JUST TRYING TO KEEP THE GOOD THINGS GOING
MAY 28, 2015 KNOXMERCURY.COM
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THE LAST DRIVE-IN Walmart’s threat to the Parkway Drive-In puts Maryville’s future in the spotlight BY S. HEATHER DUNCAN
NEWS
Historic Christenberry House Demolished
JACK NEELY
The Problem With TN—Not the Logo, the Abbreviation
BOOKS
NPR’s Steve Inskeep Talks Andrew Jackson
FOOD
Glenwood and Broadway: New Foodie Corner
August 6 9, 2015 ċ nashville tn
MERLE HAGGARD • COHEED AND CAMBRIA SUICIDAL TENDENCIES • SHARON JONES AND THE DAP KINGS • MISFITS • WANDA JACKSON
REVEREND HORTON HO HEAT • SHOOTER JENNINGS W/ WAYMORE’S OUTLAWS • SONNY BURGESS & THE LEGENDARY PACERS • WS “FLUKE” HOLLAND • STAN PERKINS • STRUNG LIKE A HORSE • CIGAR STORE INDIANS • DANNY B. HARVEY W/ ANNIE MARIE LEWIS • BOB WAYNE AND THE OUTLAWS • D.ON DAROX AND THE MELODY JOY BAKERS • LAURA BENITEZ AND THE HEARTACHE • THE TREMORS • RANDALL CLAY • DUANE MARK • CHANTILLY LACE VINCENT W/ LOS HIGH TOPS • ROB SNYDER • REVEREND RED • EIGHT OF FIVE JIVE • RAY COLLINS HOT CLUB • SI CRANSTOUN • STOMPY JONES • SLIM JENKINS • THE STRAIGHT 8’S • NEKROMANTIX • NASHVILLE PUSSY • MARIACHI EL BRONX • BATMOBILE • SONNY BURGESS & THE LEGENDARY PACERS • SLEEPY LABEEF • CARL MANN • WS “FLUKE” HOLLAND • RAYBURN ANTHONY • STAN PERKINS • ALTON & JIMMY • 69 CATS • KOFFIN KATS • HOLA GHOST • ALEX VARGAS • JINX JONES • LOS HIGH TOPS • JUSTIN GEE • MISS LONELY HEARTS • JOSH HI-FI SORHEIM • A MAN CALLED STU • SARAH GAYLE MEECH • SHAWN JAMES & THE SHAPESHIFTERS • THE STRUMMS HOT ROD WALT & THE PSYCHO DEVILLES • LARA HOPE AND THE ARK-TONES • PEACE LOVE AND STUFF • JIM LAUDERDALE & THE DREAM PLAYERS • BLACK JOE LEWIS AND THE HONEYBEARS • BILLY JOE SHAVER • JM VAN EATON W/ LINDA GAIL LEWIS • THE BRONX • JC BROOKS AND THE UPTOWN SOUND • GIZZELLE • HOPELESS JACK AND THE HANDSOME DEVIL • RAY COLLINS HOT CLUB • THE HUBCAP STEALERS • KITI GARTNER • RED HONEY • DOUG C. AND THE BLACKLISTED • THREE TIMES BAD • THE PUNKNECKS • RAYBURN ANTHONY • CARL MANN • SLEEPY LABEEF
TICKETS ON SALE NOW INK-N-IRON.COM 2
KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 28, 2015
May 28, 2015 Volume 01 / Issue 12 knoxmercury.com
CONTENTS
“There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.” —Ansel Adams
12 The Last Drive-In COVER STORY
What’s wrong with adding another Walmart? In Maryville, it goes beyond a general debate over the potential threat such a big-box store poses to small, locally owned businesses. It involves a very specific threat to a very specific local business: the Parkway Drive-In, one of the last remaining drive-in theaters in East Tennessee. The proposed Walmart’s extra-tall lamp posts will wash out the theater’s screen, according to the owner who just upgraded to digital projection. But some residents and business owners say the debate is even bigger than the fate of the Parkway, and may determine the future of Maryville’s image as the quaint side of the Smokies. S. Heather Duncan reports.
NEWS
Survey of the Month!
11 Christenberry House Demolished The century-old Christenberry house at 3222 Kingston Pike near Sequoyah Hills, the subject of several varieties of contention over the last couple of years, was demolished early Tuesday afternoon. It’s the sudden outcome that a new city ordinance is aimed at avoiding, as Jack Neely reports.
DEPARTMENTS
OPINION
A&E
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8
18
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Editor’s Note Howdy Start Here: Ghost Signs by Bud Ries, Believe It or Knox!, Public Affairs, Quote Factory. PLUS: Words With … Alyssa Maddox ’Bye Finish There: Sacred & Profane by Donna Johnson, Crooked Street Crossword by Ian Blackburn and Jack Neely, Spirit of the Staircase by Matthew Foltz-Gray
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The Scruffy Citizen Jack Neely explains everything you ever wanted to know about TN. Small Planet Patrice Cole declares its about time we ponied up for our stormwater management.
19 20 21 22 23
It’s all about you, baby. We want to know more about our readers in our new monthly online survey. Go to: survature.com/s/ knoxmercuryMay2015.
CALENDAR Program Notes: The story behind the Bob Dylan Birthday Bash. From the Vault: Eric Dawson screens videos made by Guy and Candie Carawan.
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OUTDOORS
32
Music: Carey Hodges talks with Arcade Fire’s Sarah Neufeld. Music: Mike Gibson groks Knoxville stoner-rock band Mass Driver. Books: Jack Neely grills NPR’s Steve Inskeep on his new book, Jacksonland.
Spotlights: Ira Glass, Ava Luna, Marble City Opera’s Blue Monday
Voice in the Wilderness Kim Trevathan gets some tales from the long trails of Bert Emmerson.
FOOD & DRINK
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Home Palate Dennis Perkins finds a new foodie corner at Glenwood and Broadway.
Movies: April Snellings take a cautious journey to Tomorrowland. May 28, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 3
EDITOR’S NOTE C
The Low-Down at Chandler’s
handler’s Deli on Magnolia Avenue in East Knoxville is the sort of restaurant that creates its own atmosphere without much calculation or concern for mainstream appeal. It is what it is: a soul-food diner in an old Taco Bell. That’s also what makes it great. The food may be its main draw, but it’s the people who dine there who create its ambience. Crowded into its minute dining room on any given day is a colorful collection of disparate sorts, ranging from preternaturally tanned sorority girls to crusty old neighborhood hands. In an economically depressed area, Chandler’s is one of the few iconic places that brings in diners from all parts of Knoxville, and beyond. Which made it the perfect place for our first community meet and greet. First, a quick note on what our monthly Mercury Meetups are not about: speeches, roundtables, surveys, or town-hall forums. (That stuff might come later, when we get our act together.) Rather, these informal meetups are a chance for us to get out of the office and
into Knoxville’s many different communities to chat about stuff. Really, we’re just there to talk about anything people want to talk about: the paper, the city, the neighborhood, Last Wednesday’s two-hour meetup at Chandler’s gathered between 30 to 40 people, and if there was a consensus opinion of the night, it was this: East Knoxville is a good place to live. And quickly following that was the thought: Could you tell people about that? As Rick Staples noted, the community here often feels ignored by the rest of Knoxville, as if they’re on their own. And when they do get media attention, it’s for the wrong reasons, mostly to do with crime. But those are far from the only stories happening here. There are all sorts of complicated underlying issues behind this, from racism to economics to politics, which our previous publication addressed over the years—and our new one will again. Some people arrived at the meetup with ideas to present, such as longtime community activist Jeff Talman, who came bearing maps and artist renderings for the Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum. This hidden East-side jewel should be on the must-see list for every Knoxvillian, though some may think it difficult to locate without a voiceequipped GPS. But Talman presented some encouraging plans on overcoming that obstacle: first, a bike route sketched out by Brian Hann of the
Appalachian Mountain Bike Club that shows a path from the Old City to the botanical garden; and second, drawings for a new welcome center that may provide a spectacular entry point to the arboretum’s grounds. Other people were here at the meetup by happenstance—like Hubert Smith, the WUTK talk-radio host and public-transit leader—and jumped right in. Smith had a lively discussion with new Knoxville resident Dan Zimmerman about the legalities and ethics of the Uber business model. Zimmerman, meanwhile, pitched some ideas for us, including a podcast. (We know, we’re way behind.) Meanwhile, we had several auspicious guests grace our klatch because they’re the sort of people who just like doing these sorts of things. Julie Webb, cofounder of Webb School and leader of the Friends of the Library, was there. So was a contingent of the University of Tennessee’s finest, including Bob Kronick of the psychology department; Ernie Freeberg, head of the history department, who lives in Cas Walker’s old house in North Knoxville (and is chairman of the Knoxville History Project board); and film director Paul Harrill. It was a lively salon for a rib joint, even one as convivial as Chandler’s. We’ll be announcing our June Mercury Meetup in next week’s issue. I hope to see you there. —Coury Turczyn, ed.
Delivering Fine Journalism Since 2015
EDITORIAL EDITOR
Coury Turczyn coury@knoxmercury.com SENIOR EDITOR
Matthew Everett matthew@knoxmercury.com CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Jack Neely jack@knoxhistoryproject.org STAFF WRITER
S. Heather Duncan heather@knoxmercury.com CONTRIBUTORS
Chris Barrett Ian Blackburn Patrice Cole Eric Dawson George Dodds Lee Gardner Mike Gibson Carey Hodges Nick Huinker Donna Johnson Rose Kennedy
Dennis Perkins Stephanie Piper Ryan Reed Eleanor Scott Alan Sherrod April Snellings Joe Sullivan Kim Trevathan Joe Tarr William Warren Chris Wohlwend
DESIGN ART DIRECTOR
Tricia Bateman tricia@knoxmercury.com GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
Charlie Finch Corey McPherson CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
David Luttrell Shawn Poynter Justin Fee Tyler Oxendine CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS
Ben Adams Matthew Foltz-Gray
ADVERTISING PUBLISHER & DIRECTOR OF SALES
Charlie Vogel charlie@knoxmercury.com SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES
Scott Hamstead scott@knoxmercury.com Stacey Pastor stacey@knoxmercury.com
BUSINESS DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
Jerry Collins jerry@knoxmercury.com
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 706 Walnut St., Suite 404, Knoxville, Tenn. 37902 knoxmercury.com • 865-313-2059 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR & PRESS RELEASES
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distribution@knoxmercury.com The Knoxville Mercury is an independent weekly news magazine devoted to informing and connecting Knoxville’s many different communities. It is a taxable, not-for-profit company governed by the Knoxville History Project, a non-profit organization devoted to exploring, disseminating, and celebrating Knoxville’s unique cultural heritage. It publishes 25,000 copies per week, available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. © 2015 The Knoxville Mercury
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 28, 2015
New Looks At Old Icons Next week, two visiting scholars reassess an often-misunderstood figure and an often-overlooked war. Jacksonland
The event is sponsored by the Friends of the Library and is free, but requires reservations. Go to knoxfriends.org.
Even though Andrew Jackson never lived in Knoxville, he was a familiar figure on Gay Street early in his career. A district attorney for the Southwestern Territory in the early 1790s when Knoxville was its capital, he was one of the youngest delegates to the 1796 Contitutional Convention, the three-week meeting on Gay Street that created the State of Tennessee. Later he was a circuit judge who was in Knoxville so much he kept an apartment here. In 1803, he was walking in front of the courthouse when he reacted to an insult from former Governor John Sevier. A challenge to a duel led to the shooting of a bystander but then dissolved into a shouting match.
“After They’ve Seen Paree” On Thursday, June 4, the East Tennessee Historical Society will host a dinner and talk about a recently overlooked subject, World War I. Dr. Michael E. Birdwell of Tennessee Tech will give a talk titled “After They’ve Seen Paree: Tennesseans and the First World War.” The title refers to the comic song implying that young farmers, recruited to go to Europe, would not return home.
That “War to End All Wars” looms large in Tennessee’s history. Although U.S. involvement in the war lasted only 18 months, Knox County alone lost scores of young men to the European conflict. Knoxville’s airport was Andrew Jackson named for one of them, Lt. McGhee Tyson, an airman (1767 - 1845) who went down in the North Sea in the war’s final days. The Doughboy Statue on Fifth Avenue honors local dead, many of whom were Knoxville High alums. Sgt. Alvin York, of Fentress County, was perhaps America’s best-known hero of that war. Steve Inskeep, one of the busiest national-news reporters in America today, has a new book about it called Jacksonland, subtitled “President Andrew However, as Professor Birdwell notes, “the war has long been overshadowed Jackson, Cherokee Chief John Ross, and a Great American Land Grab.” (See p. by the Civil War and World War II.” Birdwell is chair of the Tennessee Great 22.) It brings out much of the surprising complexity of the man and his era. War Commission, which is coordinating the centennial of the World War I. U.S. involvement in the war began in 1917, so the 100th anniversary is On Tuesday, June 2, at 7:00, he’ll be speaking at the Bijou Theatre, which is, coming up in less than two years. incidentally, connected to the only building in Knoxville Jackson is known The dinner will be in a historic building, the 1860s Foundry building, in to have visited. In 1817, when he was still best known for his leadership World’s Fair Park. Tickets, which include both the lecture and dinner, are defeating the British at New Orleans two years earlier, the city threw a part $40 per person. Call 215-8883 or check eastTNhistory.org. for him at the local hotel, which is now the front portion of the Bijou. However, it was farther south that Jackson made a bigger difference, through the turbulence of the War of 1812 and the Seminole Wars in Florida. More than any other individual, Jackson added the Deep South to the United States. And much of that had to do with his complicated relationship with Cherokee leader John Ross, with whom Jackson had first worked as an ally.
Next Week’s Best Reasons for a Party Sunday, May 31, is the birthday of Max Friedman (1888-1966). Born in Poland, he moved to Knoxville in the 1920s and became a prominent Gay Street jeweler, a Jewish community leader, and a longtime member of Knoxville City Council, beginning in 1948. A progressive Democrat, he met with presidential candidate Franklin Roosevelt in 1932, and according to local lore, suggested the poker phrase “New Deal.” Friday, June 5, is the birthday of Sallie Boyd (1867-1947), who preferred the name Pattie. The first female editorial staffer of a Knoxville newspaper, she began her writing career in the 1880s. Eccentric, colorful, and strong-willed, she was Society Editor of the Knoxville Journal. June 5 is also the birthday of artist Robert Lindsay Mason (1874-1952). The Knoxville native studied with famous artists Howard Pyle and Maxfield Parish and returned to his home on White Avenue to teach art privately. Also a writer, in 1927 Mason published a book, The Lure of the Great Smokies, which helped popularize the Smokies before they were a national park.
The Knoxville History Project, a new nonprofit organization devoted to the promotion of and education about the history of Knoxville, presents this page each week to raise awareness of the themes, personalities, and stories of our unique city. Learn more on www.facebook.com/knoxvillehistoryproject • email jack@knoxhistoryproject.org May 28, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 5
Illustration by Ben Adams
HOWDY
GHOST SIGNS BY BUD RIES
The Cincinnati Paper & Cordage Company was originally established in 1892 and lasted until the year 2000 when they filed for bankruptcy. This building along the train tracks in the Old City is one of two in town that bears their sign. The other one is on Bell Street in East Knoxville.
QUOTE FACTORY “ Seriously, it really upsets me that the state of Tennessee paid someone $46K to design a logo I could’ve made on MS Paint by accident.” —A Twitter comment by Gabriel Garcia, sports editor for The Advocate & Democrat in Sweetwater, that was quoted by Adweek in its story on the public reaction over the state’s potential new logo. (See the Scruffy Citizen on page 8 for more.)
Believe It or Knox! BY Z. HERACLITUS KNOX The word dumpster is in common use around the world, often without capitalization. However, it originated as the trade name Dempster Dumpster, a play on the name of its inventor. Son of Scottish immigrants, lifelong Knoxvillian George Dempster (1887-1964) came up with this revolutionary idea in trash disposal in the 1930s and manufactured the first Dempster Dumpsters in his Dempster Brothers plant. Dempster was one of the city’s most influential figures in the 20th century, serving first as city manager and later as mayor, helping lead the construction of the Henley Street Bridge and McGhee Tyson Airport. Near the end of his life, his respected leadership in the business community helped desegregate the city without violence. As some romantics liked to point out more than a century ago, Knoxville is THE SAME LATITUDE AS THE ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN CAPITAL OF NINEVEH! Knoxville’s city population IS ABOUT THE SAME SIZE IT WAS 50 YEARS AGO! Although city leaders have been saying Knoxville “is a city of about 180,000” since the Kennedy administration, no census has ever counted quite that many Knoxvillians.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
5/28 SLOW FOOD MOVIE NIGHT: ‘FED UP’ 5/29 ROCKY TOP BBQ FEST THURSDAY
8:30 p.m., Knoxville Public House (212 W. Magnolia Ave.). $5 donations accepted. Hosted by Slow Food Tennessee Valley, this 2014 documentary examines food industry practices that contribute to our nation’s ever-expanding obesity problem. More info on Fed Up: fedupmovie.com.
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 28, 2015
FRIDAY
5-10 p.m., World’s Fair Park. $15. The Rotary Club of West Knoxville presents its third annual Tennessee state barbecue cook-off, sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society—solidifying Knoxville’s new role as a BBQ haven. All proceeds will go to support Mobile Meals, Flu Shot Saturday, Pond Gap Elementary, Knox County Schools, 3rd Grade Dictionary Project, West Hills Park, Interfaith Health Clinic, Friends of the Smokies, and other groups. Continues Saturday, May 30, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Info: rockytopbbq.com.
5/30 ANNUAL USED BOOK SALE SATURDAY
11 a.m.-6 p.m., Bearden High School (8352 Kingston Pike). Free. Digital media be damned. The Friends of the Knox County Public Library’s annual used book sale is always great. Just don’t get there before I do. Runs through Monday, June 1; Members Preview Day is on Friday, May 29, 2–8 p.m. Note the new location! Info: knoxfriends.org.
6/2 STUDENT ASSESSMENTS COMMUNITY MEETING TUESDAY
6 p.m., West High School (3300 Sutherland Ave.) Student testing and assessments. Let’s just say it’s a contentious issue. Knox County Schools is hosting this community meeting on the topic as part of its overall assessment of assessments, and it’s open to educators, students, parents, and members of the community. There will also be breakout sessions, with the large group sessions streaming live on knoxschools.org/kcstv and viewed live on Comcast cable channel 10 or AT&T U-verse channel 99.
HOWDY WORDS WITH ...
