🗞️ What Nashville’s talking about (a chair-free zone)

🪦 R.I.P., Bart Durham

If you’ve watched TV, seen a billboard, driven next to a bus, or generally been conscious in Nashville at some point during the last 40-plus years, then you knew Bart Durham, the local personal injury attorney who passed away this week at the age of 89. But did you know he helped oversee the prosecution of the man who assassinated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? An OG Nashville legend who many presumed to be immortal, he and his exquisitely campy commercials will be missed. [The Tennessean]

🙄 The State Legislature is State Legislatureing Again

Let’s say you’re a member of the Tennessee Senate’s Republican supermajority, attempting to govern your way through a session that coincides with the first anniversary of the Covenant School shooting, in a state where three-quarters of voters are in favor of the kinds of red flag laws that may have prevented that tragedy in the first place. What do you do? If you answered: “Have gun control advocates physically removed from the gallery while you pass a bill to arm teachers,” well … you’d make a great member of the Tennessee Senate Republican supermajority. [Tennessee Lookout]

💸 The Metro Budget is Metro Budgeting Again

It’s an annual tradition ‘round these here parts: As the Metro budget comes up for discussion, we’re all shocked (shocked!) to read stories explaining the “hard decisions” that will need to be made surrounding priorities like schools, affordable housing, and city employee pay. In an unrelated question, when does Titans House open? Anybody in Germantown got eyes on that? [Nashville Banner]

🐴 This Ain’t Texas, This is Nashville.

It’s been two weeks since Beyoncé blessed us with “Cowboy Carter” (look at that horse). If you still can’t get enough, be sure to take some time this weekend to treat yourself: Join NPR’s Jewly Hight for a deep dive into the influence and innovation of Black country artists past and present, alongside the Black Opry’s Holly G, filmmaker Quia Thompson, and songwriter and country music historian Alice Randall, whose new book/album, “My Black Country,” came out this week. [WPLN]

🌇 The Former Stadium Inn Drifts Into the Future

Margaret Littman is one of my favorite writers in town, specifically because of the thoughtful depth she brings to food and drink coverage, like this look inside the new Sun Room at the Drift Hotel — f.k.a. the Stadium Inn, a gritty husk that used to host underground wrestling matches and most recently provided a safety net for those experiencing homelessness. It’s incredibly odd to think about sipping a cocktail poolside next to the interstate and a stadium construction zone, but I can’t say I’m not intrigued. [Nashville Scene]