Back In Effect

FYI

Things may be on and off again ove rhere for a hot minute. Due to constant problems with my stupid server, I guess I'm gonna take the plunge and move this site. I have no idea what all that will involve, but I guess I am going to try and do it this weekend.

Memphis Soul Night

Um, WTF?

Did anyone else hear about this?

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE - A Memphis woman was arrested and charged with first-degree murder after she bludgeoned her boyfriend to death with an iPod.

Arleen Mathers, 23, was arrested Thursday morning after she called Memphis Police and said she had killed her boyfriend, according to a Sheriff’s Department report.

When deputies arrived at Mathers’ apartment at 528 Poplar Avenue, Mathers led them to the body of her boyfriend, Brad Pulaski, 27.

Brad Pulaski had died of blunt trauma to the head after being repeatedly bludgeoned with an iPod, a popular MP3 player produced by Apple.

Police said no motive has been confirmed, although evidence suggested the murder was the result of a domestic dispute after Pulaski erased the contents of Mathers’ iPod.

Hey Brother, Can You Spare A Tenner?

Remember the Neal Pollack Writing Class I want to take? Well, you have to be accepted into the class by submitting a 2000 word essay. So, I figured before I beeged for money again I should write the essay and submit it. Well, for better or worse, I have now been accepted into the class. The problem now is that I have to come up with the money to register by August 25th.

I thought about Abby's suggestion that I make a fundable account in order to raise the money. After checking out the site, I decided that it made the most sense. The way that it works is that if people pledge money to help me take the class but I do not reach my goal, then everyone gets their money back. I figured this is the fairest way to move forward, just in case I only end up with 50 bucks and then go out and spend it on hookers and blow.

Two people so far were kind enough to donate money. I have already donated that money to the fundable account so that it is a true reflection of money raised. Theoretically, I only need 50 people to donate 10 bucks. Can you spare 10 bucks?

If so, go here:

https://www.fundable.org/groupactions/rachelandthecity

C'mon, haven't you ever needed a little help with a dream?

Square Foods Benefit Friday Night

I wrote an article for the Playbook this week that is not going to be published due to unforeseen circumstances. But, I figured you might wanna read it, right? Stop by Square Foods to donate, or check out the show Friday night at the Hi-tone.

Soycream Dream

When the soycream machine at Square Foods Natural Market, a health food store located in Overton Square, broke last month it spurred a grassroots movement by employees and customers to come together and figure out how to replace it. Soycream is sort of the heart of the deli, a quick soft serve treat on a hot, humid day draws a steady flow of traffic during the relentless summer heat. A plan was hatched for a benefit show to raise the money to replace the machine.

“Reality is that buying a replacement machine just doesn’t fit into our budget–our old used one was a find at $1800.” says owner Jeanice Blancett, “To replace it will cost most likely twice that much, used, at the very least.”

However, although she was touched by her customers and employees offer to help raise the money, she had an ethical dilemma that she couldn’t shake.

“It sounded like a fun idea, but it seemed odd to me that we’d be having a benefit for a viable business to raise money for a piece of equipment we should purchase on our own.” explained Blancett. “I was about to pull the plug on the benefit when I realized that something really good could come from it.”

Square Food’s favorite “juice-barfly” and daily visitor Sheri Stoker suffers from a disorder known as Huntington’s Disease. The disease affects one’s nervous system, causing jerky movements and slurred speech. It’s fatal, but the staff swears you wouldn’t know it from Sheri’s positive outlook on everything from dancing to dirty jokes.

“Sheri has the best memory and quickest wit of anyone we’ve ever met.” Says Blancett, “She spends most days with us from about 11 to 3, helping keep customers feel welcome and always thanks them for coming by.”

Blancett decided that this could be an opportunity to not only raise money for a new soycream machine but to help out Sheri. So she decided to go through with the benefit show and is pledging that from August 20, 2005 through August 20, 2006 Square Foods Natural Market will donate all profits from soycream sales to the Memphis Chapter of the Huntington’s Support Center, a volunteer organization providing patient services and research for a Huntington’s cure.

