CELEBRATING OUR 30TH (ISSUE) ANNIVERSARY!
OCT. 1, 2015 KNOXMERCURY.COM
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V.
Mayor
the
Q&A
Madeline Rogero discusses her first four years in office, the next four years, and what comes after that BY S. HEATHER DUNCAN
JACK NEELY
In Search of King’s Alley and its Lost Marker
MUSIC
12-String Guitarist Joseph Allred’s Primitive Sound
ELEANOR SCOTT
Rediscovering the Pawpaw, “America’s Forgotten Fruit”
THE VAULT
Community TV’s Alternate Video History of Knoxville
Lincoln Memorial University HARROGATE, TENNESSEE
“They are loyal, there, General, they are loyal.� - President Lincoln to Gen. O. O. Howard on September 27, 1863 Following the Civil War, General Oliver Otis Howard assisted in the foundation of two educational institutions aimed at providing opportunities for underserved populations. First he helped secure land and financial resources in Washington, D.C., for a University to train African-American ministers and the institution was named in his honor. Later, recalling his last meeting with President Abraham Lincoln, when the Commander in Chief gave him a survey map of the area he was heading and remarked on the need to do something after the war for the loyal people of the region, he joined a group of educators building schools for underprivileged mountain families. Founding the institution as a living memorial to the fallen President, Lincoln Memorial University was chartered on February 12, 1897.
www.LMUnet.edu 2
KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 1, 2015
Oct. 1, 2015 Volume 01 / Issue 30 knoxmercury.com
CONTENTS
“Distracting a politician from governing is like distracting a bear from eating your baby.” —P. J. O’Rourke
14 Q&A: The Mayor COVER STORY
Madeline Rogero will serve a second term as Knoxville’s mayor. Of course, there was little doubt about that, even when reporter S. Heather Duncan sat down to interview her in September. The lack of a serious challenger allows her to maintain momentum on big initiatives like reworking Cumberland Avenue and the South Waterfront. But what else does she have in mind? In her office overlooking the rubble that was once Baptist Hospital, Rogero reflected on what her administration accomplished in her first term, as well as her goals for the next four years and beyond. PLUS
17 The Unopposed As the first part of our look at Knoxville’s city elections, we talk with the candidates who didn’t actually have to face opponents in the primary. That includes George Wallace, City Council At-Large Seat A, and longtime municipal judge for Knoxville City Court, John Rosson Jr. What’s on their minds as they trot to victory? Clay Duda finds out. NEXT WEEK: City Council races with more than one candidate!
Join Our League of Supporters! You’ll be doing a good thing for Knoxville. And get a really good crossword. Find out how you can help at knoxmercury.com/join. DEPARTMENTS
OPINION
A&E
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8
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Letters Howdy Start Here: Roadside Sketches, a new photo series by Andrew Gresham; Believe It or Knox!, Public Affairs, Quote Factory. ’Bye Finish There: Sacred & Profane by Donna Johnson, Crooked Street Crossword by Ian Blackburn and Jack Neely, Spirit of the Staircase by Matthew Foltz-Gray
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The Scruffy Citizen Jack Neely traces the lost neighborhood known as King’s Alley. Perspectives Joe Sullivan reconsiders his estimation of Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett. Possum City Eleanor Scott investigates the mysterious pawpaw. Guest Ed. Rick Held hopes the Smarter Cities Partnership can accomplish more beyond its weatherization program.
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CALENDAR Program Notes: Matthew Everett reviews the new release by the Black Lillies. Inside the Vault: Eric Dawson starts watching a lot of Community Television and makes some discoveries. Music: Eric Dawson talks American Primitive music with guitarist Joseph Allred.
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Spotlights: Mountain Goats, Bully
FOOD & DRINK
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Sips & Shots Rose Kennedy celebrates the 10th anniversary of downtown’s Sapphire with a 10-best list.
Movies: April Snellings makes a Pawn Sacrifice.
October 1, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 3
EDITOR’S NOTE Moving Up in the Marketplace S
tarting a business isn’t easy. Especially if it’s a little bit different from the norm. That’s something we discovered just six months ago when we launched this paper. Yeah, I know—paper. Should’ve figured it’d be more difficult than expected. Nevertheless, we came up with a business model that made sense, put our backs into it, and have stuck with it. We’ve learned some interesting lessons along the way—great fodder for the e-book I’m writing, How to Start a Weekly Paper Without Really Expecting a Profit—but the results have been gratifying: We have developed a community of readers who appreciate our content. We have cultivated a group of advertisers who believe in our ability to reach that valuable community. And we have created a new (if a tad familiar) voice in the community for positive change. What’s next? Well, a lot. From my perspective, we’ve barely gotten off the ground in providing the news and cultural coverage that Knoxville deserves. And in terms of being a start-up business, we are still charting the trajectory required to achieve a higher orbit. There are lots of things we plan to achieve. And we’re getting there. One of the things that’s pushing us higher is, frankly, marketing. I’ve always believed that good content
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wins out—but I must admit that you also have to let people know it’s there to be read or viewed. So far, our efforts to get the word out about the Knoxville Mercury have been pretty straightforward: paper boxes, radio spots, social media, a basic website (improvements are on the way), and word of mouth. The results have been excellent so far (especially considering we don’t actually have a marketing budget), with a passionately devoted following. But we need to take things up a notch when it comes to connecting with potential clients. And a vehicle to do that might be a feature that’s more about enjoying life here in Knoxville than government exposes: a readers’ poll that determines what’s “best” in our area. It was a game-changer for Metro Pulse in 1994, introducing the publication to a much larger pool of potential advertisers who in turn helped finance the work we did. The Best of Knoxville became a brand onto itself, one that supported a lot of great journalism. We expect our new Top Knox survey to be a similar catalyst. And an enjoyable read to boot. Every new business could use a similarly big push into the spotlight, but not many can afford to do it. That’s where Project BrandAid comes in. Partnering with Asen Marketing and other media companies, we’re going to help provide a catalyst for one local business: a $40,000 marketing makeover. Project BrandAid is a contest for Knox County businesses that need to raise their visibility in order to succeed. Candidates must have a yearly revenue of $2 million or less and must have been in business for at least two years. Nominees must not have a current working relationship with a marketing or public-relations firm. How to enter? Go to projectbrandaid.com and nominate a business that you think the world needs to know about—it doesn’t necessarily have to be your
own business. On the entry form, you’ll need to tell their story—what makes this company unique and deserving? The deadline is Oct. 15. A panel of expert judges will select three finalists, and the public will vote on their favorite Oct. 26-Nov. 6. The winner will be announced Thursday, Nov. 19. They’ll receive a package of marketing goodies that includes a website, brochures, photography, social media, ads for print and digital, and public relations. It’s just the sort of spark that might turn one lucky small business into an institution. And all it takes is your help—and patronage. For more info, hit up projectbrandaid.com. Meanwhile, look for our Top Knox 2015 results in our Oct. 15 issue—we hope it’s the start of a new yearly tradition that furthers our goal of providing important stories. —Coury Turczyn, ed.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR GUIDELINES
• Letter submissions should include a verifiable name, address, and phone number. We do not print anonymous letters. • We much prefer letters that address issues that pertain specifically to Knoxville or to stories we’ve published. • We don’t publish letters about personal disputes or how you didn’t like your waiter at that restaurant. • Letters are usually published in the order that we receive them. Send your letters to: Our Dear Editor Knoxville Mercury 706 Walnut St., Suite 404 Knoxville, TN 37920 Send an email to: editor@knoxmercury.com Or message us at: facebook.com/knoxmercury
Delivering Fine Journalism Since 2015
EDITORIAL EDITOR Coury Turczyn coury@knoxmercury.com SENIOR EDITOR Matthew Everett matthew@knoxmercury.com CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Jack Neely jack@knoxhistoryproject.org STAFF WRITERS S. Heather Duncan heather@knoxmercury.com Clay Duda clay@knoxmercury.com CONTRIBUTORS
Chris Barrett Ian Blackburn Bryan Charles Patrice Cole Eric Dawson George Dodds Lee Gardner Mike Gibson Carey Hodges Nick Huinker Donna Johnson
Rose Kennedy Dennis Perkins Stephanie Piper Ryan Reed Eleanor Scott Alan Sherrod April Snellings Joe Sullivan Kim Trevathan William Warren Chris Wohlwend
INTERNS
Jordan Achs Marina Waters
DESIGN ART DIRECTOR Tricia Bateman tricia@knoxmercury.com GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
Charlie Finch Corey McPherson CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
David Luttrell Shawn Poynter Justin Fee Tyler Oxendine CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS
Ben Adams Matthew Foltz-Gray
ADVERTISING PUBLISHER & DIRECTOR OF SALES Charlie Vogel charlie@knoxmercury.com SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Scott Hamstead scott@knoxmercury.com Stacey Pastor stacey@knoxmercury.com
BUSINESS BUSINESS MANAGER Scott Dickey scott.dickey@knoxmercury.com
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 706 Walnut St., Suite 404, Knoxville, Tenn. 37902 knoxmercury.com • 865-313-2059 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR & PRESS RELEASES editor@knoxmercury.com CALENDAR SUBMISSIONS calendar@knoxmercury.com SALES QUERIES sales@knoxmercury.com DISTRIBUTION distribution@knoxmercury.com
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Terry Hummel Joe Sullivan Jack Neely Coury Turczyn Charlie Vogel 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
Knoxville Begins This Saturday is Knoxville’s 224th birthday. All cities have a founding story. Knoxville’s is unusual. From the day it was named, Knoxville was the capital of the Territory of the United States South of the River Ohio. That federal territory was a large tract stretching from the Appalachian Mountains west to the Mississippi River, a region previously claimed by North Carolina. Known familiarly as the Southwest Territory, it was, basically, the future state of Tennessee--plus, by assumptions at the time, disputed territory in the northern parts of what are now Mississippi and Alabama. The brand-new city of Knoxville was, for about five years, that region’s administrative capital. Knoxville was tiny, with only a few hundred residents and very little permanent architecture. Still, it was one of only 17 capital cities in the new United States, and for that reason it was sometimes mentioned in the European press.
event as its birthdate: a real-estate lottery conducted by James White. White’s son-in-law, Charles McClung, had surveyed the city into 64 half-acre lots and named several of its streets.
Knoxville was only one month old when it had a newspaper, the Knoxville Gazette. The first newspaper in the territory that would become Tennessee, it was only the third American newspaper west of the Appalachians. During its first months, it was printed in Rogersville, due to the difficulty of establishing a printing press in barely organized new capital. Blount Mansion, as it appeared in the 1930s, not long after preservationists saved it from demolition for a parking lot. Built in 1792, it was the home of Gov. William Blount, signer of the U.S. Constitution who named Knoxville and established his territorial capital here.
Within about four years, Knoxville was central to a movement to found the new nation’s 16th state. Washington was still Photo courtesy of Blount Mansion Association president when it was determined that the http://www.blountmansion.org/ Southwestern Territory had enough In the summer of 1791, territorial Gov. William Blount conducted the residents to qualify for statehood. In January, 1796, representatives Treaty of the Holston with 41 Indian chiefs and warriors at the town site, from across the territory met in Knoxville to draw up the constitution on what was then known as the Holston River. An interesting marble for a new state, to be known as Tennessee, a Cherokee word for the river sculpture depicting that treaty stands near the site where it took place, that flows through much of the state. Knoxville became Tennessee’s on Volunteer Landing near the mouth of First Creek. Blount chose that first capital. site, where James White had already established a mill and a small fort, as the capital of the territory.
The Southwest Territory existed only during the administration of President George Washington. Blount named Knoxville for Washington’s Secretary of War, Henry Knox, who had been a general in the Revolutionary War. Because the territories bordered on land claimed by foreign countries--Spain, during the era Knoxville was capital--they were administered through Knox’s office. Knox was Blount’s immediate superior.
Because Knoxville existed to serve as a territorial and later a state capital, legislatures made administrative decisions concerning the small settlement. Therefore, Knoxville did not require its own charter and government. For that reason, Knoxville has celebrated an unusual
Knoxville did not elect its own mayor until the town was 24 years old. In late 1815, near the end of its time as state capital, the city was more formally chartered and incorporated by an act of the state legislature. (This Oct. 27 marks the bicentennial of Knoxville’s city government!) The town’s first Board of Aldermen chose one of its own members, Thomas Emmerson, a lawyer and judge originally from Eastern Virginia, to be Knoxville’s first mayor.
A 225th anniversary is sometimes called a quasquibicentennial or a bicenquasquigenary. Whatver they call it, the city of Knoxville, Visit Knoxville, and multiple other organizations will soon celebrate the city’s 225th anniversary. Most of the celebratory events will take over a period of several months next year. Watch visitknoxville.com for announcements of upcoming events.
For more of the story, read Heart of the Valley (1976) published by the East Tennessee Historical Society.
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 October 1, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 5
Illustration by Ben Adams
HOWDY
Believe It or Knox! BY Z. HERACLITUS KNOX Famous French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson came to Knoxville just after World War II to take some candid pictures. That adventure yielded one well-known shot, titled “Knoxville, Tenn., 1946.” It’s a picture of a beautiful woman in a stylish hairdo, wearing a fur coat and a medical eye patch—sitting in the driver’s seat of a truck, with a chicken crate on her hood. The location is, of course, Market Square.
Roadside Sketches by Andrew Gresham (agreshamphoto.com)
QUOTE FACTORY “ It’s happening in Tennessee, public middle school students are being taught to write ‘Allah is the only God.’” —From a video posted by the American Center for Law & Justice, a conservative “freedom of religion” legal group that has sent a records request to all 146 school districts across Tennessee to find out what their curriculum teaches involving Islam. “Their assignments actually explain how to convert to Islam,” the video states. The group was founded by Pat Robertson and is based in Washington D.C.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
10/1 READING: KWG CONTEST WINNERS 10/2 4TH ANNUAL ‘SALVAGE SHOW’ THURSDAY
7 p.m., Laurel Theater (1538 Laurel Ave.). $2 donation. Winners in the 2015 Knoxville Writers Guild writing contest will be reading from their works. Must admit we’re most intrigued to hear from Leslie Garrett Award third-place finisher Amber Hart’s “Living in Shitsville.”
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FRIDAY
5-9 p.m., The Salvage Shop (619 Broadway). Free. Knox Heritage usually sells architectural flotsam and jetsam from its shop near the intersection of Broadway and Central—but at this show, local artists have transformed salvage items into fine art. Which you can buy at silent auction, benefiting the preservationist nonprofit. Info: knoxheritage.org.
10/3 BANNED BOOK READ OUT SATURDAY
11 a.m., Blount County Public Library (508 N. Cusick St., Maryville). Free. Banning books because one particular group doesn’t like something in them is a thing of the past, right? Uhhhh… like so many political regressiveness from the ’50s, it’s back. Public libraries around the country will dare to celebrate the First Amendment with readings of previously banned works.
Fountain City Lake, alongside North Broadway, is actually the last remnant of the Fountain Head Hotel, a popular resort in the 1890s. The hotel went out of business more than a century ago and served as a sanitarium before it was destroyed by fire. No one alive remembers it. The lake, however, has remained popular with strollers, fishermen, and ducks for 124 years! Writer Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924) is known for her very-English novels like Little Lord Fauntleroy, The Secret Garden, and The Little Princess. However, SHE BEGAN HER WRITING CAREER WHILE LIVING IN KNOXVILLE! In the 1860s and ’70s, when she was an adolescent and a young woman, she lived in three different locations in the downtown area, and published her first stories and novels, like Vagabondia, when she lived here. She sold grapes from her family garden in order to buy postage for her manuscripts. Two of her home sites were once honored with plaques, but they have long since vanished.
10/5 MEETING: TALAHI PARK RESTORATION MONDAY
6:30 p.m., Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church (3700 Keowee Ave.). Free. Cherokee Boulevard and Sequoyah Park may be big attractions for outdoor activity, but let’s not forget Talahi Park, located smack dab in the middle. This Art Deco respite offers the Panther and Sunhouse fountains, which will be undergoing restoration. Learn more at this Kingston Pike-Sequoyah Hills Association meeting.
HOWDY IT’S HARD FOR SMALL BUSINESSES TO GET AHEAD.
WORDS WITH ...
Kathy Wright and Joe Jennings
Let’s Help!
BY ROSE KENNEDY Kathy Wright and Joe Jennings are owners of the Trailhead Beer Market, which will have its grand opening Friday, Oct. 2, as one of the first businesses to open amid the south waterfront development. Located at 1317 Island Home Ave., a block from the Tennessee River, it will sell craft beer on and off premises and showcase the work of East Tennessee artisans.
What’s the draw of this location?
JENNINGS: The brand new Suttree Landing park is going in right behind us and will have a public boat ramp. We are also on the front doorstep of the Urban Wilderness trails. Add in Mead’s Quarry and the river itself, and there is an obscenity of riches if you like anything outdoorsy—and people can pick up high-quality craft beer on their way to explore those things. WRIGHT: The concept is a neighborhood gathering place, community center, and watering hole for people who live in the area and for those enjoying Knoxville’s beautiful Urban Wilderness and Ijams Nature Center. Off-premise craft beer will be available to our neighbors heading home from work, as well as bicyclists and paddle boarders wanting a cold one with their picnic lunches.
How long have you been trying to get started?
JENNINGS: We leased this beautiful old building in April, just a couple of days after it became available, planning to open in July when the road work was advertised to be completed. We got the message in late June via a headline in the newspaper that the road work would continue through October. That was rather disappointing, but we used the extra time to do some remodeling.
How will you define success the first month? Year?
JENNINGS: I’ve worked for three great local restaurateurs—Charlie Erickson, Randy Burleson, and Jenny Boyd. Each of them gives back to the community and cares about the neighborhoods they do business in. I’ve learned that more than turning a profit, you’re becoming part of something bigger than yourself. I think that involves a lot of listening to your clientele, so I’m looking forward to hearing what our neighbors want and enhancing what we offer based on that feedback. Success in a year? I’d
love to see this corridor of Island Home Avenue and Sevier thriving with diverse businesses.
What’s your favorite artisan item that will be featured at the store?
JENNINGS: It’s too tough to choose only one. This place came together because of the local artists who contributed: Lauren Claiborne’s chalk mural, tables by Taylor Wallace, and a painting by Kathy’s daughter-in-law, Cory Wright, behind the bar. I think the most important artistic item was probably the logo designed by Karen Key. It kind of set the tone for everything else that followed. WRIGHT: We have a beautiful slab of tulip poplar that has been made into a table top that seats six. We are especially proud of it as the tulip poplar is the state tree of Tennessee. It was made by the very talented Jonathan Fryxell, who also made two table tops and a coffee table for us.
Do you have a future neighbor you’re particularly enthusiastic about?
Win a Branding & Advertising package valued at $40k! Nominate a small business today! We know advertising & marketing grows business. LEARN at ProjectB MORE randAid.co m Help spread the word, Knoxville! BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
WRIGHT: We are delighted that Alliance Brewing Co., the Civil Air Patrol, and Three Bears Coffee Co. are going to be our neighbors as we begin the development of long-needed community gathering places in the area.
Would people feel out of place if they are not outdoorsy?
