The Pulse 9.50 » Dec. 13-19, 2012

Dec. 13-19, 2012

Vol. 9 • No. 50

Chattanooga’s Weekly Alternative

the bowL

chattanooga’s forgotten theatre

Plus » remembering brubeck in the noog

cassette culture

A new generation of music fans, artists and collectors revive the cassette tape

• Cassette essentials • A Very Brief History of Car Audio • New local music on cassette in Red Bank? Yes!

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INSIDE THE PULSE •december 13-19, 2012 • vol. 9 • no. 50 ALL KILLER, NO FILLER

• Visit Mayfield’s All Killer No Filler Records, Book & Tapes in Red Bank, where you’ll find vinyl and cassettes for sale at this new independent record store owned and operated by a trio of siblings from Dalton, Ga. See Mayfield’s »P9

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EDITORIAL

Publisher Zachary Cooper The Editors Zach Cooper • Bill Ramsey Contributors Bailey • Rob Brezsny Chattanooga’sRich Weekly Alternative Chuck Crowder • John DeVore • Janis Hashe Matt Jones • Chris Kelly • D.E. Langley Mike McJunkin • Ernie Paik • Sarah Skates Alex Teach • Richard Winham Photographers Jason Dunn • Kim Hunter Josh Lang Cartoonists Max Cannon • Richard Rice Tom Tomorrow Intern Erin McFarland

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the fine print

The Pulse is published weekly by Brewer Media and is distributed throughout the city of Chattanooga and surrounding communities. The Pulse covers a broad range of topics concentrating on culture, the arts, entertainment and local news.

The Pulse is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. No person without written permission from the publishers may take more than one copy per weekly issue. We’re watching. The Pulse may be distributed only by authorized distributors. © 2012 Brewer Media

BREWER MEDIA GROUP President Jim Brewer II

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arts

JAZZ LEGENDS

ArtsBuild awards grants to 23 groups

Dave Brubeck’s local (choral) connection

nooga 20/20, the city’s long-range cultural plan. The primary goal of the grants is to make arts and culture more accessible to underserved populations including geographic, ethnic, age and individuals with disabilities. Recipient organizations were the newly renamed artsbuild (fornot required to have 501c3 nonprofit stamerly known as Allied Arts) announced tus, making the CCC grants available to a the recipients of its newest grants initiamuch larger pool of institutions. tive program, Community Cultural Con“Our goal for this new grant program nections, at its unveiling press conwas to attract 20 to 25 grant appliS L PU E PUS T• H ference last week. cations. We were very pleased by S N FA Twenty-three Hamilton the response from community AREA county-based organizations groups, and we received 61 apreceived small grants, up to plications,” Rodney Van Valken$6,000, to fund arts experiburg, ArtsBuild’s director of ences in social service agencies, grants and initiatives, said. neighborhoods, and municipali“The grant panel was very careties throughout the community. ful to fund a diverse array of grant Funding for this new grant proprojects that benefitted a variety of gram was provided by ArtsBuild and groups—young people, senior citizens and through Hamilton County Commissionpeople with disabilities, representing difer Tim Boyd’s discretionary funds. The ferent cultural and socio-economic backgrant program is a direct result of one grounds as well as different areas of our of the primary goals of Imagine Chattacommunity.”

Pre-Mix Holiday Cocktails and Egg Nogs Available Lots of in-store Holiday Specials and Gift Sets Where the Liquor is Cheap & the Entertainment is Free

4 • The Pulse • DECEMBER 13-19, 2012 • chattanoogapulse.com

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the news of dave brubeck’s passing reverberated around the world last week and was felt by many here in Chattanooga for a very particular reason other than Brubeck’s more well-known musical contributions.

Back in 2000, Brubeck performed here with his quartet. Surprising to many at this performance, Brubeck also debuted a collection of sacred choral works with Choral Arts of Chattanooga with conductor Philip Rice at the podium. In May 2002, Brubeck returned to perform his choral compositions again, but during that visit he recorded the choral works during a week-long session, again with Choral Arts and Rice conducting.

The recording was titled Brubeck In Chattanooga and was released on CD late in 2002.

Brubeck was passionate about choral music, focused on it intently during his later years and developed a quick connection to the Chattanooga chorus and Rice during his first visit. No doubt, the long tradition of Choral Arts of Chattanooga as a cohesive, performing choral group was significant in the development of the Brubeck connection and his desire to have them perform his work.

Chattanooga pianist and Choral Arts member Terry Sanford is one example of Brubeck’s bias towards the Scenic City talent pool. Brubeck described Sanford as “the only person in the world who can play the orchestral reduction of the Alleluia,” referring to Sanford accompanying the conductor in rehearsals of Brubeck’s “Mass To Hope.”

The dedication of Choral Arts and it’s members, Rice and many community arts supporters made it possible for our city to be honored with Brubeck’s presence and to have a legacy of his monumental contributions with a world premier recording of his choral works. —Zach Cooper

RESTORATION

Chattanooga’s Forgotten Theatre

By Janis Hashe it’s hard to imagine the thin white duke—never mind Ziggy Stardust—in a tiny stage-right dressing room of the Community Theatre on the Memorial Auditorium’s third floor. Yet, said Melissa Turner of the city’s Education, Arts & Culture Department, “I did confirm that David Bowie was in fact one of the performers who graced the stage at the Community Theatre.”

The almost-forgotten Community Theatre has a long and checkered past: The building’s cornerstone was laid Nov. 11, 1922, and over the years the 750-seat facility has hosted dance, music, movies, school events, theatrical productions, “and even churches,” said Turner. “Calvary Church incubated there and is now located on Broad Street.”

But the theatre’s last significant upgrade was in 1965, and by 2000, the better days had been seen. Though Destiny Theatre Company produced the play “Crowns” there in 2006, word in the local theatre community was that the facility was dilapidated, with awful acoustics.

Others, however, recognized

The little-known Community Theatre at the Memorial Auditorium set to re-open in 2013. that Chattanooga needed a mid-sized venue—the city’s former mayor, the late Robert Kirk Walker, left $300,000 dedicated to the Community Theatre’s restoration. In June 2010, administrator Missy Crutchfield and the EAC secured city council approval for a plan to renovate the theatre, and in summer 2011, Phase One of the restoration, which

Restoration continues on the Community Theatre, an almost-forgotten venue inside the Memorial Auditorium.

would include new seats, painting the audience chamber, new carpeting and most importantly, bringing the facility into Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, began.

Phase Two, estimated to cost $2 million, will update the facility’s lighting, sound and other technical systems, “making it a true state-of-theart multi-use theatre,” said Crutchfield.

The Allied Arts (now known as ArtsBuild) Imagine 20/20 cultural plan, released last year, backed up the importance of a mid-sized venue for continued arts growth.

At a preview of the renovations on Dec. 4, Crutchfield pointed out that eight Broadway tour launches have been hosted at either the Memorial or Tivoli since 2006, with an economic impact of more than $3 mil-

lion, and that having a smaller space available for more intimate productions increases the appeal of Chattanooga for these launches.

Deputy EAC administrator Thad Oliver revealed that the entire Memorial Auditorium, including the Community Theatre, is being offered to “presenting sponsors,” so that in the near future a business’s name may be coupled with certain areas (think AT&T Field). “We’re using Ashville and Raleigh as models for this,” Oliver said.

Based on the preview, work that has been done is impressive. Architects Franklin & Associates have kept the main floor’s formal feel with a blueand-gold motif, stripped the floors back to beautiful old marble, and revealed a small but functional orchestra pit.

Yet a tremendous amount needs to be finished before the targeted completion date of Feb. 28, 2013. Neither the stage itself nor the balcony, with its wonderful sight lines to the stage, are close to being restored, and a trip to the booth, where lights and sound are operated, revealed tiny spaces that couldn’t possibly be used for modern technical theatre.

But once the Community Theatre is open for business, expect big interest from local arts groups. Its location, size and projected technical capacities all add up to a rousing chorus of “Let’s Dance.”

Editor’s note: We’ll forgive Melissa Turner if she’s mistaken, but David Bowie has, to our knowledge, never before appeared at any venue in Chattanooga. The only reference we can find is a tribute show by local musician Eric Scealf performing “The David Bowie Experience” at the theatre in March 2006. chattanoogapulse.com • DECEMBER 13-19, 2012 • The Pulse • 5

On the Beat

alex teach

Inappropriate “muffin top?” he said. “it looks more like her can of biscuits exploded.”

I was already slack-jawed in disbelief of what he said before he was even finished, because we were literally standing next to the very obvious target of his observation. She turned towards us, her own look of horror surpassing my own, but lasting only a few seconds before it turned into a snarl of unconcealed rage. “Sweet Jesus,” I thought, “Why do I even talk to this guy?”

I don’t have any particular problem with someone being an ass; I am a card-carrying “ass” myself.

It doesn’t necessarily make someone a bad person, it just makes them blunt. But being that blunt when you are very conspicuously

adorned from head to toe in an agency-provided police uniform comes with certain conditions.

I instinctively placed my palm over my face, but I never so much as entertained the thought that it would ever conceal my identity, because it’s guys like me (the “nice ones”) that wind up with the inevitable complaint, not the other guy.

“That’s not what he meant,” I reflexively said, if anything just

to confuse the situation so that I could make our exit a hasty one. As if on cue her look of rage showed a glimmer of confusion as she cocked her head to one side in consideration of this, and I grabbed my partner’s arm and motioned him towards the restaurant door.

“You’re killing me, man.”

“What?” my partner said.

It’s funny how desensitization affects some cops.

It does not seem unreasonable to bring up a beheading you may have seen at this location in the past despite the fact that “normal people” are around who may find such a discussion, no matter how nostalgic, to be inappropriate. Or in this case, to point out what a poor decision it was for a young woman to wear a midriffexposing T-shirt when an industrial tarp would’ve been more suitable, and she was within five feet of the verbalization. Or directly beside us in a checkout line … I mean close. Despite attempts otherwise by concerned citizens called “Democrats,” it’s perfectly normal to “think” something like

this, to have an opinion or make an observation about something impolite. It’s just not nice to say it out loud. Sometimes. Ever.

Anyway, that magic “polite switch” in some of us just gets cut off after a while, and for fewer still it just gets smashed with a baseball bat like a dinner guest of Al Capone, never to be turned back on again. At some point, it just seems reasonable to say unreasonable things, and to be genuinely confused when this turns out to not be the case. This certainly isn’t exclusive to cops—we just get in a shit-load more trouble when we say things we shouldn’t have said.

“I don’t get it,” my partner said.

