Chattanooga musician uses stories from his stint as a cab driver in new book of fiction

Anxiety Press / "Maximum Taxi"
Anxiety Press / "Maximum Taxi"

When longtime local drummer Doug Bales found himself "stove up" with back pain several years ago, he needed to find a way to make a living. He needed a job that would allow for some specific criteria.

"I had a collapsed vertebra," he said by phone. "The only time I was not in pain was when I was sitting upright. So I had to find a job that involved sitting. With flexible hours. I've always been a night owl. I function better later in the day."

In 2013, Bales started driving a cab in Chattanooga. Almost immediately, he realized that not only did the job provide enough income to pay his bills but also some pretty good stories that might one day make a good book.

As a musician who has spent hours on the road in vans with other players and gigging in big and small bars into the wee hours of the morning, he knows a good story and a memorable character when he sees one.

"But doing that job was a whole new ballgame," he said. "I knew the city well enough, and I didn't care which neighborhood I drove in. That's one of the things the cab company liked about me."

After a few months of driving, he said, "it started creeping into my mind that I needed to write stuff down because of weird characters, so I started to keep a notebook."

That effort resulted in "Maximum Taxi," a fictional accounting of his three years driving a cab in Chattanooga. Bales, whom locals will remember for his drumming with Across the Yard, The Unsatisfied, Uncle Lightnin' and, most recently, Mark "Porkchop" Holder, said the job was a shift for him. His previous jobs involved physical labor, including landscaping work with Unsatisfied lead singer Eric Scealf and unloading trucks at various loading docks.

Bales wove the true stories and characters from his taxi-driving days into his fictional book. There was the night a fare with a terrible cough asked to be driven from downtown Chattanooga to Cleveland, Tennessee. The passenger insisted he had the money, but when they arrived at his destination, which turned out to be his ex's apartment, he didn't have the money and she refused to pay.

"She wouldn't let him in the house, and I sat there watching the timer," Bales said. "Finally, this really large lady showed up and beat him up in the front yard. I felt bad for him, so I drove him back to Chattanooga."

Also in the book is the story of the guy who asked to be driven to East Brainerd and ran from the cab upon arrival, skipping out on the fare.

"That happened more than once," Bales said. "You develop a sense for people, but there isn't a lot you can do. I would have lost more money waiting on the cops to come."

Bales said he started carrying a .38 Special revolver in his boot, but really had only one especially scary moment. It happened one night after a snowfall. He got a fare on the east side of town, and people were out running around throwing snowballs.

"I couldn't get to the address, and pretty soon there was a large crowd. It was fun and normal at first, but then they were putting gravel in the snowballs and I heard somebody yell, 'Get him!' I left."

Bales said his stint as a cabdriver took place just as the ride-share trend was starting. Whether they were a businessperson who needed a ride from the airport to a hotel, or a local with no car and little money who needed a lift to a local liquor store just down the street, they called a cab.

Bales said the biggest difference between a cab service and the ride-share industry of today is more about societal advantages.

"Cabs do still exist, but it's mostly for the underprivileged. You need a phone and a credit card to use ride share."

While the book is fiction, it is filled with plenty of factual detail. For example, Bales said he leased the cab, and while the company handled maintenance and new tires, he was responsible for gas. The first $95 went to the cab company each shift. Whatever he made after that was his.

"I did well enough to pay my bills, and some days were better than others," he said.

After his back healed well enough, Bales went out on the road drumming for Holder and began working on his book. He'll sign copies on Friday, June 2, at Cherry Street Tavern, 719 Cherry St., from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Cherry Street Tavern owner Marty Bohannon has known Bales a long time through music and from his cab-driving days.

"In the days before Uber and Lyft, a safe reliable taxi driver was hard to come by," Bohannon said. "Doug Bales was the go-to for so many of us in the service or music industry. Always got a great story and a safe ride home. We're beyond stoked to host the book signing and release at Cherry Street Tavern."

Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.

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