Steven Hale is one of the finest journalists here in Nashville. I mean, he’s one of the finest journalists in the country. He just happens to live and cover Nashville. (Disclosure: He’s also a friend.) He now works for the new publication the Nashville Banner, but for many years he wrote for our local alt weekly, the Scene. Like many red states, Tennessee has in recent years throttled up its machinery of death.

A colleague and friend recently proffered this revelatory thought-starter: If you were stranded on a desert island, what three dried spices would you want to have stocked in endless supply? Salt has humanely been included, but pepper has not. Everyone’s responses were fascinating. Z. chose cumin, chili peppers, and oregano. My brother went with Korean chili, ginger, and garlic powders. My answer—black pepper, red pepper, and saffron—evinced staid practicality punctuated by sheer indulgence, which is, coincidentally, how I’d describe the fool-proof foundations of an elite wardrobe, though regrettably not mine.

🚨 🚨 NOTE: This newsletter is an April Fools’ Day edition — do not assume anything in it is real (except property tax values)! It was originally published on April 1, 2023, without this disclaimer. — Good morning! Today is Saturday, April 1, 2023. You’re reading The Charlotte Ledger’s Weekend Edition. Need to subscribe — or upgrade your Ledger e-newsletter subscription? Details here. Levine Properties is proposing a 600-room hotel and casino project on vacant land uptown, which could jump start development in the North Tryon corridor.

Let it not be said that Sam Altman doesn’t have his admirers. At least two proxies have gone after Helen Toner, one (by a pair of prominent authors, both on OpenAI’s board) in The Economist, highbrow, one low (a post on X that got around 200,000 views). Both read to me as deeply misleading, verging on defamatory. The lowbrow attack comes from an anonymous poster; in my view it is wrong on every point but not worth wasting a lot of time on.

Originally published October 2018Before you say anything, I'm two steps ahead of you, listening to Michael's laughter echo through the chambers of my mind. I know, who in their right mind makes apple cider vinegar when you can buy a jug of it for a few bucks at the grocery story? Well, the brief answer is me. One day Michael smirked at me, and said, "when you are going to make your own water?