Review: TEDXNASHVILE MIXTAPE: LESLIE FRAM ANDMANUEL CUEVAS at Analog

Not only did I get to spend another night at the Analog at the Hutton Hotel, but I also got to attend another TEDxNashville Mixtape event. For those who didn’t see the last review I did for one of these last month, TEDxNashville is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. TEDxNashville Mixtape is a collaboration between TEDxNashville and the Come Together Music Project, which holds sessions in which guests share songs that remind them of certain moments in their lives and explain the stories behind their song choices. Hosted by CTMP founder Shaka Mitchell, the evening of July 22 brought together a couple of truly remarkable gems; Leslie Fram and Manuel Cuevas. Fram is the former Vice President of CMT, on which she hosted “Next Women of Country”. Today, she is the proud co-founder and CEO of FEMco (Fram Entertainment & Music), a multi-faceted consulting collective specializing in artist development, talent services, and connection to Nashville’s entertainment community. Manuel Cuevas is a Mexican fashion designer known for creating garments for legendary figures. From rock stars like Ozzy Osbourne to Hollywood icons like John Wayne, he had dressed many stars in LA for four decades before moving to Nashville in the 90s. Host Mitchell said it best when he described Fram as being known for the “sound of Nashville” and Cuevas as being known for the “look of Nashville”. Joined by two icons familiar with the rich country scene of Nashville, TEDxNashville Mixtape is a deep and moving evening with songs that remind us where we came from and where we’re going.

If you aren’t familiar with how TEDxNashville Mixtape works, I shall break it down. Prior to the event, host Shaka Mitchell would ask each guest four questions that must be answered with a song. For example, the first question of the evening was this: “What’s a song that reminds you of your teen years?” Fram responded with “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder. She explained that her late mother, Adele (“the original”), took her to a Rolling Stones concert as a teen, and Stevie Wonder was the opening act. Surprisingly, she remembered Wonder more than the Stones that night because of all ‌the instruments he played so effortlessly. She was a shy teen from a small Alabama town called Fairhope, and this concert led to her making so many requests to radio DJs. Eventually, she started working at a radio station. Cuevas’s pick was "Bésame Mucho" (“Kiss Me A Lot”) by Mexican composer Consuelo Velázquez. He shared that the composer actually wrote the song about her own teddy bear when she was nine. When asked if he got to meet her, he said that he did, but he was too shy to bring up her song. “I’ve been a nerd all my life,” he stated. 

The rest of the event included questions about songs that “first made you fall in love with country music” and songs that “make you hopeful”. For Fram, the song that made her fall in love with country music was “Stripes” by Brandy Clark. Like many songs by female country artists, this one is about a woman’s desire to unalive a man who did her dirty. When Fram started working for CMT, she was fairly new to modern country music. She decided to check out the Bluebird Cafe, and Brandy Clark just so happened to be performing. Fram was blown away by Clark’s humorous songwriting, and she arranged for a music video to be made for “Stripes”, which ran on CMT for seven months. For Cuevas, his song was “Your Cheatin’ Heart” by Hank Williams. He stated that it reminded him of the fun Mexican music he grew up with, and he later got to design garments for Williams. Despite the two guests being tied to country music in Nashville, it was interesting to hear their very different responses. The two of them grew up in different areas outside of Tennessee, and they were introduced to country music in completely different eras. Regardless of where they came from and how long it took them to get into country music, it’s amazing to see where the genre has brought them. I also liked how the two of them answered their questions so differently. Fram gave answers that were shorter than Cuevas’s, but she still managed to make them as detailed as possible in a short amount of time. Cuevas took a little longer with his delivery as if he were giving a long story to a group of weary travelers (I did sit next to a lady from Wisconsin on a business trip before she had to leave early). He even started explaining why he picked his songs before the host could even cue the music. Both guests seemed comfortable onstage, but Cuevas seemed very laid-back as he told the audience how lovely they were. As for the songs that make them hopeful, Fram selected “Weather With You” by Crowded House because it encourages you to create your own environment and just stay positive. Cuevas selected “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” by Kris Kristofferson because it really makes him hopeful. “No war, no fighting, just loving,” he said. It also makes me recognize his own worth. He shared a story about how Elvis Presley’s manager (I think it was his manager, but I can’t remember) asked him for a belt for the King to wear. The designer offered a belt worth 35k, and the manager exclaimed, “Are you crazy?” Cuevas calmly replied, “Yes, but the belt is still 35k.” God bless this man.

Just like in my last review for the program, I’ve saved the second-to-last question for last. Being the last question right before intermission, host Mitchell encouraged the audience to answer the question and share their picks amongst each other for the next fifteen minutes. He asked the guests, “What song helped you persevere through a difficult season?” I literally gasped when Fram answered with “Rainbow” by Kacey Musgraves because I absolutely adore this artist. Fram loved Musgraves’s delivery of the lyrics, and she knows people who play the song for their kids as they go to sleep. She wished that the song existed when she lost her parents. Cuevas selected the legendary “We Are The World”, and no, I’m not naming every single artist that made up USA for Africa. If you’ve somehow never heard of this song, it’s a charity single that brought together some of the most well-known artists of the era to raise money for those affected by famine in Ethiopia. Funnily enough, I looked up the song for more information, and I discovered that it was released on March 7, 1985, approximately a decade before I was even born. Anyway, in the decades since the song’s release, Cuevas fears that we have forgotten how to come together. He shared a time he went to Russia and walked down a street filled with soldiers and people lined up for bread. Still, he remains hopeful. “I love humanity,” he said. “I love people. I love peace.”

One last thing that I did in my last review that I have to do again is answer the third question; “What song helped you persevere through a difficult season?” As a theatre critic, I never want to just write reviews about fancy shows that not everyone would be interested in. After all, I am not a fancy person. I’m just an everyday woman who has mostly done community theatre for more than half her life, and I try to come across as relatable to my audience. I’d figure the best way to get people interested in something like this is to participate in my review. In late 2012, I was struggling in the first half of my junior year. My grades were slipping, I found out that I was autistic, and the guy I had a crush on started dating someone else after a period of ignoring me. Last I checked, they got married and are now divorced, so I’m glad we never got together. At that point, P!nk released the song “Try” from her album The Truth About Love. It reminded me that I was still young and that I still had time to find love. I did eventually find a boyfriend, but if you read my last review for this program, then you know how well that turned out. Despite my track record, I am still hopeful that I’ll find someone. It’s not necessarily my end goal, but I’m open to it. Oh, and I got to see P!nk live in concert in March of 2013. I got way too excited when I heard the opening piano notes of “Try” start to play. 

If you haven’t attended a TEDxNashville Mixtape event, I highly recommend it. It is well-organized and thought-provoking. And if you stick around for the whole thing, Shaka Mitchell will give you a link to a Spotify playlist of all the songs mentioned that night. That way, the music can accompany you on the drive home. 

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