What is better than one lunch? How about TWO lunches?!?! That’s right – this piece is technically a sequel to the piece I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the creativity of the mad geniuses at Daddy’s Dogs. What can I say? It was a hell of a day. We had nowhere to be…nothing to do…it was blissful. So, yes. I sat at the Daddy’s Dogs bar at The Factory in Franklin, ate a hot dog that had peanut butter, maple syrup, and bacon on it. I drank a cold Yazoo Dos Perros with it. And then, we got up and decided to have more food when we stumbled upon Mojo’s Tacos (spoiler alert: we visited Five Daughters Bakery afterwards, but saved the donuts for the following morning).

The first thing I noticed about the menu was just how diverse it was. I mean…there’s some real artful combination of ingredients here. They had your standard fare as far as tacos go, of course. But, there were plenty of outside-the-box options. We were feeling particularly adventurous…or at the very least, we were in the mood to try something different. So, we landed on these four tacos (descriptions courtesy of the Mojo’s Tacos menu):

• The “puffy” – Barbacoa, queso, guacamole, cilantro, onion.
• Korean cauliflower – Gochujang sauce, ginger slaw, toasted sesame seeds, Mojo’s sauce.
• Hot chicken – Hand-breaded chicken tender, chipotle slaw, poblano sauce.
• Green chili cheeseburger – Smashed Bear Creek Farm beef patty, rajas, American cheese, Morita sauce.

Our plan was to just grab a few to sample. We’d take a nice quiet moment to sit and enjoy one another’s company and take in this plate of tacos. However, we were quite surprised when the food arrived. We vastly underrated the size of these things. I mean, usually when it comes to ‘bang for your buck,’ what you get when you pay the type of prices that Mojo’s Tacos sets is scant. They certainly provide value for your dollar, and our eyes widened when we saw just how stuffed these tacos were.

Normally, something like this means that my wife is going to do her best and then I’m going to have to end up eating five pounds of food so it doesn’t go to waste. But, I’ll say that in this instance, it was a level of pain I didn’t mind one bit.

These tacos were bursting with flavor. From the fresh beef on the Green chili cheeseburger taco to the saucy sweet and spicy combo of the Korean cauliflower taco, this plate absolutely delivered. The rich, deep flavor of the barbacoa balanced with with the puffy shell of “the puffy” made for the anchor of our meal. It was the bite I could take to cool off from the heat of the other tacos we got, and it made for quite a nice textural experience as well. I’m a huge hot chicken fan, and Mojo’s does it right with a searing heat complemented with savory flavor and a generous serving of slaw to help keep the fires tamed. I came away from that lunch appreciating the craft of combining those ingredients to make something special. It was the same feeling you get when you stroll through an art museum….when you turn on some classical music at the end of a long hard day…when you read something that deeply affects you. It was art….just stuffed inside a shell at a fun restaurant. It’s hard to imagine a better way to spend an afternoon.

For more on Mojo’s Tacos, check out their website here.

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, second on Football & Other F Words, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

Elsewhere on the SoBros Network: Check out Stacking The Inbox for premium coverage of the Tennessee Titans and NFL Draft. Subscribe to Nashville Movie Dispatch for all of our movie content. We get weird on Phone It In, the history podcast that explores legendary tales, important historical figures, and events.

Whatever higher power exists, I’m not sure of. I honestly try not to think about it too much. The weight of the implications is crushing. But, regardless of what or who you believe in, we can all agree that life is full of odd coincidences. This is a true story that transpired in June of 2025, and when I think of it, it still gives me chills because of how much it felt like some sort of strange cosmic alignment.

These days, I’m heading to downtown Nashville every Thursday night to broadcast the infamous Tennessee Titans podcast, Football & Other F Words, for 104.5 The Zone’s digital channels. It’s a real hoot. To pay the bills, I’m still logging my eight hours a day working for the man. But, I’m not client-facing, so it’s not unusual at all for me to go an entire day without speaking. That’s not good on podcast nights. I try to make noises throughout the day to keep my voice warmed up, but the fact of the matter is sometimes I need a boost. So, I’ll stop by the new Starbucks by the Target in Donelson on my way downtown and get a hot cup of tea to help prime my throat for talking. 

