July 2013 Murfreesboro Pulse

MURFREESBORO

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

Vol. 8, Issue 7 JULY 2013

FREE Take One!

SOUNDS Folk’n Art Fest: Full Day of Music and Art page 8

FOOD Acres of Magical Berries at The Blueberry Patch page 21 ART

Interview With

RICKY SKAGGS

Legendary picker to perform at Uncle Dave Macon Days page 16 SCHEDULE INSIDE

Photo Exhibit at City Hall Showcases Local Wetlands page 34

ONLINE AT: BOROPULSE.COM

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CONTENTS

6 21 COVER STORY

16

EVENTS

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COMMUNITY EVENTS

Fireworks, team roping, Movies Under the Stars, Murfreesboro Antique Show, Drum Corps International.

LIVING

THEATER

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July Performances Hello Dolly!; Love, Valour, Compassion; The Anniversary Waltz; All Shook Up

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Living Green We must look to more sustainable methods of transportation.

MOVIES

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Read to Succeed Book Review The Kitchen House, by Kathleen Grissom.

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SOUNDS

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Mayday's First Folk'n Art Fest All-day event celebrates local music, local art, local beer.

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JULY CONCERTS

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The Narrow Road: Los Lonely Boys' Jojo Garza Bassist talks with the Pulse prior to War Memorial show.

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Muddy Roots Music Fest Shooter Jennings, Black Flag among this year's performers.

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Album Reviews TronAteMyBaby, Good Times Till the Cops Shut Us Down, Johnny B and the Balladeers, Human

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Bonnaroo Images from this year's 'Roo.

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How to Make a Monster: Drew Daywalt Interview Horror filmmaker talks to the Pulse about the business of fear.

Reviews This Is the End, World War Z Living Room Cinema New York Art Scene Post-1970s.

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Big Star on the Big Screen New documentary tells the story of legendary Memphis band.

Game Review Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon.

SPORTS

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Sports Talk with Z-Train Patriots get rid of a killer; bring in Tebow.

OPINIONS

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Outstretched Hand of the Law Traffic cameras just another money-grabbing scheme.

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La Palabra What would you risk for your freedom?

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Phil Valentine Is Snowden a hero or a traitor? Time will tell.

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Childlike Maturity Lessons we need for world peace were learned in kindergarten.

Coffee Talk: Summer on the Square Reveille Joe, PositiffiTEA have big things brewing.

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Recover Rutherford Come along and sail away.

3 Brothers on TV Fortney creates bacon-wrapped hot wing for televised competition.

ART

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Roosters Keeping the Square Smokin' New Main Street barbecue house there to serve the carnivores.

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Blueberries Ready!

A Blueberry Patch for special people.

An Intimate Saul Zonana Experience Veteran guitarist puts together band for Liquid Smoke series.

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Ricky Skaggs to Receive Heritage Award Skaggs, Sharon White to perform at 2013 Uncle Dave Macon Days bluegrass event July 13, plus full event schedule.

FOOD

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Miss Daisy King's Chess Pie Recipe

CREW

PULSE

COVER PHOTO BY ERICK ANDERSON

Publisher/Editor in Chief: Bracken Mayo Art Director: Sarah L. Mayo Ad Rep: Don Clark Copy Editors: Steve Morley, Kelda Sturgis

Music Editor: Jessica Pace Contributing Writers: Gloria Christy, Ryan Egly, Bryce Harmon, Nader Hobballah, Tony Lehew, Zach Maxfield, Denise Mayo, Michelle Palmer, Cameron Parrish, Jay Spight, Frank Shepard, Andrea Stockard, Justin Stokes, Norbert Thiemann, Phil Valentine

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Photo Exhibit Celebrates Area Wetlands That exhibit shown at City Hall this month, while Moxie hosts the work of painter Carol Berning in its Pocket Gallery.

Sign up to receive our weekly digital newsletter at BoroPulse.com/Newsletter

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 © 2013, 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

DEAR READERS: HAPPY FY13-14, FOR ALL OF YOU bookkeepers out there, or for those who just think the new year should be celebrated in the middle of summer. (And on a rare tangent, I have to show a little love to the word “bookkeeper”—three consecutive double letters. What?!)

In case you were wondering, here’s a recap of some of my recent conversations about our society: On marriage—can you believe what's happening to marriage in our country? We need to get back to the Biblical definition of marriage, which was a union between a king and his hundreds of wives and concubines. Thank you for standing up for my right to take the women after I have defeated mine enemies.

On government eavesdropping—Edward Snowden exposes massive government surveillance and data collection, informs the American citizens what their tax dollars are being used for, unveils the fact that all of these private companies are giving the CIA and NSA access to customer information . . . and he’s the criminal?! Backwards. Thanks for the information, and best of luck avoiding our out-of-control government. We may just be better off without the NSA. Weren’t NSA employees known for selling info to the Soviets back in the ’60s, and switching sides if the price was right? It may be doing more harm than good, and yet another colossal waste of money.

It’s not that I’m really bothered that I’m under constant surveillance, I’m just bothered that I’m expected to pay for the right to be under constant surveillance . . .

On insurance—I find it ironic that some of the people who say such things as "gambling is a sin" say such things as “well, you have to have insurance.” Oh, well, that’s totally different . . . buying a lottery ticket or playing a $20 poker game = sin. Spending thousands each year on insurance, or the stock market = totally normal.

Back to the good stuff going on this month in Murfreesboro. Uncle Dave Macon Days is back! Bluegrass players, fans and dancers from all over the country come together for this excellent summer event.

There’s a picking of a different sort happening at The Blueberry Patch. Bracken Junior was pretty good help snagging some of the low-hanging fruit, and staked a claim to the high ground of the play area (above).

Mayday Brewery has a wonderful day of art and music lined up on July 20. You like a little Elvis? Check out the All Shook Up production out in Cannon County.

There’s always lots to do if you know where to look.

And the Pulse is where to look! Thanks to everyone involved in this edition. It’s a great one!

Peace, Bracken Mayo Editor in Chief BOROPULSE.COM

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EVENTS

JULY 11-14 TEAM ROPING CHAMPIONSHIPS

compiled by ANDREA STOCKARD

Send event information to murfreesboropulse@yahoo.com

THROUGH JULY 27 MOVIES UNDER THE STARS Each week a different movie will be shown at various parks throughout Murfreesboro. Admission is free; bring your blankets or lawn chairs.

And movies are PG-rated, so bring the whole family. Films are shown Mondays at Cason Lane Trailhead; Tuesdays at Cannonsburgh Village; Thursdays at Siegel Neighborhood Park; Fridays at Mitchell Neilson Primary; Saturdays at Hobgood Elementary School (no movie on July 4). The movies are Dennis the Menace (July 1–6), The Lorax (July 8–13), Ella Enchanted (July 15–20) and Princess and the Frog (July 22–27), and they begin at 8:30 p.m.

For more information, please contact recreation@murfreesborotn.gov or (615) 890-5333.

JULY 3 INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION Smyrna will celebrate the nation’s independence a day early, on July 3, at Lee Victory Recreation Park (110 Sam Ridley Pkwy).

Beginning at 5 p.m., there will be events and activities for all ages; the night will culminate with fireworks at 9 p.m. For more information, please call (615) 459-9773.

JULY 4 PATRIOTIC PICNIC IN THE PARK Join the city of LaVergne for the 3rd annual Patriotic Picnic in the Park, its July 4 celebration, at Veterans Memorial Park (Floyd Mayfield Dr., La Vergne). Enjoy music, food, games and the free fireworks show at dark. Admission is free.

For more information, call (615) 207-4678 or e-mail ktyson@lavergnetn.gov.

JULY 5 FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE Bring your lawn chairs and join the fun on the first Friday of July from 6:30–9:30 p.m.

(225-B W. College St.). July’s concert features the high-energy music of Skyline Drive Band, a nine-member showband playing the greatest hits from the ’60s,’70s and ’80s.

JULY 14 EIGHTH ANNUAL UNCLE DAVE MACON DAYS COMMUNITY SERVICES FAIR Community Crossroads and Uncle Dave Macon Days come together during the Sunday Afternoon Gospel Showcase Concert to raise awareness among festival visitors about the many agencies and faith-based organizations who offer essential human services to those experiencing a wide variety of needs in Rutherford County. Those seeking a meaningful volunteer experience can find a good fit for their free time, gifts and talents, and share fellowship and conversation.

JULY 12–AUG. 11 A MUSEUM’S SECRETS EXPLORED

JULY 4 CELEBRATION UNDER THE STARS Bring your family and friends, your lawn chairs or blankets, and enjoy this annual community event at McKnight Park (120 DeJarnette Ln.). There will be games and activities for the kids, music, fireworks and refreshments for purchase. Admission is free.

For more information, call (615) 890-5333 or e-mail bjohnson@murfreesborotn.gov.

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Watch the top team roping cowboys and cowgirls compete in the Eastern Regional Finals United States Team Roping Championships for more than $300,000 in cash and prizes at 8 a.m. daily at the Tennessee Miller Coliseum (304-B West Thompson Ln.); this arena is climate controlled, and concessions will be available.

Admission is free. For more information, please call (615) 494-8961 or visit mtsu.edu/tmc.

Daily tourists to the historic home of Oaklands Historic House Museum (900 N. Maney Ave.) can enjoy the collection of antique furnishings and decorative arts opening Friday, July 12 from 5–8 p.m. (through Aug. 11). A featured item will be the hand-sewn, brown silk dress of Mrs. Mattie Ready Morgan Williamson, wife of General John Hunt Morgan. From furnishings, children’s clothing, hair art and photographs, neighbors and visitors will also hear stories about the families who called Oaklands Mansion home prior to the 1960s. The exhibit will be open during regular visiting hours, Monday–Saturday 10 a.m.–4 p.m. and Sundays 1–4 p.m. Admission is $5 per person and open to the public. For more information, contact (615) 893-0022 or email info@oaklandsmuseum.org.

JULY 15–19 DISCOVER 4-H DAY CAMP At Discover 4-H Day Camp, youth that have

completed the fifth grades will have the opportunity to learn about shooting sports, sewing, gardening, science, cooking, animal science, wildlife and scrapbooking at the Rutherford County 4-H Office (315 John R. Rice Blvd, Suite 101) from 9 a.m.–3 p.m. each day. You will also visit the Rutherford County Farmers Market and go on a field trip to Nashville! Cost is $150 to attend. For information, please call (615) 898-7710 for more information.

JULY 17–21 EAST COAST REINED COW HORSE CLASSIC Each horse competes in three areas for this equine sport. Horses perform herd work, reining and fence work to win this great event. Competitions begin at 8 a.m. daily at the Tennessee Miller Coliseum (304-B West Thompson Ln.).

Admission is free. For more information, please call (615) 494-8961 or visit mtsu.edu/tmc.

JULY 19–21 46TH ANNUAL MURFREESBORO ANTIQUE SHOW This long-standing Murfreesboro tradition attracts some of the finest antique dealers from across the country at Murphy Center, MTSU Campus (2650 Middle Tenn. Blvd.) Friday & Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $7 for all three days. For more information, please call (270) 237-5205 or visit murfreesboroantiqueshow.com.

JULY 20 LANTERN TOUR OF THE STONES RIVER NATIONAL CEMETERY Spend an hour walking through the cemetery at the Stones River National Battle (1563 N. Thompson Ln.) by lantern light beginning at 7:15 p.m. while hearing the stories of soldiers and civilians who relate the terrible cost of the Civil War. For more information, please call (615) 893-9501 or visit nps.gov/stri.

JULY 20–21 “ARTILLERY SAVES THE DAY” Come enjoy “Artillery Saves the Day” Union Artillery Program at Stones River National Battlefield (1563 N. Thompson Ln.). For more information, please call (615) 8939501 or visit nps.gov/stri.

JULY 25 “SADDLE UP FOR PROJECT HELP” RIDES AGAIN One of Rutherford County’s favorite summer events is ready to ride Thursday, July 25 at MTSU’s Foundation Reception House (324 W. Thompson Ln.). Proceeds from “Saddle Up for Project Help” will benefit Project Help. At $50 per ticket, guests can show off their favorite jeans, boots and cowboy hats while they enjoy a Western-themed evening with barbecue and live music. Nashville artist Arthur Kirkby will create a painting during the event; guests will have the opportunity to purchase the painting in the silent auction as well as other local prizes. The popular miniature sculptures of Raymond “Chi” Palma will be featured as well. For information on sponsoring the event, contact sandym1626@ hotmail.com or visit Saddle Up for Project Help’s Facebook page. To learn more about Project Help early intervention, call (615) 8982458 or visit mtsu.edu/projecthelp.

JULY 26

JULY 29–AUG. 3

DCI MASTERS OF THE SUMMER MUSIC GAMES

35TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL PLEASURE & COLT WALKING HORSE SHOW

The Drum Corps International Tour returns to MTSU’s Johnny “Red” Floyd Stadium (Greenland Drive) on Friday, July 26, as part of the 2013 Tour of Champions Series. A unique set of very special events featuring eight of the top corps from last summer, Tour of Champions events give fans the opportunity to immerse themselves in the drum corps experience with pre-show entertainment, “instant encores,” and an en-masse finale on top of the corps’ traditional competitive productions. For more information, call (317) 275-1212 or visit dci.org.

The Tennessee Miller Coliseum (403-B West Thompson Ln.) presents the biggest event each year for the Walking Horse Owners’ Association with over 2,000 entries participating annually making the International Grand Championships the second largest Walking Horse show in the World. For more information, call (615) 494-8822 or visit walkinghorseowners.com.

THIS SUMMER SPLASH INTO SUMMER READING WITH ONE BOOK The members of One Book of Rutherford County share their favorite titles with readers and invites readers to join them in the search for the 2013 book choice. Community members can participate by taking the online survey to give feedback and ideas. A random drawing will be held July 31, and two lucky participants will receive a $20 gift card to Barnes and Noble. Find the survey at bit.ly/OBSurvey13 or follow the One Book conversation on Facebook at Facebook.com/OneBookRutherford. For more info contact Laura.Jackson@mtsu.edu or (615) 838-8444.

BOROPULSE.COM

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LIVING THE BRIDGE OVER BROAD STREET

Commuters in the Windy City pass cars on the rapid transit bus system

More roads are not the sustainable solution to traffic congestion and a flawed system of transportation.

that improve the quality of life in our city.

STRIKING A BALANCE between a susAs a nation, around 82 percent of Ameritainable lifestyle and social harmony in our cans live in suburban environments that bustling city is no small task. Nearly every depend on cars. Aside from the well-docconscious choice traverses an uphill and umented health and environmental effects rocky path in the opposite direction of most of the more than 250 million Americans customs of the modern South. Suppose you who rely on personal automobiles, I often are brave enough to challenge the prevailwonder how many really stop and think ing modes of consumption, diet, and energy about what an inconvenience it is to own use. “Going shopping” becomes a matter of a car. It is a choice that, necessity rather than a form if fairly compared with of entertainment. A trip bicycle or mass transit, to the park becomes more I am confident that few, fashionable than a trip to other than the most fanatithe Avenue. A visit to the cal of individualists, would farmer’s market is a treat, column by RYAN EGLY choose. Pollution, an and meat is recognized as a egly@boropulse.com enormous cost of ownercostly luxury, if eaten at all. ship, separateness and the No matter how far you go, near-assurance of a sedentary lifestyle—all and no matter how relentless your attempts for what? But there is no choice, and very at an ecologically sane way of living, you few seem interested in alternatives. Never will inevitably discover a persistent hinmind the long-observed fact that adding drance. It is a structural one, woven tightly lanes and improving roads exacerbates the into the fabric of every city, town and holproblem by encouraging urban sprawl. At low across the state. Try as you might, it is some point in the future, supposing that difficult if not impossible to lead a car-free the supply of oil remains steady and cheap, existence in Murfreesboro. Even as other the bridge will also become congested. At cities explore bike lanes and bus options, some point after that, and likely not too far the wise leaders of the ’Boro are supporting off as global demand soars, the people of TDOT’s Bridge over Broad Street project, the ’Boro will find that they can no longer which will take an estimated three years afford the trip across town. A far more sento complete and will cost the residents of sible and forward-looking approach would Murfreesboro upwards of $30 million. be to invest in mass transit and city planSuch costly and time-consuming investning, a novel concept in a city dominated ments in the transportation of the last by suburbs and strip malls. century leave little room for real solutions

The proposed amp project in Nashville

LIVING GREEN

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The ‘Boro’s $30-million folly

The Tennessee Department of Transportation points to the some 60,000 hydrocarbon-powered steel carriages that cross the intersection each day, and claim that the proposed bridge is the only solution to the 72,000 that are projected by 2034. They seem to take little notice of what others are projecting by the 2030s. Although recent developments in extraction technology seem to have blunted the immediate threat of peak oil (immediate depends entirely on perspective), the damage to the climate hurdles forward. President Obama makes grand speeches committing to 2005 CO2 levels by 2020 as we look back at 400 parts per million, a startling atmospheric carbon concentration recorded in May. The Carbon Tracker Initiative from the UK estimates that we can burn around one-fifth of known reserves to stay under the globally agreed upon limit of 2 degrees Celsius. As Americans continue to catch up to the reality of climate change, legislative mechanisms at the federal level such as a much-needed carbon tax will increase the cost at the pump. The traffic at the Broadway intersection will not come to a halt overnight, but

60,000 cars a day will be a thing of the past when gas reaches $5 a gallon.

