in Nashville. She writes essays, memoirs, and tons and tons of humor. Her recent essay, Vee Dubya was a semifinalist in Hippocampus Magazine’s memoir contest. She has read for That Time of the Month, Tenx9 Nashville, Life Out Loud, Heartbreak Happy Hour, and is by far one of the funniest writers I know. I meant what I said: that we were lucky to have her read to us this given night and that it was important for the audience to have properly stretched before she read because there have been plenty of belly laugh cramps whenever this lady speaks her truth. The room erupted with applause for the amazing Christy Lynch!
Christy, the consummate professional, told the crowd that she had not written that specific bio mentioned above (word for word, at least), and for them not to be scared of her Beetlejuice pants. Quick to open up her life on paper and entertain you to the max with her voice and attire, Christy is always a must-see and hear performer. Underneath the thick layer of curated humor that is one side as natural as breathing for her and the other side rehearsed and delivered with the skills of a professional comedian selling out Bridgestone Arena, Christy not only prepared for the show … she kills it, from head to toes.
Christy read two personal pieces for the audience. The first was a detailed account of a woman scorned. Taking place on the internet, next door to an ex, and the Nashville Zoo, this story hit very close to home for most of the people in the crowd. I’m not saying that most of us wrote down contracts that detailed what is and isn’t acceptable for a normal person to semi-cyber stalk old partners to make sure they missed us as much as we missed them or they gave us credit and value that we needed at that given time of becoming single again, but I’d bet most of us have made unwritten contracts for ourselves that would relate. The difference between our contracts and Christy’s is that she shared her contract with an audience, put it to paper with pen, and got even to the Nth degree with her ex on more than one level. Like a great Stephen King short, this story could easily be turned into a commercially successful blockbuster movie tomorrow that mixes humor with love with loss with redemption with a spotlight on a cute animal at the zoo (just because) and revenge with a smile. If you want to hear the story, listen to the recording below (and remember to stretch before you do the belly laughs).
The second story was titled and described in one word as Fancy. Like any great non-fiction story, Christy is a master at providing the perfect family setting to launch any audience into relating with and also empathizing with her past. She lays out the truth with brilliant stings of reality. She labels herself as white trash. She states that her hometown had 22 churches and 1 bar (a bar that served double duty as a strip club). She went on to hide her white trashness with any and everything fancy she could create. She was quick to pour her beer into glasses, and do other things that make other people not think that she ever lived in a trailer or bottle rocket fight in a cornfield (examples straight from her text). When Christy reads anything, she does a wonderful job of balancing the humor with reality and moments for the audience to laugh, think, and feel at just the right parts to maximize the truth in her story. I can’t say it enough. Christy is a master (literally on track to get her Masters) at her craft, and she aims to only get better with every story she lives and reveals. Again, just listen to the reading in the recording below.
Our featured music of the night is someone who was born in Paris, France (that sounds very fancy, but it’s true) to a European film director mom who spent much time in both France and Hollywood. This little savant took her first violin lesson at two years old, played the piano at four, and became a classic vocalist by her teenage years. Point being, she is a treasure. She’s a multi-instrumentalist, Beatles fanatic, film actress, and a self-described pop-rock soul singer. I first met her when she showed up and introduced herself after watching East Side Storytellin’ 129 that featured our mutual friend Scott McMahan, and I immediately wanted to showcase her music and personality. Alongside that same very talented mutual friend named Scott McMahan playing bass this round, it was truly an honor to introduce the one and only Madeleine Besson!
Madeleine started her set like the beginning of her soon to be released album Journey Home. It’s a deeply personal, beautiful song about going home to find beauty … peace … worth … and herself. In it, I found myself tremendously moved by her lyrics and style of play. She plays the guitar with a light touch of jazz, but her vocals come from an era well beyond her birth. Obvious from her skills as a young child, this lady is an old soul. That said, I could easily close my eyes during her songs and believe that I was in Paris, France in the 1920’s. Her voice and songs are pure, unfiltered, and unabashedly honest. She followed Going Home with a song called Today, I’m Free. And as if the first song didn’t blow me off my feet, the second track was a soul-bender that had us all thinking about being alone, building our homes, and learning to walk again. I can’t think of better lyrics to reflect on the recent events on our world news plate. The sunlight is changing and changing us in the process. It was super nice to have a maestro who was directing the band and singing about our realities at the moment.
