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July 31, 2006
PulseCast: Music Edition #002 - Now Online
#002 features music from Thom Yorke, Hot Chip, Destroyer, Beirut, Sunset Rubdown, Dungen, Girl Talk, David Thomas Broughton, Sufjan Stevens, and many more.
Click here to listen.
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Posted by colrus at 10:18 AM | TrackBack
July 21, 2006
Uncanny and Ukelicious
If you're looking for something to do tonight, head over to Uncanny Inspirado, the fringe art extravangza that's taking over half of Warehouse Row.
And beforehand, be sure to check out the A-MAZING Jake Shimabukuro as he takes over Nightfall.
You can also see him do "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" here.
Posted by colrus at 09:38 AM | TrackBack
July 18, 2006
PulseCast: Music Edition Now Online!
The PulseCast: Music Edition, hosted by Joshua Daniels, is now available for your listening pleasure. The PulseCast: Music Edition is an hour-long, bi-weekly music show presenting an eclectic mix of tracks from an eclectic mix of independent, alternative and critically-acclaimed artists.
Episode #001 features music from TV On The Radio, Islands, Gnarls Barkley, Regina Spektor, Tapes 'N Tapes, Aloha, Band of Horses, Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice, Plan B, Matt Pond PA and many more.
Click here to listen.
Click here to subscribe.
The PulseCast: Music Edition is brought to you by the Chattanooga Pulse, Kelly Cadillac-Saab-Subaru-Hummer and Uncanny Inspirado.
Posted by colrus at 07:56 PM | TrackBack
July 17, 2006
A Shining Local Video Left Out of Today's Times Free Press Piece on Chattanooga Videos on YouTube: One of Chattanooga's Finest Struggles with Our National Anthem
This video also landed on VH-1's WebJunk.
Posted by pulseblogger at 09:53 AM | TrackBack
July 11, 2006
Syd Barrett Dead
The former Pink Floyd front man was 60.
Posted by colrus at 10:30 AM | TrackBack
July 06, 2006
Everything You Wanted to Know About the Gangster Disciples But Were Afraid to Read About Elsewhere
Perhaps you did not take the time to read the Time Free Press’s three-day, nine-article investigation of gang activity in Chattanooga. That is why we did. So you can be lazy, yet still able to name-drop “Mike-Mike Daniels” at dinner parties.
Among the things we did not know before:
-- The attitudes Chattanooga’s police and politicians have taken toward gangs over the past decade have basically corresponded to the way Roy Schneider and the fat mayor approached the shark in Jaws. “Cops have always known there are gangs [here], and politicians have always denied it,” says Chattanooga Police Deputy Skip Vaughn.
-- While the recent Emma Wheeler Homes and East Lake shootings have apparently involved people affiliated with the Bloods and the Crips, the gang most prolific in the Hamilton County Jail is called the Gangster Disciples. (The jail has catalogued seven Disciples.)
-- The same night (April 29) that five fights broke out after showings of ATL and Ice Age: The Meltdown at Rave Motion Pictures, several hundred young people “dressed either in red or blue” rumbled in Coolidge Park. Earlier that day, two teenagers were injured by gunshots fired into a crowd at the Boys Club in East Lake. So maybe the whole thing had nothing to do with T.I. after all.
-- Residents of East Lake Courts are convinced that 20-year-old Michael “Mike-Mike” Daniels, the Skyline Bloods leader who allegedly ordered the first of last month’s killings (pictured at left), still wields influence from inside his jail cell. “He’s in jail, but he has a gang out there that is willing and ready,” says Robyn Griffin, a former resident.
-- Chattanooga Police Sgt. Alan Franks says that the recent wave of violence can be directly traced to the release of “Mike-Mike” from state prison within the past year.
-- On the positive side, a hip-hop duo has released a song called “Stop the Violence.” “They say gangster rap is causing kids to go bad,” says the record’s producer. “Then can positive hip-hop cause them to go good?”
Things we still would like to know:
-- Is it possible to identify gang members by their wardrobes? Police mention “red or blue” identifying colors – but they don’t say which insignia identify which gang affiliations. Franks says gang customs change daily, but he declines to tell reporters if he’s seen any long-term cultural identifiers.
-- What exactly does it mean to say that a guy living in Emma Wheeler Homes is a member of the Skyline Bloods, the Crips, or the Gangster Disciples? Jailers talk about “wannabe” gang members and “full gang members” – but full of what? Is there a meaningful connection between the Skyline Bloods and the national Blood movement? What ties them together, if anything? Is it simply a shared channel for distributing drugs?