Given the enormous quality-of-life benefits of mass transit and a bike-friendly city, as well as the extreme unlikelihood of gas remaining below the $4 per gallon mark over the next decade, it seems that the decision makers in the ’Boro would serve their city far better by following Nashville’s lead.

The amp project in Nashville, formerly known as the East-West Connector, outlines a rapid transit bus system with dedicated bus lanes. The project’s website cites the 35 hours that the average Nashvillian wastes in traffic each year. Planners in Nashville look at the growing problem of gridlock and recognize that more asphalt is not the answer. The design looks nearly identical to the one I came to love while in Germany.

I had a car-free life there: no monthly payment, no insurance payment, no fuel costs and no repair costs. I biked daily, breathed fewer fumes, and felt better. And on one bus trip I just happened to sit next to a city planner. A chance encounter, impossible in a car, which exposed me to a smarter way of doing things.

The Kitchen House

by Kathleen Grissom

At age 7, little Lavinia remembers only two things from her previous life when she arrives at the plantation: a bumpy ocean voyage and losing her family. Orphaned on a ship bound to America from Europe, Lavinia has been sold as “help” to a wealthy land owner. As the only white child thrust into antebellum slave quarters, Lavinia is isolated by more than just the color of her skin. Scrawny, sick and mute, Lavinia is treated as just another chore when she arrives at the kitchen house. Although she initially fits into neither the world of the white landowners nor the slaves, despite social and cultural barriers, Lavinia soon bonds closely with her adopted black family.

The Kitchen House follows the life of Lavinia as she comes of age during the pre-Civil War era. The story is told from the perspectives of Lavinia and Belle, the illegitimate half-white daughter of the plantation owner, Captain Pyke.

Both voices illuminate the challenges that were so common during this period in American history, from infant mortality and starvation to plagues.

Despite being white, Lavinia grows up feeling like a part of the black slave community, until age 17, when she marries Captain Pyke’s alcoholic son, Marshall. Tensions that had simmered for years finally rise to

by MICHELLE PALMER the surface, as old crimes and bitter feuds culminate in rape, arson and lynching. Lavinia, who once felt as if she were a member of the kitchen house, now finds that her race and social standing have made her an outcast in her own home.

Grissom is unflinching in her portrayal of the Deep South in the early 19th century. Her writing is proof of the tremendous research Grissom did to ensure that historical references were accurate. Where Grissom sometimes falls short is in the story line; the lives of everyone from Captain and Mrs. Pyke to the lowliest slave are fraught with peril. As each chapter ends, one tragedy after another befalls the characters, making the story almost too sad to be believable. Despite that, The Kitchen House is an engrossing summertime read, with memorable characters and a satisfying and hopeful ending.

READ TO SUCCEED

BOOK REVIEW

Michelle Palmer is Read To Succeed’s One Book Committee Co-Chair and author of the book blog, Turn of the Page. Read more of her reviews 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.

INTERNATIONAL FOLK FEST 2013 

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Visit boropulse.com/gallery to view more photos BOROPULSE.COM

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SOUNDS Mayday Brewery Hosts First Folk'n Art Fest

M

ayday Brewery will host its first ever Folk’n Art Fest on Saturday, July 20, from 12–8 p.m.

The festival is a collaboration with The Art Barn in Rockvale in what the two locally owned businesses hope will be a yearly event.

The Folk’n Art Fest is a free event that

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includes live music, arts and crafts vendors, food trucks and of course Mayday craft beer. Though patrons will be able to take advantage of the brewery’s newly expanded outdoor deck, Mayday is encouraging attendees who wish to stay all day to bring a couple of lawn chairs just in case.

Seven local bands are scheduled to play at the festival alternating performances with larger bands outside and smaller acts playing inside its tasting room.

“We’ve got an eclectic folk-music lineup scheduled,” says Charles Nelson, Minister of Beervangelism at Mayday.

“It’s everything from bluegrass and traditional folk, to indie and folk-rock.”

Included in the lineup are local favorites The Hardin Draw and Flea Market Hustlers. The outdoor stage will be sponsored by local screen printing company Worx Group and the indoor stage sponsored by the Murfreesboro Pulse.

A wide variety of unique handmade art will be offered at the festival.

Owner of The Art Barn, Dawna Magliacano, says, “We’ll be very selective about the artists in the first year so the festival has a good reputation for art from the beginning. There will be nearly 20 vendors,” she says, “including a clay artist with beer steins, birdhouses that look like modern architecture, hand-forged metal jewelry and even live chainsaw carvings.”

Magliacano will also have original and print artwork on display.

Mayday Brewery owner Ozzy Nelson says, “We plan to have events all summer while the weather is nice.

The Murfreesboro community has really embraced Mayday and we want to bring something with local flavor to say thanks.”

When asked why host a folk music and art festival when there are similar festivals in July, Nelson replies, “Because Uncle Dave doesn’t have beer!”

For more information on the event and the brewery, visit Mayday Brewery’s Facebook page. It is located at 521 Old Salem Highway.

FOLK’N ART FEST SCHEDULE 1 P.M.

Flea Market Hustlers 2 P.M.

Josephine 3 P.M.

The Hardin Draw 4 P.M.

Uncle Don Clark 5 P.M.

Brad Jones 6 P.M.

Youngest Daughter 7 P.M.

Bennington

The Flea Market Hustlers (above) will kick off the festivities at 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 20, at Mayday Brewery. Art pieces by Michelle Sweatt with “Inclined to Improvise” (top right, below right) and Kevin Rains with “BearVue Chainsaw Art” (top left, below left) are just a sampling of the work on display at the first Folk’n Art Fest.

JULY CONCERTS

Send your show listings to listings@boropulse.com

THURS, 7/4 CAJUN COVE Mitch Gallagher HIPPIE HILL Kickin’ It in the Sticks JOZOARA Rik Gracia

FRI, 7/5 BUNGANUT PIG Nick Carver Band FAIRWAYS Midnight Highway FANATICS Real Deal HIPPIE HILL Kickin’ It in the Sticks LIQUID SMOKE The Saul Zonana Experience MAIN STREET LIVE Metalfest THE BORO Mobility Chief, TronAte MyBaby, Mantra Mantra Mantra, Futuredog WILLIE’S WET SPOT Gypsy Rose

SAT, 7/6 3 BROTHERS Dennis the Menace BUNGANUT PIG Atomic Trunk Monkeys CAJUN COVE Biff Kapow FANATICS Ivan LaFever JOZOARA A Slice of American Pie MAYDAY BREWERY Crazy Aces HIPPIE HILL Kickin’ It In The Sticks THE BORO Reg Dunlap Blues Band WILLIE’S WET SPOT Stoopid Kool

SUN, 7/7 HIPPIE HILL Kickin’ It in the Sticks

MON, 7/8 JOZOARA Students in the Starlight Outdoor Concert Series

TUES, 7/9 BUNGANUT PIG Delyn Christian ROOSTER’S BBQ 2 Country 4 Nashville

WED, 7/10 3 BROTHERS Ryan Coleman’s Writers Night

View Concert Listings Online:

BUNGANUT PIG Franklin & Ferris ROOSTER’S BBQ Writers Night with Mike Short & Lindsay Jurek WILLIE’S WET SPOT Shane & Lenny

THURS, 7/11 BUNGANUT PIG Funky McFlys JOZOARA Rik Gracia ROOSTER’S BBQ Josh McKee & Friends

FRI, 7/12 BUNGANUT PIG Corbitt Brothers CAJUN COVE Ryan Mullenix FAIRWAYS Rockafeller FANATICS Chris & Elle Vijet MAIN STREET LIVE For Lack of Lythium, Lost in Eden, Lobo, Dogs At Bay, Soliam MAYDAY BREWERY The Bed Monsters ROOSTER’S BBQ Gravel Road Gypsies THE BORO Agents of Athens WALL STREET Judd Hall, Mize & The Drive WILLIE’S WET SPOT Citizen Rejects

SAT, 7/13 3 BROTHERS Sunday Best BUNGANUT PIG Zone Status CAJUN COVE Jimmy Gonzales & The Blues Angels FANATICS John Salaway JOZOARA Calla Alexandra MAIN STREET LIVE Doc Sinister, Killing Grace, Mad Phatter Foam Party MAYDAY BREWERY Abernathy, Hey Chuck ROOSTER’S BBQ Mike Oldham & the Tone Ranger Band THE BORO Mike Short, Jr. & the Statewide WALL STREET Josephine, Dotcom, Scale Model WILLIE’S WET SPOT TN Union Band

SUN, 7/14 3 BROTHERS The Enablers

THE BORO Rajhi Gahler, Joystick

IF YOU GO:

MON, 7/15

3 Brothers 114 N. Church St. 410-3096

JOZOARA Students in the Starlight Outdoor Concert Series ROOSTER’S BBQ Cody Purvis

Aura Lounge 114 S. Maple St. 396-8328

TUES, 7/16

Bonhoeffer’s 610 Dill Lane 202-3517

BUNGANUT PIG CJ Vaughn Trio ROOSTER’S BBQ 2 Country 4 Nashville

WED, 7/17 3 BROTHERS Ryan Coleman’s Writers Night BUNGANUT PIG Martin Rodriguez Trio ROOSTER’S BBQ Writers Night with Mike Short & Lindsay Jurek WILLIE’S WET SPOT Shane & Lenny

THURS, 7/18 BUNGANUT PIG Masses Beware JOZOARA Rik Gracia ROOSTER’S BBQ Hundley Brothers

FRI, 7/19 BUNGANUT PIG Miranda Louise Band CAJUN COVE Mitch Gallagher FAIRWAYS Gravel Road Gypsies FANATICS Pimpalicious MAIN STREET LIVE Copper Into Steel ROOSTER’S BBQ Zone Status THE BORO Kristen Cothron & the Darkside, The Paranomals WILLIE’S WET SPOT Noise Pollution

SAT, 7/20 3 BROTHERS Jake Leg Stompers BUNGANUT PIG Casual Exchange CAJUN COVE 3 Bean Soup FANATICS Death of a Genius JOZOARA Stick Figure MAIN STREET LIVE Gypsy Camp Tour featuring Blackfoot Gypsies, The Gills, Swayze, The Jag MAYDAY BREWERY Folk’n Art Fest with Flea Market Hustlers, Josephine, The Hardin Draw, Uncle Don Clark, Brad Jones, Youngest Daughter, Bennington THE BORO Redstone, Copperbell WILLIE’S WET SPOT Evil Twin

PUL SE PICK

COPPER INTO STEEL

FRIDAY, JULY 19 @ MAIN STREET LIVE Copper Into Steel combines folk and bluegrass sounds with a modern indie/pop-rock twist for a feel-good, groovy, fresh sound. The four-piece—the inaugural group on MTSU's Match Records, as a matter of fact—stops by Main Street Live on Friday, July 19, for a performance sandwiched in between stops in Nashville the day prior, and Memphis, the following evening. Check out copperintosteel.com for more information, tour dates, T-shirts, live videos, and hopefully soon, a full debut CD.

SUN, 7/21 FAIRWAYS Vagabond Train

MON, 7/22 JOZOARA Students in the Starlight Outdoor Concert Series ROOSTER’S BBQ Cody Purvis

TUES, 7/23 BUNGANUT PIG Julie Gribble ROOSTER’S BBQ 2 Country 4 Nashville

WED, 7/24 3 BROTHERS Ryan Coleman’s Writers Night BUNGANUT PIG Franklin & Farris ROOSTER’S BBQ Writers Night with Mike Short & Lindsay Jurek WILLIE’S WET SPOT Shane & Lenny

ROOSTER’S BBQ Josh McKee THE BORO Denny Presley’s The Sandwich WILLIE’S WET SPOT Greez Monkeez

SAT, 7/27 BUNGANUT PIG Far Cry CAJUN COVE Road Trip FANATICS The Eclectics JOZOARA Justin Kaleb Driggers MAIN STREET LIVE EDM Prom THE BORO Adam Dalton & the B-Sides WILLIE’S WET SPOT Shoot for Tuesday

MON, 7/29 JOZOARA Students in the Starlight Outdoor Concert Series ROOSTER’S BBQ Cody Purvis

THURS, 7/25

TUES, 7/30

JOZOARA Rik Gracia ROOSTER’S BBQ Cody Purvis

BUNGANUT PIG CJ Vaughn Trio ROOSTER’S BBQ 2 Country 4 Nashville THE BORO Water Fight, Deathless, She Lin Wolf

THURS, 7/25 BUNGANUT PIG Secret Society MAYDAY BREWERY Seth Talley

FRI, 7/26 BUNGANUT PIG Japanese Cowboys FAIRWAYS Cash Kings FANATICS Zone Status MAYDAY BREWERY 1933

WED, 7/31 3 BROTHERS Ryan Coleman’s Writers Night BUNGANUT PIG 2nd & Vine ROOSTER’S BBQ Writers Night with Mike Short & Lindsay Jurek WILLIE’S WET SPOT Shane & Lenny

Bunganut Pig 1602 W. Northfield Blvd.

893-7860 Cajun Cove at Four Corners Marina 4027 LaVergne Couchville Pk. 641-6002 Fairways Golf & Grill 127 SE Broad St. 962-7853 Fanatics 1850 Old Fort Pkwy.

494-3995 First United Methodist Church 265 West Thompson Lane Hippie Hill 8627 Burks Hollow Road, Christiana 977-3770 JoZoara 536 N. Thompson Ln. 962-7175 Liquid Smoke #2 Public Square 217-7822 Main St. Live 527 W. Main St. 439-6135 Mayday Brewery 521 Old Salem Hwy. 479-9722 MT Bottle 3940 Shelbyville Hwy. 962-9872 Nobody’s Grill & BBQ 116 John R. Rice Blvd.

962-8019 Rooster's Lonestar BBQ 223 W. Main St. 867-1836 Social 114 N. Church St. 904-7236 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

BOROPULSE.COM

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SOUNDS

P

owerhouse trio Los Lonely Boys recently visited one of my favorite venues in Middle Tennessee, the War Memorial Auditorium, for a killer show with Alejandro Escovedo and Los Lobos. Jojo Garza, brother in the power trio and bassist/vocalist for Los Lonely Boys, was kind enough to chat with the Pulse before the show.

Brothers and bandmates (from left) Jojo, Ringo and Henry Garza

MP: Thanks for sitting down with us, Jojo.

First question: “How far is heaven?”

GARZA: [laughs] It’s 120,000 kilometers.

when we were working on the record Rockpango. We had to stop production on the record for almost a year because of the whole situation. We noticed my voice was really raspy, and rest wasn’t [helping]. We were about to do a five-week run, and we just happened to be in Colorado. And it was just so bad that we needed to get it checked out to see what was going on. So we went to a clinic, and they were like, “You have got to stop singing. You have got to stop touring.” We were like, “What are you talking about?” and they explained that I was going to ruin my voice in the long run. They were saying that one of my vocal cords had lost its tension, I guess, like an overstretched muscle. It was not working to its fullest extent. They said “If you stop for a certain amount of time, we can go in and do some corrections, within three to six months you should be good enough to start working up again. And they gave me this whole regimen of what not to do. For a long time I couldn’t talk, I had to write on a board with a marker and stuff . . . We give God all the thanks for the mercy that he gave for us to be able to do this again. We were very scared. What if I was never able to do this again?

Kidding, of course. No, heaven is . . . it’s a breath away. It’s here, it’s in us, the way we live every day, and the way we give everything. I think it’s about giving, not taking. I think if you live in that frame of art, in that frame of mind that, pretty much, you’re in a heaven-like place.

give anyone. I mean, not just as a musician, but really, advice I would give for life. It turns over to what we find ourselves doing with our life. You have to be true with yourself, and you have to be true to your dreams and aspirations for them to become reality. Don’t give up. That’s key. Also, know that it’s okay to talk about what’s in your heart, and not just what’s on your mind. Even though we are skin and tissue, there is a soul there. That has to be nurtured, and you have to be true to that. You gotta realize that there’s a struggle that comes with this. It’s not about fame or fortune, or other things musicians talk about because they can make a buck. That’s the easy road. We’re looking for the narrow road. The hard road. The road that looks like “I don’t even wanna go down that road,” because that road builds character in people. It adds mileage. You’re able to experience more. The music has been created long before our existence. So don’t feel like you’re doing something that’s never been done before, or has been done, because you’re doing it and you’re doing it at your best.

THE NARROW ROAD AN INTERVIEW WITH LOS LONELY BOYS’ JOJO GARZA story by JUSTIN STOKES

MP: That’s interesting, because it brings us to a sentiment people echo about there being “no originality left.”

