February 2012 Murfreesboro Pulse

MURFREESBORO Vol. 7, Issue 2 February 2012

Middle Tennessee’s Source for Art, Entertainment and Culture News

FREE Take One!

SMALL BUSINESS STANDS UP

Under the strain of too much regulation, local business owners unite for change. pg. 10

SOUNDS Dr. Bobby Jones brings gospel friends to Bluesboro.

pg. 18

FOOD Sauce serves pizza, pasta, and yes, red velvet cheesecake. pg. 31

ART

Spencer Watson takes Best of Show in contest. pg. 14 ONLINE AT: BOROPULSE.COM

ALBUM REVIEWS: AUGUST APOLOGIST, MIZE AND THE DRIVE, AFRO, CHERUB, ARPETRIO, JOHNNY FOODSTAMP pg. 20

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CONTENTS

MAIL

MAIL 4

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

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Read to Succeed Book Review Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich

DEAR READERS:

OPINIONS 6

Gagflex The battle for the Internet

7

Living a Blessed Life Love God, Love One Another

8

Phil Valentine Is Newt really Conservative?

9

La Palabra Midnight in Voodoo Village

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’ve been priming for a run for the 6th District House seat for 25 years now. I’ve built my network; started my strategery.

But I’m told I no longer live in the 6th District with our neighboring Wilson and Canon counties. Murfreesboro is now in the same district with parts of Bradley County . . . and our friends in Decatur, down yonder other side of Chattanooga. I wonder what they think over there of thousands of new voters 100 miles away being dumped into their district.

I’ve learned that living with a 2-year-old is like living with all seven of the dwarfs at the same time. There may be just one short individual running around, but in a two-hour period Jr. may exhibit sleepiness, sneeziness, bashfulness, happiness, grumpiness and dopeyness.

“There’s six of them,” I thought to myself, “but he’s no Doc.” He then proceeded to diagnose himself with a “bad cough.” All seven.

Bracken Jr. and I enjoyed some Secret Commonwealth tunes at last month’s Music

NEWSWORTHY 10 Small Business Stands Up Group wants to level the playing field, foster healthy small business climate 11

Apple Talk No more Cable TV

12 Living Green Reducing comes before recycling.

ART 14 Art Barn New gallery aims to cultivate art.

Andrew DeCaen’s Printmaking Arts for Education Awards Students enter art in county contest.

OUT & ABOUT 16 Bingo!

Coach’s Bingo night fun for all ages.

in the Wild program at Barfield Park’s indoor Wilderness Station. We recommend everyone check out the next installment on Feb. 18 with Ric Gracia—see the turtles, owls and snakes, eat a cookie, hear some music.

It can be bittersweet when the NFL season comes to an end. Oh, the Super Bowl excites me alright, it was quite a season, the championship games were both great, passers broke records, the Titans came within yards of the playoffs, but it can get many a little down knowing there will be no football for the next few months. Who wants to get some backyard/park games together here in the ‘Boro? Let’s do it. bracken@boropulse.com.

Since the wild West has been tamed, the property grabbed and the every-man-for-himself attitude squashed, the internet really is the current American frontier. It most likely will be until the Department of Justice is able to shut down sites at will, or until space exloration and settlement have become the norm.

“Have you gotten your governement permit to launch your new website?”

“I can’t afford the application fee,”

SOUNDS 18 The Doctor is in Middle Tennessee Gospel Music Consortium brings Dr. Bobby Jones.

Text Pulse to 86568 for a chance to win an awesome prize pack from PULSE sponsors, including two tickets for two to see a Bluegrass Underground PBS Taping at Cumberland Caverns on Saturday, Feb. 25 featuring Vince Gill, Jim Lauderdale, The Timejumpers and Sarah Jarosz

19 Local Color, Across the Pond A familiar factory reminds of home.

20 Album Reviews Mize and the Drive, August Apologist, Afro, Arpetrio, Johnny Foodstamp, Cherub 23 CONCERT LISTINGS 24 Grace and Tony Tennessee punkgrass duo falls in love every time they hit the stage.

MOVIES 26 Get in on the Action MTSU film guild supporting local film production titled Juicy Mooshu.

27 Sleepy Pie Skulls Murfreesboro’s comedy group to release new episode at 3 Brothers.

PLUS gift cards to

3 Brothers Deli and Brewhouse, Nobody’s BBQ and Maple St. Grill/Uncorked

28 Reviews Underworld: Awakening, Living Room Cinema Epic Bio Pics

 Photos from January’s Southern Extreme Bull Riding Association event at Miller Coliseum.

31 Sauce Pours on the Flavor Italian/American joint on Church Street makes pizza dough in-house.

PLUS an overnight

NOW AT

BOROPULSE.COM/GALLERY CREW

FOOD

COVER PHOTO BY BRACKEN MAYO

29 Run Strong Rest and stretching are crucial for developing muscles.

PULSE

SPORTS

30 Z-Train Will Brady get his fourth ring?

Peace, Bracken Mayo Editor in Chief

Enter to Win!

MUSIC NOTES

Tri-Fit Intense six-step workout anywhere.

we’ll say to one another. At that point it will no longer be the frontier, but yet another government-dictated element of American life.

Some people at all levels of government get a kick out of pushing people around, taking their money and proving to another citizen that they are in charge.

The government agent’s attitude of “you’ll have to let us decide what you are allowed to do, then we will tell you and it may cost you some time and money” is what needs to be squashed.

When you talk to your boss, the attitude should be “What can I do to help, sir?”

The government works for the people. It is the responsibility of both sides to remember this. May every elected and appointed government official observe this principal or not hold their office for another term.

Publisher/Editor in Chief: Bracken Mayo Art Director: Sarah L. Mayo Copy Editor: Cindy Phiffer Advertising Reps: Don Clark, Ryan Noreikas Photographer: Jessica Henry

Contributing Writers: Spencer Blake, Patrick Clark, Ryan Egly, Bryce Harmon, Jason Johnson, Zach Maxfield, Lee Miller, Ryan Noreikas, Jessica Pace, Michelle Palmer, Cameron Parrish, Jay Spight, Rev. Felicia Searcy, Norbert Thiemann, Phil Valentine

Valentine’s dinner and hotel package from Fanatic’s/Doubletree Hotel

To carry The Pulse at your business, or submit letters, stories and photography: bracken@boropulse.com 116-E North Walnut St., Murfreesboro, TN 37130 (615) 796-6248

Copyright © 2011, The Murfreesboro Pulse, 116-E N. Walnut St., Murfreesboro, TN 37130. Proudly owned, operated and published the first Thursday of each month by the Mayo family; printed by Franklin Web Printing Co. The Murfreesboro Pulse is a free publication funded by our advertisers. Views expressed in The Pulse do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers. ISSN: 1940-378X

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COMMUNITY

EVENTS RAD Women The Murfreesboro Police Department will be conduct2 ing a Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) class for women only in February.

RAD teaches realistic self-defense tactics and techniques to give women options in the case of an attack. The class focuses on risk awareness, reduction, recognition and avoidance while also providing physical self-defense techniques designed to empower women to escape abduction or sexual assault attempts.

The classes will be held on four consecutive Thursday nights beginning Feb. 2 from 6–9 p.m. at the Middle Tennessee Association of Realtor’s building, 311 Butler Drive.

For more information or to register, contact Officer Amy Norville at (615) 895-3874 or anorville@ci.murfreesboro.tn.us.

FEB.

Chinese New Year Celebration The Discovery Center will 3 ring in the Year of the Dragon with a traditional Lion Dance with the Chinese Arts Alliance of Nashville Lion Dance and Drum Team, crafts, learning about Chinese culture with the Confucius Institute of MTSU and traditional Asian food.

The celebration will begin at 4 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 3, with the Lion Dance at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free; remember to wear red for good luck!

Discovery Center is located at 502 SE Broad St., Murfreesboro.

For more information on this and other animal, art and nature programs offered at the Discovery Center call (615) 890-2300 or visit discoverycenteronline.org.

FEB.

Justice O’Connor to Visit MTSU FEB. Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will help MTSU 8 celebrate its Centennial year during a special visit on Wednesday, Feb. 8, as part of the University’s renowned Windham Lecture Series.

Justice O’Connor will present her free public lecture at 6:30 p.m. in the Hinton Music Hall inside MTSU’s Wright Music Building.

O’Connor became the first woman to serve on the US Supreme Court when President Ronald Reagan named her as an associate justice in 1981.

During her almost 25 years on the high court, Justice O’Connor cast tie-breaking votes in more than three-fourths of the panel’s 5-4 decisions. She retired from the court in January 2006, and Arizona State University renamed its law school in her honor that same year. In 2009, President Barack Obama presented the retired jurist with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States.

Justice O’Connor has also written three best-sellers: The Majesty of the Law: Reflections of a Supreme Court Justice, the family memoir Lazy B and a children’s book, Finding Susie.

The Feb. 8 lecture is sponsored by the MTSU Centennial Committee, the College of Liberal Arts, the University Honors College, the American Democracy Project and the MTSU Department of Sociology and Anthropology. For more information, call (615) 494-7628.

People,” a tribute to the local multicultural heritage past and present. This theatrical presentation, held at 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3, at the Patterson Park Community Theater, is free and open to all ages.

For more information, contact Ron Steed at (615) 893-7439, ext. 19, or rsteed@ murfreesborotn.gov.

Truck & Tractor Pull The Southern Invitational Indoor Truck & Tractor Pull will 3 be held Feb. 3–4 at the Tennessee Miller Coliseum. Children 10 and under admitted free.

For tickets or more information, call (615) 494-8879.

FEB.

City Schools Foundation Gala Murfreesboro City Schools 10 Foundation will hold its annual gala at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10 at the Stones River Country Club.

This year’s Hollywood style celebrity roast focuses on former State Rep. John Hood.

Roasters include Ed Barlow, Dan Whittle, Lana Seivers and Bob Mifflin. Event chair and emcee is Andy Womack. MTSU President Sidney McPhee and first lady Elizabeth will host a premiere pre-party at their home.

For tickets or more information, call Lisa Trail at (615) 893-2313.

Pat Whitaker. The classes are open for all, but are especially good for persons with arthritis.

To register or for more information, call (615) 898-7710 or e-mail pwhitak1@utk.edu.

Wedding Dresses, Language of Love FEB. Oaklands Historic House Museum will feature elegant and fashionable wedding dresses worn by ladies from both Murfreesboro and around the country throughout the decades.

The museum will also offer tours that focus on courtship customs of the Victorian Era. The romantic language of flowers and fans, as well as the rules of engagement for courting, will be presented during these tours.

Both special programs run through Feb. 15.

For more information, call (615) 893-0022.

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Presentation Observes Black History Month As part of Murfreesboro’s Bi3 centennial celebration Patterson Park Community Center will present “Our

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Tai Chi at Agri-Park Each Wednesday morning FEB. from 9–10 a.m. Tai Chi classes meet at the Lane Agri-Park, 315 John Rice Blvd., taught by certified instructor

An Evening for the Arts The Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce will host 24 the Arts for Education Elegant Evening from 6–9 p.m. Feb. 24.

This evening of food, music, entertainment, and art (youth and adult) will benefit the Business Education Partnership Foundation programming to enhance math and science education in both City and County schools.

FEB.

Hoopathon Boro Hoops, a local group dedicated to the positive ef25 fects of Hula-Hooping, will hold a Hoopathon on Feb. 25 to benefit the American Heart Association’s Wear Red for Women campaign.

“Hooping is an excellant form of cardio-

FEB.

vascular activity, raising the heart rate and thereby strengthening the heart,” says Boro Hoops founders Shea Brock.

Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women.

Unlike many other diseases, heart disease can be prevented through lifestyle management; healthy diet, exercise, losing weight, not smoking and lowering cholesterol are all ways of preventing heart disease.

For more information on Boro Hoops, e-mail shea@borohoops.com; for more information on the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women campaign, visit goredforwomen.org.

Winter Reading Program Linebaugh Public Library’s FEB. annual Adult Winter Reading Program runs through March 3. Patrons are challenged to meet a goal of reading and briefly reviewing at least six books over the course of the program. All genres and formats are accepted and count toward the goal of six books.

Patrons may sign up for the program at the library’s circulation desk.

Each week during the program, a review written by a participant will be randomly selected and that person will be able to choose a free book from a selection. That person will also receive a copy of The Hunger Games, this year’s One Book, donated

by Read to Succeed.

At the conclusion of the program, every person who has met the goal of reading and reviewing at least six books will be awarded a gift card from Barnes & Noble, and a waiver good for up to $10 in library fines. And a grand prize winner will receive gift cards from Maple Street Grill and Barnes & Noble worth a combined value of $200.

Linebaugh Public Library is located at 105 W. Vine St., Murfreesboro. For more information about the Winter Reading Program, contact David O’Flaherty at doflaherty@ linebaugh.org.

Get Creative, Shutterbugs!

Photographers can now submit FEB. their work to the first ever Picture Perfect Rutherford County Photo Contest, sponsored by the Rutherford County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Photos may be used in various publications and on the RCCVB visitor website to promote Rutherford County. The top photos in each category will win dinner for two at an area restaurant or a $25 gift card to the Rutherford County Keepsakes gift shop.

Categories are People, Places, Nature, Events and Food.

Photos must be taken in Rutherford County and be received no later than March 21. So grab a camera and get creative.

An entry form and complete contest rules are available at readysetrutherford.com/contest.php. For more information, call (615) 278-2389.

Explosive Eighteen

by Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum is back in this newest installment of Janet Evanovich’s best-selling series, with more hijinks, buckets of chicken and romance to spare.

Loveable Stephanie Plum is a magnet for disaster. Her job as a local bonds enforcement agent for her cousin Vinnie has its risks, but Stephanie is particularly attracted to trouble, even when she is away from her hometown of Trenton, NJ. This time around, trouble finds Stephanie on a trip back from Hawaii, when her seatmate gets off the plane at a layover and never comes back. The seatmate is dead, and has left Stephanie with a mysterious photograph. Things go from bad to worse back at home, when everyone from the FBI to a hired hit man known as Razzle Dazzle wants to get their hands on that photo. Add to that the love triangle between Stephanie, sometimesboyfriend Morelli and “bad boy” Ranger, and you have a very fun read.

There are plenty of things in Explosive Eighteen to keep readers happy—cars and RVs torched, Stephanie’s sidekick Lula and her desperate need for Cluck-in-a-Bucket chicken, gun-toting Grandma Mazur, and that classic Evanovich wit. While some of Evanovich’s recent Plum novels have seemed a little flat, Explosive Eighteen shows us that the series still has some stories to tell. The mysteries surrounding the photograph—who was in the picture, and why do so many people want it?—is more sophisticated and intriguing than the plots of Evanovich’s earlier novels. Stephanie herself seems to have grown up as well; she seems more capable and less dependent on the men in her life to come to her rescue.

A Stephanie Plum novel would be nothing without romantic struggles, and this book is no exception. The book begins with Stephanie on her way home from a trip to Hawaii involving both Morelli and Ranger—and it hasn’t gone well. To reveal any more details would be to spoil

by MICHELLE PALMER some of the fun, but by the end of the book, Stephanie has michellepalmersbooks .blogspot.com sworn off men forever (or at least, until the next book).

If you have never read the Stephanie Plum novels, now is the time to start. The first in the series, One for the Money, was published nearly two decades ago, and since then Evanovich’s books have had wild commercial success.

A movie version of the first book, starring Katherine Heigl, has just opened in theaters this month, and is sure to generate a whole new group of fans. It’s easy to fall in love with Stephanie and her cast of characters; after 18 years and as many novels, they begin to feel like family members. That is the true pleasure of reading a book like Explosive Eighteen—a light easy read that’s like an afternoon with family—but one you can leave behind when you close the book.

READ TO SUCCEED

BOOK REVIEW

Michelle Palmer is a RTS One Book Committee member and author of the book blog, Turn of the Page at michellepalmersbooks.blogspot.com. Read To Succeed is the community collaborative created to promote literacy in Rutherford County. The objective of this partnership between schools, area agencies and businesses is to support local programming and raise awareness about the importance of literacy. For more information and to find out how you can make a difference in Rutherford County’s literacy rates, visit readtosucceed.org. The opinions expressed in this book review are not necessarily representative of Read To Succeed, but simply intended to promote the joy of reading.

