Chattanooga’s
WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE • SINCE 2003
ohn J
hiatt rives Douth SN
The Road Goes On Forever for Quintessential American Singer-Songwriter By Bill Ramsey
CHATTANOOGA’S WEEKLYALTERNATIVE » NEWS • MUSIC • ARTS • ENTERTAINMENT » november 10-16, 2011 • chattanoogapulse.com
2 • The Pulse • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • chattanoogapulse.com
Contents
CHATTANOOGA’S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE
NOV. 10-16 • 2011 • ISSUE. 8.45
chattanoogapulse.com • facebook.com/The Pulse Newsweekly
EDITORIAL Publisher Zachary Cooper Managing Editor Janis Hashe Contributing Editor Gary Poole Contributors Rick Baldwin • Rob Brezsny Dave Castaneda • Chuck Crowder • Michael Crumb John DeVore • Allison Gorman • Sandra Kurtz Rick Pimental-Habib • Matt Jones • D.E. Langley Kelly Lockhart • Ernie Paik • Jim Pfitzer • Bill Ramsey Alex Teach • Tara V Art Director Bill Ramsey Photographers Lesha Patterson • Josh Lang Interns Beth Miller • Bruno Araujo
COVER STORY
ADVERTISING Sales Director Lysa Greer Account Executives Rick Leavell • Michelle Pih
John Hiatt
The iconic singer-songwriter brings his Dirty Jeans & Mudslide Hymns to Track 29. Hiatt discusses his musical passions in an interview. » 9
CONTACT Phone 423.265.9494 • Fax 423.266.2335 Email info@chattanoogapulse.com calendar@chattanoogapulse.com Got a stamp? 1305 Carter Street Chattanooga, TN 37402
WALK OF LIFE
letters Please limit letters to 300 words or less. Letters to the editor must include name, address and daytime phone number for verification. The Pulse reserves the right to edit letters for space and clarity.
Jet-set java
In flight or on the ground Kent Baumhover finds the perfect blend. » 7
the fine print
The Pulse is published weekly by Brewer Media and is distributed throughout the city of Chattanooga and surrounding communities. The Pulse covers a broad range of topics concentrating on culture, the arts, entertainment and local news. 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.
© 2011 Brewer Media BREWER MEDIA GROUP President Jim Brewer II
art
music Atlanta guitarist Kaki King and The Alexanders will rock Barking Legs on Thursday, November 17. Read an interview with the musician Rolling Stone calls one of the “Top 20 New Guitar Gods” on Page 14.
Delight of Detail
The work of seven artists form The Drawing Show at the Front Gallery. » 23
On the cover John Hiatt by David McClister
chattanoogapulse.com • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • The Pulse • 3
BOWL
THE
Dizzy Town news • views • rants • raves updates » CHATTANOOGApulse.com
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New Look In Print, Online Redesign retools The Pulse and its website with new content, features By Bill Ramsey
More on that in a moment. First, some details on content changes and our print redesign.
With this issue, a monthslong redesign process of both our print and online editions ushers in what we hope will be the beginning of a new era at The Pulse. In your hands you hold a completely redesigned edition of the paper that includes a comprehensive review of our editorial content set in a palette of new typefaces and structure we believe gives the paper a clean, signature look and (hopefully) makes it easier to read. Online, as reported briefly in this space last week, The Pulse has divorced our newsgathering partner of two years, WPLZ-FM 95.3. The marriage—first imagined as a combining of resources that would benefit both organizations—never really clicked, and the recent split necessitated a long-overdue rethinking and redesign of our website, www.chattanoogapulse. com.
Content is king In print or online, content is king. Any redesign should include a thorough review of content and we feel we’ve done our homework, eliminating older features, trimming others and adding new elements in an effort to reflect the ever-changing “pulse” of Chattanooga. In our re-named news section, The Bowl (an old-school reference to the city as the “bowl” in the valley of mountains), you’ll no longer find the kind of news reported on WPLZ—or, for that matter, anywhere in Chattanooga. The Pulse occupies a unique niche as an alternative weekly, heavily focused on arts and entertainment. We won’t ignore the hot topics of the week, but neither will we rehash what you already know. Instead, we’ll cover Chatta-
nooga The Pulse way, offering readers our unique reportage, opinion and short takes on the news, issues and events of interest to our core audience. We like to think both we and you know who you are, but our readers aren’t just hip, scooter-riding liberals with one eye on their iPhones— they live not only downtown, but in the outer limits of town we call “Provinces & Prefectures,” and we cover them, too. We’re not the daily, not the community weekly, nor even the weekly magazine of Chattanooga—we’re your alternative. Gone are the city council agendas, the police blotter and other items you can find elsewhere. Also gone are syndicated features such as “Ask A Mexican.” In their place we’ve already introduced more local content, such as “DizzyTown”, our slightly snarky take on Chattanooga politics, media and other strange bedfellows, and “Walk of Life”, a peek inside the lives of the region’s most fascinating entrepreneurs and their businesses. You’ll still find our readerfavorite columnists—Alex
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Teach (what other paper has a cop columnist as hip as Alex?), Dr. Rick (our resident shrink) and Chuck Crowder, whose “Life in the Noog” has become the column some readers love to hate—but they read it every week just the same. Our revamped website reflects all these changes and more. No more will you be greeted with WPLZ’s breaking news and promotions for the station’s ultra-conservative talk shows (that really confused us and our readers), but an online version of the paper, with regular news updates, blogs and an exciting new geo-locating calendar section all packaged in the same clean, easy-to-navigate packaging as our print edition. Any debut is a work-inprogress, and the new Pulse and chattanoogapulse.com are no exception. We’re growing, changing and adapting every week. But we hope you like what you see and read here and online. Let us know. Bill Ramsey is the art director and a writer for The Pulse.
politics, media & other & other strange bedfellows
TFP EDITORIAL BITCH-SLAPS HASLAM • Chalk one up for the TFP! At least, for the TFP editorial writer who bitchslapped Gov. Bill Haslam last week for his shameless, unnecessary and perhaps illegal treatment of Occupy Nashville protestors when he squashed the protest movement’s encampment at the Capitol’s legislative plaza, where state troopers manhandled and arrested 55 protesters, including a Nashville Scene reporter. “It has to rank as one of the harshest editorial condemnations of a Tennessee governor since Ray Blanton was setting free criminals for cash,” noted the Scene, remarking on the TFP’s unusually harsh words about the governor’s actions, which the paper labeled “an abuse of state police power akin to those of a petty Balkan dictator. “Gov. Haslam owes the protesters an apology, and a commitment to observe their First Amendment rights. Nothing less than that is acceptable.” Haslam unleashed state troopers on the protesters using “an illegal, post-facto rule, which was concocted in secrecy on Oct. 27—weeks after the protest had begun— without public notice, legislative review or approval by the state attorney general,” the editorial notes. Given the paper’s dual identity on its editorial pages since the merger of the Times and the News-Free Press, it’s heartening to see our local daily take a bold stand. It’s the sort of repudiation we might expect
from former editor J. Todd Foster (no fan of jack-booted thugs he) and gives us some hope for our local paper. Not much, but some.
EdiToon
rick baldwin
Recall Ron effort given new life • Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield is again staring down recall efforts after the Tennessee Court of Appeals tossed out a lawsuit last week challenging the number of signatures on 2010 recall petitions, reports the TFP. The appeals court found a local circuit court shouldn’t have stopped Hamilton County election commissioners from trying to certify the petitions. Jubilant Jim Folkner, who is seeking to occupy the empty Red Bank city manager’s office, and a leader in the recall effort, expressed glee in the daily, saying the election commission will have to certify the recall and set an election. “At this point,” Folkner said, “Mr. Littlefield is a recalled mayor.” Not so fast, Jim. While the commission can ratify the results and a recall election could be held in the spring of 2012 the issue will likely again end up in court. Though DizzyTown is no fan of Littlefield, whose term runs through 2013, we’re not fond of the Tea Party zealots who fueled the recall effort either. Although a recall would add even more spice to the upcoming election season, the list of potential candidates who surfaced in the wake of the initial recall effort is uninspiring.
Got a tip for DizzyTown? Want to nominate yourself? Shoot us an email: dizzy@ chattnoogapulse.com.
Letters Occupy The Truth • In a recent column [“How Not to Occupy This”, On The Beat], Alex Teach wrote about the Occupy Wall Street protests, saying there was a “widespread pattern of wearing masks, vandalizing property, effectively shutting down already-struggling businesses, and of course sh***ing on the occasional police car more than at previous Tea Partiers events.” Does he understand the masks? Has vandalism and shutting down business really been “widespread”? And can he cite cases of poo on the po-po? Angelia Chattanooga
Alex Teach responds: “There are many photographs of protestors defecating on NYPD patrol cars. These are well documented. Mr. Google is your friend. As far as businesses, no less the man than
Donald Trump had to personally intervene on behalf of small businesses in and around Wall Street. And as far as do I understand the masks, my answer is: Yes.”
The Real Enemy • The Occupy protesters need to understand that a free economy is not an unregulated economy—far from it. Market forces, when not impeded by politicians and bureaucrats serving special interests, are the toughest regulators, punishing firms that waste resources, destroy value, and fail to serve consumers. In other words, the authors and administrators of the Dodd-Frank financialregulation regime are the enemies, not the friends, of justice for the 99 percent. Demanding more power for government is equivalent to demanding more privileges for Wall Street. When will the protesters realize that? Sheldon Richman Chattanooga
Evicted Chattanooga • In last week’s issue, you guys wrote about how our local Occupy protestors were “too polite” [“Too Polite To Protest?”]. I thought it was a bit of comedic exaggeration until I tried to find out where the protests were actually being held. It’s more like a Benny Hill routine. City Hall…no, can’t stay. County courthouse… whoops, need to go back to City Hall. The big lawn at the river…oh, too many rowers, so back to City Hall and hey, it’s raining, does anyone have a tarp? I would guess that nearly no one in Chattanooga is really that upset, in spite of what the small group would have you believe otherwise. Casey Lawrence Chattanooga
Got an opinion? Of course you do! Email your letter (300 words or less, please, with name and daytime phone number) to : info@ chattnoogapulse.com. chattanoogapulse.com • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • The Pulse • 5
On the Beat
alex teach
Chattanooga Occupation, Part 2 “
A few weeks ago I wrote a bit I considered ‘less crappy than usual’ about the inanity of various U.S. cities’ “Occupy Wall Street” protesters being extremely annoyed about not getting arrested despite their best efforts. I found it pathetic and discrediting, and elaborated on why I felt as such. Time has passed (as it tends to do) and with the more recent turn of events, I now have that most interesting combination of assessment AND hindsight, and I have to tell you…I’m sticking to my first impression: The movement is full of damn idiots sullying what should be a fairly self-explanatory and selfsustaining ethos. While I’m not allowed to have this opinion as a cop, “they” are at least less likely to have me lynched this time, because, as one who doesn’t agree with “getting arrested to achieve a resolution”, it obviously makes me a complete clod and brainless cell of “The 1%” since I disagree with their methods (therefore making me the enemy, despite my by-and-large agreement with their issues). That, and they are also now fairly preoccupied with how to stay awake and avoid hypothermia in 35 degree rainy weather, but I’ll admit that’s just an assumption. On November 1, at the Chattanooga City Council meeting,
Councilperson Sally Robinson opened the conversation by politely requesting citizens not ask the council to break its own laws, and they wouldn’t bend on that, no matter what. The 99%’rs responded in kind by opening with the statement that they would be breaking the law, basically “no matter what”. A preconditioned refusal on both sides always plays hell with Robert’s Rules of Order, and there were no exceptions that night. The “Occupy” group boldly declared that they would be occupying “the green space by Ross’s Landing effective immediately”, and seemed almost surprised to find that the same space was also reserved for one of the country’s largest regattas, which was why they couldn’t plant a flag just anywhere they wanted and effectively take local parks hostage from the rest of the public (as stated by the city attorney). The group they would be displacing? High school and collegeage boys and girls…their target
HAVE A GREAT
6 • The Pulse • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • chattanoogapulse.com
demographic. After the meeting, a hundred or so concerned parties held a general assembly in a nearby park to discuss their options (which I assume consisted of “Where would we prefer most to be arrested at, further from or closer to the jail?” and “Is this appropriate prison-wear, or should I slum it?”), where an even more interesting thing happened than in the council meeting: The police chief joined them and had a talk. While obligated to say that he didn’t agree with one of their apparently necessary demands to “legalize marijuana” among other obviously pertinent goals, he empathized with them on many of their concerns (as most cops do) and point-blank asked they NOT put themselves in an intentional position to be arrested, and even went over the exceptions the city attorney provided to circumvent the local park curfew ordinance they would be violating. Like a Christmas made-forTV special, the crowd agreed and peace was achieved. For roughly one hour. It was discovered that two of these local activists felt that a vigil wasn’t enough for them, and alerted the media they would, by golly, be showing their radicalism and dedica-
News flash, folks: Those cops live in the same neighborhoods and are just as ‘oppressed’ as you.
