Lucy's Record Shop
In episode 1, host Mary Mancini interviewed Don and April Kendall of House O’ Pain to get their personal stories and talk about the origin of the Lucy’s/House O’ Pain collaboration. Then Don and April wanted to turn the tables and interview Mary, who resisted at first but is glad she finally agreed because, she said, “After 30 years of friendship we’re still learning new things about one another.” Don Kendall adds: “Mary Mancini has done a wonderful job of sharing the stories of the kids and caretakers of Lucy’s, but what about Mary? We’ve known her forever, but have never...
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Doyle Davis' business cards read “Vinylist,” which is so perfect since he’s been a champion of vinyl as a music delivery system his whole life - as a kid picking through his parents’ collection, as a used record buyer at The Great Escape, as a Lucy’s Record Shop customer buying every Guided By Voices record he could get his hands on, and as the co-owner of Grimey’s New and Preloved Music, a Nashville institution he helped build from the ground up. In this episode Doyle talks about what it’s like to run a record store, seeing Rodan play a house show, Yo La Tengo soundcheck, and...
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There is no other band more legendary or more inextricably linked to Lucy’s than the Fun Girls From Mt. Pilot. Chris Fox, Troy Pigue, Charles “Cat” Tidball, and Donnie Kendall dressed in women’s clothes when they played, which caught people’s attention, but it was their songs - short bursts of frenetic pop-punk energy and clever lyrics - and their stage antics that earned them a devoted following. To really understand how incredible they were you have to talk to the people who were at their shows. They say things like “mind-blowing,” “transformative,” “the...
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Travis Howell started playing the drums because his dad told him he couldn’t. His first band, No Remorse, was the first metal band to grace the Lucy’s stage and the first and only to be mistaken for neo-nazis. Sloppy, a punk-metal hybrid kind of thing, came next and then Adrenaline Hammer, which went on to become 12V. When 12V sold out Lucy’s, Travis realized a long-held dream. Travis’ time at Lucy’s included seeing bands like Javachrist, Impetuous Doom, Teen Idols, and the Wesley Willis Experience (“Rock over London! Rock over Chicago!”), judging Green Day’s choices, and...
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Joshua Toomey has loved metal since he was a kid. He went to metal shows, played bass in metal bands ( including Primer 55 with his friend Bobby Burns), and is now host of Talk Toomey, a podcast dedicated to metal music and news. Josh remembers his time in Nashville in the 90s well, selling out Lucy’s as a member of 12V Negative Earth, applying the DIY-punk ethos to playing and touring, and the miracle of living in a place where you could easily connect with people like Fred Coury of Cinderella, who would then record your band for free in a gigantic fancy-pants studio. When Josh was a kid he...
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Dallas Thomas picked up a guitar and became a prolific Lucy’s regular when he was just 14-years-old and barely able to lift his amp, playing with his friends in Fingerhutt, High Strung, Brown Cow, Little Monkey on a Stick, and Boobyhatch (to name just a few). And he was just getting started. After Lucy’s, Dallas, Erik Holcombe, John Roberson and Chris Fox formed the “satanic thrash rock juggernaut” that was Asschapel. For seven years Asschapel toured the Western world. They even made it to Bosnia using only a German map, where they met that country’s version of House O’ Pain’s...
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Do you ever wonder what has and hasn’t changed in the punk DIY community in the last 30 years? To find some answers host Mary Mancini spoke with 17-year-old Dru the Drifter who does it all - he writes and performs, books shows, and records and releases his own music. They talk about his musical influences, his struggle to find places to play, his songwriting process, how living in the bible belt fuels the punk rock scene, and his goal to release 100 albums by the time he’s 27. Dru the Drifter has released three albums (41 songs) in 2021 and almost an album a month so far in 2022 (92...
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John Rogers, who first stepped into Lucy’s Record Shop when he was just 14-years-old, is an accomplished writer and photographer who uses his camera to document both the jazz scene and the streets of New York City. In this episode you’ll hear how growing up in Nashville - from seeing live music at Lucy’s and playing in his own bands to drinking coffee at Bongo Java and collecting records from The Great Escape - influenced his life and art. You’ll also hear about the numerous inexplicable and mysterious coincidences that manifest in his life and bring him closer to the people,...
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Corey Kittrell’s story is similar to many of the kids who came to Lucy’s. But if we look through the lens of race, it is very, very different. Not many kids who looked like Corey came through the doors of Lucy’s or had the negative experiences that inspired him to write his ‘zine, My God Shaves. Corey was born and raised in Franklin, TN., a quaint, historic town about 20 miles south of Nashville. In this episode we talk about what drew him to punk rock, Lucy’s, and the do-it-yourself culture, how writing his ‘zine helped him deal with the anger he felt as a black high school...
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In 2019, music writer Randy Fox discovered a long-forgotten nugget of info - sixteen years before Lucy’s opened its doors at 1707 Church Street in Nashville it was home to another record store called Buckley’s. Randy has an insatiable curiosity and an unbridled enthusiasm for music and history, so this story has lots of twists and turns. It starts in Kentucky and his discovery of the Sex Pistols and the Ramones in college, zigs into the history of mid-20th century radio and record shops, and zags to the use of urban planning as a tool for white supremacy. Chock full. Enjoy! Randy Fox grew...
info_outlineHost Mary Mancini sits down with poet and artist Christine Hall.
Christine was raised in a trailer at the edge of the Adirondacks by troubadours and cultist pornographers. Inculcated with American mythology—tool girl calendars, bible stories, science fiction—she built on this education while hitching across the continent.
Before she set off on her travels she was a teenager at Lucy’s trying to find her way out of a difficult and painful childhood. Christine found Lucy’s to be a safe space and her story has a happy ending, but the safety she found inside didn’t always prevent her from acting out her trauma in dangerous and self-destructive ways on the outside.
Now at home in the Nashville arts community, Christine hosts the Poetry in the Brew open mic. Her work has appeared in Out & About Nashville, several anthologies including Sinew (April Gloaming Publishing, 2021), Be About It zine, on MTA buses, and on stages with the Yoni Pearl Monologues, Cabaret Noir Collective, TSU, Third Man Records, and OZ Arts.
This episode comes with a content warning. We talk about self-harm, and suicide, as well as the trauma brought on by religious indocrination. If you’re in need of resources or support, please go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org or call Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. The Lifeline provides free and confidential support for anyone in distress and prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones 24/7. If you live outside the U.S., look for the local resources in your community.
Mentioned in this Episode
Mother Hubbard
Brazen youth
Teen idols
Fun Girls From Mt. Pilot
The Swindlers
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