Back from a short trip to Nashville. Had a great time with the relatives, and checked out some interesting sites in Music City. There were three excellent exhibits at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. The three shows were Rubens, Jordaens, Van Dyck and Their Circle: Flemish Master Drawings from the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen; Whistler, Sargent, and Steer: Impressionists in London From Tate Collections; and Gloria DeArcangelis: Figures and Portraits.

For a city of around 1.5 million people, I am always impressed with the number of activities available in Nashville. Besides the Frist, we visited Cheekwood Botanical Gardens and Museum of Art to see the Helga pictures by Andrew Wyeth, who seems to be finally receiving the recognition he deserves.

There are many good restaurants there as well. It's always a good sign when there are too many choices to pick from when deciding where to dine. We ended having an excellent meal at Bound'ry Restaurant, which serves "global cuisine". As predicted by my brother, the waitress was an aspiring singer/songwriter from Texas.

We wanted to also check out the Bluebird Cafe to hear some upcoming country musicians, but had to settle for a stroll through the County Music Hall of Fame. The intro film presented a good overview of country music that has appeared on tv over the years. With shows like Hee Haw and some of the other lowbrow shows, it's no wonder county music has such a bad reputation. There was good use of technology at some of the exhibits housed in the new building, including an interative selection of video interviews with songwriters who responded to a list of questions about their craft. It was well worth the $15 cost of admission.
posted by Bruce Wright at 10:09 AM #