MAY 26, 2016
CHATTANOOGA'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE
SO YOU WANT TO BE A MUSICIAN?
Are you ready to pay your dues? Because stardom doesn't come on a silver platter. by Marc T. Michael
ARTS
JOHN HENRY
THE SCULPTOR MUSIC
LACING
SHOEGAZING SCREEN
NICE GUYS
AN L.A. STORY
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Contents
CHATTANOOGA'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE
EDITORIAL
Managing Editor Gary Poole Editorial Assistant Brooke Dorn
May 26, 2016 Volume 13, Issue 21
Music Editor Marc T. Michael Film Editor John DeVore Contributors David Traver Adolphus • Rich Bailey Adam Beckett • Rob Brezsny Patrick Filbin • Matt Jones Ernie Paik • Rick Pimental-Habib Kim Randolph
Features
Editorial Interns Hillary Eames • Alex Ward
4 BEGINNINGS: A cancer survivor with a plan is one who is planning to win.
Cartoonists Max Cannon • Rob Rogers Jen Sorenson • Tom Tomorrow
5 THE LIST: The organic food movement.
Cover Illustration freedesignfile FOUNDED 2003 BY ZACHARY COOPER & MICHAEL KULL
ADVERTISING
Director of Sales Mike Baskin Account Executives Chee Chee Brown • Linda Hisey Rick Leavell • John Rodriguez Stacey Tyler • Logan Vandergriff
CONTACT
Offices 1305 Carter St., Chattanooga, TN 37402 Phone 423.265.9494 Website chattanoogapulse.com Email info@chattanoogapulse.com BREWER MEDIA GROUP Publisher & President Jim Brewer II THE FINE PRINT: The Pulse is published weekly by Brewer Media and is distributed throughout the city of Chattanooga and surrounding communities. The Pulse covers a broad range of topics concentrating on music, the arts, entertainment, culture and local news. The Pulse is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. No person without written permission from the publisher may take more than one copy per weekly issue. The Pulse may be distributed only by authorized distributors. Contents Copyright © 2016 by Brewer Media. All rights reserved.
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Making Money Making Music
“You want fame? Well fame costs and right here is where you start paying, in sweat!” —Fame. That was the opening line to a surprisingly popular show in the early eighties about a bunch of kids at the “New York City School for the Performing Arts” and how I loved it so.
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Turning Steel Into World Class Art
John Henry is a Chattanooga resident and world famous sculptor who has been showing his work for over fifty years. He has artwork located in museums, as well as public and private locations all over the planet.
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Lacing Inspires Honest Shoegazing
The members of the Chattanooga quartet Lacing have previously covered diverse genres such as metalcore, pop-rock, instrumental hip-hop, hard rock, noise and ambient music, but they all converged in their current act with a common interest in shoegaze.
7 AIR BAG: Putting the pieces back together of a once great collection. 12 SCREEN: Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling have fun in ‘70s Los Angeles. 16 ARTS CALENDAR 19 FREE WILL ASTROLOGY 21 MIXOLOGY: Want to make your own suds? Here's what you'll need. 24 MUSIC CALENDAR 27 REVIEWS: Great Bay looks back on the past, Baker looks to a bright future. 28 DIVERSIONS 29 JONESIN’ CROSSWORD 30 TECH TALK: Gig Tank company Rendever uses virtual reality to bring the world to elders.
CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • MAY 26, 2016 • THE PULSE • 3
BEGINNINGS
NEWS • VIEWS • RANTS • RAVES
UPDATES » CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM FACEBOOK/CHATTANOOGAPULSE EMAIL LOVE LETTERS, ADVICE & TRASH TALK TO INFO@CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM
Surviving Cancer One Positive At A Time A cancer survivor with a plan is one who is planning to win Where once a diagnosis of canindividuals understand that cancer cer meant despair and hopelesscan be beaten with help and inspiness for patients stricken with the ration from their doctors, nurses, disease, thanks to tremendous adcaregivers, families and friends… vances in medicine and with a solid plan and ongoing research for meeting the chalaround the world, surlenges head-on. vival is no longer just According to the Centers for Disease a dream for many, but KIM RANDOLPH Control and Prevenan expected outcome. tion, more than 14 million AmeriOn June 5, the world honors can cancer survivors are living lonthose who have fought, and stand ger after diagnosis thanks in large in living tribute to the growing list part to advances in early detection of successes in the battle against and treatment. In fact, the CDC cancer. The 29th annual National reports that two out of every three Cancer Survivors Day is also inpeople with cancer are expected to tended to help recently diagnosed
HEALTH
live at least five years after diagnosis and the earlier the detection, the greater the likelihood for survival well beyond five years. Validating the more promising outlook was a study done by the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute in 2012 which revealed that 15 percent of survivors—as of the study date—had been diagnosed 20 or more years prior. Funding, of course, is critical to keeping cancer research on an upward trajectory. Continued appropriations from government— and significant private support—are leading to more and better treatment options and may push survivorship numbers beyond the CDC’s rosy outlook in the years ahead. However, we all have within ourselves an innate ability that can provide a significant complement to the medications and therapies we offer as healthcare providers. A positive attitude and a strong will to beat cancer can help support favorable patient outcomes for long-term survival. It is essential for survivors to have a plan. Sadly, many do not, and it is a distressing reality that a patient without a plan has a gap in their treatment regimen that may have negative consequences. A survivor with a plan is empowered with knowledge regarding what therapies and tests are needed and at what intervals. No two patients are exactly alike, so each survivor should have a customized medical plan that provides a proverbial roadmap for sharing information and scheduling treatments relative to their own condition(s) with their doctors so that the best care possible can be
rendered. I tell patients to stick with a plan—even after active treatment for their cancers may have concluded—and know that their plan should encompass all of their healthcare providers. Cancer survivors often become accustomed to the care given in treatment of their respective cancers and many believe they can forego their primary care physicians. Not true! Key takeaways for survivors: • Know who you need to see, when you need to see them, what tests you need and when, and what medications you need to take and for what duration for long-term health and quality of life. • Have a comprehensive plan to help assure you stay on track. • Combine quality medical care across multiple disciplines, a positive “can do” attitude and a clear plan to get well and stay well.
“A positive attitude and a strong will to beat cancer can help support favorable patient outcomes for long-term survival.”
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The List
EdiToon
Organic Foods On The Shelves
by Rob Rogers
What was once the purview of just a few high-end stores and specialty food retailers, organic foods are now as mainstream as they can be, even being spotted on the shelves of the largest food retailers in the country. Our friends at the Statistic Brain Institute have put down their salad forks and compiled some eye-opening stats on just how pervasive the organic food movement has become.
Truckin’ Along at the Street Food Festival The flaming-red California Smothered Burritos food truck has become a familiar St. Elmo sight, offering burritos, nachos and taco salads to hungry passers-by. Alternatively, there’s the converted ambulance that houses The Grilled Cheese Emergency, coming to your lunch’s rescue with artisan sandwiches and tomato soup. Chattanooga is home to a multitude of food trucks, and you’ll have the opportunity to sample all of them at the Chattanooga Street Food Festival this Sunday. The festival will include more than twenty-food trucks and concessions. Vendors will include the aforementioned California Smothered Burritos and Grilled Cheese Emergency, as well as guest vendors from
nearby areas, including the Atlanta Food Truck coalition. There will also be two newcomers: Chick-N-Nooga, a food truck that serves “fried chicken with just enough kickin’,” along with house-made sauces and waffle
IN THIS ISSUE
Marc T. Michael The Pulse's music editor, Marc T. Michael, is a longstanding presence in the local music scene who from an early age had two passions in life: music and writing. Noticeably self-taught at one and educated at the University of Kentucky for the other, Marc
fries; and Shenanigans Food Truck from Sewanee, expected to delight Sewanee alums and upcoming students alike with their house favorite, the Spicy Turkey Melt. Starting at 11 a.m., food trucks will line the streets in front of the First Tennessee Pavilion, presenting hungry customers with an endless amount of options. Vendors will offer a multitude of specially-made treats, including wood-fired pizza, barbecue, donuts, and fresh-squeezed lemonade. Whatever your favorite cuisine is, there’ll be a food truck lining up ready to give it to you. Come out this Sunday to support local vendors and to taste some of Chattanooga’s best in the food truck business. Admission to the festival is free. — Hillar y Eames
Kim Randolph moved to Chattanooga back in the fall of 1993. When not playing with local Irish group the Molly Maguires, Marc can be found hosting trivia matches throughout the city as the regional manager for Challenge Entertainment. An avid supporter of Chattanooga’s burgeoning music scene, he currently resides in Red Bank with his wife Bryanna, his daughter Libby and two cats who, truth be told, are actually in charge of everything.
Kim Randolph, MSN, FNP-BC, works in the Survivorship Department at Cancer Treatment Centers of America in the metropolitan Atlanta community of Newnan, where she cares for patients with a range of conditions. She is board-
certified by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and the American Nurses Credentialing Center. She is trained in Advanced Cardiac Life Support and is a member of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. “I want my patients to feel that they have been heard and that their concerns are important. Sometimes, simply allowing patients to express their concerns is the only medicine they need.”
• Organic foods annual U.S. revenue: $39 billion • Total annual global organic sales: $68.9 billion • Total Percentage of Organic Food sold by Mass Market Retailers: 54% • Percent of Organic Food sales that take place 100 miles or less from an Organic Farm: 44% • Total size of Organic Cropland in the U.S.: 3.98 hectares • Total amount of surface area covered by Certified-Organic Farm: 4.1 million acres • Total amount of California organic cropland: 460,000 acres • Total amount of U.S. Certified-Organic Farms in all 50 states: 14,540 • Percentage of total U.S. organic cropland: 0.6% • Total Percent of Organic Dairy Cows: 2.9% • Total Percent of Organic Layer Hens: 1.6% Eat healthy, America. Source: statisticbrain.com/organicfood-statistics/
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COLUMN AIR BAG
Fun Misfortune: A Car Guy Alphabet Putting the missing pieces back together of a once great collection
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DAVID TRAVER ADOLPHUS
Even in my life, this doesn’t make any ‘worst things’ list. It’s mostly really, really inconvenient. At the same time, it’s the way I make my living and it’s been a mighty thin winter and spring.”
