The Pulse 13.03 » January 21, 2016

CHATTABOOGIE • ELLIOTT DAINGERFIELD • THE BIG SHORT

JANUARY 21, 2016

CHATTANOOGA'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE

THE COFFEE ISSUE

BEANS & BREW THE SEARCH FOR THE PERFECT CUP OF COFFEE

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Gourmet Coffee Cappuccino Mochas, Lattes Hot Chocolate Mon-Sat 9am-11pm • Sun 1-11 pm 129 Walnut Street, at the south end of the Walnut Street Bridge Chattanooga • 423-702-5173 2 • THE PULSE • JANUARY 21, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

Contents

CHATTANOOGA'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE

EDITORIAL

Managing Editor Gary Poole Editorial Assistant Brooke Dorn

January 21, 2016 Volume 13, Issue 3

Music Editor Marc T. Michael Film Editor John DeVore Contributors Rich Bailey • Rob Brezsny Steven W. Disbrow • Matt Jones Ernie Paik • Rick Pimental-Habib Stephanie Smith • Alex Teach Robin Ford Wallace Editorial Interns Rebekah Jones • Ja'Lissa Little

Features

Cartoonists Max Cannon • Rob Rogers Jen Sorenson • Tom Tomorrow

4 BEGINNINGS: Please don’t insult thy blue jeans, either.

Cover Illustration BSGStudio

4 THE LIST: Random stats about coffee.

FOUNDED 2003 BY ZACHARY COOPER & MICHAEL KULL

7 JUST A THEORY: The latest science stories that have piqued his interest.

ADVERTISING

Director of Sales Mike Baskin Account Executives Chee Chee Brown • Robyn Graves Linda Hisey • Rick Leavell Stacey Tyler • Logan Vandergriff

CONTACT

Offices 1305 Carter St., Chattanooga, TN 37402 Phone 423.265.9494 Website chattanoogapulse.com Email info@chattanoogapulse.com BREWER MEDIA GROUP Publisher & President Jim Brewer II THE FINE PRINT: The Pulse is published weekly by Brewer Media and is distributed throughout the city of Chattanooga and surrounding communities. The Pulse covers a broad range of topics concentrating on music, the arts, entertainment, culture and local news. The Pulse is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. No person without written permission from the publisher may take more than one copy per weekly issue.

The Pulse may be distributed only by authorized distributors.

Contents Copyright © 2016 by Brewer Media. All rights reserved.

8

Beans & Brew

Coffee: the elixir of life. It’s been claimed that Americans drink some 400 million cups of coffee per day (that works out to 146 billion cups per year), making the United States the leading consumer of coffee in the world. Yep, we drink a lot of coffee.

10

Chattaboogie Sessions at Granfalloon

I’ve said many times that the Chattanooga music scene has come a long way in the past two decades, and it has. Musical diversity, a network of mutually supportive artists, and a selection of key venues that are specifically dedicated to promoting local talent are just a few of the changes that have spurred this tuneful renaissance.

16

12 MUSIC CALENDAR 14 REVIEWS: Matthew Shipp Trio gets jazzy, Swans deliver a double dose.

15 MIXOLOGY: Sampling liquors that will light your taste buds on fire.

17 CONSIDER THIS 18 ARTS CALENDAR 20 JONESIN’ CROSSWORD 20 FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

Seeking the Spiritual

At the beginning of this exhibit at the Hunter, “Seeking the Spiritual: The Visionary Art of Elliott Daingerfield,” my eyes were immediately drawn to the intense brush strokes and wash of blue in one particular nature scene.

21 SCREEN: “The Big Short” showcases callow, unrestricted greed.

23 TECH TALK: Will This Float? winner Undaground prepares its beta launch.

LIVE COMEDY ON THE SOUTHSIDE!  Chattanooga’s Premier Comedy Club 1400 Market Street Chattanooga, TN Tickets: (423) 629-2233 thecomedycatch.com



THE “GIFTED IDIOT” IS BACK IN TOWN! HIS DRY, GUT PUMMELING HUMOR IS A WORKOUT FOR YOUNG AND OLD CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JANUARY 21, 2016 • THE PULSE • 3

NEWS • VIEWS • RANTS • RAVES

BEGINNINGS

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

Be Kind To Thy Ass For It Bears Thee And please don’t insult thy blue jeans, either. Fashion is what it is.

This is the time of year when you featured diet, tackled the featured can’t open a magazine without seeexercise program or underwent ing “Before Jeans” photographs. the featured surgery, and now she You know the ones. They illusposes in her itty-size ones, offering trate ads for diet produp these discarded ucts or features about elephant skins in trifitness. Typically, the umph. image is of a smiling What a terrible thing to do to your thin person holding ROBIN FORD jeans! up an obscenely large WALLACE Who am I to say so? pair of jeans.

I am the national conflict between You see, explains the copy below, gluttony and unrealistic body-imthis sylph was once so obese, she age made flesh. Too much flesh. A changed weather patterns by blotsize 8 when I bought my wedding ting out the sun wherever she travdress, a 12 by the time I wore it (the eled, making the earth tremble as front seam gave way during the reshe went. Then she went on the

FASHION

4 • THE PULSE • JANUARY 21, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

ception like the levees of Lake Pontchartrain), I am a Weight Watchers recidivist who could yo-yo diet for the Olympics.

I am, in short, the “Before Jeans” target audience. I have squandered unthinkable sums on green coffee bean extract, unpronounceable South American herbs, treadmills—any ally in my Holy Fatwah.

(Not that it’s really a religious struggle, more a simple choice between receding into my natural boundaries or moving into orbit.

I call it “fatwah” because of the pun on “fat” and “war”; “holy” because it’s eternal, and mostly futile. After the wedding, I never saw the inside of a size 8—hell, a 14—again.)

Still, whatever “Before Jeans” ads are selling, I ain’t buyin’. If I can’t be thin I can at least be loyal, and in the perennial struggle against planethood a girl never had a truer friend than her blue jeans.

Sweatpants sit idly by as your butt invades Poland but jeans alert you the minute you exceed your mashed-potato quotient. My Levi's may get a size larger every year but as long as I have one pair that go around me I am, by God, still in the fight. “If they zip, they fit” is the Fat Girl Creed, and how many of my denim allies have died the death of the wedding dress to uphold it?

And jeans are not just the means of wag-

ing holy fatwah; they are also the prize. The short-term goal is to squeeze back into the next size down but the ultimate reward, the whole point, is to strut victorious from the battlefield wearing the Skinny Jeans that make a girl feel all hot and dangerous.

In the words of the great Conway Twitty, “Partner, there’s a tiger in these tight-fittin’ jeans.”

There’s this old saying: “Be kind to thy Ass for it bears thee.”

Should we not also be kind to our jeans, for they cover our ass?

I had a vague idea the Ass saying was from the Bible, but Googling it what I found was Aesop’s Fables. The Ass figures in a lot of those. He does stupid things and people beat him. I identified with him every time.

Especially the one where the Ass, jealous of the Lapdog, breaks into the house and cavorts there playfully, breaking up furniture, then tries to climb into the master’s lap. I keep seeing my butt in the same situation, wiggling coquettishly in its tight Levi's while everyone stares in horror and finally drives it away with sticks.

Of course the Ass saying refers to the beast of burden, not its anatomical homonym, but when a person humiliates her jeans, she is really insulting what’s zipped therein. That’s my real problem with “Before Jeans” pix: I’m all about a beautiful new me, but I don’t want anybody flagellating my old fat homonym.

Anyway, my jeans have been staunch comrades and I’m damned if I’ll hold their billowing yardage up for strangers to laugh at. Suppose I needed them again? They’d have every right to tell me to kiss their…

The List

EdiToon

Random Stats About Coffee

by Rob Rogers

In honor of our annual Coffee Issue, we decided to check in with our friends at the Statistic Brain Research Institute for some completely random stats about America's favorite beverage.

The results—like a good cup of coffee—were a real eye-opener.

Revisiting The Troubled Roads of Slavery If you’re searching for an educational, first-hand look at one of the most poignant pieces of our nation’s past, then you should head out to the Brown’s Ferry Federal Road Trail in the Moccasin Bend National Archaeological District.

This Saturday starting at 2 p.m., you can join in on a roughly 90 minute, 1.2 mile walking tour which will journey through specific

roads and places that were used during the antebellum slave trade in Chattanooga between 1800 and 1860. A park ranger will lead the tour and explain the ins and outs of the walk.

In the years that the antebellum slave trade existed, Chattanooga played an integral role in its development and sustainment. The domestic slave trade brought in millions of dollars for those involved: owners,

IN THIS ISSUE

Gary Poole Our cover story this week on the search for the perfect cup of coffee is by our managing editor, Gary Poole. Aside from a love of all things caffeinated, Gary has been a longtime presence in Chattanooga media and entertainment. Over the years, he's been a radio

bankers, and traders.

It took a long time to rebuild from this dark part of the South’s past, but by continuing to provide educational experiences like this, the events of the past can recede further and further in the rearview mirror. Take a walk through time, down roads and railways, and discover more about Chattanooga’s history.

To learn more about the tour and other events held by Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, visit the park’s website at nps. gov/chch.

— Rebekah Jones

Ernie Paik disc jockey and talk show host, a television assignment editor, a performing musician both in various bands and as a solo artist, and has held just about every job here at The Pulse at one time or another.

In his spare time, he is also a science fiction book editor and has an anthology of zombie apocalypse stories coming out in June—“Black Tide Rising”—he co-edited with New York Times bestselling author John Ringo.

