BARRY COURTER: Lisa, I'm not sure even death is an acceptable excuse for not being able to find something cool to do this coming week. I mean, there is always something on the calendar, but yowsa. Where to start?
Lisa Denton and Barry Courter
Cinerama, the new independent movie project from the Mise En Scenesters, opens Saturday in the old Grocery Bar space. They plan to show movies, host workshops, bring in guest speakers and collaborate with other groups with similar goals to keep the place busy. Saturday is the first of several planned soft openings. They have music, poetry and a secret film planned for the event.
Also, Richard Lloyd of Television fame headlines Nightfall on Friday, the same night that Summer Dregs, a local trio, will debut its new light and sound show. And on Saturday, the Chattanooga Public Library downtown hosts Zine Fest, a celebration of independent writers, bookmakers and general all-around free thinkers.
LISA DENTON: I pride myself on free thinking. And thank you for permission to say that.
That reminds me, the next Noontunes performer is Jamal Traub, a Chattanooga transplant since 2012 who describes his music as "infectiously quirky, free-spirited madness" - which, incidentally, is also how I describe my driving.
BARRY: I've ridden with you and, coincidentally, that is how I describe your driving - in between screaming, of course. Did I ever tell you what my friend Tom used to say? Only 49 times? Let's make it an even 50. He'd say, "I hope I go quietly in my sleep like my grandfather did instead of yelling and screaming like the people who were in the car with him."
LISA: That's a great line. Like the joke that goes: My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was 60. She's 92 now, and we don't have a clue where she is.
Anyway, Traub will be at Miller Plaza at noon Wednesday, then his show will be broadcast on WUTC-FM 88.1 Thursday night at 8.
BARRY: The Richard Lloyd show is interesting because he now lives here. He was a judge for the Road to Nightfall, and I know he's jammed with some guys around town, but this will be his first local performance. He and fellow Television player Tom Verlaine were listed at No. 7 on Spin magazine's Top 100 guitarists of all time back in 2012.
LISA: It's way cool that he lives here and even cooler that he let you come to his house and say howdy.
BARRY: That was a good day. And I think I also talked to young country singer Kane Brown earlier that day or the day before.
LISA: Working at a newspaper does have certain perks. We get to meet and talk to interesting people. But there's a big misconception that we can call up promoters for the best seats at big concerts. That's not how it works. Mostly, we get into free events for free.
BARRY: The power of a press badge has opened many a free-event gate for me. All but three actually, but we don't talk about those.
LISA: Speaking of press badges, sometimes I forget to take mine off when I leave here. Back when we had our old badges, I was bopping around T.J. Maxx when an older gentleman approached and asked, "What happens if I press?"
I was confused until I realized he was talking about the badge he saw dangling on my chest with "PRESS" spelled out in big, block letters. At least he didn't follow the instructions without asking first. Because the answer would have been, "You get slapped." But no harm, no foul.
BARRY: Ha. My brother did similar to me, but after hitting "PRESS" he said, "Nothing happened. You're still an idiot." We're very close.
LISA: You know who else qualifies as interesting is Minton Sparks, who will be here Thursday for the Cam Busch Endowed Arts for Health Lecture Series. She has established herself as Nashville's first non-singing country singer, if you can imagine that. I mean, think about that conversation.
Minton Sparks: "I want to cut a record, but I can't sing."
Mr. Nashville Bigwig: "That's all right, sugar. It happens all the time in pop music. (Slides contract across the desk.) Sign right here."
The difference with Minton Sparks, of course, is that she can say intelligent things. I wonder what that's like.
BARRY: I thought I had a shot in Nashville until you mentioned the "intelligent things" part. Looks like you're stuck with me.
LISA: That's OK. You still qualify as interesting.
Get event details every Thursday in ChattanoogaNow or online anytime at www.ChattanoogaNow.com.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354. Contact Lisa Denton at ldenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6281.