August 2014 Murfreesboro Pulse

AUGUST ART HAPPENINGS

Float-A-Boat in nearby Wartrace provides an ideal way to spend the day fl oating and exploring the diverse Duck River. PAGE 20

Flavorful Crawfish Bites at The Blue Cactus; Growing Experiments at Double Star Bar Farms PAGE 14

Flavorful Flavorful Flavorful Flavorful FOOD

Gratifly, BorostockGospel SongTimeRaz Simone, RittzGordon Mote, Tuki Carter and morePAGE 8

MUSIC

Vol. 9, Issue 8August 2014

FREEFor You!

MURFREESBORO

Middle Tennessee’s Source for Art, Entertainment and Culture News

RIVER

Anthropology of Tattoos; Interview With Tattoo

Artist Hayden Combs; Tattoos of the ’Boro

PAGE 22

ART

AUGUST ART

RIVERRolling on the Rolling on the Rolling on the Rolling on the Rolling on the Rolling on the

RIVERRolling on the

RIVERRolling on the

RIVERRolling on the

RIVER

BOROPULSE.COM * AUGUST 2014 * 3

HAPPY AUGUST. In conjunction with the fall semester, the Pulse brings to you information on the Anthropology of Tattooing—a course now of-fered at our fi ne local university—along with some additional tattoo talk, featuring the art that some Murfreesboro folks wear every day and the stories behind it, provided by Mai Harris, now arts cor-respondent for the Pulse.

I can envision it now: a rebellious, young, free-thinking member of a remote tribe in ancient times. The time has come to get the tribe’s traditional markings, but he sees something different, he wants a zombie turtle soaring over a lunar eclipse

on his torso. Express yourself and be

who you want! The following pages of

Murfreesboro-related good-ness contain plenty of infor-mation on music, art, events and good causes to support. You may notice some other

themes popping up in the Pulse, such as celebrating creativity, eating local, taking care of your body, mind and spirit; showing respect for others, sustainability, supporting small business, freedom, getting in touch with nature, music, art, revolution, seeking enlighten-ment—sometimes even in the same piece!

Speaking of enlightenment, voters head to the polls this month to select our county leaders, as well those who will represent their parties in the upcoming November elections.

The local Republican Party recently celebrated its Reagan Day Dinner.

People who think Ronald Reagan was a good president are what’s wrong with this country.

Aside from the fact one can scramble the let-ters of Ronald Wilson Reagan to create “Insane Anglo Warlord,” he was a hypocrite, a fraud, a big-spending, dishonest, freedom-grabbing, lying, War-on-Drugs promoting, illegal-arms-dealing, fi scally irresponsible actor.

Sure, cutting taxes sounds great. Let’s cut taxes, yay! But he did so as spending skyrocketed, presid-ing over the biggest national debt explosion in U.S. history. Hmm. Where’s the logic there? He talked about freedom and the city on the hill, but crusaded to have more and more prisons built and more and more Americans put in them, and thus the incarcera-tion rate also ballooned under Mr. Reagan’s watch.

He’s an actor. Not in the sense that he played in movies (which he did), but in the sense that he said one thing and did another. Reagan is no more of an American hero than Mr. T or Walker Texas Ranger; they all appear to be heroes, but their heroism is a façade, a myth. Sorry. They pretend to be these superhero-like people, but look a little closer, dig a little, make your own conclusion.

Killer Mike knows what I’m talking about.Alright, back to 2014. Please vote, get involved!

Get that fall garden started, create some art, fl oat down the river, support your local farmers, take care of yourself.Peace,Bracken Mayo Editor in Chief

Copyright © 2014, The Murfreesboro Pulse, 10 N. Public Square, Murfreesboro, TN 37130. Proudly owned, operated and published the first Thursday of each month by the Mayo family; printed by Franklin Web Printing Co. The Murfreesboro Pulse is a free publication funded by our advertisers. Views expressed in the Pulse do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers. ISSN: 1940-378XP

ULS

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CREW

To carry the Pulse at your business, or submit letters, stories and photography: [email protected] N. Public Square, Murfreesboro, TN 37130(615) 796-6248

Publisher/Editor in Chief: Bracken Mayo

Art Director: Sarah L. Mayo

Advertising Reps: Jeff Brown, Don Clark, Jami Creel, Jamie Jennings

Copy Editor: Steve Morley

Contributors: Gloria Christy, Philip A. Foster, Mai Harris, Randal Jones, Zach Maxfield, Billy Plant, Jay Spight, Andrea Stockard, Sam Stockard, Edwinna Shannon, Christy Simmons, Norbert Thiemann, Phil Valentine

Sign up to receive our weekly digital newsletter at BoroPulse.com/Newsletter

CONTENTS

EVENTS

4August Community EventsFoster parent classes, Pigskin Pre-game,

Quilt Tour, Kids Triathalon

SOUNDS6 AUGUST CONCERTS

7Karaoke, Trivia, DJ & Bingo Nights

Places to go for fun with friends

8Gratifly Inspires us to be the Change

Festival included music, yoga, agriculture and more.

0Music NotesI Am What I Am, Gospel Benefit, Borostock, The OD Tour,

Muddy Roots, Legalization Benefit, Gordon Mote

FOOD

rThe Blue CactusArea eatery serves fusion of Southwest and Cajun.

yDouble Star Bar FarmPeaches, blackberries, asparagus are just the beginning.

LIVING

iAugust GardeningGetting that fall garden started, plus a look at the monarch.

pCan You Canoe?

Wartrace outfit offers wonderful, leisurely summer kayak and canoe rides down the scenic Duck River.

ART

sThe Anthropology of TattooingMTSU course explores the history of skin art.

fArtist Profile: Hayden CombsA look at some of the tattoo artist’s work.

gTattoos of the ’BoroThe stories behind some local tattoos.

j August Art Happenings

Canines by Art Gowden; Jeff Bertrand; Miranda Leek

REVIEWS

k Movie

Guardians of the Galaxy Book The Mayor of MacDougal Street Living Room Cinema Female Trouble: Early Impersonation

l August Movie Releases

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and more

SPORTS

; MTSU Sports Quickcap

Fan Day Aug. 10, first game Aug. 30

x Sports Talk with Z-Train

Run, Sankey! 2014 season, and fantasy, almost here.

c Why Diets Don’t Work

All calories are not created equal.

OPINIONS

v The Stockard Report

Poor strategy Links “Slim Shady” and Lester.

b Phil Valentine

Texas taking border security into its own hands.

n Music Through the Decades

The Radio Days of the 1930s

m Four Steps to Organizational Success

Strategic planning & foresight

, Special Election Coverage

A look at the Senator Lamar Alexandar’s voting record.

COVER STORY

20

DEAR READERS:

ONLINE AT: BOROPULSE.COM

18

CONTENTSCONTENTS

18181818

24themes popping up in the

THROUGH AUG. 7 CLASSES TO BECOME A FOSTER PARENTFor a child, there’s nothing more impor-tant than to have a place to call home, a family to love and parents who believe in them. As a foster parent, you can trans-form the life of a child simply by becom-ing the first person to have faith in her. If you have enough love in your heart for a child who desperately needs it, please help a child find the way home. Classes are at the First Baptist Church (200 E. Main St.) each Tuesday and Thursday from 6–9 p.m. with materials and dinner provided. For more information, call (615) 250-7318.

THROUGH OCT. 31 RUTHERFORD COUNTY HABI-TAT FOR HUMANITY COOKIN’ TO BUILDThe cost of the Cookin’ to Build ticket this year is $20. For the first time ever, The Pottery Place at The Avenue and The Painted Clay Studio in Smyrna are doing a ticket pre-sale for Cookin’ to Build Nov. 1. When you paint a bowl, you have the opportunity to go ahead and purchase your ticket. In doing so, you will be offered the chance to choose your bowl or another painted bowl the morning of the event. There will be a special entry sale from 10:30–11 a.m. for those who purchase their ticket when painting a bowl. Cost to paint is $5 plus tax. Group paintings and offsite paintings are offered. For more information, contact (615) 890-5877, ext. 106 or [email protected].

AUG. 2, 16 & 30 HALLOWED GROUND: A LANTERN TOUR OF STONES RIVER NATIONAL CEMETERYJoin a park ranger for an hour-long walk by lantern light through Stones River National Cemetery. Visitors will get a chance to appreciate the human stories housed within the cemetery by listen-ing to soldiers and civilians share their experiences through the letters they wrote and received during the conflict.

Reservations are required and must be made by calling (615) 893-9501 starting on the Monday before each program. For more information and for more events at Stones River Battlefield visit visit nps.gov/stri/planyourvisit/events.htm.

AUG. 9A DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE NINTH KENTUCKY INFANTRYExperience the daily life of a soldier and the life of their loved ones at home as the men of the Ninth Kentucky keep to the schedules in General Orders No. 8 from the papers of their very own Mar-cus Woodcock at Stones River National Battlefield (1563 N. Thompson Ln.). Admission is free. For more information, call (615) 893-9501 or visit nps.gov/stri/planyourvisit/events.htm.

AUG. 9SING, SHOUT, RAISE THE ROOF CONCERTFirst Baptist Church (738 E. Castle St.) hosts a choir concert from 4–7 p.m. to raise money for Rutherford County Area Habitat for Humanity’s House of Faith. Local churches and praise teams will sing for the community. Admission is free. For more information contact [email protected] or (615) 890-5877 ext 103.

AUG. 9PIGSKIN PRE-GAMEBlue Raider football invites you to help support its Alumni Legacy Scholarship at Annalee Acres (11000 Highway 99, Rockvale) from 6:30–9:30 p.m. as

it kicks off its season. This is a family-friendly event. Admission is $30 per person; ages 12 and under are free. Ticket includes catered food by the Tennessee Pork Producers and Five Senses restaurant, beverages by Mayday Brewery, Stones River Total Beverages, live entertainment and more! RSVP by visiting mtalumni.com or by calling (615) 898-2922 by Aug. 7. For more informa-tion, visit facebook.com/annaleeacres.

THROUGH AUG. 10TALLEY’S FOLLYThe Center for the Arts hosts Talley’s Folly, set in a deserted Victorian boat-

house in Missouri in 1944. An accountant from St. Louis has arrived to plead his love to Sally Talley, and refuses to accept her rebuffs. Talley’s Folly is this season’s final production in the Center’s gallery series, a more intimate theater experience than the main theater. Remaining perfor-mance times are at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Aug. 8–9, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10. The Center for the Arts is lo-cated at 111 W. College St., Murfreesboro. For more information, visit boroarts.org.

AUG. 10THE NINTH KENTUCKY INFAN-TRY, US AT STONES RIVERThe Ninth Kentucky Infantry, made up of Unionists from Kentucky and Middle Ten-nessee, found themselves embroiled in some of the most important moments of the Battle of Stones River. Listen to their story as told by one of their own, Mar-cus Woodcock, and watch the soldiers demonstrate the fighting skills they used on the battlefield more than 151 years ago at Stones River National Battlefield (1563 N. Thompson Ln.). Admission is free. For more information, call (615) 893-9501.

AUG. 12PASTORAL COUNSELING CENTER LUNCHEONThe 25-year-old Pastoral Counseling Cen-ter in First Baptist Church is supported by most downtown churches and some of the larger suburban churches. This fundraiser lunch and silent auction at First Methodist Church, Aug. 12 from 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m., provides funds for support of low cost coun-seling. All therapists are licensed counselors and counseling in Spanish is offered. For more information, call (615) 796-3366.

4 * AUGUST 2014 * BOROPULSE.COM

EVENTSSend event information to [email protected]

compiled by ANDREA STOCKARD

AUG. 15HISTORIC QUILT TRAIL TOURThe Rutherford County Quilt Trail Tour departs from Lane Agri-Park Community Center at 9 a.m. (315 John R. Rice Blvd.) and visits several historic farms and locations where “barn blocks” (painted quilt patterns) have been hung for all to see by Riverdale High School Art Department students and local artist Billie Jean Summers. Shopping stops include Ferrell Hollow, Readyville Mill and Brown Fam-ily Fiber and Iron Works. Cripple Creek Presbyterian Church caters lunch followed by a tour of the historic cemetery. Admission is $25. To find out more information, call (615) 898-7710 or visit rutherford.tennessee.edu.

AUG. 23TRYBORO KIDS TRIATHLONThe TryBoro Kids Triathlon at Sports*Com (2310 Memorial Blvd.) provides a unique endurance event that includes swimming, biking and running on a safe and closed course. Each child will be professionally timed and will receive a quality shirt and finisher’s medal. Admission is $25 through July 23 and $30 afterwards. For more information, call (615) 895-5040 or visit tryborokidstri.org.


AUG. 14BENEFIT FOR “YES ON 1” A group of Murfreesboro couples and families have joined forces to encourage voters to vote “Yes” on Amendment 1 this Nov. 4, when Tennesseans will have the opportunity to decide if they would like to insert language into the state’s constitu-tion stating the right to an abortion, and funding for an abortion, are not neces-sarily protected and provided. The local Yes on 1 event, an informative dessert reception, will be held from 6–7:15 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 14, at The Messick Shed, 4707 Lascassas Pike, Lascassas. Yes on 1 supporters call Tennessee an abor-tion destination state (“In September of 2000 our State Supreme Court took the power from us to enact reasonable regulations on abortion, except by consti-tutional amendment, leaving Tennessee with the fewest abortion restrictions of any state in the Southeast. Since that day citizens of our state have been working toward the opportunity to amend the Tennessee State Constitution,” the event invitation reads). For more on the group and its efforts, e-mail [email protected] or call (615) 496-8837.

AUG. 15CANNONSBURGH CONCERTRyan Bizarri performs at Cannonsburgh Village (312 S. Front St.) from 7–9 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, call (615) 890-0355.

AUG. 19–SEPT. 5MTSU ART ALUMNI EXHIBITMTSU Art Alumni Exhibit is open to all MTSU Department of Art Alumni with cur-rent work (produced within the past three years) in graphic design or studio art: ceramics, painting, printmaking and sculp-

ture. Drawing, book arts, letterpress, illustration, animation, video and mixed media that incorporates some aspect of the above categories with new media are also welcome. Open to all alums including art education and art history majors, especially those who graduated 1985-2008. An Alumni Reception will be held from 5–7 p.m. on Aug. 27. For more information, contact (615) 898-5653 or [email protected].

AUG. 29–SEPT. 1TN STATE COWBOY MOUNT-ED SHOOTING FINALSTennessee State Cowboy Mounted Shooting Finals are at Tennessee Miller Coliseum (304-B W. Thompson Ln.). Ad-mission is free. For more information, call (615) 494-8961 or visit mtsu.edu/tmc.

SATURDAYSLOCAL FARMERS MARKETSRutherford County invites you to its Main Street Saturday Market from 8 a.m.–noon every Saturday at the Public Square next to the Rutherford County Courthouse. For more information, call (615) 895-1887 or visit downtownmur-freesboro.com. Also, enjoy local fresh produce, dairy, and meat Saturdays from 8 a.m.–noon at Smyrna Train De-pot (Front St.). For more information, please call (615) 330-0516.

TUESDAY NIGHTSDEPRESSION BIPOLAR SUPPORT ALLIANCEDepression Bipolar Support Alliance of Murfreesboro meets Tuesday nights at 7 p.m. at Woodgate Farm Apartment’s Clubhouse (755 St. Andrews Dr.). DBSA is a peer-led support group for anyone dealing with these issues. The event is free. For more, visit dbsalliance.org.