Album reviewer and music writer Ernie Paik has written about music and film for various publications for over 20 years and has contributed regularly to The Pulse since 2005. He has contributed to the books “The Magnetic Fields’ 69 Love Songs: A Field Guide”

and “Lunacy: The Best of the Cornell Lunatic”, and he is the current president of the Chattanooga-based nonprofit arts education organization The Shaking Ray Levi Society (one of our favorites).

As a recording artist, he has created original music for film, radio, television and theater, and his video artwork has been shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit and the 2010 Big Ears Festival.

• Total percentage of Americans over the age of 18 that drink coffee everyday: 54% • Total percentage of coffee drinkers who prefer their coffee black : 35% • Total percentage of coffee consumption that takes place during breakfast hours : 65% • Total amount of money spent by importing coffee to U.S. each year: $4 billion • Total amount of cups of coffee (9 ounces) a coffee drinker consumes daily: 3.1 • Total average of money spent on coffee each year by coffee drinkers: $164.71 • Total number of U.S. daily coffee drinkers: 100 million • Total number of daily coffee drinkers who drink specialty beverages (lattes, cappuccinos, mochas, etc.): 30 million • Total amount of coffee drinkers who claim to need a cup of coffee to start their day: 60% • Total percentage of coffee drinkers who say coffee makes them feel more like their self: 54% • Total amount of yearly money spent on specialty coffee in the U.S.: $18 billion

So sip on these facts while enjoying your next cup of hot joe.

Source: statisticbrain.com/coffee-drinkingstatistics/

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the only party under Chattanooga returns!

It’s an unforgettable night of music, food, drinks and the legendary “Smash n’ Grab” art gallery.

Saturday / February 20 / 8pm Get tickets now at www.huntermuseum.org or call (423) 752.2945 #HUNTERUNDERGROUND sponsored by

with additional support from Maycreate and EPB Fiberoptics

COLUMN JUST A THEORY

Research Roundup, Winter 2016 Prof. Steve runs down the latest science stories that have piqued his interest Hey everyone! It’s time for another Research Roundup! Here are some of the most interestSTEVEN W. ing Science stoDISBROW ries that have popped up in the first weeks of 2016.

Super Big Supernova Back in June of 2015, a couple of telescopes in Chile spotted what scientists now think is the largest, most powerful supernova every observed by humans.

Labeled ASASSN-15lh, this bad boy was, at its peak, 570 billion times brighter than the Sun! To put it another way, that’s about 20 times the entire output of the 100 billion stars that make up our own Milky Way galaxy. To put it another other way, while it was dying, this thing cranked out 10 times more energy than the Sun will over the course of 10 billion years.

Good thing it is way across the universe in another galaxy. If it were in our galaxy, it would be very visible in the sky. If it were in or near our Solar System, well, we wouldn’t be here to talk about it.

Of course, this is a ludicrous amount of energy, and the whole thing is causing some serious debate among Astronomers. This thing is so big that it threatens to break (or at least bend) the more prevalent theories about how Supernovas work. Then again, having a theory challenged by new evidence is what makes science fun.

Yabba Dabba… Holy Crap!

If you love dinosaurs (or you have a

“This thing is so big that it threatens to break (or at least bend) the more prevalent theories about how Supernovas work.” kid that loves them), you might have heard about the “Titanosaur.” No? Basically, this is one of the biggest creatures that ever lived on land. It’s skeleton is 122 feet long, and almost 40 feet of that is just neck ! In fact, the thing is so long, that it won’t actually fit into the main fossil hall at the Museum of Natural History in New York. So, its neck and head stick out into the next room as a sort of “Howdy Folks!” to let people know they’re in the right place.

Titanosaur is a relatively recent find, with the first skeleton being found in Argentina back in 2012.

Maybe you remember seeing a photo of a scientist lying on (and being dwarfed by) a dinosaur femur a few years back? That femur belonged to Titanosaur. If you are going to be in New York City anytime soon, be sure to stop by the Museum of Natural History and check it out. Not only do they have the enormous, reconstructed skeleton, they also have many of the original bones from the site in Argentina.

Good Night, Little Philae I’ve written a couple of times now about the Rosetta mission to comet 67P. Not only did this mission ren-

Image courtesy ESA / C. Carreau.

dezvous with the comet and send back some amazing photos and data, it also placed a lander, named “Philae,” on its surface.

Unfortunately, the lander had its share of ups and downs…literally. Its landing systems misfired and failed to anchor it to the comet’s surface, so it bounced multiple times before coming to rest in a very precarious location. That final resting place was shaded in such a way that the lander’s solar panels couldn’t get any light, and its batteries quickly went dead.

But, as the comet got closer to the Sun, Philae would occasionally get a bit of sunlight, wake up, and try to reconnect with the Rosetta spacecraft.

These periods were frustratingly brief and stopped altogether in July of last year.

Now, as the comet speeds away from the Sun, it’s looking as if we’ll never hear from Philae again. The amount of sunlight that will reach the comet will decrease dramatically each day, and the temperature on 67P will drop well below the lander’s operating temperature.

Of course, 67P will be back this way in about 6 years, but by then it will sadly be too late. In September of this year, Rosetta itself will make a “crash landing” on the comet to gather one last round of photos and data.

So, even if Philae wakes up in 2022, there won’t be anyone to talk to.

Steven Disbrow is a computer programmer who specializes in e-commerce and mobile systems development, an entrepreneur, comic-book nerd, writer, improviser, actor, sometime television personality and parent of two human children.

CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JANUARY 21, 2016 • THE PULSE • 7

COVER STORY

Beans & Brew

The search for the perfect cup of coffee in Chattanooga

by Gary Poole, Pulse Managing Editor

C

offee: the elixir of life. It’s been claimed that Americans drink some 400 million cups of coffee per day (that works out to 146 billion cups per year), making the United States the leading consumer of coffee in the world. Yep, we drink a lot of coffee. But we all need to ask ourselves one simple question: are we drinking good coffee? And if not, why not?

With that simple question in mind, I headed out on the streets of Chattanooga to find some good coffee. And trust me, if you want to pick a city for a coffee search, this is one of the best in the country (yes, even Seattle). For the simple reason that our fair city is blessed with a wide variety of coffeehouses that really take the bean and its brew very seriously.

Over the course of several days—and many cups—I experienced a far wider variety of coffee drinks than I was aware even existed.

My journey began on a chilly morning on the north end of the Walnut Street Bridge at the Ice Cream Show. Okay, let’s just get this out of the way at the very beginning: yes, I deliberately visited an ice cream shop for coffee.

Because, quite simply, they have really good coffee.

“Our coffee is the smoothest in the world,” explains owner Lynda Curtis. And after sampling their Aztec Mocha, I was certainly not going to disagree.

Combine Mexican hot chocolate with a double-shot of espresso, lace with fresh milk and top

with fresh whipped cream, and the resulting concoction is like ambrosia for the taste buds. The notes of cinnamon and almond combined with the smooth, nutty flavor of the espresso made this a perfect start to a cold day.

“Our Aztec Mocha is one of our most popular coffee drinks,” explains Adam Anderson. “It’s very unique for Chattanooga. Our espresso bean is a national award winner, in fact.”

8 • THE PULSE • JANUARY 21, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

As to what makes their coffee so good, Adam has a simple— and passionate—answer.

“We strive above all else for consistency,” he said. “We use pure water, weigh each shot of espresso, and tamp it to just the right consistency for a perfect brew. If you come in and have a cup of coffee I made, it will be the exact same cup of coffee that someone else made for you.”

My next stop was down East Main Street at Velo Coffee Roasters. The first thing you notice

when you walk in is the wonderful aroma of roasting coffee beans, which may very well be one of the best aromas in the world.

Owner Andrew Gage was busy roasting up a fresh batch of beans for their wholesale business. Not wanting to distract him (it’s a precise process), I ordered one of their specialties, the NiteRider Nitro.

A cold coffee drink, the NiteRider is very similar in look and mouth feel to a good stout beer but with a light coffee profile, slightly sweet with just a touch of fruity notes to leave an interesting taste in your mouth.

Once Andrew was finished, however, he introduced me to what may be my new favorite coffee drink of all time: the Bunny Hop. No, really, that’s what it’s called. And for a very good reason.

“The Bunny Hop is a single-origin coffee that’s brewed with Centennial Hops, locally sourced honey from Walden’s Ridge and then lightly carbonated,” Andrew explained as I happily downed a glass. The combination of the hops, the coffee and the honey were basically throwing a party in my mouth, a party that they (and I) never wanted to end.

But what about just a regular cup of coffee, you may be asking. It’s a thought that was in my mind as I drove over to the relatively new location of The Camp House on MLK across from the Bessie Smith Hall.

And a “regular” cup of coffee is exactly what I got, though I hesitate to label the Apollo anything resembling the word “regular”. One of their drip coffees, the Apollo is brewed with a 100 percent organic Ethiopian bean that is very lightly roasted to maintain all the subtle flavors.

The result was a light bodied cof-

“If you want to pick a city for a coffee search, this is one of the best in the country (yes, even Seattle).

For the simple reason that our fair city is blessed with a wide variety of coffeehouses that really take the bean and its brew very seriously.” fee with subtle floral notes and a light lemon citrus taste that was very pleasing. It had a much drier aftertaste than the regular office coffee I am used to, which was quite nice, and which may have finally ended my long-term relationship with the office coffee pot.