tion by sleeping on grass, consequences be damned! And just as radical as their plan, the C.P.D. came up with their own by not arresting them. As in the prior column… imagine their annoyance in not even rating an arrest for their dedication. (Well played, boys.) This topic isn’t just important, but important to them—a police chief can prove that you don’t have to martyr yourself (with the heavy scars from a paper citation) to change the system. What I find annoying is that there are people that believe that “sleeping on unauthorized grass” will effect a change in the American Corporate Paradigm. I find it annoying that there are people that choose to buck the corporate system by provoking a group that can liter-
ally effect no change on the subject: Local elected officials only slightly above animal-control officers in the governmental scheme of things. And I am annoyed that they feel provoking hostilities on any level with cops will further their cause any more than sleeping on grass. News flash, folks: Those cops live in the same neighborhoods and are just as “oppressed” as you. But what I find most annoying (and most telling) about this particular group is the failure to recognize ONE glaring issue: If six weeks have passed and you still don’t know “where” you should be occupying something as your title implies—are you sure you should be “occupying” anything at all? Get back to us when you find out. I bet I’ll be just as surprised at the answer as you are. (Oh, and good luck with the “weed” thing. No, seriously.) When Chattanooga Police Officer Alexander D. Teach is not patrolling our fair city on the heels of the criminal element, he is an occasional student, carpenter, boating enthusiast, and spends his spare time volunteering for the Boehm Birth Defects Center. Follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ alex.teach
Walk of Life
Jet-set coffee-crafter Authentic Indian Restaurant
Coffee Crafter’s Cafe Toast 326 Vine Street (423) 756-9995 Daily: 7 a.m-6 p.m. Weekends: 8 a.m.-2 p.m.
By Zachary Cooper • Photo: Josh Lang
Chattanooga boasts its share of
entrepreneurs, a daring cadre of spirited individuals who follow their dreams while paying the bills at sometimes mundane jobs that more often then not interfere with their primary pursuits. Not so for Kent Baumhover. Not only does the café owner’s “day job” pay the bills, it takes him all over the world to exotic locales, where he can soak up the ambiance and adapt ideas for his own business back home. If you’re a downtown denizen who eschews chain coffee bars and instead opts for the quirky comforts of a local bistro, you’ve likely encountered Baumhover’s Coffee Crafters Toast Café on Vine Street. But if you also travel on a fairly frequent basis, you might also have spotted the genial café owner whisking through Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport en route to some far-flung destination in his role as a Delta Airlines flight attendant. Baumhover opened Coffee Crafters in 2003, but since 1990 he’s been flying the friendly skies with Delta, juggling the responsibilities of his business here with the demands of a globetrotting jet setter.
In flight or on the ground Kent Baumhover finds the perfect blend
It’s an interesting juxtaposition, but there are connections beneath the surface. Baumhover’s extensive time spent traveling Europe influenced his decision to launch his own café, as he was spending significant downtime in coffeehouses around the world. And his travels allow him to sample coffees and menus he’d otherwise never experience. “Spending time in cafes around Europe really gave me a love not only for coffee itself, but the culture and community that cafés bring together,” he says. “I wanted to do that here.” Baumhover’s original site was a block further down Vine, but he has recently moved the business into a significantly larger space in the former Chad’s Records, which he’s transformed into a bright, open-yet-cozy space he modeled after an Italian café he was particularly fond of. “There was a little café in Milan that I visited often,” he says. “It was about the size of my former location and it was the center of daily life for the surrounding neighborhood. That was very influential.”
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Up in the air • Favorite movie featuring an airport? “Airplane! I know that might sound cliché but I love slapstick comedy.” • Favorite city to enjoy an espresso? “Prague. Always Prague. It’s one of my favorite cities in the world.”
chattanoogapulse.com • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • The Pulse • 7
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N o
The Best Songwriter You’ve Never Heard of Drives South to Chattanooga. Don’t Make Him Say ‘Damn This Town’
Every two years or so, John Hiatt makes a record that gives music critics and DJs at those few radio stations worth listening to in America something to agree on. Which is to repeat, this time in the words of WUTCFM’s Richard Winham, “John Hiatt is the best songwriter you’ve never heard of, but you’ve almost certainly heard his songs.” It’s sadly true, but after 40 years, Hiatt has long made peace with this bit of cruel irony. Hiatt, as he will tell you, tells me, tells anyone, really, doesn’t write songs for anyone else. Never has, never will. John Hiatt writes John Hiatt songs—tough, gritty roadhouse-ready rock and roll and poignant “this-is-what-I’ve-learned-aboutlove” relationship songs that give you pause and make you think out loud, “Damn, where has this guy been all this time?” Turns out, he’s been around for a long, long time, and those same songs have caught the ears of others who’ve done with
them what he has not—with few exceptions—been able to do: turn John Hiatt songs into hit records. The short list: Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris—hell, even Ronnie Milsap—have covered Hiatt songs and made more than a few hits of them. “Thing Called Love” helped Bonnie Raitt come back from cutout-bin obscurity in the 1980s. “Angel Eyes” dovetailed into perfect harmony with Jeff Healey’s » page 10
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too-short career. Clapton and King built an entire double-platinum album out of Hiatt’s Riding With The King in 2000. Hiatt shrugs it off, enjoys the royalties and keeps on writing, playing and hitting the road with various versions of the bands who record his music—20 albums’ worth now (if you count live discs and compilations)—that stretches back to 1974’s Hanging Around The Observatory and is now bookended by his latest, Dirty Jeans & Mudslide Hymns. At 59, Hiatt’s never had a Top 40 hit of his own, but that fact neither haunts him nor deters him. At 21, he wrote “Sure As I’m Sittin’ Here,” a No. 16 charting hit for Three Dog Night that earned him a record deal with Epic and he’s never looked back. The idea that he’d write hit songs has likely occurred to Hiatt many times. At one point he very likely relished the idea, maybe still would. But these days a hit song doesn’t enter Hiatt’s consciousness very often. He is flattered that so many artists, some of them personal heroes he grew up listening to, have covered his songs, but says he was never comfortable writing for anyone but himself. “I don’t write for other people, never have,” he tells me during a phone conversation. He was speaking from his longtime Nashville home, during a break from his recent tour, before making the short trip to Track 29 for his first Chattanooga performance since he can remember. “I love what I do and I just have a real passion for it. I love writing and recording—hell, I don’t know how to do anything else.” That’s not exactly true—he’d probably be racing on the Indy circuit (and has) in another career—but modern American music would be much worse off were it not for Hiatt, and songwriting would be devoid of one of its finest craftsman. After years bouncing around record labels where he was variously (and futilely) categorized as new wave, country or blues, Hiatt found his own successful niche with the release of Bring the Family. This 1987 record marked the beginning of a rich, remarkable and uncompromisingly excellent period of songwriting and recording featuring his own flinty, whiskey-and-cigarette-aged vocals. “I had not had success out of the box,” Hiatt says of his early efforts. “Success gains you freedom at record labels, so they keep intervening. [Bring The Family] was the first record we got to make on our own, independently. I was so screwed up, learning to live without drugs and alcohol, I didn’t know what to do. The producer said, ‘You can just sing in the shower and we’ll release it.’ ” Sobriety unleashed something. Hiatt released seven albums on three labels prior to Bring The Family. Each had their moments, as Hiatt gathered critical momentum and a solid fan base, thanks to relentless touring in the U.S. and overseas. But mainstream success eluded him. His influences—Elvis
(Presley and Costello), Dylan, the blues and country—produced erratic, often critically acclaimed records, but each failed commercially. Nuggets from these years ensconced him as songwriter to the stars. A young Rosanne Cash latched on to “The Way We Make A Broken Heart,” dueting with Hiatt on the song in 1983. The song went unreleased until Cash re-recorded it and took it to No. 1 on the country charts in 1987—the same year Hiatt released Bring The Family. That seminal record, recorded with a supergroup that included Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe and drummer Jim Keltner (who would together briefly form a side project dubbed Little Village), touched a nerve. Independence—from alcohol, drugs, record labels— marked a turning point for Hiatt, reflected in a song he says he would not mind being remembered for, “Have A Little Faith In Me.” Again, a string of other artists—Joe Cocker, Delbert McClinton, Jewel, Jon Bon Jovi—nabbed the song for their own, but Hiatt’s own voice rose above them all. Nine successive albums all broke the Billboard 200, including Slow Turning, the follow-up album to Bring The Family that included such hits as “Paper Thin,” “Tennessee Plates” and “Angel Eyes.” But it was Bonnie Raitt’s version of “Thing Called Love” from her 1989 album, Nick of Time, which reached No. 11 that year and helped re-boot Raitt’s own floundering career, that earned him the most acclaim as a songwriter. More records, countless tours and another label (A&M) followed that success. Not much has changed in the intervening years, Hiatt insists, besides the ability to record and release records on his own. “That certainly helps,” he says of his indie status, “being able to make records that I want to make when I want.” His latest is the ninth since departing A&M after Perfectly Good Guitar. Hiatt now writes and records his own records in his Franklin studio and leases them to New West Records, with whom he’s had a fruitful relationship since 2003’s Beneath This Gruff Exterior. His prodigious output— more than 700 songs and counting—he says, is simply a matter of occupation, and, he has joked, aging. “I’m running out of time,” he’s said on more than once occasion. These days, Hiatt consistently releases noteworthy albums that have earned him the sort of high praise—if not multimillions—that those who have recorded his songs are more often associated with. It is not unusual to see the terms “national treasure” and “icon” tagged to his name, though he blanches at such sobriquets. His music is neither influenced nor tied to moments in time, although you’d get that sense from his most recent album covers, which reflect a “Grapes of Wrath” grit and weariness that echo the nation’s economic plight. Hiatt is not a “message” songsmith in
