The Vanderbilt University Speakers Committee will present “Your City: Nashville’s Stories” on Monday, Sept. 23, at 7 p.m. in the Student Life Center Ballroom. The event will include brief addresses by Vanderbilt University Medical Center physician Reid Thompson, celebrated local chef Arnold Myint, Contributor founding executive director Tasha A. French Lemley, and Roy Wooten, better known by the stage name Future Man. A question-and-answer session will follow the talks.
Tickets for the event are currently on sale. Tickets are free to Vanderbilt students, faculty and staff. One free ticket may be picked up with a Vanderbilt ID at the Sarratt Student Center box office.
Tickets for the general public are $5 at the Sarratt box office or any Ticketmaster outlet. Tickets also may be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com. Non-Vanderbilt students with a college or university ID may purchase tickets for $5 at the Sarratt box office or any Ticketmaster outlet, or by calling 1-800-745-3000.
Thompson is chairman of VUMC’s Department of Neurological Surgery, director of neurosurgical oncology, professor of otolaryngology and the William F. Meacham Professor of Neurological Surgery. He received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and has held positions at Johns Hopkins, Stanford, the University of California–Irvine and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Thompson is a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.
Myint gained national attention as a 2010 contestant on the Bravo network’s Top Chef and is currently the executive chef of four popular Nashville restaurants: PM, {blvd} Nashville, AM@FM Nashville Farmer’s Market and Suzy Wong’s House of Yum. Myint attended New York City’s Institution of Culinary Education and has been recognized by numerous publications, including being named the 2010 Best Chef by the Nashville Scene. He is an active supporter of many local nonprofit organizations, particularly promoting Nashville’s independent dining scene as well as local arts and education.
Lemley is the founding executive director of The Contributor, a nonprofit organization that draws attention to the condition of homelessness in Nashville by providing current and former homeless vendors with a source of income through the city’s street newspaper. Her homeless outreach work includes photography and interviewing individuals for sanshouses.com. She currently serves as president of the board of directors of the North American Street Newspaper Association. In 2009, she was named a Titans Community Quarterback as the most outstanding volunteer in the state.
Wooten, better known as Future Man, is an inventor, scientist, musician, composer and two-time Grammy Award-winning performer with Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. For the Flecktones, he plays the Drumitar, a guitar-shaped electronic instrument of his own invention that allows him to replicate the sounds of an entire contemporary drum kit with just a few fingers. More recently, he developed the RoyEl, which resembles a piano but plays notes not found in traditional western music scales. The RoyEl is based on the periodic table of elements and the golden ratio.
Contact: Bridgette Kohnhorst, (615) 322-2471
bridgette.kohnhorst@vanderbilt.edu
