East Side Story Book Store is Open for Business

Watching a friend open a new business has got to be one of life's greatness moments. Watching Chuck and Emily Beard open East Side Story, a new book store in East Nashville, is more than a great moment. It has been another adventure in my life with the Beards. I am not quite sure when our mutual love of all things art and networking with each other became a deeper friendship. Somewhere between volunteering and creating, we became family.

The Beards have decided to become business owners that will encompass all of their talents into one brightly blue painted store at The Shops of Woodlands. Emily's artwork, t-shirt designs, and jewelry are neatly arranged on stands and bins. Chuck's first book, Adventures Inside a Bright-Eyed Sky, is stacked in a bookcase that features Nashville authors from every genre; Romance, How To, Children, Horror, Weight Loss, Man Hunting, Women Loving, No the Hell You Didn't, Business Owners, Pray For It, Claim It, You Name It. Every subject is at East Side Story. All written by Nashvillians. Who knew Music City had so many published authors! For a minute, I could have sworn I had stepped into a songwriters showcase with no sheet music or musicians. The pages of hundreds of books were singing softly, "Read me, Genma, read me"!

I responded to the chorus I was hearing in my head by dialing as many authors that I knew to get over to 1108 Woodland Street before dark and by picking up several items to purchase. Chuck's decision to carry only local authors was a brilliant idea. I am certain the authors will return that loyalty by sending book lovers to East Side Story. Can you see entrepreneur of the year award already? I do!

As I took in the beauty of the scenery and admiring the hearts of new entrepreneurs, I could not help but swell with pride. I am so proud to know two love birds that compliment each other so well who are on a new journey in their life. I am so thankful and blessed that our paths crossed.

East Side Story opens for business officially today, Saturday, August 11,2012 at 9:00am at 1108 Woodland Street, Nashville, TN. I hope to see you there!

Chuck Beard on Living Your Best Life Radio discussing opening East Side Story last month can be found here.

Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Neil Leonard, and Emily Haper Beard on Living Your Best Life Radio Show

Living Your Best Life Radio Show with Genma Holmes celebrates Artober Nashville with the Frist Center. Tune in as we continue to shine the spotlight on art, culture, community and the Frist Center’s leadership that "inspire people through art to look at their world in new ways."




On Saturday, October 15, 2011 we will be joined by world renown artist, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, one of the most significant artists to emerge from the Cuban post-revolutionary era, and her husband, Neil Leonard, an internationally recognized composer. The powerful artistic team and founders of G.A.S.P Gallery of Boston will share about their week-long residency at Vanderbilt which has included dual exhibits of Campos-Pons work at the Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery and the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, panel discussions, receptions, and a family collaborate intimate performance art piece. The individual lectures by the artistic duo and residency are sponsored by the Vanderbilt University Department of Art, Center for Latin American Studies, Department of History of Art, Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery, Program in African American and Diaspora Studies, Atlantic World Seminar, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy, Neil Leonard, and the College of Arts and Science.

We will also hear from the Frist Center’s go too, hands on, out and about, Community Relations Manager, Emily Harper Beard. Emily will share how she and the Frist Center’s Education outreach team, Shaun Giles and Rosemary Swain Brunton, take the vision and mission of the Frist Center beyond its Broadway address to classrooms, non-profits, groups and organizations, and to various events throughout the Middle Tennessee region.

Living Your Best Life Radio Show can be heard on 880 AM in the Nashville-Middle Tennessee area and on Ustream.TV worldwide from 10am-12pm CST.

Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons


Born in 1959, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons was raised in the Cuban province of Matanzas. Campos-Pons was educated in Cuba at the National School of Art (1976-1979) and Instituto Superior de Arte (1980-1985). She graduated from Massachusetts College of Art in 1988 and now lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, with her husband, Neil Leonard and their son.

Campos-Pons creates photographs, video, and multimedia installations that tell the story of the survival of African cultures by evoking rites, myths, and narratives that have evolved through generations. Her work symbolically follows the history of the slave trade from her family’s origin in Nigeria to Cuba, where they worked in the sugar industry, to present-day Boston, where Campos-Pons now works and teaches.