“All my songs are message songs. I’m talking to the people—that is political.” John Hiatt the mold of his fellow Indianan, John Mellencamp. Instead, he deals in the politics of life, family—the joy, the pain and day-today moments that underscore his best love songs—and, occasionally, the reckless abandon of his youth. “All my songs are message songs,” he says, turning my question around. “I’m talking to the people—that is political. Causes and such is not something I deal in. It’s not my thing. There are other people much more knowledgeable than me in that arena.” Politics may not appeal to Hiatt, but the ravages of disaster, natural and otherwise, pockmark his songs. Dirty Jeans is filled with references to monumentous events from the past few years. From floods and blizzards to remembrance of 9/11, Hiatt brings an emotional resonance—felt if not explicitly expressed—to his songs that form boundaries. Speaking recently to another interviewer (Hiatt does lots of interviews) he reflects upon the events of recent years, connecting his lyrics to the everyman assessment of life he’s become known for. Not the really big stuff; just the stuff of daily life we all muddle through and can connect to and relate with. “The 2010 flood in Nashville tore up some of our place and thousands of people lost their homes,” he told one reporter. “It didn’t get much national attention because there weren’t enough lootings—not enough bad news. Then, we did a winter tour and every city we went to got hit by a blizzard. The songs that came out of that were about the impermanence of things—the constant shifts of people and things.” Even after 25 years of marriage, Hiatt still regards his love affair with similar impermanence, as if it will flutter away with the prevailing winds. His love songs— “relationship” songs, really—chart his com-
fort levels, affirm his core beliefs and celebrate small tendernesses—but the songs don’t get any easier, he says. “Love songs are still the hardest songs to write because they can become corny so quickly.” In “I Love That Girl,” he writes of such “corny” affirmations, singing, “And she wakes me with coffee and kisses my head/ And starts to explain about something she’s read/I say, ‘Darling, you haven’t heard a word that I’ve said’/And I love that girl.” You can’t help but find something in common with Hiatt’s scenes from a relationship and I ask him how is wife responds to such valentines. “She likes ‘em for the most part,” he says with a laugh. “She’ll say things like, ‘That’s nice.’” Unintentionally, it seems, the corniness of Hiatt’s sentiments are the ones the ring most true and he mines the mundane as if these fleeting moments that pass us all by will disappear, unremarked upon. Love, Hiatt, seems to say, is what happens when you’re not paying attention. Such moments, along with a healthy dose of rock and roll, Indiana-style—hot cars, fast women and nights under the bleachers—and the wicked sense of humor that Hiatt brings to his live show, combine into something he regards as the epitome of his essence. Even for an artist who has lived from eight tracks to digital downloads. “Nothing beats live,” he says, seeming to anticipate the road shows ahead of him. “You can’t download live and that’s the most exciting part. We’ve got a great little four piece band, it’s rock and roll, the classic setup and we’ve been rocking all over the country—the shows have been a blast.” John Hiatt’s road goes on forever, it seems. We’re lucky to catch a glimpse. John Hiatt performs Thursday, Nov. 17, at Track 29.
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THUR11.10
»PICKOFTHELITTER
MUSIC Great Barrier Reefs, Vapor Lock • Reefs are high-energy, low BS • $3. 9 p.m. The Honest Pint, 35 Patten Pkwy. (423) 468-4192. www.thehonestpint.com
EVENT
SUNDAY 11.13 PULSEPICKS
Color in Art and Life • Explore the galleries, then find your own color palette • $25.6 p.m. Hunter Museum, 10 Bluff View. (423) 267-0968. huntermuseum.org
MUSIC Landlord (record release party)
FRI11.11
• Breathing life back into Lifers, their debut album returns to the stores and the streets • $5. 8 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd. (423) 266-1400. www. myspace.com/jjsbohemia
MUSIC Moonlight Bride, The Winter Sounds, Elk Milk, The Rocketboys
EVENT
• Chattanooga’s very own Moonlight Bride drops some haunting tunes • $5. 9 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd. (423) 266-1400. www.myspace.com/jjsbohemia
Sunday with Steinway Concert: Judy Carmichael • Jazz pianist and vocalist swings it • Free, but reservations required. 3 p.m. 6209 Lee Hwy. (423) 499-0600. Facebook “Sunday with Steinway”
SCREENShots Can’t Keep A Good Independent Film Down • After a small scheduling snag, the AEC Fall Independent Film Series resumes this Friday, 11.11, with TWO films: My Afternoons With Margueritte and The Way. Both play for a full week at the Majestic 12 downtown. My Afternoons stars the burly and beloved Gerard Depardieu as a semiliterate middle-aged man who discovers the great French novels through a friendship with an elderly neighbor. The Way features Martin Sheen as a pilgrim on the Camino de Santiago, a journey he decides to take after going to France to recover the body of his son (Emilio Estevez). For screening times, visit www.carmike.com
EVENT Seussical, The Musical • Revisit childhood with Horton • $10. 7:30 p.m. Humanities Theatre, Chattanooga State, 4501 Amnicola Hwy. (423) 697-3383.
Money, So They Say Black Jacket Symphony Plays Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon • tivoli theatre • November 10 • What goes around, comes around…The Black Jacket Symphony debuts in the Noog with a reproduction of Pink Floyd’s timeless album. Lighting and video will add ambiance to an evening that promises to resonate with many folks for many reasons. $20-$25 • 8 p.m. • Tivoli • 709 Broad St. (423) 642-8497 • chattanoogaonstage.com
SAT11.12 MUSIC NormalPalooza Arts & Music Festival • Support Normal’s education excellence, listen to excellent bands • Free. 10 a.m.5 p.m. Normal Park Upper School, 1219 W. Mississippi Ave. Find it on Facebook.
EVENT Gross Indecency • Based on actual transcripts of trials that imprisoned Oscar Wilde for sodomy • $18. 8 p.m. Circle Stage, Chattanooga Theatre Centre, 400 River St. (423) 267-8534. theatrecentre.com
AmAhl & the Night Visitors • Nov. 18 • 8 pm • Tivoli TheaTer CoNduCTor: roberT berNhardT
Guest Artists: Monte Coulter IV • Rosella Ewing • Darrin Hassevoort • Brett Hyberger • Michael Rodgers
A Collaboration with the Chattanooga Theatre Centre and Chattanooga Ballet. The first opera ever written expressly for television and debut production of the Hallmark Hall of Fame in December 1951, Amahl and the Night Visitors is a holiday classic. Experience the enduring story set in the home of a poor widow and her son as they are visited by Three Kings searching for a special child. Concert Sponsor: husch blackwell and William l. montague, Jr. performing arts Fund chattanoogapulse.com • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • The Pulse • 13
BISTRO By DAy•SALOON By NIGHT
LIVE
Music
Ten Guitars, One Musician
y Tuesda Every od nderwo Troy U ay Thursd Every ins ” Hopk g n i n t igh Billy “L v. 11 Fri. No Wilson n o r r a B v. 12 Sat. No evue Soul R y t i C Scenic
1301 CHESTNuT • 423.757.4730 BEHIND MARRIOTT/CONVENTION CENTER & TVA
SOuTHSIDESALOONANDBISTRO.COM
FREE PARKING•21 AND OVER ESTABLISHMENT
Sunday with Steinway
judy carmichael
Grammy-nominated jazz pianist • Steinway Artist Host of NPR’s Judy Carmichael’s Jazz Inspired
Kaki King
Kaki King, The Alexanders $18.50 advance, $20 door 8 p.m. Thursday, November 17 Barking Legs Theater 1307 Dodds Ave. (423) 624-534 www.artfront.com
COMPLIMENTARY SEATING
RESERVATIONS REQUIRED
RSVP 423.499.0600 14 • The Pulse • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • chattanoogapulse.com
By Dave Casteneda David Grohl of the Foo Fighters said it best about the legendary guitarist Kaki King: “There are some guitar players that are good and there are some guitar players that are really f***ing good. And then there’s Kaki King.” The 32-year-old Atlanta native can be best described as your favorite guitarist’s favorite guitarist. Kaki King has been touring extensively this month, making stops in Japan and Europe. She will be performing a solo set at Barking Legs on Thursday, November 17. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to catch the “Traveling Freak Guitar Show” tour and experience a musician Rolling Stone has called one of the “Top 20 New Guitar Gods.” Kaki King has a collaborative portfolio that is as diverse and extensive as the techniques she uses in every album. King has worked with a range of artists, including the Foo Fighters, Timbaland, The Blue Man Group and The Mountain Goats. King’s style can be best described as “post-rock”, but I believe it is much more ex-
tensive than that, combining different elements of rock and jazz. Getting her start on Velour Records, she released her debut album, Everybody Loves You in 2002. Most of her earlier work was done as a solo musician and featured fully acoustic songs. The album received great acclaim, with critics lauding her skills as a young guitarist. But it wasn’t until 2005 when she began to really experiment and started to incorporate a full band into her sound. She released ...Until We Felt Red that year, marking the first album on which she incorporated her own vocals into the music. The album oozes shoegaze and post-rock influences and has quickly become a favorite of mine.
A once-in-a-lifetime chance to catch the ‘Traveling Freak Guitar Show’ tour and experience a musician Rolling Stone has called one of the ‘Top 20 New Guitar Gods’.”
Kaki answered questions by email while on the road: Dave Casteneda: You are now internationally recognized as one of the “New School Guitar Gods.” Your talents as a guitarist are unquestionable. What is your take on this recognition and what do you think of the current guitarists on the scene? Kaki King: I know this is in all of my press releases but I don’t think much of it. At the risk of sounding a little enigmatic, at this stage of the game I really do believe that the guitar is the master, and all guitarists are just lifelong students. DC: You’ve collaborated with a wide range of producers and musicians. How do these collaborations just come together and which have been your favorite ones? KK: I’m lucky enough to say that most of my collaborations have been with people I had a genuine fondness for. I’ve never had to work with someone because a manager or record label thought it would be a good idea. A lot of these collaborations have led me to profound discoveries about how music is written and recorded. DC: Is there anyone that you would just absolutely love to be in the studio with? KK: No one I want to say out loud! I would have loved to be a fly on the wall when Mutt Lange was producing Def Leppard’s Pyromania. That record sounds like nothing else. DC: With each album release there is a change of style. Tell me about your transition from a solo guitarist to a full band and the inclusion of vocals? KK: I love solo guitar as a genre and as a discipline, but I knew I wasn’t going to be able to creatively make record after record of just guitar. Singing, playing with other musicians, etc., is a way for me to reinvent what I’m doing musically, even if I still write from the perspective of a solo guitarist. DC: What are your plans for the future? Any new projects coming up? KK: I’m kind of reestablishing my relationship with the guitar these days. I’ve been playing and touring for so long that sometimes I can lose touch with what is important about being a guitarist, so I’m working on some of the basics again. Praise goes out to ArtFront Productions for putting together this show. Kaki King has asked ArtFront to choose a local opener for the show and they have teamed up Alex Thompson of Chattanooga and West Coast multi-instrumentalist Zoe Boekbinder performing as “The Alexanders.” Zoe is an amazing vocalist and this pair up will be a sight to see live. Zoe also combines live-looping into her music, helping her create atmospheres that are mesmerizing. Add in Alex Thompson’s amazing skills as a musician and this makes for an extra-special show.
