Banner & Company

Macon Kimbrough: Former Warehouse 28 Manager and LGBTQ Activist

A historical marker commemorating the storied dance club Warehouse 28 was unveiled two years ago this month. The Warehouse began as a gay disco but was an inclusive environment that served as a refuge and hangout for Nashville's LGBTQ community starting in 1978 until its doors closed for good in 1995. It was also the place where Nashville CARES got its start, working to fight the AIDS epidemic. Macon Kimbrough started hanging out at Warehouse 28, and with owners Steve Smith and Mike Wilson, he took a trip to Washington, D.C., in 1979 — 10 years after Stonewall — to march for gay rights. That began a political awakening, and when he got back to Nashville he started working at the Warehouse, eventually becoming a manager. It's a chapter of his life — and Nashville's history — he'll never forget. This episode was first broadcast in June 2024. Guest: Macon Kimbrough Host: Demetria Kalodimos Producers: Steve Haruch and Andrea Tudhope Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Bonus: A Marathon Metro Council Meeting, Public Hearing on Budget

Banner reporters Steven Hale and Stephen Elliott sit down to discuss Tuesday night's marathon Metro Council meeting. Stephen talks about the three-and-a-half-hour public hearing on the budget, some late night drama between councilmembers and difficulty leaving the courthouse parking garage after midnight. Steven fills him in on the story of a rescued kinkajou. Produced by Andrea Tudhope Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Margot McCormack: Chef and Restaurateur

When Margot McCormack bought the former gas station that eventually became her restaurant, East Nashville was not considered a culinary destination. More pressingly, there was a gaping hole in the roof. With a lot of elbow grease, Margot set to work building out the space for her concept: a new menu daily, in tune with the seasons, —combining classic cooking techniques, fresh local ingredients and her own personal touches. Margot Cafe & Bar will be closing its doors 25 years to the day after opening its doors for the first time in 2001, serving soft shell crab, veal scallopini with polenta, tuna steak, pasta with white clam sauce, flourless chocolate cake, raspberry sorbet ... an assortment of her favorite crowd-pleasing dishes. It's been a good run, Margot says, and she wonders if she'd be able to do it if she were starting in today's Nashville — one whose food scene she helped shape. The final service will be June 5. Guest: Margot McCormack, chef and restaurateur Host: Demetria Kalodimos Producer: Steve Haruch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Freddy Angelico: Musician, Writer and Host of Podcast 'Girl in a Hurry'

As a musician, Freddy Angelico plays many instruments well, but his first love is still his go-to: the guitar. You can hear him play on albums by Lola Kirke and Adeem the Artist. He's backed up the likes of Mickey Guyton and Brandy Clark. He also writes and performs his own music, and writes a column for Premier Guitar [https://www.premierguitar.com/u/ellenangelico] magazine. In short, he's living the dream that started when he got his first real six-string at age 4. It was the Music City dream that attracted both Freddy and one of his former bandmates, the talented singer Shelly Bush. In the podcast Girl in a Hurry [https://www.girlinahurry.com/], Freddy tells Shelly's story, from a small town in Missouri to the honky tonks of Lower Broad — a life cut tragically short but lived to the absolute fullest. This episode was originally broadcast, in a slightly different form, in March 2025. Host: Demetria Kalodimos Producers: Steve Haruch and Andrea Tudhope Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Bonus: A 'botched' execution in Tennessee

Banner reporter Steven Hale sits down with editor Steve Cavendish to talk about a day that will go down in history in Tennessee. The day the state intended to execute Tony Carruthers — a Memphis man sentenced to death for the kidnapping and murder of three people in 1994 — but failed to do so. A doctor contracted by TDOC spent more than an hour trying to insert a secondary IV to administer pentobarbital before an emergency motion was filed and Gov. Lee issued a one-year reprieve. Hale was there to witness the events, and recounts them in detail. Produced by Andrea Tudhope Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]