BICYCLE BROUHAHA • KIDS & CRIME • MEXICAN SOCCER
What Happened To The Icons? by Hellcat News, Views, Arts & Entertainment • August 6 - 12, 2009 • Volume 6, Issue 32 • www.chattanoogapulse.com • pulse news 95.3 WPLZ
CONTENTS T H E P U L S E • C H AT TA N O O G A , T E N N E S S E E • A U G U S T 6 , 2 0 0 9 • V O L U M E 6 , I S S U E 3 0
COVER STORY
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NEWS & VIEWS 6 BEYOND THE HEADLINES
19 ON THE BEAT
Readers respond to Alex Teach.
Freedom of religion: an East Lake story.
9 SHRINK RAP
22 SHADES OF GREEN
What's in the back of your mind?
Yard sales and sustainability.
14 LIFE IN THE NOOG
29 ASK A MEXICAN
How old is old?
Special soccer edition.
ARTS & FEATURES 16 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT By Helene Houses Nothing On is being bankrolled by Dotty Otley, an actress of a certain age who has made a career of playing middle-aged char ladies, bag ladies, and “lollipop” ladies.
18 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT By Stephanie Smith Neshawn Calloway is a fan of Bessie Smith’s…a big fan. Classically trained as a singer, it wasn’t until 1994 that the choral music teacher at the Center for Creative Arts even knew who the “Empress of the Blues” was.
21 FILM FEATURE
By Phillip Johnston In the last five years, Judd Apatow has become an American comedic symbol. His name means money at the box office, for no other filmmaker has the sense of humor of the commercial under-30 crowd so firmly in his grasp.
27 TABLE SERVICE
By Molly Iles Pisa Pizza has been serving up gourmet pizzas, pastas, and sandwiches to Chattanooga residents for almost a decade. Operating out of an old warehouse, complete with garage doors and a tar ceiling, the eatery has become a local favorite with an eclectic atmosphere that caters to a large and diverse range of customers. Cover photograph provided by The Icons
THE ICONS REMASTERED By Hellcat I know it irks a lot of people out there that I write about things that I like or don’t like in my music pieces, and that I word it exactly how I want to word it. I also know that it is bothersome to some that I use my own thoughts and preferences to formulate my own opinions on my chosen topic. It is, indeed baffling, that my opinions and chosen topics are not mirrored by every single reader. Crazy, I know.
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EDITOON LETTERS TO THE EDITOR PULSE BEATS CITY COUNCILSCOPE POLICE BLOTTER CHATTANOOGA STREET SCENE
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A&E CALENDAR NEW IN THEATERS MUSIC CALENDAR NEW MUSIC REVIEWS FREE WILL ASTROLOGY JONESIN’ CROSSWORD
The entire contents of this publication are copyrighted and property of Brewer Media Group. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publishers. The Pulse utilizes freelance writers and the views expressed within this publication are not necessarily the views of the publishers or editors. The Pulse takes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, artwork or other materials.
The
Editoon
by Rick Baldwin
Publisher Zachary Cooper zcooper@chattanoogapulse.com Contributing Editor Janis Hashe jhashe@chattanoogapulse.com News Editor/Art Director Gary Poole gpoole@chattanoogapulse.com Advertising Sales Rick Leavell rleavell@chattanoogapulse.com Leif Sawyer leif@brewermediagroup.com Contributing Writers Gustavo Arellano Rob Brezsny Elizabeth Crenshaw Chuck Crowder Michael Crumb Hellcat Helene Houses Molly Iles Phillip Johnston Matt Jones Louis Lee Kelly Lockhart Ernie Paik Rick Pimental-Habib, Ph.D. Stephanie Smith Alex Teach Editorial Intern Molly Iles
Letters to the Editor question of what’s the lesser of two evils? As for residents being run out of their homes, I have personally seen the codes enforcement office turn a blind eye to all kinds of things only to hassle elderly, poor home owners—and this was in East Chattanooga. Maybe they know something we don’t about future plans for that area and the kick backs are starting for them. In any event, no matter how good development is for a city, someone will always lose. Dana Fly Chattanooga
Editorial Cartoonist Rick Baldwin Art Department Sharon Chambers Kathryn Dunn Kelly Lockhart Damien Power Art Intern Megan Humble Staff Photographer Damien Power Contact Info: Phone (423) 648-7857 Fax (423) 648-7860 E-mail info@chattanoogapulse.com Advertising advertising@chattanoogapulse.com Calendar Listings calendar@chattanoogapulse.com The Pulse is published weekly and is distributed throughout the city of Chattanooga and surrounding communities. The Pulse is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. No person without written permission from the publishers may take more than one copy per weekly issue. The Pulse may be distributed only by authorized distributors.
The Pulse is published by
1305 Carter Street Chattanooga, Tennessee 37402 phone (423) 648-7857 fax (423) 648-7860 Letters to the editor must include name, address and daytime phone number for verification. The Pulse reserves the right to edit letters for space and clarity. Please keep letters within 500 words in length. The Pulse covers a broad range of topics concentrating on culture, the arts, entertainment and local news.
Member
Gentrification Catch-22 It’s definitely a Catch-22 situation [“Social Equity and Chattanooga’s Renewal”]…great for the neighborhoods, great for the people who can AFFORD to live there, great for the city…BUT…I lived in one of the neighborhoods I suspect is where a lot of the displaced moved. I moved out in March due to an increase in petty thefts and property crimes. It’s a shame decent people lost their homes and other decent people had to put up with an increase in slime moving in around them. Which brings you back to the
Jobs…and Communes The issue is JOBS, which create tax revenues, and progress, which ole backwards Chattanooga desperately needs [“Social Equity and Chattanooga’s Renewal”]. Well thought-out gentrification can be accomplished since there’s plenty of nearby land available in outlying places like Dunlap, Falling Water, Soddy Daisy, etc. Create an intentional community like Steve Gaskin’s farm up in Summerville; there’s over 50,000 intentional communities in America today, where the poor can live high on the hog and be taken care of in a commune-type setting. They’re all
over the place in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama already. Don Woods Chattanooga Cracker Cockiness Not to start a storm or anything, because if dude was cocky, dude was cocky [“Cracker and Cheese”], but just to clarify, he was probably talking about Camper Van Beethoven, his other band, when saying his band was the first indie rock band. And that may very well be. To quote Metroactive Music: “Without Camper Van Beethoven, there would be no indie rock. They’re really sorry about that.” Fritz Amber Chattanooga The Human Hurricane Well done Crowda head [“The Ballad of Chuck Jennings”, Life In The Noog]. Chuck was a human hurricane. True original. I miss him every day. I was at that Go-Go show as well. Truly dangerous. The ’80s were a fine time to play music there. Lack of hope makes for great art. “It’ll be busy later...I’m counting on it.” Jeb Johnson Chattanooga
Send all letters to the editor and questions to info@chattanoogapulse.com We reserve the right to edit letters for content and space. Please include your full name, city and contact information.
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Pulse Beats
Quote Of The Week: “That's a bunch of hogwash. That is not in their urban growth plan.”
A rundown of the newsy, the notable, and the notorious...
— County Commissioner Larry Hullander, responding to City Council Chairman Jack Benson's claim that if Chattanooga doesn't annex targeted neighborhoods, other cities in the county will.
Keeping Kids’ Lives OnPoint Boys & Girls Club Reaches Out to At-Risk Kids
By Rebecca Cruz rebecca@brewermediagroup.com The Pulse has teamed up with 95.3 Pulse News, Power 94 and the new local web site ChattanoogaCrime.com to present a twoweek series of stories about crime and crime prevention in the Chattanooga region.
The OnPoint Organization, formerly known as “Why Know,” is one of many local organizations that have restructured some of their programs to combat increasing gang activity. The organization, which was originally created in an effort to curb teenage pregnancy rates, has evolved into a program designed to give teenagers the tools and resources to make healthy lifestyle choices. Program Specialist Ed Hines explains why teenagers are often attracted to joining a gang. “The gang shows them love, the gang shows them acceptance, as far as being a part of something. But they help them achieve something that’s not positive.” OnPoint strives to combat that attraction to joining a gang by giving teenagers a positive alternative. Hines says he does this by giving teenagers a positive role model through what he describes as “tough love.” “A lot of these kids come from singleparent homes. And they need direction. I give them aspirations, and encouragement. You know, I encourage them to go to college, if that’s what they dream to do, or, stay in school, just encourage them to become positive members of our community. I’m in their corner. If they do something wrong, or make a bad choice, I tell them. But I’m still in their corner. That’s tough love,” explains Hines. Hines says many more volunteers are needed to reach more kids in this same way. One Teen’s Story Linton Jackson walks into OnPoint Program Specialist Ed Hine’s office. Clean-cut and dressed in a three-piece suit, Linton hopes to discuss his future plans with Hines. Now 18, Linton aspires to attend a prestigious culinary school in Atlanta, become a chef and, one day, open his own restaurant. His future is admittedly brighter that he would have imagined just a few short years ago. At a young age, Linton started hanging out with what he describes now as “a bad crowd.” From stealing to vandalizing property, to getting into frequent fights, Linton explains, he started getting into trouble with authorities, including law enforcement in his early teens, “I
was getting into fights all the time, like every single day some weeks. I was getting suspended from school, I actually got expelled from school. And I actually went to Juvenile Detention four times… twice for running away, twice for misconduct.” All this happened by the time Linton was in 10th grade. Although Linton chose not to join a gang, he was often pressured by neighborhood peers to do so. “My neighborhood…that was the area of the Crips. There’s always somebody who’s like, ‘Oh, man come on and join. We’ll have your back!’ But, I’m too independent, first of all. Second of all, there was too many people getting shot, too many people getting killed, too many people going to jail,” Linton recounts. It was during that phase of his life that Linton met Ed Hines, who became his friend and a father figure. Linton credits Ed’s encouragement and the OnPoint Progam for steering him to make better decisions with his future than he had made in his past. Linton admits, “If it wasn’t for Mr. Hines and OnPoint, I’d probably be doing the same things I see these other kids doing. Most of them are on drugs, girls are pregnant, they’re in gangs.” Linton explains that the OnPoint program gave him positive ways to spend his time, as well as focus he had been missing. Now, he gives back to the program by speaking to kids headed down the same path he once was, and encourages them to join into some positive extracurricular activities instead. Linton still faces obstacles, though. While Linton is hesitant to admit it, he’s currently struggling to come up with enough money to pay for attendance at Cordon Bleu Culinary School in Atlanta. He’s about $1,800 short for tuition and expenses. However, Linton refuses to give up hope of attending the school or his dream of becoming a chef and business owner. He vows to do whatever it takes to achieve his dream: “I keep telling myself, it’s going to be way worth it, which it is, in order to reach my goal!” For more information about the OnPoint Program: www.liveonpoint.org
Many local organizations with missions to give young people positive alternatives have been impacted tremendously by increasing gang activity in Chattanooga, and have adjusted accordingly. One such agency is the Boys & Girls Club of Chattanooga. President Michael Cranford says he’s seen signs of increasing gang activity for more than a decade. Cranford says he’s had countless teenagers in his program make the decision to join gangs. “It’ll break your heart,” he says. “I’m talking about some of these 13, 14, 15 year olds…I mean, they don’t even know what they’ve done.” Cranford says gang activity has brought its share of tragedy to members of the program, “Last summer, one of our kids got shot and killed, not because he was in a gang, but, because he was in a place where something popped off. Guys end up shooting at each other, and he caught one in the chest and died. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he lost his life.” That’s why the Boys & Girls Club has expanded programs specifically for teenagers by adding Teen Leadership and College-Bound programs designed to continue giving teens ways to positively spend their time, in hope they will choose not to use that time engaging in gang, or other illegal activities. However, as the Boys & Girls Club can reach only a small percentage of at-risk kids in the area, Cranford says more must be done. “Many times, because of where these kids live, there’s a lack of jobs and opportunities. There’s little opportunity for these kids to earn money in a positive way. So, we as a community have to figure out how to provide more jobs, and ways for these kids to make the money they need and want that will be beneficial for everyone. Because, they will find other ways to make money, illegally or otherwise,” Cranford explains. Cranford says funding and community involvement could make a huge impact in expanding programs like those at the Boys and Girls Club of Chattanooga, “Volunteering, mentoring these kids to give them a positive role model, someone who can tell them ‘I succeeded by going to school and working hard. You can do this, too….’ That’s what will make a difference in these kids’ lives.” For more information about the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chattanooga online, go to www.bgccha.org
Here is one of the more interesting agenda items set to be discussed at the August 11 meeting of the Chattanooga City Council.
