The Pulse 12.19 » May 7, 2015

may 7, 2015

CHATTANOOGA'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE

clean energy

let the sun shine chattanooga embraces solar power

arts

music

screen

gajin fujita

the general

age of ultron

street art dollars

avengers

tupelo.net

2 • The Pulse • MAY 7-13, 2015 • chattanoogapulse.com

Contents

CHATTANOOGA'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE

EDITORIAL

Managing Editor Gary Poole Contributing Editor Janis Hashe

May 7, 2015 Volume 12, Issue 19

Music Editor Marc T. Michael Film Editor John DeVore Contributors Rich Bailey • Rob Brezsny • Matt Jones Louis Lee • Krystle Luttrell Zach Nicholson • Ernie Paik Rick Pimental-Habib • Alex Teach Editorial Intern Shaun Webster Cartoonists & Illustrators Rick Baldwin • Max Cannon Jen Sorenson • Tom Tomorrow

Features

Cover Illustration Martine Lemmens

4 BEGINNINGS: Hikes for Hope gives shelter dogs—and you—some nature time.

Founded 2003 by Zachary Cooper & Michael Kull

ADVERTISING

6 SHRINK RAP: Never mind the cover… open the book and enjoy the story.

Director of Sales Mike Baskin Account Executives Chee Chee Brown • Randy Johnston Angela Lanham • Rick Leavell Chester Sharp • Stacey Tyler

8

CONTACT

14 ARTS CALENDAR

Here Comes The Sun

There are, on average, 255 days each year in which Chattanooga gets enough sunshine to make use of the greenest energy available: solar. And an increasing number of businesses and even private residents are doing just that.

Offices 1305 Carter St. Chattanooga, TN 37402 Phone 423.265.9494 Website chattanoogapulse.com Email info@chattanoogapulse.com

12

Graffiti to Gallery: Gajin Fujita

Artist Gajin Fujita is coming to the Hunter Museum of American Art on Thursday, May 14. Fujita’s art has been featured in the Hunter’s special exhibition since early April.

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 © 2015 by Brewer Media. All rights reserved.

20

Band On A Break? Don’t Despair.

One day you wake up and decide, “That’s it, I’m gonna be in a band!” Depending on where you are in your own musical development, it might be necessary to learn to play an instrument first—but maybe not if your friends aren’t too discriminating.

17 DIVERSIONS 18 TECH TALK: First cross-city Gig hackathon just lit up the Public Library.

22 MUSIC CALENDAR 24 REVIEWS: Jeff Zagers is tender and tuneful, Tracey Thorn gets intimate.

26 SCREEN: “The Avengers: Age of Ultron” requires Marvel immersion.

28 FREE WILL ASTROLOGY 29 JONESIN’ CROSSWORD 30 on the beat: What cops need to do the job they’re called to do.

Scenic City Art Car Day, Saturday, May 9th!

Getting Art in the streets, at the Schools, and to the People!

RS!

CA ART ART BIK E S

#

120 on

!

9am, Art Car Tailgate Party

8pm, Art Car Fire Ball

Parade to Main Rolls @1pm!

18 & Up

Majestic 12 Parking Lot across from The Creative Discovery Museum

Craftworks Parking Lot $5 suggested Donation

Special thanks to:

Map & Details @art120.org chattanoogapulse.com • MAY 7-13, 2015 • The Pulse • 3

news • views • rants • raves

BEGINNINGS

updates » CHATTANOOGApulse.com facebook/chattanoogapulse EMAIL LOVE LETTERS, ADVICE & TRASH TALK TO INFO@CHATTANOOGAPULSE.COM

They’ll Show You How to Walk the Dog Hikes for Hope gives shelter dogs— and you—some nature time

“

We hiked a little over three miles.

At the end, Harlow was a completely different dog.”

That happy/sad “walk-me-walk-meplease-please-please” face. Dog owners know this face. But shelter dogs love the outdoors and a nice long walk just as much as those with a forever home. And there’s a way you can help.

I first heard about programs allowing volunteers to take dogs off-site through a shared Huffington Post article on Facebook. Titled “We Borrowed a Shelter Dog to Go Hiking. You Can—And Totally Should—Too,” it details the author’s experience of taking a shelter dog hiking in the greater D.C. area. I wanted to know if I could do something similar here in Chattanooga.

So, I called East Ridge Animal Shelter. I wanted to work with them particularly because they are the only no-kill shelter in Chattanooga. The program they offer is called Hikes for Hope.

Kelsey Cagle, volunteer coordinator at the shelter, has this to say about the program: “My goal for Hikes for Hope is to get our shelter dogs out and about and to let them enjoy life like a dog should.

Some of our dogs are here for over six months, and I Krystle want them to alLuttrell ways know what they have to look forward to when their perfect person comes.”

In order to participate, all you have to do is fill out two forms to become a volunteer. They ask for basic information like your name, birthday, address, email, phone number, availability, and animal preference.

There is also a waiver to sign that basically says you won’t hold the shelter responsible if anything happens to you or your belongings while volunteering. I completely understand; animals are wonderfully messy creatures. Be sure to bring your driver’s license since they will want a copy of that, too.

On April 26, we walked Harlow, a female plot hound mix. By we, I mean my boyfriend, Evan, and our dog, Ellie. We chose Raccoon Mountain, one of my favorite hiking spots in the area. It was a perfect afternoon in the low seventies with plenty of cloud coverage— something I, and likely most dogs, appreciate

News

4 • The Pulse • MAY 7-13, 2015 • chattanoogapulse.com

on a hike.

Harlow bounced around the car for most of the ride when she wasn’t attempting to shower me with kisses. We parked at the Switchyard Overlook and took a connector trail to the Grindstone Ridge trail, then walked toward the visitor’s center. Harlow was extremely excited to be out in the woods. She walked me more than I walked her in the beginning!

We hiked a little over three miles. At the end, Harlow was a completely different dog. She actually napped on the ride home. To me, that’s enough proof about how much a little time and affection benefits these shelter animals.

My dog had a blast as well.

But this is also a great opportunity for people who aren’t in a position to own a dog, yet crave their companionship. You won’t be able to resist that face. For more information, call the East Ridge Animal Shelter at (423) 664-0271.

•••• Editor’s note: Both McKamey Animal Center and the Humane Educational Society also need volunteers to walk dogs. Contact McKamey at (423) 305-6500, and HES at (423) 624-5302, ext. 228.

EdiToon

by Rick Baldwin

Time Once Again to Get Their Kicks Chattanooga FC kicks off the new soccer season Saturday, May 9, when they host Georgia Revolution at Finley Stadium. The team currently competes in the National Premier Soccer League, an amateur league in the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, and has won three consecutive Southeast Conference titles.

After last year’s spirited NPSL Na-

tional Final run, there will be no lack of support for the boys as they have generated a cult-like following in the city.

The band of fans, nicknamed the Chattahooligans, are loud, proud and incredibly loyal to their local team. In fact, last season over 8,000 people came out and watched Chattanooga FC play and win their regional semi-final match.

Head Coach Bill Elliot looks “for-

IN THIS ISSUE

Louis Lee Our cover story this week on the solar power movement s

by Louis Lee, who has been involved in journalism dating back to his days on the high school newspaper staff. After a stint in the U.S. Navy, he worked for a weekly newspaper in Baton Rouge, then returned

ward to the challenge of a new season,” and insists that “as always, our goal will be to put a product on the field that the Chattahooligans, as well as the rest of the soccer community, can be proud to call their team.” If you cannot make the season opener, be sure to show your support midweek, May 13, as the team follows up with another home fixture against Ocala Stampede. Both games start at 7:30 p.m. at Finley.

For more information and season schedule, visit chattanoogafc.com — Shaun Webster

Thu, May 7 • 7:15 PM vs. Jackson

STEM Fair • Thirsty Thursday

Fri, May 8 • 7:15 PM vs. Jackson

Fireworks! • Trip Giveaway

Sat, May 9 • 7:15 PM vs. Jackson

Negro League Appreciation

Sun, May 10 • 2:15 PM vs. Jackson

Mother's Day Matinee

Errors & Corrections to college for formal training in television news. He came to the Tennessee Valley in 1991 to work for WDEF-TV as a video-journalist, a reporter who shoots his own stories. While working in the media and raising a family, Louis gave back to his community by volunteering as a reserve deputy sheriff in Bradley County. Louis is now an award-winning documentary filmmaker and freelance journalist.

ApRIL 30, 2015

CHATTANOOGA'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE

laugh riot(ing)

comedy in chattanooga from stand-up to theater to improvisation, the city has a long history of bringing the funny

stage

MusIc

arts

the IntervIew

full Metal MedIa

cultural fun

lewis black video star latin love

In last week's cover story ("Cha Ha Ha") the author mistakenly wrote that Dolly Alfano had passed away. She is, in fact, alive and well and even coming out of retirement to help with the move of The Comedy Catch to the Choo Choo complex. The author and The Pulse sincerely regret the error. chattanoogapulse.com • MAY 7-13, 2015 • The Pulse • 5

So Laugh—You’ll Live Longer Never mind the cover…open the book and enjoy the story

“

The need to find familiarity among the unfamiliar is an automatic, largely unconscious process, and becomes particularly urgent when we’re frightened or threatened.”

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Editor’s note: The Good their age, a tattoo, or whatDoctor is on vacation, so beever, using nothing more low is a revised version of one concrete than the fantaof his favorite columns. sies we create from our I was in the grocery store own personal history with the other afternoon, chatpeople who sound like ting with the that, or look check-out like that, or gal and the have a tatelderly man too like that.

DR. RICK who bags Our human the grocerminds don’t PIMENTAL-HABIB ies.

He’s do well with always struck me as the vacuums, so we fill the grandfatherly type who’d void with past references tell his grandkids interestin an attempt to wrap our ing stories, or teach them minds around a person silly card tricks, or just enwho’s unfamiliar. Once we joy making them laugh. I find a category to put him have no evidence of any of or her in, then we feel we this—it’s all in my imagiknow how to deal with this nation. person. It’s a coping skill— And don’t we do this all a way to mentally organize the time with people we our world. The need to don’t know? We endow find familiarity among the them with positive traits or unfamiliar is an automatic, negative traits, often based largely unconscious proon the sound of their voice, cess, and becomes particuthe look of their clothing, larly urgent when we’re

Shrink Rap

frightened or threatened by a person (or experience) we don’t know.

We all do it. If things go well—meaning, we’re open-minded and receptive to the newness—then our positive opinions gain rich color and texture as we get to know the person. Any false beliefs we started with fall away and are replaced with reality.

And the accurate first impressions we created in our mind become confirmed.