“Square Foods isn’t like a normal grocery store.” says Greg Faison, an employee of Square Foods and drummer for The Antique Curtains, one of the bands scheduled to play the benefit, “We know our customers and they know us. They want to help us and we want to help them.”

And so the benefit has been green-lit to take place at The Hi-tone on Friday August 20th. The lineup is Issen, Antique Curtains, Esque, and DJ Scowl.

“It’s really a community thing.” says Faison, “The bands and DJs involved are either current employees or ex employees, or customers. We’re midtown based and the bands involved play in midtown and eat and shop at Square Foods.”

~Rachel Hurley

The Boo Factor

You know how everyone thinks that their pet, their dog, their cat, their ferret, is the greatest pet ever? Just like people's children, somehow the pet that a person ends up with is miraculously the smartest or the cutest or the whatever-est on the planet. I know this because I've always been an animal person and have felt this many times. I've always felt a special connection with my pets and they've always been a huge part of my life.

Of course, as most of my friends know, my dog Boo, well, he's not exactly the world's greatest dog. I kind of ended up with him by accident and it's been an understatement to say that he is a huge pain in the ass.

When I was living with my boyfriend in New York I spent months talking him into adopting two dogs. I had my mind set on exactly what I wanted: a black pomeranian that I would name Barkley. I don't recall now why that was the particular dog that I wanted, but I spent a good amount of time searching that specific dog out. I ended up finding him online from a breeder in Clayton, Georgia. Or was it Claxton?

Anyway, it was my idea that my boyfriend get a dog also. I have always been a big believer that as pack animals, it is better to have multiple dogs so that they constantly have companionship and a playmate. We all have to work, well most of us anyway, and I hated to think of my dog locked up a third of the day alone.

My boyfriend at the time wanted a Pug. At first I was supportive of this, but then after seeing a few older Pugs at the dog park, I decided that they were cute when they were young, but as they aged they began to kind of become hard on the eyes and they seemed to slobber a lot. I know that sounds pretty superficial, but after I did some research I also learned that because of the shortness of their snout, they can develop pretty serious breathing problems as they age.

Since I had my heart set on a black dog, I decided that my boyfriend should get a white one. After scanning some dog sites I came across a picture of a Miniature American Eskimo and was delighted at how much they looked like little white foxes. Their demeanor seemed amicable and they were bred to protect, which seemed like such a plus at the time. So, as women so often do, I used my boyfriend manipulation skills and talked him into wanting one instead of a Pug.

We found Boo in Canada. He was bred by a woman who lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere. He cost $500 dollars and another $250 for shots and shipping. Yep, we had him shipped on a plane to New York.

He ended up being two weeks older than Barkley, the Pomeranian I found who ended up not only being black but having a white stomach and white paws, like he was wearing a little tuxededo. Both breeders advised not shipping before each puppy was 8 weeks old, so we got Boo first.

He was an extemely cute puppy, if not a little standoffish. Even though he officially belonged to my boyfriend, I took to the role of mommy right off the bat. Boo seemed to be finally accepting us as his new guradians when Barkley arrived.

Now Barkley, he was exactly opposite of Boo. He took to me immediately and was a little spitfire. He was playful and loving. He came in his cage with a stuffed animal as big as he was and he would carry it around with him while he played and he slept with it at night. I was in love.

It was only a few days after Barkley arrived when Boo began acting strange. He would crawl between the couch and the sidetable and just lay there. He stopped eating. Then he stpped going to the bathhroom. I didn't understand what his deal was, but I thought maybe the new dog was freaking him out or maybe he was depressed in his new environment. Can puppies be depressed?

After a couple of days of this behavior I really started to worry. One evening when my boyfriend came home from work I told him that something just wasn't right and we should take Boo to the vet. He agreed and I called the one in Battery Park that was a few blocks form where we lived. I explained the situation and they advised that because they were closing for the evening, maybe we should take Boo to the Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital uptown.

