34 minute read
BONAMASSA IS A BEHEMOTH
Joe Bonamassa Is A
Blues Behemoth
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Blues guitar god gifts us with a concert
The Sound Of Humanity
14 • THE PULSE • FEBRUARY 27, 2020 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM Recognizing that, I worry at times it may seem more like ad-copy than review. Let me assure you, I have never written a word that wasn’t heartfelt. Whatever the limitations of my writing, and they are undoubtedly many, let it never be said that I am insincere.
It is necessary to preface today’s article with that bit of explanation/ disclaimer because of what I am going to say next. It is an impression I have wrestled with for days now and yet, now that it’s time to write, it is an impression I am compelled to share. Anything less would be insincere. I HAVE BEEN WRITING ABOUT MUSIC ON AND OFF for well over two decades now; I’ve written several hundred articles just for The Pulse alone. There are more than a few common elements that run through that body of work but I suspect the most readily apparent would be that I’m not stingy with praise. By Marc T. Michael Pulse Music Editor If you ask local composer and musician Ben Van Winkle why he makes music, he’ll tell you: “To express our humanity. And express that we are all just humans.”
I would have to agree that his music does just that. Van Winkle successfully captures the essence of the human experience with unique arrangements, stirring vocals, and just the right amount of poignancy to take your breath away.
And you can experience his music yourself at the pre-release party for his debut album Saunter On this Saturday. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Palace Theater, and here’s a heads up: if you pre-order the album, you get in for free! Saunter On has been two years in the making and twenty-two different musicians contributed to the creation of this album, many of whom will be available to meet at the event.
Van Winkle says of this album, “It’s personal, extremely detailed and rich with texture and emotion in ways I didn’t know I was capable of creating.”
For the very first time, all the contributors to this album will listen to their creation together—you don’t want to miss being a part of this joyful, passionate community. — Halley Andrews Joe Bonamassa may be the greatest blues guitarist living today. I think he is, and I am extremely hesitant to label anything “the best”, but after two weeks of total immersion in his enormous catalog of music, I cannot think of a better way to say it.
Like every kid who ever picked up a guitar, I was introduced to the litany of “guitar gods” we are all supposed to worship. For a while, I did but I could never shake the nagging suspicion that I and my peers, along with generations of musicians who came before and after us, repeated those names with reverence because we were
supposed to, not because of any genuine impact they made on us personally.
Bonamassa makes an impression. His early influences, legends I DON’T think are overrated, were all known for their expressive ability with the guitar—as opposed, say, to flashy tricks, blinding speed, and other techniques that are impressive, but not necessarily expressive. He has surpassed them all. Inspired by them, he has built upon the trails they blazed, elevating the guitar in to a seemingly living thing with a voice to rival Bocelli.
Speaking of voices, Bonamassa is a gifted vocalist. His band is a well-oiled machine comprised of phenomenally talented musicians and minus the extraordinary lead work, as a whole it would still be a world-class act. But my god, the lead work…there is an official live recording of “Midnight Blues” at the Beacon Theatre in New York on YouTube (easily found, freely available) and as far as I’m concerned, investing eight minutes in giving it a listen will confirm all I have said here.
Fresh on the heels of recording a new album, his fourteenth to date, at Abbey Road in January, Joe is currently on tour and coming to Memorial Auditorium here in Chattanooga on March 3rd.
When I spoke to Joe recently, he was enthusiastic about returning to the Scenic City, one of his favorite stops in the state he calls his second home (“Or first home, really, since that’s where my driver’s license is…”). Several “never before heard” tracks from the latest album will be debuted here in addition to selections from his 80+ plus song traveling repertoire, a rare, one-of-a-kind treat.
The greatest impression I took away from our all-too-brief interview is that this man, who has played guitar since the age of four, who opened for B.B. King at the age of twelve, and who has gone on to play shoulder to shoulder with some of the greatest and most beloved guitarists in the world, is definitively cool, utterly professional, and about as nice and ego-free a man as you’re ever likely to meet. The truly great ones almost always are.
Make no mistake, folks. The concert is a gift to music lovers here and a clear indication that Chattanooga, not even a pit stop thirty years ago, has blossomed into a destination city for the best and brightest the music world has to offer.
When we think of the blues, we tend to think of the last century when there were giants in those days, but I tell you now, there are giants in these days and Joe Bonamassa stands tall amongst them.