AUG. 24FAMILY DAY: HEALTH AND HISTORYThe Historic Sam Davis Home and Plantation (1399 Sam Davis Road) welcomes you to a Family Day on Aug. 24 from 1–4 p.m. Learn about the many medical advances brought on by the Civil War injuries and its influence on the many inventions and discoveries in health care. Students can explore sur-gical procedures through reproduction artifacts and bits of herbal lore. Activities include learning how to wrap bandages and more. Historic interpreters also discuss the experiences of Civil War nurses, surgeons, and soldiers. For more informa-tion, contact [email protected] or (615) 459-2341.


SOUNDS

THURS. 8/7BUNGANUT PIG

The O’DonnellsHIPPIE HILL

The Funky NuggetsNACHO’S

Ivan LaFever

FRI. 8/8ALFONSO’S MEXI-CAN RESTAURANT

Tony CastellanosBUNGANUT PIG

Liberty ValanceCOCONUT BAY CAFE

DJ TruFxEXPERIENCE COMMUNITY

Raised To Life: A Night of Worship

MAIN STREET MUSICNutz and Voltz

MAYDAY BREWERYThe Poncé Brothers

ROOSTER’S LONESTAR BBQ

EclipseTEMPT

AK1200

SAT. 8/9ALFONSO’S MEXI-CAN RESTAURANT


Zone Status CENTER OF HOPE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

By Faith, The Caltons Randy & Wendy Pierce

COCONUT BAY CAFELost Dawg

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH

Spirit & Truth, First Cumberland Presbyterian Sanctuary Choir, Remedy Worship Band, BradleyCreek MBC No. 2 Choir, Duran Buckingham, New Creation, First Baptist Praise Team, Lisa Robinson

GEORGIA’S SPORTS BAR & GRILL

Liberty ValanceMAIN STREET MUSIC

Paul WarrenMAYDAY BREWERY

Andy Dozier and Heavy Soul

NEW VISION BAPTIST CHURCH

The KatinasREADYVILLE MILL

Johnny B and the Balladeers

SOCIALThe Look

TFG WORLD HEADQUARTERS

Rude King, Downbeat Abbey All-Stars

THE BOROFalse Colors, BAAST, Dotcom

SUNDAY, 8/10LANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES

The Kings, Surrounded by Walls

MCKNIGHT PARKDJ Skinny B

SOCIALRittz, Raz Simone, Tuki Carter

WORLD OUTREACH CHURCH

The Katinas

TUES. 8/12BUNGANUT PIG

JD ShelburneSPORTS SEASON GRILL

2Country4Nashville

WED. 8/133 BROTHERS

Ryan Coleman’s Writers’ Night

BUNGANUT PIGThe Wilkins

TEMPTWayBackWhensDay


Sabrina and TonyNACHO’S

Ivan LaFeverTHE BORO

Borostock with Pete Kennedy, Levi Massie, Mike Palmer, Bach Hotel


Tony Castellanos

BUNGANUT PIGReckless

COCONUT BAY CAFEDJ Prez

MAIN STREET MUSICDonnie Miller

MAYDAY BREWERYAmber’s Drive

THE BOROBorostock with Ian C. Parker, Austin Steele, Japanese Cowboys, Beth James and The Rumour



Fender BenderCOCONUT BAY CAFE

The Tim McDonald BandHIPPIE HILL

Grandpa's Cough Medicine

JOZOARAGabrielle Cesario

MAIN STREET MUSICMusic City Zepp (Led Zeppelin tribute)

MAYDAY BREWERYGina Sicilia, 8 Ball Aitken

READYVILLE MILL Johnny B and the Balladeers


Two Sweater Night, The Acorn People, Behold the Slaughter, NuAugustine

THE BOROBorostock with Oliver Fist, Aye Mammoth, Lee Roberts Army, Cat Party

SUN. 8/17THE BORO

Accidental Trio, Skub Duger, Horava


CJ Vaughn TrioSPORTS SEASON GRILL

2Country4Nashville

WED. 8/203 BROTHERS


BUNGANUT PIGFranklin and Farris



Scattered PiecesNACHO’S

Ivan LaFeverTHE BORO

Tennessee Scum



Atomic Trunk MonkeysCOCONUT BAY CAFE

Zone StatusMAIN STREET MUSIC

Black ShagMAYDAY BREWERY

Bentley Caldwell, Sam Allen

THE BOROHurts to Laugh, Mad Anthony

SAT. 8/233 BROTHERS

The PunknecksALFONSO’S MEXI-CAN RESTAURANT


Casual ExchangeCOCONUT BAY CAFÉ

CrossroadsJOZOARA

James ScottMAIN STREET MUSIC

The Shelby Lee Lowe Band

MAYDAY BREWERYJack Berry and Loaded Loot, Feedback Revival, The Cunning The Cunning, Staying For the Weekend

THE BOROEscape



John SuttonSPORTS SEASON

2Country4Nashville

WED. 8/273 BROTHERS


BUNGANUT PIG JD Shelburne

THE BOROMouth Reader, Vetter Kids



Martin RodriguezNACHO’S

Ivan LaFever



The PilotsCOCONUT BAY CAFE

Pimpalicous MAIN STREET MUSIC

Damage Inc. (Metallica tribute)

MAYDAY BREWERYDixie Maxwell

THE BORODebi Lynn, JR Brown Band



CrossroadsJOZOARA

Live Jazz with Nikki EliasMAIN STREET MUSIC

The Pink Floyd Appreciation Society

MAYDAY BREWERYOwen Campbell



View Concert Listings Online:

Send your show listings to [email protected] CONCERTS

IF YOU GO:3 Brothers114 N. Church St.410-3096

Bunganut Pig1602 W. Northfield Blvd.893-7860

Georgia's Sports Bar and Grill555 S. Lowry St., Smyrna(615) 267-0295

Hippie Hill8627 Burks Hollow Rd.(615) 796-3697

JoZoara536 N. Thompson Ln.962-7175

Liquid Smoke#2 Public Square217-7822

Main St. Music527 W. Main St.439-6135

Mayday Brewery521 Old Salem Hwy.479-9722

MTSU Wright Music Building1439 Faulkinberry Dr.898-2469

Nacho's2962 S. Rutherford Blvd. 907-2700

Readyville Mill5418 Murfreesboro Rd. Readyville563-MILL

Rooster's Lonestar BBQ223 W. Main St.867-1836

The Boro Bar & Grill1211 Greenland Dr.895-4800

Wall Street121 N. Maple St. 867-9090

Willie’s Wet Spot1208 S. Lowry St., Smyrna 355-0010

GRANDPA’S COUGH MEDICINE SAT., 8/16 @ HIPPIE HILL

Grandpa’s Cough Medicine brings its outlaw blue-grass sounds to Hippie Hill for a Saturday set, Aug. 16. The Jacksonville, Fla., 3-piece blends some furi-ous banjo pickin’ with humorous, hardcore, hillbilly lyrics for a good-time outdoor throwdown. The band says music fans can expect a blend of original music, traditional bluegrass songs and instrumentals, classic country and even some rock ’n’ roll that has been given the bluegrass treatment. For more on on Grand-pa’s Cough Medicine, including tracks from the latest album, The Murder Chord, visit outlawbluegrass.com.

PULSE PICK

Wheathouse, Regulation Nine, Justin Daniels, Stack

THE BOROIraconji

SUN. 8/31MTSU WRIGHT MUSIC BUILDING

Bill Hennings (vocal recital)


CJ Vaughn TrioSPORTS SEASON GRILL

2Country4Nashville

WED. 9/33 BROTHERS



MONDAYSBREW ULive Trivia, 7 p.m.BUNGANUT PIGLive Trivia, 7 p.m.THE POUR HOUSEDJ, 7–11 p.m.ROOSTER’S BBQLive Trivia, 7 and 8 p.m.

TUESDAYSIGNITEKaraoke, 8 p.m.–12 a.m.3 BROTHERSLive Trivia, 7 p.m.OLD CHICAGOLive Trivia, 9 p.m.COCONUT BAY CAFÉLive Trivia, 7:30 p.m.THE POUR HOUSEDJ, 7–11 p.m.NOBODY’SBingo, 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAYSBIG EARL'S GRUB & PUBLive Trivia, 7:30 p.m.CAMPUS PUBKaraoke, 10 p.m.–2:30 a.m.

MELLOW MUSHROOMLive Trivia, 8 p.m.NOBODY’SLive Trivia, 7 and 9:30 p.m.SAM’S SPORTS GRILLLive Trivia, 8 p.m.

THURSDAYSBIG EARL'S GRUB & PUBKaraoke, 8 p.m.CAMPUS PUBLive Trivia, 8:15 p.m.COCONUT BAY CAFEKaraoke, 8 p.m.–12 a.m.LA SIESTA (CHURCH ST.)Karaoke, 6 p.m.NOBODY’SKaraoke, 9:15 p.m.–12:30 a.m.THE POUR HOUSEKaraoke, 9 p.m.WALL STREETLive Trivia, 8 p.m.

FRIDAYSNOBODY’SKaraoke, 9:15 p.m.–12:30 a.m.LA SIESTA (CHURCH ST.)Karaoke, 6 p.m.

MT BOTTLEKaraoke, 9 p.m.–3 a.m.BREW UKaraoke, 7 p.m.–10 p.m.

SATURDAYSNOBODY’SKaraoke, 9:15 p.m.–12:30 a.m.CAMPUS PUBKaraoke, 10 p.m.–2:30 a.m.

SUNDAYSO’POSSUMSLive Trivia, 8 p.m.LA SIESTA (CHURCH ST.)Karaoke, 6 p.m.THE POUR HOUSEDJ, 7 p.m.WALL STREETTeam Bingo, 5–7 p.m.SAM’S SPORTS GRILLLive Trivia, 8 p.m.

To be included in the Pulse’s listings, or for information on setting up your own Karaoke night, contact [email protected]

DJ, Bingo, Trivia & Karaoke NIGHTS IN MURFREESBORO

& Karaoke & Karaoke NIGHTS IN MURFREESBORONIGHTS IN MURFREESBORONIGHTS IN MURFREESBORO

HEAR WHAT MURFREESBORO SOUNDS LIKE Want your band listed on our QR Classifieds? E-mail [email protected]

MUSIC NEWS


BY ANDREA STOCKARD

Gratifl y Music and Arts Festival was an amazing, beautiful, inspirational

and simply magical festival. Every-one I talked to took something from it that they plan to share with the world. We should all do our best to be a better person to ourselves and others and do anything, no matter how small we think it is, to make a difference on this planet.

Electronic music artist and DJ Polish Ambassador and others shared their views on permaculture and sustainable living that we can all use on a daily basis. Serendipity danced in front of my friends and I the entire way to Gratifl y, and its transformational offerings not only educated everyone on how to pro-tect the earth and the creatures that inhabit it, but reminded me how powerful we can be when inspired.

When I fi rst stepped onto the wooded land of Gratify, it was late Thursday night and I had no idea what to expect. I knew there were going to be many “transfor-mational” aspects such as yoga, meditation, permaculture talks, inspirational workshops and more; however, I had no clue that Gratifl y would actually change my life. The fi rst night we watched the sun rise while sitting on the roof of the pro-truding, lit-up, hammock-graced gazebo at the Celestial Stage with Desert Dwellers and Pumpkin emitting smooth, tribal tunes and a fi re spinner dancing on the edge of the lake as I got my fi rst glimpse of the magnifi cent forest and the soft-spoken river that would be my home for the next three days. I walked back to our campsite full of hope and excited that this peace-ful and energetic night was going to turn into a truly one-of-a-kind festival. This was not your aver-age festival. Gratifl y is what every music and arts festival hopes to be and should be and can be if it tries.

The Fox and Beggar Stage in the midst of the campsite held workshops and resembled a wor-ship center with crystals, stones and other trinkets. Dancers behind

the screen projected moving images onto whomever was passing by. There were a couple large ham-mocks in the trees and long bungee ropes, upon which talented, athletic performers climbed up and down, twisting their acrobatic bodies into intricate shapes and poses. Friday was a beautiful blur of the lake, hopping between the Celestial

Stage and the Summit Stage (main stage), with live art for sale by some of the most talented psychedelic, mystical artists today, including Michael Garfi eld, Krystyleyze, my friend Chance Losher and others.

Saturday, I went to J.D. Bur-nette’s permaculture workshop, where he talked about biofuel re-placing fossil fuel and shared with us about the medicinal mushroom Lion’s Mane (hericium erinaceus), which is good for all aspects of your body, including energy and brain and nerve functions; he spoke

about easy ways we can cultivate the earth and encouraged us to think about where we are and where we want to be.

Saturday night, Polish Ambas-sador, who encouraged everyone to wear a onesie (his notorious fashion statement) in the biggest onesie party, brought his impec-cable, incredible show with lights,

visuals, funky-fresh electronic and ambient music. After that, due to an apparent noise complaint and an “unhappy” neighbor, the music was cancelled for the rest of the night. At fi rst I was bummed out. How could a music festival stop the music? No OPIUO? However, Satur-day night turned out to be the most wonderful and truly enlightening gift offered during the festival.

We wandered the festival in areas that we would have normally not spent time exploring. We had more time to look at all of the art

Gratifl y Inspires the Change We Wish to See in the World

Gratifi ers take a peaceful plunge in the nearby river.

The woods of Avalon


installations and swung at the fog and laser-imbedded Jelly Dome for a while. I held the best conversation with a 7-year-old who had vivid memories of being between age 1 and 2, when yellow was a dominant color in his vision. It reminded me of being a child and swinging! If you are stressed about anything in life, no matter how old you are, I encourage you to go outside and swing. We then walked to an area where Gratifl y provided a huge fi re display, with suspended fl ames that afforded the impression of seeing what a fl ame looks like underneath. Ah, a different perspective in life! It was magical. It reminded me that perspective is everything. We then ventured into a tent where shoes were not allowed and we sat cross-legged in a very peaceful environ-ment where hot, rose-like tea was passed around.

At Gratifl y, I met people from all across the country who are doing things in their home community to make a difference, such as booking bands, manning venues, playing

music, painting and more. Every-one was brilliant! It is a beautiful thing when you start to realize how powerful working together can be. You can create and inspire anything you put your mind to and can come together to really change any cur-rent situation.

The music resumed Sunday, and that afternoon Polish Ambassador, David Sugalski, presented a panel discussion about a current project, Pushing Through the Pavement: A Permaculture Action Tour. The tour hits some of the biggest cities across the county this fall, providing education and promoting perma-culture—the act of coexisting with the ecosystems we are a part of in a balanced life on Earth—alongside Sugalski’s musical tour.

I have so much respect for Sug-alski, and I was fortunate enough to run into him while walking around

Gratifl y. I went up, hugged him and thanked him for everything. “It’s just so great to be able to get out and talk to the people,” he said. His brown eyes were soft and genuine, and I wished I could hang out with him longer. His Facebook page speaks for itself, “In my opinion, the role of an artist and the role of artist supporter both come with a great responsibility.” (facebook.com/thepolishambassador)

“It’s my belief we are entering an era where the message of the music is just as important as the waveform hitting your brain and body, if not more,” Sugalski claims on his Face-book page. I fi nd one of his quotes so profound. “I’m dreaming of par-ties where instead of people saying, ‘That party was so awesome, I got so wasted!,’ they say, ‘That party was so awesome; we built all those amazing things.’” For more information on how to get involved and donate, fi nd Polish Ambassador’s Permaculture Action Tour on indiegogo.com.

