NEWS: Knoxville College Development Deal May Determine its Future
MAY 7, 2015 KNOXMERCURY.COM
OPERATORS ARE STANDING BY
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JACK NEELY
OUTDOORS
FOOD
STEPHANIE PIPER
The Problem With Henley Street
Going Wild on the Smokies’ Whiteoak Trail
Checking in With Makers Donuts
Looking for a View Outside the Big Top
Vestal’s Vestival Vestal is a large, mostly residential section of South Knoxville to the west of Chapman Highway. Every year since 2001, on the day before Mother’s Day, the neighborhood’s Candoro Arts & Heritage Center, 681 Maryville Pike, has hosted a big party that has become one of Knoxville’s best-known and best-attended neighborhood fairs. This year, the theme centers around the neighborhood’s history. Also in May:
Vestal was named for the Vestal Lumber Co., which was one of the neighborhood’s biggest employers. It was founded in 1902 by three brothers in their 20s, James, Robert, and Park Vestal of Knoxville. Vestal Lumber did a national business, and for a time supplied good poplar for the Steinway Piano Co.
It’s Preservation Month at Knox Heritage, one of the most vigorous historical organizations in terms of planning events, many of them at their amazingly renovated headquarters, the 1890 Victorian showplace known as Westwood, 3425 Kingston Pike. Saturday May 9 is their monthly clinic for do-it-yourself preservationists, on the subject of Open Door Architecture.
There other industries in the neighborhood, including a couple of trunk-manufacturing companies and the Candoro Marble Co., which once claimed to be the largest producer of pink marble, or high-grade limestone, in America.
The extraordinarily unusual Candoro “showroom” building, designed in 1923 by Charlie Barber, co-founder of the Barber McMurry architectural firm, to look something like an Italian villa, is built of several styles of marble. It’s at the center of Vestival.
Charles Barber’s 1923 Candoro Marble building in Vestal, home of Vestival.
Candoro marble was used in multiple monuments in Washington, D.C., and New York. It was eventually the home base of Albert Milani (1892-1977), Knoxville’s most accomplished marble sculptor of the 20th century. Vestal once had a busy downtown of its own, centered at the intersection of Ogle Avenue and Martin Mill Pike. It’s still home to King Tut’s Grill, Pease Furniture, and Vestal United Methodist Church.
Now in its 15th year as one of Knoxville’s most popular neighborhood fairs, Vestival is sponsored by the Candoro Arts & Heritage Center. This Saturday the 9th, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Vestival will feature dozens of crafts booths, an array of food, and three stages of live music, featuring several of Knoxville’s best-known performers. Its theme will be “History Revival,” with photographs and stories about South Knoxville of the past. For more information, see candoromarble.org.
On Friday, May 15, at 11:30 a.m., Knox Heritage hosts its regular Lost and Found Luncheon at Westwood, this time with the subject, “‘Three Cheers and a Tiger for the Holstons!’ The Rebirth of Civil War-Era Base Ball in Tennessee.” That’s base ball with two words--the old-fashioned way--which means, among other things, no gloves. For this event, organizer/pitcher/historian Adam Alfrey, of the Museum of East Tennessee History, will be fielding only questions.
The same day, by the way, Knox Heritage makes its Fragile 15 announcement, the much-awaited listing of the county’s most-endangered properties. It always includes a surprise. On May 19, Knox Heritage and Westwood, a prestigious wedding venue itself, is hosting its annual Bridal Fair, a mini-convention of caterers, florists, make-up artists, hair stylists, and musicians with suggestions for that special day.
And every Saturday until the first freeze is perhaps the most dynamic bit of living history in the area, the Market Square Farmers Market, from 9 to 2. It’s been going on in the same place in one form or another almost every growing season since 1854.
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 May 7, 2015
May 7, 2015 Volume 01 / Issue 09 knoxmercury.com
CONTENTS
“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” —Pablo Picasso
14 The Lost Art of Ali Akbar COVER STORY
Ali Akbar, or Horace Pittman, as he was previously known, died suddenly in late 2009 at the age of 64. That’s too young to die, but even so he was perhaps 20 years older than most people assumed. He would be 70 this year, and that fact is impossible to digest. He lived a life of rich, inspired adolescence. He also left us a trove of art, some of which even his friends had never seen but is now on display in the exhibit WHO IS THIS MAN?, excerpted here with a overview by Jack Neely. NEWS
12 Knoxville College
Considers Development Deal
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DEPARTMENTS
OPINION
A&E
4 6
8
20
38
Howdy Start Here: Ghost Signs by Bud Ries, Believe It or Knox!, Public Affairs, Quote Factory. PLUS: Words With … Karen Shankles ’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
9
10
The Scruffy Citizen Jack Neely takes a look under the overpass and sees potential. Guest Ed Guest columnists Joshua Inwood and Derek Alderman consider the many ways “non-violence” ought to be viewed. Architecture Matters George Dodds suggests we treat Fort Loudoun Reservoir more like a bona fide river.
Completes Kickstarter
Knoxville College, the historic black school mired in debt, has reached an agreement with a local company to redevelop its grounds and mostly decrepit buildings. Its board will meet Friday to review it, but the deal comes with no public discussion and no official RFP. This has raised neighborhood concerns over the direction of the potential development, as S. Heather Duncan reports.
Donate Now!
Letters
36 Makers Donuts
22 23 24 25
Dennis Perkins checks in with the donut artisans at Makers Donuts, the soon-to-be donut shop near North Central Street partially crowdfunded by pastry-loving supporters. Also: an interview with Knoxville Uncorked’s new chef Terri Roberts.
CALENDAR Program Notes A review of Tina Tarmac and the Burns’ EP, and Nick Huinker dredges up Sadville in Retro Grade. Shelf Life Chris Barrett finds some fresh classical releases at the library. Books Bryan Charles reviews Åsne Seierstad’s One of Us. Movies Matthew Everett is simultaneously serviced and disappointed by Avengers: Age of Ultron.
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Spotlights: A Little Night Music, Evan Roth, Vestival
OUTDOORS
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Voice in the Wilderness Kim Trevathan goes in search of wild boar on the Whiteoak Trail.
FOOD & DRINK
36
On the Menu Dennis Perkins gets an update at Makers Donuts and talks with Knoxville Uncorked’s new chef Terri Roberts.
Video Lee Gardner digs A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. May 7, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 3
LETTERS Delivering Fine Journalism Since 2015
READERS: MOBILIZE NOW!
On page 13 of your inaugural issue was a clever ad for Union Ave Books. The faces of several seasoned staff members were Photoshopped to flying drones, and the ad headline was “Announcing Crone Delivery.” I remember snorting with appreciation at this clever and subtle dig at an Internet bookseller named for a rain forest and known recently for both its decimation of independent booksellers and its plans to drop books from the sky. I was reminded of this ad when I read this week’s publisher column [“In the Trenches,” by Charlie Vogel, April 23, 2015] about the fair trade a newspaper makes with its advertisers: The paper provides the passionate readership and the advertiser supports the paper. Within that bargain is an explicit understanding that there is a necessary wall between editorial and advertiser. Editorial needs to be protected from undue influence, and advertisers need to rely on that so that reader passion is undiminished. Fair enough. But let me suggest that the passion readers have for the Knoxville Mercury needs to be extended more fully to its advertisers, who are indeed keeping independent journalism alive here. Last week, I bought a book at Union Ave Books. I did not tell anyone there that I bought it because I appreciated their support for the Mercury, but that is precisely why I did it. They reminded me in the paper’s first issue of who they were not, and who they are—a scrappy independent bookseller with a sense of humor. Not unlike a certain newspaper we are all getting acquainted with. Folks, this relaunch is a grand experiment—a circus act without a net. As a reader, we need to be passionate about the Mercury advertisers, and grace them with our dollars and our thanks. I realized that I should have said to the clerk “Part of the reason I am here is because you are supporting independent journalism, and I really appreciate it. I hope you are in the Mercury often.” I didn’t say that when I bought the book, but I am saying it here. Brief thanks like this need to be 4
KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 7, 2015
made hundreds of times a week by the thousands of us who look forward to the Mercury as we go about our business in the city. We are part of a community and need to lift each other up so that the non-profit Mercury is here for decades to come. If one of our favorite stores is not in the Mercury, we need to speak up and let them know that this paper is how we get our information and one measure of the passion we have for Knoxville. Eric Gubelman Robinson, Ill.
BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
I enjoyed Jack Neely’s story on the soon-to-be-gone UC [“So Long, UC,” Scruff Citizen, April 8, 2015]. It brought back many great memories of my days there. For many who were there in the early ’70s, it was our home away from home, in between and after classes. And who could ever forget the Rafters? I never will. Ever. Actually, until I read Jack’s piece, I never once thought about it as being in the basement. I always thought of and spoke of it as the hangout with the side door leading out to what is now Phillip Fulmer Way. And yes, that very affordable cafeteria was also on the same floor “in the basement.” My lunches there cost me 68 cents. Yep, 68 cents. Veggies were 15 cents, the roll was 5 cents. Thus, four veggies, a roll, and of course, sales tax (.03) and you have 2/3 of a buck for a good lunch. And the tall ice water? It was free. Again, I will never forget. Sometimes, over the years, I have thought that I may have actually quit UT out of hunger were it not for those great lunches in that cafeteria. What most folks don’t know is that there was another small UT eatery on the third floor. UT went to great pains to keep this one quiet from the students as many professors knew about it and dined there. However, there was really no restrictions on who ate there. It was like a very small sister cafeteria to the much larger one in the basement. I ate there many times. It was much quieter and peaceful, along with the same very
affordable prices. Thus, the UC was amazing to many people in many ways. And it was and will always be beloved in my mind. Sam Stevens Lenoir City
UNPREPARED YOUNG PEOPLE
I have a comment on the “Where’s The Money” column [Perspectives by Joe Sullivan, April 2, 2015]. The school system should operate within their budget like every responsible person has to. It seems our superintendent and several members of the school board believe that spending more money is always the right thing to do. Mr. McIntyre and the school board are constantly talking about the graduation rate; from recent newspaper articles and news broadcasts, over 70 percent of graduates cannot do college-level work and are not prepared to join the work force. The graduation rate does not mean very much if the young people are not prepared. I am thankful we have a county mayor who believes in spending the taxpayers’ money wisely. Don Christopher 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 Patrice Cole Eric Dawson George Dodds Lee Gardner Mike Gibson Carey Hodges Nick Huinker Donna Johnson Rose Kennedy
Dennis Perkins Stephanie Piper Ryan Reed Eleanor Scott Alan Sherrod April Snellings Joe Sullivan Kim Trevathan Joe Tarr William Warren Chris Wohlwend
DESIGN ART DIRECTOR
Tricia Bateman tricia@knoxmercury.com GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
Charlie Finch Corey McPherson CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
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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 ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Christopher Black chris@knoxmercury.com
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distribution@knoxmercury.com The Knoxville Mercury is an independent weekly news magazine devoted to informing and connecting Knoxville’s many different communities. It is a taxable, not-for-profit company governed by the Knoxville History Project, a non-profit organization devoted to exploring, disseminating, and celebrating Knoxville’s unique cultural heritage. It publishes 25,000 copies per week, available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. © 2015 The Knoxville Mercury
(AT THESE & OTHER FINE LOCATIONS) MULTIPLE LOCATIONS
Calhoun’s (7 Locations) Community Boxes Downtown (12 Locations) Earth Fare (2 Locations) Food City (18 Locations) Food Lion (2 Locations) Knox County Public Libraries (14 Locations) Kroger (14 Locations) Maryville College (4 Locations) Pellissippi State Community College campuses (8 Locations) Publix (3 Locations) The Casual Pint (7 Locations) University of Tennessee campus (22 locations) University of Tennessee Medical Center (3 locations) YMCA (4 Locations)
DOWNTOWN / FORT SANDERS
17th Street Deli Bank Of America (Box) Barleys Taproom Blue Coast Grill Boyd’s Jig And Reel Café 4 Chesapeake’s Clancy’s Tavern Coffee and Chocolates Convention Center (Box) Copper Cellar Crown And Goose (Box) Cru Cumberland Glassworks Downtown Grill & Brewery Downtown Wine & Liquor/Sutree’s Earth To Old City East Tennessee History Center Empire Deli Emporium Center First Tennessee Bank Plaza Five Bar Gameday Hookah Lounge (Box) Hampton Inn Holly’s 135 Java-Inside Just Ripe Grocery Knoxville Museum of Art Laurel Theatre Lawson McGhee Library (Inside and Box) Lenny’s Lox Salon Mast General Inside Mellow Mushroom Nama Sushi Not Watsons Nothing Too Fancy Oliver Hotel Outdoor Knoxville Adventure Center (Box) Panera Strip Pendergrass Library (UT Ag Campus)
Premier Parking Lot Market Street (Box) Preservation Pub Public House Remedy Coffee Salon Barnes & Barnes Sapphire Scruffy City Music Hall Soccer Taco Sterchi Lofts (Box) Sunspot Sweet P’s Barbeque & Soul House (Box) Tenn. Supreme Court (Box) The Hill Tomato Head Uncorked Union Books Urban Bar Visit Knoxville Visitors Center YWCA
EAST
Asheville Highway Animal Clinic Chandlers Deli East End Liquor John T. O’conner center Marc Nelson Nostalgia Puleo’s Saw Works Brewing Scotts Place The Muse Knoxville
NORTH
Amber Restaurant Central Taps and Flats (Box) Club XYZ Country Inn And Suites Cork and Bottle Wine Court South Glowing Body Gypsy Hands Healing Arts Harby’s Harvest Towne Wine And Spirits Holly’s Corner Hops and Hollers K-Brew KCDC Lenny’s Little Caesars (Box) Litton’s Lost And Found Records Mid Mod Collective Nixon’s North Corner Sandwich Shop On The Rocks Liquor Panera Bread (Box) Raven Records Retrospect Rita’s Bakery
Tomato Head (Gallery) USI Motors Westwood Antiques Whiskey River Wild Wright’s Cafeteria
Ruby Tuesday Tennova Health Workout (Box) Three Rivers Market (Box) Time Warp Tea Room
WEST
640 Liquor Ashes Package Store Beer Market (Box) Best Bagels Big Fatty’s Bike and Trail Black Horse Pub & Brewery Bobs Package Store Brassarie Northshore Brixx Pizza Butler And Bailey (Community Rack) Dead End BBQ Docs El Mez Cal (Box) Executive Fitness Fuddruckers Gourmet’s Market Grayson Hyundai/Subaru Hairpeace Salon Homberg Hard Knox Pizzeria Hemp Monkeys Holly’s Homberg It’s All So Yummy Longs Drugs Luttrell’s Eyewear Marco’s Pizza McKay Used Books McScrooge’s Liquor (Box) Middlebrook Liquors (Box) Mulligan’s Nama Sushi Bearden Naples Northshore Wine and Liquor Nostalgia Open Chord Brewhouse Orangery Panera Bearden (Box) Pelancho’s Pet Safe Village Plaid Apron Planet Xchange Prestige Cleaners Rik’s Music Savellis (Box) Shrimp Dock Bearden (Box) Stir Fry Subway Sandwich Shop Across From Gallery (Box) Sullivan’s Northshore Sunrise Supermarket Taste of Thai Ted Russell Ford Ted Russell Nissan Toddy’s Liquor Store
WAY WEST
Blue Ridge Mountain Sports Brixx Pizza Carolina Ale House Cedar Bluff Discount Wine Chuey’s Cool Sports Home of the Icearium Dixie Lee Wine and Liquor Farragut Wine and Spirits Hush Puppies K-9 Center I Love NY Pizza Knoxville Academy of Music (Box) Lane Music Lunch Box Pet Safe Village Sam’s Café Sgt. Peppers Pizza Shrimp Dock Farragut Smoky Mountain Brewery Turkey Creek Town of Farragut Municipal Center (Community Rack) VitalSigns Wellness
SOUTH + ALCOA/MARYVILLE
Barley’s Maryville Blount County Library Bluetick Brewery Dead End Barbeque Disc Exchange Grinder and Grains Café Little River Trading Company Panera Bread Alcoa (Box) Smokey Mountain Harley Davidson (Box) Smoky Mountain Brewery Maryville Southland Books And Cafe Southland Spirits and Wine Stanley’s Greenhouse Sullivan’s Maryville (Box) Sweet P’s Barbeque & Soul House The Market Vienna Coffee House
OAK RIDGE
Big Ed’s Pizza (Box) Billy’s Time Out Deli (Box) Clinton Library Doubletree Hotel Hot Bagel Company (Box) Hot Bagel Company (2nd Box) Mr. Ks Used Books (Box) National Fitness Center The Other One Deli
All Locations Subject To Change • Call us at 865-313-2059 to add your location. May 7, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 5
Illustration by Ben Adams
HOWDY
GHOST SIGNS BY BUD RIES
Founded in 1900, the Standard Knitting Mill in Parkridge employed over 3,000 people at its peak and helped establish Knoxville’s old title as the “Underwear Capital of the World.” The layers on this billboard attest to the changes the business went through before shutting down for good in 1989.
QUOTE FACTORY “ … all the love and encouragement from friends and supporters gave me the courage I needed to stand up and call Mayor Burchett and Commissioner Brown (and a few others) on their lies, their hypocrisy, their bullying, and their complete disrespect for women and ‘our’ issues.” —County Commissioner Amy Broyles, posting on Facebook after the April 27 County Commission meeting. Mayor Tim Burchett had previously vetoed an honorary resolution that Broyles had submitted in March recognizing local women’s groups for Women’s History Month. The 40-odd groups included Knoxville Center for Reproductive Health and Planned Parenthood of East Tennessee. Other commissioners accused her of improper procedures.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
5/7 FORM BASED CODE FORUM THURSDAY
5:30 p.m., City County Building, Small Assembly Room. This may not sound like a terribly exciting meeting, but property owners and residents in the South Waterfront and Cumberland Avenue Form Based Development Code Districts may find it very relevant. The proposed changes to the existing code “will provide a clear pathway for property owners to modify, renovate, or add onto their existing structures.”
