A good week to scare up some fun
LISA DENTON: Barry, I don’t know if you’ve had a good scare yet this Halloween season, but we’re looking at the final weekend to get your spook on.
BARRY COURTER: Being scary is a year-round thing for me. You know that.
LISA: This Thursday’s ChattanoogaNow will have the full list, but already it has Boo at the Zoo, Halloween in the West Village, the Halloween Family Skate at Hamilton Skate Place, the Haunted Depot in Ringgold, the Night of Fright Gala at Lindsay Street Hall, the Haunted Trail at Enterprise South, Festival of the Jack-o’Lanterns at Reflection Riding, AquaScarium at the Tennessee Aquarium, Lake WinnepeSpookah at Lake Winnepesaukah — and that doesn’t include the stuff that will be going on Halloween night.
BARRY: I love the names. The city of LaFayette is hosting
a Scare in the Square on Halloween night. The Honest Pint is hosting “Rocky Horror Picture Show” on Friday. I have some pretty vivid memories of seeing it in the old movie theater at Eastgate Mall. It’s a lot of fun with the right crowd. Not so much alone at home.
LISA: And while we’re on holidays, I thought somebody had confused Halloween with Easter when I saw the Scenic City EggFest was planned for Saturday at Collegedale Commons. Turns out it’s a cooking expo for people who own, or want to own, Big Green Eggs. It’s a benefit for the Chattanooga Area Food Bank.
BARRY: My son has become obsessed with cooking on his Green Egg. This is a good opportunity for folks to experience the magic of cooking on a really hot grill. Did you know you can shut it off when you are done and the coals will go out and can be relit another time? That just kind of blows my mind.
Which reminds me. Did I ever tell you about the time I set the woods behind my house on fire when I threw what I thought were extinguished
coals onto the leaf pile? If you remember, the water hose was about 3 feet short and frozen to boot. It’s funny … now. It wasn’t then.
LISA: Definitely not your best move.
BARRY: Also, the Sparkle City Disco costume party Saturday at The Signal should be fun. If folks want to get an idea of what the EDM stage at Bonnaroo is like, this might be a good chance to find out. DJ Burn One and Sparkle City Disco, featuring some of Nashville’s premiere vinyl disco DJs, will be providing the music for the party.
LISA: As long as we’re talking great names, I’d say DJ Burn One and Sparkle City Disco are contenders.
With your hot coals story, it’s too bad the name DJ Burn One is taken or you would’ve been a natural. So I did the next best thing and found a DJ name generator online.
I had to guess at some of the answers, like “What do you most often dream about?” and “If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be?” But I think my guesstimates were fair. For “What is your deepest desire?” I went with “Personal growth” from the choices available, and for “What is your strongest quality?” I picked “Intelligence.” But that was mostly because the
set-up sentence, “I am a bit of a bright spark,” reminded me of Will Ferrell’s line in “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” — “I’m kind of a big deal.” It just seemed like the natural choice.
BARRY: Don’t ask me how I know this, but that line is only funny if the person hearing it has seen the movie. Otherwise the person saying it doesn’t come off too well. Again, don’t ask how I know.
LISA: I don’t think I need to ask. Anyway, five or six made-up answers later, the generator decided your name would be DJ Breaker Shaker. Not as good as DJ Burn One, but at least there’s science behind it. Some of us have a natural instinct for science.
BARRY: Whew. I was afraid it would be something that might stick.
LISA: Hey, maybe DJ Hot Coals isn’t taken.
BARRY: One more thing. Gov’t Mule is at The Signal on Thursday night. I love hearing Warren Haynes play guitar.
Get event details every Thursday in ChattanoogaNow. com or online anytime at www. ChattanoogaNow.com.
Contact Lisa Denton at ldenton@timesfreepress. com or 423-757-6281. Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@ timesfreepress.com or 423-7576354.