The NINES Party

According to numerology enthusiasts, the number nine “beseeches us to recognize our internal attributes and extend these abilities out into the world to make a positive, influential difference.”

This season, the NINES Party, a Tennessee State Museum Foundation-sponsored affair, embodied this perspective perfectly. The party triumphantly lived up to its promise of an evening of fun, flash, and fundraising.

The invitation – covered with number nine billiard balls, of course – directed guests, dressed in “to-the-nines casual”, to arrive at Carolyn and John Ridley’s penthouse at The Cumberland in downtown Nashville at 6:09 pm on 09/09/09.

On the evening of the party, the weather cooperated flawlessly. It was comfortably warm with a cool breeze which blew in right on cue, just in time for the magnificent sunset, which museum patrons viewed through the floor-to-second-story ceiling windows of the Ridley’s modernly elegant penthouse.

In an effort to assuage the lackluster fundraising that most non-profits are currently experiencing, a stellar silent auction was the star turn at this party.

Now, there are silent auctions and then there are State Museum’s silent auctions.

Lining the corridors leading to the penthouse were incredible works on canvases, contributed by members of the Chestnut Group of plein-air painters, including Anne Blair Brown, Jean Gauld-Jaegar, Thalia Kahl, Dawn Whitelaw, Betty Kate Jones, Ellen Sadler, and Shirley Fachilla.

The entire Oglander family, consisting of Gary, Evamarie, and sons, Eric and Daniel, (all of whom just had a group show at the Nashville International Airport), donated both paintings and pottery, while artist Mark Hooper created an amazing Nine-Nine-Nine sculpture for the event.

Among other coveted items were original photography from John Guider (Paris, France image), Kris Kristofferson (hand-colored Kentucky landscape), and Jack Stoddart (hand-colored piano image), along with a hand-made, hand-dyed silk Orchid scarf created by fiber artist Lisa Mergen, a hand-painted handbag from the Stacey Rhodes Boutique, and turquoise jewelry and cuff links from Levy’s.

The signature cocktail was the Nine Ball – a deliciously lethal concoction of vodka, pineapple, orange and banana juice.

Decked out in a fabulous, floor-length Ralph Lauren purple patio dress, Leigh Hendry, the museum’s Director of External Affairs, recounted the history of the theme.

“We threw the original NINES party on 09-09-99 at our house [her home with husband, Bo Roberts], then gave the museum the idea. We held an 05-05-05 party, hosted by Sylvia and Rich Roberts, and an 07/07/07 party, hosted by Sambuca on their front terrace…

I call these the Numbers parties. We are planning to do 10-10-10, 11-11-11 and 12-12-12, and then, that’s it! Because, by the time the next, repeating single digit date occurs, I should be dead!”

That would be 01-01-01, 92 years from now.

The party, a smashing success with at least 99 guests, raised more than $9,000.

Guests included: Hosts Carolyn and John Ridley, Gloria Houghland and Chuck Welch, Jim Clark, Shanan Poss, Jackson Brown, Hunter Atkins, Joelle Phillips, Elizabeth Phillips, Nancy Russell and Paul Kuhn, Jeanne Dudley Smith and Bob Smith, Linda and Jere Ervin, Mary Nell Bryan, Laurie and Eddie Gore, Museum Foundation Chairman Ray Bell, Betty Malo, Victoria and Ed Harvey, Mary Pat Tyree, Dee Shepherd and Brooks Parker, Nick Riggins and Julianne Vanderpool, Sara Jo Houghland, Carol Fite, Steve Elkins, Reen Locker, David Preston and Emily Taylor, Betsy Reid and Dan Pomeroy, Margo Fort Hall and Michael Hall, Colleen Kerrigan and Ernie Williams, Pattie and Brad Watson, Melanie Cooley, Museum Director Lois Riggins-Ezzell and David Ezzell, Lynn Greer and Tunisha Hobson, among others.

The museum’s next event, Sparkle and Twang IV, is set for Friday the 13th in November at the Loveless Barn. Tickets are $150.

Sparkle & Twang benefits the museum’s foundation, as well as its Costume & Textile Institute. Jeanne Dudley Smith, pictured below, will be inducted into the Institute that evening.

Visit www.tnmuseum.org and show your support by joining and becoming a member of the museum, “Home of the Tennessee Legends.”

Members receive a quarterly newsletter, a 10% discount on gift shop merchandise, special invitations to previews, lectures, and walking tours, and more.

by Olivia Sarratt McCarthy