The Pulse 13.30 » July 28, 2016

JULY 28, 2016

CHATTANOOGA'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE

LIVING LIFE

ONE PITCH AT A TIME

A PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL PLAYER BIDES HIS TIME IN CHATTANOOGA

By Daniel Jackson

MOCCASIN BEND FESTIVAL • BEN BENNETT • POKÉMON GO FUN

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Contents

CHATTANOOGA'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE

EDITORIAL

Managing Editor Gary Poole Assistant Editor Brooke Dorn

Features

Music Editor Marc T. Michael

4 BEGINNINGS: Thoughts from a Democrat watching the GOP Convention.

Film Editor John DeVore Contributors David Traver Adolphus • Rich Bailey Adam Beckett • Rob Brezsny Daniel Jackson • Matt Jones Ernie Paik • Rick Pimental-Habib John Ringo • Terry Stulce

5 THE LIST: As American as baseball, mom, and apple pie.

6 THE FUTURE: A science fiction author sees the future in a Pokémon hunt.

Editorial Intern Hillary Eames Cartoonists Max Cannon • Rob Rogers Jen Sorenson • Tom Tomorrow

13 AIR BAG: Our next President and the runner-up say something meaningful.

FOUNDED 2003 BY ZACHARY COOPER & MICHAEL KULL

ADVERTISING

Director of Sales Mike Baskin Account Executives Chee Chee Brown • Rick Leavell Libby Phillips • John Rodriguez Logan Vandergriff • Joseph Yang

CONTACT

Offices 1305 Carter St., Chattanooga, TN 37402 Phone 423.265.9494 Fax 423.266.2335 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.

July 28, 2016 Volume 13, Issue 30

8

Living Life One Pitch at a Time

For a professional athlete playing for the Chattanooga Lookouts, preparations for a game starts hours before. For Niko Goodrum that process started when he walked into the Lookouts’ clubhouse at AT&T Field a few minutes past 2 p.m. on a recent Saturday afternoon, five hours before the opening pitch against the Mobile Bay Bears.

14

Moccasin Bend Gets Artsy

An overlooked sleeping giant lies undisturbed in the heart of Chattanooga, and it is waiting for something to wake it up. Even though it has been around long enough to witness Chattanooga grow since the Paleo-Indian Period (10,000-8,000 BC), merely a small group of people even know that it exists.

20

Sitting & Smiling with Ben Bennett

The enigmatic musician and artist Ben Bennett has a mindbogglingly wide variety of fascinating work that covers both poles of extremes. As a percussionist, his improvised performances are wild, exciting and constantly changing.

16 ARTS CALENDAR 19 DINING OUT: The Ice Cream Show keeps things cool this Summer.

22 MUSIC CALENDAR 24 REVIEWS: Mumford & Sons heads to South Africa, Alex Volz makes a kids album.

25 MIXOLOGY: The daiquiri may well be the epitome of all frozen concoctions.

26 SCREEN: Stranger Things takes us back to a simpler, more innocent time.

28 DIVERSIONS 29 FREE WILL ASTROLOGY 29 JONESIN’ CROSSWORD 30 TECH TALK: Two Gig Tank companies bringing doctors to a device near you.

CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JULY 28, 2016 • THE PULSE • 3

BEGINNINGS

NEWS • VIEWS • RANTS • RAVES

UPDATES » CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM FACEBOOK/CHATTANOOGAPULSE EMAIL LOVE LETTERS, ADVICE & TRASH TALK TO INFO@CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

Op-Ed: Make America Hate Again Thoughts from a Democrat watching the GOP Convention The first night visuals at the GOP convention were unequivocal. There were more old white people in attendance than at a KKK rally. Speaking of the KKK, the night was filled with racist dog whistles. Allusions to giving away TERRY “free stuff” was a blatant slap to the face of America’s poor minorities.

The “Law and Order” candidate promised to “make America safe again” obviously alluding to the safety of white people. Nothing was said about protecting Black

men and children from police brutality. Before the middle of the program, they had formed a lynch mob, targeting Hillary Clinton on the basis of Trumpedup charges in the best traditions of the Jim Crowe south.

As an interestSTULCE ing side show, they dragged a bed-ridden Bob Dole to center stage where he looked like he was auditioning for the cadaver role in “Weekend at Bernie’s”. Then the incredibly obtuse Rudy Giuliani got to wave his arms violently and gin up hate speech

POLITICS

against Hillary Clinton.

At last, the evening concluded with Melania Trump giving a speech worthy of a First Lady. The only fly-inthe-ointment was that Michele Obama time-travelled from 2008 to 2016 to plagiarize the best parts of the speech and then traveled back in time to 2008 without raising any suspicions.

Republican Congressman Trey Gowdy and Jason Chaffetz promise to launch an exhaustive investigation into the matter and expect that it will lead to an indictment of Hillary Clinton.

The second night, the Republicans offered more of what America needs most, hate. Following the coronation of King Donald, Chris Christie convened a kangaroo court with old, white, Republican lemmings acting as judge and jury, and found Hillary Clinton “guilty” of a series of, again, Trumped-up charges.

Republicans may not love Trump, but they are united in their hatred of Hillary Clinton.

By the end of the night, the Republicans appeared to overdose on their own hatred repeatedly chanting “lock her up” and making statements to the media about executing her.

“He combined lies and a long list of American failures, but assured us that the magic of his election will solve all our problems.”

The third night should have been titled “make America boring again.” If you snoozed during the Scott Walker or the Rick Scott speech, you didn’t miss anything. Walker 4 • THE PULSE • JULY 28, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

couldn’t even inspire the crowd with the popular “Hillary for Prison” trope. Mike Pence, the new VP nominee, ended the evening and was the ultimate of boring.

The only highlight of the night was Ted Cruz being booed by his fellow knuckle-draggers for not endorsing Trump.

The hate-fest came to a merciful conclusion with the acceptance speech of the Donald. He promised not to lie, then proceeded to lie and distort fact for over an hour. Fact checkers found eight to ten pages of distortions.

He combined lies and a long list of American failures, but assured us that the magic of his election will solve all our problems. He does not need a plan or strategy.

His good intentions alone will save America.

My take on this embarrassing spectacle? I’d prefer to go to prison with Hillary than to go to hell with Trump.

Editor’s note: In the interest of balance, next week we will have a Republican’s take on the Democratic national convention.

The List

EdiToon

by Rob Rogers

America's Pastime

It's been said that there's nothing more American than baseball, mom, and apple pie.

Drink to Save The Animals at the Zoo If you haven’t made it over to the Chattanooga Zoo, I strongly urge you to go.

With six different exhibits and animals native to dozens of different countries, it’s a great way to spend an afternoon.

And if you’re over the age of twenty-one and looking for a unique, fun, and informative event, the Chattanooga Zoo’s got you covered with Ales & Tails, their monthly happy hour.

That’s right: every month, the Chattanooga Zoo offers a cash bar (all drinks are only $3) hors d’ourves, and an opportunity to mix and mingle while learning

more about the Chattanooga Zoo. This month, guests will have the opportunity to enjoy a beer and wine cash bar as they roam through the Corcovado Jungle exhibit, simulating the immense rainforests of Latin America. This week’s event will highlight the Zoo’s South American animals, including capybaras, jaguars, prehensile tailed porcupines, and spider monkeys.

Hannah Hammon of the Chattanooga Zoo explained, “The event is to raise awareness of the zoo’s conservation ini-

IN THIS ISSUE

Daniel Jackson Daniel Jackson is an independent journalist working in the Chattanooga area. Prior to relocating to the city in 2014, he reported at a string of weekly papers covering a group of towns in central Connecticut. The Connecticut Chapter of the Society of

tiatives, inform guests of the zoo’s future plans, [and] allow our guests to get upclose and create connections with our animals.” She adds, “It is also a great opportunity to network and have a great time—all while supporting the Chattanooga Zoo!” The Chattanooga Zoo has a long history of supporting conservation events, from working in partnership with Lee University to survey the endangered Hellbender salamanders to supporting AZA SAFE: Saving Animals From Extinction. So just think, every drink that you buy goes towards saving endangered species. — Hillar y Eames

John DeVore Professional Journalists gave a first place award in business writing for his 2013 story about firearms manufacturer O.F. Mossberg & Sons that was published in The North Haven Citizen. He studied Communications at Bryan College and covered national events with an internship at the Washington Times.

When he's not reporting, he enjoys coffee, films and reading. You can reach him on Twitter with @jcksndnl.

Our own resident film critic John DeVore has spent a significant portion of his life in dark theaters. From an early age, he was drawn to strong storytelling brought to life through the magic of the silver screen. With degrees in both literature and education,

John has keen insight into critical theory and a genuine desire to educate audiences on the finer points of film appreciation. His favorite films transcend genre— quality storytelling and respect for the intelligence of the audience will win him over every time. When not watching and writing about film, John spends his time writing his own stories and exposing his children to the wonders of movie magic.

Well, moms are worldwide, and apple pie was created by the Dutch back in 1514, but baseball is quintessentially American.

And it's a statisticians dream sport, filled with stats both meaningful and trivial.

For example: • Most at-bats without hitting any home runs: William Holbert, 2,335 at-bats • Most at-bats without a stolen base: Russ Nixon, 2,504 • Most times hit by a pitch: Hughie Jennings, 287 • Most hit batsmen: Gus Weyhing, 277 • Most wild pitches thrown in MLB play: Nolan Ryan, 277 • Most double plays grounded into: Cal Ripken Jr., 350 • Most times caught stealing: Rickey Henderson, 335 • Most outs: Pete Rose, 10,328 • Most errors committed: Herman Long, 1,096 • Oldest player to play a MLB game: Minnie Minoso, 54 • Youngest player to play in a MLB game: Joe Nuxhall, 15 Now, go play ball!

Source: www.statisticbrain.com/trivialbaseball-statistics/

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GUEST COLUMN THE FUTURE IS NOW

Nine Hours To Change The World A local science fiction author sees the future in a Pokémon hunt

JOHN RINGO

“

I’m breathing better than I’ve breathed in years.

I feel twenty years younger.

I take hills like a mountain goat.

Depression?

What depression.

I just had the time of my life.”

John Ringo is a New York Times bestselling science fiction author. He has written or co-written over 40 novels, including the bestselling "Empire of Man", "Legacy of the Aldenata", "Troy Rising" and "Black Tide" series.

He lives in Chattanooga with his wife and an ever-changing number of feline cohabitants.

Nine hours in the sun and the heat. I don’t know how many miles.

Having a complete blast.

Coolidge Park. Named after one of our local Medal of Honor recipients.

A fairly new park in most terms. It was built in the nineties. Down on the river. It’s a really nice area; walking bridge across the Tennessee River, old time merry-go-round built from original equipment, great little shopping area on the North Shore.

Fountains. Across the river is the Hunter Museum and the Arts District featured in one of my books.

It is one of the nicest areas in Chattanooga. My wife and I used to go there frequently. The last few years, not so much. Not so much.

The last few years I have literally spent up to three months never leaving the house. Not once. Not to so much as to get the mail. Our car’s battery died before a recent convention and we didn’t know since we hadn’t used our car in weeks.

