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Once Upon a Time: Spence Manor
July 3, 2020
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Music Row really went upscale this week when Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Hotel opened. It has 260 something rooms with a rooftop pool and bar, fancy restaurant and Funny Library Coffee Shop. Rooms are $233 a night on Trip Advisor (on top of that, add Nashville’s big hotel occupancy tax).
Nashville has gone from very few really nice hotels to a bunch, but Music Row now finally gets a place close to the action. But will it be the same Music Row Spence Manor enjoyed in the mid ’70s?
Spence Manor was a five-diamond hotel. It was small, and opened in 1974 when Music Row studios and publisher offices were really cooking. It had a guitar-shaped pool on the ground floor. Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra all stayed there at one time or another. It’s a condo now, but the pool still gets a lot of attention.
The big Virgin Hotel is walking distance to what’s still left on the Row. I’m sure Vanderbilt University-affiliated people of all kinds will fill some of those rooms.
With a 34% increase in Metro Nashville property tax coming this year on top of the chaos caused by the Coronavirus, I’m not sure how many music people are floating around in need of hotel rooms right now. We shall see. Sure wish this place had been around in the ’80s and ’90s though.
Nashville was a town of guitar-shaped swimming pools once upon a time, in the ‘60s and ’70s mostly. The Row started branching out in the ’80s with Berry Hill and other off-Row recording spots.
While being a little nostalgic, have some Nashville veteran tell you about The Castle.
Nashville’s music scene has such a great history. The Musicians Hall of Fame was talking reopening this week. That place will blow your mind with Nashville music connections. It’s my favorite museum! Go find it, and be sure to check out the new Jimi Hendrix room complete with Purple Haze. Hendrix is a former Nashville picker. Weird to say that, but true.
Carly Pearce’s divorce from Michael Ray was the latest Music Row marital fail. It may be the source of art, but personal life and the demanding music business are a tough mix. Those that do it well have all seen peaks and valleys. Carly got a new dog this week and named it June.
The tabloids won’t stop trying to marry off Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton. US Weekly is the latest, and one of these days they may be right.
A mid-summer holiday with the virus and no gigs, could this year be any more strange? We’re on the back half now with not a lot of the books. Three award shows upcoming awarding what, exactly, this year? The drive-in shows in the Nissan Stadium parking lot in Nashville are a few days away. If they work, Live Nation will maybe find a way to get people back to work. Be cheering for those three days. They may just save 2020!
And be sure to catch Lady A and Brad Paisley on NBC Saturday night for the big Macy’s 4th of July fireworks show.
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