JENNINGS: This is definitely a new chapter for 1317 Island Home Ave. There have been a series of neighborhood bars at the location, which I patronized from time to time. This space is going to be very different: family friendly, dog friendly, and smoke-free, so I guess you’d feel out of place if you weren’t okay with that. For more info, see Trailhead Beer Market’s Facebook page or visit trailheadbeermarket.com
ProjectBrandAid.com | #ProjectBrandAid October 1, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 7
SCRUFFY CITIZEN
King’s Alley A modest landmark vanishes, but not without a trace BY JACK NEELY
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The word “alley” is disreputable these days, but a century and more ago an alley was a small urban street. Alleys were usually just one-lane affairs, and probably didn’t get much through-traffic, but they weren’t always just service alleys at the backs of buildings, either. There were residences in alleys, sometimes businesses, too. A century ago, King’s Alley was on city maps. It was once home to probably 100 people. It first appears in public records in 1891, a little residential street off the industrial railroad-frontage avenue then known as Hardee Street, before Hardee was renamed East Jackson. King’s Alley led south to First Creek, crossing Campbell Street and Paddleford Street on the way. That first year, it was home to 13 households, eight of them black, five of them white. They were all working people of modest means, several of them single women who worked as laundresses or cooks. One black
“King’s Alley.” In the early 1950s, there were still about 20 families living on the little street. They might still be there today if not for urban renewal. In 1957, eight of the houses on Quebec Place, aka King’s Alley, had been torn down. By 1958, all of them had been torn down. Its former residents moved elsewhere, some into housing projects. Over the next 15 years, other streets closed, buildings were torn down, and to downtowners, the old Cripple Creek area, overshadowed by a new elevated highway, no longer seemed a part of things. And each year it seemed to offer less and less trace of the era when it was a neighborhood where people actually lived. In the early 1970s, Quebec Place disappears altogether, no longer a public street, but just part of one of the private industrial storage yards down here. But here’s this small brass plaque in an old sidewalk. Dislodged, it would fit in your pocket. Until last week, it was a very rare reminder of a time when thousands of people lived down here, in a place once known as Cripple Creek. We’re lucky that Chad Hellwinckel, agriculture prof and co-founder of the Knoxville Permaculture Guild, owns a pickup truck. The day he spotted the work tearing up that sidewalk, the workers told him it was just going to the landfill, and as far as they were concerned, he could have it. He returned with his truck, and the men obligingly loaded it in for him, several hundred pounds of concrete with a little bronze marker almost intact. He planted the chunk of East Jackson Avenue with the King’s Alley marker in his Parkridge backyard. He likes it fine there, but says if the city wants to put it back, as a landmark of an almost-forgotten neighborhood, he’ll surrender it. ◆
Until last week, it was a very rare Photo by Tracie Hellwinckel
should know better than to point out something interesting about my hometown. Every time I do, it seems, the interesting thing vanishes. I have a pretty terrible record in that regard. About a month before the Mercury launched, I wrote a blog post about an interesting curiosity, a tiny metal landmark that spoke of a lost neighborhood. It had been there for about a century, and I figured it wasn’t going anywhere soon. But I had to go and write a post about it. And last week, seven months after my blog appeared, I got a note from my friend Chad Hellwinckel that it was already gone. It was just east of the Old City, a rectangular bit of bronze embedded in an old sidewalk on East Jackson, on the long block between Patton and Randolph. In one direction, it said EAST JACKSON AVE. But perpendicular to it, sometimes obscured by a thin layer of dark mud, was a less-familiar phrase: KINGS ALLEY. It could still shine, if you buffed it a little with shoe leather. There’s no alley there now, just the sprawling yards of Knox Rail Salvage. A paved bit suggests maybe it used to be a driveway into an industrial area, but even that’s not open now. At the McClung Collection I found that King’s Alley—in city directories, it’s most often spelled with the apostrophe—was once a modest street. But it hasn’t borne that name, at least not officially, since the mid-1920s. That brass marker was at least 90 years old.
cobbler named Lee Starr put down roots on King’s Alley and stayed there long enough to witness several changes in the neighborhood. The street was part of the neighborhood known as Cripple Creek. It was a mixed-race neighborhood, especially in its earliest years. It became more and more purely an African-American community, though. By 1900, all of King’s Alley’s residents were black. It became more dense with the years, a handy place to live if you worked for the railroad, for the packing houses, or at Keller’s Foundry, just down the street. In 1925, William Jennings Bryan’s funeral train groaned by, a block away, for the former secretary of state’s burial at Arlington. That year, King’s Alley’s name was changed, for reasons I wish I could even guess about, to Quebec Alley. I can’t tell whether any French Canadians were ever involved in this part of town, but Quebec Alley’s new name didn’t change its basic makeup. By then, it was home to 20 or 25 households, all black. Meanwhile, the term Alley as a name for a residential street fell out of favor. Around 1938, its name was changed to Quebec Place. But it didn’t change much. Lee Starr, the shoemaker, was still a resident of Quebec Place, 50 years after he planted himself on King’s Alley. However, historian Bob Booker, who grew up in that neighborhood after it was renamed Quebec, told me he knew residents of King’s Alley, which was one of several familiar residential alleys neighborhood, as he recalls it in the ’40s: Rock Alley, Drew’s Alley, Fairchild’s Alley. “In later days they tried to clean up the old addresses for the young people,” he told me, “so the stigma of living in an alley wouldn’t be there.” He adds that most folks kept calling it
reminder of a time when thousands of people lived down here, in a place once known as Cripple Creek.
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October 1, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 9
PERSPECTIVES
Unexpected Developments From brickbats to kudos for Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett BY JOE SULLIVAN
A
few months ago I wrote a column lambasting Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett. I accused him of everything from being myopic and regressive to overstepping his authority. These condemnations were based largely on Burchett’s rejection in his budget of funding sought by Knox County Schools for much-needed teacher pay raises and new school construction. Since then, however, Burchett has moved to redress his regressiveness on school funding and to proceed progressively on several other fronts. And so I need to make amends. For starters, within a few weeks after giving the school system the back of his hand, Burchett reached a budgetary accord with Superintendent Jim McIntyre that provided an additional $3 million for teacher compensation. The two agreed upon the funding for a new $34 million Hardin Valley Middle School and a $30 million Gibbs Middle School. The accord took the form of a Memorandum of Understanding that was approved by County Commission and the school board and included several other elements sought by Burchett. For one, the school board agreed to desist from what had become its penchant to seek more funding than the revenue growth generated by its fixed allotments of local property and sales taxes plus the state’s BEP school funding formula.
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The school system also agreed to seek a relocation of its headquarters from the Andrew Johnson building, thus achieving a Burchett goal to free that landmark edifice for private redevelopment that would further downtown revitalization and put it back on the tax rolls. In backing a Gibbs Middle School long sought by that community but resisted as unneeded by the McIntyre administration, Burchett greatly augmented his good will in East Knox County. He’d already gained a lot by championing construction of a new Carter Elementary School in 2012 and paying for it with proceeds from the sale of surplus county property after the school board declined to fund it. Whether by design or not, this good will gained in a section of the county that’s felt neglected has become political capital that’s furthering a recent Burchett economic development initiative to locate a business park on rural East Knox property, which majority sentiment in the area has wanted to keep rural. With the support of Burchett’s predecessor, Mike Ragsdale, the Development Corp. of Knox County had invested $10 million a decade ago to acquire 340 acres of mostly farmland near the Interstate 40/ Midway Road interchange. The Development Corp. had also accumulated an additional $17 million,
primarily from the sale of property at its several other business parks, for the infrastructure needed to make the Midway site an attractive addition to its inventory of domiciles for job-creating businesses that was otherwise becoming depleted. But the development of the site required its rezoning, which was resisted. When the rezoning came to County Commission vote in 2010, it was defeated by a 7 to 4 vote. Burchett, who was new in office at the time, pretty much sat on his hands, and his relations with the Knoxville Chamber, which is joined at the hip with the Development Corp., were chilly for quite some time thereafter. In this spring’s budget speech, however, the mayor went out of his way to salute the Chamber for its job recruitment efforts. Now he’s out in front of the effort to get the Midway Business Park approved. “It’s going to bring good paying, high tech jobs. And for large tracts of land this is the last available area,” Burchett said on WATE-TV’s Tennessee This Week program recently. The state’s commissioner of economic and community development, Randy Boyd, reinforced Burchett’s view in an appearance on WBIR-TV’s Inside Tennessee program. “We desperately need a new industrial park in Knoxville,” Boyd said. “When I see new prospects coming into the state, they say they want a 200- to 500-acre site with Interstate and rail… Knoxville’s not even in the game because we don’t have that kind of site. It’s sad to see my home county not participating.” The outcome when County Commission votes again, probably in December, seems assured. Even the
East Knox, Eighth District Commissioner Dave Wright, who spearheaded the opposition last time, now says, “We’ve got kids graduating every year from Carter and the Career Magnet Academy who’ll be looking for a job. I’d rather see them on the Midway Road exit as opposed to Hardin Valley.” I also was unaware until just recently of the initiatives Burchett has taken in building infrastructure—specifically roads—in other sections of the county. Three projects funded entirely by Knox County stand out: • A $5.3 million widening of the two-lane stretch of Parkside Drive between Mabry Hood Road and Hayfield Road, which has languished as a bottleneck between Parkside’s highly developed arterial to the east and west. • $4 million for completion of a Karns Connector to provide a link between Oak Ridge Highway and Hardin Valley Road that avoids a one-lane railroad underpass. • A multi-phase $35 million extension of Schaad Road from Oak Ridge Highway southward to the junction of Middlebrook Pike and Lovell Road. This represents the largest locally funded highway project ever undertaken in Knox County and perhaps the state. When completed by the end of the decade, this four-lane parkway will provide an alternative way to connect from I-40 at Lovell Road to northbound I-75 at a small fraction of the cost of the billion-dollar I-75 bypass known as the Orange Route that has thankfully been nixed. While I don’t share Burchett’s goal to become the first Knox mayor ever to avoid any tax increase, he’s done a lot more to back development throughout the county than I had previously given him credit for. ◆
I accused him of everything from being myopic and regressive to overstepping his authority. Since then, however, Tim Burchett has moved to redress his regressiveness. And so I need to make amends.
POSSUM CITY
Rediscovering the Pawpaw “America’s Forgotten Fruit” finds its way back to the farmers’ market BY ELEANOR SCOTT
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emember that old folk song: “Pickin’ up pawpaws puttin’ ’em in your pocket, way down yonder in the pawpaw patch”? Not a good idea, says Elizabeth Malayter, co-owner with her husband Jim of JEM Farm near Rogersville. “It’s like putting a ripe banana in your pocket,” she says. “You’d end up with a big smoosh!” Malayter is selling wild pawpaws (aka the poor man’s banana), foraged from the woods on her property, at the Market Square Farmer’s Market one September morning. Displayed on her table in a basket of sunchokes is one pale green pawpaw, sliced in half, showing the creamy yellow pulp and large shiny brown seeds. The rare occurrence of a pawpaw at market creates a sensation among customers. One after another exclaim some variation of, “Is that a pawpaw? I’ve never seen one in the flesh/Haven’t seen one in years!” An older woman picks up half the pawpaw and inhales the scent. A young man wearing a deer antler necklace throws his arms wide as he talks up pawpaws’ nutri-
tional content: “high in omega-3s.” Malayter brought seven quarts and sold out well before noon. She also offers frozen pawpaw pulp by special order, best placed through the JEM Farm Facebook page. Moonshine. Heirloom tomatoes. Artisanal bacon. Now the pawpaw is emerging as a star of the locavore movement, an exciting rediscovery in Appalachian heritage food. “They are America’s forgotten fruit,” Malayter says. This August, Chelsea Green published Andrew Moore’s book subtitled with that same phrase: Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit. Green is best known as the publisher of fermentation expert Sandor Katz’s bestsellers, The Art of Fermentation and Wild Fermentation. In his review of Pawpaw, Katz writes that it “takes us on a … journey investigating how and why North America’s largest indigenous fruit largely disappeared, and documenting efforts to revive it.” In September, Lynne Rossetto Kasper featured the book on her NPR show, The Splendid Table. Malayter recommends Kasper’s pawpaw ice cream recipe. Why did pawpaws disappear from our tables? Thin-skinned and delicate, pawpaws bruise easily and do not keep well. At least partly due to its highly perishable nature, this once-common native fruit never appears on grocery store shelves. The taste is mild and
sweet, with a spoony custard-like texture. If you want it, you have to forage it, a practice that disappeared from mainstream American culture with the rise of supermarkets. This is the first year Malayter has sold pawpaws, but she often sells other foraged fruits and roots alongside the farm’s main livelihood, chicken and pork. “We are real foragey,” Malayter says. If Malayter can find enough pawpaws, she’ll sell them throughout the season, which is September through early October. She says Crabtree Farms in Chattanooga has planted a pawpaw orchard, still young, with plans to sell the fruit. In the next few years, pawpaws may become more available as part of the high-end local food movement. Malayter plans to divide and transplant additional pawpaws around the edges of her woods in a loosely managed wild orchard. American Indians cultivated pawpaws in a similar way. An understory tree, they need shade to start, but some sun to fruit. Malayter says pawpaws are good forage for wildlife like raccoons and possums and she’s fine with leaving some for them. On a recent expedition to Ijams Nature Center, I spotted hundreds of small pawpaw trees growing by the river, identified by their thin trunks, rangy habits, and large simple leaves. Not a single tree had fruit, perhaps picked clean by visitors and other critters. The pawpaw tree I bought at Stanley’s Greenhouse and planted in my yard is a mango graft with a bushy, upright habit. Pawpaws need to cross-pollinate to produce, so I planted another young tree in the nearby Butterfly Meadow. Pawpaw leaves are the sole food of the caterpillar that morphs into the zebra swallowtail, a handsome black-andwhite striped butterfly with a red tramp stamp marking its lower back. Sometimes called the pawpaw butterfly, the zebra swallowtail happens to be the official Tennessee state butterfly. Mainstream America may have forgotten about these botanical gems, but they’ve been here the whole time, dropping luscious fruit, fulfilling an ecological niche, and supporting a state symbol, way down yonder in the pawpaw patch. ◆ October 1, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 11
GUEST ED.
Energy Efficiency What’s really at stake for the Smarter Cities Partnership? BY RICK HELD
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hat’s in a name? In the case of a just-launched program called Knoxville Extreme Energy Makeover, not exactly what it says. It’s not as if all of Knoxville will get an “extreme energy makeover.” It’s not even as if most of the households who could really use one will get one. But if the Smarter Cities Partnership is smart enough to not declare mission accomplished with KEEM, it could spark big changes for the better in the city’s overall energy efficiency and economic development. Or not. On its face, KEEM should make a big difference to a select few homeowners who have been barely—or sometimes have just not been—able to pay their utility bills. It’s not that KEEM will be paying more of those overdue bills for these residents. Local charities and agencies continue to do that, though the need is threatening to outpace the available aid while KUB cutoff notices have been close to record levels in recent years. KEEM is getting at one of the roots of this problem by lowering those bills in the first place, enough so that some homeowners might be able to pay them before they come in the envelopes marked “FINAL NOTICE.” Many of those final notices are being sent to low-income people living in some of the leakiest houses in town, in terms of energy. KEEM is targeting 1,271 of those houses for free energy efficiency upgrades, typically including a new heat pump, air sealing, and insulation of walls, ducts, pipes, crawlspaces, and attics. This means some of the people who can least afford steadily climbing energy costs
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will be paying to heat and cool more of the inside of their houses and less of the great outdoors, which may result in lower utility bills and fewer cutoff notices. It also means a little less demand for electricity from burning coal, a fuel that effectively heats up an already-overheated atmosphere, which we can thank for recent increases in killer weather. And then there are the new weatherization jobs. But the $15 million awarded to a local coalition to implement this program will not really accomplish the critical mission they came together to address in the first place, before this money kind of fell out of the sky for them. In one sense, the Smarter Cities Partnership Stakeholder Council formed in 2013 to address the root causes of burgeoning numbers of KUB customers who could not pay their utility bills. A local community organization that I work with called Socially Equal Energy Efficient Development was documenting this growing problem through community surveys starting in 2009. SEEED repeatedly asked city officials to assemble community leaders to consider expansion of weatherization programs to address the issue. Those pleas were met with benign neglect until 2012. By then, things started heating up at the various agencies and charities that provide emergency utility bill assistance. Between extreme weather and a prolonged recession, pent-up “demand” for emergency utility bill assistance finally burst the flood gates. According to an IBM study of KUB and agency data, total aid to households with cutoff notices went up 66 percent in one year, from $3.3
million in 2011 to $5 million in 2012. With emergency aid reportedly stretched to limits, the city applied for and was awarded an IBM Smarter Cities Challenge Grant, which brought a high-level team to Knoxville for three weeks to assess the problem and propose solutions. IBM’s key findings sounded very familiar to SEEED: Form a stakeholder council to “develop one strong voice on energy efficiency in Knoxville,” and find a sustainable funding mechanism to expand weatherization of low-income housing. With much fanfare, Mayor Rogero accepted the IBM report and anointed the Smarter Cities Partnership. Aside from a modest new low-income weatherization fund set up by KUB (funded by automatically rounding up bills to the next dollar, unless individual customers opt out), after almost two years of committee meetings (many in which I participated), the council had no comprehensive program to approve. This was the type of vacuum the Tennessee Valley Authority was destined to fill. Because their coal plants had been violating EPA air pollution permits, TVA has been under a court order which in part requires the power producer to spend millions on energy efficiency in low-income communities. TVA was clear the money would not be funding a sustainable program, which is the ultimate purpose of the partnership. However, some of the key Smarter Cities partners, including the city of Knoxville, KUB, the Alliance to Save Energy, and Knox County Community Action Committee, decided to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and that $15 million was very good indeed. With no other localities in the Tennessee Valley having such a broad group of stakeholders already in place to, at least on paper, improve energy efficiency in low-income communities, their joint proposal proved hard for TVA to refuse. KEEM is slated to weatherize 1,271 low-income homes over the next two years, with energy savings required to test out to at least 25 percent for every house. TVA says the average cost of each retrofit will be close to $10,000 per house, fully underwritten by the program, for income-eligible homeowners and tenants with landlord permission. The breadth and depth of the effort is unprecedented in the seven-state TVA region. But the program barely scratches the surface of the need.
CAC, a federally funded agency that has been weatherizing low-income homes with politically fluctuating budgets since the ’70s, administers the program. CAC is signing up many homeowners for KEEM who have been on their weatherization waiting list for years, most of whom got there by receiving emergency utility bill assistance. The fact that CAC has had a waiting list of homes to be weatherized for much of its existence provides a clue about the need. Over the last five years the agency has weatherized 2,000 homes. If the almost 1,300 homes that get an Extreme Energy Makeover are taken off the list of households that received emergency utility bill assistance in 2014, maybe 11,400 households will still need help. Of course, not everyone who gets a cutoff notice needs to weatherize their house. But it is also true that just because someone doesn’t apply for emergency assistance doesn’t mean they couldn’t realize great benefits from a retrofit. Thousands of working-class families eke by, paycheck to paycheck and KUB bill to KUB bill. Reducing cutoff notices could be an appropriate starting point for “developing one strong voice on energy efficiency in Knoxville,” but our energy efficiency picture is bigger than unsustainable, one-time triage entitlement programs such as KEEM. The most dynamic and sustainable programs, in cities similar in size and climate to Knoxville, such as Charlottesville, Va., recognize that energy efficiency is a job-creating economic development tool. One of the ways to sustain this development is through low-cost energy efficiency loan programs, where the loans require no down payment and are paid back through energy savings. The program’s loan payments aggregate back to a revolving loan fund, which funds more loans for more residential and commercial retrofits, across all income brackets. To achieve its mission, the Smarter Cities Partnership will need to think outside of the “poverty management box” and start laying the groundwork for an emerging market in clean and efficient energy for all. ◆ Rick Held is the co-founder of the Knoxville Energy Alliance and Partnership for Green Jobs. If you have a burning opinion that must be shared (and if you generally know what you’re talking about), send it to: editor@knoxmercury.com
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Mayor
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 1, 2015
Q&A
Madeline Rogero discusses her first four years in office, the next four years, and what comes after that.
