The Weblog of Daniel Tashian

(Or how I learned to stop worrying and love the condominium)

Nashville, Tennessee is revealing itself to have an unusually high propensity toward comitting architectural hare kare. Everywhere you turn they are knocking down some of the last remaining 100-plus year old structures to replace them with nice new buildings. The latest in this continuing series of disapointments is the church across the street from my house, on South Douglas Ave. The congregation is partly to blame, for they decided to put it on the market. The community rallies, in its defense, but the battle-cry of the Nashville preservationist is about the equivalent of a barely audible whimper. I’m not saying I’m above criticism. I received the xeroxed pamphlet under my door. I knew where the meeting was, and at what time to “Save the Church”. Call me pesimistic, call me what you will, I just didnt want to waste a perfectly good Tuesday night, when I knew with complete conviction what the outcome would be, not matter how outraged I was. Money always prevails when it goes up against outrage. Look at it this way, which would YOU prefer?
There are very few buildings as old as this church remaining in Nashville. This city seems to have little to no interest in preserving them. This is something that sets Nashville apart from some of its similarly-sized neighbors. It will always be tainted by a slightly off-kilter redneck contingency, devoted to bigger and uglier developments, and the money to procure larger S.U.V.s.
Most of the time, I can embrace the good things about Nashville, and sort of turn a blind eye to the rest. But it’s hard, when it’s right across the street.

Yipee!! This thing is totally cool! Just got a copy of apple’s ilife. Wow! It includes updates for all the regular “i” applications, but it also includes garageband! What can I say? This piece of software is incredible. I installed it on my laptop, then put it on Leslie’s imac. Within 30 minutes of installing it, she had created a song, then exported it to her itunes! This is a bit of a stretch, so try to hang with me, but I think this software is making our communities more tribal, more connected to our African ancestors. Let me explain: In the ancient model of the “tribe”, which all societies are based on, the role of musician was the role of every citizen! To cheer on the newlyweds! To chant for the returning hunters! To sing for the shamen as he performed a medical or spiritual rite. Then, somewhere along the way, the creation of music became an elitist endeavor. Being a professional musician, it feels strange advocating a program that could potentially put me out of work, but you can’t look at it that way! This is a fear-based rationale. Try viewing it in terms of the potential for new and interesting musical forms and strains to emerge from those previously considered “non-musicians”. What has been eliminated is the learning curve. It’s as if Apple has created a platform which offers a direct connection between the creative impulse, and a finished product. That in itself is quite a feat! Now, it’s up to society to determine what the outcome of this will be. I like to think about what John Cale or Andy Warhol would have made of these cultural situations. I think they would sit back and laugh, and be amused by the various creations that emerge from this technology! Here is Leslie’s song!

Spent the better part of the afternoon, once again, house shopping. This time East Nashville was the locale. There were some interesting places, the kind of houses you would say to yourself: “That’s pretty neat, with a coat of paint, and some new light fixtures, maybe a kitchen and bathroom re-mod, it could work.” and you’d (or should I say I’D) expect to pay maybe 100, maybe 125 thousand tops…only, the price would be (gasp!) 225 thousand!! I realize this is not a king’s ransom for a house, but please! The realization of the price would send me scurrying to the backseat of Barbara’s Volvo, to the comfort of my snack pack, while I waited for the girls to finish pacing out the premises. Leslie and I discussed it later, both of us feeling we were behind the curve in this area. “Go to East Nashville, ” my mom said;”That’s an up-and-coming-area. You’ll get more for your dollar over there. It’s an ‘edge’ neighborhood. ” Well…it would appear that it’s already-come-up, and now, the people who bought into it when it was up-and-coming, are interested in making some profit on people like us who are late-to-the-table. So there….maybe back over to this side of the river, where 100 thousand dollars is still 100 thousand dollars! The quest continues!

Spent the better part of the afternoon looking at houses with Barbara Moutenot. She is our appointed realtor for the duration. We weren’t actually looking at houses today, mainly apartments. You wouldn’t think Nashville would be the hub of urban lifestyles, but it is! Take for example Werthan Mills. This is a beautiful old textile-mill-turned-loft-apartment space that is massive! We looked at several different spaces, but it was pretty dark in there, so it was hard to picture ourselves there. We also looked at another development called “Ireland”, which was all new everything. These were nice, but sort of cold feeling. I was glad to go, to do the research, but at the end of the day, I think a regular house will be the thing I feel the most comfortable in. I think the lofts are beautiful, i’m just not sure they’re for me. So tomorrow, we look in East Nashville. Cross fingers. How did I get to be so much like Eeyore!