The Pulse - Vol.7, Issue 7

476 IN THE 423 • TAKING BIG STEPS • BLIND+BLIND

Dancing the Dream

Fredrick Davis Returns Home With The Dance Theatre of Harlem

By Janis Hashe

FREE • News, Views, Music, Film, Dining, Arts & Entertainment • February 18, 2010 • Vol. 7 - Issue 7 • www.chattanoogapulse.com

President Jim Brewer, II

2010

Publisher Zachary Cooper Contributing Editor Janis Hashe News Editor Gary Poole Calendar Editor Kathryn Dunn Advertising Manager Rhonda Rollins Advertising Sales Rick Leavell, Leif Sawyer, Townes Webb Art Director Kelly Lockhart Graphic Design Jennifer Grelier Staff Photographer Louis Lee Contributing Writers Gustavo Arellano, Rob Brezsny Alison Burke, Chuck Crowder Michael Crumb, Hellcat Vincent Howard, Joshua Hurley Victoria Hurst, Matt Jones Phillip Johnston, Ernie Paik Rick Pimental-Habib, Ph.D. Stephanie Smith, Alex Teach Colleen Wade Editorial Cartoonist Rick Baldwin Editorial Intern Jonathan Selby Copy Assistant Bryanna Burns Needs A New Car Josh Lang Contact Info: Phone (423) 648-7857 Fax (423) 648-7860 info@chattanoogapulse.com Calendar Submissions calendar@chattanoogapulse.com Advertising advertising@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.

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11 DANCE THE DREAM Story by Janis Hashe “Let no one tell you what you can’t be.” Asked what advice he’d give to young people in Chattanooga starting from the same place he did, that’s what Dance Theatre of Harlem dancer Fredrick Davis responds. And he speaks from experience. In 1998, he was 11 years old, living in Chattanooga.

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By Hellcat What I would like to do now is interview a new, up-and-coming band in Chattanooga, to see how and what it takes to become a performing band around town.

20 BLIND SEEING THE BLIND

By Phillip Johnston Broken Embraces, this week’s selection in the Arts and Education Council’s Independent Film Series, is the most expansive (and expensive) film in the director Pedro Almodóvar’s oeuvre and features all the many elements he is known for.

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AL ITI e NU HA VE Puls AN M LO he O T FR ITH k in

FEBRUARY

By Michael Crumb The newly renamed Bessie Smith Cultural Center (formerly the Chattanooga African American Museum) seeks a broader community involvement by emphasizing its wide range of services.

24 STEPS TO CHANgE THE SCENIC CITY

By Stephanie Smith The Steps is about Charlie Madison (director/writer/actor Dylan Kussman), a Los Angeles private investigator who escapes to Chattanooga—only to find that he cannot run from his criminal past.

news & views 4 5 6 9 14 30

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR PULSE BEATS BEYOND THE HEADLINES SHRINK RAP LIFE IN THE NOOG ASK A MEXICAN

everything else 4 4 5 7 17 19 21 23 27 28 29 29

EDITOON THE LIST CITY COUNCILSCOPE POLICE BLOTTER MUSIC CALENDAR NEW MUSIC REVIEWS NEW IN THEATERS A&E CALENDAR DINING OUT SPOTLIGHT SPIRITS WITHIN JONESIN’ CROSSWORD FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

Editoon

by Rick Baldwin

The Ten Most Popular Karaoke Songs 1. “Livin’ On A Prayer” by Bon Jovi 2. “Margaritaville” by Jimmy Buffet 3. “Like A Virgin” by Madonna 4. “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor 5. “Under The Bridge” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers 6. “YMCA” by The Village People 7. “Total Eclipse of the Heart”

by Bonnie Tyler 8. “Summer Nights” by Olivia Newton John and John Travolta 9. “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen 10. “There’s A Tear In My Beer” by Hank Williams Jr Once upon a time, karaoke was something that only the Japanese did, but like so many things started by our friends across the Pacific, it made its way to our shores and quickly became the bread-and-butter for many bars and nightclubs who found it quite entertaining to host a karaoke night.

As for karaoke trivia, Finland holds the record for the largest number of people singing karaoke at one time—more than 80,000 people singing “Hard Rock Hallelujah” in 2006 in Helsinki after Lordi won the Eurovision Song Contest 2006.

The People’s Republic of China holds the record for the longest non-stop rally of karaoke: 456 hours, two minutes, and five seconds between February 20, 2009 and March 11, 2009.

Sounds like a challenge, Chattanooga…

Letters to the Editor Inside The Towers Good investigative and artistic writing by Cody Maxwell [“Inside The Tower Walls”]. You’re inspiring and authentic and engaging. I would love to see a follow up to find out more about the tunnels and what’s underground in Chattanooga. Thanks for a good read.

Leah Ashley No New Job Creation No, Stuart James, the “stimulus” did not create any new jobs [“It’s Jobs (and the Economy), Stupid”, Beyond The Headlines]. It only moved jobs from place to place. If it spent tax dollars, the dollars were taken from somewhere, destroying jobs there. If it spent borrowed money, the money was loaned to Uncle Sam instead of to someone else. If it spent newly printed money, printing the new money reduced the value of existing money. Besides, our President said his stimulus would keep unemployment under 8%, and unemployment is now around 10%.

Andrew Lohr Kudus To Dr. Rick Many thanks for that thought provoking column [“It’s Good to Laugh—Because Then You Live Longer”, Shrink Rap]. I try to follow

most of those ideas and principles but it is not always easy, of course.

It is important to stop and ponder what effects your behavior might have on other individuals as well how it might ultimately affect your own life’s journey. A moment to simply pause and reflect on past situations can be a positive influence on how to avoid future pitfalls or simply to acknowledge how and why events occurred and move forward with a renewed commitment for a happy and healthy life. Keep up the good work and continue help steer all of us who rely on your sage advice.

Robert B. Brumfield The Fat Lady Still Sings In reading an article about opera

by Stephanie Smith [“Opera-tunity in Chattanooga”], I read her opinion that the days of the fat opera singer are over. Not true! I recently watched an opera on television from the Met where both leading singers, male and female, were behemoths. I have never, ever, seen larger people singing in an opera at the Met and I would venture that Rudolph Bing, who fired any singer who was overweight, such as the great Eleanor Steber, would be turning over in his grave if he saw these two heavyweights on the stage of the Metropolitan. The opera I saw

with the two gigantic singers was an “Aida” production and this opera is so strenuous that it does call for singers of more heft, but singers with beautiful bodies have also sung these Verdi roles for many years.

Mildred Perry Miller Editor’s note: Thanks so much for your comments, Ms. Miller. We do just want to point out that the remark about the “days of the fat opera singer are over” was made by chorus master Darrin Hassevoort, and was not writer Stephanie Smith’s personal opinion.

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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The Pulse | February 18, 2010

Chattanooga's Weekly Alternative

Pulse Beats Mayor Littlefield's State Of The City

Quote Of The Week:

A rundown of the newsy, the notable, and the notorious...

Recently, Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield gave his annual “State of the City” speech, taking a look back at where the city was decades ago and comparing it to where he sees the city moving forward into the future.

“The first two decades of the last century were a golden age for Chattanooga,” Littlefield said. “Much of the infrastructure and many of our great buildings of Chattanooga are products of that age.”

However, he worries that moving forward into the next century provides us with much greater challenges than were faced by local leaders a hundred years ago. As much as Chattanooga has improved as a place to live, there are still major problems to overcome in providing housing for less affluent residents.

Henry Cisneros, former Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, has invited the city to contribute a chapter to a book that he is producing on city livability. Cisneros, who has visited Chattanooga several times, has already written a book, From Despair to Hope, that described a new way of thinking on the subject of low-income housing.

During his watch as HUD Secretary, Cisneros fostered the shift away from the traditional concept of simply warehousing the poor in bland, depressing multistory, high-density housing projects to a more hopeful and enlightened approach of developing housing integrated with its community and neighborhood. In short, public housing that does not look or feel like public housing.

This is the view favored by Mayor Littlefield as well. Which is why he seemed especially frustrated with one of his own city agencies, the Chattanooga Housing Authority, and their determination to move forward on the controversial Fair-

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mount Avenue public housing development.

“I have to say that it is difficult to understand why our own housing authority would wish to take a step backward and build, once again, a public housing development that concentrates and isolates the poor in a location that lacks the needed elements such as access to public transportation and other qualities that give the residents options and add to hope and optimism,” he said.

“Whatever else can be said about the proposed high-density housing development at the steep and narrow end of Fairmont Avenue, it unquestionably will look and feel like public housing. No one takes issue with the need for public housing in general or the utility of the Fairmont site in addressing the community’s overall goal of inclusion with safe and livable housing for everyone, but the development as proposed ignores the lessons learned over the decades since World War II and offers a 50year retreat in thinking. It must not be built as currently planned and designed,” he said.

It’s not just public housing the mayor is concerned about. He is also a major proponent of “Green Housing”, and is taking steps to have the city become a leader in the movement. Last year, the City Climate Action Task Force asked that the city establish an office to pursue implementation of their very thorough and award-winning plan.

In response, Littlefield has appointed former City Councilman David Crockett as Director of the Office of Sustainability. One of Crockett’s first challenges, as set forth by the mayor, will be to ensure that from now on, any building built by the city of Chattanooga will be L.E.E.D.

“For the decade ahead, consolidation for the sake of efficiency, economy and unity is the key.”

—Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield, renewing his call for consolidating city and county services and agencies for the betterment of the entire region.

Here is one of the more interesting agenda items set to be discussed at the February 23 meeting of the Chattanooga City Council.

7. Resolutions:

certified.

“The two large construction projects done recently, the Blue Cross Blue Shield office complex and the Volkswagen automotive plant, are both L.E.E.D. certified projects,” Littlefield noted. “These two large projects, along with many other significant L.E.E.D. projects, including city of Chattanooga projects, have already set that high standard and we will maintain it.”

And while many politicians across the country have jumped on the green bandwagon, Littlefield promises to put ideas into practice. “This is a new path. We will learn together. We will partner with business and communities to develop new approaches. We will partner with leading cities around the country to transfer their experiences and knowledge. We will profit from this by developing new skills, new business opportunities and hopefully new technologies that can be used here and in other cities across the country. We will develop new codes and ordinances for landscaping, urban forestry, stormwater, street design, etc. that are integrated and promote functional and attractive green infrastructure.”

b) A resolution authorizing the Administrator of the Department of Parks and Recreation to enter into an agreement with Scenic City Aquatic Club to rent the Warner Park Swimming Pool for purposes of practice, in the amount of $2,000.00. c) A resolution authorizing the Administrator of the Department of Parks and Recreation to enter into an agreement with Scenic City Aquatic Club to rent the Warner Park Swimming Pool for purposes of the Chattanooga Invitational Swimming Meet, in the amount of $1,500.00.

With all the recent snow and cold weather, swimming may be the furthest thing from people’s minds. Not so for the folks at Parks and Recreation, who are putting together the Chattanooga Invitational Swimming Meet, one of many small events held in the city throughout the year that help bring in visitors (and their spending money).

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

February 18, 2010 | The Pulse

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Beyond The Headlines

By Janis Hashe

Help Win an Organic Garden for Your Child’s School

From First Lady Michelle Obama’s White House organic garden, to schools banning junk food on campus, healthier food— especially for kids—has been all over the recent news.