Sunday, I went to Vicktoria Lariche’s Detox Flow Yoga class.

My eyes teared up a few times as I relished the fact that I needed to connect more with myself and my body. Lariche not only showed us moves that stretched every single part of my body and that were ac-tually doable, but she also encour-aged and inspired us throughout to listen to our bodies and to appreci-ate this holy experience. The sun was out, the breeze was beauti-ful and as the grass blew gently with a fresh, green breath of life, I was reminded how connected we truly all are to the earth and every living creature. I was reminded how much we should listen to our bodies every second and move with ease instead of embracing strain, pain and unhealthy habits. That day I felt sheer gratifi cation and inspiration to only put good, benefi cial things in my body and I had a refreshing awakening that I

subconsciously been longing for.The food and water that was

at the festival reminded me, once again, how I should treat my body. The media tent offered cucumbers, cantaloupe, watermelon, broccoli, natural granola, guacamole, salsa, yerba mate tea, local kombucha and more. The food vendors featured local honey, juices with kale, apple, lemon, ginger and other fruits and vegetables, plates with locally farmed peppers, potatoes, beans, lettuce and more, and the alkaline water fi ltered by Scott Atkins of Hydrate Nashville (fundly.com/hydrate-nashville), hosted superfood snacks and blue-green algae from Klamath Lake. I also scored some cau cau and was introduced to some of the superfoods and quinoa that permaculture enthusiast J.D. Burnette eats on a daily basis. I was fl oored at how turned off I felt to-wards the chemically manufactured, processed and GMO food that we are surrounded by every day. I remembered, ‘Wow, this food is around me every day and for some reason we make it seem so diffi cult to fi nd!’ We should love ourselves enough and realize that our health is the most important thing.

I met people who are doing things that I want to be doing, like creating and traveling, and I realized that I was the only one stopping myself from doing all of these things.

I found myself saying mistakenly to one of the guys who help set the festival up, “I’m just media.” I was then reminded how important it is for the media and for everyone to do whatever we can to get the word out there. It reminded me that the reason I started this process was to help the world understand and see all the changes that we as a com-munity are striving for to make the world a better place by protecting the environment and teaching love and compassion.

A beautiful man who grew up in the late ’60s explained that his ability to read other people and connect with the world would have classifi ed him as a “wizard” in the time of the Mayans, who would have granted him lessons on how to harness this energy. He told me that my moon sign (dated by my exact birthday) was a Solar Storm. He then handed me a card explain-ing what that meant. The fi rst quote was in bold letters: “Be the change that you wish to see in the world,” — Mahatma Gandhi.

I hear you, Universe. I hear you.

Festival goers participate in group meditation.


SOUNDS

GOSPEL TIME!Murfreesboro gospel player and afi cionado Paul Robinson has set up an evening of gospel music to benefi t his website and Inter-net radio station, gospelsongtime.com.

The event will begin at 6 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 9, at the Center of Hope Christian Church, 4745 Leanna Road, Murfreesboro.

The concert will feature the music of By Faith, The Caltons and Randy & Wendy Pierce.

Robinson, a self-proclaimed fan of South-ern gospel, black gospel, bluegrass gospel, and everything in between, stated that he has always wanted to own and operate a radio station, and now, with the technology, free-dom and reach of Internet radio, he can.

Learn more, and listen to all sorts of gospel music at gospelsongtime.com.

RAP TOUR HITS SO-SOCIAL ON AUG. 10 Rittz, Raz Simone and Tuki Carter

will bring their national rap tour, The OD Tour, to Social on

Sunday, Aug. 10.Raz Simone, a product

of Seattle, released his EP, Cognitive Dis-sonance: Part One, earlier this year, and NPR subsequently

featured it on its First Listen program. Rittz hails

from Atlanta and is currently signed to Tech N9ne’s Strange Music label, while Tuki Carter runs with Wiz Khalifa’s Taylor Gang Entertainment.

Tickets to the show are $20 and available on attendstar.com.

ANNUAL BOROSTOCK PACKED WITH FREE ROCKAs has been the annual August tradition for 26 years now, The Boro Bar and Grill will combine some of its top acts into the four-day weekend of local rock known as Borostock.

The events draws in independent musicians of various persuasions ranging from folk to metal, and tradition also dictates that there will be no cover at the door for the four days of fun.

This year’s lineup includes Japanese Cowboys, Aye Mammoth, Mike Palmer and Ian C. Parker and many more; an

Murfreesboro all-star group comprised of Levi Massie, Terry McClain, Craig Murphy, Damian Robinson and Aaron Swisher will perform under the name LeeRoberts Army on Saturday, Aug. 16.

The Boro is located at 1211 Greenland Dr., Murfreesboro. For more information, visit theborobar.com.

I AM WHAT I AMThe I Am What I Am festival will be Satur-day, Aug. 16, at the Bedford County Agricul-ture Center.

The event raises funds to provide social activities, support group meetings, educa-tional workshops and more to families living with autism spectrum disorders in Bedford and surrounding counties. The I Am What I Am Music Festival for autism is the sole fundraising event for Bedford County As-

sociation for Exceptional Students.Performers include Big Smo, Bad

Monkey, April Seventeen, Rayz’n Cain, 90 Proof and Tammy Vice with Logan Blade.

Tickets are $10 and available at Music World/Drummers Den, 2762 S. Church St., Murfreesboro.

The show will be at 2119 Midland Road, Shelbyville. For more information, fi nd I Am What I Am on Facebook.

MUDDY ROOTSThe Muddy Roots Music Festival returns to Putnam Co., Tenn., the weekend before Labor Day.

This year’s lineup boasts Bobby Bare, Mudhoney, The Legendary Shack Shakers, Pokey LaFarge, Hillbilly Casi-no, Joe Buck Yourself, Huskey Burnetteand many others.

The Murfreesboro scene is well represent-ed with sets by The Hardin Draw, Glade City Rounders and Backwoods Hea-thens all on the bill.

Muddy Roots 2014 will be Aug. 29-31 at the Junebug Ranch, Cookeville. Visit mud-dyrootsrecords.com for the full schedule, tickets, directions and a bunch of high-quality American music.

THE CALTONS

sociation for Exceptional Students.

BIG SMO

IAN C. PARKER

Murfreesboro all-star group comprised

LEVI MASSIE

THE LEGENDARY SHACK SHAKERS

POKEY LAFARGE

from Atlanta and is currently signed to Tech

RAZ SIMONE

MUSIC NOTES



BENEFIT FOR ACTIVIST’S FIRST BOOKTFG Productions will host a show and ben-efi t Aug. 16 for a local author and marijuana legalization activist who goes by the pen name Mary Jane Smoker.

Smoker, 30, is the author of Stories 4 Ston-ers, and the upcoming event is to help offset the cost of publishing.

“It’s a collection of fi ctional short stories including twisted fables and original stories, all with marijuana themes,” Smoker said.

“I wrote it with the intention of using it as a fundraiser for other legaliza-tion efforts. Fifty percent of profi ts are be-ing donated.”

Donations will be given to The Human Solution, which organizes and transports citizens to court

hearings and meetings, and PCUcamp, an organization that purchases radio slots in cities with pending marijuana initiatives on their ballots. The organization purchases the radio ads to remind citizens to vote.

The author, whose target audience is “marijuana legalization enthusiasts between the ages of 18 and 40,” said most feedback from “the Facebook cannabis community” is in support of her legalization efforts.

“Honestly, I haven’t gotten much feedback about the actual book except for being told that my honesty is appreciated. I have been told a few times that the last story, ‘Jack and the Budstalk,’ was the favorite.”

Stories 4 Stoners is Smoker’s inaugu-ral project, but the fi rst of many to come. She said if the book is successful, the next installment will donate 100 percent of pro-ceeds to the legalization cause. The author is also working on a fantasy/fi ction novel that will donate 10 percent of its profi ts.

“With the money I raise through my books, I will build up a cannabis activist net-work through organizations I’ve donated to, and I’ll be able to expand my own legaliza-tion efforts,” she said.

The event on Aug. 16 will launch with an art show (including the works of local artist Doobie Lundquist) and bake sale (complete with some of Mary Jane’s home-baked brownies and cookies), followed by an acoustic set and a comedy act. Smoker will read a few pages from her book, which will be followed by bands: Two Sweater Night, The Acorn People, Behold the Slaugh-ter and NuAugustine.

Smoker is hoping to raise enough to cover editing and paper binding fees to release physical copies of Stories 4 Smokers, which is available now in an unedited e-book edition.

TFG World Headquarters is located at 117 E. Vine St. The event starts at 6 p.m. and goes until 2 a.m.

For more information about the event, visit facebook.com/mjbenefi t/info.

GORDON MOTE CONCERT BENEFITS SPECIAL KIDSGordon Mote, pianist for Bill Gaither, will be the guest performer at the Annual Special Kids Friendraiser Banquet to be held Sept. 4 at World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro.

Mote has shared the stage with such popular performers as Martina McBride, Alan Jackson, Rascal Flatts, Josh Turner, Carrie Underwood and Porter Wagoner, while becoming one of the most sought-after session players in Nashville.

Mote, himself blind since birth, will not be the only guest with a special talent. This year’s feature child for the banquet, 3-year-old Christian Buchanan of Woodbury, is a music prodigy in his own right. Buchanan was born with a Tessier cleft lip and palate, and cleft eyes, leaving him only able to see light and dark. A year later, Buchanan’s mother, Lacey Buchanan, created a home-made video about Christian’s story that went viral within weeks

and reached millions of viewers. Today, Lacey and Christian Buchanan have over 226,000 Facebook fans who follow videos of the young Mozart picking out the G scale on the piano.

To join Special Kids for the Sept. 4 event, tables of eight are available for $800 or in-dividual seats for $100 at specialkidstn.com/friendraiser-banquet. Proceeds from the event help children like Christian receive therapy and nursing care from Special Kids.

Special Kids is a Christian therapy and nursing center for children with special needs. The Murfreesboro-based ministry started with one child in 1998 and has grown to serve over 2,600 children from 18 counties in Middle Tennessee. For more information, visit special-kidstn.com or call (615) 893-4892.

MUSIC NOTES


Let me start this review by telling you a little story about a king and his daughters. There was a king who had

three daughters and one day he wanted to fi nd out how much they loved him. The fi rst one replied that she loved him with all her heart. The middle one said that she loved him with all of her life. The youngest thought for a minute and then told him that she loved him more than fresh meat loves salt. Thinking that she didn’t love him at all, he banished her from the kingdom. Several years later, a new cook was brought to the kingdom that was reported to be the best cook in the land. The king enjoyed several nights of decadent meals . . . until one night, when every dish he sampled tasted hor-rible and bland. Enraged, he sent for the cook and when she arrived, he demanded to know what was done differently and why the food tasted so badly. She lifted her head and looked him in the eyes and said “I didn’t put salt in any of your food tonight.” The king looked closely at the woman and realized that it was his youngest daughter who had loved him as fresh meat loves salt and realized that she had

perhaps loved him best of all and he hugged her and wept. After that, he declared salt to be a holy item and they all lived happily ever after.

This little piece of fi ction has a very impor-tant message: salt is the foundation of great tasting food. I recently visited The Blue Cactus Cantina for the fi rst time with some friends. I had heard amazing things about this restau-rant and was intrigued by the idea of Cajun-Southwest fusion. Much to my dismay, I spent the entire night wondering exactly where the cooks had misplaced their salt shaker.

We started off with the Crawfi sh Fritters appetizer, described on their menu thusly: fried bites, Cajun remoulade sauce, Vida-lia onion vinaigrette and scallions. All you need to know is that they are spicy balls of deep-fried goodness. This was probably the best thing I tried that night. My only two complaints about this dish was that they were absolutely tiny, about the size of a ping-pong ball, and that you only got six of the miniscule balls for a whopping $9.75. We were splitting it between three people and I considered pick-ing up the plate and running so I could keep

them for myself. I barely restrained myself.As for the entrees, my companions ordered

the Goat Cheese Shrimp Pasta ($11.95) and the Chicken Bang Bang Tacos ($9.50), (with fried Bang Bang shrimp substituting for the chicken at our server’s suggestion), while I ordered the Boudin Crawfi sh Burger ($10.95) Our meal arrived in a timely fashion and was hot and fresh. I sampled from my companion’s plates before I tried my own: In the pasta dish, the shrimp were cooked perfectly and there was enough goat cheese to be able to taste it, but the dish itself was dry and in desperate need of salt. The tacos were decent; the shrimp had a nice, light breading on them and the bang bang sauce was nearly identical to the sauce on the Bang Bang Shrimp dish at Bonefi sh Grill. I, personally, would have liked to see something different and unique, since there are a lot of places emulating Bonefi sh with that sauce (and it’s stupid-easy to make at home), but it’s very popular, so I understand the appeal. The refried red beans were bland and needed something that I can’t quite put my fi nger on. Wait, yes I can. They needed salt.

My burger was the biggest letdown. There was nary a speck of boudin in my patty, or if

it was there, I could neither taste nor see it. Boudin sausage is a French sausage that is very popular in Cajun cooking and is typically a pork sausage that has rice in it, amongst other things. There was no rice, and I couldn’t tell that there was any pork in my beef patty. In fact, the only fl avor that I got was intense smoke, as the burger had been grilled to death on a open fl ame. (I ordered the burger cooked medium well). There were about six crawfi sh tails on it, which were also completely tasteless and the bun that was used was gigantic, way too much bread. The only redeeming item on that burger was the crab and spinach aioli, which I asked for on the side. It was less of an aioli and more of a crab and spinach dip, which was excellent spooned onto my fries.

They should consider making a dish of crab dip-topped fries.

All in all, it wasn’t a horrible experience, once I added salt to everything. I have other friends who have had wonderful things to say about the food, so I am willing to concede that the kitchen had an off night when I was there. The kitchen is staffed by humans and humans are known for making mistakes. But, I was expecting better quality, especially con-sidering the prices. I might give it a try again in the future, but it won’t be a place that I will be frequenting.


FOOD

story and photos by CHRISTY SIMMONS

TH

E D

ISH

A little salt could go a long way.

Above (clockwise): Boudin Crawfi sh Burger with fries, Crawfi sh Fritters; Shrimp Bang Bang Tacos; far left:

Goat Cheese Shrimp Pasta

NAME: Blue CactusLOCATION: 2806 Old Fort Pkwy., MurfreesboroHOURS: 11 a.m.–9 p.m., Sun.–Thurs.; 11 a.m.–10 p.m. Fri. and Sat.PHONE: (615) 295-2332COST: Boudin Crawfish Burger: $10.95; Shrimp & Grits $14.95; Chicken Bang Bang Tacos: $9.50; Chipotle Mac N Cheese $9.50ONLINE: bluecactuscantinatn.com

Blue CactusBlue CactusSouthwest Cajun Fusion at



FOOD

Growing ExperimentsFrom truffl es to berries,

Double Star Bar Farms provides a variety of unique crops and their own line of all-natural products.

story and photos by BRACKEN MAYO

A S DO MANY MURFREESBORO SATURDAYMarket vendors, Rod and Maura White produce lovely squash, cucumbers and tomatoes.