5. Ordinances - Final Reading: a) An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 24, Sections 24-474, 24-476, 24-477, 24-482, and add Section 24-483 relative to bicycles. What with all the recent brouhaha about bicycles in these very pages, it seems oddly appropriate that the City Council is also looking at amending and updating the existing cycling laws. Many of the changes are minor and are mainly to clarify existing laws to clean up ambiguous language, while others are to bring the city in line with state law. Sec. 24-474 would make it illegal to ride on a bike that did not have a permanent seat; Sec. 24-476 says that cyclists must ride as close as practical to the right side of the road; Sec. 24-477 limits the number of cyclists riding abreast to no more than two, and further makes it illegal to impede reasonable movement of traffic; Sec. 24-482 sets the conditions for brakes, which are required on all bicycles. The new section, 24-483, is a confirmation of existing state law that requires all motor vehicle operators to keep a minimum of three foot distance between themselves and a cyclist when passing and shall maintain that clearance until safely past the overtaken bicycle. City council members have publically stated several times that they want to make Chattanooga a bicycle-friendly community, and hopefully these new and clarified laws will help in building such. The Chattanooga City Council meets each Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the City Council Building at 1000 Lindsay St. For more information on the agendas, visit www.Chattanooga.gov/City_ Council/110_Agenda.asp
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Beyond The Headlines
Readers Respond To Alex Teach Best Movies Sequels 1. The Godfather, Part 2 Director Francis Ford Coppola took a major risk in disconnecting the linear timeline of the story. 2. The Empire Strikes Back Father/son issues and one of the greatest space battles of all time, transcended popcorn sci-fi franchise into high art. 3. Toy Story 2 The simple premise that toys are meant to be played with was the beating heart of a spectacular filmmaking achievement. 4. Terminator: Judgment Day Not only advanced the state of CGI art but gave us one of the best female roles in the traditionally male action-movie genre. 5. Batman Begins Christopher Nolan was able to relaunch the mythos into a new and extremely dark direction. 6. Star Trek II – The Wrath of Khan Ricardo Montalban made one of the best movies villains of all time. 7. Silence Of The Lambs Not many people realize that this was in fact a sequel to Michael Mann’s Manhunter. 8. Army Of Darkness One of the most quotable movies of all time, Sam Raimi’s cult classic elevated Bruce Campbell from B-movie god to B-movie immortal.
From the Publisher: We received a flood of responses and reactions to last week’s “On The Beat” column from Alex Teach (“Combustion Engines—The Preferred Method”). Many of you thought his column was in poor taste or even hostile towards cyclists. We invited Alex Teach to write a response to the critical letters, which he did. You can find that at www.chattanoogapulse.com, as well as all of the posts and letters sent to us. The Pulse has been in the midst of controversy many times in our six-year history. Sometimes it’s been generated by a cover story or a news item. Sometimes the controversy is generated by an opinion expressed by a columnist. Alex Teach is a columnist and his contributions are his observations and A lot of people try to justify poor judgment with freedom of speech or that it was just a satire or a joke. You are welcome to satirize the writing of the newspaper or bicyclists. I would think that both are too easy a target but they are both fair game. The problem is that your article is not very well written. The major flaw is that your two “satires” are introduced and tied together by a hit and run incident. Maybe someone is a good enough writer to pull that off without the incident becoming the focal point, but you weren’t. The context and what you actually said leads the reader to think that you thought the hit and run was funny and that the cyclist got what he deserved for riding on the road. The fact that you represent yourself as a law enforcement officer makes this perception even worse. The derogatory remark towards the driver does nothing to negate that. It really doesn’t matter if you didn’t intend that. It is there. JW Wikle Chattanooga Alex, while the cycling community may appear to be taking itself too seriously at this time, bear in mind there have been two deaths of cyclists in nearby Scottsboro this past week. We’ve also had two separate incidents of motorists deliberately ramming cyclists with their vehicles on Highway 41 within the past four weeks. So, there’s
9. Spiderman 2 Teenage insecurity, unrequited love, a villain with more than one dimension (all hail Alfred Molina), and far better special effects than the first film. And a Bruce Campbell cameo. 10. Caddyshack 2 Just kidding.
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his opinions. We allow opinions to be expressed in The Pulse and we stand behind that right. There are folks on our staff who took offense to Teach’s opinion in that column, and his opinions do not necessarily reflect those of our parent company, Brewer Media Group. But if we constantly edited our pages according a collective jury of tastemakers, the dialogue that we strive to spark on a wide range of topics is lost. The fact that you have a locally owned, independent weekly newspaper inherently means that you may, at times, absolutely despise something we publish. Opinions on what is “distasteful” and “fit for publishing” vary from person to person. And so, the whole world keeps spinning ’round. The following are a selected group of the responses to this column. — Zack Cooper, Publisher, The Pulse
a high degree of sensitivity about this issue and it’s particularly disappointing to have someone whose sworn duty is to serve and protect apparently making light of these incidents. At this time, and under these circumstances, you’re apparently condoning these senseless unprovoked acts of violence while subtly suggesting that your views are representative of the police force as a whole. So, while you’re entitled to voice your opinion, I’d certainly question whether that opinion is encouraging further incidents of this kind. You have a talent for writing, and you’re very persuasive. Please consider how you’re swaying opinions, and what the consequences may be. Norman Els Chattanooga I do not want you fired for your opinion. That you see all cyclists as arrogant because of the phrasing chosen by a reporter though…I find your attacks once again misguided. It is not the cycling community, as has been pointed out before, that chose that phrase. I could also point out that much like anything else, it’s possible to be an “up and coming” anything without curing cancer. You can be an “up and coming” golfer, as once Tiger Woods was called. You can be an “up and coming” and “prominent” newspaper columnist. You can even be an “up and
coming” lawyer. Surprisingly little is required for the title. Do cyclists take themselves too seriously? Perhaps. Perhaps it only seems that way to fat folk sitting on their couches raising their risk of heart failure and diabetes because “by gosh-a-golly them thar cyclists are too dang healthy and too dang proud of it. If they’d just get a beer gut and quit talkin’ about healthy, sustainable lifestyles maybe they’d be more tolerable.” Cat Thornton Chattanooga This article Alex wrote last week is a clear window into the psyche of someone aspiring to be a cop. The megalomaniacal tones of his rants show how jaded he must be in order to look down on the scourge of the earth, like Batman protecting both sinners and saints of Gotham. I’m still unclear if his bias is based on racial tendencies or if it’s strictly a socio-economic preference that he has developed. And, just so we’re clear, who doesn’t consider “liquor and tobacco” a vice? We should all take note from Alex on how pounding shots on the front porch is far more beneficial to society than playing “hippie” sports like ultimate or, God forbid, bicycling. Alex, your rants embody exactly the kind of asshole attitude that makes law-abiding citizens hate cops like yourself. Way to keep it real! M. Boaz Chattanooga Yes you have the right to free speech (within limits), but you also have responsibilities both as a private citizen and particularly as a member of the law enforcement community. It was arguably an irresponsible column as a private citizen. It was utterly irresponsible to write what you did as a police officer. The idea that you might be disciplined, sanctioned or otherwise for that irresponsible tirade would suit me just fine. A person’s right to speak his or her mind should never win out over a greater responsibility to hold ones speech in check. Jeff Clumpner Chattanooga
A weekly roundup of the newsworthy, notable and often head-scratching stories gleaned from police reports from the Chattanooga Police Department, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, the Bradley County Sheriff’s Department and the Dalton Police Department.
Chattanooga office at 634-6898.
• A $2,500 cash reward is being offered by a group of local bicyclists for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a hit-and-run motorist. Back on July 20, two cyclists were riding on Highway 41 about two miles south of Haletown when a silver car left the passing lane and struck one of the riders in the slow lane. The impact broke the leg of one rider and knocked him into the second rider, who was also injured. The impact broke the driver’s rightside rear view mirror, which was recovered at the scene. If you have any info about the driver of the car, please contact the Tennessee Highway Patrol
• A man coming out of a Brainerd Road nightclub was accosted by man whose street name is that of a Chinese island. The oddly nicknamed man, who appears to have been armed, relieved the club-goer of approximately $4,000 in cash and then ran to a nearby vehicle. However, the occupants of the car refused to let him in, forcing him to flee on foot to a nearby shopping center. Why the nightclubber was out on the town with four grand in cash, however, was not explained in the police report. • A popular Southside restaurant, which had installed a new security system after being broken into, was victimized again by what appears to the same thief. However, this time around, thanks to the new alarm, an employee was able to spot the thief right after he attempted to break into the restaurant, and chased him for several blocks before the thief got away. Officers found a garbage bag on the scene with several bottles of liquor inside that the thief had
Chattanooga Street Scenes
dropped as he fled. The robber was described as a white man in his twenties with a beard, who wore all black clothing and a black hat. • One of the appeals of motorcycles is their ability to accelerate quickly. However, one Atlanta man who made a trip up to North Georgia went a bit behind reasonable speed when he was clocked by state troopers at a mind-boggling 170 mph. He was chased through Whitfield County and into Catoosa County before he was finally stopped, then was charged with failure to obey a traffic control device, driving without a license, unsafe operation of a motorcycle, no proof of insurance, improper passing, driving on the wrong side of the road, attempting to elude a police officer, speeding using all lanes while fleeing, reckless driving and improper lane change. His mother told reporters, “He just wasn’t thinking clearly” when he led police on the chase. Photography by Kelly Lockhart
Daytime napping at Miller Park downtown.
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Shrink Rap
What’s In the Back Of Your Mind? By Rick Pimental-Habib, Ph.D www.DrRPH.com
I
like to think about inspiration. What it is, where it comes from, how to find it, create it, how it serves my life, your life, how to open the door when it knocks. Sometimes folks ask me where I find inspiration for writing or speaking, and I’m quick to say that I find it all around me, all the time. Well, all the time when I’m paying attention, that is. If you’re a regular “Shrink Rap” reader, then you’ll likely remember past columns discussing what I’ve come to think of as “the art of listening to the universe.” What I mean by that is the experience of being in a quiet and receptive state, to pick up on guidance, lessons, inspiration that’s coming at you, usually from several directions, until you “get it.” For instance, walking with Betty the wonderpup along our hiking trail. I might notice a slight chill in the air and the leaves starting to change color. On the way home we stop at a Starbucks drive-through and the gal at the window is named Autumn. (Cue Twilight Zone theme music.) At home there’s a Discovery channel documentary about life stages…and my mom calls with news about the health of an older family member. H’mmm… What’s up with this? Has something simply sitting on my unconscious been stimulated by my surroundings and brought up to the surface? Was I already thinking of the seasons so that anything to do with the subject further catches my attention? (Sort of like when you buy a blue car you begin to notice all the blue cars on the road?) Is there a lesson I’m unconsciously wrestling with that the universe has decided to nurture along, helping me find my answers? Is a Higher Power speaking to me, imploring me to awaken, listen, and absorb? Maybe it’s a bit of all of these.
