Skull Set

Carol Bass charmed the crowd gathered at Echo Bistro & Wine Bar on Monday night for “Dinner with the Bone Doctor.” The event was a fundraiser for the Dr. William M. Bass III Forensic Anthropology building fund. Supporters heard a presentation by Dr. Bill Bass while enjoying a gourmet dinner. Before things got started, Mrs. Bass joked that a server named Claude was one of her “boyfriends.” Dr. and Mrs. Bass followed Claude to Echo from his previous gig at Edison Park when it closed. She said that I have been one of her “boyfriends” too, ever since we first met on the day of my makeover.

The Bone Zones team decorated the front door with crime scene tape and put toy skeletons on the tables. Chef Seth Simmerman showed his sense of humor by serving sea bass. It was complimented by veal piccata and vegetables. In addition to the main course, there were ample hors d’oeuvres set up on the bar, a fancy salad and a delicious dessert.

I made a few announcements and introduced Dr. Bass. He had a box with teaching skulls that demonstrate various types of head trauma. There were a couple of shooting victims and a couple of bludgeoning victims. As expected, the like-minded crowd had no problem eating while looking at the skulls. For each of the victims, Dr. Bass described the crime scene where their remains were discovered.

After the lecture, I made a few more announcements and pointed out Dr. Al Hazari of the UT chemistry department and Helen Taylor of the East Tennessee Cremation Company. Like she did for me, Helen presented Dr. Hazari with a business card holder, also known as a prosthetic knee joint. I thanked the chef and said that the food was to die for. I told the crowd, “if you do, don’t worry, we have a stack of Body Farm donation forms.”

Susan and Mary Jo from the Bone Zones team said that they plan to have more events like this in the future although it may be a few months before Dr. Bass has time in his schedule.