One early June Thursday, I stopped for my London Fog. The barista greeted me, seeming a little panicked. She asked, “you wouldn’t happen to be a cat person, would you?” I said I was. She continued, “there happens to be a little kitten that could use some help over in the Target parking lot.” She pointed towards a car that was setting back away from the larger bunch of parked cars. I could see a little silhouette nuzzled up next to the front passenger side wheel. As I drove off, I paused. I wanted to help, but I would’ve missed that episode of the podcast. I wasn’t aware of emergency protocols, or if this would even count as an emergency. I knew I could call my cohost Zach and he would’ve understood, but I wasn’t so sure about the station. I decided I would have to pass on this one and trust that the good will of humanity would prevail. 

It was a terrible decision. I couldn’t stop thinking about the poor kitten. I made it halfway to Nashville before I asked myself, “what were you thinking, Stoney? You don’t even believe in the good will of humanity.” I was distracted for the entirety of the show. I’m not sure if it came across that night on the airwaves, but my thoughts were elsewhere. I couldn’t wait for the show to end. I thought that I’d call Aura on the way home and make sure she was cool with me potentially bringing home a cat. Then, I’d stop at Target and look for the kitten. So, that’s what I did. I drove slowly around that Target parking lot, lap after lap. I’m surprised no one called the cops on me. But, there was no sign of the kitten. I felt terrible. 

I got home and told Aura what had happened, and I was so incredibly disappointed in myself. I just sat there staring at the wall. I couldn’t believe that it was gut check time and I didn’t rise to the occasion. I guess I was afraid of losing my spot at the station…getting in some sort of trouble…setting a precedent that the show wasn’t important to me…I don’t know. It was more or less pure panic. I understood that I was equipped to help that poor animal, and I just didn’t do it because this podcast was more important to me at that moment. It’s hard just to type that out – to stomach what my decision might’ve meant for the kitten. I couldn’t do any writing that night. I tried reading to take my mind off of things. Nothing worked. I felt guilty. I was lying in bed bargaining with no one in particular, saying “I do want to help…I do, I swear!”

I managed to get some sleep that night. In a coincidental turn of events, I realized the next morning that I had forgotten to stop and get coffee from the grocery store on the way home from the show the night before. I’m the type of basic bitch that can’t function without his coffee. “Great,” I thought. “Now I have to run out before work.” We live not two miles down the road from the Providence shopping center here in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. There’s a Starbucks there, but like any Mount Juliet native knows, the Providence traffic sucks. I had a little bit of time before I was due to clock in, so I thought I’d dodge the traffic and head to Hermitage to that Starbucks instead. It’s certainly longer mileagewise, but I’d take the scenic drive through the backroads over stuffy traffic any day.

I got my coffee and as I approached the traffic light at Old Hickory Boulevard and Juarez Drive, I noticed a little white blur in the intersection. My gut sank. It was a kitten…and it was panicking…running back and forth between the lanes attempting to dodge the traffic that wasn’t slowing down. To be fair, she was tiny and I wasn’t sure people could even see her. I didn’t want to see a kitten run over that morning. Thankfully, a man turning left off of Old Hickory Boulevard pulled up next to her. She immediately ran under his wheel for shelter. He tried to get out and get her, but she was so scared that she was doing everything in her power to stay hunkered down behind that wheel. Traffic still wasn’t stopping.

At that point, I thought “this is fucking ridiculous.” I know people, in general, are so preoccupied with their own shit that they very seldom pay attention to the world around them anymore. Missing a tiny kitten in the road is one thing, but now there’s a man pulled over, out of his car, crouched down by his wheel in the middle of the road, and still…no one’s stopping. It made my blood boil, and that’s when I decided to act. I flipped on my hazards at the traffic light, got out of my car, and I started walking into Old Hickory Boulevard waving my arms and just hoping that people would look up from their phones in enough time to see me and stop. A guy on the other side of the intersection, turning onto Old Hickory from Juarez, had the same idea. He pulled his van out into the traffic, and at that point, we had the intersection secure. 

I approached the man in the middle of the street. Thankfully, he had secured the kitten. I asked, “ya got her?” He replied, “yes…I don’t know what to do with her.” Maybe it was my guilt from the night before bubbling up inside me and erupting from my throat, but without hesitation, I said “I’ll take her.” She was small enough to fit in the palm of my hand. I nuzzled her up next to my chest in part to comfort her, but I also didn’t want her to struggle free and jump right back down into the road. As I left the scene, the man who pulled his van into the road cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled “thank you!” I got her in the car and she scrambled beneath the seats. I looked down and realized that I had her blood on my hands. 