Get Ready To Fiddle
Under the expert curation of Matt Downer, one of Chattanooga’s finest musicians and human beings, the Great Southern Old Time Fiddlers’ Convention will be on Saturday, March 14th, at the historic 901 Lindsay Street venue just off MLK Blvd.
Areas of competition will include fiddle, banjo, string band, dance, guitar, and traditional song, with full rules and requirements available through the Facebook page of the Chattanooga Old Fiddlers’ Association.
As in years past, no electric instruments will be permitted. Numbers for order of contestants will be drawn at random prior to the start of each competition. The contestants have to be present when their number is called to take the stage for competition, which is always interesting (and fun) for both musicians and those of us in the audience.
Doors open at noon, admission is $10, and children six and under are admitted free of charge. Downer’s revival of the pre-World War II tradition that made Chattanooga a nexus of music in the early 20th century is one of the great success stories of the city’s burgeoning artistic scene and not to be missed. — MTM
THU2.27
Paul Cauthen Blending old-school country and gritty soul with ’70s funk and stirring gospel into one highenergy performance. 9 p.m. Songbirds South 41 Station St. songbirds.rocks
FRI2.28
The Heal & Chill Concert Inspired by the concept of using music and art as a means to heal the soul and mind. 7:30 p.m. Mark Making Studio 2510 N. Chamberlain Ave. markmaking.org
SAT2.29
Hunter White Tribute Paper Mache, Ryan Oyer, Jordan Hallquist, Megan Howard, Tiffany Taylor and Danimal Planet will all be here to help celebrate. 8 p.m. Tremont Tavern 1203 Hixson Pike tremonttavern.com
THURSDAY2.27
16 • THE PULSE • FEBRUARY 27, 2020 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM Danimal & Friends 6 p.m. WanderLinger Brewing Co. 1208 King St. wanderlinger.com David Anthony & Paul Stone 6 p.m. The Palms at Hamilton 6925 Shallowford Rd. thepalmsathamilton.com Multifarious Jazz Trio 7 p.m. UTC Cadek Hall 725 Oak St. utc.edu Cody James Harris, The Briars 7 p.m. Pax Breu Ruim 516 E. Main St pax-breu-ruim.business.site Tennessee Songwriters Week Showcase 7 p.m. Bessie Smith Cultural Center 200 E. MLK Blvd. bessiesmithcc.org Toby Hewitt 7 p.m. Backstage Bar 29 Station St. backstagechattanooga.com Ryan Oyer 7:30 p.m. Westin Alchemy Bar 801 Pine St. westinchattanooga.com Barbaric Yawps 7:30 p.m. The FEED Co. Table and Tavern 201 W. Main St. feedtableandtavern.com Sister Hazel 8 p.m. The Signal 1110 Market St. publichousechattanooga.com Paul Cauthen 8 p.m. Songbirds North 35 Station St. songbirds.rocks Road to Nightfall 2020 8 p.m. The Granfalloon 400 E. Main St. granfalloonchattanooga.com Ben Strawn, Benjamin Shepherd, Cal Folger Day 8 p.m. The Bicycle Bar 45 E. Main St. (423) 475-6569 Dallas Walker Album Release 9 p.m. Westbound Bar 24 Station St. westboundbar.com Thirstin Daniels & Chattanooga All Stars 9 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia 231 E. MLK Blvd. jjsbohemia.com Paul Cauthen w/ Leah Blevins 9 p.m. Songbirds South 41 Station St. songbirds.rocks
FRIDAY2.28
Courtney Holder 6:30 p.m. Westin Dorato Bar 801 Pine St. westinchattanooga.com Old Time Travelers 7 p.m. Chattanooga Brewing Co. 1804 Chestnut St. chattabrew.com Looking Back to Go Forward: A Black History Concert 7 p.m. Metro Tab Church 2101 Shepherd Rd. metrotab.net Flattop Boxers 7 p.m. OddStory Brewing Co 336 E. MLK Blvd. oddstorybrewing.co D.J. Cherry & Friends 7:30 p.m. Gate 11 Distillery 1400 Market St. gate11distillery.com Dustin Concannon 7:30 p.m. Westin Alchemy Bar 801 Pine St. westinchattanooga.com New Grass Express 7:30 p.m. Wanderlinger Brewing Co 1208 King St. wanderlinger.com The Heal & Chill Concert 