March 2012 Murfreesboro Pulse

MURFREESBORO

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MUSIC: SECRET COMMONWEALTH KEEPS TRADITION ANOTHER ST. PATRICK’S DAY AT THE BORO

BUSINESS:

JAY DAVIES KNOWS A THING OR TWO ABOUT BUYING AND SELLING

ALBUM REVIEWS:

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

Vol. 7, Issue 3 March 2012

FREE Take One!

The Heat Is On

THE ONE, THE ONLY REV. HORTON HEAT TO APPEAR AT GILLIGAN’S. pg. 18

TAYLOR LONARDO MOON TAXI SHARON VAN ETTEN JOE ROBINSON

ONLINE AT:

BOROPULSE.COM

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CONTENTS

MAIL

MAIL 4

COMMUNITY EVENTS

5

Read to Succeed Book Review Committed by Elizabeth GIlbert.

OPINIONS 6

Avoiding 940 But the deck is stacked.

7

Living a Blessed Life Remember for those who cannot.

8

Phil Valentine Media police is oversensitive.

9

La Palabra Secrets of the Mayans.

10

Gagflex Republicans fishing for relevance.

NEWS 11

Entrepreneur’s Spotlight Murfreesboro Pawn & Guns buys and sells guns, gems and guitars.

12

Living Green Stop, collaborate on consumption.

13

Apple Talk Debuning Mac myths.

FOOD 14 Blue Restaurant and Bar New restaurant and bar adds color, jazzy sounds to Jackson Heights.

15

Brews News Newcastle seasonal beers available.

SOUNDS 16

Great Changes for the Reefs Great Barrier Reefs bring new lineup, Barry Mando for hometown show.

18

Rev. Horton Heat Psychobillies hit Gilligan’s March 18.

19

Secret Commonwealth Celtic group observes St. Patrick’s tradition for 19th year at the Boro.

20 Album Reviews Taylor Lonardo, Moon Taxi, Sharon Van Etten, Joe Robinson 22 CONCERT LISTINGS 24 Walking Horse Hotel A look at this immaculate music listening room in historice Wartrace.

THEATER 26 A Fun but Thoughtful Musical Center for the Arts’ Cabaret provides welcome diversion for theater patrons.

MOVIES

DEAR READERS:

T

ax breaks are given in the interest of bringing jobs to the area; everyone wants to know the presidential candidates’ plans to “create jobs;” community and business leaders go to great lengths to build incentive packages for jobs, jobs, jobs.

Jobs are overrated.

Who wants to build their life around going to a job five days a week, spending most of the daylight hours there, slaving away with little opportunity for serious long-term advancement or change and still not being able to afford all of the junk you’re “supposed” to have?

Why does the government try to push jobs so hard anyway? When did ensuring everyone living on American soil is fully employed become the objective of the federal government, and the difference between 8 and 10 percent unemployment somehow become the standard of well being for the rest of us?

Well, probably about the time that they began taxing the wages earned from those jobs (taxing those dollars as the higher wage rate,

rather than the puny capital gains tax rate).

Speaking of the tax rate, does anyone else find it odd that the top-earning U.S. citizens were taxed at a rate of over 90 percent during the same time period that McCarthy and others were jabbering on about the dangers of “communism?” Just asking. It seems a little hypocritical to me.

I urge people to stop dealing in U.S. currency as much as possible. That stuff is not a safe investment and is taxed at too high of a rate. What’s the point of earning all of those U.S. dollars, when in a few years, their value will be cut in half?

Do what you love, what you feel you are called to do. Make alliances with your friends and neighbors, barter where possible, get out of debt and realize that the less you make in U.S. dollars, the less the government will take; focus more on the way you want to live and less on the number of dollars you want to possess.

I’m liking the swap and share ideas put forth

by Mr. Egly in this edition. Sporting goods would be a great thing to swap too.

How many people own a tent, but only

Enter to Win!

The good folks at Bluegrass Underground know it’s cooler underground, so they will continue bringing the top bluegrass acts to Cumberland Caverns in nearby Warren County, Tenn.

Join them on St Patrick’s Day, Saturday, March 17, for The Boxty Bluegrass Band with Shannon Quinn Text “BLUEGRASS” to 86568 for a chance to win a pair of tickets.”

Stephanie Taylor of the Boxty Bluegrass Band

27 Reviews Innkeepers; Star Wars: Episode 1—3D Living Room Cinema Irish cops and crooks.

SPORTS 28 MTSU Basketball Both the men and the ladies had great seasons; how will the postseason go?

ART 31

Exhibits EarthSoul shows work by Mai Harris; MTSU students “still working.”

CREW

30 Z-Train Already looking ahead to next season.

PULSE

29 Run Strong Special Kids race coming in March.

Tri-Fit The benefits of the Paleo diet.

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

Music Editor: Jessica Pace Contributing Writers: Spencer Blake, Patrick Clark, Ryan Egly, Jerry Fleming, Bryce Harmon, Jason Johnson, Zach Maxfield, Tommy McKnight, Ryan Noreikas, Jessica Pace, Cameron Parrish, Laura Beth Payne, JR Robles, Jay Spight, Rev. Felicia Searcy, Norbert Thiemann, Phil Valentine

camp once a year? I’d love to find someone who would use my tennis racket the 362 days of the year I do not, in exchange for letting me use their canoe a couple of times.

Joe Brandon, if you know how to do one thing, it’s drum up publicity. Now the man who’s argued against a mosque in our county says an apartment complex is responsible for one of its residents fatally stabbing another.

Hey, do what you love, but to the other people of the world, know he does not necessarily speak for the whole of Murfreesboro.

I cannot see how awarding this case to the plaintiff (the alleged murderer) would in any way be a good precedent.

“My co-worker is annoying me; I request a transfer. No? OK, I’ll stab him, then sue the employer; they’re the resposible party.”

Peace, Bracken Mayo Editor in Chief

READER COMMENTS [In response to Small Business Stands Up in last month’s edition of the Murfreesboro Pulse.]

In reality there or only two kinds of Government: A government of, for and by the people. Here all rights are vested in the people and the people organize government to protect their rights from the criminal element of society.

The other is a government of, for and by special interest groups who seize control of government by force of arms or deception. Here all rights are vested in the special interest groups who will use whatever is necessary to subjugate and fleece the people.

What we see today are these special interest groups fighting over the power to fleece, regulate and use our property and exploit the people. We see this at all levels of government—city, county, state and national.

We intend to restore government of, for and by the people.

The special interest groups won’t give up without a knock-down drag-out fight. They have their agent provocateurs in every strata of our society to promote their clandestine plans. The latest trick is the Federal funding of the Sustainable Movement. The strategy of the Sustainable Movement is to move land use planning from the private owners of land into government central planning bureaucracies. This will spell an end to private property rights and the sovereignty of the individual as our Founding Fathers envisioned.

— Clarence Jaeger, Murfreesboro 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 © 2012, 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

BOROPULSE.COM

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MARCH 2012

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COMMUNITY

EVENTS View Civil War Artifacts at Oaklands In honor of the Bicentennial of Murfreesboro, Oaklands Historic House Museum will recognize the role the military played in the history of the museum by placing Civil War artifacts on display in the Visitors Center through March 31.

Viewing is free and open to the public during regular business hours.

For more information, call (615) 8930022.

IN MARCH

Lonestar Rodeo The Lonestar Rodeo hits Murfreesboro’s Miller Coliseum 2 Friday–Saturday, March 2–3.

The coliseum is located at 304 W. Thompson Lane, Murfreesboro. For more information, call (615) 494-8879 or visit lonestarrodeocompany.com.

MAR.

Road to the Horse Teams from around the world will choose a colt and take them 9 through various training challenges at the annual Road to the Horse, held March 9–11 at the Miller Coliseum.

After their selections, they will be responsible for starting the career of their new equine partner. Challenges and obstacle courses will give competitors the opportunity to display their horsemanship ability and prove exactly why they were chosen to compete in the World Championship of Colt-Starting.

For more information, call (325) 7365000 or visit roadtothehorse.com.

MAR.

Discovery Center, 10 Seuss Share BDay Celebrate the National Education Association’s Read Across America Day, Dr. Seuss’ 108th birthday and Discovery Center’s 25th birthday all in one on Saturday, March 10, from 11 a.m.–4 p.m.

Discovery Center will offer $2 admission (just like in 1987 when the museum first opened), birthday cake, art projects, outdoor bubble play, bounce house, music, guest readers, black light Zumba and more.

Read to Succeed will collect donations of new or gently used books.

For more information, visit discoverycenteronline.org or call (615) 890-2300.

MAR.

Teddy Bear Tea Girls ages 4–10 can spend 10 time with their special bear and special lady (mother, grandmother, aunt, older sister, etc.) and enjoy treats and teas at a Teddy Bear Tea from 10 a.m.–12 p.m.

MAR.

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Win a Rogue at FEB. Backstage Bash The Murfreesboro/ 8 Rutherford County Center for the Arts will host its annual Backstage Bash on Saturday, March 17 beginning at 6 p.m. Dinner will follow at 7 p.m., and Music City Swing will then provide a big band sound to dance to inside the big tent on College Street in front of the Center.

A Nissan Rogue will be raffled off at the event. Tickets for the raffle are $50.

For event tickets or more information, visit backstagebash.org or call (615) 904-ARTS.

and 2–4 p.m. Saturdays, March 10 and 17, at the Sam Davis Home.

The home is located at 1399 Sam Davis Road, Smyrna. Reservations are required.

For more information, call Meredith Lane at (615) 459-2341.

Children’s Magic Show Peanut the Clown does a Magic Show for kids (and 11 adults) on Sunday, March 11 at 2 p.m. at Out Front on Main.

This 45–60 minute show will mesmerize kids of all ages; they can see a multitude of things appear, disappear, change color and turn into snow and watch death-defying escapes, card tricks and fun with fruit.

Out Front on Main is located at 1511 East Main Street, Murfreesboro.

MAR.

Bald In the Boro Murfreesboro’s second annual St. Baldrick’s event, raising 16 money for kids with cancer, will begin at 4 p.m. Friday, March 16, at Lane, Trains and Automobiles (450 Butler Drive).

Whether you decide to shave your head, volunteer, or donate, organizers invite everyone to be involved. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation is a volunteer-driven charity that funds more in childhood cancer research grants than any organization except the U.S. government.

For more information on the local event, visit stbaldricks.org/events/baldintheboro or call (615) 542-6773.

MAR.

Paws and Pearls The Beesley Animal Humane Foundation will have its annual 18 Brunch on March 18 at Maple Street Grill from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Those planning to attend are strongly encouraged to RSVP no later than March 12.

Maple Street Grill is located at 109 N. Maple Street, Murfreesboro.

The Beesley Foundation is dedicated to ending animal overpopulation by offering affordable spay and neuter services and educating Murfreesboro area residents.

For more information, visit beesleyhumane. org or call (615) 217-1030.

MAR.

Civil War Action Stones River National Battlefield will host infantry 24 and artillery demonstrations and programs focusing on the Civil War stories of Murfreesboro on March 24–25, commemorating Murfreesboro’s 200 years of military history. The battlefield is located at 3501 Old Nashville Hwy., Murfreesboro. For more information, call (615) 893-9501.

MAR.

Oh Say, Can You Sing?

The Nashville Sounds will hold tryouts for national anthem 24 singers on Saturday, March 24, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Greer Stadium.

Individuals and groups interested in singing “The Star Spangled Banner” prior to a 2012 home game must audition on this date. Anthem tryouts are available on a firstcome, first-served basis during the designated time period and interested parties will be required to sing a live, acapella version of the national anthem during the tryout.

Greer Stadium is located at 534 Chestnut Street, Nashville.

The Sounds host 72 games at Greer Stadium in 2012, opening April 13.

For more information, call Buddy Yelton at (615) 690-HITS ext. 124 or visit nashvillesounds.com.

MAR.

A Meeting of All Faiths Women of Faith will meet at Blackman United Methodist 27 Church, 4380 Manson Pike, from 7–9 p.m. Tuesday, March 27.

The interfaith group formed to foster unity with the goal of getting to know and understand one another while making a positive impact on our community. Women from all religions are welcome, as well as those who do not practice any religion.

For more information, contact Jill Austin at austinmj@gmail.com

MAR.

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True Blue Thursday The Rutherford County Democratic Party will host another True Blue Thursday at

Fanatics in the DoubleTree Hotel, at 7 p.m.

Thursday, March 29.

All are welcome at this chance to socialize, support the RCDP and meet Democratic candidates, including Eric Stewart running for the U.S. House 4th District.

Fanatics is located at 1850 Old Fort Pkwy. For more information, visit rcdp.org.

Intrigue: Arabian Horse Experience The Intrigue: Arabian Horse 30 Experience, held at Murfreesboro’s Miller Coliseum from March 30–April 1, will include various clinics by industry professionals, horses for sale and information for those wanting to learn more on Arabian Horses.

Vendors and retailers will also display their wares and a Saturday evening social will be held at Embassy Suites featuring live entertainment by The Kentucky Linemen. For more information, visit intrigueevent.com.

MAR.

Underwater Easter Egg Hunt 31 The Patterson Park Pool will host an underwater egg hunt for ages 2–9 years on Saturday, March 31, from 8–11:45 a.m. Patterson Park is located at 521 Mercury Blvd., Murfreesboro.

For more on this swim and egg hunt water fun call Kyle Goss at (615) 893-7439.

Also, on March 31, the La Vergne Easter Egg Hunt will be held at 10 a.m. at Bicentenial Park, 5091 Murfreesboro Road, La Vergne.

For more information, call Kathy Tyson at (615) 287-8690.

MAR.

Prison Writing Series Continues The spring MTSU Honors Lecture Series continues every Monday (except March 5 when students are on spring break) at 3 p.m. in Honors Room 106 of the Paul W. Martin Sr. Honors Building.

In the series titled “Prison Writing: From Boethius to Mehdi Zana,” Dr. Philip Phillips will examine “selected works of writers from the 6th century to the 21st century, who were imprisoned for their beliefs and who drew strength from their prison experiences to advance their respective causes and inspire others in the process,” says Phillips, interim associate dean for the Honors College and English professor.

The series will progress chronologically and include such diverse writers as Boethius, Sir Thomas Malory, John Lilburne, John Bunyan, Henry David Thoreau, Louise Michel, Sue Shelton White, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Mehdi Zana.

IN MARCH

To list your free or non-profit or fundraising event in our community calendar, e-mail murfreesboropulse@yahoo.com.

Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage or Committed: A Love Story

by Elizabeth Gilbert In her successor to Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert writes about her and her Brazilian fiancé Felipe as they travel to America to wed. When Felipe is refused entry into the States, the couple undertakes a trip around the world as they wait for Felipe’s green card. Faced with the anxiety of risking another marriage (and therefore divorce), Gilbert uses their travels to examine not only her own relationship, but also to research global notions of love, marriage and weddings. Ultimately she affirms that what a marriage needs is not more ideals, but reality and forgiveness.