I am known as a very prolific writer. I suffer from equally prolific depression. Depression is so common in authors it’s more or less a requirement to join the ranks. And, no, I can’t take anything for it because it’s part and parcel. Anything that “helps” with the depression poisons the muse. I can cope, sometimes barely, or ask “Do you want fries with that?”

There are many reasons one of my editors (also a friend) comes over once a week, but part of it is that at one point my publisher hadn’t heard from me for two months and there was a deadline. I’m a friend and one

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of her prime income generators. She wants to make sure I’m still alive.

When I’m bad, the phone never gets answered, nor emails, nor… anything. I live in another world, a better one, where I’m not having to cope with…Life.

Until Pokémon Go. The last couple of weeks have been revolutionary. I’ve had various heart “issues” for the last few years.

Mostly arrhythmia. It’s not actually a “treatable” arrhythmia, it’s a lifestyle thing.

Gone.

I’ve been feeling physically so weak and my lungs have been so bad sometimes I have to stop and catch my breath after a flight of stairs. This from a former paratrooper who used to run four miles before breakfast.

It’s a combination of smoking, lung scarring from childhood pneumonia and that Chattanooga has one of the highest pollen counts in the world.

Literally. The only place worse is a rain forest in Southern China. That problem? Gone. I’m breathing better than I’ve breathed in years. I feel twenty years younger. I take hills like a mountain goat.

Depression? What depression. I just had the time of my life.

I spent nine hours walking more than I’ve walked since I was posted to Multi-National Forces in Sinai.

Days when an 18k patrol followed by a hump up a 3,000-foot-high mountain carrying a hundred pounds of gear and ammo was a fun game. Days I missed. I chatted with a young guy who’s joining the Marines, spent quite some time hanging out with

a young couple who were starting their own construction company, chatted with young (including fouryear-old types and up) and old (guy older than me who was interested in the game as a way to get more exercise), rich and poor, white and black and every other color of the rainbow.

All of us hunting the elusive, imaginary, Pokémon.

Pokémon is the ultimate leveler.

The fact that I got loudly frustrated in front of about a hundred people, all of whom commiserated, when I lost an 1168 Tentacruel despite a half a dozen Razberries and five Ultraballs is a form of public insanity with which I can live. Because every single person present understood the horror of losing an 1168 Tentacruel.

And there were, literally, a hundred people gathered in one place playing and interacting and socializing about a video game. In a park. At night. Voices in the darkness laughing and having a good time with most of them being total strangers until…they all had to go hunt imaginary creatures.

The last time there was this sort of public appreciation of oneness was shortly after 9/11. It feels like the days after the Fall of the Berlin Wall.

As if mankind is waking up from history and anger.

All the Nobama/Dumpf/Hitlery, BLM, NBPP, OccupyThis, Don’tComply that, has been driving us apart.

A video game is bringing us together. Hunting something that exists only as electrons and pictures on

a screen.

I’m exhausted. I hurt. I’m drinking red wine from the neck of a bottle and popping over-the-counter pain killers. I just had the best day I’ve had since going fishing in the Keys with my daughters. I want to do it again. Now. This instant. I have to let my old body heal.

Millions of people are out there having a blast, mobbing parks and restaurants and businesses, sharing, communicating, every race, every economic level, leveled. The only color that matters being if you are red or blue or yellow. There is no race, no gender, no “other” when you need to take down the hated enemy gym! Just the cry, “Mystic shall fall!” Do you turn away a powerful Snorflax because the wielder is a different race, or looks a bit [insert other]? Hell, no! Politics, race, genderism are nothing compared to Beating Mystic Like a Stump!

(It should be noted for those of Mystic offended, my beloved daughters are navel gazing traitors to the cause of Valor.)

This amazing social experience brought to you by a video game.

Played on a phone. Using...some

sort of unobtainium technology.

Atari took us inside to sit on a couch or the floor and at most communicate with a few people online often using profanity.

Pokémon Go takes us back out the door and into the air and the sun and the wild, communicating with hundreds in actual face-toface conversation. And we find that strangers are actually…good. That we not need fear “the other”. As long as they have a cellphone in hand and are tapping at the screen you have found a new friend.

The best science fiction is that which explores how technology changes society.

Our society is being changed, again, by a video game. This moment is science fiction. It is better science fiction, more hopeful, more positive, than I ever envisioned being possible.

We can be cured of our hate. We can be one in the darkness or the light. We can be well. As a society and as individuals.

Go catch the imaginary.

(Psst: And when you choose a team, pick the red one! Valor Shall Triumph!)

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COVER STORY

Living Life...

One Pitch at a Time A professional baseball player bides his time in Chattanooga

By Daniel Jackson Pulse contributor

F

or a professional athlete playing for the Chattanooga Lookouts, preparations for a game starts hours before. For Niko Goodrum that process started when he walked into the Lookouts’ clubhouse at AT&T Field a few minutes past 2 p.m. on a recent Saturday afternoon, five hours before the opening pitch against the Mobile Bay Bears.

Many who have dug their cleats into that red infield dirt during their time in school dreamed of going pro.

Twenty-five-year-old Goodrum, number 21, is living the dream. But the Lookouts, a double-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, isn’t triple-A level, nor is it the majors.

“Everybody’s goal is to get to the big leagues,” Goodrum said of his teammates.

He usually shows up at the clubhouse at 1 p.m., but family was in town. Compared to the other cities where Goodrum has played, it’s an easy two hour ride from Fayetteville, Georgia, to Chattanooga. It beats the places he played in the past, the ninehour drive to Fort Myers, Florida, or the flight to Iowa.

It’s a fortunate arrangement, for although the Lookouts is the closest minor league team to his hometown, he had no say in where he was assigned.

“Everyone pretty much has 8 • THE PULSE • JULY 28, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

their own routine to go get ready for the game,” the third baseman said, though he has played every position except catcher and pitcher.

Those routines might involve stretching, batting practice, a game of cards or even Frisbee on the shortcropped field. Until the Lookouts head onto the field, they try to relax. These days, Goodrum said, Connect Four is popular with many of his teammates.

“It’s a job, but it’s a game too. We try to keep it fun,” he said.

Starting preparations.

Goodrum’s routine started in the trainer’s office when he eased himself into a tub of water. After two minutes, Niko lowered himself into a cold water bath. These contrasts are designed to get his muscles ready for the game.

He alternated tubs, hot then cold and ending on the hot.

After contrasts and a shower, Goodrum headed back to the trainers’ room where he stretched out his hamstrings and other leg muscles. The series of stretches using a board, the floor and a green resistance band puts a grimace and sweat on his face.

He headed into a room in which bats lie in boxes, packs of Dasani water bottles are stacked and a refrigerator sits. He sits and watches a baseball game on ABC channel 7.

It’s been six years since he signed with the Minnesota Twins. He graduated in late May from Fayette County High School. Two weeks later, he was picked in the second round of the draft. According to a 2010 story in the Star Tribune, Goodrum was given a $512,800 signing bonus. “He was drafted as a high-risk, high-reward project with good all-around potential,” the Tribune wrote at the time.

In high school, Goodrum played three sports, basketball, baseball and football because he was good at all three. But the true passion was baseball.

“It’s hard,” he explained. “I like a challenge.” As the fast pitches come in close, you’re trying to barrel something up. But in the next game, you can always come back.”

In the off season, Goodrum practices at Elite Metro Sports, an indoor batting center in his hometown which he owns.

His father runs it, but in the off season Goodrum will hold clinics and camps.

“The biggest thing is focus.”

After sitting for a few minutes, Goodrum gets up and heads out to batting practice, picking up his bat leaning up against the wall of the hallway leading to the field.

The birch wood bat is made custom to him. “I like an even bat,” he said.

“I don’t want to put too much weight in the barrel of the bat. I like an even handle” Watching a pro baseball player hit a ball at close range is an explosive event.

The body, bent and ready. The white ball arcs through the air as the batter coils, and in a move they’ve done countless times, spent 10,000 hours perfecting, connects hardwood and leather with a CRACK! And in follow-through, the bat swings a slow arc around the player’s back.

While each swing may look the same, each player is working on different things, Goodrum said. Goodrum, who is a switch hitter, is working on sending balls down the center and to the right when he bats right. When he switches sides of the batting cage, he’s focused on letting up on some of his power, of not absolutely destroying the ball, knocking the hat off the pitcher.

In the clubhouse, a memo is posted in English and Spanish on a corkboard in the hall that gives the Minnesota Twins’ objectives for its batters. For example, “Establish early pitch recognition and know the strike zone.” Another, “Be smooth to get into hitting position early.” The idea is to approach 0-0 as if the pitcher already scored two strikes.

“All three coaches are really hands on with players,” he noted. “They know not to overload you. It’s a good mix.”

He’s managed by the likes of Doug Mientkiewicz, an Olympic gold medalist who played for the Twins, but then was traded to the Boston Red Sox in 2004.

Mientkiewicz was a member of the team that broke the curse of the bambino, the Sox’s 84-year spell without a World Series win after they traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees.

Playing at this level, the butterflies are still there before games. Most of the time, hecklers cannot be heard from the field. Otherwise, Goodrum focuses them out, a strategy that’s useful for more than dealing with the pressure of playing before a crowd. “I want to stay consistent…focus is the biggest thing,” he said. “That’s why you get so tired.”

That’s a sharp focus that concentrates on every single pitch, taking the game moment by moment. But “You’re human,” Goodrum said. “Expect ground>> Continued on pg. 10 CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JULY 28, 2016 • THE PULSE • 9

COVER STORY ball, expect fly ball, stay ready.”

Goodrum doesn’t think much about what the future might hold because then his mind would be in the future and he tries not to compare himself to other players for then, his focus is on them. He takes his game, his career, moment by moment. “I wish I would have known it in my first years, but that’s growth. You learn where to focus your energy towards, learn not to waste it.”

“I pretty much stay to myself,” he said. “I clown around, but I know when to get serious.”

“Every Game Counts. It’s your career.”

It’s about two hours until the game. Time to eat. There’s cut up watermelon, cantaloupe, chicken and a kind of hamburger patty that appears to be pork sausage. Goodrum sits down with two hamburgers and a bottle of water.

The team was called to hear a talk by Dr. Jon Hallberg and Vice President of Human Resources

“

Goodrum doesn’t think much about what the future might hold because then his mind would be in the future and he tries not to compare himself to other players for then, his focus is on them.”

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for the Twins Raenell Dorn. The two travel around the country visiting the Twins teams making themselves available to the players, briefing the players about domestic violence prevention, cautioning them about talking with reporters, reminding them about the policies forbidding them from playing in fantasy leagues for money and warning them about taking substances prohibited by the MLB, like marijuana.

With 6 p.m. minutes away, most of the players turn to their smartphones. The locker room is full of distractions, a car shuffler, a box of plastic bottle caps repurposed as poker chips, Connect Four on another table.

