JUNE 11, 2015 KNOXMERCURY.COM
JUST HAPPY TO BE HERE
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(Or, a Good Example Why Gay Marriage Won’t Actually Destroy Society) NYC , NY MARCH 2015
BY A
NEWS
UT Jeopardizes Yet More Historic Houses in Fort Sanders
JACK NEELY
ACCEPTAN CE TO FOLLOW
PRIL SN ELLIN G
The Andrew Johnson Hotel’s Colorful History of Visitors
MUSIC
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Singer/Songwriter Jim White’s Odd Connection to Knoxville
DIRT TO FORK
Redistribute Your Produce Via Grow More, Give More
The Singing Mural
Hidden from sight for decades, the Marion Greenwood masterpiece now on display at the KMA. The Knoxville Museum of Art, celebrating its 25th anniversary at World’s Fair Park, features an ongoing exhibit of regional art called Higher Ground. The ever-changing exhibit forms a narrative of the history of art in the Knoxville area, from an antebellum landscape through the impressionist work of Catherine Wiley (1879-1958), and the vivid abstract expressionism of Knoxville’s best-known modern artist, Beauford Delaney (1901-1979). The newest arrival to the Higher Ground exhibit is also the largest, a 30-footlong canvas whose strange story is unlike that of any work of art in America. In 1954, the University of Tennessee recruited well-known muralist Marion Greenwood (1909-1970) to move to Knoxville for a year, to work on a project associated with the new Carolyn P. Brown University Center. Her assignment was vague, to come up with a work of art concerning the history of Tennessee. UT’s choice of Greenwood is interesting, and a little surprising. UT had a conservative reputation, but New York-born Greenwood had worked closely with famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, who had been a member of the Communist Party. And like most Southern public universities, UT’s faculty and undergraduate student body was all white, but Greenwood, who had recently completed projects in Haiti and Harlem, was best known for her depictions of people of color. She moved into a house on White Avenue in Fort Sanders, set up a studio, and settled on a theme: her mural would depict the history of music in Tennessee. The piece, nicknamed “The Singing Mural,” was unveiled 60 years ago this June, to unanimous praise. Greenwood had depicted multiple varieties of Tennessee music, from gospel to jazz to blues to country, with figures both black and white performing. Even the artist claimed it was her greatest work in the United States. It went up on a wall in the UC’s ballroom, then a popular gathering place. Some UT
administrators complained that the mural was too distracting to allow a speaker to keep an audience’s attention, so during important speeches in the room, it was hidden behind a curtain. May, 1970, was nationally a climax of the antiwar movement, and UT was reputedly the most activist public-university campus in the South. During the Student Strike, students seized control of the UC for a weekend. During that time, the Greenwood mural was defaced, with a small knife cut and a splash of paint. Although no one ever claimed credit for the vandalism, it was alleged that it was done because the painting was considered racist, reputedly because one of the painting’s more prominent characters was a black cotton-picker, wearing overalls and a straw hat, and singing. Neither vandals nor administrators knew that the artist had died near her home in Woodstock, New York, just a few weeks before the incident. The painting was eventually covered with permanent paneling, and for 40 years it was rarely seen. Most students who attended UT in the 1980s and ’90s didn’t even know it was there. It was briefly unveiled for a public discussion in 2006, and scholars from other states debated its historical depictions. In 2013, in anticipation of the demolition of the UC, UT had the painting removed and professionally restored. It was displayed last year at UT’s Downtown Gallery on Gay Street, which drew curious scholars from across the country, some of whom praised it as one of Greenwood’s finest works. Then it was permanently loaned to the Knoxville Museum of Art. The Greenwood mural has been covered for most of its history, but it went on permanent display at the KMA this spring. Whether “the Singing Mural” is still considered controversial or not, it’s there out in the open for us to ponder. For details, see www.knoxart.org.
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 2
KNOXVILLE MERCURY June 11, 2015
June 11, 2015 Volume 01 / Issue 14 knoxmercury.com
CONTENTS
“Who am I to judge?” —Pope Francis
NEWS
14 Why I Had to Leave the State to Get Married
12 UT Overrides
NC-1 Conservation Zoning
COVER STORY
Three 1890s Victorian houses are likely to fall due to the University of Tennessee’s plans to build a classroom and laboratory building on White Avenue in Fort Sanders. While that plan has been discussed for a few years, UT’s sudden (and short-lived) request for proposals to move them may result in more historic houses being demolished, as Jack Neely reports.
As the Supreme Court considers a Tennessee case that may determine whether gay marriages will be recognized nationally, consider what it’s like for your home state to consider your family to be illegal. April Snellings doesn’t have to imagine it—she’s living it. In this very personal essay, she tells the story of how she got hitched to her longtime partner—in New York City. And how that marriage instantly became nonexistent as soon as she returned home.
Join Us!
Our next Mercury Meetup will be at the Casual Pint in Fountain City (4842 Harvest Mill Way) on Wednesday, June 24, 5-8 p.m.
DEPARTMENTS
OPINION
A&E
4 6
Letters
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18
Howdy Start Here: Ghost Signs by Bud Ries, Believe It or Knox!, Public Affairs, Quote Factory. PLUS: Words With … Sarah Adams
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46 ’Bye
Finish There: At This Point by Stephanie Piper, Crooked Street Crossword by Ian Blackburn and Jack Neely, Spirit of the Staircase by Matthew Foltz-Gray
The Scruffy Citizen Jack Neely recounts some of the starry visitors to the old Andrew Johnson Hotel. Possum City Eleanor Scott visits South Knoxville’s other quarry, Mead’s, to find a more convivial scene.
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CALENDAR Program Notes: Local prog pioneers Mobility Chief talk about their final show. And we review a Yes box set. Yes! Inside the Vault: Eric Dawson visits veteran country singer Glenn Farrington.
20 Music: Jack Neely hears some tall Knoxville tales from Jim White.
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Spotlights: Webb Wilder, Chris Stapleton, Quintron and Miss Pussycat
FOOD & DRINK
42 Dirt to Fork
Rose Kennedy explains how you can redistribute your produce via Grow More, Give More.
29 Movies: April Snellings enjoys the 21
French point of view of The Connection.
Video: Lee Gardner digs the Netflix series Bloodline. June 11, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 3
LETTERS Delivering Fine Journalism Since 2015
KNOXVILLE CULTURAL EXPORT
Just when I thought my trip to London couldn’t get any weirder, I found a copy of the Knoxville Mercury at a table. Looks like someone in Croyden was enjoying some “Spirit of the Staircase” during their morning tea. I was seriously weirded out and amazed… how did it get all the way over there? Chris Mathien via Facebook Knoxville
THE STIGMA OF ATHEISM
To paraphrase Kermit the Frog, it’s not easy being an atheist. For most occasions, admitting you’re an atheist is sort of like confessing to hemorrhoids at the dinner table. The fact is, atheism is an uncomfortable subject to most folks, who look upon its proponents with a good deal of mistrust, suspicion, and outright animosity. Numerous national surveys show such a strong dislike [for atheism] that atheists can legitimately claim to be one of the last groups remaining that it’s still socially acceptable to hate. Summing up the research, most Americans say they would not vote for a well-qualified atheist for president; distrust atheists more than other minorities; disapprove of their child marrying an atheist; and do not believe atheists share American values. To this day, six states in the South—Tennessee among them— have enshrined such attitudes into law by prohibiting atheists from holding public office. And if that weren’t bad enough, we’re banned 4
KNOXVILLE MERCURY June 11, 2015
from the Boy Scouts! To be fair, an argument can be made that some atheists have brought social disapproval on themselves, usually by making a public show of fighting harmless rituals like Christmas decorations on the town square or prayers on the football field. It’s also true that some atheists who seek out the TV cameras appear to be angry firebrands, flinty attack dogs who don’t seem to want anybody to display their faith. Honestly, it would be your worst nightmare to be stuck in an elevator with some of these people; it’s no wonder that many religious believers feel themselves under attack and are naturally inclined to fight back. But firebrands aside, just how many nonbelievers are there? A recent study by the Pew Research Center revealed that nearly one quarter of Americans are religiously unaffiliated—describing themselves as atheist, agnostic, or “nothing in particular.” Another study puts the number of committed atheists at about 10 percent. It’s a safe bet that the actual numbers are higher since many atheists are skilled at dodging the question, as in the familiar evasion “I’m spiritual, but not religious.” Many believers hold that to be a moral person, one must believe in God. But as anyone who has taken a course in ethics knows, moral behavior does not require a religious foundation. A Google search of “famous atheists” will quickly yield long lists of world-class achievers in statesmanship, philanthropy, education, finance, literature, and the arts, many of whom have led exemplary lives. One doesn’t need God to be good. It is not my purpose here to join the never-ending debate on whether God does or does not exist, except to note that library shelves are filled with learned books on both sides of the issue. But the argument is one of beliefs, not facts, and since neither side can categorically prove its case, we ought to at least accord equal respect to each. I do hold that discrimination is much more widespread and socially acceptable against nonbeliev-
ers, and should be opposed by all fair-minded people. Outspoken atheists commonly experience the social cost of asserting their rights, the stigma of professing disbelief in the dominant religion of their respective communities. Unlike the firebrands, most of us are amiable folks who keep a low profile, contribute to local charities, and really don’t mind public displays of faith (as long as we’re not expected to participate). Finally, I would respectfully remind believers that in a democracy it is the responsibility of the majority to protect the rights of minorities, including nonbelievers. So find an atheist today. Make a friend. They’ll appreciate it. Robert Porter Knoxville
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 Bryan Charles 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 William Warren Chris Wohlwend
DESIGN ART DIRECTOR
Tricia Bateman tricia@knoxmercury.com GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
Charlie Finch Corey McPherson CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR GUIDELINES
• Letter submissions should include a verifiable name, address, and phone number. We do not print anonymous letters. • We much prefer letters that address issues that pertain specifically to Knoxville or to stories we’ve published. • We don’t publish letters about personal disputes or how you didn’t like your waiter at that restaurant. • Letters are usually published in the order that we receive them. Send your letters to: Our Dear Editor Knoxville Mercury 706 Walnut St., Suite 404 Knoxville, TN 37920 editor@knoxmercury.com Or message us at: facebook.com/knoxmercury
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
editor@knoxmercury.com CALENDAR SUBMISSIONS
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sales@knoxmercury.com DISTRIBUTION
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
Now’s your chance to tell us what you really think–in person!
MEETUPS Join us at our Monthly Mercury Meetup.
Wednesday, June 24, 5-8 p.m. at The Casual Pint Fountain City 4842 Harvest Mill Way, Knoxville, TN 37918 (Next to Pet Supplies Plus)
There won’t be any speeches or roundtables. We’ll just be hanging out, ready to chat about darn near anything with whomever stops by. We hope for a crowd!
June 11, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 5
Illustration by Ben Adams
HOWDY
GHOST SIGNS BY BUD RIES
The graphics on the side of In & Out Detailing were a colorful addition to the entrance of Happy Holler, painted by the local artist Mesko. But sometime last year the building on the corner of Central and Baxter was razed and for now the lot sits empty.
QUOTE FACTORY “ This is something I’m happy to help make happen.” —Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett in a press conference on Monday announcing a Memorandum of Understanding between his office, Knox County Commission, and the Board of Education to build Gibbs and Hardin Valley middle schools. Burchett had faced criticism for his proposed budget for fiscal year 2015-16, which did not include funding for new schools.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
6/12 CRESTHILL CINEMA CLUB: ‘MISS SADIE THOMPSON’ FRIDAY
8 p.m. Windover Apartments, clubhouse (301 Cheshire Dr.). Free. Cineaste Jeff Gordon’s very personal film society screens about 10 films a year, often unique Hollywood productions. This showing of the Rita Hayworth Technicolor musical will be the club’s “big yearly celebration,” so guests are encouraged to bring a favorite food dish or beverage.
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY June 11, 2015
6/13 21ST ANNUAL BARK IN THE PARK SATURDAY
3-8 p.m., World’s Fair Park, Festival Lawn. $5 donation With an assist from sponsor Grayson Subaru, the Humane Society of the Tennessee Valley is presenting its biggest fundraising event of the year—as well as the city’s biggest celebration of all things canine. Bring your pups to the park to vie for the title Mister or Miss Bark in the Park, take the offspring over to Kids Korner, and then enjoy a welldeserved rest at the Barkin’ Beer Garden (brought to you by the Bearden Beer Market). Info: humanesociety tennessee.com.
6/14 THE TRAVELING BAZAAR SUNDAY
10 a.m.-6 p.m., Bearden Banquet Hall (5806 Kingston Pike.). Free. Local and regional artists and artisans, all from within three hours of Knoxville, will have their stuff for sale— plus live music, food, and other entertainment.
6/17 BOOKS SANDWICHED IN: WEDNESDAY
Noon, East Tennessee History Center (601 South Gay St.). Free. Mark Campen, city councilman and director of the Tennessee Chapter of the Isaak Walton League of America leads a discussion on Gaining Ground: A Story of Farmers’ Markets, Local Food, and Saving the Family Farm by Forrest Pritchard, who writes from first-hand experience.
Believe It or Knox! BY Z. HERACLITUS KNOX U.S. Rep. Leonidas Houk, the former Union officer who represented the 2nd congressional district for 12 years and was one of the most powerful politicians in late 19th-century Knoxville, DIED AFTER ACCIDENTALLY DRINKING ARSENIC IN A KNOXVILLE DRUGSTORE! On May 24, 1891, Houk was walking to his home in the Fourth and Gill area when he stopped at DePue’s, a pharmacy on Central near Magnolia. It was common practice to take prescribed drugs at the drug counter, and when he found a glass with a solution in it, he mistakenly assumed it was intended for him. He died the next day, at age 54. Founded as Blount College in 1794, the University of Tennessee has a claim to be one of America’s oldest state universities, older even than the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. However, it was not known as the University of Tennessee UNTIL 1879! Previously, it was considered a regional public college, but partly thanks to Reconstruction-era politics, which favored Republican parts of the state, UT received its official designation. Fountain City WAS NEVER AN ACTUAL CITY! Originally called Fountainhead, for the underground spring that’s a source of First Creek, it couldn’t be named that because there was already a Fountainhead, Tenn. Unlike several neighborhoods, including Fort Sanders, North Knoxville, and East Knoxville, Fountain City never had its own municipal government. It was just a culturally distinct but undefined semi-rural community until it was incorporated into the city of Knoxville in 1962.
HOWDY WORDS WITH ...
Sarah Adams
ut go Are you thinking abo
BY ROSE KENNEDY Sarah Adams is the general manager for Reruns Boutique (521 Union Ave.). Nanci Solomon, who founded the store 29 years ago, announced May 28 that it will close later this summer. Solomon and staff will concentrate their energies on sister store Räla (323 Union Ave.), a gift shop and gallery for local and regional artisans, while also developing its online presence.
Has the closing date been set?
We will be open through the end of July, possibly the middle of August, depending on how long it takes to sell all the inventory.
What is your favorite story about the old days at the store?
Some of our wonderful customers have shopped and consigned with Reruns for the entire 29 years it has been open. One story I love is how Richard Simmons bought a faux fur coat from us when he was in town, and then the staff saw him wearing it on a float at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade! And we talk a lot about the trends that have come, gone, and come around again. The clothes that were carried in the store when it first opened in 1986 are now considered vintage!
Are more people pleased to wear a “found” used or repurposed piece of clothing than they were in the old days of the store?
Yes! In a world of mass-produced, trendy clothing, people are realizing that consignment and thrifting gives them a wider variety of clothing at affordable prices. Consignment really is a great form of recycling.
What is something really unusual you’ve played a part in selling?
This place has sold 29 years’ worth of truly unique pieces of clothing. When I first started we had a vest made of ostrich hair—it was pale pink and totally unassuming. One woman saw potential in it, paired it with a beaded flapper dress, and gave the fabulous statement piece a home.
Were there ever things you just couldn’t bring yourself to put on the racks, like, say capris?
Once we received a bag full of velour pant suits, many of them featuring rhinestones. It was an easy decision not to put those out.
Do you and the salespeople have a free hand with displays and such?
We all have a part in merchandising the store. Before I was store manager, my main responsibility was changing the displays and mannequins weekly, which allows you to style with pieces people might not know what to do with. I’ve sold entire outfits off the mannequins before!
Are you going to work at Räla now?
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Many of the Reruns girls will move to Räla. We will now help people pick out gifts and art for their homes. I’ve always enjoyed working at Räla, so the transition should be easy.
Who would you recommend the location for next?
The Daylight is a beautiful building and ours is a great retail space. It would be the perfect spot for a trendy clothing boutique. With Just Ripe, Union Ave Books, and John Black Photography as neighbors, there are a lot of places to enjoy. We’ve dreamed of having a grab-and-go bagel or donut shop next door, or maybe even a toy store. Now that there will be two available spaces in the building, there are lots of possibilities.
What will you miss most?
There is definitely a history in this store. That becomes obvious when you talk to customers who started shopping with us the first year we opened and have followed us from location to location. We get to work personally with women who look for our advice and love exploring their personal style. I will miss working in the Daylight Building as well. We’ve got a nice little community over here.
Include us in your search by calling 865-531-9000 for a free estimate. You’ll be glad you did! Get an autographed copy of E E Neely’s book “From the Shadow Side” FR IFT Jack with a copier/printer contract! G Appalachia Business Communication Corp. 232 S. Peters Rd., Knoxville, TN 37923
Serving Eastern Te#e$% for 45 years. June 11, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 7
SCRUFFY CITIZEN
The Unimpeachable Andrew Johnson Gay Street’s wallflower is stepping out BY JACK NEELY
F
or years, people have speculated about the long-term prospects for the old Andrew Johnson Hotel, and as of this week, it’s finally for sale. The building has been used for more than 20 years for Knox County School offices, but they’ll be moving out, probably another of Mayor Tim Burchett’s cost-saving measures. It has a story unlike that of any other building in the world. The Andrew Johnson is the long-sought missing link between Hank Williams, Amelia Earhart, and Jean-Paul Sartre. It was built in the 1920s by investors looking toward the expected tsunami of tourists headed for the brand-new, in fact not quite completed project known as the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Knoxville itself seemed to call for a new hotel every few years, anyway. The Farragut, at Gay and Clinch, was almost a decade old. The big Atkin, near the train station, was a decade older still. A great skyscraper of a hotel near the river seemed just the thing. It was originally to be called the Tennessee Terrace, which would have been a good name. However, there was another idea in the air. Andrew Johnson was the bizarre sideshow attraction of American politics, the duckbill platypus of the Civil War era, who drew sharp criticism from both sides even in Knoxville, and at least once even
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY June 11, 2015
gunfire, as he ducked an assassination attempt on Gay Street. He tried to make up with ex-Confederates in the years after the war by doing what he could to damp civil rights and revive white supremacy. He was the last of Tennessee’s three presidents, though he was never elected to the office, and was for better or worse not an effective one—and he was the first to be impeached. No one would have named a big building for Andrew Johnson in the years just after the war, nor at the time of his death in 1875, nor for decades after, when historical assessments of him were negative. However, your reputation can keep changing, even 50 years after you die. By the 1920s, after the release of some documents that made Johnson
sound at least occasionally brave and steadfast, the poor small-town tailor who became president was seen as a self-made American hero. In the late 1920s, developers were persuaded to drop the generic-sounding Tennessee Terrace to rename the project the Andrew Johnson Hotel. Designed by Baumann & Baumann, it would be the world’s biggest honor to the 17th president, and for almost half a century the tallest building in East Tennessee. An amazing assortment of people came through the doors at 912 South Gay St. over the years. In 1932, it hosted a banquet of coaches and administrators toasting the formation of the brand-new Southeastern Conference, hours after its founding. Its early music was jazz. Upon its opening, Maynard Baird’s Southern Serenaders, an early dance orchestra, played on the roof, with loudspeakers that allowed the music to be danceable as far away as Market Square. In 1935, it was briefly home to WNOX’s Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round, the live radio show that launched many radio and recording careers. Roy Acuff, not yet well known in Nashville, was a regular in those days. After rowdy fans posed a daily problem crowding the elevators, management asked them to leave. Amelia Earhart showed up in 1936, driving alone through the mountains. When reporters discovered her, she reluctantly agreed to an interview as she ate in her hotel room. She remarked then that she did not expect to live to see old age. She vanished the following year. Swiss novelist and journalist Annemarie Schwarzenbach stayed at the hotel a few months later, and wrote about Knoxville’s economically stratified society for a European audience.