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OPINIONS The War Online

T

he Motion Picture Association of America, the music industry and several other major players that supported the now defunct Stop Online Piracy Act are dinosaurs butting their heads against the tidal wave of the future.

Either you go with it or become obsolete.

While I am not endorsing online piracy, the bill that was put forth was overreaching and wasn’t in any way designed to stop online piracy as much as it was developed to kill competition and take control of a market of ideas. If Texas Rep. Lamar Smith or any of the bill’s sponsors had bothered to listen to a couple of tech geeks before drafting the bill, they would have known that there are many ways to skirt the proposed law and illegally download all the garbage music and terrible movies that a person could want.

The damaging implications far outweigh

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lars, but the scope of the bill any good that would have come from the bill. could have potentially greatly Under SOPA, any website that knowingly or hindered other industries that unknowingly posts copyrighted materials exist purely online and are could be seized by the government with little acting within the law. If bills due process, and funding from advertisers like SOPA keep coming down could be blocked. Realistically, the governthe pipe (which they will) it ment can still do this, as it happened in will have major consequences the recent case of the government shutting for websites like Digg, Reddit, down the website Megaupload. It’s likely YouTube and many other social websites that that Megaupload is guilty as hell, but the rely heavily on user created content. I hope seizing of the website could be argued to be Internet piracy is weeded illegal if America actuout, but it can’t be done at ally still believes in due the cost of an open interprocess (which we might net. It’s just too important not). But SOPA expanded column by JASON JOHNSON to lose. If Hollywood and upon those powers. The tuckwopat@yahoo.com the music industry are bill’s sponsors claim that losing money, then they’re the point of the bill was to going to have to figure out a better model or block foreign sites from distributing pirated cease to exist. That’s the painful truth. Not all content. But much of the problem lies simply industries are going to survive as they are. It’s in the language of the bill identified webalways been that way. site as being foreign or domestic. A foreign What’s also true is that there are more hosted website like Wikileaks could be identiavenues for artists to make money now than fied as being a domestic website because it’s ever before, and this can be attributed to registered within the US. many of those websites that would have been There’s no doubt that pirating is costing impacted by SOPA. The real music industry is several industries and artists millions of dol-

GAGFLEX

“

I hope Internet piracy is weeded out, but it can’t be done at the cost of an open internet.

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thriving. Tons of bands are able to make a living off of their music that they couldn’t have in the past. Just check out the 2012 Bonnaroo lineup when it’s released. There will undoubtedly be plenty of bands whose popularity was developed via a social network. Of course most won’t be able to buy private jets anytime soon, but if that’s their motivation then let’s hope they go the way of the dinosaur.

Love God, Love One Another

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few weeks ago, I spent the weekend with my coach and mentor Mary Morrissey in LA in wonderful, life-changing workshops. Monday morning, I caught the airport shuttle bright and early for my flight back to Nashville. We stopped at another hotel where a family of four kids, both parents and the grandmother got on the shuttle. They were a beautiful family.

The children had full heads of hair and the youngest had curls all over his head.

They all had that sleepy look to them. The mother and the grandmother took the seats on either side of me, and I commented to the mother about how gorgeous her children were. The oldest daughter sat impossible to hurt someone and wish them next to her father and turned to bury her well at the same time. forehead into the father’s arm. In response, We cultivate our relationship to one he leaned down and kissed her on the top another by recognizing our common of the head in an act reserved only for humanity. We see that we all have the fathers and daughters. The mother said same joys, dreams and pains. When the something to them in a melodic, unfamiliar family on the shuttle started laughing I language and the entire family laughed realized that laughter sounds the same making comments back and forth to each in any language. The youngest boy who other. I sat there in the midst of them was about three or four years old asked relishing the gift of being witness to the his father a question with that same easy intimacy of a family traveling together. inflection that denotes curiosity in all This month we languages. We all celebrate Valentine’s share the same creator Day, a day set aside for called by different love. So often, we think names, understood and of love as something experienced differently. reserved only for those Nevertheless, we are column by REV. FELICIA SEARCY all created from the special people in our lives, and it is right same sacred material. that we shower those closes to us with When we touch our commonalities and our abandoned affection. shared essential self, it is easier to treat Equally important, is to remember how one another with reverence. we are in relationship with everyone we I forever carry that family with me as meet. The more we treat every meeting as they are etched into the fabric of my being. a holy encounter and greet each person as Even though our meeting was fleeting, I if he/she were God’s beloved, the closer am now in relationship with them. I send we get to what Jesus called the Kingdom them thoughts of love and appreciation for of Heaven. sharing their love and deep commitment The master teacher from the to each other with everyone on the van.

Christian tradition, Jesus, gave only two They represent all of humanity and our commandments. He told us that we are inseparable relationship to one another. to love God with all of our hearts, our So, this month, as we celebrate love, souls and our minds. He then told us honor everyone who crosses your path. to love one another as ourselves. Many Look at your doctor, the cashier, the have interpreted this to say that we are person in the car next to you as if they to love ourselves first. But upon closer were the beloved. Treat them as if they examination, the word “as” suggests that were the sacred made manifest and watch there is no separation between ourselves what happens in all of your relationships. and another. It implies that we are one and the same. The way we treat another is the Felicia Searcy is a Life Mastery Consultant way we treat ourselves and vice versa. certified by Mary Morrissey who is also her The Buddhist tradition offers us the personal teacher and coach. For the past powerful loving-kindness practice. They 15 years, as a minister, national presenter instruct us to send thoughts of well-being and writer she has helped hundreds of and peace to those closes to us, to those people live their richer, fuller life. She is a that we have labeled as our enemies and national speaker and presenter and author to all sentient beings in the world. It is a of Do Greater Things: Following in Jesus’ powerful act that brings well-being to those Footsteps published by Unity House. Visit who practice it on a regular basis. It is feliciasearcy.com and register for a free gift.

The more we treat “every meeting as a

holy encounter and greet each person as if he/she were God’s beloved, the closer we get to what Jesus called the Kingdom of Heaven.

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LIVING

aBlessed LIFE

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OPINIONS

Is Newt Really a Conservative?

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, like a lot of conservatives these days, and says that their plan is to destroy modern am struggling. I must admit that I industry which will, in turn, destroy those found a little joy in Newt Gingrich’s opposed to them. He goes on to chastise victory in South Carolina. I’m not sure Al Gore for making a killing by getting the if it was my natural instinct to pull for the government to “rig the system.” underdog or if I wanted to simply delay a Whatever views he once held on the subRomney nomination until I could decipher ject, it sure sounds like he’s seen the light. what exactly is going on.

His personal life is another matter I’ve listened to some who claim that entirely. Not to defend his infidelity, but to Newt is a progressive. I’ve examined the have Marianne Gingrich decry his cheatevidence. There are some things that Newt ing with Callista while they were married is has said that are troubling. Is he a progresakin to Kim Kardashian calling Paris Hilton sive? Some would say that a tramp. It was Marianne his praise of FDR proves who was purportedly the VIEWS OF A it. In that case, Ronald CONSERVATIVE mistress in Gingrich’s Reagan was a progresfirst marriage. As the ‘80s column by PHIL VALENTINE sive. Reagan, a New Deal Sergio Mendes hit, “Alibis”, philvalentine.com Democrat in his youth, goes, “Somewhere out rejected big government there, you’ve got another solutions to problems but still regarded rendezvous/I know the way you work/You FDR as one of the giants of the 20th Centhink you’re in the clear but don’t forget/ tury, often praising him.

That’s exactly the way we met.” Seems someTeddy Roosevelt is one of those often one who carried on a lover’s rendezvous with quoted by Tea Partiers for his stand on illegal Newt shouldn’t be surprised when he does immigration, yet when Newt praises TR he’s the same thing to her. labeled a progressive.

Newt has a lot to answer for as far as his Both Roosevelts certainly had their bad personal life is concerned. He’s claimed resides, but they had traits and positions to demption. Only God knows if his heart is true. admire too. Simply saying something nice Me? I prefer the old Russian expression: dovabout either doesn’t make one a progressive. eryai, no proveryai—trust, but verify.

I’m more concerned about what Newt did I’m more worried about Newt’s ego. I was when given the chance to govern. During his pleased to see that the Gingrich of the ‘90s time in the US House, he enjoyed, at times, was not standing at the podium after the vica 100 rating with the American Conservative tory in South Carolina. Instead of gloating, Union. That means he voted as they wanted he was almost downright humble and talked him to vote 100 percent of the time. His glowingly of his opponents. lifetime rating with the ACU was north of 90 Illegal immigration is another issue of percent. Hardly a progressive. concern with Gingrich. He’s subject to side But then Newt has had his head-scratchwith the open borders crowd if we don’t ing moments. Sitting down on the couch watch him. with Nancy Pelosi to fight manmade global As for affairs, I’m less concerned with his warming was one of them. He has since jumping in the sack with Callista than hopsaid it was one of the dumbest things he’s ping on the couch with Nancy. ever done.

Newt is actually featured in our new docu- Phil Valentine is an author and nationally mentary, An Inconsistent Truth, which opens syndicated radio talk show host with Westin theaters Jan. 27. In that film, he likens wood One. For more of his commentary and global warming believers to religious zealots articles, visit philvalentine.com.

He likens global warming believers to “ religious zealots and says that their plan is to

destroy modern industry which will, in turn, destroy those opposed to them. He goes on to chastise Al Gore for making a killing by getting the government to ‘rig the system.’

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Midnight in the Voodoo Village Medianoche en la Voodoo Village

A depiction of the Voodoo ceremony at Bois-Caiman in Haiti, sparking the Haitian Revolution

IN ENGLISH:

in disuse. There were no zombies and no The lure of mysterious and sacred locawomen to be rescued from the alleged den tions can be irresistible. One such place of pagan debauchery. In fact, the site poswhere many thrill seekers have ventured sessed an air of sacredness resembling a to get a glimpse of the mysterious is St. shrine dedicated to something I couldn’t Paul’s Spiritual Temple in Memphis, Tenn. identify. Certainly, the masks and symbols The infamous “Voodoo Village,” as it’s displayed a bit of African influence. Also known by locals, is an enclosed community present were a lot of masonic and Chriscomposed of colorful buildings and wooden tian symbolism. Under the moonlight, the structures, all encircled by a fence with a temple possessed an air of sacredness and large, iron gate securing the main entrance. a beautiful, folky asceticism that I’ve never Some things visible from seen elsewhere. After the inside are an Africantaking a few photos, we style hut, coffins, moons made our exit. and sunbursts, as well as While this adventure Una columna del idioma español por CAMERON PARRISH crosses and other symyielded more questions bols. They don’t allow than answers, a book strangers inside or answer questions so published in 2005 called No Space Hidden, information was scarce. I decided that if offers more. According to the book, Wash I wanted the truth, I’d have to get inside Harris, the deceased spiritual leader of the somehow. Granted, invading pagan temples community, “established the temple as a to rescue beautiful maidens from ritual church and center for traditional medisacrifice and emerging like the hero of a cine.” In the same book, which was written 1950’s era a pulp fiction is typical of me. But

by Grey Gundaker, a professor of anthropolin retrospect, knowing what I know today, ogy at the College of William and Mary, the I should have approached the matter differtemple artwork is described as a form of ently. In a sense, the voodoo made me do it.

African-American devotional art. Adding to Voodoo is indeed widely misunderstood. It the confusion, published quotes by Harris conjures images of zombies, animal sacrifice state that the temple is a Christian church and exotic dance rituals performed to the whose symbolism can only be understood if sound of drums. More accurately defined it one is a freemason. He is also credited with is the group of spiritual belief systems and saying that “God told the Black man and the practices brought by African slaves to plantaIndian things that he didn’t tell others.” tions in the Caribbean and the Southern US. There you have it. I know the PC concluThese traditions often blended with Roman sion here is that St. Paul’s Spiritual Temple Catholicism and share similar origins with is simply a group of afro-masonic Christians the vodou religion of Haiti. It was a vodou who build funky art and practice “traditional ceremony in Haiti that signaled the beginmedicine” in secret. But I think the name ning of a massive slave revolt in 1791 resultVoodoo Village still sounds better. ing in the burning of 1,800 plantations and EN ESPANOL: the massacre of 1,000 slaveholders during a single week. That fateful ceremony at Bois La atracción de sitios misteriosos y sagraCaiman sealed a covenant with an African dos puede ser irresistible. Un lugar donde deity to kill the whites in exchange for freemucha gente atrevida entra para echar un dom and was consummated by the drinkvistazo a lo que hay dentro es el Templo ing of blood which is naturally why voodoo Espiritual de San Pablo ubicado en Memmakes most white folks a little nervous. phis Tennessee. Un lugar infame “Voodoo Now Mama always said not to go sneakVillage”, como se la conoce por los lugareños, ing into voodoo temples all by my lonees una comunidad cerrada y compuesta por some. Luckily my brother-in-law Reagan ruinosos edificios coloridos y estructuras Ammons, having been deployed to Haiti as de madera, todo ello rodeado por una valla a US Marine, was familiar with vodou and con un gran portón de hierro que asegura la was equally stoked about the mission. Arriventrada principal. ing in Memphis, we headed to Beal Street Algunas cosas vistas desde afuera son for some hot gumbo and cool Delta Blues, una choza de estilo africano, ataúdes, lunas tasting the nightlife to set the mood before y soles así como cruces y otros símboour adventure. Around midnight we left the los. Los habitantes no permiten entrar a laughter of Beal Street behind and made our forasteros ni contestan preguntas. Rumores way to the temple site. de adoración satánica que circulan acerca Once inside, my heart began to beat like del sitio. Unos años atrás yo decidí que si the drum of a savage, sending adrenaline yo quisiera saber la verdad, yo tendría que throughout my body as we surveyed the entrar de alguna manera. grounds for anyone who might challenge Es cierto que invadir los templos paganos our presence. The place appeared to be para rescatar adoncellas hermosas del sacri-

La PALABRA

ficio ritual y surgiendo como el héroe de una pulp fiction de los años 1950 es lo normal para mi. Pero retrospectivamente, al saber lo que se hoy debería haberme acercado al asunto de forma distinta. En cierto modo, el Vudú me hizo hacerlo.

El voodoo es un poco incomprendido.

Conjura imágenes de zombis, sacrificio de animales y rituales de baile salvaje realizados al sonido de tambores. En realidad el Voodoo refiere al grupo de sistemas de creencias espirituales y prácticas traídas por esclavos africanos a las plantaciones en el Caribe y los EE.UU del suroeste. Estas tradiciones a menudo se mezclaron con el Catolicismo Romano y comparten orígenes similares con la religion vudú de Haití. Fue una ceremonia vudú en Haití la que marcó el inicio de una masiva rebelión de esclavos en 1791 y como resultado de la quema de 1800 plantaciones y la masacre de 1000 esclavistas en una semana. Aquella ceremonia en profética en Bois Caïman afirmo un convenio con una deidad africana para matar a los blancos a cambio de la libertad y fue consumada por la bebida de sangre. Es naturalmente por esta razón el Vudú pone a la gente blanca un poco nerviosa.

Pues mi madre siempre decía no infiltrarse solito en los templos de voodoo. Afortunadamente mi cuñado Reagan Ammons, quien está familiarizado con el vudú al haber sido enviado a Haití con la infantería y, como yo, fue todo dispuesto para la misión. Al llegar a Memphis nos dirigimos a la famosa Beal Street para comer un tazón de gumbo picante y gozar la Delta Blues (que es típico de la región), saboreando un poco de la vida nocturna y levantar elánimo antes de nuestra aventura.Cuando toco la medianoche dejamos el ambiente de Beal Street y nos dirigimos al emplazamiento del templo.

Al subir la muralla e inspeccionar el sitio para cualquier persona que pueda cuestionar nuestra presencia, mi corazón latió como el

tambor salvaje enviando adrenalina por todo mi cuerpo. Curiosamente el lugar parecíaen desuso. No había zombies. Tampoco vimos ninguna mujer para salvar del supuesto antro de libertinaje pagano. De hecho, el sitioposeía un aire de sacralidad parecida a la de un santuario dedicado a algo que no podia identificar. Ciertamente las máscaras y símbolos muestran un poco de la influencia Africana.