7:30 p.m. Mark Making Studio 2510 N. Chamberlain Ave. markmaking.org An Evening of Sondheim 7:30 p.m. St. Luke United Methodist Church 3210 Social Cir. stlukechatt.org Slaten Dooley 8 p.m. Puckett’s Restaurant 2 W. Aquarium Way puckettsgro.com Little Spoon River 8 p.m. The Woodshop 5500 St. Elmo Ave. thewoodshop.space Pierce Pettis 8 p.m. Charles and Myrtle’s Coffeehouse 105 McBrien Rd. christunity.org Road to Nightfall 2020 8 p.m. The Granfalloon 400 E. Main St. granfalloonchattanooga.com PBR Band 8:30 p.m. Fireside Grille 3018 Cummings Hwy. firesidechattanooga.com Convertibull 9 p.m. HiFi Clyde’s 122 W. Main St. hificlydeschattanooga.com Pains Chapel, Terminal Overdrive, Fault Lines 9 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia 231 E. MLK Blvd. jjsbohemia.com Tim Starnes 9 p.m. The Office @ City Cafe 901 Carter St. citycafemenu.com The Steel Woods w/ Tennessee Jet 9 p.m. Songbirds South 41 Station St. songbirds.rocks Mark Andrew 9 p.m. The Feed Co. Table & Tavern 201 W. Main St. feedtableandtavern.com Roughwork 9:30 p.m. The Brew & Cue 5017 Rossville Blvd. (423) 867-9402 Lori Button, The Other Brothers 10 p.m. Tremont Tavern 1203 Hixson Pike tremonttavern.com Webb Barringer & Jay 10 p.m. The Social 1110 Market St. publichousechattanooga.com Throttle 21 10 p.m. Bud’s Sports Bar 5751 Brainerd Rd. budssportsbar.com
SATURDAY2.29
Danimal 10:30 a.m. Flying Squirrel Bar 55 Johnson St. flyingsquirrelbar.com Ben Van Winkle’s “Saunter On” Pre-Release Party 5:30 p.m. Palace Theater 818 Georgia Ave. chattpalace.com The Other Brothers 6 p.m. Gate 11 Distillery 1400 Market St. gate11distillery.com Jason Lyles 6:30 p.m. Slick’s Burgers 309 E. Main St. (423) 760-4878 Naomi Ingram 6:30 p.m. Westin Dorato Bar 801 Pine St. westinchattanooga.com The Don Mealer Band 7 p.m. Doc Holidays Bar and Grill, 742 Ashland Terrace docholidaysbarandgrill.com Paul Thorn 7 p.m. Songbirds North 35 Station St. songbirds.rocks John Carroll
7:30 p.m. Westin Alchemy Bar 801 Pine St. westinchattanooga.com Kansas 7:30 p.m. Tivoli Theatre 709 Broad St. tivolichattanooga.com Paul Smith & Sky High Band 8 p.m. Eagles Club 6128 Airways Blvd. foe.com Kelsi Walker, Margot & TTH, & Citico 8 p.m. The Woodshop 5500 St. Elmo Ave. thewoodshop.space Mustache The Band 8 p.m. The Signal 1110 Market St. publichousechattanooga.com Pull Up n Wreck: Local Music Showcase 8 p.m. Music Box Ziggy’s 607 Cherokee Blvd. (423) 265-8711 Heatherly 8 p.m. Puckett’s Restaurant 2 W. Aquarium Way puckettsgro.com Hunter White Tribute Night 8 p.m. Tremont Tavern 1203 Hixson Pike tremonttavern.com Gino Fanelli & The Jalopy Brothers 8 p.m. Bode 730 Chestnut St. bode.co Playin Possum Blues Band 8 p.m. River Drifters 1925 Suck Creek Rd. riverdrifterschatt.com Subkonsious and Behold the Brave 8 p.m. Wanderlinger Brewing Co 1208 King St. wanderlinger.com Road to Nightfall 2020 8 p.m. The Granfalloon 400 E. Main St. granfalloonchattanooga.com Oweda with Hedonistas 9 p.m. HiFi Clyde’s 122 W. Main St. hificlydeschattanooga.com Country Westerns, Teddy and the Rough Riders, Marty Bohannon 9 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia 231 E. MLK Blvd. jjsbohemia.com Russell Cook & the Sweet Teeth with Caleb and the Gents 9 p.m. The Bicycle Bar 45 E. Main St. (423) 475-6569 Trent James 9 p.m. Big River Grille 222 Broad St. bigrivergrille.com Ran Adams 9 p.m. The Office @ City Cafe 901 Carter St. citycafemenu.com Tennessee’s Dead 9 p.m. Songbirds South 41 Station St. songbirds.rocks Mojo Whiskey 10 p.m. SkyZoo 5709 Lee Hwy. (423) 521-2966 Throttle 21 10 p.m. Bud’s Sports Bar 5751 Brainerd Rd. budssportsbar.com
SUNDAY3.1