Photo courtesy Koenigsegg David Traver Adolphus is a freelance automotive researcher who recently quit his full time job writing about old cars to pursue his lifelong dream of writing about old AND new cars. He welcomes the inevitable and probably richly deserved kvetching about Air Bag and anything else on Twitter as @proscriptus.
As I wrote about back in February, I had a huge flood at my office and my entire reference library was destroyed—literally thousands of books and magazines, along with the other stuff a person accumulates. The inventory was straightforward, if tiresome. But, being an insurance claim, every item had to be documented, which took weeks. Some were harder than others. I had a brochure from a 2006 exhibit at Toyota’s corporate museum in Japan, which a friend there had sent to me. It turns out they still sell it at the museum shop, and it’s only ¥600—about $5.44. But they don’t ship, so I’d have to find someone in the middle of nowhere, Japan, to buy it and they’d have to ship it to me, which ends up at something over $150.00 altogether. It took endless hours and emails to figure that out. Then there was the Koenigsegg book. Koenigsegg is a Swedish supercar, and the single book about them was printed in a limited edition of 250. None of them are for sale, anywhere, and I had to come up with a price. I found one sold at an auction in 2011; and one on eBay in Australia a year ago. That one went for about $813 and needless to say, the insurance company had some questions. Actually, they still have questions, but they’ve cut me a “good faith” check and I’ve started putting my collection back together. This time, instead of getting what I can when it’s a good deal, I get to go ahead and build exactly what I anticipate needing, without the dead weight. It’s literally an AC (think AC Cobra) to VW bookshelf. Maybe Zagato—a coachbuilder—if I can find one that isn’t $300, just for completeness. That has all been kind of fun to do,
but it’s nothing compared to the support from my peers. Offers of support have been everywhere. Last month, an auction company donated their last four years of catalogs, nothing to sneeze at when it was five boxes of them at about $50 per catalog. They followed that up with a great deal on a complete set of the fantastic Special Interest Autos magazine, including shipping them from Canada. A friend in Italy hooked me up with a deal on a 10-year run of books at a discount, and they’re shipping them over. Another has a huge collection of Fifties and Sixties Car and Driver and Motor Trend from the Forties and Fifties. He’s putting them all in his truck and driving them 275 miles to meet me, his only condition being that I donate what I can to a fellow autowriter who’s raising funds for a medical condition. What I didn’t know was that I still
had friends in the first place. I’m not an easy person to get along with and I’ve burned a lot of bridges. We’re talking Sherman’s March. Yet still, they came to my aid and continue to do so. I certainly don’t deserve it, but I guess it’s a small community and we tend to look after our own. I recognize that compared to someone who’s been through a tornado or something, a bunch of things like these are meaningless. Even in my life, this doesn’t make any “worst things” list. It’s mostly really, really inconvenient. At the same time, it’s the way I make my living and it’s been a mighty thin winter and spring. I have a family depending on me, and I feel I’ve been letting them down. I don’t know why people still like me, but I’m grateful that they do. As much as I lost in property, I’m coming out of this feeling as though I’ve gained.
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COVER STORY
Making Money Making Music: An Insider’s Perspective
So, you want to be a rich and famous musician? Here are the dues you’ll need to pay. By Marc T. Michael, Pulse music editor
“You want fame? Well fame costs and right here is where you start paying, in sweat!” — Fame That was the opening line to a surprisingly popular show in the early eighties about a bunch of kids at the “New York City School for the Performing Arts” and how I loved it so. It inspired me and was one of a dozen or more factors that inevitably led to me being a performer. I’ve played music professionally (meaning I’ve gotten paid for it, though often a pittance) for 27 years. I’ve written about local music for The Pulse for several years now and for another weekly alternative for several years prior to that. I love music, and performing, and everything to do with it so when I was given the chance to write a cover feature it seemed like a perfect opportunity to offer some observations that, if not helpful, might at least be mildly amusing. After all, there are so many mistakes and missteps one can make in this industry, and I’ve made most of them. First and foremost, if anything less than an absolute love for music is what’s motivating you to give it a go, stop now and find a nice hobby. Love doesn’t have to be your only motivation, but without it, you will never last. Non-musicians habitually underestimate the tremendous effort, countless hours and money it takes just to reach the point where you might be ready to play a gig and at that point all you’ve done is made it to the starting line. The race hasn’t even begun. 8 • THE PULSE • MAY 26, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM
The upside is that if you do have a deep and abiding passion for it, all the time and money invested doesn’t seem like so much (unless a spouse or family member is pointing it out to you.) My point is, it is way more work that it ap-
pears to be with precious, little payoff, financially anyway. “I’d rather be an unemployed musician than an unemployed pipefitter.” —The Commitments Hopefully, the aspiring musician can agree with the sentiment expressed by the sax player Dean Fay in The Commitments because if you’re going to be a working musician, odds are you’re going to spend a hell of a lot of time that way. This raises a valid point. You’ll have to decide early on exactly what it is you mean to accomplish. Do you just want to play weekend gigs or the occasional party? Will some other job be paying your bills? Then the world is your oyster. On the other hand, do you plan on being a working musician? Are you going to make your living solely from the music you play? O, best beloved, prepare yourself. Have you ever seen one of those National Geographic documentaries about some isolated tribe where the members spend 18 hours a day scratching out a meager existence in the hard packed clay of some remote location and freshwater is five miles away? No one can afford to get sick because if you’re sick you can’t work and if you can’t work you can’t eat and if you can’t eat you get sicker, and then you die. Yeah, that’s a lot like being a working musician. You will need to gig constantly, and because of that you will need to travel because unless you live in one of a handful of exceptionally large cities, you won’t find enough work locally to sustain you. Books will become your primary source of recreation.
They are cheap, portable, and can be squeezed in to what spare time you have. A working musician learns quickly how to slice away all the unnecessary baggage. In that sense, although it is a very hard row to hoe, it can be an incredibly valuable experience as well. It can be an enlightening experience for a child of western culture to discover how little you really need to get by. Life as a road dog will teach you that lesson in spades. In all my life there was only a fairly short period of 18 months or so where I sustained myself entirely through music and it was a lean time indeed. I did a lot of couch surfing, ate terrible food, and forgot about extravagances like new clothes. I did it long enough to know that it probably wasn’t the life for me but in retrospect my only real regret is that I didn’t give it another six months or so. Of course that’s an easy thing to say from the comfort of home, 20 plus years later.
“The music business is a business.” —Marc T. Michael (me) If there are going to be some feathers ruffled by anything I say, it’s going to be here. As I slide gracelessly through middle-age, social media has given me an endless supply of things to find mildly aggravating. Chief among those are the endless whining posts about how, “Nobody in this town appreciates good music! They’re all a bunch of sheep! Bars don’t pay enough! I can’t pay rent with exposure!” Whatever image you want to present to the public, you have to figure out whether you are more artist or performer. Those two things are definitely not mutually exclusive, but if you want to be regarded as an artist, fine, be an artist. Just don’t get too offended if you find that people don’t care that much. The majority of artists are largely underappreciated and they don’t seem to take it too personally because they aren’t creating art to get noticed, they are creating art to create art.
On the other hand, if you’re seriously considering trying to make a living, or even just wanting to make enough money to help subsidize your gear addiction, then you have to be an artist when and where you can, but a performer when you need to be, which is most of the time. The equation works like this: You may have the greatest band to have ever trod this mortal coil and your lead player may be a god of Valhallian proportions, but unless you can put asses in seats, you represent no real value to a club or bar owner. Once you have name recognition, once you have a following, once you have demonstrated that you are a marketable commodity, then you can start making the regular paycheck, then you can negotiate for a better deal. The impression I get from a many younger bands (and a few that should be old enough to know better) is that “paying your dues” means learning to play an instrument, forming a band and
Want to have row after row of screaming fans? It's not easy...in fact, it takes a lot of hard work. Photo by Griszka Niewiadomski
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A working musician learns quickly how to slice away all the unnecessary baggage. In that sense, although it is a very hard row to hoe, it can be an incredibly valuable experience as well.”