I called our vet at Affordable Veterinary Care in Mount Juliet. Those folks are fantastic. I explained the situation. They told me they didn’t have any availability that morning, but I could bring the kitten by and they’d triage her to make sure she was stable. So, that’s what I did. I ran by the house, got our other cat Bucky’s crate, threw the kitten in it and away we went. They could tell she was still in shock, but they said she was stable. Her little jaw was swollen. That was the reason for the blood on my hands, but thankfully, there were no other lacerations on her body. They said she had a thousand-yard gaze. I’ve had five concussions myself, so I know good and damn well what that looks like. It broke my heart to hear the vet say that the injuries were consistent with being thrown from a moving vehicle, and they thought she might’ve been clipped by one. 

My instructions were clear. Get her (oh, and we confirmed she was a ‘her,’ by the way) to a quiet room, keep her warm, let her get some rest, and try to get her to eat. I brought her home, put her in our guest bathroom, and proceeded to watch over her. I ran to the pet store to get some kitten food, and I set it out for her, but she wouldn’t eat. Hours passed, but I couldn’t get her to eat…she barely moved. By 5PM, I began to panic a bit. She was still curled up in a tight ball in the corner of the crate, sleeping…lethargic…borderline lifeless. So, I called my vet back and they told me that I’d have to contact an emergency facility. There wasn’t much they could do for her at that point. The emergency facility rattled me after I filled them in on the situation by saying, “you should be prepared to decide how much you’re willing to spend to help this animal.” 

Fuck.

I called my wife and told her I didn’t know what to do. I certainly didn’t want the poor kitten to suffer. But, I wasn’t an adequate judge of when to panic about these sorts of things. I’m just a writer! Thankfully, Aura has a coworker who is a rock star of a cat mom. She suggested we try a kitten milk replacer. Aura stopped by the pet store, picked some up, and brought it home. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a being’s face light up the way that kitten’s did when she realized what was coming out of the tip of that bottle. Turns out, she was only four or five weeks old…she was nowhere near ready for solid foods. She was still on milk. She sucked the milk replacer down as quickly as we fed it to her. She was biting down on the bottle in a way that made me think, “surely her jaw is not broken.” And, while she wasn’t playful, she began to loosen up a bit. There was no telling when the last time she actually ate was. The can said she was supposed to get it every couple of hours or so. That night, Aura and I set our alarms for every two hours. We’d wake up. We’d feed the kitten. We’d try to get her to the next morning so the vet could examine her. 

After a virtually sleepless night, we made it to the vet. The tech came in and said, “oh wow, we’re still here,” adding that she wasn’t sure the kitten would make it through the night. “Something bad definitely happened to this kitten.” After a thorough exam and multiple tests, it was ruled that the kitten “had a chance.” No signs of parasites. No signs of any broken bones. Concussion symptoms were a little clearer. The conversation shifted to, “now you just have to make sure she uses the litter box – it’s possible she does have some internal injuries.” When we arrived at the vet’s office, our appointment was made under “found kitten.” Before we left, I told the vet to update her name to “Pepper.” Aura named her after the Marvel character, Pepper Potts…perhaps more appropriately known for her superhero name, Rescue. There was no way we were going to be able to go through all of that with her and not keep her.

We got her back home. She was clearly beginning to trust us, and we even caught her playing with a little stuffed carrot we gave her when she thought we weren’t watching. Poop watch began as we nervously checked on her regularly. Later that night, lo and behold, that kitten had the smelliest shit I may have ever smelled in my life. If she was half as relieved as I was, I know that felt good. At that point, we had endured quite the traumatic 24 hours, but the sun was beginning to shine through the clouds. Now, I’m sitting here writing this nearly three months later, and she’s fully integrated with Bucky. She annoys the hell out of him, but she’s become a part of our family, happy and healthy.

I don’t know for sure that Pepper is the same kitten from that Target parking lot. It’s possible. I found her just a couple miles up the road the morning after initially seeing that kitten. But, there’s no way to know for sure. Really, it doesn’t matter. They say that you don’t find the cat…the cat finds you. Pepper found us. Still, I can’t help but think it’s an awfully strange coincidence…dare I say, an astronomical coincidence…that I felt so guilty that night that I pleaded with the universe to give me an opportunity to help and it obliged. 

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, second on Football & Other F Words, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

Elsewhere on the SoBros Network: Check out Stacking The Inbox for premium coverage of the Tennessee Titans and NFL Draft. Subscribe to Nashville Movie Dispatch for all of our movie content. We get weird on Phone It In, the history podcast that explores legendary tales, important historical figures, and events.

