Olney, Ely and the Demise of Nutter Butters
So much to tell.....and too little time. FIRST....since when are Nutter Butter cookies not peanut shaped? Perhaps it's been some time as I don't remember having Nutter Butters since we lived in Chicago and they were one of the only cookies the little gas station near us that was open very late stocked. And if you were out late and had perhaps a few glasses of wine and found yourself ravenous....well now and then we had some Nutter Butters and they were PEANUT shaped just like God intended. Hmph.
Anyway....we headed out of town Tuesday morning feeling a bit like we were skipping school....drove through lots of rain and dramatic skies, particularly in Kentucky, but made it into town just fine.
We got lost as we do whenever I try to follow written directions----I'm much better when I just say, "oh, just get off here and we'll find it." It's kind of the way I cook----when I try to follow a recipe exactly it never turns out as well. But we eventually made our way to the hotel, called and reported in as requested----although we'd already spoken to Owen numerous times already.... The show was at 7:30 so it didn't feel as though we had enough time to eat dinner. So we had a drink at the hotel bar and then made our way over to East Nashville. What wonderful houses in East Nashville----I was thoroughly taken with it---and the general vibe of the area. I wish we'd had the time to explore....
We parked and tumbled out of the car and started walking toward the place. A car pulled up and David Olney got out, looking dapper in a creamy linen suit, and looked over at us. I grinned like an idiot because, well, that's what I do, and I gave him a hug and hoped to God he knew who I was and that he wasn't wondering why the large enthusiastic woman was assaulting him.
The show, well, the show was utterly wonderful. It was the first time we'd seen him with a full band, the venue was charming, the wine plentiful and cheap, the crowd happy and responsive and I was just as happy as a clam at high tide. Low tide has got to make clams nervous but high tide must feel like Tuesday night.... I didn't record anything because I didn't want to take away from being in the moment of the songs.... Red Guitar was a standout....as well as his commentary on King Lear, man I LOVE Dead Man's shoes, the film noir songs, the video, ALL OF IT, ALL OF IT, ALL OF IT!
Mary Sack was as charming as I'd imagined, met Rodney whom we've done some booking with and he was similarly kind, got to chat to Peter Cooper again and introduced myself to Julie Sola who evidently is as big a fan of our friend Van as we are! And of course we got to see our beloved Kristi Rose as well!
As we said goodbye to Mary she mentioned the Joe Ely show. I asked her if she thought we could get in because when I think Joe Ely at a small club I think sold out but this is Nashville and it's a different thing. So we made our way over to 3rd and Lindsley where I'd gone by myself last time I was in Nashville. I just looked back at my blog to see and it was only a little over three years ago. It seems like eons....I was going to see Judi, she was in the midst of chemo, my father was still alive but in bad shape, my mother worried about him....it seems like so long ago and yet right there..... ANYWAY....we headed over to the club, paid our money, got a drink and climbed up into a little balcony that made me feel like I was at Mabel's, found a seat and enjoy the end of his show. He seemed as loose and happy as we were...
At that point we were getting tired, hungry and on our way to tipsy. We left and immediately got tangled in the traffic letting out from the New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys concert. I kid you not. We sat in traffic and giggled. Decided we'd just grab something near our hotel as there seemed to be a bunch of restaurants around there. We got there and drove around and found out that DAMN restaurants close early in Nashville. I'm sure there are lots of late night places but they weren't appearing in front of our tired eyes so we stopped at the big gas station kind of near downtown and bought junk food and cheap beer. And man was it a sight in there....wish I'd brought my camera in.....
We slept happily in our big old king size bed....no 9 year olds worming their way in and sticking like glue to my side....it was delightful. We got up and headed out leisurely. We made our way out to Cheekwood in Belle Meade. We felt like we traveled thousands of miles through well groomed properties but I suppose it wasn't that far. I think I prefer East Nashville. We'd planned to stop for breakfast but only seemed to find chains and I wasn't in the mood for that so we feasted on our leftover Nutter Butters. We got to Cheekwood right as they opened. I wanted to go there specifically to see the William Edmondsons on display. They were worth every bit of the drive and the Nutter Butter breakfast. If I ever win the lottery I'll be hunting down an Edmondson for myself....
I'd thought maybe we'd wander a bit, take some pictures but we found ourselves wanting to get home to our boys so we took off.
A total of 800+ miles but worth every bit. The boys had a WONDERFUL time staying with Ann and Bob and Sophie and thought the cab ride from our friend Richard was AWESOME. We savored our moments of joy and can't wait more than ever to have Sergio and David back in our living room come August....