The only thing that’s left is to bide their time until they suit up and walk out onto the field. Afterwards, they may celebrate in the clubhouse. Regardless, Goodrum will do another round of contrasts, soaking in cold and hot water to reset his muscles, perhaps lifting weights, grabbing a bit to eat and

heading out to his apartment he shares with Shannon Wilkerson, who plays center field, on the north side of the Tennessee River.

After this, game, there’s another game on Sunday, then Monday and Tuesday. And then it’s on the road for some away games—not bad, Goodrum said, because the company puts them up in nice hotels.

Another day, another pitch.

“Every game counts. It’s your career,” he said. There were no taking days off, no letting the mind stray. “Gotta take [my] career seriously.” Plus, the Lookouts were trying to get into the playoffs and these games counted.

Outside, the fans were beginning to walk through the concession stands. The song “Chattanooga Choo Choo” played over the loudspeakers. Out in the bleachers, the rain was coming down. The infield was covered and the stands were empty. The batting lineup was posted, Goodrum was sixth.

Soon, it would be time for the batter to swing.

Opening Day 1923 Chattanooga Lookouts vs Birmingham Barons. From the collection of pitcher Lefty Stewart.

150 Years of Baseball History in Chattanooga The history of Baseball in Chattanooga began when the sport was first formed. The first players of the sport slogged through Moccasin Bend and scrambled over Lookout Mountain. Baseball was in its infancy with many regional variations of play, according to Adam “Butter Bean” Alfrey of the Tennessee Association of Vintage Base Ball.

The Civil War created a unified set of rules as individuals around the nation mixed because of the conflict.

After the Civil War, at least two teams played in the Chattanooga area, the Mountain City Club and the Lightfoot City Club. The Mountain City Club was the championship club of the state in 1866, the first time Alfrey, who is the association’s communication’s chair, first knew of the sport being played in an organized manner here.

When, say, a Chattanooga team traveled to play one in Knoxville, it came by train. There were parades and balls.

And after the game had been played and the crowds went home, the visiting team would take an ad out in the opposing team’s newspaper thanking them for the game.

As Alfrey described it, it was “Hometown heroes playing the hometown heroes 90 miles down the road.”

By the 1890s, money entered the game, Alfrey said. Businesses payed men to play. Bets were placed. Statistics were kept. The sport had begun to change. *** The focus of vintage baseball is different. “The honor was won in how the defense was made,” Alfrey said. Instead of batter staring down pitcher, the pitcher threw the ball underhand, as the teams “wanted to put the ball into play to see what happened.” Furthermore, players didn’t use mitts but caught the ball barehanded.

The vintage rules for baseball—the association plays from rules drafted in 1864—resulted in a faster paced game, according to Alfrey, with each team scoring dozens of runs and nine innings passing in about two hours of play.

When members of the Tennessee Association of Vintage Base Ball walk out onto the field, one of the big focuses is to present “gentlemanly behavior.” If a great play was made, the

opposing team stood up to cheer.

Another big difference to the game: wool uniforms. Still, vintage baseball players don the uniforms and play in summer heat, like the two Chattanooga clubs will do at the end of August when they are scheduled to play on the Chickamauga Battlefield. *** As the rest of society was segregated, so was the sport in the decades following the Civil War. Negro League Baseball teams sprung up in Chattanooga and helped develop some of the best players of the game.

National Baseball Hall of Famer Satchel Paige, a contemporary of Jackie Robinson, got his start in pro baseball by pitching for the Chattanooga Black Lookouts for a salary of $50 a month in 1926, according to Dionne Jennings, president of the Bessie Smith Cultural Center, which will wrap up an exhibit on Negro League Baseball July 30. Fellow Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays played for the Chattanooga Choo Choos during a brief time in high school.

The heyday of Negro League baseball was from the 1930s to the 40s, Jennings said, but in the 60s, James Tatum started a team of his own. He played

baseball at Morehouse College in Atlanta, but small black colleges were passed over by recruiters back then.

The team, called the Chattanooga Royals and later the Chattanooga A’s, was a “bunch of guys that felt like they could go pro but never got the opportunity,” said Tatum, who was a player/ manager.

It played 44 games every summer, half on the road, half at Lincoln Park several blocks from Engel Stadium. It was an opportunity to play the game they loved. Like musicians who play on street corners, the team played for tips, dollar bills for homeruns.

A scout stationed in Chattanooga once said the team played as good as the Lookouts. After a double-header the team played in Cincinnati, a scout wanted to sign Tatum to the big leagues. But it was too late. Tatum, 27, was beyond the cutoff of 22.

By the 80s, the team stopped because it was aging and had more life responsibilities. An outsider, it played only one game at Engel Stadium. There was a debate as to whether it or the Chattanooga Choo Choos was the best black team in town.

“Of course we beat them, bad.”

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Start the weekend on Thursdays with live outdoor concerts at the Hunter Museum!

Every Thursday

through August 11 | 6 pm Kindora & Rock Floyd..7/14 Magic Birds.................8/4 I Can Japan...............7/21 The Communicators...8/11 Soul Mechanic........7/28 www.huntermuseum.org

The All American Summer Concert Series is sponsored by Chattanooga Coca-Cola Bottling Company and Tennessee American Water with media support by Brewer Media Group.

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COLUMN AIR BAG

The Presidential Candidates Debate Cars Our next President and the runner-up finally say something meaningful

DAVID TRAVER ADOLPHUS

“

To move forward as a nation we must move forward in future cars, not look into the past.”

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. Follow him on Twitter as @proscriptus.

Wolf Blitzer: Good evening America, and welcome to CNN’s 2016 Presidential Town Hall Meeting here at the Dora, Alabama, Town Hall. I’d like to thank Dora Mayor Robert “Robbie” Busby and the City Council for hosting this event.

Donald Trump: Dora is a great American city, well, not really a city, it’s too small for a city, New York is great city, a big city, it’s the best city in the world, but Dora is a small town, one of the small towns that makes America a great, great country.

Blitzer: Mr. Trump...Mr. Trump, the debate hasn’t started yet, you’ll have a chance to speak when it’s your…

Hillary Clinton: Wolf, if I may, with all due respect to Mr. Trump, Dora IS a great city, a small town with bright future as we walk together into a new America!

Blitzer: Ms. Clinton, I...

Trump: All I know is that my good friends, the Chinese, a great people, the Chinese are great, great people, and they are building cars that we should be building in America, cars like my 1989 Chrysler LeBaron. It’s such a great car.

Blitzer: M… Clinton: Oh give me a break, Donald®. To move forward as a nation we must move forward in future cars, not look into the past. My administration’s Clean Regional Alternative Power initiative will build a nationwide infrastructure to create green jobs and renewable power for a network of small, efficient cars.

Bli: Trump: We didn’t build this country thinking small. Ford is building a massive plant. So I have a friend who builds plants and then I have to go. I have a friend who builds plants, that’s what

he does, he’s the biggest in the world, he builds plants like automobile plants, computer plants, that’s all he does. : Clinton: When I say jobs, I. Mean.

Jobs! We will work together to make more things in America. We’re going to ensure we have the most competitive auto and auto parts industries in the world. We’ve got to liberate the American consumer by protecting and helping the American worker. Let me talk about the carrots. Not just the carrots that American farmers grow and eat, that we all eat, if you like carrots, but the carrots I’ll use to grow new, clean cars and new jobs that will make all of us proud.

Trump: Let me tell you something about plants. My friend, he doesn’t build apartments, he doesn’t build office space, he builds plants. I said to him the other day, “How are you doing?” He goes, “Unbelievable.” Oh, great, that’s good, thinking about the United States, right, because he’s based in the United States. So I said, “Good, so the country is doing well.” He said, “No, no, not our country, you’ve got to see what I’m doing in Mexico.” He said: “The business there is unbelievable, the new plants we are building. People moving from the United States.” That’s what he does.

One-story plants. You understand?

Clinton: I understand that a wall around American prosperity won’t keep it in but will keep it out. I will defend American jobs and American workers by saying ‘no’ to bad trade deals, like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and unfair trade practices, like when China dumps cheap steel in our markets or uses weak ‘rules of origin’ to undercut our car makers. We’re going to ensure we have the most competitive auto and auto parts industries in the world, and we’re going

to take money back from overseas and break down walls with the strength of unions and the American workers.

Trump: They send their cars over by the millions, and what do we do? When was the last time you saw a Chevrolet in Tokyo? It doesn’t exist, folks. They beat us all the time. When do we beat Mexico at the border? They’re laughing at us, at our stupidity. And now they are beating us economically. They are not our friend, believe me. But they’re killing us economically. I love the Mexican people, they’re great people, and I understand that you’re building a nice $2.5 billion car factory in Mexico and that you’re going to take your cars and sell them to the United States zero tax, just flow them across the border.” And you say to yourself, “How does that help us,” right? “How does that help us?

Where is that good?” It’s not.

Clinton: Exactly.

Trump: What?

Clinton: Unions helped bring back the auto industry, and they will help bring back America, from coast to coast.

Trump: We got to make the country rich. Special interests can’t touch me, because I’m really incredibly rich, and there’s nothing they can offer me that would make me take jobs away from America.

Clinton: Donald.

Trump: Hillary.

Clinton: I think I love you.

Trump: Would you like to see my LeBaron?

Clinton: Yes. Yes I would.

Wolf Blitzer: That’s all the time we have for CNN’s 2016 Presidential Town Hall Meeting here in Dora, Alabama.

I’d like to thank Dora Mayor Robert “Robbie” Busby and the City Council for hosting this event.

CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JULY 28, 2016 • THE PULSE • 13

ARTS SCENE

Moccasin Bend Nature, Music and Arts Festival

A Night of ‘90s Nostalgia Join Young, Gifted, and Black Chattanooga at Barking Legs Nostalgia is nothing new, but it’s been suggested that, due to the ridiculously fast technological advances made in the new millennium, ‘90s kids have a special penchant. Think about it: we went from cassettes to Spotify, from Pokémon the card game to Pokémon Go. We saw Netflix bring the mighty empire that was Blockbuster to its knees. We’ve got a lot to feel nostalgic about.

Barking Legs has great news for ‘90s kids, millennials, and music fans from all generations—an opportunity to go back in time. A time when Will Smith was the Fresh Prince, when the F.R.I.E.N.D.S. owned New York, when Cory and Topanga set unrealistic relationship expectations for everyone. The arts education program YGBChatt present Take Us Back to the ‘90s.

YGBChatt is shorthand for the Young, Gifted, and Black Chattanooga outreach program. Their mission, as explained by founder and execu-

tive director Garrell Woods, is “to train underserved talented young people between the ages of 14-25 and create opportunities for them in the arts.”

He explains further, “Through creative expression we can turn our pain into something that can end the cycle of poverty, violence, and marginalization. We believe our program can do the same.” All the proceeds of the show will go towards continuing this amazing program.

“This is a themed concert with production value of a touring musical,” Woods states, “featuring powerful vocals, dynamic choral sounds, and grooving dance moves.” With Kerosene Komedy hosting, performers and audience alike are gonna party like it’s 1999.

Come see them Thursday, Aug. 18 and Friday, Aug. 19 at Barking Legs Theatre, 1307 Dodds Ave. Admission is $10. More info at barkinglegs.org — Hillary Eames

THU7.28

FRI7.29

SAT7.30

DRINK UP!