This spring, the Organic Trade Association (OTA) is helping schools access and offer students more organic food with a national contest to award a winning school with an organically grown garden or an organic vending machine.

The OTA launched its “Organic.

It’s Worth it in Schools” initiative earlier this month. The organization, which represents more than 1,400 organic food and product companies is reaching out to teachers, parents, students, educators and others to vote for their favorite school to win an organic garden complete with seeds, soil and expert gardening support; or a fully stocked vending machine, which can feature organic items like milk, fruit, cheese, yogurt and snacks.

Through May 1, 2010, voters can visit www.OrganicItsWorthIt. org and enter their school name and address, and at the same time “voting” by signing up for an electronic newsletter featuring organic tips, recipes, news and more. A school must receive a minimum 1,000 votes (or newsletter sign-ups) to win. (Full details on rules and regulations are at www. organicitsworthit.org/join/currentcampaigns.)

The winning school selects the garden or vending machine for installation in the 2010-11 school year.

“Organic food is the only food certified by the USDA to have no artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, irradiation and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). And, organically grown gardens use no harmful pesticides and synthetic fertilizers on the soil,” says Christine Bushway, executive director of OTA. “We know schools in large cities and small towns work hard to promote

“We know schools in large cities and small towns work hard to promote healthy food and environmental stewardship.”

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The Pulse | February 18, 2010

healthy food and environmental stewardship. With ‘Organic. It’s Worth it in Schools.,’ we want to provide them with one more tool to help them along.”

The site also features tools and information for schools, parents and students to advocate for more organic food in schools, as well as information about the healthful, economic and social benefits of organic food and gardening.

“Be honest: Our children are at the heart of our worlds. Because we care, they influence the schedules we keep, the cars we buy, the entertainment we consume and the food we purchase,” says Stanford pediatrician Dr. Alan Greene.

“But when we send our kids off to school, we have little control over what they eat. The more we can provide healthy organic food and organic gardening in schools today, the further we can go in ensuring a healthy future for our kids and our soil.”

This is a great chance for Chattanoogans invested in the Slow Food Movement, and all those interested in better nutrition for their children and the future to win a great prize for their favorite school.

Chattanooga's Weekly Alternative

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.

• Kudos go out this week to agents of the FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation who, working closely with various law enforcement agencies on both sides of the border, made a large dent in the local meth trade.

Sixteen people were arrested last week in the latest roundup of a fouryear investigation into a major meth distribution ring that operated in the region. The 16 have been indicted for conspiring to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine, with each person facing a possible sentence of 10 years to life. These arrests are in addition to 12 other members of the ring who have already been convicted as a result of the investigation.

Considering how prevalent meth production and distribution is in the area, it’s always very welcome news to see law enforcement getting the upper hand, at least for the moment.

• Ever since red-light cameras started being used by cities, there has been a lot of controversy and protest over their use. Proponents claim they make the roads safer, while opponents question the effectiveness and basic legality of the devices. City officials in Cleveland, however, have been faced with an unexpected problem—their cameras were apparently too effective.

As a result of a dramatic decrease in citations, the company that supplies the devices informed the Cleveland City Council that they want them back. Apparently, Traffipax wasn’t making enough money off their cut of the citations to cover the expense of maintaining the cameras. As a result, the cameras are coming down by the end of March. www.chattanoogapulse.com

• It happens every winter, and every winter we try and remind people about how not to be a victim of a car thief. Yet, there are people who still turn their vehicles on and leave them running in front of their homes on a cold winter morning…only to see them driven off with someone else behind the wheel. Such was the case with a woman on Rogers Road who watched helplessly as a man wearing an orange jacket hopped into her Chevy Tahoe and drove away. Yes, we know that getting into a cold car is no fun in the morning, but if the choice is between sitting in the car for a few minutes before driving to work as opposed to watching someone else get into your now nicely heated vehicle, we’ll take the cold.

• A unique Bradley County program that trains citizens to become special deputies for area churches has paid off in many ways, including during a recent Sunday morning at the Central Church of Christ. An off-duty deputy who was working in a security role during morning services noticed a man prowling in the parking lot.

When the man saw that he was being watched, he tossed something under a car. The deputy detained the man and discovered that the object was a wallet that had been taken from a nearby vehicle. The man was arrested and charged with burglary. Bradley County Sheriff Tim Gobble was pleased with the news, saying that it shows the program is working, and that “having a law enforcement presence on the scene protects the lives and property of those attending worship services.”

February 18, 2010 | The Pulse

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Chattanooga's Weekly Alternative

Shrink Rap

By Rick Pimental-Habib, Ph.D

After The Chocolate Dust Has Settled So another Valentine’s Day has come and gone, and all that’s left in the well-mauled box of chocolates are those weird florescent-filled, funnytasting ones nobody eats. All the really good caramels and chocolate creams are long gone. There’s some chocolate dust at the bottom of the little plastic cups that, when no one’s looking, you secretly dab up with a wet finger tip. Yep, you know what I’m talking about. No worries. We’ve all been there.

I was interested this year in how some of my friends were doing regarding Valentine’s Day. Probably like most of you, I have both single and coupled friends. Some are quite content with their relationship status, and some are not. A few who tend to be single most of the time—either through choice, or break-ups, or loss—have learned to have a very good Valentine’s celebration by teaming up with other single friends and living it up with a night on the town. They treat themselves to a great dinner, maybe some theatre or a movie, some great wine, great conversation and laughter. They really know how to do it, how to take care of themselves.

Others are couples who are quite content to stay at home and enjoy each other’s company. Still with lots of passion for each other, their time spent together still feels “selfish,” special, untainted. They know how to take care of themselves, too.

One particular friend used this past Valentine’s Day to reflect on this very

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issue: How does he take care of himself while single? What does “single” mean to him, and how is his life better or worse for being out of a relationship?

He’s been in long-term relationships in the past, so he knows what that requires of him, and what the joys and difficulties can be. But what about the joys and difficulties of singledom? He uses a phrase, “my engagement to the world,” that really speaks to his ability to enjoy life beyond his four walls. By going outside the usual boundaries that can be limiting, he finds some very powerful and touching experiences.

The following is an excerpt from an insightful letter he shared with me about his recent trip to Rome.

Like everyone, I’m merely a work in progress. Made some terrific and some goofy decisions in my life, but overall, I’m content. I have some good friends, and lots to do. And while it would be nice to have a sig other, I can’t let that impede my engagement to the world. My trip to Rome was

about wanting to see the Sistine Chapel (surprisingly underwhelming) and having street pizza (completely overwhelming) and walking around the city (mind boggling and wonderful) and taking in a bunch of art.

But overall it was spectacular and I cried in the Coliseum for all the souls who had died there, and I cried in St Peter’s Basilica for all the Incas who died protecting their f***ing gold, and all the slaves who built the damn thing. But I cried at the Trevi Fountain, because so many lovers were getting photographed there and it was such fun. And it was fine to be alone— nobody saw me, and I saw everyone.

I totally get going on vacation to faraway lands by oneself. You either want to do it, or not. And if you eventually acquire a sig other, you can do it again, right? But what I believe is: Don’t die thinking, “I shouldda gone!”

I love that wise spirit: Don’t die thinking, “I shouldda gone.”

How many of us say, “I’ll go when I have someone to share it with.” Or, after I retire. Or, when the kids are out of college. H’mm. Life is short—you may want to re-think that. The joys and the difficulties of your life are waiting, right now, to enrich you. You’ve got some tears of joy waiting to be shed at your own metaphorical Trevi Fountain.

The chocolate’s gone. Now it’s time to really eat. Buon Appetito!

Until next week: “The most memorable people in life are the ones who loved you when you weren’t very lovable.” — author unknown

“How many of us say, ‘I’ll go when I have someone to share it with.’

Or, after I retire.

Or, when the kids are out of college. H’mm.

Life is short— you may want to re-think that.”

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.” Contact him online at www.drrph.com

February 18, 2010 | The Pulse

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Chattanooga's Weekly Alternative

Cover Story

By Janis Hashe

“I won the contest…I didn’t know at that moment that I was going to dance one day. God wanted me to dance.”

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Dance That Dream “Let no one tell you what you can’t be.”

Asked what advice he’d give to young people in Chattanooga starting from the same place he did, that’s what Dance Theatre of Harlem dancer Fredrick Davis responds.

And he speaks from experience. In 1998, he was 11 years old, living in Chattanooga, and by his own admission, living a lifestyle that “wasn’t the greatest.”

Like many young boys, he was interested in sports, basketball and football, and wondering if he had the talent to be a professional. Then a suggestion changed his life. A Chattanooga Parks and Recreation staff member, whom he simply calls “Sid”, encouraged him to audition for Ballet Tennessee’s Dance Alive program.

“Sid told me to give it a shot and see what

happens,” Davis says. When he did, “I knew I got in.” Not only was he accepted, but he earned full scholarships through BT’s Talent Identification Program.

By this time, his troubled family life had landed him with his grandmother, and while he was living with her, he became a BT company dancer and was accepted at the Center for Creative Arts magnet school.

“Ballet Tennessee is an amazing company,” Davis says. “The Van Curas [Barry and Anna] are very passionate about what they do, and they expect 100 percent commitment. If they see a promising student, they will do whatever it takes to help the student.

“They told me in the beginning what would be expected of me…such as rehearsals February 18, 2010 | The Pulse

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Cover Story

are hard at times, because they make you better as an artist. I told them my goals and aspirations, and they gave me the knowledge to be a professional.”

He was “raw talent,” he says. “I could jump, and I had a natural talent to perform, but I wasn’t flexible and I had to work hard on technique, every day, to get better.”

And it isn’t enough, Davis acknowledges, to have talent. “You have to do the work with respect; you have to respect the workplace. It’s an art, but it’s also a business. You can be an amazing dancer and not know the etiquette of how to work with the team.” Along with teaching him dance skills, he says, the Van Curas taught him how to survive the business of dance.

During high school, and after the passing of his

grandmother, Davis was adopted by the pastor of his church and supported by the entire community so that he could continue to pursue his dream of becoming a professional dancer.

“My grandmother, my brother, my aunt all helped me. My dad has never seen me dance. And I haven’t seen my mom in a long time,” he says, sadness shadowing his voice. “I’ve lost a lot of things in my life. There were times as a child when I was out on the street.”

But dance became the dream that held his life together.

After graduation, Davis moved to New York City and studied at the Joffrey School.

He worked at American Eagle and other jobs to make ends meet. “I said, ‘I am going to live in New York City one day.’” It was another hard time, and he struggled, sometimes working several jobs to pay the rent, and at one time virtually living at a dance studio.

“Lots of times I wanted to give up,” he says. “But I had to stick with it, and I worked hard every day.”

Through the Joffrey School, he gained valuable experience and opportunities to perform as a guest artist in companies across the country.

In one production of The Nutcracker, he performed four different roles, something even he admits was challenging. Then, in 2008, came the opportunity to audition for Dance Theatre of Harlem.

“I took class with the company in Louisville,” Davis relates, “and then my friend Dajuan was telling me about DTH. ‘They need a tall guy,’ he said. ‘You’re 6’2”, plus you’re a really good dancer.’” The audition was successful, he joined DTH and became a member of the ensemble— and once again, his life changed.

