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Eric Church transforms hardship into harmony at new Nashville hotspot where he hosts his residency
Country star Eric Church has officially launched Chief’s, a six-story venue that combines a bar, restaurant and music hall, right in the heart of Nashville’s iconic Broadway. The “Record Year” singer is currently hosting a 19-show residency at this intimate 400-seat location.
Reflecting on his early days in Nashville, Church said when he left his small town in North Carolina, all he had was dreams of stardom.
“I didn’t know anybody,” he said. “I didn’t even know where Nashville started and ended. I just knew that I came to the center of it.”
Despite his ambitions, the beginning was fraught with rejections. He said he couldn’t even get a bartending job on Broadway.
“Broadway didn’t want me at all,” he said. “I couldn’t get a gig on Broadway.”
Today, Church is revered as one of country music’s most respected figures, often described as Nashville’s renegade. But he admits, even now, after all this success, he sometimes still sees himself as an outsider.
Chief’s is more than just a venue. It’s a heartfelt project that offers Church a way to connect deeply with his fans.
“I wanted a place that I could show up at, no cell phones, no recorders that I could be in a living room setting, and I could play songs that didn’t make albums,” Church said.
The significance of Chief’s as a safe space has been covered by personal tragedies that Church faced, including his near-death experience from a blood clot in June of 2017. He had emergency surgery, and it took months to recover. One of his first shows back that fall was at a festival in Las Vegas. Two days after he performed, a gunman opened fire on the crowd, killing 60 people.
“I watched those people that night, hold up boots and, and sing at the top of their lungs,” he said. “And then two days later, you know, deadliest mass shoot in U.S. history. Had a lot of fans that had stayed over for the weekend to see all the shows that got killed. I don’t know what it was, something about it just kind of broke me,” he said.
The unexpected death of his younger brother Brandon — who died of seizure complications less than a year later — plunged him into eight months of “darkness.”
“I got through everything else I’ve got through in my life. I turned to the one thing I know I can do. I wrote songs,” he said.
Chief’s provides a platform for him to perform the songs born from these personal trials — songs too personal for albums, but therapeutic for his healing process.
“What I’m trying to show with the residency here is it was really the songwriting and the songs that nobody’s heard that I’ve never put on a record,” he said. “Cause it was too personal, was too close. I’m gonna play those. I’m gonna say, this is what got me through.”
Beyond the music, Church wanted Chief’s to feel personal. The stained-glass windows feature those artists who have inspired him. He’s covered a bar with about 4,000 of his concert posters. There are nods everywhere to his life and music that is now a distinctive part of the Nashville sound.
Despite his continued self-view as an outsider, Church feels a sense of redemption in being able to establish such a personal stake on Broadway, where he once faced rejection.
“I started here, you know, they didn’t want me here. I’m here. They can’t kick me out now.”
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
CBS Philadelphia
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.