Pero También estuvo presente el simbolismo masónico y cristiano. Bajo la luz de la luna el templo tenía un aire de santidad y ascetismo único que nunca he visto en otra parte. Entonces, después de haber visto todo lo posible, sacamos unos fotos e hicimos nuestra salida.

Esta aventura cedió más preguntas que respuestas. Sin embargo un libro titulado: Ningún EspacioEscondido, nos explica un poco más sobre el asunto. Según el libro, Wash Harris, el líder espiritual difunto de la comunidad, “estableció el templo como una iglesia y centro de la medicina tradicional.”

En el mismo libro que fue escrito por Grey Gundaker, un profesor de Antropología en el College of William and Mary, las ilustraciones de templo son descritas como una forma del arte piadoso afroamericano. Añadiendo a la confusión, las citas publicadas por Sr. Harris declaran que el Templo esuna iglesia cristiana cuyo simbolismo sólo puede ser entendido si uno es un francmasón.También dijo que “Dios dijo al hombre Negro y el Indio cosas que él no dijo aotros”. Además aprendemos del libro que Harris rechazó el nombre ‘Voodoo Village’ y que actualmente el Templo ya no es un centro activo de la adoración aunque el acoso inoportuno por vecinos y tipos curiosos siga. Opps!

Ahí lo tiene. St. Paul’s Spiritual Temple era simplemente un grupo de cristianos afromasónicos que construir hermosas obras de arte y practicanla “medicina tradicional” en secreto. Nada que ver aquí amigos. A pesar de todo yo creo que el nombre Voodoo Village todavía suena mejor.

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NEWS

Jake Robinson (left) and Dan Wilson say the city’s fees, ordinances, codes and regulations “subject to staff comment” create a difficult environment for the small business person.

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group of small business owners have and shouldn’t be used, that the front must joined forces to fight what they call match the back, that a certain plan is fine but a culture of over-regulation and an the materials are a problem, or one may be absence of common sense in local able to put wood in, if she does these particugovernment. lar things. Or that grass is a fire hazard.

Members of the recently formed “After six months of trying to get a fence Small Business Alliance of Rutherford County built, I get the information that says there are say the fees, ordinances, taxno regulations on fences unes and regulations placed on der 8 feet tall, nor the masmall businesses are getting terials, nor decking under a Murfreesboro Entrepreneurs Association out of control, and the City certain square footage,” the of Murfreesboro as an entity entrepreneur said. seems concerned with col“We want all of the codes lecting money and regulatonline, and static,” Wilson ON BUSINESS ing every step of the process said. “From stories we hear, special report by BRACKEN more so than truly helping who you are is as important MAYO business prosper, more conas what has to be done in cerned with aesthetics and order to pass codes. We conformation than keeping don’t mind codes, but they safe and sanitary conditions. should be the same for everybody.

“It should be ‘what can I help you do to open “They just make it up as they go, no one your business,’” says Jake Robinson, director has to prove anything,” he said. of the Small Business Alliance of Rutherford Many of the comments made on the fencCounty. “That’s where they get their revenue. ing plans around the new business turned They should be trying to help them.” out to be no more than an individual’s opinHowever, a common theme among Murfreesion on what it should look like, not necessar-

SPOTLIGHT

SMALL BUSINESSES STAND UP

Alliance wants the city to get out of the way, let people do business.

boro business seems to be “The City is getting in the way of me doing business.”

Dan Wilson has operated a fencing supply store on Old Fort Parkway for 20 years in a building that was there long before the highway was widened to its current state. He has since added a hot sauce retail store to the location, but when he wanted to serve food restaurant style, that change of use would require him to invest thousands in paving his gravel parking lot, among meeting other requirements, even though Wilson was there before this property was annexed into the city.

Another business owner who has spent money developing property for a business says she is now communicating with and trying to follow the guidelines of the building and codes department, the water and sewer department, the fire marshal, the planning and engineering department, and sometimes getting conflicting or confusing information from various ones.

“The coordination between codes and planning doesn’t exist,” she said. “They are two separate entities.”

While in the process of fencing the property, she said she heard from various departments’ staff that wooden poles are flammable

“Small businesses employ 80 percent of the people in this country, yet we bend over backwards for WalMart and Amazon,” said Tim Davis, the owner of Salt and Pepper Christian Stores, and the SBARC’s treasurer. “Small business is the backbone of our country.”

However, the City of Murfreesboro has a pattern of placing obstacles in front of start up businesses, rather than the attitude of wanting to help them thrive, according to Robinson.

“They have this short-term ‘I need my payoff now’ mentality,” he said. “Would you rather have a candy bar now, or five candy bars later? . . . The mentality of a child is to take the one now.”

Everyone wants a beautiful, safe city, “but when the City government is being called the Murfreesboro Mafia, something is horribly wrong,” Robinson said.

Owner of Cornerstone SCUBA, Jeff Parnell, says an ill-timed letter informing him he had “outside inventory in a non-designated area” dealt a severe blow to his business.

Parnell said he had verbal approval that he could display iron artwork outside of his retail business on Robert Rose Boulevard and had even widened his sidewalk plan to make sure everything was in order. Then, after a

10 * FEBRUARY 2012 * BOROPULSE.COM

ily legally sound pieces of information.

“Their opinions should stay to themselves,” she said. “Is this system of impact fees and jumping through hoops something that you would say supports small business?”

Standing in the way of a business opening just delays its ability to employ people and pay taxes, many say. This particular business owner, and many others, do not want to be identified as they are going through approval processes with the city for fear of being singled out or picked on, but are still getting involved with the Small Business Alliance (as the Murfreesboro Pulse and its publisher have).

Another business owner decided to place her business outside of the city limits after a denied rezoning request.

“We were ready to work with the City in any way necessary; however we discovered it was not a two-way street,” said Dawna Kinne Magliacano. “We own property on Medical Center Boulevard; we tried to get it rezoned commercial and were in the process of renovating the house and making it into an art gallery, gift shop and cafe.

“The zoning board would not let us go commercial, the main reason we were told was that

the ‘City’ wants a developer to come in and develop our lot as well as two more deep and the length of the block and the next block as well, all at once into one more of those retail strip malls that are popping up everywhere and sit full of empty storefronts because that is the image they want Murfreesboro to project; they don’t want individual lots rezoning commercial along what is called the Gateway Overlay portion of Medical Center Boulevard.”

This zoning issue, along with required 25’ easement for landscaping and “a 77-page document about the kind of sign you can or cannot have” caused her to find a location out of the city limits.

“I wonder how many other small businesses are being pushed to the outskirts of our community in order to do business,” Magliacano said. It’s very hard for a new small business to get started in Murfreesboro. The funds you need to meet the city’s codes and regulations are not accessible to most mom-and-pop start-ups.”

One would think the City of Murfreesboro would want as much commerce and employment as possible, the maximum number of businesses operating, employing, collecting tax revenue, many business people say.

few years of selling the iron and specific immediate goal of electing it becoming a sizable chunk of Ricky Turner, Danny Brandon Cornerstone’s business, “the City and Eddie Smotherman to the effectively shut it down.”

Murfreesboro City Council. The “It cost me the expenses of site alliance vetted the five challengers plans, fees to the city and a lost who have entered the race, hearseason of selling it,” Parnell said. “I ing each make his case as to who was told the planning department will best represent small business had received ‘numerous complaints’ and citizens in the Murfreesboro Ricky Turner about it, but I’d never gotten a comCity Council. SBARC members plaint personally.” voted and chose the three as their The action of forcing the remov“top choice” to put their supal of the products kept a Murfreesport behind. All three are small boro business from doing perfectly business owners; Turner owns legitimate business.

Cedar Bucket Restaurant, Brandon “People like having somewhere (a Murfreesboro resident) owns to go to look at that sort of thing; American Financial & Accounting now they’ve driven away shop(in Manchester), and Smotherman Eddie Smotherman pers to Nashville and Bell Buckle owns Gem in the Box. and other locations to shop for “Really, our intention is to esironwork,” Parnell said. tablish a voice in the City Council “We have heard many horror stoto put small, local business on ries; it’s frustrating,” Robinson said. the same footing as an “Amazon,” His group’s concerns do not stop Wilson said. “There’s no consiswith the regulations and fees placed tency; if that’s the way they’re on businesses within Murfreesgoing to do business, it should be boro. Members also raise concern equal across the board.” in regard to Rutherford County’s The local leaders offered AmaDanny Brandon Comprehensive zon enormous tax Zoning Plan, and breaks to come to subsequent proposed the area; if all things zoning ordinances were fair and equal still in the public then every business comment phase, and landowner in that if passed would the City should have limit most properties been given a tax cut, outside of the MurSBA leadership said. freesboro/Smyrna/ “If you take all the LaVergne/Eagleville entities that fall into City Limits to one the small business home per acre, rather than three, decimating category and added up the total number of property values in rural areas; allows heavy employees it would far exceed the employee industrial mining and quarries within 200 feet count of a few ‘big businesses,’” Robinson of residential property (the current setback is said. “We want a level playing field, a small1500 feet); and requires certain property ownbusiness-friendly environment. ers to set aside and maintain “open space.”

“If they can afford to give one huge comRutherford County Regional Planning pany a break, they should apply that idea to Commission will hold its next work session everyone; divide the amount (of Amazon’s to review public comments about proposed effective tax break) among every land owner zoning resolutions outside city limits at 6 and cut their taxes accordingly,” Robinson p.m., Feb. 13, in the County Commission said. Though he said this is unlikely—the meeting room on the second floor of the city cannot waive property taxes for everyCounty Courthouse on the Public Square in one—so the simple way to “level the playing Murfreesboro. The Small Business Alliance field” would be to have Amazon pay their encourages all residents to get involved and share of taxes like everyone else. come to this meeting on Feb 13 and find out “How many fees and regulations are how these changes will effect your individual waived for huge corporations?” one local property rights. businessperson asks. “Yet who has a problem “People just need to wake up and be paying them? The small business owners.” involved,” Wilson said.

Murfreesboro City Council elections are He has done just that, get involved, and April 17; the deadline to register is March 19, he’s organizing others in the new very open so get registered and get involved. Early votand loose group of local business people. ing will run March 28 through April 12.

“There’s no cost to join us; our group is Business owners who would like to join non-partisan,” Wilson said. and anyone wanting more information on While the group is open to anyone interthe Small Business Alliance of Rutherford ested in protecting property rights, regardless County can contact the group at of political persuasion, it now has the very sbarctn@gmail.com or (615) 656-7221.

THE CITY CANNOT WAIVE PROPERTY TAXES FOR EVERYONE— SO THE SIMPLE WAY TO “LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD” WOULD BE TO HAVE AMAZON PAY THEIR SHARE OF TAXES LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.

Goodbye to Cable TV

T

able TV sucks. I know it and you know it, so let’s just admit it as a fact. In the same way, we can all admit that we hate our cellphone service providers. Cable TV prices are outrageous, and if you’re like me you probably get 60 channels or so, and only watch 10 of them.

The solution? Cut the cable! Buy a Rokubox, [roku.com] an AppleTV, a Google TV box or one of the new Smart TVs, and say goodbye to high cable prices forever. Although to be fair you’ll be saying hello to one or more smaller fees that could total as much or more than your current cable bill. But let’s stay on track here; we’re talking about CHOICE. Getting only the channels we want and to hell with everything else, right? Right.

All the boxes and Smart TVs offer similar features but I’m a Roku man. If you’re a long-time reader of this column, you’ve heard me talk about my love for Roku before. But please indulge me so I can explain what it is to others who might not know. A Roku box is a small device, about the size of a stack of 5 DVDs, that connects to your TV and your internet connection and brings the world of online video content directly to your TV. It has a remote control that you use from your favorite chair or sofa and navigate its channels (which you add yourself so you add only the ones you want) and watch most anything you want to, with the exception of live news and sports.

MY FAVORITE ROKU CHANNELS: Netflix For $7.99 per month you can stream anything from the Netflix streaming library. There are some movies that are DVD only, meaning that you can’t stream them, but most stuff is there for streaming.

shows. I just began re-watching all 12 seasons of NYPD Blue. Yes, I’m old school, although if you’re older school than me they have Hawaii Five-O. The ORIGINAL one.

And lastly, you get to “borrow” one Kindle book per month, free. As my high school buddy, JR, used to say, “Beat that with a stick.”

The NBA recently rolled out a Roku channel but it’s not quite up to speed yet. Maybe by the time the playoffs come around, sometime in August or September . . . maybe October.

Damn the NBA season is long.

Major League Baseball, though, has one of the best channels, for $24.99/month. I hear it’s great anyway, I’ve never been much of a baseball fan.

Plex Hulu Plus has most of For watching all the stuff the NBC Universal content I download. (I covered you could want and much the Plex media server, app more. It’s $7.99/month. and Plex Roku channel in MACINTOSH I expect more channels depth in a previous issue AND iPHONE iPHONE will come along as the of The Pulse.)

ANSWERS AND TIPS popularity of these little column by boxes and new Smart TVs Amazon Prime PATRICK CLARK patrick@boromac.com increases. So buck up, cowCall me an fanboy if you boys and cowgirls, the reign want to, but I love Amazon! of mediocrity that’s called cable TV is near an I started out ordering books and CDs from them 10 years ago, and now I order damn near end. At least for you and me it is. Let the suckers pay for Spike, QVC, C-Span and MTV. (I’d everything from Amazon. And Amazon Prime pay for MTV if they could remember what the makes that easier and even cooler. If you sign M stood for back in the day. And if there was up for Amazon Prime for $80 per year you any good M being made anymore.) get FREE 2-day shipping on all orders from I gotta go now. Sipowicz is breaking balls Amazon.com. (Some items are sold through and squeezing shoes and I don’t want to miss a 3rd party so the free shipping doesn’t apply a second of it. to those sales. You want to look for the “Prime eligible” tag but don’t worry, it’s ubiquitous and easy to see.)

Patrick Clark, owner of The Boro Mac Shop But wait, there’s more, in addition to free here in Murfreesboro, has repaired Macintosh 2-day shipping you also get access to a TON of computers and Apple devices since 1996, and free streaming video content on the Amazon Boro Mac Shop is Murfreesboro’s best MacinVideo channel. Some current movies, lots tosh and iPhone repair shop. Contact him at of great documentaries, and a slew of TV (615) 796-6154 or boromac.com.

Revision3 I’m a electronics/computer nerd and I love staying on top of all the new software, apps, gadgets, computers, etc. that come out daily.

Revision3 is a great free channel for that type of content. And the women are cute.

APPLE

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The Second Can

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ike most in the age of digital unfortunately the case with most environpoint and shoot cameras, I mental indicators, we trail the pack and am an amateur photographer. in some ways have set the low standard.

Family events, nature, pets and The affluent of countries with greater for the predictable college student on income inequality are also American-style Facebook, beer—all are familiar material wasteful, although a large percentage of a for that never ending quest to capture life population living in poverty keeps those in the way we wish to portray it. And the countries off of a top 10 list (India, China, way I wish to portray it finds expression Brazil, South Africa). in an object that is as common as it is Let’s get back to the local scene. If you overlooked. I have been enthusiastically were to venture down any Murfreesboro documenting this object for years and street on pickup day you would notice a hope to someday put together a tastenew and disturbing trend: the second can. ful photo journal. It is sure to be found The first can is already obscene in size at any function, neighborhood, church, and would have made great material for a school, mall or place of public gatherCharlie Chaplin silent satire. Solar panels, ing. Christmas, Easter, the Fourth of July energy efficient windows, hybrid cars—all and Thanksgiving of (insert any recent require a careful cost benefit analysis. But year here) was a particularly good year not this! There is little or no cost, and only to catch a glimpse of this. benefit! There is also an Maybe you have guessed economic benefit to the it by now: I shoot garcity as a whole, which we bage. The images in the will see later. With a little trash collage here are planning, this deplorable from the aftermath of a and unconscious status column by RYAN EGLY Fourth of July concert quo can easily be chalegly@boropulse.com in Madison, Wis., and a lenged. What can you do: Starbucks (the volume in the picture was produced multiple times REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE: during the week).