It has a story unlike that of any other building in the world. The Andrew Johnson is the long-sought missing link between Hank Williams, Amelia Earhart, and Jean-Paul Sartre.
In 1943, Russian composer-pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff, suffering from undiagnosed cancer, spent a painful night at the hotel after what would be remembered as the final performance of his career. It was the same night that the hotel played a role in a regional premiere of the 1943 movie Tennessee Johnson, starring Van Heflin as a rare heroic version of the president in his rise to power. The patriotic wartime movie opened at the Tennessee, and afterward was celebrated with a ball at the Andrew Johnson Hotel, attended by members of Johnson’s family, including the president’s granddaughter. It must have puzzled Rachmaninoff. In early 1945, French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre checked into the Andrew Johnson, on a press junket to report on the U.S. war effort. But during his several days at the Andrew Johnson, he wrote an essay about American cities that was published in Le Figaro, and later in a book. And, of course, on the last night of 1952, 29-year-old Alabama songwriter Hank Williams, ostensibly on his way to shows in West Virginia and Ohio, stopped in at the Andrew Johnson for a shot of morphine and reportedly some liquor, to enjoy the last night of his life. Whether he died in the hotel, or soon after, in the car, depends on which contradictory account you credit. We can’t know whether he was aware that he spent his last hours in the same building where his idol, Roy Acuff, had begun his career about 17 years earlier. Playwright Tennessee Williams stayed at the Andrew Johnson for a few days in 1957 when he came to Knoxville to attend his father’s funeral and burial. King Hussein of Jordan attended a reception there in the early 1960s. Actor Tony Perkins stayed there when he came to town for the premiere of The Fool Killer in 1965. Duke Ellington stayed there a couple of years later, and gave an interview in the restaurant. There are other stories, of legendary photographer Margaret Bourke-White, who was allegedly locked in her darkroom, trapped for some hours in a windowless room in the Andrew Johnson in the ’50s, that are harder to nail down. Some people lived there. I expect interesting things. There’s not a building in the world with a similar pedigree. ◆
Just fer Paws Come by and visit us at: Saturday June 13th 3-8pm (at World’s Fair Park)
Meet Kelly and Darla!
Just fer Paws Kennels Daycare • Boarding • Grooming
817 Powdermill Road Gatlinburg, TN 37738 865.430.3383 justferpaws.net
June 11, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 9
POSSUM CITY
Good Time Island Boating, swimming, and beer at Mead’s Quarry Lake BY ELEANOR SCOTT
M
ead’s Quarry Lake, once the site of an industrial-age Tennessee marble quarry, later an illegal dump, has nearly completed its transformation to recreational area with all the amenities and regulations visitors expect in a public park. Those amenities include a convenient parking lot, porta-potties, boat rental kiosk, concession stand, and a beer garden. Contrast that with Fort Dickerson Park’s quarry lake, the other South Knoxville former marble quarry turned public park, which lacks every one of these features. To those who remember the area around Mead’s as a lonesome weed-choked rubble pit, as it was only a few years ago, these changes may seem surreal. Mead’s Quarry is located just off Island Home Avenue, in South Knoxville’s recently branded Urban Wilderness, the recreational/cultural/ historical preservation project promoted by non-profit Legacy Parks Foundation. Mead’s is technically Knox County property. Since the county acquired the lake and surrounding land in 2001, Ijams Nature Center has managed it. That contract is now in transition, as negotiations with County Mayor Tim Burchett are underway to transfer ownership to Ijams. One hot afternoon last week, I saw a couple slip off their rented paddleboards for a quick dip in the quarry lake before floating in the water of a secluded inlet, clinging to the edges of their boards and fudging park rules a little. For now, signs state
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY June 11, 2015
swimming is forbidden. That policy is about to change. This summer Ijams plans to open a new swimming area to “formalize what people are already doing,” says Ijams Executive Director Paul James. The designated swimming area will be marked off with floating foam
Ijams is doing its best to provide—in a regulated, controlled way—all the ingredients that make for a perfect summer day.
ropes near Pinkston Pointe, a large rock jutting into the water at the north end of the quarry lake. New signs will go up advising visitors to “swim at your own risk,” as no lifeguard will be on duty. Ijams, the county, and many volunteers have done remarkable work in cleaning up the quarry lake and shore, but remnants of the area’s illegal dump phase remain. Embedded in the crushed gravel pathways are fragments of broken window glass, carpet fibers, and asphalt shingles. Despite years of serving as a dumping site, an informational kiosk says “the water is surprisingly clean.” The edge of the lake is muddy and rimmed with algae scum—not perfect for swimmers, but farther out, the water is clearer. The water in Mead’s is not formally tested for pathogens or toxic chemicals. James says freshwater jellyfish, a clean water indicator species, are sometimes seen in the water—a good sign for the health of the lake. This is the fourth year boating has been allowed on the lake, and this summer it has proved more popular than ever. A kiosk near the parking lot rents River Sports Outfitters paddle-
boards, kayaks, and canoes for $11 an hour. Summer hours are seven days a week, Monday-Friday, noon-8 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; and Sunday noon-7 p.m. Private boats are not allowed, a rule eliciting some grumbles among boat owners who feel that River Sports has a monopoly at Ijams. The 25-acre quarry lake, 80 feet at its deepest point, is a smallish body of water. James says Ijams staff is concerned about the impact too many boats may have on the environment and the “quality of the experience” for boaters, and wants to control their numbers. Another project Ijams hopes to complete this year is a wheelchair-accessible public dock close to the boardwalk along the Tennessee River. Ijams will direct private boats to this nearby river dock. Outside alcohol is not allowed, but the concession stand sells beer from Bearden Beer Market in 12-ounce cans for $4 or 16-ounce cans for $5, which must be drunk at the beer garden picnic tables. Ijams is doing its best to provide—in a regulated, controlled way— all the ingredients that make for a perfect summer day: swimming, boating, and cold beer by the water. Is Mead’s a glimpse into what the future looks like for Fort Dickerson Quarry? If so, this may be good news to those who appreciate the safety measures and amenities, dismaying to others who revel in untamed spaces. Can the stewards of these jewels of South Knoxville provide safety and convenience for visitors while preserving the wild in the urban wilderness? ◆
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JUNE 11, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 11
Sudden Move
UT overrides NC-1 conservation zoning, jeopardizing yet more historic houses in Fort Sanders BY JACK NEELY
Photos by Liv McConnell
T
hree 1890s Victorian houses are likely to fall due to the University of Tennessee’s plans to build a classroom and laboratory building on White Avenue in Fort Sanders. The houses are in relatively good shape, for 120-year-old wooden houses, and pretty. All have been recently lived in; one was owner-occupied and recently renovated. Each was once the home of someone famous and influential, whose impact on the city, and the university, is still felt more than a century later. The houses are within a boundary of the NC-1 conservation district established by City Council and the Metropolitan Planning Commission 15 years ago, intended to provide a layer of oversight to protect the neighborhood’s best historic architecture. By NC-1 zoning, before a contributing historic building can be demolished, a developer would have to state the case for demolition before public boards, the Historic Zoning Commission and the MPC. However, UT, being a state institution, can override city wishes and policies, and is doing so in this case. It’s been known for more than a year that UT wanted the houses gone. But it was just last month, May 19, that UT surprised the preservation community by asking for bids from parties willing and able to move the houses quickly. The bid process was open for only 13 days, at the end of which the winning bidder must remove
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the purchased house, by the beginning of July. Only one responded during that window. Preservationist developer Carl Lansden bought two of the houses. He is known for some renovations in the Fourth and Gill area, and has won a Knox Heritage award for one of those renovations, but he’s never moved a house before. He has found a lot for one, nearby on Clinch, and is working against time to find a lot for the other. “It’s purely speculative on my part,” Lansden says. “There’s no way I could stomach UT demolishing those houses.” Knox Heritage Executive Director Kim Trent calls moving a house “a last resort.” Even if this move is successful, Trent worries about the precedent UT is setting. “Now everybody else is going to say, ‘Just move it.’” Any moved house loses whatever National Register of Historic Places status it might have had, and has to start over. The three houses on White are eligible for the National Register now, but if moved, would not be eligible again until 2065. Each house also loses its context, its part in the narrative of the place it sits. Context, especially in regard to UT history, is relevant to these houses’ stories. (See sidebar.) The last time UT sold a historic house to be moved, it was the large brick Keller house on Cumberland Avenue, in 2002. After months of work,
the project was deemed impossible due to some logistics concerning telephone poles. The house was demolished. But, Trent says, even if it’s a poor second choice, moving a house is better than demolition. She says she’s been working with multiple parties to try to find places for the houses. “I wish they had more broadly advertised the moving option, and given more than 13 days for people to respond,” she says. UT Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Chris Cimino says that’s a typical bid period, and that he first approached Knox Heritage about UT’s determination that the houses be moved in April 2014. Trent acknowledges Cimino discussed the moving mandate with her last year. She says she has been meeting with realtors, prospective purchasers, and city officials about finding a place for all three houses, and had invested $1,300 in an appraisal of the houses. She had recently been hopeful about placing them together on a surface parking lot. But moving a house is a process that often takes multiple cooperative parties and months of study. When the bid window closed, she was still waiting to hear about a prospective destination for one or more houses. Trent says she hadn’t heard mention of a deadline until she got an email about the beginning of the 13-day process on May 19. Kaye
Graybeal, primary historic-preservation planner for the MPC, says she was startled at the suddenness of UT’s announcement, too.
E
ven if the houses weren’t historic, there remains a question of why UT wanted this particular spot, considering it’s much more expensive than other plots of similar acreage nearby. The Owen-Danserau family bought the house at 1302 White in 1996 for a reported $188,000. UT bought the same property 19 years later for $1.1 million, about six times as much as the Owens paid for it. The difference at least partly reflects the fact that the Owens did extensive renovations to the house, which some members of the family occupied, with long-range plans to make it a bed and breakfast. UT paid $1 million for 1308 White, and $515,000 for 1312 White, for a total of $2.6 million for the three properties. Much of that value reflects the preserved historic houses, which will be removed or demolished. A nearby surface parking lot at Clinch Avenue and James Agee (formerly 15th) Street, offering a little more property, was recently appraised for about a third of that total. Being flat, unlike the steeply sloping site of the three houses, would seem much easier to build on—and with no grief from preservationists. Cimino says UT considered several options—including a four-block area farther to the north—but not that
particular parking lot. He emphasizes that the new building will include nutrition studies, and they wanted it to be near the Jessie Harris building, which is across 13th Street to the east.
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o Knox Heritage, the Historic Fort Sanders Neighborhood Association, and several former city leaders, the development is disheartening especially in light of the fact that an extraordinary and inclusive two-year process, 15 years ago, seemed a major step in solving the Fort Sanders problem. The Fort Sanders Forum recommended saving some houses to form a core neighborhood conservation district (NC-1) in which removal of historic houses would have to be discussed and approved by the Historic Zoning Commission. That Forum was an initiative of the Mayor Victor Ashe administration, and included several major stakeholders, including both Fort Sanders and Children’s hospitals, and architectural, real estate, and technical experts, as well as UT. Their work resulted in drawing a line around the historic houses deemed to be important to the neighborhood’s historic integrity. UT professor Jon Coddington took a leading role in the process as one of three facilitators, along with community mediator John Doggette (now executive director of Community Mediation Services of St. Louis) and John LeithTetrault, a well known figure nationally for his leadership in the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Though Coddington facilitated
the meetings, UT’s official representative was Phil Scheurer, UT senior vice chancellor for business and finance. Scheurer had suffered a Darth Vader-like reputation among preservationists in the late 20th century, but he seemed to undergo a conversion of sorts, and told Adcock, “I learned a lot.” Former UT President Joe Johnson attended some of the meetings and assured the group that UT had no further expansion plans to the north. Architecture professor Marleen Davis was involved, too, and helped draw up a new UT master plan that respected the neighborhood boundaries. “I thought we had an agreement,” says Ellen Adcock, who was Ashe’s director of administration. They took the plan, with the White Avenue houses included within the conservation district, to City Council, which met in Fort Sanders to approve it. MPC also approved the recommendations of the Fort Sanders Forum in 2000. However, the administration and the facilitators did not demand that all parties sign the document. “I kept asking if there were any changes, and everyone seemed to approve it. I have to say that when this started up, two or three years ago, I was so disappointed I just wanted to scream,” Adcock says. Ashe grew up near UT, on Melrose Avenue, a house long since torn down. “I can’t think of any single entity that has done more damage to historic homes than our alma mater, the University of Tennessee,” says the former mayor and U.S. ambassador. “I
regret saying it, but UT has an abysmal record when it comes to historic preservation.” Architect Randall DeFord, then leader of the Historic Fort Sanders Neighborhood Association, still lives and works in a renovated historic house in Fort Sanders. He says UT’s current leadership has told him that because there’s no formal contract, UT has no obligation to abide by the terms of the Fort Sanders Forum. Fifteen years may not seem a long time in the history of a 221-year-old institution, but UT has had several presidential turnovers since then. “It says to me that the leaders of UT lack integrity,” says DeFord. “That they’d string us along for 18 months or two years,” with day-long meetings and complex negotiations. “If you’re just going to ignore it, there’s no reason to have a public planning process.” Cimino has been a vice chancellor since 2009, the same year Jimmy Cheek, who did not live in Tennessee during the Fort Sanders Forum era, took the reins as chancellor. Cimino has heard people talk about the Forum, but seems unfamiliar with its particulars. He says “we’ve found nothing in writing, with signatures” concerning UT’s agreement not to bother the White Avenue houses. “I’ve never known the university to take a position that we would ever say never, this block or that block,” Cimino says. The fact that UT is expanding its territory may be surprising in light of some basic numbers. Total enroll-
ment at UT is considerably smaller than what it was 35 or 40 years ago. UT now has about 27,000 students; in the 1970s, the figure was reported to be 35,000, with some estimates well north of that. Through expansions on its edges, UT has already become a larger campus serving fewer students. Cimino says those old numbers may partly reflect evening and weekend classes, which are no longer a priority. Increased parking acreage is another factor. In any case, this expansion, he says, is a response to a study suggesting a specific “deficit” of 800,000 square feet of classroom and lab space for the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines. Those disciplines are concentrated in the Hill area, and the Hill is pretty crowded with buildings. Cimino says they considered adding one more, and decided against it. Chances are, none of the White Avenue houses will see the end of the summer, at least not on their current property. The Judge’s House, a cause célèbre written about by author Carson Brewer and others 35 years ago, seems destined for demolition. First-time house-mover Carl Lansden has bought the houses at 1302, the Schmitt house, and 1312, the Ferris house (see sidebar). He has found a place for the Schmitt house, at 1601 Clinch Avenue. Whether he’s able to save the Ferris house depends on whether he’s able to find a vacant lot for sale close enough to its 120-year home. ◆
History Behind the Houses At issue are three wooden Victorian houses on White Avenue, a block from Cumberland. All three were built in the mid-1890s, all three are in relatively good condition, one of them recently occupied by an owner who occupied it as a family home. Architecturally, they’re good examples of their style, but they may be most remarkable for the people who lived there. 1302, sometimes known as “Three Chimneys,” was built for the Cooper Schmitt family, who occupied it for more than 20 years. Schmitt was a prominent UT academic, a math professor who became dean of students in 1907. A sports fan and UT’s chairman of the Athletics Department, Schmitt founded UT’s first Athletic Association, just when the football team was new to campus. After he collapsed in a lecture hall on the Hill in 1910, Schmitt was carried to his home, where he died. Few professors have ever been eulogized quite as extravagantly as Schmitt, remembered with a marble plaque in the Austin Peay Building, which was, for many years, UT’s main administration building: “To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” However, his son Bernadotte, who grew up in the house at 1302 and lived there for some years after his father’s death, became more globally famous than his father. He became UT’s first Rhodes scholar and author of a landmark book about World War I, The Coming of War, 1914, Bernadotte Schmitt won the Pulitzer Prize. For the rest of his life, he would give talks about his first news of the war, which arrived with a thud on that same front porch, in the summer of 1914. The house in the middle, known as the Judge’s House, was the subject of a popular and
successful preservation effort, 35 years ago. It was first home of marble magnate James Ross, then of progressive politician James Maynard Jr.; grandson of the maverick Civil War politician who was the district’s first Republican Congressman, Maynard died suddenly in the house in 1917. Later still, for a quarter century, the home of Judge Charles Hayes Brown, who was Knoxville Chancellor in the 1920s, hence the name. The third house, at 1312 White, was for a decade the home of engineering professor Charles Ferris (1864-1951). He was a respected scholarly author, though Elements of Descriptive Geometry (1904) probably didn’t have quite the drawing power of The Coming of War. He’s more often remembered as UT’s first dean of the College of Engineering, and is the namesake of the 1930 Ferris Hall on the Hill. He was one of the early leaders of UT’s alumni giving programs, and later on, even as an old man, led engineer training programs for the new Tennessee Valley Authority. What may be less known is that beginning in 1912, when he lived in this house, Ferris led the charge to get UT to establish a “modern athletic field,” at a time when UT’s football field was bare, rocky, and even a little hilly. Ferris’ efforts culminated in UT’s acquiring the land where Neyland Stadium was eventually built. Ferris is also credited as the man who insisted, despite the university’s fiscal pragmatism, that Ayres Hall should be more than another practical academic building, and should have an impressive tower. Ferris could see it from his back door. —J.N.