“We serve Counter Culture, which is a roaster out of Durham, North Carolina,” explained Michael Rice.

“They are one of the older ‘third wave’ coffee roasters in the country, they started in ’95, and we’re the only ones in Chattanooga that serve them.

What makes Counter Culture so good is mostly their intentionality to detail, sustainability to the farmers, and that the majority of their coffees are 100 percent organic. They work to make sure all the farmers are getting fair wages and that every coffee they bring on is to the highest standards of anything you can get in the world.”

The next stop on my Chattanooga Coffee Expedition was over on Frazier Avenue at the new Revelator Coffee Company right at the intersection of Frazier and Market at the end of the bridge. Revelator has the look and feel of a classic coffee shop with a large open center area for the baristas and plenty of space to sit at one of the many tables or, as I did, in a stool right at the counter. The beverage choices are simple: coffee, espresso, hot chocolate or tea. I ordered a six-ounce espresso and watched as Adam Bunger worked his coffee magic on the Slayer machine.

“The Slayer is made in Seattle,” noted Bunger. “What sets it apart is that while a lot of machines will only have two boilers, the Slayer has four to run the steam wands and the group heads. It really lets us crank out a high volume of drinks without any change

in the consistency of the product.”

When I was handed the finished cup, it was almost too pretty to drink.

With the touch of an accomplished artist, Adam had laced a perfect tree swirl with the steamed milk (a very high-end milk, at that, from Knoxville’s Cruze Dairy Farm).

But drink it I did, and as pretty as it was, it tasted even better. Very bright, with subtle grapefruit and floral notes, it was so balanced it didn’t need any sweetening. And for someone like me, who has been accused of adding a little coffee to my cup of cream and sugar, this was a bit of a revelation (yes, the pun was inevitable).

My final stop—and I do wish I had had time to visit all of the many coffeehouses in town—was back on East Main in the Southside at Mean Mug. One of the most “coffeehouses” of the coffeehouses I visited, it was packed with people typing away on their MacBooks or reading copies of The Pulse (something that always makes me happy, for obvious reasons).

And then I was presented with a dilemma: what to order.

Owner Matt Lewis tried to be helpful when I asked what his most popular coffee was. “We sell more house blend than anything else but I would say our Kyoto style cold brew is equally loved in the warmer months.” he explained. “The Kyoto cold brew is a slow drip method that we think creates the best possible cold coffee.”

However, taking into account that is still winter and rather cold, even as enticing as the Kyoto sounded, I went with his first suggestion, sampling a cup of the house blend drip coffee, a nice medium roasted Coast Rican.

The coffee was an interesting combination of flavors, being a bit heavier

than other coffees I had sampled on my journey, while at the same time having a bit less of a “kick” due to the longer roasting process. While it may be common knowledge among the coffee cognoscenti, many people aren’t aware that the longer a bean is roasted, the less caffeine remains.

In talking with Matt, I also learned why the coffee tasted a bit familiar: they get their beans from one of the places I had already visited. “Our coffee is roasted right here on Main Street by Velo Coffee Roasters,” he explained. “The coffee itself is single origin and carefully sourced based on a variety of factors including farming practices and sustainability in addition to overall quality and taste.”

What really struck me through my grand adventure was just how many shops and coffeehouses there are in Chattanooga, and how passionate everyone takes their products. There was almost no way I could stop and sample every drink at every place without going into a caffeinated frenzy, and there were many destinations I simply didn’t have time to visit.

We really do live in one of the best coffee cities in the country. No matter your personal taste, I am confident that you can find at least one coffee drink (if not several) that will be your personal favorite. In fact, while my goal for this story was to find the “perfect cup of coffee”, I am happy to say such a definition is simply impossible: there are far too many great choices to choose from, all different, all excellent, and all worthy of the title.

As author Cassandra Clare once wrote, “As long as there was coffee in the world, how bad could things be?”

In Chattanooga, things are good.

Very good. Drink up.

The NiteRider at Velo Coffee Roasters

Espresso at Revelator Coffee

Aztec Mocha at Ice Cream Show

CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JANUARY 21, 2016 • THE PULSE • 9

MUSIC SCENE

Chattaboogie Sessions Premieres at Granfalloon Documentary filmmaker takes a loving look at the local music scene

A Good Ol’ Country Classic Traditional country troubadour Johnson visits Track 29 With lyrics such as “A picture’s worth a thousand words / but you can’t see what those shades of gray keep covered / you should’ve seen it in color,” Jamey Johnson’s crew says his music is “real, down to earth…he wrote it and he lived it.”

Johnson’s most prominent single, “In Color,” which has sixteen million views (and counting) on YouTube, is a song about family, the past, and connections made through photographs.

His other music videos include “Mowin’ Down The Roses” and “Playing The Part”, which features a man in a gorilla suit dancing down the streets of Los Angeles. Yes, really.

Johnson began his career writing songs for artists such as George Strait. Co-writing Strait’s 2006 “Give It Away”—which peaked at number one on the Billboard country charts—

jump-started Johnson’s musical career and resulted in signing to Mercury Nashville Records.

With five albums and two singles under his belt buckle, Jamey Johnson’s music reaches all ages. His music can be compared to Hank Cochran—for whom Johnson created a tribute album in 2012—and modern day artists such as Miranda Lambert and Eric Church.

Come hear what all the buzz is about this Saturday night at 8 p.m. at Track 29.

— Ja'Lisa Little Jamey Johnson Saturday, 8 p.m.

Track 29 1400 Market St. (423) 521-2929 track29.co

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ROCK & SOUL

NO HOLDING BACK

BANJO TIME

Jordan Hallquist

Courtney Holder

Marc Broussard

Honest, accessible, passionate and gritty— Jordan is all of these things and much more.

9 p.m.

World of Beer 412 Market St. wobusa.com

A powerful combination of Ryan Adams, Stevie Nicks, Andrew Combs and Norah Jones.

9 p.m.

Puckett’s Grocery 2 W. Aquarium Way puckettsgro.com

Channeling the multiple spirits of classic R&B and soul into contemporary terms.

8 p.m.

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

10 • THE PULSE • JANUARY 21, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

I

’VE SAID MANY TIMES THAT THE CHATTANOOGA MUsic scene has come a long way in the past two decades, and it has. Musical diversity, a network of mutually supportive artists, and a selection of key venues that are specifically dedicated to promoting local talent are just a few of the changes that have spurred this tuneful renaissance. It doesn’t hurt that there is an exceptional array of talent in the area as well as a growing regular fan base that seems to embrace it all.

Music MARC T. MICHAEL

“

Nascent filmmaker Rob Wellborn is a man with a mission, and on Wednesday, Jan. 27th, the community will get its first look at Rob’s vision.”

One fan in particular is using his own artistic gifts to sing the praises of the scene and to bring its players to the attention of an even broader audience. Nascent filmmaker Rob Wellborn is a man with a mission, and on Wednesday, Jan. 27th, the community will get its first look at Rob’s vision.

For that’s the night that Granfalloon is premiering the pilot episode of Chattaboogie Sessions, Wellborn’s concept for a television show that features performances by local artists, followed by in-depth interviews with the same that focus on their methods, motivations, and techniques for making music. It is an idea whose time has come. As it happens, the experience that inspired Wellborn parallels my own experience in the scene.

In the late ‘90s I got my first gig writing about music for a local alternative paper that was, sadly, a little too ambitious for this market. While it’s whole run lasted a little over a year, I nonetheless had the opportunity to hear some extraordinary local acts that almost no one was aware of at the time. Flash forward a decade or so and Wellborn attends Roots Fest, a homegrown music festival conceived for the express purpose of showcasing local

CHRISTIAN ROCK

acts.

“I witnessed an eclectic blend of musical talent that existed in the town that I had grown up in and had, a few years prior, moved away from temporarily. Band after band impressed me with their original tunes that were played so eloquently that an unwitting listener might assume that they were full-time musicians living in hillside mansions” It was a pivotal moment for Wellborn. “It was then that I realized that this local music scene must be documented. The world must be exposed to this eclectic batch of musicians who never fail [to entertain]. While some bands love to tour, most appear content to rock their fellow Chattanoogans out in one of the plentiful local bars.”

This experience led directly to Wellborn’s first project, Chattaboogie: A Documentary, which was originally conceived as a feature length film highlighting local artists, their music and their views on music in general.

The project is still in the works, but currently on hiatus in lieu of the more manageable (and flexible) Chattaboo-

gie Sessions.

The pilot episode will feature performances by and interviews with such notable locals as Jonathan Wimpee (Hot Damn, Milele Roots, The Molly Maguires), Eroc Russell and Jonathan Williams (Moondog Sikes), the core members of the independent underground hip-hop collective Mdahts, and funk-style jam band Soul Mechanic.

The event itself will also feature live performances by Ryan Oyer and Nick Lutsko. The thrust of the event is two-fold, promoting both the television show itself and Good Family Productions’ Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign whose goal is to provide additional crew and equipment for future episodes.

“The goal of Chattaboogie Sessions is to turn Chattanoogans on to new music, while giving our local artists the recognition they deserve,” says Rob. “Our hope is that the premier party will get the word out and get people excited about the show.”

Doors open at 6:00 pm, admission $10.

Longtime local favorite Husky Burnette has announced the long awaited follow-up to 2013’s Tales from East End Blvd. On Friday, Feb. 5th, Burnette and company will take the stage at Chattanooga’s Brew and Cue to promote the official 2016 release of Ain’t Nothin’ But A Revival!