Order and emphasis are key here. First Trash is one the most salient features and foremost: Reduce. This can be acof modern culture. It is everywhere and complished by buying in bulk (especially nearly everything we do produces it. Acwhere items are sold loose) and reducing cording to the EPA, per capita municipal consumption in general in all of its insidisolid waste (MSW) generation in the U.S. ous forms. A tried and true method is to rose from 2.68 to 4.43 pounds between “sleep on it.” Most likely you will awake 1960 and 2010. The waste is either rerefreshed and in a clutter-free house. The cycled, goes to landfills, or is combusted, second, Reuse, is fairly self-explanatory the heat from which is sometimes used and works best when accompanied by as fuel. In 2010, 54.3 percent was disa bit of creativity. The last R, Recycle, is carded, 34 percent was recovered in the what happens with the small quantity that form of recycling and composting and remains after the first two steps. Although 11.7 percent was combusted for energy an essential component of the sustainrecovery. Residential waste is estimated ability movement, I am a bit at odds with to contribute 55-65 percent of total MSW the drive to recycle. As with the zealous generation. campaign to eliminate plastic bags, one How do we stack up globally? As is must be careful to not let recycling become

LIVING GREEN

12 * FEBRUARY 2012 * BOROPULSE.COM

Piles of trash have become the norm on streets throughout the U.S. and much of the world.

another symbolic victory. It is less wasteful and more practical to use cloth bags, but what really counts is what the bag carries.

A cloth bag carrying 10 pounds of beef is not better, in terms of sustainability, than 10 plastic bags carrying fruit and rice. In the same way, having a large green container filled to the brim with recyclables is not the goal. Both must be part of a broader shift in lifestyle, and neither serves as a substitute for change. The reason I have gone into such detail on this point is personal experience. While working in Louisville I introduced a recycling box to the company break room. After a few months of seeing fast food refuse fill the container, I began to suspect that the box was silencing the true message. Anytime an issue related to sustainability would come up amidst the forced diplomacy of the professional environment, the answer invariably came, “Well, we recycle!”

Alas, it is unlikely that even the most aggressive reducing and reusing could eliminate trash, at least not in Murfreesboro.

The options just don’t exist (which is why a demand for non trash producing goods and services has to be shown). So for the amount that is recycled, curbside pickup is a good option. All in One Recycling offers this service for $12 a month in Rutherford County.

COMPOSTING: Over 12 percent of municipal waste is estimated to be food scraps. Composting is incredibly easy and creates rich soil for gardens and potted plants. There any many different ways to do this, from store-bought composters to homemade units (a lot more fun!). After starting, it is hard to imagine not composting, it is that simple. A very good guide on how to build your own composting bin can be found at the University of Missouri Extension website. I built a three-stage unit similar to the one outlined, and it is working well.

PAY AS YOU THROW: A last topic that can’t be lacking in any good discussion involving trash are the so-called Pay as You Throw (PAYT) and Garbage by the Pound (GBTP) systems. Collection fees are based on the volume or weight of a household’s trash, rather than through property taxes or a fixed fee. It is a win-win way to do things. There is a growing body of documentation that supports the effectiveness of these programs. The city of Malden, Mass., for example, is saving $2.5 million and reducing MSW generation by around 50 percent by implementing a PAYT system. According to the EPA, over 7,000 communities are taking advantage of intelligent trash pickup. Let’s put the ‘Boro on the map! I vote that we put the money saved into serious bike lanes that connect with the Greenway (not like the one that starts nowhere and cuts through the turn lanes of hurried shoppers and ambulances on Thompson Lane).

OTHER SUGGESTIONS: Buy in bulk. Pa Bunk’s and Sunshine Health

and Nutrition both offer loose bulk items in Murfreesboro. I like to bring my own glass jars. They are pre-weighed at the store so that the weight of the glass isn’t accounted for at the checkout counter. It is really a great system; I have been using the same jars for years! You usually save money and get good, locally provided organic products.

Declare a personal boycott on Styrofoam.

Carry Tupperware in the trunk at all times.

Enjoy the respect and admiration of all at the restaurant who take notice.

Avoid disposable tableware. Respectfully make fun of those who do. Eventually we will get to a point where it is an embarrassment to produce two bags of trash at a group gathering.

Set personal reduction goals.

Vote with your wallet. Let stores know that

you prefer less or no packaging.

Be part of the discussion!

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ART

Cultivating Art The Art Barn fosters all aspects of creativity.

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story by RYAN NOREIAKIS

ust outside of Murfreesboro in the peaceful country town of Rockvale, a quaintly glowing little barn offers itself as a refuge for established and aspiring artists, as well as those who simply appreciate art in its seemingly limitless forms.

Complete with a gallery, classroom and studio, The Art Barn is the lifelong dream of Dawna Kinne Magliacano and her husband Joe. Having freshly launched on Jan. 7, the facility’s purpose is “to encourage, teach, and create everything that is art,” said Magliacano.

“If it inspires emotion, it’s art.”

Upon entering, you’ll find yourself right in the middle of the gallery featuring works by local artists. Hardwood flooring and walls provide a contrast to the many shapes and colors of the gallery displays. The room abounds with a variety of oil and acrylic paintings, photographs, three-dimensional assemblages, pottery, handcrafted jewelry and handmade clothes. Also featured is a multitude of accessories such as purses, picture frames, candles, goat’s milk soap, colorful covers for iPads and Kindles, and even an assortment of all-natural homemade jams.

If it happens you visit The Art Barn on a stormy day, you’ll be delighted by the sound of the wind humming and raindrops thumping along the tin roof. Help yourself to locally roasted Just Love coffee (donations appreciated) and make your way around the corner of the gallery into the classroom area, where Magliacano and her daughter Chelsea King have set up classes to teach home-schooled children.

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“Art is often seen as a leisure past-time and not the skill that it is,” said King. “I hope to spark [my students’] imaginations and inspire them to continue their talents.”

Once a week, at a modest price of five dollars, kids will learn a variety of techniques and mediums using different supplies, all provided by the facility. Of course, each child gets to take home his/her masterpiece of the day.

Plenty of opportunities are provided for adults to learn too. The facility hosts workshops including oil painting, encaustic wax, mosaic, block printing, jewelry, weaving, pen and ink, charcoal, watercolor, acrylics, screen printing, art quilting, sewing and knitting. The fees are affordable and the atmosphere is encouraging and not intimidating.

“It’s so rewarding to bring art into people’s lives,” said Magliacano. “We now live in such an electronic world, some of the hand-crafted arts have been almost lost.”

Other activities include a Craft Night every Tuesday with a new craft project to be learned and completed each week, featuring a variety of instructors. The second Friday of each month is Poetry Night where participants read either their own poetry or the work of another.

There’s a cover of two dollars and all collected money is awarded to the best poetic rendering of the evening. Also to mention is the weekly Sunday Studio Circle, an ongoing two-hour painting session held upstairs in the loft studio The facility hosts live acoustic music on scheduled weekends and, when the weather warms up, monthly outdoor movie nights.

A Valentine’s Paint Date on Feb. 14 is a unique upcoming event; couples can bring their own wine and paint a work of art, with the facility providing the art supplies, and chocolate-dipped strawberries.

The Art Barn is located at 8190 Hwy 99, Rockvale. Regular hours of operation are Tue.-Thu. 9 a.m.–9 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 9 a.m.–10 p.m., and Sunday 12–6 p.m. For more information, visit theartbarntn.com.

Artist to Demonstrate Lithographic Process

T

he MTSU Department of Art will showcase lithographic artist Andrew DeCaen and his work Thursday, Feb. 9, with an artist demonstration from 11:20 a.m. to 2:25 p.m. in Todd Hall, room 355.

The following day, Feb. 10, studio visitations will be held in the same room from 9:00 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1–4 p.m.

According to DeCaen, eating and other rituals surrounding food are the context of his body of work.

“We eat our meals in various states of awareness of the act and its significance,” he says. “By re-contextualizing the familiar, my images aim to attract questions about food, science, consumerism and the sacred and mundane act of eating.”

DeCaen’s prints, drawings, and paper sculpture have been shown broadly across the US and in Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Denmark, England, Italy, Japan, Korea, Romania and Turkey. DeCaen lives with his wife and daughter in Denton, Texas, where he is an Assistant Professor of Art and the Printmaking Area Coordinator at the University of North Texas.

Visitations and demonstration are free and open to the public. For parking and other information, contact Eric Snyder at (615) 898-5653. For more on DeCaen’s work, visit andrewdecaen.com.

Arts Awards Presented to Local Students

T

he Business Education Partnership (BEP) Foundation presented awards to kindergarten through 12th-grade students at its third annual Arts for Education All County Youth Arts Contest awards reception on Jan. 20.

Two- and three-dimensional works were awarded plaques by Murfreesboro Mayor Tommy Bragg and Lee Rennick, Executive Director of the BEP. The plaques were designed especially for this contest by VIP Awards in Smyrna using clay sculpture from Lewis and Eric Snyder.

WINNERS INCLUDE: Grades K–2nd: Elizah Pedigo, 1st Place;

Cameron Messerly, 2nd Place; Beth Nelson, 3rd Place; Ryanne Burch, Honorable Mention.

Grades 3rd–5th: Berenice Vazquez, 1st Place; Taylor McGee, 2nd Place; Mya Jae Eubanks, 3rd Place; Brisa Cortez Dorado and Anna Sweeney, Honorable Mention Grades 6th–8th: Reana Marie Paul, Honorable Mention Grades 9th-12th, Photography: Jessica Johnson, 1st Place; Kayln Patterson, 2nd Place; Taijana Logsdon, 3rd Place; April Burbridge, Honorable Mention

Grades 9th–12th, Potpourri: Melissa Stark, 1st Place; Shelby Mindar, 2nd Place; Bethany Kinslow, 3rd Place; Caleb Yates; Honorable Mention, Grades 9th–12th, Sculpture: Madison Mooneyham, 1st Place; Chelsey Dugger, 2nd Place; and Carleica Rogers, 3rd Place.  Best of Show: Spencer Watson Award-winning art will be sold at Arts for Education: An Elegant Evening, a fundraiser for the Business Education Partnership Foundation, on Feb. 24. The event will be held at the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce building from 6-9 p.m. The theme of the evening is “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” and will include a concert by the Tennessee Valley Winds, a dance presentation by Cat Cru, and additional musical entertainment.

Heavy hors d’oeuvres will by created by the Smyrna High School culinary arts program.

There will be an auction of art and entertainment packages, including a trip for a family of four to Disney World.

For more information or reservations for the event, contact Gabi Brockelsby at (615) 556-1949. Learn more about the BEP at rutherfordbep.org.

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OUT & ABOUT

BINGO!

Coach’s Grill serving fun and free weekly activities for all ages. story by RYAN NOREIKAS

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oach’s Grill has been perched on SE Broad Street, near the intersection of South Church, for four years and, as you might expect from the name, it’s indeed a sports bar and grill. But you may not be aware that sports, food and beverages aside, Coach’s Grill hosts some pretty fun weekly events.

Perhaps the most unexpected activity is Bingo Night every Wednesday beginning at 6 p.m. Each player receives four Bingo cards per game and a guy with a microphone calls out the letter/number combinations from a stage.

If you’ve played Bingo, you know how it works, and Coach’s includes the regular version as well as other variations including covering the whole card to win and creating a letter on your board such as “C” and “H”. Cash and food prizes are awarded to the lucky winners each week.

“We wanted to do something different,” said manager/bartender/server Jenna Basile, who’s been with the place since its opening, “And nobody else in town was doing Bingo, so we decided it was worth a try. It’s really picked up through word of mouth and become a popular night here for many different types of people.”

During college basketball and football seasons, Coach’s Grill hosts the MTSU Coaches Show live radio broadcast each Monday.

Every Wednesday night, Coach’s Grill on Broad Street hosts a Bingo night, free and open to all ages. Gift cards and cash are up for grabs, and it’s also all-you-can eat catfish night.

Open to the general public and beginning at 6 p.m., MTSU coaches sit onstage and answer questions from patrons and callers.

“This event has been really great because it brings in MTSU fans and often the players come to check it out,” said Basile. “Younger kids get to see the players up close, and they just love it.”

Tuesday nights are dedicated to live trivia featuring notorious father and son emcees Bobby and Rusty Howard, respectively. The first game begins at 7 p.m. and the second at 8:30 p.m. The categories for trivia vary, and there’s no limit to team size; one can play solo.

Prizes include Coach’s Grill gift cards in the amounts of five, ten and fifteen dollars.

“Bobby and Rusty are great,” said Basile.

They are well known for their trivia hosting around town and they’ve been a great draw for us. We see several teams returning and growing in number each week, and it’s been a lot of fun.

Weekends include Karaoke with Tiffany Til-

photos by BRACKEN MAYO

ley on Fridays from 9 p.m. until 1 a.m., and apparently Tilley likes to include trivia questions in between songs for added fun. Saturday is live music night, sports permitting, with featured local bands, and Basile informed me she’s beginning to book local acoustic acts to perform Friday nights beginning mid-February.

Basile concluded, “These events have helped bring in new and repeat customers. Coach’s appreciates new faces and familiar ones every day and we just hope people enjoy themselves with

our food, drinks and entertainment.”

Coach’s Grill is mainly one fairly large open room with plenty of TVs scattered about.

The place features a full bar and food menu, and the servers are dressed like sexy referees. Regular food and beverage specials are offered throughout the week and there’s an additional room in the back for busy nights that is available to rent for larger parties.

Keep up to speed on Coach’s Grill happenings at facebook.com/coachsgrillmurfreesboro.

MUSIC NOTES

Nick Carver Band Earns Two Rising Star Awards Event entertainment booking service gigmasters.com recently revealed its fifth annual Rising Star Award winners for 2011, recognizing the nation’s topearning entertainers in many performer and vendor categories. The Nick Carver Band won two Rising Star Awards: Top Cover Band and Top Wedding Band. The band, which is based in Murfreesboro, is led by singer Nick Carver and includes Tony Hartman, Al Janelle, Taylor Lonardo and Michael Sharp and has performed at clubs, events and private parties all over the Southeastern United States, as well at last year’s CMA Music Festival.

For more information on the Nick Carver Band, visit nickcarverband.com.

MTSU Alum Lands Drumming Gig with Queen Extravaganza Tyler Warren, an alumnus of the MTSU School of Music, will be the drummer for “The Queen Extravaganza Tour” across North America in 2012. The tour celebrates the music of the British rock band that has sold more than 300 million albums.

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“I grew up listening to Queen, memorizing songs, studying (drummer) Roger Taylor’s technique and just fully engulfing myself in all the aspects of their music,” said Warren.

Warren will join five other young musicians in the band, and Taylor will be producer and musical director of the road show.

For more information, visit queenextravaganza.com.

Steven Curtis Chapman to play World Outreach Church Steven Curtis Chapman will perform at Murfreesboro’s World Outreach Church on Thursday, Feb. 16, as part of his “Songs & Stories” tour with Andrew Peterson and Josh Wilson. During this unique writer’s night, Chapman performs songs from his twodecade career, including his recent No. 1, Grammy-nominated “Do Everything.” Chapman also shares the stories that inspired him to write the songs that have impacted lives around the world.

Chapman, Peterson and Wilson showcase their diverse musical talents by playing an extensive variety of instruments—over 47 onstage. Chapman will connect with fans in a Q&A and perform an acoustic song or two during an intimate pre-show event, with the concert following at 7 p.m.

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SOUNDS

THE DOCTOR IS IN

The Middle Tennessee Gospel Music Consortium, chaired by Janard Cross (below right), will bring Dr. Bobby Jones and tons of their gospelloving friends to Bluesboro on Feb. 19.

World renowned career “Gospel-tician” Dr. Bobby Jones to visit Bluesboro.

of them watching my shows on the island and seeing what my philanthropic efforts are. I’m a philanthropist, in a way of speaking. And [the U.S.] thought that because of the [audience] I have that people would be eager to follow what I say. So, I’m coming to Murfreesboro!”