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5/9 VESTIVAL
SATURDAY
11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Candoro Arts & Heritage Center (681 Maryville Pike). Donations accepted. There are few more pleasant festivals than Vestival, the annual celebration of South Knoxville arts and heritage. Plunk yourself down on the grass lawn of the former marble company, relax, and imbibe some fine music from Red Shoes & Rosin, Y’uns, Exit 65, The Lonetones, Quartjar, The Blue Print, Kevin Abernathy Band, and more. Plus: puppets, dancers, acrobats, and magic. Info: candoromarble.org.
5/10 ‘SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION’ SUNDAY
2 p.m., Knoxville Museum of Art. Free. This is the last screening in KMA’s new art films series, the Public Cinema. Based on Gustave Flaubert’s novel of the same name, Sentimental Education is a romance of sorts between a young man and an older woman. Directed by Brazilian filmmaker Júlio Bressane, this is quite possibly the film’s North American premiere!
Believe It or Knox! BY Z. HERACLITUS KNOX Kingston Pike, Knoxville’s busiest commercial strip, is named for a town to the west. However, in Kingston, the same road IS NOT KNOWN AS KNOXVILLE PIKE! In Kingston, the same Highway 70 is called Race Street. Republican Congressman Henry Gibson was also A MYSTICAL POET! After 10 years in office, Gibson, who was one of the survivors of the horrific New Market train wreck of 1904, quit politics at age 67 and devoted the rest of his long life to epic poetry, much of it with fantasy or science-fiction elements. He died in 1938, at the age of 100. The Tennessee School for the Deaf, established in 1844, was Knoxville’s first statewide institution, and it was, in fact, one of America’s first schools for the deaf. During its first 30 years, the college over on the Hill was known as East Tennessee University and was considered a regional, not statewide, school. The building built to accommodate TSD, then known as the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, is now the home of Lincoln Memorial University’s Duncan School of Law.
5/12 JAZZ ON THE SQUARE TUESDAY
8 p.m., Market Square. Free. The Marble City 5, featuring members of the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra, are back on the job with their weekly Tuesday night performances, running through Aug. 25. Dig.
HOWDY WORDS WITH ...
Karen Shankles BY ROSE KENNEDY Karen Shankles became the 2015 National Cornbread Festival champion April 25 and won $5,000 and a FiveStar Range. Her Festive Good Luck Cornbread includes smoked sausage, collards, black-eyed peas, and cheese cornbread topping. The festival takes place in South Pittsburg, Tenn. and the cook-off pitted Shankles, the 1998 champion, against nine other past winners, each reviving her original winning recipe.
Does this make you the undisputed cornbread champ of America?
No, just for the competition! It’s all so subjective as far as what’s the best. As it turned out, my recipe was the oldest of the winners, from the second year they even had the contest. The newer ones were more innovative and unusual—I guess the judges just liked the basic something about mine.
Why are you so good at cornbread?
I enjoy cooking, and having seven children I’ve gotten lots of practice. My husband really likes cornbread and he was part of the reason I entered these cornbread cooking contests. As far as he’s concerned, any time I’ll fix cornbread, that’s a good day.
How long have you been cooking for this man?
We were married in 1981, how many years is that? When we got married, he had a cast-iron skillet his mother had given him. I don’t know that he had used it all that much, but it was a good one and it was really well seasoned, which is key. We were living in California at the time, and his mother came out to visit from Knoxville. She actually brought some corn meal mix. It’s kind of a Southern thing, and she assumed, probably correctly, that she could not get it in California. She packed it in her suitcase and flew it out, a 5-pound bag. Then she showed me how to make cornbread.
What’s your cornbread secret?
I think preheating the skillet. You put a little bit of oil in and put the skillet in the oven while it heats. Then you mix the batter and pull out the pan. When you pour the batter, it kind of sizzles because the pan is so hot. When you put it back in
the oven, the cornbread starts cooking right away and that makes the crust really brown and crisp and even.
RESTORING KNOXVILLE
Are the national competitors fiercely competitive?
Not at all. I’ve never been in a cooking contest where I felt competitive. One of the reasons I enjoyed this contest so much was I got to see several cooks there that I knew from the Cornbread Festival or other cooking contests— they are just like old friends you don’t get to see often. For this contest, there were two different heats and they had just five stoves. You could talk to those who had just finished, and they’d let you know things like, “There’s a sink upstairs if you need to wash anything.” They’re thinking, “This might help you,” not “I’m not telling her about the sink.” All the drama and cutthroats you see on reality cooking shows—it’s not like that at all.
About this winner’s crown—what on earth is it?
It’s a cast-iron skillet. They cut the bottom out and mounted it to a hard hat, so it has a strap to hold it on to your head. It’s pretty heavy.
Controversial question: Do you put sugar in your cornbread?
Oh yes. Not a lot. That recipe, for example, had two teaspoons for the 1 cup of cornmeal mix. I don’t think there’s ever enough sugar in there to taste. It just brings out the natural sweetness of the corn itself. It’s not like Marie Callender’s mix; their big thing is that super-sweet cornbread. And I’ve seen recipes that use yellow cake mix and cornmeal half and half. If you like that sort of thing, it’s tasty. But it’s not cornbread. May 7, 2015 DP_restoring-knoxville_1-2pg-v.indd 1
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 7 3/9/15 11:10 AM
uninhibited interstate exit, without even contemplating anything that might slow it down a bit to make it nicer. Whether it’ll be improved in our lifetime or not, for the pedestrian, Henley Street is unpleasant, it’s dangerous, and yes, it’s a barrier.
SCRUFFY CITIZEN
Downtown’s Garrotte D If we can’t tear them down, can we reimagine urban highways to prevent strangulation? BY JACK NEELY
A
t a recent public forum, citizens and city leaders discussed the several recommendations of the Urban Land Institute’s short study last October. One of them concerned the urban scholars’ impression that Henley Street was a barrier between downtown and seemingly adjacent origins and destinations, including Fort Sanders, the most densely populated neighborhood in East Tennessee; World’s Fair Park, including the Knoxville Museum of Art and the Convention Center; and one rather large university. That same concern was a significant point in the report of their forerunners’ more-exhaustive study in 1999. The problem has come up repeatedly. About 20 years ago, a UT architecture-school study came to the same conclusion, and a semester of fifth-year student projects presented solutions. But several administrations in a row have declined to address it. At the forum, a South Knoxvillian spoke passionately in favor of Henley’s status quo. “It’s not a barrier!” she said, twice, without elaborating. I’m not a traffic engineer, but I’ve been crossing Henley on foot a couple of times a week, on average, for about 36 years. I recommend the pedestrian walkover. Twice in the last 15 years, including recently, it’s been closed for construction projects for several months at a time. It offers us an opportunity to experience Henley’s dysfunctions up close. The highest-demand crossing, at Clinch, is the longest pedestrian wait I know of downtown, with a walk sign that’s up for four percent of the cycle.
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 7, 2015
And what you wait so long for is the chance to dodge right-turning motorists who are pretty sure you have no business being in their way, regardless of what some flashing sign says. For decades, city officials have kind of pre-rejected traffic-calming solutions, to save the Tennessee Department of Transportation the trouble. But four or five years ago, when I mentioned the familiar “TDOT would never let us” refrain, I got a call from Nashville, a TDOT executive saying they’d never received such a request from the City of Knoxville, and that calming Henley Street might be a very good idea, worth at least a study. I hoped that closing the river bridge would allow us to reimagine Henley Street as the business and residential boulevard it once was. I’m afraid it’s had the opposite effect. There’s a feeling in South Knoxville that, having shut down the Henley Street Bridge for two years, Knoxville should apologize by maintaining Henley Street forever as South Knoxville’s
ifferent kinds of highway barriers trip up the north and northeast sides. Once presented as a savior to downtown, elevated roads enable high-speed automobile traffic above. Below, there are sidewalks, and little worry about getting hit by traffic, as on Henley. But highways create bleak dead spaces on their undersides, miles long and often a city block wide. Preventing business and residential development underneath them, highways create firewalls that stop urban momentum. Studies of pedestrian behavior demonstrate that most people won’t even walk under highways. Who wants to walk through a dark noisy concrete space with nothing to look at? And then there’s the fear of people who hang out under highways. I rarely encounter one whose manners aren’t at least as decorous as those of a Sigma Chi sophomore, but it’s a perception. Elevated highways form a concrete curtain. In recent years, the city has developed parking areas under highways, and it’s appreciated by some, including this reporter. Lately, downtown’s recycling center has moved under the highway, and it seems to work there. More surprising, and something like a revelation last month, was Rhythm N’ Blooms’ use of the underside of the James White Parkway alongside East Jackson Avenue. Known this year as the Cripple Creek
And then there’s the fear of people who hang out under highways. I rarely encounter one whose manners aren’t at least as decorous as those of a Sigma Chi sophomore, but it’s a perception.
Stage, in honor of the 19th-century name of the complicated community that existed here, it uses the highway’s superstructure as an auditorium. It forms a huge room, bigger than most cathedrals, that contained a concentration of happy people and activity that seemed to suggest conjury. Within was a sort of concentrated village of food trucks and mobile bars and other vendors, on the fringe of a crowd of several thousand people watching a band on a stage. All under the highway. Attendees seemed like a colony of happy refugees, or a medieval village during a harvest festival. There was a high ceiling without walls, but the real world, represented by the vacant Lay’s meatpacking plant, with its painted instructions to truckers who no longer visit, and especially the Knox Rail Salvage water tower, seemed like something far away, as if it were a stylish neo-noir painting on the wall. But again, there were no walls. And it was all in this place that 360 days a year is a bleak, mostly empty space sacrificed to be permanently wasted in service to the dysfunctional highway above. If you do it right, and I’m told it does require some sound work, it’s a great place for a concert. Might this suggest something in terms of some permanent therapy for our highway constrictions? Obviously, a big part of what made the Cripple Creek Stage appealing was overwhelming it with numbers of people and activity, and that’s impossible on a daily basis. There have been some admirable efforts to beautify some underpasses with murals, notably one under I-40 in Parkridge. There’s not anything of that sort under highways downtown. One of the surprises of this month’s festival, though, was the vertical aspect of the space, out of easy reach of most painters. Maybe underpasses present an opportunity for other kids of art, like aerial sculptures, mobiles, urban chandeliers, something. Would a daily food-truck community work there? It would be hard to be confident about that, but a once-amonth event, perhaps with a theme, like tacos, or tamales—a century ago, Cripple Creek was the Fertile Crescent of local tamale culture—could work, and bring some attention to the areas and, for a few hours, make them less intimidating. ◆
GUEST ED
MLK’s Plan Applying standards of nonviolence to all BY JOSHUA INWOOD AND DEREK ALDERMAN
I
n 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. published Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?, a passionate exposition on the need to find common cause amongst the economically disenfranchised of this country. Writing in reaction to the burgeoning black-power movement and the explosions occurring in American cities, King called for a plan to alleviate structural conditions of poverty. Critically, King recognized that nonviolent direct action, as a mobilization strategy, is not simply about turning the other cheek while the economic and political system continues to exploit you and your community. Instead, he argued that if people are to react nonviolently, then they have to be given some kind of political project that lifts people out of poverty and addresses internal and external violence that are the root cause of urban insurrections and calls for violent change. Simply asking people to be nonviolent in an effort to protect property does nothing and, in fact, exacerbates feelings of powerlessness and rage. King’s insights on the alienation of poor people of color are just as instructive now, amid the fiery unrest in Baltimore, as they were during the Movement. His views about (non) violence offer us a more complex and sympathetic understanding of Baltimore’s protesters beyond simply referring to them as “thugs,” in the
words of Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Ta-Nehisi Coates, a correspondent with The Atlantic, recently discussed the hypocrisy of Baltimore officials calling for nonviolence in the wake of burning cars and buildings when no appeals seem to be made stop police brutality against poor people of color. This is not to suggest that nonviolence should not be our goal, and King was unwavering on this point, but let’s apply that standard across all of U.S. society and not just the police. Violence is not restricted to individual acts of aggression; entire social and economic systems can be violent and harmful in how they serve the interests of one group, such as the wealthy, over another group, such as the poor. As academic geographers, we know that life-chances and economic survivability follow an uneven geography of racial and class segregation and discrimination. Calls for nonviolence in Baltimore should begin by assessing and stopping this larger landscape of violent urban inequality. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been poured into the Inner Harbor and Camden Yard redevelopment projects, turning these once blighted areas into playgrounds for the wealthy and well-to-do. But a mere 4 miles away, the residents of some of Baltimore’s poorest and most disenfranchised neighborhoods live in conditions largely unchanged from the
1960s, when King was writing. Far from “reviving” Baltimore—a long-stated promise of the Inner Harbor redevelopment plan—efforts at redevelopment have widened historic economic cleavages in the city and left thousands without access to the basics of their own material reproduction, namely access to a good job, healthy neighborhoods, and safe streets. Where are the calls to end this violence and implement a more humane and nonviolent form of urban redevelopment? Instead of offering solutions to address peoples’ real concerns, government officials at the local, state, and federal levels continue to pursue economic opportunities designed to inflict social and economic violence against the marginalized while enhancing the prospects of the wealthy. One cannot, for example, ignore the irony of events taking place in Baltimore at the very moment state legislators in Tennessee have killed off expansion of low-income access to health care in the state and foreclosed discussion on raising the minimum wage in the state, consigning myriad workers to lives of low-wage poverty and exposure to premature death. These are violences, too, and our failure to recognize the way economic policies are eroding the social fabric is the true root cause of urban unrest. King realized this and pushed for a broad program of job creation and poverty-reduction programs that he hoped would transform the nation. While such a program would invariably cost money, the true savings that would be wrought are incalculable. As King pointed out in 1967, until we come to terms with the fact that our priorities are wrongheaded and destructive, and until we can come up with a program that gives people a sense of their own power for change, we will continue to by mired down in destructive conditions that forestall and destroy our collective sense of worth and our collective human condition. ◆ Joshua Inwood is an associate professor of geography at the University of Tennessee. He also holds a joint appointment with the Africana Studies Program. Derek Alderman is professor and head of the department of geography at the University of Tennessee. Knowledgeable about a particular issue and have the ability to articulate your opinions well? Submit your guest editorial piece for consideration to: editor@knoxmercury.com. May 7, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 9
ARCHITECTURE MATTERS
A River Ran Through It It’s time we started treating the Fort Loudoun Reservoir like a real river BY GEORGE DODDS
K
noxville has a parkway that is not a parkway (the James White) and a river that is not a river, at least not in the tradition of a naturally flowing watercourse. The Tennessee still looks like a river with a swift current, and according to the TVA, “bass fishing, boating, and bird-watching … including herons, cormorants, gulls, osprey, and bald eagles.” Yet, since 1943, Knoxville has had a reservoir running through it, not a river. The Fort Loudoun Reservoir, its official name, is one of a series of contiguous mechanically controlled engineered bodies of water providing passage for 1 million tons of cargo annually in one of the largest single tax-payer-funded artificial constructions of the last century. The river that was the Tennessee engages Knoxville’s center in a manner that ranges from the pastoral to the odious. The area around Sequoyah Hills provides a stretch of public green space enjoyed by a diverse populace: costumed reenactments of knightly swordplay, GPS enthusiasts in search of hidden treasure, quasi-organized games of sport, Frisbee-seeking dogs, and dog-seeking owners. One can bicycle, jog, or promenade along Neyland Drive, or dock one’s houseboat at a marina that parallels the James White Greenway. Seven days a year the marina boasts a population approaching that of many nearby towns. Yet,
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 7, 2015
the run along Neyland is sandwiched between fast-moving vehicular traffic and industrial sites, and invariably redolent with the fecund scent of KUB’s Kuwahee Wastewater Treatment Plant. The marina, for its part, is almost always a surreal water-scape of vacant pontooned crafts, artificially turfed and fully stocked, anticipating the next autumnal Bacchanalia. Between the marina and KUB’s vast sewer-scape, the University of Tennessee has built along Neyland Drive and the reservoir for decades, in a manner that seems in profound denial that either exists. Gargantuan parking garages, the ungainly Thompson-Boling Arena, and the ever-expanding Neyland Stadium present a Normandy-like defensive bulwark better suited to protect the campus from an aquatic assault than promoting a coherent relationship with this vital amenity. Elsewhere, the erstwhile river is edged by a variety of industrial complexes, some quite beautiful and pristine (Holston Gas Works at sunset), and others just plain ugly— the Buzzi Unicem Terminal opposite KUB’s Kuwahee. Then there is the curious case of the former Baptist Hospital. Not pretty enough, nor old enough, nor historically significant enough to be re-purposed or preserved, this vast complex of homely masonry buildings dating from 1947 onward is now almost completely
razed, awaiting the site’s detoxification and redevelopment. One can only hope that what emerges will not be another misplaced car-centric suburban project along the reservoir. Most American cities have conflicted littoral relationships. The term “littoral” refers to the zone in a body of water (river, lake, or sea) bracketed by the high-water mark and the point at which a shoreline is permanently submerged. This includes within it the Riparian zone, a fundamentally important ecosystem most of us typically think of as simply a river’s shoreline. Los Angeles and Detroit offer extreme examples of cities that have canalized major rivers for industrial gains and land speculation. The state of Illinois reversed the Chicago River’s course (1887) and may do so again to control an invasion of Asian Carp that threatens Lake Michigan. Cleveland’s infamously polluted Cuyahoga River, the original reason Mr. Cleveland founded the city where he did in the 18th century, caught fire on June 22, 1969, a calamitous event that happily culminated in the Clean Water Act (1972). Then there are those cities that seem to get it right. San Antonio’s River Walk for example. Like the creation of the Fort Loudoun Reservoir, the Paseo del Río, as it is also known, was partially funded by the federal government (WPA) to control periodic flooding that ravaged the city. Now one of the city’s most frequented amenities, it is famous for its permanent landscape that is at once tranquil and lively, wending its way through the city. New York has its West River Drive, Washington D.C. its Potomac Parkway, L’Enfant Plaza, and Interstate 695, all of which separate their citizens from the water. Yet, those cities continue to find several ways for residents to actively and directly engage their littoral edges. Knoxville is particularly challenged in this regard, as the river, historically, has been equal parts problem and blessing. Before it was TVA’d and the Tennessee’s littoral zone became so tightly managed, it is common knowledge that it often breached its banks, flooding low-lying land and fouling navigation. It’s the principle reason Knoxville’s earliest settlements were located on high bluffs, why UTK’s Ayres Hall (and before it College Hall, which it
