Belcourt Theater, Nashville Tennessee

Belcourt Theater

Nashville Tennessee

http://www.belcourt.org/

About 12 or so years ago the Belcourt theater was on the brink of extinction. It was struggling financially and was in danger of being torn down to put up yet another Walgreens. The theater, a Nashville historic icon, was once a silent movie house and even did a two year stint as home to the Grand Ole Opry in the 1930's. Locals loved its quirkiness such as the many broken seats that made sitting next to your date sort of a fun little challenge, and visits by Porter Wagner, who I saw there once, watching a movie, just trying to blend into the crowd in his sparkly country western suit.

I have so many fond memories of the movies I saw there in those years before Netflix made indie movies easy to rent. This is the sentence where I was going to name a few of those memorable movies, but other than the Salt Man of Tibet, I can only picture the images on the screen and have but vague recollections of the descriptions. I do recall attending a screening of an interesting movie called Normal Life. The movie's two stars, Ashley Judd and Luke Perry, were supposed to have made an appearance but stood us all up. Almost inexcusable since both were living in the Nashville area at the time.

The area surrounding the Belcourt has a few interesting little shops and directly across the street is Fido's Coffee, home of what used to be the worlds best vegetarian burger, but last time I was there, it wasn't quite as good.

The Belcourt was eventually purchased by a local nonprofit group that fixed the place up and diversified the offerings to include theater and music as well as movies. The last time I was there, which has been a year or two, staff expressed optimisim that the Belcourt would continue to survive.

Score one for grassroots efforts.

Bronte's, Nashville Tennessee

Bronte
Nashville Tennessee


Bronte Bistro in Nashville is a pleasant little lunch spot and popular brunch option on weekends. Many of the menu choices are recipes from cookbooks by chefs such as Barefoot Contessa and Tyler Florence. The prices are actually reasonable for the hoity toity Green Hills area, which is after all, home to Nicole Kidman.

The only problem with Bronte's is that it is perched next to the hard to resist Cheesecake Factory. So if you in the area for one meal only, you will have a hard choice.

Davis Kidd is still a wonderful place to browse for books and unique gifty type items despite a change in ownership, a move to a new location a few years ago, and a reduction in what was once a gynormous selection of books. The selection at Davis Kidd is still great, just not as awe inspiring as it once was. I attribute this to online book stores.

A pleasant afternoon if you are in the area would be a shopping trip to the fancy stores of Green Hills mall, lunch and a book browse at Davis Kidd, and then a movie at either the Green Hills theater which often has indie films or the Belcourt theater.

Dineometer Rating: 70-80%

Persian Cuisine

House of Kebab
Nashville Tennessee






In recent years there seems to have been an increase in Middle Eastern restaurants in Nashville, with several in the Nolensville Rd, Thompson Rd. area, suggesting an increase in the Middle Eastern population in Tennessee. In fact, Nashville was one of the chosen locations in the United States for the Iraqi elections.

House of Kebab, serving Persian cuisine, has been around for about 10 years and is the first Iranian restaurant that I have ever visited. Iranian food seems to be a healthy cuisine with many grilled meats, fresh herbs, and olive oil.

I think that it is unfortunate that many people may avoid trying House of Kebab because of political views or whatever misconceptions they have about Middle Easterners living in the United States. But that is their loss. They are missing the opportunity to try a healthy and flavorful cuisine.

Click here for the full review.

The Parthenon, Nashville Tennessee

Nashville has its own full scale replica of the Grecian Parthenon, and unlike the original, this

one wasn't shot to pieces by Turkish soldiers in the 17th century. I know what you're saying. Nashville? Home of Reba, Garth, and ......Hee Haw? That Nashville? Yep.

The Parthenon was built for the 1897 fair. It was chosen because Nashville is "The Athens of the South." Why is Nashville the Athens of the south? The official explanation is that it is due to the abundance of institutions of higher learner in the city. However, my opinion is that, as we all know, with institutions of higher learning come toga parties. Hence the name, Athens of the South.



Replica of the Athena Parthenos constructed in the 1990's.

Replicas of excavated statues.

McKay's Used Books

Anyone traveling through Tennessee might want to consider stopping at McKay's in either Knoxville or Chattanooga. Unlike many other used bookstores, McKay's is well organized so it's much easier to find what you are looking for. The stores themselves are huge. Knoxville has a two-story cavernous warehouse sized building with an elevator which goes to the music loft. Because of the huge selection, traffic is high at both stores, even at midday when you'd think people would be at work or school.

So why do these interior McKay's photos show a nearly empty store? Knoxvillians and Chattanoogans would assume they were taken before the store opens as it is pretty much crowded at every other time. The pictures were actually taken at about 4pm, when the store should be in full swing.

That's because this is the new Nashville store! Nashvillians have not yet discovered McKay's leaving lots of good stuff still on the shelves not yet picked over by bookaholics, musicholics, and movieholics, looking for a good bargain.

I traded in old CD's, audiobooks, and DVDs and earned enough in trade to get the latest David Sedaris book and one other, both on CDs and unabridged, for the $40 in trade that I earned.