Between the Sleeves Albert Ayler Love Cry/The Last Album (Impulse)
Matthew Herbert One Pig (Accidental)
The late tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler is known for his bold, intense, hard-blowing playing style, which profoundly influenced future generations of avant-garde saxophonists; Ayler also notably influenced John Coltrane’s late period, and controversially, he said the following about Coltrane’s track “The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost”: “He was the father, Pharoah [Sanders] was the son, and I was the holy ghost.” One might think that Ayler’s method has no use for nuance or sensitivity, but that’s not true; his is an impassioned, at times delirious style with an odd beauty that conveys his spiritual expression—this fellow played at Coltrane’s funeral, after all. The disc at hand is part of Impulse’s series of two-albums-on-one reissues, including a pair of late ’60s Ayler studio albums that offers a peculiar spread. Love Cry features a lineup with Ayler’s brother Donald on trumpet, at times pairing with Albert melodically in a three-legged-race of sorts; harpsichordist Call Cobbs adds treble twinkling, and poor bassist Alan Silva is practically drowned out except for his sliding glissandos. The standout player on this outing, however, is drummer Milford Graves, with an incredibly fluid, non-metronomic fashion and outpouring of beats. The group runs through several two-to-three minute renditions of concert favorites, including the singsongy “Ghosts” and “Omega,” with exuberant, catchy melodies. The album’s peak is perhaps the dizzying, ten-minute “Universal Indians,” which alternates between a simple two-pitch pattern and unhinged free jazz goodness. The Last Album is a strange release, even by Ayler’s standards, beginning with a meandering duet between Ayler playing a bagpipe chanter and electric guitarist Henry Vestine (of Canned Heat), who also contributes some bluesy licks to “Toiling.” “Again Comes the Rising of the Sun” follows, featuring call-and-response exchanges between vocalist Mary Maria Parks and the ensemble, and Ayler himself sings fervently, if a little awkwardly, on “Desert Blood.” While not the most satisfying Ayler album, it demonstrates that he was a risk-taker ‘til the very end. —Ernie Paik
One of the more horrifying food-related TV clips of recent memory that does not involve Paula Deen and copious amounts of butter is a demonstration by Jamie Oliver, showing a group of American children the unsavory process behind mechanically separated chicken. Amusingly, Oliver’s experiment backfired, and the children still wanted to eat the nuggets made from his chicken-carcass paste. Still, it underscores how relatively little the public knows exactly about how meat and other foods are prepared. Sound artist Matthew Herbert’s third concept album in a trilogy, following One One and One Club, is One Pig, which documents the entire life of a pig intended for slaughter, from “birth to plate.” PETA has decried the album, but although Herbert is not a vegetarian, he is striving to present the realities of eating meat. One Pig is part aural documentary and part musique concrète piece, and some of the sonic meddling seems unnecessary at times. For example, the opener “August 2009” uses a field recording of the pig’s birth amid grunts and squeals, and it’s enhanced with static and electronic tones to ostensibly heighten the drama of the moment; however, the music just sounds like it’s in the way. The album works better with pieces like “February,” which features sounds like a knife being sharpened and blood dripping into a bucket, clinically arranged and electronically sliced and diced; it’s reminiscent of Matmos, but unfortunately some of it sounds like bad industrial music. Herbert was not allowed to document the actual death, thankfully, so the most macabre part of the album is the use of a specially created musical instrument, by Henry Dagg, to create disturbing squealing sounds using the pig’s blood. One Pig ends with the strum-and-sing lament “May 2011,” which seems detached and insincere, and the project, while good fodder for conversation, just isn’t as compelling and involving as it tries to be. —Ernie Paik Send us your latest releases. Email info@ chattanoogapulse.com. chattanoogapulse.com • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • The Pulse • 15
Chattanooga Live Thur 11.10
Thursday • November 10
One Timers • Child Support Rag Rage • Real Drag Friday • November 11 Moonlight Bride Wintersounds • Elkmilk Saturday • November 12 How I Became the Bomb Tristen Sunday • November 13 Landlord Record Release Party + More! Tuesday • November 15 Comedian Rory Scovel
Sushi Bar Restaurant Nightclub 409 Market Street 423.756.1919
M PARTY T DUBSTEP Open Mic 50 NIGHT W T THIRSTY THURSDAY Monday Night FOOTBALL
$2 DRAFT
¢
WINGS $3 SUSHI ROLLS WED. & THURS!
WEEKEND!
BOTH NIGHTS!
FRI WEEKEND! BRIAN sat COLLINS 1
$ BEER
10-11
Barron Wilson Band 7 p.m. Southside Saloon and Bistro, 1301 Chestnut St. (423) 757-4730. southsidesaloonandbistro.com Joy Kills Sorrow 7:30 p.m. Barking Legs Theater, 1307 Dodds Ave. (423) 624-5347. barkinglegs.com Black Jacket Symphony: Dark Side of the Moon 8 p.m. Tivoli Theatre, 709 Broad St. (423) 642-TIXS. chattanoogaonstage.com Billy Hopkins 8 p.m. The Office (inside Days Inn), 901 Carter St. (423) 634-9191. Find them on Facebook. Old Timers, Child Support, Rage Rage, Real Drag 8 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd. (423) 266-1400. www.myspace. com/jjsbohemia Maddy 8 p.m. Acoustic Café, 61 RBC Dr., Ringgold. (706) 965-2065. ringgoldacoustic.com Vapor Lock, Great Barrier Reefs 9 p.m. The Honest Pint, 35 Patten Pkwy. (423) 468-4192. thehonestpint.com Warren Haynes Band, The Lee Boys 9 p.m. Track 29, 1400 Market St., (423) 521-2929. www.track29.co
PM
LIVE MUSIC WITH
Party on Two Floors!
1st Floor: Live Music • 2nd Floor: Dancing
Ongoing Ben Friberg Trio 7 p.m. Table 2, 232 E. 11th St. (423) 756-8253. table2restaurant.com Jimmy Harris 7 p.m. The Coconut
16 • The Pulse • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • chattanoogapulse.com
Room at The Palms at Hamilton, 6925 Shallowford Rd. (423) 499-5055. thepalmsathamilton.com Songwriter’s Night 7 p.m. Sugar’s Ribs, 507 Broad St. (423) 508-8956. sugarsribs.com Open Mic Night 7:30 p.m. The CampHouse, 1427 Williams St. (423) 702-8081. thecamphouse.com Blues Jam with Rick Rushing 7:30 p.m. Market Street Tavern, 850 Market St., (423) 634-0260. marketstreettavern.com Gentleman’s Jazz Quartet 8 p.m. The Lounge at The Palms at Hamilton, 6925 Shallowford Rd. (423) 499-5055. thepalmsathamilton.com
Fri 11.11 Sent By Ravens, Sons of God, The Rising, Brothers, Alive For A Day, If All Else Fails 7 p.m. The Warehouse, 412 Market St. (423) 757-1569. warehousevenue.com Grayson Capps 8 p.m. Barking Legs Theater, 1307 Dodds Ave. (423) 624-5347. barkinglegs.com Vince Gill 8 p.m. Tivoli Theatre, 709 Broad St. (423) 642-TIXS. chattanoogaonstage.com Michelle Young and Pontiac Blue 8 p.m. T-Bones Cafe, 1419 Chestnut St. (423) 266-4240. tboneschattanooga.com Bounty Hunter
PULSE PICK Machines Are People Too
• NormalPalooza Arts & Music Festival • Saturday, 12.12 • Free. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Normal Park Upper School, 1219 W. Mississippi Ave. Find it on Facebook. 8 p.m. Acoustic Café, 61 RBC Dr., Ringgold. (706) 965-2065. ringgoldacoustic.com Chattanooga Songwriter’s Festival 8 p.m. Sugar’s Ribs, 507 Broad St. (423) 508-8956. sugarsribs.com Kathy Tugman 8:30 p.m. The Foundry (at the Chattanoogan Hotel), 1201 Broad St. (423) 756-3400. chattanooganhotel.com Moonlight Bride, The Winter Sounds, Elkmilk 9 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd. (423) 266-1400. myspace.com/
jjsbohemia Brian Collins 9 p.m. Raw, 409 Market St. (423) 756-1919. myspace.com/ jimstriker Jordan Hallquist 9 p.m. The Office (inside Days Inn), 901 Carter St. ((423) 634-9191. Find them on Facebook. Space Capone, The Delta Saints 10 p.m. Rhythm & Brews, 221 Market St. (423) 267-4644. rhythm-brews.com Function 10 p.m. Tremont Tavern, 1203 Hixson Pk. (423) 266-1996. tremonttavern.com Soul Survivor
10 p.m. Bud’s Sports Bar, 5751 Brainerd Rd. (423) 499-9878. budssportsbar.com
Ongoing Johnny Cash Tribute Band 5 p.m. Chattanooga Choo Choo Victorian Lounge, 1400 Market St. (423) 266-5000. choochoo.com Ben Friberg Trio 6:30 p.m. Table 2, 232 East 11th St. (423) 756-8253. table2restaurant.com Jimmy Harris 7 p.m. The Coconut Room at The Palms at Hamilton, 6925 Shallowford Rd. (423) 499-5055. thepalmsathamilton.com
Sat 11.12 NormalPalooza Arts & Music Festival
10 a.m. Normal Park Upper School, 1219 W. Mississippi Ave. Robert Crabtree Jazz Trio 7 p.m. Jewish Cultural Center, 5461 North Terrace Rd., (423) 493-0270. jewishchattanooga.com Granville Automatic 8 p.m. Charles and Myrtle’s Coffeehouse, 105 McBrien Rd. (423) 892-4960. christunity.org Brody Johnson & the Dirt Road Band 8 p.m. Acoustic Café, 61 RBC Dr., Ringgold. (706) 965-2065. ringgoldacoustic.com Chattanooga Songwriter’s Festival 8 p.m. Sugar’s Ribs, 507 Broad St. (423) 508-8956. sugarsribs.com Kathy Tugman 8:30 p.m. The Foundry (at the Chattanoogan Hotel), 1201 Broad St. (423) 756-3400. chattanooganhotel.com Scenic City Soul Review 9 p.m. Southside Saloon and Bistro, 1301 Chestnut St. (423) 757-4730. southsidesaloonandbistro.com How I Became The Bomb, Tristen 9 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd. (423) 266-1400. myspace.com/ jjsbohemia Brian Collins 9 p.m. Raw, 409 Market St. (423) 756-1919. myspace.com/ jimstriker David James 9 p.m. The Office (inside Days Inn), 901 Carter St. (423) 634-9191. Find them on Facebook.