But a quick look at their booth also reveals such products as watermelon salsa, blueberry and blackberry syrup, sprouts, wheatgrass and natural herbal bug spray, and the Whites say they are just now getting started.

“We like to experiment,” Maura told a visitor to their farm, located just outside of Rutherford County in Auburntown.

She pointed out the thousands of asparagus plants grow-ing just up the hill from their greenhouse, itself packed with herbs. Just outside of the greenhouse sit some laundry baskets fi lled with dirt (and lined with old copies of the Murfreesboro Pulse, in fact), which the Whites use to grow potatoes.

“Those are Russian fi ngerlings,” Rod said, as Maura reached in the dirt and pulled out a small potato, no larger in diameter than a peanut. “They will get a little longer, but that’s as big around as they get,” he said.

Hence the “fi ngerling” name, evidently.But if the potato consumer wants a larger spud, the White’s

farm, known as Double Star Bar Farms, also produces a red-skinned variety, as well as Yukon Gold, and even a potato that is purple, inside and out.

On a different section of the 241-acre piece of land grows the stone fruit orchard, including plum, nectarine and apricot trees.

Peaches are one of the specialties of Double Star Bar; the land contains about 170 peach trees of 12 varieties, but this

year, said Rod, matter-of-factly, “We didn’t get a single peach; there was a late frost.”

Diversifi cation: If peaches do not produce one year, per-haps the Whites will have a bumper crop of blackberries to fall back on. They grow numerous varieties of blackberries at Double Star Bar as well.

“Apache are the best-tasting, I think,” Rod said.Need a sweetener for those berries? The Whites produce a

very sweet herb called stevia.“You can use it as a sugar substitute,” Maura said. “We dry

it and powder it.”Rod then pointed out a paw paw tree.“They are actually indigenous to this area,” he said of the

paw paw, which bears a large green fruit containing a creamy, white fl esh that many describe as banana-like; paw paws have

never taken off commercially because they are so diffi cult to preserve, Rod said, but residents of the Southeastern U.S. have enjoyed them fresh for generations.

The Whites are also experimenting with cranberries and cas-cade hops, and have recently planted numerous hazelnut bushes.

“We’re not growing them for the nuts,” Maura said. “We or-dered these hazelnut bushes because they have truffl e spores in them.”

It will be a few years before the truffl es mature (and when they do, a truffl e expert and his trusty truffl e-sniffi ng dog will come out to Double Star Bar to carefully extract them from the ground), so for now the oyster and shiitake mushrooms grown there, along with all of the berries, basil, purple pota-toes, stone fruit and asparagus, will have to hold you over.

For more information on Double Star Bar Farms, visit doublestarbarfarm.com, fi nd Double Star Bar Farms on Facebook, check out the online market at stonesriver.locallygrown.net or get on down to the Murfreesboro Public Square one Saturday morning.

Clockwise from above: Short Mountain can

be seen in the distance from the farm; Rod and

his crew at the Mur-freesboro Saturday

Market; Rod and wife Maura show us the

ginger and potatoes among many other

crops grown on Double Star Bar Farm; all-

natural insect repellent and Blackberry syrup

and are both offered at the Saturday Market; blackberries ripening

on the bush.



The summer days may be getting shorter but the gardens are producing and active with life. With plan-ning, your garden can continue through the fall.

Fall Vegetable PlantingNow is the time to plant the fall crops. As the average fi rst

frost occurs on Oct. 15, any plants with a 60-day maturity rate should be planted by Aug. 15. Kale, collards, lettuce, spinach, oriental vegetables, caulifl ower, mustard, cabbage, endive, Brussels sprouts, arugula, carrots, onions, beets and beans are the common vegetables that will produce a fall crop.

Master Gardener Richard Lee has a few suggestions for a fall planting:

- Assess your current garden. Pull up any dead or unpro-ductive plants.

- Remove any insect or disease-infested material.- Add a compost to your cleared area.- Plant directly into the soil, placing the cool-season seeds

twice as deep as they would be planted in the spring.- Try planting the greens in the shadow of the tomatoes

which are still producing.Limited space gardeners will fi nd mysquarefootgarden.net to

be an excellent resource.

Monarch Butterfly MigrationFrom August through October, our area may be host to the

migrating monarch butterfl y.“In order to ensure their arrival in Tennessee, monarchs need

milkweed. It is their sole breeding habitat. Since GMOs are wiping out millions of acres of milkweed that used to grow in corn and soybean fi elds, we need to fi nd other places to grow the monarch caterpillar host plant,” states Linell, a local woman who is leading the local efforts to help the butterfl y species.

The adult female who arrives in Tennessee lays her eggs on the milkweed leaves, and the leaves are eaten in the new-born’s growing process, developing into the butterfl ies that return to Mexico. Eleven of Tennessee’s native milkweeds are on the USDA’s Threatened and Endangered List. The monarch needs our help.

“It is too late to start milkweed from seeds this year. Tropical milkweed is non-invasive and a favorite of monarch females,” says Linell. Linell’s milkweed plants are pesticide- and herbicide-free. She can be reached through facebook.com/MonarchMeadowWaystation or [email protected].

Farmer’s Market ClassesThe Rutherford County Farmer’s Market takes place from 7 a.m. to noon every Tuesday and Friday through October. Free, educational sessions are offered at 9 a.m. each market day and last approximately one hour. The market is located at Lane Agri-Park, 315 John R. Rice Blvd., Murfreesboro.

Aug. 5—Cooking with KidsAmy Willis, Rutherford County Extension AgentIntroduce young ones to the joys of cooking. You will be shown how easy it is to make fun, healthy snacks with your little ones.

Aug. 8—Tomato TalkPat Whitaker, Rutherford County Extension AgentTips for selecting and preparing the “queen” of garden veggies. Whether you plan to preserve your harvest by canning, freez-ing or drying; come learn lots of tips and tricks to enjoy your garden’s bounty (or what you buy at the market) all year long.

Aug. 12—Recycle the RainKatie Peay, Rutherford County StormwaterThe program will cover the importance of protecting our local streams by using rain barrels. Rain barrels conserve water while limiting the amount of runoff entering our water sewer system that ultimately ends up in the streams. Easy installa-tion and maintenance of rain barrels will be discussed.

Aug. 15—Modern Meets TraditionKitty McLoud and Carmen SmithsonDemonstration on spinning wool, wool needle felting, hand quilting and other traditional arts. The quilting bees will con-tinue demonstrations through noon on spinning wool, wool needle felting, hand quilting on a frame, and hand-pieced quilting to complement their show “Quilts in the ’Boro.” The artisans will be available to answer questions and also offer hands-on instruction.

Aug. 19—Home Grown BouquetsCarol Reese, CMGBring the outdoors inside by making your own quick and easy arrangements. Hands on!

Aug. 22—Fall Lawn CareMitchell Mote, Rutherford County Extension AgentWill cover herbicide and fertilizer application for this time of year and in preparation for next spring. Getting your lawn ready for winter will increase your chances of a lush lawn in spring!

Aug. 26—Seasonal EatingMitchell Murphree, Chef, Five Senses RestaurantSample “Southern gourmet” dishes and pick up tips from one of our local professional chefs.

Aug. 29—Autumn Container GardeningBarbara Mullins, CMGGardening doesn’t stop in the fall! Get fresh ideas to spruce up your outdoor spaces.

Sept. 2—Spreader and Sprayer CalibrationMitchell Mote, Rutherford County Extension AgentThe calibration of these tools ensures the appropriate amount of chemical is applied. No more guessing how much fertilizer or pesticides to use. Save money and the environment.

Other Agri-Park ActivitiesIn addition to the market and the classes at Lane Agri-Park, other activities of interest this month are:

Beekeeper’s MeetingMonday, Aug. 4, 7–9 p.m.; Auditorium

4-H Chick Chain Poultry SaleSaturday, Aug. 9, 9 a.m.–noon; Livestock BarnAfter the show, each pen of fi ve Red Star birds will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. This is a great way to start a backyard fl ock of egg-laying hens at your house, or to improve the genetics of the fl ock you already have!

Quilts in the ’BoroAug. 15–16, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.; Community Center; $5 admis-sion to the show; Free demonstrations include quilting, piec-ing, spinning, needle felting and more. For more informa-tion, visit quiltingbees.org/quiltsintheboro2014

Grass Masters Lawn Care Academy Aug. 13–16, 2014; Class time is from 6-8 p.m. nightly Aug. 13–15 and from 9–11 a.m. Saturday morning Aug. 16. Call to see if there are any spots left in the class.

Master Gardener’s Association MeetingMonday, Aug. 18, 6:30–9 p.m.; Community Centerpotluck and speaker

Beekeeper’s MeetingMonday, Sept. 1, 7–9 p.m.; Auditorium

All of the listed activities are at Rutherford County Exten-sion/Lane Agri-Park, 315 John R. Rice Blvd. Murfreesboro TN 37129. For more information, call (615) 898-7710 or visit rutherford.tennessee.edu.

LIVING

Show your garden some love

into the fall.

August Gardening

FARMERS’ MARKET EDUCATION SERIESby EDWINA SHANNON

LIVING

August GardeningAugust GardeningAugust



There’s still plenty of time this summer for outdoor fun in the sun, and if a leisurely trip down the river is what fl oats your boat, take a little

drive through the Tennessee hills to Wartrace and set up a trip on the water with the area’s premiere river-fl oating company.

Float-A-Boat offers canoe, kayak, tube, stand-up paddle board and Jon boat rent-als, and transportation from its downtown Wartrace-based headquarters to the Duck River and back, for those wanting a little sum-mer water adventure . . . a leisurely adventure.

I’m gonna lay down my burdens, down by the riverside.

Upon arriving to Float-A-Boat (located approximately 10 miles down Highway 64 off of I-24 at exit 97), travelers grab a life vest, se-cure any valuables and choose the boat they’d like to ride.

Everyone loads into the pickup truck shut-tles traveling to the appropriate part of the river; boats are unloaded, coolers and snacks are placed aboard, and you’re ready to fl oat.

Waaaaaade in the water, children.The Duck River is a fun, easy fl oat for folks

of all ages, according to Float-A-Boat co-owner Kim Council, whose Normandy Kayak rental company merged with Gena Trice’s Float-A-Boat earlier this year to form the cur-rent incarnation of the business.

Can You Canoe?“The Duck River is a class-one river,” said

Council, referring to the six-tiered Interna-tional Scale of River Diffi culty; it contains very few fast-moving rapids, though the water is constantly moving so it requires very little effort to paddle if one is not in a hurry, so it’s ideal for kids.

Bring your four-legged friends, even.“We have life vests for dogs,” Trice said.

“Dogs fl oat free.”Trice, admitting she might be a little biased,

said, “This is the most beautiful part of the

Duck River; it gets a little deeper in some parts farther down the river.”

The Duck fl ows northwest through the Middle Tennessee region, all the way to Ken-tucky Lake (where the water empties into the Ohio River, into the Mississippi, en route to the Gulf, in case you were curious).

Rollin’ . . . rollin’ . . . rollin’ on the river.Nature lovers on the lookout for various

plant and animals species will have plenty to look at during a fl oat.

“The Duck River has over 55 species of mussels, and 150 species of freshwater fi sh,”

Trice said.The trees lining the banks of the Duck

River provide some seclusion and shade for much of the river, but the occasional gap in the forestry reveals picturesque views of roll-ing hills and expansive valleys.

Tennessee, Tennessee, ain’t no place I’d rather be.

“There’s a bald eagle family out there!” Council continued.

Some fl oaters mentioned that they spotted numerous snakes during their excursion.

“Oh, they won’t bother you,” Council af-fi rmed.

But watch out for the cows; one group encountered a few bovine types who escaped from their pasture to take a summer dip in the Duck.

Laid up here in a country state of mind.Overnight trips can be arranged, but even

a couple of hours on the Duck can reset one’s mind and offer the peaceful sounds of trickling water and the energy of the sun.

Float-A-Boat is open seven days a week through the fall, and may even host some haunted fl oats on the Duck River in October. Reservations are encouraged but not required. The rental headquarters is located at 205 Blackman Blvd. W., Wartrace.

For more information, call (931) 619-6959 or visit fl oattn.com.

LIVING

Wartrace outfi t offers fun river trips for all.BY BRACKEN MAYO

Whatever Floats Your Boat


ART

PROFESSOR AARON DETER-WOLFwill be teaching a course, The Anthropology of Tattooing, at MTSU this fall. The course is of-fered as an upper-level Topics in Anthropology class through the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, but when the course was taught for the fi rst time in fall of 2012, a variety of students enrolled including visual arts, art his-tory, biology, psychology and sociology majors.

The course syllabus states, “For thou-sands of years humans have been aware of the capacity of our skin to bear permanent markings, and cultures from Polynesia to the Arctic Circle have devised modifi cations through which to defi ne, decorate, enhance, and sanctify their bodies. Tattooing—the process of inscribing the skin with permanent colors and symbols—appears across the globe and throughout human history.”

However, up until the last decade of the 20th century, Western society labeled tattooed individuals as “savages, criminals, deviants and freaks.” So there has been a lack of serious academic discussion about the practice of tattooing. The goal of the course is to use the tools of anthropology, archaeology and eth-nography to explore this ancient practice, giv-ing students a new perspective and allowing them “to independently evaluate the historic and modern role of tattooing in their own so-ciety as well as the portrayal of tattoos and the

tattoo community in the world media.” Wolf explains. “There are a lot of myths, half-truths, and misunderstandings about tattooing on the Internet and in the media, and another goal for the class is to equip the students with the knowledge and ability to objectively assess the role of tattooing in modern, western society.”

He notes that while the media refers to tat-toos as a “new fashion” that’s “no longer just for sailors,” Western society has a historical con-nection to tattooing dating back to the Bronze Age that branches across all social classes.

For the past decade, Wolf has been re-searching archaeological evidence of ancient tattooing with a focus on ancient Native American sites and artifacts from the Eastern United States. He is also involved in several museum exhibitions and conferences on the topic and has edited a volume on ancient Native American tattooing (2013, University of Texas Press), and also contributed several chapters to a volume on ancient tattoos and body modifi cation through the University of Zurich that came out this past January. He is also a part of the curatorial team of “Tattoo: Ancient Myths, Modern Meaning,” a traveling exhibition about the art, history, and culture of tattoos that will launch in 2015. “I was brought on board to help identify artifacts and ancient art that might be included in the ‘His-tory and Culture’ section of the exhibition.”

Wolf explained that most ancient cultures practiced some form of body art, most including the practice of tattooing, and there are preserved, tattooed human remains from all over the world. “Otzi is perhaps the most famous of these, though contrary to most reporting he is not the oldest tattooed body,” states Wolf, “That honor goes to a Chinchorro mummy from South America dated to about 6,000 BC.”

Until the past decade, there has been little effort to identify artifacts of tattooing found in archaeological studies outside of Oceania. “One of the main goals of archaeology is to understand the lives of people in the past, and the virtual absence of identifi ed tattoo tools in the archaeological record represents is a major aspect of ancient life that we’ve been missing,” says Wolf. For example, we know ancient Egyptians practiced the art of tattooing, but of the millions of excavated artifacts collected from Egyptian sites over the last century, “fewer than fi ve implements have been identifi ed as possible tattoo tools.”