But the man is really known as a revolutionary of the genre, and to our gospel circuit’s delight, is story by BRYCE HARMON bringing his notoriety to Bluesboro in the middle of the month on behalf of the Middle Tennessee he roll of gospel music in America Gospel Music Consortium (MTGMC). Hosted throughout its 200-plus year history is by the organization’s event chair Janard Cross 1,000,000 times richer than most men and co-host Cicely Mason, the audience is in for could become had they that lifespan to a night of performances showcasing local acts accumulate wealth. The music stands including The Bingham Sisters, Root Road, Dex proudly as a staple to our heritage, itself, reach& Divine Purpose, Shelly Massey, and Darryl ing the levels of even baseball and apple pie Chaney & Christ Fellowship Chorale, all of whom as it is intertwined in our basic structure as have put in their time performing at churches Southerners, deeply influencing the most intiand coffee houses around the area and some of mate parts of our souls to help overcome woes, whom have already been guests on Dr. Jones’s immensely strengthen faith, and especially supbroadcasts in the past. ply an outlet to exclaim that woe-shedding and Dr. Jones, what brings you to Murbelief at the tops of our lungs, ultimately bringfreesboro? ing everyone closer together in harmony for at [Laughs] [MTGMC] decided that because least an hour out of each week in the pews. the gospel artists and the people there […]

One man has made it his life’s work to carry come into Nashville in large numbers, [that] the opportunities to achieve those necessities gave us the indication that they were great of happiness and life enrichment for aspiring supporters of our industry, so we decided to go Christian gospel musicians, as well as listeners, there first as the consortium. [The Bluesboro be them in town or far past our borders to the show] is going to be an intimate gospel music corners of the globe, and has done so for over presentation by a variety of artists of different thirty years, gaining him the name Ambassador music. It should be an enjoyable evening. of Gospel, or even Mr. Gospel himself.

How’d did you find out about the musiDr. Bobby Jones has many titles under his cians playing with you that evening? belt that hit the ear in similar fashion but you Some of them have been to my [Nashville] may know him mostly as the producer, host studio and have recorded. [I tell them] to make and performer of the longest running original good music, be serious about it, study the show in cable television history for 31 seasons: climate—that means the surrounding situations The Grammy award-winning Bobby Jones that relate to what you do—be prevalent, and Gospel, remaining one of BET’s pride-and-joy develop their skills, and most of those people broadcasts. Adding to that, he has Bobby Jones have gone on to become quite successful.

Gospel Radio, his magazine publications and Any particular ones we should be keepmovie appearances and an extensive accuing an eye out for? mulation of awards such as multiple GramAll of them. [Laughs]. They’re like having mys, Dove Awards and Stellar Awards. children. You can’t love one of them more than “Yeah, […] it’s impossible to even try and another, especially if they’re well-behaved. So, think of all these things. Some stand out bigger you can’t show any partiality towards one of than others,” Dr. Jones said them because they’re all my when asked about his career babies. I speak very highly WHAT: Middle Tenn. accomplishments. “I think of them.

Gospel Music Consortium celebration the one I’m most impressed And beyond the Blueswith is I’m in the cabinet boro show?

WHEN: 5 p.m. Sunday., Feb. 19 of the prime minister of A continuation of what I Dominica. I am an ambasdo. We’re just taping televiWHERE: Bluesboro, sador for their country. That’s sion shows for the new artist on The Square a big deal [laughs]. That was showcases I present on the COST: $10 all brought about because Impact Television network,

IF YOU GO:

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which is a new satellite network that’s been up for about a year now. And its black owned and I left one network to go to it. I helped the other one to grow tremendously that was called the Word. We were responsible for BET being where it is, the gospel. And now I’m challenging the next one I’m on called Impact.

Impact?

I come on there every day at 3:00 our time. You can get it if you have the Dish satellite, which is numbers 93 through 97, but if you don’t have the Dish and you’re in your office in front of your computer, you can go to time4impact.com, and there you will find music going out all over the world from Nashville, Tennessee, every day, at 3 p.m. Isn’t that a wonderful thing for us?

Nice. I hope to see our locals represented, soon. What would you say your representation of gospel music has been over the years?

To sum it up, it’s been a magnificent journey traveling all over the world. I’ve been on every continent in the world except one, and gospel music is flourishing; people love it from different

areas and it’s been a joy. And to come from the middle Tennessee area with the music is another scripture to the fact that Nashville and Middle Tennessee is a music kingdom. One of them. We have New York, LA and we have Nashville.

Anything else we should know about the Bluesboro date?

Well, since we’re coming into Murfreesboro, we’re sure that we’re going to have a jam-packed house, and I want them to get ready to come out and enjoy all that we have to present to them. As long as they keep supporting it we’ll keep coming back, and some of the artists will become more and more known, some of the real known artists, we’ll bring them in as well. We’re looking forward to it. I believe they’re doing a great job. I hope you get a chance to stop by.

This is the first MTGMC event in Murfreesboro and will be held at Bluesboro, Sunday, Feb. 19 at 5 p.m., with the doors opening at 4:30. There will be a $10 cover, but tickets are being sold in advance through the Middle Tennessee Gospel Music Consortium’s Facebook page or by calling Janard Cross at 615-585-9136.

Local Color from Across the Pond

A strangly familiar factory makes Murfreesboro man feel right at home in London. story by LEE MILLER

I

made it safely to London today for my first European adventure. I flew out of the Nashville airport at 7 p.m. last night on what felt like a VW microbus with wings.

The little plane was so crowded that even my pocket change felt claustrophobic. Fortunately though, that was only for the short jump up to the windy city of Chicago. After that, the Boeing 747 Airbus that we took across the Atlantic felt like a hotel room. I even had a full three-seat row to myself so I stretched out to try and get a good night’s sleep as we headed across the pond.

I plan to be in Europe touring with Phil Lee until Feb 6, shooting video for several different features for the Local Color TV show.

Heathrow International Airport is enormous, but not as big as the one in the A-T-L. I’ve been through that hub of the American South plenty of times, so I didn’t feel too intimidated when I got off the plane at 11:30 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time. Heathrow is easy to navigate, and everybody working there speaks something like English.

But in the line at customs, I heard more languages and dialects than I could count or even recognize.

The long and diverse line moved quickly, however, and I made it into Great Britain without incident.

After passing through customs, I stopped at a machine and bought a ticket with my ATM card to travel throughout London and the surrounding areas by tube (what they call the subway) or by the famous red double decker busses. My ticket gave me unlimited use of both for the day and it cost me £8, or about $13. I don’t know how much you’ve tried using public transportation in America lately, but that is an amazing deal.

The half-hour ride into town was great.

London’s underground tube is actually above ground until it approaches the central part of the city, so I was able to see a lot of the suburbs from the rails. Their idea of new just means post 1776, so I saw thousands of homes and not a single strip of vinyl siding.

That brought joy to my heart; I love wood and brick. I saw a few golf courses that weren’t in the best shape. It is winter, and it seems that they don’t place quite the emphasis on green grass year-round that we do. It didn’t seem to damper their good time though. I saw one chap cussing like a sailor as he headed into the woods, which is the same thing I do when I go out to the meticulously groomed American

links for a little fun.

I got off the tube at Pimlico Station and decided to walk to the Travel Joy Hostel in Chelsea, where I reserved a bed two days ago online. I could have just taken the bus to a stop just outside the front door, but my bag has wheels so I decided to walk. If you’ve ever tried to walk around in the Caribbean, or anywhere that they drive on the opposite side of the road that we do, you know how confusing it is. We tell our kids to look both ways before crossing the street, but we never do it as adults. You have to fight instinct to look for traffic from different directions. Fortunately, they paint “LOOK LEFT” and “LOOK RIGHT” all over the streets.

I almost got ran over a couple of times, but made it the few blocks over to the Thames and began walking down Grosvenor Road along the river. There was a light drizzle, but it was still a nice walk on a wide sidewalk next to the barricade that cities always put up along the sides of big rivers to keep disgruntled citizens from jumping in. The one by the River Thames is Gothic and iron and rusty. This fence is probably less than 50 years old but, to me it seems a thousand.

It was about a seven-minute walk to the hostel and, as I got close, I recognized the front façade from the pictures online, but I also saw a big factory across the river that looked extremely familiar, I just couldn’t figure out where I had seen it before.

Travel Joy Hostel doubles as King William IV, an English pub that has been around since the early nineteenth century and has always provided accommodations for travelers. These days it is owned by two Irishmen who love music. There is an acoustic guitar hanging on the wall for anybody to pick around on, great tunes coming from the speakers and apparently the stage hosts one of the city’s most popular “open mic nights” tonight, and every Friday night.

When I get up to my room, I step out onto the balcony and look out across the Thames at the factory I saw as I was walking. The sun, which had barely even come out, was setting and the sky had a brilliant orange glow. That’s when it hit me. A picture of that factory is hanging on my wall in Murfreesboro. I always cover my apartments with classic album covers and what I’m looking at is a part of that collage. But, I have previously only known London’s Battersea Power Station as Pink Floyd’s “Animals.” I’m taking that as a sign to make this a wild adventure, tallyho.

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ALBUM REVIEWS

Cherub

Mize and the Drive

Countless methods of sealing the deal at the end of the day have been created throughout human history with success seeing the global population hit seven billion last year. Few lately, though, have gone about it in this town the way indie-tronica dance-pop duo, Cherub, have by creating their debut LP, Man of the Hour, released out of Elm and Oak Records. The effort keeps listeners in the mood by simply reminding them it’s good to be young. They get down to some sweet dance music with a continuous flow of aphrodisia from all eight tracks the only way an album sounding like Justin Timberlake, MGMT, Phil Collins and a MIDI keyboard had their love-child in a DJ booth can.

Kudos to Jordan Kelley and Jason Huber for releasing such a fresh sound into Murfreesboro. It’s been so long since an album was conceived with the sole intent of capturing a great-sounding live club record.

Setting a standard lyrically, the opening track is a beautifully soothing short and sweet piano ditty, “My Time,” with contradictory verses pining for company in a haze of self-medication. Track 2, though, is highly synthesized with electronic keys and drum machine, upper register vocals echoing off into the distance and little guitar licks layered atop one another. The record continues with the only song containing real drums, “Disco Inferno,” to “Dirty Cockroaches,” which has hints of Aphex Twin in the industrial latter half of the song. The title track is saved for the end, bringing the album back home with another gentle piano rhythm.

Cherub isn’t wasting any time for round two, and plans a Feb. 11 release party at Mercy Lounge for another album. Visit facebook.com/cherublamusica to listen to Cherub’s music. — BRYCE HARMON

Officially, Mize and the Drive formed in late 2009.

Unofficially, they’ve been forming for a decade as members became veteran musicians through other projects. A little over two years as a band has seen debut full-length, Irene (Dirty Cabin Records), to fruition. And whether the instrumentation incorporates heavy guitars and jazz influence or keeps a bare folk style with acoustic guitar, Irene doesn’t have any filler tracks to speak of and combines folk, jazz and soul with the South—mainly in Lee Ramsey’s vocals and the twang-rock resonance of Cody Malak’s lead guitar.

As seasoned musicians, Mize and the Drive can clearly write about universal tribulations without youthful, desperate angst, which is a plus in the sense that Irene has plenty of laid-back, Grateful Dead-esque good vibes and messages. The record radiates with very classic rock (“Antietam Road”), lush Southern roots (“Soul Shot”) and artful, pretty strumming (“Strangers”). Les Greer’s bass and Ben Wencil’s rhythm guitar tap out “Dazed,” a rock-and-reeds jaunt that emulates Dave Matthews Band’s hippie jazz style.

Two of the best tracks are entirely different; there’s “Rain,” a melancholy waltz with Alex Stevenson’s gorgeous saxophone smeared into the middle of the record, whose melody is vaguely reminiscent of Counting Crows’ slower, sweeter stuff. Then there’s “Long Way Down,” a morbid haunt with pensive bass and the opening lines: “The rope is frayed/but I’m holding on/to my end, anyway/hanging from the cliff/my nails dug in/and my fingers burned/hanging from the cliff/waiting for you to pull me up.”

Such is the diversity of Mize and the Drive’s influences. — JESSICA PACE

Man of the Hour

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Irene

RATINGS: AVERAGE

A CLASSIC BELOW AVERAGE

August Apologist

OUTSTANDING AVOID AT ALL COSTS

DEAD

Johnny Foodstamp

What It’s Worth

Motel Heaven

It’s hard to be winning with an album full of just a This is probably what they mean by “easy lisbanjolele (an instrument that’s part banjo, part ukutening.” August Apologist’s EP What It’s Worth is lele), unless you play the banjolele like a badass and demure and spiritually charged, both in the blaplay the kazoo like it’s a saxophone, like Johnny Foodtant messages of their lyrics and something about stamp does on his full-length Motel Heaven. Sold. the softness of the instrumentation.

Johnny Foodstamp has built up an aesthetic On “Stand and Sing,” the first of five tracks, a murwith his name, playing style and songwriting. It’s mured vocal chorus pans over a repeating riff, and difficult to say whether the persona you perceive female vocals lend a crystalline, slightly pained croon, through the record is really him, or if that’s just which glows against the loose, hush-hush vocal what he wants you to think. But hey, picture what harmonies backing it on “Fearfully and Wonderfully.” you think Johnny Foodstamp looks like, and that’s Intermittent hand-claps pair with a twee pitter-patter what he looks like. that sounds like something I’d have banged out on From the opening track, “Broke A$$ in the my ol’ Playskool piano when I was four. But there’s Ghetto,” I was struck by the crude elasticity of his nothing wrong with that. As soothing guitar brushvocals. His voice stretches and cracks, sounding es over a melody that’s barely there, the words of like a folk-trash version of James encouragement—“don’t give up”— are offered. Despite clapped-out We’re working Brown, down to the primal scream he lets out in “I Only Say I Love You” rhythms and layers of vocals that hard to promote (“when I’m naked,” as the lyrics go). melt and pool out a la Imogen Heap, good music in All the while, Foodstamp’s banthe track sounds experimental and Middle Tennessee. jolele thrums and grates (perfectly stripped down like a demo. punctuated with a few simple bass “Talk to Me” has a firmer melodic Bands: send your albums lines on some tracks, like “Pay Da structure and features Cory’s vocals and promotional materials to Rent”) like another band member as well as King’s ultra-feminine ones.

The Murfreesboro Pulse, 116-E North Walnut St., or the dancing pet of some street As they romanticize the notion of Murfreesboro, TN 37130. performer; he even personifies it in open lines of communication, sleepy “Little Ukulele.” Moreover, Foodguitars twirl around the lyrics. stamp knows how to bring out the versatility of On the topic of lyrics, it should be said that Auhis instruments. Between the banjolele and the gust Apologist’s will likely taste sour to the people kazoo, he sounds like a rustic, one-man Salvawho roll their eyes at “positive message” music, tion Army band. Motel Heaven is folk soul at its and there’s little variation from one song to the absolute barest. next. But there’s no denying it’s pretty.

— JESSICA PACE — JESSICA PACE

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Read more album reviews at

ALBUM REVIEWS

Arpetrio

AFRO

You can pick your own price for Arpetrio’s Barcodes, their debut LP and a leap from two past EPs. Encrypted Layers (April 2010) and Scratching the Purpose (April 2011) were both collections of poppy, juicy and cluttered electronic bits, the latter a slightly smoother brand of chaos than the former.

Barcodes, released last fall and produced by Drew Andre, is a mark of maturity; though this LP is of the same mostly vocal-free, synthesized electropsychedelia, it’s noticeably tighter, slightly more subdued and, most importantly, palpable.

Unlike the random chaotic sounds of their first EPs, Arpetrio makes emotions and, well, sense out of inflections and changes in timbre and tempo.

You may not know what they mean, but you hear, and feel, a change. To be clear, synthesizers and Abletons aren’t really my thing, but that’s the thing—whether you like it or not, Arpetrio comes at you with an immense wall of sound.

The opener “Settle Down” is rich and texturized, beginning with a tinny intro as if an ‘80s fantasy movie—think Labyrinth—is about to start. It’s best when they bring in a “real” instrument, drums, midway through the track.

Where exactly these songs are going to progress isn’t always certain; the first 30 seconds of “Time To Move pt. 1” sound like a majorly synthesized R&B intro, before giving way to a cluster of robotic, sparkling clinking noises. Nothing like “Time To Move pt. 2,” in which a segment of rhythmic vocals toward the end curve perfectly with the loose and airy music.

Though Alex Mindermann plays guitar, Wes Taylor contributes drums and Trent Little’s on bass, these instruments only spice the synth brew. It’s mainly synthesizers, keys and Ableton that subtly craft Barcodes’ moods. You notice something uplifting in the inflections of “Ponder,” for example, and the title track has an angry guitar and synth combination bubbling up. Thirteen tracks bleed seamlessly into one another, kind of like an ongoing score for an ‘80s film, mixed into electro-dance party rhythms, mixed into amplified video game glitches and fuzz.

