the”The Day the Music Stopped,” directed by Patrick Sheehan is a 95 minute film that explores the independent end of an iconic Nashville music venue, the Exit/In. Last year’s Nashville Film Festival ended with a wonderful buffet meal at the Exit/In. The Big Names who have played at the iconic Exit/In venue appeared on plaques that literally filled the walls. You could feel the history in the room.
Downtown Nashville.
The Exit/In hosted its last indie concert on November 23, 2022. Fifty-one years of music as an independent venue stopped when Goliath beat David. As Wikipedia explained Exit/In’s demise, it had 25 different owners over the years from 1971 to 2022 and was not continuously open. But it definitely was a place where many big names in music either got their start or performed over the years. Comedian Steve Martin performed there while climbing the ladder of success.
LAST INDIE OWNERS LOSE
The final owners before the Big Boys of Music moved in and took over were Chris Cobb and his wife, Teisha, who put up a valiant fight to keep the venue independent. Says Wikipedia, on November 14, 2022, club operators, Chris and Telisha Cobb, announced their departure.[2] In December 2022 AJ Capital Partners, was announced as the new purchasers and operators of the venue.[3][4] The venue was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2023. There are still shows at Exit/In and the Rock Block, but admission prices to the 500-seat space have, no doubt, increased. (At one time there was even talk of how Live Nation would charge musicians a fee simply to use their lights.) There is a hopeful bit of film showcasing Attorney General Merrick Garland at the very end of the film that would probably bring forth a cheer from the group assembled in the photo below this paragraph.
Exit/In’s last indie show in 2022.
This film depicts the tumultuous last show as an indie venue and also charts a path forward that gives a glimmer of hope—a national movement and alliance, Save our Stages. Watching the crowd surfing group revel one last time you could feel the joy and also the sadness in the room.
The city and the state face the reality that capitalistic greed is destroying the music culture created in Nashville over decades. As Chris Cobb of the Exit/In said, “The winds of charge are certainly upon us.” Much of the fight centers on who owns the brand name “Exit/In.” (Still unresolved). A.J. Capital Partners (of Chicago) is the villain of the piece, especially when we learn that they are in business with Live Nation. It seems to be only a matter of time before the Big Boys gobble up all of the small venues that used to provide platforms for the future Taylor Swifts and Garth Brooks of the music business.
Honky Tonk Central
Nashville.
One by one, iconic venues are listed and (mostly) shown going under—Mercy Lounge (closed May 19, 2022), Douglas Corners, Exit/In, Lindsay Corners (saw Low Cut Connie there), the Bluebird Cafe. The music business is still very unstable post-pandemic. The iconic venue once reopened in 1981 by Chuck Berry, which spawned so many big names through the years, is one of the casualties of what is described as “a corporate takeover of America by capitalists.” Exit/In is still open, but it’s not the same.
THE OLD DAYS
Many in the documentary talk about how, if you arrived in Nashville before 2012 or 2013, Nashville was a very different town. My daughter selected Nashville as her college town in 2005 (Belmont College). She can testify to the many changes that the city has experienced.
The film does a good job of explaining why 43 buildings on Music Row were demolished between 2013 and 2018. It also lays bare the dilemma that Nashville faces. “It truly is a crisis situation here in Music City.” As the Mayor outlined “an unparalleled series of challenges for cities with only a few million in cash reserves” the picture begins to focus. It’s not good news for those who considered Exit/In “a sacred space for Nashville.”
Mayor of Nashville of John Cooper
John Cooper, Mayor of Nashville.
John Cooper, the Mayor of Nashville, explains that, although Nashville has certainly enjoyed a booming economy, “We had not been a good steward of our finances.” When tough times hit, Nashville only had a few million dollars in its contingency fund, not enough to handle the crises that beset the city, beginning in 2010.
THE FLOOD, THE TORNADOES, COVID & OTHER ASSORTED CATASTROPHES
Nashville flood of 2010.
First, there was the flood of 2010, which ruined much of downtown Nashville.
Then came the deadliest tornado on record on March 2, 2020 (25 people died). (There’s been another since then that killed 3 people on the block where my daughter lives in December of 2023.)
Just one week later, Covid struck the nation and the world.
Indie music venues were impacted very negatively. Even today, “a lot of clubs are in limbo.” It is an eco-system that cannot survive without assistance. The Exit/In closed for what they thought would be 3 months when the pandemic hit.
Add to the natural disasters the 63-year-old Nashville resident, Anthony Quinn Walker, who blew himself up inside an RV parked outside an AT&T building on December 25th of 2020, taking most of historic 2nd Avenue with him, and you have the makings of the dilemma that haunts Nashville now. As the film points out so well, the residents of Nashville have to ask themselves “Where are we heading?”
Erica Wollam of the Bluebird Cafe
A GLIMMER OF HOPE
Famous spokespeople like Ben Folds speak out about the potential closing of RCA Studio A, the studio where Chet Atkins and Elvis recorded. It was established on June 20, 1924. It almost met the wrecking ball on Chet Atkins’ 90th birthday, until some notable names like Ben Folds and Keith Urban stepped up to save the iconic studio
Throughout the film there is much information about the fight to keep the Exit/In out of the hands of Live Nation. But Live Nation bought Ticketmaster and, as one executive told the owner of the venue, “In 10 years we’ll control the business from the top to the bottom.”
There are those who are fighting to save the stages. Jeff Syracuse, a BMI executive, is a City Councilman who is well aware of the competition for space in Nashville and how new talent is struggling to find a launching pad amongst dwindling indie clubs. Mike Curb, Chuck Elcan, Chris Cobb, Representative Johnny Garrett (R, Goodlettsville) are all shown working to pass a state-wide live music fund, the first in the nation, that would help struggling indie venues. The legislative move seems to be meeting some success by film’s end.
Near the end of the film Chris Cobb (last owner of the Exit/In) is awarded the Blayne Tucker Advocacy Award for his work with Save Our Stages. I’ve never heard of Blayne Tucker. But I related to the talking head in the film who said “Money is gonna’ win a lot of the time.”
CONCLUSION
Stage surfing at last Exit/In show; notifications banning crowd surfing come down.
No crowd surfing sign bites the dust at final indie show.
CONCLUSION
Patrick Sheehan, Stephen Thompson, Ian Criswell (Cinematographers/Director) and Michael Gomez (Photography), with editing by Sheehan have done a great job with the film. It sounds very familiar to an Austin (Tx) resident to learn that the music industry is not a straight-arrow biz. But it does have people within it who really love what they do and want to preserve music culture in their city for all the right reasons.
And then there are the others who just want to make as much money as they can as fast as they can; they don’t seem to care about anything else. The creators of “The Day the Music Stopped,” both in front of and behind the camera, who compiled this engaging documentary, obviously do care. With this documentary they hope to preserve the true spirit of Nashville.
“The Day the Music Stopped” is a sobering look at greed spurred by the competition for space in Nashville. I hope those fighting the good fight catch a break in their ongoing struggle. Stay tuned for further developments in Nashville and nationwide. The documentary will screen at the Nashville Film Festival on September 20th.