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eporter Heather Duncan sat down to talk with Mayor Madeline Rogero in September, when it was already a near-certainty that she would hold the office another four years. Her only opposition on the ballot in the non-partisan election, William “Buck” Cochran, had withdrawn from the race in June. Knowing she could only lose if a write-in candidate won more than half the votes in the Sept. 29 primary— Jack Knoxville (legal name), a marketing consultant with a quiet campaign who is the only certified write-in candidate, seemed very unlikely to do so—Rogero still tempered her tone with cautious optimism. But the lack of a serious challenger allows her to maintain momentum on big initiatives like reworking Cumberland Avenue and the South Waterfront. Both of those efforts began under Rogero’s predecessor and former boss, now-Gov. Bill Haslam. Rogero promised to continue these and other Haslam initiatives when she moved up from being Knoxville’s community development director to leading the city. She has followed through on other high-profile promises from her first campaign, including establishing an office of business
support, making sustainability a city priority, and driving investment outward from the downtown core. In her office overlooking the rubble that was once Baptist Hospital, Rogero reflected on what her administration accomplished in her first term, as well as her goals for the next four years and beyond. NOTE: This interview was edited for length and clarity, and in a few places Rogero’s comments were summarized in parentheses for the same reason. For a lengthy, unexpurgated transcript of the interview, go to knoxmercury.com/elections2015. Take a moment to reflect back over your first term—what three things are you most proud of accomplishing during those years?
I think the first thing is, we really took advantage of the economy coming out of the recession and made some real strategic investments (infrastructure investments) in our community, which has really catalyzed the private sector to make investments. First of all it created jobs—you know, got the economy going. But also we saw the private sector have the confidence to invest. Another one was we had major
pension reform. I inherited… $150 million or so unfunded pension liability….. I was faced with needing to reduce long-term costs for the pension and reduce long-term market risk for the taxpayers, and at the same time be able to recruit and retain qualified police officers and firefighters. It’s very easy (for people) to say, “Scrap the system.” But they’re not responsible for public safety and thinking about asking someone to literally risk (his life). So we came up with a hybrid plan. Those of us who make more money, we have more risk. Those who don’t, like your police officers, your fire fighters, your public service officers who—many of them don’t make a lot of money throughout their career, but yet they’re critical to the safety and stability of our community—then they have some security. We really worked to think long-term about sustainability for our community. So we’re focusing not only on making government facilities energy-efficient and more sustainable… but also, we’re trying to get homeowners and renters to live in housing that is more energy-efficient. And preserving our natural resources by working with our partners with the
Urban Wilderness, by really promoting our parks and our greenways, creating a more sustainable lifestyle. Police Chief David Rausch has made decisions about open meetings or records that you didn’t approve, and the city has faced several recent lawsuits over use of force. [ED. NOTE: Chief Rausch violated state open meetings laws late last year while participating in the selection of a new radio contract; this summer the police department briefly considered, then quickly abandoned, a policy of refusing to release dashboard camera videos to the public if the recordings had any potential value as evidence. In both cases Mayor Rogero indicated she was unaware of the issue beforehand and did not approve.] Are you still confident in Rausch’s leadership?
I have utmost confidence in our police chief, David Rausch. I consistently get good reviews about him from others that have worked with him. He has been invaluable in promoting good police and community relations. Through our Save Our Sons Initiative,
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I don’t want any doubt left in the minds of anybody that there’s any problems between Chief Rausch and me. We are very much in sync and I have a lot of confidence in him.
Project Safe Neighborhoods and some other initiatives that we’ve had, he has very intentionally reached out to the community—and particularly the African American community, where many problems have arisen nationally. He has intentionally, as I have, reached out and forged very strong relationships in neighborhoods and among leaders in the community, and we saw an example of that relationship in general with our police force recently when “Officer G” [Gordon Gwathney] was attacked [in March] when he was, I think, at Walter P. Taylor Homes. And people in the community came out to support him against the folks who were attacking him. So we have worked very hard at that, and that is something that Chief Rausch is personally committed to. Meanwhile he’s also been very involved in addressing the homelessness issue. He has to enforce, but he’s also been actively involved in prevention and in helping people get back into housing. He’s been a leader in that as well. There will always be issues—we have a large department—there are many controversial and risky issues that the police department has to deal with. And there will be times when things happen and we get out of sync. That’s not just between the police department and the administration. In other departments it happens occasionally. But we pull together, we fi nd out what the problem was, how we can communicate better, and we keep working on it. Chief Rausch and I communicate probably on a daily basis, either by email or phone call or a text. He keeps in very close contact with me. It’s just something that, when things happen, you just have to face them and get them right and continue working together. But I don’t want any doubt left in the minds of anybody that there’s any problems between Chief Rausch and me. We are very much in sync and I have a lot of confidence in him. Many progressives and Democrats were excited when you were elected because of your Union organizing background. At the same time, you were part of the Haslam administration and indicated you hoped to continue many of its initiatives, and you’re generally seen as a business-friendly mayor.
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Would you have done things differently than Haslam would have if he had been in office four more years?
Mayor Haslam did a lot of progressive things as mayor. He really started the sustainability office. When the federal funding ran out, I put city funding in because we knew it was something that had proven its worth and was something that needed to continue. Mayor Haslam also started the Office of Neighborhoods. That’s something that I continued. So yes, there are a lot of things that he did that I thought made a lot of sense, and so we continued it on. Everybody, whether you’re right-wing, left-wing or in the middle, needs a job. And they want a good job. And so working with the business community trying to promote stronger businesses, a thriving economy, good-paying jobs, all of those—I don’t see those as Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative. That’s why you see Baptist Hospital, the new development that will be there, and University Commons. The whole Cumberland Avenue thing started under Mayor Haslam. They had the right idea. We invest that money, some $17 million or so, some local and some state, and then that money then leverages—right now I think we’re at $240 million… in the private development. [ED. NOTE: According to the city last month, it’s actually $142.5 million—much of which would likely have happened even without the infrastructure improvements, developers have said.] Meanwhile, we did other things, though, that hadn’t been done before. I supported a non-discrimination ordinance to include sexual orientation and gender identity in city hiring. I supported the freedom to marry, signed on to the Amicus brief at the Supreme Court. I also worked very closely with our employees groups to make sure that we were continuing to pay our employees competitively. And actually, this is another follow-up under Mayor Haslam. They had the Mercer (Group) Study which really looked at: Are we paying our employees competitively? And he had said, “You know, about every five years or so we need to look at this again.” And so we came in and did another review [in 2014]. And so I’ve been a big supporter of our employees, of making sure they are competitively paid with competitive benefits.
How have your political views evolved over the years?
The more I’ve learned over my career of 30-some years… the more I’ve learned that governing in this role— it’s really about a balancing of interests. One developer said to me, “You know, I was worried about you when you fi rst came in. But you’ve really done a great job.” I said, “I know that you guys need to be making money and creating jobs in order for me to be able to do the progressive things that I want done in this community.” If we want sidewalks, and we want greenways and parks and urban wilderness trail and all the kinds of things that require some city investment, then you’ve got to have a thriving economy. You’ve got to have business. That’s why we started the Entrepreneur Center. People need jobs. So yeah, from where I started out at age 20, to where I am now at age 63, yes, thank goodness my ideas have evolved over time. I hope everybody’s does. But I’m still very committed to the social issues about making sure that all people have opportunities. I started the Save Our Sons initiative here, which ties in with the national Cities United effort among mayors and My Brother’s Keeper from President Obama. Because I believe in giving everybody an opportunity. And some people, those who are most marginalized, most disadvantaged, whether they’re homeless or they live in poverty, we need to do a special outreach to make sure they’re getting the opportunities that they need to succeed. You mentioned working with developers. Talk about what tools you think have been most effective for the city in encouraging redevelopment or fighting blight, and which you might have tried and decided don’t work here.
Certainly the things that fi rst come to mind… again actually started under Mayor Haslam, that’s the Tax Increment Financing and the Payment in Lieu of Taxes. Most of the buildings downtown that have been repurposed, renovated and are in use now—the historic buildings—they have had some kind of assistance like that. We can try to exert our influence, which we have and we will. But ultimately it’s up to the private owners to fi x
Unopposed
the
They may not have opponents in the primary,
Incumbent, shoe-in for City Council At-Large Seat A AGE: 56 FAMILY: Married, 1 son NEIGHBORHOOD: Bearden EXPERIENCE: Knoxville city councilman since 2011 EDUCATION: B.S. in Agriculture, University of Tennessee (1981) YEARS IN KNOXVILLE: 56 COMMUNITY/BOARDS: Knoxville Area Association of Realtors; East Tennessee Veterans Memorial Association; Metro Drug Coalition; Williams Creek Golf Course; Knoxville Beer Board; Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church LAST BOOK READ: “It’s called Crucial Conversations (by Kerry Patterson, et al.), and we read it as a management team at my company. It’s about how to have life’s crucial conversations, be it with a friend, a spouse, a worker, or whoever. I learned practical examples from the management standpoint about the dynamics of a conversation and how to move through that conversation in a way that gets the best results.”
Photo contributed by Rosson Law
Photo by Clay Duda
GEORGE WALLACE
George Wallace says his background in business and the nonprofit world stoked his interest to run for Knoxville City Council back in 2011, and barring a write-in upset, he’s poised to win reelection this November to his post on At-Large Seat A, one of three seats representing the city as a whole and not a specific neighborhood or district. “A lot of the issues we deal with on City Council are land use issues, like zoning and cell towers, and I have pretty good experience having dealt with those issues over the years,” says Wallace, co-owner of one of the largest real estate and property management companies in town, Coldwell Banker Wallace & Wallace, Realtors. The firm has about 25 percent market share in the Knoxville area, averaging about 3,000 property sales annually and managing roughly 300 rentals, he says. Just one term in, Wallace jokes that he now feels like a veteran after working through pension reform and the city’s new sign ordinance. “Pension reform is probably the landmark case that we worked on during those four years, but the test of time will tell (how it holds up) I guess,” he says. “We heard from a lot of people—fire and police, retirees, employees—and considering all of that input, I think we shaped the plan into something far different than what was put forward originally, and it probably wasn’t as aggressive as some people would have liked to see, but I think it was a fair deal.” In the years to come, Wallace says his focus will be on job creation, which he sees being driven by continued redevelopment in downtown and other corridors. Key components include making use of the old Supreme Court building on Henley Street, the Civic Auditorium and Coliseum on Howard Baker Jr. Boulevard, the former McClung Warehouses on Jackson Avenue, and pegging down a plan for Magnolia Avenue.
but let’s meet them again anyway!
JOHN ROSSON JR. Longtime municipal judge for Knoxville City Court AGE: 67 FAMILY: Single, 3 children NEIGHBORHOOD: West Hills EXPERIENCE: Municipal Judge of Knoxville City Court since 1986 EDUCATION: University of Tennessee Law School (1975); B.S. in Business Administration, Western Kentucky University (1970) YEARS IN KNOXVILLE: 44 COMMUNITY/BOARDS: Sertoma Center; Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee; James White’s Fort; Knoxville Jazz Festival: West End Church of Christ LAST BOOK READ: “I read a lot of law books and I read several newspapers every day, but I don’t read novels much. I subscribe to the News Sentinel, I read the Mercury, the Focus, the Shopper, and then I get USA Today and The New York Times, and online I get the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. I just think it’s important to know what’s going on.”
Back in 1986, Knoxville’s City Council appointed John Rosson Jr. to fill in as municipal judge after the late Allen Elliot stepped down from the bench. A year later, Rosson ran for election to that post, and he’s been there ever since. It’s a position he enjoys to this day, he says, mostly hearing violations of city ordinances such as speeding and parking tickets, alcohol offenses like underage drinking (but not DUIs), animal nuisances, and other low-level cases. “The ones most hotly contested are the animal cases,” Rosson says. “If you accuse a dog of biting somebody or doing something improper, you’ve probably just insulted that whole family and they’ll bring the whole neighborhood down to talk about it. Of course, I listen to what everyone has to say, but it’s ironic to me that a traffic ticket can cost more than a dog ticket, it goes on your record, and it can cause your insurance to go up, while a dog case doesn’t affect anything like that.” Despite the high volume of cases he hears—more than 1,000 on the busiest days—Rosson still practices law full-time and runs his own firm, though he’s quick to note he’d never take up a case for or against the city. That would be a conflict of interest. “City judges are allowed to practice law because we have very limited authority—we can’t put people in jail,” he says (but they can levy fines). “I have court every day, then I wrap my law firm around that. My obligation to the public comes first.” When it comes to the issues, ROsson says his role as judge is to evenly weigh the facts and circumstances of each case to, hopefully, come to a fair and just ruling. “That’s probably the only goal any judge could have,” he says.
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One of my concerns is, as we get more residential downtown, I want to have workforce housing. I want to make sure that some of the people that are working in the banks and the restaurants and the dry cleaners and the pharmacy and the places that we do have downtown, that they can afford to live there too.
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 1, 2015
these up. So if it doesn’t make sense fi nancially, then there’s a public purpose… for us to intervene and to offer some incentives. When you look at something like Tax Increment Financing, the wonderful thing about that is that we’re not writing a check to anybody. What we’re saying is… we’re immediately going to take 25 percent of that new taxes that you pay, that you owe, and it’s going to go back into our city coffers for services and all. But the other 75 percent goes then either to doing the public infrastructure… or in some cases it goes back towards retiring some of the debt on the project itself. So those new taxes never would have happened if this wasn’t offered. The way we’ve done it, we’ve been very careful to make sure that there’s a “but for.” You know, “But for this TIF, this project wouldn’t happen. Because the fi nancing just isn’t there.” Where are you envisioning going next with these incentives? Are there particular parts of the city you hope to target?
(She lists Baptist Hospital and Suttree Landing Park as major drivers for redevelopment on the South Waterfront. She also discusses the Magnolia Avenue warehouse district and the buildings around White Lilly, many of which have benefited from the city’s facade improvement loans.) One of the things that we did on my watch was put $500,000 a year for the last two years into… a historic preservation fund. And for years we had an ordinance which is called demolition by neglect, which is kind of an odd name and confusing to people. But what it did was give the city the power that, if there was an historic building that was being neglected, the city… had the right to go in and make the improvements and spend the money to put the roof on or to board it up, put a fence up, whatever it is to secure it so there won’t be further damage, and then charge the property owner. So that had been on the books, but no one had ever put any money into it so that the city could do it. So we put the fi rst $100,000 in and have continued to fund it. And one of the first buildings that we secured was the old South High. And then we charged it back—put a lien on the property—and the owner
never paid it. And he owned it for several years and never made any significant investment in it, so we eventually then had the authority by law to then go and to basically foreclose on it based on the lien. We were basically able to take the property—pay him the value, which was actually more than he paid or it, despite the fact that it had deteriorated. [Ed Note: The city was in the process of taking ownership of the property when it struck a deal to purchase the building from its owner, Bahman Kasraei, for $189,000 in April—$71,300 more than he paid for it at auction in 2008.] We don’t want to keep it. We want private development to occur there. On the topic of historic buildings, we’ve not had the best year in Knoxville when it comes to historic preservation. [ED. NOTE: Several historic Fort Sanders houses are slated for demolition by UT, and new owners tore down the Christenberry House in West Knoxville hours before City Council passed an ordinance that would have delayed the demolition]. Jack Neely noted that the law department under your administration has dismantled some of the previous options for slowing demolitions, like sending the design review to (the Metropolitan Planning Commission)—saying they didn’t think that was constitutional. Is there any time a city can or should defy a developer who wants to tear down a historic building? And are there ways you can use the leverage of some of your tools, if not on that site then on others that this owner is also working on?
First let me say, I don’t think it’s accurate to say, “They dismantled.” What they’re trying to do is, they have to look at what the law is. And what we don’t have is a law department that is going to waste a lot of time if they don’t think that we have the legal standing. But we’re always looking for tools. So it’s a matter of who has the power to do that. And that’s not because [law department attorneys] were sitting around trying to figure out how they could gut it. I mean, I wish we had more tools to be able to stop (demolitions). But we have to work within the law that we have. And that’s why we did the Historic Preservation Fund and funded the demolition by neglect. If the law is such that
we’re limited in one way, is there some other way that we can take action in a proactive way, legally, to do it? (She discusses City Council’s recent passage of the demolition delay ordinance that will require a 60-day delay for any demolition of a building eligible for the historic register and not protected by some other historic or conservation district overlay.) There are some things that we would like to make stronger dealing with blight, that we know if we go to the Legislature right now… we’ll end up losing ground. So we have to be realists. We have been proactive through the demolition delay ordinance, through the historic preservation fund, and just proactively working with owners of property trying to move them towards preservation rather than demolition. That’s something that we’ll continue to do. Early in your administration you agreed to allow Covenant Health to tear down some historic Fort Sanders houses within a conservation overlay in exchange for letting the city build a parking garage with some spaces reserved for the hospital. Explain why you thought that was a good deal, and what happened to it.
There never was a deal. That’s what was misreported in this process. There were conversations about (how) we wanted a parking garage. The hospital wanted to be able to expand. There were conversations about that, but we never came to an agreement, because if we had then it would have happened. Because I had never intended it to be, “You give us this land for the parking garage and we’ll agree to that.” In those conversations, the hospital wanted us to marry those together, but we were never comfortable with that. Their valid need to expand and the valid need for historic preservation, that’s a thing that needs to be worked out. You know, I feel like the hospital and Knox Heritage need to work together to figure out some kind of a compromise on that. Plus, here’s the other thing. (She explains it would have to be approved by the Historic Zoning Commission, MPC, and City Council.) It wasn’t my deal to make. I had never intended to go fight that at those three bodies, to encourage them to support that as a deal for parking…. But we need a
parking garage. And so we started looking for other places. We’re big proponents of historic preservation. I’m also a big proponent of jobs in our city and of having a hospital downtown. You know, we’re losing St. Mary’s as a general hospital. So you have Fort Sanders, which is basically a downtown hospital. So again, there’s the balancing of interests: How can we make sure that we have a thriving hospital with lots of good jobs and care for citizens close at hand, and at the same time not lose the historic character and integrity of the neighborhood? It’s not easily solved. Downtown has been thriving with lots of theme restaurants, bars and boutiques, and there is plenty of upmarket condo and apartment space. But there are few businesses to support a working class residential population downtown. Could the city be doing more to attract or incentivize businesses like doctors, pharmacies and grocery stores downtown?