GARZA: That’s a good point. But, talking

MP: Now, you’re playing at the TPAC’S War Memorial Auditorium, which is one of the coolest venues out there. Being from Nashville, what other parts do you miss?

Do you have a favorite venue you like to visit when you come to Music City?

GARZA: Well, the lives we lived, growing up

don’t know if it’s still there on Music Row. Man, we played all over Music Row, a bunch of little shops. Every hole in the wall, places you probably don’t even know exist. We were playing on Dickerson Road, and Murfreesboro Road, and some tougher parts of Nashville. But 3rd & Lindsley is one of those places . . . it gave us something. I remember we felt like we had a great show there. Every night we would walk out, it felt like there were fireworks going off, and we always felt it was a sign that things were building and it was going to explode . . . We always have a great experience in Nashville, and every time we come back we just feel at home.

about the music, it really is like air, like water, like food. It’s something that was given to us by nature. Almost everyone has the ability to sing and dance. Everyone has music in their blood . . . to what extent and degree you’re applying yourself is a whole other thing. I hear a lot of

in Goodlettsville and Madison, mostly around those areas. Every now and then we got to go downtown to experience the scene in Nashville.

There is 3rd & Lindsley, which, growing up, was one of the better places we played at. We played at the Elvis Presley Museum, which, I

MP: With your permission, I would like to discuss the specifics of your vocal cord injury. Would you care to tell us what happened?

GARZA: I actually lost my voice in the studio

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people saying that, as an artist. There’s nothing really original out there until you take the pieces that were left behind and you turn it into your own puzzle. When you learn to fit the pieces in an area it normally wasn’t supposed to be.

That’s what makes it our own.

PHOTO BY ALBERTO E. RODRIGUEZ

MP: So, Los Lonely Boys is a trio of former Nashville residents. You all are another example of a massive success story that Music City has seen. What advice do you think you would have for a younger version of yourself? For younger musicians in the area that are starving to succeed?

GARZA: Basically, it’s the same advice I would

MP: That’s terrifying.

GARZA: In a way you can see it as terrifying,

but you can also see it as divine. Like a divine intervention. We could easily look at it and go “Why?” but there was a reason for it. It’s just like what happened recently with my brother.

It’s the same type of thing. We know a whole lot of people haven’t heard about it.

MP: I don’t think I’m familiar.

GARZA: Our brother Henry had a horrible

accident and nearly died. We didn’t really talk about it, but a few people got wind of it and it got picked up in the papers. He fell into an orchestra pit 12 feet down and was hurt really bad.

He was near death. And for anyone else I know it would have been death, or would have become quadriplegic. It was one of the most horrific experiences of our lives. It was like my vocal cords, but to an nth degree. He couldn’t play guitar, he couldn’t talk, he could barely walk. Such a horrible nightmare.

After a while, we get back with our families, and we’re all together in a circle. We’re praying and we’re talking, and realized that it was divine intervention. I’m telling you, it was nothing

short of a miracle . . . He took some holistic type-healing from a friend of ours, Samuel Kwok, who basically took him into a series of sessions. With some acupuncture, a lot of herbs, things like that. Very pure stuff. It’s just like with the music, it comes from a very pure place that was before any of us . . .

The very first show that we did, the very first note, brother, I’m telling you, and I kid you not, it was just full of tears. . . in a moment’s time, you see just how much you take things for granted. I’ve been playing with my brothers all my life. I don’t know what I’d do without the guys. I don’t know where I’d be, if I would ever play music again. But as much as I felt and thought about that, it never occurred to me what it would really be like. And this was one of those divine interventions that put life into a whole different perspective.

MP: In the spirit of progress, let’s talk Rockpango. I have a quote from you saying “It’s just progress, maturation and growth.” Let’s talk about what being older means for you as a musician.

GARZA: It’s like we talked about earlier. It’s

knowing all of this was created before my time.

Music, to me and my brothers, was one of those things created at the time by God as what our souls need for nourishment. You know that when you hear a good song, and I’m talking lyrically and melodically, it touches your brain and your heart. You start think, to contemplate.

MP: Right, it all comes from somewhere.

We were discussing your music with a few of our readers, and they cited an influence of Stevie Ray Vaughan. That’s not to say that your music is derivative, but that it all stems from another place.

GARZA: You know, it’s really poignant that you

bring up Stevie Ray Vaughan. My brothers and I were just talking about him. There have been several major artists who have played a part in what Los Lonely Boys are and are still becoming.

Stevie Ray Vaughan is one of the biggest. First and foremost, we give our thanks to God. Our other major influence is our father. He was born in 1950, he saw Elvis, the Beatles, the Stones . . . we also learned about bands that people had never heard of. And as we started coming into our own, Stevie Ray Vaughan was one of those major influences. Richie Valens is another. But there’s also people like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, the Traveling Wilburys, Jimi Hendrix, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Wonder. I could go on and on and on. There’s a piece of Santana, there’s a piece of Los Lobos, Ronnie Milsap, The Beatles.

MP: You mention The Beatles. Having covered one or two of their songs, have you encountered any negative reaction from music purists?

GARZA: To be honest with you, we only listen

to what people say so much. We believe in what we do, and our belief in that will make it what it is. I can’t remember getting a negative reaction to that song in particular. We’ve heard things like “The Beatles would be proud.” We’ve heard things like, and like I said, these aren’t my

quotes, but we’ve heard people say like, “Man, you guys are like a Mexican version of The Beatles.” [laughs] MP: Those are big shoes to fill.

GARZA: They’re some of the biggest. And

we don’t focus on trying to fill anyone’s shoes.

We focus on just being able to feel what we feel inside. Stevie Ray Vaughan is gone. And we ask ourselves, “Would he be proud?” Like, Carlos Santana, we were just with him a week ago, we were in the room talking with him. And he said, “You guys are the ones. I’ve been passing the torch to you guys.” And this is coming from Carlos Santana, who also [gives us] very big shoes to fill. He’s telling us that we can fill that. And we’re telling him, “Look, there’s no way! You’re Carlos Santana!” You know, it’s the same when we talked to Paul McCartney. I mean, we were in such awe that we barely got a word out. We showed him a couple of tunes as well.

But you know, we hear things too, like, “These guys don’t know how to write a song, or these guys don’t know how to structure songs” . . . I mean, I guess it’s balance, because you have to take the good with the bad, and the bad with the good.

MP: Let’s talk about Willie Nelson and his involvement with the family. How has he influenced you?

GARZA: Our father loved Willie Nelson, and

Waylon Jennings, and Willie and the boys. We were always doing his songs growing up. Once again, major shoes to fill because of what he brought to music and what music brought to him. He’s really been an influence in the last ten years of our lives . . . and that guy never stops!

I mean, he is playing and playing, and now his sons are playing. And when you can have someone who has run the track, they can come back around and tell you “There’s a little pothole over here,” that’s the influence he brings. When we sit and talk with him, you have to remember, we’re still in awe every time he says something like, “Come on over to the house.”

He invited us to Maui, just to come hang out. And we’re asking, “What? Are you joking?

Are you serious? Of course we’ll come!” That’s influence enough, man, when he looks at you and says, “I respect what you’re doing, and what you’re doing is right. You’re doing it the right way. Just remember to keep your heart true.” All these people are major influences . . . Santana, or Nelson, or even Stone Cold Steve Austin. I say Stone Cold Steve Austin because he’s a friend of ours, the reason we got involved with the WWE. People ask “How did Stone Cold influence you guys musically?” Well, once again, I say it transfers to just living. But when we saw him wrestling, it got us through another week. They bring the essence of “you have to fight to survive.

You have to make a stance.” You have to want this world to get better before you go. Existing is one thing. But how many of us actually live?  Check out the War Memorial Auditorium’s website, wmarocks.com, for more killer shows lined up there this year.

Shooter Jennings, Black Flag, The Gallinippers and More Gather for Muddy Roots 2013

A

s has become the tradition, bands of various persuasions will gather at the Junebug Ranch in Putnam County the weekend prior to Labor Day for a celebration of American folk and punk music known as the Muddy Roots Music Festival.

This year’s performers include Shooter Jennings, Hillbilly Casino, Black Flag, Red Simpson, Stuck Lucky, The Monsters, The Gallinippers and many more.

In addition to lots of music and good times, the weekend will include burlesque performances, a car show, film screenings and camping.

Tune into facebook.com/boropulse on 2 p.m. on Wednesday, July 24, to learn how you can win a pair of tickets!

For more information on Muddy Roots Music, the annual Muddy Roots Festival and this year’s full lineup, visit muddyrootsrecords.com.

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ALBUM REVIEWS

VARIOUS ARTISTS

THE HUMAN REVOLUTION

Good Times Till The Cops Shut Us Down, a mixtape by Spaceship Studios and Triangle Music Labs released earlier this year, reflects the rich, eclectic and growing house show “scene” in Murfreesboro. It covers a wide scope of what the ’Boro offers, featuring Meth Dad, TronAteMyBaby, The Most Amazing Century of Science, Technikiller, Blastoids, Mantra Mantra Mantra, The Prophet Nathan and pretty much everyone you’ve heard of, if not seen firsthand in a crumbly basement or dingy living room about town. If that’s your scene, you’re likely familiar with the artists, and this mixtape will just be a reminder of all the good about them.

Highlights on Side A (this is a cassette) include a very Genesis sort of Blastoids number called “The Mountain,” a breezy electronic dream that leads into TronAteMyBaby’s “When I Grows Up” (and I guess when they grows up they want to do something with a spaceship and the matrix and a disco party or something—it’s hard to hear over the carny music); “Everything Everything Everything,” a great, great, great resonating melody by Mantra Mantra Mantra; the captivating voice of Michael Taylor from The Subnovas on “Hazy”; the Ramonesesque “Shetland Pony” from the Sleepy Pie-Skulls; and Technikiller’s hollow sounding, melodic, percussiondriven side-closer, “Crapazoid.”

On Side B, The Prophet Nathan get floaty and electronicky with “The Most Holy Trinosophia”; there’s the danceable warble of guitars in Self Help’s “Personal Gain”; Crayon’s & Antidotes’ “Tempaura” is a perfect multicolored dreamscape cut with entrancing vocals; and the ending is perfect—A Day in the Life of a Daily’s “How Our Hero Spent His Summer Vacation Pt. 2,” a declaration about floating down a river and kissing and not being stopped by fathers, devils or the world.

This isn’t a question of whether the music is good; of course it is. Murfreesboro is a cesspool of musical talent.

The question is, does it flow and succeed as a mixtape?

The answer is yes.

With these songs compiled, I’ve noticed Murfreesboro artists are really influenced by jazz and super into electronic music and hard rock—and mixing all of that.

So that’s good. My only question: where are Mom & Dad, Tetsuo, Seafood Hotline and The GoldRoom?

Stream and download the collection at spaceshipstudios.com. — JESSICA PACE

Human, or Matthew Human, is a grass-roots singer/ songwriter whose backing band, The Human Revolution, consists of a revolving cast featuring seasoned musicians who have played for everyone from Willie Nelson and Crosby, Stills and Nash to Sheryl Crow and the Avett Brothers. He’s opened for Willie Nelson, produced nine albums (seven of his own) and won the 2007 Art of Heart Songwriting Contest (based in Wichita, Kansas) for “My Community.”

Now he resides in Nashville, where he continues to make music he refers to as “mystic Americana,” which I interpret as meaning he writes, sings and plays in a style that mashes up a mess of American music that includes pop singer/songwriting, roots-rock, country/western music and folk. His latest album, Small Town, which features singer Amae Love, was produced by himself and Peter Temple (who also plays bass on the record), and was recorded in Oregon and California.

Small Town is an earthy, laid-back collection of 13 songs that sound like Human is having a really good day. It mixes mellow West-coast influence with country/ western songwriting sensibilities as well as a good ear for commercial pop. There are emotionally charged love songs (“You Comfort Me,” “Love Song,” “You’ve Got to Love Her”), a call for peace (“Military Song”), friendly agenda pushers (“Food for Life”) and songs about just being happy (“Sunny Day,” “Plenty to Share”).

The album blatantly relays Human’s message, which is one of green living, and of course, peace and love—and I can’t be a jerk and say that some of this album fringes on corny when it was very obviously written from a place of sincerity. The message is a positive one; Human likes to share, whether it’s love, home brew, food or a helping hand. One of Small Town’s songs, “Food for Life,” was even inspired by the international aid work by the organization of the same name, and he further promotes living simply in “The Farm” and “Plenty to Share.”

There are also beautiful fiddle parts from Maesyn Strite, especially on “Shelter From the Rain” and vocals from a featured singer called Freedom on the anti-war “Military Song.” There are a lot of messages packed into a record so grass-roots, all based upon loving your neighbor, resisting the bad and embracing the good.

For more on Human, visit thehumanrevolution.org.

— JESSICA PACE

Good Times Till the Cops Shut Us Down

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Small Town

TRONATEMYBABY

JOHNNY B AND THE BALLADEERS

Solid Gold Go-Cart

Music at the Mill: Vol. 1 TronAteMyBaby, a musical project (associated with the Sleepy Pie-Skulls art collective) that consists of Phillip Maloney, Cameron Chiles, Chris Watts, Josh Hellvig, Ben Spencer, Mike Kluge, Todd Bolden and Morton, describes itself as “a theatrical rock project that leads the audience through several stages of human emotion, focusing more heavily on fits of madness and frustration.” To break it down less abstractly, particularly through their recording Solid Gold Go-Cart, TronAteMyBaby makes squeaks, noises and commentary—and it all sounds like it’s coming from the weird apartment down the hall.

Listening to these 14 tracks of God-knows-what is the equivalent of being high in a dorm when you’re 19 and watching Aqua Teen Hunger Force in your bed at 3 a.m.

Or listening to Ween. It’s pretty funny static brain fuzz, starting with “When I Grows Up,” which sounds like that clip from South Park of a young, timid Terrance and Phillip doing their very first act, singing, “Everybody clap your hands.”

There’s a lot of Johnny Mo talking in the background, and the production—maybe intentionally?—sounds as if you were listening through a wall. There is what sounds like dogs barking (“Slay Ride”), twinkling sound effects, cackling, partying like things are on sale for $19.99, stuff going haywire, unsettling klezmer (“Sly Cry”) and what I guess I’ll call drug jazz, all of which do a great job of creeping me out and making me laugh.

There are also short narratives, like “Benny” (who stood five-foot-four and was ignorant to the reality of how far his weekly paycheck can stretch when he eats at The Handlebar twice daily).

I love how there’s so much to Solid Gold Go-Cart; it’s busy and yet it’s sleepy sounding, like it’s pushing 2 a.m., everybody’s already left the venue, but the talent booker said “sure” to a fifth band. The sounds of TronAteMyBaby fall somewhere between the spazzy late-night practice of a ramshackle marching band/variety show and a creepy soundtrack to a low-budget ’70s movie like Evil Dead.

One part unsettling, two parts humorous—no, wait, one part humorous, two parts creepy . . . eh, either way, it was good. — JESSICA PACE

RATINGS: AVERAGE

A CLASSIC BELOW AVERAGE

While our fair town’s spirits are lifted because of the upcoming Macon Days, some may think it nice to stay on that old-time cloud as much as possible while anticipating the July festivities. Readyville, Tenn.’s, Johnny B. and the Balladeers’ newest album, Music at the Mill: Vol. 1, is a great way to help keep the merry morale afloat.

Ripe with old-time/traditional/country-western feelgood vibes, Music at the Mill stands as a good, rough representation of what these genres are supposed to be about.

The album’s 20 tracks (they only list 19 on the case’s back cover, so happy hunting for the gem, listeners) were all recorded live on the premises of Readyville Mill by Johnny B and the band, a string band made up of Gary Redmon on guitar and fiddle, Billy Yearwood on mandolin, Sarah Frizzell on percussion and fiddle, Ken Frizzell on harp and Avent Lane as “bass player deluxe” (as well as the album’s recording engineer). Blankenship handles lead guitar and banjo, while every single one of the six Balladeers holds their own, vocally, throughout. You get the sense that each member could be a one-man/onewoman band, yet collectively, they comprise a pleasant force to be reckoned with over a plate of fresh hotcakes.

The opening track, “She Gives Dumb Blonde a Whole New Meaning,” gives listeners a humorous, upbeat place to start, but these guys don’t waste any time getting to more traditionally-titled originals like “You’ve Still Got a Heart to Break,” “It’s as Right as Wrong Could Be” and the album’s ode to “Readyville Mill.” In addition to the band originals are recognizable old-time numbers such as “Home on the Range,” the folk staple “Tom Dooley,” “Streets of Laredo” and the always soothing “Salty Dog Blues,” with the Balladeer spin put on each. As another bonus, the delightfully homey sound of the eatery’s atmosphere is audible in the background, meaning it’s fairly common to hear the “occasional crashing plates, laughter, conversation and hubbub,” as Johnny puts it.

