Nashville for Free

Monday

National Underground Halloween Party – 8pm-midnight
The National Underground, one of the newest bar/restaurants downtown, is having a Halloween party. There will be $3 specials on signature Monster drinks, and anyone who shows up in a costume gets $1 draft beer all night. There will even be a costume contest.

Trunk or Treat at Cedar Pointe Apartments – 5-7pm
Is the idea of sending your kids to the doors of strangers on Halloween a little too spooky? Maybe you’d prefer them trick or treating from…the trunks of parked cars? Well, tonight at the Cedar Pointe Apartments you can do just that. Apparently people can decorate their trunks and hand out candy in an open area so you can still see your kids. There will also be arts & crafts, cookie decorating, games, and awards for best costumes and best decorated car trunks. If you’re really interested in participating email Courtney Holman at cedarpointe@apg-inc.com.

East Nashville Halloween Pub Crawl – 7pm-onward, 21+
Tons of drink specials at Red Door Saloon East, 3 Crow Bar, Beyond the Edge, and Drifters. Who knows what else you’ll see in 5 points! Probably some hipsters.

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Believe it or not, Turnip Truck has been East Nashville’s go-to natural marketplace at 970 Woodland St for 10 years right now. That’s a huge achievement, and they’re celebrating by having a huge birthday party and inviting every. Yeah, you too!

The party is today from 11am-4pm. It’s free and will feature free samples from some of the vendors (LOCAL vendors) who sell their products at Turnip Truck. There will also be live music, children’s activities, and prizes like gift certificates for the store.

Have a little fun and pick up some milk while you’re at it. Sounds like a win-win to me.

Happy birthday Turnip Truck!

-Emily

The first thing you have to know about Halloween in Nashville is that the biggest, most family-friendly Halloween event in the area is in Franklin. Yes, I’m talking about Pumpkinfest.

The first time I went to Pumpkinfest it was completely by accident. My mom happened to be in town and we thought it would be fun to go to Franklin and we were pretty pleasantly surprised. There were great vendors, tons of people, food, costumes, music, and celebrities.

Pumpkinfest is a huge event for Downtown Franklin. It runs this Saturday from 10am to 9pm and apparently there will be over 75 arts and crafts vendors, a kids’ fun area (on 3rd ave), a stage, a Great Pumpkin (!!!), a Franklin Tomorrow Chili Cook-off, Battle of the BBQ, and a costume contest that only costs $1 to enter. There will also be Cemetery Tours presented by Franklin on Foot, but those cost $15 for adults and $5 for children.

Oh, and keep your eyes peeled for the famous people, but be cool if you see them. There’s so much else to see at Pumpkinfest.

-Emily

Happy impending Halloween! I have some great news for you all. Our wonderful friends at AEG Live has decided to bestow upon us the most excellent of Halloween treats for our readers. Chris Cornell is coming to the War Memorial Auditorium on November 2nd and we have a pair of tickets to give to one of you fabulous people!

As many of you know, Chris Cornell was in a little band called Soundgarden. Let’s just say that my brother was a huge fan so I became a fan. Then Soundgarden was no more but Audioslave came to be. Say what you want about Audioslave, but they rocked, in large part because Chris Cornell rocks. Come on, no one can wail like that guy. I personally couldn’t be more excited to see him live.

But back to the contest! By now you all should know how it works. To be entered once comment (with your REAL name) telling me your favorite Chris Cornell moment. Easy peasy, right?

Well, if you want your name entered into the proverbial hat FIVE extra times then post a picture to our Facebook wall of you in a Halloween costume. Halloween might not have anything specific to do with this concert, but Cornell’s music is pretty damn well suited for the holiday, and well, it’s Halloween weekend.

Get on it, because I’ll be picking a winner by random on October 31st sometime in the early evening.

Good luck, and rock steadily!

