Revel in the music scene, but don’t miss Nashville City Club and Bluegrass Yacht & Country Club.
By Russ Pate
Photography by Bob Schatz & Dean Dixon
Not even an early afternoon downpour that swamped city streets and sent umbrella-less pedestrians scurrying for cover has dampened enthusiasm for the 5:30 p.m. start of Nashville City Club’s semi-annual Executive Business Mixer. By the time an estimated 100 members and guests begin arriving at the top floor of the SunTrust Bank Building downtown, the club’s main dining room has been transformed into a makeshift exhibit hall. On display are banners and brochures encompassing a spectrum of professional services in which club members engage: banking and finance; telecommunications and high tech; real estate and interior design; jewelry and cosmetics; commercial printing and promotional products. As attendees shuffle around 15 separate exhibit stations, conversation is constant, and cards are being exchanged as rapidly as at a professional poker tournament.
For investment adviser Alex Stillwell, Nashville City Club’s executive mixer provides a “very tasteful and classy way” to meet with clients and prospects. For financial consultant Leanne Ogburn, the event “extends the club’s culture for business networking.” Banker Doug Dawson also observes that personal relationships being formed or reinforced are equally invaluable. “The business referrals are important, of course,” Dawson says. “But it’s great to have the opportunity to interact with other club members and their guests, and to spend time with people you like to be with.”
Adding to the festivities on this spring evening are an open bar and a buffet line featuring killer hors d’oeuvres. For the occasion, executive chef Eric Whitt has rolled out his A-list of finger food: barbecue chicken pizza and a scrumptious crab-and-spinach dip.
The two-hour gathering also features the distribution of door prizes, which exhibitors have contributed and which the membership director dispenses with the grace and aplomb of a TV game show host.
Joe Overton, who during his college days worked as a waiter at Nashville City Club under the tutelage of recently retired maître d’ Harold Street, donates a ride in one of his fleet at Little Joe’s Limo. Jerrika Rivera, a Hispanic marketing facilitator who operates Your Spanish Link, LLC, donates two hours of Spanish lessons. Se habla?
Tennessee Bank & Trust, meanwhile, provides an oversized golf umbrella. As the winner collects the door prize from Dawson, he ruefully observes, “I sure could have used it this afternoon.”
Debra Clark, member relations director, confirms Nashville City Club will conduct another Executive Business Mixer later in the year, probably in the fourth quarter. But chances are less than zero the date will conflict with the most highly anticipated event on the club’s social calendar: the 50th Anniversary Gala on Oct. 13.
Still in the planning stages, the gala will likely feature dinner and dancing, plus a multimedia presentation highlighting seminal moments in the club’s rich history. Memorabilia from the nascent days will be collected, and sound bites from many of the most-tenured members will be recorded, edited, and showcased. The anniversary celebration will culminate a nine-month membership drive with the theme “Each One, Reach One.” Current club members are being asked to nominate prospective ones, with an invitation to the October gala providing the incentive.
Nashville City Club occupies historic space. The club quarters were once the Maxwell House Hotel. That landmark, which opened in 1869 and which was so ornate and resplendent it became known as “Overton’s Folly” (a reference to the builder’s free-spending proclivities), for nearly a century served as the hub of Nashville’s social and political life. Assorted business tycoons and power brokers routinely gathered there to cut deals and otherwise shape the city’s and state’s destinies.
Nashville City Club was formed in 1957, when businessman Emmett Russell Jr. fulfilled a dream to create a premier downtown club. The club’s first members paid a $5 initiation fee and $5 monthly dues. After fire destroyed the Maxwell House Hotel on Christmas Day 1961, Nashville City Club moved its operations to the nearby Hermitage Hotel. The club remained there until 1967, when it returned to its original site.
It’s either an easy walk or a ridiculously short cab ride from Nashville City Club to many of the city’s leading destinations, including Ryman Auditorium, Schermerhorn Symphony Center, and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
The club houses private meeting rooms, a cozy library with overstuffed chairs, a high-tech sanctuary (the E-Lounge), and the ever-popular Street’s Riverview Grill (named in honor of the aforementioned Harold Street). Street’s Riverview Grill provides a splendid eastern exposure of the Cumberland River and, just beyond, LP Field, home of the NFL’s resurgent Tennessee Titans and the amazing Vince Young.
Back at the business mixer, connectivity is key. It turns out, for example, that member Georgia Weindling — busy promoting her design company, Savannah Interiors — writes a droll column on decorating for The Avenue, a lifestyle magazine that fellow member Michael Thompson publishes. Thompson, too, is busy hawking his wares. What also becomes readily apparent to the evening’s designated eavesdropper is that these executives enjoy talking business.