The background noise is an additional ingredient in the mix, establishing the Balladeers as the raw, real deal and creating a fun atmosphere. For more on the band, visit johnnybandtheballadeers.com. — BRYCE HARMON

OUTSTANDING AVOID AT ALL COSTS

DEAD BOROPULSE.COM

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An Intimate Saul Zonana Experience

SOUNDS

Guitarist gets band together for series of summer shows at Murfreesboro's Liquid Smoke

T

he Nashville area is crawling with people whose names and faces are probably not immediately recognizable, but if you ask them, you’ll find out they recorded with Willie Nelson or something. For example, New York-born Saul Zonana, who now spends his time in Murfreesboro, spent the ’80s and ’90s touring with artists like Deep Purple, Ace Frehley and Crash Test Dummies. He started making solo albums in 1999 and now has 10 to his name, the most recent of which was 2012’s Fix the Broken. Zonana is hanging up the solo hat for now to focus on a new four-piece band that features bassist Tim Denbo, guitarist Damon Lascot and drummer Tim Grogan (who started Nashville’s Studio 515), all prominent area musicians and songwriters.

The group, temporarily named the Saul Zonana Experience, plays a mix of altered covers and originals with a focus on developing a live performance before one audience rather than touring or recording just yet. Their set is going to be a monthly event all summer, the first of which was Friday, June 14, with other dates including July 5 and Aug. 9 at Liquid Smoke on the square. Here, the multi-instrumentalist and songwriter discusses the project.

Bjork

Killer Mike

BONNAROO 2013 PHOTOS Visit boropulse.com/ gallery to view more photos from Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.

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BJORK BY DANNY CLINCH; DANIEL TOSH BY SARAH MAYO; KILLER MIKE AND HE'S MY BROTHER SHE'S MY SISTER BY BRACKEN MAYO

Daniel Tosh

He's My Brother, She's My Sister

story by JESSICA PACE

Where did the idea for your current project come from?

I had been doing my original show with the Saul Zonana Trio. The last couple albums I put out, we played a whole bunch of gigs, some out of town. I just hit a wall where I felt like I’ve just been doing the same things for a while. As a creative musician, that’s how I phrase it, where you’ve taken something as far as you can take it. You need to create something else. And with a trio, it’s hard to build on what you’re doing. I reformed the band, and we’re doing our versions of cover songs and mostly new originals I’ve written for this band.

We do versions of Beatles songs and funky versions of Tom Petty songs or whatever strikes us. The idea is not just form a band, rehearse and play gigs, because that’s not how you find out what’s working. The way to do that is put it in front of an audience. How can I put it in front of an audience and not make it into this super-expensive road type of thing? Keep it local, keep it in Murfreesboro. I have a lot of friends and neighbors that love to smoke cigars and hang out, and I found Liquid Smoke to be a little more enticing for not just the college person, but an older person. We’ll do it once a month for several months, and by fall I think we’ll be a pretty tight band and take this thing on the road.

How was your first show?

There were three different guitar players that came up and threw songs at us. That’s how I envisioned it. Richie Cerniglia, who used to be a guitarist for Hall & Oates, is a fantastic blues guitar player and writer. He came down and blew a lot of people away. We became his backup band, and that was one of the highlights of the night.

We had a pretty big crowd and are optimistic that it will get better. I like a room that’s loud and drinking and smoking. I’m 45 and been playing since I was 13, and you’d think by now I’d be over going into a bar, but it’s refreshing. I’ve been on proper tours where it’s just critical listening. You’re in the hot seat. In Nashville, some people are standing with their arms folded like, “Impress me. What have you got?” You got to do something unique and special to stand out. That doesn’t intimidate me; we will, but it was refreshing to sit there and see everyone was having fun.

Why did you decide to do covers, and how do you decide which songs to cover?

The older I get, I’m learning more and more

my job is to entertain other people. There’s a certain amount of self-indulgence and self-satisfaction, but if at the end of the day you’re not there to entertain, you’re there for the wrong reasons. To go into a club and play a bunch of songs no one’s heard, it’s not always the most exciting thing in the world. We’re making sure we’re entertaining while we build our songs. We picked songs we’ve always loved that we can do our own take on, that are also familiar to other people. As long as we’re not purposely a cover band, playing them how they were originally played, but considering we do “Love Me Do” as a reggae song . . .



What will the next step be? Will you record?

July 13 and 14, we have an SSL room in Nashville we booked. We won’t get overzealous; we’ll just cut two songs and take it from there. The ultimate goal is to complete a full album. The cool thing about being older is . . . you know how to cut out the baloney.

What’s your songwriting process like with this band?

I’ve written the songs we’re doing at Liquid Smoke, because basically they’re songs I didn’t know I’d be introducing to this band.

But the other guys are all writers. Damon, that’s what he does. Tim Grogan is a writer and producer, drummer, pianist. Tim Denbo is a Berkeley grad, composer and writer.

They’re welcome to join me and write lyrics.

I don’t need to write another album myself.

Collaborating right now is very energizing to me, and I couldn’t pick another group of guys I’d rather be collaborating with.

As someone who has toured globally and played large venues, what is the draw to smaller venues for you?

When I toured with Ace Frehley with KISS, he was basically the first that was playing big theaters, and that’s where I got used to the big crowds. But even with Crash Test Dummies, aside from festivals we’d do once in a while, we were basically a punk band and playing gigs at clubs that only held 200, 300 people. Even though we did a lot of touring, it wasn’t for 10,000 people at a time. There was a time when I played The Living Room in NYC. The original location was a hugely famous showcase room. I played there just about once a month. I did it where you could not fit bodies in the room anymore, and a guy from a record company couldn’t get in the door. It’s a good thing to have happen. There’s an energy when you pack a room. The appeal to going into a small venue is there’s no pressure now.

40 were at the Liquid Smoke show, and the energy was great. This feels like the right size and right type of people.  The next Saul Zonana Experience will be July 5 at Liquid Smoke.

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SOUNDS

Ricky Skaggs

Traditional music icon to receive the Uncle Dave Macon Heritage Award. story by BRYCE HARMON

T

Mr. Skaggs! It’s a pleasure. We’ve heard you’re coming to Uncle Dave Macon Days in Murfreesboro this month.

RICKY SKAGGS: Yessir. On the 13th and looking forward to it . . . it’s my first time to Uncle Dave Macon Days.

Oh, it’s huge every year. You’ll love it.

You’re being honored with Uncle Dave Macon’s Heritage Award?

SKAGGS: Yeah, they gave it to us. Well, we haven’t got it yet. They gave us the paper, but not the actual award . . . but me and my wife, Sharon, both won the Heritage award together, so it is really sweet to win something together like that as a husband and wife.

You’ll see this, but along with the stage performances and competitions, there are many a picking circles anywhere there’s space to congregate in Cannonsburgh during the festival. It’d be nice to have you down there with us, but you’ll be taking the big stage when?

SKAGGS: Yes, we’re looking forward to it.

We’re going to play a show that Saturday from 7 to 8 o’clock, I think is the time. We’re not bringing the whole band, [though]. It’ll be a smaller band than Kentucky Thunder, and [with] Ms. Sharon.

She doesn’t [normally] play for the Thunder. She has her own band called The Whites.

They’ve been members of the Grand Ole Opry for about 30 years, now, and they were in the movie, Oh Brother, Where Art Though, so they’re pretty popular.

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RICKY SKAGGS BY ERICK ANDERSON

here’s no doubt Ricky Skaggs, one of Nashville’s longtime leading mandolin virtuosos, has paid his dues when it comes to the contributions he has made to bluegrass, old-time and country music. By the time he was a 21-year-old Kentucky boy, Skaggs was deemed a master of his art form by his surrounding musical community and now, almost 40 years and a multitude of Grammys, Country Music Association and International Bluegrass Awards later, Ricky Skaggs and wife Sharon White Skaggs of the Opry-established band, The Whites, are coming to the 36th annual Uncle Dave Macon Days Festival, July 12-14 to jointly receive the Uncle Dave Macon Heritage Award. This commemoration of lifetimes dedicated to one of the beloved Southern musical genres is good timing, as Skaggs is finishing up a few major summer projects set to release shortly after his Murfreesboro appearance.

The Skaggses will also act as grand marshals for the kick-off parade that Saturday morning.

Mr. Skaggs was recently at his home in Middle Tennessee one morning, taking a small break from some home renovations, and agreed to answer a few questions: I’m going to bring my fiddle and play some old-time fiddle tunes. We’re going to be doing some old-timey music more so than just the bluegrass. I think it’ll be appropriate for the day [chuckles a little]. That’s gonna be fun, too.

But [Sharon] and I are doing a duet together, too. We had Duet of the Year in 1987 for CMA, and we’ll have [a brand new duet album] probably next year sometime . . . I’m not sure exactly what the title is yet, but it may be Hold on Tight. That’s one of the tracks on there . . . Wait, hang on just a second, buddy. I’ve got somebody coming here to . . .

[Skaggs trails off for a second into the background as someone begins a conversation about the home renovations currently underway. The man is constantly taking care of business in the most adamant and polite way possible. True Southern Gentleman and it’s great.

Anyways . . . he’s back] SKAGGS: Sorry about that.

No sir, you’re fine. Tell me more about your latest album, Music to My Ears, that came out late last year.

SKAGGS: Ahhh, [Music to My Ears] is some old bluegrass songs that I’ve done and some new things, as well. Actually, I have Uncle Dave mentioned in a Music to My Ears song, “You Can’t Hurt Ham.” We’ll definitely do that song while we’re there.

That will more than likely tear the house down. And this is outdoors.

The Whites

Well, we’re a technical community as well, with music programs at our local college spreading across every aspect of the industry. Music to My Ears was produced out of Skaggs Family Records. How did you guys get into that part of the business?

SKAGGS: Well, it’s a label I started [in 1997 after a major label contract expired] so that I could do the music that I wanted to do, be it bluegrass, country, gospel, solo— like instrumental projects—or projects with Bruce Hornsby, or whoever I wanted to work with. Basically, it was to have the freedom to make the music I want to make.

And you’re about to release a brand new project with Bruce Hornsby here in a month or so out of Skaggs Family, too?

SKAGGS: Yessir, We’ve got Cluck Ol’ Hen. It’s a live record and it’ll be out . . . August [20].

[Unfortunately for our interview, heavy machinery started humming in the background and he had to get back to work. But not before passing some wisdom through to aspiring and hardworking pickers any and everywhere]: SKAGGS: “Well, I’d say get in a band [and] learn how to play in a band where it’s not about you all the time and your abilities. Learn how to share the spotlight and share the music

The 36th Annual Uncle Dave Macon Days Festival SFriday, July 12

7 P.M. Heritage Award,

10 A.M. Matilda Macon Artisan Village;

8:00 P.M. National Championship

Craft Show; Dancers in Gazebo 1 P.M. Beginning Instrumental Competition 2 P.M. Dulcimer Competition 3 P.M. Old Time Singing Competition 4 P.M. National Championship Jr. Buckdancing and Jr. Clog Preliminaries 5 P.M. Dance Demonstration 6 P.M. Old Time String Band Celebration and Tribute to Kirk and Sam McGee; Macon Doubler Fellowship Presentation 7 P.M. National Championship Jr. Buckdancing and Jr. Clog Finals 7:30 P.M. Blues Singing Competition 8:30 P.M. Deford Bailey Harmonica Competition 9:30 P.M. Dobro Competition 10 P.M. Uncle Dave Macon Free Wheelin’

Buckdancing and Clogging (Adult and Sr.) Finals 10:15 P.M. National Championship Old Time Banjo finals 10:45 P.M. Old Time Band Competition Finals 11:15 P.M. Bluegrass Banjo Competition Finals 11:45 P.M. Bluegrass Band Competition Finals [Competition times are approximate]

SSaturday, July 13 9 A.M. Guitar Competition 10 A.M. Motorless Parade 10:15 A.M. Fiddle Competition 11:30 A.M. Mandolin Competition 12:45 P.M. National Championship

OT Buckdancing and OT Clogging (Adult and Sr) Preliminaries 1 P.M. Old Time Junior National Winners Presentation 2 P.M. Traditional Fiddle competition 3:15 P.M. Old Time Banjo Competition Preliminaries 4:30 P.M. Old Time Band Competition Preliminaries 5:45 P.M. Bluegrass Banjo Competition Preliminaries; Bluegrass Band Competition Preliminaries 6:30 P.M. Dance Cemonstration and pass it around each other to learn to play as a band. Nowadays, there are a lot of guys and girls, both, that learn to play online. They take lessons from a lot of teachers online and when they get around a band, they’re playing all the time. It’s like, you got to get a singer in the band and learn how to play behind the singer, ya know? That’s how you really learn, because [chuckles a little] there aren’t too many instrumental bands that make it in the business, so you got to have someone that can sing. That’s the advice I’d give. Get in a band, learn how to share the backups, share the solos, and learn it’s a band effort. It’s not just about one person.

Ricky Skaggs and Sharon White

SSunday, July 14 11:00 A.M. Community Worship

Service 12 P.M. Gospel Showcase 12 P.M. Community Service Fair 4 P.M. Old Time Shape Note Singing

and Hymn Fest

SIF YOU GO: WHEN: July 12–14 WHERE: Cannonsburgh Village

312 S. Front St., Murfreesboro COST: $5 per day, Friday and

Saturday, Sunday Free; Kids 12 and Under Free All Days ONLINE: uncledavemacondays.com

The ’Boro’s only Top-40 lounge and dance Floor home oF the no-cover weeKend dance Party!

happy hour everyday 4 To 10 p.m. $2 domesTIc BoTTles • 2-4-1 WInes & Wells

ccovered paTIo For smokers monday Free Pool

Tuesday Even with all of his current projects, with Kentucky Thunder or his duet albums, Ricky Skaggs found time to sit down and document his life in his first book, the autobiographical Kentucky Traveler, due out Aug. 13, just before Cluck Ol’ Hen, releases the next week.

And to reiterate, their scheduled performance at Uncle Dave Macon Days is 7 p.m., Saturday, July 13.

The parade will kick off the Uncle Dave Macon Days festivities Saturday morning, at 10 a.m. Information on where to find, what to know, and how to buy Ricky Skaggs’ music can be found at skaggsfamilyrecords.com or rickyskaggs.com.

Ignite your night

KaraoKe 8 P.m.–midnight

Wednesday/Thursday dance Party • $5 at the door Free domestic Bottles 8 to 11 p.m. with shot specials

liKe ignite murFreeSBoro on FaceBooK

FrIday/saTurday no-cover weeKend dance Party Featuring vdJ mikey mike on Saturdays

sunday 615.962.8352 • 810 nW Broad sT., suITe 222

In The Jackson heIghTs plaza • nexT To olympus, BehInd TooT’s

cornhole in the courtyard at 7 p.m.

Summer tournaments Starting Soon!

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FOOD COFFEE

The “Summer Square” Edition TALK

F

or those of you who may not have noticed, downtown Murfreesboro has recently seen two new additions: a new coffee shop (Reveille Joe) and a shop for tea (PositiffiTEA’s Tiny Tea Factory). Each business is operated by two of the nicest people you’ll meet in the ’Boro, and each business provides a much-needed breath of fresh air for our fair city, much like Pa Bunk’s Natural Market & Cafe, and each business is a testament to the owner’s love of Murfreesboro and a desire to positively affect the community.

One of the missions of the Pulse is to support the community, and we do so in part by announcing and welcoming new businesses. One can view Rutherford County as one large garden, in which the seeds of change and prosperity are planted, blossoming into beautiful and lucrative ideas.

But this is a garden that requires much attention, as it cannot flourish without the nourishment of patronage. Our community is defined by people who support a cause enough to show up.

Reveille Joe and PositiffiTEA are two wonder-

column by JUSTIN STOKES

ful businesses, but too many wonderful businesses come and go with the change of the season because they weren’t offered enough support. It makes one ask, “Do you like local businesses? Would you like to see them succeed? Do you like having coffee and tea shops downtown, participating directly in the

financial well-being of our community?”

Then stop by. Say “hello.” Buy a drink.

Leave a tip. And most importantly, let these businesses know that you care by chatting with the owners and supporting, be it socially or otherwise.

PositiffiTEA 121 S. Church St. Owner Tiffany Malapanes CHAI BERRY BLISS (4 Pulses) Refreshing!

CINNA-ORANGE TIGER TEA (3.5 Pulses) A solid tea worth drinking again. The taste of cinnamon doesn’t necessarily come out with the tea served plain. I would recommend adding something (sugar, etc.) to make the cinnamon “pop.” Definitely a tea worth experimenting with.  ROOTED RASPBERRY GREEN TEA (5 Pulses) Fantastic! Just as it sounds. A really nice tea that you could drink year-round. The flavors are dynamic enough to stand apart, but still complement each other. I would recommend this blend for people who don’t normally drink tea.

(Left) Reveille Joe offers plenty of iced drinks for the summer months in addition to its brews. (Below left) A variety of loose leaf and bagged teas are available at positiffitea.com.

SWEET BORO TEA (3.5 Pulses) Not a bad brew warm, but I would actually recommend serving this chilled. Maybe with lemon?