-Emily

It’s been a week of what one might call “important movies,” films that are supposed to change your outlook on life. First Miss Representation had two screenings at Lipscomb and now Vanderbilt is presenting a free screening of The Last Survivor in the Sarratt Cinema tonight at 7pm as part of their International Lens series.

The Last Survivor is about just that – people who lived to tell the tale, people who survived genocide and war. It follows the lives of survivors of The Holocaust, Rawanda, Darfur, and Congo and their “struggle to make sense of the tragedy by working to promulgate a civic response to mass atrocities.” It’s probably not for the faint of heart, but this is real life and death stuff, and hopefully, if you choose to see this movie, it will strike a chord in you.

Right after the film there will be a panel featuring two of the survivors featured in the film, Jacqueline Murekatete and Justin Semahoro. It’s definitely something you should stick around for. I’ve had the honor of hearing a few Holocaust survivors speak and while it might not have made me want to join the Peace Corps it certainly changed my outlook on life, at least a little. It certainly made me more aware of triumph over evil.

Again, this film is screening at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Cinema at 7pm tonight.

-Emily

Sometimes it’s the little things (or little trips) that are the most exciting. Things like transportation to Atlanta or Chatanooga for as little as $1. Other than bumming a ride off of someone or hitch-hiking that HAS to be impossible, right? And free wi-fi and outlets for your computer, that’s just not a thing, right?

Wrong! Well, starting next month you’ll be wrong, because the Chicago-based Megabus is coming to Nashville! That’s right, the company that will get you from one city to another for between $1 and $20 depending on how much you procrastinate is adding a hub in Atlanta and, as a result, is coming to Nashville!

I’ve never taken Megabus, but I have taken the very similar Bolt Bus, and it’s a pretty solid experience, especially when you consider how cheap it is (compare that to $54-$70 on Greyhound). There is even free wifi and there are electric outlets for your laptop or whatever, which makes the trips go by so quickly. Well, if the wi-fi doesn’t work then it isn’t as fast, and keep in mind that the buses are sometimes late. Hey, but it’s really cheap.

How is it so cheap? Well, for one, they don’t have a hub like Greyhound, they just pick you up on street corners or in shopping centers. In Nashville the pick-up points are from the Ramada at 303 Interstate Drive in east Nashville and the north side of Commerce Street at the corner of 5th Avenue North in downtown Nashville.

Oh, one more thing. To celebrate the new hub in Atlanta (which opens November 16^th), Megabus is giving away 10,000 (!!!) free seats for passengers who book online at megabus.com using the code ATL10K. And in case you were wondering where you could go from Atlanta, the answer is Birmingham, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Gainesville, Jacksonville, Knoxville, Memphis, Mobile, Montgomery, and Orlando.

In case you haven’t heard, feminism isn’t dead. Now, I know the word “feminist” has quite a few negative connotations in society, but I’m proud to be a feminist, because I am not content with a few things. I’m not happy with the portrayal of women in the media, I wasn’t happy with the way Hilary AND Palin were treated in the 2008 election (and now), I’m not happy that women make up a pitiful percentage of powerful positions like CEOs and Senators.

We’ve come a long way, but let’s face it, gender equality, and I mean real equality, isn’t quite here yet.

Enter the film Miss Representation, which is playing tonight and Wednesday night at Lipscomb. Tonight it’s at 6:30 in the Ezell Center, and Wednesday it’s at 8:30 in Ward Hall. This film by Jennifer Siebel Newsom delves into how women are judged more strongly on their youth, beauty and sexuality than on their capacity as leaders. The film interweaves the stories of teenage girls with interviews with women leaders such as Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda to challenge the limited portrayal of women in the mainstream media.

I posted the trailer above in case you haven’t seen it on any social sites, as it’s been making the rounds.

I’m not going to tell you that you need to see this film. I highly recommend it, because it covers a lot of topics that we don’t really see addressed. Even if they are addressed they’re usually washed away with ball-buster jokes and aren’t taken as seriously as they should, and I think that’s a shame. Either way, the film looks promising, and I think it’s absolutely fantastic that Lipscomb is showing it for free this week. As a Belmont grad I’m sure it’s against the rules to say this, but go Lipscomb!

