By Caroline DuBois (poet) and Jill Block (photographer)

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3621 Gallatin Pike

The aching house stands awkward, hulking,
beside the Piggly Wiggly-or is it an IGA now-
and the barbershop, as if reading over the shoulder
of another era. If the house had shoulders,
they would hunch, embarrassed of its peeling paint
and sagging lines, next to the brick and neon.
This week spare ribs 69¢ a pound, a sign proclaims.
As if hard of hearing, the house refuses to be gone,
to give up its parking spot, to collapse into its own arms.
It’s failed to read the circulars. A weakening offensive
waged against asphalt, against a cheap cut and shave,
against spare ribs, against time. But like a good ghost,
it doesn’t make a scene, just holds its tongue, its stories
tightly like an apology. What a lady! What a gentleman!
While the barbershop pole just can’t shut up.
It just spins and spins its red, white, and blue.

Pilates has made a big splash in the fitness world over the past few years, and Nashville is no exception. Not just for elite models and dancers, Pilates has become what its creator Joseph Pilates had always wanted it to be - exercise for every body. Several studios and well-trained instructors are available throughout Nashville, and we caught up with one of the best.

Owner Erin Weston-Meyers opened Simply Pilates of Nashville on April 1, 2006. The studio has attracted clients from such diverse populations as professional dancers to senior citizens to new mothers, and offers private and class instruction in mat and equipment Pilates exercises. Their motto is “Simply Making Better Bodies,” and the focus is on an anatomically correct approach to Pilates movement. (more…)

Behind and beyond the curtain: Nashville producer Loney Hutchins talks with Ernie Gray about the role of Nashville in modern culture, the collapse of Tower Records, his Cleft Music label, and how bad radio causes school shootings.

EG: You were raised in Middle Tennessee, went to school for film production and subversion in Florida, and were the only one from your graduating class that didn’t head to LA or California. What brought you back to Nashville?

LH: First off, I’ve always found Nashville to be a very friendly city. In my own experience, and in watching others, I’ve found it to be a very welcoming community and, if people seem standoffish, it’s usually because they’re socially awkward… and then they end up being really interesting/creative people.

My motivations were half practical and half creatively inspired. The practical side had to do with my family being so close and also the idea that the film industry seemed like a hellish rat race I wanted no part of. It seemed rather daunting to a freshly graduated film schooler.

EG: Not necessarily a hotbed of the American film industry..

LH:We do have an independent film presence, but I was more inspired by the city’s independent music scene. I didn’t expect there to be such an eclectic community here. I started seeing out of town bands play at the Springwater. I remember seeing a Tallahassee band I knew, Syrup, play there and everyone knew the words. This made me happy.

Around the same time, I caught Lambchop and Yo La Tengo at the Belcourt. I was hit with such a strong sense of community at that show. It’s even become one of those shows where people now say things like, “ohhh you were there, too?” (more…)