Reveille Joe 113 N. Maple St. Owner: Matthew O’Dell REVEILLE RESERVE (3.5 Pulses) A good, simple brew. Once again, we have another drink that would be a good introduction for someone who doesn’t drink brewed beverages. I will say that there’s not much of a bite to this coffee, but that’s not a bad thing.

SOUTHERN PECAN (4.5 Pulses) I cannot recommend this drink enough. Brewed just like tea, it’s sweet, but not too heavy. For the summer, I would actually recommend this as a post-breakfast drink. Come fall, however, I think this will be one of the most popular drinks on the square.

GUATEMALAN BLEND (4 Pulses) My preference over the Reveille Reserve. It has a slight bitterness, which I enjoyed.

BROTHERS ROB & ERIC FORTNEY, owners of 3 Brothers Craft Brew House, are hosting a TV viewing party and the Fireball Eating Challenge to celebrate their appearance on Last Call Food Brawl on the Destination America network on July 8 from 7–10 p.m.

Each episode of Last Call Food Brawl challenges four chefs in a different American city to a cookoff to determine who will be crowned the king or queen of late-night bites. The Nashville episode features a hot chicken-inspired “Wings Insanos” challenge.

Eric “Chef Erock” Fortney says, “I created a sweet and spicy, terrifying version wrapped in bacon” of the Nashville phenomenon hot chicken on the show. Fortney’s recipe will be debuted at the restaurant the same evening of the Hot Wings and Queso episode of Last Call Food Brawl, which airs at 9 p.m. central. Word has it that Chef Erock’s fiery culinary creation yielded great results on the show.

Hot chicken is to Nashville as barbecued ribs are to Memphis. The Music City Hot Chicken Festival’s website says hot chicken is “an intensely spicy seasoned cut of leg or breast meat on the bone, served on a slice of white bread (which, for the newbies, acts like a sponge for sopping up the fiery sauce and spices).”

The Fireball Challenge will ask participants to eat three pieces of Chef Erock’s hot chicken and three pieces of Fireball Fritters, another one of 3 Brothers’ signature foods.

“The fastest time is crowned Fireball King,” says Rob, “and their picture will hang on the wall until someone beats their time.”

The challenge will have competitors sweating through their socks, possibly running through the restaurant in pain or doing an impromptu, cayenne-fueled hot chicken dance. There will be heavy breathing, maybe wheezing, and lots of napkins crinkled but someone will win a $100 in cash & prizes on July 8.

Says Rob, “3 Brothers makes food built for beer, and hot chicken will definitely go with our 28 local craft beers.”

For more information on 3 Brothers, visit 3brothersfamily.com or like 3 Brothers on Facebook.

18 * JULY 2013 * BOROPULSE.COM

PHOTO BY BRACKEN MAYO

3 Brothers Turns Up the Heat on National TV

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BOROPULSE.COM

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FOOD

Texas Sushi

Beef brisket with baked beans and potato salad

Rubbed, Smoked and Sauced Rooster’s Lone Star BBQ treats their meat with love, Texas style. story by BRACKEN MAYO photos by CHRISTY SIMMONS

I

f you’ve noticed the air around the Murfreesboro Public Square has become just a little smokier, a little meatier, then you are noticing some of the stars of Rooster and Lori Beane’s new restaurant, Rooster’s Lone Star BBQ and Steakhouse.

The site, located at 223 W. Main St., has served as home to a variety of restaurants over the years, most recently 3 Brothers Deli & Brewhouse (which is still going strong across the Square at 114 N. Church St.).

But now the smell of smoked brisket, chicken, pork and all of the barbecue house standards draw in barbecue fans to Rooster’s. Ribs, wings, sausage and bologna also appear on the menu.

Upon entering the eatery, the decor is as bold as the scent of the smoked meat. Large wooden tables fill the room and a conglomeration of antlers, turkeys and lots of neon beer signs, as well as a large Texas flag, adorn the black-painted walls.

Rooster’s may, first and foremost, be a spot for the carnivore to feast, but the side dishes absolutely hold their own. A delicious mac and cheese, hot and hearty cowboy beans (almost as filling as a chili), very long, perfectly fried, hand-cut fries with bits of crispy skin of the end of each one and wonderful thin, flavorful, crispy onion straws (finely cut onion rings) make selecting your side a challenge.

If one can’t choose between the brisket, ribs, chicken and sausage, the Texas Two Step allows diners to select two of those items, plus two sides, for $13 (and likewise the pick-three Trio for $15).

The menu will soon include filet, strip and ribeye steaks, and Beane plans to bring his Big Roost challenge to the ’Boro as well. If you can polish off a 72-oz. sirloin, plus potato, salad and toast, in one hour, your meal is free. If you can’t, it’s $72. Or just order the Big Rooster for your group and split the giant slab among the whole party or family.

Rooster and his brother, Aubrey, can now claim a bona fide Middle Tennessee family barbecue pedigree; Rooster has had his spurs in both Mickey Roos and Rooster’s Texas Style BBQ and Steakhouse in Nashville (which has since closed now that his Murfreesboro location is up and running) and Aubrey was behind Judge Bean’s BBQ.

20 * JULY 2013 * BOROPULSE.COM

Rooster’s doesn’t have a huge menu, but certainly offers some uncommon items for Murfreesboro.

If calf fries are you thing, Rooster’s may just be the place for you; if you are unsure exactly what they are, they are pieces of bull balls, which the menu is very straightforward about.

“We sell about 40 pounds a week now,” Rooster said. “And they are to die for.”

Another nontraditional must-try item offered is the Texas sushi, which consists of a jalapeño pepper stuffed with mozzarella cheese, placed next to a piece of smoked sausage and wrapped in brisket, then smoked and sliced as a sushi roll would be—spicy, meaty and filling.

“We smoke everything; even our green beans,” Rooster said.

Literally, everything in the house, other than a few deep-fried items like fries, okra or a new Texas-sized cheesestick they have recently added, hits the smoker.

Some have commented that the prices are slightly above average for Murfreesboro, but Lori and Rooster stand behind the quality and portions of their food, and point out that they have already earned a number of loyal regular customers, who can’t stay away from Rooster’s welcoming dining room and meaty menu.

“And we’re not Ruth’s Chris,” Lori points out.

“We’re for working people.”

To try out Rooster’s fare at a great value, drop in on Taco Tuesdays, when pulled pork, beef brisket or fried catfish tacos are all $2 apiece. These are served with a tangy salsa with a unique sweet, almost fruity, flavor I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

“We smoke the tomatoes,” Lori said.

Makes sense.

I like the fact these are served in corn tortillas, with lots of shredded cheese on top.

The bologna sandwich is also becoming a hit with a lot of locals.

“We smoke it, then fry it,” Rooster said of the bologna.

The Beanes say the Murfreesboro community has been so supportive to them over the past few months, they want to return the favor and help to see that the local economy, and restaurant scene, thrives over the coming years.

“We want to be part of helping everybody. We want to help Slick Pig, we want to help Jim ‘N Nick’s. We want 3 Brothers to do well. We want everyone on the Square to do well. We want to be

Tacos are only $2 on Tuesdays: pork, brisket or catfish.

THE DISH NAME: Rooster’s Lone Star BBQ & Steakhouse LOCATION: 223 W. Main St. PHONE: (615) 867-1836 HOURS: 10:30 a.m.– Closin’ Time Mon.–Sat. PRICES: Brisket or pork plate with two sides: $11, Texas sushi (three pieces): $10, 16 oz. strip: $22 ONLINE: Look for Rooster’s Lonestar BBQ on Facebook (Left) A group of loyal Rooster's fans.

(Here) Very large cheesesticks.

team players,” Lori said. “Mike at Maple Street Grill, Eric at 3 Brothers, Rooster, they all have different styles of cooking. Everybody cooks differently. We love going to find new places to eat.”

The Rooster’s Lone Star BBQ dining room is available for large parties and reunions at no additional charge, and they also offer catering services. The restaurant will be closed on Sundays through the summer, but will reopen on Sundays when football season begins.

Like them on Facebook for upcoming music performances and updates.

Blueberries Ready!

The Blueberry Patch is more than a farm, it’s a special place for special people story and photos by BRACKEN MAYO

A Sweet Summer Recipe

by DAISY KING

CHESS PIE Serves 6

“It’s about the people,” she says.

Ms. Em, a long-time Blueberry Patch fan and friend of Kleinau’s who actually volunteers a great deal of her time and energy at the patch, recounted a time when a gentleman asked her why she was spending her time picking berries. “‘Because,’” Em told him, “‘the people who pick these berries are special.’ He stopped and looked at me and said softly, ‘Does that mean I’m special?’ “‘Why, yes,’” Em told the man. “He said, ‘No one has ever told me I’m special,’” and went along picking his berries, but with a new sense of contentment about him, Em said.

The patch has a playground for kids just next to the berry fields, under a nice layer of shade. One mother with an active young boy expressed her gratitude for such a wonderful place for the family.

“Thank you,” the mother told Kleinau, with tears in her eyes. “This is the only place we can

come where my son can be free and I don’t feel like I have to correct him.”

I could go on and on about blueberries. About how perfect that plump, dark one tastes, about how you may want to put some in a dish of ice cream after a few hours of picking in the July sun, about how it’s important to shop local and support area agriculture, about how you can connect with nature peacefully picking berries and listening to birds, about the superior taste of the local, natural product, about how parents and children make great picking teams (tall people get the high ones, short people get the low ones!), about jams, jellies and health benefits; but I’ll let you ask Kleinau if you want to know more, and antioxidants and pies aside, she’ll tell you about the true power of blueberries, and of God’s special people.

The Blueberry Patch is located at 5942 West Gum Road. For more info, call (615) 893-7940.

½ cup butter, melted 1 tablespoon vinegar 3 eggs, well beaten 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon cornmeal 1 ½ cups sugar 1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

In a large bowl combine the ingredients.

Pour into the pie crust. Bake until brown.

Reduce the heat to 200 degrees and continue baking for 40 minutes.

PHOTO BY CHRISTY SIMMONS

ANGIE KLEINAU HAS SEEN a lot of blueberries over the years at her farm on West Gum Road. She and her husband started producing blueberries there more than 30 years ago, and they now have seven-plus acres of thriving blueberry bushes neatly arranged in rows, mowed clean in between and, come the first of July each year, loaded with delicious, sweet, dark blue berries.

“Once they are ripe, it’s easy picking for two weeks,” she tells a customer eager to taste some of this year’s produce from the approximately 4,000 plants on the property. Kleinau expects to open on July 6, she told the Pulse the last week of June.

The Blueberry Patch is a you-pick operation; customers visit the fields and pick the berries they want, and the farm charges by the pound. Prices can vary based on yields, Kleinau says, but previous years have seen prices at $4 or $5 per pound.

“I stay pretty close to the grocery stores’ prices,” she says. “I’m not officially certfied organic, but we have not sprayed grass or ground in 12 years.”

If a customer is not able to pick for themselves, or doesn’t have the time, a limited about of prepicked berries are available.

“We ask that you give at least two days’ notice, though, just to be sure we have enough on hand,” Kleinau says. “We don’t take anything out of the picking fee; we just pay the people who pick.”

And some customers have a preference on who picks their berries for them—their favorite picker.

“Some like the very sweet, juicy ones; some like the under-ripe ones for recipes; some like the small, tart ones,” Kleinau says. “We have a serious customer base each year who will come for 30, 40 or 50 pounds apiece, and freeze them.”

But much more important to her than berries are the customers she has encountered.

BOROPULSE.COM

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PHOTO BY KACEY RANDOLPH

THEATER

ALL SHOOK UP

ONSTAGE IN JULY HELLO, DOLLY! 6:30 p.m., July 12, 13, 15–20, and 22–27; 2 p.m. July 14, 21 and 28 Murfreesboro Center for the Arts 110 W. College St. boroarts.org LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! 7:30 p.m., July 5–8 and 11–14 ALEX STOKES (STAND-UP COMEDY) 9 p.m., July 18–20 GEORGE W. MANUS JR.’S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS WITH BRYCE DAMUTH 9 p.m., July 25–27 Out Front on Main 1511 E. Main St. outfrontonmain.com 22 * JULY 2013 * BOROPULSE.COM

ALEX STOKES STAND UP COMEDY

ALL SHOOK UP 7:30 p.m., July 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, and 20; 2 p.m, July 7 and 14 The Arts Center of Cannon County 1424 John Bragg Hwy. artscenterofcc.com THE ANNIVERSARY WALTZ (MLT’S FIRST SHOW IN 1962) 7 p.m., July 19, 26 and 27; 2 p.m., July 21, 28 Murfreesboro Little Theatre 702 Ewing Ave. mltarts.com

t’s tough to find a well-made horror movie. In an era of sequels and reboots to horror films with high budgets and low standards, one who is looking for a legitimate thrill or genuine goosebumps from a film is less than satisfied. This has led more people into the mists of cyberspace cinema and the independent film circuits, looking for a compelling narrative with a good scare.

It is through this mist that the Pulse stumbled across the Daywalt Fear Factory: a production company who specializes in horror.

Thrilled by the works of the Fear Factory, the Pulse took a moment to pick the brain of the man who manufactures nightmares: Drew Daywalt.

What is it about being scared that makes you want to direct horror movies?

DAYWALT: When I was about 7, I accidentally walked in on my older brothers watching The Exorcist, and it was right during the height of Reagan’s possession. I stood there frozen in fear, but unable to move my feet or look away. As a cinematic experience, I’ve never felt something so pure, so strong and so memorable. It was the first time I’d ever literally felt my body chemistry change just because of something I was watching on TV. That adrenaline coursing through my body changed the way I viewed film, even though I didn’t know it at the time. Once I was old enough to comprehend that people “made” that piece of art, I knew then that I wanted to make art that did that too.

For telling a scary story, what inspires you?

DAYWALT: See, now that question is surprisingly simple. I just focus on what scares me. And at the end of the day, it’s the same things that scares everyone else. I think that the difference between horror story tellers and everyone else is that we allow our nightmares to flow through us after we wake up, instead of pushing them back down into our psyche.

Most people work hard to forget the horrible imagery that plagues them from their own subconscious, whereas that’s fertile ground to grow the truly awful imagery for someone who peddles terror.

While being an avid fan of horror movies, do you plan on mostly focusing

your future career on them? What other genres of film do you plan on making?

DAYWALT: I like fantasy and sci-fi as well and would gladly tell stories in those genres. I love building worlds. I’m a world builder. My favorite films and filmmakers are all about new worlds, strange experiences, things beyond the norm. I started out in Hollywood doing comedy and action adventure just because that’s where my path and opportunities took me.

But when I took a moment and really thought about why I became a filmmaker and why I’m even here in L.A., I decided I didn’t want to just make a paycheck. I wanted to create the kind of art that inspired me as a child and a teenager.

And that was horror and fantasy.

Your IMDB credits list your first feature film Stark Raving Mad, which appears to be a heist thriller with comedic elements. Tell us about your experiences on that film.

DAYWALT: Stark Raving Mad was my directorial debut. I’d sold the script, which I’d written as well, to Newmarket films, which had just made Memento, and they teamed me up with Quentin Tarantino’s A Band Apart. I’d just come off of three years of cutting my teeth as a music video director and everyone wanted a hyper-stylized heist film with a fun cast of characters, so after casting Seann William Scott in the lead, we filmed in Vancouver and had a blast. Ultimately though, what I learned on my first film was that while I loved comedy and action, what I really wanted to be doing was genre stuff like horror and fantasy.

How did the idea for Daywalt Fear Factory, a company mainly focused on short films, come about?

DAYWALT: When I made the transition from comedy to horror, I found myself with my agents and managers looking at me like I was crazy because they felt like it was a step down.

And while the studios view the genre as a sort of creative ghetto, I love horror. And I thought it was just in need of good storytelling. But I found that even though I’d worked with Tony Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer and Lawrence Bender on action comedies, I found everyone in town saying, “Okay, so you wanna do horror.

But are you scary?” So I got some people together and filmed some short films, just resume

How to Make a Monster: An Interview with Drew Daywalt story by JUSTIN STOKES

pieces really, and put them on YouTube, just to see if I could do it. And my first short film, Bedfellows, had 4 million hits in 2 weeks. So I was off to the races. And even though work started to come in, in horror, I still loved the short film format, so I kept making them. I still do actually. Between features and TV shows, my team and I will go do a short just because they’re fun. Better than a vacation for us after a long production, actually.

Do you find your short film work more liberating because of fewer constraints, or is there more pressure because you have a finite amount of time to tell a story and scare people?

DAYWALT: I actually welcome the time constraints. It’s made me a better story teller and a more efficient visualist. Having to get broad concepts across very quickly in the short films has taught me to get to the point and not fuck around, and I’ve definitely taken that with me back to features and episodic TV. If there’s a short hand, use it.

Many people seem to look down up horror films as something of a low-brow form of art. Why do you think that is?

