JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Nashville or not.

Our children offered to send us to Nashville or any other spot in North America, all expences paid, for our anniversary. They figured Nashville, because of my love for country music, but we are having second thoughts. My wife is having health problems and I've had a few, so if one of us ended up getting sick while we were there, the cheap trip could end up being expensive. My passport is out of date too. We just might opt to travel across Canada and visit or daughters in Alberta and Ontario and some of my wife's sisters in Ontario, hopping from one city to the next. Nashville would be nice but that dream has passed me by.

Go to the Beach!!!!!

Hey Ev:

Don't ya hate that expired passport deal. For what they cost and all the agravation they put one through, a passport should be good for life. Mine is long expired and I treasured it 'cause of all the port of entry stamps I'd collected from around the world.
Oh well, I wonder if I can blame this on Obama... LOL?

Nashville is great for folks who live there but it is a little pricey for visitors and navigation is not a breeze. That Canadian National Train ride across the country up there would be my idea of a super vacation. Regardless, here's wishing you and your bride of 50 years all the best on whatever vacation trip you select. Be careful and have a great time.

Dave

Everette, Might make a good song. "There's nothing in Nashville but get-rich-schemes/Smooth-talking hustlers peddling dreams/ a town full of losers/ Looking to score/ No, I don't dream of Nashville no more" Then again, maybe not. Where-ever you go, enjoy the trip!

What gives you that idea?
Nashville is pricey for everybody. There a some here who have a lot of (mostly old) money, and many who have very little...and it seems that the powers-that-be have a vested interest in keeping it that way. The plantation is not that far in the past. When we moved here from North Carolina, wages were about 60% of what you could make for similar work elsewhere. I have to go out of town to make any money playing music.
There is no income tax here, but sales tax is around 10%, even on food. The schools are terrible. Ignorance is rampant, especially in our state government.
The state is physically beautiful, but it is one of the most regressive places I have ever been. If it wasn't for the songwriting community, I probably wouldn't live here.
Tourists only get reamed while they're here, but we who live get reamed on a regular basis.

Spent a couple od days in Nashville last June. Not very exciting. May I suggest Branson?

Everett
It depends on why you are coming to Nashville.
If you want to see the historic sites and go to the Grand Old Opry I'd consider it. The Hall of Fame is pretty nice. Lot of history there. Beyond that I wouldn't.
Music Row is nothing more than a street with a bunch of buildings on it. There really is nothing to see there.
The Strip (or Broadway) is for the young crowd. Mostly bars with Cover bands.
And I'd say that is most of the Tourism here.
If you want to see the "songwriting community" don't go there. Get together with someone who knows where those places are because they are not so obvious.
The Ryman Auditorium is downtown by the Strip. But that isn't the Grand Old Opry anymore.
The Grand Old Opry is in a huge shopping center tourist attraction outside of town. The charm of the old place is gone.


You like Country music but I think you like "traditional" country music. There's not much of that here any more. It's Country Pop or Rock or what ever you want to call it.

I don't share Kurt's assessment of Nashville. But I lived in Chicago. Now that's expensive. I also lived in Michigan. You want to talk about regressive and crappy schools?
Nashville's people are very friendly. They actually smile when you say Hi to them on the street.

But I don't vacation here I go to the Beach, Gulf Shores Alabama and fish for Pompeno and Amberjack.
I live twenty minutes from downtown Nashville. I am trying to find a place 1 hour from downtown Nashville where I have some land and a place to Hunt Deer, LOL. That is what I miss most about living in Michigan.

You can't go wrong going to see the family.

Buy a couple of best of Nashville Dvds. (Historical Nashville)or (Best of The Grand Old Opry)etc. and bring along some of your favorite country music Cds and save yourself the hassle.

Hey, you just may have the time of your life.

Have a blast.

Nelson

Hey there Kurt:

I got the idea from living there about 20 years ago. Back when I was "in the chips" and living off the fat of the land.