When it goes the other way—meaning fear of the unfamiliar leads us to be distrustful and emotionally shut down, keeping us from finding the truth about the person—then we default to the package of stereotypical traits we believe to be true. “Judging a book by its cover” might be coming to mind right about now.

So, back to the grocerybagging gentleman. If I held a belief, a prejudice, about older folks as all be-

ing crotchety and slow, I probably would not have had a smile or kind word for this man. If I held the belief that older people are usually charming and have much to offer, I probably would try to engage with him.

Fortunately, I believe the latter. But I didn’t have the chance to start up with him as he happily beat me to the punch (proving my point). Obviously not restricted or influenced by any pre-conceived notions about me, he easily started joking, silly, corny joking, with warmth and a smile.

When I laughingly asked him if he was a bit of a wise guy, he gave me this pearl: “It’s good to be a wise guy.

It’s good to laugh, because then you live longer.”

And I thought: I could not have put it better myself. This gentleman was just being himself, with no worry about what I thought of him, or limitations due to what he

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6 • The Pulse • MAY 7-13, 2015 • chattanoogapulse.com

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THANK YOU CHATTANOOGA FOR 6 GREAT YEARS! Be sure to try the Summer Sleigh Ride Smoothie!

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thought of me. He concluded my afternoon chore at the market with a welcomed, pleasant exchange, and in the process, gave me something to remember: It’s good to laugh, because then you live longer.

Here are a dozen more pearls for you. Some of these may be familiar (perhaps heard from your own wise elder), some may be new. Maybe they’ll even help you live longer.

1. Make time to pray/meditate/ ponder.

2. Read more books than you did last year.

3. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.

4. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

5. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

6. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.

7. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

8. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

9. You don’t have to win every argument.

10. Try to make at least three people smile today.

11. What other people think of you is none of your business.

12. However good or bad a situation is, it will change. Everything changes.

Until next time: “In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me lay an invincible summer.”

— Albert Camus Dr. Rick Pimental-Habib, Ph.D., is a psychotherapist, author, minister, and educator in private practice in Chattanooga. Contact him at DrRPH.com, visit his wellness center at WellNestChattanooga.com and follow his daily inspirations on Twitter: @DrRickWellNest chattanoogapulse.com • MAY 7-13, 2015 • The Pulse • 7

COVER STORY

Here Comes The Sun From VW to the airport to Wacker, solar power is lighting the way Story and photographs by Louis Lee

“

Locally, the most talked-about application of solar power occupies 65 acres of property adjacent to the Volkswagen Vehicle Assembly Plant at Enterprise South Industrial Park.”

T

here are, on average, 255 days each year in which Chattanooga gets enough sunshine to make use of the greenest energy available: solar. And an increasing number of businesses and even private residents are doing just that.

As early as the 7th century BCE, humans captured the sun’s energy by concentrating it using a magnifying glass to start a fire. In 1839, French scientist Edmond Becquerel discovered the photovoltaic effect, generating electricity when two metal electrodes were placed in a solution and exposed to the sun’s light. Albert Einstein won a Nobel Prize in 1921 for his theories on solar power (this was the same year he published his better-known theory of relativity). In 1954, scientists at Bell Laboratories developed the silicon photovoltaic cell, the first capable of producing enough electricity to power everyday devices. And in 1958, four Earthorbiting satellites were launched with solar collectors as their source of power.

Yet it wasn’t until the 1970s that Dr. Elliot Berman, working for Exxon Corporation, designed a less costly solar cell, dropping the cost of generating electricity from $100 per watt to $20 per watt. The world took notice and the technological race was on to produce more and less-expensive ways of converting solar radiation into usable electricity for the mass consumption. The race continues today.

Locally, the most talked-about application of solar power occupies 65 acres of property adjacent to the Volkswagen Vehicle Assembly Plant at Enterprise South Industrial Park. Though actually only 33 acres of the land are covered in solar collector panels, it is still the largest single photovoltaic installation in the state of Tennessee.

“As part of our LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification, on-site green power generation was important, so we explored several different methods,” says Scott Wilson, speaking for

8 • The Pulse • MAY 7-13, 2015 • chattanoogapulse.com

Volkswagen. “For instance, using methane generated from a nearby landfill and converting that to electricity.

We chose solar for several reasons, including how clean it is and the abundance of sun here in Chattanooga throughout the year.”

Solar power is nothing new to the engineers at Volkswagen. Back in 1982, solar cells were installed on the roofs of Dasher station wagons, generating 160 watts for the ignition system. In Germany, six percent of the nation’s electricity comes from solar. Other VW factories also have solar farms, but none so large as the one in the Scenic City. The use of so much “green” energy was the last piece of the puzzle earning Volkswagen a Platinum LEED certification, the only auto-manufacturing plant to ever do so.

Volkswagen’s solar farm includes 33,600 solar modules from JA Solar, which produce 13.1 Gigawatt-hours of electricity per year. Put into perspective, that’s enough to run 1,200 homes. When the plant is in full operation, the sun provides 12.5 percent of the electricity needed to build the Passat sedan. When the plant is not actively producing cars, the solar generator provides 100 percent of needed power.

Some companies that install solar facilities do so to sell electricity back to the utility. VW consumes all of the energy it produces through use of a sophisticated system of inverters that convert the DC (Direct Current) power that comes from the cells to the AC (Alternating Current) needed by the factory. Volkswagen entered into a 20-year agreement with Silicon Ranch called a “power purchase greement.”

“The solar park,” says Frank Fischer, CEO and chairman of Volkswagen Group of America, Chatta-

nooga Operations, “is another proof point of Volkswagen’s worldwide commitment to environmental protection under its ‘Think Blue’ factory philosophy.”

Also generating electricity from sunshine is the Chattanooga Airport Authority. “The idea began to take shape in 2007,” explains Sarah Stephens, community relations coordinator, “but the solar plan was developed in 2010. Construction on phase one of the solar farm began in October 2011.”

Airports have large swaths of land around the runways and taxiways that by Federal Aviation Administration rules must be kept clear of structures above six feet tall, so they are perfect locations for large, sprawling arrays of solar collectors. The Chattanooga Airport’s solar farm is located on the west side of the airfield, along Jubilee Drive.

“Prior to the development of the West General Aviation Campus this space was unusable for any purpose because of its tendency to flood during heavy rain events,” says Stephens. “When the West General Aviation Campus was developed, a hill had to be removed and that dirt was relocated to this section of the airfield, which raised it above flood level and made it usable land.”

Usable—but not for any aviation purpose. That’s when the idea came up to create a solar farm. Construction was carried out by Inman Solar, utilizing subcontractors from around the Chattanooga area. Nearly 7,500 panels occupy the eight acres of land and generate more than two megawatts of electricity.

In fact, more than 60 percent of the airport facility’s power needs are supplied by a sunny day.

Last year the solar cells generated 2,774,883Kwh (kilowatt hours) of electricity worth nearly a quarter-million dollars. This year, as of the end of last month, 1,049,058Kwh have been produced worth more than $78,000. Unlike Volkswagen, which directly uses the energy their solar cells produce, the Airport Authority sells the energy to TVA, then uses the money to pay their bill to EPB. Says Stephens, “All of our solar power is sold to TVA due to the high cost to retrofit the airport terminal building to be able to accept solar power.” This is actually the most common way businesses and even individuals realize their solar dreams.

The inverters that convert the energy are very expensive, so it’s just easier and economically more feasible to sell the energy to someone who can readily convert it.

Just the installation of the solar collector cells was an expensive proposition. “Phase I of the solar farm was funded through an FAA Voluntary Airport Low Emission (VALE) Grant,” says Stephens. “VALE Grants are air-quality grants issued to airports that are in non-attainment or maintenance areas. Chattanooga is in a non-attainment area for Particulate Matter 2.5, making it eligible for air quality grant funding.” Phase I’s grant was $4.2 million. Funding for Phase II came from a $3.1 million Energy Efficiency Grant.

At the rate the solar farm is producing energy, it could pay for itself long before the end of >> Continued on page 11 chattanoogapulse.com • MAY 7-13, 2015 • The Pulse • 9

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10 • The Pulse • MAY 7-13, 2015 • chattanoogapulse.com

A AD DV V EE R R TT O OR R II A A LL

its life expectancy, which is 30-40 years. But they may not be finished.

“We’re kind of exploring that third phase and how we could make that work,” says Terry Hart, Airport Authority president and CEO. “We do have the land that we could accommodate that with, we’re just trying to work through to see if it makes sense.”

Hart says he would like to see the airport generate all of the power it requires on a daily basis. “We’d love to be able to say that we’re the first airport in the country to be carbon-neutral, self-sufficient on our power.” Standing next to an array of solar collector cells, Hart seems very proud of accomplishments to date and hopeful for the future.

Smaller solar installations around the area include the 212 Market Street restaurant, the covered parking at Finley Stadium and the Riverview Animal Hospital on N. Market Street. Private citizens are

utilizing solar energy ranging from the small one-panel installation that keeps their boat battery charged to whole-house packages that effectively take the homeowner “off the grid.” And Chattanooga isn’t only consuming solar power. Just up the road, they’re preparing to help create the devices that actually collect the photons turned into light and motion and sound.

Wacker Tennessee in Bradley County is putting the finishing touches on its $2.4 billion facility, which will produce about 20,000 metric tons of hyperpure polysilicon per year. The plant will employ around 650 people when it reaches full production levels. It will be a “closed-loop” system producing crystaline polysilicon with only one atom of impurities in one trillion silicon atoms. Closed loop also means Wacker will recycle much of the byproduct created in the production of the polysilicon, making

it a green company that makes parts for other green companies.

Wacker is the second-largest producer of this material in the world and has hired employees who have studied at Chattanooga State, learning what they’ll be doing when the plant opens for business later this summer.

With recent advancements in the efficiency of solar cells, the lowering cost of installation, and the fact that the sun isn’t expected to burn out for another couple of billion years, it’s not too late to jump on this technology. The sun showers the equivalent of 164 watts of power per square meter during a 24-hour day.

Add it up and that means the sun is radiating 84 Terrawatts (84,000,000,000,000W) per day.

And since worldwide consumption is only 12 Terrawatts per day, solar seems to be an increasingly viable solution for a power-hungry planet.

“

We’d love to be able to say that we’re the first airport in the country to be carbonneutral, selfsufficient on our power.”

chattanoogapulse.com • MAY 7-13, 2015 • The Pulse • 11

ARTS SCENE

From Graffiti to Gallery: Gajin Fujita Classic Japanese art meets the LA street

Art Is a Moveable Feast...For Cars

A

Art 120’s Art-Car-A-Van takes to the streets again On Friday, May 8, certain Scenic City vehicles will get a makeover as Art 120 begins a weekend-long celebration of kinetic art. The ArtCar-A-Van event revs up, giving local artists and students the chance to create and submit their very own moving masterpieces.