Kathy Veazey & John Rawlston 11 a.m. Flying Squirrel Bar 55 Johnson St. flyingsquirrelbar.com Carl Pemberton 11 a.m. Westin Chattanooga 801 Pine St. westinchattanooga.com 9th Street Stompers 11 a.m. STIR 1444 Market St. stirchattanooga.com My Name Is Preston Noon Southside Social 1818 Chestnut St. thesouthsidesocial.com Cannon Hunt 1:30 p.m. Flying Squirrel Bar 55 Johnson St. flyingsquirrelbar.com ET 3 p.m. Wanderlinger Brewing Company 1208 King St. wanderlinger.com Mark Kelly Hal 6 p.m. Puckett’s Grocery & Restaurant 2 Aquarium Way puckettsgro.com Enrique Sandoval-Cisternas 7:30 p.m. Ackerman Auditorium 4881 Taylor Cir. southern.edu
MONDAY3.2
Monday Nite Big Band 7 p.m. The Coconut Room 6925 Shallowford Rd. thepalmsathamilton.com Blues Night Open Jam 7 p.m. Songbirds South 41 Station St. songbirds.rocks Vernon Greeson 7 p.m. First Centenary United Methodist Church 419 McCallie Ave. firstcentenary.com
TUESDAY3.3
Danimal 7 p.m. Backstage Bar 29 Station St. backstagechattanooga.com Open Mic with Mike McDade 8 p.m. Tremont Tavern 1203 Hixson Pike tremonttavern.com Ran Adams 8 p.m. The Office @ City Cafe 901 Carter St. citycafemenu.com Joe Bonamassa 8 p.m. Tivoli Theatre 709 Broad St. tivolichattanooga.com Jazz Night 8 p.m. Flying Squirrel 55 Johnson St. flyingsquirrelbar.com
WEDNESDAY3.4
Fly On Gypsy 6 p.m. Stevarino’s 325 Cherokee Blvd. stevarinos.com Jesse James Jungkurth 7 p.m. Backstage Bar 29 Station St. backstagechattanooga.com Nathan Warner-Shawn Perkinson Quartet 7 p.m. Barking Legs Theater 1307 Dodds Ave. barkinglegs.org Black Tiger Sex Machine 8 p.m. The Signal 1110 Market St. publichousechattanooga.com Reece Sullivan with The Briars 8 p.m. The Spot of Chattanooga 1800 E. Main St. facebook.com/1800EMain Minnesota 9 p.m. Songbirds South 41 Station St. songbirds.rocks Basstronaut, Forges, In Memories, Flummox 9 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia 231 E. MLK Blvd. jjsbohemia.com
Map these locations on chattanoogapulse.com. Send event listings at least 10 days in advance to: calendar@chattanoogapulse.com
The Fictive Five (Less One Live): Forget Reality
The Fictive Five Anything Is Possible (Clean Feed)
In the fall of 1969, Larry Ochs was bouncing between majors at the University of Pennsylvania, while working as a college radio DJ at 88.5 FM/WXPN. “I was a rock guy back then, I liked Jimi Hendrix,” he says. “The station had an incredible jazz collection but at the time I didn’t know much about jazz.” One afternoon, word spread that a ‘pretty far out band’ was playing in a decommissioned church not far from WXPN’s studio. As Ochs recalls, most of the staff was going to the show, so he went too.
What he encountered there was none other than the Sun Ra Arkestra. The ceiling was so low, he remembers, that the performers couldn’t stand all the way up without bumping their heads.
“All that power was happening in this tiny church basement,” he says. “Being there, witnessing that performance really changed my life. I didn’t get what the hell was going on, but I sure wanted to go back. There were dancers running through the crowd because there was no room for them on stage,” he adds. “The whole experience made the world move under my feet.”
Witnessing Sun Ra in his prime—circa such classic albums as Atlantis and Outer Spaceways Incorporated— crafting a wild, in-the-moment soundtrack for plumbing the furthest reaches of the cosmos challenged Ochs to perceive music differently. It inspired him to engage music on a deeper, higher level that still resonates with him more than fifty years later.
On Thursday, March 5th, Ochs will lead his group the Fictive Five through a performance at Barking Legs Theater, channeling a lifetime immersed in structured and improvisational music. He leads the group using hand signals to guide the music through compositions he’s written specifically for these players, but every performance is different.
