Nashville! Day 1.

I am in Nashville this week for the Christian Scholars Conference, which begins tomorrow morning. I give a paper on Thursday, and will be interviewing playwright John Patrick Shanley on Friday morning for a Nashville Public Radio program. They have promised to post a video of the interview on the show's website, and it will be cross-posted on the website of the academic journal Ecumenica. I will share links eventually as they become available, especially if I like the end results.

Today, however, I had the afternoon and evening to enjoy the city, and do nothing else much except rehearse my talk and review potential interview questions. I already found a fabulous coffeeshop with sandwiches, salads, and breakfast food, called Fido. (Imagine if the Walnut Cafe moved into the Laughing Goat, and you've got the vibe of the place, for all you hip Boulder readers.) The hotel we are staying at is just off the edge of the Vanderbilt University campus, so there are good vittles and amenities within a reasonable walking distance (20 minutes), and the free hotel shuttle will also be aiding further exploration. The hotel is pretty nice for a Holiday Inn, recently remodelled with good working treadmills which is key when it is 95 degrees out. And did I mention the humidity? I've conveniently forgotten about humidity living in Boulder County...until arriving today and watching my hair go BOING!

When I say "we" I mean myself and my friend Carolyn, whom I usually attend ATHE with and have blogged about in the past (we went to NYC last summer for ATHE with her husband Greg and another friend, and had an outrageously good time).

Tonight, we're going to a restaurant/bar called the Patterson House, which specializes in craft cocktails of various sorts (rickeys, sours, and other such 30's and 40's-era beverages). I'll provide a full bloggy report after the meal...