BLUEGRASS MAKEOVER
In nearby Hendersonville, Bluegrass Yacht & Country Club, an enchanting property located on Johnny Cash Parkway and part of the ClubCorp family since late-2005, has undergone an extreme makeover to its ballroom, private dining rooms, and mixed grill. With an assist from Nashville-based Feltus Hawkins Design, the upstairs level at Bluegrass now exudes intimacy and taste. The color schemes are at once rich and alluring, the theme being what designer Marjorie Feltus-Hawkins describes as “casual elegance.”
The club’s mixed grill, with its handsome 20-seat bar, five flat-screen TVs, and new window treatments showcasing the golf course, has quickly become Hendersonville’s premier place to see and be seen, especially on Friday nights. Diners are treated to imaginative presentations from executive chef Josh Kiev, who extends the parameters of basic “Tennessee comfort food” by introducing Asian and Southwestern flavors and accents. Kiev sparkles with fresh fish entrées and makes magic with the dessert menu.
Not surprisingly, Bluegrass has become a magnet for special events. Word of the club’s renovation has spread throughout Hendersonville and surrounding communities, eliciting calls from civic groups, schools, churches, and area businesses both small and large — entities eager to book the facility for luncheons and meetings. For private events director Cathy Saunders, the upshot in demand is the difference between dusk and dawn.
Still to come at Bluegrass is a second wave of refurbishment, which will include updating the men’s and women’s locker rooms and men’s and women’s lounges. Nearing completion is an upgrade to the pro shop that includes the counter, carpet, and ceiling. The immediate challenge facing general manager Paul Belcher and his staff, though, is changing the entrance to the club, which currently is dominated by an imposing staircase. The plan is to recess the staircase and greet guests instead with open space and a reception area.
Golf at Bluegrass beckons to members and guests alike with its timeless appeal. From the moment visitors first drive up Garrett Martin Lane, underneath a canopy of cedar trees, they are likely to experience pangs of nostalgia. (Bluegrass recently named the entrance in honor of Martin, a 50-year club employee who planted the cedars, as well as many other trees on the property, and who still exercises his considerable talents in course maintenance.)
Built in the early 1950s, Bluegrass is a classic parkland course, the kind of traditional layout that money can’t buy (or re-create). Though not long by modern standards (6,664 yards from the back tees), the par-72 course (which can be adjusted to par-70 for tournament play) presents fairways framed by large, mature trees and well-defined targets. Accuracy and course management are at a premium.
The course’s principal defense is its bent grass greens: small, crowned, and shaped to repel all but the most precise approach shots. As director of golf Rick Burkardt observes, golfers might not register a high number of greens in regulation (GIR) at Bluegrass, but when they do manage to find the green, they will be rewarded with good looks at birdie.
Given that GIRs are problematic, the recent addition of the Randall Phillips Practice Facility, which opened at the end of March, is getting good usage. With a green, bunker, and chipping area, it replicates the on-course transition from Bermuda (fairways) to zoysia (fringes) to bent grass (greens). The Phillips short-game area also is receiving heavy use, as is the enlarged practice range, which has added all-purpose mats and a third target green.
The terrain features gentle rolls, not severe contours or harsh angles. Housing does not intrude on the property; in fact, residences rim only two holes on the back nine. The interior of the course, therefore, is a purist’s dream: wall-to-wall golf. Bluegrass was designed by one of the big hitters in golf course architecture: Robert Bruce Harris. Harris, who operated out of the Chicago area, did most of his work in the Midwest and South. He rubbed shoulders (and no doubt exchanged ideas) with Donald Ross and other pioneers of American golf. As testimony to his stature, Harris was elected the first president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects.
Like Nashville City Club, Bluegrass Yacht & Country Club dates to the 1950s. The member-owned club, conceived by executives of General Shoe Co. (Genesco), was incorporated in 1951 and opened in 1953. (Entry fees for the club’s first father-son golf tournament were $1.50.) The marina, located on a cove of Old Hickory Lake, opened in 1957. It has 68 slips and is currently home to every conceivable kind of craft — from seven-figure seafaring yachts to small dinghies.
In the mid-1960s, Bluegrass provided the venue for the popular Music City Celebrity Golf Tournament, which paired leading names in entertainment with top professional golfers. Club archives reveal a photograph of one foursome that included Lawrence Welk, Byron Nelson, and (honest to goodness) Minnie Pearl. Widely esteemed, Bluegrass will be the site of qualifiers for the 2007 Tennessee State Amateur and State Open.