What exactly is kinetic art? This functional form basically consists of turning everyday vehicles into moveable sculptures. Contestants can decorate anything from cars to mountain bikes to pick-up trucks— or even invent completely new contraptions. But it’s not only the outside that the artists are encouraged to develop. Art cars can also promote environmental health by running on greener resources like solar,

electric, or good old-fashioned human locomotion.

The celebration will end with the annual tailgate party and parade on Saturday, May 9, starting from the Majestic 12 parking lot at 9 a.m. (across from the Creative Discovery Museum) and proceeding happily to Main Street. Meet the artists, see the vehicles, and vote on your favorite school entries. Cash prizes and trophies will be awarded to the winners.

The event is free and open to all artists, educators, nonprofit organizations, and schools, as Art 120 aims to raise awareness of art and its positive effect on the community.

For more info, visit art120.org — Shaun Webster

Thu5.7

fri5.8

sat5.9

sport science

hit me, dealer!

drink it down

Chattanooga Lookouts vs. Jackson Generals

Casino Charity Night Event

Chattanooga Craft Beer Festival

Sports meets science with interactive exhibits created and produced by STEM School students.

7:15 p.m.

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

All the fun and flash of a casino-style experience to benefit the Children's Advocacy Center.

7 p.m.

Stratton Hall 3146 Broad St. (423) 667-4332 cachc.org/aces

Come celebrate all things beer as some of the best local and regional brewers show off their best.

Noon First Tennessee Pavilion 1826 Carter St. (423) 266-4041 eventful.com

12 • The Pulse • MAY 7-13, 2015 • chattanoogapulse.com

rtist Gajin Fujita is coming to the Hunter Museum of American Art on Thursday, May 14. Fujita’s art has been featured in the Hunter’s special exhibition since early April.

Fujita’s special exhibit is a part of the Hunter’s larger rotation of three exhibits exploring the influence of Japanese art on American artists.

Arts zach nicholson

“

Fujita’s work has always centered on this juxtaposition of East and West, but as he’s progressed as an artist, his subjects have become clearer.”

Following Fujita’s contemporary rendition of traditional Japanese art, the “Japonisme and America” exhibit (opening May 8) and the later “Monet and American Impressionism” exhibit (opening June 27) will demonstrate the wide-ranging effect of Japanese art and printmaking on western artists throughout the years.

As the first and most contemporary artist of these three exhibits, Gajin Fujita is a compelling conjunction of the traditional and the modern. A brief view of his artwork shows immediate explosions of color, full-faced emotion, and a uniquely urban background that has LA pride plastered all over it.

And that urban background—namely, graffiti-styled art—is a part of the essence of Fujita’s artwork. Talking to Fujita about urban art, he showed me how little I knew about the culture.

“There’s two camps now—the street art camp and the graffiti art camp. Here in LA, it was graffiti first. These street artists came later.”

Fujita explained a core difference between the two camps, “[Street artists] don’t really use spray paint. I use spray paint still. I guess graffiti is a part of my history. That’s kind of how I started

painting, and it’s evolved into this today. I guess I would call myself a graffiti artist, but I would like to be known as just a fine artist—just an artist.”

This is what is particularly fascinating about Fujita’s career and the intermixing of graffiti and gallery art. Often the two cultures of graffiti and gallery art clash, and often graffiti is reprimanded while gallery art is lauded.

The distinction between these two art forms has been around since Fujita was starting out in the early ’80s, and today, even after exhibiting around the world, Fujita still has difficulty escaping the ever-present “graffiti artist” label.

“To this day it sort of bothers me that people refer to me as a graffiti artist. I’m not really doing graffiti anymore. I’m showing in galleries and doing my stuff in studios. If I were a graffiti artist, I’d be doing my work out in

the streets, doing things illegally. That doesn’t really describe what I’m doing and who I am right now.”

Of course, Fujita readily embraces the tools and craft of graffiti in his exotic paintings. And these graffiti techniques pair with traditional Japanese imagery to create eclectic combinations. Fujita’s work has always centered on this juxtaposition of East and West, but as he’s progressed as an artist, his subjects have become clearer.

“There’s been incremental evolution throughout my career. I started off using the erotic woodblock prints to violate people’s expectations. But now I see myself more involved and interested in samurais and mythological folklore.” Samurais, for Fujita, have become a source of artistic inspiration, and it’s easy to see why—samurais embrace beauty and destruction, life and death. They are walking di-

chotomies.

One particular samurai caught Fujita’s attention—Yoshitsune of the Minamoto clan. Born in 1159, Yoshitsune is one of the greatest samurai warriors of Japanese history. After becoming a skilled swordsman, Yoshitsune defeated legendary warrior monk Benkei in a duel. After his defeat, Benkei served as Yoshitsune’s right-hand man for life.

Fujita’s painting titled “Fatal Match” pictures this famous fight between the two samurai upon a bridge.

Asking Fujita about how he chooses these captivating subjects, he says, “I’m strictly painting what I would want to see in my own place…Once I see something I like, I’ll research about it and look into it more.” Asked about the influence of traditional Japanese art, he laughs. “It’s easier to steal from the posthumous artists.”

It’s this blend of posthumous inspi-

ration and contemporary graffiti that enables Fujita’s art to mesmerize on sight. Though he’s moved on from a traditional graffiti artist, that background permeates his work. I asked him what he thought about the ongoing conflict between graffiti and the law, and he said, “Painting murals on building walls—people don’t like that, building owners don’t like that, I guess the architects don’t like that.

Maybe to them, it feels like we’re painting on their masterpiece. We’re defacing their design. It makes sense.

I wouldn’t want someone to come and slap a tag on my painting, so I feel them. But at the same time, when there’s a clean spot, it’s irresistable for a graffiti artist.”

•••• “Gajin Fujita,” Hunter Museum of American Art, 10 Bluff View, (423) huntermuseum.org. Through June 7.

chattanoogapulse.com • MAY 7-13, 2015 • The Pulse • 13

Gardening Workshops, Tours & Demonstrations Make-N-Take Gardening Projects Live music, kid’s activities and fun for the whole family!

Memorial Day through Labor day

With the 7 States View as your backdrop, tickle your ears with toe-tapping old-time, bluegrass, country, and folk music.

Unbeatable when combined with delectable food from Café 7! Be sure to see the Rock City Raptors soar above the Critter Classroom!

For more info call: 1.800.854.0675

ARTS CALENDAR

May 9 & 10

thursday5.7 Homeschool Science Club 1 p.m.

Creative Discovery Museum 321 Chestnut St. (423) 756-2738 cdmfun.org Paw Pals Storytime 1:30 p.m.

McKamey Animal Center 4500 N. Access Rd. (423) 305-6500 mckameyanimalcenter.org Lady Slippers & Other Native Treasures 3:30 p.m.

Ooltewah Nursery and Landscape Co. 5829 Main St. (423) 238-9775 ooltewahnursey.com Another Gorgeous Evening 5:30 p.m.

Tennessee RiverPlace 3104 Scenic Waters Ln. (423) 266-0314 trgt.org Homebuyer Orientation 5:30 p.m.

Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise 1500 Chestnut St., Ste. 102 (423) 756-6201 cneinc.org “String Theory” 5:30 p.m.

The Hunter Museum of Art 10 Bluff View Ave. (423) 756-2787 huntermuseum.org “History Happy Hour” 6 p.m.

14 • The Pulse • MAY 7-13, 2015 • chattanoogapulse.com

ACES Casino Charity Night Event Museum Center at Five Points 200 Inman St. E (423) 339-5745 museumcenterorg Elliott Smith: “Heaven Adores You” 7 p.m.

East Ridge 18 5080 S. Terrace carmike.com Chattanooga Lookouts vs. Jackson Generals 7:15 p.m.

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

friday5.8 Chattanooga Outdoors Show 10 a.m.

Camp Jordan

Pulse Pick: Claude Stuart A natural comedian, Claude has appeared on That 70’s Show, Scrubs, Comics Unleashed, Entertainers, The Best Damn Sports Period, Oblivious and Talk Soup.

Claude Stuart The Comedy Catch 3224 Brainerd Rd. (423) 629-2233 thecomedycatch.com

323 Camp Jordan Pkwy.

(423) 558-0805 chattanoogaoutdoorshow.com MENtors: Men Who Promote Women 11:30 a.m.

The Chattanoogan Hotel 1201 Broad St. (423) 756-3400 cwli.org ACES Casino Charity Night Event 7 p.m.

Stratton Hall 3146 Broad St. (423) 667-4332 cachc.org/aces River City Sessions 7 p.m.

The Camp House 149 E. MLK Blvd.

(423) 702-8081 thecamphouse.com Chattanooga Lookouts

vs. Jackson Generals 7:15 p.m.

AT&T Field 201 Power Alley (423) 267-2208 lookouts.com Claude Stuart 7:30, 9:45 p.m.

The Comedy Catch 3224 Brainerd Rd. (423) 629-2233 thecomedycatch.com Student Recital 7:30 p.m.

Chattanooga State Humanities Theater 4501 Amnicola Hwy. (423) 687-2460 chattanoogastate.edu

saturday5.9 Chattanooga Outdoors Show 9 a.m.

Camp Jordan 323 Camp Jordan Pkwy.

(423) 558-0805 chattanoogaoutdoorshow.com Day Out With Thomas 9 a.m.

Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum 4119 Cromwell Rd. (423) 894-8028 tvrail.com Moccasin Bend Bike Ride/Hike 9 a.m.

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park 175 Hamm Rd. (706) 866-9241

nps.gov Pop-up Collective: A Caravan of Small Shops 9 a.m.

The Farmer’s Daughter 1211 Hixson Pike (423) 355-5372 thefarmersdaughterchattanooga.com Archaeology Dig Family Day 10 a.m.

Museum Center at Five Points 200 Inman St. E (423) 339-5745 museumcenter.org Hydrangeas: A Southern Favorite 10 a.m.

Ooltewah Nursery and Landscape Co. 5829 Main St. (423) 238-9775 ooltewahnursery.com 3rd Annual CGLA Neighborhood Carnival 10 a.m.

Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy 1802 Bailey Ave. (423) 702-7230 cglaonline.com Southern Blooms Festival 10 a.m.

Rock City 1400 Patten Rd. (706) 820-2531 seerockcity.com Portrait Demo with Norman Davis 11 a.m.

