Once again, it is time for us to turn our heads towards the earth to seek advice from that all-knowing weather man; the groundhog. Like consultants, there are plenty of them out there. Also like consultants, all of them are willing to give you their opinion wether you like it or not.

The question is, who do you believe?

By far, the most famous of these prognosticators is Punxsutawney Phil from Gobbler’s Knob, PA. His prediction this year is that we are in for six more weeks of winter. Then again, he is from Pennsylvania so let’s seek another opinion.

Unfortunately the local Nashville groundhog, Lil, died on January 17th. That leaves Owl’s Hill Nature Sanctuary, the typical source for Nashville’s groundhog prediction, without a mid-Tennesee indicator.

That leaves us with my favorite groundhog predictor of all time: General Beauregard Lee, Ph.D., the official groundhog of the Yellow River Game Ranch in Atlanta, GA. Beau wakes up every Groundhog Day to a plateful of Waffle House hash-browns (scattered, smothered and covered, of course!) and has been slightly more accurate than Phil. (Don’t ask me for supporting data, the journal article I found on the subject was bias and excluded multiple rodent indicators.)

Anyway, Beau says we’re getting an early spring and judging by the weather today, I believe him. If you need more proof that Beau is the man, 80% of the general groundhog population agrees with him this year, leaving Phil in the minority.

Happy Groundhog Day, everyone!

Technorati Tags: Bau Lee, Owl’s Hill Nature Sanctuary, Punxsutawney Phil, Yellow River Game Ranch

First and foremost, Happy 2008 everyone! I didn’t get a chance to ring in the New Year Nashville style since I was at the beach with my girlfriend, but my buddies all reported a good time - except for the throngs of sullen Kentucky fans that were swamping some of the more touristy bars downtown.

So what’s the deal with Lonnie’s on West End? Driving back into town yesterday from my holiday vacation, I was cruising down West End Avenue when I spotted the familiar Lonnie’s logo newly posted above the former nail salon space next to Cumberland Transit. The windows were blocked out, so I couldn’t see what was going on inside, but if Lonnie’s is about to open a satellite karaoke bar that I can walk to, I’m all for it. Anyone know what’s going on with this?

More good news: Lime has finally opened on Broadway next door to Broadway Brewhouse. All the Rage reports that the much-anticipated hotspot had a soft opening last weekend. Since I just got back in town yesterday, I haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, but hopefully I’ll give it a go over the weekend.

Finally, if you don’t have plans for Monday night (or don’t really care to watch the big game on TV), by all means check out Eli Young Band at Third and Lindsley. EYB is one of my favorite bands and a great group of musicians. The show starts at 6:00pm.

Attention fans of tequila, margaritas, and southwestern tapas: Agave Tequila Lounge is open, and as of my most recent visit, things seem to be in full swing.

I’ll admit, I was a little skeptical when I first heard about Agave. Not because I didn’t like the concept - indeed, I’ve been eager for something other than Las Palmas-style, semi-crappy Mexican food in Nashville. But I was a little put off for that same reason, worried that however strong the idea was, there might be some issues with execution. And I’m happy to report that I was wrong.

First of all, the old Pie Wagon space has been magnificently transformed. Agave’s owners, which include a number of music industry execs and Gulch developers, basically stripped the Pie Wagon building to the core and rebuilt it from scratch. An expansive roof was added, making the place seem much bigger than it actually is, and several garage doors were put up front. In nice weather this is particularly pleasant - and in cold weather, their patio heaters still do the trick.

Then there’s the food. I was pleased with our homemade chips and salsa, and my chorizo chicken was a refreshing change from the sloppy enchiladas I usually get at Cinco de Mayo. (The crowd’s beautiful people certainly distinguish this joint from other Mexican outposts, as well). And though I didn’t have any tequilas straight up since it was a work night, my two different margaritas, both on the rocks with salt, were quite tasty. Though they don’t beat the Margarita Fresca at Rumba, they were as close as any other restaurant in Nashville has come.

I should note that the place is really more bar than restaurant. Though they clearly do focus on the food, with excellent results, the atmosphere is more geared toward facilitating interaction between Nashville’s attractive, young elites. They’re succeeding. Welcome to the Gulch, Agave.

Corey at Webbspun Ideas, your “ambassador for Nashville,” has compiled a fairly comprehensive list of where to grab that drink special. I know we’ve tossed around the subject a time or two here, but Corey puts us to shame with his comprehensive lists of where to grad a cheap drink in the vicinity of downtown:

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday

Bridal parties and 20-something fans of Journey, rejoice! Your mother-ship has landed.

This past weekend, my friends and I decided to hit up McFadden’s Restaurant & Pub. Located at 134 2nd Ave North, McFadden’s is a mega-pub chain concept, operated in 10 other cities across the US. From my experiences with the versions in Boston and DC, I can tell you that Nashville’s is no different.

McFadden’s operates on a simple formula; Take a huge restaurant space, make it look like an irish pub, offer ridiculous happy hour specials and watch the lines get longer. The evening we were invited, my friend had gotten us a spot “on the list” along with a $10, all-you-can-drink happy hour from 9 pm until 11 pm. The happy hour specials lived up to everything we hoped for but I have to say that overall, I wasn’t impressed.