Wed 11.16
Downtstream, Deep Sleeze 10 p.m. Rhythm & Brews, 221 Market St. (423) 267-4644. rhythm-brews.com Function 10 p.m. Market Street Tavern, 850 Market St., (423) 634-0260. Find them on Facebook.
PULSE PICK
Ongoing
Ongoing
Johnny Cash Tribute Band 5 p.m. Chattanooga Choo Choo Victorian Lounge, 1400 Market St. (423) 266-5000. choochoo.com Jimmy Harris 7 p.m. The Coconut Room at The Palms at Hamilton, 6925 Shallowford Rd. (423) 499-5055. thepalmsathamilton.com
Irish Music Session 3 p.m. The Honest Pint, 35 Patten Pkwy. (423) 468-4192. thehonestpint.com
Sun 11.13 The Secret Commonwealth 7 p.m. The Honest Pint, 35 Patten Pkwy. (423) 468-4192. thehonestpint.com Landlord Record Release Party 8 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd.
Microdahts Reunion Show with Thee Something Brothers 9 p.m. The Honest Pint, 35 Patten Pkwy. (423) 468-4192. thehonestpint.com Oh Sleeper, Greeley Estates, Ten After Two, At The Skylines, Secrets, Encounters 6 p.m. The Warehouse, 412 Market St. (423) 757-1569. warehousevenue.com Arlo Gilliam 9 p.m. Bud’s Sports Bar, 5751 Brainerd Rd. (423) 499-9878. budssportsbar.com
Moonlight Bride • Friday, 11.11 • $5. 9 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd. (423) 266-1400. www.myspace.com/jjsbohemia
(423) 266-1400. myspace.com/ jjsbohemia
Mon 11.14 Mannheim Steamroller 7:30 p.m. Memorial Auditorium, 399 McCallie Ave. (423) 642-TIXS. chattanoogaonstage.com
Ongoing Old Tyme Players 6 p.m. Market Street Tavern, 850 Market St. (423) 634-0260. Find them on Facebook. Music Monday 7 p.m. Pasha Coffee and Tea,3914 St. Elmo Ave. (423) 475-5482. pashacoffeehouse.com
Big Band Night 8 p.m. The Coconut Room at The Palms at Hamilton, 6925 Shallowford Rd. (423) 499-5055. .thepalmsathamilton.com
Tue 11.15 Comedian Rory Scovel 8 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd. (423) 266-1400. myspace.com/ jjsbohemia
Ongoing Open Mic with Mike McDade 8 p.m. Tremont Tavern, 1203 Hixson Pk. (423) 266-1996. tremonttavern.com Troy Underwood 8 p.m. Southside Saloon & Bistro, 1301 Chestnut St., (423) 757-4730. southsidesaloonbistro.com
Ongoing Jimmy Harris 6:30 p.m. The Coconut Room at The Palms at Hamilton, 6925 Shallowford Rd. (423) 499-5055. thepalmsathamilton.com Ben Friberg Trio 7 p.m. Market Street Tavern, 850 Market St. (423) 634-0260. Find them on Facebook. Open Mic Night 8 p.m. Acoustic Café, 61 RBC Dr., Ringgold. (706) 965-2065. ringgoldacoustic.com Prime Cut Trio 8 p.m. The Lounge at The Palms at Hamilton, 6925 Shallowford Rd. (423) 499-5055. thepalmsathamilton.com DJ ScubaSteve’s Jenntastic Wednesdays 9 p.m. Holiday Bowl, 5518 Brainerd Rd. (423) 899-2695. holidaybowlbrainerd.com
901 Carter St (Inside Days Inn) 423-634-9191 Thursday, Nov. 10: 9pm Billy Hopkins
Friday, Nov. 11: 9pm Jordan Hallquist
Saturday, Nov. 12: 9pm David James
Sunday, Nov. 13
Sunday Night Football • $5 Pitchers
Tuesday, Nov. 15
Server Appreciation Night
$5 Pitchers • $2 Wells • $1.50 Domestics
All shows are free with dinner or 2 drinks! Stop by & check out our daily specials! Happy Hour: Mon-Fri: 4-7pm $1 10oz drafts, $3 32oz drafts, $2 Wells, $1.50 Domestics, Free Appetizers
Facebook.com/theofficechatt
Nightly Specials
Send live music listings at least 10 days in advance to: calendar@ chattanoogapulse.com. chattanoogapulse.com • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • The Pulse • 17
Tragic.
Magic.
The Pulse His+Hers holiday GifT Guide 2011 The perfect gifts for him+her. No excuses. Call 423.242.7680 for advertising information
18 • The Pulse • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • chattanoogapulse.com
HIS+HERS HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 2011
The Pulse His+Her Gift Guide appears Nov. 17 & 24 and Dec. 15. Call 423.242.7680 — there’s still time to get in the guide! chattanoogapulse.com • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • The Pulse • 19
HIS+HERS
Outfit the cyclist on your list with the finest in accessories this season
Cycle Sport Concepts
516 E. Main St. 423.531.7623 Mon,-Sat. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. csctenn.com
A
B D C
Cooler weather is here and Cycle Sport Concepts has you covered from head to toe. For those of you who commute to work we have apparel to keep you warm, lights to keep you safe, and locks to keep your bike secure. In addition to the gear, bicycles that are perfect for the downtown commute or riding down the Riverpark are in stock starting as low as $380! A. Specialized Balaclava • $30 B. Specialized BG Gel Wiretap glove • $45 C. Specialized Street Smart Helmet • $60 D. Knog Frog Strobe • $25 pair or $12.50 each E. Knog Party Frank lock • $20
www.CSCTENN.com
• New bicycles purchased from Cycle Sport Concepts come with a lifetime of free tune-ups. • Ask about Specialized S-Card financing and our layaway program. • As always, all bicycles are below MSRP! Bring this ad with you and receive a FREE Grand Opening water bottle while supplies last!
E
HERS Lesha Patterson Photography
423.667.7533 leshapattersonphotography.com
How much to you have to see to know she’s beautiful? Four girls go to dinner for a girls’ night out. One mentions “boudoir” photography. Two girls gasp. The other smiles, a little smirk. “What?” asks one. “Nothin’,” says the girl. Unique, creative and armed with a “license to be eclectic,” Patterson’s vibe has been described as “contagious” and “addictive” by her subjects. “I strive to make every session as unique as the individual while keeping it simple and fresh,” she says, “to let the personality shine above all else, creating a personally timeless image.” Patterson specializes in boudoir, tasteful nudes and ‘pin-up girl’-style sessions, which are considered on the fringe of society’s acceptable behavior—but every woman secretly wants to try it once in her life. “I keep it simple, classy, and timeless,” she says. “Most women say it’s empowering. Afterwards they feel giddy, buzzed, sexy and beautiful. You go through a transformation and you take it with you.” To arrange a private consultation for your intimate photo session, contact Lesha at (423) 667-7533.
20 • The Pulse • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • chattanoogapulse.com
HIS+HERS Ignis Glass Studio
1800 Rossville Ave. 423.265.2565 ignisglass.com
Blow your own glass ornament Ignis Glass Studio and Gallery is opening the studio for the holiday season to let the public come in and blow their own heirloom glass ornament. This is the perfect holiday experience for family, friends and even large groups to experience what it is like to actually participate in the 2,000-year-old art of glass blowing. Participants will choose their own colors, help work the piece and actually capture their own breath in glass. Appointments are available through December 23rd. Visitors may also check out the gallery sale where individual glass items over $100 are 50% off and items under $100 are 10% off through December 23rd.
OVER/UNDER
SALE
All indvidual glass items
50% OFF 10% OFF items over $100
items under $100
Offer excludes non-glass items and blow-your-own ornaments. Not valid with any other offer. Expires 12/23/11
HERS Southern Surgical Arts
One North Shore 200 Manufacturers Road Suite 105 423.266.3331 southernsurgicalarts.com
This holiday, give the gift of beauty Southern Surgical Arts is the cosmetic surgery practice of Carey Nease, M.D., and Chad Deal, M.D. You’ll notice that our surgeons’ deliver surgical expertise that is combined with artistic ability in a personal, caring environment from the moment you walk into our office. Drs. Nease and Deal are both Board Certified Cosmetic Surgeons. Their practice at Southern Surgical Arts is 100 percent committed, focused, dedicated to cosmetic surgery. They do nothing else but face and neck lifts, cosmetic breast surgery, tummy tucks, liposuction and SmartLipo, mommy makeovers, vaginal rejuvenation and other cosmetic procedures and services that can enhance your appearance and improve your self-confidence.
chattanoogapulse.com • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • The Pulse • 21
Give your Thanksgiving guests a warm welcome ...
CARTER
HEATING & AIR CONDITIONING
899-1500
INVITE CARTER HEATING & AIR FOR A HEATING SYSTEM TUNE-UP! Our expert technicians will inspect, clean and tune-up your heating system to keep you operating at maximum efficiency all winter! CALL NOW TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR $59 TUNE-UP SPECIAL! Please present this coupon to our technician • Call 899-1500 to schedule!
this ad to receive FALL Mention the special price of TUNE-UP $59 SPECIAL (per unit)
(Regularly $79) Prices good through 12-15-11
Preventative Maintenance Time! Call today to get your heating unit ready before it gets cold. See the back of our sticker on the cover for Carter Care information.
CARTER HAS BEEN PROUD TO SERVE CHATTANOOGA SINCE 1977
Don’t let another innocent child become the victim of domestic abuse. Stop Violence. Give Hope. Call 755-2700 to stop the violence. Visit StopViolenceGiveHope.org to give hope.
