BARRY COURTER: Lisa, you know I am a big Shovels & Rope fan, and no I'm not talking about how much I enjoy doing yard work this time. The husband-and-wife duo return to town this week for a show at Walker Theatre, and apparently a lot of other people are fans as well. The show is sold out.
But, fret not, there are plenty of other options. Beats on the Boulevard, for example. This is another cool idea that will feature some of our local artists involved in the Sidewalk Stages program that SoundCorps curates. These are the street performers who perform throughout the city during the summer. SoundCorps has partnered with Jazzanooga and River City Company on this and will have artists performing up and down various businesses on MLK on Saturday. The day is also an audition for performers hoping to be part of the Sidewalk Stages program. Learn more at www.soundcorps.org.
Lisa Denton and Barry Courter
LISA DENTON: And there'll be food. Memo's Grill will be open from noon to 5 p.m., and the businesses hosting the musicians are restaurants: Chatt Smoke House, G's Detroit Sausages (both of which will have beer from The Bitter Alibi), Uncle Larry's, OddStory Brewing Co., Hutton & Smith Brewing Co. and Champy's Fried Chicken.
BARRY: Speaking of food, the Taco & Tequila Festival is coming to First Tennessee Pavilion on Saturday. They've had these in Middle Tennessee in the past. The event includes live music and tastings of, yep, you guessed it, tequilas and tacos. Man, I have to be careful about indulging in too many tacos. I do bad things. Anyway, they'll have a couple of different types of margaritas to try, as well as a dozen or so tequilas to sample.
LISA: You know, there's a song called "Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off." I'm gonna write one called "Tacos Make His Overalls Too Tight." You know you've got a problem if there's no room to spare in your overalls.
BARRY: Dang, I thought maybe I'd washed 'em too many times.
LISA: You'll be needing your Easter bonnet this weekend too. There are several egg hunts around town, including one for adults at Sculpture Fields. We always do that in my family. The adults hide the eggs for the kids, and then the kids hide them for the adults. This is mostly because my 7-year-old great-niece, Little Miss Bossy Pants, insists on it, but it's amazing how competitive my brother and I get trying to reach an egg first. He's such a cheater-butt.
BARRY: Songbirds will be busy on Saturday with an All Access Tour called Riding the Wave of Fender Sparkle Guitars upstairs there that afternoon. Town Mountain will be in the museum space that evening, and Who's Bad, the Michael Jackson tribute band, will be downstairs Saturday night. And Yacht Rock Revue returns to town at The Signal.
LISA: Not sure I can make any of the Saturday shows. I've gotta practice hunting eggs.
Get event details every Thursday in Chattanooga Now 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.