Scott kept to himself on his stool and kept the backbone of the songs steady with his bass play, and Madeleine took that solid backing and stretched her vocals to the limits (at least what I perceive as limits for any normal person). While she was singing a few songs about unconditional and precious love, I couldn’t help but make up a stat in my head. I’ve heard that most humans only use about 10 percent of their brains, so I envisioned that most humans only use about 10 percent of their vocal abilities too. That given, I’m guessing Madeleine runs her vocal abilities at a cruising altitude of 90 percent of human possibilities. She has a gift of volume and depth and softness and strength that I’ve hardly witnessed in Music City. The final two songs, one containing an original French poem and then the ultimate love song with 50 shades of cool on top of the undertones, were about as perfectly received in my world for that given day and time than any other thing I’ve heard in quite some time. I’m just saying what I experienced and felt. If you take a listen to the recording below, you may feel the same or even more on point.
After the music ended, I kept Madeleine and Christy on stage to talk about everything. And boy did they talk about everything. I think I could’ve listened to them talk about their lives and life in general all night had Tom not asked me to bring up the plugs to wrap up the interview. I broke from the traditional first question (simply moving it to the second question, nothing too crazy) because I had to ask Christy what the deal was with the homepage picture on her website of her chasing sheep and then I had to ask Madeleine if she was talking about my mom in French during her second to last song. Christy jumped right into a great story, like she does, of the time when she moved to New Zealand in an attempt to become an extra in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. She didn’t make the cut for the movie, but she did get that great picture and the best title for any autobiography in the making (or thesis) that I’ve ever heard … so she’s got that going for her (that’s not the title, just my sentiments and compliment). Madeleine said the poem is about the sun and the sunlight and how it affects us in the best of ways (I’m translating and paraphrasing = they always sound better coming from the words in the recording below). Madeleine went on to open up and talk about the making of her latest album with similar truths and intuitive manners that made me not want to stop the show the rest of the night or for days to come. Not to be on a different wavelength, Christy answered several questions about her time at Sewanee and the family adventures she’s had so far with a similar layer of truth, humor, and insight. Point being, these two ladies are brilliant, whether they are sharing their art or just being themselves. It’s not hard to hear them do their things and be moved beyond words. They are both extremely talented and only getting better with every story and song they create and share. We were very lucky to have both of them at the same time and place, sharing these gifts with us.
Now, here it is, here and now = the edited recording of East Side Storytellin’ 134. Recorded at The Post East on Tuesday, July 17, 2018, we were blessed to feature Christy Lynch and Madeleine Besson (with Scott McMahan). You will be doing yourself a big favor if you listen to this show once (or 10 times). I’m sure the jokes will keep you laughing and the songs will touch your soul every single time. Thanks for enjoying this link and sharing it with anyone and everyone you think would enjoy it as well.
Before I say goodbye for this round of fun, I’d like to give a big round of thanks for Christy & Madeleine and Scott for sharing their stories, talents, and time with us.
You can keep up with Christy’s writing here – www.christy-lynch.com
You can listen to more of Madeleine’s music here – www.madeleinebesson.com
Also, you can listen to Scott’s music here – www.scottmcmahanmusic.com
You can listen to this show, edited, soon, alongside the previous shows too, on our website, www.eastsidestorytn.com, at our In Our Own Words Tab – 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.
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.
Our next show will be
East Side Storytellin’ 135
Tuesday, August 7th
at The Post (1701 Fatherland Street) at 7pm
reading- Eiko Shawnsie
singing- Griffin Winton
That said, that’s all for East Side Storytellin’ 134 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. I repeat, please remember to be nice to one another. Thank you and goodnight.
Much love,
mE