This is not a novel, and it is most certainly not (to some readers’ disappointment) the story of a romantic romp around the globe. It cannot even be truly called a memoir. Rather, it is a musing on a subject that could otherwise be severely academic, and instead has been made intensely personal through Gilbert’s own lens of experience.

One of the most profound ideas she encounters in her research is the notion of spouse as human rather than something measured against an ideal. She wonders if perhaps American society has confused significant others with ideals, instead of viewing them (and ourselves) as humans first.

Perhaps, she suggests, we have stymied our relationships with unrealistic cultural expectations.

While divorce may serve a relationship that has come to the end, Gilbert’s musings lead her to wonder how a relationship can actually survive two imperfect human beings. Her answer is drawn from her own experience, evoking what many may remember from Eat, Pray, Love: that is, forgiveness.

“Maybe creating a big enough space within your consciousness to hold and accept someone’s contradictions—

by LAURA BETH PAYNE someone’s idiocies, even—is a kind of divine act,” she writes. “Perhaps transcendence can be found not only on a solitary mountaintop or in monastic settings, but also at your own kitchen table, in the daily acceptance of your partner’s most tiresome, irritating faults.”

This becomes the essence of Gilbert’s idea of commitment: knowing one another and loving them anyway.

Admittedly, there’s something a little disgruntling in reading about someone else’s relationship troubles when their answer is to travel, and some of us are left to sort out our problems while cleaning out the cat litter box and hocking clothing to pay the rent. Nevertheless, Gilbert is too humble as a writer to dismiss. She writes carefully about divorce, romantic disenchantment and failed expectations in relationships.

Having experienced all of these, she neither condemns nor moralizes (she writes strongly as one who lives in a glass house, and therefore should not throw stones). Simply, she points out that these are things that humans do. We routinely idolize, idealize, dismiss and disappoint other humans.

Therefore, we will do the same to our spouses. We view them as our lovers, saviors, providers and friends, naturally expecting that they do this all perfectly, and feeling crushed when they do not.

Boring? Dry? A downer? It may be for some. Committed isn’t Twilight. However, Gilbert encourages us to seek the perspective we desperately need—that is, the ability to see ourselves and our significant others for who they truly are, rather than what we wish that they were—in order to actually love them and not a false image.

Ironically, Committed has had two subtitles: “A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage” and later “A Love Story.” The book is indeed a healthy read for skeptics or for those who are disenchanted with elusive fairy tale ideals. And yet, it is also a love story. If you can read her and Felipe’s acknowledgements of their faults to one another without simultaneously laughing and weeping, you need to check your hormone levels. And spoiler alert, Gilbert does find her peace, and she and Felipe marry.

Ultimately, what Gilbert offers us in Committed is the reminder us that wherever our relationships may lead, commitment is a choice to forgive and to offer grace to those we love. It is the true love which conquers all.

READ TO SUCCEED

BOOK REVIEW

Laura Beth Payne is an MTSU professor, a member of the Read to Succeed Council and co-chair of the One Book Committee. Read To Succeed is the community collaborative created to promote literacy in Rutherford County. The objective of this partnership between schools, area agencies and businesses is to support local programming and raise awareness about the importance of literacy. For more information and to find out how you can make a difference in Rutherford County’s literacy rates, visit readtosucceed.org. The opinions expressed in this book review are not necessarily representative of Read To Succeed, but simply intended to promote the joy of reading.

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OPINIONS The Deck Is Stacked

I

didn’t see God, no tunnel of light leading to my salvation. I didn’t have an out-of-body experience overlooking my broken body lying on the ground gasping for the next breath, which I was certain was my last. There was no highlight film or Hallmark moment. No “Spanish Angels” Willie, certainly not seven of them. And no way in hell did I see that 2004 Dodge Durango swerve across a four-foot bike path, jump a curb and blindside me doing 35 mph. Nope, didn’t see it. Where were you on that one, Michael Oher?

Yeah, ya’ll should’ve been there for that one.

Hell, I wish the guy who ran me over (who shall remain nameless) would have been a real man and stuck around too. Thankfully, a worker standing in a nearby yard got his license plate number. Now if he only would have had insurance my life would be close to back to normal . . . until all the arthritis sets in of course.

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But look here, tioners are parts moving I’mmmmmmmmmm back! down an assembly line.

I haven’t had the chance to Next. Next. Next. Next. talk to you guys in awhile, April 13, 2011, my large in part to the aforeworld flipped upside column by JERRY FLEMING mentioned. I know you’re down. Literally! Thirtyjust dying to find out about six feet later, I landed what type of legal mishaps I have encountered a new man. Athleticism, gone! Left LCL, along the way, and boy, do I have a “goodun.” severed. Left ACL, severed. Left MCL, torn.

Now, if you read my articles from the winter of I.T. Band, torn. Knee-cap, broke. Right 2010 and first few months of ’11, you all know MCL, multiple tears. Left eyelid, gone. Head, that I am in no hurry to enter the confines of stitched. Hip-pointers, broke tooth.

Murfreesboro’s high-rise, also known as 940.

Over a two-week period of I’m confident in saying that I’m not an time, I watched the entire right individual who complains when I’m dealt side of my body turn EVERY two-seven off-suit on back-to-back hands. color of the rainbow. Of course, To me, the solution is simple, FOLD. It’s the I did this when I wasn’t using worst hand in poker. As confident as I am tweezers to pick the asphalt in that, I’m equally confident in saying that that had worked itself out of I will stand up and speak when I’m dealt my knee, eye and forehead. pocket aces and the dealer continually comes So how is this relevant, one might ask, to up with trip-kings. A person simply cannot which I would happily answer: At the time beat the house when the deck is stacked. this “man” decided to run me over and leave Welcome to the Murfreesboro probation me to die, I had but one requirement to fulfill department. Sheisters! “Unaverage” people my obligations to the probation office. I had put into a position that they are far unqualito get a copy of my community service signed fied to handle. They treat their job like proba- and turned in. Should have been simple, right?

AVOIDING

940

(I had already long surpassed the 22 hours of community service that I was sentenced to. I volunteer for a cancer foundation in southern Tennessee that I was able to use as my hours.)

As of that day, April 13, I was no longer able to walk, or move for that matter, for nearly six weeks. I was forced to move back to Ohio after 14 years as a Murfreesboro resident and proud student of Middle Tennessee State University.

Forced, because I have no family in Tennessee, and I needed a lot of help, as one might imagine.

Upon my move and keeping in bi-weekly touch with my probation officer regarding my status, I was given an ultimatum, “Either get me a signed copy of your community service hours, or I have no choice but to violate you.”

HA! So much for humanity, huh? I’m bedridden because some uninsured motorist leaves me in such a condition, and then I’ve got a probation officer violating me for it.

I’m not complaining. I simply think it’s important for people outside of “The System” to see how poorly it’s really run, how it makes people into criminals. Because I can’t say what I want, and there is no button depicting my middle finger, all I can say is: Are you kidding me?

Sometimes We Must Remember for Others Who Cannot

R

ecently, while visiting my dad, going through our routine of listing family members to help him remember them for as long as possible, my dad looked at me and asked, “Where’s Felicia?”

I looked right back at him and said, “I am right here, Pop.” He said “Nah, you are not Felicia.”

I assured him that I was his second daughter named Felicia.

During that conversation, he was never really convinced that it was me. This was not the first time that he did not recognize me or know who I am, but it is happening more and more often.

sure not to set off his rage.

But one thing I never doubted was his love and intense loyalty and commitment to his family. Family was everything to my dad. I look back over the years of sacrifice he made in so many ways for us.

For example, when I was a kid, he worked third shift in a brewery in Milwaukee, would come home, sleep for a few hours then go spend hours on the practice field with his team as their football coach.

Memory of his family is now slipping away from him because of the ravages of this illness called Alzheimer’s.

I realize that my role for him now is to remember the best about my dad. It is not to sugarcoat things and pretend something that was not. But as he I know I am not alone. According to disappears more and more into the the Alzheimer’s Association website there anonymity of this illness, my role as his are 5.4 million people suffering with this daughter is to keep who I know him to illness in our country alone. It is a national be in the forefront of my mind. My role epidemic that is extremely personal in is to remember him as the man who took nature. There is something profound that a Catholic high school football team to happens when your father looks straight state championships twice when he is at you and doesn’t know confused about what who you are. state he lives in. It is to In that moment, I felt remember the stories a myriad of emotions: he told about Brer grief, loss, frustration Rabbit with animation and at the same time, a and aliveness when he deeper awareness of who column by REV. FELICIA SEARCY can’t remember what I really am both spiritually he did an hour ago. and physically. I felt a spiritual oneness And to remember what it felt like to crawl with my Ultimate Creator. I also realized in underneath his arm of protection knowing that moment that I am still a daughter, my that he would fight the world for me if I dad’s daughter, whether he knows me or needed him to when he looks at me and not. And he is still my dad. His demise into does not remember who I am. forgetfulness and confusion does not take Alzheimer’s may wipe out people’s away who he is to me. brains, but it only takes away their This is not to say that we had a rosy identity and dignity if we let it. We are relationship. My father was a passionate, a nation losing our memories. Every 69 volatile man, hugging me with fierce seconds someone in our country develops intensity one moment and chasing me Alzheimer’s. There is research, and I pray for some real or imagined sin the next. for a cure. But I know it is too late for My siblings and I just never knew what my dad. So, now I stand and remember to expect from him and mostly walked for him. I remember who he is when he around on eggshells around him to be forgets. I remember his accomplishments, his failures, his anger and his love. I remember his laughter and his biggerthan-life presence. As his daughter, I remember for him when he no longer can.

LIVING

aBlessed LIFE

“

My role is to remember him as the man who took a Catholic high school football team to state championships twice when he is confused about what state he lives in.

”

Felicia Searcy is a Life Mastery Consultant certified by Mary Morrissey who is also her personal teacher and coach. For the past 15 years, as a minister, national presenter and writer she has helped hundreds of people live their richer, fuller life. She is a national speaker and presenter and author of Do Greater Things: Following in Jesus’ Footsteps published by Unity House. Visit feliciasearcy.com and register for a free gift.

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OPINIONS

Media Police Are Oversensitive

I

don’t know how many times I’ve said The week prior to Federico’s headline, that something doesn’t have to be offenESPN anchor Max Bretos used the same sive, it just has to sound offensive. Case term, “chink in the armor,” when asking a in point? ESPN. former Knicks player about Lin on the air.

ESPN editor Anthony Federico found out It wasn’t until the Federico headline that the hard way. His headline on ESPN’s webBretos was called on the carpet. (I’m sorry. Is site got him fired. The egregious headline that offensive to Arabs? Carpet? Did I mean was as follows: “Chink in the Armor: Jeremy flying carpet?)

Lin’s 9 Turnovers Cost Knicks in StreakBy the way, Bretos was suspended for 30 stopping Loss to Hornets.” days. No word from ESPN as to why it is that Now, you may be saying to yourself, “Ah, saying it is less offensive than writing it. he should’ve known better,” but Federico So, let’s just strike the term “chink in says the word “chink” as the armor” from ESPN’s a slur against someone lexicon. You think anyone VIEWS OF A Chinese never entered his CONSERVATIVE else there is going to ever mind. utter that phrase again, to column by PHIL VALENTINE “This had nothing to anyone about anybody or philvalentine.com do with me being cute anything? or punny,” Federico told See, this is what political the New York Daily News. Doesn’t matter, correctness does. Moreover, this is exactly Anthony. It sounded offensive to the selfwhat political correctness is designed to do. anointed oversensitive media watchers, and It’s designed to control the language, and as you were sacrificed at the altar of political I wrote several years ago in The Conservacorrectness. tive’s Handbook, controlling the language What really bugs me is how the mainranks right up there with controlling the stream media have portrayed Jeremy Lin as currency. In fact, it can be said that language Chinese. He’s no more Chinese than I am. is the currency of thought. So now we have He was born and raised in California. He’s as the very definition of the thought police.

American as me, yet he’s offered up as some Each and every person who writes or reports kind of Chinese sensation. They even show for ESPN will forever edit themselves before large groups of people gathered back in Taithey ever let that term move from their mind wan crowded around big screen TVs. Sure, to their mouth. Mission accomplished. his parents are from Taiwan, but he isn’t.

The politically correct have a long list of I wonder if these same media types ever words and phrases they want stricken from talk about black athletes in terms of bethe language because they’ve managed to ing “African.” They indeed use the PC term become offended on behalf of someone “African-American” but not in their wildest else. Need I bring up the whole “Redskins,” dreams would they cut away to some folks in “Braves” brouhaha?

Nigeria watching NBA hoops.

The folks at ESPN are now on notice. Even Portraying a guy who “looks” Chinese the most innocent slip of the tongue can get as being from China is as stereotypical as you fired. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next it gets. It’s like all this glory in which Lin is NASCAR race is begun with, “Gentlemen, basking is being piped back to the mothstart your Native Americans.” erland. How about some speculation that Lin is so hot right now because he’s able to Phil Valentine is an author and nationally calculate the trajectory of the ball in some syndicated radio talk show host with Westfreakishly difficult math equation because we wood One. For more of his commentary and all know Asians are great at math. articles, visit philvalentine.com.

(T)he mainstream media have portrayed “ Jeremy Lin as Chinese . . . He was born and

raised in California, yet he’s offered up as some kind of Chinese sensation. They even show large groups of people gathered back in Taiwan crowded around big screen TVs.