“I was just saying.”

“Clint, you just can’t … you … It would be best if you were just quiet.” He shrugged; for him, that’s a breakthrough.

The first time I caught myself doing the same was years ago at a Waffle House on evening shift.

They’d just pulled a body out of the water near what is now the Boathouse Restaurant, “and some genius decided not to put the body

bag in the water and lift the body out inside it,” I said quickly. “They decided to lift the body out of the water into the bag, and as soon as this diver grabs it by the arm, blammo! It de-gloved from the elbow up!” We start (quietly) laughing and I said, “So there this guy is staring at the human glove in his hand and the victim’s got a goopcovered skeleton arm now and that’s when the vomiting started …”

The older man behind us stared at his A-1 Sauce-covered patty melt and ketchup-covered hash browns, set the sandwich down, and went to the register to pay for his uneaten meal as I connected the dots. “Oops.”

It’s easy to let manners slip—or your whole mind to slip, for that matter. You just need to keep an anchor point: perspective. Or a well-balanced, polite guy like me around. Patty melt, anyone?

Alex Teach is a full-time police officer of nearly 20 years experience. The opinions expressed are his own. Follow him on Facebook at facebook.com/alex.teach.

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chattanoogapulse.com • DECEMBER 13-19, 2012 • The Pulse • 7

cassette essentials

Cassette-culture studies can be daunting. So we compiled a handy short-list of blogs, fan sites, retailers and books to help you get started.

• Cassette Blogs Reviews (cassettegods.blogspot.com).

Send your cassette release directly to any one of their nine reviewers. Or send them vinyl.

But never, EVER send them a CD or web link. They hate that shit.

• Cassette Anarchy (cassetteanarchy.blogspot.com). A sporadically updated “cassette appreciation” blog, featuring in-depth reviews of recordings and equipment.

• Designboom.com Cassette Page (designboom.com/contemporary/cassettes.html).

Transformers, wallets, necklaces, belt buckles, tape dispensers and what-have-you from a design standpoint. You have to see some of this stuff to believe it.

• Mayfield’s All Killer No Filler Records, Tapes & Books, 2841 Dayton Blvd., (423) 486-1379,

ways, cassettes struggled—and failed— to achieve retro-cool status.

Still, for cash-strapped musicians, cassettes offer a workable compromise: it’s an analog product (like vinyl) they can actually afford to mass produce (unlike vinyl).

“The difference is that with cassettes they are much, much cheaper to produce than records,” says Jonathan Sterne, an associate professor in the department of art history and communication studies at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. “They can be produced domestically and artistically.

They can be released in batches of 50. They are more portable, easier to mail.” Compared with MP3s, Sterne says, “there’s a physical object, which is what a lot of these subcultures are invested in. They want a thing to go with the music.”

Sterne has written a number of scholarly essays and books about outdated and current communication technologies, contemporary cultural studies and other related subjects. He has two more books on the way, including “MP3: The Meaning of a Format.” He talks about a time when cassettes occupied the space now taken up by the MP3: they were cheap to consume and produce, and they were everywhere. (When Whitney Houston’s debut album outsold everything else in 1986, for example, it’s fair to say more than half of those units were cassettes.) And while they’re still popular in other parts of the world, cassettes—and especially cassette players—are be-

coming less common in North America, producing a kind of rarity, Sterne says.

“You can still find piles of them for next to nothing, but if you want to listen to a cassette it takes some work,” Sterne says. two years ago, christopher Hoffmann, a 22-year-old art student from Southington, Conn., started Grappa Frisbee Records, a DIY-niche label that produces handmade cassettes.

At any given time, Hoffmann’s label represents between 20-30 artists from around the world, most of whom aren’t tied into any sort of contract (they arrange to work with Grappa Frisbee through a “one-time submission”). Hoffmann says the demand for cassettes has to do with a deep-seated need to have to hunt for music that’s not readily available.

“A lot of our artists are rooted in hip-hop, heavy into beats and the hip-hop lifestyle,” Hoffmann says. “A big part of that is digging for records, whether that means you’re in a CD store digging through compact discs, or at a tag sale going through boxes of 12-inches or dusty 7-inches, looking for who-knows-what. It’s almost a cultural thing for them to want music in a physical form.”

Custom cassettes, Hoffmann says, are for bands who want their music to seem like more than a download link. He buys boxes of cassettes on eBay dirt cheap and creates the artwork by hand in his bedroom. “I cut shit out,” Hoffmann says. “I’m bleeding all the time from the

X-acto knife. I’ve got the duplicator, so I can duplicate three cassettes [at a time].” The DIY aspect of the business, he says, is a “punk rock sort of thing, which I also grew up with.”

Occasionally, a band will deliver Hoffmann a very specific set of ideas for what they want their cassette release to look like—colors, designs, lettering and so on. Others grant him the freedom to do what he likes.

The finished product is put up for sale on the Grappa Frisbee website. Hoffmann also delivers copies, which typically sell for $5, to a few brick-and-mortar retailers.

“They sound great,” Hoffmann says. “I just spray paint them with Montana acrylic spray paint. When all is said and done, I really don’t have to go out and purchase anything to get a project under way. I’m not charging any artists to make anything—we work out the split for the profits.”

Bands and artists in Chattanooga are also hitching their music to the custom-cassette bandwagon, among them The Bohannons, whose frontman Marty Bohannon echoes the sentiments musicians interviewed for this article reflect upon when considering cassettes.

“What we chose to put on t the cassette is as important as why we chose to release a cassette,” Bohannon says. “We had this group of disjointed songs that were demos or B-sides that didn’t fit into the musical canon of our current show, but we wanted them to live together.

So we tested these analog re-

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cordings through a lot of different systems and we agreed on releasing it as is with a flat mix.

It has hiss and pops, but we love that shit—and you can hear it best on cassette.”

Bohannon says his band prints an email address on the side of the cassette from which a download code is sent back from their label, This American Music.

“At the merch booth, people would turn their noses up or pick one up and laugh,” Bohannon says, “but I’d say, ‘Hey, it’s five bucks and you can download it in its entirety.’ People still want to walk away with a physical product, especially collectors. Business cards with download codes are no fun.” toward the middle of 2010, major media outlets, including National Public Radio, USA Today and The Washington Post, began reporting on the rebirth of the cassette. There are currently dozens of cassetterelated blogs and Tumblr sites.

Cassette-only record companies, including the Los Angeles-based Leaving Records (which released Dual Form, a double-cassette compilation of music by Stones Throw Records artists, on Nov. 6), appear to be thriving. There’s also a Kickstarter underway to fund “Cassette” a documentary film about the cassette tape.

In some cases, cassettes are the only way you’re going to hear a new song or album; the July/ August music issue of The Believer, for example, came with a 24-track cassette sampler of »P10

Mayfield’s: All Killer, No Filler in the age of pop-up businesses, almost any concept can turn an underused retail storefront into a restaurant, department store or gaming center, as River City Company recently proved in helping create the new shops at CitiPark on Chestnut Street. But can a detached home extension off Dayton Boulevard in Red Bank become a pop-up hipster haven for discriminating music collectors?

True to his claim, Mayfield’s does indeed stock a small but growing inventory of music by local bands and artisits such as the Future Virgins, Anna Banana and Aren’t They Queer?, as well as underground icons like Roky Ericskon in their bins. Because the albums are often rare or hard to find, prices are higher (the Erickson album sold for $50), so Mayfield’s profit margins are

A trio of siblings think so, and while Mayfield’s All Killer No Filler Records, Books & Tapes may not have been born of the pop-up concept, co-owner Amy Mayfield says the store has a similar feel.

“We own the building and were uneasy about renting it out,” Mayfield says of the detached, two-story apartment/ garage fronting Laurel Drive just off Dayton Boulevard. “We’re all lifelong music fans, so we thought we’d open our own business. If it doesn’t work, we can close up shop and move it, but what’s more fun than owning your own record store?”

Mayfield said the store is both a labor of love and a working model as she pursues her degree at the UTC School of Business. Her partners in the venture—sister Liz, a nursing student, and brother Josh, the hardcore music maven who commandeers the front desk in the small shop—have branded themselves as an outpost of mostly new, often obscure and hard-to-find music available on vinyl—and cassettes—featuring a mix of local, regional and national bands and artists. The store also stocks graphic novels, zines, T-shirts and novelty items.

“We wanted to see if Chattanooga is really lame or would embrace a true independent music store,” Josh Mayfield proclaimed. A musician himself, Mayfield clearly occupies the Jack Black role in this local version of Championship Vinyl, the fictional record store featured in the 1999 movie “High Fidelity,” based on Nick Hornby’s novel.

Since opening on Black Friday, Amy Mayfield said the business has done “about 80 percent better than I expected,” and is already attracting a steady stream of customers who find their way into the small room mostly by way of the store’s Facebook page. “We’re

also higher.

But the store is less a business than a labor of love. On the day I visit, I meet Peter Stubb, an underground music legend himself and, like the Mayfields, a Dalton, Ga., native. The store stocks many of Stubb’s albums, almost all of which are issued on handmade cassette tapes. Stubb’s latest, “Cassette Legend,” pays homage to his fascination with cassettes, which he said he has used since the late 1980s.

Stubb’s presence amounts to the first in-store artist appearance at Mayfield’s, but not the last. The shop will host its End of the World Party from 8 p.m. to midnight on Friday, Dec. 21, featuring live performances by Stubb, Anna Banana, Brian Hensley and others as well as discounted prices.

Mayfield’s All Killer No Filler is located at 2841 Dayton Blvd. (behind an insurance business facing Laurel Drive). The store is open from 1 to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, call (423) 486-1379 or visit their Facebook page or website at mayfieldsallkiller.com.

By Bill Ramsey

From left, Liz Mayfield, Amy Mayfield, Peter Stubb and Josh Mayfield at Mayfield’s All Killer No Filler record store in Red Bank.

spending all our money on inventory, so we haven’t invested in advertising yet,” Mayfield said.

Asked whether their shop is an becon of cool along Red Bank’s drab and somewhat blighted Dayton Boulevard, Josh Mayfield said (with a wink and a nod) that Red Bank has always been cool. “Everyone knows the cool crowd shops for groceries at the Dollar Store,” he said with a snarky laugh.

Set apart from Chattanooga’s other independent record stores—Chad’s, downtown on Vine Street, and For The Record in Northgate Mall—Mayfield’s occupies a third point in what is now a triad of independent music store around the city.

