Symphonic Sounds
Time to play Enlighten the Knucklehead.Everyone is comparing the Sounds ballpark deal to the raw deals the city made over the Coliseum and the GEC, because they are sports venues. I never see anyone talking about the Symphony Hall, where a prime piece of downtown land was given away for the private development of an entertainment venue. And unlike the Sounds deal, the Symphony deal has no development of condos, shopping, greenway, etc.
I was missing from Nashville for a couple of years and I was not around for the Symphony Hall "debate." From talking to friends and looking up archives, there was no debate. I looked it up today and found that it passed in council 35 to zero. Was it the power of Martha Ingram? If anyone here, pro- or anti- baseball park can explain the differences in the two deals, I would appreciate it. On the surface, it seems that it is easy to hate baseball, but hating the symphony (or Martha Ingram) is taboo. Surely there is more to it than that.
posted by Nashville Knucklehead @ 11:19 AM
4 Comments:
The Symphony is ubertrendy with the winebar-hey-we-can-be-just-as-cool-as-new-yorkers-don't-judge-us-harshly-kay-west crowd.
There was NO way they were gonna not let that puppy pass.
Well, As I said, I wasn't here. Surely there is more to it than that. But on the surface, it appears that it is easy to say baseball is for a bunch of ignorant rubes, but opposing the symphony is also for ignorant rubes. Even people who have never been to a Symphony in their lives. Was anyone screaming about the schools when that land was given away? I honestly want to know.
I was here and I never heard one word about it. Nothing about the vote, nothing about the funding. Nothing.
I'm not nose-to-the-newsprint on local stuff, but I'm not completely ignorant either. I remember a few brief blurbs in the press about the possiblity of a symphony center, but no controversey.
In fact, we used to drive by the Schemerhorn site once a week, at least. We watched them tear down old buildings, fence off the land and begin construction.
I was surprised to find out it was for the Schemerhorn because, as I said to Tim, "we sure didn't hear any big debate about it. Huh. I guess the Symphony is easier to pass Metro Council than another stadium."
Seriously. That was the conversation we had.
The Sounds never gave a penny to any political candidate. On the contrary, they have been an expense item on the Metro budget for 20+ years as we pay for the downkeep of Greer Stadium.
Ingrams, on the other hand, have alsways given money to every candidate. they hedge their bets by contributing the max allowed to anybody running for any significant office.
My diasppointment lies in the fact that the symphony hall was our last chance to get some big private money behind a building to create something truly architecturally interesting for Nashville. Think Bilbao. Instead, we get another damn Greek revival limestone box, albeit probably filled with the baddest-assed acoustic design anywhere. Too bad kenneth didn;t make it long enough to conduct in it. What incredible irony...
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