>> Continued on pg. 10 CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • MAY 26, 2016 • THE PULSE • 9
“It is the soundman’s job to make sure the audience can hear you, to make sure you sound as good as you can. Make his or her life harder and I guarantee they will give less and less of a damn about what you sound like. ” rehearsing some tunes. No sunshine, that ain’t paying your dues by a long shot. As I said at the start, at this point you’ve only just made it to the starting line, you haven’t begun the race yet. Paying your dues means developing some stagecraft (which you can only do by performing live), developing a following, garnering some recognition so that when people see your name on the bill, they think, “Hey! Those guys! I want to go see them!” instead of, “Huh, Leslie and the Fuddruckers? Who the hell are they?” Paying your dues means you will inevitably play in some shady places for little to no pay. Yes, free gigs are a part of it, up front anyway. I know you hate the sound of that, but the quicker you develop a name for yourself, the quicker you can make money and that means taking some of the free gigs to begin with. I know an awful lot of musicians, some highly successful, many who have been at it as long or longer than I have, most who are decidedly better than me, and all of them have played free shows, at least in their early days. It’s part of the process. Now, by the same token, there are unscrupulous, skinflint venue owners who will never want to pay anyone anywhere anything. They will always try the “but it’s great exposure” line but here’s the magical thing about being a musician and working for yourself: You can say no. You can say no, walk away, and go find yourself a better gig at a better place. Those places that never want to pay usually get what 10 • THE PULSE • MAY 26, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM
they pay for so you aren’t really missing out on anything if you pass up the gig, but, and I can’t emphasize this enough, this is what you do after you’ve made a name for yourself, even a small one. A final word on money: Even the best bands pulling down the best fees don’t make the bulk of their cash that way. Mel Brooks said it best as the Yoda character in Spaceballs: Moichandising! Learn it early. If you can put your name on it, you can probably sell it. A few points that shouldn’t need making, but invariably do anyway: Show up on time. Don’t act like a bunch of jackass divas. Be good to the staff. They might not sign the checks, but they have more influence on whether you get a follow up gig than you think, and it’s just good karma anyway. They’re trying to make a living too, they are faced with any army of pains-in-the-ass every shift, they don’t need it from the band too. By the way, get this tattooed on the noisiest member of your band: When the engineer is trying to do a soundcheck and wants Bill to talk in to mic one, everybody else shut the hell up! Don’t stand there and noodle on your guitar, don’t thump away on the kick drum, don’t try to harmonize with Bill and don’t work on your improvised jazz fusion bass solo! Oh, and most especially don’t be on the other side of the bar or out in the parking lot when it’s your turn to soundcheck. It is the soundman’s job to make
sure the audience can hear you, to make sure you sound as good as you can. Make his or her life harder and I guarantee they will give less and less of a damn about what you sound like. It isn’t rocket surgery, kids, show a little respect and a little restraint. I’ve been in Chattanooga for 23 years now and every day I hear complaints about our music scene. Listen, kids, Chattanooga is not a huge town. We basically have the music scene a city our size is capable of sustaining and it has grown exponentially in the last two decades. You won’t get famous here, but this is a great base of operations, a place to hone your skills that’s within easy driving distance of several large metropolitan areas. Bear in mind too, that a scene is largely what you make of it. If you’re the sort who prefers to bitch about how great you are and how lame the scene is, more power to you, Mac. I’ve known a hundred just like you, folks who were seriously talented who never did jack because they were waiting for someone to come along and carry them on a litter. Here’s the truth about success as a working musician: It isn’t easy, it isn’t
glamorous, it’s really the opposite of those things, but if you want it and you’re willing to do what has to be done, you can have it. A final word. The Pulse is a weekly alternative paper. That means we are largely concerned with arts and entertainment and, as the music editor, I am solely concerned with local music and musicians. It is my job to help promote you, to get your name out there so can get the following you need to make the money you deserve. I am a resource. Use me. You can reach me easily through the paper, you can find me on Facebook, and frankly, I’m not that hard to find around town. I would love to hear from you. I don’t care what kind of music you play, I don’t care how good you are (or aren’t.) The Chattanooga music scene has been very good to me, and I feel obliged to return the favor so never hesitate to reach out to me. Whether it’s telling people about your new album, promoting an upcoming gig or just advising you on where to find bulk t-shirts, it’s what I do, and it’s my pleasure to do it. Now, go be famous. CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • MAY 26, 2016 • THE PULSE • 11
SCREEN SCENE
Nice Guys Finish… Somewhere in L.A. Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling have fun in ‘70s Los Angeles
Hong Kong Cinema Alive & Well Roy Hin Yeung Chow's latest comes to DVD & Blu-Ray Certain regions are known for specific types of films. The United States makes big-budget action films like no other, India has all but perfected the bog-screen musical with their "Bollywood" productions, and Hong Kong has been home to some of best martial arts films ever seen. Director Roy Hin Yeung Chow's latest, Huang Feihong Zhi Yingxiong You Meng , known to American audiences as Rise of the Legend, comes out this week on DVD and Blu-Ray. A martial artist with extraordinary power (Eddie Peng) returns to the town where his father was murdered
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to face off against a ruthless crime boss (Sammo Kam-Bo Hung) and bring justice back to the people. Set in the late Ming Dynasty, Rise of the Legend is primarily a prequel to Tsui Hark's classic Once Upon A Time in China, showcasing Taiwanese actor Peng in the role of Wong Fei Hung, originally made famous by the legendary Jet Li. Fans of Hong Kong cinema will find that while Peng has his moments, it is all but impossible to fill Li's legendary shoes. That said, the fight scene choreography and overall cinematography showcase the storyline well.
NEW IN THEATERS
X-Men: Apocalypse In their eighth big screen adventure, with the emergence of the world's first mutant, Apocalypse, the X-Men must unite to defeat his extinction level plan. Director: Bryan Singer Stars: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult
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Alice Through the Looking Glass Alice returns to the whimsical world of Wonderland and travels back in time to save the Mad Hatter in a visually stunning return to the Johnny Depp-led version of Lewis Carroll's Wonderland. Director: James Bobin Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway
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T
HERE IS SOMETHING INHERENTLY UNAPPEALING about Los Angeles. It’s a city that has been shown over and over again in Hollywood films, a natural byproduct of being the hometown of most major film productions, but it seems like the industry doesn’t have a lot of love for the city of angels.
Screen JOHN DEVORE
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The Nice Guys checks all the right boxes and peppers the story with well timed gags and one liners. It’s not an award winning film, or an important film, but it is a fun film.”
While I’m sure anyone could come up with more than a dozen examples of film that proves the exact opposite, my impressions of the city come directly from film depictions and, as a result, it might be the last place in California I’d ever want to visit. Film has a distinct power for coloring perception. There are lots of establishing shots of L.A. in The Nice Guys, a private detective film set in 1970’s Los Angeles, that at first glance is meant to show the city with a certain sense of beauty. The camera pans down from the Hollywood Hills at night to show the twinkling lights stretching off into the darkness but this only serves to remind the viewer that the city is flat, paved, and artificial. In a film like The Nice Guys, the setting serves as a reminder that our heroes are just as seedy, just as unappealing, as their hometown. Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) isn’t from L.A., but he wound up there all the same. His distinct New York accent marks him as a tough guy, one that could easily cave in a head, but his demeanor is pleasant and polite. He makes his money as an enforcer for hire, for fathers looking to get rid of men interested in their underage daughters or girls looking to rid themselves of a stalker or two. Healy shows, breaks a few bones,
gives some advice, and goes about his day. Holland March (Ryan Gosling) is not especially tough, given his chosen profession of private eye. He’s no hard boiled Sam Spade. He’s a used car salesman, the type of guy that will steal a wallet and then charge his victim to look for it. March sees no value to what he does—there are no happy endings, just the next paycheck. The Nice Guys goes a little overboard on the stereotypical characterizations, but manages to give the audience something to care about introducing Holly (Angourie Rice), Holland’s 12 year old daughter. She is the real light of the film, the spark that keeps it from wallowing too much in the excess of 1970’s society. Like most young sidekicks, Holly tags along without permission and shows herself to be more valuable than the heroes themselves—she’s Penny from Inspector Gadget, fre-
or 21 Jump Street franchise feel, I wouldn’t mind seeing these characters again sometime in the future, provided the writing stays strong. Director Shane Black, who wrote the screen play for 1987’s Lethal Weapon and directed the underrated Kiss Kiss Bang Bang knows his way around this type of film. As long as he stays in involved, another film would likely be worth seeing. There’s nothing wrong with a film that doesn’t deviate from the standard. The Nice Guys checks all the right boxes and peppers the story with well timed gags and one liners. It’s not an award winning film, or an important film, but it is a fun film. Spring is winding down and summer is fast approaching. Soon there will be nothing but blockbusters and CGI spectacle. The Nice Guys is none of these things and it may be a while before we see another film like it.
“The Nice Guys is fairly standard private eye fare, at times working like an R-rated episode of Magnum P.I.” quently checking off the adults’ useless trope by finding the bad guy while her dad drunkenly chases mermaids at a pool party. The Nice Guys is fairly standard private eye fare, at times working like an R-rated episode of Magnum P.I. It’s far funnier than you might expect; many of the jokes are blue, but it’s the slapstick elements of the film work the best. Ryan Gosling does his best to channel Lou Costello and proves himself to be a very capable comic actor. Crowe works well as the straight man and there is obvious chemistry between the two actors. The last act of the film works to set up a sequel, and while The Nice Guys doesn’t have a Lethal Weapon
CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • MAY 26, 2016 • THE PULSE • 13
ARTS SCENE
Turning Steel Into World Class Art John Henry has been creating unique sculptures for over five decades
The Importance of Being Earnest... ...(in the face of the Zombie Apocalypse) One of the classic satires of American literature Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” has received a modern facelift courtesy of the Back Alley theatre company. These visionary playwrights have adapted this classic play into a version that will surely be unique and enjoyable to any fan of The Walking Dead. And American literature enthusiasts, as well. The play originally wove a complicated plot centered around two young men bending truth in order to validate their own existence and enrich their dull lives. By inventing a fake sibling, Worthing leaves his friend in an effort to enchant a lovely bachelorette, Gwendolyn. What follows is a tangled web of deception and chaos. It has now been adapted by Back Alley Productions at the The Historic Mars Theatre in Lafayette. These talented young artists have woven this
complex tale into a post-modern adaptation set against the backdrop of a zombie apocalypse, a la Pride Prejudice and Zombies or Abraham Lincoln Vampire Slayer. While some may feel that the “Zombie adaptation” has been played out—seeing as every major literary triumph of the last 50 years has been adapted to a post-apocalyptic backdrop—this adaptation promises to give audiences something new to enjoy. Though it is true that many classic American literary artworks and masterpieces have been converted into crowd-pleasing, gore-filled drivel, I believe whole-heartedly that seeing such an adaptation on the stage will be a memorable experience. The technicality required to create such illusions of reality and allow for suspension of belief merit viewing by any art lover in Chattanooga. — Alex Ward
THU5.26
FRI5.27
SAT5.28
ART + ISSUES
FUTBOL TIME
ANIMAL FUN
Creating and Reflecting
Chattanooga FC vs Quinto Elemento
School's Out 4 Summer
With artist Josiah Golson. 6 p.m. Hunter Museum of Art 10 Bluff View Ave. (423) 267-0968 huntermuseum.org
Come out and cheer on the hometown team! 7:30 p.m. Finley Stadium 1826 Carter St. chattanoogafc.com
14 • THE PULSE • MAY 26, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM
Time to share animal love. 9 a.m. Chattanooga Zoo 301 N. Holtzclaw Ave. (423) 697-1322 chattzoo.orgchattazoo.org
J
OHN HENRY IS A CHATTANOOGA RESIDENT AND world famous sculptor who has been showing his work for over fifty years. He has artwork located in museums, as well as public and private locations all over the planet. He is the Chair of the local Sculpture Fields at Montague Park. The sculpture park is set on a thirty-three-acre lot, and is host to 27 international pieces of artwork that scale as high as 66 feet; it is located at 1800 Polk Street in Chattanooga, and it is a catalyst for the local art community.