First of all, we’re getting a pharmacy. A pharmacy is supposed to come in the Phoenix building. The problem with a grocery store is… you have to have a certain population. The city actually intervened years ago to really try to bring a grocery store to Five Points, and the market really couldn’t hold it. It was a great success in clearing up blight. But a grocery store couldn’t be sustained. But I think when there are enough people living downtown, this is one of those free market things where a grocery store will come in and say, “Hey, there’s enough of a market here, and we don’t have other stores close enough nearby to confl ict with it.” But what we have instead is we have University Commons. And I know a lot of people downtown who catch the trolley for free and they go to University Commons (to Publix). But that’s not something you want government to prop up, those kinds of services. (She explains the appropriate role for the city would be to wait for a business to approach Knoxville about opening a grocery store in a historic building; then the city could help with incentives and infrastructure.) When downtown years ago, before the recession, started coming back, there were condos. Because there was a condo market and the banks were
lending for condos. Post-recession, I’ve asked them—they can’t get the bank money for condos. So it’s still in apartments. And really with apartments you have a greater chance of getting more variety of incomes anyway than all-expensive condos. But one of my concerns is, as we get more residential downtown, I want to have workforce housing. I want to make sure that some of the people that are working in the banks and the restaurants and the dry cleaners and the pharmacy and the places that we do have downtown, that they can afford to live there too. We have had a focus on downtown because… if the heart of your city, the heartbeat of your city, is decaying, then it’s a drag on all of us. So the benefits you want as living in the city—you can’t afford to provide them, because you have this downward economy rather than a healthy one. So it’s to everybody’s advantage when urban neighborhoods and the core of our city, when we see investment there. Then the next step is, that same strategy with the TIFs and the PILOTs and the facade programs, the infrastructure improvements, is to go out to the older commercial corridors. And when you enliven those, you also help the work that’s going on in the neighborhoods. Some people have said, “Well Fort Sanders, all those old houses— it’s just a matter of time before they’re all down.” I hope that’s not true, because what we want to do is move a lot of the density to Cumberland. I’d like to see Fort Sanders be housing for professors, where you’re back to single-family homes in some of these, because the students all want to live in high-rise… nice, new facilities right on Cumberland Avenue. But still—this is the point I wanted to make—while we’re doing all of this, we are still making improvements to Westland Drive, to Merchants and Clinton Highway, Prosser Road. If you look on our engineering blog, it lists all the different projects we’re doing, and they are literally all over town. And I say that the orange cone is our new city flower. And if you’ve not been inconvenienced yet, you will be. But that is a sign of progress. What would you like to achieve in your next administration?
We have a new bicycle facilities plan and… we’re finishing up on identifying
some priorities for greenways connections. We put money into these, and I want to see some improvements on those—really on our complete streets. It’s bikes, you know, it’s bike paths, greenways, sidewalks, and transit. I want to have a plan in place and progress on the state Supreme Court site. Hopefully we can get that resolved and moving and even to completion. Jackson Avenue: Having a plan for that. Having a decision made about what we’re going to do with the coliseum and the auditorium…. Also, I’d like to see the next public building that we really need to make some decisions on is the safety building [ED. NOTE: on Howard Baker Avenue, where the police department is housed in a building Rogero calls “decrepit”]. So with all these projects, we have to figure out how do we fund them. What’s the private dollars that can come in when it’s the sites I’m talking about, planning for the public dollars that will go into the safety building, which will be police and fi re. Originally this was police and fi re. And you know, every 50 or so years you have to do this. We have a lot of big ambitions. There are some historic properties that will go unnamed right now, but that I really hope we can fi nd some good resolution for in my term.
At this point, I have no interest in being governor. At this point, I have an interest in finishing my four years and then finding what opportunity I might want to do at that time.
When this four-year gig is up, what’s next? There’s been some speculation about whether you might have any interest in the governor job, or a cabinet job if that became available. What do you envision for yourself? [ED. NOTE: Halfway through his second term as Knoxville’s mayor, Haslam announced his plans to run for governor.]
Everybody assumes that if you’re in office, that you always dream for your next office. But that’s not the case for me. At this point, I have no interest in being governor. At this point, I have an interest in fi nishing my four years and then fi nding what opportunity I might want to do at that time. I have made a lot of connections in this region and across the country. There are consulting things I could do, groups I could work with. If an opportunity comes along, I’ll weigh it and decide if it’s for me or not, but I really like what I’m doing. ◆ October 1, 2015
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P rogram Notes
The Black Lillies Hard to Please
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he Black Lillies’ fourth album opens with a big surprise: a funky drumbeat and swampy guitar riff straight out of Memphis or New Orleans that turns into an extended R&B-style juke-joint jam, complete with blasting horn section. That song, the title track to the brand-new Hard to Please, is a dramatic departure from anything the band has released before, and it’s followed by several other unexpected forays into R&B, soul, and rock ’n’ roll—enough, in fact, to count the new album as a whole as a surprising turn, especially for a band at a pivotal point in its career. The first three Black Lillies albums seemed like a logical extension of songwriter/frontman Cruz Contreras’ years as a bluegrass prodigy and, in the late 1990s and early ’00s, namesake for local major-label casualties the CC Stringband. On those three discs—Whiskey Angel (2009), 100 Miles of Wreckage (2011), and Runaway Freeway Blues (2013)—Contreras and the band felt their way around the familiar intersection of folk, country, and rock. They did so with increasing confidence and finesse, though, and near-constant
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Inside the Vault: CTV Archives
KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 1, 2015
touring, independent chart success, AAA airplay around the country. Support from Rolling Stone and the Grand Ole Opry had the band poised for breakout success. But early 2015 found the Black Lillies in a tough spot. Longtime members Tom Pryor and Robert Richards left the group, amicably but suddenly, and Contreras was facing a scheduled recording session in Nashville with no songs and only three-fifths of a band. Following a two-week cram session to write new material, Contreras and producer Ryan Hewitt recruited bassist Bill Reynolds (of Band of Horses), pedal steel player Matt Smith, and 20-yearold Nashville guitar whiz Daniel Donato to join Contreras, drummer Bowman Townsend, and vocalist Trisha Gene Brady in the studio. (Sam Quinn, Mike Seal, and Jonathan Keeney have since joined the band as full-time members.) It’s probably not surprising, then, that the resulting album is different than anything the band had done before. Still, it was hard to see this specific foray into Southern soul and R&B coming before “Hard to Please”
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Music: Joseph Allred
was released in July. Besides “Hard to Please,” there’s the sultry slow burn of the Stax/Muscle Shoals ballad “Mercy,” the Sun Records-style scorcher “40 Days,” and the Motown-inspired “The First Time.” There are other departures, too—the influence of Fleetwood Mac is apparent on the long coda of “That’s the Way It Goes Down.” Meanwhile, “Broken Shore,” a song inspired by Contreras’ grandfather’s experience in the Pacific during World War II, channels Richard and Linda Thompson. And there are, of course, familiar Black Lillies folk ballads (“Desire,” “Bound to Roam,” “Fade.”) Does it work? It’s hard to argue with Hard to Please—Hewitt’s oversight and the contributions of Donato and Reynolds help push the Lillies’ standards higher than ever before. Many fans will likely embrace the band’s R&B digressions, though I’m not sure they’re the best showcase for the Black Lillies’ talents. Instead, it’s the two most straight-ahead country tracks that really stand out on Hard to Please, ”That’s the Way It Goes Down” and “Dancin’”—two songs that sound like the next step from Runaway Freeway Blues. The experiments are nice, but I suspect they might be a diversion from the band’s real path. (Matthew Everett) The Black Lillies will play an album-release show on Friday, Oct. 2, at 5 p.m. on Market Square. Electric Darling and Margo and the Pricetags open the show.
Don’t Call It Sundown The schedule of free live music on Market Square keeps getting bigger. The city of Knoxville and the Central Business Improvement District have just announced a season of fall concerts running through the month of October and featuring a lineup of jazz, folk, pop, and Americana. The series starts on Thursday, Oct. 1, at 7 p.m. with the Marble City Shooters, a local jazz and swing ensemble, and continues with the folk duo of former Knoxvillian Louise Mosrie and Cliff Eberhardt (Oct. 8); bluegrass singer Jesse Gregory (Oct. 15); representatives of the Knoxville Police Department in Knoxville’s Finest Band (Oct. 22); and local Americana band Handsome and the Humbles (Oct. 29). (M.E.)
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Movies: Pawn Sacrifice
Inside the Vault
Hey, Watch This! CTV’s archives reveal a hidden version of Knoxville during the cable TV era BY ERIC DAWSON
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f you’ve watched community television in any city, you might have an image of what a typical CTV show looks like. Maybe a talk show of the type parodied by Zach Galifianakis’ Between Two Ferns, with a host and a guest sitting on a modestly dressed set, earnestly discussing a topic of varying interest to the wider public? After digitally transferring dozens of hours of video tapes from Community Television of Knoxville, I can tell you there is a fair share of such shows in the archive. But there is also more variety than you might expect, with inspired and bizarre creativity shining through in the pre-YouTube days, when artists, actors, musicians, politicians, and garden variety narcissists would use CTV as an outlet. Community Television of Knoxville donated hundreds of tapes to the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound, representing dozens of shows throughout their 40-year history. General manager David Vogel asked us to transfer some of the shows in advance of a public screening to celebrate the channel’s anniversary. Unsurprisingly, there are many shows devoted to local music in the CTV vaults. It was a good way to get yourself seen and heard. The Knoxville Hammer Dulcimer Club, Sacred Harp singers, lots of Southern gospel groups, live performances at Laurel Theater, local jazz musicians, and Knoxville songwriters all make appearances. Singer/songwriter Nancy Strange produced a show in 1980
and ’81 in which she interviewed and performed with local musicians such as Terry Hill, Hector Qirko, and Red Rector. Strange interviewed Lois Short at the Highlander Center, and Steve Horton of the Lonesome Coyotes shows up at Strange’s Fort Sanders apartment, which was in the house that stood in for James Agee’s childhood home in the film All the Way Home. There is an unforgettable meeting with R.B. Morris at the original Longbranch Saloon, a few minutes of which can be viewed on TAMIS’ Vimeo page. Strange also interviewed residents of 4th and Gill when it was just starting to be gentrified. Jimmy Ballard sits on the porch of an old Victorian home and tells the history of the neighborhood. The late ’80s/early ’90s show Knoxville Rocks generally produced episodes featuring singer/songwriters, WUTK’s Benny Smith, or a hair metal band performing at the West Knoxville club, Rumours. One tape labeled “Rage Us” turned out to be a collaboration between the Bijou Theatre and the Chroma art group: raw footage of a day devoted to art and music, during which a trolley carried passengers from the Bijou to houses in what looks to be 4th and Gill and Fort Sanders, each destination full of art and performers. On the Edge is reminiscent of any number of comedy sketch shows, only way more surreal and loose. In addition to written vignettes, there’s a Slacker vibe to recurring scenes of the cast wandering around Fort Sanders and the Cumberland Avenue
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Strip, at one point having the good fortune, televisually speaking, to run into a guy who is obviously tripping. There are a few shows produced by teenagers, including Hey, Watch This, which featured an episode built around one girl’s obsession with early ’90s Knoxville alternative favorites the Judybats. An entire segment is devoted to her displaying more Judybats merch and ephemera than you’d think even exists. (If she’s reading this, TAMIS would love to hear from her.) You can watch several local politicians in more informal settings, including a very casual Victor Ashe stopping by with his wife to chat with the hosts of a Mardi Gras parade in the Old City. And while it’s easy to be flip about the aesthetics of the talk shows, it’s more difficult to write off the content. Several shows devoted to discussing books and social issues feature lengthy conversations that reveal progressive perspectives that might surprise anyone who thinks Knoxville in the 1980s was strictly conservative. The episode list for Controversy shows the topics “Abortion,” “Can Christians Be Homosexual,” “Youth Gangs What? Why?” and the hopefully less controversial “Pro Wrestling: Is It Real?” (Speaking of wrestling, Terry Landell’s call-in show dedicated to the regional branch of the sport can be amazingly entertaining, even if you don’t like or follow wrestling.) What CTV has facilitated is a unique record of Knoxville’s cultural and political history from 1975 to today, and it keeps going. Community members given voice through this medium offer a side of the city’s story you’re not going to get through traditional media like newspapers or network-affiliated television stations. Long may it run. Community Television celebrates its 40th anniversary with a screening of at the East Tennessee History Center, Friday, Oct. 2, at 7 p.m.
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Inside the Vault features discoveries from the Knox County Public Library’s Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound, a collection of film, video, music, and other media from around East Tennessee. October 1, 2015
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Music
Sound as Sound Sort-of-local 12-string guitarist Joseph Allred’s exploration of American Primitive sound BY ERIC DAWSON
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any acoustic guitarists who work in the American Primitive tradition also delve into avant-garde and experimental music. Jack Rose and Glenn Jones both started out in bands heavy into improv, Marisa Anderson played in a free jazz group, and Ben Chasny punishes his electric guitar—and listeners—as often as he finger-picks. Sir Richard Bishop has an album called Graviton Polarity Generator that sounds like its title. Jim O’Rourke has made just about every kind of noise you can imagine, and on and on. As sort-of-local 12-string guitarist Joseph Allred points out, it’s part of the tradition. The godfather of American Primitive music was
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 1, 2015
creating sound collages on some of his earliest records. “John Fahey did that sort of stuff even back in the 1960s,” Allred says. “And when he was sort of rediscovered in the 1990s, the albums he made were full of noise. I think when some people get down so far they start to appreciate sound as sound, and it doesn’t matter if it’s coming from an acoustic guitar or a gamelan record or a train whistle.” Allred seems to love many kinds of sounds. He was in Nashville-area doom/psych/rock bands Hellbender and Across Tundras before he began making ambient and noise-type recordings, both solo and in the duo Graceless, with Matt Johnson. During
a recent live set he worked with turntables, keyboards, and effects to build an all-enveloping atmosphere that called on ambient, noise, and drone music. But it’s the acoustic guitar that seems to have most of his attention. He began to play the instrument in earnest around four years ago, to cope with a family crisis. “When my dad was diagnosed with cancer, that’s kind of how I dealt with it,” Allred explains. “I started played guitar all the time. It was about the only thing I could do.” Allred has lived in Knoxville off and on over the last decade or so; attending the University of Tennessee, he moved to the small mining community in Overton County, outside of Cookeville. Having grown up in nearby Jamestown, he’s now inhabiting land that’s been in his family 200 years. He says he’s trying to find his place in the family legacy. Even without knowing his history, you can recognize a searching, if not spiritual, quality to much of his music. Allred has recently started writing lyrics and singing, accompanying himself on harmonium. His songs have a hymn-like quality, and at a recent show he even performed the great Methodist hymn “Idumea.” Though he first encountered the song via apocalyptic folk band Current 93’s eschatological song cycle Black Ships Ate the Sky, Allred grew up in a Methodist church. It wasn’t until he began to write songs that he realized just how much of an effect that had on
his compositions. “I wrote lyrics and had chords but I just couldn’t figure out how to make it work with guitar,” he says. “I couldn’t sing until I got a harmonium, which makes sense, in a way, because Christian missionaries carried them around to play hymns on. They were introduced to India by missionaries and had a big impact on that music.” Indian music is a current fixation for Allred, and he’s recently taken up playing the sitar. An explanation of its appeal leads to a digression on the history of Indian instruments, his trip to that country last year, and why there is a contemporary backlash against harmoniums there. I ask if he’s had any formal music training, but it turns out his degrees are in philosophy and religious studies. The restless curiosity he exhibits in his music and conversation seems to extend to his recording practices as well. His duo, Graceless, currently has three records (one a double album) at the printing plant, and he’s just finished recording two solo records. You can sample some of his music via the Bandcamp page for his Meliphonic Records label, but that may not last long. “I think I’m going to stop using Bandcamp,” Allred says. “I’m getting fed up with a lot of things. I put a lot of attention into the packaging and the artwork my friends or I do, and I want to make as tangible mark as I can on the world rather than just throwing things out in the digital world.” ◆
Even without knowing his history, you can recognize a searching, if not spiritual, quality to much of his music.