“We’re fans of Chad’s and For The Record,” Josh Mayfield said, “but we’re trying to do something different with our offerings,” hence the “All Killer, No Filler” tag.

mayfieldsallkiller.com. New and used cassettes for sale, featuring a healthy supply of cassettes by Peter Stubb, an underground music legend (see sidebar) and a variety of other independent artists and bands. .

• Nick Hornby, “Songbook” (Riverhead Trade, 2003). The popular British author strings together 31 songs into a virtual mixtape/literary gimmick, allowing him to dorkout on some of his favorite tunes.

• Rob Sheffield, “Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time” (Three Rivers Press, 2007). A memoir by the Rolling Stone music critic, who patches songs together when words fail to convey his love for his girlfriend, Renee.

• “I’m Like This Every Day,” by Mitchell Powers (vimeo.com). Mesmerizing documentary about outsider recording artist Peter Stubb of Dalton, Ga., who struggles to express his cosmic musical vision after suffering from mental illness and substance abuse. Stubb has issued more than 100 cassette recordings of his own music.

• “Cassette” (in progress). A documentary film funded by a Kickstarter campaign (fitting, perhaps), about the format itself, by auteurs Zack Taylor and Seth Smoot.

• WTSmedia, 2841 Hickory Valley Road, (423) 894-9427, wtsmedia. com. Offering media products and equipment, disc manufacturing and printing, as well as cassette duplication and manufacturing.

WTS got their start in 1977 providing duplicating and manufacturing cassette tapes for local churches and continue to offer the service.

chattanoogapulse.com • DECEMBER 13-19, 2012 • The Pulse • 9

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10 • The Pulse • DECEMBER 13-19, 2012 • chattanoogapulse.com

music you can’t find online or on a compact disc, by bands like Baby Island, the Hysterics, Soviet and Sewn Leather. (A download code on the back cover allows you to go online and grab a digital copy.)

Elsewhere, limited-edition cassettes are tied in to conventional CD or digital releases, as with the recent release Apocryphon by American metal band the Sword, who offered fans a cassette copy (while supplies lasted) if they bought a CD or vinyl copy.

The people involved in buying and producing music on cassette these days, Sterne says, are not the ones who remember rewinding cassettes the first time around.

“I don’t listen to cassettes,” Sterne says, “but I’m old enough to remember when music was released on cassette. If you don’t have the baggage I have, it’s easier to see it as an interesting artifact, as a collector or music lover, because in my experience, it was always a compromise.”

Of course, if his favorite band released something only on cassette, “I would get over it pretty quick,” Sterne says.

But one musician who does recall the waning glory days of cassettes is still issuing his own recordings on cassette. Peter Stubb, the psuedonym of Gary Dewayne King, just issued his latest collection of songs under the title “Cassette Legend.”

Stubb, 39, is a Dalton, Ga., native and something of an outsider music legend whose life and music are documented in the short documentary “I’m Like This Every Day,” and who has recorded and laborioulsy hand-labeled and designed more than 100 cassettes of his own music since the late 1980s.

“I just don’t have the money to produce CDs,” Stubb says earnestly while visiting his friends at May-

field’s All Killer No Filler, a new independent record store in Red Bank that carries a wide selection of Stubb’s music on cassette.

Not given to lengthy introspection, Stubb says he feels the format works well for him. He says can purchase a 20-pack of his favorite blank cassettes (he prefers Maxell’s Duplication Series) on eBay, then records and plays them back on one of four tape players he owns to check the sound. Any of his collections of songs—cassettes are jam-packed with as many as 25 Stubb originals, with titles such as “She Choked on Her Own Fart Smell”—can feature as many as five different covers featuring artwork contributed by friends or photographs he photocopies at his local UPS store.

“Sometimes I can find an artist who wants to illustrate a cover,” he says, “or I just hand letter them.

But I use a typewriter to list the songs, since most people have trouble reading my handwriting.”

Stubb sells the cassettes himself at infrequent live performances in Chattanooga, but they’ve also wound up in such far-flung locales as New York, San Francisco and in Europe, where other bands and record stores trade cassettes to spread the popularity of grind, Stubb’s current genre.

Josh Mayfield, a friend, fan and supporter—also co-owner of Mayfield’s and co-producer of the Stubb documentary—says Stubb’s music and cassettes have developed a healthy cult following—but not because of anything Stubb has done.

“I remember when he used to leave his cassettes in the bathroom of Walmart,” Mayfield says.

Stubb is not alone in his practical obsession.

The fact that you can create your own cassettes, sequence songs and pro-

duce unique mixtapes, the scholar Sterne says, was vital to their initial popularity.

“The average person didn’t have a record lathe,” Sterne says, “But people could make or assemble cassettes. There was a more involved relationship with recording.”

At the same time, cassettes had a particular sound, one that even shaped some musical genres (lo-fi, for example).

And like all analog products, you have to take care of them. “You can’t just leave them in the car in the sun or they’ll warp or melt,” Sterne adds, “although that becomes part of the sonic experiment.”

There’s also the size. “It’s hard to think of it now, but it was once called the ‘compact cassette,’” Sterne says, referring to the dawn of cassette technology in the 1960s, which were taking on the then-standard in “compact” media, the 8-track tape, and continued to reinforce the compactness of the format well into the 1980s.

“There was an aesthetic of compactness back in the ’80s that we don’t think of now,” Sterne says. “But does a cassette feel compact to someone who’s 22 the way it did to somebody in 1978? Probably not.”

While solo artists such as Stubb painstakingly duplicates tapes and designs the packaging (known as J cards) for individual cassettes, bands such as The Bohannons turn to the professionals.

“We have our cassetttes manufactured at Wholesale Tape and Supply in Chattanooga,” Marty Bohannon says of the company formally known as WTSmedia, which started making cassettes for local churches in 1977 and has grown with media and now duplicates and manufactures CDs and other recordable media.

“We have long been

customers there because as an independent band we have a lot of boutique projects and they do a good job,” says Bohannon.

“They are not the only provider, but they are local and luckily still work with a lot of churches who still record on cassettes.”

For Sterne, the exclusiveness of subcultures is perhaps the most interesting explanation for the cassette renaissance.

“If you are making music and not making it available online, that’s a statement, an aesthetic or political one, about not wanting to participate,” he says. “I think for a certain music collector, there’s a feeling of being lost, when everything’s available and you’re being overwhelmed by so much quantity and not being able to use music the way you want. In fact, who goes to a store that sells records? People who want to expend a little extra effort to listen to music. Why would you do it otherwise?”

Hoffmann, the label owner, is too young to have grown up listening to cassettes, but he remembers being fascinated by them.

“I grew up with cassettes, and it was always kind of home-y, just the tape idea,” he says. “I still love watching movies on VHS. It’s like listening to something on a record.”

His latest cassette sampler was produced and designed entirely by Hoffmann as an expression of everything he loves about the medium.

“It’s just what I’d want to see in a store,” Hoffmann says. “I try to make them seem sort of modern, but at the same time, how modern can you get?

It’s a cassette tape.”

A version of this story originally appeared in the New Haven (Conn.)

Advocate, an Association of Alternative Newsmedia sister paper of The Pulse.

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all draft beers First, there was the wheel. Not much of interest happened for millennia after that until the advent of car audio. But even the introduction of the first car stereos in 1930 was no big deal because, well, music basically sucked until there was rock ‘n’ roll. By the 1950s, automakers were hip to the kids and their passion for those hip-shakin’ sounds and began experimenting. Chrysler offered an actual turntable in one of its higher-end models, which proved to be both impractical and really stupid, as well as an expensive option. It was not until the 8-track tape (developed by Bill Lear of Lear Jet fame, of all people) arrived that car audio became a personal musical statement of taste and discrimination. Of course, 8-tracks sucked, too, but could withstand the ride without skipping and players became options in many cars of the 1960s and ’70s. Many believe 8-tracks the precursor to cassettes, but the opposite is true. The Dutch firm Philips launched the first “compact cassette” in 1964, several years prior to Lear’ 8-track, but the latter format had already taken hold. Carmakers wised up by 1970 and the first in-dash tape decks arrived, although most too poor to own a new car or purchase high-end car audio systems simply retro-fitted their old 8-track players with cassette adaptors from Radio Shack. Tape decks reigned as the standard even as Sony introduced the first in-dash CD player in 1985. Early CDs were easily damaged and skipped, and the in-dash players were often prohibitively expensive. With advent of MP3s, cassette decks finally bit the dust. The last vehicle offering a factory cassette desk was the 2010 Lexus CS 430. Automakers are now experimenting with in-car streaming using a Bluetooth pathway from a smart phone. Eventually, carmakers will reduce the in-dash stereo to nothing more than a connection node on a network.

Of course, the aftermarket lives on. Cassetteto-iPod adaptors make the leap into the 21st century for older cars. But the CD? It’s just yet not cool—or vintage—enough.

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THU12.13

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The Pulse 10th Anniversary Concert featuring The Whigs

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‘Soul Brother’ spins classics on local radio show

• We’re kicking off year-long anniversary celebrations with a special show at Rhythm & Brews on Thursday starring The Whigs, The Bohannons, St. Paul & The Broken Bones (right) and Browan Lollar. $13 advance/$15 door 9 p.m. • Rhythm & Brews 221 Market St. • rhythm-brews.com

MUSIC Bass Sermon • Plus Bad Robotz and Bear/Rabbit.

9 p.m. • JJ’s Bohemia • 231 E. MLK Blvd.

(423) 266-1400 • jjsbohemia.com

EVENT “The Nutcracker” • Ballet Tennessee’s annual Christmas presentation of the holiday classic.

7 p.m. • UTC Fine Arts Center • 752 Vine St. (423) 425-4371 • utc.edu/finearts

SAT12.15 MUSIC Abbey Road Live!

• Beatles tribute band performs the entire “Rubber Soul” and “Revolver” albums.

9:45 p.m. • Rhythm & Brews 221 Market St. • rhythm-brews.com

EVENT Chattanooga Holiday Market • Chattanooga Market moves indoors for your holiday shopping.

10 a.m.-5 p.m • Convention Center 1100 Carter St. • chattanoogamarket.com

The Whigs • The Whigs released their newest album this fall titled Enjoy The Company. This is their fourth album and one of the best of the bunch. Balancing the raw, undying energy of some of the best garage rock being produced these days with expertly crafted ballads, The Whigs consistently keep making great music. The band has recently relocated to Nashville from their home stomping grounds of Athens, Ga. You can take the band out of Athens, but there is still a big dose of Athens sound in the band. There is one thing that neither a new release nor any review can relate when it comes to The Whigs and that’s the energy of their live performances. Search for their appearances on David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel or any other video you can dig up and you’ll see why The Whigs deliver. Then catch them Thursday night headling The Pulse’s 10th Anniversary Concert at Rhythm & Brews with The Bohannons, St. Paul & The Broken Bones and Browan Lollar. —Zach Cooper THU 12.13. • $15 • 9 p.m. • Rhythm & Brews. • 221 Market St. • rhythm-brews.com

leave it to a brit to move to chattanooga to cultivate original radio programming of value amid the pre-programmed electronic disco that fills commercial radio.