Empowering Families,Children & Adults
22 • The Pulse • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • chattanoogapulse.com
Art of the City
Artistic Excellence
SCENIC CITY
Delight of Detail By Michael Crumb Jan Chenoweth and Roger Halligan are currently featuring drawings at their Front Gallery on Rossville Avenue. Seven artists present a variety of styles in which detail work figures prominently. Tom Spleth’s large abstract ink and wash pieces can grab one’s attention for their dramatic formal presentations, but once attention has engaged, there emerges both nuances of technique and stunning effects. Spleth’s “NY Ink” series suggests intense action and, perhaps, a kinship to Eastern forms of ink drawing. Some of these drawings feature different permutations of large X’s with other broad strokes, and although these figures create interest, they also serve the aesthetic function of demarcating the larger field into asymmetrical areas where a good deal of aesthetic play presents some fascinating details, including three-dimensional effects. At the other end of the size spectrum, Valerie Leuth presents a series of drawings, all four by four inches. Her six pieces have a common element of composition that involves tiny blackand-white circles of various sizes within this very small range. These elements serve to enhance a kind of rainbow palette of bright colors in several of these pieces, with a geometric emphasis throughout. Leuth’s “Phantom Stream” resembles a stairway spilling colors, converging the natural with the surreal. Her pictures posValerie Leuth’s “Misty Mountaintop” sess charm and intricacy with thought-provoking The Drawing Show compositions. Runs through November 23 Rather larger in size, Front Gallery Andy Moon Wilson’s 1800 Rossville Ave. • Ste. 1 four drawings are all ten by ten inches, and they (423) 243-3778 also feature intense colors and geometric play. Circles are inscribed in squares in various ways. One suggests a mandala; another “hides” geometric lines in a field of tiny, brightly colored forms that also include small, black figures. Close examination of these drawings yields more discovery. The interplay of line and color tends towards such “busyness” that one cannot take in all the details on first view, but that first view suggests that there is more. Substance of composition here engages deeply. Complexity of composition gets foreshadowed in Mark Hosford’s “Rorschach” series that now sees its premiere at the Front Gallery. The famous “Ink Blot” figures developed as a psychological diagnostic tool by folding paper with ink inside. The unfolded paper showed random-
dance center
ized and symmetrical abstracts used as a field for imaginative projections by interviewees. I pity the psychologist who encounters Hosford’s compositions. His whimsical weirdness exploits the symmetrical style of this design into a kind of figural mapping. However, Hosford is sure to include symmetrical features into his symmetrical placements of fanciful figures. This work has an explicitly surreal character. Hosford’s “Garden of Squirtly Delight” suggests a connection with Bosch, but the figures here often show such fanciful strangeness that this work approaches the abstract. There is aesthetic innovation in these compositions. Bring your sense of humor. Other forms of surrealism get mixed into drawings of more realistic orientation by Brandon Cordrey, Michael Krueger and Jeff Morton. Cordrey’s “Too Proud To Be Moved” shows a bird that resembles a cardinal perched on a branch. At the end of this branch, somehow there has been caught a large enough globule of water to contain a fish. His “But I Waited For You” with eight small panels shows a bird overlooking eight stages of development from a tadpole to a frog. This is possibly an old surreal joke, but well rendered and amusing. Michael Krueger’s drawings feature a setting of a rock thrust into the sky. This setting supports a whimsical diversity of figures and objects. A soldier, a self-portrait (?), a tall shelf unit (“Highboy”), and, most intricately, “Death Sticks.” His technique involves fine detail and his concepts connected to the rock show a surreal range: The soldier plays music, the furniture hearkens back to the old surreal, and the “death sticks” suggest primitivism, also an old surreal trend. There’s a suggestion of the cartoon intersecting with the “object d’art”, a sense of colorful fun. Chattanooga artist Jeff Morton brings a series of “Kudzu” drawings, and “Things That Fall From The Sky”, including “Mosquito Disc” and “Mosquito Wave”. These drawings show intricacy in a larger context, humorous and surreal. His “Bite, Burn, Trap, Snag” is a kind of concrete poem, words in a square of entrapment. This show stimulates and inspires.
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chattanoogapulse.com • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • The Pulse • 23
Arts & Entertainment Thur 11.10 HandsOn Hunter: Color In Art And In Life 6 p.m. Hunter Museum of American Art, 10 Bluff View. (423) 266-0944. huntermuseum.org Mystery of the TV Talk Show 7 p.m. Vaudeville Café, 138 Market St. (423) 517-1839. funnydinner.com Live Team Trivia 7:30 p.m. T-Bones Sports Cafe, 1419 Chestnut St. (423) 266-4240. chattanoogatrivia.com MANIFEST Celebrates First Anniversary 8 p.m. The CampHouse, 1427 Williams St. (423) 702-8081. Gary Conrad “Master Hypnotist” 8 p.m. The Comedy Catch, 3224 Brainerd Rd. (423) 629-2233. thecomedycatch.com Black Jacket Symphony: Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon 8 p.m. Tivoli Theatre, 709 Broad St. (423) 757-5050. chattanoogaonstage.com
Fri 11.11 Born to be Wild 3D 6, 8 p.m. IMAX Theater at the Tennessee Aquarium, 1 Broad St. (800) 265-0695. tnaqua.org Tornado Alley 3D 7, 9 p.m. IMAX Theater at the Tennessee Aquarium, 1 Broad St. (800) 265-0695. tnaqua.org Mystery of Flight 138 7 p.m. Vaudeville
24 • The Pulse • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • chattanoogapulse.com
Café, 138 Market St. (423) 517-1839. funnydinner.com Harvest Hoedown 7 p.m. Lee University, 1120 North Ocoee St. (800) 533-9930. leeuniversity.edu Gary Conrad, “Master Hypnotist” 7:30, 10 p.m. The Comedy Catch, 3224 Brainerd Rd. (423) 629-2233. thecomedycatch.com Senior Recital: Amy Kriewaldt 7:30 p.m. UTC Fine Arts Center Roland Hayes Hall, 725 Vine St. (423) 425-4601. utc.edu/music The Giver 7:30 p.m. Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga, 1918 Union Ave. (423) 987-5141.
ensembletheatreofchattanooga.com 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee 7:30 p.m. UTC Fine Arts Center, Vine & Palmetto Sts. (423) 425-4269. utc.edu A Song for the Children with Vince Gill 8 p.m. Tivoli Theatre, 709 Broad St. (423) 757-5050. chattanooga.gov Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde 8 p.m. Chattanooga Theatre Centre, Circle Stage, 400 River St. (423) 267-8534. theatrecentre.com Chattanooga Ghost Hunt 8:15 p.m. Patten Chapel, 615 McCallie Ave. (423) 821-7125. chattanoogaghosttours.com Screenings: Zardoz and A Boy And His Dog 8:30 p.m. Collective Warehouse, 4015 Tennessee Ave. Facebook.com/ MESFilmClub Live Team Trivia 9 p.m. Amigo’s Mexican Restaurant, 5450 Hwy 153. (423) 875-8049. chattanoogatrivia.com Stand Up Comedy! Marvin Lee 9:30 p.m. Vaudeville Café, 138 Market St. (423) 517-1839. funnydinner.com
PULSE PICK Seussical, The Musical • Friday, 11.11 • $10. 7:30 p.m. Humanities Theatre, Chattanooga State, 4501 Amnicola Hwy. (423) 697-3383.
Female Impersonation Show Midnight. Images, 6065 Lee Hwy. (423) 855-8210. imagesbar.com
Sat 11.12 Feeding Frenzy 9:30 a.m. Tennessee Aquarium, 1 Broad St. (423) 6482496. tnaqua.org NormalPalooza 10 a.m. Normal Park Magnet School, 1219 W. Mississippi Ave. (423) 209-5914. normalpark.com Autumn Color Cruise 10:30 a.m. River Gorge Explorer, 1 Broad St. (423) 265-0698. tnaqua.org Veteran’s Day Patriotic Music Concert Noon. Memorial Auditorium, 399 McCallie Ave. (423) 757-5156. chattanooga.gov Art till Dark Noon. 40 Frazier Ave. (423) 413-8999. arttildark.com The Giver 2 p.m, Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga, 1918 Union Ave. (423) 987-5141. ensembletheatreofchattanooga.com Autumn Color Cruise 1:30, 4 p.m. River Gorge Explorer, 1 Broad St. (423) 265-0698. tnaqua.org Mystery at the Nightmare Office Party 5:30 p.m. Vaudeville Café, 138 Market St. (423) 517-1839. funnydinner.com Spectrum 2011 Gala and Auction 6 p.m. Hunter Museum of American Art, 10 Bluff View.
(423) 266-0944. huntermuseum.org Born to be Wild 3D 6, 8 p.m. IMAX Theater at the Tennessee Aquarium, 1 Broad St. (800) 265-0695. tnaqua.org Tornado Alley 3D 7, 9 p.m. Imax Theater at the Tennessee Aquarium, 1 Broad St. (800) 265-0695. tnaqua.org 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee 7:30 p.m. UTC Fine Arts Center, Vine & Palmetto Sts. (423) 425-4269. utc.edu Seussical, The Musical 7:30 p.m. Humanities Theatre, Chattanooga State, 4501 Amnicola Hwy. (423) 697-3383. Senior Recital: Arminda Lord 7:30 p.m. UTC Fine Arts Center Roland Hayes Hall, 725 Vine St. (423) 425-4601. utc.edu Gary Conrad, “Master Hypnotist” 7:30, 10 p.m. The Comedy Catch, 3224 Brainerd Rd. (423) 629-2233. thecomedycatch.com Mystery at the Redneck-Italian Wedding 8 p.m. Vaudeville Café, 138 Market St. (423) 517-1839. funnydinner.com Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde 8 p.m. Chattanooga Theatre Centre, Circle Stage, 400 River St. (423) 267-8534. theatrecentre.com Lantern Tours 8:30 p.m. Ruby Falls, 1720 S Scenic Hwy. (423) 821-2544.
PULSE PICK Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wild • Saturday, 11.12• $18. 8 p.m. Circle Stage, Chattanooga Theatre Centre, 400 River St. (423) 267-8534. theatrecentre.com
rubyfalls.com. Chattanooga Ghost Hunt 9:30 p.m. Patten Chapel, 615 McCallie Ave. (423) 821-7125. chattanoogaghosttours.com Stand Up Comedy! Marvin Lee 10:30 p.m. Vaudeville Café, 138 Market St. (423) 517-1839. funnydinner.com Female Impersonation Show Midnight. Images, 6065 Lee Hwy. (423) 855-8210. imagesbar.com
Tue 11.15
Sun 11.13 Chattanooga Market: eNgAgE 2011 11 a.m. First Tennesee Pavilion, 1826 Reggie White Blvd. chattanoogamarket.com Autumn Color Cruise 12:30, 3 p.m. River Gorge Explorer, 1 Broad St. (423) 265-0698. tnaqua.org Harvest Hymn Festival 3 p.m. Memorial Auditorium, 399 McCallie Ave. (423) 757-5156. chattanooga.gov CAFÉ Grant Community Funding Art Event 6 p.m. Planet Altered, 48 E. Main St. (423) 400-4100. planetaltered.com. Gary Conrad, “Master Hypnotist” 8 p.m. The Comedy Catch, 3224 Brainerd Rd. (423) 629-2233. thecomedycatch.com Chattanooga Ghost Tour 8:15 p.m. Walnut Street Bridge, 100 Walnut St. (423) 821-7125.