Movies
Fischer King Pawn Sacrifice emphasizes the political implications of chess champ Bobby Fischer’s Cold War career BY APRIL SNELLINGS
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he spirit of chess legend and full-tilt head case Bobby Fischer has loomed over at least a couple of excellent fi lms, including Steve Zaillian’s 1993 drama Searching for Bobby Fischer and the 2011 documentary Bobby Fischer Against the World. Forty-three years after his history-making triumph at the World Chess Championship of 1972, though, Fischer has yet to receive the biopic treatment. At fi rst glance, his is the kind of story that easily lends itself to a gauzy Hollywood distillation: Fischer was a Brooklyn-raised high-school dropout who went on to defeat the world’s greatest chess players, becoming the fi rst American world chess champion of the 20th century (and only the third in history). But the biggest deterrent to making a Fischer biopic has probably always been Fischer himself. His genius on the chessboard was undeniable, but he was so consumed by paranoia and misanthropic rage that he once used his airtime on a
Philippine radio show to express his delight at the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Pawn Sacrifice, the new movie from Glory director Edward Zwick, edges closer to biopic territory than any dramatized account of Fischer’s life so far, but its focus is squarely— and perhaps wisely—centered on the classic 1972 match in Reykjavík that pitted him against Soviet chess grandmaster Boris Spassky (played by an icy Liev Schreiber, who steals large swaths of the movie). The task of bringing Fischer to life falls to Tobey Maguire, who at fi rst seems ill-suited to play the lanky, lupine prodigy. Maguire, who was instrumental in getting the fi lm made, mostly rises to the challenge, only occasionally getting too caught up in Fischer’s twitchy idiosyncrasies and Brooklyn accent. Pawn Sacrifice picks up the story mid-meltdown, in 1972, with Fischer tearing apart his Iceland lodgings in a search for the listening devices he imagines to be planted in the furnish-
ings. From there, we flash back to Fischer’s troubled boyhood—it’s suggested that his mental illness is rooted in mommy issues—and his tumultuous rise through the ranks of high-level chess competition. The movie only skims over these fascinating stretches in its hurry to get where it’s really going: the emblematic face-off between the American Fischer and the Soviet Spassky in a match that catapulted chess, however briefly, to the frontlines of pop culture. Zwick and screenwriter Steven Knight take great pains to frame the story not only against the backdrop of the Cold War but as a battlefield of the war itself, making it clear that, as far as the two countries are concerned, there’s far more at stake than a chess title. The fi lm gains considerable momentum as it narrows its focus and closes in on the 1972 tournament, with Fischer growing more unpredictable and unstable with each successive triumph. By the time the big match arrives, Fischer is by turns insufferably arrogant and cripplingly paranoid, and even Spassky begins to lose his iceberg composure. Pawn Sacrifice’s true forerunners, then, aren’t movies that deal with the legacy of Bobby Fischer, or even movies about chess. Its real DNA comes from stories about geniuses who are ultimately undone by their own minds. It borrows major beats from both
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A Beautiful Mind and The Aviator, so it feels very familiar at times. The pacing is measured and unhurried, and Zwick’s direction is deliberate and mostly precise, though he clutters up key sequences with choppy editing and distracting sound design in an attempt to convey Fischer’s mental deterioration. Those gimmicks only siphon away some of the tension that has been so carefully built—oddly enough, two guys staring at a chessboard can be remarkably nerve-racking and cinematic, and there are moments of Pawn Sacrifice that absolutely crackle. It’s also bolstered by some standout performances; besides Schreiber and Maguire, there are great turns by Peter Sarsgaard as Fischer’s coach and confidant and Michael Stuhlbarg as his politically motivated attorney. In the end, Pawn Sacrifice succeeds not so much as a movie about chess but as a movie about the Cold War, and about the ugly fallout of ideological warfare. Consider it a dark counterpoint to the similarly themed but altogether more upbeat Miracle, another movie about a game that took on tremendous symbolic significance in the long and murky wake of the Red Scare. Pawn Sacrifice skims over the more troubling aspects of Fischer’s life, but it’s clear on at least one point: that the people and entities who benefit from an ideological victory are rarely the ones who actually do the dirty work of winning it. ◆ October 1, 2015
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MUSIC
Thursday, Oct. 1 GENERATION OF VIPERS WITH BASK AND O’POSSUM • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Hailing from the Appalachian mountains of East Tennessee, Generation of Vipers are a band that has always operated outside the normal trappings of “extreme” or “heavy” music. Coffin Wisdom displays the bands most focused and realized album to date. Consisting of 7 tracks of noisy and visceral music that at times borders on the Amphetamine Reptile days of yore, yet simultaneously harnesses a maturity and spiritual awareness to it that is hard to pin down. All ages. • $8 CALEB HAWLEY • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Harlem-based Caleb Hawley is an American soul singer and songwriter originally hailing from Minneapolis. Often compared to the classic sounds of early Stevie Wonder as well as savvy throwback crooners like Mayer Hawthorne or Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Hawley comes from a family of preachers and therapists, complimenting both his on-stage charisma and perceptive witty lyrics. CHRISTIAN LEE HUTSON • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • Americana from L.A. • FREE THE LACS • Cotton Eyed Joe • 9PM • Debuting at #3 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart with their fourth studio album, Outlaw In Me, The LACS will be performing their catchy new single, “Rooster” as well as “God Bless a Country Girl,” from their new album. $10 MARBLE CITY SHOOTERS • Market Square • 7PM • FREE MUDDY RUCKUS • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM • Muddy Ruckus consists of guitarist and songwriter Ryan Flaherty (a former resident of Knoxville) and suitcase percussionist/ vocalist Erika Stahl. The stripped down power duo blends haunting male/female vocals, rootsy guitar and edgy percussion on a suitcase drum kit. • FREE NEUROSIES • Red Piano Lounge • 8PM SHIMMY AND THE BURNS WITH LAUREN FARRAH AND THE SINGING BUTCHER • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $3 THE SHOTGUN RUBIES • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE THE THIRST QUENCHERS • Mind Yer Ps and Qs Craft Beer and Wine Lounge • 8PM • The Ps and Qs house band. VACATIONIST LEAGUE • Pilot Light • 9PM • Knoxville jazz-folk duo Vacationist League will perform Thursday, Oct.1 at the Pilot Light. 18 and up. • $5 WORDS LIKE DAGGERS WITH FOREVER AND NEVER • Longbranch Saloon • 9PM Friday, Oct. 2 ARMAGEDDON WITH ASCENSION, SCENT OF REMAINS, AND A MARCH THROUGH MAY • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Melodic death metal legion Armageddon, featuring former Arch Enemy guitarist Christopher Amott, will be touting tunes from their Captivity & Devourment full-length, issued earlier this year via Listenable Records. BETTER DAZE • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 10PM THE BLACK LILLIES WITH MARGO AND THE PRICE TAGS AND ELECTRIC DARLING • MARKET SQUARE • 5 P.M. • The Black Lillies recorded their new album, Hard to Please, in Nashville with producer Ryan Hewitt (Avett Brothers, Johnny Cash), recruiting a handful of ace session players, including Band of Horses bassist Bill Reynolds and guitarist Daniel Donato. Hewitt’s mantra was “tougher and tighter,” as they plugged away to work out the best studio takes. And the results exemplify that hard work, from the 24
KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 1, 2015
sizzling chamber-folk of “Broken Shore,” a song Lillies frontman Cruz Contreras wrote about his grandfather, a World War II veteran at Iwo Jima, to the soaring hard-rock guitar-solo coda of “That’s the Way It Goes Down.” The band will celebrate the release date with a free show at Market Square on Friday, Oct. 2—the perfect low-key end to a turbulent half-year for the band. • FREE THE BLIND OWL BAND WITH KEVIN GORDON • 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 KEITH BROWN • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM BRIAN CLAY • St. John’s Lutheran Church • 5:30PM • Inspirational jazz for First Friday. • FREE EMANCIPATOR ENSEMBLE, WAX TAILOR • The International • 9PM • Midnight Voyage LIVE: Presented By Midnight Voyage Productions & WUTK 90.3. 18+. • $17-$20 FREEQUENCY • Blackhorse Pub and Brewery • 9PM • Acoustic Americana trio. FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE HARBOR WITH STEPFATHERS • Longbranch Saloon • 9PM AMYTHYST KIAH WITH THIS MOUNTAIN • Scruffy City Hall • 11PM J. LUKE • Bearden Field House • 9PM • FREE MISS TESS AND THE TALKBACKS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • Infused with classic country and honky-tonk, southern blues, New Orleans jazz and swing, and sounds of swamp pop and early rock n’ roll, Miss Tess and her band take pride they are able to blend so many different styles of American roots music and call it their own. • FREE THE MOUNTAIN GOATS • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • $20 • See Spotlight. ANNA ROBERTS-GEVALT AND ELIZABETH LAPRELLE • Laurel Theater • 8PM • Anna Roberts-Gevalt and Elizabeth LaPrelle have immersed themselves in the work of old masters, playing on porches and in kitchens, staying up all night to learn just one more song. Their music has evolved—raw, sparse ballads, sweet lullabies, driving fiddle tunes and banjo songs, home music where less is more. It’s a throwback, honoring the cultural and musical heritage from the hollows and old-time musicians gone but not forgotten. • $13-$14 SELUAH • Preservation Pub • 8PM • Seluah (members of Rachel’s, Boom Bip, People Noise) perform at Preservation Pub Oct. 2 in support of its new album, Phase III. 21 and up. DAVE SLACK TRIO • Pero’s on the Hill • 7PM • Instrumental and vocal jazz standards. IAN THOMAS AND THE BAND OF DRIFTERS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Performing both solo and with a band, Thomas draws on a variety of American roots influences, delivering a captivating raw live performance and distinctive sound from his original compositions on guitar, harmonica and kazoo. JONATHAN TYLER • The Bowery • 9PM • $7-$10 THE VIBRASLAPS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $5 WENDEL WERNER • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM WOODY PINES • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • Country swing from Nashville. • FREE WRAY WITH OFFING • Pilot Light • 10PM • $5 Saturday, Oct. 3 JOHN CALVIN ABNEY AND LEVI PARHAM • 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 ALL THE LITTLE PIECES • Longbranch Saloon • 9PM WILL BOYD • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM
Photo by Lissa Gotwals
CALENDAR
Thursday, Oct. 1 - Sunday, Oct. 11
THE MOUNTAIN GOATS Bijou Theatre (803 S. Gay St.) • Friday, Oct. 2 • 8 p.m. • $20 • knoxbijou.com
For most of the 1990s, the Mountain Goats were John Darnielle, on acoustic guitar, and whichever of his friends Darnielle could convince to play with him. Darnielle recorded straight to a Panasonic boombox, giving his songs—terse, archly clever, and hyperliterate accounts of troubled kids growing up and settling down—a sense of frankness and intimacy that seemed especially valuable in that decade. Albums like Zopilote Machine and All Hail West Texas earned him critical praise and a cult following. Since 2002, the Mountain Goats have gradually become a full band, with Darnielle joined by bassist Peter Hughes and drummer Jon Wurster. Darnielle remains the principle songwriter, but the band’s sound has changed, too—subtly but dramatically. The lo-fi basement-quality immediacy of The Coroner’s Gambit has been traded in for elegant chamber pop, often featuring piano and strings. The band’s latest album, Beat the Champ, is a masterpiece of this refined approach; it’s a moving, mournful, graceful meditation on death and loss, told through the framework of 13 songs about professional wrestling. (In 2014, Darnielle demonstrated that his literary skills aren’t limited to songwriting—his debut novel, Wolf in White Van, was nominated for the National Book Award.) (Matthew Everett)
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Spotlight: Bully
CALENDAR CYPHER: A HIP-HOP SHOW • The Birdhouse • 9PM • Open mic for the first half of the night, then two featured artists to close out the night. 18 and up. • $5 MATT FOSTER • Preservation Pub • 8PM • 21 and up. • FREE FOUR LEAF PEAT • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • Knoxville’s finest purveyors of traditional Irish music. • FREE FULL METAL OCTOBER • The Bowery • 9PM • Featuring Belfast 6 Pack, Bent to Break, Farewell to Kings, and Shadowed Self. • $5-$9 MENDINGWALL • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 6PM • $5 NUTHIN’ FANCY • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 10PM PAGEANT • Preservation Pub • 10PM • Pageant has the heart of a painter, the mind of a tailor, and the soul of an astronaut tumbling home with a starlit guitar. Derek Porter’s rich, contemplative voice and guitar intermingles with his sister Erika’s lilting vocals and guitar to create a lush tapestry of moving and playful music.21 and up. PERPETUAL DEMENTIA • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM THE RERUNS • Pero’s on the Hill • 7PM • Knoxville’s premier TV band plays your favorite television themes. THE ROYAL BANGS WITH ZACH AND KOTA’S SWEET LIFE • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM BEN SHUSTER • Bearden Field House • 9PM • FREE SPACEFACE • Scruffy City Hall • 10PM • Psychedelic jams. Sunday, Oct. 4 JILL ANDREWS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM • Jill Andrews began her music career in 2004 by co-founding the alt-country group, the everybodyfields. After releasing three albums and touring the country with the band, she decided to make a go of it on her own. And in 2009, she released her self titled EP, followed up with the full-length album, The Mirror in 2011. FLY GOLDEN EAGLE WITH CLEAR PLASTIC MASKS • Pilot Light • 10PM • You’ll hear the stomp-heavy drama of T.Rex and the swirling colors, and textures of The Doors. A growl of punk rock mixed effortlessly with the choral echoes of the gospel church. 18 and up. • $7 THE JOE MOORHEAD BAND • Preservation Pub • 10PM • Mellow island music. 21 and up. • $3 SHIFFLETT AND HANNAH • The Bistro at the Bijou • 12PM • Live jazz. • FREE DAVE SLACK TRIO • Pero’s on the Hill • 1PM • Live jazz. SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH • Downtown Grill and Brewery • 12:45PM • Knoxville’s coolest jazz artists perform every Sunday. • FREE Monday, Oct. 5 THE BLIND OWL BAND • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Adirondack freight train string music, aka northern hard driving contemporary exploratory bluegrass. BULLY • Pilot Light • 9PM • Nashville pop-punk and garage rock. 18 and up. • $10 • See Spotlight. ERICK STRICKLAND AND THE B SIDE • 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, Oct. 6 FERAL CONSERVATIVES • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $3 MATT A. FOSTER • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Foster plays a mountain banjo, harmonica, and the sole of his boot. It’s live, simple, and earnest. MATT HECTORNE • 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, Oct. 7 TENNESSEE SHINES: THE BARSTOOL ROMEOS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7PM • East Tennessee’s own honky-tonk heroes The Barstool Romeos return to our show for real country that deserves a cheap bourbon whiskey chaser. • $10 PETER FRAMPTON • Niswonger Performing Arts Center (Greeneville) • 7:30PM • Following his summer co-headlining run with American rock legends Cheap Trick, Peter Frampton is back on the road, this time performing an acoustic only set for the first time ever. • $50-$150 KATY FREE AND WENDEL WERNER • Red Piano Lounge • 8PM 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 TIFFANY HUGGINS GRANT • 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 KJO JAZZ LUNCH • The Square Room • 12PM • On the first Wednesday of every month, Knoxville Jazz Orchestra presents Jazz Lunch. Every month we will bring you a new performance to serenade you with a mix of classical and modern Jazz music. The schedule includes a tribute to Gene Harris with pianist Keith Brown (Oct. 7); Spirko & Boyd play the music of the Adderley Brother(Nov. 4); a tribute to Woody Shaw with Alex Norris (Dec. 2); Kayley Farmer sings the Rodgers and Hart songbook (Jan. 6); a tribute to Ethel Waters with Tamara Brown (Feb. 3); a tribute to Ahmad Jamal with Justin Haynes (March 2); and Mike Baggetta plays Patsy Cline (April 6). • $15 THE BROCK MCGUIRE BAND • Pellissippi State Community College • 7PM • The Brock McGuire Band is fronted by Paul Brock and Manus McGuire, joined by Garry O’Meara and Denis Carey. The group’s repertoire includes mostly Irish music, but sprinkles in arrangements of old-time American, bluegrass, French-Canadian and other Celtic musical traditions. • FREE SPIRITS AND THE MELCHIZEDEK CHILDREN • Pilot Light • 9PM • 18 and up. • $5 TELEGRAPH CANYON • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Psychedelic indie rock from Fort Worth, Texas. All ages. • $8 Thursday, Oct. 8 DAVID BENEDICT AND MICHAEL MOORE WITH GRASS2MOUTH • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE THE GRAND AFFAIR • Longbranch Saloon • 8PM HOLY GHOST TENT REVIVAL • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Holy Ghost Tent Revival’s exhilarating live show has uplifted audiences since the band formed in 2007. For the past eight years, they have been honing their unique sound, which NPR describes as that of a “soul-rock horn band that recalls 60s and 70s classic-rock influences such as The Band and The Flying Burrito Brothers, contemporary indie-rock acts like Dr. Dog, and New Orleans brass-band jazz.” SEEPEOPLES • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. SISTER SPARROW AND THE DIRTYBIRDS WITH KOA AND HOOTS AND HELLMOUTH • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM THE THIRST QUENCHERS • Mind Yer Ps and Qs Craft Beer and Wine Lounge • 8PM • The Ps and Qs house band. WENDEL WERNER • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM WILL YAGER TRIO • Red Piano Lounge • 8PM Friday, Oct. 9 THE BAREFOOT MOVEMENT WITH SEAN COSTANZA • WDVX October 1, 2015
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CALENDAR • 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 BLACK JACKET SYMPHONY: BACK IN BLACK • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • The Black Jacket Symphony offers a unique concert experience through recreating classic albums in a live performance setting. A selected album is performed in its entirety by a group of handpicked musicians specifically selected for each album, with no sonic detail being overlooked--the musicians do whatever it takes to musically reproduce the album. The performance is separated into two sets. The first set features the album being recreated as a true symphonic piece. The second set, which features a selection of the album artist’s “greatest hits,” opens in full contrast to the first set with an incredible light display and the symphony being much more laid back. • $28 JOHNNY CAMPBELL AND THE BLUEGRASS DRIFTERS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • • FREE CROBOT WITH SKYTOWN RIOT AND LUMINOTH • The Concourse • 9PM • There was a time when rock radio was dominated by great riffs. It was all about that unmistakable guitar sound that instantly identified a band or song. The four members of Crobot have united to bring that back. 18 and up. • $8 THE DEAD RINGERS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $5 JASON ELLIS • Bearden Field House • 9PM • • FREE FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early
Thursday, Oct. 1 - Sunday, Oct. 11
jazz and more. • FREE GREEN RIVER ORDINANCE • The Square Room • 8PM • The title of Fifteen, Green River Ordinance’s first studio album in three years, has a dual meaning for the hard-working quintet. In addition to marking the fifteen years that have passed since the five bandmates first began making music together, fifteen was also the average age of the band members when the group formed. • $12-$15 GRIZ WITH BIG WILD AND LOUIE LASTIC • The International • 9PM • Today at age 24, GRiZ (Grant Kwiecinski) is already being hailed as visionary. On March 31st, he released Say It Loud via his All Good Records imprint, a follow-up to its more funk-step predecessors, Rebel Era and Mad Liberation. Presented by Midnight Voyage Productions and WUTK. 18 and up. • $15-$40 GUY MARSHALL • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Adam and Sarrenna McNulty have been a staple in Knoxville’s Americana scene for the past five years. Armed with an infectious stage presence and an earnest arsenal of songs that touch on themes of whiskey and wallowing, the pair, backed by a rotating cast of musicians, have played gigs that range from providing a soundtrack to beer-soaked attendees of Knoxville’s Brewer’s Jam to securing a spot on the main stage of this year’s Rhythm N’ Blooms festival. HUDSON K WITH BARK AND LITTLE WAR TWINS • Pilot Light • 10PM • 18 and up. • $5 K-TOWN MUSIC • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 10PM JAMEL MITCHELL • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM PROGTOBERFEST • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 7PM • A night of local and regional prog rock, with Maps
Need Reading, Expeditions, Colors In Mind, Lines Taking Shape and White Stag. All ages. • $10 THE SAINT FRANCIS BAND • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • • FREE DAVE SLACK TRIO • Pero’s on the Hill • 7PM • Instrumental and vocal jazz standards. TUATHA DEA • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM Saturday, Oct. 10 WILL BOYD • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM CUMBERLAND STATION • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM DELTA MOON • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE DIRTY SOUL REVIVAL • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 6PM • $5 ANDREW ELLIS WITH THE SAINT FRANCIS BAND • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-aweek lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE FOREVER ABBEY ROAD: A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Forever Abbey Road is a group of five professional musicians in Nashville who perform the music of the Beatles with sincere gratitude, heart and accuracy. Forever Abbey Road’s fun and exciting live show features a wide variety of songs from the Beatles’ entire career. • $10 GREAT PEACOCK WITH ANNABELLE’S CURSE • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $5 AMY LAVERE • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • • FREE PUJOL WITH LEFT AND RIGHT • Pilot Light • 10PM •
Nashville garage rock. 18 and up. • $6 THE RERUNS • Pero’s on the Hill • 7PM • Knoxville’s premier TV band plays your favorite television themes. THE SAINT FRANCIS BAND • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • The Saint Francis Band was officially founded in 2009 in Macon, Ga, but relocated to Athens, Ga in 2010. TSFB is a crossover Americana group with a wide range of influences. TSFB is centered around strong vocal performance, lyrical content, and well delivered music composition that creates the unmistakable sound that is The Saint Francis Band. BEN SHUSTER • Bearden Field House • 9PM • • FREE RICK SPRINGFIELD • Niswonger Performing Arts Center (Greeneville) • 7:30PM • Rick Springfield’s first love has always been music, a lifelong passion ignited after picking up his first guitar at the age of 12 in his native Australia. With 25 million records sold, a Grammy Award for his No. 1 smash-hit “Jessie’s Girl,” and whopping 17 Top-40 hits, Springfield has no intention of taking his foot off the accelerator. • $50-$60 STARLIT WITH DJ PRYMETIME AND DJ A-WALL • The International • 9PM • Nashville independent rapper. 18 and up. THE JASON STINNET BAND • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 10PM Sunday, Oct. 11 ALHHAL WITH YAIRMS AND STRYPLEPOP • Pilot Light • 9PM • $5 BUTCHER BABIES WITH NEKROGOBLIN, INVIOLATE, AND WARCLOWN • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 6PM • Hailing from the City Of Angels, the Butcher Babies offer
Ye Olde Steak House Since 1968
Food fit for a King.