replaced) sits atop The Hill. In the area around Muscle Shoals, Ala., at the time of the construction of the pre-TVA dam (1916), one in four residents suffered from malaria and only 2 percent of the population lived in homes with electricity. While the TVA’s engineering of the region denatured hundreds of miles of a multi-state river valley, it also did much to improve the vigor of its citizens and arguably, their standard of living. The health of the former river is another matter. The water quality of the reservoir has improved much of late but remains a work in progress. The lake’s catfish are a good indicator as they are to a river what a canary is to an underground mine. Several years ago, a UTK biochemical researcher determined that the reservoir’s canaries have abnormally high levels of anti-depressants in their systems, owing to the effluent discharged continuously from the Kuwahee directly into the reservoir; it is difficult for wastewater filtration to remove the drugs. As a result, Knoxville may have some of the happiest catfish in North America. Not to suggest that there is an optimum level of Prozac in an East Tennessee catfish. If the city’s recently unveiled plan for the redesigned and renovated Lakeshore Park is any indication (reported by Joe Sullivan in last week’s issue of this paper), we may not need to add more Lake Loudoun catfish to our diets to adopt an optimistic view of our littorally challenged city. Knoxville has a parkway that is not a parkway and a river that is not a river. But while the city would profit greatly from releasing itself from the parasite/host relationship to the James White Parkway, the artifice of the Tennessee River operates in a wholly different manner. As development in the city continues to intensify, this seems the right time for Knoxville (and the city’s major employer, UTK) to move beyond the hackneyed American default of locating industry, infrastructure (rail and highways), and big-box black-box entertainment complexes along its littoral edges. Knoxville may no longer have a river running through it, but it sure looks that way. The city will only profit from treating the former river more like the natural amenity it appears to be rather than the artificial construct we know it is. ◆
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May 7, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 11
LANDMARK
DEAL Knoxville College may determine its immediate future this week with a development deal for its campus BY S. HEATHER DUNCAN
T
he Knoxville College board of trustees is meeting Friday to discuss a possible deal with Knoxville-based Southeast Commercial to redevelop some portion of the college’s 39-acre campus in Mechanicsville. Board chairman James Reese says the board may vote on the agreement then, although it has not publicly discussed the contract or advertised for other proposals. The deal would give Southeast Commercial exclusive “master developer” rights for the property even before Southeast provides details about the nature of its proposed development. The proposal was first pitched to trustees in March, before they announced the college would not hold classes in the fall. Founded in 1875, Knoxville College once boasted its own hospital and educated hundreds of black teachers and pastors. But it fell on
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 7, 2015
hard times as enrollment and funding dwindled, losing its accreditation in 1997. With less than a dozen students left, the college announced in April that it would discontinue classes at the end of the semester, although the Knoxville News Sentinel reported on Tuesday that the college plans to resume classes in 2016. Southeast Commercial’s proposal may have been a factor in the board’s decision to temporarily end classes, but not a deciding factor, Reese says. “I don’t think we made our decision about classes based on the outcome of the conversation,” he says. The college is currently operating without a president. That job has had a revolving door since 2005, with the last (and unpaid) president lasting only about three months. Last year the City of Knoxville condemned the college’s remaining occupied dormitory and its adminis-
tration building, and the Environmental Protection Agency conducted a major chemical cleanup of the former science building. The college owes the federal government around $1 million in taxes and cleanup costs. A facilities assessment conducted by college officials and dated March 5 indicated that Foundation Capital has a lien of almost $6 million against the college property. The assessment also showed the college is not currently paying for any general liability, property, bond, or umbrella insurance. The only current insurance is for the board, officers and directors. With so many problems, the college may be open to innovative solutions. Reese said Tuesday the amount of the college’s land that would be part of the redevelopment deal, and the amount of money that might change hands, had not been decided. But the board will discuss it Friday. Also on Friday, Knoxville College board member Leonard Adams has scheduled a meeting with Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero to discuss the college, says Bill Lyons, deputy to the mayor. Adams, who operates a community development organization in Atlanta, declined to answer questions about the Southeast Commercial deal before Friday. So did Southeast Commercial president Gary Smith. “I don’t want to comment because I will be finalizing my plans on that this week,” he says. “It’s premature to say anything about it.” Southeast Commercial has developed or redeveloped high-profile hotels and commercial ventures in Knoxville, including the Hilton, the Marriott, the downtown YMCA, Dunhill Apartments, the Knoxville Expo Center on Clinton Highway, and National College. Reese says the college board of trustees did not issue a formal request for redevelopment proposals, a common method used by nonprofits and governments seeking competitive, transparent proposals for handling a project. Reese says that, less formally, “we let it be known we were interested” in redeveloping the land, and he says the board “has heard from other folks that were interested.” One of those folks was Mechanicsville neighborhood activist Bentley Marlow, who contacted college officials April 22 after hearing that trustees might be about to vote on a Southeast Commercial proposal. He
asked the board to give him and his partner 30 days to provide a formal proposal of their own. “More competing proposals will only serve to generate better ideas and a better long-term deal for KC, which is in everyone’s best interest,” he wrote. But emails show they were granted only a week and were unable to line up a developer that quickly. Marlow provided Knoxville Mercury with a copy of the Southeast Commercial agreement and cover letter, the March 5 facilities assessment conducted by the college, and emails related to his own development proposal. Marlow speculates that Southeast will pursue low-income housing for the property because tax credits would probably be available. But he argues that the neighborhood, which is already home to a Knoxville Community Development Corporation public-housing complex, doesn’t need more low-income housing. And he says the nonprofit college should do any redevelopment deals in a public manner that allows competition, so donors, neighbors, and the city get the best deal and have a say in the best use for the land. Charles Wright, president of the Mechanicsville Community Association, says he’d prefer the property remain a college. Although he is matter of fact about the college’s ability to make its own choices, he says he’d like those decisions made in the open. “I would like the college to either get some input from the community or be more forthcoming about what they’re going to do,” Wright says. In a March 13 letter to Frank Robinson, vice chairman of the college board of trustees, Smith wrote: “We need the local people, MPC, the City, and other neighbors believing in what is going to happen, to gain support, and the momentum we need to secure an investment in this site by Public or Private Investors or Developers.”
THE SOUTHEAST COMMERCIAL DEAL
Southeast Commercial provided Knoxville College officials with a proposed “master developer agreement” dated March 16. “The ‘master developer agreement’ will allow both of us time to work together to Develop this strategic plan and determine what is the best use for the property, and how it
will benefit both of us,” Smith wrote in his March 13 letter. The agreement does not specify the type of development Southeast Commercial would pursue or whether either the college or Southeast would receive any money as part of the deal. It would give Southeast exclusive development rights for up to a year unless the parties agreed to a memorandum of understanding before then. The college could not sell or rent the property or work with another developer during the contract term. According to a contract proposal dated March 16, Southeast would have until September 1 to present the details of its actual development concept to the board. “If necessary as determined by the developer,” Southeast Commercial would hold public meetings to get feedback from nearby property owners, Knoxville College students, and the public before finalizing the concept. The master developer agreement would give Southeast the authority to negotiate purchase deals; plan, design, promote, and advertise the project; negotiate leases with prospective tenants; identify public incentives and financing needed to make the project profitable, and then negotiate them with local governments. The developer could also work on the college’s behalf with its creditors as well as the EPA and the IRS, according to the proposed agreement. If and when Southeast and Knoxville College agree on a memorandum of understanding, it would include details about all the proposed retail, commercial, entertainment, and office spaces, amount of rental income likely to be produced, specifics about public incentives and financing to be provided by the owner, and proof of financing. Smith’s March 13 letter indicates that the first steps, however, would be to figure out the true condition of the buildings and try to stabilize them. The letter also indicates that Southeast is open to the possibility of buying or leasing buildings or portions of the site, as well as a potential joint venture with the college. The goal, the letter states, would be to start working on a specific project before the start of the second year, or before March 31, 2016. (The letter assumed that the agreement would be signed and work would begin in April.) The master-developer agreement
repeatedly discusses the potential use of public development incentives and tax financing as part of the project and specifically states that the college will consider these, including classifying the redeveloped portion of the campus as an urban-renewal area to qualify for tax increment financing. In its March facilities assessment, the college identified a list of “potential funding opportunities.” Number one was historic tax credits. Number two was low-income housing credits.
FROM COLLEGE CAMPUS TO … WHAT?
Marlow and his partner (and Mechanicsville neighbor) Scott Sherrill wrote a letter to Adams in which they argued against using tax credits to build low-income housing. He says most of the developers he consulted in the single week he was given were interested only in that type of development, which he sees as bad for Mechanicsville. “I think exploiting Knoxville College just so a developer can get some tax credits is disrespectful to the history and legacy of Knoxville College,” Marlow says. “To have that legacy become a footnote of history is shameful, especially for the purpose of pure profit.” When he moved to Mechanicsville 11 years ago, Marlow says, “I was the first white guy on the street. It was a pretty lawless place. Two doors down was a very active crack house with a drive-through.” In 2009, Marlow helped start a neighborhood-watch program, and the residents have since worked with police to reduce crime. The Hope VI project replaced the 1930s-era College Homes with a smaller number of roomier houses and duplexes. Marlow says when the neighborhood watch started, the police department found that more than half of the neighborhood was KCDC-owned or -controlled low-income housing. “That’s a huge number disproportionate to anywhere else in the city,” Marlow claims. Adding more would contradict the Hope VI goal of encouraging mixed-income housing, he says. Alvin Nance, former KCDC director and now CEO of development and property management operating divisions for Lawler Wood Housing Partners, says home ownership has increased in Mechanicsville. He says the Hope VI project reduced the
number of public-housing units from 320 to 255, so the neighborhood could probably support more low-income housing. He says the area would score “very high” on a tax-credit application. “Whether that would be for the good of the community is not part of the application,” he says. Marlow, whose Marlow Properties LLC renovates houses in Mechanicsville, has a different redevelopment vision: turning the football field into an outdoor music venue seating 40,000 to 50,000 people and renovating the dorms into mixed-use condominiums and commercial/restaurant spaces, with a hotel to cater to the music events. “Our plan would be that we would pay a percentage of our profits to Knoxville College to help them continue, and find some way to help them keep the 14 acres on the National Register (of Historic Places), and use our profits to first stabilize and restore any historic structures worth saving,” Marlow says. “We have soft financial commitments enough to satisfy the $6 million in outstanding debts on the property, contingent on us getting the deal and clearing the title so our investors would take priority lien.” He says his group was considering an investment of $200 million to $250 million over 10 years. “It could become a destination, and if you spend the money we’re talking about, that’s going to trickle out into the neighborhood,” Marlow says.
HISTORY AND RUINS
It’s unclear whether Southeast Commercial proposes redeveloping the oldest campus buildings, which were designated as a national historic district in 1980. The buildings are mostly more than a century old, some constructed from bricks made by the college’s students. The historic district buildings include the chapel, the president’s house, Elnathan Hall, McKee Hall, Wallace Hall, Giffen Alumni Memorial Building, and two early faculty homes. Lyons, while stipulating that Rogero’s administration is unfamiliar with any deal in the works, says, “We want to make sure the historic buildings are preserved in any further redevelopment. It’s a critical area. The city would want to be involved in any way we could.” The historic designation doesn’t
prevent the college from remodeling the buildings or tearing them down unless it aims to use federal funds to do so. If federal housing funding is involved, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation gets to weigh in first. A facilities assessment conducted by Adams and several other college officials March 5 found that many of the campus buildings, including the historic structures, were in poor condition and some were recommended for possible demolition. The assessment summarizes: “The campus appears a ghost town made up of blight, abandon [sic] historic buildings,” and “each and every structure needs substantial work.” The residence halls were severely vandalized and there was evidence of squatters, although none were seen by college officials. Marlow says he visited all the buildings when putting together his proposal and did find squatters in some. Copper and electrical wiring has been stripped, sinks have been dismantled for their brass, pipes have been removed from the pipe organ, and wire thieves have destroyed about 20 pianos in the music building, he says. “There’s not a single pane of glass on that campus that’s not been broken,” Marlow says. Last year, the Knoxville College historic district made Knox Heritage’s list of “Fragile 15” most-endangered historic buildings. “Now is the time for bold action and an openness to out-of-the-box thinking that may or may not include [the college’s] traditional operational model,” Knox Heritage declared in its listing. “We call upon the college’s administration and board of trustees to partner with other organizations and companies to bring needed financial resources to bear before they are in a situation of having ‘loved the college to death’ and the historic buildings are lost forever.” People outside the neighborhood, including far-flung Knoxville College graduates, remain concerned about what happens on the property because of its history. But that’s not the only reason its scope reaches outside Mechanicsville. Nance notes, “Not only folks living in that area, but a lot of people in greater Knoxville are interested in and wondering what is the long-term future of Knoxville College, because of it being close to downtown and on such a large tract of land.” ◆ May 7, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 13
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 7, 2015
A
li Akbar, or Horace Pittman, as he was previously known, died suddenly in late 2009 at the age of 64. That’s too young to die, but even so he was perhaps 20 years older than most people assumed. He would be 70 this year, and that fact is impossible to digest. He lived a life of rich, inspired adolescence. In the ’80s, ’90s, even well into this century, he was the one whose appearance signified that this party was the right party, and that it had started. A short, tightly wound genie in colorful garb and a broadbrimmed hat, he became the wild, chthonic spirit of this city’s bohemian edges. For only that, as a walking, shouting, dancing party, he would have been well known. But in fact he was an artist, and spent most of his time working alone, to surprise us once again BY JACK with his bold colors and shapes on paper or canvas. He was originally from South Carolina, but after injuries in a rarely mentioned tour of Vietnam, he emerged in Knoxville with no explanation or apology. People argue about when he arrived, whether it was during the World’s Fair or a year or two before, but it was when punk and even hardcore punk prevailed on the westernmost blocks of Cumberland Avenue. He loved lots of music, especially jazz, but would attend punk shows as if it was all the same thing--in spite of, or maybe because of, the fact that he did not fit in. He was always the oldest attendee, and often the only black one, standing out in those crowds as a contrarian hippie, his colorful clothes and scarves at unselfconsious odds with our severe poses. A few more open-minded bands invited him to the stage as a guest vocalist, and he obliged with his own ad-libbed lyrics, with confidence and ease as if it was his job. Horace was Horace, and so well known he needed no last name. But just as
everyone knew him by that name, he changed it. In the early ’90s, he became Ali Akbar. “Islam is not a religion,” he told his startled friends. “It’s a way of life.” It was a way of life that seemed to oppose his own exuberant persona, and for a time he was serious, sober, deliberate. He said Islam forbade depicting human figures, and he experimented with designs and patterns. In previous years, Horace had at times seemed too extreme to last, and friends wondered if Islam was the moderating influence that would save him. He was scarce for a while, living and working alone in his apartment off Sutherland Avenue. But with time he moderated again in the other direction, and while still Ali, some of the old Horace reemerged, appearing again unexpectedly after midnight, daring us to dance. NEELY He loved life, and for what remained of it, he kept exploring and sharing and, as far as we could tell, never slowed down. One of his paintings, “Blues Man,” which was reproduced for prints and T-shirts, became the album art for jazz pianist Donald Brown’s 1995 album, Wurd on the Skreet. He left us a trove of art, some of which even his friends had never seen. Since his death he has become the subject of a series of stories by his friend Bill McGowan, published first in a journal called La Cuadra in Guatemala and now in a newly published book, The Ali Files: On The Town With Ali Akbar (Celtic Cat Publishing). He’s the subject of a professionally produced short documentary. And his art is currently on view in the exhibit WHO IS THIS MAN?, a labor of love by his old friends at Holly’s Corner in Happy Holler, the most comprehensive exhibit of his life’s work ever mounted, much of it never previously displayed in public, previewed here. It may be the best proof that he’s still with us.
One of Knoxville’s most flamboyant bohemians was also an artist to be discovered
May 7, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 15
H
orace Pittman was always changing. You never knew what kind of outfit he would show up in, what hat, or what persona he would take on. Many people would call him “mercurial.” There was one thing that he never strayed from, however, that was that he wanted to be seen as an artist. Then, there was that voice which he wielded like an oracle. I have seen him drop to his knees to talk to kids on their own level with his musical voice that delighted the children to no end. People either loved Ali Akbar or they were intimidated by his flamboyant style.
— ERIC SUBLETT
“Basically, I paint color.
Primarily for the sole purpose of forging imagery beyond its usual properties —ALI AKBAR to create dialogue.”
A
li was known for his art (and to be honest, sometimes for his drinking) but that was probably not the most important thing he did. In the time that I knew him, and I met him as Horace, he underwent several changes in his life and attitudes about things. What he did not change was what I consider in retrospect to be the most important thing about him. Ali had a knack for giving people permission to be themselves. He was weird and approachable, at home and out-of-place all at the same time. But he made it work. In doing so, anyone around him who felt the least bit self-conscious was liberated to go ahead and be themselves. If you had made “fitting in” your life’s work, you would just see him as strange but, if you already stood out, whether it was circumstances of your birth or choices you had made, the world was a little easier to exist in with Ali around. The fact that he could have that affect while being difficult in ways that you had to know him to believe, made him a seriously unique character.