”

8 * MARCH 2012 * BOROPULSE.COM

Secrets of the Mayans El Secreto de Los Mayas IN ENGLISH:

to demonstrate proof of alien contact in the In 2003, I was privileged to be among the ancient past, and some of you have heard me first visitors to explore an ancient Mayan make that case before. The History Channel temple which had been recently rediscovered Series Ancient Aliens is based around these by archaeologists on the Yucatan Peninsula of theories, and this documentary is targeting the Mexico. On this journey to the heart of Mayan same audience. While I’m sure the production country, I touched the remains of a civilization crew will indeed deliver a fascinating experithat continues to hold a great deal of mystery. ence, I hope the evidence that Mr. Julia-Levy Just what was responsible for their disappearpresents is both legitimate and respectful of the ance? While it’s tempting to blame hipsters, Mayan culture, unlike the doomsday type. there is more to the story, So, friends, as I I’m certain. In fact, I’m conconclude this month’s Pavinced that yet undiscovered labra, I have to admit that places remain hidden and what I said earlier about Una columna del idioma español por CAMERON PARRISH that a greater understanding the venereal disease was of the demise of the Mayan made up. Now, one out culture will reveal secrets which will drasticalof five of you is pissed at me for getting your ly alter our understanding of human history. hopes up. Let’s hope that this documentary An upcoming documentary titled Revelations doesn’t disappoint us likewise by turning out to of the Mayans: 2012 and Beyond promises be just another work of pseudo-science. to deliver this and more. As if that were not EN ESPANOL: tantalizing enough, the film even promises to reveal a cure for all venereal disease! AccordEn 2003 tuve el privilegio de estar entre ing to statistics from the Center for Disease los primeros visitantes para explorar un control, one out of five of you should be very antiguo templo maya que había sido reciexcited about that! entemente redescubierto por los arqueólogos The documentary is set to be released in en la península de Yucatán en México. En August of this year and its Los Angeles based este viaje al corazón del la tierra Maya toproducer, Raul Julia-Levy says the project qué los restos de una civilización que sigue will reveal the “most important archaeologimanteniendo un gran misterio. ¿Qué fue el cal finding in the history of mankind” and responsable de su desaparición? Es tentador that “it’s going to open the eyes of humanity el culpar a los hipsters pero hay más en la and elevate the consciousness of every huhistoria. De hecho estoy convencido de que man being on the planet.” todavía no han sido descubiertos lugares que I’m trying to imagine what an elevation of permanecen ocultaos y que una mayor comconsciousness would look like in the United prensión sobre la desaparición de la cultura States. Would Americans cease to be fat and Maya revelaría los secretos que puede modifiworship celebrities? Would we stop electing car drásticamente nuestra comprensión de la career politicians and impose term limits in historia humana. congress? Most importantly, would people Un documental todavía en montaje, stop wearing fake eyeglasses and scarves titulado Revelaciones de los Mayas: 2012 y when it’s hot outside? That’s a lot to expect más allá promete desvelar esto y mucho from one film, and so, naturally, I’m a little más. Como si esto no fuera suficientemente skeptical. I’m also suspicious of these claims tentador, la película promete incluso revelar in light of the recent tendency of documentary la cura de todas las enfermedades venéreas. filmmakers to twist the facts about Mayan Según las estadísticas del centro para el conprophesy and create sensationalism around trol de enfermedades, uno de cada cinco debe the 2012 doomsday phenomenon. ser muy entusiasmado con eso!

The producer explained in a recent inEl documental que se estrenará en agosto terview that among the archaeological sites de este año, y su productor con sede en Los explored in the fancy 3D film will be a city in Ángeles, Raúl Julia-Levy dice que el proyecto Guatemala that, according to their experts, was pondrá de manifiesto el “descubrimiento arconstructed underwater (not sunken), adding queológico más importante en la historia de finally that the mother of all secrets will be la humanidad” y que “va a abrir los ojos de la revealed at Calakmul in Campeche, Mexico. humanidad y elevar la conciencia de cada ser The findings highlighted in the film are said to humano en el planeta. “. be based on a decade of research and purportEstoy tratando de imaginar lo que sería edly draw on “classified information” related to una elevación de la conciencia en los Estados evidence of alien contact in the ancient past.

Unidos. ¿Los estadounidenses dejaría de ser That last part got my attention. Not only am obesos o adorar a las celebridades? ¿Dejarían I a huge fan of documentaries, but I love the de elegir a políticos de carrera y entonces imtopic of extraterrestrials! Certain authors and poner límites del mandato en el Congreso? ¿Lo researchers have tried over several decades más importante, serían dejar de llevar anteojos

La PALABRA

falsos y pañuelos cuando hace calor fuera? Eso es mucho esperar de una película y tan naturalmente soy un poco escéptico. También sospecho de estas reclamaciones a la luz de la reciente tendencia los cineastas de documental para torcer los hechos acerca de la profecía Maya y crear sensacionalismo alrededor del fenómeno popular apocalíptico de 2012.

El productor explicó en una reciente entrevista que entre los sitios arqueológicos explorados en 3D estará una ciudad de Guatemala que según sus expertos, fue construida bajo el agua (no hundida) agregando finalmente que la madre de todos los secretos será revelada en Calakmul en Campeche México. Las conclusiones destacadas en la

película se dice que se basa en una década de investigación y supuestamente se basan en “información clasificada” relacionada con pruebas de contacto extraterrestre en el tiempo pasado.

Esa última parte llamó mi atención. No sólo soy un gran aficionado de documentales, pero me encanta el tema de extraterrestres.

Algunos autores e investigadores han intentado durante décadas demostrar prueba de contacto extraterrestre en el pasado y algunos de ustedes me han escuchado explicando el caso antes. Extraterrestres Antiguos La Serie popular del History Channel se basa alrededor de estas teorías y este documental se dirige al mismo público.

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OPINION

Republicans Fishing for Relevance

during the 2008 presidential race, so if you have to defend yourself against the accusation of following another god, the chances of an atheist getting elected president are slim to none. Jon Stewart said it best; the far right is confusing a war against Christianity with not always getting their way.

The reason the candidates want to drum don’t know how many Americans are up a faux religious war is because there against birth control, but I’m going really isn’t much else to sell. One could to go out on a very short limb and say almost feel bad for the Party. You can see the that most people probably couldn’t care campaign coordinators desperately searchless. Really, do we care that our friends and ing for social topics to rehash just to give neighbors are on birth control? And if you candidates like Mitt Romney and Rick Sanare a doctor who is against giving birth contorum something to sell to their base. When trol to your patients based on religious reaRick Santorum’s meek sweater-vest charsons, then you should probably find another acter wasn’t working, he ratcheted up the profession. But again, I’m guessing that the crazy Santorum of old who hates gay people numbers of doctors who and believes Satan has a care about this are also controlling influence in slim. Regardless of this America. Newt Gingrich being a non-issue, this has has accused Obama of column by JASON JOHNSON caused hysteria within the supporting infanticide tuckwopat@yahoo.com paranoid far-right crowd and Mitt Romney said and has been a central that when he gets elected debate between the Republican candidates.

President, the assault on religion will stop.

The Republican battle to find the most They’ve got nothing. They’re all playing conservative candidate has turned into a with an empty hand. This will obviously sell drum circle for ultra-conservative supportto the base but not to the people at large ers who, in their view, believe that Christian- who fear the idea of having a delusional ity is now under attack in America. Who is person in the White House. The Republidoing the attacking is a bit of a mystery, but can political field is so devoid of someone that’s the kindling keeping the blood boiling electable that most liberals don’t even care. at the moment.

Santorum is a punching bag to the gay comThe far-right crowd believes President munity (as he should be). Gingrich is a relic Obama hates Christians and America. They from the ’90s and he was a poison to his believe that there’s a war against all things party back then. Romney will likely get the Christian. This is in spite of the fact Obama nomination because he’s less of an albatross, is a Christian and that Christians control but his ideas are thin, and he doesn’t even just about every part our government. The have much appeal with the typical Repubreference to God is stamped on our money lican voter—the old white guy. Their only and everywhere else, and thanks to Chrishope is to be able to string together a few tian influence, a grown man can’t even get a more phony social issues that might make a hard drink in Tennessee on Sunday. few people angry. Otherwise, this will be a Obama was accused of being a Muslim boat race with Obama well in front.

I

GAGFLEX

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NEWS

D

uring his time in the pawn shop busiJay Davies and the ness, Jay Davies has acquired a very Murfreesboro Pawn broad range of knowledge on products & Gun staff will ranging from diamonds to guns to car help you assemble your own “zombie audio and musical instruments. arsenal,” give you Many visit Murfreesboro Pawn & Gun on a a deal on musical regular basis just to browse the ever-changing instruments and jewelry or exchange inventory and perhaps get a great deal on a cash for some of power tool, watch, TV or gaming system, CD your own stuff. player, jewelry, DVDs and more, while shopping in an establishment actually owned and operated by a local individual.

Even though he may give the impression of Stone Cold Steve Austin upon first glance, a man not to be messed with, do not be intimidated; Jay’s actually a very friendly guy, always joking around with his customers.

“Ma’am, that guitar really brings out the color in your eyes,” he tells one shopper, who does end up buying the instrument.

16 years old, I started working there.

Davies had to break it to another We had one in McMinnville until customer that what appeared to be a the state decided to build a highway diamond ring was, indeed, a fake. through it. (They bought the building).

“Sorry, that’s costume jewelry,” he This is the only one we have now. told the man, who was hoping to get I came back from the service about some cash for the ring. six or eight months after he opened, and I’ve He later talks with a gentleman in the shop been here ever since, besides about a year in about converting an SKS rifle to take AK magaVegas . . . I needed to sow some oats, but I came zines. A big part of the shop’s business is gun back with my hat in my hand and apologized. trade, and Jay is a strong supporter of AmeriI asked him to please let me have my job back, cans’ right to bear arms. and ever since I’ve worked hard not to piss him “Gun-phobia is a bad thing,” he says. “If you off or let him down. He’s retired now. think everybody out there has a gun on them, it would be the most polite society ever. The break- MP: What challenges have you overcome in starting and growing your business? ing in the house stuff would stop overnight.”

JD: When we first started Encouraging gun ownerin Lebanon, we opened the ship rather than making it difstore up and literally had no ficult for law-abiding citizens Murfreesboro Entrepreneurs Association money to pay for some of the to own and carry weapons things we needed to in order would ultimately reduce crime, to operate the business. he says.

All of the merchandise in “At least in the South, we ON BUSINESS the store was literally stuff have some more reasonable story and photos by BRACKEN out of our house—lamps, lawmakers, who may be gun MAYO VCRs, my video game system. owners themselves, and aren’t In the pawn business, totally gun-phobic.” you have to hold an item for Meanwhile, Davies’ right60 days before it’s for sale. You’re looking at hand man, Roy Ryan, prices a piece of merchan60 days before you even have a shot at making dise from a customer wanting some cash. any money on it. But after 90 days, my dad “Seventy-five dollars will work,” the customer had the store in the black. says, exchanging his Xbox 360 for cash.

MP: What businesses/people were an Another customer enters the store and shows inspiration for you? some interest in a stepladder.

JD: My dad is an incredibly smart businessman.

“I can’t let it go just yet. I have to hold it for From insurance setup, dealing with the governsomeone for a few more days,” Davies tells him. ment, knowing what merchandise to buy, he “I’ll be back to check on it next week,” the just knows how capitalism works, how to make man replies.

PULSE: How did you get into the pawn money. He’s owned and operated multi-million business? dollar car dealerships. My grandfather was also JAY DAVIES: I was about 15 years old when a greart businessman. my dad started a shop in Lebanon. When I was Roy’s dad is extremely sharp too. Bayle Ryan,

PAWN STAR

Jay Davies practices the art of buying and selling at Murfreesboro Pawn & Gun.

SPOTLIGHT

he’s extremely analytical. He got our accounting set up for us, and our daily operating procedures. Now, I say it’s a two-horse show here; Roy has been here 14 years. He threatened to leave once, and I held onto his leg like a kid and begged him not to go. I’d take a bullet for Roy. MP: What’s your favorite part of running your business?

JD: Not working for somebody else.

MP: What’s your least favorite part?

JD: Dealing with the government. It’s ridiculous. You basically work January through July to pay the taxes; after that, you can make money.

But I’m aware of that, and if you want to run the race, you have to pay the entrance fee.

Now, Obama’s trying to raise the inheritance tax to 55 percent. I disagree with that.

If I had not bought this store from my dad

(which I have), and he passes, I’d have to write the government a check for 55 percent of the store’s appraised value MP: Who are your customers?

JD: I’ve got everyone from vice mayors (he says as Murfreesboro Vice Mayor Chris Bratcher walks out of the store with his new handgun) to crackheads. Really, I get everything from doctors and lawyers to the chief of police.

MP: What is your advice to someone starting a business?

JD: Don’t do it.

You think you’re working for yourself, but you’re not. You’re working for everyone else.

Don’t fake it, Roy adds. A lot of people fake it and go out and buy a Cadillac and act like they are successful before they are, and don’t know what they’re doing.

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Stop, Collaborate Sharing rarely used items can save households lots of money and cut down on production.

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innovation director at the company, which is a e learn in school that sharing leading advocate of the idea. One example prois a virtue and that it is best vided by the group is home power tools. About practiced with pencils, glue and half of U.S. households own an electric power maybe a homemade treat in our drill that is used between 6 and 13 minutes lunchbox. But what if this simple concept were in its lifetime. Power tools is but one of many extended to much of what we own? Take a look categories that is well suited for collaborative around your house or apartment. How much of consumption. Let’s take a what you see is used regulook at how the concept larly or even a second time? works and how everyone can It is likely that your neighbor benefit. is in the same predicament Sharing has traditionally and that both of you could been restricted to family and benefit if you only knew what column by RYAN EGLY friends, for obvious reasons. was needed/available. This is egly@boropulse.com Technology and online the essence of collaborative platforms have changed the consumption, a trend that is game. It is now possible to collaborate with sweeping the globe and offers an alternative to anyone, anywhere and at anytime, although the customary accumulate-and-hoard model.

In an interview with Greentech Media, Laura the system works best in a local context. The first concern is for the well being of the items Anderson of Collaborative Lab claims that colin question. Profiles on online platforms allow laborative consumption could lead to the most users to develop reputational capital, which is significant shift in the global economy since the key to guaranteeing smooth transactions. Just Industrial Revolution. Anderson serves as the as with trusted sellers on Amazon or Ebay, you can find trusted sharers, swappers and renters, complete with feedback.

A quick search will show you that Tennessee is not exactly a hotbed of swapping activity.

PRODUCT Let’s change that! A shift in how we consume SERVICE SYSTEMS will not only benefit the environment, but also PROBLEM: your pocketbook. Imagine that 20 households Half of U.S. households own power were able to collaboratively own the drill in the drills, but most of them are used only example above, and that a drill kit costs $100.

6 to 13 minutes during their lifetime.

That’s $1,900 that 20 households have saved, and 19 drill sets that have not required plastic, SOLUTION: metal and fabrication/shipping from Asia.

Zilok.com offers peer-to-peer daily That’s $1,900 that could be spent at farmer’s rental of tools, camcorders and other markets or at other locations that support the goods. local economy. The person that did buy the drill will not have to buy the tiller or hedge trimmer REDISTRIBUTION that another neighbor owns. The sky is the MARKETS: limit, as they say. I haven’t seen labor listed as a PROBLEM: swappable item, but it seems like it would work.

Americans discard 7 million tons of Friends of Linebaugh Library Vice President cardboard annually.

Raina van Setter is an active media swapper SOLUTION: and recommends swap.com for its ease of use and popularity, especially for content not availUsedcardboardboxes.com “rescues” able at the library. Some other sites require the and resells boxes to movers. accumulation of swapping credit, which can be more trouble than it is worth. An attractive COLLABORATIVE feature of the swap.com site is school wish LIFESTYLES: lists. For the price of postage, an individual PROBLEM: can help an aspiring reader. The library bookMillions of houses and spare rooms store, located on parking level P2, can also be around the world are sitting empty seen as a form of collaborative consumption. and have “idling capacity.”

Books are donated from the public and sold SOLUTION: at fairly low prices, the earnings from which are used directly by the library for books, for Airbnb.com allows anyone from priprograms and for the new energy efficient vate residents to commercial property lighting at branch locations. owners to rent out their extra space.

Trading of non-media items (can’t be

LIVING GREEN

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Why should every home have an assortment of power tools that rarely gets used? Some neighborhoods are starting common toolsheds to share some of these items.