One of the hardest working musicians anywhere, the gravelly-voiced songwriter has been turning his attention to writing and recording a whole new collection of tunes.

If his past efforts are any indication, it’s sure to be met with glowing critical reception and popular approval.

A formidable singer, a skilled player and performer, and a clever, well-versed songwriter, Burnette the bluesman is the total package and when bringing this large package to bear, he raises the bar considerably for local music, blues in particular.

The event and the album are both “can’t miss” opportunities for fans of the genre.

The show is slated to start at 9 p.m. with an opening act yet to be determined.

BAYOU SOUL

THURSDAY • FEBRUARY 4 $30 ADVANCE • $35 DAY OF

MARC BROUSSARD

SATURDAY • JANUARY 23 $15 ADVANCE • $17 DAY OF

FALL CONCERT CALENDAR 1/21

REV

JOSH ABBOTT BAND

1/22

REV

SOCRO WITH DJ SPOON

1/23

T29

jamey johnson

1/23

REV

MARC BROUSSARD

1/29

REV

THE MATT STEPHENS PROJECT

1/30

T29

JOSH GARRELS • JOHN MARK MCMILLAN

1/30

REV

THE POWER P PLAYERS

2/2

REV

UPTOWN BIG BAND

2/4

REV

whitey morgan

2/4

REV

BREAKFAST CLUB

2/5

REV

graveyard

2/8

T29

madeon

2/11

T29

tesla

2/13

T29

MUTEMA MUTEM TH

2/13

REV

HANK & CUPCAKES • THE DEAD DEADS

2/17

T29

PAPADOSIO

2/19

REV

ANDREW RIPP

4 WAYS TO PURCHASE TICKETS TRACK29.CO • REVELRYROOM.CO • (423) 521-2929 BOX OFFICE IS OPEN 10AM - 6PM EVERY FRIDAY CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JANUARY 21, 2016 • THE PULSE • 11

Thursday, January 21: 9pm Open Mic with Hap Henninger Friday, January 22: 9pm Jack Kirton of Endelouz Saturday, January 23: 10pm The Scarlet Love Conspiracy Tuesday, January 26: 7pm

MUSIC CALENDAR

901 Carter St. Inside City Café (423) 634-9191

Josh Abbott Band

Server/Hotel Appreciation Night $5 Pitchers • $2 Wells ! • $1.50 Domestics

Wednesday, January 27: 8pm Wednesday Blues Night

#1 Desserts!

Voted “Best of the Best” 901 Carter Street

citycafemenu.com/the-office

$10 Ladies Day Special every Monday 4115 Shallowford Rd www.superiorhandcarwash.com Sit Back. Relax. Enjoy The Music.

THURSDAY1.21 Rick Rushing with James Crumble Trio 6 p.m.

St. John’s Meeting Place 1278 Market St. stjohnsrestaurant.com Rick Rushing with Dakari & Friends 6 p.m.

Bluewater Grille 224 Broad St. bluewaterchattanooga.com Live Bluegrass 6:30 p.m.

Whole Foods Market 301 Manufacturers Rd. wholefoodsmarket.com Jimmy Harris 7 p.m.

The Coconut Room 6925 Shallowford Rd. thepalmsathamilton.com Songwriter Showdown 7 p.m.

The Camp House 149 E. MLK Blvd. thecamphouse.com Bluegrass Thursdays 7:30 p.m.

Feed Co. Table & Tavern 201 W. Main St. feedtableandtavern.com Josh Abbott Band 9 p.m.

Revelry Room 41 E. 14th St. revelryroom.co Open Mic with Hap Henninger 9 p.m.

The Office @ City Cafe 901 Carter St.

12 • THE PULSE • JANUARY 21, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

citycafemenu.com Jordan Hallquist 9 p.m.

World of Beer 412 Market St. wobusa.com

FRIDAY1.22 Jason Thomas and the Mean-Eyed Cats 5 p.m.

Chattanooga Choo Choo 1400 Market St. choochoo.com Eddie Pontiac 5:30 p.m.

El Meson 2204 Hamilton Place Blvd. elmesonrestaurant.com Binji Varsossa 6 p.m.

Cancun Mexican Restaurant & Lounge 1809 Broad St. (423) 266-1461 Jimmy Harris 7 p.m.

The Coconut Room 6925 Shallowford Rd. thepalmsathamilton.com Tim Lewis 7 p.m.

El Meson 248 Northgate Park elmesonchattanooga.com Legal Adult, Talking Blues Band, Saints & Sound, Brandon Snipes 7 p.m.

The Camp House 149 E. MLK Blvd. thecamphouse.com

Juni Fisher 8 p.m.

Charles and Myrtle’s Coffeehouse 105 McBrien Rd. christunity.org Courtney Reid 8 p.m.

Jazzanooga Arts 431 E. MLK Blvd. jazzanooga.org Something Else 8 p.m.

Mayo’s Bar & Grille 3820 Brainerd Rd. (423) 624-0034 Ashley & Gage Sharp 8:30 p.m.

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

Revelry Room 41 E. 14th St. revelryroom.co Rachel Morgan 9 p.m.

World of Beer 412 Market St. wobusa.com Courtney Holder 9 p.m.

Puckett’s Grocery 2 W. Aquarium Way puckettsgro.com Jack Kirton 9 p.m.

The Office @ City Cafe 901 Carter St. citycafemenu.com Jordan Hallquist Cash Only Band 10 p.m.

Bud’s Sports Bar 5751 Brainerd Rd. budssportsbar.com Danimal Planet, Treetops 10 p.m.

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

SATURDAY1.23 Jason Thomas and the Mean-Eyed Cats 5 p.m.

Chattanooga Choo Choo 1400 Market St. choochoo.com Eddie Pontiac 5:30 p.m.

El Meson 2204 Hamilton Place Blvd. elmesonrestaurant.com Binji Varsossa 6 p.m.

Cancun Mexican Restaurant & Lounge 1809 Broad St. (423) 266-1461 Blues at the Bessie 6 p.m.

Bessie Smith Community Center 200 E MLK Blvd. bessiesmithcc.org Tim Lewis 7 p.m.

El Meson 248 Northgate Park elmesonchattanooga.com Black Jacket Symphony 8 p.m.

Tivoli Theatre 709 Broad St. chattanoogaonstage.com

MUSIC CALENDAR

The Continuum Jamey Johnson 8 p.m.

Track 29 1400 Market St. track29.co Marc Broussard 8 p.m.

Revelry Room 41 East 14th St. revelryroom.co Taylor & Company 8 p.m.

VFW Post #4848 1491 Riverside Drive (423) 892-2772 Troy Underwood 8 p.m.

Charles and Myrtle’s Coffeehouse 105 McBrien Rd. christunity.org Ashley & Gage Sharp 8:30 p.m.

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

World of Beer 412 Market St. wobusa.com Campbell Station 9 p.m.

Puckett’s Grocery 2 W. Aquarium Way puckettsgro.com The Scarlet Love Conspiracy 10 p.m.

The Office @ City Cafe 901 Carter St. citycafemenu.com Jordan Hallquist Cash Only Band 10 p.m.

Bud’s Sports Bar

5751 Brainerd Rd. budssportsbar.com

SUNDAY1.24 Kindora Camp 2 p.m.

Granfalloon 400 E. Main St. granfalloonchatt.com The Scenic City Chorus 2:30 p.m.

Christ Church Episcopal 663 Douglas St. chattanoogamusicclub.org Monroe Crossing 3:30 p.m.

Barking Legs Theater 1307 Dodds Ave. barkinglegs.org Open Mic with Jeff Daniels 6 p.m.

Long Haul Saloon

PULSE PICK: SOCRO SoCro's lyrical wordplay and unexpected musical arrangements have been inciting furious bodily movement in venues for as long as he's been performing.

Socro Friday, 9 p.m.

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

2536 Cummings Hwy. (423) 822-9775 Death of Kings 9 p.m.

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

MONDAY1.25 Open Air with Jessica Nunn 6 p.m.

Granfalloon 400 E. Main St. granfalloonchatt.com Monday Nite Big Band 7 p.m.

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

The Well

1800 Rossville Blvd. #8 wellonthesouthside.com Nathan Bell & Friends in the Lounge 8 p.m.

Barking Legs Theater 1307 Dodds Ave. barkinglegs.org Cutlass Cult 10 p.m.

The Social 1110 Market St. publichousechattanooga.com

TUESDAY1.26 Open Mic with Mike McDade 8 p.m.

Tremont Tavern 1203 Hixson Pike tremonttavern.com Big Shoals

9 p.m.

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

WEDNESDAY1.27 Eddie Pontiac 5:30 p.m.

El Meson 2204 Hamilton Place Blvd. elmesonrestaurant.com No Big Deal 6 p.m.

Spring Hill Suites 495 Riverfront Pkwy.

(423) 834-9300 Courtney Daly Band 7 p.m.

End Zone 3658 Ringgold Rd. (423) 661-8020 Blues Night 8 p.m.

The Office @ City Cafe 901 Carter St. citycafemenu.com Open Jam 8 p.m.

Raw Dance Club 409 Market St. rawbarandgrillchatt.com Robert Crabtree Jazz Trio 8 p.m.