chattanoogaghosttours.com
Mon 11.14 Autumn Color Cruise 2 p.m. River Gorge Explorer, 1 Broad St. (423) 265-0698. tnaqua.org Live Team Trivia 6 p.m. Bart’s Lakeshore, 5840 Lake Resort Ter. (423) 870-0770. chattanoogatrivia.com Welcome to Shelbyville 7 p.m. Loose Cannon, 1800 Rossville Ave. chattanoogafilm-
society.org The Christmas Music of Mannheim Steamroller 7:30 p.m. Memorial Auditorium, 399 McCallie Ave. (423) 757-5156. chattanoogaonstage.com Daniel Blake Smith Book Signing 7 p.m. Concord Baptist Church, 7025 E. Brainerd Rd. Chattanooga Ghost Tour 8:15 p.m. Walnut Street Bridge, 100 Walnut St. (423) 821-7125. chattanoogaghosttours.com
Scenic City Chorale Thanksgiving Luncheon Noon. Jewish Cultural Center, 5461 N. Terrace. (423) 493-0270. Autumn Color Cruise 2 p.m. River Gorge Explorer, 1 Broad St. (423) 265-0698. tnaqua.org Holiday Around the Globe 4 p.m. Bessie Smith Cultural Center, 200 E. Martin Luther King Blvd. (423) 266-8658. Songwriter’s Line-up 7 p.m. The CampHouse, 1427 Williams St. (423) 702-8081. Patten Performances: Evidence, A Dance Company 7:30 p.m. UTC Fine Arts Center Roland Hayes Hall, 725 Vine St. (423) 425-4601. utc.edu Live Team Trivia 7:30 p.m. BrewHaus, 224 Frazier Ave. (423) 531-8490. chattanoogatrivia.com Chattanooga Ghost Tour 8:15 p.m. Walnut Street Bridge, 100 Walnut St. (423) 821-7125. chattanoogaghosttours.com
Wed 11.16 Autumn Color Cruise 2 p.m. River Gorge Explorer, 1 Broad St. (423) 2650698. tnaqua.org Main Street Farmers Market 4 p.m. Main St. at Williams St.
mainstfarmersmarket.com “Variations on Latin America” 7:30 p.m. UTC Fine Arts Center, Roland Hayes Hall, 725 Vine St. (423) 425-4601. utc.edu Live Team Trivia 7:30 p.m. Buffalo Wild Wings, 120 Market St. (423) 634-0468. chattanoogatrivia.com
Ongoing “Pearls” Shuptrine Fine Art Group, 2646 Broad St. (423) 266-4453. shuptrinefineartgroup.com “Color in Freedom: Journey along the Underground Railroad” Bessie Smith Cultural Center, 200 E. Martin Luther King Blvd. (423) 266-8658. Sandra Mendez Photography Exhibit Southern Adventist University, 4881 Taylor Cr. Collegedale. (423) 236-2000. southern.edu “Patterns of Behavior” Sewanee University Art Gallery, 735 University Ave. gallery.sewanee.edu “Show 36” In-Town Gallery, 26A Frazier Ave. (423) 267-9214. intowngallery.com “Vistas and Visages” North River Civic Center, 1009 Executive Dr. Ste. 102. (423) 870-8924.
Email calendar items to: calendar@chattanoogapulse.com. chattanoogapulse.com • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • The Pulse • 25
Screen
john devore
CFS Opens Our Lens
A scene from Welcome to Shelbyville, the latest film in the Southern Circuit film series hosted by the Chattanooga Film Society.
When Hollywood releases movies about boxing robots or multiple stoner sequels featuring John Cho and Kal Penn, it’s hard to think of film as a legitimate artistic medium. The richness and glamour of Old Hollywood has passed, story and depth replaced by explosions and jokes about bodily functions. Movies are now written by committees of former advertising executives and focus groups. Film, as an art form, is now relegated to festivals and discussed by academics. Or at least that’s the idea the most people have about independent film. The masses get Eddie Murphy making faces and wearing fat suits, while the minority elite watch long shots of unnamed actors in black and white set to obscure art rock music scores. It’s a stereotype that needs challenging. According to Chris Holley of the Chattanooga Film Society, film is unifying rather that dividing. “The entire scope of film is nearly limitless. Almost any topic or idea can be expressed,” Holley says. “It encompasses all of the other arts in its creation and appeals to more people than any one of those arts individually.” By bringing in films from the Southern Circuit, a regional tour of independent films and filmmakers, Holley hopes to start “a dynamic dialogue within the community that might otherwise stay silent.” These films aren’t simply for
Welcome to Shelbyville $10 • 7 p.m. • November 14 Loose Cannon• 1800 Rossville Ave. www.chattanoogafilmsociety.org 26 • The Pulse • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • chattanoogapulse.com
the film connoisseur; they are for anyone hoping for an engaging film experience. A film society itself is something anachronistic in today’s world. In times past, film societies were responsible for bringing a wide variety of movies to areas far from the lights of New York and L.A. They worked closely with local theaters to ensure that their communities were staying current. With the advent of home video, film societies fell by the wayside. Viewing habits became more personalized. Individuals were able to cater to their personal interests and watch movies from the comfort of their own homes. Theater chains and the Internet only bolstered this trend. The Chattanooga Film Society (CFS) is a relatively new organization, one that has different goals. It’s interested in marketing our area as a place where films are made. Members want to support independent filmmakers in and around Chattanooga. They want to educate Chattanoogans on film and garner appreciation for the medium. And above all, they want to launch a film festival in Chattanooga. “The good a major film festival would do encompasses
SCREEN » page 29
Sushi & Biscuits
MIKE MCJUNKIN
Beyond buffets There is so much more to Chattanooga than buffets, westernized Asian food, troughs of processed starches and genetically modified veggies wilting beneath a sneeze guard. While sanitized feed bags sit like culinary churches on every street corner and patrons envision Paula Deen’s butterglazed visage inviting them to worship at the altar of the deep-fat fryer, more adventurous Southerners are taking a bit more discerning look at what passes their lips. In a recent LA Weekly article describing the perceptions Angelinos have of Southern food, the writer remarked, “Decades of drawling Southern stereotypes have penetrated the collective consciousness, giving Angelinos a fairly accurate perception of what Southerners eat.” The article goes on to describe this “accurate perception” of Southern food with these words: okra, chitlins, cheese straws, fried green tomatoes, boiled peanuts, pecan pie and cobblers. Admittedly, these foods do appear on Southern tables—but Southern food is being influenced by many of the same forces other regional cuisines are experiencing, such as immigrant populations, a rise in local food production and the popularization of cooking and dining thanks to celebrity chefs, cooking shows and entire networks devoted to round-the-clock food porn. A quick look through the restaurant listing of ChattanoogaChow.com or a visit to one of the many ethnic or specialty food stores around town reveals how locals are expanding their palates and culinary horizons to go beyond “eating good in the neighborhood.” Just a few years ago, I was making monthly pilgrimages to Atlanta shops and markets to stock my shelves with the things I simply couldn’t find locally. Thankfully, I don’t have to make those trips anymore because of the ever-increasing number of choices being offered in and around Chattanooga. The problem for most area residents is that they: Are unaware these places exist in Chattanooga; feel uncomfortable with foreign products and languages; or just don’t know what to do with most of what is offered in these wonderful little shops. The Scenic City also hosts some of the region’s best food talent. Local chefs and cooks are growing increasingly adventurous with their menus as Chattanoogans become more comfortable with exotic ingredients, deconstructed dishes and out-of-the-ordinary treatments of traditional ingredients. But many diners remain unsure what res-
Editor’s note: This week we introduce a new food-and-drink column penned by The Pulse’s resident foodie, Iron Chef and erstwhile IT expert Mike McJunkin. A man of many talents and eclectic tastes, McJunkin is known around the office as a tech wizard, music maven and, not least, a creative culinary gourmand who delights in the simple, the sublime and the simply sublime. Each week, Mike will track the comings and goings of the Chattanooga’s growing restaurant scene and offering up a smorgasbord of local food news in a journalistic food adventure we’ve dubbed “Sushi and Buscuits”. taurants offer these type of dining experiences, what these foreign sounding ingredients are or where to go to try something different without dipping into the kid’s college fund. For those of us who like to cook, Chattanooga also has a growing number of locations at which to score local and regionally produced foods and cooking supplies. I am regularly able to make complete meals using 75 to 80 percent locally or regionally produced fresh foods within the same budget as my Walmart-and Bi-Lo-shopping friends. Many residents, however, do not know where to find these foods or mistakenly believe they are just too expensive. In the weeks to come, I’m going to help cut through the noise of the chain stores, factory-farmed foods, and celebrity-chef spin to show you where to find the best value and best quality in what Chattanooga has to offer the conscious eater, whether you want to make a home-cooked meal or seek out a quality restaurant dining experience. Are any chefs in Chattanooga using liquid nitrogen for their dishes? Find out as “Sushi & Biscuits” continues. Mike McJunkin is a foodie, chef, musician and, in his spare time, keeps our computers and networks running smoothly. Got a tip for the column? Email him at mike@ chattanoogapulse.com. chattanoogapulse.com • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • The Pulse • 27
Free Will Astrology ARIES (March 21-April 19):
The title of this week’s movie is Uproar of Love, starring the Fantasy Kid and The Most Feeling Machine In The World. It blends romance and science fiction, with overtones of espionage and undertones of revolution for the hell of it. Comic touches will slip in at unexpected moments. When you’re not up to your jowls in archetypes, you might be able to muster the clarity to gorge yourself on the earthly delights that are spread from here to the edge of the abyss.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
How’s your relationship with your muse? Don’t tell me that you’re not an artist so you don’t have a muse. Even garbage collectors need muses. Even farmers. Even politicians. All of us need to be in touch with a mysterious, tantalizing source of inspiration that teases our sense of wonder and goads us on to life’s next adventures. I say it’s high time for you to infuse your connection with a dose of raw mojo. And if for some sad reason you don’t have a muse, I urge you to go out in quest of new candidates.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Funky pagan scientists at Zen State University have found that the regular consumption of Free Will Astrology can be effective in smoothing unsightly wrinkles on your attitude, scouring away stains on your courage, and disposing of old garbage stuck to your karma. If I were you, I’d try to take advantage of this benefit right now. You could really use some healing. Luckily, it looks like there’ll be an array of other curative options available to you as well. Be aggressive about seeking them out. CANCER (June 21-July 22): Given the lush and exotic astrological factors now coming to bear on your destiny, I am taking a leap of faith with this week’s horoscope. There is a hypothetical scene described by the English poet Samuel Coleridge that would normally be too outlandish to take seriously, but I suspect it’s a possible match for your upcoming adventures. “What if you slept,” he wrote, “and what if in your sleep you dreamed, and what if in your dream you went to heaven and there you plucked a strange and beautiful flower, and what if when you awoke you had the flower in your hand? Ah, what then?” LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): I was musing on how slow I am to learn the lessons I need to master—how hard it can be to see
28 • The Pulse • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • chattanoogapulse.com
rob brezsny
the obvious secrets that are right in front of me. But I felt better after I came across the logo for the Jung Institute in San Francisco, which is dedicated to the study of psychology and psychotherapy. The symbol that it has chosen to embody its ruling spirit consists of four snails creeping their way around a center point—a witty acknowledgment of the plodding nature of the human psyche. I bring this to your attention, Leo, because it’s important for you to give yourself credit for how much you’ve grown since the old days.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): It will be a good week to have nice long talks with yourself—the more, the better. The different sub-personalities that dwell within you need to engage in vigorous dialogues that will get all their various viewpoints out in the open. I even recommend coaxing some of those inner voices to manifest themselves outside the confines of your own head—you know, by speaking out loud. If you feel inhibited about giving them full expression where they might be overheard by people, find a private place that will allow them to feel free to be themselves. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
During the reign of President George W. Bush, many Americans viewed France as being insufficiently sympathetic with American military might. So enraged were some conservatives that they tried to change the name of French fries to freedom fries and French toast to freedom toast. The culminating moment in this surrealistic exercise came when Bush told UK’s Prime Minister Tony Blair, “The French don’t even have a word for entrepreneur”—unaware that “entrepreneur” is a word the English language borrowed from the French. The moral of the story, as far as you’re concerned, Libra: Make sure you know the origins of everyone and everything you engage with.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The Cunnilinguistic Dicktionary defines the newly coined word “mutinyversal” as “rebellion against the whole universe.” I think it would be an excellent time for you to engage in a playful, vivacious version of that approach to life. This is one of those rare times when you have so many unique gifts to offer and so many invigorating insights to unleash, that you really should act as if you are mostly right and everyone else is at least half-wrong. Just one caution: As you embark on your crusade to make the world over
in your image, do it with as much humility and compassion as you can muster.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In Mongolia there’s a famous fossil of two dinosaurs locked in mortal combat. Forever frozen in time, a Velociraptor is clawing a Protoceratops, which in turn is biting its enemy’s arm. They’ve been holding that pose now for, oh, 80 million years or so. I’m shoving this image in your face, Sagittarius, so as to dare you and encourage you to withdraw from your old feuds and disputes. It’s a perfect time, astrologically speaking, to give up any struggle that’s not going to matter 80 million years from now. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan.