At DTH, he’s danced the lead in the company’s signature piece Dougla, by choreographer Geoffrey Holder. And he’s been dancing in another DTH classic, Lowell Smith’s Fragments, for two years now. “I could wake up at 5 in the morning and dance Fragments right then,” he says, chucking. “You just keep giving more to it,

to make it fresh each time.”

Davis is thrilled that his hometown will see him dance with DTH when the company gives an “interactive” performance on Saturday, February 27, at the Tivoli. These performances demonstrate to audiences such things as “how to partner a ballerina, how to get ready for a show,” he says. The company will also be performing Fragments, Joplin Dances (choreographed to the ragtime music of Scott Joplin), and Concerto in F, danced to the George Gershwin composition, among other pieces, he says.

Ballet Tennessee is also excited to have Davis return. “We are celebrating Fredrick’s return to Chattanooga as the success story of an entire city,” says Anna Baker VanCura. “Fredrick’s story shows us everything that’s right within the arts and the community—from Allied Arts of Greater Chattanooga and other supporters of the programs where Fredrick got his start—to the City of Chattanooga, corporations, schools, churches, and art organizations. And Fredrick’s own determination and motivation—we are celebrating it all.”

“I am having the greatest time of my life right now,” Davis says. “So much has happened since I joined the ensemble—I have grown as an artist and a dancer and I have everything I want.”

He pauses to remember a much younger Fredrick. “I was in fourth grade, and I was in a spelling bee contest at the local recreation center.

I always won those contests,” he says, proudly.

“I was a good speller. So, some of the words were things like ‘insubordination’ and ‘psychiatrist.’

Then I got the last word of the contest. It was ‘dancer.’

“I won the contest,” he says. “I didn’t know at that moment that I was going to dance one day.

God wanted me to dance.”

Coming full circle, Davis has this additional advice for Chattanooga young people who are in the same situation he was: “You have to want what you do. You do not do it for the money.

Have faith in goals, and never give up fighting for yourself and your dream.”

Dance Theatre of Harlem $10- $30 8 p.m. Saturday, February 27 Tivoli Theatre, 709 Broad Street (423) 757-5050. www.chattanoogaonstage.com

Forty Years of Dance—and Counting It was earthshaking in 1955—George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein chose African American Arthur Mitchell to join the New York Ballet, breaking the classical dance color barrier as surely as Jackie Robinson had broken the baseball color line in 1947. Mitchell went on to spend 15 years with the NYB, dancing roles that Balanchine created for him in Agon and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

In 1969, after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mitchell and Karei Shook founded what would become the Dance Theatre of Harlem,

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offering classes in a garage on 152nd Street.

It did not take long for the company to flourish, and in 1971, Balanchine invited Mitchell to co-choreograph Concerto for Jazz Band and Orchestra.

In the ’80s and ’90s, the company toured and became known for its neoclassical technique and for performances of Firebird, Creole Giselle, Scheherazade, Bugaku and Dougla, among others.

Its school expanded, continuing to train dancers who now work with many companies throughout

the country, In 2004, the professional company went on hiatus, but the DTH Ensemble, the performing arm of the school, continued to perform nationally and internationally to great acclaim.

In April 2009, DTH announced a new artistic director would take the reins from the now 75-yearold Mitchell. The appointment of Virginia Johnson, a former principal dancer with the company, signals a new era for the world-famous organization.

— Janis Hashe Chattanooga's Weekly Alternative

Cover Story

Classes with Dance Theatre of Harlem DTH will offer several classes while the ensemble is in town, including: Advanced Master Class Advanced ballet technique class featuring guest teacher from DTHE and live pianist. Open to dancers in Ballet Tennessee PTP program. Open to advanced dancers from the community, ages 15-adult. Dancers must know classroom protocol and have the strength and technique to handle an advanced ballet class. $20 (cash only) 6:30-8 p.m. Friday, February 26 At VanCura Ballet Conservatory in Patten Recreation Center 3202 Kelly’s Ferry Road (423) 821-2055 Free Community Classes Classes are ballet-based movement classes, taught by artists from DTHE, geared for children ages 7-12 years.

Open to all. This is an excellent opportunity to interact with New York professional artists.

www.chattanoogapulse.com

6:30-7:30 p.m. Friday, February 26 Brainerd Recreation Complex 1010 N. Moore Road Contact: Cynthia Gates (423) 4253600 South Chattanooga Recreation Complex 1150 West 40th Street Contact: Kim Battle (423) 425-3550 Another site will be announced later.

Intermediate Master Class Intermediate ballet technique class featuring guest teacher from DTHE and live pianist. Open to dancers in Junior III and JBI. Open to intermediate dancers from the community, ages 9-adult. Dancers must know classroom protocol and have a solid ballet technique to handle an intermediate ballet class. $20 (cash only) 11:30 a.m.- 1 p.m. Saturday, February 27 VanCura Ballet Conservatory in Patten Recreation Center 3202 Kelly’s Ferry Road (423) 821-2055

February 18, 2010 | The Pulse

13

Life in the Noog

By Chuck Crowder

Gettin’ Ready For The ‘Roo Well it’s that time of year again, when the good folks up Manchester way release the lineup of the country’s second largest outdoor music and arts festival— Bonnaroo. In gleeful anticipation, hard-core ‘Rooers sat patiently by their computers February 9th as the powers-that-be used a colorful animated program to unveil one act every five minutes starting at noon (when the tickets went on sale) until all of the talent for this year’s freakout had been painstakingly revealed.

I can’t talk. I was one of those Rooheads checking the site every five minutes to see the next name on the list. And each year since ’06 I’ve weighed my options for going as if I was considering moving to New York City or something. It shouldn’t seem that important of a decision, but in many ways you are “moving” to Manchester for four days and the only pro or con that’s unknown is the caliber of music you’re going to experience. That is, until February.

That’s when the pondering begins.

Bonnaroo didn’t really intrigue me until the line-up for the one in ’06 was announced. That’s when the headliners moved from Phish and some semblance of a regrouped Grateful Dead to picks I dig—such as Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and Radiohead. I waited right up to the last minute to make my mind up about going, but my preconceived notions about massive crowds and Woodstock-esque drug-laden muddy madness in a tent city full of mayhem and mosquitoes kept me from hitting

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The Pulse | February 18, 2010

the “buy now” button.

But when the next year’s lineup included The Police, White Stripes, Flaming Lips and Wilco, I knew that I had to check it out. Plus, some friends and I were turning 40 that year and decided that we needed to cross Bonnaroo off the “hope I _________ before I get old” list. And from then on, I was hooked.

I skipped the ’08 festival for some reason, but couldn’t resist the ’09 roster of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Wilco, David Byrne, Robyn Hitchcock, Elvis Costello, Al Green, Lucinda Williams, Booker T & The DBTs and many more. I even attended solo, and was surprised at how many friends from the ‘noog I ran into in the crowd of 70,000 over the course of the weekend.

Afterwards, I realized that even a lackluster line-up might not be enough to keep me away from the cow-pasture paradise along I-24.

So when the last of the five-minute updates for this year’s talent came to fruition, I carefully assessed my enthusiasm for Bonnaroo 2010. There were plenty of acts that immediately caught my eye as must-see’s (if I were to decide to attend). So I read those names aloud to myself to see if the sheer numbers and magnitude of their musical prowess would enter my ears in a way that would ignite the part of my brain that controls instant like vs. skepticism.

My first “hell yeah” moment was when I saw that the Flaming Lips (et al) were going to perform their interpretation of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety. Released in December, this

modern-day rendition of the onceuntouchable, most-mega-selling record since 1973 is a jewel that you should do yourself (and the Flaming Lips) a favor and pick up. It’s amazing. But as for this show, it may be one of only a couple of performances of this project (in its entirety) from the Lips.

Okay, so one great act down.

Next, I saw that Stevie Wonder was on the bill. I’m not sure that he’s even performed on stage since his opening stint for the Stones on the ’72 North American Tour, right? I mean, he’s probably never even been to Tennessee. A must see (no pun).

And then I noticed Jimmy Cliff.

Really? Did they fly down to Jamaica and ask him in person? Did they release The Harder They Come on Blu-Ray or something? What could he possibly be promoting (besides ganja)?

Regardless, another once-in-a-lifetime show.

Then there’s the laundry list of acts that I like but would never bother to go see unless they were part of a bigger festival—like John Fogerty, Jeff Beck, Kris Kristofferson, John Prine, Thievery Corporation, Medeski Martin & Wood, Tenacious D, They Might Be Giants and The Black Keys.

And there are always some bands that I am curious about seeing either because of songs I’ve heard, their reputation, or just because they sound cool. Bands like Tokyo Police Club, Kid Cudi, Blitzen Trapper, Phoenix, Japandroids, The Disco Biscuits, Martin Sexton and Dropkick Murphys are all gonna be in same middle Tennessee field one weekend this June. And now that I’ve talked myself into it, so am I. See you there.

“Then I noticed Jimmy Cliff.

Really? Did they fly down to Jamaica and ask him in person?

Did they release The Harder They Come on Blu-Ray or something?

What could he possibly be promoting (besides ganja)?”

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 popular website www.thenoog.com

Chattanooga's Weekly Alternative

www.chattanoogapulse.com

February 18, 2010 | The Pulse

15

Music Feature

By Hellcat

476 in the 423 I constantly write about local bands and what they are up to, or what national acts might be doing in our neck of the woods.

What I would like to do now is interview a new, up-and-coming band in Chattanooga, to see how and what it takes to become a performing band around town. What are the steps you have to follow? Perhaps some of our readers are starting a band of their own, or thinking about it and would like to know what to expect.

First, obviously, you must learn how to play an instrument, find others to play other instruments in your band, and decide which type of music you want to play. The next step should be regular practice and writing of original songs. But then what? How do you actually become a band with a draw?

I will take you through it step by step with Jack Brooks, a member of a fairly new band, 476, and see how they got their start. Feel free to take notes.

Hellcat: So, what made you want to start a band?

Jack Brooks: For the creative side of it, for the love of music. It sure wasn’t for money, I know that.

HC: How did you come up with the name? Often bands have trouble agreeing on what to call themselves. Was it a pretty easy process for you guys?

JB: It wasn’t my idea to call it 476, it’s actually the number that has been on my motorcross bike since I was a kid.

Where we practice, 476 is everywhere on bikes and old stuff of mine, so my bandmates suggested we use it. I didn’t want to at first because I didn’t want to come across as egotistical. But they convinced me to, as the name doesn’t sound like it is from one specific genre, and neither are we.

HC: How long did you practice before you started trying to get gigs around town?

JB: We were actually a band probably about three months. We had a few months of practice before our first opening show.

HC: Where was your first show?

JB: The Boro, in Murfreesboro. It

was just an opening spot.

HC: How did you land that?

JB: My singer lives in Tracy City, and had some connections up that way, friends of friends I guess, that took his word for it, and gave us a shot.

HC: How did it go?

JB: We were received really well. I think some people were surprised. So many people judge you and how you will sound by how you look, and we didn’t sound anything like they thought we would sound like and people really dug it. We had a good time playing it.

HC: Where is your favorite venue you’ve played and why?

JB: We haven’t played that many, we’ve played Riverhouse and Ziggy’s.