Her works have been exhibited in the United States, Canada, Japan, Norway, France, Italy, and Cuba. She was represented in the Johannesburg Biennial and has had a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Campos-Pons’ powerful attachment to her cultural African heritage is one that she has never experienced directly but its presence in the rites and myths of her childhood make her a Cuban transplanted in the United States, an exile twice over.

Most recently, the Guangzhou Triennial in China hosted her work. A 20-year retrospective of Campos-Pons’ work, Everything is Separated by Water: María Magdalena Campos-Pons, opened in Indianapolis in 2006 and traveled to the Bass Museum in Miami.

During her life, she has received many awards and recognitions like the "Mention of Honor", in 1986 in the XVIIIème Festival International de la Peinture, Château Musée, Cagnes Sur Mer, Francia. In 1990 Painting Fellowship, The Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta, Canada, in 1992 Foreign Visiting Artist Grant, Media Arts, Canada Council, Canada, in 1994 Bunting Fellowship. Mary Ingraham Bunting Institute, Radcliffe Research and Study Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A and in 1995 Art Reach 95 Award, National Congress of Art & Design, Salt Lake City, Utah, EE.UU.

While in Nashville, the Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce recognized Campos-Pons for her contributions to international cultural with an award for "Outstanding Hispanic Professional Achievement Award in Art" at its 7th Annual Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration and Awards Ceremony held on Thursday, October 13, 2011.

For more info on her dual exhibits at the Frist Center and Vanderbilt go here. A list of exhibitions can be found here.

Neil Leonard


Leonard is one of the most inventive and adventuresome artist in new music today. Leonard's work has ranged from traditional jazz performance, solo concerts for saxophone and electronics, collaborations with top Cuban musicians, works for orchestra as well as sound and music for dance, theater, performance and installation.

Leonard's collaborative work with visual artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons was featured by the 49th Venice Biennial, Museum of Modern Art (NYC), purchased by the National Gallery of Canada and presented by the U.S. State Department at Dakar Biennial. Leonard composed the music for Relatives, by Tony Oursler and Constance DeJong that was featured by the Whitney Biennial and the ICA (Boston).

His ensemble and collective projects featured Marshall Allen, Bruce Barth, Don Byron, Uri Caine, Kenwood Dennard, Robin Eubanks, Frank Lacy, Oriente Lopez, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Badal Roy, Jamaaladeen Tacuma. Leonard’s "Dreaming of an Island", (for orchestra, electronics and live-video) was premiered by the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. Leonard's composition Totems was premiered at Carnegie Hall by Byron and Caine. Leonard's "Echoes and Footsteps" was featured by the Tel Aviv Biennial for New Music, Issue Project Room (NYC) and the Auditorium di Roma. To learn more about the composer click here and here.

Emily Harper Beard



Emily Harper Beard, formerly Communications Coordinator at the Frist Center, recently moved into the Community Relations Manager position where she works with a variety of community groups and audiences to help promote the Frist Center’s mission. Prior to working at the Frist Center, she received her B.A. in graphic design from Middle Tennessee State University and worked at Animax Design—a puppet shop in Nashville which creates characters for live shows, film, and television. She continues to be an active artist in and supporter of Nashville’s growing arts scene.

To learn more about community partners, educational programs, and affinity days at the Frist Center click here and here.

Photos: Neil Leonard,Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Susan Edwards, and Katie Delmez;Joesph Mella and Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons; and Emily Harper Beard courtesy of Genma Holmes

CD cover, art, and photo of Campos-Pons and Leonard courtesy of Campos-Pons and Leonard

Article written by: Chuck Beard
Chuck Beard is an active volunteer in the Nashville community. He works tirelessly to bring attention to those in need by bringing the music and art community together to raise funds and awareness to causes near and dear to his heart.

An Ironman With A Soft Heart; Chuck Beard

October is officially National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Pink ribbon themed events are in plentiful supply. I participate with many groups and organizations like most do during the month. But in the cancer community, cancer does not come once a year. It is a twenty-four hour, 365 day a year fight to strike down the dreaded disease. I chose to partner with individuals who understand that in order to beat cancer we must make cancer awareness and survivorship a part of mainstream conversation and not the color of a ribbon one month out of the year.