Alyssa Maddox
ut go Are you thinking abo
BY ROSE KENNEDY Alyssa Maddox directs the third Retropolitan Craft Fair, an indie marketplace featuring contemporary crafts and upcycled goods, Saturday, May 30 at the Southern Railway Station (306 West Depot Ave.). Maddox co-founded the event with Lacey Strike, Taylor Harris, and Joanna Ivey.
Where does the term retropolitan come from?
I like to wear a mix of vintage and new, so one time my cousin’s girlfriend called me a “retro-politan” and the name just sort of stuck. When I decided to start a craft fair with my friends, that name seemed to sum up everything we wanted: a lovely mix of vintage and modern.
Who decides who qualifies to join the fair?
We have a team of four women who jury the fair. We judge who makes it in based on variety, quality, and “retropolitan swagger.”
How many vendors were there when you started, and how many now? The first fair had 19, we had 24 in December, and 34 vendors will set up for this one.
How do you find them?
I think the farthest away is Garner Blue from Jackson, Tenn. There are several vendors coming from Knoxville—too many to list!
Who is the most unusual?
I think Modern Garden is really unique. She makes jewelry from broken china. Being a dish collector, I think that is awesome.
Do a lot of the vendors spend all their profits buying other vendors’ wares?
I didn’t realize this until we started our fair, but a lot of these vendors make trades. They’ll trade necklaces for prints or hanging planters for screen-printed shirts. It’s really a neat community these artisans have made.
A-Plus Concrete is owned by my dad! And he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He’s always supported me in life and of course he supports my small business.
Do you personally make crafts?
Are you surprised the fair does so well here?
When the fair comes up are you just working all the time?
Around fair time I work all day as a television series producer at Jupiter Entertainment, then come home and keep working on social media, blog posts, and decor projects for the fair. I pretty much just crash for a week after fair day.
Which vendor is coming the farthest for the fair?
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How does a fair like this come to have a concrete company as a sponsor?
We go on Etsy and do localized searches, travel to different craft fairs in the region, and rely on word of mouth from other vendor friends. I have a craft room where I like to sew, embroider, make cards, and play with my circuit. I love it, but I’m just not passionate—or talented—enough to be a successful vendor.
ing paperle$?
I was born in Knoxville and raised in Oak Ridge. I’m not going to lie, I was nervous, “What if we put all of this together, I front all of this money, all these vendors work so hard, and nobody comes?” But we knew this event was something the Knoxville crowd would be hungry for. Our crowd doubling between the first fair and the second proved that to us.
Will you ever make a lot of money with it? I’m not sure we ever will. So far none of us have made a dime. We put everything back into promoting the fair and making it successful. We didn’t start it for the money though, so no worries. For more information: retropolitancraft.com
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY 7
SCRUFFY CITIZEN
The Problem With TN Why do we lean so heavily on a problematic postal abbreviation? BY JACK NEELY
Y
ou’ve heard the hubbub about the new state logo, which is a white TN on a red background. One complaint is about the public cost, which is in the middle five figures. But it wasn’t the cost that bothered me most, though what the state paid somebody for typing those two letters was more than I usually get for a full year of writing. In a year, I figure, I type more than one million individual letters that get printed somewhere. Maybe all of them put together don’t compare to these two: T, N. Somebody’s getting about 500,000 times as many cents per letter as I am. Nice work, if you can get it. I wouldn’t begrudge anybody else’s luck in finding that kind of a gig. It’s not the bright crimson that bothered me all that much, either, although a few locals have found its similarity to the Crimson Tide’s crimson unsettling. And some cynics believe our Legislature, which has lately been overwhelmingly Republican, likes the fact that the logo brands the state permanently red. You can’t be too careful. It was a blue state during presidential elections as recently as the 1990s. What bothers me is the sort of concern that might most likely bother people who have worked as editors. It’s the abbreviation itself. TN never existed as an abbreviation for Tennessee until 1963. Most Tennesseans who ever lived—W.C. Handy, Patsy Cline, James Agee, Bob Neyland—never saw the letters “TN” and understood them to
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 28, 2015
mean “Tennessee.” But it was in 1963 that the U.S. Postal Service imposed its ZIP code system, and with it a standardized two-letter code for every state. The idea was not just that two letters might be easier for overworked employees to type in, but that a standardized two-letter state code would leave room for the new five-digit codes. That number’s what the postal employees and their machinery really paid attention to, and you don’t want a long state name crowding it off. In a way, it was a deliberate diminution of the importance of states in the postal scheme of things. The ZIP code is supreme. That new TN signature—capital letters crowded together without punctuation—seemed to mimic the cold, clean, mod corporate logos of the era. As I recall, nobody took it very seriously in its first several years. Into the ’70s, the two-letter state designation was still a goofy federal-government imposition most people were
happy to ignore. I learned to write business letters in high school, more than a decade after the TN code was introduced, and I was trained to write “Knoxville, Tenn.” All through that time, over the past half-century that we’ve been using the two-letter code on our mail, the old, officially respected state abbreviations have not changed. Respected abbreviations for one-word states are the first part of the word, as in Tenn. and Ala., or the beginning and end, as in Ga. and Ky. Even in 2015, it’s still AP style to write “Knoxville, Tenn.” It’s also New York Times style and Knoxville Mercury style. To my knowledge, no respected newspaper or magazine uses TN as an abbreviation for Tennessee. Later, though, perhaps inspired by the post office’s success, the twin-capital style was used for a variety of medical conditions that are hard to pronounce or embarrassing to have, like RA or ED. In medical circles, by the way, TN is trigeminal neuralgia. In any case, TN is just two consonants from a word with a lot of vowels. Tennessee’s a Cherokee word, and in Cherokee, vowels are important. Often it’s the vowels gracefully slipping over each other that tip you off that a place name is Cherokee: Pellissippi, Hiwassee, Chilhowee, Tennessee. Tennessee has four Es, more Es than any other state does. In fact, Tennessee has more Es than the name of any nation in the world. In “TN” we don’t get to see any of them. Instead, we have a capital N. What does the N stand for, exactly? If you know, please share. Maybe that’s a koan, with the same answer as “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” Or “What does the fox say?” To the post office, in 1963, the N is there for one reason: because the
In medical circles, by the way, TN is trigeminal neuralgia.
other T state, Texas, doesn’t have an N in it. The implication is that without the N, folks might get Tennessee mixed up with Texas. It’s the way robots think. So the N means, in rough translation, “Not Texas.” TN has no official meaning except at the post office, and even there, it’s meant to be paired with a ZIP code. If the red is indeed a political statement, the TN suggests an irony. It was the imposition of a federal taxpayer-dependent bureaucracy.
I
do feel the pain of those who would resort to such a blank and unimaginative symbol. Finding any single symbol for Tennessee would be daunting to anybody, even high-paid typists. Agriculture, manufacturing, or show biz? Eastern or Central? Steep, lush mountains or broad, flat river plains? We have thousands of square miles of each. Blues or bluegrass? We’re famous for music, but when we submitted an image to symbolize it on the quarter, we couldn’t decide on one, so we sent pictures of three instruments rarely found in the same band: a fiddle, a guitar, and a trumpet. Urban or rural? Tennessee’s overall population density is almost five times greater than that of the United States as a whole, and it contains five cities that are each bigger than the biggest city in several states, including, say, South Carolina. However, it’s still a state of rural areas, small towns, and suburbs. More than 75 percent of Tennesseans live in communities smaller than Knoxville. Topography, demographics, economy—I’m not sure any state has more diversity per capita. That’s great until you feel obliged to come up with a symbol for it. But I think the three stars in a circle still works. ◆
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May 28, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 9
SMALL PLANET
When It Pours A stormwater management utility fee is worth the price BY PATRICE COLE
R
ain happens. No one causes it, and no one owns it, so how can anyone be taxed for it? That might seem a reasonable response to what some are calling a “rain tax,” which is actually a stormwater utility fee to fund an EPA-mandated local program to manage stormwater. Managing stormwater is something we take for granted, in that we want and expect to have it gotten out of our way. For decades, though, water quality experts have known that urban runoff is a major contributor to water pollution nationwide, because urban areas have more people and activities, such as construction, that
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generate pollutants and more pavement and buildings to shed water. So EPA created the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) program in 1990, which requires states to issue permits to municipalities for their stormwater discharges. The city of Knoxville was among the first group of cities to receive a permit, and Knox County was in the second round of permitting. Many smaller municipalities now have permits as well. Managing stormwater involves many steps, some of which are engineered solutions using pipes and tanks to corral, store, and even treat dirty water. Managing also includes
“housekeeping” measures to prevent rain water from getting contaminated in the first place. Educating and involving local citizens is another critical component, because every person, business, building, and lot potentially contributes to stormwater problems and solutions. All of these steps cost money, and the stormwater utility fee is a way to pay for them. The MS4 program permit tells the municipality to report certain information on how each of these management steps is being accomplished in the municipality. One requirement is to identify and eliminate illicit discharges to the storm drainage system. For example, some of the oldest buildings in a city might still have pipes that are not connected to the sewer and dump untreated liquid wastes to a stream or ditch. Another requirement is for the municipality to take measures to prevent stormwater contamination, such as regular street cleaning. The municipality must also make sure that developers and builders control runoff from their projects during and after construction. The final requirement is to describe how the public is being educated on stormwater impacts and involved in the overall effort to improve stormwater management within the municipality. Low Impact Development principles are emphasized in the MS4 program. The general idea of LID stormwater management practices is to get stormwater to soak into the ground as much as possible, because less runoff means less water pollution and flooding. One way of achieving this is to keep as much of the site as possible in its natural, pre-development condition. Undisturbed soil and vegetation prevent erosion and absorb more rain water. Swales and other topographic depressions slow down and temporarily hold stormwater until it has time to infiltrate. Constructed solutions such as rain gardens, which are essentially flower beds that are slightly concave instead of raised, can be inexpensive LID features that have added aesthetic benefits. Pervious concrete and pavers are commercially available means of reducing runoff, because stormwater actually passes through them. Even an old-fashioned gravel driveway can serve the same function. Gutter downspouts can be connected to rain barrels to collect roof runoff for later
use to water landscaping or other outdoor purposes. These practices also replenish groundwater, which benefits people who rely on wells, and keeps streams flowing during dry weather. The city of Knoxville’s operating expenses for stormwater management have been running about $2.9 million annually. It cost Knox County over $1.5 million to implement the requirements of the MS4 program permit last year, and the budget for the current fiscal year increased to over $1.9 million. When County Mayor Mike Ragsdale appointed a Stormwater Advisory Board in 2006, it identified fair and equitable funding as a top priority. A fair and equitable fee would be scaled to the water-quality impact of the property or activity, such as the size of runoff area, and would include incentives for encouraging LID. Every other large city in Tennessee plus at least 32 other municipalities in the state have a stormwater utility fee, typically a few dollars per month. The city of Belle Meade bills landowners yearly, with lots smaller than 40,000 square feet paying less than $45 per year, and the highest fee is less than $180 per year. Bristol charges only $2 per month for single-family residential properties, which is included in the monthly utility bill. Nashville gives landowners credit for using LID practices, reducing their stormwater utility fee by as much as 75 percent. Neither Knox County nor the city of Knoxville has a stormwater utility fee, so the MS4 programs must be funded through other revenue sources. This means less money to spend on other local government services. In effect, all residents are already paying for stormwater management, regardless of the magnitude of the individual landowner’s or business owner’s contribution to the problem. The city’s Energy and Sustainability Work Plan noted in 2010 that political opposition and a down economy may delay action toward a stormwater utility fee, but recommended the issue be discussed with the then-new administration. It is time for our elected officials in both city and county to demonstrate leadership in bringing this discussion to the public to ensure that the cost of stormwater management is paid by those who create the need for services and receive the benefits. ◆
Christenberry House Demolished A long saga’s unexpected end BY JACK NEELY
T
he century-old Christenberry house at 3222 Kingston Pike, near Sequoyah Hills, the subject of several varieties of contention over the last couple of years, no longer exists. It was demolished early Tuesday afternoon, hours before City Council’s expected passage of the city’s new 60-day demolition-delay ordinance. Although it has sometimes been given a 1925 date, the Craftsman-style bungalow is believed to have been built around 1913 and was originally the home of James Varnell, a top executive with Miller’s Department Store. In 1947, it became the home of Dr. Henry Edward Christenberry, who lived there with his family for most of the rest of his life before his death in 2005. It had been vacant for about a decade. One year ago, it appeared, everyone wanted to save the house. Developer Paul Murphy, who lives nearby and had an option on the property, had announced plans to preserve the Christenberry house, even agreeing to give it a restrictive H-1
historic overlay, as part of a plan that would include 26 additional condominiums behind the house near the riverfront. Murphy claimed that building additional condos on the property was the only way to make it financially feasible to restore the house. However, the Kingston Pike Sequoyah Hills Association strongly opposed Murphy’s plan, specifically opposing his intention to increase the residential density of the lot. A University of Tennessee transportation scholar opposed it due to added traffic entering Kingston Pike at a dangerous blind spot. A compromise plan by real-estate man Rich Tierney called for restoring the house and developing two riverfront lots behind the house. Last summer, Tierney was raising money to invest in the plan. At the time, opposing parties all professed a determination to save and restore the house. Preservationist group Knox Heritage, which had recently moved to its new headquarters nearby, did not take
sides. However, the Christenberry house appeared on KH’s annual Fragile 15 list of endangered local properties last year, and again with the recent unveiling of the list this year. In April, John Chesworth and his wife Paula purchased the property for a reported $835,000, a sale that reportedly preempted an announced auction. Included was the century-old house, almost 6,000 square feet of it, and a sloping lawn of 4.8 acres between two large churches, First United Methodist and Calvary Baptist. Chesworth, relatively new to the area, has been described as a sometime tennis pro and sales executive for his mother-in-law’s Sevier County-based food-service supplies company, KaTom. The Chesworths, who live in West Knox County, reportedly have plans to build a new house on the property closer to the waterfront. Knox Heritage executive director Kim Trent says she met Chesworth about two weeks ago. She reports that Chesworth told her he had no plans concerning the house, and seemed interested in the prospect of preserving it. He agreed to meet with Knox Heritage to consider preservation options. Records indicate the Chesworths took out a $30 demolition permit last Wednesday. The city building inspections department, which had for many years made a practice of notifying the Metropolitan Planning Commission of demolition-permit applications, did not do so in this case. Kaye Graybeal, MPC historic-preservation planner, says she’s been told the city has ceased the practice because it unduly delays demolitions under current guidelines.
On Tuesday afternoon, Graybeal noted that this week’s events demonstrate the need of the new resolution. “Perhaps if we had had the 60 days, something could have been worked out,” she says. Graybeal says the house was a rarity on Kingston Pike, one of the few remaining Craftsman houses in that corridor, and “unique in its style.” She visited the house last year. “I was struck by how intact it was, how little changed it was.” A call to Chesworth on Tuesday afternoon had not been returned at press time. However, in an email to Knox Heritage, Chesworth offered a statement explaining their choice: “We did not buy the house with the intention to go in and knock the house down. However, after purchasing the house and having it inspected by experts the damage caused by flooding, mold, and generally being left uninhabited for some many years was so extreme that we were advised renovating the house would be cost prohibitive.” The experts Chesworth cites as persuasive are unnamed. Knox Heritage, which has supervised hundreds of successful preservation projects over the last 41 years, was never asked. Trent says she has seen much-worse houses brought back from the brink. She witnessed much of the demolition in person. She says it appears little or nothing was salvaged from the house, which included tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of rare materials, including a rare Brazilian mahogany staircase, leaded glass windows, hundreds of terra-cotta tiles, and large French doors. ◆ May 28, 2015
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THE LAST DRIVE-IN Walmart’s threat to the Parkway Drive-In puts Maryville’s future in the spotlight BY S. HEATHER DUNCAN PHOTOS BY TRICIA BATEMAN
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I
t’s a Saturday night, and the cars are lining up at the drive-in. Just outside Maryville on East Lamar Alexander Parkway, the shining row of headlights files slowly past the checkered sign for the Parkway Drive-In. They inch past the tiny ticket booth (one adult, two first-run movies: $7) and a tractor stalled just off the gravel track. Drive past, into the past. The headlights creep among the parked cars, past the pickup where kids pile onto an air mattress covered in fluffy comforters, past the teenage girls taking selfies and the family setting up a playpen in the grass, past a card table surrounded by weathered-looking smokers playing poker, until they illuminate that perfect spot. Maybe your perfect spot is next to the dad holding his infant daughter through the moon roof for the tallest perspective of her life. Maybe it’s the spot close to the cement-block concession stand, where, if you wait in a complex system of lines understood only by the initiated, your reward is a patty melt or a Frito pie, or even a bucket of popcorn for a jaw-dropping $2.50. Or maybe your perfect spot is that far corner where there’s enough privacy for discreetly engaging in time-honored drive-in traditions. The double (or triple) feature won’t start until it’s good and dark, maybe 9 o’clock or later, but the gates open at 7. You’d best not wait too late. Four hundred cars can fit, but some nights they have to turn folks away. Why come here instead of the movieplex with surround sound? Why haul the family 30 minutes or, in some cases, an hour to the drive-in? “All this,” says Gabriel Cooper, the sweep of his arm indicating the teenage girls playing lacrosse and little boys walloping each other with foam swords among about 50 kids in the grass at the foot of the movie screen. “It’s the perfect cliché of Americana.” At his feet sits his toddler son on a blanket, gnawing a corn dog with intense concentration. His 4-year-old daughter has made a new best friend a few cars down. (Little kids get in free.) “Splish Splash” is playing on the transistor radio the Coopers rented for a dollar from the concession stand—just one more service the drive-in provides, in this case accommodating those who like to listen to
see big box as the way Maryville wants to grow.” His group of local business owners and activists met for three hours with Mayor Tom Taylor about the Walmart project around three weeks ago. At Taylor’s suggestion, they plan to work on a new brand for the city that they can pitch to City Council. The brand would better define what it means to be Maryville, now and in the future, and could be used as a framework for planning long-term growth—and maybe avoid conflicts like this one.