I think I like Ziggy’s the most because we had a really good crowd and the sound is pretty decent. It’s been limited to where we can play in town as a new band.

HC: What is a venue you haven’t played yet, but you have set as a goal, and why?

JB: In town, Rhythm and Brews because it’s an awesome venue with really good sound. It’s a cool place for people to come and hang out. Out of town, The Tabernacle in Atlanta. You make that place, you are doing something.

HC: How do you guys promote your shows?

JB: The singer and I do the standard Facebook and Myspace, we mass text, and recently I’ve been posting flyers at all the media sales places, and tattoo shops. Basically, anywhere that will let us put up flyers without getting us in trouble. Although…maybe we should start graffiti.

HC: Does any particular way of promotion seem to work better than others?

JB: I think just getting out there and personally talking to people, or handing out flyers.

The one-on-one, personal approach seems to work the

“So many people judge you and how you will sound by how you look, and we didn’t sound anything like they thought we would sound like and people really dug it.”

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The Pulse | February 18, 2010

best. It makes it better if people come to you and ask you personally to come instead of a mass mailer.

HC: How do you plan on keeping up your momentum?

JB: Playing shows as much as we can and try not to disappoint. We make sure they have a good time, and they’ll come back. Some people only get out once a month, and we want to be that reason they come out, so that if they had a good time once, they’ll come back next month.

HC: What about professional band photos? How does one go about getting those done?

JB: I’m in that dilemma right now.

There are some people in town that take pictures, you have to just get out there and find them. We are about to get band photos taken, so I’ll let you know how that goes.

HC: Do you guys have merch? Do you think that is something that you will be looking into? What sort of merch are you thinking about?

JB: We have T-shirts and we sell them at the show for $10, and we have a few different sticker designs, and we should have CDs available next month.

HC: What about recording? How do you get your music in the hands of local fans?

JB: We are recording, but we are trying to figure out if we want to record in or out of town. We are playing shows now to save up and decide which route to go. So come to our shows and buy our shirts and stickers, and we’ll record!

HC: Do you have any advice for the hopeful musicians coming up in our little scenic city?

JB: Yeah, never give up. Don’t get discouraged when the only people at your show are your immediate friends or girlfriend. Always keep plugging at it.

HC: When are you playing next?

JB: We should be at JJ’s Bohemia in March with Double Dick Slick.

Chattanooga's Weekly Alternative

Music Calendar Highlights Friday

Thursday

Archnemesis with Curtis of Telepath, Justin of Mo Theory Electronic beats never felt so electrifying. $10 9:30 p.m.

Rhythm & Brews, 221 Market Street. (423) 267-4644. www.rhythm-brews.com

Send your calendar events to us at calendar@chattanoogapulse.com

Sista Otis, Dylan Kussman Band, Krystie Wilson 8 p.m. Mudpie Restaurant, 12 Frazier Ave. (423) 267-9043. www.mudpierestaurant.com Open Mic with Gabriel Newell 8 p.m. Market Street Tavern, 850 Market St. (423) 634-0260. www.marketstreettavern.com 2-n-Fro 9 p.m. The Palms at Hamilton, 6925 Shallowford Rd., #202.

(423) 499-5055. www.thepalmsathamilton.com Channing Wilson 9 p.m. Bud’s Sports Bar, 5751 Brainerd Rd. (423) 499-9878. www.budssportsbar.com Zan Teddy 10 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd. (423) 266-1400. www.myspace.com/jjsbohemia

The Distribution, Space Capone Kick it oldschool with ’70s groove and funk. $7 9 p.m.

JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd.

(423) 266-1400. www.myspace.com/jjsbohemia

Saturday

Heypenny, Holy Ghost Tent Revival, Fire Zuave Dedicate your soul to rock and roll. $7 10 p.m.

JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd.

(423) 266-1400. www.myspace.com/jjsbohemia

Old Tyme Players 6 p.m. Market Street Tavern, 850 Market St. (423) 634-0260. www.marketstreettavern.com Karaoke 9:30 p.m. Bud’s Sports Bar, 5751 Brainerd Rd. (423) 499-9878. www.budssportsbar.com The Palms at Hamilton 6925 Shallowford Rd. (423) 499-5055.

Tuesday Troy Underwood 6:30 p.m. Mudpie Restaurant, 12 Frazier Ave. (423) 267-9043. www.mudpierestaurant.com The Ben Friberg Trio 7 p.m. Table 2, 232 E. 11th Street, (423) 756-8253. www.table2restaurant.com

Dawn Moon and the Whispering Drifters, Forest Magic, 8 p.m. Riverhouse Pub, 224 Frazier Ave. (423) 752-0066 SMI, Legion X 8 p.m. Ziggy’s Hideaway, 607 Cherokee Blvd. (423) 634-1074. myspace.com/ziggyshideaway Mark Holder 10 p.m. Market Street Tavern, 850 Market St. (423) 634-0260. www.marketstreettavern.com Black Cat Moon 10 p.m. T-Bones, 1419 Chestnut Ave. (423) 266-4240. www.tboneschattanooga.com Amber Fults 10 p.m. Tremont Tavern, 1203 Hixson Pike. (423) 266-1996. www.tremonttavern.com Nathan Farrow Band 10 p.m. Bud’s Sports Bar, 5751 Brainerd Rd. (423) 499-9878.

Sunday Lumbar Five CD Release Party w/ Sistren, Ogya, The Pool 2 p.m. Clearstory, 400 E. Main Street. (423) 316-6806 Karen Page, Curse the Day, Everybody Loves the Hero 5 p.m. Club Fathom, 412 Market Street. (423) 757-0019.

Lorien, Vinyl Relay, Oh So Cavalier, Concerning Lions 7 p.m. The Warehouse, 5716 Ringgold Rd., East Ridge. www.myspace.com/warehousetn Lionheart, Of Legend, Nations, Faded, Hold Fast 8 p.m. Ziggy’s Hideaway, 607 Cherokee Blvd. (423) 634-1074. myspace.com/ziggyshideaway Kyle McKillip & The Waybackwhens 10 p.m. Market Street Tavern, 850 Market St. (423) 634-0260. www.marketstreettavern.com

Soul Survivor 10 p.m. T-Bones, 1419 Chestnut Ave. (423) 266-4240. www.tboneschattanooga.com Fly By Radio 10 p.m. Rhythm & Brews, 221 Market St. (423) 267-4644. www.rhythm-brews.com John Lathim 10 p.m. Tremont Tavern, 1203 Hixson Pike. (423) 266-1996. www.tremonttavern.com Nathan Farrow Band 10 p.m. Bud’s Sports Bar, 5751 Brainerd Rd. (423) 499-9878.

Wintersong 2010 Concert 7:30 p.m. Barking Legs Theatre, 1307 Dodds Ave. (423) 624-5347. www.barkinglegs.org To Haiti With Love Benefit Concert 7 p.m. Lindsay Street Hall, 901 Lindsay St. (423) 755-9111.

The Rest of The Week Monday

Jordan Holquist 11:30 a.m. Mudpie Restaurant, 12 Frazier Ave. (423) 267-9043. www.mudpierestaurant.com Sam Bush and Slim Pickens 5:50 p.m. Rhythm & Brews, 221 Market St. (423) 267-4644.

Roger Alan Wade 6 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd. (423) 266-1400.

Tim Hughes Quartet 7 p.m. The Original Blue Orleans Restaurant, 3208 Amnicola Hwy. (423) 629-6538.

Noah Collins and Liz Clark 7 p.m. Mudpie Restaurant, 12 Frazier Ave. (423) 267-9043.

Stand Your Ground, For The Love Of, In This Hour, Everybody Loves The Hero 7: 30 p.m. Club Fathom, 412 Market Street (423) 757-0019. www.clubfathom.com

Irish Music Get back to the roots of drinking and singing.

No cover.

6:30 p.m.

Tremont Tavern, 1203 Hixson Pike. (423) 266-1996. www.tremonttavern.com

Open Mic w/Jeff Daniels 4 p.m. Ms. Debbie’s Nightlife Lounge, 4762 Highway 58, (423) 485-0966. myspace.com/debbieslounge Rick Rushing and the Blues Stranger 6:30 p.m. Mudpie Restaurant, 12 Frazier Ave. (423) 267-9043. www.mudpierestaurant.com Irish Sessions Music 6:30 p.m. Tremont Tavern, 1203 Hixson Pike. (423) 266-1996. www.tremonttavern.com Open Mic 8 p.m. Gene’s Bar & Grill, 724 Ashland Terrace, (423) 870-0880.

DJ GOP The Palms at Hamilton, 6925 Shallowford Rd. (423) 499-5055. www.thepalmsathamilton.com

Editor’s Pick: Featured Event Of The Week Open Mic 8 p.m. Tremont Tavern, 1203 Hixson Pike. (423) 266-1996.

Spoken Word/Poetry Night 8 p.m. The Riverhouse, 224 Frazier Ave., (423) 752-0066.

Milele Roots 8 p.m. Bud’s Sports Bar, 5751 Brainerd Rd. (423) 499-9878.

DJ ScubaSteve Fox and Hound Pub & Grille, 2040 Hamilton Place Blvd #150, (423) 490-1200.

DJ GOP The Palms at Hamilton, 6925 Shallowford Rd. (423) 499-5055.

Wednesday Ben Friberg Jazz Trio 6:30 p.m. Market Street Tavern, 850 Market Street, (423) 634-0260. www.marketstreettavern.com

Johnston Brown 8 p.m. The Palms at Hamilton, 6925 Shallowford Rd., #202.

(423) 499-5055. www.thepalmsathamilton.com Aneirin, Divide the Sea 8:30 p.m. The Warehouse, 5716 Ringgold Rd., East Ridge. www.myspace.com/warehousetn Ellen Ireland 9 p.m. Bud’s Sports Bar, 5751 Brainerd Rd. (423) 499-9878. www.budssportsbar.com That 1 Guy, The Cadillac Saints 9:30 p.m. Rhythm & Brews, 221 Market St. (423) 267-4644. www.rhythm-brews.com DJ GOP The Palms at Hamilton, 6925 Shallowford Rd. (423) 499-5055. www.thepalmsathamilton.com

www.chattanoogapulse.com

To Haiti With Love Benefit The Chattanooga Urban League Young Professionals, The Creative Underground and CreateHere unite to host a bevy of performers in a benefit for the efforts of the American Red Cross in Haiti. Confirmed acts include Milele Roots, Kofi & Friends, The Ben Friberg Trio, Mirabai Bellydance, the poets of Rhyme & Chatt and many more.

After-party with DJ Treyzz and silent art auction. If you haven’t helped before, here’s your chance, folks.

Saturday, February 20 $10 7 p.m.

Lindsay Street Hall, 901 Lindsay Street. (423) 755-9111. www.lindsaystreethall.com

February 18, 2010 | The Pulse

Monday

Tuesday

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The Pulse | February 18, 2010

Chattanooga's Weekly Alternative

New Music Reviews U.S. Girls Go Grey (Siltbreeze)

“Remy continues with her haunting lofidelity approach, with sparing instrumentation and beats that are so sonically overdriven that it’s often hard to tell what she’s hitting exactly.”

Anais Mitchell Hadestown: A Folk Opera (Righteous Babe Records) Anais Mitchell takes a trip to Hadestown with some well-known musical guests on her latest album Hadestown: A Folk Opera. The album is a true compilation of original songs that tells a story from beginning to end—specifically, the tragic Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.