Barking Legs Theater 1307 Dodds Ave. barkinglegs.org

Map these locations on chattanoogapulse.com. Send event listings at least 10 days in advance to: calendar@chattanoogapulse.com CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JANUARY 21, 2016 • THE PULSE • 13

RECORD REVIEWS ERNIE PAIK

N

MENTION THIS ARTICLE FOR 25% OFF OUR DRINK MENU

14 • THE PULSE • JANUARY 21, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

ew York jazz pianist Matthew Shipp had a revelatory day in 1983, when his individualistic style burst forth in an instant, after years of playing classical music and Matthew Shipp Trio s t ra i g h t - a h e a d The Conduct of Jazz (Thirsty Ear) jazz.

Shipp has built a remarkable career from his unique and recognizable style with bold turns and strong articulations, followed by liberated scampering; well-versed with the jazz tradition, Shipp understands the rules so that he can break them and add to the ever-expanding vocabulary of jazz.

His latest album is The Conduct of Jazz with a trio configuration, with frequent collaborator bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Newman Taylor Baker, and one striking thing is the use of head melodies that are pointedly memorable—more catchy than complicated.

However, with these relatively simple themes, the inevitable free-jazz departures that follow allow the contrasting approaches to seem that much more dramatic. The trio darts between the familiar and unfamiliar with a sense of balance, making the listener understand that both are needed for the group’s particular dynamic.

On the album’s title track, the playful melody is played forcefully and deliberately

by Shipp, with discordance used as if it were a mocking defiance—like thumbing your nose but not in an aggressively antagonistic way. But, no matter how abstract Shipp gets, he plays in an intentioned manner; toward the piece’s end, Bisio offers furious and articulated scampering with his keenly enunciated dexterity before the trio wraps it up.

“Ball in Space” begins with a wispy bass intro, adding a shroud of mystery, and Shipp’s low piano clusters later in the track sound out like sinister chimes. Newman Taylor Baker’s drumming is stunningly fluid and constantly changing with a charged, curious swiftness, never falling into predictable patterns.

The final 12-minute track, “The Bridge Across,” offers exhilarating yet measured movement, with short monotonic segments followed by salient deviations to magnify the differences; unexpectedly, it ends with ghostly bass sounds and a more reserved, even stately, piano approach, wrapping up another Shipp album of fascinating internal opposition and frolicking melodies played with conviction.

S

wans founder Michael Gira explained to the music blog Flowers in a Gun the group’s name: “Swans are majestic, beautiful looking creatures… Swans with really ugly White Light from the temperaments.” Mouth of Infinity / Love Since 1982, the of Life: Deluxe Edition group Swans has (Young God) maintained a distinct identity through numerous aesthetic changes while keeping everything dark and deathly serious.

To summarize just its first decade, the band has gone from hostile no-wave growling (Filth) to a punishing death-march style (Cop) to a more melodic yet still harrowing approach (Children of God) to an acoustic, relatively accessible major-label dalliance (The Burning World) to the two albums at hand, White Light from the Mouth of Infinity and Love of Life, recently reissued as a Deluxe Edition as both a 3-CD set and a 3-LP/1-CD box.

Disparate postures are conveyed on White Light, from authoritative, self-righteous stances (“Better Than You,” “You Know Nothing”) to naked, pathetic scenes, like on the compelling track “Failure”; that song plods through with a somewhat clumsy vocal cadence in Gira’s deep, unnervingly quasi-rustic voice, featuring spoken-sung lines like “I saw my father crying / I saw my mother break her hand on a wall.”

Love of Life is punctuated with untitled interludes, its title track a rush of intense momentum, downright speedy for a Swans song, featuring a touch of hellhound gospel, a precursor for Gira’s post-Swans band Angels of Light. A wealth of extra material is on the bonus CD, including tracks from the Love of Life / Amnesia EP, starting with the entrancing, nearly-8-minute version of “Amnesia,” live tracks and half of the album Ten Songs for Another World by World of Skin, a Gira/Jarboe side project.

By this time in its career, the band had emerged from the distorted sonic filth and showered itself off, offering a more refined, majestic style but with the same amount of internal bitterness and ugliness—perhaps like an aural analog to Pasolini’s exquisite yet depraved late-period films, and true to Gira’s aforementioned band name explanation.

FOOD & DRINK MIXOLOGY

Quit Stallin’ And Start Roastin’ Sampling liquors that will light your taste buds on fire “My biscuits are burnin’! Great horny toads! That smarts!”

The image of Yosemite Sam being lit on fire was the first visual that came to mind when assigned the task of writing about spicy liquors. My colleague thought this was hilarious—so we went with this image when describing these latest offerings, courtesy of research from the folks at Imbibe.

Sweet Lucifer.

Having tasted this liqueur on a fresh palate in the morning (thanks Toni!), I can say that this offering from Benjamin Prichard packs a bit of a punch. While I wouldn’t say my biscuits burned per say, I would note that the capsaicin kicks in about seven seconds after downing the shot. The last note is pure Sweet Lucy, a juicy salivary-inducing apricot-orange aftertaste that leaves you wanting dessert— or another shot.

I would recommend this in any mixed beverage if you want to finish with an extra POW! but it was quite tasty taken in a neat, cold shot. Try pairing it with Mexican or Thai food—spicy and spicier never tasted so good!

Plus, for every bottle sold a portion of the proceeds goes to benefit A Soldier’s

Child, a non-profit that provides scholarships to children who lost parents in service – so you can feel that you’re drinking for a great cause.

Now drink up, ya varmints! Try a cucumber jalapeño margarita with Sweet Lucifer for that extra spice to make the meanest, toughest, rip-roarin-est margarita yet. Or try substituting any of these in a fiery recipe like these fajitas—we think Yosemite Sam would approve.

Cucumber Jalapeno Margarita (courtesy of cookingchanneltv.com) Ingredients • 1/2 cup fresh lime juice • 1/2 cup white tequila (or in this case Sweet Lucifer) • 1/4 cup orange liqueur, such as Grand Marnier • 1/4 cup simple syrup, or more as needed • 4 thin slices cucumber • 1 jalapeno, halved lengthwise • Ice, for serving • Salt for glass rims, optional Directions Mix together the lime juice, tequila, orange liqueur, simple syrup, cucumber

“Try a cucumber jalapeno margarita with Sweet Lucifer for that extra spice to make the meanest, toughest, rip-roarinest margarita yet.” and jalapeños in a large pitcher. Chill for at least one hour (the longer the margarita sits, the more the cucumber and jalapeño flavors infuse into the drink). Serve over ice in salt-rimmed glasses, if desired.

Tequila Steak Fajitas (courtesy of foodtv.com) Ingredients • 3 lemons, juiced • 1/8 cup tequila (or infused liquor of choice) • 1/2 tablespoon red chili pepper flakes • 1 teaspoon chili powder • 4 cloves garlic, crushed • 2/3 pound flank steak • 2 teaspoons canola oil

• 1 red bell pepper, sliced • 1 yellow bell pepper, sliced • 1/2 red onion, sliced • 1/2 teaspoon salt • 1/4 teaspoon pepper • 4 (6-inch) corn tortillas, warmed • 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves Directions Mix the lemon juice, tequila, pepper flakes, chili powder, and garlic in a medium-sized plastic container. Place the steak in the container, cover, and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 45 minutes.

Heat canola oil in a large nonstick sauté pan over medium heat. Sauté peppers and onions and set aside.

Remove steak from marinade and sauté five minutes on each side. Remove steak from the pan and slice into thin strips. Return steak strips, bell peppers, and onions to pan and warm through for about one minute. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Divide steak mixture evenly among the warmed tortillas. Garnish each with 1/4 cup cilantro and serve.

— Stephanie Smith with Ja'Lisa Little

DAILY WINE TASTINGS 20 BEERS ON TAP COMPETITIVE PRICES UNRIVALED SERVICE PROVISIONS & GIFTS 1616 BROAD STREET | CHATTANOOGA |37408 423.777.4820 MON - THURS 10a - 10p FRI - SAT 10a - 10p CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JANUARY 21, 2016 • THE PULSE • 15

ARTS SCENE

Seeking the Spiritual with Elliott Daingerfield

Between The Southern Lines Author Rick Bragg heads Southern lecture series If you are passionate about the South and would like an inside look at American literature, you should attend the first installment of the Southern Lit Alliance’s South Bound distinguished lecture series with Rick Bragg this Thursday beginning at 4 p.m. at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center.

Bragg will be speaking on—and reading from—his new collection of essays entitled My Southern Journey, which has been called by one critic, “more than a love song to the South…[it’s] an examination of its soul and a memory book.”

The lecture series is designed to showcase both rising and established authors, and this Alabamaborn native is a great choice to kick off the series. Bragg is a wellseasoned author, reporter, and

now writing professor at The University of Alabama.

He won the James Beard Award for Distinguished Writing and his novel All Over But the Shoutin’ was a New York Times bestseller. He has had three bestselling memoirs and just recently published book of essays focusing on nostalgia and the heart of the South.

The lecture will start off with a “happy hour” meet-and-greet with Bragg for those that have VIP tickets, then a book signing at 5 p.m., and at 6 p.m. he will begin a reading from My Southern Journey.

Go grab a book for signing and head over to Bessie Smith Cultural Center this Thursday for an informative, Southern slice of literature.

— Rebekah Jones

THU1.21

FRI1.22

SAT1.23

FENNEL FUN

RIVER WILDLIFE

SCIENCE TIME

CSO Masterworks: Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms

Sandhill Crane Cruise

Introduction to Improv Comedy

Come hear the masters.

7:30 p.m.

Tivoli Theatre 709 Broad St. (423) 757-5156 chattanoogaonstage.com

The annual Sandhill Crane migration cruise has been extended.