Seriously, I did live and work there and it was very much like Fort Worth, Texas in style and cost of living. I enjoyed it alot but heard tons of complaints from visitors from other parts of the country complaining about how tourists were being ripped to shreds. I would imagine that it has changed alot since "the good old days" but I have not been back.

My sympathies for the pain you guys are enduring.

Regards,

Dave

I think Bill and Kurt told the story pretty well. Maybe because they both live there now.

I used to live there like Dave.

I went to the Opry once when someone gave me a free ticket. I think it's too high priced to go now.

If you're a tourist, there's a lot of places that like all tourist places everywhere cost a lot. I like traditional country so I don't know how I'd like the tourist stuff now. Opryland Hotel is a nice place to visit. Or it used to be. They decorate at Christmas and they used to have "the jungle (the cascades)" and some other area I can't remember the name of. You can stay there or you can just visit. At least you used to be able to.

If you're into writing and writers, it is a great place to go. There's always something going on for writers. Always. Sometimes, fairly rarely, you'll see a star.

I haven't been in a couple of years because of sickness. The last time I was there it was April 1 and it snowed! Went from like 70 degrees to freezing in one day. I didn't have a coat.

The last time I was going was July 4 in 2010. I was gonna meet up with Bill Robinson on that trip. Imagine---two curmudgeonly conservative songwriters solving all the problems of the world....but then I blew a tire in Rocky Face, GA. I had to spend the night because they didn't have my size wheel. Another time I was gonna hook up with Mike Dunbar but Razzy Bailey came through town and he and Mike have a long relationship so he was too busy to meet.

you answered your own question Everett

unfortunately if you are old and have health problems you really cant enjoy trips to exotic places like when you were younger......so stay in Canada and get a rail pass or whatever to see relatives...or better yet take the money and put a satellite dish on the igloo so you will have faster internet and more choice of tv than Ice Capades.....

Happy Anniversary!

Tom

I'm getting an inside tour and education on Nashville, not what you would get from the tourist department.LOL As you say, the country music is not the style I like anymore,I didn't realize that it was expensive, but most tourist places are.

Bill, we don't have any deer in Newfoundland but we have lots of moose, too many. I live on a farm and about a mile down the road from me,on the next farm, there is a herd of caribou, about 200, you're not allowed to shoot them. The farmer is not too happy,they destroy a lot of his crops.

If I lived where you do, I'd be updating the old passport and hopping a plane to Florida or the Bahamas. Half of Canada is already there.....

When Justice and I went to Nashville for Mike Dunbar's Demo Derby three years ago, it was great. We both really enjoyed visiting. The people were all very friendly. I will be a contrarian here and suggest you might want to go.

Tom

I'm sure Nashville woud love to have you. I;m sure you would get a kick out of the Country Music Hall of Fame. You've gotta see Webb Pierce's car!




Could be worse...one could live in Miami, Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, San Fransisco, New York City, LA....Tennessee as a whole is considered one of the cheapest states to live in for what it's worth.



Really?...I liked my school. I would even go as far to say that it was a great school. Not disputing there are bad schools as well, but it depends on where around Nashville you live. But, It's like that everywhere. Terrible? You make it sound like the schools all have metal detectors to keep kids from bringing firearms in or something.

what do they call a high school graduate in Tennessee?

answer-GOVERNOR





Tom

Everytime I start planning a trip to Nashville, the few friends and aquaintences I have there all tell me to go someplace nice save some money and listen to some good traditional country. The latter most easily found on a CD now days.

enjoy the vacation.

Thanks Rob.

Agreed. The CMHOF rocks! Buy a membership. If you go twice, it's paid for...and you won't see everything on one visit.






Compared to places like that, I'm sure that Nashville has a certain small-town charm. I wasn't trying to discourage visitors, I was just contesting the notion that Nashville is pricey only for visitors.



"For what it's worth" is a great qualifier.