Orpheus’ story—his descent into the underworld, musical entrancement of Hades and Persephone, and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to rescue of his dead wife—has been the subject

www.chattanoogapulse.com

There’s something endearingly ghetto about the configuration of a performance from the Philadelphia outfit U.S. Girls. Megan Remy, the sole member, kneels or crouches over a cluster of guitar pedals and clutches a microphone, sometimes accompanied by a reel-to-reel tape player. She doesn’t even afford herself a card table, providing a wholly make-shift, even primitive (by today’s standards) imprint on the proceedings.

One might presume it’s some sort of anti-refinement statement—sitting among the dust mites—and her music certainly must be. Remy sings pop melodies in a manner that channels the spirit of Ronnie Spector, but her sonic style is the opposite of slick, as she runs her vocals through an effects gauntlet, often making them distorted and barely comprehensible.

Like the debut album Introducing…, the second U.S. Girls album, Go Grey, is a brief outing and is only available on vinyl and as a digital download; it’s an improvement over its predecessor, as it seems to have fewer moments that are directionless. Remy continues with her haunting lo-fidelity approach, with sparing instrumentation and beats that are so sonically overdriven that it’s often hard to tell what she’s hitting exactly.

“Red Ford Radio” is somewhere between a dirge and a pop song, and its lyrics are actually discernable; Remy sings “Can’t breathe in this red Ford anymore / I’d do anything to get out, get out” as if it were a chain-gang chant. The six-minute “Sleeping on Glass” (practically an epic, by U.S. Girls standards) begins with Casio beats followed by a dirtied-up ditty; it’s chased by some nightmarish noise and echoing minimal guitar notes that go in

and out of phase with each other. I go back and forth between really digging it and thinking that it sounds like some 12-year-old who just discovered what a delay pedal is.

“I Don’t Have a Mind of My Own” is a departure, with a drums-andguitar setup that channels garage rock, but the distorted sound treatment gives it an even more raw sound than typical garage rock—think Guitar Wolf, but more basic and without the musicianship. One of the album’s best and most eerie tracks is the disquieting “The Mountain’s High,” dominated by reverberating drum beats and Remy’s ghostly vocals, which sound like they’ve been run through a pitch-shifter, to allow her to harmonize with herself.

The coarseness of Go Grey will be too harsh for most ears, but for those with both a tolerance for noise and a fondness for off-kilter pop wanderings, it reaches an itch that rarely gets scratched. — Ernie Paik

of many operas and ballets over the years. Folk opera is a medium which translates familiar—in this case, mythical—folklore into the context of local culture. It defines who “folks” are (through simple and repetitive lyrics) and uses the “opera” format (where all ideas are sung) to tell a musical story.

Perhaps the most well-known folk opera is Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.

Mitchell succeeds beautifully in the medium, assigning well-known indie folk/rock artists in the parts and an eclectic orchestra (with every instrument from guitar to accordion to banjo) to perform a poetic musical epic that is both mythic and modern at the same time. Justin Vernon of Bon Iver plays Orpheus; Greg Brown is Hades, Lord of the Underworld; Ani DiFranco is Hade’s defiant wife, Persephone; and Mitchell herself is Orpheus’ doomed wife Eurydice. The Fates (or Greek chorus) are the Haden Triplets and Ben Knox Miller of The Low Anthem is the

messenger Hermes.

“Way Down Hadestown” could come right out of the ravaged New Orleans music scene, with jazzy, nasty instrumentation and a whole cast celebration of Orpheus’ impending journey into the seductive, sassy underworld created by Mitchell. “When the Chips are Down” is swinging salsa, complete with monophonic stereo, sung by the powerful Greek girl chorus.

“Why We Build the Wall,” led by the gravelly-voiced Greg Brown and supported by the Greek chorus, sounds like both an African American spiritual and a tribute to Barry White, supported by a wonderfully heavy-plucked bass, organ and rock’n’roll drums.

All in all, the album is a soulful journey through the musical mind of the gifted Anais Mitchell. Fearlessly personal and irresistibly harmonious, Hadestown is an absolute must-have, folks. (www.anaismitchell.com, release date: March 9). — Stephanie L. Smith

February 18, 2010 | The Pulse

19

Film Feature

Blind Seeing the Blind

By Phillip Johnston

“Though Almodóvar’s films are intensely story- and performancedriven, watch any of them closely and you’ll notice that almost every image is layered with deeper meaning.”

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The Pulse | February 18, 2010

Broken Embraces, this week’s selection in the Arts and Education Council’s Independent Film Series, is the most expansive (and expensive) film in the director Pedro Almodóvar’s oeuvre and features all the many elements he is known for: layered story, brilliant costuming, bawdy humor, a barrage of color, and sleek décor, all swirling amidst themes of desire, passion, and identity. It is also a film about perception.

Harry Caine and Mateo Blanco (Lluís Homar) are blind; they are also the same person. Mateo Blanco was a popular film director in Spain, but circumstances forced him to adopt a new persona.

“Half-joking,” he says via narration, “I came up with a pseudonym for myself, Harry Caine, an adventurer who, as fate would have it, became a writer.” With the help of his agent’s son Diego, Harry now writes scripts instead of directing. It is to Diego that he tells the long story of how and why he ducked out of the movie business and changed his name.

Blindness is an overworked theme in the movies, but Broken Embraces doesn’t misuse it. After a brief snippet of documentary footage, the first image of the film we see is a close-up of an eye.

The eye belongs to an acquaintance of Harry Caine, and in it we catch our first glimpse of him. This is just one of many

examples of Almodóvar telling a blind man’s story from many vantage points.

Harry Caine narrates Broken Embraces, but we see all—from details of the story Harry does not know about to images from a documentary camera carried by one of the film’s antagonists. Though melodramatic in plot, this film is an elegant visual tapestry woven by a master craftsman.

The emotional center of Harry Caine’s story, told in flashback, is Lena (Penélope Cruz) who works for a wealthy businessman twice her age named Ernesto Martel. Tragedy strikes; Martel pays for Lena’s father’s hospital bill, but forces her to become his mistress. Though she is captive inside his sprawling mansion, Lena still wants to act in films and Martel gladly backs the new Mateo Blanco production, Girls and Suitcases, which bears resemblance to Almodóvar’s own Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, so that she may have the lead.

Lena is entranced with Mateo’s authenticity from the first day of shooting and the two begin a secret affair. Ernesto is suspicious and enlists his alienated son, the film’s most unsavory character, to spy on the lovers with a video camera.

Yes, Broken Embraces has nearly all the overwrought plot details of a Telemundo soap, but that is precisely this director’s intention. It is the way he works and his artistry is in making stately what other directors would keep paltry.

Consider the way he shows Lena’s relationships with the two men in her life: when Mateo and Lena make love for the first time in her dressing room, they are frenzied and wild, biting at each other, groaning in the throes of passion; when Lena is forced to lay beneath Ernesto after he takes her away from filming, the two are entirely wrapped in a white sheet atop the bed, the aged Ernesto whimpering to a tired climax before Lena rolls out from the canopy disgusted and dehumanized.

Ernesto is a monstrous old man, the source of Lena’s affliction. Mateo sees this and attempts to rescue her even as the quality and integrity of his film is put on the line. Beauty, tragedy, death, and blindness ensue in equal measure.

Broken Embraces is the fourth film Almodóvar has made with Penélope Cruz and it is with him that she does her best work. Many directors have cheapened and exploited Cruz’s beauty (last year’s forgettable Nine comes to mind), but Almodóvar’s brilliance behind the camera enables Cruz to give one of her finest performances. This is real acting, full of passion, sensitivity, and humor.

Though Almodóvar’s films are intensely story- and performance-driven, watch any of them closely and you’ll notice that almost every image is layered with deeper meaning. See the way his camera approaches characters at just the right moment of emotional catharsis or the profound way in which he uses reflections. Unlike many directors, he is unafraid of the wide shot and Broken Embraces has many that will steal your breath away.

The last line of the film, spoken by the blind Harry Caine as he sits at a film editing bay, is what you might call a zinger—the type of poetic assertion that finalizes many films and forces the audience to think about the story they’ve just seen in a different light. Sometimes it’s a cop out, but I think there’s something to this one.

Despite the brooding melodrama, Almodóvar has finally made a film that reflects briefly on his own art. He seems to be thinking of what might happen if his embrace of the film medium were broken by blindness…or perhaps something worse.

The answer is, of course, nothing.

The show must go on at any cost, for images are Almodóvar’s life.

Broken Embraces Part of the AEC Independent Film Series Directed by Pedro Almadovar Starring Lluís Homar, Penélope Cruz Rated R Running time: 1 hour, 51 minutes

Chattanooga's Weekly Alternative

New in Theaters Shutter Island Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the most famous actors in the world, seen by many critics as one of the more gifted actors of his generation, and has a long history of working with some of the greatest directors in Hollywood.

Yet it still seems incongruous to see him in mature, adult roles. In his midthirties, the babyfaced DiCaprio often comes across as a boy playing makebelieve wearing his father’s clothes.

Still, at the hands of a gifted director he is often able to overcome his own movie-star looks. So it seems even more perplexing that his latest release, Shutter Island, fails so miserably.

Martin Scorsese is inarguably a phenomenally talented filmmaker, but it appears he was merely phoning it in this time around. DiCaprio plays a 1950’s-era U.S. marshall looking into the disappearance of a murderess who’s escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is presumed to be hiding on remote Shutter Island.

To put a fine point on it, the role is completely unbelievable. Worse yet, the film is a messy hodge-podge of B-movie insane asylum clichés that have been done and overdone many times over the years. It would be safe to say that if it weren’t for the involvement of Scorsese and DiCaprio, this would have been a straight-to-DVD release—if it had

even been made in the first place.

Sure, the film is very well shot—the cinematography is excellent—and the supporting cast does a workmanlike job. It’s always a delight to spot Max Von Sydow getting work in a feature release, and Ben Kingsley is as reliable as ever. But overall, this is one island where the shutters needed to stay closed.

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max Von Sydow Director: Martin Scorsese Rating: R

Solution To Last Week’s Puzzle

Also in Theaters The Good Guy (Limited) An ambitious young New Yorker wants it all: a good job, good friends and—often the trickiest of all—a good guy.

The Ghost Writer (Limited) A writer agrees to complete the memoirs of the former prime minister, only to uncover some dark, dangerous secrets.

Celine: Through the Eyes of the World (Limited) Celine Dion travels to five continents and 25 countries, putting on show-stopping performances of some of her biggest hits.

The Wolfman Benicio Del Toro stars in the terrifying tale of an ancient, evil curse that turns the afflicted into werewolves when the moon is full.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief The Greek god Poseidon’s half-human son embarks

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on a fantastical quest to unravel a mystery more powerful than the gods themselves.

Dear John A soldier home on leave falls for a conservative college girl, but when he re-enlists, time and distance take a toll on the young lovers.

From Paris With Love John Travolta stars as a wisecracking, fastshooting, high-ranking U.S. agent who’s sent to France to stop a terrorist attack.

Edge of Darkness Mel Gibson is a veteran homicide detective who embarks on a dangerous mission to get behind the truth of his daughter’s murder.