I tend to think we co-create our lives, our emotional/intellectual/ spiritual universe, as we go along. We’re in a partnership with Divine Creation that actively engages us in a dance. A coinci-dance. What we think, we become. Further, what we think about, and thank about, we attract more of. What’s in the back of our minds tends to show up, somehow, somewhere. It becomes I-coulda-had-a-V-8 obvious when we’re listening and receptive; and we blindly stumble over it when we’re not. What would happen if we all start to pay closer attention to the common thread that connects, for example, our thoughts, conversations with friends, books we’re reading, e-mails we’re opening, dreams we’re having, sermons we’re hearing, inspiration that arises during meditation or prayer. All the signs along the journey. This, my friends, is paying attention. It is tuning in to what’s all around you, as well as within you. It’s embracing what’s in the back of your mind as well as right in front of your face. This is living consciously. So today, as I was thinking about inspiration, and listening, I decided to open an e-mail from a friend that had been sitting, unread, in my inbox for a couple of weeks, just waiting till I could make time to sit and enjoy it. It included a short video on something called the “Smover Movement,” which, I found out, has to do with happiness, attitude, gladly being of service to others, complaining less, seizing life’s challenges (which are just opportunities in disguise), making an impact, and more. And wouldn’t you know, it provided me with inspiration. Maybe you’re in the mood for some inspiration yourself today. Maybe that’s why you’re reading this. H’mmm… Here are some “Smover” highlights I want to share with you (For more, check out SmileAndMove.com): 1.
Connect with each other
“I tend to think we co-create our lives, our emotional/ intellectual/ spiritual universe, as we go along. We’re in a partnership with Divine Creation that actively engages us in a dance. A coinci-dance.” 2. Listen, watch, ask 3. Happily lend a hand…when it’s not convenient 4. Complain less, smile more 5. Don’t settle…make every moment count. 6. Give no excuses 7. Happiness begins with attitude 8. You’re at my service and I’m at yours 9. To make an impact: give, love, do more 10. Be thankful Here’s to good listening and great inspiration. Until next week: “Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember, the only taste of success some people get is to take a bite out of yours.” — Zig Ziglar Dr. Rick Pimental-Habib, Ph.D., is a psychotherapist, minister, and educator, in private practice in Chattanooga, and is the author of “Empowering the Tribe” and “The Power of a Partner.” Visit his web site at www.DrRPH.com where you can email your questions and comments.
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Cover Story
What Happened To The Icons?
"I enjoy a band that makes it look easy to be talented, but actually know the notes that they are playing, while the song itself is layered with melodic twists and creative technical stretches. I also thrive on intellectual rock, the kind that has lyrics that are either so insightful you wish you had come up with it for your MySpace headline, or so sarcastic you feel the need to explain it before you play it for anyone." 95.3 Pulse News www.chattanoogapulse.com 8.6.09 The Pulse
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Cover Story
The Icons Remastered By Hellcat
I
know it irks a lot of people out there that I write about things that I like or don’t like in my music pieces, and that I word it exactly how I want to word it. I also know that it is bothersome to some that I use my own thoughts and preferences to formulate my own opinions on my chosen topic. It is, indeed baffling, that my opinions and chosen topics are not mirrored by every single reader. Crazy, I know, but we have a team of our top scientists looking into it. Until then, I suppose I will just have to tell you about something that I think is awesome. I moved back to Chattanooga in late 2003, and was disappointed when I returned to the music scene. The local bands I had liked the first time around had moved, broken up, or were stagnant, waiting on a replacement musician for whatever reason. Maybe I didn’t know where to look at the time, but beyond the thriving punk scene, (Jack Palance Band, Panty Shanty, Friday Knight, The Morons, Queerwulf, Shadowbuilder, Mister Blister, etc.) I couldn’t find anything in town that really grabbed me. I ended up returning to Knoxville every other weekend to enjoy a music scene that I found to be more versatile and embracing, as opposed to limited and volatile. Granted, I tripped and fell over some good bands while trying to bring in Dixie Dirt or Divorce from Knoxville, like Zombie Army and Gold, but even they didn‘t
“The addition gives the music much more power in the way of pop rock. It’s kind of like they had the original poprock candy, and just added some Key Cola to make your face explode. “ 12
stick around long. It was around this time, in early 2005, that I was about to give up on Chattanooga and its music scene, and continue to claim we had nothing on Knoxville. Luckily for me, my pal Braly twisted my arm into going to a CIA Music Awards show at Rhythm & Brews. It was then that I found my new favorite local band: The Icons. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t have to know you to like your music. I didn’t really know anyone in the band at that time, or at least I didn’t recognize them. There wasn’t a mosh pit, there was no jumping around on stage, and there was really no need for it. The fluidity and complete nonchalance with which they played appealed to me. I enjoy a band that makes it look easy to be talented, but actually know the notes that they are playing, while the song itself is layered with melodic twists and creative technical stretches. I also thrive on intellectual rock, the kind that has lyrics that are either so insightful you wish you had come up with it for your MySpace headline, or so sarcastic you feel the need to explain it before you play it for anyone. The Icons have this down. One of their songs, and my personal favorite, “Good to be Great”, describes the assumed easy life of having celebrity status. Some people I’ve spoken with have interpreted it to be a literal song, praising the lifestyle, when it’s truly meant to make fun of it. Either way, it’s catchy. It’s good to be great in the modern day Where everyone’s poor but you don’t have to pay. Oh well. You slip in while we blend in and wait. Oh well. It’s good to be great no matter what people say. Everybody wants something more. Someone they can adore. Everybody needs a brilliant show. Well here ya go. The spotlight shines on a brilliant mind, Even if and when it gets out of line. No one seems to notice. The camera’s still in focus.
Another song, “Best of Days,” is an ironic ode to the nightlife:
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These are the best times of our short lives Even though we all the know the hard times Are coming fast to stay. This is the best night of my whole life. Grab a glass and then pass it my way. I’ll see you when we wake. Time will pass. Make it last.
Make the best of days; then drink them all away Until they’re gone. Needless to say, I was stoked about the band. Finally, someone I can support and come to see! I made it a point to commit this band to memory and planned on going to every show. Well, as much as we hate it, we all know that life happens and inevitably you miss a show or two. I tried to make up for it by poring over the weekly calendars, just hoping to see their name. Wait, wait a minute…where did they go? The Icons fell off the map for a while in 2006 when Tim Medlin, the front man, took a job in Nashville. He had the intention of starting something up there but when that job went sour he ended up back here. Since then, it has been a struggle to put the band back together, playing what seemed like an endless session of musician musical chairs. The original members were Tim Medlin, Jason Ewton, Kenny Kenniman, and VJ Maxwell. Over the past several years, Chris Eves, Leticia Wolf, Ryan Fortenberry, and Adam Brown have also been in and out of the mix. Finally, it seems that the new line-up has been solidified. As it stands now, Tim Medlin is the lead singer and rhythm guitar player, as well as the mad scientist of beats. Jason Ewton plays lead guitar and sings back-up vocals. Chris Eves
Cover Story plays bass, and Josh Cannon plays drums. Jason Reed, from Double Dick Slick, is on keys and synthesizer. The keys and synth are new elements to the band that were always meant to be a part of the music but just never happened until now. The addition gives the music much more power in the way of pop rock. It’s kind of like they had the original pop-rock candy, and just added some Key Cola to make your face explode. I went to see them this past weekend at the Hard Rock in Atlanta, and it would seem they finally found the magic combination. Our Chattanooga boys are all grown up. Hellcat: What do you think about being part of The Icons? Jason Reed: I have always been really impressed with Tim and his songwriting abilities as well as his instructional abilities. Josh Cannon: I enjoy it. It’s different for me. I played metal my whole life but it is refreshing to me to play this type of music. When I was asked to play, I hadn’t been doing anything for about six months and was really ready to play. I like a lot of bands in this genre, like Jimmy Eat World and the Foo Fighters. Tim gives me full freedom to add a bit of flash to the ideas already on the table. HC: Describe the sound of The Icons. JR: Rock. JC: Power-pop. Jason Ewton: Edgy pop-rock with a temporal subtext. Chris Eves: Lunchtime rock. Tim Medlin: Sounds like: Weezer, The Killers, Jimmy Eat World, Motion City Soundtrack, and C & C Music Factory. HC: Tim, how did you get into music originally? TM: I was forced into three or four years of piano as a kid. I hated it then, but am grateful for it now. There was always a piano in the house to play around on while I was growing up. I didn’t start playing guitar until I was 17. I joined my first band about a year later. I was a pretty terrible guitar player, but there were two other guitar players in the band that took my simple chord structures or picking patterns and turned them into something much better. Being around musicians with much more experience than I has ended up being a great learning experience. I picked up bass somewhere a long the way and have played bass in a few projects. HC: Describe your songwriting process. TM: It can be a pretty long process, really. Sometimes an interesting line pops into my head and that’s where it starts, but usually the melody comes first. I’ll sacrifice some lyrical content for a strong melody. If I write a part that I really like but have trouble finding the next part, then I usually just set it aside and try something else. I can always try to use it later when I’m in the same situation. It’s nice to kind of keep a catalog of unused parts
to pull from when you need them. Once I have most of the parts transitioning well, I usually record a demo with some simple drums, bass, my guitar parts and vocals along with any other second guitar parts I think need to be there. At this point, Ewton and I can sit down and throw around ideas for the second guitar part. We like for the second guitar parts to have memorable melodies of their own. The demo is a big help in making sure that the other parts complement the vocal melody without stepping on it. He’ll throw out ideas for unfinished parts or anything he thinks could make the song better. A lot of times he’ll help out with the lyrics too. If I’m having trouble finishing something up, or I’m just being lazy, he’s good about throwing out some good lines or even an entire verse. At this point, we can take the song to practice for everyone to add their own thing to it. Josh and Reed are really good about coming into practice with some improvements they’ve come up with. Everyone collaborates on the original ideas really well. HC: What is different this time around? TM: This line-up is the first time we’ve been able to throw keys into the mix. It makes a huge difference, in my opinion. There are a lot of lead guitar melodies that were always meant to be synth parts, and the pads add a nice thickness to the songs. I think there’s a lot more collaboration
this time around, too. I’m a bit less stubborn and more open to ideas without being dead set on the original ideas. There are three songwriters in this band, and Chris is also a guitarist and drummer, so everyone knows how the other instruments work. HC: Are you happy with the line-up now? TM: Yeah. Visit myspace.com/theicons for more information about the band. The Icons will be playing this weekend at Midtown Music Hall with Soulbread, a band originally from here that has relocated to Atlanta. Soulbread also has a new line-up. From what I saw this past weekend, it is working out for them. Overzealous, an awesome band out of Nashville, will also be playing Friday, with a local favorite and Icons alumnus, Adam Brown on drums. This weekend will be full of familiar faces, come out and support them! Also, there will be drink specials, and door incentives for those of you who show up before 9:30 p.m. See you there!