— STEVE DUPREE
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D
uring the second set, Ali got up and started dancing real close to the musicians when they were playing a solo. I’d seen him do this before. He’d go up to within a foot of the end of the horn or sax; he’d hover near the drums; he’d bend his head down to the sound holes of the bass and groove on the pure, mainlined sound. I’ve never known anyone who channeled music the way Ali did. I think it penetrated his body as a physical substance. I believe that it entered his bloodstream and then coursed throughout his cells. I think it mingled with and strengthened his soul, which is why he danced so well. When he got closer to the source of the sound, I guess he just got a bigger dose.
— BILL MCGOWAN
I
remember back in the early ’80s when we were all kind of down and out financially and living in rough little apartments, one day Ali just showed up at my door with a whole cooked chicken on a platter. He had cooked it his “special way,” he said, and carried it with some ceremony down the street on this platter to my door. It was a sight just to see him carrying this fully formed yardbird all dressed out and ready to eat. And typical of how thoughtful he was.
— R.B. MORRIS
A
s an artist he was game and undefeated. His spirit came into whatever he did and had a positive effect on everyone around him. When you were working with Ali you always felt like you could break on through to the other side. As a painter, he’s been called an “uninhibited colorist,” which is totally true. It’s like he found other properties and powers in color the way he gathered them together and juxtaposed them, like he thought the story of color hadn’t been fully told yet.
— R.B. MORRIS
“Color has its own unique language; it’s universal and exists in the tradition of every culture.”
—ALI AKBAR May 7, 2015
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A
few times in this life, you meet people who, by their own brand of benign weirdness, assuage the bad crazy of this world. They take it away and replace it with something good. Sometimes, they pay a heavy price for this compulsion—poverty, isolation, early death. We should appreciate them more while we’re in the same plane of existence. Ali Akbar was one who put his life on the line. For art. One of those whose very existence was a kind of experiment in living art. I met him in the early ’80s when he began coming to our shows on the Strip and the couple of downtown clubs that strove to make a scene in those days. I was in a quasi-reggae band called Cheap Shoes. We were doing groove music when punk was rearing its pretty little scarred head. Ali was as likely to be moshing to Teenage Love as skanking to us on consecutive nights at Vic ’n’ Bill’s. What white guy in a yet another white band nicking riffs from a Third World music wouldn’t feel validated by the sight of Knoxville’s own blackheart mon whirling around in front of the stage, shirtless and roaring “LORD OF LORDS KING OF KINGS CONQUERING LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH!” Generally revving up half the room and frightening the other half with his bellowing and lurching around like a little pot-bellied gnome. He was an oddity that way—traveling in and out of our various subcultures, racially stratified or otherwise, belonging to all of them. Or rather not belonging to any of them. One night around 3 a.m. as we were loading out of Vic ’n’ Bill’s, I got stuck giving Ali a ride home. The buses had stopped running and what was I supposed
“My art is universal, for all minds who are trying to become aware.” —ALI AKBAR
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to do—leave our No. 1 of our dozen or so fans to the tender ministrations of fate on Sutherland Avenue? I wasn’t keen about driving that far in the wrong direction from home that late and that high/tired/drunk. But it gave us a chance for quiet discussion away from the bars. I learned that he had stopped depicting the human face in his artwork because it was—supposedly—anathema in Islamic art. It seemed he had recently converted and was now “Ali Akbar,” not Horace Pittman as we’d formerly known him. How his brand of Islam jibed with his former Rastafari attitudes, I failed to ask. He did let me in on the little-known fact that white people were actually the result of a failed experiment by the supreme Deity. But this was cool because it made a lot of sense, especially the part involving monkeys. The defining encounter came when we bumped into each other one day at the 11th Street Espresso House (a part of the old artists’ colony next door to the former World’s Fair site). He was wearing a natty suit jacket. But there was this crap pinned all over the breast pocket and lapels. Like, litter he had picked up and stapled onto his coat. Just colored pieces of paper and cloth. “Ali, what’s THAT?” I asked, nodding to his—I don’t know—battle ribbons? “That’s art,” he grumbled, like I wasn’t who he thought I was if I had to ask. I wish I knew him now more than then. When I foolishly thought it was important to keep my head screwed on straight.
— JACK RENTFRO
“I love you in every color with a love that paints my world.” —ALI AKBAR
I
used to sing at Ivory’s, in Bearden, and he’d come down and would sit right in front of us. It wouldn’t matter if anybody else was there, he was like having a hundred people there. He would clap, and do all this physical stuff, real animated, like I was the greatest singer in the whole world.
— NANCY BRENNAN STRANGE
WHAT
WHO IS THIS MAN? A Retrospective Exhibition of Ali Akbar
WHERE
Holly’s Corner (842 N. Central St.)
WHEN
Through May 16
May 7, 2015
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P rogram Notes
Tina Tarmac and the Burns
ara Washington provides renewed hope to all of us music-scene aficionados who secretly yearn to someday jump on stage ourselves. While that day may still never come for most of us (which is probably for the best, to be honest), former record-store clerk and longtime local-music fan Washington decided to go for it last year, fronting the new power trio Tina Tarmac and the Burns. Who knew that she’d be such an absolute natural at it?
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Shelf Life: Library Classics
KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 7, 2015
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On stage, she’s got charisma to burn, alternating between snarling rock ’n’ roll intensity and sweet-natured patter. On record, that same energy—which can often get lost between stage and studio—comes through loud and clear. The Burns’ self-titled five-song EP is a full-on ear assault of raunchy, no-bullshit hard rock of a sort that’s becoming more difficult to find in these sensitive times. The band’s not so much interested in painful self-reflection or
Movie: Avengers: Age of Ultron
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artistic expression as they are in having fun, which is an old idea that’s starting to feel new again. Guitarist Blake Womack, drummer Derek Harvey, and bassist Washington grind out swaggering metallic paeans to douchey guys (“Oil Slick Daddy”), hot girls (“Blue Velvet Blue”), and even love (“Heaven Only Knows”). And it’s all extremely catchy stuff—not in the regrettable “pop-punk” style of the late ’90s, but rather what you might have heard on college radio in the ’80s, all power chords and hooks. But while I may be predisposed to favor the sound of my long-lost youth, the Burns are not a retro act. The secret ingredient here is Washington’s complete sincerity as she belts out every lyric, no matter what the subject matter may be. She’s
Retro Grade: Sadville
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Books: One of Us
all in, from the sexual come-ons in “Pretty Face” (You know I want you to feel it / I want you to feel it where it hurts the most) to the sexual comeons in “Blue Velvet Blue” (She’s got the lips, she’s got the hips / she’s got a look that’s beggin’ please / she’s got those eyes, she’s got those thighs / she’s got exactly what I need!). These may be silly lyrics on paper, but when Washington sings them, the songs don’t come across as ironic put-ons or goofs. She absolutely means it in that particular moment in time—and that’s what makes the difference between a novelty act and the real deal. You can listen to Tina Tarmac and the Burns on Soundcloud or purchase their CD at tinatarmacandtheburns.com. —Coury Turczyn
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Video: A Girl Walks Alone At Night
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relief, like any worthwhile conversation with God.
Classic Additions New concert and orchestral music at the Knox County Public Library BY CHRIS BARRETT
GRIGORII SOKOLOV
The Salzburg Recital (Deutsche Grammophon, 2014) A nearly universal trait among concert pianists is the hateful dread of being recorded live. (See Horowitz and Gould.) Russian pianist Grigorii Sokolov came of age professionally during the Cold War era. His fondness for being recorded live in the great concert halls of the West may stem from his memories of being forbidden to even visit them. This two-disc set fairly crackles with energy. There is no question that this enthusiastic audience is elevating what Sokolov demands of himself and the music he’s chosen—primarily Mozart and Chopin, presented ecstatically and delightfully nuanced, respectively.
ANNA NETREBKO
Richard Strauss: Vier Letzte Lieder and Ein Heldenleben (Deutsche Grammophon)
There is no shortage of recordings of the music on this program. Anna Netrebko’s splendid turn at Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs joins a half-dozen other versions in our stacks, all worth hearing. As lush and sumptuous as Netrebko is here, the same compos-
er’s symphonic tone poem A Hero’s Life probably offers greater justification to spend time with this record. It was recorded live in Berlin last year as part of the festivities commemorating the 150th anniversary of Strauss’ birth, and the esteemed Staatskapelle Berlin—with violin soloist Wolfram Brandl—perform as if their lives depend upon it. The joint effort is heroic in its own right, and the recording quality nicely renders the dimensions of the space.
ZUILL BAILEY AND THE INDIANAPOLIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Muhly: Cello Concerto; Bloch: Schelomo and Jewish Poems for Orchestra (Steinway and Sons, 2015)
Young American composer Nico Muhly fully deserves the attention he receives for his wit and ability to surprise, and his “Cello Concerto” is a treat. However, the surprise here is cellist Zuill Bailey’s ability to breathe new life into Ernest Bloch’s melancholic instrumental prayer “Schelomo.” Composed with vocals in mind, Bloch ultimately chose the solo voice of the cello over the combined voices of humans. Earlier recordings by other cellists fail to evoke much that is holy or hopeful in Bloch’s lament. Bailey, on the other hand, performs in an undulating and varied tempo that creates alternating tension and
HOWARD SHORE, ORNETTE COLEMAN, AND THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Naked Lunch: The Complete Original Score (Howe Records, 2014)
It’s been 25 years since the theatrical release of David Cronenberg’s film adaptation of the trippy William S. Burroughs manifesto Naked Lunch. That’s probably a safe span of years after which to reissue this gorgeous soundtrack. Now you can enjoy the fantastic symphonic setting that Howard Shore created for Ornette Coleman’s alto saxophone without necessarily being visited by visions of talking bugs and bullet holes in foreheads.
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GATES OF HEAVEN AND VERNON, FLORIDA Criterion Collection Blu-ray
Gates of Heaven, from 1978, explores the curious industry of pet cemeteries. Along with the legal minutiae related to rendering and remains thea Sale! Where Every Dayinis state of California, Errol Morris coaxes a diverse cast of characters to reveal what they’re able to articulate about love and loyalty and the surrogate functions performed by domesticated animals. (It also needs to be said that Gates of Heaven is, ultimately, about a guitar.) Morris was attracted to Vernon, Fla., when it was still known as “Nub City.” In this town of fewer than 1,000, a disproportionately high number of people were maiming themselves in order to collect insurance payments from death and dismemberment policies. Not surprisingly, interviewees declined to discuss the subject. But they chatted freely about almost everything else. Listening—or listening again, in high defi nition— will feel like time well spent. ◆
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Mon-Fri 10:30-6 • Sat 10:30-5 May 7, 2015
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Movie
Artificial Intelligence Age of Ultron is full of Marvel Comics fan service, but not much coherence BY MATTHEW EVERETT
S
even years into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I’m still surprised that the thing works at all, much less that it’s the single biggest Hollywood franchise of all time. It almost feels like a scam or a cult—how else do you explain the unprecedented success of a series of movies about a Norse god, Robert Downey Jr. in a flying suit of high-tech armor, and a World War II supersoldier? And that doesn’t even include the TV tie-ins featuring a blind lawyer/gangbuster and a team of rogue superspies. In the past couple of years, the scope of Marvel’s ambition has become apparent, with a release schedule running to 2019 and featuring obscure (but still pretty awesome) second- and third-tier characters like Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and Lockjaw, the giant cosmic bulldog. It’s a paradise for Marvel nerds, but how much longer will regular people line up two or three times a year for these increasingly complicated and inter-
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connected capers? Every step forward from here on out, starting with Paul Rudd’s star turn this summer as Marvel’s microscopic mighty mite Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man, seems like a potential commercial pratfall. Avengers: Age of Ultron is the nerdiest entry in the series so far. It is, in fact, a parade of fan service; where character development and a coherent storyline should be, it’s stuffed full of clever references, not terribly subtle reveals, and plot setups for phase three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But it still earned $191 million at the box office during its opening weekend—the second-highest total ever, behind the first Avengers in 2012. So apparently there’s not much to worry about. Anyway, by 2019, when Inhumans is scheduled to open, the concept of a secret race of genetically altered superbeings and their heroic royal family should be familiar, thanks to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. We’re all nerds now. Age of Ultron, though, is still a
minor disappointment, and in direct proportion to the level of comics geekery it unleashes. Instead of a streamlined summer blockbuster fit for the whole family, director Joss Whedon aims this one straight at the nerd gallery. The hardcore fans—and I’m one of them—get new characters like the Vision and Pietro and Wanda Maximoff and teasers for the upcoming appearance of Black Panther, the Civil War storyline that will pit Captain American against Iron Man, and the Infinity Gauntlet, which will (probably) connect Star-Lord and the Guardians of the Galaxy to Marvel’s superhero universe. But it all comes at the expense of a movie that doesn’t make much sense. Age of Ultron feels a lot like the annual comics crossovers that promise to change everything—until the next crossover event a few months later. The thrill of recognition—“Hey! That’s the country T’Challa comes from!” or “I wonder if Hulk is headed for Sakaar?”—trumps the visceral thrill of a typical high-quality action blockbuster. It’s an exercise in trainspotting. I enjoyed it quite a bit at the time, but the pleasure is more like solving a crossword puzzle than watching Die Hard. Once you’ve seen it, there’s little reward in seeing it again. All of which makes Ultron, admirably voiced by James Spader, a letdown. The design, with the tusks and flaming eye slots, misses the
mark. More importantly, in the comics, Ultron is the Avengers’ greatest, deadliest, most unkillable foe, a supreme artificial intelligence housed in armor made of adamantium—the same metal that Wolverine’s claws are made of—and motivated by a bizarre Oedipal complex. He is fearsome and tragic, tortured and soulless, possessed of a cold nobility but frighteningly unredeemable. Here he’s just another international security threat, equal to every other MCU villain, from Obadiah Stane and the Red Skull to the Chitauri invasion. (With Ultron, though, there is always the possibility he’ll be back.) Marvel is obviously doing almost everything right. Compare the company’s approach to that of its archnemesis, DC. Zack Snyder and his associates seem determined to defy fans’ expectations and to wallow in the grim-and-gritty sewer of vigilante violence spawned by Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, and Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. They’re comic-book movies made by people who don’t seem to like comics books very much. Marvel, on the other hand, remains faithful to its source material and continues to turn out state-of-the-art thrill-powered blockbusters—on schedule. Sometimes they’re a little too faithful, though—the formulaic elements of their winning formula are starting to show. ◆
R et ro Grade
Sadville Make Ready the Cross (2006) BY NICK HUINKER What stood out about Cookeville transplants Sadville was the ease and fury with which they stabbed away at every worthwhile sound on the hardcore and underground-metal spectrum. The band’s live presence was intense, from vocalist Travis Flatt’s theatrics to the disarming emotional crescendo of signature set closer “The Forbidden Dance of Decay,” during which drummer Andy Kohler, often wearing a mask, would pose atop his drum stool and entice the crowd into bellowing the final verse along with the band. The group disbanded in 2008, but their sole album, 2006’s Make Ready the Cross, remains a textbook of chaos and riff-worship. Visit knoxmercury.com or inkblotrecrods. bandcamp.com to listen.
substance-fueled, epic, and usually sweatier than would be expected. I was a starstruck honors-floor student in Morrill Hall, where they were, and they were a pair of twins flanking a big muscular guy with a mohawk and vestigial baby teeth. Immediately smitten.
DRUMMER ANDY KOHLER: Sadville came together in late 2000 when Travis, Lucas, and I were in high school. We had a pop-punk band called Clark Kent that broke up, so we decided to start a hardcore band that we ended up calling Sadville.
VOCALIST TRAVIS FLATT: The sound started becoming more indulgent—not in a bad way, I guess—but we started writing all over the place. “The Forbidden Dance of Decay” is the best example of this, because at that point we mostly had hardcore punk and hardcore songs, fast and relatively simple. Live, I wanted to come across as a guy channeling something, so I would lose control of my voice more and kind of experiment.
GUITARIST LUCAS FLATT: With the pop-punk band, my dad had to drive us to out-of-town shows and sit there in bars while we played. Sadville was us out on our own, so pretty immediately the live shows became spectacles. AK: We got kicked out of a lot of places and got into a lot of fights. A lot of those early shows ended with trips to the emergency room. Or Dr. Flatt would stitch us up at his vet clinic, whichever was more convenient. LF: When we started to play in Knoxville the shows were mayhem—brawls all the time. Andy got his face crushed by a Fender P-Bass. I’m pretty sure it killed him and he’s a zombie. GUITARIST BLAN WILLIAMS: I remember the early shows I witnessed as an audience member, and they were without exception loud, head-banging,
LF: Somehow we graduated from that to playing normal shows around town. The wild punk days had their charm, certainly broke us in, but we had space to get a little more serious about our music, since we weren’t playing with an eye on the exit. BW: I was living with Andy. I guess Andy heard me practicing and thought that it would be a pretty natural and efficient transition to bring in guitarist-roommate-who-knows-the-songs-alreadyand-would-love-to-finally-be-in-a-band-muchmore-his-favorite-band. Plus I had a car and could transport his drum kit to practices in Cookeville.
