This is a weird photo of a weird musician named Mike Keneally. Mike started with Zappa, and has since worked with tons of people doing tons of different things. He's also released a ton of his own very appealing solo stuff, and stuff with his band, Beer for Dolphins. The man is, truly, too talented for the room.
An amazing guitarist, keyboardist, and composer, his work is a challenging yet rewarding listen, and his sense of humor is refreshing. I have two killer mp3's of Mike: one is an acoustic version of Radiohead's "Paranoid Android," and another is a live, full-band cover of Wall of Voodoo's ""Mexican Radio."
I recommend checking him out...
Why do people herd themselves like cattle to eat at Chattanooga’s chain restaurants when there are so many tastier, independently-owned establishments worthy of their dining dollars?
It’s not that chain restaurants are intrinsically bad. To many, a meal at Chili’s or Logan’s or Applebee’s or Outback or TGI Friday’s is a great night out. And they’re perfectly within their rights to feel that way. Like my artist father says about people’s wide-ranging tastes in art: “If they like it, it’s good.” You can’t really teach good taste, and it’s easier to do your thing and let others do theirs. But I can’t help myself. As a journalist, I feel a sense of responsibility to inform, even if it’s about something as mundane as dining choices.
Chain restaurants are calculated, carbon-copy, corporate entities where homogeneity, expansion, and profit are the motivating factors. A burger in a Friday’s in Chattanooga tastes like a burger in a Friday’s in Manhattan. The menus are the same, the floor plans are the same, the policies are the same, the training methods are the same, and the beepers (that alert millions that their tables are ready) are the same. Some of the dishes are good – some not so good – but when a restaurant has to be replicated thousands of times all over the world, factors like efficiency and consistency become more important than variety and quality.
People like the familiarity of a chain restaurant. If they’re on vacation, it’s just too easy to stop at an Outback or a Chili’s. They expect a certain perceived quality level, and they like the comfort of a place where they’ve eaten before. They feel like they’re getting a decent meal at a decent price, and they can then continue on with their other vacation activities.
But if you live in a city, like Chattanooga, where the dining choices feature many successful chain and non-chain restaurants, wouldn’t it be more rewarding to try other places to eat? Can’t the same foods at the same restaurants eaten over and over again get boring after a while? Well, if the lines outside Olive Garden or Red Lobster are any indication, I guess the answer is no. But why?
Are people afraid to try new restaurants? Well, maybe some people are, but it seems more likely that people more often succumb to misconceptions about some restaurants and decide not to patronize them.
One misconception is that privately owned restaurants (especially the really nice ones) are far more expensive than their chain competitors. While some fine dining establishments are, in fact, pricey, chain restaurants like Logan’s and Outback aren’t exactly cheap, either. Take a steak, an appetizer, a dessert, a couple of drinks, and multiply it by two people, and pretty soon you’re spending $50 dollars or more – about the same as you’d spend at many nicer independent restaurants; usually for food that leaves you saying, “That was OK.”
The quality of food at chain restaurants is limited to corporate boardroom decisions. Chains have to supply many restaurants, and have to do it cheaply, in order to keep the consistency that so many folks count on. Even their “specials” are most likely “specials” in 100 other locations, selected from a list of pre-planned and distributed “specials.” In a privately-run place, owners and chefs can buy things and try things on a whim, constantly tweaking their offerings to fit the adventurous tastes of their customers.
You might also hear people say, “Oh, their portions are too small” when you mention a slightly more upscale place to eat. But if you consider that entrees at some places are designed to be eaten as part of a full meal consisting of an appetizer, salad, entrée, and dessert, the portion sizes make sense. Chefs at many independent restaurants like to think of their food as part of a diverse dining experience, exercising your tastebuds with variety. Health plays a role, too, as smaller portions are relatively healthier than the trough-like experiences found at many buffets and all-you-can eat places.