Arts ADAM BECKETT
“
The international aspect of the sculpture fields creates a gravitational pull, and will bring outside people from the fine arts community to Chattanooga.”
The Pulse had an opportunity to speak with Mr. Henry about his artwork and his involvement with the sculpture park. The Pulse: You have been acknowledged all over the world as an astounding artist, and for your ability to create artwork of various sizes. Though all of your work is powerful, some of your larger work seems to get some special attention. Can you tell us the size of the largest sculpture that you have created, and its location? John Henry: I have made some rather tall pieces of artwork over time, but currently my largest sculpture is called Tatlin’s Sentinel. It is 104 feet high, and it is located in Dallas, Texas. TP: With elite sculptures located in public and private areas all over the world, do you have a sculpture that you created which you would consider to be your favorite piece of art? JH: I am reluctant to answer that question because in a way they are all my favorite pieces. It can be hard for people to grasp the fact that my sculptures are all a continuation of each other. As different and unique as they are individually, they all unite as one, much like a symphony. There is no one note or sound that the composer would consider to be
their favorite part, it would all flow together from the intro to the sonata to create their favorite part, which would be the symphony. Reminiscent to a symphony, all of my pieces combine to omit one powerful piece of artwork. So where I do have a favorite? The answer would be parts of all of them. TP: Being the founder of the Sculpture Fields at Montague Park, and the Chair/Curator, can you tell me a little bit about the experience? JH: It has been a project that has been in the works for a decade, since Ron Littlefield was still the Mayor of Chattanooga. We established the board roughly four years ago, and broke ground over two years ago; so it has been a very exciting and timely process. For the sculpture fields to finally be open to the public is very satisfying. TP: The international sculpture fields really bring a powerful dynamic to the scenic city. One that possesses educational potential, as well as giving a boost to the local Chattanooga arts scene. Were those two elements part of the plan when you began the
development of the sculpture fields? JH: Absolutely. The educational inspiration of the sculpture fields is a major aspect for us, we pride ourselves on being able to give people a firsthand look at international artwork. The local art scene really has a lot to offer, there is some amazing artwork located all over the city. The international aspect of the sculpture fields creates a gravitational pull, and will bring outside people from the fine arts community to Chattanooga. Once they are here, they will be able to explore some of the local artwork. So yes, both of those things were considered to be major aspects of the project. TP: How long have you been a resident of Chattanooga, and what do you like most about living here? JH: I have lived in Chattanooga for sixteen years. What initially brought me here is that it is a town that was built on metal production. Where nearly all of my sculptures are made of metal, it enabled me to have access to any material that I would ever need to produce my artwork, and that instantly made it my favorite part
about living here. After being here for a while, I realized that there is so much that I like about living in Chattanooga. The fine arts scene is thriving. The orchestra is world class. There are so many great places to eat, Chattanooga has a good energy about it, the scenery is beautiful, the people are fantastic, it is a wonderful place to live. TP: What advice do you have for the aspiring artists out there that are having trouble finding inspiration? JH: I have heard people say time and time again that they want to be famous sculptors like me, and that goes against everything that being an artist is about. Creating art is about doing what you love to do through self-expression. If you love to do it, then do it every day with no intentions beyond creating art. Focus on your work, love your work, but produce your art. There is no substitute for work. ••• For more information about John Henry, and his selected pieces of artwork, please visit callancontemporary.com/artists/john-henry/bio CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • MAY 26, 2016 • THE PULSE • 15
ARTS CALENDAR
School's Out 4 Summer
THURSDAY5.26 Make & Take Workshop: Hanging Baskets 10 a.m The Barn Nursery 1801 E. 24th Street Pl. (423) 698-2276 barnnursery.com Penguin Keeper Talks 10:30 a.m. Tennessee Aqaurium 1 Broad St. (423) 265-0695 tnaqua.org Center Stage Spring Dance Recital 2:30 p.m. UTC Fine Arts Center Roland Hayes Concert Hall 752 Vine St. (423) 425-4269 utc.edu/fine-arts-center Ooltewah Farmers Market 3 p.m. Ooltewah Nursery 5829 Main St. (423) 238-9775 ooltewahnursery.com Signal Mountain Farmers Market 4 p.m. Pruett’s Market 1210 Taft Hwy. (423) 902-8023 signalmountainfarmersmarket.com St. Elmo Farmers Market 4 p.m. Incline Railway 3917 St. Elmo Ave. (423) 838-9804 lookoutfarmersmarket.com Homebuyer Orientation
16 • THE PULSE • MAY 26, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM
5:30 p.m. Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise 1500 Chestnut St. (423) 756-6201 cneinc.org Art + Issues: Creating and Reflecting 6 p.m. The Hunter Museum of American Art 10 Bluff View Ave. (423) 267-0968 huntermuseum.org Chattanooga Storytelling Circle 6 p.m. Northgate Library 278 Northgate Mall Dr. (423) 870-0635 chattlibrary.org Photographic Society of Chattanooga’s “Spring Color” Opening Reception
PULSE PICK: FELIPE ESPARZA Winner of NBC’s Last Comic Standing in 2010, Felipe has appeared on numerous television shows, including The Tonight Show and Comics Without Borders.
Felipe Esparza The Comedy Catch 1400 Market St. (423) 629-2233 thecomedycatch.com
6:30 p.m. Gallery at Blackwell 71 Eastgate Loop (423) 344-5643 blackwellautoinc.com Chattanooga Lookouts vs Tennessee Smokies 7:15 p.m. AT&T Stadium 201 Power Alley (423) 267-2208 lookouts.com
FRIDAY5.27 Otter Enrichment 11 a.m. Tennessee Aqaurium 1 Broad St. (423) 265-0695 tnaqua.org Center Stage Spring Dance Recital
2:30 p.m. UTC Fine Arts Center Roland Hayes Concert Hall 752 Vine St. (423) 425-4269 utc.edu/fine-arts-center Cambridge Square Night Market 5 p.m. Cambridge Square 9453 Bradmore Ln. (423) 648-2496 chattanoogamarket. com/cambridge Animal Heart Reading and Signing 6 p.m. Star Line Books 1467 Market St. (423) 777-5629 starlinebooks.com Chattanooga Lookouts vs Tennessee Smokies 7:15 p.m. AT&T Stadium 201 Power Alley (423) 267-2208 lookouts.com Felipe Esparza 7:30, 9:45 p.m. The Comedy Catch 1400 Market St. (423) 629-2233 thecomedycatch.com Chattanooga FC vs Quinto Elemento 7:30 p.m. Finley Stadium 1826 Carter St. chattanoogafc.com The Importance of Being Ernest (in the Face of the Zombie Apocalypse) 8 p.m.
ARTS CALENDAR
Chattanooga Chase The Historic Mars Theatre 117 N. Chattanooga St. Lafayette, GA (706) 621-2870 backalleyproductions.org Beach Blanket Movie Night 8:30 p.m. Chester Frost Park 2277 N. Goldpoint Cir. (423) 842-6748 hamiltontn.gov
SATURDAY5.28 School's Out 4 Summer 9 a.m. Chattanooga Zoo 301 N. Holtzclaw Ave. (423) 697-1322 chattzoo.org Gun Show 9 a.m. Camp Jordan Arena 323 Camp Jordan Pkwy. (423) 490-0078 eastridgeparksandrec.com Plant an Herb Garden 10 a.m. Ooltewah Nursery 5829 Main St. (423) 238-9775 ooltewahnursery.com Brainerd Farmers Market 10 a.m. Grace Episcopal Church 20 Belvoir Ave. (423) 243-3250 facebook.com/ BrainerdFarmersMarket Chattanooga River Market 10 a.m. Tennessee Aquarium 1 Broad St.