The Icons with Overzealous and Soulbread $7 Friday, August 7 9 p.m. Midtown Music Hall, 820 Georgia Avenue (423) 752-1977. www.midtownmusichall.com
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Life In The Noog
How Old Is Old? By Chuck Crowder www.thenoog.com
T
he other day a friend mentioned that the dress she was wearing is “vintage.” I commented that it looked more “antique” than “vintage.” And instead of slapping me across the face in disgust at my implication that she might be wearing one of granny’s old gowns, she thought about it for a minute and said, “No, it’s not that old.” You see, my friend obviously knew her “old stuff” terminology. She must have remembered that, according to U.S. Customs laws, an item isn’t considered “antique” unless it was produced 100 years before the purchase date. For automobiles, it’s just 25 years. That means if you’re driving a 1984 AMC Gremlin in good condition, then you’d better throw a car cover on it, ’cause it’s now considered a “classic.” Speaking of “classic,” that term can be misleading at times. In advertising, “classic” suggests that a certain product has been popular for so long that, while other products have lost their way over time and evolved into new scents, tastes, and strengths, this particular item is the same old, trusted friend you’ve placed in the shopping cart for years—so don’t worry. Coca-Cola is a textbook example of using the term to its ultimate advantage when the company covered up its ’80s “New Coke” debacle by re-releasing the recipe that shouldn’t have been tampered with in the first
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place as “Coca-Cola Classic.” I bet the CEO responsible for New Coke is still flipping burgers somewhere. Another term I question is “old fashioned.” Country Time “Old Fashioned” Lemonade. Really? You mean to tell me there are sketchy concoctions out there calling themselves “lemonade” that are merely rogue facsimiles of how good this refreshing beverage USED to taste? Thank God the fine folks at Country Time are keepin’ it real for the peeps. This brings us back to the lovely dress my lady-friend was wearing. It was in fact, “vintage.” What is vintage? To me, vintage describes an “original” something or other. For example, your Farrah Fawcett poster is “vintage” because it was purchased upon its release back in the ’70s with your weekly allowance and you couldn’t wait to get it home and post it on the wall as if she was actually “hanging out” in your room (like Lee Majors would ever let that happen). They don’t make those posters any more (damn it!), so they are truly vintage. But something doesn’t necessarily have to be discontinued to be vintage. If I still owned the checkerboard Vans I had back in 1985, then they would be considered vintage…and smelly. But you can still buy Vans checkerboard shoes, because they’ve released some sort of “retro” line. “Retro” is something new made to look like something old. Like the old concert T-shirts that Target and Urban Outfitters carry. If that intentionallyweathered “Journey—Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’ Tour 1979” shirt is real, then how come there are so many left over? (Rhetorically speaking, of
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course.) And kids, you’re not fooling anybody. Everyone knows that neither you, nor your parents, saw one show of Led Zeppelin’s “1977 Tour of the Americas.” You weren’t even born yet and your parents were likely sitting in some grade school cafeteria gnawing on a homemade PB&J back then. But retro is cool. I get it. “Revival,” on the other hand, sometimes isn’t. That’s when they try and breathe new life into something that has been used over, and over, and over again until it has no meaning left in it at all. Like the Cricket wireless commercials with the series of tweens singing Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.” First of all, the producers probably had to show them all an “old fashioned” newsreel of her singing it, because I doubt any of those “retro” acting kids had ever heard this “classic” song before. But hey, at least it wasn’t James Brown’s “I feel good.” That’s about it. Everything else is just plain “old.” I don’t look nostalgically at my half-loaf of bread that has turned moldy over time. I haven’t ever kept a pair of holey socks because they held some special memories of shoes gone by. And when the conversation turns stale, I’m always the first to change the subject. It’s all about keeping things fresh—whether it’s out with the old, or in with the new. Chuck Crowder is a local writer and general man about town. His opinions are just that. Everything expressed is loosely based on fact, and crap he hears people talking about. Take what you just read with a grain of salt, but pepper it in your thoughts. And be sure to check out his wildly popular website www.thenoog.com
“Something doesn’t necessarily have to be discontinued to be vintage. If I still owned the checkerboard Vans I had back in 1985, then they would be considered vintage…and smelly.”
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15
Arts & Entertainment
Sex Please, We’re British By Helene Houses
F
ull Disclosure. Although an ideal name for one of the British sex farces parodied so brilliantly in Michael Frayn’s Noises Off!, now on the MainStage at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre, I’m actually using the phrase to admit that as a student actor in London, I once appeared in a play epitomizing the genre, Not Now Darling. This of course only added to my glee in watching the CTC’s production. And I have to tell you what makes the onstage and backstage antics even funnier is that they aren’t all that far from the truth. Frayn’s 1982 script has been presented constantly by professional and community theatres since its premiere, for one very good reason: It’s hilarious. The three-act play follows the increasingly dysfunctional journey of the Otsar Productions Ltd “world premiere” of Nothing On as it tours British provincial towns Weston-super-Mare, Ashtonunder-Lyne and Stockton-on-Tees.
“Never has any play before or since demanded such orchestrating of door openings, door slammings and sardine totings, and Sweetman is more than equal to the task. Our bonnet is off to him.” The first act is dress/tech rehearsal prior to the play’s opening, the second takes place backstage a month later, and the final act details Nothing On’s implosion during a Wednesday matinee about two months after that. Nothing On is being bankrolled by Dotty Otley,
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an actress of a certain age who has made a career of playing middle-aged char ladies, bag ladies, and “lollipop” ladies. It’s directed by Lloyd Dallas, who made his name directing at the National Theatre of Sri Lanka, and features a cast of has-beens, neverweres and over-the-hills, all of whom continue to take their profession deeply seriously. Note: I highly recommend reading the “programwithin-the-program”, which is worth the price of admission on its own. Three words: On the Zebras. If you are a fan of Brit-coms, prepare to send outraged e-mails to The Pulse after I reveal that I find them stunningly unfunny, as, apparently, does playwright Frayn. Any production of Noises Off! rises or falls on the skill of its director, and Patrick Sweetman earns full marks for this one. Never has any play before or since demanded such orchestrating of door openings, door slammings and sardine totings, and Sweetman is more than equal to the task, showcased in the stage-whispered Act Two. Our bonnet is off to him. J. Kenneth Barnett III has created fabulous and versatile sets for both the onstage and backstage worlds, Paul A. Hartmann’s lighting is cleverly just-a-little-too-comedy-bright for the Nothing On scenes, and Scott Dunlap’s costumes (especially Dotty’s), complete the world askew. Among the cast, Lebron Benton stands out as “Garry Lejeune”, the character played by “Roger Tramplemain”. Tramplemain “while still at drama school won the coveted Laeticia Daintyman Medal for Violence”, according to his “bio”. The lanky Benton’s slapstick and physical comedy skills make him perfect for the hapless actor having an affair with Dotty and reasonably befuddled most of the time. Ray Laliberte as “Selsdon Mowbray”, the actor playing “The Burglar”, is also spot-on, as his hardof-hearing, tippling character is sought, thwarted and excoriated. Laliberte performs one masterful pratfall that’s a highlight. Kudos also to Kelsey Shipley, who not only achieves just the right blank stare, both with and without contact lenses, but manages to do an entire show in her underwear and maintain a certain
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ingénue dignity. One suggestion: A dialect coach would have benefited the “sound” of the play. I wondered if a couple of actors were playing the roles as Americans, but decided they simply weren’t attempting British accents. This was confusing and somewhat distracting, until I got used to it. That quibble aside, Noises Off! is an ideal laughter mini-vacation as we head into August. Since most of us won’t be sunning on the shingle in Brighton, take your seats at the CTC instead and have a Newcastle ale for us.
Noises Off! $10-$20 Through August 16 (www.theatrecentre.com for schedule) Chattanooga Theatre Centre, MainStage, 400 River Street. (423) 267-8534. www.theatrecentre.com
A&E Calendar
Send your calendar events to us at calendar@chattanoogapulse.com
Friday
Thursday
“Accessing the Artist’s Brain: Drawing as a Metaphor” Artist Reception 5:30 p.m. Association for Visual Arts, 30 Frazier Avenue. (423) 265-4282. www.avarts.org
Noises Off! 7 p.m. Chattanooga Theatre Centre, MainStage, 400 River St. (423) 267-8534. The Mystery of the TV Talk Show 7 p.m. Vaudeville Café, 138 Market St. (423) 517-1839. www.funnydinner.com
WE Rock Tour Panel, reception and live music showcase the future of web education. Free. 5:30 p.m. Hunter Museum, 10 Bluff View. (423) 267-0968. www.huntermuseum.org
Adam Hunter 8 p.m. The Comedy Catch, 3224 Brainerd Rd. (423) 629-2233. www.thecomedycatch.com “Jellies: Living Art” Hunter Museum of American Art, 10 Bluff View. (423) 266-0944. Works by Stephen Scott Young Shuptrine Fine Art and Framing, 2646 Broad St. (423) 266-4453.
“Discovery” Opening Reception 6:30 p.m. River Gallery, 400 E. Second St. (423) 265-5033. www.river-gallery.com
HelloWorld.show(); opening reception Nine computer programmers and visual artists are featured in new show.
“Flat Form: free flow” Works by Caroline Patrice Board 7 p.m. Leo Handmade Gallery, 149 River St. (423) 634-0440. www.leogallery.blogspot.com
Free. 6 – 8 p.m. CreateHere, 55 East Main Street. (423) 648-2195. www.createhere.org
Screwtape 7:30 p.m. Ripple Theater, 3264 Brainerd Road, (423) 475-5006. www.rippletheater.com
Saturday
Mystery of the Time Machine 1 p.m. Vaudeville Café, 138 Market St. (423) 517-1839. The Mystery at the Nightmare High School Reunion 6 p.m. Vaudeville Café, 138 Market St. (423) 517-1839.
Intersecting vignettes about love among residents of rural Maine
Michael J.: The Road Less Traveled 7 p.m. Tivoli Theatre, 709 Broad St. (423) 267-8583.
$15 8 p.m. Chattanooga Theatre Centre, Circle Stage, 400 River Street. (423) 267-8534. www.theatrecentre.com
Monday “Speak Easy” spoken word and poetry 8 p.m. Mudpie Restaurant, 12 Frazier Ave. (423) 267-9040. Helen Roberts: “Leo the Lion” Watercolors and Photos from tour of Europe In-Town Gallery, 26A Frazier Ave. (423) 267-9214. Fine Handmade Jewelry by Mary Helen Robert In-Town Gallery, 26A Frazier Ave. (423) 267-9214. www.intowngallery.com “The Other Race in Chattanooga: Native Americans” Hunter Museum of American Art, 10 Bluff View. (423) 266-0944. www.thehoustonmuseum.com
Adam Hunter 7:30 p.m. & 10 p.m. The Comedy Catch & Giggles Grille, 3224 Brainerd Rd. (423) 629-2233. Noises Off! 8 p.m. Chattanooga Theatre Centre, MainStage, 400 River St. (423) 267-8534. Almost, Maine 8 p.m. Chattanooga Theatre Centre, Circle Stage, 400 River St. (423) 267-8534. The Mystery of Flight 138 8:30 p.m. Vaudeville Café, 138 Market St. (423) 517-1839.
Sunday Mosaic Market 11 a.m. 412 Market St. (corner of 4th/Market) (423) 624-3915.
Almost, Maine
Rosemary Leaves 7:30 p.m. Chattanooga State Humanities Auditorium, 4501 Amnicola Hwy. (423) 697-4404.
Adam Hunter 7:30 p.m. & 10 p.m. The Comedy Catch & Giggles Grille, 3224 Brainerd Rd. (423) 629-2233.
Screwtape 2:30 p.m. Ripple Theater, 3264 Brainerd Road, (423) 475-5006. www.rippletheater.com
Screwtape 7:30 p.m. Ripple Theater, 3264 Brainerd Road, (423) 475-5006.
Noises Off! 2:30 p.m. Chattanooga Theatre Centre, MainStage, 400 River St. (423) 267-8534. www.theatrecentre.com
Rosemary Leaves 7:30 p.m. Chattanooga State Humanities Auditorium, 4501 Amnicola Hwy. (423) 697-4404.
Rosemary Leaves
Noises Off! 8 p.m. Chattanooga Theatre Centre, MainStage, 400 River St. (423) 267-8534.
Rex Knowles’s play about a psychiatric patient driven to violence.
Neshawn Calloway: Blues Beyond 7 p.m. Mountain Arts Community Center, 809 Kentucky Ave, Signal Mountain. (423) 886-1959
The Mystery of the RedneckItalian Wedding 8:30 p.m. Vaudeville Café, 138 Market St. (423) 517-1839.
$10. 2:30 p.m. Humanities Theatre, Chattanooga State, 4501 Amnicola Highway. (423) 697-3257.
Tuesday
Wednesday
“Coal Miners Health in Appalachia” Photo Exhibit Downtown Public Library, 1001 Broad St. (423) 757-1310. www.lib.chattanooga.gov “Windows on the West: Views From the American Frontier” Hunter Museum of American Art, 10 Bluff View. (423) 266-0944. “Cultural Fragments” Lookout Mountain Gallery, 3914 St. Elmo Ave. (423) 394-1071. “Accessing the Artist’s Brain: Drawing as Metaphor” Association for Visual Arts, 30 Frazier Ave. (423) 265-4282. HelloWorld.Show(); Create Here, 55 East Main St. Ste. 105. (423) 648-2195.