-Emily

Monday

Lydia Loveless In-Store at Grimey’s – 6pm
According to Grimey’s Lydia Loveless (an Ohioan, woot woot), “combines the honky tonk sound and style of classic country stars…with the no-quarter attitude and spunk of punk rock divas.”

8 off 8th at the Mercy Lounge – 9pm
This  week’s 8 off 8th doesn’t have a fancy theme, but it will feature performances by The Kingston Springs, Ravello, Lonely H, Vitek, Buffalo Clover, Vinyl Thief, Afterlife Parade, and Sol Cat.

1st Ever National Food Day Event at the Nashville Farmers’ Market – 5pm
Join Nashville Farmers’ Market & Community Food Advocates for the first-ever National Food Day Event. This Monday night from 5:00pm-8:00pm, join over 30 local food, farming, community organizations to learn and celebrate food together.

Film Screening: Miss Representation at Lipscomb’s Ezell Center – 6:30pm
This film by Jennifer Siebel Newsom delves into how women are judged more strongly on their youth, beauty and sexuality than on their capacity as leaders. The film interweaves the stories of teenage girls with interviews with women leaders such as Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda to challenge the limited portrayal of women in the mainstream media.

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The scavenger hunt is one of those great kid activities that has made a resurgence in adulthood. I did them when I was 8, and I did them again when I was 18 and went to college. Still, they were basically the same – my group had a list of stuff to do and we documented or obtained some sort of proof that we did it, and the team who finished first or did the most on the list won. In other words, it was very low tech.

Enter Stray Boots Scavenger Hunts and Nashville: The Game. Stray Boots has run in New Orleans, New York, Vegas, Boston, and more, and now they’re coming to Nashville. Nashville: The Game is “an interactive scavenger hunt that shows people the best of their city using their phones.” You play by receiving challenges and clues via text message. You then explore the area to find answers and learn about your neighborhood on the way. Basically it’s what SCVNGR meant to be. It’s done via text, so from you don’t all need smartphones.

While it may sound free it technically isn’t. Well, it is for a very short period of time. The game launches on October 27th but right now, I mean RIGHT NOW, they are giving away free tickets on their website to try it out before then. The first 100 teams get the free tickets, so get some friends together and GET ON IT.

-Emily

You Nashvillians, you sure do love your dogs. I would surely love my dog if I had one, that’s for sure. This weekend in particular is a great one for dog owners. In addition to the ever-so-dog-friendly Musicans Corner (3-6pm in Centennial Park), this Saturday will also see Pit Bull Awareness Day and Barktoberfest.

Let’s start with Barktoberfest, presented by Nashville Paw Magazine, in the Lenox Village Town Center. There’s even free parking at Oasis Church! If you like to dress your dog in costume or look at dogs in costume then you’ll like this event. It runs from 3-6pm and will feature music from Duncan May & The Restonators and Shotgun Scooter. For $15 you can even enter a costume contest for Most Creative Dog Costume, Cutest Dog Costume, Funniest Dog Costume, Best Pet & People Costume Combo and Best Kid Costume. There will even be trick-or-treating for human kids, so your child will get to do Halloween for TWO weekends. Consider kid me jealous.

Second up is Pit Bull Awareness Day at Bongo Java in Five Points. It runs from 11am-3pm and features, you guessed it, Pit Bulls. Pit Bulls often get a bad rap, but this event exists to bring awareness to all the good things about the breed. Pit Bulls have been shown to have incredible temperaments and are used successfully in rehabilitating patients, as search dogs for the police and military, visiting nursing facilities, and aiding the disabled. There will be a parade, contests, costumes, live music, and free spay and neutering for Pit Bulls and Pit Bull mixes.

-Emily