June 11, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 13
C E R ’ U YO
IAL D R O
LY I N V I T E D
TO
LE
AR
N
WHY I HAD TO
Leave the State Get Married TO
(Or, a Good Example Why Gay Marriage Won’t Actually Destroy Society Here or Anywhere Else) NYC , NY MARCH 2015
BY A
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ACCEPTANCE TO FOLLOW
S G PRIL SN ELLIN
Jami
i l r p A
I
t was a cold, gray day in March when my partner and I walked down the steps of a 19th-century Brooklyn townhouse and made our way to the Lafayette Avenue subway station. It was a Friday morning and, though you wouldn’t have guessed it from the aluminum-colored snow clouds that had piled up overnight, the first day of spring. Knoxville was looking forward to a comparatively balmy day that would top out around 54 degrees; New York City, on the other hand, was preparing for yet another snowstorm, and temperatures didn’t make it out of the 30s that day. Under the circumstances, Jami and I were glad we’d opted for warm jeans, boots, and scarves instead of wedding dresses. It was a decision that inspired varying degrees of mortification and horror in our friends and family, but it made our trek to New York City Hall’s Marriage Bureau on March 20, 2015 an altogether more pleasant journey. We could’ve taken a taxi, I guess, but I refuse to use cabs on the grounds that I’m cheap and they’re not. So after a brisk walk past the Fort Greene brownstones and bodegas that had become familiar to us over the course of the preceding week, we caught a C train that took us into Manhattan. It’s not a typical route for a Tennessee couple to take on their wedding day, but Jami and I aren’t a typical Tennessee couple. It’s not really the fact that we’re gay that sets us apart—I honestly don’t remember the last time anyone bothered to crook an eyebrow at that. We divide our time between Knoxville and Oak Ridge, and both of those communities, at
Most of our married friends are married no matter where they are; when we travel, it takes satellites and cell towers to figure out whether or not we’re hitched (or at least a map and an accurate memory of recent court cases). It’s complicated. least in our experience, are wonderfully accepting places. Rather, we’re outliers because of the strangely protean geography of our marriage. Most of our married friends are married no matter where they are; when we travel, it takes satellites and cell towers to figure out whether or not we’re hitched (or at least a map and an accurate memory of recent court cases). It’s complicated. But it wasn’t so complicated on March 19, when we sat in cracked plastic chairs at the Brooklyn Municipal Building and applied for a marriage license. I’d like to say that we’d driven the 730 miles to New York City for the sole purpose of getting married, but that’s not the case. We were in town on business—I’d sold a play—and the wedding was really more of an afterthought. We opted to do the deed
at City Hall, partly because it’s fast and inexpensive—it set us back $35 for the license, and an additional $25 for the ceremony—but mostly because, since our families and friends couldn’t be there to share it with us, the circumstances didn’t seem to matter much. We’d been together for nine years by then, and we just wanted to get married. We had decided to tie the knot about a year into our relationship, on Christmas Eve; eight years is a very long engagement. We even considered returning to the Brooklyn Municipal Building for the ceremony. New York requires a waiting period of at least 24 hours once you’ve secured your marriage license, and we were staying with friends in Brooklyn, so it would have been easier. But it was one of those somber, dingy places where you feel
compelled to whisper even when no one else is around, so we hedged our bets and headed to Manhattan. I’d also like to say that I remember my wedding day with remarkable clarity and then regale you with specific, writerly details, but that’s not true either. From the moment we walked through the giant, Art Deco doors at 141 Worth St., everything moved so quickly that the hour or so we spent inside exists as more of a catalog of impressions than a distinct memory. I recall marble columns and bronze chandeliers, and that it was loud and warm and happy and crowded. There were grooms in top hats and brides in T-shirts. There were couples who had no family with them and asked other brides and grooms to serve as their witnesses, and there were couples who’d apparently brought everyone they’d ever met. There were teenage couples, and couples who were accompanied by their grandchildren. There was singing and dancing and cheering and at least one opera cape. It was hectic and intense, and everyone was happy—even the famously crabby city officials. A cop who was sent over to shush a particularly loud wedding party ended up singing and dancing with them. What stands out most of all to me about that day, though, is that we didn’t stand out at all. This thing we were doing, which was causing so much consternation in our home state that Tennessee amended its constitution to stop it, was no big deal in New York. We took our marriage license to the counter, just like everybody else. We were given a number, just like June 11, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 15
The argument, I think, is that same-sex marriage is somehow an affront to different-sex marriage, and that terrible things will happen if gay people are allowed to go around marrying each other all willy-nilly, as if they’re celebrities or straight people.
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everybody else, and sent to a line of avocado-green sofas to wait until our number appeared on the overhead monitors. There was a minor timing-related kerfuffle because we showed up at the window seven minutes before our 24-hour waiting period was up and we got bumped back in the queue; a pair of sympathetic clerks conspired to hold our spot for us, though, so as soon as those seven minutes passed, we were hustled back into the fray. It was stunningly efficient. Forty-two minutes after we’d submitted our license and taken our number, Jami and I, with two witnesses in tow, were directed into the West Chapel to say our vows. The ceremony was simple and informal. Our officiant, an apple-cheeked, brilliantly-coiffed woman named Edwina Townes, mixed up our names a couple of times—maybe that’s one of those unforeseen dangers of same-sex marriage that people keep warning us about—and I panicked and said something dumb when she asked each of us to tell the other why we wanted to marry her. (As the long-suffering editors of this paper can tell you, I need time to think of interesting stuff to say.) I don’t remember what I said, but after a moment of watching me twist in the wind, Ms. Townes let me off the hook. I don’t remember what Jami said either, but I’m sure it was nice. And that was it. Ms. Townes pronounced us married, signed our marriage certificate, and sent us on our way. After nine years of being told how terribly different we are by the state of Tennessee, it took the state of New York 24 hours and 42 minutes to acknowledge that, in the ways that count, we’re just like everybody else.
G
etting married is supposed to be a life-changing event, and it probably was for the scores of other couples who tied the knot at New York City Hall that day. But for Jami and me, it really didn’t change very much. As we drove home the following Monday, our marriage did a strange magic act. We traveled through several states over the course of the 13-hour trip to Tennessee, and we were married in all of them: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, even Virginia. Then we got to Tennessee, and we weren’t married anymore—at least, not as far as our home state is
concerned. Nine years ago, in 2006— the year I met my wife, incidentally— Tennessee passed an amendment to its state constitution that explicitly denies same-sex couples the right to wed, and prohibits the state from recognizing those marriages when they’re performed in other states. The language of the amendment is terse and unpleasant—something about marriage being a historical institution—but you really don’t have to look beyond the name of the referendum to get the gist of it: the Tennessee Marriage Protection Amendment. The argument, I think, is that same-sex marriage is somehow an affront to different-sex marriage, and that terrible things will happen if gay people are allowed to go around marrying each other all willy-nilly, as if they’re celebrities or straight people. It’s starting to look like Tennesseans were all worked up over nothing. Opponents of marriage equality have been pretty vague about exactly how long it will take for gays to ruin marriage for everybody else, so maybe social collapse and divine retribution are still imminent. I’ve got to be honest, though: So far, Jami and I have experienced a marked lack of smiting. Everyone’s just been really happy for us. Jami’s school-system coworkers showered us with gift cards and congratulations; her conservative, devoutly religious parents helped us celebrate our wedding, and treat me as their daughter-in-law. A neighbor gave us some cookies that I suspect were store-bought and not homemade, but that’s been the extent of the shunning so far. Like so many gay couples who live in the handful of states still successfully fighting marriage equality, Jami and I are in an uncertain place right now. The culture of acceptance that’s slowly been taking root in Tennessee over the past few years is at odds with the state’s political climate, and that has made things difficult for us at times. Everyone we know—friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, liberals and conservatives alike—treats us as a married couple. In our daily lives, we feel loved and accepted. Knoxville has been a wonderful, welcoming, supportive city for us. Tennessee is more problematic. Our governor has repeatedly declared his opposition to marriage equality. Our state asked its citizens to vote on
We want to raise our hypothetical kids around our family; we want them to have close relationships with their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Jami and I both had that advantage, and we’d like our children to have it, too. We’re funny like that. whether or not our marriage should be valid, and 81 percent of our fellow Tennesseans decided that it shouldn’t. The same people who carry on about personal freedom were very eager to clarify that they don’t mean personal freedom for, like, everybody.
I
n short, being gay in Knoxville is easy, but being gay in Tennessee is a huge pain in the ass. Years ago, we talked about moving to a place that would offer us the same rights and protections as everyone else. We thought about California or New York. We talked about Vermont. We even seriously considered ditching the U.S. altogether and heading to Canada. But we have lives here—the ones we had before we met, and the one we’ve built together. We have friends and families and careers and pets— lots of pets—and a house and a garden, and the thought of leaving home makes us terribly sad. As strange as it feels to say it, we love living in Tennessee. We’re happy here, and we want to stay. And we’re lucky because, at least for now, we can do that without worrying about what it might mean for us. Jami and I both come from loving, accepting families, so we don’t have to struggle with the things that so many gay couples have to deal with—hospital visitation rights, for instance, should one of us ever get hurt or become ill. Neither of our families would even think of trying to keep us apart, especially when we need one another the most. Other couples in Tennessee aren’t that fortunate. They desperately need the protections, rights, and reassurances that marriage offers. We’re thinking about having kids,
though, and if that happens, we might have to reevaluate our situation. Opponents of marriage equality often tell us to “think of the children,” and that’s what we’ll have to do. On one hand, we want to raise our hypothetical kids around our family; we want them to have close relationships with their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Jami and I both had that advantage, and we’d like our children to have it, too. We’re funny like that. Jami will probably even take our kids to church when I’m not looking. On the other hand, I can’t imagine how hard it might be to grow up in a place where your family doesn’t have the same rights as other families, or where it isn’t even recognized as a family. Too many people have endured that experience throughout our country’s history, and maybe we’re obligated to do whatever we can to keep anyone else from going through it. Jami always sees the good in people, and doesn’t think it would be a challenge to raise children here. I’m not so sure. I don’t know what the answer is. Maybe it’s not something we’ll ever have to figure out. Hopefully, the Supreme Court will rule in favor of marriage equality later this month, and we won’t have to choose between the home we love and the rights we need and deserve. I wish it weren’t up to a federal court to force Tennessee to recognize our marriage and thousands like it, and to give all of our neighbors the right to have the experience we had. But it is, and I hope they make the right decision. The next time someone asks me if I’m married, it would be wonderful to be able to say “yes” no matter which side of the Tennessee state line I happen to be standing on. ◆
XVI LLE O N K
Pridefest 2015
Knoxville has become a surprising city of festivals. A decade or so ago, you couldn’t get people here to show up for them. Now you can’t squeeze in enough personal space to hoist your drink at one. And they seemingly happen every weekend. But the most amazing festival success story has to be Knoxville’s Pridefest. As you may have noticed, Tennessee is an unabashedly red state, and its eastern region is not often comfortable with public displays of affection for “unorthodox” groups. Yet Pridefest has managed to flourish here, growing in size and scope each year, with nearly a month’s worth of events celebrating equality and inclusion, no matter your sexual orientation. It all culminates in what must be the most colorful public spectacle in Knoxville history, a parade like no other that has trod Knoxville’s streets, progressing through downtown to World’s Fair Park for a day-long party.
KNOXVILLE PRIDEFEST PARADE Gay Street • Saturday, June 20 • Noon-1 p.m. It starts at Gay Street and Jackson Avenue, turns right onto Clinch Avenue, and ends at World’s Fair Park.
KNOXVILLE PRIDEFEST FESTIVAL World’s Fair Park • Saturday, June 20 • 1-9 p.m. The “fest” in “Pridefest” follows the parade, with an eight-hour party on the south lawn of World’s Fair Park, headlined by Joan Osborne, best known for the bluesy ’90s folk-rock hit “One of Us.” Over the last two decades, Osborne has remained busy, even if she hasn’t returned to the same prominence on the charts, releasing seven solo albums since her 1995 debut, Relish, on a variety of major and independent labels. She’s also a member of the rootsy all-star group Trigger Hippy, alongside former Black Crowes Steve Gorman and Jackie Greene. The lineup also includes Billy Gilman, Mama’s Black Sheep, the Pop Rox, Jessi Lynn, Heyday Revival, Knoxville Gay Men’s Chorus, Knoxville Opera, Karen E. Reynolds, and DJ Mindy.
INFO
knoxvillepridefest.org
June 11, 2015
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A&E
P rogram Notes
Downward Mobility
Local prog pioneers Mobility Chief say farewell with a final show
A
long with Maps Need Reading, Lines Taking Shape, and a handful of others, Mobility Chief has made local clubs safe for the kind of noodly, cerebral, chops-intensive, and fusion-inspired instrumental excursions that were frowned upon by former generations of rock critics and fashion-chasers. This chapter in Knoxville’s slim prog history comes to an end later this month, though, when the members of Mobility Chief—Chance
Yes Indeed I
Kellar, Nate Glenn, Ryan Vowell, and Graham Waldrip—play their last show together. They’re capping a three-year run of local and regional dates on Friday, June 19, at Pilot Light in the Old City, headlining a bill with the aforementioned Lines Taking Shape and Mesmer Tea. (The show starts at 10 p.m.; admission is $5 and 18 and up. Visit thepilotlight.com for details.) Matthew Everett interviewed Kellar by email to discuss the band’s breakup, the state of the prog/instrumental scene in town, and what’s coming next. Listen to the band’s 2013 EP, Search Beneath Earth, at mobilitychief.bandcamp.com.
You guys were pretty dormant during the fall and winter. Is this something that’s been coming for a while?
Yes. We had the first discussion about parting ways back in November, I
believe. We always knew we wanted to have one last hurrah, so to speak, but time just sort of got away from us.
What exactly led to the decision to call it quits?
I sort of look at it in the same way as any other relationship coming to an end. We weren’t as in sync as we used to be and it started to feel like we were pulling in other directions from one another. None of us have any bad feelings, though, and rehearsals for this last show have really been a blast.
What immediate plans do you each have for music—new projects, solo stuff, anything?
Nate and Graham are both involved in other projects already, and Ryan is working on a solo project that he hopes to unveil in the near future. I’m in the early stages of planning a special project as well, but there isn’t much to say about that just yet.
I assume this final show is going to be emotional and bittersweet for you guys. What do you expect? It definitely will be bittersweet. We’ve all poured our hearts into this music
for years now, and it will certainly be sad to play it this last time. But I think we will all be a little relieved to have it over with. I guess you’d call it closure. But what do I expect? I expect to bring down the house and have a kick-ass party with tons of our friends and fans.
You guys were among the first local bands to explore long, proggy instrumental music. What inspired you to take this direction? Do you think it paid off? Thoughts on the local scene you helped establish?
You know, it’s been really cool to see that scene grow. I like to think we had a part in it, but I wouldn’t dare take credit for it. When we got started, Maps Need Reading and Lines Taking Shape (then Tabula Rasa) were already making waves. There are a lot more nowadays that I’ve been really happy to see come out. I think a big contributor to our early success was meeting Chris Casteel of Night Owl Music. He believed in us early on and started putting us on higher-profile shows. But you know, really, we were just playing the kind music we loved to hear.
A massive new box set from prog titans Yes includes the band’s November 1972 Knoxville show t might reek of overkill, even to the most die-hard Yes fan: a 14-disc live box set, compiling seven shows from the prog-rock legends’ 1972 tour. It’s a stretch already documented on the 1973 behemoth triple-album Yessongs. But the new set, Progeny, is worth the plunge for Yes completists, ascending to—and often surpassing—the band’s previous live peaks. It’s also of particular interest for Knoxville-based fans, featuring the full Nov. 15 show recorded at the Civic Coliseum. Yes’ 1972 album Close to the Edge marked a critical turning point for the band, with the entire classic quintet lineup—singer Jon Anderson, guitarist Steve Howe, bassist Chris
Squire, keyboardist Rick Wakeman, and drummer Bill Bruford—firing on all cylinders. Over four decades later, that album remains a cornerstone of the entire progressive-rock movement. But Yes’ future looked uncertain after the recording sessions, when Bruford left to join like-minded experimentalist Robert Fripp in King Crimson. Alan White, a veteran session player for John Lennon and George Harrison, stepped into Bruford’s spot, learning the band’s entire live repertoire in a mind-boggling three days. But had the magic dissipated? That transitional version of Yes certainly faced immense pressure, but Progeny confirms just how cohesive
the rest of the group had become in their four years of touring. The set lists here are consistent throughout, featuring the entire Close to the Edge album along with a few old-school favorites (the band’s breakthrough hit, “Roundabout,” and the sing-along “I’ve Seen All Good People”) and instrumental showcases for Howe and Wakeman. Given the blunt repetition, it’s easier to recommend the condensed, two-CD highlights version, which recreates one standard set from shows in Knoxville, Canada, North Carolina, Georgia, and New York. The Civic Coliseum set finds Yes a bit worn down from their previous
three months on the road. (Anderson’s voice is strained throughout the set, particularly on the angelic highs of “And You and I.”) But the ensemble playing is surprisingly energetic from cut to cut, with White’s heavier, more bombastic approach livening up the Fragile and Edge material. And Progeny gets a leg up on Yessongs for sheer fidelity: Every sneering Howe lick and Wakeman organ run cuts through with the analog warmth and precision of a studio session. Progeny is a tough sell. But it’s also an important document in Yes history, and an interesting footnote in the history of live music in Knoxville. (Ryan Reed)
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Inside the Vault: The Singing Barber
KNOXVILLE MERCURY June 11, 2015
Music: Jim White
Movie: The Connection
Video: Bloodline
Inside the Vault
A&E
The Singing Barber Glenn Farrington reflects on a life in country and gospel music BY ERIC DAWSON
I
n a small strip mall off Broadway, in Fountain City, between CVS and Walgreens, you can still get a $5 haircut. At Glenn’s Barber Shop, you can also get some pretty interesting stories about country- and gospel-music history in Knoxville. The owner, Glenn Farrington, has performed around East Tennessee and beyond for more than six decades, and he’ll gladly tell you about singing with Archie Campbell or being introduced on the Grand Ole Opry by Hank Snow. There are likely to be several customers in the shop, so you’ll have time to take in a few stories while you wait. As you leave, you can purchase one of Farrington’s many CDs for a price in line with his haircuts. Farrington, 80, started singing in the choir at the old Rule High School. He appeared on local radio on WROL, WNOX’s Tennessee Barn Dance, and John Hitch’s revamped Tennessee Valley Barn Dance. Local TV viewers may have spotted him on Jim Clayton’s Startime or J. Bazzel Mull’s Mull Singing Convention; he says he was on Cas Walker’s show with his cousin Esco Hankins the same day a young Dolly Parton made her first TV appearance. For most of his life, Farrington sang gospel, but in the 1970s he tried his hand at country music. He appeared on You Can Be a Star, a Nashville version of Star Search with Jim Ed Brown in the Ed McMahon role, and finished just a few points shy of first place. Farrington attended Bon View Baptist Church, where he befriended Ruby Moody, a staggeringly prolific gospel songwriter and Dove Award winner. Her name turns up on a large number of obscure small-label gospel 45s from the 1970s. In 1975, Farrington recorded several of Moody’s songs at Nashville’s JED Records, the label ran by the son of Opry stage
manager Jim Denny. Farrington landed a spot on the Opry, where he sang Moody’s “Gonna Have a Good Time (When I Reach Gloryland).” Snow was also on the bill that night, and brought Moody’s friend onto the stage. Glenn’s Barber Shop has been at the same location since 1969; before that, Farrington worked across the street at Buddy Kirby’s establishment. Buddy was the brother of Beecher Kirby, a member of Roy Acuff’s Smoky Mountain Boys. One day Buddy called Farrington and told him to come by his house. He arrived to find Acuff and Chet Atkins. They invited him to sing and pick guitar with them for a while. Farrington’s been through some rough patches in the last few years. Shirley, his wife of 60 years, died a few years ago. In the summer of 2013, he broke his hip during a robbery at his shop. Farrington’s grandson is making the barber shop a family business by working on Farrington’s off days. Farrington’s second wife, Glenda, now sings with him. They even have their own gospel show on KRBB on Sundays at 5 p.m. Farrington says he has few regrets, but he does wish he could have made an appearance on Hee Haw. His old WNOX pal Archie Campbell invited him on once, but Campbell died before the deal was finalized. “I don’t know what might have happened if I’d been on Hee Haw,” Farrington says. “I’d probably be making more money than I am now. But this barber business is what affords me to make music, record my albums, and have my TV show. There’s a lot of people that come in for a $5 haircut.” ◆ Inside the Vault features discoveries from the Knox County Public Library’s Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound, a collection of film, video, music, and other media from around East Tennessee. June 11, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 19
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Music
Searching for Jim White The eccentric singer/songwriter talks about the South and his odd connection to Knoxville BY JACK NEELY
C
hances are you’ve heard of Jim White, but you thought he was a different Jim White from that other Jim White. Though never in the spotlight, he’s all over the place. He’s an artist and an essayist and has done some filmmaking. He’s a singer and guitarist, but his voice doesn’t always sound like it belongs to the same guy. Some of his work is eerie, some is hilarious, some sounds like an ancient ballad, some like an old gothic dirge, some like a rock anthem, some like a gritty folk song. The one thing that binds it together is a tinge of honest weirdness. Songs like “Alabama Chrome” (a reference to duct tape, of course), “Buzzards of Love,” “Ten Miles to Go on a Nine-Mile Road,” “A Perfect Day to Chase Tornadoes,” and “Ghost Town of My Brain” prove him a storyteller with a talent for vivid metaphors and downbeat insights. “Everything I think I know,” goes one lyric, “is just static on the radio.” He was also the subject of Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus, a quotable 2003 documentary about the South that has attracted a cult following. He has collaborated with everyone from Aimee Mann to the Barenaked Ladies and toured with David Byrne, a professed admirer. But in recent years, he has also worked at Juilliard on a soundtrack for a Sam Shepard play. He doesn’t tour much, but he is going to be at Barley’s next week with one of his favorite groups, the Packway Handle Band, a way-offbeat crypto-bluegrass group from Athens, Ga., that White has produced. White grew up in Pensacola, Fla., but went to college at New York University. For the last decade, he’s made his home base in Athens. White’s fascinated with the South and what makes it different from all other places,
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and that has informed his music and his persona. “I love Knoxville,” White says. “The first time I was there, I walked around, nonstop, 11 in the morning to about 4. It’s my kind of town.” His late stepfather was from the Knoxville area, and White produced a record by the Skipperdees, twin singer/songwriters from Oak Ridge who made a critical splash a couple of years ago. He says they broke up just after recording the album he produced, but he still thinks they’re great, a duo we should be proud of. Three years ago, White posted an essay called “The Bottom,” based on a couple of experiences in Knoxville, and it’s gotten around in scholarly circles. During a tour with David Byrne—they played the Bijou Theatre in the mid-1990s—he had a fascinating experience with the late Central Street barber Walter McGinnis, whose Tri-City Barber College evolved into a small barber shop and junk store. White was wandering around downtown with Byrne when they wandered into McGinnis’ shop.