In 2009 Wolf organized a “conference sym-posium on ancient and early historic Native American tattooing and body modifi cation for the annual meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference.” He also par-ticipated in an ancient tattooing and body modifi cation symposium held at the annual meetings of the European Association of Archaeologists in 2010 and 2011.

“So far as I know, these were the fi rst academic colloquia ever devoted to ancient tattooing. They were all very well attended, and resulted in two volumes published this past winter (Drawing with Great Needles, which I edited, and Tattoos and Body Modi-fi cations in Antiquity).

Despite growing interest in the subject of ancient tattooing, the number of scholars seri-ously engaging in examinations of the fi eld is still relatively small. Anna Felicity Friedman, lead curator for the traveling tattoo exhibition, noted that, “Unlike earlier scholars who have written on the subject, many of the new genera-tion of tattoo scholars are ourselves a part of the tattoo community.” Wolf states, “I’d like to think this gives us insight and an under-standing typically absent from earlier scholarly literature. I hope it also helps broadcast to the tattoo community that

the work we’re doing is based on genuine interest and ap-preciation of the practice rath-er than outdated stereotypes or ivory-tower academia.”

Wolf explains how study-ing the ancient art of tattoo-ing becomes a discussion about much more. He quotes

anthropologist Alfred Gell, who wrote that tat-toos in Polynesia “played such an integral part in the organization and functioning of major institutions (politics, warfare, religion, and so on) that the description of tattooing practices becomes, inevitably, a description of the wider institutional forms within which tattooing was embedded.” Wolf says he has found this to be true for all historic tattooing cultures. “When we discuss a region or group in class we’re talking not just about the tattoos, but also their archaeological past, social structure, art and iconography, political history, belief systems, and worldview.” He adds that when discussing contemporary tattoo culture in the MTSU course, “we do so in connection with classical history, cultural appropriation, the Age of Discovery, colonialism, genocide, world expositions and human zoos, historical tattoo-ists, and the history and teachings of Christi-anity and Judaism, plus more.”

I also asked Wolf a lot about tattoo discrimi-nation and if as the art of tattooing becomes more widely discussed in academia, will we eventually see ripple effects in our everyday lives such as less tattoo discrimination in the workplace? He replied that he did not expect to ever see tattooed individuals as a protected class in America, outside of those pertain-ing to religious practices, but he also cited an interesting 2008 study by MTSU Department of Psychology’s very own James C. Tate along with Britton L. Shelton, which “examined personality correlates for tattooing and body piercing.” Of 1,375 undergrad participants, 25 percent had at least one tattoo and about half had a piercing of some kind. “The authors concluded that there were no personality differences between body-modifi ed and non-modifi ed individuals, and suggested—rightly I

feel—that their results in-dicate these forms of body modifi cation have entered the mainstream . . .

“Acceptance of visible tattoos will obviously continue to grow in the future as the percentage of the tattooed public increases and as tattooed individuals rise through the employer hierarchy,” he said.

MTSU course explores history, culture of skin art.THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF TATTOOING

BY MAI HARRIS


Archaic awls


HAYDEN COMBS is one of Mur-freesboro’s many talented tattoo art-ists. He works at Absolute Ink, 1403 Greenland Dr. “I’d like to let people know about fi nding a good artist and investing in good work by experienced artists through shops, not kitchens.”

What made you decide to become a tattoo artist?COMBS: Growing up, I seemed to draw a lot, and I tried to fi nd some sort of suitable job where I can express my artistic ability to its fullest potential, and also enjoy work. So tattooing became that outlet where I can leave behind some of my art when I’m gone.

What was your experience learning the art and process of tattooing like?In my apprenticeship I learned the basic fundamentals of tattooing along with build-ing my people/person skills. Going into this new world, I quickly realized that it takes more skills than just being a good artist. Meeting many different people has shown me what I can accomplish through build-ing an artist-to-client relationship, because marking someone for life is not something to take lightly. Along with these things there also comes a responsibility in keeping a sanitary station and workplace.

Who are some artists you admire? Any kind of artists, locally or elsewhere.Locally, of course would be the guys I work with—amazing artists with each of their individual styles; Sean Drennen, Pat Bennett and Josh Adams. More towards Nashville, the guys from Kustom Thrills, Gold Club Electric, and the artist I’ve been most in-spired by, Marty “Riet” McEwen. Elsewhere, I feel greatly inspired by Honkey Kong, Grime, Shige, Horiyoshi3, Peter Lagergren, Mike Stockings, Mike Rubendall, Troy Den-ning, Dave Tevenal, Dave Fox, Anthony Tex and Will Lollie. All are great artists who have put time and dedication into their work and inspire me and my work daily.

Are you creatively and artistically fulfi lled through your work as a tattoo artist? Or do you need to create your own artwork outside of tattooing in order to be fulfi lled as an artist?I don’t always have the time to mess around with other mediums. I’m currently getting back to using Prismacolor markers, my safe zone, but really I get most of my artisticness out through tattoos and sketches.

How often do people give you creative control? Or does this ever happen, people allowing you to tattoo what-ever you’d like onto them?About 45 percent of the time the client allows me to use more of my artistic abil-ity to give them something more than the average tattoo.

Hayden Combs


ARTTo coincide with our story on Professor Aaron Deter-Wolf and his Anthropol-ogy of Tattooing Class at MTSU, the Pulse decided to speak with a few of our very talented local tattoo artists and get some in-

sights into their profession. Look for more coverage of local tattoo artists, and

featured tattoos, in future issues of the Pulse.

BY MAI HARRIS

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT:

OF THE ’BOROTATTOOS

View more of Combs’ work at absoluteinktattoo.com

McKENNA DUFFY: Every tattoo I have has something to do with Greek mythology in some way. It’s never usu-ally obvious. This one has to do with Morpheus, the god of dreams. It was my dream to be a photographer. I got that. Artist is Katherine Mae, formerly of Kustom Thrills Tattoo.

JAMEZ V. HUFF: This is me and my brother with our memorial tattoos for our papaw. He was in the navy, a great bowler and a great dude: “Capt. George.”


MAI HARRIS: The fi rst one is the tattoo on my calf: it is, obviously, a cross with a web and black widow hanging down from it. This was my very fi rst tattoo. I got it at age 18 at the Lone Wolf in Franklin. I was raised around certain “Christians” who made me feel pretty crappy about myself. This tattoo was me coming to my own peace with God without their preconceived notions of who I was supposed to be, how God made me, or who God was. It reminds me that even though I may be a little odd, misunderstood or even feared (like the black widow) whatever God there is made me that way for a reason and loves me just the way I am.

The second one is the tattoo on my arm. I got it at Icon at age 19. It is a combined tribute to two things I love: mermaids and my favorite art-ist, Camille Rose Garcia. It is a mer-maid creature Garcia did in one of her paintings. People always say it’s [in the style of] Tim Burton.” I hear that at least once every time I go out in public. But there have been a small handful of occasions when someone would actually recognize it was Garcia’s work.

Want to see your tattoo story published in the Pulse’s “Tattoos of the ’Boro”? Send your story/ photos to [email protected]

AMY ELIZABETH: The ribbon tattoo is a MADD ribbon with the date of the crash when a drunk driver hit me and caused signifi cant damage to my back and fractured my sacroilial joint which can never be repaired. I eventually entered therapy and was diagnosed with PTSD and anxiety related to the crash. Through hard work I learned how to handle my PTSD and anxiety . . . and eventually moved from the mindset of “victim” to “survivor.” I got the tattoo to commemorate when that shift of consciousness came, and when I have tough days I look at that tattoo to remind me how far I’ve come. I’ve had this one for almost a year.The lotus fl ower represents peace and tranquility and reminds me to always be in the moment, and take life as it comes to me. I’ve had this one for four years now.

LIZ MARTINEZ: My dad was my biggest cheer-leader. When he passed, I needed my encourager and had a huge hole without him there. I then kept stumbling upon letters that he had written me over the years. I would always fi nd one at just the right time that said exactly what I needed to hear. So I had part of a note in his handwriting tattooed on my right arm where I would always see it. It says, “Just be yourself and remember that I love you. All my love, Dad.” When I’m fi lled with self-doubt or insecurity I look down and take his advice to heart.

BAILY KHOURY: Zombie Sid Vicious done by Josh Adams at Absolute Ink! My favorite of all my tattoos. I walked in with an idea and he drew up a wonderful vision.

LEANN LEWIS AND CHELSEA KING: The text is “Gra Dilseacht Cairdeas.” It’s Irish Gaelic for “Love, Loyalty, Friendship.” It’s not uncommon to fi nd those words inscribed inside of Irish wedding bands. Chelsea designed both pieces herself (she was a trooper, I had to redo mine, like, three or four times . . .). We decided to get them as a symbol of our close friendship. I would say that despite some trials and rough patches, we’ve weathered the years as friends fairly well. We’ve known each other for 10 or 11 years.

PATTI MANN: It’s a reminder to me not to let the fi res of my childish imagina-tion go out.

JEFF BERTRAND: My favorite Salvador Dali painting


LIFE ON THE EDGE OF CATASTROPHE, SOLO SHOW BY JEFF BERTRANDThe Life on the Edge of Catastrophe series contains por-traits replete with feelings of doomsday and grim feelings, people with their emotions and sadness completely on display. Some of the portraits are of people Bertrand knows personally, and these portraits suggest hope and optimism for the future. Showcasing at 40AU Art Gallery 69 Arcade, Nashville, TN 37219, (615) 266-4028. Bertrand’s solo exhibit will be hanging in 40AU until Aug 31. For more infor-mation, contact [email protected].

RELEASE OF “TWISTED” BY MIRANDA LEEK: AUGUST 2014Miranda Leek’s book, Twisted, has been released recently. She both wrote and illustrated the book, which is a story about retired or dismantled amusement park rides that morph into living creatures with characteristics of men

and beasts. The book is available as both paperback and e-book versions. A recent display at Murfreesboro’s Line-baugh Library recognized the book and Leek’s art. Leek, a Rockvale resident, is a recent graduate of Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Fla. For more information about Leek and Twisted, visit mirandasmagic.com.

PASSPORT TO HAPPINESSTodd Art Gallery will have Passport to Happiness on exhibit through Aug. 15. Come and see why Scandinavians are the happiest people in the world during the exhibit, featuring which features artwork, photographs and videos created in Norway and Denmark by art education un-dergraduates studying with Dr. Debrah C. Sickler-Voigt through MTSU Scandinavia Study Abroad during the 2014 summer May term.

ALUMNI EXHIBIT: TODD ART GALLERY(MTSU Art Department, 1301 E. Main St. (615) 898-5653; Mon.–Fri. 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Aug. 28–Sept. 11; Reception, Aug. 27, 5–7 p.m.) An exhibit curated by 2003 MTSU painting and printmaking graduate Hans Schmitt-Matzen, exhibition designer for the Frist Center for the Arts in Nashville.

NAEA EXHIBITION: ART EDUCATION ON A BUDGET: MTSU STUDENT ART GALLERY(MTSU Art Department, 1301 E. Main St. (615) 898-5653; Mon.–Fri. 8:30 a.m–4:30 p.m. Aug. 28–Sept. 11; Reception, Aug. 27, 5–7 p.m.) Curated by senior art education major Kelsey Rogers and juried by Dr. Debrah C. Sickler-Voigt, this exhibit investigates the costs, sacrifi ces and dedication required from today’s newly employed art teachers to tomorrow’s art education majors as they ap-proach graduation.

MURFREESBORO CREATIVE MEET-UP GROUP AT TWO-TONE GALLERY(113 W. Lytle St.) This month’s Murfreesboro Creative Meet-Up times will be Wednesday, Aug. 6 and Wednesday, Aug. 20 from 5–6 p.m. The meetings take place at Two-Tone Art Gallery. Creative types of all kinds can bring a project to work on, socialize with fellow local artists, and maybe even learn some new art techniques. For more information contact Nichole McVeigh: [email protected]

“INTO THE FUTURE” AND “ROBOTS” AT MAYDAY BREWERY(521 Old Salem Rd., Thu.–Fri., 4–8 p.m.; Sat., 1–8 p.m.)Mayday’s August art exhibitions on display inside of the tasting room will be Into the Future, which will be up until Aug. 21, immediately followed by Robots. Mayday Brewery is an eclectic space and brewery with “outside-the-box” art. If interested in participating in the Robots exhibit, contact [email protected].

FERVENT FUSION RETURNS TO THE EAST ROOM(2412 Gallatin Ave., Nashville) Murfreesboro-based artists’ organization Fervent Fusion is venturing to Nashville’s The East Room once again for another great art and music show. Art will be on display by PJ Superior, Mai Harris, The Rhinovirus, Gypsy Marsh, Liz Kelly Zook, Amy Raven, and many more. Musical performances by The French Lips, The Blue Velvets, and ’Boro-based band Minona. Doors at 8 p.m., $5 cover. Ages 18 and up.

CANINE PORTRAITS BY ART GOWDEN: MOXIE ART SUPPLYArt Gowden’s paintings of people’s four-legged friends will be on exhibit at Moxie throughout August. Moxie Art supply is located at 302 W. Vine St. Hours are Mon.–Fri., 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Sat., 10 a.m.–4 p.m. For for more informa-tion, call (615) 849-1131.


AUGUST ART HAPPENINGSCOURAGE UNMASKED FOR A GOOD CAUSE Area artists have collaborated with the Courage Unmasked pro-gram and The Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center to raise money and awareness for head- and neck-cancer patients. Artists begin with the radiation masks worn by the patients, and upon them cre-ate original works of art, to be displayed and auctioned in order to raise funds for the patients.

Murfreesboro artist Diane Stockard is one of many Tennessee artists who volunteered to transform a plain plastic radiation mask into a unique masterpiece to help the organization raise money for Middle Tennessee cancer patients and their families.

The “art masks” will be displayed at various venues and galler-ies in the area, including an Aug. 7 event at Miller Piano Gallery in Franklin, and the project concludes with an auction and fundrais-ing event at Oz in Nashville, on Saturday, Sept. 27.

For more information on Courage Unmasked Tennessee, visit courageunmaskedtn.org.

by MAI HARRIS

ANYONE WHO HAS SEENthe recent Coen Brothers fi lm In-side Llewyn Davis and wants to know more about the historical precedent for the fi lm would do well to start with Dave Van Ronk’s memoir, The Mayor of MacDou-gal Street. Van Ronk, along with Elijah Wald, who edited and wrote the afterword for the book, relates the rise, boom and eventual bust of the folk-music scene of the late 1950s through early ’60s. Calling it the “great folk scare.”

Dating back to Woody Guthrie, folk musicians had been viewed with suspicion regarding their pol-itics. During the Great Depression, when hard times seemed to be hit-ting everyone but the politicians,

singing a song about the working man was seen as a revolution-ary act. By the time Pete Seeger’s band, The Weavers, gained notoriety in the late 1940s for making folk music profi table, any-one who spoke out in song for freedom and equality ran the risk of being subpoe-naed to testify before Congress to answer questions concerning their alleged Communist sympathies. Many, including Seeger, were blacklisted and would have a dif-fi cult time fi nding venues.

Van Ronk goes into detail about how he and his cadre of dishev-eled, guitar-toting idealists took up sundry facets of the leftist political cause. Early in the book he discuss-es the nuances between anarchists, Communists, Stalinists, Socialists and the left in general. New to Greenwich Village, the young Van Ronk became an avowed anarchist because, as he says, they were

against every-thing. He relates with humor how someone told him he actually had to read political philosophy to genuinely follow a movement. Upon doing some reading he stepped away from anarchism and became a staunch Socialist.