This past summer, I met Chuck Beard who is a huge advocate for the cancer community. I don’t think I have ever seen him with a pink ribbon. But he can usually be found wearing a red track suit with the name of someone who is fighting cancer on the suit. Chuck is an athlete who competes in races to raise money for cancer patients and their families. He also organizes concerts and art related events to raise money as well.

I was so intrigued with his brand of advocacy that I had to meet with him to learn more about his ambitious drive behind his passion to help others.

When we met, I found myself staring up at Chuck, “he shops in the big and tall shop” I silently thought to myself. Out of curiosity, I touched his arm and realized right away why he was perfect for competing in the 2010 Louisville Ironman event; his arm was flesh over steel. Chuck’s physical appearance embodied the Ironman persona but once he starting sharing with me about why he is involved in the cancer community, I heard right away the heart of a gentle giant and someone who has as much compassion for others as he has strength. Chuck, like millions, lost a loved one to cancer. Chuck’s best friend from childhood fought a long hard battle with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. To honor that friendship that shaped him at a young age, Chuck started an organization to address the needs in the cancer community. Chuck’s nonprofit has assisted families to help with everyday expenses while caring for a loved one that is hospitalized or undergoing treatment.

This approach to helping others in need is different from many organizations that raise money for cancer causes. Rarely do organizations give monies to individuals who are fighting cancer and usually untold financial stress at the same time directly.

Chuck’s foundation, Adventures Inside of Campus for A Cure, is a 501©3. Chuck and a few friends decided to fight cancer by pulling on a few of their favorite things: education, art, music, and good people. They use their collective resources to bring people together to have a ton of fun while making cancer awareness their top priority. Chuck and company do not see their group as an organization but a movement. “Our goals are to entertain through art and music, educate about the effects of cancer, and enlighten lives with the experiences we leave behind from city to city on our journey”, he said with a big grin. Adventures Inside a Campus For A Cure started in Kentucky in Chuck’s hometown but has found a huge following in Nashville and individuals from around the world.

At the time of our meeting, Chuck was training for an Ironman competition that was held on August 29, in Louisville, Kentucky. He was being trained by Centre College Football Coach Patrick Carter Conley and had been since mid-December of 2009. Chuck shared with me his weekly training which included 6 days a week of swimming, biking, and running. When I asked about his strenuous workouts, he said it was brutal but it would be worth it for a deserving family. Many donated money while Chuck was training and on the day of the event. 100% of the proceeds from the event went to two unknowing and deserving families in Nashville, TN and Louisville, KY that have someone in their families currently battling cancer. Chuck recruited two dear friends who worked in the medical fields from both cities to give him names of families who were in dire circumstances to be recipients of the donations.

If that was not enough, Adventures Inside a Campus for A Cure donations to the family remained anonymous. After hearing him share this bit of information with a big grin, it was hard to fight back tears. He said he wanted the families to know that they were not alone in their courageous fight against cancer, and that many people out there want them to feel inspired by the power of love. Doesn’t every person fighting cancer need an Ironman fighting their battle for them?

Chuck’s advocacy does not stop at triathlon meets or music and art events. He wrote a book titled Adventures Inside A Bright Eyed Sky. ALL money from the book sales goes to families in need. Every cent. Chuck gave me an autographed copy that I rushed home to read right away. I read a story about a boy named Jay who was about to turn thirteen and going through the challenges of life at such a young age. Chuck uses the humor of middle school minds to address grown up problems. The book is appropriate for all ages. As I read it, I found myself imaging Chuck as the young Jay. Since receiving my copy, I have given the book to three families who have young children battling cancer. Their responses have all been the same, “Thank you for the book, I would love to meet the author someday.” With quiet giggles, I said to myself, “You will, you will”, as I took the families names to pass on to Chuck.

Photo credit: Emily Beard

Article first published as An Ironman with a Soft Heart: Chuck Beard Trains for Families with Cancer on Blogcritics.


(Want to support chuck's efforts? Meet Chuck and others:

Local grassroots nonprofit Adventures Inside a Campus for a Cure will host an evening of art, music and conversation about cancer at The Rutledge Fri., Nov. 12, with doors opening at 8 p.m. The evening will feature works from local visual artist Jeff Bertrand and performances by Starlume, Venus Hum and Trenton, with all proceeds from the door benefiting Gilda’s Club of Nashville.)