WALMART IN THE SPOTLIGHT
their movies under the stars instead of behind a windshield. “I cannot imagine it with a Walmart next door,” says Gabriel’s mom, Rose Cooper. “There are so few drive-in theaters any more. It would be really sad to lose this.” The Coopers are among thousands to sign petitions, either at the Parkway Drive-In or online, seeking to protect the business from a prospective Walmart next door. (The online petition garnered 13,255 signatures before it was closed.) Drive-in owner Doug Freeman says light pollution from the planned Walmart parking lot will doom his business by washing out the screen. Maryville leaders say the firm developing the site for a Walmart has met all rules and requirements, so free enterprise will determine which businesses survive. This angers some residents, who say the Walmart seems to have become a “done deal” before anyone outside government had heard a word about it. In this script, a 189,000-squarefoot big-box store plays the role of “progress” and an old-fashioned, last-of-its-breed drive-in plays the part of “nostalgia.” Their conflict, like
many in the movies, is perfectly framed to represent something greater: the struggle for the identity of a small town. What, in fact, does Maryville want to be? How does “the peaceful side of the Smokies” grow while maintaining that identity—and connecting thousands of tourists to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park? Some residents call the Walmart project a wake-up call for Maryville to reconsider its zoning and development rules now, before sprawl and the eventual extension of Interstate 140 change the character of the U.S. 321 corridor beyond recognition. “I hate to say the Walmart is a lost cause, but it really is,” says Trent Gilland of Townsend. He and his old Maryville College buddy Nathan Higdon, who owns L’Espace Motorcoach in Maryville, grew angry when they heard about the potential fate of the drive-in. They started an online group called “Keep Maryville Quaint” (on Twitter, #KeepMurvilQuaint), along the lines of “Keep Knoxville Scruffy.” “I don’t know how getting something everyone else already has is progress,” says Gilland. “I just don’t
Walmart often faces the same litany of opposition wherever it comes to town, particularly fears of the harm it could do to locally owned businesses. The case of the drive-in is different, because it isn’t threatened by direct competition for customers. It’s competing for the sky. And that, Freeman says, could darken his doors forever before a customer lays a dollar in a Walmart cash register. “I don’t have a problem with Walmart. I just don’t want it to bleach my screen,” he says. “We worked too hard for it to just go away. There are maybe three drive-ins in East Tennessee, and you can’t spit without hitting a Walmart.” Carlson Consulting Engineers, of Memphis, is taking steps to build a Walmart supercenter of 189,000 square feet, says John Jagger, development services director for the city of Maryville. The developer requested five variances for the project from the zoning appeals board. The board denied the developer’s request to plant fewer trees than rules require but granted parking and greenspace variances. (Walmart will be allowed to leave 27 rather than 30 percent of the acreage as greenspace, Jagger says.) The lighting request was the source of controversy. Freeman argued against allowing Walmart to use 42-foot light poles instead of the 30-foot poles codes require. He had just learned about the project. Although it’s not directly adjacent to the property he rents for his business, the early plans show the back of the Walmart—which will be lit for night deliveries—separated from the movie screen by only about 500 feet. Freeman says that with shorter poles, the building would have blocked at May 28, 2015
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“When it was a two-lane highway, I can remember the cars would be backed up half a mile to turn in there. That was the place.” — RANDY MOATS
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least some of the light from the front parking lot. Gilland and Higdon also asked the board to deny the variance. Jagger says the board had already granted similar variances at Maryville’s other Walmart and the new Kroger. And he emphasized that the city will still allow Walmart only a small amount of light spillover—no more than 1 candle-foot (a technical unit for measuring light spillover). “At formal site plan review, one of the things they’ll have to provide us with is a photometric survey that shows where the lighting fixtures will be and what lighting intensity is on the entire property, including at 10 feet beyond property line,” Jagger says. But Freeman says it isn’t that simple. The drive-in already has trouble with ambient light on cloudy nights, because the airborne water droplets reflect light from the city back to the ground. Increasing this diffuse light will wash out the screen even if there is no direct light spillover, he says. Still, public officials deny that it’s a choice between the drive-in and the Walmart. Fred Metz, the city councilman who represents the Council on the zoning commission and zoning board of appeals, calls the Parkway’s demise “pretty highly speculative,” noting its loyal following. “It may be that at the site plan phase we can require some sort of buffering or something,” he says. In an op-ed that city manager Greg McClain sent to media a few weeks ago, he included a section of “facts we feel need to be understood.” Among them was the prediction (perhaps not, strictly, a “fact”) that increased traffic from Walmart will actually benefit the drive-in. The list also argued that large-scale development increases property values. Metz says the lighting issue may not be the real threat to the Parkway. The truth is, the owners of the land Freeman leases don’t oppose the Walmart. “Adjoining property values will escalate, and there’s probably some concern that the drive-in will not be the highest and best use anymore,” Metz says. “I think the economics of land value will have more to do with the demise of the Parkway than light spillover from the Walmart. That will be worth a lot more as a vacant tract than as a drive-in theater.”
COMING OF AGE AT THE DRIVE-IN
Drive-ins emerged after World War II as the country became more suburban and populations moved away from downtowns, where movie theaters usually were, says Chuck Maland, chair of the cinema studies program at the University of Tennessee. Maland recalls that the films were second-runs and the sound quality was horrible, coming to you through a little tinny sound box mounted on a stand next to your car or inside your car. But drive-ins were often cheaper than movie theaters and, like the Parkway, offered a different social dimension to the movie experience. Over time they also became a teen-centric activity where “countless movies were never actually seen by dating couples” as they enjoyed the freedom of car culture and all it entailed, Maland says. The Parkway Drive-In first opened about 1951. Randy Moats, of Maryville, was born more than a decade later but has seen at least one movie there every year it was open since. “When it was a two-lane highway, I can remember the cars would be backed up half a mile to turn in there,” he says. “That was the place.” In 1969, “when they showed A Walk in the Spring Rain, which was filmed in Cades Cove, it was just unbelievable how many people were there.” Even City Manager McClain remembers going to the drive-in as a child, when “it was really dark because it was way out of town,” he recalled at the May planning commission meeting. But the Parkway did not operate continuously until today. Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the blockbuster intervened. What killed drive-ins? Star Wars. That’s just the short answer, Maland says. But the film forever changed the movie industry by spawning a format that stimulated multiplexes and fed home video, he says. Movie theaters sprouted throughout suburbia and films could be watched on the cheap from the comfort of your couch. Those factors shut down the Parkway around the time Star Wars came out. Moats says it opened again briefly, only to be shuttered again, in the 1980s. Sometime in the 1990s, Moats stopped to peek at the Parkway’s overgrown field and rusting projector,
ghosts of an era as fleeting as the images that once flickered onscreen. When he was asked to gather some antique cars to show off the drive-in’s grand reopening in 1999, Moats was thrilled. The movie studios’ decision to shift all distribution from film to digital was the nail in the coffin for many of the drive-ins that survived the last century. Digital projectors still aren’t cheap. Freeman, who bought an 80 percent stake in the Parkway in 2003, invested $80,000 in a digital projector for the Parkway last year. (Previous owner Perry Humberd still owns 20 percent of the Parkway and the Midway Drive-In in Harriman.) Freeman did not update the projector at the Midway because he felt its business couldn’t offset the cost. The Midway has been for sale for several years—with no takers. Enthusiasm for drive-ins has revived a bit in the 21st century. Nostalgia brings regulars to the Parkway from as far away as Madisonville, Morristown, and Oak Ridge, Freeman says. But nostalgia alone hasn’t provided enough fuel to keep drive-ins flourishing. The survivors have a little something extra fueling business. For the Parkway, it’s mountain tourists, Freeman says. These aren’t just people on vacation— they are people who spent the day visiting rustic mountain cabins and stopping at shops that sell traditional carvings and mountain dulcimers. The drive-in fits in perfectly with the character of that whole trip: nostalgia for the simple things and slow-paced family life. Few members of the crowd at the Parkway on a recent Saturday night could remember the old drive-in days. “My parents brought me when I was little,” recalls Taylor Sparks of Seymour, a young woman on a date with Tyler Green, who remembers coming to the Parkway with his whole Little League team as a kid. The young couple’s drive-in dates are a three-year tradition, but they don’t go unchaperoned: Zeus and Roxy, two beautiful huskies, can cuddle with them in the truck bed. Jaia McClure, who lives in the neighborhood across the parkway from the drive-in, made a video for her Facebook page of her three children reacting to the dire predictions about Walmart and the drive-in. Her son, like many 9-year-old boys, responded
with thoughts of mild violence (vague threats to slap the future Walmart management), while her daughter, 11, talked about how the big-box store would funnel money out of town. But those kids have been going to the drive-in with family and friends from the neighborhood many times each summer for most of their lives. They don’t want it to remain just because it reminds them of a lost childhood. It’s part of the childhood they are living right now. The last of Knoxville’s many drive-ins, the Twin-Aire, closed in 1988. By the next summer movie season, a Walmart had replaced it.
the city offered Walmart incentives to locate a store on the parkway. The city did not invite Walmart or provide tax breaks, he says. But Gilland, who was at the zoning board of appeals meeting, disputes that. “Even though we’re not offering tax abatement to Walmart, we’re offering regulation abatement,” he says. Many Maryville residents question why another Walmart is needed when there is already one on U.S. 411 and another in Alcoa. Taylor
says he can’t tell a property owner what to do if their plans fit with current zoning. “And there’s good reason for that,” he points out. “In some ways, laws were written to prevent me from redlining black property owners.” If City Council can pick and choose individual developments, that opens the door to discrimination as well as favors for insiders, he says. Taylor also notes that the drive-in itself faced vocal opposition when it reopened. Neighbors said it would be
says it’s not his job to judge demand. And he points out that while some oppose it now, Walmart rarely lacks for shoppers. But the former biology professor and former chair of the Great Smoky Mountains Association admits, “I’m getting beat up by my friends” over the Walmart. Taylor sold his own family-owned auto parts store about a decade ago to a chain after “seeing the writing on the wall” about how difficult it was becoming to compete with them. Regardless of his opinions, he
too loud and the glare from the screen would illuminate their homes. “But it met all the requirements of the zoning,” Taylor says. “The drive-in does a good job. And we’re going to expect and demand that Walmart be a good neighbor, too.” Taylor emphasizes that the project was discussed in planning commission meetings, City Council held three public hearings on it in one night, and the Council voted on it after two readings. “We had no one speak at any of those,” he says. But the company name never
BIG-BOX WHO?
The first public signs that Walmart was interested in building a large store on East Lamar Alexander Parkway came when the Cable and Milsaps families each asked in March to have their Blount County property—six parcels altogether—annexed into the city of Maryville. During the time it was in the county, the property that fronted the parkway was zoned commercial, but some of the back acreage was in a “suburbanizing zone,” a residential district that allows some commercial development, Jagger explains. The property owners made the request after being approached by Carlson Consulting Engineers of Memphis, which was looking to develop a Walmart but wanted it to have city services. The property bordered the city limits, which is a requirement for annexation in Maryville. It would be annexed into the city’s adjacent “business and transportation” zone, the city’s equivalent to commercial zoning. City Council approved the annexation and zoning of the property without the issue drawing any public attention. (If the property had remained in the county, it would have had to go through a public process to rezone the back acreage, Jagger says.) Metz notes that the U.S. 321 corridor is zoned for commercial development. “Commercial is the correct zoning, in my opinion, for it,” he says, saying 30,000 to 50,000 cars drive it daily. “If it hadn’t been Walmart it probably would have been something else. You can see commercial development just kind of walking down there.” Taylor says many people in Maryville believe—incorrectly—that
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showed up on any agenda or public notice. That’s typical. “The way development works is typically these companies go out to third parties, who buy the property,” says Taylor. The same thing happened in Knoxville and Sevierville, where a Chattanooga developer has been scouting locations for Walmart Neighborhood Markets, including a controversial project that would bulldoze a historic Knoxville home. As with that project, Walmart, via
currently nosing around Maryville, looking at commercial properties, a notable increase compared to the last three or four years. “Most of the time they’re very secretive about who they’re working for. On the private-sector side, it’s not that transparent at all,” he says. “I have to admit that some cities are more into announcing these kind of things.” But he and City Manager Greg McClain say the city shouldn’t talk about unconfirmed development possibilities.
spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg, says it has no plans to announce any new stores at this time. In Maryville, both the property owners signed nondisclosure agreements, Taylor and Metz say. (Attempts to reach those owners for this story were unsuccessful, and it’s unclear whether they’ve actually sold their property yet.) However, “We knew pretty early on that Walmart was the stakeholder here,” Taylor says. Sometimes companies speculate on land without committing; Taylor says seven or eight developers are
Bizarrely, even at a recent Maryville Regional Planning Commission meeting, held long after a slew of local stories about the Walmart, McClain and almost all the citizen speakers referred to it as “Big Box,” as if still striving not to speak a secret name. The whole approach creates a catch-22 for citizens. Gilland expresses frustration at being told “it’s too late for you to change the Walmart project” when no one knew the Walmart project existed until all key decisions had been made.
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Metz concedes this point. The only real opening for influencing the process comes in watchdogging every meeting, or working to change regulations before a project gets proposed to start with. Keep Maryville Quaint intends to do both.
IN THE ZONE
It begins, Higdon says, with attending every single city meeting so residents can see what’s coming. “The mayor basically said that to change this for today, we’d basically have to have done it 10 years ago,” Higdon says. “So we’ll look for the next 10 years.” The next step, Higdon says, is “being sure the zoning regulations really capture the spirit of the brand of the city.” Whether that brand is “Keep Maryville Quaint” or something else is part of a larger conversation in which his group, McClain, and Metz have all voiced interest. “I’m not an idiot. I understand that we have to grow,” says Higdon, who ran unsuccessfully against Taylor and Joe Hann for an open City Council seat in 2012. Because the footprint of the town is not expected to be much larger even 125 years from now, “the growth has to be really good growth,” Higdon says. He and others want Maryville to have these conversations and make some changes before the long-delayed Pellissippi Parkway Extension is built. Its exact route hasn’t been established, but it’s likely to intersect U.S. 321 near the site of the Parkway Drive-In. The extension has been in the works (and stalled) for years, but its draft environmental impact statement was basically reaffirmed last summer, and most Maryville leaders and residents feel that it’s only a matter of time. Many speculated, although no one knows for sure, that the extension is part of the reason Walmart is interested in that particular site on Lamar Alexander Parkway. Higdon, who grew up in Maryville and attended Maryville College, says he fears that if the extension dumps cars out at the big box, visitors will stop there and then drive to the mountains without ever visiting Maryville. “They’re just going to bypass the city,” he says. Metz agrees that “once that punches through over there, it’s going to change that whole area.” He says
overdevelopment is a fair concern and that it might be a good time to discuss zoning along U.S. 321 to “see what you can do to fit everything in tastefully with the surrounding area.” Higdon says he’d like to see zoning that limits store sizes (noting that even Walmart has an array of models), requires even more greenspace (perhaps 35 percent of the property to be developed), and sets more limits on the architecture and appearance of commercial development. Cities ranging from Gatlinburg to Hilton Head, S.C., have created rules that give those towns a uniform feel. (Higdon stresses that he’s not advocating Gatlinburg’s Swiss Village look, but at least something less hodgepodge than what happens now.) Taylor says he’s not convinced most people want uniform architectural development. And he argues that Maryville already has “pretty strict” building codes. “We’re often accused of being anti-business,” he says. Metz points to Maryville’s requirement that buildings have architectural details and not uninterrupted walls that literally look like big boxes. When the city required low signs around the Foothills Mall, Metz says, “Developers went nuts. It was going to be the end of Western civilization. And of course they’re all doing great business down there.” But at the May planning commission meeting, even many speakers not associated with Keep Maryville Quaint voiced fear that new development would change the character of the town or the approach to the Smokies. Jeffrey Vincent told the commission that the city needs to give companies incentives to redevelop existing buildings, bemoaning the number of empty downtown storefronts as well as empty big box and former grocery stores. John Rush of Walland (who said “I could care less about the drive-in theater”) expressed frustration about the traffic snarl he thinks Walmart will create. “When it’s on a scenic highway like 321, there should be a chance to have a discussion before it’s a done deal,” he told commissioners. Gilland says he would like development to complement the natural beauty of the Smokies. He says Keep Maryville Quaint plans to seek information about the National
Park Service’s “dark sky assessment” for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and, if possible, model what effect the Walmart might have. The park service’s “night skies team” measures the brightness of the dark. According to its website, the team works with neighboring communities to protect dark skies, including using zoning to set appropriate outdoor light usage. Gilland is also interested in exploring overlay zoning or a special zone for the U.S. 321 corridor. He questions whether the development attracted by Walmart will support the “peaceful side of the Smokies” marketing that Blount Partnership uses to advertise Townsend, Maryville, and Alcoa. Walland resident Elan Young spoke to the Maryville planning commission about the Walmart project and the “peaceful side” last week. “I think a brand is something that needs to be protected,” she said, explaining that Maryville visitors expect “something that’s wholly different from what you get in Gatlinburg.” But Kim Mitchell, director of tourism for Blount Partnership and the Smoky Mountain Tourism Development Authority, says she doesn’t see Walmart or Maryville commercial development as a threat to the brand. “We totally think the growth is going to be a great addition,” she says. “We by all means do not want to see anything have to shut down because of any big box. But that is part of growth sometimes.” She says Walmart would likely bring more restaurants to that end of town, which would serve tourists visiting Townsend in winter, when many of its restaurants are closed. And when it comes to a uniform appearance for development, Mitchell says that would be great for the approach to Townsend. But on U.S. 321 nearer Maryville? “I don’t think that’s something we’ll have a lot of interest in,” she says. “I don’t think we’ll ever, ever become a Pigeon Forge.” At the planning commission meeting, McClain framed the debate as a clash between tradition and the economic growth that could drive Maryville into the future. “Quaint” is worth discussing, he said. “But ‘quaint’ means a lot of things to a lot of different people. If you’re talking about ‘quaint,’ you can
end up with higher taxes if you aren’t careful and give the impression that you’re not business-friendly.” Shirley Rupert, a lifetime resident of Maryville, countered, “We already have the best schools and parks in the state based on the economy we have now, so to say we need more is not a good case for that.”