WUTC-FM’s Richard Winham, who also writes The Pulse’s music column, has long enriched the local independent/NPR station at 88.1 on the FM dial with not only his own daily show from 2 to 4 p.m., but has discovered and nurtured others with abiding and passionate music interests, including his most recent production, “Connect the Dots,” a monthly program hosted by the father-and-son team of Chris and Chris Dortch that links songs to themes and influences of the bands and artists they highlight. Less than two years ago, Winham recruited Doug Cook, creative director with the local outpost of the Neathawk, Dubuque and Packett advertising agency, to host the SuperSonic Soul Show.

“I’d describe the show as a broad-stroke take on soul music, with an emphasis on southern soul and off-the-beaten path artist from all points,” Cook says. “In some instances, we make the link to current artists like the Drive-By Truckers, but it’s not necessarily a point of emphasis. House bands and the sense of place are a big deal for me— Memphis and Muscle Shoals didn’t happen by accident; or more to the point, the ‘accident’ was one of time and place.”

A lifelong music fan who came to love classic southern soul in reverse, discovering the sounds to be the roots of rock ‘n’ roll, Cook revels in sharing his passion and says, “it’s fun to just spin what sounds good.”

The SuperSonic Soul Show airs from 8 to 10 p.m. the first Sunday of each month on WUTC-FM. —Bill Ramsey

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richard winham

Hand-Picked Hot Hands when fiddler barbara lamb was just 14 years old and living in Seattle, she put up a notice in a local music store for a beginning fiddle student. Lamb, who had just won the Washington State (junior) Fiddle championship, figured she would try her hand at teaching. It was Mark O’Connor’s mother who first answered the ad. O’Connor, just 11 years old at the time, was already an accomplished classical guitarist, but he’d developed a keen interest in the fiddle. After overcoming his parents’ initial reluctance—they wanted him to stick to one instrument—he started taking lessons with Lamb. Her nowfamous student was a quick study, and Lamb went on to become not only one of the country’s top fiddlers but a soughtafter teacher.

More than 40 years later, Lamb—who’s returning to Chattanooga for a rare show at Barking Legs Theater with a talented group of musicians on Friday—is still best-known (in much of the media, at least) as O’Connor’s first teacher. But she herself is a world-class, virtuoso fiddler, in demand as a session player in Nashville, and she’s played with some of the best musicians in the world—four of whom will be playing with her Friday night.

Lamb has titled the show “Barbara Lamb’s Hand-Picked Hot Hands.” Performing with her will be a group of friends that include guitarist Jeff Autry, mandolin player Matt Flinner, bassist Mike Bub and banjo player Bill Evans.

It’s a group that Lamb feels completely at home with. “There’s

same place on the same night.

She’s planning on video taping the show for YouTube because “who knows when the five of us will get together again.”

Each of the five musicians is charged with bringing half a dozen tunes to the table. “Everybody has sent everybody else the tunes that they’d like to do,” she said.

“We’ve all got them, we all do our homework, and then we get together for one big blowout of a rehearsal and play all of tunes. It all sounds good. We go on and do a sound check, eat a little pizza and then we play the gig.”

Lamb is clearly excited at the prospect of playing with such exalted company for a couple of hours. “We all come from the same bluegrass background so we’ve already got all that in common,” she said. “Mike, Bill and I play gigs together all the time.

We’re used to playing together, and we’re used to playing this kind of music. But it adds a little bit of spice to throw in some tunes that we’ve never, ever performed together.”

Lamb is apparently up for anything—as long as it’s fun. In August she went to Russia with Bill Evans, guitarist Tim May, and bassist Todd Phillips on a State Department-sponsored tour. Among the places they performed was at tiny town called

no better rhythm section than Mike Bub on bass. Put Jeff Autry with Mike Bub and it’s just like machine-gun fire with excellent steadiness,” she said. “So even if you’re making mistakes all over the place, with that bottom end it’s like surfing: You won’t be dropped.”

Lamb has worked with Flinner, Bub and Evans individually in the past couple of years, but it’s a rare occasion when all five of them can arrange to be in the

RAW

Barbara Lamb

Totma, about nine hours from Moscow. They played a bunch of Bill Monroe and Flatt and Scruggs tunes for an audience of about 1,000 people who “had never heard anything like it before.”

Next month she’s launching another State Department tour, playing shows in China, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu, an island off the coast of northern Australia, with Marcy Marxer and Cathy Fink, an acoustic music duo from Washington D.C. In China they’ll perform with a 12-piece Chinese orchestra playing traditional Chinese instruments. When tour organizers asked the Chinese musicians what they’d like to play, they suggested John Denver’s “Country Roads.” That took them by all by surprise, but by all accounts, John Denver has been hugely popular in China since the late 1970s when then-premier Deng Xiaoping, a devoted fan himself,

championed Denver’s songs as “acceptable Western music” for a newly emancipated population cut off from Western culture under Mao Zedong.

In addition to playing banjo, guitar, ukelele and fiddle, Lamb and the other musicians in the group plan to yodel for their Asian audiences. “I call it yodeling for world peace,” said Lamb, laughing.

Barbara Lamb and Her Hand-Picked Hot Hands 8 p.m. • $13/$15 Friday, Dec. 14 Barking Legs Theater 1307 Dodds Ave. (423) 624-5347 barkinglegs.org

Richard Winham is the host and producer of WUTC-FM’s afternoon music program and has observed the Chattanooga music scene for more than 25 years.

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14 • The Pulse • DECEMBER 13-19, 2012 • chattanoogapulse.com

chattanoogapulse.com • DECEMBER 13-19, 2012 • The Pulse • 15

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18 • The Pulse • DECEMBER 13-19, 2012 • chattanoogapulse.com

Chattanooga Live

MUSIC CALENDAR

Thu 12.13 Chris Gomez 7 p.m. Sugar’s Ribs, 507 Broad St. (423) 508-8956 sugarsribs.com Nothing and the Nobodies, Marlow Drive 8 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd.

(423) 266-1400 jjsbohemia.com The Pulse 10th Anniversary Concert starring The Whigs, The Bohannons, St. Paul & the Broken Bones and Browan Lollar 9 p.m. Rhythm & Brews, 221 Market St. rhythm-brews.com Behold the Brave, Daniel Ellsworth & The Great Lakes 9 p.m. The Honest Pint, 35 Patten Pkwy.

(423) 468-4192 thehonestpint.com

fri 12.14 Mark Merriman 5:30-9:30 p.m. Rock City, 1400 Patten Road, Lookout Mtn, Ga. seerockcity.com The Mocha Band 7 p.m. Mocha Restaurant & Lounge, 3116 Brainerd Road (423) 531-4154 mochajazz.net Barbara Lamb and Her Hand-picked Hot Hands 8 p.m. Barking Legs Theater, 1307 Dodds Ave. (423) 624-5347 barkinglegs.org Amber Fults 9 p.m. The Office,

honest music

ABBEY ROAD LIVE! • They don’t dress up like the Fab Four, but Abbey Road Live! have been delighting Beatles fans since 2002 with their faithful recreations of the band’s music. On Saturday, the group will perform the complete “Rubber Soul” and “Revolver” albums live at Rhythm & Brews.

SAT 12.15 • 9:45 p.m. • Rhythm & Brews • 221 Market St. rhythm-brews.com 901 Carter St. (423) 634-9191 Standing Room Only 8:30 p.m. The Foundry, 1201 Broad St. (423) 756-3400 chattanooganhotel.com Soul Survivor 9:30 p.m. Sugar’s Ribs, 507 Broad St. (423) 508-8956 sugarsribs.com BASS SERMON 3 10 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd.

(423) 266-1400 jjsbohemia.com Rubik’s Groove 10 p.m. Rhythm & Brews, 221 Market St. rhythm-brews.com Cardon Smith and the Tennessee Hustlers 10 p.m. T-Bones,

1419 Chestnut St. (423) 266-4240 tboneschattanooga.com Rosedale Remedy 10 p.m. Bud’s Sports Bar, 5751 Brainerd Road (423) 499-9878 budssportsbar.com

sat 12.15

mochajazz.net Standing Room Only 8:30 p.m. The Foundry, 1201 Broad St. (423) 756-3400 chattanooganhotel.com Matt Bohannon 9 p.m. The Office, 901 Carter St. (423) 634-9191 Soul Survivor 9:30 p.m. Sugar’s Ribs, 507 Broad St. (423) 508-8956 sugarsribs.com Husky Burnette 9:30 p.m. SkyZoo, 5709 Lee Hwy. (423) 468-4533 skyzoochattanooga.com Abbey Road Live! presents Double Album Show: “Revolver” & “Rubber Soul” 9:45 p.m. Rhythm & Brews, 221 Market St. rhythm-brews.com American Legion, Stoneline, The Unsatisfied 10 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd.

(423) 266-1400 jjsbohemia.com

Thursday • December 13 Nothing and The Nobodies Marlow Drive

Friday • December 14 Bass Sermon 3

Saturday • December 15 Stoneline • The Unsatisfied American Legion

Tuesday • December 18 Test Dream • The Neverwills

Wednesday • December 19

Ashley & The X’s • Grownupavengerstuff

Thursday • December 20

The Hearts in Light • Human Figures

Friday • December 21

End of the World Party Nim Nims • Opposite Box • Analog

JJ’s Bohemia • 231 E MLK Blvd.

423.266.1400 • jjsbohemia.com

sun 12.16

Keyz Brown 2 p.m. New Moon Gallery, 307 Manufacturers Road (423) 265-6321 Mark Merriman 5:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.

Rock City, 1400 Patten Road, Lookout Mtn, Ga. seerockcity.com The Mocha Band 7 p.m. Mocha Restaurant & Lounge, 3116 Brainerd Road (423) 531-4154

Evensong 6:30 p.m. The Camp House, 1427 Williams St. (423) 702-8081 thecamphouse.com Money Cannot Be Eatean, Rigoletto, Raenbow Station 9 p.m. The Honest Pint, 35 Patten Pkwy.