10 a.m., 2 p.m.

River Gorge Explorer Sale Creek Marina 3900 Lee Pike tnaqua.org

Think you have what it takes to be funny? Find out here.

2 p.m.

Jazzanooga Arts Space 431 E. MLK Blvd.

(423) 413-8978 thechattery.org

16 • THE PULSE • JANUARY 21, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

Striking exhibit at the Hunter delves into the intersection of art and poetry

“A

rt is the principle flowing out of God through certain men and women by which they perceive and understand beauty.

Sculpture, architecture, painting, and music are the languages of the spirit.” –Elliott Daingerfield

Arts STEPHANIE SMITH

“

Daingerfield believed that viewing nudes in paintings was not an erotic experience but a spiritual one, a glimpse of the divine in human form.”

At the beginning of this exhibit at the Hunter, “Seeking the Spiritual: The Visionary Art of Elliott Daingerfield,” my eyes were immediately drawn to the intense brush strokes and wash of blue in one particular nature scene.

Characterized by aggressive bold swirls of layered blue-black and white water splashing against weather-beaten muddy brown rocks, The Lone Cypress (c. 1912) thrusts upwards and away from the elements, watched over by the sun, a red ball of fire sinking through the grey, foggy clouds.

A deep tempest of stormy waters emerges in many of his paintings during this time period. By contrast, my gaze was also captured by the piercingly calm clear white moon reflected on the landscapes of the more reflective, serene paintings like A Fantasy (c. 1912).

This exhibit features 48 paintings, pastels, and drawings created between 1887 and 1920 and depict nature, the sacred, and allegorical art, all of which Daingerfield believed were animated by divine forces that exist beyond the physical world.

He’d one day be one of the highest selling artists of his time, with The Genius of the Canyon bringing in $15,000 in 1920. As for the beginning, Elliott Dangerfield was born on March 26, 1859 on the eve of the Civil War in Harper’s Ferry,

Mean Mug C O F F E E H O U S E

"The Genius of the Canyon"

Virginia. At 21 years of age, he moved to New York City, where he worked for the rest of his career. In 1884 Daingerfield began working with George Inness, a man whose art had been an influence in Daingerfield’s work. Rejecting the demoralization of the human spirit he felt was inherent in the Industrial Age, he began exploring mystic symbolism in his imagery.

After the death of his first wife Roberta in 1891, Daingerfield’s works took a more pronounced turn towards transitions to the afterlife. Contemporary commentators have reflected on Daingerfield’s ability “to grasp the spiritual significance of a scene and give it a worthwhile imaginative embodiment.”

This viewpoint is masterfully demonstrated in the painting Daingerfield dedicated to his wife. The Mystic Brim (c. 1893) catapulted Daingerfield into the realm of symbolist painters, whose works captured the artists’ inward visions about their physical realities, particularly individual experiences of the sacred. This work signaled the beginning of a trend Daingerfield would use throughout the rest of his career; he began writing poems to accompany his most profound works.

He ventured further into the realm of symbolism with his allegorical use of nude women. Daingerfield believed that viewing nudes in paintings was not an erotic experience but a spiritual one, a glimpse of the divine in human form.

I was struck by the use of the color red in many of the paintings at this time.

The pop of color leapt off the canvases, which still used the characteristic brown scenery and blues of the ever present waters. The depth of these

paintings was multidimensional, with subjects not only in the foreground and background, but several levels in between, which made the eye dance around the painting with anticipation.

Daingerfield traveled by railroad to the Wild West in 1911 and 1913, and in that time made seven paintings of the Grand Canyon. The Genius of the Canyon (c. 1913) is identified as Daingerfield’s most influential work and signified a departure from the crisp (often blue and green colored) detail-oriented style of the Impressionist painters to warmer, more intimate colors and subjects.

A nude female in the foreground rests on a red blanket on the brown canyon rim. Her black hair flows down towards the hint of blue water visible through the rocks below. Atop the canyon in the distance beyond, a grand temple and a walled city survey the scene, as described in Daingerfield’s accompanying poem: Stripped from the Earth her crust In sea revealed the carven glory of the inner world Templed, domed, silent The while the genius of the canyon broods Nor counts the ages of mankind A thought amid the everlasting calm.

The everlasting effect this exhibit had on me was indeed an individual inner experience. The duality of nature and spirituality was not only aesthetically pleasing but also evoked an emotional response—I felt empathy for the characters and their environments and left with a feeling of deep calm.

If you truly “seek the spiritual”, you will be impacted to emotional depths by this exhibit.

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Consider This with Dr. Rick

by Rick Pimental-Habib, Ph.D. “Keep close to Nature’s heart…and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” —John Muir Ahhh, breathe in that fresh, cold air. There’s nothing like being in the sunshine, bundled up, in winter. If you can’t climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods, what can you do?

Step onto your back porch and take some deep breaths. Take the dog for a long walk and be present with him…tell him what a good boy he is. Hike in the woods with your sig other or friend and enjoy the silence together…have that heart-to-heart you’ve been meaning to. Go for an exhilarating drive in the country with the windows down, music up, and feel eighteen again.

There’s always something you can do to unburden yourself, clear the cobwebs from your mind, get the blood flowing in your body, and feel alive deep in your soul. Consider this your home-grown prescription for whatever’s ailing you—right now.

CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JANUARY 21, 2016 • THE PULSE • 17

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is looking for a few good

writers

Can you craft a compelling 650-word short feature or profile—and a longer, in-depth feature worthy of our cover? If so, let’s talk. The Pulse is seeking a few good freelance writers to join our stable of news, feature, music, political, fashion and arts writers.

We reward our writers with fair pay and a showcase for their skills.

If you’ve got the “write stuff,” we want your voice in The Pulse.

Email samples of your best clips along with a brief bio to: creative@chattanoogapulse.com

ARTS CALENDAR

Paying you the most...

THURSDAY1.21 Going Dutch: Old Masters Painting Techniques with Cindy Procious 9 a.m.

Townsend Atelier 301 E. 11th St. (423) 266-2712 townsendatelier.com Penguin Keeper Talks 10:30 a.m.

Tennessee Aquarium 1 Broad St. (423) 265-0695 tnaqua.org Ooltewah Farmers Market 3 p.m.

Ooltewah Nursery & Landscape Co. 5829 Main St. (423) 238-9775 ooltewahnursery.com Rick Bragg: South Bound Distinguished Lectures 5 p.m.

Bessie Smith Cultural Center 200 E. MLK Blvd.

(423) 267-1218 bessiesmithcc.org Winter Workshop Series: Planning a Winter Hike 6 p.m.

Outdoor Chattanooga Center in Coolidge Park 200 River St. (423) 643-6888 outdoorchattanooga.com Artwise: Distinguished Speakers Series Presents Erin Corrales-Diaz 6 p.m.

The Hunter Museum of Art

18 • THE PULSE • JANUARY 21, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

Planning A Winter Hike 10 Bluff View Ave. (423) 267-0968 huntermuseum.org Curator and Gallerist Panel 6:30 p.m.

Chattanooga WorkSpace 302 W. 6th St. (423) 822-5750 chattanoogaworkspace.com Orson Welles’ Chimes at Midnight / Falstaff 7 p.m.

Heritage House Arts and Civic Center 1428 Jenkins Rd. (423) 855-9474 chattanooga.gov PSC Presents Photographer Steven Gustafson 7 p.m.

St. John United Methodist Church 3921 Murray Hills Rd. (423) 894-5210

PULSE PICK: RICKY MOKEL

Known as the “lovable, gifted idiot, Rikey is the most natural, spontaneous and thoroughly refreshing comedy characters to come along in many a year.

Ricky Mokel The Comedy Catch at the Chattanooga Choo Choo 1400 Market St. (423) 629-2233 thecomedycatch.com

chattanoogaphoto.org Ricky Mokel 7:30 p.m.

The Comedy Catch 1400 Market St. (423) 629-2233 thecomedycatch.com CSO Masterworks: Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms 7:30 p.m.

Tivoli Theatre 709 Broad St. (423) 757-5156 chattanoogaonstage.com

FRIDAY1.22 Sandhill Crane Cruise 10 a.m., 2 p.m.

River Gorge Explorer Sale Creek Marina 3900 Lee Pike (423) 265-0695

tnaqua.org Delta Bird Program 10:30 a.m.

Tennessee Aquarium 1 Broad St. (423) 265-0695 tnaqua.org Choral Arts of Chattanooga, For The Love Of Music 7 p.m.

Bessie Smith Cultural Center 200 E. MLK Blvd.

(423) 266-8658 bessiesmithcc.org Ricky Mokel 7:30, 9:45 p.m.

The Comedy Catch 1400 Broad St. (423) 629-2233 thecomedycatch.com

SATURDAY1.23 Sandhill Crane Cruise 10 a.m., 2 p.m.

River Gorge Explorer Sale Creek Marina 3900 Lee Pike (423) 265-0695 tnaqua.org Brainerd Farmers Market 10 a.m.

Grace Episcopal Church 20 Belvoir Ave. (423) 698-0330 saygrace.net St. Alban’s Hixson Market 10 a.m.

St. Alban’s Church 7514 Hixson Pike (423) 842-1342 stalbansepiscopal.net Alan Shuptrine

ARTS CALENDAR

"Kamikaze Girls" Watercolor Workshop 10 a.m.

Shuptrine Fine Art Group 2646 Broad St. (423) 266-4453 alanshuptrine.com Creative Darkroom Photography 11 a.m.