I didn't know this at the time, but it's one of the premiere animal hospitals on the country. Which should have been a good thing. So, we grabbed a cab and rode up to 92nd street with Boo lying limp on my lap. When we arrived we sat in the waiting room with all of the other nervous pet owners and their damaged or sick pets. Finally we were called into one of the exam rooms and a vet came in and asked what the problem was.

I told her his symptons and she immediately said that it sounded like Parvo. Parvovirus is a viral disease. It affects puppies much more frequently than it affects adult dogs. The virus likes to grow in rapidly dividing cells. The intestinal lining has the biggest concentration of rapidly dividing cells in a puppy's body. The virus attacks and kills these cells, causing diarrhea (often bloody), depression and suppression of white blood cells -- which come from another group of rapidly dividing cells. In very young puppies it can infect the heart muscle and lead to "sudden" death. As I recall, puppies tend to catch it from their mothers. There are three shots a puppy recieves after it is born to vaccinate him or her. Boo was only given two of those shots.

We asked the veteranarian what the treatment was and she said that they could keep him for a week, rehydrate him, give him a series of shots and he could be cured. The only catch was that the entire procedure cost around $3000 dollars. We went to the waiting room to wait on the test results.

My boyfriend and I were kind of in shock. We had just gotten this beautiful little puppy and now he could die? Although that was horrible, we were still relatively business like as we discussed our options. We both pretty easily decided that $3000 was way to much to spend to cure a dog that cost $500 that we had barely had three weeks. That was just ridiculous.

After what seemed like forever, we were finally called back into the exam room and told that Boo did indeed have Parvo. So, we asked what were the chances of him getting better without treatment. The Vet looked at us and said, "If you don't plan to let him stay here and be treated, I would highly reccommend you put him to sleep. He will not get better, he will whither away and die and suffer the entire time."

We asked her if we could have a moment to speak privately and the vet left the room as I held Boo in my arms. As soon as the door closed behind her, tears welled up in my eyes. How could this be happening? I knew it was just a dog and I tried to deal with the entire situation logically, but I became overwhelmed with emotion. My boyfriend had the money to pay for the treatment. He was very well off, but I understood his hesitation to spend it. And I knew it would have been wrong to guilt-trip him into paying. So, we once again came to the conclusion that it was too much money to spend and I asked him to tell the vet. I returned to the waiting room and sat down and tried to hold my composure.

About ten minutes later my boyfriend came out of the exam room and told me that after he told the vet that we had decided to put Boo to sleep she brought up the option of taking him to the ASPCA. She said that they could do a similar treatment for less that $500. Although I was very happy to hear the news, I was also really pissed that we had to be put through the hard-sell and so much emotional turmoil just to then be told what we wanted was on sale down the street.

So, Boo went to the ASPCA and our $500 dog turned into a $1000 dog. Barkley and Boo ended up becoming the best of friends and spent the next three years being non-stop entertainment. And then I broke up with my boyfriend.

When I moved back to Memphis I did not immediately bring the dogs, although it was understood that eventually I would come back to get them when I had a proper place for them to live. It was also understood that they would both be coming to live with me, afterall, although not related by birth, they were brothers and they needed to stay together.

When I finally found a suitable place to live, I went to New York, gathered the rest of my belongings and brought the dogs to Memphis. This was a huge displacemet for them as they had only know the apartment that I once lived in, only known my boyfirend and I as inhabitants of said apartment and only known our mutual bed as their own. Now I was moving in with a roommate, an although very likeable, a very loud roommate that had multiple guests at all hours. It was really all too much for them to handle. All of the bad habits that had once been only glmpsed now were on full display.

Boo hates everyone except me and my boyfriend. Remember when I said American Eskimos are bred to be protectors? Well, this trait can not semm to be broken. Although in New York, he seemed to be fine on the street around a plethora of strangers, in this new environment with people entering what he had determined as his new turf, he was atrocious, barking relentlessly at everyone who came into the house, at the neighbors when he was in the backyard, at my roommate every time she entered my room.

And then what seemed to be the worst situation possible became worse. Barkley, whom I've never been ashamed to call my favorite, my baby, my sweet sweet dog, was run over by a car.