Adam Hunter 8 p.m. The Comedy Catch, 3224 Brainerd Rd. (423) 629-2233. www.thecomedycatch.com “Discovery” River Gallery, 400 E. Second St. (423) 265-5033. “Cultural Fragments” Lookout Mountain Gallery, 3914 St. Elmo Ave. (423) 394-1071.
Editor’s Pick: Featured Event Of The Week
“Jellies: Living Art” Hunter Museum of American Art, 10 Bluff View. (423) 266-0944. www.huntermuseum.org Works by Stephen Scott Young Shuptrine Fine Art and Framing, 2646 Broad St. (423) 266-4453. “A Barage of Butterflies” Houston Museum of Arts, 201 High St. (423) 267-7176. www.thehoustonmuseum.com
Bagels & Barbecue: The Jewish Experience in Tennessee
“Discovery” River Gallery, 400 E. Second St. (423) 265-5033. www.river-gallery.com
Opening day of an exhibit in the Augusta R. Kolwyck Library documenting the history of the Jewish community in Tennessee. Runs through September 16.
“Cultural Fragments” Lookout Mountain Gallery, 3914 St. Elmo Ave. (423) 394-1071. www.lookoutmountaingallery.com
Monday, August 10 Free. 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Hours for other days of the exhibit vary, check web site. Chattanooga State College, 4501 Amnicola Highway. (423) 697-4448. www.library.chattanooga.edu
95.3 Pulse News www.chattanoogapulse.com 8.6.09 The Pulse
17
Arts & Entertainment
Ain’t Nobody’s Business If She Does By Stephanie Smith
N
eshawn Calloway is a fan of Bessie Smith’s…a big fan. Classically trained as a singer, it wasn’t until 1994 that the choral music teacher at the Center for Creative Arts even knew who the “Empress of the Blues” was. “I was hired as an intern at Bessie Smith Hall in 1994,” says Calloway. “My job was to research her life, music, and artifacts. Obviously there was a need for a museum prior to that—people knew she was from Chattanooga. A lot of her performing early in her career was in the South, because it was the only place where she was allowed to perform; it wasn’t until she started recording in 1923 that she moved up north.” While researching Smith’s life, Calloway fell in love with her powerful voice. “Her music was very realistic and people could relate to it. A lot of women could relate to her bad relationships with men, and she drew crowds in because she was a very in-your-face performer. She didn’t explain anything—she did what she wanted to do, how she felt it, in a way that was most meaningful to her.
something better.” That rough-edged voice, combined with soulful phrasing and a powerful stage presence, is what earned Bessie Smith the title of “Empress of the Blues.” Even in the company of other great blues performers of her day, such as Louis Armstrong and Fletcher Henderson, Smith was arguably one of the most successful and highest-paid black performers. Calloway is only one of many to follow in Smith’s footsteps. “She influenced a lot of female singers, like Janis Joplin and Billie Holiday,” enthuses Calloway. “She was a much larger influence outside of the Chattanooga area.” Still, insists Calloway, her importance to Chattanooga’s history cannot be denied. “It’s important for people to know her story because, one, she’s an important part of Chattanooga history, and two, she’s a landmark not only as person but mainly as an artist. People need to become more familiar with her as a blues artist because the blues are such a foundation for a lot of American music.” Calloway is disappointed that she doesn’t see “as much blues as I think there should be in this area. People are doing blues/jazz, but not to the extent that it needs to be featured in this area [where blues originated].” Years ago, Calloway put together this show about Bessie Smith as an educational feature for classes at Chattanooga State, where she was teaching at the time. She has never performed the
“She drew crowds in because she was a very in-your-face performer. She didn’t explain anything—she did what she wanted to do, how she felt it, in a way that was most meaningful to her.” “Listening to her music,” Calloway continues, “I became even more interested in her style; I became more attached to [blues] music listening to her sing. Her voice had rough edges. She was determined to not settle for a mediocre life or music—she wanted
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tribute for the public, and so she is very excited about this performance of Blues & Beyond at the Mountain Arts Community Center on August 8. The first half of the show will be the tribute to Bessie Smith: dialogue about her life in-between favorites such as “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” and “Downhearted Blues”. The second half of the show will feature jazz standards like “My Funny Valentine” and “God Bless the Child”. Calloway will be accompanied by Ronald Calloway on piano and Dexter Bell on bass. If the show is successful in this smaller venue, Calloway says, she will take it to other places in the city. In the meantime, Calloway doesn’t want anyone to have control over her show. In the spirit of the Empress herself, Calloway says, “The best song to describe this show is ‘Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do’. If this is something I have a passion about, I’m gonna do it because it’s something I want to do.”
Blues & Beyond Neshawn Calloway, with featured musicians Ronald Calloway on piano and Dexter Bell on bass $10 at the door 7 p.m., Saturday, August 8 Mountain Arts Community Center, 809 Kentucky Avenue, Signal Mountain. (423) 886-1959
On The Beat
Freedom of Religion: An East Lake Story By Alex Teach
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oddamn pagans. It was the third time in less than a month I had had to respond to negotiate peace between them and the fire marshal, and my patience was wearing thin. The first contact several weeks ago was quite a novelty—and maybe even a pleasure. There I was in East Lake (perilously close to the genetic hinterland known as “Black Bottom” at that), and what do I find but a nest of folks practicing a spiritual tradition from pre-Christian Europe between two addresses hosting open-air drug dealing and the fencing of stolen property. For a guy who shows up to work largely just to see what could possibly happen next, this was a jackpot… but it went from gold to emotional hemorrhoids far more quickly than anticipated. “This is a religious ritual! You can’t do this!” Mr. Farmer loudly proclaimed as a corpse made of cornhusks and reeds lay smoldering behind him. The firemen with 9 Engine rolled their eyes with exasperation, but I never could tell if it was because they were annoyed for the same reasons or experiencing separation anxiety from whatever deviance they had abandoned to respond to the given call for service. Firemen are notorious perverts and it makes them unpredictable, but I suspected in this instance we were on the same page. “That is an effigy,” he proclaimed, “a religious right protected by the Constitution!” I let a pause hang in the air for him to settle down. “That,” I said, “is a fire in your yard within the city limits and it is a violation of both city code and state law.” “Bull!” he said. “That’s part of a ritual and you’re violating our freedom of religion!” He crossed his
arms and raised his chin for effect, confident in his grounding. “No. Actually, your freedom of religion doesn’t trump safety codes put in place by the city and the state. It’s the same reason you can’t walk around naked in your back yard wearing only a crown of vines… remember?” His chin dropped and his confidence faltered at the bad memory that represented our second professional encounter, and he tried to brush the comment aside, but I could see it had rattled him. “That’s on appeal!” was all he could come up with. I was probably one of three guys on the force who had any concept of paganism per se, and that’s being generous. Unfortunately, I also got the feeling I had a better appreciation of it than the practitioners I encountered from time to time. But like cops, they were likely just the few bad apples that poisoned the cornhusks for the rest. It is a nature-based religion in my eyes and has no direct representation of evil, no Devil, and that appeals to me…but the folks I had contact with were more interested in displaying their radical differences on their sleeve than they were displaying the virtues of such a concept. I found this as annoying as I do anyone who is full of shit but doesn’t know it. In this case I confused them on two fronts. One, I had a basic knowledge of what I was dealing with, and two, I didn’t give a shit about their desire for martyrdom and being different for the sake of being different. It seemed to have a disarming effect, but my amusement had faded long ago. “Put the fire out, or I’ll take you to jail for reckless burning, Tommy. Get a permit and do this in the county. We’ve talked about this before.” Tommy glared and clenched his fists, but turned around and walked back into his home, slamming the door hard
“Firemen are notorious perverts and it makes them unpredictable, but I suspected in this instance we were on the same page.” enough to almost knock the wovenvine pentagram off its crude nail. We really had talked about this… photostatic copies of case law and everything and he knew I’d pull them back out of my car, but he still didn’t like it. I appreciate different points of view and different intellectual escapes as much as the next guy, and I don’t even know if it’s the search for new ideas that appeals to me or if it’s a desperate hope that somewhere, something can still shock my senses after the things I’ve seen. Whatever the case, no matter how hard he tried to go against the common conventions of his fellow Americans and how deep a line he was willing to draw in the sand, Tommy forgot one thing: There are Rules. And I was out of coffee. When officer Alexander D. Teach is not patrolling our fair city on the heels of the criminal element, he is an occasional student at UTC, an up and coming carpenter, auto mechanic, prominant boating enthusiast, and spends his spare time voumteering for the Boehm Birth Defects Center.
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New in Theaters Julie & Julia Julia Child (Meryl Streep) and Julie Powell (Amy Adams) are featured in writer-director Nora Ephron’s adaptation of two bestselling memoirs: Powell’s Julie & Julia and My Life in France, by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme. Based on two true stories, Julie & Julia intertwines the lives of two women who, though separated by time and space, are both at loose ends...until they discover that with the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible. Twenty years past what Streep thought would be the end of her “leading lady” status, the 60-year-old acting legend dives right into soul of the iconic Childs with great gusto and bravura, while Amy Adams follows up a strong performance in Night at the Museum: Battles of the Smithsonian with another star-making turn. Just be sure to eat before seeing the
movie. Starring: Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, Chris Messina Director: Nora Ephron Rating: PG-13
Also in Theaters A Perfect Getaway (New) A young newlywed couple goes backpacking in a remote island paradise, only to be thrust into brutal battle for survival. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (New) A Real American Hero, based on the 1980’s cartoon/action figures, comes to life to battle the evil forces of Cobra. Funny People In the latest from director Judd Apatow, Adam Sandler stars as a veteran stand-up comedian who has a near-death experience. Aliens in the Attic A group of kids must fight off an alien attack when knee-high extraterrestrials invade the family vacation home. The Collector A would-be robber breaks into the home of his employer, only to become a reluctant hero confronted with a kidnapping situation. Orphan A mourning couple decides to adopt a child, only to discover that the seemingly angelic
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little girl is not what she appears to be. The Ugly Truth Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler team up as TV morning-show producers searching for the ugly truth on what makes men and women tick. G-Force An elite team of highly trained secret agent guinea pigs is the world’s last hope against an evil plot to take over the world. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Daniel Radcliffe returns as the teen wizard, back at Hogwarts and facing his darkest threat yet. (500) Days of Summer Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel star in the boy-meets-girl story of an unpredictable noholds-barred love affair. Bruno Sacha Baron Cohen is a flamboyant Austrian fashionista who takes his show to the U.S., wreaking havoc on unsuspecting Americans. I Love You, Beth Cooper A geeky high school valedictorian uses his
graduation speech to declare his love for Hayden Panettiere, setting a off a night he’ll never forget. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf return to join with the Autobots’ battle against the evil Decepticons. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Manny, Sid, Diego and the rest of the computeranimated critter crew are back for their third prehistoric adventure -this time in 3D! Public Enemies Johnny Depp stars as notorious depression-era gangster John Dillinger, whose charismatic crime spree made him a folk hero to the masses. The Hangover Four friends go to Vegas for a blowout bachelor party, only to wake up the next morning with a baby, a tiger, no groom, and no clue. Up A twist of fate sends a 78-year-old man on an adventure beyond his wildest dreams.