McGinnis, who could be grumpy, yelled at them. Alarmed, Byrne left. But White was fascinated with the old man, and stayed to hear McGinnis’ long, tall tales of painted ladies and knife fights in the gutter. “He was real proud of the .38 bullet holes in his shop,” White says. White is a Cormac McCarthy fan, as you might expect, and at length he asked McGinnis if he’d read Suttree. McGinnis answered, “Sut? Did he write a book?” And he proceeded to describe Suttree, heretofore believed to be a fictional character. Walter claimed Suttree used to come in his shop to get a haircut, and paid in catfish. White is still perplexed about what that means. “He was an odd character, but I don’t know that he’d be that devious, as to read the book and make up a story about it,” White says. It gets stranger. “The Bottom” should be required reading. This week White says he’s glad to hear confirmation that Walter and his weird shop really existed. “Sometimes when I tell stories I start to wonder about the veracity of them—whether they’re real or some deluded memory.” When he returned to the Old City a few years later, he had a BBC Four camera crew in tow, working on the Southern travelogue that became Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus. “The British filmmakers were very enamored of Walter,” he says, “but all his stories were five to eight minutes
long, and there was no way to cut them up.” The barber’s voice and image are in the final film, which won a Royal Television Society award. The last time White came to town, around 2007, when he performed at a suburban radio station he doesn’t remember, he checked on Walter and was disappointed to see his store had closed. Talking to White about literature, religion, and politics, it’s easy to forget that he’s mainly a musician. He plays guitar and sings. “It’s hard to get people out,” he says. “There’s a tsunami of tortured geniuses with guitars. On the way into town, there’s a whole traffic jam of them.” He has a couple of daughters in Athens, and he is not crazy about touring. For White this is just a two-stop tour, Knoxville and Louisville. The show at Barley’s is billed “Jim White Vs. the Packway Handle Band.” White likes the “vs.” because he and the band have opposing sensibilities. “They’re fun-loving, zippy, very boyish,” he says. “I’m sort of slit-your-wrists music. But we’ve advanced to some kind of synthesis.” He likes the chance to play some of his country songs that never seemed to fit with his solo shows. The unlikely alliance has kicked up some surprises. One cover they’ve done together is the old Desmond Dekker ska bit, “The Israelites.” “No telling what’ll pop up,” White says. ◆
WHO
Jim White Vs. the Packway Handle Band
WHERE
Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (200 E. Jackson Ave.)
WHEN
Thursday, June 18, at 10 p.m.
MORE INFO
barleysknoxville.com
OFFICIAL GUIDE
KNOX BEER WEEK 1
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he 4th annual Knoxville Beer Week and the 5th annual Brewfest are upon us! And 2015 is shaping up to be a banner year with easier check-in, more brewers with more beer, and more money raised for Cure Duchenne, the charity at the heart of it all. Duchenne is a form of muscular dystrophy that’s particularly devastating for about one in every 3,500 boys. According to the Cure Duchenne website: “Historically, most boys who have it do not survive beyond their mid-twenties, and those that do will be wheelchair bound by age 12.” Brewfest’s contribution to Cure Duchenne equates to nearly half of the price of each ticket sold. As for the rest of the money, almost all of that goes to buying all the event’s beer and supplies; Brewfest 2015 will serve over 2,500 gallons of beer and go through close to $10,000 in ice. Event coordinator Matt McMillan is a serious beer enthusiast, both personally and professionally. But as much as he gets excited about the number of beers and beer lovers that will come together over the week and, finally, descend on the site at the Historic Southern Railway Station, he’s quick to point out that the motivation for the celebration and his work with it is Cure Duchenne. 2 KNOX BEER WEEK
“I really want to get over the $50,000 donation mark,” he says. “We just missed it last year, and we were at almost 100 percent over our best year ever when I signed on last year. That really had me interested in coming back to do it again and get over that hump.” Still, McMillan’s keen to provide a good experience that benefits the charity and keeps craft beer on the minds and in the mouths of consumers from one end of Knoxville to the other. A prime motivator for a week-long celebration with events across the city, Matt says, is “to spread the love and get more people involved. Especially because a lot of it became centered downtown. You have folks that, during the week, it’s hard to come from way out [in] Farragut and have drinks downtown.” The big event, of course, is Brewfest and that happens on Saturday, June 20 from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Historic Southern Railway Station on Depot Street. It’s a big beer-soaked conclave, but it’s limited to 3,000 tickets; the event has sold out every year since its inception, so make sure to buy tickets ahead of time (they’re available through the website). The early bird special has passed, so, if there are any left, tickets are $50, and designated drivers can enter for $20. Of course it’s a 21 and up event for full-grown humans only; neither children
nor pets are allowed. McMillan is optimistic about a record-breaking year for brewer participation: “I’m hoping we can crack 100 breweries this year. I’m feeling pretty good about 90-100 breweries with 300-400 different kinds of beer.” This year’s event will be a special one, as attendees will get the chance to get acquainted with a number of new and refitted local breweries including Alliance, Cold Fusion, Crafty Bastard, Hexagon (nee Underground Brewery), and Schulz Bräu Brewing Company. Brewfest 2015 will also feature a more efficient check-in procedure after a rocky start to last year’s festival. McMillan remembers that, “Last year was way too many fun factors in one go. First we dealt with rain and a new location… I’ll definitely admit on our end we didn’t have the people to handle the gate properly—well, we had a gate plan but that got quickly washed away.” The rain made computer operation difficult; this year they’ve switched to Eventbrite online ticket sales and “got a ton of ticket scanners. They’re phones, so they don’t have to be plugged in; we don’t have to worry about any kind of power.” They’ve also added a second gate this year. But McMillan does advise that early arrival helps: “If you want to get in at 4, arrive at 3.” The event features live music, and food vendors include Farm to Griddle Crepes, Brixx Wood Fired Pizza, Calhoun’s, and the Savory and Sweet Truck. But attendees are welcome to bring in outside food and non-alcoholic drinks—hydration is the watchword for a good experience of sampling beer on a June afternoon in East Tennessee. And, McMillan adds, the whole point of Brewfest is to make it a good experience by “keeping it about beer sampling, connecting with brewers and people.” And the best part is that it’s all for an important charity: “It’s pretty easy to throw one back for a good cause.”
WHAT 5th Annual Knoxville Brewfest 306 West Depot Ave.
WHEN Saturday, June 20, 4-8 p.m.
WHERE Historic Southern Railway Station
TICKETS $50 General Admission ticket holders will be provided with a tasting cup, festival map, and a unlimited beer sampling. Designated driver tickets are available for $20.
GATES Check-in begins at 3 p.m., with gates opening at 4 p.m.. You must have a ticket and be 21 or older and present a government issued ID to be admitted. Festival is held rain or shine. No refunds will be given.
FOOD & WATER Water will be provided. Please drink lots of it. Food vendors will be on-site.
CHILDREN & PETS Children and pets are not allowed. Please find a sitter for the Fest and enjoy an afternoon out.
MORE INFO KnoxvilleBrewfest.com
CHEROKEE DISTRIBUTING IS PROUD TO BE A SPONSOR OF
Saturday, June 13th
Thursday, June 18th
Kickoff to Knoxville’s Craft Beer Week in Market Square
Barley’s Old City – Meet Your Maker with Highland Brewery
10:00am to 2:00pm
and Tennessee Brew Works, Fat Bottom, Wolf Hills 7:00 to 8:00pm
Monday, June 15th
Brixx “West Hills” Lagunitas tap take over.
Casual Pint Fountain City – Fanatic (Knoxville’s Newest Brewery)
Friday, June 19th
Bearden Beer Market – Highland Brewery, Run with the Bossy Lady
Preservation Pub – Lagunitas Circus 5:30 to 9:00pm
(Leah & Lauren)
Casual Pint Fountain City – Firkin Friday with Highland sixth barrel
Wednesday, June 17th
round up, Fat Bottom and Tennessee Brew Works Breweries. Barley’s Old City – Western Night
Scruffy City - Science of Beer with Highland Brewery and Tennessee Brew Works 6:00 to 8:00pm
Saturday, June 20th Brewfest 4:00-8:00pm KNOX BEER WEEK 3
Saturday, June 13 10 A.M.-2 P.M.
TASTE OF TENNESSEE AT THE MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET
Taste local craft beer samples and meet the people behind them at the Market Square Farmers’ Market. $5 for four 4-ounce samples, with all money raised going to Big Brother Big Sisters of East Tennessee. 6:30 P.M.–9:30 P.M.
OLDE HICKORY BREWERY CASK NIGHT Greene’s Tavern, 9307 Kingston Pike #B
Enjoy a special Olde Hickory cask featuring their Table Rock Pale Ale aged with maple chips and dry-hopped with Simcoe.
Sunday, June 14 11 A.M.-2 P.M.
KEGS & EGGS The Casual Pint (Bearden), 234 Brookview Centre Way #107
Start your day out right! There is nothing like beer and breakfast in the morning…
Monday, June 15 ALL DAY
SERVER APPRECIATION DAY
7 P.M.-11 P.M.
YAZOO BREWING COMPANY TRIVIA NIGHT Hops and Hollers, 937 N. Central St.
Trivia Night with Yazoo Brewing Company. Multiple Yazoo brews will be pouring and $1 from every Yazoo pint will go to the Alzheimer’s Association.
Tuesday, June 16 ALL DAY
CAN YOU DIG IT Sweet P’s Downtown Dive, 410 W. Jackson Ave.
A large variety of canned beer will be featured all day. Corn hole will be available upstairs. ALL DAY
MARIO KART Casual Pint (Bearden), 234 Brookview Centre Way #107
Come play Mario Kart on the Wii and enjoy $3 New Belgium Shift pints all day long.
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Wednesday, June 17 5 P.M.–8 P.M.
CRAFT BEER COCKTAIL HOUR Armada Craft Cocktail Bar, 116 S. Central St.
Enjoy delicious beer cocktails made with beer from some of your favorite breweries. The beers featured for the event are: Yazoo Brewing Company’s Sue, RJ Rockers Brewing Company’s Son of a Peach, and Victory Brewing Company’s Golden Monkey. 6 P.M.–8 P.M.
SCIENCE OF BEER Scruffy City Hall, 32 Market Square
Dig in deep to the science behind craft beer! Dr. Todd White from South College’s brewing science program will be moderating a panel of experienced craft beer experts: Marty Velas from Fanatic Brewing Company, Laura Burns from Tennessee Brew Works, Hollie Stephenson from Highland Brewing Company, John Owen from Black Abbey Brewing Company, and Will Brady from Saw Works Brewing Company. 6 P.M. 6:30 P.M.–11:30 P.M.
STARR HILL PINT NIGHT The Casual Pint (Northshore), 2045 Thunderhead Rd.
Enjoy the new summer seasonal from Starr Hill, SoulShine. Buy a Starr Hill pint, keep the glass. Plus, free pizza & cornhole with prizes from Starr Hill.
FOUNDERS BREWING NIGHT Suttree’s High Gravity Tavern, 411 S Gay St.
Featuring All Day IPA, Porter, Devil Dancer, Red’s Rye, and KBS. 6:30 P.M. 7:30 P.M.–8:30 P.M.
FAST FOOD BEER DINNER Casual Pint (Fountain City), 4842 Harvest Mill Way
$15 per person. Limited Seating. Menu: Salsarita’s Chips & Salsa with Yazoo’s Dos Perros, Krystal Chili Pup with Starr Hill’s Grateful Pale Ale, Taco Bell Doritos Locos Tacos with Red Hare Gangway IPA, Krispy Kreme Glazed Donut with Wiseacre’s Gotta Get Up To Get Down Coffee Milk Stout
at
FOOTHILLS CASK NIGHT Bearden Beer Market, 4524 Old Kingston Pike
Foothills Brewing is bringing a special cask to the Beer Market for KCBW. Enjoy their beers on tap, too. 7 P.M.
COOKIE DOUGH BEER PAIRING The Casual Pint (Bearden), 234 Brookview Centre Way #107
Edible cookie cough paired with craft beer!
the area’s best selection of local & regional craft beers!
KNOX BEER WEEK 5
7 P.M.-8 P.M.
HOW IT’S MADE: A LOOK AT LOCAL CRAFT BEER Whole Foods Market, 6730 Papermill Drive
Join the folks at Whole Foods Market to hear how local craft beer is made from Saw Works Brewing Company head brewer, Will Brady. After the discussion, there will be a sample of a special Rough Cut selection. 8 P.M.–11 P.M.
dedicated to promoting sustainable trail access to off-road bicyclists and to maintaining the trails on which mountain bikers rely. Includes a special Rough Cut, live music, and great pizza—all for a great cause. 6 P.M.–11 P.M.
WISEACRE BREWING TRIVIA NIGHT Central Flats and Taps, 1204 N. Central St.
This is the official roll-out for “Starr Hill presents Scruffy City Radio.” Starr Hill be pouring on the Scroof, along with Live streaming of band concerts.
Wiseacre Brewing Co. will be featured during Trivia. Prizes will be given away, and a special brew from Wiseacre will be pouring.
7 P.M.
Thursday, June 18 ALL DAY
THROWBACK THURSDAY The Casual Pint (Bearden), 234 Brookview Centre Way #107
7 P.M.–11 P.M.
PINTS FOR PURPOSE: APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN BIKE CLUB Hard Knox Pizza, 4437 Kingston Pike
Saw Works Brewing Company will be at Hard Knox Pizza on Thursday, June 18 to celebrate Knox Craft Beer Week with Pints for Purpose. Pints for Purpose will benefit the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club, which is
435 Union Ave. nothingtoofancy.com
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MEET YOUR MAKER NIGHT! Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria, 200 E. Jackson Ave.
This is your chance to ask questions and hear firsthand about how beer experts approach their art and what they see coming next. Participants include Oscar Wong of Highland Brewing Company, John Lyda of Highland Brewing Company, John Owen of Black Abbey Brewing Company, Drake Scott of Wolf Hills Brewing Company, Adam Ingle of Alliance Brewing Company, and Zach Easterwood of Fat Bottom Brewery. Hosted by Knoxville’s very own Knox Beer Guy, Jeremy Walker.
BEER COCKTAIL THROWDOWN FINALS Public House, 212 W. Magnolia Ave.
After three weeks of head-to-head competition, the THROWDOWN Finals pits the weekly winners against each other in the main event to decide not only who slings the best beer cocktails in the land, but also who is going home with a pair of tickets to Brewfest and a $25 Public House gift card. Come try them all and cast your vote! 6 P.M.-9 P.M.
FOOTHILLS NIGHT Hops and Hollers, 937 N. Central St.
Foothills Brewing is taking over the taps at Double H!
The Casual Pint throws back to the forefathers of craft beer. Enjoy specials on the beers that started it all: Yuengling, New Belgium Fat Tire, Samuel Adams Boston Lager, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and more. 4 P.M–8 P.M.
STARR HILL PRESENTS SCRUFFY CITY RADIO Scruffy City Hall, 32 Market Square
7 P.M.
WISEACRE BREWING PINT NIGHT The Casual Pint Downtown, 421 Union Ave.
Receive a pint glass while supplies last, and also meet Ari from Wiseacre Brewing Co. There may even be a special brew on tap as well, along with other delicious Wiseacre brews.
Friday, June 19 12 P.M.-2 P.M.
BREWER’S LUNCH WITH THE CASUAL PINT AND BROWN BAG Casual Pint (Hardin Valley), 10677 Hardin Valley Rd.
Join The Casual Pint Hardin Valley and Brown Bag for lunch with brewers from all over the region who have come into town for Knox Brewfest! Tickets sold at the door. 3 P.M.–3 A.M.
THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE NIGHT Clancy’s Tavern and Whiskey House, 602 S. Gay St.