“I am trying to excite and stimulate independent thinkers and music lovers that want to be surprised rather than soothed,” Ochs says.
These days, Ochs is best known as co-founder of Rova Saxophone Quartet, a Bay Area outfit that explores the collision of collective improvisation within the framework of composed musical arrangements.
In conversation, he recalls other incidents that altered his relationship with music: spending time trying to unravel the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s musical forms, and feeling inspired to pick up a saxophone after hearing the uncompromising musical freedom, and the undeniable hooks in Albert Ayler’s 1969 album Love Cry. As to the name, the Fictive Five is a play on The New York Contemporary Five, an early free jazz ensemble and 1963 album led by tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp. Still, that fateful encounter with Sun Ra left a deep impression.
“I swear, before then, it had never occurred to me to do anything with my horn other than just learn to play the parts that were put in front of me,” Ochs says, recalling he’d played a trumpet offand-on since grade school.
The Barking Legs show is one of three stops the group is playing in the Southeast— Athens, GA, Orlando, FL, and Chattanooga. Each one features a stripped-down version of the group that’s dubbed the Fictive Five (Less One Live), featuring drummer Harris Eisenstadt, trumpet player Nate Wooley, and bass player Ken Filiano.
Ochs plays tenor and sopranino saxophones, and the group’s second bass player, Pascal Niggenkemper, who lives in Paris, is sitting these shows out. Flying all the way to the States to play just three shows wasn’t practical.
The group is supporting its latest CD, 2019’s Anything Is Possible (Clean Feed), a live, five-song set that’s rich with atmosphere. Songs such as the 19-minute “The Other Dreams” and “And the Door Blows Open (for Cecil Taylor)” are both subtle and massive in scope, building upon rolling, fugue-like bouts of percussion, horn flourishes, and stark white space between every honk, wail, and sputter. Each number feels as though it could launch into a full-on free jazz explosion, but the group maintains powerful restraint with every note and every nuance.
Other songs such as “Immediate Human Response (for Spike Lee)” and “With Liberties and Latitude for All (for Warren Sonbert)” feature dedications to other influences who’ve left a mark on Ochs’s approach to creativity. “I like to dedicate to a filmmaker I really admire,” Ochs says. “The thought is that I’m inviting that dedicatee to listen to the piece and imagine the film they could create for that music, instead of the other way around,” he adds. “In fact I am also inviting listeners to close their eyes and imagine, hear, and create their own imagery to accompany the piece. Forget reality for an hour and see where else you might be able to go.”
The music is captivating, cinematic, and with an open mind the possibilities contained within are as infinite as the cosmos.
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ROB BREZSNY
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): If you’re like most of us, you harbor desires for experiences that might be gratifying in some ways but draining in others. If you’re like most of us, you may on occasion get attached to situations that are mildly interesting, but divert you from situations that could be amazingly interesting and enriching. The good news, Pisces, is that you are now in a phase when you have maximum power to wean yourself from these wasteful tendencies. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to identify your two or three most important and exciting longings—and take a sacred oath to devote yourself to them above all other wishes and hopes.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): You may sometimes reach a point where you worry that conditions are not exactly right to pursue your dreams or fulfill your holy quest. Does that describe your current situation? If so, I invite you to draw inspiration from Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616), who’s regarded as one of history’s foremost novelists. Here’s how one observer described Cervantes during the time he was working on his masterpiece, the novel titled Don Quixote: “shabby, obscure, disreputable, pursued by debts, with only a noisy tenement room to work in.” Cervantes dealt with imperfect conditions just fine.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “True success is figuring out your life and career so you never have to be around jerks,” says Taurus filmmaker, actor, and author John Waters. I trust that you have been intensely cultivating that kind of success in the last few weeks, Taurus—and that you will climax this wondrous accomplishment with a flourish during the next few weeks. You’re on the verge of achieving a new level of mastery in the art of immersing yourself in environments that bring out the best in you.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I would love for you to become more powerful, Gemini—not necessarily in the sense of influencing the lives of others, but rather in the sense of managing your own affairs with relaxed confidence and crisp competence. What comes to mind when I urge you to expand your selfcommand and embolden your ambition? Is there an adventure you could initiate that would bring out more of the swashbuckler in you?