BW: We recorded with sound engineer Jay Matheson at the Jam Room in Columbia, S.C. I think it was like $600-$800 for what ended up being maybe 10 total hours of actual studio time. It both does and does not sound like it was recorded under those conditions. AK: Jay was incredible to work with. The whole thing went really smoothly. “Forbidden Dance of Decay” and “All Hands Away” were both recorded in one take. There were even pieces that we came up with on the spot. The ending of “All Hands Away” was performed for the very first time on that take. TF: I usually could get the vocals in a few takes, but mainly due to the fact that I had to, because my
voice would only hold out so long doing that, and my low register would go first, then everything. LF: I’m not an expert, but the gear in there was impressive. Lots of old analog stuff and tubes. The booth looked, to me, like the inside of a submarine. After the first night, we had enough to listen to. We played it in the hotel room while we watched an elephant documentary on mute. The elephants were battling, which seems questionable now, but it synced up with the record. BW: After it was all done, we got some surprisingly good pizza, packed into my car, and drove all the way back to Knoxville with the unmastered CD on loop in my player. AK: Make Ready the Cross was released by Brooklyn-based Inkblot Records, who had approached us based solely on Internet hype. In 2005, we had toured with Welcome the Plague Year, which was a pretty big deal for us and got us a lot of exposure. Inkblot had a good distribution deal so our record ended up on shelves in places I’d never imagined it would, like Tel Aviv and Tokyo. LF: The album really plays in reverse, in terms of developing a sound. We started with the newest stuff, side A, and finished with mostly older stuff on B. Our label came through with a nicely designed and mastered album. Cool guys. I think the copies sold well, but we didn’t do much bookkeeping. BW: I think we got a lot of flak for having the name Sadville. Several reviewers said that was an initial turnoff, thinking we might be an emo band. Maximumrocknroll gave a pretty decent review, noting especially, of course, “George Walker Bush, Texas Ranger” as an example of solid left-wing hardcore music. TF: One friend told me I’d sold out because you could understand what I was saying, but from my experience, the reception was positive. I was happy with it, anyway. AK: I’d say my favorite track is “George Walker Bush, Texas Ranger.” I’ve recorded a lot of really pissed-off music since then, but that remains one of the angriest pieces I’ve ever played on. LF: It’s bittersweet to look back now. Those were simpler times. I think it has our best songs. … It stays interesting, and Travis’ lyrics are great. BW: I’ll say that I play it loud in my car and am not afraid to push it onto even the least-willing listeners whenever possible.
A&E
AK: Our final recording was a split 7-inch with Oakland-based Acts of Sedition, which was also recorded with Jay at the Jam Room. Personally, I think that was our best recording. By that point we had really found our sound and struck a balance between hardcore and doom. LF: It turned out well. It’s harsher. I think our eyes were more on the elusive mega-riff in that recording. An EP can’t quite compare to a whole album, but altogether I’m proud of our recordings. AK: My favorite memory of playing with Sadville is the first time we played in Milwaukee. Everyone there ended up naked. But we also really pissed a lot of people off and had to get ourselves out of a lot of hairy situations. In one instance, Travis took a steel folding chair to the face from an angry yokel in Jamestown and things happened during our set at the Barclay House in Baltimore that were, frankly, unprintable. TF: We trashed a club outside of Knoxville with glitter. That pissed a lot of people off. And we half competed in/crashed a battle of the bands on UT campus. On one tour, we repeatedly got to new cities, got wasted in the early afternoon, all split up and wandered around these places with strangers. At times there was absolutely no guarantee we’d ever find each other again. AK: Sadville disbanded in the spring of 2008 when Travis developed adult-onset epilepsy. TF: I got sick. I started having seizures. I’m doing pretty well now, but at the point of my early seizures and diagnosis it was up to the rest of the guys whether to keep on, and they opted to go separate ways. I think the biggest reason for that was my brother, Andy, and myself were the original members and losing any of us would have majorly jeopardized the dynamic of the band. LF: We finished a show or two we had booked with a different lineup, but our live shows weren’t worth doing without Travis’ showmanship. Them’s the breaks. ◆ Lucas and Travis Flatt live in Middle Tennessee, where Travis is pursuing a teaching license and Lucas is a writer and composition instructor. Blan Williams is a yoga instructor in Chattanooga. Andy Kohler lives in Knoxville, where he books rock shows and plays in a number of bands, including Argentinum Astrum and In La’Kesh.
May 7, 2015
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Books
Top Shelf Åsne Seierstad’s One of Us joins the classics of true-crime explorations BY BRYAN CHARLES
T
he original paperback version of Helter Skelter, Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry’s true-crime blockbuster about the Manson killings, contained, on its very first page, a lurid all-caps warning: THE STORY YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ WILL SCARE THE HELL OUT OF YOU. I stumbled upon this book in the latchkey-kid ’80s, at a far too young age, and it haunted me for years. Rereading it as an adult, I was no less shaken by its sinister synthesis of subject and craft. Equal parts police procedural, social history, and epic courtroom drama, Helter Skelter is a ghastly L.A. noir whose real-life facts defy belief to this day. Published five years later, The Executioner’s Song, Norman Mailer’s account of double murderer Gary Gilmore’s crimes and subsequent wish to forgo any appeals and move
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ahead with his death sentence, is a work of even greater scope. Mailer, accessing some superhuman tool kit, brought the full range of his gifts to the creation of this 1,050-page masterpiece. Though entirely factual—and indeed a product of much research and journalistic rigor—Mailer called the work a “true-life novel.” These books—along with Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, Ann Rule’s The Stranger Beside Me, and Dave Cullen’s Columbine, to name just three—belong on a higher shelf than their distant cousins in the genre, the mass-market shockers patched together and published at warp speed. The best true-crime books transcend the sheer horror of their subject matter to elucidate larger issues—of psychology, of culture—and in doing so become lasting art. Åsne Seierstad’s One of Us: The
Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway belongs on the shelf of classics. It tells the harrowing tale of Anders Breivik, the Norwegian man who, in an anti-Islamist fervor, committed one of the deadliest mass killings in history. On July 22, 2011, Breivik, then 32, drove a rented van into Oslo’s government quarter, parking in front of the prime minister’s office. He reached back and lit the fuse on his homemade bomb. Moments later the bomb exploded, killing eight and wounding many more. By then Breivik, dressed as a police officer, was in another van, en route to Utøya, a small island where a summer camp for the youth wing of Norway’s Labor Party was in session. Despite an eyewitness who phoned the authorities almost immediately, giving them the new van’s make and registration number, Breivik easily evaded detection. The ferry captain, believing Breivik to be police, drove him over to Utøya, where the gunman opened fire. As the woefully unprepared Oslo authorities scrambled to react to the initial explosion, Breivik stalked the island, shooting, for more than an hour. He killed 69 people, most of them teenagers. The long chapter chronicling the attack makes for overwhelming reading. Seierstad’s you-are-there reconstruction is unsparing in its degree of detail; at times I felt almost
faint. But Seierstad has in mind far more than the atrocity, following the perpetrator from childhood on. Breivik spent much of his life searching for a sense of belonging. He cycled through various identities and whims: aspiring graffiti tagger, businessman, and Freemason; later, hardcore video-gamer and right-wing ideologue. Failing to achieve the level of success he desired in any of these, Breivik named himself commander of a one-man army and methodically planned for warfare. Seierstad also includes the life stories of some of the victims, whose youthful passion for inclusiveness and civic engagement only makes the inevitable attack harder to bear. In a pair of throat-clenching passages late in the book, two Utøya survivors face Anders Breivik at his trial. One of them, Viljar Hanssen, was shot five times, including once in the head. He lost an eye and a hand. The poise he displays before his attacker is remarkable. Here is the end of his testimony:
“I think you’ve finished, then,” said judge Arntzen. “Fabulous,” said Viljar. He stood up, spun on his heel and went. Out. It was almost summer. He had his life in front of him. He could walk, sit and stand. He had his wits about him. And many people to live for.” ◆
The best true-crime books transcend the sheer horror of their subject matter to elucidate larger issues—of psychology, of culture—and in doing so become lasting art.
Video
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Reading the Mercury can make you a winner!
Photo courtesy of Kino Lorber Inc.
Walking and Stalking Iranian vampire movie depends on moody, low-key vibe BY LEE GARDNER
W
omen get to do a lot of things on camera, but rarely do they ever get the chance to just be. There’s a scene early on in writer/ director Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Kino Lorber Blu-ray and DVD/streaming on Amazon, iTunes, and Netfl ix ) when the young, never-named protagonist (Sheila Vand) just sits on the edge of her bed, by herself, quietly putting on eye makeup. It’s a single bed pushed against a wall covered in posters, including, of course, Madonna. You already know she doesn’t know anyone else in the grotty Iranian oil depot where she lives, but she doesn’t show it, because, well, no one’s watching. The camera stays on her, and there’s something about her composure, and her isolation, that pulls you in. The fact that she’s a vampire is almost beside the point. Amirpour’s debut feature has a lot going on. There’s a Die Antwoord-esque pimp/dealer/douchebag (Dominic Rains), a prostitute in a headscarf (Mozhan Marno), and a “street urchin” (Milad Eghbali)—that’s his screen credit. There’s also young, handsome Arash (Arash Marandi) and his heroin-addicted father (Marshall Manesh), a cherry vintage T-bird, a
briefcase full of drugs and money, and a cat, all of them strung between various minor plot points that pop back and forth between some John Hughes dramedy, Pulp Fiction, and Let the Right One In. Also, it’s shot in gorgeous black and white (one of the many ways it feels like an ’80s/’90s indie as much as a 2014 indie). Amirpour calls it an “Iranian vampire spaghetti Western,” and it features a soundtrack to match. Plus the director has fun with the girl’s black chador standing in for the traditional cape. But why it all hangs together is down to Vand, and the character Amirpour gives her, and the watchful, moody vibe they create. The lonely bloodsucker isn’t a novel conceit (check out Werner Herzog’s version of Nosferatu), but the star and the director underplay beautifully, treating the girl like any other twentysomething stuck in a crap town and drawn to the cute boy who’s trouble, but in this case wrestling internally with falling for her food. A Girl is low-key and odd, and it doesn’t always stay entirely on the rails, but when the girl comes by a skateboard and sets off down the deserted midnight streets, her chador billowing, rolling all by herself, it’s as if you’ve been waiting all your life to watch her do it. ◆
Enter to win tickets to Bonnaroo! (2 pairs of general admission weekend passes will be given away)
Enter any time between May 7th - 18th. Winners will be chosen on May 19th and announced on May 21st.
To enter, visit either: Rik’s Music and Sound 1505 Downtown West Blvd, Knoxville OR Boyd’s Jig and Reel 101 S Central St, Knoxville
Music & Sound
May 7, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 25
CALENDAR MUSIC
Thursday, May 7 BLUE MOON RISING • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM CANARY IN THE COALMINE WITH THE HARDIN DRAW • 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 CANARY IN THE COALMINE • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Canary in the Coalmine is an Americana-Folk band—a haunting quality underscores striking vocal harmonies that provide a focal point for the band’s Appalachian folk and alt country influences. CRAGGY TOP BRASS QUINTET • Blount County Public Library • 7PM • Free DAVE KENNEDY • Clancy’s Tavern and Whiskey House • 6PM MAPS NEED READING • Longbranch Saloon • 8PM • Knoxville-based prog rock. CRAIG MORGAN • Cotton Eyed Joe • 10PM • Craig Morgan’s resume is one of the most varied and impressive on earth--soldier, sheriff’s deputy, EMT, adventurer, TV host, motocross racer, outdoorsman, farmer, family man. And then there is the career that ties it all together.”Music is like a center for all those things,” says the man known as one of country’s best singers and songwriters since “Almost Home” put him on the map in 2002. • $10 NEEDTOBREATHE WITH BEN RECTOR, DREW HOLCOMB AND THE NEIGHBORS, AND COLONY • Knoxville Civic Coliseum • 7PM • NEEDTOBREATHE is a Grammy-nominated American Rock ‘n’ Roll Band from South Carolina, effortlessly woven from the musical traditions and faith of their upbringing in the Deep South of the United States. The band’s critically acclaimed fifth studio album, Rivers In the Wasteland was released on April 15, 2014, and debuted at #3 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart. • $24-$44 THE ODDRHYME TOUR FEATURING TAYLOR CANIFF, MICHAEL WOOD, AND ZACK MANN • The Concourse • 6:30PM • All ages. Buy tickets here. • $20 Friday, May 8 CAUTION • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Caution gives audiences the ultimate jam music experience, covering legendary jam bands like the Grateful Dead, Phish and Widespread Panic. Since 1996, Caution has been turning crowds on to jam music with a mass appealing, in-your-face approach to the jam band style. FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE HARDWIRED • Mulligan’s • 7:30PM THE COREY HUNT BAND • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 10PM REDLEG HUSKY WITH CATHY FINK AND MARCY MARXER • 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 KITTY WAMPUS • Roger’s Place • 9PM KUKULY AND THE GYPSY FUEGO • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • FREE MARILYN MANSON • The International • 8PM • The shock-rock vet returned in January with The Pale Emperor, his first album since 2012. • $45-$100 MOUNTAIN SOUL • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE THE NEW ROMANTICS WITH ORGANIZED CRIMES, 100 WATT HORSE, FLORAL PRINT, WILL FIST, BARK, AND CODY COX • 26
KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 7, 2015
Thursday, May 7 - Sunday, May 17
Pilot Light • 7:30PM THE PEA PICKIN’ HEARTS WITH CRAB APPLE LANE • The Bowery • 9PM • The Pea Pickin’ Hearts are an Americana duo influenced by the sounds of the 1940s & 50s and have called Gatlinburg, TN home for almost a decade. • $5-$7 RADIO BIRDS • Preservation Pub • 8PM • 21 and up. • $5 SILVERSYDE WITH DREAMKILLER AND TRANSPARENT SOUL • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 7:30PM • We are a female fronted hard rock band. Our music is passionate, hopeful, deliberate and written specifically for the broken. TABOO • Knoxville Museum of Art • 6PM • TABOO, featuring sultry vocalist, Lindsay George, takes you on a winding musical journey that ranges from 1960’s Bo Diddley to Led Zeppelin to Michael Jackson, and all of the way through today and songs from Adele and others. • $10 WESTWEND • Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center (Townsend) • 7PM • Husband- and-wife duo Jonathan Maness and Wendy Crowe make bluegrass and country music with a crackerjack backing band. • $5 Saturday, May 9 BLACK JACKET SYMPHONY: HOTEL CALIFORNIA • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • The Black Jacket Symphony offers a unique concert experience by recreating classic albums in a live performance setting with a first class lighting and video production. A selected album is performed in its entirety by a group of handpicked musicians specifically selected for each album. • $27.50 THE CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT BAND • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. THE HONEYCUTTERS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Appalachian honky-tonk. JASON ISBELL WITH ANDERSON EAST • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 8PM • Southeastern is not a record Jason has made before, and not simply because the glorious storm and drama of his band, the 400 Unit, is absent. They will tour together; it’s not a break-up record, not an album of dissolving, but, rather, songs of discovery. And not at all afraid, not even amid the tears.Which is to say that he has grown up. • $25 THE JONNY MONSTER BAND • Jimmy’s Place (Tazewell) • 6PM CELIA LINDE • Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan • 7PM • Knoxville Guitar Society presents the Swedish guitarist and composer. • $20 THE POP ROX • Mulligan’s • 8PM RHYTHM FUTURE QUARTET • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • When four young jazz virtuosos decided to join forces, the Rhythm Future Quartet was born. Named after a Django Reinhardt tune, the Rhythm Future Quartet performs dynamic and fiery arrangements of Gypsy jazz standards and original compositions that draw from rhythms heard around the world. • FREE THE RIVERBANK RAMBLERS • Clancy’s Tavern and Whiskey House • 9PM BEN SHUSTER • Bearden Field House • 9PM • FREE THE TALL PINES • 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 Y’UNS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 10PM Sunday, May 10 THE RANSOM NOTES • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM • Drawing inspiration from genres such as bluegrass, folk, Americana, and Celtic fiddling, this eclectic group has enthralled audiences for nearly two decades.