Despite his own political lean-ings, Van Ronk makes it clear that he never felt politics had much place in good music. To him, overly topical songs are a waste of a per-son’s talent, and toward the end of the book he insinuates that other songwriters such as Phil Ochs were almost as talented as Dylan, but Dylan had the good sense to vary his subject matter so that what he sang about wasn’t forgotten a couple of years down the road.

This intimate knowledge and back story about so many musi-cians he met throughout those years is the heart of the book.

While singing the praises of old bluesmen, Dylan, Joni Mitchell and others, Van Ronk takes time to skewer the beatniks. He describes them as freaks who polluted the scene with bongos and bad poetry. He is careful to make the distinc-tion between the real beat poets like Ginsberg and Corso, who had been in the Village several years earlier, and the goateed, beret-wearing wannabes who took over once the tourists started coming in.

Stylistically The Mayor of MacDougal Street is conversational. The timelines are a little fuzzy and hard to follow. Just as with our own memories, Van Ronk occasion-ally contradicts himself by a year or two, but the crux of the story doesn’t suffer. Van Ronk’s deftness with words and the stories he tells grow more compelling as the book progresses. It is easy to imagine Van Ronk sitting there next to you, pausing to light a cigarette before his gravelly voice launches into an-other story about the way it was for guitar-toting idealists in the middle of the previous century.

RIYL: piña coladas and getting caught in the rain, smart-ass anthropomorphic raccoons, blue full-body paint, leather jackets, green full-body paint, laughing, grey full-body paint with red scar-toos all over, Han Solo crossed with the Rocketeer, 8-foot-tall tree men, cool gadgets, spacecraft, spacecraft battles, bright colors, clean future worlds, dingy future worlds, prison escapes, Chris Pratt, irreverence, The Fifth Ele-ment, Marvel Studios’ winning streak, fi ghting assassin sisters, Karen Gillan, Footloose, James

Gunn, things being better than they should be, well-shot action sequences, weird space operas, pop hits of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, excellent comedic timing, rocket boots, glowing red eyes, incom-patible people being drawn to-gether by circumstance and forced to work together towards a com-mon goal, video games, taking ev-erything literally for humor’s sake, mixtapes, Zoe Saldana kicking ass, Dave Bautista being hilarious, Bradley Cooper voicing a 3-foot raccoon and stealing the show, cool-looking aliens both CGI and

make-up, outlaws, Star Lords, David Bowie, nebulas, jokes, sav-ing the galaxy, simple stories told well, defl ated genre conventions, silliness, biomechanical body im-plants, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Rooker, crooked teeth, mentally controlled fl ying arrows, biolumi-nescence, giant war hammers, red full-body paint, Stan Lee cam-eos, badass evil villains, various bizarre contact lenses, explosions lots of explosions, The Jackson 5, half-assed plans, surprising mo-ments of earnest emotion, ruining those moments, comic books,

space fantasies, troll dolls, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, space thugs, themes on the value of having and being part of a family, Raiders of the Lost Ark, making love at mid-night in the dunes of the cape, Vin Diesel saying only “I am Groot” repeatedly, purple stones with the power to destroy a planet, John C. Reilly, metal mohawks, stealing someone’s prosthetic leg, big guns, ’80s-style adventure made with today’s technology, a dog in an astronaut suit, bad motivational speeches, montages of heroes arming themselves, the wind-up middle-fi nger move, dashboard decorations, inept au-thority fi gures, not taking yourself too seriously, having fun, dancing trees, knife fi ghts, boss battles, the bait-and-switch, whistling, spaceships that look like bugs, the name Rocket Raccoon, Slither, Walkman cassette players, justice, Carmen’s salsa, things that are good. — JAY SPIGHT


4

A CLASSICRATINGS: OUTSTANDING AVERAGE BELOW AVERAGE AVOID AT ALL COSTS DEAD

REVIEWS

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

Chris Pratt, Vin Diesel, Zoe Saldana, Dave BautistaRated PG-13Directed by James Gunn

MOVIE

BOOKreview by

BILLY PLANT

The Mayor of MacDougal Street

by Dave Van Ronk

Ihave had the good fortune of knowing a hodgepodge of alternate-gender-seeking individu-als. As it turns out, there can be

a variety of complexities surround-ing someone’s personal identity. This month’s column is dedicated to all of the ongoing struggles and achieve-ments toward the expression of self.

Beautiful Darling (2010) is directed by James Rasin. The documentary chronicles the life of James Slattery, who chose to live her life as actress Candy Darling during the 1960s and 1970s. Spoiler alert: a man could be arrested for impersonating a woman in those days. Candy Darling was the perform-ing darling for Andy Warhol, and even for the renowned playwright Tennessee Williams. She has inspired a multitude of songs, and lots of personal journeys.

I Am Divine (2013) is a documentary directed by Jeffrey Schwarz. Harris Glenn Milstead’s arguable notoriety as the world’s most famous drag queen, Divine, really took off after her unforgettable per-formance in Pink Flamingos. Divine didn’t just appear in the movies of John Waters. She had a stage career, and even chose roles as a male. She mostly performed as Divine, but he lived his life as Glenn.

Female Trouble Early Impersonation

LIVING ROOM CINEMA column by NORBERT THIEMANNfacebook.com/livingroomcinema


AUGUST RELEASESPlaying this month:

AUG. 8: What If

AUG. 8: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

AUG. 8: The Hundred Foot Journey

AUG. 15: The Expendables 3

AUG. 22: Into the Storm


SPORTS

Annual MTSU Blue Raider Fan Day Set for Aug. 10.

BY BRACKEN MAYO

THE 2014 COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON BEGINS this month, and Middle Tennessee Head Coach Rick Stockstill invites all Blue Raider fans to attend practice this August. The Blue Raider foot-ball team offi cially reported to camp on Sunday, Aug. 3, and fans are welcome to attend some of the team’s pre-season practices before the season opens at home against Savannah State on Aug. 30.

Practices Open to the Public Include:Aug. 4: 4:20–6:30 p.m.Aug. 5: 4:20–6:35 p.m.Aug. 6: 4:20–6:30 p.m.Aug. 7: 4:20–6:30 p.m.Aug. 8: 4:05–6:10 p.m.Aug. 9: 4:20–6:30 p.m.Aug. 12: 10:50 a.m.–12:30 p.m.Aug. 14: 4–6:05 p.m.Aug. 19: 7:45–9 p.m.

Fan Day in New Location on FaulkinberryThe Blue Raiders will also host their annual Fan Day on Sunday, Aug. 10.

The team will unveil its new uniforms at the event, held from 2–4 p.m. on Faulkinberry Drive near Alumni Memorial Gym.

The location is new in 2014 in order to intro-duce the new Fish Family Fun Zone that will take place prior to each home game. A free concert by About a Mile will highlight the Fan Day event, along with free hot dogs and drinks.

Player and coach autographs, infl atables, a photo booth, balloon animals and loads of fun will be on hand for all members of the Blue Raider family. Bring your kids and friends to get them ready for the 2014 football season. Pick up free posters and schedule cards as the Blue Raiders embark on their second year in Conference USA. Shirts, tickets and Blue Raider gear will be avail-able for purchase.

MTSU/Duke Announce SeriesMiddle Tennessee Director of Athletics Chris Massaro recently announced a two-game series between the Blue Raiders and the Blue Devils of Duke University.

Duke will travel to Murfreesboro in 2019, and MTSU will travel to Duke in 2020.

“This should be an exciting series for our fans as we continue to bring quality non-conference op-ponents to Murfreesboro,” said Massaro.

While fans will have to wait a few years for that series to kick off, the Blue Raider organization also reminded Tennessee football fans of the looming three-game series with Vanderbilt; the Commo-dores will come into Floyd Stadium in 2015 and 2017, with MTSU heading up to Nashville for a 2016 contest.

TV Schedule AnnouncedMost of the Blue Raiders’ 2014 games will be broadcast on television. The Sept. 13 contest vs. Western Kentucky will be available locally on a yet-to-be-announced Nashville channel.

2014 MTSU Football Schedule:SAT., AUG. 30 Savannah State (6 p.m.)

SAT., SEPT. 6 @ Minnesota (2:30 p.m., Big Ten Network)

SAT., SEPT. 13 WKU

SAT., SEPT. 20 @ Memphis

FRI., SEPT. 26 @ Old Dominion (7 p.m., Fox Sports 1)

SAT., OCT. 4 Southern Miss (11 a.m., All Sports Network)

SAT., OCT. 11 @ Marshall (Fox Sports 1)

SAT., OCT. 18 UAB (2:30 p.m.)

SAT., NOV. 1 BYU (2:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network)

SAT., NOV. 15 @ Florida International (2:30 p.m., All Sports Network)

SAT., NOV. 22 Florida Atlantic (6 p.m., All Sports Network)

SAT., NOV. 29 @ UTEP (6 p.m., All Sports Network)

FOOTBALL PRACTICE HAS BEGUN

MTSU SPORTS

QUICK-CAP

DE Alexandro Antoine



SPORTS

The Train Daddy is back with the pain, daddy, and is, as always, bringing sports knowledge and life lessons. You can call me

the George R.R. Martin of the sports world. That’s where my genius comes from: reading the works of a master like Mar-tin or listing to what ESPN analyst Colin Cowherd has to say. Pick your sources wisely. Don’t just read and believe anything posted on the Internet, because there is a lot of crap out there, but let me tell you I strive to give you, the reader, the best I have to offer.

I love to talk everything sports, I love to tie in America’s social issues with sports when it’s the appropriate time, and I love more than anything to talk football. And right now, with the begin-ning of a fresh football season around the corner, it’s time, baby! Around the country, football

teams pound each other as they run drills over and over. The pre-season is already here and

millions of Americans have already begun studying positional charts as

they prepare for another season of fantasy football. Baseball was once called America’s sport, but

that died many years ago, and American football has been in the spotlight ever since.

It’s similar to the Cowboys once being named America’s team. If America’s team has only won a single playoff game since 1996 and has given us three consecutive

8-8 seasons, maybe it’s time we fi nd a new team. Or maybe it’s as simple as the Cowboys fi nding a new quarterback. Sorry, Romo.

All aboard the Train for a little Titans talk, some Me-Ma shuffl e, insight on how you can conquer your fantasy football league, and what-ever else I throw in the mix. Choo-choo!

Anyone who has read my articles over the past seven years most certainly knows about the famed Me-Ma and her shuffl e dance. She is a mother, a grandmother, a great-grandmother and the most passionate Titans fan in the universe. It has become tradition for me to do a Me-Ma story every season, and, holding true with tradition, we have a fresh 2014 season at its beginning and the Me-Ma is pumped up and ready. What makes her the most passionate Titans fan in the universe? It’s simple—every Titans Sunday, she is ready in game-day attire, and she welcomes friends and family into her home to enjoy the passion. Some Sundays it’s pizza and snacks, but on the special Sundays it’s homemade spaghetti with garlic bread and a salad. Delicious, I tell ya! Like I said, it’s simple—the Me-Ma truly loves the game, the team and the joy it brings to all the loved ones that surround her on game day. Just like Robert De Niro in the movie Silver Linings Playbook, she is all about her juju. The famous Me-Ma Shuffl e is her way to keep the Titans moving in the right direction, with oxygen tubes helping her breathe though she still has the moves. The Me-Ma shuffl e is more of a two-step. It’s simple but it’s the Me-Ma’s signature dance move. The better the Titans play, the faster the dance gets. It’s a very productive juju dance that has true power behind it. There is no better feeling than leaving the Me-Ma’s house full of spaghetti after a Titans victory. Those are the days when you appreciate the joy that friends, family and sports can truly bring.

After the departure of running back Chris Johnson, the Titans really have a lack of what we would defi ne a superstar. Johnson still produced at a reasonable level, but let’s be real—he was nowhere near the level of talent he showed us in his past record-breaking seasons. So, who is go-ing to be the superstar for the Titans this season? The Titans really showed their hand this past May, and I agreed with the decision when they decided not to pick up Jake Locker’s $14 million fi nal season option. Jake the Snake will get the chance to be that superstar Tennessee needs, but this is the last shot. Last season, Locker began the season with six touchdowns and zero picks, and a healthy 3–1 record. In the last of those four games he went down with a sprained hip and MCL. When he returned three weeks later, his play had diminished; after another three weeks a Lisfranc injury ended his season. Currently, Jake is doing well by all reports from mini-camp in Nashville. He is faster than ever, he is reading the fi eld before the snap and he is on target. I truly believe in Jake, but if Jake can’t stay healthy this season, say goodbye to Jake, and Jake, say goodbye to Nashville. Don’t make me retire that No. 10 jersey to my closet so soon.

What about the other positions on the team?

I am excited to see what Bishop Sankey has to offer, being the fi rst running back taken in this year’s draft. I have watched tape of this beast. He is fast, strong and a capable receiver out of the

backfi eld who should benefi t from one of the best, if not the best, offensive lines in the NFL lead by Levitre and Warmack. My favorite group is the receivers. With the veteran Washington being no more than consistent, Wright was ex-plosive last year and if Justin Hunter can learn to run routes he will be formidable, as his size and speed are comparable to a Calvin Johnson. The receivers are young and hungry. I don’t expect a playoff team by any means, but I do want the word to be hope after this season, not rebuilding.

ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith is once again in the news for some controversial issue. So what did he do now, to receive a suspension from his ESPN talk show? Anyone familiar with the Ray Rice case . . . well, you know, he knocked out his then-girlfriend (now wife) in an elevator, and video exists of him dragging her lifeless body out a casino elevator. This happened months ago, and only recently Rice was given a controversial two-game suspension from the NFL—one that many thought was too light a sentence. I completely agree it was too light. So, Stephen A. Smith was on television talking about the events that led to the suspension, clearly stating Rice was wrong and deserved punishment. While never excusing Rice’s actions, Smith offered the opinion that, “In general, when there is violence, sometimes it might be worth asking questions about provoca-tion.” So for even suggesting that there could be provocation before a fi ght between a man and a woman, Smith is off the air after the outcry of upset people. Smith has since issued an apology.

He never suggested that Rice’s wife had it coming. Truly, I believe Smith is an awful sports anchor. He blabs and shouts and incoherently rants about whatever the topic is for the day. That’s why I am disgusted with the actions of ESPN. He was hired to blab and be opinionated, and he does that well but then it results in sus-pension. Domestic violence is serious and should be a serious penalty for anyone committing the crime. But once again, in a politically correct world, the management at ESPN bows down to the ridiculous whine of crybabies, just because Stephen A. Smith voiced an opinion on what’s supposed to be an opinionated sports program.

Football is something that we as a country can all agree on. It’s a game, true, but it’s more than just that. It’s a game that brings people together as one. We watch it, we talk about it, we created a game from the game, and fantasy football is everywhere, with 32–40 million Americans projected to play this year. something that takes

ME-MA, CHRIS JOHNSON, MILLIONS OF FANTASY PLAYERS AND THE TITANS KNOW, IT'S ALMOST FOOTBALL TIME!