TAIL LIGHTS
It is Cynthia Jalean Johnson’s 15th birthday, and she has brought the whole party to the drive-in: the pizza, the bags of chips, the cake, the bouncy teenagers with pink- and bluestreaked hair. Many are Alcoa High School Band members, but, like the rest of the drive-in clientele, they come in an array of skin colors and sizes. Several pump their fists in the air and yell, “Save the drive-in!” “We come to the drive-in all the time,” says Cynthia’s mom, Atlean Johnson. “It’s good, cheap, clean family place to go and not have to worry about anything. … I like Walmart, but to push out the momand-pop places like this, places where you can come together and have no strife—it’s not fair.” By 8 p.m., the noise is raucous. The Pink Panther theme on the drive-in radio competes with shouts from little boys wrestling in their pajamas and a teen’s blasting bass. A woman walks to the concession stand, explaining her momma’s recipe loudly into her cellphone: “I used canned biscuits and put them over the chicken in the pan …” On the loudspeakers, free ice cream is offered to the first person to answer a complex movie trivia question. Some nights, there are scavenger hunts. But then the sun sinks behind the screen. At last, it’s almost dark. Time for the main event. People start returning to their pillow piles, their armchair-sized faux-velvet beanbags, their little corner of the evening. The movie comes on—no previews—and suddenly it’s quieter than in a theater, except for the pleasant peep of distant frogs. A single star winks out as clouds drift in. The sun has set on the Parkway Drive-In. In four or five hours the movies will be over, but the lights won’t come up—except for the headlights, heading back through the halogen haze of Lamar Alexander Parkway while the drive-in shrinks in the rearview mirror. ◆
“I like Walmart, but to push out the mom-and-pop places like this, places where you can come together and have no strife—it’s not fair.” — ATLEAN JOHNSON
May 28, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 17
A&E
P rogram Notes
Million Dollar Bash
RETROGRADE // NICK HUINKER
The Sense
A local concert celebrating Bob Dylan enters its second decade
I
n the spring of 2005, Steve Horton called up some of the friends he’d played music with in the 1970s and ’80s and put together a concert to celebrate Bob Dylan’s 64th birthday. (Dylan was born on May 24, 1941.) Horton hoped the concert would be an annual event, but he had no real expectation that, 10 years later, the Bob Dylan Birthday Bash would not only still be around but would be a major fundraiser for WDVX. “The Dylan Birthday Bash was started mainly as an excuse to get together with friends and play music,” Horton, a founding member of the maverick Knoxville country-rock band the Lonesome Coyotes and part of the irreverent jazz/folk band Y’uns, writes in a recent email interview. “It was also, for me, an opportunity to connect with other/younger players on the local music scene. I had been raising kids and not been active in music for 15-20 years.” One of the kids whose upbringing Horton had been occupied with was his son, Will Horton, who is now the frontman for local Southern/alt-rock band the Black Cadillacs. Will, who played the second Dylan birthday concert in 2006, when he was still in high school, is making his fourth or fifth appearance next weekend at the 11th version of the event, scheduled for Market Square on Friday, June 5, at 5:30 p.m. Admission is free. (“Like so many musical endeavors, our main function is to sell beer!” Steve Horton writes.) The lineup for this year’s Bash includes singer/songwriter Maggie Longmire, Will Horton, the local Celtic band Four Leaf Peat, the Will Boyd Group, Exit 65, Dixieghost, and a trio composed of Steve Horton, Hector Qirko, and Dana Paul. Longmire and
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Inside the Vault: Coal Country
KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 28, 2015
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Qirko are also members of the Lonesome Coyotes; Paul was a member of Rich Mountain Tower, a pioneering local country-rock group from the late 1960s and early ’70s. Now that the Bob Dylan Birthday Bash is an official WDVX fundraiser, Horton has passed some of the logistical details, like publicity and sponsorship, to the radio station staff. “My part is primarily getting other musicians involved. Sometimes players would rather not learn new material or material that they’re not likely to use again. On the other hand, some bands take the challenge and run with it,” he writes. “I get to do the fun part—putting musicians together, bringing in old friends, finding new musical connections.” The cross-generational lineup of the concert fits with Horton’s conception of Dylan’s legacy. “I was in high school when Dylan went from folk to electric,” he writes. “And those albums, particularly Blonde on Blonde, Highway 61 Revisited, Bringing It All Back Home, were mind-blowing. The imagery, the intelligence, combined with a biting sense of humor really caught my imagination. And his entire effect was to break down the expectations, the walls, of music we were listening to at the time. … You could do an event like this with quite a few songwriters and it would be interesting. But not many have the depth and breadth of Dylan’s catalog. He appeals across age groups, so many different styles, that it makes it entertaining to hear what each group comes up with for the event. This year, the show encompasses jazz, folk, folk rock, trop-rock, rock, and bluegrass. Next year maybe we’ll add a gospel choir.” —Matthew Everett
Music: Mass Driver
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The Sense made their mark on the city’s mid-00s all-ages scene with an upbeat post-hardcore sound and relentless work ethic. Taking their name from a 2002 Hot Water Music song, the Sense drew heavily on that band for influence, but they distinguished themselves with a rich tunefulness. The Sense recorded two EPs before disbanding, one of which was never made publicly available; both, plus scattered demos, are newly available online. Listen at knoxmercury.com or thesense2.bandcamp.com. BASSIST MIKEY ALLRED: The five of us grew up together in Jamestown. We were basically the only people our age interested in playing in bands. We had a few before the Sense—the five of us together, as well as in different combinations. GUITARIST JOEY ALLRED: We played our first show in the parking lot of a roller skating rink in Tullahoma, in 2003. I don’t think we went over very well, and we probably played pretty badly. DRUMMER KIRK WRIGHT: We started playing around in Knoxville pretty quickly, as that was where Mikey and Joey lived at the time. And I remember playing so many shows at Old City Java. VOCALIST STEVEN DELK: We played so many times at Old City Java, I can’t even count. What a big mashed-up, beautiful memory that is. Atropos, the Bloodiest Night of My Life, Beware the Gentlemen, the Shape, Royal Bangs, Joey’s Loss. I know I’m leaving some bands out, but it was an amazing time to be playing in Knoxville. GUITARIST DOUG GARRETT: We would practice all day on Saturday. We would work on music for hours. A huge fight would break out between the brothers, Steve would go lay on the couch, Kirk would pull a Gameboy from his front pocket, and I would silently play guitar. Then a couple hours later we would quit playing and watch music videos until Saturday Night Live came on. That was every Saturday of my life for a couple years. I miss it sometimes. MIKEY ALLRED: We recorded some of the earlier stuff ourselves on a shitty laptop with a pirated version of Cakewalk. Then Greg Barker recorded a
Music: Sarah Neufeld
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Books: Steve Inskeep
self-titled EP for us in my parents’ basement. That was a big step forward in sound quality, and we had started to get a bit darker and less straightforward musically at that point. WRIGHT: The next record we did with Miah [Lajeunesse] over at the Sound Lair. That one was a little more intensive, as we had to move all our equipment into a new space and record there, which I myself had never done. WRIGHT: I guess the Sense was coming to an end around mid-2005. The big thing that ended it was Steve deciding to leave the band. We decided to go on and keep playing music as City of Traitors, which we had already decided we were going to adopt as our new band name, but Steve’s voice was such an integral part to the sound of the Sense that there was no way we could consider ourselves the same band. DELK: It was a thing that should have ended up being a break and not a break-up. This band ending was one of my biggest regrets. For my part in it, I’ll probably never really forgive myself. These guys are still my brothers. Everybody moved on and did this and that, but we will always have this connection. Mikey Allred plays in Across Tundras and Holy Mountaintop Removers and runs Nashville’s Dark Art Audio recording studio. Joseph Allred lives in Crawford, Tenn., running Meliphonic Records and playing regularly under his own name and as part of the duo Graceless. Doug Garrett lives in Jamestown and records music as You Were a Weapon. Steven Delk lives in Crossville and hopes to begin making music again soon. Kirk Wright lives in Jamestown and works for the Fentress County Register of Deeds.
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Movies: Tomorrowland
Inside the Vault
A&E
Coal Country Guy and Candie Carawan document generations of music from coal-mining communities BY ERIC DAWSON
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f you were to attend a coal-mining music workshop at the Highlander Center in the late 1970s or early ’80s, what kind of music do you think you would hear? Protest songs and folk music, with some old-time picking and bluegrass, maybe? Those styles are definitely represented in the three half-hour videos Guy and Candie Carawan produced to document the event, but the videos also reveal how culturally varied coal-mining communities can be. Square-dance fiddle tunes, Protestant hymns, black gospel and oratory, original country songs, Merle Haggard covers, and the inimitable voice of Nimrod Workman can all be heard in between stories from miners and their families. Taken as a whole, the tapes make up an intimate document of a group of people bonded together by the hard conditions of life in coal-mining communities. Sarah Ogan Gunning’s several performances include the hymn “In That City,” a couple of painful autobiographical songs, and her masterpiece “Dreadful Memories,” an eye-openingly bitter coal-miner’s answer to Tennessee native J.B.F. Wright’s sentimental hymn “Precious Memories.” Recorded by Alan Lomax in the 1930s, Gunning was an early but often overlooked influence on 20th-century American folk music. Hazel Dickens offers a stunning take on “Beautiful Hills of Galilee” and tells of singing familiar songs for West Virginia expats in the bars of “the hillbilly ghettos” of Baltimore. Lois Short explains that she doesn’t know the title of the Primitive Baptist hymn she remembers from childhood, and that she has never heard anyone else sing it.
It goes without saying that mining has always been a man’s world, so it’s heartening to see that women are given an equal voice here, testifying to their lives as miners as well as the daughters, wives, and mothers of miners. In addition, the participation of African-American miners helps expand on the traditional image of the industry and its culture that most Americans probably have. With rollicking piano accompaniment, Julia Cowans delivers a take on what she says is a favorite of black miners, “If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again,” that brings everyone to their feet to join in singing and clapping. Singing as both comfort and lamentation is most apparent during Nimrod Workman’s rendering of Merle Haggard’s “Sing Me Back Home.” Workman also delivers a powerful reading of “Mother Jones’ Will,” about his friend and union organizing ally Mary Harris “Mother” Jones. There’s straight-ahead country music, too, most notably from a group led by Wayne Anglin. They offer a mining-themed original and follow up with Haggard’s “If We’re Not Back in Love by Monday.” A jump cut drops us into the middle of the group as they’re excavating the country roots of Chuck Berry’s “Maybellene,” while Workman taps his toes and watches Gilmore’s spirited dancing with bemusement. After such tough tales and sad hymns, everyone probably needed a party, and it looks like a pretty good one. ◆ Inside the Vault features discoveries from the Knox County Public Library’s Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound. Visit vimeo.com/tamisarchive to see these videos and other footage.
PRESENTED BY
www.TennesseeTheatre.com Tickets available at the Tennessee Theatre box office, Ticketmaster.com and by phone at 800-745-3000. May 28, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 19
A&E
Music
WHO
Mass Driver with O’Possum, Realm, and Split Tusk
WHERE
Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage (8502 Kingston Pike)
WHEN
Friday, May 29, at 7 p.m.
HOW MUCH $8
MORE INFO
facebook.com/ openchordmusic
Mass Appeal Knoxville stoner-rock band Mass Driver keeps things heavy but casual BY MIKE GIBSON
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ass Driver guitarist Drew Fulton looks like a guy you might see hanging out at the truck stop, burly and fur-faced and hot off the road, waiting in line at the shower stalls with giant-size travel mug in hand. Bassist Rodney Sheehan would fit in at the comic shop, maybe, talking about goofy wizard board games and old-school sci-fi and the Miracleman relaunch. And drummer Austin Polley, with his improbably lean, sharp features shaded by a baseball cap that rarely leaves his head, could be an extra from King of the Hill. Point is, if the guys in Mass Driver want to be rock stars, they certainly aren’t dressing for success. “Nobody in the band has tattoos,” says Fulton, drinking beer on the patio of Barley’s in the Old City, a favorite Mass Driver haunt. “No one has face paint. There’s zero posturing. A lot of
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times, nobody knows who we are at our shows until we get up on stage.” A sort-of stoner-rock outfit begun roughly two years ago, Mass Driver is the result of the on-and-off collaboration of Fulton and Sheehan, both of whom hail from the same small town in Pennsylvania, and both of whom found themselves, for different reasons, living in Knoxville. Fulton says their abiding dream, for some years now, has been to start a “big, loud, ’70s-style guitar-rock band,” but fate always seemed to have other plans. “We tried to do this back home, and it never worked,” he says. “We had like 30 drummers come and go. It really made us look like jerks.” Somehow, though, the time seemed right with both men living in a new city roundabout 2013. Recruiting Polley through a Craigslist ad, the three kick-started local surf-rock
outfit Appalachian Surf Team along with guitarist Sean Sparbanie. The founding of Mass Driver inevitably followed. “The rest,” says Polley, tongue poking through cheek, “is rock ’n’ roll history.” “Finally, it worked,” says Fulton. “We were all here, we all got along, and we all listened to the same records.” The band’s founding credo, as Fulton tells it, is rooted in “power and energy and riffs, without any heavy-metal darkness or imagery. “I like aggressive music, but not angry music,” he continues. “Ted Nugent, old ZZ Top, Mountain—having a good time all the time, that’s what really got me. And I don’t want it to mean anything, other than ‘have a good time.’ And blow your ears out. Shit-kicker riffs and cowbells—that’s what it’s all about.” With one EP, one full-length, and one live album to its credit (see Bandcamp for details), Mass Driver has indeed managed to mean very little, in the best possible way. Their sound comes off as a mash-up of Fu Manchu-style fun-time riff rock with the occasional splash of Nebula tail-of-the-comet spaciness added as a good-customer bonus. And the lyrics—in which Fulton
and Sheehan hold forth on weighty world affairs such as big robots and BMX bikes—are delivered with the same groovy sense of cadence and in the same cheerful yelp favored by Fu Manchu singer Scott Hill. “My brother is an English teacher, and he always dogs me about the lyrics,” Fulton says. “And I tell him, I can say everything I want to say just by writing about food.” They’re not an ambitious lot, these Mass Driver fellows—they openly refer to themselves as “hobby rockers.” And truth be known, their decided lack of big plans is endearing. No booking-agent hassles or merchandising plans for these guys. They would rather sit around a table at Barley’s sucking suds, arguing about whether Rush was better off before Neil Peart joined the band, or whether Holy Mountain is better than Dopesmoker, or which doom-rock platter is best for marathon listening on a long road trip. “We kind of take all of our planning a month at a time,” Fulton says. “But it’s cool, because people seem to be into us.” Polley adds that, “If we set out to do anything, I guess, it would be just to have a good time. And encourage people to come out and see stuff that doesn’t involve a DJ.” ◆
Music
Arcade Games Arcade Fire’s Sarah Neufeld expands her horizons with a slew of side projects—musical and otherwise BY CAREY HODGES
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and it’s really beautiful to drop in every month and connect with everyone there,” Neufeld gushes. “I try to keep up with my practice on tour by making time whenever it’s possible. That’s the only way I’ve ever done it, because I’ve always had a crazy schedule. It recalibrates me.” That renewed energy is evident in Neufeld’s latest effort, the recently released and hauntingly beautiful Never Were the Way She Was. The album is a collaboration between Neufeld and saxophonist Colin Stetson who, in addition to being a touring member of Arcade Fire, is also Neufeld’s longtime partner. Prior to the project, Neufeld had released her solo debut, 2013’s Hero Brother, but Never Were the Way She Was marks the artist’s first foray into partnering with a single collaborator.
air and then chisel a piece out of it.” While Stetson and Neufeld are scheduled to perform together for several dates over the summer, both are sprinkling their touring schedules with solo performances. When asked if she finds it difficult to channel energy for her solo shows after sharing the stage with Arcade Fire’s massive lineup, Neufeld asserts the opposite. “It’s much more intense alone or with one other person, in terms of pressure and responsibility, but I’ve always felt energized and transported in performance, no matter what the context.” Though she’ll be performing tracks from Hero Brother during her opening slot for St. Vincent at the Tennessee Theatre, Neufeld will also be unveiling plenty of new material, which she promises will pack an unexpected punch for audience members expecting a set of toneddown violin compositions. (She’ll be joined by Arcade Fire drummer Jeremy Gara.) “I just finished the record and felt inspired to get the live show together for this tour,” she says. “There’s still a focus on the violin. But I’m also singing a lot more. Words, even! There’s drums on most songs, plus the occasional synth moment. So expect music, in the form of Jeremy and I playing the shit out of our instruments.” ◆
WHO
St. Vincent with Sarah Neufeld
WHERE
Tennessee Theatre (604 S. Gay St.)
WHEN
Sunday, May 31, at 8 p.m.
HOW MUCH $34.50
Photo by Susan Moss
hese days, Sarah Neufeld, a classically trained violinist best known for lending her bowed tones to disco beats and splashy crescendos as a member of indie-rock juggernaut Arcade Fire, splits her time between touring, her home in Montreal, working with her yoga studio in New York City, and relaxing in Vermont. Neufeld is used to the frequent locale-shuffling. Most recently, the composer/violinist spent the bulk of 2014 playing to sold-out arenas on Arcade Fire’s international Reflektor tour. But while her passion for music is what drives Arcade Fire’s avid fans to pack 20,000-seat venues to capacity, it’s Neufeld’s passion for yoga that fuels her creativity, both personally and professionally, helping her find calm amid her hectic schedule. “The tools I’ve developed over the years through practicing yoga and meditating have fed into the focus I’ve needed to be dedicated to growing as a musician and a composer,” she says. “I also think that having started playing the violin at age 3 led me to become naturally inclined toward the habit of regimented daily practice, in many different areas.” In 2012, Neufeld invested—literally—in her love of yoga by opening the Moksha Yoga studio in Manhattan’s West Village, where she and her business partners offer classes that follow the Modo style of practice. Whereas music is discouraged in certain other types of yoga, Modo encourages it. In fact, when she has the chance, Neufeld performs for the studio’s classes. “The studio is amazing! The community is growing all the time
“Collaborating with Colin is a very natural process,” she explains. “We have a similar approach as instrumentalists and composers, so we were able to see the writing through quite quickly, often finishing each others musical sentences.” Throughout her career, Neufeld has avoided being pegged into a single genre. With Arcade Fire, her work jumps from anthemic arena rock to ’80s pop to emotion-drenched ballads. With the Bell Orchestre, an instrumental post-rock project she helped found with Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry in 2002, she adopts a more classical approach. But it’s her solo material that best captures Neufeld’s breathtaking musical range. On Hero Brother, she introduced audiences to her own soaring falsetto, sometimes pairing it with layers of violin and natural ambience like a crackling fire, other times leaving it to stand alone. “We try to stay away from too much labeling or direct use of musical references,” she says of her creative partnership with Stetson. “We find inspiration in everything in us and around us. Both of us have music in our heads all the time, so it’s really just a matter of choosing the right bits and bringing them together. A lot of our pieces also originate in improvisation— you lose yourself in something in the
A&E
MORE INFO
tennesseetheatre.com
May 28, 2015
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A&E
Books
The Conquest of Jacksonland NPR’s Steve Inskeep pits two dynamic American figures against each other in his new book BY JACK NEELY
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from other Jackson biographies is its almost equal attention to a Cherokee chief named John Ross. Though well known to students of East Tennessee history—he established Ross’s Landing, which later became better known as Chattanooga—Ross is an undeservedly obscure character in American history. An early ally who worked closely with Jackson during the Creek Wars, Ross later became Jackson’s leading antagonist. “I’d never heard of him, three or four years ago,” Inskeep admits. When people have talked about Jackson and the Cherokee, Inskeep has observed, they usually picture the ruthless, reckless Jackson abusing “the faceless Cherokee victims.” Simplistic stories are unsatisfying to journalists. “I wanted to put a face on that,” Inskeep says. “And when I found John Ross, I thought, here’s the guy I wanted to put a face on.” Most Cherokee leaders’ inner lives are obscure to us. However,
look at all sides of things, listen to what people say. In history, too, you need to listen to people. I was lucky to pick two characters who wrote a lot of letters, and letters so expressive and reflective of their personalities.” Ross was much more restrained than Jackson, but enjoyed subtle humor. “Jackson just splatters all over the page.” Inskeep mentions getting valuable advice from University of Tennessee professor Dan Feller, director of the Papers of Andrew Jackson project. In a back-cover blurb, Feller praises the book’s accuracy, fairness, and relevance. Neither Jackson nor Ross are pure heroes or villains. Both white president and Cherokee chief owned slaves. “I want to present human beings as human beings—good and bad,” Inskeep says. Jackson was an especially complex figure, who early in his career had worked in closer alliance with Indians than most American military leaders ever had, and once insisted on Cherokee fighters getting equal pay. But he was a forceful personality who didn’t like to be crossed, and could be unforgiving. ◆ Steve Inskeep is speaking at the Bijou Theatre on Tuesday night, hosted by the Friends of the Library. The front part of the Bijou is a ca. 1816 hotel that hosted a fete for Jackson early in his career, when he was most famous as the hero of New Orleans.