River Gallery 400 E. Second St. (423) 265-5033 river-gallery.com

Tai Chi Classes 11 a.m.

Eastgate Library 5705 Marlin Rd. (423) 855-2689 chattlibrary.org Chattanooga Craft Beer Festival Noon First Tennessee Pavilion 1826 Carter St. (423) 266-4041 eventful.com Scenic City Art Car Parade 1 p.m.

Majestic 12 parking lot 311 Broad St. art120.org Second Annual Spring Wine Festival 1 p.m.

Georgia Winery 6469 Battlefield Pkwy.

(706) 937-9463 georgiawines.com “Artful Yoga: Blossoming Into A New Season” 1:30 p.m.

The Hunter Museum of Art 10 Bluff View (423) 756-2787 huntermusuem.org Symphonic Tales: "The Adventures of Pinocchio" 2:30 p.m.

Downtown Library 1001 Broad St. (423) 757-3510 chattlibrary.org Tennessee Aquarium’s “Sleep in the Deep” Family Sleepover 6 p.m.

Tennessee Aquarium

1 Broad St. (800) 262-0695 tnaqua.org Chattanooga Lookouts vs. Jackson Generals 7:15 p.m.

AT&T Field 201 Power Alley (423) 267-2208 lookouts.com Chattanooga FC vs.

Georgia Revolution 7:30 p.m.

Finley Stadium 1826 Carter St. (423) 266-4041 chattanoogafc.com Claude Stuart 7:30, 9:45 p.m.

The Comedy Catch 3224 Brainerd Rd. (423) 629-2233 thecomedycatch.com MES: “VHSplosion: The Final ’Splosion” 10 p.m.

Sluggo’s North 501 Cherokee Blvd. facebook.com/MESfilmclub

sunday5.10 Chattanooga Outdoors Show 10 a.m.

Camp Jordan 323 Camp Jordan Pkwy.

(423) 558-0805 chattanoogaoutdoorshow.com Mother’s Day Brunch on the Bluff 10 a.m.

Back Inn Café 411 Second St.

ARTS CALENDAR

Southern Blooms Festival

(423) 265-5033 bluffviewartdistrict.com Mother’s Day Sunday Brunch 10 a.m.

Broad Street Grille 1201 Broad St. (423) 424-3700 chattanooganhotel.com Mother’s Day Family Event 10 a.m.

Chattanooga Zoo 301 N. Holtzclaw Ave. (423) 697-1319 chattzoo.org Southern Blooms Festival 10 a.m.

Rock City 1400 Patten Rd. (706) 820-2531 seerockcity.com Chattanooga Market: Mother’s Day Celebration 11 a.m.

First Tennessee Pavilion 1826 Reggie White Blvd.

(423) 648-2496 chattanoogamarket.com Portrait Demo with Norman Davis 1 p.m.

River gallery 400 E. Second St. (423) 265-5033 river-gallery.com Southern Belle Riverboat Mother’s Day Lunch Cruise 1 p.m.

Southern Belle Riverboat 201 Riverfront Pkwy.

(423) 266-4488 chattanoogariverboat.com Chattanooga Lookouts vs. Jackson Generals 2:15 p.m.

Named “One of the Ten Most Incredible Cave Waterfalls on Earth” World Reviewer

423.821.2544 RubyFalls.com Open Saturdays and Sundays!

423.821.2544

RubyFallsZip.com

chattanoogapulse.com • MAY 7-13, 2015 • The Pulse • 15

GOOD BEER GO TO

WASTE

COME TO THE

ARTS CALENDAR

DON’T LET

Northside Neighborhood House Fundraiser

AT&T Field 201 Power Alley (423) 267-2208 lookouts.com Southern Belle Riverboat Mother’s Day Dinner Cruise 5 p.m.

Southern Belle Riverboat 201 Riverfront Pkwy.

(423) 266-4488 chattanoogariverboat.com

monday5.11

AT THE

FIRST TENNESSEE

PAVILION SATURDAY

MAY

9

TH

NOON TO 5PM

21+ event • proper ID required

Five Day Classical Russian Academy Workshop 10 a.m.

Townsend Atelier 201 W Main St. (423) 266-2712 townsendatelier.com One Step at a Time 6 p.m.

Shepherd Community Center 2124 Shepherd Rd. (423) 999-7958 Southside Casual Classics 7:30 p.m.

The Camp House 149 E. MLK Blvd.

(423) 702-8081 thecamphouse.com

tuesday5.12 Solar 101 + Workshops: Commercial and Business 8 a.m. green|spaces 63 E. Main St. (423) 648-0963 greenspaceschattanooga.org

16 • The Pulse • MAY 7-13, 2015 • chattanoogapulse.com

The Chattery Presents: “Headshots & Bios” 4:30 p.m.

Society of Work 701 Market St. (423) 413-8978 thechattery.org Northside Neighborhood House Fundraiser 5 p.m.

The Flying Squirrel Bar 55 Johnston St. (423) 602-5980 flyingsquirrelbar.com

wednesday5.13 Middle East Dance 10:30 a.m.

Jewish Cultural Center 5461 N. Terrace (423) 493-0270 jewishchattanooga.com Lunch & Learn: View Dynamic Glass 11:30 a.m. green|spaces 63 E Main St. (423) 648-0963 greenspaceschattanooga.org Chattanooga Market 3 p.m.

First Tennessee Pavilion 1826 Reggie White Blvd.

(423) 648-2496 chattanoogamarket.com Main Street Farmers Market 4 p.m.

325 E. Main St. mainsttfarmersmarket.com Jewish Film Festival: “The Art Dealer” 7 p.m.

Jewish Cultural Center 5461 N. Terrace (423) 493-0270 jewishchattanooga.com Chattanooga FC vs.

Ocala Stampede 7:30 p.m.

Finley Stadium 1826 Carter St. (423) 266-4041 chattanoogafc.com

ongoing Friends of the Library Spring Book Sale (Ends May 10) Hamilton Place 2100 Hamilton Place Blvd.

(423) 757-5425 friendsofthelibrarychattanooga.com “Contemplation of the Spirit” River Gallery 400 E. Second St. (423) 265-5033 river-gallery.com "Change Is Good!"

In-Town Gallery 26A Frazier Ave. (423) 267-9214 intowngallery.com Spring Season at Blackwell 71 Eastgate Loop (423) 344-5643 chattanoogaphoto.org “Eudora Welty and the Segregated South” The Hunter Museum of American Art 10 Bluff View (423) 267-0968 huntermuseum.org “Gajin Fujita”

The Hunter Museum of American Art 10 Bluff View (423) 267-0968 huntermuseum.org “New on View II” The Hunter Museum of American Art 10 Bluff View (423) 267-0968 huntermuseum.org The Alice E. and Joseph H. Davenport, Jr. Collection The Hunter Museum of American Art 10 Bluff View (423) 267-0968 huntermuseum.org “Mixed Media, Contemporary & Abstract” Reflections Gallery 6922 Lee Hwy. (423) 892-3072 reflectionsgalleryTN.com “Indivisible: AfricanNative American Lives in the Americas” The Museum Center at Five Points 200 Inman St. E (423) 33905745 museumcenter.org Local Homeless & Nontraditional Artists Exhibition Hart Gallery 110 E. Main St. (423) 521-4707 hartgallerytn.com Map these locations on chattanoogapulse.com. Send event listings at least 10 days in advance to: calendar@chattanoogapulse.com

Diversions

Consider This with Dr. Rick

by Rick Pimental-Habib, Ph.D. Perhaps one of the side effects of being part of an “entitled” generation, or an “instant gratification” generation, or just being someone whose pursuit of happiness leads you to continually look outside yourself, is the ongoing effort (and expectation) for a quick fix, without any long-term satisfaction.

How repetitively frustrating! Hey, there’s nothing wrong with wanting the newest, fastest, sexiest iPhone—as long as you don’t put all your happiness eggs in that basket. How about this instead: “What if happiness were found in the serenity of simple pleasures?

What if we didn’t need the newest gizmo…the highest high? What if happiness is in the air we breathe....slowly, deeply, and conscious.

What if happiness is one fresh grape, savored with gratitude? What if happiness is in our oneness with all creation? What if happiness is about enjoying life exactly as it comes to us—without chasing after it? What if happiness is something we CHOOSE...regardless of our circumstances?” — Jonathan Lockwood Huie chattanoogapulse.com • MAY 7-13, 2015 • The Pulse • 17

Gig Hackers...

Start Your Engines First cross-city Gig hackathon just lit up the Public Library

“

Seven teams started out Saturday morning with nothing but an idea, hacked through the weekend to code up a working demo and presented the fruits of their labors Sunday afternoon.”

OK, first things first: Before the word hacker meant “criminal with a computer” to most people, it described someone who could make a computer do whatever needed to be done—up to and including singing, dancing and turning somersaults— RICH even if no one had ever done it before or had any idea where to begin.

And those are the men and women who hacked their way through Gig Hacks last weekend on the Public Library’s Fourth Floor.

Gig Hacks was the first cross-city hackathon focused on gigabit innovation development. It was held simultaneously in five cities with community-wide giga-

bit Internet (Chattanooga, Kansas City and Burlington, Vermont) or a lab space focusing on developing bandwidth-intensive applications (San Francisco and Charlotte, North Carolina).

C h a t t a nooga sponsors include US Ignite, Co.Lab, GiBAILEY gLab at the Chattanooga Public Library, the Mozilla Gigabit Community Fund and The Enterprise Center.

Seven teams started out Saturday morning with nothing but an idea, hacked through the weekend to code up a working demo and presented the fruits of their labors Sunday afternoon.

The winner was an application called Cloud Play

Tech Talk

that allows a user to stream a video game without installing the game software on the local computer.

“A lot of times when you go to somebody’s house or you want to try out a new app or a new game, you don’t want to go through process of having to install it, installing updates before you’re ready to play,” explains co-developer Tim Coy. “With Cloud Play you can just click on a link in your web browser and then the game loads and plays for you locally.”

Working with an existing game, Coy, Ustin Zarubin and Jonathan Williams created a prototype front-end system that allowed a user to play the game remotely.

For their demo—which was simulcast live to the other four participating cities— the game was streamed over the Internet from a gig-connected server across the room in the Library’s

Fourth Floor.

“As you can see, this is actually the full game playing here,” said Zarubin during the demo. “Instead of the normal streaming services, where the game is actually played on a remote server that uses a massive amount of hardware to manage these big graphics cards and then streams the video to you, this actually gives you the game files so you can test your hardware before you purchase the game to see if it’s compatible with your hardware. Or you can go over to a friend’s house and just start playing the game.”