DAYWALT: It’s because the genre has long been the hiding place of hacks. And they’ve hijacked a grand genre and replaced story telling with gore and tits & ass. Luckily internet porn has alleviated the pressure to show nudity for no reason in horror films, but we’re still saddled with gore hounds who’d rather throw a bucket of blood & shit on the camera than tell a good story. If you look at some of the really good horror films, none of them are about the gore. They’re about character and desire and story momentum. The same things that all good cinema is about. And that’s where I want to be. I want to tell good stories, and horror is a great place to do just that. I mean, what other genre can get an audience to show up purely

on concept with no movie stars attached?

What advice would you like to see aspiring filmmakers take to heart?

DAYWALT: The expression I was told all my life as a writer is that writers write. And it’s true.

You need to be writing, journaling, investigating every day. And now, since the digital revolution in cameras, the same expression can be said of directors. Directors direct. Get a cheap camera, start filming. Of course it’s going to look like shit at first, but that’s the point. Keep going until it doesn’t. Keep going until you have a film that people arch an eyebrow at and say, “Wow. That’s good.” Then keep going until you have one that’s great. After that? Keep filming. As directors today, we have the luxury of being able to film all the time, any time, almost as cheaply as writers can write. So make films. Lots of them. If you don’t love what you’ve made, no big deal. Welcome to the club. Move on to the next thing.

What projects are you working on currently?

DAYWALT: I’ve got two films going at the moment. One is The Passengers, which is the story of a young trucker and his wife and a load of haunted antiques they’ve been hired to transport across country. It’s got a sort of a Shining feel to it. We get to watch this couple completely disintegrate when faced with overwhelmingly dark supernatural forces. Then there’s The Hurting Man, about a police officer who responds to a 911 call from his own family only to discover they’ve been slaughtered. And every night thereafter he gets the same frenzied 911 call from his dead niece who died there.

It’s a new kind of ghost story that I’m really excited to tell.

Where can fans of your work go to support you, or keep up with you online?

DAYWALT: I’m @drewdaywalt on twitter and you can also find me on Facebook as well as YouTube at youtube.com/daywaltfearfactory.

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PHOTO BY TRACEY MORRIS

I

MOVIES

LIVING ROOM CINEMA

MOVIES REVIEWS

column by NORBERT THIEMANN

facebook.com/livingroomcinema

THIS IS THE END

where all their friends go to a party at James Franco’s house.

The first act relishes in toying with the audience’s preconceived notions of these actors playing themselves. Jay Baruchel plays an anti-social hipster visiting Seth Rogen’s affable peoplepleaser character in L.A. Not a huge stretch. Franco puffs up his pretentious, artsy side while Jonah

Hill plays the effeminate suck-up and the one-note Danny McBride still kills as a toned-down Kenny Powers. Craig Robinson stays familiar as the tough guy with a soft underbelly but Michael Cera goes full-bore Charlie Sheen. Then Hermione, er, Emma Watson, shows up wielding an ax, seemingly playing it straight.

All the while, the end-of-times rain of fire and brimstone and demons-with-dicks ensuing outside, as everyone fights over a candy bar and a porno mag inside, keeps the film from reeling into glorified celebrity home-movie territory.

Rogen and Goldberg say that their version of the apocalypse was taken almost directly from the Christian Bible, yet somehow This Is the End is the freshest and funniest take I’ve seen, amidst a slew of end-of-the-world movies and TV shows, since Shaun of the Dead.

— JAY SPIGHT

Which is a huge shame. We see the same chase from 28 Days Later seen up a flight of tenant-building stairs, or the same zombie-infested hospital we’ve seen time and time again. Seeing zombies in a plane is pretty cool, but that wears off quickly and is under-used.

Character in general seems to be an issue here. All the other characters are really flat, including Lane’s wife and the mysterious CIA operative who is somehow still in prison for selling guns (you’re just going to leave this guy in there?). The film tries to mask that by giving certain

characters weird, out-there philosophies (like the goofy-ass doctor who equates Mother Nature to being a serial killer—give me a break please).

You had so much potential here.

It’s a global stage for one of my favorite genres that ultimately leads to nothing. It’s a dead end.

Additionally speaking, I’ve heard some people say the film is unfaithful to the book. Now, I own the book, and as of this review haven’t read it. I did read an earlier draft of the film’s script, and there seems to be a dayand-night difference between the two drafts. I have a feeling that if you were to combine both stories you’d have a pretty cool concept.

But we don’t. We have this. It’s an entertaining ride for a few minutes, but the end result is a movie that is going to leave people saying something stupid like, “Zombies can’t be done anymore because we’ve covered all the territory there is to cover.”

Should we have to keep wading through the nonsense of a movie just to have five, maybe ten minutes of a good time? — JUSTIN STOKES

Starring: Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco Directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg

Rated R

This Is the End is not Pineapple Express 2, though its April Fools ad campaign tricked many (including myself ) into thinking it was. The spirit and cast are all there with a little Knocked Up, Superbad, and every cast member of the School of Apatow (and more) thrown in for good measure. Like Adam Sandler et al. in Grown Ups, This Is the End is ostensibly an excuse for Seth Rogen and his friends to hang out and shoot a movie about him and his friends hanging out. But rather than being 90 minutes of celebrity summer camp wish fulfillment, This Is the End opts to add comedy and an apocalypse to the

mix. A comedocalypse, if you will.

The concept behind TItE is a simple one that most everyone has, at one point, considered: What if the book of Revelations actually happened? Co-writers/ directors Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg take this concept to its logical and hilarious conclusion as if set in some slightly skewed, yet totally familiar, bizarro universe

WORLD WAR Z Starring Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, Matthew Fox, David Morse Directed by Marc Forster

Rated PG-13

Never in my lifetime would I have expected to see Brad Pitt, a major talent and one of the biggest household names in Hollywood, not only star in, but produce a bigbudget zombie film. And never in my life would I have thought that it would be a disappointment.

World War Z, based on the best-selling book by Max Brooks (son of Mel Brooks), is the story of a large-scale zombie pandemic and how the world reacts to it. After Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) and his family escape from the flesh-eating chaos which has consumed Philadelphia and almost every other major city, they are taken to a U.N.-protected ship. Lane is thrown back into the job from which he retired, using that know-how to help figure out where the zombie virus came from, and,

RATINGS: 24 * JULY 2013 * BOROPULSE.COM

more importantly, how to stop it.

That’s great. There are just a few problems . . .

One, the filmmakers, in all of their infinite wisdom, never bother telling us what it is Mr. Lane does for a living. Whatever it is, it’s obviously very important. We know he’s not a doctor, as he only has a handful of medical experience and training, and he wrote a book.

Aside from that, who the hell is he?

That MASSIVE, UNFORGIVABLE PROBLEM aside, this film really doesn’t cover new territory within the zombie subgenre at all.

A CLASSIC

OUTSTANDING

AVERAGE

BELOW AVERAGE

New York Art Scene Post 1970s

F

rom the gritty dust of the 1970s arose an underground art scene in New York City, which was quite fertile throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Before the over-commercialization of Times Square, art from the street was starting to be legitimately recognized.

Here are just two who made their mark from that residual dust.

 Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (2010) is directed by Tamra Davis, and appears on Independent Lens. Davis pays tribute to her long departed friend by telling his amazing story. Basquiat started out as a young graffiti artist who was often homeless. His paintings are highly original, even when alluding to the famous works of others. A New York darling, Jean-Michel caught the eye of critics, collectors and his peers, including the renowned Andy Warhol.

 The Hardcore Collection: The Films of Richard Kern (2000) contains the very provocative short films of Richard Kern, which were filmed from the mid 1980s through the late 1990s. His casting includes the likes of Lydia Lunch, Henry Rollins, Sonic Youth and more.

Depictions of sex, nudity, family strife, violence, and other anti-social behavior can all be found within the collection. The films were often intended to push the boundaries, not to mention people’s buttons.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS

DEAD

FOLLOWING A STAR New documentary on legendary Tennessee band sure to stoke cult flames even higher. story by STEVE MORLEY When it comes to pop and rock music from the last 40-odd years, the world can easily be divided into two simple parts: those who’ve heard of Big Star, and those who haven’t. The cult following that has been growing around this quasi-mythic Memphis band for decades now is such that the very words “big” and “star,” spoken in that particular sequence, have become a kind of code-speak for insider hipness. It’s been this way at least since The Replacements’ song “Alex Chilton” (which name-checks the band and its most famous member) came out in 1987.

It was intended as a tribute, which it is, though it also created a problem: It made a demigod of Chilton, erroneously implying that the former singer of the late ’60s pop act The Box Tops was the de facto leader and founder of Big Star. This misconception is now being remedied, thanks to the documentary Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me, which makes its area debut at Nashville’s Belcourt Theatre on Friday, July 12.

This event will doubtlessly produce a turnout of zealot-like magnitude, as there is probably no flock of fans more dedicated than those who have long been genuflecting at the altar of Big Star. For them, this is video manna, raining down from rock ’n’ roll heaven. For the curious, there’s no better starting place than this film, which will likely stand as the definitive version of the Big Star saga. Nothing Can Hurt Me presents the reasons behind the band’s commercial failure and resulting semi-secret status at the pinnacle of rock’s anointed few, and does a good deal more.

The film lays out the far larger pop-culture context in which Big Star emerged, fizzled and improbably found new life on the sheer strength of its once-hard-to-find records, aiding the viewer in appreciating what the band accomplished

within perhaps the worst possible time period and circumstances. The story is told by a sizable cast of Memphians (though the late and notoriously media-wary Alex Chilton, who was still with us when the film began production, characteristically opted not to participate). Cameos from members of the music press and the indie-rock elite confirm the extent of the band’s effect upon them.

Then, of course, there’s the music. It seeps through the very pores of the film, as well it should, providing an essential dimension of the story (and one that threatens to distract from it at times). An accompanying soundtrack (available on CD and, fittingly, vinyl) offers various remixes and one original demo, while the film itself does contain bits of lesser-known music from founding member Chris Bell and other associated Memphis bands. Indeed, Nothing Can Hurt Me is secondarily a film about the Memphis music scene in the ’70s, and includes such items of interest as interview segments with legendary producer and indie-music godfather Jim Dickinson and a vintage, hilarious local TV clip. The film also documents Chilton’s late-‘70s move to New York City, where he became involved with such groups as The Cramps and retooled his own career, drawing from punk and alternative sensibilities that left many of his fans befuddled.

Because the nearly two-hour-long documentary is packed—more correctly, layered—with compelling music and multiple story threads, as well as some very artful visual moments (like, for instance, the neon sputnik scene that aptly accompanies one of Big Star’s eeriest tracks), one viewing won’t likely be enough to catch all that it has to offer. One, however, is all it takes to explicitly convey to the viewer what is often implicit in the songs and vocals of Chilton and Bell: that is, the considerable struggle experienced in their interior lives. Don’t be misled by the title—Nothing Can Hurt Me, for all its celebration of Big Star’s music and its belated, bittersweet victory, is anything but pain-free.

Visit boropulse.com to check out the official movie trailer. For showtimes and more information on the Belcourt, visit belcourt.org.

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VIDEOGAME REVIEW

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (PC)

by NADER HOBBALLAH

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is quite possibly the greatest nostalgia ride I have ever taken. This game came basically out of nowhere and completely surprised me. It is fun, it is FUNNY, and it just plain rocks!

Blood Dragon is ’80s nostalgia, pure and simple.

Fusing what was great, or at least just memorable, about the ’80s with Far Cry 3’s excellent gameplay, Blood Dragon is a fantastically immersive experience.

The crux of the story is that in a post-apocalyptic America in 2007, you are a cybernetic soldier, voiced by none other than Michael Bean (Terminator, Aliens), fighting to avenge a fallen comrade and saving the world at the same time.

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The game oozes ’80s, with an atmosphere, score, and aesthetic that recalls movies such as Terminator, Aliens, Total Recall, those movies with the overly bombastic rock guitar instrumentals, and even manages to insert themes reminiscent of John Carpenter’s The Thing. It is like immersing yourself in all of those movies at once, and it is absolutely awesome.

The gameplay itself takes what made Far Cry 3 amazing, but streamlines it, as the game is much shorter. The leveling process unlocks health bars and other abilities rather than allowing you to choose from a skill tree, but I found this did not hinder my enjoyment at all, and I quickly started to really like it. You can still capture outposts, of course, and in typical Far Cry fashion, there are a number of ways to go about it. You can lure one of the infamous

blood dragons into the compound and watch it wreak havoc. You can unleash a captured animal inside. You can go total stealth, disabling the alarm and taking enemies out with just a bow and arrow, or you can just go guns-a-blazing and take on everyone that appears.

Once captured, you have a store from which you can buy items as well as optional side missions. The side missions consist of either silently rescuing a scientist or killing a wild beast. On top of experience, you unlock new things to purchase by completing these tasks.

Like Far Cry 3, you do not need to do any of this, but it sure does make the game easier and more fun. There are

also some side things you can do for additional experience and unlockables, like collecting VHS tapes of old ’80s movies or TV sets of old ’80s TV shows.

The humor here is absolutely palpable, from the hilariously over-the-top (but good) voice work, to the descriptions of various items and weapons, to the loading screens, where you will be shown hilarious jabs at conventional video game logic.

Alas, there is no multiplayer or co-op, or any sort of other mode—just the main game—but at $14.99 for one of the most fun and funniest games I have ever played, you owe it to yourself to check out Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, especially if you are a fan of ’80s movies.

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SPORTS PATS GET RID OF A KILLER, BRING IN TEBOW

SPORTS TALK column by Z-TRAIN

titanman1984@ yahoo.com

T

he Train Daddy is back with the pain and it’s America’s Independence Party, so we blow stuff up in the streets and in the toilet.

That’s how we do it here in America. July 4 is the day that we all go to our local town’s fireworks show, or we create our own show by blowing stuff up in the streets, and of course, the food! The food is the reason we here in America are all fat, but it’s all in good fun and good taste. Burgers, hot dogs, chips, baked beans, macaroni, corn on the cob, deviled eggs, and cookies and cakes decorated as American flags, that’s how my family got down this year—it’s America baby! And you may be thinking “Train Daddy, what do you mean blow up the toilet?” I don’t mean with a firework; a meal like that and it’s off to the races later. Like Jim Carrey said, “Whoa, do not go in there!” So what’s going on in the sports world?

Well, we have a killer taking up all the headlines. Well, not guilty until proven so. But I think we all agree: just like OJ, he did it! The hot dog eating contest takes place July 4, and it’s as nasty and entertaining as ever. OK, so I didn’t predict the NBA Champion correctly, I had the Spurs in 6, and King James proved me wrong and took it in 7, only because of a Ray Allen 3-point shoot in the final seconds of regulation during game 6. If Ray Allen misses that 3, Spurs win in 6. You can tell I hate the Heat, but credit is due, and the 2-time defending champs are on top of the basketball world.

Also, last article I talked about Tim Tebow and the likelihood he would be

28 * JULY 2013 * BOROPULSE.COM

signed, and shortly after that article hit the stands, the Patriots signed the quarterback. Bill Belichick seems thrilled about this move. Ha-ha!

The Chicago Blackhawks have done it; the Stanley Cup Champions are celebrating and marching in parades down the street. Besides that, there is not much going on. Basketball is over, hockey is over, we all wait for the return of the NFL and college football. Really, all we have now is that boring game we call baseball. Sorry baseball fans, I’m not very interested unless it’s the World Series or Braves in the Playoffs. Besides that, I just don’t have 3 hours to watch a slow game; maybe one day when I’m an old retired man then I will appreciate baseball. Don’t worry, football is just around the corner!

Aaron Hernandez has been all the talk as of late and the media outlets have played it out, but who isn’t interested in a $40-million man who seems to have gone on a murder spree. Would make for a great movie thriller. Hernandez, who played his college years for Urban Meyer at the University of Florida and his pro career for the Patriots at the tight end position, has been charged with first-degree murder, and has been linked to an unsolved double-murder drive-by shooting in Boston in 2012.

The man is screwed. The evidence released to the public seems overwhelming. The police found ammo, clips, and have a security camera snapping a shot of Hernandez leaving his home with a Glock in hand, hours prior to the execution-style murder of Odin Lloyd.

Police state Lloyd was shot twice in the head by a man who was standing above him, he was on his knees in what seems to be an execution. The police also have a text Lloyd sent to his sister where he stated he was fearful, and wanted to just let her know he was with Hernandez, and other accomplices. This isn’t all Hernandez has to deal with: police are investigating a 2012 unsolved driveby shooting where two men were killed, and reports stated that a silver SUV was reported fleeing the scene. Just two days after being accused of executing Lloyd, investigators seized a silver SUV from the garage of Hernandez’s uncle.

Uh-oh! If this isn’t enough killing and

evidence, after this was reported a former friend stated Hernandez shot him in the head and left him for dead.

The former friend lost his right eye, but never reported the incident because he was fearful that Hernandez would finish the job. Hernandez’s next hearing is July 24, and he is stating his innocence.

We’ll see! The Patriots made a smart PR move offering fans a chance to return their Hernandez jerseys for another player’s, in an attempt to make Hernandez disappear. What baffles me is some of these jerseys are going for $300 on the Internet, triple the actual price of the jersey that has been taken off the market. I don’t know if these people see a collectible value here or what, all I know is whatever gang-banging punk you see wearing this jersey, probably a good idea to stay clear.