When in Rome While traveling in Rome, Kristen Bell plucks some magic coins from a special fountain, attracting an assortment of odd suitors.

The Book of Eli Denzel Washington fights

his way across a postapocalyptic wasteland to protect a book that holds the key to humanity’s future.

Extraordinary Measures Harrison Ford stars in the true story of a scientist who partners with a couple to develop a cure for a rare disease killing their children.

Legion A group of strangers in a desert diner must defend themselves against a legion of angels sent by God to bring on the Apocalypse.

The Tooth Fairy Dwayne Johnson is a pro hockey player nicknamed the Tooth Fairy, who is ordered to one week’s hard labor as the real Tooth Fairy.

The Lovely Bones Peter Jackson directs the tale of Susie Salmon, a murdered girl who watches over her family—and her killer—from heaven.

Never Worry About Losing A Copy Of The Pulse Keep Up Online at www.chattanoogapulse.com February 18, 2010 | The Pulse

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Arts & Entertainment

Black History Month Focus at Bessie Smith Cultural Center

By Michael Crumb

“Fun social activities with an educational emphasis and outreach programs to kids at risk are ongoing. ”

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The Pulse | February 18, 2010

The newly renamed Bessie Smith Cultural Center (formerly the Chattanooga African American Museum) seeks a broader community involvement by emphasizing its wide range of services. With special programs for Black History Month, as well as artist Kevin Okeith’s ongoing and absorbing showcase, patrons and viewers have much to into at the versatile facility.

Curator Carmen Davis explains how the name change to “The Bessie Smith Cultural Center” will clear up some confusion among Chattanoogans concerning just what is happening at the lovely facility on MLK Boulevard. A recently acquired electronic sign on the lawn lets folks know about the current

artist exhibition, “A Love Supreme”,

by Atlanta-based Okeith. From Chattanooga, Okeith’s show will move to New York as part of the New York Times’s Fine Arts Preview. The center also houses its own permanent collection of African and African American art, including its focus on blues pioneer Bessie Smith.

The BSCC is also home to the Performance Hall, a venue for concerts and other events. Of course, the center has a high visibility during the annual Bessie Smith Strut, part of Riverbend, and the Heritage Festival, featuring fine music performances as well as artist-toartist talks.

Fun social activities with an educational emphasis and outreach programs to kids at risk are ongoing.

The Friday evening “Soul Cinema” shows and disco parties continue through

February. Upcoming films include Five Heart Beats (February 19) and Michael Jackson’s This Is It (February 26).

Twenty-five percent of the proceeds from these showings will be donated to the Haiti Relief Fund.

Also during February’s Black History emphasis, a Brown Bag Lunch Program takes place on Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon to 1 p.m., when segments from the series Eyes on the Prize, a history of the civil rights movement, are shown. Eyes on the Prize presents one of the foremost efforts in documentary film, stunning and deeply affective.

You’ll find a rewarding experience in “A Love Supreme.” Okeith’s jazz paintings form only a portion of this varied exhibition. I found the title piece, named for John Coltrane’s famous work, and “Ole Soul” to be engaging for their composition and color tones, and I found pleasant surprises in other jazz pieces.

Okeith’s pre-eminent works are large figures, eyes closed, executed with a palette knife into multi-faceted originals and glicee prints. These pieces work through a range of color tones. “Naked Truth,” oil on wood, in turquoise, gold and earth can be seen in development, since a drawing of this is also on view. I found Okeith’s drawings of nudes to be nuanced and dynamic. On the whole, I found his work to be unpretentious and innovative, important qualities for traditional media, provoking intuitions.

The Bessie Smith Cultural Center presents a major cultural asset, and its new name should boost its citywide profile even further.

Bessie Smith Cultural Center 200 East MLK Boulevard (423) 266-8658. www.caamhistory.org

Chattanooga's Weekly Alternative

A&E Calendar Highlights Friday

Thursday

Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi Two Puccini one-act operas. $8 7:30 p.m.

Dixon Center, Lee University, 1120 N. Ocoee St., Cleveland.

(423) 614-8343. www.leeuniversity.edu

Send your calendar events to us at calendar@chattanoogapulse.com

Eye on the Prize Film Series Noon. Bessie Smith Cultural Center, 200 E. MLK Blvd.

(423) 266-8658.

Educational History Exhibit 3 p.m. The Bethelem Center, 200 W. 38th St. (423) 619-0379.

Girls Night Out 6:30 p.m. Hunter Museum of Art, 10 Bluff View. (423) 266-0944. www.huntermuseum.org “Pecha Kuchna Night” 6:30 p.m. CreateHere, 55 E. Main St. Ste. 105. (423) 648-2195. www.cityshareconference.org Our Town 7 p.m. Chattanooga Theatre Centre, Main Stage, 400 River St. (423) 267-8534.

Comedian Tyler Perry, Madea’s Big Happy Family 7:30 p.m. Memorial Auditorium, 399 McCallie Ave. (423) 642-TIXS.

Lucifer Rare production of play said to be one of the inspirations for Paradise Lost. $7 8 p.m.

Sanderson Hall, Covenant College, 14049 Scenic Highway, (916) 642-3430. www.covenant.edu

Saturday

Our Town Thornton Wilder’s American classic. $12 - $25 8 p.m.

Chattanooga Theatre Centre, Main Stage, 400 River Street.

(423) 267-8534. www.theatrecentre.com

Monday Daniel Deronda Film & lunch: part 4 11 a.m. Jewish Cultural Center, 5461 N. Terrace. (423) 493-0270.

Foreign Policy Supper Club 6 p.m. Jewish Cultural Center, 5461 N. Terrace. (423) 493-0270.

Wind Ensemble Young Conductors Concert 7:30 p.m. Dixson Center, Lee University, 1120 N. Ocoee St. (423) 614-8343.

“Speak Easy” Spoken word and poetry 8 p.m. Mudpie Restaurant, 12 Frazier Ave. (423) 267-9040.

Photographic Society Member’s Choice Exhibit Gallery at Blackwell, 71 Eastgate Loop. (423) 344-5643.

“Talk Portraiture” Shuptrine Fine Art Group, 2646 Broad St. 423-266-4453.

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C.S. Lewis Society: Per Elandra 7 p.m. Rock Point Books, 401 Broad St. (423) 504-0638. www.cslewischattanooga.org Comedian Chondra Pierce 7 p.m. Memorial Auditorium, 399 McCallie Ave. (423) 642-TIXS. Ballet Tennessee Studio Performance 7 p.m. Ballet Tennessee, 3202 Kelly Ferry’s Rd. (423) 821-2055.

“Sing for Hope” Choir and Opera 7 p.m. St. Paul’s Episcopal, 305 W. 7th St. (423) 624-9654.

Music Documentary Film Series: M is for Mississippi 7 p.m. Mountain Music Folk School, 250 Forest Ave. (423) 827-8906.

The Deadlies 7:30 p.m. St. Andrews Center, 1918 Union Ave. (423) 987-5141.

Soul Cinema Film Series: Five Heart Beats 7:30 p.m. Bessie Smith Cultural Center, 200 E. MLK Blvd.

(423) 266-8658.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie 7:30 p.m. Chattanooga Theatre Centre, Circle Stage, 400 River St. (423) 267-8534.

Hicks Gone Wild 7:30, 10 p.m. The Comedy Catch & Giggles Grille, 3224 Brainerd Rd. (423) 629-2233. www.thecomedycatch.com The Proposal 7:30 p.m. UTC Studio Theater, 615 McCallie Ave. (423) 425-4374.

Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi 7:30 p.m. Dixson Center, Lee University, 1120 N. Ocoee St. (423) 614-8343.

Sunday Treasure Hunters Road Show 9 a.m. Chattanooga Convention Center, 1 Carter St. (217) 726-7590.

Mosaic Market 11 a.m. 412 Market St. (corner of 4th/Market) (423) 624-3915.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie 2:30 p.m. Chattanooga Theatre Centre, Circle Stage, 400 River St. (423) 267-8534. www.theatrecentre.com Uncanventional Ball 7 p.m. Warehouse Row, 1110 Market St. www.uncanventional.com “To Haiti with Love” Benefit Concert 7 p.m. Lindsay St. Hall, 901 Lindsay St. (423) 755-9111.

The Deadlies 7:30 p.m. St. Andrews Center, 1918 Union Ave. (423) 987-5141.

Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi 7:30 p.m. Dixson Center, Lee University, 1120 N. Ocoee St. (423) 614-8343.

The Proposal 7:30 p.m. UTC Studio Theater, 615 McCallie Ave. (423) 425-4374.

Mixed Media by the Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga 7:30 p.m. Red Bank Gallery, 3918 Dayton Blvd. (423) 870-2443.

Hicks Gone Wild 7:30, 10 p.m. The Comedy Catch & Giggles Grille, 3224 Brainerd Rd. (423) 629-2233. www.thecomedycatch.com Lucifer 8 p.m. Sanderson Hall, Covenant College, 14049 Scenic Hwy., Lookout Mtn. (916) 642-3430. www.covenant.edu

Tuesday

Wednesday

“Women’s Night: A Taste of India” 6 p.m. Jewish Cultural Center, 5461 N. Terrace. (423) 493-0270.

Southern Literature Book Club: Gap Creek 6 p.m. Rock Point Books, 401 Broad St. (423) 504-0638. www.rockpointbooks.com Flicks from the 60’s: Electra 6:30 p.m. Chattanooga-Hamilton Bicentennial Library, 1001 Broad St. (423)757-5310.

Oils and Acrylics by Charlie Newton North River Civic Center, 1009 Executive Dr. (423) 870-8924.

“Icebergs and Moonwalks” Cress Gallery, UTC, 752 Vine St. (423) 304-9789.

All Members Exhibit Studio 2/Gallery 2, 27 W. Main St. (423) 266-2222.

“Textile Wall Hangings and Framed Pieces” by Martha McCallie My Color Image Art Gallery, 330 Frazier St. (423) 598-6202.

“Themes of Identity” Hunter Museum of American Art, 10 Bluff View. (423) 266-0944. www.huntermuseum.org “New Spin” River Gallery, 400 E. Second St. (423) 265-5033. www.river-gallery.com “Love Supreme: An Exhibit Inspired by the Legendary John Coltrane” Bessie Smith Cultural Center, 200 E. MLK Blvd. (423) 266-8658.

“Millennial Classicism: Recent Modern Monumental Oils” by Daniel Swanger Mosaic Gallery, 412 Market St. (423) 320-6738.

CSO Chamber Series: “Basically Baroque” Sit down in an intimate setting with the CSO. $15 3 p.m.

Silver Ballroom, Sheraton Read House, 827 Broad Street.

(423) 267-8583. www.chattanoogasymphony.org

Our Town 2 p.m. Chattanooga Theatre Centre, Main Stage, 400 River St. (423) 267-8534.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie 2:30 p.m. Chattanooga Theatre Centre, Circle Stage, 400 River St. (423) 267-8534.

The Deadlies 2:30 p.m. St. Andrews Center, 1918 Union Ave. (423) 987-5141.

“African American Composers” 3 p.m. Good Shepard Lutheran Church, 822 Belvoir Ave. (423) 209-5929.

The Proposal 3 p.m. UTC Studio Theater, 615 McCallie Ave. (423) 425-4374.

Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi 3 p.m. Sheraton Read House Silver Ballroom, 827 Broad St. www.chattanoogasymphony.org

Editor’s Pick: Featured Event Of The Week

Miss Evers’ Boys Based on true events in Macon County Alabama, this play spans the period between 1932 through 1972, and focuses on the lives of four African-American tenant farmers, who are used by the U.S. federal government to study the effects of untreated syphilis—the infamous “Tuskegee Experiment.

Presented by Destiny Theatre Company. $10 - $16 Friday and Saturday, February 19, 20 8 p.m.

Sunday, February 21, 4 p.m., Ripple Theatre, 3264 Brainerd Road.

(423) 242-5156. www.destinyentertainment.org

February 18, 2010 | The Pulse

23

Arts & Entertainment

Steps to Change the Scenic City

By Stephanie Smith

“The [launch party] is a device party…where everyone’s encouraged to bring iPhones or laptops to view the series.”

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The Pulse | February 18, 2010

It turns out that one of the steps to producing a contemporary noir web series is hosting a launch party for the viral release. The launch party for The Steps will be hosted by CreateHere on Friday, February 19 from 8-10 p.m.

The Steps is about Charlie Madison (director/writer/actor Dylan Kussman), a Los Angeles private investigator who escapes to Chattanooga—only to find that he cannot run from his criminal past. Filmed entirely in Chattanooga using local cast and crew, The Steps is one of the first in a series of short webisodes created for the Internet.

“This summer we shot the whole first season, episodes 1-10. Each one is approximately six minutes,” says Director of Photography Tim Cofield.

“We used all of the grant money to do the first season—the web series is partially funded by a MakeWork grant from CreateHere—and all episodes will be streamed by the end of April.

“Our main focus now is telling people that [the launch party] is a device party. I don’t know if this has been done in Chattanooga before, but it’s certainly a rarity. [It’s] where everyone’s encouraged to bring iPhones or laptops to view the series.

If they don’t [bring a device] they can gather round laptops, for free, of course.”

Beginning at 8 p.m. there will be two screens streaming live from New York and Los Angeles. Attendees can interact with both coasts at the two provided laptop stations and hang out until the viewing. At 9 p.m. episodes 1-4 will be streamed on Ustream.tv.

“EPB is bumping up the bandwidth just for that night!” exclaims Cofield. “Also CARTA has partnered with us; they’re parking a bus outside of CreateHere and they’ll have wireless on the bus. There will actually be several spaces in and around CreateHere replicating all of the different spaces you can see The Steps. This is one of the fun concepts [CARTA] is helping us do.

“CARTA wants to promote younger people riding the bus. A lot of people don’t know there’s wireless on the bus. I certainly didn’t know. Also, everyone can look for four buses with a sign of The Steps on the back this month.”

There will be no cost to get in to the party, hosted by CreateHere on Main Street, and drinks and food will be catered. The only optional cost is the purchase of posters designed by Young Monster, www.weareyoungmonster.com, an art collective specializing in design and screen-printing.

“Nick DuPey designed the really cutting-edge noir posters for The Steps.

He was on CNN a couple of months ago and won a MakeWork grant last year.

His screen prints will be for sale. Besides

that, it’s a totally free event.”

If you can’t make it to the release party, you can view the episodes online at home streamed live. After episodes 1-4, the following episodes will be released one episode a week, with the first one, Episode 5, to be released February 20 at 12:01 a.m.

For music devotees, there is currently a competition on the web site, www. followthesteps.net, where fans are encouraged to record and remix “Red Dress”, the original theme song for the series written by Kussman and Cofield.

“We’ve already gotten remixes from various people,” says Cofield.

“Eventually, probably in the spring, we’ll begin voting online. [Whichever song] gets fan favorite will be the song used in the next season. Right now, the music page is one of the most hit pages on the site. There’s a lot of [musical] talent in the city.”

For Season 2, the producing team is looking into branding sponsorship like product placement, but in addition to the launch party, the web site and the CARTA buses, another fun advertising opportunity has presented itself.

“Some of the locations we used included Loose Cannon, Good Dog, Tremont Tavern. We have coasters that say ‘Shot on location here’ with ‘The Steps’ on the back. Those will be thrown into local venues this week.”

Cofield muses, “[The Steps] highlights Chattanooga. Everyone one in the cast and crew is in Chattanooga and people don’t think of Chattanooga as a film town.”

They are taking steps to change that.

The Steps Device Party Free.

8 p.m.

Friday, February 19 Create Here, 55 Main Street Bring your own device.

Chattanooga's Weekly Alternative

www.chattanoogapulse.com

February 18, 2010 | The Pulse

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The Pulse | February 18, 2010

Chattanooga's Weekly Alternative

The Pulse • Dining Out Spotlight

Carrabba’s Italian Grill: That’s Amore

by Colleen Wade

We’ve all seen the movies about big Italian families gathered around the kitchen, tasting Mama’s Bolognese sauce and waiting for the noodles to boil. Think Moonstruck. That’s exactly what Johnny Carrabba and Damien Mandola were shooting for when they opened their first Carrabba’s Italian Grill.

If you’ve ever looked around the inside of the Carrabba’s Italian Grill beside Hamilton Place, you’re sure to have noticed the pictures hanging on the walls. “Obviously history and culture are a large part of the restaurant,” Miguel Morales, owner of the local franchise says. “We take great pride in the Carrabba family and the Mandola family being true Italians. All the pictures you see on the wall are either family of the Mandola family or family of the Carrabba family.”

True history is pictured in many of these photos. “There’s a picture of Johnny’s dad, who is the only gentleman that still knows the recipe of our homemade Italian fennel sausage,” reveals Morales. “He has willed that recipe to Johnny when he passes away, and until then, he’ll be the only person that has all the ingredients for that sausage. So basically, he puts those ingredients together, still today, and turns them in and they basically dump that into the recipe and have no idea what seasonings are in the packet because that’s his personal recipe.”

Many of the photos you see on the wall are from old grocery stores and meat markets— the family businesses of the Carrabbas and the Mandolas. Johnny Carrabba and Damien Mandola are family—Damien is Johnny’s uncle.

“Instead of continuing with that business,” explains Morales, “they started to open restaurants at a young age, and when Johnny

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Carrabba graduated from college, Damien Mandola had a great new idea for a familyoriented Italian restaurant with the kitchen upfront, an expo kitchen so everyone could enjoy everything going on there.” The original Carrabba’s opened its doors on Kirby Avenue in Houston, Texas in the mid-80s with Johnny Carrabba at the helm. Mandola continued to manage his two “white tablecloth” Italian restaurants in Houston. Within two years, Mandola realized that Carrabba was having all the fun and decided to close his two restaurants and open a second location of Carrabba’s. The partners were approached repeatedly about selling the restaurant. Since approximately eight percent of the recipes being used were their family recipes, Mandola and Carrabba didn’t see this as an option until Outback Steakhouse made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. Outback offered the men a partnership, still allowing them full control over the restaurants and full control of the recipes.

Unlike many of their competitors,

Carrabba’s Italian Grill continues to grow and flourish, having had their biggest success in only the last five or six years. Why is that? In large part, it’s due to their refusal to accept anything less than the best and most fresh ingredients for their food.

“With economic changes,” says Morales, “we’ve put a lot of thought into [the menu]. There are a lot of different places out there cutting the cost of their menu and things of that nature. I don’t think that’s a possibility for us, because the product we had on our old menus was given at a great price for buying fresh product rather than frozen product. It costs a little more money to do that.”

Morales explained that they came up with some menu items that took a diner from the soup or salad course, to the entrée, and on to dessert for one low price. Diners are still getting delicious meals made with fresh ingredients, including the house specialties such as crispy calamari, Chicken Marsala (cooked over an open flame using oak and pecan woods and marsala wine from the Lombardi family vineyards in Italy), unique pasta dishes and handmade pizzas baked fresh in their wood-burning oven, and— don’t forget—their “Sogno di Cioccolata”, a rich fudge brownie brushed with Kahlua, then topped with chocolate mousse, whipped cream and chocolate sauce.

There are always the options of curbside pickup, large party carry-out, or private dining—where a Carrabba’s chef comes to you to prepare a feast. Whichever you decide, you can’t lose with the best fresh ingredients and the engaging hospitality of Carrabba’s Italian Grill.

Carrabba’s Italian Grill, 2040 Hamilton Place Blvd. (423) 894-9970. www.carrabbas.com

February 18, 2010 | The Pulse

27

Spirits Within

By Joshua Hurley

Super Shiraz from Oz Gin, rum, Italian sweet wine were all good for Valentine’s Day…but now that the holiday is past, how about a red wine that’s been voted one of the best in a group of 100 by the esteemed wine tasters at Wine Spectator for this week’s all-new “Great Buy”? If you are just now joining us, Great Buys is where Riley’s Wine and Spirits on Hixson Pike in Hixson picks a standout from among our large selection of wine and spirits from around the world and shares it with the readership of The Pulse.

This week’s pick, The Stump Jump Shiraz, takes us to southern Australia, home of some of the greatest wines in the world.

The varietal syrah is called shiraz in Australia.

The Australian wine industry began in the mid1700s, but until the early 1980s, Australian wines were only “a well-kept secret”. Syrah or shiraz is believed to have originated in Middle East, and has been grown in France’s Rhone Valley since before the Romans. It was first planted in Australia in the early 1800s and since has become Australia’s most popular red wine grape.

Shiraz ages well. A young shiraz can display flavors and aromas of tar, spice and pepper. If cellared properly for two to three years, that very

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The Pulse | February 18, 2010

same wine could give way to flavors of blackberries, currants and plums with hints of smoke.

McLaren Vale (“vale” means “valley”) is a winegrowing region in the state of Southern Australia in an area called Southern Vale. In 1812, the Ozbourne family, headed by Chester Ozbourne, founded D’Arenberg, a winery in the very heart of McLaren Vale.

When Ozbourne purchased the acreage that would become D’Arenberg, “stump jumps” were used to clear the fields that were to become vineyards of trees and bushes. (The stump jump is a special plough used to remove trees and bushes at the root, guaranteeing no regrowth.) The winery is still operated by the Ozbournes, now in their fifth generation, who still employ traditional winemaking methods, which include being the only Australian winery to still pick grapes by hand. This ensures quality grapes go to the press.

So it’s great skill and tradition that makes the 2008 Stump Jump Shiraz by D’Arenberg such a super bottle of wine. Rated 90 points by the Wine Spectator and ranked #82 on their annual Top 100 Wines poll, Stump Jump Shiraz displays intense flavors and aromas of cherries, blackberries and raspberries and has a mineral aftertaste. Shiraz works great with steaks, roast and hamburgers or even by itself. You can purchase this 90-rated shiraz at Riley’s for $9.98. Cheers!

Chattanooga's Weekly Alternative

JONESIN’

By Matt Jones

“So Many Words”

–throwin’ em out at random for you.

Free Will Astrology PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Historians trace the origin of Poland as a nation to the year 966.

It mostly thrived for hundreds of years, but was extinguished in 1795, when three imperialistic invaders—Russia, Prussia, and Austria—claimed different parts of it as their own. Throughout the 19th century, when there was no Poland, the Poles fought to restore self-rule. Their dream came true on November 11, 1918, when Poland once again became an independent nation. I regard the phase you’re now in, Pisces, as having certain similarities to the state of the Polish people in October 1918.