(423) 468-4192 thehonestpint.com

»P20

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Endelouz with Nickels & Dimes and Iron Fez ($5) Behold the Brave, Daniel Ellsworth & The Great Lakes [$5] Money Cannot Be Eatean and Raenbow Station [$3] Function with Gabriel Newell and Muddy Soul ($3) Full Moon Crazies [$3]

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chattanoogapulse.com • DECEMBER 13-19, 2012 • The Pulse • 19

LIVE MUSIC

mon 12.17

CHATTANOOGA DEC THE PULSE 10TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT

THE WHIGS

THE BOHANNONS • ST. PAUL & THE BROKEN BONES • BROWAN LOLLAR

RUBIK’S GROOVE

HITS OF THE 80s, COSTUMES & VIDEOS

ABBEY ROAD LIVE REVOLVER & RUBBER SOUL

HURRICANE SANDYBENEFIT THE BEATERS, GENTLEMEN’S JAZZ & SRO

CHATTACOUNTRY BENEFIT CHANNING WILSON & MANY MORE

13 FRI. 10p 14 SAT. 9:45p 15 TUE. 7:30p 18 WED. 9p 19 THU. 9p

12/20: OLD MAN: A TRIBUTE TO NEIL YOUNG 12/21: STRUNG LIKE A HORSE END OF THE WORLD PARTY ALL SHOWS 21+ UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED • NON-SMOKING VENUE

221 MARKET STREET

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

901 Carter St (Inside Days Inn) 423-634-9191 Thursday, Dec. 13: 8pm Open Mic with Hap Henninger (Closed Dec. 20 for repairs)

Friday, Dec. 14: 9pm Amber Fults Saturday, Dec. 15: 10pm Matt Bohannon Tuesday, Dec. 18: 7pm

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

All shows are free with dinner or 2 drinks!

Stop by & check out our daily specials!

Happy Hour: Mon-Fri: 4-7pm $1 10oz drafts, $3 32oz drafts, $2 Wells, $1.50 Domestics, Free Appetizers

Facebook.com/theofficechatt

Southside Casual Classic Series 7:30 p.m. The Camp House, 1427 Williams St. (423) 702-8081 thecamphouse.com Blues Jam with Rick Rushing and the Blues Strangers 8 p.m. Meo Mio’s Cajun & Seafood Restaurant, 4119 Cummings Hwy. (423) 521-7160 meomio.com

tue 12.18 Jerry Forham 7 p.m. Barts Lakeshore, 5600 Lakeshore Dr. (423) 870-0777 bartslakeshore.com.

In-Cahoots 7 p.m. Southern Belle Riverboat, 201 Riverfront Pkwy.

(800) 766-2784 chattanoogariverboat.com The Beaters, SRO Band 7:30 p.m. Rhythm & Brews, 221 Market St. rhythm-brews.com Test Dream, The Neverwills 8 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd.

(423) 266-1400 jjsbohemia.com

wed 12.19 Soul Review 8 p.m. Meo Mio’s Cajun & Seafood Restaurant, 4119 Cummings Hwy. (423) 521-7160 meomio.com Chattacountry Showcase 9 p.m. Rhythm & Brews, 221 Market St rhythm-brews.com John King 9 p.m. Bud’s Sports Bar, 5751 Brainerd Road (423) 499-9878 budssportsbar.com Ashley & The X’s, Grownupavengerstuff 8 p.m. JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd.

(423) 266-1400 jjsbohemia.com PeeWee Moore, Awful Dreaded Snakes 9 p.m. Jack A’s Chop Shop Saloon, 742 Ashland Terr.

(423) 713-8739 jackaschopshopsaloon.com Function, Gabriel Newell, Muddy Soul 9 p.m. The Honest Pint, 35 Patten Pkwy.

(423) 468-4192 thehonestpint.com

20 • The Pulse • DECEMBER 13-19, 2012 • chattanoogapulse.com

Between the Sleeves record reviews • ernie paik disco music never recovered, from both critical and public views, from the 1979 “Disco Sucks” backlash, but reading the glowing and thoughtful eulogies of Donna Summer after her passing back in May made this writer think that perhaps enough time has passed since then for a widespread re-evaluation of the phenomenon. Undoubtedly, the numerous shameless, sub-par, bandwagon-jumping cash-ins made many weary of the genre during its time, but as a popular music form, it is perfectly valid; its best offerings can and should be enjoyed wholeheartedly and without irony.

The four-CD boxed set Philadelphia International Classics: The Tom Moulton Remixes centers on the disco era and highlights two of its towering pillars: the hit-factory label Philadelphia International and the pioneering remixer Tom Moulton. Label founders Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff were an overachieving songwriting/producing powerhouse, inextricably linked to the Philly Soul sound.

Moulton invented the 12-inch single and the breakdown section, and the words “A Tom Moulton Mix” on a record was a guarantee of a certain level of quality and craftsmanship, made with a sense of balance, letting songs unfurl without being belaboring.

The set includes the entirety of the 1977 compilation Philadelphia Classics, 17 new mixes made during the last few years, plus assorted other classic-era mixes. Its historical merits alone make it a worthwhile purchase, including Moulton’s very first remix for Philadelphia International, “Do It Any Way You Wanna” by People’s Choice and key tracks such as MFSB’s “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia),” which was used as the to “Soul Train,” The O’Jays’ hit “Love Train,” and the epic “Love Is The Message” by MFSB, one

Various Artists Philadelphia International Classics: The Tom Moulton Remixes (Harmless)

Scott Walker Bish Bosch (4AD)

of Moulton’s all-time favorites. One of the most striking tracks is the soaring 11-minute “Don’t Leave Me This Way” by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, with Teddy Pendergrass on lead vocals with his commanding, almost intimidatingly emotional singing.

Like the entire boxed set, it dispels the notion of disco as being a disposable music form. “how can you stoop so high?”

This quote from Scott Walker’s Bish Bosch sums up the unusual, simultaneously high-brow and low-brow concepts of the album, brimming with obscure references and multiple meanings. The album’s title itself also reflects this methodology, with “bish” being slang for “bitch” and Bosch referring to the masterful Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch. Bosch’s paintings are

an apt comparison for Walker’s trajectory, which began with the Walker Brothers 1978 album Nite Flights and continued to the perfectly dark and thorny albums Tilt and The Drift; like Bosch’s paintings, Walker’s work is nightmarish and complex, depicting both the sublime and crude.

But back to the quote. It’s from the lengthy track “SDSS 1416+13B (Zercon, a Flagpole sitter),” which is seemingly incomprehensible upon first listen. Here’s where liner notes are particularly enlightening, showing a method to Walker’s madness. We’re told that SDSS 1416+13B is the name of an exceptionally cold, brown dwarf star and that Zercon was a different kind of dwarf: a 5th century Moorish jester with deformed feet.

Bish Bosch is infused with an unsettling sense of humor, mixing terror and grotesque scenes with malformed jokes.

For example, “I don’t come around and put out your red light when you work” is Walker’s idea of an insult.

Walker’s voice is haunting, with a sort of wailing operatic style; his shouting is downright terrifying, and at times, one wants him to allow his voice to soar more.

The arrangements are tense and stark, utilizing everything from strings to anxious drums to deranged electric guitars, and foley art is prominent, with sounds such as knives being sharpened or flatulence. It’s an album of strange contrasts, like the Hawaiian pedal steel on “Epizootics!” punctured by bright brass outbursts.

Ninety-nine percent of the human population will likely find it unlistenable, but those who favor mind-bending, labyrinthine works of art may appreciate its singular brilliance. Like a flagpole sitter, Walker’s doing something that may seem silly, yet he’s high above everyone else and so very far away.

The work of local artists Rondell Crier, Kevin Bate and Seven adorns Graffiti Gallery’s “street art wall” on Chambliss Avenue.

MEET THE AUTHOR

Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Call (423) 400-9797 for more information.

Graffiti to Go

By Rich Bailey graffiti gallery’s “street art wall” had its redcarpet moment last week for the first time since the gallery opened in September.

The new Spears Avenue gallery—which tags itself “a Hill City Art Joint”—has tricked out a long, dull wall on Chambliss Avenue with four removable panels that are now filled with work by a regular crew of street artists—Seven, Rondell Crier and Kevin Bate. There’s also a one-off wheat paste piece by David Ruiz.

The panels are all for sale, so if you’ve ever had perverse desire to demolish a perfectly good building so you could take home a graffiti-covered wall, now’s your chance. Only now you can do it without a crowbar or hard hat.

Gallery owner David Jones got interested in graffiti art in 2010 when he worked for the U.S. Census Bureau. “I was part of group that went out at night to count homeless people. You go under freeway underpasses and stuff. I saw this

graffiti that no regular person would ever see. I thought it was incredible. It’s neat a few years later to actually have a gallery and be presenting graffiti for sale.”

After collecting art with his wife Laura for 10 or 12 years, Jones started thinking about opening up a gallery. Last summer he pitched his friend, real estate investor Jim Wilson, about taking over the front part of a building where Wilson had his office. Wilson took a while to warm up to the idea, but then he came back and upped the ante.

“At first Jim was skeptical about the idea. Eventually, he not only came around but suggested the idea of using a long, nondescript wall running down Chambliss as a canvas,” said Jones. “He threw out idea of maybe having graffiti artists do things on that wall. That’s

Arts

where the name for the gallery came from.”

Rather than paint directly on the wall, Jones has his group of street artists paint on removable panels that can be sold to collectors.

Inside the building, the gallery focuses on non-representational art by a core group of resident artists that include Jim Tucker, Ellyn Bivin, Mary Gregg, Patrick Nelligan, Robert Bivin, Elizabeth Chetta, Mamie Bivin and gallery owner David Jones, as well as some smaller pieces by the street artists.

Shows change monthly, with a first Friday opening featuring a guest artist. Works by Chelsea Couch were featured this month.

“So far we have sold 8 or 10 pieces, which is far ahead of the schedule I thought we’d have,” said Jones. The gallery space has already expanded into another room, which will be devoted to one featured artist, this month to smaller works by Seven.

The current exhibit continues through the end of this month. Graffiti Gallery is located at 629 Spears Ave. Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.,

Magic Realism in a show at gallery 301 on East Main, Miki Boni combines photographs and paintings into digital collages that are “entries into an ongoing visual journal” based on her travels and imaginings.

Although her paintings have always been filled with magic and whimsy, these photo/ painting collages are a new direction for her, one that is partly inspired by her two favorite books as a child: “The Wizard of Oz” and “Alice in Wonderland.”

“Both books are magic realism. They combine the real world with the other world.