What else do I have for you this article? Let’s just do some random NFL talk here. Chad Johnson smacks his attorney on the ass after a judge asks him if he was happy with his attorney.

The judge was not amused, sentencing Johnson to 30 days rather than community service. Child please! Johnson was facing domestic abuse charges and was released after 7 days in jail.

Good for the judge; some say she overreacted, but I like the ruling. I see the difference in the way normal people are treated compared to celebrities in court rooms, it’s nice to see the hammer slammed, even if it was only for 7 days.

Jake Locker was recently compared to a young Ben Roethlisberger by veteran receiver Nate Washington. Nate played with the Steelers and was there for Big Ben’s rookie season, so I hope

Tim Tebow’s reunion with Josh McDaniels in New England (above) grabbed headlines briefly, until all eyes turned to Aaron Hernandez and his gangster ways.

that toughness comes out here for Jake the Snake coming into his third year.

Locker needs to focus on his footwork.

We all know he has a cannon and can sling the football, but he needs to find a way to stay healthy. It’s make-or-break this season, and Jake is on the hot seat.

Jared Cook is no longer a Titan and is currently a Ram residing in St. Louis with the old ball coach Jeff Fisher. All I am saying is Fisher has stated he will be a playmaker and they have plans for him downfield, upfield, left field and right field; he will get the ball. The Rams will do something the Titans never did. They will use his skill set and he will make big plays. Trust me, he is at the top of my fantasy watch board

“Whatever gang banging punk you see wearing (Aaron Hernandez’s) jersey, probably a good idea to stay clear.”

at the tight end position, for a steal!

Beside the known playmakers like Gronkowski, Witten, Davis and Gonzalez there is no solid depth at the tight end position, just saying Cook is a solid late pick at tight end, maybe a difference maker in your season. For anyone down with fantasy football, keep an eye out, I have an issue coming out with all things fantasy football, and if you want that edge, check out my article.

Just last month I got a chance to see Tim Tebow, and had him sign a football for me. He's a very humble person, whom I respect, even though I think he is a garbage NFL quarterback. That doesn’t mean I don’t respect what he has done in terms of his college accomplishments and his ministry. Some may condemn him because of his faith, though, I respect him for it. The man has nothing bad to say about anyone, people throw cheap shots at him and it doesn’t faze him. The reason is because he knows where he stands in his faith with God and his family. The man simply loves football, is passionate about his faith in the Gospel, is a role model to many and could care less if he isn’t the best player.

That’s it, I’m out. Like I always say, there is nothing better than the 5 F’s: Faith, Family, Friends, Football and Food.

A Few Good Truths

OPINIONS The Outstretched Hand of The Law column by TONY LEHEW

LET’S TALK ABOUT RED LIGHT CAMERAS.

Do they prevent accidents? Do they cause accidents? Are they there for your protection? Or are they just another tax?

Red light cameras are placed at intersections to take timed pictures of your license plate. When a vehicle runs a red light, these cameras snap a picture. It’s later analyzed, and the Murfreesboro Police Department decides if you deserve a ticket. If so, a ticket, along with a picture of your offense, is mailed to you. Taken like that, you might be compelled to think that this is a good idea. After all, these cameras are for your protection, and you ran a red light.

You deserve a ticket, don’t ya? Just because you were not caught by the police and no one was in any way affected does not mean that you should get away with it, does it?

The city council voted to bring these cameras to Murfreesboro in 2008 and they have been a source of controversy ever since. American Traffic Solutions maintains and monitors the cameras for the city and their services come with a healthy price tag. ATS gets 100 percent of the first 1,200 tickets collected each month and after that the city gets half. You, of course, the good citizens of Murfreesboro, get the bill for all of this. Even if you never run a red light in your life, even if you don’t drive, hundreds of thousands of your tax dollars go to fund this project.

The Murfreesboro Police may have to use fewer officers to monitor these intersections, but they now have to use extra manpower to sort out all the pictures of traffic violators. The numbers provided by the city indicate that the cameras took in roughly $833,000 last year, and they paid out $671,000 to ATS to monitor and maintain these cameras. So, what that really means is, the city hands out more than $833,000 in fines to make approximately $162,000 profit.

Not only do the taxpayers get to foot the bill for this endeavor, but guess who gets the tickets?

That’s right, the same people who paid for the system in the first place: Mr. & Ms. Taxpayer.

Numbers released by the MPD show that the number of accidents at these intersections has gone down, and the decrease is attributed to these cameras. In the first two years of camera use, the number of accidents went up, mostly as rear-end collisions affecting motorists trying to stop before they have to smile for the camera. With this statistic of reduced accidents, the MPD is requesting that more of these cameras be placed at eight more intersections. It would seem that the thinking here is keeping you safer through more taxation.

You might think from what you have just read that I am against these cameras, and you would be correct. I think it is a bad idea to ever give any form of government an easy way to tax the people. If you are a student of history, you will agree that revolutions are started over unfair taxations. I’m not saying and certainly not advocating that there will be armed insurrection over these red light cameras, but there is opposition to this practice, and it’s growing. There are organized groups that want to put an end to this practice, not just in Murfreesboro but almost everywhere these cameras exist. It has been reported that many who get these tickets are refusing to pay them. I don’t advocate this, but it does show that there are many who don’t feel this type of traffic enforcement is in their best interest.

“So, what that really means is, the city hands out more than $833,000 in fines to make approximately $162,000 profit . . .

I feel the sticky, money hungry fingers of Big Brother reaching out to wrap his icy grip around my wallet.”

Those who support the use of these cameras have repeatedly said that they are here for our protection. I say: How? No camera has ever prevented an accident from happening; all it can do is record it happening. It can help in the prosecution of those involved (again, more money for the system), but it cannot protect you.

MPD stats show that after initially causing more accidents, the number of accidents have gone down because of these cameras. So, I guess by this reasoning the safety of the good taxpayers of Murfreesboro was sacrificed for the first two years while everyone got to know where these stealth cameras were. So if the city places these cameras at eight more intersections, they will actually be making the streets more dangerous, at least for the next two years. The most telling factor in the use of these cameras is how the city makes the public aware of them.

Most people are not aware they exist until they

The arguments that opponents of the

get a ticket. I can’t say what the guidelines are for certain (or even if there are any), but it is my guess that the bare minimum has been met on marking the intersections where cameras are present. The one at the intersection of S.E. Broad and Church Street is marked only by a small sign that is lost in a sea of other road signs. If this is truly about safety instead of taxation, all intersections with cameras should be very visibly marked. I’m thinking a 50-foottall blinking neon sign with an air horn alerting you to the presence of red light cameras. Also, it would nice to have a few of the officers that these cameras reportedly free up from traffic enforcement standing at these intersections with billboards politely asking you to drive more safely. Doing more to alert a motorist to this camera enforcement should do far more to reduce the number of accidents than sending them a fine and a picture of their bumper. But, my taxpaying friends, it wouldn’t do much for the profit margins.

I am a casual observer of city politics and I don’t recall these intersection accidents being much of an issue until these red light cameras came along and made taxing motorists easier.

Despite all the claims, these cameras do not prevent accidents. The only hope of using these cameras to prevent accidents is by better informing the motorist of the presence of these cameras. But this could drastically cut the number of people trying to squeeze through a yellow light and make the intersections safer.

But this would also seriously decrease the potential revenue brought in by these cameras.

Every time I drive through one of these intersections I feel the sticky, money-hungry fingers of Big Brother reaching out to wrap his icy grip around my wallet.

But no matter how big Big Brother is, he has a bigger brother, the American voter. If you gain nothing else from what you read here, remember this: Elected officials are not your rulers, they are your servants. If you have issue with them or the way things are run, they are at your beck and call. If they are not, then they are wrong and not deserving of the office they hold.

If you agree with their actions or disagree, make your opinions known. Call them, write to them and, most importantly, vote. You elect these people to decide how to spend your money, so, tell ’em how you want it done.

And don’t run red lights.

BE ALERT! BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU AT THE INTERSECTIONS OF:

S. Church & S.E. Broad Northfield & Memorial S. Church & Middle Tennessee N.W. Broad & Northfield Rutherford & Mercury Old Fort & Thompson

mosque have used are varied in number and scope. They range from the severely paranoid to the more mundane, but I'd like to point out flaws in just a few.

They want to take over our schools, our country, our laws and way of life to make the U.S. just like the Middle East. There are several problems with that

theory. No. 1: If they wanted the United States to be just like the Middle East, why would they be here? They come to the U.S. because they want the freedom that we enjoy here. They believe in the American dream and do not want to change the laws or the way of living here. No. 2: When was the last time you actually saw the Democrats, the Republicans and the independents work together to get any kind of law passed? The amount of organization required for our laws to be changed to Sharia law is just not possible—not when we still have the freedom to vote and to influence the passing of laws.

9/11—It is still a day that makes my eyes fill with tears whenever I think of it. It was a horrible thing to be alive to witness. It was a terrible act performed by mentally ill people.

If you try to commit suicide, what happens?

They automatically put you in a mental hospital where you can receive help for your illness, be it manic depressive disorder, schizophrenia, whatever. Those men were suicidal. Their actions are no more the actions representing an entire population than my actions represent this population. What they did was wrong, so very, very wrong; however, my God and my belief system say to forgive those who trespass against us.

Our country was built upon the idea of freedom of religion for all. Most every Sunday you can find me in church with my fellow Christians praising and worshiping God in our own way. So, too, do Muslims have the right on Friday to go to their place of worship and spend a couple of hours talking to God. It is in our constitution: freedom of religion.

The Middle East does not operate under the same constitution that we do. To say that because they do not have the same laws that we do, they should not be allowed to enjoy the same rights here, is ludicrous. That is not how our country was set up. Grow up, people. Just because they live differently does not mean they should be denied the same rights granted to us under the constitution.

It is my hope and my prayer that all of this hatred and racism and prejudice will go away during my lifetime. We have so much we can learn from each other; we have to learn tolerance, patience, and understanding of all of the other cultures that make this world such a beautiful place. I am reminded of the John Lennon song “Imagine.” Just imagine.

— DENISE MAYO dindinnma@hotmail.com BOROPULSE.COM

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OPINIONS What Would You Risk for Your Freedom?

IN ENGLISH:

¿Qué arriesgarías para la libertad?

EN ESPAÑOL

HERE IN THE MIDDLE of Daniel Boone National Forest you’ll find some of the toughest terrain west of the Appalachian Mountains. Many of our ancestors crossed this stretch of wilderness in the early days of settlement. While not nearly as hostile as it was in those days, it’s still a savage place in many respects, teeming with snakes, mosquitoes and the occasional bobcat or bear.

Pushing my way through the forest, I arrive at a place called Murder Branch. The place is named for an incident that illustrates the reality of how dangerous life was for an illusion of security. The federal govfor early American settlers. Suddenly the ernment and its prevalence in every aspect briar cuts on my legs seem petty as I read of our lives in the name of safety has itself about the Indian raid that took place here become unsafe. As a result, our personal in 1793. This act of terrorism resulted in the sovereignty is compromised. slaughter of eight settlers (mostly women Fear is the real enemy that we must first and children) and several hostages who were eliminate. The fear of harm at the hands of either sold or forced to live with the Indians our enemies and the unwillingness to accept as the wives of their captors. any risk has empowered a system that canSuch events were not rare. The possibility not be trusted. Next we must deactivate and of this kind of violence was part of everydismantle that system day life on the American civilly while democracy continent. Moreover, sickstill functions, and nonness and starvation were always a threat to survival, Una columna del idioma español por violently, unless provoked CAMERON PARRISH by the sinister forces yet all of these were acwhich would undoubtedly ceptable risks in the minds use any upheaval to seize more of our liberty. of these early settlers. Regardless of these It’s time that we earn our freedom once dangers, they knew that with land owneragain and face the danger that is required ship came freedom, autonomy and economic for real liberty to exist. You see, we have prosperity: things that were unavailable to been coddled and insulated from reality like them elsewhere. Placing themselves at the fat, spoiled little children. We mistakenly mercy of God, they left their counterparts in believe that we are entitled to both freedom Europe and the newly independent Ameriand a world without danger when in reality, can colonies to seek new lives with minimal no such world can exist in nature. It did not intervention from government and only exist for our ancestors and any appearance the security which they could provide for of such security is a lie designed to gradually themselves. In most instances this spirit of take our freedom and self-determination. courage, faith and a willingness to provide Therefore, our expectations of total security their own security was enough. are naïve and unreasonable. The more unOur predecessors understood that reasonable our expectations for security befreedom does not come without great come, the more our government will oblige risk. When we consider the hardships us with unreasonable efforts to provide us these pioneer families endured to establish the illusion of security. Study history and the America we live in today, we must ask you will take note of how many fortresses ourselves an important question: What and defensive structures were at some point are we willing to risk to maintain our own also used as prisons. How long will we allow freedom? I would argue that as a people we them to build our prison? are guilty of accepting the erosion of our Liberty and justice for all! own autonomy and freedom as individuals

La PALABRA

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AQUÍ EN MEDIO de Daniel Boone National Forest encontrará un poco del terreno más duro al Oeste de los Montes Apalaches. Muchos de nuestros antepasados cruzaron esta extensión del páramo en los primeros días de establecimiento.

Aunque no es tan hostil como en aquel tiempo, todavía es un lugar salvaje en muchos aspectos, y infestado de serpientes, mosquitos, osos y el gato montés.

Avanzando mi camino por el bosque, llego a un lugar llamado Rama de Asesinato. El lugar es llamado por un incidente que ilustra la realidad de la vida peligrosa para unos primeros pobladores americanos. Repentinamente los cortes de los brezos en mis piernas parecen mezquinos así como aprendo mas sobre la incursión India que tuvo lugar en 1793. Este acto de terrorismo dio lugar a la masacre de ocho colonos (en su mayoría mujeres y niños) y varios cautivos que fueron vendidos o forzados a vivir con los indios como las esposas de sus captores.

Tales acontecimientos no eran raras. La posibilidad de este tipo de violencia fue parte de la vida cotidiana en el continente americano. Además, la enfermedad y el hambre se amenazan la supervivencia. Sin embargo, eran aceptables los riesgos en las mentes de estos primeros colonos. Independientemente de estos peligros, ellos sabían que con domino de su propia tierra vienen la libertad, autonomía y prosperidad económica, las cosas que no estaban a disposición de ellos en otros lugares. En la misericordia de Dios, habían dejado sus contrapartes en Europa y de las colonias americanas de independencia reciente a buscar nueva vida con una mínima intervención del gobierno y la seguridad que sólo ellos pueden dar de sí mismos. En la mayoría de los casos este espíritu de co-

raje, la fe y la voluntad de aportar su propia seguridad era suficiente.

Nuestros predecesores entendían que la libertad no se cumple sin grandes riesgos. Si tenemos en cuenta las dificultades que estas familias han sufrido para hacer la América en que vivimos hoy en día, tenemos que preguntarnos una cuestión importante. ¿Qué es lo que estamos dispuestos a arriesgar para mantener nuestra propia libertad? Yo diría que como una gente somos culpables de aceptar la erosión de nuestra propia autonomía y libertad al cambio de una ilusión de seguridad. El gobierno federal y su prevalencia en todos los aspectos de nuestras vidas en nombre de la seguridad se ha convertido en algo peligroso. Como resultado de ello, nuestra soberanía personal se vea comprometida.

El miedo es el enemigo real que primero debemos eliminar. El temor de daños a manos de nuestros enemigos y la renuencia a aceptar cualquier riesgo ha fortalecido un sistema que no se puede confiar. Después debemos desactivar y desmontar ese sistema cortésmente mientras la democracia todavía funciona, evitando la violencia a menos que la gente no es provocado por las fuerzas siniestras que lo usarían indudablemente para agarrar más de nuestra libertad.

Es el tiempo que ganamos nuestra libertad otra vez y afrontamos el peligro que se requiere para la verdadera libertad de existir.

Véase, que hemos sido mimados y aislados de la realidad como niños grasas y estropeados.

Erróneamente creemos que tenemos derecho a la libertad y un mundo sin peligro cuando en realidad, este mundo no puede existir en la naturaleza. No existía para nuestros antepasados y cualquier aspecto de la seguridad es una mentira diseñada para tomar poco a poco nuestra libertad y la autodeterminación.

Por lo tanto, nuestras expectativas de la seguridad total son ingenuas e irrazonables.

Más irrazonable nuestras expectativas de la seguridad se hacen, más nuestro gobierno nos obligará con esfuerzos irrazonables de proveernos la ilusión de seguridad.

Si estudias historia tomará nota de cuántas fortalezas y castillos defensivos fueron en algún momento también se utilizaron como prisiones. ¿Cuánto tiempo le permitirá a construir nuestra prisión?

Libertad y justicia para todos!

Hero or Traitor?

I

s Edward Snowden a hero or a traitor? Snowden, the NSA contractor who leaked information about the NSA, has been the subject of an international manhunt and a diplomatic nightmare since he first surfaced in early June.