EVAN ROTH: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DONOR Knoxville Museum of Art (1050 World’s Fair Park Drive) • May 8-Aug. 2 • Free • knoxart.org
If you search for “bad ass mother fucker” on Google, the top result is the website of Paris-based American artist Evan Roth. Roth doesn’t seem to be an especially bad-ass MF in the strictest sense, though he has an impressive list of design- and art-related accolades and accomplishments behind him: he won the 2012 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award, has pieces in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, and directed Jay-Z’s “Brooklyn Go Hard” video. Roth earned his distinction by gaming the search engine as part of an ongoing art project, one that reflects his interest in technology, pop culture, and street art. Roth’s work—prints, installations, sculptures, and websites—“occupies the irregular zone at the intersection of free culture with popular culture, where viral media meets art,” according to the catalog for his new exhibit at the Knoxville Museum of Art. But the show promises to be much more playful and approachable than that sounds. (Matthew Everett)
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Spotlight: Vestival
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Spotlight: A Little Night Music
CALENDAR SHIFFLETT AND HANNAH • The Bistro at the Bijou • 12PM • Live jazz. • FREE Monday, May 11 HIGHLANDER CHORALE CONCERT • Blount County Public Library • 7PM • Free THE HOOTEN HOLLERS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • The Hooten Hallers are a blues, soul, and rock n’ roll band from Columbia, MO. They are: John Randall(Guitar/Vocals), Andy Rehm(Drums/Vocals) and Kellie Everett(Bass & Baritone Saxophones). Known for their raucous live shows and influenced heavily by the canon of American roots music, this hard touring band does everything in their power to bring that music to you. LIFE ON THE SIDELINE • Longbranch Saloon • 8PM TOMMY SHORTT WITH KITES • 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 Tuesday, May 12 CHELSEA GRIN WITH THE WORD ALIVE, LIKE MOTHS TO FLAMES, SYLAR, AND A BODY DIVIDED • The International • 6PM • All ages. • $17-$20 THE DUSTY 45S • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM JAZZ ON THE SQUARE • Market Square • 8PM • Featuring the Marble City 5. Every Tuesday from May 12-Aug. 25. • FREE JENNY LEWIS WITH NIKKI LANE • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • Beginning her career in 1998 as the frontwoman of Rilo Kiley, the band rose from the burgeoning independent music community in Los Angeles to become one of the most dynamic and influential bands of the early 2000’s. In between recording and touring with Rilo Kiley, Jenny contributed vocals to The Postal Service’s debut album ‘Give Up’ (2003) and toured as a multi-instrumentalist with the band. By 2006, Lewis began her solo career with the album ‘Rabbit Fur Coat’ and soon followed it up with 2008’s ‘Acid Tongue’, establishing herself as a songwriter moving beyond the confines of indie-rock into more timeless territory once occupied by artists like Laura Nyro and Emmylou Harris. • $25 BROCK ZEMAN WITH THE BOTTOM DOLLAR STRING BAND • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • Free Wednesday, May 13 AMY ANDREWS WITH JAMES CAROTHERS • 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 CAPTAIN KIRK AND MER • Willy’s Bar and Grill • 6PM THE DIRTY BOURBON RIVER SHOW • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • The Dirty Bourbon River Show deftly melds sounds that range from hard-edged blues to Lisztian piano driven ballads to New Orleans brass into a result that is truly a blast of new energy into the musical landscape. 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 SIERRA HULL AND JUSTIN MOSES WITH DAWN COPPOCK • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7PM • Young powerhouse mandolinist Sierra Hull and acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Justin Moses (Blue Mountain, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder) team up for a night of bluegrass and ballads on Tennessee Shines. Poet Dawn Coppock returns
to read some East Tennessee poetry and prose. • $10 MARIACHI EL BRONX • The Concourse • 7:30PM • It’s an interesting time when an artist, which had previously re-imagined its sound once (see American hardcore punk band, The Bronx), attempts to re-imagine their signature sound yet again. On (III) the focus to excel as a tradition ensemble have disappeared. They dusted off old sequencers, synths, and an ARP and began to create soundscapes they would tack their music against – hammering and bending parts against each other in order to create a harmonious environment. Rather then make a mariachi record they aimed to create a mariachi inspired album.All ages. • $12-$15 SHANA FALANA • Pilot Light • 10PM • Shana Falana is an experimental dream-pop band emerging from New York’s vast drone/psych scene. Thursday, May 14 THE BRIAN BAKER BAND WITH DONNA HOPKINS • 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 STEVE BROWN AND HURRICANE RIDGE • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM HOMEMADE WINE • Market Square • 7PM • Part of the city of Knoxville’s spring series of free concerts on Market Square. • FREE Friday, May 15 SARAH CLAPP • The Square Room • 7:30PM • • $12-$20 FREEQUENCY • Hurricane Grill and Wings • 8PM FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE THE WAYNE GRAHAM BAND WITH WRENN • 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 HIP HATCHET • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • • FREE THE KINCAID BAND • Mulligan’s • 7:30PM KITTY WAMPUS • Whiskey River Wild • 9PM KUKULY AND THE GYPSY FUEGO • Casual Pint (Fountain City) • 7PM MAPS NEED READING • Longbranch Saloon • 7PM • Knoxville-based prog rock. MAYHEM WITH ELIOT LIPP, SUBSQWAD, AND LIQUID METAL • The Concourse • 9PM • Presented by Midnight Voyage Productions. 18 and up. • $10-$15 THE SAINT FRANCIS BAND • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM Saturday, May 16 THE CADILLAC THREE • Cotton Eyed Joe • 10PM • The Cadillac Three have been friends and musical co-conspirators since they were kids. They’ve emerged with a sound all of their own, a sound that hovers between radio-ready country anthems, hard-and-heavy rock and traditional Southern folk. • $10 ANGIE HAZE • Kristtopher’s • 9PM • • $5 SHOOTER JENNINGS AND WAYMORE’S OUTLAWS • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson • 6PM • • $25 KITTY WAMPUS • The Rocks Tavern • 9PM MY MORNING JACKET • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • From psychedelic to soul to classic rock and roll, My Morning Jacket’s range remains steadfast throughout the band’s sixteen years. The Louisville quintet released the first of 6 albums in 1999 with their last two, 2008’s “Evil Urges” and 2011’s “Circuital” each receiving Grammy
nominations. On May 5, My Morning Jacket will release their seventh full-length album, The Waterfall. • $45.50 THE RMS BAND • Mulligan’s • 7:30PM RED LIGHT RODEO • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • • FREE CASEY REDMOND WITH THE TRAIN WRECK • 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 JOSH ROBERTS AND THE HINGES • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 10PM BEN SHUSTER • Bearden Field House • 9PM • • FREE FRED THOMAS • Pilot Light • 10PM • Best known for work as a “brainchild” sort of bandleader with the experimental pop sounds of Saturday Looks Good To Me, Thomas has also made significant noise and traveled the world on a seemingly endless string of tours with the washed-out phych of City Center, reverby surf punkers Swimsuit and the internal gentle pop duo MIghty Clouds with former SLGTM singer Betty Barnes. WHISKEY ‘N’ WOOD • Jimmy’s Place (Tazewell) • 6PM Sunday, May 17 JAZZ AT IJAMS • Ijams Nature Center • 5:30PM • Featuring Melanie and the Meltones and Kukuly and the Gypsy Fuego. THE NAUGHTY KNOTS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM • Griffin Cavender on guitar, dobro, and vocals, Milly Cavender on upright bass and vocals, Sarah Pirkle on fiddle, guitar and vocals. OF MONTREAL WITH ICKY BLOSSOMS • The International • 6:30PM • Defining of Montreal is impossible. There are too many perspectives to consider, angles to explore and layers to uncover. Just when you think you have a concept of what kind of creature they are they transform into something unexpected and new. As a result, each album holds the opportunity for re-discovery, re-immersion, re-appreciation.All ages. • $15-$20 SHIFFLETT AND HANNAH • The Bistro at the Bijou • 12PM • Live jazz. • FREE
OPEN MIC AND SONGWRITER NIGHTS
Thursday, May 7 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 MATTHEW HICKEY OPEN JAM • Mulligan’s • 7PM Friday, May 8 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, May 12 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 SONGBIRD SONGWRITER NIGHT • Mulligan’s • 7PM Wednesday, May 13 OPEN CHORD OPEN MIC • Open Chord Brewhouse and May 7, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 27
CALENDAR Stage • 8PM Thursday, May 14 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 Saturday, May 16 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
DJ AND DANCE NIGHTS
Friday, May 8 THE ART OF HOUSE WEEKENDER DANCE PARTY • Southbound Bar and Grill • 11 p.m. • Featuring resident DJs Rick Styles, Mark B, and Kevin Nowell. 21 and up. Saturday, May 9 THE ART OF HOUSE WEEKENDER DANCE PARTY • Southbound Bar and Grill • 11 p.m. • Featuring resident DJs Rick Styles, Mark B, and Kevin Nowell. 21 and up. Sunday, May 10 S.I.N. • The Concourse • 9 p.m. • A weekly dance night for service-industry workers—get in free with your ABC
Thursday, May 7 - Sunday, May 17
license or other proof of employment. ($5 for everybody else.) • 18 and up. Friday, May 15 THE ART OF HOUSE WEEKENDER DANCE PARTY • Southbound Bar and Grill • 11 p.m. • Featuring resident DJs Rick Styles, Mark B, and Kevin Nowell. 21 and up. Saturday, May 16 THE ART OF HOUSE WEEKENDER DANCE PARTY • Southbound Bar and Grill • 11 p.m. • Featuring resident DJs Rick Styles, Mark B, and Kevin Nowell. 21 and up. Sunday, May 17 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, May 7 KSO: SYMPHONY ON THE SQUARE • Market Square • 7:30PM • Each spring, the Knoxville Symphony Chamber Orchestra performs a concert of light pops music on Market Square in downtown Knoxville. In case of rain, the concert will take place at the Bijou Theatre (803 S. Gay St.)This concert is free and open to the public; lawn chairs are encouraged. Join James Fellenbaum and the KSO for Symphony on the Square May 7 at 7:30 pm, sponsored by Home Federal Bank. • FREE
Saturday, May 9 KSO POPS SERIES: A TRIBUTE TO ELVIS PRESLEY • Knoxville Civic Auditorium • 8PM • Slip on your Blue Suede Shoes and head on over to the Civic Auditorium. Terry Mike Jeffrey and the Knoxville Symphony bring back all your Elvis memories, in a tribute fit for “The King”. • $34-$88 Thursday, May 14 KSO MASTERWORKS SERIES: LUCAS RICHMAN’S FINALE • Tennessee Theatre • 7:30PM • Join us for the thrilling and heartwarming season finale and Lucas Richman’s farewell performance, featuring Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, and Ravel. The concert begins with Beethoven’s triumphant Egmont Overture. KSO Concertmaster Gabriel Lefkowitz will perform Tchaikovsky’s technically demanding and virtuosic Violin Concerto in D major. The second half of the program begins with Gustav Mahler’s hauntingly beautiful Adagio from Symphony No. 10. The season will conclude with Maurice Ravel’s sparkling La Valse - don’t miss it! • $11-$83 FRIDAY, MAY 15 KSO MASTERWORKS SERIES: LUCAS RICHMAN’S FINALE • Tennessee Theatre • 7:30PM • Join us for the thrilling and heartwarming season finale and Lucas Richman’s farewell performance, featuring Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, and Ravel. The concert begins with Beethoven’s triumphant Egmont Overture. KSO Concertmaster Gabriel Lefkowitz will perform Tchaikovsky’s technically demanding and virtuosic Violin Concerto in D major. The second half of the program begins with Gustav Mahler’s hauntingly beautiful Adagio from Symphony No. 10. The
season will conclude with Maurice Ravel’s sparkling La Valse - don’t miss it! • $11-$83
COMEDY AND SPOKEN WORD
Friday, May 8 KNOXVILLE BREAKFAST ROTARY: JEANNE ROBERTSON • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • Jeanne Robertson is an award-winning humorist who entertains with hilarious stories based on her life experiences. This is her second appearance as star of the Knoxville Breakfast Rotary Club’s Annual Benefit Concert. • $45-$100 Monday, May 11 QED COMEDY LABORATORY • Pilot Light • 7:30PM • QED ComedyLaboratory is a weekly show with different theme every week that combines stand-up, improv, sketch, music and other types of performance and features some of the funniest people in Knoxville and parts unknown. It’s weird and experimental. There is no comedy experience in town that is anything like this and it’s also a ton of fun. Pay what you want. Cost: Free - But Donations Gladly Accepted • FREE Tuesday, May 12 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
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 7, 2015
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CALENDAR comics interested in joining in the fun email us at longbranch.info@gmail.com to learn more, or simply come to the show a few minutes early. • FREE
THEATER AND DANCE
Thursday, May 7 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: HARRIET THE SPY • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • Harriet loves writing and wants to be a spy when she grows up. So what could be more natural for Harriet than keeping a journal? May 1-17. • $12 OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC • Oak Ridge Playhouse • 8PM • With hilariously witty and heartbreak-
ingly moving moments of adoration, regret and desire, this sweeping musical explores the tangled web of affairs centered around actress Desirée Armfeldt, the men who love her, and their jealous wives - all invited for a weekend in the country. With everyone in one place, infinite possibilities of new romances and second chances bring endless surprises in Stephen Sondheim’s masterful musical take on Ingmar Bergman’s comedy of manners, “Smiles of a SummerNight.” May 1-17. • $18-$22 • See Spotlight on page 31 Friday, May 8 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: HARRIET THE SPY • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • May 1-17. • $12 BROADWAY AT THE TENNESSEE: THE RAT PACK IS BACK •
Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • What happens in Vegas...all started with The Rat Pack. This spirited show recreates one of the famous “Summit at the Sands” nights when a swingin’, ring-a-ding group known as “The Rat Pack” was creating hipster legend with a no-holds-barred nightclub act starring Vegas’ four favorite sons: Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin and Joey Bishop. • $37-$77 OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC • Oak Ridge Playhouse • 8PM • $18-$22 Saturday, May 9 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: HARRIET THE SPY • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 1PM and 5PM • May 1-17. • $12 BROADWAY AT THE TENNESSEE: THE RAT PACK IS BACK • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • $37-$77 OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC • Oak Ridge Playhouse • 8PM • $18-$22 Sunday, May 10 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: HARRIET THE SPY • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 3PM • May 1-17. • $12 OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC • Oak Ridge Playhouse • 2PM • $18-$22 Thursday, May 14 MY PLACE PERFORMING ARTS: ‘CRACKADORIS’ • My Place Performing Arts • 7PM • Crackadoris is a small exotic Greek Island. The “Hide and Seek” Corporation has opened a store and manufacturing facility to produce and test market a new line of cosmetics and lingerie for men. The Island is also the location of the first Star Wars Base. All was going well and the future looked bright until the Joined Chiefs arrived for an unexpected visit. KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: HARRIET THE SPY • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • May 1-17. • $12 OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC • Oak Ridge Playhouse • 8PM • $18-$22
VESTIVAL Historic Candoro Marble Company (4450 Candora Ave.) • Saturday, May 9 • 11 a.m.-7 p.m. • candoromarble.org
The festivals keep coming—April may be peak spring fest season in East Tennessee, but May has its share of events, too, including this resilient celebration of South Knoxville, held every year since 2001 on the grounds of a historic marble company site near Martin Mill Pike—“a vision of a small Italian villa in marble, one of the prettiest buildings in Knoxville,” as Jack Neely once described it. Vestival is officially a celebration of Vestal, the South Knox neighborhood running east of Chapman Highway along the Tennessee River and up into its wooded bluffs, once home to marble and lumber shops and now a sort of mystery city within the city, home to a handful of local institutions like Candoro, Allen Biermaken’s, and King Tut’s. But Vestival is a broader celebration than that, inviting Knoxvillians from all over to drop in and check out some art, listen to music, watch some craft demonstrations, and dig into the annual Mother’s Day brunch, which has become a local tradition. Entertainment for this year’s Vestival includes Red Shoes and Rosin, Y’uns, Exit 65, the Lonetones, Quartjar, the Blueprint, the Kevin Abernathy Band, Evan Carawan, Matt A. Foster, Dixieghost, Jack Herranen and the Little Red Band, and the Swill Sippers, with magicians, dance, and circus performers on a third stage. (Matthew Everett)
Friday, May 15 MY PLACE PERFORMING ARTS: ‘CRACKADORIS’ • My Place Performing Arts • 7PM • Crackadoris is a small exotic Greek Island. The “Hide and Seek” Corporation has opened a store and manufacturing facility to produce and test market a new line of cosmetics and lingerie for men. The Island is also the location of the first Star Wars Base. All was going well and the future looked bright until the Joined Chiefs arrived for an unexpected visit. KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: HARRIET THE SPY • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • May 1-17. • $12 OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC • Oak Ridge Playhouse • 8PM • $18-$22 Saturday, May 16 ARABIAN NIGHTS BELLY DANCE SHOW • Broadway Academy of Performing Arts • 7PM • Visit www. alexia-dance.com. • $12 MY PLACE PERFORMING ARTS: ‘CRACKADORIS’ • My Place Performing Arts • 7PM • Crackadoris is a small exotic Greek Island. The “Hide and Seek” Corporation has opened a store and manufacturing facility to produce and test market a new line of cosmetics and lingerie for men. The Island is also the location of the first Star Wars Base. All was going well and the future looked bright until the Joined Chiefs arrived for an unexpected visit. KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: HARRIET THE SPY • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 1PM and 5PM • May 1-17. • $12 OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC • Oak Ridge Playhouse • 8PM • $18-$22 Sunday, May 17 MY PLACE PERFORMING ARTS: ‘CRACKADORIS’ • My Place May 7, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 29
CALENDAR Performing Arts • 3PM • Crackadoris is a small exotic Greek Island. The “Hide and Seek” Corporation has opened a store and manufacturing facility to produce and test market a new line of cosmetics and lingerie for men. The Island is also the location of the first Star Wars Base. All was going well and the future looked bright until the Joined Chiefs arrived for an unexpected visit. KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: HARRIET THE SPY • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 3PM • May 1-17. • $12 OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC • Oak Ridge Playhouse • 2PM • $18-$22
FESTIVALS
Saturday, May 9 EAST TENNESSEE YOUTH PRIDE FEST • First Presbyterian Church (Oak Ridge) • 10AM • The second annual East TN Youth Pride Fest, hosted by Oak Ridge PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), the Oak Ridge High School Gay Straight Alliance, and the Clinton High School Gay Straight Alliance. Youth Pride Fest is an event for Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Trans youth and their allies to celebrate themselves. There will be seminars, lunch, booths, and outdoor activities. • FREE VESTIVAL SOUTH KNOXVILLE ARTS AND HERITAGE FESTIVAL • Historic Candoro Marble Company • 11AM • “History Revival” is the theme of the 15th Vestival South Knoxville Arts and Heritage Festival, sponsored by the Candoro Knoxville Arts & Heritage Center. This year’s attendees will experience the area’s history through stories, images,
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 7, 2015
Thursday, May 7 - Sunday, May 17
photographs and artifacts, which have been collected by neighbors and natives. The “history revival” will take place alongside a wide array of local craft persons and food vendors, community organization booths, two stages of music all day, children’s activities, special guest storytellers, cake walks, an all-ages square dance, and the traditional Mothers’ Day brunch from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. The work of artists Rand Arnold and Rick Alexander will be featured inside the Candoro during Vestival and celebrated with a reception on Friday, May 8, 7-9 p.m.Vestival takes place rain or shine. Admission is by donation; a $5-$10 per person/family donation is requested to help support the non-profit organization.For more information, visit CandoroMarble.org. • See Spotlight on page 29 Thursday, May 14 INTERNATIONAL BISCUIT FESTIVAL • Downtown Knoxville • The International Biscuit Festival was begun in 2009 by a group of local Biscuit lovers who wanted to share Knoxville’s Biscuit heritage with the world. What started as a fun gathering for friends and family has grown into a nationally recognized food festival.In 2012, the Southern Food Writing Conference was added to the schedule to bring together authors, chefs, publishers, publicists and others who love Southern food and those who write about it. Each year, the Conference brings together a stellar group of speakers in an intimate setting to share their passion for writing about food in the South.The International Biscuit Festival is brought to you by Center City Events, LLC. a charitable 501(c)3 nonprofit. Proceeds
from the Festival are invested back into the growth of the event. We donate a portion of revenues to select food charities.Visit www.biscuitfest.com for a full schedule and more info. Friday, May 15 INTERNATIONAL BISCUIT FESTIVAL • Downtown Knoxville • The International Biscuit Festival was begun in 2009 by a group of local Biscuit lovers who wanted to share Knoxville’s Biscuit heritage with the world. What started as a fun gathering for friends and family has grown into a nationally recognized food festival.In 2012, the Southern Food Writing Conference was added to the schedule to bring together authors, chefs, publishers, publicists and others who love Southern food and those who write about it. Each year, the Conference brings together a stellar group of speakers in an intimate setting to share their passion for writing about food in the South.The International Biscuit Festival is brought to you by Center City Events, LLC. a charitable 501(c)3 nonprofit. Proceeds from the Festival are invested back into the growth of the event. We donate a portion of revenues to select food charities.Visit www.biscuitfest.com for a full schedule and more info. Saturday, May 16 SMOKY MOUNTAIN SCOTTISH FESTIVAL AND GAMES • Maryville College • Welcome to the Smoky Mountain Scottish Festival and Games at Maryville College, East Tennessee’s premier celebration of Scottish culture and history. Originally founded in 1981 as the Gatlinburg Scottish Festival and Games, we are one of the oldest
Scottish Festivals in the country. With success comes change, and the continued growth of our event ultimately made a new venue necessary. In 2010, we established a new home in the City of Maryville on the picturesque grounds of historic Maryville College, home of “The Scots”. But you don’t have to be Scottish in order to enjoy this unique Festival! Our location in the heart of The Great Smoky Mountains is the perfect backdrop for you and your family to get a wee glimpse of Scotland and to discover and appreciate the rich traditions and history of the Scottish and Scots-Irish settlers of our area – extraordinary people whose courage, determination and pioneering spirit helped forge what was to become an independent United States of America. Visit http:// smokymountaingames.org. INTERNATIONAL BISCUIT FESTIVAL • Downtown Knoxville • The International Biscuit Festival was begun in 2009 by a group of local Biscuit lovers who wanted to share Knoxville’s Biscuit heritage with the world. What started as a fun gathering for friends and family has grown into a nationally recognized food festival.In 2012, the Southern Food Writing Conference was added to the schedule to bring together authors, chefs, publishers, publicists and others who love Southern food and those who write about it. Each year, the Conference brings together a stellar group of speakers in an intimate setting to share their passion for writing about food in the South.The International Biscuit Festival is brought to you by Center City Events, LLC. a charitable 501(c)3 nonprofit. Proceeds from the Festival are invested back into the growth of the event. We donate a portion of revenues to select food
CALENDAR charities.Visit www.biscuitfest.com for a full schedule and more info. KNOX COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY’S CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL OF READING • World’s Fair Park • 10AM • The Children’s Festival of Reading kicks off a summer of world class adventures through the pages of a book. You’ll meet your favorite authors and illustrators, clap snap and singalong with beloved musicians and storytellers, and cook up a good time in Jr. League’s Kids in the Kitchen. Keep your super powers ignited as you do some experimenting with The Muse and L&N Stem Academy in Science Village.