SPORTS TALKcolumn by Z-TRAIN

[email protected]

teams pound each other as they run drills over and over. The pre-season is already here and

millions of Americans have already begun studying positional charts as

he Train Daddy is back with the pain, daddy, and is, as always, bringing sports knowledge and

they prepare for another season of fantasy football. Baseball was once called America’s sport, but

CONTINUED ON 38

Bishop Stankey


Diets Don’tWork (Part 1)BY RANDAL JONES

A CALORIE IS A CALORIE . . . RIGHT? This is the mantra of many of the highly publicized diets on the market from the proponents of the high-carb/low-fat diet to the high-protein diets. This simple concept has been used to convince us that the latest diet fad is the end-all solution to the obesity epidemic. And in the end, “all calories are equal” is used in defense of eating something that we all know is a bad choice, like eating a whole bag of Double Stuffed Oreos or a meat-only diet . . . both of which are my favorites. The argument is that you can’t gain weight if you pig out on Oreos or bacon but don’t eat more than 1,200 calories in a day . . . right? Wrong! All calories are not created equal.

The notion that all calories are equal does not take into consideration the ex-istence of insulin resistance, which is the inability of your body to effectively process sugary foods over time. When you were young your muscles were able to process 85–90 percent of the calories from any meal and process it into energy.

Studies have shown that when blood glucose or blood sugar rises rapidly, as it may after a sugary meal, many people don’t think as quickly as they normally do and they make more mistakes. Many times they become more anxious while having less en-ergy when their blood sugar is high. People that ride this blood-sugar roller coaster of-ten have an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and other diabetes complications. This is also known as insulin resistance.

After years of nutritional abuse, the body begins an abnormal metabolic state and the muscles become insulin resistant due to eating high-sugar or high-glycemic foods; many of the calories consumed

cannot be converted into energy and are turned into belly fat. In fact the body begins to hold onto fat like a sponge holds onto water. To lose weight, it takes more than cutting 3,500 calories out of your diet to lose a pound of fat. What a person can get away with when they are young will fi nally catch up with them when they grow older. As college students that same abuse came with a huge price: the “fresh-man 20” and “sophomore 30.” But, it is worse as we get older.

So what does this mean? You need to look at what you are eating on a regular basis and look at how your body reacts to that food. If I were to tell you that you should eat multiple tablespoons of sugar at every meal, I would guess that many of you would smile, but then you would think that I had lost my mind. Well, in fact, many of you are eating foods that are just as bad. No, I am not arguing for a low-carb/high-protein diet. Nor am I arguing for a high-carb/low-fat diet. I educate my clients that we have to look at how the body reacts to each food and then decide if it is a good or bad choice for you.

So how should you evaluate your diet? One of the easiest ways is to look at how your body reacts to each food by evaluat-ing the glycemic index of the food you are eating. To put it differently, does that food spike your blood sugar?

The glycemic index was designed to help people with diabetes control their blood sugar levels, but can be used to help people maintain a healthy lifestyle and a healthy weight. It can seem a little complicated, but here’s the basic idea: some foods, like white bread, cookies and white potatoes, make your blood sugar rise quickly. So to lose weight and feel better, you want to eat carbs that produce a steadier rise in blood sugar vs. a spike up; and the fi ber in those foods helps you feel full longer so you’re not as hungry, and you feel more satisfi ed.

There are several studies that dem-onstrated that people on a low-glycemic diet lost more fat than those on a high-glycemic diet with the same calories. So here are the basics: foods on the glycemic index diet are scored on a scale of 0 to 100 based on how much they raise your blood sugar level.

• High-GI foods (70 or higher): white rice, white bread, pretzels, white bagels, white baked potatoes, crackers, sugar-sweetened beverages, and even some foods that are seen as “healthy” such as watermelon, processed wheat bread and popcorn.

• Medium-GI foods (56-69): bananas, grapes, spaghetti, ice cream, raisins, corn on the cob

• Low-GI foods (55 and under): oatmeal,

peanuts, peas, carrots, kidney beans, hum-mus, skim milk, most fruits (except those listed above and watermelon)

To gain better health and live a more productive life, you just need to eat more low-glycemic foods and fewer high-gly-cemic foods in addition to watching your overall calorie intake. In contradiction of the low-carb fad, you also don’t need to cut out all carbs. You do need to be selective about your carbs, checking the glycemic index value of the foods you eat. This means you can shop and cook like you normally would, but you need to use ingredients that are low

on the index. So, before you decide on the next fad diet, look at the logic behind it. If the mantra is more of the same “all calories are equal,” you now know better. Stay tuned for the next issue’s installment, when I discuss cravings and how to stay on track when that mocha java is calling your name.

Randal Jones is a certifi ed health coach at Nashville Healthnote on Music Row. For more information on how to retune your body and information on nutri-tion, you can contact Randal at [email protected].

HEALTH & FITNESS

OPINIONS

JEFF “SLIM SHADY” COOPER and former Rutherford County Administrator of Elections NICOLE LESTER have some-thing in common. They both bit the hand that might have fed them.

Shortly before a Circuit Court hearing July 18, according to witnesses, Cooper cussed out DISTRICT ATTORNEY GENERALBILL WHITESELL in the Judicial Build-ing hallway when Whitesell told him he was going to ask that assault and abduction charges be dismissed against Rutherford COUNTY COMMISSIONER MATT YOUNG, BUBBA HUTSON and HARVEY FELSHER, of Mississippi.

“He told him to f— himself and called him a mother——,” said WILL FRALEY, the attorney for Hutson, who saw the incident play out in the hall.

The incident clearly displayed Cooper’s character, added Fraley.

The credibility of Cooper’s charges had been in question almost since he fi led them against the trio last year. After all, he has a sketchy background and shaky mental status.

But more to the point, on the night he was allegedly tortured, abducted and assaulted at Hutson’s East Main Street home, Cooper went out to eat with the men—who’d been his friends for years—and then went home with them after they took him to the sheriff ’s offi ce and tried to have him arrested for conning them out of $20,000 in a ticket-scalping scheme for a Justin Beiber concert. (The ride to the sheriff ’s offi ce constituted the abduction charges.)

Maybe he didn’t have anywhere else to go or he just didn’t think he’d been kidnapped and assaulted until months later when he and Young got into some sort of disagreement on a trip to Kentucky. (They were roommates at

the time?) Cooper served time in jail there for assaulting Young, who later fi led theft charges against him for taking his pistol.

Anyway, Whitesell said Cooper’s outburst of gutter language had no impact on his decision to move forward with the request for dis-missal. (But it sure didn’t help Cooper’s cause.) Whitesell said he felt it was the right move because he couldn’t prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. I got the feeling Whitesell didn’t think much of the case, or the indict-ment, from the outset. He was out of town when the case went to the grand jury. Facing attorneys such as Fraley and TERRY FANN, he probably would have lost because he didn’t have enough strong evidence.

If someone burns you with cigarettes, beats you up and holds a gun to your head, you don’t go out to eat with them, spend the night in the house and then room with one of them later. Whether they roughed you up or not, if you fi le assault and kidnapping charges against them, don’t expect a DA or jury to spend much time listening to your pleas. That’s just not how it works.

SO HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO LESTER? GOOD QUESTION.The night she was fi red in a unanimous vote by the Election Commission, I felt bad for her. I don’t like to see anyone lose a job, because I know how it affects families.

But Lester was her own worst enemy in this mess and whether CHAIRMAN RANSOM JONES was already looking to replace her or not, she used the wrong strategy to keep her job.

In late 2012, Jones put a letter in her per-sonnel fi le ordering her to keep regular offi ce hours, clock in and out on her offi ce computer

and learn better management skills to im-prove offi ce morale. She didn’t make enough improvement over the last year and a half, at least not enough to suit commissioners.

And in the aftermath of her fi ring, people shouldn’t feel sorry for her. In some instances, according to Jones, she was going to the offi ce for an hour or two in the morning, clocking in and then coming back after offi ce workers left and clocking out. He declined to confi rm that she got paid for working while on a trip to the beach. But he did say that the two times she used the offi ce virtual private network (VPN), it had to be taken away from her.

“There are no winners in this,” Jones said after leading the move to fi re her. He was extremely disappointed because it was his decision to hire her three years ago when Hooper Penuel resigned over an early voting scheduling error.

Lester might have had an outside shot at keeping her $92,000-plus job if she’d sought reconciliation with the commission. Instead of telling them she’d do whatever they want-ed, she wrote an eight-page letter justifying her every move and bragging on accomplish-ments over the last three years. Jones called its tone “defi ant.”

Going into the Election Commission vote, I thought Lester might get at least two votes in favor of keeping her job. But when your husband, father and other supporters accuse the commission’s chairman of bullying and name-calling that’s not going to win friends and infl uence people.

Lester apparently forgot that she worked at the pleasure of the commission and was getting paid by taxpayers. Certainly, it is diffi cult to have two small children and be at the offi ce eight hours a day. In this case, something had to give, and it was Lester, mainly at her own doing.

During her last meeting, Lester said Jones was right when he told her earlier he had the votes to fi re her. She also made a pretty good prediction when she said that MTSU ASSOCI-ATE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR ALAN FAR-LEY or STATE REP. JOE CARR were likely replacements for her. Farley got the job in a 4-1 vote and in spite of one commissioner’s claim that the Republican Party’s Executive Commit-tee demanded he leave the Election Commission in 2002 for “dereliction of duty and absentee-ism” for missing the Aug. 1 vote that year.

DETAILS ARE BIG DEALS AT ELECTION TIMEAll sorts of stuff has come across my desk over the last few months, much of it designed to make political candidates look bad. One showed business cards being passed out by longtime RUTHERFORD COUNTY COM-MISSIONER ROBERT PEAY, an Indepen-dent candidate in the 4th District. The front of the cards looks like an offi cial county business card while the back says “Asking for your vote!” Peay was campaigning door to door and leaving his card if people weren’t home. On one, he wrote, “Sorry I missed you. Robert.”

Although the county mayor purchases cards for county commissioners, Peay said he bought these cards from Shacklett’s Photography. No problem there, but one observer had pointed out to me that election hand cards and other items are required by state law to say who paid for them. The cards Peay was handing out didn’t have the obligatory statement.

I asked District Attorney Bill Whitesell about the matter, and after looking up the law, he wasn’t certain if there was a violation, because of a provision that exempts pens, pins, buttons and other campaign items. He wasn’t inclined to prosecute, either, point-ing out that the penalty is only a $50 fi ne. Considering the number of criminal cases his offi ce deals with each day, Peay’s cards would hardly be blip on the radar.

When I talked to Peay about the matter, he said he’d been handing out the cards for years during elections but would quit using them if it was a problem. This time, he’s running against JON JACQUES and JON FRAZIER, and in some people’s eyes they are, or at least they’re trying to make them, a problem. But it’s really up to Whitesell, so Peay is problem in the clear.

YOUNG WOMAN DIESA young woman named RACHEL ORMANwas shot (non-fatally) in a September 2013 robbery on Mt. Tabor Road in Christiana, purportedly involving prescription drugs.

During a preliminary hearing on charges against the two men accused in the robbery/shooting, her husband, SHANE JACOBS, described himself and the group he dealt with as “trailer park trash.” One defendant’s attor-ney accused him of dealing prescription drugs.

The detective investigating the case said the incident was either a drug deal gone bad or a drug robbery.

Either way, a recent obituary stated that Orman was dead. She was a member of the 2007 Riverdale Lady Warriors state champi-onship basketball team and a nice-looking young woman. She was my daughter’s age. What a tragedy.

Poor Strategy Links “Slim Shady” and Lester

TheSTOCKARD

REPORTBY SAM STOCKARD



Governor Rick Perry is deploying the National Guard to the border. Well, sort of. The National Guard, in the words of Texas Adjutant General John Nichols, will be “referring and deterring” illegals. They won’t be de-

taining them. Not sure how much good that will do, but at least a governor somewhere is doing something.

Texas Democrats accused Perry of militarizing the southern border, a charge the gover-nor vehemently denies. But that’s the only thing that will stem the tide of illegals streaming across the border. As for those crossing, AG Nichols said, “We think they’ll come to us and say, ‘Please take us to a Border Patrol station.’” Quite frankly, they’re already doing that.

If Rick Perry really wants to do something then he’ll use the National Guard in a manner that’s really effective, and that is to protect the border from invasion. People ask if I’m willing to have the National Guard shoot people who try to enter illegally. My question to them is what happens if someone tries to blast past a border crossing sta-tion? My assumption is there will be serious consequences. Just think of National Guard troops spread across the border as one big border crossing station. If anyone tries to breach that border then the same thing should happen to them that happens to anyone who crashes a border patrol station.

I found it very interesting that in Gov. Perry’s remarks announcing his deployment of the National Guard he cited a statistic that illegals had com-mitted over 640,000 crimes in Texas alone since 2008, including over 3,000 murders. That fi gure jumped out at me. Over 3,000 homicides that would never have taken place were it not for our lax border enforcement.

It might not surprise you that I scanned the reports of every major media outlet and not one included the startling crime stats cited by Gov. Perry. In fact, CNN, NBC and others purposely edited out that section when they posted his press conference.

I’ve often told you that it’s not what the media tell you that should concern you. It’s what they don’t. Naturally, if the average American knew that illegals had murdered over 3,000 people just in Texas over the last six years they would be stunned and outraged. They might even be moved to insist we do something about it. That’s why the media folks can’t let these

little tidbits loose on the public. They’re no longer in the business of reporting events. They’re in the business of shaping them.

So far they’ve managed to put a poor, pitiful face on the border crisis. They blame drug violence and poverty for the sud-den DREAMer streamer, but these Central American countries have had poverty and drug violence for as long as anyone can remember. That’s not what’s drawing them here. They’re being drawn here by a presi-dent who promises they’ll get to stay if they come. So far, that’s been the case, and there’s no sign of that changing anytime soon.

My theory is the drug cartels are behind the exploitation of the president’s executive order. Notice that almost all of these so-called unaccompanied children are coming through one point at the border; the Rio Grande Valley sector. The federal govern-

ment has had to scramble personnel and resources to that one sector, leaving the rest of the border vulnerable.

That was part of the reason why Perry called in the National Guard. Crime in other parts of Texas is going through the roof.

It appears we’re being played, and either the Obama administration knows it or they’re too dumb to see it.

Phil Valentine is an author and nationally syndicated radio talk show host with West-wood One. For more of his commentary and articles, visit philvalentine.com.

Texas Taking Border Security Into its Own Hands

“Naturally, if the average American knew that illegals had murdered over 3,000 people just in Texas over the last six years they would be stunned and outraged. They might even be moved to insist we do something about it.

National Guard he cited a statistic that illegals had com-

It might not surprise you that I scanned the reports

VIEWS OF A CONSERVATIVE

column byPHIL VALENTINEphilvalentine.com


There are times that life does not turn out the way we anticipate and living is simply a bewildering adventure. We rarely know what’s coming next. Often, we surmise that “if I do the right thing then life will all turn out in my favor.” But then somehow there appear situations and circumstances that arise and baffl e. Life comes as a surprise! We learn to wait and listen to that inner voice that will help us discern the re-ality of our situation and realize that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

Throughout the centuries are episodes in which mankind has fallen into ruin; because of self-aggrandizement with its glorious history, “scarred” and “devastation” become the operative words. These enigmatic images from our past are charged time capsules buried with messages for us, continuing to re-lease insight, hope and clarity for us today. With this in mind, we look at the long ordeal of the Great Depres-sion of the 1930s. On multiple levels, the messages from songs of that era can forge a fresh vocabulary that gives energy and credibility for our day. Don’t be afraid to listen and let them speak to you!

