Weekend in Nashvegas

I arrived in Nashville on Thursday evening, just in time to take in the closing movie of the Nashville Film Festival, Cyrus, with the incomparable Gareth Higgins.  My tripartite review:

1. John C. Reilly and Marisa Tomei can act more with their faces than most actors can with their whole bodies.
2. Jonah Hill is uncomfortably huge (by that I mean he’s so overweight that it’s uncomfortable to watch.
3. It’s billed as a comedy, but it’s rarely laugh-out-loud funny.  It’s much more a tragicomedy.

After the film, I crashed the festival closing party and enjoyed the buffet.

Yesterday I ran a JoPa Productions Social Media Bootcamp for Pastors and Ministry Leaders at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church.  Good times.  And last night, as is my Nashvillian tradition, I joined Jay Voorhees at the legendary Station Inn to hear some bluegrass.  On stage was the equally legendary Roland White and a breathtakingly good back-up band.  At one point, Jay (a guitar player) looked to me (also a guitar player) and made the motion of chopping off his fingers, which is how I often feel when watching pickers who are so accomplished.

And today I’m addressing a group from the Alliance of Baptists about the intersections between emergence and their fellowship and about the Didache.

Gareth schooled me on the joys of bohemian Nashville, and I think I’m slowly converting…