Now I’m doing it in my painting,” she said. “I take images out of daydreams or wrap them around a surreality, have it come out as something of a third kind. You put two things together and get a finished product that is totally different than either of the two.”

The final works are mounted archival prints affixed to masonite. Using digital technology she combines images from her paintings with photographs she has taken in her travels over the years, from a university where she taught in Mexico to Ruby Falls.

“You never know when you wake up in the morning what’s going to hit you in the face,” she said. “It’s usually something wonderful.”

“Miki Boni: The Art of Magic Realism” continues at Gallery 301 through Jan. 28, 2013.

The gallery is located at 1800 E. Main St. Call (423) 7182543 for more information or visit gallery301.org.

Saturday, December 15

WILLIAM HULL Will sign copies of his new book Local Legends of Chattanooga from 2-4pm in the Gallery.

Pick up a copy and check out our selection of local books

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WINDER BINDER bobookosktsotroere

HOME OF THE

C GIFTS CHATTA-CENTRIC PEOPLE I FOR CHATTA-RIFF 40 FRAZIER AVE. 423.413.8999 MON-SAT • 11-6 SUN 1-6 winderbinder.com

chattanoogapulse.com • DECEMBER 13-19, 2012 • The Pulse • 21

Arts&Entertainment

CALENDAR (423) 267-8538 theatrecentre.com MG Gaskin 9:30 p.m. Vaudeville Café, 138 Market St. (423) 517-1839 funnydinner.com

Thu 12.13 Artist Reception: Meet five local artists 4-6 p.m. Reflection Gallery, 5600 Brainerd Road (423) 892-3072 reflectionsgalleryTN.com String Theory 6 p.m. Hunter Museum of American Art, 10 Bluff View Ave. (423) 267-0968 huntermuseum.org “Annie” 7 p.m. Chattanooga Theatre Centre, 400 River St. (423) 267-8538 theatrecentre.com “The Christmas Post” 7-9 p.m. Woodland Park Baptist Church, 6735 Standifer Gap Road (423) 899-9186 woodlandpark.org Sounds of Christmas 7-9 p.m. Lee University Chapel, 11th Street and Ocoee, Cleveland, (423) 614-8320 Scenes from the plays of Anton Chekhov 7:30 p.m. Chattanooga State Community College, 4501 Amnicola Hwy. (423) 697-3246 chattanoogastate.edu Will Marfori 7:30 p.m. The Comedy Catch, 3224 Brainerd Road (423) 629-2233 thecomedycatch.com

fri 12.14 “Femme”: An Art Exhibition 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Shuptrine’s Gold Leaf Designs, 2646 Broad St. (423) 266-4453 shuptrines.com 29th Annual Holiday Gift Wrap (Thru Dec. 24) 10 a.m.- 10 p.m.

Hamilton Place, 2100 Hamilton Place Blvd.

(423) 757-5259 kidsontheblock.net Green Door and Vintage Love’s Holiday Market 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

The Green Door Trading Co., 816 Georgia Ave. (423) 305-9441 greendoortrading.co Holiday Lights 5:30-8 p.m. Chattanooga Zoo, 301 N. Holtzclaw Ave. (423) 697-1322 chattzoo.org “The Best Christmas

22 • The Pulse • DECEMBER 13-19, 2012 • chattanoogapulse.com

sat 12.15

THE ART OF RICK LOVELL • The work of renowned graphic artist Rick Lovell will be exhibited in “Old School, New School: Three Decades of Illustration,” now on display in the John C. Williams Gallery of Art on the campus of Southern Adventist University. Lovell’s work will be on display until Feb. 15, 2013.

The exhibit is free and open to the public.

THRU 02.15.13 • Daily • John C. Williams Gallery of Art Southern Adventist University • Collegedale southern.edu

Pageant Ever” 7 p.m. Mountain Arts Community Center, 809 Kentucky Ave. Signal Mountain (423) 886-1959 signalmountainmacc.org Wlil Marfori 7 & 9:30 The Comedy Catch, 3224 Brainerd Road (423) 629-2233 thecomedycatch.com “The Nutcracker” 7 p.m. UTC Fine Arts Center, 752 Vine St. (423) 425-4371 utc.edu/finearts “The Nutcracker

Christmas Carol” 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Chattanooga State Community College, 4501 Amnicola Hwy. (423) 697-2424 chattanoogastate.edu “Gods & Disasters” 7:30 p.m. Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga, 1918 Union Ave. (423) 987-5141 ensembletheatre ofchattanooga.com “Annie” 8 p.m. Chattanooga Theatre Centre, 400 River St.

Pancake Breakfast with Santa 9:30-11 a.m. Southern Belle Riverboat, 201 Riverfront Pkwy, (800) 766-2784 chattanoogariverboat.com Chattanooga Holiday Market 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Chattanooga Convention Center, 1100 Carter St. (423) 649-2496 chattanoogamarket.com River Market 10 a.m. Tennessee Aquarium Plaza, 1 Broad St. (423) 402-9960 chattanoogamarket.com Juried Members Exhibition 11 a.m.- 5 p.m.

Ava Gallery, 30 Frazier Ave. (423) 265-4282 avarts.org Santa Brings Holiday Festivities to Warehouse Row 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. Warehouse Row, 1110 Market St. (423) 267-1127 warehouserow.net Deck the Walls 1:30-5:30 p.m.

Artsy-U, 5084 S. Terrace Road (423) 321-2317 artsychattanooga.com “The Nutcracker” 2 & 7 p.m. UTC Fine Arts Center, 752 Vine St. (423) 425-4371 utc.edu/finearts Noog Amazing Race 2-5 p.m. Coolidge Park, 150 River St. (423) 693-1355 noogamazingrace.org Hands On: An Arts & Crafts Program for Adults 2-3:30 p.m. Chattanooga Public Library, 1001 Broad St. (423) 757-5310 lib.chattanooga.gov “Gods & Disasters” 2 p.m. Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga, 1918 Union Ave. (423) 987-5141 ensembletheatre

»P24

THEATRE REVIEW

Nature’s Shock & Awe

By Janis Hashe the day the tornadoes struck chattanooga and Hamilton County in April 2011, I was in a media bunker—a radio station’s broadcasting studio, watching the storms pulse ever closer on the giant electronic weather map. I was safe—but I was helpless. I couldn’t leave—I was working and needed—but I had no idea what I would find when I got home. Would I still have a house? Would my dogs still be there? What about friends and neighbors?

I was one of the lucky ones that day. But most of us have experienced the paralyzing sense of waiting for a storm to hit … hearing the winds rise and the branches creak and snap. “Will it be this time?” you ask yourself.

In Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga’s last show of their 2012 season, “Gods & Disasters,” that feeling of incipient terror is explored in movement, dance and spoken word. Not a play in the classic sense, the piece is a collaboration between ETC’s artistic director, Garry Lee Posey, dance mavens Ann Law and Angela Sweet, vocalist Brandi Alexander, and spoken-word artist Marcus Ellsworth.

The result is fascinating; at various times riveting or dreamlike, at times a little too extended, but the highs are definitely worth the lows.

The 90-minute intermission-less piece is divided into four parts: “The Calm Before,” “The Storm,” “The Aftermath” and “Reflection.” In “The Calm Before,” conceived by Ann Law, Law, Katelynd Frierson and Mario Brooks dance a piece that, to me at least, evokes both the busywork of an average day, and at the same time, an uneasy dread of something impending.

Christian Collier’s “sound-

“

The result is fascinating; at various times riveting or dreamlike, at times a little too extended, but the highs are definitely worth the lows. scape” for this piece is masterful.

“The Storm,” conceived

by Brandi Alexander and staged by Garry Lee Posey, was my favorite section because of Bruce Shaw’s funny yet menacing “weatherman,” and especially E. Devante Williams as the leering, malevolent spirit of the storm itself. Also a shout out to the show’s youngest cast member, John Calvin Sweet IV, who has a future in theater if he wants one.

“The Aftermath,” conceived, choreographed and sound designed by Angela Sweet, is hypnotic and features amazing, uncredited costumes for its eight dancers, but needs trimming to capture its full power. Yet

the opening image of the dancers on the floor, pushed together like flotsam on a beach post-storm is gorgeous. The piece also movingly captures the idea of people coming together after a disaster, joined together in survival if nothing else.

“The Reflection,” conceived and written by Marcus Ellsworth, evokes particular storms and individual stories. Bruce Shaw again shines in his long monologue; a line that stood out: “People whose biggest crime was that they survived.”

Monessa Guilfoil’s soulful tribute to our own losses— and will to carry on—is also wonderful, but kudos all around to the performers in this piece, who also include Mario Brooks, Brandi Alex-

ander and Shasta Vance.

“Gods & Disasters” is also the last show in ETC’s three-year home in the St. Andrews Center. Next year the company will move to a new theater being built for them in the Eastgate Center. Congratulations to ETC on a lovely and fitting adieu, and best wishes for their challenging and exciting line-up for the New Year.

“Gods & Disasters” $11 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15, 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 16 6:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 17 Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga, 1918 Union Ave. (412) 987-5141 ensembletheatre ofchattanooga.com

chattanoogapulse.com • DECEMBER 13-19, 2012 • The Pulse • 23

FRESH LUNCH & DINNER SPECIALS

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24 • The Pulse • DECEMBER 13-19, 2012 • chattanoogapulse.com

ofchattanooga.com “Annie” 2:30 & 8 p.m. Chattanooga Theatre Centre, 400 River St. (423) 267-8538 theatrecentre.com Holiday Lights 5:30-8 p.m. Chattanooga Zoo, 301 N. Holtzclaw Ave. (423) 697-1322 chattzoo.org Will Marfori 7/9:30 The Comedy Catch, 3224 Brainerd Road (423) 629-2233 thecomedycatch.com “The Nutcracker Christmas Carol” 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Chattanooga State Community College, 4501 Amnicola Hwy. (423) 697-2424 chattanoogastate.edu “Home for the Holidays” 8 p.m. Tivoli Theatre, 709 Broad St. (423) 642-TIXS chattanoogaonstage.com MG Gaskin 10:30 p.m. Vaudeville Café, 138 Market St. (423) 517-1839 funnydinner.com

sun 12.16 Juried Members Exhibition 11 a.m.- 5 p.m.

