Chattanooga Pulse

Music Industry Greed
On July 4th, 1975 I was in Memphis, with 55,000 others, partying in the Liberty Bowl. We were there for music and music we got [“Band On The Run”, Life In The Noog]. Charlie Daniels kicked things off, then came The Meters out of New Orleans. As the sun set on came J. Geil’s Band, one of the hottest acts of the ’70’s. Around 9:00 the headliner hit the stage. You may have heard of them, The Rolling Stones. I paid ten bucks for the ticket. I know, ten dollars?! On their last tour The Stones were asking a little more for a ‘good’ ticket. 450 smackers. And that was the ‘face value’ of the damn thing, to actually get it in your hand you probably had to shell out double or more because you had to go through a ticket broker to get it. How did we get to this sorry state? It’s tempting to blame Ticketmaster and Live Nation and they are certainly part of the problem, but we’re to blame too. With the advent of the internet CD sales have dropped 50% since 2000. Recorded music is now free for many people, not you of course, you’d never download music without paying for it would you? So live performance is now how artists make the big bucks, and not just the musicians but pretty much the whole music industry is now dependent on concert ‘events’. In a situation like this it’s only natural that greed would raise its ugly head.
David Durham
Chattanooga

Double Standards
It is frustrating that some people like to focus on what events will raise the most publicity and ride that gravy train [“After-Action Report: A Community Ambush Meeting”, On The Beat]. While there are similar problems happening that organizations decide won’t benefit them if they spend time on it. Double standards make no friends.
Josh Sargon
Chattanooga

Annexation Frustration
Why wasn’t annexation an issue in the mayoral election we just had? Our mayor has no mandate from us to annex anything, let alone a mandate from his targets. He’s not the first. Did Corker run on two-way? Did Kinsey run on seizing the waterworks? When signatures were collected to put two-way to popular vote, did Mayor Corker allow a vote, or frustrate one? Sneaky. Sneaky. Sneaky.
Andrew Lohr
Chattanooga

Hughes A Legend For All
Dude, really? “Ask anyone who’s not between the ages of 35 and 45 about John Hughes and they’ll probably have to think real hard, and then give up.” [“Anyone? Anyone? Hughes?”, Life In The Noog] You’re living in a fantasy world. This man is a legend and God amongst mere film making mortals! We KNOW who he is. We only wish we could have known him when you did. Loved the piece!
David McAfee
Chattanooga