AVA 30 Frazier Ave. (423) 265-4282 averts.org AnimeBlast Presents: Kamikaze Girls 1 p.m.

South Chattanooga Library 925 W. 39th St. (423) 825-7237 chattlibrary.org Introduction to Improv Comedy 2 p.m.

Jazzanooga Arts Space 431 E. MLK. Blvd.

(423) 413-8978 thechattery.org Saturday Chess Club 3 p.m.

brewer media

South Chattanooga Library 925 W. 39th St. (423) 825-7237 chattlibrary.org Ricky Mokel 7:30, 9:45 p.m.

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

SUNDAY1.24 Sandhill Crane Cruise 10 a.m., 2 p.m.

River Gorge Explorer Sale Creek Marina 3900 Lee Pike (423) 265-0695 tnaqua.org Delta Bird Program 10:30 a.m.

Tennessee Aquarium 1 Broad St. (423) 265-0695 tnaqua.org

Bolshoi Ballet: Taming of the Shrew 12:55 p.m.

Carmike East Ridge 18 5080 S. Terrace (423) 855-9652 carmike.com/events Scenic City Chorus 2:30 p.m.

Christ Church Episcopal 663 Douglas St. (423) 266-4263 christchurch.dioet.org Ricky Mokel 7:30 p.m.

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

MONDAY1.25 Penguin Keeper Talks 10:30 a.m.

Tennessee Aquarium 1 Broad St.

(423) 265-0695 tnaqua.org There's A Word For That 8 p.m.

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

TUESDAY1.26 Delta Bird Program 10:30 a.m.

Tennessee Aquarium 1 Broad St. (423) 265-0695 tnaqua.org

WEDNESDAY1.27 Penguin Keeper Talks 10:30 a.m.

Tennessee Aquarium 1 Broad St. (423) 265-0695 tnaqua.org

Middle East Dance 10:30 a.m.

Jewish Cultural Center 5461 N. Terrace (423) 493-0270 jewishchattanooga.com Main Street Farmers Market 4 p.m.

325 E. Main St. mainstfarmersmarket.com Wednesday Night Chess Club 6 p.m.

Downtown Public Library 1001 Broad St. (423) 757-5310 chattlibrary.org Big Ed Caylor 7:30 p.m.

The Comedy Catch 1400 Market St. (423) 629-2233 thecomedycatch.com Map these locations on chattanoogapulse.com. Send event listings at least 10 days in advance to: calendar@chattanoogapulse.com

Chattanooga’s Greatest Hits

everywhere. every day.

CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JANUARY 21, 2016 • THE PULSE • 19

Jonesin’ Crossword

Free Will Astrology

MATT JONES

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The birds known as mound-builders are born more mature than other species. As soon as they peck themselves out of their eggs, they are well-coordinated, vigorous enough to hunt and capable of flight. Right now I see a resemblance between them and many of you Aquarians. As soon as you hatch your new plans or projects—which won’t be long now—you will be ready to operate at almost full strength. I bet there won’t be false starts or rookie mistakes; nor will you need extensive rehearsal. Like the mound-builders, you’ll be primed for an early launch.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): You are not purely and simply a Pisces, because although the sun was in that astrological sign when you were born, at least some of the other planets were in different signs.

This fact is a good reminder that everything everywhere is a complex web of subtlety and nuance.

It’s delusional to think that anyone or anything can be neatly definable. Of course it’s always important to keep this in mind, but it’s even more crucial than usual for you to do so in the coming weeks.

You are entering a phase when the best way to thrive is to know in your gut that life is always vaster, wilder, and more mysterious than it appears to be on the surface. If you revere the riddles, the riddles will be your sweet, strong allies.

“It’s E->Z”—but not the other way around.

ACROSS 1 Optimistic 5 Riding around the city, maybe 11 “La ___” (Debussy opus) 14 Outside introduction 15 City on the Merrimack River 16 “___ seen worse” 17 Possible autobiography title for comedian Horatio?

19 Canceled (with “out”) 20 Chocolate stand-in 21 Hardly Mercedes quality?

23 French numeral 24 Part of IPA 27 Told 28 Some grads of RPI or MIT 29 ___-foot oil 32 Spring harbinger 33 Medium-hot chili pepper variety 35 Uno or TwentyOne, e.g.

36 Cracker you must hand over to get through?

39 Mexican restaurant staple 40 Demographic nickname coined in the 1980s 41 Have ___ with (chat up) 43 Condom material 44 Clerical vestment 47 Submitted 49 “Either you do it ___ will” 50 Falsehood 51 Fuzzy green stuff growing on a former Comedy Central “Dr.”?

54 “Buona ___” (Italian sign-off) 56 Air gun pellets 57 Hip bath in the great outdoors?

60 Pie-mode connection 61 Getting a move on, quaintly 62 Singer of “The Man With the Golden Gun” theme song 63 Daisy Ridley’s “Star Wars” character 64 Conducive to peace 65 Suffixes

denoting sugars DOWN 1 Coast Guard mission 2 Rating at the pump 3 Long looks 4 You may walk the dog with it 5 Guest quarters 6 Constantly criticize 7 Trade org.

8 Bush Labor Secretary Elaine 9 Relatives of nieces 10 Flea market 11 Hodgepodge 12 10 seconds for 100 yards, in running lingo 13 Old Spice deodorant variety 18 Big name in electric guitars 22 Renewable fuel derived from organic matter 25 Colorful sports artist Neiman 26 Load of gossip 30 Thin, fibrous bark (or one-third of a dance instruction for Lisa Simpson) 31 Become sharply

attentive 33 Eric of “Pulp Fiction” 34 Basketmaker’s willow 36 Like people on some dating apps 37 “It’s hard to tell” 38 Process of determining gender, as zoologists do 39 Row of buttons on a screen 42 Seoul food 44 Latin for “higher,” as in the Olympic motto 45 Wee 46 Ramona’s sister, in Beverly Cleary books 48 2008 Jordin Sparks/Chris Brown duet 52 “Hook” sidekick 53 Twirl around 55 City that the band a-ha hails from 58 “Here Comes the Hotstepper” singer Kamoze 59 Coin collection appraisal co. (found in COLLECTING COINS)

Copyright © 2016 Jonesin’ Crosswords. For answers to this puzzle, call: 1-900-226-2800, 99 cents per minute. Must be 18+ to call. Or to bill to your credit card, call: 1-800-655-6548. Reference puzzle No. 0763

20 • THE PULSE • JANUARY 21, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

ARIES (March 21-April 19): The next four weeks could potentially be a Golden Age of Friendship… a State of Grace for Your Web of Connections…a Lucky Streak for Collaborative Efforts. What can you do to ensure that these cosmic tendencies will actually be fulfilled? Try this: Deepen and refine your approach to schmoozing. Figure out what favors would be most fun for you to bestow, and bestow them. Don’t socialize aimlessly with random gadabouts, but rather gravitate toward people with whom you share high ideals and strong intentions.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): On a clear day, if you stand at the summit of Costa Rica’s Mount Irazú, you can see both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It’s not hard to get there. You can hop a tourist bus in the nearby city of San José and be 11,200 feet high two hours later.

This is a good model for your next assignment: Head off on a stressfree jaunt to a place that affords you a vast vista. If you can’t literally do that, at least slip away to a fun sanctuary where you’ll be inspired to think big thoughts about your long-range prospects. You need a break from everything that shrinks or numbs you.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): A filmmaker working on a major movie typically shoots no more than four

ROB BREZSNY

pages of the script per day. A director for a TV show may shoot eight pages. But I suspect that the story of your life in the near future may barrel through the equivalent of 20 pages of script every 24 hours.

The next chapter is especially action-packed. The plot twists and mood swings will be coming at a rapid clip. This doesn’t have to be a problem as long as you are primed for high adventure. How? Take good care of your basic physical and emotional needs so you’ll be in top shape to enjoy the boisterous ride.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The city of Paris offers formal tours of its vast sewer system. Commenting on an online travel site, one tourist gave the experience five stars. “It’s a great change of pace from museums full of art,” she wrote. Another visitor said, “It’s an interesting detour from the cultural overload that Paris can present.” According to a third, “There is a slight smell but it isn’t overpowering. It’s a fascinating look at how Paris handles wastewater treatment and clean water supply.”

I bring this up, Cancerian, because now is a favorable time for you to take a break from bright, shiny pleasures and embark on a tour of your psyche’s subterranean maze.

Regard it not as a scary challenge but as a fact-finding exploration.

What strategies do you have in place to deal with the messy, broken, secret stuff in your life? Take an inventory.

than one-third of all pregnancies are unintended. The two people involved aren’t actually trying to make a baby, but their contraceptive measure fails or isn’t used at all. According to my analysis, you heterosexual Libras are now more prone to this accidental experience than usual. And in general, Libras of every sexual preference must be careful and precise about what seeds they plant in the coming weeks. The new growth you instigate is likely to have far-reaching consequences. So don’t let your choice be reckless or unconscious. Formulate clear intentions.

What do you want to give your love to for a long time?

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): I was a rock musician for years, which meant that I rarely went to bed before dawn. I used to brag that my work schedule was from 9 to 5—9 p.m. to 5 a.m., that is. Even after I stopped performing regularly, I loved keeping those hours.

It was exhilarating to be abuzz when everyone else was asleep.

But two months ago, I began an experiment to transform my routine. Now I awake with the dawn.