If there’s a spanking-new cover jam band out of this town the past year and a half stressing gungho, its name is probably Afro. They’re wedging into their own with a new self-produced, three-track, internet EP, Meat and III, consisting of originals recognizable from shows performed in Murfreesboro with the likes of Sky Hi and Copper Into Steel.

The six “collegiate musicians” come across as a cohesive, math-inspired fusion of jazz, rock and elements of international progressions via Adam Mullis and Blake Gallant on guitars, Kaitlyn Connor on keys and vocals, and Chris Conrad on bass while Silas Jackson and Jeff McSpadden hold down a hefty percussion section. All are generous during frenzies of improvisations over the 15 minutes “[making] complete sense when the group has a classically trained pianist, a jazz elitist on lead guitar, and an overall musical intelligence.” But they’re still a nice funky jam band we can call our own. (Quotations from the band’s website.)

The first track from Meat and III, “Flat Rock,” is a great example of how well the members of Afro work together. Musically, it’s a comfortable exploration into the mid-paced, happy jazz-funk loosely related to a THB sound while asking harmoniously, “Can you bring yourself together?” over the swapping electric piano and guitar before Connor’s organ supplies a climactic bridge that gives everyone a chance to solo on top of it. Jackson’s drums and McSpadden’s bongos take the groove back to the verse’s sound and structure. It eventually fades out with the title’s repeating chant to clapping hands. It’s rare when simplicity in structure saves room for individual jazz complexities without feeling crowded.

The saga of police intervention traveling bands are too familiar with appears in “One Way or Another,” before an homage to Zappa’s title track from the ‘74 Apostrophe album and Connor on the stride close the collection with “Strife and Stride.”

Afro will be back in Nashville for a moe. afterparty at The High Watt on Feb. 17 and at Wall Street on March 16. For future show dates and Meat and III in streaming and downloadable formats, visit reverbnation.com/afromusic#!. — BRYCE HARMON

Meat and Ill

Barcodes

— JESSICA PACE

22 * FEBRUARY 2012 * BOROPULSE.COM

IF YOU GO:

CONCERT LISTINGS PULSE PICK

Send your show listings to listings@boropulse.com

THURS, 2/2 3 BROTHERS Christ’s Love BONHOEFFERS Wilmesherr, Ravenhill, David Josiah Curtis WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG. Tennessee Valley Winds Concert

FRI, 2/3 3 BROTHERS Hambone BLUESBORO Burning Years THE BORO Jason & the Punknecks, Dry Heavies FANATICS Freedom Hill LIQUID SMOKE Montezuma Fire Machine, Lund McVey Group WALKING HORSE HOTEL Sugar Lime Blue WILLIE’S WET SPOT Citizen Rejects WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG. Wind Ensemble Concert

SAT, 2/4 3 BROTHERS Miles and Tim Thomson BLUESBORO Strangers With Candy, Suicide Speaker THE BORO The Water Fight FANATICS Elle & the Fine Lines JOZOARA Dan Miller presents Open Mic Night WALL STREET Cahoun WILLIE’S WET SPOT Double Image WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG Honor Bands Concert

SUN, 2/5 BLUE Jazz Brunch w/ Avent Lane & Larry Pinkerton WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG. Arunesh Nadgir Piano Faculty Recital

TUES, 2/7 BLUESBORO Classic Blues Jam with CJ Vaughn WILLIE’S WET SPOT Freedom Hill

WED, 2/8 WILLIE’S WET SPOT Shane & Lenny

THURS, 2/9 3 BROTHERS Sleepy Pie Skulls

View Concert Listings Online:

TV Ep. 4 Premiere BUNGANUT PIG Queen’s Boulevard, Echoes in Silence, Burning Years JOZOARA Rik Gracia LIQUID SMOKE Matt Kieter

FRI, 2/10 3 BROTHERS The Odonels BLUESBORO Rubiks Groove THE BORO Destructions, Stigma Strain, For Lack of Lythium FANATICS Pimpalicious WILLIE’S WET SPOT Triple Play WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG. MTSU Opera Presents Hansel & Gretel

SAT, 2/11 3 BROTHERS Valentine’s Party with Jake Leg Stompers THE BORO Overzealous FANATICS Third Level JOZOARA 3 Simple Rules MTSU SAUNDERS FINE ARTS, ROOM 101 Authentic Irish Cultural Enrichment/MTSU Collaboration Closing Concert WALL STREET The Hardin Draw, Copper Into Steel, The Thank You Ma’ams WILLIE’S WET SPOT Greez Monkeez WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG MTSU Opera Presents Hansel & Gretel

SUN, 2/12 BLUE Jazz Brunch w/ Avent Lane & Larry Pinkerton THE BORO Aditload Circus WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG. MTSU Opera Presents Hansel & Gretel, History of Black Gospel Music: Lecture/Recital, Dr. Cedric Dent

MON, 2/13 BLUESBORO Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG. Jazz Ensemble II

TUES, 2/14 BLUESBORO Classic Blues Jam with CJ Vaughn

THE BORO Bling Blingerston’s Beautiful Dark Twisted Birthday Fantasy, an Annual Anti-Valentine Party LIQUID SMOKE Christine Poythress Vocal Faculty Recital WILLIE’S WET SPOT Freedom Hill

WED, 2/15 WILLIE’S WET SPOT Shane & Lenny WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG. Paul Osterfield Studio Recital

THURS, 2/16

JAKE LEG STOMPERS SAT, 2/11 @ 3 BROTHERS

What’s a pre-Valentine’s Day weekend without some pre-war roots and blues music? It isn’t hard to see the romance in period instruments used in the early 20th century to not only make the music, but recreate the mood of the era. Even the name “Jake Leg” was inspired by a 1930s affliction involving a patent medicine-induced paralysis. That’s grim stuff, but the live show is not. Filled with banjos, ukuleles, mandolins, reeds, strings and saws, there will be enough folky blues spirit alive in 3 Brothers tonight to manifest Robert Johnson.

WALL STREET Sky Hi WILLIE’S WET SPOT Evil Twin WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG. School of Music Audition Day No. 2

Bluesboro 114 N. Church St. 904-7236 Bonhoeffer’s 610 Dill Lane 202-3517 Coach’s Grill 127 SE Broad St. 962-7853 Coconut Bay Cafe 210 Stones River Mall Blvd. 494-0504

SAT, 2/25

WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG. Stones River Chamber Players

TUES, 2/21

SUN, 2/26

Lanes, Trains and Automobiles 450 Butler Drive 890-3999

BLUE Jazz Brunch with Avent Lane & Larry Pinkerton BLUESBORO Root Road WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG. MTSU Concert Chorale, MT Choral Society

FRI, 2/17

WED, 2/22

3 BROTHERS James & Co. THE BORO The Blues Built This House Benefit for Room at the Inn FANATICS Zone Status JOZOARA Dan Miller presents Open Mic Night

Blue 810 NW Broad St. 410-3383

Dugger’s Food & Fun 1738 W. Northfield Blvd.

809-2605

MON, 2/2

SAT, 2/18

Aura Lounge 114 S. Maple St. 396-8328

3 BROTHERS Tara S and Steaven Galager THE BORO Single Mothers, Now the Never, Murder Suicide FANATICS Greez Monkeez JOZOARA The McClains WILLIE’S WET SPOT Backlit WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG. School of Music Audition Day No. 3

SUN, 2/19

BONHOEFFERS The Joy of Painting CD Release THE BORO Adam Dalton and the B-Sides BUNGANUT PIG Acoustic Night JOZOARA Rik Gracia LIQUID SMOKE Johnny Food Stamp WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG. Jazz Artist Series, Drummer Ed Soph

THE BORO The Buddy System, Your Otherself feat. Richard Koozie, So What FANATICS Siren LIQUID SMOKE Uberphonics WALL STREET Glossary, King Arthur WALNUT HOUSE Light Pilot, Carolina Story, Mark Bullock WILLIE’S WET SPOT Rebel Rulz WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG. Jazz Ensemble I

WALL STREET Kanye Twitty, Corbitt Brothers WILLIE’S WET SPOT Smiley Blind Band

3 Brothers 223 W. Main St. 410-3096

BLUESBORO Classic Blues Jam with CJ Vaughn JOZOARA Josephine Moore LIQUID SMOKE Bellweather, Jazz Night WILLIE’S WET SPOT Freedom Hil

3 BROTHERS Ryan Coleman’s Writer Night WILLIE’S WET SPOT Shane & Lenny

THURS, 2/23 3 BROTHERS Hundley Bros, The Likes of Us JOZOARA Rik Gracia WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG. Women’s Chorale Invitational

FRI, 2/24 3 BROTHERS Secret Commonwealth THE BORO Mantra Mantra Mantra, Stallion, The Likes of Us FANATICS Mars Hill LIQUID SMOKE 2nd and Vine NOBODY’S Nite Traxx

BLUE Jazz Brunch with Avent Lane & Larry Pinkerton WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG. MTSU Symphony Orchestra, Brass Chamber Ensemble

MON, 2/27 WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG. Recitals: Tanner Antonetti trombone; Tonya Lawson, clarinet; Jessica Dunnavant, flute; Joseph Walker, piano

TUES, 2/28 BLUESBORO Classic Blues Jam with CJ Vaughn THE BORO Circuit Benders CMKT 4 LIQUID SMOKE Bellweather, Jazz Night WILLIE’S WET SPOT Freedom Hill WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG Orchid Ensemble

WED, 2/29 3 BROTHERS Ryan Coleman’s Writer Night WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG. Tyler Hildreth - Senior percussion recital, Howard Klug, clarinet; Arunesh Nadgir, piano; guest/faculty recital

Fanatic’s 1850 Old Fort Pkwy.

494-3995 Gilligan’s 527 W. Main St. 439-6090 JoZoara 536 N. Thompson Ln. 962-7175

Liquid Smoke #2 Public Square 217-7822 MT Bottle 3940 Shelbyville Hwy. 962-9872 Murfreesboro/ Center for the Arts 110 W. College St. 904-ARTS Nobody’s Grill & BBQ 116 John R. Rice Blvd.

962-8019 Temptation Club 2404 Halls Hill Pike 217-0944 The Boro Bar & Grill 1211 Greenland Dr. 895-4800 Wall Street 121 N. Maple St. 867-9090 Walking Horse Hotel 101 Spring St., Wartrace (931) 389-7050 Willie’s Wet Spot 1208 S. Lowry St., Smyrna 355-0010 Wright Music Building 1439 Faulkinberry Dr. 898-2493

BOROPULSE.COM

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FEBRUARY 2012

* 23

SOUNDS

24 * FEBRUARY 2012 * BOROPULSE.COM

be interested in opening some shows for us [but] when I found out the instruments she was playing was a banjo and mandolin, I asked her if she wanted to play with us. Plus I was interested in her, so . . .”

So, you two started . . .

TONY: “Yeah, we got together November of 2010.

GRACE: “I had a sheet of chords laying on the bed we were practicing on and he would tell me the chords I had to play and I’d be looking at them, trying to figure out what they were. He gave me sheets of what chords I needed to play [with] number signs, and I was like, ‘What? I don’t know how to play an E minor sharp.’”

TONY: “That book that said, what, ‘Earl Scurggs? . . . Learn How to Play?’ [laughs] She can do that, though. She knows her way around stringed instruments. And I didn’t know what [the chords] were already. I’d always play in a drop-D tuning. It was all power chords and just ripping, you know. It’s punk. I never had a reason to learn, until [ . . . ] we started playing and getting into the Punkgrass. We were taking these punk songs and playing on these bluegrass instuments and putting them in bluegrass arrangements. After these first batch of songs, which were all punk, it kind of became its own thing and we were calling it Punkgrass. She doesn’t play [the banjo] the way a banjo player plays it. She plays it the way she wants to play it. She plays it like a guitar. Her grandpa played guitar and her dad is really proud she wants to play. He’s one of our biggest fans.”

How did you get from there to here?

TONY: “We started busking in downtown [Nashville]. This guy came to hear us play downtown and was really interested and said, ‘I don’t have a dollar to give you,” but we were like, ‘well, we’ll play you a song anyway’, so we played ‘911 Away’ for him, and he said, “Love it. My name is Crow and I’m the host of Balcony TV. I was texting my producer half way through the song’, and we thought he’d lost interest [ . . . ] because he was texting. But, he put us on [Balcony Tv] [ . . . ] around June of 2011.”

GRACE: I remember I had to sit down because it was windy and I was afraid my dress was going to come up. [laughs].”

TONY: “We did that and we did 11 O’clock Rock, a television show in Knoxville, the same week, and we were really not ready for that. [laughs] . . . We went in this one room they filmed the whole show. There was one part they were filming the two hosts, because they have a camera doing their part and then they’d cut away to us playing across the room and, in between shots, I didn’t realize we were supposed to have all our instruments tuned. The first song is a mandolin song and the second

PHOTO BY POONEH GHANA

A

dimly-lit Murfreesboro venue with the sweet smells of cigars bellowing from a swinging front door isn’t the worst place to find yourself on a cloudless spring evening, rearing its head in late January, the way Liquid Smoke provided on the 26th. The back of the bar was set up with a line of standing stringed instruments ranging from an acoustic guitar to a baritone ukulele, mandolin to a resonator banjo, and a much less stringed cup of kazoos hanging from a mic-stand as groomed, tattooed and smiling Tony White entered the room in a crisp white button down, black suspenders clamped to black slacks, and a bowtie around his neck, while holding the door for a beautiful slip of a woman, Grace Shultz, dressed in a dark purple with a home-made beret that could be sold for pretty pennies in some of the Murfreesboro square shops.

Grace and Tony hail from Lawrence County, Tenn., about an hour and a half ’s drive south from here, but never think twice about making the short trek up when the opportunity rises to promote their newfangled Inside a 7 Track Mind, released out of Nashville’s Villain Place.

Musically, The Avett Brothers come to mind if Scott Avett raised a few octaves while the duo belts out harmoniously dark verses twixt the two eclipsed by a She and Him /Jade and Alexander stage presence showing the two falling in love right in front of your eyes every single time there’s an appearance here in town. The eye contact and quick-glanced smirks show a shared dedication to their craft as well as one another, going all but unnoticeable. It’s almost unsettling to the weak at heart, but in the most wholesome unsettling way imaginable, and it was nice sitting down with them.

If you two would oblige telling how you met ...

GRACE: He tells it better...

TONY: “I’d seen her play a few years back, so me and a buddy had invited her over. We had written some songs that we thought were great so we played our song, thought it was amazing and when we got through, she was like ‘aww, that’s cool. I’ll play my song.” [Tony’s buddy and himself ] were like, [mouth agape, amazed facial expression] and completely embarrassed thinking about how much better than us she was. I thought, ‘Dude, we suck.’”

“It was years later looking through my facebook friends,” Tony said, “and I saw we were friends somehow […] and I was like, Man, that girl is so hot; so awesome, and this and that. I was playing in another school band. It’d been a punk band that had just broken up and there were a couple of us left playing acoustic in a bedroom. It kind of started sounding bluegrassy and then I asked her if she would

Tennessee duo shares unique punkgrass style, blossoming romance onstage

tktktk

GRACE AND TONY

Lawrence County duo falls in love right in front of your very eyes, over and over again. story by BRYCE HARMON

one was a banjo song, but we can’t talk because we’re in the same room. We can’t make any noise. So, I said, ‘you should pick up your banjo just in case they point to us.’ Then they pointed at us and we were like, [Tony’s deer-in-theheadlights facial expression], and it really came through in the video. Sounded terrible, looked terrible and it went on through the whole show.

I didn’t even have my ukulele in the same room, so it got time to play the “Parting Gift” song that had the kazoo in it, and I had to run in another room and get my ukulele and run back out when she was counting down. I didn’t have my kazoo with me. I started scatting and looked at her to apologize [the two laugh].

And you both write the music?

GRACE: He writes the music and then I’ll bring in my banjo part after he’s written. We co-write the words.

TONY: She’s a good writer.

GRACE: Thank you, babe.