RUMPUS ROOM

LAST CHANCE

“Hard Root Beer & Ginger Ale”

River City Rumpus

Monty Python’s Spamalot

6 p.m.

Chattanooga WorkSpace 302 W. 6th St. (423) 413-8978 thechattery.org

Not for the faint of heart.

8 p.m.

The Honest Pint 35 Patten Pkwy.

(423) 468-4192 thehonestpint.com

Enjoy Sturgis without ever 8 p.m.

Chattanooga Theatre Centre (423) 267-8538 theatrecentre.com

14 • THE PULSE • JULY 28, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

Music and arts lovers gather together to celebrate nature and history

A

N OVERLOOKED SLEEPING GIANT LIES UNDISTURbed in the heart of Chattanooga, and it is waiting for something to wake it up. Even though it has been around long enough to witness Chattanooga grow since the Paleo-Indian Period (10,000-8,000 BC), merely a small group of people even know that it exists.

Arts ADAM BECKETT

“

To have such a beautiful and ancient National Park here in our back yard is a very special thing, but it needs to become a revitalized, and well-known area.”

The giant is the 750-acre ancient Moccasin Bend Natural Park, which lies nestled away near the Tennessee River, just minutes away from downtown Chattanooga. The park has a gateway that is accessible from Stingers Ridge, yet the grounds remain light years away with its rich history, and natural beauty.

With great intentions to draw attention to these sacred grounds, Jeannie Hacker Cerulean and the team at Love Crew Productions have collaborated and partnered with UTC, Cool Down Chatt Town, local bands, and visual artists, to produce a free, fun, educational, and interactive experience by creating the Moccasin Bend Nature, Music and Arts festival.

The festival is set to take place at the Stringers Garden Gateway, at 504 West Manning Street on Saturday, July, 30th, from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m., and on Sunday July 31st, from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m., and is being hosted in correspondence with events that are taking place at the Moccasin Bend National Park. The gateway to the National Park starts in Hill City, and stops about one mile away at the mesmerizing and historical Moccasin Bend National Park. The event should make enough noise to startle the giant

out of its slumber.

The overall motivation behind the festival is to draw attention to the hallowed grounds of the Moccasin Bend National Park. Some of the grounds are currently overgrown and somewhat a mess. The gateway trail needs some maintenance, however, the park is severely underutilized, making funding and volunteers hard to come by. With the attention from the music, visual arts, kids activities, hiking, biking, paddling, slip and slide, interactive booths, plays, and special surprises, it is certain that the festival will open the eyes of the community, and help to gain the resources needed to create a more creative and manicured entrance and setting at the park.

A main focus of the festival is interaction. The original interactive play created

by Jeannine Caurulio Hacker titled “A Play Coming to a Forest Near you”, offers open participation for the festival attendees. To further promote the process of interaction, the festival producers have scheduled superjams where people all unite and play music together as one, as well as making it a requirement for the hosted booths at the festival to be interactive. They want to unite people, and interaction is a great way to get people out of their shell, while bringing them together.

Well-known local bands will be playing music throughout the festival, headliners include Genki Genki Panic, One Timers, Milele Roots, Jess Goggins, The Belt, Big Time, and more.

Local artists will have artwork displayed throughout the event grounds, and are collaborating to produce original artwork for

the event. Artists of all levels are encouraged to support the event and ‘a call to artists’ kite has been publically hung in the sky to bring more artists together for further art contributions and collaborations.

Community-painted large murals are in the process of creation, as well as a community-created fence, and a collaborated shade cover. An art auction is also a scheduled segment of the event.

Creative Director Betsy Groves has done a fantastic job of expanding the creative aspect of the festival. Amongst many other things she corresponded with Merrill Love, who will be providing a spectacular after dark light show with his “Tree Dimensional” demonstration. Merrill creates live fractals and projects them onto various objects for a visually stunning experience; “Tree Dimensional” is often utilized by music festivals due to the captivating imagery, and bright, colorful light show. It is a highly anticipated aspect of the festival.

The Moccasin Bend Nature, Music and Arts Festival is a community minded festival that promotes art, music, theater, togetherness, environment, family, celebration, biking, the great outdoors, history, education, and it is free to attend. To have such a beautiful and ancient National Park here in our back yard is a very special thing, but it needs to become a revitalized, and well-known area. With so many likeminded people in Chattanooga, the appeal of the event should be highly contagious and spread like wildfire. Come support this tremendous cause, and experience the local hidden treasure that is the Moccasin Bend National Park firsthand.

CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JULY 28, 2016 • THE PULSE • 15

ARTS CALENDAR

Monty Python's Spamalot

THURSDAY7.28 Unsung Heroes: Comic Creators 9 a.m.

UTC Fine Arts Center 752 Vine St. (423) 425-4371 utc.edu 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 Gallery Open House 4 p.m.

Reflections Gallery 6922 Lee Hwy. (423) 892-3072 reflectionsgallerytn.com Ales & Tails 5:30 p.m.

Chattanooga Zoo 301 N. Holtzclaw Ave. (423) 697-1319 chattzoo.org Homebuyer Orientation 5:30 p.m.

Chattanooga Neighborhood

16 • THE PULSE • JULY 28, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

Enterprise 1500 Chestnut St., Suite 102 (423) 756–6201 cneinc.org The Chattery Presents “Hard Root Beer & Ginger Ale” 6 p.m.

Chattanooga WorkSpace 302 W. 6th St. (423) 413-8978 thechattery.org Pedal and Paddle: South Chickamauga Creek Connector via Bicycle and Canoe 6 p.m.

Tennessee River Park 4301 Amnicola Hwy. (423) 643-6888 outdoorchattanooga.com Chattanooga Storytelling Circle 6 p.m.

Northgate Library

PULSE PICK: SARAH COLONNA

Sarah is well known as a popular roundtable regular on the hit late night talk show “Chelsea Lately”, where she was also one of the full-time writers, honing her comedic ear.

Sarah Colonna The Comedy Catch 1400 Market St. (423) 629-2233 thecomedycatch.com

278 Northgate Mall Dr. (423) 870-0635 chattlibrary.org Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made 7 p.m.

Cine-Rama 100 W. Main St. (423) 521-1716 thecinerama.org Chattanooga Lookouts vs Tennessee Smokies 7:15 p.m.

AT&T Field 201 Power Alley (423) 267-2208 lookouts.com YGBChatt Presents: Take Us Back To The 90s 7:30 p.m.

Barking Legs Theater 1307 Dodds Ave. (423) 847-2170 barkinglegs.org

7:30 p.m.

The Comedy Catch 1400 Market St. (423) 629-2233 thecomedycatch.com Monty Python’s Spamalot 8 p.m.

Chattanooga Theatre Centre (423) 267-8538 theatrecentre.com

FRIDAY7.29 Ultimate Dance Workshop with LA Choreographer Sir Charles 9 a.m.

DoubleTree Hotel Downtown 407 Chestnut St. (423) 716-8372 rawartdance.net Cambridge Square Night Market 5 p.m.

Cambridge Square 9453 Bradmore Ln. (423) 648-2496 chattanoogamarket.com Per_Formance at Swine 6 p.m.

Swine Gallery 100A W. Main St. (423) 521-1716 thecinerama.org Chattanooga Lookouts vs Tennessee Smokies 7:15 p.m.

AT&T Field 201 Power Alley (423) 267-2208 lookouts.com Sarah Colonna

ARTS CALENDAR

Movies in the Park: Inside Out 7:30, 9:45 p.m.

The Comedy Catch 1400 Market St. (423) 629-2233 thecomedycatch.com Nickajack Bat Cave Guided Canoe Tour 7:30 p.m.

Outdoor Chattanooga (423) 643-6888 outdoorchattanooga.com Monty Python’s Spamalot 8 p.m.

Chattanooga Theatre Centre (423) 267-8538 theatrecentre.com Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 8 p.m.

Signal Mountain Playhouse 1104 James Blvd.

(423) 886-5243 smph.org River City Rumpus 8 p.m.

The Honest Pint 35 Patten Pkwy.

(423) 468-4192 thehonestpint.com

SATURDAY7.30 Canoe Adventure Series: South Chickamauga Creek 9 a.m.

Outdoor Chattanooga (423) 643-6888 outdoorchattanooga.com Ultimate Dance Workshop with LA Choreographer Sir Charles 9 a.m.

DoubleTree Hotel Downtown 407 Chestnut St.

(423) 716-8372 rawartdance.net Brainerd Farmers Market 10 a.m.

Grace Episcopal Church 20 Belvoir Ave. (404) 245-3682 facebook.com/ BrainerdFarmersMarket Chattanooga River Market 10 a.m.

Tennessee Aquarium 1 Broad St. (423) 265-0695 chattanoogarivermarket.com Northside Farmers Market 10 am.

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 Honey Harvest Noon Creative Discovery Museum 321 Chestnut St. (423) 756-2738 cdmfun.org Screen Printing Saturday Noon Downtown Library 1001 Broad St. (423) 643-7700 chattlibrary.org Station Street Sip & Savor 5 p.m.

1400 Market St. (423) 266-5000 choochoo.com

Chattanooga Lookouts vs Tennessee Smokies 7:15 p.m.

AT&T Field 201 Power Alley (423) 267-2208 lookouts.com YGBChatt Presents: Take Us Back To The 90s 7:30 p.m.

Barking Legs Theater 1307 Dodds Ave. (423) 847-2170 barkinglegs.org Sarah Colonna 7:30, 9:45 p.m.

The Comedy Catch 1400 Market St. (423) 629-2233 thecomedycatch.com Monty Python’s Spamalot 8 p.m.

Chattanooga Theatre Centre (423) 267-8538 theatrecentre.com Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 8 p.m.

Signal Mountain Playhouse 1104 James Blvd.

(423) 886-5243 smph.org Movies in the Park: Inside Out 9 p.m.

Coolidge Park 150 River St. (423) 643-5956

SUNDAY7.31 Chattanooga Market 11 a.m.

Chattanooga Market 1829 Carter St.

(423) 402-9957 chattanoogamarket.com WEAVE: A Conceptual Dance Company Announces Master Classes 3 p.m.

Weave Dance Company 4413 Brainerd Rd. (423) 954-0115 weavedancecompany.com Family Fun: Canoeing and Archery 7 p.m.

Greenway Farms 5051 Gann Store Rd. (423) 643-6888 outdoorchattanooga.com ComedyFight 10 p.m.

The Honest Pint 35 Patten Pkwy.

(423) 468-4192 thehonestpint.com

MONDAY8.1 Unsung Heroes: Digital Storytelling 9 a.m.

UTC Fine Arts Center 752 Vine St. (423) 425-4371 utc.edu River Gallery’s August Sketch Show 10 a.m.

River Gallery 400 E. 2nd St. (423) 265-5033 river-gallery.com Red Bank Farmers Market 4 p.m.

Red Bank United Methodist CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JULY 28, 2016 • THE PULSE • 17

ARTS CALENDAR

Palette Knife Painting with Mia Bergeron

3800 Dayton Blvd.

(423) 838-9804 lookoutfarmersmarket.com Palette Knife Painting with Mia Bergeron 6 p.m.