I spend the entire day consorting with the source of all life on earth, the sun. If you have been contemplating a comparable shift in your instinctual life, Scorpio—any fundamental alteration in your relationship to food, drink, exercise, sleep, perception, laughter, lovemaking—the next few weeks will be a favorable time to do it.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “When I look at a sunset, I don’t say, ‘Soften the orange a little on the right hand corner and put a bit more purple in the cloud color.’” Pioneering psychologist Carl Rogers was describing the way he observed the world. “I don’t try to control a sunset,” he continued. “I watch it with awe.” He had a similar view about people. “One of the most satisfying experiences,” he said, “is just fully to appreciate an individual in the same way I appreciate a sunset.” Your assignment, Leo, is to try out Rogers’ approach. Your emotional well-being will thrive as you refrain from trying to “improve” people—as you see and enjoy them for who they are.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You Sagittarians are often praised but also sometimes criticized for being such connoisseurs of spontaneity. Many of us admire your flair for unplanned adventure even though we may flinch when you unleash it. You inspire us and also make us nervous as you respond to changing circumstances with unpremeditated creativity.

I expect all these issues to be hot topics in the coming weeks. You are in a phase of your cycle when your improvisational flourishes will be in the spotlight. I, for one, promise to learn all I can from the interesting detours that result from your delight in experimentation.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The future is headed your way in a big hurry. It may not be completely here for a few weeks, but even then it will have arrived ahead of schedule. Should you be alarmed?

Should you work yourself into an agitated state and draw premature conclusions? Hell, no! Treat this sudden onrush of tomorrow as a bracing opportunity to be as creative as you dare. Cultivate a beginner’s mind. Be alert for unexpected openings that you assumed would take longer to appear.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn world-changer Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and sent to jail on 29 different occasions. His crimes? Drawing inspiration from his Christian faith, he employed nonviolent civil disobedience to secure basic civil rights for African-Americans. He believed so fiercely in his righteous cause that he was willing to sacrifice his personal comfort again and again.

The coming months will be a favorable time to devote yourself to a comparable goal, Capricorn. And now is a good time to intensify your commitment. I dare you to take a vow.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): More

SCREEN JOHN DEVORE

Getting Big With Unlikable Gamblers “The Big Short” showcases callow, unrestricted greed with anger but no apologies

I

T IS GENERALLY AGREED THAT THE 2008 FINANCIAL crisis was caused in large part by Wall Street gamblers who robbed the U.S. taxpayer only to be bailed out by the U.S. government. This has been the thesis for a wide variety of media, from books and films, to serious articles and political speeches around the globe.

Yet, as with most complex systems, many of those affected by the reckless behavior of big banks and financial institutions have no real understanding of what happened. This ignorance on the part of the average American explains just how six million people might have acquired a subprime, variable interest rate loan without having an income or credit.

Americans view home ownership as an essential part of success and American success is often defined by external factors—no one sees a balance sheet or a tax return, but everyone can see a three-story home with fieldstone walls and a white picket fence.

As always, the poor and the new were targets for scams that preyed upon their hopes and dreams. However, this time, the opportunistic parasites in real estate nearly bankrupted the global economy.

But whenever there are losers, there are winners. “The Big Short” tells the story of a handful of Wall Street investors that saw the writing on the wall long before the collapse, and made bets as they watched the economy crumble.

And the film is infuriating in a way that is hard to describe. There are no heroes, only villains that serve as protagonists to lead the audience through the mire. Through a series of fourth wall breaking comments, the audience sees the smug, superior attitude of men who see the people of world as numbers on a page, free to be manipulated and moved from one balance sheet to another in order to pack a few more dol-

“The men in the film are not especially likable—they are single-minded, profitdriven machines that saw a weakness in the housing markets and exploited it for personal gain.” lars into the yearly bonus.

The men in the film are not especially likable—they are single-minded, profit-driven machines that saw a weakness in the housing markets and exploited it for personal gain. One might wonder why, if they knew that the housing bubble was set to collapse years before the rumblings began, why not make an effort to stop it, to fix the problem, to self-regulate?

The film argues that it wouldn’t have mattered, since no one believed them. From Bears Stearns to Countrywide to Lehman Brothers, executives were more than happy to take their money and allow them to bet against the American economy. Financial regulators in Washington were almost nonexistent, and those that work for the Federal Government were aching to get out of public service and into the moneymaking machine of Wall Street.

Everyone, it seems, was in bed with everyone else, creating a miasma of poor decision making, conflicts of interest, and general apathy.

The film explains the absurdity of the crisis in its own self-satisfied way, insisting that Americans can’t focus on a dry issue without help from popular culture. At various times throughout the film, the audience is given the important background information by using beautiful celebrities sipping wine in a bubble bath or popular reality stars making stews in a busy kitchen. It’s dismissive of American intelligence, but provocative in begrudging correctness.

Director Adam McKay, known until now for his comedy films with Will Ferrell, is clearly angry and has been for a long time. Several of his films, post-2008, featured Wall Street hedge fund managers as villains. 2010’s “The Other Guys” even ended with a credit sequence explanation of the 2008 financial crisis.

McKay is desperate to tell this story

over and over, until someone listens and forces change. But change is unlikely until the people demand it, and the people will never demand it until they admit to themselves that blissful ignorance is dangerous.

“The Big Short” is highly effective in its message as well as its conclusions, driven by strong performances and clever direction. It is bitterly funny and frustratingly true. However, an Oscar nominated film is still unlikely to reach the ears of the people that need to hear it the most.

Those that are the angriest about the worst financial downturn since the Great Depression knew about the problems on Wall Street long before this film was made. The people that weren’t angry, or misplaced their anger by attacking the poor and the immigrants, likely went to see “Ride Along 2” this weekend.

The film makes the case the Wall Street hasn’t changed much. Instead, they have simply rebranded their products. Some movies always have a sequel.

CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JANUARY 21, 2016 • THE PULSE • 21

COLUMN TECH TALK

Local 'Net Radio Gets Ready Will This Float? winner Undaground prepares its beta launch Chattanooga is just about to get a new radio station. Right after winning last December’s Will This Float? pitch RICH BAILEY c o m p e t i t i o n , Undaground cofounders Dave Castaneda (technical director), Cole Sweeton (creative director) and Ben Park (programming director) started working out of CO.LAB to make their business pitch a reality.

Now they’re set to launch a Kickstarter campaign by the end of January, go live with the beta version of their streaming radio app 30 days later, and roll out the full service some time in 2016.

“Undaground will be a 24/7 curated application with content created and produced by local artists, entertainers and tastemakers ranging from music to culture, comedy and news,” says Sweeton.

“Support for this has already been unexpectedly huge, overwhelming,” says Park. “Our timeline is getting crunched.

What should be a month has to get done in, like, three days. CO.LAB has been great. This could not be happening if we weren’t here.”

Six weeks ago at Will This Float?, the partners had verbal commitments from 22 potential content providers, including business sponsors. Now that number has grown to 50, which sounds like a pretty good start on the other side of Undaground: a network that begins in Chattanooga and eventually goes national.

“What we’re going for is a cultural outlet for Chattanooga and for the Southeast,” says Sweeton. “Eventually, I plan to take this network that we build among these local music stations in the Southeast and spread it all the way across the country.”

Plans call filling many more programming blocks than existing online radio stations with a wide variety of local content. Shows could be created by DJs, by artists that want to share their story or by sponsors who want to promote themselves by sharing the music that inspires them.

“Comfort skate shop is doing a history of skate music starting in the 70s,” says Park. “Kenny Burnap of the Shaking Ray Levi Society is interested in doing a history of indie music throughout the southeast, talking about those super small pockets that he was a part of.”

Ryan Darling is talking about doing a

22 • THE PULSE • JANUARY 21, 2016 • CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

“We want to do something like dive into the Brainerd hip hop scene or maybe go to the Tivoli and talk to the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera about a show.” comedy show, while The Bitter Alibi is talking about a cooking show. “We don’t want to just have local bands that are really popular,” adds Sweeton. “We want to do something like dive into the Brainerd hip hop scene or maybe go to the Tivoli and talk to the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera about a show.”

“We’ve got 118 one-hour blocks per week that we could possibly fill,” says Park. “Most people would say you’re never going to fill all those with original content every day. But even if it was half that amount, that doubles or triples what any other station like this is doing. When

you have that many collaborators you’re representing the arts scene of an entire city.”

Initially, most revenue will be from ads, but eventually, the partners see the business model expanding to include producing events.

“What’s essential for the business model to work is having the streaming services curated by a community,” says Sweeton. “In doing so, we will inevitably create a larger and more tight-knit community of artists and culture creators. So then when we go to a new city, it’s sort of a residual effect that we will have created this network from one city to another.

That doesn’t make us an agency, but part of our plan is to produce live events with musicians and bands.”

The upcoming Kickstarter campaign will have a modest financial target, because the partners are doing so much of the work to launch the beta, rather than hiring it out.

“We need the Kickstarter to build the community,” says Sweeton. “If people invest in it, then they become part of it.

If 2,500 people donated a dollar, we’d consider it more of a success than if one person came in and donated $5,000.”

For more information about Undaground, visit undaground.co.

Rich Bailey is a professional writer, editor and (sometimes) PR consultant. He led a project to create Chattanooga’s first civic website in 1995 before even owning a modem. Now he covers Chattanooga technology for The Pulse and blogs about it at CircleChattanooga.com

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CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM • JANUARY 21, 2016 • THE PULSE • 23

WE’RE ALL ABOUT THE COFFEE, ALL THE TIME.

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