Ava Gallery, 30 Frazier Ave. (423) 265-4282 avarts.org Chattanooga Holiday Market 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Chattanooga Convention Center, 1100 Carter St. (423) 649-2496 chattanoogamarket.com “Home for the Holidays” 2 p.m. Tivoli Theatre,

709 Broad St. (423) 642-TIXS chattanoogaonstage.com “The Nutcracker” 2 p.m. UTC Fine Arts Center, 752 Vine St. (423) 425-4371 utc.edu/finearts Noog Amazing Race 2-5 p.m. Coolidge Park, 150 River St. (423) 693-1355 noogamazingrace.org “The Nutcracker Christmas Carol” 2:30-4:30 p.m.

Chattanooga State Community College, 4501 Amnicola Hwy. (423) 697-2424 chattanoogastate.edu “Annie” 2:30 p.m. Chattanooga Theatre Centre, 400 River St. (423) 267-8538 theatrecentre.com “Gods & Disasters” 6:30 p.m. Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga, 1918 Union Ave. (423) 987-5141 ensembletheatre ofchattanooga.com Will Marfori 7:30 p.m. The Comedy Catch, 3224 Brainerd Road (423) 629-2233 thecomedycatch.com

mon 12.17 “Quiet Spaces” 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

River Gallery, 400 E. Second St. (423) 265-5033 river-gallery.com “The Art of Gifting” 1-5 p.m. In-Town Gallery, 26A Frazier Ave. (423) 267-9214 intowngallery.com Deck the Walls

5:30-9:30 p.m.

Artsy-U, 5084 S. Terrace Road (423) 321-2317 artsychattanooga.com 2012 Jingle Bell Jog 6 p.m. Downtown YMCA, 301 W. Sixth St. (423) 266-3766 ymcachattanooga.org

tue 12.18 “Quiet Spaces” 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

River Gallery, 400 E. Second St. (423) 265-5033 river-gallery.com Juried Members Exhibition 11 a.m.- 5 p.m.

Ava Gallery, 30 Frazier Ave. (423) 265-4282 avarts.org Holiday Shopping Evenings 4-7 p.m.

The Shoppes at CitiPark, 800 Chestnut St.

wed 12.19 “Quiet Spaces” 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

River Gallery, 400 E. Second St. (423) 265-5033 river-gallery.com Juried Members Exhibition 11 a.m.- 5 p.m.

Ava Gallery, 30 Frazier Ave, (423) 265-4282 avarts.org

Map these locations at chattanoogapulse. com. Send calendar listings at least 10 days in advance to: calendar@ chattanoogapulse.com.

DINING OUT CHATTANOOGA

Food Matches View at Top of the Dock

By Michael Thomas in the late 1950s and early 1960s america’s obsession with anything and everything Hawaiian gave birth to the classic tiki bar. Decorated with carved wooden masks, hula-girl lamps and thatch-covered walls, the tiki bar became synonymous with good food and good drink, usually enjoyed outdoors and overlooking the water. Top of the Dock brings this great tradition to Chattanooga and gives it a fresh twist with the addition of a trained chef and a renewed focus on food that goes way beyond cheeseburgers in paradise and Polynesian chicken wings.

When you walk into Top of the Dock, you immediately notice the breathtaking view. Expansive windows give you a panoramic view of the Tennessee River from any seat inside or you can step outside and soak up the beauty while you enjoy your meal or a drink on one of their large and well-furnished decks. During the warmer months these decks are transformed into a Polynesian paradise complete with hibachi grilled treats and your favorite frozen cocktails.

In September, owner David Jones brought in chef Chris Adamsky to take over the Top of the Dock kitchen, revamp the menu and elevate the food to match their spectacular location. Adamsky is a graduate of Le Cordon

Top of the Dock 5600 Lake Resort Terrace (423) 876-3356 topofthedock.net Hours Monday-Wednesday: 3 p.m. to midnight Thursday and Friday: 3 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Saturday and Sunday: 3 p.m. to midnight

Bleu College of Culinary Arts and has brought all of his skill and creativity to the task, utilizing every square inch of the restaurant’s tiny kitchen to produce a stunning variety of incredibly tasty dishes. “We’re doing something different from your standard bar food,” Adamsky says. “We do sexy food.”

Before I could ask what he meant by “sexy food,” my own food began to arrive and the answer was clear without a word being spoken.

The chef recommended that we start off with Tempura Shrimp, Asian Slaw and Spicy Mayo and as always, chef recommendations are best. The portions were generous to say the least. Two huge piles of large, golden-brown shrimp flanked a heaping helping of freshly made Asian slaw that made us all gasp with delight as it was delivered to the center of the table. The peanut and ginger

flavors of the slaw paired wonderfully with the crispy shrimp and slight bite from the srirachi-based spicy mayo. Despite the large portion, every shrimp vanished with such speed I half expected someone at the table to yell “Ta-da!” and take a bow.

Like a well-choreographed dance, our table’s entrees began to arrive just as we finished our first course. To my right, a wellseasoned piece of grilled salmon had been paired with risotto alla parmigiana. The risotto was just the right consistency and had a hint of smoky bacon that is al-

ways a welcomed surprise. To my left, a massive bowl of mussels in white wine and cream over linguini produced an intoxicating aroma with just a hint of thyme that called out to me like the siren’s song. I was fortunate enough to have a generous friend who shared a few of these meaty bivalves with me and they were absolutely delicious. I will be ordering these when I come back the next time.

I ordered the Filet Medallions and they were a flavor bonanza.

Two four-ounce filets sat atop a bed of steamed spinach and made-from-scratch Hollandaise sauce, each topped with a perfectly poached egg. What more could you ask for? (I asked for a side of garlic chive mashed potatoes, but that’s just how I roll). The filets were cooked to a precise mediumrare, just as I had ordered, and the poached eggs perched on top were soft-medium so the yolk ran down and created the sauce of the gods, especially when mixed with the Hollandaise. This dish could not have tasted any better and as I savored every bite I thought to myself, this food really is sexy.

Chef Adamsky came by as we took our last bites to remind us that Top of the Dock is now doing themed specials on weekdays such as Twisted Tacos on Tuesdays, handmade Calzones on Mondays and even a Sunday brunch complete with an omelet station, fresh pasta and Bloody Mary’s that runs all day Sunday rather than the standard, limited brunch hours.

As we left Top of the Dock’s thatched walls and wooden Polynesian masks behind, I remembered something the tiki bar prophet Jimmy Buffet once wrote: “Thank God the tiki bar is open, thank God the tiki torch still shines.” I said to myself, “Yes Jimmy, thank God this tiki bar is open and its tiki torch shines bright.”

chattanoogapulse.com • DECEMBER 13-19, 2012 • The Pulse • 25

From Russia, With a Thud “

The behavior of society people inspires in me revolutionary thoughts and daydreams of guillotines.

Keira Knightly in “Anna Karenina.”

if i’m going to fall asleep in a movie, it’s very likely that it will be during an extended dance sequence. Even in classic films like “Roman Holiday,” as soon the cast begins a few fleet-footed steps, my eyes start getting heavy. I know that dance is an important human art form—it’s just one that I don’t particularly understand. In film, which I feel is a medium best suited for telling stories, dance sequences are generally unnecessary, at times forced, many times not moving the story forward in any meaningful way, but rather grinding everything to a boring and frustrating halt. This is why, about 30 minutes into “Anna Karenina,” I began dozing. I never fully recovered.

After the dance sequence, when I was awakened by the guy sitting next to me, I had a hard time paying attention. “Anna Karenina,” though frequently called the best novel ever written by people who know what they’re talking about, must not translate well to the

screen. Or the filmmakers didn’t know what to do with it, which is the more likely scenario. This film is terribly dull.

The story is about Russian aristocracy, the society that surrounds it, infidelity and social rules. Oddly, all of the Russians in the film speak with British accents. The film is an amalgamation of ornate set pieces that remind us JOHN of a stage play, with the main action taking place on the stage, while the background and travel occurring backstage and in the rafters. It is confusing at times, but well dressed and artful.

“Anna Karenina” is clearly an exercise in form over function, in style over substance. The vast majority of the film’s budget must

have been spent on art direction.

It might have been better served spending at least a bit of that money on a compelling script. Instead, we are treated to a bored housewife having a boring affair with a boring count before being boringly ostracized by civil society, which ultimately leads to a boring death. In Russian society, the common man gets bisected in train accidents while the rich have affairs and dance.

While I haven’t read the novel the film is based on, I doubt that such authors as William Faulkner would have thought so highly of the book if the plot was this DEVORE thin. Some of the substance might come from the sub-plot of the young landowner that ran alongside the main story about Anna. But it was flaccid and significantly undeveloped, and I doubt Tolstoy would have been happy with this interpretation.

As I mentioned, the film looks wonderful. The train scenes are

Screen

especially captivating—in fact, watching the wheels turn on the train is far more entertaining that anything that happens in the story. I would have rather watched the train run for two hours.

The performances by the actors aren’t much more nuanced than the ones you’d find a soap opera.

Anna Karenina herself is incredibly unlikable, despite Keira Knightly’s adorable dimples and snaggletoothed smile. Jude Law seemed to be as bored with his role as I was. I found myself sighing every few minutes and looking at the floor. It’s obvious that the filmmakers were looking for an Oscar nomination—and they might get one for art direction or cinematography. But these things in and of themselves don’t make a movie worth watching.

I’ll admit, I might be a bit put off by the subject matter itself. Films and books about the wealthy elite at the turn of the century are, in my opinion, horrible. The focus on marriage, the importance of class distinction, the opulence of the lifestyle all bore me to tears.

Worse still, the behavior of society people inspires in me revolutionary thoughts and daydreams of guillotines. Jane Austen and Edith Wharton were the worst parts of my undergraduate curriculum. Some films, “Gone With the Wind” for instance, manage to overcome my general hatred of the landed gentry, but both the film and the book are classics.

“Anna Karenina,” at least as it is shown here, is decidedly not.

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Free Will Astrology SAGITTARIUS

(Nov. 22-Dec. 21): For the last six decades of his life, Pablo Picasso created art that was adventurous and experimental. He didn’t invent abstract painting, but he was instrumental in popularizing it. And yet in his early years he was a master of realism, and had an impressive ability to capture the nuances of human anatomy. Commenting on Picasso’s evolution, travel writer Rick Steves says that when he was young, “he learned the rules he would later so skillfully break.”

I suspect you’re in a phase of your own development when you could profit from doing the same thing.

So I ask you, Sagittarius: What are the rules that are so ripe for you to bend and twist as you graduate to a more mature level of self-expression?

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

Through some cosmic intervention, a sad or bad or mad story will get tweaked prior to the final turn of the plot. Just as you’re getting ready to nurse your regrets, an X-factor or wild card will appear, transforming the meaning of a series of puzzling events. This may not generate a perfectly happy ending, but it will at least result in an interesting and redemptive climax. What is the precise nature of that X-factor or wild card? Perhaps a big secret will be revealed or some missing evidence will arrive or a mental block will crumble.

