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In This Issue

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To Hell with Housewifery

Straw Poll And the winning chocolate milk shake is…

On the Move Picnic Cafe relocates...about 50 feet away

Back to the World of Fruit and Light A local poet’s first book is a marvel of remembrance and revelation

King Solomon’s New Mine Solomon Burke on Nashville and Nashville as a dream come true

Cat Power Bobby Bare Jr.’s latest, The Longest Meow, is quirky, melodic and catchy as hell

Soul Food What Uncle Tupelo did with country, Catfish Haven attempt with soul

 

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Country duo Montgomery Gentry had been scheduled to sing the national anthem before the Chicago Cubs game on Sept. 29, but the invitation has been withdrawn due to what the team calls “disrespect to our mascot.”

That’s one way to put it. Troy Lee Gentry has been indicted by a Minnesota federal grand jury for the “hunt” in which he purchased a tame bear named Cubby, had himself videotaped killing the caged animal with a bow and arrow, and then had a video edited to make it appear he had bagged the bear in a fair fight. All that, pathetic as it is, might have been legal had the mighty hunter not then allegedly tried to pass the dead pet off as a wild bear to the state Department of Natural Resources.

“The fact that the bear was named Cubby just really sealed our decision,” says a spokesman for the Cubs. “It just wouldn’t look right.”

Apparently similar logic was applied by the Chicago Bears football team, which had been considering Montgomery Gentry for a national anthem slot at a November game.

“That’s not going to happen,” says an NFL spokesman. “And we’re not going to have John Mark Karr host our Child Safety Campaign, either.”

Montgomery Gentry had also been signed up to do public service announcements for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but park management has backed away from the deal.

“The symbol of our park is the bear, and we really don’t want to be associated with a guy who is in the news for killing our symbol,” explains a park spokesman.

Still, one thing is looking up for Gentry—he has been named the new host of Land and Lakes, the WSMV outdoor show.

“We hear he’s got some interesting video of a thrilling bear hunt, and we’ll probably build the first show around that,” says Elden Hale, general manager of the station. “Since Bill Hall retired, we’ve been wondering how we could fill that slot, and for some reason Troy Lee’s got a lot of time on his hands right now.”