TONY: I’ll write a scene until she writes the story to it to come full circle. Even if it’s not a ballad, she still writes that way.

Tell about your style on stage?

GRACE: We are in love. It’s the best relationship ever.

TONY: She’s my best buddy. When we first started playing we were thinking we need to interact more; when we started feeling comfortable playing the songs . . . we

started looking at each other more.

GRACE: I wish we’d been born in the 1940s.

TONY: This music would have been hardcore then . . . but I just like to think it’s timeless. I don’t want to look back and think “that was a cool little fad.” I want it to be something that [stands] the test of time.

Classic-wise, you guys covered “I’ll Fly Away” as the show ender. Good choice.

TONY: It’s a really good song. I was watching Gillian Welch and David Rawlings on Austin City Limits. They played a really slow traditional version of it, and I was like, you know, I should be tired of this song, but everyone was out of their seats clapping. [The audience] loves those songs. I think we’ll record it. It’s like a community song. We just want to be a band like NOFX [laughs] that’s constantly releasing music. They always had something.

The duo’s set was filmed to be a part of an up and coming music video filmed and produced

by Nashville’s Only Child Productions, which captured everything from the Jan. 26 performance. Their next show is scheduled at the Elk’s Lodge Feb. 25 and a show at Crockett State Park to follow April 21. Both in Lawrenceburg. More updates can be found on their facebook and reverbnation pages while Inside a 7 Track Mind is available on CDbaby or at a show for $7 a pop.

BOROPULSE.COM

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FEBRUARY 2012

* 25

MOVIES

ACTION

Students gather funds to make MTSU Film Guild’s first feature-length film. story by JESSICA PACE

Where did the idea for this film come from?

I wanted to work with Warren Smythe for a while.

I had heard about some guy that had made some really strange feature screenplay, a friend of a friend of a friend. It was the most bizarre story I’ve ever heard.

It was about a personified deer who is hit at a deer crossing sign by a drunk driver and blackmails the driver to take him in until he rehabilitates and is able to walk again. I took this screenwriting class, and was talking about that deer screenplay in class. A guy across the room came up to me and said, “I wrote that.” It was the beginning of a great friendship [laughs]. That was Ross Wells. We wanted to get him to write the script, and after the first draft, we decided it absolutely needed to be a feature film.

Can you go over what the film is about?

Two misguided sanitation workers in their 20s are hired by the government to clean out houses of dead people who don’t have any family. When they clean out the house of a hoarder, they discover this urn, which is not filled with ashes, but an ancient Chinese drug, shrouded in much mystery. It quickly pulls them down into a world of prostitution and foreign organized crime, and we just bring in all these bizarre circumstances.

What’s the feel of the film, or the mood?

We liked the idea of this dark comedy that makes a lot of people uncomfortable but is still accessible to an extent. We wanted very specific things. Warren wanted to make a story about two guys who go through this great transformation, as a director would. Ross wanted to make a story that somehow involved all these crazy drug situations. All I wanted was to have explosions in it. The Film Guild hadn’t ever done anything with stunts of any kind.

Ross wrote the script, but did you all piece together the story?

Yeah, and we still are putting some of the finishing touches on it. It’s to the point now where we’re just tweaking dialogue. The other day, we had a couple guys at the script-development meeting that hadn’t read it in full, and they could not stop laughing, which is a great sign. With the style Warren wants to shoot in, we expect it

26 * FEBRUARY 2012 * BOROPULSE.COM

Really, it’s the macabre brainchild, still in its preproduction phase, of some MTSU students, namely director Warren Smythe and producer Chris Ranker. Titled Juicy Mooshu, the film noir creation, whose script was developed by Ross Wells, rides the line between the “funny strange” and “funny ha ha” and is backed by the MTSU Film Guild, an SGA-funded student organization working to nurture careers in filmmaking and video production. But here’s the juicy bit: Juicy Mooshu will be the first feature film to come out of the MTSU Film Guild.

The fact that the SGA is providing any funding for the

will be within 80 and 90 minutes.

What do you mean by the “style”?

A lot of directors, like our director of photography, Evan Caddell, really love Stanley Kubrick. They really like the style of Wes Anderson. Those directors oftentimes focus on something longer than anyone would.

Whenever you’re writing a script, you can estimate that it’s going to be a minute per page. So if we’re at 62 pages, for most, that would be 62 minutes, but we’re pushing for 90 minutes, because that’s the most marketable for CHRIS this type of movie, RANKER and that’s the indie feel that Warren and Producer  Evan are going for.

What are you doing for music?

(MTSU student and SONY intern) Jimmy Sudekum is an incredible orchestrator with recording artists, composer, everything. He is the music guy to go to for film in Murfreesboro and the entire Nashville area. He’s already figuring out what he wants to do.

As far as I understand, he loves classical music, but he wants to tie in the film’s huge Eastern influence and have a lot of Chinese drums and flutes.

Is this the biggest project you’ve done?

It is the biggest project that I’ve been in charge of.

As the producer, what does your work entail for this project?

The producer’s job is to get everybody in line, and find the people I want to work on the project.

It was my job to pitch the script with Warren to the Film Guild. Now my biggest jobs are finding more money, doing production scheduling for the next two months and budgeting.

project is news. It’s rare for even traditional film school students to receive monetary support for individual projects.

The financial boost could be due to a combination of enthusiasm, experience and professionalism. Smythe’s experience includes feature film Sound of Dogs, and he’s in preproduction for another titled Neither Here Nor There. Ranker has produced TV series on MTTV and directed Breather, a lengthy music video for local garagepunk duo Turtle Bangs. The Pulse recently spoke separately with the film’s visionary and head organizer, i.e. director and producer. As they plan to shoot this summer, the crew is hunting for investors; the goal is a modest $20,000 to $30,000. But hey, Clerks was made for that much.

What is your goal with this film, as the director?

For this film, I really want to focus on the characters. I put a lot of focus on other things in past films I’ve directed, but not really focused on characters. This film, even though it’s an action film, I really want to focus on their problems, their changing and how the little things can make the audience empathize with them. I’m really a drama and horror director, so this film is a challenge. I’m out of my element, and it’s exciting.

WARREN Since shooting SMYTHE won’t begin until summer, what  Director have you had to do thus far?

We’ve just been having production meetings together.

I meet with the department heads, like the production designer, cinematographer, camera crew and casting director, and we start off general to get ideas. As we go, each meeting will be more specific.

By the end, we’ll be talking about details like what angle the light will be hitting the character’s face.

As the director, you’re the film’s primary visionary. Is it difficult for you to manifest those visions for the film or work with others?

No. I say that because sometimes it is hard to communicate to people what you actually want, because you see it in your head, and it’s hard to say what you want. Tonight I had a meeting with the DP, and I sat with him for six hours and we just talked and talked and talked. He really got to know pretty much everything I thought on the whole movie and the mood and the subject. Just being with the person, you can make him perceive what you want.

It’s not hard, and if the producer does his job right, he’ll set up meetings with people who need to know what I want.

What kind of mood do you want for this film?

The first word I think about when I think “mood” and “genre” and “feeling” is “bold.” I think every element in this film should be bold, it should be strong, it should have a presence. I want every image to look like a piece of art. Basically, I want to paint every piece of the canvas with strong brushstrokes.

What directors inspire you, particularly in the case of Juicy Mooshu?

Gosh, I never thought about that before. I’ve had influences in the past . . . there are other directors I enjoy, but I don’t think they have as much influence that I consciously think about.

How do you look for those “focus spots” or the parts you want to draw out?

It’s all about the characters. The only time that you need to focus on something longer than average is because of the characters. In this action film, there is a subplot, and it relies on a small romantic interest between two characters. The only hint that you get of this romantic interest is “the look.” That’s what I call it, “the look.” Nothing is spoken, nothing is dwelled on too long. It’s just a look that a certain character has that can convey a world of feeling.

You have extensive filmmaking experience for your age. What do you know better the second time around, your first being Sound of Dogs?

Everything [laughs]. How important it is to have a strict chain of events. How important it is to really, really know your characters. I suppose those are the two biggest things.

If you shoot in summer, how long does all the editing take? When’s the tentative release?

At the very soonest, end of summer. That’s really cutting it close. I don’t even know if that’s possible [laughs]. For this film, realistically, maybe end of the year, or even the beginning of 2013.

For more information, or to donate to the Juicy Mooshu project, visit juicymooshu.com or e-mail chrisranker@gmail.com.

PHOTO BY JESSICA HENRY

IN ON THE F

oreign mafia. Drugs. Prostitution. Gunfights. Two Average Joes caught up in the midst of it all. Sounds like Tarantino.

Odd Comedy Band Debuts New Work

Sleepy Pie Skulls show Episode 4 at 3 Brother’s on Feb. 9. story by JESSICA PACE “

T

he guy who worked the projector liked it a lot last year,” says Cameron Chiles, aka Bruce Irons, referring to the showing of Sleepy Pie Skulls TV Episode 4, part of a sketch comedy series, at the MTSU Student Film Festival last April.

In a booth at 3 Brothers Deli & Brewhouse, Chiles and Phillip Maloney (Johnny Mo) explain how their band’s sense of humor sometimes just doesn’t translate.

The term “band” is used loosely. These days, Sleepy Pie Skulls is more an all-encompassing label for all artistic endeavors—be it visual art, video or audio content—by Chiles, Maloney, Russ White and Amber Duarte. In the past year, they’ve undergone a sort of artistic metamorphosis from theatric band to a four-person cast and crew for a sketch comedy series.

Visit Sleepy Pie Skulls’ website and you’ll find a slew of odd-humor videos. The first of their actual TV episodes, however, premiered at MTSU’s film festival in 2010, as did the third episode. The second made its debut via Facebook.

On Feb. 9, 3 Brothers is hosting the premiere for Episode 4, which will

be full of the same so-ridiculous-it’sbrilliant sort of humor. Chiles and Maloney will be the first to tell you their sketch comedy hasn’t always “gone over too well,” leaving some audiences decidedly puzzled. But it’s making the creators happy.

Who are the creators of SPS TV, anyway? There’s Cameron Chiles, who crafted the name “Bruce Irons” while still a member of joke-metal band TBA (To Bleed Again) with Russ White in the early aughts.

His stage persona evolved into a tough guy/fitness nut who speaks an urban dialect. Maloney stole “Johnny Mo” from the gang leader of the Crazy 88 in Kill Bill, and made it his own. Russ White’s name, “Theopolis Pancake,” was inspired by the first name of an elderly gentlemen he liked and a love for pancakes.

As for Amber Duarte, aka Rasputin Chexmix, “Russ made her name up on the spot,” says Maloney.

The idea for Sleepy Pie Skulls first sprang from a night of debauchery.

“Russ and I got really drunk the weekend before the Fourth of July 2007, and we were going to hang out a window and spray paint an abandoned warehouse,” Maloney says. “We were in Columbia, Tenn.

We spray painted James K. Polk’s ancestral home, and we spray painted the courthouse, a lot of other buildings, got on house arrest and decided we were going to make a band.”

The Sleepy Pie Skulls, a name created from an anagram generator, began with highly theatrical live sets with just White and Maloney, alternating drummers and guest instrumentalists.

“We were insane the whole time, pretty much. We threw pies at people and tore rotisserie chickens apart and threw them on the floor and stuff like that. Then Cameron and Amber started playing with us. We kept doing theatric stuff, but we started adding video,” Maloney says.

Chiles says he graduated from MTSU in 2008, and got into video toward the tail-end of college. Always a fan of sketch comedy, The Sleepy Pie Skulls started putting together sketches in addition to music videos.

“At this point, it’s less of a band and more a collection of stuff. We haven’t played a show since April, and I doubt there’s going to be more.

Phillip started a project called Tron Ate My Baby, which is more of The Sleepy Pie Skulls kind of theatrical stuff. Russ started his own band called Crayons and Antidotes, which is a more electronic, dancey sort of thing, and I play with them as well When I think Sleepy Pie Skulls, I think of the sketch comedy aspect of it,” Chiles says.

If there’s anything that inspires SPS film ideas, Chiles says it’s the ‘80s and ‘90s sketch comedy series The Kids in the Hall.

“I watched SNL when I was little, but it didn’t hit the same chord,” Chiles says. “Russ and I bonded over loving The Kids in the Hall. It just had

a different vibe to it. Everything else was so much crazier. We wanted to make something funny, but arty, and we all have wild imaginations. I don’t know what it means culturally, but our humor is getting a lot weirder.

Even on commercials, you just see weird jokes that probably wouldn’t have flown ten years ago.”

Taking a cue from SNL and late night talk shows, SPS features local musical guests in their series, such as Kate and Carter, Technikiller, Ayatollah Gold, Hanzelle and Mantra Mantra Mantra.

With all the avant-garde music in Murfreesboro, Chiles says he’d like to see the same creativity in the sort of work SPS does. And he’s more than willing to take ideas from outsiders who’d like to contribute.

“I’m super happy to be able to do this series,” Chiles says. “A lot of people think about doing stuff like this, but don’t actually do it.”

LIVING ROOM CINEMA

MOVIES REVIEWS

column by NORBERT THIEMANN

cinespire@gmail.com

Epic Bio Pics

UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING

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t helps when the broad vision needed for an epic work is in the hands of a master director. Such is the case with these fine films. Romance is equally embraced in both, so your valentines will not be lost with these selections.

Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Stephen Rea

Directed by Máns Márlind, Björn Stein

Rated R

After a three-year absence, the Underworld series returns in a desperate grab for the remaining table scraps left from the Twilightfueled vampire vs. werewolf craze, trying its damnedest to remind people that, hey, before all the sparkly innocence of being on Team Edward and the soapy sleaze of True Blood, Kate Beckinsale was busy keepin’ it Goth; traipsing about in skin-tight black leather and pale-face makeup, suckin’ blood and wastin’ werewolves five whole years before the whole vamp v. wolf craze was co-opted by pre-teen girls and their disaffected moms.

Though Underworld has a niche following (lest they wouldn’t keep making these movies), there’s a reason this series never became the huge symbol of the trend it helped start.

Sure, there’s the Goth aesthetic turning off a huge chunk of potential viewers, but the real reason is the lack of a story you can, pardon, sink your teeth into. These films are Gothic action flicks, and little more. Like The Matrix

without the dime-store philosophy. Underworld: Awakening sticks to the formula.

Awakening skips over the Beckinsale-less prequel and picks up where number two left off. Selene (Beckinsale returning to the only steady gig she’s got) and the vamp/wolf hybrid Michael are on the run from a society that has decided that all non-humans are to be terminated. Don’t worry, any potentially brain-hurty allegory is solely confined to a few easily glossed-over images of vaguely fascist-looking storm-troopers busting down doors and such. When they are caught, Selene awakens to find herself captive for a decade or so in the future in a world where

the “infected” are all but wiped out.

From there, the story is fairly rote and unfairly predictable, all in service to a blurry black-and-blue action beat every five minutes or so. An escape here, a car chase there, an infiltration, an escape, a showdown. You know the drill. At a lean 88 minutes that feels like even less, and with only two major locations, the $70 million budget still seems too high and under-used. That said, Awakening does boast some of the most inventive death-dealing in the series, not to mention one of the more disturbing life-resuscitations ever committed to 3D! Ugh.

vast bureaucratic infrastructure.

Cuba Gooding Jr. plays Major Stance, never shown without his pipe, who leads the troops and serves as go-between to the Old Man and the Red Tails. The source of the only, very meager character tension is that between pilots Easy and Lightning.

Easy decries Lightning for his rash flying and inattention to orders, while Lightning blames Easy’s whisky drinking for botching a mission. The two actors, David Oyelowe and Nate Parker, provide some compelling interplay, but they can’t salvage such a shallow, one-dimensional script

with their genuine concern and jealousy for one another.

This film has caught plenty of flack, knocked for its cheap effects, bad acting and skimpy narrative, but Red Tails could be much, much worse. Its real drawbacks are in shotty filmmaking and inattention to detail. The film never feels truly set in World War II, nor does the mise-en-scene succeed in drawing the audience in or making anything captivating or original.

Method Man and Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston also make an appearance.