(423) 265-0695 chattanoogarivermarket.com Northside Farmers Market 10 a.m. Northside Presbyterian Church 923 Mississippi Ave. (423) 266-7497 St. Alban’s Hixson Market 10 a.m. St. Alban’s Episcopal Church 7514 Hixson Pike (423) 842-6303 facebook.com/ StAlbansFarmersMarket Tennessee Council of the Blind 11:30 a.m. Downtown Library 1001 Broad St. (423) 643-7700 chattlibrary.org Chattanooga FC USSNAC Cup Noon Finley Stadium 1826 Carter St. chattanoogafc.com Zine Makers Workshop 1:30 p.m. Downtown Library 1001 Broad St. (423) 643-7700 chattlibrary.org Center Stage Spring Dance Recital 2:30 p.m. UTC Fine Arts Center Roland Hayes Concert Hall 752 Vine St. (423) 425-4269 utc.edu/fine-arts-center Chattanooga Lookouts vs Tennessee Smokies 7:15 p.m. AT&T Stadium
201 Power Alley. (423) 267-2208 lookouts.com Felipe Esparza 7:30, 9:45 p.m. The Comedy Catch 1400 Market St. (423) 629-2233 thecomedycatch.com The Importance of Being Ernest (in the Face of the Zombie Apocalypse) 8 p.m. The Historic Mars Theatre 117 N. Chattanooga St. Lafayette, GA (706) 621-2870 backalleyproductions.org
SUNDAY5.29 Harrison Ruritan Club Open Car Show 8 a.m. Tennessee River Park 4301 Amnicola Hwy. (423) 344-7575 harrisonruritanclub.webs.com Remembering Our Heroes: Memorial Motorcycle Ride 9 a.m. 6th Cavalry Museum 6 Barnhardt Cir. Fort Oglethorpe, GA (706) 861-2860 6thcavalrymuseum.org Chattanooga Market 10 a.m. First Tennessee Pavilion 1829 Carter St. (423) 648-2496 chattanoogamarket.com Gun Show
10 a.m. Camp Jordan Arena 323 Camp Jordan Pkwy. (423) 490-0078 eastridgeparksandrec.com The Importance of Being Ernest (in the Face of the Zombie Apocalypse) 2 p.m. The Historic Mars Theatre 117 N. Chattanooga St. Lafayette, GA (706) 621-2870 backalleyproductions.org Chattanooga Lookouts vs Tennessee Smokies 6:15 p.m. AT&T Stadium 201 Power Alley. (423) 267-2208 lookouts.com Felipe Esparza 7:30 p.m. The Comedy Catch 1400 Market St. (423) 629-2233 thecomedycatch.com
MONDAY5.30 Chattanooga Chase 8 a.m. Riverview Park 1000 Barton Ave. chattanoogachase2016.com Art 120 Teacher Maker Arts Training Class 9 a.m. Southside Maker Art Center 1511 Williams St. (423) 708-2120 art120.org Red Bank Farmers Market CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • MAY 26, 2016 • THE PULSE • 17
ARTS CALENDAR
Kayak & Roll Practice
4 p.m. Red Bank United Methodist Church 3800 Dayton Blvd. (423) 838-9804 lookoutfarmersmarket.com Oil Painting II 6 p.m. Townsend Atelier 301 E. 11th St. #200 (423) 266-2712 townsendatelier.com
TUESDAY5.31 East Brainerd Farmers Market 4 p.m. Audubon Acres 900 N. Sanctuary Rd. (423) 838-9804 lookoutfarmersmarket.com "Trapped" Documentary Screening 6:30 p.m. Barking Legs Theater 1307 Dodds Ave. (423) 624-5347 barkinglegs.org
WEDNESDAY6.1 Middle Eastern Dance 10:30 a.m. Jewish Cultural Center 5461 North Terrace (423) 493-0270 jewishchattanooga.com Main Street Market 4 p.m. 325 E. Main St. mainstfarmersmarket.com Collegedale Market 4 p.m. Collegedale Commons
18 • THE PULSE • MAY 26, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM
4950 Swinyar Dr. (423) 648-2496 collegedalemarket.com Rapid Learning Intro to Kayak & Roll Practice 6 p.m. Chester Frost County Park 2318 Gold Point Cir. outdoorchattanooga.com Leslie J. Dulin’s “Abstract Paintings” 6 p.m. In-Town Gallery 26-A Frazier Ave. (423) 267-9214 intowngallery.com Wednesday Night Chess Club 6 p.m. Downtown Library 1001 Broad St. (423) 643-7700 chattlibrary.org Full Circle Teaching Artist Program 6:30 p.m. Barking Legs Theater 1307 Dodds Ave. (423) 624-5347 barkinglegs.org Mad Priest Coffee Roasters Kickstarter Launch Party 7 p.m. The Camp House 149 E. MLK Blvd. (423) 702-8081 thecamphouse.com Chattanooga FC vs Harrisburg City Islanders 7:30 p.m. Finley Stadium 1826 Carter St. chattanoogafc.com Map these locations on chattanoogapulse. com. Send event listings at least 10 days in advance to: calendar@chattanoogapulse.com
DIVERSIONS FREE WILL ASTROLOGY GEMINI (May 21June 20): “Whatever you’re meant to do, do it now,” said novelist Doris Lessing. “The conditions are always impossible.” I hope you take her advice to heart, Gemini. In my astrological ROB BREZSNY opinion, there is no good excuse for you to postpone your gratification or to procrastinate about moving to the next stage of a big dream. It’s senseless to tell yourself that you will finally get serious as soon as all the circumstances are perfect. Perfection does not and will never exist. The future is now. You’re as ready as you will ever be. CANCER (June 21-July 22): French painter Henri Matisse didn’t mind being unmoored, befuddled, or in-between. In fact, he regarded these states as being potentially valuable to his creative process. Here’s his testimony: “In art, truth and reality begin when one no longer understands what one is doing or what one knows.” I’m recommending that you try out his attitude, Cancerian. In my astrological opinion, the time has come for you to drum up the inspirations and revelations that become available when you don’t know where the hell you are and what the hell you’re doing. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Proposed experiment: Imagine that all the lovers and would-be lovers you have ever adored are in your presence. Review in detail your memories of the times you felt thrillingly close to them. Fill yourself up with feelings of praise and gratitude for their mysteries. Sing the love songs you love best. Look into a mirror and rehearse your “I only have eyes for you” gaze until it is both luminous and smoldering. Cultivate facial expressions that are full of tender, focused affection. Got all that, Leo? My purpose in urging you to engage in these practices is that it’s the High Sexy Time of year for you. You have a license to be as erotically attractive and wisely intimate as you dare. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you’ll understand what
little chance you have in trying to change others,” wrote editor Jacob M. Braude. Normally I would endorse his poignant counsel, but for the foreseeable future I am predicting that the first half of it won’t fully apply to you. Why? Because you are entering a phase that I regard as unusually favorable for the project of transforming yourself. It may not be easy to do so, but it’ll be easier than it has been in a long time. And I bet you will find the challenge to reimagine, reinvent, and reshape yourself at least as much fun as it is hard work. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “Never turn down an adventure without a really good reason,” says author Rebecca Solnit in her book The Far Away Nearby. That’s a thought she had as she contemplated the possibility of riding a raft down the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon. Here’s how I suspect this meditation applies to you, Libra: There have been other times and there will be other times when you will have good reasons for not embarking on an available adventure. But now is not one of those moments. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Russian poet Vera Pavlova tells about how once when she was using a pen and paper to jot down some fresh ideas, she got a paper cut on her palm. Annoying, right? On the contrary. She loved the fact that the new mark substantially extended her life line. The palmistrylover in her celebrated. I’m seeing a comparable twist in your near future, Scorpio. A minor inconvenience or mild setback will be a sign that a symbolic revitalization or enhancement is nigh. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Norway is mountainous, but its neighbor Finland is quite flat. A group of Norwegians has launched a campaign to partially remedy the imbalance. They propose that to mark the hundredth anniversary of Finland’s independence, their country will offer a unique birthday gift: the top of Halti mountain. Right now the 4,479-foot peak is in Norway. But under the proposed plan, the border between countries will be shifted so that the peak will be transferred to Finland. I would love you to contemplate generous gestures like this in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. It’s a highly favorable time for you to bestow extra imaginative blessings. (P.S. The consequences will be invigorating to your own dreams.)
Homework: Confess, brag, and expostulate about what inspires you to love. Go to Freewillastrology.com and click “Email Rob.” CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I believe that every one of us should set aside a few days every year when we celebrate our gaffes, our flaws, and our bloopers. During this crooked holiday, we are not embarrassed about the false moves we have made. We don’t decry our bad judgment or criticize our delusional behavior. Instead, we forgive ourselves of our sins. We work to understand and feel compassion for the ignorance that led us astray. Maybe we even find redemptive value in our apparent lapses; we come to see that they saved us from some painful experience or helped us avoid getting a supposed treasure that would have turned out to be a booby prize. Now would be a perfect time for you to observe this crooked holiday. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Sometimes the love you experience for those you care about makes you feel vulnerable. You may worry about being out of control or swooping so deeply into your tenderness that you lose yourself. Giving yourself permission to cherish and nurture can make you feel exposed, even unsafe. But none of that applies in the coming weeks. According to my interpretation of the astrological omens, love will be a source of potency and magnificence for you. It will make you smarter, braver, and cooler. Your words of power will be this declaration by Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani: “When I love / I feel that I am the king of time / I possess the earth and everything on it / and ride into the sun upon my horse.” (Translated by Lena Jayyusi and Christopher Middleton.) PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In November 1916,
at the height of World War I, the Swedish schooner Jönköping set sail for Finland, carrying 4,400 bottles of champagne intended for officers of the occupying Russian army. But the delivery was interrupted. A hostile German submarine sunk the boat, and the precious cargo drifted to the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The story didn’t end there, however. More than eight decades later, a Swedish salvage team retrieved a portion of the lost treasure, which had been well-preserved in the frosty abyss. Taste tests revealed that the bubbly alcholic beverage was “remarkably lightbodied, extraordinarily elegant and fantastically fresh, with discreet, slow-building toasty aromas of great finesse.” (Source: tinyurl.com/toastyaromas.) I foresee the potential of a similar resurrection in your future, Pisces. How deep are you willing to dive? ARIES (March 21-April 19): To convey the best strategy for you to employ in the coming weeks, I have drawn inspiration from a set of instructions composed by aphorist Alex Stein: Scribble, scribble, erase. Scribble, erase, scribble. Scribble, scribble, scribble, scribble. Erase, erase, erase. Scribble, erase. Keep what’s left. In other words, Aries, you have a mandate to be innocently empirical, robustly experimental, and cheerfully improvisational -- with the understanding that you must also balance your fun with ruthless editing. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “One must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being,” wrote Taurus memoirist May Sarton. That’s a dauntingly high standard to live up to, but for the foreseeable future it’s important that you try. In the coming weeks, you will need to maintain a heroic level of potency and excellence if you hope to keep your dreams on track and your integrity intact. Luckily, you will have an extraordinary potential to do just that. But you’ll have to work hard to fulfill the potential—as hard as a hero on a quest to find the real Holy Grail in the midst of all the fake Holy Grails. Rob Brezsny is an aspiring master of curiosity, perpetrator of sacred uproar, and founder of the Beauty and Truth Lab. He brings a literate, mythsavvy perspective to his work. It’s all in the stars.