CANCER (June 21-July 22): For my Cancerian readers in the Southern Hemisphere, this oracle will be in righteous alignment with the natural flow of the seasons. That’s because February is the hottest, laziest, most spacious time of year in that part of the world—a logical moment to take a lavish break from the daily rhythm and escape on a vacation or pilgrimage designed to provide relaxation and renewal. Which is exactly what I’m advising for all of the earth’s Cancerians, including those in the Northern Hemisphere. So for those of you above the equator, I urge you to consider thinking like those below the equator. If you can’t get away, make a blanket fort in your home and pretend. Or read a book that takes you on an imaginary journey. Or hang out at an exotic sanctuary in your hometown.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Leo author Walter Scott (1771–1832) was a pioneer in the genre of the historical novel. His stories were set in various eras of the Scottish past. In those pre-telephone and preInternet days, research was a demanding task. Scott traveled widely to gather tales from keepers of the oral tradition. In accordance with current astrological omens, Leo, I recommend that you draw inspiration from Scott’s old-fashioned approach. Seek out direct contact with the past. Put yourself in the physical presence of storytellers and elders. Get first-hand knowledge about historical events that will inspire your thoughts about the future of your life story.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Over a period of 40 years, the artist Rembrandt (1606–1663) gazed into a mirror as he created more than ninety self-portraits—about ten percent of his total work. Why? Art
Homework: Try to identify which aspect of your life needs healing more than any other aspect. FreeWillAstrology.com
The List
scholars don’t have a definitive answer. Some think he did selfportraits because they sold well. Others say that because he worked so slowly, he himself was the only person he could get to model for long periods. Still others believe this was his way of cultivating selfknowledge, equivalent to an author writing an autobiography. In the coming weeks, I highly recommend that you engage in your personal equivalent of extended mirror-gazing. It’s a favorable time to understand yourself better.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): From author Don DeLillo’s many literary works, I’ve gathered five quotes to serve as your guideposts in the coming weeks. These observations are all in synchronistic alignment with your current needs. 1. Sometimes a thing that’s hard is hard because you’re doing it wrong. 2. You have to break through the structure of your own stonework habit just to make yourself listen. 3. Something is always happening, even on the quietest days and deep into the night, if you stand a while and look. 4. The world is full of abandoned meanings. In the commonplace, I find unexpected themes and intensities. 5. What we are reluctant to touch often seems the very fabric of our salvation.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “I remember a time when a cabbage could sell itself just by being a cabbage,” wrote Scorpio author Jean Giraudoux (1882–1944). “Nowadays it’s no good being a cabbage—unless you have an agent and pay him a commission.” He was making the point that for us humans, it’s not enough to simply become good at a skill and express that skill; we need to hire a publicist or marketing wizard or distributor to make sure the world knows about our offerings. Generally, I agree with Giradoux’s assessment. But I think that right now it applies to you only minimally. The coming weeks will be one of those rare times when your interestingness will shine so brightly, it will naturally attract its deserved attention. Your motto, from industrialist Henry J. Kaiser: “When your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt.”
CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • FEBRUARY 27. 2020 • THE PULSE • 19 SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): When he was 29 years old, Sagittarian composer Ludwig Beethoven published his String Quartet, Op. 18, No. 4. Most scholars believe that the piece was an assemblage of older material he had created as a young man. A similar approach might work well for you in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. I invite you to consider the possibility of repurposing tricks and ideas that weren’t quite ripe when you first used them. Recycling yourself makes good sense. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Are there parts of your life that seem to undermine other parts of your life? Do you wish there was greater harmony between your heart and your head, between your giving and your taking, between your past and your future? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could infuse your cautiousness with the wildness of your secret self? I bring these questions to your attention, Capricorn, because I suspect you’re primed to address them with a surge of innovative energy. Here’s my prediction: Healing will come as you juxtapose apparent opposites and unite elements that have previously been unconnected. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): When he was 19, the young poet Robert Graves joined the British army to fight in World War I. Two years later, the Times of London newspaper reported that he had been killed at the Battle of the Somme in France. But it wasn’t true. Graves was very much alive, and continued to be for another 69 years. During that time, he wrote 55 books of poetry, 18 novels, and 55 other books. I’m going to be bold and predict that this story can serve as an apt metaphor for your destiny in the coming weeks and months. Some dream or situation or influence that you believed to be gone will in fact have a very long second life filled with interesting developments. When the current Gregorian calendar we use was created, it was decided that a year would last 365 days.
Which was almost correct. In fact, it takes the Earth roughly 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds to travel around the Sun.
