As I am sure many of you have seen on the news, the Nashville area got hit with almost 15 inches of rain over the weekend. I know that I talked to someone I know in Nashville and he said it was a mess.
The Opryland area is flooded and it is being compared to the great flood of 1975. The Opryland Convention Center hotel was evacuated last night and the 1500 guests were moved to an area high school. They parking lots around the hotel were unde water.
I have also heard that the parking lots at Opry Mills mall are flooded and that the area around the Opry House, Opry Museum and Acuff Theater are also underwater.
No word as of yet if the Tuesday Night Opry will be moved to the Ryman Auditorim from the Grand Ole Opry House, but it would not suprise me. I know that in the flood of 1975, the Opry moved its show to the Nashville Sports Arena because of the flooding. I guess it would be determined by how much access they can get to the area.
Also, many areas of downtown along lower Broadway and 1st and 2nd streets are underwater also.
As of 2pm this afternoon, I am hearing that plans are being made to move this week's shows to the Ryman Auditorium. Opry Country Classics is already there on Thursday night. Tuesday night, the Ryman is available for the Tuesday Night Opry. How they would handle the ticket situation is not known.
ReplyDeleteThe Ryman is also available on Friday and Saturday if the Opry wanted to move there. Again, I don't know what the presale is for this weekends shows and that will affect the decision. But, the line-up of artists being advertised on Opry.com is not that impressive, so I can't believe there has been a big pre-sale. Again, I am sure they are deciding how to handle the ticket situation.
The phones are out at all the Gaylord properties as of right now.
My brother still lives in Nashville and I've been getting firsthand reports of the flooding (he lives high on a hill so his home is ok). With countless friends and colleagues in the area I've been deeply concerned but I was stunned when I saw some photos of lower Broadway and the Opryland Hotel this morning. Some of the scenes are truly unbelievable and I know Nashville hasn't seen anything like this in 35 years. Fortunately, everyone I've heard from so far is safe and hasn't had to deal with any major damage. The "Tennessean" website has a number of photos from around Middle Tennessee. If you're in the area, Hands On Nashville is organizing volunteers to help with the recovery (www.hon.org).
ReplyDeleteThanks Barry. I know I watched the news tonight and I am just stunned by all of the areas flooded. I also have been checking out the photos on the Tennessean website. Again, I just cannot believe how high the water level was.
ReplyDeleteMike Terry on WSM just reported at 6:40ET that someone with the Opry on Facebook is reporting that water is over the stage inside the Opry House and they lost equipment and etc.
ReplyDeleteOpry.com has an article now saying the Tuesday Night is going to be at the War Memorial Auditorium and the weekend shows are at the Ryman. This is probably going to be the case for a while. There is a picture on the press release and water is definitely backstage. They just did a remodel of the backstage dressing room and of course the auditorium etc pretty recently so that is likely waterlogged. They also just did some updating in that museum. That would have to be waterlogged too.
ReplyDeleteYou are faster at getting the information than I am!!! I went ahead and did a separate post regarding the change in venue.
ReplyDeleteWith the attendance issues that the Opry is having, this is probably the last thing Pete Fisher needed.
Best of luck as they continue to work at saving the different historical items that are at the Opry House and the Grand Ole Opry Museum.
No problem. Just trying to help you out a little. Saw your latest posting. Hopefully, they did save some of the artifacts but I'm wondering if anybody was able to do anything as this starting happening in full force on a Sunday and into a Monday morning. An amazing picture too is Briley Parkway behind the Opry House. It was even flooded I guess from the Cumberland overflow too. I haven't seen anything yet about Opry Mills and the showboat. Also that new ticketing area at the Opry House and the Opry Gift Shop. They would likely be a mess too. There's a lot of merchandise in there and that all was redone within the last 10 years or so.
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