Edwards worked on World Fair, 2000 Gore staff and Sports Authority, among others Emmett A. Edwards, a businessman and public servant for more than three decades, died Monday at Vanderbilt University Medical Center due to complications from lung cancer. He was 59. Born in Covington, Tenn., in May of 1953, Edwards graduated in his high school’s first racially integrated class

Here’s the first thing I learned about the music business when I moved to Nashville more than 25 years ago: You’re either in it or you’re not. There’s no middle ground. The people “in” the business know precisely who they are; everyone else is part of a different realm. And that’s not an indictment of the music business; it’s just

Cleveland’s mammoth 80,000-seat Memorial Stadium, square on the banks of Lake Erie, provided the genesis for my love of baseball. I was just 5 when my father took me to my first game, I remember thinking with wonderment that the whole world could fit right inside. We arrived when the gates opened, thrilled to see the infield and outfield drills,

Congenial. Enthusiastic. Smiling. Compassionate. Bubbly. Caring. Friendly. These are just some of the adjectives offered by colleagues about the woman who serves as the greeter, information desk attendant and security officer at our downtown Nashville office building. If one is ever having a down day, a short stop at Bobbi’s desk at the entrance of the historic Castner-Knott building will

“Give me a Big O,” the team of energetic fifth-grade cheerleaders shouted out. “O” was the resounding answer from more than 1,000 first, second and third-graders at a Tennessee elementary school recently. The cheerleaders and their enthusiastic responders continued to spell out: “O-L-L-I-E,” until they reached the finale: “What have you got?” “OLLIE, OLLIE!” the kids shouted back, as the

Think of all the songs and melodies that have echoed in your mind and wouldn’t go away.  It’s a common experience. The one that stuck in my head over the past few days didn’t even have a melody; it didn’t even have words, just a title: Shani’s Song. Those words have been reverberating in my thoughts recently because a former

“Thank God for unnecessary things!” That was my conclusion to an NBC reporter, who had asked me (as president of the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville) “Are world’s fairs necessary?” I replied: “Absolutely not.  Neither are symphonies, great works of art and football games, but, thank God for unnecessary things.  It’s the unnecessary things in life that make living so

Who can forget their first kiss in a relationship? I never could, and never wanted to. I feel nearly that same situation every time I come in contact with a wonderful piece of art. I had 95 first kisses last year when I first saw the Rau Collection,,: Six Centuries with the European Master. This led to our bringing it

Two stories in Wednesday’s Tennessean highlighted just what a contrast there can be in the lives of  celebrities. The first was a local story about Nashville joining Tennessee’s Dolly Parton book program which will furnish books for the first five years of a child’s life.  The program received front page local section coverage, with a photo, focusing on young children,