The Good

McFadden’s has a ton of corporate money backing it. This means for all of its lack of originality, McFadden’s has two big draws; 20 large flat-screen TV’s and happy hour specials. The staple is $10 all-you-can-drink beers and rail/well drink happy hours from 9 until 11 pm, every Thursday through Saturday.

The Bad

Though the Nashville-based GM has done an admirable job trying to make McFadden’s Nashville feel like a local bar (including hiring a crack bar staff), you can’t escape that feeling that the concept is a bit out of place. Most noticeable to me was that unlike other McFadden’s, Nashville’s only has one real bar. This means that people cram into about 1/6th of the entire space leaving a cavernous back room unfilled and erie.

Additionally, remember me saying something about being “on a list?” Yeah, apparently everyone’s on the list. It’s gimmicks like that and the Coyote Ugly-esqiue bar dancing that has undermined McFadden’s legitimacy in other cities, rendering them more like Disney World than real, local bars.

The Bottom Line

If all you are looking for is a place to take a huge party, McFadden’s Nashville is a great place to do it. If not, trust me when I say I have been here for 4 weeks and can already tell you there are better places to go.

At 6:15 on the WSMV News at 6:00, Dan and Demtria throw it to Jennifer Johnson and Tom Randles with a “So tell us what’s coming up on the News at 6:30.”

Oh yes, please give us a glimpse into the distant future 15 minutes from now.

Then at 6:30 Jennifer and Tom proceed to rehash the top headlines from the days of yore thirty freakin’ minutes ago! Worst of all, they make us wait until five minutes before the hour and two separate sets of headlines and weather forecasts before us sports fans can get our short Titans fix.

Here’s a hint, it was hot yesterday. It’ll be hot tomorrow. You can take up a half hour for the weather when it changes. Or the quarterly tornado threatens Rivergate Mall.

I’ll admit Tom and Jennifer are attractive and competent, but their talents (and my time) are being wasted.

I’d like to buy a vowel, Pat. Can I have a “K?”

After my first dining experience at Rosario’s on Villa Place, I acknowledged that I had probably jumped the gun on my review and that they deserved a little more time to get their act together and their liquor license before I issued my final judgment. So I gave them three weeks before I returned with two of my friends to see if the combination of some additional staff training and the liberal application of alcohol might make the dining experience more pleasurable.

In a word…no. (Go ahead and pronounce that like you were saying it in Spanish.)
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I’ve long been a fan of the 12South area, having gone there for years now on Tuesday nights for Mafiaoza’s 2-for-1 beers. Lately, I’ve occasionally been hitting 12South Taproom after work for their jazz happy hour as well. So as a frequent visitor I was intrigued to read today that Metro is planning to implement a Detailed Neighborhood Design Plan for the area, which could potentially include “down-zoning of residential space to prevent multi-family developments, or a conservation overlay to protect historic structures.”

For the most part I think this is probably a good idea, but at the same time I don’t think it would hurt to have some low-rise, higher-density housing along 12th Avenue in that area, either. Regardless, it will be interesting to watch this process as it goes along and see what kinds of plans get put in place for this vital and quickly-growing district.

I stopped by the dedication for the Ghost Ballet yesterday up on the Shelby St. Bridge. There was a quartet of symphony players making sweet music for everyone, free water and popsicles. Various accolades and thanks were given, to a remarkable extent (I’ve never clapped so much in my life).

Mayor Purcell spoke, and I thought it was actually a pretty good speech considering it was a one-off little dedication that he could have blown off with some banal rhetoric and went on his way. Then we heard from the woman of the hour herself: Alice Aycock, the artist behind the Ghost Ballet. She spoke about her motivations behind making the piece and how she tried to connect it to Nashville’s past and future. She spoke for quite a while, actually. A pretty long time. A good long while. I couldn’t resist posting the picture (above) of Purcell checking his watch towards the end of her speech. She even addressed the sentiment that it looks like a roller coaster. “Of course it does,” she said. She grew up near Hershey Park in PA. Alrighty then. But then where does the name “Ghost Ballet” come from? Shouldn’t it be called the Ghost Coaster or something? Screaming Demon? No?

It didn’t occur to me until yesterday also that the resemblance to a roller coaster may serve as the seed for mass disappointment from our tourist visitors:

Tourist #1: Wow, music city!
Tourist #2: I know! Check it out! The country music hall of fame!
Tourist #1: Hey there’s where the Predators used to play! (just joking, don’t kill me — chris)
Tourist #2: Sweet, lower broad! There’s tootsie’s!!
Tourist #1: Holy crap, they even have a roller coaster!! Best city ever!!

You can imagine where it goes from here. Disappointment, dejection. I dunno. Could be dangerous.

You know that hackneyed complaint that all the street names in Nashville change arbitrarily depending on what part of town you’re in or what river or creek you just crossed? We long-time Nashvillagers just deal with it and accept that Hwy70/Harding/West End/Broadway/Main Street is usually busy at rush hour and that Old Hickory Blvd. has two exits on three different interstates.

But even I have to admit that this one threw me for a loop.