Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Rich and stupid


One of my favorite Nashville walks takes me to the top of a local reservoir called Love Circle, from which vantage it used to be possible to peer at my city and environs in every direction. I used to walk it every day and always enjoyed circling the overlook a couple of times while picking out memory-laden landmarks below - old abodes, old schools, the state capitol building, the Parthenon.

Now I live further out, and get there only occasionally... so I hadn't much attended to the hoopla surrounding country musician John Rich's ugly new manse on the hillside there, until an auto appointment nearby left me with some discretionary time to ramble this morning.

The damn thing dominates the neighborhood, especially when approached from Hillsboro Village to the east. It occludes part of what used to be a lovely view from the summit, and generally highlights the matching monstrosity of its owner's ego. Why do we tolerate this kind of garish abomination in our public spaces, just because some self-important guitar plucker can afford it?

But I'll continue to enjoy that walk, now supplemented with one more reminder that commercial music "success" can be one of the uglier Bitch Goddesses* on our landscape.

*William James to H.G. Wells:
The moral flabbiness born of the exclusive worship of the bitch-goddess SUCCESS. That - with the squalid cash interpretation put on the word 'success' - is our national disease.)

2 comments:

Mister Jimmy said...

I'm almost afraid to know, what got torn down to put the thing up, or did he somehow get access to a bit of property?
However it happened, it's too bad. I've at times gone out of my way to drive up their just so I could enjoy the different, even eclectic, styles of houses there.
Regarding Mayor Dean's comments (who I otherwise have some respect for), "Doubtless you are the voice of the people, and when you die, wisdom will die with you." (Job said that; he was being ironic - and sarcastic.)

Phil said...

Whatever human construction got torn down, that perfect particular aperture to the horizon sure did. Hey, maybe the mayor could sponsor the creation of an urban preserve for our local country celebs? They could all live behind a wall on Music Row, possibly near the Scientologists? I'm sure that'd be good for tourism.

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