The Tortoise and the Hare Night will feature beers from both Terrapin Beer Company and Red Hare Brewing Company. Swag and pint glasses will be given away while supplies last. 6 P.M.-8 P.M.
FREE BREWERY TOURS Saw Works Brewing Company, 708 East Depot Ave.
Come out to Saw Works Brewing Company on Friday, June 19 to enjoy a complimentary brewery tour in honor of Knoxville Craft Beer Week! Tours begin at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. Special Rough Cuts on tap as well! 7 P.M.–10 P.M.
SWEETWATER BREWING COMPANY NIGHT ON THE LOGGIA Scruffy City Hall, 32 Market Square
Sweetwater Brewing Company will be pouring on the second floor Loggia. There will also be a special brew from Sweetwater as well.
Saturday, June 20 4 P.M.-12 A.M.
CRAFT BEER AND CORNHOLE TOURNAMENT Mind Yer P’s and Q’s, 12744 Kingston Pike #104
4 P.M.-8 P.M.
KNOXVILLE BREWFEST 2015 Southern Railway Terminal, 400 Depot St.
Breweries, beer and enthusiasts from all over will gather for a summer afternoon sampling fresh beers of all colors, styles and favors. All net proceeds of the Fest benefit Cure Duchenne.
ONLY A LIMITED NUMBER OF TICKETS LEFT! BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW!!! KNOXVILLEBREWFEST.COM Featuring music by: Guy Marshall, Marble City Shooters, Bark
Cornhole Tourney June 20 • 4pm-12am
The Knoxville Mercury raises it’s glass to BEER WEEK and to all our supporters and advertisers.
Food Craft Beer Wine Live Music Good Beer Good Wine Good Friends AT THE RENAISSANCE | FARRAGUT 12744 Kingston Pike Suite 104 Knoxville TN 37934 • 865-288-7827 www.mindyerpsandqs.com KNOX BEER WEEK 7
Proud Sponsor and d Partner of Knoxville Beer Week June 13th - June 20th www.KnoxBeerWeek.com
Brewing Company N A S H V I L L E
@KnoxBeerWeek 8 KNOX BEER WEEK
Movies
The French Connection French thriller The Connection examines a classic American crime movie from the other side BY APRIL SNELLINGS
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old a mirror up to The French Connection and you get simply The Connection, a stylish and compelling new thriller that centers on the same infamous drug-smuggling operation that inspired William Friedkin’s 1971 classic. Set mostly in the sunny and occasionally blood-spattered streets of Marseille, The Connection is being promoted as “the European flip side” to Friedkin’s indispensable film, but its reversals aren’t just a matter of geography. By swinging the camera around and training it on Popeye Doyle and company’s Gallic counterparts, director/co-writer Cédric Jimenez dramatically shifts the tone and cultural perspective as well. Gene Hackman’s Doyle casts a long shadow in the crime-movie genre, so it’s wise that The Connection’s star, Jean Dujardin (The Artist), doesn’t walk in it. He’s an entirely different sort of hero—a magistrate who’s more likely to fell his enemies
with a court order than a right hook. When the movie picks up in 1975, Dujardin’s Pierre Michel gets booted up the ladder from working mostly drug-related juvenile cases to prosecuting organized crime. He quickly sets his sights on the French Connection, a sophisticated network of smugglers responsible for moving billions of dollars worth of Turkish heroin into the U.S. More specifically, Michel is gunning for Gatean “Tany” Zampa (Gilles Lellouche), an underworld boss who is considered untouchable by cops and criminals alike. The Connection unfolds over the course of six years, as Michel’s single-minded obsession with Zampa threatens to dismantle his family and, since he’s not averse to bending the law in his pursuit, his career. Zampa also has a family to provide for and a career to protect, and the movie juggles their parallel storylines as they hurtle toward a showdown that clearly can’t
end well for both of them. I desperately want to ask if you’re feeling the Heat, because The Connection spends a lot of time channeling that film’s Pacino/De Niro showdown. In fact, most of The Connection will feel familiar even to viewers who’ve never seen Friedkin’s take on its subject. The entire movie is an elaborate, beautifully crafted valentine to American cop dramas. Sometimes that’s a hindrance—a subplot involving Michel’s alienation of his family feels especially hoary, even though it sets up some actorly fireworks for Oscar-winner Dujardin—but for the most part, it’s kind of a kick to see all those cop-movie standbys pushed through a distinctly European filter. Without giving too much away, it’s safe to say that The Connection is riddled with characters and situations that are de rigueur for stateside crime flicks, but they sometimes lead to payoffs that aren’t quite what you might expect. There’s also the matter of historical perspective that provides a wide tonal buffer between Friedkin’s film and Jimenez’s. The French Connection was still going strong when Friedkin took it on—some of its biggest headlines were made after The French Connection racked up its Oscars. But that was 40 years ago, and The Connection can’t help but romanticize its subjects a bit. This is a movie where gangsters blow out
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birthday-cake candles in red-lit disco VIP rooms and cigarette smoke curls in the beam of a squad-room projector. And since you just can’t trust an old-fashioned drug distribution montage to a digital camera, The Connection was shot entirely on 35mm. It’s simultaneously elegant and gritty, and worth seeing for the visuals alone. Whether all that strikes you as pastiche or precious, The Connection ultimately succeeds because of the two actors at its center. Dujardin is just ridiculously watchable, and Jimenez has crafted a perfect showcase for him. Michel’s weapons are case files and binoculars rather than guns and fists, but Dujardin gives him the swagger of an action hero as he outsmarts his targets; an easy standout is a smart, funny sequence that finds him handing out arrest warrants for gangsters who haven’t actually been caught doing anything yet. Lellouche (Point Blank), with his brooding physicality and an effortless ability to slide from dangerous to charming and back again in a single beat, is also outstanding as Michel’s long-term nemesis, even if a bit too much time is spent establishing the obvious similarities between the two men. They’re not doing anything that hasn’t been done ever since cops started chasing gangsters across the silver screen, but they do it really well. ◆ June 11, 2015
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Video
Hey Knoxville! Come and meet the people who bring you the Knoxville Mercury each week! We will be set up at these fine events:
Bark In The Park June 13, 2015
Family Ties
Pridefest June 20, 2015
Brewfest June 20, 2015 Stop by and say ‘Hello.’ We would love to see you!
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY June 11, 2015
Bloodline is Netflix’s first truly great original series BY LEE GARDNER
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etflix has created several popular television series, and now it has created its first great one. That would be Bloodline, the noir-ish family drama that premiered earlier this spring. Created and produced by the team behind Damages—and in Todd Kessler, one of the forces behind The Sopranos—the 13-episode season features some of the haven’t-seen-thaton-TV-before exoticism that brought viewers to Orange Is the New Black, as well as the potboiling intrigue that lures them to House of Cards. But Bloodline, like a lot of noirs, is a perfect machine for drawing you deeper until you can’t escape. At first, the Rayburns seem like people you wouldn’t want to spend 13 hours with—they’re just too pleasant. The patriarch and matriarch of the clan, played by Sam Shepard and Sissy Spacek, have for decades run a quaint, and lucrative, resort on one of the Florida Keys. Three of their adult children—played by Kyle Chandler,
Linda Cardellini, and Norbert Butz— live nearby and seem to have settled in to the pastel haze of the good life in the semi-tropics. And then black sheep Danny, played by Animal Kingdom’s Ben Mendelsohn, comes home. Bloodline makes use of Breaking Bad-style flash-forwards and deploys them early on to telegraph that terrible things lie in store. But what’s most terrible, in the end, is how naturally the looming disaster unfolds. Chandler’s John Rayburn is a local detective, and the most stand-up sibling, but his hair is always in need of cutting or combing (a great touch), and his relationship with Danny is equally untidy. Cardellini’s Meg is a local power lawyer, and family deal-broker, but she’s also recklessly cheating in hot cars like a teenager. Butz’s Kevin is the most perfect Kevin in the history of fictional Kevins, a frowsy man-child rarely seen without a half-empty beer in his hand (another great touch—the series is lousy with them). And then there’s
Danny, the drinking, drugging goad to the entire family, a reminder of the painful secrets beneath the idyllic facade and one of the most vivid characters rolled out on screen in years. What makes Bloodline so car-crash watchable is slowly coming to know these people, and then watching them do exactly what they would do, to the detriment of themselves and everyone around them. There isn’t enough room here to praise in detail the deft writing or the wall-to-wall fine performances (the fact that Chloe Sevigny shows up as a minor player characterizes the deep bench here). There are a few moments, as the stakes rise, that flirt with the melodrama that drives so much series storytelling these days, but they are grounded in the carefully crafted context. And the season ends in a place that makes it clear that things will only get worse for the Rayburns next season, which, for viewers who love adult drama done well, is happy news. ◆
Thursday, June 11 - Sunday, June 21
MUSIC
Thursday, June 11 THE BLACKFOOT GYPSIES WITH ROSS ADAM • 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 THE BLACKFOOT GYPSIES • Preservation Pub • 10PM GRIND: AN ALICE IN CHAINS TRIBUTE • The Concourse • 7PM • All ages. • $7-$10 THE OLD CITY BUSKERS • Market Square • 7PM • Part of the city of Knoxville’s spring series of free concerts on Market Square. • FREE SIX MILE EXPRESS • Clancy’s Tavern and Whiskey House • 6PM THE THIRST QUENCHERS • Mind Yer Ps and Qs Craft Beer and Wine Lounge • 8PM • The Ps and Qs house band. THREESOUND • Preservation Pub • 10PM CALE TYSON • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Cale Tyson is a singer and songwriter from Nashville, TN. Born in a small town in Texas, he was raised in Fort Worth, the home of Townes Van Zandt and the place where he first heard the classic country sounds that have inspired and enriched his gentle, melancholy, and undeniably whiskey-soaked sound. WILD PONIES • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM Friday, June 12 THE ART OF WITH MASS DRIVER, LINES TAKING SHAPE, ULAANBASTARDS, THE GENTLEMEN AND LIARS, AND DOC ISAAC • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 6PM • Part of the Open Chord and Night Owl Music’s Gone-aroo, a two-night celebration of local music during that big summer festival in Manchester. THE BAND CONCORD • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Known for their love and playing of all things folk, The Band Concord shares a similar sound to that of The Head and the Heart and Fleet Foxes. Yet the group has expanded their musical palette even further with the release of their debut album, “Youth,” in April 2014 – introducing a twist to their traditional folk style with an emphasized pop sound in the single “Golden Road.” CHAMOMILE AND WHISKEY • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 10PM JERRY CONNATSER • Mind Yer Ps and Qs Craft Beer and Wine Lounge • 8PM CUMBERLAND STATION • Scruffy City Hall • 10PM FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE KITTY WAMPUS • Whiskey River Wild • 9PM MIDNIGHT VOYAGE LIVE: AERO CHORD • The Concourse • 9PM • 18 and up. • $4-$7 MOONSVILLE COLLECTIVE WITH JOEY ENGLISH • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE MY BROTHER’S KEEPER WITH MOONSVILLE COLLECTIVE • 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 SUSAN PRINCE • Susan’s Happy Hour • 8PM • FREE MIKE SNODGRASS • Bearden Field House • 9PM • FREE SOULFINGER • Preservation Pub • 10PM SPACE BENDER • Jimmy’s Place • 6PM • Reggae, classic hits, and more. • FREE VANCE THOMPSON • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE TRISTEN • Preservation Pub • 8PM
Saturday, June 13 95.7 THE X FAREWELL PARTY • The Concourse • 7PM • Featuring Deconbrio, Inward of Eden, and the Catastrophic Incident. Proceeds benefit the Joy of Music School. 18 and up. • $5 ANCIENT CITIES • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Formed by creative songster, DJ, and former actor Stephen Warwick, Ancient Cities melds well-crafted lyrics with synth-laden psychedelia and cinematic moodiness. CLINCH MOUNTAIN MOJO • 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 DUNAVANT • Clancy’s Tavern and Whiskey House • 9PM JAY ERIC • Mind Yer Ps and Qs Craft Beer and Wine Lounge • 9PM FREEQUENCY • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 10PM BRANDON FULSON AND THE REALBILLYS • Jimmy’s Place • 6PM • Americana and classic country. • FREE GUY SMILEY • Paul’s Oasis • 10PM • FREE KELSEY’S WOODS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE KITTY WAMPUS • Whiskey River Wild • 9PM KVILLAINS WITH HALFDEAF, APPALACHIAN SURF TEAM, AMONG THE BEASTS, AND ABSENT FROM THE BODY • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 6PM • Part of Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage and Night Owl Music’s Gone-aroo fest, a two-night celebration of local music during that other big summer festival in Manchester. THE CHUCK MULLICAN JAZZ BONANZA • Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE THE RERUNS • Pero’s on the Hill • 7PM • Knoxville’s premier TV band plays your favorite television themes. SECOND OPINION • Concord Park • 6PM • Knox County’s summer concert series, Second Saturday Concerts at The Cove, continues this year with live entertainment for the whole family. The free concerts, held June through September on the second Saturday of each month, take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at The Cove at Concord Park, 11808 S. Northshore Drive. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own blankets or lawn chairs. • FREE BEN SHUSTER • Bearden Field House • 9PM • FREE START ME UP: THE ROLLING STONES TRIBUTE WITH DIRTY POOL • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 6PM • $15 TRAIL OF THE LONESOME WITH DOUG GIBSON AND JOE CAT • Preservation Pub • 8PM Sunday, June 14 QUINTRON AND MISS PUSSYCAT • Pilot Light • 9PM • Quintron and Miss Pussycat have been making genre-defying noise and hard rocking dance music in New Orleans for over fifteen years. The majority of their 14 full-length albums have the psychedelic soul of traditional New Orleans party music filtered through a tough distorted Hammond B-3 and a cache of self-made electronic instruments. 18 and up. • $10 • See Spotlight on page 34. SHIFFLETT AND HANNAH • The Bistro at the Bijou • 12PM • Live jazz. • FREE ANNA VOGELZANG • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM • Anna Vogelzang has been making songs since 2000, playing them in public since 2003, and driving them around the country since 2007. Her melody-driven, multi-instrumental folk-pop ballads have been met with warm reviews (9/10, PopMatters) & landed her at festivals, conferences, and on bills with some of her heroes, including Sara Bareilles, Gillian Welch, Mirah,
CALENDAR
WEBB WILDER Sweet P’s Barbeque and Soul House (3725 Maryville Pike) • Wednesday, June 17 • 6:30 p.m. • Free • sweetpbbq.com
Webb Wilder is ageless. He’s been the “Last of the Full Grown Men” since the late ’80s, when he rose out of the depths of Nashville during one of its crappier musical eras. At the time, rockabilly revivalists were mostly from out of state and looked cool—think Stray Cats when they were lean and mean. Wilder debuted a different, nerdier approach that was less about tattoos and ducktails and more about flying saucers and wire-frame glasses. (No, really—his glasses have always been part of the act, and are immortalized in his credo: “Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard, grow big, wear glasses if you need ’em.”) And in all the years since, he really hasn’t changed his approach to what we now call “roots rock.” He’s full-on surf and twang with a strong dose of country noir, bearing song titles like “Horror Hayride,” “Sputnik,” and “Human Cannonball.” And while he may be playing a funny role of sorts—Webb Wilder first appeared as a character in the 1986 short film “Webb Wilder Private Eye”—he’s not a novelty act. Wilder is a true believer in the purity of rock ’n’ roll, and we need as many of those as we can find. This free performance is part of the Songwriters in the Soul House series hosted by local rock royalty Tim and Susan Lee, and it should prove to be an especially intimate show. (Coury Turczyn)
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Spotlight: Quintron and Miss Pussycat
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Spotlight: Chris Stapleton June 11, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 31
CALENDAR Anais Mitchell, Laura Gibson, Wye Oak, Steve Poltz, Amanda Palmer, & many more. Monday, June 15 BURNING ITCH WITH DAY CREEPER AND NERVOUS REX • Pilot Light • 10PM • $5 2015 STEVE KAUFMAN CONCERT SERIES • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 7:30PM • Featuring instructors from Steve Kaufman’s summer instrumental camps. Shows will be held Monday through Friday, June 15-26. Individual tickets are $20. Passes for all 10 shows are $85. • $20 ROB NANCE AND THE LOST SOULS • Preservation Pub • 10PM OPEN CHORD BATTLE OF THE BANDS • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Come out to support your favorite local band and hear some great live music. Winner & runner-up will advance to the next round of competition. Judging is based on stage presence, originality, and crowd size. This means the more fans there are to watch a band perform, the better their chances are of advancing to the next round. • $5 SHIMMY AND THE BURNS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Simple arrangements of classic Folk, Country and Rock n Roll tunes as well as original songs about Love, Home and the way things ought to be. ANNA VOGELZANG WITH SHIMMY AND THE BURNS • 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
ART SHOW / AUCTION
Thursday, June 11 - Sunday, June 21
else. • FREE Tuesday, June 16 FRONTIER WITH THE BLUE-EYED BETTYS • 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 THE FUSTICS • Preservation Pub • 10PM JAZZ ON THE SQUARE • Market Square • 8PM • Featuring the Marble City 5. Every Tuesday from May 12-Aug. 25. • FREE 2015 STEVE KAUFMAN CONCERT SERIES • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 7:30PM • Featuring instructors from Steve Kaufman’s summer instrumental camps. Shows will be held Monday through Friday, June 15-26. Individual tickets are $20. Passes for all 10 shows are $85. • $20 Wednesday, June 17 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 JENNA AND HER COOL FRIENDS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7PM • Classic blues, soul, and R&B. • $10 2015 STEVE KAUFMAN CONCERT SERIES • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 7:30PM • Featuring instructors from Steve Kaufman’s summer instrumental camps. Shows will be held Monday through Friday, June 15-26. Individual tickets are $20. Passes for all 10 shows are
$85. • $20 MAIDEN RADIO WITH BRIAN DOLZANI • 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 RALF • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM CHRIS STAPLETON WITH SAM LEWIS • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • $19.50 • See Spotlight on page 38. WEBB WILDER WITH TIM AND SUSAN LEE • Sweet P’s Barbecue and Soul House • 6PM • There are Roots-Rockers, and then there’s Webb Wilder. Hardly a purist, he has described the music he and his band, The Beatnecks, make as, “Rock for Roots fans and Roots for Rock fans.” In essence: Rock and Roll. There’s nothing new about combining R &; B, Rock and Roll, Country, Blues, Pop and Rock. The Rolling Stones and the Beatles proved that it can yield marvelous and diverse results. I said he wasn’t a PURIST. I didn’t say he wasn’t very PICKY about the quality of the music. That includes everything from the sonics of the recordings, the choice of players, the influences he draws on, the songs he chooses to cover, or how attentive he is to the craftsmanship of his own songs. • FREE • See Spotlight on page 31. Thursday, June 18 JOSIAH ATCHLEY • Historic Southern Railway Station • 8PM • Part of the Southern Station Live concert series. CRYSTAL BRIGHT AND THE SILVER HANDS • Scruffy City Hall • 10PM • Crystal Bright has an eclectic, haunting but yet
whimsical, carnivalesque world folk sound, dubbed “kaleidophrenic cabaret.” THE CLAYMATION QUINTET • Preservation Pub • 7:30PM • FREE 2015 STEVE KAUFMAN CONCERT SERIES • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 7:30PM • Featuring instructors from Steve Kaufman’s summer instrumental camps. Shows will be held Monday through Friday, June 15-26. Individual tickets are $20. Passes for all 10 shows are $85. • $20 KNOXVILLE’S FINEST BAND • Market Square • 7PM • Part of the city of Knoxville’s spring series of free concerts on Market Square. • FREE SOLO SAM LAUGHERTY • Edgewood Park • 7PM • The Edgewood Park Neighborhood Association invites you to share an evening of music and community building at the inaugural event in a three month series titled “Third Thursday Music in the Edgewood Gazebo”. • FREE LINEAR DOWNFALL • Pilot Light • 10PM • $5 THE LONETONES • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM MARBLE CITY SHOOTERS • Central Flats and Taps • 7PM THE ETHAN PARKER BAND WITH DAVID PLATILERO AND KIRSTEN ARIAN • The Square Room • 8PM • The Ethan Parker Band will be going on a 60 city tour over the next year partnering with a nonprofit organization called Project Primavera, where they will play at local venues as well as Children home’s across America. The goal is more that just putting on amazing concerts, but to also provide hope for orphans and at-risk youth in each city in
KATHY GRIFFIN wednesday, june 17 • 8PM PRESENTED BY
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK friday, june 19 • 8PM sunday, june 21 • 2PM
www.TennesseeTheatre.com Tickets available at the Tennessee Theatre box office, Ticketmaster.com and by phone at 800-745-3000.