Film Feature
Sandler and the Moon By Phillip Johnston
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n the last five years, Judd Apatow has become an American comedic symbol. His name means money at the box office, for no other filmmaker has the sense of humor of the commercial under-30 crowd so firmly in his grasp. His first truly notable endeavor was NBC’s Freaks and Geeks, an enjoyable show that now has a cult following and enabled him to move up in the ranks and produce feature films. Like John Hughes in the ’80s and ’90s or Mel Brooks in the ’60s and ’70s, a poster with Apatow’s name on it promises (and delivers) a certain type of comedy. Whether it’s Anchorman, Superbad, or Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, his films promise to be wildly crass (scrotums are the funniest thing since boobs in an Apatow film), but often have a soft center in which a lovable male buffoon learns how to better deal with life’s hard knocks in a responsible manner. Apatow’s new film Funny People is an extract from a world he knows well: the world of stand-up comedy. Adam Sandler plays George Simmons, a successful yet selfish funnyman who learns early on in the film that he has an incurable blood disease, giving him less than a year to live. Ira Wright (Seth Rogen), whose real last name is Weiner (surprise!), is a struggling comedian who has to keep a parttime job to make ends meet. Still, there’s a striking commonality between the two in that they both have no close friends.
the budding talent on display. I’m also in the ranks of those who feel they may spontaneously combust if forced to see another truly horrendous Adam Sandler film. But it’s wildly ironic that Sandler is a revelation here. He’s played a perfect role before (see Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love) but Apatow has fashioned for him a comedic persona that audiences can laugh and cry for without ever feeling forced or betrayed. It’s here that Funny People, through curtains of penis and vagina jokes, is revealed as partly refreshing. Funny People is also quite humane, but after 2.5 hours I expected just a bit more. Mainly this: Apatow is a comic and he knows how comedians interact. Someone who didn’t could never have penned this script. He shows George Simmons as living with millions of fans cheering behind him—but none in front of him to care for him personally. After all the hilarity and heartache, we half expect Apatow to use the character of George to unravel the mystery of comedians, the guarded secret of the tears of a clown. If that were to happen, maybe (just maybe) Judd Apatow would begin to transform into this generation’s Woody Allen. For now, his comedy remains a different breed— something more caustic and loud—but there are hints in Funny People that the future of Apatow may be something just as uproarious (if he’s your thing), but perhaps a little less childish. If Funny People is a one-man show for its writer/ director/producer, then the new independent scifi film Moon is a one-man show for actor Sam Rockwell. He plays an astronaut named Sam Bell,
"There are hints in Funny People that the future of Apatow may be something just as uproarious (if he’s your thing), but perhaps a little less childish." George notices Ira at a comedy club after a show and hires him to be his personal assistant and warm-up act, opening the door for both of them to discover what friendship is like. George is able to teach Ira how to fashion a comedic stage persona for himself, and Ira forces George to reevaluate his life in the shadow of death. Hilarity ensues but, true to form for an Apatow picture, the film packs all the emotional punch it can muster. Funny People is Apatow’s third film as writer/ director and it is most certainly his best yet, but from me that isn’t saying much. I’m not a fan of shock comedy and was left disappointed by Knocked Up and The 40-Year Old Virgin, despite
a mild-mannered employee on a three-year contract with the multi-billion dollar company Lunar Industries, overseeing the harvesting of helium-3, a natural resource that has diminished earth’s energy problems. Because of the distance, direct communication to Earth is not available and Sam Bell’s only interactions are with GERTY, an intelligent computer (voiced by Kevin Spacey) whose sole purpose is to make Sam comfortable. The three years are almost over and the isolation is becoming unbearable. Sam becomes stir-crazy and starts hallucinating, making his desire to return home to his wife and child even more intense. But things don’t go as planned, and what begins as a clever mash-up of Tarkovsky’s Solaris and Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey turns into a uncomfortably claustrophobic tale laced with dread and doubt, a film that skillfully turns the conventions of the films it references on their heads and comes up with something entirely new. Moon premiered at Sundance in January of this year and is directed by a newcomer named Duncan Jones—who happens to be the son of one David Bowie. His film was made on a smallish budget of $5 million dollars, but it doesn’t show. Moon is slick and well directed, with special effects that pay homage to the handcrafted brilliance of Stanley Kubrick rather than the money-soaked wet dreams of Michael Bay. It also happens to be the best science-fiction film of this century so far.
Funny People Directed by Judd Apatow Starring Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen Rated R
Moon Directed by Duncan Jones Starring Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey Rated R
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Shades Of Green
Yard Sales and Sustainability By Elizabeth Crenshaw
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love yard sales. My father is a yard-sale aficionado. He can tell from across the street whether or not a sale is worth getting out of the car. He rarely misses the Saturday morning sales circuit in my hometown. I still get excited when I see a cardboard sign tacked to a utility pole with the words “garage sale this way” scrawled in Magic Marker. You never know what you are going to find or who you might meet. Yard sales are an immediate and interesting way to get to know a person. Much of what is in my apartment can be traced back to someone else’s front yard. One of my better yard sale finds happened when I was a sophomore in college and home for the summer. The girl renting the house down the street had just graduated from USC, and she was cleaning house in an effort to prepare for bigger and better things. Trash bags of clothes covered her small lawn, and two folding tables were filled with plastic margarita glasses, felt black-light posters, melting candles and football Koozies. “I am getting rid of anything that reminds me of college life. Time to move on,” she told me. “Whatever I don’t sell, I am just throwing on the side of the road.” I gave her $30 and left with
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everything. We happened to be about the same size. A couple of my friends had just moved into a new house, and between the three of us, we found a home for each thing. Good thing, too, because a lot of her stuff wasn’t biodegradable. I love yard sales for a lot of reasons, but only until recently did I start thinking of them as ecofriendly, as a part of a green lifestyle. There is a popular myth circulating around our country claiming that to have a sustainable lifestyle, you need a lot of time and money. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard people say, “I don’t do anything about being green. I don’t have the money to live like that.” A large expendable income can buy you a $50 bamboo-blend T-shirt and a $5 organic acai berryinfused wonder juice, but it can’t buy true sustainability. This is just one version of a green lifestyle, and not the most practical one or the one that is best for the planet. Many low-cost things can help you be green. You can even save money. Most of these things are common sense, but they go against our grain culturally. The new graduate’s impulse to throw everything out and be done with it is a common American attitude. We want everything to be new, exciting and shiny. But sometimes being green means being the weirdo who saves your plastic fork at a party when everyone else throws theirs away, or the person who goes around picking cans out of the trash to put in the
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recycling container. Aside from yard-sale shopping, Goodwill (and all thrift stores) and the locally owned Insyde Outsyde shop are good ways to reuse items that you would otherwise buy new. Buying produce at the Chattanooga Market is an alternative to paying top dollar for organic fruit and vegetables at a store, and you can be assured that you are helping the local economy, too. You can bike, carpool, or walk to work once a week, turn your thermostat down a degree or two, save your food waste for the compost, and make a conscious effort to buy products with the least plastic packaging. All of these things cost little-to-nothing to integrate into a lifestyle. Having a green lifestyle doesn’t have to take a lot of money or a total transformation. Unlike the recent college graduate, you don’t have to throw everything out to create a new lifestyle. In fact, a sustainable lifestyle is a complete contrast to that mindset. Sustainability is in large part seeing value in material or resources others have ignored, and finding creative ways to give it new life. Sustainability is knowing that nothing really belongs in the trash, everything has an impact, natural resources are valuable, brand new isn’t better, and if we work together, we can figure it out. Elizabeth Crenshaw is LEED accredited and works for EPB in Strategic Planning, but her views are her own. Originally from South Carolina, Elizabeth moved to Chattanooga after graduating from Warren Wilson College in 2007.
“A large expendable income can buy you a $50 bamboo-blend T-shirt and a $5 organic acai berryinfused wonder juice, but it can’t buy true sustainability.”
local news and views
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Music Calendar Friday
Thursday
Jennifer Daniels with Erick Baker Two outstanding singer/ songwriters. $10 8 p.m. Rhythm & Brews, 221 Market Street. (423) 267-4644. www.rhythm-brews.com
Send your calendar events to us at calendar@chattanoogapulse.com
Keenan & Bob (inside stage) 8:30 p.m. Mudpie Restaurant, 12 Frazier Avenue. (423) 267-9043 Lon Eldridge (outside stage) 8:30 p.m. Mudpie Restaurant, 12 Frazier Avenue. (423) 267-9043 Headstache 9 p.m. The Low Down, 306 Cherokee Blvd. (423) 468-3593. Channing Wilson 9 p.m. Bud’s Sports Bar, 5751 Brainerd Rd. (423) 499-9878. Open Mic Night 9 p.m. Market Street Tavern, 850 Market St. (423) 634-0260. 2 N Fro 9 p.m. The Palms at Hamilton, 6925 Shallowford Rd #202. (423) 499-5055. Bring the Witch, The Basement Lights 10 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd. (423) 266-1400.
How I Became The Bomb with DJs AXIS 1 and Atari Steed HIBTB’s MySpace page claims “Clay Aiken” is their influence. Somehow, we doubt it. $7 10 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd. (423) 266-1400. www.myspace.com/jjsbohemia
Saturday
Matt Stillwell 8 p.m. Midtown Music Hall, 820 Georgia Ave. (423) 752-1977. Nu Blooze 8:30 p.m. The Foundry, 1201 S. Broad St. (423) 424-3775. The Pool 9 p.m. The Tin Can, 618 Georgia Ave. (423) 648-4360. Ryan Oyer 10 p.m. Tremont Tavern, 1203 Hixson Pike. (423) 266-0966. Downstream 10 p.m. Bud’s Sports Bar, 5751 Brainerd Rd. (423) 499-9878. www.budssportsbar.com Sistern 10 p.m. Market Street Tavern, 850 Market St. (423) 634-0260. Here Come the Mummies 10 p.m. Rhythm & Brews, 221 Market St. (423) 267-4644. www.rhythm-brews.com
Sunday Meaghan Howard 6:30 p.m. Tremont Tavern, 1203 Hixson Pike. (423) 266-0966. The Dirt Drifters 7 p.m. Chattanooga Waterfront. (423) 756-2211. www.riverfrontnights.com
Neon Viking Funeral, Indian Friend, Milquelizard, Killbot and DJ Drugmoney
Amber Fults Noon. Miller Plaza, 850 Market St. (423) 265-0771. Acts of Congress 7 p.m. Miller Plaza, 850 Market St. (423) 265-0771. Thaddeus, Blue Meets the Eye, Fallacy, Half Price Hero, Failing the Fairest 7 p.m. The Warehouse, 5716 Ringgold Rd., East Ridge. Matt Carbone, Megan LeAnn Davis, Rachel Holder, Roger Alan Wade 7 p.m. Club Fathom, 412 Market St. (423) 757-0019. The Bill Hackler Trio 7:30 p.m. Blue Orleans Creole Restaurant, 3208 Amnicola Hwy. (423) 629-6538. Layman’s Envy, DSS, Someday 8 p.m. Ziggy’s Hideaway, 607 Cherokee Blvd. (423) 634-1074.
Rick Rushing 8 p.m. The Palms at Hamilton, 6925 Shallowford Rd. #202. (423) 499-5055.
Summer Music weekends featuring New Binkley Brothers Noon. Rock City Gardens, Lookout Mtn., GA. (706) 820-2531. seerockcity.com/summermusic
Nu Blooze 8:30 p.m. The Foundry, 1201 S. Broad St. (423) 424-3775. www.chattanooganhotel.com Joint Effort 9 p.m. The Tin Can, 618 Georgia Ave. (423) 648-4360. www.thetincanchattanooga.com Forest Magic, This Frontier Needs Heroes 10 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd. (423) 266-1400.
Open Mic w/Jeff Daniels 4 p.m. Ms. Debbie’s Nightlife Lounge 4762 Highway 58, (423) 485-0966.
Dude’s Kar-ory-oke
Irish Music 6:30 p.m. Tremont Tavern, 1203 Hixson Pike. (423) 266-0966.
Another headbanging evening for y’all.
Noisecult, Muleface, Need Local Acts 8 p.m. Ziggy’s Hideaway, 607 Cherokee Blvd. (423) 634-1074.
Downstream 10 p.m. Bud’s Sports Bar, 5751 Brainerd Rd. (423) 499-9878.
An evening of son replacing "you" with "dude". Uh-huh...
Open Mic Gene’s Bar & Grill, 724 Ashland Terrace, (423) 870-0880.