SOME POPULAR SWAPPING/ BORROWING/RENTING SITES:

1

Swap.com (formerly SwapTree) I just created an account here. There are many media items (books, DVDs, etc.) available, and it’s free. This is useful for permanent swaps.

2 3

Swapbabygoods.com Self explanatory.

Zipcar.com Great idea, difficult to implement in the ’Boro, given the low population density, lack of urban planning and low access to mass transit.

4

Craigslist.com Mostly for money sales, but sellers might be open to a trade offer.

5

Ziloc.com Good renting site, with some items in Murfreesboro.

6 7

Portland Tool Library A great model to follow.

SnapGoods.com Okay for item rental, service fee of $.50 + 7 percent of rental price, option for deposit security. shipped) works best in areas with a high population density, which is a rare find in the suburbs of Murfreesboro. Suburbs are the opposite of community by design and are a key culprit in the trend towards isolation and accumulation. Real estate sales do well, home builders do well, car companies do well and retailers do well, all at the expense of the community and the environment. To get around this, we have to be smart about how we trade, and adapt the concept to our particular circumstances. No one wants to drive 30 minutes in Murfreesboro traffic to borrow a drill, and then return it again the next day.

If you were renting your drill for $4 a day, $4 might not cover the expense of the pickup.

One option could be to create a common toolshed for 20 or so neighbors, with one

volunteer in charge of checkouts. This idea could actually work well for an entire neighborhood. Another option is to organize with neighbors or members of groups that meet regularly, such as religious groups. Items could be swapped at the regular meetings, which avoids the necessity of a home pickup.

Trading instead of buying new relates to sustainability in a big way. For a great video on how consumer goods are the direct cause of a host of environmental issues and social inequality, invite friends over to watch The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard. I remember being both inspired and disturbed as I first watched that 21-minute clip on YouTube. I’d wager that you won’t be able to stop and will go on to watch her other paradigm-shattering videos on the electronics industry, cosmetics, bottled water, cap and trade and more.

Another glimpse into the intense resource use demanded by commonplace goods can be seen in any of the interviews with Thomas Thwaites, the British student who made his own toaster from scratch (really from scratch: he procured and manufactured his own iron, copper, plastic, and mica). He’s a bit quirky, in a good way, so the interviews are never boring.

Collaborative consumption could eventually transition into a collaborative lifestyle, which offers a much needed solution to the present and future environmental crisis, as well as a way to strengthen local communities during a difficult economy. When the great blizzard of January 2009 hit Louisville, my apartment was without power for 10 days. An amazing thing happened. I lived not far off of Bardstown Road, a prime location for coffee shops, restaurants, pubs and local bookstores, which had power before the densely-packed residential area surrounding it. The frozen street was alive with heavily-clothed pedestrians making paths through the thick blanket of snow. That ever present blue flickering of the TV was temporarily extinguished from home windows.

People were talking, instead of being talked to.

For a short period of time, I had a glimpse of what it felt like to live in a neighborhood that communicates. Collaborative consumption offers a real opportunity to bring communities together in a similar way and in one that hopefully lasts longer than a blizzard.

Mac Myths, Old and New It’s been 20 years since I first started using a Macintosh computer as my daily machine, and some of the same myths are still circulating today, along with some brand new ones. So let’s delve into the sea of (mis)information, shall we?

Apple is Dead(I hear they’re about to go under) This is a favorite mostly because, even in the light of tons of contradictory evidence, there are still those who love ringing the death knell for Apple. So in case you missed it, Apple is now the #1 brand in the WORLD. Apple has $98 Billion in cash in the bank.

In the 3rd quarter of 2011 alone, they sold 37 million iPhones, along with 15.4 million iPads, and 4.9 million Macs. And speaking of the iPad, no manufacturer has made a tablet device that is even a fraction as good and the ones that are out there are the same price as the iPad! Finally, lest you think it’s all about iOS devices at Apple, 2011 saw the Macintosh increase in sales 20 percent over 2010.

that most people just throw up their hands at the three-four year mark and go buy a new PC. Meanwhile, the average Mac user is still using their Mac for work and play, free from the plague of viruses. Mac users replace their computers on average every six-seven years.

So over the course of a lifetime, who spends more on computers and maintenance?

You Can’t Play Games on a Mac True, you cannot play as many games on a Mac as you can on a Windows PC. But you can play many of the most popular titles, such as Portal, Bioshock, Left 4 Dead 2, Starcraft 2, etc. And for what it’s worth, most people use gaming consoles such as Xbox, Wii, and PS3 to play games, so I don’t see Mac’s game cred, or lack thereof, being a deal breaker for most people anymore.

Macs Cost Too Much Macs Can’t Do (fill in the blank) No, they don’t. Yes, they do. Okay, both answers Yes, they can. A Macintosh computer can do are correct. Macs cost more than some Winanything a Windows computer can do, except dows PCs initially. But some Windows PCs run one of the over 200,000 viruses out there, cost more than Macs. It all depends on that is. The only limitation of what a Mac, or how you load them up with features. The any computer for that matproblem is that most $400 ter, can do, is the software.

Windows PCs are woefully If someone writes the softunderpowered and underware to do whatever, then featured, meaning that they the computer it runs on can don’t have all the ports and do whatever. capabilities to do everything MACINTOSH you want to do with them.

AND iPHONE iPHONE Macs Are Good ANSWERS AND TIPS for Graphics Macs Come With All column by Ah, that old chestnut.

You Could Want PATRICK CLARK patrick@boromac.com What does that even mean, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB, “Good for Graphics”?

Thunderbolt, a webcam Shouldn’t ALL computers be good for graphand the awesome iLife suite of apps (iMovie, ics? Macs are preferred by creative types, but iPhoto, iDVD and GarageBand). Apple doesn’t I think that’s because creative types prefer make bargain basement level Macs. For example, go to Dell.com and look at their desktop to be creative rather than fighting with their computer or running virus scans daily (yes, computers. There are easily a dozen different I’m looking at you Windows). models to choose from, ranging from $299 all the way up to $3,999. But Apple doesn’t do Macs Won’t Run Word or Excel—False. that; they start their base models at the $799 As a matter of fact, when Microsoft released (Mac mini) price point and go up from there. the very first versions of Word and Excel, they Why? Because computers priced much lower were for the Macintosh computer. Windows than that are junk (unless you build it yourdidn’t even exist then! Microsoft has continself ). They’re made with inferior components, ued to make a Mac version of Office, even a lackluster set of features, and they won’t last though I prefer Apple’s iWork suite of office long before a component fails. In other words, apps. Pages (page layout/word processyou get what you pay for. ing), Numbers (spreadsheets), and Keynote Many Windows users won’t make it that (presentations) are $19.99 each and available far, though, because they replace their comfrom the Mac App Store. Office for Mac 2011 puters every four years or so. The reason? is $199 ($149 with student discount).

Viruses, spyware and malware infestation.

The Windows platform is an attractive target for most writers of malware and I promise Patrick Clark, owner of The Boro Mac Shop, you that most Windows computers on the has repaired Macintosh computers and Apple planet have at least one piece of malware on devices since 1996, and Boro Mac Shop is Murthem right now. Enough of those on a PC will freesboro’s best Macintosh and iPhone repair slow it down or make it so frustrating to use shop. Contact him at (615) 796-6154.

APPLE

{

TALK

}

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FOOD (Right) Pan-seared tuna; (below) steak and eggs; (below right) Larry Pinkerton and Avent Lane perform a laid-back acoustic brunch jam every Sunday from 10 a.m.–2 p.m.

story by RYAN NOREIKAS photos by BRACKEN MAYO

COLOR, TASTE AND SOUND

Blue Restaurant and Bar adds a breath of fresh air to Jackson Heights.

T

here’s a baby grand piano right in the middle of an art gallery. Add several tables and chairs and you have the spacious, high-ceilinged dining room of BLUE Restaurant & Bar, located in Jackson Heights Plaza. Managing partner Greg Pogue invites you to experience his take on fine dining-meets-casual atmosphere.

“We offer a variety of experiences under one roof—our huge dining area, separate bar area with televisions, and our outdoor patio,” said Pogue.

Lunch at BLUE is relatively inexpensive with a variety of salads and a decent selection of sandwiches, including the Tuna Steak, Country Ham, Crawcake Burger and Veggie Burger, all priced at $10 or less. Entrees are priced similarly and include Chicken Penne Pasta with a Cajun cream sauce; Chicken a la “Blue,” smothered in sawmill peppered gravy; a vegetable plate and a few seafood options.

Things can get a little pricier for dinner, but it depends on what you order. The restaurant offers create-your-own pastas, where you pick the pasta, sauce and optional protein for an average of $17. A sirloin steak is $17 and higher premium cuts including ribeye, filet mignon and a weekend-only prime rib run about $26 to $28.

All steaks are aged, hand-cut USDA choice Black Angus beef.

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BLUE includes seafood on its menu as much as any other protein, and features plates of salmon, tuna, shrimp, grouper, scallops and oysters at an average of $18.

Chicken dishes include Chicken Marsala, Chicken & Buttons (sautéed mushrooms) and Chicken Cordon “Blue,” ranging from $10-15 in price. All entrees, not including pastas, are served with two side items, and plenty of soups, salads and starters are available to tease the appetite.

The dining room features free live music on scheduled days and evenings. The baby grand gets its workout on Tuesdays with Jeff Alfiero from 6:00–9:00 p.m. and Fri.– Sat. from 6–9 p.m. with Charlie Parker. The restaurant & bar hosts an MTSU Jazz Jam the first and third Monday each month, featuring musical performances by MTSU jazz students and instructors, from 6–9 p.m.

“Beginning in the spring, we plan to host live music in the courtyard on Friday and Saturday nights,” said Pogue. The restaurant and bar has patio seating outside in a courtyard adjacent to the indoor space.

A Sunday Jazz Brunch is a feature unique to BLUE. A special brunch menu is offered from 10 a.m.–3 p.m. and jazz entertainment is provided by local musicians Avent Lane and Larry Pinkerton. The menu is similar to lunch with added breakfast-type foods including French toast, eggs and biscuits. Prices average around $10, give or take a few.

Separate from the dining area is a barroom,

Caesar Salad

THE DISH NAME: Blue Restaurant

and Bar

LOCATION: 810 NW Broad St., Ste. 222 PHONE: (615) 410-3383 HOURS: 11 a.m.–10 p.m.

Mon.–Thurs.; 11 a.m.–11 p.m.

Fri.–Sat.; 10 a.m.–10 p.m. Sun. PRICES: Tuna: $18; French toast and fried chicken: $10; Crawcake burger: $8; “Blue” Filet mignon: $28

also fit with a high ceiling. It’s spacious with a fully stocked bar and televisions for sports viewing. BLUE offers regular bar specials, also applicable to the dining area, including $4 Martinis on Mondays (also half-price appetizers) from 2–10 p.m.; two-for-one drinks, beers and wines from 2–10 p.m. on Tuesdays; $2 well drinks and drafts from 2–10 p.m. on Wednesdays; and other Happy Hour specials Mon.–Fri. from 2–10 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

BLUE Restaurant & Bar has three different areas for food, beverages, music and general social experience, and the place does book private events.

“We book private parties, any size, any time,” said Pogue.

Blue Restaurant & Bar is located in the Jackson Heights Plaza at 810 N.W. Broad Street, Suite 222. For more information, visit blue-restaurant.com.

Mimosa: champagne and orange juice

Newcastle Seasonal Beer Now Available in Murfreesboro

Founder’s Ale, flavors include Summer Ale, Winter IPA and Werewolf for the fall. Beer connoisseurs can expect to have each available, during its respective time of year, in 6-packs and 12-packs of bottles at Kroger and Publix, beginning with Summer Ale ast year, Newcastle Breweries released in late March/early April, according to a a line of limited edition seasonal beers representative of Heineken USA. in test markets across the U.S. via its Six-packs of Founder’s Ale have been found distributor, Heineken USA. Recently, the spring recently at Beer Depot (2002 seasonal Founder’s Ale has made E. Main Street) and Stones its way to Murfreesboro, with River Total Beverages (208 draught served in two locations— N. Thompson Lane). Perhaps Old Chicago and Bluesboro. there are other mom-and-pop England-based Newcastle

by RYAN NOREIKAS locations in Rutherford Country Breweries brought its original that carry it as well. If your neighNewcastle Brown Ale to the world borhood beer store does not carry in 1927, which became extremely it, they may order it for you if you successful in the United Kingdom voice your desire. in the early ‘70s and eventually For more information, visit newfound significant popularity in the castlebrown.com. states. The company has partnered with Caledonian Brewery Newcastle Limited Edition of Scotland to brew its seasonal Seasonal Brews: ales, which has been functioning for 140 years and is known for its  FOUNDER’S ALE: Nutty brown use of rare direct-fired open copcolor, light-bodied flavor and malty pers in its brewing process. dry, bitter finish.

Old Chicago began selling SUMMER ALE: Crisp with a touch Founder’s Ale on tap in the middle of February. of caramel; medium sweet in the middle with “It has a smokier finish, not so hoppy,” said a delicious dry, hoppy finish.

General Manager Gabe Hubble. “The NewWEREWOLF: Dark, startling aroma; a roasty castle name carries a lot of weight and most of flavor with a final taste of hops. the people I talk to like it.”

WINTER IPA: Balanced body; a warm mouthIn addition to the spring seasonal feel with a long, bittersweet finish.

L

BREWS

NEWS

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SOUNDS

GREAT CHANGES The Great Barrier Reefs return for local show March 16 with Barry Mando Project. story by JESSICA PACE

T

IF YOU GO:

he Great Barrier Reefs have been something of a household name in Murfreesboro in terms of the frequency of their shows in the past. But their jazz-funk pan steel concoction hasn’t been around the ‘Boro since October, which is about a year in Murfreesboro time.

On March 16, the Reefs are bringing a revised sound to Wall Street, so the Pulse thought it would be worth asking a good local jazz fusion band how things have been going for them outside of Murfreesboro.

“All things said and done, we didn’t come back broken and pissed off that we did it,” says GBR percussionist/keyboardist/steel degrees at MTSU and Belmont. Bassist panist Tony Hartman about the band’s exTaylor Lonardo runs Spring Street Studios in tended tour, which ended last December.

Murfreesboro, and Hartman, Lonardo and 2011 was a happening year for the band, guitarist Al Janelle are in the popular local starting with a record release in April, tours cover band, Nick Carver Band. through the South and Midwest throughThe Great Barrier Reefs, however, are on out the summer and festival dates, like the the front burner lately. The band is putting Bowling Green International Festival last together a live album, and they’ve written September. Some cities were hit for the first half the material for a new record. The first time; others were reruns where the recepfull week of March will take them on a brief tion is getting warmer. tour through Hartman’s hometown of Daven“Memphis, Knoxville, Atlanta—each time port, Iowa, Chicago and Louisville. we go back to these cities, it’s bigger and betAll booking and publicity is handled by ter. It’s good to take this thing that was born Hartman, who’s interested in seeing where and raised in Murfreesboro, take it out in the the Reefs will go after a successful year. country and see how other people dig on it,” “The band is a pretty big priority, not so says Hartman. “So far it’s been positive.” much that it’s making me a lot of money, but Last year’s tour was the longest the Reefs it is my baby,” he says. “Players come and have done as a group; the band members’ go and so do groups. That’s why I’ve been lives don’t allow for too many prolonged so aggressive with the touring. I want to get tours. Hartman is a percussion instructor for the most out of it that I the Oakland High School possibly can.” band, is involved with the WHAT: The Great Hartman grew up like so MTSU salsa band, gives Barrier Reefs, AFRO, The Barry Mando many other artists—getting private percussion lessons Project into music through church and is the director of Steel and his parents. His mothde Boro, a steel drum band WHEN: Fri., March 16 er is a music teacher and composed of local fifth and WHERE: Wall St., his grandmother taught sixth graders. on The Square piano and played organ.