-- Which leads to the next question: is Chattanooga’s gang activity a purely internal problem within poor, black communities, or a result of gangs in Atlanta (and elsewhere) making inroads here? Community leaders seem to suggest the former: “If city and county officials had spent a fraction of the money on technical training in the downtown area that has been spent for the waterfront development or other developments, the problem would have never gotten this bad,” says Hugh Reece, vice president of the Southeast Council of the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth. But while more jobs couldn’t hurt, will those opportunities be competing with mere local thugs, or a regional network?
That seems like the biggest question not being addressed by police, government officials or community leaders – or the Times Free Press – and it may be the one that most determines whether gang activity metastasizes here in coming months.
Posted by mesh at 04:17 PM | TrackBack
Great Moments in TV News: Cleveland's Carl Monday Battles Porn at the Library
Posted by pulseblogger at 01:11 PM | TrackBack
The Josh is Back
Coming VERY soon will be a BRAND SPANKIN' NEW music podcast from, yes, Mr. Joshua Daniels.
Stay tuned...
Posted by pulseblogger at 12:32 PM | TrackBack
July 05, 2006
Is Nothing Sacred?!
Apparently someone sent a letter to officials at PepsiCo claiming to have trade secrets to sell. The secrets? Only the super secret formula for Coca-Cola! Kudos to PepsiCo for reporting the attempted industrial epsionage to the FBEye (maybe it was the formula for New Coke).BBC News
Posted by mkull at 11:35 PM | TrackBack
Of Human Bondage
Overheard aboard the Warehouse Row elevator: a middle-aged woman relating her shopping experience to her ballcapped male counterpart. "There's only two stores upstairs," she said. "And an art gallery ... that you wouldn't want to go into."
Posted by mesh at 03:09 PM | TrackBack
Hasselhoff-range Missiles
Did David Hasselhoff really help end the Cold War? Maybe he should talk to North Korea.
-Blair Hickman
Posted by pulseblogger at 11:37 AM | TrackBack
One Man What???
O.K. Chattanooga, you screwed up. We might be able to blame the 4th of July holiday, traditionally one of the worst times of year for theatre attendance, but the miniscule audiences at Tim Mooney’s "One-Man One-Man Play Festival" last weekend were embarrassing. No wonder entertainment promoters look upon Chattanooga with suspicion.
The few people that eschewed burnt weenies and fireworks—which, BTW, cost much more than a $10 theatre ticket—were treated to a one-of-a-kind entertainment that was original, weird and seriously funny.
A holiday picnic kept us away from the 6 p.m. show: Criteria. But Moliere Than Thou and Karaoke Nights were awesome. Moliere Than Thou was one of the most creative and refreshing pieces of classical theatre I’ve seen in years. Mooney pulled wigs and costume pieces out of an old trunk to perform eight of Moliere’s most famous characters, from Scapin to Tartuffe. He drafted audience members for a couple of scenes, including a hilarious seduction between Don Juan and a 15-year-old tomboy in Converse Chuck Taylors.
Mooney’s translations make Moliere’s 17th century language instantly accessible. His interpretations were crisp, stylized, and sang with the comic genius of playwright’s original intent.
Karaoke Nights suffered a little from the small audience. It screams for a good sized house with a healthy buzz. Nonetheless, the dozen or so of us who hung on for the 10 p.m. show had a blast. This time, Mooney channeled five characters, from an Ice Capades reject named Larry who jete’d back and forth across the stage, to a European of muddy origins named Sergio. Sergio provided my favorite moment of the show when he sang a song called "Bite My Tongue" while simultaneously tying up three audience members with his microphone cord.
During the break between shows, Barking Legs served beer and munchies, and we were even allowed to take the beer to our seats. What a concept. Plus, as my date and I drove away from the theatre, we were treated to the additional entertainment of watching four of Chattanooga’s finest munch donuts in a parking lot while hookers strolled up and down Dodds Avenue.
Producer Sabra York says she may try to bring Mooney back again in November. We’ll keep you posted. But here’s a clue: to catch the show, you’re actually going to have to get off the sofa and go to the theatre.
