Funny women, beer festival, music on tap
BARRY COURTER: Lisa, you’re kinda funny sometimes …
LISA DENTON: Hang on, let me bask in that faint praise. OK, that should be long enough.
BARRY: Nope, too long. It was fainter than that.
As I was saying, there is a show this week in the Walker Theatre featuring some real pros, and they are people we know. The Country Cool Comedy tour features local girl Karen Mills and her friends Leanne Morgan from Knoxville and Trish Suhr from California. They do this show a couple of times a year. Each does a 25-minute routine, and then the three do about that much together.
LISA: This should be a great show with three
very funny women. They talk about real life, which is always funnier than anything else you can talk about. Or at least my real life is. You know my family. You’ve heard my stories. All true, no matter how crazy they sound.
BARRY: You are funny, and it is always the real-life stories that are the best. We did a Facebook webisode with the three of them recently — Karen and Leanne in person, and Trish joined us by phone. It was a lot of fun. It’s always fun to laugh and especially in a cool place like the Walker.
LISA: We have a couple of new events on the radar this week too. The first Rail & Hops Brewers Festival is Saturday in the Chattanooga Choo Choo gardens. That should be a good substitute for anyone missing the Southern Brewers Festival, which was canceled after 20-something years.
BARRY: I talked with Monica Kinsey over at the Choo Choo last week about the event. She was involved in getting the Southern Brewers Festival going back in the day and when she found out it was going away, she says she wanted to look into bringing a similar event back to town, but on a smaller scale with more emphasis on the beer, which you know is pretty much one of my mottoes in life.
LISA: Yes, it’s all about more (burp) beer.
BARRY: Also, proceeds go to help SoundCorps continue its job of promoting professionalism in the local music scene.
LISA: And the Levitt Amp series is revving up Thursday with the Pedrito Martinez Group on the lawn of the Bessie Smith Cultural Center (inside if it rains). The Levitt series isn’t brand new — this is the second year Chattanooga has been awarded the chance to hold it here — but this is the kickoff concert. It’s nice to have something starting up with Riverfront Nights gone and Nightfall with only two more shows. The group is led by a Cuban-born percussionist who is also a priest. Bless me, father, for I have (burp).
BARRY: This is a really cool series with a powerful mission of changing a community through music. It’s a national program and Chattanooga is lucky to have it. And the music is really good.
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.