Featuring Jonathan Auxier, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, R. Gregory Christie, Debbie Dadey, Donna Gephart, M.H. Herlong, Sara Pennypacker, Dan Santat, Laura Vaccaro Seeger, Aaron Nigel Smith, and Erin E. and Philip C. Stead. • FREE Sunday, May 17 SMOKY MOUNTAIN SCOTTISH FESTIVAL AND GAMES • Maryville College • Welcome to the Smoky Mountain Scottish Festival and Games at Maryville College, East Tennessee’s premier celebration of Scottish culture and
history. Originally founded in 1981 as the Gatlinburg Scottish Festival and Games, we are one of the oldest Scottish Festivals in the country. With success comes change, and the continued growth of our event ultimately made a new venue necessary. In 2010, we established a new home in the City of Maryville on the picturesque grounds of historic Maryville College, home of “The Scots”. But you don’t have to be Scottish in order to enjoy this unique Festival! Our location in the heart of The Great Smoky Mountains is the perfect backdrop for you and your family to get a wee glimpse of Scotland and to discover and appreciate the rich traditions and history of the Scottish and Scots-Irish settlers of our area – extraordinary people whose courage, determination and pioneering spirit helped forge what was to become an independent United States of America. Visit http:// smokymountaingames.org.
SPORTS AND RECREATION
Friday, May 15 GLOW KNOXVILLE 5K • World’s Fair Park • 5PM • $20-$45
OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC Oak Ridge Playhouse (227 Broadway, Oak Ridge) • Through May 17 • $16-$22 • orplayhouse.com
In his review of the original 1973 Broadway production of A Little Night Music, the late New York Times critic Clive Barnes exclaimed, “Good God! — an adult musical!” Those words are equally applicable today, even after 40 years of revivals, professional operetta and community productions, and a movie adaptation, because they reflect the musical’s successful balancing act between Stephen Sondheim’s deliciously waltz-y music and lyrics and Hugh Wheeler’s sophisticated but mildly erotic story of desire and regret. Suggested by the 1955 Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, the story takes place at a country estate in Sweden, in 1900, where several mismatched couples engage and explore various combinations of entanglements with each other, each searching for their ideal twosome. Sondheim’s score—brisk, melodically and harmonically rich, and in triple meter—similarly explores various combinations in its songs as well. Notable numbers include a quintet (“Remember?”) that opens the show and a double quartet that concludes Act I (“A Weekend in the Country”), not to mention the humorous duet “You Must Meet My Wife.” Of course, the haunting and melancholic “Send in the Clowns” is a showstopper. The Oak Ridge Playhouse production of A Little Night Music is directed by Reggie Law, with music direction by Sheryl Howard. The cast includes Deanna Surber, Kevin Smathers, Jacy Bruck, Brady McNeil, Robyn Van Leigh, Jessica Magers-Rankin, Peter Johnson, Kathy Tallent, Maggie Keener, Steve Belding, Elizbeth Bradshaw, Judy DiGregorio, David Frey, Martin Hennessee, Emilee Richardson, and Karen Yearwood. (Alan Sherrod)
Sunday, May 17 KNOXVILLE OPERA CROQUET TOURNAMENT • University of Tennessee RecSports Field Complex • 10:30AM • We will be playing a shortened version of croquet, an easy-to-learn variation of the game we all love. Two-player teams proceed through up to five wickets; no experience is necessary. The first team to score three wickets wins! There will be a court captain at each court who will give instructions, organize the game, and answer any questions. Games typically run around 20 minutes – it’s fast-paced and lots of fun!Additional excitement will mark the awarding of the Knoxville Arts Challenge Cup. Cheer on the heads of Knoxville Opera, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Knoxville Museum of Art, and Clarence Brown Theatre, as they compete for Knoxville’s most prestigious croquet award!This is a great opportunity to support the opera while having fun on a beautiful spring afternoon. Enjoy the wonderful High Tea with champagne. • $100
FILM SCREENINGS
Sunday, May 10 THE PUBLIC CINEMA: SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION • Knoxville Museum of Art • 2PM • Julio Bressane’s Sentimental Education is a deeply strange and shape-shifting film. .Júlio Bressane has been making daring films since 1967 but his work has not been distributed widely. As far as we can tell, The Public Cinema is hosting the North American premiere of Sentimental Education. • FREE Tuesday, May 12 TWIN PEAKS VIEWING PARTY • The Birdhouse • 7PM • Bi-weekly viewing parties for every single episode of the cult TV series. Attendees encouraged to dress as their favorite characters. Trivia, Twin Peaks-themed giveaways, donuts and coffee, plus some surprises. Trivia begins at 7:00pm with viewing to follow at 8:00pm. • FREE
ART
Arrowmont School of Arts
UP NEXT!
WIMZ PRESENTS
THE BLACK JACKET SYMPHONY PERFORMS EAGLES’ HOTEL CALIFORNIA saturday, may 9 • 8pm
JENNY LEWIS w/ Nikki Lane tuesday, may 12 • 8pm
JEFF DANIELS
&THE BEN DANIELS BAND tuesday, may 19 • 7:30pm
ALLEN STONE w/ Brynn Elliott monday, june 1 • 8pm
CHRIS STAPLETON wednesday, june 17 • 8pm
ANJELAH JOHNSON PRESENTS BON QUI QUI sunday, july 26 • 8pm ALSO UPCOMING!
Chris Robinson Brotherhood • 7/28 The Steeldrivers • 8/7
KNOXBIJOU.COM TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE TENNESSEE
THEATRE BOX OFFICE, TICKETMASTER.COM, AND BY PHONE AT 800-745-3000
May 7, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 31
CALENDAR and Crafts 556 Parkway, Gatlinburg MARCH 30-MAY 9: A Naturally Picked Stacked Attraction of Glitz, the 2015 artists-in-residence exhibition. Art Market Gallery 422 S. Gay St. MAY 1-30: Artwork by Inna Nasonova Knox and Mary Saylor Bliss Home 29 Market Square MAY 1-31: Artwork by Sarah McFalls, part of the International Biscuit Festival The District Gallery 5113 Kingston Pike APRIL 24-MAY 30: Automata: Art Cars by Clark Stewart Downtown Gallery 106 S. Gay St. MAY 1-31: Richard J. LeFevre’s Civil War series of mixed-media works East Tennessee History Center 601 S. Gay St. APRIL 27-OCT. 18: Memories of the Blue and Gray: The Civil War in East Tennessee at 150 Emporium Center for Arts and Culture 100 S. Gay St.
Thursday, May 7 - Sunday, May 17
MAY 1-31: Artwork by the Artist Association of Monroe County and the Community Artist League of Athens; Clarence Brown Theatre Costume ad Prop Art; International Biscuit Festival Art Exhibition; Thoughts and Things by Marty Elmer; and artwork by Graceila Barlesi Snyder.
An opening reception will be held on Friday, May 8, from 6-7:30 p.m.
Ewing Gallery 1715 Volunteer Blvd. MAY 1-JUNE 12: UT BFA Honors Exhibition
LECTURES, READINGS, AND BOOK SIGNINGS
Knoxville Museum of Art 1050 World’s Fair Park Drive MAY 8-AUG. 2: Intellectual Property Donor, an exhibit of work by Evan Roth. See Spotlight on page 26. 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. McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture 1327 Circle Park Drive JAN. 22-MAY 24: Drawn From the McClung Museum, an exhibition of work by 27 artists inspired by the McClung Museum collection. Ongoing: The Flora and Fauna of Catesby, Mason, and Audubon and Life on the Roman Frontier. Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church 2931 Kingston Pike MAY 8-JUNE 30: Knoxville Watercolor Society Exhibit.
Now’s your chance to tell us what you really think–in person!
Join us at our first Monthly Mercury Meetup. Wednesday, May 20th, 5-7 p.m. at Chandler’s Deli 3101 Magnolia Avenue Knoxville, TN 37914 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.
three combat veterans suffers some form of PTSD.Under the Same Blue Sky, tells the story of a young woman grappling with the realities of war and the ravages it takes on the human psyche. After the reading, Dr. Mitchell and Ms. Schoenewaldt will discuss the history of PTSD, along with a screening of rare documentary footage of World War I shell shock victims. Handouts of community resources for PTSD survivors, family members, and care-givers will be available. • FREE
Urban Bar 109 N. Central St. APRIL 3-MAY 30: Paintings and drawings by Charlie Pogue.
Thursday, May 7 MARK DAVIDSON: “A TALE OF THREE VALLEYS” • East Tennessee History Center • 12PM • Blount County native Mark Davidson will give an insider’s look at the lore and history of three of the most beautiful and interesting places in the Smokies—Walker Valley, Little Greenbrier Cove, and Tuckaleechee. For more information on the lecture, exhibitions, or museum hours, call 865-215-8824 or visit the website at www.EastTNHistory.org. • FREE Thursday, May 14 “SHELL SHOCK AND PTSD: FACTS AND FICTION” • Lawson McGee Public Library • 6:30PM • Through her historical novels, USA Today bestselling author, Pamela Schoenewaldt, explores issues facing Americans in the 20th century. Her latest novel, Under the Same Blue Sky, offers vivid images of military and civilian shell shock symptoms from the Great War. Now called post-traumatic stress disorder, shell shock was a common malady of returning veterans then and remains so today as one in
CLASSES
Thursday, May 7 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 • Oak Ridge Senior Center • 9:30AM • Call Carolyn Rambo at 382-5822. AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Asbury Place • 1PM • Call Carolyn Rambo at 382-5822. KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS: BUG ME • Cansler YMCA • 1PM • Join Knox County Master Gardeners to learn about good bugs and bad bugs in your garden. Learn which are good and which are bad, and that the “good guys” significantly outnumber the “bad guys.” Free and open to the public. KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS: TO PRUNE OR NOT TO PRUNE • Humana Guidance Center (Western Avenue) •
SURVEY FOR THE MONTH OF MAY
This month’s topic:
Food!
Help the Knoxville Mercury understand your interests so we can better deliver the content you want to read. Each month one respondant will win a pair of event tickets, a gift card to a local business or a Knoxville Mercury T-shirt.
ANSWER
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 7, 2015
CALENDAR 3:15PM • Are you stumped as to whether or not to prune your hydrangeas? There are definite guidelines to maintain those beautiful, lush blossoms throughout the year. Join Knox County Master Gardeners as they discuss and provide hands on experience in pruning your hydrangeas. • Free
Library, 9045 Cross Park Drive, Knoxville, TN 37923. For more information call (865) 470-7033 or visit knoxlib.org. • FREE
Friday, May 8 AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Asbury Place • 1PM • Call Carolyn Rambo at 382-5822.
Thursday, May 7 KNOXVILLE WRITERS’ GUILD • Laurel Theater • 7 p.m. • Novelist Pamela Schoenewaldt will discuss her new book, Under the Same Blue Sky. A $2 donation is requested.
Saturday, May 9 LEARN TO MEDITATE WORKSHOP • Lawson McGee Public Library • 2PM • Led by Mike Wright, author of 800 Stepping Stones to Complete Relaxation. Call (865) 851-9535 or email mikewright102348@gmail. com. • FREE Monday, May 11 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 5:30PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. Tuesday, May 12 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. Thursday, May 14 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, May 15 AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Seymour First Baptist Church • 9AM • Call Carolyn Rambo at 382-5822. Saturday, May 16 LEARN TO MEDITATE WORKSHOP • Lawson McGee Public Library • 2PM • Led by Mike Wright, author of 800 Stepping Stones to Complete Relaxation. Call (865) 851-9535 or email mikewright102348@gmail.com. • FREE AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • East Tennessee Medical Group (Alcoa) • 8AM • Call Carolyn Rambo at 382-5822. AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Seymour First Baptist Church • 9AM • Call Carolyn Rambo at 382-5822. KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS: LAUNCH YOUR SUMMER GARDEN • All Saints Catholic Church • 10:30AM • Now that the weather is warm, join Extension Master Gardeners of Knox County to learn how to direct-seed summer veggies and properly transplant those tomatoes and peppers into your raised beds. This free public event is scheduled for Saturday, May 16, from 10:30 until noon at the EMG 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 call the UT Extension Office at 865-215-2340. • Free KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS: LET’S GO NATIVE! • Cedar Bluff Branch Library • 1PM • Plants from foreign countries do not support our local wildlife and are often considered ‘invasive’ by naturalists. Extension Master Gardener Gail Erwin will explain the value of using native plants in the garden. Learn where to use these plants, where to purchase them and how to care for them…hint, effortlessly! This free public event is scheduled for Saturday, May 16, from 1-2:30 at Cedar Bluff Branch
MEETINGS
Monday, May 11 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.
ETC.
Thursday, May 7 NEW HARVEST PARK FARMERS MARKET • New Harvest Park • 3PM • FREE GOLDENS IN THE GALLERY: A BENEFIT FOR ADOPT-A-GOLDEN KNOXVILLE’S MEDICAL FUND • John Black Photography Studio • 6PM • This is a lovely evening including food by Bradford Catering, crafted beer by Casual Pint Fountain City, wine by George Dinwiddie, Golden-tinis, music by Capo3 and a live auction featuring spectacular art from many different mediums. All monies raised will go toward Adopt a Golden Knoxville’s Medical Fund so that we can continue our mission: rescue, rehabilitate and re-home abandoned Golden Retrievers. Visit www. adoptagoldenknoxville.org. • $40 GOODWILL JOB AND RESOURCE FAIR • Goodwill Industries (Kingston Pike) • 9AM • Goodwill Industries-Knoxville aims to connect job seekers and potential employers at their annual Knoxville Job and Resource Fair on Thursday, May 7th at the 5307 Kingston Pike Goodwill location from 9:00 a.m. to noon as part of National Goodwill Industries Week. Local business representatives will be on-site and ready to talk about potential employment opportunities. Confirmed businesses include UT Medical Center, Aramark, Chipotle, Marshall’s, Walmart, Cherokee Health Systems, Knoxville Utility Board, City of Knoxville, CVS Caremark and many more. The job fair is free and open to the public and anybody currently seeking employment is encouraged to attend. Friday, May 8 LAKESHORE PARK FARMERS’ MARKET • Lakeshore Park • 3PM • FREE Saturday, May 9 OAK RIDGE FARMERS’ MARKET • Historic Jackson Square • 8AM • MARYVILLE FARMERS MARKET • Founders Park • 9AM MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 9AM • FREE
NEW HARVEST PARK FARMERS MARKET • New Harvest Park • 3PM • FREE Friday, May 8 LAKESHORE PARK FARMERS’ MARKET • Lakeshore Park • 3PM • FREE Saturday, May 9 OAK RIDGE FARMERS’ MARKET • Historic Jackson Square • 8AM • MARYVILLE FARMERS MARKET • Founders Park • 9AM MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 9AM • FREE Saturday, May 16 BREASTSTROKES 2015 • Ironwood Studios • 2PM • Once again, it is time to take it off for a good cause! Round up your lady friends and get painted while helping two local women who are battling cancer. We kindly ask for a suggested donation of $10 to participate as a human canvas for this empowering and fun event. No appointments necessary, as it will be first come, first served. You are welcome to bring a drink of your choice. We will be painting and partying from 2-9 on Saturday and Sunday (May 16 and 17). THE FOLLIES GIRLS: SATURDAY NIGHT WE GO LIVE • The Bowery • 9:30PM • The Follies Girls Productions are a unique group of women who aim to please through down-to-earth dance, performance art, sketches, comedy, spoken word, drama, burlesque and song in SHOWGIRL neo-vaudeville-style. We offer a show that is body-positive and female empowered that delivers powerful entertainment guaranteed to delight. 18 and up. • $10 Sunday, May 17 BREASTSTROKES 2015 • Ironwood Studios • 2PM • Once again, it is time to take it off for a good cause! Round up your lady friends and get painted while helping two local women who are battling cancer. We kindly ask for a suggested donation of $10 to participate as a human canvas for this empowering and fun event. No appointments necessary, as it will be first come, first served. You are welcome to bring a drink of your choice. We will be painting and partying from 2-9 on Saturday and Sunday (May 16 and 17).