WHO
Steve Inskeep
WHERE
Bijou Theatre (803 S. Gay St.)
WHEN
Tuesday, June 2, at 7 p.m.
HOW MUCH
Free, but reservations are required Photo by Linda Fittante
acksonland is a book nobody much expected—perhaps not even, until a couple of years ago, its author, Steve Inskeep. NPR’s morning host is known for his up-to-the-minute reporting of breaking news, his sometimes merciless interviews of presidents and prime ministers, and his foreign reporting from faraway places like Syria, Iran, and Venezuela. His first book was about modern Pakistan. And then suddenly he comes up with a book about Andrew Jackson and the Deep South of 180 years ago. “It’s all connected,” Inskeep says, speaking on a cellphone from Washington, D.C., where he lives and works when he’s in America. “I cover news, or try to, with a sense of history. Covering a war makes me think about other wars.” Originally from the Indianapolis area, Inskeep, who turns 47 in a couple of weeks, went to college at Morehead State, in Kentucky, where he studied history. It gave him a habit of looking way back. “Two or three years ago, I was fed up with our current politicians,” he says, and he wanted to get to the root of the problem, in the origins of the two-party system. “I wanted to look at how it all came together. I’ve always been interested in the 1830s. This is when democracy starts looking recognizably like the democracy we have now. America was becoming a diverse country, trying to figure out how they’re going to coexist and live together. And Jackson is just about the most compelling character of the era.” What makes Jacksonland different
Ross, who had some white ancestry and was fully literate in English, left hundreds of personal letters to read. “The Cherokee were active participants,” Inskeep says. “They had agency. They were a really creative and interesting people.” As for Jackson, “I mark him down for a lot of despicable things,” Inskeep says, adding that some readers may find more reasons to dislike Old Hickory. Jacksonland brings forth how Jackson, despite his famously firm opposition to South Carolina over the Nullification Crisis, expanded slavery when he expanded the South. Inskeep also outlines how Jackson personally profited from his conquests. “But there’s something kind of admirable about his persistence,” he says. “There’s something about Jackson that has to be respected.” Would Inskeep like to have a drink with Jackson? Until now his casual phone voice is just different enough from his radio voice that it might give you doubts that you’re talking to the guy you hear on the radio at 5 a.m. But then he lets loose his familiar guffaw. “I think I would!” he says. “In my work I have learned to appreciate all kinds of people, even the ones who are over the top, difficult, egotistical.” Jackson, he says, is someone who desperately wanted to seem just—even though his ideals often got “overridden” by his own ego. History shares much with journalism, he says. “In daily journalism, I try to be careful and slow, and
MORE INFO
knoxbijou.com or knoxfriends.org
Movies
Back to the Future Brad Bird’s optimistic message is derailed in Tomorrowland BY APRIL SNELLINGS
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ou’ve probably heard the old chestnut about message filmmaking: If you want to send a message, use Western Union. Alternately, I guess you can just use Brad Bird. It pains me to say that; I’ve always thought of Bird, director of The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and even a darn fine Mission Impossible sequel as belonging firmly in the Can Do No Wrong category. I guess I have to move him into the Disappointingly Mortal column now, because Tomorrowland is a didactic, condescending jumble of clichés and platitudes, wrapped in a story so hazily defined and clumsily told that we don’t even know what the story actually is until the last few minutes—about an hour after many viewers have stopped caring. I wish I could say it starts off promisingly, but it doesn’t. Tomorrowland begins with its two main characters arguing about the mechanics of
screenwriting and the best way to tell their story. “You don’t have to explain the ticking clock,” one character tells the other. “Audiences know ticking clocks are bad.” This kind of meta-commentary runs throughout the film, and it’s one of many examples of a nice idea that’s poorly handled. Frank Walker (George Clooney) grumbles a lot about how we’ve broken the future, and that it was much different when he was a kid. Cue the flashback that occupies the first half hour —young Frank (Thomas Robinson) visiting the 1964 World’s Fair, where he enters an invention contest with an old vacuum cleaner that he’s turned into a semi-functional jetpack. He catches the eye of Athena (Raffey Cassidy), a little girl who helps smuggle Frank into Tomorrowland, a transdimensional utopia populated by scientists, artists, and other high achievers.
The action eventually shifts to present day and centers on Casey Newton (Britt Robertson, the film’s greatest asset), a young woman with an optimistic streak and a knack for engineering. Casey receives a pin that seemingly transports her to Tomorrowland whenever she touches it; unfortunately, the pin malfunctions and Casey is forced to find another point of entry. This leads her to a grown-up Frank, who’s now a bitter recluse and hoards impossibly high-tech gadgets in his rundown farmhouse. Frank and Casey reluctantly team up, of course, and make a mad dash for Tomorrowland while being chased by killer robots. I won’t tell you why they need to get there, since the film goes to such pains to conceal the meat of its plot until the last few minutes. I’ll tell you this, though: It’s incredibly disappointing and basically amounts to a lecture about how selfish and lazy we’ve become. Tomorrowland is preachy out of the gate, but by the third act it’s an all-out sermon. It even ends with a stunningly miscalculated coda that feels more like a propaganda film than the call to arms for creativity and optimism it’s meant to be. The thing about propaganda films is that they’re creepy and off-putting,
A&E
even when you agree with their message. Tomorrowland really does have good intentions. As Frank tells us, the future was different when he was a kid—it was all bright and shiny and full of hope and flying cars. Now we think the future is dark and on fire and full of apocalypses, and we seem to be fine with it. Tomorrowland wants to take us to task for the cynicism that has infected popular entertainment, and it asks us to put the optimism back in science fiction. It wants us to dream big, be hopeful, and realize our potential. The movie has a particular ax to grind with dystopian YA fiction such as The Hunger Games and Divergent—a genre that I’m very glad seems to be in its waning phase. If only it weren’t so caught up in polemics that it has little time for things like a coherent story or complex characters. Everyone in the film has one setting: Frank is grumpy, Casey gets amazed a lot, and so on. There’s lots of soliloquizing about how we ruined the future and whether we can fix it, occasionally interrupted by killer robots. That’s pretty much the film: Speechify, run from cyborgs, repeat. For a movie that champions creativity and optimism, Tomorrowland is depressingly dull and unimaginative. ◆ May 28, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 23
CALENDAR Thursday, May 28 THE BAD DUDES WITH YUNG LIFE, BIG BAD OVEN, NEW ROMANTICS, GUY MARSHALL, AND ERIC GRIFFIN • Pilot Light • 8PM • $5 BONE JUGS N HARMONY • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Frank Zappa meets Spike Jones, Looney Tunes meets Nintendo. A ragtime-jugband-calypso-shake-up from Urbana, IL. GARTH BROOKS AND TRISHA YEARWOOD • Thompson-Boling Arena • 7:30PM • The country superstar kicks off his 2015 tour with a four-night stand at Thompson-Boling Arena, his first official Knoxville appearances in 18 years. • $69.23 CBDB • Preservation Pub • 10PM THE JAZZ TIME SWING ENSEMBLE • Market Square • 7PM • Part of the city of Knoxville’s spring series of free concerts on Market Square. • FREE THE LEADBETTERS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM THE MICHAEL MARTIN BAND WITH SWEET G.A. BROWN • WDVX • Noon • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE DR. RALPH STANLEY WITH NATHAN STANLEY AND THE CLINCH MOUNTAIN BOYS • The International • 6PM • Three-time Grammy Award winner and International Bluegrass Hall of Honor inductee Dr. Ralph Stanley is a true American musical icon who, at 87 years old, continues to be embraced by fans of all generations. • $31-$65 SWINGBOOTY • The Orangery • 6PM • Upbeat danceable jazz. ADAM WHIPPLE, ETHAN NORMAN, AND KYLE ADEM • Clancy’s Tavern and Whiskey House • 8PM Friday, May 29 KYLE ADEM • Union Jack’s • 7PM THE T. MICHAEL BRANNER CONCEPTET • Bijou at the Bistro • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE GARTH BROOKS AND TRISHA YEARWOOD • Thompson-Boling Arena • 7:30PM • The country superstar kicks off his 2015 tour with a four-night stand at Thompson-Boling Arena, his first official Knoxville appearances in 18 years. • $69.23 FOUR LEAF PEAT • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE FREEQUENCY • Hurricane Grill and Wings • 8PM FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE THE GRAND SHELL GAME • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM MR. BILL WITH PSYMBIONIC, COSMOORE, AND PSYCHONAUT • The Concourse • 9PM • Presented by Midnight Voyage Productions. 18 and up. • $8-$12 MASS DRIVER WITH O’POSSUM, REALM, AND SPLIT TUSK • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 7PM • Fuzz pedals, clangin’ cowbell, and rock n roll. That’s all Mass Driver is concerned with. All ages. • $8 • See Music Story on page 20 R.B. MORRIS WITH THE TIM LEE 3 • Pilot Light • 9PM • $5 MY SO-CALLED BAND • The International • 7:30PM • Relive the ‘90s! All Ages • $5 PALE ROOT • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 10PM • Knoxville Americana. THE POP ROX • Bearden Field House • 9PM • FREE SUSAN PRINCE • Susan’s Happy Hour • 8PM • FREE NATALIE YORK WITH GALLOWS BOUND • WDVX • Noon • Part 24
KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 28, 2015
Cumberland Blue. • $28 THE STELLA VEES • Star of Knoxville Riverboat • 3PM • Kentucky blues band the Stella Vees kicks off the Smoky Mountain Blues Society’s season of summer blues cruises. • $16-$19
of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE Saturday, May 30 BAMM • Kristtopher’s • 9PM • $5 CORY BRANAN WITH SAMANTHA CRAIN • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM GARTH BROOKS AND TRISHA YEARWOOD • Thompson-Boling Arena • 7:30PM • The country superstar kicks off his 2015 tour with a four-night stand at Thompson-Boling Arena, his first official Knoxville appearances in 18 years. • $69.23 THE DEAD RINGERS WITH KROOKED KREEK • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 6PM • FREE SAMANTHA GRAY AND THE SOUL PROVIDERS • Jimmy’s Place • 6PM • R&B. All ages. • FREE THE LOST DOG STREET BAND • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE MARLOW DRIVE • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Chattanooga-based blues rock. All ages. THE MENACE FROM EARTH WITH FRETZ LANE, THE BILLY WIDGETS, AND VICTIMS OF EUPHORIA • Longbranch Saloon • 5:30PM THE WILL OVERMAN BAND WITH ERIN MCLENDON • WDVX • Noon • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE SHRIEK OPERATOR WITH SMOKER AND SHILPA RAY • Pilot Light • 10PM • $5 BEN SHUSTER • Bearden Field House • 9PM • FREE WRENN • Preservation Pub • 8PM THE WILL YAGER TRIO • Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE Sunday, May 31 JOCELYN ARNDT • Preservation Pub • 10PM GARTH BROOKS AND TRISHA YEARWOOD • Thompson-Boling Arena • 7:30PM • The country superstar kicks off his 2015 tour with a four-night stand at Thompson-Boling Arena, his first official Knoxville appearances in 18 years. • $69.23 HAOCHI WITH BLEETH • Pilot Light • 10PM • Haochi and Bleeth, are both three-piece Miami based bands, whose members have been an active part of the Miami music scene for years. A scene that’s bred bands the likes of Torche, Jacuzzi Boys, Load, Floor and countless others.Most recently Haochi’s grungy dark rrriot girl laced sound brought them to be one of the headliners for Sweatstock 2015, a Record Store Day event where over 4,000 people attended. ST. VINCENT WITH SARAH NEUFELD • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • In 2011 St. Vincent released her third album, ‘Strange Mercy,’ called “one of the year’s best” by the New York Times and “something to behold” by Pitchfork. The record cemented her status as one of her generation’s most fearsome and inventive guitarists, earned her the covers of SPIN, Paper, and Under the Radar, performances everywhere from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Fallon to Letterman and Conan, and a year-long sold-out tour of her biggest venues to date around the world. • $34.50 • See Music Story on page 21 SHIFFLETT AND HANNAH • The Bistro at the Bijou • 12PM • Live jazz. • FREE STARSHIP WITH COLUMBIA BLUE • Knoxville Civic Coliseum • 6:30PM • The Knoxville Fire Fighters Association would like to invite you out for a night of family fun. Join us Sunday May 31st at 6:30 pm as we host one of the biggest bands of the 80’s STARSHIP featuring Mickey Thomas with songs like “We Built This City” “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us” and “Sara”. Special guest
Monday, June 1 RYAN CAVANAUGH • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Hailing originally from North Carolina, Cavanaugh’s first appearances as a child featured his hard-driving styles on WPAQ radio and with Doc Watson, Doug Dillard, and John McEuen. IAN FITZGERALD WITH JOCELYN ARNDT • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE MIGHTY MUSICAL MONDAY • Tennessee Theatre • 12PM •
Wurlitzer meister Bill Snyder is joined by a special guest on the first Monday of each month for a music showcase inside Knoxville’s historic Tennessee Theatre. • FREE ALLEN STONE WITH BRYNN ELLIOTT • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • On his third full-length album, singer/songwriter Allen Stone proves himself deeply devoted to making uncompromisingly soulful music that transcends all pop convention. Stone’s debut for Capitol Records, Radius marks the follow-up to the Chewelah, Washington-bred 28-year-old’s self-released and self-titled sophomore effort, a 2011 album that climbed to the top 10 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart and gained acclaim from renowned rock critic Ann Powers (whose NPR review hailed Allen Stone as “meant for those of us who like our R&B slightly unkempt and exceedingly feelingful”). • $20 Tuesday, June 2
Photo by Stuart Mullenberg
MUSIC
Thursday, May 28 - Sunday, June 7
IRA GLASS Tennessee Theatre (604 S. Gay St.) • Saturday, May 30 • 8 p.m. • $29.50-$57.50
It’s a testament to the personality, charm, and originality of Ira Glass that he could achieve fame in the 21st century as a radio personality, of all things. But Glass, who oversees the weekly public radio show This American Life, did more than that: He helped reimagine and breathe life into a format most thought was dying. His soothing, nasal voice has become instantly recognizable to legions of fans (as well as a smaller, equally devoted, group of haters). His format-busting show is based on the premise that people want to hear good stories, without tidy or moralistic endings. These are stories that are weird and occasionally unsettling, like the America his show attempts to document. In concert (is that what you call them?), he often ruminates on the art of telling stories, playing some of his favorite clips. (Joe Tarr)
27
Spotlight: Ava Luna
30
Spotlight: Marble City Opera
Thursday, May 28 - Sunday, June 7
THE ANDREW DUHON TRIO • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Andrew Duhon is a songwriter from New Orleans, a teller of stories with an undeniable voice, weighted and soulful. JAZZ ON THE SQUARE • Market Square • 8PM • Featuring the Marble City 5. Every Tuesday from May 12-Aug. 25. • FREE REV. FREAKCHILD WITH SUSTO • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE Wednesday, June 3 AVA LUNA WITH CROWD AND RYAN SCHAEFER • Pilot Light • 10PM • $7 • See Spotlight on page 27 FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 6:30PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE CHRISTY HAYES WITH MY POLITIC • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE CHRISTY HAYES AND CALICHE WITH THE TENNESSEE TURKEYS AND MITCHELL DE LA GARZA • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • All ages. ROBINELLA WITH DAWN COPPOCK • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7PM • East Tennessee’s own Robinella debuts new songs with her band, and we welcome back poet Dawn Coppock to read poems from her book, “As Sweet as It’s Going to Get.” • $10 PRESTON SHIRES • The Bistro at the Bijou • 7PM • Live jazz.