-Ruth Cartlidge
Posted by pulseblogger at 11:06 AM | TrackBack
They Are Not All Drunks
So according to Chris Braly's column, now no one under 21 can get into bars after 11 p.m. When I was in 12th grade at RBHS, I had to take this statewide benchmark test that revolved around the fact that the city was worried about losing their talented youth. This'll fix it. Is the City Council not aware that their nickname amongst youth is already Chatta-nothing-to-dooga? Do they WANT kids to buy fake IDs? And by the way, there's a college in this town. Just because someone who's 20 goes to hang out in Taco Mac doesn't mean they're going to drink. It costs too much anyway.
-Blair Hickman
Posted by pulseblogger at 11:00 AM | TrackBack
July 03, 2006
Clapp If You Love the Library
Mayor Ron Littlefield found himself in another public squabble last week. But this one had a novel ending: his combatant apologized.
“I owe an apology to Mayor Littlefield and the City Council for inadvertently mischaracterizing City support of the library and its funding,” Hamilton County Bicentennial Library Director David Clapp said in a statement. “Ron Littlefield has been a lifelong friend of the library and kept our budget at a higher level last year when he could have legitimately cut it to match the county’s contribution. Both he and most members of the City Council have gone out of their way to help us during his administration. It was completely unfair to lay our budget crisis at the door of our best friends and supporters.”
The apology came after Littlefield defended the city’s library funding, which has grown even as the county has cut its contribution. “Our hearts are with the library,” he said. “We do all we can to make sure the budget is balanced and they have the services they need.”
Posted by mesh at 07:26 AM | TrackBack
This is What We Like to Term Nyukraking Journalism
So Harold Ford gave this stump speech on June 24 before a rally at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. And suddenly the race for U. S. Senator got a little more Grand Ole Operatic.
The big phrase that Ford dropped on the Jackson Day crowd was “the Three Stooges,” a moniker he bestowed upon GOP primary candidates Bob Corker, Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary. But Ford said a lot more than that.
“They really need to grow up,” Ford told the Associated Press after his speech. “They should be running a race that is worthy of the intellect, needs and aspirations of the people of this state. I watch them at times, and I'm a little embarrassed to hear them raise their voices, yelling, sounding like children at times.”
The Tennessee Republican Party responded as if it had been poked in the collective eye. “Last time I checked, name-calling didn’t win too many elections in Tennessee," state GOP chairman Bob Davis told the AP on June 26. “Maybe Ford’s immaturity and insulting character assassination works in Washington, D.C., but in Tennessee it doesn’t fly.”
And then, in an attempt to raise the level of discussion, everybody went on Fox News. First Ford appeared on “The Big Story with John Gibson,” telling the host on June 27 that he wouldn’t back down. “Look, the horrible things they've said about me, that was probably the nice thing I said about the level of discourse among the three of them,” Ford said. “The conversation and the debate they're having is beneath voters in our state. The awful and terrible things they're saying about one another reminds you of kindergarten.”
Ed Bryant was not amused when he took his turn with Gibson on June 28. “Certainly it is a spirited contest we have in Tennessee and our primary,” he said, “but I think we have to first acknowledge that Congressman Ford's remarks yesterday are an example of a young man who is certainly eager to go over to the Senate, perhaps a little too eager to go there. Clearly if he's interested in a higher discourse of debate in this campaign, he is not going down the right track talking about the Three Stooges.”
And the snark kept coming. (We recognize that nothing is being accomplished by repeating all this, but it’s so much fun.) “Seems people from Washington have a penchant for calling people names and labeling them and distorting,” Corker told the Knoxville News Sentinel on Sunday, while Ford shot back with one name he wouldn’t call. “If they want me to call them the Three Statesmen, they ought to act like it,” he told the Times Free Press’ Andy Sher.
Meanwhile the Three Whatevers had a chance to prove their gravitas in a televised debate last Wednesday. And they successfully avoided name-calling. For about five minutes. “My Washington friends and lobbyists would have a better view of what that process is all about,” Corker said when pork-barrel spending was brought up. And Hilleary, as is his wont, took the conversation to 11: “If I am your ‘Washington friend,’ you are my pro-choice tax-raising-through-the-roof buddy.” (They don’t sound like friends.)
Perhaps lost in the furor was what ticked Ford off so much in the first place. During his Jackson Day speech, he lashed out at critics of his influential Memphis family. (Ford’s uncle, John Ford, was indicted on corruption charges in last summer’s Tennessee Waltz probe.) “When you figure out the recipe to fix a family, call me,” he said. “Otherwise, let us run for the Senate. When you have nothing else to talk about, you talk about those issues.”
Posted by mesh at 07:25 AM | TrackBack