And it’s likely that you will have an epiphany abut how valuable your problem has actually been.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Be

honest. Have you had any of the following symptoms? 1. Lack of interest in trivial matters and a yearning for big, holy mysteries. 2. Unfamiliar but interesting impulses rising up in you and demanding consideration. 3. Fresh insights into people and situations you’ve known a long time. If you haven’t experienced any of the above, Aquarius, I must be totally off in my analysis and this horoscope isn’t for you. But if you’ve had even two of these symptoms, you are on schedule to get what those of us in the consciousness industry call a “religious experience.”

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): You

just might be able to teach a statue to talk this week_or at least coax a useful message out of a stone-like person. You could also probably extract a delicious clue from out of the darkness or wrangle a tricky blessing from an adversary or find a small treasure hidden in a big mess. In short, Pisces, you now have a knack for accessing beauty and truth in unexpected sources.

You can see what everyone else

28 • The Pulse • DECEMBER 13-19, 2012 • chattanoogapulse.com

rob brezsny

is blind to and love what everyone else has given up on. You’re practically a superhero. Use your powers wisely, my friend. Be benevolently unpredictable.

ARIES

(March 21-April 19): Can you manage to be both highly alert and deeply relaxed? Could you be wildly curious and yet also serenely reflective? Can you imagine yourself being extra hungry to crack life’s secrets but also at peace with your destiny exactly the way it is? If you can honestly answer yes to those questions, you’ll get a lot of help in the coming week.

The universe may even seem to be conspiring to educate you and heal you. You will receive a steady flow of clues about how to get closer to living your dreams.

TAURUS

(April 20-May 20): In the coming week, you would be wise to deal with your vulnerability, your fallibility, and your own personal share of the world’s darkness. If you refuse to do that, either out of laziness or fear, I’m worried that you will reinforce a status quo that needs to be overthrown. You may end up rationalizing your mistakes, clinging to false pride, and running away from challenges that could make you smarter and stronger. Don’t do that, Taurus! Be brave.

Be willing to see what’s difficult to see. There will be big rewards if you choose to explore the weaker and less mature parts of your personality.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In the

1968 Olympics, Bob Beamon broke the world record for the long jump.

His leap was so far beyond the previous mark that the optical device designed to calculate it didn’t work. Officials had to resort to an old-fashioned measuring tape. After that, the word “Beamonesque” came to signify a feat that vastly outstripped all previous efforts. According to my analysis, you Geminis will have an excellent chance to be Beamonesque in 2013. I expect that you will at least surpass your own peak levels of accomplishment. If you have not yet launched your ascent, get started now.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The fire ants that invaded the southern U.S. back in the 1930s are an annoyance. They swarm and bite and sting. The venom they inject makes their victims feel like they’ve been burned. Two communities have decided to make the best of the situation. Auburn, Georgia and Marshall, Texas both stage annual Fire Ant Festivals. Maybe their example could inspire you, Cancerian. Is there any pest you could develop a more playful and festive relationship with? Could you possibly turn

into the equivalent of a Fire Ant Whisperer?

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): While reading William Kittredge’s book “The Nature of Generosity,” I learned about the oldest known sentence written in ancient Greek. It was inscribed on a wine jug that dates back to 740 B.C. Translated into English, it says, “Who now of all dancers sports most playfully?” I’d love to make something like that be your mantra in the coming week, Leo. The time is right for you to do more dancing and playing and sporting than usual—and to seek out companions who’d like to help you achieve record-breaking levels of those recreational activities.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In the

movie “Groundhog Day,” Bill Murray plays a man who gets trapped in a timeloop. Over and over again, he experiences the same 24 hours.

When he wakes up each morning, it’s still Feb. 2. At first it drives him crazy, pushing him to the verge of suicide. But eventually he decides to use his time wisely. He does good deeds and saves people’s lives. He even learns what he needs to do to win the heart of the woman he desires. This transformation turns out to be the key to gaining his freedom. Near the end of the film, he escapes to Feb. 3. A comparable opportunity is looming for you, Virgo. You have a chance to break a spell you’ve been under or slip away from a rut you’ve been in. Generosity may play a major role.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Events in the immediate future may have resemblances to reading a boring book that’s packed with highly useful information. You might feel that there’s a disjunction between the critical clues you need to gather and the ho-hum style in which they are offered. It’s OK to be a bit disgruntled by this problem as long as you promise to remain alert for the partially disguised goodies. Don’t fall asleep in the middle of the unspectacular lesson.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “In-

stinct tells us that sharks are more deadly than delicious fatty foods,” writes Jason Daley in Discover magazine. But “instinct is wrong,” he adds. In fact, eating food that tastes good but is actually bad for us is a far greater threat than shark bites. That’s just one example of how our uneducated urges can sometimes lead us astray. I invite you to keep this possibility in mind during the coming week, Scorpio.

It’s by no means certain that you will be misled by your natural inclinations, but it is crucial that you monitor them with acute discernment.

Jonesin’ Crossword

matt jones

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Across

1. Word of surprise 5. Dreamworks ___ (movie studio) 8. Praiseful poet 13. LBJ daughter 14. ___ Plus (shampoo) 16. Place for concerts 17. Buck 19. School, in Quebec 20. PepsiCo beverage introduced in 2001 22. Sleepy cohort 23. Word before hog or rage 24. Angel dust 27. What Ali wore in a historic match against Liston 33. “You Be ___” (Run-D.M.C. hit) 35. Rival of LA 36. Big bucks 37. Check out the factory 38. Football coach Parseghian 39. Gas or elec., e.g.

40. Lot dwellers 42. “U just got pwned” 43. “___ a Letter to My Love” (1980 movie) 44. Used delaying tactics

47. Trite answer to “What’s up?” (with “the”) 48. Bog fuel 49. To catch a thief 51. “Mary Poppins” song refrain 58. Grim Reaper’s collection 59. The world of Bond 60. Chicken, in a taqueria 61. “The Secret of ___ Inish” 62. Earth Day subj.

63. Party animal’s secret 64. ___ Schwarz 65. Dick Tracy’s love ___ Trueheart

Down

1. “Born Free” lioness 2. Judy Garland’s real last name 3. Bust ___ (fire off rounds) 4. Cut into cubes 5. Toastmasters preparation 6. TV chef Graham 7. Pirate’s drink 8. Pitching style 9. Like some trees or teeth

10. “Can I let you ___ a little secret?”

11. Be pouty 12. Swinger’s stand 15. Return to keep kids safe 18. Documented 21. URL punctuation 24. Breads for hummus 25. Influence 26. Dwarf planet that Neil deGrasse Tyson helped demote 28. All riled up 29. Alpine region of Austria 30. Students take them 31. “Hogan’s Heroes” colonel 32. Like soy sauce 34. They combat fatigue 41. Looks good on first inspection 43. It shares a 45-mile border with Canada 45. Female army enlistee, once 46. City in a Pauly Shore movie title 50. “The Devil and Daniel Webster” author 51. Not dorky

52. Dance with a story 53. “Time ___ the essence” 54. Org. that gives out ratings 55. “The Amazing ___” 56. They may get inflated 57. British pie contents 58. Number on a Banana Boat bottle

Jonesin’ Crossword created By Matt Jones. © 2012 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. 0601.

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Visit chattanoogajobpost.com or call 423.242.7671 30 • The Pulse • DECEMBER 13-19, 2012 • chattanoogapulse.com

chuck crowder

the holiday shopping season is definitely in full swing. with that comes an outlay of income that may or may not be disposable for some. Seems that nowadays—given the option—no one (at least in my peer group) expects a gift. However, nearly everyone feels as if they need to give one for some reason.

When I was a kid Christmas was a big deal.

We could expect a haul of toys and gifts because, other than our birthdays, we didn’t receive random presents throughout the year. If you wanted anything other than needed clothing, which no kid in their right mind ever wants, then you had to do chores, earn an allowance and save for weeks or months in order to purchase that new “Star Wars” action figure or Evel Knievel accessory.

We didn’t get toys just for being good at the grocery store or just because we saw a cool ad on television.

I remember sitting down and painstakingly perusing the Sears catalog for weeks before Santa’s arrival contemplating various options and combinations of the things I just couldn’t do without for another year. I’d vigorously circle an item in Bic ballpoint pen and then fold the page corner down so much that no one even casually flipping through the catalog could miss the marker. These days, my daughter just sends me an email with Internet links to the items she wants.

Still just as cute I guess.

No matter how big the haul, my daughter realizes how lucky she is to receive the amount of gifts (that she actually wants) this time of year. She’s the type of girl who would actually give up a gift or two if she knew of another girl who might not get any-

thing for Christmas otherwise. While that makes me extremely proud of her, it also makes me wonder if any of us really need any gifts at all?

Watching television this time of year can be depressing, given the frequency of ads for alternative money management services—payday loans, car title pawns and the like. Expenses that come with giving gifts take a toll on everyone, but especially on those who couldn’t afford to do it at all without digging themselves into a financial hole that would be difficult, if not just plain impossible, to get out of. And it’s obscene to me how these vulture institutions prey on those much less fortunate.

Payday loans and titlepawn services charge ridiculous amounts of interest on such “friendly” advances on cash that people don’t have in the first place. So, in my mind, if you don’t have the money now, then how do you plan on paying it back—with interest—in the limited amount of time allotted? It can very likely become a vicious cycle that will last a hell of a lot longer than between two paydays. Shame on

trusted celebrities like Montel Williams for making it sound so easy and convenient.

But the ad that really makes me mad is the Western Sky loan service. This company says it can put up to $10,000 in your checking account by tomorrow, then the fine print blips up on the screen for a few seconds.

Curious, I read the loan terms once and noticed they stated that repayment would consist of 84 monthly payments of $384. Doing the math, this equates to a staggering repayment amount of $32,256 on $10,000. I’m no mathematician, but what is that—more than 300 percent interest or something? That’s just plain outrageous.

I understand that the desperation to obtain loans and advances like these go well beyond the need to buy Christmas gifts for the kids. The ability to pay basic monthly bills or unexpected expenses such as fixing a car are likely at play for these individuals, in addition to keeping up with the anticipated financial wrenches of events such as Christmas. But what this also tells me is that maybe we all ought to take a little pressure off of each other and just have ourselves a merry little Christmas for the right reasons.

Chuck Crowder is a local writer and man about town. His opinions are his own.

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