Streaming video game software is a great application of Chattanooga’s gigabit Internet, according to Lindsay Frost-Cleary with the Mozilla Gigabit Community Fund.

“This is a lot of data,” she said. “If you think about your average video

Criminal Defense, Divorces, Family Law, and Personal Injury.

Call Bill Speek, Gerald Webb, Jonathan Turner or Kiff Newkirk for a consultation today!

(423) 531-2800 www.swtnlaw.com 18 • The Pulse • MAY 7-13, 2015 • chattanoogapulse.com

631 Cherry St. Chattanooga, TN 37402

Celebrate Life. Eat Well.

Left to right: Lindsay Frost-Cleary with Mozilla Gigabit Community Fund, Cloud Play co-developers Ustin Zarubin and Tim Coy, and Glenn Ricart of US Ignite.

game, there’s sound, there’s movement, there’s video. It’s a bandwidthintensive thing. In the demo, when they clicked the button, it streamed instantly, which is a really clear and relevant application of the Gig.” Prizes for Cloud Play and the second place winner—a virtual reality application called Kinect Across— were spots in Co.Lab’s CoStarters or Accelerator programs.

A special award went to Adagio, a collaborative, multi-track sound-mixing program. Adagio began in 2014 at Co.Lab’s “Will This Float” business plan competition. Consistent with the hackathon ethic, Adagio’s coders insisted on developing a standalone app from scratch over the weekend that will eventually be a component of the larger application. Although they didn’t get one of the top awards, they got a nice consolation prize: a slot in the 2015 iteration of Gig Tank, Co.Lab’s summer accelerator program for businesses that make use of Chattanooga’s Gig. Other teams included Yolo Ironman, a video game played across the Gig network; iVenture, a modernized version of geocaching that uses the Gigabit network to facilitate and track participation; Raspberry Pi Cluster, an effort to connect several of the

popular Raspberry Pi microcontrollers for greater power; and ChattaNewbie, an application designed to make newcomers feel at home sooner by showing them shared paths through what the city has to offer.

“We’ve been doing these Gig-focused hackathons in Chattanooga for quite some time, and all of a sudden there are these other cities that either have gigabit networks or are coming online with gigabit networks, who want to play in this space, too,” said Frost-Cleary.

“It’s a great opportunity for Chattanooga to show what we’ve learned.

I think in this space today you saw at least three of the tools that were presented using very, very advanced Gig applications. That might not have been possible in Chattanooga a few years ago. It really shows how our community has developed, and it certainly shows how our community has a lot to share with these new gigabit cities.”

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

2213 Hamilton Place Boulevard • Open 7 Days (423) 899-5341 • www.acropolisgrill.com

Locally Owned and Operated for 20 Years

5450 Highway 153 in Hixson • (423) 875-8049 amigorestaurantonline.com chattanoogapulse.com • MAY 7-13, 2015 • The Pulse • 19

MUSIC SCENE

Band On A Break?

Don’t Despair.

Guy-and-a-guitar man R. J. Dollars goes successfully solo. See him at JJ's.

Ben Rabb Finds His Own Rhythm Midwest transplant brings his New York sound to town “Living in New York City is like tug-of-war. I’m constantly going back and forth deciding if I like it here,” says indie-folk songwriter Ben Rabb, whose first EP, Until It’s Gone, was written after an influential move to NYC. “These songs are about me trying to make sense of my experiences here. New York is a place with a lot of people, a lot of noise, a lot of ups and downs…which makes it a great muse,” he explains.

Rabb is steeped in the fingerpicked sounds of the folksinger greats—James Taylor, Eric Andersen, Joni Mitchell—but more closely aligned with modern, indie-minded songwriters like David Gray.

Everything started in the Midwest, where Rabb spent his first 10 years.

He grew up listening to folk music,

learning about the older stuff from his parents and getting a more upto-date education from his older sister, who passed along many of her own albums.

By the time he finally moved to New York in his mid-20s, Rabb had already spent a decade jumping from city to city, steadily collecting the stories that would eventually fill his own music.

Come see—and hear—for yourself this Saturday evening and discover an up-and-coming storyteller who brings us into his own world with the power of his music and voice.

Ben Rabb Saturday, 8 p.m.

Charles & Myrtle's Coffeehouse 105 McBrien Rd. christunity.org

thu5.7

fri5.8

SAT5.9

super strings

music & more

monster metal

String Theory

River City Sessions

A night of Mendelssohn and Brahms featuring Soovin Kim on violin, Hsin-Yun Huang on viola, Paul Watkins on cello and Gloria Chien on piano.

6:30 p.m.

Hunter Museum of Art 10 Bluff View huntermuseum.org

A collaboration of local poets, authors, storytellers and musicians whose work honors life in the South with literature and music.

7 p.m.

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

Pains Chapel, All or Nothing, Never Surrender Get out your leather and studs and prepare for an all-out aural assault with these metal masters.

8 p.m.

Ziggy’s Underground 607 Cherokee Blvd.

(423) 265-8711

20 • The Pulse • MAY 7-13, 2015 • chattanoogapulse.com

O

ne day you wake up and decide, “That’s it, I’m gonna be in a band!” Depending on where you are in your own musical development, it might be necessary to learn to play an instrument first—but maybe not if your friends aren’t too discriminating. Either way, you find yourself some like-minded folk and you start rehearsing.

Music marc t. michael

“

In an era where digital technology is capable of making every man an orchestra, it is sweetly refreshing to hear something as minimalist as ringing guitar chords and a voice.”

Fun fact: The word “rehearse” comes from the Middle English rehersen, which itself is derived from the Anglo-French rehercer which is re- plus herce (to harrow.) All this can be taken to mean that rehearsing is a harrowing experience at best.

Etymological humor aside, the upshot is that the distance from point A (I want to be in a band) to point B (I’m in a band people don’t hate hearing) is longer and more arduous than any dewy-eyed young would-be musician can fathom, which is why the attrition rate is ridiculously high and pawn shops are a good place to pick up cheap gear.

So, flashing forward past the years of struggle and the learning curve, you find that you’ve arrived, you’re in a band with some righteous folk and you’re making a name for yourself, then…the band goes on hiatus.

Let’s be clear: A band going on hiatus is not a terrible thing. It doesn’t mean the band is gone, only taking a break, and there are many good reasons (and some terrible ones) why this may happen. Pregnancy, job change, pregnancy, coming off a grueling touring/recording schedule, pregnancy, lead singer in jail for impersonating a nun; the list goes on, but the point is

The Well Presents A Very Open Mic Night

We couldn't find any photos of R.J. Dollars, so instead, here's a photo of a bunny with a pancake on its head.

that the band isn’t gone, only taking a break.

However, you’ve just dedicated all of your adult life up to now getting to this point, so what to do? Fear not—the solo side project beckons and that’s how, 312 words in, we come to the point of this week’s piece: General Dollars.

Who is R.J. Dollars? That’s something of a mystery. Truth to tell, there is a dearth of personal information available beyond the man’s music.

Even photographic evidence is scarce, which is why this article is accompanied by an artist’s interpretation based on the best available evidence.

Dollars garnered some stage time as a member of local

group 8 Knives, well received, but currently on hiatus. Never one to sit idly by, R.J. grabbed his trusty axe and started crafting a solo act, and General Dollars is the result. He’s a man with a guitar and a killer sound, and that’s good enough for now.

He recently completed a recording session at Jack White’s Third Man Records in Nashville. The tune, “Always Ramblin’” can be heard by doing a quick search at Third Man Records’ website and will be pressed (along with an additional B-side track) as a 7-inch single later this summer. “Always Ramblin’” is the quintessential “guy and a guitar” tune, bluesy, folksy, but equally at

home in the alt/indie section of the record shop.

In an era where digital technology is capable of making every man an orchestra, it is sweetly refreshing to hear something as minimalist as ringing guitar chords and a voice, particularly when that voice has some range and experience behind it. To put it bluntly, R.J. is a hit as a solo act, though he has the talent to enhance any ensemble group.

You have two opportunities to see for yourself, up close and personal at JJ’s Bohemia.

General Dollars will be performing there on May 20 with Adam Faucett and the Tall Grass, and again on June 19 with Turbo Fruits.

Tenacious D famously referred to “Open Mic Night” as “Learn to Play Guitar in Front of a Live Audience” night, and not without reason. As a veteran of 25-plus years of open mics, I can attest that the results can be…mixed.

There are two pieces of advice I have distilled from my quarter-century of listening: 1) Tune before you get on stage; 2) Know at least one entire song (two half songs do not equal one whole song).

For all that, open mic events play a vital role in the local artistic community.

They are a place to debut new material, to meet other artists and, yes, a place to cut your teeth on stagecraft and playing to an audience. There are several great opportunities around town.

My old pal Mike McDade has been hosting open mics for as long as I’ve been in Chattanooga and Hap Henniger keeps it weird at The Office on Thursdays, but there is a new showcase in town, one that promises to make an already inclusive event even more so. The Well, at 1800 Rossville Blvd. #8, has partnered with the Chattanooga Folk School to bring a Monday night open mic to all ages and all abilities.

Hosted by the always kind and supportive Shawnessy Cargile, a “Children’s Open Mic” runs every Monday from 6:30-7:30 p.m., at which any child 12 and under will have the opportunity to sing, dance, tell jokes, recite poetry or perform any other creative act.

Sign-ups for the regular open mic commence at 7:30, with the first performer taking the stage at 8 p.m. Performers are given a maximum of 15 minutes per set and the first Monday of every month features a “Pro Panel” to give feedback to performers after their set (this is optional, one need not receive feedback if they so choose).

The “Pro Panel” is comprised of professional musicians, poets, event organizers and music/written-word critics, each dedicated to providing constructive advice and feedback to performers. Vendors Local Juice and Taqueria Jalisco are on hand with food and drink.

— MTM

chattanoogapulse.com • MAY 7-13, 2015 • The Pulse • 21

LIVE MUSIC

MAY

8 BACKUP PLANET SAT 9:30P 9 THU WRENNPOP 9p 14 SAME AS IT EVER WAS FRI 10p 15 RUBIKS GROOVE SAT 9:30P 16 CAROLINE ROSE WED 8p 20 SMOOTH DIALECTS FRI 10p 22 THE DEAD DEADS

with sElf and DANIMAL PLANET

FRI 10p

with HIGHER LEARNING

ATHENS, GA’S “QUEEN OF POP”

A TRIBUTE TO THE TALKING HEADS

ALL THE HITS OF THE '80S & MORE with SPECIAL GUEST RYE BABY

with THE GREAT BARRIER REEFS

5.23 MATT STEPHENS PROJECT 5.20 ARPETRIO 5.22 THE COMMUNICATORS: THAT 90'S SHOW

COMING IN JUNE

JOEY WINSLETT BAND with MARLOW DRIVE

MASSEUSE

with CHARLIE THE HEAD

FRI 10p

5

SAT 10p

6

ALL SHOWS 21+ UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED • NON-SMOKING VENUE

221 MARKET STREET

HOT MUSIC • FINE BEER • GREAT FOOD BUY TICKETS ONLINE • RHYTHM-BREWS.COM

MUSIC CALENDAR

CHATTANOOGA

thursday5.7 String Theory featuring Soovin Kim, Hsin-Yun Huang, Paul Watkins and Gloria Chen 6:30 p.m.