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20 • THE PULSE • MAY 26, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM
FOOD & DRINK MIXOLOGY
Home Brewing Beer Basics Want to make your own suds? Here's what you'll need... Everyone has a different taste in beer. No matter who you are or how much you drink, every adult has that one beer that means something to him or her. The problem for years was that this certain flavor was not attainable in a home setting. Today, anyone of age can purchase every necessity needed to create his or her own homebrew. Imagine the possibilities of being able to create your own personal flavoring of beer, a testament
took the home brewing and micro brewing revolution to allow for such feats to be achieved, but now that the general public has access to them the possibilities are endless. Anyone wishing to brew their own beer has a very simple task in front of them: do a little research, pick up your supplies, and set aside some time for trial and error. In Tennessee, homebrew and brewery supply stores have been allowed to flourish allowing for an expansion for the market of small batch brewers. For those who have hesitated to take part in micro brewing due to fears of financial burdens or other issues, allow me to assure you that there is not a better time to engage in such a venture than right now. At this moment there are several homebrew suppliers in the Chattanooga area who can easily supply you with all of the necessary ingredients for your own personal brew. Any home brewing supplier will be able to provide you with the basic necessities to brew your own beer,
“Anyone wishing to brew their own beer has a very simple task in front of them: do a little research, pick up your supplies, and set aside some time for trial and error. ” to your own unique tastes. With home brewing, you needn’t worry about what others will think of your personal taste in beer, you can brew to your very personal liking. Anyone willing to enlighten themselves with a little chemistry and a basic understanding of brewing practices can now create beer flavorings that cater to their personal flavor profiles. Indeed, it
usually in a “box kit”. This kit will include malt extract, bags of specialty grains—ranging from light to dark—vacuumed sealed packages of hops, muslin bags, yeast and clarifier tablets. The muslin bags are used for steeping the hops while the clarifier tablets insure fermentation. In addition to these basic elements, a home brewer will need access to a five-gallon cooking pot, as well as a larger fermentation vessel adding up to at least seven gallons assuming that your initial brew is five gallons or less. The process of actually brewing and fermenting your personal and unique beer is complex and requires several brews, but for those of you who want the pride of saying “Yes, I did in fact brew that,” the complexity will be well worth it. To gain knowledge about what it takes in home brewing to achieve certain desired flavors such as hoppiness, maltiness, drinkability and replication of larger scale brewery products requires personal research. I should also mention though that YouTube is the ideal place to start when
beginning your own home brewing adventures. Home brewing is quickly becoming a fixture of American culture. In the last two decades, it has replaced the hobbies of old such as, kite making, carpentry and wood burning as the ideal hobby for anyone attempting to occupy an idle—and thirsty— mind. Though members of earlier generations may have seen the brewing of alcohol as a devilish hobby, home brewing is a fantastic way to spend your excess time. — Alex Ward
CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • MAY 26, 2016 • THE PULSE • 21
MUSIC SCENE
Lacing Inspires Honest Shoegazing Local foursome Lacing hits the ground running with 4-song cassette
Wieuca’s Experiments Gone Right Atlanta rockers come to JJ’s Bohemia this Sunday Originally, Wieuca was a Native American ceremony that involved dancing around a fire in attempts to connect with one’s spirit animal. Since its genesis in 2012, it’s also an Athens-based rock band with psychedelic beats mixed with hummable melodies and fuzz-heavy guitar. Wieuca frontman Will Ingram tells Ampersand magazine, “I worked for three years at this art center in Atlanta...on West Wieuca. Basically, I wanted people to be scrolling through their phones, thinking it was a Wilco song and accidentally listening to us instead.” Ingram’s artistic background is evident in their album art and website, boasting bright collages and funky patterns. Ingram is joined by Sam Kempe, Robert Smith, and Jack O’Reilly, but little information is given on the band themselves. Instead, on Facebook, their “about” section is the biography of Potter Christ. It’s evident
that no one in the band takes themselves too seriously. Don’t mistake that playfulness for laziness, however; in the same interview with Ampersand Ingram spoke about how much time the band will spend perfecting every song. This dedication, plus the band’s interest in studio experimentation, becomes obvious upon first hearing their newest single, “Pressure Head.” The track includes an overlap of vastly different sounds, providing an Animal Collective-like sense of sensory overload that’s nevertheless melodic and welcoming. Their second EP has the same distorted studio experimentation, once again overlaying oddly cheerful melodies. Wieuca has shared the stage with Elf Power and Kishi Bashi. Next up is JJ’s Bohemia, with Big Morgan and i can japan. And maybe someday, as their website predicts, Burning Man. — Hillary Eames
THU5.26
FRI5.27
SAT5.28
PICKIN' & DRINKIN'
FREEDOM ROCK
WE BE JAMMIN'
Live Bluegrass Music & Craft Cocktail Night
Freedom Celebration
Marley in May
Pretty much says it all. 7:30 p.m. Feed Co. Table & Tavern 201 W. Main St. feedtableandtavern.com
Marlow Drive, Permagroove and Backwater Still jam out. 8 p.m. Revelry Room 41 E. 14th St. revelryroom.co
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Local reggae masters Milele Roots celebrate. 8 p.m. The Granfalloon 400 E. Main St. granfalloonchattanooga.com
T
HE MEMBERS OF THE CHATTANOOGA QUARTET Lacing have previously covered diverse genres such as metalcore, pop-rock, instrumental hip-hop, hard rock, noise and ambient music, but they all converged in their current act with a common interest in shoegaze.
Music ERNIE PAIK
“
Our goal is to make some music when we record that we may not be able to accurately recreate live. We want to have all these little idiosyncratic things going on.”
Coined by journalist Andy Ross at the beginning of the ‘90s, “shoegazing” was actually a light insult directed toward the under-recognized British band Moose’s lack of showmanship and predilection to stare downward. The term was adopted to categorize groups such as My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive that created swirling masses that could be turbulent or dreamy, and eventually, “shoegaze” was sometimes indiscriminately used to describe bands that used more than two guitar pedals in the ‘90s. So, why shoegaze and why now? “Why not?” said Lacing guitarist and singer Joseph Davenport, who is also behind the 11-year-strong shoegaze/harsh noise project Millipede. “I think we all feel that as a musical movement it was cut short in its prime or sort of dead-ended stylistically around 1995.” “Not everyone has to reinvent a genre,” said drummer Jerry Reed, who has played drums in Rough Rope, Gravebound and Hoth and has a solo noise act called Rurnt. “What I would like to bring to the genre is solid music. I really want to just play what I want to hear.” “To me, shoegaze is the music that fulfilled the promise that psychedelic [rock] made,” said Reed, who described “feeling a little dizzy and nauseous” after hearing a song by My
Bloody Valentine for the first time. “This music, in my opinion, has never really lost relevance as it ties together several areas of sound to form something that is at the same time familiar and yet very mesmerizing and novel,” said bassist Joseph J. Micolo III, who has several solo projects including Segaworms, GTRUK and Vaus and is also a member of the Massapequa, NY band Year of Confession. “It’s less of a ‘throwback’ and more of an experimentation of the possibilities in this sonic palette.” “Even though it’s this huge, kind of busy sound, it does have a sort of distilling effect in that there’s always a soothing and pleasing element riding on top of all the chaos,” said guitarist Robert Parker, whose previous bands include Swoon (stylized as S W O O N), Thee Something Brothers and Mister Grits. “So it’s a lot like how we consume media and information: we ride the wave of the spectacle and latch onto the pieces that resonate with us at that particular moment, and sometimes we ride the wave again and something new sticks out. Or we just let it wash over us with abandon. Just swap out the numb, calculated insincerity of the clickbait world and replace it with pure volume and raw textures, and baby, you’ve got some shoegaze.” Lacing—named after a beer term for the foam stuck to the side of a glass—came together after Davenport wanted to create some songoriented Millipede material with vocals and approached Reed to play drums. Micolo, a mainstay of the lo-
cal noise scene, was recruited on bass, and Parker joined after Swoon’s breakup. The group’s debut performance last November at Sluggo’s was warmly received, and the band’s 4-song cassette Honey Glow was released earlier this year on Reed’s Failed Recordings label, ranging from the piercing stabs of “Needle” to the soothing, blissed-out 11-minute title track. Within the next year, Lacing will be on a split tape with the Chicago group Lazy Legs and plans on recording a full-length LP. “Our goal is to make some music when we record that we may not be able to accurately recreate live,” said Davenport. “We want to have all these little idiosyncratic things going on. They’re separate entities. Live is more visceral, just us kind of going off.” “Just by the nature of our other projects, doses of noise, hardcore, doom and other aspects weave their way into the sound,” said Micolo. Contemporary rap music is a huge influence on Lacing that may not be obvious, and Micolo cited “the level of production and atmosphere,”
“epic feel” and “large sonic view” of rap that lends its spirit to Lacing. “We’re all really into Future and Kanye,” said Davenport. Regarding Davenport’s singing that is intentionally buried in the mix, he said, “I don’t think it’s important for people to know the exact lyrical content. But in the most elusive terms our songs have been about suicide, anxiety about the future and people you love going away.” “I’m happily married with a kid, so the things that really worry me these days have more to do with the random violence and absurd uncertainty of the modern age,” said Davenport. “We all are tied to real life responsibilities,” said Reed, when asked about the band’s goals. “I just wanna make loud music with my friends.” CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • MAY 26, 2016 • THE PULSE • 23
MUSIC CALENDAR THURSDAY5.26 James Crumble Trio 6 p.m. St. John’s Meeting Place 1278 Market St. stjohnsmeetingplace.com Rick Rushing Blues Jazz ‘n Friends 6 p.m. Bluewater Grille 224 Broad St. bluewaterchattanooga.com Bluegrass Country Jam 6:30 p.m. Grace Nazarene Church 6310 Dayton Blvd. chattanoogagrace.com Live Bluegrass Music 6:30 p.m. Whole Foods Market 301 Manufacturers Rd. wholefoodsmarket.com Jimmy Harris 7 p.m. The Palms at Hamilton 6925 Shallowford Rd. thepalmsathamilton.com Live Bluegrass Music & Craft Cocktail Night 7:30 p.m. The Feed Co. Table & Tavern 201 W. Main St. feedtableandtavern.com Jesse James & Tim Neal 7:30 p.m. Mexi-Wing VII 5773 Brainerd Rd. mexi-wingchattanooga.com Keepin’ It Local 8 p.m. The Social 1110 Market St.
