Ain’t nobody movin’ more than the Shaking Rays
Ernie Paik and Bob Stagner may be totally different personality types—Paik, the deeply modest techie and Stagner, the outgoing, passionate percussionist—but together, they form the backbone of one of Chattanooga’s true cultural treasures, the Shaking Ray Levi Society.
Stagner, one of the founders, along with the late Dennis Palmer, is a Chattanooga native. Paik, who moved to Chattanooga in 2004 for an engineering job, “noticed that the SRLS was putting on consistently interesting events with non-traditional, non-mainstream musicians and filmmakers, which was right up my alley.”
After meeting Palmer at a 2005 show, Stagner eventually joined the SRLS board, and has been its president for the last ten years.
“I do plenty of paperwork and number-crunching in my day job, and I’m happy to bring those skills to the SRLS and into the arts world,” he says.
The Shaking Rays are simply one of the most energetic and eclectic arts organization anywhere, sponsoring performances over 32 years ranging from Marshall Allen of the Sun Ra Arkestra to avant-garde pianist Matthew Shipp to pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn—this despite operating on what Stagner calls “not just a shoestring budget, but a boiled shoestring budget.”
“We have stayed alive in the ever-changing arts world by being nimble and flexible with low overhead,” says Paik.
In addition to being in demand as a musician and producer, Stagner manages to find time to run the SRLS’s The Rhythmic Arts Project (TRAP), which teaches teachers working with children with disabilities how to use music to enhance their classrooms.
Paik continues to work as an engineer, but also attends festivals to seek out new artists, and listens to hundreds of new releases for the 80 music reviews he does each year for The Pulse. “Ernie is one of the only people who even knows how to write about this music,” says Stagner of the eclectic and diverse records to which Paik continuously exposes Chattanooga’s readers.
The biggest project yet for the SRLS was Wayne-O-Rama, which ran from November 2016 throughout 2017. Featuring the work of artist Wayne White, the Shaking Rays could best be described as the instigators of the project, which involved dozens of events, from huge installations on both Rossville Avenue and at the Hunter Museum, music and puppetry, and an event with NPR commentator and Duplex Planet creator David Greenberger, a longtime SRLS collaborator.
Both Stagner and Paik remain astonished and grateful at the number of volunteers (over 300) and funders who stepped up to make the project possible.
“People don’t realize the impact of Wayne-O-Rama and the collaborations that came out of it,” says Paik. One example is volunteer Megan Hovany, who became production designer for a satirical short film made for Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim called Final Deployment 4.
“She was able to use some pieces in the film made by other artists she met through Wayne-O-Rama,” says Paik. The SRLS is in the process of finding permanent exhibition spaces for some of the sculptures created for Wayne-O-Rama, and a lasting association has been formed with Chattanooga-born White.
Both Paik and Stagner continue to create individually. Paik, a multi-instrumentalist and video artist, has been working for the past year on a video for David Greenberger and Prime Lens, which he says has been a challenge.
“I work at a painfully slow pace,” Paik jokes.
Stagner dreams of making a solo record, and recalls mentioning that to best friend Palmer, who retorted, “Every damn record you’re on is a solo record,” to the lasting amusement of both of them.In the meantime, there are always potential new SRLS ideas. Stagner notes the role of the organization in fostering film projects, especially pre-Chattanooga Film Festival, largely through the input of longtime associate, filmmaker Jarrod Whaley.
The Shaking Rays helped support the acclaimed documentary about self-taught topiary artist Pearl Fryar, A Man Named Pearl, as well as Dead Innocent: The Ed Johnson Story, about the mob lynching of a young black man from the Walnut Street Bridge.
On Aug. 4, the SLRS co-sponsored the Barking Legs performance of Atlanta-based Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel, and you can bet there are multiple events upcoming.
“On some level, the internal test we have for choosing whether or not we do an event is, ‘Is this something we are excited about?’ If not, don’t do it,” Paik says. “If we’re not excited about it, why should anyone else be?”
But in reality, there’s always plenty for them to get excited about.
“I’m 61,” says Stagner. “And I don’t have to grow up.”