Hunter Museum of Art 10 Bluff View huntermuseum.org Prime Country Band 6:30 p.m.

Ringgold Nutrition Center 144 Circle Dr., Ringgold (706) 935-2541 Live Bluegrass 6:30 p.m.

Whole Foods Market 301 Manufacturers Rd. wholefoodsmarket.com Shani Heddon Palmer & The Lowdown 7 p.m.

Signal Mountain Arts Community Center 809 Kentucky Ave. signalmacc.org Feel It Thursday Open Mic 7 p.m.

Mocha Restaurant & Music Lounge 511 Broad St. mochajazz.net Bluegrass and Country Jam 7 p.m.

Grace Nazarene Church 6310 Dayton Blvd. chattanoogagrace.com Jesse James & Tim Neal 7 p.m.

Mexi Wings VII 5773 Brainerd Rd. (423) 296-1073

22 • The Pulse • MAY 7-13, 2015 • chattanoogapulse.com

The Dead Deads Songwriter Shootout 7 p.m.

The Camp House 149 E. MLK Blvd. thecamphouse.com Open Mic with Hap Henninger 9 p.m.

The Office @ City Cafe 901 Carter St. citycafemenu.com

friday5.8 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

Pulse Pick: Matt Downer Matt performs regional, traditional old-time music on fiddle and banjo. He's been documenting the tunes, stories and songs of the elder musicians of the tri-state area and bringing them to new audiences.

Matt Downer Saturday, 12:30 p.m.

Tennessee Aquarium Plaza 1 Broad St. (423) 648-2496 chattanoogarivermarket.com

2204 Hamilton Place Blvd. elmesonrestaurant.com Jimmy Harris 7 p.m.

The Coconut Room 6925 Shallowford Rd. thepalmsathamilton.com Joey Winslett Band 7 p.m.

Miller Plaza 850 Market St. nightfallchattanooga.com River City Sessions 7 p.m.

The Camp House 149 E. MLK Blvd. thecamphouse.com Tyler McKenzie & Brianna Smith 7:30 p.m.

Chattanooga State Humanities Theater 4501 Amnicola Hwy. chattanoogastate.edu

Tammy Sullivan 7:30 p.m.

Ringgold Depot 155 Depot St., Ringgold (706) 935-5290 Paul Smith and the Skyhigh Band 8 p.m.

CBC East 110 Jordan Dr. cbcburns.com Dusty 45s 8 p.m.

Miller Plaza 850 Market St. nightfallchattanooga.com Rick Rushing & Blues Strangers 8:30 p.m.

The Foundry 1201 Broad St. chattanooganhotel.com Pete Boubel 9 p.m.

The Office @ City Cafe 901 Carter St. citycafemenu.com The Dead Deads, sElf, Danimal Planet 10 p.m.

Rhythm & Brews 221 Market St. rhythm-brews.com

saturday5.9 Matt Downer 12:30 p.m.

Chattanooga River Market 1 Broad St. chattanoogarivermarket.com 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 Jimmy Harris 7 p.m.

The Coconut Room 6925 Shallowford Rd. thepalmsathamilton.com The D. Trio & Friends 7 p.m.

The Camp House 149 E. MLK Blvd. thecamphouse.com Pains Chapel, All or Nothing, Never Surrender 8 p.m.

Ziggy’s Underground 607 Cherokee Blvd.

(423) 265-8711 Edward David Anderson 8 p.m.

Clyde’s on Main 122 W. Main St. clydesonmain.com Ben Rabb 8 p.m.

Charles & Myrtle’s Coffeehouse 105 McBrien Rd. christunity.org Rick Rushing & Blues Strangers 8:30 p.m.

The Foundry 1201 Broad St. chattanooganhotel.com Something Else

9 p.m.

Long Haul Saloon 2536 Cummings Hwy. (423) 822-9775 Backup Planet, Higher Learning 9:30 p.m.

Rhythm & Brews 221 Market St. rhythm-brews.com Kara-Ory-Oke! 10 p.m.

The Office @ City Cafe 901 Carter St. citycafemenu.com

sunday5.10 David Peterson 11 a.m.

Flying Squirrel Bar 55 Johnson St. flyingsquirrelbar.com Felipe Paccagnella 12:30 p.m.

Chattanooga Market 1829 Carter St. chattanoogamarket.com Cody Harris 1:30 p.m.

Flying Squirrel Bar 55 Johnson St. flyingsquirrelbar.com Open Mic with Jeff Daniels 6 p.m.

Long Haul Saloon 2536 Cummings Hwy. (423) 822-9775 Daily Bourbon River Show 8 p.m.

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

MUSIC CALENDAR

Backup Planet

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

Thursday, May 7: 9pm Open Mic with Hap Henninger Friday, May 8: 9pm Pete Boubel Saturday, May 9: 10pm Kara-Ory-Oke! Tuesday, May 12: 7pm Server/Hotel Appreciation Night

monday5.11 Monday Nite Big Band 7 p.m.

The Coconut Room 6925 Shallowford Rd. thepalmsathamilton.com Open Mic 7 p.m.

Magoo’s Restaurant 3658 Ringgold Rd. facebook.com/MagoosTN Southside Casual Classics 7:30 p.m.

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

tuesday5.12 Jamion Williams, Matt Siegel, Ryder Pierce, Anthony Quails 6 p.m.

Heritage House Arts & Civic Center 1428 Jenkins Rd. (423) 855-9474 Bill McCallie & In Cahoots 6:30 p.m.

Southern Belle Riverboat 201 Riverfront Pkwy. chattanoogariverboat.com Rick’s Blues Jam 7 p.m.

Folk School of Chattanooga 1200 Mountain Creek Rd. chattanoogafolk.com Open Mic with Mike McDade 8 p.m.

Tremont Tavern 1203 Hixson Pike tremonttavern.com

wednesday5.13 Eddie Pontiac 5:30 p.m.

El Meson 248 Northgate Park elmesonrestaurant.com The Other Guys 6 p.m.

SpringHill Suites 495 Riverfront Pkwy.

(423) 834-9300 Dan Sheffield 7:30 p.m.

Sugar’s Downtown 507 Broad St. sugarschattanooga.com Wednesday Night Jazz 8 p.m.

Barking Legs Theater 1307 Dodds Ave. barkinglegs.org Yattie Westfield 8 p.m.

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

Raw Bar & Grill 409 Market St. rawbarandgrillchatt.com The Bootleg Brothers, Amethyst Klah 10 p.m.

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

$5 Pitchers $2 Wells $1.50 Domestics ●

●

Wednesday, May 13: 8pm Jazz Night feat. Yattie Westfield Happy Hour: Mon-Fri: 4-7pm $1 10oz drafts, $3 32oz drafts, $2 Wells, $1.50 Domestics, Free Appetizers

citycafemenu.com/the-office

Since 1982

Map these locations on chattanoogapulse.com. Send event listings at least 10 days in advance to: calendar@chattanoogapulse.com chattanoogapulse.com • MAY 7-13, 2015 • The Pulse • 23

Record Reviews

ernie paik

Diverse Synth-Pop, Sparse and Sensitive Film Music Jeff Zagers is tender and tuneful, Tracey Thorn gets intimate

Jeff Zagers Still / Alive (Wharf Cat)

T

he Savannah, Ga. one-man band Jeff Zagers specializes in haunting pop with occasional noisy diversions, favoring tender, tuneful melodies that cast shadows with a reverberating grandeur.

However, if one were to identify a musical superpower of his, it would be the ability to deliver sincere sentimentality within synth-pop capsules, without being overwrought. It’s music that stands close-by with human warmth, without a shred of winking ironic distancing.

Making this case is Exhibit A: Zagers’ use of the saxophone;

Tracey Thorn Songs from The Falling (Strange Feeling) it’s among only a few examples of pop saxophone that come to mind in the last three decades that aren’t either cringeworthy or just cheesy (think about the bemulleted Sexy Sax Man playing George Michael’s “Careless Whisper”).

After 2014’s excellent 3-cassette anthology Chu’s Musings Trill comes Zagers’ new fulllength album, Still / Alive, perhaps his most consistent statement yet that doesn’t belie his affinity for diverse strategies.

Wasting no time, the first three tracks of Still / Alive whip by in less than five minutes, be-

ginning with the a cappella song “The Double,” which summons gospel harmonies, starting with the declaration “I’m leaving all my friends.” The 6/8 time signature of the dreamy dancehall number “Fortaken” brings to mind heartfelt half-century-old popular music, and it’s followed by the jigsaw puzzle “A Nimbus,” where the organ, sax and drum kit take their time to assemble into cohesion.

Sci-fi sounds lurk in “To Replenish,” behind sequenced synths, artificial drums and weighty chords, and “Still Alive” offers a compelling momentum, bringing to mind The Human League’s new wave, when they were on the fence between darkness and pure pop.

The album is smooth sailing until the disruptive closing number, “A Growing Interest,” with lurching, heaving aural discomfort and distortion, with stabbing sound blasts, concluding Still / Alive as one of the most satisfyingly intriguing pop albums of the year so far.

T

racey Thorn is primarily known for her remarkable

career in the group Everything But the Girl, with its poised take on pop in the ’80s and its second life in the ’90s as dancepop purveyors.

She’s also known for her early ’80s group Marine Girls, offering a template for certain strains of indie-pop (I’m looking at you, Olympia). Within the last decade, she’s released a trio of solo albums that glean from the modern methods (producers and electronics) of Everything But the Girl, including the Christmas album Tinsel and Lights.

This writer is probably in the minority, but out of her entire body of work, he favors two often overlooked releases: the Night and Day EP from Everything But the Girl (including the stunning, minimal Cole Porter title track) and her first solo album, 1982’s A Distant Shore, which uses nothing more than Thorn’s voice and a guitar.