• FREE IRA WOLF AND MY POLITIC • Preservation Pub • 10PM • Nashville independent folk/Americana artists. 21 and up. • $5 Thursday, June 4 THE COVERALLS • Market Square • 7PM • Part of the city of Knoxville’s spring series of free concerts on Market Square. • FREE THE DEAD 27S • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM JEFF THE BROTHERHOOD • The Concourse • 7:30PM • Brothers Jake and Jamin Orrall have been playing together since they were little kids and formed the group when they were in high school. The band incorporates a DIY ethos in everything they do, including their raucous live shows. All ages. • $10-$12 DALE JETT AND HELLO STRANGER WITH IRA WOLF • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-aweek lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE Friday, June 5 BAD IDOLS • Longbranch Saloon • 8PM FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE MATTHEW HICKEY • Jimmy’s Place • 6PM • Southern rock and country covers. All ages. • FREE J.C. AND THE DIRTY SMOKERS WITH THE BARSTOOL ROMEOS • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • With a sound reminiscent of Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, and Johnny
CALENDAR
Cash, The Dirty Smokers are one of the few real honky-tonk bands around these days. DEVAN JONES AND THE UPTOWN STOMP • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE LEWIS, YAGER, MANEY AND BOYD • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE SUSAN PRINCE • Susan’s Happy Hour • 8PM • FREE HECTOR QIRKO, DANA PAUL, AND STEVE HORTON WITH FLATT LONESOME • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE ED SCHRADER’S MUSIC BEAT • Pilot Light • 10PM • Ed Schrader is a natural, albeit unconventional, storyteller. The Baltimore-based musician, comedian, and sometimes pasta chef, who is best known for his sweaty performances as half of the postpunk duo Ed Schrader’s Music Beat , writes loosely autobiographical songs that are full of witty observations. 18 and up. • $6 THE STATE STREET RHYTHM SECTION • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • State Street Rhythm Section is a powerhouse funk band with horn section playing high-energy dance, funk and soul music. TALL PAUL • Bearden Field House • 9PM • FREE IAN THOMAS AND THE BAND OF DRIFTERS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • Performing both solo and with a band, Thomas draws on a variety of American roots influences, delivering a captivating raw live performance and distinctive sound from his original compositions on guitar, harmonica and kazoo. WDVX BOB DYLAN BASH • Market Square • 5:30PM • WDVX
Presents the 11th Annual Bob Dylan’s Birthday Bash on Friday, June 5, 2015 from Market Square featuring Maggie Longmire, Will Horton & Friends, Four Leaf Peat, The Will Boyd Group, Exit 65, Dixieghost and Hector Qirko, with Dana Paul and Steve Horton. The music starts at 5:30pm with festival seating. • FREE • See Program Notes on page 18 Saturday, June 6 JASON ELLIS • Jimmy’s Place • 6PM • FREE FREEQUENCY • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 7PM • The local country/folk/pop trio Frequency celebrates the release of its new CD, Angels Wading. HYMN FOR HER • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Hymn for Her have been busy touring across the country and abroad over the past few years, injecting juiced-up backwoods country blues with a dose of desert rock psychedelia that has been described as “Hell’s Angels meets the Amish.” THE LOOSE HINGES WITH RYE BABY • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE RJD2 • The International • 9PM • Underground hip-hop super-producer to some, virtuoso sample-based instrumental wizard to others: either way - no better way to celebrate the International’s one-year anniversary than with the Psychedelic, Electronica, Hip Hop & Rock infused sounds of RJD2! • $10-$20 LEON RUSSELL • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 6PM • Leon Russell is a
FRIENDS OF THE KNOX COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY PRESENTS
- An Evening with -
STEVE INSKEEP Congratulations to our winners! Sarah Elias (Boyd’s Jig & Reel winner) and Donald Reagan (Rik’s Music & Sound winner) Watch for more special ticket giveaways from the Knoxville Mercury in the future.
TUESDAY JUNE 2, 2015 7:00 PM
Anchor of NPR’s MORNING EDITION - and author of Jacksonland: President Andrew Jackson, Cherokee Chief John Ross, and a Great American Land Grab
Book signing will follow presentation.
Free and open to the public.
Advance registration is required:
www.knoxfriends.org
Jacksonland will be available for purchase at the event or at the Friends of the Library’s Annual Used Book Sale May 29 - June 1
Music & Sound
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
Thank you to our partners Boyd’s Jig & Reel, and Rik’s Music & Sound! May 28, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 25
CALENDAR music legend and perhaps the most accomplished and versatile musician in the history of rock ‘n roll. In his distinguished and unique 50 year career, he has played on, arranged, written and/or produced some of the best records in popular music. • $25 BEN SHUSTER • Bearden Field House • 9PM • FREE UNSPOKEN TRADITION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE ALAN WYATT • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE Sunday, June 7 ANCIENT RIVER WITH BURNING ITCH AND THE PAT BEASLEY BAND • Pilot Light • 9PM • $5 SHIFFLETT AND HANNAH • The Bistro at the Bijou • 12PM • Live jazz. • FREE THE JEFF SIPE TRIO • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM • Two-time Grammy nominee Jeff Sipe brings together the incredible virtuosos Mike Seal on guitar and Taylor Lee on bass to form the Jeff Sipe Trio. An alumni of Berklee College of Music, Sipe has established himself as one of the greatest drummers in the United States. He has toured and/or recorded with highly renowned artists such as Bela Fleck, Phil Lesh, Jimmy Herring Band, Trey Anastasio Band, Derek Trucks, Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit and many others. JESSICA WATSON • Clancy’s Tavern and Whiskey House • 6PM
OPEN MIC AND SONGWRITER NIGHTS
Thursday, May 28 SCOTTISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Held on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month. • FREE BREWHOUSE BLUES JAM • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM Tuesday, June 2 PRESERVATION PUB SINGER/SONGWRITER NIGHT • Preservation Pub • 7PM • A weekly open mic. OLD-TIME JAM SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Hosted by Sarah Pickle. • FREE Wednesday, June 3 OPEN BLUES JAM • Susan’s Happy Hour • 8PM • FREE Thursday, June 4 IRISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Held on the first and third Thursdays of each month. • FREE BREWHOUSE BLUES JAM • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM
DJ AND DANCE NIGHTS
Friday, May 29 THE ART OF HOUSE WEEKENDER DANCE PARTY • Southbound Bar and Grill • 11 p.m. • Featuring resident DJs Rick Styles, Mark B, and Kevin Nowell. 21 and up. Saturday, May 30 THE ART OF HOUSE WEEKENDER DANCE PARTY • Southbound Bar and Grill • 11 p.m. • Featuring resident DJs Rick Styles, Mark B, and Kevin Nowell. 21 and up. Sunday, May 31 26
KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 28, 2015
Thursday, May 28 - Sunday, June 7
S.I.N. • The Concourse • 9 p.m. • A weekly dance night for service-industry workers—get in free with your ABC license or other proof of employment. ($5 for everybody else.) • 18 and up. LAYOVER BRUNCH • The Concourse • 12PM • Featuring music by Slow Nasty, Psychonaut, and Saint Thomas Ledoux. Presented by Midnight Voyage Productions on the last Sunday of each month through October. • FREE Friday, June 5 THE ART OF HOUSE WEEKENDER DANCE PARTY • Southbound Bar and Grill • 11 p.m. • Featuring resident DJs Rick Styles, Mark B, and Kevin Nowell. 21 and up. Saturday, June 6 THE ART OF HOUSE WEEKENDER DANCE PARTY • Southbound Bar and Grill • 11 p.m. • Featuring resident DJs Rick Styles, Mark B, and Kevin Nowell. 21 and up. TEMPLE DANCE NIGHT • The Concourse • 9PM • Celebrate the first anniversary of the International and Concourse with DJs Fallen, Darkness, and Revrin. • $5 Sunday, June 7 S.I.N. • The Concourse • 9 p.m. • A weekly dance night for service-industry workers—get in free with your ABC license or other proof of employment. ($5 for everybody else.) • 18 and up.
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Friday, May 29 EDOARDO BELLOTTI • Westminster Presbyterian Church • 8PM • Come enjoy a recital by the virtuoso organist Edoardo Bellotti, of the Eastman School of Music. His program includes works of Pasquini, J.S. Bach, Haydn, and Mendelssohn as well as his own arrangement of a concerto by Vivaldi. Admission is free, and a nursery is provided. • FREE Thursday, June 4 MARBLE CITY OPERA: BLUE MONDAY • The Square Room • 8PM • Blue Monday is a “jazz opera” composed by George Gershwin in 1922. This one-act opera incorporates elements of jazz and blues with a storyline that parallels plot devices used in Italian opera tragedies. Marble City Opera will be presenting this opera in collaboration with the Marble City 5, who will be playing sets on either side of the opera. • $15-$25 • See Spotlight on page 30 Friday, June 5 MARBLE CITY OPERA: BLUE MONDAY • The Square Room • 8PM • $15-$25 • See Spotlight on page 30
COMEDY AND SPOKEN WORD
Saturday, May 30 IRA GLASS • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • Ira Glass is the host and creator of the public radio program This American Life. The show is heard each week by over 2.2 million listeners on more than 500 public radio stations, with another 1.5 million downloading the podcast. • $29.50-$57.50 • See Spotlight on page 24 Tuesday, June 2 STEVE INSKEEP • Bijou Theatre • 7PM • Andrew Jackson, who spent a night in 1819 in what was then the Lamar House Hotel and is now Knoxville’s Bijou Theater, will
once again be the talk of the town at the Bijou on June 2.NPR Morning Edition anchor Steve Inskeep will discuss his new book, Jacksonland: President Andrew Jackson, Chief John Ross, and A Great American Land Grab (Penguin Press 2015,) a narrative history of two men who led their respective nations at a crossroads of American history. The event is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required at www.knoxfriends.org. • See story on page 22 OPEN MIC STANDUP COMEDY • Longbranch Saloon • 8PM • Come laugh until you cry at the Longbranch every Tuesday night. Doors open at 8, first comic at 8:30. No cover charge, all are welcome. Aspiring or experienced comics interested in joining in the fun email us at longbranch.info@gmail.com to learn more, or simply come to the show a few minutes early. • FREE
THEATER AND DANCE
Friday, May 29 THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: STEEL MAGNOLIAS • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Concerned with a group of gossipy southern ladies in a small-town beauty parlor, the play is alternately hilarious and touching—and, in the end, deeply revealing of the strength and purposefulness which underlies the antic banter of its characters. May 29-June 14. • $15 ARTISTIC DANCE UNLIMITED: FUNKY FRESH AND 15 • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 7PM • $15 Saturday, May 30 THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: STEEL MAGNOLIAS • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • May 29-June 14. • $15 ARTISTIC DANCE UNLIMITED: FUNKY FRESH AND 15 • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 1PM and 7PM • $15 Sunday, May 31 THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: STEEL MAGNOLIAS • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 3PM • May 29-June 14. • $13 Thursday, June 4 THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: STEEL MAGNOLIAS • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • May 29-June 14. • $15 Friday, June 5 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: THE HOBBIT • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • It’s unusual for a modern work to become a classic so quickly, but Tolkien’s “ring” stories, which began with The Hobbit, clearly are in this very special category. Bilbo, one of the most conservative of all Hobbits, is asked to leave his large, roomy and very dry home in the ground in order to set off as chief robber in an attempt to recover an important treasure. June 5-21. • $12 TENNESSEE VALLEY PLAYERS: LES MISÉRABLES • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7:30PM • The Tennessee Valley Players proudly present the epic and uplifting tale about the survival of the human spirit; the story is set against a nation in the throes of revolution. The musical features such songs as: “On My Own,” “One Day More,” “Do You Hear the People Sing?” and “I Dreamed a Dream,” performed by a cast of over 50 multi-talented singers and actors. The show is presented “in the Round” at Carousel Theatre next to Clarence Brown Theatre on the UT Campus. Tennessee Valley Players is producing the show in collaboration with the University of Tennessee School of Music. • June 5-21 • $21 THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: STEEL MAGNOLIAS • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • May 29-June 14. • $15
Thursday, May 28 - Sunday, June 7
Saturday, June 6 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: THE HOBBIT • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 1PM and 5PM • June 5-21. • $12 TENNESSEE VALLEY PLAYERS: LES MISÉRABLES • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7:30PM • June 5-21 • $21 THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: STEEL MAGNOLIAS • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • May 29-June 14. • $15 Sunday, June 7 TENNESSEE VALLEY PLAYERS: LES MISÉRABLES • Clarence Brown Theatre • 3PM • June 5-21 • $21 THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: STEEL MAGNOLIAS • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 3PM • May 29-June 14. • $13 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: THE HOBBIT • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 3PM • June 5-21. • $12
CALENDAR
FESTIVALS
others through the Rotary Club of Bearden. 50 teams will compete for Knoxville’s own sanctioned Tennessee State Barbeque Championship.Hours are Friday, May 29, from 5-10 p.m. and Saturday, May 30, from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. • $15
Friday, May 29 ROCKY TOP BBQ FEST • World’s Fair Park • 5PM • The Rotary Club of West Knoxville presents The 3rd Annual Rocky Top BBQ Fest. This is a Tennessee State Barbeque cookoff sanctioned by the KCBS. Bring your whole family and enjoy a fun-filled weekend and observe some of the best barbeque chefs in the country and a smorgasbord of other festivities.Rocky Top BBQ Fest will happen on May 29 -30, 2015 at the World’s Fair Park, and all proceeds will go to support Mobile Meals, Flu Shot Saturday, Pond Gap Elementary, Knox County Schools, 3rd Grade Dictionary Project (all Knox County Schools, West Hills Park, Interfaith Clinic, Friends of the Smokies and many
Saturday, May 30 ROCKY TOP BBQ FEST • World’s Fair Park • 10AM • The Rotary Club of West Knoxville presents The 3rd Annual Rocky Top BBQ Fest. This is a Tennessee State Barbeque cookoff sanctioned by the KCBS. Bring your whole family and enjoy a fun-filled weekend and observe some of the best barbeque chefs in the country and a smorgasbord of other festivities.Rocky Top BBQ Fest will happen on May 29 -30, 2015 at the World’s Fair Park, and all proceeds will go to support Mobile Meals, Flu Shot Saturday, Pond Gap Elementary, Knox County Schools, 3rd Grade Dictionary Project (all Knox County Schools, West Hills Park, Interfaith Clinic, Friends of the Smokies and many others through the Rotary Club of Bearden. 50 teams will compete for Knoxville’s own sanctioned Tennessee State Barbeque Championship.Hours are Friday, May 29, from 5-10 p.m. and Saturday, May 30, from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. • $15 DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL • Melton Lake Park (Oak Ridge) • The second annual Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival will be held Saturday, May 30, at the Oak Ridge Marina and Pavilion in Melton Lake Park. Registration is now open! This year the festival will be preceded by an evening social event and beer garden on Friday, May 29, at the park. For more information, visit http://oakridge. racedragonboats.com/.
SPORTS AND RECREATION
Photo by Emily Theobald
AVA LUNA Pilot Light (106 E. Jackson Ave.) • Wednesday, June 3 • 10 p.m. • $7 • thepilotlight.com
Ava Luna the band is almost as unpredictable as the music they make. Over the course of three albums—stretching from the modest but promising 2011 debut, Ice Level, to the brand-new Infinite House—the Brooklyn-based group’s lineup has expanded and then contracted, with the various regulars taking on different roles for each album. It shows in the band’s music, which has matured from R&B-inflected indie rock, heavily indebted to Dirty Projectors, into something harder to nail down. Infinite House is a sprawling collection of alternately polished and raw modern art rock, funky and bracing, with appealing discursions into pop, punk, and Zappa-style absurdity. With openers Crowd and Ryan Schaefer, frontman for local indie/art-pop band Royal Bangs. (Matthew Everett)
Saturday, May 30 SWEETWATER CLEAN SWEEP • Volunteer Landing • 10AM • Full day of water activities at Volunteer Landing with Legacy Parks, Billy Lush Board Shop, and SweetWater Brewing Company. SUP Yoga, Paddleboard Demos, then at 2 p.m. help clean up the water along Volunteer Landing in the SweetWater Clean Sweep River Clean Up. An after party at the Outdoor Adventure Center featuring SweetWater products will see someone win a SweetWater Paddleboard. HARD KNOX ROLLER GIRLS • Knoxville Civic Coliseum • 5PM • Knoxville’s rollicking roller-derby team takes on the Richland County Regulators, from Columbia, S.C. • $10-$12
FILM SCREENINGS
Thursday, May 28 SLOW FOOD MOVIE NIGHT: ‘FED UP’ • Knoxville Public House • 8:30PM • Executive produced by Katie Couric and Laurie David (“An Inconvenient Truth”) and directed by Stephanie Soechtig (“Tapped”), “Fed Up” uses the real-life stories of teens struggling with obesity to challenge the conventional wisdom of why we gain weight and how to lose it. There is no charge to attend this event; however, a $5 donation is suggested.
ART
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts 556 Parkway (Gatlinburg)
May 28, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 27
CALENDAR MAY 18-AUG. 22 Arrowmont 2015 Instructor Exhibition (an opening reception will be held on Friday, June 5, from 7-9 p.m.); MAY 22-JULY 2: Festoon: A Solo Exhibition by Kim Winkle Art Market Gallery 422 S. Gay St. MAY 1-30: Artwork by Inna Nasonova Knox and Mary Saylor; JUNE 5-30: artwork by Marjorie Spalding Horne and Hugh Bailey. (An opening reception will be held on Friday, June 5, from 5:30-9 p.m.) Bliss Home 29 Market Square MAY 1-31: Artwork by Sarah McFalls, part of the International Biscuit Festival; JUNE 5-30: artwork by Brian Murray. (An opening reception will be held on Friday, June 5, from 6-9 p.m.) The District Gallery 5113 Kingston Pike APRIL 24-MAY 30: Automata: Art Cars by Clark Stewart Downtown Gallery 106 S. Gay St. MAY 1-31 Richard J. LeFevre’s Civil War series of mixed-media works East Tennessee History Center 601 S. Gay St. APRIL 27-OCT. 18: Memories of the Blue and Gray: The Civil War in East Tennessee at 150
Thursday, May 28 - Sunday, June 7
Emporium Center for Arts and Culture 100 S. Gay St. MAY 1-31: Artwork by the Artist Association of Monroe County and the Community Artist League of Athens; Clarence Brown Theatre Costume ad Prop Art; International Biscuit Festival Art Exhibition; Thoughts and Things by Marty Elmer; and artwork by Graceila Barlesi Snyder. JUNE 5-30: Origins, an exhibit of handmade masks by Stephen R. Hicks and photos by Nicole A. Perez-Camoirano. (An opening reception will be held on Friday, June 5, from 5-9 p.m.) Ewing Gallery 1715 Volunteer Blvd. MAY 1-JUNE 12: UT BFA Honors Exhibition Knoxville Museum of Art 1050 World’s Fair Park Drive MAY 8-AUG. 2: Intellectual Property Donor, an exhibit of work by Evan Roth. ONGOING: Higher Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in Tennessee; Currents: Recent Art From East Tennessee and Beyond; and Facets of Modern and Contemporary Glass. Liz-Beth and Co. 7240 Kingston Pike JUNE 1-JULY 4: 25 Years in the Making, a gallery exhibit of the foremost local and regional art, pottery, sculpture, art glass, wearable art, jewelry, and handcrafted gifts. (An artists’ reception will be held on Friday, June 26, from 5-8 p.m.)
forecaStlefeSt.coM
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forecaStle 2015!