After a period of refl ective affl u-ence in the 1920s, the American economy crashed into shambles af-ter the stock market crashed on Oct. 29, 1929. The 1930s and the Depres-sion burst the economic bubble and its attendant optimism. Today, most living Americans have no memory or can’t relate to the experience of that period. Those who lived through this period recall vividly the frustration and fear that permeated America and the world. Many historians consider the Depression the greatest domestic crisis since the Civil War, like an explosive bomb dropped into the middle of the prosperity of the 1920s. The optimism of the previous decade was replaced by widespread pessimism and the an-guish of struggling to put suffi cient food on the table. No longer was America considered the “promised land.” As the Depression deepened, even immigration dropped. People’s values began to change and society was changed for decades.

The Great Depression of the

1930s had transformed the Ameri-can dream into a nightmare.

When the economy plummeted early in 1930, banks began to fail, mortgages went unpaid and unem-ployment increased staggeringly. The residents of Murfreesboro began to feel the effects of the widespread Depression. Although President Hoover declared that prosperity was just around the corner, things got steadily worse. In 1932, after the nation fully grasped the situation, Franklin Roosevelt was elected over-whelmingly in hopes that his plan would lead to an economic recovery. After assuming offi ce, President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal pro-gram offered some relief and a na-tional recovery began. The Civilian Conservation Corps was encamped at the western edge of Murfreesboro, providing employment opportunities for young men. The WPA (Works Progress Administration) workers laid the concrete sidewalks that surrounded the Rutherford County Courthouse well into the 1980s. As a whole the community, with its strong agrarian base, did not suffer like other parts of the nation.

The Depression wreaked havoc on the physical, spiritual and mental state of the population. But, in spite of the hardships, the decade proved to be perhaps the greatest in regard to American musical creativity. Anyone with access to a radio could participate in it. Slowly but surely Americans began to rely on the new

technology to restore morale and self-confi dence, and relieve despair.

Strangely enough, during the Great Depression, when most were doing without luxuries, many would sacrifi ce to make payments on their radios. In those days, folks in Mur-freesboro were exposed to a wide range of live music, comedy, variety shows and dramatic programming as a welcome escape from the trou-bled times. In addition to classical works was a style of American music espoused by big bands like those of Glenn Miller and Duke Ellington and vocalists such as Bing Crosby. These and many other performers were a part of radio programming exposing locals to the new sounds emerging throughout America.

The Great Depression drove down the average price of a radio sold in United States from $139 in 1929 to about $47 just four years later; by the end of the 1920s, one third of U.S. households owned a radio and by 1933 that number climbed to nearly 60 percent. In Murfreesboro, radio was a great entertainment val-ue in a time when people struggled to pay rent and put food on the table. By 1933, the radio manufactur-ers had made major technological improvements that in turn allowed radio stations to reach more listeners in America and around the world. Radio sales in the early 1930s also benefi ted from “installment buying,” or buying on credit. In 1931, 75 percent of all radios were sold on

The 1930s: Radio DaysMurfreesboro’s Music Through the Decades by GLORIA CHRISTY

1930s had transformed the Ameri-can dream into a nightmare.

early in 1930, banks began to fail, mortgages went unpaid and unem-ployment increased staggeringly. The residents of Murfreesboro began to feel the effects of the widespread Depression. Although President Hoover declared that prosperity was just around the corner, things got steadily worse. In 1932, after the nation fully grasped the situation, Franklin Roosevelt was elected over-whelmingly in hopes that his plan would lead to an economic recovery. After assuming offi ce, President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal pro-gram offered some relief and a na-tional recovery began. The Civilian Conservation Corps was encamped at the western edge of Murfreesboro, providing employment opportunities for young men. The WPA (Works Progress Administration) workers laid the concrete sidewalks that surrounded the Rutherford County Courthouse well into the 1980s. As a whole the community, with its strong agrarian base, did not suffer like other parts of the nation.

on the physical, spiritual and mental state of the population. But, in spite of the hardships, the decade proved to be perhaps the greatest in regard to American musical creativity. Anyone with access to a radio could participate in it. Slowly but surely Americans began to rely on the new

technology to restore morale and self-confi dence, and relieve despair.

Great Depression, when most were doing without luxuries, many would sacrifi ce to make payments on their radios. In those days, folks in Mur-freesboro were exposed to a wide range of live music, comedy, variety shows and dramatic programming as a welcome escape from the trou-bled times. In addition to classical works was a style of American music espoused by big bands like those of Glenn Miller and Duke Ellington and vocalists such as Bing Crosby. These and many other performers were a part of radio programming exposing locals to the new sounds emerging throughout America.

the average price of a radio sold in United States from $139 in 1929 to about $47 just four years later; by the end of the 1920s, one third of U.S. households owned a radio and by 1933 that number climbed to nearly 60 percent. In Murfreesboro, radio was a great entertainment val-ue in a time when people struggled to pay rent and put food on the table. By 1933, the radio manufactur-ers had made major technological improvements that in turn allowed radio stations to reach more listeners in America and around the world. Radio sales in the early 1930s also benefi ted from “installment buying,” or buying on credit. In 1931, 75 percent of all radios were sold on

Opening day of a Newsome Radio Store (located on College St. across from present-day Pinnacle Bank)—Oct. 12, 1929. It opened just days before the Wall Street crash on Oct. 29, 1929.

View from the Bottom, present-day City Hall. This area was where many experienced the worst effects of the Depression era in our area.


by DR. PHILLIP FOSTER

I RECENTLY READ an article in the Harvard Business Jour-nal that pretty much summed it up. In essence it asserted that stra-tegic planning is something only smart people do. This is a myth! The problem with this myth is that it assumes that strategic planning is reserved for an elite group of people who are either born with a sixth sense of the future or have honed a scholastic storehouse of skills and knowledge to develop ethereal plans for the future. Allow me to turn off the smoke machine and drop the mirrors for a mo-ment. Strategy is for everyone, you and me as well as Joe and Sue down the street.

In simple terms, the strategic planning and foresight process helps an organization to hypotheti-cally stand in the future so that they can be more competitive today. This process focuses the organization on a path toward a preferred future of profi tability and considers potential disrupters along the way. Strategic Planning is typically focused on the here and now with an event horizon or future date within 5 years of today. We best know them as the three-to-fi ve-year plan. The three- to-fi ve-year plan is a great template to help us navigate the immedi-

ate future. Unfortunately, many companies will spend hundreds of hours crafting their three-to-fi ve-year strategic plan, only to put it in a binder on their shelf and let it sit there until the next strategy meeting. Strategic Planning is not about developing a beautiful set of documents insomuch as it is a plan that the company should and must interact with on a daily basis. The plan should be tied to the organiza-tion's goals, mission and fi rst prin-ciples and referred to daily. Once we have mastered the strategic plan, we must consider the world beyond the typical strategy plan. In this case we move into a process called strategic foresight.

Strategic foresight is a deliber-ate process of establishing well-informed, future-oriented perspec-tives that help guide innovation, planning and decision-making at a macro level. The process of fore-sight creates competitive advantage by providing a future context for strategy and plans. In other words, a proper foresight plan will bring meaning to the current three-to fi ve-year strategic plan we refer to on a daily basis. Creating a future context provides us with a level of uncertainty that extends the organi-zation's beyond-known risks. While most business leaders are well-accustomed to three-to-fi ve-year

strategic plans, strategic foresight uses a time horizon of 10 to 25 years (or more) to look for trends and game-changers which will shape the organization’s future. The process of foresight generates insights about alternatives which could affect the organization’s future. Foresight as-sists the organization in developing problem-solving skills which address potential mission-critical challenges.

Developing a foresight plan is worthwhile for any organization. If you believe your organization would benefi t from a comprehensive stra-tegic plan, we are ready to help! Our team has over 60 years of leadership, management and organizational de-velopment experience. If you believe your organization could benefi t from our four-step process, please contact us today for a FREE consultation.

Dr. Philip A. Foster is considered a thought leader in Business Opera-tions, Organization and Strategic Leadership. He is a prolifi c writer, published author and lectures internationally. Philip is certifi ed in both leadership and coaching and serves as adjunct professor at MTSU. He is the Founder and CEO of Maximum Change Leader-ship and Business Consulting, serving clients from around the world. For more information, visit maximumchange.com.

Four Steps to Organizational Success Step 4: Strategic Planning and Forsight

installment payments, with the aver-age radio buyer putting 20 percent down on their radio purchase.

In the spring of 1927, the NBC national network was formed, and WSM in Nashville became an affi li-ate subscribing to many of the net-work’s programs. This meant that the station could carry program-ming heard all over the country. WSM sustained a host of regulars in local programming, which included many of the “hoedown bands” like Uncle Dave Macon and the Fruit Jar Drinkers featured on the early Grand Ole Opry. Radio exposure increased the popularity of hillbilly music across the nation and sustained the Opry for another ten years. The music was reason-ably close to what the locals defi ned as “old-time” or “folk” music. By 1935, as the Opry was losing much of its innocence and spontaneity,

modern infl uences in musical style and sophistication began to bring increasingly professional and struc-tured programming to the popular country broadcast.

During the Depression in the 1930s, Uncle Dave Macon and other string bands suffered hard. Both touring and recording sales were drying up. Uncle Dave pontifi cated on the state of things by arguing that music and morale go together and that the hard times were caused by the decline in music and morals. He told one reporter, “A man who can’t enjoy music has no heart and very little soul. People today are drifting away from the old tunes, the real music. At the same time, they are drifting away from morals—one is the cause of the other.”

Is there some prophetic message that, if heeded, might augment our understanding and bring relevance

and wisdom for our day? In modern times, we have tuned in, turned on and logged in just to connect and communicate with the powers of the Universe. The result is that we are feeling more alone and isolated than ever in human history. So what’s the point? Is there perhaps a reality that is far more real than what we can feel, see, hear or touch? Perhaps all along we needed faith in something outside our senses, that pervasive power of Love which comes from a God that sustains and will not let us plummet into oblivion.

Make time to connect, tune in and turn on. Make this time your highest priority. Make time to con-nect to God’s signal your heart’s desire. As you stay tuned in, this channel will reveal your deepest joy and lasting peace. You become a gifted conduit to the energy that powers the Universe, which is Love.


LAMAR ALEXANDER, a two-term Republi-can senator and former governor of Tennessee, faces Tea-Party sup-ported Rutherford County resident Joe Carr, as well as George Flinn, Brenda Lenard and others on a crowded Republican Party primary ballot this August, leading up to the November general election. (Tennes-see’s other Senator, Bob Corker, will be up for re-election in 2018).

A look at how Alexander voted in some of the noteworthy Senate votes over this past term:

FEB. 2014, Temporary Debt Limit Exten-sion Act (suspending the United States debt ceiling until March 15, 2015) – Lamar voted: NO

OCT. 2013, Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014 (containing a resolution to fund the government until January 15, 2014, and suspending the U.S. debt ceiling until Feb. 7, 2014, ) – Lamar voted: YES

DEC. 2013, National Defense Authoriza-tion Act for FY 2014 (The law authorizes the DOD to spend $607 billion in Fiscal Year 2014, permits the military to detain individuals indefi nitely without trial.) – La-mar voted: YES

JUNE 2013, Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Moderniza-tion Act (Calling for 700 miles of rein-

forced, double-layered fencing along the U.S.–Mexico border) – Lamar voted: YES

DEC. 2012, National Defense Authoriza-tion Act for FY 2013 (sets the U.S. Armed Forces budget for the 2013 fi scal year to $633 billion – Lamar voted: YES

AUG. 2011, Budget Control Act of 2011 (allowed an immediate $900 billion increase in the debt ceiling, while requiring $917 billion of budget cuts over 10 years) – Lamar voted: YES

MAY 2011, PATRIOT Sunsets Extension Act of 2011 (extending the provisions of the PATRIOT Act through June 1, 2015) – Lamar voted: YES

OCT. 2009, National Defense Authori-zation Act for Fiscal Year 2010 – Lamar voted: YES

OCT. 2008, The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (Creating the Troubled Asset Relief Program [TARP], authorizing the Treasury to spend up to $700 billion to purchase distressed as-sets, especially mortgage-backed securi-ties, in response to the subprime mortgage crisis.) – Lamar voted: YES

LAMAR’S LEGACY A Look at Some of Sen. Alexander’s Key Votes

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roughly two hours or so. Being a commissioner of a league entering its sixth year, well, there’s something special about the same friends show-ing up year in and year out to play a game.

As someone who constantly places in the top of my league standings every year, here is some info to help you out this fantasy season (for a standard fantasy setting for a 10–12 person league, generally what everyone plays). My No. 1 rule is to always take the two best run-ning backs available with your fi rst two picks. Granted, situations happen where it is tough to do, but it has served me well. I had a buddy tell me he would take Peyton Manning if he had the fi rst pick of the draft this year, arguing the touchdowns he will throw is all the proof he needs. Well, some may agree, but I can promise you that if you lack running back talent you will not make a run at the playoffs, and there is no

position that gets gobbled up quicker in terms of talent. Some say winning in fantasy is 75 per-cent chance but the other 25 percent is skill and preparation. Make sure you study positional charts and player rankings prior to your draft and always do at least one or two mock drafts online. Once you understand the ins and outs, you will be winning again and again. Watch the games, watch for breaking news on injuries, be the fi rst to pick up the backup of a superstar that goes down. Typically the people making the most moves always end up in the playoffs. Another tip for success: Keep your eggs in many baskets; don’t pick multiple players on the same team. Beware of picking players that have the same bye (off-schedule) weeks. That’s it, I kept it simple. In nine years of playing fantasy football I have missed the playoffs one time. The few things I just told you have been my bread and butter to success. Choo-choo!

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forced, double-layered fencing along the U.S.–Mexico border) – Lamar voted:

DEC. 2012tion Act for FY 2013 (sets the U.S. Armed Forces budget for the 2013 fi scal year to $633 billion – Lamar voted:

AUG. 20112011 (allowed an immediate $900 billion increase in the debt ceiling, while requiring $917 billion of budget cuts over 10 years) – Lamar voted:

MAY 2011Act of 2011 (extending the provisions of the PATRIOT Act through June 1, 2015) – Lamar voted:

OCT. 2009zation Act for Fiscal Year 2010 – Lamar voted:

OCT. 2008Stabilization Act of 2008 (Creating the Troubled Asset Relief Program [TARP], authorizing the Treasury to spend up to $700 billion to purchase distressed as-sets, especially mortgage-backed securi-ties, in response to the subprime mortgage crisis.) – Lamar voted:

position that gets gobbled up quicker in terms of talent. Some say winning in fantasy is 75 per-cent chance but the other 25 percent is skill and preparation. Make sure you study positional charts and player rankings prior to your draft and always do at least one or two mock drafts online. Once you understand the ins and outs, you will be winning again and again. Watch the games, watch for breaking news on injuries, be the fi rst to pick up the backup of a superstar that goes down. Typically the people making the most moves always end up in the playoffs. Another tip for success: Keep your eggs in many baskets; don’t pick multiple players on the same team. Beware of picking players that have the same bye (off-schedule) weeks. That’s it, I kept it simple. In nine years of playing fantasy football I have missed the playoffs one time. The few things I just told you have been my bread and butter to success.

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August 2014 Murfreesboro Pulse