24 • THE PULSE • MAY 26, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM
Trevor Finley publichousechattanooga.com Open Mic with Hap Henninger 9 p.m. The Office at City Café 901 Carter St. (423) 634-9191 citycafemenu.com
FRIDAY5.27 Old Time Travelers, Ben Durham 8:30 a.m. Rock City 1400 Patten Rd. seerockcity.com Cambridge Square Night Market 5 p.m. Cambridge Square 9453 Bradmore Ln. camebridgesquaretn.net Jennifer Daniels
PULSE PICK: ALBUM RELEASE It's a double album release party with the unveiling of new discs from Jonathan Tyrezz and Jamal & The Unstoppables. Come hear the new tunes before anyone else. Double Album Release Party Friday, 8 p.m. Barking Legs Theater 1307 Dodds Ave. barkinglegs.org
5:30 p.m. Cambridge Square 9453 Bradmore Ln. cambridgesquaretn.net Eddie Pontiac 6 p.m. El Mesõn 2204 Hamilton Place Blvd. elmesonchattanooga.com Binji Varsossa 6 p.m. Cancun Restaurant Downtown 1809 Broad St. (423) 266-1461 Fort Oglethorpe Jam 6:30 p.m. Fort Oglethorpe United Methodist Church 1733 Battlefield Pkwy. (706) 820-6314 Tim Lewis 7 p.m. El Meson Hixon 248 Northgate Mall Dr.
elmesonchattanooga.com Jimmy Harris 7 p.m. The Palms at Hamilton 6925 Shallowford Rd. thepalmsathamilton.com Nikki Hill, Decibella 7 p.m. Nightfall Concert Series Miller Plaza 800 Market St. nightfallchattanooga.com Freedom Celebration Concert with Marlow Drive, Permagroove, Backwater Still 8 p.m. Revelry Room 41 E. 14th St. revelryroom.co Double Album Release Party with Jonathan Tryezz, Jamal and the Unstoppables 8 p.m. Barking Legs Theater 1307 Dodds Ave. barkinglegs.org Mountain Opry 8 p.m. Walden Ridge Civic Center 2501 Fairmount Pike (423) 886-3252 Randall & The Flames 9 p.m. The Office at City Café 901 Carter St. citycafemenu.com PooL PartY: Comedy Show plus Karaoke 9 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia 231 E. MLK Blvd. jjsbohemia.com Trevor Finlay 9 p.m.
MUSIC CALENDAR
Strung Like A Horse Puckett’s Grocery and Restaurant 2 W. Aquarium Way puckettsgro.com Digg 10 p.m. Clyde’s On Main 122 W. Main St. clydesonmain.com Azreal 10 p.m. Raw Bar & Grill 409 Market St. rawbarandgrill.com
SATURDAY5.28 Old Time Travelers, AM Radio 8:30 a.m. Rock City 1400 Patten Rd. seerockcity.com Dana Rogers 12:30 p.m. Tennessee Aquarium Plaza 1 Broad St. chattanoogarivermarket.com Eddie Pontiac 6 p.m. El Mesõn 2204 Hamilton Place Blvd. elmesonchattanooga.com Binji Varsossa 6 p.m. Cancun Restaurant Downtown 1809 Broad St. (423) 266-1461 Tim Lewis 7 p.m. El Meson Hixon 248 Northgate Mall Dr. elmesonchattanooga.com Jimmy Harris
7 p.m. The Palms at Hamilton 6925 Shallowford Rd. thepalmsathamilton.com Senior’s Dance with the Country Connection 7 p.m. Teamsters Union Hall 4091 Cloud Springs Rd. teamsters.org Marley in May with Milele Roots 8 p.m. The Granfalloon 400 E. Main St. granfalloonchattanooga.com Taylor & Company 8 p.m. VFW Post 4848 1491 Riverside Dr. (423) 624-6687 The Communicators Presents Black & Blue Wants YOU! 8 p.m. Revelry Room 41 E. 14th St. revelryroom.co The Countrymen Band 8 p.m. Eagles Club 6128 Airways Blvd. (423) 894-9940 Standing Room Only 8:30 p.m. The Foundry 1201 Broad St. chattanoogahotel.com Strung Like a Horse 9 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia 231 E. MLK Blvd. jjsbohemia.com Husky Burnette 9 p.m.
Puckett’s Grocery and Restaurant 2 W. Aquarium Way puckettsgro.com Scott James Stambaugh 10 p.m. The Office at City Café 901 Carter St. citycafemenu.com Azreal 10 p.m. Raw Bar & Grill 409 Market St. rawbarandgrill.com
SUNDAY5.29 Old Time Travelers, Highbeams 8:30 a.m. Rock City 1400 Patten Rd. seerockcity.com Danimal 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. Flying Squirrel Bar 55 Johnson St. flyingsquirrelbar.com The Do Rights 12:30 p.m. Tennessee Aquarium Plaza 1 Broad St. chattanoogarivermarket.com Emily Earle 12:30 p.m. Chattanooga Market 1829 Carter St. chattanoogamarket.com Sarah Lou Richards 2 p.m. Chattanooga Market 1829 Carter St. chattanoogamarket.com
Jericho Brass Band 6 p.m. Wildwood United Methodist Church 436 Birmingham Hwy. (706) 820-0063 Open Mic with Jeff Daniels 6 p.m. Long Haul Saloon 2536 Cummings Hwy. (423) 822-9775 Evensong 5:30 p.m. The Camp House 149 E. MLK Blvd. thecamphouse.com Abbey Road LIVE 8 p.m. Revelry Room 41 E. 14th St. revelryroom.co Wieuca, Big Morgan, Cautious Beverly, I Can Japan 9 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia 231 E. MLK Blvd. jjsbohemia.com
MONDAY5.30 Old Time Travelers, Highbeams 8:30 a.m. Rock City 1400 Patten Rd. seerockcity.com Monday Nite Big Band 12 a.m. The Palms at Hamilton 6925 Shallowford Rd. thepalmsathamilton.com Open Air with Jessica Nunn 6 p.m.
1818 Chestnut St Chattanooga contact events@thesouthsidesocial.com for reservations and corporate events
CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • MAY 26, 2016 • THE PULSE • 25
MUSIC CALENDAR The Granfalloon 400 E. Main St. granfalloonchattanooga.com Open Mic with Mike McDade 7 p.m. The Feed Co. Table & Tavern 201 W. Main St. feedtableandtavern.com Men’s Barbershop Harmony Group 7 p.m. All Saints Academy 310 E. 8th St. allsaintsacademy.com Very Open Mic 8 p.m. The Well 1800 Rossville Ave. (423) 847-7934
TUESDAY5.31 Open Mic with Mike McDade 8 p.m. Tremont Tavern 1203 Hixson Pike tremonttavern.com Competitive Vaping: Regional Semi-Finals 9 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia 231 E. MLK Blvd. jjsbohemia.com
WEDNESDAY6.1 Noon Tunes with Kofi Mawuko 12 p.m. Miller Plaza 850 Market St. rivercitycompany.com Matt Downer 4:30 p.m.
26 • THE PULSE • MAY 26, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM
Kofi Mawuko Collegedale Commons 4950 Swinyar Dr. collegedalemarket.com Eddie Pontiac 5:30 p.m. El Mesõn 2204 Hamilton Place Blvd. elmesonchattanooga.com The Other Guys 6 p.m. Spring Hill Suites 495 Riverfront Pkwy. springhillsuites.com Courtney Daly Band 7 p.m. End Zone 3658 Ringgold Rd. (423) 661-8020 Jimmy Harris 7 p.m. The Palms at Hamilton 6925 Shallowford Rd. thepalmsathamilton.com Wednesday Blues Jam 8 p.m. The Office at City Café 901 Carter St. (423) 634-9191 citycafemenu.com Open Jam 8 p.m. Raw Bar & Grill 409 Market St. rawbarandgrillchatt.com Wednesday Night Jazz 8 p.m. Barking Legs Theater 1307 Dodds Ave. barkinglegs.org Map these locations on chattanoogapulse. com. Send event listings at least 10 days in advance to: calendar@chattanoogapulse.com
RECORD REVIEWS PATRICK FILBIN
Grooving The Passing of Three Years, Getting the Spotify Spotlight Great Bay looks back on the past, Julien Baker looks to a bright future
Great Bay Disco-graphy RIP 2013-2016 (greatbay.bandcamp.com)
T
he first thing a listener and Facebook creeper notices about Great Bay, an alternative rock group from Springfield, TN, is that these four guys and a gal don’t take themselves very seriously. They’re goofy-looking, light-hearted, have a selfdeprecating sense of humor towards themselves, the music they make and the way they play it.