19): “In your experience, who is the best-smelling actor that you’ve worked with?” TV host Jon Stewart asked his guest Tom Hanks. “Kevin Bacon,” replied Hanks. Why? Not because of the bacon-as-a-deliciousfood angle, although that would be funny. “He smells like a mix of baby powder and Listerine,” Hanks said. Keep this perspective in mind, Capricorn. I think you should be engaged in a great ongoing quest to put yourself in situations with pleasing aromas. I mean this in both the metaphorical and literal sense. To set yourself up for meaningful experiences that provide you with exactly what you need, follow your nose.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
According to my reading of the omens, Aquarius, you can finally take advantage of a long-standing invitation or opportunity that you have always felt unworthy of or unready for. Congratulations on being so doggedly persistent about ripening the immature parts of yourself. Now here’s an extra bonus: This breakthrough may in turn lead to you finding a lost piece to the puzzle of your identity.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
My acquaintance Bob takes a variety of meds for his bipolar disorder. They work pretty well to keep him out of the troughs, but he misses the peaks. Last time he saw his psychiatrist he told her he wished he could stop taking the complicated brew of drugs and just take a happy pill every day. Wouldn’t we all? I’m pleased to report that you are now very close to locating the next best thing to a happy pill, Pisces. It may require you to at least partially give up your addiction to one of your customary forms of suffering, though. Are you prepared to do that?
SCREEN » page 26 everything from film appreciation and a connection to the worldwide professional film community to an economic impact from the film festival,” Holley told me. “It would enhance our standing as a destination city.” The first step in creating a festival was becoming part of the Southern Circuit. Kris Jones, co-chair of the Southern Circuit committee, says participation has already taught them a lot about how to run a festival. “Every screening gets a little easier, but we’re still learning,” Jones says. “The challenge of doing it better each time keeps it fresh, and we’ll be doing screenings in November, February, March and April. We’ve also considered extending our run, as we’ve been approached by several major indie filmmakers who wish to screen their projects before a real audience.” The Southern Circuit is a series of 18 films chosen from a pool of more than 400. The CFS sends delegates to Atlanta to vote on which films should be included in the circuit. Jones says they look for a “fresh perspective” when choosing films. They are hoping for something that deals “with a socially-relevant topic in an inventive way. Each of our screenings has a Q & A panel made up of local social and arts organizations as well as the film’s director/ producer,” Jones says. “And of course we offer food and beverages in a really cool atmosphere at Loose Cannon.” The next film, Welcome to Shelbyville, is about how one town is reacting to rapidly changing demographics. With a growing Latino population as a well as a recent influx of Somali Muslim refugees, Shelbyville struggles with economic downturn and issues of immigration. “Shelbyville shows how some citizens overcame fears and reached out to a group of people from a culture they did not know which had recently moved into their community,” Chris Holley says. “It…allows us to start a conversation on how Chattanooga can do similar things to make many cultures become one community.” The CFS and Southern Circuit gives Chattanoogans a choice. There’s nothing wrong with a diet of mainstream film, especially at this time of the year. October through December is when Hollywood shines. But the CFS is providing more than just a night at the movies. They are giving us an opportunity to talk to each other, to learn about our world, and to see good films off the beaten path. Or you could go see Twilight: Breaking Dawn and hate yourself after. I know what I’m going to choose.
Jonesin’ Crossword
Across 1. Month where Star Wars Day falls on the 4th 4. Posh word of surprise 8. Pax ___ (1st and 2nd centuries A.D., roughly) 14. “Go, torero!” 15. Stick in the database 16. Password partner 17. Daring predicament? 19. White part of the eyeball 20. Christmastime 21. “Bring the punk out for a second performance!” 23. Sign it’s time to throw something out 25. Ruins a perfect game 26. Go like the tide 29. They lay dark green eggs 30. Tuna type 33. Engulfed in flames 34. Suckers 35. Former CIA agent/ spy Aldrich ___ 36. Cooking a metal point, like you would with short ribs? 39. “Sesame Street”
matt jones
roomie 40. Guitarist Lofgren 41. ___ Martin (luxury car) 42 . “___ little bit nervous...” 43. Personal list item 44. Egg-shaped things 45. In ___ (at heart) 46 . “The Giving Tree” author Silverstein 47. Sheep named after a late AC/DC frontman? 51. Involved in 55. Donny Osmond, by birth 56. Where monsters are created? 58. Copy room cartridges 59. Napoleon’s isle of exile 60. Article written by Voltaire 61. Football Hall of Famer Jim 62. “Kilroy Was Here” band 63. “Reach for the ___!”
Down 1. Techno artist behind “Everything Is Wrong” 2. Multigenerational baseball surname
3. Tarzan’s trademark 4. Category that telepathy falls into 5. Mess up the audio 6. Circumvent 7. Cotillion figures 8. #1 Paula Abdul hit of 1991 9. Awards on Feb. 26, 2012 10. Liquefies plastic, say 11. Bellicose god 12. Robert De ___ 13. Just ___ (small amount, as of hair gel) 18. Bad mark 22. Entices 24. Pindaric poems 26. Teacher of the Torah 27. Zimbalist, Jr. of “77 Sunset Strip” 28. One-named R&B artist 29. Bird in the opening of “The Colbert Report” 30. Surname
associated with expensive Italian violins 31. Biblical king 32. Numerals on novels 34. Be toadyish 35. Vodka with artistic ads 37. Sort of 38. Icicle’s spot 43. Black key that’s the first of a threesome 44. Passionate utterance 45. Cyberspace 46. Refine metal 47. Ashtray item 48. Alternately, as abbreviated in chat rooms 49. iPod variety 50. Lincoln and Vigoda 52. Too 53. Tetra’s house 54. Do as you’re told 57. Instrument that wails
Jonesin’ Crossword created By Matt Jones. © 2011 Jonesin’ Crosswords. For answers to this puzzle, call: 1-900-226-2800, 99 cents per minute. Must be 18+ to call. Or to bill to your credit card, call: 1-800-6556548. Reference puzzle No. 0545. chattanoogapulse.com • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • The Pulse • 29
Life in the Noog
chuck crowder
Welcome To The Occupation I love my bank. I love the fact that I have ATMs all over the world. I enjoy that my mortgage, checking, savings and even my daughter’s account are all manageable within their easy-to-use online portal. I love the fact that I know my branch manager and favorite tellers by name. I love Bank of America. However, like any close friend, they’ve done things that have disappointed me in the past: check-clearing paths that haven’t crossed in my favor and little fees charged for just moving my money around between accounts online. Luckily, the complaint department has now bestowed upon me some sort of exemption from future transaction fees. I guess the squeaky wheel finally got the grease. There are two recent instances, though, where my neighborly bank may have pushed our financial relationship a little too far. The first was the federal bailout. While I’m glad the bank that’s digested my life savings didn’t go belly-up, I am still a little confused as to why my taxes were used to bail out an institution thought to be in a business model that can’t lose (especially on a global scale). I guess that’s where the greed of lending $300,000 mortgages to $40,000-a-year middle-man-
honest music
agement slackers comes into play. Speaking of greed, without so much as a “thank you” for saving their business from ruin just two years ago, Bank of America recently proposed charging the very customers who stuck by them during those trying times $5 a month just for the convenience of using their debit card. Wow. Really!?! As a marketing and publicrelations professional from way back, I am still scratching my head over the sheer ignorance of such a proposition. First of all, as a BOA customer, I’ve spent the last couple of years listening to my teller inform me of all the great banking business their ATMs are capable of transacting as I’m pushed out the door to the one in the foyer. They’re trying to reduce manpower and encourage anytime banking, I’m told. Secondly, don’t the BOA yahoos in Charlotte read the
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30 • The Pulse • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • chattanoogapulse.com
newspapers? There’s a bunch of people currently camped out on New York’s Wall Street (and Main Streets everywhere) protesting the lack of gratefulness these and other fat cats have yet to express from the taxpayer bailout as they still refuse to grant us loans. Seems they’re scared to lose whatever principal might’ve generated a measly 4 percent return. That should have been the number-one stipulation of the federal bailout— come up off your wallets and we’ll save your ass. Last week, BOA finally caved. “We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee,” said David Darnell, Bank of America’s co-chief operating officer. “Our customers’ voices are most important to us. As a result, we are not currently charging the fee and will not be moving forward with any additional plans to do so.” What a crock. He’s no more listened to his customers over the past few weeks than I’ve listened to Barry Manilow—ever. All he had to do was flip on the evening news. Hell, all he had to do was hang out in the lobby branch of their corporate headquarters for 15 minutes and ask everyone in the ATM line what they thought of the proposition.
“
I do know if all they do is strongly encourage finance executives to sincerely recognize that ‘our customers’ voices are important to us’, then at least the camping trip was worthwhile. Charge me money to withdrawal my money from my bank? I’d ask him the closest place to buy Mason jars. No, what he and other banks were listening to was the competition first and foremost. When J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo nationally, and SunTrust, First Tennessee and others regionally, decided not to charge the fee, BOA followed suit. And why did everyone back down? Because, according to CNN, the Occupy Wall Street protesters had been calling for consumers to celebrate “Dump Your Bank Day” last week. I believe they were encouraging low-fee
credit unions and community banks as alternatives. Meanwhile, CNN also reported the National Foundation for Credit Counseling conducted a poll that showed 62 percent of consumers would leave their bank if it began charging a debit-card fee. I guess those were the “customers” BOA was listening to. Back here at home, I still enjoy the friendly relationship I share with my favorite Bank of America branch. I like the fact they can help along financial transactions or forgive some fees based on that relationship, without checking my balance first. And I like the online banking and the “fee-free” ATM capabilities. I really have no idea what exactly Occupy Wall Street is protesting or hopes to achieve. But I do know if all they do is strongly encourage finance executives to sincerely recognize that “our customer’s voices are important to us”, then at least the camping trip was worthwhile. 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.
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chattanoogapulse.com • NOVEMBER 10-16, 2011 • The Pulse • 31