Hey everyone! Outspoken Owen here, excited to be doing my first of what I hope are many write-ups on local rasslin’ shows in town. I’m not too sure how often I’ll post these, but I do intend to make it out to as many shows as I can this year. If you know of a show in Nashville’s area that you’d like me to check out, please pass it along!

For my first show of the year, Pro Wrestling Symphony held their “Sweet Victory” on Sunday, February 1st at the East Side Bowl. The show was opened by Echo Piece, an alt-rock band from Nashville, to set the tone for the day. I always love PWS’s unique musical performances that separate it from every other local show, and this band did not disappoint.

Symphony advertised this as the conclusion of their tournament to crown the first Pro Wrestling Symphony Men’s Champion. The first match of the day had Memphis’ own, Tim Bosby, accompanied by the always entertaining Dylan Hales, taking on Colby Carter, the local favorite amongst the PWS crowd. You could’ve heard a pin drop when Colby was choked out with Bosby’s wrist tape, only for the ref to catch Bosby with the smoking gun in his hand. The match was restarted, and “The Code” quickly got the three count, restoring everyone’s hopes and sending Carter into the championship finals.

The opposite end of the Championship bracket had Shane Mercer, legit one of the strongest people I’ve ever seen wrestle, take on “The Crocodile” Adrian Thomas. Mercer ended up getting the win after pulling off his “Moonsault and Battery” finisher that is a sight to behold any time he hits it.

Our next segment saw WNSR’s own and sports podcaster “Crazy” Charlie Saunier attempt to interview one half of the Mistresses of Mayhem, Sigrid, Scourge of Odin. Sigrid clearly wanted no parts of Crazy Charlie’s antics, quickly beating him down and putting him in a camel clutch before claiming the PWS women’s championship for Freya The Slaya. The conclusion to the women’s tournament will be at Symphony’s next show on March 8th.

We then went into our fourth match, where Jake Painter, easily the show’s most disliked wrestler, announced his tag partner couldn’t make it, and would be replaced by Damon Stryker. Their opponents would be The Seyden Twins, who would pick up the win. Painter would take out his anger on Stryker and attack him post-match, making for a short-lived team. 

We saw two returning competitors face off when Jameson Shook took on “The Chicano Kid” Alejandro. Shook, who tags with Jaden Newman as 4825, met both Alejandro and the audience with great vigor, but Alejandro prevailed.  

WWE ID champion Laynie Luck accompanied her tag partner Shazza Mckenzie to take on Alexis Littlefoot, with Laynie’s presence being a little more than luck, as Shazza pulled off the win with some foul play.

Our main event saw the Pro Wrestling Symphony Men’s championship find a home, as Colby Carter took on Shane Mercer. When I say Colby had home field advantage, I mean a good three quarters of the room was fervently cheering him on; there was even an “If Colby Loses We Riot” sign. After a great back and forth match, the crowd was sent into an absolute frenzy as Colby won.

Over all, I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon with Pro Wrestling Symphony. Between having my favorite, Tennessee Brew Works “Hippies and Cowboys” IPA on tap, a solid crowd that was friendly, fun and energetic, and a roster boasting a Who’s Who of independent wrestling, this show checked every box for me for a great Sunday of live rasslin’. 

Thanks for reading this, and make sure to get out the house and go check out pro wrestling as it’s meant to be, live and in person!

Pro Wrestling Symphony’s next show will be Sunday, March 8th at the Eastside Bowl. For tickets, merch and more info, be sure to visit pwsymphony.com

If you couldn’t already tell this about me, I’m a highly atmospheric guy. I only burn fall candles in the fall. I only cook certain recipes at the holidays. And, I like to accentuate the season by reading books accordingly – Christmas books at Christmas, swampy books in the summertime, and books that just feel cold in the wintertime. That’s Icebound: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World by Andrea Pitzer. And, there’s no better time to light a candle, cuddle up under the warmth of a blanket, and read something icy.

Courtesy of Goodreads:

Long before Bering or Amundsen, long before Franklin or Shackleton, there was William Barents, in many ways the greatest polar explorer of them all. In this engrossing narrative of the Far North, enriched by her own adventurous sojourns in the Arctic, Andrea Pitzer brings Barents’ three harrowing expeditions to vivid life–while giving us fascinating insights into one of history’s most intrepid navigators.