Congratulations in advance for the imminent return of your sovereignty.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): I personally don’t believe we’re living in the worst of times, although I know many people who do. While there are indeed reasons to despair, our current state of affairs is actually in many ways quite glorious.

And our struggles are puny compared to those of the generation that lived through the two World Wars and the Great Depression. Having said that, I think it’s fine to believe that civilization is in a terrible mess if it motivates you to shed all your trivial distractions and inessential wishes so as to dedicate yourself to living an exciting, generous life that’s rich with love and meaning. Now is a prime time for you, Aries, to dedicate yourself to such a path.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Throughout 2010, you’re most likely to be consistently in the right place at the right time if you cultivate an amused skepticism toward what’s in vogue. In fact, I suspect that only one trend will be of any use to you at all. You heard me correctly, Taurus: Of all the fashionable obsessions that may tempt you, just one will be in sweet alignment with your authentic needs. And guess what? Right now happens to be the perfect moment to get hooked up with it.

Across 1 Rd. crossers 4 Scone, basically 14 Petting zoo critter 16 With courage and boldness 17 Electronics brand 18 They help you look formal with little effort 19 Rapper who formed St. Lunatics 21 IRA for the selfemployed 22 Good News! manufacturer 25 “I won’t miss it” 29 Overwhelms 31 Ending for switch 32 Son of Aphrodite 35 Swedish university city 38 1993-94 Stanley Cup winners 39 “Deadwood” entrepreneur 40 Get into a culture 41 Daytime TV shows, in old slang 42 Ten-code user 43 Broadway actress ___ Rene Scott 45 Mortal ___ 48 Sign out?

52 Jungian self 54 Frighten, like a horse 55 “Weird Al” Yankovic

album featuring “Addicted to Spuds” 60 Kings of ___ 61 “Have we met?”

62 Dorothy the goldfish’s owner 63 Amphetamines user 64 U-turn from NNE Down 1 The word on the street?

2 George with a notable 2008 wedding 3 Wee 4 Shopping network that turns 25 in 2011 5 Ending for sex or text 6 “___ You Better Before You Were Naked on the Internet” (From First to Last song) 7 Make do 8 Estonian currency 9 Drum for a beatnik 10 DeVito/Midler black comedy 11 Triage scale for ERs (hidden in RESIDENCE) 12 “A.M. ___” (1990s SNL ad product) 13 Functional introduction 15 He played Dauber on “Coach” 20 Distressed dog, for

example 23 They may be taken with a guide 24 Throws out 26 Get on the soapbox 27 Like some calculators 28 Gets high 30 Area of southern England 32 Major jerk 33 Filmdom’s “one man army” 34 Tribute to the recently departed: abbr.

36 Indian bread variety 37 Pigtails, for example 44 Town crier’s repeated shout 46 World Chess Champion Viswanathan ___ 47 With a ___ the hat to (acknowledging, on blogs) 49 Yuletide tunes 50 Rugmaker’s devices 51 “___ what I mean, Vern?”

53 Bryn ___ (Pennsylvania college) 55 Hockey game pts.

56 Alley-___ 57 Polygraph indication 58 “Shall I compare thee ___ summer’s day” 59 Laugh syllable

©2010 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 #0455.

www.chattanoogapulse.com

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): When I was lead vocalist in the band Tao Chemical, I sang a tune whose chorus went as follows: “I want the truth / the whole truth / nothing but the truth / I want the truth / Don’t beat around the bush.” Shortly after we started performing the song, my girlfriend broke up with me. And she felt free—given what I proclaimed in those lyrics—to share with me every excruciating detail about her new relationship.

It was painful, and I felt tempted to forswear the song and never utter those brave words again.

But I was ultimately glad I didn’t weaken. To this day, I prefer knowing the full facts. Now I’m recommending to you, Gemini, that you pledge yourself to the same intention in the coming weeks. It should be much easier for you than it initially was for me. Most of the truths rushing in will be interesting and enlivening, with just a little angst mixed in.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): “Jane Austen was the spinster daughter of a clergyman who led an uneventful life,” wrote Geoffrey Wheatcroft in The Guardian. “She just happened to write half a dozen flawless masterpieces, which came perfectly formed, not from experience but from imagination.” Most of us don’t have anything close to the inconceivably potent imagination that Austen possessed. But I believe 2010 will be a year when you can access at least a portion of that wondrous capacity. You’ll be able to fantasize about vast possibilities in exquisite detail. You will have great skill at smashing your way free of limiting expectations through the power of your expansive vision. And the coming weeks will be a time when it should all kick into high gear.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Of all the symbols in the world, the swastika is the most horrendous.

As the logo for Hitler’s Nazi movement, it will forever smack of evil. But it didn’t used to be that way. In many cultures throughout history, from the Greeks to the Hindus to the Native Americans, the swastika was a representation of the sun’s path across the sky, and was regarded as highly auspicious, even a good luck charm. Can you think of a more modest equivalent of this phenomenon in your own life, Leo? A formerly

By Rob Brezsny

wonderful thing that got spoiled somewhere along the way? The coming weeks will be a good time to determine whether you could redeem and rehabilitate it.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): I need a break from watching you work your psyche to the bone. At least for now, I’m not willing to indulge you in your inclination to do your duty so exhaustively that you suffer. And as much as I admire your drive to get things perfect, I cannot in good conscience encourage you to do that, either. It is therefore with a sense of relief that I counsel you to take at least a week off from the behavior I described. Instead, try playful, messy experiments that are in service to your own needs. Be a freewheeling explorer, a wandering improviser.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “Whatever gets in the way of the work,” wrote poet Jason Shinder, “is the work.” His counsel will serve as a good reminder for you if you meet with obstacles in the coming days. If you ever catch yourself thinking, “Damn! I’d be making such good progress if it weren’t for these inconvenient complications,” consider the possibility that the inconvenient complications aren’t distractions, but rather crucial clues; they’re not pains in the assets, but medicinal prods that point the way to the real opportunities.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Have you ever watched the TV show The Office? If so, you may remember when Darryl from the warehouse was going out with customer service rep Kelly. “You need to access your uncrazy side,” he told her at a turning point in their relationship. “Otherwise, maybe this thing has run its course.” I’d like to invite you to do the same, Scorpio: Tap into, draw up to the surface, and abundantly express your uncrazy side. I predict that you will have a whole lot of fun if you do, thereby proving that you don’t need to be marinating in chaos and torment in order to experience high adventure.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): The game you’ve been enmeshed in has reached a sticking point, or soon will. I recommend that you call for a suspension of action. If that’s not possible, hide from the other players for a while, or jokingly tell them you have to excuse yourself because it’s time for your regular bout of cleansing escapism.

Then, during the break, scour your brain free of clutter so you can gain a more dispassionate view of your own strategy. I also suggest that you seek the advice of a smart and impartial observer. If all goes well, you’ll be able to return to the fray refreshed within ten days.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Being scrupulously ethical can be taxing and timeconsuming. It involves high levels of ongoing selfexamination, which many people are too selfish and lazy to bother with. On the upside, pursuing a path with integrity ultimately reduces one’s suffering. It also attracts the kind of assistance that is most likely to aid and abet one’s quest for liberation. As a bonus, it makes it unlikely that one will be a cockroach in one’s next incarnation.

I’m bringing this up, Capricorn, because I’m sensing that you’re about to be tempted to be less than your best self. Please don’t succumb.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable,” said renowned economist John Kenneth Galbraith. If that’s true, I’m doubling the damage to my dignity by using astrological analysis to make an economic forecast in this horoscope. But that’s OK. My job is to report the raw truth as I see it, not worry about my reputation or social status. And the raw truth as I see it is that you are more likely than all the other signs of the zodiac to prosper in 2010, even if the economy as a whole continues to limp along. The next four weeks will be an ideal time to launch a master plan to take advantage of this potential.

Homework: Are you a candidate for pronoia, the idea that the universe is fundamentally friendly?

Check here: http://bit.ly/WhatisPronoia

February 18, 2010 | The Pulse

29

Ask A Mexican!

By Gustavo Arellano

Special Agricultural Edition Dear Mexican, People talk about the costs of illegal immigration on our society.

What about the savings? Has there been any research into how much more a meal at a restaurant would cost without Mexicans cooking and washing dishes? What percentage increase would we see with supermarket produce if migrant illegal laborers were paid a fair wage?

— El Mojado Acaudalado Dear Wealthy Wetback, There are some studies out there, but the ones most publicized are usually authored by Know Nothing groups like the Federation for American Immigration Reform and the Center for Immigration Studies, and their stats and findings are as twisted as the trenzas on a fine Mexican lass. Conversely, the ones stating the Reconquista is fab usually originate from Aztlanistas, so one must proceed with caution around the bevy of papers on the subject.

The hard, boring stats: Out of the 2.2 million U.S. farms counted in the 2007 Census of Agriculture, only a quarter reported hiring workers. And out of the 1.42 million farmworkers reported in the Census Bureau’s 2008 American Community Survey, foreignborn Mexicans make up only 35 percent of the population, and just 10 percent of the food preparation and service industry. A 2006 report by the Economic Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture found that nearly 39 percent of every dollar spent on food en los Estados Unidos went to labor costs.

Conclusion: any pay raise for illegals toiling in the factories in the fields and kitchens would undoubtedly affect the bottom line of farmers and restauranteurs, which would force them

30

The Pulse | February 18, 2010

to raise prices to recoup the cost—but probably not as much as we’d like to so Know Nothings could shut up once and for all.

Dear Mexican, For the past 15 years I’ve been periodically working en el campo of southern Veracruz, with both local campesinos and Mexican academics from the cities. After an incredibly hot, sweaty day in the sun, all I want to do is take a cold shower immediately. My Mexican colleagues (both rural and from the city) refuse to take a shower for at least a couple of hours so that their bodies cool down. When asked, they state that a cold shower when you’re hot is very unhealthy and may even lead to sudden death.

Now, my ancestry is northern European and I’ve always experienced that there is nothing more invigorating than jumping in an ice-cold pool of water while being extremely hot, like say, after being in a sauna. Is this

hot-plus-cold-equals-death idea I’ve encountered in Veracruz widespread throughout Mexico? Is there a history of Mexicans dying from cold showers?

What’s the basis for this? Or is this just due to the fact that I’m not caliente enough, as my Mexican friends say?

— Wannabe Jarocho Dear Gabacho, I found a 1964 study from the Journal of Applied Physiology that discovered taking an ice-cold shower substantially increases blood pressure and pulse rate—but you knew this.

Some people like that rush, but others know that putting instant stress on your cardiovascular system isn’t the wisest of decisions. Mexican men know this, so they avoid las regaderas for a bit. But the more important reason for not taking showers so soon is because hombres also know that sweat contains pheromones, and we will use any possible angle to get into a woman’s chonis.

“The more important reason for not taking showers so soon is because hombres also know that sweat contains pheromones, and we will use any possible angle to get into a woman’s chonis.”

Ask the Mexican at themexican@ askamexican.net, myspace.com/ocwab, facebook.com/garellano, youtube.com/ askamexicano, find him on, Twitter, or write via snail mail at: Gustavo Arellano, P.O. Box 1433, Anaheim, CA 92815.

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