— JAY SPIGHT

RED TAILS Starring Cuba Gooding Jr., David Oyelowo, Terrence Howard, Nate Parker Directed by Anthony Hemingway

The Aviator (2004) is directed by Martin Scorsese and stars Leonardo DiCaprio as the rich and influential, Howard Hughes. The movie emphasizes his love for aviation and his Hollywood interests. Cate Blanchett absolutely steals the screen as Katharine Hepburn. The attention toward the development of film stocks through the chronology of film eras is a subtle, yet astounding detail. Many people think that The Aviator brought Martin Scorsese back from a bleak and lost period in his career.

Rated PG-13

Red Tails is a shaky little film from director Anthony Hemingway (Ali, The Wire, the recent Neil Young doc.) about five hot shot dog fighters during the Italian Campaign in World War II. They fight the prejudice against their totally African American company by proving they can clock more German casualties and fight more bitterly than any American soldier. Ultimately they prove this in a comic book-style romp through the German ranks.

Based (very marginally) on factual accounts from WWII, Red Tails examines how courage in the face of prejudice and a menacing army strengthens the bond among a company of soldiers, with their campy nicknames, Easy and Lightning: the Gruesome Twosome, Smoky (played by Ne-Yo), Ray Gun and Coffee: the disgruntled mechanic.

“The Old Man,” Terrence Howard, who fights for the 332nd company’s right to fly and defend their country from the military’s RATINGS:

A CLASSIC

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OUTSTANDING

—SPENCER BLAKE

AVERAGE

BELOW AVERAGE

Barry Lyndon (1975) is directed by Stanley Kubrick, and is based on an 18th century Irish adventurer. He encounters a duel, a war, and an involved brush with aristocracy. Known for his obsessive attention to fine details, Kubrick’s depiction of the period is truly amazing.

Barry Lyndon easily won Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction. Barry Lyndon is deliberately paced, and beautifully constructed.

Until next time, I hope you have a great viewing experience.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS

DEAD

SPORTS Rest Between Running Days This Winter

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column by BRACKEN MAYO

unners and hockey fans have an opportunity to race in a winter 5k, and score a Nashville Predators ticket in the process.

The Nashville Predators Fangtastic 5k, presented by Adventureworks, will begin at 10 a.m Saturday, Feb. 4, at the Bridgestone Arena plaza, 501 Broadway, Nashville.

Adventureworks will provide a $20 voucher for all Fangtastic 5k registrants that can be used for any Adventureworks activity (ropes course, zip lines, adventure teambuilding and more).

Race participants will also receive a ticket to a Nashville Predators game, good for either Feb. 4 vs. St. Louis, Feb. 7 vs. Vancouver or Feb. 14 vs. Chicago.

For more information on the race, e-mail sweaver@nashvillepredators.com.

Stretch to Recovery During Downtime Run hard, and run often! However, realize the importance of rest days in your training routine. The day after a run, let your muscles absorb the stress from the previous day’s workout and have time to repair and process the changes that a consistent running plan will surely cause.

Drink your water, let your fluids replenish, body repair and mind relax.

Better yet, go beyond just resting your body, and stretch those muscles; do a yoga routine on your non-running days.

You’ll feel the muscles that are asking for stretching. Listen to them. The muscles on the top of your feet may be sore; from a standing position, stretch one leg behind your body with toes pointed. Bring the foot towards the ground and stretch those top-of-the foot muscles. Roll just enough of your weight back towards the extended foot to really stretch it out.

Stand up straight. Raise your arms to the sky and gradually bend at the waist. Keep slowly leaning forward until your arms are hanging straight down. Hold this position, doubled over at the waist, and feel the legs, butt and back stretch. Do not be discouraged if you do not immediately touch your toes or if there is a little discomfort. Hold the position and as your supporting muscles relax, let gravity take over and pull your hands closer to the ground.

The hamstrings (backs of the legs) can get incredibly tight. To further stretch them, lay on your back with your butt up against a wall. Have your legs resting against the wall so your body makes a 90-degree angle.

Intense, 6-Step Workout Burns Fat, Helps Flexibility, Indurance BURPEES, also called the squat-thrust exercise, are full body exercises that are used as an aerobic exercise and in strength training. It is a compound exercise: a combination of a squat, a push-up, and a vertical jump. This exercise requires strength, balance, endurance, and flexibility. It increases cardio endurance while working the entire body, including the core muscles.

Burpees are very difficult but highly effective. Why should I do them? Well . . .  It Burns Fat: Burpees are an anaerobic workout that will help you shed off the pounds.

Using your body as resistance is a great way to build lean muscle and burn fat.  It’s a Full Body Workout: Burpees are not only great for your heart, but they are also great for your arms, chest, core, legs, butt and back muscles.  No Equipment Needed: Cheap is best! A normal burpee does not require any workout equipment; all you need is your body and mental toughness.  Keeps You Flexible: Take this with two grains of salt. It does help your flexibility in your hips, core, legs, and back (which for some reason is not important to you), but more importantly it’s a workout in itself that you can fit into any busy day. Yea, see how many you can do in fifteen minutes, Busy Bee.

1

2

3

6 STEPS TO YOUR BEST BODY

4 5 1 Begin in a standing position.

2 Drop into

a position with your hands on the ground.

6

3 Extend your 4 Perform a feet back in one pushup. quick motion to assume the pushup position.

5 Return to

6 Return to an the squat posi- upright standing tion in one quick position. motion.

For more effective exercises like the burpee, search Tri Fit on facebook or email trifitadam@yahoo.com

Use a pillow where you need to, but hold this position for quite a while. If you run for 30 minutes, why not stretch for an equal amount of time the next day and truly show those muscles that worked so hard the day before that you care.

One trainer says that if you get comfortable enough in this 90-degree position, it’s okay to go to sleep and take a nice hamstring nap.

Speaking of sleep, when you push your body to change, it will require more time to rest.

Many regular runners not only report sleeping deeper, and but needing more sleep than when they did not exercise regularly. Do not let this scare you from running; just be sure and allocate an extra couple of hours to get a decent amount of sleep each night, and consider it an investment in your heart, lungs, muscles, mind and future. A few extra hours every week invested in running and resting now could yield a return of years of quality, healthy time added to your life.

Looking ahead, Murfreesboro Medical Clinic has announced that they will present a new race on March 31 to benefit Special Kids; they will stage 15k, 5k and one mile races. More on this in March.

Now, hit the road!

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SPORTS A Great NFL Season Climaxes in Indy

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Football is America’s favorite pastime. I understand the World Series is a very great story, event or special time spent with that special series and not a single game, but last year’s Series went to 7 games, and person deserves an intense climax. A climax is the point of not much is more exciting than a game 7. Last years big game 7 of the greatest intensity, the highest point. In my own words a climax World Series had 25 million viewers and if you add all 7 games from that is where something that is already great just keeps on getting better series together, it comes to 113 million viewers. This year a single game until hitting such a high spot you can’t go any higher. will smash what a World Series does in 7 games.

We as human beings experience many different The greatest sport in the world started during emotions and feelings and there is nothing better than SPORTS training camp, then came the pre-season and onto feeling like you are on top of the highest mountain TALK a grueling regular season. The teams successful and untouchable; many folks live for that moment. column by Z-TRAIN enough during the season moved onto the postFootball is about to peak and hit its climax, and Lady titanman1984@ yahoo.com season until just two teams stood; the Giants and the Football is letting all of America watch.

Patriots will have the honor to battle it out on Super The Super Bowl is the most popular event in the Sunday, Feb. 5. The rematch is projected to be viewed by more than 115 country and it has set a record for television viewing the past two years million people and all of America will experience the sexy, passionate in a row and the super rematch will most likely smash the record once climax of a full NFL season that will end with one team hoisting the again. Last year 111 million American viewers tuned into the Packers vs.

Lombardi Trophy, a hell of a climatic ending.

Steelers; sorry, baseball and all other sports in this country, it’s obvious

The Giants Will Get it Done Again

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our years after what many consider the best finish in Super Bowl history, the Giants and Patriots are facing off once again, though there are no perfect records on the line this time.

This year the Giants won the regular season matchup against the Pats. Sixteen Giants remain from the 17-14 Super Bowl victory in ’08 and only seven Patriots remain.

All of these stats and numbers matter not to Pats head Coach Bill Belichick, who will coach in his fifth Super Bowl appearance only one game shy of the record held by Don Shula.

But the Train Daddy is taking the Giants.

I honestly believe they’re better all around; Eli has been clutch having the best year of his

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case that they did it with the career and the receivers have Sack machine worst defense to win a title in stepped up. Hakeem Nicks is Jason Pierre-Paul history. They rank 31st in yards a talent we all knew about, but allowed; out of the 45 Super Victor Cruz came out of the Bowl champions, 11 ranked woodwork. The G-Men have 1st in yards allowed, 5 ranked a much more talented defense 2nd, and 6 ranked 3rd in yards that specializes in sacks and allowed for the season. So with getting pressure on the QB. The a healthy Eli Manning looking backfield for the Giants is big to outdo his brother and a solid and strong; I once said about receiving bunch to go along four years ago the scariest with a running game and the better defense, I man to tackle in the NFL would be a healthy pick the Giants to win!

Brandon Jacobs running full speed at you. He I will shortly defend the Patriots here. They may not be as talented as he was then, but have Tom Brady; enough said! They also have the Giants will rely on his tough pounding Rob Gronkowski who was a candidate for MVP short yard gains; he is still very effective. It is a of the year, maybe the best year a tight end has two-headed monster in the backfield. Ahmad ever had in history. The Patriots have a weak Bradshaw will get the bulk of carries for the running game with the Law Firm and at wide Giants offense and will be effective. out a small yet extremely productive receiver in Everyone has always heard the saying Wes Welker and an aging Deion Branch. The “defense wins championships.” The Giants have the better defense without question. If the Pats rely heavy on screens and short passes, and their tight ends are the key to success.

Pats win the Super Bowl, one could make the With an injured Gronkowski, it may be tough.

So that’s it folks; I am taking the Giants over the Patriots 24-20.

I hope everyone enjoys their party; it is a great time to get together with friends and family. It is a great time to enjoy pizza, burgers, steak, and pork chops, Rotel dip with sausage, BBQ meatballs, chili, and red Solo cups full of beer. We all love the Super Bowl and football.

Youth groups gather at churches to enjoy the game, sick people in hospitals tune in, people from other countries wonder what all the hype is about, some folks go all out. Just remember when “The Star Spangled Banner” is sung on game night, you live in the best country in the world. So God bless this country, God bless gun rights, God bless football and God bless friends and family. Peace, Love and Train Daddy!

It is Possible to Post Negative 5k Time Tom Brady Makes Fifth Super Bowl Appearance This Super Bowl marks Tom Brady’s fifth Super Bowl appearance, tying John Elway for most appearances. If he wins, he will tie Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw for most Super Bowl wins at four.

Interestingly, Brady’s only Super Bowl loss came at the hands of the New York Giants.Another little trivia tidbit, each of his Super Bowl appearances were decided by a single field goal, so it should be another exciting Super Bowl based on the Patriots’ history of close games:

SUPER BOWL XXXVI

2002 New England Patriots, 20 St. Louis Rams, 17

SUPER BOWL XXXVIII 2004 New England Patriots, 32 Carolina Panthers, 29

SUPER BOWL XXXIX

2005 New England Patriots, 24 Philadelphia Eagles, 21

SUPER BOWL XLII

2008 New York Giants, 17 New England Patriots, 14  The Lombardi Trophy, presented to the Super Bowl winner, has been manufactured by Tiffany & Co. since Super Bowl I. The trophy is 7 pounds of sterling silver, and the football is regulation size.

FOOD The Bayswater, one of Sauce’s pizzas on a thin, in-house-made crust, includes chicken, red peppers, spinach, corn and pepperoncinis; (above right) the Penne Bolognese, topped with Italian sausage and pepperoni, is described as a meat-lover’s delight; (right) lasagna; (lower right) Red Velvet Cheesecake

story by RYAN NOREAKIS photos by SARAH MAYO

POUR ON THE FLAVOR Italian/American restaurant Sauce blends affordable flavor with freshness.

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talian food, American style is the concept of owner Tyler Rooks for his restaurant Sauce. Located at 2858 S. Church St., Rooks and his brother, Todd, have created a menu that takes a twist on Italian cuisine and makes it accessible to casual diners seeking food that is fresh and flavorful.

“We make virtually everything from scratch,” said Rooks, describing his variety of food items, ranging from salads and appetizers, to sandwiches, pastas and pizzas. “It’s great when somebody comments on how much they enjoyed our, say, Alfredo sauce, and we get to let them know it was made inhouse that morning.”

Appetizers include a tantalizing selection of Flatbread Cheese Sticks covered in garlic butter sauce and topped with blended Italian cheeses; Loaded Garlic Bread decorated with mushrooms, black olives, pepperoni and melted mozzarella cheese; a hearty dip of black beans, corn and other vegetables called Texas Caviar, served with tortilla chips; Buffalo Sticks, adding buffalo-flavored grilled chicken onto to the Flatbread Cheesesticks; and even a tomato-based Cup of Chili as an option. Appetizer prices range from $2.50 to $7.75.

Salads are served “little” with options of Garden, House, Caesar, and Mediterranean

at an average price of nearly $4, as well as “not so little” including Chicken Salad, Chef, Grilled Chicken, and Spinach at an average price of about $7. All dressings and even the croutons are made from scratch.

The pasta section of the menu features ten different items including an old family recipe for Lasagna, Baked Spaghetti with meat sauce or marinara, Grilled Chicken Parmesan, Penne Bolognese, Mushroom and Chicken Alfredo, and Pesto Pie served with house pesto sauce over penne pasta with chicken and sun-dried tomato. There’s also a Create Your Own option and all pastas are topped with a generous portion of varying cheeses, baked to melting goodness, and served with a six-inch loaf of garlic bread.

Prices on pastas range from $7.50 to $9.75.

Pizza is a popular section of the menu, according to Rooks, and also features a Create Your Own option. Otherwise, specialty selections include The American Classic (mushrooms, Italian sausage and pepperoni), The Veggie, The Hawaiian (Canadian bacon and pineapple), The Bayswater (chicken, sweet corn, red pepper, spinach and pepperoncini), The Hot BBQ Chicken and others. Made with a family recipe that has been passed down through generations, pizzas are served in sizes of small 10-inch ($7.50-14), large 14-inch ($11.50-18), and XL 16-inch ($13.25-19.75).

The menu lists ten sandwiches served oventoasted on a six-inch sub roll with garlic butter and melted cheese, including Ham, Turkey,

THE DISH NAME: Sauce LOCATION: 2858 South Church St. PHONE: (615) 624-8258 HOURS: Sun.–Thurs.

11 a.m.–8:30 p.m.; Fri.–Sat. 11 a.m.– 9:30 p.m.

PRICES: Portobello burger: $6.75; Penne Bolognese: $8.75; 14-inch Veggie deluxe pizza: $16; Buffalo sticks: $7.75; Caesar salad: $4

Roast Beef, Pimento Cheese, Portobello Burger and Chicken Salad. Each comes with chips and range from $5.50 to $7.25.

Rooks emphasized, “All dough for bread and pizza is mixed, kneaded and rolled by hand in our kitchen and each section of our menu contains vegetarian options.”

Lastly on the food front, Sauce offers desserts which “vary depending on factors such as the season and our mood,” according to the menu. A proven popular item is the Red Velvet Cheesecake.

In addition to his passion for fresh food, Rooks considers himself a connoisseur of craft, imported and other various beers. His cooler holds the likes of Yazoo brews as well as BBC, Moretti, Peroni, and others including popular domestics. Large growlers of Craggie beer are also offered. Liquor and wine are not served at Sauce, but Rooks encourages patrons to bring

their own bottle of wine and the restaurant will uncork it for an average five-dollar charge.

He intends to host a seasonal beer tasting at least twice a year that is open to the public.

The atmosphere of the restaurant consists of one open room, divided in half with a low wall, containing 12 tables. The décor is simple and the setup is almost café-style.

A native of Alabama and an alumnus of MTSU, Rooks pulled ideas from his grandfather, father and uncle who have all owned casual dining restaurants. Now, he is working long hours, but has big plans for Sauce.

“I just want people to come in, feel casual, and eat a delicious meal,” said Rooks. “I want our customers to feel like they can come as couples, with friends, or as families with children and have a great experience.”

For more information on Sauce visit sauceboro.com and facebook.com/sauceboro.

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