A couple members are COST: $5 Hartman was initially a still finishing up their 16 * MARCH 2012 * BOROPULSE.COM

(Left) The Barry Mando Project; (above) The Reefs live in Knoxville on WDVX’s Blue Plate Special; (below, from left) The Great Barrier Reefs’ Rheal Janelle, Matt Heller, Josh Dunlap, Tony Hartman, Taylor Lonardo and Joshua Salter in Redrocket, the band’s trusty van.

student of piano. Piano led to cello, which led to upright bass, which led to percussion, including the steel pan drum.

“It’s too much fun not to play instruments.

They all have a little secret to them. They all have a pattern. As a kid, I didn’t watch a lot of TV, I didn’t play a lot of video games. I just played a lot of instruments,” Hartman says.

Plenty of instruments and inspiration go into The Great Barrier Reefs’ fusion. As for their new sound, it has to do with the addition of guitarist Rheal “Al” Janelle.

A couple skilled guitarists have come and gone peacefully through the band, but the newest has kicked the GBR sound up a notch.

“Not only does changing members change the chemistry of the group, it changes the sound. Especially with guitarists—they can really define a group’s sound. The way they play, the type of distortion they do, the tone,” Hartman says.

A south Georgia guy, Janelle is into the

distortion and brings a southern rock sensibility to the Reefs that definitely wasn’t there before. It’s added a grit that has tweaked Hartman’s songwriting as well, and kicked up the energy in their live performances (which sometimes needs to be toned down for restaurant gigs).

“I don’t want to say Janelle’s guitar playing gives our sound more of an edge, because that’s not exactly right, but it’s definitely different, and I’ve been writing new tunes based on that sound,” Hartman says.

The best way to find out how different the Reefs are is to go see them with Afro and the Barry Mando Project March 16. The best Hartman can describe the change is sound is that the GBR have gone from “super turbo smooth” to “super turbo.”

Visit thegreatbarrierreefs.com for free downloads of “To The Bridge Burners,” and two live tracks, “You Gotta Cheer Up, Debbie!” and “Matt’s Birthday.”

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SOUNDS

The trio made up of Th’ Legendary Shack Shaker’s (“CB Song” appearance in a Geico Commerical in the early two thousand aughts, as well as their brilliantly devilish stage shows) former drummer Paul Simmons with his heart-stopping double bass drum, the band’s tenured heavy string-clanking upright bassist and lyric inspiring Jimbo Wallace, as well as founder Jim “Reverend Horton” Heath himself more than likely on a signature bigbodied Gretsch, the band has repeatedly paid the toll, after repaving the road of psychobilly that eventually leads into our quaint little Murfreesboro this month for a live show at Gilligan’s on March 18. Openers, beautifully punkgrassed sextet Larry and His Flask along with The Goddamn Gallows will warm the audience before the good trio takes stage for a night of classy debauchery and evidence of more than 25 years of success.

Heat’s experience is evident after the quarter-century of performances with Jim Heath still jumping on top of Jimbo’s bass for a solo showing a lack of soulful aging despite some grey hairs and wrinkles. Commercial appeal, too, over the years (Levi’s Jeans ads among others, being selected for the official Daytona 500 music in 2002, and songs in the second Ace Ventura movie as well as in Guitar Hero) backs them, and not to forget 10 studio albums to their name beginning with their debut, Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em released in 18 * MARCH 2012 * BOROPULSE.COM

The energetic three-piece that is Rev. Horton Heat, (From left) Paul Simmons, Jim Heath and Jimbo Wallace.

FEEL THE HOT HEAT Reverend Horton Heat might burn the house down again playing Gilligan’s mid-month. story by BRYCE HARMON

November 1990. As all good bands do, they kept their growing audience waiting for at least a couple of years, if not four or five, before releasing another record just to insure a salivating cult audience would be present for the promotional tours. Now, in similar fashion after their 2009 release Laughin’ and Cryin’ (five years before that being their Christmas album, We Three Kings), Reverend Horton Heat is on the road once again, jumping states at a time over night, to promote an upcoming 11th release out of Yep Roc Records, 25 to Life, due out March 27.

Throughout the studio albums, Reverend Heat has gone back and forth from its inyour-face paced yet still youthful but maturing sound as they have dabbled in a little bit of everything the genre can offer. After their debut, the sophomore The Full Custom Gospel Sound of Reverend Horton Heat spit out originals including “Wiggle Stick,” “Bales of Cocaine” and “Big Little Baby” that would be staples in any psychobilly-founded church, such as the upcoming Muddy Roots festival that Heat and the Goddamn Gallows will perform, Heat headlining.

The small but big-at-heart greaser festival was headlined last year by Wanda

Jackson in its second year of existence, but the fest remains steadfast in pulling in big names again this year during the latter part of August with the Goddamn Gallows blowing up on this particular circuit too.

Their show last year will forever be tattooed in the minds of those that there, mainly because of the pools of sweat on stage after their workout of a performance including

a dream-haunting sprite of a man wearing washboard armor that scared hell out of some, but made them feel comfortably at home in that valley, but anyways . . .

The Heat’s catalogue is solid up to 2005’s We Three Kings, the Christmas album that kind of screams mercy from the band. The follow-up Laughin’ and Cryin’ half a decade later, however, jumps right back into standard Heat fashion lyric-wise, but focuses more on the country side as opposed to the in-your-face rockabilly, leaving their new one a wonder anticipated by the Heat at heart and only previewed by attendants of the Gilligan’s show unless you wait until the end of the month.

If you’ve never heard or seen them before and want a taste of what you’ll get yourself into this night, they have videos online, of course, and a couple of good career-collective albums under their belts including a 20thCentury Masters: Best of…. and The Reverend Horton Heat in Holy Rollers.

Speaking for their current Stewed, Screwed and Tattoed tour and their quarter-century’s well-worth, Heath said, “It’s kind of like ‘It’s time to stop and reflect.’ And I’m just, Ugh. No! I don’t want to stop and reflect. Screw that,” making a sort of gagging noise. “I remember it. I remember all that stuff. I don’t have to reflect on it. ‘That’s where we’ve been.’

No, I don’t like to think anything about where we’ve been,” he told the Oklahoman writer Brandy McDonnell before a recent show.

Tickets for the March 18 show can be found at ticketsnow.com, at the door that evening or at reverendhortonheat.com where any other tour information is available if you’re not able to make it that night. Visiting larryandhisflask.com and goddamngallows. com is not a waste of time either. This will be one hell of a night, people.

IF YOU GO:

I

n 1985, deep from the depths of Dallas, Texas, emerged a hellacious band now wellknown around America for relentless touring, but much more, reviving and expanding an ever growing fascination of just a hellacious genre of psychobilly that’s a combined faster form of punkabilly and Southern barroom country music in an aggressive devil-knows-what substance-fueled sound. On top of an immense dedication to their craft that’s proven by a relentless touring schedule, Reverend Horton Heat gets down all over the U.S. as a countrified Dick Dale forming a punk band getting into a dragster just to crash it straight through an old oak tree—having wood, metal, gravel, spit, bottles of booze, leather and hair grease fly everywhere—only to keep trucking down the road unfazed afterwards, looking good doing it in the process.

WHAT: Rev. Horton Heat, Larry and His Flask, Goddamn Gallows, Dr. Gonzo, Skeetzo N’ Krysis WHEN: 8 p.m., Sunday, March 18 WHERE: Gilligan’s, 527 W. Main St. COST: $15

YE OLD ST. PATTY’S DAY TRADITION

Secret Commonwealth will play its 19th St. Patty’s Day at the Boro. story by JESSICA PACE

E

veryone has his/her own special St. Patrick’s Day rituals—and limits, or lack thereof—and Murfreesboro is filled with venues and bars to carry out those rituals.

But the Murfreesboro Pulse’s pick for the night is The Boro, where The Secret Commonwealth will be performing a St. Patrick’s Day set for the nineteenth year in a row. This show will stream live on mindcoup. com. Below, Troy Guinn, one of the founding members of the five-piece, explains how the whole tradition began.

How did the band’s first St. Patty’s Day show at The Boro come about?

Our very first gig was actually at a St. Patrick’s Day party at Nottingham Apartments in Murfreesboro in 1993. We really didn’t even have any plans at that time to continue as a regular band, but all our friends encouraged us to keep playing. So we played a couple of open mic nights at The Boro, and then started to get our own shows there. So by the next St. Pat’s Day, I think we were the obvious choice for The Boro; Celtic bands don’t exactly turn up on every corner, so I think they wanted to lock us down [laughs].

Why did it become tradition?

Celtic music really lends itself to tradition.

Celtic bands, more than any other kind I think, like to have a place to call home. The question arises from time to time about try-

ing something different, but at the end of the day, it just feels good to be finding ourselves at The Boro again, seeing that we’ve all survived to another St. Pat’s and have kept this unlikely band together. As for The Boro, I guess they would say they’ve been happy with the business we’ve brought ‘em [laughs].

Does any particular March 17th over the years stand out as a crazy show?

I remember some real marathons, when we’d start playing around 9 p.m. and be wrapping up at close to two in the morning . . . four-hour shows! I also remember a year when we played a St. Pat’s show in Nashville during the day and then rushed up to Murfreesboro to play The Boro, and it poured rain all day. I only remember getting drenched during each load-in and load-out, and yet somehow managed not to catch some deathly illness. But even that year was a blast! There have been years when St. Pat’s has been in the middle of the week, during Spring Break, with lousy weather, and we’ve all said, “Well, we’ll probably have a smaller crowd this time,” and then the place still ends up packed to the gills.

Everyone’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day!

ever being a fad or a nationwide sensation.

It’s just constant, timeless, speaks to people’s emotions and at its heart, it’s joyful and fun.

For me, I would walk away from it if I ever lost interest, but next year will be our twentieth anniversary, and I still feel excited about the music, about the album we’re working on and the lineup of fine musicians we have!

What are your plans for this upcoming show?

Some years, we’ve had opening bands, and some years we haven’t, but this year should be a great time, because our opening band is The Get Reels, a Celtic band that features

our current fiddler, Rebecca Waine. They are young folk and remind me a lot of us when we started. They look to us as old wizened Celtic music warriors, and I suppose we are [laughs]. But both bands on one bill should be a helluva night for St. Pat’s revelers. Best of all, St. Pat’s falls on a Saturday this year!

What could be better?

The really big news about this year is that the show will be streamed live on mindcoup.com.

That will be really great news for our fans and friends that have since moved away and miss the old Boro shows. They’ll be able to tune it in over the internet.

Why do you think The Secret Commonwealth has endured so long?

It has a lot to do with the nature of Celtic music itself. Look how long it’s endured, without

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ALBUM REVIEWS

Taylor Lonardo

Moon Taxi

Two things are clear about bassist (for multiple bands) Taylor Lonardo, after listening to The Low Road: the guy probably listens to everything from 1930s country to house music, and he probably does nothing but play bass all day long. How else can The Low Road, which is more like the road less traveled, be so diverse and so good?

All sounds on the record were created with acoustic and electric bass, and Lonardo did all recording and mixing himself at his own Spring Street Studios in Murfreesboro.

Funk sounds jump off the strings in the opener “Gryphon’s Fire” as some distinct low notes hum in the background. What’s so fantastic about this record is that the bass, often neglected in typical four-piece bands, can provide rhythm, melody or both. On the first track, lower pitched bass parts sound off like a saxophone taking a solo.

If the opener was jazzy, CORRECTION: the following “Henry County The album Swing” sounds like a country review of The GoldRoom’s swing trot with a clopping, The Surroundsleepy rhythm like horseshoes. ing Hours in But Lonardo doesn’t stick last month’s to that, either. “Red & Gold” edition of the shapeshifts through watery Pulse was Pinback-style bass, aimless misattributed; Jessica Pace noises and smooth Deadhead actually wrote grooves. “Midtown Blues” starts the review. with the same eardrum-blowing Our bad! reverberation as the first five seconds of the Chili Peppers’ “Around the World,” and then lets loose in a bluesy puddle.

Almost everything beautiful that the bass can do springs up on The Low Road. “Electrospank” shows a variety of voices; the song has a million pulses layered up and talking over each other. The bass goes sour, stretches thin, stutters, bounces and sounds off like a machine gun.

The record closes with a beautiful goodnight, “Bella Notte.”

There are no lyrics to any of the tracks, and there doesn’t need to be. The bass does all the talking.

There’s everything that local, progressive indieelectronica fans can ask for on sophomore studio album from Nashville’s own Moon Taxi, Cabaret (from 12th South Records), be it the superb unified instrumentation of five young men from Belmont University, excellent production value telling a story standing on its own or even a couple of guests including MGMT’s Hank Sullivant and rapper Matisyahu helping create the most well-rounded statement of the genre within Middle Tennessee yet.

Changing drastically from the trip taken on debut Melodica, Moon Taxi expands from an all-out jam into something more modern throughout the 12-song release beginning with “Mercury,” sounding everyone in an aquatic, semi-trancing harmony while simultaneously impressing with each individual role. The drums, in particular, never cease to strike with agility and discipline while the keys and programming of the album supply the electronica modernity. On top of effected guitars (given “Gunflower”), a still funky bass, well-placed banjos and observantly written lyricism, the quintet even keeps a little Southern folk heritage.

Production-wise, Grammy winner Vance Powell, who worked over The Raconteurs’ albums, mixed Cabaret, with Sullivant producing it.

The album’s first half gives you refreshed Moon Taxi just long enough to say, “Pretty sweet,” until strategically luring you back in mid-album for the attention refreshment, “Hideaway,” showcasing Trevor Ternup’s first go at rapping.

Later, Ternup’s second run rapping duets with America’s most well known Hebrew rapper, Matisyahu, in “Square Circles,” as both flow around, complimenting one another stylishly in Matisyahu fashion.

The title track follows as Spencer Thomson on the boards and Wes Bailey on keys get a chance to show off what Moon Taxi’s new seamless sound is all about.

Moon Taxi will play Nashville March 4 at 3rd & Lindsley and April 18 at the Canary Ballroom with Galactica. Between, they’ll be making appearances at The Hangout festival in Gulf Shores (prime Moon Taxi setting). Cabaret can be found on iTunes and Amazon or at ridethemoontaxi.com.