$5. 9 p.m. The Low Down, 306 Cherokee Blvd. (423) 468-3593. myspace.com/thelowdownchatt
Dalton Roberts 8 p.m. Charles & Myrtles Coffeehouse, 105 McBrien Rd. www.christunity.or
Roger Alan Wade 10 p.m. Market Street Tavern, 850 Market St. (423) 634-0260. myspace.com/marketstreettavern
$5 10 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd. (423) 266-1400. www.myspace.com/jjsbohemia
DJ GOP The Palms at Hamilton, 6925 Shallowford Rd #202, (423) 499-5055.
Tuesday
Wednesday
Monday Night Big Band 7:30 p.m. Rhythm & Brews, 221 Market St. (423) 267-4644. www.rhythm-brews.com
The Ben Friberg Trio 7 p.m. Table 2, 232 E. 11th Street, (423) 756-8253. www.table2restaurant.com
Ben Friberg Jazz Trio 6:30 p.m. Market Street Tavern, 850 Market Street, (423) 634-0260.
DJ at the Palms 8 p.m. The Palms at Hamilton, 6925 Shallowford Rd. #202. (423) 499-5055. www.thepalmsathamilton.com
Billy Hopkins & Friends 8 p.m. Market Street Tavern, 850 Market St. (423) 634-0260. myspace.com/marketstreettavern
Johnston Brown 8 p.m. The Palms at Hamilton, 6925 Shallowford Rd. #202. (423) 499-5055.
Open Mic with Mike McDade 9 p.m. Tremont Tavern, 1203 Hixson Pike. (423) 266-1966. www.tremonttavern.com
The Micks 9 p.m. Bud’s Sports Bar, 5751 Brainerd Rd. (423) 499-9878. www.budssportsbar.com
Dark Partay 9 p.m. The Low Down, 306 Cherokee Blvd. (423) 468-3593.
Double Hill Billiard Club 1966 Northpoint Blvd, (423) 875-8760.
Opposite Box, Downtown Brown 10 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd. (423) 266-1400. www.myspace.com/jjsbohemia
Ms. Debbie’s Nightlife Lounge 4762 Highway 58, (423) 485-0966. www.myspace.com/debbieslounge
Monday
Karaoke Night 9:30 p.m. Bud’s Sports Bar, 5751 Brainerd Rd. (423) 499-9878. www.budssportsbar.com Tremont Tavern 1203 Hixson Pike, (423) 266-1996. Fireside Lounge 4021 Hixson Pike, (423) 870-7078.
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Editor’s Pick: Featured Event Of The Week
The Icons with Soulbread and Overzealous Check out our cover article to find out why the return of the Icons is a Chattanooga musical don’t miss. Friday, August 7 $7 10 p.m. Midtown Music Hall, 820 Georgia Avenue. (423) 752-1977. www.midtownmusichall.com
New Music Reviews
By Ernie Paik
Dinosaur Jr.
Various Artists
Farm (Jagjaguwar)
We Still Prey: Chaotic Underworld Noise Volume 4 (Chaotic Underworld)
The new album from Dinosaur Jr. demonstrates several things about the “ear-bleeding country” band and staple of ’80s-’90s college radio, and they’re all good things. It shows that Beyond, the solid 2007 album of new material and first since guitarist/singer J. Mascis reunited with original band mates Lou Barlow and Murph, wasn’t just a fluke— they’ve still got it. It hardly matters that the band’s approach has barely changed in 20 years, with thunderously loud, distorted guitar lines that are heavy, yet have tuneful pop sensibilities; the Barlow/Murph rhythm section fills any remaining space with punches that avoid being lumbering or too weighty. The recording style on Farm thankfully does not fall victim to certain unfortunate contemporary methods, like the “splat” bass drum sound or the overuse of dynamic compression; no, the loudness on this album is genuine up-to-11 loudness, and I’d like to think that this could almost be some great lost album recorded right after 1988’s Bug. Actually, the 4-chord guitar hook of the first song, “Pieces,” makes it sound somewhat like a sibling track to “Freak Scene” on Bug. Mascis feels no shame in peeling off glorious guitar solos when the mood feels right, and he’s one of the few people today who can pull them off in a rock context for extended periods and not be insufferably onanistic. Example A is “I Don’t Wanna Go There,” which sustains itself for nearly nine minutes without becoming tiresome. Dinosaur Jr.’s best albums, You’re Living All Over Me and Bug, were recorded when intra-band tensions were high, but that never seemed to affect quality in either direction; although tempers have cooled down, that doesn’t mean that the band’s energy level must wane accordingly. Lou Barlow was always underrepresented as a songwriter in Dinosaur Jr., and although we know, because of Sebadoh, Folk Implosion, and his solo work, that he’s certainly talented, his two songs on Farm are particularly great because they don’t just sound like Sebadoh songs on a Dinosaur Jr. album—they sound like Dinosaur Jr. songs. Listeners who are clamoring for something new won’t exactly find it on Farm, but it surpasses Where You Been and even edges past Beyond, being one of the few rock albums I’ve heard this year that I can really get behind.
Noise and sound art enthusiasts are well aware of scenes in metropolitan areas such as Tokyo and New York City, but noise is hardly a genre limited to big cities; pockets of musical activity may be found in unlikely places, including Johnson City, Tennessee, home of the experimental-music label Chaotic Underworld. The latest release on the label is the fourth installment of its series of noise compilations, and for this one, the outfit Mannequin Hollowcaust cherry-picked acts from the Tri-Cities and beyond, including contingents in North Carolina, Virginia, and Ohio. The album gets right down to it with its opening track from Cheezface, a pummeling in-the-red cluster of continuous explosions that seamlessly slides into “Basement’s on Fire” by Rom B, with menacing vocals, static-soaked beats, and berserk tone generators. The compilation isn’t strictly limited to noise, and the contribution from Yeti Master is more akin to the insane, jittery moments of Aphex Twin than, say, the Japanese noise master Merzbow; it begins serenely with nature sounds before incorporating disturbing samples and ending with twisted electronic carnival music. The collection owes as much to contemporary noise artists as it does to industrial forefathers such as Throbbing Gristle or Boyd Rice, and the song from Appalachian Autonomous Zone, with primitive lo-fi sci-fi, sounds like it could be some early Chrome demo. Part of the collection’s second half reveals the overlap between drone and noise with tracks from Brother Fyodor and Reach for the Stars, which could function well as a horror movie soundtrack. The compilation is fascinating, difficult listening that is utterly uncompromising, serving as a strange, dark sound museum. A one-minute track from Mannequin Hollowcaust perhaps best sums up a vital purpose of the album; it rebuts a man singing Appalachian folk using intense, saturated noise blasts, firmly defying any notion of what music from the American South is supposed to sound like. 95.3 Pulse News www.chattanoogapulse.com 8.6.09 The Pulse
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Table Service
Pizza Meets Gourmet at Pisa Pizza By Molly Iles
P
isa Pizza has been serving up gourmet pizzas, pastas, and sandwiches to Chattanooga residents for almost a decade. Operating out of an old warehouse, complete with garage doors and a tar ceiling, the eatery has become a local favorite with an eclectic atmosphere that caters to a large and diverse range of customers. Ten years ago, Scott Courter was living in Atlanta when he got a call about opening a restaurant in Chattanooga. Skeptical at first, eventually Courter agreed and made the move. He, along with Bob Nichols and Chip Baker, decided to open a pizza place with a Chattanooga vibe. They called it Pisa Pizza—pun intended. The idea was to serve freshly made, gourmet food, but before anyone could begin dishing out specialty pizzas and pastas, the owners needed a place to actually house a restaurant. Luckily, Nichols had a building lined up; however, it would take a lot of hard work to transform an old warehouse into the quirky restaurant the owners had in mind. The building received the works—plumbing, electrical wiring, internal walls—before opening to the public on August 19, 1999. It quickly became a hit in its North Chatt neighborhood.
the food is what really brings people back again and again to Pisa Pizza. As current owner and operator, Courter still makes it a point to serve everything as fresh as possible. “I wanted a place where I would want to come eat,” he says. The restaurant uses locally bought produce, freshly made dough, and homemade sauces. Just recently, Pisa Pizza also began making freshly baked cookies for the dessert menu. “[It’s] great,” replies Courter when asked what he thinks of the fare, “I’m very proud of my food.” Aside from being fresh, being gourmet has also had a large role at Pisa Pizza. “There was no other place with a white sauce or margarita pizza when we started,” says Courter. Today, ‘’gourmet’’ still sets this place apart from other pizza restaurants. The eatery offers some 38 toppings and four sauces to go on either white or whole-wheat crust. Of those 38 toppings, a customer can find the classic pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, etc. You can also ask for corn or eggplant with feta cheese and even proscuitto. The combinations are endless—and the best part is that pizza is not all they serve. The restaurant dishes out five different pastas along with several sandwiches and a long list of salads, appetizers, and extras. In addition, there is a fairly lengthy beer and wine selection available. When it first opened, the then-trio of owners knew they wanted something with a directly Chattanooga feel. With that in mind, the interior of the restaurant is decorated with Chattanoogathemed memorabilia. Pictures of local residents pop up on the walls and even at the counter. Many of the eatery’s specialty pizzas have local names, such as the Coolidge Park Pie or the Fat Man Squeeze. And it’s not just the pizzas, but the sandwiches and pastas too. Try a Vine Street Veggie or the Dogwood Dagwood. How about the Choo-Choo Chicken Ziti? It is these little touches that make Pisa Pizza an authentic Chattanooga eatery. The current restaurant is located near Coolidge Park on River Street. The porch offers seating for roughly 15, while inside there are six booths with
"Though the building itself is an attraction, as in not your usual, run-of-the-mill place for an eatery, the food is what really brings people back again and again to Pisa Pizza.’’ Though the building itself is an attraction, as in not your usual, run-of-the-mill place for an eatery,
table seating for nearly 40. The floors are concrete and the walls are colorful. It is an interesting design with a wagon and an old bike hanging from the ceiling and a dress mannequin hiding the corner. A large pizza oven sits against the backdrop of a metal wall near the counter. Clientele matches the décor.“The demographic is across the spectrum,” says Courter, “from politicians to punk rockers.” And though not a typical family restaurant, the place is definitely family-friendly. For nearly a decade, Pisa Pizza has been serving up (and delivering) gourmet pizzas, pastas, and sandwiches to the Chattanooga area. The food is fresh, the feel is local, and the staff is dedicated to serving the only best. Pisa Pizza is located at 551 River Street. (423) 756-7492. www.pisapizza.com
95.3 Pulse News www.chattanoogapulse.com 8.6.09 The Pulse
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JONESIN’
By Matt Jones
“Flip It” –puttin’ it down and reversin’ it.