The style with which Pitzer lays this incredible story out blends on the side of ‘narrative.’ Some history books can be quite dense, and while Icebound is well-sourced in its own right, it doesn’t fall into the trap that so many history books do of feeling like you’re reading a textbook. I understand how some history buffs may want a more informational tone, but for me, the narrative-driven format made this book an absolute breeze to read. I’m stoked I waited until January to crack this thing open. I mean, when I say this book is as cold as ice, I felt cold reading it. Ships passing through chunks of ice…eternal winter…being exposed to the elements…endless wind and snow. It is winter personified, and I’d recommend stashing this one away for the next time you get snowed in.

But, at its core, this story of William Barents and his crew is one of intense human perseverance. To imagine being frozen in ice in a highly remote part of the world…having to build a cabin in the middle of the frozen terrain…mostly out of boards from the ship they could spare….enduring months in such harsh conditions…with waning rations and icy surroundings closing in on them….it’s all a little incomprehensible. For crying out loud, these men build a cabin, and it’s such a struggle to keep it warm that ice forms on the inside of the walls. They have to fend off a polar bear what feels like every other day at a time in the world when no one knew what a polar bear even was. Can you imagine? It would be like going into the woods and fending off a Bigfoot every other day. The subject matter was intriguing and the style with which this book was written made it a breeze. I appreciated traveling back to a time with a real sense of wonderment for exploration of the unknown…a time when our maps hadn’t yet been charted, and real adventure beckoned. Icebound was one of the best nonfiction books I’ve read in some time.

My rating: 4/5.

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, second on Football & Other F Words, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

Elsewhere on the SoBros Network: Check out Stacking The Inbox for premium coverage of the Tennessee Titans and NFL Draft. Subscribe to Nashville Movie Dispatch for all of our movie content. We get weird on Phone It In, the history podcast that explores legendary tales, important historical figures, and events.

Hello, and welcome in to the latest edition of Yankee Candle Reviews here on SoBros Network. I will be your host – the Fragrance Aficionado of SoBros Network, also the EIC, Stoney Keeley. My passion for Yankee Candle began in 2006, when I strolled into the location in Providence Marketplace in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. I picked up a jar of Autumn Woods, and found it captured the essence of the season perfectly. I’ve been hooked in this…well, you could even call it ‘romantic…’ relationship with Yankee Candle ever since. Today, we’re cozying up on a cold winter’s day with Vanilla Flurries.

We’re well into winter, and frankly, even though I am starting to get a bit overeager for spring’s arrival (I caught myself popping the top and sniffing some Meadow Showers the other day when no one was looking), I am thoroughly enjoying the winter fragrance palette. Part of that is the gem of a candle we’ll be talking about today. Vanilla is an evergreen scent – it plays well just about any time of the year. My thing is that it’s the profile you build around it that actually declares the season. In this case, some brisk winter air along with the heavy load of vanilla makes for the perfect January burn.

It’s a strong comfort fragrance, and it burns well when it’s freezing outside and you just want to cozy up under a blanket with a sweet treat. Vanilla Flurries combines a Sparkling Snow-esque fresh winter day scent with the eternal warmth of vanilla. You’re not supposed to burn these for more than a few hours at a time, but I just can’t help risking my house burning down to keep this thing going all winter! That’s a joke – please don’t worry about me. I promise I am responsible with my candle hygiene.

Recommended Burning: The sun’s setting on the frozen tundra. Light reflects in a million different spots across the sky as flurries gently fall across the yard. There’s nowhere to go…nowhere to be. You’re settling in for a warm evening by the fire. A timer goes off and you realize the cookies are ready…there’s no time to let them cool. You and your partner figured out awhile ago that when gooey cookies are fresh out of the oven, they provide the same sensation as hot melted wax. So, you pull them out and begin smearing them over each other’s nude bodies on a bearskin rug by the fire. Unlike the candle wax, you can actually eat this molten lustful delight. That is when you should light Vanilla Flurries.

Check out the Yankee Candle archives here on SoBros Network for my extensive backlog of Yankee Candle reviews! Also, be sure to check out my comprehensive list of the top 100 Yankee Candle fragrances of all time. I worked on that thing for forever, so any read is appreciated, thank you. That is all.

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, second on Football & Other F Words, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

Elsewhere on the SoBros Network: Check out Stacking The Inbox for premium coverage of the Tennessee Titans and NFL Draft. Subscribe to Nashville Movie Dispatch for all of our movie content. We get weird on Phone It In, the history podcast that explores legendary tales, important historical figures, and events.