MCTI co-chair tennis instructor Bill Riddle, Pat Hutchinson, BMI artists/writers Billy Ray Cyrus and James Slater, BMI's Patsy Bradley and Travis Television's Greg Travis

The MCTI, the oldest music-supported tennis tournament in the nation, was held April 23 & 24 to benefit the Child Development Center (CDC) at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville. The Child Development Center is a significant resource for families of children with a wide variety of disorders, such as learning difficulties, autism, mental retardation and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders. Community involvement in the annual tournament provides support for the CDC, which is solely funded by the MCTI.

BMI's Mary Templeton, Coburn Music's Jill Napier, BMI's Patsy Bradley

Other MCTI sponsors include RCA Label Group, Lone Wolf Management Company, Academy of Country Music, American Airlines, Iron Mountain, Nashville Scene, Tennis Unlimited Promotions, USTA and WebMD.

BMI's Patsy Bradley, BMI writer Bobby Etoll, WSIX-FM's Richard Falklen, BMI's Patsy Wells

2005 MCTI Sportsmanship Award winner Kathleen Parker and BMI's Mary Templeton

photos by Beth Gwinn

Pictured (l-r) are BMI songwriters Gary Harrison and James Slater, MCTI Co-chair Patsy Bradley, BMI songwriters Jason Levenson and Vince Melamed, MCTI Tournament Director Bill Riddle and musician Max Abrams. photo: Brian Tipton

The MCTI will be held at the Brownlee O. Currey, Jr. Tennis Center at Vanderbilt University on Saturday, April 23 and Sunday, April 24. The charitable event, founded by the Nashville music community, is the longest-running music-related tennis tournament in the country and is the only fundraiser for the CCD. The tournament provides an opportunity for doubles team tennis for players of all levels.]]> 2005-04-06T18:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/events/entry/500085 Artists, Booker, Patty, Coleman, Randy, Day, Gayle, Mercedes, Awards, Musical Styles, Country, Pop, Rock, Singer-Songwriter, Regions, Los Angeles, Showcase, Showcase Templated 2003-11-30T01:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/musicworld/entry/233581 Artists, Kittie, Mercedes, Nirvana, Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The, Musical Styles, Rock, Musicworld, Hitmaker One of the year's most significant indie-label success stories is Kittie, a hard-rock combo comprising four girls from London, Ontario, ranging in age from 16 to 18. On their debut album, Spit, the fearsomely precocious quartet plays dense, aggressive glam/goth/metal, inspired as much by Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath as it is by Hole and L7.

Sonically imposing, lyrically provocative songs like "Brackish," "Choke," "Paperdoll" and "Do You Think I'm A Whore?" demonstrate a musical originality and emotional complexity that belies their blunt titles, while singer/guitarist Morgan Lander's whisper-to-a-howl vocals, Fallon Bowman's ferocious guitar work and the inventive drumming of Morgan's sister Mercedes Lander shatter any lingering stereotypes about hard-rock being man's work.

"It's all just completely natural; we don't really try to sound like anything, it just happens," says Morgan. "This is just what's normal for us."

The band came together in 1996, when guitarist Fallon and drummer Mercedes met in gymnastics class and bonded over a shared affinity for Nirvana and Silverchair. The two began jamming, and were soon joined by Mercedes' younger sister Morgan. By the time the band scored a deal with Ng/Artemis, they'd already won a supporter in Rage Against the Machine/Red Hot Chili Peppers producer Garth Richardson, who was behind the console for Spit. Bassist Talena Atfield joined last fall, replacing original member Tanya Candler.

Spit has won considerable favor in the male-dominated hard-rock community, having recently toured with Slipknot and performing as part of Ozzy Osbourne's Ozzfest.

"If people want to understand, they have to come and see us," says Morgan. "We're loud and we're aggressive and we're in your face because it gets the point across. You can't switch off the sound of someone screaming."