Across 1 Boggy area 6 Actor Wyle 10 “Iron Chef America” chef Cat 14 Identical 15 “The Joy of Cooking” author Rombauer 16 Far from easygoing 17 Boarded a gold barshaped vehicle? 19 Snowy beast 20 Orlando Magic coach Van Gundy 21 Pet item subject to some laws 22 Jazzman Allison 23 The Wallflowers lead singer Jakob 25 Site with a “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” section 27 Teensy bug 30 22-across’s instrument 31 “Yeah, maybe” 32 Cautious 33 Nothin’ 36 Get set, briefly 37 Irk 38 It may be inside 39 Blue whale relative 40 Extra weight 42 Packaging strings 44 Sound in an emergency 46 It gets thrown on the grill 47 “Supergrain” used in
some gluten-free recipes 49 Like old Norse alphabets 50 Second-in-command: abbr. 51 “Nothing ___” (“Fuhgeddaboudit”) 53 Perlman of “Cheers” 57 “Don’t ___ me, bro!” (2007 catchphrase) 58 Bans all alcoves? 60 “Barrel of ___” (Depeche Mode song) 61 No-cost 62 Band of eight 63 Sax mouthpiece 64 Jamie of “M*A*S*H” 65 Oil painting primer Down 1 O and W, for short 2 Heaps 3 Singer Coolidge 4 Like beauty, so it’s said 5 “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe” bird 6 Workday start, for some 7 Donor’s offering 8 Author Oz 9 Flat, messy do on a hot day, perhaps 10 ___ Islands (British territory near Cuba) 11 Really tiny amt. of a form of oxygen? 12 Rizzo of “Midnight Cowboy” 13 Sigourney Weaver sci-fi film
18 Abbr. denoting pictures in a book 24 “Abso-friggin-lutely!” 26 Jewish American Heritage Month 27 Takes teeny bites 28 “Revenge of the Nerds” bully 29 The debate topic: Grafton, the author? 30 Peace, to the Pope 32 Part of www 34 Company that sells EFFEKTIV office furniture 35 Fumigation target 37 Mover’s rental 38 “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” singer 40 Way to swing 41 Start a song, like with a drummer’s beat 42 Dance with a rose 43 It started in 1914: abbr. 45 Mean 46 “Homestar ___” (popular Internet toon) 47 Country home to Al Jazeera 48 Grammar subject 49 Platform for choir members 52 Gumbo ingredient 54 Have the ___ for (get a crush on) 55 Squeaks by, with “out” 56 Concerning 59 Holiday drink
©2009 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) For answers to this puzzle, call: 1-900-226-2800, 99 cents per minute. Must be 18+. Or to bill to your credit card, call: 1-800-655-6548. Reference puzzle #0425
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The Pulse 8.6.09 www.chattanoogapulse.com 95.3 Pulse News
Free Will Astrology
By Rob Brezsny
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): If you really knew how much you were loved, you would never cry again. A sublime relaxation would flood your nervous system, freeing you to see the beautiful secrets that your chronic fear has hidden from you. If you knew how much the world longs for your genius to bloom, the peace that filled you would ensure you could not fail. You’d face every trial with eager equanimity. You would always know exactly what to do because your intuition would tell you in a myriad of subtle ways. And get this, Leo: A glimpse of this glory will soon be available to you.
complain just because your guardian angel seems to be driving hard bargains lately. You’re actually on better speaking terms now than you’ve been in some time. Before the sweeter talk can begin, though, the two of you still have to work out kinks left over from previous miscommunications. Besides, there’s a method in your guardian angel’s madness, a reason why she or he is driving hard bargains: She or he is testing you to see if you’re willing and able to stretch your imagination to accommodate the rowdier blessings you’ll soon be tempted with.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): First of all, my friend, you don’t need any second-hand anything, let alone second-hand love. Second of all, dearest, you are hereby ordered not to hang around any third-rate situations where you feel like a fifth wheel. You understand? Thirdly, wonderful one, keep in mind that any eight ball you may fantasize that you’re behind is just a figment of your own delusions. Fourthly, lover, I assure you that your sixth sense can now lead you—if you cleanse it of its superstition—to a place that is, if you have a good imagination, a suburb of the seventh heaven.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Underdogs are on an upsurge. Topdogs are on a downswing. The rebels have something resembling God on their side. The masters merely have money and propaganda. It’ll be an excellent week to launch strikes, boycotts, and protests. It’ll be prime time to say no to smiling manipulators. The best efforts, whether coming from you or the people you want to be close to, will always have at least a tinge of cheekiness. So now that you’ve read my spiel, please answer me this: Are you going to sit there passively and grin as some feel-good tyrant tries to break off a chunk of your soul?
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I got an interesting spam today. A company that said it was very proud of its high-quality work offered to sell me phony credentials that are impossible to distinguish from the real thing. What caught my attention the most were the degrees from Harvard and Stanford. I wouldn’t mind having one of those up on my wall. But in the end, I decided that instead of paying the company $230 for one of its excellent fakes, I’d simply make one myself. And instead of creating a degree from Harvard, I would have it be from a place where I have actually matriculated, namely the Raving Maniac Academy of Crazy Wisdom, which is the unruly school where I often find myself during my lucid dreams. I bring this up, Libra, because it would be an excellent time for you to make yourself a fancy fake diploma from whatever your equivalent is to my academy—you know, the source that has been providing you with so much great teaching, even though it’s not an official institution of higher education. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): A Slovenian adventurer named Martin Strel swam the length of the Amazon River in Brazil. It took him over nine weeks to travel more than 3,000 miles. Previously he had breaststroked his way down the entire Yangtze River in China, a distance of almost 2,500 miles. He scoffed at the idea of conquering the River Nile in Egypt, however. “It’s long, but not challenging enough,” he said. “It is just a small creek.” That’s the spirit I hope you will summon in yourself during the coming weeks, Scorpio: a determination to take on only the most invigorating tests that require heroic levels of resourcefulness. Skip the lesser trials. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Ideally, you wouldn’t even be reading this. You’d be white-water rafting along the Franklin River in Tasmania, or riding on “the train at the end of the world” in Tierra del Fuego, or observing Golden Bamboo lemurs in the rainforest of southeastern Madagascar. Ideally, Sagittarius, you’d be far away from any newspaper that carries my column. In fact, you’d be out of touch with all media, period. But since you are reading this, you must not be doing the ideal thing. So please do the next best thing: Flee as far as possible from your usual haunts, your habitual influences, and your customary comforts. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Make sure that no one except you will be able to tear asunder what you join together in the coming days. Tie knots that will never slip. Build bridges that can’t be burned. Send emails that cement new alliances and plug yourself into networks that are crackling with high-energy connections. Stock up on safety pins, staples, nails, tape, and glue. Be sticky, Capricorn! Just one caution: Do not marry your fortunes to anyone unless they are willing to be your devoted, synergistic warrior as much as you are their devoted, synergistic warrior. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Don’t whine and
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I expect that you will soon stumble upon a key secret to your next masterpiece. And I’ll be surprised if you don’t discover a healing agent that will be effective in correcting an old mistake. In fact, Aries, I prophesy that in the coming week, you will have a sense that you’re doing the smart thing at least 90 percent of the time. Sorry: I’m afraid to say that I have no sad, bad, or mad news to deliver. If you’re the type of person who thrives on cynicism, your immediate future may be pretty boring. If you’re on the fence about the question of whether life is a gorgeous feast or a chaotic mess, your ability to deal with outbreaks of goodness will be supremely tested. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In Salmon Rushdie’s story “The Prophet’s Hair,” a greedy man intentionally cripples his four sons when they’re young, hoping to turn them into beggars who elicit profound sympathy and large cash donations. The plan is successful. His sons earn him a good income. Later, however, he comes into possession of a potent talisman—a strand of hair from the prophet Mohammed —and it magically heals the sons’ ailments. They’re no longer able to pull in big bucks, and grief descends upon the family. I bring this to your attention, Taurus, because I think there’s a variation on these themes at work in your own life. A “magic charm” is available that could reverse or at least neutralize an old handicap. Do you have the pluck to surrender the questionable rewards that your impairment has brought you? GEMINI (May 21-June 20): It should be an excellent week for potato chip breakfasts, rapid mood shifts, and short-duration flirtations. The abundance of superficial exchanges that will be available to you could actually add up into something resembling meaningful breakthroughs. You will have the chance to explore the art of the five-minute epic conversation, as well as the science of giving a single look that speaks a million words. You cannot possibly plumb the bottomless depths of casual, frivolous, lightweight diversions, but you should try anyway. CANCER (June 21-July 22): On the one hand, you may find yourself unable to flow as freely as you’d like to in the coming week. I foresee the possibility that your streaming currents will get dammed up in places, or else shunted into narrow conduits that constrict your natural surge. On the other hand, this could compel you to make more practical use of your emotional assets. The applicable metaphor is the harnessing of a turbulent river to produce massive amounts of hydroelectric power. Homework: Tell yourself the secret you’ve been hiding from yourself. Give yourself the pleasure you’ve been denying yourself for no good reason. Testify at FreeWillAstrology.com.
Ask A Mexican
Special Soccer Edition By Gusatvo Arellano themexican@askamexican.net
Dear Mexican, Why does El Tri act like pendejos every time the U.S. men’s national soccer team kicks their ass? They won’t even shake hands or exchange jerseys after the game and they always act like the U.S. got lucky with the win, even though the Americans have destroyed Mexico on the pitch this century. I’d be pretty pissed if I gave up a goal to über-pussy Landon Donovan, too, but is there really any need to act like such poor losers after a friendly match? — El Gabacho Gordo Dear Mexican, Do professional soccer players in Mexico take acting lessons? Or is diving to the ground, clutching head/ knee/ankle and writhing in agony after an opposing player brushes by them, just a natural ability? A recent Mexican soccer league match I saw had more Oscar-level performances than the Academy Awards. — Manchester United Fan Furious at Unnecessary Gyrations
Dear Mexican, Why aren’t there more MexicanAmericans on the U.S. soccer team? Should Obama create a provision in his guest worker bill allowing Mexican soccer players to join the U.S. team? Ideas? — Pinche Gabacho Dear Mexican, I have a seven-month-old baby boy who is half-Mexican. When we go to a U.S.-Mexico soccer game, what side should he sit on? — Father of a MexiCAN Dear Gabachos, Finally, the día Mexicans across Aztlán have waited for is upon nosotros: August 12, the day the United States’ soccer team faces Mexico’s squad at Mexico City’s desmadre of a stadium called Estadio Azteca. The game is a must-win for both teams, and not just because it’s a crucial World Cup qualifying match. Uncle Sam’s Army has never won a fútbol game in the Empire of the Sun, while El Tri (the nickname for Mexico’s side, based on the country’s tricolored flag) must win lest they unleash the worst intra-Mexican
Solution To Last Week’s Puzzle
backlash since the Cristero revolt. So much to discuss, so hay que. Gordo: The only bigger insult to Mexicans than to lose in soccer to the yanquis is to let Guatemalans beat them, so I understand why El Tri are sore losers—and Donovan is totally not a pussy. Man U Fan: no mames. Soccer has more divas per-capita than any sport—I agree Mexican soccer players flop like Carlos Mencia’s movie career, but Italians are the reincarnations of Katherine Hepburn, John Ford, and Olivier rolled into one boring squad. Pinche: give young wabs a decade or so before they fully plug into the U.S. national soccer program; as it stands, most grew up rooting and breathing Mexican professional and national soccer and can’t imagine siding with anyone else. Finally, MexiCAN papi: I’m glad you feel conflicted. For years, the knee-jerk reaction for MexicanAmericans was to root for El Tri at all times. But with them stuck in underachievement, and the U.S. ascendant, I guarantee more Mexis will start rooting for the U.S.—and that’s perfectly fine. As for the Mexican? I’ve long rooted for the American soccer squad since they’ve historically been the Mexicans of CONCACAF (the acronym for the federation governing soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean). But the U.S. is now the region’s dominant power, while El Tri is finally acting like Mexicans. I think a U.S. victory is a perfect psychological embarrassment to whip the Mexican side into shape for the World Cup next year. At the same
time, a Mexican victory will bring out the most jingoistic tendencies of Mexicans, leading to angry Know Nothings—and isn’t that the ultimate victory? Then again, what fun is there in taking a side in this most-fundamental of issues for Mexicans? Let’s get everyone pissed: 0-0 tie. ¡ASK A MEXICAN BOOK CONTEST! In 25 words or less, tell me your favorite local Mexican restaurant and what makes it so bueno. I’ll soon be traveling ’round los Estados Unidos in my trusty burro to research my upcoming book on the history of Mexican food in the United States, and I need places to haunt and cacti to sleep under. One entry per person, one winner per paper, five winners total for areas that don’t carry my column, and contest ends when I say so! Ask the Mexican at themexican@ askamexican.net, myspace.com/ocwab, find him on Facebook, Twitter, or write via snail mail at: Gustavo Arellano, P.O. Box 1433, Anaheim, CA 92815-1433
95.3 Pulse News www.chattanoogapulse.com 8.6.09 The Pulse
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The Pulse Real Estate Guide
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