{101 goals in 1001 days} goal no. 28 - Nashville, Tn - part 1

well, as promised i said i'd be back after yesterday's wedding, and here i am... i wanted to catch you up on my trip to Nashville, Tennessee... which is also my goal #28 in my 101 goals in 1001 days.

last month my mom and i took a girls trip to Nashville, a place i've dreamt of visiting for a very long time, i'm a HUGE fan of country music, and so a trip to music city sounded like such a great idea! so here are some of the highlights from our trip...

broadway - the main drag in nashville where all the honky tonks & bars are

{the stage is actually in the movie Country Strong}

we took a carriage tour around downtown with Bill and Blondie 

{i trust you can figure out who's who} ;)

she was such a pretty and sweet horse

the country music hall of fame museum is neat... the windows are meant to look like keys on a piano

inside this rotunda of the museum is the actual CM hall of fame where all the plaques are hung...

and the notes around the top are the chord to "may the circle be unbroken" which has become the anthem for the music city since the big flood the city experienced this time last year.

below left is the Hard Rock gift shop {had been totally flooded out} below right is also a street where all those bars, restaurants and shops had been flooded out too, so sad

                 

at Roberts you can buy boots, a meal, a beer and take in live music

also on broadway is Hatch Show Print... 

one of my favorite stops during our whole time in Nashville!

Hatch is one of the oldest letterpress shops in the country and specialized in posters for the music industry, any artist who has posters pressed by Hatch knows they've "made" it once they've had Hatch make a concert poster for them!  i seriously was in heaven in here since i do design paper goods in addition to my events business... and i would LOVE to have my own letterpress to work with. so needless to say we spend some time in here watching and even getting an awesome behind the scenes tour from Cathy {their accountant}. 

since i'm such a paper nerd, here are some of the shots from our little tour

they have posters all over the walls showcasing work they've done over the years

below left: the walls are filled with tons of vintage wood carved blocks of type in all sizes and typestyles... this is what attracts clients to Hatch... below right is one of their many small presses 

               

here are some of the plates set with the type for each job... you can see who these jobs are for 

{not just country music stars, they had just finish lady gaga posters for her upcoming show in nashville}

one of their old, old presses which they run the old school huge hand carved wood plates from 

vaudville days, this place really is a studio and museum! and true to form, artist work here obviously given away by all the piles everywhere {that's just how us creative people work}!

one of the employees inking the plate prior to running it... what i would give to be able to have had an internship with Hatch!

this poster was way in the back of the shop and it was for a taylor concert than happened last year on my hubby's birthday... i love taylor's music, loved the colors, and the awesome orchids and when i asked if there was any way i could buy it they said the boss man keeps extras to give away to charity auctions and couldn't sell it... i was bummed, but totally understood... so i took a picture hoping that would help...

 we went back in the day we were leaving town to get something we had been thinking about, and one of the employees that i had been chatting it up with on our first visit saw me on my phone in the crowd upfront and came and asked if i got the Taylor poster, and i knew he knew i hadn't, so as i started to tell him "no they wouldn't let me buy it..." he was rolling it up to give to me! i seriously was ready to cry, that was so cool that he had asked and just gave it to me because he knew how much i had wanted it so badly! the people who work there are so nice... and that's really true of pretty much everyone we encountered while we were in nashville!

to find out more about Hatch Show Print go here

well, that's all for part 1 folks... i'll be back soon with the plantation tour and tour of President Andrew Jackson's home, the Hermitage... and of course our trip to the Grand Ole Opry!