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY June 11, 2015
CALENDAR which they travel. THE THIRST QUENCHERS • Mind Yer Ps and Qs Craft Beer and Wine Lounge • 8PM • The Ps and Qs house band. THE CHARLES WALKER BAND • Preservation Pub • 10PM JIM WHITE VS. THE PARKWAY HANDLE BAND WITH DAVIE AND THE UNTAMED • 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 • See Music Story on page 22. JIM WHITE VS. THE PARKWAY HANDLE BAND • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Jim White’s blend of country, folk, and rock meets The Packway Handle Band’s high-energy roots-grass style in this much-anticipated collaborative album. • See Music Story on page 22. Friday, June 19 JOSIAH ATCHLEY WITH ZULU WAVE AND MODEL INMATES • Preservation Pub • 10PM BLUE MOTHER TUPELO • Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center (Townsend) • 7PM • $5 BLUEGRASS DRIFTERS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE THE ENIGMATIC FOE • Bearden Field House • 9PM • FREE FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE LARRY GOODWIN • Jimmy’s Place • 6PM • Buffett covers, beach tunes, and more. All ages. • FREE 2015 STEVE KAUFMAN CONCERT SERIES • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 7:30PM • Featuring instructors from Steve Kaufman’s summer instrumental camps. Shows will be held Monday through Friday, June 15-26. Individual tickets are $20. Passes for all 10 shows are $85. • $20 KOAN SOUND • The Concourse • 9PM • KOAN Sound is an electronic music act consisting of Will Weeks and Jim Bastow, both hailing from Bristol, UK. The group’s early origins and influences lie mainly in acoustic based music, from bands such as Incubus to RATM, but it wasn’t until 2005 that the duo became immersed in electronic music through acts such as Noisia and The Prodigy. Soon after, the growing Dubstep scene in Bristol began to inform their productions, eventually leading to a string of releases on various labels.Presented by Midnight Voyage Productions. 18 and up. • $10-$15 KUKULY AND THE GYPSY FUEGO • Knoxville Museum of Art • 6PM • The summer series of Alive After Five swings into action with Latin and Gypsy Jazz. • $10 MAGNOLIA SONS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 10PM MARBLE CITY SHOOTERS • Casual Pint (Fountain City) • 7PM • FREE MOBILITY CHIEF WITH LINES TAKING SHAPE AND MESMER TEA • Pilot Light • 10PM • Local prog band Mobility Chief headlines its final show. • $5 • See Program Notes on page 20. SUSAN PRINCE • Susan’s Happy Hour • 8PM • FREE ALANNA ROYALE WITH CALEB HAWLEY AND MATHIEN • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM • $8 STEVE RUTLEDGE • Mind Yer Ps and Qs Craft Beer and Wine Lounge • 8PM ROGER ALAN WADE WITH THE ADAM POPE BAND • 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 Saturday, June 20 3 MILE SMILE • Jimmy’s Place • 6PM • All ages. • FREE THE CELTS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE
ANTHONY D’AMATO • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Recorded with members of Bon Iver, Megafaun, and Josh Ritter’s band, Anthony D’Amato’s New West Records debut, The Shipwreck From The Shore, has already earned praise from NPR and The NY Times to SPIN and Billboard for its heavy-hearted folk and electric streaks of rock and roll. FREEQUENCY • Willy’s Bar and Grill • 7PM THE HACKENSAW BOYS • Scruffy City Hall • 10PM K-TOWN MAFIA • Mind Yer Ps and Qs Craft Beer and Wine Lounge • 8PM THE RERUNS • Pero’s on the Hill • 7PM • Knoxville’s premier TV band plays your favorite television themes. THE JAMES SEATON TRIO • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 10PM BILLY JOE SHAVER WITH MIC HARRISON AND THE HIGH SCORE • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 8PM • Billy Joe Shaver is the classic country music outlaw. In the early 1970s, while Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, already established figures in the music industry, were fighting executive-level battles over the Music City business model, Shaver was a broke Nashville bum, playing bars and pitching his songs to whoever would listen. In 1972, Shaver cornered Jennings at a recording session and strong-armed him into listening to his songs. By the end of the day, Jennings had agreed to record an entire album of Shaver’s songs. The resulting disc, Honky Tonk Heroes, was released in the summer of 1973 and could have been Shaver’s big break. But while Jennings rode Shaver’s songs to fame and fortune at the forefront of the outlaw movement, Shaver, thanks to a tumultuous personality and a run of bad luck, never found mainstream success. He got his own deal in the wake of Jennings’ success and later in 1973 delivered his own early outlaw classic, Old Five and Dimers Like Me, which reprised four songs from Jennings’ album. The disc was a commercial dud but turned into an influential cult classic—over the years, Shaver has recorded some fine albums, but none has come close to the singular accomplishment of Old Five and Dimers. • $25 BEN SHUSTER • Bearden Field House • 9PM • FREE STEPH STEWART AND THE BOYFRIENDS WITH LAUREL WRIGHT • 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 THE THRILL IS GONE … BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: A TRIBUTE TO B.B. KING • Relix Variety Theatre • 8PM • After a long and legendary career, “The King of the Blues” passed away on May 14. He was one of the most beloved and influential musicians of all time. Coming together to pay tribute are some of Knoxville’s finest performers, including Labron Lazenby, Michael Crawley, “Detroit” Dave Meer, Davis Mitchell, Jay Mac, and many more. • $8 Sunday, June 21 CYMBALS EAT GUITARS • Pilot Light • 10PM • It’s several years since Cymbals Eat Guitars, fronted by songwriter and lead vocalist Joseph D’Agostino, self released their debut album Why There Are Mountains. The record was a distillation of a modern America beyond the boundaries of Brooklyn, lyrically an update on the New York of Roth and Bellow, musically inspired by the likes of Guided by Voices and Pavement, displaying a maturity that belied their comparative youth. • $10 THE JUSTIN KALK ORCHESTRA • Preservation Pub • 10PM MAN MAN WITH ED SCHRADER’S MUSIC BEAT • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Man Man is a fearlessly unique band from Philadelphia. The group’s fifth full length album On Oni Pond features an arresting
reconstruction of the group’s visionary sound – stripped to its core and rebuilt as something new and compelling yet still very much Man Man. SHIFFLETT AND HANNAH • The Bistro at the Bijou • 12PM • Live jazz. • FREE SWINGBOOTY WITH FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • Ijams Nature Center • 5:30PM • Part of the summer Jazz at Ijams season.
OPEN MIC AND SONGWRITER NIGHTS
Thursday, June 11 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 Friday, June 12 TIME WARP TEA ROOM OPEN SONGWRITER NIGHT • Time Warp Tea Room • 7PM • Songwriter Night at Time Warp Tea Room runs on the second and fourth Friday of every month. Show up around 7 p.m. with your instrument in tow and sign up to share a couple of original songs with a community of friends down in Happy Holler. • FREE Tuesday, June 16 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 17 TIME WARP TEA ROOM OLD-TIME JAM • Time Warp Tea Room • 7PM • Regular speed old-time/fiddle jam every Wednesday from 7-9 p.m. at the Time Warp Tea Room. All instruments and skill levels welcome. OPEN BLUES JAM • Susan’s Happy Hour • 8PM • FREE Thursday, June 18 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 Saturday, June 20 OLD-TIME SLOW JAM • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 4PM • A monthly old-time music session, held on the third Saturday of each month. • FREE WHOLE FOODS BLUEGRASS JAM • Whole Foods • 5PM • FREE Sunday, June 21 FAMILY FRIENDLY DRUM CIRCLE • Ijams Nature Center • 4PM • Bring a drum or share one of ours. All ages from toddlers to grandparents welcome. Free. Call Ijams at 865-577-4717 ex 110 to register. • FREE
DJ AND DANCE NIGHTS
Friday, June 12 TOTAL REQUEST DJ DANCE PARTY • Southbound Bar and Grill • 8PM Saturday, June 13 TOTAL REQUEST DJ DANCE PARTY • Southbound Bar and June 11, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 33
CALENDAR Grill • 8PM Sunday, June 14 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. Friday, June 19 TOTAL REQUEST DJ DANCE PARTY • Southbound Bar and Grill • 8PM Saturday, June 20
Thursday, June 11 - Sunday, June 21
TOTAL REQUEST DJ DANCE PARTY • Southbound Bar and Grill • 8PM Sunday, June 21 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 Thursday, June 11
NIEF-NORF SUMMER FESTIVAL CONCERT SERIES: SOLO WORKS • Remedy Coffee • 6:30PM • Solo performances by nief-norf Summer Festival performance fellows and faculty. Suggested donation $10. Saturday, June 13 NIEF-NORF SUMMER FESTIVAL CONCERT SERIES: COLLABORATION • UT Haslam Music Center • 8PM • Featuring the nief-norf Summer Festival Call for Scores winners: Beavan Flanagan, L’Essence perd son sens; Sid Richardson, Astrolabe; Lois Vierk, Timberline; Alex Lunsqui, Entresons.Recreo; Harrison Birtwistle, For O, For O, the Hobbyhorse is Forgot. Suggested Donation $10. Sunday, June 14 NIEF-NORF SUMMER FESTIVAL: THE SPEAK/STRIKE PROJECT • The Birdhouse • 1:30PM • Founded in 2014 by Katelyn King and Alexv Rolfe, speak/strike is a project dedicated to increasing the presence of repertoire for speaking percussionists. Through commissions and performances, speak/strike presents new and existing works that play with the boundaries between percussion and theater, championing this exciting music in traditional and non-traditional venues throughout North America. Featuring All Your Thens for Now by Lawton Hall; Ursonate by Kurt Schwitters; Retrouvailles by George Aperghis; and a world-premiere performance of Christopher Adler’s Zaum Box. Suggested Donation $10. Tuesday, June 16 NIEF-NORF SUMMER FESTIVAL CONCERT SERIES: MUSIC OF STEVE REICH AND DAVID LANG • The Square Room • 8PM • Featuring “Four Organs” by Steve Reich and “Child” by David Lang. • $10-$12 Wednesday, June 17 NIEF-NORF SUMMER FESTIVAL CONCERT SERIES: WORLD PREMIERES • UT Haslam Music Center • 8PM • Featuring seven world premieres and music by Donatoni, Greenstein and Mackey. Suggested Donation $10. Friday, June 19 NIEF-NORF SUMMER FESTIVAL CONCERT SERIES: FINAL MARATHON CONCERT • UT Haslam Music Center • 5PM • Featuring music by Aperghis, Deyoe, Grisey, Halco, Honstein, Rowan, and Salathe. Suggested Donation $10.
QUINTRON AND MISS PUSSYCAT Pilot Light (106 E. Jackson Ave.) • Sunday, June 14 • 10 p.m. • $10 • thepilotlight.com
The trash-groove-kitsch-electro-R&B turned out by Quintron and Miss Pussycat isn’t what most people think of when they think of traditional New Orleans music. But if you do something long enough, it becomes its own kind of tradition, right? And Quintron and Miss Pussycat have been cranking out their cracked, hyperactive take on their adopted home town’s musical heritage for 20 years now—since Trombone Shorty was in elementary school, in fact. The enigmatic couple—they avoid interviews and keep precise details about their background sketchy—didn’t invent this kind of exaggerated Southern psycho dance party. They’re part of a lineage that goes back at least to Billy Lee Riley’s “Flying Saucers Rock ’n’ Roll” and includes outsiders and eccentrics like Hasil Adkins, the Flat Duo Jets, the Cramps, and Southern Culture on the Skids. But few of those acts emphasize the dance party part of the equation as hard as Quintron and Miss Pussycat; Quintron’s arsenal of homemade keyboard instruments, drum machines, and percussion get-ups gives the duo a special butt-shaking appeal, especially live, that few of their predecessors and peers can match. (Matthew Everett)
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY June 11, 2015
COMEDY AND SPOKEN WORD
Sunday, June 14 UPSTAIRS UNDERGROUND COMEDY • Preservation Pub • 8PM • A weekly comedy open mic hosted by Matt Ward. Tuesday, June 16 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 EINSTEIN SIMPLIFIED • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM • Knoxville’s long-running improv comedy troupe. • Free Wednesday, June 17 KATHY GRIFFIN • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • Two-time Emmy and Grammy award-winning comedian Kathy Griffin is a towering figure on television, on tour and in
publishing. She breaks through the entertainment clutter with her universally recognized brand of pull-no-punches comedy. • $39.50-$64.50 Sunday, June 21 UPSTAIRS UNDERGROUND COMEDY • Preservation Pub • 8PM • A weekly comedy open mic hosted by Matt Ward.
THEATER AND DANCE
Thursday, June 11 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 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 Friday, June 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 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: THE HOBBIT • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • June 5-21. • $12 Saturday, June 13 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 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: THE HOBBIT • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 1PM and 5PM • June 5-21. • $12 Sunday, June 14 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 Monday, June 15 THE WORDPLAYERS: ENCHANTED APRIL • The Square Room • 7:30PM • The WordPlayers presents a Staged Reading of Enchanted April, the story of two frustrated London housewives who decide to rent a villa in Italy for a holiday away from their bleak marriages. • FREE Thursday, June 18
CALENDAR KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: THE HOBBIT • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • June 5-21. • $12 TENNESSEE VALLEY PLAYERS: LES MISÉRABLES • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7:30PM • June 5-21 • $21 Friday, June 19 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: THE HOBBIT • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • June 5-21. • $12 TENNESSEE VALLEY PLAYERS: LES MISÉRABLES • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7:30PM • June 5-21 • $21 Saturday, June 20 TENNESSEE VALLEY PLAYERS: LES MISÉRABLES • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7:30PM • June 5-21 • $21 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: THE HOBBIT • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 1PM and 5PM • June 5-21. • $12 Sunday, June 21 TENNESSEE VALLEY PLAYERS: LES MISÉRABLES • Clarence Brown Theatre • 3PM • June 5-21 • $21 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: THE HOBBIT • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 3PM • June 5-21. • $12
FESTIVALS
Friday, June 12 SECRET CITY FESTIVAL • Oak Ridge • 11AM • The Secret City Festival celebrates 13 years of family fun, great entertainment, arts & crafts, and commemorates the incredible history that makes this town unique. Join us as we honor the men and women who built this community and helped end the greatest war mankind has ever known. This award-winning, 2-day event includes concerts featuring nationally known entertainers, live music and entertainment, expanded toddler’s, children’s, and teen’s areas, WWII Living History activities and demonstrations, Oak Ridge history exhibits, regional exhibitors and vendors, arts & crafts, TN Creates juried arts show, and more. Visit secretcityfestival.com. Saturday, June 13 21ST ANNUAL HUMANE SOCIETY OF THE TENNESSEE VALLEY BARK IN THE PARK • World’s Fair Park • 3PM • HSTV’s BARK IN THE PARK will take place on Saturday, June 13th from 3-8pm at the World’s Fair Park Festival Lawn. BARK is a family friendly event where pooches and their people may participate in a variety of activities throughout the day. Food and non-food vendors will be on site as well as a Kid’s Area and our first ever “Barkin’ Beer Garden.” A $5 for Fido suggested donation at the gate will enable people to participate in the various dog contests See you there! SECRET CITY FESTIVAL • Oak Ridge • 10AM • The Secret City Festival celebrates 13 years of family fun, great entertainment, arts & crafts, and commemorates the incredible history that makes this town unique. Join us as we honor the men and women who built this community and helped end the greatest war mankind has ever known. This award-winning, 2-day event includes concerts featuring nationally known entertainers, live music and entertainment, expanded toddler’s, children’s, and teen’s areas, WWII Living History activities and demonstrations, Oak Ridge history exhibits, regional exhibitors and vendors, arts & crafts, TN Creates juried arts show, and more. Visit secretcityfestival.com. Thursday, June 18 PELLISSIPPI STATE MAKERPALOOZA • Pellissippi State Community College • 10AM • Calling all makers of doodads and inventors of thingamajigs — everyone is
welcome to submit his or her creations at Pellissippi State Community College’s inaugural MakerPalooza in June. MakerPalooza brings together creative sorts of all ages to show off their work. Perhaps it’s a computer program or a 3D printed item. Or a painting or sculpture. Or a remote-controlled vehicle, a hack, a rocket or a delicious cake. Bottom line: If it’s original and created, fabricated or otherwise made by an individual, Pellissippi State welcomes the creator to register at www.pstcc.edu/ emt. • FREE Saturday, June 20 KNOXVILLE BREWFEST • Historic Southern Railway Station • 4PM • This celebration of beer features over 80 breweries, hundreds of beers and over 2,500 passionate craft beer fans. Knoxville Brewfest 2015 will be held from 4 p.m. – 8 p.m. near the Southern Railway Station on the Gay Street viaduct and Depot Avenue in downtown Knoxville. Tickets include admission to Brewfest, a tasting glass, a Fest map, and beer tasting. The event is being organized to help raise money to find a cure for Duchenne. Duchenne is a devastating muscle disease that impacts 1 in 3,500 boys. Boys are usually diagnosed with Duchenne by the age of 5, in a wheelchair by 12 and most do not survive their mid-20s. • $40-$50 KNOXVILLE PRIDEFEST PARADE AND FESTIVAL • Downtown Knoxville • 12PM • The Pridefest Parade, the annual kickoff to Knoxville Pridefest, starts at the corner of Gay Street and Jackson Avenue and turns right onto Clinch Avenue, then heads toward World’s Fair Park, where the festival proper runs from 1-8 p.m., with vendors, information booths, and music by nearly a dozen acts, including Karen E. Reynolds, the Pop Rox, and headliner Joan Osborne. • FREE • See Cover Story on page 17.