Townsend Atelier 301 E. 11th St. (423) 266-2712 townsendatelier.com First Draft Productions: Improv Comedy 8 p.m.

Barking Legs Theatre 1307 Dodds Ave. (423) 624-5347 barkinglegs.org

TUESDAY8.2 Basecamp in Miller Plaza 9 a.m.

Miller Plaza 800 Market St. (423) 265-3700 rivercitycompany.com East Brainerd Farmers Market 4 p.m.

Audubon Acres 900 N. Sanctuary Rd. (423) 838-9804 lookoutfarmersmarket.com Felting 102: Needle Felting For Beginners 6 p.m.

Chattanooga WorkSpace 302 W. 6th St. (423) 822-5750 chattanoogaworkspace.com Rapid Learning Intro to Kayak & Roll Practice 6 p.m.

Chester Frost Park 2318 Gold Point Cir. North

18 • THE PULSE • JULY 28, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

(423) 643-6888 outdoorchattanooga.com

WEDNESDAY8.3 Semi-Annual Book Sale 8 a.m.

Eastgate Town Center 5600 Brainerd Rd. (423) 643-7747 friendsofthelibrary-chattanooga.com 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 Wednesday Night Chess Club 6 p.m.

Chattanooga Downtown Library 1001 Broad St. (423) 643-7700 chattilibrary.com Open Mic Night 7 p.m.

The Comedy Catch 1400 Market St. (423) 629-2233 thecomedycatch.com Chimes at Midnight 8 p.m.

Cine-Rama 100 W. Main St. (423) 521-1716 thecinerama.org Map these locations on chattanoogapulse. com. Send event listings at least 10 days in advance to: calendar@chattanoogapulse.com

The Ice Cream Show Keeps Things Cool Be it ice cream or great coffee, there's something here for everyone Has there ever been a warm summer day when ice cream didn’t sound like a good idea?

Of course not, because there’s nothing better than a cool cone after a day of biking, walking, or BROOKE playing with the kids.

Look around Chattanooga and you’ll find an ice cream shop or two, but unless you’re at the foot of the Walnut Street Bridge stepping into The Ice Cream Show, you haven’t truly experienced, in this writer’s opinion, the best ice cream in town.

How, you might ask, is this ice cream shop different from any other in Chattanooga? Let’s start with the simple fact that there are roughly 17,000 different possible ice cream flavors to be had here. Now you’re surely wondering, how on earth is that even possible?

“It starts with your choice of local Mayfield ice cream, Mayfield yogurt, sugar-free vanilla, or dairy-free ice cream,” says owner Lynda Curtis. Next, you take your pick of vanilla or chocolate. And then the magic begins. You create your flavor by adding up to three ingredients—if you’re feel-

ing crazy, add four, add five, however many it’ll take to curb the excitement of your inner child.

Choose from 50 ingredients including fresh DORN fruits like blueberries, strawberries, or bananas, Ghirardelli chocolate chips, premium nuts, cheesecake bites, brownies, chocolate chip cookie dough, and more.

Once you’ve made your picks, your ice cream and ingredients will be blended together and deposited into one of their mouth-watering, homemade waffle cones.

For those of you like me who are a little indecisive, there is a list of favorite flavors your cashier will be happy to share with you to help ease you into a delicious decision. This writer chose chocolate ice cream blended with brownie, graham cracker, and marshmallow and was not disappointed in the slightest.

Watching my flavor come to life was all part of “The Show” as you get to wit-

Dining Out

The Ice Cream Show Located at the south end of the Walnut street walking bridge, near the Hunter Art Museum, The Ice Cream Show is a “must see” while in town!

105 Walnut Street • (423) 702-5173 www.theicecreamshow.com

“How, you might ask, is this ice cream shop different from any other in Chattanooga?” ness your ingredients be blended together behind the counter. Add that to the fact that guests can enjoy watching handmade waffle cones be pressed in waffle irons and you’re in for one sweet show. “We make them fresh every day,” says Curtis. “The batter we use has replaced the sugar with malt, making for an even better tasting waffle cone than you’re used to.”

While those waffle cones are to die for, let’s not forget about another shining star of The Ice Cream Show: the coffee. Yes, that’s right you can have a beautifully made ice cream cone in one hand and a hot—or iced—coffee in the other.

That’s one match made in Heaven, but you can take it a step further by adding any coffee to your ice cream. Try a barrelracer, a vanilla chocolate milkshake with a double shot of espresso, or an Affogato, a small scoop of ice cream with a double shot on top, drizzled in caramel and chocolate with a dollop of homemade whipped cream. Let me give you a moment to wrap your head around that…

All of The Ice Cream Show’s coffees are double espresso shot based, and Italians visiting Chattanooga have said it is the best espresso they’ve had in the states—and you never question the Italians on espresso. Take

your pick from the full espresso bar, try a Mexican hot chocolate or one of their many herbal teas.

Perhaps a fruit smoothie is more your style. Sip it back in good conscience because their smoothies are made entirely with fresh, but frozen fruit, no sweet, sticky syrups. If it’s hot and you just need some hydration, ask for alkaline water, which filters out the acidic water from alkalinized water, leaving you the crispest, most hydrating water on a hot summer day.

Whether you’re a coffee lover, a fan of the old fashioned waffle cone, or just want to stop in for some water and AC, there’s something for everyone at The Ice Cream Show.

CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JULY 28, 2016 • THE PULSE • 19

MUSIC SCENE

Sitting and Smiling with Ben Bennett Walking and talking with the always engaging (and busy) percussionist

Get Educated with Deacon Bluz Legendary blues musician joins up with Holysmoke Band When Steely Dan first released “Deacon Blues” in 1977, their intent was to tell a semi-autobiographical story of Fagan and Becker’s desire to become blues musicians. They probably didn’t anticipate anybody truly earning the title, especially with the academic credentials to back it up. But Clark White’s done just that, with Deacon Bluz and the Holysmoke Band.

True, we’ve covered Deacon Bluz and the Holysmoke Band before here at The Pulse. But with his return to Ross’s Landing this upcoming Saturday, I think our readership could stand a reminder: Deacon Bluz and the Holysmoke Band is one of the few remaining blues bands in the southeast that plays pure, unadulterated, traditional blues.

Since 1997, Clark “Deacon Bluz” White, BA, MA, PhD, has directed the band of professional musicians.

White is renowned and in demand

as a speaker, consultant, artist and educator of all things blues. He’s taught at Michigan State, Temple, Northeastern, Brown, and his alma mater, Morehouse College. He was a visiting scholar at the W.E.B. DuBois Center for African American Studies at Harvard University and the Delta Cultural and Research Center at Mississippi Valley State University.

Suffice it to say, Deacon Bluz knows his blues, and it becomes evident in his skillful direction of Deaconbluz and the Holysmoke Band.

White is also the nationally-known educator of “Blues in the Schools” programs, open to everyone from K-12 schools, colleges and universities, senior citizens, and the general public. Whatever your curriculum requirements are, Deacon Bluz will meet them, and whatever your expectations are, Deacon Bluz will exceed them. — Hillary Eames

FRI7.28

FRI7.29

SAT7.30

FUNKING OUT

NEVER DEAD

SWEET SOUL

Soul Mechanic

Cosmic Charlie

Maxwell

The All American Summer conitnues with some down-and-dirty funk.

6 p.m.

The Hunter Museum of Art 10 Bluff View huntermuseum.org

It's as if the Grateful Dead had traveled in time to take the stage just for you.

9 p.m.

Revelry Room 41 E. 14th St. revelryroom.co

Get your smooth soul and R&B with Maxwell, along with Fantasia and Ro James.

8 p.m.

Memorial Auditorium 399 McCallie Ave. tivolichattanooga.com

20 • THE PULSE • JULY 28, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

T

HE ENIGMATIC MUSICIAN AND ARTIST BEN BENnett has a mind-bogglingly wide variety of fascinating work that covers both poles of extremes. As a percussionist, his improvised performances are wild, exciting and constantly changing, using an arsenal of drums, cymbals, homemade instruments and found objects that are struck, rubbed or vibrated using air from his lungs, unlocking hidden universes of unfamiliar sounds.

Music ERNIE PAIK

“

These videos have been viewed millions of times internationally with reactions including amusement, vexation, disbelief, admiration and utter confusion.”

However, the work for which he is best known is the complete opposite of that, being serene and predictable: his “Sitting and Smiling” series of YouTube videos, each of which features Bennett sitting completely still while grinning disarmingly, for an uninterrupted four-hour period. These videos have been viewed millions of times internationally with reactions including amusement, vexation, disbelief, admiration and utter confusion, inspiring articles from The Atlantic and Vice, parody videos and much speculation.

Currently based in Philadelphia after a move from Columbus, Ohio, Bennett has released three albums within the last three months—two solo cassettes (Weren’t on 1980 Records and Trap on Astral Spirits) and the CD Pluperfect with John Collins McCormick on Eh? Records—and doesn’t plan on stopping “Sitting and Smiling” any time soon, having recently recorded his 221st video.

In advance of his July 30 performance at Barking Legs Theater, before which he will lead a free urban foraging walk to instruct how to gather edible vegetation, Bennett answered some questions for The Pulse.

The Pulse: What goes through your head during a performance?

Ben Bennett: I don’t have much of a conceptual understanding of the mu-

sic when I’m playing it. It’s like following something, or trying to herd a bunch of goats. At best, it feels like letting the music create itself. More so than when playing with other musicians, I interact with the unexpected things that happen with my instruments.

TP: You’ve been playing percussion since middle school. How did you get drawn to free improvisation?

BB: I was into jazz from the beginning, and was drawn towards increasingly avant-garde jazz and free jazz, like late Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Archie Shepp, Art Ensemble of Chicago, etc.

At some point in college I saw David Boykin’s trio, which made me aware that there were still people making this sort of music. Soon after I saw Paul Flaherty and Chris Corsano play, which

introduced me to a more underground scene of free music. Later I played my first solo set ever, opening up for the trio of Jack Wright, Carol Genetti, and Jon Mueller. That was my first exposure to improvised music that sounded completely different from free jazz. It was full of quiet, animal-like sounds. I started playing with Jack Wright which really pushed me to expand my palette of timbres.

TP: What is the most memorable reaction you can recall to your music performances?

BB: Maybe it was hearing that someone went home and cried for a long time afterwards.

TP: How did you learn your foraging skills? What’s the most notable or unusual meal you’ve found?

BB: Around the time I left college, a friend of mine was visiting and showed me a bunch of weeds in my yard that I could eat. After that I started studying edible wild plants on my own, reading books and trying things out. Another friend and I barbecued a roadkill possum. I later lived in a small community in the Great Smoky Mountains in western North Carolina that was focused on living primitively, and I learned a lot there. My friend and I did a monthlong wilderness immersion in the Great Smoky Mountains where we ate only wild food (some of it harvested beforehand). One of the most unusual things I’ve eaten was the baked stomach of a roadkill groundhog. It was full of partially-digested greens.