Located roughly 20 miles northeast of downtown Nashville, Hendersonville is at the epicenter of an economic boom under way in Sumner County. Unmistakable signs of prosperity — new subdivisions, churches, schools, and shopping areas, all with a fresh sheen of vitality — abound. Rimming parts of Bluegrass, in fact, is the master-planned, upscale Indian Lake Village community.
As Nashville’s relentless expansion extends to the Hendersonville/Gallatin corridor, and as housing continues to accelerate, Bluegrass is well-positioned to benefit from the influx. Also buttressing the efforts of membership director Shari Givens are the club’s thriving junior programs, led by Bill Riddle (tennis), Lisa Stubbs (swimming), and Burkardt (golf).
Visitors might come to Nashville to revel in the music, but they should stay long enough to enjoy the hospitality available at Nashville City Club or Bluegrass Yacht & Country Club — ideally, at both.
Like many native Texans, freelance writer Russ Pate can trace his ancestors back to Tennessee.
NASHVILLE CITY CLUB
Location: SunTrust Bank Building, 20th Floor, 201 Fourth Ave., North, Nashville, Tennessee.
Manager: Jim Wisniewski.
Executive chef: Eric Whitt.
Amenities: Five private dining rooms, casual dining in Street’s Riverview Grill. Main dining room. Special events include theater, art auction, cooking classes, lectures and seminars, and family nights and activities. Breakfast and lunch served Monday-Friday; dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. Closed Sunday. Signature Gold Dining.
Web site: www.nashvillecity.com
BLUEGRASS YACHT & COUNTRY CLUB
Location: 550 Johnny Cash Parkway, Hendersonville, Tennessee.
Manager: Paul Belcher.
Membership director: Shari Givens.
Executive chef: Josh Kiev.
Head golf professional: Rick Burkardt.
Amenities: 18-hole championship golf course; four Har-Tru tennis courts; swimming pool; full-service marina with harborage; mixed grill; men’s grill; poolside grill.
Web site: www.bluegrasscountryclub.com
THE BEAT GOES ON
Visitors to Music City are likely to be drawn to the downtown area, not only by the opportunity to do some genuine honky-tonking, but by such landmarks as:
• Ryman Auditorium — The original home of the famed Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman remains a popular venue for top-grossing road shows and big-name acts.
• Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum — This country music shrine showcases C&W artifacts and produces exhibits honoring such unforgettable artists as Ray Charles (through 2007) and Marty Robbins (beginning in August 2007).
• City Music Walk of Fame — Inaugural honorees in late-2006 included Reba McEntire, Ronnie Milsap, the Fisk Jubilee Singers, and the late, great Roy Orbison. Plus the prolific songwriting team of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, who wrote numerous Everly Brothers hits and penned Tennessee’s theme song, “Rocky Top.”
• Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum — This recent creation honors worker-bees in the recording industry, the cadre of craftsmen (session players, engineers) who help the stars shine.
• Schermerhorn Symphony Center — The new (in 2006) home to the acclaimed Nashville Symphony has drawn rave reviews for its acoustics and use of natural light.
Highlights on Nashville’s 2007 calendar include Music City July 4th: Let Freedom Sing, at which more than 100,000 are expected to gather on Riverfront Park for music and fireworks, and the 2007 Music City Jazz, Blues & Heritage Festival, a two-day marathon over Labor Day. Ending the year on a high note will be Gaylord Opryland Resort’s A Country Christmas, which includes the popular Pam Tillis Christmas Dinner Party.
No Nashville visit could be considered whole without excursions to local clubs. One must-make is the Bluebird Cafe, a favorite hangout for songwriters and the place where, as the story goes, Garth Brooks was discovered. Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, next to Ryman Auditorium, is another spot long on character. It’s where Willie Nelson got his start.
Across the street from Tootsie’s is the Ernest Tubb Record Shop, where photographs of country artists fill the walls and stacks are deep enough to include some real treasures, like Gail Davies’ Greatest Hits.
Other Nashville area attractions include The Hermitage, home of U.S. President Andrew Jackson; The Parthenon, a re-creation of the famous Greek temple, located in Centennial Park; Cheekwood, a botanical garden with exhibits of fine art; Belle Meade Plantation, where several famous thoroughbreds were sired. There’s also the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, which lists among its inductees Olympic champion Wilma Rudolph and NFL star Reggie White.
For a side trip, consider a jaunt down to historic Franklin (about 20 miles south) and set aside time to visit the Factory, a spiffy shopping area with antique stores and restaurants.
One memorable way to soak up the Nashville scene is via a Nash Trash Tour. Rollicking, 90-minute excursions aboard an outlandish pink bus are conducted by the Jugg Sisters — Sheri Lynn and Brenda Kay. These queens of camp dish the dirt on country music legends and leave passengers sore from laughter. — Russ Pate