The United States government has issued espionage warrants against Snowden but some things still don’t add up about the government’s case and about Snowden himself.

Prior to the Snowden leaks most Americans were unconcerned about the loss of their privacy. Staying connected, we had rationalized, came with a price. Most never realized how high that price was. Some called me paranoid when I affixed a strip of black tape over the camera hole on my laptop. Through something known as clickjacking, a hacker can trick you into inadvertently giving him permission to access your webcam by fooling you into thinking you’re just clicking to play a video. Once you’ve been duped that hacker can watch you on Let’s review what Snowden revealed. your webcam. Very scary. Thousands of you He said the U.S. government was readare heading for the electrical tape right now. ing the e-mails of American citizens in the The net effect of the Snowden leaks may United States. He claimed that if he had be a massive pullback from technology. Futhe president’s e-mail address it would be a turists have been predicting things like tiny simple matter of reading all of his e-mails. chips that turn everything in your house The United States government said that into an Internet-ready device. Knowing just was preposterous. They claim they never how pervasive spying is, not just by governlook at anyone’s e-mail inside the United ments but by the big Internet companies, States unless they have a gives pause to all of this warrant. But they claim innovation. If you’ve VIEWS OF A Snowden has revealed ever been snow skiing top-secret information. If you know the feeling of column by what Snowden is saying the skis getting out from PHIL VALENTINE is a lie how could he have under you. It’s a helpless philvalentine.com revealed top-secret inforfeeling. Right now many mation? Unless, of course, what Snowden is of us feel like technology has gotten out saying is true. from under us. We’ve lost control and it’s Snowden himself has some explaining downright frightening. to do. Why would you leave a girlfriend in Technology is a wonderful thing when Hawaii and a family in the D.C. area, expos- it’s harnessed correctly. It can make life so ing them to who-knows-what because of much easier, so much more fun, so much your exploits, in exchange for a life on the more fulfilling. When it’s out of control it run? If your primary concern was Internet can be our worst enemy. It can be used to freedom, why did you first seek refuge in control our every move, to report to the China, a country with the world’s worst government when we’re not doing what it record when it comes to Internet freedom? thinks we ought to be doing. It can literally If Snowden has revealed top-secret inbe used against us in a court of law. formation he gleaned as an NSA contractor We may be pulling back just before to Russia or China or some other American disaster strikes. If we are, we probably have adversary, then he’s a traitor. If what he did Edward Snowden to thank for it. was expose a snooping program that went far beyond what is legally and constitutionPhil Valentine is an author and nationally allowed, then he’s a hero. Time will tell ally syndicated radio talk show host which one he is, but in the meantime he with Westwood One. For more of his may have changed the trajectory of technol- commentary and articles, visit philval ogy forever. entine.com

CONSERVATIVE

“

If Snowden has revealed top-secret information (. . . to some) American adversary, then he’s a traitor. If what he did was expose a snooping program that went far beyond what is legally and constitutionally allowed, then he’s a hero.

” BOROPULSE.COM

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OPINIONS

Childlike Maturity column by FRANK SHEPARD

frank@boropulse.com I THINK AN HONEST PERSON has to admit that our current trajectory, as a species, is not sustainable, even if we disregard the conspiracy theories being sown by charlatans who make a living by keeping their audience scared. We’re destroying the planet, the economy, even simple society. I’m going to skip the blame game and offer some advice. This is going to sound really elementary, but I think the hope of humanity is as simple as following our most basic, universal human ethics, most of which we learned in kindergarten. Things like: share the toys, include everyone in recess activities, walk away from a fight, etc. We need to refresh our memory of the Goofus and Gallant cartoon strip in Highlights magazine. Ironically, this is what childlike maturity looks like— playground morality.

The whole point of teaching morals to children is to show a path to maturation. Our problem is that we didn’t grow up. As we aged, we found out adulthood was a myth.

Movies (rated for adults) modeled the opposite of what our parents taught us: rather than walk away from a fight they celebrated revenge; instead of inclusion they glorified ‘us versus them’; and instead of sharing toys, they taught us to look out for No. 1 at all costs—even “greed is good.”

There are clear strengths to being childlike: optimism, innocence, simplicity, hopefulness, etc. Children are not born racist, for example. And while life requires us to grow up, we should build on these traits, not undo them. Reality requires courage. If we grow up holding onto our childlike fearlessness, remain unprejudiced and hopeful while navigating reality,

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we stand a better chance of making choices from a place of connectedness with our neighbors. What we currently have is the opposite: insecure, immature leaders making myopic decisions from a place of fear, disconnectedness and greed, and seeking only to benefit themselves. This, of course, deeply offends those exploited and, because they too are immature, they seek revenge. Unskilled in problem resolution, we spiral downward in self-sabotage. They don’t understand what Wendell Berry elucidated: “Rats and roaches live by competition under the law of supply and demand; it is the privilege of human beings to live under the laws of justice and mercy.”

We must learn—like children—to not take ourselves too seriously and to dance, if you will, within the dynamics of our shared existence, and—like

“Share the toys, include everyone in recess activities, walk away from a fight, etc.” grownups—learn to listen to those with whom we disagree. That is, of course, if we want to win this game.

Winning would mean creating a world that works for everyone. Lord of the Flies is a lesson in how it often fails, but I reject the assumption that that’s the only way humanity ever handles cohabitation. The experiment is not over. For overcomers, failure is not an end. We know what happens when people don’t believe something is possible: nothing. It’s those damn dreamers who come along and blow it. Roger Bannister, the Wright brothers, Edison, and those principals who turn hopeless schools around must have been surrounded with naysayers and cynics. These doers refused to let go of their dream. That’s pretty childlike. It’s pretty Disney.

So how does this differ from selfdelusion? From lying to ourselves?

To keep believing in something in the face of counterevidence can be a dangerous thing—especially in religious contexts. Unrelenting belief is a powerful tool that has the potential

for great evil or great good, depending on who gets their hands on it. But the virtue (or lack thereof ) of a person’s beliefs ultimately manifests in the actions those beliefs produce. This is what is meant by “a tree is known by its fruit.” If the action is evil (ie. flying a commercial jet full of people into a building full of people) then the beliefs that spawned that action are evil. The end doesn’t justify the means; it reveals it. Steven Weinberg was partially right when he said, “With or without [religion] you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.” (I would only redact it to clarify “bad religion,” or better yet, “bad doctrine” produces bad behavior.

No religion or ideology is exempt from this potential. In fact, Weinberg’s argument is so overgeneralizing of religion that it too could ultimately produce some pretty bad behavior. I can think of a local example.)

It is undeniable that good beliefs (and thus good religion, good myths, good dreams, good ideals) can produce good behavior. We’re story-telling, goal-setting, ever-evolving people.

We become what we behold. What we think about, we bring about—in both positive and negative ways. If the object of my worship is judgmental, I become judgmental. When Bannister fixed his sights on breaking the fourminute mile, that didn’t guarantee he would do it, but it created the possibility. Believing in the “impossible” can put a crack in an otherwise impenetrable dam that awakens hope and incites a riot of human creativity rushing into it. Thousands of people can run a mile in less than 4 minutes today. Some people hear “it can’t be done” and walk away; others rush in. Eventually, society follows these trailblazers.

It takes a special courage to challenge the status quo. Or does it?

What if it’s as simple as seeing what is obviously the right thing to do and doing it—with a childlike naiveté and honesty? Perhaps this is why our heroes often don’t feel like they have done anything special. Not everyone can be an MLK, but everyone knows truth when they see it. We would do well to re-ground ourselves in basic kindergarten morality and childlike determination. If we look to the paradox of childlike maturity, we can create a world that works for everyone.

It’s not that hard . . . when you believe.

RECOVER RUTHERFORD

Come Alongside and Sail Away column by GLORIA CHRISTY

STEP 6: We were entirely ready to have God remove all these character defects THE WIND AND RAIN BATTER the sides of the grand vessel, tossing it as if it were a small toy. Over and over again the ship, powerless over nature’s wrath, plunges into the raging, storm-tossed sea. In your insanity cycle, you have pretended all is well for years. You’re in control, the captain of your vessel, attempting to steer your life’s ship through the violent storm on your own. Dimly, you begin to acknowledge that your life isn’t working anymore.

You hover helplessly in the hurling vessel, waiting for it all to end. Frightened and alone, you feel a single tear fall from your eye and drop silently onto a ragged wooden slat. Quietly, as you crouch in terror with the reality of the situation surrounding you, you began to ponder your life. On the surface, you have been in command. Only now there is nowhere else to go. As you are tossed into the turbulent waters, a revelation occurs within your tempestuous soul while menacing denial only lengthens the pain, forcing the truth farther and farther away from the safe shore.

It’s at this critical point in the recovery process that we need to come alongside another human being, “God with skin on,” as soon as possible. Otherwise, old destructive patterns will resurface and you will be like a rudderless ship being tossed to and fro. Finding safe people to share with is a critical part of the recovery process.

Life was simple in 1926. In a rustic cabin complete with dirty wooden floors, windowless walls, and a stony fireplace shaping the oneroom dwelling, folks huddled around one of the only two radio sets in Rutherford County. They had come from miles around, swarming into the house as the word got around that one of their own—Uncle Dave Macon, “King of the Hillbillies!”—was about to perform on the WSM Barn Dance (soon to be renamed the Grand Ole Opry).

He began with a playful song, one they had heard at every barn dance: “Sail Away Ladies,” a familiar tune passed on from their migrating pioneer ancestors. This lively tune had made its way from oral tradition to a mainstream audience.

The fun continued as the syncopated rhythm unfurled. The congregated crowd laughed, danced and clapped loudly, stomping their feet to the rhythmic, nonsensical phrases: Don’t she rock, die-dee-oh. Don’t she rock, die-dee-oh!

Uncle Dave Macon, the “Dixie Dew Drop,” was one of their own, a folk hero preserving an elusive and rare heritage. Before the early 1920s and the birth of the Grand Ole Opry, Macon, with his banjo-playing antics, singing, dancing

and comedy, had enjoyed popularity as a professional entertainer on the vaudeville circuit.

Then it happened: The old-time phase was sweeping the nation and Uncle Dave Macon, with his wealth of experience from vaudeville and burlesque, was at the right place at the right time. His wild, flamboyant style of comedic entertainment was something to behold. In those early days of the Opry, Uncle Dave has come to symbolize the untamed spirit. As an established entertainer on the circuit, Uncle Dave was needed by the Opry more than he needed it.

Uncle Dave had become extraordinarily popular by word of mouth through his stage appearances and records, most of these recorded in New York City. Early string-band artists like Kirk and Sam McGee and Fiddlin’ Sid Harkreader would tour around the South with an old-fashioned “word of mouth” advertising approach. They would go into a town and put on a sample show, and let the grapevine do the rest. In a raucous fit, Macon and his musical magicians created one of the most dynamic string bands ever.

By the 1930s, as the country spiraled deeper into the Depression, Uncle Dave Macon’s music had become a joyful relief from those turbulent times.

However, Macon’s musical profession also fell on hard times, with fewer tour dates and record deals. Uncle Dave pontificated on the state of affairs, declaring that music and morality go together and that the decline in both had made hard times harder. He told a reporter, “A man who can’t enjoy music has no heart and very little soul. People today are drifting away from the old tunes, the real music, and at the same time they are drifting away from morals— one is the cause of the other.”

Jesse Messick, a prominent downtown businessman, owned Messick Family Pharmacy, which had been a fixture on the Murfreesboro Public Square. Jesse loved those old tunes and the comedy made famous by Uncle Dave Macon. In 1977, Jesse had an inspiration to create a family-friendly event featuring the music of those early Opry days and that of its first superstar, Uncle Dave Macon.

In 1984, when the festival was seven years old, Jesse Messick asked me to direct Uncle Dave Macon Days. In those days, I was grieving from a broken marriage, overwhelmed with shattered dreams and plans. I, too, had drifted away from the safety of truth and had sailed into troubling waters. My self-determination and desire were being avenged by feelings of inadequacy and failure. Somehow, Jesse’s wisdom persuaded me to look beyond my circumstances and rely on God for the results in every facet of my life. This included the way that a festival was to be developed and directed.

Jesse’s life-path of sacrificial faith was an eyeopener, the likes of which I had never experienced.

“A man who can’t enjoy music has no heart and very little soul.”

Uncle Dave Macon

Being a “control freak,” I found this kind of behavior unsettling. How could one surrender everything to God, including a music festival? He always reassured me that God was like a kind father who really cared about the assignments that were given to us. “Total surrender to God” seemed so unrealistic, even irresponsible, like a pious evasion of personal responsibility. Jesse came alongside, became that “God with skin,” and guided me to a safe harbor. For this, I am eternally grateful.

For 36 years, the Uncle Dave Macon Days

festival has proven to be a formidable cultural heritage event in the region and across America. It has received numerous awards and recommendations from tourism media. Every July, more than 30,000 people gather at Cannonsburgh Village in Murfreesboro to celebrate old-time music with singing, dance, music, storytelling, and historical preservation. The Uncle Dave Macon Days festival is a dynamic, nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of old-time music.

With only a $5 admission (children 12 and under FREE), this year’s event begins on July 12 at 10 a.m. with the new Matilda Macon Artisan’s Village and The Dave Macon Daze Band performing live on the main stage. At 6 p.m. on Friday, the festival will posthumously honor the legendary duo Kirk and Sam McGee, the 2013 Trail Blazer winners with performances paying tribute to the string-band tradition. On Saturday, July 13, Ricky Skaggs and Sharon White will be featured in the parade at 10 a.m. and, at 7 p.m., will perform and receive the 2013 Heritage Award. On July 14, a Community Worship Service will be held at 11 a.m. and then the Community Service Fair and Gospel Showcase will end the festival. On Sunday, no admission is charged at the gate.

Thank you, Jesse, for teaching us faith in the context of a music festival. If you have not experienced Uncle Dave Macon Days, come, take a break from your routine, and enjoy. You will feel the enthusiasm, revive old friendships, and make new ones. You will be changed by the warm sounds of traditional music on the banks of Lytle Creek.

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By Harry Polny

ART Portraits On Display at Moxie A COLLECTION of figuratives and portraits by local artist Carol Berning are on display through July 6 at Moxie Art Supply in its new Pocket Gallery.

Moxie Art Supply is located at 316 N. Maple St.

By Bob Timmerman

Wetlands On Display at City Hall “RIVERS, STREAMS AND WETLANDS shooting landscapes in and around Murfreesare vital to the ecological balance in Murfreesboro. I can find dozens of old barns and spend boro. As we’ve become more and more urban, hours just watching and photographing the it is more important than ever that we love and woods as the light moves.” Polny says the Wetprotect them,” said Angela Jackson, Assistant lands are an equally enjoyable adventure.

Director of the city’s Parks and Recreation Terry Spence, an officer with the MurfreesDepartment, commenting on the City Hall boro Police Department, credits Major Clyde Art Committee’s exhibitWetlands: Pictorial Adkinson for mentoring him during his initial Interpretations of a Murfreesboro Treasure. interest in photography. Adkinson, says Spence, Featuring the art photography of local favorites offered insights about composition and lighting Harry Polny, Terry Spence, Bob Timmerman and the always-important need to pay close and Dan Whittle, the exhibit, which kicked off attention to detail. Armed with only a digital on June 25 in the Rotunda Gallery of Murcamera in 2003, Spence and his wife began freesboro’s City Hall, to take trips as part of is scheduled through her efforts to beat breast Aug. 9, 2013. A public cancer. By 2008, a reception will be held on solo exhibit of his work Thursday, July 11, from attracted such a turnout 4:30 to 6 p.m. that it remains one of the “While not only showRotunda’s most highly casing the work of four attended events. amazing photographers,” Bob Timmerman continued Jackson, “this spent 35 years in La exhibit also conveys the Vergne building radial many opportunities that truck tires for Bridgeexist for families to constone. Following his nect with Murfreesboro’s retirement he started Wetlands: to discover an event photography that nature abounds at business in MurfreesMurfree Spring Wetboro that specializes in land, Maney Wetland youth athletics and local

by Bob Timmerman at Oakland Park, the events. While professing Murfreesboro Greenway a great love for his work System, and other parks and natural areas in with local athletes and their sporting events, he our community. This exhibit offers a perspective admits that he is happiest “when in the woods through the eyes and lenses of local photograwith my cameras.” phers, and should encourage you to get outside Dan Whittle spent several years in the and take a closer look for yourself.” newspaper business; in 2006, however, he Harry Polny began his career in photograwas forced to retire due to a health issue. It was phy as a combat photographer with the United not long before he found a new passion: nature States Navy. Following his discharge from the photography. Starting with his Smyrna backservice he pursued careers in law enforcement yard, Whittle says he found that “Communing and teaching. It was not until retirement and a with nature can be soothing to the psyche, healmove to Murfreesboro that Polny rediscovered ing to the inner soul, and yes, a special spiritual the “touch” that had remained with him when experience . . . Outdoor photography beats the he began to take photos again. He says, “I enjoy heck out of sitting behind a desk day-after-day.”

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