TP: What expectations did you have

for “Sitting and Smiling,” and what reflections do you have on your 200+ videos?

BB: I had never imagined that it would draw this much attention. But after episode #5 where someone broke into my house, I felt like it had some kind of power, and I felt inspired to do it in greater quantity. Now I feel even more strongly that it is an effective means of communicating what I want to communicate.

Ben Bennett with Aaron Cowan Sunday, July 30 6 p.m. Urban Foraging Walk 7:30 p.m. Performance Barking Legs Theater 1307 Dodds Ave barkinglegs.org

CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JULY 28, 2016 • THE PULSE • 21

MUSIC CALENDAR

Cosmic Charlie

THURSDAY7.28 James Crumble Trio 6 p.m.

St. John’s Meeting Place 1278 Market St. stjohnsrestaurant.com Rick Rushing Blues Jazz N’ Friends 6 p.m.

Bluewater Grille 224 Broad St. bluewaterchattanooga.com Soul Mechanic 6 p.m.

The Hunter Museum of American Art 10 Bluff View huntermuseum.org Darrell Scott, Angel Snow 7 p.m.

The Camp House 1427 Williams St. thecamphouse.com Bluegrass Thursdays 7:30 p.m.

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. publichousechattanooga.com Open Mic with Hap Henninger 9 p.m.

The Office @ City Cafe 901 Carter St.

22 • THE PULSE • JULY 28, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

citycafemenu.com Noah Guthrie, Matthew Mayfield 9 p.m.

JJ's Bohemia 231 E. MLK Blvd. jjsbohemia.com

FRIDAY7.29 Old Time Traveler, Ben Durham 10 a.m.

Rock City 1400 Patten Rd. seerockcity.com Ryan Oyer 5:30 p.m.

Cambridge Square 9453 Bradmore Ln. chattanoogamarket.com Liz Vice, Br. B & The Ease 7 p.m.

PULSE PICK: HEIDI HOLTON When you think of the blues—real down & dirty blues—what you probably don’t expect, is a woman named Heidi. But she's blues to her very soul.

Heidi Holton Sunday, 12:30 p.m.

First Tennessee Pavilion 1829 Carter St. chattanoogamarket.com

Nightfall Concert Series Miller Plaza 800 Market St. nightfallchattanooga.com Choro Das 3 7 p.m.

Robert Kirk Walker Community Theater 399 McCallie Ave. chattanoogamusicclub.org River City Rumpus 8 p.m.

The Honest Pint 35 Patten Pkwy.

(423) 468-4192 thehonestpint.com The Micks 8:30 p.m.

The Foundry 1201 Broad St. chattanooganhotel.com Cosmic Charlie 9 p.m.

Revelry Room

41 E. 14th St. revelryroom.co Freddie Mac 9 p.m.

The Office @ City Cafe 901 Carter St. citycafemenu.com Scott Stevens 9 p.m.

Puckett’s Grocery and Restaurant 2 W. Aquarium Way puckettsgro.com/chattanooga Water Liars, Okinawa, Brothers Houck, Gordo Jibang 9 p.m.

JJ's Bohemia 231 E. MLK Blvd. jjsbohemia.com Charge the Atlantic, Floralorix 10 p.m.

Clyde’s On Main 122 W. Main St. clydesonmain.com RoughWork 10 p.m.

Raw Bar & Grill 409 Market St. rawbarandgrillchatt.com Cash Only Band 10 p.m.

Bud’s Sports Bar 5751 Brainerd Rd. budssportsbar.com

SATURDAY7.30 Old Time Traveler, AM Radio 10 a.m.

Rock City 1400 Patten Rd.

MUSIC CALENDAR

Maxwell seerockcity.com Jessica Campbell 12:30 p.m.

Tennessee Aquarium Plaza 1 Broad St. chattanoogarivermarket.com Deacon Bluz and the Holysmoke Band 7 p.m.

Ross’s Landing 100 Riverfront Pkwy. riverfrontnights.com Ben Bennett 8 p.m.

Barking Legs Theater 1307 Dodds Ave. barkinglegs.org Maxwell, Fantasia, Ro James 8 p.m.

Memorial Auditorium 399 McCallie Ave. tivolichattanooga.com The Micks 8:30 p.m.

The Foundry 1201 Broad St. chattanooganhotel.com The Beaters 9 p.m.

Revelry Room 41 E. 14th St. revelryroom.co Pool Party 9 p.m.

JJ's Bohemia 231 E. MLK Blvd. jjsbohemia.com Charlie Fog Band 10 p.m.

Clyde’s On Main 122 W. Main St. clydesonmain.com Mark "Porchop" Holder 10 p.m.

The Office @ City Cafe 901 Carter St. citycafemenu.com RoughWork 10 p.m.

Raw Bar & Grill 409 Market St. rawbarandgrillchatt.com Cash Only Band 10 p.m.

Bud’s Sports Bar 5751 Brainerd Rd. budssportsbar.com

SUNDAY7.31 Old Time Traveler, Highbeams 10 a.m.

Rock City 1400 Patten Rd. seerockcity.com Bobby Burns & Gordy Nichol 11 a.m.

Flying Squirrel Bar 55 Johnson St. flyingsquirrelbar.com Heidi Holton 12:30 p.m.

First Tennessee Pavilion 1829 Carter St. chattanoogamarket.com Thannisch 1:30 p.m.

Flying Squirrel Bar 55 Johnson St. flyingsquirrelbar.com Jessica Campbell 2 p.m.

First Tennessee Pavilion 1829 Carter St. chattanoogamarket.com Open Mic with Jeff Daniels

6 p.m.

Long Haul Saloon 2536 Cummings Hwy. (423) 822-9775 Local Metal Showcase 9 p.m.

JJ's Bohemia 231 E. MLK Blvd. jjsbohemia.com

MONDAY8.1 Monday Nite Big Band 7 p.m.

The Coconut Room 6925 Shallowford Rd. thepalmsathamilton.com Very Open Mic 8 p.m.

The Well 1800 Rossville Blvd. #8 wellonthesouthside.com Open Mic Night 6 p.m.

Puckett’s Grocery 2 W. Aquarium Way puckettsgro.com Open Air with Jessica Nunn 7:30 p.m.

The Granfalloon 400 E. Main St. granfalloonchattanooga.com

TUESDAY8.2 Open Mic with Mike McDade 8 p.m.

Tremont Tavern 1203 Hixson Pike tremonttavern.com Krystye Dalton Band, Sweet Cambodia

9 p.m.

JJ's Bohemia 231 E. MLK Blvd. jjsbohemia.com

WEDNESDAY8.3 The Other Guys 6 p.m.

SpringHill Suites 495 Riverfront Pkwy.

(423) 834-9300 Open Jam 8 p.m.

Raw Dance Club 409 Market St. rawbarandgrillchatt.com Wednesday Night Jazz 8 p.m.

Barking Legs Theater 1307 Dodds Ave. barkinglegs.org Wednesday Blues Jam 8 p.m.

The Office @ City Café 901 Carter St. citycafemenu.com Prime Cut Trio 8 p.m.

The Palms at Hamilton 6925 Shallowford Rd. thepalmsathamilton.com Gleam Garden, Sandel Stomp, Big Time, Raiders LA 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 CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JULY 28, 2016 • THE PULSE • 23

RECORD REVIEWS MARC T. MICHAEL

Visiting South Africa With Friends, Educating The Children Mumford & Sons heads to South Africa, Alex Volz makes a kids album

Mumford & Sons Johannesburg (Island Records)

Alex Volz The Little Merman (alexvolz.bandcamp.com)

F

albums.

The why of it isn’t hard to decode. The success of the band’s debut album, Sigh No More, was meteoric by any metric, exploring a genre that seemed new, or at least hadn’t been done to death yet.

The follow up album, Babel, was a commercial success but critically seemed an awful lot like Sigh No More II: The Stuff We Left Off the First Album. It started to look as though the band might not have the staying power they’d hoped for

or a band that seems to be deeply invested in reinventing itself, Johannesburg serves as an interesting point along the journey, but hardly the destination. As far as journeys go, Mumford & Sons has covered a great deal of ground in a relatively short period of time.

It took Paul Simon two decades to go from soulful singer/songwriter to “experimental world musician” with the 1986 release Graceland while Mumford & Sons made the leap in nine years and three

so after a hiatus they returned with their third installment, Wilder Mind. That album took a decidedly more rock and roll direction and while still commercially successful, critically it was not as memorable as their earlier work.

With the release of the EP Johannesburg, the band jumps feet first in to “World Music” which seems like a logical progression, really. The collaboration with Baaba Maal, Beatenberg, and The Very Best (from Senegal, South Africa and Malawi respectively) brings together a collection of styles that is surprisingly complementary with the band’s own.

Recorded over two nights in Johannesburg, there is a synthesis at work that is indeed akin to Simon’s Graceland, but a synthesis that goes further than Simon did (or could have, at the time,) spicing up the English folk-rock of one rather than toning down the African flavors of the other.

Is “World Music” the band’s final destination? I think not, but it is an interesting and enjoyable experiment that manages to buy

some time for the band as they continue searching for the path that will keep them relevant for many years to come.

All the ingredients are there, it’s simply a matter of finding the right recipe and for now, Johannesburg is a dish worth checking out.

A

lex Volz is back with a new children’s album, The Little Merman. Once again, Alex has proven himself a consummate musician and songwriter, more “Captain Beefheart for kiddies” than “Raffi.” Volz explores a multitude of genres with a level of musicianship unheard of in children’s music and that is a very important part of his charm and genius.

His subject matter falls well within the interests of the very young and his lyrics are likewise within the grasp of children, yet contain enough sly humor and subtle references to make them just as entertaining to adults (a la Looney Tunes.)

The music driving the lyrics, though, is not simple. Volz doesn’t “dumb down” the playing for chil-

dren which is absolutely wonderful, making a much broader world of music accessible at a much younger age.

“The Snowflake Song” is a toetapping examination of individuality, both the kind you choose and the kind that can’t be helped and why that’s a good thing.

“The Ballad of Tim and Ben” answers a child’s curiosity about non-traditional families simply, sweetly, honestly, and in a “power ballad” style slick enough to make you nostalgic for hair metal.

“Where Do Babies Come From?” likewise provides answers for kids in a non-threatening but accurate way that the prudish couldn’t take offense to.

That tune, along with others like “Boogers” and “Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater,” combines the best of Shel Silverstein and Frank Zappa (an apt description of Volz in general.)

In any genre, for any age, Volz is a master musician, writer and entertainer. That he applies that prodigious skill to making music for children is absolutely inspiring.

As always, the music is available for “name your price” at the Alex Volz bandcamp page which means you can have it free of charge if you like, but given the quality and value of the music, it’s well-worth some hard earned dollars, especially if you request a hard copy which comes not in a jewel case or CD sleeve, but a small, handmade pillow (mine was lobster print.)