— JESSICA PACE

— BRYCE HARMON

The Low Road

20 * MARCH 2012 * BOROPULSE.COM

Cabaret

RATINGS: AVERAGE

A CLASSIC BELOW AVERAGE

Sharon Van Etten

OUTSTANDING AVOID AT ALL COSTS

DEAD

Joe Robinson

Tramp

Let Me Introduce You

Red Rose closed its doors almost seven years ago, It’s mostly every young musician’s dream to take but the memory thrives with one of its own former off from home and explore a wild beyond. Maybe shut baristas prospering across our continent, representthemselves off from civilization and privately hone ing what Murfreesboro, and a tolling, control-fueled in on skills, practicing and hoping the results of their relationship provided muse-wise during her time in journey are eventually worth a damn in the long run this town. The guy tried to snuff her ambition, but and/or the short run, depending on the musician. no matter what pain and life experience he provided, In pop rock singer/songwriter/guitarist Joe Robshe’s shining through in a classy fashion strumming inson’s case, home is Australia and his secluded great guitars electric and acoustic, as well as an ukulele beyond are various Nashville studios after winning every now and then in a soft-grunge indie-folk singer/ Australia’s Got Talent in 2008. Unfortunately, the teensongwriter beat, debuting the album Tramp released ager’s journey lyrically gassed his second full length

by Jagjaguwar Records. A little over a year’s worth of Let Me Introduce You, released out of a hodgepodge work went into the 12 track LP mixes the likes of a Juof production units across our capital as the album lie Doirdon’s musical style and the consistently heard documents every step of the way (travelling, missmannish vocals of Chan Marshall. ing home, finding new opportunities once here as a Tramp has recently landed Van Etten spots on young man does) with the only redeemable substance Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and a being youthful confidence, his fingers really good interview/performance We’re working and a stage as an outlet on these on CBC’s Q with Jion Ghameshi, adventure-inspired 13 tracks. hard to promote proving to her unfortunate muse Categorically, Let Me Introduce You good music in falls into the pop adult-contemporary success is the best revenge.

Middle Tennessee. the way a jammish Train would if The beginning track, “Warsaw,” states it with “I want to show you,” N’SYNC’s baby-voiced Justin TimBands: send your albums and the defending second track, berlake led them, but there are a few and promotional materials to “Give Out,” with “You’re the reason moments that have the notion of a The Murfreesboro Pulse, 116-E North Walnut St., why I moved to the city/You’re why bluesy Shut Up and Play Your Guitar.

Murfreesboro, TN 37130.

I’ll need to leave,” played to droning But just a notion. On tracks like the guitar strums. Similar notions are opener entitled “Lethal Injection,” heard all the way through Tramp’s introspection the guy’s fingers are on fire, as well as on the latter with backup vocals sang by Bryce Dessner, a beaualbum’s “Uli’s Jump” (both instrumentals), heartifully and almost exact pitch match of Stephen ing him sprint through scales while others such as Merritt from the Magnetic Fields. Sparse use of the “Skyline” show off high canter chiming. The guy can cello and floor toms for bass notes are ridiculous chime sweetness out of a guitar and does so through (in the good sense) on a couple tracks and there’s others like “The Gremlin.” It’s not for sure if that’s even a good march of a song, “Magic Chords,” an ode to a car he’s driving for now or if it’s the nickamong everything in the latter half of the album as name for his hand but either would be pretty funny. the production quality steps up track by track.

Robinson is slowly touring around between here Sharon Van Etten’s sold-out tour kept her up North and Texas throughout March, but will be performing for the past few months but gives way to a European at the James Union Building’s Tennessee Room at 7 stint before landing her back on the West Coast. Her p.m. on March 28 on the MTSU campus with hip hop next Middle Tennessee appearance will be Mercy duo Call It Dope. Tickets are going for $3 for students Lounge April, 26 a couple of days after a Knoxville and $5 for nonstudents of all ages. Let Me Introduce show. Tramp can be found through Amazon and You can be found through Amazon and iTunes or iTunes or sharonvanetten.com. — BRYCE HARMON joerobinson.com. — BRYCE HARMON

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CONCERT LISTINGS

THE WATERFIGHT, EMERSON SKY, INERT INGREDIENTS, FORGETTING JULIET

Send your show listings to listings@boropulse.com

THURS, 3/1 3 BROTHERS The Waterfight, Emerson Sky, Inert Ingredients, Forgetting Juliet BONHOEFFERS Lauren Mazur BUNGANUT PIG Jolie Bell MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING MTSU Symphonic Band

FRI, 3/2 BLUE Phil Sweetland BONHOEFFERS One Big Owl, The Get Togethers, Abigail Blythe BUNGANUT PIG Higher Ground FANATICS Junkyard Funk LIQUID SMOKE Steam Boars NOBODY’S JT & the Funky Bunch WALL STREET Honey Locust, the Hardin Draw WILLIE’S WET SPOT Phoenix Rising MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING Orpheus Vocal Competition; Hailey Darnell, graduate collaborative piano recital; Dina Cancryn, soprano faculty recital; Joseph Walker, piano faculty recital

SAT, 3/3 3 BROTHERS Austin Cole BLUE Phil Sweetland, Luna Moreno BUNGANUT PIG Groove Addiction FANATICS Brain Ashley Jones THE BORO BAR & GRILL Dave Armstrong, The Swiftlets, The Screaming Names, Friends of Humanity WILLIE’S WET SPOT Freedom Hill MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING Orpheus Vocal Competition

SUN, 3/4 BLUE Jazz Brunch with Avent Lane & Larry Pinkerton BLUESBORO Copper Into Steel BUNGANUT PIG Alan Crist MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING Orpheus Vocal Competition

THE BORO BAR & GRILL Piranah, Blood Culprit, The Destructions

THURSDAY, MARCH 1 @ 3 BROTHERS It’s a full bill tonight at 3 Brothers—enjoy the languid jams of Emerson Sky, as well as Inert Ingredients, The Waterfight and Forgetting Juliet. You may remember a few months back reading in the Pulse a PULSE review of Inert Ingredients’ The Most PICK Background Music Album Ever, which is pretty self-explanatory and dead on.

Their jams are pretty, and you can ignore it in the background while you hang out.

MON, 3/5 BLUE MTSU Jazz Jam BUNGANUT PIG Don Clark MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING MTSBOA

TUES, 3/6 BLUE Jeff Alfiero WILLIE’S WET SPOT Freedom Hill MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING MTSBOA

WED, 3/7 3 BROTHERS Ryan Coleman’s Writer Night BUNGANUT PIG Gregory McCaul LIQUID SMOKE DJ Wigs THE BORO BAR & GRILL Dustin Burley WILLIE’S WET SPOT Shane & Lenny MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING MTSBOA

THURS, 3/8 3 BROTHERS Soviet Space Program, the Hardin Draw BUNGANUT PIG Doc’s New Music MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING MTSBOA

FRI, 3/9 BLUE Phil Sweetland BUNGANUT PIG Entice FANATICS Freedom Hill LIQUID SMOKE The Trails NOBODY’S Zone Status WALL STREET Rhythm Kitchen WILLIE’S WET SPOT Triple Play MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING MTSBOA

SAT, 3/10 3 BROTHERS Hambone BLUE Phil Sweetland, The Eclectics BUNGANUT PIG Japanese Cowboys

View Concert Listings Online: 22 * MARCH 2012 * BOROPULSE.COM

FANATICS Freedom Hill THE BORO BAR & GRILL Static Revival WILLIE’S WET SPOT Stoopid Kool MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING MTSBOA

SUN, 3/11 BLUE Jazz Brunch with Avent Lane & Larry Pinkerton BUNGANUT PIG Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter

MON, 3/12 BUNGANUT PIG Brad Vroon MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING Guest flutist Heather Small, Jonathan Copeland, graduate clarinet recital

TUES, 3/13 LIQUID SMOKE Bellweather WILLIE’S WET SPOT Freedom Hill MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING Randall Chapman, jr. clarinet recital

WED, 3/14 3 BROTHERS Ryan Coleman’s Writer Night BUNGANUT PIG Ryan Patrick Imming LIQUID SMOKE

DJ Wigs WILLIE’S WET SPOT Shane & Lenny MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING MTSU Steel Drum

THURS, 3/15 3 BROTHERS Blue Transit Authority BLUE Charlie Parker BONHOEFFERS Lydia Walker, Travis Singleton, Mirrors BUNGANUT PIG Doc’s New Music FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH MTSU Wind Ensemble MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING Christine Kim, cello, faculty recital

FRI, 3/16 BUNGANUT PIG Clarence Dobbins FANATICS Dirty Cherry LIQUID SMOKE Uberphonics NOBODY’S Some Assembly Required THE BORO BAR & GRILL Mike Short & Statewide WALL STREET Great Barrier Reefs, AFRO WILLIE’S WET SPOT Junkyard Funk MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING Natalie Paul, jr. violin recital, MTSU Wind Ensemble

SAT, 3/17

TUES, 3/20

3 BROTHERS Mud Gap Band, The Granny BLUE Charlie Parker BUNGANUT PIG Mars Hill FANATICS Zone Status THE BORO BAR & GRILL The Secret Commonwealth WALL STREET Nashville Rock Block WILLIE’S WET SPOT St. Patty’s Day Bash with Citizen Rejects MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING Yoon Joong Jeong, graduate composition recital; Eunji Park, jr. violin recital

BLUE Jeff Alfiero LIQUID SMOKE Bellweather WILLIE’S WET SPOT Freedom Hill MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING PMA/DØ/SAI, joint music fraternity recital; Paula Van Goes, faculty saxophone recital

SUN, 3/18 BLUE Jazz Brunch with Avent Lane & Larry Pinkerton BUNGANUT PIG David Fair MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING Tara Kloostra, graduate horn recital; Kaylina Madison, graduate piano recital

MON, 3/19 BLUE MTSU Jazz Jam BUNGANUT PIG Thom Ellis MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING Eric Talbot, sr. percussion recital

HONEY LOCUST FRIDAY, MARCH 2 @ WALLSTREET

PULSE PICK

This gypsy folk quartet summons the powers of Fleet Foxes and the exotic rhythms of European street music and channels them through accordion, viola, cello, banjo, mandolin and ukulele. They’ve only been playing around Nashville since last fall, but they’re picking up speed with a debut record on the way (due out in April) and a spring tour taking shape. Not that they’ll overshadow The Hardin Draw, who also have a record in the works and a rustic Americana sound all their own.

WED, 3/21 3 BROTHERS Ryan Coleman’s Writer Night BUNGANUT PIG Chris O’Brien LIQUID SMOKE DJ Wigs WILLIE’S WET SPOT Shane & Lenny MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING World Percussion

THURS, 3/22 BUNGANUT PIG Doc’s New Music MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING MTSU Jazz Combos

FRI, 3/23 3 BROTHERS Luke Caccetta, Brian Hester BLUE Charlie Parker BUNGANUT PIG Greez Monkeez LIQUID SMOKE 2nd & Vine NOBODY’S Backlit THE BORO BAR & GRILL Alpha Blues Band WALL STREET Johnny Neel Trio with Kanye Twitty WILLIE’S WET SPOT Smiley Blind Band MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING Roya Farzaneh, sr. flute recital; Jonathan Thibado, jr. vocal recital

SAT, 3/24 3 BROTHERS Solar Power Shotgun

BLUE Charlie Parker, The Eclectics BUNGANUT PIG Nick Carver Band FANATICS Carrie & the Smoking Guns MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING High School Clarinet Choir; Katie Spencer, senior vocal recital THE BORO BAR & GRILL Take The Power Back Willie’s Wet Spot Shane & the Moneymakers

SUN, 3/25 BLUE Jazz Brunch with Avent Lane & Larry Pinkerton BUNGANUT PIG Julie Gribble MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING Christine Isley-Farmer, studio recital inspired by Shakespeare: An Evening of Song, Opera and Musical Theatre; Kyla Gwyn,, jr. violin recital; Aurora Hernandez, graduate violin recital

MON, 3/26 BUNGANUT PIG Martin Rodriguez MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING Megan Baldwin, Aleesha Hillis, Shannon Moore, joint student flute rectial; Andrew Janes, junior trombone recital

TUES, 3/27 BLUE Jeff Alfiero LIQUID SMOKE Bellweather WILLIE’S WET SPOT Freedom Hill MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING David Witten guest piano recital

WED, 3/28 3 BROTHERS Ryan Coleman’s Writer Night BUNGANUT PIG

THE TRAILS

PULSE PICK

FRIDAY, MARCH 9 @ LIQUID SMOKE Liquid Smoke oftentimes has a great band hidden back there in the haze. Murfreesboro’s got a thing about genre-less bands who just like to jam with everything from funk and salsa to jazz and reggae floating through the set. The Trails are kinda like that with a reggae jazz fusion, which will go great with 20 cigarettes and a few beers.

Their song “Saturn” – it sounds like Santana + Bob Marley + the rhythm of Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion.”

Joel Hutsell LIQUID SMOKE DJ Wigs WILLIE’S WET SPOT Shane & Lenny MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING Emily Jones, jr. flute recital

THURS, 3/29 3 BROTHERS Tetsuo BONHOEFFERS Rick Hunter & the Veritech Fighters, Christen Cole, LHDC BUNGANUT PIG Doc’s New Music MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING Arunesh Nadgir (piano) and Andrea Dawson (violin) faculty recital

FRI, 3/30 BLUE Charlie Parker BUNGANUT PIG Corbitt Brothers FANATICS Pimpalicious LIQUID SMOKE Blake Nix NOBODY’S Marshall Creek THE BORO BAR & GRILL The County Punks WILLIE’S WET SPOT Dirty Cherry MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING Jazz Concert

SAT, 3/31 BLUE Charlie Parker, Luna Moreno BUNGANUT PIG Fender Bender FANATICS Junkyard Funk THE BORO BAR & GRILL Mantra, Mantra, Mantra WALL STREET The Hardin Draw, Kansas Bible Company, Swamp Donkey WILLIE’S WET SPOT Double Image MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING MTSU Jazz Festival, MTSU Jazz Artist Series Pianist Harold Danko

SUN, 4/1 BLUE Jazz Brunch with Avent Lane & Larry Pinkerton MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING Barbara McClure, sr. vocal recital, Adam Gimenez, sr. vocal recital

TUES, 4/3 MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING David Williford, soph. saxophone recital, VanGoes/Mraz, student saxophone quartets recital

WED, 4/4 MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING Micah Snow, graduate collaborative piano recital, Christopher DeBerry, senior percussion recital

IF YOU GO: 3 Brothers 223 W. Main St. 410-3096 Aura Lounge 114 S. Maple St. 396-8328 Blue 810 NW Broad St. 410-3383 Bluesboro 114 N. Church St. 904-7236 Bonhoeffer’s 610 Dill Lane 202-3517 Bunganut Pig 1602 W. Northfield Blvd.