Both of those releases are modest and unassuming, but there is a really special, timeless intimacy to them that Thorn has only occasionally been able to capture since. Thorn’s newest effort, Songs from The Falling,

is a brief, 8-song mini-album with music created for the film The Falling about a fainting outbreak at a British all-girls school in 1969, and it hearkens back to those two sparse, sensitive and intimate releases.

The opening “Follow Me Down” uses a stark minorkeyed piano, which sets a sober tone to the proceedings, and it also features the odd flourishes of what sounds like a mallet being dragged across a cheap xylophone, making ascending wooden tones. Percussion is used very sparingly across the soundtrack: a soft bass drum here, faint cymbal taps there.

One striking thing is just how vulnerable Thorn’s voice sounds, like on “It Was Always Me” where she not-so-confidently reaches for its high notes and on “Are You There?” with endearingly imperfect vocal modulations. These songs aren’t unbaked sketches, although the arrangements aren’t thick and lush and are rather skeletal.

Songs from The Falling isn’t Thorn’s most ambitious work, lyrically or musically, but the songs resonate wistfully in a treasured way.

ALL NEW. ALL FOR YOU.

ChattanoogaHasCars.com THE TENNESSEE VALLEY’S MOST POWERFUL AUTOMOTIVE SHOPPING TOOL 24 • The Pulse • MAY 7-13, 2015 • chattanoogapulse.com

Shani hedden Palmer & Sweet lowdown Thursday, May 7th 7pm at the MACC

FREE

Local well known artist singing Patsy Cline, Etta James, Jo Stafford, Keely Smith and many others.

Mountain Arts Community Center • 809 Kentucky Ave, Signal Mountain, TN For more information visit our website at signalmacc.org

German-American BrewPub

224 Frazier Ave • brewhausbar.com

Featured: Spaetzle entrée with vinegar slaw and brussels sprouts w/bacon marmalade

Thursay, May 7 @ 7pm: Cool Springs Tap Take Over Night Friday, May 8 @ 7pm: Lagunitas Pint Night Thursay, May 14 @ 7pm: Blackstone Tap Take Over Night Thursday, May 21 @ 7pm: Smuttynose Tap Take Over Night chattanoogapulse.com • MAY 7-13, 2015 • The Pulse • 25

SCREEN SCENE

You Can’t Tell the Players Without a Scorecard

Finding Art and Discovering Family Jewish Film Series screens "The Art Dealer" Chattanooga’s Jewish Cultural Center continues with their Eighth Annual Jewish Film Series, a collection of Jewish-themed, award-winning films produced in Uruguay, France, Israel, and the U.S., with the Wednesday screening of “The Art Dealer.”

This French film, which is subtitled in English, follows a Jewish woman who embarks on a journey to recover family paintings stolen by the Nazis and uncovers some shadowy family secrets that were kept hidden.

This film is unlike any other recent film about this time period, focusing on the family relationships instead of

✴✴✴✴

the quest for recovery.

Anna Sigalevitch, who is best known for her work in The Piano Teacher, Flight of the Red Balloon and Belle Epíne, gives another captivating performance as a desperate woman searching for the truth in a past shrouded in mystery.

Jewish Film Series: “The Art Dealer” Wednesday, 7 p.m.

Jewish Cultural Center 5461 N. Terrace (423) 493-0270 jewishchattanooga.com

NEW IN THEATERS

Hot Pursuit An uptight and by-the-book cop tries to protect the outgoing widow of a drug boss as they race through Texas pursued by crooked cops and murderous gunmen.

Director: Anne Fletcher Stars: Reese Witherspoon, Sofía Vergara, Jodi Lyn Brockton

✴✴✴✴

The D Train The head of a high school reunion committee travels to Los Angeles to track down the most popular guy from his graduating class and convince him to go to the reunion.

Directors: Andrew Mogel & Jarrad Paul Stars: Kathryn Hahn, James Marsden

26 • The Pulse • MAY 7-13, 2015 • chattanoogapulse.com

“The Avengers: Age of Ultron” requires a near complete Marvel immersion

“T

he Avengers: Age of Ultron” is the first film in the Marvel cinematic universe that might be inaccessible to new viewers. It is completely predicated on knowledge of everything that has happened in the 12 previous, fully linked Marvel films that started in 2008 with “Iron Man.”

Screen john devore

“

These sequences are as much fun as a comic book fan can have in a film.

Yet there is hollowness to it.”

Viewers that have missed one or more of the stand-alone films and their myriad sequels could potentially be confused as the plot unfolds onscreen. In fact, viewers that haven’t ventured into the smallscreen iterations of the Marvel universe may be confused, as much of what has happened in the second season of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D” leads directly to the opening action sequence of “Age of Ultron.”

I’ll admit to not watching “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D” this season and thus, as the Avengers dazzled and fought through legions of H.Y.D.R.A. agents at the beginning of the film, I felt a little left out, as if I had missed an essential part of the story. How much I had missed from my lack of interest in network television is more than likely minor; however, it is an indication of what is to come. Very soon, these films are going to require an intense frontloading of information in order to make sense. And yet, the films will continue to be very successful. What this means for the film industry is a question worth asking.

“The Avengers: Age of Ultron” is the most “comic book” of any of the Marvel films yet made. The film is unapologetically plot- and action-driven. It’s almost

surprising it isn’t accompanied by a Stan Lee voiceover, full of the character introductions and asides found in the panels of traditional Marvel comics. These characters no longer need introduction, nor do they exist in the more grounded reality set out by the earlier films. They are now larger-thanlife, true superheroes.

It’s strange to see these characters winning so handily despite unbelievable odds, when just two weeks ago I watched a superhero character set in the same universe beaten in such a savage and severe way, on multiple occasions, nearly to death. Yet, in “The Avengers: Age of Ultron” none of the characters are ever in real danger. The stakes may be high, but our heroes are above them, godlike and tranquil. The action in the film equals the action of the comics—it is physics-defying and exciting to watch.

These sequences are as much fun as a comic book fan can have in a film.

Yet there is hollowness to it. What set

“As far as the quality of the film, there is no denying its charm and polish. It is packed with director Joss Whedon-esque one-liners and exceptional special effects” these films apart from their DC counterparts (“Man of Steel,” for instance) is that the destruction caused by the heroes was more measured. While Superman collapsed skyscrapers during his battles, the Avengers tried to protect civilians as much as possible.

“The Avengers: Age of Ultron” has tried to maintain this while upping damage wrought upon the world.

However, by moving the action sequences to unknown cities in African and Eastern European countries to create miniature disaster films, the filmmakers have made a different statement. The intention was likely to make the action a more global consequence, but instead it reinforces the American notion that the lives of

foreigners are less important than the lives of Americans, and therefore the destruction of these cities (almost entirely caused by the Avengers) isn’t as bad as what happened in New York (which was caused by an alien force).

The Avengers seem more antagonistic than protective. The end always justifies the means when the means only affects the Third World.

As far as the quality of the film, there is no denying its charm and polish. It is packed with director Joss Whedonesque one-liners and exceptional special effects. There’s very little room for character development or explanations of certain scenes. The audience is simply called on to accept what they see and move on. Given how fast things

happen, there’s not much time to examine motivations or think critically about the plot. In fact, the quickness found between shots, the reluctance to hang onto one or two action sequences for more than a few seconds indicates an over-reliance on the special effects in general. It’s especially jarring in relation to the long, perfectly choreographed action sequences found in “Daredevil.” Still, the film is, in a word, fun. It succeeds in spades given what it set out to do.

The success of this film will, of course, inspire copies. Are we soon to see a variety of interconnected stories and character cameos across a wide multiple genres and mediums? We should admit this possibility. Before the Marvel cinematic universe, connections between properties were more nebulous, and mostly happened within the mind of an autistic boy on “St.Elsewhere.” We should be wary, lest film become as closed off as Tommy Westfall.

chattanoogapulse.com • MAY 7-13, 2015 • The Pulse • 27

Free Will Astrology

“ Homework: No one can make you feel any emotion unless you agree to feel it. You are the sovereign of what happens inside you.

Explain why at FreeWillAstrology. com

Rob Brezsny is an aspiring master of curiosity, perpetrator of sacred uproar, and founder of the Beauty and Truth Lab. He brings a literate, myth-savvy perspective to his work. It’s all in the stars.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Benedictine monks observe the Latin motto Laborare est Orare. The 19thcentury abbot Maurus Wolter interpreted these words to mean “work is worship” or “work is prayer.” He was trying to impress upon his fellow monks that the work they did was not a grudging distraction from their service to God, but rather at the heart of their devotion. To do their tasks with love was a way to express gratitude for having been blessed with the gift of life. I propose that you experiment with this approach in the coming weeks, even if your version is more secular. What would it be like to feel contentment with and appreciation for the duties you have been allotted?

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Here’s one of the best things you can do for your mental and physical health: Withdraw your attention from the life that lies behind you, and be excited about the life that stretches ahead of you. Forget about the past, and get wildly inventive as you imagine the interesting future you will create for yourself. Forgive everyone who has offended you, and fantasize about the fun adventures you’ll go on, the inspiring plans you’ll carry out, and the invigorating lessons you hope to learn.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In the children’s book The Little Engine That Could, a little blue engine volunteers to pull a long chain of train cars up a steep hill, even though it’s not confident it has the power to do so. As it strains to haul the heavy weight, it recites a mantra to give itself hope: “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.” The story ends happily.

The little blue engine reaches the top of the hill with its many cars in tow, and is able to glide down the rest of the way. As you deal with your own challenge, Gemini, I recommend that you use an even more forceful incantation. Chant this: “I know I can, I know I can, I know I can.”

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Here’s a confession: I have taken a vow to foster beauty, truth,

28 • The Pulse • MAY 7-13, 2015 • chattanoogapulse.com

rob brezsny

love, justice, equality, tolerance, creativity, playfulness, and hope. To do this work is one of my life goals. I approach it with the devotion of a monk and the rigor of a warrior. Does that mean I ignore difficulty and suffering and cruelty? Of course not. I’m trying to diminish the power of those problems, so I sure as hell better know a lot about them. On the other hand, my main focus is on redemption and exaltation. I prefer not to describe in detail the world’s poisons, but rather to provide an antidote for them. Even if you don’t normally share my approach, Cancerian, I invite you to try it for the next two weeks. The astrological time is right.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The hill where I take my late afternoon hikes is teeming with the six-petaled purple wildflower known as the elegant cluster-lily. Every one of them—and there are hundreds—lean hard in the direction of the sun in the west.

Should I deride them as conformists that follow the law of the pack? Should I ridicule them for their blind devotion?

