Now, I'm going to preface my review of The Scene by admitting that yes, I am a contributing music…read morewriter, so I may be a bit biased. However, from a purely objective standpoint (because I felt this way even before they hired me), I can say that The Scene is the best publication in Nashville when it comes to arts and entertainment. First of all, The Scene can be found for free at countless locations throughout the city. It features album, book and film reviews as well as hard news pieces on the goings-on in and around Nashville. They also print some pretty popular features, such as the "Best of Nashville" list, and their website is extensive with archives of all the articles they publish. The Scene is a Village Voice publication, and those people know how to run a paper. With all the staffers and contributors The Scene employs, it's pretty easy to see that if something interesting goes down in Nashville, one of our guys will cover it. There are always listings of upcoming shows and events as well as reviews of things you may have missed. Besides, it's free! It certainly doesn't look like a hastily thrown-together publication, however.

Scene is pay to win, or pay for attention. The restaurants, bars, and venues that buy the most…read moreadvertising get the most attention. I work at one of only 5 fully plant based restaurants in Nashville but somehow we are left out of any articles like "where to find best vegetarian meals" but they'll instead mention a meat-centric restaurant with a few vegetable dishes, like wtf? Is it because we turn them down when we get sales calls from them? Because we don't want to buy advertising in their cheap rag? I agree with Simply S. that the staff at Scene only write about the things they're interested instead of covering the wide variety of happenings in Nashville. It's poor representation and they should hold themselves to a higher standard.

What was formally All the Rage, Metromix is another free and entertaining paper that you can grab…read moreup in Nashville. They seem to center themselves in their food reviews and music articles. They do a great job of listing shows by genre, and have ads for local restaurants, many including coupons. They take on a more People Magazine gossip approach than The Nashville Scene does, so you'll have little snippets of where Taylor Swift was and what bookstore Nicole Kidman visits. They used to have a very detailed pull out every week of apartments in the city, which I thought was very helpful, but they still have classified for you to go through, so that's alright too.

Nashville Scene helped kill Metromix Nashville tabloid, which died February 2011. No more Gannett…read moreNashville print weekly (weakly) which struggled despite heroic efforts by Heather Byrd of failed Metromix. Chris Ferrell Scene alternative weekly has been racking up the ads and circulation numbers to detriment of Gannett's tool. Metromix folded - it's gone, except its online ghost which may not survive Gannett corporation budget knife.

Chris Ferrell is the head entrepreneur at Nashville-based Southcomm, Inc. Southcomm is the number…read moretwo publisher of U.S. local alternative periodicals. Later they very well may become Number One. Deep investor pockets fund Southcomm acquisition of more and more alternative newspapers and mags in varied U.S. cities like Nashville, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Tampa, Kansas City, Louisville, Cleveland, and strategically in our nation's capitol, Washington, DC. Can you tell I feel it's swell to kvell as a fawning fan of Ferrell? So far Southcomm has constrained mostly to east of the Mississippi, but who knows what tomorrow will bring. Watch out, West!

Considering going to an event sponsored by Nashville Lifestyles? Don't--the organization is a scam…read more I purchased tickets for an event on the Nashville Lifestyles website ("Battle of the Burger") that was listed as a "rain or shine" event. The day before the event, though, it was cancelled due to ... gotta love it, bad weather. The event has yet to provide details about how to request a refund, nor has it provided a new date/time. In my book, that's false advertising and unprofessional communication, enough that I'll think twice before attending a future Nashville Lifestyles event. [If someone from Nashville Lifestyles would like to message me about providing a refund, I'd be happy to reconsider this review.]

I just started reading Nashville Lifestyles. I'm an avid reader of The Rage and the Nashville…read moreScene, which have a lot of information about upcoming events, but because they're weekly, sometimes you don't have time to plan. Because Nashville Lifestyles is monthly, they advertise upcoming events far earlier, and they sponsor their own events too, including a summer bash, the bartending bash and a singles event. The articles are interesting. There's no real news, just interest pieces about Nashville people, events, restaurants and phenomena. This month's edition had a great article about country music stars who've started restaurants and food brands, like Jimmy Dean Sausage and Kenny Roger's Roasters.

"All the Rage" used to be a little pamphlet sized music-centric publication and a couple of years…read moreago, they morphed into a full entertainment guide with articles as well as listings. It's good to have another source for finding entertainment. Although they cover the same events as the Scene, there's a more fun, less judgmental spin and the emphasis is on fun. They cover events and have party coverage and a celebrity "you were spotted," which I admit to reading and enjoying.

When I first moved to Nashville area I saw people standing on the side of the road at intersections…read moreor sometimes in the strip between the two lanes holding up a paper and people rolling down their windows and making an exchange=== money for a paper. I thought wow this is a unique way to get your daily newspaper. I asked a co-worker and found out that this is a publication put out by homeless people and they have to follow a program and basically they pick these papers up and are allowed to sell them for money for themselves as opposed to just hanging out with a sign that said hungry- need food. I was very intriqued. I started buying the paper each it was convenient---stopped at a red light had the change hanging or my wallet handy as I think this is a great idea and once I started to actually get the little publication I enjoyed the articles. The articles are typically by homeless or former homeless people. I appreciate that this program is in place and I certainly feel more comfortable rolling down my window and or making eye contact and acknowledging these folks that are trying to do something to better their situation.