Julien Baker Spotify Sessions (spotify.com)
But nonetheless, their latest collection of tunes, Disco -graphy RIP 2013-2016, celebrates the passing and death of three years as well as the ease and grooviness that Great Bay can actually pull off. The album has the house-show feel, a living room full of twentysomethings screaming and singing about, well, anything. In the album’s opener, “Just Tell Me,” the group starts off
on an angry and lonely note, asking a loved one how he should feel and where to go as the group vocals scream, “Cold feeling in the air, feels like you’re not there.” What’s unique about this group and this set of songs is how different one can feel from the next. In “Last Summer,” an earnest and sweet song about nostalgia and young love changes directly to a self-loathing screamer in “Stall #26,” where the group vocals belt “Make me better than I am, what more could I have done to make it more fun, to make me feel alive?” It’s dark, weird, mysterious and something we shouldn’t take too seriously. Or should we? The other unique part of this album is the acoustic tracks of several songs that are scattered throughout. What’s different and cool is the fact that the acoustic cuts aren’t thrown at the end of the
album as bonus tracks but instead treated as singular songs, a part of the whole story which makes them have a totally different feel than the full-band versions. Standouts include “Slipping Under” and “What You Said,” two songs that are very different but solid in the same, complete way. Just how this one goes.
J
ulien Baker is an extremely talented singer-songwriter hailing from Memphis, TN. She doesn’t come from the typical Memphis background. There is very little blues to her songs. There is no hooting or bellowing, no kind of simple man blues to complain about. Instead her songs are deeply personal, diary entries spilled out with the help of a slick guitar that she picks effortlessly. Her last record, Sprained Ankle, was released last year, but what’s new here is a four-
song set performed at the Spotify HQ in New York City. There’s a space that exists in her performance, an intimacy that is felt and hangs around hours after you listen. Put simply, it begs your attention. Baker comes off shy and unintimidated, a mix of someone who writes such personal lyrics and being completely comfortable on stage. In “Vessel,” with lyrics like, “Pull off my armor, knees bruised and naked, peel back my skin, call out my name. Vessel of brightness, come make me blind, this present darkness is swallowed by light,” it’s hard not to be captivated. There is such a strong vibration that comes through her performance, her big, strong voice, the delicacy of the electric guitar. It’s a skill that is singular and emotional. Then she ends on the song “Something,” which is a masterclass on songwriting. It hurts so good. It pulls you in, lets you out and leaves you down in the dumps in the best way possible. The imagery is second-to-none, her voice soars as high as it can go and the audience is audibly captivated. It’s truly a treat. Baker is an open book and we’re all just lucky enough to turn the pages.
You complete us. Now recruiting Media Sales Professionals to represent Chattanooga’s Alternative Newsweekly
Send your resume and cover letter to: Mike Baskin, Director of Sales mikebaskin@brewermediagroup.com In the subject line, please include: Brewer Sales Position Learn more about us at BrewerMediaGroup.com. Brewer Media is an equal opportunity employer.
brewer media everywhere. every day.
CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • MAY 26, 2016 • THE PULSE • 27
Diversions
Consider This with Dr. Rick by Rick Pimental-Habib, Ph.D.
“Saying yes to happiness means learning to say no to things and people that stress you out.” — author unknown I came across a wonderful “pledge” for leading a positive life that I want to share with you. It’s so simple, and yet if every day you take a moment to slowly ponder it, speak it out loud, tape it to your mirror, copy it to your journal, you may just be amazed at what happens in your life. Enjoy. “I shall no longer allow negative thoughts or feelings to drain me of my energy. Instead I shall focus on all the good that is in my life. I will think it, feel it and speak it. By doing so I will send out positive energy into the world and I shall be grateful for all the wonderful things it will attract into my life.” Consider this: Your vibe attracts your tribe. 28 • THE PULSE • MAY 26, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM
Jonesin’ Crossword
MATT JONES
“Plays With Words”—you can’t avoid the drama. ACROSS 1 Alter, as text 6 Does in, slangily 10 Org. that enforces liquid regulations 13 Carpenter’s joint 14 Pouty expressions 16 “Bali ___” 17 Ibsen play with unintelligible dialogue? 19 Shade thrower? 20 “And that’s the way ___” 21 Chekhov play about the empty spaces in wine barrels? 23 Cleveland cager, for short 24 Classic 1950 film noir 25 First-year class, slangily 26 “Family Feud” host Harvey 28 Geek blogger Wheaton 31 Golfer Isao ___ 32 Group with pitchforks and torches
36 Captain Hansen of “Deadliest Catch” 37 O’Neill play about a brand-new theater? 41 “Oedipus ___” 42 “California Dreamin’” singer 43 Speedy breed of steed, for short 45 Prevailed 46 Like some IPAs 50 T-shirt store freebie, maybe 52 Dot-___ boom 54 “Much ___ About Nothing” 55 With 61-Across, Williams play about living quarters on a tram? 59 “___ American Life” 60 Canadian singer/ songwriter ___ Naked 61 See 55-Across 63 Honolulu hangable 64 The Care Bear ___ 65 13th-century Mongol invader 66 “C’___ la vie!” 67 Tissue issue 68 Drummer
Peter of Kiss DOWN 1 Business school subject 2 Convene in 3 Fancy salad green 4 They can mean “yes” 5 Hereditary helix 6 University of Nebraska campus site 7 “Watch out for flying golf balls!” 8 Afrocentric clothing line since 1992 9 Behave like a bear 10 “What’s good for ___ ...” 11 Marketing rep’s product package 12 Aspires to greatness 15 Starter starter? 18 “Little” car in a 1964 hit 22 First name of a Fighting Irish legend 24 Jean jacket material 27 “Wet/dry” buy 28 Jane who divorced Reagan
29 ‘98 Apple 30 Last word of a Ricky Martin hit 33 Chew like a beaver 34 San ___ (Italian Riviera city) 35 “___ Buddies” (Tom Hanks sitcom) 37 Like bartered things 38 Inquisition targets 39 Tailor’s goal 40 AOL competitor, once 44 Where Moscow Mules may be served 47 “Mutiny on the Bounty” island 48 Nike competitor 49 Difficult questions 51 Microscope piece 52 Air Force student 53 Boston Bruins Hall of Famer Bobby 56 Grub 57 IRS agent, for short 58 0, in Spain 59 Emperor that hasn’t been around for 99 years 62 Enumeration shortcut
Copyright © 2016 Jonesin’ Crosswords. For answers to this puzzle, call: 1-900-226-2800, 99 cents per minute. Must be 18+ to call. Or to bill to your credit card, call: 1-800-655-6548. Reference puzzle No. 0781 CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • MAY 26, 2016 • THE PULSE • 29
COLUMN TECH TALK
Is This Your Grandma’s Virtual Reality? Gig Tank company Rendever uses virtual reality to bring the world to elders
RICH BAILEY
“
We’re building a virtuality platform to address issues of isolation, depression and cognition in long-term care communities.”
Photo courtesy Rendever Rich Bailey is a professional writer, editor and (sometimes) PR consultant. He led a project to create Chattanooga’s first civic website in 1995 before even owning a modem. Now he covers Chattanooga technology for The Pulse and blogs about it at CircleChattanooga.com
The buzz around virtual reality has been changing. The potential and the prototypes have been around for decades, but the chatter has evolved from the technology itself—how the experience can be made more real or the hardware more wearable, say—to the enormity of its impact. In the May issue of Wired, Kevin Kelly takes a deep dive into virtual reality and its state-of-the-moment. Although widespread commercial rollout hasn’t happened yet, he sees virtual reality poised to change the media landscape at least as much as the worldwide web did 20 years ago. What the web did for information, virtual reality will do for experiences. Kelly envisions “a Wikipedia of experiences, potentially available to anyone, anywhere, any time.” Some big companies and investors agree. Facebook bought one of the most promising VR companies, Oculus Rift, for $2 billion in 2014. The newest star, Magic Leap, has gotten $1.4 billion of investment before even releasing a beta version. One of this year’s summer Gig Tank companies, Rendever, plans to surf the VR tsunami by mastering its application to a very specific market: elderly people living in long-term care communities. “We’re building a virtuality platform to address issues of isolation, depression and cognition in long-term care communities,” says Dennis Lally. He and cofounder Reed Hayes are both MIT Sloan School of Management grad students. “Using this technology that can transport people elsewhere, we’re expanding the worlds of these residents that live in these communities.” The company has developed a proprietary VR platform tailored to the needs of their elderly target market. The founders are working with content partners to develop travel programming
30 • THE PULSE • MAY 26, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM
and are talking to healthcare providers, including Massachusetts General Hospital, about developing VR programs to deliver therapeutic or diagnostic applications. Another proprietary app in development will allow an elderly person to walk through a virtual version of their old neighborhood based on Google Street View data. “I think one of things we’re doing that is most impactful is connecting them with family members. We’re building technology that allows people to film in VR using consumer cameras” to capture events an elderly person can’t travel to, from daily moments like breakfast or a goodnight hug to milestones like weddings and birthday parties. “We can upload that to the headset in the community for the older adults to see.” Rendever is developing a user interface designed to make VR more intuitive for its elderly users. “If you were to go buy virtual reality technology right now you’d be able to find some pieces of content here and there, but it’s not completely intuitive,” says Lally. “So we’re building a platform that allows this population to use and
benefit from it.” The company is building its software on the Android platform and currently planning to use Samsung headsets, although its software will be compatible with any Android VR device, such as the VR headset Google just announced it is building. Rendever will provide headsets to client communities, which Lally compares to companies offering iPad applications to specific audiences. “You could ask the same question: Why are they buying an iPad from a company when they could buy their own? Well, it’s because the company built software on the iPad that the community can use,” he says. “We’re creating these family experiences. That’s our software that allows them to connect with family. That’s not something that the facility would be able to do on their own.” Google may be developing its own VR app using Street View data, for example. “Ours is voice commanded, so it ties back into the user interface and user experience. Ours is a little bit different from what they’re offering to the broader market.”
CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • MAY 26, 2016 • THE PULSE • 31