893-7860 Coach’s Grill 127 SE Broad St. 962-7853 Coconut Bay Cafe 210 Stones River Mall Blvd.

494-0504 Dugger’s Food & Fun 1738 W. Northfield Blvd.

809-2605 Fanatic’s 1850 Old Fort Pkwy.

494-3995 Gilligan’s 527 W. Main St. 439-6090 JoZoara 536 N. Thompson Ln. 962-7175 Lanes, Trains and Automobiles 450 Butler Drive 890-3999 Liquid Smoke #2 Public Square 217-7822 MT Bottle 3940 Shelbyville Hwy. 962-9872 Murfreesboro/ Center for the Arts 110 W. College St. 904-ARTS Nobody’s Grill & BBQ 116 John R. Rice Blvd.

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

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SOUNDS

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doors closed. To stay afloat, Peters sold his house and possessions, and he borrowed money from his closest friends. He also prayed. In February 2009, he watched a television documentary that chronicled the Great Depression. In it Peters found hope. In the midst of our nation’s darkest economic crisis, entertainment-based businesses flourished. The circus, carnival, picture show and juke joints provided temporary relief from the harsh reality of the times.

In August 2009, Peters reopened the hotel.

Word soon reached the wedding planners, and they booked receptions and rehearsal dinners.

While there are no immediate plans to open the restaurant, the hotel regularly hosts private events that include fresh seasonal cuisine. According to paranormal investigators, the hotel is one of the most haunted buildings in the country. The television series My Ghost Story recently flew Peters to Los Angeles, and the hotel will be featured in an upcoming episode. During the Halloween season, the infamous third floor is transformed into a haunted attraction featuring actors, original storylines and Hollywood special effects.

Peters is quick to point out his attraction is not the stereotypical spook house.

It is mini-theater.

Since purchasing the hotel, Peters has experienced some indifference.

Despite spending much of his childhood in rural North Carolina, he was automatically branded a Yankee. In November 2009, Peters convinced the town’s Mayor and Board of Aldermen to ask the State to grant an exception for liquor by the drink. Although Wartrace remains a dry town, in February 2010 a bill was submitted to the State Senate by Sen. Bill Ketron and to the House by Rep. Pat Marsh. The bill passed and specifies that the liquor by the drink exception “will only apply to the Walking Horse Hotel in Bedford County.” Those damn Yankees! Peters has yet to apply for a liquor license, due in part to his reluctance to change the room’s current vibe or to be perceived as a bar, honky tonk or tavern. Guests can currently BYOB. If you ask a music connoisseur or professional what is lacking in Tennessee’s small music venue, the answer would be quality. Contrary to popular belief, high tech sound, room design, lighting, acoustics and marquee performers do not ensure an ideal listening atmosphere.

According to Peters, the audience is by far the most essential ingredient. He emphasizes that a quality audience does not happen by accident.

PHOTO BY POONEH GHANA

S

outh Florida native Joe Peters moved to Christiana, Tenn., in August 2004 with his wife Chais and youngest son. A week later he was performing with The Midnight Special Band in a small café in Wartrace. On that balmy summer night, an old brick building west of the railroad tracks first beckoned Chais. Three years forward on a cold February morning, Joe and Chais traveled the winding Tennessee back roads. As jazz played softly on the radio, a steady flow of morphine caused her to drift in and out of consciousness. Five months prior, she’d been diagnosed with cancer. As they pass through Wartrace, the old brick building again beckoned. She touched Joe’s hand and asked him to stop. “I want to go inside,” she whispered. Joe answered, “I know you do, honey.

Maybe someday, but not today.” She closed her eyes and smiled as the hotel disappeared in the rearview mirror. Ten days later L. Chais Peters died. She was 52.

On July 12, 2007, Peters purchased the Historic Walking Horse Hotel.

Renovations began the following month, and by December, the Strolling Jim Restaurant and Chais Music Hall opened for business. Considered a nirvana for musicians and audiences alike, Chais Music Hall features rosewood floors and staging, stateof-the-art sound and LED lighting. Peters contracted renowned Sound Engineer Steven Durr to insure that the room’s acoustics were world class. Quality was clearly at the top of his priority list from the onset. Live performances have showcased jazz, blues, classic rock, ‘50s, Americana, tributes, country, classical, bluegrass, Western swing, gospel and solo artists. The list of performers include platinum recording artist Aaron Tippin, Grand Old Opry legend Charlie Louvin, John Jorgenson, Duffy Jackson, Barbara Morrison, Claire Lynch, Joe Davidian, Kate Paradise, Annie Sellick, Carolyn Martin, Antsy McClain and the Trailer Park Troubadours, CJ Vaughn, Tom Bresh, Richard Smith, Jim Hurst, Shaun Murphy, Mystery Trip and The Midnight Special Band. Let’s not overlook songwriter and Grammy Award Winner Gordon Kennedy, Grammy and Oscar nominee Tom Douglas, Grammy nominee Steve Bogard, Phil Maderia, Ray Stevenson and more.

In late 2008, Peters’ dreams crumbled as the economy imploded. Despite a solid equity position, banks were not lending. Less than one year after a grand debut, the Walking Horse Hotel

Walking Horse Hotel owner Joe Peters

Walking Horse Hotel 101 Spring Street Wartrace, TN 37183 (931) 389-7050 walkinghorsehotel.com

ROOM TO LISTEN

Walking Horse Hotel contains a hidden jewel of a live performance room in Wartrace. story by TOMMY McKNIGHT Keyboardist Tommy McKnight (pictured) says the hall is the finest room he’s ever played.

When asked how he intends to maintain the status quo and preserve the sanctity of Chais Music Hall he offered two words. Cover charge!

Peters insists, “A cover charge is an investment that neutralizes most problems before they arise. When a guest spends his or her money, he in essence becomes a partner who expects a return on his investment. In my experience, guests attending private events are far more likely to be less cordial when the cuisine and alcohol are complimentary!”

In a world in which mediocrity has become

commonplace, Peters believes people want and deserve more. I have had the pleasure of playing at the hotel; it is by far the most acoustically perfect room I have ever played. I strongly encourage you to check out the hotel. It will be a music experience you will not soon forget.

Tommy McKnight is a veteran professional keyboard player. Call him at (615) 785-1170 if you are interested in taking lessons. You can also check out his band, IMPULSE, at the Walking Horse Hotel on March 10.

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THEATER

Rachel Chase, Anthony Franko and Jordon Crenshaw play in Cabaret.

Center’s Cabaret a Welcome Diversion “Leave your troubles outside . . . Life is disappointing? In here, life is beautiful.”

—Master of Ceremonies, Cabaret

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n one of the first speeches of the play, the Master of Ceremonies at the Kit Kat Klub—a night club in Berlin and the central setting of Cabaret—points to one of the main reasons we attend a theatrical performance. For most of our hours, we are faced with decisions, problems, troubles.

But for the few hours we allow ourselves to spend at a play, those troubles don’t (or at least shouldn’t) get to come with us. As much as a play should serve as a diversion, it must also present its own decisions and problems for audiences and characters alike to work out.Cabaret, which played in February at the Murfreesboro Center for the Arts, succeeded in giving audiences an entertaining evening.

But it also fulfilled an obligation to audiences with a bent towards plays which call us to action. Director Denis Pessar and his cast and crew also succeed in considering the play’s larger conceits: the dangers of complacency in a world of socioeconomic and political turmoil and the pain of knowing that sometimes love is not enough.

I arrived at the Murfreesboro Center For the Arts about half an hour before curtain of the Sunday matinee performance of Cabaret. Lingering around the gallery area (which is currently exhibiting a fascinating

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selection of works by Rhett Moser and Kelly McCormack called “Converging Paths”), I overheard the cast and director Denis Pessar playing and singing through scales and briskly warming up their vocal cords. I also noticed a distinctive bustle amongst the early-arriving audience members. “Ready for some theater?” an older lady excitedly asked her companion. The question was clearly rhetorical, and the majority of the three-quarters capacity crowd at the CFTA seemed to share the sentiment. The audience had come out expecting a diversion on their Sunday afternoon, and on the whole they seemed to have had their urges sated by the end of the show.

Set in 1931 Berlin as the Nazis are rising to power, Cabaret explores the salacious nightlife at the seedy Kit Kat Klub. The action revolves around an aspiring American novelist Cliff Bradshaw, played by Jordan Crenshaw, and his relationship with the young and alluring singer, Sally Bowles.

Rachel Chase is often electrifying as Sally, particularly in the first number “Don’t Tell Mama.” Crenshaw’s performance of Cliff elicits the type of “aw-shucks” persona that can at times be endearing. But Crenshaw doesn’t find chances to explore other personality facets of Cliff often enough throughout the play. If he can find a few more moments to access emotions more acutely, he would supplement a fantastic singing voice with a

PHOTO BY BETH WEST

Compelling musical brought thought-provoking questions, great singing to stage. column by JR ROBLES

skillfully realized character.

A sub-plot involves the doomed romance between German boarding house owner Fräulein Schneider and her elderly suitor Herr Schultz, a Jewish fruit vendor. Played

by Chris McLaurin and Katie Boothe respectively, Schultz’s courtship of Schneider serves as a pleasant contrast to the opulence of the Kit Kat Klub scenes. Overseeing the action is the Master of Ceremonies at the Kit Kat Klub, played very nicely by Anthony Franco. Ted Verbeten and Sherry SundayBooth are also highlights of a very large cast.

As a diversion, this rendition of Cabaret works quite well. For the most part, the musical numbers are executed effectively and with a lot of heart. The set, by Pessar and Bill Stewart, serves as an enticing image at the rise of the curtain and then blends into the performance effectively. Set changes were smooth, even with the need for an extra hand to wipe down a spot on the floor from a leaky roof. Todd Seage’s lighting was also well-executed, with an effective scrim and crisp lighting cues. However, I found myself at times wanting for a little more variation in levels—the lighting in the club did not seem to differ enough with that of other settings at times.

Pessar serves double duty as both director and musical director. Such a task for a show of this size and complexity is daunting to think about, and Pessar performs admirably. However, with so much going on, I am afraid that at times the actors seemed to not have clear motivations for their movements.

At other times, I found myself wishing that some actors would look for more levels in their dialogue. It never quite felt like the actors were saying lines to get to the next song instead of acting, but I do think a little more time could have been spent working on clarifying movements and considering the weight of their spoken dialogue. By contrast, the musical numbers were compelling.

MARCH PRODUCTIONS Blithe Spirit MARCH 2–3, 9–10, 16–17

The Swan Performing Arts Center (615) 617-3784

The Ransom of Red Chief MARCH 2–4

The Theatre at Patterson Park (615) 867-7244

Dinner with Friends Out Front on Main (615) 869-8617

Camelot MARCH 9–24

The Arts Center of Cannon County (615) 563-2787

Beauty and the Beast MARCH 9–25

Murfreesboro Center for the Arts

Sid the Serpent Who Wanted to Sing MARCH 10 AT 7 P.M.

The Theatre at Patterson Park Presented by members of Nashville Opera’s Mary Ragland Young Artist Program, (615) 867-7244 Crenshaw and Chase deserve high praise for their singing as the leads, but I would also mention McLaurin for his vocal range and Franco for his engaging and eminently watchable performance.

Audiences expecting a version of the famous Bob Fosse/Liza Minelli 1971 film should alter their expectations, not on account of the quality of the performance (which is quite good), but due to the fact that the film and stage versions are quite different. This is not news to most musical theater lovers, who tend to be fans of both.

LIVING ROOM CINEMA

MOVIES REVIEWS

column by NORBERT THIEMANN

cinespire@gmail.com

Irish Cops and Crooks

THE INNKEEPERS Starring: Sara Paxton, Pat Healy and Kelly McGillis

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Directed by Ti West

Rated R For such a standard haunted house flick, Ti West’s latest attempt to recreate the glory days of horror seems as polarizing to its audience as the splatter/torture fare against which it sits diametrically opposed. The young writer, director and editor of The Innkeepers first made a name for himself with 2009’s House of the Devil, a little exercise in reconstructing the cheesy satanic cult films of the ’80s. As an homage and sort of historical prank (the film was even released in limited edition VHS), HotD showcased West’s technical talent and impeccable eye for detail. With The Innkeepers, West again pays homage to the horror classics, but tempers his timeless tale with a more modern turn-of-the-century setting.

That’s not to say that The Innkeepers will appeal to a much wider audience than West’s other works. What was once called “storytelling” and “character development” is now referred to positively as a “slowburn” or negatively as “boring.” This slow

ere’s some fun for St. Patty’s Day. Rent these Irish movies (by the brothers McDonaugh), and chase them down with some Irish Car Bombs. Brendan Gleeson stars in each, with opportunities to play both cop and crook.

burn of a film follows the title characters, Claire and Luke (Paxton and Healy), two charming twenty-somethings working the Inn on its last weekend before its impending demolition. The Yankee Peddler Inn is as much a character as its patrons—a gorgeous corner building in a nameless city sitting vacant save for the two employees and a few guests, most notably an aging television star turned psychic (an excellent Kelly McGillis of Top Gun fame). To pass the time, Claire and Luke do what most would; they joke around, drink beer and practice amateur ghost hunting with audio recorders. It is amidst the backdrop of these

mundane but never boring actions and interactions that we learn about the spirits supposedly haunting the Inn. What may bother many people about this film is exactly what drew me into it. The Innkeepers is not the jackhammer of a gory slasher (which can also be good) but the subtle sound of a bump in the night. With The Innkeepers, Ti West, the man who tried to have his name removed from the credits of Cabin Fever 2, makes yet another argument for the good ole fashioned horror story, the kind that eschews gore for atmosphere; the kind that, if you let it, can be even scarier.

plays the young Darth Vader.

This is the first of three prequels, and they arguably get worse with each release.

Following their enormous box office success, Lucas let loose with a slew of Lego Star Wars and Indiana Jones video games, two Star Wars-themed cartoon series, and a steaming, heaping pile of kids’ merchandise.

Lucas’s original Star Wars series also had a hand in destroying funding for early American independent films. The studios, having only mild success with Scorsese, Cassavetes,

Coppola and others, saw Star Wars and thought what Lucas has been thinking ever since: $ $ $ $ . . . And the money has been rolling in for more than 30 years now. When will it stop? When will Lucas just let it die?

He has already secured himself as the king of adulteration. Why not wait for someone to challenge his throne?

Don’t go see The Phantom Menace. You’ve likely already seen it, so you know it’s abysmal.

— JAY SPIGHT

STAR WARS: EPISODE I THE PHANTOM MENACE 3D Starring: Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman

The Guard (2011) is written and directed by John Michael McDonaugh.

Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle both star as an unlikely pair. Political correctness is left behind when an American FBI agent must work with the Irish Police Guard to try and solve an international crime. Gleeson steals the show by being a bit of a mystery himself.

Action, drama, and lots of comic relief make The Guard a whole lot of fun.

Directed by George Lucas

Rated PG

Today’s topic of discussion is the disgrace of the Zoetrope, Georgie-Porgie, the only man to give Ed Wood a run for his money as the worst director in history. It has been only a short 13 years since we were subjected to his abominable “prequels” to the classic Star Wars trilogy, and God! do we not at all miss them.