Without going into the details about that night, it was pretty devestating. My dear friend Patrik buried him in the backyard. And what was a horrible grieving period was made even worse because now Boo did not have Barley to distract him from being a terror. It became pretty clear that my roommate wanted to have a place that was always available to become a party palace at any given time and I just wanted some peace and quiet.

So it became evident that one of us was gonna have to go, and since she owned the house, it was quite clear it was gonna be me. So after moving in less than eight weeks earlier, I had to very quickly find a place of my own and come up with a lot of money that I didn't have to move. It was a nightmare.

I wish I could say that things are better now. But the truth is Boo is needier and as much a terror as ever. He barks at every noise he hears no matter what time of night it is. (I live in a duplex now and I am sure my new neighbor just loves me.) I can't have people over because if I leave him out he will bark at them non-stop. If I put him away in the kitchen, he will bark non-stop. I've tried harnesses, "bark" collars, water guns, nothing works. It's funny how so many people not only think that they have the greatest pets alive, but how many think they can win over mine. Keep dreaming.

The reason why I've decided to write about this experience is because the other day I was lamenting about the terible trials and tribulations of Boo and someone suggested that I just find another home for him. The words that I answered with came out of my mouth before I could even think about them.

"Love is not something you feel. It's something you do."

He asked me what I meant by that. I answered that if he didn't know then he probably had never really loved anything before.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Elvis Week

Don't you wish you lived here?

This Is So Tacky

So, I have never done this before. I don't have ads on my site, I don't make any money from it at all. And I feel sort of weird doing this, but I remember reading somewhere about some woman on the internet that paid off $20,000 dollars in loans by just asking people who read her blog to donate some money.

Well, I'm not looking for $20,000. I would really like to take an online writing couse via MediaBistro being taught by Neal Pollack, one of my favorite writers. The problem is it's $500 dollars and I'm not in a position to spend that kind of money. You know how it is: rent, utilities, crack habit.

So, I figure there's gotta be at least one person out there that has $500 to spare for a nice southern girl. Didn't I just post an article about how affluent blog readers are? (That was totally coincidental by the way!) Of course, if you can't afford that much, pretend you're in church and give what you can.

God knows I need the help and I'll dedicate my first book to you! And that's not a shot in the dark. The donation button is at the top of the left-hand of the page.

What I Know For Sure

Save yourself the trouble of going to the Elvis Vigil tonight and just click on this gallery.

WEVL is Webcasting

I posted a couple of new galleries and another video.

This Is The Future of Rock

I updated my radioblog with music that I would use if I were soundtracking my life. I will be adding more songs as they hit me.

It looks like that Fiona Apple album is finally going to be released - she's the featured music profile today on Myspace.

I need a nap.

EJ at The Hi-Tone

I totally forgot to post about EJ's show at the Hi-Tone a couple of weeks back. It was a really great show. Hopefully he'll be playing out a lot more often in the fall. He's been working on an album, I hear. I missed his show at Murphy's last week due to my self-imposed party hiatus, but Abby went and she even posted some film clips.

Check it out.

In other Memphis music news:

Tim Regan, formerly of Snowglobe, has formed a new band. They're called The Pirates, er, I mean Raygun. Check 'em out. Here's a cute picture of Tim to hold you over until they get some music recorded or book some shows - whichever comes first.

Everyone's an Effing Photoblogger

So I tried something new:

Liz's Birthday at The Buc

Original pics here.

Coming Soon: The Hat Pics

Also See:

Memphis Parties Photoblog

One Ugly Sob Photoblog

Did I miss any?

Publicity Whore

Ok, someone sent me the link to vote for the Best of Memphis Poll.

You know what would be awesome?

If you went here and voted for my blog:

Memphis Flyer's Best of Memphis Poll

Thanks! You rawk!

Blog Readers Young and Well Off

New research suggests advertisers may ignore Web logs at their own peril. ComScore Media Metrix researched readership among its study panel of consumers and reported 1 out of 6 Americans read a blog in the first quarter of the year.

