The View from Behind the Lens
🎥 Jay Curtis Miller talks film · Pork of the Year · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone.
Local media is on one this morning. WPLN published a piece on the rising rate of HIV contraction via injection drug use and used that fact to push for “safe needle programs.” The Nashville Banner (who made a bold statement about no longer posting on X less than two weeks after Trump’s re-election) printed a “Guide for undocumented Tennesseans in case of ICE encounter,” which provides advice to those who have entered and remained in the country illegally on how to avoid deportation.
All may seem quiet in your little corner of Nashville, but the tide can shift much quicker than you expect as local media works in tandem with Metro to advocate for increasingly progressive policies.
Onward.
Nashville filmmaker Jay Curtis Miller is not-so-secretly beloved by many at The Pamphleteer, and for good reason. He’s quietly brilliant and unpretentious, and his obsession with every aspect of filmmaking shows clearly in his body of work. Last year, Pamphleteer writer Jerod Ra’Del Hollyfield interviewed Miller multiple times around the release of his short films MK Ultra Violence and Jack. Miller had been making films for over a decade, but it wasn’t until this year that he started getting recognition he can identify as quantifiable success—recognition at film festivals and in print.
Still, the ever-humble filmmaker reminds us, “I still haven’t made a feature film.” There’s no such thing as an overnight success. The road thus far has been years of struggle with gathering resources, finding inspiration, and coping with the emotional intensity that seems to burden most artists.
Miller’s fascination with the filmmaking process was identifiable from the young age of six. In a one story house in Ohio, Miller’s room was one blessed with a television and VCR. While it was his room, he often had to share those blessings with his brother. “That room would get pretty small,” he remembers. At the time, six-year-old Miller knew that he loved film, but “didn’t know how films were made, so [he] wanted to act.” Even then, however, anyone with a keen eye could see that Miller’s talent would shine brightest on the other end of the camera.
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🖋️ Edited by Megan Podsiedlik.
🐷 MATA Wins Pork Of The Year The Memphis Area Transit Authority came out on the top of Beacon Center’s 2024 Pork Report. Despite running a $60 million deficit, the authority was reported for frivolously spending millions in taxpayer dollars, including buying themselves a suite for Memphis Grizzlies' home games. Coming in a very close second was the additional $80,000 spent on improvements to the Titans' old stadium, even though taxpayers are already helping foot the $2.1 billion bill for a new stadium. The city of Lebanon came in third for secretly giving $1.5 million to help a new restaurant move into the area.
"While all three of the finalists deserved the Pork of the Year award, Tennessee voters agree that the way MATA ran an enormous deficit while spending money on luxury expenses that only benefitted their board members was both distasteful and unethical, ignoring their duty to regard taxpayers' interests,” said Beacon spokesperson Mark Cunningham. “In order to recoup this irresponsible spending, the city must consider cutting bus and trolley lines, punishing the people who rely on public transportation the most."
🎓 Support For ESA Over the last decade, Beacon has played a significant role in helping to educate Tennesseans about the benefits of school choice. According to its latest quarterly poll, Governor Lee’s Education Freedom Scholarship plan has the support of 67 percent of Tennesseans, while just 13 percent oppose it.
As we head into the General Assembly, Lee has already hit the ground running with a universal school voucher program campaign ad, hoping that this will be the year the legislature backs his initiative.
🚶 Pedestrianization Of Broadway The vehicle attack in New Orleans has visitors questioning their safety while walking on Broadway. Though Nashville has invested in sidewalk bollards and temporarily shuts down traffic for special occasions, Mayor O’Connell explained why limiting lower Broadway to foot traffic isn’t a viable solution.
“It can be a little bit of a challenge to go all the way to that point of…full pedestrianization of Broadway, in part because it is a state route,” he explained during Friday’s media roundtable. “...That permanent closure may be a little harder to secure because of the need for partnership with TDOT, and possibly state legislative authority.”
“It's a complicated issue, especially when you talk about deliveries that need to be made,” said Inspector Preston Brandimore. “Nashville isn't the same Nashville was 20 years ago. There's more residents that live downtown. They need access to different parts of lower Broad and the city.”
📆 New Spots Coming Soon With 2025 fully underway, the Nashville Business Journal compiled a list of restaurant openings to look forward to. A couple that stand out to me (mostly because of their proximity to my West Nashville abode) are Lion's Share, a hunting lodge-inspired eatery going up on the site of the former McCabe Pub; Tantísimo, a Latin American spot serving food all-day and going up in that empty white building on 46th Ave; and lastly, Turkey & The Wolf Icehouse, a New Orleans sandwich shop popping up in McFerrin Park over by Audrey, Folk, and Redheaded Stranger.
To round out the list of new things to expect in 2025, WSMV put together a scatter-brained list of new businesses coming to the area (Broken Banjo RV Park in Manchester sticks out) in addition to a list of new flights available to BNA travelers (non-stop flights to Iceland, Vancouver, and Ireland stick out). DAVIS HUNT
DEVELOPMENT
- Lipscomb completes latest campus-area property purchase (Post)
- East Nashville mixed-use building sells for $63.26M (Post)
- Auto industry giant sells ex-buffet restaurant site (Post)
THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week here and our weekly film rundown here.
📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.
🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.
👨🏻🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide.
TONIGHT
🪕 Bronwyn Keith-Hynes @ Dee's Lounge, 6p, $10, Info
🎸 Timbo & Lonesome Country @ Jane's Hideaway, 8p, Info
+ modern take on classic country, bluegrass & hillbilly Jazz
🪕 Val Storey, Carl Jackson, Larry Cordle & New Monday @ Station Inn, 8p, $20, Info
💀 Grateful Monday @ Acme Feed & Seed, 8p, Free, Info
🕺 Motown Monday @ The 5 Spot, 9p, $5, Info
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
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