So what to do? Easy: just add an extra day every four years. Or was it really that easy? • L eap Year happens every four years, except in century years that are not divisible for 400, which 2100 will not be a leap year. • An e xtra day is also not quite enough. We’ve had to add a leap second every now and then. • The last leap second was added on June 30, 2015 at 11:59:60 p.m. The next one is scheduled for June 30 this year at 11:59:60 p.m. • And to make things even more confusing, in 1712 both Sweden and Finland added a February 30th to their calendars to catch up their outdated Julian calendar. Confused? Hopefully this will clear things right up. Leaping Into Leap Year
Stephen King Connects Us To The Outsider
Horror and mystery giving us all the feels
Return To Downton Abbey
It was the television sensation of the decade and audiences around the world were enthralled by the goings-on of the Crawley family, wealthy owners of a large estate in the English countryside in the early twentieth century.
And now Downton Abbey comes back to the big screen as the Bobby Stone Film Series presents not one but two showings of the 2019 film continuation of the television show.
The film begins in 1927, about a year and a half after the TV series ended. Buckingham Palace informs Robert and Cora Crawley, the Earl and Countess of Grantham, that King George V and Queen Mary will visit Downton Abbey during a royal tour through Yorkshire.
As the royal staff descends on Downton, an assassin has also arrived and attempts to kill the monarch. The family and servants are pitted against the royal entourage, including the Queen’s lady-in-waiting, who has fallen out with the Crawleys, especially the Dowager Countess, over an inheritance issue.
Come out to the Tivoli Theatre this Sunday and relive all the scandal, romance and intrigue that will leave the future of Downton hanging in the balance. Showtimes are 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. — Michael Thomas
AS MUCH AS THE HORROR GENRE LOVES TO examine the origins of fairytales, the best of it examines something far deeper. It looks inward, to the sources of fear and the experiences that inspire it. Art itself is at its best when it examines the essential aspects of humanity. It soars when audiences see their own struggles and triumphs depicted onscreen, even if just in some small way.
By John DeVore Pulse Film Editor
Horror, of course, is rarely about overcoming something. It’s about discovering how terrible the world can be. It’s about being forced to perceive something as it is rather than how it should be. It’s about the inevitability of pain and death. It’s about the inescapable reality of a horrifying end.
There’s no doubt film and television are in a Stephen King renaissance. There has been an abundance of remakes, reboots, and series inspired directly by King’s work. It helps that he’s remarkably
20 • THE PULSE • FEBRUARY 27, 2020 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM prolific—so much so nearly everything he writes is optioned for either the big or small screen. Luckily, he hits more than he misses.
A new series based on a very recent book is nearing its end on HBO. The Outsider looks deeply at the profound human experience of grief.
As with so many of King’s stories, The Outsider begins with a child murder. Frank Peterson is found mutilated and covered in human saliva and bite marks in a small town in Georgia.
Local detective Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn) investigates the scene and discovers terrifying evidence that links the murder to a local little league coach and pillar
of the community, Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman).
Maitland is identified by multiple eyewitnesses, all of which have damning evidence of bloody clothes and strange behavior. In addition, the van used to kidnap the child is covered in Maitland’s DNA. It looks like an open and shut case but Maitland claims to have been two hours away at an education conference. His wife confirms this.
In fact, surveillance and news cameras confirm that Maitland was in a completely different city at the time of the murder, even though local cameras say different. How can a man be in two places at once?
Things get worse from there, however. It seems that the murder of the child spreads misery outwards like a web. Death follows death and things continue to spiral as a community reels from a blow from which they’ll never recover.
Of course, when it comes to a Stephen King novel, there’s always a supernatural element involved. As the title indicates, the responsible party is something outside our normal experience.
This is where the show shines. It has personified the death and grief as a creature that feeds on negative human emotions.
Good horror does this. It allows the characters to explore their reactions to an intangible, before making it tangible. It allows the audience to compartmentalize their feelings. In some ways, it allows people who have experienced grief to fight against this tangible evil alongside the characters, pulling them into the narrative to help them work through their own thoughts. The Outsider is a slow, deliberate series; one that ponders, that lingers like the Play-Doh faced man in the shadows of the world. Initially driven by the performance of Ben Mendelsohn, the show later begins to take form through the eyes of Holly Gibney (Cynthia Erivo), the private detective hired to investigate how a person might be in two places at once. She is a fascinating character, one not often seen in a series like this.