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(Market Square or the Gallery Shopping center) through June 24!
Winner’s name will be randomly selected during a live broadcast of “the Buzzlist” between 3-5 p.m. friday, June 26! from your concert and festival hookup in Knoxville... On the Air and Streaming 24.7.365 WUTKRADIO.COM or listen on your
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 28, 2015
McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture 1327 Circle Park Drive JUNE 5-AUG. 30: Through the Lens: The Botanical Photography of Alan S. Heilman. ONGOING: The Flora and Fauna of Catesby, Mason, and Audubon and Life on the Roman Frontier. Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church 2931 Kingston Pike MAY 8-JUNE 30: Knoxville Watercolor Society Exhibit. An opening reception will be held on Friday, May 8, from 6-7:30 p.m. Urban Bar 109 N. Central St. APRIL 3-MAY 30: Paintings and drawings by Charlie Pogue.
LECTURES, READINGS, AND BOOK SIGNINGS
Sunday, May 31 CINDY MCMAHON: ‘FRESH WATER FROM OLD WELLS’ • Union Ave Books • 2PM • McMahon will read from her memoir, set in Georgia during the Civil Rights Movement. • FREE Thursday, June 4 EAST TENNESSEE HISTORICAL SOCIETY ANNUAL MEETING • The Foundry • 5:30PM • “After They’ve Seen Paree:
Tennesseans and the First World War” will be the topic of Dr. Michael E. Birdwell’s address at the annual meeting of the East Tennessee Historical Society. The event begins with a reception, 5:30-6:30 p.m., followed at 6:30 p.m. by a dinner, a lecture, and awards presentations. Both members and the general public are welcome. For reservations or for additional information call 865-215-8883 or visit our website at www.eastTNhistory. org. • $40 KNOXVILLE WRITERS’ GUILD • Laurel Theater • 7PM • Novelist and screenwriter Shannon Burke will read from his newest book, “Into the Savage Country,” at the June program of the Knoxville Writers’ Guild. A $2 donation is requested at the door. Friday, June 5 PAMELA SCHOENEWALDT: ‘UNDER THE SAME BLUE SKY’ • Union Ave Books • 6PM • Knoxville novelist Pamela Schoenewaldt will read from and sign copies of her new historical novel. • FREE Saturday, June 6 DANIEL PAULIN: ‘LOST ELKMONT’ • Union Ave Books • 2PM • Daniel Paulin will sign and discuss his new book, Lost Elkmont. • FREE
FAMILY AND KIDS’ EVENTS Friday, May 29
Thursday, May 28 - Sunday, June 7
S.T.E.A.M. KIDS • Blount County Public Library • 4PM • Every week will be a different adventure, from science experiments to art projects and everything in between. Materials will be limited and available on a first come, first served basis. For grades K-5. • FREE Saturday, May 30 FAMILY FUN DAY • McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture • 1PM • Join us for a free Family Fun Day featuring activities, crafts, tours, and more. We’ll be exploring Ancient Egypt, and making our own artistic creations. All materials will be provided. The program is free and open to the public. Reservations are not necessary. • FREE Tuesday, June 2 LEGO CLUB • Blount County Public Library • 4PM • Kids will complete different themed and timed Lego Challenges, as well as have some time for free building. • FREE Friday, June 5 S.T.E.A.M. KIDS • Blount County Public Library • 4PM • Every week will be a different adventure, from science experiments to art projects and everything in between. Materials will be limited and available on a first come, first served basis. For grades K-5. • FREE Sunday, June 7 GIRLS OUTSIDE NATIONAL TRAIL DAY HIKE • Fort Dickerson Park Greenway • 2PM • In partnership with the Girl Scout Council of the Southern Appalachians, Girls Outside is celebrating National Trails Day (a day late) with our first ever summer hike! The hike will be for girls in grades 1-3 on Sunday, June 7 from 2-4 pm, so register now! We will start at Fort Dickerson and hike downhill to the Fort Dickerson quarry through the woods and newly created trail system. • FREE
CLASSES
Thursday, May 28 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Halls Senior Center • 12PM • Call Carolyn Rambo at 382-5822. BELLY DANCE LEVELS 1 AND 2 • Knox Dance Worx • 8PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance.com. • $12 Friday, May 29 AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Halls Senior Center • 12PM • Call Carolyn Rambo at 382-5822. Saturday, May 30 YOGA AT NARROW RIDGE • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 9AM • For more information contact Mitzi Wood-Von Mizener at 865-497-3603 or community@ narrowridge.org. Monday, June 1 KMA AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER WORKSHOPS • Knoxville Museum of Art • 9AM and 1PM • The Knoxville Museum of Art is pleased to announce a series of one-day hands-on workshops for children and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders June 1-5, 2015.Each day of the week is dedicated to a specific age group. Students will interact with works of art in the galleries, and explore different art processes while creating their own works of art. To sign up for a workshop, or to receive additional information, please go to www.knoxart.org or
CALENDAR
contact the museum education department at education@knoxart.org. GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 5:30PM • Call 865-5772021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. Tuesday, June 2 KMA AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER WORKSHOPS • Knoxville Museum of Art • 9AM • To sign up for a workshop, or to receive additional information, please go to www.knoxart.org or contact the museum education department at education@knoxart.org. GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. Wednesday, June 3 KMA AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER WORKSHOPS • Knoxville Museum of Art • 9AM • To sign up for a workshop, or to receive additional information, please go to www.knoxart.org or contact the museum education department at education@knoxart.org. Thursday, June 4 KMA AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER WORKSHOPS • Knoxville Museum of Art • 9AM • To sign up for a workshop, or to receive additional information, please go to www.knoxart.org or contact the museum education department at education@knoxart.org. GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. BELLY DANCE LEVELS 1 AND 2 • Knox Dance Worx • 8PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance.com. • $12 Friday, June 5 KMA AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER WORKSHOPS • Knoxville Museum of Art • 9AM • To sign up for a workshop, or to receive additional information, please go to www.knoxart.org or contact the museum education department at education@knoxart.org. Saturday, June 6 YOGA AT NARROW RIDGE • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 9AM • For more information contact Mitzi Wood-Von Mizener at 865-497-3603 or community@ narrowridge.org.
MEETINGS
Sunday, May 31 SILENT MEDITATION SUNDAYS • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 11AM • FREE Monday, June 1 GAY MEN’S DISCUSSION GROUP • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 7:30PM • We hold facilitated discussions on topics and issues relevant to local gay men in a safe and open environment. Visit gaygroupknoxville.org. Sunday, June 7 SILENT MEDITATION SUNDAYS • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 11AM • The gatherings are intended to be inclusive of people of all faiths as well as those who do not align themselves with a particular religious denomination. For more information contact Mitzi Wood-Von Mizener at 865-497-3603 or community@ narrowridge.org. • FREE
ETC.
Thursday, May 28 NEW HARVEST PARK FARMERS MARKET • New Harvest Park • 3PM • FREE LITTLE RIVER TRADING CO. PINT NIGHT • Little River Trading Co. (Maryville) • Buy a pint or two to support Tennessee Wild, a coalition of organizations dedicated to protecting Cherokee National Forest. • 5PM Friday, May 29 FRIENDS OF THE KNOX COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY BOOK SALE • Bearden High School • 2PM • This year’s annual used book sale May 29-June 1 has families in mind: books for students to help them maintain their reading skills over the summer, activities for children while Mom and Dad shop, and bargains to keep peoples’ wallets in good shape. The sale will kick off with a Members Preview Day on Friday, May 29, 2–8 p.m. and will be open to the public Saturday, May 30–Monday, June 1. The purpose of the sale remains the same—to raise funds for the Knox County Public Library (KCPL) and to offer affordable books to everyone in the community. The last day of the sale, Monday, June 1, is the popular $5 Bag Sale. Area teachers and librarians are invited to shop $5 per bag before everyone else, on Sunday, from 4-6 p.m. School purchase orders will be accepted. • FREE LAKESHORE PARK FARMERS’ MARKET • Lakeshore Park • 3PM • FREE
UP NEXT!
Saturday, May 30 OAK RIDGE FARMERS’ MARKET • Historic Jackson Square • 8AM MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 9AM • FREE THE RETROPOLITAN CRAFT FAIR • Historic Southern Railway Station • 11AM • The Retropolitan Craft Fair is a hand selected indie-craft marketplace featuring the South East’s finest talents in contemporary craft and design while also incorporating upcycled goods with a funky, vintage inspired, and fabulously quirky vibe. Our fair brings makers out of their studios to celebrate all things artsy, crafted, and most importantly retropolitan. Each vendor is chosen exclusively after a juried event. They are then curated based on one-of-a-kind products, creativity, and retropolitan swagger.With food trucks, wine, and shopping - The Retropolitan Craft Fair is a great way to spend a lovely May Saturday!Free admission for all ages. • FREE FRIENDS OF THE KNOX COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY BOOK SALE • Bearden High School • 11AM • FREE Sunday, May 31 FRIENDS OF THE KNOX COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY BOOK SALE • Bearden High School • 1PM • FREE Monday, June 1 FRIENDS OF THE KNOX COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY BOOK SALE • Bearden High School • 9AM • FREE Tuesday, June 2 EBENEZER ROAD FARMERS’ MARKET • Ebenezer United Methodist Church • 3PM • FREE Wednesday, June 3 MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 11AM • FREE Thursday, June 4 NEW HARVEST PARK FARMERS MARKET • New Harvest Park • 3PM • FREE May 28, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 29
CALENDAR
Thursday, May 28 - Sunday, June 7
A co-op is a business owned by its customers.
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS EAST TENNESSEE CELEBRATION • Bailey’s Sports Grille • 6PM • Bailey’s in Knoxville is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Tennessee to support youth mentoring relationships. For more information, call Bailey’s at (865) 531-2644 or visit us at www.BaileysSportsGrille.com.
A co-op is guided by cooperative values self-help self-responsibility democracy equality equity solidarity
Friday, June 5 LAKESHORE PARK FARMERS’ MARKET • Lakeshore Park • 3PM • FREE FIRST FRIDAY EXHIBIT AND RECEPTION • Artists Studios and Shoppes • 5PM • More than half a dozen artists will be hosting open studios with photography, leatherwork, quilting, textile art, graphic design, painting and more. • FREE NEXT 2 NOTHING SWIMWEAR/UNDERWEAR FASHION SHOW • The International • 7:30PM • Part of Knoxville PrideFest. 18 and up. • $10
A co-op is guided by ethical values honesty openness social responsibility caring for others
Illustration by Ryan Colbert
Three Rivers Market is owned by over 6,500 of your friends, neighbors, and kinfolk in Tennessee. Come find out how you can own it too!
MARBLE CITY OPERA: BLUE MONDAY The Square Room (4 Market Square) • Thursday, June 4, and Friday, June 5 • 8 p.m. • $15-$25 • thesquareroom.com
Blurring the line between reality and the operatic narrative has been an ongoing theme for Marble City Opera since its inception, two years ago, as Knoxville’s chamber opera company. Case in point—their previous production, in January, filled Puccini’s La Bohemé with an all-female cast in a nightclub setting. Next up for MCO is Blue Monday, a one-act jazz opera by George Gershwin, with book and lyrics by Buddy DeSylva, that predates both Rhapsody in Blue and Porgy and Bess. However, the origins of Blue Monday were anything but traditional, and MCO enticingly intends to blur the traditional distinction between the music performance and the venue itself. Inspired by the story of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, Blue Monday is set in a Harlem gin-joint nightclub and concerns a love triangle among Joe, a gambler, Vi, Joe’s lover, and Tom, a nightclub singer—a classic operatic conflict.
local, organic, and natural food Open daily 9 am - 10 pm 1100 N. Central St., Knoxville, TN 37917 www.threeriversmarket.coop
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 28, 2015
Written to be a part of the Broadway revue George White’s Scandals of 1922, the original production featured white singers in blackface. Those days are gone—MCO has gathered a substantial cast that features two notable Knoxville singers in baritones Michael Rodgers and Brandon Gibson and a pair of noteworthy guests, tenor Vincent Davis and soprano Tracy Marie Koch. Also in the cast are pianist Brandon Coffer and Dominick White. The production is directed by Corinne Hayes with the jazz quintet Marble City 5 acting as the nightclub’s ensemble. (Alan Sherrod)
Saturday, June 6 OAK RIDGE FARMERS’ MARKET • Historic Jackson Square • 8AM MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 9AM • FREE MS. WHEELCHAIR TENNESSEE FUNDRAISER • Volunteer Landing • 7PM • The purpose of this fundraising event is to send our MS WHEELCHAIR TENNESSEE 2015, Jenny Morton, from Columbia,Tennessee to the national program. Delegates to the National MS WHEELCHAIR AMERICA 2016 are expected to raise all their expenses, including $1800 entry fee, travel cost, and necessary clothing for 5 days. This is not a beauty pageant but a program to educate the public about 52,000,000 Americans with disabilities, about accessibility, and the civil rights of all. Judging is based on accomplishments, communication skills, and self-projection/ perception. • $10 Sunday, June 7 NATIVE AMERICAN FLUTE CIRCLE • Ijams Nature Center • 4PM • Meets the first Sunday of the month. All levels welcome. Call Ijams to register 865-577-4717 ext.110.
Send your events to calendar@knoxmercury.com
The L ong View
CALENDAR
FRIDAY, JUNE 17 CHRIS STAPLETON WITH SAM LEWIS • Bijou Theatre • 8 p.m. • $19.50 SATURDAY, JULY 18 DRIVIN’ N CRYIN’ • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 6 p.m. • $15-$20 MONDAY, JULY 27 DIANA KRALL • Tennessee Theatre • 8 p.m. • $64.50$84.50 Tuesday, July 28 THE CHRIS ROBINSON BROTHERHOOD • Bijou Theatre • 8 p.m. • $20 JAMES TAYLOR AND HIS ALL STAR BAND • Thompson-Boling Arena • 8 p.m. • $59.50-$85 WHITECHAPEL • The International • 7 p.m. • $17-$20
STURGILL SIMPSON
SATURDAY, AUG. 1 BLACKBERRY SMOKE • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 6 p.m. • $30-$35
SATURDAY, JUNE 20 BILLY JOE SHAVER • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 6 p.m. • $20-$25
p.m. • $15-$40
SUNDAY, JUNE 21 CYMBALS EAT GUITARS • Pilot Light • 9 p.m. • $10
SATURDAY, JULY 11 UNKNOWN HINSON • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 6 p.m. • $20-$25
FRIDAY, AUG. 7 10 YEARS WITH NONPOINT, THE FAMILY RUIN, AND AWAKEN THE EMPIRE • The International • 7 p.m. • $20-$50 THE STEELDRIVERS • Bijou Theatre • $25 “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC • Tennessee Theatre • 8 p.m. • $39.50-$59.50
Monday, July 13 THEORY OF A DEADMAN • The International • 7 p.m. • $22-$45
SATURDAY, AUG. 15 SUMMER SLAUGHTER 2015 • The International • 2 p.m. • $25-$60
SATURDAY, JUNE 27 RAY WYLIE HUBBARD • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 6 p.m. • $15-$20 YELAWOLF WITH HILLBILLY CASINO • The International • 9
FRIDAY, JULY 10 A.A. BONDY • Pilot Light • 9 p.m. • $12-$15
SATURDAY, AUG. 29 COREY SMITH • Tennessee Theatre • 8 p.m. • $25 SATURDAY, SEPT. 5 THE KENTUCKY HEADHUNTERS • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 6 p.m. • $15-$20 SATURDAY, SEPT. 12 STURGILL SIMPSON • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 6 p.m. • $20-$25 TUESDAY, SEPT. 15 THE MILK CARTON KIDS • Bijou Theatre • 8 p.m. • $27-$37 SATURDAY, SEPT. 19 CODY CANADA AND THE DEPARTED • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 6 p.m. • $15-$20 THE DIRTY GUV’NAHS FAREWELL TOUR • Bijou Theatre • 8 p.m. • $27 FRIDAY, SEPT. 25 THE DIRTY GUV’NAHS FAREWELL TOUR • Tennessee Theatre • $27 THURSDAY, OCT. 22 SOULFLY WITH SOILWORK, DECAPITATED, AND SHATTERED SUN • The International • 6:45 p.m. • $25-$28 SUNDAY, NOV. 1 YOUNG THE GIANT WITH WILDLING • Tennessee Theatre • 8 p.m. • $28
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May 28, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 31
OUTDOORS
Voice in the Wilder ness
Tales of the WILDCAT Bert Emmerson can’t stop hiking, for thousands of miles. Will he find what he’s looking for? BY KIM TREVATHAN
B
ert Emmerson was hiking through a broad grassy valley in New Mexico’s Gila Wilderness, trying to make it to the Mexican border and finish the Continental Divide Trail. It was mid-December and the last person he’d seen, two days earlier, was a forest service ranger who warned him about the two packs of wolves in Gila: the good kind and the bad kind. From the pines that lined the perimeter of the grassy valley arose the howling that Bert dreaded. “I knew they were watching me,” says Bert, who had seen their tracks in the snow two days earlier. He picked up a good-sized stick and kept a grip on it until long after the hike had ended and he was about to board a Greyhound bus to take him home to Maryville. “I realized, at that point, that I didn’t need it anymore,” he says. Bert Emmerson’s talking to me
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 28, 2015
from behind a cash register at the Little River Trading Company, where he works. Oh, and by the way, he adds, he got frostbite on all 10 toes a couple of days after the wolf-pack encounter. He pops open a laptop and shows me the photos of his feet. Not pretty. Emmerson, whose trail name is WILDCAT, has more than a few adventures to recount. After he completed the Continental Divide Trail in 2008, he became the 80th person ever to complete the triple crown of hiking: the Appalachian Trail (2,167 miles) in 2004, the Pacific Crest Trail (2,710 miles) in 2005, and the Continental Divide Trail (2,490 miles). He is preparing to hike the AT again starting in June, but a couple of things will be different this time: First, he’s starting out in Maine and heading south to Georgia, the opposite of his 2004 hike; and second, he’s
going as a trail chaplain for the Methodist Church. Emmerson, who is a member of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, came to the trail chaplaincy via a rather convoluted path. The idea for the chaplaincy, he explains, originated in Virginia, where members of three tiny Methodist churches near the AT began offering free breakfasts to hikers every Monday in April and May. When word got out about the generosity of these churches, the pastors at the Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church wanted to take a more active approach to helping hikers on the AT. They decided they would embed a chaplain on the trail itself. The first chaplain, the son of a Methodist minister, attempted the AT going northbound in 2012, and Emmerson helped to outfit him. “He didn’t make it,” Emmerson says. “Family matters took him off the trail. Plus, he had a beautiful girlfriend. Love ruins a lot of thru-hikes.” The second chaplain, David Smith, is a frequent customer at Emmerson’s workplace. He got tired of Emmerson introducing him as a “section hiker” on the AT and decided to do the whole thing. In 2013, on his first attempt, he fell and broke his shoulder. But he made it the second time. About this time, triple-crown hiker Emmerson had begun to have withdrawals. He is an admitted addict, and his wife Becky agreed that he needed another fix, which in Bert’s case meant another long hike. He couldn’t decide whether he’d do the Pacific Crest Trail again or maybe go southbound on the AT. Meanwhile, David Smith asked him if he wanted to be trail chaplain in 2015. “I just laughed,” Emmerson says. “He kept coming in and asking me, and about the fourth time, I thought, ‘Maybe I should be listening to this guy. This could be the sign I was waiting for.’ That’s how I got the job.” Deb, another employee, arrives, and Emmerson explains about the interview. “I’m not going to desert you, but I’m gonna lean on you pretty hard,” he says. Emmerson, in his 60s, has an
understated manner of storytelling, and though his manner of speaking is low-volume and deliberate, he’s got the sort of deep, resonant voice that would work well for someone who might want to stand on a craggy peak in the wilderness and deliver sermons. A hiker would stop and listen to Emmerson, who with his beard, deep chest, and height, has an Old Testament authority about him. But no, says Emmerson, he won’t be preaching on the trail. “The job entails hiking the AT and practicing the Golden Rule,” says Emmerson, who will wear a small patch that says “AT Chaplain.” There are people who do preach on the trail, he says, but “it turns most of us off.” A guy breezes into the store and says he’s looking to kill some time and blow some money. Emmerson says he’ll help any way he can. Emmerson, who grew up on a farm in Kansas, moved to East Tennessee in 1978 to work as the feed mill manager for ConAgra in Knoxville. “What we called ‘walking’ in Kansas,” he says, “was this sort of a glamorous activity in the Smokies, and they called it ‘hiking.’” He started doing day hikes to high places, such as to Spence Field, from Cades Cove, and kept running into the AT on these hikes. In April 1987, he hiked from Davenport Gap south to Fontana—the 72-mile section of the AT that crosses the Smokies— and stayed in shelters with northbound thru-hikers, “men and women of all ages, from all over the world.” “I decided that week that when I grew up, I wanted to be a real backpacker just like those folks.” The “stars aligned” for him in 2003. He had no debt, no aging parents to care for, and his son Bryan was about to graduate from medical school. He was in “reasonably good health” and decided to go for it. When he took early retirement at 55 from his management job at Tennessee Farmers Co-op, they were astounded. “What are you going to do?” co-workers asked. “Going to take a hike,” said Emmerson. “How you doing?” Emmerson
OUTDOORS asks a woman who comes in the store. “Well, I’m sad,” she says, “because I’ve got to bring these shoes back. I love them but I wore them around the house for a bit and they just won’t do for me.” “Deb will help you,” Emmerson says. Emmerson notes that a common misconception many have is that you need the kind of heavy duty boots that tortured the feet of Reese Witherspoon (playing Cheryl Strayed) in the movie, Wild. “I’ve learned over the years that really all you need is footwear that’s comfortable,” he says. He wears lightweight hiking boots with a Vibram sole. “Vibram sticks to the rocks really well.” Emmerson gets about 1,000 miles out of the lightweight boots he wears. He’s got an Excel spreadsheet of the equipment he carries on thru-hikes, something he provides for hikers at the occasional class he teaches at the store. The most important advice he has for beginning hikers? “Carry water.” He does not carry pepper spray as a bear deterrent, and yes, he did see grizzlies on the Continental Divide Trail in Glacier National Park, where he started. “They were good grizzlies,” he says. The rangers in Glacier, Emmerson says, won’t give you a trail permit until you watch a video instructing hikers what to do in grizzly bear encounters. Deb, overhearing, demonstrates: “Here bear, here bear!” she says, clapping her hands. Emmerson also took an air horn in case the clapping didn’t work on the grizzlies, who came within 15-20 yards of him. Emmerson admits to having been frightened on some of these thru-hikes. The scariest place, he says, was not the wolf-infested grassy valley in the Gila Wilderness, but the bus station in Denver, where he interrupted his hike to fly to his son Bryan’s wedding. “What happened there?” I ask. “Nothing.” But he’d only been around a couple of people at a time for the past two months on the CDT and the crowds frightened him.