Follow The Pulse on Facebook (we’re quite likeable) www.facebook.com/chattanoogapulse 24 • THE PULSE • JULY 28, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

FOOD & DRINK MIXOLOGY

An Ode to The Perfect Summer Drink The daiquiri may well be the epitome of all frozen concoctions There’s a lot that Ernest Hemingway and I disagree on—writing styles, treatment of women, opinions of F. Scott Fitzgerald. But one thing we’ll always see eye-to-eye on is the daiquiri. A perfectly well-blended, flavorful frozen daiquiri is the cure to all ailments on a hot summer day. And since there’s been no shortage of hot days this summer, we at The Pulse have gathered information to help you make a frozen daiquiri that would cheer even the grumpiest of novel-writing, fishing-and-hunting, misogynistic old men.

A typical daiquiri will require one to two ounces of rum per serving. Any more, and the alcohol will melt the ice too quickly; any less, and what’s the point? You’re left with a run-of-the-mill gas station slushie, which are fine in their own right, but there’s a time and a place for everything. You’re an adult now. Enjoy it.

As for fruit, it’ll always taste best when bought fresh. However, using frozen fruit will give you a thicker consistency and help you cut down on the amount of ice. As a bonus, less ice will mean more real fruit flavor, so in a way, fresh versus frozen is almost inconsequential. If you’re looking for the best of both worlds, try buying fresh fruit, cutting it into small, blendable pieces, and freezing it yourself.

ie-esque consistency. Always start with less than you think you’ll need. Add too much and you risk drinking down a watery, flavorless, barely-boozy puddle.

You can always go back and add more.

In addition to the amount of ice, pay attention to the type. Crushed or cracked ice is easier on your blender, and gives your daiquiris a smoother, thicker texture. Whole ice cubes will lead to chunky, unblended daiquiris, along with ruining your blender’s blades and sounding like RoboCop got his arm

“A typical daiquiri will require one to two ounces of rum per serving. Any more, and the alcohol will melt the ice too quickly; any less, and what’s the point?”

Whether using fresh or frozen fruit, ice is still needed to obtain that slush-

caught in a garbage disposal.

Now it’s time to toss all your ingre-

dients into the blender, right? Well, yes and no. The order in which you add your ingredients in your blender is one of the most important steps in the process. Add your alcohol first, followed by your fruit, and finally, the ice. Adding the ice last will give you the chance to control the ratios of ingredients and the mixture’s consistency.

Blend the mixture slowly, building up speed, and stop when your daiquiri reaches the desired consistency. If you feel like your ratios are off, you can always add something extra—more fruit, booze, ice, or something off the books.

That being said, any extra ingredients should be added slowly, and in small portions.

To keep your frozen daiquiri frozen, serve your drink in a chilled glass. The easiest method is wetting a paper towel, squeezing out any excess water, then wrapping it around the bowl of your glass, and keeping it in the freezer for

(roughly) three minutes.

Serve your drink immediately, and savor the smooth consistency and marrying of fresh summer flavors.

Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri Recipe Makes 4 to 6 drinks • 1 cup white rum • 3 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped • 1/4 cup lime juice, freshly squeezed • Ice cubes, as needed (see Recipe Note) In a blender combine the rum, strawberries, fresh-squeezed lime juice, and 1 cup ice. Pulse to evenly blend, then divide between glasses.

Recipe Note: Depending how thick you want your frozen daiquiri, you can add as much or as little ice as desired.

Start with 1 cup; then if you prefer it a little slushier, add more ice a 1/2 cup at a time and pulse to blend to your desired consistency.

CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JULY 28, 2016 • THE PULSE • 25

SCREEN SCENE

Things That Go Bump In The Night Stranger Things takes up back to a simpler, more innocent, time

Action Adventure Double Feature The greatest fan movie ever made gets a local showing After Steven Spielberg's classic Raiders of the Lost Ark was released 35 years ago, three 11-year-old boys from Mississippi set out on what would become a 7-year-long labor of love and tribute to their favorite film: a faithful, shot-for-shot adaptation of the action adventure film. They finished every scene...except one; the film's explosive airplane set piece.

Over two decades later, the trio reunited with the original cast members from their childhood in order to complete their masterpiece. Featuring interviews with John Rhys Davies, Eli Roth and more, Raiders!: The

✴✴✴✴

Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made is just that: the story of this long-gestating project’s culmination, chronicling the friends' dedication to their artistic vision—mixed in with some movie magic—to create a personal, epic love letter to a true modern classic.

Come see the adaptation and the new documentary with original Raider Eric Zala in attendance this Thursday at 7 p.m. Cine-Rama, 100 W. Main St. on the Southside.

Tickets for each film are just $12, or you can see both back-to-back in a double-feature for just $20.

NEW IN THEATERS

Jason Bourne Jason Bourne, now remembering who he truly is, tries to uncover hidden truths about his past. Matt Damon returns to the ongoing series, reuniting once again with director Paul Greengrass.

Director: Paul Greengrass Stars: Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel

✴✴✴✴

Bad Moms When three overworked and underappreciated moms are pushed beyond their limits, they ditch their conventional responsibilities for a jolt of long overdue freedom, fun, and self-indulgence.

Directors: Jon Lucas & Scott Moore Stars: Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Bell, Christina Applegate

26 • THE PULSE • JULY 28, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

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OSTALGIA IS ALL THE RAGE RIGHT NOW, FOR BETter or for worse. It makes a certain amount of sense. We are in a time of unprecedented connection. Social media brings us together through shared digital spaces, giving us a chance to remember and experience the world together, reminding us over and over again to not forget anything, from lunchboxes to junk food to toys.

Screen JOHN DEVORE

“

Like all good ‘80s stories, Stranger Things has plucky children, lovesick teens, single mothers, clueless parents, sociopathic bullies, and the Millennium Falcon.”

The trivial is a distraction from the real, and at a time when an ignorant blowhard with too much money and ego threatens to rule over the free world with tiny, tiny hands, nostalgic distraction can be a necessary vice, so long as it’s balanced out with a genuine effort to stay informed.

Anyone looking for this type of distraction would be well served by the new science fiction/horror series Stranger Things on Netflix. It is a perfect balance of nostalgia and craft, a fun, entertaining show about things that go bump in a small, Indiana town.

The show features shades of Spielberg and Carpenter, along with a smattering of King, wrapped in a coating of everything familiar about the 1980s, even to those that might have grown up straddling two decades of pop culture. At eight episodes, it’s the perfect length for a final summer binge before grudgingly heading back to school.

Hawkins, Indiana isn’t a haven for Twilight Zone strangeness. On its face, it is every town in American during the Reagan years. Children are free to ride their bikes anywhere they like, schools don’t do much to enforce truancy laws, and Dungeons and Dragons is a new pastime for middle school nerds. The series opens much like E.T., with a

game between friends that appear typical of the genre. There’s a leader, a cynic, a goofball, and an innocent moral center.

As with most horror stories, it is the innocent that is at risk. Within the first few minutes, a child disappears in a staccato flashing of incandescent bulbs, opening a mystery that span dimensions. Like all good ‘80s stories, Stranger Things has plucky children, lovesick teens, single mothers, clueless parents, sociopathic bullies, and the Millennium Falcon.

But the Spielberg qualities of the film don’t outshine the horror in the dark—there is more than enough genuine creepiness reminiscent of

Stephen King’s It and John Carpenter’s The Thing. The Duffer Brothers, the creators of the show, even throw in what might be the scariest effect of the decade—the creature in the wall. From A Nightmare on Elm Street to Ghostbusters, indistinct shapes pushing through a solid surfaces like bulging latex kept me awake many a night and it’s nice to see such a specific practical effect throughout the series.

Of course, times have changed and digital effects are hard to avoid.

As such, the creature in the show is somewhat disappointing CGI, but given how strong the rest of the show is (and the deliberate attempt to re-

veal it as little as possible) there’s very little to complain about beyond the length of the season. Eight episodes are enough to tell the story fully, but like any good show, it leaves the audience wanting more.

Cast performances are excellent all around, with Wynonna Rider treading familiar territory with ease. It’s the child actors, however, that truly stand out, especially 12-year-old Millie Bobby Brown. Brown’s character, a mysterious girl with a terrifying background and limited speech, emotes with an ability far beyond her age.

She expertly moves between serving as the show’s E.T. to its Carrie, without missing a beat or a knowing

glance.

Stranger Things uses nostalgia as more than a device for stroking the memory of its audience. It creates a familiar world, one that at on the surface appears more safe and comfortable than our own, before upending it in very real, very tense ways. There is more than just a longing for a bygone era, more than a genuine love and affection for the creature comforts of a 1980s childhood. There is an engaging, exciting story to behold, a sense of wonder and dread to experience, and a hero’s journey to follow.

Stranger Things is like re-reading a novel you once loved and discovering an entirely new story in the pages.

CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JULY 28, 2016 • THE PULSE • 27

Diversions

Consider This with Dr. Rick

by Rick Pimental-Habib, Ph.D.

“I tried to be normal once. Worst two minutes of my life.”

“Weird is a side-effect of awesome.”

The year was 1960-something. I was in first grade, and my teacher (who, by the way, had taught my aunts, uncles, and even my grandfather) taught by “old school” philosophies.

The assignment was to draw a face. While most students drew something resembling a normal human face, I remember I drew a huge head that took up the entire paper. It didn’t look like anyone else’s. It was a big, goofy balloon face. I loved my drawing! The teacher walked around, inspecting everyone’s work. When she arrived at my desk, she took one look at my balloon face, and do you know, she slapped me up the side of the head for not following directions.

Fortunately, times (and laws) have changed. And, fortunately, I had a family that supported my color-outside-the-lines way of looking at the world. I tell you this story because I want you to remember something: no one is going to slap you. Be yourself. Draw the big head. You be you.

28 • THE PULSE • JULY 28, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

Free Will Astrology LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Be alert for white feathers gliding on the wind. Before eating potato chips, examine each one to see if it bears a likeness of Rihanna or the Virgin Mary. Keep an eye out, too, for portents like robots wearing dreadlocked wigs or antique gold buttons lying in the gutter or senior citizens cursing at invisible Martians. The appearance of anomalies like these will be omens that suggest you will soon be the recipient of crazy good fortune.