Did you go to a public school in Davidson County? If so, then you probably didn't get enough of an education to understand what the statistics mean. An extremely small percentage of public school students are performing anywhere near their grade levels in any subject.
Metal detectors? Everybody knows that the state legislators made it legal to carry firearms into schools...no, wait a minute...that was bars.
When I first came out here, one of the first decisions I made was that my daughters would not finish high school here. I commuted to and from eastern North Carolina for three years to make sure that they both got to graduate from the school where they did. One graduated (Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude) from Brandeis University and is now in grad school at the University Of Texas in Austin, and the other went through Columbia University (NYC) and is now working on a Phd in Chemistry at Princeton. I'm convinced that their high school had a lot to do with it.

Nope, I didn't go to school in Davidson County, I went to school in Sumner County. But that's just as close to Nashville as Williamson County is, and they have some really nice schools there, just a couple of minutes from the middle of downtown...minus traffic. My point was that every city has rough patches, and a person could certainly get a worse education elsewhere. And if you bring the Nashville private schools into it, they are nice too..almost as nice as the public schools in the surrounding counties.

Just thought I'd jump in here once more.
I'd rather think Kurt, his wife, and his daughters work ethic had more to do with their success than the school they attended.
I think Public schools in general are pretty bad.
I think you can thank the Unions for that.
It seems there are quite a few Private Schools around Nashville. A lot of folks send their kids to the private schools.

As far as the City of Nashville goes;
Well I just had three friends come down for a 4 day stay. They spent all four days hitting the various venues and clubs in Nashville. They come from Chicago and are pretty active in the Clubbing scene so they see a lot of bands and singers.
They were absolutely blown away by the level of talent here.
They had tickets to Dierks Bently at the Ryman. They were having such a great time hitting all the clubs they gave their tickets away. Opting instead to continue seeing the various Indie bands and Artists.
They are already planning their next trip.

Come to Scotland...all your problems would be solved.

Um yes,
Come/go to Scotland. Take your warm jammies and your rain coat. How close am I Big Jim?

There are definitely GREAT free performances to be seen downtown. The Don Kelley Band (at Layla's Bluegrass Inn) is worth a trip to Nashville.

Yes Kurt
They were at Layla's. They also spent some time at Tootsies. Of course they moved from place to place.
I don't know who was playing but they had a great time.

Nashville is a tough town.

NASHVILLE IS MY HOME

MUSIC BIZ HAS 98% UNEMPLOYMENT AND PROBABLY WON'T CHANGE--WITH MANY WANNABEES DRIFTING THROUGH ALL THESE YEARS SINCE 1960

WE LOVE TO PARTY STILL AT MY AGE--THE NASHVILLE PALACE HAS A GOOD BAND AND DANCE FLOOR--WE BRING THE NEW YEAR IN OUT THERE EVERY YEAR

NASHVILLE IS A FRIENDLY PLACE, WITH EXPENSIVE PARKING DOWNTOWN--I'VE LIVED A LOT OF PLACES, BUT I PICKED NASHVILLE, TO RETIRE--A DIVERSE COMMUNITY

FOR 50 YEARS, I'VE ENJOYED LIFE HERE IN THE SURBURBS--MY PLACE IS PAID FOR--I'VE WATCHED A LOT OF PEOPLE COME AND GO--I THINK I'LL STAY ON A WHILE YET, AND WRITE ON!

Mackie

I LOVE Nashville,find it MUCH cheaper than most tourist destinations in the U.S and PLENTY to do if you do your research on where to go. If you go there with REALISTIC expectations you won't be disappointed. Hey, I noticed MAB is conspicuous by his absence lately. He should be chiming in on THIS one!

BTW, Big Jim.. Great avatar, you look positively STUDLY!{lol}

Your in the right/write spot Mackie, just keep on posting and pushing, and you might get your own parking place in downtown Nash....~~~MFB III