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 84th epic edition of East Side Storytellin’! Like the 83, I repeat … 83, 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 East Side Storytellin’ 84. Let us begin, again.
Before I get to the recap, I want to make a special note for a dear friend who tagged along on this particular show surrounded with such history to shed light on the historical creative accomplishment he has made. I’m talking about John Cannon from The Idea Hatchery family and for creating and sustaining his art studio, John Cannon Fine Art, for ten years and counting. I asked that he bring along some of his artwork to set The Idea Hatchery mood just right and we were honored to have him and his wife join our fun for the night. Congrats, John! Here’s to ten more years and more ahead!
Now, back to the original program you’d expect to read and hear from us. Our first featured artist of the evening is one for the history books. She is an archivist, freelance writer, and historical researcher. In 2006, she wrote Oral History for the Family Historian for the Oral History Association. Her articles have appeared in Archival Issues, North and South Magazine, and the Tennessee Historical Quarterly, among others. She is the celebrated author of the extraordinary non-fiction book, Milliken’s Bend: A Civil War Battle in History and Memory, from LSU Press, and winner of the A.M. Pate Jr. Award and the Jules and Frances Landry Award as well. She’s appeared on C-SPAN’s BookTV, read at the Southern Festival of Books, and was a featured speaker at Vicksburg National Military Park. For the second time she’d spoken about Milliken’s Bend at The Post, having presented a pretty cool reading and lesson for attendees about about a year ago to the date, it was my honor to introduce the likes of Miss Linda Barnickel.
Before the show, It’s safe to say that Linda was the most prepared reader for any show we’ve ever hosted to date. I’ll give her all the credit in the world for her efforts. You must remember that she researched for nearly a decade and wrote for a handful of more years before finishing her non-fiction book. Before our show, she painstakingly tried to condense what could very well be a year-long college course at any established university into a 15 minute talk to a crowd who more than likely had very little knowledge about Milliken’s Bend before this night. And she pulled it off like Muhammad Ali, Allah bless his soul, like a champ. And with all that said, without even over-exhorting ourselves in planning or pairing any of these shows, it just so happened that this show featuring Milliken’s Bend took place on the 153rd anniversary of the battle! Talk about the universe coming together and perfect timing.
Linda had her special copy of her book and notes handy and ready to tackle the task of educating us all. She had an attentive crowd at the edge of their seats and she dove right in. First, she dished out a lot of factoids, including specific dates, names, and a little backstory of the importance of this battle that had been buried in the pile of history books before Linda came along.
Then, after setting the stage for the legendary battle, Linda decided it would be best to read a solid excerpt from the war experience and leave the audience with a cliffhanger so they could go to East Side Story later and buy the rest of the story too. Like I said before, Linda did a superb job of being as efficient with her story as anyone I’ve ever hosted on the show. She did it all with eloquence and confidence and a spark of interest in the past that few seldom show and that was infectious to everyone in the crowd to want to learn more and appreciate the present at the same time.
Our featured musician of the night is another treasured member of the Idea Hatchery family. She is co-founder and owner/operator of the legendary vintage store called Goodbuy Girls, having already found international publicity and notoriety with the work she has done with that and like with her music, she’s just getting started. Raised by a single mother, surrounded with several younger siblings, she worked service industry jobs to pay her way through MTSU (go Blue Raiders) to earn a BA in Accounting and finding a lucrative corporate gig before she realized that wasn’t her bag of tea. An actual Nashville native, her life has unfolded like a number 1 Country song from the early 80’s. She picked up a guitar in her early 20’s and hasn’t put it down since. Her first album, Silver Bullet, is making quite the impression on the Nashville music scene. Accompanied by her favorite collaborator and singer songwriter/producer Shane Tutmarc, it was such a privilege for me to welcome the one and only Tanya Montana Coe to the East Side Storytellin’ family!
Tanya, like Linda, was a little nervous before the show because she had never done a show in such a setting so intimate and quiet. It didn’t take long for her and Shane to realize that imitate and quiet was not a bad thing and that it probably more closely resembled the description of a crowd that was close and listening. She started the set with a song titled Rebel Heart that perfectly matched the tone set by Linda’s battle cry. Then she knocked my socks off with her song Gamblers. You can take a listen to this track and all of the set below, but I beg you to find any act that has played at The Post yet that has ever finished any song the way she finished Gamblers to a full-blown applause from a stunned crowd.
After rolling through track after track without saying much in between, you could tell that Tanya was feeling the room and her confidence was really booming as she told a few tales after the songs and let us know just how special the songs were to her and Shane’s cowriting process. Writing this post the day after the show, I’ve already had several people come up to me or write separately telling me just how remarkable Tanya’s songs were and how they complimented Milliken’s Bend’s sentiments. Point being, the non-formula for booking these shows seems to be the right formula for the best outcomes possible to reveal themselves.
One special note I’d like to add for you to remember as you take a journey into the set below is to appreciate the subtle harmonies that Shane and Tanya shared in several songs. They never overdo the melodies or flood you with too much harmonizing and in doing what they do and how they do, you get the absolute most of the stories they are telling through music. There. I had to say that because I was as blown aways as the rest of the crowd present.
So after Tanya played her debut album’s title track, Silver Bullet, she played a brand new one and then let Shane take a seat. As we do in every show, I had the fortunate opportunity to gather the featured artists up on stage again and ask them some slightly personal and yet fully insightful questions so the audience could get to know the people behind the art. Tanya asked me in pre-show if there would be tough questions that would make her cry and I told her not to worry.
As we got into the background basics and both Linda and Tanya hit their groove of the best ways to tell people where they were coming from, that’s when it happened. I’ll let you listen to the show to see if you can tell when emotions got the best of all of us in the best of ways, but let me just say that it was by far the sweetest moment of an artist revealing themselves to a room filled with family, friends, and complete strangers, that I’ve ever witnessed. It was something I shared with my wife who wasn’t able to make it to the show firsthand and she was happy that it all happened the way it did.
Which brings me to close this recap and say I’m also very thankful that everything and everyone came together in the manner and timely fashion that we did for this particular show. I couldn’t be more proud of the show team, everyone who came out to the show, everyone who promoted this one online, and, most importantly, Tanya Montana Coe, Linda Barnickel, Shane Tutmarc, and John Cannon on the side for coming together to making East Side Storytellin’ 84 such an historic night in my world.
So, while I have your attention and you’ve been waiting ever so patiently, here is the edited recording of East Side Storytellin’ 84. Enjoy it over and over and share with everyone you know, including your baby mama’s mama:
Before I say goodbye for this round of fun, I’d like to give a big round of thanks for Linda and Tanya for sharing their stories, talents, and time with us.
You can read more about Linda’s writing here- www.millikensbend.com
You can listen to more of Tanya’s music here – www.tanyamontanacoe.com
You can look at more of John Cannon’s visual art here – www.johncannonart.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 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.
One big shout out for Bret and Meg MacFadyen to making The Idea Hatchery and giving us all a chance to know and grow and love one another as we make good ideas into realities for our loving community!
I’d also like to show much love to Clay Brunton for the beautiful artwork online to promote the show.
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’ 85
Tuesday, June 21st
at The Post (1701 Fatherland Street) at 7pm
reading-Joshua Moore
singing- Jon Latham (www.reverbnation.com/jonlatham)
That said- that’s all for East Side Storytellin’ 84 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