Nash Vegas

Greensboro, NC – This place is the second coming of Las Vegas. It has that round-the-clock atmosphere that makes you feel like you’re missing something when sleep gets the best of you at 3:00 a.m. Here’s why I love this place and why I believe it’s the most underrated city in America:

- Yes, it has that country twang to it with the boot shops and Confederate flag paraphernalia on the downtown strip. But, every bar, restaurant, and club features live music. As Kevin said over the weekend, “you can’t go to Nashville without hearing live music.” Went to an Irish pub-restaurant on Saturday night and sure enough, they had an Irish band (authentic too). They kept the language to a G-level with children still in the crowd. Kudos to them for breaking out the pink alligator song and getting the kids to perform YMCA-like movements.

- It’s not a very big town; however, between Broadway and 2nd Streets, Printer’s Alley, and Demonbreun Street, there are strings of fantastic bars. The problem with most cities is that it has “pockets” of bars. Here, the bars just keep “flowing;” the next stop is just a few feet away. I can’t imagine that taxis have a major business there.

- The bands playing in Nashville are all trying to “make it” in the music industry. Therefore, they encourage and invite you in to the bar or restaurant to hear them play, cover-free.

- While I didn’t spot any celebrities this time around, I did see Willie Nelson and I missed Bon Jovi by a minute when I was there last November. A cheaper alternative to Hollywood for all of you celebrity gossip queens (and kings).

- We stayed at the Gaylord Opryland, which if you supplanted it in Vegas, it would fit right in. Luxurious rooms overlooked an indoor rain forest comprised of waterfalls, palm trees, men dressed up like plants playing music, and a cool mist. All that was missing were the slot machines.

- Traffic wasn’t too bad, but you can tell that the city is growing. The first time that I traveled to Nashville was in 2000 for a cross country meet. It’s a night and day difference in traffic volume over the course of 6 ½ years.

- The city just has that intangible, that charisma, that mystique. All of the record companies on music row are quite a site. Go into New York and Philly, and they all have the typical city attributes: tall buildings and a subway. It’s so vanilla that Baskin Robins could be the mayor of town.

I am two blogs behind, but I blame it on Nashville. The reasons above depict why I believe that one day, maybe 20 years from now, it’ll be one of America’s favorite cities, joining the likes on Las Vegas, Orlando, Miami, New York, and LA. For now, let it remain the diamond-in-the-rough that it is. It’s better that way.