SPORTS AND RECREATION
Saturday, June 13 RIDE FOR THE RIVER • Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 9AM • The motorcycle Ride for the River on Saturday, June 13, is a benefit tour for the conservation and education work of Little River Watershed Association. The event begins at 9:00am at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson. The route will go into Great Smoky Mountains National Park, tracing the course of the Little River and on up the mountains to Clingman’s Dome where retired Park Ranger and Smokies guide Butch McDade will present a program about the natural and cultural history of the river. Motorcyclists will ride back down and into Townsend for a fisheries demonstration by biologist Jon Michael Mollish, and the ride will conclude at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson, for the concert and BBQ. For more information and to register, call 865-980-2130. HARD KNOX ROLLER GIRLS BRAWLERS • Knoxville Civic Coliseum • 5PM • The HKRG Brawlers take on the Soul City Sirens. • $5-$10
FILM SCREENINGS
Friday, June 12 CRESTHILL CINEMA CLUB: MISS SADIE THOMPSON • Windover Apartments • 8PM • Since Miss Sadie Thompson will be marking the CCC’s big yearly celebration, we’re encouraging everyone to bring to its showing a favorite food dish or beverage. Also, if some of you are so motivated, it would very much be appreciated June 11, 2015
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CALENDAR if you could help stock our supply cabinet with paper plates, napkins, plastic cups and utensils. Our location: The spacious clubhouse of the Windover Apartments. The journey there will take you to Cheshire Drive (off Kingston Pike, near the Olive Garden); going down Cheshire, turn right at the Windover Apartments sign, then go to the third parking lot on your right, next to the pool. There, the building that houses the clubhouse and offices of the Windover will be just a few steps away. Friday, June 19 SUMMER MOVIE MAGIC SERIES: ‘RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK’ • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • Played by Harrison Ford, renowned archaeologist and expert in the occult, Dr. Indiana Jones, is hired by the U.S. Government in 1936 to find the Ark of the Covenant, which is believed to still hold the Ten Commandments. Unfortunately, agents of Hitler are also after the Ark. Indy, and his ex-flame Marion, escape from various close scrapes in a quest that takes them from Nepal to Cairo. • $9 Sunday, June 21 SUMMER MOVIE MAGIC SERIES: ‘RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK’ • Tennessee Theatre • 2PM • Played by Harrison Ford, renowned archaeologist and expert in the occult, Dr. Indiana Jones, is hired by the U.S. Government in 1936 to find the Ark of the Covenant, which is believed to still hold the Ten Commandments. Unfortunately, agents of Hitler are also after the Ark. Indy, and his ex-flame Marion, escape from various close scrapes in a quest that takes them from Nepal to Cairo. • $9
Thursday, June 11 - Sunday, June 21
ART
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts 556 Parkway (Gatlinburg) MAY 18-AUG. 22 Arrowmont 2015 Instructor Exhibition; MAY 22-JULY 2: Festoon: A Solo Exhibition by Kim Winkle Art Market Gallery 422 S. Gay St. JUNE 5-30: artwork by Marjorie Spalding Horne and Hugh Bailey. Bliss Home 29 Market Square JUNE 5-30: artwork by Brian Murray. Downtown Gallery 106 S. Gay St. MAY 1-JUNE 27: 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 Emporium Center for Arts and Culture 100 S. Gay St. JUNE 5-30: Origins, an exhibit of handmade masks by Stephen R. Hicks and photos by Nicole A. Perez-Camoirano.
JUNE 5-27: Knox Photo Exhibition and exhibits by Ryan Blair and Robin Surber, Rachel Quammie, and Anna Rykaczewska. Envision Art Gallery 4050 Sutherland Ave. THROUGH AUG. 15: • Envision Art Gallery Grand Opening Exhibition, featuring artwork by gallery owner Kay List and Larry S. Cole. Ewing Gallery 1715 Volunteer Blvd. MAY 1-JUNE 12: UT BFA Honors Exhibition Knox Heritage 3425 Kingston Pike TUESDAY, JUNE 16 • 5:30PM • Postcards Home (From) the Heart, a pop-up exhibition of Instagram photos by John Barbarino and others. 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
Friday, June 12th at 6pm Book signing with the authors of the Body Farm series, Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson Reading from their new book, The Breaking Point
Tuesday, June 16th at 6pm Book signing with Rick Yancey author of The Fifth Wave Series Union Ave Books 517 Union Ave Knoxville, TN 37902 865.951.2180 www.unionavebooks.com 36
KNOXVILLE MERCURY June 11, 2015
handcrafted gifts. (An artists’ reception will be held on Friday, June 26, from 5-8 p.m.) 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. Zach Searcy Projects 317 N. Gay St. THROUGH JUNE: Knox u30 v1.0, an exhibit by Knoxville artists under the age of 30. On display through June by appointment. Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church 2931 Kingston Pike MAY 8-JUNE 30: Knoxville Watercolor Society Exhibit.
LECTURES, READINGS, AND BOOK SIGNINGS
Friday, June 12 JEFFERSON BASS: ‘THE BREAKING POINT’ • Union Ave Books • 6PM • Book signing and reception for the NYT bestselling author team, Jon Jefferson and Dr. Bill Bass, discussing and signing their newest Body Farm novel,
RENOVATION FINANCING: Revitalizing neighborhoods one house at a time!
Jeff Talman Sales Manager, NMLS #459775 Jeff.Talman@prospectmortgage.com www.myprospectmortgage.com/JTalman
(865) 406-6170 Prospect Mortgage 200 Prosperity Drive, Suite #118 Knoxville, TN 37923 Loan inquiries and applications in states where I am not licensed will be referred to a Loan Officer who is licensed in the property state. Equal Housing Lender. Prospect Mortgage is located at 15301 Ventura Blvd., Suite D300, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403. Prospect Mortgage, LLC (NMLS Identifier #3296, www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org) is a Delaware limited liability company. This is not an offer for extension of credit or a commitment to lend. Rev 4.1.15 (0315-2004B) LR 2015-202
CALENDAR The Breaking Point. • FREE Saturday, June 13 JODY SIMS: ‘SOUL PROVIDER: CONVERSATIONS WITH MY CAT’ • McKay Used Books • 12PM • Meet and greet Jody Sims, author, artist, survivor. Jody will sign books as well as display a few of her paintings showcased in Soul Provider. She will also have books, prints, and posters available for purchase. • FREE DAVID BURNSWORTH: ‘SOUTHERN HEAT’ • Union Ave Books • 2PM • David Burnsworth became fascinated with the Deep South at a young age. After a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and fifteen years in the corporate world, he made the decision to write a novel. Southern Heat is his first mystery. Having lived in Charleston on Sullivan’s Island for five years, the setting was a foregone conclusion. He and his wife along with their dog call South Carolina home. • FREE Sunday, June 14 LINDSEY FREEMAN: ‘LONGING FOR THE BOMB’ • Union Ave Books • 2PM • Book signing with Lindsey Freeman reading from her new book, Longing for the Bomb: Oak Ridge and Atomic Nostalgia • FREE KENDALL CHILES: “BEAUTY OF THE MACRO WORLD” • McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture • 3PM • As part of programming related to our current special exhibition, Through the Lens: Botanical Photography of Alan S. Heilman, join local nature photographer Kendall Chiles to explore macro photography of the natural world at this illustrated presentation in the Museum Auditorium. Free and open to the public. • FREE Tuesday, June 16 RICK YANCEY: ‘THE INFINITE SEA AND THE 5TH WAVE’ • Union Ave Books • 6PM • Book signing with NYT bestselling author Rick Yancey reading from his latest works, The Infinite Sea and The 5th Wave • FREE Wednesday, June 17 BOOKS SANDWICHED IN • East Tennessee History Center • 12PM • Knox County Public Library’s monthly book program features KAT director Dawn Distler discussing Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design by Charles Montgomery (March 18); Knoxville attorney Wanda Sobieski discussing A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence and Power by Jimmy Carter (April 15); Jean Ash on Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China by Evan Osnos (May 20); Knoxville City Council member Mark Campen on Gaining Ground: A Story of Farmers’ Markets, Local Food, and Saving the Family Farm by Forrest Pritchard (June 17); University of Tennessee professor Michelle Commander on Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Trade by Saidiya Hartman (July 15); and Knoxville Police Department deputy chief Nate Allen on 400 Things Cops Know: Street-Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman by Adam Plantinga (Aug. 19). For more information, contact Emily Ellis at (865) 215-8767 or eellis@knoxlib.org.. • FREE Thursday, June 18 MARGARET LAZARUS DEAN: ‘LEAVING ORBIT’ • Union Ave Books • 6PM • Author and Associate Professor of English at UT, Margaret Lazarus Dean, will read from and sign her new book, Leaving Orbit: Notes from the Last Days of American Spaceflight • FREE
FAMILY AND KIDS’ EVENTS
Thursday, June 11 WHOLE FOODS GAME NIGHT • Whole Foods • 6PM • Grab you peeps and join us for Game Night in The Rocky! We have everything from Candy Land to Chess! A pint, a pizza, and a board: who could ask for more? • FREE Friday, June 12 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 Tuesday, June 16 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. The library will provide the Legos, so all you have to bring is your imagination! Lego Club will be in the Children’s Library. • FREE WHOLE FOODS GAME NIGHT • Whole Foods • 6PM • Grab you peeps and join us for Game Night in The Rocky! We have everything from Candy Land to Chess! A pint, a pizza, and a board: who could ask for more? • FREE Thursday, June 18 WHOLE FOODS GAME NIGHT • Whole Foods • 6PM • Grab you peeps and join us for Game Night in The Rocky! We have everything from Candy Land to Chess! A pint, a pizza, and a board: who could ask for more? • FREE Friday, June 19 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, June 20 FAMILY FUN DAY: DISCOVERING PLANTS IN THROUGH THE LENS • McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture • 1PM • Join us for free a free Family Fun Day featuring activities, crafts, tours, and more. We’ll explore plants with the UT Gardens in our new temporary exhibit, Through the Lens: Botanical Photography of Alan S. Heilman. All materials will be provided. The program is free and open to the public. Reservations are not necessary. • FREE
CLASSES
Thursday, June 11 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 AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Buckingham Retirement Clubhouse • 9AM • Call (865) 382-5822. Saturday, June 13 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. KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS: BUG ME • All Saints Catholic Church • 10:30AM • Join Extension Master Gardeners Amy Haun and Bill Menius for a class about bugs in your garden. Learn which are good and which are
bad, and that the “good guys” significantly outnumber the “bad guys.” This free public event will be held on Saturday, June 13, from 10:30-noon at the Master Gardener Demonstration Garden at All Saints Catholic Church, 620 N. Cedar Bluff Rd, Knoxville, TN 37923. Enter the church property from N. Cedar Bluff Road. The rectory and a two-bay garage will be on your left. The presentation will be in the garage. For more information contact the UT Extension Office at 865-215-2340. • FREE KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS: BEYOND BASIL • Bearden Branch Public Library • 10:30AM • Yes, we all seem to love basil, but there are so many more herbs you can enjoy. Join Extension Master Gardener Marcia Griswold to learn how to grow beautiful easy-to-care-for herbs that come back every year. This free public event is scheduled for Saturday, June 13, from 10:30 to noon at the Bearden Branch Library, 100 Golfclub Rd, Knoxville, TN 37919. For more information phone 865-588-8813 or visit knoxlib.org. • FREE A1LABARTS ABANDONED ART WORKSHOP • The Center for Creative Minds • 3PM • A1LabArts is hosting their second Abandoned Art Workshop on Saturday, June 13 from 3 – 7 p.m. at The Center for Creative Minds.For just $10 per person, participants can create a piece of art and then give it away! In this workshop, participants will get to experience the joy of the creative process and explore a variety of methods and materials to make a piece of art. The next step can be both difficult and fun. Participants will leave their art in a public place for others to discover, keep, and love.Workshop attendees will be provided with all of the supplies necessary to create their masterpiece. Participants can stop in or stay the whole time to make, take, and give away their art.Those who find abandoned art are encouraged to document their find on the Abandoned ART Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ abandonedART. For more information, visit the Abandoned ART Facebook page or www.a1labarts.org. • $10 Sunday, June 14 AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Cheyenne Ambulatory Center • 1PM • Call (865) 382-5822. Monday, June 15 AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Cheyenne Ambulatory Center • 1PM • Call (865) 382-5822. KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS: BUG ME • Davis Family YMCA • 1PM • Join Knox County Extension Master Gardeners Amy Haun and Bill Menius for a class about bugs in your garden. Learn which are good and which are bad, and that the “good guys” significantly outnumber the “bad guys.” This free public event is scheduled for Monday, June 15, from1-2 at the Davis Family YMCA, 12133 S Northshore Dr, Knoxville TN. For more information phone 865-777-9622. • FREE GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 5:30PM • Call 865-5772021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. Tuesday, June 16 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. UT ARBORETUM SOCIETY: “CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES AND THE VALUE OF LITTLE-BITTY WETLANDS” • University of Tennessee Arboretum • 6PM • The UT Arboretum Society will present a program on wetlands, “Construction Techniques and the Value of Little Bitty Wetlands” June 16, 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. This is both a walking and hands-on teaching event.The talk will focus on the June 11, 2015
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CALENDAR benefits of small wetlands and how to construct them. Participants will meet at the UT Arboretum parking lot, 901 S. Illinois Avenue, Oak Ridge, and walk about a quarter mile to the Valley Road Wetlands from the UT Arboretum parking lot.Presenting the program are John Byrd, Clinch River Environmental Studies Organization
Thursday, June 11 - Sunday, June 21
(CRESO) biologist; Steve Forbes, ARCADIS/civil engineer; and Andrea Ludwig, Assistant Professor in Biosystems Engineering & Soil Science at the University of Tennessee. In partnership with the University of Tennessee Arboretum, we will provide program participants with information on how they can construct
their own wetlands and what they might expect to hop, fly, walk, or crawl into them.To learn more about this lecture or the UT Arboretum Society, go to www. utarboretumsociety.org. For more information on the program, call 483-3571. • FREE Thursday, June 18 AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Everett Senior Center (Maryville) • 9AM • Call (865) 382-5822. 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 19 AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Everett Senior Center (Maryville) • 9AM • Call (865) 382-5822. Saturday, June 20 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.
Sunday, June 21 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
MEETINGS
ETC.
Thursday, June 11 OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS • Recovery at Cokesbury • 5:30PM • What you WON’T find at OA meetings are weigh-ins, packaged meals, dues, fees, “shoulds,” “musts” or judgment. What you WILL find at meetings is: Acceptance of you as you are now, as you were, as you will be. Understanding of the problems you now face — problems almost certainly shared by others in the group. Communication that comes as the natural result of our mutual understanding and acceptance. Recovery from your illness. Power to enter a new way of life through the acceptance and understanding of yourself, the practice of the Twelve-Step recovery program, the belief in a power greater than yourself, and the support and companionship of the group. • FREE
CHRIS STAPLETON Bijou Theatre (803 S. Gay St.) • Wednesday, June 17 • 8 p.m. • $19.50 • knoxbijou.com
Chris Stapleton’s been aiming for this moment for a while—it seemed clear all the way back when he was fronting the Grammy-nomintaed Nashville bluegrass band the SteelDrivers, from 2008 to 2010, that he was headed for a solo career. It’s taken him a while to get there, but the wait has been worth it. Stapleton’s debut album, Traveller, released in early May, is a ragged but fully realized collection of traditional country, classic rock, and bluesy blue-eyed soul that recalls early Waylon Jennings, Otis Redding, Delbert McClinton, and Bob Seger. In the last few years, leading up to Traveller, Stapleton wrote or co-wrote hits for Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Darius Rucker, and Josh Turner, but Stapleton’s very obviously not following their paths. It wouldn’t be a surprise for Traveller to send a song up the charts—the soaring title track or the raucous banjo jam “Parachute,” perhaps—but this is country music for the long haul. It may have taken Stapleton 37 years to get this far, but expect him to stick around. (Matthew Everett)
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Thursday, June 18 OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS • Recovery at Cokesbury • 5:30PM • What you WON’T find at OA meetings are weigh-ins, packaged meals, dues, fees, “shoulds,” “musts” or judgment. What you WILL find at meetings is: Acceptance of you as you are now, as you were, as you will be. Understanding of the problems you now face — problems almost certainly shared by others in the group. Communication that comes as the natural result of our mutual understanding and acceptance. Recovery from your illness. Power to enter a new way of life through the acceptance and understanding of yourself, the practice of the Twelve-Step recovery program, the belief in a power greater than yourself, and the support and companionship of the group. • FREE
Sunday, June 14 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 Monday, June 15 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. Tuesday, June 16 KNOXVILLE COCOAHEADS • Knoxville Entrepreneur Center • 7PM • CocoaHeads is a group devoted to discussion of Apple’s Cocoa and Cocoa Touch Frameworks for programming on OS X (Mac) and iOS (iPhone, iPad). During monthly meetings, members offer tutorials, present their projects, share app ideas, and provide advice to other programmers. Whether you are an experienced developer or just getting started, Knoxville CocoaHeads is a great way to stay current with the latest technologies and improve your programming skills.
Thursday, June 11 ART OUT IN THE CITY ART SHOW AND AUCTION • The Standard • 6:30PM • This annual Knoxville Pridefest event features the enormous creative talent of local artists and offers goods and services donated by area supporting businesses. All proceeds from these sales go to support the East Tennessee Equality Council whose longstanding mission is to keep Knoxville Pridefest free. Enjoy free food and drinks, great local talent, and a beautiful space while supporting a worthy cause. 18 to enter. 21 to drink. NEW HARVEST PARK FARMERS MARKET • New Harvest Park • 3PM • FREE Friday, June 12 LAKESHORE PARK FARMERS’ MARKET • Lakeshore Park • 3PM • FREE WHOLE FOODS LOCAL SUPPLIER FAIR • Whole Foods • 5PM • Join us for a celebration of local foods and the people who make them. With live music by the Pinklets. • FREE Saturday, June 13 OAK RIDGE FARMERS’ MARKET • Historic Jackson Square • 8AM MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 9AM • FREE Sunday, June 14 THE TRAVELING BAZAAR • Bearden Banquet Hall • 10AM • Local and regional artists and artisans, all from within three hours of Knoxville, will have their stuff for sale— plus live music, food, and other entertainment. • FREE Tuesday, June 16 EBENEZER ROAD FARMERS’ MARKET • Ebenezer United Methodist Church • 3PM • East Tennessee Farmers Association for Retail Marketing (FARM), a nonprofit organization, is pleased to announce the opening of its 39th season of farmers’ markets in East Tennessee, in three convenient locations in Knoxville and Oak Ridge. Established in 1976, FARM is Tennessee’s longest continuously operating farmers’ market organization. “We are proud to offer this service to the Knoxville-Oak Ridge community,” said Steve Colvin, president of East TN FARM.