Or should I more sensibly regard them as having a healthy instinct to gravitate toward the life-giving light? I’ll go with the latter theory. In that spirit, Leo, I urge you to ignore the opinions of others as you turn strongly toward the sources that provide you with essential nourishment.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Am I reading the astrological omens correctly? I hope so.

From what I can tell, you have been flying under the radar and over the rainbow. You have been exploiting the loopholes in the big bad system and enjoying some rather daring experiments with liberation. At this point in the adventure, you may be worried that your lucky streak can’t continue much longer. I’m here to tell you that it can. It will. It must. I predict that your detail-loving intelligence will paradoxically guide you to expand your possibilities even further.

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

cording to the three science fiction films collectively known as The Matrix, we humans suffer from a fundamental delusion. What we think is real life is actually a sophisticated computer simulation. Intelligent machines have created this dream world to keep us in suspended animation while they harvest our energy to fuel their civilization. Now as far as I can tell, this scenario isn’t literally true. But it is an apt metaphor for how many of us seem to be half-asleep or under a spell, lost in our addiction to the simulated world created by technology. I bring this to your attention, Libra, because now is a favorable time to diminish the hold that the metaphorical Matrix has on you. What can you do to at least partially escape your bondage? (Hint: A little more contact with nature could do the trick.)

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In the coming weeks, you may be as alluring and intriguing and tempting as you have been in a long time. I suggest you capitalize on this advantage. Proceed as if you do indeed have the power to attract more of the emotional riches you desire. Assume that are primed to learn new secrets about the arts of intimacy, and that these secrets will make you even smarter and more soulful than you already are. Cultivate your ability to be the kind of trusted ally and imaginative lover who creates successful relationships.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Physicist Frank Wilczek won a Nobel Prize for his research into quarks, the tiny particles that compose protons and neutrons. The guy is breathtakingly smart. Here’s one of his operating principles: “If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not working on hard enough problems. And that’s a big mistake.” Let’s enshrine his advice as your meditation, Sagittarius. I think you’re strong enough and brave enough to go hunting for some new superrich dilemmas. Yes, they may lead you to commit some booboos. But they will also stretch your intelligence beyond its

previous limits, giving you a more vigorous understanding of the way the world works.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In 1934, Capricorn baseball player Dizzy Dean was named the Most Valuable Player after winning 30 games. It was a feat that no National League pitcher has repeated since. After Dean retired, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Never shy about acknowledging his own prowess, he declared that “if you can do it, it ain’t bragging.” It is in this spirit that I invite you to freely expound on your talents and accomplishments in the coming week. You won’t be boasting. You will simply be providing information. And that will ultimately result in you being offered an interesting new opportunity or two.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): There has rarely been a better time than now to refine the art of being your own mommy or daddy. You’re finally ready to take over from the parental voices in your head and assume full responsibility for raising yourself the rest of the way. What do you want to be when you grow up? You may feel a giddy sense of freedom as it becomes clear that the only authority who has the right to answer that question is you.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): The universe has always played tricks on you. Some have been so perplexing that you’ve barely understood the joke. Others have been amusing but not particularly educational. Now I sense a new trend in the works, however. I suspect that the universe’s pranks are becoming more comprehensible. They may have already begun to contain hints of kindness. What’s the meaning of this lovely turn of events? Maybe you have finally discharged a very old karmic debt. It’s also conceivable that your sense of humor has matured so much that you’re able to laugh at some of the crazier plot twists.

Here’s another possibility: You are cashing in on the wisdom you were compelled to develop over the years as you dealt with the universe’s tricks.

matt jones

BROW CLOSE-UP? BRING IT ON.

© 2015 EWC

Jonesin’ Crossword

FIRST WAX FREE waxcenter.com

7963_Chattanooga_Pulse.indd 1

CHATTANOOGA / 423 785 8000 345 Frazier Avenue, Suite #101

3/16/15 10:53 AM

“MashQuote”—my first (and probably last) quote mash-up.

ACROSS 1 “Girls” airer 4 CBS drama set in Vegas 7 Brewpub category 12 “The Hurt Locker” setting 14 Abbr. in real estate ads 15 Round number?

17 In ___ (in its original place) 18 Letters in an oval on bumper stickers 19 Painful spasms 20 With 25-Across, 37-Across, 48-Across and 57-Across, late night partier’s quote 23 Monopoly’s Water Works or Electric Company, for short 24 Soaks flax 25 See 20-Across 29 “Ghostbusters” director Reitman 33 “In ___” (1993 Nirvana album) 34 Ft. Worth school 35 Defendant’s

plea, for short 36 Upper limit 37 See 20-Across 41 Op. ___ (footnote abbr.)

42 Central Utah city 44 Broadway play about Capote 45 Tequila ingredient 47 “Club Can’t Handle Me” rapper Flo ___ 48 See 20-Across 51 Trier trio 53 Admit honestly 54 See 20-Across 60 1960s Olympic track star ___ Tyus 61 A billion years, in astronomy 62 Pampers rival 64 Took a leap 65 “Atlas Shrugged” author Rand 66 Faucet annoyance 67 “___ Macabre” (Saint-Saens work) 68 “I Really Like You” singer Carly ___ Jepsen 69 Zapper target

DOWN 1 That dude’s 2 Man from Manchester 3 Hippocratic thing 4 Prefix meaning “skull” 5 “Freedom” doesn’t have it, but “freedom” does 6 Words before “old chap” 7 Like a fugitive 8 Kind of shutout, in baseball 9 Submits 10 Overly excited 11 “Man, is it humid in here!”

13 Line former 16 Mao’s middle name?

21 First of four Holy Roman Emperors 22 “Baywatch” actress Bingham 25 David Sedaris forte 26 Brand of console with joysticks and paddles 27 Irked 28 Bygone rechargeable

bike brand 30 Shorter word list?

31 Hanging in there 32 Prominent 38 “Titanic” passenger class 39 Cup of legend 40 Swamp reptile 43 He can’t be whacked without a sit-down 46 Throw caution to the wind 49 Michael and Janet’s sister 50 Miss ___ (“PeeWee’s Playhouse” character) 52 Comes down heavy 54 “Lookit how cute!” sounds 55 Big Apple enforcement org.

56 Swiper tries to swipe from her 57 The next palindromic one won’t be until 2112 58 Catch a wave, brah 59 Like a goateed twin?

63 Secret Squirrel, e.g.

Copyright © 2015 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. 0726 chattanoogapulse.com • MAY 7-13, 2015 • The Pulse • 29

Peacekeepers, Not Soldiers Officer Alex reflects on what cops need to do the job they’re called to do.

“ You cannot ‘reason’ with a mob, and you cannot arrest your way out of a mob, so whatever the underlying issue, we cannot tolerate a mob.”

When officer Alexander D. Teach is not patrolling our fair city on the heels of the criminal element, he spends his spare time volunteering for the Boehm Birth Defects Center.

So I could not help but young age to be wary of govnotice tanks and soldiers ernment overreach. History rolling through an American repeats itself, which is why city this week.

I believe in an armed popuIt’s kind of funny…peolus, because in the counple have complained for tries where the government years about the militarizawas the only one allowed to tion of police have guns it departments didn’t end in Ameriwell for anyca. Getting body.

But ALEX TEACH a surplus now?

Bearcat armored vehicle is Now, as a cop, I’m not viewed by cops as a bulletworried about government proof wall to put between oppression, but rather how a bad guy and someone intenuous the line between jured or pinned down, but order and chaos really is. to the ACLU it represents That is the definition of the oppression of people, “the thin blue line,” and it’s as if we were an occupythinner then we think when ing army instead of a police given just the right push. force.

When bad things happen, It is the absolute devil people call the cops. Bank incarnate—at least until robbers, perverts, spousal it’s used to save someone’s abusers, burglar alarms… life. Then it’s a fantastic we’re the ones that let peoidea (which automatically ple rest easy because they returns to being the devil know we’ll handle it. We in the next news cycle). I watch out for the wolves. understand the perception, But when it’s not just one but I also know its value, so wolf preying on someone, or I find it completely accepteven five, 10, or 20 wolves, able. but rather hundreds? A But when there really is thousand? an occupying army in an Police forces are far from American city? I’m aware being an occupying army, no it was “just” the National matter how overly dramatic Guard, but it’s scary on people are about their apmany levels. pearance with tactical vests, rifles, and heavy vehicles.

As a child of the Cold War We are peacekeepers; that’s and the son of a war veterit. And so in Baltimore? Feran, it was instilled in me at a

30 • The Pulse • MAY 7-13, 2015 • chattanoogapulse.com

On The Beat

guson? Los Angeles, 1992?

When it comes to civil unrest, we have a serious math problem.

The Baltimore P.D. has somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 sworn officers and roughly 1,000 civilian support personnel. It’s the eighth-largest police department in the country.

But Baltimore has a population of 641,000 at last count.

And when you take into account the metro area, there are over 2,700,000 people in the vicinity. That’s millions, with an “M,” and that means you have about a 1:900 ratio of cops-tocitizens, so when several hundred get to “acting the fool”? Let’s hope you’re over-insured as a home and/ or business owner.

We cannot allow “anarchy.” Yes, “the people” should have the right to protest their government, yes, people can think it’s a romantic notion to wear a pale “V for Vendetta” mask and act like camping on a courthouse lawn will effect change, yes, people should have the right to assemble and protest. But the first hurled bottle? The first fire in a trashcan? The first rock thrown? They should be dealt with swiftly and efficiently, because that’s what leads to the suspension of posse comitatus, that’s what leads to Army soldiers on our streets and avenues. You think a cop in a tac vest and Kevlar helmet is offensive?

Brothers and sisters, let us pray.

Police commissioners and police chiefs should be allowed to act swiftly and decisively in those instances. They should not have “opinions.” They should not try to ride the fence on whatever the social issue is; that is why we have mayors and other elected officials.

They can try to be everyone’s friend and be sensitive and try to get everyone to hold puppies and flowers, but the cops? In this one scenario, they cannot allow things to escalate or people will get hurt.

You cannot “reason” with a mob, and you cannot arrest your way out of a mob, so whatever the underlying issue, we cannot tolerate a mob. Protest on the sidewalk, not in the street. Protest at city hall, not inside a CVS Pharmacy. Make your voice heard—but do not act the fool.

Sometimes you have to be unpopular; you have to be the “mean parent.” And to prevent a riot, I think you have to accept that not everyone’s going to like you, but if the alternative is having armed American soldiers patrolling our streets? I think we have to put away the Politically Correct Handbook for that one.

Just a thought…but what do I know? I’m just a peace-keeper, not a “professional” protester.

chattanoogapulse.com • MAY 7-13, 2015 • The Pulse • 31

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