Other key findings:

-50 million U.S. Internet users visited blog sites.
-Of the 400 biggest blogs, blogs focused on news and politics were most popular; followed by "hipster" and lifestyle blogs, tech blogs, and blogs authored by women.
-Compared to the average Internet user, blog readers are significantly more likely to live in wealthier households, be younger and access the Web via high-speed connection.
-Blog readers visit nearly twice as many Web pages as the average Internet user and they are much more likely to shop online.

("Yes, indeed, this proves that blog readers have no lives," commented Jeff Jarvis at BuzzMachine.com.)

Source

Local News

When Jon Sparks started his blog back in early 2004, I was one of his first devoted fans. I even helped him iron out a few design issues, if I recall correctly. He ended up interviewing me for a story in The CA about blogs.

Anywho, either Jon lost interest or RL ended up getting in the way because his posts became less and less frequesnt until they pretty much stopped altogether.

However, I am happy to report that Jon seems to have caught the bug again. Memphis Cool is back with a more dedicated focus on local filmmaking. There's a Q&A with Craig Brewer, casting/crew/audition info for area movies, links to industry developments, links to local film/video groups and announcements of screenings, workshops and other cinematic events.

In other news, I have heard through the internet grapevine that The Memphis Flyer is doing it's annual Best of Memphis Poll and this year there is a best blog catagory. I haven't seen this week's issue yet, so I don't know how one votes, but needless to say, I wouldn't mind if you voted for me.

thanks. peace out.

Ghettofied or Why I Hate Everyone

My friends are probably wondering what the hell is up with my phone and why I haven't gotten a new one yet. Well, basically, Cingular's insurance sucks. It's a separate company, or whatever, but they still suck. It's very emotional to have your phone stolen, mine was my baby, and they show no empathy at all.

Anywho, I went to the airport today to go to my bank and use the phone. Yes, I sat in the airport for two hours today, in one of those wheelchairs they use to roll old people around, making business calls and checking in with my parents. It was awesome.

See, the problem is when I called the insuracne company they tried to replace my phone with some crappy refurbished Motorola. I had a kickass phone, a Nokia, I don't want some crappy motorola. I argued with them and they were pretty much "Take it or leave it!" They suck.

So, I left it. My phone will cost about $300 to replace, so I'm not exactly sure what I am gonna do yet, maybe search for one on Ebay? I dunno. If I buy one off the internet it will probably be stolen. Of course, maybe I'll get lucky and it will be mine. That would be funny and suck at the same time.

When I have needed to use the phone the past week, I have walked up to the pay phone at the gas station down the street from my house. It's pretty ghetto. Not the gas station, but having to make your calls from a pay phone.

I went up there tonight to use the phone and had to call information to get a number. While I was on the phone this older black lady came up to me and said that she "stayed" out in Bartlett and ran out of gas, could I please give her some money to get gas to get home, she then told me about how she had 4 children to get home to.

Well, I seriously didn't have any more change and turned her away. She then went up to a man walking into the gas station and gave him the same story. He waved her off also and she turned and walked away. After calling information for the number I needed, I realized that the effing pay phone doesn't connect you afterward, it just hangs up and you have to pay another 50 cents. Which, did I mention, I didn't have. I was pissed.

So, when the same man walked out of the gas station, I turned and without even recalling he had just turned the other woman away, I said to him, "Hey man, do you have 50 cents?"

Without saying a word, he reached into his pocket and handed me two quarters. I thanked him and he walked away.

It then hit me what had just happened. The other lady had an entire, probably legitimate excuse for some change from the man. Without even telling him what I needed the money for, he handed it over.

Maybe he felt bad, maybe he had decided it was wrong to blow the woman off and giving me money was him making up for it. I dunno. You could even throw out the idea that it was just plain racism, except that the man was black.

Maybe he just thought I was cute.

Anybody got a hook-up on a cell phone?

Adventures in Not going Out

As most of my friends know, my phone was stolen last week and although I could have immediately called and had a new phone sent to me the next day, I have held out for a week in calling the phone company to have it turned off. The main reason being, whoever stole my phone has answered it several times and I have held out hope that I just might be able to talk him into returning the SIMS card in the phone containing around 300 phone numbers I have collected. When you work freelance, you never know what will be asked of you, and therefore it is imperative that you have a vast number of contacts.