Thursday, June 11 - Sunday, June 21
“Our membership typically includes about 70 producer-vendors, offering more than one hundred different Tennessee grown products from April through November.” FARM vendors will offer a wide variety of spring bedding plants, fresh produce, grass-fed and pasture-raised meats, artisan bread and cheese, local honey and fresh eggs. As the season goes on, they offer the freshest produce possible, including just-picked strawberries, peaches, sweet corn and heirloom tomatoes. • FREE Wednesday, June 17 MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 11AM • The Market Square Farmers’ Market is an open-air farmers’ market located on Market Square in the heart of downtown Knoxville and is celebrating its 12th season this year. Hours are: Wednesday from 11a.m. to 2p.m. & Saturday from 9a.m. to 2p.m., May 2- November 21, 2015.The MSFM is a producer only market; everything is either made or grown by the vendor in our East Tennessee region. Products vary by the season and include ornamental plants, produce, dairy, eggs, honey, herbs, meat, baked goods, jams/jellies, coffee, & artisan crafts. With interactive fountains, delicious local food and entertainment, as well as tasty lunch options from some of Knoxville’s best food trucks, the MSFM is a perfect family destination. • FREE Thursday, June 18 NEW HARVEST PARK FARMERS MARKET • New Harvest Park • 3PM • The New Harvest Park Farmers Market will be open every Thursday through November from 3 to 6
p.m. The market features locally-grown produce, meats, artisan food products, plants, herbs, flowers, crafts and much more. • FREE Friday, June 19 LAKESHORE PARK FARMERS’ MARKET • Lakeshore Park • 3PM • East Tennessee Farmers Association for Retail Marketing (FARM), a nonprofit organization, is pleased to announce the opening of its 39th season of farmers’ markets in East Tennessee, in three convenient locations in Knoxville and Oak Ridge. Established in 1976, FARM is Tennessee’s longest continuously operating farmers’ market organization. “We are proud to offer this service to the Knoxville-Oak Ridge community,” said Steve Colvin, president of East TN FARM. “Our membership typically includes about 70 producer-vendors, offering more than one hundred different Tennessee grown products from April through November.” FARM vendors will offer a wide variety of spring bedding plants, fresh produce, grass-fed and pasture-raised meats, artisan bread and cheese, local honey and fresh eggs. As the season goes on, they offer the freshest produce possible, including just-picked strawberries, peaches, sweet corn and heirloom tomatoes. • FREE Saturday, June 20 OAK RIDGE FARMERS’ MARKET • Historic Jackson Square • 8AM • East Tennessee Farmers Association for Retail Marketing (FARM), a nonprofit organization, is pleased to announce the opening of its 39th season of farmers’ markets in East Tennessee, in three convenient locations in Knoxville and Oak Ridge. Established in 1976, FARM is
CALENDAR
Tennessee’s longest continuously operating farmers’ market organization. “We are proud to offer this service to the Knoxville-Oak Ridge community,” said Steve Colvin, president of East TN FARM. “Our membership typically includes about 70 producer-vendors, offering more than one hundred different Tennessee grown products from April through November.” FARM vendors will offer a wide variety of spring bedding plants, fresh produce, grass-fed and pasture-raised meats, artisan bread and cheese, local honey and fresh eggs. As the season goes on, they offer the freshest produce possible, including just-picked strawberries, peaches, sweet corn and heirloom tomatoes. SEYMOUR FARMERS MARKET • Seymour First Baptist Church • 8AM • Home grown and home made produce, honey, baked goods, crafts and more. MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 9AM • The Market Square Farmers’ Market is an open-air farmers’ market located on Market Square in the heart of downtown Knoxville and is celebrating its 12th season this year. Hours are: Wednesday from 11a.m. to 2p.m. & Saturday from 9a.m. to 2p.m., May 2- November 21, 2015.The MSFM is a producer only market; everything is either made or grown by the vendor in our East Tennessee region. Products vary by the season and include ornamental plants, produce, dairy, eggs, honey, herbs, meat, baked goods, jams/jellies, coffee, & artisan crafts. With interactive fountains, delicious local food and entertainment, as well as tasty lunch options from some of Knoxville’s best food trucks, the MSFM is a perfect family destination. • FREE
BEARDS AND BREWS • Whole Foods • 3PM • Celebrate that special guy in your life. Beer and pizza sampling with a beard decorating contest. This event is followed by a bring your own instrument bluegrass jam from 5-7 p.m. • FREE THE TURKEY TIME VARIETY SHOW • Pilot Light • 9PM • $5
Send your events to calendar@knoxmercury.com
Hospitality Job Fair Join us on Thursday, June 18, 2015 @ 2:00pm to 4:00pm Refreshments provided Full and Part time Positions Open Positions available in the following departments: Housekeeping, Front Desk, Restaurant, Banquets, Bar, Starbucks, and kitchen HILTON KNOXVILLE 501 West Church Avenue Knoxville TN 37902 865 251 2566 knoxville.hilton.com June 11, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 39
OUTDOORS
Voice in the Wilder ness
Meditations of Norm An appreciation for the ideal canoe companion: a 90-pound geriatric German shepherd BY KIM TREVATHAN
O
ver Memorial Day weekend, I found a new place on the map to paddle—Paint Rock Creek off the southwest shore of Watts Bar Lake— where I expected little boat traffic and wished for plentiful fish. Because it was a cool day and German shepherd Norm hadn’t been in a while, I loaded up the canoe instead of the kayak and took him along. The day turned out idyllic, except for the fishing part, which didn’t matter because the breeze seemed to be blowing in just the right direction, giving us calm coves for respite and a tailwind on the way back. Something new popped into view around each bend: cattle, herons, ducks, weird Easter Island tiki torches (?) in front of the one house we passed, and a wide creek that wound farther into the interior than we could paddle in one day. I went back a couple of days later, alone in the kayak, and paddled up the creek as far as I could go, into the dark shade where the banks closed in. I even caught a couple of blue gill. But it wasn’t the same without Norm—not nearly as fun. It’s understandable if you doubt me when I say that a 90-pound geriatric German shepherd is the ideal canoe companion, but hear me out. It’s important that a dog this size (or person, for that matter) refrains from sudden movements that could result in an unplanned swim, which depending on the waterway, would require a major recovery effort. After five or six years of canoeing, Norm has never been involved in a
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY June 11, 2015
capsize, and I can’t say this for every dog I’ve had in a canoe, including Jasper (RIP), who accompanied me down the length of the Tennessee River. Jasper was half Norm’s size, but he loved the water and if it splashed near him, he liked to lean over and bite at it. Part of what has made Norm’s streak possible is his aversion to swimming. He can swim magnificently, but he would rather not. He is decidedly uninterested in immersion. It could be said that Norm’s interests in the boat are limited, though I’d rather put it this way: He is calm and meditative in the boat. He observes great blue heron and geese, for example, without barking or even standing up. On the rare occasions when I catch something, I hold it up for his consideration. On the Little River I presented a beautiful sunfish on top of the paddle less than a foot from him. He glanced and turned the other way with a dismissive snort. People in boats and people in the water are of mild interest. The one time he got really excited was also on Watts Bar when he smelled a deer just before it bolted from the bank a few yards away. He stood and barked a couple of times, and that was it. Norm is not without personality. He is a good companion in the boat, which is part of what made the first Paint Rock Creek voyage better than the second solo trip, despite having better weather and a more navigable craft. He listens well, of course, and he vocalizes. Some might call this whining, but I’ve known Norm long
Norm can swim magnificently, but he would rather not. He is decidedly uninterested in immersion.
enough to understand the gist of his commentary, that what might sound like complaining to others is just his way of making small talk. What exactly he’s saying is anybody’s guess and I’ll spare you speculative translations.
I know what he’s not saying. He’s not saying he needs water, which is in the boat in a special bowl that doesn’t spill. He’s not saying he’s uncomfortable because he’s lying on an inflatable sleeping pad, and he’s not hungry
OUTDOORS His eyes narrow and his big black nose quivers, as if it’s the most exquisite pleasure one could imagine.
because he gets treats from time to time. It’s good to have treats in case your dog is prone to getting overly excited at something on the bank, like other dogs, for example, and you can use a treat as a diversion. Sometimes, Norm might say he needs a bathroom break, but I know the particular tone and cadence of this vocalization. Lastly, Norm elicits two kinds of reactions from people. Mostly he makes people smile, whether they see him in the boat or in the car with his head out the window. I think it’s because he’s a good-looking dog, whatever that means—he flashes that dog grin and he has expressive eyes that look like he’s used eye liner. The other reaction—one of fear and respect—has to do with Norm’s size and breed. People sometimes behave boorishly on the water, whether influenced by alcohol, ignorance, or willful malice. Motorboats have zoomed past me at full throttle just a few yards away,
sometimes waving at me as if they’re in a parade, while I struggle to stay afloat in the wake that follows. This has never happened with Norm in the canoe with me. I like to think that Norm has a positive influence on those around him, whether it’s dog lovers or people who might have temporary double vision. As he gets older, he seems to get better in the boat, even though he needs a little help to get in. His favorite thing to do is to raise his nose and explore the air. His eyes narrow and his big black nose quivers, as if it’s the most exquisite pleasure one could imagine. Just watching this from the stern is enough to inspire emulation, even if it doesn’t involve sniffi ng. It’s about being in the moment for Norm, enjoying something uncomplicated without imposing his will on others or drawing attention to himself. There’s a lesson in that for all of us, whether we’re navigating water, land, or hallway. ◆
Knoxville, TN (865) 546 -1336 Ý Valle Crucis Ý Boone Ý Waynesville Ý Hendersonville Asheville Ý Winston-Salem, NC Ý Greenville Ý Columbia, SC Ý MastGeneralStore.com Park on State St. & use our back entrance. Enjoy a free trolley ride to our front door.
June 11, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 41
FOOD
D ir t to Fork
Feeling Good About Gleaning Grow More, Give More program repurposes your extra produce BY ROSE KENNEDY
T
hey call it gleaning. And while it has nothing to do with aliens or polished gems or anything like that, it’s almost as cool: to gather grain or other material that is left after the main crop has been gathered. Gleaning as carried out by the Grow More, Give More program co-heralded by the University of Tennessee’s Farmer’s Market and the local chapter of the nonprofit Society of St. Andrew involves a charitable redistribution of your produce wealth. You bring the extra produce that grows in your garden to the market on Wednesday evenings from 4 to 7 p.m. The Knoxville Gleaning Coordinator for SoSA, Mike Smith, meets you there, tallies the poundage, and makes sure a food pantry or other local charity gets it to redistribute to working poor or down-on-their luck cooks, or to use to fix meals for the needy. You can get more or less expansive—planting extra just for this purpose, for example, or just buying a little extra from the market vendors to donate. Smith, who volunteers his time and is part of the larger national group that has projects in eight states, welcomes it all with a cheerful grin. He looks like a stern accountant in quiet moments, but when someone approaches the booth bearing, say, a basket of gleaming green zucchini, he is suddenly recognizable as the man who signs e-mails with “THANKS for being YOU!!” His smile is only part of the reason all my fretting is over almost as soon as it starts. He also answers each bit of skepticism I put forth with a no-nonsense explanation, based on
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his seven years with SoSA and three years with UT’s GMGM: What if you’re like me and never experience that plague of extra zucchini or cucumbers, instead having extras of, say, non-bulbing fennel or mint. You wouldn’t want that, would you? Yes, they would. “We take any fresh produce anyway you give it to us. We, SoSA, will take anything edible and find it a home for someone or some group in need.” Wouldn’t most hungry people have trouble being able to fix the food for themselves, lacking kitchens and so forth? “We give to places like Knox Area Rescue Ministries, Love Kitchen, and FISH, that have volunteers who can fix the vegetables. But mainly we give to church pantries that give the produce out to the families right when they get back to their church.” Those recipients freely select say, the broccoli rabe or the Swiss chard that was donated the first GMGM night of 2015, June 5. The part where some of the stuff goes to the zoo, that’s just a nice story? No. “I do work with the zoo, particularly when we have a 40,000-pound truck load of something, because it will usually contain produce that is just overly ripe—the almost rotten or squashed ends up with them.” And you tell me that the animals there will eat it? Sure. “Elephants, gorillas and pigs all like the sweet potatoes when we get them. The zoo has said that if a human eats some kind of food; they will have an animal there that will also like that kind of food.” What if everyone has a surplus of
the same thing at the same time? Tomatoes, if my garden is any indication, are going to slather the landscape with their fruit this year, for example. Bring it on. “We did over 10,000 pounds with UT Farmers Market last year, including gleaning from various farmers and the UT Organic Farm. We did more than 8,800 pounds from Edible Arrangements—fresh fruit that they couldn’t use and my church, Concord United Methodist, participated by gleaning roughly 60,000 pounds of Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, and green beans.” Uh oh, there’s that church word. So, do you have to be churchy to participate? Not at all. “We work with faithbased and secular groups, like Wesley House, Positively Living, Teen Challenge, Volunteer Ministries, Samaritan Place, Ladies of Charity, West Park Baptist Church’s Bread of Life Pantry, Faith Lutheran’s Shepherd of Hope Pantry, the Sevier County Food Pantry and probably 15 more churches.” If you’re going to grow extra for GMGM, should it be high in nutrition, like kale, or something that will keep
a long time, like winter squash? Whatever you want to grow, “we’ll take it.” But not buggy produce, surely? “We don’t want bugs.” This gets me to thinking about my kale, which us Southerners would say was “all ate up” by cabbage flies or some other villain. Some nice person or market vendor has donated a raft (that’s maybe not the technical term) of gorgeous, tender, Red Russian kale that’s just like mine should be, but isn’t. If some food pantry patron ended up with that, what could they make with it? I wonder out loud. Ah, don’t ask Smith. “No ma’am. You don’t want me to cook for you or anyone else—ha!” Lucky for me, the next booth over at this Wednesday market is Jeff Martin, extension assistant for the UT Farmer’s Market and a dab hand with recipes for the produce he provides to his CSA customers, and the excess he donates to GMGM. Red Russian kale and red onion savory breakfast squares? As Smith would say, “We’ll take it!” ◆
Your favorite Japanese, Chinese and Thai dishes made by hand with the freshest ingredients and served in an atmosphere of elegance and gracious hospitality. Live jazz music every Tuesday night • Happy Hour 2-7 pm daily
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band as part of our Fulin Cares philosophy of spreading good fortune.
June 11, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 43
Ride For The River
FOOD
D ir t to Fork
SATURDAY JUNE 13 AT SMOKY MOUNTAIN HARLEY-DAVIDSON
JOIN US FOR BENEFIT TOU A R THE WATERSH OF ED! Motorcyclists will enjoy a scenic ride and presentations by Smoky Mountain park rangers and historians, a fisheries demonstration, and an evening of music and good times at The Shed! Sign-in begins at 9am • Ride departs at 10am • Returns at 6:30pm for BBQ dinner and music by Start Me Up (Rolling Stones Tribute Band).
Registration: $30 per bike ($35 day of event) includes ride T-shirt and ticket to the show. For more info & to register visit littleriverwatershed.org
Red Russian Kale and Red Onion Savory Breakfast Squares (ADAPTED FROM REGINA SCHRAMBLING’S RECIPE FOR COLLARD SQUARES) Makes 6 servings 1 bunch Red Russian kale, chopped, or use any other variety of kale 1/2 red onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced (1/2 tsp. minced garlic) 1/2 tsp. olive oil 1 tsp. tamari or other soy sauce 1 C grated cheese 1/4 cup 100 percent whole wheat bread crumbs 6 eggs, beaten well 1/2 tsp. all-purpose seasoning like Spike 1. Preheat oven to 350 F. 2. Cut off kale stems and discard, wash kale leaves and dry well. (I use a salad spinner.) 3. Pile kale leaves up on top of each other and cut into strips about 3/4-inch wide, then turn cutting board the other way and cut again so you have squares just under an inch square. Chop onion into pieces about 1/2 inch. 4. Heat olive oil in large heavy frying pan, add onions and sauté 3 minutes. Add garlic and sauté about 2 more minutes, then add kale, turning over as it wilts and sautéeing about 5 minutes, or until kale is significantly wilted and softened. 5. Put sautéed vegetables into a large bowl and add tamari, cheese, bread crumbs, beaten eggs, and seasoning. Stir gently until ingredients are well distributed. 6. Spray pan with olive oil or nonstick spray and pour in egg mixture. 7. Bake 20-25 minutes until eggs are well set and the top is lightly browned. Serve hot. Courtesy Jeff Martin, Extension Assistant, UT Farmers Market 44
KNOXVILLE MERCURY June 11, 2015
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865.247.0392 May 28, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 45
’BYE
At This Point
Bird of Passage Stop, look, and listen BY STEPHANIE PIPER
I
t’s Monday and I’m running late, so of course there is construction on my road, a flagman waving cars to a halt near the lake. I join the long line of edgy commuters drumming their fingers on steering wheels and studying their phones. I’m trapped here for a few minutes, but I am not here. I am mentally racing from one meeting to the next, calculating the time lost, rehearsing the presentation, reworking the PowerPoint. I look up to see if the flag has changed from stop to slow, and then I see him. Or her, because it could as easily be a female, for all I know. But males have brighter plumage, one of nature’s inequities. And this plumed visitor perched on my side view mirror is very bright indeed. He’s chrome yellow, tipped with pale gray, and he looks at me with eyes like tiny black beads. His frank stare jolts me out of my distracted fog. There’s something insistent about his presence here, now, this morning. He cocks his head, as though posing a question: What on Earth are you doing? I don’t have a good comeback. I
can’t say that I’m using this forced idleness to center my thoughts, or breathe deeply, or admire the canopy of branches overhead, the glimpses of early summer light. I’m not contemplating the vastness of the universe and my barely discernible part in it. I’m not planning good deeds, or pondering how I might be of service. No. I’m consumed with minutiae, the pinpricks of inconvenience, my host of First-World problems. I have places to go and people to see. I don’t have time for this traffic stop, and I certainly don’t have time for bird watching. Still, he stays. He flaps his wings a bit, looks at himself in the mirror, turns back to me. He’s really quite perfect, small and elegant and so close that I could touch him. I envy people who find unfailing comfort in nature, who seek it out on mountain hikes and woodland rambles. Once, early in my career as a journalist, I interviewed the children’s book author and poet Beatrice Schenk De Regniers. She told me that her writing was nourished by frequent “meadow vacations,” intervals of
BY MATTHEW FOLTZ-GRAY
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY June 11, 2015
respite from city life when she would spend a week sitting in a field or a forest clearing and just looking. Always looking. One of her poems begins, “A feather is a letter from a bird.” I wonder if a warbler perched on my mirror is something more—a homily, maybe. Or a wakeup call. The car ahead begins to move. I take my foot off the brake, but the bird stays put. He’s waiting for a reply to his question, and I shift uneasily in my seat. I try out some responses: I’m making a living. I’m getting through the day. I’m doing my best. He doesn’t budge. It’s time to accelerate, but he holds my gaze. I’m seriously late now, and yet the urgency has faded. Against
all reason, I want to stay. At work, I look him up. He’s a Golden Swamp Warbler, and he’s just passing through. He and his kin stop here to breed, then move on farther south. Their collective name is not a flock, but a sweetness, or a stream, or a bouquet. A sweetness of warblers. Even the words are a balm. These warblers favor marshy wooded places, like the lakeside where I met him on a harried Monday morning. He won’t linger for long, though. A bird of passage, he lives by an ancient rhythm of flight and rest, journey and return. He has places to go and questions to ask. I hope he comes back. Next time, I might have the answer. ◆
I’m consumed with minutiae, the pinpricks of inconvenience, my host of First-World problems.
’BYE BY IAN BLACKBURN AND JACK NEELY
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY 47
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