Send your events to calendar@knoxmercury.com
Dawn Coppock, Attorney At Law 865.933.8173 • www.dawncoppock.com
Adoption Law Fellow - American Academy of Adoption Attorneys NACC Juvenile-Child Welfare Specialist P. O. Box 388, Strawberry Plains, TN 37871
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Tuesday, May 12 EBENEZER ROAD FARMERS’ MARKET • Ebenezer United Methodist Church • 3PM • FREE Wednesday, May 13 MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 11AM • FREE Thursday, May 14
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May 7, 2015
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OUTDOORS
Voice in the Wilder ness
Springtime Hike Finding wild flowers, but no wild boars, on the Smokies’ Whiteoak Sink trail BY KIM TREVATHAN
A
fter a few minutes on the trail to Whiteoak Sink in the Smokies, I met a park ranger on his way out who told me that the wildflowers down there were beautiful, but not quite at their peak. “And don’t worry about the guy with the rifle,” he said. “He’s hunting boars.” I didn’t say it, but I was thinking this: “I’ll try not to be a boar.” It didn’t matter so much to me that the wildflowers weren’t peaking. The guy with the rifle intrigued me; I’d seen the cage-like traps before but never considered that hunting was one of the methods to control the invasive boar. I’d gotten to the trailhead at 5 p.m. on a Thursday (April 23) and was a little surprised to find the gravel parking area almost full. To get there, you enter the park via Highway 321 and take the right fork toward Cades Cove
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 7, 2015
on Laurel Creek Road. Around 3 or 4 miles up this road, you’ll see a parking area on the right for Schoolhouse Gap Trail. Hike about a mile up this trail, and after passing the trail marker for Turkeypen Ridge Trail, look for a wooden gateway on the left about 20 yards beyond the sign. This will lead you another mile or so down into the Sink, a fertile bowl with cliffs rising all around it. Around this time of year, it looks as if a crazy cosmic landscape artist has spattered purple, blue, white, red and yellow against a canvas of deep green. Descending the last steep incline is like stepping through a threshold into a Monet painting. I take students there every January for the nature writing class I teach at Maryville College. I bill it as the closest thing to wilderness we can find within a drive of an hour or two. It’s in a national park, I tell them, acreage that has been undeveloped
and uninhabited by humans for about 100 years, and it’s not an “official” marked trail. I ask them to think about the term “wilderness” in the context of this place. They enjoy the challenge of crossing the two small creek branches and descending into the sink, of exploring the waterfall that disappears into a chasm where the water’s mist sometimes forms a slick rime of ice on mossy rocks. We also visit Blowhole Cave, the dwelling place of the Indiana bat, where a sign tells us that bat numbers have been seriously depleted because of white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease. Sometimes, a student will notice the remnants of farm equipment at the upper end of the Sink. It makes for a good discussion about what constitutes “wilderness” and how far you’ve got to go to find places that have been left alone for generations. We couldn’t come up here this
January term because the park service closed Whiteoak Sink for a few months to protect the Indiana bats in their weakened state. After being closed since September, the trail was reopened on April 1, with the area around the two caves blocked off with orange plastic fencing to minimize disturbances. On my April 23 hike, the first photographer I saw was kneeling trailside shooting something she called wintergreen. I told her about the time a student of mine reached into what she was calling wintergreen and popped one of the red berries into his mouth, assuring me that this fruit, which he could not name, would not kill him. He was correct, as I found out later, identifying it as the partridge berry. Because they don’t taste all that great, I didn’t demonstrate. Something big rustled in the creekside bushes about 30 yards away from me, off-trail, and I thought I might get the chance to photograph a black bear. Then a somewhat sheepish man emerged from the bushes. He didn’t say anything, and I didn’t inquire. For me, part of trail etiquette is not to bother people who don’t feel obligated to speak. At the bottom, it was as glorious as I remembered it. Most prominent was
OUTDOORS the smattering of purple phlox in broad patches, dazzling in pools of sunlight. I hiked to the end of the sinks, a couple of football fields, and spotted the hunting ranger standing on a rise near the terminus of the hike that I take students on. From there he had a commanding view of the sinks and a dry creek bed that came in from the west. The ranger, Shane, had his rifle propped next to a hammock, so I asked him if he were staying all night. He said he usually stayed until dusk, when the boars were more likely to become active. We traded boar encounter stories, and he said that they had done considerable damage to the wildflowers in the sink and throughout the park. In addition, according to the park service, the wild boars, of European descent and introduced in the early 20h century for a game ranch, destroy native plants and stream banks, and carry diseases that can be fatal to coyotes and foxes. Shane said from his experience they were not particularly aggressive toward humans. I was really hoping one of the hogs would come charging at us and Shane could dispatch him like a character from a Hemingway novel. He had that sort of calm demeanor that convinced me that he would likely not miss. And then he started talking about flowers.
I was really hoping one of the hogs would come charging at us and Shane could dispatch him like a character from a Hemingway novel.
This was his first spring in the Sink, and when he first entered it, he said it reminded him of the Disney movies his daughter watches. Then he pointed out a spray of wildflowers on a slope across the way—shooting stars—and I left him and wished him luck, a little jealous of his job. A few yards up from the floor of the Sink, I blundered upon Abraham Law’s grave site. He was one of the 19th century homesteaders who farmed the Sink, and when he died, he had to be buried here because heavy snowfall prevented transport to a cemetery. Near Abe’s grave, I waited for the sun to descend to the top of the ridge so that I could shoot the phlox in the good angled light. People were still coming in. Shane left, boarless. When I left, hikers were still arriving, with only about a half hour of daylight left. A few hundred yards from the parking lot, two men and a woman dressed in new-looking khaki were staring intently at a rhododendron-clogged slope. When I see people in this stance in the park, I usually think they’ve spotted a large mammal. Something about large mammals makes people stop and take notice, even if they’re rather commonplace like deer or raccoon. “What’s up there?� I asked. I still had the tripod and camera shouldered. It would be a convenient time to photograph a bear, perhaps with the nattily dressed group in the foreground. “We’re looking for a particular kind of bird,� said the woman, “and we thought we heard the clicking sound it makes.� “Are you a birder?� one of the men asked me. I said I liked birds but I was not as serious about it as they appeared to be. They all had binoculars hanging around their necks. “Not so serious you’d be looking for a long-haired warbler!� said one of them. Not that serious, no. But likely to return to this place over and over to experience what one of the most popular unofficial trails has to offer, such a complexly beautiful place with many dimensions, far better than a Monet painting. ◆
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May 7, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 35
FOOD
On the Menu
CHEF TERRI ROBERTS AIMS TO REJUVENATE SCRUFFY CITY DINING
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Rising Dough Checking in on Knoxville’s Kickstarter-approved pastry project, Makers Donuts BY DENNIS PERKINS
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hile the area just north of Broadway and Central doesn’t yet have a proper name, it’s about to become our de facto sugar district with the addition of another sweets shop joining Magpies. Makers Donuts, which completed a successful Kickstarter campaign on May 1 with $5,496, is renovating 804 Tyson St., a reclaimed garage that was once the home of the Knoxville Children’s Theatre. Tyson, which connects Broadway and Bernard Avenue behind Dixie Kitchen, is a quiet little L-shaped road that skirts along the edge of Old Gray and the Knoxville National cemeteries. The donut shop, a brainchild of Sean and Sara Alsobrooks, the founders of Remedy Coffee, is tentatively scheduled for an August opening, though Sean says that the permit process is unpredictable. “Our permits, approvals, and inspection—all that takes longer than you think,” he says. “Hopefully, we should have our building permit in the next couple of weeks, and we can get in there and
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 7, 2015
start making it look like a donut shop.” There are two spaces in the building; Makers will be located in the smaller of the two, on the right side of the building as you face it, marked by a new glass garage door. “It will be tight, but it’s a good place for us to start,” Alsobrooks says. “We’ll have the patio space out front.” He expects most of their future business to be takeaway, though he says there will be 12 seats inside. In addition to donuts, Makers will offer “all the stuff you need for drinking with donuts,” Alsobrooks says. That will include milk and coffee, but don’t expect the specialty coffee drinks that you fi nd at Remedy. The donut itself will be a vanilla-based cake. Despite what you might think, a cake donut isn’t baked, “It’s deep-fried in lard, which isn’t the healthiest thing, but it’s a good fat to fry in,” Alsobrooks says. “It doesn’t go rancid. It’s a better taste. It’s not health-conscious, really, but it’s the right way to do donuts.” But there’s some question about
what kind of lard the shop will use. Lard can be a pure and natural fat, or it can be hydrogenated; unfortunately, the process of hydrogenation adds particularly unwelcome trans fats. When asked about that fact, Alsobrooks confesses some vacillation, “We’ve gone back and forth. I think we’re gonna go with the hydrogenated,” Alsobrooks says. “We haven’t nailed that down a hundred percent, but I’ve been doing a lot of research to figure that out, I need to talk with some of my culinary friends. I don’t know for sure.” Despite the question about which lard to use, Alsobrooks seems certain that “we’ll have some good-tasting lard.” Plus, the holey treats will be handcrafted and unique. “Our donuts will be made to order, so we’ll have eight or nine, maybe 10 seasonal toppings and icing,” Alsobrooks says. “You start with a blank donut and you get to decide what you want on your donuts … and we ice them, make them, top them, and hand them to you. Your dozen will be your dozen.”
cott and Bernadette West have turned up the heat on Market Square dining by hiring chef Terri Roberts to oversee a general refitting of the menus at Knoxville Uncorked (20 Market Square, 865-521-0600, knoxvilleuncorked.com) and Scruff y City Hall (32 Market Square, 865-5242224, scruff ycityhall.com). The chef is also working with the Wests to define the concept for Market House Cafe, which will occupy 36 Market Square, the former home of Orange Leaf Yogurt. Roberts, a Knoxville native, made her culinary bones in Chicago at Cipollina and North Pond, a James Beard award-winning and Michelin-starred restaurant in Lincoln Park. But she may be better known regionally for her work at two notable restaurants in Asheville; Roberts spent time at Table and at the Southern, where she was the original executive chef. Roberts is a passionate diner as well—a conversation with her induces cravings for food as close by as ramps and as far-reaching as prosciutto—and she hopes to bring that love to each of the West family’s kitchens. You can get a fi rst taste of her ambitions at Knoxville Uncorked where, she says, she plans to ease into a more authentic expression of Italian cooking. “I really want to get to be a little bit more like trattoria-style rustic Italian and not so much this very Americanized version of Italian … but without stepping too far out of the realm of what people expect,” Roberts says. “But it’s going to be a huge adventure over there.” The lunch menu, which Roberts describes as mostly “starters and salads, sandwiches, and a few pastas,” will roll out in the next week or so, and the new dinner menu will premiere near the end of the month. But you can expect the immediate changes to reflect Roberts’ appreciation for a traditional Italian approach. “When I make Bolognese, for example, it’s beef, pork, lamb, pancetta, and actual stewed-down tomatoes, fi nishing it with butter,” she says. “Bolognese should be creamy and tangy. And to me, Bolognese
On the Menu
FOOD
AMERICAN AQUARIUM FRIDAY, MAY 15
“I want to do my hometown proud— that means a lot to me.” —TERRI ROBERTS, Knoxville Uncorked
should be served on a pappardelle, a wide, thick egg noodle that can hold that kind of weight.” You can also see the difference in her authentic Italian sandwich with genuine Genoa cappicola, mortadella, sharp provolone, and house-made giardiniera. Still, Roberts is sensitive to what endeared the previous Oodles Uncorked to some diners. “But that being said, we’re in the South,” she says. “I’m going to have mac ’n’ cheese—there are certain things that I feel like you need to have. It is a big seller for lunch, so there will be some comfort level still there. I just want to see it excite people a little bit more.” Roberts also looks forward eventually to giving a little lift to the food available on the Wests’ bar menus at Preservation Pub and Scruff y City Hall. But what really attracted her to Market Square was the opportunity to help defi ne what’s happening at the upcoming Market House Café. Much of that is still in the planning phases, as she and the Wests determine the facility’s full potential. One strong possibility is that the café would resemble a European-style deli with an array of Old and New World meats, cheeses, and breads—that’s an idea that makes Roberts nearly wistful as she describes sitting on a patio with “a nice meat and cheese board with a bottle of wine and a book.” Still, she’s careful to keep her cards close. “The European style deli is something we’re talking about,” she says. “We have not set in stone what this is going be. … The way we can get it set up will determine a lot of how that cuisine is going to go.” Roberts acknowledges that she’s a little nervous about her new undertaking. “This such a huge opportunity for me—it’s basically a dream job,” she
says. “And honestly, it’s my hometown. I want to do my hometown proud—that means a lot to me.”
HARD KNOX PIZZA ROLLS OUT CHEF-INSPIRED PIES
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ately, some of the most exciting local social media belongs to Hard Knox Pizzeria (4437 Kingston Pike, 865-602-2114, hardknoxpizza. com). The restaurant changed hands last year, and new owners Paul and Alexa Sponcia have been reimagining the business ever since. That includes a new monthly effort to raid the minds of local chefs to create special pizzas, such as April’s Crown & Goose Pizza by chef Jeff DeAlajandro. This month’s collaboration is with Knoxville’s most flamboyant chef, Holly Hambright, resulting in a pizza that is as extravagant and unique as Hambright herself. The Holly has a base of cauliflower hummus mixed with a tahini vinaigrette and topped with lamb meatballs, diced tomatoes, onion, and Bulgarian feta. But wait, there’s more—right after the pizza comes out of the oven, it’s covered with arugula dressed with more tahini vinaigrette and a handful of Cruz Farm ricotta cheese crumbles. The 12-inch Holly pie is available through May. You’ll want to keep an eye on their Facebook page or Twitter feed for what’s next. The Sponcias have introduced another tasty new element: the Sunday Pizza Brunch runs from 9 a.m. until they run out of ingredients for the day. It’s $12 and includes wood-fi red cinnamon rolls and a choice of three gourmet breakfast pizzas: the carbonara, chorizo con huevos, and the egg white, with chunks of mozzarella and bacon, spinach, and feta. Brunch also includes coffee and orange juice, and you’re welcome to bring your own bubbles to make mimosas. ◆
9:00 PM
| THE STANDARD
416 W. Jackson Avenue | $5 cover at the door
May 7, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 37
’BYE
Spir it of the Staircase
BY MATTHEW FOLTZ-GRAY
WANT TO FIND A COPY OF THE KNOXVILLE MERCURY?
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 7, 2015
At This Point
Default Mode Still looking for a view outside the big top BY STEPHANIE PIPER
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omeone who knows me well put a lot of thought into my recent birthday gift. It’s a neatly framed, whimsically illustrated Polish proverb. Six words, printed in white on a spring green background. Not my circus. Not my monkeys. I gather it’s a well-known bit of wisdom. A quick Google search turned up T-shirts and coffee mugs and blog entries. It was new to me, though. And it arrived at just the right moment. My resignation as Manager of the Universe a year ago has been a bust. All those resolutions to ease up, relax my grip, and stop obsessing sounded great when I wrote them, but writing is one thing. Living is quite another. I had a brief run of ignoring the calculated cruelty of inanimate objects and weather systems. There were entire days when I refused to react to the oven that quit an hour before the dinner party or the ice storm that stranded me in North Carolina. There was a short respite from windy sighs in the checkout line while the person in front of me dug in her
purse for coupons. A few times, I practiced deep breathing instead of cursing in game-day traffic. I rose above snide remarks. I refused to take personal responsibility for the bad moods of others. For a while there, I was the Let-It-Go poster girl. None of this was intuitive. Most of the time, I felt like I was trying to levitate a car. So before long, it was back to default mode. Me, ranting at the toaster. Me, convinced that the traffic lights on Kingston Pike are timed to impede my travel. Me, demanding a smooth path and a quiet life. Me, ringmaster and executive monkey wrangler. Yoga, you’re thinking. This woman needs to try yoga. Or possibly herbal tea. Wrong on both counts. I’m a yoga dropout. I don’t like anything I can’t do right the first time. And I’m allergic to herbal tea. So where does that leave me? Back with my framed proverb. The Poles are on to something here. They didn’t invent the idea, but they
found a catchy way of summing it up. On first reading, it sounds like a recipe for indifference, a sort of verbal shrug. Not my problem. But on closer examination, it seems to suggest the notion of knowing one’s place in the universe. Now there’s a concept. One has a place in the universe. That place is almost certainly not the center. There’s a whole world out there of people gasping for breath, physically and spiritually. There are enough circuses to put Ringling Brothers in the shade. I don’t have to be ringside at all of them. I could, in fact, step back a bit and take in the view outside the big top. Here is a cool April evening, green and still, in this infinitesimal speck of the Earth called Knoxville. Here are cars turned homeward, faces
’BYE glimpsed through rain-streaked windows. From a distance, I can imagine other lives as hectic and ambiguous as mine, as full of contradiction and wonder. I push my cart through the grocery aisle, listening to fragments of conversation behind me: He’s still on a ventilator. She has no one else. In the space of an hour today, my pealing cell phone has brought me news of possibility and news of failed hope. To my amazement, I had nothing to do with either outcome, not a scrap of influence over any of the players. I study the proverb in its neat frame, parse the meaning once more. I should be wiser. I should know my place by heart. Late in the game and after many a false start, I’m still looking. ◆
BY IAN BLACKBURN AND JACK NEELY
Now there’s a concept. One has a place in the universe. That place is almost certainly not the center.
May 7, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 39