Anywho, everytime I have tried to call my phone the person who answers has hung up on me. Then Friday night, around midnight when I was sitting in front of my computer, I had an idea. I went to the Cingular website and emailed an offer to the thief. I told him that if he dropped my SIMS card off somewhere, I would not report my phone stolen, he could keep it. Otherwise, I would have it turned off the next day, report the phone stolen and he would not be able to reactivate it.

To my great surprise and relief, he replied. He said that he would drop off the SIMS card at the Exxon at the corner of Parkway and Summer.

Well, my first inclination was that I shouldn't go by myself. But, since I didn't have a phone and it was past midnight on a Friday night, I really didn't have any way to get in touch with any of my friends. Luckily, Sims was also online and I hit him up to ride over to Exxon with me. He was hesitant, and not wanting to waste time debating the situation, I decided to head up to The Hi-Tone where I was sure that if there wasn't someone there I knew who would be willing to help me out, at least they would have a phone I could borrow.

So, I went up there, immediately hooked up with some people I knew and started calling people to come and meet me. The bonus was that Papa Top's was playing, and even though I had decided earlier in the evening that I was gonna miss the show due to taking some time off from going out, it was a nice plus to see them.

Within half an hour Sims and Richens met me and we rode over to the Exxon only to be told that no one had dropped anything off.

I immediately called my phone and asked the guy what was up. He just hung up. Richens headed to the Deli and I started to drive Sims back to his car. We then got a call from Carlos telling us to come down to Swig as he had somehow managed to hook up with Hootie and the Blowfish and was drinking on their tab.

Yeah, this is where the story gets weird.

So, since Sims went out of his way to come and help me, I agree to drive him downtown and check out the scene. When we got there we actually had to talk our way in as they had locked the doors. We got in by dropping some names and went in and grabbed a table.

I originally met Darius Rucker back in 1994. Hootie played one night at The Daisy and stuck around for The Frente show the next night. I was backstage with one of the DJ's from 96X (remember them?) and she was like, "Have you met Hootie and the Blowfish?" And I was like, "hottie and the who?"

They were standing right next to me. Ooooops.

Anyway, Hootie and the boys ran up a $500 tab at Swig. Who knows who all was on it. John Daly was there to, he probably had the same tab alone. I've never been a fan of Hootie, they're kind of vanilla, which is pretty ironic. I seem to remember someone telling me about a sexual escapade they had with Darius, like they slept together and when it was over he got up and went to get in the shower and told the girl he had had fun, but she had better be gone when he was done with his shower. So, that's what I always think of when I hear their name. I imagine him saying that to me and me laughing in his face. Of course, that may or may not be true.

Anyway, as the caravan left Swig and headed to the strip club, I decided that I should probably just go home since it was fast approaching 4 AM and I wasn't supposed to be going out.

P.S. EJ has the new Death Cab For Cutie streaming on his site.

Wednesday Night Madness

What's Going On?

I have been asked to write a book proposal, which could lead to actually writing a book. So, I'm taking off going out for a while. I'll still try to write about what's going on. I also still have a ton of pictures to post, so I will let you know when I've added newones to the gallery.

As for this week, here's the hot spots so far:

The Pirates will be playing Kudzu's tonight. That's the dive across the street from The Spot on Monroe. Swen is going to be so excited, Kudzu's is where he started going when The Pirates were playing The Hi-Tone every Monday night. All kidding aside, I don't know if Tim is back in town for good or just visiting, but this might be your last chance to see them for a while. They play a couple of great Pavement covers.

Thurday night you should check out this show:

More to come:

New Photos

I know, I know - this is becoming strictly a photoblog - but hey, a picture is worth a thousand words right?

And nothing much has been happening, other than I had my phone stolen Friday night and now I'm really depressed.

Anywho, I posted some shots form some photo shoots I've worked on over the past year.

You can see them by clicking here.