Emmerson does not carry a gun on his hikes. “Weighs too much,” he says. “And you don’t need it.” The CDT seems to be the most challenging of the thru-hikes Bert has taken. Aside from wolves, rattlesnakes and grizzlies, it’s only 70 percent complete. That means 30 percent you have to improvise, Emmerson says. Since the CDT is still being developed, only 20 or so people attempt it each year. Compare that to 200 a year on the PCT and 2,000 attempts a year on the AT, and you get a sense of the differences in these hikes. In that winter of 2007, Emmerson was the last southbound hiker on the CDT. After the frostbite in Gila, Emmerson had to walk 40 miles to be rescued, and then he had to “heal up” before returning in May 2008 to complete the last 200 miles. The guy who rescued him from the wilderness and helped get him to a hospital sent an email dispatch to the Daily Times, in Maryville, which included this information: “To the best of my knowledge, there’s only been two people to walk out of the Gila Wilderness in the winter. One of them was WILDCAT and the other was Geronimo, and Geronimo had a cabin in there.” Greg Rowe, co-owner of the Little River Trading Company, says that Emmerson is able to help out beginners as well as advanced hikers with his expertise. What separates Emmerson from the many hardcore outdoors types that Rowe sees on the job, he says, is his confidence level and his ability to set a pace that enables him to come to terms with whatever obstacles arise on the trail. Emmerson’s pace? He averaged 14 miles a day on the AT. If you run into Bert Emmerson, the chaplain, on the AT this summer, he’s not likely to preach a sermon even if you ask for one. But he may quote part of what he calls his creed, the “Desiderata,” a prose poem written by Max Ehrmann in 1927. It starts this way: “Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.” ◆ May 28, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 33
FOOD
Home Palate
Glenwood and Broadway K Brew’s new sandwich menu plus the opening of BreadShed Market make for our new favorite foodie corner BY DENNIS PERKINS
A
t 7 a.m. the sun has risen, but it’s not so fully awake that you won’t notice bare Edison bulbs and a cheery, red open sign contributing signs of life to the corner of Glenwood and Broadway. And there are people milling about, too; if you stop to join them or just walk by to see what’s going on, it’s your nostrils that clue you in first. The appetizing aromas of brewing coffee and baking bread are telltale signs of why this corner of old brick and young business is alive with people. In the last year, K Brew has grown from a too-small family start-up into a still-too-small destination coffee temple with a citywide following. Clearly, for coffee hounds, at least, size doesn’t matter too much—it’s crowded, yes, but it’s been that way for well over a year. And business is growing. There’s no denying that K Brew serves some of the city’s best caffeinated brew, and from the beginning, the brothers Michael and Pierce LaMacchia have clung to the idea of doing one thing well: “We wanted to build our brand based on one thing and do it great—that’s coffee, espresso,” says Pierce LaMacchia. “So we started with that focus, and then we learned that people do want more from us.” When you talk to Pierce, it doesn’t take long to understand that this business is run with sound
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entrepreneurial consideration and plenty of OCD-like focus on detail. Nothing is out of place in the shop, and the limited space is more efficiently arranged than plans for a Tiny House. While you might not think that adding any food service (aside from the original little biscotti case) was remotely possible, the choice of a bagel option makes a perfect fit in terms of quality, efficiency, and K Brew’s business spirit. “We found that bagels were undersold and underpromoted in this city,” Pierce says. And while there was no room for a scratch bagel operation, the brothers found Hot Bagel in Oak Ridge (as well as at a downtown outpost in the federal courthouse). “These are great New York-style bagels,” he says. Both sweet and savory bagels are served at K Brew with a varied selection of spreads, and now, between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m., they are available in the form of a limited, but intensely flavored selection of sandwiches. The options combine bold flavors that remain distinct and complementary; consider the Eleanor, a mix of maple syrup-infused cream cheese, strawberries and lemon zest. But my current favorite is the Armstrong; it’s a savory, cheese-packed, beautifully salty wake-up call that evokes memories of good deli food. Sharp
cheddar, smoked Gruyère, pancetta, olive tapenade, and tomato happily mingle between slices of a plain bagel. The bagel is toasted correctly, so there’s a nice, warm crunch that yields to the doughy and chewy interior that makes a bagel fun to eat. Watching the construction of this bagel is as much fun as eating it. The bagel is filled from a small, reusable bowl that looks like a deli salad container into which K Brew prepacks the ingredients for ease of assembly and a neat fit for the bagel’s shape (and brilliant portion control, too). An excellent by-product of this method is that the flavors have a chance to marry and mingle, so the liquid of the tapenade permeates and seasons both cheese and tomato. It’s a small detail, but one that makes a significant contribution to this first-rate repast. But even if you’re not a bagel fan, K Brew’s coffee is a perfect match to the good stuff you’ll find just a few doors up at BreadShed Market. This new European-inspired bakery quietly opened its doors near the end of March in preparation for a grand opening on June 6. BreadShed is owned and operated by Kymberle Kaser, a self-taught baker popular at the Market Square Farmer’s Market for her European-style breads. Some folks may recall that Kaser was involved in a flap with Tomato Head over her original choice of company name—but she doesn’t want to talk about that; it’s
clearly in the past, and Kaser is a soul who lives squarely in the present. The BreadShed Market offers a tantalizing array of pastries, cakes, brownies, and sandwiches, too. (Gluten-free breads are coming in the next few weeks.) Kaser also opens some shelf space for friends of the market who don’t have a brick-and-mortar presence—so, while you’re waiting on your portabella or smoked-salmon sandwich, you can pick up some of Jim’s Spices from Rushy Springs Farm or even some beard oil and soap from Jo. A. Soap Company. Still, the real draw is baked right there on the spot, and even though she hoped for a quiet trial run, Kaser says she’s had a big response to her open doors. “The first week, I was freaked out,” she says. “As fast as I would make stuff, it would be gone. Me being the only baker, doing the breads and the pastries and making the bread for the sandwiches, and people buying it so quickly… I felt like I was disappointing people who came in and everything was always gone.” For the next couple of weeks, you can expect the bakery to fire on as many cylinders as Kaser can manage; but don’t be surprised if BreadShed runs out of things. In fact, you might be glad of it—it’s an outward sign that
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY 35
FOOD
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what goes on inside the bakery is really the work of human hands. For now, those hands belong to Kaser, but starting in the next week or so, BreadShed will have another baker and then the pastries and breads won’t be in as short a supply. But don’t go looking for an unending selection— that wouldn’t be much good anyway. BreadShed’s reputation is rooted not only in Kaser’s insistence on making product by hand, but also in her drive for quality and purity, which comes from her lifestyle. “I got into yoga and baking at the same time,” Kaser says. And her baking philosophy grew “from what I was learning from yoga and how to treat your vessel. You can still eat bread and desserts and be okay, it’s just you gotta use clean products and make it from scratch.” When first starting, she says, “I found this really old European cookbook, which was awesome, and very authentic and that was basically my bible, my baking bible.” She’s careful to describe her products as European inspired, but her clientele includes a number of folks from across the pond who appreciate the authenticity of Kaser’s work. For now, most of BreadShed’s European-style loaves will only be available at the Market Square Farmer’s Market. That’s mostly because that’s where the demand is, but it’s also the base that helped Kaser get to where she is today—and she remains loyal to the many friends
Home Palate
BREADSHED 1322 N. Broadway 673-6744 Hours: Tue–Sat: 7 a.m.-6 p.m., Sun: 7 a.m.–3 p.m. who come to the market with visions of Swedish limpa rye. But there’s plenty to enjoy in the storefront. The sandwiches are already popular, but for my money, it’s the baked goods that demand a visit. Scones are classically good with an appealing crunch at the first bite that reveals a fluffy and light interior— you’ll be craving tea and clotted cream before you can say, “Bob’s your uncle.” The classic combination of ham and cheese comes nestled inside feathery layers of buttery puff pastry. You might also find a square of pastry packed with Danish cream cheese and chocolate alongside a delectable and authentic pain au chocolat. There are some unexpected treats, as well, like a Tennessee cherry chili brownie with pecans. It’s a luscious and addictive brownie from the start—moist, dense, and intensely chocolatey; but at the end of each bite there’s a slow crescendo of surprising but pleasant warmth, the kind that makes the head sweat but neither lingers for too long nor scorches the palate. When you talk to either LaMacchia or Kaser about what makes them happy to be in business at this spot, one word you’ll hear more any is community. Judging from the many early morning smiles, the community feels the same way. ◆
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY 37
’BYE
Sacred & P rofane
Karma Ride An appreciation for a new home in Fourth and Gill (part one) BY DONNA JOHNSON
I
t was something of a miracle when I landed a one-bedroom in Fourth and Gill for only $450 a month. Due to painting murals on the wall of my apartment during a manic episode, I was being evicted from Summit Towers, a subsidized high-rise in downtown Knoxville. And with a history of seriously bad credit carving a long path behind me, it wasn’t looking good. Despite much searching, I had been unable to find another apartment and time was running out. With only two days left before they hauled out my meager belongings to the street, I was beginning to panic. Was I going to end up at the Mission? Just when I thought there was no hope, help arrived through the intervention of my brother, who drove all the way from Middle Tennessee and paid three month’s rent as a deposit and I was in, no questions asked. After living in a place where management was like the Gestapo, I had moved to a place where management is minimal at best, and that’s exactly what I wanted. Not only that, I had moved to a neighborhood of such exquisite beauty and care, that I felt I had been transported to paradise. The
neighborhood of Fourth and Gill is not only beautiful, it is also a place where people really do strive to do the next right thing. This afternoon, I walk a reluctant Mallory, my dog and constant companion, in the gently falling rain, which seems to blend all the colors of spring, as though someone had thrown every color imaginable onto a canvas and gently combined them into a new shade of beauty. Block after block are beautiful old houses: a pale pink one here that covers half a block, where a ceiling fan turns gently on the covered porch and one or two people sit reading. Next to that might be a pale yellow house with wild roses of the palest pink climbing a trellis, a gazebo in the back yard. Brilliant yellow yarrow are planted in the yard alongside bright red geraniums. The lemony fragrance of magnolias hovers in the air. One can get drunk with the richness of it. The smell of freshly mowed grass reminds one that summer is almost here. Here there is a miniature garden with strawberries growing; across the street there’s another garden with fat cabbages, wild
BY MATTHEW FOLTZ-GRAY
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dill, rosemary and thyme; and in still another yard, a whole garden of lavender. Suddenly, a torrential rain begins to fall, cleansing the Earth and drenching me and a very unhappy Mallory, who refuses to budge, until finally I have to pick up the whole, soggy, 45 pounds of her and carry her down the street. Unable to carry her any further, I put her down and say, “Your turn. Now you carry me. Okay?” She growls at me, throws her head in the air and howls, as if to tell the entire neighborhood: “My mom is nuts. She thinks I can carry her.” After that she lies down in the mud wallows, legs kicking in the air in joyful abandon. I would very much like to join her but I’m not that brave. Rounding the corner towards home, I pass the Birdhouse, a large yellow house on the corner of 4th and Gill, a community center primarily for local residents, but all are welcome. On Monday nights they have a pot-luck dinner, and whomever is inclined can bring a dish or just simply come and eat. On another night they show an episode of Twin Peaks, and on other nights they have poetry readings and/or live music. Across the way from the Birdhouse is another community center for African American children of all ages. They have drumming circles and the girls perform beautiful dances. There is always something going on. It is the season for babies, with young couples pushing carriages, with
perhaps a toddler or two following along behind. There are many dogs in the neighborhood. On one corner is a beautiful, brown and golden Doberman, who terrified me at first, until I realized that, like all of us, he just wants love. I start to pet him until Mallory becomes jealous and growls menacingly at the Doberman, who backs up, confused. He is only a very large puppy who just wants to play. “Don’t be such a dummy, Mallory,” I tell her. “He could swallow you whole.” After which I reach down and hug her to let her know she is the only one for me, because she is. Rounding the corner I see my friend, Magdalena, sitting on her porch at the house next door to mine. She is wearing something that looks like a child’s playsuit, black and white striped socks that come to her knees, and combat boots. She has green eyes full of mystery and a laugh you can hear from three blocks away, but behind her gypsy eyes is the sadness and wisdom of many lifetimes. Wearing brightly covered scarves over her dreadlocks, drawing cat-like lines around her eyes, she is beautiful and magnetic. Our block is the bohemian sector of the neighborhood, and everyone is drawn to Magdalena’s porch, which is littered with cigarette butts. Not only is Magdalena beautiful, she is as talented as anyone I have ever met and wise beyond her 27 years. There is rarely a time when at least six or seven people are not gathered on Magdalena’s porch. I often join them, and though I could be
’BYE the grandmother of most of them, they seem to accept me as one of them. A young couple holding hands arrives carrying an open fifth of vodka. “I just got off my DUI today,” she says. “They gave me a reckless driving instead and then they dismissed that.” Though I am very fond of this girl—she bubbles over with joy and goodwill like a freshly popped bottle of champagne—I don’t congratulate her for I fear for her life. Her young boyfriend, who is a bartender at a Turkey Creek bar, says, “The cops stopped me after I had had a few the other night. And I had an open bottle of vodka in the car.” He lights a cigarette and the couple walks towards their car, bottle in hand. “I was lucky. They let me go.” The girl gets behind the wheel. “You shouldn’t let her drive,” I tell the
BY IAN BLACKBURN AND JACK NEELY
young man. “I’m fine,” she calls back. “I won’t let her get too drunk,” he says. I have another young friend who is spending 45 days in jail for her DUI. A staggeringly handsome black man in an immaculate white suit joins the group. I have known Andre for years and know him to be one of the truest, kindest people I have ever encountered. He unfailingly puts others before himself. Andre is setting off on a bicycle for Los Angeles, to raise money for lupus. Preservation Pub has just had a benefit for his expenses. He has brought beer for everyone and we click our bottles in a toast for Andre’s safe trip. He hands me one of his cards, which has a picture of a bicycle on the front and says in large black letters: “KARMA RIDE.” ◆
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May 28, 2015
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