But if you would rather not wait around for chance events to trigger your good luck, simply make it your fierce intention to generate it. Use your optimism-fueled willpower and your flair for creative improvisation. You will have abundant access to these talents in the coming weeks.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): You have just begun your big test. How are you doing so far? According to my analysis, the preliminary signs suggest that you have a good chance of proving the old maxim, “If it doesn’t make you so crazy that you put your clothes on inside-out and try to kiss the sky until you cry, it will help you win one of your biggest arguments with Life.” In fact, I suspect we will ultimately see you undergo at least one miraculous and certifiably melodramatic transformation. A wart on your attitude could dissolve, for example. A luminous visitation may heal one of your blind spots. You might find a satisfactory substitute for kissing the sky.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): For many years, my occupation was “starving artist.” I focused on improving my skills as a writer and musician, even though those activities rarely earned me any money. To ensure my survival, I worked as little as necessary at low-end jobs—scrubbing dishes at restaurants, digging ditches for construction companies, delivering newspapers in the middle of the night, and volunteering for medical experiments. During the long hours spent doing tasks that had little meaning to me, I worked diligently to remain upbeat. One trick that worked well was imagining future scenes when I would be engaged in exciting creative work that paid me a decent wage. It took a while, but eventually those visions materialized in my actual life. I urge you to try this strategy in the coming months, Libra. Harness your mind’s eye in the service of generating the destiny you want to inhabit.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You have every right to celebrate your own personal Independence Day sometime soon. In fact, given the current astrological omens, you’d be justified in embarking on a full-scale emancipation spree in the coming weeks. It will be prime time to seize more freedom and

ROB BREZSNY

declare more autonomy and build more self-sufficiency. Here’s an important nuance to the work you have ahead of you: Make sure you escape the tyranny of not just the people and institutions that limit your sovereignty, but also the voices in your own head that tend to hinder your flow.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Of all the forbidden fruits that you fantasize about, which one is your favorite? Among the intriguing places you consider to be outside of your comfort zone, which might inspire you to redefine the meaning of “comfort”? The coming weeks will be a favorable time to reconfigure your relationship with these potential catalysts. And while you’re out on the frontier dreaming of fun experiments, you might also want to flirt with other wild cards and strange attractors.

Life is in the mood to tickle you with useful surprises.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You have a special talent for accessing wise innocence. In some ways you’re virginal, fresh, and raw, and in other ways you’re mature, seasoned, and well-developed. I hope you will regard this not as a confusing paradox but rather as an exotic strength. With your inner child and your inner mentor working in tandem, you could accomplish heroic feats of healing. Their brilliant collaboration could also lead to the mending of an old rift.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “Where is everybody when I need them?” Even if you haven’t actually spoken those words recently, I’m guessing the voices in your head have whispered them. But from what I can tell, that complaint will soon be irrelevant. It will no longer match reality. Your allies will start offering more help and resources.

They may not be perfectly conscientious in figuring out how to be of service, but they’ll be pretty good. Here’s what you can do to encourage optimal results: 1.

Purge your low, outmoded expectations. 2. Open your mind and heart to the possibility that people can change. 3. Humbly ask—out loud, not just in the privacy of your imagination—for precisely what you want.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Millions of Pisceans less fortunate than you won’t read this horoscope. Uninformed about the rocky patch of Yellow Brick Road that lies just ahead, they may blow a gasket or get a flat tire. You, on the other hand, will benefit from my oracular foreshadowing, as well as my inside connections with the Lords of Funky Karma. You will therefore be likely to drive with relaxed caution, keeping your vehicle unmarred in the process. That’s why I’m predicting that although you may not arrive speedily at the next leg of your trip, you will do so

Jonesin’ Crossword

MATT JONES

safely and in style.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Free your body. Don’t ruminate and agonize about it. FREE YOUR BODY! Be brave and forceful. Do it simply and easily. Free your gorgeously imperfect, wildly intelligent body.

Allow it to be itself in all of its glory.

Tell it you’re ready to learn more of its secrets and adore its mysteries. Be in awe of its unfathomable power to endlessly carry out the millions of chemical reactions that keep you alive and thriving. How can you not be overwhelmed with gratitude for your hungry, curious, unpredictable body? Be grateful for its magic. Love the blessings it bestows on you. Celebrate its fierce animal elegance.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The people of many cultures have imagined the sun god as possessing masculine qualities. But in some traditions, the Mighty Father is incomplete without the revitalizing energies of the Divine Mother. The Maoris, for example, believe that every night the solar deity has to marinate in her nourishing uterine bath. Otherwise he wouldn’t be strong enough to rise in the morning. And how does this apply to you? Well, you currently have resemblances to the weary old sun as it dips below the horizon. I suspect it is time to recharge your powers through an extended immersion in the deep, dark waters of the primal feminine.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): An Interesting Opportunity is definitely in your vicinity. It may slink tantalizingly close to you in the coming days, even whisper your name from afar. But I doubt that it will knock on your door. It probably won’t call you seven times on the phone or flash you a big smile or send you an engraved invitation.

So you should make yourself alert for the Interesting Opportunity’s unobtrusive behavior. It could be a bit shy or secretive or modest.

Once you notice it, you may have to come on strong -- you know, talk to it sweetly or ply it with treats.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): [Editor’s note: The counsel offered in the following oracle was channeled from the Goddess by Rob Brezsny. If you have any problems with it, direct your protests to the Queen Wow, not Brezsny.] It’s time to get more earthy and practical about practicing your high ideals and spiritual values. Translate your loftiest intentions into your most intimate behavior. Ask yourself, “How does Goddess want me to respond when my co-worker pisses me off?”, or “How would Goddess like me to brush my teeth and watch TV and make love?” For extra credit, get a t-shirt that says, “Goddess was my co-pilot, but we crash-landed in the wilderness and I was forced to eat her.”

“Freeky”—no theme, no problem.

ACROSS 1 Like a perfect makeup job 10 Beach resorts, Italian-style 15 Right-click result, often 16 “Vega$” actor Robert 17 Words that follow “Damn it, Jim” 18 Cobra Commander’s nemesis 19 Prairie State sch.

20 Texas facility that opened on May 15, 1993 22 Show with Digital Shorts, for short 23 Llama relatives 25 Word after cargo or fish 26 Bovary and Tussaud, for two 28 Like some fails 30 Ear inflammation 31 Ice Bucket Challenge cause 32 Mobile ___ 36 “Smallville” family 37 “Don’t Stop ___ You Get Enough” 38 Madrigal refrain

39 Boundary-pushing 40 Seaver or Selleck 41 Dakota’s language family 42 Torme’s forte 44 Filler phrase from Rodney Dangerfield, perhaps 45 Caps or cone preceder 48 Her feast day is Jan. 21 50 Internet routing digits (hidden in WASN’T) 51 Cold dish made with diced tomatoes, mint, and lemon juice 53 Crooked course segment 54 Part of a squirrel’s 45-Down 55 Enclosure for a major wrestling match 59 Frank Zappa’s “___ Yerbouti” 60 TV relative from Bel-Air 61 Garden plant that thrives in shade 62 Game where players catch ... ah, whatever,

I’m not interested DOWN 1 Cheech and Chong’s first movie 2 Put on a ticket 3 Captain ___ (Groucho Marx’s “Animal Crackers” role) 4 Puddle gunk 5 Prefix with “nym” 6 “Breaking Bad” network 7 Draws from again, like a maple tree 8 ___ Gay (WWII B-29) 9 CopperTop maker 10 Classic “Dracula” star Bela 11 Crocus or freesia, botanically 12 City known for its mustard 13 “___ All Ye Faithful” 14 Bed-in-a-bag item 21 Weather Channel displays 23 English novelist Kingsley 24 Primus leader Claypool 27 Bar assoc. members 29 Song often

sung outdoors 31 Go for a target 33 CNN anchor of the 2000s 34 Is an active jazz musician, perhaps 35 Seat of Tom Green County 37 Sums 38 50-50 situations?

40 Duo with the 2003 hit “All the Things She Said” 41 Office building abbr.

43 Dolphins Hall of Famer Larry 44 Place for “Holidays,” according to a 2011 P.J. O’Rourke title 45 Tuck away 46 ___ cheese 47 Reeded instruments 49 “(I Can’t ___) Satisfaction” 52 “Blimey!” blurter 56 Palindromic 1998 Busta Rhymes album 57 “Solaris” author Stanislaw ___ 58 “___ Sharkey” (Don Rickles sitcom of the ‘70s)

Copyright © 2016 Jonesin’ Crosswords. For answers to this puzzle, call: 1-900-226-2800, 99 cents per3minute. Must be 18+ to call. Or to bill to your credit card, call: 1-800-655-6548. Reference puzzle No. 790 CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JULY 28, 2016 • THE PULSE • 29

COLUMN TECH TALK

The Future of Gig-Enabled Telemedicine Two Gig Tank companies bringing doctors to a mobile device near you

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RICH BAILEY

Cowan wants to package the ability to streamvisit your doctor and transmit vital signs taken on a mobile-connected device.”

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

Two of the Gig Tank teams that presented last night are working in slightly different corners of telemedicine.

I interviewed founders of Docity and One-to-One Telehealth a few days before Pitch Night.

Telemedicine itself is far from new.

The combination of a doctor in one location serving patients in many locations through video streaming and a nurse next to the patient to poke, prod and measure at the right times is fast becoming a staple of small town health care, where specialists are relatively scarce.

Aaron Cowan of Docity, is after something a little more audacious. He already has competitors taking aim at the sizable market of people who need something less than lifesaving but not medically trivial. The familiar healthcare quiz question “Should I go to the ER, the doctor or an urgent care center?” has a small but growing fourth choice: “... or open a video chat?”

Like his competitors, Cowan wants to package the ability to stream-visit your doctor and transmit vital signs taken on a mobile-connected device.

But he wants to sell that to you as part of a service bundle from your cable-Internet provider or electric utility. What if EPB or one of its slower competitors could offer 24/7/365 doctor visits for a few dollars more every month? Cowan thinks Docity is the only company working on selling telehealth as a service plan through utility companies.

At this moment, according to Cowan, the consumer hardware available isn’t where it needs to be, but he is hopeful it will be soon. Docity and One-to-One Telehealth are working with the device they see as the best device available now. CliniCloud has a temperature sensor on one end and a stethoscope for heartbeat and lung sounds on the

30 • THE PULSE • JULY 28, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

other, but Cowan is looking forward to something that collects those vitals (and more) and transmits video all in one.

The two companies both use CliniCloud, and One-to-One Telehealth operates on Docity’s software platform, but their approaches to telemedicine are distinct.

Marcus Morgan of One-to-One Telehealth has worked in health care, sees an inefficient health care system and looks for telemedicine solutions that start with the doctor-patient relationship.

“Let’s make this more efficient by introducing telehealth,” he says.

“That’s how we get a better-run doctor’s office and better outcomes in the future.”

Cowan brings a different perspective. He comes from outside the health care industry, but says his four young children have had every health care issue you can imagine, giving him extensive experience on the patient side.

Despite seeing how inefficient health care can be, he holds no grudges.

“There are no villains—not doctors, not patients, not hospitals, not insurance companies,” he says. “It’s kind of like nature. It’s not inherently biased against anyone, it’s just nature.”

The solutions Cowan sees are shaped by his experience in the utility industry: “I view health care the same way I view electricity. It’s something everybody should have. I want reliability,

affordability, sustainability and personalization.”

Docity already has customers paying for its telehealth software platform and is looking for “dating relationships” with potential investors, says Cowan, although the big push for telemedicine as a utility is still in the pitching phase.

“Where we are trending is offering our product directly to consumers or through utilities,” Cowan says. “What we’re doing next is taking a service plan-style to the market, allying with local doctors through affinity partnerships that already have access to every man woman and child in America.”

The two companies are collaborating to create an active pilot program in Chattanooga, including active discussions with EPB and with Cowan’s former local and regional associates in other utilities.

“Docity will be the conduit, the technology connection that sits on top of the Gig that enables anyone who signs up for the service to connect with a local doctor, and that local doctor is One-to-One,” says Cowan.

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CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JULY 28, 2016 • THE PULSE • 31