Each episode is a masterclass in suspense and revelation and, while some might find the pacing off-putting, the show is riveting. Hopefully, HBO will treat the series as it should be treated. This is not a multi-season barn burner. Just like the recent Watchman series, it will be served best by being a single season. There is no reason to drag the story out. If the showrunners allow the series to progress naturally, telling just this story and not others, it will be testament to what television can do as a medium.
Some shows are great across multiple seasons. However, the best ones know where they are going and know how to get there. The Outsider is shaping up to be a good one.
✴ NEW IN THEATERS ✴
The Invisible Man When Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see. Director: Leigh Whannell Stars: Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Harriet Dyer
Wendy Lost on a mysterious island where aging and time have come unglued, Wendy must fight to save her family, her freedom, and the joyous spirit of youth from the deadly peril of growing up. Director: Benh Zeitlin Stars: Yashua Mack, Devin France
Stop, Drop, And…Frisk?
Officer Alex on the suspicions of suspecting suspects
Alex Teach Pulse columnist It’s when black and brown people are “
When officer Alexander D. Teach is not patrolling our fair city on the heels of the criminal element, he spends his spare time volunteering for the Boehm Birth Defects Center.
DURING THIS WONDERFULLY entertaining election cycle a law enforcement related question started popping up when Michael Bloomberg decided to buy the Executive Branch of the United States of America (having grown tired of his last purchase most casually known as “New York City”).
For once, it’s something I’m happy to explain over and over again because it’s one of the finest examples of how “feelings” can actually give way to “facts” in this not-brave new world of ours.
I’m speaking of course about “Stop and Frisk”. As effective as it is divisive, it’s one of the pillars of what is for once an inarguable success of Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to clean up crime in New York City in the late 90s and early 2000’s.
Because it caused police officers to detain (“stop”) and pat down the outside pockets (“search”) of largely black and brown men suspected of having committed a violent crime, this naturally makes it racist. There is a catch however, once you choose to put down your extra-fat “Progressive Sign Making” Sharpie and see what it’s about.
The original Clinton administration looked at the surface of this practice and decided to bring suit against the City of New York for “violating civil rights” via the practice due to the aforementioned focus on the more heavily pigmented citizens of said city. Upon explaining the process to them however, none other than Janet Reno and Eric Holder themselves dropped those efforts after being presented with what pre-crazy Giuliani described as “perfect statistics.”
In the words of the once Peoples Mayor himself: “We were following—not race—we were following complaints. In
22 • THE PULSE • FEBRUARY 27, 2020 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM other words, why did we search seventy percent African American males? We did it because seventy-five percent of our complaints were of African American males who committed violent crimes. So, who are we supposed to go look for?” As it turns out, this made a frustrating amount of sense.
Being a lawyer and foreseeing the likelihood of litigation, Giuliani had his police officers document each of these encounters for accountability and provided ninety-five percent verifiable documentation for the 100,000 occurrences during his two terms and, with all that, Reno and Holder gave the all clear. Enter Mike Bloomberg. Upon assuming Gracie Mansion, he was so happy with this Clinton-approved method of crime reduction (actually dealing with the suspects described by the actual victims instead of letting them go because “feelings”), he expanded the program. A lot, as it turned out.
The practice went from 100,000 articulable stops in eight years, with ninety-five percent documentation under Giuliani, to 685,724 by 2011 under Bloomberg. Furthermore, with nearly no accountability for the increased stops, the ninety-five percent being justified turned to eighty-eight percent of those 685,724 parties detained and frisked being deemed “innocent”.
(If you’re wondering, that is “bad”.) “You just can’t make a stop, which is what it kind of became,” Giuliani pointed out. “We understood the law.”
So THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is
what the term means, why it was so successful and ultimately responsible for an eighty percent drop in violent crime in New York City under Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and how the abandonment of any sense of accountability turned it into a civil rights wood chipper under the watch of Mike Bloomberg.
“Stop and Frisk” was the label for one of the oldest crimefighting tools in the century’s old toolbox: Criminal Profiling. No matter how much some want it to mean this, that is NOT “Racial Profiling”. Criminal profiling is the method in which police officers “look for the criminal as described by the victim.”
If the suspect happens to be described as “black” or “Hispanic” then it is no more racist than looking for a blue Cadillac involved in a hit and run when the suspect vehicle is described as (wait for it) a “blue Cadillac”.
It’s when black and brown people are stopped for no other reason than looking “suspicious” that the statistics no longer validate anything, and you have indeed just become the bad guy.
I truly hope this was informative for both my liberal-leaning readers, and questions are genuinely welcomed after class (though sadly, I have no statistics to back this up).
with Gary, Beth & Eric