Voted Knoxville’s Best Steak 20 years in a row RESERVATIONS:
865-577-9328 •
CARRY OUT:
865-250-3724
HOURS: Sun-Thurs 4-9, Fri-Sat 4-9:30
Please call for special hours for UT home games 6838 CHAPMAN HIGHWAY 5 miles south of the Henley Street bridge
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 1, 2015
CALENDAR redemption from the overplayed underground, exorcising demons with a visceral sound matched only in scope by their explosive stage show. Frontwomen Carla Harvey and Heidi Shepherd, guitarist Henry Flury, bassist Jason Klein and drummer Chris Warner juxtapose brutal, aggressive riffs with beautiful melodies that wail with anguish and hope for redemption. All ages. • $12 JOSEPH HITCHCOCK • The Longbranch •9PM THE DAVID MAYFIELD PARADE WITH HANNAH ALDRIDGE • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM PALE ROOT • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM • Pale Root has quietly settled into its own spot in Knoxville’s crowded Americana scene—intimate, confessional music grounded in tradition. At various times, the duo’s music recalls Neil Young, Jackson Browne, the Everly Brothers, and the Avett Brothers. ANNI PIPER • Preservation Pub • 10PM SAFE IN SOUND FESTIVAL • The International • 9PM • Featuring Datsik, Zomboy, Terravita and Ookay. 18 and up. SHIFFLETT AND HANNAH • The Bistro at the Bijou • 12PM • Live jazz. • FREE DAVE SLACK TRIO • Pero’s on the Hill • 1PM • Live jazz. SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH • Downtown Grill and Brewery • 12:45PM • Knoxville’s coolest jazz artists perform every Sunday. • FREE
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
OPEN MIC AND SONGWRITER NIGHTS
Friday, Oct. 9 RETRO DANCE NIGHT • Hanna’s Old City • 9PM • 80s and Top 40 hits with DJ Ray Funk. KILL THE NOISE OCCULT CLASSIC TOUR • NV Nightclub • 9PM • Presented by Disco Donnie and Ultimo Productions.
Friday, Oct. 2 DJEMBETRONICS DRUM CIRCLE • The Birdhouse • 9PM
Sunday, Oct. 4 NATIVE AMERICAN FLUTE CIRCLE • Ijams Nature Center • 4PM • Meets the first Sunday of the month. All levels welcome. Call Ijams to register 865-577-4717 ext.110. Tuesday, Oct. 6 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 OPEN CHORD SINGER/SONGWRITER NIGHT • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • All original music performed by the songwriters themselves, and presented in the round. The songwriters night is booked and hosted by Writers Block radio program host, Singer Songwriter, Karen E. Reynolds. Wednesday, Oct. 7 TIME WARP TEA ROOM OLD-TIME JAM • Time Warp Tea Room • 7PM • Regular speed old-time/fiddle jam every Wednesday from 7-9 p.m. at the Time Warp Tea Room. All instruments and skill levels welcome. BRACKINS BLUES JAM • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM • A weekly open session hosted by Tommie John. • FREE Thursday, Oct. 8 SCOTTISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Held on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month. • FREE BREWHOUSE BLUES JAM • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM Friday, Oct. 9 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
Saturday, Oct. 10 MUMBILLY OLD TIME SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 4PM • Bring an instrument, but definitely watch out in case there’s some Mumbillies there. • FREE
DJ AND DANCE NIGHTS Friday, Oct. 2 RETRO DANCE NIGHT • Hanna’s Old City • 9PM • 80s and Top 40 hits with DJ Ray Funk.
Saturday, Oct. 3 RETRO DANCE NIGHT • Hanna’s Old City • 9PM • 80s and Top 40 hits with DJ Ray Funk. TEMPLE DANCE NIGHT • The Concourse • 9PM • Knoxville’s long-running alternative dance night. 18 and up. • $5 Sunday, Oct. 4 LAYOVER BRUNCH • The Concourse • 12PM • Brunch food by Localmotive. Music on the patio. Presented by Midnight Voyage Productions. All ages. • FREE
Saturday, Oct. 10 RETRO DANCE NIGHT • Hanna’s Old City • 9PM • 80s and Top 40 hits with DJ Ray Funk. Sunday, Oct. 11 LAYOVER BRUNCH • The Concourse • 12PM • Brunch food By Localmotive. Music on the patio. Presented by Midnight Voyage Productions. All ages. • FREE
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Thursday, Oct. 1 UT SYMPHONIC BAND, CONCERT BAND, AND WIND ENSEMBLE CONCERT • University of Tennessee Alumni Memorial Building • 8PM • FREE Friday, Oct. 2 KSO POPS SERIES: CLASSICAL NIGHT FEVER • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • Bust out your bell-bottoms, put on your platform shoes, and come to the Tennessee Theatre for the ultimate disco tribute! A three-piece funk band joins the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra for the most scintillating sounds of the 1970s including “Car Wash,” “Stayin’ Alive,” “Disco Inferno,” and “Y.M.C.A.” Sunday, Oct. 4 CHRIS WILSON, DALE CLARK, AND LAUREN SCHACK CLARK • University of Tennessee Natalie L. Haslam Music Center • 4PM • A guest artist recital featuring Chris Wilson (trumpet), Dale Clark (bassoon), and Lauren Schack Clark (piano). • FREE Monday, Oct. 5 NEW MORSE CODE • University of Tennessee Natalie L. Haslam Music Center • 8PM • New Morse Code is devoted to bold and engaging performances of music worth sharing. Omnivorous, rigorous and inventive, Hannah Collinsand Michael Compitello activate the unexpected range and unique sonic world of cello and percussion to October 1, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 27
CALENDAR catalyze and champion the compelling works of young composers.To Hannah and Michael, collaboration involves drawing upon mutual influences while generating and refining material together over an extended period of time. Through close work with colleagues such as pianist-composer Paul Kerekes, steel pan virtuoso and composer Andy Akiho, Hawaiian composer and visual artist Tonia Ko, and Pulitzer Prize-winning violinist/ vocalist/composer Caroline Shaw, New Morse Code generates a singular and personal repertoire which reflects both their friends’ creative voices and their own perspectives. Current projects include collaborations with composers Samuel Carl Adams, Matthew Barnson, Patrick van Deurzen, Stephen Gorbos, and Robert Honstein. • FREE Tuesday, Oct. 6 TRILLUM • Clayton Center for the Arts • 7PM • An ensemble of strings and piano. • FREE Friday, Oct. 9 KNOXVILLE OPERA: ‘MEFISTOFELE’ • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • The timeless story of Faust, who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for youth and love. • $21-$99 Sunday, Oct. 11 KNOXVILLE OPERA: ‘MEFISTOFELE’ • Tennessee Theatre • 2:30PM • The timeless story of Faust, who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for youth and love. • $21-$99
THEATER AND DANCE Thursday, Oct. 1
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 1, 2015
Thursday, Oct. 1 - Sunday, Oct. 11
KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: THE LITTLE MERMAID • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • In a magical underwater kingdom, the beautiful young mermaid Ariel longs to leave her ocean home - and her fins - behind and live in the world above. But first she’ll have to defy her father King Triton, make a deal with the evil sea witch Ursula, and convince the handsome Prince Eric that she’s the girl whose enchanting voice he’s been seeking. Sept. 18-Oct. 4. Visit www.childrenstheatreknoxville.com. • $12 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘OF MICE AND MEN’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7:30PM • This classic follows two migrant workers during the 1930s dustbowl depression who drift from job to job across the farms and fields of California, holding fast to their friendship and dream of one day having an acre of land they can call their own. Sept. 30-Oct. 18. BROADWAY AT THE TENNESSEE: THE ILLUSIONISTS • Tennessee Theatre • 7:30PM • The Illusionists has shattered box office records worldwide and thrilled audiences of all ages with a mind-blowing spectacular showcasing the jaw-dropping talents of five of the most incredible illusionists on earth. • $37-$77 MARYVILLE COLLEGE THEATRE: DANGEROUS DISTORTIONS • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 8PM • For Maryville College Theatre’s fall main stage production, guest artist Doug James will direct two one-act plays: “Stonewater Rapture” by Doug Wright and “The Most Massive Woman Wins” by Madeleine George. Oct. 1-4. Visit www. claytonartscenter.com. • $10 Friday, Oct. 2
KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: THE LITTLE MERMAID • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 3PM • Sept. 18-Oct. 4. Visit www.childrenstheatreknoxville.com. • $12 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘OF MICE AND MEN’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7:30PM • Sept. 30-Oct. 18. MARYVILLE COLLEGE THEATRE: DANGEROUS DISTORTIONS • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 8PM • Oct. 1-4. Visit www.claytonartscenter.com. • $10
Visit www.claytonartscenter.com. • $10 OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: THE ADVENTURES OF NATE THE GREAT • Oak Ridge Playhouse • 2PM • Oct. 3-4. Visit orplayhouse.com. Wednesday, Oct. 7 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘OF MICE AND MEN’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7:30PM • Sept. 30-Oct. 18.
Saturday, Oct. 3 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: THE LITTLE MERMAID • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 1PM and 5PM • Sept. 18-Oct. 4. Visit www.childrenstheatreknoxville.com. • $12 OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: THE ADVENTURES OF NATE THE GREAT • Oak Ridge Playhouse • 1PM and 4PM • Who is Nate the Great? Why, he is none other than the sharpest kid detective ever to solve his neighborhood’s mysteries! Oct. 3-4. Visit orplayhouse.com. CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘OF MICE AND MEN’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7:30PM • Sept. 30-Oct. 18. MARYVILLE COLLEGE THEATRE: DANGEROUS DISTORTIONS • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 8PM • Oct. 1-4. Visit www.claytonartscenter.com. • $10
Thursday, Oct. 8 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘OF MICE AND MEN’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7:30PM • Sept. 30-Oct. 18.
Sunday, Oct. 4 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: THE LITTLE MERMAID • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 3PM • Sept. 18-Oct. 4. Visit www.childrenstheatreknoxville.com. • $12 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘OF MICE AND MEN’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 2PM • Sept. 30-Oct. 18. MARYVILLE COLLEGE THEATRE: DANGEROUS DISTORTIONS • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 2PM • Oct. 1-4.
COMEDY AND SPOKEN WORD
Friday, Oct. 9 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘OF MICE AND MEN’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7:30PM • Sept. 30-Oct. 18. Saturday, Oct. 10 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘OF MICE AND MEN’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7:30PM • Sept. 30-Oct. 18. Sunday, Oct. 11 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘OF MICE AND MEN’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 2PM • Sept. 30-Oct. 18.
Sunday, Oct. 4 UPSTAIRS UNDERGROUND COMEDY • Preservation Pub •
Thursday, Oct. 1 - Sunday, Oct. 11
8PM • A weekly comedy open mic. Monday, Oct. 5 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. Free, but donations are accepted. • FREE Tuesday, Oct. 6 OPEN MIC STAND-UP 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
CALENDAR
cover charge, all are welcome. Aspiring or experienced comics interested in joining in the fun email us at longbranch.info@gmail.com to learn more, or simply come to the show a few minutes early. • FREE EINSTEIN SIMPLIFIED • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM • Einstein Simplified Comedy performs live comedy improv at Scruffy City Hall. It’s just like Whose Line Is It Anyway, but you get to make the suggestions. Show starts at 8:15, get there early for the best seats. No cover. • FREE
numerous television appearances. • $30-$45 Sunday, Oct. 11 UPSTAIRS UNDERGROUND COMEDY • Preservation Pub • 8PM • A weekly comedy open mic.
FESTIVALS
Thursday, Oct. 1 RACHEFF GARDENS’ ANNUAL FALL FLOWER BULB SALE • Historic Ivan Racheff House and Gardens • 9AM • Historic Ivan Racheff House and Gardens’ annual sale will feature high quality Holland Bulbs including many varieties of daffodils and tulips, crocus, rock garden and Dutch iris, hyacinths, allium, anemone, paper whites, and many others including several suitable for forcing for early blooms. Sales will benefit maintenance of the gardens. • FREE EAST TENNESSEE PEACE AND JUSTICE CENTER SOCIAL FUNDRAISER • Sunspot • 5PM • Learn more about the East Tennessee Peace and Justice Center. Meet and talk with members of the Knoxville Homeless Collective, the Knox County Incarceration Collective, and representatives of The Amplifier newspaper. Sunspot is providing complimentary hor d’oeuvres and drinks will be available for purchase. Tickets are $20 per person $15 for students and can be purchased at etnpeaceandjustice.org. • $20
Thursday, Oct. 8 KATHLEEN MADIGAN • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • In her 22 year career, Kathleen Madigan has never been hotter. With her new Showtime special, “Gone Madigan,” in constant rotation and the DVD-CD of the special topping the Amazon and iTunes charts, Madigan has the entire year booked with over 100 theater gigs across the country and
Photo by Pooneh Ghana
BULLY Pilot Light (106 E. Jackson Ave.) • Monday, Oct. 5 • 9 p.m. • $10 • 18 and up • thepilotlight.com
For a record of fuzzy, three-chord garage rock, Bully’s Feels Like sounds really good. The Nashville pop-punk/garage band opts for clarity and precision over sloppy lo-fi charm on its debut album, released in June. And it’s no surprise—singer Alicia Bognanno studied audio engineering at Middle Tennessee State University before completing an internship at Steve Albini’s famed Electrical Audio studios in Chicago, where Feels Like was recorded. It’s not just recording quality that pushes Feels Like to the top of Nashville’s crowded heap of nouveau garage-rock bands. On the new album, Bognanno and her partners—guitarist Clayton Parker, bassist Reece Lazarus, and drummer Stewart Copeland (no, not that one)—attach pop hooks and sweet harmonies to big riffs, landing in a particular sweet spot where the best parts of the Pretenders, the Pixies, Weezer, and the Runaways come together. And Bognanno is the band’s not-so-secret weapon, a ferocious frontwoman with pipes and a songwriting approach that ranges from confrontational to confessional, and sometimes manages to mix both together at the same time. With Heat and Mare Vita. (Matthew Everett)
Friday, Oct. 2 RACHEFF GARDENS’ ANNUAL FALL FLOWER BULB SALE • Historic Ivan Racheff House and Gardens • 9AM • FREE KNOX HERITAGE SALVAGE SHOW • Knox Heritage Salvage Shop • 5PM • Knox Heritage’s annual Salvage Show, held at the Salvage Shop, will showcase unique and creative ways architectural salvage can be used in art and design, all while benefiting Knox Heritage’s mission of historic preservation in the Knoxville region. All pieces will be available to purchase through a silent auction at this First Friday event. The wood shop and artist studios at the Salvage Shop will also be open, and refreshments and wine will be provided. WINE ON THE WATER • Volunteer Landing • 5:30PM • Wine on the Water is an evening of tasting great wine and wonderful food on the Volunteer Landing waterfront. Wine novices and wine experts alike will enjoy sipping on the wide variety of domestic and international wines available. Enjoy a variety of food from some of East Tennessee’s best restaurants and eateries. Along with delicious food and wine pairings, guests are treated to entertainment and a beautiful waterside night Saturday, Oct. 3 RACHEFF GARDENS’ ANNUAL FALL FLOWER BULB SALE • Historic Ivan Racheff House and Gardens • 9AM • FREE HISTORIC RUGBY HERITAGE DAYS • Historic Rugby • 10AM • Celebrate the history and culture of Appalachian families who settled the Rugby region with a family friendly day filled with demonstrations and crafters. For more information about Historic Rugby and our events, please visit our website at www.historicrugby.org. You may also call (423) 628-2441 or email rugbyeducation@highland.net. MUGGLECON 2015 • Barnes & Noble • 10AM • A celebration of all things Harry Potter, timed to the release of the much-anticipated Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: Illustrated Edition. Barnes & Noble will be partnering with local area non-profit Transfiguring Adoption to raise funds and donations of books such as Harry Potter to stock their Foster Care Kits. • FREE Sunday, Oct. 4 HISTORIC RUGBY HERITAGE DAYS • Historic Rugby • 10AM • October 1, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 29
CALENDAR Celebrate the history and culture of Appalachian families who settled the Rugby region with a family friendly day filled with demonstrations and crafters. For more information about Historic Rugby and our events, please visit our website at www.historicrugby.org. You may also call (423) 628-2441 or email rugbyeducation@highland.net. MUGGLECON 2015 • Barnes & Noble • 11AM • A celebration of all things Harry Potter, timed to the release of the much-anticipated Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: Illustrated Edition. Barnes & Noble will be partnering with local area non-profit Transfiguring Adoption to raise funds and donations of books such as Harry Potter to stock their Foster Care Kits. • FREE Tuesday, Oct. 6 NATIONAL NIGHT OUT EVENT • Edgewood Park • 6PM • Please join the Edgewood Park Neighborhood Association and Cavett Station Chapter, NSDAR, as we honor Knox County Police, Fire, Rural Metro/EMS, and local veterans for their service to our community and country. Vietnam Veterans in attendance will be honored as part of the United States Vietnam War Commemoration. Fulton High School JROTC will present the colors. Refreshments will be served and all are invited. • FREE Thursday, Oct. 8 BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS CASH FOR KIDS’ SAKE • The Foundry • 5:30PM • This event will serve as a fundraiser event for Big Brothers Big Sisters with a reverse raffle and silent auction. The last ticket drawn will receive the grand prize of $15,000; the next to last ticket, $1,500. The $250 ticket admits two guests and includes two drink
Thursday, Oct. 1 - Sunday, Oct. 11
tickets and dinner. • $250 Friday, Oct. 9 TENNESSEE FALL HOMECOMING • Museum of Appalachia • Come and visit the most extensive and authentic gathering of old-time musicians and pioneer-type craftspeople in the country. The three-day Homecoming is one of the nation’s largest and most authentic music and folk festivals. Each day, musicians perform on five stages, filling the air with traditional mountain, folk, bluegrass, Gospel, and old-time country tunes. The weekend includes demonstrations of pioneer skills, a large craft fair with authentic Appalachian artisans, and traditional Southern foods. For more information, call 865-494-7680 or visit www.museumofappalachia.org. CLINCH RIVER ANTIQUE FESTIVAL • Historic Downtown Clinton • The Anderson County Chamber of Commerce will be sponsoring the Clinch River Antique Festival in Historic Downtown Clinton. The Festival will kick off with a “Kick-Off Party” on Friday, October 9th from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Market Street antique and specialty stores will be open and there will be entertainment and food. On Saturday, October 10th, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., more than 80 antique dealers and artisans will line Market and Cullom Streets. There is free admission and parking. For more information, call 865-457-2559 or visit www. clinchriverfallfestival.com. Saturday, Oct. 10 TENNESSEE FALL HOMECOMING • Museum of Appalachia • Come and visit the most extensive and authentic gathering of old-time musicians and pioneer-type
craftspeople in the country. For more information, call 865-494-7680 or visit www.museumofappalachia.org. CLINCH RIVER ANTIQUE FESTIVAL • Historic Downtown Clinton • The Anderson County Chamber of Commerce will be sponsoring the Clinch River Antique Festival in Historic Downtown Clinton. The Festival will kick off with a “Kick-Off Party” on Friday, October 9th from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Market Street antique and specialty stores will be open and there will be entertainment and food. On Saturday, October 10th, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., more than 80 antique dealers and artisans will line Market and Cullom Streets. There is free admission and parking. For more information, call 865-457-2559 or visit www. clinchriverfallfestival.com. MARKET IN THE MOUNTAINS FALL ARTS AND CRAFTS FESTIVAL • Smith Life Center • 10AM • Over 25 arts and crafts vendors. Donations will be accepted for the Angel Wings Memory Gowns Organization, which will be on hand selling goods to raise money to send their memory gowns to hospitals and families all over the United States. • FREE Saturday, Oct. 11 TENNESSEE FALL HOMECOMING • Museum of Appalachia • Come and visit the most extensive and authentic gathering of old-time musicians and pioneer-type craftspeople in the country. For more information, call 865-494-7680 or visit www.museumofappalachia.org.