Another misconception is that many independent restaurants are too stuffy. Well, yes, a Dale Earnhardt t-shirt might not be appropriate for some places, but you’d be surprised at the laid-back dress codes and atmospheres at even some of the city’s more “ritzy” restaurants; a golf shirt and khaki’s is actually considered dress attire in many places.
In short, there’s a time for Applebee’s and there’s a time to try something new. Independent hometown restaurant owners took a chance in putting themselves up against the big boys. The least you can do is take a chance that you might actually like what they have to offer.
The power of documentary film lies in its ability to present images and stories that conventional cinema most often cannot. In a documentary, the uniqueness of the real-life story and characters isn’t limited by the thoughts and ideas conjured up in the head of a Hollywood screenwriter. It is bound, most often and most successfully, by pure chance and a willingness to see the seemingly mundane in a new, and often profound, way.
Jeff Blitz’s Spellbound (out on DVD this week) is documentary filmmaking at its finest, following a group of eight kids on the road to competition at the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. The film was nominated for an Oscar for best documentary feature, losing to Michael Moore on the night of his big-mouthed acceptance speech for the faux documentary, Bowling for Columbine. Where Columbine used the camera to force-feed ideas (sometimes regardless of truth), Spellbound is more true to the genre – letting the camera discover the story.
Among the memorable spellers in Spellbound is Harry Altman, who leaps off the screen with his joke-telling and hilariously bizarre facial contortions used to help him spell words like “cephalagia” and “banns.” Harry, the other spellers, and their families and friends make up a touching and triumphant cast, showing what a little hard work and determination can do towards achieving a goal.
If there is any justice in Hollywood, in coming years Blitz’s talented eye will give theatergoers many more fantastic films with many more fantastic looks at many more fantastic lives.
I've decided to post my PULSE columns before they go to press. It helps to look like I'm actually blogging:
Wal-Mart or no Wal-Mart, I like Target better, anyway…
You may as well protest the wind. Because it, like Wal-Mart, isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
I don’t necessarily disagree with the wishes of those opposed to the building of another Chattanooga Wal-Mart. I am personally sick of Wal-Mart. I find the quality of many of their items to be lacking, and I’d rather shop elsewhere. But the chain is extremely successful. People love this store (even addicted to it), and to really make a dent in the practices and progress of the Wal-Mart empire would require changing the hearts and minds and shopping habits of millions and millions and millions and millions (and millions) of people.
The only way to “defeat” Wal-Mart, in my mind, would be a straight-out boycott. The Walton family would have to be hit in the wallet. And even then, to a family worth over 100 BILLION DOLLARS, a boycott might not even be successful enough.
Wal-Mart, like Big Tobacco, is now in a position where it can buy forgiveness in virtually any accusation of malfeasance, lawlessness, fraud, discrimination, or collusion. Does this make any of their “unfair” practices any less real? No. But they are as good as untouchable if charged.
It is because of the strength of the company’s position that I view the actions of local protestors as pitifully futile. I’m not saying don’t protest, but at least consider the odds…
What, really, did local members of Katuah Earth First! expect would happen when they stood outside Wal-Mart recently, attempting to “raise awareness of the labor and environmental injustices Wal-Mart creates?" Did they have a good point? Probably. Does it really matter? Probably not. I mean, AIDS ribbons raise awareness about AIDS, but AIDS still exists. “Raising Awareness” is never a good tactic. It often makes no sense in relation to the situation at hand. Especially when people are already aware, and still don’t care. Action is more effective. And, like I said, the only plausible action I can see that would affect Wal-Mart would be an insurmountable boycott by consumers. And that will never happen because other people don’t care enough to pull it off. Many people like the store, and simply don’t see another option that they’d prefer. They can leave the store with a bunch of crap that they love AND save money while doing it. It’s a tough combination to beat.
Perhaps the new Wal-Mart will spur the closing of the Hamilton Place store. Maybe another business could get a chance to thrive in that then-vacated space. And perhaps developers could’ve decided to build the new Wal-Mart inside the pathetic ruins of the Eastgate Mall. Maybe then they would’ve been seen as a corporation that recycles property instead of one that uses it and then abandons it when they see fit.