Don’t get me wrong. Everybody loves Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca and the rest; but the horrible lengths to which Lucas has stooped in decimating his successful films since their very first release are simply inexcusable. You may remember the childhood-ruining “Digitally Remastered” releases, fraught with cheap CGI and superimposed with the wholly untalented visage of Hayden Christensen at the end. Luckily, patrons of Episode I must only endure the pointless and obnoxious Jar-Jar Binks, and a pathetic little line-ruiner Jake Lloyd who RATINGS:

A CLASSIC

OUTSTANDING

—SPENCER BLAKE

AVERAGE

BELOW AVERAGE

In Bruges (2008) is written and directed by Martin McDonaugh, and it stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson.

Two Irish hit men find themselves on the lam in Bruges, Belgium, after a hit in London. By proximity, the pair work out their awkward friendship while awaiting further instructions. In Bruges makes full use of the curious city and even includes a bitter dwarf. And then it gets riveting.

Living Room Cinema is on Facebook; just type it into their search.

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PHOTOS COURTESY GOBLUERAIDERS.COM

SPORTS

6’9” Laron Dendy, a transfer from Iowa State, has contributed a lot to the MTSU squad in his final college season.

Great Season for Both MT Teams

B

oth the MTSU Blue Raider men’s and women’s basketball programs put together not just solid, but record breaking regular seasons.

The men finished with the most victories in program history, going 25-5 (14-2 in the Sun Belt Conference), and have earned the No. 1 seed for the Kermit Davis’ 201112 team set the new MTSU record for wins in a season with 25.

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upcoming Sun Belt Men’s Basketball Championship March 3–6 in Hot Springs, Ark. The Blue Raiders earned a first-round bye and will face the winner of the matchup between Florida Atlantic and Arkansas State on Sunday, March 4, at 6 p.m. (airing on the Sun Belt Network, Comcast channel 27).  LaRon Dendy is leading the Blue Raiders’ charge averaging nearly 15 points and 7 rebounds per game.

Meanwhile, the women’s team completed Sun Belt Conference play without a loss this year, going 16-0 in conference, 24-5 overall.  Ebony Rowe has already entered the 1,000-point club in just her sophomore season, and will try and do her part to navigate the Raiders through the conference tournament, and beyond; they will also be in the No. 1 spot in the Sun Belt tournament held the first weekend of March.

The Primal Diet: Trend or Transformation?

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f you’re scratching your head wondering “I know I’ve heard about this before,” you’re probably right. The primal diet has become the newest trend among society’s diets. Commonly referred to as the Paleo diet, originating from the Paleolithic era, some have nicknamed this the “caveman/ hunter-gatherer diet.” Its roots descend back to an early era where agriculture had not been introduced.

The guidelines are simple: eat how we used to eat before the prevalence of health problems caused by unnecessary foods.

The hunter-gatherer diet consists mainly of fish, grass-fed pastureraised meats, vegetables, fruits, roots and nuts, and excludes grains, legumes, dairy products, salt, refined sugars and processed oils. Recent decades have spoiled us into living to eat, rather than eating to live.

We have evolved into replacing wholesome plant matter and animal foods with highcarbohydrate, low-nutrient, toxic diets, and our health has declined as a result. Our bones are more osteoporotic and we have shrunk in size. We have more cancer, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, inflammation of all kinds, skin problems and depression than ever recorded.

Scientists and archeologists have shown the absence to these conditions in early Paleolithic human remains. Yes, it may be true that early man did not survive illnesses; however, early man also did not work a 9 to 5 job and have a family practitioner on call.

Encouraged foods on a Paleo diet would consist of lean meats and poultry, fish, fruits, nuts and seeds, while sparingly using olive and canola oil as opposed to coconut oil, which has been linked to aiding in treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. It is suggested that you do avoid all dairy products as well as any form of grains, legumes and starchy vegetables

column by MITCH WARREN

(corn, potatoes, etc.). Another rule of thumb would be to monitor sodium levels of foods that meet the original criteria (bacon, deli meats, etc.). In a nutshell, you want to try to eat food at its most natural state. To help in this quest, there are many Paleo cookbooks to look at, as well as online blogs and literature.

Critics will say what they want, however, testimonies speak for themselves. Tri-Fit Murfreesboro has had hundreds of pounds of combined weight loss among clients incorporating the primal way of eating. Weight loss aside, the beauty is that it really isn’t a diet, rather than a lifestyle, an advantageous lifestyle that can be used by populations of all kinds, even athletes. The key to remember is that the carbohydrates are not being taken away, just replaced with better, less detrimental ones that your body was designed to eat.

Granted, switching to a caveman diet is not always easy. Those who eat a predominantly high carbohydrate diet often report cravings for the first couple of weeks as their bodies acclimate from the sugar detox. But this is temporary as your body readjusts to a healthier functioning unit. The reduction of constant insulin spikes caused by sugary foods will aid in your battle against the mid-day lag. Other improvements have also been reported, such as reducing medication for high cholesterol, diabetes and hypertension.

The Primal diet, although a tough switch to make, is a reflection of how early man used to eat. Unfortunately, we have veered off our intentional eating plan, brainwashing our bodies into consuming pleasure over function.

Now is the time to start your new life.

S

o, all of you Murfreesboro runners are increasing your distance, running more and more miles per week. Excellent!

But even though you have your perfectly-fitting Asics Gels, those 18-mile weeks are getting to you, eh?

Here’s a quick tip: find an old tennis ball, and stand on it. Roll it around a little. Trust me, it’s great on the feet. That one’s free, courtesy of a local massage therapist.

The more I run, the more a two-hour marathon amazes me (the world record is under two hours, four minutes). Holy cow! 26 miles at nearly a 13 mph pace?! Insane!

I’m trying to hold 13 mph for 26 seconds.

The next organized, local chance to show off your speed will be the first ever Special Kids race, held Saturday, March 31, at Gateway Island Park.

This event will include a 5k and and 15k, both beginning at 7 a.m., with a 1-mile family fun run following at 8:30.

“Special Kids provides therapeutic rehabilitation and professional nursing services to column by BRACKEN MAYO kids with special needs,” according to the race’s website. “The funds raised from the race will help the loving staff at Special Kids continue to serve Jesus Christ by caring for his children.”

Participants may park at Murfreesboro Medical Clinic, 1272 Garrison Drive. For more information, visit specialkidsrace.org.

Also this month, Sports*Com will host its fourth annual Aerobic Triathlon. On Saturday, March 10, from 9–11:30 a.m., athletes ages 18 and up can challenge their fitness level with 2½ hours of exercise, with 45 minutes each of cardio, weight training and stretching/yoga.

Check it out, and put your body through this complete workout. Sports*Com is located at 2310 Memorial Blvd. For more information, call Allison Davidson at (615) 895-5040.

Take Care of Your Feet and Run for Special Kids

If you’re interested and would like a more detailed description of the Primal Life, search Tri Fit on Facebook or e-mail trifitmurfreesboro@yahoo.com.

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SPORTS PEOPLE OF ALL RACES WATCH SPORTS TOGETHER

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is America, a great country for blacks, whites, browns, yellows. This in-Sanity has spread like a virus here in America all the way to country has welfare programs and other opportunities for people in Taiwan and China, and it was fast. need. Be happy we don’t live in a third world country with constant Dr. Ruth, a late-night sex therapist, was also inspired by Jeremy race riots and people being bloodied and killed. We live in a country Lin and talks about taking it to the hole and how it’s not a onewhere people of all colors can watch sports together. man game. Sex, like basketball, is a team sport. If one of you is making This is just my argument against Black History all the moves and the other is just lying there, you’re Month; there is no Native American History Month not going to have good sex. You have to learn to play SPORTS or White History Month or Jewish History Month. I together, and if you do, you can score repeatedly.

TALK Well it is what it is; I believe Lin will be exposed column by Z-TRAIN am just saying there should be a month for everyone or no special month at all. It’s my opinion and that’s here shortly and will still be effective, just not a sutitanman1984@ yahoo.com America, Baby! “Freedom of Speech.” perstar player, more of a great role player. That was The past is full of bad things that happened to his high, ladies and gentleman. Players like LeBron, different people. Let’s remember the past and learn from our mistakes.

Rose, Wade, Kobe, Howard and Dirk don’t just happen overnight.

The Chicago Cubs have gone through 100 years of tough times, Those players always have and always will play at a certain level. but they don’t get a Cubs Month to focus on themselves; they keep on I know some subjects are touchy to some people; some are just keeping on. America Baby! plain ignorant and get mad at just any conversation of racism. This

TRAIN CAME CLOSE PREDICTING SCORE

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n the last column, I projected the Giants would beat the Patriots 24-20; sue me, it was 21-17, a 6-point total difference, and I picked the winner. That would have won some serious cheese in Vegas. It was a great Super Bowl and Eli and his receivers were great.

Tom Brady and the Patriots will be known as one of the greatest teams of their time, but it has to hurt getting a Giant smack down twice in the Super Game!

Tom Brady’s wife Gisele stood by her man saying if the damn receivers would have caught his passes it would have turned out different. She stated Tom can’t do it all.

Whatever the reason, it was a great game and Giants fans own Patriots fans in smack talk.

The NFL Combine was recently held, and

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the big boys Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III did not upset at all, showing the world once again they are both athletically skilled and ready for the pros. Heisman winner Robert Griffin III showed us all that he is hands down the fastest quarterback coming out of the draft. It won’t be enough to supplant Andrew Luck as the No. 1 quarterback.

We all know that Cam Newton was a beast in college and was going to be a beast in the pros. Many don’t know much about Andrew Luck, except for the Manning vs. Luck crazy talk that’s been blown up. Well, Mr. Luck had a better combine showing then Cam Newton, tying him on the 40-yard-dash and posting a higher vertical jump. We all know Newton can’t compare to Luck’s arm and accuracy.

I have no clue what the Colts will ultimately decide. It’s tricky, but I wouldn’t pass on Luck. By no means is Peyton done, just old!

Wherever Manning is playing next season he has some good years left under his belt and will throw his arm out to catch up to Eli’s two

Eli Manning after beating the Patriots in the Super Bowl for the second time.

championships. It is crazy how it works out.

I truly believe Eli is an elite quarterback, although some still hate on the kid even though he has two rings on his hand. I believe even more that Peyton is in the top five of greatest quarterbacks to ever have played the position, and it would be a shame to walk away from the game with only one ring. That may sound selfish; only one Super Bowl ring, how sad, but that legacy and name deserves more.

Eli Manning busted Tom Brady twice, on the largest most important stage in the world.

It is going to be a mess with salary caps, free agency and franchise tags. At least this year we don’t have to worry if there will be a season or not. It’s exciting watching your team make moves and hoping this is the year.

I don’t expect it to be the Titans’ year, but I have huge hopes for Jake the Snake Locker.

The kid showed grit. Matt Hasselbeck is not the future, he knows that, we all know that, so after a full season of limited play and learning from a vet like Matt, give the Snake the keys.

A healthy Kenny Britt and Jake the Snake could be an exciting start to a great offense, if Chris “Bobble Head” Johnson can shut up and play like we know he can; the pieces are all there. I can’t wait for football season! —Z.M.

TAKE A LESSON FROM MARCH MADNESS, COLLEGE FOOTBALL

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t is almost time for the greatest tournament in America, March Madness, baby! And it gets everybody excited.

People who don’t care a thing about basketball get down with office pools and bracket play, it’s typical, fill out your bracket and start marking winners and losers. It is great because every year there is a Cinderella team that gets in the mix and plays well.

March Madness is fast paced, a lot of games, and the best team always ends up winning, whatever team has the stamina to take the title will win. Let’s compare it to college football’s system; it doesn’t compare, it is great and the BCS sucks. I love college football, but someone always gets left out that deserved a chance. In college basketball that is far from the case every team believes and it is a fair battle to the title. Hopefully one day college football will change, the people want it and it would be great a playoff system!

I also enjoy pro basketball and I dig boxing and mixed martial arts, I love watching people beat each other down. It’s great, two men walk into a cage ready to destroy each other and one walks out a winner. It is as close to the gladiator events in ancient Rome as you get.

John McCain once said UFC was similar to human cockfighting. What an idiot; yeah, John McCain, it would be just like cock fighting if the announcer screamed out “FINISH HIM” and the winning fighter’s final move was a fatality move ripping the heart from the loser’s chest.

I am not a fan of baseball, but I loved it that Ryan Braun was able to get his suspension overturned. I love it that Braun was able to show the world the flaws in baseball’s drug testing program.

Man, the big guys at MLB front offices were pissed off. Major league Baseball prides itself in running the highest quality drug testing program of any of the professional sports, and one player proved there are still flaws, I love it.

That’s all I got, to all my fans “I Love You” and to sports, baby girl you know what’s up, “Choo Choo”! —Z.M.

ART “Captivated” 

EarthSoul Gallery Presents Solo Exhibition by Mai Harris

Degree Candidates “Still Working”

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he first show in the Spring Semester BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) exhibition series features MTSU Department of Art candidates for graduation.

The shows are divided into groups representing students in Studio Arts, such as book arts, clay, drawing, letter press, printmaking and sculpture and shows featuring the area of Graphic Design.

“Television, internet and mobile communication devices are things we use to communicate with each other on a daily basis . . . ironically causing us to become more disconnected with each other,” said Cullen McMackins regarding his piece “Program.”

GT McMahon is another degree candidate participating in the exhibit.

“My figures are representations of the human form in varying states of repair. The iron they are cast in, like the human body, is strong but is inherently brittle, easily broken and difficult to repair,” the artist said.

The series is entitled “Still Working” and also features the work of Rhett Moser, Jennifer Baker and Dave Rollins. It opens in the Todd Art Gallery with a reception at 6 p.m. Monday, March 19, and runs through March 22. The reception and exhibit are free and open to the public.

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myrna’s EarthSoul Gallery will present “To Stand Strong,” a solo exhibition of new work by local artist Mai Harris. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, March 3, from 6–9 p.m., and the work will remain on display until March 31.

The series “To Stand Strong” features 20 new paintings by Harris. The body of work is about empowerment, overcoming struggles and defeating personal demons, she says.

It will feature all of the usual trademarks of Harris’s work with vivid colors and a Frida Kahlo-esque narrative style that uses female figures to express intense emotions. Each painting portrays a woman in a position of strength, either having just conquered some personal demon or in the process of letting something go and moving forward. The artist uses this series as a way of expressing her own personal growth and hopes it inspires its audience to be filled with motivation and empowerment from their own struggles they have survived.

This will be Harris’s first solo exhibition since 2008, but she has been building her art reputation by painting live at local concerts and running the group Art Life, which works to strengthen the local art community.

More information can be found about the artist at facebook.com/maiharrisart or wix.com/maiiharris/art.

EarthSoul is located at 307 Hazelwood Drive, Smyrna. For more information on the gallery, visit earthsoul.co.  “Trade Off”

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