FILM SCREENINGS
Sunday, Oct. 4 THE PUBLIC CINEMA: VOILÀ L’ENCHAÎNEMENT • Knoxville Museum of Art • 2PM • Voilà l’enchaînement is a series of monologues and conversations performed by Norah Krief and Alex Descas, who portray a mixed-race couple whose relationship begins, welcomes children, and disintegrates violently, all within the span of thirty minutes. Formally, it’s unlike anything director Claire Denis has done before. Voilà l’enchaînement is a bitter and pensive exploration of commonplace racism. With Matías Piñeiro’s short film “The Princess of France.” • FREE Monday, Oct. 5 THE BIRDHOUSE WALK-IN THEATER • The Birdhouse • 8:15PM • A weekly free movie screening. • FREE Wednesday, Oct. 7 SCRUFFY CITY CINE-PUB • Scruffy City Hall • 7PM • Free Wednesday movie screenings. • FREE Friday, Oct. 9 MOVIES ON MARKET SQUARE • Market Square • 7PM • Bring a blanket or a lawn chair and join hundreds of others under the stars for a night of family fun in front of the silver screen. Every Friday night from September 11 through October 16, Market Square transforms into an outdoor movie theater where folks bring their chairs, blankets and picnic baskets. Screenings: 9/18 Rio (G, 2011), 9/25 Night at the Museum (PG, 2006), 10/2 NO MOVIE Black Lillies Concert, 10/9 Hotel Transylvania (PG, 2012), 10/16 A League of their Own (PG, 1992). • FREE
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The Gentle Barn is a place of refuge for creatures of all kinds— humans as well as animals. Come out and visit the farm, meet our animals, and hear their stories. Rediscover kindness and compassion through them. We’re open to the public every Saturday and we look forward to meeting you soon!
There’s never been a better time to “go public.”
Register today at www.gentlebarn.org/tennessee OPEN SATURDAYS 11-1 / SCHOOL FIELD TRIPS / BIRTHDAY PARTIES / PRIVATE TOURS / SPECIAL NEEDS GROUPS 30
KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 1, 2015 WUOT_Ad_5.5x4.25_WhyWUOT_KnoxMerc.indd 1
9/7/15 9:52 AM
Thursday, Oct. 1 - Sunday, Oct. 11
SPORTS AND RECREATION
Thursday, Oct. 1 WHOLE FOODS GAME NIGHT • Whole Foods • 6PM • Join us for everything from Candy Land to chess, and feel free to add a pint and a pizza. • FREE Tuesday, Oct. 6 WHOLE FOODS GAME NIGHT • Whole Foods • 6PM • Join us for everything from Candy Land to chess, and feel free to add a pint and a pizza. • FREE Thursday, Oct. 8 WHOLE FOODS GAME NIGHT • Whole Foods • 6PM • Join us for everything from Candy Land to chess, and feel free to add a pint and a pizza. • FREE Friday, Oct. 9 KTC HANN JIVIN’ IN THE DARK TRAIL RACE • Urban Wilderness • 7PM • One of the main architects and benefactors of the Urban Wilderness is Brian Hann, who as President of the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club not only helped mastermind design of much of the corridor but generously allows easement to many miles of trail that ramble about his private land. Although the course will be unusually well marked, it will not be illuminated, so runners will be required to carry a flashlight or wear a headlamp. • $5
ART
A1LabArts 23 Emory Place OCT. 2-16: Chakra Windows, the fall member exhibit, featuring artwork by Preston Farabow, Doris Ivie, Norman Magden, Seva, and more. An opening reception will be held on Friday, Oct. 2, from 6-10 p.m., with presentations and performances by the artists starting at 8 p.m. A closing reception will be held on Friday, Oct. 16, from 6-9 p.m. Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts 556 Parkway (Gatlinburg) AUG. 29-OCT. 31: Materialities: Contemporary Textile Art; SEPT. 11-NOV. 7: Time, a collaborative exhibit of ceramic work by Blair Clemo and Jason Hackett. Art Market Gallery 422 S. Gay St. SEPT. 28-NOV. 1: Paintings by Marie Merritt and pottery by Millie Derrick. An opening reception will be held on Friday, Oct. 2, from 5:30-9 p.m. Bliss Home 29 Market Square AUG. 7-SEPT. 30: The Lake House, paintings by Kate Moore. A First Friday reception will be held on Friday, Sept. 4, from 6-9 p.m.
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mixed-media work by Marta Goebel-Pietrasz and Pat Clapsaddle.
Wharton. On display by appointment. An opening reception will be held on Friday, Oct. 2, from 7-9 p.m.
Clayton Center for the Arts 502 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville OCT. 3-31: Townsend Artisan Guild: A Sense of Place. An opening reception will be held on Friday, Oct. 9, from 6-9 p.m.; a closing reception will be held on Friday, Oct. 30, from 6-9 p.m.
Striped Light 107 Bearden Place OCT. 9: Knoxville Book Arts Guild Gallery Show (5PM)
The District Gallery 5113 Kingston Pike OCT. 2-31: In My View, new oil paintings by Bill Suttles. An opening reception will be held on Friday, Oct. 2, from 5-8 p.m. Downtown Gallery 106 S. Gay St. OCT. 2-31: Artwork by sculptor and installation artist Lorrie Fredette and painter Larry Brown. An opening reception will be held on Friday, Oct. 2, from 5-9 p.m. 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. OCT. 2-30: Tennessee Artists Association Fall Juried Show; Tennessee River: Gem of the South, photographs by Ron Lowery; sculpture by Anna Wszyndybyl; Letters From Vietnam Project; Vols: A 25-Year Retrospective, photographs by Patrick Murphy-Racey. An opening reception will be held on Friday, Oct. 2, from 5-9 p.m. Envision Art Gallery 4050 Sutherland Ave. SEPT. 5-30: The Love of Art, featuring work by members of the Tennessee Artist Association. Ewing Gallery 1715 Volunteer Blvd. OCT. 5-31: infra_eco_logi urbanism, an exhibition of speculative urban design. An opening reception will be held on Monday, Oct. 5, at 5:30 p.m. Knoxville Museum of Art 1050 World’s Fair Park Drive AUG. 21-NOV. 8: The Paternal Suit, paintings, prints, and objects by conceptual artist F. Scott Hess. ONGOING: Higher Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in Tennessee; Currents: Recent Art From East Tennessee and Beyond; and Facets of Modern and Contemporary Glass. Liz-Beth and Co. 7240 Kingston Pike SEPT. 28-OCT. 24: Knoxville: A Work of Art, featuring Knoxville’s urban landscapes in work by Jillie Eves, Sandy Brown, Jim Gray, Caitlin Painter, Rex Redd, and David Patterson.
Broadway Studios and Gallery 1127 Broadway OCT. 2-28: Artwork by members of the Fountain City Art Center. An opening reception will be held on Friday, Oct. 2, from 5-9 p.m.
McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture 1327 Circle Park Drive SEPT. 11-JAN. 3: E mbodying Enlightenment: Buddhist Art of the Himalayas. Ongoing: The Flora and Fauna of Catesby, Mason, and Audubon and Life on the Roman Frontier.
Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge 461 W. Outer Drive SEPT. 5-OCT. 1: Five Corners, photographs and
Zach Searcy Projects 317 N. Gay St. OCT. 2-31 • Phantom Buoy, new paintings by Thomas
Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church 2931 Kingston Pike SEPT. 11-DEC. 3: An exhibit of artwork by TVUUC members. YWCA 420 Clinch Ave. OCT. 2: YWCA First Friday Reception, featuring artwork by survivors of domestic violence and other community members. Part of the YWCA’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
LECTURES, READINGS, AND BOOK SIGNINGS
Thursday, Oct. 1 ARTIST LECTURE: LORRIE FREDETTE • University of Tennessee Art and Architecture Building • 7:30PM • Lorrie Fredette creates site-specific investigations that examine beauty, harmony and comfort to comprehend the incomprehensible aspects of infection, pandemic and plague. • FREE Friday, Oct. 2 UT SCIENCE FORUM • Thompson-Boling Arena • 12PM • The Science Forum is a weekly brown-bag lunch series that allows professors and area scientists to discuss their research with the general public in a conversational presentation. For more information about the UT Science Forum, visit http://scienceforum.utk.edu. • FREE Saturday, Oct. 3 BANNED BOOK READ OUT • Blount County Public Library • 11AM • The Blount County Public Library joins with other libraries around the country, along with publishers, broadcasters and booksellers, in recognizing Banned Books Week. The Read Out will showcase selections from works that have been frequently banned or challenged. For further information about library programs or services, call the library at 982-0981 or visit the Web site at www.blountlibrary.org • FREE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE PREGAME SHOWCASE LECTURE SERIES • McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture • 5PM • Football fans are invited to hear from some of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s exceptional faculty during the 26th annual College of Arts and Sciences Pregame Showcase. Topics include the last days of American space flight, discoveries in southeastern archeology and sleep health. For more about the Pregame Showcase, visit http://pregameshowcase.utk. edu. • FREE
Monday, Oct. 5 WRITERS IN THE LIBRARY: NANCY REISMAN • University of Tennessee • 7PM • Nancy Reisman is the author of the novels Trompe L’Oeil and The First Desire, a New York Times Notable book, and the short story collection House Fires, recipient of the Iowa Short Fiction Award. Visit library.utk.edu/writers for a complete schedule of readings for the 2015-2016 academic year.The reading will be in the Hodges Library auditorium. • FREE Tuesday, Oct. 6 October 1, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 31
CALENDAR
Thursday, Oct. 1 - Sunday, Oct. 11
KRISTA WIEGAND: ‘SEMESTER AT SEA: KRISTA’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE’ • Howard H. Baker Center for Public Policy • 11AM • Wiegand is a Baker Faculty Fellow and an associate professor of political science at UT. In the Baker Center Reading Room. • FREE EDDY FALLS: “DEITY YOGA AND METAPHYSICS IN TIBETAN BUDDHISM” • McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture • 5:15PM • Dr. Eddy Falls, of the University of Tennessee Philosophy Department, will give the lecture, “Deity Yoga and Metaphysics in Tibetan Buddhism.” He will discuss Buddhist philosophy in relation to the objects in Embodying Enlightenment: Buddhist Art of the Himalayas. • FREE
KIDS’ EVENTS
Thursday, Oct. 8 SUSAN TALLMAN • University of Tennessee Art and Architecture Building • 7:30PM • The UT Print Club is hosting renowned art critic Susan Tallman for a lecture. • FREE
Friday, Oct. 2 SMART TOYS AND BOOKS ART CLASS • Smart Toys and Books • 10AM • Mommy, Daddy & Me Art Classes are every Friday at 10:00am & 11:00am. Reservations and payment are required in advance. Class fees are non-refundable. Ages 2+. • $10
Friday, Oct. 9 UT SCIENCE FORUM • Thompson-Boling Arena • 12PM • The Science Forum is a weekly brown-bag lunch series that allows professors and area scientists to discuss their research with the general public in a conversational presentation. For more information about the UT Science Forum, visit http://scienceforum.utk.edu. • FREE
FAMILY AND
Thursday, Oct. 1 BABY BOOKWORMS • Lawson McGee Public Library • 11AM • For infants to age 2, must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. • FREE CHESS AT THE LIBRARY • Blount County Public Library • 1PM • Middle and high school students (or any age) are invited to play chess. Tom Jobe coaches most Saturdays in the Teen Central area of the library. On one Saturday of every month, there will be a rated tournament at the Blount County Public Library. • FREE
Saturday, Oct. 3 CHESS AT THE LIBRARY • Blount County Public Library • 10AM • Middle and high school students (or any age) are invited to play chess. Tom Jobe coaches most Saturdays in the Teen Central area of the library. On one Saturday of every month, there will be a rated tournament at the Blount County Public Library. • FREE SATURDAY STORIES AND SONGS • Lawson McGee Public Library • 11AM • A weekly music and storytelling session for kids. • FREE GENTLE BARN TOUR • The Gentle Barn • 11AM • Come visit
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 1, 2015
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the second Gentle Barn, home to Dudley, Worthy, Indie and Chris. You will get to watch Gentle Barn rescue videos and shop at our gift store. Sunday, Oct. 4 GIRLS OUTSIDE HIKE AT CONCORD PARK FOR GRADES 4-6 • Concord Park • 1PM • Let’s look for the first signs of fall coming to Concord Park! We’ll be looking for early fall colors and late season wildflowers, and scanning the water and skies for birds with our binoculars. This hike and bird walk will be on October 4, 1-4 pm, for girls in grades 4-6.All hikers must be pre-registered for this FREE hike by Wednesday, September 30th. Please register your hikers at www.girlsoutside.org. • FREE Monday, Oct. 5 MUSICAL MORNINGS • Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge • 10AM • This activity is designed for toddlers and their caregivers. Children can explore tone, melody, and rhythm in an age-appropriate environment. Singing and dancing are encouraged. Musical Mornings also are free with paid admission or museum membership. http:// childrensmuseumofoakridge.org/musical-mornings/ SMART TOYS AND BOOKS STORYTIME • Smart Toys and Books • 11AM • Storytime with Miss Helen is every Monday at 11:00am. No charge. No reservations required. • FREE Tuesday, Oct. 6 TODDLERS’ PLAYTIME • Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge • 10AM • Toddlers’ Playtime is designed for children aged 4 and younger, accompanied by their parents, grandparents, or caregivers. Little ones have an opportunity to
play with blocks, toy trains, and puppets; they can “cook” in the pretend kitchen, dig for dinosaurs, and look at books. The adults can socialize while the children play. Free with paid admission or museum membership. http:// childrensmuseumofoakridge.org/toddlers-playtime/ PRE-K READ AND PLAY • Lawson McGee Public Library • 11AM • Pre-K Read and Play is a pilot program specifically designed to prepare children to enter kindergarten. While the format of the program will still feel like a traditional storytime with books, music, and other educational activities, each weekly session will focus on a different standard from the Tennessee Department of Education’s Early Childhood/Early Learning Developmental Standards. • FREE EVENING STORYTIME • Lawson McGee Public Library • 6:30PM • An evening storytime at Lawson McGhee Children’s Room to include stories, music, and crafts. For toddlers and up. • FREE Wednesday, Oct. 7 BABY BOOKWORMS • Lawson McGee Public Library • 10:20AM • For infants to age 2, must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. • FREE PRESCHOOL STORYTIME • Lawson McGee Public Library • 11AM • For ages 3 to 5, must be accompanied by an adult. • FREE Thursday, Oct. 8 BABY BOOKWORMS • Lawson McGee Public Library • 11AM • For infants to age 2, must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. • FREE CHESS AT THE LIBRARY • Blount County Public Library •
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Call now for personal attention to your case by John Neal, Knoxville’s Legal Eagle. 1-844-BE-WISE2 • 865-312-9135 • NealLawFirmKnoxville.com
Thursday, Oct. 1 - Sunday, Oct. 11
1PM • Middle and high school students (or any age) are invited to play chess. Tom Jobe coaches most Saturdays in the Teen Central area of the library. On one Saturday of every month, there will be a rated tournament at the Blount County Public Library. • FREE Friday, Oct. 9 SMART TOYS AND BOOKS ART CLASS • Smart Toys and Books • 10AM • Mommy, Daddy & Me Art Classes are every Friday at 10:00am & 11:00am. Reservations and payment are required in advance. Class fees are non-refundable. Ages 2+. • $10 Saturday, Oct. 10 CHESS AT THE LIBRARY • Blount County Public Library • 10AM • Middle and high school students (or any age) are invited to play chess. Tom Jobe coaches most Saturdays in the Teen Central area of the library. On one Saturday of every month, there will be a rated tournament at the Blount County Public Library. • FREE SATURDAY STORIES AND SONGS • Lawson McGee Public Library • 11AM • A weekly music and storytelling session for kids. • FREE GENTLE BARN TOUR • The Gentle Barn • 11AM • Come visit the second Gentle Barn, home to Dudley, Worthy, Indie and Chris. You will get to watch Gentle Barn rescue videos and shop at our gift store. KIDS IN ACTION! • Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge • 12:30PM • Exercise guru Leah Chance will lead games and learning activities about nutrition and health choices. There will also be a scavenger hunt. These classes are free with paid admission or museum membership. For more information visit http://childrensmuseumofoakridge. org/imagination-station-intersession-camps/ or call 482-1074. ANTI-BULLYING SEMINAR • Gracie Barra Jiujitsu • 9AM • Our coach, Samuel Braga, will be showing techniques that will help kids not only be able to defend themselves, but also build their self-confidence. • FREE KIDS IN ACTION! • Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge • 10:30AM • Exercise guru Leah Chance will lead games and learning activities about nutrition and health choices. There will also be a scavenger hunt. These classes are free with paid admission or museum membership. For more information visit http://childrensmuseumofoakridge. org/imagination-station-intersession-camps/ or call 482-1074.
CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS
Thursday, Oct. 1 AARP DRIVER SAFETY COURSE • Second Presbyterian Church • 9AM • For more information, call (865) 382-5822. GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. PORTRAIT AND LIFE DRAWING CLASSES • Historic Candoro Marble Company • 2PM • Call Brad Selph for more information 865-573-0709. • $10 BELLY DANCE LEVELS 1 AND 2 • Knox Dance Worx • 8PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance.com. • $12 Saturday, Oct. 3 IMPROV COMEDY CLASS • The Birdhouse • 10AM • A weekly improv comedy class. • FREE KNITTING WORKSHOP • Marble Springs State Historic Site • 10AM • At this workshop, guests will be knitting their
CALENDAR
very own basket weave scarf and be taught some basic knitting skills such as knit, purl, and casting on and off. The techniques demonstrated will be in the continental style of knitting which is both right and left hand friendly. • $20 PAMELA SCHOENEWALDT: “FRICTION: WRITING ABOUT REAL PEOPLE” • Central United Methodist Church • 10AM • Bestselling author Pamela Schoenewaldt’s first novel, When We Were Strangers was a USA Today Bestseller and a major book club pick. Her third novel, Under the Same Blue Sky, was released in May. Her interactive writing workshops inspire writers of all genre and stages. For more information about her, visit http://pamelaschoenewaldt.com.To register for the workshop, visit www. knoxvillewritersguild.org/events. • $40 Sunday, Oct. 4 SERENITY YOGA • Illuminations Alternative and Holistic Health • 3:30PM • Call 985-788-5496 or email sandylarson@yahoo.com. • $15 Monday, Oct. 5 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 5:30PM • Call 865-5772021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. TENANTS’ RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS WORKSHOP • Blount County Public Library • 7PM • The workshop will be presented entirely in Spanish, and is offered through a community outreach partnership by Legal Aid of East Tennessee (LAET) and BCPL. Legal topics to be addressed include: the Eviction Process, Detainer Court, Repairs to Property, and Security Deposits. There will be time for questions and answers at the end of the presentation. For more information, call LAET’s Maryville office at (865) 981-1818, ext. 1600, or LAET’s Spanish Hotline at (866) 408-6573. • FREE Tuesday, Oct. 6 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. YOGA WITH SUBAGHJI • The Birdhouse • 5:15PM Wednesday, Oct. 7 FLOW AND GO YOGA • Illuminations Alternative and Holistic Health • 12:15PM • Call 985-788-5496 or email sandylarson@yahoo.com. • $10 MOUNTAIN BIKING BASICS • REI • 7PM • Join REI Mountain Bike experts to learn about the bikes, essential gear, safety & responsibility on the trail, basic bike maintenance and more. Registration required at www.rei. com/knoxville. • FREE BELLY DANCING CLASS • Illuminations Alternative and Holistic Health • 7PM • Call 985-788-5496 or email sandylarson@yahoo.com. • $15 Thursday, Oct. 8 AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Church Street United Methodist Church • 9AM • Call (865) 382-5822. AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Karns Senior Center • 11:30AM • Call (865) 382-5822. GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. PORTRAIT AND LIFE DRAWING PRACTICE SESSIONS • Historic Candoro Marble Company • 2PM • Life drawing practice session. Call Brad Selph for more information 865-573-0709. • $10 BACKPACKING BASICS II: WHAT’S IN YOUR PACK? • REI • 7PM • So you have your backpack loaded with all the
necessary items for your next backpacking trip. Still think you might be carrying too much? Join REI for this small group session on how to cut weight and tailor your gear to best suit your needs. Registration required at www.rei. com/knoxville. • FREE BELLY DANCE LEVELS 1 AND 2 • Knox Dance Worx • 8PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance.com. • $12 Friday, Oct. 9 AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Church Street United Methodist Church • 9AM • Call (865) 382-5822. AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Karns Senior Center • 11:30AM • Call (865) 382-5822. YOGA AND QI-GONG BASICS • Shanti Yoga Haven • 6PM Saturday, Oct. 10 MPROV COMEDY CLASS • The Birdhouse • 10AM • A weekly improv comedy class. • FREE BOOKBINDING DEMONSTRATIONS • Striped Light • 10AM • Knoxville Book Arts Guild will join the Gilded Leaf Bindery to offer bookbinding demonstrations. • FREE Sunday, Oct. 11 SERENITY YOGA • Illuminations Alternative and Holistic Health • 3:30PM • Call 985-788-5496 or email sandylarson@yahoo.com. • $15
MEETINGS
Thursday, Oct. 1 OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS • Recovery at Cokesbury • 5:30PM • This is an OA Literature Meeting. After a short reading from a book, members may share their experience, strength and hope. • FREE ATHEISTS SOCIETY OF KNOXVILLE • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 5:30PM • Weekly atheists meetup and happy hour. Come join us for food, drink and great conversation. Everyone welcome. • FREE KNOXVILLE WRITERS’ GUILD • Laurel Theater • 7PM • The Knoxville Writers’ Guild is proud to showcase several of its 2015 writing contest winners at the Thursday, Oct. 1 meeting. A $2 donation is requested at the door.Out of the many entries received, 14 writers were selected for recognition in the 2015 KWG writing contests. Several will read their winning entries at the meeting. The Knoxville Writers’ Guild congratulates all its 2015 contest winners and expresses its thanks to all who participated. A complete list of winners is available at www. knoxvillewritersguild.org. • $2 Saturday, Oct. 3 AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Visit our local website at farragutalanon.org or email us at FindHope@ Farragutalanon.org. • FREE SEEKERS OF SILENCE • Church of the Savior United Church of Christ • 8:30AM • Seekers of Silence, Church of the Savior, 934 N. Weisgarber Road, 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 3. Sister Marie Moore, RSM, will speak on “The Spirituality of End of Life Issues.” SOS is an ecumenical and interfaith group. All are welcome. Meetings are open to the public at no charge. Website: sosknoxville.org. • FREE Sunday, Oct. 4 SILENT MEDITATION SUNDAYS • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 11AM • For more information contact Mitzi Wood-Von Mizener at 865-497-3603 or community@narrowridge.org. • FREE
Open Chord®
Live
Knoxville’s BEST live music venue 6 nights a week! THURSDAY Oct. 01 8pm / $8
Generation Of Vipers, Bask & O’Possum ( DOOM METAL )
FRIDAY Oct. 02 8pm / $10
Armageddon ft. Chris Amott ( Ex-Arch Enemy ), Ascension, Scent of Remains & More ( METAL )
SATURDAY Oct. 03 8pm / $7
Rock Rage Radio Showcase w/ Perpetual Dementia & more ( ROCK )
8502 KINGSTON PIKE (865) 281-5874 openchordmusic.com
Monday, Oct. 5 GAY MEN’S DISCUSSION GROUP • Tennessee Valley October 1, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 33
CALENDAR 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. Wednesday, Oct. 7 COMITE POPULAR DE KNOXVILLE • The Birdhouse • 7PM • A weekly meeting of the local immigrant advocacy organization. Thursday, Oct. 8 OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS • Recovery at Cokesbury • 5:30PM • This is an OA Literature Meeting. After a short reading from a book, members may share their experience, strength and hope. • FREE ATHEISTS SOCIETY OF KNOXVILLE • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 5:30PM • Weekly atheists meetup and happy hour. Come join us for food, drink and great conversation. Everyone welcome. • FREE Friday, Oct. 9 PUBTALKS: FAITH AND SCIENCE • Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church • 7PM • Young adults in their 20’s and 30’s are invited to PubTalks, a free event on Friday, October 9 from 7-9 p.m. Join others for an engaging, casual conversation on faith and science. Robin Zimmer, Ph.D., and a panel of experts, will unpack this topic and address common questions that often stump us. “How did we get here?â€? “When did we get here?â€? and “Why are we here?â€? How does the Bible answer those questions? How do science textbooks answer them? Seasonal refreshments will be served and childcare is available by
Thursday, Oct. 1 - Sunday, Oct. 11
reservation for children through fifth grade. • FREE Saturday, Oct. 10 AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Al-Anon’s purpose is to help families and friends of alcoholics recover from the effects of living with the problem drinking of a relative or friend. Visit our local website at farragutalanon.org or email us at FindHope@ Farragutalanon.org. • FREE Sunday, Oct. 11 SILENT MEDITATION SUNDAYS • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 11AM • For more information contact Mitzi Wood-Von Mizener at 865-497-3603 or community@narrowridge.org. • FREE
ETC.
Thursday, Oct. 1 NEW HARVEST PARK FARMERS MARKET • New Harvest Park • 3PM • FREE Friday, Oct. 2 LAKESHORE PARK FARMERS’ MARKET • Lakeshore Park • 3PM • FREE UNION COUNTY FARMERS MARKET • Maynardville • 4PM • More info call Union Co. Extension Office at 865-9928038. • FREE Saturday, Oct. 3 OAK RIDGE FARMERS’ MARKET • Historic Jackson Square • 8AM
SEYMOUR FARMERS MARKET • Seymour First Baptist Church • 8AM MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 9AM • FREE Tuesday, Oct. 4 EBENEZER ROAD FARMERS’ MARKET • Ebenezer United Methodist Church • 3PM • FREE Wednesday, Oct. 5 MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 11AM • FREE
life well.� • $14 KNOXVILLE SQUARE DANCE • Laurel Theater • 8PM • Jubilee Community Arts presents Knoxville Square Dance with live old-time music by The Helgramites and calling by Stan Sharp, Ruth Simmons and Leo Collins. No experience or partner is necessary and the atmosphere is casual. (No taps, please.) • $7
Send your events to calendar@knoxmercury.com
Thursday, Oct. 8 NEW HARVEST PARK FARMERS MARKET • New Harvest Park • 3PM • The New Harvest Park Farmers Market will be open every Thursday through November from 3 to 6 p.m. The market features locally-grown produce, meats, artisan food products, plants, herbs, flowers, crafts and much more. • FREE THE DAILY TIMES COOKING SHOW AND EXPO • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 6PM • The Daily Times brings back Chef Jon Ashton. Chef Ashton’s philosophy is â€? ‌I don’t use fancy food terms because I believe food is food. It’s calm like the sound of a mother’s voice, and effortless like the silent dialogue between couples in love. It’s as comforting as your favorite pair of faded jeans. Food is expressive like Van Gogh’s masterpieces and unadulterated like a child’s laugh. Fully naked, it is simple, provocative and needs no pretense. I believe cooking is not just about cooking, it’s about living. My ‘RECIPES FOR LIFE’ make cooking synonymous with living
2543 SUTHERLAND AVE. 865-523-9177 dive@skiscuba.com
Take a break om winter in the Cari ean! Join us on a group dive trip to Cozumel— the world’s #1 drift diving destination. FEB. 6 - 13 Space is limited. Call for details!
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 1, 2015
HOLLY DAY!
Architecturals
A vibrant district along Central Street and Broadway.
Visit Downtown North
MAKE EVERY DAY A
Architectural Antics Art & Antiques
FALL IS FOR FIRE PITS!
consistently voted
’ 12pm-6pm Wed-Fri 10am-5pm Sat
842 N. Central Ave 851-7854
12pm-5pm Sun 865.414.4838 or 865.696.7777
Artist: Doc Cooper
820 N. Broadway • Knoxville TN www.architecturalantics.com
1020 N. Broadway 865-971-3983 www.sainttattoo.com
x MADELINE
AVAILABLE FOR PRIVATE PARTIES!
hollyseventfuldining.com
B E N E F I T $1 from each item sold
will go directly to the foundation
FLATBREAD PIZZA
URBAN wilderness flat broccoli, brussel sprouts, green cabbage, kale, chicory and garlic sauteed in balsamic vinegar on a hand tossed flat, topped with olive oil & feta cheese *Additional $2 for choice of meat
PANINI
CAPRESE PANINI Prosciutto, fresh mozzarella and roma tomatoes with a homemade italian dressing
1204 N Central St.
Knoxville, TN
37917
865.247.0392
October 1, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 35
FOOD
UT STUDENT ART IN THE LIBRARY EXHIBIT
Sips & Shot s
FIRST PRIZE
“Literary Lion” by Stacy Sivinski SECOND PRIZE
AARON THOMPSON, OWNER
“Life in a Thousand Words” by Olivia Lichterman THIRD PRIZE
“Nook of the Snail” by Chet Guthrie
A Dashing Decade
PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD
“Literary Lion” by Stacy Sivinski
Sapphire celebrates 10 years of spirited nightlife BY ROSE KENNEDY
M KNOXVILLE MERCURY JUDGE’S PRIZE
“Curvy” by Megan White (pictured above)
View all the winners at the Hodges Library or learn more at lib.utk.edu/artinlibrary
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 1, 2015
ade to last. Sapphire A Modern Bar and Restaurant celebrated its 10th anniversary with a big bash Sept. 18. Walking up the sidewalk, I couldn’t help but remember their one-time neighbor, Arby’s. The spot is now home to the polished Five Bar, attracting more suits and little black dresses and foodies, but back then it drew in downtown fast-food seekers and a couple of transients sipping slow cups of coffee. With either neighbor, this year or 2005, Sapphire has kept up its mannerly, citified, rimmed-with-sparkle approach. Lots of polish, nice low lights, that hip table in the front window, an insistence on proper dress from its nightlife patrons. Sapphire is still here, still vibrant, just like its shimmering blue signage and signature drink. Who hasn’t wondered how that $350 Sapphire
Martini would taste, with its 2.2-ounce natural-cut blue sapphire served with Bombay Sapphire Gin? Owner and operator Aaron Thompson says they’ve always sold 40 or 50 of those over the years, usually in pairs. He started at Sapphire as an opening bartender, was promoted to bar manager, and became owner/ operator in November 2008. Since I had him reminiscing, I went ahead and asked him for 10 favorites, one for each year of business: 1. Favorite celebrity sightings: Vince Vaughn, Peyton Manning 2. Favorite event held at Sapphire: 10-year anniversary party! 3. Favorite story about nine-year Sapphire bartender Amie Snyder: “We’ve been to New York, Chicago, Las Vegas and New Orleans together for research and development over the years. We get into lots of trouble!” 4. A good myth about Sapphire:
ghosts in the basement vaults 5. A favorite martini from the old days: The 501 PM, with Patron Café, caramel syrup, a dash of cream, and a chocolate-covered espresso bean 6. A favorite martini from the past few months: Smoke Signals, with Los Nahuales mezcal, Ancho Reyes, blueberry syrup, pineapple juice 7. Favorite dinner menu item: Sapphire Cheeseburger 8. Favorite appetizer: truffle fries 9. First patron he ever served: Sam Maynard 10. Favorite martini recipe he’ll give out:
Locked & Loaded BY AMIE SNYDER 1 oz Bulliet Bourbon .5 oz Benedictine Liqueur .5 oz Sipsmith Sloe Gin 3 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters In a rocks glass or a whiskey glass, add a large rock of ice then one ounce of Bulliet Bourbon, a half ounce Benedictine, a half ounce Sipsmith Sloe Gin, and three dashes of Regan’s Orange Bitters. Next, stir the cocktail with a cocktail spoon for a good five turns to mix up the liqueur. Finally, shave off a small piece of orange rind for the garnish. “This is definitely a nice boozy sipping cocktail!” Thompson says.
Knoxville
SongwriterS in the Soul House Series P R E S E N T S
T H E
sponsored by Lost & Found Records F E A T U R I N G
Wednesday October 23 6pm • FREE
Jim Mize with
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Laurie Stirratt (Blue Mountain)
aaaa aaaaa
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November 4
FINAL SHOW OF THE 2015 SEASON FEATURING
Randall Bramblett plus hosts Tim & Susan Lee 3725 Maryville Pike • Knoxville, TN 37920 • (865) 247-7748 • www.sweetpbbq.com October 1, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 37
’BYE
Sacred & P rofane
Stairway to Heaven A chance reunion of a lost marriage BY DONNA JOHNSON
I
t is late October on Gay Street, in Knoxville. He sees her leaning against a red cane on which yellow butterflies have been painted. The woman is wearing a paisley bandanna around her white hair. From her neck flows a long scarf of the palest yellow. It is his former wife, love of his life and most bitter enemy. She looks up and sees him watching her. “Well, hello you,” she says. “It’s been awhile, hasn’t it?” “Seven years,” Karoly says. “It’s been exactly seven years.” She flings the yellow scarf around her neck and he remembers when they were first together in his small apartment at Summit Towers, how she would fling her multi-colored scarves in exactly the same way and sing out, “I am the queen of the gypsies!” Weaving the scarf around him, pulling him close, then pushing him away, she would cast her spell on him. “How could it be that we have gone so long without speaking, Ava?” he asks her sadly. “I remember when we couldn’t go an hour without calling one another or meeting.’ “I remember, too,” she says. Through the mist underneath the yellow streetlight, Ava reaches out to touch Karoly’s face, as if she had
waited an interminable time to do so. In fact, this was true, though she did not realize it until now. He touches her hand on his face and they have a moment of perfect union as they remember a shared past. She takes his hand and kisses it. Young couples coming out of Suttree’s look at them strangely. Ava laughs softly. “Look at how they look at us,” she says, “as though we are ancient relics from a shipwreck right here on Gay Street for young people to stop and stare at. When you’re young you think that getting old is something that only happens to other people.” “But we are only 70,” Karoly says. “When you are 25, 70 seems ancient—someone to be pitied. Look at all the advertisements—creams to hide your age lines, lotions to make you look 10 years younger overnight. How many people are advertising products like, ‘Miracle Age—A Cream Guaranteed to Add 10 Years of Wrinkles to Your Face by Morning.’” They laugh together at this, and Karoly says ruefully, “But look at the bright side: We could get the senior breakfast for only $3.35 at the Krystal if we are there before 10.” “Well, one of our fights could age me more than 10 years. In 30 minutes
BY MATTHEW FOLTZ-GRAY
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 1, 2015
or less,” she says. Karoly puts his arm around Ava’s shoulders. A cloud covers the moon and it is very dark save for the orange tips of the cigarettes that pass from their fingertips to their lips. “You want to go to the steps?” Karoly asks. The long white steps at the LMU law library was always their special place. “Of course,” says Ava, leaning against the arm he offers gallantly. They reach the law library and its expansive white steps, which lead up to grand columns at the top. “Stairway to heaven,” Ava says, and they sing the closing line of the song in tin-ear harmony. “When I used to call you to ask if you wanted to meet for a shot of whiskey, you would arrive all dressed up with two crystal wine glasses. In the middle of the night!” Karoly exclaims. “I was amazed every time. Nobody ever did that for me before.” “I would have gone on doing it forever,” says Ava, and they wonder silently what went wrong. The beginning of the relationship was like a dream, where everything is known and understood. They had sat long hours in his apartment with the Hungarian flag on the wall, telling secrets. His escape from Communism, her escape from drug addiction in New York City. Their longing of someone who understood them, their finding it in each other. Days and nights running into each other. His night-time weeping over the massacre of thousands of Hungarians. Listening
to Omega, a Hungarian rock band that also brought on tears. Sharing dreams—his dream of owning his own restaurant again, her dreams of traveling to Africa. Dancing cheek to cheek as Al Green sang “Let’s Stay Together,” and vowing that they would. They did not. There were jealousies over imagined betrayals, and imagined betrayal is no less anguished than the real thing. Bitter accusations, then passionate reconciliations. At difficult times, they wondered if it was worth it. It was. But the heart grows weary and gives in, lets go at the very instant it should have hung on one more time. The two former lovers huddle closer together as the fall wind begins to blow. A helicopter flies noisily overhead, taking someone to the hospital to face either death and departure from the planet, or to a renewal of life. Who decides which way it will go? “I’d better be going now,” Ava says, though she doesn’t know why. She has nothing to do. “Of course,” says Karoly, in his courteous way, though he doesn’t know why either. He is as idle as Ava, He holds his hand out to help her get up and they walk slowly back toward Gay Street. Ava makes a quick turnabout. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” she says, puffing on her cigarette and looking at him with a spark in her eyes. “Yes, dear,” he says tenderly. “You got any whiskey?” she asks and they laugh together.
’BYE “In fact I do,” he says, pulling out a decorative flask and handing it to her. She takes a swig and the warm liquid runs down her throat, flowing to the bottom of her toes. She had been sober for the last six years. Now she wonders why. She passes it back to Karoly, and as he drinks, all the years apart seemed to vanish and they are once again newlyweds. “Do you remember after we went to the courthouse and got married, how you put the marriage license on the mantle and said, ‘We’re married, we’re married,’ over and over. And then we danced and drank champagne?” Ava asks. “You were so proud.” “I remember everything,” says Karoly, his eyes wet. “And how I woke up in the middle of the night, telling you of my dream of the sea, and you responded, ‘It was the Adriatic Sea,’ as though we were
having the same dream.” She touches the middle of his forehead with her forefi nger. “I wish for your eye to fill with light,” she says, and at that instant the cloud passes away from the full moon and Market Square glows with a white light so beautiful, so ethereal, that they are unable to speak. After the rapture begins to wane, they both wonder what is going to happen next. Each feels regret for the past seven years they could have spent together but had not. Can great love remain great? But Karoly and Ava are through questioning for the time being, falling asleep on a park bench in Krutch Park where the early morning street sweepers will find them, leaning up against one other as the wind blows random pieces of paper around the couple, like tiny birds who have not yet determined where they will land. ◆ ®
BY IAN BLACKBURN AND JACK NEELY
October 1, 2015
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 39