I wonder, though, if those outraged by Wal-Mart’s disturbance of the delicate Eastgate ecosystem (?) would be happier if something else were moving onto the land. Like, maybe a Patagonia outlet store. Or a Burt’s Bees packaging plant. Or maybe even a Noam Chomsky Regional Reading Room and Reflection Pool. I mean, is it just the fact that Wal-Mart is moving in? Would other businesses be more acceptable? Would it lessen the blow?
I don’t think the big danger is Wal-Mart moving in. I think the real danger is that, while in a Wal-Mart, you constantly have to be on the look out for falling prices. I saw a guy get hit by a falling price once, and man, it wasn’t pretty. But seriously, folks…
While we wait for the next Wal-Mart Supercenter to move in, protestors should know that Wal-Mart is a good place for all their protesting needs, as poster board and markers are low-priced everyday.
In the race to the find the best candidate to lose to Bush, John Kerry (man he has a big head) seems to be the front-runner with his win yesterday in Iowa. Howard Dean came in 3rd, with 18% percent of the vote. I seriously thought that he had the best chance to win the race to lose to Bush.
Not that I really care. I don't like any of the democrat candidiates, am not the biggest Bush supporter, and am not a big fan of the two-party dominance by which our country is currently dominated.
Bush is going to win, however. Don't even waste your time debating. His reelection is imminent.
I am stiil extremely busy, but it's slowly getting better.
The paper is getting better and more well-rounded, with more people approaching me to get involved than I can keep track of...
Walked into work at PFILM today, and sitting at my desk was a dual 2 GHZ Mac G5 with 2 gigs of ram and 500 gigs of hard drive space. Wow. I shouldn't have any trouble getting things done...Should be fun, and all my loose-ended unfinished projects should go away rather quickly...
Famed actor/writer/orator Spalding Gray is missing. He's attempted suicide before, and rumors are abounding that he jumped from the Staten Island Ferry.
I have deleted this post, and all comments related to it because the juvenile comments posted in response (you know who you are) were bothering me and taking up valuable anti-cheerleading server space. If cheerleaders spent less time cheering, writing about cheering on blogs, and chasing after mouth-breathing football players, they might be able to string a sentence together worth reading. Please, find something else to do.
Dan, Melissa, and I went to the Local Yokels Film Fest at Pisa Pizza last night. We sat with Michael Lacey, and old 212 chum, who's just returned to town. The festival features short films by local directors, and is organized and hosted by Jarrod Whaley.
I was genuinely impressed with the pieces shown. I cut a 15+ minute reel of "On The Other Hand" stuff which was added at the very last minute, and though I was worried it wouldn't hold up against some of the beautiful work by the other artists, the audience seemed to eat our stuff up. It was a good feeling to see people laughing at everything. I mean, EVERYTHING. I had never watched the show with an audience before, and it gave me a renewed appreciation for the talents of our cast and crew. I don't think the audience expected anything like us tonight. The rest of the pieces were so serious, and our work is so....uh...not.
Dan and Brian simply leap off the screen, and Adam, Bo, and Brad come out of nowhere to slap the audience around. My only regret is that we couldn't have shown more tonight. We could've done at least another hour - easy - and stuff like the East Ridge Flea Market, Christmas at the Mall, Chris' Web Picks, the Search for Bubba, and many others were left behind because I simply couldn't squeeze them in.
An event and response like this has made me re-think my whole "I'm retired from video" decision. Even my wife was excited about the response, and she is more than sick of having to share her husband with all his projects.
Thanks to all in attendance for an unexpected treat.
Yep, my iBook (G3 700) arrived from Montreal via eBay, but there's one problem...It's all in french. The menu bar and all the pulldowns (file, etc) and their contents are in French. Is this an easy fix, or will I have to do something crazy? I kinda hope it's easy, as the machine is FULL of great software...
SOMEBODY HELP, PLEASE!!!